Warm Apple Bites

We had one apple staring at us from the fruit basket and I had no appetite and hubby isn't a big fan of them apples. So, what to do? Decided to try my hand at an apple turnover type thing. Was looking on Open Source Food for hours at recipes to try out in my Mom's old tiny oven.
(This thing must be over 15 years old - my grandmother pulled it out of storage and gave it to me and I am still shocked it lights up!)

Anyway, after a lot of yummy recipes, came across one that was easy and simple enough to try out. I love apple pie and this seemed very similar. But alas, I still have to figure out how Mom's old oven works! I put it in to bake and it just wasn't working - so regrettably the lil pies were deep fried. It wasn't too much of a disaster - name one deep fried food that you haven't liked - go ahead! The bites came out delish! Crunchy on the outside and sweet and gooey apple bites inside. Hubby gave his approval of - "not just good, its Great!" - Okay, so I added the capital G and the exclamation ;)

Excuse the poor quality of pictures - had really bad lighting and was just too tired (I made them at 11pm!)

Here is how I made 2 Warm Apple Bites:

















Ingredients

1 apple - diced
4-5 cloves - crushed
1/2 tsp. cinnamon powder
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. honey
2 Tbsp. of clarified butter (knob of regular butter is fine)
1 egg
2 drops of vanilla essence
oil to deep fry
2 pcs of white bread

1. Peel and dice 1 apple. Small bite size chunks are fine.

2. Warm a pan on low heat. Add butter and melt. Add cloves, cinnamon, sugar, honey and apple. Stir and cook till apples are between firm and soft. Think apples from apple pie. Remove from heat and let cool.

3. Take 2 pcs of bread and cut of crusts. Use a rolling pin to flatten each out thin. Split the apple in half and spoon on side of each piece of bread. Fold over each to make two pies. Use egg wash to seal edges. (I added a bit of sugar and vanilla to eggwash).

4. At this point you can put it in the oven and bake. But-I ended up dipping the two pies in the egg like French toast and putting it into the oil to deep fry.

Let it cool and enjoy! Would be great with some vanilla ice cream or whipped cream!!

A Break...

It's been about 20 days since I have even sat in front of the computer. Hundreds of emails greeted me when I signed on - luckily most were junk mail! I have been on a 20 day hiatus for good reason! My mother and sister-in laws are visiting with two little cutest ever niece and nephew to complete the package. I am spending every spare moment with then since this is a a very rare visit and goodness - the kids grow up so fast! I don't want to miss a minute!! It has become very noisy all of a sudden - not just from the constant chatter and running around - the banging and slopping is from the carpenters building new kitchen cabinets (I had none before so Ma-in-law is gifting) and newly painted walls (a gift from sis-in-law since we both love color on our walls!) So today is the first day of rest-rather forced rest since my living room is occupied by the carpenters hurrying to finish the cabinets in the next two days. So, I am jammed in my bedroom with internet to keep me company!

As far as cooking - this is my food blog after all- I have done very very little. No - we don't go hungry! My maid cum cook has been handling a lot of it. (No, I am not extravagantly wealthy, it is the norm in South Asia to have some sort of hired helping hand.) Ma dearest and Sis dearest all chip in especially for breakfast since I am notorious for Not being an early riser.

So please bare with me as I take a little break - they are here till Jan. but I am sure I will write before then. Hopefully have food pics and recipes or more adventurous pics to share since we will be taking a trip to St. Martin's Island sometime in the next 2 weeks!

Here are some pics from Sis's extravagant meal she whipped up for all the Chachis (aunts not Happy Days' Chachi!!)

Seasame Poppy Cauliflower

Hubby and I love cauliflower but was tired of the usual ways of making. A curry or steaming just didn't seem appetizing tonight. I wanted to experiment a little bit using ingredients that I usually don't. I have become a little timid with experimenting since sometimes I tend to over do it or under do it -leaving the food with too much to the point of bitterness or not enough that it is so plain with no difference from natural taste. Last few days I really didn't want to make much using the usual Indian spices of turmeric, cumin, coriander, etc...so tonight I went with Sesame & Poppy. Here is the recipe:



Sesame Poppy Cauliflower

Cauliflower: steamed but still firm: 2 cups of small florets
Sesame: 1 tsp.
Poppy seed: 1 tsp.
Onion: 1/2 a small red, sliced thin
Garlic: 2 cloves, crushed
Salt to taste
Oil: 1-2 tbsp.

Steam the cauliflower till just cooked. Heat a pan with oil, add the sesame and poppy. It will splutter so be careful! Roast few seconds. It will toast light brown very quickly. Add the onion and garlic and sautee. Add the cauliflower and toss till it gets caramelized. I added a pinch of sugar to it. Toss around. taste test and serve! Best eaten warm.

Enjoy with some Kichuri - a rice and lentil dish eaten especially on a rainy day!

Sweet Milky Bread

Hubby and I both have a major sweet tooth! After dinner we must must, nay, he must! have something sweet. Usually he just takes a piece of bread and lathers on some Nocilla (like Nutella, a hazelnut-chocolate spread) and devours it. Last night he was about to the same. He sat down with the bread box and the bottle of Nocilla and I couldn't bare to watch. But what to make in 10 mins? Well, if you have sugar, milk, bread, eggs and flour - anything is possible! I had made some doughnuts a few days back (they were more deep fried cakes!) and I knew that would take a while.

So, he requested Shahi Tukra.

Shahi is usually term used in the South Asian cuisine for anything cooked with milk or yogurt - it connotates richness. Tukra means - pieces. In the old days, milk was reduced to a rich creamy state, hence the name. Today's milk loses so much in the processing that it can hardly be boiled down to a thick cream.

I remember as a child we used to get fresh milk straight from the cow and when it was boiled to purify, it formed a thick layer of cream (we called it shor). We would eat the shor just with some sugar - but it was usually preserved for the special baby of the home - so when little brother was old enough - I no longer got the shor, same with hubby, when his little sister was old enough and then his cousin brothers - he never got that thick layer of delicious cream. *sigh*

So, back to last night. What he wanted was bread in sweetened milk. I have made it several times and by no means is it healthy but - dang - it taste good!!!

Sweet Milky Bread

Bread: about 3-4 slices
Milk: 1 cup
Sweetened Condensed Milk: 2-3 tbsp.
Cardamom Whole: 2
Cinnamon: 1 inch
Nutmeg: garnish
Pistachios or almonds or raisins

1. Heat the milk. Bring it to a boil and then let it simmer. Add the cardamom, cinnamon and stir in the condensed milk. Let it simmer for about 10 mins or so. You can do it till its thickened, especially if it full cream milk but, not necessary.

2. Have a deep dish ready or a bowl, tear the bread into big chunks and layer it. If you want to make it look pretty, cut into triangles and lay it out neatly overlapping.

3. Check for desired sweetness - add honey or sugar if needs to be sweeter. Pour slowly over the bread. Garnish with nutmeg shavings or swirl some honey on top or spread out raisins or nuts.

Let it cool and enjoy!

*Tip: this is a very versatile dish, you can do anything you want with it! Powder milk can be used. If you don't want condensed milk - palm sugar, jaggery, brown sugar, honey - any natural sweetener can be substituted. Saffron can be used in the milk for a sophisticated taste or Vanilla. If eggs mixed in the milk then perhaps can be baked even? (don't know abt that one - have to test t out).