Easy Strawberry Dessert...

And yet another strawberry filled dessert! Well, I bought all these strawberries and couldn't eat them 'coz I got diagnosed with Typhoid - so I am on a strict diet of  various types of rice preparations, Bottle gourd ('Lauki'), Round gourd ('Tinda') and lots of fluids. Needless to say I don't have any taste in my mouth and all I dream is about able to eat some YUMMM - O food. Not allowed to step out of the house my daily dose of television consists of Rachel Allen, Nigella Lawson and Masterchef US and all the other lovely blogs that keep updating their websites regularly.

My son has been a bit upset seeing me lying down for most parts of the day and so he has been kept company by his dad (who managed to be by my side for most of my down days), grandparents, friends. One such friend of ours has been really helping us out with the baby and sent over some yummy Mutton Biryani for my hubby (the recipe and pics of which I am going to be featuring soon...) - so as a thank you gesture, the minute my fever vanished and I could get back on my feet I whipped together the easiest strawberry dessert I could. I had to use the yummy strawberry and couldn't let it go waste.

 I have very rough estimations to give for this dessert, as I didn't taste it and didn't measure anything - but everyone said it tasted great so I am assuming it was good!

Start with about 250 grams of strawberries - wash and slice them finely.

Take about 1 cup of whipping cream and whip well. Add icing sugar and about 100 grams strawberries and whip it into the cream. Don't over puree the strawberries so you can taste chunks of the fruit in it.

Now take 3/4 cup of water, mix some sugar and chocolate powder in it and make a thick paste. Dip the lady fingers in it and line the bottom of your bowl or dessert glasses (I made it for my friends, hubby and toddler... I think I used about 8-10 lady fingers). Then cover the lady fingers with the chopped strawberries. Douse this with any leftover chocolate - sugar- water mixture. Now add the whipped cream mixture over this and decorate with cut strawberries, lady fingers and chocolate powder. Leave in the fridge to chill and enjoy!

I completely forgot that I wanted to send this as my entry to "Cooking with Fruits" event to the Tastebuds blog  http://tastebuds1.blogspot.com/2011/01/cooking-with-fruits-event.html that I came across online. It is a lovely blog with lots of interesting recipes and kitchen tips!

And, yes I am gone again....

Down with a very bad stomach bug I am on a rice and soup diet for now with a few fresh fruits in for good measure... I am craving all those cakes and tarts and baked goods that I can't even touch. All I can think of now is FOOD but just not eat it.

Please send me your favorite food blogs so I can  feast my eyes on them.... till I get better!

Crepes - a miracle food

I know what you are thinking, what's a miracle about this food. I am not talking about healthy miracles but just making this dish and putting it into your mouth will tell you about the miracle I am talking about. Eat it as is or with any topping you want - sweet or savory doesn't take away anything from this. It just enhances the flavors of what you are eating.

My son at this with butter and honey, my hubby with maple syrup, me with the humble strawberry and a drizzle of chocolate sauce and it stood out distinctly... The weather yesterday was just perfect for crepes and brought back tons of memories. I have always battled weight issues ( i.e. me trying to be "my" ideal weight), so when I used to live in New York I would walk to work. I still remember the freezing winters and the smell of street vendors wafting in the air - whether it was bagels and coffee or hot fogs or Lebanese fare or fresh hot crepes... I always tried to stay away from all this. But on special days when I did indulge it was on crepes - with strawberries and fresh cream! And I can still taste the hot crepes and the cooling strawberries and cream...

I would wonder if I would be able to ever make something so heavenly... and I did it. I chanced about a brilliant recipe on La Tartine Gourmande, a beautiful food blog I discovered a couple of days back. It has the most brilliant pictures and recipes. I had to adapt the recipe as I didn't have all the ingredients on hand but kept the flour to wet ingredients ratio the same. And the crepe just seemed to materialize out of thin air... and vanish again as the family chowed down on it as an evening snack and then again for breakfast the next day.

The pictures were taken from my phone and are really grainy, as I couldn't grab my camera fast enough, and will be uploaded soon.

Recipe:

1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 eggs
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons fine sugar
a pinch of salt
about a tablespoon of oil
11/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

I took the dry ingredients - added the eggs and gave it a good stir. Then I added about 3/4 of the milk, sugar, vanilla essence and oil and gave it a good whisk but do not overmix as it would break up the gluten in the flour.

I let it sit in the fridge for about an hour. You can use it in 30 minutes. I added the left over milk just before using it.

You heat a non stick skillet and the oil in this helps it come off easily but you can add a dash of butter while cooking.

Pour a couple of tablespoons of batter into the pan and swirl it till you get a very thin pancake spread out till the sides of the pan. Cook for under a minute on each side, drizzle with your favorite toppings or enjoy it plain.

Yes, it's as simple as that!!!!

A few more Restaurant Reviews - Delhi & Gurgaon (ordering in)

I have waited a while to visit a substantial number of restraurants in and around Delhi & Gurgaon before writing this up. I will further divide this into take-out and nice sit-down kinda places...

For restaurant numbers and menu - do refer to Zomato.com. Also, there is another new service from bitequest.com - they made a booking for me and I received a 15% discount on my bill - how cool was that - WOW!

Take-Out:
1. Colonel's Kebabz at Arjun Marg, Gurgaon- is our standard take out choice for Indian food especially Butter Chicken or Chicken Tikka Masala though we still do not find their Tandoori Chicken upto the mark.

It used to be Nawab's at SuperMart I, Gurgaon (Needs Market) but the quality of food there has really deteriorated. Also, I have heard rave reviews about Dana Choga, though never eaten there. The hubby has and also says it's awesome.

Tried Buddy's Broaster at a friends son's Birthday and they took me by surprise. They are not exactly as good as KFC which I prefer over McDonald's but their kathi roll's were great and chicken burgers were good. Also, heard good things about their nuggets and popcorn chicken.

Another, great place to order is from Burmese Kitchen - most of the dishes we've tried at this place have been true to taste and really had the hubby and me licking our fingers. Don't know of any places in Gurgaon that do Burmese food so this is always the first choice if we have to dig into some great Khow Suey.

Will leave it to the ordering in part for now and tackle sit down fine-dining next time around

It's the season to be Strawberried....

Strawberry, strawberry here and there
Strawberry, strawberry everywhere

Two strawberry & chocolate cakes in two weeks - need I say more. The Delhi / Gurgaon markets seem to be flooded with these berries and chocolate cake is always a nice accompaniment for strawberries and cream or mascarpone!