Spicy Kabuli Chana/Chickpeas with Veggies

Kabuli Chana/Chickpeas/Garbanzo beans needs no introduction, it's one popular bean through out the world. Specially in Mediterranean & Indian(to be more specific north Indian) Cuisine it has a lot of importance, 99% of Indian restaurants have Punjabi Chole/Chana Masala on their menu. Kabuli Chanas are white in color & the name Kabuli comes from the city name Kabul(capital of Afghanistan). For very long time Afghanistan was the gateway to Indian sub-continent and it is suppose to be the place from where Kabuli Chana/Chickpeas were introduced in Indian subcontinent. Now, India is the largest producer of Chickpeas in world.

From Indian Cuisine the most popular Chana/Chickpeas dish is Chana Masala or very popularly known as Chole in north Indian households, which goes with the combination of Puri/Bhatura/Kulcha (flat Indian breads). I have already posted Chana Masala/Punjabi Chole recipe here. Today I'm sharing a very healthy but less time consuming recipe and taste wise also it's a hit.

What U need :

• 1 cup of dried uncooked chanas/chickpeas, soaked overnight.
• 1 tablespoon of chopped garlic
• 1 med. size onion, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoon of tomato paste
• 3-4 green chillies, chopped finely
• 1 & 1/2 cup of veggies, chopped into small bite size pieces( I used carrot, zucchini & eggplant/baingan)
• salt
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp. paprika
• 1 tsp. dhania/coriander powder
• 1 tsp. jeera/cumin powder
• 1 tsp. garam masala
• handful of chopped cilantro for garnish
• l & 1/2 tablespoon oil

What U do :

1. Boil the chickpeas with 1 tsp. of salt & 2 bay leaves.
2. Once the chickpeas are cooked, heat oil in a heavy bottom pan. Saute garlic for few seconds, add onions, cook till translucent.
3. Add chopped veggies, sprinkle some salt, saute them. Once they are around half done add all the dry spices.
4. Next add tomato paste & little liquid from boiled chickpeas and green chillies. Also add drained chickpeas(see notes) to it and cook it covered till the veggies are done.
5. Garnish with fresh cilantro & serve with roti/naan or with your fav. bread.

If U don't count the time for boiling the chickpeas, this dish hardly takes 20 minutes or so and it's ready for one wholesome meal.

Notes :

1. If U prefer canned chickpeas, drain the liquid & rinse them with fresh water, no need to boil.
2. In case if U r boiling your own chickpeas try to boil them with just enough water as the final dish is dry kind. But if U have extra liquid use it in other dishes or for roti (Indian flat bread)dough.
3. I usually boil some extra chickpeas & keep them handy in the fridge to throw them in different dishes & if nothing else, works good in lentil salad.
4. I use whatever veggies I have on hand , so far I've used celery, parsnip/mooli, cauliflower, Indian bottle gourd/ghiya, spinach, beetroot(careful with this as it'll turn the whole dish into dark pinkish red color, so only if U like it that way).
5. I usually add all the veggies together (except leafy ones if using), that way the veggies which cook quickly like zucchini will get mushed up & U get kind of thick masala(not too much). For leafy veggies I add them once rest of the veggies are half done.

Eggless Baking : Chocolate Banana Bread & Mini Bundt Cakes

Again some bananas waiting for their turn to be used up and thinking, if nobody is eating may be we'll get a good shake with milk......but wait it's snowing outside chances are very less to mingle with the milk......slowly turned black from outside, perfect for baking, may be now somebody will see us.......and finally lady of the house decided their faith.....Chocolate banana bread & mini bundt cakes with blueberries.

Base recipe used here is of my other banana bread but this one was baked to mainly clear few things from the cooler-box and pantry. And it's very forgiving kind of recipe one can easily substitute with what they have in hand or how healthy they want to make it, butter can be totally left out from this recipe as banana works well as fat substitute. Addition of chocolate make it more acceptable by kids even when it has lots of good stuff in it. Please do check the notes at the end, as list of ingredients might make u think it's a very long recipe, which is not, only the list of ingredients is lengthy otherwise it's just mix & bake kind of recipe.

What U need :
Dry ingredients :

• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour(I used whole wheat pastry flour, atta works fine)
• 1/2 cup oat flour(grind regular/old fashioned oats in coffee grinder)
• 1 cup all purpose flour + 1/2 tablespoon (used maida from Indian store)
• 3 tablespoon flaxmeal (dry roast flaxseeds when cool grind then using coffee grinder)
• 1 cup almond meal (grind almonds fine or coarse, as per your taste)
• 4 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1&1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt

Wet Ingredients :

• 2 tablespoon butter at room temp.
• 3 medium over ripe bananas
• 2 tablespoon ricotta cheese
• 5-6 tablespoon sweet condensed milk
• 1 cup buttermilk(or homemade dahi/yogurt can be used, dilute it with little water in case if it's thick)
• 1/2 cup water(might need little less or more depending upon what proportion of diff. flours u r using)

Other Ingredients(totally optional) :

• handful of blueberries(needed to finish these too)
• handful of mini chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoon of sweet coconut flakes(rest of the packet is waiting to be turned into coconut cake....ahhh!!)

What U do :

1. In a large bowl using a whisk, mix all the dry ingredients making sure that there are no lumps. Keep it aside.
2. Make sure all the wet ingredients are at room temperature. In another bowl using a whisk mix butter, banana, ricotta and condensed milk till they are smooth. Slowly add buttermilk & 1/2 cup of water & again whisk them.
3. Add dry ingredients to the wet mixture little at a time & keep mixing them till all the dry ingredients are mixed together with wet. It's kind of a thick batter but not too tight. So if needed use little extra water.
4. Roll blueberries in 1/2 tablespoon flour. Fold berries & choco. chips to the batter. I added coconut flakes to only one loaf. So after filling the bundt pan & one loaf pan I folded coconut flakes to the batter.
5. Pour it into greased pans & bake it in the 350 degree F oven, for timing check below and for filling bundt pan check notes.

Baking Pans and Time :
I made two small loaves & 12 mini bundt cakes out of this batter. Mini bundt cakes or if U plan for cupcakes usually take around 16-18 minutes. For mini loaves, it took 30 minutes.

Notes :

1. I have used 3 different flours basic idea was to have around 2 cups of flour, recipe works well with only whole wheat flour also. So U can change the quantity of diff. flours, as long they measure 2 cups in total should work fine.
2. In wet ingredients also I'm using quite a few things as I had to finish those & bread came out very good with addition of all those. U can check other version of banana bread here which is not using condensed milk & ricotta cheese and play with the recipe as per your taste.
3. If using mini bundt pan filling the batter into small cavities can be little tricky & messy at the same time. So, here's the easy solution just fill a large Ziploc with the batter, cut 1 cm. from one corner & squeeze the batter out into cavities(fill only around 3/4) or if U happen to have large pastry bag use that. And don't throw the bag wash it, let it dry & use it next time when U again bake mini bundt cakes.  

This chocolate banana bread & mini bundt cakes are off to Champa for her weekly bake-off.

Tilapia with Indian Style Fried Rice

In my house we all love fish. During the summer season I prefer to make wild caught salmon because that's the time when U get it fresh but other times I try to make different kinds. One popular one among my family is Machi Tawa fry. It's basically very simple recipe and can be used with any kind of fish. So I'm not writing the recipe here again as it's same as this one except in that recipe I made rainbow trout but here I have made tilapia. Cooking time is almost same for both the fish, they don't take more than 7-9 minutes on pan depending upon how thick the fillet is. Cut each fillet into two or keep it full. One more difference is I've stopped using my non-stick pan from long time & I use my cast iron pan(lodge) to tawa-fry(pan-fry) the fish.

I served the fish with Indian style fried rice. I had some left over rice so basically made some tarka with veggies to make fried rice. Here's the recipe for very flavorful rice :

What U need :

• 1 cup cooked rice (preferably left over, if cooking fresh let them cool completely before adding them to tarka)
• around 3/4 cup of  veggies like carrots, green/red bell pepper, shelled peas, corn
• one medium size onion thinly sliced
• 2-3 green chillies chopped
• salt
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. red chilli powder
• 1 tsp. cumin powder
• 1 tsp. mustard seeds
• few curry leaves(curry patta)
• 3-4 pieces laung(cloves)
• 3 tablespoon liquid : water/ chicken stock/ veg. stock
• 3-4 tsp. cooking oil

What U do :

• If peas are hard par-boil them or microwave them for 2-3 minutes. Chop carrots & bell pepper into small cubes.
• Heat oil in karahi(wok), add sliced onions & cook them till translucent.
• Using a slotted spoon move them to a side of the karahi. Now add mustard seeds & Laung/clove & curry leaves. Once they start to splutter add all the veggies. Sprinkle some salt & saute the veggies for 2-3 minutes.
• Add rest of the spices & chopped green chillies. If tarka/veggie mixture looks dry add  2-3 spoons liquid(water/veg. stock/ chicken stock), once it's hot add rice to this & mix them nicely so each & every grain get the coating of spices & flavors. Turn the gas off & cover the rice & let them sit for 5 minutes or so.
• Serve them with yogurt/dahi or any kind of meat/fish U like.

Notes : 1) don't add too much of liquid otherwise rice will become mushy.
2) make sure rice have no lumps before adding it to the tarka, break the lumps using your hands. Once rice is added to the tarka be gentle, otherwise rice grain will break into pieces.

3) I'm not using lot of oil which means rice can stick to the pan so be careful. I use my Iron karahi(wok), it works as non-stick, so if U want U can use non-stick pan or may be increase little bit of oil to avoid sticking problem.

Here's one close look.....

 

Eggless Sugar Cookies for a Sweet New Year Start

Happy New Year everyone! Hope everybody had a sweet and cheerful start to the year 2011. Today I'm posting my our first bake of the year 2011. It was a joint project between me & DD and it seems with her touch cookies came out nice & perfect and almost one third were gone before the end of the day.

I don't bake cookies very often so other day when we decided to bake sugar cookies I could not find my recipe(I still have many recipes on piece of papers). So I googled for Egg less Sugar Cookies & I found Aparna's(My Diverse Kitchen) recipe who has further adapted from Slashfood and before I looked at the recipe, the picture of her cookies convinced me that I have to make these. She has decorated them so beautifully, that cookies look like a piece of art. I'm sure many of you must have seen those already at her blog but for those who haven't here's the link. I haven't decorated mine, didn't had that much of time, but they taste good as is and good thing is she substituted 2/3 rd of the all purpose flour with whole wheat flour in this recipe. Another best part is dough doesn't need to rest in the fridge for this recipe so it's Mix, Roll, Cut & Bake. Took us around 20 minutes in total(including baking time) we used half of the recipe & baked around 22 cookies pretty generous size. Out of 22 cookies 12 were baked in the cookie pan with x'mas shapes and these were little more thick than regular rolled ones.

Though I have not changed the recipe other than using whole wheat pastry flour instead of regular whole wheat flour but I'm still going to write down the recipe as I said I halved the recipe and to avoid doing calculations again next time I think it's better to write down.

What U need :

• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 7 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
• 2 & 1/2 tablespoon milk(see notes)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour(I used whole wheat pastry flour)
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

What U do :

1. Sift together all the dry ingredients : flours, baking powder & salt. Keep it aside.
2. Cream butter & sugar till smooth. Add milk & vanilla combine everything together. You can use mixer for this step. I use to do this with regular whisk but this time I used stand mixer.
3. Add dry ingredients to the wet in batches & mix with hands till everything comes together as a dough. If it's crumbly & not coming together add a tsp. of milk & knead it for few seconds only(see Notes).Make 2 balls out of it.
4. Roll the dough ball into 1/4 inch thick sheet, cut out the shapes U want. Place the cookies on ungreased cookie sheet. Pick rest of the dough which is left after cut outs again make a ball of it & roll it, cut out the cookies, continue till U have no more dough left.
5. Bake for 10-12 minutes in pre heated oven at 350 degree F.Mine were done in 11 minutes, next time may be I'll take cookie pan out of the oven 1 or 2 minutes early as the bottom side got little dark(no change in the taste--it was good) I guess because pan was dark color. But the cookies in the cookie sheet came out good in 11 minutes.
6. Let the pan/sheet get little cool, invert the cookies on to the rack. Once completely cool store in the air tight container preferably in the lock if U r planning to decorate them later, as the chances are you won't find them when you need them, they are that good.....if U don't believe me check out at Aparna's blog she also baked it again for decorating. We still have some left as DD choose to take them in her lunch box as dessert, school is opening back tomorrow and I'm very much sure that's gonna be part of her "Share your story/experience from the holidays" discussion.

Notes :

Liquid for this recipe, that is milk, is suggested 1 & 1/2 to 2 & 1/2 tablespoon, I used 2 & 1/2 tablespoon and dough came out together perfectly. Every time quantity of milk used can vary, so it's better to start with minimum liquid suggested & add little bit at a time as needed.

These cookies are off to Champa for her weekly bake-off & also to Suma who's hosting a giveaway of  "The Cake Bible" by Rose Levy Beranbaum for her first blog anniversary celebration. 

Grilled chicken and a Review

Do you like to own kitchen gadgets which are associated with famous chefs and food network cooks/chefs, I do. Not that it'll make me cook like them but it's kind of a pampered feeling, when you U get something like that, specially when it's gonna stay outside on the kitchen shelf (little show off won't hurt anybody right). So, thanks to CSN stores who have 200+ online stores and over 1 million products  I own my first piece of kitchen equipment which has name of one of our favourite chefs on it.....BAM!!! If you are thinking Emeril Legasse, you guessed it right.

If U remember my this post I got an offer from CSN to review any product from their site. I took few days browsing for single burner grill pan(cast-iron) and finally asked DH for some help in deciding and it took only few minutes and order was done. The moment he saw reversible feature on this YES one side is Grill and other side is Griddle, he said BAM! this is what your kitchen need. I'm going to share the recipe for grilled chicken I made using my new Emerilware Cast Iron Reversible Grill/Griddle, review after the recipe. Those who don't have a grill pan can surely bake it in the oven for around 30-40 min. at 350 degree F, depending upon the size of chicken pieces oven time will vary.

Note : I'm giving the recipe for 2 chicken breasts, which can easily fit in a pan also. If U are going to use two burner grill U can easily double the recipe as it can hold 4 chicken breasts I used combination of white(breast) meat and dark(leg pieces) meat because I wanted to see how much time does it take & which one gives the best result, check the review at the end of the recipe for details on that part.

What U need :

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breast cut into half(in total 4 pieces)
• 2 tablespoon thick yogurt/hung curd
• 7-8 garlic cloves
• around 1 inch piece of ginger
• 3-4 green chillies (use more or less acc. to how hot u like it)
• juice of half a lime
• 1 tsp. coriander powder(dhania)
• 1 tsp. turmeric(haldi)
• 1 tsp. red chilli(lal mirch) powder
• 1 tsp. garam masala
• salt
• 2 tsp. cooking oil

What U do :

1. Prick chicken with fork at 5-6 places.
2. Mix rest of the ingredients using small food processor/blender and marinade is ready.
3. Marinate chicken breasts in the above mixture for at least 4-5 hours. I marinate meat a night before as it gives very flavorful & moist result. Keep it in the fridge.
4. Take the chicken out of the fridge around half an hour before U want to grill it.
5. Prepare the grill, as I'm using double burner grill so it sets onto back & front burner. Before turning the gas on using a brush or kitchen towel oil the grill, make sure you get the oil on all the grill lines as this is not a non-stick grill so we gonna need that oil. In case of any x'tra oil on the grill blot dry it using some paper towel. I kept back burner on med. high and front burner on high(b'coz front one is small). Once it's hot adjust the heat level to med.. I adjusted back one to med. & front one to med. high, idea is to maintain same level heat(in my case I wanted med. heat) on both the burners so grill can maintain the same temp. (read notes in the review as I had a problem here).
6. Once the grill is hot put the chicken pieces onto it. I used my other cast iron pan to put some weight onto the chicken so I can get nice sear & grill marks(main reason for getting the grill) on the meat.
7. After around 7-8 minutes flip the chicken and cook for another 7-8 minutes. Use same tech. to get the marks on the other side too. I cooked chicken breasts for around 18 minutes in total.
8. Once the chicken is cooked, take it off the grill & cover it with foil & let it sit for 5 min. or so.
9. Serve it with chutney of your choice and some salad.

Now comes the REVIEW part of my Emerilware Double Burner Reversible Grill/Griddle

About Grill/Griddle : It's an Enameled Cast Iron by All Clad(a well reputed name in the kitchen world). Everyone can not understand how cooking can be fun when you have to move around a pan or a grill which is almost 13 & 1/2 pound in weight. Let me explain in simple words you get little extra iron in your diet when you cook in iron pots and pans, little extra flavor and a little workout at the same time and the satisfaction after looking at those grill marks priceless.

It's a reversible grill/griddle so that means one side is grill(with ribs) which can be used to make grilled meat, seafood, vegetables and grilled sandwiches like panini and you can have classic char grilled look specially on meats(with criss cross marks) and taste. Food cooks on elevated height for low-fat results.

Another side is griddle(flat surface) which can be used to make eggs, french toast, burgers, pancakes etc.

Size of the grill is 20" x 10.5" and perfectly fits on two burners which is good when U want to cook meal for the whole family. If U want to have criss cross marks on your meat don't overcrowd the grill as U need to move the meat around. Food cooked was moist from inside and we liked the char grilled look & taste. Here's my experience with 3 different foods I tried :

1) Grilled Fish : I used my this recipe & cooked 3 fillets of fish......2 tilapia & 1 rainbow trout.Now these are delicate fishes so didn't wanted to press them for grill marks. they cooked in around 8-9 minutes but did got stuck little bit(I had oiled the grill) and very little grill marks, wasn't very happy decided to grill fish steak next time as that is little more solid meat. But after few days saw 2 famous chefs(diff. shows) on food network grilling same tilapia and there result was also very much same like mine(now feeling much better).

2) Grilled Chicken : Chicken breasts were very moist(were done in 18 minutes) & was so happy to get the criss cross marks (to get that, turn the food by 1/4 circle once it's half way on the first side). I did used meat thermometer to make sure it's cooked. The problem here was dark meat, chicken legs do take longer time to cook so I did gave them a go ahead but by the time all other pieces were cooked legs were still raw from inside & because the grill was half empty it was making a smoke plus I wasn't sure if keeping them longer will still keep the meat tender so I finished cooking them in my toaster oven for another 20 minutes or so.

  For next time I have decided to use only one kind of meat at a time.

3) Burger on griddle : I really loved these. I used my recipe from here for meat balls & instead made burger patties 8 patties in 10-12 minutes, that's quick and in the mean time toasted the buns in toaster oven.

Cleaning Grill side : I loved the food but I really did not liked to clean the grill, though it's pre-seasoned & I also applied oil before grilling but still food got stuck & reaching all the spots in the grill can be time consuming(I'm talking 15 min. or so). U can not use any harsh metal brushes & also it's not advisable to soak cast-iron in water for long time. So for next time I'm gonna use a toothbrush I'm hoping that will make my job easier and also I might try cooking spray instead of oil if that works better.

Cleaning Griddle Side : This one sure was easy, took may be couple of minutes.

Weight & Storage: As I mentioned above it's around 13-14 pounds, not for a kitchen where U don't have a space to leave it on the kitchen top somewhere as it can be really heavy if U gonna store it inside after every use, chances are U might not use it at all. I don't have a very big kitchen so where I'm keeping it---- I have around one feet of counter space between pantry closet & stove, so I'm keeping it there on top of a non-skid mat,  in standing position leaned to the pantry closet.

Other Things to note : Though it is suppose to maintain heat level, I felt electric gas is not the best option for this as the food kept on the small burner side took longer time because the burner does not cover all the width of grill on its side so it wasn't very hot on the sides. Yesterday checked some reviews on the web & most of them said the same thing about using it on electric burner,but it's great for gas stoves. So, changing the apartment is one option I think I should consider now......ummm.....or may be just try to put only that much food on the smaller side burner which can fit on top of the burner area(I guess second option is more practical so I'll stick with that).

Some other features(as mentioned on the material provided with it) :

Enameled cast iron construction for superior heat retention and distribution.

Unique fat drainage channels incorporate pouring spouts for easy cleanup

Tough enamel surface reduces odor absorption.

Suitable for all stove tops, excluding glass and ceramic cook tops.

Lifetime warranty

Cost, Shipping & handling : Cost of  the Reversible Grill was $49.95, it seems like a pretty good deal. It did took around 3 weeks to get my grill some confusion as FedEx left my package at the apartment office without any notice on my door & I kept waiting. Finally got it at the end of November.

My Final words for this Reversible Grill : I like it, food cooked on it was moist & flavorful. I still have to try many things on it(most important one is to get my husband addiction of this, so that I can have vacation from the kitchen sometime...BAM!). I'm comfortable using griddle on any day but for grill I'll def. prefer weekend as cleaning is little time consuming, but once I get hang of it then it might be different.

Disclosure : Review given above about the Emerilware Reversible Grill is totally my opinion, it's no way influenced by any company or person. I was given an opportunity by CSN stores to do the review of any product from their site so I got this grill for free from their site. I have not received any money for the review, from CSN Stores or any other company or person.

Merry Christmas

Wishing all my readers a Very Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday Season.This year due to some reason we are not putting Christmas tree so my 8 yr. old decided to make one from green felt. And this year we are having white Christmas(it's snowing since friday mor.) so I decided to give little snow effect on the tree also using some white thread. She also wanted stockings, so I made these cute ones, it was a nice DIY project. As I said we are not putting any tree this year so to help Santa she made this sign couple of days back...

you can't stop smiling/laughing right but it's very important.....Santa is a busy guy he should not be confused.....Once again Merry Christmas.

And fear is all gone........ Eggless Pumpkin Pie

Finally I made The egg less Pumpkin Pie this Thanksgiving(after 4 years of will try next time) and the fear of eggless custard based pie is over and I’ve got the confidence that custard based pies can  be made eggless too. Also sharing a secret.....I was always doubtful until now that how pumpkin can taste good in dessert. So, was it good..... Of course it tasted good that's the reason I'm writing this post (though the picture didn't came out very good). Little help from the Internet and decided on using corn starch(corn flour) as egg substitute. Only problem the pie crimp(edges of the crust) came out little extra dark but the pie custard as well as crust tasted very good and did bring million dollar smile on my 8 yr. old face. Custard filling tasted very smooth & creamy and no taste of corn starch(that was my biggest fear it gonna taste chalky), crust was really flaky though I had reduced the butter as compared to original recipe. Now about the crimp, after thanksgiving was over I was looking at my local grocery shop ad page and I saw that they sell pie crust shield which covers the edges so that they don't over brown....oh !! so it looks like a common problem.

I used the recipe from Libby's can of pumpkin puree as a base and tweaked it a bit as I wanted eggless pie and also there were few things in the fridge which needed to be taken care of ASAP. So here's my version for 9 inch pie....

What U need :
For Crust :I used the Pate Brisee(short crust pastry) recipe from Joy of Baking but changed the amount of fat used in it.

• 1 & 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tablespoon granulated white sugar
• 4 tablespoon unsalted butter, chilled & cut into samll cubes
• 2 tablespoon vegetable shortening ( I used it cold cut into 5-6 pieces)
• 1/8 to 1/4 cup ice cold water

For Custard :

• 1 can(15 oz.) pumpkin puree(next time I'm sure I'm gonna make fresh puree)
• roughly 2/3 of a can condensed milk (it must have been 8-9 oz. as full can was of 14 0z.)
• 1 small can(5 oz.) evaporated milk
• 2 tablespoon ricotta cheese
• 4 tablespoon corn flour(corn starch)
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. ginger powder(i used sund from my spice rack)
• 1 tsp. cinnamon powder
• 1/4 tsp. all spice powder(can be easily substituted with clove powder)

Note : 1. I'm not using any sugar as I'm using sweet condensed milk.

2. If only evaporated milk is used U need to add sugar.
3. If only condensed milk is used I guess quantity of corn starch can be reduced by a tablespoon or so.

What U do:
For Crust :

1. Using a food processor mix flour salt and sugar for few seconds.
2. Add butter and shortening, process it using pulse setting for around 15 seconds. Mixture will look like coarse meal.
3. Add water to this mixture while the processor is running. U might not have to use all the water, start with small quantity & add only a tablespoon at a time till the dough comes together, it will be still crumbly kind & not smooth but that is the perfect dough for pie. This process should not take more than 30-40 seconds.
4. Take out the dough mixture on the work surface & gather it into round ball & flatten it a bit into disk and cover it tightly with plastic wrap & let it chill in the fridge for around an hour. I kept it overnight. Important : while working with pie dough try to handle it as less as possible because body heat from hands can melt the butter which can lead to hard crust instead of flaky crust.

For Custard :

1. Mix corn flour with evaporated milk, making sure there are no lumps. Keep it aside.
2. Mix Pumpkin puree & ricotta cheese. Use food processor if cheese is not mixing smoothly. I did not used any, there were few white specs of  chesse bits in pie but taste wise it was smooth and final output was creamy.
3. Mix corn flour mixture from step 1 with pumpkin puree mixture from step 2, mix in all the spices using a whisk and the custard is ready to be poured into the pie shell. At this point if U want it can be refrigerated also.

For Assembling & Baking Pie :

1. Once U are ready to assemble the pie, take chilled dough out & sprinkle some flour on the work surface.
2. Roll the dough into 13 inch circle( please check the original recipe for details about rolling the pie dough) and transfer it to pie pan.
3. Make some pattern on the edges or trim them....your choice. I did made some leaves with x'tra dough & attached them using little water but as I mentioned over browning of edges` was the only problem with my pie so I actually trimmed the edges before serving.
4. Cover it with plastic wrap & chill it for around half an hour. And while U put the pie crust in the fridge to chill take out the custard from the fridge if U prepared it ahead of time,using whisk mix it thoroughly to make sure that ingredients are not settled down.
5. When ready to bake preheat oven to 425 degree take the pie crust out & pour the custard into it.
6. Bake for 15 minutes in 425 degree oven & then turn down the temperature to 350 degree bake for another 40-45 minutes.
7. To check the doneness, knife inserted about 1 inch from the side of the pan should come out clean, center will still look wet, but in my case I baked it for total of 60 minutes(15 at 425 degree + 45 at 350 degree) and centre was also set properly. I'm not sure how it works for pie with eggs or for that matter eggless also as this was my first trial of any custard based pie. cool it on wire rack. Serve it as is or with some freshly whipped cream.

Useful Tip : I prepared the custard & pie dough a night before thanksgiving, assemble and baked the pie next day, saved me time on busy thanksgiving day. To store the custard keep it in the airtight container inside the fridge. For storing the dough, wrap the dough in plastic wrap & refrigerate it.

Sending this creamy custard & flaky crust pie to Champa's weekly bake-off and also to Suma of Cakes and More who's hosting a giveaway of  "The Cake Bible" by Rose Levy Beranbaum for her first blog anniversary celebration, Happy Blog Anniversary Suma. And if U like to bake I'm sure these are the blogs worth visiting.