Rasmalai

May 16th, 2010 shyam No comments
Recipe: Rasmalai

Ingredients

Rasmalai

  • 32 ounces ricotta cheese
  • 1 cup sugar

Rabri (liquid)

  • 16 ounces half & half
  • 1 small carton heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 5 whole cardamon seeds, crushed

Garnish

  • 1 tablespoon finely shredded pistachio nuts
  • 1 tablespoon shredded coconut

Instructions

  1. Mix ricotta cheese and 1 cup sugar in a baking dish. Make into a paste with a fork. Bake in 350 degree oven for 35 minutes.
  2. In a separate pan, mix half & half, cream and sugar. Boil on low heat until 1/3 of the liquid evaporates. Add cardamon seeds, cook for a few more minutes. Cool and cut into one inch squares.
  3. Pour hot thick milk (rabri) over the cheese squares and refrigerate. When chilled, sprinkle shredded pistachio nuts and coconut on top and serve.

Meal type: dessert

Categories: Recipes Tags: ,

Palak (Saag) Paneer

September 26th, 2009 shyam 2 comments

This recipe was originally inspired by the VahRehVah website, and the corresponding Youtube video. There are some great recipes there, but I think some of them are slightly more complicated (and spicy!) than they need to be. I have made some modifications to the original recipe, and posted my version below. Notable differences include the omission of green chili, some whole spices (I prefer powders, in general), and the inclusion of yogurt.

Recipe: Palak (Saag) Paneer


Picture:

Ingredients

  • 2 medium onions (diced)
  • 1 medium tomato (diced)
  • paneer cheese cubes – (usually comes frozen; may or may not be fried – either is fine)
  • fresh spinach
  • canola oil
  • 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp garam masala (too much will be overpowering)
  • 1/2 tsp chili powder (adjust to taste)
  • 1 tsp coriander powder
  • 4-5 curry leaves (optional)
  • plain yogurt (optional)
  • cream (optional)

Instructions

  1. Rinse spinach and blanch in boiling water for ~2 minutes. Put spinach in a blender and liquify – retain some of the water to help purée the spinach better. It is also full of vitamins !
  2. Put oil in pot.
  3. Add cumin seeds (you could also add mustard seeds if desired)
  4. Add onions and some salt to help cook the onions faster. Fry till nice and brown.
  5. Add the ginger garlic paste. Cook for a minute or two.
  6. Add in tomatoes. Cook for 5 minutes or so until the tomatoes are very soft.
  7. Add spices (turmeric, garam masala, chili powder, coriander powder).
  8. Add a little water so everything mixes well (1/4 cup or less). You can add more/less at the end to get the desired consistency. Bring to a slight boil.
  9. Add in the liquefied spinach. Cook till nice and bubbly.
  10. Add in cubed paneer. Heat on low for a few minutes to get the paneer warm, especially if it was previously frozen.
  11. Finish off with a splash of cream and a few tablespoons of yogurt.

Cooking time (duration): 40 minutes

Diet type: Vegetarian

Number of servings (yield): 3

Categories: Recipes Tags: ,

Chickpea Curry

September 25th, 2009 shyam 1 comment

My mom’s recipe, slightly modified.

Recipe: Chickpea Curry


Picture:

Ingredients

  • 2 medium onions (diced)
  • 2 medium tomato (diced)
  • 1 can chickpeas – (aka garbanzo beans)
  • canola oil
  • 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
  • 1 tsp mustard seeds
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp garam masala (too much will be overpowering)
  • 1/2 tsp chili powder (adjust to taste)
  • 1 tsp coriander powder
  • coriander leaves (optional)

Instructions

  1. Heat oil.
  2. Add mustard seeds. Heat for a minute.
  3. Add cumin seeds.
  4. Wait till mustard seeds start to pop. The cumin seeds are added slightly after the mustard seeds, because the cumin will burn if added too early, and you need to wait for the mustard seeds to pop before proceeding.
  5. Add onions and salt to help cook the onions faster. Cook till slightly brown.
  6. Add ginger garlic paste. Cook for a minute or two.
  7. Add tomatoes. Cook them well.
  8. Add spices (turmeric, garam masala, chili powder, coriander powder).
  9. Add 1/2 cup of water or so to help mix the spices together. Bring to simmer.
  10. Add the chickpeas from the can. You can also use some of the water from the can to add natural salt. I don’t use all of it, because it is too salty.
  11. Bring to simmer.
  12. Top with coriander leaves (optional).

Cooking time (duration): 40

Diet type: Vegetarian

Number of servings (yield): 3

Recipe by on.

Categories: Recipes Tags: ,

Mattar Paneer

September 24th, 2009 shyam 2 comments

This recipe originally came from VahRehVah, but I have heavily modified and simplified it for my own tastes.

Recipe: Mattar Paneer


Picture:

Ingredients

  • 2 medium onions (diced)
  • 2 medium tomato (diced)
  • paneer cheese cubes – (usually comes frozen; may or may not be fried – either is fine)
  • frozen peas
  • 1/4 handful of cashews
  • canola oil
  • 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
  • 1 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1/2 tsp turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp garam masala (too much will be overpowering)
  • 1/2 tsp chili powder (adjust to taste)
  • 1 tsp coriander powder
  • cream
  • coriander leaves (optional)

Instructions

  1. Heat oil. Fry cashews till light brown.
  2. Add onions and salt to help cook the onions faster. Cook till slightly brown.
  3. Add ginger garlic paste. Cook for a minute or two.
  4. Add tomatoes. Cook them well.
  5. Put entire mixture into blender. Blend until completely liquefied.
  6. Clean out the previously used pot completely (or get a new pot!).
  7. Put some oil in the empty pot and heat up.
  8. Add the cumin seeds.
  9. Add the mixture from the blender.
  10. Add spices (turmeric, garam masala, chili powder, coriander powder).
  11. Add 1/2 cup of water or so to help mix the spices together. Bring to simmer.
  12. Add frozen peas. Cover and bring to boil (~5 minutes).
  13. Add paneer cubes. Simmer 5-10 more minutes.
  14. Add a splash of cream.
  15. Top with coriander leaves (optional).

Cooking time (duration): 40

Diet type: Vegetarian

Number of servings (yield): 3

Categories: Recipes Tags: ,

Bananas Foster

August 11th, 2009 shyam No comments
Recipe: Bananas Foster

Ingredients

  • 2 bananas
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 stick butter
  • 1/8 cup spiced rum (1 shot)
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract/essence
  • vanilla ice cream

Instructions

  1. Peel and cut bananas lengthwise and in half, then set aside.
  2. Remove the ice cream from the freezer and allow it to soften.
  3. Set burner to medium to high heat.
  4. Place the butter into the saucepan, stirring continuously to prevent burning.
  5. Add 1 cup of brown sugar to the melted butter and stir constantly, this should be allowed to cook and caramelize for about 3-5 minutes. Once the brown sugar and butter mixture is the consistency of warm maple syrup, turn the burners to low.
  6. Add the banana slices. Allow these to soften. The bananas should be completely coated by the sugary mixture.
  7. Once the bananas have reached a more rich color of yellow add the vanilla extract. The vanilla will seem somewhat overpowering until thoroughly stirred in, and allowed to cook. When the smell of vanilla has reduced in strength, add the spiced rum to the mixture.
  8. Give about 10 seconds to simmer. After this, take the lighter and carefully light the mixture.
  9. Let the mixture burn itself out.
  10. When the fire has extinguished itself, pour the Bananas Foster (while still warm) over (or next to) vanilla ice cream.

Notes

  • Have a pan lid to smother unusually wild-FLAMES!
  • Keep a fire-extinguisher / container of water handy just in case!
  • Use a metal pan if possible. Teflon pans may not get hot enough, so it may not catch on fire properly.

Cooking time (duration): 10 minutes

Number of servings (yield): 4

Meal type: dessert

Categories: Recipes Tags:

Eddie’s Spaghetti Sauce

July 5th, 2009 shyam 1 comment
Recipe: Eddie’s Spaghetti Sauce

Ingredients

  • 5 cans peeled, plum tomatoes
  • olive oil
  • minced garlic
  • 1/2 onion
  • 1/2 can tomato paste

Instructions

  1. Heat up the olive oil in a large pot. Throw in garlic and chopped onions. Brown the onions.
  2. Puree tomatoes in blender. Pour into pot.
  3. Whisk in the tomato paste.
  4. Add some salt, pepper, sugar, and basil.
  5. Simmer ~1.5 hours. Every 15 minutes or so, skim off the the bubbles from the top of the sauce and stir.
  6. Store in small containers. You can also freeze it, but make sure sauce is luke warm before covering the containers.

Notes

  • Add more tomato paste for thicker sauce.
  • Sugar is key to reducing the acidic contents of the sauce. Make sure to scoop off the bubbles.

Cooking time (duration): ~2 hours

Culinary tradition: Italian

Categories: Recipes Tags:

Natto Ice Cream

March 14th, 2008 shyam No comments

A lot of people dislike natto. I personally think it is delicious, and eat it frequently. I’ve mixed it with many things. One of my favorite combinations is: natto + white rice + kimchi + squid.

I also like sweet foods. I’ve had natto flavored icecream before, but I can’t find that in America… So I decided to make my own by mixing natto with ice cream. I tried vanilla ice cream and cinnamon ice cream. The cinnamon is my personal favorite.

Interestingly, the consistency of the ice cream changes, and it turns into a marshmallow-fluff-like substance.

Categories: Japan (日本), Photos, Recipes Tags: , ,

E-Cookbook 1.0.0b

June 6th, 2006 shyam No comments

An electronic recipe organizer written in Python. Search, sort, print, and organize your recipes, as well as many other useful features. wxPython is used for the interface, and PySqlite for the database backend. Windows/Mac OS X supported.

E-Cookbook is an electronic cookbook or recipe organizer. It will replace the old tattered cookbook in your kitchen. Easily decide on something to make for dinner, or see what you can make based on the ingredients in your refrigerator.

Please see the SourceForge project page for the latest download.

Categories: Code, Recipes Tags: , , ,