Vanilla Icecream with Apricots and Spinning Citrus

Spinning Orange is my click for Jugalbandi's

"Citrus" Click event.

Now to today's recipe:

This is in connection to the Bloggers Meet we have every month. I got "Dried Apricots" from Sowmya as my Secret Ingredient for the Kitchen Connect event. She gave me yummy Chocolate cookies too:)

To be frank, I dont like apricots because of its smell. So thought a lot, what to prepare for the event. Finally I had it with icecreams ..... I cannot say NO to it ;)

I followed Srilekha's Vanilla Icecream recipe, with minor changes.

Given below my recipe:

Ingredients:
Milk - 1 cup
Full cream milk - 1 cup
Cream - 1 cup
Sugar - 1-2 cups or as required
Vanilla Essence - 2 tsp

Method:
Boil milk and full cream milk with sugar and allow it cool completely.

Add cream, vanilla essence to it and blend them nicely.

Freeze them for 8 hours. Blend it in intervals of 1-2 hours.

For a smooth texture, you can add stabilizers available in the market. I didn't add any but blended it nicely so that it is foamy.


Cooking time - 8 hours
Serves 3-4 persons


Serve with processed apricots as below:


Ingredients:
Dried Apricots - 8-10
Sugar - 3 tablespoons
Rose essence - 1 teaspoon

Method:
Microwave all contents with 1/2 cup of water for 10-15 minutes.

Allow them to cool and have it with icecreams.


Cooking time - 15 minutes
Serves 2-3 persons


I have been tagged by my friends and got some awards too. I would be adding them to my post next week.

Baby Pumpkin Kootu(Curry)

Bought these baby pumpkins, since I liked its shape and colour ;)
But Kootu was also very tasty. Try this!

Ingredients:
Baby Pumpkin - 2
Mung bean (Green Gram/Pacha paruppu) - 1/2 cup
Lentils (Tur dal) - 2 tablespoons
Split chickpeas (Kadalai paruppu/Chana dal) - 2 tablespoons
Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Red chilli - 2
Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon
Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
Black gram (Uzhundhu) - 1 teaspoon
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Curry leaves - few
Coriander leaves - few
Onion - 1 medium sized, chopped
Salt to taste
Oil - 1 tablespoon

Method:
Cut Baby pumpkin into small pieces. Peel off the skin and discard the seeds.

Wash mung bean, lentils, split chickpeas, add 2-3 cups of water, turmeric powder and cook they are 3/4th cooked.

Add cut pumpkin pieces and add until all are cooked well. Mash slightly and keep aside.

Grind coconut, cumin seeds with little water to a thick paste.

Heat oil in a pan. Once it is hot, allow mustard seeds to splitter. Add urad dal, red chillies, curry leaves and fry for a minute.

Then add chopped onions and fry until onions become golden color. Add cooked veggie and dal mixture, salt to it with coconut paste.

Mix it well and bring to a boil. Garnish with Coriander leaves.

Serve hot with rice and pappad. Very tasty one ;)


Cooking time : 45 minutes
Serves 4 persons.

Check out Winter melon kootu, which I posted earlier, with minor change in the recipe.

3 days left for the Rakhi Event in my other blog. Send your entries, if you have not done. Check out for the round-up on Sep 1st.

Pasta with Tomato sauce

First time I cooked Zucchini, with pasta. It was good, but was tasting like cucumber for me ;)


Ingredients:
Pasta - 1 cup (I used elbows)
Zucchini - 1/4 cup (cut into small cubes)
Onion - 1, chopped
Garlic - 2-3 cloves, finely chopped
Butter - 1 tablespoon
Basil leaves - 1/4 teaspoon (I used dry ones)
Olive oil or any cooking oil - 1 tablespoon
Salt to taste

For Tomato sauce:
Tomatoes - 2, medium sized ripe ones
Pepper powder - 1 teaspoon
Garlic - 1 clove, finely chopped
Olive or any cooking oil - 1 tablespoon
Onions - 1, small chopped
Carrots - 1/4 cup, cut into small cubes
Chilli flakes - 1 teaspoon or as spicy required
Parsley - few, chopped
Salt to taste

Method:

Tomato sauce:
Immerse tomatoes in hot boiling water for 5-10 minutes. Peel off skin and deseed it. Chop the flesh and keep aside.

Heat oil in a pan. Add chopped garlic, onions, carrots and saute for 5-10 mintues.

Add chilli flakes, pepper powder, parsley, tomatoes and saute them well, until tomatoes are cooked nicely.

If it is too thick, add little water. Add salt to taste and bring it to a boil.


Pasta:
Boil 3-4 cups of water. Add few drops of oil in it.

Once it starts boiling, add pasta to it and cook for 5 mintues, stirring carefully.

Allow it to stand for 15-20 minutes. Once it becomes soft, drain hot water, put them in a sieve and run through cold water. Drain completely.

Heat oil and butter in a big pan. Add chopped garlic, onions, zucchini and toss them until all vegetables are cooked.

Add Pasta, salt and toss them slowly. Add more olive oil if needed.

Once it is cooked, add to the serving dish. Serve hot with tomato sauce, garnished with basil leaves.

Tasty pasta with tomato sauce is ready to eat.


Cooking time - 30-40 minutes
Serves 2 persons