Milk Halwa

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year 2014 :) I am really excited to start this New year with a sweet, a quick and very easy Milk Halwa! May this year bring in a lot of sweetness to your life :)

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups milk (preferably full fat milk, for a creamy texture)
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tbsp fresh curds 
2 pinches saffron (kesar/kungumapoo) strands dissolved in 2 tsp water
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
2 tbsp fresh cream 
1 tsp chopped almond
1 tsp chopped pistachio

For Garnishing
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
1 tsp chopped almond
1 tsp chopped pistachio

Method

1. Combine the milk, sugar and curds in a broad pan (preferably non-stick), mix well and cook on a high flame for 8-10 minutes, keep stirring continuously and scrapping the sides.
2. Remove from the flame and allow it to cool and blend in a mixer to a smooth and creamy paste.
3. Transfer the paste into a bowl and add the saffron-water mixture, cardamom powder, fresh cream, almonds and pistachios and mix well.
4. Pour it in a small plate, garnish with cardamom powder, almonds and pistachio over it.
5. Refrigerate for at least 1 to 2 hours.
6. Serve chilled.

Oats and Moong Daal Tikki

A healthy evening snack that I found in my favorite Tarla Dalalji's website 

INGREDIENTS:

Yellow moong dal (split yellow gram) - 1/2 cup
Oats - 1/2 cup
Fresh curds - 2 Tbsp
Onions, grated - 3 Tbsp
Green chillies, finely chopped - 1/2 Tsp
Chilli powder - 2 Tsp
Garam masala - 1/4 Tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 Tsp
Ginger-garlic paste - 1 Tsp
Finely chopped coriander leaves - 2 Tbsp
Salt to taste
Oil for greasing and cooking - 2 Tsp

METHOD:

1. Boil the moong dal in 1 cup of water till the dal is soft and cooked and all the water has evaporated.
2. Drain and blend the cooked dal in a mixer to a coarse paste.
3. To this paste, add all the remaining ingredients and mix well.
4. Divide the mixture into equal portions/small balls and shape each portion into a round flat tikki.
5. Lightly grease a tava with ½ tsp of oil.
6. Once the pan is hot, cook each tikki on a tava using 1 tsp of oil till it is evenly cooked from both the sides.
7. Serve hot with green chutney or ketchup

Eggless Vanilla Sponge Cake in Pressure cooker

The main reason for me to be interested in baking is the new microwave-convention oven that mom got a few months back. But my mom used to bake great cakes when we had no oven, using a pressure cooker! So this time I am posting a recipe for those who do not have an oven but still wish to bake a lovely cake. This method can be used for any cake.

INGREDIENTS:
Maida - 170 grams
Baking Powder - 3 Tsp
White Butter - 70 grams
Milk - 150 ml
Raisins - 30 grams (optional)
Cashew nuts, chopped - 30 grams (optional)
Sugar, powdered - 70 grams
Water - 100 ml
Honey - 1 Tbsp
Vanilla essence - 1 Tsp

METHOD:

1. Sieve flour and baking powder together. Keep aside

2. Beat the butter and sugar together very well till you get a creamy mixture

3. Add honey to this cream and mix well

4. Add in the flour mixture, milk water, raisins and nuts and mix gently. Do not over mix. You could skip the nuts and raisins if you want a plain sponge cake. Tuti fruti could also be added

5. Pour the batter in a greased pan that would fit inside the cooker easily

6. A 5 litre cooker would be ideal to bake this cake. Preferably use an old cooker and also it is better not to use this method for a regular purpose. If you plan to bake regularly, then it is better to go in for an oven

7. An important point to note is to REMOVE the gasket from the pressure cooker lid and also it is not required to used the whistle

8. The cake pan should not touch the bottom of the cooker directly. Hence place the stand with holes (the one that usually comes with a cooker) at the bottom. If you do not have this, then you could also place a steel plate at the bottom

9. DO NOT add water as we are not steaming the cake

10. Now we need to pre-heat the cooker. So, close the pressure cooker lid (without gasket) keep the flame on high for 5 mins

11. Now reduce the flame to medium heat and place the pan with the cake batter inside the cooker

12. Close the lid and after 5 mins, reduce the flame to simmer

13. It will take anywhere between 40 mins - 1 hr for the cake to be finished

14. After 40 mins, check by inserting a toothpick or knife. If it comes out clean, then it is done!

15. Remove the pan from the cooker and let is cool completely before you cut it into pieces

The below pic shows a similar cake that I did recently for my dearest friend's birthday. To make it special, I had melted some chocolate and spread it across 

Baked Tomato Cups with spicy apple stuffing

This is a very healthy and unique dish that I came across in Nita Metha's book and tried recently. What is unique about this is that it has spicy apple stuffing!! The stuffing was so delicious that we had the remaining stuffing as such, like a salad :) I have baked the tomato cups. For those who don't have an oven, the tomatoes could be cooked in a double boiler method.

INGREDIENTS:

6 firm tomatoes

1.5 tsp mustard seeds

8 curry leaves

2 medium sized onions

4 tbsp sprouted green gram (optional) even boiled peas/chopped capsicum can be used

2 medium apples - finely chopped

4 tbsp brown bread crumbs (or even powdered rusk/marie/digestive biscuits)

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp amchoor powder (dry mango powder for the tangy taste)

a few coriander leaves

METHOD

1. Cut tomatoes into 2 pieces. Scoop the seeds and sprinkle salt. Keep aside

2. Stir mustard seeds in a pan on low heat till roasted. Add onions. Cook for a minute and add the curry leaves and sprouts/peas/capsicum

3. Remove from flame. Add apples, pepper, salt, amchoor and bread crumbs. Mix well

4. Stuff the mixture into the tomato cups. To make the tomatoes stand upright, cut a thin slice from the base of the tomatoes

5. At serving time, bake at 200C for 10-12 minutes till soft but firm

6. If you do not have an oven, Pour water in a cooker, once it starts boiling, place the tomatoes on a raised plate above the water and cook closed for 10-12 minutes. (But these tomatoes might not be as firm as the baked ones)

6. Garnish each with coriander leaf. Serve hot

Eggless Chocolate Cupcake

Merry Christmas to all :) This weekend I made chocolate cupcakes for my cute little cousins. It is a super easy recipe and the entire preparation and baking was done in just 30 mins. There could be a lot of variations to this - it could be made plain chocolaty, nutty with walnuts/almonds/cashews or for those who love rich chocolate flavour, you could enhance it with more chocolate chips! Wishing you all a happy holiday season :)

INGREDIENTS

Maida - 1.5 cups

Granulated Sugar - 3/4 cup

Cocoa powder - 2 Tbsp

Baking Powder - 1.5 Tsp

Baking Soda - 1 Tsp

Salt - a pinch

Oil - 1/3 cup

Milk - 1/2 cup

Vanilla essence - 2 tsp

METHOD:

1. In a bowl mix maida, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt. Mix well, sieve once and keep it aside.

2. In a separate bowl mix sugar, milk and oil together and whip it until sugar dissolves completely

3. Now add in the flour mixture with oil, milk mixture and mix well taking care to avoid lumps. Add vanilla essence and mix well till creamy pouring consistancy of the batter is formed

4. Pour the batter in greased muffin moulds (only till 3/4th of the moulds as it would raise) and bake in a pre-heated oven at 180C for 15-20 mins. It was done in 16 mins for me! ( I had only 4 muffin moulds so I poured the remaining in a cute heart cake mould and this took about 20 mins to bake)

 

Healthy Banana Walnut Loaf

An absolute guilt free indulgence of "Banana-Walnut Loaf"
.. I replaced maida with whole-wheat flour and even better, just one spoon of ghee used!! A healthy n tasty bite 

INGREDIENTS

Ripe bananas - 2

Whole Wheat flour - 2 cups

Powdered brown sugar (or white sugar) - 3/4 cup

Yoghurt - 2/3 cup

Milk - 3/4 cup

Baking soda - 1/2 Tsp

Baking powder - 1/2 Tsp

Cocoa powder - 1 Tbsp

Vanilla essence - 1/2 Tsp

Cinnamon powder - 1/4 Tsp

Ghee or melted unsalted butter - 1 Tbsp

Salt - a pinch

Chopped walnuts - 1/3 cup

METHOD:

1. Sieve the following together: Whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt

2. In a blender, mix the following and make a smooth paste: bananas, sugar, yoghurt, about 2 Tbsp of milk

3. Add the banana paste to the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly stirring without lumps

4. To the mixture, add ghee/butter, walnuts. Mix well

5. In case the batter seems too thick, dilute it with very little milk. The batter should not be runny. When you try dropping the batter with a spoon, it should fall in big globs

6. Add the batterto a greased cake tray or loaf tray. Bake at 150C in a pre-heated oven for about 30-40-minutes or till a fork insertted into the cake comes out clean

7. Let it cool completely and then slice them as you wish

Tea time cookies

How about some spicy cookies this time!!
Yeah, having a sweet tooth, I always ended up baking cakes, so for a change I tried spicy cookies today! Hot tea, freshly baked home made cookies on a cloudy, lazy Sunday afternoon!! I'm loving it 

INGREDIENTS:

MAIDA - 1/2 CUP
WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR - 1/2 CUP
BUTTER - 2.5 TBLSP+1/2 TSP
SUGAR - 2 TSP
SALT - 1/2 TSP
CUMIN SEEDS - 1/2 TSP
AJWAIN SEEDS (OMAM) - 1/2 TSP
GREEN CHILLI - 1 (Finely chopped)
CORIANDER LEAVES - 1.5 TBLSP (Finely chopped)
YOGURT - 1.5 TBLSP

METHOD:

1. Beat the butter and sugar well until creamy.
2. Add the yogurt to this and mix well.
3. Now add the flour, salt, chopped chilli and cilantro and mix well and make this into a stiff dough.(I also added some finely chopped mint leaves as I like that flavour)
4. Do not knead this by adding too much pressure.
5. Take a portion of the dough and roll it.
6. Cut them into any desired shapes using a cookie cutter or even a bottle lid.
7. Grease the baking tray and place this on the tray.
8. Bake this in a preheated oven at 150 degree.
9. Bake for 15- 20 mins. Mine took a little more than 20 mins.
10. The biscuit will not get brown on the top, but it will get a nice color at the bottom. Let it cool completely, only then it will be crisp.

Minty Baby Potato (No Onion No Garlic Recipe)

There are a few auspicious days during which mom and grandma don't add onion or garlic in the dishes. On one such day, when I was browsing through some recipes and I was so excited on finding this interesting combination of mint and baby potatoes :D Trust me, it is very simple and absolutely delicious (provided you like mint flavour! ) We has it with hot milagu (pepper) rasam rice. It could also be served as a starter.

INGREDIENTS:
BABY POTATOES - 20
MINT LEAVES - 1 FISTFUL
CORIANDER LEAVES - 1 FISTFUL
CUMIN SEEDS - 1/4 TSP
GREEN CHILLI - 1 NO
BLACK PEPPER POWDER - 1/4 TSP
KASTURI METHI - 1/2 TSP
SALT AS NEEDED
OIL - 2 TBLSP

METHOD:

• Boil the potatoes, peel the skin and prick them with a fork.

• Grind the mint leaves, coriander leaves and green chilies into a fine paste. Add salt to this and mix this with the boiled potatoes. Let this sit for 1/2 an hour in the refrigerator.

• In a pan, add oil and throw in the cumin seeds and when it crackles add the marinated potatoes.

• Fry until you see the golden spot on the potatoes.

• Add the pepper powder and the crushed kasuri methi to this and stir well.

• Enjoy with any rice. This can be had as a starter too.

Eggless Honey Spice cake with tangy strawberry sauce topping!!!

Nothing else could have made my boring Sunday afternoon so exciting 
This cake is made without sugar but with honey and aromatic spices like cardamom, cinnamon and nutmeg. The tangy and sweet strawberry sauce is just my addition, as I added very little honey. Here goes the recipe..... 

Ingredients for cake:
1 cup All Purpose Flour (Maida)
⅓ cup Honey (more if you need it sweeter. I had only a little less than 1/3 cup of honey)
¼ cup chopped Nuts & Dry fruits (optional)
2 Tbsp plain Yogurt / Curd
6 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
½ tsp Baking Powder
¼ tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Spice (any – cinnamon, cardamom, clove, nutmeg – I added a mixture of all)
Zest of half a lime + its juice

Ingredients for Strawberry sauce:
1 cup mashed strawberries
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tbsp sugar or more depending on how sweet you want it to be
1 tsp corn flour

Method:
Preheat the oven to 150 C / 300 F
Grease & Line an 8 inch cake pan.
Squeeze the juice of half of a small lemon & grate the yellow skin all over to get the zest. Mix them & set aside.
Mix together & sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt & spices – TWICE.
Add the chopped dry fruits & nuts if using. Mix well & set aside
Add oil & honey to a mixing bowl; beat well until well incorporated.
Add the plain yogurt (curd) and lemon juice + zest and beat well to form a smooth wet mixture.
Add the dry ingredients in batches
Mix well to make sure the flour is well incorporated. If the mixture is too thick, add a few drops of water & mix. I added 2-3 tbsp of water – Check for the sweetness & add more if you want. (As I didn't have anymore honey left, I added a few drops of butterscotch essence)
Pour into the greased & lined cake pan.
Bake in 150 C oven for 30 minutes or until it is fully cooked through. (Remember – the smaller the cake, the quicker it gets cooked. For me it took just 20 mins)
Let it cool completely. Slice & serve.

For the strawberry sauce-mix all ingredients except lemon juice and mix well.
Once the sugar dissolves, add the lemon juice and cook for a few more minutes.
Let it dry completely and then can be used to spread over the cake or bread 

2 min Red Velvet Mug Cake - A sweet start for my entry to the blogging world

I am extremely happy to start my own blog and please join me in the celebration with a sweet red velvet mug cake :)

Ingredients: 
5 tablespoons of plain flour
1 heaped tablespoon of cocoa powder
5 tablespoons of vegetable oil
4 tablespoons of powdered sugar
4 1/2 tablespoons of buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/2 - 1 teaspoon of red food colouring (absolutely optional.. I used it just to justify my title  if u skip this it would still be a lovely chocolate mug cake!)



Method:
1. Mix all the dry ingredients (would be better if you sieve them)
2. Add all the liquid ingredients to the dry mixture and mix very well to form a smooth batter as shown
3. Take a microwave safe mug and grease it well with oil (I used a heat resistant ceramic coffee mug). Pour the batter into the greased mug (Pour it only to fill half of the mug, I made a mistake by pouring to 3/4ths of the mug and hence it raised too high)
4. Bake it in the microwave for 1.5-2 mins on high (it took just 1.5 mins for me). Prick in a toothpick to check if it comes out clean, to see if the cake is done.
5. You could decorate the cake as per your wish by doing icing or just sprinkling some powdred sugar on top (like shown) and you are ready to dig in!!!!!!!! This warm moist cake would taste heavenly with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!!

A very different and yet easiest cake to surprise your guests  Happy festive season to all