Blackberry Vanilla Panna cotta with Lavender infused Honey

Ingredients:

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1/3 cup sugar ( or more depending on tartness of blackberries )
• 2 cups blackberries
• Gelatin (or agar agar) - ( see instructions on package for quantity)             
• cold water to soak gelatin
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Optional (lavender infused honey)

• Honey
• Lavender sprigs

Method:

• Purée blackberries in a blender until very smooth
• Strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a bowl; discard seeds
• Bloom the gelatin / use agar agar (according to package directions)
• Heat the cream and sugar in a pan over moderate heat until almost about to simmer, stirring until sugar is dissolved
• Add the blackberry puree and vanilla extract. Mix it well. Adjust sugar if necessary
• Remove from heat and add gelatin/agar agar while still warm, stirring until dissolved
• Lightly grease the ramekins
• Pour mixture into ramekins and chill, covered, until firm, at least 8 hours

Lavender-infused honey:

• Add organic lavender sprigs to a clean container.
• Pour honey over top. Cover and set aside.
• Shake container every couple days for even dispersion of flavor
• Taste after couple of days and once you are satisfied with the flavor (usually 5-7 days), strain and store.

When it is set, run a knife around edge of each panna cotta.

Turn the ramekin upside down on the serving plate. Hold the plate and ramekin firmly together, and then shake it gently until the panna cotta slides out smoothly. Drizzle with lavender infused honey and enjoy the perfect marriage of flavors!

Chocolate Truffles

Diwali (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diwali) is a traditional Indian festival of fireworks, lights and sweets. One of the best part of Diwali is exchange of umpteen varieties of sweets amongst family, and friends. Somehow indulging in sweets during Diwali does not even seem guilty!

My family is huge fan of dark chocolate.  Hence we decided to make these decadent dark chocolate truffles to complement the traditional Indian Diwali sweets.



We realized that the beauty of making truffles at home is that you can mix your custom flavors,  and control the intensity of each one of them. Flavored syrups, nuts, expresso, tea, cardamom, cinnamon..the list is endless!

Recipe

Ganache:
2 cups chocolate
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 tbsp butter

Tempering:
Dark chocolate

Step 1
Ganache (the soft truffle center)

• Chop good quality chocolate dark with sharp knife or use 60% chocolate chips
• In a pan bring 1/3 heavy cream just to a bare simmer
• Pour over chocolate,  and let it stand till the chocolate melts
• At this point, add different flavors
• Whisk until well blended
• Set it in the fridge for 3 hours
• After it is set, use a small melon baller to scoop out round balls of chocolate
• Use hands to roll it smooth

Work quickly so that they don't melt with the heat of your hands
Bit messy but fun!

Roll the truffle balls in coating of your choice: cocoa, toasted almonds, coconut etc. 
Refrigerate and Enjoy!

If you want some more adventure, go ahead with step 2.

Step 2 (optional)

Tempering
If you need to dip the truffles in chocolate coating, you have to temper it.
Tempered chocolate gives the truffle a smooth, shiny finish and a snap. Not to forget the professional look!

Temper chocolate as below.
http://www.ghirardelli.com/bake/chocolate_tempering.aspx
Dip the cocoa dipped truffles in tempered chocolate and lay it on the parchment paper.
Sprinkle some chocolate sprinkles, and luster dust. (http://www.amazon.com/Super-Gold-43-1233-Luster-Dust/dp/B0000VLH8S)   
Indulge in a guilt-free decadence. Watch it disappear right before your eyes!

Tropical fruit salad

While browsing at the local Asian supermarket yesterday, I stumbled upon an exotic fruit which brought back memories – strolling in Hilo’s farmer market in Hawaii’s Big Island, when this fruit had first caught my eye.

One of the local farmer was happy to cut the fruit and let us sample it.  The mild sweetly-flavored white pulp inside was a strong contrast to the vibrant exterior, and tasted like a cross between a kiwi and a pear.

The Dragon fruit is a cactus fruit actually native to Central and South America. It comes in three varieties – red skin with red flesh, red skin with white flesh and yellow skin with white flesh. The pulp can be easily scooped off the skin. Low in calories and high in antioxidants, it is a good source of nutrition - Vitamin C, minerals (especially magnesium and phosphorus). They are also low in calories and high in fiber.

Best eaten raw and chilled, combine it with any tropical fruit and add a few pomegranate gems. It imparts color and a sweet-tart  crunch that goes well with sweet papaya and the dragon fruit.

The colorful peel can serve as a visually stunning platter!

Baby Shower Fruit Salad Surprise

My good friend Anisha’s baby shower was scheduled just 1 hour after I landed from a long India flight. She had postponed her shower as much as she could to have her few close friends and her family together all on the same day.  I just could hardly make it to the shower all jet-lagged, and could not do anything special for her that day.

On the positive side, since the baby shower had already happened, she was unlikely to expect another surprise. So the hope was that this Fruit-Salad for the wonderful couple Anisha and Shashi would be a pleasant surprise.

The party was impromptu – could not plan it till a perfect oval watermelon was found (not an easy task given most stores sell the round types). On finding one, we arranged for a potluck the same day with one fruit as a must-bring by everyone. My friend Anisha (without any insight into what was going on) asked me if we could wait till the weekend for the potluck…Well, it was the beginning of the week and I was sure the watermelon could not last that long! Luckily I knew how to get her in…her favorite dessert!

My wonderful friends cooked up great dishes in a jiffy at such a short notice, while still wondering what the urgent need of potluck was that day. We cut up the fruit together, with Anisha just watching a basic fruit salad being made. While she was kept busy talking, the fruit was assembled in the watermelon carriage along with the apricot baby in a lettuce blanket, and presented to the couple.

The smiles on their faces just made everybody’s day!

Aren’t Baby showers fun to give!

Blackberry Ice Cream

With so many flavors of ice cream available in the market, one may wonder why make it yourself. Well, there is something so special about homemade ice cream…you can customize the flavor with your favorite ingredients like fruits, chocolate, chips, nuts and control the consistency to make it either super-rich, or low-fat depending on dietary needs. And it is such a fun activity for the kids! They can decide what they want to mix in it and are very excited to try the outcome.

With blackberries at their season's peak, its the perfect time to indulge in blackberry desserts. In the Northwest, blackberry season spans the end of summer and the beginning of fall. We have big beautiful blackberries all around the neighborhood. It was fun picking the juiciest ripest blackberries.

The beautiful purple color the berries left on my hand already set my mind imagining the rich purple color the ice cream would be. And after an hour there it was, right in front of my eyes, exactly the way I imagined!

Luscious purple colored ice cream is such a visual treat! And the rich creamy taste of the ice cream infused with the sweet tartness of the berries is just divine!

I made this ice cream in an ice cream maker but it can be also made if you do not have one.

Recipe

Ingredients (around 6 scoops)

• 1 cup whole milk
• 2/3 cup half and half
• 1/3 cup whipping cream
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 cups blackberries

Method

• Process blackberries in a mixer till pureed
• Strain the puree through a fine sieve, and discard seeds
• Combine milk and sugar. Mix till the sugar is completely dissolved
• Mix it with half and half, whipping cream and strained blackberry puree
• Process the mixture in ice cream machine.

If you don’t have an Ice Cream Maker …

• Chill the mixture in refrigerator for 3-4 hours
• Pour the mixture in a freezer safe container, cover and freeze for an hour
• Remove from the freezer, and stir to break up the ice crystals that may have formed
• Repeat the process every hour for 3-4 hours, or until the ice cream is firm

Scoop your ice cream into bowls or cones and enjoy!

Sending this to Sanghi’s FIL event.

Rose Infused Watermelon Granita

What can possibly be more relaxing in summer than a cold refreshing granita!  Granitas are tiny flavored ice flakes made by freezing a mixture of sugar, water, and  flavorings (usually fruit), and scraping it as the ice crystals form. Low in calories and fat, you can easily satisfy your sweet tooth without guilt ! At the same time it is fun for the kids to help with and enjoy eating.

This simple granita uses watermelon - an icon of summertime. Addition of rose water (a clear, aromatic, sweet tasting liquid, distilled from fresh rose petals) takes it to the next level by not only enhancing the flavor of watermelon, but also adding a fragrant touch.

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 4 cups watermelon
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons rose water

Method

• Puree all the above ingredients in a blender or food processor
• Pour in a shallow pan, cover with a plastic wrap, and freeze until it just gets icy at the edges (around 30 min). Stir the mixture thoroughly scraping with a fork to break the ice
• Check the mixture every hour. When it begins to freeze, scrape it again with a fork breaking the frozen parts. Granita is ready when the mixture is completely frozen into small granular ice crystals (around 4-5 hrs)
• To serve, scrape some granita into pre-chilled glasses and top with watermelon slice, and organic rose petals.

A perfect summer cooler sure to perk you up on a hot day!

Mango Passion Kulfi

I was very happy to pick up some fresh ripe Passion Fruits from the grocery store yesterday. I had first tasted this fruit several years ago when a friend at work brought a passion fruit dessert...since then I have fallen in love with the flavor of this exotic fruit.

Fresh Passion fruit is not always easily available here (although the pulp can be bought at Latin American stores or online stores like amazon.com) so it was important to make the best possible use of the fresh fruit juice. Passion fruit by itself can be sweet-tart to tart, but on adding some sweet contrast , it can add an extra dimension of flavor in any dessert.

I decided to combine it with Mango and make Kulfi which kids had been craving for ! Kulfi is a very popular Indian version of ice  cream. Milk is boiled and reduced, flavors added, then frozen resulting in a rich dense and thick ice cream.

So there I was, introducing this new fruit to my kids. When I cut it open there was a delicious sweet aroma that was almost like an intense scent of Guava fruit. My son described the fruit as a juicy baby pomegranate,  and was excited to explore the fruit by itself, and its flavor with Mango in Kulfi.

 

Recipe (around 8 servings)

• Whole milk - 4 cups
• Condensed milk – 1/2 cup 
• Mango pulp - 1 cup 
• 6 Passion fruits (or passion pulp/syrup/concentrate)
• Sugar

Method

• Put the milk in a heavy based pan, and bring it to boil. Now reduce the heat to low and simmer till the milk is reduced to half. This takes around 30 min. Keep stirring in between. When the skin forms on the top or the sides stir it back in. It is this process that gives kulfi its traditional creamy and rough texture. This can be done in parallel to cooking regular meals in kitchen, that way it does not take up extra time
• When the milk reduces to half, let it cool
• In the meanwhile scoop out the passion fruit pulp and seeds into a strainer (or muslin cloth) over a bowl. Press with the back of a spoon to extract the juice. There's not much juice in a single passion fruit, but it is very  strong, and loaded with flavor. 6 fruits yield approximately 1/4 cup of juice. If fresh passion fruits are not available, use passion pulp/concentrate
• Add condensed milk which further adds to the richness and creaminess
• Add Mango pulp (I used canned Alphanso pulp,  since fresh Alphanso is not available here), passion fruit juice, and mix it well
• Taste it and add sugar if needed. I did not have to add any sugar because of the canned mango pulp and sweet condensed milk
• Pour in moulds and freeze overnight or until firm
• To unmould, dip the moulds under hot water for few seconds and gently pry out with a knife onto a plate. Kulfi is best eaten a little soft, as it melts around the edges

The Kulfi was just so sublime with the tropical flavors of passion-fruit and the sweetness of mango in every bite. So forget about calories for a moment, and just indulge!

Sending this to Srivalli's Mithai Mela, and to FIC favorite hosted by Sweatha,  event started by Sunny Sunshinemom of TongueTicklers.  Also sending this to Sanghi’s FIL event.