My version for Tiramishu

Yall,
I love tiramisu.
I first tasted it in my friends party.
I was not able to get Lady fingers recipe.
I walked to BJ's to get my recipe items which is just a quarter mile.

I don't want to use Wine unless the whole alcohol content evaporates.
So i changed the complete version to make it.

I made tiramisu in my way.

Ingredients:

white Cake mix - 1 cup
Brown sugar - 3 tbsp
White granulated sugar - 5 tbsp
Mascarepone cheese - 1/4th pint
Cream cheese - 1/4th pint
Instant coffee powder - 1tbspn
Hot chocolate powder -1 tbsp
Strawberry crush - 3 tbsp

Preperation
Crumble the soft cake after baking.
On a 5'' baking pan, spread the crumbled cake in a 1/2 inch layer.
Melt the brownsugar with vanila in 3 tblspn water.
Pour generously the brown sugar syrup over the cake
Now beat the cream cheese with strawberry crushed in sugar and vanila and 5 tblspn suger
Now beat the mascre pone cheese with 5 tblspn sugar.
Spread the mascrepone cheese as a layer on top of crumbled cheese.
Top it with hot chocolate powder with a tea strainer.
Now spread the remaining crumbled cake as a layer and pour the brown sugar
Top it with cream cheese and spread one more layer of crumbled cake.
Keep it in the refridgerator for halfan hour and take it outside.
On a serving plate, dump the cake upside from the baking foil on the serving plate.
Spread a layer of whipping cream.
Top it with powdered instant coffee powder and seerve cold.

Betty crocker extra moist chocolate marble cake with icing

Hi,
This weekend we were expecting our friends at home.
I prepared a cake with instant cake mix for the first time.
I cooked the cake on friday night to set it cool all night long.
It came so well that my husband who tries to be away from sweets couldnt stop from eating.
The most delicious is the topping and the icing.

Betty corker marble cake:

1 box Betty corker vanilla instant cake mix
Chocolate sauce- around 1/4th cup
Strawberry flavored milk powder mix - 3tblspoons.
Heavy whipping milk - 1 pint
chocolate fudge icing 2 tablespoons
Sugar syrup.
Strawberry sauce.



Mix the batter according to the instructions adding 1/4th cup of oil, 1 1/2 cups of water, 3 egg whites.
Be sure that there are no lumps.

Divide the batter in to two parts.
Mix the strawberry powder mix in half the batter.
Leave the other for chocolate marble.
Greese the aluminum tray with oil and dust all purpose flour.

Fill the strawberry and plain batter in two 6" baking pan.
In one of the pan, top the cake batter with 4 tablespoon of chocolate sauce and turn the spoon in the batter in s shape.
In the other pan, fill the strawberry batter.
Bake them for 475 degrees in the oven for 20 min.
Remove them from oven and cover the lids with an aluminum foil.
Set it to normal room temperature.


Cut the cake at sides and at the top to make it a perfect size.
After it cools, wet it with sugar syrup.
On the chocolate marble cake, top it with chocolate fudge icing.
Put the strawberry cake on the marble cake after icing.

Beat the heavy whipping cream and add 1/4th cup sugar.
You can even add extra sugar for more sweetness.

Set in the the fridge for 5 hours till the icing will be a lil tight.
First start with icing the sides.
After the sides completes, apply on the cake.
Take a icing pipe and fill it with chocolate frosting and border the cake on the bottom.
Apply strawberry icing and apply the borders on the top.
You can leave the cake without decorations.

But i prepared the icing to learn icing techniques which i learnt from youtube.

Chill it in the refridgerator and serve cold.

A cool massage for hot head

Really i want to beat the recession with a massage.
Massaging is my favorite relaxation method.
I love to massage my back whenever i have a very bad headache.
I am affected by migraine a lot.
Once i get attacked to migraine, i will have stiff muscles for around 1 week.
My headache will disappear in a day but the stress will be like hell.
Once i get a shoulder or a back massage, and have a good night sleep, i feel relaxed.

Here is my massaging oil recipe that i make it home to relax my muscles.

I always use fresh herbs.
Some have a sensitivity to light, smell, sounds when attacked by migraine.
Me too.
I really cant get under sun and cant bear strong smells.
Even a fragrance.
So instead of getting oils from store, i make it at home.

Lavender massage oil:

Fresh lavender- 1 inch stem
Olive oil - 1/2 cup
jojoba oil - 1 1/2 table spoon
Sesame seed oil - 1/2 tablespoon

Mix all oils along with lavender stem for 15 min at low heat till you get a mild aroma.
The jojoba oil helps to heal dry skin.
Sesame seed oil will help to nourish the skin.
The aroma of lavender will change your mood and relax your muscles.

Italin Luna Pasta

Today recipe is
Here is my recipe for Luna pasta.

My recipe is as follows:
I like onions when they are just tossed in oil and gets the lil sweet and crunchy taste.
So i added them at the last along with tomatoes.
Ingredients:
Penne Pasta 1 cup
Berttoli pasta sause with garlic and basil half bottle
green pepper
red pepper
onions diced
baby corn 10
beans - 10nos
baby carrots - diced in to circles
Chardony wine 1/2 cup
garlic 2 cloves.

Preperation:

Boil pasta with garlic salt, fresh basil, and oregano and salt to taste till tender.

Fry minced garlic in olive oil and add mixed vegetables except onion.
Fry for 10 min till tender and add chardony white wine.
Let it cook for 10 more min to evaporate the alcohol.
Alcohol evaporates at 175 degrees.
Cook for 10 min till alcoholic taste is taken away by a sweet smell.
Add boiled Penne pasta and toss it for 10 min.

I have experiemented for the first time with wine in cooking.
This weekend, my hubby broug ht me white wine luna di luna chardonnay pinot grigio.
This was the first time i tasted white wine.
I even tried red wine tooo.
But i didnt like them much.
My hubby makes fun of me and says Black Label is more tasty than wine.
But i dont agree with him.
I never tasted black label or any other alcohol.
So i said this is better than what you drink
Ofcourse the alcohol content is less than black label.
This white wine my hubby got is luna di luna chardonnay pinot grigio, which is from Veneto, italy.
The taste of my pasta was enhanced by chardony wine.
Try my pasta recipe and tell me how it is

Nuvvu chintakaya dondakaya pacchadi

Hieeeeeee,
Last week i saw a health program in maa tv which comes at 7 in the morning.
"Mee aarogyam mee chethilo"
The anchor is a Ayurveda doctor.
It shows different oil less cooking recipes
One of them is Dondakaya Pacchadi
I made a lil modifications to the chutney.
My recipe is as follows:

1/2 pound Dondakaya
5 tblspns Chintakaya thokku(or chintakaya pacchadi)
Green chillies 5-8 depending on your spice preferences
Nuvvulu/ Sesame Seeds 5 spoons
Tempering:
Chana daal
Mustard seeds
curry leaves
hing/asefotida
jheera

Fry the tempering items in oil and add Dondakaya and fry for 5 min on medium flame
Increase the heat to high and fry for 1 more min and add a 1tbl spoon of thick yogurt
fry for 1 more min and decrease the flame to Low and close it with a lid for 10 min till they are half cooked
Remove from flame
Nou add Chintakaya tokku/tamrind crush to the dondakaya and blend it coarsly with grinder.
Do not mix it like a paste.
Serve it hot with Hot rice topped with butter/ghee.

This recipe is best for the ones who dont like dondakaya at all.
The tamrind crush will take over the taste of dondakaya.
If you are using tender tamrind add a tblspoon of lemon juice to it.
This recipe is very good for diet.


My version for oil less cooking is:

Fry the tempering items dry and set aside to cool
Nou fry sesame seeds and keep aside.
To manage the fat content, cut the tindoras in to round thin slices and add curd to it and boil for 10min till half cooked.
Remove the lid and fry it till the water goesaway.
Add the tempering, sesame seeds to the boiled tindoras and fry for 5 more min..
Remember do not boil till tender
Only halfcooked pls.
Blend it in blender with tamrind in to a coarse paste.
The fat in the vegetable and fat in the seseme seeds will help to cook the tindoras.
This tastes good when served with tender onion for eating raw.
Try this and tell me hou this tastes.
Bye

Lavander plant

Hi,
Last week i got a lavander plant from my nursery near our house.
The tree was as small as 1 inch.
The smell of lavander is killing my hearts that i dont want to cut the leaves.
A touch of leaves is giving me a lovely aroma.
I read that lavander is good for mood change.
It helps as a mosquito repellant
Here is my lavander plantand is 3 inches.
I have transfered it to this big planting pot of 2 gallons.

My Methi plant

Hieeeeeeeee again
I planted Methi seeds in my patio and was eagerly waiting to germinate.
Sprouts came the next morning.
And today they were around 1 inch high and roots grew much longer.
I am expecting them to grow to cook in just 1 more week.

Aratipandu lamba lamba

What is this you might think.
If you are a Telugu speaking and that too a fan of "Jandhyala movies" you might know what it means.
Or else see this link you will get it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUYHyaoekDg&feature=related
you will laugh till you cough.
When i first opened this blog, i remembered this scene from movie "Chantabbai"
When i was in my graduation, i have a friend named Salomi Chirsolite.
She is a half English and half Indian.
One day she had a different recipe in her lunch box.
She was so excited to show her new recipe that she had done at her home.
It is deep fried Banana Bonda.
When she showed us the recipe, we remembered the scene above.
But the recipe was very very tasty.
With her recipe idea, i wanna try it as a desert with chocolate instead of besan powder and deep fried it.
I tried it and it came out very well.
I will post my fotographs on friday for water melon, and this recipe.
Please bear with me.
She used Besan powder but i don't want to deep fry it.
So i wanna try with chocolate and it went so so so so well.
My recipe follows here:

Don't use to much of ripen banana's
1 banana
1/4th cup of milk chocolate chips
1/4th cup of white chocolate/cappuccino chips
1/4th cup of Dark chocolate chips.
Cake dough
Muffin cups.

slice the banana in to 1/2 inch round slices.
Take cake dough and fill 1/2 cup of muffin cups.
On the top of it, put the banana slices and bake in the oven for 350 degrees.
Melt the all the chocolate chips in microwave
Now dip the banana muffin and top it with molten milk chocolate chocolate chips
repeat this process again in white chocolate and then dark chocolate.
Serve it on a serving bowl with ice cream on the side of muffins and top it with caramel.

I start with water melon the summer thirst quencher.

I love tasting different foods.
Of all I love


And my husband loves Mangoes.
As soon as summer arrives, my heart runs for Watermelons and sugar cane juice.
I want to show my love for watermelons by posting my first recipe post on them.

And that tooo on the Juices.
Everybody posts recipes.
But presentation makes them different.

My recipe for watermelon is Water melon Juice.

Water melon Juice:
Ingredients:
1/2


3spns of crystalised sugar
Pinch of salt
Mint leaves- Around 10 leaves.

Preperation method:
Seperate the flesh from water melon.
Take out the seeds in the watermelon.
Blend the watermelon pieces with 3 chunks of ice cubes, 5 mint leaves, and sugar crystals.
Keep aside the watermelon juice in a wide dish for about 15mmin.
This seperates the water and the watermelon fiber.
Using a cheesecloth or a kitchen napkin in a strainer strain the juice.
While straining the juice, using a spatula as a filter, pour the juice in the strainer.
The spatula helps in stopping most of the fiber in to the strainer.
Keep it in the refridgerator till you serve.
Take a thin slice of watermelon flesh around 1/2cm wide and cut it in to small cubes like sugar cubes.
While serving, put the watermelon chunks over the juice in a glass.
Pull a tender stem of mint leaves and decorate it on the glass before enjoying your drink.

On a summer day, offered a billion dollar bill or a

, you will with no doubt go for the watermelon.
Its my Thousand Billion dollars bet.

My small tip:
When you remove the flesh from watermelon, dont throw away the white part of watermelon.
We can make a lovely "Watermelon chutney"
I will share my secret watermelon recipe with you in my next blog.

"Inspired to cook" from dad.

My name is ANIMISHA
Which means
My dad is a great cook.
He cooks egg curry and biryani great.
My mom is a vegetarian and wouldnt touch eggs.
So my dad is in charge of cooking egg curry.
My cooking basics are from my dad.
And my first cooking lesson is "EGG OMELET"

Of course my mom also learn't cooking from my dad initially.
So my dad is my cooking inspiration.
I love his Biryani with raitha.
From my childhood, i used to be at the back of my mom in her kitchen.
Both my mom and dad are working and i used to help them in cutting, and tossing foods.

My baking ideas are from my moms sister.
I learnt basics of baking from her.
She cooks Rum cake very good.
I remember those days of experimenting home made ice creams, custards and cakes.
My mom and my aunt are vegetarians.
They do not eat even eggs.
Even for our birthdays, the cakes were eggless.

Only after my Aunt Bala joined in Home sciences degree our complete food concepts have changed.

I prepared Fruit Jams, Plum cakes and a lot more.
I will tell you about my childhood experiences later.

I want to tell you who is my Blogging Inspiration
After coming to US, we went to one of my hubby's offices located in Herndon, Virginia.
We stayed at our friends place for 2 weeks.
Their names are GITA and JAI SHANKAR
Gita is a very good cook.
Me and my husband are great fans of her food.
The first time we were at her place, she cooked Tamilnadu Sambhar.
My husband is a big fan of her foods.
If i am trying any new foods, i have to search for recipes with "no ginger and onions"