These Are a Few of My Favourite Things...

It's been almost three years since I set up our Cozy Little Kitchen. Looking out for a special something for our kitchen, thoughtful gifts received from family and friends, random shopping trips, impulse buys -I think they've all added a special character to our kitchen. I still am that excited young wife whenever I go shopping, always on the look out for something different :)

I thought I'd share with you some of the things I absolutely love in our Cozy Little Kitchen...

marble stone mortar 'n' pestle: from an Asian store, Sydney

kitchen towels 'n' pot holders in my fave combo: gift from SIL

glass cookie jars: from IKEA, Sydney

carrot peeler: gift from MIL

oggarne dabba: from Bengalooru

lady grate: gift from a girlfriend

my hot pink silicon bar cake tray: Target, Sydney

gorgeous peacock theme mugs: gift from friends, San Diego

my loyal Tupps: gift from Ma

black long stemmed wine glasses: Homeware store, Sydney

cute lil spreaders: gift from SIL

I bet this list will grow 'n' grow 'n' keep growing :)

What are some of your favourite things in your kitchen? Share them with your blog world friends. Post about them on your blogs or leave a comment to your link here. I'd love to see some pictures as well.

Have a great weekend!

Everyone's Favourite

The classic chewy chocolate chip cookies! I found the recipe here. It's so simple, you can't go wrong with it! And the cookies, my-oh-my! They turned out great :) The only thing I'd probably do differently next time is make smaller ones. These ones didn't quite get into my cookie jar! But they are absolutely divine - crisp 'n' chewy at the same time :-D





So here's the ingredients list - Makes about 12 really large cookies :)

• 1 and 1/8 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• a pinch of salt
• a stick of unsalted butter (soft)
• 6 tbspns white sugar
• 6 tbspns brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tspn vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup choc chips

Mix everything as you would for any cookie dough. Refrigerate for about 30mins atleast. Preheat oven to 165 deg. Divide the cookie dough into small portions and roll each portion into a ball. Place on a cookie sheet (these really spread) and bake for about 15-17 minutes or until lightly brown. 

The video in the link is fab! Take a look.

More Inspiration!

Got these books recently...

They're absolutely gorgeous! I did try a couple of recipes from them, but sadly, the laziness bug got me and I did not take any pictures. I baked 'choc-vanilla swirls' from the Easy Baking book. I made 'pumpkin-honey-mustard soup' from the Vegetarian Bible. I haven't tried anything from the one in the middle yet, but lemme tell you - that book is wonderful! So many lovely ideas...I'm thinking lots of edible gifts :-D

I'm still working on these books and will do so for a long, long time! There are loads 'n' loads of interesting recipes in there. I'll definitely try and take pictures next time and post all about them :)

Sweet Heaven!

Gajar ka Halwa a.k.a Carrot Halwa is by far the most loved dessert in India. Thanks to the melodramatic mothers of Bollywood tinsel town who make the macho sons all mushy when they're offered a bowl of the orange gooey stuff oozing with desi ghee (clarified butter) and motherly love.

(Okay, so I did go overboard with the nuts! But believe me, there was heaps of halwa under that obsessive layer of dry fruit!)

We made this special dessert for some special guests at dinner one Sunday. I say 'we'. Husby darling, my sous chef  who tackled probably the hardest part of the recipe - the grand grating of half a Kg (or more) of carrots, truly deserves to be a part of this post :)

Recipe -

• a bag of carrots (approx 500gms) peeled and grated - baby carrots work really well, they're tender and moist
•  3/4 or 1 cup sugar (according to your sweet-o-meter)
• 1 cup ghee
• Approx 1 + cup of milk (enough to cook carrots)
• 1/2 cup mixed nuts - cashews, almonds and raisins
• 1/4 tspn cardamom powder

Method -

1. First of all, if you're not feeling particularly patient or if you're generally annoyed about something, make this another day! Believe me, it takes some patience and a sense of peace to accomplish this sweet heaven ;)
2. So, once you've decided you're quite saintly, then heat about a tbspn of ghee in a wide, shallow pan. Non stick works wonders.
3. Toss in the mixed nuts and fry until lightly toasted and aromatic.
4. Drain and set aside. This will later be sprinkled on the prepared halwa.
5. Into the same pan, tip in the grated carrot and mix well. Don't forget to appreciate your sous chef (if there is one) with a smile at this stage :)
6. With the flame on medium, add enough milk to just about cover the carrot and cook until soft. Don't add too much lest it turns out to be carrot porridge.
7. Once you're completely satisfied that the carrot is soft 'n' cooked, add in the sugar and mix well. If you add sugar a tad too early, then the carrots won't cook further and you'll end up with crunchy bits. What did I tell you about patience before? It does take a while for the carrot to cook completely. And remember, all this on medium or low heat. We don't want the whole thing to burn.
8. Once the sugar has been added, it's only a matter of minutes until everything amalgamates well.
9. Oh, before I forget, keep adding a spoonful or two of ghee during the entire process in well spaced intervals until you finish the 1 cup of ghee you started with.
10. Sprinkle cardamom powder and mix well again.
11. Continue on medium heat for another 10 minutes or so, taking care not to let it burn.
12. Remove from heat and garnish with fried nuts.
13. Best served warm with lots of love!

This can be prepared ahead of time and refrigerated. Just stick it into the microwave before you serve.

P.S: Special hugs to my dear friend for the super efficient and super cute grate! Love it :)

An Indian Twist to an Italian Favourite!

It was Saturday and we had done quite a bit of mindless, impulsive shopping. Husby's face was growing longer and sadder as the day went and I still hadn't taxed him with the weekly grocery shopping yet! After a snail paced episode of shopping at the local supermarket, husby darling just about had enough patience to push the cart (normally) towards our car without crashing it into some poor unsuspecting shopper in frustration. I tagged along to keep up with him while I scanned the longish receipt to see if we were charged right for everything. As we loaded the boot of our car with the many bags, I tried cheering him up by promising to make pizza for dinner. He didn't seem like he cared much. But when the pizza was made (and the kitchen smelt so good!), cut and served with some yummy garlic and cheese bread, he finally smiled, ear to ear :) 

Here's what I did - 


Make at home Pizza with Indian flavours. I can't help it! I'm Indian and I love the masalas :) 

• store bought pizza base
• tomato sauce/ketchup - 1 tbspn
• toppings (use as desired) - thinly sliced onion, thinly sliced capsicum, diced paneer , thinly sliced jalapeno chillies (de-seeded to save the mouth from catching fire), grated cheese, chopped coriander
• spices - (use as desired) paprika, chilli flakes, curry powder, salt

Method - 

• Preheat oven to 200 deg Celsius
• Spread tomato sauce over the pizza base and load it with toppings
• Sprinkle on the spices 
• Bake for about 10 mins (might vary from oven to oven)
• Serve hot with more ketchup and chilli sauce

It was so much better than as good as the ones we usually order in, honestly.

Your Wish is My Command, Master!

On one of our grocery shopping trips, HD was scanning the shelves in the biscuits/cookies aisle while he decisively said, 'Make those melt-in-the-mouth Iyengar Bakery* cookies for me, please.' I felt oddly good as I pictured myself as the quintessential house wife in the 50s, donning a flowery apron, wooden spoon and mixing bowl in hand, dutifully baking a batch of warm cookies and beaming in satisfaction as my darling husband munched on them (wow! some imagination!) Anyways, he was lucky as I was still on a 'new oven' high. So I decided to bake some cookies and although I chose not to make them Iyengar Bakery style, he seemed pretty content with the Peanut Butter Cookies, my style :)

Here's the recipe:

100gms unsalted butter
2 tbspns peanut butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
2 cups plain flour (or as much as the mixture needs to form a dough)
1 tspn baking powder
1/2 tspn vanilla extract

Method:

Cream the butter, peanut butter and sugar in a mixing bowl.
Crack in one egg and whisk gently.
Add vanilla extract.
Sift flour and baking powder into the creamed mixture and gently work into a dough.
Cover in cling wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.
When you're ready to bake, remove cookie dough from the refrigerator and shape into balls, about an inch each.
Place on a cookie tray and lightly press down flat with a fork, making a criss-cross pattern. (They do expand a little, so allow enough space.)
Bake for about 10-12mins in  a preheated oven at 180 deg.
Cool on a wire rack and store in a cookie jar!

I must say, the smell of cookies baking in the oven, the cold winds outside, a tired husby back from work and two nice hot cups of coffee - bliss! I read somewhere that cooking is love made visible, I couldn't agree more :)

Hope you enjoy baking and eating these cookies with someone you love!

*Popular local bakeries in Bangalore.

A Delicious Accident!

The other day, I wanted to test the oven here at our new apartment and I decided to bake a basic vanilla cake. I don't really stick to any one specific recipe for a plain cake. I just kind of go along with the flow. That's exactly how I started when I had this sweet little accident and ended up with some yummy banana bread kinda thing instead :) See, what I did was cleverly replace one egg with a banana that was crying out to be used, what with all the mushy bits and dark spots! In the end, the house smelt heavenly as the banana and vanilla in the oven did a slow waltz and wafted through the kitchen. And yeah, well, I found that the oven works, very efficiently :)

My accidental recipe for banana bread - 

1.25 cups plain flour

100gms unsalted butter

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 (very) ripe banana

1 tbspn milk

1tspn baking powder

a few drops of vanilla essence

Method-

1. In a large mixing bowl, throw in the (softened) butter and sugar and whisk well until combined.
2. Break in the egg and continue to whisk.
3. Mash the banana and mix into the contents in the bowl.
4. Add the vanilla essence.
5. Sift the flour with baking powder, add in slowly to the mixture and keep whisking to form a smooth batter.
6. Add milk to adjust consistency of the batter, which should be neither too stiff nor runny.
7. Pour into a greased and floured baking tin and chuck it into a preheated oven.
8. Bake at 180 deg for about 20mins or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted in the middle of the cake.
9. Serve warm with a dollop of love :) 

Husby was as thrilled as I was! He kept saying that I should bake this often, which I really think I will. Maybe I'll try using wholemeal flour the next time. Or buy some bananas and wait until they look pathetic, again!