Burmese Tea Leaf Salad/Lahpet Thoke

As a lot of my friends know,I am a foodie,luv to cook and try new vegetarian cuisines..One of my friend Wimala who shares the same passion as me mentioned about a Burmese restuarant in Sanfrancisco where they serve delicious Tea leaf salad.Since my neighbour Aye-Aye is from Burma I was asking her if she knows any burmese restuarants close by since SFO is a lil far away for me.She mentioned that she will make the salad for me.Luckily for me she was visiting her family in Burma the next day and when Aye Aye came back she made delicious tea leaf salad and gave me a packet of Pickled tea leaf..I was super excited to try the salad and make some more with the packet I got..This Salad is very easy to make and tastes delicious..The pickled tea leaf can be brought in any Asian stores.



Ingredients:

Pickled Tea leaves-the entire packet [Picture below for reference]
Cabbage-3 cups finely chopped
Tomato-1
Shallots-2-3 medium
Green chillies-1
grated ginger-2-3 tbs
Garlic-1 chopped
Cilantro-3 tbs chopped
lemon juice-2 tbs or more to taste





Method:

In a large bowl add finely chopped Cabbage,tomatoes,Shallots,green chillies,garlic,cilantro,pickled tea leaves and nuts[which come in the packet].Mix well.Add the squeezed lemon juice.Enjoy

Best Hot Cocoa Mix

Hope all is doing good and enjoying the Holiday season..It is been a long time since I have posted something in my cooking blog..with my cake orders and classes ,I am not able to keep up with the blog.There are a lot of new recipes to post,I will start with the Hot Cocoa mix ..
This is one of the best hot cocoa mix ever ..I have tried different recipes from Alton Brown,allrecipes to cooks illustrator,Some recipes doesnot have enough cocoa,some does not have enough sugar or creamy enough..but this recipe seems to have everything a hot chocolate smitten kitchen and all recipes



Ingredients:

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 cup milk powder
3 ounces semi- or bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt


Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until powdery. Keep it in an air tight container upto 2 months .

For making Hot chocolate: Heat one cup of milk in a saucepan over medium heat until steamy. Add 3 tablespoons hot cocoa mix and whisk it until all the cocoa mix is dissolved.Enjoy with Regular/Vegan Marshmallows or grated Chocolate..

Chickpeas with Basil, Coconut pesto

This is one of the easiest and delicious recipes. This recipe is a combinations of Italian/Indian and Indonesia flavors. Here are some of the health benefits of this recipe, Chickpea can help restore tone to skin and circulation. Coconut milk adds heartiness while keeping you cool. The refreshing sourness of lime helps wake you up out of winter hibernation. Basil aids digestion and opens up the pores, restoring a summer glow to your skin and Cilantro cleanses your body..:)
This recipe is adapted from joyful belly. I modifies the recipe according to my taste buds.



Ingredients:

1/2 cup Basil
1/2-1 tsp Cayenne Pepper
2 cup cooked Chick Peas (Garbanzo)
1 cup Coconut Milk
2 tbsp. desiccated coconut
kaffir lime leaves- 2
Juice from 1 whole Lime
2 tbsp. Olive Oil
salt to taste
Chopped coriander leaves-2tbs for garnishing


Chick peas with Coconut basil pesto


Method:

For the pesto sauce:
In a grinder add chopped basil,1/2 tbs olive oil,1/2 cup coconut milk, lime juice ,cayenne pepper and grind till smooth paste. Add the remaining coconut milk and mix well. Keep aside.
In a heavy bottom pan heat olive oil, add the cooked Chickpeas and kaffir lime. Sauté for 5 minutes in medium flame. Add the coconut milk paste, salt ,desiccated coconut and cook till all the water from the coconut milk is absorbed.
Garnish with Coriander leaves and more basil leaves. Serve hot with Rice or Chapatti's.
Note: You can also add chopped mint leaves to this recipe.

Thai Vegetarian Pumpkin Curry

Every year I get giant pumpkin's from my friends back yard. .After making Pumpkin Ellissery ,Pumpkin Halwa I still end up with leftover pumpkin..:). This is one more way I use the Pumpkin so I do not waste any of the yummy home grown pumpkin..:)


Ingredients:

1 cup coconut milk
1 cup Water
4-5 kaffir lime leaves
1 lb pumpkin -peeled and chopped in to 1 1/2 inch cubes
3-4 sprigs Thai basil
1-2 tablespoons Vegetarian Red Curry Paste{ I used the Ranch 99 Aroy vegetarian red curry paste]
Thai dried red chillies-2
Salt-to taste even thought the red curry paste has salt u may have to add a little more
[recipe courtesy-thaitable]



Method:

Pour half of the coconut milk into a pot, over medium heat. Add the red curry paste and mix it well with coconut milk. If your mixture starts to splatter too much, turn down the heat. Stir to prevent the bottom from sticking and burning. When the reddish oil starts to form, stir to let the oil bring out the flavor and aroma in the spices.

Add the pumpkin and stir to coat pumpkin with curry sauce. Add the rest of coconut milk and water. Each curry paste has different salt content so you really need to taste it. Simmer until the pumpkin is soft, about 15 minutes.

Add sliced red pepper and kaffir lime leaves. Add Thai basil. Turn off the heat. Mix well. Enjoy with Rice..

Note:
I added chopped galangal,one stem of lemon grass cut in 2 inch slices to the curry to give extra flavor. If you do not find Kaffir lime add more Basil since the curry paste have kaffir lime in it.

Eggless Mango Rava Cake

Happy Diwali to all ,my friends and family. This is one of my fav recipe when it come to Mangoes. Every year during Navaratri we invite a lot of people for " Bommai Golu".I make a lot of traditional India food for the guest who come to my home, this year I decided to experiment with a Mango cake recipe from "http://redchillies.us/2009/04/14/eggless-mango-cake/".Let me tell you this cake was delicious, easy to make and the cool part is the whole house smelled like ripe Mango. All my guest luved this cake and keep asking me for the recipe. Instead of emailing all the recipe I decide to post the recipe with the link. Hope you will try this recipe

[ Recipe courtesy-Bawarchi and rechillies..]

1 cup of Semolina/Rava/Sooji[no need to roast the rava ]

1 cup Mango pulp [Indian stores carry canned mango pulp]

1/2 cup Butter (melted)

1/2 cup Sugar

1 teaspoon Baking powder

½ tsp ground cardamom(elaichi)

1/2 cup chopped Cashew, slivered Almonds and raisins )

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.

Mix the Rava with sugar, cardamom, nuts, raisins and baking powder.
Add melted butter and mix well. I used my kitchen aid stand mixer since I was making 4 batches of the recipe. Finally add the mango pulp and mix again.
Place in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean when inserted to the cake batter. Let the cake cool in the cooling rack for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes flip the cake and let it cool completely. Cut and serve.

Method:

Eggless Buttery Hawaiian Lemon Bars

Hope all is well..If you are a huge fan of lemons you will luv luv this

recipe.I got a recipe book written by "Muriel Miura "long time back

when we went to hawaii.Since I like tropical desserts I really wanted

to try some recipes from that book.After one disaster recipe from that

book I didn't dare to try more until yesterday.One of my freind gave me

a bag full of meyer lemons after making lemon pickle,lemon rice there

was still a lot of lemons..:) so I decided to try some desserts.even

thought I was not sure if the recipe from the cookbook is going to come

out good I thought of giving it one more try....Surprisingly the Bars

came out awesome and tasted delicious...Here is the recipe:




Crust:

Softned butter-1 cup
Powdered Sugar-1/2 cup
Flour- 2 1/4 cups

Filling:

Egg replacer-6 tsp + 8 tbs warm water[or 4 eggs]
Sugar-2 cups
Lemon zest-1 tsp
Fresh lemon juice-1/2 cup
Flour-1/2 cup
Baking powder-1 tsp
Salt-1/4 tsp
Powdered Sugar

Method:

To prepare the crust,beat butter and powdered sugar together in a large

mixer bowl until creamy,beat in flour,blending throughly.Spread misture

evenly on the bottom of the well greased 9 x 13 x 2 inch baking

pan.Bake at 350 F for 18-20 minutes or until light golden brown.

Prepare filling by beating the egg replacer in a bowl until light,2

minutes.Gradually add sugar,lemon zest,lemon juice,flour ,bak pow and

salt.Beat until smooth.Pour the mixture over baked crust and bake 15-20

more minutes or until topping is light golden brown.Let it cool on a

wire rack,sprinkle pow sugar while still warm.Cut in bars...Enjoy..

Aqua de Jamaica[Hibiscus drink]

Every year I look forward to my fun vacation with my family.We like to know other culture,explore and try different food..This year we went to Guatemala .It was a good experience.We got to know about the Mayan culture,which was amazing.During our trip our guide took us to an Authentic Mexican retuarant and he suggested we try the "Aqua de jamaica" drink which is one of the speciality in Guatemala.It was really cool and refreshing.I wanted to make it again and again when I got back to US so I got some dried hibiscus from the grocery store in Guatemala .Here is the recipe

Ingredients:

Water-8 cups
Sugar-1 1/2 cups
Dried Hibiscus-1 cup
Cinnamon stick-1/2 stick[optional]

Method:

Put 4 cups of the water , sugar and cinnamon stick in a saucepan. Heat until boiling and the sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat.
Stir in the dried hibiscus flowers.
Cover and let sit for 20-30 minutes. Strain into a pitcher and discard
the used hibiscus flowers and cinnamon.
Add the 4 cups of the water ,stir well and Chill it for 2-3 hours.
Serve the drink with ice.Enjoy