Banoffee Pie......for A Sweet Punch

This months Sweet Punch challenge was ...Banoffee Pie......this pie is filled with amazing goodness and yet so simple...I always wanted to make Dulce de Leche.....once you have made that.....then you have a super simple dessert ready in minutes.....you gotta try this one.......

Recipe source : Swapna's Cuisine
Ingredients
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• 150 g Digestive Biscuits
• 30 g  Butter (melted)
• 200 gms Dulce de Leche
• 2 tsp Instant coffee powder
• 1 Banana (sliced)
• 200 ml Cream
• 2 tbsp Icing powder
• 1 tsp Vanilla essence
• 2 tsp Cocoa powder for dusting

Method

1. Powder digestive biscuits in a blender to fine powder, now add the melted butter and pulse till well blended.
2. Preheat the oven at 180 degree C for 10 minutes.

3.Transfer the powdered biscuits into a  6 inch pie dish or tart pan with removable base. Press the powdered biscuits firmly with your hand and spread evenly,cover the sides of the pan too.

4.Place on a baking tray and put it into the hot oven and bake for 10 minutes (till the biscuit base looks little brown).Let this base cool completely.

5.Once the biscuit base is cooled, spread the dulce de leche on the base . Dip a spoon into hot water and using the back of the spoon spread the dulce (this makes it easier to spread the dulce).

6.Using a small sieve dust coffee powder on the dulce.

7.Now place the sliced the banana on the coffee powder.

8.Whip fresh cream with icing sugar and vanilla essence till soft peaks are formed. Transfer to a piping bag and pipe on top of the sliced bananas.

9. Dust cocoa powder on the cream.

Dulce de Leche

This is pure magic, when I opened this tin of condensed milk......I closed my eyes and prayed it would look exactly like how I had hoped it would...........and .......you get to see this amazing color....its just beautiful caramel ....its pure magic.

I wanted to make Dulce de Leche long back and came to know that its usually prepared by immersing the condensed milk tin in water and cooked for 3 hours.......I know ......3 hours....I was like.....forget it.....my mom would just set my head on fire....with all the gas prices shooting up....then I came across Divya's Easycooking blog...where she had used the pressure cooker method....I would not be surprised if it was an Indian who actually came up with this idea.....its just so amazing and time saving....though I did tell everyone to vacate the kitchen......just in case......(just kidding)

Recipe Source:Easycooking

Ingredients

• 1 tin Condensed Milk
• Water

Method

1. Place the condensed milk tin inside a pressure cooker, fill enough water to cover the tin.
2. Cover with lid and place the cooker on high flame, when the steam comes place the weight.After the first whistle reduced the heat to low and cook on simmer for 30 minutes.
3. Take the cooker off the flame and let it cool down to room temperature.
4. Remove the tin from the cooker and store in the fridge till further use.

Nungel Meen Ghassi - Dry Fish Curry

According to mom, this is what she would call 'Comfort Food'....if its raining and cold outside....I know what exactly my mom would say.....'This is the right time to have nungel meen ghassi  or chutney with piping hot ganji'....I have to confess that dry fish was not my favorite(I used to hate it)....but I also believe that with age,taste buds mature....mine did.....but my sister's did not....she refuses to even sit next to this dish... The easiest way to flush my sister outside the house.... just make nungel meen(dry fish) ghassi or chutney.

This is definitely one of those dishes that falls into the 'Acquired taste' category.......you can either hate it or just love it .

Ingredients
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• 350 grams Dry fish (I have used thate/shark)
• 1 cup Coconut
• 7 to 8 roasted Red chilllies 
• 2 tsp roasted Coriander seeds
• 1/4tsp roasted Cumin seeds
• 15 roasted Peppercorns
• 1/4 tsp roasted Fenugreek seeds (methi)
• 5 cloves of Garlic (with peel)
• 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
• lemon size Tamarind
• 1 medium Onion- chopped
• 1 small Tomato - chopped(optional)
• 2 tbsp oil
• salt to taste

Method

1. Soak the dry fish in hot water for 30 minutes to remove excess salt. Remove and cut to desired size.
2. Grind coconut,red chillies, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, peppercorns, fenugreek seeds, garlic. tamarind and turmeric powder to a fine paste using water.
3. Place a pan on medium heat,add oil when hot add chopped onion and fry till it turns dark brown. now add tomato which is optional and fry for 2 minutes. Add the ground paste and fry for few minutes till the raw smell disappears and oil leaves the sides of the masala. Now add the fish and enough water to get desired consistency (I used 1 cup). Add salt and bring the curry to a boil. take off the flame.
4. Serve with rice ,preferably with brown rice (roasematta)