Caramel Wings

This recipe was just a result of pure craving. I was craving for something sweet, chocolaty, chilled and yum all at the same time. When you have the right ingredients at hand, a yummy treat is just 5 minutes away!

5 Minute Oreo Shake
Serves 4
Recipe : Self

Ingredients:

400 ml Vanilla Ice Cream
1 1/2 Cup Milk (I used Low Fat Cow Milk)
10 Oreo Cookies (6 + 4)
4 tbsp Sugar
Chocolate Chips (Optional)

Method:

Take 4 Oreo cookies and split them half open. Remove the cream and add it with all the other ingredients (Except 1/4th of the Ice Cream and Chocolate Chips if adding) in a Blender. Save those 4 cream-less cookies. Chop them up into pieces. You can always add more cookies!



Fill up 4 tall glasses three quarters of the way up and top with remaining Ice Cream, a tablespoon or so on top of each glass. Divide the chopped remaining cookies among the 4 glasses and garnish on top. Add Chocolate Chips if desired. Serve chilled and thank me later! :D

I find myself worrying a lot when I have to cook for a crowd. I mean a small crowd of 4-5 people. As much as I love feeding people I also like to take the quick way out and not punish my body by spending an entire day in the kitchen. If it's quick, could be planned ahead and gives me a lot of free time while it cooks, I am in love with such recipes already. Add to it when they are fancy as well as served homestyle, everyone is a winner.

I made this Homestyle Mac n' Cheese over a year ago for a house party for my brother's friends, and I had to remake it thanks to people asking me for the recipe and saying they still remember how it tasted. The beautiful garlicky bread crust on top adds a new dimension altogether to the ever so awesome classic. I tweaked the recipe a bit to incorporate less cheese (if it cuts down calories without compromising the taste, why not?) and added a good dash of Nutmeg. Hope you guys like it!

Homestyle Mac n' Cheese
Serves 5
Recipe : Various + Self

Ingredients:

300 gm Macaroni elbows (I used Semolina Macaroni)
1 cup Milk
1/4 Cup Butter (I used Ghee)
3 tbsp All Purpose Flour
1 tsp Nutmeg Powder
2 tbsp Pepper
Salt to taste
1 cup of Water in which the Macaroni was cooked
1.5 cups Loosely packed shredded Cheddar Cheese.

For the crust:

5 slices of stale bread. Crumbed
A handful of Coriander/Cilantro leaves, chopped
2 tbsp Butter/Ghee at room temperature
A pinch of Salt
1 tbsp Sugar
6 cloves of Garlic, minced.

Method:

Cook the Macaroni elbows as per package instructions until al dente. They should be almost cooked.



Drain them in a colander but be sure to reserve a cup of Pasta Water. Just in case.



In a deep pan, heat up the Butter until its bubbling up. (I used Ghee so no bubbles for me)



Add in the Flour and stir to make a Roux. It would look frothy and bubbly.



Add in Milk and stir well. You can feel the mixture thicken up.



Add in Salt, Pepper and Nutmeg Powder. Stir to incorporate.



Now add the Pasta, followed by the Cheese and mix well.



If the pasta feels too dry, add in some Pasta Water. Remember we're gonna bake this so it's gonna get dryer in the oven.



Transfer this all to a baking dish. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Crumb the bread slices in a Food Processor.



In a bowl, Mix together the bread crumbs with Coriander, Garlic, Salt, Sugar and Butter, with your fingertips to form a moist bread mix.



Layer this over the Mac n' Cheese on the Baking tray. Cover up as much as possible.



Let this big guy go into the oven for 15 minutes or until there is a light golden crust on top.



Remove, let it cool for 10 minutes and serve! Super yummy homestyle Mac n' Cheese is ready!


This one is a total crowd-pleaser guys!

I should thank my Dentist for all the ice cream I have been eating over the past 3 days. After a grueling few months of spending nights with disturbed sleep and random migraines thanks to my toothache, I got my upper wisdom tooth from the left extracted, and was advised to have lots of ice cream! I am worse than Sheldon Cooper (from The Big Bang Theory fame) when it comes to after-ouchie behavior. I tried some store bought ice cream but my palate did not find any of the crystallized mumbo jumbo exciting. Very few ice creams out here are really worth it. Finally settled with a 100 ml Vanilla Cup!


The next day I could not take it anymore and just threw in a few ingredients at home together and landed with this awesome tasting Chocolate Iced Cafe Mocha! You guys should definitely try it. It's quick, and will definitely impress people too!

5 minute Chocolate Iced Cafe Mocha
Serves 2
Recipe by Self

Ingredients :

1 Cup Milk
200 ml Ice Cream
1 Cup Ice Cubes
2 tbsp Cocoa Powder
4 tbsp Hot Water
4 tbsp Sugar
1 tbsp Coffee Powder
Chocolate Chips and Coffee Powder for Garnish.

Method:

Dissolve Cocoa Powder in Hot Water. (We dissolve it in the water so that we don't get lumps in our drink :) )

In a Mixer/Blender/Grinder Add the Ice Cubes and blitz till you obtain an Ice Crush. Add in the Cocoa Powder mixture, Milk, Coffee Powder, Sugar, Half of the Ice Cream and blitz again. And that is pretty much it. You could also add some chocolate chips in there if you like it all extra chocolatey!

Pour in tall glasses, split the remaining Ice Cream into two and add half on top of each glass. Sprinkle with Chocolate Chips, you could even use Chocolate shavings, and also some Instant Coffee Powder. That is it!


Do let me know how you guys like it! :)

The aroma of bread baking in the oven is by far the best aroma to wake up to in my book. I rate it way above the aroma of even a freshly brewing coffee. I cannot stress enough on how awesome home baked bread is over anything store bought. You can do so many things with it, and it's like taking care of a baby, the handling process, the eternal wait while it increases in volume and to watch it bake in the oven and develop that beautiful golden brown on it's outside. I also did a 55 word fictional story on it sometime back, and would love to quote it here. The theme for the 55 word story was "Sexy"

I run my hands all over you. I know that the messier I get, the better would be this climax. I apply some pressure. But I must have faith, I must have patience.  Your yeasty fragrance penetrates through all my senses, and makes me feel so Sexy. Oh my freshly baked loaf of homemade bread!

I am that addicted to home baked bread. So when I saw this recipe on my most favorite food blog Macheesmo, I just knew I had to try it. And I highly recommend that you try it too. I baked this for my brother and his girl and this was the mood in my house.



So without any delay, I'm gonna put down the recipe for yummy in your tummy, and all other senses too. Here it goes:

Chocolate Chip Monkey Bread
Serves 10.
Recipe from Macheesmo

Ingredients:

For the Dough:

2 tbsp Butter, melted.
1 cup milk, warm
1/3 cup water, warm
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp instant yeast
3.25 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
2 tsp salt
3 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
1-2 tbsp butter, soft for bundt pan.
1 tsp vegetable oil, for rising

For the Brown Sugar Coating:

1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
8 tbsp unsalted butter , melted

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp milk

Method:


Get your Bundt Pan all greased up. I left mine in the fridge till I needed it coz otherwise the butter would melt up.


Mix up everything except Salt and Flour, stir and let the mixture sit covered for about 15 minutes.


Sift Flour and Salt together.


In 15 minutes, your mixture would look frothy like this.


Add it to the dry ingredients.


Knead into a smooth dough. Transfer it to a bowl rubbed with Oil and rub with some more oil over the top, cover and let it sit for 1.5 to 2 hours, till it almost doubles in volume. Punch the air out, and get a nice huge surface dusted with flour to work your bread.


Roll it into a nice huge rectangle. Mine looks like a weirdass shape! But no worries :)


Add chocolate chips on one side of the rolled dough.


Now fold it over!


Get your Melted Butter and Brown Sugar ready for dipping. Pull your Bundt Pan out of the fridge if you have put it in.



Mix in Cinnamon with the Brown Sugar


Now is the fun part. Cut the folded dough into squares.


Now dip them one by one in the Butter, and then the Sugar mixture, and then lay them in the pan.






Let these rise for a further 30 minutes. Meanwhile Preheat the oven to 170C/350F


Nicely risen! Now bake them for 35-40 minutes. Mine took 35 minutes. Keep a dish under the oven rack for all those overflowing juices and wait for gorgeousness.


Just look at it rise!


Just out of the oven!! Invert this on a plate after cooling for 15 minutes, work on the glaze in the mean time. Just mix the milk and sugar together and keep the paste ready.


Now to glaze it!


And then to pull apart with hand or toothpicks, and eat it!


And that is why,
Homemade Bread >>> Store Bought Bread.

Out of the few parts of India that I am a mixture of, South India is very dominant. There is South Indian food almost every Sunday at my place. Dosas and Idlis Galore!! This recipe is so unbelievably simple and yummy both at the same time! I used something called an Appam maker to make these, but you could just spread them out like Pancakes or Dosas and cook on the normal frying pan.

Appam with Coconut Chutney.
Serves 4
Recipe : Mommy Dearest.

Ingredients :

1 cup Semolina/Rava
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 Cup Buttermilk
1 tbsp Sugar
1 tsp Salt
1 Small Onion, Chopped
2 Green Chilies, Chopped
Handful of Coriander Leaves, Chopped.
4 tbsp Oil

For the Coconut Chutney: (You can also Skip the Chutney and have these with Chili Sauce instead)

1 cup grated Coconut
3 tbsp Chana Dal
3 tbsp Water
Sugar and Salt to taste
2 Red Chilies, dried.
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
1 tbsp Curry Leaves
1 tsp Urad Dal
2 tbsp Oil

Method:

In a bowl, add the Semolina.


Add all the remaining ingredients and mix.


Let it rest for 10 minutes.


Heat up the Appam Pan or a Normal Pan  on medium high and lightly coat with Ghee/Oil






Drop the batter by spoonfuls in each pocket or use 4 tablespoons batter for each Pancake.


Let them cook for 2-3 minutes, then flip them over with a spoon/Spatula


Let them cook for another 1 minute on the other side and Voila! Repeat till all the batter is gone.





For the Chutney:

Grind together Coconut, Chana Dal, Water, Sugar and Salt.


Prepare tempering by heating oil, add Mustard seeds and when they begin to crackle, add Red Chilies and Urad dal, followed by Curry leaves. Pour over prepared Chutney. Serve with Appam!