Cashew Raisin Biscotti

Today i was planning to make cookies. So just kept the butter outside and was getting ready to make cookies. Suddenly Biscotti came into my mind. So just went ahead and search for few recipes. Got the good one. Then again i was not able to make final decision whether to make cookies or biscotti. Because i don't like Indian Rusks. But finally decided to try biscotti thinking if its not coming good then i can make cookies. You know what after making first batch i was very satisfied with the taste of this biscotti. So went ahead and made 2 more batches and stored it. And one more good news. it will stay good for more than 2 weeks. Just store it in air tight container or zip lock.

You will need:

• 1½ cup All purpose flour
• ¾ tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• pinch of baking soda
• pinch of nutmeg powder(optional)
• 2 Eggs
• ¾ cup sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla essence(can reduce to 1 tsp also)
• ¾ cup raisins (can go for dry cranberry, dry cherry too)
• ¾ cup roasted nuts( almonds. pistachio, cashew) i made with the mixture of three nuts.
  

Step 1:

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Step 2:

Preparing Dry Ingredients:

Take a big bowl,sieve the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda. Keep it aside.

Step 3:

Preparing wet ingredients:

Take a mixing bowl add eggs and sugar and mix it well with an electric mixer high for minimum 5 minutes. Now add vanilla essence and nutmeg powder.
Step 4:

Now mix the dry mixture into the wet mixture little by little and continue to mix it with the electric beater.After adding the flour mixture, take a spatula and mix it for few more minutes, just to make sure the flour is mixed well with the wet ingredients.

Step 5:

Now with the help of spatula just fold in the raisins and nuts.

Step 6:

Butter the cookie sheet and pour the mixture into it as shown in pic below. Pat to 1 inch thickness.



Step 7:

Bake it for 20 minutes. Take the biscotti from the oven and let it cool for 10 mins. Please dont turn off the oven.

Step 8:

Cut the biscotti into ½ inch thickness diagonally. Bake them for 5 minutes with cut side down, remove and turn the cookies to other side and bake again for another 5 minutes. Switch off, remove and cool completely.


This will be crispy and crunchy. Specially we can take out for picnic or outing.

Can you believe that this biscotti doesn't have butter in it. Even without butter it taste wonderful. Give it a try and let me know how it came out for you!!!!

Pineapple Kesari

You will need:

• 1 cup rava/ semolina/sooji
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 cups Water (can reduce to 2 cups of water to get thick consistency)
  
• ½ cup ghee( can increase or decrease according to your choice)
• 1½ cup canned crushed pineapple in juice (if you are using pineapple chunks better cut it into small pieces)
  
• 1/8 tsp of kesari food color (egg yellow)
• big pinch of cardamom powder
• small pinch of salt
• ½ cup cashew and raisins (fried in ghee)

Step 1:

Heat a pan and add 2 tbsp ghee. Add cashews and fry for few minutes.After that add raisins and stir it till it become balloon like structure and transfer it into another bowl and keep it aside.

Step 2:

In the same pan add remaining ghee and fry semolina till it become light brown color.(till it gives nice fragrance). Now add water to it and stir continuously to avoid lump formations. Add sugar, cardamom powder,crushed pineapple with juice and allow it to boil. When it starts boiling add food color and a pinch of salt. Then add half of the nuts and raisins into this mixture and stir it. Please don't close the pan when making kesari. Save the remaining for garnishing.Keep stirring till you get your desired consistency.It will take less than 2 mins to get the desired consistency. When it starts bubbling vigorously switch it off and let it cool for 10 mins. Serve as dessert as warm or cold. It will taste good in both ways.

Step 3:

Garnish with remaining nuts and raisins and serve. A quick dessert is ready to serve.

Asparagus Vienna sausage fry

You will need:

• 1 Bunch Asparagus
• 1 can vienna sausage (chicken or beef)
• 1 cup onion(finely minced)
  
• 5 Garlic pods
• 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
• 1 tsp chilli or pepper powder
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
  
• 1 tsp garam masala powder
• 1 tsp chat masala for garnishing
• salt as regd
• oil for stir frying(I prefer 3 tbsp)
• ¼ cup coconut powder(optional)
  

Step 1:

Cut the asparagus into 1 inch length. Cut the vienna sausage also. It will be usually round. So better cut it into half.

Step 2:

Heat a pan and oil and then cumin seeds. Once it splutters add onions and garlic pods and saute it for few mins. Now add the ginger garlic paste, then the garam masala powder and saute it for few more seconds.

Step 3:

Now its the time to add asparagus. Saute it and close the lid for few mins till it get cooked.(Some prefer crunchy and some prefer fully cooked. So its purely your option to cook veggies.)

Note: You can even deep fry or bake the asparagus before adding into this dish for better taste.

Add chilli powder/pepper powder, sausages and stir it carefully, since the sausage will break easily. Add salt according to your taste

Hint:

The sausages will have salt. So better add salt according to your taste after adding sausages.

Step 4:

Garnish with chat masala, lemon wedges and serve with chapathi or as side dish for rice along with dal curry and papad..

Kaju katli( cashew diamonds

Today i just thought of making some sweet dishes for my hubby's colleagues as Holiday presents. Suddenly Kaju katli came into my mind because of its taste.. As you know people here in the US like good presentation. So i went ahead and did this Kaju Katli. This is the first time i tried with powdered Cashews. Earlier i used to wet grind the cashews and the final product will be cashew Halwa!!!. This time tried with powdered cashews and guess what it really worked. The final product was better than Adyar Sweets. Thats what my husband said!!!. HA HA HA. So you can surely try this for a simple and quick dessert.

You will need:

• 1 cup whole cashews
• ¾ cup powdered sugar
• ¼ cup water

Step 1:

Finely powder the cashews using coffee grinder. (I have Indian Mixie. So i powder the cashews using the small jar which comes along with Mixie set.)

Step 2:

Take a heavy bottom pan (to distribute heat evenly, flat bottom is best) and add water and sugar to it and heat it for some time till you see bubbles.

Now add the powdered cashews and stir it continuously for few more mins. Keep stirring it untill it forms a soft ball.

You can also check by taking little of the mixture and roll it on a plate and see whether it solidifies within seconds. Transfer the content to chopping board lined by aluminium foil. Let cool for few minutes, and knead when its still warm. Place plastic wraps on top of the content and roll it to desired thickness and cut in diamond shape. Again, let it cool and then store in air-tight box for up to a week. It can also be refrigerated.

Hint:

If the dough is sticky, stir it few more mins to get the desired consistency.

If the dough is too hard just add few drops of warm milk and roll again

Calamari Fry (Squid, kanava in tamil)

I love this calamari from my childhood onwards. I love this dish in fry form or else like poriyal. But after coming to US i was searching for this fish. But i really dont know how to clean this fish.I have seen my mom taking some black ink from this fish. So i was in a dilemma whether to really buy this fish or not. To my surprise i saw cleaned calamari's in fish section in a grocery store one day. Wow very happy and tried this. It really rocked because of its taste and childhood memories.!!

You will need:

• 2 cups calamari rings (cut the calamari into small rings like onions) You can use tentacles if you like it or else just use the rings.
• 1 cup All purpose flour
• ¼ cup corn flour
• ¼ cup semolina rava
• 1 tsp chilli powder(Marinade)
• ½ tsp pepper powder (Marinade)
• ½ tsp garam masala powder (Marinade)
• salt for taste (Marinade)
• ½ tsp sugar (Marinade)
• 1 egg white (Marinade) can go for whole egg too
• Oil for deep frying
  

Step 1:

Cut the calamari into small rings like ½ cm thickness and wash it thoroughly.

Step 2:

Marinate the calamari with chilli powder, pepper powder, salt, sugar, garam masala powder, egg for minimum 5 hours. I prefer overnight.

Step 3 :

Now mix all the dry flour (All purpose, corn flour, and semolina rava) together in a bowl. Now coat the calamari with these flour and take out the extra flour by sifting.

Step 4:

Now heat the oil medium high and deep fry the calamari for less than 1 min until the flour gets golden colour.

Hint: Don"t overcook the calamari. It will turn rubbery. When cooking calamari we have to be very careful. It needs very less time to cook.

Cooking Calamari:

The proper temperature and timing also determine calamari's tenderness. In general, cook them briefly over moderate to high heat (30 seconds to 2 minutes) or slowly over low heat (at least 30 minutes).

Serve hot with tartar sauce, or mayo chilli sauce( just combine 1 cup mayo with ¼ cup chilli sause). Garnish with lemon wedges and coriander leaves.

How to make tartar sauce from Mayonnaise.

1 cup mayo
1 tbsp dill pickles chopped
2 tbsp onion chopped
salt a pinch
sugar a pinch
pepper powder as reqd.

Grind them together in blender(Mixie) for few min. Check for salt. Very easy and tasty dip for fried seafood dishes.