Peach Upside Down Cake

We are embracing colder mornings and evenings last couple of days now, paving up its way for autumn season here. While, I do appreciate every season, as each has its own charm. Autumn is somewhat more colorful and enticing. I got a peek into nature’s cycle with few colorful leaves fallen on my walking trails. I tried to capture with my mobile phone and this is what I got.

 I have completely stopped using DSLR these days and all these food pics that you all keep seeing here are mobile phone camera captures. May be, I am losing the habit of carrying or using DSLR camera these days. I may like to think the quality is passable, as I don’t rely on heavy use of editing software.

 This kills the natural tones and color of that particular shots. 

Although, I can’t imagine completely shunning the use of DSLR cameras, but as of now it’s me, my mobile and my solitudes, that works fine for me.

I want to squeeze in every bit of whatever golden summer days are left over here. I have been buying peaches a lot these days and was thinking of making a cake with them. This cake turned out dense with a nice sweet peachy layer on top-absolutely scrumptious. I have used whole wheat flour with plain flour and am planning to make next batch with whole wheat flour completely. That will make the cake even more dense with a nice textured fruity and peachy cake.

Here is the recipe for peach upside down cake

Peach Upside Down Cake

Recipe requirements

• 3-4 peaches
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 and half tsp of baking powder
• ½ tsp of baking soda
• ¾ cup of caster sugar
• 3-4 tbs of yogurt
• 1 tsp of vanilla essence
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup spreadable butter
• 3-4 tbs of light muscovado sugar
• 2-3 pinches of salt

Method

• Take out spreadable butter, egg and yogurt and let it all come to the room temperature.
• Peel the skin and destone peaches and slice them neatly.
• Sift flour and add in baking powder, baking soda and salt.
• In a big mixing bowl, cream together spreadable butter and castor sugar. Add in vanilla essence.
• Add in 1 egg at a time, mixing very well. Add in yogurt.
• Now mix this wet mixture with the dry mixture and make a smooth cake batter.
• Preheat oven at 175 deg and prepare the cake tin. Spread some butter on the tin and then flour.
• Arrange peach slices well over the sprinkled muscovado sugar.
• Now pour in the cake batter and tap it gently.
• Put the cake tin in preheated oven and bake it for 40-45 mints or till the middle of the cake comes out clean, when pricked with a toothpick or wooden skewer.
• Take out and cool and flip the sides.Peach upside down cake is ready.Enjoy.

Happy Cooking Friends 

Moong Dal Dahi Vada and Happy Diwali

Wish you all Shubh Deepawali. Happy Diwali. 

May festival of light bring loads of happiness and peace to you and to yours..........

Each Diwali morning when I get up, it always makes me nostalgic, reminding me of our childhood, and festivals without its share of memories are incomplete. We all have shares of those unlimited dose of banters which we keep recalling from time to time, reminding us of good old times. 

I would often see my mother busy preparing different varieties of sweets and savoury for festivals and Deepawali was one such festival. The day before’’ Choti Deepawali’’, Ma would soak up all diyas in water for couple of hours. 

And then would dry up later in air outside over old news paper, a habit which now has been passed on to me unconsciously .This and many other similar activities would add up to the momentum towards the Deepawali evening. Every Deepawali evening, when we light up diyas, we also pray that it eradicates all the darkness in ones heart as well. 

Diyas glowing in dark gives me hope and sense of calmness.

We were fond of eating dahi vadas and Ma would make big batches of these during that time.

 Although she would make it with Urid dal mostly.

This mong dal vadas , I started making recently , they are light as compared to urid dal vadas.

I have used washed yellow lentil or dhuli mong dal for these vadas.And who doesn’t like chat. I have used store-bought mint chutney and tamarind chutney though , now to recipe…

Moong Dal Dahi Vada

Recipe requirements

For mong dal vadas

• Moong dal – 2 cups  
• 1 inch fresh ginger roots
•  2-3 green chillies
• Salt as per taste

For assembling and seasoning

• 3-4  large cups of yogurt

And following as per taste

• Cumin powder
• Red pepper powder
• Chat masala
• Salt as per taste
• Tamarind chutney
• Tomato ketchup
• Mint chutney
• Cooking oil for frying vadas
• Coriander leaves
• Papadi namkins (3-4)

Method

• Soak mong dal in water for about 6-7 hrs or better soak them overnight. Next day make paste of the yellow lentils/moong dal  with ginger, green chillies and salt as per your taste with very little water , just to rotate the blades of grinder. 
• Take out the dal paste in a clean bowl and mix the batter very well for about 3-4 mints. 
• You can add chopped ginger and green chillies pieces, if you don’t like to grind them with dal paste.
• Now put add cooking oil in a fry pan. Drop the batter with the help of spoon into the hot oil. Deep fry the lentil balls very well.
• Take out these fried lentil balls and dip them in warm water for about 5-6 mints.
• Take about 2 cups of yogurt and add bit of water and make it thin in consistency (more like buttermilk ),  depending about the yogurt required for soaking all the lentil vadas.I made roughly 15-16 moong dal vadas out of  2 teacups.
• Take out the lentil vadas and now put them in yogurt. The yogurt should be little thin in consistency. Keep the lentil vadas in yogurt for about 3-4 hrs at least.
• Meanwhile dry roast cumin seeds and make powder in grinder.Or use ready-made cumin powder.
• At the time of serving, rest of the yogurt should be evenly mixed with a spoon.Add bit of water , but not much.
• Put vadas in a serving bowl/platter. Add in stirred yogurt. 
• Now add in tamarind chutney, mint chutney and tomato ketchup (Each to owns taste)
• Sprinkle cumin powder, red pepper powder, chat masala and salt.
• Add in chopped coriander leaves.  ( I also made papadi)
• Add crushed papadi as well, it adds up to the crunchiness of these sweet-sour-spicy starters.
• These are absolutely lip-smacking, and I don’t need to add anything more.

Wish you all a very Happy Diwali 

Blueberry Cake

I have been getting fresh supply of blueberry easily in many super-markets over here, although blueberry is not a local fruit in Malaysia to my best of knowledge. And we do like blueberries a lot, made this cake long ago, but couldn’t post the recipe. So, here it is a simple recipe for blueberry cake.

Blueberry Cake

Recipe requirements

• 2 cups of cake flour
• ¾ tsp of baking soda
• ¼ tsp of baking powder
•  2 tsp of vanilla essence
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup of fine granulated sugar
•  ½ cup of plain yogurt
•  ½ cup of melted butter
• 2 cups of blueberry

Method

• In a big mixing bowl. Sift flour, add in baking soda and baking powder. Mix well.
• Now in a separate bowl, mix together butter and sugar well. Add in eggs, one at a time and whisk in gently.
• Now add in vanilla essence. Add in plain yogurt and gently fold in.
• Now add the flour mixture from time to time to make the cake batter. Use up all flour mixture to mix in with the above mixture. Add fresh blueberries and mix gently.
• Preheat oven at 175 deg C. 
• Prepare the cake tin. Brush butter evenly and then sprinkle flour to coat it well. Tap the cake tin so that the flour gets distributed evenly.
• Pour the cake batter in to the prepared cake tin with a spoon.Tap it gently.
•  Bake the cake in the middle rack for about 25-30 mints or till the center of the cake is cooked through well. Check by inserting a toothpick, if it comes out clean cake is baked well.
• Take out the baked cake and let it cool. Enjoy blueberry cake or pack some slices in lunch box.

Other Blueberry recipes 

Pancake with blueberry sauce

Banana Blueberry walnut loaf

Eggless Apple blueberry nutmeg cake

Blueberry Muffin

Blueberry Cheesecake- no bake

Happy Cooking Friends 

Instant Rava Onion Uttapam

‘’ What day is it?’’ asked Pooh.

‘’It’s today! ’’ Squealed Piglet.

‘’My favourite day’’ said Pooh…………..

Sometimes life’s greatest truth is revealed in children’s animation films. I have watched ‘Winnie- the Pooh’ several times with my dear daughter, while she still was a toddler. Although she has out grown those cartoon stories now, but some of the contextual scenes are still stuck in my mind. So simple and so profoundly told by Pooh and Piglet. Life’s greatest lesson comes from these innocent cartoons. That’s why I always believe in to nurture the innocent child in all of us. Live for the present day and create your own beautiful moments because you only are responsible for your own happiness.

Breakfast are important part of daily meal plans. And we generally on weekends tend to have more varieties for breakfast than the mundane bread and butter. So some days its rice poha, some days Upma or pancakes, some days various fruit filled crepes etc. And then occasionally these tomato onion Uttapams.I tend to cut out the long process of soaking and fermenting ingredients for uttapams. And these instant Uttapams turn out nice and delicious – no need to soak rice etc and then wait for fermenting process.

This is how we make our instant Uttapams

Instant Rava Uttapam

Recipe requirements (makes 4-5,  5’’ inch Uttapam rounds )

•  2 heaped cups of Rava/sooji/semolina
• ½ cup of plain flour
• 1 tsp of baking soda
•  1 and half cup of yogurt
•  1 tsp of salt or to taste
•  About a cup of water

For the toppings

•  1 large onion
•  1 medium size tomato
•  5-6 green chillies
•  About a cup of chopped coriander leaves
•  Salt as per taste and bit of red pepper powder/black pepper powder
•  Cooking oil to make Uttapams.

Method

•  In a mixing bowl, mix in plain flour and sooji/semolina. Add in baking soda and salt.
• Now add in yogurt and mix with the above, it will form a dough like consistency.
• Now add in a cup of water to make a smooth and lump free batter just like dosa /pancake batter and may be even more water if it is required.
• Now let it rest for about half an hour.
• Meanwhile chop onion, tomato, green chillies and coriander leaves very finely. Add in salt and pepper powder – if using to enhance the hotness level.
• Heat up an iron tava/skillet/griddle. Now drop about 2-3 tsp of cooking oil. Rub this oil very well over the griddle.
• Now give a final mix for the uttapam batter .Drop a ladle full of this batter to the hot griddle.
• Flatten out a bit, but not much, just like a small round similar to pancake- approx. 5’’ inch rounds. The trick is to have a little thick rounds rather than big and thin rounds, so that they puff out well and turn soft also.
• Now immediately put finely chopped onion, tomato, green chillies and coriander leaves over the top of the uttapam. Press it gently with the spatula.Let it cook for about 4-5 mints.
• Flip the side very carefully and now again drop some cooking oil by the sides of uttapams.Cover the uttapamas and cook further for about 6-7 mints at med-low flame. Do not hurry otherwise the middle portions will turn out uncooked.
• Uncover the uttapam and flip the side and cook for 2-3 mints. Shift into the serving plate.
• You can have it with tomato ketchup or more traditionally with coconut chutney. These are absolutely divine straight from the hot tava/griddle. Enjoy your breakfast.

Happy Cooking Friends

Instant Rava Idli - super easy

Sometimes I feel like I am living in a very wrong world. The world where views are biased, people have no morals to fall back and where people take things for granted. They mock or doubt you, if you wear your emotions on your sleeves. And then, even if you happen to tell your true inner feelings, people ridicule you for being over-sensitive. I really don’t know when caring or showing concern to fellow humans became being over sensitive. But this is a modern world we are talking about, someone told me and you should also act modern. I am like if these acts mean modernisation, then probably I am well off, without it.

Well this recipe has nothing to do with being over-sensitive, but yes it’s a very quick way of making idlis, when you are running short of time and patience.

 We were craving for some idlis but I had no time for doing the whole procedure of soaking, grinding and then fermenting. There are plenty of recipes for instant idlis out here in net.But all of them use ENO, I didn’t have at the time of making these idlis, so used baking soda and it still came out fine.

Instant Rava  idli  recipe

Recipe requirements

 2 large cups of semolina/rava

3/4  cup of yogurt

¾ tsp of baking soda

For tempering

2 tbs of chana dal

2 tbs of urid dal

 1 -2 twigs of curry patta

3-4 dry red pepper powder

1-2 tsp of brown mustard seeds

2 tbs of cooking oil

Method

Dry roast rava/semolina in a fry pan. Do not let it burn.

Now take the slightly roasted rava in a separate bowl.

Add in cooking oil to the fry pan.

Now add mustard seeds, urid dal, chana dal, dry red peppers and curry leaves.Let it splutter.

Add in the roasted rava to it and mix well.

Transfer the entire content in a big bowl.

Let it cool.

Now add in yogurt and mix well. Add about a cup of water to it. Adjust salt in the above. Leave it for about an hour.

Add in baking soda just before you will make instant idlis.

Prepare idli stand and scoop the rava mixture in to the slotted space for the idli in idli-stand.

Steam about 20-25 mints or till the idlis are cooked well in a pressure cooker.
take out once they are all done.

Serve with coconut chutney.These are always well recieved by my family whenever we feel like having it for breakfast or quick dinner with sambhar.Here is Lauki and bean sprouts sambhar.

Happy Cooking Friends

Cherry Banana Dates Cake

Last time I made cake, perhaps it was in UK. I have mentioned in my last blog-post, we have moved into a new country- Malaysia, it is rather enigmatic, but full of all the beautiful possibilities for me. Things which were once familiar to us in UK, have become almost on a verge of extinction for me. When I first thought of about this cake, fresh cherries were on my mind. And ripened juicy cherries are so abundant in UK, that god knows how many times I have bought them and made cherry cake umpteen times also. 

Now comes the challenge, new kitchen, unfamiliar oven, and here I am again struggling with basic cooking instructions. Add to top of that, I didn’t get fresh cherries here as well. I happened to pick glazed cherries packets on my last grocery shopping rounds here. I kept pressing all the oven buttons desperately, perhaps wrongly, even oven timer wasn’t following my advice. And as I huffed and puffed, stream of sweat started flowing down my cheeks, and I started feeling anxious. And as I was about to make a frantic call to our landlady, the oven on its own decided well, yes it’s time to rise and shine. Phew! The day was saved and the cake was made, as if I conquered that lost Treasure Island. My gold and my platinum was, seeing this cake beaming out of hot oven- fresh and moist, ‘ Cherry Banana Dates cake ‘, as if an oasis has opened up right in front of me and that enigmatic mirage just vanished out of my sight. One worry off my shoulder now!

Here how I made this cake.

Cherry Banana Dates Cake

Recipe requirements

 1 and ¾ cup of self-rising flour

¼ tsp of baking soda

¼ tsp of baking powder

 2tsp of vanilla essence

2 eggs

½ cup of fine granulated sugar

 2 fully ripened bananas

 ¼ cup of plain yogurt

 ¼ cup of melted butter

½ cup of chopped fresh cherries or glazed cherries (whichever is available)

½ cup of chopped dates

Method

In a big mixing bowl. Sift self-rising flour, add in baking soda and baking powder. Mix well.

Now in a separate bowl, cream together butter and sugar well. Add in eggs, one at a time and whisk in gently. Now add in vanilla essence.

Add in ripened banana and mash them properly, keep on mixing all .Add in plain yogurt and gently fold in. Add in chopped glazed cherries and chopped dates. If you can get fresh cherries, you can use them.

Now add the flour mixture from time to time to make the cake batter. Use up all flour mixture to mix in with the above mixture.

Preheat oven at 175 deg C.

Prepare the cake tin. Brush butter evenly and then sprinkle flour to coat it well. Tap the cake tin so that the flour gets distributed evenly.

Pour the cake batter in to the prepared cake tin. Bake the cake in the middle rack for about 30-35 mints or till the centre of the cake is cooked through well. Check by inserting a toothpick, if it comes out clean, cake is baked well.

Take out the cake and let it cool. You can make frosting if you wish to, otherwise the cake is moist on its own.

Happy Cooking 

Mutton- Biryani - A home-cook's version

We are into full blown summer days in the northern hemisphere, and with that, parks are all gearing up for summer family day outs here, well I can’t say that about India though. But, as it seems, evenings are cooler over there, and with evening breeze, it tends to lower down the temperature as well. Although, it was a traumatic experience for them past month, with the recent earthquakes, that rattled the northern parts of country, Delhi and Kolkata were not untouched either. My heart goes out to those living outside their homes in Nepal, living under that constant threat and a future, where everything is blurred. Even with all these new generation gizmo and gadgets, when it comes to Mother Nature, we still haven’t got what it takes to take full control of her, or maybe we won’t be able to do so in hundred years. We are way behind, the right approach for this matter would be to start a much synchronised disaster management. Peace and prayers for all of them.

 

 

I haven’t updated the blog, so thought of shedding some hibernation fat, and updating the blog with a delicious recipe post. As the recipe post says, “Mutton biryani”, I do feel it doesn’t matter, how it is made, every time it tastes delicious. Now I won’t be going in to the details of various types of biryanis, their method and minor culinary inputs, for a home-cook like me, I really don’t get into the business of all the nuisances of those fine- prints. Give me any day, light fluffy biryanis with delicate flavours and am a happy soul, and even so, my family members.

 Now to the preparation part

Mutton Biryani

Recipe Requirements

(Serves – 3-4 )

700 Gms of lamb /Goat Mutton

1 large onion

4-5 fat cloves garlic

½ inch ginger root

 1 tsp of lemon juice

 2-3 medium size potatoes (optional)

For seasonings

1 tsp of red pepper powder

 ½ tsp of freshly crushed black pepper

1 tsp of freshly grounded coriander powder

¼ tsp of cumin powder
½ tsp of nutmeg powder
½ tsp of cinnamon powder
½ tsp of cardamom powder
1 tsp of garlic powder
½ tsp of ginger powder

 Half cup of thick yogurt

1 tsp of salt or as per taste+ ¼ tsp of salt for cooking rice

Whole spices
 3-4 cloves
4-5 cardamoms
2 black cardamom
 2, ¼ inch cinnamon sticks
 two pinches of nutmeg

Three- four generous pinches of saffron soaked in quarter cup of lukewarm milk
 1tsp of kewda essence
 2 cups of high quality basmati rice
 ¼ cup of cooking oil for mutton preparation+ 5 tsp of cooking oil required in other stages of cooking.

Method

Mix all the dry seasonings to make a dry masala powder to make biryani. This forms the "base masala" for our biryani.

Now add in yogurt, gently mixing it with a spoon. Adjust salt and add in lemon juice.A wet marinade is ready for the mutton pieces. 

I have used diced and boneless lamb pieces, a cut from leg side for this biryani. You can use any portions and also with bones. Goat mutton is what I use, when we are in India.

Now marinate lamb pieces with the spiced yogurt mixture. Keep aside for 1 hr, or better if you have time then marinate for 3-4 hrs, keeping it refrigerated.

 Cooking the rice for biryani

Now wash rice in running water. And soak them for about 15-20 mints.

Heat up a big pot/pan, we use “dekchi” to make mutton biryani back in home- India. Old fashioned- aluminium “handi” also works best. How, ever any heavy bottomed pan, big enough to hold the entire lamb and rice mixture works well also.

And since we will be doing a quick oven-bake, a big oven –proof casserole works fine as well.
Cook rice, till it’s partially cooked- to be precise- ¾ cooked rice grains, turns nice fluffy in biryani. Bring a large pot with water to boil, add in 1 tsp of cooking oil and few pinches of salt, same as like we do cooking for pasta. This way rice grains won’t stick with each other much.
We do not need nice-puffed up, thoroughly cooked rice grains. Don’t worry these will be cooked through well, at the time of assembling or layering up the biryani. So, drain out rice-starch. Now add in about 2 tsp of cooking oil, gently toss the rice grains and take out in a large plate. Allow rice grains to cool.
Now we will make a small cloth bag of whole spices- crushed cloves, cardamoms, black cardamom, cinnamon and nutmeg. Tie this with thread tightly.

Cooking the mutton/lamb for biryani

 In a blender, make a smooth paste of onion/ginger/garlic with 2 tsp of cooking oil.
Take a big fry pan, add in cooking oil.
Now add in onion/ginger /garlic paste. Let it stir/fry for about 8-10 mints. Add in salt.
Now add in the marinated lamb pieces. Keep on stir/fry for 20-25 mints, splashing water as required.
Add in half cup of warm water, cover the lid and let it cook for about 30 mints further. Since, we have used boneless lamb pieces, it will require less time as compared to lamb pieces with the bones. And also use potato cubes now, but this is purely optional, one can skip it, if doesn’t want to include potatoes, (this is a Bengali way of making biryani, adding potatoes)

Layering/assembling the biryani

In an oven-proof casserole, first spread a layer of rice, then layer the cooked mutton pieces, use the gravy as well. The gravy will tend to be semi-dry, so that rice incorporates well the flavour, without turning soggy further.
Now sprinkle kewda essence, or saffron –milk water. Place the small, whole –masala bag- “masala-potli” over the rice-layer .Repeat the layering of rice with cooked lamb pieces, until the whole of the rice is used up. Top this with any left-over rice. Sprinkle saffron-milk water. You may also add in fried onions in between the layers.

Cover with a foil, and transfer this to the pre-heated oven. Bake it for 10-15 mints at 180 deg C. Alternately one can also, cook it up on stove-top as well. Seal the dekchi / handi or pan with flour dough and cook it at low flame for 15-20 mints.

Take it off, from the cooking, and let sit for 2-3 hrs, before you open out the dough seal.” Dum –style “cooking is required for a light fluffy biryanis.

Since I prefer, oven baking method, now about oven- bake method.

To finish off biryani –making, after you have taken it out from the oven, cover the entire casserole with a cotton towel, so that the heat doesn’t escape much, this will cook the rest of the partially cooked rice. Allow at least 2-3 hrs for the aromas to blend in well.
At the time of serving, just pop it in microwave, preferably covered, to reheat or put them in oven for about 10 mints. Serve and enjoy with a raita preparation and some salad.

Happy Cooking Friends

Lamb Korma With Garlic Naan

As the winter sets in firmly, we do need to fire up our energies to overcome the cold weather here. And what could be better than eating a lamb korma preparation. For this lamb preparation, I have used white poppy seed paste in place of blanched almonds, which of course is a way of incorporating nuts to get that rich gravy based curries such as kormas.A chicken shahi korma was made earlier -Here which of course was made with blanched almonds and yogurt.

 I have made this korma little high on hotness note, which is, not what milder kormas are known over here. The Awadhi kormas are known for the right balance of hotness and spices, taking a clue from there, this is what we have made. Now, I would leave it just like that, without proclaiming it as “authentic” or “traditional” lamb korma. I have made garlic naan as well to dip into the juicy korma.

Lamb Korma – our way

Recipe requirements

• 1 kg of lamb/mutton
• 5 medium size onions
• 6-7 fat cloves of garlic
• 3-4 green chilies
• 30 Gms of white poppy seeds or 3-4 heaped tbs of poppy seeds roughly
• About an inch of fresh ginger

Seasonings

• 2 tsp of red pepper powder
• ½ tsp of turmeric powder
• 3-4 tsp of cumin+coriander powder
• 1 tsp of cinnamon powder
• 1 tsp of nutmeg powder
• 1 tsp of salt or as required
• ½ cup of plain cooking oil- corn oil etc

Whole spices used at tempering- all slightly crushed

• 3-4 black cardamoms
• 5-6 green cardamoms
• 6-7 cloves
• About 1 tbs of whole black pepper corn

Other ingredients 

• ½ cup of yogurt
• 2 tbs of cream
• Twp generous pinch of saffron soaked in water
• 2 tsp of kewra water

Method

• I have used leg steak and rib pieces for this preparation. You can use shoulder side as well. And we will cut into bite size pieces. Marinate these pieces with yogurt, salt and red pepper powder. Keep it marinating for about 2 hrs.
• First wet grind poppy seeds in a grinder.Add in roughly chopped onions, green chillies, garlic and ginger.
• Heat up a saucepan/kadai and add in corn oil. Now add in crushed whole cloves, black cardamom, green cardamoms, peppercorns.Let it crackle a little bit.
• Now add in the prepared paste of onions+green chillies+ginger+garlic +white poppy seeds.
• In a small bowl of water- mix in turmeric powder, cumin+coriander powder, cinnamon, nutmeg powders and salt. Add this paste in to the saucepan. Keep on stir/fry another 8-10 mints at med-high flame.
• When the masala paste dries up and the oil separates out by the sides. Add in marinating lamb pieces to the above. Now keep on braising the lamb pieces for about 15-20 mints.
• Now transfer this to a pressure cooker. Add in 2 cups of water and let it come to a boil. Lock the lid and cook till one whistle. Now lower the flame and let it cook for 10-15 mints.Alternately you can cook slowly on a stove-top, allow at least an hour to cook the lamb well.
• Stop cooking it further, open, once the pressure subsides. If you want semi-dry gravy, then you can scoop out the cooked lamb pieces and let the gravy come to a semi dry form, and then again transfer the cooked lamb pieces to the gravy and mix well.
• At the time of switching off the flame, add in kewra water, saffron water and cream, mix in well. Cover and let it rest for a while. If you want to serve it at the dinner time, make ahead in morning so that flavors incorporates well. At the time of serving, pop in to the preheated oven and heat it again or reheat over stovetop.And if you have left-overs, it tastes even better the next day.

Garlic Naan- Home-Made 

Recipe requirements

• 1 cup of whole wheat flour/atta
• 1 cup of self raising flour
• 3-4 tbs of cooking oil
• 1 tsp of garlic powder
• 4-5 cloves garlic chopped coarsely
• 1 tsp of sugar
• 1 tsp of kalo jeerey/kalaunji/nigella seeds
• 1 tsp of active dry yeast
• ½ cup of whole milk
• ¼ tsp of salt or as per taste
• ½ tsp of dried herbs

Method

• In a big mixing bowl, mix in whole wheat flour and self raising flour. Mix in salt+sugar+garlic powder.
• Add in active dry yeast and nigella seeds to the above. Mix in well all the dry ingredients.
• Add in half cup of water to the whole milk and make it lukewarm.
• Add in cooking oil to the dry ingredients mixture.Rub it evenly all through.
• Now add in lukewarm diluted whole milk as required to knead into smooth dough.
• Once the dough starts to collect well, knead it again well. Cover it with a cotton towel and let it rest for about 2-3 hrs or till the dough has risen up well preferably in a moist and warm place.
• When the dough has raised well. Divide it into 7-8 portions.
• Take one portions, put in chopped garlic and dried herbs.
• Now roll in to tear shape or eliptical shape or what ever way you prefer pressing down chopped garlic and dried herb onto the unbaked naan.
• Preheat an oven at about 200 deg C. Place those unbaked naan on a baking tray lined with baking paper.
• Bake it for 10 mints. Take out, flip the naan and again transfer to bake it further 5 mints at same temperature.
• When all the naans are baked similarly, put them in a serving bowl; preferably keep it cover so that it remains hot and soft. Serve and enjoy it with lamb korma.

Happy Cooking Friends

Blueberry Muffin on a sugar high Friday

There used to be a series – way back something called- “Sugar high Friday” where food bloggers used to share recipes that were something to do with sweets and sugars. Now after such a long gap, I really don’t know if that food blog event is still running or not ( I am always on-off from food blogging world that, many things go missing from my reading list and now it is a habit.) but I really want to remember that food-event, even though this muffin recipe was made long while ago , nevertheless sharing is what I believe in , so an impromptu blog post of blueberry muffin recipe on this very Friday. Lets see if I can do it next Friday or coming Fridays, something that even I am not sure of doing hundred percent either.

Actually with so many food blog events, I somehow have started having a dizzy feeling when ever someone utters the word “event”. Don’t get me wrong but with so many food blog events and their successive tenure, I find them intimidating, the mere mention and I want to run away. If you all can be little patient with me, I want to rewind the clock and look back when there were limited food-blog events and people still have choices to come up with recipes, good recipes and within their comfort levels.  Now with each passing days the definition of food-blogging is also changing, this open social networking systems have allowed us all to mingle with each other outside our virtual domain. And with this the main focus of having valuable, homely recipes is lost; we don’t even acknowledge the original source from where one is taking up the original recipes or even ideas. And ethics have now become a passing fashion tag or should I say hash-tag.
Our world has squeezed into being hash-tags. #- holidays , #-recipes, # kids, # food-blogs  etc……

But then each one of us have their own  justified way of communicating with “readers” (and I won’t use the word – “followers” here) but honestly where you draw a line …..

I know something I won’t be able to get along well, nor am I willing to float along with the flow. So, here I am, old fashioned way sharing a recipe with out putting it or mentioning it in any other social- networking sites beforehand. Please feel free to write how your world has changed for better using social-networking sites if not less.

Blueberry Muffin

Recipe requirements

1 and ¾ cup of self raising flour

2 free range eggs

½ cup of granulated sugar

¼ cup of cooking oil

2 tbs of spreadable butter

1 tsp of vanilla essence

2 cups of  fresh blueberries

3-4 tbs of yogurt

Method

Sift in self raising flour. Since we are using self –raising flour, we won’t be adding baking powder. In case you don’t get self raising flour then add in ½ tsp of baking powder and two pinch of baking soda to 1 and ¾ cup of plain flour.

Wash and clean blueberries and then coat them well with flour. If using frozen then generally I don’t really like to thaw them and I do add them as it is.

In a  big mixing bowl, mix in butter+cooking oil, and keep on adding sugar to this till all the sugar is used up. This should now look like a pale colour fluffy mixture. Add in vanilla essence.

Add egg one at a time mixing it through. It would be nice if you can take out eggs and yogurt prior to baking the cake at least about an hour.Add in yogurt also. If you see the mixture is curdling, then add in few tsp of flour to even out.

Now add in coated blueberries to the above mixture. Add in self raising flour and gently fold in, so that blueberries are evenly scattered within the cake batter.We need a gentle and caring hand for them , so just fold in.

Set the oven at 175 deg C. Now prepare the muffin tins. Line them up with muffin cases.Scoop out about a big dollop of this batter in a spoon and drop into each muffin cases. And bake them for about 15-20 mints or till they are golden on outside surface.This much yielded about 16-18 muffins, although I would assume them to be blueberries cupcakes rather than muffin.You can put a tooth pick in the middle, insert and take out to check if they are baked well or not.....if tooth pick comes out clean, your muffins are ready.You can put toppings or frosting as well.

If you want to make cupcakes or muffins in pressure cooker then here is this old post  -  way back in 2008.

Happy Cooking Friends

Jerk Chicken Fingers

I know many of you would have felt knee –jerk reactions during the semi finals of football world cup, well Brazil seemed to be loosing it out at that time and now it will involve many more knee-jerk reactions, jerking all the way from bottom- to –top. Although the management of the entire game schedules were spot on and impeccable and that I must add here. And, also we did get a knee-jerk reaction when we spotted a fox near the back yard of our apartment complex. Well, this is nothing new, it is indeed a common sight for many here, although for us it was the first time in broad day-light. We couldn't believe our eyes, dear daughter caught this moment with our point and shoot camera. And couple of friends have also told us that, if they keep rubbish outside in night, these foxes come and do hunt out food for them, making the well-kept garden messy all over. The sight of Lionel Messi would have been better not the foxes messy,let’s now be tight-lipped about it.

Well, this recipe of jerk chicken fingers is not at all that dramatic and knee-jerking as if you would start dreaming out of it. But, taste wise it is indeed very flavorful and can be considered over-whelming but not certainly knee-jerking, although it still will be called chicken jerk-“fingers” not chicken jerk –“knee”.Ok, please refrain ourselves from further imaginations and let’s say its good as gold to be a great finger food or party food/appetizers.

Coming to the recipe, jerk seasoning that I have used in this recipe comes here in spice packets, and that’s what globalization intends to do to you. I am sure you all must have heard about “jerk chicken” which has its origin somewhere in Caribbean island, and taking that cue, I made these chicken jerk fingers. There are plenty of recipes available in internet to make home-made jerk seasonings and use accordingly. One recipe is this and this- detailed recipe of jerk chicken and this-dry rub spice-mix.
I have used Kashmiri red pepper powder for that reddish color and also it does add little bit of spice also. However it’s not required strictly, a plain Jane type of chicken fingers with only jerk seasoning will also turn out flavorful, overnight marination of chicken pieces is recommended, so that spices can well incorporate inside chicken. Yogurt helps in tenderization of flesh and also as great base to bind all the spices well. If you are allergic to milk-products then you may skip it and use lemon juice or vinegar as well.
Now to the jerk chicken recipe

Jamaican Jerk Chicken Fingers or Tenders
Recipe requirements
Chicken finger fillets about 300 Gms
2 tsp of coriander powder
1 tsp of jerk seasoning
1 tsp of garlic powder
1 tsp of Kashmiri march powder/Kashmiri red pepper powder
½ tsp of freshly crushed black peppercorn
5-6 heaped tsp of thick Greek style yogurt or 2 tsp of lemon juice or any other souring agent
Method
After cleaning chicken pieces, pat them dry with a kitchen towel. We do get chicken finger fillets here, however if you don’t then you can make, cut strips from chicken breast pieces as well.
Now add in all the dry ingredients- coriander powder, jerk seasoning, crushed black pepper, Kashmiri red pepper powder (I have used MDH brand Kashmiri red pepper powder which seems to be little high on hot level and as well on color), for jerk seasoning I have used Rajah Brand and Schwartz brand so far and seems to be satisfied with the results. (Jerk seasoning originates from Caribbean cuisine, specially from Jamaica- a famous chicken recipe is, Jamaican Jerk Chicken , will update the blog with that recipe as well)
Add in salt as per taste and thick Greek-style yogurt also. Coat chicken finger fillets very well with the spices and yogurt mixture.
Now put on the oven at 200 deg C, set it at and grill the chicken fillets for about 20-25 mints or till they get nice smoky texture or are well charred.It would be nice if the tray is covered with foil. It also depend on the cuts of the chicken  fillets , so check out in between and keep an eye over the grilling process in oven.

Or you may bake the chicken as well. For that take out in mid-way, and if you need then coat those with cooking oil.I have never done that as we like to have it oil-free and grilled which turns out soft.You may use sour cream in place of yogurt as well which is even better gives a very smooth texture once the chicken is done.

You may use this seasoning to grill other vegetables like- zucchini, bell pepper, onions etc as well. Vegetarian can skip chicken or meat and use tofu or paneer to make Jerk tofu/paneer fingers, all other ingredients remain same.  
As usual we served along with cooked cous-cous and slices of tomato and cucumber.

Happy cooking and have a lovely weekend

Salmon Fish Biryani and about million hits

Now that cupid is working hard, aiming precise with his invisible arrows today, God knows (but then he is already a God, I guess) How much he had to sweat it out hard, past one year in making those artistic and beautiful arrows in solitude, decorating it with flowers, scents and what not, not to forget, to keep track of the log –book where names of those fragile earthy targets are written.And when it hits, those fragile earthy targets- that is us the mortal beings, most of us living their life very peacefully up until now and in routine, all hell I mean heaven broke upon us.A sudden weird feeling, butterfly in stomach and fish in sky..Ok that was gross…poor souls never will come to know how, what, when and from where it happened , a vicious I mean pleasant  cycle once you are in, it’s difficult to get out…..

 And then after a tiring, action-packed day, once he is done with his share of aiming and targeting, lets do hope he gets to eat some chocolates and drink wine for himself as well, relaxing and quitting the day as sun sets in, realizing he is responsible for the increasing demands of commercialized items viz- cards, chocolates, wine and roses and many more just like these. I guess he is similar to “Arjuna” from “Mahabharat”, being excellent in an art form known as archery –‘dhanur Vidya” seriously…..Arjuna with his killer bows killed evil and saved mankind while Cupid strikes his arrows when he thinks he should without any logic.Yes, I guess that’s why love is beyond logic and always will …..the moment you to try put logic, love is lost…..

Ok I know people will moan about me for not feeling mushy-cushy about it.So, let me tell you I do like, in fact I adore YRF movies, as when they are in season like mangoes...they sell promptly…Wish Cupid takes notice of those movies and watch some Hindi films aka DDLJ, DTPH, KHNH, KKKG, SOTY (oh these are all short forms of YRF films) …..And realize even we are not that different …..so observing for not being different and in sync with the entire world, ok at least half of the world today  …

Here is salmon fish biryani for you and your family and that is what I think perhaps is appropriate as of now.Cakes, chocolates and all that jazz can wait and if not then perhaps it’s time to have a visit to the local bakery promptly.

Just to add I did make a blueberry cake minus all that cream or layering up, don’t ask me what is the significance and co-relation between blueberries with V- day, I just happened to pick those extra lot and I had to use it up before it goes kaput, so saving them, was indeed on my mind..Hope the family and especially dear husband likes it..In short and in simple.

Now to the recipe for fish biryani

Salmon Fish Biryani

Recipe requirements

4-5 salmon fillets or 600 Gms of salmon

1 medium size purple onion

4 fat clove garlic

Quarter inch fresh ginger root

 1 tomato

1 tsp of coriander powder

½ tsp of cumin powder

2 tsp of any biryani masala powder

 2 tsp of red pepper powder

1 tsp of salt or as per taste

¼ cup of cooking oil

½ cup of yogurt

For rice

2 cups of basmati rice

½ tsp of oil

½ tsp of salt

3 cloves

Half inch cinnamon stick broken into small pieces

4-5 green cardamoms

½ tsp of biryani masala

Method

 Marinate salmon fillet with salt and half the quantity of red pepper powder in a shallow bowl.Keep aside for half an hour.

 Put a large deep bottom pan, handi or what ever you will use with 5-6 cups of water over stove-top/gas.Add in 3 C’s;cloves, cardamom , cinnamon.Add in salt and oil.Let the water come to a boil, and then add in soaked up rice.Sprinkle some biryani powder over it but then this is not necessary.Cook it up ¾ or better half way through.Drain off the starch,put the rice in a flat plate and spread it out to cool off.

Now preparae the masala for biryani

Heat up cooking oil in a deep bottom pan or handi /dekchi if you are using it.

Add up onion, ginger and garlic.Fry them for about 3-4 mints.Add in finely chopped tomato.

Now add in dry powders- red pepper powder, biryani powder, coriander and cumin powders( I use Shan brand, but it depends on personal favorites) .Now add in salt, splash some water so that the masala don’t stick to the base of the pan.

Keep on stir/fry at med-high flame.After about 6-7 mints it will turn into dark in colour.Now add in marinated salmon pieces.Coat the fish very well with the masala.Lower the flame and let it cook for about 5-7 mints.

Meanwhile whisk in yogurt with half cup of water well.Take the pan off the heat, add in yogurt, mixing it as you keep on adding, carefully not to tear off the fillets.Once the entire thing is mixed up, put the pan again on flame.Let the fish cook through well in this masala gravy say about 7-10 mints at medium flame.Taste and adjust spice and salt.

Now time to layer up fish biryani

In an oven proof dish, layer the half -cooked rice first, then salmon fillets with the masala, and again some more rice over it and then lastly cooked fish.Add in deep fried onion in between and also finely chopped coriander.If you like the flavor of kewra essence/pandanus extracts  then sprinkle some drops over the final layer.And I do sometimes add in cashews +raisins as well.It’s all personal choice to dress it up even further.

Cover the oven proof dish with aluminum foil, put the dish in the oven and then bake further 10-15 mints at 175 deg C.Turn off the oven and let it sit in there.Personally I have always tried to put it to rest for at least 2-3 hrs before we eat it as this way the flavours gel much better.You can have it with mint raita or any other raita.

Recently the blog got it’s million hits..Yes blowing my own trumpet here – last week as I happened to check the counter – it read something like this 1,000,341 hits…now I don’t know what this implies, but then again , page hits and reading blogs, is totally a different thing.It took me more than 7 years to reach this phase, please understand that I don’t blog-hop much nor the blog has it’s own domain, nor I am that active in other social/virtual networking, and rarely host blog-events, and top it all, I do go hibernating many times unannounced- right, sometimes even a year long. 

So, what ever little this blog is noticed or being read, is just because of the lovely people like you, who read this blog again and again.Remember blogging these days is in a dying form, all thanks to other virtual networking alternatives and if you don’t communicate, it will not be easy to write again and again here….

Anyhow lets hope we continue doing things we have done it in past …that is, sharing our family recipes with you all so that you try them out in your kitchen as well.Learning is a life-long process and sharing the knowledge is always satisfying.Well thanks for coming here and making the blog as part of your life even it meant just for glancing it through or spending merely half a minute here.

It’s  raining outside and wind blowing fiercely, making horrific sounds here as I am typing this post.God knows when it’s going to stop as we are now mostly confined to home.Lets hope we do have a relaxing weekend,a midst all these chaotic weather here...

Anyhow thanks to all of you for coming here and reading this blog.Enjoy rest of the day folks, have a lovely weekend everybody.

Happy Cooking Friends 

Chocolate Bundt Cake recipe- Our way

It was one mundane afternoon, after finishing up cooking and cleaning, I was about to iron some clothes that were drying up, but then ironing clothes is something I really don’t fancy doing on one lazy afternoon. I had my Cous-Cous Upma ( archive post from 2010) for lunch.And as I was about to start ironing the clothes( the picture of ingredients right above the method steps has that iron even which I somehow cropped it out as that would have been embarrassing, now who needs iron as food props, right ?) The most dreadful chore so as to me, I decided, no actually I was craving for some chocolate cake and then recalled dear daughter has made a wish at the breakfast table for chocolate cake also. You know how kids and chocolate are inseparable.
As I was deliberately postponing the inauguration ceremony of my new Bundt pan, I thought may be it’s now time to do so. Here is chocolate Bundt cake recipe made on one mundane afternoon.

I love how freshly brewed coffee smells, kind of a reckoning, brings all senses alive, a sudden kick to wake you up, and perhaps when this is included in chocolate cake, this imparts a lovely aromatic blend and that dark chocolaty color. I took out spreadable butter, yogurt and eggs prior of making this cake and let it rest for a while. Then as it happens while making a cake, rest was done as accordingly.
When I spotted this Bundt pan  in a super-market here, it kind of drew my attention instantaneously.

I liked the delicate pattern of this Bundt cake, although this is a small tin as compared to the standard Bundt tin measurements, but there is this lovely design which makes me more inclined to use it over and over again.

 Although, this chocolate cake that you see now is the first time that I tried the Bundt cake, but since then I have made carrot cake, two batches of chocolate cake and one tutti –fruity cake as well. The base recipe for the cake remains same, like I replace drinking cocoa powder with more flour and shredded carrots or tutti-frutti assortment as the recipe calls for it. But today it is chocolate Bundt cake recipe for you for the time being.

Chocolate Bundt Cake
Recipe requirements
1 ¾ cup of cake flour/self raising flour
¼ cup of good quality cocoa powder
2-3 tbs of yogurt
2 free-range eggs
5-6 heaped tbs of butter spread
1 ½ tsp of instant coffee
¾ tsp of baking soda
½ cup of sugar

Method
Sift cake flour well and then mix in coco powder. Now add in baking soda.
Cream together sugar and spreadable butter well until light and fluffy. You may use vegetable oil as well
Make half a cup of coffee with the amount of coffee powder mentioned.
Now add in egg one at a time mixing through. Add in yogurt, mixing well.
Now in a big mixing bowl, mix in half the amount of flour+ cocoa powder mixture with butter+sugar+egg+yogurt mixture.
Now keep on mixing the rest of dry mixture with wet mixture and lastly freshly brewed coffee until you get a nice gooey chocolaty cake batter.
Prepare the cake tin with spraying some oil, and then dusting off evenly with plain flour.
Preset the oven at about 175 deg C or gas mark 4 .
Pour the prepared cake batter in the floured cake tin. Place the cake tin in the middle rack and then bake for about 30-35 mints. Please check your own oven settings and timing for cake baking. I guess fan assisted oven are slightly different than convectional oven in a standard microwave. Best is to read user manual and then proceed. Always keep an eye on the cake in oven.
Take out when the cake is done and let it cool off.Flip the side upside down with the help of a plate.Dust off extra flour from the top of cake with a brush.Now prepare sugar icing as usual or have it with out that.
I would suggest having it with a scoop of your favorite ice-cream. Delicious.And do you know you can even pack it in your travel-bag as a quick snack.

Edited on 6th Dec 2013
I made this cake yesterday again with few changes as I was running short of self raising flour....
*Used plain flour and then added 1/4 tsp of baking soda and 1/2 tsp of baking powder.Added strong brewed coffee about half a cup* ..
The cake batter was quite on a runny side but it turned out just like fudge cake ..dense and moist,uploading a picture with vanilla caramel ice-cream....now "delicious" is just a word here ....

Happy cooking and baking 

Lamb meat cooked with Liver, New potatoes and Green peas

I have heard about some fruits being used as meat tenderizer like kiwi, pineapple or green papaya. Personally I have never used them so far, and the ones who read this blog regularly you know that well. So, I never knew if it is going to work in favor for this recipe or not. I was little apprehensive before I made this lamb and lamb liver semi dry /“sukha” fried curry, but to be honest it is one of the best recipes made so far, for lamb meat. I had some unripe kiwi lying in the fruit basket and I was wondering how should I fix it, other than kiwi pie or kiwi cheesecake, so came up with this recipe with lamb meat.

The tanginess of kiwi gelled very much with spices,lamb steak and lamb liver pieces and top it all the flavour new potatoes and "hara matar" –green peas have imparted, we knew it this was heading into a delicious preparation. Addition of curry patta and coconut powder added that southern Indian rustic touch, and then addition of black peppercorn did the hammering trick. You can say pepper mutton is dressed up even more to yield a new flavor, something kind of an add-on and it looks like it’s a match made in heaven- sorry a match made in my kitchen – an idea can change a life or in this case a recipe.

Here is recipe for lamb steak piece with lamb liver,potatoes and green peas my humble first attempt at including kiwi in everyday Indian cooking. And yes the lamb steak pieces were cooked little early. This is a ‘sukha”/dry preparation enough to have it with roti…..


Lamb meat cooked with lamb liver, new potatoes, Kiwi and green peas-Mutton aur Kaleji aloo matar (When north meets up with south-jab they met)
Recipe requirements( measurements are approx) 

• 3 lamb steaks- roughly about 400 Gms
• Lamb liver- about 200 Gms
• 1 large cup of green peas fresh or frozen what ever is available
• 2 large purple onions
• 4-5 fat clove of garlic
• 1 inch ginger root
• About a handful of curry leaves/curry patta
• ½ cup of coconut powder
• 2-3 medium size new potatoes (as this is in season now) cut into big chunks or use baby new potatoes
• ½ cup of yogurt
• 1 kiwi or 2 kiwi fruits

For tempering and Seasonings

• 2 -3 cloves
• 2-3 small green cardamoms
• 10-12 black peppercorn
• 1 tsp of red pepper powder
• ½ tsp of turmeric powder
• 2 tsp of freshly crushed black peppercorn
• 2 tsp of coriander powder
• ¼ tsp of cumin powder
• 1 tsp of cardamom powder
• ½ tsp of cinnamon powder
• 1 tsp of salt or as per taste
• 1 tsp of sugar
• 7-8 tbs of mustard oil

Method
1.-.Make a marinade sauce with – yogurt+red pepper powder+salt+half of the quantity of mustard oil and finely chopped kiwi ( take the skin off) . Now rub this sauce over lamb steak pieces very well and keep it aside for 1-2 hrs.If you wish you can cut steak pieces further into small portions. If you are fine with the crunch of tiny kiwi seeds then add the whole kiwi or you may take out the pith and discard all the seeds and in that case I do think please use two kiwi fruits.

2.-You can skip yogurt at this time and add on later when all the spices have blended well with lamb pieces...It would be nice if you can do the marination overnight if using lamb meat with bones or any other red-meat.
3.-Grate ginger after peeling off the skin and do the same with garlic. We have used grated garlic and ginger rather than paste for this recipe. Chop onion very finely. Grating garlic and ginger releases fresh juices which adds up to the flavor and more the stir/fry is less hard working.

4.-Now heat up mustard oil in a big enough pan/kadai etc and fry the potatoes so that they just start turning barely brown. Take out and drain. Now that oil itself, temper this with cloves, green cardamom, pepper corn, ginger and garlic. Add in curry patta.When garlic+ginger has turned towards little brownish, add in finely chopped onions. Add in sugar and keep on stir/fry it.

5.-Add in dry spice ingredients- turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin powder and fresh crushed black peppercorn. Keep on stir/fry till onions shrinks and becomes evenly fried and reddish-brown. I have used home-made and grounded coriander powder and cumin powder, and cardamom +cinnamon powder not the ready-made spice packets.

6.-Now add the marinated lamb steak pieces. Add in green peas. Add in half a cup of water. Mix and stir well. Add in coconut powder, cinnamon powder, cardamom powder and let it bhuno/stir/fry for 15-20 mints.
7.-Add in lamb liver pieces. Now cover this and put the flame to medium- low. After about 20-25 mints check if it’s not stuck at the base and if required splash some more water or add quarter cup of warm water.
Lamb liver pieces are cooked by this time but the lamb steak pieces will generally require little more cooking, after about 10-15 mints switch off the flame and let it sit there. If you do not want to eat overly cooked liver pieces then add them in later stages of this preparation. Usually this gets cooked in 15-20 mints at med-low flame.

8.-Let it rest for a while before you dig into it, as resting period helps in soaking up the flavor more. I try to make this in the morning if we are having it as dinner or at least 3-4 hrs before our dinner is served. And next day it’s even more flavourful.Serve and enjoy.

If you have left-over if any, then mix in with cooked rice, it gels well with it and gives you instant lamb pilaf, or boil some pasta any shape, mix it and you have a quick Indian spice inspired pasta recipe.

Happy Cooking Friends