How to Make Rose Syrup / Homemade Rose Syrup (From Scratch) / Rose Syrup

Dishing turns "One" today - We made this together!

Thank you Radhi, Viewers, Co-Blogger's, Followers through FB / GFC / PINTREST and everyone associated. 

Happy to Thank my Hubby and Daughter, who supported me through out!

         I had GREAT Birthday & Wedding anniversary bashes this year.  Big surprises from my friends and family on my birthday were the best ever. Wedding day was on July 4th which is the Independence day in the USA. So, its like our marriage anniversary being celebrated by the entire country. Some of our friends assembled at our local park to witness the fireworks in the night. We had a great grill party; Cakes and Flowers were over flowing. So lucky that I'm around such wonderful friends, in simple - BLESSED!

           Why this long story short - because Rose syrup preparation is the result of those 12 Red rose Bouquet flowers presented for our anniversary. When I told my hubby that I used those roses to make syrup...he told me this "Wow - thats good, did you just add some hot water and sugar? That is how you extract right"...hmmm...then I knew he knows some COOKING STUFF too...Well am sure those flowers would be happy that I used them to the core :). This is the original color of syrup with no food colors added...Trust me you will never regret again in future for throwing away your Red rose bouquet flowers.

Ingredients:
Red Rose petals - 1/2 heaping cup or of 4 big roses(Fresh flowers)
(Alternate by store brought Dried roses - 1/2 cup(heaping cup)
Water - 2 cups or 500ml
Sugar - 1-1/2 cups
Clove - 1 no

Method:

• Clean rose petals in water (Please note some flowers contain pesticides sprayed) Arrange it on a cookie or pizza tray. Heat your oven in the minimum temperature, mine is 200'F. Keep the tray on the top rack and let it dry for 30 minutes. Remember not to switch on the timer, we need only the heat to dry or just sun dry for 2 days(1/2 hour every day). Avoid this process if store brought dry rose petals are used.

• Boil the water. Place these petals in a jar and pour the boiled water, stir for 5 seconds. Let it cool down to room temperature, then refrigerate for 12 to 15 hours.

• Strain the water to a pan(Your rose water will be dark). Place the pan on medium flame and add sugar, clove to the pan. Keep stirring to dissolve the sugar. After the foam starts clearing, water starts to boil. Let it simmer for 10 minutes, switch off.

• Cool completely. It achieves syrup consistency after cooling down. Store(along with the clove) and use for your ice creams, milk shakes or juices.

My Notes:

• Type of Rose used is based on your own preference. I used big Red roses, Button roses or roses used for making rose water can also be used.
• Dried roses are available online which has more flavor and color, but I prefer making them with fresh roses. 
• Sugar can be increased/decreased according to your requirement or thickness of syrup. (Minimum of 1cup and maximum of 1-2/3 cups)
• Cardamon, Cinnamon, Star anise are other ingredients that can be added but remember it might make the syrup stronger in flavor and smell. I avoided them intentionally to let the actual rose flavor remain.
• Shelf like is more than a month but refrigeration is also accepted.

Happy To link this recipe for the event "Cooking With Herbs and Flowers"  by PJ of "Seduce your Tastebuds"

Tomato - Herbs Pasta Sauce / Homemade Pasta Sauce

 

              After I started an interest in blogging I am trying my best to prepare recipes at home from scratch and that is how I ended up making this Pasta sauce. I added more herbs to increase the flavour. This was a good change from the usual Tomato base sauces available in store. With loaded flavor of Basil and Oregano this can also be used for pizza base sauce or for making spaghetti & meatballs too.

Ingredients:

Tomato - 3 cups(Chunky chopped)
Garlic - 10 pods(big one)
Salt - as needed(I used about 1/2 teaspoon)
Sugar - 1 teaspoon
Fresh Basil - Hand Full
Fresh Oregano - Hand Full
Olive Oil - 3 tablespoon

Method:

• In a sauce pan, heat olive oil and add ginger. Saute for a minute(don't let it go brown).

• Add tomatoes, salt and sugar and saute until tomatoes are cooked.

• Add Basil and oregano and saute for a minute. Switch off the stove and cool down.

• Blend to a fine paste in blender.

• Heat the same sauce pan and add back the paste and boil until it reaches the spreading consistency.

• Switch off and use directly on the pizza batter or on pasta. If planning to store, then cool down completely and store in a glass bottle for further use. Do refrigerate it. 

My Notes:

• Add pepper and ginger if you wish to add spice to your sauce.
• We can adjust the ingredients according to our choice and reducing the herbs will result in more reddish color for the sauce.
• If Basil and oregano are unavailable we can substitute with mint and coriander leaves. Have not tried this version but will let you know if I do.
• Please store the remaining sauce in a glass bowl as tomato paste increases acidity inside any other type of container.
• I wanted to keep the skin of tomatoes but if needed you can blanch the tomatoes and add that to blender with remaining ingredients and blend the first time.

                  

Here are some other great Tomato recipes by my Summer Fest Friends...

Jeanette's Healthy Living:Juicy Summer Heirloom Tomato Fruit Salad
Taste With The Eyes:Pomodorini e Mozzarella Ciliegine
The Sensitive Epicure:Tiny Insalata Caprese
Weelicious:Heirloom Tomato Pico de Gallo
Napa Farmhouse 1885:Slow-Roasted Tomatoes with Bruschetta
Red or Green?:Nachos with Fresh Tomatoes, Pinto Beans and Chiles
Domesticate Me:Spaghetti with Cherry Tomato Sauce, Mozzarella and Basil
Blue Apron Blog:Marjoram-Garlic Chicken with Jersey Tomato Panzanella
The Heritage Cook:Caprese Salad and Caprese Pizza
Daily*Dishin:Garden Vegetable Fresh Pasta Sauce
Pinch My Salt:20 Tomato Recipes
Feed Me Phoebe:Bloody Marias
Dishin & Dishes:Pesto Rosso (Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto)
Devour: Five Fresh Tomato Salsa Recipes
FN Dish:Tomato Recipes Worthy of a Dinner Party

Homemade Ginger Garlic Paste Recipe

           Back to Basic's list for starters in cooking. Time and Money saving tactic I learnt from my mom. My mom used to grind this fresh everytime because it gets spoiled in a day or two. One day she came up with this method with her maid' s advice about adding Sesame oil to it while pasting. This method helped her lasting it long for weeks after refrigeration too without any problems. The proportion mom uses is not equal, she takes a higher ratio of garlic

         I did learn that sesame oil was used to prevent weevil attacks on grains in olden days, so it does help things from spoiling. I am following the same method. This simply saves my time and the last minute rush of peeling and grinding. 

Ingredients:

Ginger - 100 grams

Garlic -  150 grams

Sesame Oil - 2 Tablespoons

Method:

• Peel the skin of Garlic and chop the Ginger.

• Take a blender and grind ginger first. Now add garlic and grind together to fine paste. Then add oil and give a final blend to mix everything. Change to storing bowl and refrigerate.

• Ginger Garlic paste is ready to use.

 
My Notes:

• The amount of Garlic should be more than ginger.
• Grind to fine paste and can also add lemon juice or vinegar if needed along with oil, though adding them would add little sourness or acidity into it.
• Always store in a well cleaned, dry box or glass jar and refrigerate.
• Always use a clean spoon for taking the paste. 
• It will last fresh for more than 3 weeks.

Idli Recipe / Dosa Recipe / Egg Dosa / How to make Idli/Dosa Batter (Homemade Idli dosa Batter)

      

              Well this is not something new but am sure this will help starters and some of my friends. This is a bit lengthy post so kindly bear with me :). Preparing this batter usually is grinding Urad dal, collecting it to a bowl and grinding rice and then mixing both with salt and letting it set in a warm place for 10 to 12 hours to ferment. I was following the same method until my friend suggested me to grind them together.

              This was way easier and saved time, mess and work load. I use some Cooked/Boiled rice (old remaining rice is perfect I would say) along with this because my mom always added this for not wasting cooked rice but later I knew that this would help us in resulting soft Idlis and crispy dosas too. Adding cooked rice is optional and it can be avoided.

              I am presenting my way of making batter with water measurements I use while grinding. So changes according to your need is welcome.

Ingredients:

Idli Rice / Puzhungolari - 3-1/2 cups
Raw rice / Pachari - 1/2 cup
Cooked/Boiled Rice - 1 cup(but usage is optional)
Whole Urad dal / Ullunnu- 1 cup
Fenugreek seeds - 1 tablespoon
Salt - 1 tablespoon

Water required while:
Grinding Urad dal  - 1 cup water to be added little by little.
Grinding Rice together with Urad dal batter - 1-1/2 cups water to be added little by little.


My Measuring cups & Spoons:

All my recipes follow the same measuring instruments. Check out "My notes" below for more details about fermenting in oven and related tips.

Method:

For making the batter:

• Wash and soak Idli rice + Raw rice + Cooked rice(Optional) in a bowl for 4-1/2 hours. 

• Wash and soak Urad dal + Fenugreek seeds in a bowl separately for 4 hours.

• Strain the water from Urad dal and Fenugreek seeds and grind them by adding fresh water(1 cup) little by little to a fine foamy paste. Remember to stir in between to avoid urad dal sticking at the sides which might not grind to paste. It took me 30 minutes exactly but it differs based on the grinder used too.

• Strain the water from rice and add it to the ground urad batter in the grinder a little at a time. Grind them together to soft but little coarse paste by adding fresh water(1-1/2 cups) little by little and stirring in the middle with a spatula. My 5th picture would show the consistency of the final batter(slightly coarse but soft). It took me 35 minutes exactly to get it ready. Now add salt and let it run for a minute to mix well.

• Transfer the batter to another storing bowl(steel or plastic). Keep it covered leaving some air space and let it rest in a warm place for 10 to 12 hours to ferment.

• We can see the batter raised by finding some pores and tear cuts in the batter mixture. The fermented batter would be fluffy and light. This batter can be directly used for making soft Idli's. Add some water and dilute it to make crispy Dosa's.

For Making Soft Idli's:

• Boil water in a idli pot (about 2 inches from the bottom). Take the required amount of prepared batter to a bowl and stir once to incorporate. Take a laddle full and pour on a greased idli tray. Arrange them on the idli pot and steam cook for 8 to 10 minutes(it took me 8 minutes exactly) or until a tooth pick comes out clean.

• Remove them from stove top and let it rest for seconds. Remove them with a spoon or spatula and serve with chutney, sambar or Idli podi.

For Making Dosa's:

• Take 1-1/2 cups of batter (The batter prepared according to the measurement here) and add 1/4 cup+2 tablespoons of water to it and mix well for making it into a dosa batter.

•  Heat Dosa tawa on medium flame and grease, take a laddle full of dosa batter, pour it in the center of tawa and start spreading it equally from the middle to the end of tawa forming swirls. Drizzle some oil on the dosa and on sides and roast until both sides are golden brown and crispy.

•  Serve hot dosa's with chutney or sambar.

For making Egg Dosa's:

• Follow the same steps in making dosa until spreading it on tawa, then crack an egg on top, spread using a fork throughout. Add a pinch of salt and chilli powder and drizzling some oil. Cook until egg is done and fold it.

• Serve hot with chutney or sambar...well you wont need that too :)

My Notes:

• I use 2 liters grinder so we can adjust the ingredients according to the grinder you have.
• Cooked/Boiled/old rice helps us in giving soft idlis. Its totally optional to use else we can continue the method of making batter without adding it.
• We can also stock half cup of old idli/dosa batter and add it in the end while adding salt to get it fermented easily. Nothing works better.
• For people living in a cold region we can ferment the batter by keeping it in a pre-heated oven. Pre-heat at 200'F for 5 minutes and switch off, let the door open for 2 minutes, keep the batter bowl near oven light, close the door, switch on the oven light and leave it as is for 12 hours.

How to Hard Boil Eggs perfectly?

             What - are you kidding divya? I am sure this is what comes to mind when a viewer reads this post. Well this may be easy for expert cooks but for a person like me who din't know where the salt or sugar in the kitchen was some years ago, this is for them: the starters in the field of cooking. 

 

           Anything getting cooked has a cooking time and I totally agree to this point because we cannot eat things that are over cooked or under cooked. This goes for Eggs too. Boiling eggs is also an art because if your eggs are not perfectly boiled then they will be difficult to peel, hard inside or sometimes greasy. Some people say the method I describe below loses eggs' proteins and some say starting with cold water takes a long time in cooking process and some just boil egg and water and switch off and let the egg sit for some time in that water.

             Anyway, it is this method that gives me eggs boiled just right without getting them harder or uncooked. So to get that perfectly boiled, soft and peel easy eggs - here we go ;)

Ingredients:

Eggs - 5 no's (or how many you need to boil)

Water - 5 cups (1 cup per egg)

Salt - 1 teaspoon

Method:

• Boil water in a pan. Add salt and eggs and set the heat to medium.

• Allow the eggs to cook exactly 10 minutes. Switch off stove and drain the boiled water and replace with cold water.

• Let it sit for 3 minutes, drain the water and peel the eggs.

• Your perfectly Boiled eggs are ready.

Homemade Pizza Dough

                 Kneading dough should not be a new adventure for us as we are used to making chappathis - Pizza dough is also similar. Its a fun activity to do it with our kids. I took the dough making reference from Vahrehvah chef, thank you chef. I altered the requirements according to my needs and here is the recipe of the dough required for making one 15" inch pizza. Super easy Homemade Pizza in no time :)

                

                 You guyz guessed it right - My Pizza is in my Draft oven ;)...soon to be delivered!



Ingredients:

Bread flour / All purpose flour - 250 grams (I used Bread flour)
Yeast - 1 tablespoon
Water - 150ml
Sugar - 1/2 teaspoon
Salt - 1/2 teaspoon
Olive oil - 2 tablespoon


Method:

• Take 150ml of luke warm water in a bowl and add Salt, Sugar, Yeast and half of the flour and whisk well and keep aside for 10 minutes to let the yeast ferment(please do not disturb the bowl).

• Now take the remaining flour to a bowl and mix the yeast mixture into it.

• Bring everything together and Knead it to form a dough.

• Take a wet cloth and cover up the bowl and let it rest in a warm place for 1 hour. After 1 hour, take the dough outside and knead it again and let it sit for another 1 hour again. So in total, 2 hours for setting pizza dough.

• The pizza dough will raise to double of its actual size after 2 hours. if you are not using the dough the same day or you have dough remaining then store them in the refrigerator in a air tight container at this stage.

My Note:

• While adding yeast its important to use only luke warm water because boiling or hot water would make the dough hard.
• For people living in cold area like me, the following method helps to ferment the dough: pre-heat your conventional oven to 200`F for 5 minutes and switch off the oven. place the bowl inside it switching on the oven light and let it sit for 2 hours.
• The dough gets fermented and rises up. When you pat it, it will go back to its original size.