Bon Vivant #10 - Continuing Festive Feasts & Announcement

This month I was thinking about the event and I realized, it should be festivities continued. Holidays galore in December month, bringing floods of invites, parties and festive food. So I decided to continue with November month's theme of Festive foods. I would love to see what you would bring to the Holiday table.

For the coming year I want to start a new concept with Bon Vivant. From January of 2013 on wards  I will be choosing my favorite recipe for the month to feature. Here are some of the guidelines I will be following.
- It will be titled "Favorite Bon Vivant of the Month"
- I will choose a recipe from all the entries to Bon Vivant in the previous month (in this case, it will be Nov-Dec of 2012 Bon Vivant).
- I will inform the owner of the recipe before-hand about the selection, so if you have any apprehension you can let me know and I will pick another one to feature. Also I will wait for two days for reply, just so that I don't wait too long to choose another one. 
- I will try that recipe in the next month, take pictures, but link for recipe will be given to the original recipe of yours. So I will feature you, your blog and your recipe on my blog. 

A humble note: I am featuring one recipe a month, that does not mean that other participants weren't good enough. It's just that I liked the recipe and wanted to try it immediately. Solely based on my instincts and discretion.

Now coming to Rules for the Bon Vivant event :

~ Multiple entries are allowed. Usage of the logo is a must.
~ Linking back to this announcement page is mandatory to get the word out. I have noticed many of them are not back linked. I will have to promptly remove them if not linked back after one notice.
~ Vegetarian and non-vegetarian recipes are allowed. No pork or beef ingredients please.
~ Blog post should be in month of November or December.
~ Two old posts are allowed, if re-posted again in November or December.
~ Please link up your post using the linkz below. In case of any problem linking please send me an email with your name, recipe name, recipe click and url to sumeesculinary@gmail.com
~ Non-bloggers can email the recipe along with a picture of the dish to the above email address.

Please link all your entries below

Halloween Sugar Cookies

A big shout out to my sister and bhavaji on their 20th anniversary! Can't believe it's been so many years. Their's being the first marriage in our house, I have so many fond memories of their special day. Not only special day, but all the moments leading up to this day after their engagement. May you both have many many many more years of happiness and love together! Happy Anniversary you two. XO

I made these simple sugar cookies for Halloween.. Kids wanted to bake cookies, so I let them do what they wanted. From mixing the dough to cutting and decorating. They loved the whole process. And wanted more cookies than their fair share. I actually don't mind them eating these cookies, since I know exactly what all went in there, rather than the ones from store.

Prep Time: 15 min | Baking Time : 10 to 15 min per batch | Makes : About 24

Bats, ghost, broom, spider-web, pine tree and pumpkins

Ingredients:

Multi-grain Flour/ All Purpose flour - 1 1/2 Cups
Salt - 1/4 tsp.
Baking Soda - 1/2 tsp.
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Unsalted butter - 1/2 cup
Egg - 1
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp.
Lemon Extract - 1 tsp.
Sprinkles - As needed.

Method of preparation:

~ Preheat the oven to 350 deg Fahrenheit.
~ Mix and sieve salt and baking soda with flour. 
~ In another bigger bowl beat butter and sugar until smooth.
~ Add egg and vanilla, lemon extracts. 
~ Cover the dough in a plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator for half an hour. 
~ Take and form it into log and cut them into discs. Sprinkle the top.
~ Alternatively, roll them out and cut into desired shapes using cookie cutters. We had some fun Halloween cookie cutters. And kids had blast choosing what they wanted. 
~ Then bake them for 10 to 14 minutes. 


Sending these to,
Bon Vivant #10 - Festive Feasts @Sumee's Culinary Bites.

I love baking @Tickling Palates
Bake Fest #13 @Anu'z Healthy Kitchen
Spotlight - Healthy Baking @Recipe Junction

Rasmalai - Quick Version

Happy and Prosperous Diwali everyone! May this Diwali bring you New Joy, Hope and Dreams.. Hope everyone is having scrumptious feast on this festive day! We are going to have Bisibele Bhaat, Raita, my kids favorite Matar Paneer for dinner. 

I made Rasmalai for offering as Prasad to Goddess of Lakshmi. Ras means syrup and Malai means Milk Cream. It turned out really good. Rasmalai is one of my favorite bengali sweets, mostly because it is never too much sweet. And would get mataki rasmalai from KC Das coming back from work.. They were so divine. 

My version here is what I have heard from lot of my friends who do this and I adapted from it to come up with my fastest version of Rasmalai. So when you want a quick fix on Rasmalai, try this recipe and you would be impressed with yourself.

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cooking Time: 10 minutes 

Ingredients:

Rasgulla - 1 Can

Whole Milk - 1 1/2 cup

MTR Badam Milk Powder - 2 tbsp.

Method of Preparation:

~ Drain the Rasgulla's out of the syrup and put it in a bowl filled with water. Let it soak in the water at least for 15 minutes to half an hour. Idea is to take out the over sweetness from the Rasgulla's. More time the better.
~ Boil the milk in a wide pan with badam milk powder. After about 10 minutes, switch of the heat. You can get a head start by using hot milk initially or heating milk in microwave for about 2 minutes.
~ Gently squeeze out the water from each Rasgulla and add it to the boiled milk. Let it all cool and then cover and refrigerate. You can top with nuts and serve it cold.

Happy Diwali once again and sending this yummy rasmalai to following events.


Bon Vivant #10 - Festive Feasts @Sumee's Culinary Bites.

Lets Cook #21 - Potluck @Tickling Palates
Diwali Bash @CooksJoy
Jagruti's Celebrate Navratri & Diwali hosted @Simply.Food
Diwali Event @Anu'z Healthy Kitchen

Doodh Peda/ Khoya Peda

Since everyone has been busy with Diwali preparations, I thought I will let you guys on one of the quickest sweets recipe. Yeah, that's doodh peda, or Milk Peda's. Faster way is to use the readily available fresh Khoya. I have listed the basic ingredients below. But you can make lot of variations to this. Especially with decorating. You can place a piece of dry fruit like almond sliver, cashew/ pistachio. Also you can add any flavors like mango or strawberry or rose essence.

Prep Time: 5 min | Cooking Time: 10 min | Makes : About 25 to 30 pedas

Ingredients:

Khoya / Mawa - 2 cup, grated
Ghee - 2 tsp.
Sugar - 1/2 Cup
Saffron strands soaked in 1 tbsp. of milk (optional)
Cardamom Powder - 1 pinch (optional)

Method of Preparation:

~ Heat a thick bottomed pan and add ghee. 
~ Add grated khoya in it and on a low flame keep stirring until the mixture comes together.
~ Now add the sugar and saffron, give it a stir and switch off. 
~ When it's still hot and you can handle the mix with hands smeared with ghee, pull out small balls of peda, shape them into ball, then gently press the middle to make a thumb impression. 
~ Decorate them with desired dry fruit. 



Sending this to following events,
Bon Vivant #10 - Festive Feasts @Sumee's Culinary Bites.

Lets Cook #21 - Potluck @Tickling Palates
Diwali Bash @CooksJoy
Jagruti's Celebrate Navratri & Diwali hosted @Simply.Food
Diwali Event @Anu'z Healthy Kitchen

Roundup #9 - Simply Sides

Another great roundup with great recipe collection. Thanks to all those who participated. I have to admit I haven't been regular in visiting all the participants, but I promise to do better in coming months. There were several changes in my little part of the world that I couldn't spend as much time as I would like to on visiting blogs. Please take time to go through the recipes below and try them out. And join in for the "Festive Feasts" Bonvivant going on right now.

Quinoa Vegetable Pulav

Quinoa grain is high in protein content and also has a good source of phosphorous, calcium and iron. It is very useful especially for Vegetarians and Vegans who are lactose intolerant. It's pronounced as 'Kinwah' and is now readily available in many stores. I remember when I initially looked for it, had to check around two or three places before I could find it. Below recipe is a simple and quick one pot meal idea. This can be served as breakfast or used instead of rice Pulav/ Pilaf for main course. During days leading to Diwali it's hard to find time to prepare full-fledged meal. Quinoa Pulav comes handy during these times.

Prep Time - 5 min | Cooking Time: About 15 to 20 min| Serves : 4

Ingredients:

Quinoa - 1 Cup
Vegetable Broth/ Water - 2 Cup
Salt - 1 tsp.
Frozen Soy/ Edamame - 1/2 Cup
Frozen Corn - 1/2 Cup
Bell Pepper chopped - 1 cup
Fresh Basil Leaves - 4 leaves chopped fine

Method of Preparation:

~ Place Quinoa in a microwave safe bowl. Gently wash the grain with cold water couple of times. Drain the water.
~ Now add the vegetable broth, salt and all the vegetables.
~ Microwave in batches of 5 minutes twice and mix.
~ Then start microwaving in sets of 2 or 3 minutes depending upon the amount of water in the pulav.
~ Once all the liquid is dried up, add chopped basil and let it stand covered for a minute or so.
~ Fluff it with fork and serve it up with your favorite raita or pickle.

Note:
1. This is a microwave version, but you want to do the same on stovetop. Just continue to boil until all the liquid is dried up. Cover and let it sit for few minutes until fluffy.
2. For quicker version I used frozen vegetables which get cooked during microwaving of quinoa. You can separately saute the vegetables in a pan and add it to the cooked Quinoa. In this case Quinoa cooks within 10 minutes in microwave.

Sending this to following events,
Bon Vivant #10 - Festive Feasts happening at my space @Sumee's Culinary Bites.

Lets Cook #21 - Potluck @Tickling Palates
Jagruti's Celebrate Navratri & Diwali hosted @Simply.Food

Bon Vivant #10 - Festive Feast

October was one hectic month at our household. Hope everyone had a good Dushera festival and Eid. With upcoming Diwali, I thought it would be nice to celebrate it on my blog. So all month long it will be festive feast @Sumee's Culinary Bites. Whatever you cook/ bake or put together for the festivity can be linked up below. Have a blast all month long. Happy festivites!!

Rules for the event :

~ Multiple entries are allowed. Usage of the logo is a must.
~ Linking back to this announcement page is mandatory to get the word out.
~ Vegetarian and non-vegetarian recipes are allowed. No pork or beef ingredients please.
~ Blog post should be in month of November.
~ Two old posts are allowed, if re-posted again in November.
~ Please link up your post using the linkz below. In case of any problem linking please send me an email with your name, recipe name, recipe click and url to sumeesculinary@gmail.com
~ Non-bloggers can email the recipe along with a picture of the dish to the above email address.

Please link all your entries below