Vermicelli Pudding aka Sevai Kheer ~ Slow Cooker

I love my child care providers because they care so much about the kids.  The peace of mind I have leaving my children in their care, knowing they love and care about them as much as anyone is priceless. A friend of mine does daycare in her home. She celebrates Eid and fast during Ramadan too. There are two main celebrations of Muslims, Eid-ul-Fiter and Eid-ul-Edha. Eid-ul-Fiter is celebrated at the end of the fasting month Ramadan as a gift from Allah and has a special significance for Muslims. There are special arrangements are done on this occasion, particularly girls get very excited for their Eid arrangements, especially for henna.They are fond of henna even their Eid is considered incomplete without henna. It was fun making henna for her and her daughter..

I can imagine how hard taking care of many kids, fasting whole day and cooking for Iftar while fasting. I have to say she deserves something for all she has done. So, I decided to cook her favorite dishes for Iftar. I made Pav bhaji and Sevai kheer. Sevai Kheer (known in some regions as Vermicelli payasam, Seer kurma, firni etc) is made by boiling vermicelli with milk and sugar; it is flavored with cardamom, raisins, saffron, cashew nuts, pistachios or almonds. It is typically served during a meal or dessert. It is most commonly served during Eid-ul-Fitr, Diwali or as offerings to god.

Thanks again SK providing such a warm, safe, educational, and fun environment for the kids.

My friend and her family loved it so much, hope you will love it too.!!!!!

Ingredients:

• 4 cups whole milk
• 1 cups 2% milk
• 1/4 cup sugar or as per taste
• 1/2 cup vermicelli
• 1 teaspoon ghee
• 2 tablespoons of chopped nuts (raisins, almonds, cashews)
• a pinch of saffron
• 1/8 – 1/4 tsp cardamom powder
• Tutti fruity for garnish

Directions:

1. Roast Vermicelli with ghee in a pan on medium heat till it turns slightly brown. Keep aside.
2. Setup your slow cooker as per the instructions manual.
3. Add milk to the bowl, cover and cook on high for 2 hours.
4. Add sugar, cardamom and vermicelli and fold them in
5. Cook for 1 hour and 30 minutes.
6. Garnish kheer with chopped nuts, tutti fruiti and saffron.
7. Serve hot or cold. If you like chilled then transfer the vermicelli kheer in a serving bowl and place the bowl in the refrigerator until it cool down.

Homemade PLUM Fruit Leather / Fruit roll ups / PLUM PAPAD

I like gifts, especially in the form of produce. I was gifted generous amount of plums by my dear friend ‘V’ who has a beautiful fruits and vegetables garden which I wish to raid one day (hope she is not reading this).

Joke aside, I love home grown vegetables and fruits and vegetable I think they make an ideal gift for people who enjoy cooking, don’t you agree? We had a lunch get-together at her house few weeks ago and I couldn’t wait to make something with those gorgeous plums for her specially for her lovely son. So I made plum fruit roll ups for all the kids. Kids loved it, not only kids mommies loved it too.

Check out step by step recipe below and do comment and let me know how it goes for you!

Ingredients

• Plums about 3 cups pitted halfs
• Agave nectar 3 ½       tbs
• Pitted Dates 12-15
• Mint leaves – ¼ cup
• ¼ tsp Chat masala (optional)
• Pinch of salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Place a sheet of parchment paper in a baking sheet. Place all ingredients in a food processor or a good blender. Pulse until smooth. Heat mixture on medium heat till it boils (this step is optional)

Spread puree mixture over sheet with a spatula or the back of a spoon.  Make sure the mixture is evenly spread over the sheet and not too thick or thin and bake for 15 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 200 degrees F and bake for 2-3 hours, or until fruit leather is dry (cooking times will vary, depending on how thick you spread the mixture, and how much water is in the fruit). Allow to cool completely and let it stand on kitchen platform for 1-2 hours. If you like traditional option (sun dry). You can spread mixture on sheet and keep under the sun for 24-48 hours.

Cut into even portions with kitchen scissors. Roll up and tie with ribbon and Enjoy.

Like Plums, Mangoes are in the season. Do try my Mango fruit leather recipe and write your experience in the comments

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DAD “ROCKS” edible rocks cupcake for Father’s Day !!!!

Any man can be a Father but it takes someone special to be a dad. – Anne Geddes

Happy Father’s Day wishes to my father, my father in law, my husband and every dad in the world!!

Three words come to my mind when I think of my father: sacrifice, commitment and teamwork. He always makes sure we have everything we need. He taught me unconditional love. Thanks Dad, for being the best dad in the world. Love you Papa
On this day I have the perfect treat to spoil my husband ….made by me and my son. Wish my dad and father in law were here.

Copyright Note: I work hard on my recipe ideas, photography and recipe instructions. Please remember that my photographs, recipe, and writings are all copyrighted. Please do take permission before using any contents from this blog.

Now coming to my Recipe… This is very simple yet wonderful recipe. Kids would love to make this. Even my 5 year old son acted to surprise his dad by pitching in to create this desserts.

Ingredients

• Sugar cookie mix (I used Betty Crocker)
• Food color gel – Brown and Black (I used Wilton)
• Brush
• Cupcake (I used vanilla flavor)
• Butter cream icing
• Candle

Directions:

1. Make cookie dough according to the instruction on cookie mix.
2. Bake cookie dough in the shape of rocks (see picture). They do not have to be perfect. Actually the more imperfect they are the better.
3. Color rock cookies using brush with food gel color (similar to real rocks).
4. Let it air dry
5. Frost cupcakes with butter cream (thin layer)
6. Arrange edible rock cookies on the top of cupcake
7. Put candle in the middle and celebrate Father’s day.

If your father or husband have sweet tooth, then I know they will surely enjoy these cupcakes. Enjoy !!!!

The Infinity Dreams Award – Celebration Time

My Infinite Award – Feel so honored.

I would like to thank Manasi for nominating me for “Infinity Dreams Award”. Manasi is not only a great friend, but also an amazing writer, painter, photographer, chef and a wonderful mom. Please visit her blog the hour glass mommy,  I absolutely love every piece of writing she posts, whether that be a beautiful piece of poetry or a serious article.
Manasi wanted me to nominate 7 or more other promising incredible bloggers and share my dreams/desires along with some introduction about myself!

I am a daughter, wife, sister, mom and a foodie. My favorite thing to do is go into the kitchen hungry, open the fridge and start creating. And when my hubby, cooks with me, it’s just icing on the cake 🙂

So according to the challenge, here I am going to share some of my dreams/desires with you. Let’s start:-
1. I would like to see my kids grow and be successful but most importantly happy and content.
2. I would like to continue living in good health and maintain an active schedule.
3. I would like to help people in need as much as possible.
4. I dream and hope for a safer and greener world. So that we and the coming generations can live in harmony.
5. Last but not least I would like to publish my cookbook and start & grow my event planning business.

Okay these were my dreams I’d like to accomplish.And now the ten nominations for the Infinity Awards are:

• The earthen table by Kelley
• Veggiesandme by Megan
• Veggienumnum by Trudy
• Mazedaar by Priyanka Kumbhat
  
• Kanchanaskitchen Kanchana
• Acouplecooks by Sonja and Alex
• Deliciouseveryday by Jennifer
• Lesleyeats by Lesley
• Archanaskitchen by Archana
• Gourmandelle by Ruxandra

Congratulations to the lovely Bloggers for the nomination! I’d like all of you to share more about yourself, your dreams / desires and nominate 7-10 more awesome bloggers!
Share the happiness around.
Cheers
Apurva from Pure Vegetarian Bites

Garlic Spread ~ Lahsun ki Chutney

If you are a garlic lover, this chutney can accompany anything. The Garlic spread aka Lahsun Ki Chutney is a great dish to spice up your platter. This chutney is made mostly in winters as large quantities of garlic in it keep you warm and is generally accompanied with Bajri ki Roti or Makai ki Roti. Sometimes I eat it with plain roti or paratha and that tastes great too. This is very spicy and fiery chutney prepared by grinding garlic with spices. Traditionally, at my grandparents we had this flat stone with a cylindrical pestle to grind the garlic. I have used grinder mixer to grind garlic coarsely.

Ingredients:

• Garlic 10-15 Cloves
• Onion 1 small
• Dry red Chilies 2-3 (depends on how spicy you want)
• Dry mango powder (Anchoor) ½ tsp
• Turmeric a pinch
• Salt to taste
• Oil 1 tsp
• Cumin seeds ¼ tsp
• Mustard seeds ¼ tsp

Directions:

1. Take all above ingredients except Oil, cumin and mustard seeds and blend coarsely with little of water.
2. Heat the pan and add Oil. Add cumin seeds, mustard seeds wait for 1 minutes (seeds spatter) and then Garlic onion paste to the oil and cook for 5-7minutes or till you see oil on the periphery on the pan.
3. Serve with Millet (Bajri ) Flatbread, Maize (Makki ) Flatebread, Roti or Rice.
4. It can stay outside for 2-3 days and weeks in refrigerator.

 Tips: If you like to make this in bulk. You can freeze into one or two serving cubes and enjoy every day.