Sandhya's Kitchen

Low Fat Chocolate Marble Bundt Cake

noreply@blogger.com (sandhya) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:00:00 +0000

Today November 15th is the National Bundt cake day and I made a Chocolate marble bundt cake to celebrate it. This recipe is adapted from Alice Medrich's Chocolate & the Art of Low Fat Dessert's.The cake was very moist & chocolaty. I have made this cake many times & its one of my favorite.

Chocolate Marble Cake
(adapted from Alice Medrich's Chocolate and The Art of Low Fat Desserts)

2 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon instant espresso or coffee powder
1/3 cup dutch-process cocoa powder
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 whole egg
1 egg white
6 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup nonfat yogurt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Method:

Have all ingredients at room temperature. Preheat the oven to 350F. Prepare the pan. Combine the flour with baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Sift together. Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine espresso powder, cocoa, and 1/3 cup of the sugar with 1/4 cup water. Whisk until smooth. Set aside.

In another small bowl, whisk whole egg with egg white. Set aside.

Cut the butter into pieces and place in an electric mixer bowl. Beat for about 1 minute to soften. Gradually add remaining 1 cup of sugar and beat at high speed for about 3 minutes. Dribble eggs in slowly, about 1 tablespoon at a time, beating constantly for about 2 minutes. On low speed, beat in a third of the flour mixture. On medium-high speed, beat in half of the yogurt. On low speed, beat in half of the remaining flour. On high speed, beat in the rest of the yogurt and the vanilla. On low speed, beat in the remaining flour.
Measure out 1-1/2 cups of yogurt batter and mix into the cocoa mixture; set aside.

Use a large spoon to fill the bottom of the pan with about three quarters of the white batter placed in dollops. Cover the white batter with dollops of chocolate batter. Top the chocolate batter with small dollops of white batter spread so that the chocolate batter shows through. Use a table knife to marble the batters together with a circular or zigzag motion; be careful not to blend them too much.

Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake in several places comes out clean. Cool for 10 to 15 minutes on a rack. Unmold the cake. Cool completely before serving or storing.

Halloween Cake

noreply@blogger.com (sandhya) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:00:00 +0000

I made this cake last week for halloween. I know its late but better late than never. It is a vanilla cake covered with buttercream. The top layer is covered with powdered oreo cookies and the skeleton is made with royal icing.

Khaman Dhokla for Indian cooking Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (sandhya) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 00:33:00 +0000

I had been on a blogging break for more than an year now and finally decided to get back. This month's recipe for Indian Cooking Challenge was Khaman Dhokla. Khaman Dhokla is a popular Gujarati snack made by steaming fermented chickpea batter. I followed Srivalli's recipe & the dhokla's came out perfectly. They came out very soft & fluffy.

Ingredients:

For Batter:

Bengal Gram flour / Besan - 250 gms (1 & 1/2 cup)
Curd - 1/2 cup (not very sour)
Water - 1/2 cup
Cooking Soda - 1/2 tsp

For seasoning to be mixed to the batter (to be added just before cooking)
Oil - 1 tbsp
Turmeric a pinch
Green Chili paste - 1 or 2 (as per taste)
Sugar - 1 tsp
Citric acid - quarter tsp or Lemon juice - 2 tsp

Eno - 1 packet(5gms/1tsp) (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 first 1/2 cup curds with 1/2 water. To this add the besan and mix well to get a lump less batter, the consistency should be of idli batter, more of dropping not pouring consistency. Slowly add more water if needed else, add the soda. Keep it aside to rise for 1 hour.
If you are using a pressure cooker, fill the pan with water, place a plate over which you will have use a plate for steaming the dhoklas. Thali plate can be used for steaming
To the batter mix in the citric acid, oil, salt, sugar, green chili paste and turmeric powder. Mix well. This has to be done just before pouring to the plate.
Meanwhile have the pan on stove, 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 for 5 minutes.
In a bowl, mix 3 tsp 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 crumbly squares, cut and handle gently.

Two Bittergourd dishes

noreply@blogger.com (sandhya) — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 02:15:00 +0000

Bittergourd Fry with Besan (Chickpea flour)

Bittergourd is one of my favourite vegetable. This is a simple and easy bittergourd fry . The addition of besan reduces the bitterness of the bittergourds. I learnt this recipe from my mom.

Ingredients:

2 medium sized bittergourds
1/3 cup besan powder (chickpea flour)
3/4 tsp chili powder
Pinch of turmeric
Salt to taste
Water as needed

Method:

Cut the bittergourd into 2 pieces length wise, deseed and slice them thinly.
Make a thick paste by combining besan, chilli powder, turmeric and salt.
Heat some oil in a pan and stir fry the sliced bittergourds untill they are slightly browned.
Now add the basan paste and stir untill it is cooked or for about 6-8 minutes.
Remove from heat and serve.

Spicy Bittergourd Curry

This is another bittergourd recipe made very often in my house. This is a spicy bittergourd curry which is not so bitter. It is slightly sweet and tangy and serves as a great side dish with rice.

Ingredients:

2 medium sized bittergourd(2 cups)
2 green chillies finely chopped
1 tsp chili powder
Pinch of turmeric
1/2 tsp of tamarind paste
1 tbsp sugar or more if needed
1 sprig curry leaves
1 dried red chilli
1/4 tsp Mustard seeds
Salt to taste
3/4 cup of water(more if needed)

Method:

Cut the bitergurd into 2 pieces lengthwise, deseed them and slice them thinly.
Heat some oil in a pan, add dried red chillies and mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds splutter add curry leaves. Now add the bittergourd and green chillies and fry untill they are slightly browned.
Now add turmeric and chilli powder and fry for a minute.
Now add water, tamarind paste, salt and allow the mixture to boil.
Remove from heat and stir in the sugar. Serve with rice.(Note: Adjust the chilli powder and sugar according to your taste.)

I am sending these to VOW-Bittergourd hosted by Pooja of My Creative Idea's.

Tiramisu

noreply@blogger.com (sandhya) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 04:01:00 +0000

Tiramisu is a famous Italian dessert. It consists of ladyfingers or savoiardi biscuits dipped in coffee and layered with creamy mascrapone cheese. They have been on my list for quite a longtime and last week I finally made these. I made these in individual bowls instead of a single dish, as it would be easier to serve. This recipe does not use any eggs for the filling. The filling is made using a mixture of mascrapone, cream cheese, sugar and coffee.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup of Expresso
3 tbsp Kahlua (coffee flavoured liquer)
1 block of cream cheese (8 ounce)
1 1/2 cups of mascrapone cheese (6 ounce)
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp granulated sugar
20-24 Italian ladyfingers (Savoiardi biscuits)
2 tsp of Cocoa powder or chocalate shavings for garnishing

Method:

In a small shallow dish , mix expresso and Kahlua coffee liqueur.
In a large bowl, combine cream cheese and mascrapone cheese, beat at medium speed untill smooth. Add sugar and 3 tbsp of expresso-coffee liquer mix and beat at medium speed untill well blended. (Note: I used fat-free cream cheese)
Dip each ladyfingers in the expresso kahlua mixture , only for aboout 5 seconds. If they are placed in the mixture for a long time they will fall apart. Place the soaked ladyfinger on the bottom of the dessert cups or glasses, breaking them if needed in order to fit to the bottom.
Spread about 3 tbsp of cheese mixture over the ladyfingers. Place another layer of soaked ladyfingers and top it with some cheese mixture. Fill the remaining cups in the same way. (Note: Instead of making individual tiramisu's you can arrange the ladyfinger and cheese mixture in a 8-inch square baking tray .)
Cover the cups with plastic wraps and refrigerate for a minimum of 5 hours. I refrigerated it overnight.
Sprinkle cocoa powder on top before serving. This recipe yields about 8 servings.

Cham-Chams

noreply@blogger.com (sandhya) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 21:10:00 +0000

Cham-Cham is a delicious Bengali sweet. I never knew of these untill recently. When RCI-Bengal was announced i decided to make these.

Ingredients:

Half Gallon Milk

3 tbsp lemon juice

Pinch of food colour
1 1/2 cups of sugar

4 cups of water

1 tsp of rose water

Whipped Cream and dried nuts for garninshing (optional)

Method:

Bring milk to boil over medium heat. Stir often to prevent burning. When milk starts to boil add the lemon juice and mix well. Now the milk will start to curdle and the curd will seperate from the milk. At this point, turn off the heat and allow the milk to sit for 10 minutes.
Strain it in a cheesecloth and wash it under running water to remove all the lemon juice. Hang the cheese cloth in the sink or place it in the colander for one hour so that all the water drains off.
When all the water is drained off place the paneer in a bowl, add the food colour and knead it untill the paneer becomes very smooth. The paneer should be very smooth for making cham-chams. (If the paneer is very dry you can add few drops of water and if there is more water you can add little bit of all purpose flour. I added pink food colour to half of the mixture.)
Divide the dough into small equal sized balls and roll them between your palms such that there are no cracks on them. Now roll the balls into an oval and flatten them a bit.
Mix the water and sugar in a pan on medium heat and bring the mixture to boil. The pan should be large enough to hold all the cham-chams as they will almost double in size.
When the sugar syrup boils add all the paneer rolls to the syrup and cover the pan. Cook for 10 minutes on medium to high heat. Now turn off the heat and wait for 5 minutes before opening the lid. Allow the cham-chams to cool in the pan. The cham-chams will be very delicate now.
When cooled, add the rose water and refrigerate it atleast for 6-8 hours. It tastes better if you refrigerate it for a day.
When they are chilled fully, remove them from the sugar syrup. You can garnish these with whipped cream ,dried nuts or cherries. I garnished mine with a few almond slices.

I am sending these to RCI-Bengal hosted by Sandeepa of Bong Mom's Cookbook. I am also sending the above picture ( 2nd one) to Click-Metal hosted by Jai & Bee of Jugalbandi.

Chocolate Orange Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (sandhya) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 18:30:00 +0000

It had been been a long time since i made something choclatey and i decided to make chocolate cupcakes. While making the cupcakes i substituted orange juice for milk and added some orange zest. The result were these spongy and delicious Chocolate Orange cupcakes. I frosted the cupcakes with some chocolate buttercream.

Ingredients:

For Cupcakes:

1 1/2 cups cake flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 large eggs at room temperature

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup orange juice

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 tsp orange zest

For chocolate Buttercream:

1/2 cup butter

1/3 cup cocoa powder

2 cups confectioner's sugar

3 tbsp of whipping cream(more if needed)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350 degree Farenheit. Line the muffin cups with paper liners.
Sift together cake flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder, set aside.
Beat the eggs, sugar and oil untill the sugar is well blended. Now beat in orange juice, vanilla extract and orange zest untill well combined.
Gradually beat in the dry ingredients untill the batter is evenly mixed.
Fill the muffin cups 3/4 full with batter.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or untill a toothpick inserted at center comes out clean.
Transfer the cupcakes to wire racks and cool completely.

Chocolate Buttercream:

Beat butter on high speed untill soft.
Add cocoa powder and half the sugar and beat untill blended well.
Now add the remaining sugar along with 1 tbsp of cream and beat untill well blended.
Add the remaining cream and beat on high for 3-4 minutes. (Note: You can make the consistency of the butercream more stiff or thin by adjusting the amount of cream. You can even ad some orange zest to the buttercream)

Frost the cupcakes with the buttercream. This recipe makes about 16 cupcakes.

Pear Turnovers

noreply@blogger.com (sandhya) — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 02:15:00 +0000

I made Pear turnover's for this month's AFAM. These are pear's wrapped in delicate layers of puff pastry along with some spices and baked till golden brown.

Ingredients:

1 Sheet Puff pastry thawed

2 medium pears, peeled and cut into thin slices

4 tbsp sugar

2 tsp All Purpose flour
1 tsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp ginger powder

Pinch of salt

1 Egg + 1tsp of water

Method:

Preheat the oven to 400 degree Farenheit.
In a bowl, combine the pear slices with lemon juice, sugar, flour, cinnamon, ginger and salt. Beat the egg and water together to make eggwash.
Cut the puff pastry sheet into 4 squares.
Brush the edges of each square with egg wash and place about 1/4 of the pear mixture on one side of the square.
Fold the pastry diagonally and seal the edges using a fork. Place these on a baking pan lined with parchment paper and brush the top with egg wash.
Bake for 20 minutes or untill browned. Cool for 20 minutes and serve warm.

This is my entry to AFAM:Pears hosted by Raaga of The Singing Chef.

Vegetable Spring Rolls

noreply@blogger.com (sandhya) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 02:54:00 +0000

Vegetable Spring Rolls are one of our favourite appetizers. Last week i made these at home along with a spicy sweet and sour sauce and they were a hit .

Ingredients:

For Spring Rolls:
Spring roll wrappers
1 1/2 cups shredded chinese cabbage
3/4 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup bean threads cooked and cut into small pieces
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
Salt as required
2 tsp oil for stir frying the vegetable
Oil for frying

For Dipping Sauce:
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp soy sauce
1/8 tsp salt
2 red serrano pepper deseeded and chopped finely

Method:

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan over medium heat, add the vegetables and stir fry. After stir frying for about 2 mins add soy sauce, sugar and pepper. Stir fry untill the vegetables are softened. Remove from heat.
Now toss in the cooked bean threads. Taste the mixture for salt and add more if necessary. Allow the mixture to cool.(You can add your choice of vegetables. Add black pepper per your taste)
Take out one spring roll wrapper and lay it on a flat surface such that it forms a diamond shape. Place about 2 tbsp of filling on the bottom part and spread it out sideways to form a retangle.Lift the bottom corner of the wrapper and tuck it in under the filling. Now fold the left and right sides and roll the wrapper to the end and seal the end with little bit of water.
Heat oil in a pan over medium-high heat. Add spring rolls and fry on both sides untill the roll turns golden brown. Remove the rolls and drain on paper towel.

For Sauce:

Add vinegar, water, soy sauce, sugar and salt to a saucepan.
Cook this on low heat for about 4-5 minutes.
Now add the chopped papper and allow to cool.

Enjoy the spring rolls with this spicy sweet and sour sauce. The above recipe yields about 6-8 spring rolls.Adjust the spice level of the roll and sauce as per your taste buds.

I am sending these to Bindiya's Monthly event My Favourite Things-Chinese Food.

Potato Latkes

noreply@blogger.com (sandhya) — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 15:09:00 +0000

Latkes are shallow-fried pancakes of grated potatoes. All of the recipes which i came across were using eggs, i omitted eggs and added more flour. I also added green chillies, chilli powder, curry leaves and made these Indian Style Latkes.

Ingredients:

1 cup grated potato
1/4 cup onion chopped
2 green chillies
1/4 tsp chilli powder(add per your taste)
3 tbsp All Purpose Flour/Maida
1 tbsp rice powder
Pinch of Baking Powder
Few Curry leaves chopped
Salt as required
Oil for shallow frying

Method:

In a bowl, mix potato with all the ingredients except oil.
Place a non-stick skillet over medium heat, heat oil untill hot. Drop spoonfuls of potato mixture into the skillet, press to flatten. (Initially add only about 1 tbsp of oil and later add as needed. I used olive oil)
Fry on each side for about 4 minutes, untill browned and crisp.
Drain on paper towel. Serve hot with tomato ketchup.

I am sending these to Ode to Potato by sia of Monsoon Spice and A Potato Feast hosted by DK's Culinary Bazaar.

A Daisy Cake and Two Awards

noreply@blogger.com (sandhya) — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 04:20:00 +0000

I made this Daisy cake for a potluck at my hubby's office. It is a yellow cake frosted with buttercream and filed with strawberry buttercream. I decorated the cake with few fondant daisies. The frosting on the cake is not very smooth, i need to improve here.I will post the recipe sometime later.

Last week i received my first award from cham of spice-club. Thank you so much for this wonderful award cham. Its only about 2 months since i started blogging and i can't belive i got an award. I would like to thank all my fellow-bloggers and friends for their support and encouragement .
I am passing this award to

Namratha of Finger Licking Foods

Purnima of Fantasy Cooking

Happy Cook of My Kitchen Treasures

Shn of Mismash

Mansi of Fun and Food

“Nice Matters Award is for those bloggers who are nice people; good blog friends and those who inspire good feelings and inspiration. Also for those who are a positive influence on our blogging world.”

I also received this Nice Matters Award from Purnima of Fantasy Cooking. Thanks purnima for passing it on to me.

Lemon Cake

noreply@blogger.com (sandhya) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 14:09:00 +0000

Lemon Cake is one of my favorite. This lemon cake recipe is adapted from Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa Parties. This cake is very lemony and has a light texture. I halved the recipe since the orginal one yields 2 loaves and I wanted only one.

Ingredients:
½ cup butter (1 stick) at room temperature
1 ¼ cup sugar
2 eggs at room temperature
1 ½ tbsp lemon zest (3-4 lemons)
1 ½ cup all purpose flour
¼ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
3 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 tbsp buttermilk at room temperature
½ tsp vanilla extract

For glaze:
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 ½ tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350 degree F. Grease a 8 ½ x 4 ½ x 2 ½ inch loaf pan with butter and flour. Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl untill it is light and fluffy(This may take about 5-10 minutes). With the mixer on medium speed add eggs, one at a time and the lemon zest.
Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl. In another bowl combine 1tbsp of lemon juice, buttermilk and vanilla. Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately to the batter beginning and ending with flour. Pour the batter into the pan, smooth the top with a spatula and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour , until a cake tester comes out clean. (I did not have buttermilk so I added ½ tsp lemon juice to 3 tbsp milk and left it for 5 minutes and then used this as buttermilk)
Combine ¼ cup granulated sugar with 2 tbsp of lemon juice in a saucepan and cook over low heat until sugar dissolves and makes a syrup. When the cakes are done let it cool in pan for 10 minutes, then invert them onto the rack, and spoon the lemon syrup over the cake. Now allow the cake to cool completely.
For the Glaze, combine confectioner’s sugar and lemon juice in a bowl with a whisk until smooth . Pour over the top of the cake and allow the glaze to drizzle down the sides.

Note: The first time I made the cake I did not make the syrup or the glaze, still it was very good. If you don’t want to make the syrup and glaze you can omit both of these but add the entire 1 ¼ cup sugar and 3 tbsp lemon juice while making the cake batter.

I am sending these to Jhiva for Ingredients: Lime/Lemon hosted by Coffee of The Spice Cafe.

Chicken Fry

noreply@blogger.com (sandhya) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 01:19:00 +0000

This is a kerala style chicken fry. Here the chicken is marinated in the spice powders and then fried. Then it is served with fried onion, chilies and curry leaves.

Ingredients:
½ lb boneless chicken
½ onion thinly sliced
3 green chillies cut
2 sprigs curry leaves
Pinch of salt
Oil for frying

For marinating chicken:
1 ½ tsp ginger-garlic paste
½ tsp ground black pepper
½ tsp chill powder
¼ tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp garam masala
½ tsp coriander powder
2 tsp lemon juice
Salt as required

Method:

Clean the chicken and cut them into small pieces.
Rub in all the marinating ingredients into the chicken. Marinate the chicken for 4-6 hours or overnight in refrigerator.
Heat oil in a pan. Shallow fry the chicken on low-medium heat untill it turns brown on all sides. This may take about 10-15 minutes. Drain on paper towel.
Fry the onions, green chillies and curry leaves in the remaining oil untill the onions turn slightly brown. Add salt now. (If there is more oil after frying chicken remove some before adding onions).
Now add the fried chicken pieces into this and fry for 2 more minutes.
Add some freshly squeezed lemon juice on top before serving.

Strawberry Jelly Heart Cheesecake

noreply@blogger.com (sandhya) — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 05:23:00 +0000

Valentine’s Day is here and I wanted to make something special. I remembered seeing something called as Strawberry Jelly Hearts in some magazine last year. I started searching in the internet for the recipe but I could find only pictures, no recipe. So I decided to give myself a try and I made these Strawberry Jelly Heart Cheesecake. I adapted the cheesecake recipe with few modifications of my own from Tyler Florence of Food Network.

Ingredients:

Crust:
1½ cups finely ground graham crackers
½ tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp brown sugar
5 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Filling:
1 pound or 16 ounce Cream cheese
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
16 ounce Sour cream
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract

Topping:
1 packet Strawberry Jello
Few Strawberries

Method:

Preheat oven to 325 degree F.

For the crust:
Mix together all the crust ingredients until they are evenly moistened. Grease the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with butter or non-stick cooking spray. Press the crumb mixture onto the bottom of the pan using the bottom of a glass or measuring cup. Refrigerate the pan for 15 minutes.

For the cheesecake batter:
Using a handheld electric mixer, beat cream cheese on medium speed until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time beating after each addition until mixed. Gradually add the sugar and beat until light and creamy, for about 2-3 minutes on medium speed (Stop mixing and scrape down the sides of the bowl and beater as necessary). Beat in sour cream, lemon juice and vanilla. Beat on low speed for about 3 minutes until smooth, but the batter should not be over-beaten. Now pour the batter into the spring form pan and smooth the top with a spatula.

Cover the sides and bottom of the pan with aluminum foil. Now place the springform pan on a large pan (any oven-safe pan in which the cheesecake pan fits). Pour boiling water into the outside pan until the water is about 1 inch along the sides of the cheesecake pan. This is called as water bath. Water bath prevents the cracking of the cheesecake. It is important to note that the cheesecake pan is covered properly with aluminum foil or else water will get into the cheesecake. Now place the spring form pan along with the outside pan in the oven. Bake for 75minutes. The cake should not be completely set in the center, it should still jiggle, so be careful not to overcook it. The cake will become firm after it is chilled in the refrigerator(The baking time may vary depending on the oven ).

Remove the cheesecake from the oven. Cut out small hearts out of strawberry and place them on the cheesecake. Allow the cake to cool completely for about 2-3 hours. Loosely cover the pan and refrigerate for a minimum of 5 hours though it would be better to refrigerate the cake overnight.

Now prepare the strawberry jello according to the package instructions and pour it slowly on to the cheesecake. Refrigerate until the jelly is set. (I placed the strawberries after the cheesecake was fully set. When I poured the jello mix the hearts started swimming in the jello. I had a difficult time holding them in the correct place).

Remove the cake from the springform pan by carefully running a hot knife around the outside of the cake. Leave the cake on the bottom of the springform pan for serving.

Slice the cheesecake with a thin non-serrated knife, which is dipped in hot water. After each cut the knife should be wiped clean. You could cut the cheesecakes in different shapes using cookie cutters but make sure the cutter is hot. I made a few hearts out of them.

I am sending these Strawberry hearts to Poojas’s Valentines Day Event and Zorra’s A Heart for Your Valentine.

Sukhiyan

noreply@blogger.com (sandhya) — Sun, 10 Feb 2008 17:46:00 +0000

Sukhiyan is a sweet and delicious snack of Kerala. It is a sweet ball coverd with maida batter and deep fried in oil.It is one of my favourite snacks and i usually make it with the evening tea.

Ingredients:

For filling:
1/2 cup green gram
1/2 cup grated coconut
1/2 cup jaggery

For the batter:
1/2 cup maida/all purpose flour
Pinch of salt
Water as required

Oil for frying

Method:

Wash and soak green gram in water for 2-4hrs.
Cook the green gram and while cooking make sure that they dont turn mushy.
In a saucepan melt jaggery along with 2 tblsp of water. If there are any impurities, seive the melted jaggery.
Add the grated coconut to the melted jaggery and keep stirring for about 5 mins on low heat.
Add the cooked green gram to the jaggery-coconut mixture and keep mixing untill all the liquid is absorbed.
Now make lemon sized balls out of the mixture.
Prepare a thick batter using maida. Add a pinch of salt to this.
Heat oil in a deep frying pan.
Dip each ball in the batter and the batter should coat well on all sides.
Now deep fry in oil till it turns golden brown.

Vegetable Pulav

noreply@blogger.com (sandhya) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 02:01:00 +0000

This is a simple vegetable pulav which is easy to make and tastes great!

Ingredients:

Mixed vegetables chopped - 1 cup
Onion thinly sliced - 1
Basmati rice - 1 cup
Ginger-garlic paste - 1½ tsp
Cloves - 2
Cardamom - 2
Cinnamon - 2 small pieces
Bay leaf - 1
Yoghurt/curd - 3 tbsp
Turmeric powder - ¼ tsp
Garam masala - ½ tsp
Chilly powder - ½ tsp
Mint leaves - few
Salt - for taste
Oil/Ghee - 2 tbsp
Water - as required

Method:

Heat oil/ghee in a pan. Add cinnamon, cardamon, cloves and bay leaf and fry for a minute.
Add onions and fry till they are soft and translucent.
Add the ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw smell is gone.
Now add the mixed vegetables and fry for a while.(I used frozen mixed vegetables like carrot, beans and peas you could use your choice of vegetables)
Add turmeric, garam masala, chilly powder and mint leaves and fry for a couple of minutes. (You can adjust the chilly powder according to how spicy you want it)
Add curd and mix well.
Now add the washed and drained rice and fry for 2 -3 mins.Now add the required amount of salt and water and cook on low heat untill all the water is absorbed.(I add 1½ cups of water for 1 cup of basmati rice. I cook mine in rice cooker most of the times, you can use your own convinient method for cooking the rice)

Mix well before serving. It can be served with yoghurt raita or vegetable kurma.

Achappam or Rose cookie

noreply@blogger.com (sandhya) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 00:44:00 +0000

Achappam or Rose cookie is a sweet and crunchy snack of kerala. It is round and resembles a flower. It is made using ’achu’- a special round mould. The mould is typically made of iron but nowadays it is available in non-stick too. Traditionally , Achappams are made with rice , coconut milk, sugar and eggs. We can substitute the rice with a mixture of rice and maida(All purpose flour) and coconut milk with milk. The ratio of rice powder and maida can be varied ,the more the rice powder the more crunchier it will be. All the ingredients are mixed to form a thick batter that has the consistency of dosa batter. The mould is dipped in the batter and then inserted into the oil. The achappam separates from the mould and it is fried till golden brown. This is a tricky process and it can be done only with practice. It will be much easier with a non-stick mould. The mould should be hot enough so that the batter coats the mould properly. If the mould is not hot the batter will not stick to he mould and they will not separate from the mould when dipped in oil.

Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:

Rice powder - 1 ½ cups
Maida or All Purpose Flour- ½ cup
Sugar - ½ cup
Coconut Milk - 1 ¼ cup
Eggs - 2
Sesame seeds - 2 tsp

Jeera seeds - 1 tsp(optional)
Salt - ¼
Oil for deep frying

Method:

Beat the eggs. Add sugar and coconut milk. Mix until the sugar dissolves. Mix in all the other ingredients to make a thick batter.

Heat the oil and dip the mould in it. The mould should be hot . When the mould is hot, dip 3/4th of the mould in the batter and then dip the mould into hot oil. [If the mould is not hot or if it is too hot the batter will not hold on to the mould]. After a few seconds slightly shake the mould so that the Achappams separates from the mould. [ If you shake too vigorously the Achappams may break or they may not hold their shape.]

Fry both sides on low-medium heat till slightly golden brown. Remove from oil and drain on paper towel. Continue in the same way with the remaining batter. Store in airtight container. Enjoy it with a cup of tea.

When I was searching on the internet I came across Kuih Rose(Malaysian snack)and Rosettes which I felt was similar to Achappam. You can find the Rosette mould here.

I am sending this to RCI-Kerala hosted by Jyothsna of

Curry Bazaar.

A Sweet Beginning with Carrot Halwa.....

noreply@blogger.com (sandhya) — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 20:58:00 +0000

It took me sometime to decide what I should post . Since this is my first post I thought I would start with something sweet. Here goes the recipe for my version of Carrot Halwa which I prepared for makara-sankranthi.

Ingredients:

Grated Carrots - 3 cups
Milk - 2 cups
Sugar - 1 cup
Ghee - 3 tbl.sp
Cardamom powder - ¼ tsp
Cashews and Raisins - 2 tbl.sp each

Method:

Add milk and the grated carrots to a heavy bottom pan and cook closed on low to medium heat. Keep stirring in-between until all the milk has been absorbed. This process will take about 45 minutes. [I usually crush the carrots in my blender instead of grating them.]
Add sugar and cardamom powder to this mixture and keep stirring. When all the moisture is absorbed and the halva has reached a thick consistency add 2 Tbl.sp of ghee and fry the mixture for 5 more minutes with constant stirring and turn off he heat.
Fry the cashews and raisins in the remaining ghee and mix it with the halwa. The halwa is ready to be served now.

Welcome!!

noreply@blogger.com (sandhya) — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 20:11:00 +0000

Welcome to Sandhya’s Kitchen! I am starting my own food blog where I would be sharing some of my experiments from my kitchen. I have been wanting to create a blog of my own for a very long time but I was very hesitant to do so…Finally I am happy that I succeeded.

I started my cooking adventures only after my marriage. Initially it was not so easy. But as days passed things changed and now I really love baking and experimenting with food.

Hope everyone enjoys the recipes coming out of my kitchen!!

-Sandhya