Christmas Pudding

Hi everybody, How was your Christmas celebrations? Hope you all had a lovely Christmas with family and friends! We had a cosy Christmas just three of us. This time my son asked me to grill a full chicken for Christmas lunch! He really enjoyed the food of his choice and for dessert I made the British Christmas Pudding. I always wanted to try the Christmas Pudding but never desired to buy it from the shop, especially the non-alcoholic version we get here. Every year I kept postponing due to the non-availability of suet here, until recently I read somewhere that I can use butter instead. The butter should be cold enough to grate it. I made half the amount of pudding with the left over soaked fruits after making the ChristmasCake. The pudding is a dark, sticky and dense sponge. The pudding tastes better if you make it ahead of time and allow to mature and then reheat on Christmas Day. Traditionally the Christmas pudding has to steam for a total 6 to 7 hours in a steamer and you guessed it, I made it the traditional way! You can also make it in a pressure cooker in around 2 hours, without weight and if you are brave enough, you can make it with weight in just half an hour. Flambé or flame the pudding was really fun and all of us really enjoyed seeing and photographing the flaming pudding!! 

Christmas Pudding Recipe

(Recipe Adapted from here) Serves 8 – 10

Ingredients:
450g dried mixed fruit
1 small cooking apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped

Grated zest and juice of ½ large orange and ½ lemon
4 tbsp brandy, plus a little extra for soaking at the end
2 oz / 55 g self-raising flour, sifted
1 tsp ground mixed spice
1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
4 oz / 110 g shredded cold butter (If you get suet, go for it instead of butter) 

4oz / 110g soft, dark brown sugar
4 oz / 110 g white fresh bread crumbs
1 oz / 25 g whole shelled almonds, roughly chopped
2 large, eggs
Lightly butter a 2½ pint/1.4 litre pudding basin/17cm
125 ml Brandy, rum or vodka (to flame the pudding)

Method:

• Place the dried fruits, apple, orange and lemon juice into a large mixing bowl. Add the brandy and stir well. Cover the bowl with a lid and leave to marinate for a couple of hours, preferably overnight.
• Stir together the flour, mixed spice and cinnamon in a very large mixing bowl. Add the cold shredded butter, sugar, lemon and orange zest, bread crumbs, nuts and stir again until all the ingredients are well mixed. Finally add the marinated dried fruits and stir again.
• Beat the eggs lightly in a small bowl then stir quickly into the dry ingredients. The mixture should have a soft consistency.
• Spoon the mixture in to the greased pudding basin, gently pressing the mixture down with the back of a spoon. Cover with a double layer of greaseproof paper or baking parchment, then a layer of aluminium foil and tie securely with string.
• Place the pudding in a steamer and steam the pudding for 5 hours. Make sure you check the water level frequently so it never boils dry.
• Remove the pudding from the steamer, cool completely. Remove the paper, prick the pudding with a skewer and pour in a little extra brandy. Cover with fresh greaseproof paper and retie with string. Store in a cool dry place until Christmas day. 
• On Christmas day reheat the pudding by steaming again for about an hour. 
• To unmould the pudding, take off the parchment paper, put a plate on top and turn it upside down.
• To Flambé / flame the pudding, heat the brandy/ rum/ vodka in a small pan till it is hot, but turn off the heat before it boils, light the pan of brandy using a gas lighter or matchstick, then pour the flaming brandy over the pudding and enjoy the pudding with Brandy Sauce or Custard. 
• Left over Christmas pudding can be reheated and served.

Chemmen Ularthiyathu with Thenga Kothu / Kerala Style Prawn Roast with Coconut Pieces

This is another version of the Prawn Roast I had posted earlier. Prawn is briefly cooked with coconut pieces and masalas and is then roasted in coconut oil. This is a famous dish of the "Shappu Kada" (Toddy shops) across Kerala. This dried and spicy prawn dish goes very well with rice and moru curry, as a side dish or as a wrap with chapathi and is also a great cocktail snack along with thengin kallu (coconut toddy), or with scotch or beer. Do try this for Christmas or New Year and let me know which way you liked it :) :)

Old Fashioned Indian Doughnut Recipe

This is the first doughnut recipe I have tried in my life. Got this recipe from my mother in law. This was one of mummy’s signature snack recipes during my husband’s childhood days. Unlike the soft doughnuts we make these days, this one is hard in texture and can be stored for several days. I always felt these doughnuts are a "cousin" of VettuCake and Diamond Cuts we make back home in Kerala. Kids will love this snack and you can also pack it for those staying in hostels. It's also a great snack to give away during Christmas time!

Chicken Pickle / Kozhi Achar

Chemmen Ularthiyathu / Kerala Style Prawn Roast with Tomatoes

Prawn / Shrimp Roast is a famous Syrian Christian dish which can be prepared very quickly. Prawn is cooked in their own juices along with spices, tomatoes and a small piece of kudampuli (kokum). Prawns absorb all the flavours which give a nice spicy dry dish that goes really well with a bowl of steaming rice and morucurry, Palappam or chapathi

Chemmen Ularthiyathu / Kerala Style Prawn Roast with Tomatoes

Ingredients:

Cleaned Prawns / Shrimps – 250 gm

Onion – 1 medium, sliced (can replace with chumannulli / shallots)

Ginger paste – 2 tsp

Garlic paste – 1 tbsp

Tomatoes – 2 medium, chopped

Chilly powder – ¾ to 1 tsp

Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp

Coriander powder – 1 tsp

Pepper powder – ¾  tsp

Garam masala – 1 tsp

Coconut oil – 2 tbsp

Kudampuli / Kokum -1 small piece, soaked in ¼ cup of water

Curry leaves - few

Coriander leaves, chopped – 1 tbsp (optional)

Salt to taste

Method:

• Heat oil in a pan, add sliced onion and fry until light golden brown. Add ginger paste and garlic paste and fry again for 2 to 3 minutes.
• Add chopped tomatoes and curry leaves and sauté well.
• Add the chilly powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder and pepper powder and sauté until oil separates.
• Add kudampuli along with its soaked water, prawns and salt and sauté over medium heat until prawns are cooked and well coated with tomato mixture.
• Sprinkle the garam masala and coriander leaves over the prawns and stir well and remove from heat.

Chilli Chicken

Royal Icing Cross Stitch Cake

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Focaccia is a traditional flat Italian bread that can be flavoured with olive oil and salt and often topped with herbs, onions, or other items. It is usually served as a light snack with seasoned olive oil, olives and feta cheese, or with soup or salad and can also be made into sandwiches. 
The Saffron infused Focaccia has a dazzling yellow color, is light in texture and distinctive in flavour. The olive oil drizzled over the top makes the bread moist and generally keeps it well for longer. 

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I had an eye on this White Chocolate and Passionfruit Cake for a long time and was waiting for an occasion to try it. Finally on our 20th Wedding Anniversary last week I decided to make this cake to celebrate.  This is a time consuming, very rich and dense cake and just as its name suggests "a true celebration cake". The whole cake is huge for a small family like ours, so I halved the recipe and baked two 8 inch round cakes which gave me a two layer cake. If you are making half the amount you can also bake it in three 5 inch round pans to get 3 layers. Finally, I decorated the cake with sugar paste roses.  

Espresso Panna Cotta

It’s been a long time since I updated this little space of mine. Helping my son with his studies, few cake orders, summer vacation and laziness are some of the reasons for the absence of regular posts here.  Hope to be more regular from now on :) ....

Espresso Panna Cotta was in my draft folder for more than six months. This smooth and silky Espresso panna cotta topped with dark chocolate ganache is very addictive and is a current favourite in our home.

Yoda the Grand Jedi Master Cake and A Small Mention on Print Media :)

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Tiramisu ~ Heaven on a Dessert Plate!

I always wanted to make Tiramisu, but here in Kuwait we rarely get Mascarpone cheese and it is inevitably always highly priced. When I found the recipe for homemade mascarpone cheese on Vera’s blog I really wanted to make the mascarpone and Tiramisu at home, and so began the search for the perfect Tiramisu recipe. And in February when the Daring Bakers Challenge hosted by Deeba and Aparna was announced, I saw the entire blog sphere was filled with Tiramisu recipes. I knew I could trust Deeba’s recipe blindly as I had already tried several of her other recipes earlier and they were all really good. So when my brother visited last week I made Tiramisu for him and we all really liked it. So here is the Tiramisu recipe I tried from Deeba’s place.