Raspberry Tart with Chocolate and walnuts

            After my strawberrymania it's time for raspberries. Unlike strawberries my hubby doesn't show much interest in raspberries. I have to pile it up for jam making if i fail to make any interesting desserts. Using up fresh raspberries in the form of tart is much simpler if the tart case is ready.

 Ingredients:
 Raspberries - a punnet
Milk Chocolate - Half a bar
Sponge Tart case - 1
Walnuts - 1 cup

 Pre-Requisites:
Wash and hull the rsapberries.Grind the walnuts into a fine powder

Preparation Method:

Melt the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl for 1 and a half minutes. Mix the powdered walnuts with the melted chocolate and make it into a smooth paste. Apply this paste to form a layer on the tart case. Alternatively you can use use coacoa powder and caster sugar.

If you like the crunchy bits of walnut , you can pulse it and break the nuts coarsely. Top it up with fresh raspberries to form the top layer.

The chocolate layer can also be topped up with raspberry puree followed by the fresh fruit layer.

As i'm a chocolate lover i've added only the chocolate and nuts.Refrigerate for 1 hour , slice and serve.

Celebrating 5 years of blogging with Semia Payasam( Vermicelli Pudding)!

                 Techie Cookie Freaky turns 5 today and i would like to thank my friends and family who inspires me to keep blogging. Initially i started off this blog as my online dairy to keep track of my dishes, when my friends or relatives ask for any recipe i used my blog as a medium to share the recipes with them. After being aware of some copycats i had to make my blog private so that only my friends and family can access it.Recently i decided to make my blog public with a copyright protection. As my blog is all about Technology and cooking i would like to write this post with a dessert recipe and a technology tip.

Technology Tip - Understanding Google's spam Inbox

                  Bloggers must have noticed google's spam inbox. Let me explain how it functions and how to deal with blog comments. I have noticed in many food blogs comments such as yummy! droolworthy! delicious! nice recipe etc.....With my understanding google detects these comments as spam and automatically sends it to the spam inbox. It might be upsetting for you to see your blogger friends comments going into a spam inbox. Google's spam detection is technically a function to help bloggers to avoid any spam messages. It functions in such a way if the number of words on the comments are too less it detects it as spam. If we have really read through the recipe and appreciated, we do leave a comment with some details , don't we?

Semia Payasam/Vermicelli Pudding -Recipe

    Payasam is a south Indian pudding traditionally made with milk and rice/lentils/semolina/vermicelli.

Ingredients:

   Roasted Vermicelli - 50 gms
   Ghee - 3 tsps or  Butter- a small chunk
   Whole Milk - 1 pint
   Raisins - 1/4 cup
   Cashews - a dozen
   Cardamom - a few
   Sugar - 3/4 cup
   Raspberries - a few(optional)

Cooking method:

    Boil the milk in a saucepan in a medium heat until it foams up. Reduce the heat and start cooking in sim by adding the vermicilli and cardamom . Cardamom can also be added in the powdered form for a better flavour. Stir occasionally until the vermicilli is cooked thouroughly.Add the sugar at this point and stir until it dissolves. Heat up a small chunk of butter or 3 tsps of ghee and roast the raisins and cashewnuts .Add it to the pudding,mix well with a spatula,wait for the vermicilli to absorb the milk. Top it up with raspberries . Best Served Chilled !

Here's a virtual treat for all my loved ones and my readers

Sending this entry to FSF Summer - August Challenge  'Summer Puds'
Four Seasons Food hosted by Delicieux and Chezfoti

Almondy strawberry and cream frozen dessert

    For making strawberry trifle i used only 150 ml of extra thick double cream and  there was half a pot left. As i prefer to use only big berries for jam, there were some tiny strawberries left after making jam. Experimented by combining these with almonds and it turned out to be an ideal summer dessert.

Ingredients:

Strawberries - a dozen ( i used the tiny homegrown ones left out after making jam)
Extra thick double cream - 150 ml
Almonds - 1/2 cup
Caster sugar - 6 tsps

Pre-requisites:

    Grind the almonds to a fine powder by reserving a few whole almonds for the topping. Wash and hull the strawberries.

Preparation Method:

Fill the powdered almonds in a cake tin by forming the first layer.No need to mix the almond powder with butter as almonds has a buttery texture. Whip the cream with caster sugar and mix it with strawberries by forming the next layer. I didn't slice the strawberries but if you buy the big berries from shops slicing the berries will help. Decorate with whole almonds and set to freeze for atleast 4 hours. Remove carefully from the cake tin after freezing. 

 Make slices and serve!

Strawberry Trifle

Picking the strawberries from my garden is a back-breaking work . I was too tired to make any preservations and happily packed away these berries to my friends and neighbours.

As soon as i handed some of  these berries to my neighbour , he said wow! i'll have it with some cream. That reminded me to make a strawberry recipe with cream.

Ingredients:
Extra thick double cream - 150 ml
Honey-soaked strawberries - 1/4 of a bowl
Chocolate swiss roll  - 4 slices
Fresh strawberries  for decoration - 8 (optional)

Yesterday i soaked some strawberries in honey and  i've used it instead  of jelly to form the first layer . Form the second layer with with swiss roll and scoop up the extra thick double cream to form the third layer.Decorate with a fresh strawberry on top for each serving. I haven't whipped the cream with caster sugar as there enough sweetness in the honey soaked strawberries.You can do it according to your preference.

I kept away from using cream because of the calories involved. Everyone deserves occasional treats and this trifle made with extra thick double cream is one such treat!

Fruit Custard

Making fruit custard is one easy way of reaching my 5-a-day target. Fruits are instant energisers and love to include them everyday in some form or the other. This recipe has been requested by my friends several times but i miss out taking snapahots every time . I made this for 'Oliver's Picnic' recently.


You can use any fruits of your choice but try to avoid citrus fruits as it doesn't go well with custard.

Ingredients:
Apricots - 2
Plums- 2
Blush Pears -2
Pink Lady Apples - 2
Kiwi - 2
Instant Custard Powder - 1 pack
whole Milk - 3/4 of a pint
Sugar - 1/4 cup (optional)

Preparation Method:
   In a wide bowl,  mix the instant custard powder with  3/4 pint of whole milk with hand thoroughly without lumps and clots.

 Start cooking a medium flame for 5 minutes and stir occasionally.Bubbles starts coming up at this stage

Stir continously for another 3 minutes. Add sugar and stir for a couple of minutes and switch off the stove .Cool it down.Once the custard is cooled down .Chop the fruits and add the fruit slices to the custard.

Mix the custard and the fruits well and refrigirate it for atleast 10 minutes. Best served Chilled!