Monday 22 July 2013

Butterfly choco cupcakes - Celebration time

    One evening my hubby told me the news of his promotion... he was double-promoted to Chief manager!  I was sooo happy and though I assumed myself on an casual form, I decided to make something special for him the other day.  My hubby likes to have all sorts of desserts, he is an cupcake-aholic guy.  I still remember the day i made five to six muffins and he ate all of it (without even giving to varsha!!)



The next moment, all I could think was chocolate, of course celebration means chocolate!!!  And in one such book, I have already mentioned as '100 Best delecious chocolate' I read about this cupcake.  Though this cup-cake required icing to be made, I went ahead and made them.  Fortunately, shame luved these cupcakes, he called them most delecious ones, he ever had!!

Saturday 20 July 2013

Kollu dosai/ Horsegram flavoured dosa

    This is my second post with respect to kollu/Horsegram.  The very idea was given by my aunty when I asked her how to incorporate horsegram in our regular cooking.  The basic principle is replacing half the quantity of rice used with horsegram, for example if you are using four cups of rice, two cups of rice can be replaced by horsegram.  Similarly, kollu idly can also be prepared.



The difference between regular dosa batter and kollu dosa is that kollu dosa batter gets fermented quickly than former one. So preparing them on small batches are advisable.

Ingredients required

  • 1 cup raw rice
  • 1 cup idly rice
  • 2 cup kollu/horsegram 
  • Handful of chana dal
  • 1/2 cup of urad dal
  • 2 tsp of methi seeds/venthayam
  • Salt, as required
Soak the abovesaid ingredients in water for about three to four hours.  Grind them into fine paste and leave to ferment for six hours, till bubbles are seen on top and little rising of batter is observed. 
Mix in salt, and pour an ladle over pre-heated tawa, drizzling in oil over the sides.  Serve hot with side-dish of your choice. 








Low-fat/Low-calorie kofta curry

   This week I brought green plantains/vazhakkai from super-market.  Bored of making fry or usual poriyal, I tried out this kofta curry.  The result was fabulous.  To top that, the normally added cream is replaced by beaten curd and provides much healthier version from shahi kofta curry.
Let us follow the recipe now.



Ingredients required

To make kofta
  • 1/2 cup steamed and grated vazhakkai
  • 1/2 cup paneer, crumbled
  • 1/4 cup of steamed and grated carrot
  • 1/4 cup of finely chopped capsicum
  • 1 Bread slice, slightly crumbled
  • 2 tbspn of finely chopped spring onions green part
  • 1/2 tsp ginger powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp cumin powder
  • 1/2 tsp garam masala
  • 1/2 tsp peppercorn powder

Coconut macaroon - Thengai biscuit

    I still can't forget the melting  childhood moments when one can bite into coconut biscuits (obtained from local grocery store)  The crispy pale brownish top with delecious coconut filling is, of course an delight for all those having an sweet tooth.  After all such good memories, someday before I chanced to look upon the recipe from morphy richards cookbook.  I could make out them only  through their pic, since the recipe was differently termed 'Coconut macaroons'





    The following day I made them on small batches and relished.  Though these cookies/macaroons didn't expand as much as the size of  shop-brought one ,  tastewise they comepensated the traditional form.  Also, I browned the top by spending little much temperature than usual.  In our blogging world, they can also be seen by choco-glaze over top, but I preferred them without the glaze.  I stored them in air-tight container and consumed over two weeks.

Thursday 18 July 2013

Mutton chops fry

    Chops are referred to as perpendicular cut region from lamb/pork and contain a portion of rib and spine.  This would look like an triangular piece of meat supported by bones from two sides.  Mutton chops have increasingly found as an great option, replacing regular mutton masala.  Here I have used an set of home-pound masalas and made gravy.



Ingredients required

To dry roast and made into  masala
  • 3-4 whole dry red chilly
  • 1 tbspn whole dhanya
  • 1-2 bayleaf
  • 1/2 tsp mace
  • 1 Marathi moggu
  • 1-inch cinnamon stick
  • 2-3 clove
  • 1 Black cardamon
  • 2-3 green cardamon
  • 1 tsp kalpasi/dagad phool
  • 1/2 tsp whole peppercorn
  • 1 tsp whole Jeera/cumin seeds
  • 1/2 tsp haldi/turmeric powder
  • 4-5 garlic pods
  • 1-inch ginger piece

Monday 15 July 2013

Lemon glow chiffon cake

   This cake is an part of Baking partner's anniversery challenge! Quite a surprise that  this community has reached almost an year with marvellous output every month they come up with.  Warm anniversery wishes and a great hug for all members!!

 

Though chiffon cake was quite satisfying with its easy-peasy ingredients, making them was of course a complex process!!  I did go through a lot of tuitoricals as suggested by Saraswathi of Sara's kitchen.  And yes thanks to her for such an helping hand.  Click here, here and here for more info.  Chiffon cake is an  light airy cake resembling like sponge cake usually had on bakery.  The only difference is that here egg whites are beaten into stiff peaks and folded into the batter while for the latter entire egg is added.  Also unlike regular cake which is made of butter, this cake is made of oil which retains their soft texture even after they are refrigerated.



Sunday 14 July 2013

Nankhatai / Ghee Cookies

   Nankhatai is a popular tea-time snack found in Indian Bakeries.  Flour, sugar and ghee are its key ingredients, here I am making cardamom/Elaichi flavored nankhatai. Recipe adapted from Nita Mehta's book. 





Ingredients required

  • 125 gm or 11/4 cup of flour
  • 1/2 cup of powdered sugar
  • 1/2 cup of Ghee
  • Pinch of baking powder
  • 1 tsp curd - beaten till smooth
  • Pinch of salt
  • Cardamon powder - 1 tbsp

Kollu rasam


   One of my aunty at chennai used to prepare this kollu rasam, in fact she used to prepare or inculcate a lot of herbal spices in her daily routine cooking which I admire.  That is why I couldn't resist myself buying horse gram when found in a super-market shelf (though it was an kilo pack!)  I asked her for the recipe, and prepared it my way.  The rasam came out super-delecious and I could still smell the flavours of it.  



Kollu/Horse gram was generally regarded as an cattle feed, but here in South India kollu has found extensive culinery use.  Kollu rasam, chutney, idly/dosa, poriyal are common form of its existence.  This horse gram is proven beneficial in numerous ways.  Since they form a major source of fibre, they can also aid in weight-reducing.  They are also found as an preventive for winter chill , as they have tendency to heat up the body.  Researchers have also found that unprocessed horse gram seed coats produce excellant antioxidants for diabetic patients.  So, why wait guys?  Do grab your pack in nearby markets.....

Schezwan fried rice

     Who doesn't like to have a fried rice?  Especially when it turns out to be an week-end and you dine out?  This would always be my first preference along with manchurian gravy.  Back at home, my mother used to prepare an excellant chicken fried rice in weekends and we used to relish it with utmost temptation!  Now, here once I tried, the outcome was not worthy :(  But I didn't give up, tried a couple of times till I got it perfectly  done.  Today I tried it with schezwan sauce and guess what?  hubby calls from his office (which he NEVER does) to inform that lunch was good!  :)  



Schezwan sauce is an hot fiery sauce originating from schezwan pepper, they are also termed as indo-chinese sauce because of the equal amount of Indian spices addition.  The sauce is very aromatic too and here I used Chings schezwan sauce easily available in grocery stores.  One might also prepare these at home.  So let us move to recipe.

Wednesday 10 July 2013

Hot & Sour Corn balls

   Not long before, I watched hot and sour mutton balls cooked on a TV show.  I wanted to make them too!  Using mutton at my home is like once in a month, so I just skipped the idea of making them with mutton, instead came up with this vegetarian idea.


This dish came out very delecious and went great with roti/dosa/all sorts of bread, do try and let me know.

Thursday 4 July 2013

Capsicum and babycorn pizza

   Saturday evenings are too lazier and I demand for any sort of snack.  This idea of making pizza struck me when I saw an ready-made pizza base in a shop.  I also bought pizza cheese and happily walked home.   If you want to know recipe for home-made base, kindly click here




The pizza came out soo good and it got finished within minutes, so let us move off to ingredients. 


Ingredients required

  • 2 cups wheat flour
  • 1 tsp of crushed dry herbs
  • 1 tsp of salt
  • 1 tbspn of dry yeast
  • Pizza base - 5 tbspn
  • Grated cheese - 1/2 cup
  • Baby corn and capsicum slices - 1 cup

Nutty drizzles

    Not long before, I just had an quick time-passing walk inside an supermarket.  This book  ' 100 best delecious chocolate' really got my attention.  When I went through it, it had an awesome collections of desserts, cookies, milk-shakes, cake, pie, fudge, cupcakes  all with chocolates as its main ingredients.  One instant I felt that this entire book was designed FOR ME :) :) With stunning photographies and unique recipes, I had an firm grip on this book and purchased it too!!  (though it was tottally out of my budget!)




After I read the content of the book, my heart wished to try all 100's. Everything was lukng soo great and to add woos, i have been becoming bake-aholic these days!!  Thanks for Baking parnters community to help me develop these skills and special mention to hubby who eats whatver end product just meant to be :) :) But still I went with cookies option because they are the  most safest terms  in baking.  Just knead them as ur usual roti dough with an buttery touch and bake them.... ta da..... no egg separation !!  no whisking of egg whites!! and other complex forms.  But this nutty drizzle was soo unique that it needed lots of other nuts, wheatbran, sultanas, plain chocolates etc.  So, with a little twist to the ingredients mentioned I carried on with the preparation.


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