Petpujo and Adda

Itsy bitsy Teeny Weeny Red Polka Dot Cake

18year ago, on this day in Hindu college, I was gifted a lovely brown teddy bear & a lovely card. And to make excuse to give me gifts, my friends received gifts as well. After all this years, I came back home to red hearts, cards and silver chain with dangling teardrop pearls. This time the man did not have to make excuses. I am married to him for the last seven years. So many things changed yet some things remained the same. We remained the same.

This cake is for us. And it is named after one of our favorite songs called Itsy bitsy Teeny Weeny yellow Polka Dot bikini.

Happy Valentine’s Day to you my dear friend!

Ingredients for Red polka dots:

2- Eggs
1 and ½-cup flour
½-cup sugar (in case you do not want to use sugar then soak3-4 stone less dates in little milk and later blend it and use it as sweetener)
2-tablespoon of vegetable spread or ¼ cup of oil or 2-tablespoon of butter ( I used speard)
1-teaspoon baking powder
Vanilla essence
Natural red food color or use beetroot juice to make red color. Do not give too much as it might change the taste

Method:

1. Pre heat the oven at 150C ( fan oven)

2. Combine the sugar ( or the pulp of dates), vanilla and spread (butter) and mix well using egg beater. Say for 5 mins

3. When the color had changed and sugar almost melted, add one egg at a time and beat for 5 mins

4. add flour, baking powder and the food color ( or little juice of beet root)

5. line a cake tin and spread the cake mix on the tin

6. bake for 35/40 mins or until when inserted a skewer it comes out dry

7. Now cool it and cut rounds like balls from the red cake for the red polka dots. Now your polka dots are ready

Note: if you notice the photos you would realise that my polka dots are not totally round as I had cut them with hands from a big round cake. However, if you have cake pooper you would be able to bake absolutely round cakes in it

Ingredients for final cake:

2- Eggs

1 and ½-cup flour

½-cup sugar (in case you do not want to use sugar then soak3-4 stone less dates in little milk and later blend it and use it as sweetener)

2-tablespoon of vegetable spread or ¼ cup of oil or 2-tablespoon of butter ( I used speard)

1-teaspoon baking powder

Vanilla essence

Method:

1. Pre heat the oven at 150C ( fan oven)

2. Combine the sugar ( or the pulp of dates), vanilla and spread (butter) and mix well using egg beater. Say for 5 mins

3. When the color had changed and sugar almost melted, add one egg at a time and beat for 5 mins

4. add flour, baking powder

5. line a cake tin and position the red polka dots on the baking tray

6. pour the cake mixture over the tray covering the polka dots

7. bake for 35/40 mins or until when inserted a skewer it comes out dry

8. Cool it and turn over

9. Serve to your love one as I did

Any happy valentine’s day to you all of you!

at 22:53

Microwave made Mango-Blackberry Layered steam Sandesh

To me, when I think about ‘food’ like a main dish and its color, mostly I think about yellow, red, green, maroon, white as the normal color for food. Any other colors such as blue, pink, purple etc are colors for cake icing or ice cream rather than main food. Although ice cream and cakes are also main food, yet I would not really think about a purple chicken dish. Would you?
Therefore, when the blogger buzz recipe contest required bloggers to make food needs that are yellow or purple or of butterfly theme, I was really at loss. Making a yellow dish is easy. Most of our dishes are yellow. But purple? Purple only remind me of feminist purple which I like a lot. Nevertheless, I am not very keen on eating purple color food. And I do not eat ice cream of purple or pink color at all. And to be honest I am not fond of purple as individual color.

Hence, to make something purple, without using food color was a struggle. And I wanted to make something that is both purple and yellow. To think of it, it is a great combination; my organisation’s logo is a combination of purple and yellow. However, it also means that I had to think out of box to make something that is easy, tastes wonderful and looks great.

So after much thought I decided to make Mango-Blackberry Layered steam Sandesh (Bengali Sweet). I love mango and it gives a lovely yellow color, blackberry is sweeter than other berries which is good news and it gives a lovely purple color to food ( unlike blueberry) and making steamed Sandesh is as easy as boiling egg. And, I wanted to make something sweet from Bengal so that people get to know our treasured desserts. And it solves the purpose of the yellow-purple combination. Basically, it meets the hunger of the eyes as well of the tummy. Absolute win-win situation!

I am sending this to Blogger’s Buzz and also attending the event on 23^rd Feb 2013, UK . To know more about them, click here

Hope you enjoy looking at it and end up making it!

Ingredients: (will make six pieces)

1litre full fat milk

1-lemon/lime, juice

11-blackberry

2-tablespoon mango pulp

2/3-dry mango pieces, cut in to thin slices

6-teaspoon sugar

½-cup sugar to make black berry compote

2-tablespoon of any nuts, cut into small piece

Little bit of oil or butter or ghee

Method:

1. Boil the milk

2. Add the lemon juice in the milk so that it curdles

3. Using muslin, strain the curdled milk and keep it hanging for at least 1 hour so that all water is drained properly. What you will have is called chana in Bengali, paneer in Hindi and nearest English would be cottage cheese

4. Soak the dry mango into very little milk. Keep aside

5. Meanwhile heat a pan, add sugar and blackberry, and cook until blackberry and sugar have melted. It would look like blackberry jam

6. Now take a strainer and strain the blackberry seeds so that you are left with just the sugary juice. This is almost blackberry compote

7. Now take the Chana and divide in to half

8. Take half of the chana, place it in blender, add sugar, blackberry compote, and mix it well. You can your hand to do the mixing too. Then you will have to mix until sugar has melted. Keep aside

9. Wash the blender

10. Now take other half of the chana, add sugar, mango pulp, and dry mangoes (not the milk) and mix well either using hand or mixture. keep aside

11. In case you are not getting the desired yellow or the purple please use few drops of natural food color to the respective halves

12. Now take a microwave proof square dish and oil/ butter it

13. First of all, make the first layer by spreading the blackberry chana mix all over the dish. it would be around 1cm in height

14. Sprinkle the nuts on the layer

15. Now make the second layer by spreading the mango chana mix over the nuts layer

16. Press a little with hands

17. Fill another big microwave proof bowl with little water and place the square box. Keep a eye so that water is not too much

18. Steam in full microwave powder for 3 to 4 mins

19. Take it out and let it cool

20.Turn in over a plate and cut into square shapes

21. Serve either cool or at room temperature along with fresh fruit or on their own

For regular update from my blog, please visit my face book page pet pujo and adda and click ‘like’. Also, follow me at my blog. I am featured at Networkedblogs. You can also leave your comments here. Your comments and suggestions are most welcome. Hope to see you again!

at 16:21

One Billion Rise, Valentine’s Day and a Sweetheart Warm Chocolate Sandwich with vanilla ice-cream, for my Sweetheart:

Come February and all shop window turns red. It breaks the monotonousness of January. January is New-year and February is Valentine day. I do not have many thoughts on Valentine’s Day. Should I celebrate it or should I not? Well some celebration most often is not about what I think but what person in relation to the celebration feel. Like my mother loves the NEW thing called mother’s day (not so much about father’s day though). She thinks that as a mother they are never given the importance they deserve hence a day like that, although very pseudo, pushes people to think about their mother. My father on the other hand hates the idea of father’s day and will always give a sarcastic remark if we happen to wish him. He says that he is loved always and does not need to be reminded. As for me, well I am not like some ‘political party’ (I am not naming them as next thing you know they have given a supari to get me. They are mad anyway and does not deserve mention here ) who venture into moronic endeavour of breaking card and gift shops and start teaching Hindustani cultural as opposed to western culture to us janta. I am also not like ‘paint the house red with red heart shaped balloons’ and ‘will not be with you in case I do not get my Valentine’s Day surprise of my choice’. I am like ‘let’s not make R feel left out on a day when rest of world is going crazy trying to impress each other’

I find commercialisation of all thing called ‘love’ little stupid really. It was after all made popular by Cards Company to sell more cards and gifts. But if someone wants to celebrate it just the way we do with birthday, anniversary or even puja and Christmas, I see no reason to stop them. I love my birthday precisely because that is only one day in year where I can blackmail my friends in buying me things that I want. So what’s wrong with V day?

Like I said, I love to see that R is not excluded from the red love, also like to make my mother and brother and A feel special on the day who like to feel special, well who are special. They are anyway. But sometime, it is nice to say that aloud, with a hug and with a call and maybe cooking something special (which I do any way every day). But to be honest, I would be just me like every day, living and loving people around me.

Having said that there are some interesting things happening on 14^th of February 2013. One billion Rising Campaign ( See http://onebillionrising.org/) to stop violence against women is taking place all over the world this year on 14^th Feb . Violence against women seems to a never ending fight for many of us. This year the rape incident in Delhi saw 1000’s on road in Delhi and other part of the world. I went to protects across London with other men and women. Pioneered by author of Vagina Monologue, One Billion Rising is a promise that we will rise up with women and men worldwide to say, "Enough! The violence ends now”.

My organisation is taking part in the event in London and we have taken part in making a movie on women and girls fighting violence. Many of the women I work with or have worked with have come forward, shared their story and helped in making the movie. Please join us with your loved one and make it a success. Here is the link for the page:

http://www.onebillionrising.org/page/event/detail/startarising/4v7g8

What can be better way to express your love? I will surely be there with R celebrating our fights against violence, with other men and women of the globe, cheering for our every day success to stop violence against women, and paving way towards a world free of violence against women and girls. Are you going to be there?

Food forms an equally important part in bringing people together and celebrating life. While I am excited about One billion women’s rise, our film, rally on 8^th March and talk on 9^th March at south bank centre in London, I am also excited about cooking some easy, low cost but interesting V day dishes for my loved ones. To start the celebration I have made ‘Sweetheart Warm Chocolate Sandwich with vanilla Ice-cream ‘

I am sending this recipe on Priya’s Versatile Recipe for Valentine’s Day Recipe Contest. Please fine the details of the contest here

Ingredients (For one Serving)

4-slices of Bread, any bread would do, I used white for the colour

2-tablesppon melted chocolate

1-Egg

2-teaspoon sugar (depending on taste)

2-tablespoon full fat milk (you can use skimmed milk too)

2-scoop good quality vanilla ice cream

Cinnamon sugar to sprinkle

Colour fruits for garnishing (I used pomegranate for being red and grape as I had them at home)

Oil to fry

Method

1. Break the egg, add milk and sugar and beat well

2. Cut the bread in heart shape ( using either heart shape biscuit cutter or by drawing like me)

3. Spread the melted chocolate on bread and make a sandwich

4. Heat oil in a pan

5. Mix egg and milk and sugar

6. Soak the chocolate sandwich in the egg

7. Fry the sandwich until both side is golden brown

8. place on plate with two scoop ice cream, fruits and sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top

9. Serve while the sandwich is warm so that they ice-cream melt when eating together

10. Impress your loved ones and Start a lovely V day celebration !

For regular update from my blog, please visit my face book page pet pujo and adda and click ‘like’. Also, follow me at my blog here. I am featured at Networkedblogs. You can also leave your comments here. Your comments and suggestions are most welcome. Hope to see you again!

Breakfast with R on A sunny sunny morning at home. a little over exposed photo but the sun is so rare here that did not feel like editing the snap. the sunshine overflow

at 23:37

Oriental Sticky Sausage Sandwich ( Veg/Non-veg)

Saturday was sunny. Great start of a weekend. For the first time I realised that, we do get some sun light in our new home. This is the first time we are staying on a ground floor property. To be honest, I am not that happy about it. Out last home……. when we saw it for the first time, we fell in love with the place instantaneously. We lived there for 4 years with so much love. In many sense it was our first home together after marriage. This is not the case with this house. I took it almost out of necessity. On top of it, when we moved in it was dirty, broken and ill maintained. Horrible agency and landlord who does not want to spend money to spend on the up keeping of the home. Horrible weather, no sun makes the house look dull and dark. Two naughty and undisciplined kids upstairs (I am not one of those people who think all children are god like or angel) keep jumping around and playing football over our head. And the horrible soundproofing ( yes we hear can people upstairs snoring at night or even f**ting … do not laugh.. I am serious) does not help the situation at all. They make me go mad, especially when I am back from office or just about to go to bed at 11pm, suddenly they start jumping (don’t they go to school? Shouldn’t they be in bed by 8pm? ).

But magic happened. When I opened my eyes in the morning of Saturday- at the corner of my bedroom window, thought the heavy curtain, I could see glittering golden sunshine, almost peeping. And when I walked to the living place, there it was-sunshine. Entire house looked different. I moved all the net curtains (horrible, as it is they are) and the house looked so bright, open and warm. I could see trees and bright blue sky. Finally I felt at home again!

Such a glorious day- it had to be celebrated. We had a lovely breakfast together sitting on our dinning table from where we can see people walking by, went out for a walk and coffee, watched TV together in the evening, made coffee ( just like the way we used to do when we are students, beating the coffee with sugar to make cappuccino) and then had lovely dinner with two absolutely new and simple dish .

The list of foods that we had yesterday is very interesting and very simple to make. We started the day with Sticky Sausage (vegetarian) Sandwich, Lunch with Easy Peasy Chicken Pulao and for dinner, rice with spicy fried fish, Onion Thoran, Pumpkin cooked with coconut, Makha Makha Aar Mach, red lentil cooked with drumsticks and last but not the least Pineapple Chutney (Bengali Style)

For the recipe of Easy Peasy Chicken Pulao click here

For the Recipe of Spicy Fried fish, click here

For the recipe of Onion Thoran, click here

For the recipe of Pumpkin cooked with coconut, click here

For the recipe of Makha Makha Aar Mach, click here

For the recipe of Bengali Pineapple Chutney, click here

Oriental Sticky Sausages Sandwich for breakfast (For two) given below

Ingredients:

6-Vegetarian Sausage or chicken sausage or pork (which ever you eat or prefer)

3-tablespoon dark soy sauce (this also works, as salt. so do not add salt unless your soy sauce is reduced salt version)

2-tablespoon sweet chili sauce

1-teaspoon pan roasted sesame seed

6- Slices of bread (brown or white depending on taste)

1-teaspoon oil

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan

2. Halve the sausages (it should make 12 pieces. You can make smaller if you like )

3. Fry them in the oil until brown, should take about 4/5 mins in a non stick pan

4. Add the soy sauce and cook for while

5. Add the sweet chili sauce and the sesame seeds cook until sausage is nicely cooked, sticky and fluffy

6. Meanwhile toast the breads ( I used pan as I do not have a toaster)

7. Now lay four piece of sausage on a bread and cover with another bread

8. Now hold them with your hands and give big a bite!!!!!!!!

9. Then ymmmmmmmmmmmmm blissssssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

at 23:29

Fast Track Chicken Pulao

Ingredients

1. 1-small sized chicken, cut into pieces

2. 2-Onions chopped properly

3. 1-teapsoon garlic paste

4. 1-teaspoon ginger paste

5. 1-teaspoon cumin powder

6. ½-teaspoon red chili powder or paprika powder

7. ½-cup yogurt

8. ½-cup milk

9. 2-green chili, slit length wise

10. ½-cup green peas (optional. I used peas to eat some vegetable)

11. 2-inch stick of cinnamon

12. 3/4-Cardamom

13. 2-bay leaves

14. 1-piece mace

15. 5/6-cloves

16. 10-balck peppercorn

17. 300g-Basmati Rice (I did not use any proportion of rice to chicken. I just used my instinct because we wanted to eat well and lots of chicken)

18. 3-tablespoon oil (use ghee if you like. I do not like ghee in my food so I avoid using ghee. Ghee makes me feel so heavy after the food, which I do not like)

Method:

1. Marinate chicken with ginger, garlic, chili, cumin powder, yogurt and keep aside

2. Wash and soak the rice

3. Heat oil in a pan and add cinnamon, cardamom, mace, bay leaves, clove, black pepper and fry for two minute

4. Add the chopped onion and fry until they are soft and little brown

5. Add chicken onto the onion, add salt and cook until oil separates

6. Add milk and green chili and cook the chicken until almost done

7. Cook the rice 80% and drain the water

8. Add the rice with the chicken and close the lid. Cook until rice is totally done so as the chicken.

9. Using a fork fluff up the rice and let it cool down a bit. Once cooled it would be very fluffy in case it was sticky before ( it happens to me very often as I never measure and all water or milk as much as I like depending on my mood, hahaha!)

10. Warm it up again and serve with raita