Fruitcake Truffles

This is a really quick and very tasty truffle if you have some left over Rich Fruit Cake!



Mix left over fruit cake crumbs with little alcohol or orange juice. Shape the crumb mixture into small balls. Melt some chopped semi sweet or bitter sweet chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Dip each ball, one at a time, coating in chocolate and shaking gently to remove the excess. Transfer to a wax-paper lined surface, when the chocolate coating sets serve.

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Savoury Muffins

Ingredients:

2 cups self-raising flour

½ cup finely chopped sausages/ ham

½ cup grated cheese
1 cup of finely chopped mixed vegetables of your choice (carrots, capsicum, onion, mushroom etc)

1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley/ corriander

125 g melted butter

1 cup milk

1 egg, lightly beaten

A small pinch of Oregano, Thyme, Rosemary & Basil (optional)

Method:

• Pre-heat oven 180°C and grease a muffin tin.
• Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.
• Stir in butter, milk and egg until just combined. Do not over mix.
• Bake in oven for 15 minutes or until cooked and golden.

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The Classic Pineapple Pudding / China grass pudding / Moss pudding

When it came to desserts this was the family favorite and on any and every occasion my brother and I would always pester our Mom to make it. It’s simple to make and anyone can try this with utmost confidence as it will never fail them unless off course the China grass is of poor quality. Till today it remains one of my all-time favorites.




Ingredients:

Condensed Milk- 1 tin
Milk- 2 1/2 tin (measure in condensed milk tin)
Sugar- 5 dessert spoon (10 tea spoons)
China grass strands (Agar- Agar)-10 gm
Water- 1 1/2 cup
Pineapple chopped- 2 cups, heaped
Sugar-2 dessert spoon
Cloves / grambu-6 nos
Vanilla Essence-1/4 tsp
Vanilla Custard Powder-1 dessert spoon (2 tea spoon)
Thick Cream- 1/2 cup




Method:

• Stew chopped pineapple with 2 dessert spoon sugar and cloves. Removes from fire, when pineapple is cooked and there is 1/2 cup syrup. Keep aside.
• Chop China grass strands wash it with cold water and strain through a sieve. Soak china grass in 1 1/2 cups water and keep aside.
• Mix condensed milk and 2 tins of milk and heat stirring well. When this mixture gets hot add 5 dessert spoon sugar and 1 dessert spoon custard powder mixed in 1/2 tin milk. Keep stirring continuously and remove from fire just before the milk boils.
• Boil soaked china grass and when it dissolves strain into hot custard., and mix well.( make sure both the custard and melted china grass should be of same temperature).
• Cool the custard to lukewarm, add vanilla essence and 1/2 cup cream and mix well.
• Transfer to a dish and keep it in the fridge. When the pudding is half set, strew pineapple pieces with syrup over pudding and keep it back in fridge till completely sets and serve!

My blog turned 2 years!!! Happy Anniversary my bloggy dear :)

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Basic Biscuit with Vanilla Icing

Basic Biscuit

Ingredients & Method:

Preheat the oven to warm 160C (315F/ Gas2-3). Line a baking tray with baking paper. Beat together 125gm (4 oz) cubed butter and 1/2 cup (125g / 4 oz) caster sugar until creamy. Add 1 egg and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence and beat well. Sift 1 cup (125g/4 oz) plain flour and 1 cup (125g/4 oz) self-raising flour and fold into form a soft dough. Turn out onto a sheet of baking paper, cover with another sheet and roll out to 5 mm (1/4inch) thick. Using biscuit cutters, cut out shapes and place on the tray. Bake in batches for 10-15 minutes, or until lightly golden. Cool on a wire rack, then spread with Vanilla Icing. Makes about 50 biscuits




Vanilla Icing

Ingredients & Method:

Sift 1 1/4 cups ( 155g/5 oz) icing sugar in a bowl. Add 1 tablespoon cubed and softened butter, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence and 1-2 tablespoons boiling water. Stir until the mixture is smooth and spreadable. Spread or pipe the icing on biscuits.

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Sugarpaste Icing / Fondant Icing

Makes 350gms/ 12 oz/ 2 1/4 cups
Recipe Source: children's party cakes & cookies by Martha Day.




Sugar paste icing is wonderfully pliable and can be coloured, molded and shaped in imaginative ways.

Ingredients:

1 egg white
15 ml/ 1tbsp liquid glucose, warmed
350g/ 12 oz/ 3 cups icing (confectioners') sugar

Method:

• Put the egg white and glucose in a mixing bowl. Stir them together to break up the egg white.
• Add the icing sugar and mix together with a metal spatula, using a chopping action, until well blended and the icing begins to bind together.
• Knead the mixture with your fingers until it forms a ball.
• Knead the sugar paste on a work surface that has been lightly dusted with icing sugar for several minutes until it is smooth, soft and pliable.If the icing is too soft, knead in some more sifted sugar until it reaches the right consistency.

Tips:

• If you want to make the sugarpaste in advance wrap it up tightly in a plastic bag. The icing will keep for about three weeks.
• The paste is easy to colour with paste colours, add a little at a time using the tip of a knife or toothpick.
• Roll out sugarpaste on a surface lightly sprinkled with icing ( confectioners') sugar or a little white vegetable fat to avoid the paste sticking.

These are my last two years decorated Rich Fruit Christmas Cakes :)

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My Best of 2009!

Dance as if no one were watching, sing as if no one were listening and live every day as if it were your last.

Only 23 posts, spent most of my time hibernating this year. I am thankful to all my readers, fellow bloggers and my dear friends & family who encouraged me to post new recipes…..hoping to come up with more posts next year also plan to pay extra attention to my other hobbies as well… One surprising fact I have noticed is that I get more appreciation and comments for my baked goodies and other cuisine than for my traditional Kerala recipes :)

Some of my most appreciated Recipes this year are......

Night Sky Cookies

Badaami Tangri

Crusty Chicken Goulash

Fish Molee

Doughnuts

One-Bowl Chocolate Buttermilk Cake

Dinner Roll Knots

Carrot Whisky

Allipidi

Lime Pickle

I have tried several recipes from other blogs and all of them were very good. Here are some of my favorites.

Rising Phulka from Kamala


Mango Yogurt Panna Cotta from Deeba

Purple Cabbage Salad from Elanas Pantry

Chocolate Truffles from Ria

Sending this to Srivalli's Best of 2009 event.

Wishing you all a New Year filled with new hope, new joy and new beginnings!!!

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Avalose Unda

Avalose Unda- A traditional sweetened rice balls of Kerala!

Ingredients:

Avalose podi-2 1/2 cups
Cardamom (powdered)- 1/4 tsp
Vanilla Essence-1/4 tsp
Sugar-1 cup
Water- 1/2 cup
Lime Juice- 1 1/2 tsp

Method:

• Mix sugar, water and lime juice in a bowl and keep aside for 8 hours or over night to soak.
• Heat this mixture stirring continuously till we get a single thread consistency on tapping between thumb and forefinger quickly. (You should be very careful at this point not to over cook or the Avalose Unda will be very hard).
• Remove from heat and add vanilla essence and cardamom powder.
• Add 2 cups of avalose podi little by little mixing very well.
• When it is warm enough to touch make lime size balls.
• Coat these balls in the reserved 1/2 cup avalose podi, which helps to make perfect round shape and prevents stickiness.

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Avalose podi / A Traditional Fried Rice Powder of Kerala!

Avalose podi, a traditional Kerala snack which can be eaten either by mixing little sugar and banana, or can be transformed into Avalose unda another famous snack of Kerala or Churuttu a famous delicacy of my home town!!! Avalose podi, an evening snack (nalumani palaharam) back home is very filling…and those days I preferred Meat puffs, Ethakka Vazhattiyathu, Ethakka Appam etc….But now after spending years away from home I do like to have this more often:) …So now when ever I go home my mom's sister makes this for me so that I can either eat it in a podi form or I can easily make Avalose Unda, one of my favorite snacks, without much hassles ;)… So the Avalose podi recipe here is from my Mom's sister…

Ingredients:

Raw Rice- 500gm
Grated Coconut- 3 cups
Cumin seeds/Jeerakom-2tsp
Salt- to taste

Method:

• Soak the rice and powder coarsely.
• Rub the coconut and the rice powder together and keep it for about one hour.
• Place a big flat bottomed pan (uruly) on fire, put the cumin seeds, stir till they are fried and add the rice powder mixed with coconut.
• Stir well all the time and when it starts turning the colour, lower the heat.
• Remove when it is fried well (light brown colour).
• Sift the powder through a coarse sieve and pound well the bigger pieces that are left.
• Fry that again and mix with the fried avalose.
• When cool, keep it in a tin tightly closed.
• Avalose podi can be stored for almost a year if it is fried & stored well.

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Dinner Roll Knots

Makes- 12

Ingredients:
300 ml/ 1/2 pint/ 1 1/4 cups lukewarm milk
50g/2 oz/1/4cup butter, at room temperature
5ml/1tsp caster (superfine) sugar
10ml/2tsp active dried yeast
1 egg yolk
10ml/2tsp salt
500-575g/5-5 1/2 cups strong white bread flour
1 egg beaten with 2tsp water, to glaze.
Poppy seeds, for sprinkling (optional)

Method:

• In a large bowl, stir together the milk, butter, sugar and yeast. Leave for 15 minutes to dissolve and for the yeast to become frothy.
• Stir in the egg yolk, slat and 275g/ 2 1/2 cups of flour. Add half the remaining flour and stir to obtain a soft dough.
• Transfer the dough to a floured surface and knead, adding flour if necessary, until smooth and elastic. This will take about 10 minutes.
• Place in a bowl, cover with clear film and leave in a warm place until the dough doubles in volume, about 1 1/2-2 hours.
• Grease a baking sheet. Knock back (punch down) the dough with your fist and cut into 12 pieces the size of golf balls.
• Roll each piece into a rope, twist to form a knot and place 2.5cm/1" apart on a prepared baking sheet. Cover loosely and leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1-1 1/2 hours.
• Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Brush the knots with the egg glaze.(sprinkle over the poppy seeds, if using). Bake until the tops are lightly browned, about 30 minutes. Cool slightly on a wire rack before serving.

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Chocolate Truffles

Saw this recipe at Ria's Collection, originally from Joy of Baking

Ingredients:

8 ounces (227 grams) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, cut into small pieces

3/4 cup (180 ml) heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons (28 grams) unsalted butter

2 tablespoons alcohol (Cognac, brandy, Grand Marnier, kirsch, rum, bourbon, or Kahlua to name a few) (optional)

Different Coatings for Truffles:

Dutch-Processed Cocoa Powder

Confectioners Sugar (Icing or Powdered)

Toasted and Chopped Nuts (pecans, walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts)

Toasted Coconut

Shaved Chocolate

Method:

• Place the chopped chocolate in a medium sized stainless steel bowl. Set aside. Heat the cream and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil. Immediately pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Stir with a whisk until smooth. If desired, add the liqueur (I used Rum). Cover and place in the refrigerator until the truffle mixture is firm (this will take several hours or overnight).
• Place your coatings for the truffles on a plate. Remove the truffle mixture from the refrigerator. With your hands, or else a melon baller or small spoon form the chocolate into round or mis-shaped bite-sized balls. Immediately roll the truffle in the coating and place on a parchment lined baking sheet or tray. Cover and place in the refrigerator until firm. Truffles can be refrigerated for a couple of weeks or else frozen for a couple of months. Bring to room temperature before serving.

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