Dry Fried Eggplants

 

Fried indulgence is what I would like to call them. For anyone who never liked eggplants before…this dish can surely change your mind. I had this dish for the first time ever a couple of months back in an authentic Chinese restaurant. Eggplants never tasted so good to me before, this dish totally changed my outlook towards them. I came home and scurried through the net to find the recipe. And after three relentless days of narrowing down my search. I ended up with this recipe and gave it a go.

INGREDIENTS :

  • Vegetable oil, for frying
  • Hot (Chinese) chili powder – ½ or 1 tsp
  • Hot paprika – ½ or 1 tsp
  • About 6 (1 1/2 pounds total) Chinese (long) eggplants, trimmed, peeled and cut lengthwise into 2- or 3-inch-long, thick “steak” fries (about 8 fries from each eggplant)
  • Water
  • Cornstarch – ½ cup
  • Leaves and tender stems from 4 to 6 stems cilantro, coarsely chopped

INSTRUCTIONS :

  1. Heat at least 4 inches of oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat until the oil reaches 350 degrees.
  2. Place a wire rack over several layers of paper towels.
  3. Combine the chili powder and paprika (to taste) in a small bowl.
  4. Meanwhile, wet the eggplant fries with a little water. Spread the cornstarch on a rimmed baking sheet.
  5. Working in batches, lightly and evenly coat the eggplant fries with the cornstarch, shaking off any excess. Discard any remaining cornstarch.
  6. Carefully add about 8 fries at a time to the hot oil; fry for 2 minutes, or until just browned, crisped and tender. Use a Chinese skimmer or slotted spatula to transfer to the rack to drain. Repeat to fry all the eggplant.
  7. Transfer the still-warm, crisped eggplant fries to a serving bowl; season with the chili powder-paprika mixture to taste; this dish is supposed to be spicy, and, if you can stand it, you should use enough of the mixture to color the eggplant fries a reddish-orange. Toss quickly with the cilantro; serve right away.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/pb/recipes/dry-fried-eggplant/12553/

 

 

Kalo Jaam

 

So here we are back to making desserts again .. its always so comforting to make something sweet. I feel that it somehow sweetens my soul as I make it. I made “kaalo jaam” after such a long time. My inspiration for making this dessert is the sweetest person in the world – Kakon api. I first had this at her house.. and she was nice enough to send me the recipe as well. It also reminds me of the time when I went to Nipa apus house and made these on a whim. We had a real girls day in. All very good memories attached to this dessert. I miss you all and this is to reminisce our time together.

 

 INGREDIENTS:

  • Milk Powder – 4 cups
  • Self Raising Flour – 1 cup
  • Quart of whipping cream ( Thickened cream)
  • Oil for deep frying

INGREDIENTS FOR SUGAR SYRUP:

  • Sugar – 4 cups
  • Water – 5.5 cups

INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. In a mixing bowl combine milk powder and flour .. make a well in the middle and add the thickened cream slowly while mixing everything together .. forming a dough.
  2. Shape the dough in to round balls first and then roll it sideways in your hands to form an oval sphere.
  3. To get your sugar syrup ready .. use a Rondeau pan. The more bigger the pan the better so that when you soak the fried dough in it .. there will be plenty of space for them to increase in size. Combine the water and the sugar and boil it till the sugar is completely dissolved.
  4. Fry the dough on a medium flame. Take your time to do this step as you want the dough to cook thoroughly.
  5. Once all of it is fried, lay all the fried dough in to the sugar syrup and boil for 5-10 minutes with the lid covered. Turnoff the stove and let it soak in to the sugar syrup until you are ready to serve it in to your serving dish.

 

 

 

Finally I get to celebrate thanksgiving on American land. This year I chose to go with chicken rather than turkey .. Lot’s of chicken .. I got the recipes from my mom ( Chicken fry and Chicken roast ). Cham cham and lobongo lotika was an entire new venture for me. Inspired by Kakon Api .. I will be posting individual recipes later on. For now enjoy the gallery of my thanksgiving spread. Thanks to Maisun aunty for helping me so much in the kitchen .. without you I wouldn’t be able to pull this off all by myself. Happy Thanksgiving! 🙂

IMG_3208 - Chick Peas 2

Life is going thru a lot of change lately, change of pace, mind, taste, locations, perceptions and decisions. So finally for a change I decided to steer away from making another dessert. You can think of this as a warm chickpea salad or a curry. It is a very easy dish to make and you can substitute any of these ingredients to your liking except for chickpeas.

INGREDIENTS:

  • Onions -1
  • Tomatoes  – 2
  • Eggplant – 1
  • Cilantro – 2 tbs
  • Canned chickpeas
  • Yoghurt – 3 tbs
  • Cumin powder  –  1 tsp
  • Sugar – 1 tsp
  • Black pepper to taste
  • Salt to taste
  • Scallions – 2 tbs
  • Green chillies – 1 tbs
  • Crushed dried chillies – 2 tbs
  • Juice of half a lemon

INSTRUCTIONS: 

  1. Sauté the eggplant and the tomatoes till it softens.
  2. Add the chickpeas and cumin, let it simmer for 5 minutes keeping it covered.
  3. Add the rest of the ingredients , stir and cover the lid for approximately 10 minutes and let it sit on a medium flame.

 

2

I guess I have been feeling a little peachy lately 🙂 . I remember when I was little, there used to be a cartoon series that aired on the Disney channel called “little bear”. He had a human friend named Emily who loved peaches. The colour on that fruit always looked so treasure like to me. A combination of orange and yellow mixed in with some gold. It seemed like almost mythical for such a jewel like fruit to be in existence for us to devour. This recipe is great for people who can not intake high amount of sugar. Ingredients : Wonton wrappers, peaches, brown sugar, powdered sugar, flour, oil, heavy cream, salt, sugar and water.

Peach Wonton recipe

INGREDIENTS:
  • 2 pounds ripe peaches, peeled and sliced/diced (about 8 peaches)
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 3 tablespoons brown sugar
  • Wonton wrappers (1 12 oz. pack should do it.)
  • Canola or vegetable oil, enough for about 1″ of oil in your pan
  • Powdered sugar for sprinkling
INSTRUCTIONS:
  1. Slice up the peach and toss in a large bowl with flour and brown sugar.
  2. Lay out the wonton wrappers, drop about a tablespoon of sliced/diced peaches and a tad bit of peach juice in the center of each wonton wrapper.
  3. Using your finger or pastry brush, wet the outside edge of the wonton wrapper.
  4. Fold one corner of the wrapper over to the other corner, and gently press down to seal edges. Make sure to seal edges thoroughly to avoid the oil splattering. Add an additional fold, if you’d like by dabbing the corners with water and folding them up to meet in the middle.
  5. Heat 1″ of canola or vegetable oil in a heavy bottomed pan over medium-high heat to 375°F. Carefully slide wontons into oil and fry for about 2-3 minutes, turning as they fry. When they reach a lovely golden brown, remove from oil to a paper towel lined pan.
  6. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Caramel Whipped Cream Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 tablespoon water
  • Salt
  • 1 1/4 cups cold heavy cream

INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Prepare an ice-water bath. Heat sugar, water, and a pinch of salt in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar dissolves.

  2. Cook, without stirring, until mixture is amber. (Do not let caramel burn.) Carefully pour in 1/2 cup cream in a slow, steady stream down the side of the saucepan, whisking constantly, until smooth (caramel will bubble).

  3. Remove from heat, and place saucepan in ice-water bath. Let caramel mixture cool, stirring occasionally, until cold, about 20 minutes.

  4. Whisk remaining 3/4 cup cream in a large bowl until soft peaks form. Gently fold caramel mixture into whipped cream, and whisk until stiff peaks form. Use immediately.

http://www.yummly.com/recipe/external/Peach-Wontons-1243928

http://www.marthastewart.com/334224/caramel-whipped-cream