Cold Stone Creations

Cold Stone Creations is the latest concept based icecream store which came up near my office. I have heard raving reviews from Ravi about his experience with a similar chain of icecream stores in the US of A but this is new to me. Ever heard the expression "like a kid in a candy store"? Now imagine the kid in a store full of icecream and all kinds of candy to put in the ice cream. Well I felt like that (overgrown) kid as soon as I entered the shop.

Their concept is to interactively make an icrcream mashup :). Well this is how it works ... there is literally a cold stone at the heart of the whole mashup process, the customer is allowed to pick his/her flavor of icecream from a variety for fresh and fruity ones and then he/she is presented with a huge variety of mix-ins like Oreos, Chocolate Chips, Snickers, even fresh fruit etc to toss into their icecream along with few other sauces. Then the whole fun to watch process of mash up begins. The friendly face behind the counter starts by butchering your mixins first and then the two scoops of icecream are flattened out on to the cold stone for making a sandwich with the mixins in the middle. then the sandwich is mashed up nice and proper to be lifted into a fancy looking waffle cone for your sumptuous consumption. A crude picture what I had, Fresh Black Grape icecream mashed up with couple of goodies below ...


Cheers!

/PhaKuDi

Scotch Whiskey & Food Quotes

I have been a lazy bum especially when it comes to updating my blog. Have tried out many a recipe but, too lazy to put them here. I hope to do it some day. For now, I have a collection of food quotes I remember from restaurant menus, food programs on TV, etc. I love Whiskey and more so, all of them aged single malts.

• No clever arrangement of bad eggs ever made a good omlet - C.S. Lewis
• Chilli represents your three stages of matter solid, liquid and eventually, gas - Unknown
• Worries go down better with soup - Jewish Proverb
• The poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese - G.K. Chesterton
• Training is everything. The peach was once a bitter almond; cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education - Mark Twain :)
  
• Drink to me. Drink to my health - Pablo Picasso's last words
• The water was not fit to drink. To make it palatable, we had to add whisky. By diligent effort, I learnt to like it - Sir Winston Churchill
• Whisky is liquid sunshine - George Bernard Shaw
• Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting over - Unknown
• Too much of anything is bad, but too much of good whiskey is barely enough - Mark Twain
• Anybody who hates dogs and loves whiskey can't be all bad - Unknown :)

Cheers!

/PhaKuDi

Eggy In The Basket

Ingredients

Bread - as many slices as you want
Eggs - as many as the number of slices
Butter - as required (for spreading on the bread slices)

Statistics

Serves - half as many as the number of slices (assuming 2 slices per person)
Preparation time - (10 * number of slices) minutes

Procedure

1. Apply butter on a slice of bread and a cut a hole (basket for the egg) in it using a cookie cutter or a commonly available sharp edged glass/lid of a can.
2. Stick the slice of bread to a frying pan preheated on medium flame and gently break an egg into the basket.
3. Sprinkle some salt and/or pepper on the egg for extra taste.
4. Flip the slice as soon as the egg around the edge of the basket is cooked.
5. Let the slice toast for about 5 minutes on each side. Serve hot with orange juice or baked beans.

My Tips

• Use about half inch thick slices of whole wheat bread for best results.
• In case a single slice feels too thin and the egg overflows on to the slice, cover it up with another slice as it cooks. This will give you a soft layer of cooked up egg white in between the crunchy slices.
• Use salted butter instead of sprinkling salt give a better consistency of salt to the whole slice.
  

Frappe (a.k.a. Cold Coffee)

Ingredients

Cold Milk - 500ml
Instant Coffee Powder - 1 tablespoon
Plain Vanilla Icecream - 4 scoops
Sugar - to taste

Statistics

Serves - 4
Total preparation time - 5minutes

Procedure

Put all the ingredients in a blender and go whirr zzzzz whirr! Pour it out into some cool looking glasses and serve it cold.


My Tips

Be generous with the ice cream if you want like it thicker. Put in a dollop of ice cream and garnish it with some chocolate syrup / molten chocolate (just pop in a dairy milk bar into the microwave) for extra appeal.

Beetroot Ka Halwa

Ingredients

Beetroot - 1 kg
Ghee (Clarified butter) - 1 cup (150gm)
Milk - 200ml
Sugar - 750gm
Fresh Cream - 200ml
Kismis (dried grapes) - 100gm
Cashew Nuts - 100gm
Powdered Elachi (Green Cardamom) - 1 tbsp
Borneo (edible) Camphor - a pinch


Statistics

Makes / serves - 10-12 servings of 100gm each
Total cooking time - 1 hour

Procedure

1. Wash, peel and grate the beetroots and keep them aside.
2. Heat the ghee in a thick walled vessel and fry cashewnuts till mildly brown. Take the cashews out and fry the kismis till they swell up. Keep them aside.
   
3. Add the grated beetroot to the ghee and fry on a low flame till the beetroot gets slightly tender.
4. Add milk, fried kismis and fresh cream to the pan and let the contents boil for about 10 minutes.
5. Add sugar to the pan and let it simmer till the the contents get together to form a "halwa"ish consistency.
6. Add the smoothly powdered Borneo camphor and elachi powder before turning the heat off.
   
7. Have it hot or let it cool for a while and serve it topped with the crunchy fried cashews.

My Tips

Add double cream if you can get some for a smoother consistency and replacing the beetroot with the same amount of carrot will give you Gaajar Ka Halwa.

Basundi

Ingredients

Almonds - 1 cup
Milk - 2 lts
Sugar - 1 cup
Chironji Seeds - 3 tbsp
Saffron - a pinch
Pistachio nuts - 10-15

Statistics

Makes / Serves - 8 cups
Total cooking time - 1 hour

Procedure

1. Soak almonds in water for few hours, remove the skin and grind them to paste saving a few for garnishing.
2. Bring milk to a boil simmering over low flame till it coats the back of the spoon. (Stirrrrrr Strirrrr and Stirr)
3. Dilute the almond paste with about half a cup of water or milk and stir it into the boiling milk.
   
4. Add sugar and saffron, cook till sugar is completely dissolved and chill.
   
5. Slice the almonds and pistachios, wash and strain the chironji for garnishing. Serve the Basundi chilled and garnished with the almonds, pista and chironji.
   

Besan Ka Laddoo

I cannot be termed a bonvivant but, I have always appreciated good food and drink in my life. Though there have been lots of instances in my life when I have had pointers that I am a good cook (good = better than worse) it is not until now that I have chosen to pursue cooking as an active hobby (let's see how long this one lasts) :). I have decided to make a sweet beginning to the new found interest so, armed with some basic recipe books and a little practical knowledge around the kitchen I set out to make Laddu. Laddu, the roundest, cutest and my most favorite of all Indian sweets. No Indian needs introduction to a Laddu. My fondness for Laddus (especially the Moti Choor ones) has lead me to nickname my girl friend Laddu also :) (not because she is round but, because she is sweet and I love her :) ). Today's recipe is one of the most common variants of a Laddu, the Besan (Gram Flour) Laddo.


Ingredients

Besan (Gram Flour) - 500gm
Ghee (Clarified Butter) - 125gm (about 1 cup)
Almonds - 32
Cashews - 32 (around 60 if not split)
Sugar Powder - 250gm
Ground Elachi (Green Cardamom) - 2 tbsp
Borneo (edible) Camphor - 2-3 gm (about a pinch)

Statistics

Makes / Serves - 50-55 pieces
Cooking Time - 25 minutes
Total Preparation Time - 1 hour

Procedure

1. Sieve the besan to get rid of lumps and air it up a bit. Melt Ghee in a pan and add Besan to it. Fry on low heat till the besan is nicely done and aromatic. Takes about 15-20 min.
   
2. Grind the almonds and cashews coarsely and add them to the pan along with the cardamom powder. Stir well and turn the heat off.
3. After the besan has cooled down enough to handle add powdered sugar along with the camphor and roll it into Laddus.

My Tips

• The Laddus prepared as above will be powdery and a little dry which is how I like them. If you like them a little softer then add a little more hot ghee before rolling them into Laddus.
• If you are one with a sweet tooth then adding a little crushed misri (rock candy) to the hot besan is recommended before step 2.
  
• For a better visual appeal you may soften the laddus as mentioned above and roll them in a separately prepared coarse mixture of ground almonds and cashews as a final touch.
  
• On long standing warming the laddus for 15-20 seconds in a microwave will soften them and give them a freshly made feel.