Orange Flowers- Fruit and Vegetable carving

These orange peel flowers are based on the same principle as the tomato rose in this video.

They make pretty garnishes and give a wonderful orange scent to your table decoration.

You may like :

Melon Basket

If you are inspired by these garnishes and want to give it a try why not check out these videos to help you get started.

Submitting to Create n Carve ~ Fruit and Vegetable event by simply.food

1st December 2010- 31st December 2011

Chocolate Balls

Melt in the mouth, delectable and delicious chocolate lovers delights. Creamy rich chocolate balls rolled in a crunchy chocolate topping, perfect treats for christmas.

Ingredients:

250 grams milk chocolate
125 ml single cream
60 grams icing sugar
30 grams cocoa
30 grams Chocolate sprinkles

Method:

1. Break the chocolate pieces and place in a double boiler to melt.
2. Once chocolate has melted add the cream and mix.
3. Sieve the icing sugar and cocoa  and fold into the  chocolate mixture.
4. Cool the mixture  to room temperature and chill in fridge for two hours.
5. After two hours remove the chocolate ganache from fridge and leave to reach room temperature again.
6. Using a melon baller  scoop small balls of chocolate.
7. Roll the balls of chocolate in the chocolate sprinkles .
Chill before serving.

You may like:
Chocolate cheesecake

White Radish and Carrot Roses - Fruit and Veg Carving

These orange and white roses were carved from carrots and white radish. They make very pretty salad garnishes and can also be used in a fruit and vegetable  bouquet or centre piece.
If you want to attempt them  please click here for the tutorial.

You may like:
Apple Basket

Submitting to:
Create  n Carve ~ Fruit and Vegetable event. by simply.food
This event has been created to inspire you to attempt fruit and vegetable carving, hope some of you will be tempted to have go.If you wish to try do check out these tutorials here

 

Bolinhas- Goan Cookies

Soft and tasty Bolinha cookies that have a delicious coconut flavour and melt in the mouth taste.

 Ingredients:

1 Medium sized coconut cracked open and coconut flesh removed and shredded.
1/4 Kg Rawa (semolina)
1/4 Kg Sugar
1 Tbsp Ghee
3 Tbsp spoons Maida
1 Leveled Tsp Baking Powder
3 Eggs
Few Elaichi
1 Pinch Salt
Icing sugar for dsuting.

Method:

1.Make a sugar syrup by heating the sugar in 1/2 a cup of water.
2.While the sugar is melting on a slow flame, grind the coconut in 1/4th cup of water.
3.Once the coconut is ground, stir the sugar that should have nearly dissolved by now.Add the Rawa to the sugar syrup and mix this well.
4.Add the ground coconut to this mixture, stir it in  and add the pinch of salt.
5.Add the Ghee and keep stirring it,until it all becomes one nice blend.You can store the above mixture either overnight, for six hours or do it instantly. Its best you store it for a few hours and then proceed.
6.Separate the egg yolks and whites,out of the three eggs only add the the yokes, though it can be done with the entire egg as well. Remember to keep the egg white of one egg aside, the other two you can can discard.Add the yokes with the Bolinha mixture and mix well.
7.Once thats done, clean and powder the Elaichi and add it to the mixture.Mix the Maida and Baking powder.Add it to the Bolinha mix, And mix it up again.
8.Now beat the one egg white till its fluffy. Add it to the Bolinha mixture, thats the final ingredient to the Bolinha dough.The dough is ready .
9.To shape the  Bolinhas, take a ball out of the dough.With the help of some flour shape it as you would do to a cutlet.Flatten the top of it an next get a butter knife to press a few lines into the dought to make a design..
10.As you finish them place them on your baking tray, that you have greased with a little Ghee. Bake them in the oven that is  preheated to 200 degrees C .Bake for approx 25 minutes till golden brown.
11.Remove from oven and allow to cool.
Bolinyas are ready to be served with tea.You can dust with icing sugar before serving.

This source of this recipe id from Goan food recipes.

You may like nankhatai.

Submitting to:
My Culinary Creations cookies and cakes for xmas event

Flavours of Goa event by simply.food guest hosted by Denny of ohtastensee

Okra Fry ~ Goan style.

Okra fry, a simple and tasty side dish which will accompany any type of main course.

Ingredients:

1 lb  / 16 oz Okra, washed
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion medium, chopped
1 teaspoon garlic, minced
1 teaspoon Ginger, minced
1/4 teaspoon Turmeric powder
2 Green chillies, chopped
1 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Clean the okra. Cut off the tops and discard. Chop into 1" pieces
2. Heat the oil in a pan; sauté the onion for 2 minutes till transparent. Add the garlic and ginger; sauté for 30 seconds
3. Add the okra, turmeric powder, green chillies, lemon juice, and salt; mix well. Cook covered on low heat till the okra is tender
4. Cook uncovered to dry up any liquid. Adjust seasoning.

Serve hot with Rice, kadhi and rotis.

The source of this recipe was from Enchanting Goa.com, the changes I made were that I added lemon juice instead of vinegar and cooked the dish in olive oil rather than vegetable oil as suggested in the actual recipe.

To accompany this dish you may like:
Kadhi
Fennel pilaf Rice

Submitting to:
Vegetarian Foodie Fridays #31 by Melodie



Flavours of Goa, event by simply.food hosted by Denny of ohtastensee

Apple Basket ~ Fruit n Veg Carving

A dainty little basket with lid  carved from an apple.Very simple yet beautiful, it makes an eye catching serving bowl for ice cream, fruit or chutneys or dips.

This carving was inspired and adapted from a u tube tutorial.To create a similar basket click here for the tutorial. To try other simple Fruit and Vegetable carving click here

Basket filled with vanilla ice cream and apple marmalade sauce.

You may like:
Melon Basket

Submitting to:
Mindful Meanderings-artsy craftsy December 10



Create n Carve ~ Fruit and Vegetable event by simply.food.

1st December 2010 - 31 st December 2010

Kashmiri Dum Aloo ~ ICC November 2010

Delicious Kasmiri style potato curry cooked in wonderful selection of  fragrant and aromatic  spices using the dum method.(Cooked in steam)

This recipe is from Indian Food and it is set  for the Indian Cooking Challenge by Srivalli of  Spicing your Life

Ingredients:
1 kg baby potatoes / even small potatoes
Cumin seeds, - 1 tsp, roasted gently and ground into a powder
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Kashmiri red chillies - 3-4 nos roasted and powdered
Fresh yoghurt - 2 1/2 cups (must not be sour)
Ginger powder - 1 tsp
Fennel /aniseed powder - 1 tbsp
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
Olive oil- 4 tbsps
Cloves roasted and powdered - 6
A pinch of asafetida
Vegetable/ canola/ sunflower cooking oil to deep fry potatoes / roasting potatoes
Salt to taste
A cup of firm dough made from flour and water

Method :

1.Wash the the potatoes and poke all over with a fork. (I kept the skin on) Add ateaspoon of salt to a pan of water and soak  the potatoes in the water for 20 minutes. Drain and pat dry.
2. Heat a roasting pan with 2 tablespoons of oil  and place in the oven, when oil is hot , add the potatoes and stir them around to coat with oil. Roast in the oven for 25-30 minutes at 200 centigrade/ 400 Farenheit till potatoes are golden brown and cooked in the centre.(You may need to turn potatoes half way through cooking.)
3.Make a paste of curds /yogurt, chili powder, ginger, cardamom and fennel powders. Then add the roasted potatoes  and mix well with this paste and keep it aside.
4.Heat the olive oil in another pan, add the clove powder and astofetida and mix well.
5.Then add a half cup of hot water and salt to taste and bring to a boil.
6.To this mix, add in the potato-yoghurt mix, stir thoroughly and cover.
7.To do the dum, seal the edges of the pan's cover with the dough to ensure no steam can escape. Put on the stove, cook on a low flame for 10-15 minutes.
8.Turn off the flame, remove the cover and add the cumin and garam masala powders, and cover again quickly. Leave for 5 minutes.

Serve hot with Chapatis or Naan  and Rice.

NB -Changes I made were I used olive oil instead of mustard oil and roasted the potatoes instead of deep frying to avoid excess oil consumption.

You may like:
Potatoes in green gravy.

Three more awards to share.:) and a request.

 

Thee lovely awards were shared by Smitha of smithaspicyflavours.

Thankyou Smitha for being so very generous and showering simply.food with such beautiful awards.
I would like to share there with all my lovely visitors, please feel free to accept the awards and show them off on your blogs.

***************************

A request , please do participate:

1st December 2010 - 31st December 2010

Create n Carve ~ Fruit and Veg event was launched  at the beginning of this month after many requests that I  had to share carving tutorials following my recent carving classes.I thought having the tutorials and then an event to show off the creations would be a nice encouragement and will give us all bloggers a chance to learn a new skill..You may click here for the event details.

Unfortunately, I have not had a surge of entries , I guess that is due to lack of knowledge in this art.  To help everyone I have listed some video tutorials here  for beginners and Intermediate.You can try one of these tutorials and send entry of your creation. It does not have to be a masterpice any small carving is a stepping stone to learn more intricate carvings.
Looking forward to more entries. I have had requests that I allow archived entries, so going with the request archived entries will be accepted if reposted with event link.
Some  guest hosting  for this event are still available for this event if you are interested in guest hosting please email me.

Vermicelli Kheer ~ Goan style

Rich and creamy vermicelli  and nuts dessert that is royal in taste and will grace any meal  and complete it perfectly

Ingredients:

1 cup fine vermicelli (broken)
3 cups whole milk
1 small can condensed milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp  ghee/clarified butter
1 teaspoon  cardamom powder
1/4 cup  broken cashews
1/4 cup pistachio  nuts chopped
1/4 cup almonds (soaked,peeled & chopped)
6-8 saffron threads

Method:

1. Boil milk in a heavy bottom pan. When it comes to a boil add sugar, saffron threads, cardamom powder and condensed milk.
2. Keep it in medium flame and keep stirring at times to make sure that it doesn’t get burnt.
3. In another pan, heat butter and add cashews, vermicelli and  and roast it. Add this roasted mixture to the milk mixture and keep stirring it for 10 – 15 mins.
4.Remove from the flame and garnish it with almond pieces and pistachio nuts .
5.Transfer to a serving dish and  chill before serving.

Recipe Source: Pablos Diary- Goan Cuisine
This dish was made following the recipe in the above source , I didn't add the raisins and reduced the amount of ghee stated in the recipe.to suit my taste.
 
You may like:
Rice Kheer
 
Submitting to:
Flavours of Goa event by simply.food hosted by Denny of ohtastensee
 

French Beans - Goan Style

Tender french beans stir fried in simple spices to prepare crunchy spicy side dish.

Ingredients:

240 grams / 8 oz  french beans
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
1/4 teaspoon chilli powder
1/2 teaspoon ajwain seeds
1 tablespoon vinegar  or lemon juice
1 clove garlic sliced thinly
1 tablespoon olive oil

Method:

1. Top and tail the beans, wash  and cut them into 2 in pieces (original recipe kept beans long)
2. In a pan add the oil , when hot add mustard seeds and wait for them to splutter, add the ajwain seeds and saute for 30 seconds to release flavour, next add garlic and saute.(Take care not to burn ajwain or garlic)
3. Add the beans and saute for 5 minutes.
4. Add the salt, turmeric, chilli powder and coriander powder and stir fry beans for 5 more minutes till beans are tender but still retaining the crunch.
5. Add the vinegar or lemon juice(I added lemon juice) and mix throughly.
6. Transfer to seving dish and serve as side dish with hot rotis.

Source: http://www.ifood.tv/recipe/curried_french_beans_canned_beans
Recipe was taken from above source and slight modifications were made.

You may like :

Green pidgeon  peas and potato curry

Submitting to:
Priya's ajwain event hosted by Seasoned and dressed
Vegetarian foodie fridays # 30 hosted by Melodie
Flavours of Goa event by simply.food hosted by Denny of ohtastensee

Barbecued Corn Salad

Barbecued Corn salad is a tasty fast and easy salad that is delicious as a starter or side dish.Crunchy barbecued corn served with sweet mango, cucumber and carrots.

Ingredients:

2 fresh corn on the cobs
2 inch piece of  cucumber
1 carrot
1 semi ripe mango
2 green chillies

Dressing:

1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Pinch of Salt
Pinch of Black pepper
1 teaspoon honey

Method:

1. Barbecue the corn till it is charred and roasted all over alternatively grill the corn.
2. Remove the corn kernals from the roasted corn and keep aside.
3. Cut the cucumber in quarters and slice thinly.
4. Peel and grate the carrot.
5. Peel and dice the mango ,discard the stone.
6.Chop the chillies finely.
7. In a screw top jar add the vinegar, lemon juice,honey,oil , salt and pepper. Screw the lid and shake well.
8. In a bowl add the cucumber, carrot, and mango and toss.
9. Add the dressing and mix well.
10. On a serving dish add a layer of barbecued corn and top it with the mango, cucumber and carrot salsa.
11. Garnish with chopped chillies.
Serve immediately.

You may like:
Mexican cous cous salad

Submitting to:
Souper Sunday event- hosted by debinhawaii of Kahakai Kitchen
Vegetarian foodie fridays # 30 hosted by Melodie

Pumpkin Basket.

Nice centre piece fruit bowl carved from a pumpkin, you can fill it with fruit or you can use it as a serving bowl for soup or  fill it with any kind of cooked dish. Simple yet effective decorative table centre.

Fruit and vegetable carving  very simple and easy  ideas to try:
Cucumber Rose
Carrot Rose
Tomato Rose

Submitting to:
Submitting to:
Mindful Meanderings-artsy craftsy December 10



Create n Carve ~ Fruit and Vegetable Event hosted here on simply.food

1st December 2010 - 31st December 2010

You may purchase carving knives and books by clicking on these links:

November 2010 ~ Newsletter

simply.food

UK is in sub zero temperatures with snow and ice which is dominating the entire country as we are not used to snow in November. With the cold freezing winter and dark early evenings it’s the perfect time to spend time in a warm kitchen experiments with new ingredients and producing mouth watering dishes to keep busy. I am just dreading what this entire culinary experience is going to do to my weight; I can’t bear to think about it.....But I guess thats another story.:)

Here is a recap of  posts created in the month of November.

Kofta Biryani

Saboodana Kheer

Bread rolls

Varo

Fruit and Veg carving updates

Papaya salsa

Sooji Halwa

Cabbage Chutney

Melon basket

Cucumber Raita

Crostata

Pomegranate Fool

Round up Flavours of Punjab

Announcing two new events:

The culinary journey of "Flavours of "event  started in Gujarat and progressed to Punjab we are now taking a rest at Goa with the introduction of the event:

 Flavours of Goa guest hosted by Denise of oh taste and see 

Looking forward to everyones participation in this wonderful cuisine.

The next event was inspired by my Fruit and Vegetable carving classes. I have had so many enquiries about it that I thought why not get all my blogger buddies involved in creating and carving and so the next event was born

Create n Carve ~ Fruit and Veg Event.

1st December 2010 - 31st December 2010

 

Both events are very different,  one taking you to a culinary journey to the shores of Goa where you can cook wonderful Goan cuisine and the other event that will put your creativity to the test and give you a master class in garnishing and carving fruit and veg.

If you have an event to announce a fellow blogger has a blog specifically for announcing  blog events. Please feel free to send your events to be included in the list  here.

Cooking good food is an art but importantly more you need to paint a picture with this art to please the eye and palate and what better way than create and garnish it with pleasing colours and garnishes.

simplyfood’s published recipe for the month of November in Homeobuzz magazine is  Pumpkin and apple soup 

Last but not least I am happy that simply.food has been chosen as one of the featured blogs during the month of December on their home page of Blogging women. It is wonderful to get this exposure and recognition.

Welcome to all new followers, and thanks to the existing .Your visits, words of inspiration and comments are most valued.

Finally if you enjoyed reading this news letter please do subscribe to it so that you can get regular updates.You may do this via this newsletter or link on side bar on simply.food home page.

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