Chocolate and Coffee Pudding

This is my entry to Sugar High Friday# 38: Pudding event, hosted by Zorra of 1x umrühren bitte . Recipe is from my cookbook Chocolate - cooking with the world's best ingredient by Christine Mcfadden and Christine France.

Ingredients:
All purpose flour - 3/4 cup
Baking powder - 2 tsp
Salt - pinch
Unsweetened Chocolate - 1 oz
Butter - 1/4 cup (half a stick)
Sugar - 1 cup
Milk - 5 tbsp
Vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp

For the topping:

Instant Coffee powder- 2tbsp
Hot Water - 1/2 pint (1 cup)
Sugar - 5 tbsp
Brown sugar - 7 tbsp
Unsweetened Cocoa powder - 2 tbsp

Method:

• Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 9 inch square baking pan.
• Sift the flour, baking powder and salt and keep aside.
• In a double boiler over simmering water; melt the sugar, butter and chocolate. Remove the bowl from heat.
• Add the flour mixture and stir well. Stir in the milk and vanilla extract. Mic with a wooden spoon, then pour the mixture into the prepared baking pan.
• To make the topping dissolve the coffee in the water. Let cool.
• Mix the brown sugar, sugar and cocoa powder in a bowl. Sprinkle the mixture over the pudding mixture.
  

• Pour the coffee evenly over the surface. Bake for 40 minutes or until the pudding has puffed up and set on top.

The coffee mixture forms a creamy sauce underneath. Serve immediately with whipped cream.

Coconut Milk Kadhi

This recipe is from Indian super chef Sanjeev Kapoor's cooking show "Khana Khazana". This kadhi uses coconut milk instead of yogurt or buttermilk. Since my husband does not eat any yogurt based products, I wanted to try this for him. The dish turned out delicious and my DH liked it too.

Ingredients (makes about 4-5 servings):
Coconut milk - 2 cups (I used canned Lite Coconut milk)
Besan (chickpea flour) - 2 tbsp
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Mixed Vegetables (Potato, carrot, cauliflower, red pumpkin, broad beans etc) - 1 cup

For Tadka:
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Red Chilies - 4
Curry leaves - 6

Method:

• Whisk in besan, turmeric and salt in coconut milk and keep aside. Make sure there are no lumps.
• Microwave or boil the veggies till tender.
  
• Heat 2 tsp oil in a saucepan, add the tadka ingredients and after the seeds splutter add the veggies and cook for 5 minutes.
• Slowly add the coconut milk mixture. On slow flame, simmer the kadhi for about 5 minutes or until the mixture does not smell raw anymore.
  

Serve with steamed rice.

Festive Cranberry Dal

My cousin S gave me the recipe for this dal. Cranberries are everywhere this time of the year and this dal is a good way of using some of them.

Ingredients:
Toor dal or Masoor dal - 1 cup
Cranberries - 1/2 cup, rinsed and chopped in half
Green chilies - 5-6, chopped

For tadka:
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Dry red chilies - 2
Hing - pinch
Curry leaves - 6

Method:

• Pressure cook dal and cranberries separately for 2-3 whistles. I add a pinch of turmeric and salt to the cranberries.
• Heat 1tsp sesame oil on medium flame, add the tadka ingredients and once the seeds start spluttering add the cooked dal and cranberries. Season with salt and simmer for 5 minutes.

Serve with rice or even roti.

Kohlrabi Curry

I wanted to try Kohlrabi after seeing this recipe. I really loved the refreshing flavor and texture of this cabbage family member. It has long green stalks that are completely edible.

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