Kashmir ka Kawah

Our Leh experience introduced us to their special tea; Kawah.

Sitting in the portico of a house boat, watching the beauty of the Dal lake with the backdrop of the Himalayas and sipping Kawah...bliss! The taste is still vivid on my lips just as vivid as the experience of that trip.

We asked Bashir Bhai to share his Kawah recipe. The recipe he did not share, instead, he took us to the Dal lake market and helped us pick a packet of Kashmiri tea leaves and some really good saffron. I religiously drank the tea 2-3 times in a day and different places to figure out the exact taste.

Heres my take on the Kawah -

This is a recipe for 4 cups as its best enjoyed with friends.

All you need -

4 small cups of water [mind you, dont use the fashionable coffee mugs which as extremely famous these days]

3 cardamom pods cracked

2 inch cinnamon stick

2-3 strands of saffron

4-5 teaspoons of sugar

3-4 almonds crushed coarsely with the skin*

Kawah chai patti

On the stove -

Bring to boil water along with cardamom, cinnamon, saffron and sugar. This will give out a sweet aroma.

On another stove, add a few teaspoons of this mixture and add crushed almonds and lets them soften for a minute.

When the water boils, add 4 pinches of the Kwah tea leaves [remember its a ratio of 1 pinch per cup]

Let the tea leaves settle.

The liquid you now have will be slightly golden brown.

Strain it out and add the almond mixture [you don't boil the almond with tea so that you dont lose almonds after straining the tea leaves]

Pour out into mini Kawah tea cups and serve.

*Some people also add roasted pumpkin seeds, but let me tell you, it doesn't taste good!! So stick to your old friend almond.

Sip away!

Our family favourite carrot cake

One of the family favourite cakes is the carrot cake! The poor carrot cake was ragged and made fun of before entering the oven, but once out, it was off in minutes!

Its easy to make, tasty and goes very well as a post brunch dessert on a Sunday.

The recipe is below for all of you.

All you need -

1 cup castor sugar [sifted]

3/4 cup refined odourless oil

2 eggs whole

1 cup grated carrot [use smallest grate for this]

1-2tsp cinnamon powder

1 cup flour [maida]

3/4 cup coarsely ground almonds or pecan nuts [choice is yours] In India, lets use almonds. Its easily available and tastes just as good.

1 tsp baking powder

Mix & stir -

Whisk together sugar and oil till it is creamy

Then add the eggs one by one and whisk

Add in cinnamon powder and the grated carrots and mix

Add sifted flour little by little and mix.

Finally add the almonds.

Grease a baking tray with refined oil/butter and dust some flour.

Just before pouring the batter add baking powder. Adding baking powder at the end will make a fluffy cake. If you add way in the beginning, you might get a heavy cake.

Bake in preheated oven at 180 degrees or 350F for about 1 hour or till the center is baked.

Glaze -

Boil together 1:1 ratio or orange juice [out from fresh orange or a juice carton] and sugar

Once the cake cools, glaze it with this syrup till it seeps into the spongy cake :D Dust with castor sugar...ENJOY!!

Thanks to Rachel Allen for inspiring me.

My version of the corriander pot noodles

Having lived in Hong Kong for a brief period made me fall in love with Chinese food and their style of cooking. Our love story is the one that will last forever, because, being back home, I still keep trying out newer Chinese style food.

Heres my version of Corriander pot noodles that Abhishek & I love. It goes really well with some stir fried french beans in minced chicken.

All you need -

Few strands of celery, one onion, one green pepper/capsicum, few french beans, a couple of florets of broccoli, one carrot, 2-3 mushrooms and some spring onion greens. You can add chicken or prawns or leave them classic veg, which is what I did.

Into the wok -

In some hot oil, add shredded ginger one green chilly for the zing and onion [roughly diced]. Add a teaspoon sugar to caramelize this and let it turn lightly golden.

Add all of the vegetables and saute for a couple of minutes.

Now for the coriander sauce -

Pulse together coriander, one inch of ginger [optional] and a couple of macademia nuts [if you dont have it, add pecan or cashew nuts] * adding nuts to sauce is a tip from making home made pesto for pasta.

Add this sauce to the vegetables and the add one teaspoon light soy sauce and a pinch of pepper.

Cook egg noodles and mix in the sauce and let it steam for a few min. I like to add 2-3 tablespoons of coconut milk just for slight flavour! Done!

Put into a pot, add blanched broccoli and sprinkle fine chopped coriander and celery. Bon Apetite. Eat this with tossed french beans with soy garlic in minced chicken.