Valentines Hearts

V-day is always exciting to party with lots of yummy dishes and memorable presents from loved ones – well...that’s the way I adore my dear ones:)!

Valentine symbols, cupid- roses- hearts- love birds-love knots are quite famous even to this day and are made so attractive that it’s hard to take away one’s eye from them. But I wonder why cupid was chosen as an icon of Valentine’s Day – Because when I think about romance, a short chubby toddler coming to me with a weapon in his hand would be the last thing that comes on my mind LOL......too ingenious isn’t it ;)...Hmmm anyways....

Well...this time I made a perfect treat for my Valentine, a heart shaped dessert with cream & strawberries sandwiched and topped with chocolaty sugar Ummmmm yum yum!

And a sweet addition for our V-day gifts this time was a red colour heart decorated with lots and lots of glitters was the best from our little valentine -Yep my 28months old toddler came up with this charming heart with the help of his teachers at school, really amazed at those little hands ability:), take a look at it -

Here goes the recipe....

Ingredients

Jus-rol puff pastry sheet – 1
Beaten egg to glaze
Castor sugar for sprinkling
Crème fraiche – 8 to 10 tbspn (you can add according to your choice both crème and strawberries)
Fresh strawberries – 100g
Plain chocolate melted – ½ cup

Method

1. Preheat oven to 220deg.


2. Thaw the pastry sheet according to the instructions on the box. Unroll pastry sheet and cut around 8 hearts with a heart shaped cookie cutter. (i used medium sized cutter of a set of 3)


3. Prick each heart with a fork, brush with beaten egg and sprinkle lightly with some sugar.


4. Place these hearts on a greased baking sheet and bake for about 10min until risen and golden brown in colour. Let it cool.


5. Slice the strawberries and split the heart horizontally using a sharp knife.


6. Sandwich the heart together with crème fraiche and sliced strawberries. Drizzle the chocolate and dust some castor sugar over the tops of the heart.

Make your day with this gorgeous Valentines Hearts with few fresh strawberries :)!!!
Happy Valentine's Day!!!


Chocolate Valentine Cookies

Sorekayi Palya/bottle gourd curry

Bottle gourd is also known as sorekayi in kannada or lauki in hindi. This is an easily digestible vegetable and can be given for kids as well. Though the appearance is not so inviting to eat, when you know the nutrients of this vegetable sometimes you need to let go on the looks ;).

This veggie is not only highly rich in iron and protein but also in fibre. The more fibre your intake has the more is good for your system (i remember this ‘fibre’ term really was like a bootha sitting on my head throughout my pregnancy). Recently I tried a new style of making sorekayi palya from a book that my dad gifted me and felt it quite interesting with chapathi! Here’s how it goes – for all who have just tried the same monotonous style of lauki subzi, maybe you could give this a try J

Ingredients

Serves: 2

Sorekayi/bottle gourd chopped – 1 ½ cups

Cilantro – ¼ cup

Fenugreek seeds – ½ tsp

Oil – 5tsp

Grated coconut – ½ cup

Green chillies – 2 or 3

Ginger – 1 inch piece

Mustard seeds – ½ tsp

Cumin seeds –1tsp

Asafoetida – ¼ tsp

Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp

Plain yogurt ( i prefer onken smooth) – ½ cup

Salt to taste

Method

1. Grind together coconut, green chillies, fenugreek seeds, ginger, cilantro, mustard seeds and salt to a fine paste.
2. Heat oil in a pan and make the tempering with cumin seeds, turmeric, and asafoetida. To this add the chopped bottle gourd, cover and cook. Once the pieces are cooked well add the masala paste and yogurt and mix well.
3. Let this come to boil and then take it off from heat to serve it with hot rice or chapathi!

Bottle Gourd Kofta With Gravy

Heerekai bonda/Ridge gourd fritters

The thought of eating ridge gourd makes me feel :-&. I just don’t like the texture when it gets cooked. And the most commonly prepared item in our house is heerekai tovve or dal - I can’t stand the look and feel of it :-p. But I don’t mind eating heerekai bonda or fritters ;) – Yep after all the spice and the smear enhances the flavour of heerekai/ridge gourd.

This heerekai bonda is generally prepared during festivals or any special occasions as 1 of the items. BisibeLebath and heerekayi bonda is an evergreen combo for habbada oota (a festive meal). But I think when it comes to bonda you need not have to wait for any special occasion rather any day is a festive day ;). So come and enjoy Heerekai bonda/ridge gourd fritters with me:)!!!

Ingredients

Makes around 30 bondas

Heerekai – 1
Gram flour – 1 cup
Red chilli powder – 2tsp
Asafoetida – ¼ tsp
Ajwain – ½ tsp

Pinch of baking soda
Salt to taste
Oil for frying

Method

1. Wash and peel the ridge gourd. Then slice them into circles ((gal galiyagi hechuvudu). Heat oil in a pan on medium heat for frying.
2. Meanwhile, in a bowl mix gram flour, red chilli powder, salt, asafoetida, ajwain and some hot oil. Mix together with water to make a smooth batter (batter consistency should be similar to that of dosa dough).
3. Dip each heerekai circle into this batter and immdtly lift and drop them in the hot oil. Fry them in batches of 5-6 till they are golden brown in colour. Lift them out of the oil and drain the oil by keeping them on a paper towel.

Delicious hot bondas are ready to be served with the dip of your choice!
Have a nice day:)

HuNasehannu avalakki/Tamarind poha

Poha is nothing but another form of rice. Beaten rice is called as Poha in hindi or avalakki in kannada. The rice, after removing the husk is flattened to thin flakes. They come in varieties – thick/thin/medium poha, paper/nylon poha (quite famous in Karnataka). Poha is consumed in many ways – few items are prepared by soaking them in water and then tempering them lightly, few are just seasoned directly and also powdering and then spicing it up!

This last method is 1 of my favourite dish called ‘HuNasehannu avalakki’ or ‘Gojjavalakki’ or ‘HuLi avalakki’. This has an intense uplifting flavour - its yummy with tangy + sweet (huLi huLi + see see) taste and is a very good snack item with evening tea. I adore my Damma’s (aunt) style of making and serving huNasehannu avalakki with some fried sandige – she makes it so lovely with spicy and crunchy effect I just luv them yum yum.......As a kid Iused to go to her house with my mom only to eat this :d

It can be easily carried in a box with spoons (no hassle of hands getting soiled) so we prefer this over anything else for our day trips too and of course with plain yogurtJ!!(a typical south Indian when it comes to yogurt ;))

So if you want to have a huLi huLi- see see effect all you need to do is – follow me ;)

Ingredients

Serves around 2-4 people

Beaten rice/Avalakki – 1 ½ cups

Tamarind juice – ¾ cup (soak seedless tamarind in warm water for few min and squeeze it)

Sarina pudi/Rasam powder – 2tsp

Jaggery – 1 ½ tbsp

Salt to taste

Grated coconut – ½ cup

Oil – 2tbsp

Mustard seeds – ½ tsp

Chana dal – 1tsp

Blackgram – 1tsp

Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp

Pinch of asafoetida

Dry red chillies – 2

Groundnuts – 2tbsp

Curry leaves – 6 to8

Finely chopped cilantro – 2 tbsp

Method

1. First, coarsely grind the poha in a mixer and transfer it to a large bowl.
2. In a small bowl, mix together tamarind juice + sarina pudi/rasam powder + jaggery + salt
3. Now add this juice mixture to the poha and mix well (i prefer mixing it with hands so that it’s distributed well). Leave this soaked for at least 45min.
4. Meanwhile make the tempering – heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and allow it to splutter. Next add the grams, turmeric, asafoetida, curry leaves and red chillies. Lastly add the peanuts and fry on low flame till you hear the crackling sound of the nuts (be careful... not to burn the tadka).
5. After the poha is soaked well, add this tempering along with grated coconut and mix well. Lastly, garnish with cilantro and ready to be served!

Enjoy your huLi huLi – see see ‘HuNasehannu avalakki’ with araLu sandige + seeme akki happaLa and have a sensational week aheadJ!!!

I hope you are enjoying my array of cooking. Any suggestions/feedbacks to perk-up abhi-ruchi are always welcome at abhiruchi_kitchen@yahoo.com