It’s obvious that the weather plays such a huge part in what we eat. The turn of the seasons means that we get lots of different vegetables and fruits throughout the year ultimately inspiring us to make lots of different recipes. But, in a way, it’s strange to think how sports can influence our desire to eat certain foods.
Currently, in the UK, Wimbledon is well underway. You don’t have to be a tennis enthusiast to know that Wimbledon and strawberries and cream go hand in hand. I was intrigued so I had to look up the history. It turned out that it was during the Tudor era that strawberries and cream were first paired together by a man named Thomas Wolsey. Either way, it’s such a huge success that each year, 28000 kg of strawberries and 7000 litres of cream is consumed at Wimbledon each year!
Keeping in theme with this, we decided as a family to go to a Pick Your Own farm and pick strawberries. With so many beautiful strawberries, we kept picking and ended up with nearly 5 kilos worth! Now we just had the “simple” task of using all of them in our cooking!
We enjoyed eating the strawberries on their own but I also made a few strawberry based recipes. One such recipe was Strawberry kulfi with black pepper – a variation to the Mango Ginger kulfi I made earlier! Recently, I came to know that not only cream but a little sprinkle of black pepper powder goes well with fresh strawberries. I just HAD to give it a go, well I shouldn’t, but we Indians do sprinkle chaat masala on fruit and eat it as chaat. The kulfi tasted great and what has been even better is the Sun slowly beginning to peek from behind those clouds! Summer Bliss
You will need :-
- 1 can condensed milk ( 375g )
- 300 ml double cream
- 250 g fresh strawberries washed and pat dried
- 2 tbsp sugar ( use less or more depends sweetness of the strawberries )
- 2 tsp black pepper powder lightly crushed
- Few fresh strawberries for garnishing
Method :- Place strawberries and sugar in a food processor to make a puree. Add black papper powder and condenced milk, mix and leave it aside. Gently whip up the cream till it hold it’s shape , then fold it into the strawberry mixture. Pour it into kulfi moulds, small ramekins or metal tray. ( I set this kulfi this time in a silicon cupcake and cookie moulds ) Cover with cling film then set in to freezer. Let freeze more than 6-7 hours or till set. When ready to eat let the kulfi mould stand outside the freezer for 4-5 minutes before. Garnish with fresh strawberries and if you want sprinkle little black pepper powder.
It isn’t too difficult to make and it’s a very crunchy spicy, tasty and yummy snack which is great for anyone and perfect with tea or coffee! If you’re para crazy then check out my Sugar Coated Shakkarpara and Jaggery or Gur Para
You will need :-
- 250 g chickpea flour or besan
- 250 g plain flour or chapatti flour
- 50 g fine semolina
- 100 ml oil
- Salt to taste
- 2-3 tsp red chilli powder ( you can adjust to your liking )
- 2 tsp sesame seeds
- 2 tsp ajwain ( carom seeds )
- Oil to fry para
Masala powder to sprinkle on crackers
- Red chilli powder 1 tsp.
- Dry mango powder 1/2 tsp. ( Amchoor Powder )
- Garam masala 1/2 tsp.
- Chaat masala 1 tsp.
- Anardaana powder 1/2 tsp. ( pomegranate powder )
Method :- Mix all the masala powder ( to sprinkle ) in one bowl and leave it aside. Mix chickpea flour, plain flour, semolina, 100 ml oil, salt, sesame seeds, ajawain seeds and red chilli powder in a bowl. Combine everything and make a stiff pliable dough. ( like a puri dough ) Cover with wet cloth and leave it 10-15 minutes. Divide dough into 4-5 equal parts. Make a ball from each part of the dough and roll into a circle on a flat surface with rolling pin about 1/2 ” thick . Prick the circle with fork so para doesn’t fluff up. Cut each of the rolled dough into half with pizza cutter or knife. ( if you feel like whatever shape you desire you can give like square or diamond but I preffered long sheets ) Heat oil in a heavy bottom kadai , fry the paras on a medium to low heat until brown. Remove it from the hot oil. Sprinkle masala powder which prepared earlier and let it cool to room temperature they will go crispy.
Note :- Please do not get confused with this recipe thinking that these are regular Fafda or Choraphali fafda, they both totally different recipes. Check out my Fafda recipe and look forward to see Choraphali fafda recipe in near future.
