Fresh Cherry and Vanilla Cake

We were invited for dinner to a friends’ place. I wanted to take something for them and I thought of baking a plain vanilla cake. When I opened the fridge I saw cherries and I thought ‘Alright, cherry cake it is’. And here’s what I baked..! :)

Ingredients

All Purpose Flour/ Maida – 1 ½ cups

Sugar – 1 cup

Unsalted Butter – ½ cup

Baking Soda – 1 tsp.

Eggs – 2

Cherries – 1 cup, halved and pitted

Salt – Pinch (if using salted butter, salt can be avoided)

Milk – ½ cup

Vanilla Extract – 1 tsp.

Yields – 12 to 15 medium sized pieces

Method

1.  In a large bowl, mix together butter (melted/ at room temp), sugar, eggs and vanilla. Set aside.

2.  In another bowl, sift together flour, salt, soda. Add these dry ingredients to the creamed mixture along with milk. Add half of the cherries into the mixture and mix well.

3.   Pre-heat the oven at 350 degrees F/ 175 degrees C.

4.   In the meanwhile, take a cake pan and grease it with butter. Pour the batter and put the rest of the cherries on top of it. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

Note: To check if the cake is baked, insert a toothpick/ fork and see if it comes out clean. If it does, the cake is ready.

5. Take it out. Allow it to cool. Transfer on to a wire rack for it to cool completely or simply place it on a sheet or plate. Cut in to equal sized pieces.

Cashew Sesame and Coconut Chicken Curry

One day, I suddenly felt like cooking chicken with sesame seeds. Don’t ask me why. :)

I bought sesame seeds and started cooking the chicken curry on a Sunday. As I started the preparations, ideas kept popping up in my mind and I came up with the below recipe. Chicken curry was awesome. It almost tasted like yellow curry. Well, the Indian version though..! :)

Ingredients:

Chicken - 1 Pound/ ½ Kg

Thick Curd – 4 tbsp.

Cashews – 2 tbsp.

Sesame Seeds – 1 ½ tbsp.

Coconut Flakes – ¾ tbsp.

Onions – 2 ½ to 3 cups, finely chopped

Tomatoes (optional)– 1 ½ cups, finely chopped

Cilantro/ Coriander Leaves – ¾ cup, chopped

Mint Leaves – ¼ cup, chopped

Curry Leaves – 5 to 6 leaves

Green Chilies – 3

Dhanya Jeera powder – ½ tsp.

Chili Powder – ½ tsp.

Turmeric Powder – ¼ tsp.

Ground Pepper powder – ¾ tsp.

Garam masala – ¼ tsp.

Curry powder – ¼ tsp.

Chat Masala – 1 tsp.

Tandoori Chicken masala – 1 tsp. (optional)

Mustard Oil – 3 tbsp.

Salt – To taste

Water – 1 to 2 cups

Method:

1. Clean the chicken and cut it into small to medium pieces.

2. Marinate the chicken with curd, chili powder, dhanya jeera powder, ground pepper, turmeric powder and a pinch of salt. Keep aside till needed.

3. Make a paste of sesame seeds, cashews and coconut flakes.

4. In a wok, put the mustard oil and add cumin seeds. Once they start spluttering, add green chilies and curry leaves. Now add the finely chopped onion and saute till it caramelizes or becomes dark golden brown in color (well done).

5. Once the onions are ready, add the chopped tomatoes. Let the gravy cook till it loses all the water and becomes thick.

     Note: you could skip this step and follow the next step directly.

6. Add the sesame, cashew and coconut paste; water to the gravy and bring it to a boil.

7. Now add the marinated chicken in to the gravy. Add mint leaves too. 

     

     Put in chat masala and tandoori chicken masala (Optional).

8. Cook until the chicken pieces become tender.

9. Add cilantro and salt towards the end.

10. Mix well and turn off the flame when chicken pieces are completely done.

11. Serve hot with either rice or roti.

Kala Chana Masala

Pulses have always been my forte. I learnt and enjoyed cooking them right from the time I started cooking. I am so confident about the dish to turn out right that pulses make a permanent place on my menu during special dinners and lunches.

Try out this delicious Kala Chana Masala and let me know if you like it. :)

Ingredients

Kala/ Black Chana – 1 cup, boiled

Onions – 1 ½ cup, diced in to cubes

Tomatoes – 2 to 3 (medium)/ 3 cups, diced in to cubes

Chilies – 3 to 4, slit vertically

Ginger garlic paste – ½ tsp.

Mint leaves – ½ cup, full leaves

Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp.

Chili powder – ½ tsp.

Garam masala – 1 ½ to 2 tsp.

Chat masala – 1 tsp. (I used it as a substitute to amchoor powder)

Chana Masala – 1 tsp.

Note – Don’t worry if you don’t have it. The dish turns out well even without it. You could add more of garam masala and chat masala if required.

Asafetida/ Hing – 1/8 tsp.

Cumin seeds/ Jeera – ½ tsp.

Cilantro/ Coriander leaves – For garnishing

Oil – 2 to 3 tbsp.

Salt – To taste

Water – 1 – 1 ½ cups

Method

1. Take a saucepan, put it on flame and add oil. Once the oil gets heated, add cumin seeds, upon spluttering put asafetida, chilies, onions, tomatoes (in that order) and sauté until the rawness goes. Onions should become a little translucent and tomatoes should become soft and mushy.

2. Turn off the heat. Let the mixture cool.

3. Grind the onion tomato mixture into a fine paste.

4. Put the pan on heat, add a little oil and pour in the paste. Cook until the gravy loses all its water and sticks together. Keep stirring at regular intervals.

                                  

5. Once the gravy is ready, add turmeric powder, chili powder, ginger garlic paste and cook for another 5 minutes.

6. Now add boiled chana, salt, chat masala and garam masala. Mix well and add water. Let it come to a boil and cook until you get your desired consistency.

Note – The more you cook, more flavors get in to chana. Be sure not to burn your dish though. :)

7. Turn off the flame and serve hot with roti, rice, poori or bhatura.

Coffee Kissed Dark Chocolate Brownies

Well, there’s not much of a story behind these brownies. I was watching this show, where the protagonist makes brownies for dessert and I was like wow, let’s bake some brownies. Besides, I was meeting a friend very close to my heart, which gave me an occasion too. And thus the brownies! :)

Try these yummilicious brownies and win your near and dear ones’ hearts..! :)

Ingredients

All Purpose Flour/ Maida – 1 Cup

Cocoa Powder – ¼ Cup

Baking Soda – ½ tsp.

Salt – Pinch (Can be avoided if using salted butter)

Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate with Caramel Filling Squares - 3

White Sugar – 1 ¼ Cup

Salted Butter – ½ Cup/ 1 Stick/ 8 tbsp.

Eggs – 3

Coffee Decoction – 3 tsp.
Yield - 30 - 32 

Note:

· Don’t worry if you don’t have all the ingredients. Look around and see if you can find a substitute for the missing ingredient. For example, I didn’t have dark/ normal chocolate chips (which are to be added according to the actual recipe) but I had the Ghirardelli dark chocolate squares. Thus I made use of them.

· Similarly, I didn’t have vanilla essence. It kept me looking for a substitute, and Voila..! I thought let’s give a hint of coffee to the brownies. Thus the name, “Coffee Kissed Dark Chocolate Brownies”. :)

Method

1. Preheat the oven at 350 degrees F/ 175 degrees C.

2. In a big bowl, sift together all the dry ingredients and keep aside.

3. Melt the butter and the chocolate squares by placing them in a bowl placed in a saucepan with simmering water. Stir until the butter and chocolate melt completely. Add sugar and eggs to the melted mixture and mix well.

4. Add flour mixture to the wet mixture and mix well. Also add the coffee decoction.

5. Take a cake pan, grease it with butter and pour the brownie batter. Bake for 30 – 32 minutes. If baked for longer than that, the brownies can lose their moisture.

Note: To check if the any cake/ brownie is baked, insert a toothpick and see if it comes out clean. If it does, the cake is ready.

6. Take it out. Allow it to cool. Transfer on to a wire rack for it to cool completely or simply place it on a sheet or plate. Cut in to equal sized pieces.

Mooli and Gajar ka Parantha

There was this day when I was in a mood to make mooli ka parantha. While I was gathering all the ingredients, I thought let’s make it a little different. And I ended up adding carrots too.

I am not very good with stuffed paranthas. And I was a little skeptical about this one too. But since I was determined to make them, I just tweaked the method a little to suit my convenience.

The outcome was great and HEALTHY! Take a look at the recipe below.

Ingredients

Radish/ Mooli – 1 Cup, grated

Carrot – 1 Cup, grated

Ajwain/ Carom Seeds – 1 tsp., crushed coarsely

Green Chilies – 1 tsp., finely chopped

Chat Masala – ½ tsp.

Wheat Flour – 2 Cups

Salt – to taste

Water – ¾ cup or enough to knead the dough

Yield – 10 – 12 paranthas

Method

1. Squeeze out the water completely from grated radish and carrot.

2. In a big bowl, mix all the ingredients properly (except water and flour).

3. Now add the wheat flour and add water in small amounts until a dough is formed.

4. Divide the dough in to equal sized balls.

5. Dust each ball with some wheat flour and roll it out in to flat round roti.

6. Take a pan, once it gets heated, place the roti on it.

7. Once the bottom part gets baked a little, put a few drops of oil on the top part, spread it and turn over.

8. Put a few drops of oil on the baked part (which is now the top part). Wait till the other side gets baked too and take the roti off the pan.

9. Serve hot with raita or a little butter. :)

Spinach and Egg Cubes

When I first started this food blog, I reached out to my mother in law for some recipes that aren't common. And trust me; she has a lot to offer when it comes to cooking. She told me about the egg cubes and I was thrilled to know that something like this can be made.

The following recipe is inspired by hers and has a little touch of Neha Venna :). Try it out and go egging.  :)

Ingredients

Green Peppers/ Capsicum – ½ Cup, chopped

Eggs – 5

Spinach – 2 Cups, cleaned and chopped

Cilantro/ Coriander Leaves – ¾ Cup, chopped

Mint Leaves – ¼ Cup, chopped

Turmeric Powder – ¼ tsp.

Chili Powder – ½ tsp.

Dhanya and Jeera Powder – ¼ tsp.

Ground Pepper – ½ tsp.

Salt – to taste

Water – 4 to 5 cups

Serves 2

Method

1. Take a pan, mix all the ingredients (except water) and whisk in to a fine mixture.

2. Transfer the mixture in to a container that fits in to a pressure cooker.

3. Take a pressure cooker, add water and bring it to a boil.

4. Place the spinach and egg mixture container in to the cooker and cover it with a lid. Make sure the water doesn't fall in to it while steaming.

5. Cover the cooker with its lid and let it steam for about 10 - 15 minutes.

6. When done, take the container out and let it cool. The mixture turns in to a flat cake. Place it on a plate and cut in to pieces of desired size.

7. The cubes can be eaten by themselves as a snack or can be stir fried with some onions and green chilies. When sauteed, the cubes look and taste like paneer.