Paruppu Kuzhambu

Paruppu Kuzhambu is a south Indian style dal made with toor dal. Toor dal is pressure cooked with coconut, shallots paste and then tempered with shallots, garlic , cumin and red chillies. Best served with a generous drizzle of ghee with hot steamed rice or with roti. South Indians serve this no veggies dal as a side dish with pongal , Idly or Dosa. Kids friendly dal and packed with protein.

 

Ingredients

• 1/3 Cup Toor Dal
• 1/4 Cup Fresh grated coconut
• 6 shallots
• 2 Green chillies
• 1/2 Tomato chopped finely
• 2 Tablespoon Tamarind extract
• 1/4 Teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 and 1/2 cups of water to cook dal
• 1 Teaspoon vegetable oil
• Salt to taste

For the tempering

• 1 Tablespoon sesame seed oil / vegetable oil
• 1 Teaspoon ghee / clarified butter
• 1/2 Teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1/2 Teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 Sprig of curry leaf
• 1 Dry red chilli
• a generous pinch of hing / asafoetida
• 3 Garlic cloves sliced thinly
• 4 Shallots chopped finely

Directions

1. Wash toor dal several times and soak it for 15 minutes in plenty of tap water
2. Drain water completely. Add toor dal to the pressure cooker
3. In a food processor / mixie grind shallots, fresh coconut and green chillies into fine paste with 2 tablespoons of water. make sure the paste is smooth and there are no chunks of coconut
4. Add this coconut shallots paste to the toor dal
5. Add tomatoes, tamarind extract, turmeric powder to the dal and give it a stir
6. Add 1 and 1/2 cups of water and 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil to the dal
7. Pressure cook the dal on high for 1 whistle and then reduce the flame to lowest heat setting and pressure cook for 10 minutes and switch off the flame
8. Once the pressure drops, open the pressure cooker and with a back of the spoon/ laddle gently mash the dal
9. In a pan, heat sesame oil and ghee for tempering
10. When the oil is hot, add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add cumin seeds. When they crackle, add curry leaf and broken dry red chilli
11. Finally add hing / asafoetida to the hot oil. Then add garlic and shallots and fry until they onions are crispy and golden. switch off the flame
12. Add this tempering to the pressure cooked dal. Add salt to taste and bring the dal to gently boil
13. Switch off the flame and serve dal with steamed rice or roti or idly / dosa as a side
 

Palak Pakora / Spinach fritters

Crispy and addictive fritters made with whole spinach leaf dipped in spiced besan/ chickpea flour batter.

 

 

Ingredients

• 15 Spinach leaves with stem intact ( I used palak)
• 1/3 Cup Gram flour / besan / chickpea flour
• 1 Tablespoon rice flour
• a pinch of baking soda
• 1/2 Teaspoon red chilli powder
• a pinch of turmeric powder
• 1/4 Teaspoon cumin powder
• 1/4 Teaspoon pepper powder
• a pinch of hing / asafoetida
• salt to taste
• 3 Tablespoon water to make the batter
• Oil to deep fry fritters

Directions

1. In a bowl , add besan, rice flour, red chilli powder, baking soda, turmeric powder, cumin powder, hing, salt and mix everything
2. Add water and whisk to make a thick batter
3. Heat oil in a wok. When the oil is hot, dip a spinach leaf in the batter and carefully drop it in the hot oil. Dip 4 more spinach leaves and drop them in oil
4. Fry the pakora until they are crispy and golden
5. Remove from oil and drain on paper towel
6. Fry the remaining spinach in batches of 4
7. Serve hot with tomato ketchup or your favourite dip
 

Stir fried eggplant and potatoes

 

An easy stir fry with eggplant and potatoes. Mildly spiced and delicious side to serve with flavoured pilaff / rice.

 

 

Ingredients

• 1 Cup thinly sliced eggplant or baby brinjals
• 1 Large potato chopped into small cubes
• 2 Tablespoon vegetable Oil
• 1/2 Teaspoon Cumin Seeds
• 1/2 Teaspoon Ural Dal
• 1/2 Teaspoon Channa Dal
• One sprig of curry leaf
• 2 Dry Red Chilli
• 1/2 Teaspoon Coriander powder
• 1 Teaspoon Red Chilli powder
• 1/2 Teaspoon Turmeric Powder
• 1/4 Teaspoon Pepper powder
• salt to taste
• a pinch of hing / asafoetida 

Directions  

1. Wash eggplant, pat dry. Cut into quarters. Then slice it thinly lengthwise. Add 1/2 cup tap water to the sliced eggplant and set aside. Adding water will prevent them from changing color                                  

2. Peel potatoes and chop them into small cubes and set aside

3. In a pan, heat oil. When the oil is hot, add cumin seeds and let them splutter

4. Reduce the flame to low and add urad dal, channa dal and fry them until they are golden. Add curry leaves and broken red chillies and fry for few seconds

5. Switch off the flame and add coriander powder, chilli powder, turmeric powder, salt, hing and give it a stir

6. Add sliced brinjals , potatoes and mix everything together

7. Now turn on the flame and keep it on low. Leave the veggies in the pan for 15 to 20 minutes stirring occasionally

8. No need to add water. Let the brinjals get cooked on its own juice/ water

9. Serve hot as a side

Armenian nutmeg cake

Armenian Nutmeg tea cake. Sweet crumb base with a moist, light and airy cake topped with cashew nuts. The base is crispy, crumbly and the cake is so soft and moist. Love the texture of this cake especially the crumb base.

 

 

 

 

Here is a picture taken after unmoulding the cake from the spring form where you can see the nice crumbly base with a dark brown shade and then followed by the cake layer with lighter brown color

 

 

 

Yield : one 8 inch cake

 

Recipe Source :  http://www.mydiversekitchen.com/2012/04/armenian-nutmeg-cake-meshgengouz.html

Ingredients

• 2 Cups of All purpose flour
• 2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1 and 1/2 Cups brown sugar
• 150 Grams cold unsalted butter cut into cubes
• 1/4 Teaspoon salt
• 1 Cup milk ( I used full cream milk)
• 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 and 1/2 Teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 1/2 Teaspoon cardamom powder
• 1/2 Teaspoon cinnamon powder
• 1/3 Cups raw cashew nuts tossed in 1 tablespoon of all purpose flour

Directions

Preheat the oven to 180C

1. Mix the baking soda in the milk and set aside. Grease a 8 inch spring form cake pan and set aside
2. In a food processor, add all purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and pulse it couple of times
3. Then add cold butter and process the mixture until it resembles like crumbes
4. If you find there are chunks of butter which remain unprocessed, press the mixture using your finger tips and rub it gently
5. Divide this mixture into two equal portions. Take one portion and place it in the cake pan and gently press it down using fingertips to form a nice crust
6. Add milk+baking soda mixture to the food processor and pulse it along with the remaining mixture to form a cake batter
7. Now add nutmeg, cinnamon powder, cardamom powder and pulse it once
8. Pour this cake batter over the crust we already have in the cake pan
9. Sprinkle the cashew nuts gently over the cake batter
10. Bake the cake at 180 C for 40 minutes or until the skewer inserted comes out clean
11. Cool the cake in the tin for 15 minutes. Then loosen the sides of the cake pan and carefully remove the cake
12. Cool completely and serve
 

Lemon Sables / Classic french butter cookies

These Classic French cookies are buttery, crisp and laced with tart lemon zest. These cookies are bursting with lemon flavor, they have a fantastic sand like texture and just melts in mouth.

 

Recipe Source : http://www.unegaminedanslacuisine.com/2011/08/lemon-poppy-seed-sables.html

Yield : 30 Cookies

Ingredients

• 2 Cups all purpose flour
• 1/4 Teaspoon Baking Powder
• a pinch of salt
• 1 Cup unsalted butter at room temperature
• 2/3 Cup confectioners sugar
• 1 Egg Yolk
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla extract ( original recipe says almond extract, since I had only vanilla extract I used vanilla extract. Go ahead and use almond extract)
• Zest of 3 lemons

For the Sugar Coat

• 1/2 Cup granulated white sugar
• Zest of one lemon
• 1/4 Cup milk

Prepare the sugar coating

1. In a small bowl , add sugar and lemon zest. Rub the lemon zest into granulated sugar with fingertips until the sugar turns light yellow and you smell a nice fresh aroma of the zest.

Directions

1. In a mixing bowl, add all purpose flour, baking powder and salt and mix
3. In a separate large mixing bowl, add butter and sugar and using a hand mixture cream together for 5 minutes until the mixture is creamy, smooth and turns pale
4. Add egg yolk and beat until it is incorporated
5. Add vanilla or almond extract , lemon zest and beat till well combined
6. Reduce the speed to low and add flour mixture we have from step number 2 and beat until flour is mixed thoroughly with butter
7. Turn the cookie batter on a lightly floured surface. Gather the batter and shape it to ball
8. Divide the batter into two equal parts. Roll each portion into a log of  1 and 1/4 inch diameter. Wrap each log separately in a plastic wrap and freeze for 1 hour
9. After one hour, take the log out of freezer. Preheat the oven to 180C
10. In a large plate add 1/4 cup milk. Roll the log in the milk
11. Then using a sharp knife, cut the log into 1/4 inch thick cookies
12. Then roll each cookie in the sugar lemon zest mixture. Sugar will stick only on the edges of the cookies since the edges are previously rolled it milk
13. Place the cookie on a greased and lined cookie sheet. Repeat step number 12 for rest of the cookies
14. Bake the cookies at 180 C for 5 minutes
15. Then reduce the oven temperature to 160 C and bake for 8 minutes more or until the cookies turn light golden at the edges
16. Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and allow the cookies to rest in the sheet for 5 minutes
17. Then transfer the cookies gently to a cooling rack. Cool completely and store in airtight container

Palak Pakora / Spinach and Cashew nuts fritters

Indian style fritters made with fresh spinach, cashew nuts, ginger  and spiced chickpea flour. Super crispy and perfect finger food. Tastes delicious and perfect to serve at party or as after school snack.

 

 

 

Yield : 2 Servings

Ingredients

• 1 Cup Spinach chopped finely ( I used palak ) Thaw if frozen and squeeze out excess water
• 1/3 Cup Besan / Chickpea flour / gram flour
• 1 Teaspoon rice flour
• 1 Teaspoon finely chopped ginger
• 1/2 Teaspoon green chilli chopped finely
• 1/4 Teaspoon red chilli powder ( adjust according to your taste0
• 1/4 Teaspoon garam masala
• a pinch of hing
• 1/2 Teaspoon salt
• 2 Tablespoons chopped raw cashew nuts
• Oil to deep dry pakoras

Directions

1. Wash spinach and chop it finely. In a large bowl, add finely chopped spinach

 

2. Add chickpea flour , ginger, green chilli, chilli powder, garam masala, hing, salt and cashew nuts

 

3. Mix everything together. If the mixture is too dry, add 1 or 2 teaspoons of water. since I just washed the spinach, it was wet and I did not add any water to make the pakora batter

4. Pinch about 1 tablespoon of the pakora mixture. The mixture should be able to hold shape. If you feel that the mixture is too watery or loose then add 1 tablespoon of besan and mix again. Add more if required to form a mixture that holds shape
5. In a wok heat oil. I used 1 cup oil and a small wok. The oil should be sufficient to completely immerse the pakoras while frying
6. When the oil is hot, reduce the flame to medium
7. You can either use a spoon to drop the pakora batter in oil or you can pinch batter using hands and drop in oil

                               


8. Drop 8 pakoras at a time in the oil and deep fry until the pakoras are crispy and golden
9. Drain the pakoras on a kitchen towel. Make pakoras with the remaining batter
10.Serve hot with ketchup or your favourite dip
 

Eggless chocolate cupcake - Single serving

A rich, moist and delicious Eggless chocolate cupcake with chocolate buttercream frosting for single serving. Perfect to bake when you have sudden craving for chocolate at late night and when you just want to bake a single cup cake. This is one the best eggless chocolate cake I have ever had !

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Yield : One cup cake + frosting for one cup cake

Preparation time : 15 minutes

Bake Time : 20 minutes

 

Recipe Source : https://mykitchentrials.wordpress.com/2014/05/27/eggless-chocolate-cake/

Ingredients 

• 1/4 cup All purpose flour or maida
• 1 and 1/2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
• 3 Tablespoons granulated white sugar
• 1/4 Teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 Teaspoon baking powder / two pinches of baking powder
•  one pinch of salt
•  2 Tablespoon vegetable oil
•  1 Tablespoon milk ( I used full cream milk)
•  1 Tablespoon plain natural yogurt / curd ( I used homemade curd with full cream milk and culture)
• 1 Tablespoon of hot coffee ( Dissolve 1/4 Teaspoon nice instant coffee powder in 1 tablespoon of hot water )
• 2 drops of Vanilla essence

For the buttercream frosting

• 1/4 Cup salted butter at room temperature
• 1/2 Cup icing sugar
• 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1/2 Teaspoon fresh cream
• 2 drops of vanilla extract 

Directions 

1. Preheat the oven to 170C
2. Sift / Sieve all purpose flour and cocoa powder in a medium mixing bowl to remove any lumps
3. Add sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and whish until they are mixed
4. In a separate bowl, add vegetable oil, milk, yogurt, hot coffee and vanilla essence and whisk until smooth
5. Make a well in the center of dry ingredients and pour in wet ingredient mixture we have from step number 4
6. Using a whisk, whisk gently until just combined with no lumps
7. I used a bake in cupcake liner. Pour the cake batter in the cupcake liner and bake at 170 C for 15 to 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean
8. Cool the cupcake before you pipe the frosting

To make the buttercream frosting

1. Add softened butter and icing sugar in a deep bowl and mix it with a spoon

2. Using a hand mixer beat butter and sugar for 2 to 3 mins until its fluffy

3. Add cocoa powder and vanilla extract and beat again. scrape down the sides if required

4. Add fresh cream and whip the butter for a minute until its fluffy

 

Once the frosting is ready, Using a star nozzle and a piping bag

make swirl of the frosting on the cupcake. I just made one swirl of the frosting on the cupcake and I had about 2 tablespoon of buttercream left in the piping bag. You can however pipe out the entire frosting on the cupcake if you like it swwweet !