Sumi's Kitchen

Kodhumai/Wheat Rava/Cracked wheat Uppuma and Coriander-Peanut Chutney

2009-11-02T17:34:00.009-06:00

This is a very simple and filling meal which makes its way in to my kichen atleast once a week. Usually I make this uppuma for dinner whenever I make sambhar for lunch, so that I need not put extra effort for making any chutneys.Sambhar and wheat rava uppuma are a classic combo. But yesterday for a change I made this coriander - peanut chutney to go with this delicious uppuma, which equally tasted good.
Change is always good right..

Wheat Rava Uppuma

Ingredients:

Wheat rava/cracked wheat - 2 cups

water - 4 cups

1 tsp mustard seeds

1tsp urad dhal

1 tsp channa dhal

1 tsp chopped ginger

2 green chillies, slit

1 medium onion chopped

few curry leaves

Method

Dry roast the Rava in a pan without oil i medium flame for atleast 10 mins

(Do not avoid this step , as it reduces the raw smell of the wheat a lot)

Heat a tblsp of oil in a non stick pan/kadai.

Add the tempering ingredients mustard, urad dhal, channa dhal and curry leaves when the oil is hot.

When the mustard pops add the onion , chillies and ginger, fry till onion turns translucent

Now add the water and salt to taste.Close with a lid and allow it to boil.

When the water is boiling, slowly add the wheat rava and stir well. Reduce the flame to medium , close with a tight lid and cook for 10 mins.

Stir well, reduce the flame to very low, close with a lid and cook for another 10 mins.

Coriander peanut chutney:

Ingredients:

1 bunch of coriander leaves

1 handful of mint leaves(optional)

1/2 cup of roasted peanuts

2 green chillies

1/2 tsp tamarind paste

1 garlic pod

Method:

Grind all the above ingredients with the required amount of salt

Make the tempering with mustard , urad dhal, curry leaves and pour over the chutney.

Stir well and serve.

Bhoondhi Laddoo - A Diwali Treat

2009-10-23T09:20:00.006-05:00

Made these yummy ladoos for Diwali from my mother's recipe. Though there are different forms of ladoos, bhoondhi ladoo has been my favorite, especially I love the ones from Adyar Ananda Bhavan... I didnt have any special laddle for making them, so used the regular slotted laddle (Jalli karandi) a slightly bigger one. The initial rounds of bhoondhi came out just fine but the final three batches got messed up, as they began to clog together. Probably the heat got reduced or the batter became too thin/thick , I am not sure, but who cares I got enough bhoondhi's to make 25 ladoos. I added chopped almonds and raisins instead of the traditional cashews, not that I dont prefer them , I realised that I ran out of cashews at the last minute, but the almonds tasted equally good and balanced out the sweetness of the ladoo.

The recipe is very simple and it hardly took 1 hour for me to finish . Hope you all give it a try.

Ingredients:

2 cups gram flour

a pinch of salt

a pinch of cooking soda

for the syrup :

3 cups of sugar (for each cup of flour 11/2 cup of sugar)

1 cup of water ( for each cup of flour 1/2 cup of water)

few cardomom pods

1 drop of yellow food colour (optional)

1 cup chopped almonds/cashews

1/2 cup raisins

Method:

- Take few tsp of ghee and fry the almonds and raisins as we do for payasams. Keep aside.

- Take enough oil in a wide bottommed vessel(atleast an inch thick)

- Mix the flour soda and salt with enough water , just enough to resemble Idli batter.(The batter should not be either too thick or too thin).

- Once the oil is hot(keeping the slotted laddle over the oil) , spread a laddle full of batter over the slotted laddle in circular motion. The bhoondhi's will fall in the oil.

- Fry them for 2 mins , take them out and drain in a paper towel.The bhoondhi should not become crisp.

- Repeat the same with the remaining batter.

- Switch on the other stove and heat the sugar and water in parallel. Add the smashed cardomom pods to it.

- Allow it to boil and reach the single string consistency i.e., if you touch and release the liquid between your fingers it should form a string.

- At this point switch of the stove and mix the bhoondhi, and fried almonds and raisins.Give it a stir with a wooden spoon, close with a lid and allow to cool for few minutes.

- While its still warm , make it to lemon sized balls.

Note : If the mixture gets cooled after sometime heat for a minute in a a Microwave.

If you do not have a microwave, Sprinkle some warm milk as you make the balls

This recipe makes 25 - 30 medium sized ladoos.

Sending these yummy laddoos to the following events:

Sweet series host at Mom's recipes

Diwali Dhamaka event at Purva's blog

Sweet Celebrations HOsted by Mansi at Fun and Food Cafe

FIL - Ghee Hosted at Sanghi' Food Delights

Pineapple fresh cream cake

2009-10-07T18:12:00.009-05:00

I have been planning to make this cake ever since I saw the recipe in "Passionate about baking". The fear of Icing the cake with whipped cream or for that matter any Icing has kept me away from these kind of cakes. Finally I mustered my guts and baked this cake for my Husbands birthday who is an ardent lover of pineapple desserts.
The cake turned out soft and spongy, but the Icing scared me Initially.I baked the sponge at 2.00am in the night (wanted it to be a surprise you know!), and thought of Icing it early in the morning. But when I started Whipping cream, dont know what happened, the cream started to curdle after 6 mins, probably because I whipped it at high speed. I was totally disappointed as I didnt have any more cream left in the fridge.

With few adventures later somehow made the Icing and decorated the cake by evening. The cake tasted too good , and I have already made plans for making it again.The step by step proceure and the tips in the recipe helped me a lot.

My little prince also turned two this September.We celebrated with a small gathering of friends and collegues. I managed to prepare the dinner with some help from neighbour friends. Wanted to share the dinner menu with you guys. Here are some pictures..

Appetizer:

Veg Cutlet

Main course:

Idlis
Vada curry and coconut chutney
Tomato rice sevai
Rice
Vegetable biriyani
Peas -jeera pulav
Curd rice
Curries
Chicken curry
Egg curry
Eggplant curry with Peanuts

Potato Fry

Fryums and Sago Vadam and Onion Raita

Dessert:
Carrot halwa

Brownies

Icecream

Yummy Vanilla Cupcakes

2009-08-07T19:30:00.007-05:00

Iam back from a month long break...We had three good weeks of vacation in India, and then back here I had to prepare for my kids second birthday.It went on very well last week, though hard to believe that my tiny one is growing so fast.Will post the pictures of the menu in the next post.But before that I wanted to publish this post that was sitting in my drafts for a long time.The auto scheduler didnt work for me !!!

Have tried several recipes for vanilla cupcakes from diferent sources, but didnt quite turn out well. So I stopped making them for a while until I saw this recipe from "Passionate about baking" . Made it thrice since then , and every time it baked beautifully and was yummy.

Without taking much of your time here is the recipe:

I didnt make any changes to the original recipe, just made them with large muffin pan instead of the mini ones. Made 12 cupcakes.

Source: Passionate about Baking

Ingredients:

Flour – 2 cups

Baking Powder – 2 tsp

Salt – ½ tsp

Butter – ½ cup

Sugar 1 ¼ cup

Eggs – 2

Milk – 1 cup

Vanilla Essence – 1 tsp

Method:
Preheat the oven to 190deg C.
Grease well muffin trays.
Sift together flour + baking powder + salt 3 times. Keep aside.
Cream the butter and sugar well on high speed until light and fluffy.
Beat in vanilla essence, followed by eggs beaten in 1 by 1.
Now beat in flour and milk alternatively till well incorporated.
Put about a tsp full in each muffin casing, about ¾ full, as it will rise.
Bake at 190deg C for 10-15 mins till golden brown.
Remove immediately and cool on racks.

Apple cinnamon muffins

2009-08-07T08:08:00.012-05:00

I had bookmarked this recipe from Baking bites long back but didnt get to it.Whenever I think of trying this recipe either I will be short of apples or the apples will not be fresh.Since Iam travelling to India on a three weeks vacation Iam planning my menu everyday such that no vegetables or fruits are left out in the refrigerator.Veggies I can manage, but fruits ! with only three days left there is a lot of fruit (peaches,cherries, pears, apples)to be finished thanks to the visit to the farmers market..So dont be surprised if there is an other post on something with peaches.(ya I have a bookmarked recipe of peaches too..)

I didnt use the recipe as such, made a few changes like avoided eggs and used milk instead of buttermilk.I also used whole wheat pastry flour.The result was soft moist and delicious muffins.

Recipe adapted from Baking Bites

Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground ginger

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp butter, melted and cooled

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla extract ( I used vanilla sugar)

1 cup milk

2 cups diced apple

3 tbsp coarse sugar

1/2 tsp ground cinnomon

Method

Preheat oven to 375F (190C). Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and spices.

In a large bowl, whisk together brown sugar , melted butter, vegetable oil and vanilla.

Working in two or three additions, alternately stir in flour mixture and milk, ending with an addition of flour and mixing only until no streaks of flour remain visible in the batter.

Stir in diced apple.Divide batter evenly into prepared muffin cups filling each to the top, or slightly over.

In a small bowl, stir together coarse sugar and additional 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon.

Sprinkle generously over muffins.Bake for 15-18 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean and the top springs back when lightly pressed.

Cool muffins on a wire rack.

Mine made 9 large Muffins.

The theme for this month's Think Spice event hosted by Sunita herself being "Spiced sweet treat" these gorgeous Apple Muffins spiced with cinnamon and ginger makes their way to the event.

Easy breezy salmon curry

2009-08-03T20:20:00.010-05:00

I try to cook fish almost twice a week.Mostly it is salmon and rarely it is some other white fish. We all know that Salmon is one of the richest source of omega 3 fatty acids and it reduces bad cholestrol.

But Salmon doesn't fit in the usual south Indian 'meen kulambhu ' that we prefer (somehow it makes the fish rubbery) I reserve that dish for some trouts or any other fish from the market. So I always make this quick and delicious curry to be relished with white rice or roti's.

Its a must try recipe for people who love to eat salmon.Even if you dont like (like I used to be ) you will start liking it after this recipe.

Ingredients:

2 - (15 oz) salmon strips cut into cubes.(you can also use frozen ones)

3 cloves of garlic finely chopped.

1 onion finely chopped

1/2 cup of tomato paste

1/2 tsp turmeric power

1 tsp red chilli powder

1/2 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp whole peppers

1/2 tsp fenugreek seeds(optional)

1/2 tsp fennel seeds/powder(optional)

curry leaves

Method:

Take 2 tblsp of olive oil in a flat bottommed vessel.

Add the curry leaves, whole pepper, fenugreek and the fennel seeds when the oil is hot.

Add the chopped garlic and onions and fry till the onion turns translucent

Now add the tomato paste, turmeric powder, coriander powder , chilli power and salt.

Add half cup of water and mix well.Close with a lid and allow it to boil for 10 mins in a medium flame.

After the raw smell o the tomato paste disappears, add the salmon pieces , gently give it stir, reduce the flame to low , cover and cook for 10 more mins.

Note:

The gravy should be thick. So cooking in the low flame after adding the fish is a must to avoid burning. Adjust the salt and spice to your taste, before adding the fish.

Sending this curry to the Spotlight "FISH" event hosted at APPAYAPPAN. Its her first event and I agree with her that there is less spotlight on the Non veg dishes in the blogosphere.Its wonderful to see a collection of fish recipes at one place. Hope to see more spotlights in the future.

Cherry cake

2009-07-31T17:01:00.009-05:00

Baked this beautiful cake past weekend with some leftover cherries from the farmers market.

Browsed a lot of recipes from the net and finally settled on the one from Joy of Baking.

I followed the recipe as given, but had to replace the sugar with brown sugar, as I realised that I ran out of white sugar, after beating the eggs.

But the cake baked beautifully and was delicious.I made this in the evening and the cake plate become empty by the time we had tea.

Ingredients:

1 pound (454 grams) fresh cherries, pitted
1 1/2 cups (195 grams) all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup (150 grams) brown sugar
1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/3 cup (80 ml) milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Zest of 1 lemon

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C).

Butter and flour an 9 inch (23 cm) spring form pan and line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
Rinse, dry, and pit all the cherries. Cut the cherries as desired.

Take about 1/4 (about 15) of the cherries (to be placed on the top of the cake during baking) and cut them in half.
In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In the bowl , beat the eggs and sugar until thick and lemon colored (about 3-5 minutes).

Add the melted butter, milk, vanilla, and lemon zest and beat just until incorporated.

Add the flour mixture and stir just until moistened. Gently fold in the whole pitted cherries.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with an offset spatula.
Bake for 15 minutes then remove from oven.

Quickly arrange the remaining cherries, cut side down, on the top of the cake.

Return the cake to the oven and bake for a further 20 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the cake portion comes out clean.
Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool slightly.
Serve warm or at room temperature with a dollop of softly whipped cream.
Makes 8 - 10 servings.

Source : Joy of Baking

Eggplant curry with Peanuts for JFI

2009-07-19T17:14:00.006-05:00

This is a delicacy which my mother makes often.I relish this dish just with plain rice and a tsp of ghee.This is also a great side dish for any spiced rice such as pulav, biriyani, jeera rice etc.,

Here is the recipe

Ingredients:

1 large eggplant

1 handful of roasted peanuts , ground into a coarse powder.

1 medium onion chopped

1 small tomato chopped

1 tsp red chilli powder

1/2 tsp turmeric pwd (optional)

1 tsp whole pepper

1 tsp cumin/jeera seeds

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp urad dhal

1 tsp channa dhal

1 tsp tamarind paste dissolved in 1/2 cup of water

curry leaves optional.

salt and oil to taste.

Method.

Wash and cut the brinjal or eggplants into 1 inch long strips.

Take 2tblsp of oil in non stick kadai/pan.

Add the mustard and wait till it splutters.

Now add the urad dhal, channa dhal, pepper , jeera and currey leaves.

Once the dhal is brown, add the onions and fry till translucent.

Add the eggplants and fry nicely till it shrinks in size, now add the tomatoes, chillipowder, turmeric, and salt. Sprinkle some water, reduce the flame and close the pan with lid.

Allow it to cook for 8 10 mins, and then add the tamarind juice(1tsp paste dissolved in 1/2 cup water).

Increase the heat and stir well till all the juice is absorbed.

Now add the coarse peanut/groundnut powder , chopped coriander leaves, stir well to combine and switch of the stove.

Note:

Always add the peanuts, only when all the water is absorbed and the curry is almost dry. Otherwise the dish will become very soggy.
As a variation you can also add 2tblsp of shreded coconut with or without the peanuts .
Roasting the brinjal in more oil (20r 3 tblsp more) and allowing the brinjal to cook in the oil will definitly enhance the taste even better i.e. if you are not worried about the extra calories or fat that bringa along with it :).

This is a great dish to prepare for potlucks, get together's or any party for that matter.

Iam sending this to ths months JFI conceived by Indira hosted at 'The cooks hide out'

Test Post

2009-07-15T18:23:00.000-05:00

POst to check if my feed is picked up correctly

Dates and Walnuts Muffins

2009-07-14T18:27:00.009-05:00

Wanted to bake something healthy and filling for our weekend trip to Paris last weekend.When I started browsing, I came across Aparna's post on Dates muffin and I was quite satisfied with the recipe as all the ingredients mentioned were in my pantry and dates sounded more healthy and the combination with walnuts suited my taste.

Muffins are easy to pack and carry too.

I had a type of whole wheat flour with the bran, so I decided to replace the all purpose flour and the wheat germ with WWF and increased the amout of oil by a tablespoon.

The result was a delicious and sweet smelling muffins. The smell of the wwf doesnt seem to bother my toddler and the muffins kept him going during that tiresome weekend.

Ingredients:

2 cup whole wheat flour

¾ cup light brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

½ cup dates, deseeded and chopped finely

½ cup walnuts

1 cup milk

4 tbsp oil

1 tsp vanilla essence

Method:

Chop the the dates and walnuts into smaller pieces. Set the oven to 200C.

Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl.

Put all the wet ingredients in another bowl and mix well.

Now pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and fold so that everything is just mixed.

If the batter is over-mixed, the muffins will not be soft and springy in texture.

Spoon the batter into greased muffin cups about 2/3 full.

Bake for about 15 to 2o minutes.Mine baked for 25 mins probably because of the wholewheat.Cool slightly, remove to a rack.

I made 10 as my muffin cups are slightly on the larger side.

Will bake these often from now on, probably will add some orange juice next time as suggested by Madhuram. Iam sending these muffins to her 'Whole Grain Baking - whole wheat ' event.

Pictures and Memories - A "no cooking" Event Announcement

2009-07-11T12:24:00.020-05:00

Well, let me start with event announcement first.
Its summer already and Iam sure many of you have planned your travel and some of you might have just returned from your trips during the long weekend.I love travelling in Summer, be it a simple picnic or a long tour for days I try to enjoy the most. Thanks to technology now every one of us carry a digital camera around and trying to capture the beautiful moments of our trip.In that coarse we always end up with loads of photograph which lays unnoticed after a week or two.
During summer I see some posts here and there about the summer trips and some clicks
Lets make it interesting and take it one step further through this event
Lets start sharing our memories through some pictures with our blog friends, so that others can also get to know about the spot/city/place you visited.

But an event is not an event without some rules. So lets get to the rules, shall we...

To make this event intersting I have two categories.
Category 1: Foodie shots
As a food blogger myself , whenever I travel, I like to take pictures of restaurants, street stalls, cafe's, fridge magnets, soveniers....etc., anything that is cute , related to food, and has a local flavour captures my attention and I start clicking them and Iam sure its the same with the rest of you.
So dig in your archives and find those cute pictures and post it in this category .

Few examples that I could think of...

a local street stall sellinng waffle, hotdogs, burgers, Indian street food, Ice creams etc.,
A a unique table setting in a restaurant
Something interseting in a menu board that captures ur attention
soveniers, fridge magnets related to food..
a picnic lunch spread up on the park...

Any picture that has an association to the culinary side are welcome in this category.

For those of you who are planning to travel , keep this event in mind ,and bring us some nice foodie shots.

Category 2: " My favourite pictures" .
This can include pictures that are your favourites.It can be a landmark , scenic pictures or wildlife or anything that you like.

And now coming to the Rules.

1. Please write a post about your recent summer trip with pictures that goes into two categories as mentioned above.
2. You can post 1 or 2 pictures in the 1st category with a maximum of two pictures.(minimum 1)
3. you can post 3 to 5 pictures in the 2nd category with a maximum of 5 pictures.(minimum 3)
4. Please give atleast a two line descripton about each of the picture. You can share your memories and also the trip details
5. Please note that this not a photography event or competition, so dont worry about how the picture looks.This is just an event to share our memories.
6. The last date is Sep 30 2009. Iam planning it to be a quaterly event.
7. Send me an email with the folloing details: ( sumi (underscore)ammu(at)yahoo.com)

your name
your place of travel
your blog url
your post url
and attach a picture from category 1.

8. Dont forget to link this event announcement page in your post.
9. I will post the round up by October first week
10. Non bloggers can also send in their entries through the email.I will post it in my blog as and when I get it.

With the rules being laid out for the event, let me post my entries to the event.

A Trip to Paris
Last weekend we packed our bags to Paris, although its a mere one hour train trip from Brussels , we were very excited about it.Especially my 22 month old toddler after watching endless episodes of "Thomas the tank engine" was very much obssessed with the train that at one point he refused to come out of the Station.

Paris...Its a very lovely city vibrant with colours and with streets filled with people.It was kind of nice to watch a hustle bustle city even at the late hours after a long time.We took the tour bus and enjoyed the trip around the city eventhough we had a tough time packing and unpacking the stroller everytime we get on and off the bus .Yes..Can you beleive it , we were not able to take the stroller in the bus.Thats the one thing I didnt like in this trip, the city was not at all stroller friendly, even the entry to the metro station..Oh.. I dont want to start about it.

But over all we had a nice time, walking around the city and thanks to mother nature the weather was too good.We absolutly loved the Lovre Museum, and the Eiffel tower at the night.
Try to visit the city if you get a chance.

And here are my entries to the event.

Category 1 : Foodie shots

These cute fridge magnets captured my attention the moment I landed in Paris which was in my purse a while later.

Category 2: My Favourite pictures:

Eiffel tower at night.

During the day time

The incredible 'Mono Lisa'

The Lovre Museum

A view of the open tour bus.

For Click

2009-06-30T18:06:00.002-05:00

Sending this picture of the Rava Ladoos for CLICK - Stacks

Rava Urundai /Ladoos - Indian Cooking Challenge

2009-06-30T16:55:00.008-05:00

Making these rava urundai's took me down the memory lane to the diwali days when we were kids.My mom used to make these every year during diwali, but the method used was totally different from this recipe.As Srivalli said its the other method by grinding the rava and sugar together. My mom grinds the rava in the mill few ays before diwali, and on the night before diwali she makes everything ready for us kids to make the balls.Its very difficult to make the balls with powder mixed with hot ghee.But we used to have fun while doing it.

After marriage I tried making rava urundai for a diwali get together and it turned out a disaster, more like 'kesari balls', you know what I mean :).

So making this sweet was really a challenge to me eventhough the recipe sounds so simple.

But it turned out great and I liked it.I omitted raisins and added some almond flakes along with less cashews. you may be wondering about the colour, but I dindt add any colours.

The semolina that I get in the local retail retail store over here is yellow in colour.

I made 12 medium sized urundai/ladoos out of this recipe

Recipe and method as given by Srivalli for ICC

Makes - 10 Laddoos of normal size

Rava / Semolina - 1 cup

Sugar - 1 cup

Ghee - 25 gms

Milk - 25 ml

Cardamom powder - a pinch

Cashew nuts - 10 whole nuts

Raisins - 10 nos

Grated fresh coconut - 25 gms

Method to prepare:

Heat 2 tsp of ghee in a kadai. Once the ghee is hot enough, simmer the flame and roast cashew nuts and raisins. Once the raisins balloon up, remove.

Then roast the grated coconut. Remove once done. Keep all these aside.Add the remaining ghee and roast the Rava till its well roasted and aroma starts coming out.

In a bowl, take all the roasted Rava, Nuts, Coconut and add the Cardamom powder.

Then add the sugar. Mix well.Then slowly add the warm milk into the bowl.

Check if you are able to gather as balls. When you find that milk added is enough to get you laddos, transfer it back to the kadai and cook in sim for 2 mins.

Mix well and then cover it and let it rest for 2 mins. Then immediately make balls or laddoos.

Notes:While roasting the Rava, make sure you have the flames in sim, else there is a chance of the rava getting over roasted.Its enough to add only the required amount of milk to get you form balls.

Depending on the rava and the sugar at times we may not use all the 25 gmsSince we add milk, its best to consume within 5 days of making them.

If you store them in fridge, you can have them for a week.The other version followed isThe rava after being roasted can be powdered using a blender. Add sugar to this and make a powder. Add a little ghee to this mixture and make small balls out of this.

Expecting more such recipes in the upcoming "Indian Cooking Challenge"

Tried and Tasted - Rajasthani Kadhi.

2009-06-28T18:05:00.005-05:00

This months 'Tried and Tasted' is hosted at KitsChow and the blog she has selected is Meena's "Hooked on Heat". I have been following Meena's blog for a long and long time now .Its very hard to come out of her blog one you start browsing through her recipes.The amazing pictures and the simple recipe along with her long stories keep us hooked on. Hers was one of the blogs that inspired me start with my own and I came to know about the concept of food events through her event " From My Rasoi" .

That was my first participation in a food event .

Though I have tried many dishes from her blog, I made this 'Rajathani Kadhi' especially for this event for the second time.The recipe is very simple and yet very different from the traditional South Indian mor kuzhambhu and the North Indian Kadhi.

Changes I made :

I used 2 red chillies for tempering, and since I ran out of coriander seeds I used 1 tsp of coriander powder.

I hope you all try this out and enjoy.

Strawberry Cake and Muffins

2009-06-24T17:09:00.011-05:00

It was raining strawberries at home last week. My toddler just started eating strawberries and he likes it a lot even if its soar.Just the fact that my son has started a liking towards these pinkish beauties made my husband go for loads of them.Yes, he brought home a whole bag of it.

The best part of it is that he didnt know that strawberries doesnt have a longer life even if its refrigerated. So two days later I started browsing for some recipes to use the left over fruit, and came across two wonderful recipes.

The first one was Aparna's Strawberry muffin.

The recipe was so simple I immediatly baked them. As she mentioned in her post I added some sugar to the berries before mixing as mine was very sour.But the muffin tasted really good with no trace of the sourness.

The next one was a Strawberry spring cake from Asha's Foodie's hope.

This recipe was already book marked by me when she posted it last month, waiting for some neglected strawberries, and so baked that wonderful soft cake the next day.

Over all the recipes were so good and welcomed by all , that I baked them twice.

Iam posting the recipes here for keepsake:

Strawberry Muffins:

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar*

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup chopped (not too fine) Strawberries

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup oil

1 egg (or flax seed substitute**)

1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

Put the flours, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl and whisk lightly to mix well.

Add the strawberries to the flour mixture and mix to ensure they are well coated with flour.

In another bowl, lightly beat the egg/ flax seed substitute, vanilla extract, milk and oil together. Add this to the strawberry-flour mixture and gently mix together, in a folding motion, about 4 or 5 times. Do not over stir, or the texture of your muffins will suffer.

The batter will be lumpy and slightly floury.

Grease the muffin tins/ cups and divide the batter equally between them, so that each one is about 2/3rds full.

Bake at 180C for about 25 minutes till the muffins are done and lightly golden brown on top.

Cool for 10 minutes, unmould them and cool completely on a rack. This recipe makes 8 muffins.

Note : I used whole wheat flour completly for this recipe, and somehow my batter become a little thin , but my muffins came out just fine.

Strawberry cake

Ingredients:

1/2 cup ( 1 stick) softened butter,

2 eggs,

1 cup regular white sugar,

1 tsp vanilla essence,

1 3/4 cups plain flour,

1/8 tsp salt,

2 tsp baking powder,

2/3 cup fresh red ripened Strawberries pureed.

Method:

Preheat oven to 350F/190C.

Spray cake pan with no-stick oil or butter well and keep aside.

In a mixer bowl, beat the sugar and butter first until fluffy.

Add in the eggs,mix. Then add in the vanilla.

Sift flour and baking powder, add to the creamed butter mixture and mix again gently on low speed until everything comes together.

Now, stir in the strawberry puree, beat until batter is well mixed and evenly pink.

Pour into the prepared pan, tap on the kitchen counter to top get the bubbles out.

Bake for about 35 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven or until golden and skewer comes out clean form the center.

Take it out of the oven, let it sit for 5mins. Invert gently on the cooling rack.

When cool, sprinkle powdered sugar on top to serve or you can use Vanilla icing.

I served it with whipped cream.It was delicious.

Hence ended my starwberry saga for this season and No more for this year ! :)

Sending these Muffins and Cake to 'The Strawberry Feast' hosted by Happy Cook at 'My Kitchen Treasures'

Baked Salmon Cubes

2009-06-11T03:36:00.003-05:00

I try to make salmon atleast once a week.Usually I whip up a quick curry to go with rice, but this weekend I wanted to have something very spicy for my brinjal and mango sambhar.Since my DH gives a big no to Fish fry, I baked the marinated fish pieces coated with tblsp of olive oil in the Oven .The taste was amazing and I did not miss my Pan fried fish at all. This is a must try recipe for those who love fish.

Ingredients:
2 Salmon Fillets cubbed.
1 tsp chilli power

2 garlic cloves chopped finely
1 tblsp Olive oil
1 tblsp lemon juice
1 tsp fennel seeds/powder (optional)

salt as required
Method:
Mix all the above ingredients and marinate for an hour(atleast a minium of 15 mins)
Preheat the oven at 250C

Place the Fish cubes in a tray lined with slightly greased foil.
Bake for 10 mins, and then turn the pieces and bake for another 10 mins .After this turn the fish pieces again, set the oven in the broiler mode and broil for 5-8 mins or until the colour turns to red.Depending on the oven the timings may vary. Just keep an eye on it so that the fish doesnt get burnt.
Make sure that its not broiled for a longer time as the fish will become dry and rubbery.

Banana Dates and Walnut Muffins

2009-06-05T16:51:00.013-05:00

Banana bread being a regular outcome from my kitchen almost every week, I tried to give it a twist by adding some Dates and Walnuts to it. The taste of walnuts cuts through the sweetness of the dates in this recipe.I made this with whole wheat flour ( ground with husk ) which gave these muffins completly different taste and the texture was great too.

Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat flour
2-3 rippened bananas

10 - 15 dates, seeded and chopped

1/2 cup of melted butter or 1/3 cup oil

3/4 cup sugar (I used brown sugar)

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup milk

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

1 tsp vanilla essesnce

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C

Sieve the flour and the baking powder mix thrice.

Mash the banana's and keep aside.

Using an elctric beater or by hand beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, to this add the milk (little by little), vanilla essence and beat well.

At this stage add the flour mixtue 1 spoon at a time and stir well to combine.(do not beat)

Fill in the muffin cup and bake for 20 - 25 minutes or till knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Fold in the mashed bananas, chopped walnuts and dates.

Note: Fill in the empty muffin cups with little water so that it prevents the top of the muffins from drying out .

Sending this as an entry to the 'Sugar High Friday (SHF)' event which was started by Jennifer of 'Domestic Goddess' hosted by Mansi of the Funs and the food blog.
The theme for this months theme is 'Fruits and Nuts'

Found yet another blog doing Plagiarism.

2009-06-05T09:23:00.003-05:00

After reading Rekha's post about her pictures being hosted elsewhere, I did a search on one my most favourite picture 'Semiya Kesari' which gets the most hits in my blog.Guess what ! it ended up in the following blog.

http://dhivyaaskitchen.blogspot.com/2009/01/semiya-kesari.html

This is too much.How dare she. Even the recipe is the same.

here is my old link which was posted in 2006.

http://sumiskitchen.blogspot.com/2006/07/semiya-kesari.html

I thought it would never happen to me..but I understood that no one can escape from these awful things.My surprise is that this is a well known blog watched and commented by all us food bloggers.She has a comment section and I have commented there now.

Please check out if there are any of your pictures over here.

Now I have become a maniac doing google searches on all my pictures to see if there any other hypocrite over there.

Does any of you know the html code for blocking image copying...please let me know.Thats the only option I can think of right now to protect my already posted pictures.

Pudina Thogaiyal / Mint Chutney

2009-06-01T17:16:00.007-05:00

This is one of my all time favorite from my mothers chutney list. Though I have tried many a number of times to make this, the taste is nowhere close to what she makes. She used to make this and bottle it for my father who travels often.The surprising part is that even though the recipe calls for a piece of coconut, the chutney will not go bad for about 8 hours (without refrigeration) which makes it an excellent partner for Idlies during day time travel. But the secret involved here is never use your hand whatsoever at any stage of preparation.

Since this months Jhiva an event started by Indira of Mahanadi is for 'Mint' what better than this delicious Mint chutney.

This months Jhiva is hosted by Ashwini of 'Spicy Cuisine'

Ingredients:

1 bunch of mint.

1/2 bunch of coriander leaves.

1/2 cup of urad dhal.

3- 4 green chillies.

1 small ball(marble size) of tamarind or 1 tsp of paste.

1 inch piece if ginger.

2 strips of coconut / 5 tblsp of shredded coconut.

Method.

Heat up a pan and fry the urad dhal.(do not add oil).

Once the dhal turns brown, add the chillies, ginger and tamarind and fry for few seconds( If using tamarind paste do not add at this stage).

Switch of the stove and add the mint and coriander leaves to the pan and give it a stir till the leaves shrinks.

Allow it to cool and grind it coarsely along with coconut by adding little water .

Tempering:

Normally for all chutneys , the tempering is added to the chutney.But in this case its the reverse.

In a pan do the tempering with mustard and urad dhal, and add the chutney to it.

Switch off the stove once the chutney starts giving out bubbles and ready to boil.

Serve it with Idlis, dosas, adai or puri's

Carrot egg poriyal and some muffins too

2009-05-27T16:32:00.007-05:00

I wanted to post this recipe for a long time but didnt get to it.

Its an interesting recipe from one of my friend back in seattle who got it from his Mom. It tastes so good and liked by all of us that no wonder it used to be a standard dish in his bachelor cooking every now and then and morever this was the only dish that included some vegetables other than sambhar. After moving out of seattle whenever I make this carrot and egg porial I remember those days when we used to cook together and have endless chats and share lots of funny stories.I miss seattle and many friends over there.

Ingredients:

2- 3 large carrots

2 green chillies.

1 medium onion chopped

mustard, uraddhal, curry leaves (optional)for tempering

2 eggs.

Method.

In a wide pan, add 2 tblsp of oil.

Add the tempering ingredients when the oil is hot.

To this add the chopped onion and chillies and sate till the onion becomes translucent.

Now add the grated carrots , salt and stir well.Sprinkle some water, reduce the flame to medium and allow the carrots to cook well.

After 10 mins open the lid and check if the carrots has cooked well and all the water is absorbed.Now move all the carrots to one side of the pan.

Add 2 tsp of oil on the other side and crack the eggs in it.

Allow the eggs to set for some time and then scramble them well.

After its partially ooked mix with the carrots and stir well for few minutes.

Alternately we can also scramble the eggs seperatly and add to the carrots.

This dish goes to the the "FIL - Carrots" event hosted by Sanghi of Tasty Bites.

Iam also sending some carrot muffins that baked over the weekend to the same event.The recipe of the carrot muffins is here in my previous post.

Veggie Lasagna

2009-05-17T18:00:00.009-05:00

Veggie Lasagna
I love Italian food, especially pasta of any kind. I used to think Lasagna as this one great Italian dish which is very complicated to make . One day I came across a program by
Giade De Laurentiies in the FoodNetwork about Individual vegetable Lasagna which made me completely change my opinion about this particular recipe. I like her way of presentation, she usually narrates the process slowly and in such a way that you feel like trying it immediately , if you have all the ingredients with you. That weekend I got some lasagna pasta and all other Ingredients needed.However I tailored the recipe to suit my convenience..hey that's how new recipes are born right.
There are a few things that I changed from the original recipe

Firstly The Original recipe calls for home made sauce, but I did'nt have the patience to make the whole pasta sauce my self, So I took the store's help and bought some Prego pasta sauce.
Secondly I changed white beans to our favorite Rajma/kidney beans.
And the main change is I made the Lasagna in a whole casserole, rather than individual ..Other than that the procedure is the same.
Since this dish contains more vegetables , spinach, and beans its very wholesome and filling meal in itself. Here is the recipe. Hope you enjoy this ...

Ingredients

1/2 bottle of Pasta sauce
8 strips Lasagna Pasta
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped zucchini
1 cup sliced Onions
1 cup chopped and cooked spinach
1 cup rajma soaked for 6 hrs and cooked /1 can kidney beans
1 cup shredded mozarrella cheese
1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Method:
Preheat the Oven to 375F
Stir fry chopped onions, carrots and zucchini and keep aside

Stir fri one cup spinach unil cooked and keep aside
Cook Rajma in a pressure cooker and keep aside
Cook the pasta in a deep vessel as per the cooking instructions on the packet
Now Take a casserole dish and spread 3 tsp of pasta sauce at the bottom.
Place the Lasagna pasta in single layer.If the pasta is too lengthy for your casserole dish, you can cut according to the size of your dish.
Over this layer spread the stir fried vegetables.spread 3tsp of saue over the spread.

Now again place a layer of pasta sheets.

Over this layer spread the spinach and rajma beans.Spread 3 tsp of the sauce over this.

Now place the final layer of pasta over the rajma and spinach spread.

Spread the sauce liberally over the pasta at this stage

Sprinkle the cheeses well over the Sauce.

Place the Casserole in the Oven and bake for 20 mins or until the cheeses melt and turns a little bit golden.

I had posted this recipe way back in 2006, Iam reposting it as I thought this would be an apt entry for" My Favourite things :Cheese" event hosted by Poornima at "Tasty Treats" originated at "InloveWithFood" by Bindhya.

This also goes to "FIC : My Favourite Event" hosted at "TastyCurryLeaf" for my favorite color Red.This event originated at SunshineMom

Tried and Tasted - Pears Walnut Upside Down Cake

2009-05-11T08:24:00.010-05:00

Past weekend I was searching for a simple cake recipe, as I had invited some friends for dinner.Came across Sunita's post on "Pears Walnut Upside Down cake" .The pictures tempted me to give it a try, and morever I had all the ingredients in hand.Then what else do I need, I whipped it up in less tha 15 mins and baked for half an hour.

The result was an absoluetly delicious cake.We had it with Ice cream. Even my 18 months old toddler seemed to like it very much.

The recipe remained the same, but I added a tsp of cinnamon along with fruits and sugar, and baked it in a slighly larger pan than hers.So I got a thinner and a dark colored version of the cake. Here are the pictures.

Pineapple Upside Down Cake

2009-05-06T07:53:00.008-05:00

Since I have started blogging after a long break, its quite difficult to catch up on the food events and the hustle bustle of the food blogosphere.But its very interesting to find lots of new event chains, and many new food blogs.
Checking on some of the old and favorite events first, I came across the good old Monthly Mingle event hosted by Meeta of "Whats for Lunch honey". The Theme for this months event promptly reminded me of my "Pineapple Upside Down Cake' which I made last spring, and somehow didnt get to post it.

So now is the right time for that.... here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
6 slices pineapple or 1 can (20 ounces) can of drained pineapple chunks

Cake
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
Method:
Melt little butter in the cake pan; sprinkle with brown sugar. Arrange pineapple pieces on sugar, making a design.
Cream 1/2 cup butter; gradually add 1/2 cup sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat well. Add sifted dry ingredients alternately with the milk; beat until smooth, ending with dry ingredients. Pour over arranged pineapple pieces.
Bake at 180°C for about 35 minutes.

Let cake cool for about 5 minutes before turning out onto a serving plate.
Serve warm with whipped cream, if desired.

Some Tulips from Keukenhoff - Amsterdam

2009-05-04T17:10:00.023-05:00

Last weekend we made a trip to Amsterdam - The Tulip Garden of the World.It was a feast for the eyes. The garden was very beautiful and neatly arranged. I could not stop taking pictures of the flowers.

We missed the fields by a week as they were cultivated a bit early this year it seems, but we thoroughly enjoyed the huge garden.
Here are some of them for you to enjoy.

Tried and Tasted - Black/Brown Channa Masala

2009-05-01T17:39:00.007-05:00

Iam very excited to start blogging again after a very long break. My 18 months old toddler is keeping me very busy these days that I rarely find time for blogging.But Sometimes I try to squeeze out some 'Me' time to do some browsing even if it costs me an hour of sleep or so.

Though I was not blogging, I have been cooking and baking some new and interesting recipes the pictures of which are piling up in my drafts.

But Today I made this excellent dish from Asha's post using Black channa , I wanted to post it immediately.Till Today I did not know that black/brown channa could taste this good in the channa masala recipe.As it was a long weekend here in Belgium we enjoyed a hearty brunch with this delicious channa masala and Chappati.

I used the same recipe as Asha's except that I grinded some handful of channa and added to the gravy for thickness instead of besan. I also used whole garam masala (1 inch cinnomon, 3 cloves , 1 tsp jeera) for tempering instead of garam masala powder.

Recipe :

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup dry brown Chana,

1/4 Tsp turmeric,

salt,

Paste:

2 onion, chopped and sauteed in a tbsp oil, grind it with 3 garlic, 1 1/2" chopped ginger.

Liquid:1/2 cup Tomato sauce, (canned is fine too).

I blanched 2 large tomatoes , peeled and made a paste.

Spices:1 tbsp Coriander seeds powder, 1 tsp Cumin powder, 1 tsp Garam masla, 1/2 tsp or more chilli pd,1/2 tsp Dry Mango pd or Pomegranate seeds powder, (you can replace both of these tangy powders with 1 tbsp Lemon juice, add it at the end of cooking),1 tsp store bought Chana masala powder if you have it, always optional).
Garnish:Cilantro, 1 tbsp butter, fresh onion cut into rings, few Tomato slices to serve.

Method:
Soak 1 1/2 cups of dry brown Chana in water overnight and drain the water the next day.

Add 3 cups of fresh water to it along with 1/4 tsp turmeric and pressure cook until soft but not fully mashed.

Add 1 tsp salt, keep aside. Save about a cup of water out in a separate bowl.

In a pan, add a tbsp oil, saute 2 onion chopped until slightly golden.

Add this to a blender along with 3 garlic, 1 1/2" fresh chopped ginger until smooth thickish paste with little water but not too much.

Heat 2 tbsp oil, add ground onion paste and fry for 2 mins.

Add Tomato sauce/pate stir fry for 5 mins until thick and leaves the sides of the pan.

Grind a handful of cooked channa for thickening the sauce.

Now, add all the spice powders, salt and cooked Chana and the channa paste with it's water.
Simmer for 10 mins until sauce is thick, adjust the spices and add reserved chana water if needed to thin the sauce. Add 1/2 tbsp of butter, cilantro and mix well.5.

Serve garnished with cilantro, onion rings, tomato pieces .