Red, chai and chocolate covered digestives

This is going to be an apology post for this month. My exams start on the 18th. They aren't just any ordinary end of the year exams, but they are my final year university exams. So I have to study, which means less cooking, less blogging and more eating and cramming my head with eco stuff.

There are a few saving graces to my situation. The first I spotted while out grocery shopping with my mum.

These gorgeously red and plump chillies caught my eye and I just had  to buy them. They look like something out of Nigella's kitchen. I really don't know what to do with them. I know Nigella used them in an omlette once, but I feel they deserve a better fate. They can't be that hot, being so plump, I am open to any suggestions except pickling them. 

Being a coffee hating Tamilian (I know, also let me assure you I am not the only one. My Best Friend, Paro also happens to be one) I survive on tea. I am not addicted to it no, just like to have one or two huge mugs a day. After, my recent purchase of cinnamon powder, I have started adding it to my tea as well. 

Guess who is best friends with cinnamon tea? Digestives of course! I like Mcvite's much more than Brittania because of its crumbly texture. 

I am sure all fellow fans of Love Actually will remember Hugh Grant asking for chocolate biscuits. Well according to Vir Sanghvi he was asking for chocolate covered digestives (check a month or two old HT Brunch for confirmation). Now, I didn't know they even existed, not being a big fan of shopping at international stores because they make me want to buy everything, so I was pleasantly surprised. I proceeded to make my own chocolate covered digestives by melting dark chocolate in a double boiler with some butter. They are cooling in the fridge now. 

I also would like to leave you all with a list of things you can expect next month:

• culinary adventures in Coorg
• a post on the Irani cafes in Bombay
• the best chaat in Navi Mumbai

I will try to post more this month, but studies are priority. 

Don't forget to suggest what I should do with those chillies. 

Sugar and Spice cookies

Studying for exams is like preparing for an impending doom. Especially when it is the Mumbai University which turns all thinking students into rote-learning answer spewing automatons. So while I study the most boring aspects of finance, I knew I just had spice up my life. 

I had this recipe stashed in my one-note (pure awesome isn't it?) folder since long. I don't know who it is by, if you recognise it drop me a line I will link back to you. 

The recipe called for brown sugar, all the stores nearby happened to run out of it at the same time, so I just substituted with normal caster sugar and added two tablespoons of maple syrup for the wetness provided by the brown sugar. You can also sub maple syrup for honey. I was supposed to use molasses, which I doubt you will get in India, so just use maple syrup or honey instead. 

Recipe for Sugar and Spice cookies, as adapted from the net

Ingredients: 

1 cup caster sugar (or brown sugar)

2 tbsp honey or maple syrup (not needed if using brown sugar)

1/2 cup butter (i used a mixture of unsalted and salted butter)

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

2 cups flour (maida)

2 tsp cinnamon powder

1/2 tsp ground cloves (or nutmeg, I used cloves)

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt (not needed if using salted butter)

Method: 

1. Sift all the dry ingredients except the sugar

2. Beat the butter sugar and vanilla till light and fluffy 

3. beat in the egg till it is creamy

4. Beat in the dry ingredients till combined

5. Refrigerate the cookie dough after covering it for a while before rolling it out on a floured surface and then cutting it

6. Bake in a 180C oven for 15-20 mins or till the bottom of the cookies become golden in colour

Let the cookies cool before you eat them. My home is full or dough eating monsters. Cookie dough is heavenly, but don't eat too much. 

You can also sprinkle the cookies with sugar and cinnamon before baking them. You can easily make around 3 dozen cookies with this recipe. 

The cloves add the right amount of spicy hit which makes this cookie amazing. My finance blues are gone!

Hummus

Exam time is here. Not for me. My exams are still a month away, but when you have your final year university exams you have to start studying. And as everyone knows, studying is synonymous with stress eating and weight gain.

I always cook the most during exams. All of a sudden I barge out of my room into the kitchen to fulfill my craving of the hour. So you can see why we all look all rosy cheeked and plump post exams.

This time I decided to make Hummus. Having read countless recipes online and being a big fan of Garlic, I had to make it.

Here is my recipe:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of chickpeas (chole) 

8 pods of gralic (we love garlic here)

50ml of Olive Oil

salt and red chilli powder to taste

Method:

Soak the chickpeas for 12 hours in water and then cook it in a pressure cooker. 

After the cooked chickpeas has cooled, put it in the mixer/food processor with the other ingredients and blitz away. 

Keep adding water. I use the water the chickpeas were cooked in.

Add oil periodically till it becomes the required consistency.

That's it. Eat.

I didn't want mine too oily and not too thin. So it was pretty thick. You could spread it easily on Garlic bread. (that is how much we love garlic at home, No we don't smell of it. probably keeps the vampires at bay).

It can also be eaten with veggies. Healthy snack! To keep you from putting on that exam weight. 

What are your exam remedies? 

Stir Fried Veggies

I love stir fried vegetables. It makes me feel like very nice and healthy. So when I felt like having something nice and not the regular lunch, I checked the fridge and decided to make a stir fry.

If you are a vegetable cutting nerd like me, who loves cutting veggies and actually finds it soothing, go ahead chop away. But, if you hate the thought of cutting everything into juliennes then head to the high-fi supermarts who sell cut vegetables. You even get whole sets of vegetables in a cover which says "stir fry". Talk about laziness!

So I chose ginger, onions, carrots, beans, cabbage and capsicum. Cut them nice and thin, so they cook faster. They go in the wok in the order mentioned above. Also the vegetable that takes the longest to cook, put it in first.

Heat your wok and add oil (I chose olive oil) and heat till it smokes.
Lower the heat and add the ginger and the onions and fry till the onions turn translucent. Add the carrots and beans and about 2 tablespoons of water and cover and cook on a medium flame till the carrots are halfway done.
Add the capsicum and cabbage and close and cook some more.
In a cup mix soya sauce, chilli sauce and some water. add this to the pan and mix fast. Add salt according o taste.

To go with the stir-fry I made some burnt garlic fried rice.
If you live in a family like mine, you will always have left over rice. Just take it and loosen it up a little.
In a non-stick pan add olive oil and wait for it to smoke. Cut the garlic into small pieces. (I had about 1 1/2 cups of cooked rice and added 3 cloves of garlic). fry the garlic in the oil till it is golden brown.
Add the rice and fry again for about a minute. Then add salt.

That's it. Your stir-fry with rice is done!

You can also add babycorn, mushrooms, zucchini and egg. Another thing which would be divine is a sunny side up egg on top of the stir fry.

I must apologise for my not so great picture. My friend, Shreyas has promised to help me. You can check out his work here.

Let me know if you like stir fry and what you think about chopping veggies? I would be nice to hear about fellow nerds.