Vegan Coconut Custard Fruit Pudding

Vegan Coconut Custard Fruit Pudding
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups Coconut Milk
1/4 cup Sugar Or more as per the taste
3 tbsp Corn Starch or Sago Starch
1 tbsp Veg Gelatine
1 tsp Coconut essence
1 Banana chopped
2 tbsp Pomegranate Or 1/4 cup Water Melon scoops
1/4 cup Papaya chopped
P. S. Use cookie cutters to cut the fruits in different shapes...
Any fruits can be used
Instead of coconut milk,  soya or almond milk can be used with vanilla essences....
Method
Take a small pot. Add the sugar and 2 cups coconut milk. Let it boil and then simmer it on low flame for 3 minutes till the sugar has dissolved.  Take corn starch in a mixing bowl, add 1/4 cup coconut milk and mix it. Add the corn starch to the coconut milk. Keep stirring the milk as it will quickly thicken up. Take it off the flame. Take a bowl, heat 1/4 cup coconut milk, sprinkle the  gelatine and mix it till it dissolves. Add it to the coconut milk and stir it for few seconds. Take a mould. Add the fruits at the base of the mould. Pour the coconut custard and fill 1/2 the mould. Add some more fruits and fill up rest of the mould with custard. Keep it in the fridge for 6 to 8 hours till it sets. Have it chilled.

Veg Schezwan Fried Rice and Soya Chunks Manchurian

Veg Schezwan Fried Rice and Soya Chunks Manchurian 

Veg Schezwan Fried Rice
Ingredients
3 cups Rice (80 % Boiled)
1 cup Vegetables cut in to small cubes ( Carrot, Beans and Capsicum)
1 Onion finely chopped
1/4 cup Spring Onion chopped
4 Garlic cloves Minced
2 Dry Red Chillies Cut into big pieces
4 tbsp Schezwan Sauce
1 tbsp Soya sauce
1/2 tbsp Vinegar
Salt to taste
2 tbsp Oil
Take a wok, add oil. Heat it till the smoking point. Add the garlic, onion, red chillies and capsicum. Sauté it for 2 minutes. Add the vegetables. Sauté it for 2 minutes more. Add vinegar, soya sauce, salt and Schezwan sauce. Stir it, add 1/4 cup water. Let it boil. Add the rice, keep on stirring for 2 to 3 minutes till the sauce and the rice had incorporated well. Serve it hot....

Shezwan sauce
Ingredients:
10-12 Red chillies
10-15 medium sized Garlic pods
3 tbsp finely chopped Garlic
1 tbsp finely chopped Ginger
1 tbsp finely chopped Celery
3tbsp Tomato Sauce
1 tsp Soya Sauce
1 tbsp Vinegar
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp Pepper powder
Salt to taste
2-3 tbsp Oil

Method:

Cut and soak the  red chillies in warm water for an hour. Grind the soaked red chillies and  garlic pods together to a fine paste. Heat the oil in a pan and add finely chopped garlic and sauté it nicely for a minute. Add finely chopped ginger and celery and saute it for some time.
Add tomato sauce, ground red chilli and garlic paste and cook it well  till the oil leaves it's   edges. Add vinegar, soya sauce, sugar, pepper powder and salt and mix nicely and let it simmer for another 2-3 minutes on a slow flame. Cool the sauce and store it in an air tight container in refrigerator. You can easily keep it for a week or 2.

Soya Chunk Manchurian
Ingredients
1 cup Soya Chunks boiled and water removed
1 Capsicum cut into big cubes
1 Onion cut into cubes
4 Green chillies slit
2 tbsp Garlic Minced 

1 tsp Ginger Minced 
Salt to taste
1 tbsp Vinegar
2 tbsp Soya sauce
2 tbsp Corn Starch
2 tbsp Oil

Method
Take a pan, add 1 tbsp oil. Heat it. Add the soya chucks and sauté till light brown in colour. Keep it aside. Add the remaining oil. Heat it. Add the Garlic and Ginger, sauté it for 2 minutes. Add the capsicum and onion. Sauté it for 2 minutes. Add the soya sauce, vinegar, salt and 1 cup water. Let it simmer for a minute. Add the soya chunks and green chillies. Cook for 2 minutes. Take a bowl, add corn starch and 2 tbsp water. Mix it. Add it to the gravy. On a full flame let it boil till the gravy thickens a bit. Serve it hot.

Egg Benedict

Had to make this, as I had eaten this at Taj Mahal Tea House and my taste buds were becoming greedy and asking for more....

Egg Benedict
For the Poach
Ingredients
6 Eggs
1 tsp  Vinegar

Method
Take a pan. Add water and fill up 1/2 the pan. Add the vinegar. Let the water boil. Now lower the flame and let the water simmer. Crack an egg and gently put it in the pan. Once the egg solidifies then slip the next egg into the water till all the eggs are add in the water. Switch off the gas and let it settle for 2 minutes. Take the eggs out and keep the eggs in a bowl of cold water.

To make Simple Blend Hollandaise
Ingredients
3 Egg Yolk
8 tbsp Butter
1/2 tsp Lime juice
1/4 tsp Sugar
2 pinch of white Pepper powder
Dash of Tabasco sauce

Method
Melt the butter. Put the egg yolks, lime juice, salt, pepper, sugar and tabasco sauce in a blender, blend on medium high speed until eggs are light in color. Now blend on low speed and slowly add butter while blending. When the sauce begins to thicken, keep it aside.

Egg Benedict
Ingredients
6 Poached Eggs
6 English Muffins toasted with butter
Hollandaise
2 tsp Parsley finely chopped

Method
To assemble the eggs benedict, In a plate put 2 pieces of the English Muffins. Put 2 poached egg on top of the muffins. Pour some hollandaise over the poached Eggs. Sprinkle some parsley over it and serve.

Savoury French Toast with Corn and Spinach topping...

Savoury French Toast with Corn and Spinach topping...

For the Topping
Ingredients
1 cups Spinach finely chopped
1/2  cup Corn boiled
1 tbsp Garlic Minced
1/4tbsp Chilli flakes
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp Olive oil

Method
Take a  wok, add oil, heat the oil. Add garlic, sauté it for few seconds.. Add the corn, spinach, salt and chilli flakes. Cook the spinach till all the water dries up. Cool the spinach. Coarsely grind the spinach...

For the French Toast
Ingredients
6 pieces of White bread cut into halves
4 Eggs
2 tbsp Milk
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp Pepper powder
2 tbsp Olive Oil

Method
Mix the eggs, milk, salt and pepper in bowl and beat it. Take non stick pan. Add 1 tbsp oil. Spread the oil on the pan and heat it. Dip the bread pieces in the egg. Fry the bread pieces coated with egg in the fry pan till light golden in colour. Add the remaining oil... Repeat the process with the rest of the bread pieces...

Take a plate. Put 2 pieces of bread on the plate. Add a spoon full of spinach corn topping  on the bread... Serve with spicy coriander chutney.

Taj Mahal Tea House Bandra

#Su's Food Venture..

Taj Mahal Tea House.... A perfect place to spend your lazy Sundays and Holidays ....

Few of the old bungalows in Bandra has been converted in to cafes and restaurants.. One of them which has opened up recently this month on St. John Baptist road is Taj Mahal Tea house... The place is huge around 3,500 square feet and the ambience is very cosy.. ideal for a lazy Sunday break fast or a brunch. You can visit the place with your family, friends or single... 

The interiors has a look of a charming old colonial house of a Maharaja..... with wooden celing and flooring.... Some portion of the walls are designed with Antique marbled tiles and antique furnitures kept all around the place. The place has a reading corner and WiFi connection.. and a cosy ambience to work, read and spend hours together without any one disturbing your privacy. You can comfort yourself in any corner as the area has been divided into many several small sections....

The Indian classical music follows with the ambience of the place and few musical instruments have been displayed. One of the instrument which has been displayed is the tabla used by Ustad Zakir Hussain as he is the brand ambassador of Taj Mahal Tea. Few of his pictures holds the pride position on the walls.

There is a take away sales counter from where you can buy tea and bread. 

   One of the menu card says all about different types of tea which is being served there like Saffron, Mint and Curry leaf iced tea,  Organic and Green tea, Chai smoothies and Chai lattes and a  filter coffee too. I loved there chilled Kashmiri saffron Chai latte... but a bit of sweetness could have been added in the latte, but no worries, I added  sugar to my taste. 

The other menu card says all about  food being served there right from breakfast, lunch, nibbles, high tea, sandwich, soups, salads, dinner and desserts.
Food is excellent and worth the price as a boutique restaurant,  although one of the item which I had there Homemade savoury waffle, sandwiched between Mediterranean vegetables, I felt was a bit overly priced as to the portion served.  

A  must have dish was Arabic fritter chaat with tamarind tulsi chutney... we ordered for a second plate. 

House made egg benedict and was another dish worth the try.  Rest of the dishes we had there and was also good was Belgian waffles with choice of apple compote, home made jam, chocolate, caramel sauce, honey or whipped cream, Parsi brun maska with homemade jam, Paneer and spearmint samosa with plum and kokam chutney,  Triple deck egg sandwich and Dhokla millefeuilles with asparagus, portobello mushroom and chickpeas ragout.

The people in the Tea House was very friendly and the service was very prompt. 

Wah Taj!!