Praline Vanilla Sponge Gateau

Its tough really,to decide if you are addicted to something or not!!.While at it,I thought it would be impossible for me to live without blogging,blog-hopping and the latest craze-Farmville on Fb.When I took a short break[I was at my mom’s place in Kerala]the internet connection was quite slow and it took ages for me to even log in,ok not exactly.I thought I’d die of a no-internet life,but strange,after the first day,I kept myself distanced from it and in a few days,totally forgot about it!!I am surprised myself..:)

I am back in Chennai now,though totally not loving it-after 2 weeks of pampered life.Hmm..:).As usual,got a few stuff from there which I am totally excited about.Got two baking books,one a Betty Crocker’s book-Baking for Today at a throwaway price..I am still not done looking at the pics..:),and another,30 Classic Cakes.Got a few baking tins,a Xmas tree shaped one,another one which almost looks like a Bundt tin and a Brownie pan.

Got to start baking in a few days..:).

Made this cake a while back,about 2 months back for a friend’s wedding anniversary.Ria has got some amazing baking recipes up her sleeve and this has become our favourite.This should be one of the instant-est cakes I’ve ever made.Got a party invite at 4 in the evening and by 6,I was ready with the cake..:).Good I say..:).Though the pictures don’t do justice,it was a delicious cake with a classic touch to it.

Praline Vanilla Sponge Gateau
Recipe adapted verbatim from Ria

For the sponge

Flour-100g
Sugar-100g
Eggs-3
Vanilla- 1 tsp

Method

Beat eggs and sugar till thick and creamy and falls in thick ribbons when poured from a height (approx. 8-10 mins).
Then add in flour ,vanilla and beat till it forms a real thick batter which is almost mousse like(approx.4-5 mins) [I know that for a sponge we should be very careful not to let the air escape and we need to fold in the flour little by little. BUT for this cake this method works like a charm! :) ]
Pour into a prepared round tin and bake in an empty pressure cooker sans the weight for 5 mins on high flame and then reduce the flame to medium high and bake for 20 mins. [You must put in a steel ring/holder and then place the cake tin on it.]
Open the lid and do a skewer test to see if the cake is done.
Take the tin out of the cooker and let it cool in tin for 10 mins.
Remove the cake from the tin and let it cool completely on a wire rack.

You can bake the same in an oven at 180 degrees for 25-30 mins or till done.I baked it in the oven.

Basic Butter Icing

Unsalted butter, softened-75 g
Icing sugar-140 g
Milk-1-2 tbsp ( optional)

Mix butter and powdered sugar to a smooth paste like consistency.
Add milk if you need to make it a bit more loose.
If you like your icing to be thick , double the recipe.

Praline

Butter-1 tbsp
Cashewnuts-2 tbsp
Sugar-3 tbsp

Caramelise sugar on a medium flame till golden brown.
Add nuts & butter to it and mix well.
Pour onto a butter/tissue/parchment paper and let it cool completely.
Crush/powder them into tiny bits.

Assembling the cake

Cut the cake horizontally into 2 or 3 [I cut it into 2].Me too.
Sandwich each layer with 3-4 tbsp of butter icing.
Sprinkle some praline in between the layers (optional)
Spread the remaining icing on top and sides.
Sprinkle the crushed praline on top and on sides.
Cut into wedges and serve.

Haldi Doodh/Turmeric Milk ~ Medicinal Food

Diwali fever is slowly dying down,literally.As someone said,Cold&fever has become a given after Diwali crackers these days.One of us somehow manage to catch the virus.This year,it was Ajay.Bad cold,high temperature and heavy chest congestion.Hah..a sad aftermath of the festival of lights and crackers.Though the debate is still on whether or not to completely avoid crackers,I don’t think we can associate this festival without crackers,diyas and sweets.Until next year..:)

Along with the usual medicines,Haldi doodh/Turmeric milk gets made when we have throat related illnesses.I don’t know how this humble milk became almost medicinal but it does wonders to the sore throat.A warm cup of haldi doodh and a sound sleep,you are fresh the next morning!!

Disclaimer – This is not a medicine and cannot be had as a sole cure for cold or throat infection.

Haldi Doodh/Turmeric Milk ~ Medicinal food

Ingredients

Milk – 1 cup
Raw sugar/Palm sugar/Sugar candy – 1 tbsp
Peppercorns – 2-3,crushed
Cardamom – 1,seeds crushed
Haldi/Turmeric – ½ tsp

Method

Mix everything together and boil for 2 minutes on low flame.
Close with a lid and keep aside for 5 minutes or so.
Strain and have it warm.

Rulaava Bhakri/Doddak ~ Rava Dosa,Konkani style!

Its been a while since I last updated any breakfast dishes here.Though I am not the one who comes up with varieties of breakfast dishes day after day unlike my amma and ma-in-law,I do whip up some instant dishes.Of late,we’ve been trying to incorporate diet dishes into our menu and I’ve almost said bye-bye to rice based breakfast dishes for a while.So no idli-dosa,puttu-idiyappam etc etc.We have Wheat flakes and Oats Porridge on alternate days and I make Rava upma or semiya upma on some days.

During one such boring breakfast making days,I remembered this yummy dosa that ma-in-law makes.Though it cant be technically called dosa,I prefer to call it thick rava dosa.It is called Rulava bhakri/doddak otherwise.There are many different ways you could go about making these,I followed ma-in-law’s recipe verbatim.

Rulaava Bhakri/Doddak ~ Thick Rava dosa

Ingredients

Rava – 1 cup
Atta/wheat flour – ¼ cup
Grated coconut – 3-4 tbsp
Green chilly – 2
Ginger – finely chopped,1’ piece
Coriander seeds – 1 tsp
Curd/buttermilk – ½ cup
Water as required
Coriander leaves – ½ a bunch,finely chopped
Sugar – 2 tbsp
Salt to taste

Method

Grind together green chillies,ginger,coriander seeds and coconut to a coarse paste.
Mix together curd and a few tbsp water[if using buttermilk,keep it as is].
Add the coarse paste to the buttermilk and mix well.
Add sugar and salt to taste and finely chopped coriander leaves.
Mix the rava slowly and make a thickish batter.
Add more water if required,but the batter should be of thick consistency.
Now add the atta and mix well.
In a dosa pan,smear some oil and pour a ladleful of batter and spread thinly.
Add some oil/ghee and flip over.
When it becomes brownish on both sides,remove and serve.
Ideally,bhakri is served with dollops of butter,but it can be had plain too.

Phenori ~ Diwali Mithai ~ Happy Diwali!!

Wishing all of you a very Happy and Prosperous Diwali!!

I am late by a day in posting this sweet,life has been busy busy.Cooking and cleaning up has taken a major chunk of my time.This is our first Diwali in Chennai,every time somehow we manage to be in either of our respective homes,but this one we are celebrating in "our" home:).That does sound nice and cozy but the amount of work I am doing alone is not a joke:).

In between deafening sounds of 1000' walas and Lakshmi bombs,I made these Phenoris for the first time.I had this sweet some 5-6 years ago when ma-in-law made it.Had a vague idea and I just went with the flow.Followed the recipe from my Konkani Cooking bible-Dakshin Bharat dishes by Jaya.V.Shenoy.

Phenori

Ingredients

Maida – 1 cup(heaped)
Butter – ½ cup I substituted it with 2-3 tbsp melted ghee
A pinch salt
Sugar – ¾ cup
Ghee/oil for frying

Method

Sift together maida and salt.
Add butter/ghee and water as required and knead into a stiff dough(like that for puri).Keep aside for 30 minutes.
Pinch dough into small balls and roll into thin puris.
Take 5-6 puris,smear some ghee on one puri,sprinkle ½ tsp of maida and keep another puri,not fully overlapping on top of it.
Continue with the rest of the puris.
Roll the puris into a tight roll.
Cut the roll crosswise into slices ½ ‘ thick.
Place cut surface of slice up and roll into phenori[do not apply pressure while rolling,the layers should be visible even after rolling].
Deep fry the phenoris in ghee/oil on a low flame till golden brown.

Prepare sugar syrup by adding same amount of water to sugar and heat till it reaches one string stage.
Remove from flame,coat the phenoris in sugar syrup one by one by dipping in the syrup.
Take the syrup dipped phenoris out and place on a thali smeared with ghee.
Let the syrup set and then store in an airtight container.
Share with your loved ones!!

Happy Diwali!!

Gajar ka Halwa ~ Diwali Mithai!!

A cliché scene from 80’s Hindi movies.Son[40+ at that] comes home from either abroad or after studies and the mother prepares the quintessential Gajar ka halwa to welcome the son home.Movies after movies,the same scene repeats but the GkH never goes out of fashion!!

Last year I made this instant halwa courtesy my aunt Taramoushy.I got mixed reactions for it.Though some felt the instant method was very convenient compared to hours and hours of stirring and mixing,some felt that it was worth the effort to have “that” taste for the halwa.Honestly,I can give “that” taste a miss;).By the end of grating mounds of carrot,I am tired as hell and even the thought of stirring the big batch till it cooks gives me the creeps.

I came across this super simple recipe for GkH in Tarla Dalal’s cookbook.It requires only a teeny bit of ghee and a teenier bit of sugar.Since the word d-i-e-t is always there at the back of mind,I though of trying this one out as a diet halwa,almost.

Gajar ka Halwa
Recipe source – Tarla Dalal’s Microwave Cookbook

Ingredients

Carrots,grated – 2 cups
Milk powder – ¼ cup
Sugar – 5 tbsps
Cardamom powder – ½ tsp
Melted ghee – 1 tbsp

Sliced nuts & Saffron strands for garnish

Method

In a microwave safe bowl,combine ghee and grated carrots.
Microwave covered on HIGH for 4 minutes.
Add the milk powder,sugar,cardamom powderand mix well.
Microwave covered on HIGH for 2 minutes.
Garnish with sliced nuts,saffron strands.
Indulge and share with your ♥loved♥ ones.

Gajar ka Halwa goes to Priya's event Diwali 2009.

Happy Diwali!!

Pedha,not one but two ~ Diwali Mithai!!

A week before Diwali one thing which always made its presence was gift boxes.One too many sweet boxes that by Diwali,the last thing we’d want to have is sweets:).Though majority of them would be assorted sweets,according to me there were three main sweets-stars rather,of Diwali and those were Motichoor laddoos,Doodh Pedhas and Rasgullas.At home,none of us liked pedhas and each and every time,the boxes of pedhas would make their way into our schools for distributing among friends along with other sweets.My friends thought we were crazy..:)

One main reason we disliked pedhas was because they were sweet-cloyingly sweet.Then why a post of pedha you may think,that too two types.Well,I do cook exclusively for the blog sometimes:).

I am totally hooked to Hetal & Anuja’s Show me the Curry.Saw this simple recipe for Instant Pedhas and thought of trying it out after all.Having all the ingredients in my kitchen was a bonus.I halved the recipe and got a dozen pedhas.For some unknown reason,the pedhas have come out sort of crumbly.I struggled to shape them.Me and Ajay shared a piece and have to admit that they taste awesome.I tried out Wheat Pedhas from Home Spices too for an almost guilt-free indulgence.

Instant Doodh Pedhas
Recipe adapted from Show me the Curry

Ingredients

Instant Dry Milk (Milk Powder) – 2 cups (150gm)

Sweetened Condensed Milk - 1, 14oz can (396gm)

Unsalted Butter – 1, 4oz stick (113gm)

Method

In a microwave safe dish, melt the butter.
Add in the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
Cook in the microwave for 3 minutes, stirring very well after every minute.
After the 3 minutes, mix well again and leave aside for the mixture to cool down enough to handle.
Once the mixture has cooled down, grease your hands and make balls.
Gently press the balls and flatten them to shape…round and flat.
Decorate them with colored sugar, almonds, cashews, pistachios or raisins.
Let the pedas set and cool down.
For a pretty presentation, place them in baking cups and serve.

Tips
Powder some cardamom seeds and add to the mixture for additional flavor.
Roll out the peda mixture and cut with cookie cutter for some fun shapes.
For best results, store in the refrigerator but serve at room temperature.

Wheat Pedha
Recipe adapted from Home Spices
[Makes approximately 30 pedhas]

Ingredients

Wheat flour/Atta – 1 ½ cups
Sugar – 1 cup
Milk – ½ cup
Ghee – 3-4 tbsp
Cardamom powder – ½ tsp

Method

In a thick bottomed kadai add ghee and roast the flour for 3-4 minutes on low flame or until it starts smelling good.
Add the sugar and mix well.
Now add the milk and continue stirring till it becomes one single mass and starts to leave the sides of the kadai.
Add the cardamom powder and switch off the flame.
Grease a thali/plate with ghee and pour this mix into it and let it cool.
When it is cool enough to handle,make small balls of it and flatten it a bit.Roll them in powdered sugar and store in airtight containers.
Or better still indulge and share it with your ♥loved♥ ones.

Happy Diwali!!

Coconut Laddoo ~ Diwali Mithai!!

I am back..yes,I’ve been gone too long if you ask me.Things have kept me busy and I have not been able to update the blog as often as I would have loved to and I am struggling to keep up with the goodie goodie posts that my blogger friends have posted.I hope to catch up soon.

Diwali is here once again and I am so looking forward to all the wonderful dishes that are going to make their presence felt in our lives as well as our waistlines:).But who cares..I am going to forget all about calories and cholesterol and such forgetful stuff[now who wants to remind me about my diet there..I promise I’ll give you one extra laddoo:)]

Is it evident or is it only me?I am struggling to fill up this post.I guess that’s what happens when you are away from the blog for so long.Ahh..so without any further delay,let me present you my first Diwali mithai..Coconut laddoo.One of the easiest laddoos I have ever made.Only two ingredients and it takes you less than 15 minutes from start to finish.So what are you waiting for..??

Coconut Laddoo

Ingredients [Makes 30-32 laddoos]

Condensed milk[Milkmaid] – 1 tin
Grated coconut – 4 cups

Method

Keep aside about 50 gms of coconut aside.
In a thick bottomed kadai,add the rest of the coconut and the milkmaid and mix well.
Cook on low flame for about 5 minutes.
When the mixture starts leaving the sides of the kadai,switch off the flame and transfer the mix to another bowl and let it cool.
Grease your palms with butter and make small laddoos.
Roll them in coconut and arrange them on a butter paper.
Indulge and share the mithai with your ♥loved♥ ones too!!


Coconut Laddoo goes to Purva's event Indian Festive Food-Diwali Dhamaka

Happy Diwali!!

Vegetable Cutlet ~ The perfect snack!!

Ever since I saw Ria’s post about Chicken Cutlets,I’ve been wanting to make the vegetarian version of it.I’ve never tried making a cutlet before so I was looking for a good,do-able recipe.My friends’ mom made great cutlets,both veg and non-veg.According to Ajay,her Beef cutlets are ‘to-die-for’;).I wasn’t sure how it would taste if I substituted the meat for mashed up veggies.

Recently,while we were in Bangalore,I asked ma-in-law to give me a simple recipe for a cutlet since Ajay so vividly remembers eating up a couple of these as his evening snack during his school days.She smiled and said I was unnecessarily complicating the recipe.It,in fact is a very simple recipe which according to her even a 10 year old can whip up.Now that is a challenge for me,isn’t it?

Though I planned to make it at the next given opportunity,I made it only yesterday.Ajay was doing some work and I wasn’t feeling so sleepy and hence was watching the Sunday movie on a Malayalam channel.I wished someone would make me a piping hot snack with a strong tea to wash it down with.But alas..no such luck.I had to make it myself..:).It tasted simply superb..crispy outside and soft inside..just too good.Ajay had 6 of them..no kidding!!

Vegetable Cutlets

Ingredients

Potatoes – 3,medium
Carrots – 2
Beetroot – 1,medium

Oil – 1 tbsp
Onions – 2,finely chopped
Ginger-garlic paste – 1 tbsp
Red chilly powder – 1 tsp
Garam masala powder – 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

Maida – 2 tbsp
Bread slices – 10-12
Oil for deep frying

Method

In a pressure cooker,add all the vegetables and cook for 10-15 minutes or till the vegetables cook completely.
Peel the vegetables and mash it well,keep it aside.
In a kadai,add the oil and sauté onions till they turn light brown.
Add the ginger-garlic paste,chilly powder and garam masala and sauté for 2-3 minutes on low flame.
Add the mashed vegetables,salt to taste and mix well.
Keep the flame on low and sauté till the mixture becomes dry.
Transfer to another bowl and let it cool.

Add ½ a cup of water to maida and make a thin paste.
Powder the bread slices in a mixer to make bread crumbs.

Heat oil in a kadai for deep frying the cutlets.[Make sure the oil is really hot before putting in the cutlets].
Make small balls of the vegetable mix and flatten it a little[shape it according to you preference].
Dip it first in the maida-water mix and then roll it in the bread crumbs.
Add the cutlets to the hot oil and fry till they become dark brown on both sides.
Serve hot!!

Vanilla Choco-Chip Pound Cake

Finally,finally I made it.The pound cake recipe must have been the one which I had bookmarked since ages.Every time some one posts it,I go into a dream and imagine myself eating all of it with no guilt bells ringing behind.Alas,they do and I am back to reality.Somehow,the thought of adding equal amount of butter put me off.I wondered if ever I would be able to take the plunge and do it.

As they say,I overcame the thought and made it after all;).Few days back,we went to a beach resort in Mahabalipuram and I made this for our on-the-way-snack.Though the journey took us only 45 minutes or so,all of us loved the cake very much.[There’s no reason to dislike this wonder-just pure goodness oozing out].Calories shared is calories not earned,so we forgot all about dieting and exercise and gorged on this one.

I saw this recipe first at Deeba’s blog.Though I fell in love with her bundt pan first,the recipe too has been pulling me back with a magic wand.I decided I’d make this when I get a bundt pan of my own.Recently,I hopped on to Purple Foodie’s blog and she had a recipe for the Pound cake which she made in a Loaf tin..now now,that’s something I have.So if you are willing to forget all about diet and weight and calories..this is the one for you.Pure butter heaven:).

On another note-I am on a diet from today and can’t stop dreaming of a pound cake..sigh!!

Vanilla Choco-Chip Pound Cake

Recipe adapted from Deeba & Shaheen

Ingredients

Butter; room temperature - 200gms

Eggs-4,large

Sugar(granular)-1 cup

Flour - 1 ½ cups

Whole-wheat flour - ½ cup

Baking powder - 1tsp

A pinch of salt

Chocolate chips -½ cup

Vanilla extract - 1 tsp

Method

Grease and flour a loaf tin.

Preheat oven to 175C.

Sift together the two flours, baking powder and salt.

Beat the butter & sugar well till light & fluffy.

Beat in eggs 1 by 1, beating well after each addition

Add the essence.
On low speed, beat in the flour, bit by bit, till well incorporated (4-5 goes).

Fold in the chocolate chips.

Turn into prepared pan and bake for approx 1 hour / till done.

Deeba's tip-If top seems to be getting too brown, loosely cover top with foil until done.

Leave in pan for 10 minutes, and then turn it out on rack to cool completely.

Slice and indulge:)

As I mentined earlier-bake this one and share the calories.Serve it for a tea-party and forget about those guilt pangs.So I am sharing this with Aparna & Meeta for this month's Monthly Mingle where the theme for the month is High-Tea treats.

Indian Cooking Challenge ~ Murukku/Jantikalu

Murukku/Chakli or Jantikalu was chosen as this month’s dish for Indian Cooking Challenge.A while back,Srivalli had mailed us asking if we had Murukku maker with us.I did have one,but the mail got me thinking.I haven’t attempted making a single deep fried snack till date.Usually,we stay away from deep fried goodies altogether but we keep getting home-made stuff from both our homes.But a challenge was meant to be completed,so I went through the recipe and found it quite easy[read-overconfident].

I attempted it a few days back.I followed the recipe to the T and kept thinking that it was a very easy recipe to follow.Boy,was I wrong!!Everything went smoothly till I started making the dough for the murukku.Somehow,the dough was not coming together but after sometime,I managed to make it.Reality struck when I started to press murukkus from the moulds.I was not getting the shape correct,all I got was murukku bits.I was terribly upset..:(.More so because we were leaving for a short trip for a week and I was not sure if I would be able to attempt it again.

The only thing which made me try it again was the taste of the murukku.Crispy and crunchy and superb tasting.

I mailed my doubts and queries to Srivalli,she responded quickly with few tips and reasons as to where I could have gone wrong.She even asked me to go ahead and post about the murukku bits if couldn’t attempt the whole recipe again.But even before I could take any snaps,the bits were gone..hehe:).So I tried it again today,though I am still not happy with the shape,I saved a few good looking ones for the pics..:)

Indian Cooking Challenge ~ Murukku/Jantikalu

Preparation Time : 20 - 30 mins

Cooking Time : 20 - 30 mins

Makes : app 250 kg of Muruku

Cuisine: Andhra & Tamil Nadu

Utensils needed:

Muruku /Chakli Press.

Kadai

Ingredients Needed:

Raw Rice - 4 cups

Urad Dal - 1 cup

Water - app 1/2 cup or more

For Seasoning

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Sesame seeds- 1 tsp

Asafetida/ Hing - 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

Butter - 75 gms

Method to prepare:

Wash and drain the rice. Shade dry the Rice for 1/2 hr.

Dry roast the Urad dal to light brown. Allow it to cool.

If you are using more quantity, you can get it ground in rice mil, else use your mixie to grind both Rice and Urad dal.

First grind rice into a fine flour, keep it aside. then grind the urad dal to fine powder.

In a wide vessel, take both the flours along with salt. Mix well.

Add cumin, Sesame seeds to the flour, mix well.

Whether you use Asafetida powder or the solid ones, you got to mix it in water, make sure it is dissolved before adding to the flour. If its not dissolved properly, when deep frying the muruku, there are chances for the hing to burst our due to air bubbles.Mix in the hing to the flour and finally add the butter.

Gather everything well and you will get more of a crumbling mixture.

Now slowly add water and knead a dough which is little more softer than the puri dough.

Heat a kadai with oil enough to deep fry. Once the oil is hot enough, simmer to low flame.

Take the Muruku Aachu, wash and wipe it clean. Then divide the dough into equal balls. Fill the Muruku maker with the dough. You can either press it directly over the flames or press over a paper and gently slide it down the hot oil. But since the quantity mentioned here is less, you can press it directly over the kadai.

Cook over medium flame, using a slotted spoon, turn it over to other side to ensure both sides turn golden colour. You will know by seeing the colour that its cooked.

Remove to a kitchen paper and store it in a air tight container.

This normally stays good for weeks, provided you forget about these which hardly happens!