I really liked the flavor of the fudge, but ... [read more]]]>

I really liked the flavor of the fudge, but the added sesame seeds did make it just a tiny bit on the dry side.

The day after I made the fudge, I was in the mood for some ice cream, so I decided to use my fudge to make a cashew nut-sesame seed ice cream.

It was really easy. I just crumbled up some of the fudge, stirred in some milk, as well as some So Delicious French vanilla coconut milk creamer, smashed it all up a little, and then froze it.

After the mixture froze overnight, I put the frozen ice cream in my blender with a little more milk and pureed it so the ice creamy would be creamier. Then I froze it again, and that’s all there is to it!

While I really liked the fudge, I loved the ice cream even more! It totally hit the spot!

What’s your favorite ice cream flavor by the way? It’s hard for me to decide but I think it’s vanilla bean.

Cashew Sesame Seed Fudge

Recipe Source: Manjula’s kitchen

Cashew Nut-Sesame Seed Ice Cream

Adapted from: Manjula’s kitchen

Ingredients:

• 3 cups cashew sesame seed fudge, crumbled
• 1/2 cup So Delicious French vanilla coconut milk creamer
• 1/2 + 1/4 cup milk

Instructions:

• Make the fudge (recipe can be found at Manjula’s kitchen.
• Crumble the fudge.
• Stir in the milk and So Delicious French vanilla coconut milk cream.
• Smash the crumbled fudge into the milk/creamer mixture.
• Pour into a freezer container with a lid.
• Freeze overnight.
• In the morning when the ice cream has hardened, scoop the ice cream into your blender.
• Add 1/4 cup milk and puree to smooth out nuts and seeds until the mixture is smooth.
• Pour the mixture back into the freezer container and re-freeze over night.

The first time we tried chicken saagwala (chicken in a creamy spinach sauce) was at our favorite Indian retaurant…Little India Cafe. It was just heavenly!! The owner of the restaurant told us that instead of making it with cream, they make it with homemade yogurt. One of these days, we plan to try making homemade ... [read more]]]> The first time we tried chicken saagwala (chicken in a creamy spinach sauce) was at our favorite Indian retaurant…Little India Cafe. It was just heavenly!! The owner of the restaurant told us that instead of making it with cream, they make it with homemade yogurt. One of these days, we plan to try making homemade yogurt ourselves.

Anyway, the chicken saagwala was so good we wanted to learn how to make it ourselves, and we found out it’s actually very easy to prepare. Kemal has made it twice now in the past two weeks, and both times we’ve thoroughly enjoyed it! Here’s a couple of pictures of it.

It goes great with naan or aloo naan, and the bread helps cut the heat from the spiciness of the dish. Rice will do the same, but oddly enough, we didn’t serve it with rice either time we made it. We probably will next time though.

If you like your Indian food less hot and spicy, just cut way back on the red chili flakes and chili powder.

Speaking of hot and spicy, do you sometimes enjoy meals which set your mouth on fire? We do, but not all the time.

Chicken Saagwala

Adapted from: Petrina Verma Sarkar About.com Guide

I’ve read a lot of excellent reviews about this restaurant, and we finally went there today for lunch. The food was incredibly delicious and the service was over-the-top.  After reading so many positive reviews about the restaurant, I was eager to try it.

The lady who waited on us said they make everything from scratch, including ... [read more]]]> I’ve read a lot of excellent reviews about this restaurant, and we finally went there today for lunch. The food was incredibly delicious and the service was over-the-top.  After reading so many positive reviews about the restaurant, I was eager to try it.

The lady who waited on us said they make everything from scratch, including the yogurt. She said they cook with their homemade yogurt instead of heavy cream, and she even brought us out a small bowl of the yogurt to sample. It was wonderful!!!

In fact, all the food we tried off the buffet was really good…better than the other Indian restaurants we’ve been to.

The cafe is tucked away in the Hikes Point Plaza.

You can’t see it from the road, the building is nothing fancy, and the decor is simple and homey. The prices are quite reasonable, the staff is friendly and helpful, and food is awesome! I sampled a little bit of many of the dishes on the buffet.

Our favorite was the chana masala, which is garbanzo beans cooked with spices and onions. It’s a bit on the hot side which we liked. The yogurt made it creamy and added a beautiful flavor.

The chicken curry was really good, and the tandoori chicken was the best I ever had. I couldn’t believe how moist it was.

The dal…lentils with spices and yogurt, was out-of-this-world incredible! It was perfectly hot and spicy and oh-so-creamy. I so much enjoyed dipping my naan in it!

Speaking of the naan bread, it was a little different from most other naan breads I’ve tried. The lady who waited on us said they put yogurt in the dough, which is what I do when I make it home. The naan was thicker than the naan bread I’ve tried at other Indian Restaurants, but it was fantastic!

I also tried the chicken sagwala which is chicken breast cooked with creamy spinach. The cream sauce is made with the homemade yogurt (not cream), and it’s a very tasty dish.

The vegetable curry and the fried onions were fantastic. I’m not sure what kind of batter the onions were fried in (perhaps a lentil batter?) but it was incredibly good!

The lady who waited on us said they cook everything the way they cook at home, and they certainly do seem to take a lot of pride in their meals and using high quality ingredients. They use only certified halal meat, and rice was perfectly cooked.

We definitely plan to return, and the next time we go we’ll eat at dinner time so we can try some other items that weren’t on the buffet. If you go at dinner time and order off the menu, they will season your food to your likeness. It’s really nice that if you want your meal hotter and spicier, they’ll fix it to order that way for you. Or if you prefer your food milder, they’ll season it that way as well. I just love how everything is made just the way you like it.

When we go at dinner, we’re interested in trying the baigan bharta which is eggplant sauteed with tomatoes, onions, and spices. And we also want to try masala dosa, which is rice and lentil crepes with sicy potatoes. I’m also interested in trying the lamb curry, lamb korma (lamb simmered in mild yogurt sauce), and the lamb vindaloo (lamb simmered with spicy potatoes).

If you like India food or have also wanted to try it but haven’t, we highly recommend the Little India Cafe at the Hikes Point Plaza in Louisville, Ky, right off Breckinridge Lane.

They’re closed on Mondays. On weekdays, the buffet is 7.95 and weekends it’s $9.95. I believe they serve the buffet until 3 p.m. If you want to call them to be sure, their phone number is 502-479-3353.

Update: We’ve back to the Little India Cafe several times since I wrote this review, and every time we’ve been, the food has continued to be outstanding.

While the food on the buffet is quite good, we prefer the dinner menu because the food is even better!

The vegetable samosas make for a wonderful appetizer! They’re crisp on the outside and filled with soft vegetables and spices on the inside. The tamarind chutney and cilantro chutney they’re served with make excellent dipping sauces!

We also ordered chicken saagwala (served with rice and a piece of naan bread) which features soft, tender chicken in creamy, pureed spinach. You order it mild, hot, or Indian hot, and we ordered our Indian hot. It was perfect, and we enjoyed ours with garlic naan bread which was scrumptious! Without a doubt we’ll be ordering this again!

The lentil rice crepes (masala dosa) that we ordered off the menu were also quite tasty, and the inside is filled with soft vegetables and spices. It’s served with a chutney that contains coconut and mustard (among other things), and it was also very good. The lentil rice crepes come with a small bowl of lentil soup which was light yet full of flavor, and both the saagwala and the lentil rice crepes are big portion sizes so it’s a definite value for your money.

The owner stopped by again to chat with us to make sure everything was to our liking, and one of the ladies in the kitchen cooking brought us a sample of lamb biryani (a fragrant rice dish with lamb). It was so incredibly delicious! The owner said that a group of people living in Lexington come to the cafe every Friday just to order this dish.

While we were much too full to order dessert, the thick, pulpy mango juice was our sweet treat to finish off the meal. It’s the best mango juice I’ve every had! We’re hardly waiting to go back and sample more of their excellent home-cooked meals!

I make it sound like we didn’t eat any vegetables while we vacationing, but we did…just not in the quantities that we normally consume. We generally eat a large amount of vegetables over the course ... [read more]]]>

I make it sound like we didn’t eat any vegetables while we vacationing, but we did…just not in the quantities that we normally consume. We generally eat a large amount of vegetables over the course of a week, preparing vegetable entrees and snacking on veggies in addition to having several vegetable side items with our meals.

While on vacation, we just couldn’t get enough vegetables, but now that we’re home, we’re not holding back! Here’s a wonderful vegetarian Indian dish Kemal made for us this evening. It’s warm, spicy, and I literally sang the yum-yum song while practically inhaling it. LOL!

Aloo Gobi (Adapted from: Mallika Basu of Quick Indian Cooking)

We love Indian cuisine, and this is definitely one of our favorite meals, especially when accompanied with some naan ... [read more]]]>

We love Indian cuisine, and this is definitely one of our favorite meals, especially when accompanied with some naan and a glass of milk.

Cauliflower and Garlic, Indian Style (Gobi Masala)

Ingredients:

• 2 small heads cauliflower
• 3 heads garlic
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 package Gobi Aloo Spice Mix
  

Note: If you aren’t able to purchase the spice mix, then mix the spices yourself. You’ll need: ground coriander, ground pomegranate seeds, cumin, salt, asafoetida, cayenne pepper, paprika, and turmeric. The turmeric in the mix will leave a lovely yellow stain on the vegetables.

Instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Clean the cauliflower and then separate the florets into small pieces.
• Peel the garlic. Leave the cloves whole.
• Mix the spice mix into the olive oil.
• Place the garlic in the microwave and cook for a few minutes. You don’t need to cook it until it’s soft, but just a few minutes to cook it some.
• Mix the garlic and cauliflower with the olive oil and spices, making sure to coat the vegetables fairly evenly.
• Spread the garlic and cauliflower onto a baking dish and bake uncovered until the cauliflower and garlic are soft. I like to cook mine a little longer so the garlic caramelizes but it’s not necessary to do that.
• Serve warm.