Baby Corn Pulao - A Guest Post from Sharmis Passions

Over the years that I have spent blogging on Vegbowl I never had a guest post and I wonder why? Having spent three years on this blog passionately, I should have ideally done this task earlier, probably been inviting more bloggers to write and share their recipes on Vegbowl. Somehow I kept procastinating on this. Better late than never, I have decided to invite my pals and blogger friends to help me share and fill my space with recipes and thoughts that they wish to pen down here. It's a good start I must say and that will kill any monotony in my style which I have been carrying throughout here. Do you wish to be a part? Mail me now!

To begin with I am incredibly happy to share my guest for the day Sharmilee as she shares her recipe for Baby Corn Pulao on Vegbowl with us. Sharmilee is an extremely talented blogger from Coimbatore, India and blogs on Sharmispassions. Her website has been around since 3 years and has gained immense popularity as she hosts a huge reportire of varied dishes ranging from starters to desserts with immense efforts that are shown in her step-by-step recipes and droolworthy photographs. I have been a huge fan of Sharmilee's work and I am glad to invite her to my place. Thank you Sharmilee for gracing my virtual space with your fabulous dish.

I always admire the pics at Veg Bowl and love MD's writing style, I never miss to read them. When she approached me for a guest post, I had no second thought as she is one of my fav and inspiring bloggers and a good friend too :) Thank you MD for the opportunity.

Recently vegbowl has moved to its new home and I wish MD and Vegbowl good luck in all the future endeavors!

Coming to baby corn pulao recipe, I recently tried this from a magazine, it was a instant hit at home so thought to share it with you all.

Baby Corn Pulao

Basmati rice - 1 cup
Water - 1.5 cups
Baby Corn - 8 cut into small pieces
Big Onion - 1 cut lengthwise
Curd - 1 tbsp
Salt - to taste

To Temper:

Bayleaf - 1/2
Cinnamon - 2
Cardamom - 2
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Oil - 1 tsp

To grind:

Big Onion - 1 chopped roughly
Garlic - 5 pearls
Ginger - 1/2 inch piece
Turmeric powder - a genrous pinch
Red Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Dhania powder - 1 tsp
Garam masala powder - 1/2

Method:

1.Grind the ingredients listed under 'to grind' with little water and grind to a fine paste. Soak basmati rice for 15-20 mins, drain water. Add a tsp of ghee and saute the rice in a pan for 2 mins till the moisture leaves. Set aside.

2.In a pressure cooker, heat oil + ghee add the items listed under 'to temper' saute for a minute. Then add onions and saute till slightly browned. Then add the masala paste and baby corn, saute till raw smell completely leaves.It may take around 5-7 mins.

3.Then add curd, required salt and give a quick stir. Then add rice and water and pressure for 3-4 whistles in medium flame. Wait till pressure releases then fluff it up with fork gently without breaking the rice.

Serve hot / warm with onion raita.

My Notes:

• You can use the same recipe to make sweet corn pulao too.
• Adjust spice level according to your taste buds. The measurement above is medium spicy.
• You can serve it with plain or onion raita

Thanks Sharmilee for sharing your recipe here. It is an honor to know such a fabulous blogger like you!

Read more >>

Dual Celebrations with Watermelon Sorbet!

This watermelon sorbet is so easy and simple that I reckon you to try at least once. The fact that you'll need no fancy ice-cream maker to whip it will make you thank me for that. It's a beauty that watermelons come with such naturally sweet flavors and bold red colors which add up to the dreamy prettiness of this sorbet. I found it hard to keep my little toddler at bay too! Seriously!

I may not be a hunter for recipes, but I know if something's got hooked to my mind, getting it off isn't that easy till I've made it. Sort of a similar thing with this sorbet too. Having tried my hands at couple of ice-creams and fro-yos, I realized I never featured any sorbets here. Not surprising though, since I've never been a fan of ice-candies, so you'll know why I hardly make them. I have a strong inclination for ice creams so my obvious choice have always been them. But the fact is this sorbet is different from those regular ones. You'll love it if you favor your fruits, even if it means you are not a fan of sorbet.

Summers are here, the weather has been stupendously hot and watermelons are in season. They accompany us back home every time we are out on our grocery shopping. So it's not surprising we are melon freaks. They are light and refreshing. They bounce life with their naturally sweet flavor, also them making a great summer snack. They have brilliant color and textures perfect for sorbets. That's a good enough reason I should make them.

Traditionally, sorbet is a frozen dessert usually made from fruit juice with a mushy consistency. My recipe deviates from the essence of using sweetened water flavored with fruit, instead I chose to freeze the cut fruit pieces and then blitz them in a food processor. It's short-cut, healthy, low-cal and guilt free. A watermelon contains about 6% sugar and 92% water by weight, so it needs no extra water and freezes beautifully well.

Watermelon Sorbet

INGREDIENTS

1 kg watermelon
1-2 tbsp sugar

DIRECTIONS

Deseed and chop the watermelons to bite sized pieces. Snack on a few pieces to taste and check for their sweetness. If naturally sweet you may refrain from adding sugar. Else, add a tablespoonful or two of sugar. Squeeze juice from half a lime and toss them well. Transfer them to a freezer proof container and freeze them for at least 5-6 hours or overnight. Just before making the sorbet, remove them from freezer and allow them to sit on counter top for 3-5 minutes. Give them a blitz in a food processor till the watermelon ice cubes break to crystals, yet don't let them melt. Work quickly. Scoop them out to a serving glass and serve immediately.

This incredibly refreshing icy sorbet is just lovely. The flesh adds so much texture and helps to hold the dessert well. It's filled with goodness from fruit, has vibrance in flavor with beautiful peppy color. Easy to make and elegant to serve. Simple and delicious. Just the right thing for summer soother!

I have two celebrations going on today. My little toddler turns one this very day. Exactly a year ago, it was today she was born which brought immense joy and happiness to our lives which words can't possibly express. Secondly, my bloggy baby has turned 3. The summer of 2009 on March 15th, somewhere in the noon, I published my first post publicly. Little did I know that I would sail a long journey with my blog, which grew constantly and in every way is an identity to me and my work. Happy Birthday both my babies, I love you both!

Read more >>

Successful S’mores and failing Vegan Marshmallows!

My attempts at making homemade marshmallows without corn syrup were successful and much appreciated, however not vegan. I’ve made these marshmallows couple of times now and they turn out perfect each time. Simple, easy and just 2 ingredients for a recipe that will not fail. Armed with that confidence and of sheer curiosity, I’ve been trying to experiment with agar-agar as a replacement for gelatin.

Of several sites I’ve read, successful vegan marshmallows have been possible with Xanthum gum, protein isolates, both of which I can’t fetch locally, hence agar is closest ingredient I can rely on. My struggle with making vegan marshmallows has been for a while, but to no avail. Agar simply fails to act the way gelatin does. My guess is that agar and gelatin have a different composition and gelling properties at different degrees, so they behave differently.

It’s magical what gelatin does to sugar syrup when whipped at high speeds, converting the entire syrup into a snow-white mass of fluffy, creamy, melt-in-mouth marshmallows… amazing! Agar fails to whip up the sugar syrup or stabilize it. My experiments with various proportions of agar, also cooked agar with the syrup and attempted to heat agar separately, all yielded disastrous effect to the end result. Even cooked agar at times failed to dissolve well, leaving speckles in the suspension. It either ended up in a pale caramel colored gooey, slimy mass of colloid or a sticky toffee like brittle, nowhere close what marshmallows are meant to be. An utter flop. An assurance that vegan marshmallows cannot be made with sugar and agar alone, they definitely need something more to be whipped up and stabilized. Till I get some Xanthum gum and protein isolates in my reach, I shall leave vegan marshmallows to rest in peace.

That apart, making homemade marshmallows is a breeze and fun too. Many with whom I shared these, were actually stunned when I told these were homemade… a pause, a blink in the eye and prying, some astonished if it was seriously homemade or just tagged so… had to convince! For the chocolate lover that we have at home, these marshmallows may not have made much of an impact, but these S’mores definitely did! He said “Wow, these are yum. Can we have more of these please!!!” S'mores as they call it for some more please... these little sandwich bars are popular American traditional campfire treats consisting of a roasted marshmallow and chocolate sandwiched between two pieces of graham cracker, sinfully yum and decadent.

S’mores

INGREDIENTS

2 Graham cracker squares (I used Nutrichoice cracker squares)
10 gm. chocolate bar, broken/melted if necessary (milk, dark, semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate)
1 large homemade marshmallow

DIRECTIONS

On a clean plate, place one cracker square. Top it with the piece of dark chocolate. Microwave on high for 15-20 seconds to melt the chocolate slightly. Stick a fork into the marshmallow or using a tong, swirl the marshmallow lightly over open flame till the edges are golden brown. Do not hold longer as they will melt and fall apart. A couple of swift turns should do the job. Immediately place the marshmallow on top of the partially melted chocolate. Alternatively, you may toast the marshmallows under a grill too. Top it with the second cracker and press down gently so that some of the chocolate and marshmallow goo slides out on the sides. When the S'more is fully assembled, let it sit for a few seconds. Gently press them together and eat them like a sandwich! They taste best when warm.

Graham cracker squares are not available in India. An alternative would be digestive biscuits. However, I chose to use Nutrichoice cracker squares. They are thin, salted cracker squares and balance the sweetness from chocolate-marshmallow filling, just right for our tastes. The warm bittersweet chocolate and gooey marshmallows render creaminess to the dessert with a luscious center while the Nutrichoice cracker squares poise the sweetness, perfectly balancing it out. These are perfect little desserts which can be made ahead and taken to parties and adventure trips, pretty enough to win accolades.

Read more >>

DIY: Homemade Marshmallows

Over the years there have been couple of recipes I’ve wanted to try but could never attempt for reasons plenty. In a land where ‘certain’ ingredients used primarily in Western cooking were unheard of and almost impossible to fetch, I wouldn’t blame myself if I pushed those recipes aside. Fortunately though, today we live in a pretty diverse city which has access to many of these imported items, it is still a challenge to fetch a Filo sheet, Wonton wrappers or even Puff Pastry sheets. I have not been lucky yet. I have given up mt hands on a local whipping cream, then would you expect me to look out for corn syrup, xanthum gum, agave nectar, etc.? Thanking my stars, least I have access to some good dark chocolate, vanilla extract or butterscotch chips, not with ease though!

I don’t remember eating marshmallows as kids. It’s not something we get here in stores. Only a couple of years ago, on our vacation to Ooty, I must have tasted my first marshmallows. And because you are on a vacation to a new place, you often tend to try foods that are speciality of that place, homemade chocolates and marshmallows happen to be quite popular here. And as predictable it can be, it was not one of those favorites among my parents for the lack of flavors or taste. And hence forgotten too…

Then, two years ago when my husband and me went on a vacation trip to Munnar and last year to Ooty, these marshmallows rocked my memories of those soft, pillow-like, melt-in-mouth candies. I had the freedom to enjoy couple of them there and packed a few to be eaten back home. Again as predictable it can be, marshmallows were never among my husband’s favorites too! So all that pack was devoured by me alone. Of course, to satisfy my husband’s chocolate addiction, our dear Rocky Road Bars were their counterparts!

Being a vegetarian, I was ignorant then that the animal product, gelatin goes into making these marshmallows. Though it doesn’t bother me much, since I am not staunch about vegetarianism (it’s just our way of life… didn’t we consume cod liver oil as kids… or what about the capsules... were eggs ever vegetarian…?), bringing home gelatin did bother me. Over the past two weeks I have been craving for marshmallows and my frantic search for stores in Bangalore didn’t lead me anywhere. Even the candy shops in malls ran out of stock. Are they kidding me???

I badly wanted to make them in my kitchen. Google gave ample recipes, most of them had one thing in common, corn syrup and gelatin. Corn syrup is an ingredient that is impossible to get locally and I would have preferred the recipe without gelatin. I’ve never used gelatin in the past, since agar-agar has worked mostly for me. I was skeptical how the marshmallows would turn out if agar powder was used. Despite all the possible research online, I concluded that gelatin was the only way I could get these right, at least for my first attempt. Again, since this was the first time I was attempting marshmallows, I decided to stick by what the recipe demanded, of course minus the corn syrup.

It turned out that these marshmallows were the best ever I’ve tasted. Absolutely yum and totally melt-in-mouth feel. If you taste one of these you’ll realize why you may never want to go back to the store-bought ones. Making these were darn easy and hardly any effort. With no candy thermometer at hand, I was mentally prepared for disasters… what if the sugar syrup ended in a caramel… will I get the right consistency… what the heck is that soft-ball stage… will the syrup whip well to marshmallow cream… will I be able to lift these marshmallows off the tray… if these fail, then what next… ???

Quite a lot of study went into making these little sweet treats. Several sites, recipes, reviews, comments which helped me gear up making these in my kitchen. I was armed with puffed rice at hand to make rice krispies, should these fail on me. And if the marshmallow cream failed to set, my digestive biscuits and dark chocolate were at my custody for some S’mores. Bear with me, these photos were taken at night on my kitchen counter with flash on. What was meant to be a weekend activity, I ended up making these on a weekday night. Put my little tot early to sleep and nudged myself to make these, I could barely hold my excitement. Sugar syrup went on a rolling boil and I kept looking for that soft-ball stage. Every time I threw a drop of that syrup in cold water it would dissolve into thin water. I gave up on that technic and instead stuck by India method of single thread consistency. A safer bet. Dropped a tiny dollop of syrup on a steel plate, allowed it to cool a little and then checked their consistency between my thumb and forefinger for a single string. It worked well. My mixer bowl had the gelatin blooming, however the moment the sugar reached that right stage, in the final boil, I threw in the gelatin to the hot syrup and gave a quick stir. Off the flame, I put the hot vessel directly on my stand mixer and gave the hot sugar syrup the desired blitz till it fluffed up and doubled in volume. Unlike what most recipes suggest (pouring the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl into the gelatin mixture), I added gelatin to the boiling syrup to avoid any lumps or un-dissolved gelatin stuff. I guess it worked well for me.

Homemade Vanilla Marshmallows (without Corn Syrup)

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup cold water
2 tbsp. gelatin
2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup water
A pinch of salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

To dust:

1 tsp. vegetable oil
1/8 cup cornstarch
1/8 cup powdered sugar

DIRECTIONS

Prepare a pan: Mix corn starch and powdered sugar. Grease a square baking dish and dust with the cornstarch-sugar powder thoroughly. Grease a spatula with vegetable oil to transfer the prepared marshmallow cream.

Sprinkle the gelatin over cold water and allow it to bloom. Prepare your stand mixer by attaching a balloon whisk. A balloon whisk will help in pumping good amount of air, thus helping them double faster. In a heavy saucepan, combine water and sugar. Bring to rolling boil on medium heat, stirring occasionally. If you have a candy thermometer at hand, boil it till it registers 115 degrees C (235-240 F), soft ball stage. In case you don’t have one, drop a blob of syrup on a steel plate, allow it to cool a little and then check it’s consistency between the thumb and forefinger for a single string formation. As it cools down further you should be able to roll it into a soft ball. Many recipes suggest a soft ball stage by testing the syrup in a bowl of cold water, though I’m not sure why it didn’t work for me. Sugar tends to crystallize, hence keep a keen eye on your boiling syrup. Once it reaches the soft ball stage, quickly add in the salt and bloomed gelatin to the sugary syrup. Turn off the flame immediately and give a quick, proper stir to ensure that the gelatin has dissolved completely. It took me about 8-10 minutes to reach that stage.

Turn on mixer at low speed, slowly increasing it to high, beating it on the highest speed. Beat until very thick, fluffy and double in volume, about 12 minutes is what it took for me on a stand mixer. The entire mass will turn to a clean white fluff and when this cream no longer increases in volume it should be done. At this stage, add in the vanilla extract or flavoring of your choice and give a final whirl for a minute. Do not overbeat as it may stiffen and make it tougher to transfer. Do not feel tempted to touch or taste the marshmallow cream at this stage as it’s very sticky and stingy in nature and you’ll end up in mess everywhere!

Using the oiled spatula, transfer the cream to the greased tin. Scrape off all the batter from the bowl and spread evenly into the prepared pan. Gently level the tops using the greased spatula. Cool overnight or at least 4 hours before slicing. To slice, carefully transfer the entire sheet of marshmallows to a sugar-cornstarch dusted cutting board. Grease a very sharp knife or scissors and cut into desired squares. I suggest not to use a ridged knife as I had trouble cutting with them. Instead a sharp leveled knife should do that job better. Toss with remaining sugar-cornstarch mixture until all sides are evenly coated and no longer sticky.

To make mini-marshmallows, I used the rear end of greased piping nozzle, pressed them down on the marshmallow sheet and cut out rounds. To be used on marshmallow floats. They keep for over a week in air-tight containers. The longer you have them, the denser they get, making them perfect for cup of hot chocolate.

The entire process may sound lengthy and tedious, but honestly it isn’t much of an effort to make this fluff. Glad that these marshmallows turned out extremely yum and surpassed my expectations. My husband who’s not a fan of marshmallows too gave me a thumbs up. This recipe is a keeper for sure and I do intend to play with more flavors in future. Also, next on my card is an attempt to get them done the vegan way. Let’s see if the agar stuff works… will keep you posted.

Read more >>