Rich Tea Biscuit Pudding / Marie Biscuit Pudding

Ingredients:

• Rich Tea Biscuit / Marie Biscuit 300g (If you like to have more biscuits in your pudding like me this could vary, can add another 50g )
• Butter 200g
• Caster sugar 400g
• Large Eggs 2 ( Separate the yolks and the whites but we will be using them both )
• Cocoa Powder 4 Tbsp 
• Milk 6 Tbsp 
• Brewed Coffee 1 cup (Warm)
• Vanilla 2 Tsp
• Chocolate Liqueur or Amerrito 1 Tbsp (Optional) 
• Roasted Cashew nuts 50g (for garnishing) 

Directions (Serves 12) :

Pudding Mixture:

1. Beat the butter and sugar in a bowl until well combined and form a creamy texture.
2. Add the egg yolks to the mixture one at a time while beating the mixture.
3. Add Vanilla essence and Amerrito to the mixture and beat for about 1 minute.
4. In a separate bowl beat the two egg whites until they form stiff peaks.
5. In a Sauce Pan over a low flame add the milk and cocoa powder and mix till they are well combined into a smooth paste free of any lumps (Make sure the mixture is not burnt, this will only take one minute or less).
6. Add the above chocolate paste to the bowl with egg whites and whisk for about 1-2 minutes, until they are well incorporated.
7. Then fold in the above mixture to the creamed butter and sugar mixture prepared in step 1-3 above.

Assembly:

1. Take a bowl with around 2-3 inch depth and soak each biscuit in the warm coffee for about 2 seconds (make sure the biscuit are not too soggy and fall apart, the biscuit still need to have some crunch to it) and lay them to cover the bottom of the bowl. 
2. Then add a layer of the pudding mixture over the soaked biscuit layer.
3. Repeat the above two steps until you have used up all the biscuits and the pudding mixture. Just make sure you finished the top most layer with the pudding mixture instead of a biscuit layer.
4. Refrigerate the pudding for at least 6 hours, or ideally overnight.

Tip: When assembling the pudding you can add roasted cashew on top of each layer of the pudding mixture (I love cashews so I was a bit heavy handed on the cashew, but it is totally optional and up to your own preference).

This is my all time favourite, no bake biscuit pudding recipe, which I can devour all by myself. Hope you all will love it as much as I do.

P.S This is certainly not for those of you who are counting calories. There are simply too many to count :D

Mango & Lime Frozen Yogurt

Ingredients:

• Frozen Mango (Diced)  500g  (More ripe the mango, the better the taste and sweetness)
• Yogurt (Plain unsweetened / Greek yogurt) 100g
• Honey 4Tbsp
• Lime zest 1/2 Tsp
• Lime Juice 1 Tbsp

Directions (Serves 4) :

1. Add all the ingredients to a food processor and blitz it for about 5 minutes until you get a smooth mixture.
2. Transfer the mixture into an airtight container and freeze for about 6 hours or overnight.

It is simple as that my friends. Enjoy your delicious FroYo which is also healthier than most frozen desserts without any compromises. You can also try the same recipe by replacing half the amount of mango with pineapple to get another great combination of tropical mix Froyo. So go crazy with the flavours and Enjoy !!!

Chocolate and Banana Frozen Yogurt (FroYo)

Ingredients:

• Frozen Bananas (Sliced)  500g  (More ripe the banana the better the taste and sweetness)
• Cocoa Powder 50g
• Yogurt (Plain unsweetened / Greek yogurt) 100g
• Honey 4Tbsp
• Vanilla extract 1Tbsp

Directions (Serves 4) :

1. Add all the ingredients to a food processor and blitz it for about 5 minutes until you get a smooth mixture.
2. Transfer the mixture into an airtight container and freeze for about 6 hours or overnight.

That's it! Enjoy your delicious FroYo which is also healthier than most frozen desserts without any compromises.

Homemade Nutella Ice Cream

Yield: 950ml of Ice Cream

Ingredients:

• Condensed Milk 225g (Refrigerated at least for couple of hours) 
• Double Cream (a.k.a: heavy whipping cream) 400ml  (Refrigerated at least for couple of hours) 
• Nutella 200g
• Chocolate Liqueur or Amerrito 1tsp (Optional, but this would make the ice cream to be soft and smooth as alcohol doesn't freeze hard)

Directions:

1) Beat the double cream in a bowl until it forms soft peaks.
2) Then add the condensed milk, Nutella and Chocolate Liqueur and beat until all the ingredients are well combined (about 2 minutes).
3) Finally, transfer the mixer to a container and leave it in the freezer for atleast 4-5 hours ideally overnight.

Optional Steps to give your Nutella Ice Cream an Extra Oomph!
If you want to add a chocolate ripple effect just the way I have done here follow these simple steps:

• Take about half a bar (around 50g) of good quality dark chocolate and roughly chop it up.
• Put into a microwave safe container and melt the chocolate in 30-second intervals.
• Every 30 second take out the container and give the chocolate a good mix.
• Repeat the above step until the chocolate is fully melted.
• In step 3 above when you are transferring the Ice Cream to the container do it in two or three layers and spoon in a generous amount of the melted chocolate in between each layer and spoon in the remaining melted chocolate on top of the Ice Cream.
• Now the easy part :) take a bamboo skewer or a toothpick and gently stir the Ice Cream mixture in a figure eight motion (This will create the lovely ripple effect in your ice cream as seen in the picture above).

How amazing it is to know that you can get this done with no fancy equipment. Hope you all enjoy my Nutella flavoured ice-cream. No churning No fuss!

Don't forget to go crazy with the flavours!!! Enjoy !!!

Home Made Coffee Ice Cream (No Churning, No-Fuss, Cost less than £2)

Ingredients:

• Condensed Milk 396g (16 oz) Can (Refrigerated at least for couple of hours) 
• Double Cream (a.k.a: heavy whipping cream) 400ml  (Refrigerated at least for couple of hours) 
• Espresso Coffee Powder 2 tbsp (Instant Coffee Powder would be fine as well)
• Coffee Liqueur or Amerrito 2tsp (Optional, but this would make the ice cream to be soft and smooth as alcohol doesn't freeze hard)

Directions:

1) Add all the ingredients to a bowl and mix using a hand beater or stand mixer until the mixture form soft peaks (This will take around 10 minutes depending on your mixer).

Tip: Whipping up the double cream first until it forms soft peaks and then adding the rest of the ingredients could make it easier to achieve the nice fluffy and thick consistency that we want.

2) Finally, transfer the mixer to a container and leave it in the freezer overnight.

Wola! you have a delicious coffee Ice Cream! no churning, no-fuss!

 Experiment and go crazy with the flavours!!!

Sri Lankan Eggplant Pickle (Wambotu Moju \ Batu Moju)

Ingredients:

• Eggplant 500g
• Salt 1tsp (Adjust according to taste)
• Turmeric 1 tsp
• Shallots 250g 
• Green Chillies 50g (Make an incision at the center of each green chilli)
• Chilli Powder: 1tbsp
• Sugar: 2tbsp
• Mustard 2tbsp (Ground)
• Garlic 4 cloves (Ground to a smooth paste)
• Ginger 1/2 inch piece (Ground to a smooth paste)
• Vinegar 5tbsp
• Oil for frying 500ml

Directions:

1) Cut the eggplant into thin batons of 2-inch length (More like french fries).
2) Put the eggplant into a bowl add turmeric and salt and mix well.
3) Heat the oil in a saucepan and deep fry the eggplant batons until it takes a dark amber colour and crispy in texture.
4) In the meantime in a glass bowl mix the following ingredients to make the paste for the moju and leave aside:Vinegar, Sugar, Chilli Powder, Ginger, Garlic, Mustard.
5) When all the eggplant batons have been fried add the shallots and green chillies to the oil and fry it for 30 seconds (This will get rid of the rawness of the shallots and mild the heat of the green chillies a bit)
6) Finally add the deep fried eggplant batons, shallots and green chillies to the paste prepared in step 4 and mix well.

That is it, you now have a delicious Wambotu Moju! (The taste improves even more over time) Enjoy!

Fish Rolls

Yield: 15-17 Fish Rolls

Pancake Batter:
Plain Flour  2 Cups
Water 2-3 Cups
Turmeric 1/4 tsp
Eggs 1
Salt to Taste

Filling:
Canned Tuna  225g
4 small onions finely chopped (Approximately 350g)
Potatoes 450g
Pepper 1 1/2 tsp
Green Chillies 4 (Finely Chopped)
Garlic 3 Cloves Finely Chopped
Ginger 1/2 inch Finely Chopped
Curry Leaves Chopped
Lime Juice 2 tsp
Oil 2 tbsp
Salt o Taste

For the Crumb Coating:
Bread Crumbs 250g
Eggs 5

Oil for Frying 500ml

Method:

Pancake Batter:

1. Add all ingredients for the batter into a mixing bowl and mix well. The consistency of the batter should be thin and lump free. If there are any lumps pass it through a sieve to get rid of them. Easy enough :) now, set this aside and move onto the filling:

Filling:

1. Boil the potatoes, once ready peel and roughly mash it (don't mash it too fine).

2. Heat up a frying pan with 2tbsp of Oil and add in the chopped Garlic, Ginger and Curry Leaves to release the flavours and infuse the oil (Around 1 minute). 

3. Then add the chopped onions, green chillies and pepper and stir fry them for about  10 minutes.

4. Add the tuna and potatoes to this mixture and mix them well. Cook this for 3-5 minutes in a low flame.

5. Season with salt to your taste.

6. Switch off the heat and add the lime juice.

Assembly:

1. Heat up a frying pan and spoon in the pancake mixture and spread it as thinly as possible as you would do when making normal pancake or a creep. Keep the size to around 5 inches in diameter.

Tip: Don't overcook the pancake just 30 seconds on each side will do.

2. While the pancake is warm, spoon in around 2 tbsp of the filling into the center of the pancake and fold it up. When folding first tuck in the two sides and then roll it over as shown in the picture below:

3. Once you have prepared all the rolls it is time to get them crumb coated. For crumb coating beat the 5 eggs in a bowl and in a separate bowl have your bread crumbs ready.

4. Dip each prepared roll in the egg mixture and put it into the bread crumb mix and ensure the roll is fully coated with bread crumbs.

Tip: For a better result crumb coat each roll twice.

5. Deep fry the crumb coated rolls until golden brown (Around 3-4 minutes)

Hope you enjoy this tasty snack which is great  as a tea time snack and this marries well with a good ketchup sauce.

Oreo Cupcakes

 

You will need the following equipments to try this recipe:

• Wilton Tip No 4B or a Star nozzle. ( Any nozzle tip of your choice would do the trick )
• Large Piping bag.
• A muffin tray & 12 cupcake liners 

Recipe (This will yield around 12 Oreo Cupcakes):

Ingredients for the Cup Cake Batter:

• 85g of self-raising flour
• 25g of Horlicks malt powder  
• 15g of cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp of bicarbonate of soda
• 125g caster sugar
• 135g unsalted butter (softened to room temperature) 
• 2 Large eggs ( here in the UK a Large egg is considered to be 63g in weight, as this might vary across countries make sure that the eggs are 125g of weight )
• 1 & 1/2 Tbsp of Whole milk
• 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
• 2 packets of Oreo cookies
• pinch of salt ( can skip this part if you have used salted butter )

Ingredients for Frosting:

•  200g of unsalted butter (softened to room temperature)
•  400g of icing sugar (sifted)
•  2 Tbsp whole milk
•  1/2 tsp vanilla extract
•  1/2 packet of Oreos Cookie Crumbs (Blitz the cookies in a food processor for 1 or 2 minutes to form the crumbs)  

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and line 12 muffin cups with paper liners.

1. In a bowl add the butter and sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract.
2. In a separate bowl whisk or sift together Flour,Baking soda,Malt powder,Cocoa & Salt. Idea is to get all the dry ingredients  mix together well.
3. Add the flour mixture prepared in step 2 with milk alternatively in about three batches to the butter and sugar mixture prepared in step 1. Make sure to mix in everything well between each addition. Your main batter is now ready.
4. Before filling up the batter into the muffin cups place a whole Oreo Cookie in the bottom of each cupcake liner (Now this will be the base of the cupcake leaving as a crunchy element to the cupcake) 
5. Evenly fill the batter into the muffin cups that has a cookie as the base.When filling the batter to muffin cup it is easier to use an ice cream scoop (a scoop with a ball diameter 4cm) or 2/3 of the way up. 
6. Bake for about 18 - 22 minutes or a toothpick inserted into a cupcake comes out clean. (Always check a few minutes before the stated baking time. Do not over bake or the cupcakes will be dry.)
7. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. 
8. Once the cupcakes have completely cooled, frost with the Cookie cream icing.  If you want to pipe the frosting, I like to use a large Wilton 4B star decorating tip. Once done frosting you can garnish it with another whole Oreo cookie on top. Cupcakes are best eaten the same day they are made, but they can be covered and stored for a few days.

Frosting (Cookie Cream):

1. In an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter until it's nice,pale and fluffy and add the vanilla extract.
2. With the mixer on low speed, gradually beat in the icing sugar. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the milk and Oreo cookie crumbs and beat on a high speed until frosting is light and fluffy (about 3-4 minutes). 

Warning : Not for the faint Hearted :D  Hope you all enjoy my Oreo Blast Cupcake.

Rainbow Meringue Kisses

You will need the following equipments to try this recipe:

• Wilton Tip No 4B or a Star nozzle.
• Large Piping bag.
• Baking Trays / Cookie Tray for baking.
• Tray Liners.
• Small Paint Brush (The kind you use for water colour paintings with a long handle)

Recipe (This will yield around 50 meringue kisses):

• Egg Whites of four large eggs.
• Sugar ( Twice the weight of the four egg whites ) [ Better use Superfine Sugar as it dissolves much easier.Please bare in mind this is not icing sugar. If you can't find superfine sugar you can blitz your regular sugar in a food processor for few seconds and you can get that finely ground sugar we want. ]
• Vanilla Extract 1 tsp
• Some food colourings (Colours used here are: Magenta, Orange, Teal, Purple, Yellow and Green. Please avoid using liquid food colourings as it is bit messy and doesn't give the vibrant colour we are after here)

Method:

Pre heat the oven for 100 degrees Celsius (212 F).

Meringue Mixture:

1. Beat the egg whites till it forms soft peaks (Make sure the whisk and the bowl you are using to beat the egg whites are dry and not greasy. Wiping the bowl and the whisk with a bit of vinegar could help to make them non-greasy).
2. Add the sugar table spoon at a time to the egg white mixture while continuously beating the mixture (Don't add all the sugar at once  as it will cause the egg whites to loose all the air we have Incorporated by the beating process).
3. After incorporating all the sugar beat the mixture for another 5 minutes and add the Vanilla extract to the mixture.
4. At this point mixture will have a smooth silky texture with stiff peaks.
5. Check the mixture to feel any sugar grains (You can easily do this by rubbing a tiny bit of the mixture between your finger tips), if you can still feel any sugar grains keep beating the mixture for another two to three minutes.
6. Fill the piping bag with the mixture (Please see below for how to create the rainbow effect within the piping bag) and twist it from the top so you can squeeze it without having to worry about the mixture coming out from top.
7. Prepare the baking trays with tray liners and start piping your meringue kisses leaving at least one inch gap between each meringue, once this is done bake them in the preheated oven for about 35 - 40 minutes, when they are ready they should come out of the baking sheet easily without sticking and should be chewy in the middle.

Quick Tip 1: When piping your meringue kisses in step 7, you can get a perfect meringue kiss by holding the piping bag vertically and about 1 inch above the baking tray. When the desired size of the meringue has reached quickly pull away the piping bag which will form the perfect meringue kiss.

Quick Tip 2: You can use little blobs of the meringue mixture to stick the tray liners to the baking trays. This will make sure the tray liners still in place specially if you are using a fan assisted oven)

Creating the Rainbow Effect:

• Place the nozzle tip into the piping bag and lay it on a table.
• Then carefully paint about 1cm thick line of food colouring starting from the tip of the piping bag about three quarter the way up. 
• Repeat the process for all the colours you are using.    

Sri Lankan Konda Kavum (Oil Cakes)

You will need the following equipment to try this recipe:

Please note: The shape of the Pan is really important and you can't do it in a flat bottom pan.

Recipe (This will yield around 15 oil cakes):

• Rice Flour 200 grams (Sifted twice)
• Wheat Flour 100 grams
• Sugar 100 grams (White \ Brown)
• Kithul Treacle 200 ml (Boiled and let cool down before using)
• Vanilla Extract 1tsp
• Fennel Seeds 1/2 tsp (Roasted)
• Water  100 ml
• Oil 50ml for frying (Since this is a Traditional Sri Lankan Sweet If possible try to use Coconut Oil If not any flavorless oil like Sunflower oil will do) 

Method:

1. Mix rice flour, wheat flour, and sugar in a bowl.
2. Make a well in the middle and pour in the Kithul Treacle.
3. Mix it thoroughly and add water little by little until you get a smooth batter (adjust the water as needed but make sure you don't make the batter too thin) .
4. Add the roasted fennel seeds and vanilla extract to the batter to give it the authentic aroma of the Traditional Sri Lankan Oil Cakes.
5. Leave aside the batter for 5 hours (If you are in a hurry atleast 1 hour to prove) for better results.
6. fill the pan with oil ( up to 1 or 1 1/2 inches high and heat it before adding the batter.
7. When the oil is hot pour in around 1 tbsp of the batter to the center of the pan and add bit more batter to the center to help form the konde :).
8. Let the mixture sit  for about 10 - 15 seconds but make sure to keep bathing the mixture with oil using a slotted spoon and then grab a bamboo skewer to the other hand and insert it at the center of the Kavum to let the raw batter in the middle to rise up, you need to help this process  by keep bathing the center of the Kavum with the hot oil using the slotted spoon using the other hand (This process could be little bit difficult to master at the beginning and surely would need some practice runs to master it properly. But if you are not bothered with the Konde just make Pethi Kavum using the same batter. Process will be the same except you don't need to add extra batter to the center as mentioned in step 7)
9. Take the kavum out of the pan when it is golden brown, and leave it on a kitchen towel to drain the excess oil.
10. A little bit of Patience can go a long way :) Good Luck!