South African Milk Tart or Melktert

Over the holidays my aupair, who is from South Africa, had eggnog for the first time. When she tasted it, she told me that it reminded her of a dessert they make called Melktert which translates to milk tart. Now, an eggnog pie sounded very interesting to me. She was very kind to make the milk tart and share the recipe. Try it out for yourself. It is yummy!

Ingredients:
9 inch prepared pie crust
3 tbs. butter, melted
1 cup sugar
3 egg, separated
1 cup self rising flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 cups whole milk
cinnamon for dusting

Preparation:
1.Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F
2. Mix together butter and sugar until smooth. Add egg yolks and  beat until light in color. Sift self rising flour and add to sugar,egg,butter mixture. Mix in the vanilla and milk.
3. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks are formed. Fold into milk batter.
4. Pour into prepared pie crust.
5. Bake for for 50 - 60 minutes until the center is set.
6. Sprinkle cinnamon over pie and serve.

It can be served warm or cold. I prefer it cold.

Reshmi Kebab

Wow... this blog stuff is hard work. Unfortunately, I make so many things and I forget to post pictures and recipes. Today, I actually remembered to take a picture of what I made!

Today's recipe was inspired by an Indian buffet that my family and I went to yesterday for lunch. They had reshmi kebabs in their buffet and fortunately for me, my 4 year old gobbled it up. I was able to get him to eat lunch without begging him to eat. The stars, the sun, and moon must have been aligned right because he even ate salad with it! For those of you who don't know what reshmi kebab is, it is a milder, tender kebab than tandoori chicken tikka kebab. Because of the special marinade, the kebab is so soft and tender that the name literally means silky.

I used chicken but this recipe also works great with lamb, steak or shrimp. The following is the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 8 blanched almonds
• 8 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 inch of ginger root, peeled
• 1 cup of cilantro
• 1 jalapeno pepper (optional)
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1/2 cup of heavy cream
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 2 pounds of chicken breast, cubed

Directions:
Add first 4 ingredients (if using jalapeno, add that as well) into a food processor and blend until smooth. Empty into a non-reactive bowl. Add lemon juice and incorporate. Add cream, salt and incorporate. Add chicken and mix until chicken is covered with marinade. Cover with plastic wrap. For best results, marinate in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours.

Preheat a grill pan or your grill on high heat. Lightly grease and place chicken on top. Cook chicken until cooked through.

***Note: I didn't use skewers but placed the chicken directly on a grill pan. I sprayed the grill pan with Pam and preheated the grill pan on high heat. I covered the pan and cooked the chicken for 3 - 5 minutes on each side. Don't overcook! It doesn't take long to cook the chicken so be careful not to overcook otherwise your chicken will be dry.

Serve with lemon wedges and naan.

I've been featured on Nothing but FABULOSITY

Just wanted to let everyone know that I have been featured on Nothing but FABULOSITY. Check out Chara's blog  or visit http://www.nothingbutfabulousity.com/2010/08/spice-spice-baby-giveaway.html to find out how you can win a free Indian spice kit.

When life throws you a lemon, you make lemon pepper salmon!

I went to get my yearly checkup and I was in shock because my cholesterol has gone up! My husband has been bugging me about eating more salmon. Personally, I am not a big fan of salmon. I know many people out there LOVE salmon. I just can't get past the fishy taste. I am not a huge fan of COOKED fish. I don't know why... give it to me raw and I LOVE it! I don't find sushi to taste fishy. Anyway... back to my cholesterol. My husband successfully lowered his cholesterol by eating salmon and avocados with red wine at least 3 days a week. I decided to give it a try and it wasn't too bad. I seasoned my salmon with lemon pepper (this is my own personal blend that can be found at http://spicespicebaby.etsy.com/) and olive oil. Baked it in the oven for 30 minutes. While that was baking, I took an avocado and mashed it. Squeezed some lime in the mash and then seasoned it with my citrus lemongrass finishing salt (again - http://spicespicebaby.etsy.com/)! It tasted amazing. I think I might change my opinion about salmon...

Mango Salsa

This is a great and quick appetizer. I had some last minute guests come over for dinner and decided to have a barbeque. This sweet,tart,spicy salsa makes this dish perfect for summer barbeques. I like to pour the mango salsa over some softened cream cheese to make it more dip like. It's great served with tortilla chips and tastes amazing over burgers. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 ripe mango, peeled, seeded, and diced (If you cannot find a RIPE mango, substitute with a ripe papaya)
• 1/4 cup finely chopped green bell pepper
• 1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
• 1 1/2 tsp minced garlic
• 1 tbs finely chopped jalapeno
• 2 tbs chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 8 0z cream cheese, softened (optional)

Combine mango, jalapeno, green bell pepper,onions, and garlic in a bowl and stir to combine. Add the vinegar, cilantro and salt and stir well. Adjust seasoning to taste. If using cream cheese, pour over cream cheese to create a dip. Serve with tortilla chips, veggies or pita chips.
The salsa can be made up to 4 hours in advance and refrigerated tightly covered.

Steak Spice

I made some steak fillets last night with the steak spice that I make. It can be purchased from http://spicespicebaby.etsy.com/. It's a blend of kosher salt, garlic, black pepper, coriander seed, mustard seed, dill seed, red pepper. I sprinkled it a couple of hours before grilling with a little olive oil. I served it with some garlic mashed potatoes and a spinach salad. It was yummy!

Gulab Jaman

Recipe coming soon!