BUTTER CREAM MACARONS

Macarons reminds me of 'Zila Bakery' in Goa. Set in a serene locale, this almost 100 yr old house cum bakery sells these melt - in - mouth brown colour macarons . I have been there only once but have had their treats many a time! :)

I guessed it might be made out of egg whites, almonds & sugar but being a bit skeptical about working with egg whites as a main ingredient, always kept that idea aside.

Joining Daring Bakers Kitchen had a huge advantage. It introduced to me 100's of super talented rocking fellow bloggers! And I found the Macaron Goddess HELEN of Tartelette and fell head over heals in love with both! She is just amaaaaazing!!! With her explanation... no one can go wrong!So I finally put my fears aside and picked up 3 eggs.. cracked it.. and... i entered the world of Macarons.. love it!!

So join me in the Macarons world through this:

P.s: I sandwiched them using butter icing

Thanks a ton Helen!!!

-Ria

MALABARI PRAWN BIRIYANI

I love seafood! Prawns are my all time fav! And since I live next to the beach,its always available in plenty! Thank God for that! Prawns had a major part in my hostel life too.. everytime I go back after a holiday Amma used to pack me some Chemmen Peera ( Prawns in thick coconut paste ) or Chemmen Ularthiyathu.

So, today being a lazy Sunday ( it always is for me :D ) I was asking Amma as to what she is planning to cook for lunch... we always have 'Special' on Sundays at home :) .She was like hmmm.. I'm thinking of making some Prawn Biriyani !! I picked up ears to that!! I was thinking its been ages since we made one using Prawns!! Definately not in the past 9 months ( I'm so sure about it because I'm home since 9 months!!! :D ).So I was all 'enthu' and told her I'l get her a new recipe and we can try that!

Love my Amma for that because she always let me try new stuff and not bothered about the fact that some of my so called 'TRIALS' are a major flop!! hahaha!! and then she will have a good laugh about me sulking that I wasted my BUTTER /GHEE etc ( oh!! have I told you all that I'm crazzzzzy about butter??? , well in another post maybe !! lol)

Ok Ria!! Time to get back to the point!!

Yeah! where was I.. this is so typical of me to jump from one topic to another!!! ;D I talk a looot!!!

Yes.. and so coming back to me searching for a recipe... I told Amma that lets try my hostel friend's cousin sister's recipe. And she as usual agreed to my idea... and then I took the lead in making the Biriyani and this was how it turned out!

BUT.. Kannur being a coastal town..is soooooo humid and hot! So making briyani is a Herculean task! I must shamefully admit that I was so tired and fell asleep by the time Biriyani was set. My bro came and tried waking me up for lunch, which was followed by Appan & Amma but the sleeping beauty was lost in her sleep! And so, by the time I woke up finally.. ahhh.. the whole biriyani is served!! How will I take pictures??????

Well!! lol! I'm actually laughing writing this.. I went back to the site where I got the recipe from.. saw her display and VOILA!!! :) that's what you all saw in the begining of this post!! Must admit that Maria had a layered biriyani display.. unlike my 'all mixed display'!!
Guess I have spoken enough for a week! ;D

So here is the recipe! Thanks Maria for your lovely recipe!

Hope you all enjoyed this post! Come back for more!!

-Ria

KAJU BURFI

Well, it might sound strange but then I connect people with different food out of which one had been revealed already in my January post! Here's another one!!
The word 'Kaju Burfi' reminds me of my cousin Ryan whom we fondly call as 'Kuttu'. He is an absolute, ardent fan of 'Kaju Burfi'! He was in Kannur till few years back after which he moved to Muscat with his parents. He was so fond of this sweet so much that when my grandmom used to ask him what he wants .. the answer would be Kaju Burfi! And I used to wonder how on earth can someone like this!!!
I never liked it! But gradually as my taste buds explored the world outside the" food i always loved".. they liked it.. liked it so much that it fell in love!

Now I'm in deep love with it! :)
I clearly remeber how I used to stare (which I still do) at displays at all the Mithai shops, bakeries et all. Never knew how they managed to get such a clear cut, smooth, equally shaped, lump free Burfi's, Peda's etc. I used to search for hours online for recipes for Indian sweets but nothing could convince me to try because of their lengthy procedures and unending 'stirring' required!!

And finally.. Finally!!!! I got the answer!! I met Hetal & Anuja at Show Me The Curry.com
They are brilliant! I owe my first sucess at Kaju Burfi to them!!! This recipe is just TOO perfect!!

You can find the recipe here :

Hope you all loved this post as much as I loved posting ( and eating ;D ) it!!

Have a great weekend!!

-Ria

AMERICAN BROWNIES

She came across as a tomboy,least bothered about what happens with the rest of the world! But when we got to know each other better... I was so wrong!! She was indeed tomboyish with her short curly hair which reminded me of" George" from Enid Blyton's FAMOUS FIVE.

She is Ava, a mangalorian girl who joined us in 'Maria Sadan' during my days at Mount Carmel College, Bangalore. Whenever she goes home, she used to comeback with a batch of freshly baked heavenly BROWNIES!! Never got enough of it since all of us were greedy about them!! Well! That's how the hostel life is!! :)

I remember asking her for the recipe.. that was like 4 years back!! She had e-mailed it to me and i happily wrote it down! But unfortunately.. i lost that paper( which i kept "SAFE"..so much so that i can't recollect where that was!! ) and at the same time my inbox had some technical problem due to which i lost that mail of hers!! How depressing can that be!!! :(

And years after.. few months back.. Dec'08... i was at my maternal home and flipping through my aunt's recipe book and there it was!!!! my precious recipe!!! No words could describe how happy I was then!!! :)

Later, after all my "Happy Scenes" me and my aunt had a long discussion as to how i lost that and how i found it amongst her recipes years later!! :)

Yesterday, while I was at work I had a huuuggge craving for Brownies so I thought il try and re-create Ava's Mom's magical brownies!!

Loved it!! :) I really hope you all would try this out..it's very very simple but the result is browine-blowing!! :D

AMERICAN BROWNIES
Ingredients:

Flour:200g
Sugar: 200 g
Butter:200g
Eggs:3
Baking powder:1tsp
Cocoa powder:3 tbsp
Vanilla essence:1 tsp
Walnuts/Cashewnuts: 1 cup (chopped)

Method:
Melt butter,add sugar and mix well.
Keep it down from fire and when slightly cooled ,add cocoa powder and mix well.
When completely cooled, add the eggs one by one and mix thoroughly.
Add the maida sieved along with baking powder and mix well.
Lastly add the nuts coated in a little bit of flour(so that it wudn't sink to the bottom of the pan).
Grease a pan, pour the mixture and bake at 180 C for 45 mins to 1 hour.

Hope you all like it!!
Keep coming back for more! :)