Shrimp tempura - The deep fried devils

Shrimp tempura or Golden fried Prawn is a mouth watering sea food dish that qualifies for one of the best appetizers in my list. The calorie conscious me do not really indulge myself in deep fried items or as a matter of fact, any high calorie food. But fortunately(to few people) my tantrums and whines are limited to my home only. The moment I step out for eating I do forget all my consciousness. 
This is one of the dishes that we(me and my wife) have a lot whenever we eat out. I tried it at home and I was really satisfied with the outcome. 
This is how I did it:

Ingredients:

• Jumbo shrimps                 - 10 to 12
• All purpose flour(maida)   - 3/4  cup
• Corn flour                        - ½ cup
• Ice cold water                  - 3/4 cup
• Salt                                 - ½ tsp
• Oil                                   - to deep fry
• Chili powder                    - ½ tsp

Method:

1. Peel the shrimps leaving the tail tip intact. De-vein them. Make a couple of slits underside and stretch lengthwise in order to straighten the shrimps. I forgot to straighten my shrimps.
2. Marinate the shrimps with a pinch of salt and some chili powder and keep aside for 20 minutes.
3. Mix all purpose flour, corn flour, water, salt and prepare the batter. Do not bother about the lumps, they make it better.
4. Heat enough oil so that the shrimps could be deep fried.
5. Dip shrimps in batter, hold it by tail and put it in oil.
6. Fry turning sides until it turns golden in color.
7. Serve with your favorite sauce and a salad.

Fruit Custard - A dessert that shows you the route to heaven

Fruit custard has always been my all time favorite dessert. You don't have to worry much about the calories as it contains a lots of fruits and not much of unhealthy contents. And it is an absolute treat to your taste buds. The crunchy fruits with the creamy and milky substrate, ahhh, for sure it will take you to the heaven.

You can use any kind of fruits in it as long as it is not sour and is seedless. Make sure the fruits are chopped in a way to retain the identity of each and are not mushy. In my recipe I have used condensed milk. You can use sugar as well instead of it.
Here if my version of recipe:

Ingredients:

Custard:

• Milk                                              - 1.5 Liter
• Custard Powder(Vanilla flavored)   - 3 Tbsp
• Condensed Milk                             - ½ cup

Fruits(chopped):

• Apple                     - 1 
• Grapes                    - 20/25 
• Banana(peeled)       - 2 
• Pear                       - 1
• Pomegranate          - ½
• Sapodilla(Chiku)     - 2
• Strawberries           - 10
• Cashew nuts           - 10
• Almonds chopped   - 5/6
• Pistachios chopped - 5/6

Method:
1. Take the milk(keep half cup to be used later) in a heavy bottomed vessel and cook on medium flame. Keep cooking with constant stirs till it reduces to almost half.
2. While the milk is cooking take the half cup milk kept aside and mix the custard powder. Mix well till you get a nice texture and no lumps remain. 
3. Now add the custard mix into the milk being cooked in parts and keep stirring ensuring there is no lump formation. Cook for 3-4 minutes in low flame till the mixture thickens.
4. Add condensed milk or sugar and mix it very well. and your custard is ready. Allow it to cool down to room temperature.
5. Refrigerate the custard for few hours to make it chilled.
6. Add all the chopped fruits into the custard. You can add some whipped cream to make it creamier.
7. Serve in dessert bowls.

Bon vo-yage! And yes, when you meet Him in the heaven, do tell him that it was my recipe that got you there!

Bhapa Maach - An aberration could be a discovery. Eureka!

Maach is fish in Bengali and it is just not a food for us, it is an integral part of our life in many ways.
Bhapa means steamed. 
Bhapa maach is a famous authentic Bengali dish where the fish is cooked in steam with its ingredients. It is usually made with the most popular fish of Bengal, Ilish (Hilsa). Well he comes with a big price tag but we Bengalis can pay any price to take him to our kitchen.
I still remember the taste of scrumptious bhapa Ilish my mom used to make. Its been years I had that and all of sudden on the eve of Bengali new year I had this craving for that dish. Since Ilish was not an option here as I do not know where I could get it, I thought to use Salmon instead. And to my surprise the dish really turned awesome. All the fish lovers give it a try and trust me you won't be disappointed.

Ingredients:

• Salmon                     – 8 pieces(2" length)
• Ginger                      – ½ inch
• Green chili               - 5 to 6
• Mustard Oil               - 3 tsp
• Milk                          - 2 tsp
• Turmeric powder      - ½ tsp
• Mustard powder(traditionally we use yellow mustard seeds by soaking them in water for 30 minutes and then grinding into a paste)   – 2 tsp

Preparation:

1. Clean the fish. Marinate with salt and turmeric powder for 30 mins.
2. Mix the mustard powder, milk and 4 tsp water in a bowl and keep for 30 mins.
3. In the mixing jar put mustard mix, ginger, 2 green chili and prepare a smooth paste.
4. Smear an oven safe flat surfaced bowl with some mustard oil. Put the fish pieces on it in a single layer.
5. Pour the mixture over the fish pieces in order to cover all of them evenly. 
6. Add 3-4 slit green chili. Drizzle 1 tsp mustard oil on top.

7. Cover the bowl with an aluminium foil.
8. Preheat the oven at 350 degrees F.
9. Take a vessel/pan where the bowl can be placed for steaming. Put hot water in the pan and place the bowl on it.
10. Put it in oven and bake for 30 minutes. This is how it looked just out of oven.

11. Serve hot with plain rice.

Tres Leches cake - Best cake for my best half.

It was my wife's 20th birthday last week. Yes you read it right. Twentieth birthday. Well that's her age as far as I know! Anyways moot point. 
So I know lately she is quite in love with Tres Leches cake. She had it on different occasions and every time she had it I noted her expression going way louder than the Cadbury girl in that old add or Madhuri Dixit giving an expression after having Maggi oat noodles. No this time its not a moot point. So I thought to bring home a Tres Leches for the birthday girl. Safeway was the only option on my mind as theirs is one of the best. But then I thought why not try my hand on it. It was really been a while I had baked a cake especially since my wife had taken over baking. She bakes awesome and it was hard to bake for a person who herself is so good at it. But it was worth the try. She loved it and gave me a 5 star for my performance. The hard work paid off completely. And then seeing her so happy I asked her again, how old she turned on that birthday and the reply I got was, 20!


Well anyways, here is how I have prepared it:

Ingredients

For the Cake:

• All purpose flour(maida)        – 1 and ½ cup
• Baking powder                      – 1 teaspoon
• Butter(at room temperature) - ½ cup
• Sugar                                    – 1 cup
• Vanilla extract                      – 1 teaspoon
• Eggs                                      – 4
• Whole milk                            - ½ cup

For the glaze:

• Whole milk                         – 2 cups
• Sweetened condensed milk - 1 can(14 ounce)
• Evaporated milk                 - 1 can (12 ounce)

For the topping:

• Heavy whipping cream      – 1 and ½ cups
• Sugar                                - 1 cup
• Vanilla extract                  – 1 teaspoon

Preparation:

1.   Preheat oven at 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a baking pan (I used one with 9" diameter X 2" height ).

2.   Mix all purpose flour and baking powder.

3.   In a big mixing vessel add the butter and sugar and beat using an electric beater until the mixture becomes fluffy.

4.   Now add eggs one at a time and blending well after every addition.

5.   Add the vanilla extract and milk and beat well.

6.   Add the flour mixture in 3 batches and beat until well blended.

7.   Pour batter in the baking pan and spread evenly.

8.   Bake at 350 degrees F for 35 minutes. Remove the cake and place it on a plate with few inches of sides. Allow it to cool.

9.   Pierce the top of the cake all over using a fork.

10. Mix together whole milk, condensed milk and evaporated milk. Pour the mixture over the cake slowly from all over. Refrigerate the cake overnight. This is how my cake looked the next day.

11. We are just one step away from the final devourable cake. Now we need to do the topping. Add the whip cream, sugar and vanilla extract using an electric beater and beat until soft peaks formed. 

12. Spread the topping evenly over the cake and on sides. Decorate the way you want to. Refrigerate till chilled. This is how I decorated first. And then again made bit changes to present the final product.

Note: In Spanish Tres means three and Leches means milk. This cake contains three types of milks, whole milk, condensed milk and evaporated milk and hence the name.