Rasaswad

In a small ziploc bag, crush half a pack of swad cashew chikki into big crumbs using a rolling pin.  In a small pan, heat about 1/3 cup sugar until amber colored. Add about a tablespoon of salted butter, and a few splashes of heavy cream. Add a good pinch of sea salt, and cook until the sauce get a nice consistency. Prepare ice-cream base according to the machine instructions (this was our first time using it). I used  1 cup milk + 3/4 cup sugar + 2 cups heavy cream + 1 tablespoon vanilla + 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste. I removed about half of the vanilla ice-cream to eat by itself. In the remaining mixture, stir in most of the chikki crumbs, and some of the caramel sauce. Remove into a container, and then drizzle more caramel sauce, and sprinkle the chikki crumbs, followed by more caramel drizzle. Cover and keep in the freezer.

This cake for L.'s Birthday started with grand plans which quickly turned into a series of shortcuts due to complete lack of energy to bake on a Friday night. It turned out to be one of the tastiest cakes I've ever made and L. simply loved it. So I figured I'm going to keep this shortcut recipe. I did end up using two frostings, which I think was worth it, since I couldn't have had the correct balance of chocolate and hazelnut flavors otherwise. I did end up winging most of the measurements though.. The cake had five main components: sponge, syrup, ganache, frosting and nuts.  The sponge was inspired by this original version (but I ended up changing the process a lot): http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/opera-cake-230481 The Nutella frosting was inspired by this: http://cookiesandcups.com/whipped-nutella-frosting/ For the sponge, here's what I did. Preheated over at 425 and prepared two 9 inch round pans with butter, flour and parchment paper. I...

It's L.'s Birthday today, and I wanted to make a nice, comforting breakfast for him. Instead of going the fancy route, I went back to basics, and he loved it. Here's what I did: Microwave one russet potato till cooked. Peel and mash by hand. Take about 1/4 cup of store bought shredded carrots and chop it further to get a very fine dice. Prep about a tablespoon of In a small pan, heat about 1 teaspoon of oil. Add a few mustard seeds, add 1/4 teaspoon each of crushed ginger and green chillies, and a pinch of hing. Add the carrots and saute for a few seconds. Add about 1/4 cup, or less of peptite green peas, and saute a little more. Add a pinch of turmeric, a pinch of red chilli powder, a big pinch of amchur powder, a pinch of chat masala and salt. Add the potatoes, 2 tbsp ricotta cheese (or fresh paneer crumbs), cilantro, juice of half a lime, mix everything and turn off the flame. I used four slices of a nice pane bread (with sunflower seeds) for two sandwiches. Spread...

With a little bit of weekend prep, this comes together easily on a weeknight. Prep: Dark Brown sauteed, sliced onions (about 1/3 cup..after browning). About 1/3 cup of onion, tomato, ginger, garlic, turmeric masala (prepared in a slow cooker). Wash and soak 11/2 cups of basmati rice. Thaw paneer in the microwave (about two minutes), and cut into smallish cubes. Heat ~2 tbsp oil in a big pan. Fry Paneer cubes on 2-3 sides till golden brown. Take out the pieces and set aside. Add a tbsp of ghee to the same pan, add jeera, 2 cloves, 1 small piece of cinnamon stick, a few peppercorns, 2 bay leaves, 1 whole cardamom, 1 javintri. Now add the pre-browned onions, ~1/4 of green bell pepper, diced, 2 tbsp cashew pieces, 1 tbsp golden raisins, a handful of shredded carrots, and saute a bit. Add 2 tbsp dhania powder, the onion-tomato masala and saute everything nicely. Add the soaked rice and saute. Add 2 cups water, 1 piece of green chilli split, and salt and cook until most of the water evap...