Coffee Ice Cream ~ Summer Special

Its going to be three weeks since I posted a recipe here. The break was not intentional. Two back to back trips and some deadlines to be met at work, I did not get the time or the inclination to blog. And I could not visit any of the blogs too.  After a break, I have the starting trouble to get it started.  For the last two days, I have been trying to post a recipe and finally I am at it. I decided to post an ice cream which is apt for the summer. I referred the recipe at Tarla Dalal's.  I followed ingredients mentioned in the recipe  but went with my intuition regarding the quantity. You don't need an ice cream maker for this and yet get a soft, creamy ice cream.

You need

• Milk - 1 cup
• Fresh cream - 1/2 cup (I used Amul)
• Cornflour - 1/2 tblspn
• Sugar - 1 tblspn
• Instant coffee granules - 2 tspn
• Hot water - 1 tblspn

Method

Take milk in a bowl. Stir in the corn flour and mix so that no lumps are found. Heat the mix and bring it to a boil. Add sugar. Keep stirring so that no lumps are formed and it doesn't stick to the bottom. When the milk turns slightly thick, remove from fire and leave it to cool. 

Add fresh cream, coffee solution and vanilla essence to the milk mix. Whisk to blend. Freeze in a shallow steel container. After two hours, when it is almost set, whisk to break the crystals. Use a wire whisk or a hand blender. Freeze again and repeat the whisking once more when it is set. Then freeze it for 4 hours to set it completely.

Remember to increase the cooling temp of your fridge. Also chill the container before adding the ice cream mix for faster freezing. Adding chilled cream also helps.

Scoop and enjoy the ice cream. The quantity was enough to serve 3. The coffee flavor was very strong. Adjust the amount of coffee granules according to your taste. When my cousin tasted the ice cream, he was surprised to taste coffee flavor and asked me which brand sells this flavor. Should I say anything more about the taste and texture of the  ice cream.

Vegan Oats stuffed Peppers

Today I decided to try stuffed peppers with a vegetarian filling. I usually stuff the peppers with any minced meat and mayonnaise, but today is our vegetarian day and wanted to skip eating salad, but still wanted to keep it healthy. So I choose oats and dry fruits. I bet you after eating it I really felt people can easily skip eating meat, if this is how vegetarian food is going to taste. It was wonderful, it tasted better with yellow pepper than green pepper. I didn't have red pepper so I used yellow and green. Please try with red pepper because I know it will taste much better.
This recipe is so filling and such a good and healthy comfort food.

Ingredients:

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2 colored Peppers (I prefer to use Red and Yellow or just red)

1 cup Old Fashioned Oats

1/4 Italian Bread Crumbs

1/2 cup dried mixed berries and cherries

1 onion chopped

1/4 Italian flat leaf Parsley chopped

1/2 + 1/4 cup sharp Cheddar cheese grated

1 pod garlic crushed

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 tbsp + 1 tsp Olive oil

Method:

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1. Preheat oven to 375F.

2. Cut the peppers length wise keeping the stem, remove the seeds. Brush with 1tbsp olive oil and sprinkle some salt and pepper and arrange it on a baking sheet.

3. In a small sauce pan add 1 tsp olive oil, add garlic and onions and saute it until the onions get translucent and off the flame.

4. In a mixing bowl add 1/2 cup water and add oats to sit, stir and keep it for about 5 mins.

5. Add bread crumbs to oats mixture, add dried fruits, 1/2 cup cheese, sated onions, salt and pepper and parsley and mix well.

6. Now stuff this oats mixture in the pepper cups and over the top sprinkle the rest of 1/4 cup cheese and bake it around 50-60 mins or until the peppers are cooked and the cheese is melted and starting to brown up a little on top.

7. If you need the cheese to brown up more you can also broil it for more 3-4 mins and serve it hot as a one cup meal. 

Mixed Dal Spice Powder

A spicy mixture of dals, which can be had as a condiment for idly/dosa's and also with Steaming Hot Rice for a spicy treat.

Ingredients
2 tbsp tuvar dal/toor dal/pigeon pea
2 tbsp chana dal/gram dal
1 tbsp moong dal
1 tbsp Peanuts
1/2 tsp Coriander seeds
1/2 tsp Black Pepper
1/4 tsp White sesame seeds
2-3 cloves of Garlic with the peel(optional)
5-6 Dried Red Chillies (i used long ones)
A small marble-sized tamarind
Salt to taste


Method
Dry roast the ingredients, except tamarind and salt. Pound them all together in a Mixer. Store in an air-tight container. 

You can have it with your idly/dosa mixed with Gingely Oil/Ghee. 

Add some Tadka of Gingely Oil/ghee, with mustard seeds and some almonds to Steaming Hot Rice and Mix this Powder for a aromatic, spicy treat!!!!


Sending this Dal treat to MLLA-34, happening @ Desi Soccer Mom, Event by Susan. And also to CWS-Coriander Seeds, happening @ Veggie Paradise, Event by Priya Suresh