HONEY ROASTED ALMONDS

I had mentioned these golden beauties in the menu  for my Appa's 50th Birthday Party . These beauties are such simple li'l things which can give life to a party. I have had store-bought versions of it while I was studying in Bangalore and have always wondered how it was made without the nuts going soggy.

Recently, an old family friend of ours sent us a packet of almonds which were bought from Dubai. They were so so crisp and nice. But I am not a complete almond person. I'd prefer cashew nuts or peanuts anyday! Nevertheless, my dad and mom were raving about it's goodness. 

On the eve of my Appa's birthday, they had gone out to run some errands and I was thoroughly bored sitting at home. We didn't have good voltage ,so I couldn't bake anything.That was when I thought of roasting some almonds.

After reading through many many recipes, I zero-ed in on one. It was very simple and quick recipe!

HONEY ROASTED ALMONDS

Recipe source: www.cooks.com 

Ingredients:

Almonds-2c , whole with skin on

Sugar-1/4 c

Salt-1/2 tsp

Honey-2 tbsp

Water-2 tbsp

Oil-2 tsp

Method:

• Spread the almonds in a single layer in a shallow ungreased baking pan and place in a cold oven. Bake at 350 degrees, stirring occasionally, until the colour of nuts is tan (12 to 15 minutes). Remove from oven and set aside.
  
• Thoroughly mix the sugar and salt. Stir together the honey, water and oil in a medium size pan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Stir in the roasted almonds and continue to cook and stir until all the liquid has been absorbed by the nuts (about 5 minutes). Immediately transfer to a medium bowl and sprinkle sugar mixture over all and toss. Spread on wax paper and cool.
• Variations for the above recipe: You can try spicing it up by adding a pinch of nutmeg/cinnamon/cardomom etc.

I was pleasantly suprised how good almonds could taste this way!! The salt and sugar combination makes it so addictive! My guests were completely hooked onto it...requests for the recipe were flying at me! My Appa's best friend even thought these were imported! Wee! What a compliment! :) This has become a firm favourite in my house. Amma just cannot keep her hands off of it! :D

My sincere request to all almond lovers: Try these at least once in your lifetime, there is no better way of eating them! It is really delicious!

Now I am thinking of trying some with peanuts/ground nuts. Might have to vary the cooking time depending on the type of nuts used...so will keep you all updated about how it goes! :D

MINI CHICKEN & BELL PEPPER SPRING ROLLS

I just can't believe that it's been a week since I updated my blog! Whoa! See this is what happens when the 'Manavatti' ( gonna-be-bride) goes shopping! :D

It was actually shopping + a small vacation in Trivandrum. But lil did I know that I would come back with a terrible back pain. Went to the doc today and he said it was just a muscular pain...what ever ! All I know is I can't even brush my teeth! ACK!

This is one of my mom's signature snack and we always have atleast one packet ready in our freezer :) It is a super good make-ahead snack, all you need to do is thaw and fry them .I had tried making it 2 years ago for the first time, but it turned out to be something else ( shapewise ) BUT trust me the filling was delicious :)
MINI CHICKEN & BELL PEPPER SPRING ROLLS

Recipe source: My mom

Ingredients:

For the wrapper:

Flour:500g

Oil-1/2 cup

Salt-to taste

Water- as required

For the filling:

Chicken-250 g,boiled & shredded

Cabbage-250 g

Carrot-250g

Beans-250 g

Onion-250g

Bell pepper-1 ,small

Ginger garlic paste-3 tbsp

Soya sauce-1 tbsp

Green chilli- 3-4

Aji-no-moto - a pinch, optional

Salt-to taste

Black pepper powder-to taste

Oil-5 tbsp

Oil for deep frying
Method:

For the wrapper:

• Mix everthing together and form a soft dough. Leave it aside for 10 mins.
• Divide them into lime sized balls and roll out into thin flat discs.
• Heat a flat pan, and cook them only on one side. Make sure you don't end up with dark brown spots on them because they will be too dry to roll up.
• Continue with the other wrappers in the same manner.

For the filling:

• Heat oil, and saute ginger garlic paste.
• Add the vegetables and mix well. Cover and cook them till they turn soft making sure you give them a good stir often.
• Add the soya sauce & salt.
• If you want it to be more spicy, add some black pepper powder.
• Use this to fill the wrappers.

Assembly:

• Put the filling on the uncooked side of the wrapper
• Check this video to see the rolling up of the wrapper with the filling inside .
• Deep fry and serve hot with a sauce of your choice.

I always try to stay away from these because I know I can never stop with 1 ! It remains crisp for few hours provided you don't leave them under a fan! :)

You can make these as tiny as our lil finger or slightly bigger. If it's the latter, you can cut them diagonally and serve!

My few minutes of FAME! :)

It was my mom first and now it's my claim to fame! :D I missed out on seeing it on TV as I was in my Aunt's estate and there was no power then! UGH! ;P

And I am sorry that I couldn't inform anyone ahead about it via twitter, orkut, facebook etc as coming online in an estate is not that easy!

UPDATE: I have recieved many comments about the video not working properly,so I thought I would leave the direct links here :)

Gold Coin: Click here

The recipe can be found here

Cheese Pasta Rolls : Click here

The recipe can be found here

I still haven't seen the whole video as my internet connection is slow now and watching a video on youtube can take hours together : ) From the 2-3 mins of what I saw from each video I really think I need to improve a LOT!! I personally give it a 4/10 rating :)

Oh! Need to say that that t-shirt of mine is pinkish peach in colour and not that jazzy! LOL! Just saying! :D And I look a lil more better in real life! LOL! I look so sticky in there! OMG! I can go on & on!!

God! give me another chance please! I will do a much better job! :)

In the meantime why don't you guys try those dishes?!? They are really yum...else they wouldn't be given a celeb status by me :)