A Chunky Curry...

For a quite a long time I was posting only cake recipes.So here comes for a change a very rich n spicy Chunky curry.This would be a real treat for the chilly weather and nutritious too.I assume everyone is aware of the nutritious benefits of Soya chunks.Its a great substitute for meat.

Many don't like Soya chunks.But when made in a proper way,it would be a keeper.A week ago one of my friend asked me for some recipes of 'Soya Chunks'.As i was away from home,I couldn't post or send the recipes at that time .Long before I was thinking of posting a recipe of soya chunks.Thanks to him for reminding of it.Surprisingly,my male friends follow my blog regularly than my female friends!Its a sign of good change that men are into cooking too ;)..

Many of us do not like the smell of the Soya Chunks.Thats why its always recommended to wash the boiled  chunks for so many times.I have pressure cooked the soya chunks with 2 cloves of garlic,1 stick of cinnamon and 2 cloves.By doing this,we can get rid of the awful smell of the soya and instead we get good smell of the spices infused in it.

You will need:

1 Cup of Soya Chunks

1 Big onion

2 Big tomatoes

1 cup green peas

1/4 cup grated coconut

1 tbsp chilly powder

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp ginger garlic paste

1/4 tsp garam masala

1 tbsp pepper

1 tbsp coriander seeds

A pinch of Saunf(fennel) Powder (optional)

2 cloves garlic

1 inch cinnamon stick

2 Cloves

Salt

oil

Pressure cook the Soya chunks with 3 cups water,2 cloves of garlic,cinnamom and cloves as I have mentioned earlier.

Squeeze the excess water from the chunks completely..

Grind together onion,tomato,coconut,coriander seeds,pepper,ginger-garlic paste,chilly powder,turmeric powder ,salt and garam masala to a smooth paste.(tip:Frist grind the coriander seeds n pepper.Then add the rest and grind in the same jar)

Heat 3-4 tbsp of oil.Add the paste and cook until the oil separates.

Add the green peas and chunks.Cook until the peas are done.

Sprinkle the fennel powder and serve.

This spicy curry was accompained with the milder Saffron Pulao and sliced carrots.It was indeed a visual treat too!

Have a great weekend :)

Icecream Cake~The Ultimate Dessert!

Wish you all a very happy new year!

2009 has started and lets all hope this year brings us luck and happiness in our life.when I look back at 2008 ,I could see that my biggest exploration in 2008 is, my culinary skill.2008 was not at all bad for me,I started blogging,cooking etc.I kept myself very much active in this year.Although there were some bad times,I could recollect year 2008 as an year of revelation of myself.Overall its an year of learning for me.I learnt various things and spent most of my time by engaging in some activities.I believe the coming year will be much better than the previous one.

Today is my sister's B'day.So we got two reasons to celebrate Jan 1 every year.Last night I made two different cakes for the eve(s).For my sis ,I made Chocolate Sheet Cake.

                                                    with my impatient icing skills :(

And for the New year ,we had 'Ice cream Cake'.

My cousins were here and so we had a bashing good time.We hosted the lunch party at our home.SakaraPongal,Chilly Mushroom,Roasted Turnips,Poori,Punjabi chole Masala,Bisebelabath,Cucumber Raitha,Onion Vadams,Curd Rice and Ice cream Cake were on the menu.

 Ice cream Cake was such a hit and my 'Athai' commented it 'Rich n De-li-ci-ous'..So I wanted to share it with my viewers.This is actually Nigella Lawson's Ice Cream Cake which I tweaked a bit.

I couldn't get the chocolate chips/buttons.But I was having lots of Hershey's kisses in my fridge.I chopped them to make Chocolate Chips.I also skipped the Butter Scotch Sauce instead used Chocolate sauce!

This cake is so easy to make and can be made a day before and stored in a freezer compartment.

You will need:

1 liter Butterscotch Ice Cream( softened)

1 Pack of Bourbon Biscuit

1 cup of chocolate chips

2 snickers or five star chocolates

For topping :

Hershey's quick freeze Chocolate Sauce

Kellogg's Chocos

Make the chocolate Chips ready by chopping your fav chocolate.

 

Take a Ziploc bag and put the bourbon biscuits and snickers chocolate.Close it and smash them using a rolling pin.

They should not be powdered but should have bite sized pieces.

Put the broken biscuits/snickers,chocolate chips in a large bowl containing softened ice cream.Combine well.

Line a round tiffin box with a cling wrap,pour the ice cream mixture and bring the rest of the cling wrap covering the top surface of the ice cream cake.

 

Close the tiffin box with its lid and put it inside the freezer.

After 4 or 5 hours,the ice cream would be set .Take it out of the tiffin box and gently unwrap it.

 

Pour the quick freeze Hershey's chocolate sauce.It will be frozen to a hard chocolate shell.Make your desired icing.Or assemble the chocos on the top surface of the ice cream cake.

Slice into wedges,drizzle some chocolate syrup and serve before it melts..

Cross Sectional view..

Have a Happy 2009!

Strawberry Torte

Merry Chirtsmas! 

This could be my first attempt that I managed to make an exquisite Cake for Chirstmas.

Torte is a cake made with many eggs and it is usually layered.

I got this recipe from 'ZoeBakes'.I was so fascinated on seeing her cake and I wanted to give it a shot.I couldn't make it as adorable as she did.But the way she expalined was so simple that anybody could reproduce the recipe.It took me almost half a day for me to finish making this cake.In the end ,its all worth it.All thanks to Zoe..

This is some kind of cake which I never tried from our town bakeries.

I wouldn't say this is a successful one.But it doesn't tasted bad and I have to agree upon the fact that it is definitely different from the original recipe in terms of look and taste.

There are many factors for the variations.Firstly,I couldn't get all the ingredients actually required to make this cake.This recipe called for fresh strawberries.I replaced it with Strawberry Crush.And I did inumerable mistakes.Instead of baking the dacquoise in lower temp setting,I did that in high temp to quicken the process.Eventually,it turned out over browned and sticked to the wax paper.I took hell a lot of time to paitently remove the baked dacqouise from the wax paper.The cake came out perfectly.I patted myself for that.I adored the lovely orange tinted cake for a while before icing it.

I must admit ,Im awful in doing the icing part.I became so impatient and just spreaded it over the cake.

Inspite of that,it did tasted good.Everybody at my home loved it.But I must learn to make it perfect next time and should concentrate on minute details.

For the Dacqouise,I used 2 egg whites,1 cup of coarsely ground Cashew Nut(instead of almonds as in Zoe's),1/4 cup of Sugar

I beated the egg white for soft peaks.Added sugar and beated for a couple of mins until I get the glossy appearance.

Added the coarsely ground Cashews and folded it with the beaten egg whites.

I spread the mixture in a circular motion on a wax paper.

I baked in a preheated oven until they are cripsy.One should take care not to over brown it.Unlike me ,make sure to bake it in a lower temp like 110 C for about an hour.

For cake,

1 3/4 cups of flour

1/2 salt

1/2 Sugar

1/2 cup of orange juice

6 egg whites

6 yolks

3/4 cup Sugar

1 tsp Orange Zest

Sift the flour and salt and keep aside.

In a clean bowl,I beated the egg white using electric whisker with 1/2 cup of sugar until soft peaks.

In another bowl,I beated the yolks by gradually adding sugar.I continued beating until it is thickened and smooth.(Make sure that you wash and dry clean the whisker).

I poured the orange juice and zest and blended it well.

Then I Added the flour to the yolk mixture and folded well.

As Zoe mentioned,I folded the egg whites to the yolk/flour mixture in portions.

Lined a baking tin with parchment paper and poured the batter in it allowing some depth for the cake to rise.Baked the cake in a preheated oven of 250 C for 30 mins.

Allow the cake to cool completely.

I sliced the cake horizontaly into 2 portions.

Strawberry Crush..

I made the Strawberry Cream by combining 3 tbsps of Strawberry Crush with thick fresh cream.

I spreaded some strawberry preserve over the bottom layer of the cake.And I crumbled the 'supposed to be Dacqouise' above it.

Spreaded half of the strawberry Cream on it.

Then I placed the other half of the cake above it.And spreaded the strawberry preserve on top of it.Spreaded the remaining strawberry cream.Its done!

Applesauce Banana Muffins

Chirstmas joy is already set and all the bakeries in our town are in full swing in creating Chirstmas cakes and pastries.Few days back,I made these lovely muffins with over ripe banana and apple sauce and then I felt i would never need to go to bakery again to buy the usual tutty-fruity muffins.

We had some guests last week and so got lots of apples.So i decided to make applesauce with them and preserved it in jars and refrigirated it..

Here is a demonstration of making applesauce at home...

I used Fuji apples which is neither too sweet nor too sour.Granny smith apples are not prefered for making applesauce.

Wash them and slice it with a apple slicer/corer.

Take 1 inch depth of water in a heavy cooking vessel.Put the sliced apples and bring the water to boil.Simmer the apples covered until they become soft.This takes about 30 mins.

Cool and puree the cooked apples in a blender to a smooth paste.

Preserve them in clean ,dry jars.This can be refrigirated and can be used for upto 3 months.

Applesauce is ready.I was searching for some recipes which could use applesauce.Then i came across this delectable muffins which also helps me clearing off the untouched,over-ripe bananas..

The following Applesauce Banana Muffins recipe yield approximately 12 muffins

You will need:

2 cups Maida (All Purpose flour)

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup apple sauce

2 eggs

3-4 Ripe bananas,mashed

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp Cinnamon powder

1/4 cup of Demerera Sugar

Seive together flour,salt,cinnamon powder ,baking powder and soda to get it free of lumps .

In a seperate bowl,beat eggs and sugar.Add the mashed banana,applesauce and vegetable oil and mix well.

Add the dry flour mixture to the wet mixture and mix well with a wooden spatula.

Place muffin liners in each cup of the muffin tray and fill the 3/4th of each cup with the batter.Sprinkle some demerera sugar.Pop this in 250 C preheated oven and bake it for 20 mins.

I m so pleased with the beautifully risen muffins.They were spongy and the demerera sugar sprinkled on the top of the muffin made a great difference!

These muffins can make for a perfect breakfast.