Spicy Masala Potatoes

These Masala Potatoes go well with Roti/Naan.   Do take the time to try it in your kitchen and let us know how you liked them.

 Ingredients:

1 Kg. Baby Potatoes
2 Onions (sliced thinly)
2 Tablespoons ginger paste
3-4 ripe tomatoes (big) minced
1 tablespoon red chilli powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1/4 teaspoon hing
1/2 teaspoon roasted cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon garam masala powder
2 dry red chillies
1/2 teaspoon whole  jeera
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon sugar
salt to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 bunch of coriander leaves
3-4 green chillies
Ghee/Oil as required

Peel the potatoes with a potato peeler.  Wash and dry with  kitchen-tissue.  Use a skewer and pierce the potatoes all over.  Soak in salted water for sometime.   In a large pot add water and a little oil and salt and bring to boil.  Put the potatoes and simmer them for under 4 minutes.  Drain in a colander and add enough salt (not too much as they have already been soaked in salted water and boiled too)  turmeric powder  and olive oil.  Mix and keep aside.

Take ghee in a pan and shallow fry the partially cooked and spiced potatoes till they are brown all over.  Remove and keep aside.

In the same pan add a little more ghee and add shredded dry red chilly and the hing.  Then add the cumin seeds and when they turn brownish  add the onions and fry till onions are golden.  Add the tomatoes, ginger and simmer till the tomatoes/ginger become a paste and are nicely fried.  Then add coriander powder, chilly powder, cumin powder, garam masala powder, sugar and fry till ghee begins to separate from the masala.

Add the potatoes and toss so that they are well coated with the spiced masala.  Add 1/2 to 3/4 cup of water and simmer till the potatoes are fully cooked and you a left with a thickish sauce which coats the potatoes. 

Remove the pan from fire and add finely cut green chillies and coriander leaves.

Serve hot with Naan/Roti.

Dark Chocolate Cake For a Friend

Happy Birthday  Amar….avagudwon!!!!!!
Our love and best wishes are always with you.

Ingredients for Chocolate Cake
2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups flour
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
½ cup oil
2 teaspoons vanilla essence
1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 deg F or 175 deg C.

Prepare a 12” x 9” Cake Pan.  Brush with butter and then line neatly with wax paper.

Sift together sugar (powder it fine first), flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt and stir together with whisk till well mixed.

Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla and beat with mixer on medium speed till well incorporated.

Lastly stir in boiling water and beat for 1 minute.

The batter will be thin and runny.  Pour into the prepared pans and bake for 45-60 minutes, till tester inserted comes out clean.  Keep checking after 45 minutes if it is done,  as all ovens are different.  So don’t underbake or overbake.

Cool cake.

Make chocolate icing just like buttercream (have it on file – please check) – just add either cocoa powder or chocolate.  For this cake I used cocoa powder roughly about 1 cup.

Trace the cake outline on wax paper and place it on the cooled cake and then with a sharp knife trim the cake to the outline of the drawing.    Cover with a crumb coating of icing and refrigerate.  Later add the final icing all over and flatten with pallet knife.

Cut out a rim of a plastic cup and insert it in the cake for the sound-hole.  Scoop out extra cake and make a hollow inside the rim.  Cover with cream and sprinkle cocoa powder on it. For the strings, measure the length required and cut 6 equal white threads.  Tie them around paperclips(12 Pcs) and insert them in the cake.   For the saddle & bridge used two milk chocolates.  For the tuning keys I used 50 Fils coins and a matchstick.  You can use your imagination and use whatever you have at home and whatever suits you best.

Sprinkle cocoa powder over cake when the final icing is done.

Petal Cake for Someone Dear

“Happy Birthday” means much more
Than have a happy day.
Within these words lie lots of things
I never get to say.
It means I love you first of all,
Then thanks for all you do.
It means you mean a lot to me,
And that I’m proud of you.
But most of all, I guess it means
That I am thinking of Your happiness on this, your day,
With pleasure and with love.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SYLVIA !!!

Made this special ‘Vanilla Petal Cake;…just for you.
Ingredients :
2-1/2 cups flour/maida
2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
1-1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla esseence
1 cup oil
1 cup buttermilk (add 2 teaspoons vinegar to 1 cup milk and set aside for 5 minutes)

Preheat oven to 350 deg F or 175 deg C. Prepare 2 cake pans (use 6″ or 8″ round pans). Line the bottom and sides of pan with butter and then wax paper.

In a bowl sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir together with whisk and set aside.

In another bowl, add eggs and beat for 1 minute. Add sugar (I powder normal granulated sugar in a dry grinder and then use) and beat on medium speed 1 minute. Add vanilla and oil and beat.

Reduce mixer to low and slowly add 1/2 flour and half of the buttermilk and beat and then add the rest of the flour and rest of the milk. Just beat till fully incorporated.

The batter will be thin. Pour into the prepared cake pans and bake in the pre-heated oven for roughly 30-40 minutes or till skewer inserted comes out clean. You can bake both pans together, provided they dont touch each other. I baked each separately till they were done.

Cool cakes and sandwich them together with buttercream. You can split each cake horizontally (I put a thread around the sides and knotted it and pulled the knot – so that each cake is sliced thin…this works better than the knife and gives you even and neat slices).

For Fluffy White Buttercream :
1 Cup white shortening (I used Crisco white)
180 grams of butter (softened)
2-3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
5-6 cups icing sugar (sifted)
2 tablespoons cornsyrup (optional)

Beat butter and shortening till fluffy. Add milk and vanilla essence (I prefer the powder vanilla essence), icing sugar in small increments (You may not need all of it -so you can check accordingly and when it forms peaks you can stop adding more icing sugar - depending on the humidity of the atmosphere – you may need less or more icing sugar). Continue beating till the cream is fluffy and you can form peaks with the icing, which stay in place when lifted. Add corn syrup and beat for a minute.
For this cake, I sandwiched the cakes together, one on top of another, then applied a thin layer of cream (which is called crumb coating). Then refrigerated the cake for 15-20 minutes. Then added another coating of cream to cover the cake all over neatly. To form the Petals, with a round piping nozzle, piped rounds of icing in a verticle line, from top to bottom. Then with a pallet knife, press the icing-blob  in the center and pulled it to the right-so the blob of icing spreads to the right.  . Then at about 3/4″ from the first round of icing blob, draw another verticle line of round icing blobs and continued with the same (pallet knife pull to the right)  till the whole cake is covered this way. For the Top, just pull the icing from the sides to the center, to form a flower pattern. I know it sounds difficult to do; but believe me; its just a piece of cake….that easy and you wont know how easy till you try.

Dal and White Pumpkin Curry

White Pumpkin 1 (cut into chunks)
Chana dal – 1 cup (washed and soaked)
Dry red chillies -5
Corriander seeds – 2 tablespoons
Cummin seeds -1 teaspoon
Mustard seeds -1/2 teaspoon
3-4 garlic flakes
1 small onion
pinch of turmeric
1/2 fresh coconut
For tempering : 2-3 tbsps ghee, 1/2 onion sliced, few curry leaves.

Dry roast on a tawa, separately, whole red chillies, corriander seeds, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, garlic (sliced), onion (sliced), grated coconut. Add a pinch of turmeric and grind extra fine and keep aside.

Wash the channa dal and soak for sometime. Pressure cook or boil and keep aside. Make a thick curry with the ground masala, add the pumkin and cook till the masala boils and the pumpkin is nearly cooked (say roughly 5-8 minutes). Add the channa dal and simmer for a few minutes. In a separate pan add ghee and heat up and add the sliced onion. When it turns golden, add the curry leaves. Pour on the boiling curry and simmer for a minute or two.

Serve with white rice or roti and a vegetable side-dish, papad, pickle.

Serves 6-8 people.

Chocolate Cake for a Birthday Girl !

Today is the Birthday of a dear friend,  Shaly.  Happy Birthday Shaly…… wishing you the best always.   We have made this cake in your honour,  and eaten it too.    To you,  Cheers !

Chocolate Cake

Ingredients : 2 cups sugar, 1-3/4 cups flour, ¾ cup cocoa powder, 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder, 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt,  2 eggs, 1 cup milk, ½ cup corn oil, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 1 cup boiling water.

Preheat oven to 350 deg F/180 deg C.  Sift together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and put in a large bowl.   Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla essence and beat on medium speed with a handmixer  for about 2 minutes.  Stir in boiling water ( the batter will be thin – don’t worry).

Pour into two -8inch cake pans and bake each separately for 35-40 minutes, till a skewer inserted comes out clean.  Every oven is different, so  check the cake after 35 minutes.  {I baked the two cakes separately}.  Cool cakes.  Sandwich the two cakes with chocolate frosting  and then cover with frosting and decorate as desired.

Cluster Beans & Butter Parota

The health benefits of cluster beans are in the protein and fiber they provide. Cluster Beans (known as gawar or guar phalli, goru chikkudu or kothavara) are a type of green beans which are a flatter, smaller cousin of the regular green (French or string) beans.

In India, cluster beans are commonly used in vegetable curries and lentil dals.  Unlike the regular green beans, cluster beans have a slightly bitter taste. To tone down the bitterness, freshly grated coconut, or tamarind, jaggery, and tomatoes are used.

The recipe for the following Cluster Beans was given by our keen supporter, Dianna Correa.  I tried it at home and have posted it for the benefit of our viewers.  Thank you Diana,  please do send us more of your favourites.  Dear friends/readers,  please do try it out,  its different and nice.

Ingredients :
½ kg. cluster beans
1 medium onion
2 medium tomatoes
Salt to taste
½ cup water

Grind to a Paste :
¼ coconut
1 medium onion
4 green chillies
1 small bunch of coriander leaves

Tempering :
1 tablespoon oil
½ tsp mustard seeds
Few curry leaves
3 flakes garlic, crushed

String the cluster beans.  Break into 1” long pieces.  Chop the onions and tomatoes.  Heat oil, add mustard seeds and when they crackle add the garlic, curry leaves and onions and fry till soft.  Then  add tomatoes and fry till soft.

Add the ground paste and fry for a few minutes till the raw smell disappears.  Add the vegetable and sauté for 5 minutes.  Then add ½ cup water and salt.  Cover and cook till done.  P.S.  Do not add any sugar or jaggery.  The ground paste and tomatoes help to eliminate the natural bitterness of the cluster beans.

Butter Parota :

Want a simple and easy Parota recipe ?    These are a  big favourite with my boys;   who are never satisfied with just one or two.   The recipe I have given makes about 20-22 quarter-plate sized Parotas.   The dough should be kneaded well and should be soft – this ensures soft Parotas.   I use roughly this quantity of water, but it depends on the brand of dough you use.  After it is kneaded the dough should be soft but not sticky.  If it is sticky sprinkle a little more flour and knead again adding just a teaspoon more oil to your palms.

For the Dough :
500 grams White Flour/Maida (roughly 4 english tea cups)
250 grams Wheat Flour  (roughly 2 english tea cups)
Salt 1 teaspoon
Sugar 1 tablespoon
Oil 4 tablespoons
Hot Water to knead the dough (approx 2 -1/4 cup water)
Flour for rolling and sprinkling on the parota
Butter – softened 2-3 blobs

In a bowl sieve both flours.  Add salt, oil, sugar and hot water (straight from kettle)  – mix with a spoon till it cools and then knead with your hands till a soft dough is formed.  Apply a film of oil to your hands and knead for at least 5-8 minutes.  Cover with cling wrap and allow to rest for 1 hour.

Make balls.  Roll into small disk, apply butter and on the butter sprinkle a little flour.  Take a knife and cut from the center to the edge.  Lift one of the cut edges and roll into a cone in a clock-wise direction.  Stand the cone (tip up) on the rolling board and press and form a ball.  Apply little flour and roll thin with a rolling pin to approx a quarter-plate size.  Fry on a hot tawa till done.  Let it fry well on one side before you turn it.  Too many turns will  make it tough; so limit to maximum  4 turns.  Press the sides gently with a flat tawa-ladle on the third and 4^th turn, so that they puff up here and there.     Brush with a little butter;  remove and keep warm in a bowl till serving time.