Bella Indiano

Spreading happiness through the language of food

[bella--indiano]

Vanilla and Chocolate loaf cake❤️

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I was thinking about making a marble cake but decided against it and went for this instead. It is much less hassle and tastes more or less the same.

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Talking about marble cake, it is a patterned cake wherein the pattern is achieved in the cross section by mixing light and dark batter slightly ensuring that it doesn't mix all the way through but gives a nice look. The dark batter can be of any flavour. One popular combination is vanilla and coffee. It was first documented in late 19th century and is believed to have originated from Germany. A variation of this is the Harlequin cake which had a checkerboard pattern.

[bella--indiano]

Vietnamese style lemongrass grilled chicken with butter tossed Vegetables and steamed rice🤤

[bella--indiano]

It is a tradition in Bengali families to only have khichuri with a dollop of ghee for lunch on days when it rains. Pakoras are the most important part of the meal. Fish fry is a cherry on the top. This is what I have learnt being brought up in a Bengali family and this is probably one of my favourite parts of our culture.

Another important role of khichuri is in the religious component wherein it is offered to Maa Durga during the 5 days of puja.

There are different styles of making khichdi across the nation but some or the other form is always available. In most cultures it is treated as a comfort food whereas in others it is specific to a particular season or festival.

Every mother and grandmother give this amazing dish their own little twist and all of those are priceless.

[bella--indiano]

Mug cakes are the easiest to prepare in the world of cakes. It just takes 5mins maximum to prepare and cook the cake in your mug. The ingredients remain the same and it gives rise to a perfectly spongy cake each and everytime. In the picture is a Chocolate mug cake.

Recipe:-

Ingredients

Refined flour- 3tbsp

Cocoa powder- 1tbsp

Baking soda- a pinch

Baking powder- a pinch

Refined oil- 1.5 tbsp

Milk- 4tbsp

Sugar- 2tbsp

Salt- 1/2 pinch

Method

Mix all the dry ingredients in a mug. Add the milk and oil and combine everything together. Cook in the microwave for 1 min. Enjoy an amazing cup of cake with or without a scoop of ice cream.

[bella--indiano]

Having been born in Jodhpur and visiting Rajasthan every year during summer vacations, made me fall in love with the cuisine which is rich in flavour and taste.

Dal Baati brings back so many memories. I remember the minute we reached Jodhpur, the first thing that we asked for was dal baati. The panchmel dal has a beautiful flavour to it which goes perfectly with the baati which is a dough ball which is cooked in a tandoor and then dipped in ghee for at least 30mins for it to soak and become soft from inside.

Usually it is combined with choorma on the side which is baati grinded with lots of ghee and sugar to make a sweet accompaniment. However, I am not a fan of choorma and so went ahead and prepared some lehsun ki chutney. The beautiful garlic flavour combines very nicely with the dal baati.

This dish is not only popular in Rajasthan but also consumed extensively in certain regions of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. During the time of Bappa Rawal, baati was the preferred war time meal. The soldiers just broke the dough into chunks and bury them in the sun and left them to bake. When they came back, they dug up the baati and poured lots of ghee and ate it with curd. The combination of Dal Baati came into existence when traders from the Gupta Empire settled in Mewar.

[bella--indiano]

Choco chip muffins, a glass of milk and some greenery makes the perfect recipe for destressing a stressful day😁

So let's start by clarifying what exactly is a muffin. A muffin is any individual baked product. It can be sweet or savoury. This is the picture is the sweet cupcake variety. It can be flat piece of bread which is leavened or can be a risen cake like structure.

Flatbread muffins are also called English muffins and are an important part of the very popular breakfast item eggs Benedict. These are initially cooked in the oven and later transferred to a skillet or a griddle pan to finish the cooking. Process.

Quickbread muffins which look like cupcakes have a moist, coarse grain structure. These are available in both savoury and sweet flavours.

The difference between muffins and cupcakes is that cupcakes are made using cake batter and are mostly topped with icing of some kind. Muffin batters often include some fruits, nuts, chocolate, oats etc.

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An Indian touch to the classic fish and chips. The marination of the fish and the potatoes had a mix of Indian spices to make it more palatable to my parents. I served it on a bed of butter tossed Vegetables with a lemon butter sauce.

[bella--indiano]

Quiche is my absolute go to when there are people coming over for a meal. Just make a large portion of quiche and it will easily fill up 4 people, maybe even five. It is so loaded with heavy items that it fills you up quickly and satisfies those taste buds.

It originated in France and has a base of shortcrust which is filled with various ingredients along with savoury custard to give it a creamy texture.

Quiche Lorraine is the most popular and traditional version which is a pastry shell with egg, cream and lardons.

I prepared two varities of quiche. One was a chicken quiche and the other was a cauliflower and broccoli quiche. For the vegetarian version, I used tofu as a replacement of egg.

[bella--indiano]

I had some butterscotch lying around and my sister had been pestering me to make some cookies.

So I bring to you- Butterscotch Cookies❤️

My love for butterscotch came obviously from butterscotch ice-cream but over the time I have realised the various different ways in which we can use butterscotch to make wonderful desserts and even savoury items.

Since the main ingredients of butterscotch are brown sugar and butter, therefore it can be made into thin layers and used to give additional crunch and layer.

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Another summer delight- Mango lassi. The summer season is about end and so will the mangoes. Thought it was about time I posted some mangoes on my feed.

Lassi is a traditional Indian beverage which is mainly yogurt based. It is usually flavoured with sugar, salt, spices or fruit. It is served chilled for the best experience.

A famous incident related to lassi involved celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain who visited Jaisalmer, Rajasthan for a television series. It was a bhang store wherein he was offered three varieties of bhaang lassi, the strongest one called, "full power, 24hrs no toilet, no shower".

[bella--indiano]

Virgin Peach Bellini ❤️

Bellini is a cocktail prepared using prosecco and peach puree. It was first prepared in 1948 in a bar called Harry's Bar: The life and times of the Legendary Venice Landmark in Venice, Italy. The name of the person who made it for the first time was Giuseppe Cipriani. What inspired him to create the cocktail was a painting by the famous Venetian artist, Giovanni Bellini. It is traditionally served in a champagne flute.

Peaches abundantly grow in Italy between the months of June and September and the white ones are especially fascinating which is what makes the classic Bellini.

For this Virgin version, I used sprite instead of prosecco.

[bella--indiano]

Peach has forever been one of my favourite fruits but since I live in Delhi, it is difficult to come across good quality peaches. I remember the trips that we used to take to the hill stations ended up with me hogging over peaches wherever I saw them. In most of the hotels we used to stay at had peach trees and I used to love picking them and enjoying them as breakfast and evening snacks.

Fresh peaches off the trees have an amazing sweet and acidic flavour combination which remains on the tongue for a while. It smells absolutely delicious.

The peach tree is native to China and was brought to India by the Europeans who in turn had received it from Persia.

The fruit has 10% carbohydrates, 1% protein and negligible fat. The rest of the fruit constitutes water. It is however of not much nutritive value.

[bella--indiano]

Kheer comes from the Sanskrit word Ksheer which means milk and is also used for sweet rice pudding. It has been a part of ancient Indian diet and has some mentions in Ayurveda.

Payasam has not been derived from kheer but because of the similarities in the procedure, it is often associated with Kheer.

Payasam hails from Kerala and is said to have been prepared for functions like wedding ceremonies of the Nair community. They make extensive use of jaggery and coconut milk instead of the normally used milk and sugar. For the starch component they preferably use vermicelli instead of rice. It is thinner than the Kheer.

During formal or auspicious ceremonies, payasam marks the beginning of the event for good luck. In the meal structure, it comes after rasam rice. During Sadya which is a feast in Kerala, Payasam is served on the flat banana leaf instead of bowls. Some versions of payasam include:

I tried making a litchi version of the same. It turned out great. Fruits do make everything better.

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In the picture, Litchi and rosewater ice cream garnished with some beautiful dried rose petals.

Ice cream gets my attention all of the time. Everytime, I see a Ice cream stall, I have to stop and buy something.

It is a sweet frozen food which is enjoyed anytime of the day. It is prepared using cream or milk and ranges from a simple vanilla to compound flavours as well. Food colouring is also often added to achieve attractive colours and increase the sales. It is stirred several times to incorporate air and reduce the chances of ice being formed which would destroy the texture of the ice cream.

There are two concepts of origin of ice cream- one being from China and the other stating origins in Mongolia from where it spread to China as well.

Apart from Ice cream there are several other frozen desserts. Popular ones include- sorbet, kulfi, gelato, halo halo etc.

[bella--indiano]

Litchi is and always has been one of those summer fruits which can have so many applications and on its own as well it is delicious. With its neutral flavours, it can be used to make many desserts and confections.

It has its origin in the Fujian provinces of China with documenting since 11th century. The largest produce comes from China. India is at the second position at production of this wonderful fruit. Even though the litchi tree is evergreen, it bears fruits only during the months of May to July with the best harvest in early June. Among the many cultivars of Litchi, India is home to over a dozen of them.

Litchi consists of carbohydrates, proteins and negligible amount of fat. It also consists of Vitamin C in good amount.

Lychee seeds however have a component called methylenecyclopropylglycine which causes hypoglycemia which in turn causes non inflammatory encephalopathy in children. This is however only noticed when the Litchi fruit is comsumed on an empty stomach.

Litchi is a natural diuretic. It reduces the pain associated with kidney stones and the formation of blood clots. It can also prevent development of breast cancer. .

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Stay tuned to find out more about some common ingredients and food items.

[bella--indiano]

A modern day recipe of potatoes.

This dish was created and popularized by the popular barbeque chain, barbeque nation. Anyone who has visited BBQ nation must be a fan of this and if you are like me, you would even have gone back again just for these. Crispy baby potatoes in a cajun spiced mayonaise based sauce garnished with chopped onions and coriander. It has the perfect mix of textures, with a crispy outer skin of the potato and a soft inside and a smooth sauce combined with the crunchy onions and coriander leafs.

This dish will no doubt fall under the category of comfort food. Easy to prepare and reminding us of the simplicity of food. .

For the recipe, I used potatoes with the skin on to get the outer crispy later and also to reduce food wastage. Also, one thing that I wanted to share was that whenever you use coriander leaves, please make sure that you do not throw away the stalk. The stalk is equally flavourful and nutritious. Just cut away the roots Nd finely chop the the rest of the plant to use in your food. To ensure a brighter future where we leave something for the future generations, food wastage should be avoided at all costs.

[bella--indiano]

In the picture, homemade Vada pav from scratch. It is so easy to bake your own bread. It seems redundant to go out to buy bread.

Every Indian has heard of the popular Marathi snack called Vada Pav. The vada pav is put together by cutting a piece of pav in half, adding a layer of mint coriander chutney, then a layer of a garlic dry chutney, then the vada and finally close the pav from top. Originally, the pav wasn't cut through and through as is still the case in most street stalls. It is best enjoyed with one green chilli on top or at the side.

The origin of Vada pav, though not confirmed, is believed to be in 1966 in Mumbai by a person named Ashok Vaidya. He started his first shop opposite to Dadar station where he quickly gained popularity as it was an easy to carry, quick to prepare and low cost food item which was perfect for workers on the way to work. He gained so much popularity that there is a documentary about him called Vada pav inc.

1970s and 80s witnessed many strikes and many textile mills shut their doors creating a lot of unemployment. The now unemployed workers then started making and selling vada pavs giving rise to a lot of places selling the snack. These new stalls received backing of the shiv sena political party who wanted to promote Maharashtrian food.

The best part about it is that both the bread and the potatoes were brought in by the Portuguese. The only part belonging to us was the besan (gram flour). Yet, vada pav has something which truly speaks out 'Bombay' to us. Doesnt it? .