Fruit Salad with Custard Sauce

This has been my family's favourite from the time I was a little kid. Any festive occassion, this is dish along with biriyani that marks the occassion. It might be nostalgia itself that makes this dish so enchanting..or it might be the subtlety with which the fruits mingles themselves with the custard. It is for you to decide.

For Fruit Salad

Mix fruits, cut into bite-sized chunks (use a mix of any fruits of your choice, excluding citrus fruits like orange or kiwi). My favourites are apple, banana, pears, grapes, mango, pineapple and pomegranate.

Cloves - 3No.s

Cinnamon - 1"pc

Cardomom - 3No.s

Crush these together.

Boil 1 cup of water with 2Tbsp sugar and crushed spices in a pan until the sugar melts. Add the cut fruits and let boil until the juice reduce to little amount. Add 1Tbsp lime juice and 2 drops of vanilla essence. Remove from fire and refrigerate after cooling.

Prepare the custard as per the package. Refrigerate.

At serving time, take 2Tbsp fruits in a serving bowl, pour custard over it, garnish with raisins and cashew nuts pieces.

From Bahrain...With Love

Who hasn't tasted this de.li.ci.ous dessert and fell in love with it!!! 

Bahrain has almost become synonymous to this exquisite sweet, at least for the gastronomers. This jelly like sweet, made from corn startch, saffron and nuts, highlighted with the taste of cardamom, has taken the center piece of all arabic desserts.

Comes in 2 varieties and personally I favor the red one over the green.

Raspberry and White Chocolate Muffins

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 2 cups
 baking powder - 3 tsp

salt - a pinch

brown sugar - 3 cups

White chocolate chips - 1 cup

raspberry, chopped - 1 cup

Milk - 1 cup

Vegetable oil - 1/2 cup

Egg - 1

lemon juice - to taste


Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Prepare the muffin pan by greasing with little oil or use paper cups. Please note that if you prefer a crunchy crust, you should not use paper cups.

Sieve the flour together with sugar, baking powder, salt to make sure that everything is mixed together well. Add the chocolate chips and the chopped berries to this and stir gently to combine. 

Whisk together the milk, egg, oil and lemon juice until well mixed.

Gently stir in the combined dry ingredients to this, take care not to beat the batter too much. Just 10 - 15 light strokes to mix everything in will do. 

Pour the mixture into the baking cups until a little more than half full and bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted int he center comes clean. 

Let cool for a few minutes, and serve.

Chocolate Heart Cake

This is a chocolate chiffon cake with a layer of chocolate cream covered with chocolate ganache. 

Chocolate Chiffon Cake:

3 large eggs, separated

1 large egg white

1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar, divided

2/3 cup (85 grams) all purpose flour

1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon (40 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder 

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (120 ml) safflower, canola, or corn oil

1/3 cup (80 ml) water

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Chocolate Whipped Cream:

1/2 cup (120 ml) heavy whipping cream

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 tablespoons (28 grams) granulated white sugar

3/4 tablespoon cocoa powder

Ganache:

8 ounces (227 grams)semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, cut into small pieces

3/4 cup (180 ml) heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons (28 grams) unsalted butter

Garnish:

Fresh Raspberries(optional)

Raspberry Sauce(optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven.  Butter and flour an 9-inch heart-shaped cake pan (with 2 inch (5 cm) sides).

Chocolate Chiffon Cake:  
Separate the eggs, placing the whites in one bowl and the yolks in another.  To the whites, add the extra egg white and then cover both bowls with plastic wrap.  Bring them to room temperature (about 30 minutes) before using.

Meanwhile sift together 2/3 cup (130 grams) granulated white sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.

In a liquid measuring cup, whisk together the oil, water, and vanilla extract.

In your electric mixer beat the egg yolks for a minute or two on high speed.  Turn the mixer on low speed and slowly pour the oil mixture into the egg yolks until very well combined.  Gradually add the flour mixture and beat until well incorporated.

In a separate mixing bowl, with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until foamy.

Add the cream of tartar and continue to beat until soft peaks form.  Gradually beat in the remaining 1/3 cup (65 grams) of sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.  With a large rubber spatula or wire whisk, gently fold the egg whites into the batter just until blended (being careful not to deflate the batter). 

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 35 to 45 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.  (When lightly pressed the cake will spring back).  

Cool on a wire rack.  To remove the cake from the pan, run a sharp knife around the inside of the pan to loosen the cake.  Invert onto a wire rack. 

For Chocolate Whipped Cream:  In a large mixing bowl combine the whipping cream, vanilla extract, sugar, and cocoa powder.  Cover and chill the bowl and beaters in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, preferably an hour, so the cocoa powder has time to dissolve.  Beat the mixture until stiff peaks form.

To Assemble the Cake:  Once the Chocolate Chiffon Cake has cooled completely, place on a flat surface and, using a serrated knife, cut the cake, horizontally, into two layers.  Turn over the top layer of the cake (so the top of the cake becomes the bottom) and spreadwith the chocolate whipped cream. Place the second layer of cake, cut-side down, on top of the chocolate cream, gently pressing to compact.Cover with plastic wrap and place the cake in the refrigerator for several hours, or even overnight, before covering with the ganache.
Recipe Source: www.joyofbaking.com


This is my entry for the Hearts for St.Valentine's Day Contest.

and 

Bake-a-Cake – A Valentine’s Day Special event!

by Nina

Happy Valentine's Day

"Life's greatest happiness is to be convinced we are loved."

Wishing everyone a lot of love and quality time with with your loved ones this Valentine's Day.

My kids selected the treat this year.

Frosted Heart Cookies

Hearty Chocolate Cake

Tender Coconut Pudding

A tropical fiesta. Simple yet delicious.

While coconut as such is grown and widely used over the tropical countries, tender coconut is a phenomenon particularly experienced and relished by Keralites.

Young coconuts used for coconut water are called tender coconuts: when the coconut is still green, the inside is thin and tender, and is often eaten as a snack, but the main reason to pick the fruit at this stage is to drink its water. The water of a tender coconut is sweet (mild) with an aerated feel when cut fresh. Depending on its size a tender contains 300 to 1,000 ml of coconut water.

The meat in a young coconut is softer and more gelatinous than a mature coconut, so much so, that it is sometimes known as coconut jelly. When the coconut has ripened and the outer husk has turned brown, a few months later, it will fall from the palm of its own accord. At that time the endosperm has thickened and hardened, while the coconut water has become somewhat bitter.

When the coconut fruit is still green, the husk is very hard, but green coconuts only fall if they have been attacked by molds, etc. By the time the coconut naturally falls, the husk has become brown, the coir has become drier and softer, and the coconut is less likely to cause damage when it drops, although there have been instances of coconuts falling from palms and injuring people, and claims of some fatalities. This was the subject of a paper published in 1984 that won the Ig Nobel Prize in 2001. Falling coconut deaths are often used as a comparison to shark attacks; the claim is often made that a person is more likely to be killed by a falling coconut than by a shark, yet, there is no evidence of people ever being killed in this manner.

The cavity is filled with coconut water, which is sterile until opened. It also mixes easily with blood, so for these reasons it was used during World War II as an emergency transfusion liquid for patients who had lost a lot of blood.

It contains sugar, fiber, proteins, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, and provides an isotonic electrolyte balance, making it a highly nutritious food source. It is used as a refreshing drink throughout the humid tropics, and is also used in isotonic sports drinks.

Source: Wikipedia

Ingredients:

Tender coconut juice, fresh or canned - 1 No
Thick coconut milk extract - 2 cups

Fresh milk - 1 cup

Gelatine -

Nestle Sweetened Condensed Milk - 1No

Sugar - 2 Tbsp

Method:

Take the juice from the tender coconut in a pan and bring to a boil. Add gelatine, mix well and turn the heat off. Let cool to room temperature.

Extract the milk from the coconut. Use only the thick first milk.

In a blender, mix together coconut milk, fresh milk, boiled and cooled gelatine, condensed milk and sugar and beat well until everything is mixed together and a foam starts to build on the top.

Pour into pudding dish or individual serving dishes and chill until set.

Garnish with slices of tender coconut scrapped from the fruit.