Tasty Treats

Nasi Goreng - Indonesian Fried Rice

2012-01-21T16:45:00.000-08:00

I love my new camera!! The best feature is its low light performance. I cook mostly in the evening or at night and could never take a decent picture (I don't have a lightbox) and my previous camera never did justice to the food. That problem is solved now!! Ofcourse the best pictures are still captured in natural light, but when there's none, a ~~good~~ great camera definitely helps. These pictures were taken on a cloudy, gloomy day when there was no sun in sight and they are not bad at all. I thank Manoj every day for the best gift ever :)!!
I have been a little busy recently, have so many posts in my drafts and I had another one ready when I realised that the deadline for Taste and Create is this weekend. I was paired with Corina from Searching for Spice. There were a couple of sweet dishes I had decided to try but in the end I chose this yummy rice dish (been having too much dessert lately!!). The only change I made was to add some leftover rotisserie chicken. A wonderful one pot meal, with all my favorite things in it!!

Nasi Goreng

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 cup basmati rice
3 shallots, finely chopped
1" piece of ginger, finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 small chilies, finely chopped
1 tbs chili sauce (I used siracha)
2 tbs soy sauce
1 tsp brown sugar
1 red pepper, cut onto small strips
15 green beans, chopped into 1" pieces
1 chicken breast, cooked and cut into small pieces
1/2 cup small cooked shrimp
2 tbs oil
salt to taste
spring onion greens for garnish

Method:
Cook the rice. When still warm, separate the grains with a fork and keep aside to cool completely.
Heat a little oil in a wok. Beat the eggs lightly and add to the pan. Sprinkle some salt. Flip after a couple of mins and cook till done. Remove and keep aside. When cool cut into strips.
Heat the remaining oil in the same wok. When smoking hot, add the shallots, ginger and garlic. Saute for a minute and then add the vegetables and little salt. Fry for about 2 mins and then add the shrimp and chicken and fry for another minute. Add the sauces and mix well. Add the rice and fry till well combined and heated through.
Serve hot topped with green onions and omelette strips.

Wheat and Jaggery Cake (Eggless)

2012-01-08T07:26:00.000-08:00

Happy 2012 everyone! My first post of the year is this wonderful snack cake. I was blog hopping looking for something, when I saw this cake at Spicy Chilly. Jaggery and wheat flour are amazing together and they make a very delicious moist cake, plus kind of guilt free too. I added a little cardamom to enhance the flavor. This is definitely one of my favorite cakes now, so easy to make and perfectly suited to our Indian tastes.

Wheat and Jaggery Cake

Ingredients:

200 gms wheat flour

1/3 tsp cardamom powder

1 cup jaggery, (grated and loosely filled)

1 cup milk, plus a little if the batter is too thick

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup oil

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

Method:

Preheat the oven at 350F/ 180C. Grease a small bundt pan.

Sift the flour, cardamom powder, baking soda and baking powder three times. Add the jaggery and combine gently.

Add the milk, vanilla and oil and mix gently with a spatula.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or till a skewer comes out clean.

Sending this cake to Bookmarked Recipes, Vardhini's Bake Fest hosted by Pradnya

2011-12-31T11:39:00.000-08:00

Here's wishing all my readers A Very Happy and Prosperous New Year!!

2011 was a fabulous year and I hope 2012 will be too. The years are flying by, all the more reason to live life to the fullest and enjoy every moment.

May the new year bring in happiness, good health, peace and prosperity!!

Fruit and Nut Cake - Lowfat and Vegan

2011-12-22T08:47:00.000-08:00

Only four days left and I couldn't wait any longer to eat some fruitcake. I do have a batch of fruits soaking in the fridge for a cake I plan to bake in a couple of days and ship to my brother. This cake I made just for us. What I love about this recipe is that there's no oil or butter and there's jaggery and whole wheat flour and tons of fruits and nuts and they don't really have to be soaked in advance. The only labor involved is the chopping of the nuts and fruits. The flavor of the cake gets better as it matures, but I had to take pictures so we cut the cake the same day, yet it was rich and moist. This cake is a wonderful guilt free treat!

Recipe from Jugalbandi.

Vegan Lowfat Fruit and Nut Cake

Ingredients:

100 gms dark raisins

125 gms mixed dried fruit, chopped

225 gms mixed nuts, roasted and chopped

1/2 cup rum

1 1/2 cup water

1/4 cup applesauce/ oil

1/2 cup grated jaggery

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 tsp nutmeg powder

1/3 tsp cinnamon powder

1/3 tsp cloves powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp orange/ lemon zest

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp lemon juice

3 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

Method:

Take the dried fruits, water, rum, applesauce, sugar, jaggery, spice powders, salt and orange zest in a pan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 mins. Take off from heat and add the vanilla extract and lemon juice and set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 350F/ 180C and grease a 12 cup bundt pan.

Whisk the flour and baking soda together. As soon as the dried fruits mixture comes to room temperature, fold in the flour and nuts.

Spoon into the prepared pan and bake for 35 - 40 mins or till done in the center of the oven.

Cool in the pan for 10 mins and then invert onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Brush the cake with some rum if desired and store covered in the fridge. The flavor of the cake improves after a couple of days.

Notes:

1. Use dried fruits and nuts according to your taste. I used 50 gms currants and 25 gms each of dates, apricots and prunes. I also used a mixture of almonds and walnuts.

2. If whole wheat pastry flour is not available, use half whole wheat flour and half all purpose flour.

3. I used jaggery for better color and taste. You could also use all brown sugar.

4 For an alcohol free version skip the rum and use orange juice instead.

Sending this to Cakes for Christmas, Let's Cook-Baked Goodies, Cooking Concepts-Holiday Baking, Christmas NewYear's Eve 2011, Bake Fest, Only Cookies and Cakes, Serve it Baked Sweet, Jingle All the Way.

Strawberry Chocolate Mousse Cake (Eggless)

2011-12-18T11:20:00.000-08:00

We celebrated our 5th anniversary last month. 5 years sounds like such a long time and yet I remember all the details of our wedding like it were only yesterday. I guess we never forget our most special moments:). Manoj surprised me with the best gift ever, my first SLR!! God, I screamed so loud and it was midnight, I'm sure I scared some neighbours:). I had friends coming over in the evening, there was dinner to prepare and so much more to do, but all I wanted to do was play with my new toy :). Ironically I was so busy until the last moment, I couldn't click any pictures of the food. Thankfully the cake was made the previous night and the first thing I did in the morning was take pictures of it.

I have been thinking of making a mousse cake for such a long time now. It had to be eggless (a jain couple among friends). I wanted to go chocolate as usual, but another friend is not a fan of chocolate (I know, Incomprehensible!!!) and is always disappointed when it comes to desserts at our home. So I went with strawberry for her and to make me happy I added a thin layer of bittersweet chocolate mousse in the middle. For the cake base, I made a strawberry version of the custard powder snack cake I posted before this. I used strawberry custard powder, the cake had only a slight strawberry flavor, but yummy, and the color was what got me excited...such a beautiful pink!! Since the cake will be refrigerated, it has to be soaked really well with syrup. Some parts of my cake were not soaked that well, so was a little firm for a mousse cake, so be really generous with the syrup! The end result was one fabulous and delicious dessert, all gone by the end of the evening, except for one slice I saved for a picture.

Eggless Strawberry Mousse Cake

Ingredients:
Cake:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup strawberry flavored custard powder
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
150 gm butter (very soft)
1 cup milk

Strawberry Mousse:
16 oz strawberries, washed and hulled or use frozen
1 1/3 cups sugar
2 tbs gelatin
2 cups heavy cream

Bittersweet Chocolate Mousse:
5 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small chunks
3/4 cup cream
1/2 tsp gelatin
1 tbs water

Simple Syrup:

Strawberries - washed, hulled and sliced for decoration
Some melted chocolate for drizzling

Method:

Cake:

Preheat the oven to 350F/ 180C. Grease and line a 9" round spring form pan.

Whisk all the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Add the vanilla, milk and butter and mix until smooth.

Pour into the prepared pan and bake till done, about 35-40 minutes.

Cool in the pan for 10 mins and then remove onto a wire rack to cool completely.

It's best to bake the cake a few hours or even a day in advance. Wrap the cooled cake well in saran wrap and store in the fridge.

Simple Syrup:

Heat the sugar and water on medium heat, just until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and cool the syrup.

Chocolate Mousse:

Take 1 tbs water in a small bowl and sprinkle gelatin over it. Keep aside to soften. Heat 1/4 cup of cream till it just begins to boil. Pour over the chocolate. Mix well, if the chocolate has not melted completely heat for a few seconds in the microwave. Mix well till smooth and lump free.

Heat the bowl of gelatin over a double boiler till the mixture is transparent and the gelatin has completely dissolved. Add it to the chocolate mixture and stir well. Keep aside and let it come to room temperature. Do not let it set.

Whip the remaining cream till it just begins to hold soft peaks. Add 1/3 of the whipped cream to the cooled chocolate and whisk gently to lighten the mixture. Gently fold in the remaining whipped cream.

Strawberry Mousse:

Wash and hull the strawberries. Heat the strawberries and sugar in a pan, until the fruit has broken down and the sugar has dissolved. Strain the mixture to remove the seeds and pulp and return to a clean sauce pan. Add the gelatin to the strawberry sauce and heat until the gelatin has dissolved. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Whip the cream till it just begins to hold soft peaks (do not over whip). Fold in the cooled strawberry mixture gently into the whipped cream.

Assembling the cake:

Level the top of the cake. Soak it in the simple syrup. The cake should feel very moist. Place the cake inside the spring form pan that it was baked in.

Prepare the strawberry syrup and keep it aside to cool.

Meanwhile prepare the chocolate mousse.

Keep the strawberry slices along the sides of the pan. Spoon the chocolate mousse over the cake and spread it to form an even layer. Cover the pan with a saran wrap and refrigerate while you make the strawberry mousse.

Spoon the strawberry mousse evenly over the chocolate layer. Drizzle some melted chocolate over the mousse. Again wrap the pan with the plastic wrap and refrigerate till set. about 4-5 hours. Carefully run a paring knife along the sides of the pan to remove the cake. Enjoy your fabulous dessert. The cake can be stored covered in the fridge for upto 2 days.

Chocolate mousse recipe from here and Strawberry Mousse recipe from here.

Sending this to Cakes for Christmas, Let's Cook-Baked Goodies, Christmas NewYear's Eve 2011, Global Food Festival, Bake Fest, Only Cookies and Cakes, Serve it Baked Sweet, Jingle All the Way, Sinful Delights.

Entries to Foodography Photo Contest

2011-12-17T22:28:00.000-08:00

Sending in my entires pictures to Foodography Photo Contest at Beloved Star. Head over to the wonderful blog to participate.

Eggless Custard Powder Snack Cake

2011-12-13T10:54:00.000-08:00

I am always excited to try an eggless cake, but very often the results are disappointing. The first ever cake I tried was with condensed milk and I had found it too sweet and dense and it just didn't appeal to my taste, the chocolate version wasn't so bad. There are several other egg substitutes that I have yet to bake with, especially want to try something with vinegar. This custard powder cake though is another story. I had seen it at Aparna's blog and have it bookmarked since ages and I don't know why I waited so long to try it.
The cake looked so good out of the oven we couldn't resist cutting into it immediately. Only after a couple of slices did I remember that I had to take pictures. This is definitely one of the best sponge cakes, it was so light you wouldn't think it was eggless!! I loved the taste (am a vanilla custard lover), the texture and just about everything. I baked it in a bundt and drizzled some chocolate sauce over it for some added yummmm!!

Eggless Custard Powder Snack Cake

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup vanilla flavored custard powder (I used Brown and Polson)
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
150 gm butter (very soft)
1 cup milk

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350F/ 180C. Grease and flour an 8" round pan or a small bundt pan.
Whisk all the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Add the vanilla, milk and butter and mix well until smooth.
Pour into the prepared pan and bake till done. My bundt took about 35 minutes. It will take longer in a round pan, so check at about 35 mins.
Cool on a wire rack completely before slicing.

Sending this to Cakes for Christmas, Let's Cook-Baked Goodies, Christmas NewYear's Eve 2011, Global Food Festival, Bake Fest, Snacks Mela, Only Cookies and Cakes, Serve it Baked Sweet,

Whole Wheat Honey Pancakes

2011-12-06T06:36:00.000-08:00

I have a big bottle of honey in my pantry, that's just begging to be used. Any suggestions??? I've been trying out a few dishes and these pancakes are my favorite so far. Pancakes are one of the easiest dishes to prepare, and we just love them. Even Anushka, who is other wise a very picky eater, doesn't turn her face away...so we have pancakes almost every weekend, or atleast she does!
I tried this recipe from Simplebites for the first time last month. The pancakes are fluffy, moist and just plain delicious. There's only a little butter and I think buttermilk does the trick. I doubled the amount of honey and yet they are not really sweet. So feel free to dunk them with your favorite syrup...I always use pure maple syrup, you can also checkout some great syrup recipes out here.

Whole Wheat Honey Pancakes

Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsps baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
2 tbs butter, melted
4 tbs honey

Method:
Whisk all the dry ingredients in a big bowl.
Whisk all the wet ingredients in another bowl until well combined.
Add the wet to the dry and whisk only until just combined, lumps are okay, do not over mix.
Heat a griddle over medium heat and grease lightly with oil or butter.
Spoon batter about 1/3 cup at a time. Cook till the edges are set and you see lots of bubbles on the surface, 3-4 mins. Flip and cook until golden brown, about two minutes.
Serve warm with your favorite syrup.

Eggless Chocolate Pumpkin Tart

2011-11-28T15:28:00.000-08:00

I am not a big fan of pies, especially pumpkin. But for the last couple of weeks, there were pies all over the place....blogs, TV, magazines and I was tempted to make one, but definitely not the traditional one. So I settled on making these tarts for thanksgiving. There had to be chocolate of course! The recipe is adapted from the Chocolate Walnut Bars I posted earlier...just omitted the eggs and added some pumpkin puree.

I had some difficulty rolling the dough. It wouldn't roll out smooth, I'm guessing its the walnut pieces and then there was not enough flour on the table, so most of the dough had stuck. I could cut out two circles, the rest I just took pieces and put them on the tart pan and patched them together. Though it didn't look perfect, it worked out fine and the tart was firm and didn't crack after baking. The filling is a breeze to prepare. I got six mini tarts or you can make one 9" tart. I have to say I wouldn't know it had pumpkin unless someone told me. More like a chocolate tart and that worked very well for me :)

Eggless Chocolate Pumpkin Tart

Ingredients:

Crust:

55 gms walnuts

1 cup flour (I used 50-50 wheat and all purpose flour)

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 tsp baking powder

4 tbs cold butter, cut into small pieces

pinch of salt

few tbs of cold water

Filling:

2 tbs butter, melted

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 1/2 tbs cornflour mixed with 5 tbs water

Method:

Crust:

Preheat the oven to 350F/ 180C.

Grind the walnuts with some sugar to a coarse powder.

Combine the powdered walnuts, remaining sugar and flour in a bowl.

Add the cold butter and rub it in using your finger tips or pulse in a food processor till the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Add water few drops at a time and mix with your fingers until it comes together like a dough. Do not knead the mixture. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for atleast 30 mins.

Roll the dough out on a floured surface to about 1/4" thickness and line your tart moulds.

Bake for about 15 - 20 mins or till set and golden. Keep aside to cool.

Filling:

Sieve the cocoa to remove lumps. Mix all the ingredients together till smooth. Divide between the cooled crusts and bake for about 30 mins or till set. Cool to room temperature and then refrigerate for a few hours. Remove from tart pans carefully and serve.

Sending this to The Holiday Recipe Exchange hosted by My Baking Addiction and GoodLife Eats sponsored by Breville.

Turkey Burgers with Zucchini Tomato Yogurt Relish

2011-11-24T19:47:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving! After seeing all the roasted turkeys on TV, I really really wanted to roast one myself, but I chickened out at the last moment, just like the last couple of years. I even had a recipe finalized this time, but I kept thinking of what I'd do with the entire bird. How many sandwiches or casseroles can two people eat! But I really wanted to have turkey, so I settled on making these yummy burgers. We had them with Baked Sweet Potato Fries and I also made some Eggless Chocolate Pumpkin Tarts for dessert. It was a simple meal, but very satisfying.

Indian Spiced Turkey Burgers with Zucchini Tomato Yogurt Relish

Ingredients:
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 tbs finely chopped ginger
1 tbs finely chopped garlic
1/2 cup finely chopped carrot
4-5 green chilies, finely chopped
1 lb ground turkey
handful of cilantro, finely chopped
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
salt to taste

3/4 cup greek/ or other yogurt
1 small zucchini, finely chopped
1 medium tomato, finely chopped
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp cumin powder
lemon juice to taste
salt to taste

lettuce or other greens
Cilantro Chutney
Burger buns

Method:
Heat 1tsp oil in a pan. Add the onion, ginger, garlic, green chillies and saute till the onions are soft, there is no need to brown. Take off the heat and cool.
Take the turkey, onion mixture, cilantro, chopped carrot, cumin powder, coriander powder, garam masala and salt in a bowl and mix well with a fork or you can use your hands.
Shape the mixture into 6 patty's and brush each one with a little oil. Heat a griddle or pan on medium heat and brush with oil. Cook the patty's till done, about 5-6 mins per side.

Yogurt Relish:
Mix together all the ingredients and refrigerate for about an hour.

Toast the burger buns if you like. Spread some cilantro chutney on each half. Make the burgers with some greens, one patty and some yogurt relish. Serve hot with some sweet potato fries.

Bread Koftas in a Pumpkin Gravy for Taste and Create

2011-11-20T19:41:00.000-08:00

I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows for the fourth time yesterday and I'm certain I'll be watching it many more times. I had a wand in one of my dreams last night, if only I could remember what it was all about: :). I'm a big Potter fan and am so sad the series is over. I really wish there would be more, the next generation has started going to school, surely they'll have their own adventures. I shall keep hoping....

It's Sunday morning, there is so much to do, but my mind is still at Hogwarts and I'm feeling too lazy to start anything yet. I was just reading about some blogging events and remembered that my post for Taste and Create is still pending. At least I better post this before it's too late.

Taste and Create is a monthly event where your paired up with another blogger and cook from each others blogs. I'm participating after a long time and for this month I've been paired with Anusha Praveen of Tomato Blues. I have never made koftas before, so I decided to try her recipe. I added some paneer in the koftas and shallow fried them instead of steaming them in the microvawe. Was Delicious!!

Bread Koftas in a Pumpkin Gravy

Ingredients:
For the gravy:
1 big onion
1 big tomato
1 tsp red chili powder
1/4 tsp haldi
1 tsp cumn powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/3 tsp garam masala
2 tbs yogurt
150 gms pumpkin, cubed
1/2 cup green peas

For the koftas:
3 slices brown bread
1 tbs yogurt
1/4 cup paneer, crumbled
1 green chili, finely chopped
1/4 tsp garam masala powder
1 tbs coriander leaves, finely chopped
2 tbs sauteed onion, reserved form the curry
salt to taste

Method:
For the curry:
Take the pumpkin in a microwave safe dish, add a few tbs of water and microwave on high for about 4-5 mins till cooked. Puree and keep aside.
Heat 1 tbs oil and saute the onions till golden. Reserve 2tbs for the koftas. To the remaining onions, add all the spice powders and fry for a minute. Add the tomato and cook till mushy and the oil separates. Add the pumpkin and the yogurt, mix well. Adjust the consistency of the curry and check the seasonings. Add he green peas, cover and cook on low heat for about 5 mins. In this time make the koftas as given below. Add the koftas, mix gently and simmer for another minute. serve hot garnished with coriander leaves.

For the koftas:
Mix the yogurt with some water to soak the bread. Dip the bread in the mixture and squeeze well. [Next time I'll just skip this step and use bread crumbs and add a little yogurt to bind the koftas]. Mix all the ingredients for the koftas and shape into small balls. Shallow fry till golden brown.

Sending this to Taste and Create and to Pari's Only Event, guest hosted by Kamalika.

Cherupayar and Kachil Puzhukku (Mung and Yam Curry)

2011-11-17T17:39:00.000-08:00

For as long as I remember, Cherupayar puzhukku and kanji has been the standard dinner on Saturdays at my mothers place. I think it was my mom's idea to take a break and avoid cooking anything elaborate at least for one meal. It must have been so hectic to come back from work late in the evening and then cook a meal, check on our studies and take care of all the other chores. Of course my brother and I would protest every single time, we hated Kanji and wanted something "special".
I still try my best to avoid Kanji but I love this puzhukku and all its variations. I add any one or a combination of raw bananas, kachil (purple yam), chena (elephant foot yam) or chembu (taro) along with payar. Manoj eats it with rice or chappatis, but I like to have a bowlful of just the puzhukku with a big dollop of plain yogurt. Yumm!

Cherupayar and Kachil Puzhukku
Ingredients:
1 cup whole mung beans
250 gms kachil,chena, chembu or raw bananas or a combination of these
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup fresh coconut, grated
4 dry red chilies or to taste
1 1/2 tsps cumin seeds
1/4 tsp peppercorns
2 cloves of garlic
1 sprig curry leaves

Method:
Cook the mung and the kachil separately along with some salt and turmeric powder. You can cook them together in the pressure cooker but the kachil may take longer than the mung, so its best to cook them separately.
Grind the coconut, chilies, cumin seeds, peppercorns and garlic along with some water. The paste should be a little coarse. Add the paste and curry leaves to the cooked mung and kachil. Mix together. The mixture should not be very dry, so add water accordingly and check the seasonings. Bring the mixture to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Serve hot.

This goes to Priya's CWS - Mung Beans and The Kerala Kitchen, guest hosted by Fajeeda.

Sesame Orange Chicken

2011-11-11T08:28:00.000-08:00

I love cooking, but I love the occasional take out too. Especially Chinese take out and we are crazy about the food at Panda Express. But the occasional was happening too often and reading the calories on each item really started to worry me, especially their orange chicken which is was my favorite. So we decided to stop going there for a while. Every time we passed an outlet, I would stare at it longingly and my cravings were just becoming unbearable.
So I started my hunt for an easy lower fat recipe. I read several, that called for ingredients I didn't have in my pantry and I wasn't going to buy any more sauces! So I just put together whatever I had, drawing ideas from what I'd read and came up with this. Were my craving satisfied?? YESS!! Different from what they serve at Panda, but really really good. Plus the satisfaction of it being home made and non-fried...I was one Happy Gal!!

Sesame Orange Chicken

Ingredients:
1 lb chicken thighs, cut into bite size pieces
2 tbs all purpose flour
2 tbs cornflour
1 small egg
1 tsp pepper powder
1 tbs ginger garlic paste
salt to taste
3 tbs orange marmalade
1 tbs sugar, more or less depending on the sweetness of the marmalade
1 tbs soy sauce
1 tsp red chili flakes, adjust according to taste
1 tbs apple cider vinegar
1 tbs chopped ginger garlic
1 tbs toasted sesame seeds

Method:
Take chicken, flours, pepper powder, ginger garlic paste, egg and salt in a bowl and mix everything together.
Heat 1 tbs oil in a wok on medium high heat. Add the chicken mixture and stir fry till the chicken is browned and cooked completely. Take care not to overcook the chicken. Keep aside.
In a small bowl mix together orange marmalade, sugar, soy sauce, red chili flakes and vinegar with a whisk.
Heat the same wok on medium heat with 1 tsp oil and fry the ginger garlic for a few seconds and then add the marmalade mixture. Simmer for a couple of minutes and add the chicken. Mix till all the chicken is well coated with the sauce. Check the seasoning and then stir fry for another minute and then mix in the sesame seeds. Serve hot.

Eggless Mava Cupcakes

2011-11-04T17:36:00.000-07:00

The weather has been really pleasant until now and though summer is already long gone, I was really not ready to accept it. I'm afraid of winter!! Seriously, I used to even have a tough time dealing with Mumbai winter, and everyone knows it doesn't really get cold there. So you can imagine what I will go through the next few months. I'm just glad I'm not at some place where it snows :)

Last week, Manoj called me in the afternoon, to tell me that two of his colleagues would be coming home with him that evening. I had some savory snacks but it was the day after Diwali, and I wanted to serve them something sweet. I had a little bit of mava left over after making the potlis the day before and wanted to use it up.

Googled for recipes using mava and saw Aparna's Mava Cake. It was perfect for what I had in mind, no complicated ingredients!! So I put Anushka on her high chair, gave her some fruit to eat and got around baking. Thankfully she was ready for a nap when they were done, so I could take pictures :).

I tweaked the recipe a little. I had only half the required mava, so I halved the recipe, cut out the egg and made them into mini cupcakes. They were delicious, soft and the cardamom flavor was just incredible. Smelled and tasted kind of like the Elaichi Amul Srikhand we get in India and I used to love that as a kid. I got 14 mini cupcakes and they were all gone by the end of the day!

Eggless Mava Cupcakes

Yield : 12-14 regular cupcakes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup mava (I had made the mava the day before, so it was very firm. I just heated it in the microwave for a few seconds till it was soft.)

60gms butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp powdered cardamom

1/3 cup milk

1/4 cup yogurt

cashew nut halves to sprinkle on top

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350F / 180C. Line a muffin pan with paper liners.

Sieve the flour, baking powder and cardamom powder.

Cream the butter, mava and sugar till light and fluffy. Add the yogurt and beat until well incorporated.

Mix in the flour, alternating with milk, in two additions. Spoon into the prepared pan and place the cashew nut halves on top.

Bake for about 18-20 mins or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Take care not to overbake or the cupcakes will be dry. Cool on a wire rack and enjoy.

Sending this to
Vardhini's Bake Fest
Helen's Cake of the Week

Baked Mava Coconut Potli

2011-10-31T08:46:00.000-07:00

Hope you all had a wonderful Diwali. I wanted to post this earlier, but got busy with other things and found no time to edit the pictures. Besides Diwali was a little different this year, we were unable to meet any friends or go to the temple. It was a hectic week for Manoj at work and I had a class that evening. Yesss....I have finally enrolled for the Wilton Cake Decorating Course (I've been soooo eager to go )!! I made Rava Laddoos to take along with me to class and everyone loved it. All the discussions that day were centered around Diwali, Indian food and our traditions. Everyone wanted to taste some Biryani and I've promised to make some for the last class.

Well today is Halloween and Anushka will be a "Pink Leopard". I can't wait to take her for 'Trick or Treat' around the block. She is too young to understand any of it, but she sure will be excited seeing all the colorful candy!!

Back to the recipe, I made these Mava Potli's on the morning of Diwali. It's adapted from a recipe from the Femina Book of Anytime Treats. The original recipe calls for steaming the potlis, but I baked them because I wanted them to be crisp on the outside. I used AP Flour, but I'm sure it will be great to substitute some of it with wheat flour. Make sure to roll the dough as thin as possible. They taste best when hot, just like samosas.

Baked Mava Coconut Potli

Ingredients:

For the shell:

25 gms all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

30 gms sugar

1 tbs ghee

For the filling:

150 gms mava (milk reduced to a granular consistency)

75 gms icing sugar

100 gms fresh coconut, grated fine

2 tbs cashew nuts, chopped fine

Method:

For the shell:

Mix all the ingredients for the shell. Add enough water to make a smooth dough. Knead well. Cover with a damp cloth and keep aside for about 30 mins.

For the filling:

Roast the coconut on medium flame till it dries out a little, do not brown it.

Add the ghee, mava and sugar to the pan. Keep stirring on low heat till the mixture comes together and leaves the sides of the pan. Remove from heat and stir in the chopped cashew nuts. Keep aside to cool.

Divide the dough and the filling into 16 portions. Roll into thin discs and keep a portion of the filling in the middle. Pull up the edges to form a dough and seal securely.

Bake at 350 F/ 180 C for about 20 - 25, turning once till browned.

Serve hot.

P.S. I thought my potlis looked more like one-eyed monsters with their head blown out!! Perfect for Haloween too, don't you think :)

Sending this to

Only Sweets & Desserts guest hosted by Gayathri, event by Pari
Anu's Diwali Event
Khushi's My Diwali My Way

Chocolate Ice Cream...In Memory of Jayasree

2011-10-29T19:45:00.000-07:00

Earlier this month, a fellow blogger, Jayasree of Experiments in Kailas Kitchen, passed away suddenly. I did not know her personally, but having read about her in various blogs, it is obvious that she was a warm, loving and talented person who will be missed dearly. I really regret not knowing her. I hope her family and friends find the strength to deal with their loss. Rest in peace Jayasree, you will be loved always.

Tribute to Jayasree is an effort to honor her memory, by cooking recipes from her blog. Jayasree has an amazing collection of traditional recipes and I had plans to make a rice dish when I saw this Ice cream recipe. I had all the required ingredients in my pantry and started immediately. I made the ice cream in the ice cream maker and ice cream was already set when I remembered the chocolate chips. The ice cream was chocolaty enough even without them.

Triple Chocolate Ice Cream

Ingredients:

1 cup milk

1/2 cup cream

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup chopped chocolate

1 tbs cocoa powder

2 tsp corn flour

2 tbs chocolate chips

Method:

Melt the chopped chocolate in a microwave or in a double boiler. Add the cream and mix well. Keep aside.

Dissolve the cornflour in a little milk. Bring the remaining milk and then add the cornflour paste and cocoa powder. Mix well to remove lumps. Add the sugar. When the sugar has dissolved completely, remove from heat. Stir in the chocolate cream mixture and keep aside to cool.

Freeze according to your ice cream makers instructions. To freeze without one, pour the mixture into a shallow dish and freeze till it begins to set. Brake the ice crystals with a fork, cover and freeze again. Repeat the process 2 more times. When leaving it for the final setting, stir in the chocolate chips and freeze till completely set.

Gajar/ Carrot Burfi

2011-10-23T22:14:00.000-07:00

I'm sure everyone is busy preparing for Diwali. I soo miss India during this time. Cleaning our homes, making all kinds of sweets and distributing them to friends, getting all dressed up and the sound of fireworks throughout the day. This weekend was all about getting our home ready, putting up the lights and making some sweets.

Our Diwali celebrations began yesterday at our local library. The family story time session was focused on Diwali which included a short video showing the celebrations in India and a story that was narrated in Hindi. We were all given a sticker in the shape of a footprint, 'Goddess Lakshmi's footprint', and there were all kinds of stuff to decorate it. It was fun and another chance to dress up my doll :)

Manoj has been asking me to make gajar ka halwa for a while now. When I showed him how simple the recipe actually was he offered to make it himself. That's not an offer I receive very often, so of course I accepted. We just decided to make it into a Burfi so we could control the portions we ate, much better than having bowlfuls of halwa.

This recipe is almost the same as halwa, just added more milk and cooked it for a while longer to help it set.

Gajar/ Carrot Burfi
Ingredients:
2 tbs ghee
3 cups of grated carrot
3 cups whole milk
1/3 cup to 1/2 cup sugar, depending on taste
1/4 cup almonds, finely chopped
1/4 tsp cardamom powder
any nuts, raisins for garnish

Method:

Heat 1 tbs ghee in a heavy bottom or nonstick pan and saute the carrots till it changes color and looses some moisture. Add the milk and cook over medium heat, till the milk is completely absorbed.

Add the sugar and cook till the mixture is thick and comes together in the middle of the pan. Add the remaining ghee, cardamom powder and chopped almonds and mix well.

Remove from heat and spread onto a greased dish. Cut into pieces when cold and store in the refrigerator.

Sending this to
Only Sweets & Desserts guest hosted by Gayathri, event by Pari
Denny and Krithi's Serve It - Festival Potluck
Anu's Diwali Event
Khushi's My Diwali My Way

Sweet Corn Soup

2011-10-18T23:04:00.000-07:00

When planning my trip to India, I made several lists. Things to take, things to buy, places to visit and so on. One list was all about food, dishes I had to have, some homemade and some from my favorite restaurants. I was able to satisfy all of my cravings, except one. That was the Sweet Corn Chicken Soup from Mainland China. I just love the soup they serve there and the quantity, really satisfies you.

I'm not a big fan of soups, especially the kind in which you puree vegetables, reminds me of baby food and really puts me off. But I love the chinese soups served in Indian restaurants, Hot and Sour, Manchow Soup and Sweet Corn Soup. Very often I make a big pot of soup for dinner, with a lot of vegetables and chicken. A big bowl of that, and you wont need anything else.

Sweet Corn Soup

Ingredients:

15 oz can sweet corn, cream style

5 cups vegetable/ chicken stock

1 big carrot, cut into small cubes

1/2 cup green beans, chopped fine

2 stalks spring onions, whites and greens separated

1/2 tsp pepper powder or to taste

salt to taste

3 tbs cornflour, dissolved in some cold water

1 egg, beaten ( optional )

1 rottisserie chicken breast, cut into small cubes

Method:

Bring the vegetable/ chicken stock to a boil in a big vessel. Add the sweet corn, spring onion whites, carrot, beans, chicken (if using) salt and pepper. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add the dissolved cornflour. Stir for about 30 seconds. Check the seasonings. I don't like to add too much pepper as I like my soup to taste slightly sweet. Beat the egg lightly with a fork, and add it to the soup in a slow drizzle, stirring constantly. Garnish with the spring onion greens and serve hot.

Coriander Coconut Chicken Curry

2011-09-25T09:22:00.000-07:00

Notice the 4 C's in the title :)....I was just wondering what to name this curry. What better way than listing the prominent ingredients right? I made this the week after Onam mainly to use up the left over coconut milk and because I was really craving for some meat after a weekend of just vegetarian food...this was my first I'm sure.

The curry did turn out great and after some quick pictures, gobbled down most of it with some rice:)....

Chicken Curry

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken, cut into small pieces

3 tsp ginger garlic paste

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1 medium onion, about 200 gms

5 green chillies, or to taste

30 gms coriander leaves

1/2 tsp peppercorns

3/4 tsp garam masala powder

1 tsp coriander powder

1/2 tsp cumin powder

2 tomatoes, about 150 gms, chopped

1/4 cup thick coconut milk, I used the canned milk

salt to taste

2 tbs oil

Method:

Marinate the chicken in the ginger garlic paste, turmeric powder and some salt for a few hours.

Heat 1 tbs oil and add the peppercorns. Fry for a few seconds till they splutter, then add the onions and green chillies. Saute till the onions are lightly browned. Add garam masala, coriander and cumin powders and fry for a few seconds. Cool and grind the onion mixture and coriander leaves to a smooth paste.

Heat the remaining oil. Add the chicken and fry for a few minutes till it changes color. Add the onion coriander mixture and tomatoes and mix well. Add salt to taste. If you want lots of gravy add some water at this point and bring to a boil. Cook covered on low heat till the chicken is tender.

Uncover, stir in the coconut milk and immediately remove from heat, to avoid curdling. Mix well and serve hot with rice or any bread.

Chocolate Truffle Cake for my Birthday

2011-08-27T18:44:00.000-07:00

Birthdays always get me excited, especially one in the family or among close friends and of course mine. The midnight wishes, gifts, surprises, calls from friends you haven't been in touch with, the birthday cake...there's so much to look forward to.

I celebrated mine this week and it was a wonderful day spent with family and friends. The best part of the day was the gift from Manoj...an Icecream Maker!! I've been thinking of buying one for so long now, so this was just the perfect gift. Can't wait to use it.

I've never baked a cake for my birthday, we usually just get one from a bakery near our home. But last month I borrowed the Ghirardelli chocolate book from the library and I've been looking at all those amazing recipes and pictures and drooling over them ever since. Just thought I'd wait for my birthday to indulge myself. I wanted something intensely chocolaty and this truffle cake satisfied all my cravings.

The recipe for the cake has been adapted minimally from The Ghirardelli Chocolate Cookbook. I increased the recipe by half to get three layers. The cake by itself, was moist and delicious, and doesn't really need any icing. So if you're looking for a plain chocolate cake, this is a must try. Add the chocolate truffle and you're in Chocolate Heaven!!

Chocolate Truffle Cake

Ingredients:

For the cake:

4 oz semisweet chocolate

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup dark brown sugar, tightly packed

1 tbs honey

1 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 extra large eggs, beaten

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup whole milk

For the soaking syrup:

1 cup water

For the truffle:

400 gms semisweet chocolate

300 ml cream

4 tbs unsalted butter

Method:

Preheat oven to 325 degree F.

Butter and line two 9" round cake pans and line with parchment paper.

Melt the chocolate, butter, sugar and honey over a double boiler and mix till smooth. Set aside.

Sift together the flour, cocoa and baking soda. Gently mix in the chocolate mixture. Add the eggs, vanilla and milk and beat with a spoon until well blended.

Divide the mixture between the two pans.

Bake for 25-30 mins until firm to the touch. Remove from oven and cool on wire racks. When cool, turn out of the pans.

To make the soaking syrup, dissolve the sugar in the water and stir in the rum.

For the chocolate truffle, heat the cream till you see bubbles in the sides. Take off from heat and pour over the chocolate. Stir till the chocolate has melted, then add the butter and mix till smooth and well combined. [U can start licking the sauce at this point...BLISS!! Between the three of us all our spoons were in the sink:) ]. The truffle will thicken as it sits. For piping designs you may have to refrigerate it to get the right consistency.

To assemble the cake, soak one layer with one third of the syrup and top with the truffle. Repeat with all the layers, frost the sides of the cake and then the top. Decorate as desired and keep covered in the fridge.

Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies

2011-08-19T06:37:00.000-07:00

Like I said in my last post, I had been on a long vacation to India, for three months. Had an awesome time. Nothing better than having your family close, one of the things I miss like crazy. Except for my parents, everyone was meeting me after about three years, a long time and obviously I've changed. "So you're a mom now, can't believe it", was a remark I heard very often. The same kids who called me ' Didi', now call me 'Aunty'...sigh!!...Another kid who remembered me runs up to me, "Hi Aunty, how are you? You are fatter now!!", and scurries off to play!! You can imagine my reaction.

We had a lot of get togethers with family and friends and so lot of opportunities to bake. I had these cookies bookmarked for a while from Martha Stewart and Patricia. They look too cute to eat, don't they? They were delicious, even without the chocolate and I actually left some plain without the filling. I used the back of a round measuring spoon to make the impressions and not my thumb (the cookies were really hot!!).

Chocolate Thumbprints

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup confectioners sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

2 tbs unsalted butter

2 oz semisweet chocolate

1 tsp light corn syrup

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Beat together the butter, sugar, salt and vanilla extract till smooth, about 2 minutes on medium high.

Beat in the flour, beginning on low and increasing to medium-high.

Roll teaspoonfuls of the dough and place 1" apart on an ungreased baking sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes, remove from oven. Make indentations in the middle of each cookie. Return to oven, and bake till light brown around the edges, about 7-9 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack.

For the filling, combine the chocolate, butter and corn syrup in a double boiler, and stir occasionally until melted and smooth. Allow to cool slightly. When the cookies are cool, fill the thumbprints with the chocolate

mixture.

What's not to love about these pretty cookies, they were a total hit!! Love, love,love these buttery cookies!!

Vatteppam/Vattayappam – Kerala Special for Indian Cooking Challenge

2011-04-11T19:42:00.000-07:00

I'm currently on vacation in India at my parents place and having a wonderful time. This trip has been pending for a long time and I'm realizing that three years is really a looong time. Everyone and everything seem so different from what I remember...lot to catch up!!

I'm a little late in posting, been a little busy and a little lazy, but really enjoyed this challenge. Vattayappam is a familiar dish and we make it almost the same way. Love it for breakfast. This recipe for Indian Cooking Challenge is from Shn's Mishmash.

I'm skipping the recipe this time, do visit Mishmash for a detailed description.

Suruttai Poli - Indian Cooking Challenge

2011-03-15T17:53:00.000-07:00

Indian Cooking Challenge this month was all about Surattai Poli, a delicious sweet snack. This was a welcome break from all the cake and chocolates we've been having for the last few days. I made it last evening and we finished it this afternoon, irresistible!! The recipe was shared by Nithya, big thanks to her.

Surrutai Poli

Ingredients:

For the filling:

1 cup roasted gram/ dalia

1 cup sugar

20 cashews, chopped fine

1 tbs coconut, grated

1 tsp ghee

1 tsp cardamom powder

For the Poli:

1 cup maida

pinch of salt

water

oil for frying

Method:

Roast the coconut and cashews in the ghee till the cashews turn golden. Powder the roasted gram and sugar and mix with all the other filling ingredients.

Mix the flour and salt and make a soft dough. Keep aside for 30 mins. Pinch out small portions of the dough and roll out into paper thin disks, they should be kind of transparent. I got about 16. Keep them rolled on paper for a little while.

Heat the oil and fry a poli for a few seconds on each side, till small bubbles appear on the surface. Remove and immediately spread 2 tbs of the filling in the center of the poli and roll it. Keep it on a dish with the seam side down. Repeat with the others. The rolls will become crisp as they cool.

The challenge is frying the polis for the right time and then rolling them before they cool. It is otherwise a really easy and quick dish to prepare and just delicious.

Happy 1st Birthday Anushka!!

2011-03-14T15:57:00.000-07:00

My baby turned ONE yesterday. I can't believe a year has gone by. I've been going over all the pictures of this past year and I wish I could go back and relive some of the moments, especially those when she would be so content just to be held close. She has started walking now and dislikes being carried. She has not said a legible word as yet, but talks constantly. I just love hearing her talk animatedly. It's so exciting to watch her grow and yet I want her to stay a baby forever. These are such precious times.

To celebrate her big day, we had a small party with a few close friends. We did order a cake, but I wanted to bake something for my little one too. Anushka is lactose intolerant and a few of our friends eat only eggless cakes, so I baked an Eggless Strawberry Cake for the special day.

The eggless sponge recipe is from Sunita's blog and was delicious. I made two layers and just sandwiched them with dairy free whipped topping mixed with some fresh strawberry puree and a layer of strawberry slices. Topped the cake with just the whipped cream and M&M for color.

Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to take pictures of the sliced cake, but the birthday girl seemed to enjoy her first cake:)

Khandvi - Indian Cooking Challenge

2011-01-15T14:46:00.000-08:00

I missed almost all the previous Indian Cooking Challenges, but not this one! I would never give up an opportunity to make khandvi...its one of my favorite Gujarati snacks. They don't always come out great and even this time I barely used half the batter, the rest was too cold to spread:(. But I did enjoy the challenge and the dish was awesome. I made it this morning and after some quick pictures we had it for breakfast...a welcome change. YUMM!!

Khandvi

Recipe adapted from Lataji

Ingredients:

1 cup besan

1 cup sour curd

2 cups water

1" piece ginger

3-4 green chillies

1 tbs oil

2 tsps sugar

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

pinch of asafoetida

salt to taste

For tempering:

1 tbs oil

1 tsp mustard seeds

2-3 tbs chopped cilantro

2-3 tbs fresh grated coconut

Method:

Blend the ginger and green chili with some curd. Strain the mixture and mix with the remaining curds, water, gram flour, turmeric powder, sugar, oil, asafoetida and salt to form a smooth mixture free of lumps.

Cook the mixture over medium heat stirring continuously. Cook till the mixture starts to leave the sides of the pan, it will have a glossy look.

Spread immediately on a smooth surface into thin sheets. Cool for about 5 minutes.

Cut into broad strips using a knife and gently roll each strip to form spirals.

For the tempering , heat oil in a small pan and add the mustard seeds. Once it splutters, pour evenly over the prepared khandvi. Sprinkle the cilantro and coconut.

Mocha Chocolate Chip Muffins

2011-01-04T15:57:00.000-08:00

Wish you all A Very Happy and Healthy New Year!! The past year was full of moments that will be cherished forever and there is so much to look forward to this year. My daughter will be one in a short while, it's all happening too fast and watching her grow is such an incredible experience. Needless to say our life revolves around her. She babbles constantly and cruises around nonstop exploring every nook and corner of our home. All my time is spent chasing her and I'm enjoying every minute of it. Here's a picure of my little one...

I barely have time to complete my usual work but I miss blogging so much! I really can't stay away any longer, so here I am hoping to blog regularly. Thank u all so much for your warm wishes after my last post.

I haven't been cooking anything extravagant, just some easy n quick dishes.

I baked these muffins last week and they were amazing. Recipe is adapted from here. Just made a few healthy changes...

Mocha Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients:

2 cups wheat flour

1 cup + 2tbs sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

1/4 cup butter, melted

2 tbs cocoa powder

1 tbs instant coffee powder

1/4 cup applesauce

2 large eggs

2/3 cup low fat milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Method:

Preheat the oven to 375F and line the muffin pan.

Melt the butter and stir in the coffee and cocoa powders. Cool.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and cinnamon powder in a large bowl and make a well.

Whisk together the eggs, milk, applesauce and vanilla extract.

Tip in the egg and butter mixture into the flour mixture and stir until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Divide equally into the muffin cups and bake for about 18 - 20 mins or until done. Test with a toothpick. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Tastes best warm.

Happy Mother's Day!!

2010-05-09T22:38:00.000-07:00

It was my first mother's day and though my doll isn't old enough to wish me, she sure gifted me with her cutest smiles today. Didn't sleep a wink and insisted on being carried the whole day, guess she wanted to spend every minute of the day with me :).

A New Life...Meet our Bundle of Joy

2010-04-14T14:30:00.000-07:00

Here's introducing the newest addition to our family...my baby girl, Anushka, who turned one month yesterday. The last month has been an adventure really...one exciting day after another. Its so much fun as she now recognizes us, makes adorable sounds when we talk to her, sleeps in such cute poses, rewards us with an occasional precious smile...I could go on and on :).

As for cooking, hopefully I'll post something soon before this blog is declared dead:).

Moong Dal Halwa

2010-01-15T11:56:00.000-08:00

I was so excited when Srivalli chose Moong Dal Halwa for Indian Cooking Challenge this month. It's one of my favorite dishes, perfect for the winter and it's been atleast a couple of years since I had some. I missed the last few challenges and I was praying that the next one would not involve any deep frying. So this was just perfect.

I followed the second recipe, the only change I made was reducing the ghee to just 2tbs. That probably made a difference to the consistency of the halwa, we could only have it warm as it used to become stiff when cool. Also added cardamom powder. The halwa was yumm and just irresistible.

Moong Dal Halwa
Ingredients:

1 cup split yellow moong dal

1/2 cup ghee

3/4 to 1 cup sugar

1/2 cup milk

cashew and raisins roasted in ghee for garnish

Method:

Roast the moong dal till aromatic and the color changes slightly.

Wash and soak the dal in water overnight.

Next morning grind to a paste with as little water as possible.

Heat half the ghee in a pan and add the moong dal paste. Cook on low flame stirring frequently to avoid burning. The dal cooks really fast and will become very thick. Start adding the remaining ghee intermittently and cook till aromatic and ghee oozes out.

Mix the sugar and milk and boil the mixture. Add this slowly to the dal. Cook on low heat, stirring continuously till the ghee surfaces..

Garnish with cashews and raisins. Serve warm.

Pinapple Upside Down Cake and Vegan Fruit and Nut Cake - Last Bakes of 2009

2010-01-06T15:35:00.000-08:00

There was a time when I used to bake every second day or so. In the last couple of years all that butter, sugar and flour have started showing at all the wrong places and on top of that we realized that Manoj's cholesterol was a little high. It was time to change our eating habits and I must say its been really difficult. Both of us are crazy about junk and fast food and could happily have just that all day. Some changes we made were giving up eating out, no fried foods (except when visiting friends), its all about simple home made meals now. I bake only on special occasions, when visiting friends or when I'm having friends over. We are getting results and we feel so much better now.

Anyways, here are the two cakes I baked last month.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

I made the Pineapple Up-side Down Cake to take along to a friends place. I've had this recipe bookmarked for a while, it's from My Kitchen Snippets. See the recipe here. Just substituted pineapple and cherries instead of peaches.

The cake came out beautifully and was perfect. The sponge by itself was moist and buttery and delicious. I made two mini cakes, so I could taste it before I took it to my friends place. This recipe is definitely a keeper, can't wait to try it with peaches.

Vegan Fruit and Nut Cake

Whats Christmas without a fruit cake! I had a tough time selecting a recipe as the ones I had used alcohol and that's off limits for me. I also wanted an eggless cake and one that was not loaded with calories. After a lot of hunting I finally saw this recipe at Jugalbandi and it was perfect for my needs. That's a blog u can trust and there were so many people vouching for the recipe, I had no doubts what so ever.

I followed the recipe as is. I did not soak the fruits, used half orange juice and half water and totally left out the alcohol. The cake was fabulous, I could not believe that its vegan and was better than any fruit cake I ever baked. Manoj is already asking me to bake another one, guess he won't have to wait long.

This is a must try!!

****************************************************************

Both the cakes are going to Sara's Cakes and Cookies event and to Divya's Show Me Your Cake event.

Happy New Year!!

2010-01-01T21:42:00.000-08:00

Here's wishing you all a Very Happy and Prosperous 2010!! The last year was filled with a lot of wonderful memories and the new year comes with promises of even better ones. We have a lot to look forward to this year, most importantly the birth of our baby in early March. Life is full of excitement and anticipation right now :).

2009 ended on a beautiful note, we had a wonderful trip to Mount Shasta with friends and I had my first White Christmas, it was breathtaking. Here's a picture of the view from my window on Christmas morning....

Here's a picture of the cake I baked for Christmas, more about that later in another post.

Some more pictures of my trip...

Our backyard...

A cute little tree...

Eskimo Hill...

Burney Falls...

Lake Shasta...

Have a wonderful year.....

Marble Cake

2009-11-24T16:29:00.000-08:00

Marble cake has always been my favorite, what's better than a combination of chocolate and vanilla. This recipe is from the book, Baked - New Frontiers in Baking, and what's interesting is that it uses dark chocolate along with cocoa powder. I had to try it and it makes such a difference in the cake. The chocolate flavor was really intense and just irresistible.

Marble Cake
Ingredients:

6 oz dark chocolate (60-70% cocoa)

1 tsp dark cocoa powder

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsps baking powder

1 1/2 tsps baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup unsalted butter, soft but cool, cut into 1" pieces

2 1/4 cups sugar

4 large eggs

16 oz sour cream

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

Melt the chocolate over a double boiler. When smooth, add the cocoa powder and whisk till well incorporated. Remove from heat and keep aside.

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and dust a 10" bundt pan or two loaf pans.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together.

Cream the butter and sugar for 5 mins till smooth and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition. Scrape down the bowl and mic for 30 secs.

Add the sour cream and vanilla and beat just until incorporated. Add the dry ingredients in three batches, scraping the bowl before each addition and beating only until each addition is fully incorporated. Do not overmix.

Pour one third of the batter into the chocolate mixture and combine gently with a spatula to make a chocolate batter.

Pour half the plain batter into the pan. Scoop the chocolate batter over the plain batter. Pour the remaining plain batter over the chocolate batter. Run a butter knife through the batter to make swirls.

Bake in the center of the pan for about 1hour, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, or until a knife inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Then invert it onto the wire rack and cool completely.

Shortbread Cookies

2009-11-17T11:09:00.000-08:00

It's getting cooler by the day, the late sunrise and early sunset are just making me so lazy. Most of my days are spent curled with a book and I get up only when I have to. That's the only excuse for my long absences from blogging, plain laziness. Though I love winters, being from Mumbai since I'm not used to very cold weather and it sometimes gets a little unbearable. I'm so grateful for being in California where the weather is not so extreme and I thank God everyday, just thinking of a white winter gives me the creeps:).

I'm not cooking anything special nowadays, but I do miss baking a lot. Last week it was one of my friend's daughter's first birthday and I made these shortbread cookies by Ina Garten, that I had seen in Food Network a while back. The recipe is here.

Just cut them into different shapes...

Fresh out of the oven and of course I've already had a bite...

The cookies were incredibly buttery and delicious, just as she promised. Will surely be making this often.

Butter Chicken

2009-11-01T16:12:00.000-08:00

Butter chicken is one of my favorite dishes and the best I've had is at Grand Central restaurant in Chembur. I've never been satisfied with what we get at the restaurants out here, so I've just stopped ordering the dish. Last week we had dinner at a friends place and was I excited when I saw butter chicken on her table. It was really yumm, so of course I had to get the recipe. Noted it down and tried it today. It turned out great, was rich and delicious and was perfect with some parathas.

Butter Chicken

Ingredients:

To marinate the chicken:

2lb boneless chicken (preferably thigh meat), cut into bite sized pieces

3 tbs yogurt

2 tbs lime juice

1 tbs ginger garlic paste

1 1/2 tsps red chilli powder

1 1/2 tsps garam masala powder

1 1/2 tsps coriander powder

1 tsp cumin powder

salt to taste

For the gravy:

2 tbs butter

2 bay leaves

2 cardamoms

4 cloves

1 small red onion, finely chopped

1 tbs ginger garlic paste

2 medium tomatoes, blanched, peeled and pureed

1 tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp garam masala powder

1/2 tbs kasoori methi/ dried fenugreek leaves

salt to taste

1/2 tsp sugar

2 cups water

3-4 tbs cream

Method:

Marinate the chicken and refrigerate it overnight.

Heat 1 tbs oil in a pan. Add the chicken with all the marinade and cook on medium high flame, stirring frequently till the chicken is cooked and all the water has evaporated and is dry.

For the gravy:

Heat the butter in a pan and fry the bay leaves, cardamoms and cloves till fragrant.

Add the onions and saute till brown. Add the ginger garlic paste and fry for a minute.

Add chilli and garam masala powder and fry for 30 secs.

Stir in the tomato puree and cook till the oil separates.

Add the chicken, kasoori methi, salt, sugar and water. Mix well and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes.

Stir in the cream and turn off the heat after a minute.

Serve hot with parathas or naan.

Taste n Create : Shrimp Fried Rice

2009-10-23T14:47:00.000-07:00

For the past few days I have been browsing through Nicole's blog, For the Love of Food. Nicole has a beautiful blog with stunning pictures and a diverse collection of recipes. I was so glad to be partnered with her. Loved reading about her family and her travels. There were so many dishes to choose from, but after all the sweets and other heavy stuff I've been having for the last couple of weeks, I really wanted to make something simple. The shrimp fried rice looked delicious and was a perfect choice for lunch today.

I just had mine and the rice was so flavorful and steaming hot, it was just the perfect meal.

Check out the recipe here.

Have a great weekend guys!

Diwali Treats...

2009-10-21T07:45:00.000-07:00

I had a wonderful time this Diwali. Thank God it was during the weekend. We spent the whole day in true Diwali spirit. Visited the temple in the morning and spent the rest of the day visiting friends and distributing sweets.

I wanted to make everything that mom usually makes at home, so here are the recipes for all the above treats...

Ribbon Pakoda

Basically rice flour and besan should be in the proportion of 1:2, the spices can be added according to individual tastes. I used the below measurements.

Ingredients:

3 cups rice flour

1 1/2 cups besan

1 1/2 tbs butter, melted

1 1/2 tbs red chilli powder

1 tsp pepper powder

1 tsp hing

salt to taste

oil for deep frying

Method:

Mix together the flours, butter, spices and salt with enough water to make a smooth and soft dough.

Heat the oil. Using the appropriate attachment in the murukku maker, press the dough into the oil in small batches. Fry till crisp, about 2-3 mins.

Drain and when cool, store in air tight containers.

Besan Laddoo

Use the coarse besan thats available especially for the laddoos. If you don't have that, add rava to the laddoo, this also works great.

I'm not sure of the exact measurements I used this time, kind of lost track. But you can adjust the ingredients as required. So I'll just mention the ingredients and the method.

Ingredients:

Course besan (I used 4 cups)

Ghee

Sugar

Cardamom powder (Seeds of 6 cardamom pods crushed)

Raisins roasted in some ghee till it puffs

Method:

Heat 1/4th cup ghee in a pan. Add the besan and start roasting on medium low flame. The besan has to be roasted till it gives a nice aroma and the raw smell has completely gone. You need to do this on a low flame, so that it does not burn and change color quickly. It should have a nice golden brown color when roasted. It took me about 45 mins. I also added a few more tablespoons of ghee as I was roasting.

When done, remove from heat and add sugar and cardamom powder and mix well.

Add more ghee as required to form laddoos.

When cool enough to handle, make the laddoos adding raisins to each one.

ShankarPali

This is usually made using all purpose flour/ maida and lots of dalda and that also makes it really unhealthy. So mom usually makes this much simpler version and its just as yummy.

Ingredients:

2 cups wheat flour

1 cup all purpose flour/ maida

1 tbs butter, softened

1 cup sugar (more or less according to taste)

oil for deep frying

Method:

Mix the flours, butter and sugar with water to make a soft dough. Knead well till its really smooth and almost elastic.

Cover and keep aside for 1 hour.

Heat the oil on medium heat.

Taking the dough in batches, roll it into circles of 2-3 mm thickness. Cut into small diamond shapes.

Lower the heat slightly and deep fry till brown and crisp.

Kaju Katli

This is one of my favorite sweets and its the fourth time I'm making it. Adapted the recipe from Recipes Here.

Ingredients:

1 heaping cup whole raw cashews

2/3 to 3/4 cup sugar, according to taste, I measure somewhere in between

1/4 cup water

3 cardamom pods, seeds crushed to a fine powder

1 tbs ghee

Method:

Grind the cashews to a fine powder.

Heat the sugar and water in a pan till the sugar melts and begins to boil.

Add in the cashew powder and mix over medium heat, removing lumps. Keep stirring till the mixture thickens and starts coming together.

remove from heat. It will thicken more as it cools. When cool enough to handle, add the ghee and cardamom powder and knead for 5 mins till smooth. Roll out to desired thickness and cut into diamond shapes.

Rava Laddoo

This is the same recipe from the Indian Cooking Challenge. Find it here.

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Sending all the above to Purva's Diwali Dhamaka.

Besan Laddoo, Shankar pali, Kaju Katli and Rava Laddoo goes to Sireesha's Sweet Series.

Besan Laddoo and Rava Laddoo goes to Sanghi's FIL: Ghee event.

Diwali Wishes to ALL!

2009-10-17T08:25:00.000-07:00

Wishing you all A Very Happy and Prosperous Diwali. May all your dreams come true and the coming year be filled with happiness.

I have been quite busy for the past few days making some sweets. Here's a picture of all the goodies I made. Will post recipes later.

Off to the temple now....Have a wonderful day!

Easy Chocolate Fudge

2009-10-15T16:46:00.001-07:00

We had our first rain this week. Lasted a whole day and reminded me so much of rains back home. Just lazed around for two days of cloudy weather.

I made these last week when I was really craving for some chocolate. It was really simple and done in no time at all. The recipe is from the book Chocolate, by Williams-Sonoma.

Easy Chocolate Fudge

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups (375 gms) sugar

2 tbs unsalted butter

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup (125 ml) evaporated milk

2 cups (315 gms) bittersweet chocolate chips

3/4 cup (90 gms) walnuts

Method:

Grease an 8" square pan with butter.

Combine sugar, butter, salt and evaporated milk in a large saucepan over medium heat.

Stir constantly till the mixture comes to a boil, lower the heat a little and simmer for 5 mins, stirring constantly.

Remove from heat and add the chocolate chips. Stir till the chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth.

Stir in the walnuts.

Pour into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Cool, cover and chill for 2 hours .

Cut into squares and store in an air tight container for upto a week.

Tried and Tasted : Madhuram's Eggless Cooking Round-up

2009-10-06T15:13:00.000-07:00

Here's the round up of all the Tried and Tasted recipes from Madhuram's Eggless Cooking. A big thanks to all those who sent in their yummy creations....

Really sorry for missing out this entry by Lata Raja of Flavours and Tastes

Colourful Mini Idlis

Beetroot Rasam by Nandini of Usha Nandini's Recipes

Roasted and Stuffed Idli's by Sheba of Art, Food and Travel Chronicles

Priya of Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes tried these...

Beet Rasam

Chana Dal and Bulgar Sundal

White Bean Soup

Oats N Coconut Milk Pudding

Zucchini Dal by Graziana of Erbe in cucina (Cooking with Herbs)

Savory Onion Crackers by Ksenia of Tales of a Spoon

White Bean Soup by Graziana of Erbe in cucina (Cooking with Herbs)

Vegan Fruit and Nut Cake by Sadhana of A2Z Vegetarian Cuisine

Baked Spring Rolls by Shri of Tasty Touch

Eggless Pecan Bars by Claire of Chez Cayenne

Oats Coconut Milk Pudding by Yasmeen of Health Nut

Last of all my entries...

Eggless Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Eggless Cumin Cookies

Do check out Trupti's blog Recipe Center for the details of this months Tried and Tasted event.

ICC September : Murukku

2009-09-30T14:20:00.000-07:00

Murukku is one of our favorite snacks and it's so addictive. I was so glad when it was chosen for Indian Cooking Challenge this month, a great excuse to make some. This was a great recipe, very similar to what I usually make.

I'm a day late in posting this, totally skipped my mind. So sorry for that...do try this recipe....

Ingredients:

4 cups raw rice

1 cup urad dal

approx 1/2 cup water or more

For the seasoning:

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp sesame seeds

1/2 tsp asafoetida/ hing

salt to taste

75 gms butter

Method:

Wash and drain the rice. Dry for 1/4 hour. Dry roast the urad dal till golden and allow to cool.

Grind the rice to a fine powder. Then grind the urad dal to a fine powder.

Mix together both the flours, salt, sesame seeds, cumin seeds and hing.

Add the butter and rub it in till it forms into a crumbled mixture.

Add water and form into a firm dough.

Heat oil to deep fry. Shape the murukku using the murukku maker on pieces of paper and deep fry on medium heat till light brown, turning a couple of times to ensure even browning on both sides.

Drain on paper towels and store in air tight containers for upto a week.

Chocolate Butter Cookies and Eggless Cumin Cookies

2009-09-27T17:00:00.000-07:00

I made these cookies for one of my friends daughters birthday. As their name suggests these have lots of butter and just melt in your mouth. The cinnamon, nuts and chocolate give these a wonderful flavor and texture.

The recipe is from the book, Chocolate by Williams-Sonoma. It yields about 4 dozen cookies, perfect for parties.

Chocolate Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

1 tbs cocoa powder

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 1/2 cups/ 180 gms plain flour

1 cup/ 250 gms unsalted butter, at room temperature

5 tbs/ 90 gms granulated sugar

1 1/2 tsps vanilla extract

3/4 cup/ 90 gms chopped nuts

2/3 cup/ 100 gms semi-sweet or bitter-sweet chocolate chips

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 350 F/180C. Line ungreased cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Sieve together the cocoa, cinnamon and flour. Set aside.

Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes.

Stir in the vanilla, nuts and chocolate chips. Gradually stir in the flour mixture, combining thoroughly.

Drop rounded teaspoons of the dough in the shape of large marbles about 1 1/2 inches apart on the cookie sheet.

Bake for about 12 mins till done. Let cool in the pan for 2 mins. Dust with some confectioners sugar and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Eggless Cumin Cookies for Tried and Tasted

I made these cumin cookies from Madhurams blog, Eggless Cooking. They were ready so quick and took no effort at all. They were crisp, had a wonderful savory taste from the cumin and is a perfect tea-time snack. I'm going to be making this so often. Check out the recipe here.

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The chocolate cookies are going to 'CFK : Chocolate', hosted by Hema of Salt to Taste, event bySharmi of Neivedyam.

Cumin cookies are my entry to 'T and T : Madhurams Eggless Cooking' hosted right here by me.

Homemade Gulab Jamuns for Taste n Create

2009-09-25T08:34:00.000-07:00

For this months Taste n Create I was paired with Parita of Parita's World. Parita has a beautiful blog and there were so many delectable dishes to choose from. In the end I decided to try these awesome Gulab Jamuns. It's my favorite sweet and I could have any number of them at a time. I make these often, but they are always from packaged mixes, so it was great making them from scratch. This is a wonderful recipe and the Jamuns were just perfect.
I made these in the afternoon, so they would be ready by the time Manoj got home but we also had some friends come over that same evening, so I had to literally hide some Jamuns so I could take a picture of them. The jamuns were gone in minutes and everyone was so surprised that I actually made them at home. Thanks Parita for this wonderful recipe.

Gulab Jamun

Ingredients:

2 cups Milk Powder

1/2 cup + 1tbs all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup milk

1 tbs ghee or melted butter

oil for frying

For the sugar syrup:

2 cups sugar

2 cups water

1 tsp crushed cardomom seeds

few strands of saffron

Method:

Mix the milk powder, flour, baking soda and ghee till the mixture resembles crumbs.

Add milk little by little to make a soft dough. Cover and keep aside for 1/2 hour.

Make small balls of the dough ( I got 40) and deep fry on medium low heat till brown. Fry each batch for atleast 4-5 mins. The oil should not not be too hot or they will brown too quickly.

Drain on paper towels.

When frying, make the sugar syrup. Bring the water, sugar and cardamom to a boil and then simmer for 10 mins.

When all the Jamuns are fried drop them into the hot syrup and let it soak for about 4 hours.

Serve the Gulab Jamuns warm.

Eggless Banana and Chocolate Chip Muffins

2009-09-23T13:12:00.000-07:00

This was the first time I tried eggless baking and I'm really impressed. The muffins were really easy to prepare. The bananas, walnuts and the chocolate chips go so well together and the muffins were delicious. The recipe is from Madhuram's blog and my entry to Zlamushka's Tried and Tasted being hosted by me.

Check the recipe out here....

Unniappam

2009-09-17T14:38:00.000-07:00

For as long as I can remember, mom has always made Unniappams for Janmashtami every year. I wanted to this year, but I was not keeping well. Both of us were really craving for some, so I decided to surprise Manoj last evening. Mom usually makes it with rava, but since I did not have any when we were discussing the recipe in the morning, she gave me one of my aunts recipes. Made the unniappams with rice and they were yumm....

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups rice

1 big ripe banana (120gms)

1 cup grated jaggery

6 cardamoms, seeds crushed

Method:

Soak the rice for about 8 hours.

Grind together bananas, jaggery, rice with just enough water to form a thick smooth batter (I used a little less than 1/4 cup water).

Stir in the crushed cardamom seeds and let the batter sit for 3-4 hours.

Heat oil in the unniappam pan and spoon the batter into each cavity. Fry on medium heat for about 2 mins till brown, then turn them over and cook the other side till done.

Drain well on paper towels.

The unniappams may absorb some oil, especially if the batter is too thin. Add oil as required to the pan and wait till it gets hot before adding the batter.

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My entry to 'WYF:Festive Treat' event hosted by EC of Simple Indian Food.

Chicken Stew

2009-09-15T17:58:00.000-07:00

I know its Tuesday and a little late to be talking about the weekend, but I had such a great time. We went to San Francisco for the Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival and had some fabulous chocolate treats. I especially loved the tarts, pies, gelato and the brownie samples were to die for. We had a chocolate overload and yet I'm craving for more:)...

I made this curry this weekend and had it with dosas. Its best with appams but any dosa will do. I even like to have it with chapatis.

Ingredients:
4 chicken leg quarters, cut into small pieces

1 tbs oil

5 cloves

2 cardamoms

1 cinnamon

10 peppercorns

1 big onion, sliced

8 green chillies, slit

2 tbs ginger, finely chopped

10 curry leaves

2 tsp coriander powder

3/4 tsp garam masala

salt to taste

2 cups thin coconut milk

1/2 cup thick coconut milk

Method:

Heat 2 tbs oil on medium heat and fry the cloves, cardamoms, cinnamon and peppercorns till fragrant.

Add the onions and green chillies and fry till onions are soft and transparent. Add the ginger and fry for a min.

Next add the curry leaves, coriander powder and garam masala and fry for 30secs.

Add the chicken and fry on high heat for 2 -3 mins to brown a bit. Reduce the heat and add the thin coconut milk and salt. Mix well and cook covered on low heat till the chicken is done. Check the seasonings.

Remove from heat and stir in the thick coconut milk. Place the pan back on low heat for about 2-3 minutes. Just take care not to boil the gravy or the milk may split.

Enjoy with dosas, appam or any other bread.

Parippu Pradhaman

2009-09-08T11:44:00.000-07:00

Onam was not very grand this year. I just made a simple lunch of parippu, sambhar and aviyal and papadums. Here's a picture, will post recipes later...

We had another sadya, an Onam potluck last Friday with friends and that was more fun. I madePulisseri and Parippu Pradhaman. I was making it for the first time. After elaborate instructions from mom, it turned out really well. So here's the recipe...

Ingredients:

250 gms chana dal

450 gms jaggery

2 cups thin milk

1 cup thick milk

6 cardamoms, remove the shell and crush the seeds

2 tbs ghee

raisins n cashew nut pieces

Method:

Wash the dal and pressure cook till well done.

Drain the excess water and mash the dal. Do not mash it into a smooth paste, but into a coarse mixture with bits of dal.

Take the mashed dal in a heavy bottom pan and add the jaggery. Heat over medium high flame for about 10-15 mins till it forms into a thick paste.

Add the thin coconut milk and cook over medium flame for 5 mins.

Remove from heat and add the thick coconut milk and crushed cardamom. Place the pan back on very low heat and cook for a few mins. Do not let the mixture boil. Turn of the heat,

Fry the raisins and cashews in the ghee till golden and add to the payasam. Mix well and serve warm.

The payasam will thicken as it cools. You can thin it by adding some warm milk.

Announcing Tried and Tasted : Madhuram's Eggless Cooking

2009-08-31T23:45:00.000-07:00

Zlamushka's Tried and Tasted is a wonderful event that features a different blog each month giving us foodies a great opportunity to explore the blog and try out the various dishes. I'm really excited to be hosting the event this month and on the spotlight this month is Madhuram's Eggless Cooking.

It feels great to come across a blog that showcases something that one is not very familiar with. Eggless cooking is something totally new to me. I've never baked anything eggless as I've always doubted the texture and taste, but Madhuram's posts and all the mouthwatering pictures have changed my mind and I'm all set to give it a try. She has an amazing and diverse collection of recipes and I have enjoyed reading her blog and found it to be so informative.

So join me in further exploring her blog and and trying and tasting all those spectacular dishes out there. Here are the rules for the event....

[This beautiful logo has been created for us by Ksenia of Tales of a Spoon and it features Madhuram's Savory Onion Crackers. Isn't it lovely? Thanks Ksenia!]

1. Cook any recipe(s) from Madhuram's Eggless Cooking and post about it. Stay as true to the original recipe(s) as possible. Therefore, there is no need for re-posting it, simply link to the original post.
2. Link your post to this post (feel free to use the logo), to Zlamushka's page and to the original post.

Please always link to both sites, so both blogs are given credit and you are avoiding copyright issues.
3. Deadline is the 30th of September 2009 and the round up will be posted during the following week.
4. Mail me the following details at poornimastastytreats@gmail.com

Your Name

Blog Name

Dish Name

Url of your dish

Original Url

Picture of the dish

Non-bloggers are more than welcome to participate . Just mail me all the details.

Looking forward to your support in making this event a success.

Pomfret Curry and Fry

2009-08-29T20:55:00.000-07:00

It's so hot since last week, cooking is the last thing on my mind nowadays. Infact I've been having curd rice most of the days and sometimes cup noodles. Anything to avoid standing in the kitchen for too long. I made this dish sometime last week, it's one of my favorite curries. It's really simple and reminds me of mom, coz I just love it when she makes this.

Ingredients:

2 pomfrets, cut or another similar white fish

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 tsp salt

80 gms fresh coconut

2 tsp coriander seeds

3-4 dry red chillies or to taste

4 small red pearl onions

4 cloves of garlic

1 small piece of ginger

2 pieces kudampuli (gamboge), washed and torn into pieces

1 sprig fresh curry leaves

1 tsp coconut oil

Method:

Marinate the fish with the turmeric powder and salt for a couple of hours.

Grind together the coconut, coriander, chillies, onions, garlic and ginger to a fine paste with some water.

Take the mixture in a wide bottomed pan. Add the gamboge, curry leaves, some salt and enough water to make the gravy. Cover and bring the mixture to a boil. Slide in the fish pieces gently. When it returns to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and cook till the fish is done. Take of the heat and drizzle the coconut oil on top.

This dish tastes best if its allowed to sit for a few hours, it's even better if it's made the previous day.

For the fry I just marinated the fish in some red chilli powder, turmeric powder, pepper powder, lime juice and salt for a couple of hours and shallow fried it till crisp and done.

Tried and Tasted : Eggless Indian Custard

2009-08-29T20:52:00.000-07:00

I really wanted something sweet last evening and thankfully I thought of this recipe that I had bookmarked for Zlamushka's Tried and Tasted that's being hosted by Yasmeen of Health Nut this month. An eggless custard that too with chickpea flour was totally new to me. The recipe is from Ganga's blog 'A Life(time) of Cooking'.

Find the recipe here. The custard was delicious and I just loved it. The only problem was that I used really low fat milk, so I didn't get the right consistency. Could have been a little thicker, so next time I'm gonna be making this with whole milk. A quick and easy dessert.

Baked Onion Rings for Taste and Create

2009-08-24T18:58:00.001-07:00

The first time I had onion rings was when I was out for lunch with my Alliance Francaise gang at The Bombay Blues restaurant in Kala Ghoda, Mumbai. Fell in love with the it and ever since its the first item I look for in a menu when ordering for snacks. I've never tried making it at home, coz I just avoid frying stuff at home as much as I can, the only way I can control how much I eat:).

I have been paired with Marthe Zwolle of Culinary Delights for this months Taste and Create and this was one of the first recipes I spotted in her blog.

I'm so glad I decided to make this, it was great and we couldn't stop eating. I'm definitely going to bake these rings more often. You can find the recipe here.

I was on an unannounced break for a while now. I've not been keeping well and have also been busy with some other work. I'm so sorry for not responding to all your comments and visiting all your blogs. Will try to be more regular now.

Well Manoj is taking me out to dinner today, so got to hurry....see u'll soon.

Sharkara/ Jaggery Dosa

2009-08-16T12:37:00.000-07:00

This dosa was one of my favorite snacks as a kid. Mom used to make this often for us and she would make it in different shapes, flowers for me and animals for my brother, we used to gulp it down happily. I still make this once in a while, when I need to fix us a quick snack. Sending this to 'CFK:Evening Snacks' hosted by Divya of Dil Se, event started by Sharmi of Neivedyam.

Ingredients:

1 cup wheat flour

1/2 cup grated jaggery

1/2 tsp cardamom powder

water

ghee

Method:

Take the jaggery in a bowl, add some water and microwave on high for 30-40secs. Mix well till the jaggery dissolves.

Add the flour and cardamom powder and enough water to make a smooth batter. The batter should not be very thick.

Heat a griddle and smear with some ghee. Pour a ladle of batter and spread a little. Top with a few drops of ghee. Cook till golden on both sides.

Serve hot.

Rava Idli with Coconut Chutney

2009-08-08T12:58:00.000-07:00

Manoj loves idli's and would have it for any meal, but I'm not very fond of it. I also find the whole process of making the batter a big headache and too much work, its just one of those things I don't like to do even if its so simple. That's why I love this recipe. Noted it a couple of months ago from the book, Curried Favors and I've made it every week since.

Completely hassle free and the idlis are soft and has great flavor.

Rava Idli

Ingredients:

1 cup fine rava/ semolina/ cream of wheat

2-3 green chillies, finely chopped

1 sprig curry leaves, finely chopped

1 tbs oil

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp urad dal

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/3 cup plain yogurt, slightly sour

2-4 tbs water or as required

Method:

Grease the idli pans and keep aside.

Heat oil and add mustard seeds and urad dal. When the seeds begin to pop add the green chillies and curry leaves and fry for few seconds.

Add the rava and fry for 5 mins on medium high heat till golden.

Remove from heat, add the salt and baking soda and mix well. Set aside to cool.

Just before making the idlis, mix in the yogurt. Set aside for two minutes.

If the batter is too thick add a few tbs of water. The batter should be thick and must settle into the depressions easily.

Steam for 10-12 minutes till done.

Serve hot with chutney and/or sambar.

Coconut Chutney

This is just a simple chutney that I make often.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (tightly packed) fresh grated coconut

2 red chillies or to taste

1 tsp chopped ginger

a tiny piece of tamarind

2 small red pearl onions

salt to taste

water

Method:

Grind all the ingredients together with a little water to a slightly coarse paste.

Heat for about 10-15 seconds in the microwave.

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My entry to 'WYF:Breakfast' hosted by EC of Simple Indian Food.

Award Time!

2009-08-02T21:03:00.001-07:00

Smitha and Ashwini have passed on this wonderful award to me. Thank you so much Girls! It always feels wonderful to be appreciated and I feel so encouraged to do better.

This award comes with some rules:

1. You must thank the person who has given you the award.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link to the person who has nominated you for the award.
4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.
5. Nominate 7 other Kreativ Bloggers (it’s tough as all are creative in their own way :))
6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on which of the blogs to let them know they have been nominated

7 things about me...

1. I get along with all kinds of people and make friends easily. But there are very few who actually know me, I don't open up to people easily.

2. I like my privacy, I have to have time to myself doing whatever I want without an audience, sometimes just lie on the bed day dreaming. I can't stand people who assume that just because I'm at home and don't have kids I'm always free and have nothing to do.

3. I'm crazy about food. It wouldn't be really wrong to say that I live for food. It's my solution to all my worries. I'm especially crazy about all kinds of desserts(especially chocolate) and junk food.

4. I love to shop for clothes, shoes, bags and all kinds of stuff for the home. Currently I'm obsessed with kitchen items and I'm trying to restrain myself, feeling sorry for my hubby who is constantly pleading with me to stop:).

5. I believe in God, but not in religion.

6. I do not like to keep pets. I'm fond of animals and I enjoy watching their cute antics, but from a distance, I'd go crazy if they come anywhere near me, I feel terrified.

7. I love to read. I read atleast one novel a day, especially love thrillers and romance. I get so engrossed in them, I often imagine myself as one of the characters and say their dialogues out loud, Ya I'm crazy that way. Same in the case of movies, love them.

Now for the hardest part, nominating seven friends....

1. Anudivya

2. Ann

3. Bergamot

4. Lakshmi

5. Ivy

6. Priya

7. Sanghi

See ya'll soon....

Khaman Dhokla - Indian Cooking Challenge

2009-07-31T08:30:00.000-07:00

This months dish for Indian Cooking Challenge was Khaman Dhokla. Dhokla is a Gujarati dish and one of the healthiest snacks, almost guilt free. It's also so visually appealing with its bright yellow colour and all the garnish, just impossible to resist. I made this last week when I had a couple of friends over and we enjoyed every bite.

This is a wonderful recipe...do try it.

Khaman Dhokla

Ingredients:

For Batter:

250 gms Bengal gram flour / besan
1/2 cup curd (not very sour)
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp cooking soda

For seasoning to be mixed to the batter (to be added just before cooking)
1 tbs oil
a pinch turmeric
1-2 green chillies, ground to a paste
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp citric acid

1 packet (5gms/ 1tsp) eno - (green colour fruit lime) + sprinkle or dust few bits on the plate

For tempering
Sesame seeds
Mustard Seeds
Curry leaves
Grated coconut
Coriander leaves

Little water + Oil to be topped on dhoklas

Method:
Mix 1/2 cup curd with 1/2 cup water. Add the besan and mix well till there are no more lumps. The consistency should be of idli batter, more of dropping not pouring consistency. Add more water if needed, else add the soda. Keep it aside to rise for 1 hour.

To the batter mix in the citric acid, oil, salt, sugar, green chili paste and turmeric powder. Mix well.

Meanwhile heat the steamer pan, and let the water start boiling. When the water reaches the rolling stage, you can mix the eno to the batter (Save little of eno for dusting on the plate), mix gently, you will see bubbles coming out.

Dust or sprinkle the plate with eno. Then immediately pour the batter to the plate. Place the plate carefully inside the pressure pan and cover with lid. You need not use the whistle. After covering you will find steam coming out of the outlet, simmer and don't disturb for almost 5 -7 minutes.

After 5 -7 minutes, remove the lid and proof it using toothpick or knife. If the knife comes out clean and does not have any batter sticking, then its done. Cover back and let it remain on flame for 1 min and switch off the gas and allow it to sit for 5 minutes.

In a bowl, mix 3 tsps of water along with a tsp of oil.
Remove the plate from the pan, pour the water and oil mix over the top.

For seasoning, heat a pan with oil, add curry leaves, sesame seeds, mustard seeds and finely chopped green chilies. When mustard starts popping, remove and pour over the dhokla

The batter should be filled to only 1/2 as it will rise up. After adding eno the batter should not rest. Amount of sugar can be increased on preference.

If you want perfect shaped ones and not the crumbling, cut and handle gently

Dhokla can also be steamed in kadai filled with water and a plated titled over it.

Green Chutney

Ingredients:

4-5 green chillies
4-5 pieces coconut
1 bunch of coriander
few mint leaves
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 big lime
salt to taste

Method:

Take all the ingredients except coriander in a food processor. Grind to a smooth paste.
Then add the coriander and again grind. Remove to a bowl, add the remaining lime and serve with Dhoklas.

What are your plans for the weekend? Have a good one!

Palak Chicken

2009-07-27T16:23:00.001-07:00

Heyy...hope you all had a great weekend. I really enjoyed mine. We had friends over for dinner on Saturday, it was a potluck I was hosting and we had some awesome food. Then on Sunday we had arranged a surprise baby shower party for a friend at Round Table, played some games and had great fun.

Cooking took a back seat except for my contribution to the potluck, which was the Chicken fry I had posted a while back. The rest of the meals we just managed with some leftover's from last week which also included Palak Chicken that I had made on Thursday. I love to add spinach to gravies in which they won't taste so obvious and I love the green color it gives any dish. This is one such dish I like to make often and it's really yumm.

Palak Chicken
Ingredients:

150 gms spinach

4 green chillies

2 lbs chicken

1 big onion

1 tbs ginger garlic paste

1 tomato

1 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp garam masala

1/2tsp cumin powder

1 tsp red chilli powder

1/4tsp turmeric powder

2 lbs chicken

salt to taste

8-10 curry leaves

Method:

Blanch the spinach and grind to a smooth paste along with the green chillies.

Heat oil in a pan and fry the onion till golden. Fry the ginger garlic paste and fry for a minute.

Add the tomatoes and cook till the oil separates. Add the masala powders and fry for a minute.

Add the chicken and mix well. Add the salt, cover and cook for about 5 mins. Add the ground spinach and curry leaves and mix well. Add some water if necessary.

Cover and cook on low heat till the chicken is done.

Check the seasonings and remove from heat. Serve hot with naan or chappatis.

Challah Bread

2009-07-22T09:03:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we had been to NASA, something I've wanted to do ever since I got here, but it was such a disappointment. We had to wait in the car for over an hour to get through the gates and there was nothing to see. There were some games n all for kids, lectures about space missions and I could not catch a word of it, there was so much commotion in the tent. I was basically in a sour mood with it being so hot n all, I'm sure I've mentioned that I cannot stand the sun. But the day ended well, we were a big group and went to one of our homes and played games and stayed till dinner.We were really tired at the end and although I had promised I would get back to blogging by Monday I couldn't bring myself to write a post until today.

The oven in this apartment is even bigger that the previous one and I could not wait to use it. So it's great that I have been paired with Tania of Love Big, Bake Often for Taste n Create this month. She has got amazing recipes for baked goods, but the one thing that caught my eye was the Challah. It's been ages since my last bread and this was a braid, something I have seen in so many blogs.

I finally baked it yesterday and everything went so smoothly. The dough was easy and the braid was a breeze....lots of practice with my hair:-). You can get the recipe here.

I used rapid rise yeast as that was all I had and so I could avoid the first rise. I really wanted to take step by step pictures but the camera was still in the car after the weekend trip and so this was all I could manage after Manoj got back from work.

My bread browned within the first 15 mins, so I had to cover it with foil. Baked for 40mins and it was perfect. My home smelled heavenly for hours.

I prefer the bread warm and had some as soon as it had cooled down a bit.

Had some for breakfast today with some chole...Yumm!

Also sending this to Susan's YeastSpotting.

Lauki/ Bottle Gourd Dal

2009-07-17T11:49:00.000-07:00

It's been a week at our new apartment and everything is unpacked and in place, but I'm not sure when I'll recover from all that weight lifting. I've never had a more strenuous workout:). Am not yet in the mood for any serious cooking and its just dal rice most of the days, something both of us love. Gonna laze around this weekend and I will be back to blogging full time next week. Lots to catch up!

Lauki Dal

Ingredients:

1 cup moong dal

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1 tbs oil

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

a big pinch asafoetida

2 dry red chillies, broken

1 small onion, sliced

1 tomato, chopped

4 green chillies, chopped fine

2-3 big garlic cloves, chopped fine

1 small lauki/ bottle gourd, peeled and chopped into small pieces

3/4 tsp sambar powder

salt to taste

water

cilantro for garnish, chopped

Method:

Roast the dal on medium flame till it just begins to change color. Wash and pressure cook adding enough water, turmeric powder and some salt. When done, mash the dal well.

Heat oil in a kadhai and add the mustard and cumin. When they splutter add the hing and red chillies.

Add the onions and fry till golden.

Add the tomatoes, green chillies and garlic and cook till soft and mushy.

Add the lauki, sambar powder and salt and mix well. Cover and cook on low flame for 5 mins. If the mixture gets too dry, add some water.

Stir in the mashed the dal and enough water for required consistency. Mix well and bring to a boil, check the seasoning and let simmer for few mins. Garnish with cilantro and serve hot with rice.

Till next week...Enjoy your weekend!

Sendiing this to MLLA 13 being hosted at Tongue Ticklers, event started by Susan.

Garam Masala

2009-07-07T20:25:00.000-07:00

How did you guys enjoy your weekend?? I'm sure most of you'll would have had a blast. We are moving to a new apartment this Friday, so spent all our time cleaning and packing. This is the first time I'm doing it by myself and though I'm excited the whole process is tiring like crazy. I can't believe the amount of junk I've accumulated in just a couple of years. Anyways, there is so much work I haven't been cooking anything special. I'd probably be on a break for about 10days or so, though I'd be visiting your blogs as often as I can.

I was halfway to making dinner when I realised that I was out of garam masala. I almost called Manoj and asked him to get some on his way back from work but that would have only ended in disappointment as the egg curry I was making just would not taste the same. Thankfully I could overcome my laziness, stop making dinner and get on with roasting some spices. I wonder whats your take on the various brands of garam masalas available in the market now. Each one is different and yet not one of them suits my taste buds.

Garam masala is one of the most important ingredients in Indian cooking and it could easily alter the taste of any dish. I realised this when cooking at a friends place. I made my most reliable chicken curry and was shocked that it didn't taste anything like mine. It wasn't inedible or anything, but it just wasn't the same and that's when I saw her stock of garam masala in the freezer. Well at least I knew who the culprit was! And to prove my point I did make the curry again at my place and invited my friend over:)...

I'm sure everyone has their own blend of spices for that perfect garam masala. Here is mine...

Ingredients:

10 gms peppercorns

20 gms star anise

30 gms cinnamon

30 gms cloves

40 gms fennel seeds

Method:

Roast all the spices on low heat till fragrant, taking care not to burn them.

Cool and grind to a fine powder.

Store in an airtight container.

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Here are some of my favorite breakfasts for Divya's event, 'Show me your Breakfast'...

Idiappam

Sabudana Kichadi

Palak Paratha

Rava Laddoo ~ The Indian Cooking Challenge

2009-06-30T00:02:00.000-07:00

As a prelude to Srivalli's Indian Cooking Challenge, which is all set to begin on the 1st of July, it was decided to conduct a trial round and rava laddoo was chosen as the inaugural dish. Rava Laddoo is one of the easiest sweets you could make. Its totally hassle free, uses simple ingredients and could be made in no time. I have only helped mom to shape the laddoos before, this is the first time I made it all by myself and I'm so pleased with the results. This is a perfect recipe and I totally enjoyed the challenge.

It's my dad's birthday today and this one is for him. He loves sweets and I so wish I could stuff one into his mouth as I wish him.

Rava Laddoo

Ingredients:

1 cup rava / semolina

1 cup sugar

25 gms ghee

25 ml milk

a pinch cardamom powder

10 whole cashew nuts

10 raisins

25 gms grated fresh coconut

Method:

Heat 2 tsp of ghee in a kadhai. Once the ghee is hot enough, reduce the flame and roast the cashew nuts and raisins. Once the raisins puff up, remove. Then roast the grated coconut. Remove once done. Keep all these aside.
Add the remaining ghee and roast the Rava on medium low flame till aromatic and just it begins to change color.

In a bowl, take the roasted rava, nuts, coconut and the Cardamom powder and mix. Add the sugar and mix well.
Then slowly add just enough warm milk into the bowl to help you to shape the mixture. You may not require all the 25ml. Transfer back yo the kadhai and cook in sim for 2 mins. Mix well, cover it and let it rest for 2 mins. Then immediately shape into laddoos.

T & T : Baingan ka Bharta

2009-06-28T08:38:00.000-07:00

Meena's Hooked on Heat is in the spotlight this month for Tried and Tasted. She has got so many amazing dishes out there, no one could go back disappointed. For a change, I decided to go for a vegetarian dish this time. Baingan ka Bharta is something I've wanted to make for a long time and Meena's recipe was so simple and looked so delicious, I just jumped at the chance.

Here is a picture of my oven roasted eggplant....

Find the recipe here. I did not make any changes except adding the garam masala along with the other spices instead of sprinkling it at the end. I had this with dal rice and used the rest as a sandwich filling the next morning. Totally forgot to take a pic.

Great recipe, one I would be making very often.

My entry to T&T: Hooked on Heat, hosted by KC of Kits Chow, event started by Zlamushka.

Also sending this to FIL - Brinjal hosted by Sanghi of Sanghi's Food Delights.

Pancakes with Chocolate Sauce

2009-06-24T10:48:00.000-07:00

I make pancakes quite often especially on weekends when I want to indulge or am in the mood for something sweet that I could whip up in a jiffy. I try a different recipe each time and I always love the result. You couldn't ever go wrong with this. I have always wondered why people buy the packaged mixes, yet I know a number of people who swear by 'Bisquick'. So when I saw the recipe for Homemade Bisquick at Natalie's Blog Perry's Plate, I had to make it. I'll never if Bisquick is the same but i totally loved it. The pancake were light, fluffy and soft, I didn't mind having them cold. This recipe is a keeper for sure.

I followed Natalie's recipe and just added 2 tbs extra sugar and 1 tsp of vanilla essence.

I made my favorite topping, chocolate sauce of course, to go with the pancakes. Just melted about 1/3 cup chocolate chips with 1 tbs of butter. Had 5 pancakes by myself, all the talk about dieting! But I'll save the guilt for another time:)....this was just irresistible.

My entry for Taste n Create.

For my Century : Strawberry Chocolate Trifle

2009-06-21T19:40:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure when I started collecting recipes, sometime when I was in school coz I remember teachers lecturing me as I always had something written on the last pages of my notebooks. I just had to see a cookery show on TV and I would just grab the nearest book or paper without even checking what it was. Very often it would be my brothers book, as he always had them scattered all over the house and you can imagine his reaction:)...such fun! Now I have so many books and files full of recipes, all back in India of course, it's impossible to find anything. When I was packing before coming to the US, I was so sad to leave my collection behind and was all set to start another one here when Manoj suggested that I start blogging. I couldn't be more grateful coz I've enjoyed every moment of it. I've met some wonderful talented people and thanks to all of you who visit my blog regularly and leave such lovely comments. This is my 100th post and I hope to enjoy your support as I aim for a double century....

I made this trifle for a potluck a couple of week backs and had saved it coz I wanted my 100th post to be a dessert. A trifle can be so deceiving, it looks like it took so much effort but is actually so simple to put together. I have just listed everything I added and have not mentioned the measurements of the ingredients as you can add as much or as little of each as per your taste. You can repeat the layers and use all kinds of fruits, puddings and custards, anything goes.

It's best if you have a big trifle bowl, I don't so I used these glasses.

Strawberry Chocolate Trifle
Ingredients:

Vanilla/ Chocolate Sponge

Rum/ Brandy/ Fruit juice

Chocolate Pudding (I made the packaged Jello pudding)

Chopped strawberries

Strawberry whipped topping (puree some strawberries, strain and fold into the whipped topping)

Granola bars, crushed

Semi sweet chocolate

Method:

Add some cake to the bottom of the cups. sprinkle about 1tbs rum.

Top with a layer of chocolate pudding. followed by strawberries and whipped topping.

For the topping I stirred some chocolate into crushed granola bars and sprinkled some over the whipped topping.

Refrigerate for at least a couple of hours before serving.

Its award time! Thank you Sailaja and Pooja for giving me this wonderful award. Feels great to be appreciated. Would love to share this with all my blogger friends.

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Sending the trifle to Happy Cook's 'Strawberry Feast'.