Caramel Bread Pudding

This is a very simple and yummy dessert that can be made with easy and readily available ingredients at home. This is a no bake and no oven version and is prepared by steaming the bread-milk-sugar batter.

The texture is not like that of a cake ,but more of a soft pudding. If you have some leftover breads and wondering how to finish them off, this would be a perfect delicacy to treat your kids and family.

I have used readymade hershey's caramel syrup as I had them with me. However, I have mentioned how to make homemade caramel syrup. This recipe is picked up from VegRecipesOfIndia with slight changes to make it more sweet.

serves: 3

Ingredients

1. Whole Wheat Bread - 6 slices
2. Boiled Milk - 1.5 cups *I used the semi fat milk
3. White Sugar - 1/2 cup
4. Corn Flour - 1 tsp
5. Vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp

Homemade Caramel Syrup

1. White Sugar - 2.5 tbsp
2. Water - 1 tbsp

Method

1. Powder the bread slices in a mixer grinder.

2. Warm the milk on a stove in a low heat. Add powdered bread, corn flour, essence and sugar and mix well on a low heat till the mixture thickens and the sugar dissolves completely.

3. Take sugar in an aluminium pan or any pan of your choice. Add sugar and water and heat it on a low flame. Keep stirring the mixture until the sugar caramelizes and becomes golden brown as shown in the below pic. Once this stage is reached, remove the pan from stove.

4. Add the bread - milk - sugar batter on to the pan which already has caramel syrup in it and pat nicely.

5. Seal it properly with aluminum foil so that steam does not enter the pan.

6. Steam the contents in an electric cooker steamer or in a normal pressure cooker for about 30 mins.

To steam in electric cooker, fill the cooker pan with 4 cups of water and switch to cooking mode. Place the steamer basket above the cooker pan as shown in the pic. Once the steam starts coming up, place the pudding batter pan inside the steamer and steam for 30 mins.

In Pressure Cooker, fill the pressure cooker with 4 cups of water and place a stand. On the stand, place the batter pan and steam for 30 mins. Do not use the weight while steaming in pressure cooker.

7. After steaming, let the pudding cool down. Once cooled down, refrigerate the pudding for 2 hours.

8. Open the pan and remove the foil. Use a knife to gently scrape the sides so that it is easy to unmold. Flip the pan gently onto a plate.

9. There you have, the delicious caramel coated bread pudding ready to be sliced :):) Yummy...

10. You can put more caramel syrup if required depending on your taste :)

Vegetable Steamed Momos

I had this dish for the very first time at Bylakuppe when I had been there for an excursion. I never knew what momos were till then. My friend was insisting me to try this dish. I still remember, a gang of 8 of us had went to this small canteen like shop near that Tibetan monastery.One of my friend had ordered for a plate of momo which was 85 rs at that time.He served 8 momos which were sizzling hot with a super hot schezwan chili sauce.I was damn hungry and being a foodie, I just can't take when I have to share something that is too delicious with others:P:P Each of us had got just one piece and i had that for the very first time in my life.I closed my eyes and had the first bite of it. Oh my god!!! It was something the best I have ever tasted in my entire lifetime.If I am able to re collect so much about that day,you should realize how tasty those momos were. Till date, I have not tasted a single momo that is as tasty and delicious as the one they serve at Bylakuppe. I thought let me make these at home as the momos you get in chennai malls are so damn expensive. When something is very easy and simple to make at home, why to pay for it at hotels.:)

Serves:16 Momos

Ingredients

1. Salt to taste
2. pepper-1 tsp
3. oil-1 tbsp    *You can use either normal cooking oil or sesame oil
4. soya sauce- 1 tsp   
5.  Cabbage leaf for lining 

Vegetables used

• Cabbage -2 cups (shredded finely)
• onion-1 medium sized (finely chopped)
• spring onion- 2-3  (both onion part and the leaf part finely chopped)
• carrot-2 (finely chopped)
• capsicum-1 (finely chopped)
• Garlic - 3 pods (finely chopped)
• 1 inch ginger (finely chopped)

For dough:

1. Maida(plain flour) -1.5 cups
2. Salt - 1 tsp
3. Oil as needed
4. Warm water as needed

                             

Cooking the veggie stuffing

Momo dough is ready

Stuffed dumplings ready to get steamed

Cabbage leaf greased with oil and lined

Place the momos on the leaf for steaming

Momos after being steamed in a pressure cooker

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a pan, add garlic and ginger and saute for a minute. Then add the cut vegetables and saute for few mins till they are semi cooked.

2. Add soy sauce,pepper,salt and saute for 2 mins on high flame with constant stirring.

3. Remove the veggies from flame and keep it aside.Now the stuffing for our momo is ready:)

4. In a bowl, mix maida,salt and warm water and knead the dough well.

5. Use oil as and when you knead as it prevents your hand from getting sticky and simplifies the kneading process.

6.Once you are done with your kneading, keep the dough aside covered with a moist cloth.Now the dough part is ready:)

7. Take a small amount of dough and start rolling in a greased surface. Dust flour as needed to make a thin base for momo. Add about a tsp of stuffing. seal the dough as shown in the picture into your favorite desired shape.

8. Line a cabbage leaf and grease it with oil on a steaming pan. Alternatively, you can steam it in traditional way in a Idli steamer using a pressure cooker. Make sure you grease the container of the steaming pan so that momos do not stick to the container after steaming.

9. Allow the momos to get steamed for at least for 10 mins.The white outer layer of momos start becoming transparent. This is the indication that your momos are getting cooked.

10. Once, the momos are fully cooked, it fully becomes glossy and transparent.

11. Momos are now ready to be served hot with GB'S  spicy hot Momo Chutney.