Happy Thanksgiving !!

Wishing you all a very Happy Thanksgiving…!!!

This is a dark chococlate cake prepared in microwave frosted with cream cheese frosting and coverd with marshmewllow fondant.I’ll be posting the recipe of the cake soon.

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Tiramisu

Tiramisu meaning ‘pick-me -up’ is a classic coffee flavored Italian dessert prepared with mascarpone cheese,espresso and ladyfingers.It has become very popular recently and is served in almost every Italian restaurants. You either love it or hate it,there’s no middle ground..

This was my second attempt to prepare Tiramisu,first time I completely messed it up.This time I followed Olive Garden’s recipe as per Shn’s suggestion and it came out perfect.Thanks Shn.

I’ve made a few changes here and there.This is how i made it…

Ingredients:-

Egg yolks – Of 3 eggs
Whole Milk – 1/4 cup
Granulated sugar – 1 cup

Mascarpone cheese – 3 cups
Cream cheese – 8 ounces or 1 cup
Vanilla Extract – 1/4 tsp

Ladyfingers /savioardi biscuits- around 25

Italian Coffee powder – 5tbsp (Use any Italian brand if possible.I used Illy brand.Other brands are Cello, Lavazza, Kimbo, Mauro etc.)
Hot water – 1 cup (for making espresso)

Kahlua or any coffee liquor – 1/4 cup

Cocoa powder/Grated chocolate- as needed

Method:-

Fill half of a medium sized sauce pan with water and allow it to boil.In a metal bowl whisk egg yolks,milk and sugar together.Simmer the boiling water and place the metal bowl on top of the sauce pan and stir the mixture often for 10-15 mts.You can also use double boiler instead of doing this.When the sugar dissolves,the egg mixture will begin to thicken.Remove from the sauce pan and allow it to cool.

To prepare espresso,boil 1 cup of water in a stove/microwave.Take it off from heat and add coffee powder into it.Mix it well and strain the coffee through a sieve.Allow it to cool.(Instead of preparing this you can buy espresso from Starbucks or any other coffee shop.)

Combine mascarpone cheese,cream cheese and vanilla extract together using an electric mixture.You’ve to mix it until it turns almost creamy with small chunks remaining.Add egg yolk mixture to the cheese mixture and combine them together.

Combine 1/4 cup cooled espresso and 1/4 cup Kahlua together.

Pour espresso-Kahlua mix into a flat plate so that it’ll be easy to dip the ladyfingers.Keep it aside.Dip each ladyfingers into the espresso-Kahlua mix and arrange it in a serving dish side by side.Ladyfingers will get soaked up very fast ,but we dont want to soak an entire ladyfinger.Dip only the bottom half of the ladyfinger ,the top half has to be dry.You can break the ladyfingers to fit into the dish.

Spoon half of the mascarpone cheese mixture over the ladys fingers.Sprinkle grated chocolate/cocoa powder over it.(I’ve used both chocolate and cocoa powder.Use it according to your choice.)Again arrange another layer of soaked ladyfingers over the cocoa/chocolate powder.Spoon remaining cheese mixture over ladyfingers and spread it evenly.

Cover and chill it for 8-10 hrs.Before serving sprinkle grated chocolate/cocoa powder over it.Cut into equal size square pieces and serve.

Note :- You can also prepare Tiramisu in dessert glasses/parfait glasses,so you can serve it right then and also you can save the extra time it takes to cut into desired shape.

Info:-I’ve read here that mascarpone cheese is available in Fiorano Restorante in Bangalore.I dont know about other cities.Also if anyone knows about the availability of ladyfingers in India,can you please let me know about it?

Related recipes:-

Pushpa’s Tiramisu Recipe

Eggless Tiramisu Recipe

Ladyfingers Recipe

Tiramisu without Alchohol from Shab’s Cuisine

Manga (Mango) Chammanthi

This is a quick dish prepared with sour green mangoes,the more sour the best.I love to have this for dinner along with Kanji(rice gruel) and pappadam.

This is how I make my Manga Chammanthi…

Ingredients :-

Green mangoes sliced – 1 cup
(If you want you can peel off the skin,but usually it is prepared with the peel on)
Green chillies – 4-5(use it accordingly)
Shallots – 2
Ginger – 1/2 inch piece
Grated coconut- 1 cup
Salt – to taste

Method:-

Grind all the ingredients together in a wet grinder/small jar in the Indian mixer.If your mangoes are not sour enough add 1 tsp vinegar/lime juice while grinding.

Unakka Kappa Vevichathu(Dry Yuca Cooked)

In Kerala,Kappa/Tapioca/Cassava is also considered to be a staple food just like rice mainly because it is inexpensive and is widely available.We could eat Kappa for breakfast,as a evening snack or for dinner.Kappa can be grown very easily,only thing you’ve to taken care is the attack from rats.

Variety of deliccacies can be prepared from fresh Kappa,and the most popular one is Kappa kuzhachathu with meen curry.Unakka Kappa/dry Cassava is not much appreciated when compared to the fresh ones.It is nothing, but tapioca peeled,washed,sliced/diced, boiled and dried in the sun.This can be stored for years and gives out a totally different flavor when cooked.

This dish used to be a regular at my amma’s place in Erumely.Its a very simple preparation and is usually served with Ulli chammanthi or Kanthari Mulaku (a kind of chilly called bird’s eye chilli) Chammanthi.

Ingredients :-

Unakka Kappa/Dry Cassava – 4 cups
Fresh grated coconut – 1- 2 cups(use it according to your taste..I like it with more coconut)
Green chillies chopped- 6-10 (again use it accordingly)
Shallots sliced – 8-10
Salt – to taste
Coconut oil – as needed

Method:-

Wash the kappa pieces well and soak it overnight or for 8 hours.Drain and add around 5-6 cups water to kappa and allow it to boil.Strain the water and add fresh water to it again and cook kappa until it turns soft.If you’re using a pressure cooker ,cook for 1 whistle.Strain the water again and let the kappa cool.

Take a big bowl and add coconut,shallots,green chillies and salt into it.Mix them together with hand.Add kappa pieces into it and combine them well.Add 3-4 tsps of coconut oil into it and mix them together with hand.Serve with chammanthi of your choice.

Note :-You can prepare Kappa Kuzhachathu (with ground coconut-cumin paste) with Unakka Kappa also.After the kappa gets cooked,follow the procedure of Kappa Kuzhachathu recipe.

Also check out Inji’s Kappa Puzhukku with Unakka Kappa

Ulli Chammanthi

I’ve blogged about an Onion chutney before,eventhough this one is also prepared with Onions , this is not a chutney,we call it Chammanthi.Chutneys and chammanthis are different,chammanthi is usually prepared in ‘Ammikkallu /Arakallu ‘ ( a variety of Mortar-Pestle), without adding any water.Here you can prepare it either in a small jar of an Indian mixer or in a wet grinder.This chutney goes well with Kappa/iddli.

Recipe follows …….

Ingredients :-

Shallots /Pearl Onions(Kunjulli) – 10 medium sized
Red Chillies/Green chillies – 5-6 (use it according to your spice level.Or else you can substitute 2-3 tsps of Chilli powder.You can also mix paprika with red chilly powder for a bright red color.)
Curry leaves – a sprig
Tamarind (Vaalan puli)- a gooseberry(nellikka) sized ball
Salt – to taste
Coconut oil – as needed

Method:-

Grind all the ingredients except coconut oil, together into a coarse paste.Season with coconut oil and serve.

Note :- Alternatively you can saute onions,curry leaves and chillies(only if you’re using red chillies/chilly powder,we dont usually fry green chillies ,it can be ground raw along with other ingredients) in a little oil before grinding.Rest of the procedure remains same.