Strawberry Quick Bread and Strawberry Shrikhand

For someone who is not too fond of strawberries, I have surprised myself by making and posting three desserts involving strawberries in the short span of a week. That's because seasonal strawberries are beautiful little things, aromatic and sweet-tangy, nothing like the hard tasteless strawberry-shaped pellets that grace supermarket shelves all year round.

When I have extra fruit on hand, my first instinct is to make quick bread, which is more cake than bread. I found this strawberry bread recipe on Vintage Victuals. It is always charming to see unique recipes on food blogs that have a story behind them, that come from family and friends of the blogger.

I modified the recipe, halving it to make a single loaf, substituting some whole wheat flour and cutting back the oil and adding some sour cream  because I needed to use it up. With all these changes, the recipe goes to Blog Bites: Adaptation being hosted right here on this blog (tomorrow is the last day to send in your entries).

This quick bread is a simple, tasty treat, perfect for packing into lunch boxes or picnic baskets, worth enjoying over a cup of tea or a tall glass of iced coffee or lemonade.

Strawberry Quick Bread

(adapted from this recipe on Vintage Victuals; makes one loaf)

1. Mix 2 cups of chopped fresh strawberries with 2 tablespoons of sugar and let the strawberries sit for 30-45 minutes, until the mixture becomes syrupy.

2. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a loaf pan.

3. Dry ingredients. Whisk together in a large bowl-

• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• ³⁄₄ cup all-purpose flour
• ¹⁄₂ cup sugar
• ¹⁄₂ tsp. baking soda
• ¹⁄₂ tsp. cinnamon powder
• ¹⁄₂ tsp. salt

4. Wet ingredients. Whisk together in a medium bowl-

• 2 large eggs
• ¹⁄₃ cup oil
• ¹⁄₃ cup sour cream
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

5. Combine wet and dry ingredients gently. Stir in strawberries with all the juices. Scrape batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes or until a tester comes clean.

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We hosted a farewell dinner last night for friends who are moving to another city in pursuit of new adventures. This dessert involves no cooking and showcases fresh local strawberries. It is a variation of the traditional shrikhand that I have posted before. If you can stir, then you can make this dessert. That's the extent of cooking skills needed for this recipe.

V's comment when I offered him a taste: "This is the Indian version of strawberries and cream". We all loved this summery avatar of shrikhand and at the end, the guest of honor pulled the  bowl and serving spoon into her lap and scraped it clean. This is exactly why I love cooking for my friends.

Strawberry Shrikhand

(makes about 6 servings)

1. Line a colander/strainer with cheesecloth, clean cotton fabric or paper towels. Add 4 cups (32 oz. tub) of plain low-fat yogurt to the lined colander, cover and refrigerate for 8 hours or so.

2. Take the strained yogurt into a bowl.

3. Add

• ²⁄₃ cup sugar (or less or more to taste)
• 1 tsp. cardamom powder
• pinch of salt
• 2 to 3 cups strawberries, cut in small dice

4. Stir everything together, decorate the shrikhand with strawberry fans if you wish, chill and serve. 

Notes:

1. It helps to add the sugar a few tablespoons at a time and let it dissolve into the thick, cold yogurt rather than adding it all at one time. 
2. If you make this shrikhand too far ahead of time, the fruit will start releasing liquid. Make it only 2-3 hours before serving if possible.
3. To cut prep time even further, use Greek yogurt which is already strained. 

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Fresh off the Needles

A small bag that I made to give as a gift; this adorable pattern is called the Christine Bag.

Check back in 2 days for the round up of the Blog Bites: Adaptation event, and have a lovely week.

A Berry Luscious Treat

It is strawberry season and my friend from next door (mom to Shanti the husky) informed me that she had 2 pounds of plump strawberries patiently waiting in her fridge. She happens to own an ice cream maker and the fate of the strawberries was sealed once we found this easy, gorgeous recipe.

We decided to make the ice cream together by which I mean that Shanti's mom pressed the on button on the blender and I stood behind her to lend moral support. Because this is all the work that the recipe needs.

No-Cook Strawberry Ice Cream

(adapted from this recipe from Kitchen Parade, makes 6-8 servings)

1. Blend together

• 1 lb. fresh strawberries, cleaned, stem removed and roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup cream
• 1 cup skim milk
• 1 box (8 oz.) low-fat cream cheese, cut in chunks
• 1 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• pinch of salt

2. Freeze in an ice cream maker and serve. Tastes best as a soft-serve rather than completely frozen.

Everyone who tasted this ice cream, including one person who insisted that he does not like strawberry ice cream loved it. For one thing, it has that glorious, fresh, spring-like, girly shade of pink without the yummy addition of FD&C Red No. 40. It is bursting with strawberry flavor and the sugar has a mere supporting role. If you love fruit and hate sugary desserts, this one is for you.

The no-cook ice cream recipes are good to have in one's repertoire. Over the summer, I'd love to try out some more of them, like this chocolate banana ice cream and this pistachio rosewater ice cream.

Last night, Neighbor Girl went grocery shopping and came back with a treat for us, cute little single serving cups of chocolate peanut butter ice cream from Haagen Daaz (and all normal sounding ingredients, imagine that). It was to die for. Of course, I promptly found this double chocolate peanut butter ice cream recipe that I have to try ASAP.

I don't own an ice cream maker yet but might get one later this summer- they really seem to come in handy for quick desserts. Until then, I'll use the old elbow grease method, whipping ice cream by hand a few times as it freezes. 

Fresh off the Hooks and Needles

A couple of crocheted hats adorned with cheerful flowers:

Can you tell what creature is lurking on this hat?

It is a whole parliament of owls. The pattern is called "Who?" and is kindly shared on Penguin Purls. What a hoot!

The only depressing thing is that these hats are destined for a Children's Cancer Hospital. I truly wish we lived in a world where there was no need for chemo caps for wee kids (or for anyone else, for that matter). I couldn't help getting a lump in my throat as I made the little hats.

Have a good rest of the week; I have many things on my to-cook list but let's see what I can come up with next.

Tender Coconut Ice Cream

It was the 1980s and while the world around me was dealing with serious matters of oil spills, assassinations, industrial catastrophes, and falling walls, I was sedately making my way through primary and secondary school. The highlight of the school year was the summer break when we took the overnight train to Bombay and visited our grandmother, aunt and uncle for several weeks.

I was unaware of the terminology then, but my aunt and I were devoted foodies, and she spent a great deal of time treating me to all the good eats of that megacity. We would track down the newest bakery in town for its flaky biscuits and try all the "specials" listed on the chalkboard of our local Udipi restaurant, where all the waiters knew us and greeted us with big smiles. We would rifle through our closets for our most posh-looking frocks so we could go to the Taj coffee shop and splurge on pastries.

In the mid-80s, we took a short autorickshaw-ride from my aunt's home to the swanky neighborhood of Juhu to visit a brand new ice cream store called Naturals. The unique selling point of this store was that they would use all-natural fruit pulp to make decadent ice cream; none of the bright pink "strawberry" and bright green "pistachio" flavors here. And that's where I tasted something called Tender Coconut Ice Cream. The subtle and ethereal taste of young silky coconut wrapped in cream. It rocked my little world. Soon, my aunt and I were on such intimate terms with this particular flavor of ice cream that we just called it "TC".  I don't even want to stop and think about how much TC we consumed over the ensuing years; I am sure some of it is sitting on my hips to this day. Today, Naturals is an extremely successful brand with a gazillion stores in Bombay and neighboring cities, but remember, Naturals, we were the ones who loved you first even before you were famous!

Well, I don't have access to Naturals or TC any more where I live. On my last trip to India in June '09, Nandita made me almost weep with joy when she pulled out two flavors of Naturals ice cream from her freezer for dessert after the fantastic meal she made for us. She gave me a choice of tender coconut and mango and I admit that I ignored my good upbringing ("never be greedy") and said I would have both.

The point of telling you all this is so you can imagine my surprise and joy when I spotted a recipe for tender coconut ice cream a few weeks ago. Not just any recipe but one that calls for no cooking and can be made in a couple of minutes. Not just any recipe but one that calls for ingredients that are easily available where I live. Not just any recipe but one that was tried and blogged by that genius of a cook named Meera of Enjoy Indian Food.

Mix contents of 4 cans together and freeze, that's all there is to it.

Tender Coconut Ice Cream (Just Like Naturals)!!!

(adapted from Meera's recipe)

1. You need 1 can each of sweetened condensed milk (low-fat OK), evaporated milk (low-fat OK), coconut milk (reduced fat OK use the real thing) and tender coconut/ young coconut meat in syrup, which is sold by Thai companies in Asian/Thai/international grocery stores.

2. In a bowl, mix together the coconut milk, condensed milk and evaporated milk. Freeze the mixture in an ice cream machine.

3. Drain and discard all the syrup from the can of tender coconut. Chop the coconut meat into small bits. In the last 5 minutes of churning, add chopped tender coconut to the mixture. Freeze, then serve.

I happened to use an ice cream machine because I've borrowed one from my neighbor for a few days. I think it would be fine to just mix the components and freeze them in a bowl, beating it a few times during the freezing process to break up the ice crystals and aerate the mixture.

Even with all the canned ingredients, this ice cream was divine and very very similar to the TC of my memories. If you have access to fresh thick coconut milk, it would be even more incredible. We shared the ice cream with friends and everyone unanimously loved it. Thanks for a keeper recipe, Meera! You made a girl very very happy.

It is a very rich ice cream as you can imagine but this quantity is enough for 10-12 servings in my estimation. A little certainly goes a long way.

By being able to recreate a favorite store-bought treat in my own kitchen with the help of a fellow blogger's recipe, this post is an entry for Blog Bites: the Copcat edition hosted right here on this blog.

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Here's a short video of Dale talking with Tony and getting treats on demand:



Wherever in the world you live, I hope you have a fantastic week; I will be back in 2-3 days with a sweet refreshing beverage.