Cauliflower Bake

I got this recipe from one of my aunties. Tried it and it came out very well.But very rice in Cheese and Butter..

INGREDIENTS:

1 large cauliflower, broken into flowerets
6 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup corn starch
1 teaspoon salt
Pepper to taste
3 cups milk
1/2 cup soft bread crumbs
1/4 cup Grated cheese

PREPARATION:

1. Cook cauliflower in boiling salted water until just crisp-tender, about 6 minutes.
2. Drain cauliflower and transfer to a lightly buttered 1 1/2-quart baking dish.
3.In a small saucepan, melt 3 tablespoons of butter; blend in flour and salt.
4.Stir until smooth and bubbly. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly. Continue cooking and stirring until sauce is thickened and smooth, for about 3 minutes. Keep the heat very low, since it would thicken up very quick, you need to be fast.
5. Arrange cauliflower, Pour sauce over cauliflower in casserole. Sprinkle cheese
6.Melt remaining butter in a medium saucepan; add bread crumbs and toss to coat. Top the casserole.
7. Bake at 375° until bubbly and browned.

Note: If you have a small baking dish, layer it and bake. cauliflower-sauce-cheese cauliflower-sauce-cheese-bread crumbs

The Cook in me!

Thanks to Ammani for tagging…

What's your first memory of baking/cooking on your own?
I always liked to cook and used to love making tomato chutney. I baked a caked, in my first year of college with the basic baking vessel in my home, it was my grand mom old baking dish, and it came out like a stone. Actually nothing to do with the dish, it was my baking skills.

Who had the most influence on your cooking?
My grand mom, mom and all my aunties. Each one cooking technique was different and I used to be amazed by my grand mom cooking, she would just create recipes on the fly and everything would taste so well.

Do you have an old photo as "evidence" of an early exposure to the culinary world? Nope! Thank god for it.

Mageiricophobia - do you suffer from any cooking phobia, a dish that makes your palms sweat?
Brinjal. Never works for me. Atleast our indian one’s were ok, but these big eggplants makes me go crazy and I can never get it right.

What are your most valued or used kitchen gadgets and/or what was the biggest letdown?
Most valued kitchen gadget: My knife and cutting board.
Biggest Letdown: Is the American Blender, burnt 2 already. In the process of burning the Ultimate chopper.

Biggest disappointment?
Orange Capsicums – Peppers (as they call it here), so expensive, but the taste is sort of poolipu..

Name some funny or weird food combinations/dishes you really like - and probably no one else does.
I like to mix pickle, curd, sambar lots with rice and have it.

What are the three edibles or dishes you simply don't want to live without?
Rice, sambhar, rasam

Your favorite ice-cream
Don’t care much for icecreams. My all time favorite Arun Ice Cream casatta. In US, nothing so far, just the basic vanilla I would say. But I never eat much to taste others.

You will definitely never eat...
Snakes…

Your own signature dish...
Butter Chicken & Rasmalai - Made out of Ricotta cheese. . All my guests love it.


What is your most memorable meal?
The first meal after 7 days of delivery, carrot porial, rice and rasam by mom, since no one was there for 7 days :-(.



I like to tag PVS and Narayan (I know he cooks during the weekends ;-))

Stuffed Molaga(Chilli) bajji

Stuffed Molaga(Chilli) bajji

4 Big Molaga
4 tbsp - Chana Dal Flour (Kadala Mavu)
1 tbsp rice flour (optional- It would be nice and crispy if added0
1 potato
2 tbsp peas
few Cauliflower florets
1/2 - onion
1/4 - jeera
1 tbsp - chilli powder
1/2 tbsp - garlic paste (optional)
salt to taste

Direction

1. Boil Potato in microwave for 5 to 7 mins
2. Boil Cauliflower in microwave for 3 to 5 mins
3. In a pan, saute onions and fry well.
4. Add chilli powder 1/2 tbsp, jeera and fry well. Add garlic if you wish.
5. Mash potato and add to the onions, fry well. Donot add water, the stuffing should be thick.
6. Add peas, cauliflower and fry well.
7. Clean the chilli, scoop out all the seeds.
8. Stuff the veggies and set aside
9. In a pan heat oil for deep frying.
10. Mix chana dal flour,rice flour, chilli powder, salt to taste mix with water. The consistency should be thick not watery.
11. Dip the chilli in the flour mix and deep fry.

Eat with any sauce...and enjoy!!

Mutton/Lamb Cutlet

1 kg Lamb
1/2 tbsp Ginger, garlic paste
6 big Onion, cut into very small pieces
6 Green chillies
1/4 tbsp Chilli powder
2 tbsp Cornflour
1 Egg
Salt to taste
If you feel its too meaty add a boiled potato to the mix.

1.Cook the Lamb well and drain all the water.
2.Grind green chillies, ginger, garlic.
3.Heat oil, add some garam masala, fry the onions in it
4.Add the ground paste to it and Fry well till onion turns golden brown and become 1/4 after cooking.
5.Now add the ground lamb to it, put little chilli powder and fry well.
6.Fry well till oils leaves the mix
7.After it cools. Add corn flour, egg and mix well.
8.Flatten portions of meat .
9.In a tawa heat oil, dip the flatten meat in breadcrumbs and fry well.

Chicken Fry

Chicken Fry
Chicken - 2 lbs
Onion - 2 cut
Red chilli whole - 10 to 15 according to taste. If you want to spicy it up, add few more.
Pepper- little
cinnamon – little
Cumin - 1tbsp
Fennel - 1 tbsp


Method
1. Heat oil, put onions, cinnamon, red chilli whole, chicken, cumin, fennel, salt to taste and fry little while.
2. Add water and cook the chicken well.
3. Once cooked, take the chicken pieces out, mash the onions, red chilli with a ladle.
4. Now add the chicken and fry well. Add pepper while frying.If you need it very dry fry well.

Butter Chicken

Butter Chicken
chicken - 1 lbs
Cashew- 50 gms- Grind cashew into fine paste.
Onion- medium size - 1
Tomato- 1-1/2
Cumin- 1tbsp
garam masala-1/4 tbsp
fennel-1 tbsp
ginger, garlic paste- 1-1/2tbsp
tandoori powder- 1 tbsp
buttermilk/lime juice for marinating
chilli powder- 1 tbsp
coriander -1/2 tbsp

Method
1. Marinate the chicken with cumin,garam masala, tandoori powder and lime juice for 1/2 hr.
2. In a kadai, pour little oil and fry the chicken, cook with the marinade juice for 10 to 15 min in slow heat.
3. In another kadai,pour oil, saute onions well.
4. Add ginger, garlic paste, fry well.
5. Add tomato, chilli powder, corainder and fry well. Oil should separate.
6. Now add cashew psate and fry well, till oil separates.
7. Add a small piece of butter.
8. Now add the chicken and pour water and cook well. Keep in low heat and cook well.

Rasmalai

Ricotto Cheese 250 gms
SugarAlmonds 50 gm- soak almonds and grind to a thick paste. Can be coarse
half aand half-200 ml
milk-200ml

Directions
1. Drain out the water from the ricotta cheese in a cloth or paper towel weel. Leave it for 1/2 hour in the cloth it will drain and then squeeze out.
2. Mix Sugar 1/2 cup and ricotta cheese and mix well. In a baking pan, make sure it is a dish with 1/2 inch side. Put the mix in it and flatten it out evenly with a ladle.
3. Heat baking oven to 350 deg, place the baking dish and cook well for 30 min. Close the baking dish with aluminum foil. It should become like brown at the sides or if it is cooked well ok.
4. In a heavy vessel, pour milk and half and half and bring to boil. Then put sugar, 1/2 cup. If you want more sweet then add more.Bring to a nice boil.
5. Now add the almond paste and bring to boil. Boil till milk thickens.
6. Cool the milk and then cut the ricotto chese into square bits and put in the milk.Cool in fridge and it would be great.