Strawberry -Banana Smoothie: Valentine's Day Special

Strawberry-Banana Smoothie

To all the men, make your woman feel special on valentine's day. Whip up a smoothie for breakfast and you are sure to earn some brownie points, to start of a beautiful day!!!

Ingredients: 

Strawberry: 5-6
Ripe Bananas: 1-2
Low fat milk: 1 cup 
Instant Oats: 2 tbsp
Crushed almonds: 1 tbsp
Cinnamon powder: 1/4 tsp
Whipped Cream: for garnish


Method

• Dry Roast the oats for a minute.
• Powder the oats and the almonds.
• In a Blender mix together all the ingredients and blend.
• Serve with whipped cream.

Strawberry Banana Smoothie is ready to be served!!!!

Try making a simple sunny side up and Bread slices toasted with a little olive oil!!!!

Make your Valentine's Morning Bright!!!!

Creamy Caramel Custard: Valentine's Day Special for your partner

Valentine Day, brings with it so much love, Love for our loved ones, Love for shopping, Love for gifting and moreover that extra effort we put to make this day extra special for our loved ones. Apart from the shopping, gifting the most crucial part of a good time is enjoying a meal with your loved one, Extra brownie points if you cook up a meal for them. So this series will have a few recipes that need minimal effort yet it will make that little effort extra special for you!!!!!

These recipes are fairly simple, so to the guys too try them for your beloved I am sure she will like it :) 

Lets get started with the first recipe of this series.

 Creamy Caramel Custard. 

Caramel custard, also known as flan or crème caramel. 

Ingredients

Caramel:

Granulated Sugar: 150 gms

Water

Custard

Condensed Milk: 1 can (approximately 400gms, per can)

Full Fat Whole Milk: 2 cans ( I use the condensed milk can to measure)

Eggs: 3 nos ( at room temperature)

Vanilla extract: 1 tsp

Nutmeg: 1/4 tsp

Garnish

Strawberries: 7-8

Sugar: 50 gms

Water: 100 ml

Vanilla Extract: 1 tsp

Method

Caramel: 

• In a saucepan add sugar and let this dissolve on low heat, Keep stirring occasionally this process will ensure that the heat is evenly distributed.
•  When the mixture dissolve and turns golden in color add little water to avoid the caramel from burning. 
• The sauce will start to boil, when it is golden brown turn of the heat
• Pour the hot caramel in the ramekins or the baking pan and coat all the sides of the pan by turning pan. 
• Keep the pans aside. 

* While handling caramel, don't check with your bare fingers, A Caramel burn can be very nasty

Custard:

• Preheat the oven at 160°C
• Boil milk and let it cool to room temperature.
• In a huge bowl mix milk, condensed milk, eggs, vanilla extract and nutmeg
• Use a blender to mix these ingredients together. Making a creamy frothy mixture
• Pass this mixture through a sieve and pour in the caramel coated ramekins or the baking pan. 
• Place this ramekins or baking pan in a water bath* and cover the ramekins with aluminium foil.
• Bake for an hour or until a knife comes out clean.
• Refrigerate for 6 hrs
• Run a knife around the edges of the ramekin and demould

*Water Bath: A Water bath is a bigger baking tray which is half filled with hot water. The purpose of a water bath is to ensure that the heat is uniformly distributed and the custard cooks slowly.

Garnish

•  In a sauce pan heat sugar and water and make a consistent sugar syrup, add halved strawberries. Let this mixture sit for half n hour.
• Strain the mixture.
• Decorate with strawberries. 

Wonderful dessert for Valentines Day!!!!!

 

Shami Kebab

Shami (Shammi Kebab) 

I learnt this dish from a kashmiri friend, I tried making them at home,and they are absolutely simple to make. So I am sharing this recipe with you, do try it and leave your comments below!

Shami kebab is a mildly spiced meat and bengal gram (chana dal) patty. Served with mint chutney, Tomato ketchup or just with rotis or naan. This is also a good option for your child's lunch box :) or even for an evening office snack!!!

Lets get started!

The dish can be made with any meat, However I would recommend lamb. If you use frozen meat make sure you thaw it to room temperature before you start your preparation.

Ingredients                                                                    Serves: 6 

Boneless lamb or chicken : 500 gms ( cut in cubes)

Bengal gram (Chana dal): 100 gms (preferably soaked overnight)

Egg: 1  (separate the yolk and the egg white)
Onion: 1 

Ginger paste: 1 tsp

Garlic paste: 1 tsp
Turmeric powder: 1/2 tsp
Kashmiri Chilli powder: 1 tsp
Coriander powder: 1 tsp
Cumin powder; 1 tsp

Whole spices (Fennel seeds: 1 tsp,Peppercorn: 1 tsp,Cinnamon: 1/2 inch stick,Cardamom: 3-4 nos, Cloves: 3-4 nos,Bay Leaf: 1)
Garam masala:  1/2 tsp
Chopped cilantro : a handful 

Chopped Mint leaves(pudina): a handful
finely sliced chillies: 1-2 nos
Salt as per taste
Oil for frying
Water

Method

• In a pan dry roast the whole spices for two minutes (the fennel seeds will change colour). 

• Add some oil to the same pan and fry the onions till they brown. Keep aside. 

• In a pressure cooker add the meat, chana dal, ginger paste, garlic paste, dry roasted whole spices, chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, cumin powder, salt and very little water. Pressure cook for upto 3-4 whistles or until meat is tender. 

• Simmer this for 5 minutes after or until the excess water drains out. Discard the whole spices if you wish, (I only discard the bay leaf and cardamom). Let this cool.

• In a blender coarse grind the pressure cooked mixture. 

• Add egg yolk, browned onions, chilli, mint, coriander leaves and garam masala to the coarse mixture and mix well.

•  Refrigerate the mixture for 10 mins. 

• Make lemon size balls of the mixture and flatten to make a patty. 

• Dip the patty in the egg white mixture. 

• Shallow fry the patty until both sides are golden.  Drain out the excess oil.

Shami Kebabs are ready!!!

Serve this with mint chutney or just plain ketchup. I would recommend this as a quick fix starter. If you don't wish to fry them immediately make the patty and set aside in the deep freezer. Thaw before frying. Serve with rotis, make a sandwich, a roll. The experiments with this dish are endless. 

Enjoy!!!!