Bhindi kadhi

Serves: 3
Preparation time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

Okra (sides chopped and okra cut into smaller cylinders as required): enough for 3 people
Oil: 2-3 tblsp
Mustard seeds: 1 tsp
Cumin seeds: 1 tsp
Hing: 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves: 5-6
Red (dried) chilies: 3-4
Black pepper: 1/2 tsp
Green chilies (chopped): 1
Yogurt: 2 cups
Besan: 2 tblsp
Turmeric powder: 1/2 tsp
Salt: 1/2 tsp
Ginger-garlic paste: 1 tsp
Coriander leaves: 2-3 stems


Procedure:

Heat oil in a pot. Add cumin and mustard seeds. Once they sputter, add red chilies, curry leaves and hing. Add chopped okra. Saute for 5-7 minutes until the okra is half done. In a bowl whisk together yogurt, besan, ginger-garlic paste, turmeric powder, green chilies and salt. Pour this into the pot. Add 1/2 cup of water. Cover it and let it cook until okra is completely done. Garnish with coriander leaves and server hot!

Penne in basil pesto sauce

Serves: 4
Preparation time: 25 min

Ingredients:

Penne pasta: 4 cups
Basil pesto sauce: 1 cup
Heavy (whipping) cream: 2 cups (or 1 pint)
Sun dried tomatoes (julienne):  2 cups
Red crushed peppers: 1 tblspoon (optional for mild eaters!)

Procedure:

Bring about 6 cups of water to boil in a pot. Add penne to it and boil for approximately 13 minutes until al dente. Drain the water completely. On the side, pour the cream in a saucepan and simmer until it reduces to one third of its quantity. Turn off heat. Mix in the basil pesto sauce and sun dried tomatoes. Let stand to thicken a little. Mix in the creamy sauce with penne. Add the crushed red peppers and serve hot!

Sevai kheer

Servings: 6-7
Serving size: 1 bowl
Preparation time: 20min

Ingredients:

Vermicelli (lightly roasted and cut into short sticks): 1 cup
Sugar: 1/2 cup
Milk: 4-5 cups
Cashews and almonds (chopped): 1 tblspoon
Cardamom powder: 1/4 tsp

Procedure:

Bring milk to boil in a pot. Add sugar and after about a minute, add vermicelli to the boiling milk. Turn off heat after a minute. Add cardamom powder and nuts. Nuts can be lightly roasted in little ghee before adding to the kheer.

Yumm Yumm!

Spicy Paneer Capsicum

Spicy Paneer Capsicum

Serves 3
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Total time you sweat it out: 40 minutes :) It's worth it ... TRUST ME!!!

Ingredients:

Onion (finely chopped): half (of a medium sized one)
Bell peppers (2cm squares): 2 (large)
Tomatoes (finely chopped): 1.5 (medium sized ones)
Paneer: 20 cubes (approx 1cm)
Coconut (shredded): 2 inch square slab
Ginger (finely chopped/paste): 1 tsp
Garlic (finely chopped/paste): 1tsp
Turmeric powder: 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder: 1.5 tsp
Chilli powder: 1.5 tsp (add lesser quantity for a non-spicy version; I do not recommend though :P)
Garam masala: 1 tsp
Fennel seeds: 1/2 tsp
Salt: 1 tsp
Fresh coriander leaves (finely chopped): 3-4 stems
Oil: 2-3 tblsp
Water: 3/4 cup
Milk: 1 tblsp

Procedure:

Saute paneer in a frying pan in about half tblsp of oil till golden brown. Keep aside.

Heat oil (on medium) in a pan (preferably non-stick). Add coconut, fennel seeds and onion. Saute for 5-6 minutes. Add bell peppers, ginger, garlic, turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander powder and salt. Add 3/4 cup water and cook for 5-7 minutes till bell peppers are half cooked. Add tomatoes and cook for 5-7 minutes. Add garam masala, paneer and continue to cook for a minute. Turn off burner. Add milk and mix. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with roti or naan!

The Candy Train!

This one was specially crafted for Avantika, a very cute and cheerful little girl for her second birthday. The cakes were of two flavours "Mommy's brownie" and "Vanilla". The tracks were made from twizzlers and pretzel sticks with butter frosting (recipe on my other blog) used as a gluing agent. Two rectangular sheet cakes and a loaf cake were used to make the engine, boggies and the wagon. Left overs of the loaf came in handy for the train station. I used "DOTS" candy for the engine and wagon lights, oreo cookies for the wheels and junction boards. And then I used KitKat, smarties and wafer rolls to deck up the CANDY TRAIN! It sure was a Super Hit!!! Click below to view the complete image.



The Candy Train!

Mommy's brownie

The reason I call it "Mommy's brownie" is because this is her creation which she introduced at  her cake shop"Gourmet Delights". This is not the conventional chewy brownie but a hybrid between the fluffy chocolate sponge cake and the chewy brownie. Trust me, it's delicious and with a lot of practice, I've come somewhat close to bringing to it the original taste! So, it deserved a spot on my blog.

Preparation time: 20 min
Baking time: 28 min
Difficulty level: low
Serves: 8-10 people
Baking temperature: 360F

Ingredients:

Eggs – 4 (at room temperature)
Butter or Oil – ¾ cup (melted and cooled)
Sugar – 2 ¼ cups
Flour – 1 1/3 cup
Baking powder – 2 teaspoons
Cocoa - ¾ cup
Salt – just a pinch
Water – 1 cup
Semi-sweet or Bitter-sweet chocolate chips - optional


Procedure:

Grease an 8" round baking pan or an 8" bundt pan with butter or oil and dust with flour. Pre-heat oven to 360F. It generally takes 10 min for the oven to pre-heat. Break the eggs and lightly mix (do not beat). Keep aside. Sieve flour, cocoa and baking powder in a mixing bowl. In another mixing  bowl mix sugar and butter. Mix in the sieved mixture to the sugar - butter mix. Add the egg mixture to this. Add salt. Add water. Gently mix till all ingredients blend together. Pour the cake batter into the greased pan. Drop a few chocolate chips. Bake for 25 - 28 min. Prick a toothpick into the cake to check if the cake is done. The toothpick must come out clean  or with minimal crumbs. It is okay to take the cake out of the oven a few minutes before it is completely done because it continues to bake for a few minutes after too. Once the cake cools (30 - 40 minutes), flip it over a wire rack to allow cooling on either sides of the cake. Allow the cake to cool completely before icing it.

Happy Baking!

Tips:

• Use parchment paper on the bottom surface of cake pan to avoid the cake from sticking to the pan.
• If the cake seems stuck to the sides of pan, scrape the sides using a plastic spatula.
• For quick cooling of the cake, toss it into the freezer for 7-9 minutes.
• For more moistness, add half cup milk to the cake batter.

Butter cream frosting

Ingredients: For a 9" x 13" cake

Butter: 1 cup unsalted (softened; ice cream like texture)

Powdered sugar: 3 cups (or more depending on required consistency)

Salt: 1/4 teaspoon

Vanilla extract: 1 tablespoon

Milk: Up to 4 tablespoons (or more depending on required consistency)

Confectioner colors: of choice

Procedure:

Beat butter for a few minutes with a hand mixer or a mixer with a paddle attachment. Add the powdered sugar and reduce the speed of the mixer to prevent the sugar from blowing around and messing up your kitchen! Continue mixing until the sugar has been incorporated with the butter. You can then increase the speed of the mixer and add the vanilla extract, salt, and 2 tablespoons of milk. Beat for another 3 minutes. You can add more sugar if you require a stiffer consistency. And to thin out the frosting, add the remaining milk (1 tablespoon at a time) since you don't want to thin it out completely. Then, if you like you can add confectioner colors of your choice. Add any amount of color depending of what color you desire. I'd suggest you make the colored frosting at one time for all of the cake since you may not get the exact color during the second run.

I tried this out for the first time for my piano teacher's grandson's birthday when I made a "Spider-man" cake for him and the kids simply loved it.