A meme and Chocolate mini cakes

When Anu of Kitchen Queen tagged me for a meme I am really surprised as I was a budding blogger and all my fellow buddies were so kind enough to encourage me in all ways! Thanks a lot Anu!
1. I am a working mom of 2 kids and a budding blogger. My first inspiration is our dear Indira and since few months I am into blogging
2. I am a home bird and recently developed the passion for cooking various types of recipes. Before I used to repeat what my mother had taught me. But very much interested in experimenting. My recent experiments are with baking.
3. I adore my mother very much and she is an inspiration for me till now.
4. Recent moment of great happiness: My elder one who is 4.5 years old had difficulties in writing even though he is very good at his orals, since he joined LKG. Now afetr getting promoted to UKG he still was having problems and my dear mother treated him with Accupucture and trained him personally and voila! within 15 days he started writing well now. I do not have any words to express how happy I am.
5. Recent moment of honour : When Indira listed my blog in her’s I am too honoured. Thanks a lot Indira!
6. I love travelling but in recent years after getting married and having kids (since 6 years) I hardly do travel.
7. And last but not the least my recent accomplolishment : Baking successfully 11 different recipes (includes cakes, cookies and buns) since a month (my dream came true)!

And here follows the recipe of my recent try (Ofcourse Nic’s Baking bites):

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Since I do not have a muffin tray I made shallow cakes using my tart moulds but still they were yummy! Thanks a lot for this recipe Nic!

Angels like them sweeter….

    After a break of 4 days again I baked a cake. I got an electric hand blender which gave me confidence to try out cakes which need “beat egg whites until you see soft peaks”. As manually for me its not at all possible I was waiting for the blender.

     And finally I dared to try out “angel Food cake” (Recipe source : Baking bites )
The very word “Angel” attracted me to try this recipe out. The instructions were too good and a step by step demo of how to create “soft peaks” with egg whites were simply superb. When I tried it at home I am surprised to see the outcome just as the picture shown in the web site! Thanks a lot Nic! (Nicole Weston )

       I finally found my misplaced USB cable of my camera and here are the pics.
But to be frank even though the cake came out well I felt its very sweet. Might be, the Angels like them sweeter

I burnt my first cake…

Baking is my long term dream and since I do not have an oven I was not able to try it. Whenever my fellow bloggers post baking recipes I would drool over them but last week my dream came true. I bought a simple OTG (oven toaster and griller) with a dozen cup cake moulds and two baking dishes. Also I got ingredients for making a basic cake and tried Ayis’ recipes’ simple but excellent cake . And you know, I burnt my first cake I am not clear (must be over enthusiastic I suppose) and where to position the tray inside the oven and I placed it on just top of the iron rods. I set the timer for 50 minutes but on the tenth minute it started smoking and the burnt smell filled the house. I took out the cake immediately and luckily I could save it once it cooled down. The corners and bottom got charred a little but the overall taste did not get spoiled much. And the cake dissappeared within an hour I don’t have words to express the love my family have for me as none of them made a negative comment on the cake and they finished it too with all smiles. Thanks dears!
Thanks a alot for this simple egg cake Shilpa! Its a real great recipe for beginners like me which gives lotsa confidence!

And then started the baking spree!!! I was really crazy about baking as everyday I will start prepping up the ingredients by 9.30 pm (by then both my kids would have slept) and by the time I get to bed it will be 12 am around. Must be really crazy I tried the following and it all came out well as I could get only leftovers and could not take any pics

Coconut puff from our dear Indira
Mississipi mud cake
I tried adding walnuts to the simple egg cake of Shilpa and it turned good too.
World peace cookies

Thanks friends for all the recipes you share and here I have shared my happiness with you all!

And now I know where to place the baking tray in my oven

Rose Gulkhand

Rose Gulkhand is just not a sweet but it has lots of medicinal properties. A few I would like to list are
1. Increases hemoglobin in blood
2. Cures constipation
3. Acts as a coolant to body
4. Rich in vitamin C

Here is the traditional recipe to prepare it. This recipe is followed by my beloved sister who makes it in large quantities for her patients.

Ingredients:
Rose petals (baby pink Indian vareity) are the most preferred ones – 1 cup
Sugar candy (Kalkandu) – 2 cups (powdered)
Honey – 3 cups
Ideally the ratio should be 1:2:3 (Rose petals : Sugar candy powder : Honey)
Mix all of the ingredients in a dry jar and keep under sunlinght for 7 hours for 10 days. Mix it with a dry clean laddle everyday before and after keeping it in sunlight. Store in a cool dry place. If maintained properly it can stay for atleast 2 years. Have a spoonful with a cup of warm milk everynight before you sleep.

Rozy Rozy Gulkhand Kulphi

Have you ever tasted ice cream when you are drenched in rain ? That too in wet clothes ? My father likes these experiments and when we where kids we went

for a visit to the market. When coming back suddenly it started raining and before we could reach the nearest shelter we were drenched. The shelter happened

to be an ice cream parlour and my father surprisingly called us for a cup of icecream. We kids cannot deny that and it is a wonderful experince to have ice

creams when you where shivering with wet clothes. Luckily we did not catch any cold so escaped from my mom’s scoldings.
The same feeling I had when I hit the idea of making this icecream for the event

Warning: Please don’t be skeptical about the usage of rose flower in this recipe.

Ingredients:
Milk – 2 cups
Gulkhand – 2 teaspoons

To be ground to a coarse powder:
Badam & cahshew – each 10
Saffron – 2 strands
Cardomom – 2 pods

 

Hot to make ?
Boil the milk and cool it to room temperature. Add the Gulkhand (recipe to be spoted soon) and mix well. Filter it in a colander and squeeze the residue to

extract maximum liquid from it. Return the vessel to the stove and add the ground powder to it and boil further till the milk reduces to half of its quantity. Switch

off the stove and let it cool to room temperature. Pour this liquid to kulpi moulds and freeze it for 2-3 hours. Once set invert it in a tray and serve it rose petals

garnished.

This particular dessert starts melting immeidtately and so finish eating it as soon as its served Believe me…it was divine!

Sesame poori with Red hot chutney

Sesame pooris with red hot chutney
The weather started turning chill and sometimes rainy. It calls for hot, crisp food as usual. On one such rainy day I made these pooris for breakfast. Last 2 weeks were pretty hectic at work front and could not spend much time with the family. Relaxing at home during weekend makes me try new recipes. This one is a success
Sesame seeds are very lovable. I love the nutty taste they give that too the aroma released when you dry roast it is simply excellent. It can flavor both sweet and savory dishes. These pooris are my trials and everybody at home liked it.

Ingredients:

Whole wheat flour – 1 cup
Plain flour – 1/4 cup
White sesame seeds – 1/4 cup
Salt to taste

Hot to make ?

Mix the whaet flour and plain flour and sieve. Add salt to the mix. Dry roast the sesame seeds till they turn light brown and give a wonderful aroma. Add this to the flour mix and adding water to it little at a time make a soft pliable dough. Keep aside for 10 minutes.
Divide it into marble sized balls and roll out small pooris.
Heat peanut oil in a skillet. Once its hot (enough for deep drying) place the pooris in it and deep fry till they change into light brown color.

Red Hot chutney

Ingredients

Small red chillies (the hot ones) – 12
Garlic – 4 pods
tamarind – 1 inch
salt – as per taste
Gingelly oil – 1 table spoon

How to make it?
Take the first 4 ingredients in a blender and grind to a smooth paste adding few drops of water if required. Add gignelly oil to the paste and its ready to taste !

 

Serve hot pooris with the red hot chutney.

Surai pinju – Urad dal dumplings in coconut milk

I don’t know why it got its name. Must be by its shape. During childhood days these names were funny and we would laugh if we hear that my grandma is making it for evening snacks. But the taste is simply divine. Its a simple but nutritious dish and can be made in a jiffy.

Usually the urad dal flour is taken while we grind the flour for idlis. Just soaking an extra cup of urad dal will do as our everyday breakfast is idli/dosa thus grinding the batter is an everyday practice.

Ingredients:

Urad dal – 1 cup
Fenugreek seeds – 1/4 tea spoon (optional)
Peanut oil for deep frying
Fresh Cocnut grated – 2 cups
Cardomom – 1 pod
Sugar – 2 teaspoon

Hot to make ?

Soak urad dal and fenugreek seeds in water for an hour. Grind it in a stone grinder (blenders make is less fluffy). Heat peanut oil in a wide skillet.
Drop flour in the oil using a small spoon. Be careful to not to get burns. Fry the cute little balls till crisp and drain it in a paper towel.
Grind the grated coconut with 1 cup of water in the blender and squeeze the milk out of it. With 2 cups of coconut you should get 2 cups of coconut milk

(adjust the consistency by adding water to it. the milk should not be too thick for this dish). Add the sugar to the milk. Powder the cardomom and add it too.

Just before serving pour a cup of cocnut milk and add the urad dal balls ( a handful) to it and serve immediately.

The urad dal balls should not be well-soaked and should be crisp enough while eating. Enjoy!
This old post is found to be perfect for Viashali’s “Sweet Vegan” event and hence here it comes dear!

Sura meen kuzhambu – Shark fish kuzhambu

Sura Meen Kuzhambu – Shark fish gravy

As soon as a baby is delivered the young mother is pamperd a lot with home made special food. Since my mom comes from a coastal area the main food will be fish (some specific varieties will be cooked for the young mother. most of the common ones will be avoided as that may have ill effects to the baby’s tender digestive system). Usual fish fries or hot kuzhambus will not be served. These diet kuzhambu are the only way to eat fish but these were delicious than the usual ones I should say. I was blessed twice for such pampering in my life time. I should really thank God for that! And now comes the recipe….

Ingredients:
Sura meen cut into 4 inch peices – 6 pieces
Tamarind – a lemon size
Sambar podi – 2 table spoon
Coriander powder – 1 table spoon
Garlic – 12 pods
Black pepper and Jeeragam – 1 tea spoon each
Onion – One bug red onion chopped
Water – 6 cups
Vadagam – 1 spoon
Peanut oil – 3 table spoon
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tea spoon
Salt as required

Hot to make ?

Cleaning the shark pieces:
Once washing the fish pieces till the water runs clean boil it for 5 minutes in a wide skillet with 4 cups of water and a pinch of turmeric. Once its cool peel off the outer skin (the one that is transparent when coming off. not the thick white skin) of the fish pieces and keep aside.

Soak the tamarind in 6 cups of water along with the required amount of salt. (Adding salt with tamarind adds more taste to the kuzhambu than adding it later). Extract the pulp from it and strain the tamarind water and discard the remainings. To the tamarind water, add the sambar podi, coriander powder and turmeric powder. Dry roast the pepper and cumin seeds separately till you get the aroma. In a blender take the roasted pepper and cumin and grind it to a coarse powder. Add the garlic pods and grind it just for a second or two to make a coarse pounding of the garlic along with pepper and cumin. Mix it to the tamarind water. Note that till now we haven’t taken the mix to the stove top.
Now in a wide skillet heat the peanut oil and once hot add the vadagam. Once its fried add the chopped onion and saute till it turns pink. Add the tamarind water mix and let it boil till the raw smell goes off. Add the fish pieces and cook till oil separates.

Serve it with piping hot rice. For a change, inspired by all our mallu blogging friends myself and my mom had it with steamed kappa. It was simply delicious.

 

Note: This is a diet food for young and lactating mothers. Sura fish increases lactation very much. You ask me why we prepared this last weekend ? My sister has delivered recently and we get a chance to taste all these goodies bcos of her