What's cooking

Last week tried out some recipes. I don’t know if it happens to many people, but when I am cooking something new, or baking, especially baking, I find it oddly relaxing.

So coming back to last week, I was in a creative mode and tried out different recipes. Internet is where you find just about anything these days, so I started with internet to fish out something interesting to try.

Came across many recipes for Shrikhand and its varieties and decided to try one of the simplest ones. It was for mango shrikhand. I have always liked Shrikhand but never thought of trying it because I thought it would be very cumbersome to make. However, it was hardly so and I loved making it. So this is what I did-

Take two cups of yogurt, (home made is preferable), tie it in a large cotton handkerchief and hang it. If you do not have a place to hang it from, then the knob of a kitchen cabinet or the faucet of the kitchen sink is a good place. Try to use a white or light colored piece of cloth to hang the yogurt. So now leave the yogurt hanging for atleast three to four hours or more, a good time to do so is in the night before you sleep. After three-four hours most of the water from the yogurt would have drained off and it would be creamy. Now mix sugar and mango pulp according to your taste. Can whip it with a spoon or use a hand mixer. And voila you Mango Shrikhand ready. Its enough for atleast two people.

Another thing I tried was with mini idlis. If you have ever gone to Saravan Bhavan in India you might have heard of sambar idlis, where they take a bowl of sambar and put mini idlis in it. I had gone to India recently and got the mini idli plates. This is purely my own concoction (and feeling damn proud of it). So here it goes-

Start with the mini idlis, steam the mini idlis and keep them aside. Now take four spoons of ginnelly oil, (in tamil its called nallai yennai) and heat it in a frying pan. Add mustard, and when they splutter add chopped curry leaves, asafoetida, and Mulaga podi (what some people call gun powder). Now add the mini idlis. You can add salt according to taste. Remove the idlis once they are roasted. They are absolutely yum yum and a wonderful snack.

Both the dishes are really simple and worth trying and they definitely taste great when you make it yourself.