Effortless cooking. Easy baking.

Book Review-Southern Flavours by Chandra Padmanabhan

2012-02-10T21:49:00.002+05:30

I’m excited to be writing my very first book review on this blog. Blog Adda sent me this book last week and I’m proud to be one of the 20 bloggers that have been selected in India to review this book, Southern Flavours, by the award winning Chandra Padmanabhan. I love this initiative of Blog Adda. Along with the book, there was also a note from the founder, Nirav Sanghavi, as well as a bookmark, which I thought was a nice personal touch. I love reading and collecting cookbooks-almost 98% of them being gifts from my dad and the one book which is my touchstone being the one handwritten by my mom. Still, I’m sure this will be a book I refer to quite often in the years to come!

Before you go into the review, let me first answer the most basic question that should be answered in any book review-Should you buy the book? Well, I would wholeheartedly recommend this to all of you, vegetarian foodies as well as nonvegetarians (because as we nonvegetarians know only too well, “you gotta eat your veggies!!!!)”. Anyone from any part of India, not just South India, but anyone with a curiosity and love for good food would love this book. It is reasonably priced at Rs. 599 and comes in a sturdy hardbound edition from Westland Publishers.

Now onto the book: What first caught my eye, of course, was the cover. If you see the picture I've taken above, you’ll notice there’s a beautiful necklace, of the “temple jewellery” style, framing the dish. I thought that was an unusual prop for a food pic. The combination of colors was aesthetically appealing, so full marks for cover design!

Next, onto the table of contents: This is a book of South Indian vegetarian recipes and it opened my eyes to the rich variety that we have. There are also recipes from different communities within each state, like the Iyengars, Saraswaths, Sanketi, Palakkad Iyers, etc. I learnt that even the humble sambar has so many different varieties! The introduction section was informative, giving measurements and conversions and a photograph of utensils which you would find in a South Indian Kitchen. I feel this section would have been better if it included even more utensils, which would have been helpful for those just beginning to equip their kitchens.

One thing that confuses many beginner cooks, much to the amusement of more seasoned ones, is how to go about cooking rice. The author has included this in the Basic Recipes section, with 3 methods of cooking rice. The words “1 cup rice” was intriguing though, as the type of rice was not mentioned. Considering that there are so many different varieties of rice available, all of which have their own eccentric cooking timings, it isn’t easy to give a generalized cooking time for all. Still, this could be a useful rule-of-thumb if you’re just starting out cooking and find yourself in an emergency where you can’t call your mother/mother-in-law/wife/husband/father (or whoever your cooking guru is) to ask how to get the rice cooked! This section also has recipes for common spice powders such as sambar, rasam, and poriyal (another useful thing if you don’t like to buy the commercial ones or haven’t got your yearly stock of these powders from your mom/grandmom!).

The next section, on “sambars and kuzhambu”, which are the curries you normally have with rice in South India, had nearly 40 recipes. I guess this would be enough to break the monotony of lunchtimes-you can have a different sambar/kuzhambu every day of the month! The “rasam” section had about 12 recipes-again, a lifesaver if you have a repertoire of only 2-3 rasam recipes or are the type who just has to have a rasam every day!

The “poriyals and kootu” section had more than 20 recipes and some of the best photographs in the book-mouthwatering! The author has also given variations for each recipe, with suggestions for combinations with curries or rasams, and also tips for the health conscious among you. The “rice” section is next, with 16 recipes, ranging from the everyday to the festive (and appetizing photographs as well!). The section on “snacks” actually includes breakfast foods too, from the world famous dosa to the lesser known Kancheepuram idli. The snacks range in variety from different types of “vadai” to “bonda”. Again, something to rustle up your everyday breakfast routine and bring in some variety!

The section on sweets had everything from payasam to burfi and ladu. I was happy to see one of my favourite Kerala snacks “ethekka appam” included in this, although the author’s note that this variety of plaintain is available only in Kerala has to be contested-I know from reliable sources that they are even available in the UAE now (maybe because of the large Malayalee diaspora there). Even when we were in Hyderabad, these plaintains were easily available from the local “Kerala Store” which I bet are common in almost every state outside Kerala now...

Photograph of Carrot Payasam from Andhra Pradhesh

The last section, “accompaniments” covers a wide variety of chutneys and sauces and relishes. I’m particularly interested in making the “malli thokku” from Chettinad, so stay tuned to that on this blog sometime!

What I liked the most about this book: The menus suggested by the author-both for every day lunches/dinners (6 of them) and for festive buffet spreads (two). This would be great if your head is reeling with the numerous recipes in the book and don’t know which to match with what...so this was a nice touch! There is also a glossary of ingredient names in English, translated to Hindi and Tamil (a Malayalam, Telugu, and Kannada list could also have been included, but I guess Tamil could be called a base for all the South Indian languages so the terms might be common between them and that's why it was omitted?).

The only gripe I have with the book: I am from Kerala and while I do not necessarily need any more Kerala recipes (I’ve got enough from well-meaning family and friends, you see!), I found that the representation of recipes from Kerala were quite miniscule, compared to the rest of the states. Even the ones that were from Kerala, were mostly from the Palakkad district. Even among communities from different parts of Kerala, there are so many recipes. I was surprised, for example, that in the snacks section there was no mention of the famous “puttu” or even “appam”. There are so many lovely breakfast dishes among the Malabar Muslim communities of Kerala, like aripathiri, neypathal, etc., that even Malayalees in other parts of Kerala do not know about, so it would have been great if those were included in this book. Also, in the section on “poriyals”, which are basically dry vegetable dishes, there were just 3 recipes out of 26 recipes. Anyone who has attended a typical Malayalee “sadya” lunch would know the delicious and wide variety of dishes we have-just one look at the sadya leaf is enough!

I understand that it would be difficult to include all these in this book as it covers all the 4 South Indian states, and since Kerala is a smaller state compared to the others, maybe the author felt this was a fair representation. I’m hoping, however, that she includes some more recipes from Kerala in her next book, just so that people from other states would get to know and enjoy more of our fantastic recipes!

Note on the author: Chandra Padmanabhan, a graduate from Calcutta University, did her post-graduation education at Delhi University. She has long been associated with the publishing industry. But it is cooking that has been the author s forte for nearly four decades. She is the author of the three best- selling titles, Dakshin (Harper Collins), Southern Spice (Penguin) and Simply South (Westland). She last won the international GOURMAND award for the second- best vegetarian cookbook in 2009.

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!

Christmas Jam Drops and Stars

2011-12-24T13:48:00.001+05:30

Wishing all my dear friends and readers and bloggers a merry Christmas! May the joy and warmth of the season fill your hearts and homes!

During this time of the year, the blogosphere abounds with recipes for rich plum cakes and wines and other home-made delicacies, with bloggers generously sharing family recipes and secrets that have brought much joy to them over the years. My family always believed in celebrating festivals irrespective of religion. I received a beautiful Hamlyn illustrated children's bible from my parents for my 6th birthday, so I grew up knowing and loving Christmas for everything it stood for.My childhood Christmas memories involved decorating the manger, the Christmas tree, and my mom roasting a turkey or chicken and of course, the mandatory wine and cake! There's this lovely rice wine that my mom makes, which I have personally never made, but hopefully will feature on this blog some day...I decided to feature for Christmas these simple and easy-to-make jam drops, which children absolutely love. I baked these for the Christmas potluck party at the school I work at and it was a hit not just with the kids, but my colleagues too! This recipe is from a book called "Grandmas's Quick and Thrifty Cookbook" published by Reader's Digest, gifted to me by my dad and mom. My dad has this lovely habit of buying books, cookbooks as well as general knowledge and novels "abridged-version" books, from the Reader's Digest catalogues, from as long as I can remember! As a result of this, I have an enviable collection of recipe books, all of which are real treasuretroves. I will be sharing more of these recipes as and when I cook/bake from them...

Ingredients (see notes below for substitutions)

125 g butter

1/3 cup caster sugar (I powdered 1/3 cup granulated sugar)

1 egg

1 cup (150 g) self-raising flour

1/2 cup (75 g) plain flour

1/4 cup (30 g) cornflour

2-4 tablespoons jam, any flavor (I used strawberry and pineapple)

Method

Preheat oven to 180 C.

Line two baking trays with parchment paper or just butter the trays like I did (or use nonstick ones).

Beat the sugar and butter in a bowl until creamy (best to use electric beaters-you can lick them clean later!).

Add the egg and beat until well combined.

Sift the flours and cornflour over this and stir them in using a wooden spoon until well combined.

You will get a dough that is a bit sticky-don't worry, just add in a little more flour to get a more workable dough.

Now you have two options-roll out teaspoons of the dough using your fingers and flatten them in discs. Place them onto the baking trays. Using your thumb, make small indentations in the center of each disc and spoon about 1/4 teaspoon of the jam into the cavity.

Or, you can roll out the whole ball of dough into a thin, large disc, like a chapati or tortilla, then cut out any shape you want using your cookie cutters. Then make indentations in the center using your thumb and place the jam in the cavities.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown at the edges.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool and store in airtight containers.

TIPS:

I could not find self-raising flour, so to substitute used the tips in the Joy of Baking website, which said, for every 1 cup of self-raising flour, use a substitute of 1 cup all purpose flour (maida) + 1-1/2 teaspoon baking powder + 1/4 teaspoon salt. This link is great for referring to when you need to substitute anything while baking-Baking Ingredient Substitutes.

It is best to use unsalted butter for this.

I am linking this to the following events:
Khushi's Bake with your Heart
Julie's Christmas Delicacy

Adios till next time!

Baked Falafel (Chickpea Cutlets)

2011-12-05T11:50:00.001+05:30

This recipe hits a double jackpot-one, its baked rather than fried and two, chickpeas kick up the protein quotient, especially if you're a vegetarian or have kids who you want to get some protein into, the tasty way!

Falafel is a very popular Mediterranean snack, usually deep fried. It is so popular that in Egypt, McDonalds has even introduced a McFalafel! I got this recipe from Prabha aunty, who is a gifted homemaker, having a warm, lovely house with a very inviting ambience to it. She obviously has a green thumb as there is a beautiful garden full of non-flowering plants (cacti, mostly). She is also a culinary expert, going by the taste of these cutlets that she made (and also the pineapple cookies that she had baked the morning that we visited her). I immediately mentally filed this away as the perfect savory snack for my son to take to school. I may have made some modifications in it from what she said. So far, I've made it twice or thrice already, freezing it in batches. I just happened to bake it one day and it came out perfectly browned and crisp, with just a drop of oil on both sides! Here's the recipe now-

To make 10-12 medium-sized cutlets

Ingredients:

1 cup chickpeas, soaked overnight or for 6-8 hours (I used white chickpeas-Kabuli chana)
1 big onion, chopped fine
2 green chillies, chopped fine (increase or decrease to taste)
1 teaspoon chopped ginger
1 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves
A couple of curry leaves, chopped fine
1/2 to 1 teaspoon garam masala powder
Salt to taste
A pinch of soda bicarbonate (baking soda)
1/2 cup fresh or dried breadcrumbs
A teaspoon of oil for each cutlet you bake (if you're deep frying or shallow frying, about 1/4 cup oil)

Method:

Drain the water in which the chickpeas have been soaked.
Put the chickpeas in a pressurecooker, with enough water to cover, a pinch of soda bicarb and a teaspoon of salt.
Close the cooker and after the first whistle, simmer for 8 to 10 minutes.
When cool, remove the chickpeas, drain the water completely, remove the skin (if needed), and mash with fingertips until you get a smooth paste. Make sure it's not watery.
Now just add the rest of the ingredients, from nos. 2 through 8, into the chickpeas and combine everything well with fingertips.
Shape into lemon-sized balls, flatten, and roll around in the breadcrumbs.
Preheat oven to 180 C.
Place a drop of oil under each cutlet and on top.
Bake for 20 to 30 minutes until brown and crisp (turning over after 10 to 15 minutes).
If you are deep frying, just heat 1/4 to 1/2 cup oil and drop the cutlets in, turning over when they turn golden brown. Drain on paper towels and serve hot.

TIPS:

If you make these in large quantities, you can store it conveniently in the freezer and use as required. Make them on weekends and store for a week or two ahead. After you roll them in breadcrumbs, place them in flat freezer-safe containers with a little space in between them, so that it makes it easier to remove when needed. Now you can store them in the freezerware itself, or after they get frozen, remove them and just drop into a Ziplock bag and place them back in the freezer. Ziplock bags score over others for me because they take up less space.
If you find it difficult to shape these cutlets, adding some of the breadcrumbs into the chickpea mixture itself helps to bind them a little better.
The traditional falafel recipes include the use of flour as a binding agent. These are then directly deep fried. Bread crumbs are not used.

I am linking this to the following events:

Khushi's Bake With Your Heart

Julie's Christmas Delicacy

Banana Nutella Mini Muffins

2011-11-27T15:23:00.001+05:30

Anyone who has been reading my blog over the last few posts must be now nodding their heads and thinking, "this lady really has gone bonkers over Nutella". Oh well, not that I can defend myself against that! I've been reading so many recipes for Nutella cupcakes, most involving only 3 ingredients-Nutella, flour, and an egg. I was wondering how they will rise up without the mandatory baking powder or baking soda and while I do admit that it is a problem with these recipes (at least for me), it does not in any way detract from the taste of these mini-beauties. I have adapted this from here.

For this, I just whipped up all the ingredients in the Nutella jar itself! Of course, it had just the right amount of Nutella remaining-so I thought why mix it up in another bowl when I can make sure every drop of Nutella is utilized this way-scraping it off would have left some precious chocolate back in the jar anyway. These were baked for my son to take to school this week-as I mentioned before, I usually bake a batch of cookies, cupcakes or freeze a dozen cutlets/nuggets on Sundays, to be used during the following week. So I am filing this away in my Toddler Treats Section, although now I know it byheart as I've baked these twice already :-).

Before I go into the recipe, I'm happy to say I've been presented with the Leibster Blog Award-that too by the only novelist in my family-Dan Smith. In German, "Leibster" means "sweet, kind, nice, beloved, endearing"...you get the drift! And the award is given to encourage new and upcoming blogs that have a following of less than 200. Thanks, Dan!

A word about Dan- he has already written many books, of which Dry Season, was shortlisted for the Author's Club Best First Novel and the Brit Writers Award. Here's to more books from him-you can read his blog here. I'm passing on this award to one of my best friends Emreen who blogs at Liven Things Up and also to the very talented Panjami Anand who writes the most thoughtful and lovely poetry over at Rumination Amidst Solitude. She has recently brought out an ebook of her poetry (which you can buy at her site).

These are the rules of the award:
1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.

2. Copy and paste the award on your blog.

3. Award it to your five favorite bloggers and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

Doesn't this call for a celebration with a sweet treat? Here's the recipe now!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Nutella
1egg
2 tablespoons all purpose flour (maida)
1/4 cup mashed banana (see tips below)

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl with a spoon or whisk until well combined.
Preheat oven to 180 C.
Grease the mini-muffin or cupcake pan cavities with butter or line them with cupcake liners.
Pour the batter until the cavities are half full.
Bake at 180 C for 10 to 15 minutes or until a knife/toothpick comes out clean.
Take out of the oven and leave to cool.
Remove from the pan and have them plain or with a spread of more Nutella on top!

TIPS:

These can be refrigerated for up to a week.
Over-ripe bananas are best for this as it will be more moist.
You can omit the bananas and just stick to the first three ingredients.
You could also include any of your favorite cupcake add-ons, like chocolate chips, fruit pieces, candied fruit, etc.

I'm linking this to the following events:

Bake With Your Heart at Khushi's A Girl's Diary

Bake Fest at Vardhini's Zesty Palette.

Nutella Butter Cookies-Pinwheel and Stuffed Paradise!

2011-11-11T19:33:00.001+05:30

This is one of the few times when I really really wish a photograph could bring you the real taste, aroma, and texture of the food I blog about. These cookies are the absolute best of any cookie I've baked so far, and I've tried quite a few recipes over the years-everything from magazines, blogs, to the cookie recipe on the back of the Wilton cookie cutter set-but this one beats them all hands down! Its from one of my favorite bloggers, Shaheen of The Purple Foodie (see original recipe here). I also used some tips from another blogger I like, Magpie, who had baked these and blogged about it here. After a long weekend break, getting back to work also required making a fresh batch of sweet and savory snacks for my son to take to school and this was something I knew would be just right for him. But don't fool yourself into thinking this is just for kids (even though I'm adding it to my Toddler Treats section). Everybody who loves butter and Nutella will find this irresistible! You'll find the original recipe below, with my modifications in brackets, and further tips below that.

125 g butter, softened (I used only 100 g-personally, I like it unsalted)
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 heaped cup all purpose flour (maida), sifted once
1/4 cup Nutella (I did not measure-used it generously to spread on the cookies-just make sure its not too much or it will ooze out)
2-3 tablespoons toasted and chopped hazelnuts (I omitted this).

Preheat oven to 175 C.
With an electric beater, combine the butter and sugar until creamy.
Add the vanilla essence and egg yolk and beat again until well combined.
Now stir in the flour with a spoon, just enough to bring everything together into a loose dough.
Refrigerate for half an hour.
Take out and place the dough on a rolling board and roll it out into a rectangle shape, about 1/4 inch thick.

To make pinwheel shaped cookies:

Now this is where Magpie comes in-this dough is very very buttery and soft, which is what makes it so easy to gobble down but also so difficult to roll! So Magpie's tip was to store the dough in a Ziplock bag in the fridge, then take it out and cut out the sides of the bag, and roll out the dough when it is inside the bag itself. Lift up the top cover and spread the Nutella on top of the flattened dough. Make sure there is some empty space on all 4 sides or else the Nutella will ooze out when baking. Holding the edge of the bottom Ziplock sheet, lift up and roll the dough sheet back on itself, like a Swiss roll.
Keep the roll covered in the Ziplock bag and refrigerate for another 15 minutes.
Now cut the roll into slices, either with a knife or if you want a more neater cut, use a firm wire (Shaheen's tip) or a toothpick(Magpie's tip).
Place the slices on a nonstick baking sheet (or line a baking tray with butter paper or grease it with some butter).
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown at the edges (this depends on your oven-mine got to this point within 10 minutes, maybe because the temperature was too high in my oven).

To make stuffed cookies (like Magpie's)

Reserve a little bit of the dough, pinch out lemon-sized balls and divide each into two parts. Flatten a small ball on your palm, place a dollop of Nutella on it, then flatten another small ball and place it on top of that.
Pinch the sides to seal, then just flatten both together to make a disc shape.
Place on baking tray and bake 10 to 15 minutes.

I strongly urge you to try this recipe out-it's just tooo goood, so good in fact that I'm adding it to my recipe file as my "Go-To Recipe For Basic Cookies"!. I think with a dough like this, your imagination is really the limit-you can use different types of spreads and fillings, garnish and sprinkle it with your favorite toppings, or just have it plain-it's that delicious!

On another note, I'm happy to say that my recipe for Citrusy Fresh Orange Cake was featured and selected as the Sweet Recipe of the Week at Haley's popular blog event Recipes I Can't Wait To Try #53. Do you need any other excuses to bake it now?!

Linking this to:

Citrusy Fresh Orange Cake

2011-11-07T14:07:00.001+05:30

Update: This recipe was chosen on Haley's popular blog as the "Sweet Recipe I Can't Wait To Try" for the event #53, first week of November 2011. Thanks Haley for the sweet thumbsup!

This is a cake that I had first baked for my husband's birthday a few years ago (since he's not a fan of chocolate, I obviously couldn't bake any of my favorite chocolate cakes!). This recipe has been a keeper ever since! I baked it again a few days ago, this time adding some Nutella as an extra topping. Whether you choose to have this cake on its own (without any topping or glaze) or use the orange glaze or add an extra topping like chocolate syrup, Nutella, vanilla icecream, whipped cream, etc., you can be sure you'll get a perfect blend of flavors with the soft and moist citrusy orange cake. Its perfect for any occasion or just as a treat to make your everyday teatime special. Sadly, I have not noted down the original source of the recipe, so can't attribute any here, but if any of you know, please let me know and I'll be happy to update with it!

Cake Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour (maida)
1 cup powdered sugar
1- cup unsalted butter, softened (can reduce this amount to half or 3/4th)
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsps baking powder,
Zest from one orange (I had omitted this)
1/2 cup orange juice, if using canned juice. If using fresh juice, use 1 cup (I used fresh).

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees for 10 mins.
Sift the flour, salt, and baking powder thrice and set aside.
In a bowl, beat the eggs until smooth.
Add the sugar and butter and beat until creamy.
With a spoon, stir in the zest and the juice of the orange at this point.
Fold the flour mixture gently. Do not over-mix but make sure everything is well incorporated.
Pour the mixture into a greased pan.
Bake for 30 mins or until skewer inserted comes out clean.

Orange Glaze Ingredients:

Juice from one orange
1/4 cup sugar
2-3 drops of orange color (optional-I omitted this),

Mix the sugar and the orange juice and place it in a small pan.On low heat, keep stirring the mixture until the sugar is dissolved. If using color, add at this point.

Once the cake is done, try to remove it from the tin immediately and transfer onto a plate or turntable.
If the cake has puffed up in the middle, turn it over so that you have a smooth surface.
Pour the glaze over the cake immediately. Allow it to cool down completely and then cut into pieces.

TIPS:

If you can't find unsalted butter, then just use salted butter and omit the extra salt.
For tips on how to zest an orange, read this.
If you find it difficult to remove the cake from the tin when it is still hot, then just pour the glaze over the cake in the tin itself. Remove when cool.

Linking this to the following:

Friday Potluck at Ekat's Kitchen

That's it for now! Ciao friends...see you around soon!

Caramel Cake with Butterscotch Icing

2011-11-04T23:44:00.000+05:30

This is the cake I baked for my dad's birthday a few days ago. We had an amazing time at home with my aunts and uncles and cousins, having a blast! Everyone loved this cake, especially my mom's sister, Geetha aunty, a culinary expert herself who still whips up mouthwatering dishes that are part of my fond childhood memories. Nowadays, when anyone asks me for recipes, I always refer them to this blog and airily say "check my blog/I'll post it on my blog"! So when she asked for this recipe, I promised to put it up here in no time-and so here it is-a surefire way to bake a decadently delicious, rich and moist buttery caramelly cake that will take your heart away!

This may not be the best looking cake I ever baked, thanks to baking it hurriedly on the morning of my dad's birthday, just before an outing, plus no natural light on account of the rainstorms here, and the brown sugar that just didn't melt as it should have and various other factors that just go to show that the baker is not at fault here...ha ha ha! Anyway, I hope to make it look better the next time I bake it, but basically my cooking funda is that if it tastes great, then looks don't matter...what do you say?

This is a hodgepodge from different places on the web and from TV shows (notably Jagee's Cookbook and Faji's Hot Pot). You can mix and match and experiment with it.

For the cake:

1/2 cup sugar + 1/2 cup water for the caramel syrup
1/2 cup powdered sugar
100 g butter
5 eggs
1/4 cup condensed milk
1 cup all purpose flour (maida)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon soda bicarbonate

For the icing:

1 cup brown sugar (demerrara sugar)
1 cup icing sugar
3 tablespoon butter
3 tablespoon milk

For the caramel syrup:

Heat a nonstick pan and put in the half cup sugar. Leave it to simmer on a very low flame. Do not stir.
When it becomes syrupy brown, add half a cup of boiling water into it (while still simmering on a very low flame). Now stir it or twirl the pan around and take it off the flame. Keep aside.

For the cake:

Sieve the all purpose flour with the baking powder and baking soda and keep aside.
In a mixing bowl, break the 5 eggs and beat with the electric beater until it forms soft peaks.
Take another mixing bowl and tip in the powdered sugar and butter. Beat with an electric beater until it becomes soft and fluffy.
To this, add the condensed milk and beat again (1 more minute).
Now add half the egg mixture and beat again (1 more minute).
Add the flour to this and mix with a wooden spoon (do not use the electric beater after you've added the flour).
Add the remaining half of the egg mixture and the prepared caramel syrup and mix everything until well combined.
Preheat your oven to 180 C.
Prepare your cake tin, either by brushing with butter, dusting with flour, or lining with butter/parchment paper.
Pour the batter into the tin and bake in the oven at 180 C for 30 minutes (please note that this depends on your oven-check the cake 5 minutes sooner or later).
Test with a tester/toothpick to see if the cake is done. If it comes out clean, with no crumbs attached, time to take the cake out!
When the tin is cool, remove the cake and transfer to a plate.

For the icing:

Heat a nonstick pan, add the butter.
When it melts, add the brown sugar. Make sure it melts fully.
Now add the milk and mix well. Take off the flame.
Then add the icing sugar and mix again.
When the cake is cool and the icing is cool, you could either spread this on top of the cake and sides (or just let it drizzle down the sides like I did). You could also cut the cake into two halves horizontally and spread the icing like a sandwich spread on one half of the cake, putting the other half on top, and using the remaining icing to decorate the top and sides of the cake.

Psst....if you are the artistic type, go ahead and decorate the cake with icing flowers and whatnot!

Enjoy with family and friends!

Linking this to:

Happy Diwali-with a deliciously rich Carrot-Dates-Cashew Kheer!

2011-10-26T12:05:00.001+05:30

Wishing all my readers a very happy Diwali-May "the festival of lights" light up your life and bring much needed joy and positive energy to the whole world!

There are so many different sweets that are traditionally made for Diwali. One of the more commonplace ingredients is carrots-this is made into halwa and and burfi and kheer and whatnot....My recipe here is one my mom gave me a few years ago and which is always slurped up and finished in no time whenever I make it...Here's the recipe, which can be made in no time!

Ingredients:

Carrots-2 cups, grated

Dates-8 nos., seedless

Cashewnuts-100 g

Milk-4 cups

Sugar-1/2 cup

Condensed milk-400 g (1 tin)

Cardamom powder-1 teaspoon

Ghee-2 tablespoons

Cashewnuts and raisins-1 tablespoon each, fried in ghee, for garnishing.

Soak the cashewnuts in 1 cup milk.

In a heavy bottomed pan, pour the ghee and when it heats up, add the carrots.

Stir, on low heat, until the carrot changes color and becomes soft (about 5 minutes).

Transfer to a plate to let it cool.

Transfer the carrots to a blender, adding the cashewnuts (with the milk) and the dates. Add 1 more cup of milk and blend till it becomes a smooth paste.

In the heavy bottomed pan, pour the remaining 2 cups of milk and add the sugar. Let it come to a boil.

Now add the ground paste and bring to the boil again.

When it thickens, add the cardamom powder and condensed milk.

Simmer for 1 more minute and remove from heat.

Decorate with fried nuts.

Best served chilled.

Linking this special dish to the following wonderful Diwali events at some lovely yummy blogs:
Khushi's A Girl's Diary

Anu's Healthy Kitchen

For other sweets that you could make for Diwali, see this post-Diwali Sweets Roundup
To download a FREE Diwali Sweets E-book compiled by Indus Ladies featuring recipes from bloggers all over (including yours truly), go here-Free Diwali Sweets E-Book

Snow Pea (Avara) Stir-fry Kerala Style

2011-10-17T23:18:00.000+05:30

This is one vegetable that has so many different names! In Kerala, it is commonly called "avara", in Tamil Nadu its called "amarakkai", in English it is known as snow pea/mangetout/broad beans. I'm not even sure if this is 100% accurate, but based on my superficial Internet research, I have to leave it at that. It is one of my favorite vegetables, while also having the dubious honor of being the one I very rarely get right! You know there are some dishes that only your mom can get right and no matter how hard you try, you can never match up to how she makes it? Know what I'm talking about, right? For this, I find it quite tricky knowing just when to take it off the flame, since it cooks quickly, but it's also very delicious, healthy and elegant in its simplicity. Just a few basic ingredients thrown together give this simple vegetable a lovely flavor...So here's how my mom makes it!

Ingredients (to serve 4)

Avara (Snow Peas)-250 g
Pearl onions (cheriya-ulli or kunjulli)-10
Dried red chillies-4
Curry leaves-1 sprig or 10 leaves
Turmeric powder-1/2 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Oil-2 to 4 teaspoons

First, wash the snow peas. Then snip off both ends in a way that lets you peel off the string on the side of the snow pea. If they are larger, cut each into 2, horizontally. If smaller, leave them whole.
Peel the pearl onions, but do not cut or slice. Leave them whole.
Snap each of the dried red chillies into 2 halves.
Now heat up a pan and pour the oil into it.
Tip in the curry leaves, chillies, and onions. Saute for 1 minute till the onions turn pinkish.
Add the snow peas into this.
Sprinkle the turmeric and salt and mix well.
Sprinkle some water on top, cover with a lid, and let it cook till done (about 5 to 10 minutes).
Serve immediately.

Goes well with rice and dal.

Linking this to The Kerala Kitchen October Event hosted by Khushi at her lovely blog A Girl's Diary and also to the Kerala Kitchen blog.

Also linking it to the very creative event called Food Palette Series started by Akheela. Obviously, the color for this entry will be green!

Free Download-100 Yummy Diwali Sweet Recipes E-book from Indus Ladies!

2011-10-15T18:50:00.000+05:30

I'm so thrilled to announce that one of my recipes has been selected to be included in the Indus Ladies Diwali sweets ebook. If you read my previous post, you'll know that I had submitted 6 recipes to the contest. Now I'm even more happy to say that the ebook is now available for free download on Indus Ladies website, so now all of you have a ready reckoner for all your Diwali sweets. Just refer this one book which are tried and tested and trusted recipes from food bloggers around the world! I'm so proud to have my name and my blog included along with the best. This is surely a milestone in my blogging journey that I will remember fondly in the years to come...

Psst...the recipe from my blog that got selected is on page 187...Choconut Swirls-my son's favorite!

Just click here for the free download, which will take you the Indus Ladies forum page. Scroll down a little and you will find the link for the ebook. Just in case, here's the link again:

http://www.indusladies.com/forums/announcements/148569-free-download-100-yummy-diwali.html

Super-delicious entries to the "100 Yummy Diwali Sweet Recipes E-book"-Free from Indus Ladies!

2011-10-08T13:02:00.002+05:30

Indus Ladies is one of the most popular forums for Indian women across the globe. This Diwali, stay tuned to this space for an announcement to download an e-book that they are compiling of 100 delicious recipes for Diwali treats, all from bloggers around the world! If you are a blogger, you can submit your entries to partners@indusladies.com (today is the last date, by the way! Trust me to do everything at the last minute!!). For more details, check out the announcement here at the Indus Ladies forum. But here are the details anyway:

"For the upcoming Diwali on October 26th, 2011, we at Indusladies are compiling an E-Book called “100 Yummy Diwali SweetRecipes”. We are collecting sweet/dessert recipes from various bloggers to be featured in this E-Book.

This E-book will be made available as a free download to our community’s 1.3 Lakh+ members. In addition, we will also be making this E-Book available to our 9000+ Facebook fans and Twitter followers. It’s LOTS and LOTS of exposure to those food blogs entering the E-Book!! We believe this would be a nice way to get the word out about a wonderful blog to the entire membership of IndusLadies!!

Those bloggers interested in submitting a recipe for this E-Book…all you need to do is as follows:
1. Send a link from your blog for a sweet /dessert recipe. It should also include the picture of the sweet/dessert. Your recipe, food picture, recipe URL as well as the entire blog URL will get featured in the E-Book.
2. In return, we need you to do two things: -
- Now make a blog post in your blog announcing the E-Book compilation by IndusLadies and the recipe you are sending for this E-Book. That way inviting your co-bloggers interested to send in their contribution by Oct 10th,2011.
- Between Oct 11 and Oct 26, make a blog post featuring the E-Book and announcing it is available for FREE download in IndusLadies. We will be providing you sooner with the picture of the E-Book’s cover page that you will use to include in this blog post.
Any blogger interested can send their entry to partners@indusladies.com by October 8th."

These are my entries to the event. I am sure these will be loved by both kids and grownups alike!
Khubani-Ka-Meetha (Stewed Apricots)

Shahi Tukra-The Royal Indian Bread Pudding

Pan-Fried Fish Surprise!

2011-09-30T21:17:00.000+05:30

I was thinking of recipes to submit to this month's The Kerala Kitchen event, which is one of the most popular events of the blogosphere, with recipes collected and showcased every month from different bloggers at The Kerala Kitchen blog. A few months ago, I had won the "Best Dish" award for my Pressure Cooker Fish Preserve. Going through the Kerala Kitchen blog now, I was pleased as punch to see that I had been included in the hallowed list of members of the blog! So I get to flaunt a special badge showing off my membership (see right side panel here). Of course, I had to celebrate and participate this month for sure! Browsing through my folder of photographs of dishes yet to be blogged, I came across this fish fry recipe which is a family favorite. This is something my mom makes frequently for dinner and goes perfectly with rice, bread, or chapathi. Why is it a "surprise", you might ask? Because it is remarkably simple to make and is perfect for those nights when you want to rustle up something tasty and healthy and satisfying really quickly (in about 30 minutes). Here's how to do it!

To serve 4 people

4 or 8 half-inch slices of any fleshy fish (Sear fish ("neymeen/aikkoora" is best for this)

For the marinade:

1 teaspoon turmeric powder
2 teaspoons chilli powder (adjust according to your taste level)
Salt to taste
1 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste (optional)

For the sauce:

2 large onions, sliced long and thin
2 large tomatoes, sliced long and thin
2-3 green chillies, slit lengthwise
1 small capsicum, sliced long and thin (optional)
2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil (I use sunflower oil)
Salt to taste.
Pepper to taste.
A handful of coriander leaves, chopped fine.

Combine all the ingredients for the marinade with enough water to make a thick paste. Spread this on the fish slices and let it rest for 5 to 10 minutes.
Now take a wide frying pan (one with a rim, which can accommodate all the fish pieces at the same time)
Pour the oil into the pan and wait for it to heat up.
Now reduce the heat and place the fish slices in the pan.
After 10 minutes, gently flip the fish over. It should be a golden color by now.
Sprinkle all the ingredients from the "Sauce" list on top of the fish. Do not mix it now.
Sprinkle salt and pepper also on top.
Cover with a lid and let it simmer.
Every 5 to 10 minutes of cooking, open the lid and give the onion-tomato mixture a stir, without stirring the fish. Sprinkle some water also on top.
After about 15 minutes, it will be done. You will know when a lovely smell of mouthwatering fish wafts through the lid!
Open the lid, garnish with chopped coriander leaves, and serve immediately!

I am submitting this to the Kerala Kitchen Event for October, hosted by Divya at her lovely blog this month and also to the Kerala Kitchen blog, which is a treasuretrove of all recipes from past events as well as a collection of the most mouthwatering blogs from talented Malayalee ladies from around the world! Check it out!

Choco-Nut Swirls (and diamonds and hearts and stars!)

2011-09-27T21:52:00.000+05:30

One of the advantages of having a one-hour commute from home to my place of work (looking at the brighter side of things) is that I get time to either read my backlog of books or browse a whole lot of blogs and sites...In this, a book, my phone, and Google Reader are my best friends! Towards the end of the week, I'm usually trawling the net for recipes to make for my son to take to school the following week, for his evening snack time. I bookmark them on the spot and then make them during the weekend, my trusted phone by my side...Those that my son loves, I blog about and those that he doesn't, get deleted :-)...Obviously, he enjoyed these and even my parents and friends found it delicious.

I was looking for ways to include more nuts into his diet as he doesn't like them raw (normally I sneak almond powder into his dosa batter or make sweet dishes incorporating nuts). This recipe is wonderful for including them in your toddler's diet. Of course, I'm filing it under my Toddler Treats collection and I have Archana Vivek to thank for this, from whose blog I found it. Check out the recipe at My Culinary Endeavours. I have modified it a little by:

1. Using a mixture of cashew nuts and almonds, while Archana used cashew nuts (she, in turn, had modified it from the original by using cashew nuts instead of coconut powder!).
2. I also made it into different shapes using cookie cutters, just to make it more attractive for my son (while the original is shaped like a roll, which I also tried).

So this recipe seems to be evolving and now its your turn to work your magic and make it your own! On to the recipe now!

Ingredients

For the chocolate layer:

10-15 biscuits (digestive or plain biscuits-I used Marie)
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1/4 to 1/2 cup cold milk

For the nut layer:

1 cup powdered nuts (I used cashew nuts and almonds--you can use a mixture of nuts or just one kind)
3/4 cup sugar, powdered
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon cardamom powder

Powder the biscuits finely, in your blender.Transfer to a mixing bowl.
Add the cocoa powder and mix well.
Stir in the milk gradually, mixing it with your fingers to make a nice, firm dough (like for chapathi/poori, etc.) Keep this aside.
In another mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients mentioned above for the nut layer. Let it become a sticky dough.
Now spread a little butter on a clean surface or an inverted plate or your chapathi-rolling board.
Place the ball of chocolate dough on the surface and spread it out with either your palms or your rolling pin. It's okay if it breaks around the edges. Let it be about 1-inch thick.
Now take the nut dough and spread it, with your fingers, on top of the chocolate layer.

To make swirls or a roll shape:

After spreading the nut mixture on top of the flattened chocolate dough, roll this dough over into a cylindrical shape. Wrap it in aluminium foil or clingfilm and freeze it for 30 minutes. Take it out and cut into half-inch thick discs. It is ready to serve after a few minutes.

To make other shapes:

Once you have spread the nut mixture on the chocolate dough, take out your cookie cutters and cut out the desired shapes. Serve.

Make sure to store these in the refrigerator.

I'm linking this to the event Bookmarked Recipes at Aipi's yummy blog US Masala

Also linking it to:

A Marvelous Mother's Recipe Marble Cake!

2011-09-23T00:09:00.000+05:30

Before I divulge the recipe, a bit of a background to this post-a couple of months ago, I was selected as the "Notable Newbie" of the week by BlogAdda, India's largest directory of blogs (across all genres). Today, I was on cloud nine when I was informed that this blog has made it to the list of "100 Notable Newbies Wall of Fame", which was a list of the best 100 blogs which were just over a year old, chosen from thousands over the past one year! You can read about it here and here. I have taken some screenshots which you can see at the end of this (just to be recorded for posterity!!).

Now, I just had to celebrate with a post featuring something sweet, so here's a recipe for a delicious cake that keeps the promise made on this blog-to give you recipes that are healthy, easy, and tasty! There are a gazillion recipes for marble cake, but this one was given to me by my mother, so it is even more special to me and a keeper for sure. She used to bake this often for us when we were kids and recently, I made it myself for the very first time. The occasion was when we went on a leisure trip to the beach from the school where I work. My colleagues gobbled this down in no time! There were a bunch of kids too along with us (my own as well as my friends') and it was a hit with them too. I believe a major reason this cake turned out even more yummy was because my son played a major role in making it! Yes, he's all of 2 years and 4 months, but already shows a passion for cooking and baking (I kid you not!). He can spend any amount of time with me in the kitchen, seated on the countertop (a habit since he was 9 months old). Of course, he has demands which he is very vocal about. He wants to mix and knead and pour and peel and wipe and clean (and lately, cut also) and I let him do whatever I feel is safe because I'm raising a 'New Age Man', you see...one day, his wife is going to thank me....ha ha! For this cake, he mixed the batter himself (see pic below) and I'm sure he has magic in his hands too :-D

Anyway, without further ado, here's the recipe that you can try even if you are a newbie baker!

Ingredients:

225 g all purpose flour (maida)
100 g butter (room temperature)
200 g sugar
4 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 eggs (room temperature)
1/4 cup milk (hot)
3/4 cup milk (cold)
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Sieve the flour with the baking powder. Keep aside.
Cream the butter and sugar until smooth and soft (best done with an electric beater).
Add the eggs one by one and continue beating until well combined.
Now keep aside the electric beater and take a wooden spoon (this is what my mom advises me-when mixing cake batter, always use a wooden spoon!).
Add the flour and cold milk alternatively, folding it in with the spoon.
Divide this batter into 2 equal parts into two bowls.
Now make the cocoa mixture by simply adding the cocoa powder into the hot milk, stirring to make sure there are no lumps.
Add this cocoa mixture into one half of the cake batter, making sure it is well combined.
Into the other half of the cake batter, add the vanilla essence and stir it well.
Grease a cake tin with butter (or use a silicone tin-that way you don't have to bother about greasing it!).
Pour the white and brown cake batter one on top of the other (you will get 2 or 3 layers).
With a spoon, give a swirl on the top, just to get a spiral design when the cake is cut (this is optional).
Preheat oven to 180 C and bake for 40 minutes to an hour.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool. Invert onto a plate, cut, serve and enjoy!

TIPS:

The baking time depends on your oven. To check whether the cake is done, after about 30-35 minutes, insert a knife/cake tester into the cake (without taking it out of the oven). If it comes out clean, without any sticky bits attached, you know the cake is baked enough.
Never leave a cake to cool under a running fan! It will become hard. Just be patient and leave it to cool on its own sweet time.
After inverting it onto a plate, you can place it on a wire rack/stand for some time so that it gets to cool uniformly.
I used a 6-inch deep square cake tin (happens to be my mom's ancient 30+ year old one, but still loyally bakes as good as new!)

I am linking this to Srivalli's Kid's Delight Party blog event.

And here are the screenshots of my 3 minutes of fame at BlogAdda!!!

Ciao for now!

Shahi Tukra (The Royal Bread Pudding)-The Easy Baked Way!

2011-09-18T17:11:00.000+05:30

I always think of the Shahi Tukra as the Indian counterpart of the English Bread Pudding. Although I've often wondered what kind of bread the Mughals used for this, as they are credited with inventing this dish and I really don't think white bread was available to them then! The name Shahi Tukra literally means "Emperor's Morsel"! Anyway, I'm not about to delve deeper into this already sinfully decadent royally delicious dessert-so if any of you have any idea what kind of bread was originally used for this (back in Mughal times), then do drop in a comment and enlighten me...

Now this recipe is different from the traditional ones because its baked. This means you don't have to slave over the stovetop cooking the milk mixture-truly effortless and easy! Yet, it retains the same rich taste. It can be served for parties (kiddies and grownups both love this) or just as a dessert after a family meal. Also, this is just perfect to make either pre-planned or when you have unexpected guests since all you need to do is throw in all the ingredients into an oven and then forget about it!

My family really enjoyed this today as a dessert after lunch and I will be making it this way from now on. This is something I put together from 2 different recipes, one from the Internet (don't remember the source) and the other from a cookbook by chefs from the Taj group of hotels (thank you Sreejitha chechi for giving me the book and Abitha chechi for reminding me of the recipe and emailing it to me!). Onto the recipe now!

To serve 4 people with really really sweet teeth (will serve 8 with just an average sweeth tooth!)

8 slices of white bread (remove crust and cut into halves to get a triangle)
500 mL milk
6 tablespoons condensed milk
2 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon crushed/powdered cardamom
A couple of strands of saffron (mixed in 2 tablespoons lukewarm water)
1/4 cup of mixed nuts like almonds, cashew, pista, walnuts (blanched, skin removed, and cut into splinters)
2 tablespoons raisins
1/2 cup ghee (this depends on you though!)

Heat the ghee and fry the bread slices until golden brown. You can either shallow fry or deep fry them. Keep aside.
In a bowl, combine the milk, condensed milk, sugar, saffron, and cardamom.
In a large baking tray, arrange the bread slices diagonally.
Pour the milk mixture on top.
Sprinkle the nuts and raisins on top.
Preheat the oven to 180 C and bake for about 20 to 30 minutes. The milk should be simmering and not dried up.
Serve cold as it is or with a dollop of fresh cream on top!

Tips

You could increase the milk to 1 liter, but then bake it for 30 to 30 minutes.
I baked it a bit longer this time and the milk got dried up, which should not be the case. There should be enough of the milk to cover the bread slices, so be careful and just check after 20-25 minutes.

Linking this to:
Srivalli's Kid's Delight Party Event

Biscuit Brownies

2011-09-01T20:47:00.000+05:30

I'm happy to report that I've discovered yet another recipe for my "Toddler Treat" collection, this one from a blog that is one of my favorites, Nag's Edible Garden. You can read her post here, Eggless No-Bake Biscuit Brownie. Even happier to note that my son gobbled them down, two, no... three, no... four in one go! So I've added this to my repertoire of recipes to make for him to take to school as well as simply to nibble on at home. Not to mention that the adults in the house, my parents, too enjoyed it, so that's a plus! This one is not only delicious but also very easy to make because it does not require any baking or difficult-to-find ingredients.

Ingredients:

20 to 25 Marie biscuits
2 to 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Cadbury's)
A handful (1/4 cup) of roasted nuts (obviously, skin removed-I used almonds)
2 teaspoons sugar
Half a tin of condensed milk (I used Milkmaid-this is normally a 400 g tin)

How-To

First break the Marie biscuits coarsely and then powder in your food processor or mixie.
Chop up the nuts coarsely or grind them to a fine powder, according to whether you like to bite into the nuts or not (I ground it fine because my son does not like to bite into nutty bits!).
Add this, along with the cocoa powder and sugar, into the biscuit powder and combine everything well.
Now add the condensed milk gradually, stirring and mixing with a spoon, very firmly until it all comes together into a smooth mixture. It should be thick and not runny.
Either butter a flat baking dish or pie dish or line with butter paper.
Transfer the mixture to it and flatten with wet fingers or the back of a spoon.
Refrigerate overnight for best results.
Later, cut into squares and store in the fridge (if you get any remaining, that is!).

TIPS:

Just wanted to say this goes very well with a glass of milk on the side!!!

Linking this to:

Peanut Ladoo/Sweet Balls

2011-08-20T20:05:00.001+05:30

Here's another addition to my Toddler Treat Series and Toddler Lunchbox Series! Becoming a mother has made me delve even deeper into the wealth of information that's out there in books, the Internet, magazines, people, television, etc...Peanuts/groundnuts are something I've had all my life and known are a high source of protein, but it's only now that I went deeper into it and discovered the following facts-they are higher in antioxidants than fruits like strawberries and vegetables like carrots and beetroots, have a very high content of niacin which is good for brain health, are high in fiber and vitamin E, and have more than 30 nutrients in them! And did you know that roasting them increases the antioxidant level by more than 20%?! Of course, there's no use rattling off all this to a 2+ year old toddler! My son doesn't like peanuts and so I had to find ways to include them in his diet. I first tried the obvious choice-peanut butter, which he rejected outright....I was looking around for other ways when I found this recipe on a popular TV show (Lakshmi Nair's Magic Oven). This seems to have hit all the sweet spots with my son, who gobbles them up with glee, much to his mom's relief and delight! So now that I've got one more nutritious and delicious snack/sweet to include in his school snackbox, I'm sharing this here hoping it might be of help to some other moms out there. Even if you don't have any toddlers to feed, I can assure you that this will be a winner with adults too! So here goes....

To make 10 lemon-sized balls:

200 g peanuts/groundnuts (roasted and skin removed)
1/2 cup sugar, powdered
1/2 cup milk powder (since this was for my son, I used Nido/Neslac, which he usually drinks, to up the nutrition ante!)
4 to 5 tablespoons condensed milk (I used Milkmaid)

In your blender jar, put in the whole peanuts, powdered sugar, and milk powder.
Give it a good whizz until it all comes together into a nice fine powder. It will be a little moist because of the slight oil content in the peanuts.
Transfer this to a bowl.
Add the condensed milk and combine everything using a spoon or by hand.
Now shape into lemon-sized balls.
It's now ready to eat! Refrigerate if you're storing it for more than a day.

TIPS: Please decrease or increase the sweetness of this according to your taste. I have given the measurements and ingredients as in the original recipe. Please bear in mind that along with the sugar, the condensed milk and milk powder are sweet in themselves, so it would be a good idea to reduce the amounts of each just a little.

I'm linking this to the following blog events:

Sweet Tooth Friday hosted by Allison

Anyone Can Cook Series #30 hosted by Ayeesha

Multigrain power-packed dosa

2011-08-12T22:36:00.004+05:30

In a continuation of my Toddler Treat series and Toddler Lunchbox Series, this recipe is one of my son's and my personal favorites. If your child is a little older and doesn't like to experiment with new tastes, it might get a little rough to have this included in her/his diet, but it's still worth the effort! I have been giving this to my son since he was almost a year and a half, so he's kind of used to the taste now (which I personally find delicious anyway!). This truly is a powerhouse of all the goodies that you would want your little one to have. The clincher is that it doesn't require any overnight fermentation or heavy grinding like conventional dosas and can be called "instant". This is a combination of carbohydrates (from rice flour), calcium and vitamin E (from soy flour), once again calcium and carbohydrates plus proteins (from ragi flour), again vitamin E, vitamin B and folic acid (from almonds) and did I mention the addition of yoghurt too? So you get an extra dose of calcium and proteins and vitamins B6 and B12! What more do you need now? So here's the recipe!

To make 4 dosas/pancakes, medium size

1/4 cup rice flour (previously washed, dried, roasted and ground)
1/4 cup soy flour
1/4 cup ragi flour
1 tablespoon almond powder
1/2 cup thick yoghurt
1/4 cup water or just enough to make the batter a spreading consistency
Salt to taste (I omit salt entirely)

(PS: You could also increase the quantity of yoghurt while decreasing the quantity of water or vice versa)

Mix all the above in a bowl and let it rest for 10 to 15 minutes.
Heat a tava or skillet.
Pour 1/4 cup of the batter onto the tava and spread it around to form a circle (you can spread it as thick or as thin as you want-like a crepe, like a pancake, like a "neyroast" or like a "thattu dosa"!)
Drop one teaspoon of butter or ghee on the top and sides.
Let it cook on low heat until you see the edges getting brown, then flip it over and let it cook for another minute or so.
Take it off the tava and transfer to a plate.

Serve hot or cold with whatever topping/dip/chutney your child likes. I will be posting a recipe for a hummus dip that is nutritious and tasty, so stay tuned for that!

I am linking this to The Kerala Kitchen August Event, which is being hosted by Vidhya at Sugar N Spice (since both rice and ragi are popular in Kerala and not to mention dosas of all varieties!)

Pachadi with a Tomato Twist

2011-08-02T21:13:00.002+05:30

Did you know that the humble "pachadi" has a Wikipedia entry of its own? Well, I didn't and was pleasantly surprised to see it come up when I googled it just for larks. I learnt quite a few things that I didn't know....like the fact that pachadi simply means "food which has been pounded"? For most of us South Indians, a pachadi is simply a delicious side dish, somewhat like the North Indian raitha, but with fried vegetables or boiled vegetables. The vegetables most commonly used are ladies' finger, pumpkin, cucumber, green papaya, etc. A fashionable entry into the wedding sadya menu has been the pineapple pachadi-one of my favorites!

The recipe I have here today for you is one that my mom often makes for my son to take to school and which he loves (so you could add this to your list of "Toddler Treats!). It's one of the recipes I've "bookmarked" from her and hope to make myself someday. It is different from the usual pachadi and yet familiarly comforting. Of course, it has the trademark of all the recipes featured on this blog-it's healthy, super easy, super quick and delicious!

To serve 2-4 (remember it's a side-dish!)

2 large tomatoes
2 green chillies
1-inch ginger
1/2 + 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 cup thick curd
1 tablespoon grated fresh coconut
1 teaspoon vegetable oil

You have to blanch and finely chop the tomatoes. For this, immerse the tomatoes in a pan with enough water to cover and let it boil for about 5 minutes. Drain the water, wait for the tomatoes to cool, remove the skin and chop into small pieces.
Using a mortar and pestle, pound the green chillies, ginger, 1/2 teaspoon mustard and cumin seeds.
In a small pan, heat the oil and throw in the other 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds. Let them splutter. Now add the coconut and saute for 1 minute (need not become brown in color). This is the "tadka" or garnish.
In your serving dish, mix in the curd, tomatoes, ground paste and add the tadka.
Add salt to taste and enjoy!

I am linking this to the following blog events:

Aipi's Bookmarked Recipes

Kid-friendly Chicken Nuggets

2011-07-16T23:30:00.001+05:30

Baby fingers crawling towards the nuggets-can't wait for mommy to photograph it first!

These chicken nuggets are currently my son's hot favorite-and they are a hit with my parents too, so calling it only "kid-friendly" might be a misnomer! Although frozen chicken nuggets are easily available and all the brands proudly claim to be preservative and other-chemical free, for my own peace of mind, I make them at home. I do this on weekends and freeze a batch that lasts for a week. You don't have to thaw them out when it's time to fry them-just take them straight out of the freezer and either deep fry or shallow fry them on low heat.

Here's the recipe that makes up to 8 toddler-palm sized nuggets. Please note that any and all measurements I use in this blog are indicative only as I rarely follow measurements to a T, so do make adjustments according to your requirements!

200 g minced chicken meat
50 g grated soft cheese
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 egg white, beaten lightly
Pepper to taste
Salt to taste

You could cook the mince in two ways-1)in a pressure cooker, with enough water, salt and pepper, for about 8 minutes after the first whistle or 2) in an covered saucepan, with water, salt and pepper for about 10-15 minutes or until nicely cooked.
Drain all the water (which you could reserve to use as chicken stock in soups) and squeeze any remaining water out of the cooked mince.
Mix in the grated cheese.
Add salt and pepper again if needed.
Now take a lemon-sized ball of mince and flatten it in your palm, roll it in the egg white, and then in the bread crumbs.
They are ready to fry or freeze.
If frying, either deep fry or shallow fry in oil.
If freezing, in order to be able to separate them easily, I either:

a) place them with spaces in between them in a freezer container

b) if the freezer is full already and I want to save space, I place the nuggets (with some space in between them) on a tray, cover with cling film, and freeze for about 2 hours (somehow find space for this in your freezer-it's just for 2 hours!). Remove the tray and transfer the nuggets to a freezer bag. This way, they won't stick to each other and can be easily removed later. This can be done with anything you chose to freeze and want to use individually later, like cutlets, etc.

TIPS:
You could also bake the nuggets, after thawing them first, and brushing on a little olive or vegetable oil, in a preheated oven at 180 C for about 15 to 20 minutes, turning over once in between (or till they get evenly browned all over).

Easy Peasy Chocolate Fudge-A Father's Day Special

2011-06-19T17:39:00.001+05:30

On the occasion of Father's Day, I'd like to share this recipe for a chocolate fudge that would make anyone feel special, not just your dad, but for any of your loved ones (if they have a sweet tooth!). Again, this is one of those keepers that I've blogged about before. It's totally effortless and has very basic ingredients. This recipe could also be a potential lifesaver for many unexpected situations...How is that, you may ask? Well, let's consider a few scenarios that could happen to anyone!

Example one-Its the middle of the night and you're wide awake, unable to sleep, and have a sudden craving for chocolate! You raid your pantry, your kitchen shelves, your fridge, but not a bite in sight! What do you do? Make this fudge, of course! Example two-your friends, or your child(ren)'s friends drop in unexpectedly, you know they love chocolate, but yet again, there's not even one left at home and no time to run out and buy one either...Make this fudge! Yet another example? You want to impress your loved one with a dessert but have no cooking skills to speak of... This fudge is the answer! Got the picture? So now let's start making it!

All you need for this are 5 basic ingredients almost everyone will have lying around in their kitchen...and if you don't, well then stock up your pantry!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup sugar (granulated or castor)
2 tablespoons butter (need not be room temperature)
3 tablespoons cocoa powder (unsweetened)
5 tablespoons milk powder
1/4 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 tablespoons water

In a medium-size pan, combine the sugar and water and stir on low heat until the sugar dissolves and it becomes a one-thread consistency (see notes below).
Remove from fire and add the butter, vanilla essence, cocoa powder and milk powder. Mix and stir until everything is smoothly combined.
Transfer to a buttered plate/tin.
Leave to cool half an hour or refrigerate for half an hour.
Cut into squares and enjoy!

Notes: To know when you've reached the "one thread consistency", lightly touch the tips of your index finger on the spoon you're stirring with and press the finger to your thumb. If a thin thread of sugar forms in between your fingers when you pull them apart, you've reached the correct point. Keep checking every minute or so to make sure you haven't exceeded this point.

PS: This is a chocolate fudge recipe that I found in a book given to me by mom, a book called "The Ladies Club of Cannanore Exotic Recipes". This book's pages are now yellowing and tattered, there's no publication date on it, and it seems to be recipes contributed by the club's members-and I reckon it must have been published prior to 1982. This recipe was contributed by a Vanaja Lakshmanan. Hats off to her for such an easy way to make a fudge!

Linking this to the following blog events:

Moussaka-Nonveg and veg-A Greek Classic!

2011-06-12T19:17:00.003+05:30

This is a recipe I had posted last year, but I'm re-posting it here because it's one of my favorite childhood dinner dishes Also, in this post, I'd like to share with you the great news that now you can read my recipes on another website as well! I was recently invited to be a guest food author on the website Eywa's Basket. This is a US-based e-commerce site aimed at women, started by two enterprising women entrepreneurs with the specific aim of "Building a community of women looking to buy, sell and share their time and talents". So if you are looking to build a career out of a passion/hobby/skill (or all 3!) that you have, this is the place to go. Also, if you're looking to buy products or services that are personalized and exclusive, then this is the place to go! You can also read my recipes there, the first of which was a special chocolate cake that I baked for my son's 2nd birthday. Although I would love to post new and different recipes on both this blog and the Eywa's Basket blog, I am sadly unable to do so until maybe July, due to my work (some of you know that I freelance as a featured writer for a women-oriented website) and study commitments (my Montessori teacher training course). So I will be re-posting some of my favorite recipes on both the sites until I get myself better organized on both the personal and work fronts and my exams get over!!!

One reason why I like baked meals for dinner is because my mom used to make them most of the time. When we were teenagers, this moussaka was something my brother and I would wait for with bated breath. My mom didn't disappoint-she made sure she baked it at least once or twice a month. I think it's great that she liked to introduce us to different cuisines from around the world and liked trying out new recipes. Because of her, I'm more open to experimentation! Once she tried this recipe, it became a regular family favorite, and now I can even make it with my eyes closed!

Moussaka is a classic Greek casserole, perhaps the most well-known of all Greek dishes (could even be the brand ambassador of Greek cuisine!). It is a little more elaborate than the other dishes featured on this blog, but let me tell you that the effort it takes is well worth it. Make it on those nights that you have more time and are relaxed-it might take about 30 minutes to an hour to prepare, and then 30 minutes in an oven.

I am in no way claiming that this is the original or classic moussaka recipe. If you search on the net or even in cookbooks, you'll find many different ways of making it. This one is just the way my mother used to make it!

To serve 4

For non vegetarians:

2 large eggplants (brinjals)-cut into discs and then into semicircles
1 large potato, peeled and cut into thin discs, and then into semicircles
2 large onions, thinly sliced into discs
200 gram minced meat, washed and drained
1 large onion, chopped fine
Half cup thick tomato puree
10 flakes garlic, chopped fine
1 tablespoon mixed dried herbs (or oregano, parsley, thyme)
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons plain flour (maida)
1 cup milk
Salt and pepper to taste
Cheese to be grated on top
Oil for frying

For the brinjals-after they are cut, sprinkle salt on them and let them rest for 15 minutes (to drain out excess water and remove any bitterness). Then either deep fry them in hot oil or shallow fry them, until golden brown on both sides. Remove and place them on paper towels to drain out excess oil.
For the potatoes-after they are cut, either deep fry or shallow fry until golden brown on both sides. Drain on a paper towel.
For the 2 large onions-after they are cut, shallow fry until golden brown and keep aside.
For the meat sauce-Heat oil in a pan. Tip in the garlic, fry till the garlicky smell wafts out. Add the onions (chopped fine) and fry till translucent. Then add the minced meat and fry till brown in color. Add the dried herbs, salt and pepper to taste and cook with the lid closed till the meat is done (you could also pressure-cook this for 15 to 20 minutes).
To make the bechamel sauce-Melt butter in a pan. Add the flour and stir around till a little brown. Then add the milk, salt and pepper to taste (add less salt if using salted butter). Make sure it doesn't become lumpy. It should be a nice creamy consistency. You could add cheese to this to make it a cheese sauce too.
To assemble-In a baking dish, assemble half the brinjals in a single layer, top with the meat, put the tomato puree in blobs over the meat, then top with the fried onions and potatoes, another layer of brinjals, meat, and tomato puree. Finally top with the bechamel sauce. Grate cheese on top.
Preheat oven to 200 C and bake for 20 to 30 minutes, until the cheese has melted to a golden brown.
Enjoy this with a green salad and toasted bread (hot garlic bread would be wonderful).

For Vegetarians:

Instead of the minced meat, use soya granules, soaked for 10 minutes in hot water and drained, then cook as for the meat sauce above. Layer with brinjals and potatoes.

For a full-on vegetarian version (recipe courtesy Neeraja chechi)-use a cup of mixed vegetables like carrots, cauliflower, mushrooms, tomatoes (no need to add tomato puree). Add a vegetarian stock cube and fry as for the meat sauce above (you could omit the soya granules). Layer with brinjals and potatoes.

For the calorie conscious:

Instead of frying the potatoes and brinjals, bake at 180C for 15 to 20 minutes or until brown.

Substitute zucchini for the brinjals.

For the time conscious:

Instead of the meat being cooked from scratch for the meat sauce, use luncheon meat instead and just fry it using the procedure given. If you need a recipe for preparing luncheon meat, check out my Luncheon Meat Scramble (omit the eggs if making the moussaka with it though). One of my friends, Renisha, made this with canned tuna instead and said it was just as delicious. Try it out that way too for a change, but you just might have to change the name to something else :-)

And the pie goes to:

I am linking this to the blog party @:

Double Layered Rich Dark Chocolate Cake-The Best Birthday Cake Ever!

2011-05-25T17:44:00.001+05:30

If you like all things rich, dark, and chocolatey, then you'll want to plunge headlong into this and never want to come out! It is soft, moist, deliciously decadent and richly deserving of any chocolate lover's undying devotion....Of course it does involve a few more steps than an everyday chocolate cake, but this is for special occasions and well worth it. During my childhood birthdays, my mom used to bake this and every year saw the same cake because it's the only one I ever wanted! So when thinking of cakes to bake for my son's birthday, this was an obvious winner-after all it's a family tradition and some traditions are best left unchanged!

I have to add that not only is this from my mom's recipe file but also from a much-cherished family friend of ours, who is a world-class culinary expert herself-Leela aunty....It always turns out perfect and this time, when we had the celebration at my son's daycare, the teachers had a bakery-bought cake also for him, but they actually said this cake was so good that they didn't feel like eating the bakery-bought one after it was cut....the best compliment any home baker can get, isn't it?

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour (maida)
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups sugar, powdered (keep half cup aside for the sandwich filling)
1/2 cup sugar, as it is
3/4 cup yoghurt
3/4th teaspoon cooking soda
3 eggs
1/2 cup cocoa powder
320 g butter
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

For the sandwich filling and the topping:

Mix the half cup powdered sugar with 1 tablespoon cocoa powder and 1 teaspoon melted butter. Stir into a paste with a little milk or fresh cream, as per the consistency you desire.

For the cake:

Sieve the flour with the baking powder and keep aside.
Mix the yoghurt with the cooking soda and keep aside for 30 minutes.
Separate the egg whites from the yolks. Keep 2 yolks in one bowl and 1 yolk in another.
Beat the egg whites until stiff.
In a bowl, mix the cocoa with 1 cup hot water and the half cup unpowdered sugar. Stir on low heat until it becomes thick. Leave to cool. When cool, stir in one beaten egg yolk and keep aside.
In a mixing bowl, beat together the butter and 1-1/2 cups powdered sugar (remember you kept aside half cup for the filling!). Beat until it combines into a uniformly smooth paste (using an electric beater is the best bet for this).
Add 2 of the egg yolks and and beat again until well combined.
Now alternately put in the flour and the curd, mixing with a wooden spatula until well combined, but don't mix too much.
Lastly add the egg whites and fold them in gently.
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Grease a cake tin well or use a nonstick one and transfer the batter to the tin.
Bake at 180 C for 45 minutes or until a tester/knife comes out clean.
Leave to cool.
Turn over onto a plate. Cut the cake into two (horizontally).
Spread the filling on top of one half of the cake and put the other half cake on top. Press lightly.
Spread the same cocoa mixture on top of the cake and the sides.
Decorate as you wish!

TIPS:

This time, I made two variations, totally by accident, and it turned out just fine, so you might like to try it out too-I used just 200 g of butter and also used the yoghurt without mixing any cooking soda into it.

For the decoration, I used M&Ms as my son likes it, but you could also use cherries or dried flowers or icing-unleash your creativity (must admit I'm not good at this!).

You could also bake the batter in two cake tins, so then you could avoid the whole cutting business!

I am linking this to the following events:

Foodie Friday
Make A Food "e" Friend Monday

Mahe-Style Poached Egg Stew

2011-05-20T19:28:00.002+05:30

Many of you will know that Mahe is a coastal town in Kerala that was under French rule in the pre-independence era of India. This made for a very interesting situation as it was a French colony within a British colony and it remained a part of "French India" until 1954, a solid 7 years after the British left! There were a lot of cross-cultural influences, be it in language, food, customs, etc.

Being my dad's ancestral town and where I spent a good 7 years of my life, I have a lot of memories associated with it-from the famous St. Theresa of Avila's Church to the beautiful beaches and the estuary where you can see the Mahe river blending into the Arabian Sea, giving you unforgettable sunsets (right behind my grandparents' house). Nights are spent with the cool sea breeze wafting through the house and the sounds of the gentle waves lapping on the banks of the river....well, sometimes I forget that this is a food blog! So to get back to the topic at hand-Poached Egg Stew! I figured this was definitely a "love child" of the French and Kerala cuisine....like so many other fantastic recipes, some of which I've featured on this blog (see the end of this post for more Mahe-special recipes). This one is easy to make and we usually pair it with "appams" or bread for breakfast. For me, the best part of this, apart from the fact that its delicious, is that I don't have to boil any eggs and shell them!

For 4 people

4 eggs (of course, this is up to you-take 8 if you're all egg lovers!)

2 large onions, sliced long and thin

2 large tomatoes, sliced long and thin

2 green chillies, slit (add or reduce, according to taste)

2 cloves

1-inch cinnamon stick

4-5 curry leaves

1 tablespoon cornflour (optional)

1 cup thick freshly squeezed coconut milk (or 4 tablespoons coconut milk powder dissolved in 1 cup warm water)

2 tablespoons coriander leaves, chopped

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1/2 cup water

White or black pepper powder, to taste

Salt to taste

In a wide pan, heat the oil and let the cloves, cinnamon, and curry leaves sizzle.

Add the onions and fry till translucent.

Now tip in the tomatoes and green chillies and stir till it is semi-pulpy.

Add salt to taste and then the water. Let it boil.

Turn down the heat and break the eggs carefully, one by one, into the pan, taking care to leave some space between them.

Simmer for 3-4 minutes until the egg white coagulates or solidifies around the yolk. Ideally, it should still be runny and not too firm.

Now add in the coconut milk (stir the cornflour into the milk first).

Let it simmer for another minute or two.

Sprinkle the pepper powder on top, garnish with the coriander leaves, and serve hot.

TIPS: After you break the eggs in, do not stir around with a spoon. Just tilt the handles of the pan and give a gentle shake when you want to mix everything together.

For other "Mahe fusion" recipes on my blog, try these:

Ottayappam

Sear Fish in White Sauce

No-Cook Fish Molee

Beetroot Stir Fry

I am linking this to the following blog events:

Foodie Friday

Pressure Cooker Chicken Biriyani

2011-05-15T23:09:00.003+05:30

Now don't get fooled by the words "pressure cooker" in the title and turn your nose up thinking how authentic can a biriyani be if its made in a pressure cooker! Because then you'd be missing out on a lipsmacking recipe that's so easy to make that even amateurs can get it right! I know many people who are hesitant to try out a biriyani at home, even though they love it, for fear that it's a complicated process. Well, if you're one of them, then this recipe is the one you should start with. My mom used to make this on weekends when she had less time to cook for us or too tired to try something more elaborate-and it never disappointed! One unique factor in this recipe is the absence of any garam masala or biriyani masala-and yet the rice and meat are so flavorful!

On a side note, biriyani purists might smirk at this and call it a "pulao/pilaf". Whether you think a biriyani is rice layered with meat/vegetables or think it should be rice and meat/vegetables cooked together, this is one recipe that will satisfy both camps-take my word for it!

To serve 4 people with a hearty appetite

Ingredients:

3 cups rice (Basmati or jeera rice-"neychottari")
500 g chicken
5-6 each of cloves, cinnamon, and cardamom
1 bayleaf
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
4 large onions, sliced fine
4 large tomatoes, diced
2 teaspoon crushed ginger
2 teaspoon crushed garlic
A handful of slit green chillies, according to your tolerance/liking for heat
10-12 cashewnuts, ground to a paste
2 tablespoons poppy seeds (Khus Khus), ground to a paste
1/2 cup of coriander and mint leaves, chopped
1/ cup thick yoghurt
3 cups water
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons ghee/oil
Salt to taste

For the garnish

1 medium size onion, sliced thin
A handful of cashewnuts
A handful of raisins
2 teaspoons vegetable oil

Soak the rice for 15 minutes and drain the water off completely.
In a pan, heat 2 teaspoons ghee/oil and tip in the rice, stirring for about 5 minutes until it is semi-crisp. Keep aside.
In a small skillet, heat 2 teaspoons oil and fry the onions until golden brown (just keep it on simmer and leave it alone, stirring occasionally). Remove and keep aside. Repeat with the cashewnuts and raisins and keep aside.
In a pressure cooker, heat 1/4 cup oil and tip in the cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and bay leaf.
When they start to sizzle, add the onions. Fry on medium heat until they turn golden brown.
Now add the tomatoes, stir and let cook until it turns a nice pulpy mash.
Then add the ginger and garlic and green chillies and fry again for about 1 minute.
Mix in the coriander and mint leaves and turmeric powder and fry for another minute.
Add the yoghurt, cashew paste, Khus Khus paste and chicken and salt and fry for 2 to 3 minutes until the chicken is well coated with the other ingredients.
Lastly, add the rice and water.
Close the pressure cooker, put on the weight, and after the first whistle, take it off the stove.
Leave unopened for half an hour.
When the time is up, open the pressure cooker, transfer to a serving dish and garnish with the fried onions, cashewnuts and raisins.
Serve hot with a side of raitha, pickle and pappad.

TIPS:

This is easily adaptable to chicken, mutton, or vegetables as you wish. Adjust the cooking time accordingly for each.

Modify the quantity of rice versus the chicken according to the number of people you're cooking for, but remember that the timing remains the same (for chicken), irrespective of the quantity. If using mutton, you might have to cook a little longer, but I'm unsure of how much for this particular case.

If you'd like to try a more elaborate and authentic Malabar style biriyani, check out a previous recipe here. If you're looking for even easier pulao recipes, check out two microwave recipes I'd blogged about before, Chicken Yakhni Pulao and The No-Fry Chicken Pulao.

I am linking this to the following blog events:

over at The Kerala Kitchen, hosted this month by Sarah at Spoonful of Delight

and Foodie Friday

PostScript: Following an unprecedented surge of this recipe in the popularity ratings, I have also added this to the Star Recipes collection over at

Also taking part in