Cocoa Brownie

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup (40g) unsweetened cocoa powder sifted
• 1/2 cup (64g) all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder

WET INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup (113g) butter melted then cooled
• 2 eggs room temperature
• 1 tsp. Vanilla

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Sift together all dry ingredients. Place into a jar or airtight container.
2. Melt butter and set aside to cool slightly. In a medium bowl, beat two eggs with the vanilla. Add in and gently stir dry ingredients. Pour the melted butter into brownie mixture and mix until just incorporated. Spread batter in a prepared 8-inch square pan and bake for 20-22 minutes at 350 degrees.

Chai spice cake

Ingredients

3 cups (375g) all-purpose flour
2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 and 1/2 cups (3 sticks; 345g) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup (200g) packed brown sugar
1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
5 large eggs
1/2 cup (120g) yogurt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup (180ml) milk


Cinnamon Swirl
3/4 cup (150g) packed light or brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cardamom


Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C) and grease a 10-inch bundt pan.

For the cake: Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.

Beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together until creamed, about 2 minutes.

Add the eggs, yogurt, and vanilla and beat on medium speed until combined.

 The mixture will look curdled; that’s ok– it will come together when you add the dry ingredients.

Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, add the milk, and beat on medium speed it all until the batter is completely combined.


Mix the swirl ingredients together in a medium bowl.
Pour half of the cake batter evenly into the prepared bundt pan. Sprinkle the swirl ingredients evenly on top– it will be a thick layer of swirl! Cover evenly with remaining cake batter.
Bake for 55-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean with just a couple lightly moist crumbs.

Once done, remove from the oven and allow to cool for 2 hours inside the pan. Then, invert the slightly cooled bundt cake onto a wire rack or serving dish. Allow to cool completely.

Eggless choclate cake with chocolate ganache.

It's ninth birthday.

A turned 9 this 5th. Her excitement for birthday celebrations hasn't waned much. But certainly we have been trying different ways to celebrate. I feel she is old enough to understand the need to think of joy emanating from heart then external stimuli. Still a long way to go. So we had a birthday party at play arcade of nearby mall followed by lunch at a restaurant. All in all low key compared to previous affairs where I hosted children and their parents at home  for lunch and enetrtainment.

Two things that needed to be done were cake and return gifts.  So this time I convinced A to do a no gift birthday party. We requested her friends not to bring gifts. I also had hoped I will not do return gifts as well. This did not go too well with anyone at home so I went minimalistic by giving flexible scales that seemed to be very popular in my daughters class.

I enjoy baking cakes but decorating is not my forte. Mostly I would cover the cake with ganache and ask the kids to decorate with sprinkles. till last birthday Ananya wishes for fancy decorations so I conveniently outsourced the cake. But this time around we jointly planned the cake. We had an experience of doing number cake for my son's  6th birthday in January. Building on that idea we decided to do number 9 cake with handmade banner and sprinkles. Other thing she requested was vanilla buttercream frosting. But I have had not very good experience with buttercream. So I suggested chocolate cake with vanilla buttercream filling and whipped chocolate ganache frosting.

Cinnamon swirl banana cake

Ingredients

• 3 over-ripe bananas, smashed up. If you are in Bangalore and using yellaki banana like me please use 6.
• 1/3 cup melted butter at room temperature.
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp baking soda
• dash of salt,omit if using salted butter like Amul
• 1 1/2 cups flour
For topping
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 Tbs cinnamon, fine powdered.

Direction's

1. Preheat oven to 350. Prepare a loaf pan . I used 8 by 4 but you can very well use 9 by 5. My preferred method is to grease the pan , line with baking paper and grease again. But you can butter the pan and dust it with flour also.
2. Mix bananas, butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla together . I use a small hand held cake mixer.
3. Sieve the flour along with baking soda and salt.
4. Then gently stir in flour in the banana mixture with light hand until well incorporated. 
5. Mix together the 1/3 cup sugar and 1 Tbs cinnamon kept for swirling.
6. Add half of the batter to the loaf pan and then sprinkle little more than half of the cinnamon-sugar mixture all over the batter in the pan. Add the rest of the batter, and then sprinkle the leftover cinnamon-sugar on top.
7. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Kadhi

Kadhi is a staple in Rajasthani households. Simple ingredients but every family has their own favorite take on it. Thick, thin, with fritters, with green leaves etc.

My mother in law makes a version of it which tasty and pouplar among friends and relatives.

She is visiting and prepared today for lunch. I watched her and decided to journal the recipe.

Ingredients

1/2 cup besan (gram flour)
2 cups dahi (little thicker then buttermilk)
Turmeric
Coriander powder
Red chilli powder
Salt
Cumin
Cloves
Ajwain

Mustard seed
Asofoetida

Method

Add besan to curd along with turmeric, chilli , coriander, salt . Mix it well and make a lump free mix.

Take a heavy bottom vessel and add a teaspoon of oil. Add cumin , clove and ajwain. When the have crackled add curd besan mix and keep stirring for about 5- 8 minutes.

If you want to add fritters or chopped greens like spinach methi etc add at this stage.

Let it simmer for another 10 minutes. Now prepare a tempering. Take some ghee, add mustard seeds and asofoetida. Can add red chilli powder for nice color. Pour it on top of KADHI. serve it rice/pulao/ chapati etc.

First for everything

So this summer night me and A & R played our first Scrabble game to the end. R used help from me and P but it was indeed peaceful and interesting game. Kids are growing!

Gol gappe ka pani

Ingredients

1/2 cup Soaked tamarind
1/4 cup Mint leaves
1/4 cup Corinader leaves
1/2 Green Chilli
1/2 inch Ginger
Black salt
Salt
Roasted ground cumin
Jaljeera powder
Powdered sugar

Method

Separate the pulp from soaked tamarind and add about a litre of water.
Take the mint, coriander , green chilli and ginger in a small grinder and blend it with little water.

Strain the blended paste with the help of sieve in the tamarind water.
Mix it well.

Now add the dry spices one by one as per taste.

Khandvi

Mention of khandvi conjures up the image of delectable melt in mouth savory experience but also of one considered tricky to master.

Thanks to one of my dear friend who standardized this recipe so well that since then I have been making it often without glitches. Sharing here the same recipe here on request of many :).

Ingredients:

 1 Cup Besan (Gram Flour)

 1.25 Cup yogurt (People in bangalore please use Milky Mist brand for perfect consistency)

1 Cup Water

Salt

Sugar

Turmeric

Chilli Powder

Asafoetida

Mustard seed

Sesame Seeds

Oil

Method:

Mix Besan, Yogurt and water well . Remove lumps if any. Add Salt , sugar, turmeric, red chilli powder, asafoetida as per taste.

Place this mix in a pot. Steam cook this pot in pressure cooker. After 3 whistles lower the flame and keep cooking for 15 minutes. Switch off and wait for the pressure to drop.

Meanwhile , prepare the tadka. Take about 3 teaspoon oil, add mustard seeds, once they begin to crackle switch off the gas and add sesame seeds.

Take out the besan mix and mix well for about minute or two with ladle.

On a clean kitchen counter start applying ot with flat ladle in thin layer. Once all the mix has been applied start cutting with knife in 1.5 inch wide strips. Apply some tadka on top and spread it all around. Now start rolling the strips .

Garnish with remaining tadka, grated coconut and coriander on top.

Enjoy!

Carrot and Radish Pickle

Ingredients

Carrot                                500 gm
                                          Wahsed ,peeled and slit lengthwise
Radish                               250 gm
                                          Washed, peeled and slit lengthwise

Green chilli                       50 gm
                                          Washed , peeled and slit lengthwise

Ginger                               100 gm
                                          Washed,peeled and slit lengthwise
Salt                                    4 tsp
Mustard Oil                      1/2 cup
Red Chilli
powder                              1 tsp
Turmeric powder              1 tsp

Black Pepper                    1/2 tsp
Carrom Seeds                   1/2 tsp
Mustard seed powder       6 to 7 tsp
Asofoetida                        2 pinch
Vinegar                             2 Tbsp

Method

Wash and let dry carrot, radish ,green chilli and ginger. Slit them lengthwise about 2 inch long pieces. Add 2 tsp salt, mix well and keep it in glass container with lid on. Let it sit for 24 hours. Stir once after 10-12 hours.If you want to increase or decrease the quantity of vegetable please feel free to do so.

After 24 hours juice will collect at the bottom of jar. Strain the juice and take out all the vegetables on kitchen towel and let dry for about 1 hour. If you have sun put this to dry in sun.

Once it is dry add all the dry spices except asofoetida and vinegar and mix well. Also add 2 tsp salt.
Heat the mustard oil till it starts smoking. Switch off the flame and let it cool down a bit. After that add asofoetida. Pour this oil over the vegetables and mix well. Once everything is mixed well add vinegar and mix again.

Pickle is ready for consumption.  Though it will taste far better 2 - 3 days later after it had time to sit and release juice and flavors come together.

Chocolate Chip Cookie pizza

Made this for small bake sale at our community. Forgot to take proper picture of final cookie but nonetheless it was perfect. Very well received. For recipe please visit : https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2016/06/27/chocolate-chip-cookie-pizza/.

Recipe 

Whole Wheat Bread

In my quest for perfect loaf of whole wheat or more appropriately Atta aka Chapathi flour bread here is another recipe with more than satisfactory results. Only regret that it is part whole wheat. Would like to try it out with 100% wheat and update the results.

I have baked quite a few whole wheat loaves earlier. The whole wheat flour used in U.S is different then the atta we use for chapathi. Hence all recipes that call for whole wheat flour do not give same results.

But this recipe yields a light and moist  loaf which is pleasure to cut and toast unlike my earlier loaves. Have worked with vital wheat gluten earlier but this is first time I used milkpowder and indeed it made the difference.

Recipe has been adapted from here. I made few changes to the original recipe. Instead of 1.5 cup of AP flour I used  1 cup . Instead of  instant yeast I used Active dry yeast amd surprisingly even when I added it directly to dough mix without proofing it worked well.

Some more pictures from the various steps

Mixed Millet Upma, Breakfast recipe

My breakfast today turned out pretty good. Had this pack of Organic mixed millet by 24 Mantra brand.

So took 1 small cup of the grain. Chopped small onion , tiny green chilli and carrot. In a pressure cooker take about 2 tsp oil. Add cumin seeds, let tham splatter . Add crushed ginger and chopped green chilli.. After a minute add vegetables.Saute it for couple of minutes. Add grain ,stir everything nicely so grain gets a thin coat of oil. Add salt to taste, and 1 tsp turmeric.  After about 6 minutes of sauteing add water double the amount of grain, so here we take about 2 small cups. Close the lid. Let it sit for 4 whistles. Switch it off. Let the pressure release. And open to piping hot cooked millet. Add lemon juice and garnish with fresh coriander. Loved it.

Eggfree Mini Chocltae cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache

Baked about 100 of these for Childrens Day celebrations in my younger ones school. This is a fail proof recipe.

http://www.crunchycreamysweet.com/2013/09/10/eggless-chocolate-mini-cupcakes-recipe/

Topped it with Chocolate Ganache. Took about 1/2 cup of fresh Cream. I used Amul brand. Put it on double boiler (Small container with cream inside a big pot of simmering water). Once cream is hot added about 1 cup of chopped dark chocolate. I used Bournville with 50%  cocoa. Let it sit for 2 minutes. Switch off the flame. Take it out of double boiler. Stir it nicely. Let it sit to cool. Ganahe is ready. I used a ziplock with hole to put dabs of it on cupcakes and then smeared them evenly with knife. Decorate with sprinkles. All done. The recipes yields about 36 mini ones so I ran three batches.

Farm to Table--Vanngi Baath, Eggplant Rice

Finally I made this Maharshtrian specialty, Vanngi Baath or Eggplant rice. The sight of fresh eggplants hanging delicately on plants propelled me to think beyond regular Aloo Baingan. I had long back purchased a Vanngi Baath masala powder also. 

The rice came out very flavorful, easy to put together and I added a new way to consume eggplant in my repertoire.

I mostly followed the recipe from here 

http://www.subbuskitchen.com/2009/09/brinjal-ricevaangi-baath.html#.WCbB_UCcGM8 except that I omitted cashews and did not make fresh masala. Instead used the store bought. I had bough Navdarshnam Vaangi Mix from Naamdharis here in Bangalore.

Method is pretty simple. I took  1 Cup Basmati Rice. Soaked it. Meanwhile chopped the brinjal in small pieces. Took approximatelt 6 small ones.Make sure you put cut brinjal in water otherwise they will soon turn black. 

Now cook the rice. I always cook my rice in salted water.And in separate pan take abut 2 tsp oil. Put the chopped brinjals amd start sauteing. Mid way add salt to taste and 1 tsp turmeric. In abput 10 mins with  constant stirring these eggplants would be ready.  Take them out and in same pan take about 1 tbsp oil. Add cumin, curry leaf and chopped onion. Saute it. Meanwhile Rice will be ready. Once the onion is soft add cooked eggplant and 2 tbsp of Vaangi masala mix. Mine was spicy and in other brands it might differ. So adjust accordingly. Give a good stir. Now add cooked rice. Gently mix everything. Serve it with Raita !!

Egg free Banana Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins

I love mini muffin trays! So many perfect size treats in one go. For a while have been looking for recipe for easy mini muffin which is bit on healthier side and can be used for packing in school lunch.

This recipe is from Averie Cooks and worked really well. Muffins came out close to perfect. Not very sweet, moist and light which is sometimes too much to ask from eggless bakes.

You can hop here for the recipe. For sake of completeness will mention the recipe below as well.

Recipe

Ingredients
1/2 cup mashed ripe banana
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup room temperature milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch salt, optional and to taste
1/2 cup mini-chocolate chips, plus more for sprinkling tops (I used regular sized chocolate chips, worked fine)


Method

Preheat oven to 400F.

Prepare a 24 count mini muffin pan by lining with liners or applying some butter and flour and set aside. Alternatively, the recipe can be made as regular-sized muffins. (12)

In a large bowl, mash the banana with a fork.

Add the sugar, milk, oil, vanilla, cinnamon, and whisk until combined.

Add the flour, baking powder, optional salt, and stir until just combined; don't overmix.

Fold in 1/2 cup chocolate chips.Optionally, add a pinch of chocolate chips to each muffin top.

Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, I baked for 10 minutes. For regular-sized muffins, bake for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Allow muffins to cool in pan for about 10 to 15 minutes before removing and placing on a rack to cool completely.

Eggfree Lemony Blueberry Muffins

So, my 6 year old has a weekend homework. She has to cook/bake something to observe and record changes in states of matter. I wanted to take it easy and thought of baking our usual chocolate cupcakes. But then , also it was opportunity to try something new because I was not planning to use these for entertaining. So risk could be taken!

Since I had no eggs on hand recipe has to be egg free and also have been looking ways to use up my dried blueberries , Eggfree blueberry muffins was easy choice.

They came out very nice. Soft and spongy. I was little apprehensive about the amount of baking soda used but with lemon zest you don't  feel any aftertaste of baking soda. Its all fruity and nice.


Ingredients

2 cups all purpose/plain flour/Maida
1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp lemon zest
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract or lemon extract. I used lemon extract.
1/3 cup vegetable oil, I used rice ban oil, any flavorless oil will do
1 tbsp Vinegar, I used white vinegar.Apple cider vinegar can also be used
1 1/2 cups frozen/ fresh blueberries, I used dried ones.

Recipe
Preheat the oven to 375F, Prepare the  muffin tray by either lightly greasing or using the liner.
In a bowl combine together flour, baking soda and salt.
In another large bowl add milk, oil vinegar, sugar and lemon zest, and vanilla/lemon extract.               Mix well. I used the beater but hand mixing will work as well.
Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and gently mix .
Add blueberries and gently fold. Do not over mix.
Fill the cupcake/muffin tray about 2/3 rd full.
Bake for 20 minutes or until wooden skewer inserted in  middle comes out clean.
Let it cool for few minutes and they are ready to be devoured!

Low fat Marble Bundt Cake

For recipe please click here.

Gajar Methi

Just love the colors of it. Truly said we eat with our eyes first. At least am like that.

Recipe

I took around 4 medium sized carrots. Diced them small. 4 handful of fenugreek leaves, plucked, washed and chopped.

Heat 2 tbsp oil. I like to use sesame oil. Add asfoetida and cumin. Now add 1 tbsp Coriander powder, 1/2 tsp turmeric, chilli powder and salt to taste. Couple of tsp water so tha spices do notget burned. Now add carrots. Stir them well. Cover the pan with lid and lower the flame. Let it cook for 10 mins. Then add fenugreek leaves stir and cook for 2 mins. Lastly add some dry mango powder. Sabji is ready. I served it with mixed dal and makki ki roti.

Corn Capsicum Fried Rice

I had some leftover zeera pulao . Also some lonely corn that I boiled for lunch but did not eat and a half cut capsicum  stored after using other half for pav bhaji a day earlier. So I decided put three together to tango.

Take around 1.5 tbsp sesame oil. Add 1 tsp each of ginger and garlic paste. I make paste for couple of days together and store in refrigerator. Fresh paste makes a huge difference in flavor. Next add dice capsicum, onion and boiled corn sliced off from the cob. I boil corn by splitting in half , put in pressure cooker with 1/4 cup water and take 2 whistles.

Saute the vegetables on med high flame for couple of minutes next add some salt and some kind of chilli saue. Today I added schezwan sauce. Add about 2 cups of boiled/leftover rice. Mix well serve hot. Tasted pretty good.