Create n Carve ~ Fruit and Veg Event- August and September Round ups

The Create n Carve ~Fruit and Vegetable Event has come to an end and here are the final two round ups.

Create n Carve ~Fruit  and Vegetable
August 2011 Round up
September 2011Round Up

The journey of Create n Carve started last year when I joined Fruit and Vegetable carving classes after admiring the beautiful garnishes and creations that my favorite chinese restaurant always had on display. I had no idea how to carve  let alone handle a sharp carving knife which cause me to have many acuts on my fingers.However with perseverence my skills improved stedily and my interest in carving grew stronger. This is when Create n Carve Fruit and Vegetable events were born. I wanted to inspire others to try their hand at garnishing and Carvings.
To see how I progressed , click here to see my attempts are carving.

The events  were well received and I want to thank all the participants and of course the guest hosts:  Mina, Helen,  Harika ,Sara, Linda, Sonia and Selena who supported these events and made create n carve so very successful.
I hope that this event inspired some of you to take up carving and garnishing it certainly has taught me some  skills which I hope to continue improving.

You can see all the event round ups here.
You can also try your hand at simple carvings by watching the tutorials here.

Microwaveable Chocolate and Orange cake Blog Hop Wednesday 28th September 2011

This is my 3rd entry for Blog Hop Wednesday started by Radhika of Tickling Palates. Its a beautiful concept where not only do you get to make new  blogger friends, cook from their blogs but in return they visit your blog and try out your recipes too.

If you are interested in  joining Blog Hop Wednesday here is how it works:

"The plot behind this attempt is to form groups and make pairs with a blogger who will be your partner for that particular week. This happens every alternate Wednesdays. You will then go through your partner’s blog, select, choose, cook, click and post the recipe in your blog on Wednesday and vice versa. The alternate week you will have a new partner. This way not only you tend to your blog at intervals but also learn some new recipes along the way and get to know a lot of bloggers and make friends."



This weeks assignment was from Jayashrees blog called mom's corner. There were many yummy recipes to follow but I particularly liked the idea of trying to bake a cake in the microwave which I have never done before.
The original recipe was for orange cake however I added a spoonful of cocoa in the batter as I love the combination of chocolate and orange.I also added  chocolate ganache on top of the cake which was not in the recipe .The original recipe can be found here.

Fast and Speedy scrumpticious chocolate cake, that is really tasty and simply delectable.

Ingredients:

1.5 cups plain flour
1 tablepoon cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspon baking powder
1/2 cup oil
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup yoghurt
3/4 cup orange juice
2 teaspoon orange zest
1/2 cup milk

Chocolate Ganache:
(Optional)
1 small bar cadburys milk chocolate
2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon icing sugar
1-2 drops orange essence

For Garnish:

Chocolate Stars
Orange Segments

Method:

1. Sieve the flour, cocoa, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl.
2. In another bowl add the oil, orange juice, yoghurt and milk, mix well. Add the orange zest and suger and mix again.
3. Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
4. Oil a microwaveable dish and pour the cake mixture ito it.
5. Cook on high for 9 minutes.
6. Remove from microwave and allow to cool.
7. Using a knife gently loosen the sides of the cake and transfer it to a serving dish.
8. Melt the chocolate in the microwave for 1 minute, add the milk  and mix well. Stir in the icing sugar and 1-2 drops orange essencebeat well.
9. Pour the chocolate ganache on top of the cake and allow it to set.
10. Sprinkle with chocolate stars and orange segment
Cut into slices and seve warm with vanilla ice cream.

NB -Cooking times may vary depending on type of microwave oven you have.

You may like:
Chocolate muffins

Oatmeal Bars -September Secret Club challenge

This is my 2nd assignment with the Secret Recipe Club.The aim of the club is that you are allocated a blog from which you have to select  a recipe and try  it and blog about it.

My assigned blog was Julies Eats and Treats. When I opened Julies blog page , I particularly like the colourful  and fun blog page and immediately I was confident that in this blog I would surely find  a fun recipe to make. I was not wrong and as I stumbled across the Caramel Oatmeal Bars recipe.The recipe was simple to follow but as I did not have any caramels ,I adapted the recipe slightly  to include ingredients in my store cupboard.The Original recipe can be found here

Ingredients: 1 cup plain  flour 1 cup oatmeal 1/2 cup butter, melted 1/4 cup golden syrup 3/4 cups brown sugar 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt 1 cup mixed chopped nuts (walnuts/almonds/cashew) 1/2 cup deciccated coconut 1/3 cup milk 1/2 cup chocolate chips Method: 1. Mix together the flour, oats, baking powder, salt, nuts and decicated coconut . 2. In a pan add the butter, sugar, golden syrup and milk and heat  together till sugar melts. 3.Pour this mixture into the dry ingredints in the bowl and mix well. 4.Stir in the chocolate chip and pat into a well greased 9x13 inch baking tray. 5. Bake in a pre heated oven  at 160 degrees centigrade 325 degrees Farenheit for 45 minutes

You may like:

World peace cookies.

Mushroom and Tomato Bake

Perfect dish for brunch, Succulent mushrooms, tangy and juicy tomatoes topped with a aromatic herb and breadcrumb crusty topping.

Ingredients:

4oz button mushrooms
2 large beef tomatoes
4 oz bread crumbs
2 oz grated cheese
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper powder
1 teaspoon Italian mixed herbs
1/4 teaspoon chilli flakes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small red onion

Method:

1. Thinly slice the button mushrooms.
2. Finely chop the red onion.
3. Slice the tomatoes.
4. In a bowl all the bread crumbs, herbs, chilli flakes  and pinch of salt and pepper. Mix well.
5. In a pan add the oil and saute the onions until translucent. Add the mushrooms and cook till mushrooms soften. Season with salt and pepper.
6.In an oven proof dish, make a layer of tomatoes, and top it with the mushroom mixture, Add a layer of cheese. Repeat with a second layer of tomatoes, followed by the mushroom mixture and than the remaining cheese.
7. For the top  final layer , add the bread crumbs mixture.
8. Preheat an oven to 180 degrees centigrade / 350 degrees Farenheit and bake the tomato and mushroom bake for 25 minutes or untill there is nice golden crust on the top.
Remove from oven and serve with fresh crusty bread .

You may like:
Mexican Tart

Iced Orange and Apple Tea

Refreshing summer drink that is delicious and cooling.

Ingredients:

2 teabags

1 tablespoon sugar

300 ml boiling water

150 ml apple juice

150ml orange juice

1 cinnamon stick

Method:

1. Place tea bags in a pot and add boiling water. Add the cinnamon stick.

2. Allow the tea to steep for 2-3 minutes and remove teabags and cinnamon stick.

3. Stir in the sugar and allow the tea to cool.

4. Stir in the apple and orange juice and mix well.

5. Chill for 2 hours.

6. Pour into tall glasses; add ice cubes and orange slices.

You may like:
Tropical Tornado Mocktail

Submitting to:

Create n Carve ~ Fruit and Vegetable August event by simply.food guest hosted by Selena of Fruit carving arrangements and food Garnishes.

To purchase the Bird beak carving knife click on the amazon link below.

GIVEAWAY ~Free Tickets BBC Good Food Show Winter NEC Birmingham

BBC Good Food Show Winter – 21 Years old this year!

23 – 27 November NEC, Birmingham

The BBC Good Food Show is the biggest and best food Show in the country and has been paving the way for food Shows for the past 21 years. This year the line up is just as stellar as always with top foodie faces including John Torode, Gregg Wallace, James Martin, Rick Stein, Glynn Purnell and many more taking to the 2000 seater Supertheatre. There will be hundreds of exhibitors from Flavours of Spain to British Fine Foods and Luponde tea plus come and see some exhibitors who have been with us from the very beginning including Foxes Spices and The Curry Sauce Company. With Christmas just around the corner it will be the perfect place to pick up inspiration to make your Christmas stand out from the crowds this year and try something different!

There will be many top chefs such as James Martin, Rick Stein and Michael Caines live in action in the Supertheatre sponsored by Sainsbury's, more specialty producers, more great shopping and more festive entertainment than ever!

It will be the pefect place to spend a day and do a spot of xmas shoppig for all you foodies out there.For more details click here.

Does all this sound fun?
Are you itching to get more details of how you can attend this amazing show??

The BBC Good Food Show Winter is 21 this year and to celebrate simply.food has teamed up with the organisers to offer 3 lucky winners  the chance to win 1 pair of general admission tickets each.

There are 5 ways to participate, each comment will count as one entry.

There is one main way to enter and several ways to get bonus entries.
You must leave a separate comment for each bonus entry otherwise they will not be counted.


5 ways to enter:

1. Leave a comment saying why you would like the tickets and what part of the show you would enjoy the most.

2. For a second chance to win become a follower of simply.food and leave a comment saying you have done so.

3.For a third chance please follow me @simplyf00d on twitter again commenting to tell me you have done so with  your twitter username

4. For a fourth chance to win  please tweet this post using the tweet button below and leave a comment telling me you have done so with your twitter username

5. For a fifth chance to win please share this announcement using the face book button below and leave a comment saying you have done it.


NB- Only UK residents eligible to entry, you must be over 18 years of age and provide a valid email ID so that you can be notified if you win the tickets.

Give Away closes Friday 18th November 2011 6.00pm

Good Luck.

Jalebi ~ ICC August 2011

This post is for the Indian cooking challenge by Srivalli of Spicing your life.

Crispy crunchy swirls of batter deep fried and  dipped is aromatic saffron and cardamom infused syrup makes these awesome jalebis simply mouthwatering  and delectable.

 

Ingredients:

Sunflower oil for frying
Few almonds and pistachio nuts for garnish.(optional)

Batter
100 grams plain flour
30 grams corn flour
2-3 drops yellow food colouring
Few strands saffron
1 cup natural yoghurt
1 tablespoon sunflower hot oil

Sugar syrup
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
Few strands of saffron
1 teaspoon cardamom powder
1 teaspoon lemon juice.

Method:

1.Mix together the plain flour, corn flour, yoghurt, saffron, food colour and hot hoil and make a smooth lump free batter
2. Cover  batter and leave overnight to ferment.
3. Heat the sugar and water and lemon juice to form a sweet syrup just a little less than 1 thread in consistency.(Thread Stage 215° F–235° F/108° C–118° C on sugar thermometer)(Lemon juice prevents sugar syrup from crystalising)
4. Heat oil in a pan and while its heating fill up a plastic ketchup/mustard bottle with the batter mixture.(Alternatively use a zip lock bag with a tiny hole cut in the bottom of it.)
5. When oil is medium hot, squeeze batter  to form mini  swirls into the hot oil and fry jalebis  until golden brown on both sides.
6.Immediately remove jalebis from hot oil and shake off access oil and dip them in  warm sugar syrup to coat both sides.
7. Remove jalebis from syrupas soon as you have dipped them to retain crunch  and place them on serving dish .Repeat procedure for remaining batter.
8. Garnish with almond and pistachio slivers if desired.
Serve hot.

Notes-
Jalebi batter turned out a little too thin  and made it difficult to form uniform swirls.I had to add another tablespoon of corn flour to thicken the batter. I think batter was thin because my yoghurt was low fat and very runny.

You may like:
Khasta Katchori

Carrot and Tomato Soup ~ Blog Hop Wednesday 14th Sept 2011

This is my2 nd entry for Blog Hop Wednesday started by Radhika of Tickling Palates. Its a beautiful concept where not only do you get to make new  blogger friends, cook from their blogs but in return they visit your blog and try out your recipes too.

If you are interested in  joining Blog Hop Wednesday here is how it works:

"The plot behind this attempt is to form groups and make pairs with a blogger who will be your partner for that particular week. This happens every alternate Wednesdays. You will then go through your partner’s blog, select, choose, cook, click and post the recipe in your blog on Wednesday and vice versa. The alternate week you will have a new partner. This way not only you tend to your blog at intervals but also learn some new recipes along the way and get to know a lot of bloggers and make friends."



My allocated blog for this assignment was  Rinku's Kitchen Treats,  Browing through the various post , there were many mouth watering dishes some vegetarian and some non veg . Being a vegetarian I was looking for a simple low fat recipe and I came across her section on low cal recipes. I instantly wanted to try the carrot and tomato soup.You can find the original recipe here.
Verdict:
The soup turned out tasty and simply delicious and one I will make again and again.
The only changes I made were that I left out the onion and garlic and did not puree the soup instead ,I left it chunky.

Ingredients:

2 medium carrots diced           
8 tomatoes diced
1 potato diced
2 cups water  
1 bay Leaf                        
1/2 teaspoon black pepper.        
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar.

Method:

1.Blend the tomatoes in a blender jug and puree them. Stain to remove skin and seeds and pour into a saucepan and simmer on medium heat.
2.Add the bay leaf  to the potato and carrots and pressure cup them with  in 1 cup water,
3.Once vegetables are cooked remove the bay leaf  and add them to the simmering tomato puree.
4.Add more water to get desired consistency.Add the pepper and sugar .Taste and adjust seasoning as required.Simmer for 5  more minutes.
5. You can either puree the soup in a blender jug to make it smooth  or leave it chuncky which is what I did.

To Serve:
Garnish with a drizzle of fresh cream and serve hot with fresh bread.

You may like:
 Pumpkin  and apple soup.

Intricate Water Melon Carving ~ Create n Carve Fruit and Vegeetable.

This watermelon carving is my 1st attempt at grouping  multiple flowers and leaves together over a whole melon. It took me nearly 4 hours of carving to carve this design. There are many errors but I am sure practise will improve results next time.

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. You can showcase your carvings by participating in the  September Create n Carve Event.

Announcing September Create n Carve ~Fruit and Vegetable Event which is guest hosted this month by Selena of Fruit carving arrangements and food Garnishes.For those of you who are new to this event, its an event where you can awaken  up your creative instincts and make visual displays using fruit and vegetables. Selena who is our host this month is an expert carver. She makes displays for weddings and parties and she has kindly accaepted to host the September event. Do visit her blog , trust me once you do you will vist her space again and again because her creations are amazing.

You may like :

Melon Basket

Submitting to:

Create n Carve ~ Fruit and Vegetable August event by simply.food guest hosted by Selena of Fruit carving arrangements and food Garnishes.

To purchase the Bird beak carving knife click on the amazon link below.