Creamy Mushroom Pizza

I baked some 12 inches thin crust pizzas in the weekend, there are six different flavours. I would like to introduce the creamy mushroom pizza that my friends and I love it so much!

The pizza doesn't need tomato sauce for the topping as the creamy mushroom had its unique flavour with the mozzarella cheese. The recipe is very simple, pan fry lots of chopped garlic, then add in some chopped sticky bacon together with one big chopped yellow onion. Pan fry at low heat until the bacon caramelized with the onions. Stir in big chunky of fresh mushroom for about two minutes or so. Don't over cook it. Season with salt and peppers and add 5 tablespoon of cream and 5 tablespoon of milk. Add some dried oregano or italian herbs. Cook for another two minutes and it's done! Top on the pizza dough and go with some mozzarella cheese and bake until the cheese melt. Delicious!

I've also baked another chiffon, pumpkin chiffon. It's beautifully baked!

Milagu Jeeram Podi & Milagu Rasam - Black Pepper Powder and Soup

MILAGU JEERAM PODI (Black Pepper & Cumin Powder) and MILAGU RASAM (Black Pepper Soup)

We loved to visit my uncles place which was nestled amongst the ancient temples of Tanjore and its green paddy fields and lush lily ponds. Mama (maternal uncle) was ever ready with an agenda to guide us through the various temples, forts and the river and sea sides around his small village which housed a mammoth temple for Lord Mahalinga Swami. Mami (aunty) was eager to welcome us with a well stalked kitchen and she treated us to her yummy native dishes. We drooled over her delicious pitlays, rasavangis, tanjavoor kadambam rice, cashew uthappams and the special tanjavoor milagai vattal.

On one such pleasant visit Mama took us to the temple town of Thirukkadaiur. Every town, village or even a small settlement in Tanjore district turned out to be a temple town and we had to get down from the car at the drop of the hat to view the great architectural wonders of yore.
The presiding deity at Thirukkadaiur is Lord Amruthaghateswarar and His consort is Goddess Abhirami. Markendeya was Lord Shiva’s ardent devotee and was blessed with only 16 years of life in this world. At the appointed time the Pasa (Noose) of Yama Dharma ( God of death) which was meant for Markandeya who was clutching the Lingam, fell over the Lingam as well. Enraged at this, the Lord exterminated Yama. Later Yama was revived and Markandeya was blessed to stay 16 all his life and justice prevailed.

After offering our prayers for a long life for each and every member in the family we went round the expansive temple appreciating each and every piece of sculpture without heeding the heat of the blazing sun. The broad and lengthy paved path ways around the temple and the kalyani ( Pond) had become so hot that even chapattis would have puffed up just at the touch of the stone. Unable to bear the heat and hunger any longer we ran out of the temple to wear our foot ware. This was a long time ago- almost 35 years- when there were no hotels or restaurants in the small place. The benevolent temple priest offered to feed us for which he would not quote any price. His house was next to the temple and his wife cooked for us. We were amazed when she served us hot rice, hot (spicy) milagu jeeram podi (black pepper and cumin) and hot (spicy and hot temperature wise!) milagu rasam (black pepper soup) within such a short notice. We were more wonder struck when she served roasted papads which had imprints of advertisements on them! We were all sweating and red in the face due to the heat of the sun and the excellent meal. Never did we taste such a lip smacking meal in all our lives.

MILAGU JEERAM PODI (Black Pepper and Cumin Powder)

INGREDIENTS:
Pepper – 4 tbsps
Cumin seeds – 4 tbsps
Salt – ½ tsp

METHOD :
1.Dry roast pepper until it starts cracking
2.Add cumin seeds and roast till it gives out a pleasant aroma.
3.Powder it coarsely with salt when it cools down.
4.Store it in a dry container.

TO SERVE - take some hot rice in a plate. Add the powder and salt to taste on top of the rice. Heat ghee until the ghee has melted and is hot. Pour the hot ghee over the powder. Enjoy the sizzling noise as the powder gets instantly fried. Now mix thorougly with the rice. This is very good for digestion and also alleviates flatulence, and tastes excellent as well!

MILAGU RASAM (Black Pepper Soup)
INGREDIENTS:
Tamarind – 1 small lemon size
Salt – 2 tsps
Asafoetida – ¼ tsp
Curry leaves – a few
FOR THE POWDER:

Coarsely grind the following into a powder. No roasting is required.
Pepper – 1 tbsp
Cumin seeds – 1 tbsp
Coriander seeds – 1 tbsp
Bengal gram dal – 1 tbsp
FOR THE SEASONING:
Ghee – 1 tsp
Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp

METHOD:
1. Soak tamarind in warm water and extract the juice.
2. Add salt, asafoetida and curry leaves.
3. Boil until the raw smell disappears.
4. Grind the four ingredients into a slightly coarse powder.
5. Add the powder and add water immediately to make one litre of rasam.
6. Let the rasam be on low flame.
7. Cover it with a lid to preserve flavour.
8. Keep watch by sliding the lid now and then.
9. Switch off flame when the rasam is just about to boil.
10.Heat ghee and add mustard seeds, and add the seasoning when the mustard splutters.

Drink the hot rasam as an appetizer before a meal. Or enjoy with hot rice with a spoon of ghee. You can even chill it and have it just like that as a beverage – like jal jeera.

Both these dishes go to Think Spice -Think Pepper Event at Divya's Dil Se blog. Here are more details about Think Spice event, in Sunita's site.

Beet Treats

Beetroot in my kitchen, is often cooked as a side, for my usual traditional lunch of sambhar, morukootan etc. Sometimes its added along with other veggies prepared for sandwich filling. I came across the beet juice at Tarla Dalal. At the same time, Viji Akka of Vcuisine (private blog) posted the recipe for beet syrup. The syrup recipe interested me and decided to make it. I didn't quite follow Viji Akka's recipe exactly. On searching for the benefits of beets, I found the following info.

Never drink beet juice by itself. Beet juice should always be mixed with other vegetables and/or apple juice. Pure beet juice (from the bulb or greens) can temporarily paralyze your vocal chords, make you break out in hives, increase your heart rate, cause chills or a fever. Consider mixing beets with apples, cucumber, carrots, etc.

Beets are best used in small amounts. Use moderately. Both the roots and greens are powerful cleansers of the body. Beets are said to really cleanse the blood and kidneys and this is why it is suggested you use beets moderately.

Ingredients
Beet roots - 2 big

Medium carrot - 1
Citric acid -1/4 tspn ( can use lime juice instead)
Brown sugar - 1/4 cup (I used damerara sugar)
White sugar -1/4 cup
Water -1/4 cup
Dried ginger powder (Chukku) - 1/2 tspn

Method
Wash, peel and cut beetroot and carrot into cubes. Take juice of beetroot and carrot by adding
water. Strain and keep it aside.
Mix both the sugars with 1/4 cup of water and prepare sugar syrup. Add juice, ginger powder and citric acid. Simmer for 5 minutes. Skim the foam on the top. Bottle it and refrigerate.

Beet Drink

To make beet drink, add 3 parts of cold water to one part of syrup and serve. Makes an excellent summer cooler loaded with vitamins. You can add soda instead of water and you will not for Coke again.

Now some other ways you can make use of the beet syrup.

Carrot cucumber in beet yogurt

Stir in a tablespoon of syrup in a cup of yogurt. Whip well and mix in grated carrot, cucumber and a slit green chilly. Add salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with fresh coriander. A yummy salad is ready.

Beet flavoured milk.

Stir in a tablespoon of beet syrup in a glass of cold milk and enjoy. I am not sure if it will curdle when added to warm milk. To this if you add a drop of rose essence, it will make delicious rosemilk.

Beet Lassi

Curds - 1 1/2 cup

Milk - 1/2 cup

Beet syrup - 1 tablespoon

Water - 1/2 cup

Whip all the ingredients with a blender until smooth. Serve Chilled. Adjust water according to how smooth you want your lassi to be. No need to add extra sugar.

All the preparation with beet syrup tasted very delicious. Its very versatile and you can use it according to your creativity. Let me know any other ways, this can be used. I will be glad to try those.

I am sending the three pink treats to FIC: Pink/Rose hosted by Priya, an event started by Sunshinemom.