Squash Blossoms a delicacy

With the arrival of summer squash comes the dainty beautiful yellow orange flower of the vegetable. I didn't know that these flowers are edible till my niece made a dish out of those.  These bright orange  flowers are available only in the farmer's markets or specialty stores.  The best ones can come from your kitchen garden.  These blossoms have a very short shelf life.  They are so soft and perishable that they can last only for a day even in the refrigerator.  They are available only from July to September.

It is true that squash blossoms can be used for garnishing the salads and soups but to turn these into a gourmet dish would require stuffing them with some soft cheese and frying them.  My niece, the culinary expert stuffed it with ricotta cheese and thyme combination and fried them.  When she invited us over to have a squash blossom,  my sister asked for ketchup.  Her response was: "Mom, this is a delicacy and you are supposed to eat them like that in order to enjoy the true flavor of the blossoms."

The squash blossoms are not just pretty looking, they are high in calcium and iron and especially high in vitamins C and A.  They are excellent for dieters as one cup of squash blossom has merely five calories, unless you are stuffing and frying them.

Ingredients:

16-20 squash blossoms, 3/4 cup white flour, 1 cup beer, salt to taste , oil for frying.

Ingredients for filling:

2 liters of milk, 2 tbsp of lemon juice, 1 small onion chopped finely, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp lemon pepper, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, 1 tbsp cooking oil

Method:

In a big pan put milk to boil.  When it reaches boiling point, add lemon juice to curdle the milk.  Strain the curdled milk through a muslin cloth to allow all the whey and moisture to drain.  Hang it on the kitchen sink tap.  Once water drains completely(it may take two hours or so), take out of the cloth and mash it well with your fingers.  Heat one tbsp of oil, add cumin seeds.  When they tsp spluttering, add onion and sauté them till they turn light pink.  Add mashed paneer(cheese), salt and lemon pepper and mix it well.  Keep aside so it cools off.

In the meanwhile make batter of white flour, beer and salt and mix it well.  Stuff the blossoms with the paneer mix by opening the petals gently.  Coat the stuffed ones in the batter mix.  Heat the oil to 325 degrees F and fry them until golden brown. Place the fried ones on the paper towel to drain the oil.  

Enjoy.

Fresh strawberry cake

My niece who is an excellent cook made this amazingly delicious cake for the July 4 barbecue party. Her almost four-year-old son helped in this.  The result was velvety textured cake with the freshness of strawberries.
The cake was so yummy that guests asked for second helpings.  The best part is you can put all the ingredients in the food processor and let it work to a perfect cake batter.  Other than baking time, this cake can be made in a jiffy.

Ingredients:

Butter 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp, white flour 1 1/2 cups, baking powder 1 1/2 tsp, salt 1/2 tsp, sugar 1 1/4 cups, eggs 2 small or 1 big,  milk 1/2 cup, vanilla essence 1 tsp,  strawberries 1pound washed and halved.

Method:

Sift white flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a nine inch pie plate and keep it aside.
Put butter and one cup of sugar in a food processor bowl and mix it on a high speed till fluffy and creamy.  It should not take more than 4 or 5 minutes.  Reduce speed to medium and mix in eggs, vanilla and milk.

 

Reduce speed to low and gradually mix in flour mixture.  Once done pour this mixture on the buttered pie plate and arrange the strawberries on the batter. Place the cut side of strawberries down.  Try putting them very close to each other.


Bake cake for  one hour and ten minutes on 325 degrees F.  When last 15 minutes are left for baking, bring the cake out and sprinkle rest of the sugar on the fruit and cake.


 If you like the caramelized look you may sprinkle the sugar before you start to bake.