Ulli Garelu (Vada) ~ Onion Fritters

How was the Sankranti / Pongal weekend for you all? I hope everyone had fun and ate atleast as much as I did (so that I can feel less guilty!). It was a mega eating fest for us at the Escapades household. Crazy amounts of food was made and consumed. Even my kadai was filled up with oil for deep frying these Ulli Garelu (Onion Fritters). More because I was doing a festival special article for the newspaper I write for and had to take pictures!

K who is used to not having fried stuff asked me atleast 5 times if the garelu were made at home and not sent by a kind neighbour because he knows I almost never deep fry!

This is a simple stevens recipe and can be whipped up in 20 minutes if you have soaked the husked urad dal earlier. A tea time treat, this is a must have at a festive spread.

Ulli Garelu – Makes about 12-14 garelu

Ingredients:

Skinned Urad Dal – 11/2 cup, washed and soaked for 4 hours

Ginger – I small piece (very finely chopped)
Green chillies – 2-3 (chopped finely)

Onion – 1 medium (chopped finely)

Cumin seeds – 1 teaspoon
salt to taste
oil for deep frying

Strain the water from the dal and grind to a paste sprinkling little water and salt. Do this in two batches so that you get a soft fluffy paste without adding too much water. The batter should be thick.

Add the chopped onions, finely chopped ginger, cumin seeds and green chillies to the batter and mix well.

In a kadai, add oil enough for deep frying and heat well.

Wet your hands with water and take a lemon sized ball and flatten it into a vada on a sheet of plastic or a banana leaf.

Make a hole in the centre of the gare so that it cooks evenly all over Slowly drop it into the hot oil carefully and fry it on both sides on medium heat to a golden brown colour.

Drain onto paper towels and serve hot with sauce or chutney.

Sakranthi Subhakankshalu – Khara Pongal and Chakkara Pongal

What better way to say hello with a post for the festival of the bounty of the earth? How are you doing? I hope the new (old) year is treating you all well. I had high hopes of wonderful things and posts for the close of the year and the beginning of the year… but nothing worked out till this morning and here I am banging away at the keyboard on the morning of Bhogi… when we shed all things old, Consign the waste to flames and begin afresh.

The four day festival of Sankranti is celebrated in my home state of Andhra Pradesh with much fervor.  The agrarian background making it one of the most important festivals for us. The embers of yesterday’s fires on the roads of our colony told me Lohri was celebrated, I have been invited to a Maharashtrian neighbour’s house for haldi and kumkum for Sankrant… almost every state of this country will celebrate it in some form over the next few days.

I love that my family made it a point to make something special to mark both Hindu and Christian festivals. Even if we didnt follow the religious rituals, it was a cultural thing to do and i am grateful for the exposure. For my far from agrarian upbringing, mostly urban perspective of everything, this has held me in good stead. I think it is important for me to acknowledge and be grateful for the sheer manual labour that goes into tilling the land to put food on my table. So today i celebrate that. Traditionally newly harvested rice and dal and new jaggery is used… but if like me you have had a block of jaggery sitting in your kitchen shelves getting darker over 6 months, here is your chance to use it.

I’ve posted both Venn (Khara) Pongal and Chakkara Pongal on the blog before… but i must say what i am posting today is a much improved recipe….not to mention better pictures….these are easy versions… for the ever busy urban dweller!

To make both the forms of sweet and savoury pongal, the starting point is the same…. rice and dal to be cooked together. they then take their seperate avatars bathed in jaggery and spices.

Makes 3 servings each

11/2 cup rice, washed and soaked for 10 minutes

2/3 cup split moong dal, washed and soaked for 10 minutes

1 cup milk

3 cups water

Place the washed rice and dal in a vessel, add the water and milk. Place this in a pressure cooker and cook for 3 whistles till well cooked, but not yet mushy. you can skip the milk and use only water, the milk makes it very creamy. the rice and dal can also be cooked in an electric rice cooker or stove top.

Once the pressure has released, remove the cooked rice and dal and portion it 2:1 for the khara pongal and chakkara pongal respectively

Khara Pongal 

Ghee – 2 tablespoons

Ginger – 1 small piece

Green chillies – 2

Whole Black Peppercorns – 1 teaspoon

Whole Cumin – 1 teaspoon

Curry leaves – a few

In a mortar and pestle, or with a rolling pin, crush the ginger and green chillies roughly.

In a tempering pan, heat the ghee, add the cumin and black pepper, after a few seconds, add the crushed ginger, green chillies and the curry leaves.

Saute till everything is toasted and the curry leaves are crisp.

Pour this over the cooked rice and dal and mix well. Add ¼ cup of water if needed to make it creamy. Serve hot with chutney.

Chakkara Pongal

Jaggery – 1 cup, grated

Ghee – 2 tablespoons

Golden Raisins and Cashewnuts – ¼ cup

In a pan, add 1/2 cup water to the grated jaggery heat till the jaggery has melted. Strain with a sieve to remove impurities.

Add the cooked rice and dal to the jaggery and mix well till everything is incorporated.

In a small pan, heat the ghee and add the raisins and cashews. Fry till golden brown and pour this over the pongal. Mix well, serve warm.

Herbed and Spiced Cream Cheese Spread – Celery, Cumin and Chilli Flakes

Too much milk on hand and a thick bunch of fresh celery gave me an idea. I started off making herbed cottage cheese using the milk, cumin and celery. I felt lazy and instead of draining it out and using a muslin cloth with a weight to make it into a block, I let the whey drain out in the colander. I ended up with a ricotta like texture. So voila cream cheese was born!

this is an easy recipe and can be made using whatever herbs and spices you have on hand/prefer. Use it with crackers/ breadsticks/ khakra/ vegetable crudites or as a spread for sandwiches.

Herbed and Spiced Cream Cheese Spread – Celery, Cumin and Chilli Flakes

(Makes one large cup)

1 litre milk

1 teaspoon lemon juice / vinegar

3 tablespoons fresh celery leaves chopped fine, reserve some for garnish

1 stalk celery chopped fine

1 teaspoon red chilly flakes

1/2 teaspoon cumin, lightly crushed

1 pod of garlic, peeled

 

In a large saucepan, bring the milk to a boil, add the celery leaves and stalk, cumin. Reduce the heat and add the lemon juice/ vinegar and simmer for a few minutes till the milk curdles and the whey seperates.

After about 15 minutes, keep a vessel underneath a cloth lined sieve and drain out the whey water from the curds. the whey water is high in nutrients and can be used to thin out gravies/ soups/ dal etc or to knead dough for rotis. You can keep this in the fridge for a few hours till all the water is drained out.

when all the water has drained out, add the garlic pod and the ricotta to a blender and whizz till smooth and creamy.  Add a few teaspoons of the whey if needed to get a creamy consistency. Remove into a bowl, add the reserved celery leaves and red chilly flakes and salt to taste and mix thoroughly. Chill till needed.

This stays in the fridge for a couple of days if stored in an airtight container. Serve with crackers/ breadsticks or vegetable crudites. Use as a sandwich spread.

Storing Fresh Herbs

I always go overboard at grocery stores when i see exotic herbs and buy bags/ bunches of them. the herbs sit in the fridge for longer than they need to and then get  trashed because they have gone bad or wilted or blackened. This time i chopped up all the celery stalks and put the chopped pieces into an ice cube tray. Filled it with water and froze it. Removed the celery ice cubes and stored them in a ziplock bag for later use. this way the herbs retain their colour and flavour. I plan to do this with all the herbs i now buy.

Recreating Bhutan thru food – Shamu Datshi

One of my favourite posts to write was the one I did post returning from a wonderful holiday inBhutan. The beautiful landscape, colours and gorgeous people, not to mention the lovely food we ate throughout the trip was enough to inspire me. Something that is severely missing on this blog, when yesterday I realised that I’d last posted in September.

In fact, funnily I have been cooking and baking quite a bit. What with the extra hours I have on hand because of early rising due to the pooch. Somehow, never got down to making it here and am about to remedy that!

With the weather finally getting a nip and winter deciding to descend on our neck of the woods, memories of the food we ate inBhutanbecame so strong that it urged me to try and recreate it.

We enjoyed the vegetable and cheese preparations almost daily. Ema Datshi – Chillies and Cheese, Kewa Datshi – Potato and Cheese and my favourite Shamu Datshi – Mushrooms and Cheese.

It’s a simple recipe, the most time consuming aspect of this is the chopping of the mushrooms! Because the dish cooks itself in less than 10 minutes!

I found a recipe online and used that as a base, I omitted the tomatoes, because the version we had didn’t have tomatoes in it. I also used Amul processed cheese as that is the only one I had on hand. Am sure a combination of cheddar and mozzarella would be ideal. The taste was almost the same as what I recall. Pretty good for a first attempt at recreation!

Shamu Datshi (Serves 3)

Button Mushrooms – 200 grams, washed thinly sliced

Unsalted butter – 1 tablespoon

Water – ¼ cup

Cheese – 2/3 cup, grated (I used 3 cubes of Amul Processed cheese)

Spring onions – 3-4 sliced thinly

The cheese I used was  quite salty so I did not add any more salt.

Method

In a pan, place the sliced mushrooms, water, butter, and salt (if using) over high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and cook 5 minutes till the mushrooms are cooked. Stir in the grated cheese, and green onion, cover, and cook 2 minutes or until cheese melts. Pour into a serving dish and serve with rice.

That’s it! It’s a fantastic dish to serve for cheese lovers. Makes a great and easy addition to a party table. Can be eaten with nice crusty bread as well, but goes best with hot Rosematta rice.

White Chocolate Panna Cotta {Gelatin Free} with Raspberry Sauce

Pictures in this post taken by my friend A who blogs here

Panna Cotta has been a dessert that has captured my imagination for a while now. All those lovely creations accross the blogosphere have not helped either. The very thought of spooning “cooked cream” into my mouth sometimes had me salivating. But you really have to wait for good things to happen sometimes. And I had to make this for myself. I chose low fat cream. Yes I am a wuss that way, but you can go ahead and use full fat if you are feeling indulgent.

I bought a bag of frozen raspberries. I had all these beautiful raspberry filled dreams, till i cut open the bag and found that they had become large lumps of frozen squashed raspberries! Lumps of frozen raspberries are better than no raspberries and so I used them to make a sauce to be poured over the Panna Cotta. You can use any berries of choice, I think strawberries will work great here. as will any fruit preserve. Just thin it down with a little water and heat.

White Chocolate Panna Cotta  {Gelatin Free} with Raspberry Sauce  (makes 3 regular or 6 shotglass (60 ml) servings)

200 ml – fresh cream (I used i small carton amul low fat cream)

150 grams – chopped white chocolate

2 tablespoons - agar agar vanilla flavoured

1/2 cup milk (I used full cream)

In a saucepan, add the cream, milk and chopped chocolate. heat gently on a low flame and bring it to a gentle boil, stirring continuously to help the chopped pieces of chocolate melt. this will take about 3-4 minutes. Add the powdered agar agar to the heated mixture and stir till it has melted into the cream mixture and is thoroughly combined. Take the saucepan off the heat and allow it to cool for about 10 minutes. the mixture will begin to start getting thicker, mix it a couple of times to prevent a skin from forming. pour this into small shot glasses or small bowls. cool completely and cover each one with clingfilm.  chill it in the fridge for a minimum of 4-5 hours or overnight. This stays in the fridge for a few days, so is a good make ahead dessert.

Raspberry Sauce

In a saucepan, add 2 cups of raspberries (I used frozen), 3-4 tablespoons of sugar and 1/3 cup of cold water. Heat it on low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring now and then to make sure the raspberries are cooking through. the colour will begin to darken and the mixture will vigorously bubble over, take it off the heat and mash thoroughly with the back of a ladle to smash everything together. Cool this mixture for about 15 minutes and then pass it through a soup strainer to remove the seeds. These quantities will make you about 2/3 cup of raspberry sauce. Chill till needed.

To serve the pannacotta, spoon a few teaspoons of the raspberry sauce over the set pannacotta, garnish with mint or basil leaves and serve.

Note:

If you do not have berries of anykind, use 1/4 cup of fruit preserve or jam of choice. Add 1/4 cup of water and heat gently, stirring it to get a thick sauce.

p.s: Pictures used in this post taken by my friend A who blogs here

Weekend Indulgences~Masala Cheese Omelet

At Brunch Buffets, I always notice, no matter how many items are on the menu, the live counter for eggs on order is always very popular. I know because I am one of those that lines up for the masala cheese omelet.

While we are stuck with a mad rush on weekdays, weekends are when indulgent breakfasts are the order of the day and a thick luscious omelet like this, sets the pace for more good stuff to happen.

It’s easy to dish it out restaurant style. The keys are several. Firstly, add a dash of milk to the beaten egg mixture and whisk, to give you a silky texture. Secondly, Use butter to fry the egg, just a little not a lot and see the difference. Thirdly, use a fork to lightly scramble the middle of the omelet before it is set, to give you a thick fluffy centre.

Here is my recipe for an indulgent Cheese Masala Omelet (makes 1 really large omelet)

2 eggs, beaten with 2 tablespoons milk till fluffy. Add salt and pepper to taste

2/3 cup pan sautéed vegetables of choice. Use a combination of onion, tomato, green/ spring onions, coloured bell peppers, sliced mushrooms, etc. chop up and add to a lightly oiled pan, sauté without oil till the onions are translucent. Transfer to a plate and cool.

1-2 cubes (2-3 tablespoons) shredded cheddar cheese (I used 2 cubes of Amul processed cheese)

1 tablespoon butter

 

Heat an 8 inch frying pan on medium, add half of the butter and toss it around to melt. Mix the sautéed vegetables into the egg mixture. Add the egg mixture to the pan and twirl the pan around till the egg has spread into the pan. Take a fork and lightly scramble the centre, to create layers. Do this before the egg sets.  Drizzle the rest of the butter along the edges of the pan to brown the egg. When the edges have browned, and the egg is almost cooked, add the shredded cheese over the egg, lower the flame and allow the cheese to melt. Ease a spatula under one half of the omelet, gently fold over into half and cook for another minute. Ease it onto a plate. Serve hot with toasted buttered bread and preserves.

Easy Pindi Channa ~ Vegan

Its tough to better a classic recipe. Like P’s chole that I posted ages ago. However since i cannot really stick to a recipe and dont do things by the book, i accidentally discover newer ways of doing things, or easier ways. Sometimes the experiments are a big flop and that too makes me realise that i cant better a classic…. did I say that already? ok.

I like channa in most forms, as salads, curries or as a snack. Its an easy way of increasing the protein content in a vegetarian diet. Here i tried to simplify things and turned up with this cracker of a recipe. this recipe reminded me so much of the chole served at havmor restaurant owned by the ohri’s group in hyderabad. many a beautiful memory is attached to eating chole bhature here with my bff S. Try it, its delightful. Almost restaurant style.

Easy Pindi Channa (Serves 3-4)

1 cup dried Chickpeas/ Kabuli channa, soaked for 8 hours or overnight, rinse and drained

Pressure cook with 1 litre/ 4-5 cups water, add 2 cloves, 1 black cardamom, 2 small bay leaves, 1 teaspoon of tea leaves/ 1 teabag, 1 small stick of cinnamon, pinch of hing (asafoetida), salt to taste for 12-15 whistles, or after 2 whistles, turn the heat low and cook about 20 mins. The Channa should cook soft but not be mushy.

After the pressure has released, open the cooker, strain the channa, reserve the water. Pick out the whole garam masala and discard.

In a heavy bottomed pan or kadhai, heat a teaspoon of oil, splutter 1/2 teaspoon of ajwain (carom seeds) and allow them to splutter.

turn the heat low and add 1 tablespoon of gram flour and fry till it turns golden brown. make sure you do not burn this.

Add 2 slit green chillies, 1 teaspoon grated ginger and fry for a minute. add 1 tsp each of coriander powder, cumin powder and chole masala or 1/2 teaspoon of garam masala. Add 2 teaspoons of  amchur powder or tamarind pulp extracted from a lemon sized ball of tamarind. Saute another minute.

add the boiled and drained chickpeas, 1/2 cup of the reserved water and cook on a low flame for about 5 minutes.

Check for salt and spice, adjust according to taste. Take off the heat. Serve hot garnished with grated ginger, onion slices and wedges of lime. Best eaten with hot puris or bhature. Also bread/ pav or regular chapathis.

Eggless Baking ~ Lemon Blueberry Yogurt Cake

My life is currently held captive by an 8 week old pooch who has no consideration for the fact that i am not a morning person and i dont like my ankles bitten into by razor sharp teeth. Despite all the mayhem around here (Read Sage’s story here), who could not fall in love with this face?

Meet Sage Sizzler Iyer. His sombre Sagacious look made K decide he should be called Sage, also scored high with me for the foodie connotation. (K was petrified i would give the pooch a sissy (according to him) name like basil or pepper). Since he’s anything but sagelike when he gets fortified with food, i went in for a second name as well!

Early morning wakings (at insane hours, even for my board exams i didnt wake up as early as Sage makes me these days) means that i have more time on my hands and browsing begins at a much earlier hour for me.

You can’t ignore the assault of beautiful pictures at 5 a.m when you are just wanting the milk to heat up and boil already so that you can have some caffeine in your blood stream and begin to resume your humanly functions. Its like the lowest resistance to anything. and so yesterday morning, rudely shoved out of bed at 5 a.m to feed the resident pooch baby food, I was waiting for the milk to boil, i saw this piece of cake on foodgawker and i was smitten. I had a bag of frozen blueberries stashed away in the freezer that i bought all glassy eyed at the supermarket the other week, from the imported foods aisle at hypercity. but am sure this recipe will work well with any other fruit cut up real small.

I looked thru my pantry and gathered all the things i needed. I made it eggless as we were expecting guests dinner who dont eat eggs. it was convenient that i had an egg replacer on hand, else I’d have used powdered flax seeds. I used a 9 inch tart pan to bake it and not as a loaf. Also swapped the All Purpose Flour for my regular multi grain chapati flour.

i had this baking in the oven even breakfast was made. it smelt heavenly as it baked. The flavour of the blueberry with the lemon syrup was very unique and it was served warmed up after lunch as dessert.

Here is the original recipe. below is my version with the changes.

For the cake:

1 1/2 cups + 1 tablespoon Multigrain Wheat Flour (you could also use Whole Wheat flour or all-purpose flour), divided

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt (I used home made, made with toned 2% fat milk)

1 cup sugar

3 teaspoons Orgran Egg Replacer mixed with 3 tablespoons of water or use 3 large eggs

2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (approximately 2 lemons)

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen, thawed and rinsed ( I used frozen)

For the Lemon Syrup:

1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/3 cup sugar

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease bottom and sides of one 9 inch round cake tin or 9 x 5-inch loaf pans; dust with flour, tapping out excess.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, (I did this in a blender jar used the mixer) whisk together the yogurt, sugar, egg replacer, lemon zest, vanilla and oil. Pour it into the dry ingredients and slowly with a gentle hand, incorporate them to make a batter.

Sprinkle the reserved flour over the blueberries and toss them. Gently fold into the batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared cak tin pan and bake 50 to 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Let cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack on top of a baking sheet.

Make the lemon syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir together the lemon juice and sugar until the sugar is completely dissolved. Once dissolved, continue to cook for 3 more minutes. Remove from the heat; set aside.

Use a toothpick to poke holes in the tops and sides of the warm loaf. Brush the top and sides of the loaf with the lemon syrup. Let the syrup soak into the cake and brush again. Let the cake cool completely.

The original recipe even has a lemon sugar glace, but I omitted this. I liked the tartness that the lemon syrup gave the cake. It was wonderful warm, am sure will taste fantastic when paired with vanilla icecream too. This is a moist cake and leftovers should be stored in the fridge. I think it will keep for 3-4 days. Ours was all gone the same day I baked it though!

Quick Cooking – Corn Pulao

for one of those weeknight dinners/ sunday lunches or just about any other. a pulav is my favourite when i have sudden guests or a bout of laziness. both of which strike frequently. paired with a gravy curry or a simple raita, makes for a full meal.

Corn Pulav – makes 2 servings

1 cup basmati rice, washed and soaked in 2 cups water

1 medium onion chopped/ sliced

a few curry leaves

1 split green chilli

one star anise, one teaspoon whole cumin, one clove, one green cardamom

2 cups hot water

1/2 – 1/3 cup fresh / frozen corn kernels

1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste or 1 inch ginger grated

1 tablespoon oil

salt to taste

in a thick bottomed pan ( i used a kadhai) heat 1 tablespoon of oil, splutter a teaspoon of whole cumin, when it crackles, add a few curry leaves and 1 split green chilli. add one medium chopped onion and saute till it begins to turn golden. add a teaspoon of ginger garlic paste or an inch of fresh ginger grated if you want to avoid garlic. saute for a minute. add 1/3 – 1/2 cup of corn kernels. i used frozen american sweet corn. saute for a minute. add 1 cup washed and drained basmati rice. let it fry with the other ingredients for a couple of minutes, ensure you dont stir it too vigorously else the grains will break. add 2 cups of hot water (check the rice and water ratio on the package), add salt to taste. stir and cover. cook for about 12-15 minutes with the lid on till the water has been absorbed, the rice is cooked but the grains are still separate. leave the lid on and allow the rice to rest for 10 minutes. fluff with a fork. serve hot with raita or a gravy curry such as this mushroom with peas and lotus seeds or kofta curry or fake meat and potatoes.

Baking ~ Cranberry Almond Biscotti

Its almost the end of the month. But missing deadlines is my speciality. I do it like there is greatness in it. Sometimes I don’t miss deadlines, I discard tasks completely and feign it wasn’t important enough to do, so to hell with the deadline anyway!

Having said that, there is allegiance in me so strong, that I just wish I take up more significant causes, cos my conscience sometimes never ever gives up. Pushing me to do stuff which in my mind I had thought it was ok to abandon.

Confused? Don’t be. Its just that, no one wanted it to lose steam. The baking club I mean. Both my namesakes, Aparna and yours truly. We did the mango pound cake with all enthusiasm and then poooof! It was like suddenly thunder struck and lightening did us in. only each of us had a valid reason to not finish the theme this month which was biscotti. Only Arundathi Krishna finished it well ahead of time and posted to…so brownie… err biscotti points to her. Much as I tried to finish this biscotti baking business, my head was spinning around and I was going nuts. Ask my husband K he will vouch for the loony I became this month. I had grand plans to get my apartment painted and that snowballed into an activity that drove me to my edge and made me look like I would have been a better person if I was on drugs!

Anyone who has taken up a remodeling activity while living on the premises will tell you its not such a great idea. Further, anyone who has dealt with labour inIndiawill tell you how they have a mind of their own even if you are paying their wages! Add to that my hormones were in overdrive with an impending birthday looming large over my head and a visit from the mater. All this was brought to a head because I have a house full of so much stuff, I do not know when I acquired most of it, I do not know what to do with it and seriously made me aware of the addiction I have for knick knacks!

So apart from tearing my hair out, whining all evening once K got back from work, painting the study a shade of blue grey and the ceiling of a bedroom green with stark white walls, I was generally being such a pain in the backside even I couldn’t bear myself. Then I went and baked biscotti.

To describe to you the aromas of baking biscuits in a house that looked like the tsunami had hit it is going to be impossible! Lets just say that I sat on my gorgeous sunny now painted warm yellow balcony to enjoy this fantastic biscotti with a cup of elaichi chai, everything was made worthwhile, even turning a year older!

I followed the recipe from Joy of Baking and added chopped almonds in place of pistachios. I got about 14 pieces, but i think i needed to slice them thinner. Below is my version

Cranberry and Almond Biscotti

2/3 cup (135 grams) granulated whitesugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoonpure vanilla extract

1 teaspoonbaking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 3/4 cups (245 grams) all-purposeflour

1/2 cup (60 grams) Almonds, chopped roughly

1/2 cup (75 grams) dried cranberries or cherries (can also substitute with tutti fruitti, raisins or any other sweet dry fruit of choice)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place the oven rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminium foil.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the sugar and eggs on high speed until thick, pale, and fluffy (about 5 minutes).  (When you slowly raise the beaters the batter will fall back into the bowl in slow ribbons.)  At this point beat in the vanilla extract.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.  Add to the egg mixture and beat until combined.  Fold in the chopped pistachios and cranberries.

Transfer the dough to your foil lined baking sheet and form into a log, about 12 inches (30 cm) long and 3 1/2 inches (9 cm) wide.  You may have to dampen your hands to form the log as the dough is quite sticky. Bake for25 minutes, or until firm to the touch. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes.

Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Transfer the log to a cutting board and cut into 3/4 inch (2 cm) slices, on the diagonal.  Place the biscotti, cut side down, on the baking sheet.  Bake for about 10 minutes, turn slices over, and bake for another 10 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove from oven and let cool.  Store in an airtight container.

Makes about 16 – 20 biscotti.