Rudolph's Red Nose Spritzer

This time, the occasion was Deepavali. There isn't ever a time when there's no reason to celebrate, right? Not when you are surrounded by a bunch of happy souls who are ever ready to raise a glass n toast to good times!

S & I hosted a potluck at our place last night for Deepavali and sure enough - friends from in and around NJ made it a lovely evening by attending and staying over. It wasn't complete without a lunch at Saravana Bhavan and a movie at Edison. Too bad, it had to be a Vijay starrer.

In anycase - the best part of any get-together are those mini conversations that occur in groups of 3 and 4 throughout the night. The guys talk about cricket and the girls whine about the guys talking cricket and many such cliches. Amidst one such chatty session - me and my girl friends came up with some exciting new cocktail recipes. Some borrowed, and tweaked to suit the Indian tongue which still finds melagu rasam the most intoxicating drink amidst all!

Will release each of the cocktail recipes here one by one. First up, is Rudolph's Red Nose Spritzer (Inspired from Pinterest)

What you need:

A large glass pitcher
A standard measure of a cup
Mix together the following, decorate with some Rosemary springs n serve in a chilled glass...

5 cups Orange Juice (no pulp, store bought)
2 cups Lemon Soda (I used Archer Farm's Lemon Soda from Target)
2 cups Vodka
1/2 cup Maraschino Cherry Juice

Maraschino cherries are not a variety of cherry, but given the name due to the manufacturing process used to preserve them. There's more detail here, but I will say it is the same as the accompaniment with Sweet Pan that you consume in India at a wedding!

1/2 cup fresh Lemon Juice
Lemon Slices / Raspberries and Rosemary Sprigs to garnish

Stir all the ingredients together and serve chilled. It's that simple!

Scrambled Tofu Manchurian

By now, I am fairly certain that the regulars to my blog might have figured out that I am an Eggetarian, with special affection to Paneer.

As you can see, we use Paneer in everything from Pizzas to Tikkas and consume some form of Paneer at least once a week. And since, we are being health conscious n all - I tried to work with its low fat cousin last Sunday. Yes, 'Tofu'.

What came about was Scrambled Tofu Manchurian. It's the kind of dish that goes well with English muffins, bread, rotis and even curd rice!

What you need:

1 pack frozen Tofu, I used extra firm organic un-cut tofu

1 carrot, grated

1 medium onion sliced

1/2 capsicum sliced

3tbsp olive oil

Chopped Cilantro

Spices

1 tbsp Garlic powder 

1 tbsp Chili powder

1 + 1/2 tbsp Salt

1/2 tbsp Garam Masala

Sauce

5 tbsp Manchurian Sauce

I used store bought sauce. Sauce can also be made by simmering 2 parts soy sauce + 2 parts vinegar + 1 part red chili sauce with 3 garlic pods and sesame seeds toasted in olive oil. If you like it tangy, you may add some ketchup to the mix.

Method :

• Boil tofu in hot water until spongy
• Cube Tofu and pat try on a tissue
• Preheat the oven to 300F and spray a pan with some olive oil and spread Tofu cubes evenly and toast until brown in the oven
• Alternately, you can shallow fry them
• Meanwhile, in a non stick pan - sauté veggies until they are cooked with a lil salt and the spice mix
• Now add Manchurian sauce and bring to boil 
• Add toasted tofu and cover lid for a few mins until smell of raw flavor disappears
• Top with fresh cilantro & serve while hot

Lemon Sponge Cake

Back in Pilani where I spent 4 wonderful years is where I started baking. No fancy ovens, no clean utensils even. With broken hindi and cocoa powder weighed in an old fashioned balance n bundled in a day old newspaper - some of us would set out to make cookies or cakes in one corner of our hostel's mess. Mess, is a good name for it all. =)

Often times, these baking experiments were remedies to forgotten birthdays, bad exams or a way to cope with lonely nights far away from your family. But over the years - they've come to mean something else. The smell from the oven as the cake rises to fill the mold brings with it memories of midnight gossip over coffee n cookies. I cannot imagine life @ Pilani without my wing.

 Here's a toast to good times!

 Ingredients

2 Eggs
1 + 1/2 Cup All Purpose Flour
1 tbsp Baking Powder
1 tbsp Baking Soda
1/2 cup Milk
4 Oz Butter
1 Cup Sugar
2 tbsp Vanilla Essence
1 tbsp Lemon Extract

• Preheat the oven to 350F
• Beat the melted butter, 1/2 of milk and sugar together. Add in the 2 eggs and beat further until blended well.
• Add in the flour, baking powder and soda and remaining milk until the batter is smooth and folds into a ribbon when scooped using a spoon
• Add the vanilla essence and lemon extract and whip 1-2 times
• Add batter to a greased cake mold and bake for 20-22 mins or until a cake tester inserted to the center comes out clean

I had tossed in some cut strawberries into the batter but wouldn't recommend that if you are trying this recipe :)

Paneer Pizza

In my home, our work schedules don't allow too much time to hit the gym. So we try to do our best to eat home cooked meals made from fresh organic produce to stay healthy. I am tempted to call ourselves locovores, as we make it a point to buy veggies from our local farmer's market every summer. I also consider myself a kitchen hoarder for I seem to spend most of my shopping budget buying serveware, bakeware and kitchen electronics! My favorite amongst all my kitchen gadgets is the Cuisinart 14 Cup Elite Food Processor that helps me chop all my veggies within seconds.

 

Anyway, with Sandy keeping most of us indoors for a few days - I thought to take on Project Pizza. For some reason I had thought it to be a difficult dish to do from scratch and I managed to break that myth last Sunday. It was super simple to put together and made for a mess-free hearty meal that tasted even better with a glass of wine!






For the Dough: 1 large 11'' pizza

2 Cups All Purpose Flour
Quick Rise Yeast 1 + 1/2 tbsp
Olive Oil 1/4 Cup
Warm Milk 3/4 Cup
Salt 1 tbsp
Sugar 1/2 tbsp
Black Pepper 1 tbsp
Garam Masala 1/2 tbsp

Sauce: Bottled Marinara Sauce
Topping: Chopped veggies of your choice

• Heat the oven to 200F for a few mins and then turn the oven off.
• Meanwhile, in a big bowl, add yeast and sugar to the warm milk and let it froth. Takes about 8-10 mins. Add salt and olive oil to the frothed mix.
• Now add in the remaining ingredients (Flour, Pepper, Garam Masala) and knead until the dough pulls away from the sides and is evenly mixed.
• Cover the bowl with a wet kitchen towel or a damp paper towel and place it inside the pre-heated (turned off) oven for 1.5 - 2 hours until the dough doubles in size.
• Once this is done, take the dough and punch it to release the air. Transfer to a parchment paper spread on a flat surface and use a rolling pin (or your hands) to spread into a flat circle as in the picture below

• Preheat the oven to 375 F
• Sift some flour on a Pizza Stone / Pizza Pan / Cast Iron Pan and transfer the pizza base onto the surface.

• Now brush a lil olive oil on the top side of the pizza dough, and evenly spread Marinara sauce leaving 1/2 '' around the edges

• Layer with some shredded mozarella, arrange chopped veggies on top and bake for 20-25 mins, constantly checking from around minute 20. Turn the stove off once the corners begin to brown and keep inside the oven for the last 5 mins.

I used a Cast Iron Pan (a wedding gift from my friend GB) and the pizza came out crispy along the sides and chewy in the center... tasted more like a deep dish pizza and we loved it! One of the advantages of using a Cast Iron Pan is that the food gets heated evenly and doesn't leave burnt bases or uncooked centers. Some recommend using the back of the pan as opposed to the regular side, and some others recommend heating the base of the pan for a while before placing in the oven. I did neither, and my pizza came out perfectly fine!

Pizza is sure to become a regular in our home, specially when I can make it Indian by using some paneer cubes as a topping!