Kamla Kheer and AFAM Roundup

Kamla Kheer is a traditional Bengali recipe which I came across in an Indian cook book. Kamla means orange and kheer means pudding. It is a simple yet elegant recipe to make. I also came to know more about this recipe from my friend Sandeepa's blog Bong Mom's Cook Book. She calls it Kamlalebur kheer. Check her version too.

Ingredients

1cup of clementines or mandarins
1cup whole milk
1/2 cup condensed milk
1/3 cup sugar
1 cardamom crushed


Preparation

Remove the thin transparent coating from each orange segment after peeling the main skin off the orange.
In a thick bottomed pan add milk and boil on medium heat. Add condensed milk and keep stirring. Add sugar and cardamom and let the milk boil and get reduced to achieve a thick creamy velvety texture. You have to keep stirring so that the bottom does not get burnt. Remove it from heat and let it cool. Let the milk rest in the refrigerator for 1/2 hour. Now add orange chunks and serve chilled.
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Breakfast, Lunch and Dinners.

Lets Start with a healthy breakfast bar prepared by Sunita of Sunita's world. These crunchy munchy bars are a rich combination of oats, orange and dates.



Orange zest and millet paratha is a very innovative recipe by priya of Live to Cook. These crispy and delicious Parathas are made of very healthy combination of flours.

A mouthwatering orange pulao is contibuted by Priya again of Live to Cook. You have to go through the combination of ingredients she has used in the pulao.



Here is another creator, who got inspired by Rachel Ray of food network and has made us a complete meal with orange in mind. An Aromatic orange Pulao and to go with it is a orange flavored veg-kurma. To wash it all off she has Orange-Banana milk shake. This lovely meal is from Hima of SnackORama



Here is a closer look at the orange flavored veg-kurma by Hima



This one is called orange Sojjappalu, a paratha stuffed with orange flavored rava kesari. Sounds delicious!! It is contributed by Hima of SnackORama.



This is a hot-sweet-tangy, orange peel gojju which sounds very innovative is a authentic Kannada recipe. My cheeks are hurting when I see the picture. This is contributed by Madhu of Ruchi.


This carrot-orange soup is from a fabulous cook. She created it as a part of her grand weekend brunch. Check out her whole meal and get craved. She is Viji of Vcuisine.



This spoon full of surprise is cranberry-orange jam. An elegant combination of cranberry and orange is pampered with honey to create a vibrant colored jam by the very talented Bee and Jai of Jugalbandi.



Another beautiful creation is the Citrus Guacamole , made of naval oranges, avocados and onions. Looks like a real sunshine!! This piece of art is done by Chris of Mele Cotte.



Here is another creation by Chris called the Orange caprese, stacked with orange, mozzarella cheese, spinach and prosciutto. Check out her blog for more.



Desserts

First in dessert, comes this awesome looking orange caramel cream. Inspired from a cookbook, Arfi of HomeMades has made this creamy and delicious looking dessert. Doesn't it look so pretty? You get to see some more beautiful pictures of this in her blog.


This Marvelous creation is from Shn of Mishmash. She always makes jaw dropping presentation. Her orange delight is a rich cream of condensed milk, orange juice, gelatin and whipped cream. Go take a dip in her blog.



This Vibrant orange tart is a brilliant creation by Anh of Food Lover's Journey. She has a mouthwatering combination of ingredients put into her tart. Check out her blog for this lovely recipe and great photography.



This Orange Meringue tart is especially made of Australian oranges. Miss Eagle of Oz Tucker, has beautifully created this recipe inspired from a cookbook. Look at the velvety filling inside the tart!!



Vini of A Whirl of Aromas has made these yummy orange tartlets. Her craving to bake has worked wonders. These beautiful little tartlets are a great combination Almonds and orange juice.



Inspired from a cook book Pavani of Cook's Hideout, has made these lovely golden colored orange-blueberry muffins. She has made it sound so easy in her blog. Go check it out!!



These are orange- cranberry scones made by the creative cook Shivapriya of My Cookbook. These lovely scones are egg less and makes use of orange juice, orange zest and dried cranberries.



This beautiful dessert here is called the orange burfi. Aarti of Aarti's Corner makes this specialty recipe which is from Nagpur, India. See more of her creations out of the same.



Sukanya of Hot n sweet Bowl has made a yummy looking pound cake with a twist. She uses orange juice and orange zest into the cake. To go with this delicious cake she makes some orange cream cheese. That sounds heavenly.




This is a colorful orange mosaic pie innovated by Raaga of The Singing Chef. She uses ingredients like orange Jelly, orange juice and orange custard powder to make a luscious creamy pie.



Another surprising recipe from Hima are these cute little muffins which are not only egg less but also butter less. Hard to believe right? Check out SnackORama!!




Summer Coolers

Sig of Live To Eat has made a brilliant colored granita with orange and blueberry along with a little kick of ginger. She has given a lovely garnish of mint and orange slices. She is an expert in making great cocktails and mocktails. Check out her blog to beat the summer heat.



This lip smacking French dessert is called as "Mousse Au Chocolat-a-la orange" by Priyanka of Aahar. She also mentions that it is sinfully tempting. It sure is!! Check out her recipe.



This chillin bowl of ice cubes is from Shn of Mishmash. She has created a beautiful orange bowl made of ice and orange and is filled with ice. That is one cool idea to impress guests this summer.



Dee of Ammalu's Kitchen has brought us a beautiful bowl of orange souffle. This luscious souffle is inspired from a book she got as a gift from her friend.



These folks with their colorful tiny umbrellas are delicious fruit punches called the orange-raspberry punch. Richa of As Dear as Salt is quenching our thirst by adding some orange-raspberry sorbet, ginger ale and coke to give us a punch!!




Inspired from a magazine the very energetic and enthusiastic Asha Of Foodie's Hope has made California sunshine as a part of her great feast. She made them all for celebrating her daughter's wonderful achievement in school.



Archana of luv2eathate2cook has made this super cooler orange drink. This drink is a lovely cocktail of orange, lemon juice, vanilla ice cream and fresh fruit chunks. hmmm Slurpppp!



And last but not the least is a creamy orange trifle with a bang. Prema of My Cookbook has brought us a heavenly dessert filled with orange cake, condensed milk, pudding, orange chunks and whipped cream. Man it sure is a party inside your mouth.

Thank you so much dear friends for contributing not only amazing recipes but also your valuable time and effort. If I have missed out any entries please do let me know and it is not on purpose. Will add them immediately.

Eggplant Crisps!

As I am half way with my AFAM roundup I thought I will finish posting my JFI. It is a real busy week for me and still trying to meet all ends. AFAM contributors please bear with me.

I love eggplants and the most important part is, it has to be freshly cooked may it be sambar or subzi. When ever It gets ignored in the fridge for a while , then this recipe works out well.

Ingredients

10 small or medium sized eggplants
oil for deep frying
salt
red chilli powder

Preparation

Cut the eggplants into thin slices as seen in the picture. Deep fry them in oil and you can make out when they are done. Remove and drain excess oil out of the eggplants. Take 1tsp salt and 1tsp chilli powder and mix them together. slightly sprinkle the salt/chilli powder mix on the eggplants and gently toss them so that they get coated evenly. They go great with rice/rasam or sambar combination.
This is my contribution to JFI hosted by Sangeeta of Ghar Ka Khana

Last call for AFAM - Orange

Please post your entries by tomorrow and the round up will be done before the coming weekend.

Maharashtrian Thali

In a really good Maharashtrian meal, the arrangement of the items on the thali is of immense importance. Below is the picture of typical Traditional Maharashtrian thali. It is a dinner prepared as a feast for lord Ganesha. This meal is elegantly presented on a rangoli(design around the plate) made of lentils, rice wheat, beans etc. this picture is taken form a book named "The cooking of India".

take a close look


The Thali consists of salt, wedge of lime, a fresh chutney, achar (pickle), a raita (vegetables or fruits in spiced yogurt), rice wafers and pakoras. Maharashtrians are particularly proud of their astonishing range and diversity of chutneys, achars, brine pickles and koshimbirs.
Another vital point of maharashtrian etiquette is arrangement of rice. the rice should never be in the middle of the thali. It should never be the haphazard mountain of rice. It should be placed to one side of the thali. Above the rice is thoordal puree. Next is one dry vegetable and one curry. In even the fanciest maharashtrian meal there will still be only two vegetable dishes on the right-hand side of the thali.The vegetables are never overcooked and the spices are always mild.


Now here is my Thali. I did not have a big thali to put every thing in one so separated the curries.. I made a very simple thali and the menu goes like this. From the right clock wise kakadichi koshimbirs(cucumber in yogurt), Ghadichipoli(Rotis), rice, Simla mirchi / bhopli mirchi chi peeth perun bhaaji (bell peppers subzi), batatyachibhaaji(potato subzi), besan laddus (chickpea flour laddu).

On the left hand thali clock wise is Aamati, Amrakhand, tomatoche saar(tomato soup) and green coriander chutney.

The best part about making all this is, I made some of the dishes from my fellow blogger friends who have made this for the RCI. so it was alittle easy for me.

Besan Laddus

Ingredients

2cups besan flour (gram flour)
11/4cup powdered sugar
3-4tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
crushed cardamom powder
raisins (fried separately in ghee)

Preparation

in a deep bottomed pan, roast the besan flour on a medium low heat until the raw smell leaves and the flour gets a slightly dark color than usual. Remember don't roast it till it burns. To this add the cardamom and sugar and fold in well. Finally add ghee to this and fold it gently. You can see all the sugar and besan melting and coming together. The flour becomes moist enough so that when you make laddu the flour will hold together. If it dosen't you can add a little more ghee. Add the ghee fried raisins too. Remove the mixture from heat and pour it into a plate. when it slightly cools down and the heat is bearable by your hands you can make laddus and enjoy.


Simla mirchi / bhopli mirchi chi peeth perun bhaaji (bell peppers subzi)

4 medium sized green bell peppers / capsicums, (or take 2 bigger ones)
3/4 cup chick pea flour / gram flour (besan)
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp turmeric powder
salt
sugar (optional) to taste
cilantro/coriander leaves
1/2 tsp asafoetida
2 tsp mustard seeds
2 tbsp oil

Preparation

In a pan add oil and mustard seeds to splutter. Also add asafoetida and bell peppers. Saute well so that the moisture in the peppers evaporate. Now add gram flour and cook for sometime. don't add salt. If you do so, the water content in the peppers make the flour sloppy. bell peppers need not cook for long. once the flour gets crispy, add salt, sugar, turmeric and cilantro. Mix well and remove from flame. Its that simple.


Aamati

Ingredients

1/2 cup toor dal
1 medium sized onion
1 tomato
3 green chilies
2 teaspoon Maharashtrian goda masala or garam masala
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/4 teaspoon asafoetida (hing)
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 small piece jaggery or 1 teaspoon sugar
coriander leaves
salt to taste


Preparation

Pressure cook dal till soft. Remove from the cooker and mash it.

Chop onions into vertical thin pieces. Chop tomato and chilies. Else give vertical slits to the chilies instead of chopping them. Heat 2 teaspoon oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds. As they splutter, add asafoetida, turmeric powder and onion pieces and chilies. Fry for sometime or till the onion turns light brown. Add chopped tomato pieces and fry again till tomato pieces turn soft. Add mashed dal and 1 cup water. Stir.
Cook on high heat and when bubbles rise up on the top, turn the heat to medium. Add salt, jaggery and goda masala. Mix well and simmer.

Remove Aamati from the heat and decorate with coriander leaves. Serve with plain rice, pulao, or chapatis.

Green coriander chutney

Ingredients

1 bunch of fresh cilantro
3-4 green chillies
1 tomato (optional)
salt
sugar or jaggery
cumin

Preparation

Grind all the ingredients by adding very little water. It is a simple chutney.

The Bell pepper subzi , Aamti and chutney are prepared by referring here

Ghadichipoli

This Recipe is made from the lovely blog Bhaatukli. My friend Tee explains how to make these polis so very beautifully. She also has many other interesting Maharashtrian recipes.

kakadichi koshimbir, Tomatoche Saar, batatyachi bhaaji, Amrakhand are made from another beautiful blog Aartis Corner . She is an expert in Maharashtrian cuisine.

Kakadichi koshimbirs
Tomatoche saar
Batatyachi bhaaji


Amrakhand

So since I cooked some simple recipes from co-bloggers this thali goes to coffee's Going Lite:)
This below picture is taken from the same book. It is Chowpati beach, Mumbai in the 1960's.

If you take a closer look you can see how the shop vendors are dressed.
This picture shows how turmeric is made in the local market in Mumbai
Spice Market
The making of jelabis

This is my contribution to the lovely Nupur's RCI event.