Vegetarian Yakisoba

Noodles are something that is loved all over the world, East or West. There are so many varieties of noodles, both in Eastern and Western cuisine. I love to try out noodles in any form, wherever it comes from. Among the Japanese noodles that I have tried out, this is my favorite.
Recipe source:Food.com
Ingredients:
8 ounces soba noodles
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp sambal paste or 2 teaspoons other hot chili paste
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoons sesame oil
1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 small onions,sliced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 big carrot, peeled and julienned
1/4 head cabbage, cored and shredded
4 scallion tops, chopped
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds (optional)
1 tsp ginger paste
Method:
Bring a medium pot of water to a boil.Cook the soba noodles in the boiling water for about 2 minutes or until they are al dente.(cooking any longer will cause the noodles to clump together.).
Drain the noodles, rinse lightly with cold water and drain again. (This is important so the noodles won't stick.).
Combine the soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, chili paste, sugar, and sesame oil in a small bowl and set aside.Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat.
When hot, add the onions, garlic,ginger and carrots, saute for about a minute now add cabbage. Cook stirring frequently, until the vegetables  are mostly tender
Add the soba noodles and the soy sauce mixture and cook just long enough to reheat the noodles and thoroughly coat them in the sauce.
Serve garnished with the chopped scallions and toasted sesame seeds.

Kale Pesto Pizza

Even though the summer was not that bad this year, we had a few hot days. But still I avoided using the oven to prevent my house from getting heated up. Surprisingly, on the last day of summer, yesterday, it rained and rained fairly heavy. So I thought why not use this opportunity to use my oven and this is what I came up with.
Ingredients

1can (11 oz) Pillsbury refrigerated biscuits
1/4 cup kale pesto, recipe given below
1large plum (Roma) tomato, chopped
1cup shredded Italian cheese blend (4 oz)
2 tablespoons fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced (optional)

Method:
Heat oven to 375°F. Spray or grease a pizza pan or  nonstick cookie sheet. Press each dough roll on cookie sheet; starting at center, press dough into 15x10-inch rectangle.
Spread pesto to within 1/2 inch of edges of dough. Top with tomatoes; sprinkle with cheese.
Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until crust edges are golden brown and cheese is melted. Sprinkle with basil.

For making Kale Pesto
Ingredients:
2 cups roughly torn kale, any variety (approximately 3 large stems, tough stalk removed)
1 clove garlic
4 tbsp cashew nuts, toasted
2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 Green chillies
1/2 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil
Method:
Place all ingredients (except olive oil) in the food processor.
Pulse until ingredients are finely chopped.
Turn food processor to on and with food processor running, slowly drizzle olive oil over the ingredients until incorporated.
Turn off food processor and remove pesto to jar.

Aval Payasam

Hope all my Malayalee friends had a great Onam!
I tried making this new payasam for this Onam. What I liked best about this recipe is that it is so easy to put together. So even when you are in the middle of making a full course "sadya" you can pay little attention to this and still end up with a delicious payasam.  You don't have to wait for the next Onam to try this, you can try making it the very next time the urge to have something sweet strikes you!

Ingredients:
Medium thick white Aval (Flattened rice)  – ¼ cup
Milk – 3 cups
Cardamom powder – 1/4 tsp
Ghee  – 2 tbsp
Sugar – ¾ cup to 1 cup
Cashew and raisins -1/4 cup

Method:
Fry the Aval in  1 tbsp  ghee  in a pressure cooker when aval turns crisp add the sugar. Once all the sugar melts (At this point you can take half the aval and crush it lightly) add milk into the Aval .Stir and let it come to a boil. Place the lid of the cooker and the whistle, and turn the heat to low flame. Let it cook for 25 - 30 minutes . Cook it for some more time until it thickens to the consistency of payasam. Meanwhile fry the cashew and raisins in ghee and add this along with cardamom to the payasam.

Semiya'N Dal Payasam with Jaggery & Coconut milk

In Kerala, where I am from, we do not typically celebrate Ganesh Chathurthi with the same pomp and festivities as in the rest of India. But in our house we always have a little celebration on this day as Jai's birthday as per the Hindu calendar falls on this auspicious day and Aishwarya's the very next day. So as to mark this special occasion I made this simple yet delicious payasam. The payasam is a combination of vermicelli milk payasam(semiya payasam) and dal payasam made with coconut milk. I was again in a mood to experiment and ended up with this delight. So if you are in a mood to try something different from the traditional payasam this would be a good option.
Ingredients:
Vermicelli – 1/2 cup
Moong dal split - ¼ cup
Thick Coconut milk – 1 glass
Thin Coconut milk – 1 ¼ glass
Milk – 1 glass
Broken Cashews – ¼ cup
Raisins – ¼ cup
Ghee – 3 tbsp
Jaggery – 3/4cup (or to taste)
Water – 1 glass
Cardamom powder- 1/2 tsp
a pinch of salt
Method:
Dry roast  moong dal  until you get a nice aroma of roasted dal. Immediately add water to the dal. Wash and pressure cook till well cooked. Make a syrup of jaggery using one cup water. Strain it to remove any impurities.Dry roast vermicelli and cook this in jaggery syrup, add more water if needed. Once vermicelli is cooked well add the cooked dal to it along with 2 tablespoons of ghee. Cook this over for about a minute.
Add thin coconut milk and combine well. When it starts to boil, Add the thick coconut milk and cook this for another 2-3 minutes  stirring continuously. Remove from the stove add the milk  and cardamom powder salt along with ghee roasted raisins and cashew.
If the payasam is too thick for your liking you may dilute it using more milk. Check the sweetness when adding more milk, add more jaggery syrup as needed.

Mocha Mousse Brownie Torte

Today my sweetheart  turned one more year wiser. So to celebrate his birthday I made a cake putting two of his favorite desserts together.The brownie and the mocha mousse turned out to be a wonderful combination. With the brownies turning out dense and fudgy and mousse light and velvety it was indeed a match made in heaven - just like us ;)
 Happy Birthday to the best husband in the world.

Ingredients

Brownie
1 (1 oz.) envelope unflavored gelatin
1/3 cup cold water
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon instant coffee powder
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 cups cold whipping cream
1/4 cup Smucker's Hot Fudge Topping
Method:
Heat oven to 350°F. Coat 9-inch spring form pan with no-stick cooking spray. Prepare brownie spread batter in prepared pan. Bake 28 to 33 minutes or until center is set. Cool completely on wire rack.
Sprinkle gelatin over cold water in small microwave-safe bowl. Let stand 2 minutes to soften. Microwave 30 seconds. Stir until gelatin is completely dissolved. Cool slightly.
Mix sugar,coffee and cocoa in large bowl. Add whipping cream . Beat with electric mixer on medium speed until stiff. Add gelatin mixture. Beat until blended. Spoon over brownie layer, spreading evenly. Chill 2 hours. Remove sides of pan.
 Place fudge topping in small heavy-duty resealable plastic bag. Seal. Microwave on High 10 seconds to soften. Knead. Cut a very small corner off bottom of bag. Drizzle evenly over chocolate mousse. Chill.