Hazelnut Cheesecake

Holiday season and that means tons of sugar and giving in to sweet cravings. This Christmas I drew inspiration from a recipe I saw weeks ago about making no-bake cheesecakes and thought of surprising my super lovely friends.

So here is a sweet and short tale on how to go about making that yummy no bake hazelnut cheesecake.

The below estimates are for 12 mini cake glasses.

Ingredients:
Oreo Cookies - about 8-10
Unsalted butter - 4 tbsp, softened

Hazelnut with cocoa flavored Nutella spread - 1 cup
Original cream cheese - 8 oz, softened
Vanilla extract - 1/2 tbsp
Frozen whipped cream topping - 1 cup

Whipped cream frosting
Dairy Whipped cream topping - creamy
Chopped hazelnuts

Recipe:
In a bowl, add the crumbled Oreo cookies and the softened butter and beat them well so that no cookie lumps remain. Add about half an inch layer of the mixture to each of the mini cake glasses. Put it in the refrigerator while you work on the filling.

In a large bow, add the Nutella spread and the softened cream cheese and beat it very well so that the mixture is absolutely uniform. Add the vanilla extract and give it a stir. Add the frozen whipped topping and give a few more stirs. Fill up each of the glasses to half an inch from the brim and evenly so that the tops are smooth. Cover the glasses with plastic wraps and keep them for about 1 hour in the freezer for the filling to solidify.

After the filling has settled in, take out the glasses and fill the remaining half inch of the glasses with the whipped cream frosting. Add  the whipped cream topping on top and add the chooped hazelnuts to garnish.

Serve the sweet treats and enjoy!

Bruschetta

Thanksgiving and Christmas pushes me to try newer finger food each year. I usually my favorite stuffed mushrooms every year and while I promise to put that recipe up too on the site someday, right now I will let you enjoy this amazing appetizer that is both quick to made and to munch on.

Ingredients:
1. French bread - any french bread, a single load
2. Butter - salted
3. Pinto beans - half a can
4. Jalapeno - 2 big
5. White Onion - 1 medium sized
6. Tomato - 1 large or 2 medium
7. Goat cheese
8. Mexican cheese mix
9. Spring onion
10.Dried parsley

How to?
In a pot of boiling water, add the onion, tomatoes and jalapeno and cook for 5-7 minutes (or alternately, broil them in the oven). After taking the vegetables out of the heat, cool them in running water and finely chop them. Mix baked pinto beans to the chopped vegetables in a bowl.

Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees. Slice the french loaf and rub them well with butter on both sides. Toast them in the oven, till it is moderately toasted (around 5-10 minutes).

After taking the toast out of the oven, add goat cheese first to each toast to create a cheesy bed and then add a tablespoon of the vegetable mixture on top of each slice. Add finely chopped spring onions on top and some mexican cheese mix. Garnish with the dried parsley.

Serve Hot!

Bengali Chicken Curry (Chicken Kosha)

Chicken was always a Sunday course in my early years. I was a bigger fan of fish and therefore stuck to mostly the various varieties of riverine fish I would get in a week and then on Sundays, I would feast my tummy with some really nice and greasy Bengali chicken kosha.

While mom made it with mustard oil, my version is a little lighter while sticking to the authentic taste.

What you need to prep up for this dish:
1. 1.5 lbs of chicken drumstick
2. Two medium sized onions - chopped
3. Two medium tomatoes
4. Cilantro - finely chopped
5. Garlic paste
6. Ginger paste
7. Salt to taste
8. Sugar - 1/2 tsp
9. Turmeric powder
10.Red chilli powder
11.Vegetable oil - 2 tbsl

The actuals:
In a non stick pan, add two tbsp of vegetable oil. Once it is heated, add the chopped onions, garlic paste and the chopped cilantro. Add some salt to taste and stir till the onions become translucent. My mom always told me that all bengali dishes have some sugar added to it if you add salt to it. So since she is seldom wrong, I follow her advice on this one even though I am not a huge fan of adding sugar to my food. So yes, add half a teaspoon of sugar and see the onions slowly turn brown and leave out the oil it absorbed to get fried.

Once the onions start to leave off the oil, add chopped tomatoes to it and let it cook till the tomatoes become soft. Add 1tsp of turmeric powder and 2 tsp of red chilli powder (or more, if you would like it spicier). Cover it with a lid and let it cook for some more time.

Add the properly cleaned chicken drumsticks to the curry paste and stir. Keep mixing the paste and the chicken for a while and then cover the pan with a lid. Let it cook with an occasional stirring. Do not add any water, and let the chicken cook in its own steam. Let it cook for 20 mins or till the chicken pieces have absorbed the curry paste and have become soft.

Remove the lid, serve with indian chapathis or rice.

Sauteed scallops and bell pepper

I am a Bengali. And it goes without saying fish and seafood are two things that we can not live without. I have been somewhat late in getting to some really amazing seafood delights, but once I figured the treasure that the sea has to offer, I never really looked back.

Here is a quick recipe to a very delicious scallop dish that I stir up often times to feast myself.

What you need to prep for the dish:
1. Fresh sea scallops
2. Bell pepper - red, green and yellow, chopped into fine small cubes
3. White onion, chopped into small squares
4. Spring onions - finely chopped
5. Green chillies - one, very finely chopped
6. Salt - to taste
7. Crushed garlic and pepper

Recipe:
In a pan, add half a tablespoon of olive oil and add the chopped onions and bell pepper and saute them till the onions and bell pepper become tender. Add the scallops to the pan and saute. Keep the pan on low heat for about 5 mins or till the scallops start turning light brown. Turn the scallops so as to cook the other side thoroughly.

Add the green chillies and chopped spring onions and salt. Stir a little. Add the crushed garlic and pepper to the pan and stir well. Serve hot.