Sweet coconut milk

Krishna Janmashtami brings fond memories from the past. One of them is this sweet coconut milk which was a part of our janmashtami celebrations. Team it up with Neer dosa or any other dosa/ idli/ steamed rice balls / string hoppers and you will know what bliss means !!

 This recipe requires no cooking ( happy ?? :) ) . Here goes the "no cook " sweet coconut milk recipe which is simple to make but is great on the palate. You are going to love this, trust me !!

Ingredients :

You can skip the jaggery and cardamom to make plain coconut milk used in preparing various delicacies. The method to be followed is the same.

Grated coconut - 1 cup
Scraped jaggery - 1/4 cup ( you can increase the quantity if you like it sweeter )
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp ( if using whole cardamoms, use 3-4 and grind along with the coconut )

Method :

1. Grind grated coconut to a fine paste by adding water ( approx. 3/4 cup or a little more if required ).
2.  Take a strainer and place a bowl beneath it . Pass the ground coconut through the strainer . Thick coconut milk ( 1st milk ) will get collected in the bowl.
3.  Do not discard the coconut remnants in the strainer. Grind them once again with water ( approx 3/4 cup ) and repeat step 2. This coconut milk ( 2nd milk ) will be thinner than the first. You can repeat the procedure of grinding and straining once again if you wish to.  Give a quick stir so that the thick and thin coconut milk gets mixed well.
4.  Add cardamom powder and scraped jaggery to the coconut milk and mix well. Continue stirring till all the jaggery gets dissolved. Serve immediately or refrigerate, if using later since it might go bad pretty soon because of uncooked coconut.
5.  Serve with neer dosa or any dosa / idli/ string hoppers

Sending this to "Walking through memory lane " hosted by Avika flagged off by Gayathri 

Pizza sauce

Up until a few months back, I , invariably used tomato sauce for my homemade pizzas. But , this time, I was determined to make pizza sauce of my own, just to get that kick out of making everything from scratch. Well, I could also blog about it :)

The hunt began and found innumerable recipes for pizza sauce on the internet. I couldn't zero in on any one particular recipe so based on my own instincts and the taste of the family, I decided upon this version of pizza sauce. It is simple to make and lends a wonderful flavor  to your pizza. Of course, you can substitute it with store bought tomato sauce but making this pizza sauce yourself is immense satisfaction !! Try it and you will agree :)

PIZZA SAUCE

This recipe yields sauce for one large pizza

Ingredients :

Tomatoes  -  2 large 

Garlic cloves, finely chopped -  2 - 3
Herbs mix ( I used store bought italian seasoning ) - 1 tsp ….( you can use basil and oregano )
Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp

Sugar - 1 tsp 

Salt -  to taste  ( I used 1/2 tsp )

Olive oil - 1 tsp

Method :

1.  Puree the tomatoes and keep aside.

2.  Heat oil in a pan and add chopped garlic.

3.  Once the garlic turns brown, add the tomato puree and give a quick stir. 

4.  Add the herbs mix, pepper, salt and sugar. Mix well.
5.  Let the mixture simmer on low flame till the sauce thickens a bit. It will take roughly about 8 minutes.
6.  Remove from fire and cool. There, you go !!! Spread it on your base and with a few toppings thrown in, you are in for a delicious treat !!!

White sauce for pasta

This recipe is for the white sauce used in pasta. It is a creamy and rich sauce and lends a wonderful flavor to  pasta. It is quite easy too and requires minimal ingredients.

WHITE SAUCE FOR PASTA

Ingredients :

Plain flour ( maida ) - 2tbsp
Butter - 2 tbsp
Milk, boiled and cooled - 2 cups
Pasta spice mix or your favorite herbs - as per taste ( I added 1/2 tsp of the spice mix)
Pepper powder - 1/4 tsp
Grated cheese - 2 tbsp
Salt - to taste

Method :

1.  Melt butter in a pan . Then add the plain flour and mix them together. The mixture will turn lumpy.
2.  Now, add 1/2 cup milk in the butter-flour mixture and mix well to remove lumps. Now, pour in the remaining milk gradually stirring continuously and on low flame.
3.  Stir the mixture continuously so as not to burn the milk. Gradually the milk will thicken.
4.  Add the herbs mix, pepper and salt and mix well.
5.  Lastly, add the grated cheese on top and give a quick stir. The cheese will melt in the hot pasta.
6.  You can use this sauce immediately or store in the refrigerator for further use. But do not keep for long since it is devoid of preservatives.  Use within 2-3 days.

Here's the recipe for Penne pasta made using this white sauce.