Thai Curry Pasta

Fusion cuisine should have its own facebook page. And I'm sure I'll be a friend then. There are some great outcomes when wonderful cuisines are fused together. Ask Wolfgang Puck - and he'll say Amen. But then there are some fusion dishes that should not see the light of day. Like kofta balls in rasam. I don't think I want to go there. 

But I surely want to go here - Thai Curry Pasta. 

Long ago, when I was not so occupied (translation-lazy), I added a recipe request form to this blog. And promised to cook whatever someone asked. Like I said, that was long ago. My apologies for not keeping up my word. But I'm going to take baby steps and try to complete most of the requests. So, here's a post for Amrut who had asked for a thai curry pasta recipe. Amrut - I hope you still are interested in this. Here's the delicious dish just for you!

Cook Pasta al dente. I've used Penne here but you could use your favorite pasta. Linguini would be good here too and look like noodles. Add a tsp of salt to the water while cooking the pasta.

For the veggies, chop up some broccoli, carrots, green beans. Once the pasta is done, just strain out the pasta from the water and while the water is still boiling, add the veggies in there and switch off the stove immediately. You don't want the veggies to be over cooked - just blanched a little. Drain out the veggies in about 3-4 mins and pour cold water once to stop cooking.

And now on to make the curry paste. Here's what I used -

half a medium onion roughly chopped
Garlic - about 4-5
Ginger - about 2 inch piece roughly chopped
Coriander seeds - 2 tsps
Black Peppercorns - a few
Dried Red Chilli - 4-5
Turmeric - 1 tsp
Lemon Grass - 1-2 tsps (paste)

Just add all of them raw into a mixer to make a paste.

For a kick, add 1 tsps of brown sugar to the rest of the ingredients.

Grind into a coarse paste and then add a little oil and grind to a smooth paste.

In a wide pan, add about 2 tsps of oil. Throw in some onions and bell peppers and saute for a couple of mins. 

For the curry, I used some light coconut milk. Add the paste and fry for a couple of mins, and then add about 1/2 can of the coconut milk. Add salt to taste just enough for the curry.

Add 1 tomato chopped and deseeded.

Then, add all the veggies to the curry. Mix well and cook for maybe a min.

Add fresh chopped cilantro to the curry.

And finally, add the cooked pasta to the curry. Mix well for a couple of mins.

And there you go - some delicious juicy curry pasta.

You could add some fresh or fried tofu to enhance this dish. Enjoy a nice warm meal with your family. And pass on my regards to them!

Enjoy. Peace Out!

Black Forest Cake For Valentines Day

Wishing you all a Happy Valentines Day! 

And what's a valentines day without some chocolate cake? It just has to be, right?

And when it just has to be, why not add some cherries as well?

This is another simple black forest cake recipe- source is from a favorite recipe app on my ipad. The Myrecipes.com daily indulgence app. If you have an ipad and love to bake, just buy the app. Even if you don't bake all the recipes on there, it sure brings a smile and a drool every single day.

Here's the ingredient list. I modified the original recipe very little - reduced the cocoa and used butter instead of shortening. 

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

2 Large Eggs

All Purpose Flour - 1 3/4 cup

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

2 tsps baking powder

2 tsps baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup hot water

1 cup dark or semi sweet chocolate morsels

1 can cherry pie filling

Mix all the dry ingredients together - flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and mix well.

Combine condensed milk, brown sugar, butter and eggs and mix well until combined.

When that's done, add the dry ingredients and mix well.

When the batter is almost done, add the 1/4 cup of hot water to the batter and mix once well.

Keep your pans ready. Since it is indeed valentines day, I used the two heart pans I had. I loved the cute little bundt pan...but it sure is little, so added my big heart pan as well. Grease and flour them.

Here's the batter ready. It looks chocolatey enough but wait..

...just go ahead and add the chocolate morsels. Trust me, this bite is beautiful while eating the cake!

Pour in pans and bake at 350F for about 25-30 mins or until it passes the toothpick test.

Here are the cakes ready to go..

This is pretty. Yes.

This is also good. Yes.

But this way, its pretty good indeed! YES!

                                           

Drizzle the cherry pie filling on top of the cake. And drool just like the cherry syrup.

I love you so much that I gave you more than one of my hearts!

Someone else here is also drooling at the cake.

Introducing to all you - my little girl Aadhya! Can't believe she's already three months. This is the reason you all don't see me often on here now. I can't believe how someone so little takes over the lives of multiple people! However all that is pure joy and I'm loving every moment of it.

Can I jump inside the cake daddy?

 Make this luscious cake and impress your loved ones.

Happy Valentines Day to all of you!!

Enjoy. Peace Out!