Sun dried raisins DIY

Last year as summer project to beat the summer hear I made Gulkand .. Gulkhand is rose petal jam and you can find the recipe here! This year I thought of making raisins !!

It so happened that Avaneesh likes to eat raisins and one day he asked where does it come from? I said" It is dried grape which is made by drying it in the sun. Anyone make it . You only need really hot sunlight."  To which he replied then lets make it!! 

I thought what a  brilliant idea!! Lets try doing it.

Sun dried raisins are easy to make. All you need is grapes and a place where you get direct sunlight. Hot and dry weather is the best. You can leave it out day and night if the weather doesnot have any moisture in the morning. In that case bring it inside at night. 

Start by washing the grapes. Dry them on a tissue paper. Keep them in a sieve in a place where you can direct sunlight for most part of the day. 

Check the grapes everyday. Shake them a bit everyday to dry them evenly from all sides. Grapes first get darker and wrinkled. Over the days they became smaller and dried. After a week they are completely dried. The drying time also depends on how hot the weather is. 

They taste awesome and my sunny boy loves it!! 

Linking to Niftytrify sunday, Inspirational Monday, Motivate me Monday, Munching Monday, Sunday Showcase, Busy Monday, Mix it up, BNOP, Country Cottage, Artsy Corner!!

On my table

I am not a food photographer but these luscious, delicious, juicy, sweet cherries where screaming to be photographed. I thought I should take a picture of them before we devoured them!! 

These juicy, yummilicious strawberries ...divine .. just cannot get enough of them!!

Summer is the time for ice cream..Another excuse for digging into the selection of ice creams available in the market. This one was rich, creamy, sweet and tangy mango flavored.

Summer is the perfect time for fresh fruits, ice creams and anything everything that you can make with it!! Enjoy them while they last!!

Images taken by me @ home.

Edible Matchsticks

Edible matchsticks are easy to make.  I made them for my son's fire engine themed birthday party.  These can be made on valentines day,Diwali, siren themed birthday party or just for fun.

 

 

I used pretzel sticks. Put red marzipan on the top. That's it!!  

I saw these on this site. They had made it for valentines day. The recipe is different. They have added a message on the box- Light my fire or you are my perfect match. How apt for valentines!! I will remember for next time:) 

Similarly one can make these on Diwali and on the box can write sparklers or colored matchsticks:) to fool your guests. Just for fun!! 

More posts about my son's fire engine themed birthday party:

Handmade fire truck gift 

Fire Engine party's centerpiece

  Images taken by me@home. Please do not use without permission.

Chocolate Shamrock

Happy Saint Patrick's Day !!!

I made a Shamrock - made with chocolate burfi made with homemade khoya (similar to Ricotta cheese)

And Happy Holi to all those who are celebrating!!

Image taken by me @my home. Subject to copyright.

Baking activity for toddlers

Hello everyone!! Wish you all a very happy New Year!! The last month of 2013 past by really fast. Me and my little one did lots of fun activities together.  He is really crazy about everything related to Christmas. Good for us there were a lot of fun fairs, Christmas markets and Christmas parties here in Dubai. They even had artificial snowfall at fairs and market which I think everyone from old to young enjoyed. One such Christmas market had a workshop for kids to make or/and decorate gingerbread cookies and houses organized by French Bakery. My son is too young for that I thought. He was 22 months in Dec 2013. But since he really loves to watch Maisy bake gingerbread i began to plan in mind a baking fun activity with him. So one morning when he was telling me how to make a gingerbread, I thought he is just ready for baking. 

1) I gave him a steel bowl with 3 eggs in it. He was super happy and roamed all over in admiration.

2) then I let him break the eggs under my supervision. 

3) then he whisked the eggs.. Round and round. I let till he was satisfied. Then dropped the flour and other things in it. Again the mixing went on. Before pouring it in the pan I whisked it again.

3) then he poured it in the pan.. Yes he dropped it here and there. He had fun.

4) then I put it in the oven. I keep him away from oven and stove.

5) he admired his creations after they cooled down. 

6) then we drew designs on it. I held his hand while doing it.

Voila that's it!! It tasted amazing. Out of this world.

After this we have baked 2 more cakes and gingerbread man cookies. He loves the idea of putting things together and then it forms a shape that everyone eats. 

Some tips if you are planning such a activity:

Safety first: Keep all sharp objects away from his reach. Operate oven and blender by myself. 

Planning or not:  Let this activity be impromptu, unplanned when your enthusiasm is at high and the little one is also in the mood to 'create' or 'make ' something. 

Enjoy: Don't stress too much about the mess they would create. 

Role playing: Two  roles I let him play in our baking activities are either 

Assistant: Make him your assistant and tell him to get/ keep things, mix or pour.

Or

Master chef- in-training: Give instructions and help/intervene/ a bit but not too much.

Be a role model: I have learned that Children learn a activity  when they watch their mother/ father doing it and enjoying it. 

Above all not to forget. All children are different and that's the beauty of life.

All images taken by me@ home. Please do not copy without permission.

Summer project: Gulkhand- rose petal jam

This is our first experience of the Middle eastern summer. The summer here with its heat, temperature and humidity makes it so terrible.The mercury rises past 45- 49°C.. (even at night)

But I believe that everything has some advantages and some disadvantages ..So I thought why not turn this weather disadvantage into a advantage.. I think this weather is perfect for making Gulkand- rose petal jam which is made by keeping it in sunlight..Confused? Here it how it is made..

My new motto for the summer project..something on the lines of  when life gives lemonade......

A little background of what we are making here...Rose Gulkand is a  rose petal preserve or rose petal jam. Gul means flower in Persian/ Urdu and qand means sweet in Arabic. It is one of the most delicious Ayurvedic preparations which has been used for centuries.. It has many benefits as it acts as an antioxident, blood purifier, digestive tonic, reduces stress and fatigue and relieves body of the extra heat and stress especially in summer season..

Ingredients:

I have used basic ingredients which are rose petals, sugar and cardamom powder.. You will need an air tight glass jar also..In India people add some more Ayurvedic spices to it..but these are hard to find outside India..

Procedure:

Clean the roses thoroughly under gentle stream of water.
 let them dry for a while.. Make sure that there is no water remaining in the rose petals and also the jar..

Now make layers of rose petals and sugar in the jar one after other..

Close the lid of the jar tightly .. Keep it in a dry place where it will get direct sunlight as much as possible.. The sugar melts in natural sunlight and thus 'cooking' the petals with it..With a spoon mix the jam every other day.. Depending on the heat the GulKhand is ready in 10- 20 days..

Some tips:

-In the first few days when you stir the ingredients in the jar you will know if you need more sugar .. add more in the early stages only.

-The jam will be considerably reduced by the time it is done.

- Different types of roses have different flavor..

-Cutting the petals in small makes it easier to form the jam ..

Images: @ my home and subject to copyright!!

Taste of Morocco

Before you think that this post has anything  to do with the breathtakingly beautiful interiors of Morocco let me tell you, my friends , today's post is not written by my heart but my stomach.:)

After drooling, pininteresting, making imaginary plans to visit the place and dreaming  over the pictures of  Morocco..I could not resist to sample out the gourmet menu at the " Taste of Morocco" festival at Galeries Lafayette, Dubai. 

We were quite excited about the delicacies we were going to experience.. The menu had amazing variety of exotic and classic Moroccan dishes in the menu with varied spice combination..

I had Couscous Tfaya..A delectable dish with braised chicken, saffron, raisins,eggs and caramelized onions served with a sauce.

My husband had Tagine Makfoul..A classic Moroccan dish with savory stewed meat topped with caramelized onions and tomatoes. 

All were cooked and served in Moroccan styled platters- the tajine which made the experience even more exciting..

The dishes were amazingly light, fresh and delicious .. the beautiful blend of spices makes it aromatic and out of this world ..a mixture and blend of sugar and spices...savory..so different and exotic than anything we ever had eaten..

One more reason to plan that trip to Morocco some day:)

All Images: Purnima @ A creative project

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Father day cake

This is our first Father's day. So I made this cake for DH. The cake is chocolate walnut with chocolate frosting.  I baked it in the sunflower cake pan I had posted earlier about here. Then filled it and covered it with chocolate frosting. I used a very simple recipe to make the frosting: 1 cup cocoa powder, 50gms unsalted butter and 2 tbsp milk. 

I used ready made fondant for the cake topper. At first I wanted to make a peacock son and father. Later realized that I don't have so many colors to make the feather. So I thought I will make it some other time and occasion. For this Father's day occasion I thought of elephants would be very cute. So there they are Daddy and Son elephant!!

  After several unsuccessful attempts I was able to get the correct form. My little ones was very curious about what I am doing. So I made him sit on my lap while making the little one. It was really fun...precious moments. We will cut the cake tomorrow for breakfast..

Happy Father's day!! Have fun and a great weekend!!

Joining party at weekend wrapup party, 

made with love, Metamorphosis Monday

How to make baby face cupcakes

So finally I have got enough time to write a tutorial and tips for the baby face cupcakes I made for my baby's introduction party which you saw here!! So here are the steps..

You will need:

Chocolate cupcakes

Butter cream icing

Fondant or marzipan

Round  cookie cutter

Rolling pin and board

Edible black color pen

Food colors. I used blue as mine is a boy.

Spoon, carving knife.

Preparing cupcakes:  
Bake cupcakes. I baked 25 chocolate cupcakes. Let them cool. 

Preparation of the baby face base:
You can use either fondant or marzipan..both can give smooth finish and will not melt in hot weather like in Singapore..I used marzipan..I bought ready made marzipan. It was in natural color. So first I separated 3 parts of natural color for face and 1 part for cap and pacifiers.Put a few drops of blue food color in part for cap and pacifiers and knead the marzipan well for the color to distribute equally. I made 25 equal portions of marzipan.

Preparing the base: 
I soaked the cupcakes with strawberry jam. Then covered them with a thin layer of butter cream icing.

How to make the Baby face: 

1)Roll out one natural colored marzipan. Cut it round with a cookie cutter. Put it on the cupcake and press gently. 

2)Then roll out a blue colored marzipan and cut it in round. Then cut it in half. Press it gently on the top portion of the cupcake. 

3)With a knife make design on the cap base. Make a smaller ball and fix it on the top of the cap.

4)Make a 5 small balls and fix them in the place of eyes,nose and ears.

5) If you have edible pen then with it make dots for eyes. 

6) For lips I used a spoon. 

7) For pacifier I fixed a small blue marzipan ball on a slightly bigger ball and flattened them gently.

It took me something like 3- 3.5  hours to finish 25 cupcakes while my sweet baby slept. He was then 12 weeks and that was the longest he has slept between feeds in the morning. Just after I finished the last one he woke up. I almost felt like he knew what Mommy is doing and didn't want to disturb me;)

 Ok time for some tips: 

1) While kneading the marzipan with the food color if you are not wearing gloves and your hands get colored, the best way to remove food color from hands is by washing hands with shaving cream. It really works!!



2) If you don't have edible color pen then cut the tip of the toothpick and dip the flat tip in blue food color and make dots for eyes.

3) Do not add more than a few drops of food color in the marzipan as it makes it a little bitter.

Gifts for tea lovers!!!

Hello lovely people!!!

How are you guys doing? Did you miss me;) I cannot believe I didn't blog for a week... Sometimes I wonder how time passes by so fast:( hmmm... Anyway..You know what I want right now..I wish this lovely photo will become alive and I can sip the tea through this SugarVeil!!!!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Courtesy: atypicaltypea

Lovely isn't it..Lace Rosettes Doilies.. I did a on demand some time back on gift for tea lovers  see here.. I would like to add these to it as well..These would make a perfect gift for a stylish &/ creative tea lover!!!! These are available on Etsy at sweet dejavu's shop!!! 

 I am completely amazed by incredible process which goes into making these delicate edible laces.. You can see the video on SugarVeil's You tube channel . If you are enthusiastic enough to make one yourselves then Sugarveil has a starter kit as well !!!!!

Hope you all have a wonderful week ahead!!!!!

xo,

P

Chocolate cupcakes

I whipped some chocolate cupcakes yesterday..I had some friends over later so I quickly iced them with vanilla cream frosting. 

Hope you all are having a great week!!!

Indian dessert - Phirni

No meal is complete without a delicious dessert. Even if the main course was bad I think if the dessert is good you will be definitely be forgiven by your guests:)  So when I am having guests I always start by preparing the dessert! Just to keep up with my resolution of eating healthy I am trying to make my dessert as low cal as possible.. So here is one such easy dessert- Phirni.

For this dessert you will need:

Rice  5 tbsp

Saffron a pinch

Milk 1lt

Pistachio nuts 10-15

Sugar 6-8 tsp (increase as per as your taste) 

Green cardamom powder 1/2 tsp

 

Wash and Soak rice in water for half an hour.

                        

   and then grind it coarsely..( either in a mixie or stone mortar)

Bring milk to a boil. Add the grinded rice to it. Stir constantly. Let the rice cook completely.

psst..Did you notice the spoons.. These are the same ones I painted couple of years back..they still look good don't they!! I did a tutorial of How to paint these spoons.. If you haven't seen it yet ..Here is the link!!

       Dissolve saffron in little hot milk.. 

In case you are not using sliced pistachios... blanch pistachio in hot water and remove skin and slice.

While you are doing this keep a eye on the milk..To avoid the milk from spilling over here's a tip. Keep the spoon in the vessel .. like the way shown in the pic above on medium heat !!  
Let the milk reduce at least to the 3/4 th quantity you had initially taken. Add sugar, saffron, cardamom powder and cook till sugar is dissolved.

Garnish with pistachios. Serve chilled.

Joing Patty's Weekend wrapup!!

* This recipe is based on Sanjeev Kapoor's recioe from his book- Khana Khazana.

Hot and Sweet !!

Baked a chocolate cake ... frosted it with cherry & Kirsch cream!!!

A chocolate log cake with coffee and chocolate butter cream frosting.. Snowman with butter cream with marzipan heart hat!!

Golden Christmas tree on a vanilla cupcake!!

Joining the party at Patty for Weekend wrap up!!

Tomato topiary tutorial

A few days back I was watching how edible arrangements.com make their fruit baskets on Food channel . That gave me an idea to attempt making a fruit basket.. My goal is to make a fruit basket like this.. hmmm.. thats lot of work.. My laziness gave me idea :) why not to make a easy tomato topiary instead of the fruit basket!! 

So this what the topiary looked like at the end of the trial.. 

For this you need: 

 Baby tomatoes or cherry tomatoes

A small pot(the orange should just sit on it and not go inside)

Orange ( which is not too ripe or juicy) 

Tooth picks

Start piercing toothpicks into the orange. Fix tomatoes into the tooth pick.





Place the orange on the vase. 





Continue piecing toothpicks in it until the entire orange is covered.




This could be decoration for the table or You can also serve mozzarella cheese sprinkled with basil leaves and the tomato topiary as a starter or appetizer like I do.. See here!!


Linking to Motivate me Monday!!