Chocolate and Vanilla Marbled Cake

These days I have been baking a lot.. well.. it all depends on my mood ofcourse.. I can feel lazy anytime.. I remember one day ,I had to go to a friend's place for dinner and I promised wud make a cake for dessert.. but somehow I couldnt make it.. I just.. didnt feel like it.. and had to take something else for dessert.. I dont know why but I have to be in a better state of mind to Bake anything... Now I got this cake idea all of a sudden... Out of nowhere I felt like making this cake...and here it is ... So.. thats my story.. I know its silly..but thats how I am..

Neways this cake is really easy peasy... It requires the basic ingredients and can be done really quick..

Ingredients

30 gm plain chocolate

1 1/2 tbsp milk

70 gm butter

80 gm caster sugar(you can use normal white sugar and grind it a bit, dont make too powdery)

1 egg beaten

3 tbsp thick curd

115 gm plain flour (Maida)

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method

Make sure all the ingredients are at room temperature. Preheat the oven at 180 degrees Celcius. Grease a 450gm loaf tin and line the base with parchment paper.

Break the chocolate in pieces and place in a small heatproof bowl with the milk and set over a saucepan of simmering water. Heat gently until just melted. Remove from heat and mix well.

Mix maida, baking powder and baking soda and mix well with a fork. Seive the flour through a strainer and keep aside.

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg in two batches and then add curd and beat again. Now add the maida mixture and fold in lightly and evenly using a metal spoon. Spoon half the mixture into a seperate bowl and stir in the chocolate mixture. Add the vanilla extract to the plain mixture.

Spoon the chocolate and vanilla mixture alternately in to the prepared tin, swirling lightly with a knife for a marbled effect. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out and finish cooling on a wire rack.

The cake just melts in the mouth.. Try it.. and let me know...

Sabudana Khichdi

This recipe is one of my favourite. I remember when i was a kid.. my mum used to make this during Sankashti (its a fast which comes once a month.. devoted to Lord Ganesha)... Well.. I dont fast.. Ever.. its just not my thing.. All the other members of my family used to fast except me.. I used to keep some space in my tummy just for this khichdi...

This recipe is actually made without garlic but as I love garlic.. i had to add it... and believe me it taste gooood... rest all ingredients are same..

This requires prior preperation.. especially like soaking Sabudana which is a bit tricky part but not very difficult.. Make sure you wash sabudana thrice atleast so that all that powdery thing is washed off... Then put the washed sabudana in a bowl and put very little water so that it just covers the sabudana. Too much water makes sabudana soggy.. Keep it soaked for 4 to 5 hours.

Ingredients

1 cup Sabudana washed and soaked

2 medium potatoes (boiled, peeled and cut in small cubes)

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1 green chilly, 1 garlic and 1/2 inch ginger(all crushed together)

1/2 cup peanuts (dry roasted , peeled and coarsely ground)

small bunch of coriander leaves ( washed and chopped)

salt as per taste

1/2 tsp sugar

1 to 2 tsp lemon juice

4 tsp Oil for cooking

Method

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed vessel. Add cumin seeds and let it splutter, then add potatoes and ginger, garlic and chilly paste and fry till potatoes gets little brown. Add salt and sugar and mix well. Add ground peanut powder to soaked Sabudana and add this mixture to Potato mixture and mix well. Close the lid and let it cook on slow flame for few minutes. Add chopped coriander leaves and let it cook in steam for few seconds. The sabudana should become transparent, if not then cook for some more time and close the flame. Add lemon juice before serving. Make sure you dont add lemon juice during cooking process as it can make sabudana soggy.

Enjoy this delicious Sabudana rich in protein.. Cheers!!!!



Corn and Broccoli Bake




 I know... its not the best picture, but it was late and had to serve dinner and didnt have much time to do photography... This continental recipe I made for the first time actually and it turned out so well that I thought of sharing with you guys..

When I left my job few years back, my friends gave me some 4 to 5 recipes books. I didnt know cooking back then and these books helped me a lot to learn different style of cooking.. Even now whenever I feel lost and dont know what to cook , I browse through these books and come up with something amazing... just like this one..

Ingredients

1 cup Sweet Corn
1 small bunch of Broccoli
1 small Onion chopped
2 Garlic crushed
1/2 tsp Red chilly flakes
2 1/2 cups Milk
2 tbsp Olive oil
2 1/2 tbsp Cornflour
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp Pepper powder
3 tbsp grated cheese(cheddar and mozzarella mix)
small bunch of coriander with stalks chopped

BASE LAYER :

4 slices of Bread (break the slices and grind in the mixer to get bread crumbs)
2 tbsp butter
salt
1/4 tsp chilly flakes
2-3 tbsp grated cheese (cheddar and mozzarella mix)

Methods
Preheat the oven at 200 degrees Celcius.

Clean and cut broccoli in thin florets and keep it in salty warm water for 10 minutes. Wash the florets and boil it with corn in 3 cups of water, pinch of turmeric and little salt for 5 minutes drain the water if any and keep it aside.

For the base layer, melt 2 tbsp of butter in a pan, add the fresh bread crumbs, salt and chilly flakes. Saute for 5 minutes or till bread turns crisp. Remove from fire.
Spread this mixture at the base of the greased oven proof dish. Sprinkle grated cheese on the top of it and keep it aside.

For the sauce, heat olive oil. Add chopped onion and crushed garlic and cook till onion turn golden brown. Add cornflour. Cook on low heat for 1 minute. Dont let it change colour.. Now add the milk slowly, stirring continuously. Add salt, pepper and chilly flakes and stir till it comes to a boil. When the sauce is thick, add grated cheese and mix well. Mix in corn and broccoli and chopped coriander. Remove from fire and pour this mixture over the breadcrumbs in the dish.

Bake it in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.

(This recipe is taken from "Nita Mehta - Learn to cook" - the best book for any beginner).. Enjoy cooking!!!

Potato Pohe

I like to have different type of breakfast every morning and I always enjoyed those traditional breakfast dishes which my mum used to make. So now when I have my own family, I make sure to make those dishes even though it requires kinda little more planning and effort compare to Eggs and Bread.

People have their own style of making Pohe like Onion Pohe, Potato Pohe.. In south people use grated coconut in their Pohe dish.. I have tried all different style in the beginning and came with an improvised version which my family enjoys now.

So here is my version of Potato Pohe:

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups Medium to Thick Poha( washed and drained in a hole plate. After sometime add little salt and mix gently)

2 Green chillies slit

2 Onions sliced

1 big Potato boiled and cut in cubes

1 small tomato ( remove the seeds and juice and chop in small pieces)

few Curry leaves

2-3 tsp Peanuts

1/2 tsp Mustard seeds

1/2 tsp Sugar

1/2 tsp Turmeric powder

Salt as per taste

2 tsp Lemon juice

few strands of Coriander leaves chopped

Method

Heat 4 tsp oil in a vessel, add peanuts and let it become crisp, remove and keep it aside. Now in the same oil add mustard seeds and let it splutter. Add curry leaves , green chillies and fry for few seconds. Then add Onion and fry till golden brown. Add turmeric powder and potatoes and mix well. Let it fry for few seconds and then add salt and sugar and  little water(2 tsp) and mix well. Now add Poha, tomato, coriander leaves, fried peanuts and mix well, close the lid of the vessel and let it cook for 2 minutes in slow flame. Mix again and add lemon juice and switch off the flame. Keep it covered for sometime before serving.

Enjoy!!!! :)

Banana Cake

 

 Lets start my blog with something sweet, and what better than the Banana Cake. Its easy, stress free, healthy and delicious. It tastes much better the next day, the only problem is it gets over by then.. Neways here is the recipe,


Ingredients:

230 gms Maida
130 gms Light Brown Sugar(I love the flavour of brown sugar better, but if you don't have, use normal granulated white sugar)
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp cardamom powder( Traditionally Cinnamon Powder is used in making Banana Cake but since my husband is allergic to cinnamon, I use Cardamom powder)
2 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
110 gms melted and cooled butter
3 large Bananas ripened and mashed (I find it easy to mash it with fork).
3/4 cup walnuts

Method:
Before you start with preparation, Preheat your oven at 180 degrees C (350 degrees F).
Grease and flour the baking pan ( i use 8 inch square pan)

Make sure all the ingredients are at room temperature.

Take two bowls, one for dry ingedrients and another one for wet. In one large bowl add maida, sugar, baking pwd, baking soda, cardamom pwd and mix well with a fork.
In another medium bowl, first whisk Eggs together nicely and then add vanilla extract, bananas and butter and beat well for few minutes.
Toast walnuts and chop coarsely, add this to dry ingredients and mix.
Now pour over the wet ingredients in the dry mixture and fold in gently. Dont overmix just fold gently till the dry ingredients gets incorporated in wet. ( The important point is if you over mix the batter, cake will become tough and rubbery)

Now just pour over the batter in the prepared pan and bake it for around 35- 40 minutes. Check whether your cake is done by inserting a toothpick in the centre, if it comes out clean then its done, if not then bake it for another five minutes or till done.

Once the cake is baked, I like to grill the top for say 2 minutes to get that gorgeous golden colour.

Remove the pan from the oven and let it cool for 10 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan and  let it cool again on wire rack for 5 - 10 minutes. Now you can cover it with cling film and it stays good for 2- 3 days at room temperature.