Chocolate and Hazelnut Torte

A Torte is a rich cake of European origin that is essentially flourless or made with very little flour. Ground nuts and beaten egg-whites make up the body of the cake. Most of the tortes are layered and iced but you can also make them unlayered. I had been eyeing this Chocolate and Hazelnut Torte  recipe for some time. Although you will find many other similar recipes, I chose this one because it is nicely illustrated and also has an accompanying video.

I am usually for easy and less time-consuming types of baking recipes but the occasion called for an elaborate cake. It was our anniversary and I decided to make it sweeter with this Chocolate Hazelnut Torte. As this type of cake is new to me, I watched the recipe video a few times to get confidence of the techniques involved. Also I have been slowly stocking up the ingredients with the intention of making this cake.

Some of my tips and notes for the recipe:

- To make ground hazelnuts at home, roast the hazelnuts in oven or in a pan and grind it into a coarse powder using a spice-grinder/coffee-mill.

- For best results, use good-quality dark chocolate having atleast 70% cocoa solids. Break the chocolate into small pieces and melt it using double boiler i.e. put the chocolate pieces in a bowl and keep the bowl over a pan of simmering water. Make sure the bottom of the bowl containing chocolate does not come in contact with water below.

- For orange liquer use Cointreau or substitute with grated rind of one orange and three tablespoons of orange juice.

- To separate egg whites from the yolk - crack egg in the middle and then break it slowly while transferring the yolk to one half and allowing the egg-white to fall into a bowl. Keep transferring the yolk between the two shells until all the egg-white has drained off. Put the yolk into a separate bowl.
 
If the pictures in the original recipe are not enough, then here are some more to tease your tastebuds! Don't get me wrong, I just meant to inspire you :-)
 

Easy Chilli Garlic Focaccia

Finally I baked a bread from scratch for the first time today! I have been thinking about it for a long time but was apprehensive about using yeast correctly. So I settled for a simple soda-based Focaccia recipe that I found in Rachel Allen’s book "Baking".

Focaccia is an Italian bread characterised by its flat pizza-like appearance. It has dimples all over its surface and is generally flavoured with cheese, garlic, onion in combination with other herbs along with generous drizzle of olive oil. The resulting bread is very tasty and can be eaten on its own as snack or along with soup/pasta.

Easy Chilli Garlic Focaccia

Ingredients

450 gms Plain Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
400 ml Buttermilk/Sour Milk
Olive Oil - about 60 ml
Sea salt for sprinkling - optional
Flavouring of your choice - see Notes below

Notes

• Typically cheese, garlic, onions, sun-dried tomatoes and Italian herbs are used to flavour this bread. I used  five cloves of garlic crushed and a teaspoon of red-chilli flakes.
• To make sour milk, add about half teaspoon of lemon juice to milk and keep it overnight at room temperature. You can use this milk in place of buttermilk for making the dough.
• Use Extra Virgin Olive oil to get better flavour.

Method

• Preheat the oven to 220 C. Grease a swiss-roll tin with olive oil.
• Mix flour, soda and salt together and sieve it in a big bowl. Add chilli flakes to the flour and mix using a spoon.
• Make a well in centre and pour almost all the buttermilk/sour milk at once and mix well using your fingers. Once the dough starts coming together, transfer it to a lightly floured surface and work it gently to bring it together.
• Roll it into a big rectangle to fit into a swiss-roll tin (14" x 8") and transfer it to the tin.
• Make dimples over the surface of the dough and sprinkle garlic on the surface. Also sprinkle sea-salt if using it.
• Drizzle olive oil all over the surface.
• Transfer the tin to the oven bake for 30 minutes or until the top is golden-brown in colour.
• Take it out from oven and drizzle more olive oil on the bread.
• Allow it to cool and cut into squares for serving.

Easy, Excellent and Eggless

You must have guessed by now what this post is about! Yes, it's about an eggless cake - I baked an eggless  cake yesterday for the first time for DH's birthday. Not having ventured into the eggless terrain, I was sceptical about the results but I was surprised - the cake turned out to be far superior to my previous cakes made using eggs.

This cake was inspired by a Vanilla Cake recipe I found in a Microwave Cookbook by Nita Mehta. Actually the cake is not for microwave but you can bake it in the convection mode if your microwave provides this facility. I made a few changes of my own to the original recipe and managed to create a Marble Cake using Nutella. You could also use cocoa in place of nutella.

This cake is so easy, that even a novice would be able to bake it! As they say, proof of pudding is in the taste - so do give it a go!

Eggless Nutella Marble Cake

Ingredients

125 gms Plain Flour
1/2 tin/200 gms Condensed Milk
1/2 cup/75 gms Unsalted Butter
1 1/2 tbsp Caster Sugar
1/2 cup Milk
2 tbsp Nutella
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
3/4 level tsp Baking Powder
3/4 level tsp Baking Soda

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180 C.
• Measured the required amount of plain flour and add the baking powder and baking soda to it. Sift all this into a bowl and keep aside.
• Melt the butter. Add sugar and mix well. Then add the condensed milk, vanilla essence and milk and mix well using a whisk.
• Pour the liquid mix (butter and milk mixture) into the bowl containing flour and fold in the flour into the liquid. Blend well and make sure there are no lumps.
• Divide the mixture equally into two bowls. To one part, add Nutella and mix well.
• In a 8" greased and lined cake tin/silicone cake pan, add alternate spoons of the two mixtures.
• Bake it at 180 C for 40-45 minutes. To check if the cake it done, insert a skewer or a knife. If it comes out clean then the cake is ready.
• Allow it to cool completely before taking it out from tin.
• Optional: To decorate sift some icing sugar over the cake. I also added mint leaves and couple of raspberries for decoration - it's upto you how you want to do it!

P.S:  This cake was a hit in my household so I was enthused to try it again. I have baked it couple of times since last week - here are the pictures:

A Dose of Protein

Confused with the title? Let me explain - I prepared dosas using lentils and you probably know that lentils are a good source of protien. This dosa is very familiar to South Indians and is called Adai Dosa. I have been getting more interested in South Indian food these days and so thought of trying this dosa - I have never eaten it before myself though!

I browsed for recipes for this dosa and each called for varying proportions of rice to lentils. So I thought of using my own judgement : 1 cup of rice and 1 cup of mixed lentils - Chana, Toor, Urad and Moong. The good thing is you have to soak them for 2-3 hours only.

You can make variations to the spices used for the dosa. I would also add grated carrots/spinach if I was making it for my little one.

Adai Dosa

Ingredients:

1 cup Rice
1 cup lentils (mixture of Urad, Toor, Chana and Moong dals) - You can take 1/4 cup of each.
Salt to taste
4 Red Chillies
2 Green Chillies
1 medium Onion
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
Few Curry leaves
1/2 inch piece of Ginger
Oil for frying dosa

Method

• Soak rice and lentils separately for 2-3 hours.
• Grind them together along with chillies, onion, ginger, cumin seeds and curry leaves. Add little water while grinding to get a thick but coarse batter. Add salt to taste.
• Heat a non-stick tava (griddle) and ladle about 1/2 cup of mixture on the pan and spread it out in circular motion to make a big round dosa. Let it cook on medium heat.
• When the lower side is cooked and browned, flip the dosa and cook the other side briefly.
• Serve hot with coconut chutney - it's delicious on its own as well.

From my brother's kitchen : How to make Chicken Burger at home

This post is from my brother - Shailendra who's based in Bangalore, India. He loves eating fish and meat and he has agreed to share one of his favourite recipes on this blog.

Hello subscribers to Anita’s food blog. Here is one of my favorite comfort foods / Sunday lunch. I don’t like the burger served at fast food restaurants. So here is a burger recipe for my sis’s blog for all those who love chicken.

This is a lean recipe so you can enjoy it without much fuss about putting on weight.The buns and mayonnaise can be prepared in advance. I made all of it on Sunday, as I like my bread fresh; however, it is hard work :-)and my wife chipped in with frying the patties and the salad.

Chicken Patty

(Time: Preparation: 15 min., Marinating: 45 min., Frying: 12 min. Total: 1 hour 15 min)


Ingredients

Chicken Mince – 600 Gms. (I make my own mince at home using two chicken breasts)
Garlic – 4 cloves finely chopped or mince with the chicken
Chilies – 2 Nos. finely chopped or mince with the chicken
Lime Juice – 1 tps. (Tea spoon)
Onion – 1 No. (Medium) finely chopped or mince with the chicken

Method

• Mix all ingredients in a bowl and then cover it with a cling wrap and leave it in refrigerator for 30 to 45 min to marinate.
• After 45 min. Make 6 patties (1/4th inch thick). The patties puff up therefore it is good to make thinner patties and they need to cook through.
• Shallow fry the patties. Ensure that you fry the patties for at least 6 min. on each side. Turn the patty once the meat is set.

Burger Bun (you can buy them ready made; however, I like mine homemade)

(Time: Proofing: 15 min., 1st Rising: 45 min., 2nd Rising: 45 min., Baking: 45 min. Total: 2 hours 30 min.)


Ingredients:

400 Gms. Of all purpose flour (Maida)
240 ml of water at room temperature
10 Gms Fresh Yeast or 1 packet of instant yeast (7 gms.) or 1 packet of fast rising yeast.
50 gms of melted unsalted butter

Method

Proving Yeast (method for fresh is given below)
Add half quantity of water mentioned above (140 ml.) to the yeast.
Add two Tbs. of flour and make a paste.

The mixture will be frothy in 15 min. this shows that the yeast is active and you can proceed to make the dough (my kitchen is usually at 24C).

Mix all the ingredients in a stand mixer or knead using your hands for 2 min.

Note: Salt is added while making the final dough and not during proofing the yeast.

Take it out from your kneader/stand mixer and knead for 8 to min. on your work surface. (I use our kitchen counter)

The dough should be tacky and not sticky. It will have sheen and be elastic.

Prepare a bowl or a tall container and grease it with oil or butter. Transfer the dough to this container and cover it with a cling wrap and let it rest in a warm spot in your kitchen until it doubles. I use out microwave oven for this purpose and it takes approximately 45 min. to an hour.

After the dough is doubled, remove it and punch it down to disperse the carbon dioxide.

Let the dough rest for 15 min. divide it into 6 and shape the dough into small balls or spheres (resting of dough helps in shaping process).

While the dough is resting, prepare a baking tray by greasing it with oil and dusting it finely with flour to receive the shaped burger buns.

Cover shaped dough with a wet kitchen towel or cling wrap and allow the buns to rise in a warm place until they are double (approximately 1 hour in my kitchen). This is the second rising.

Pre heat the oven to 230C during the last 15 min. of the second rising.

Bake the buns for 45 to 50 min.

Take them out of the oven and allow them to cool on a wire rack. I apply a bit of butter as soon as the buns are out of the oven as; this helps keep the buns soft.

Note: For folks interested in baking soft bread, based on my experiments over the last year or so I usually use 70% liquid (water and fat). I get an open crumb (big holes) and soft bread.



Mayonnaise (again can be purchased from a store)
(Time: 15 min.)

Ingredients

Egg – 1 No. Medium (I use a whole egg as I like my mayo to be a bit runny, you can use just the yolk and the mayo will be thick, further you will require ~20ml less oil)
Lime Juice – ½ tps.
Olive Oil – approximately 80 ml or until the emulsion thickens
Mustard – Ground 1 tps. Or to taste
Salt – to taste

Method

• Whisk the egg in a mixer for about 30 sec.
• Add the lime juice and mustard
• Set the mixer at a low (1 or 2) and slowly drizzle the oil until the emulsion thickens (you can add one tablespoon at a time and continue to whisk, ensure that the oil is completely emulsified before adding the next tablespoon).
• When the Mayo thickens, add a pinch of salt and mix using a spoon.

Salad

Tomato thinly sliced– 1 No.
Cucumber thinly sliced– 1 No.
Lettuce – Leaves as required.

Assemble the burger and enjoy it, fries/chips are optional. If you like you patties less spicy; eliminate the chilies.

Brown Chana Aloo Chaat

I am back on the blogging scene after a break - I lost my blogging momentum after a holiday to Italy last month. It's taken longer than expected for me to recover - I would like to blame the miserable cold weather we are having here in England :-)


After a long time I've prepared something nice that I thought of sharing with you all. As my back is hurting today, I did not want to spend long time in the kitchen. So I prepared chaat-style salad using Brown Chana (a type of chick pea). My DH is fan of whole beans and lentils, so I have a variety of them in my store-cupboard. I used a can of boiled Brown Chana for this salad. Here's a picture of brown Chana for your reference.

This salad is very easy to make, protien-packed and very tasty as well. You can eat it on its own or serve it as a side-dish.

Brown Chana Chaat

Ingredients

1 can of Brown Chana or 1/2 cup of dry brown chana soaked overnight and boiled
1 medium Potato - boiled and cubed
1 small onion chopped
1 tomato - chopped
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh coriander leaves
1/2 tsp Chilli Powder
1/2 tsp Cumin Powder
1/2 tsp Amchur Powder / Chaat Masala
Salt to taste
Fine Sev for crunch (optional)
Juice of Half Green Lime
1 tsp oil

Method

• If you are using canned Chana, then drain the water and wash the chana to remove excess salt.
• In a pan, take about 1 tsp oil and toast the boiled chana. Add the chilli powder, salt and cumin powder. Roast it for couple of minutes. This step is optional, but I prefer lightly toasted Chana.
• Take the chana in a large bowl. Add rest of the ingredients and mix well. Adjust salt and chilli-powder as per your liking.
• Finally, squeeze juice of half lime. Mix again and serve.

Roasted Tomato and Basil Soup

It is only the beginning of Autumn and there's already chill in the air. A bowl of your favourite hot soup is the best way to get comfy in such a weather. Classic tomato soup has always been one of my favourite soups but I have started getting adventurous in soup making, so now I make roasted tomato soup instead.

The process of making this soup is long and bit tedious but I don't mind spending more time in the kitchen these days. At the end of all the work that has gone into it, you are rewarded with something so good that you feel it's worth putting in the effort. Roasting tomatoes gives it a fuller and concentrated flavour. I first made this soup based on a recipe I found on Waitrose's website but followed Delia Smith's method for roasting tomatoes. In addition to the tomatoes, I also use a red pepper which is also roasted and gives a different dimension to the taste of this soup.

I like to serve the soup with chunky garlic croutons prepared from Ciabatta bread.


Roasted Tomato and Basil Soup

Main Ingredients

1/2 kg of Ripe Red Tomatoes
1 Red Pepper
1 Onion
4 Garlic Cloves
25 gms Basil Leaves

You'll also need:

Olive Oil
1 ltr Vegetable Stock (I use Knorr Stock Cubes to make stock)
1 tsp Sugar
Salt and Pepper to taste

Method

• Wash the tomatoes and red pepper.

• Now you need to blanch the tomatoes in hot water so that the skin comes off easily. For this, give a criss-cross cut on top of tomatoes and keep them immersed in hot water for couple of minutes.

• Take the tomatoes out from water and peel the skin off. Cut each tomato into half.
• Peel the onions and cut them into wedges/quarters. Cut the red pepper into two parts and remove the seeds.
• Grease a roasting tin with olive oil. Also coat the tomato halves, red pepper, onions and garlic with oil and arrange them on roasting tin.

• Sprinkle salt and pepper over the vegetables.
• Roast them in pre-heated oven at 200 C for 40 minutes until the vegetables are soft.
• Bring the vegetable stock to boil in a sauce-pan. Add the roasted tomatoes and onions to the stock. Peel the skin off the red pepper and then add it to the stock. Garlic becomes very soft on roasting, so you'll just have to squeeze it out of its skin and add it to the stock. Also add the basil leaves and sugar to the stock. Simmer it for about 10 minutes.

• Either using a handheld blender or a food-processor, liquidise the soup in batches. If you are using a normal blender, then you have to be very careful when you start the blender to prevent the soup from splasing out. I take a tea-towel to cover the lid and keep it pressed firmly to minimize splashing.
• Heat it before serving and serve with Garlic Croutons.

Ciabatta Garlic Croutons

Ingredients

Ciabatta Bread - 4 nos
3 garlic cloves - crushed to paste
Olive Oil

• Take some olive oil in a bowl and add 3-4 crushed garlic to it. Mix well and keep it for 1-2 hours.

• Cut the Ciabatta bread into bite-size chunks and coat them with Garlic Oil.

• Roast them in oven at 200 C for 20 minutes.

Mango Delights - Ten Dessert Inspirations using Mango Pulp

Mango has a place of honour in India and is often called as the "King of Fruits" - such is the popularity of this golden fruit! However, in India you get to enjoy mangoes mainly in the summer season. Ironically, in UK you can buy fresh mangoes all the year around in your local super-market - they are sourced from the various tropical countries around the globe. The Indian mangoes are available at Indian grocers here during the Mango season in India. To tell the truth, I am not big fan of this fruit and I do not miss it so much that I'll go out of the way to buy Indian mangoes here which most of the times are not as good as the ones you get back home...

The only variety of this fruit that I like is the Alphonso which comes from Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra - this is the best variety in my opinion but is difficult to find it in UK. The Alphonso Mango Pulp is easily available though, so I always have a tin or two of Mango Pulp in my kitchen for emergency dessert situations! Here are a few dessert inspirations using Mango pulp:

Aamras

This is a  popular dessert during the summer season in India due to availability of fresh Mangoes. It's made by squeezing out the Mango pulp by hand and is sometimes sweetened. The canned Mango pulp makes it really easy to enjoy this dessert - just serve it straight from the can :-) which is what we do most of the time! You can adjust the sweetness or add desired flavours like Cardamom or Nutmeg.

Amrakhand

This is the mango-flavoured version of Shrikhand - a popular sweet-dish of Gujarat and Maharashtra. I have made Shrikhand on many occasions at home but never tried making Amrakhand. Shrikhand/Amrakhand is very easy to make - the only preparation needed is hanging the yoghurt in a muslin cloth for 6-8 hours or overnight until all the water has drained from yoghurt. The yoghurt solids left in the muslin are called yoghurt cheese (Chakka in Marathi). You just need to add sugar, mango-pulp and ground cardamom (optional). I find it easier to use caster sugar which gets easily blended into the yoghurt cheese if you use an electric whisk.

On Ice-Creams:

Drizzle it over plain vanilla ice-cream to add an interesting twist...

Mango Shake

Just whizz up the Mango Pulp with milk until it is frothy. Add ice-cream/cream to make it creamy.

Mango Sheera

Make mango-flavoured Sheera (a sweet dish made from Semolina) by adding a little mango pulp.

Mango Fool

Another no-fuss dessert using only three ingredients: mango pulp, caster sugar and whipping cream. Add sugar to the cream and beat it using an electric-whisk until it starts stiffening. Blend in the mango pulp and serve it in dessert glasses and top it with couple of teaspoons of mango pulp.

Mango Mousse

Never tried making it myself as I could not find a suitable vegetarian setting agent. The Vege-Gel I bought recently does not have clear instructions about usage. If you up for an adventure, then this is for you :-) Check out some recipes on the net!

Mango Cheesecake

Another excellent dessert. I would like to try it sometime...

Mango Burfi

So this is what I made today using left-over Mango pulp:

In a saucepan, heat a tablespoon of Ghee. Then add some condensed milk (I used a tin of Nestle Carnation Condensed Milk 397 gms), about 150 ml Alphonso mango pulp, 6 tbsp sugar, a teaspoon of cardamom powder and a teaspoon of saffron. Keep stirring it on low-medium heat until the mixture starts coming together.

Transfer the mixture into a greased tin or moulds, add some chopped pistachios and almonds on top and cut it into squares when it is set. I used silicone cupcake cases as moulds, here are some pictures of the Burfi made today:

Mango Coconut Burfi

The recipe is similar to Mango Burfi, just add some dessicated coconut to the condensed milk and adjust the sweetness.

English Rice Pudding à la India

I had never tasted English Rice Pudding before, so I watched with interest when Brian Turner cooked English Rice Pudding with Blackberry Compote on a TV show last week.  I realised it resembled its desi version Rice Kheer in method of cooking and ingredients, so I got inspired to try my hand at making this pud at home.

There are some minor differences between English Pudding and Indian Rice Kheer: Rice Pudding is made from pudding rice (a short-grain rice) and has cream added to make it richer/creamier. It is flavoured with Vanilla/Nutmeg and is often served at room temperature with strawberry jam or fruit compote topping. Kheer on the other hand is usually made from Basmati rice and whole-milk and slow-cooked until milk has reduced to get the creamy consistency. Kheer is usally flavoured with Cardamom/Saffron and has dry fruits/nuts added to give a crunchy texture.

So although the inspiration for cooking Rice Pudding came from the TV show, I added my own twists to the English Rice Pudding to give it an Indian soul. :-) I followed the English recipe - but replaced the Vanilla with Cardamom and Saffron and instead of the compote, I added Mango Pulp. Here's the full recipe for your reference:

Here's another view:

Rice Pudding à la India

Ingredients (for 8 servings):

150 gms Pudding Rice
1 ltr Whole Milk
250 ml Double Cream
100 gms Sugar
8 Green Cardamoms - seeds removed from pod and powdered
Few Saffron Strands (optional)
1/2 cup Mango Pulp
Pistachios - sliced

Method

• In a heavy-bottomed pot, add Milk, Cream and Rice and cook it slowly taking care not to boil over milk. Also you need to stir it at regular intervals so that it does not stick to bottom/sides of the pot.
• When the milk starts boiling, add Sugar, Cardamom Powder and Saffron. Mix well. Continue to simmer for about 40 minutes until the rice is cooked and the pudding has a creamy texture.
• For serving, spoon it into bowls, add 2-3 tsp of Mango Pulp on top and sprinkle few pistachio slices to finish off.
• Serve at room temperature (I prefer it chilled though).

Simply Irresistible Fast Food - Vada Pav

Literally translated Vada Pav is "bread-roll(Pav) with spicy potato balls(Vada)". This is quintessentially a Maharashtrian street-food very popular in the bustling cities like Pune and Mumbai where the fast-food is a norm. Vada Pav is the star of street-foods because it is not only yummy but it is also filling , cheap and easily available! No wonder there are people who cannot live without it. It is a snack that is very hard to resist, even for the very diehard calorie conscious species!

The likes of us who live away from home are the Vada-Pav deprived folks - the Indian restaurants here cater more to the English taste and often overlook the expats who miss their favourite foods from back home.  You can prepare it at home but it's not the same as eating outside. Also, I do not like deep-frying that much as it is a messy affair. The other day when we were watching a Marathi movie, a glimpse of these yummies was enough for my DH to start reminiscing about Vada-Pav we get in Pune. So we decided it  about time we fulfilled this craving at home!

There are three components to this snack: Batata Vada, Pav and chutneys. I bought the bread-rolls (the smaller kinds) from local super-store and prepared the Vada and chutney to go with it at home.


Batata Vada

Ingredients (for 14 lemon-sized vadas)

For filling:
4 large potatoes
1 onion
6 Green Chillies
6 Garlic Cloves
1 inch piece of Ginger
2 tbsp chopped Coriander
1 tsp lemon juice
Salt taste

To make the batter for coating Vada

1 cup Besan (Chickpea/Gram flour)
3 tbsp hot oil for shortening
1/2 tsp Carom Seeds (Ajwain)
1/2 tsp Ground Cumin
1/2 tsp Red Chilli Powder
1/4 tsp Turmeric
Salt to taste
Enough water to make a thick batter
Oil for frying

Method

• Boil the potatoes until they are soft enough to mash - this is easier in a Pressure Cooker.
• Remove the potato skins and mash them.
• Grind chillies, ginger and garlic to make a paste. Take about 3 tsp of this paste (the vadas should be very spicy) and add it to the mashed potatoes.
• Add chopped coriander, onions, lemon juice and salt to the mashed potatoes and mix well.
• Divide the mash into balls - the size depends on how big you want your Vadas.

For the batter:

• Take the flour in a heat-proof container and add the hot-oil to it and mix well. Adding the hot oil makes the vada cover crispy and light.
• Add the spices - turmeric, chilli powder, cumin powder and carom seeds and mix well. Add salt according to your taste.
• Add water and mix well ensuring no lumps are formed.

To fry Vadas:

• Heat oil in a deep and wide pan on medium heat.
• Dip each potato ball into the batter to coat it all over and release it carefully into hot oil.
• Fry the Vadas until they are golden and take them out on a tissue paper.

Assembling Vada Pav

You will need:

Batata Vadas
Bread-rolls (as many as the vadas you have)
Peanut Chutney
Fried Green Chillies (optional)

To serve:

• Cut the bread rolls into half leaving one end intact.
• Spread the chutney on the bread-roll.
• Place a Batata-Vada in the Pav and flatten it slightly.
• Now press the bread-roll.

The Vada-Pav is now yours! Tuck in to your heart's content :-)

If this isn't enough, here are some pictures to inspire you:

You can look at other blogs for better photos. Hey, you can't expect great photos when the Vada Pav is waiting to be eaten...

Back to Basics - Peanut Chutney

Peanut is the most humble of the nuts but its popularity is unparalled by any other nut in the world! Not many people are aware that India is one of the leading producers of this nut. Most of the Peanut is produced in Western and Southern parts of India. In Maharashtra where I come from, Peanuts are used extensively in cuisine in various forms - Peanut Oil is the main cooking medium and ground Peanuts are added to curries. Not only that, we also have dishes where Peanut is the main ingredient - such as Chikki (Peanut Snaps), Shengdanyachi Amti (Peanut Curry), Shengdanyachi Chutney (Peanut Chutney) and even Shengdanyachi Poli (Flatbreads with sweet Peanut Stuffing).

Peanut Chutney is an essential item of a traditional Maharashtrian Thali and is used as a condiment. Just a teaspoon of this chutney is enough to perk up an entire meal! Unlike in UK, in India Chutney is a term used loosely for any dry or wet spicy condiment. Peanut Chutney is a dry preparation of ground peanuts with chillies as the main spice.

Peanut Chutney is very easy to make if you have a spice grinder. I learnt to prepare Peanut Chutney from my mother. Before electric mixer-grinder came into our household, mum used to make chutney the traditional way which involves grinding roasted, skinned peanuts using pestle and mortar. I used to find this process fascinating and often used to insist on doing it myself. So this is one of the first things I learnt to make :-)  It is a hard-work grinding on pestle and mortar... These days, you have so many gadgets in your kitchen that you sometimes wonder how difficult life would have been without them! Peanut Chutney preparation is a breeze now - thanks to availability of roasted peanuts and electrical gadgets to easily grind them!

There are two types of Peanut Chutneys I make:

Red Peanut Chutney

Ingredients

1 cup roasted, skinned Peanuts
1 tbsp Red Chilli Powder
1/2 tsp salt (or to your taste)
5-6 Garlic Cloves

Method

Grind all the above in a spice grinder to get a coarse loose powder. Store it in an air-tight container.

Green Peanut Chutney (or Shengdanyacha Thecha)

Ingredients

1 cup roasted, skinned Peanuts
6-8 Garlic Cloves
6 Green Chillies (or according to your taste)
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Lemon Juice
1 tbsp oil

Method

• Crush or grind chillies with garlic. Add salt to this paste.
• Make a coarse powder of Peanuts in a spice-grinder.
• Heat oil in a pan and lightly fry the chilli-garlic paste.
• Add the ground Peanuts to the pan and mix well to combine with chilli-garlic paste. Keep roasting the Chutney for 5-6 minutes or until the Peanuts start turning brownish in colour.
• Turn off the heat and add the lemon juice to chutney and stir to combine well.

A word of caution - Keep the kitchen windows open and cooker extractor on when preparing this as the chilli fumes can make your eyes water.

This chutney keeps well in refrigerator for a week.

Peanut chutney can be served as accompaniment to Varan Bhaat (Steamed Rice with Plain Dal) or can be  eaten simply with Chapatis.

Petticoat Tails

Another baking day and today I've decided to make Petticoat Tails. This is a type of Shortbread - a crumbly biscuit that has origins in Scotland. It is a rather funny name for a biscuit but it is so called because of its shape. I have also often wondered about the word "Shortbread". As per my understanding, this biscuit is so called because of shortening added to it to make it crumbly (short). Shortening is a type of fat added to biscuits.

Shortbread is similar in taste and texture to Nankhatai - its Indian cousin made with Ghee and sometimes has nuts added to it. Nankhatai has a moreish taste and I've always loved it which explains my affinity towards Shortbread :-) I've also baked Shortbread at home and most of the time the results have been to my satisfaction. I say "most" because I've had accidents couple of times... Although the procedure is simple, you need to follow the recipe exactly and have to be watchful when you are baking Shortbread as it can brown quickly.

The three main ingredients of Shortbread are Sugar, Butter and Plain Flour. The recipe I usually follow includes Rice flour which is added to make the texture even shorter. Cornflour or Semolina can also be added. I sometimes also add Vanilla essence to make Vanilla Shortbread. You can give it any shape you like as long as you have the cutters/tins of correct size. I usually make Petticoat Tails in a 8" round cake tin with removable bottom because I do not have square/rectangular tins.

Petticoat Tails

Ingredients

100 gms Caster Sugar
150 gms Unsalted Butter
180 gms Plain Flour
55 gms Rice Flour
1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/8 tsp Salt
1 tsp Vanilla Essence (optional)

Method

• Take the Butter out from the refrigerator few hours before you plan to make Shortbread to bring it to room temperature. You can measure the required amount of Butter and cut it into small pieces to speed up its softening process.

• With help of a hand-held mixer, cream together Butter and Sugar until it is light and fluffy. Add Vanilla essence (if you are using it) and mix well.

• Measure the Plain Flour and Rice Flour, add Baking Powder and Salt to it and mix using a spoon. Then sift the flours into the Butter-Sugar mixture.
• Mix the flours well with the Butter-Sugar mixture. You can use a wooden spoon for this but I prefer to use my hands.
• Grease the bottom of cake tin and transfer the mix into it. Spread the mix evenly on cake-tin and flatten the surface with a spoon.
• With help of a fork, make few marks on the surface of cookie mix - this is to make sure that steam escapes when the Shortbread is being baked.
• Now with help of a knife, lightly cut the Shortbread into eight pieces - similar to Pizza (do not cut it through though)
• Bake it at 170 C for 30-35 minutes. Keep a watch because it browns quickly once it's baked.
• Allow it to cool for 5 minutes. Then take the bottom of cake-tin out and cut it with knife again and separate the Shortbread pieces.

• Allow it to cool. I sometimes sprinkle Icing Sugar on the surface of the Shortbread.

Dal Makhani

Dal Makhani is also known as Kali Dal or Mah Ki Dal - a rich heavy dal (spicy lentil preparation) , often found on Indian restaurant menus. It is of North Indian origin but now popular all over India because of increasing restaurant culture among Indians.

I love it because of its buttery taste and smooth velvety texture. It is little time-consuming to prepare at home as it involves soaking of pulses followed by slow-cooking of the dal itself. I used to avoid making it at home as I thought it was very difficult to make but when I tried it for the first time, I was happy with the result. Now I make it regularly and have never been disappointed.

The two main beans/pulses need for this dal are Whole Urid and Rajmah. Urid is a type of lentils, also known as Black Gram and  is available at Indian grocers in UK. Rajmah is Red Kidney Beans. My version of Dal Makhani is relatively quick and easy as I use canned Kidney Beans and I soak Whole Urid for about four hours only. Most Indian kitchens are equipped with Pressure Cooker which makes cooking of Dal Makhani or any dal for that matter easier. However, this dal can also be cooked in a pot but it will take about an hour for the pre-soaked Kidney Beans and Urid dal to become soft. This dish is ideal for cooking in a slow-cooker although I've never tried it myself.

Dal Makhani is best served with Jeera Rice or Naans.

Dal Makhani / Kali Dal

Ingredients (to serve 4 people)

1 cup Whole Urid Dal - soaked for 4-6 hours
1/4 cup Kidney Beans - soaked overnight (I use canned Kidney Beans)
2 Onions - finely chopped
2 Tomatoes - pureed or 1/2 can of Tomatoes
1 tsp Ginger-Garlic Paste
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
1 1/2 tsp Red Chilli Powder
1 1/2 tsp Coriander (Dhania) Powder
1/2 tsp Garam Masala
1/4 tsp Turmeric
3 tbsp Ghee/Clarified Butter
1/2 cup Whipping Cream
1 Bay Leaf
1" piece of Cinnamon
Salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon sugar

Method

• Take the Ghee in a Pressure Cooker and heat it. Add Cumin Seeds, Bay Leaf and Cinnamon and roast them lightly.
• Add the chopped Onions and Turmeric and cook them until they are very soft. This may take about 10 minutes.
• Then add the Ginger-Garlic paste and cook for a couple of minutes.
• Add the spice powders - Red Chilli Powder, Coriander Powder and Garam Masala and mix well.
• Add the Tomato puree (then add 1/2 tsp sugar to reduce the acidic taste of tomato - optional).
• Cook the mixture until oil starts separating from masala. It takes about 15 minutes to reach this step from the time you start cooking.
• Now add the soaked Kidney Beans and Whole Urid and mix them well with the masala paste.
• Add enough water to Pressure Cooker to cook the lentils. Place the lid on the Pressure Cooker and cook until the Kidney Beans and Urid are softened. The number of Pressure Cooker whistles needed is different for different models. To check if the dal is cooked, press the Urid dal/beans between the fingers - if it can be crushed easily, the dal is ready.
• Take off the Pressure Cooker from stove and allow all the steam to escape from cooker, then take off the lid.
• Lightly mash the dal with back of ladle.
• Pour half the cream and salt to the dal and mix well. Place the cooker back on stove and simmer dal  for 5-10 minutes.
• Finally take it off the heat and transfer it to a serving dish. Spoon over some cream to decorate and serve it hot.

Chocoholic Special - Chocolate Truffles

I've been away from my blog for the past three days - we spent the long weekend at a friend's place. We had a great time with the kids and my little one enjoyed a lot. I had baked a chocolate-walnut cake on friday to take away for the kids. I have some dark chocolate left from the chocolate-cake which I want to use up today....

The chocoholic in me has been craving for a treat and I've been wondering what to make with the left-over chocolate and cream. So I googled for inspiration and came across a few recipes for truffles. I've always loved truffles but thought they are difficult to make at home. The real truffles are very expensive and are actually a kind of fungus. Chocolate truffles on the other hand are made by melting chocolate in cream and so called because of their appearance. So even though I did not have the required amounts of ingredients for truffles, I still decided to give it a go. One simple rule of thumb to use when making truffles is to use chocolate and cream in 2:1 proportion. I also added some instant coffee powder to the cream to give an extra kick of caffeine to the chocolate truffles.

You can be adventurous with the flavours and coatings for truffles. Truffles look truly gorgeous and are wonderful to give away as gifts. So go ahead and impress your friends!

Coffee Flavoured Chocolate Truffles

Ingredients (to make about 15 small truffles)

80 gms dark cooking chocolate (preferably of good quality)
40 ml double cream
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon instant coffee

Method

• Chop the chocolate into small pieces and place them into a bowl.
• Bring double cream to boil. Keep a watch otherwise the cream may boil over.
• When the cream has come to boil, add half a teaspoon of instant coffee powder and mix well.
• Add the cream to the chocolate and keep stirring until all the chocolate has melted completely and mixed well with the cream. The mixture will have a glossy appearance and is known as Ganache (a french culinary term used to describe chocolate-cream mixture)
• Cover the bowl with a cling-film to prevent a film from forming on the mixture.
• Put the bowl away in fridge and allow the mixture to cool down for atleast an hour.
• Take out the bowl from the fridge and with help of a melon-scooper or a teaspoon, scoop out small amounts of chocolate mixture and roll it between your palms to form balls.
• Spread the cocoa on a plate and roll the chocolate balls on it so that they are coated with cocoa.

Your truffles are now ready and they can be stored refrigerated for nearly a week.

I wanted the truffles I made to look special and this is how I packaged them:

My first batch of truffles was a success, so I felt confident about trying couple of variations that I made in the evening. The second batch has been prepared from milk chocolate and flavoured with Cardamom. I also tried couple of coatings - coconut and pistachio.

Milk Chocolate Truffles

Ingredients (to make about 22 small truffles)
150 gms Milk Chocolate - cut into small pieces
5 tbsp Double Cream
Cardamoms - 3 nos ground finely
1 tsp Sugar
Pistachios - ground coarsely/chopped for coating
Dessicated Coconut for coating

Method

• Bring the crean to a boil and add the ground cardamom and sugar. Mix well.
• Add this to the chocolate and mix well till the chocolate is fully mixed with the cream. If you find that chocolate is not melting easily, then place the bowl over another bowl of simmering water (double boiler method) and keep stirring until all the mixture becomes smooth and glossy.
• Bring the mixture to room temperature. Then keep it refrigerated for 2-3 hours. I found that the longer you keep the mixture in frige, the easier it is to roll the truffles.
• Take the mixture out from fridge. Take two bowls - one containing coconut and the other containing chopped pistachio.
• Using a melon scooper, scoop out small balls of chocolate mixture and roll them between your palms to form balls. Roll the balls either in coconut or pistachio until they are coated completely.
• Store the truffles in refrigerator.

The Milk Chocolate versions have a really exotic flavour. We really enjoyed them!


Milk Chocolate Truffle with Coconut Coating

Milk Chocolate Truffle with Pistachio Coating

Yet another picture to inspire you :-)

Scrummy Yummy Cuppy Cakes

The title says it all. Yes, I love 'em and they bring out a little person hiding in me.  Cup-cakes were a childhood favourite! They were a luxury then as we would have them only at the beginning of the month after pay-day. There are many good bakeries in my home-town, Pune. Some of them are so popular that people don't mind queueing for hours to get their hands on their favourite baked goodies...

Over time I developed taste for other cakes and these simple cakes were forgotten. When I first came to UK, I saw most super-stores have a variety of these cakes - all decorated and dainty! They are called Fairy Cakes here and they look cute with the light pink and yellow icing and decorations. But to tell the truth I prefer the undecorated variety. I would decorate them if I was making them for party but even then I would stick to simple butter-cream or chocolate icing. 

I love baking and my interest first developed when I started watching Good Food channel. This is now a favourite channel in our household. These days I haven't been getting enough time for baking. I just have been buying baking ingredients and equipment with the intention of trying some new recipes. Recently I bought these cute looking silicone cup cases - they are quiet good because you don't need to grease them and cakes come out easily  as well. As I had some spare time and mood today, I thought of trying out the new cup-cases.

These cakes are easy to make and you need the basic baking ingredients on hand. If you are not using silicone cup-cases, then you will need paper-cases which should be placed inside muffin moulds.

Fairy Cakes / Cup Cakes

Ingredients (for a dozen cakes)

125 gms Self-Raising Flour
125 gms Caster Sugar
125 gms Unsalted Butter
2 medium eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
2 tbsp Milk

Preparation

• Take the Butter, Milk and Eggs out from the fridge few hours before you want to start baking. It is important for the Butter to soften before you use it.
• Pre-heat your oven to 200 C before baking the cake. I turn on the oven just before making the cake mixture.

Method

• With an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar until it turns light and fluffy.
• Lightly beat the eggs and add them one at a time while mixing.
• Add the vanilla essence and mix it well.
• Sift half of the flour first, then add the milk. Fold the flour into the liquid mixture with a wooden spoon/spatula.
• Now add rest of the flour and mix well with the wooden spoon.
• Spoon the mixture into cup-cases.
• Bake them in oven at 200 C for 15-20 minutes or until they feel firm to touch and are golden on top.

Super Healthy Rainbow Salad

It's a typical British day outside - dull and wet! Very uninspiring to say the least and I have been feeling lazy as well. This is just my first week of blogging and I had made promise to myself that I would be writing atleast one post (atleast initially :-) So I have been wondering what to cook for lunch that can be made quickly while my little one is asleep - I sometimes feel guilty when I have to cook leaving him alone to entertain himself.

So I had a quick look in the fridge - lots of fresh vegetables waiting for their turn to be consumed. I had been feeling health-conscious recently and had stocked up on vegetables on my last trip to the super-market. I had been thinking of making Salads - but already three days have passed and Salad has not made it to our dining table yet. And today's not an ideal day for Salad but if I don't do something about those veggies today, I doubt if I would be able to finish them before weekend.

The Salad I had been thinking of making has no name - it's my own invention and I am going to call it "Rainbow Salad". "Rainbow" because it has seven different beans/vegetables - Kidney Beans (boiled), Sweet Corn, Spring Onions, Carrots, Green Capsicum, Red Capsicum and Cabbage. I cannot emphasize enough the goodness of these veggies and the Salad tastes great as well.

Rainbow Salad

Ingredients

3/4 can of Rajmah/Red Kidney Beans
1/2 cup of Sweet Corn Kernels
Couple of Spring Onions - sliced
1/2 Green Pepper - cut into 1" long strips
1/2 Red Pepper - cut into 1" long strips
1 Carrot - grated
1/2 cup shredded Cabbage
2 Green Chillies

For dressing

1 tbsp Lemon Juice
3 tbsp Olive Oil
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper

Method

Very easy-peasy! Mix all the vegetables in a big bowl. In a separate smaller bowl, mix together dressing ingredients and pour the dressing on the salad. Mix well.

This Salad looks very appealing on its own.

Here's a close look of the Salad:

Served on lettuce leaves:

If you entertaining guests, then this salad can be served on tacos or on potato-nests as starters.

On a Sweeter Note - Seviyan Kheer

If there's one sweet-dish that is popular all over India, it is Kheer - a milk and dry-fruits based pudding. It is  often prepared in Indian household on festive occasions, for other celebrations or for guests.

Although there are many types of Kheer, the one I like most is Seviyan Kheer prepared from Seviyan (Vermicelli). I thought this Kheer deserves a special place on my blog for a number of reasons. Number one reason is that all in the family love it. I learnt this dish from my sister-in-law (brother's wife) who used to make it often at family get-togethers. I could never get enough of Kheer prepared by her as there were others also in the race for finishing it off :-)) Surprise, surprise - my little nephew used to be a winner in this race!

I also have an opinion about what constitutes a good Kheer. I feel that a balance of all the ingredients is of essence - a good Kheer has a sweet mellow taste, with a background flavour of Cardamom and an interesting crunch added to it by dry fruits and nuts. Although Kheer preparation is not a Rocket Science, it does need patience and practice to get the flavour right.

Seviyan is easily available in Indian grocery stores. There are a couple of varieties; the one used in this recipe is the thinner variety (see the picture below).

So here goes my recipe...

Seviyan Kheer

Ingredients

1 cup Thin Seviyan (Vermicelli)
500 ml Milk
3/4 cup Sugar
1 tbsp Ghee/Clarified butter
3-4 Green Cardamoms
1 tbsp Cashews - cut into smaller pieces
1 tbsp Almonds - blanched, peeled and cut into long, thin pieces
1 tbsp Chironji
1 tbsp Pistachios -chopped finely

Method

• Heat Ghee in a pan and roast Cashews and Chironji nuts. Keep them aside.
• Crush Seviyan to smaller pieces and add it to the ghee. Stir.
• As soon as the Seviyan start turning brownish in colour, add the milk and bring it boil. Keep stirring it, otherwise the Seviyan will start sticking together or to the pan.
• Once the milk has boiled, add sugar and powdered Cardamom. Stir.
• Let the Kheer boil for about 5 minutes and then take it off stove.
• Add the roasted nuts, almonds and pistachios(if using).