Pumpkin Gel Pie

My little one recently visited a local pumpkin patch with her school and brought home a little pumpkin which is so cute like her! Look at the pumpkin! Isn’t it cute?

She placed the pumpkin in my hands and asked, “Mommy! Can you make me a pumpkin pie?” I told her OK and forgot about it. But she didn’t! Finally I decided to make the pie today and started searching for pumpkin pie recipes on the internet. Most of the pumpkin pie recipes involved lot of work. I am little lazy to do that much work to cook something. So I wanted to make something easier, but definitely a pie! With some imagination, I came out with this recipe that looked good and tasted great!

Ingredients:

• 1 small pumpkin (like in the picture) (makes 2 cups of pulp)
• 1 tbsp unflavored Gelatin 2 tsp Agar Agar
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• ½ cup Sugar
• 1 cup boiling Water
• 1 (9 inch) graham cracker crust (prepared one)

Method:

Wash the exterior of the pumpkin, remove the stalk and cut it into half like in the picture.

Remove the seeds and the stringy stuff inside by scraping with an ice cream scoop. I saved the seeds to make spicy pumpkin seeds powder, that goes well with rice.

Pour a cup of water in a microwave safe bowl and place the pumpkin pieces in it. If the pieces are too big to fit in the bowl, cut them into little pieces. Then cover the bowl and microwave on high power for 15 minutes.

Check if the pumpkin is soft and easy to be scooped out. If not, increase the time as needed. Leave the bowl for some time till the pumpkin pieces are cool enough to touch. Then scoop out the flesh, mash well with a fork until it becomes soft and fluffy. Add little water if needed. Then add the vanilla extract and mix well. Keep aside.

Later prepare the gelatin agar agar mixture. Mix gelatin agar agar and sugar in a small bowl. Add boiling water to it and stir it untilgelatin agar agar completely dissolves.

Add the gelatin agar agar mixture to the pumpkin mixture and mix well with a spoon. Pour this into the prepared crust. Refrigerate until the pie sets and becomes firm, approximately about 3 hours.

Garnish with whipping cream and enjoy.

My Notes: As I used only ½ cup of sugar in this recipe, the pie didn’t taste so sweet. I think we better add 1 cup of sugar to make it sweeter.

This is my contribution for Madhuram’s “AFAM: Pumpkin” event. “A Fruit A Month (AFAM)” was the brainchild of Maheswari.

I am also sending the Pumpkin Seeds Powder, which I posted long back to the above event.

On a different note:

Thanks Priya and Rekha for passing the “chocoholic award” to me. So sweet of you!

Who can resist chocolates! I haven’t made any recipes with chocolates though! I always buy those from the store. White chocolate is my most favorite kind of chocolate.

I would like to pass this award to:

Madhuram

Medhaa

Meera

Red Chilies

Rosie

Sia

Congratulations Friends!

And I also would like to thanks Daily Meals for passing me the “Butterfly Award”. Thanks for your nice gesture DM!

Continue Reading....

Moong Bean Fritters

I made these fritters (vadas) last week and thought would be perfect for My Legume Love Affair: A Fourth Helping”, an event hosted by Sra and started by Susan of the Well-Seasoned Cook.

Continue Reading....

Coconut Pudding

After I made Coconut Cookies for Madhuram’s “Egg Replacement Event”, I had some left over silken tofu. Then I remembered Vaishali’s “Sweet Vegan” event and googled for different vegan recipes and found this coconut pudding recipe here. So adopted this recipe and made this delicious pudding.

Ingredients: (Makes 4 servings)

• 1 lb. Silken Tofu


• ½ cup Sugar


• ½ tsp. Vanilla Extract


• ½ cup shredded Coconut (fresh or dry)

Method:

Mix tofu + sugar + vanilla extract in a blender and blend until creamy and soft.

Then transfer this tofu mixture to a bowl and add the coconut and mix well.

Pour into individual bowls or glasses and chill in a refrigerator for an hour or so.

Serve topped with chocolate sauce for extra treat. But this is just optional. It tastes great as it is without any sauce too!

This is my contribution to Vaishali’s “Sweet Vegan” event.

I am also sending this to “Sunday Snacks - Fix It” event hosted by Pallavi.

On a different note:

Thank you Ramya and Priya for passing me the "hard working food blogger" award. I appreciate for your nice gesture. This award goes to all the food bloggers who work so hard to present yummy recipes.

Continue Reading....

Power-packed Shake

Presenting another healthy milkshake from my kitchen laboratory that is not only healthy but also super delicious. Enjoy this shake with your breakfast. 

Continue Reading....

Date Laddus

Presenting another kind of laddus made with pitted dates in celebration of my 150^th post today. Actually I made these laddus during Navarathris. I found this recipe on the box of pitted dates that I bought from the store. It sounded so easy and delicious, so tried it and voila! A delectably sweet laddu came to life. This is very easy to make too!

As we all know, dates are rich in fiber and provide essential vitamins and minerals. Many other nutritional values of dates can be found here.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of pitted Dates


• 1 stick of Butter


• 1 cup of Brown Sugar


• 4 tbsp Water


• 1 tsp Vanilla Essence


• 1 cup of Rice Crispies Cereal
  

Preparation:

Heat a non-stick pan and add butter. When the butter melts, add the dates along with the sugar and water.

Cook the above mixture for 10 to 12 minutes over medium heat or until the mixture thickens like a paste. Keep stirring now and then.

Then remove from the heat and add vanilla essence and rice crispies and mix well.

Allow the mixture to cool enough to touch and roll into small balls.

Roll these balls again in finely shredded coconut or powdered sugar. I rolled in coconut.

These laddus can be stored in an airtight container up to a week to 10 days.

These laddus are my contribution to the following events:

1. “Yummy Festival Feast: Diwali” hosted by Pallavi.


2. “JFI: Festival Treats” hosted by Srivalli.


3. “FCI: Brown” hosted by Sunshinemom.

Continue Reading....

Apple Laddu

Laddus are the yummiest sweets, don’t you agree? During one of the navarathri festival days, I felt like making some laddus, but not like the regular ones. I wanted to make something new that was never made before. At that time, the mighty apples taking rest in the fruit basket caught my attention. So I wanted to give a make-over to those with a touch of sweetness. As a result, these laddus came to life! I am glad I thought of it and this recipe occupied my recipe list during parties.

Ingredients: (makes 27 medium Laddus)

• 3 big Apples (like in the picture)
• 1 can of Condensed Milk
• 1 cup desiccated Coconut
• Some Cardamom Seeds
• Some broken Cashews
• 1 tsp Ghee

Preparation:

Peel, core and grate apples. Keep aside.

In a non-stick bowl, add ghee, cardamom seeds and cashews. Stir until the cashews turn golden brown in color.

Then add the grated apples and stir well. After some time add coconut and mix well.

Finally add condensed milk and mix well. Leave the mixture on a medium flame until it thickens. Keep stirring frequently.

When the apple mixture thickens, transfer the contents into a plate and leave until it cools enough to touch.

Then take a small portion of the apple mixture and shape it into a ball. Repeat the same process with rest of the mixture. If the apple mixture is still warm to handle, in a plate take some cold milk, dip your hand in it and make the balls so that your hand won’t burn.

Roll these laddus in shredded coconut to give them good looks and make them more delicious.

Leave the laddus on the plate for some time and later store them in an airtight container.

But I have to tell you one thing here: these laddus are not hard like other laddus. These are little soft in texture, but I must say they tasted heavenly. These laddus can be stored in a refrigerator (up to 10 days) to give a long life.

These yummy festival sweets are my contribution to these events:

“Yummy Festival Feast – Diwali” hosted by Pallavi.

“JFI – Festival Sweets” hosted by Srivalli. JFI is the brainchild of Indira of Mahanandi.

Also sending this to "Original Recipes" event hosted by Lore.

Continue Reading....

Indira's Tomato Bath

This month we will be cooking the recipes from Indira’s Mahanandi for Tried & Tasted event hosted by Zlamushka. Indira needs no introduction, I guess! She has been the inspiration for many bloggers, I was no exception. Her site is like an encyclopedia of cooking. She provides a lot of information for a particular ingredient or recipe which will be so helpful to everyone.

I liked the way she prepared the simple tomato bath and made it so appealing both for the eyes and the stomach. So I wanted to make my favorite tomato bath in Indira’s style. It was so delicious and colorful too. Thanks for such a delicious recipe Indira!

I followed Indira’s original recipe to the letter, but I don’t know why I couldn’t get that vibrant color like Indira’s! The only change I made was replacing green peas and charoli nuts with cashews! Even though I couldn’t get that bright color, the tomato bath tasted so delicious. We enjoyed it with spicy red hot chili pickle (recipe coming soon!).

This is my contribution to Zlamushka’s Tried & Tasted event. Thanks for hosting such a nice event Zlamushka! It’s paving us the way to explore different blogs and try their wonderful recipes.

On a different note, I would like to thank Vibaas and Suma Rajesh for passing me the beautiful "Butterfly Award". Thank you ladies, so nice of you to think about me!

Continue Reading....

Coconut Cookies

I made these cookies substituting eggs with Silken Tofu. I heard of tofu before but didn’t know there were so many forms of tofu. This morning only I got the idea of trying my hand at using silken tofu in baking. So made a quick trip to the grocery shop and bought silken tofu. Then I started googling for recipes that use silken tofu as the substitute, but most of the recipes I found were either pudding or soups or smoothies. So thought of trying a cookie recipe and replace the egg with silken tofu. This cookie recipe caught my attention, that involved less work and I had all the ingredients in the pantry. 

Continue Reading....

Moong Dal Kichidi

A delicious, healthy and filling rice dish

Kichidi (or Pongali as we call in Telugu) is a staple food in many Indian households. This is usually served as breakfast during weddings too. In our case, we mostly eat this during dinner time. And we like our kichidi to be little spongy and soft, so I add an additional cup of water than the regular 2 cups water for 1 cup of rice. My version is little different than the authentic version.

Continue Reading....

Instant Cucumber Pickle

Whenever you crave for a pickle that involves no frying or grinding, then try this pickle. I used green American cucumber for this pickle. This is so easy to prepare with easily available ingredients.

Ingredients:

• 1 small Cucumber
• 1 tsp Sambhar Powder
• 2 tsp red Chili Powder
• A pinch of Turmeric
• 3 tsp Oil
• Salt

Preparation:

Wash the cucumber well and wipe off with a paper towel. There should be no moisture as this pickle tends to attract mold if wet.

Then peel its skin and chop into fine pieces. Transfer these pieces to a dry bowl.

Add all the rest of the ingredients to these pieces and mix well with a clean spoon or spatula.

Leave it covered for 30 minutes so that all the ingredients blend well.

That’s it! The yummy cucumber pickle is ready to be eaten. Enjoy this pickle with steaming hot rice.

This pickle can be stored in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. Never leave it outside when not using.

Updated to Add:

Sending this yummy pickle to Sunshinemom's "FCI: Brown" event.

Continue Reading....

Sia’s Goli Baje

As the deadline for Zlamushka’s Tried & Tasted event is approaching, yesterday I went for a stroll in Sia’s Place. As we all know, Sia is admired not only for breathtaking pictures but also for her delicious recipes. So after spending at least an hour (seriously!) at her place, trying to make a hard decision what to select, this Goli Baje recipe caught my attention. This was so easy to make and tasted delicious too. Thanks for such a wonderful recipe Sia!

Goli Baje served with Cilantro Chutney

I followed her original recipe to the letter. The little changes I made were, adding dried ginger powder instead of fresh ginger as I don’t have it on hand and using all purpose flour instead of maida/plain flour as suggested in the original recipe.

Anyway, I will give the recipe in the way I did.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup All Purpose Flour


• 1 cup Buttermilk


• 4 small green Chilies


• ½ tsp dry Ginger Powder


• ¼ tsp Baking Soda


• Salt to taste


• Oil to deep fry

Preparation:

Mix all the ingredients above except oil and make a thick paste.

Keep it covered for 2 hours (Sia suggested to keep it for 2-3 hours).

Heat the oil in a deep-bottomed pan. When it is hot, take small portions of the batter or paste with a spoon and drop carefully in the oil. Be careful not to burn your hand.

Deep fry them until they turn golden brown in color. Keep the flame in medium setting.

Serve hot with any desired chutney and a cup of hot tea/coffee.

These Goli Baje tasted so soft and delicious too. Thanks for the yummy recipe Sia!

In the original recipe Sia suggested to serve these with coriander chutney for which also she provided a recipe. But I didn’t make her chutney as I have the cilantro pickle we made some days back resting the refrigerator. So I used that pickle for dipping these yummy Goli Baje.

Goli Baje served with Cilantro Chutney

I am Sending these Goli Baje to Zlamushka’s Tried & Tasted: Monsoon Spice.

And these also go to “WYF: Party Food” event hosted by Easy Crafts.

Wait, wait! I forgot one more event!!!

These Goli Baje are also my contribution to Hima’s “Sunday Snacks: Fry It”.

Continue Reading....

Coconut Pickle

This pickle is one of my favorite pickles. Whenever we get fresh coconuts during festive seasons, we make sure to have this pickle. This time hubby dear made this pickle, which was delicious.

Ingredients:

• ½ shell of a fresh Coconut, cut into small pieces
• 2 tsp Coriander seeds
• 3 or 4 dry red Chilies
• ¼ tsp Asafetida (Inguva, Hing)
• ½ tsp Tamarind pulp
• A pinch of Turmeric
• 3 green Chilies
• Salt as required
• 2 tsp Oil

Method:

Pour the oil in a pan. When it is hot add coriander seeds and fry till golden brown. Then add red and green chilies and stir well. Fry till the chilies lose color.

Finally add the coconut along with the turmeric and asafetida. The coconut pieces shouldn’t be
fried for a long time.

Transfer the contents to a different plate and let it cool. Then grind the coconut mixture into a coarse paste by adding salt. Add tamarind during halfway of the grinding process. Add little water if needed.

Enjoy this yummy pickle with hot rice and ghee.

Continue Reading....

Banana - Pomegranate Shake

Yummy and healthy combo of banana and pomegranate

This shake is the delicious milkshake, as certified my family. We all know the goodness of pomegranate, banana, milk and honey, don’t we? Any ways, let me educate you on the nutritional values of all these ingredients (even if you feel bored, he he!)

Continue Reading....