Baking and Birthday

Another year gone by. A happy year I would say.

So to make the day happier I started with baking some stuff. It had been ages since I baked and I just loved it! After baking three things I wanted to bake some more!! Hahaha...

So I baked a banana-walnut cake, a batch of oatmeal raisin cookies and a chocolate layer cake.

Seeing the awed look in betu's eyes made it all the more worthwhile. And the way Nishka relished both the cake and the raisin was the final stamp of satisfaction for me.

Here are the pics -

I also baked a simple cake and layered it with whipped chocolate cream. The look isn't great as I didn't know how to smoothen the cream.

As it is every year was flooded with emails, SMSes and calls from friends and family. It just overwhelms me. Every year.

Ended the day with a dinner out at DimSum Bros, New Friends Colony. The food there was great and so was the ambiance and the staff.

So like always a day well spent!

Bliss

Bliss is when hubby dear prepares the gajar halwa! And you just sit, eat and relish it! :D

Yes, hubby dear made the first gajar halwa of the season. It was his first time but it wont be the last! As now we have decided that making gajar halwa will be his job. I used to make it the long way...with boiling/cooking the grated carrot in milk. He tried the shortcut way by pressure cooking it for a while and then just adding khoya (condensed milk) and ghee. It was much faster, required less effort and consumed less fuel. And yet tasted so yummy!!

Mixed Vegetables Souffle

After Manasi asked to post some non-sweet stuff, I made this today and had it for dinner -

This is a mixed vegetables souffle which was polished off by hubby dear and moi in 15 mins flat! :D

After the success of this one I want to try many more. And with that my plans of loosing those extra kilos just flew out of the window :P

P.S. Recipe will follow soon.

This was my dinner yesterday - Palak Paneer with Makke ki roti!

Do I have to add that it was droolicious? :D

It was an impromptu menu. I had palak in my freezer. I asked hubby if he wants to have palak with corn or with paneer. He opted for paneer. I had corn in my freezer but not paneer. So hubby went to buy paneer from the local grocer and bought makke ka atta as well. And so I ended up making this yummy combination.

And eating makke ki roti garma garam with lots of ghee on it, even though lethal, was heaven!

Does this make you drool?

It was really yumm and polished off in flat 5 mins by Beturam, Hubby and moi.

Click here to view the recipe.

I burnt my brownies...

While going through my recipes sheets yesterday I found a quick easy recipe for blondies (a kind of a brownie). So when I reached home I saw that I had all the ingredients at home to make them. Me and Betu together worked on it and got the batter ready. I spread it on the tray and kept it for baking. 7-8 minutes later I could see that the living room was getting a bit smoky. It took me about 5 seconds to realise what was happening and I ran to the kitchen but alas..it was a bit too late.

I had actually forgotten to turn down the temperature knob after setting it at highest when I preheated the oven.

But I still managed to save 6-7 of them from the sides and for the rest I scraped off the darkened tops. It wasn't as soft as it should be because instead of baking at lesser temperature for longer duration they were baked for shorter period at high temperature. Here is the pic of the 'saved' ones -

I'm definitely going to be making these again coz if they can taste this good the way I baked them, they would taste heavenly if baked properly. Here goes the recipe for those wanna try-

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 1/4 cups light brown sugar (powdered)
  
• 2 2/3 cups plain flour
• 3 eggs
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chocolate chunks
• 1 cup chopped walnuts; optional

Method:

• Preheat oven to 180C.
• Grease a 13×9 inch baking pan or line the pan with parchment paper.
• In a large bowl, mix together oil and brown sugar. Then add the eggs one at a time and beat until smooth.
• In a separate bowl, sift together dry ingredients and then add them to the brown sugar mixture. Mix well.
• Stir in chocolate chunks & walnuts, if using.
• Spread batter into prepared baking pan. Batter will be thick!
• Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. Cut into squares as desired.

Personal Notes:

• I used only 2 cups sugar and still found it to be a bit too sweet.
• Since I didn't have brown sugar, I used normal sugar and added 2-3 tbsps of cocoa powder.
• I used raisins instead of walnuts and chocolate chunks since I didn't have any of both.
  

I would love to have such shoes thrown at me :)

And I doubt who wouldn't? :D

swedish illustrator/ designer olle hemmendorff was commissioned, together with 7 other creatives (patrik söderstam, hanna wieslander, marguerite seger, jonas wiehager and fredrik skogkvistby) by nike to interpret a nike sportswear icon. hemmendorff created a burger sculpture of nike's 'air max 90'.

'in the tradition of material innovation of AM 90, I constructed a running shoe using the most powerful, must durable and most delicious material known to man: hamburger.' OH

Read about it here.

Food art

I'm sure by now everyone knows how much I 'love' food. Almost my every 10th post is on food :)

Remember a post where I had posted some pictures of artistic lunch boxes? No? Then go here and have a dekho.

And today I found some more of such artistic lunch boxes picture! I find them so cute and lovely that it would be so hard to actually eat them :D

Take a look at some of the pictures here and tell me will you be able to eat these cute lunches?




So artistic and so cute. Aren't they? Wanna see more? Go here.

Janmashtami

Yesterday i.e. August 24, 2008 was Janmashtami. I had kept a 'vrat' (was fasting).

I ate one pear for breakfast, sabudana khichdi for lunch, sabudana-aloo cutlest for evening snacks and had kuttu poori with curd and aloo halwa for dinner. I know eating such rich food can hardly be called fasting :)

I also made the panjeeri (a sweet dish) that Ma always used to make on this day besides the other delicacies like "Makhaane ki kheer". I am drooling just writing about it. Anyway coming back to the panjeeri, this is one thing that I always make every year on this day just like Ma.

Although this year I goofed up a bit as my sugar syrup guesstimate was a little off and instead of the dish taking proper shape, it ended up as crumbles. For few minutes I was at a loss not knowing what to do and then I thought of trying to make some more sugar syrup and add it to the mixture. And the idea worked :) Call it fluke or whatever but for me its was great coz it worked! Here is one picture of the mithai -

And I made Anirudh wear a new Kurta-pajama set that I had with me instead of dressing him up up in Kanha dress like I usually do. And he still looked cute in it :)

What did you have for breakfast?

We had some yummy cheese toasts! I know I'm blowing my own trumpet but they were actually quite yummy! Don't believe me? Ok. Then take a look a look at this picture of the cheese toast.


Want another proof? Ok. Here is the ultimate one which no one can defy :)

Now I hope you believe me 200% when I say they were yummy!

So what did you have for breakfast?

P.S. You can find the recipe here - on my food blog!

Tamatar-pyaaz chutney

Ever had this chutney with a nice just-off -the-tawa parantha? Its simply heaven!


Aug 11, 2008: Edited to add - The Recipe:

On special demand here is the recipe :) Its fairly easy and takes about 20-25 mins.

Ingredients

1. 1 cup diced tomato
2. 1/2-3/4 cup diced onions (optional)
3. 2-3 cloves garlic (optional)
4. 2-3 green chillies
   
5. Mustard seeds
6. 2-3 tbsp sugar
7. 1 tbsp garam masala
   

Steps:

1. Put 1 tbsp oil and when hot add mustard seeds till they splutter.
2. Add garlic and saute slightly. (this step is not required you are not using garlic)
   
3. Add onions and saute till translucent. (this step is not required you are not using garlic)
4. Add tomatoes and green chilies.
5. Add salt and half cup water.
6. Cover and let it simmer
7. When it gets a little pasty, add sugar and garam masala.
   
8. Let it simmer till the water is almost gone. (If you feel the tomato is not properly done and you need to add more water, do that!)
   

You can eat it warm or eat it cold! It tastes good anyways :)

Sunday dinner special

On special demand from Hubby I had made Paav Bhaji for Sunday dinner. Couple of weeks back...err...almost 3 months ago he had asked me to make but then I had ended up making pasta instead! This time his request was duly honored! :D

I usually avoid making food items which I know Betu won't eat happily and I would end up forcing him to eat. But this Paav Bhaji is one dish which he also enjoys thoroughly!

One has to look at this face to see how much he enjoys it! And that's why I love cooking such dishes. He is always so vocal about his likes. If he appreciates he will surely let you know about it as well! So on hearing "Arre waah! paav Bhaji!" and all my mehnat seemed so worth it!

I keep teasing hubby that at least there is someone in the house who at least appreciates what I do and hubby once said, "Akhir beta kiska hai! Mere ko hi to dekh kar seekha hai." and I just roll my eyes and walk away!

So here is the pic of the yummy paav bhaji -

Malai Kofta

As promised to Suki, I have prepared "Malai Kofta" for dinner when she comes visiting me tonight. She has already landed and should be here very soon.

So while I was making them, my sister called me and when I told her what I was making she excited told me to click pictures and post them here along with the recipe. My first reaction was "naah...not in a mood right now" but later, once I was done preparing, I thought why not.

So here are the pictures first:

The koftas

Cut up kofta showing filling

The gravy!

For the kofta:

1. Take boiled potatoes and mash them along with bread slices or sooji(Semolina).
2. Add salt to the mix.
3. Crumble paneer with hands. Add salt, diced coriander and garam masala.
4. You can also add diced green chillies and finely diced onions if you like.
5. Put some oil in your palms and spread the potato mixture in a small round shape like a flat patty.
6. Put the filling in the center and start folding the potato patty to make a small ball or into an oblong shape. You have to ensure that the paneer filling is not exposed else when you fry it, it will burst open in the oil. So first try to add little filling and increase once you are comfortable with folding it properly.
7. Keep them aside for about 10 min.
8. Deep fry them to golden brown color.
   

For the gravy:

1. Make a tomato, onion, garlic and ginger paste. Roast it in a bit of oil so that the water is all dried up.
2. Add coriander powder, garam masala, black salt, regular salt and a bit of amchoor powder (dry mango powder)
3. Once its roasted well, add water and let it boil for 20 mins.
4. Once done, switch off the flame and add fresh cream. This is optional though.

For serving:

1. Soak the koftas in the gravy 15 mins before serving.
   
2. If you soak for longer, the koftas get really soft and start breaking apart.

Variations:

1. You need not put any filling for the koftas.
2. You can add cashew paste in the gravy for a richer taste.
3. You can add raisins and grated ginger in the filling.
4. You can add finely diced veggie such as cabbage, carrot and corn . Saute them first in little olive oil/butter.
   

I have also made kadhai paneer for the dinner and this is the pic of it:


Now I'm just waiting for her to relish these .

Mango Muffins

I saw this recipe on Raaga's blog for Mango Muffins and the moment I skimmed through the ingredients list I thought to myself, "I can make this easily today!".

And yes, they were pretty easy to make. And they came out quite nice too!

The recipe:
3/4 cup Coconut Milk (I used regular milk)
1/2 cup Vegetable oil
1 cup Mango, chopped into fine pieces
1 cup Flour
1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
½ to ¾ cup Jaggery
1 tbsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Cardamom Powder or Essence
1 Egg
1/4 tsp Salt

Steps:

1. Grease 12-muffin pan or line with paper cases. Preheat oven to 400 F.
2. Place all the ingredients except the mango pieces in a food processor jar fitted with the dough blade. Run the food processor for 2 minutes until the ingredients form a batter.
3. Blend the mango pieces into the batter and pour spoonfuls of the batter into the muffin moulds. Bake for 20 minutes.

I as usual baked them in the microwave but yes, I'm sure they will come out better in oven texture-wise.

But somehow I didn't like the flavour of Mango in the muffins. So next time I will probably put something else as a replacement to mango. Maybe oranges. I was also thinking of putting chunks of fresh pineapple in it as an option.

Yummylicious muffins!

Delicious chocolate muffins is what I and Betu had for evening snacks today! Yes..these sumptuous looking chocolate muffins! Ruchi, they are so yummy that its really hard to resist gobbling them all up!

My sister had sent this box of ready mix for chocolate muffins by Ghiradelli along with a silicone mold. The box talked about making them in oven and just because of that I had been shirking from making them for past so many months. Ruchi, I guess you will remember it more precisely when you actually sent them across.

But last to last week I tried to make half the quantity in microwave and I guess I over cooked them and thus they kept getting a little harder by time. But I still ate them all up :P

So learning from my previous experience I set the timer a little lesser and also made the batter a little more moist than the last time. And it worked!! I initially set the timer for 5 minutes but when they had been cooked for about 2 minutes I could smell a slight burning smell. So I stopped it and took them out. I inserted a knife to see if they are done and yes they were! In flat 2 minutes! And they were so soft and so yummy! They had little chocolate chips in the mixture and it it gave such a wonderful taste and texture to these muffins! Here are some pics of these yummylicious muffins!

The batter all set to be poured in the mold!

Batter poured in the mold and waiting to be baked!

Yummy muffins are ready to be eaten!

Anirudh enjoying the muffin! He loved them so much that he had 2!

Healthy and Tasty!

I've recently joined a newly formed food blog titled 'Healthy and Tasty" where we all are going to put in recipes, primarily for kids, that are easy to make and do not require too many ingredients or too much time.

I have already sent in 2 recipes there and my latest one was "Egg Parantha" which I find really easy to make and yummy as well.

Whats for lunch today?

Before hubby left for work today I asked him what he wants for lunch. He said some yummy paav bhaaji would be great. I said super and waved him goodbye. For me deciding what to cook for lunch or dinner is such a task so if someone tells me what they want to eat, it makes my life so much easier.

Around 12 when I actually got to preparing for the paav bhaji, I realised I do not have any tomatoes. Waited for 30 mins for ani suzi waala to pass by the house but there was none in sight. And it was way too hot to step outside with Betu in tow just to buy tomatoes. So the plan for Paav Bhaji was canceled right there and then. But now the questions was what to make? Neither of us wanted to have the regular daal-roti-subzi. And then suddenly it struck me that I can make some pasta. I had all the veggies needed and ready made pasta sauce from Cremica in my fridge too.

And when I told Anirudh I'm making pasta, he would come every 2 minutes to ask me "Ho gaya? Ban gaya pasta?" (Is it done? Pasta is ready?) :D

So while the pasta was put to boil, I quickly diced the veggies, cooked them in little butter and then added the ready made sauce. Once the pasta was all cooked, I tossed it around in the veggies, grated some cheese and lo and behold! Some yummy pasta was ready to dig into!

Here is the pic that clicked of it beforeit was gobbled up by the three of us:

Usually Betu likes to have macaroni but this time I used the fusili from the Spigadora brand. So what did you guys eat for lunch today?

A sinful breakfast!

A thick spread of blackcurrant jam, with real blackcurrant in it, on a slice of bread tastes yummy! Its just heavenly! Yet sinful!

Slurrp....

Sent on my BlackBerry® from Hutch

About cooking and et al..

I just now read a post by Still Searching about her foray into cooking and the adventures she has had. It reminded me of my first experience in making tea. For most of the people this wouldn't be worthy of a post in itself but in my case it surely is and I'm 100% sure you will also agree after you read my adventure of "I made my first cup of tea!"

This incident dates back to when I as in 8th standard. It so happened that my Chachaji came visiting us from out of town. It was around 4 in the evening and Ma was not home. And neither of my elder sisters were there too. So when Chachaji asked for a cup of tea I kind of froze but just couldn't tell him that I don't know how to make one. I thought I would belittle myself if I said so. But then I was in a fix about what to do now. I even thought of asking my neighbor Aunty (Mrs. Jain) to help me out but to take her help I would have to go out of the living room where Chachaji was resting and he would come to know that I got the tea from outside. And then I suddenly remembered something and I felt like I had cracked a jackpot!

I went and searched for my Maths book. Yeah yeah..go ahead and roll your eyes but thats exactly what I did. And flipped open a page and started to read it line by line and successfully made my first cup of tea without any personal guidance from anyone. :)

And now to reveal the secret of how the hell can a mathematics book help anyone in making a cup of tea :D

We had a chapter on Algorithms in the book and one of the examples explaining what an algorithm is, had all the steps involved in making a cup of tea. Right from picking a pan to switching in the gas till switching off the gas and using a strainer to strain the tea. And lo and behold my first cup of tea was ready but I was quite nervous when I served it to my Chachaji.

But when he took a sip and told me that the tea is very good, I swelled with pride no less than e a hot air balloon and had to really control myself to not jump up and down, basking in the glory of such an achievement. I guess Einstein would have felt the same happiness in his discoveries and inventions.

I've had many more adventures in cooking regular food but that will tackled in a separate post.

I have come a long way now. Cooking comes easy to me and I can surely say that people love my cooking if I look at the amount of compliments I receive after each get together. OK..Ok.. I will stop beating my own trumpet now.

Now why don't you all tell me about your first experiences with cooking?

Food and Human Anatomy!

I recently got a mail from a friend which interested me quite a bit. Its like, it has been there right there...all the time..but you go "Arre haan!" when you read it. So read on the very interesting correlations between foods and human anatomy!

~~~~~~~~~

A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye...and YES science now shows that carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.

A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart is red and has four chambers. All of the research shows tomatoes are indeed pure heart and blood food.

Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows that grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.

A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds are on the nut just like the neo-cortex. We now know that walnuts help develop over 3 dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.

Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys. Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet the body pulls it from the bones, making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body .

Egg plant, Avocado and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today's research shows that when a woman eats 1 avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? .... It takes exactly 9 months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).

Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the motility of male sperm and increase the numbers of Sperm as well too overcome male sterility.

Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics.

Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries Grapefruits, Oranges, and Other Citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.

Onions look like body cells. Today's research shows that onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes.