Sweet Potato Halwa | Shakarkandi ka Halwa | Sakkaravalli kizhangu Halwa

Sweet potato is not a regular item in my vegetable cart when I go shopping. Actually to be honest its been years since I cooked with this vegetable. Sweet potato was forgotten after school-time, Amma used to boil them and keep them ready for an evening snack after a tired day at school. The idea of sweet potato was a thing of the past. So how did it re-appear in my kitchen? We had a potluck party a few weeks back at a friends place and I took the responsibility of bringing dessert for about 25-30 people. I was looking for interesting halwa recipes and decided to make halwa with sweet potato. I usually hesitate to try a brand new recipe while hosting a party at home or while taking food to a friends place, but you know what, you cant go wrong with halwa can you? - milk, sugar, nuts, ghee, sweet potato -  whats not to like ? :). The halwa was very well received and I was a happy lady that day!

While I intended to make this halwa for 15 people, I realized I could get only about 10 serving. I also made this yummy and healthy Carrot Kheer for the potluck party along with this halwa.

Ingredients

Serves - 10
Prep Time - 10 min
Cook time - 45 minutes

Sweet potato - 1 kg, boiled with its skin and then peeled and mashed.
Sugar - 1 cup sugar
Milk - 1.5 cup
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
Unsalted butter - 1/3 cup
Cinnamon - 1/2 tsp
Cashews - 20 broken for garnishing

How do you do it

1. Boil the sweet potatoes with its skin on. I pressure cooked for 1-2 whistles. Cool and peel its skin and mash the sweet potato flesh and keep it aside

2. Heat a non-stick pan. Add unsalted butter and let it melt. Add the mashed potatoes now and fry well for about 10 minutes.

3. Add milk and mix well and after the milk boils, add the sugar and mix well.

4. Here comes the tough part, keep stirring the contents of the pan until you get a halwa like texture and the halwa starts to leave the sides of the pan. This took me about 30 minutes of non-stop stirring. It was quite tiring to do this and switched between my left and right hand to do this job continuously. Dont lose heart, it will become halwa eventually ;). The halwa needs to be very moist.

5. Once done, switch off flame, add the cardamom powder, cinnamon powder and mix well.

Garnish with broken cashews.

Notes

1. In step 4, if you stop stirring even for a few seconds the mixture will tend to splash, so quickly cover with a lid if you are taking a moments breath.

2. The sweet potatoes I got had orange colored flesh inside - that explains the orange color of the halwa

3. I used a cup of sugar for 1 kg of sweet potatoes. The amount of sugar varies depending on how sweet the potatoes are. So vary the sugar quantity accordingly.

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Murgh Kali Mirch Tikka | Black pepper grilled chicken

Appetizers in Indian [Bombay-Bangalore] restaurants are very highly priced, so much for a few pieces of grilled chicken. I used to feel bad about wanting to order them all the time we went to one. You know when you are in between those days when you feel you have been eating at super restaurants too often and want to minimize those visits, but you end up there anyways and try to not order too much. Even then, I cant resist the temptation for kebabs, I just have to eat them if I am dining outside. Back then I had no other choice since I couldn't replicate the restaurant type kebabs at home with my OTG. It took forever to broil chicken and they turned out dry and stretchy. So I am not to be blamed!

Now having access to a very powerful oven in my US kitchen, I am grilling away to my hearts content :). One of my favorite chicken kebab recipe follows.

Ingredients

Serves - 10 pieces
Spice Level - Moderate
Prep Time - 25 min
Cook time - 20 min

250 gm boneless chicken cut into 1/2 inch pieces
Peppercorn - 2 Tbsp
Ginger Garlic paste - 2 Tsp
Green chilli - 3
Oil - 2 Tbsp
Onions - 2 medium sized, sliced thinly
1/2 cup hung curd/Greek Yogurt or normal yogurt which isn't very sour
1/2 tbsp corn flour
1 Tsp garam masala
1 Tsp Tandoori Masala
Salt to taste
1/4 Tsp cardamom powder

How do you do it

1. Dry roast pepper corns on a heated kadai and crush to a coarse powder using mortar-pestle or your mixer grinder. Grind green chillies and ginger-garlic paste to a fine paste.

2. Heat oil in a kadai and saute the onions until brown. Cool and grind to a paste.

3. In a large bowl, combine the brown onion paste, yogurt, corn-flour, ginger-garlic-green chilli paste, crushed peppercorns, salt, garam masala, tandoori masala, cardamom powder. Add the chicken cubes, mix well and marinate for 1 hr in the refrigerator.

4. Pre-heat oven to 400 deg F.

5. Line a baking sheet with aluminium foil. Smear it with oil. Arrange the chicken pieces on this baking sheet.

6. Broil on high for about 20 minutes in total. Turn the chicken over after mid-time.

Serve hot with mint chutney and lemon wedges.

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Khumb Sashlik | Masala Grilled Mushroom

If there is another vegetable that could get the same amount of affection from me other than potatoes it has to be mushroom. Mushroom appetizers, Mushroom pizza, Mushroom fried rice, Mushroom soup you name it, I have had it. Though I have access to all exotic types of mushrooom like shitake, portobello etc, I am used to and like to cook only with the whole button mushroom. When you grill/broil mushrooms one thing you need to be careful about is the time to cook them. Over-grilling them would make the mushrooms dry and rubbery. So the secret of a good mushroom kebab is to grill it right - not underdone, not over-cooked.

The marinade is a very simple one and has ingredients that are almost always present in your pantry. Clean mushrooms, marinate them for about 1 hr and grill them for a yummy snack on the table along with your cup of chai.

Ingredients

Recipe Source - Tandoori cooking at home by Sanjeev Kapoor
Serves - 2
Spice Level Moderate
Prep Time - 10 min
Cook time - 8 min

Mushroom - 200 gm, cleaned and washed well and stems removed
1/3 cup yogurt
2 tsp Ginger Garlic paste
1/2 Tsp Red chilli powder
1 tsp garam masala powder
1 tsp crushed dried fenugreek [kasoori methi]
1/2 tsp tandoori masala powder
Salt - to taste
2 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp oil

How do you do it

1. Mix all the ingredients for the marinade - yogurt, salt, chilli powder, kasoori methi, GG paste, lemon juice, oil, tandoori masala, garam masala and whisk well.

2. Add the mushroom to the marinade and refrigerate for 1 hr.

3. Pre-heat oven to 400 deg F. Meanwhile take a baking sheet, smear with oil. Place the mushroom on it and grill/broil for 6-8 minutes.

Serve this super delicious mushroom starter with green mint chutney

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