Its dessert time with Pome!!!

Pomegranate for dessert?? what's better than a sorbet or granita??? Sorbet requires a ice cream machine to obtain that smooth texture... Since I didn't own one, I decided to go with granita.

This amazing ice reminds us (Murali and I) of the gola ice, from the street vendors of India. It is crushed ice formed into a popsicle and flavored sugar syrup poured on the top. It can be multi flavored, by poring different syrups on each part of the popsicle.

Next thought was, how can I improvise more on the dessert.... So, decided to make POM parfait, a layered dessert.

 

Ingredients:

For granita:
Juice from 5 POM Wonderful pomegranates or POM Wonderful 100% pomegranate juice - 650 ml
Water - 650 ml
Sugar - 1 1/2 cups
Zest and juice of 1 lime

For parfait:
Roasted almond slices -1 tsp
Honey - 2 tbsp
Yogurt tinted pink with pomegranate juice - 1/4 cup
Pomegranate arils - 4 tbsp
Chocolate syrup - 1 - 2 tbsp
Pomegranate granita - as required.

Method:
To prepare granita, boil water with lime zest. When it comes to rolling boil, add sugar and stir until dissolved. Remove from heat and let it cool. Add pomegranate juice and lime juice, mix well and freeze in a tray in the freezer. When completely frozen, remove and break up the ice with a fork. When it turns slushy, return to the freezer and freeze completely before serving.

To assemble a parfait, in a tall glass, pour honey at the bottom and add half of the almond pieces. Add a layer of pomegranate granita, then a layer of pink yogurt, a layer of pomegranate arils, a layer of pink yogurt again and a layer of granita again. Top off with chocolate syrup and garnish with the remaining pomegranate arils and almonds.

The parfait need to be arranged fast as the granita would melt quickly.

This was dessert during the POM dinner party I recently hosted. Check out the recap here

POMyo! sauce (Pomegranate Yogurt sauce)

I wanted to make a second dipping sauce for my POM dinner party and was racking my brain for ideas... If pomegranates would taste good with milk (milk shakes), and it is not uncommon to use them in yogurt rice - I decided to make a sauce with yogurt base. I also used some spicy mustard to give a zing to it.

Ingredients:
Juice from 2 large POM wonderful Pomegranates about (250 ml)
yogurt - 2 1/2 tbsp
spicy mustard - 1/4 - 1/2 tsp (as per taste)
salt to taste

Method:
Juice arils from 2 large pomegranates. I used my blender to blend the arils and then filtered through a sieve. You can use a citrus juicer or simply use POM wonderful 100% Pomegranate juice.
Heat the juice over medium heat. When it comes to a rolling boil, add salt to taste and simmer until it reduces into a saucy consistency and coats the spoon.Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Add yogurt, spicy mustard and more salt if required and whisk together until smooth. Garnish with pomegranate arils.

This sauce is great for dipping chips and veggies too. Read about my POM dinner party recap here.

Those red and green beauties out there in these pictures are called silk chilies (for their silky sweetness, I guess). I found them at my local farmers market and instantly fell in love with them. While photographing the sauce, I just could not resist myself from focusing on them, so here we go!!!

Pomegranate chutney

When I decided to make a dipping sauce out of pomegranate for my POM dinner party that would be versatile enough for dipping and using in Bhel puri, this is what I came up with. I drew my inspiration from tomato ketchup and Indian Tamarind-Date sweet sauce. Since pomegranate has a wonderful sweet tart flavor, it can elegantly replace tomato or tamarind in a sauce. I served it as a condiment with the veggie masala cutlet and in Bhel puri instead of sweet sauce.

Ingredients:
Juice from 4 large POM Wonderful pomegranates (about 500 ml)
Dates - 8 to 10 pitted and soaked in just enough hot water for 4 hours
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Chili powder - 1/4 tsp (or to taste)
Garlic - 3 large cloves, peeled
Ginger - 1 inch piece
salt to taste.


Method:
Juice arils from 4 large pomegranates. I used my blender to blend the arils and then filtered through a sieve. You can use a citrus juicer or simply use POM wonderful 100% Pomegranate juice.
Grind the soaked dates into a smooth paste.
Heat the juice over medium heat. Drop whole garlic cloves and the peeled ginger piece into the juice. When it comes to a rolling boil, add cumin powder, coriander powder, chili powder and salt to taste and simmer until it reduces into a saucy consistency and coats the spoon. Remove the garlic cloves and ginger piece from the sauce using a slotted spoon.
Now, add dates paste, simmer for 2-3 more minutes and remove from heat. The chutney thickens more while cooling.

My guests loved this sauce and were asking me for recipe. Read the POM dinner party recap here.

Couscous - Pomegranate and much more salad

I prepare couscous salad pretty often, with small variations every time. Now, it is time to incorporate the wonderful fall fruit, pomegranate.

Couscous is quite a newcomer to my kitchen. About a year ago, I saw Sandra Lee from the Food Network, using it.  I searched online and found that couscous is a type of Middle Eastern pasta made from semolina flour. Traditionally, it is cooked by steaming for a long time. Today, the varieties sold in the grocery stores are pre-steamed for convenience and are ready in 10 minutes. Even though, it is a pasta, it neither looks nor tastes like one, but more like cracked wheat. It is very versatile and is an interesting alternative to regular pasta. I have always been using Trader Joe's whole wheat couscous in my preparations.

This is an adaptation from couscous salad recipe posted in about.com

Ingredients:
Dry Couscous - 1 cup
Black beans - 1 16 oz can, drained
Pomegranate - 1 cup
Red bell pepper - 1 medium, diced
Lemon -1 zested and juiced
Olive oil - 2 tbsp
Chopped flat leaf parsley - 1/4 cup
Chopped mint - 1/4 cup
chilly flakes to taste (optional) 
Salt and pepper to taste
Water - 3/4 cup

Method:
Prepare couscous as per directions in the box. Combine water, lemon zest, 1 tbsp olive oil (I sometimes use chili oil) and chili flakes (yes!!! we love the heat) and bring to a boil. Simmer, pour over couscous, season with salt and pepper to taste, mix well, cover with a plastic wrap and set aside.
In a separate bowl, combine black beans, pomegranates, red bell pepper, lemon juice, remaining olive oil, parsley and mint. Season with salt and pepper to taste and let it stand for 30 minutes. Combine with couscous preparation and cool in the refrigerator before serving.

This was our salad during the POM dinner party I recently hosted. Check out the recap here.

Bhel puri with pomegranates

Bhel puri may be called the king of all chaats. Chaat is small plate of savory snack, usually associated with street-side vendors. But these days they are served even in five star restaurants. Bhel puri and Pani puri are the two most popular chaats and they are soooo yummy!!

The first time I ever tried bhel puri (any chaat, for that matter) was when I was in my first year of college (yes!! you read it right). My friend Tasneem took me to 'Gangotri', the chaat and sweet shop in Chennai. I enjoyed it a lot and started trying different varieties of chaat at every opportunity I got and loved every one of them, especially the ones with yogurt.

Bhel puri is a mixture of puffed rice (bhel), cooked potato cubes, sev (fried and crumbled besan noodles), papdi (fried flat savory snack made from all purpose flour) and an assortment of vegetables. Adding pomegranates was my idea and is not part of a typical bhel puri. I also replaced the sweet chutney (Tamarind-Date chutney) with my own pomegranate chutney.

Lets gather the ingredients.

Puffed rice - 4 cups
Thin sev - 1 cup (to mix in and garnish)
Potato - 1 large, steamed and cubed
Pomegranate arils - 1 cup (to mix in and garnish)
Papdi - about 10 - 12 pieces
Tomato - 1 medium, finely chopped
Red onion - 1, finely chopped
Carrot - 1, grated
Cilantro - 1/4 cup, finely chopped
Green chillies - 3 finely chopped (or to taste)
Freshly squeezed lime juice - few drops
Cumin powder - 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder - 1/4 tsp
Chili powder - 1/4 tsp

Chat masala - 1/2 tsp (optional)
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Green chutney - 2 tbsp (ground cilantro, mint, ginger, green chillies and lemon juice)
Pomegranate chutney - 2 tbsp
Salt to taste

All the above ingredients are available in Indian stores (of course, except the pomegranate chutney)

Method:
Mix puffed rice and thin sev in a large bowl and set aside (dry). Add rest of the ingredients into another bowl and toss thoroughly (wet). When it is time to serve, add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and mix well. Garnish with more sev and pomegranate arils. Serve immediately, or it will get soggy.

This was our starter /snack during the POM dinner party I recently hosted. Check out the recap here.

Pomegranate Juice-Shake

This drink is kind of in between juice and shake and so, I called it a 'Juice-Shake'. It is actually milk shake, with lot less milk than you would normally use. It is very light and tasty and is a great drink for any occasion.

Just thinking about it takes me to those road-side juice shops of Chennai (in India). Chennai is hot and humid almost through out the year. Even during the winter months (do we even have winter??), the temperature is around 80F with at least 70% humidity. So, these juice shops are a boon for the folks spending their day outdoors. For about Rs. 40, ( less then $1), one can drink a tall glass full of pomegranate juice. The 'juice guy' would score the fruit into half, hold it in his palm skin-side up over a blender, tap it with a laddle to loosen up the arils, add milk, sugar and ice, blend, filter and serve. They are so quick, that they can handle 5-10 guests at a time!!

In this recipe, I have followed the same method as that of the 'juice guy'. I used about 2 cups of milk, 6 tea spoons of sugar and arils from 3 large POM Wonderful pomegranates. You can of course, substitute with 100% POM Wonderful  Pomegranate Juice. Blend them all together, filter and cool in the refrigerator before serving. You can garnish with few arils and a spring of mint.

This was our welcome drink during the POM dinner party I recently hosted. I wanted to make it kid-friendly, still worked out to be a hit with everyone :-). Check out the recap here.