Crispy Chicken & Cheese rolls

Ingredients:

• Half inch chicken cubes
• Lemon juice
• 1 egg
• Pepper
• Salt to taste
• Coriander leaves
• Cheese cubes
• Bread crumbs
• Oil to fry

Method:

• Marinate chicken cubes in lemon juice, egg, pepper, salt and coriander leaves mixture for half an hour
• Pierce it on to a satay stick/toothpick alternately with cheese cubes
• Dip it in the batter and roll it in bread crumbs and deep fry it
• Serve with mayo and tomato ketchup
  

Rolls

I never knew the abcd of baking apart from thriving on the baked stuff from various joints in my hometown or for that matter any place I have been. My favorite being Oven, in Kochi!! The chicken puff we used to get there was unmatchable.
It was this love for the crusty, crunchy, heavenly smelling baked items that provoked me to take lessons from one of the renowned culinary tutors in Kochi, Mrs. Anita Isaac. She is too good at it man!! I must say, she made baking look so easy.. I still remember the amazing smell in her kitchen and this huge lady with sharp voice always in the midst of food!! And I always wondered how lucky her children must be!!

Ingredients:

For bread base:

• 1 cup - Maida
• 1/2 tsp - Sugar powder
• 1/2 tsp - Instant yeast
• Salt to taste
• 1/2 Tbsp - Butter, at room temperature
• 1 - Egg
• 1 tbsp - Butter, at room temperature
• Lukewarm water or milk

Method:

• Sieve maida with salt. Mix in sugar powder and yeast
• Add water or milk and kneed into a soft dough. The dough should not be tough/tight as it would hamper the yeast to grow
• Now add the butter and kneed again
• Cover the dough with a wet muslin cloth until it rises to double size
• Once done, remove the cloth and punch down and kneed again.
• Roll into the desired shape and fill the filling** and allow it to rise for another 15 minutes.
• Give an agg wash and bake it on 200 degree celcius for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
• Once removed out of the oven it would be rock hard. Give it a butter wash and leave it for 15 minutes. It would become soft once cool.

**For filling:

You may prepare a filling of your own choice. I boiled some eggs and sliced it. Sauted some onion and added some cabbage and sauted well. Added salt, pepper and some oregano. Mixed into the sliced eggs and filled into the rolls.

Carrot Rice

I still remember my schooldays and mostly the lunch break time. We used to eagerly wait to see whats in our friend's tiffin box. Out of all sorts of food I have tasted from my friends/gangs dabbas, my all time favorite had been carrot rice, which one of my friend used to bring. Whenever I asked for the recipe both she and her mother used to keep mum. I still wonder why? So, one day I decided to try it out on my own. Now, the version I have here might not be the replica of my friends mom's carrot rice but it surely taste good. These days whenever I am at home alone and lazy to prepare a whole meal I go for something like this- quick and yummy!!
Ingredients:

• 1 cup - Rice, cooked and drained
• 2 tbsp - Ghee
• 1 tsp - Fennel or Saunf
• 1 - Onion, thinly sliced
• 3 No - Big carrots, peeled and grated
• 1 tsp - Red chilly powder
• Salt to taste
• 1/4 cup - Coriander leaves, chopped

Method:

• Heat a kadhai with the ghee. Splutter the saunf and saute the onions till transparent
• Add the carrot and saute till cooked. Add in the chilly powder and salt. Saute
• Add the cooked rice and mix well till the moisture in the rice is completely gone.
• Garnish it with the chopped coriander leaves.
• You may serve it hot with anything like aachar, curd, pappad or have it just like that.

Paneer Butter Masala

Ingredients:

• 250 gms - Paneer cubes
• 2 Nos - Large Onions, chopped
• 2 Tbsp - Dhania powder
• 1 tsp - Turmeric powder
• 1 tsp - Zeera
• 1 tsp - Chilly powder
• 1 tsp - Garam masala powder
• 2 tsp - Ginger garlic paste
• 2 nos - Tomato(pureed)
• 2 tbsp - Butter
• 1 tbsp - Oil
• 2 tbsp - Cream

For marination:

• 1 tbsp - Ginger garlic paste
• 3 tbsp - Curd
• 1 tsp - Chilly powder
• 1 tsp - Lemon juice
• Salt to taste

Method:

• Mix together all the ingredients for marination with the cut paneer peices and set aside for 1 hour.
• Grill it on an oven till done. If an oven is not available, lightly fry the paneer in some butter till golden brown.
• Heat a kadhai, fry half of the chopped onions till golden brown and grind with zeera, ginger-garlic paste, chilly powder, dhania powder, and turmeric powder.
• Heat the kadhai with butter and add rest of the chopped onions. Saute and add the masala paste and saute well for 3 minutes.
• Add the tomato puree, salt and some water and bring it to boil.
• Add the fried paneer and simmer for 10 minutes.
• Add the garam masala powder.
• Add the cream and simmer for another 3 minutes and garnish with coriander leaves.
• Serve hot with Roti, parantha or poori

Chicken Noodle Soup

I generally make this soup on one of those damp rainy days and pour it my coffee mug and sip and slurp it standing in the balcony of our apartment. And unknowingly I am taken back to my MBA days in Bangalore, when my roomie and I used to sneak and prepare Maagi chicken noodle soup using our electric heater(which was supposedly banned in the hostel due to the bombastic bills) during one of those wintery nights and sip it from our mugs snuggling inside the blankets. We used to have those soups after our dinner just to keep us awake till 2 in night so that we could yap, gossip and bitch about the whole world laying asleep outside our room.

Ingredients:

• 1 - Chicken breast/Thigh
• 2 cups - Water
• Salt to taste
• Pepper powder according to your taste
• 1 tbsp - Butter
• 1 tbsp - Cornflour
• 1/4 cup - Carrot & beans chopped
• 1/4 cup - Noodles, cooked and strained
• 1/2 tsp - Oregano

Method:

• Cook the chicken in the water till soft. Strain the chicken and keep aside. Keep the broth, season it with salt. Shred the the cooked chicken.
• Heat some butter in a pan and and saute the shredded chicken well. Add salt and pepper also. Keep it aside.
• Heat some more butter in the same pan and saute the cornflour till it turns golden brown.
• Now add the chopped carrots and beans and saute once again. Add the chicken pieces also. Add the broth into the pan and bring it to boil. Simmer and stir it for a while till it starts turning thick.
• Just 2 minutes before turning off the gas, add the cooked noodles and bring it to boil again.
• Season with Oregano and serve hot.

Dahi wale Aloo

Potato is one of those vegetables which is inevitable in our diet. There cannot be a single day when I dont peel, boil, cut or mash potatoes. Thanks to my Hubby. Now, my husband and I are extremes on this issue-POTATO!! He loves it and I do not prefer it. Now tell me how can one eat potato every other day? But guess what I have been having it very fruequently that now I have started innovating with it so that it makes sense to my taste buds too!! Dahi wale Aloo is one such innovation which camouflages the taste of Potato and both of us are happy(he has his share of potato and I have a curry which is tasty!!)

Ingredients:

• 300 gms - Potatoes, boiled and pealed
• 1 tbsp - Oil
• 1 tsp - Zeera or Cumin
• 5-8 Nos - Black peppercorns
• 1 bay leaf
• Paste of 1 big Onion
• 2 Nos - Green chillies, slit
• 1 tsp - Ginger-garlic paste
• 1/2 tsp - Turmeric Powder
• 1 tsp - Red Chilly Powder
• 2 tsp - Coriander Powder
• 1 cup - Curd
• 2 tsp - Ghee or Butter
• 1/3 cup - Coriander leaves, chopped
• Salt to taste

Method:

• Heat oil in a pan. Put cumin seeds, pepper and bay leaf and saute.
• Add the onion paste and saute till golden brown. Add the Ginger-garlic paste and green chillies and saute for a minute.
• Add the red chilly, turmeric, coriander powder and saute. Add salt.
• Cut the boiled potatoes into cubes and add it into the masala. Let the potatoes get coated in the masala.
• Now add the beaten curd and let it cook on low flame for 5-7 minutes. Its necessary that you stir frequently, otherwise it might curdle. Add a pinch of sugar if the curd is too sour. Add water if required to loosen the gravy.
• Now add the ghee or butter and garnish with coriander leaves.
• Serve hot with rotis or naan.

Chocolate Fudge Cake

Ingredients:

• 175 gms - All purpose flour or maida
• 225 gms - Butter, at room temparature
• 225 gms - Powdered sugar
• 4 Nos - Eggs
• 50 gms - Cocoa powder
• 1 level tsp - Baking powder
• 1 level tsp - Baking Soda
• 2 tsp - Vanilla essence
• 1 cup - Water

For Fudge Icing:

• 1 tin - Condensed milk
• 2 tbsp - Cocoa
• 1 tbsp - Butter

Method:

• Preheat oven to 180°C. You may either grease the baking tray with lots butter and dust with flour or grease the tray with butter and put a greased butter paper.
• Sieve flour with baking powder and baking soda twice and keep it aside
• Take a thick bottomed vessel and cook the cocoa powder in 1 cup of water. Stir it well. Make sure that lumps do not form. Ideally whisk it rather than . Cool it once done.
• Empty the butter and sugar into a bowl and beat till sugar dissolves.
• Add the eggs one by one. Beat well and add the next . Mix gently in one direction otherwise it might get curdled.
• Add vanilla essence
• Fold the flour into the batter slowly using a spatula
• Add the cooled cocoa mixture and mix well.
• Now pour the batter into the baking tray and bake it for 30 minutes. To check if done insert a knife and see. If the cake is done the knife will come out clean.
• Take it out of the oven once done and insert a knife onto the sides of the tray and loosen it to let it cool.

Method for fudge Icing:

• Mix everything together and cook on low heat until thick. Pour on top of the cooled cake while icing is still warm. Let it stay for sometime till it set.

Crispy Fish and Raw Mango Salad

Saw this on television and was so inspired to try it out, that even with lot of ingredients missing it tasted just superb. So improvised it according to our taste and availability of material and here it is!! Originally this is a Thai dish and they use Catfish, a special variety of red chilly and add fish sauce too. I use any fish which doesnt have too many bones(Prefer Kingfish).
Ingredients:

• 1 & 1/2 cup - Fish
• Salt to taste
• 1 tsp - Pepper powder
• 1⁄3 cup - Vegetable oil
• 2-3 Nos - Green chillies
• 2-3 Nos - Shallots
• 1/2" long - Ginger
• 1⁄3 cup raw mango, peeled and grated
• 1/2 tsp - Soya sauce
• 1 tsp - lime juice
• 1 Tsp - Sugar

Method:

• Cut the fish into small cubes and mix salt and pepper well and keep it aside for some time.
• Heat some oil in a pan and fry this fish piece till they turn golden brown. Make sure you doit on low fire. Drain it on to a paper towel.
• Mince the green chillies, shallots and ginger . Mix all the ingredients with the fried fish, and grated mango.
• Mix in the lime juice, soya suace and sugar. Add salt if required.

Kozhakatta or Rice balls with jaggery and coconut filling

The memories of this snack goes back to my childhood days as this used to be one among those dishes which mom used to prepare for me and my bro when we used to return from school at 4 in the evening. The one thing which I enjoyed the most about it was the way I used to eat it. My first lessons of using fork and knife were practised on the hot, steaming kozhakattas.
I also remember our maid who was a christian used to make kozhakattas for their festival and used to bring for us. Her kozhakattas had a distinct flavor of fire and smoke as they used to use the verag aduppu(mud stove which is lit using wood)
Ingredients:

• 1 cup - Rice Flour
• Water
• Salt to taste
• 200 gms - Jaggery
• 200 gms - Grated Coconut
• 1 - Cardamom or Ellachi

Method:

• Boil some water in a bowl.
• In a separate bowl put the flour and salt and mix well. Now pour some boiled water and bind the flour by gently kneading it(Dont try kneading with your hands. You pour hot water. So you can first stir with a spoon and when cooled down use your hands). Knead till the dough doesnot stick to the bowl.
• In a kadhai, pour 1 cup of water and add the jaggery. Let it melt and boil. When it starts thickening, add the grated coconut and ellachi powder and mix well and stir till the water is gone from the mixture.
• Make small balls and press to flatten it into small circle and fill the jaggery-coconut mixture and close it. Perfect the ball again.
• Cook these rice flour balls on a steamer for around 10-15 minutes on medium heat.
• Serve either hot for cold.

Note: If you wish to make rice flour at home, please follow this. Wash and soak rice and spread it on clean cloth to dry. Once 90% water is dried up, grind the rice without adding water. It should not be coarse nor like maida, somehere in between. Heat a kadhai and saute this rice powder for 2 minutes on low heat. Keep stirring. This rice powder can be used for making most of the kerala delicacies like Appam, Idiyappam, Ada, Pathiri etc.

Dahi Vada

The best thing about this dish is that this is the most perfect fusion of north Indian and south Indian culinary. The crispy yummy vadas of south, in the creamy thick curd with very earthy flavors of the north. Uummmm....thats just perfect!! Now this is not so difficult to make until you get the vadas perfect..

Ingredients:

For the vadas:

• 1/2 cup each of Urad Dal & yellow Moong Dal
• 8-10 - Black peppercorns
• Salt to taste
• Refined oil for deep frying
• 1/4 kg - thick curd(beaten)
• 1/2 tsp - Dry roasted Zeera powder
• 1/2 tsp - red chilly powder
• 1/3 cup - Chopped Coriander leaves

For the chutney:

• 25 gms - Tamarind
• 25 gms - Jaggery or gur
• 1/2 cup - Water
• 1/2 tsp - Red Chilly powder

Method:

• Soak the dals in water overnight. Strain the water and grind it to make a fine batter. Make sure you add very little water. If it is a thin batter, the vadas would not be fluffy.
• Let it ferment for 4-5 hours(for summer) or more.
• PS: If you do not have yellow moong dal you can take 1 cup of urad dal and soak overnight and grind it and use immediately. No need to ferment the batter in this case
• Add the Salts and peppercorns.
• Heat oil in a pan and spoon the batter into the hot oil and fry on low heat until golden.
• Put the fried vadas immediately into lukewarm water for 5 minutes and squeeze it gently and refrigate it if time permits.
• Mix the tamarind, jaggery, chilly powder in water until the jaggery dissoves. Strain and keep aside.
• Serve the vadas on to a platter.
• Add salt and a pinch of sugar into the beaten chilled curd and pour over the vadas.
• Pour the chutney on it in the desired design.
• Garnish with red chilly powder, zeera powder, coriander leaves and salt to taste

Bottle Gourd Raita (Lauki Raita)

Lauki raita is one of my favorite form of curd. Raitas are always so cooling and soothening but when it is enriched with something which has amazing medicinal values what more do you need. This dish is another Bihari dish which I had at my Bihari neighbours place. Now at the first instance I never was able to guess what the light green grated vegetable in the raita was. I had been thinking it is cucumber coz I never imagined lauki in a raita. Let me tell you, anyone who doesnt like eating lauki in its original form would relish this dish. This is another instance of camouflaging.

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups - Curd or Yogurt
• 1 cup -Grated Bottle gourd or lauki
• 1tsp - Cumin powder (dry roasted and powdered)
• 2 tsp - Coriander leaves, very finely chopped
• 1-2 nos - Green chillies, finely chopped
• 1 tsp - Black salt or kala namak

Method:

• Boil grated lauki till soft. Cool it and squeeze off the excess water.
• Beat the curd, add the lauki and mix well.
• Add black salt, cumin powder, coriander leaves, green chillies and mix well. Add salt if required. Keep in refrigerator for an hour. Serve chilled.

Paapdi Chaat

Ohhh chaats!! who doesnt like it.. I used to relish on those road side chaat shops so much once upon a time!! But since the day I was struck with jaundice in Bangalore, I developed this phobia towards it. But then came in my zeal to try out chaat at home!! You know its so easy to prepare chaats at home if you get the basics correct. So next time you go into one of those chaat walas, notice what all they put in. I've at times asked out of sheer curiosity and ofcourse shamelessly too, "Bhaiyya yeh kya cheez daala apne?"

Ingredients:

For the papdi:

• 1/2 cup - maida
• 1/4 tsp - carom seeds or ajwain
• 1/4 tsp - zeera
• Water to knead the dough
• Salt to taste
• Oil to fry

For the topping:

• 2 - Potatoes, boiled and chopped
• 1/2 cup - Cooked Chick peas
• 2 tsp - Tamarind-Jaggery chutney
• 2 tbsp - Coriander Leaves, chopped
• 1/2 cup - Chilled Curd
• 1 tsp - red chilly powder
• 1/2 tsp - dry roasted zeera powder
• A Handful of sev
• Salt to taste

Method:

• Make a dough of maida, ajwain and zeera. Knead well and make small papdis. Prick it with a fork and fry it in oil. Strain and slightly crush them and arrange on a plate.
• Spread chopped boiled potatoes and chole on it. Make sure you add salt before your spread it on the papdis
• Add salt into the curd and pour the curd on top.
• Pour the chutney on top and sprinkle red chilly powder, zeera powder and chopped corianderleaves
• Sprinkle sev generously on to it and serve.

Easy Paani Poori / Gool Gappe

Ingredients:

• 1 packet - Puchka or poori

For the pani:

• 1 lemon sized ball of tamarind
• 3 cups - water
• 1 tbsp - Corainder leaves, chopped
• 1/2 tsp - Red chilly powder
• 1 tsp - Chaat Masala
• 1/2 tsp - Dry roasted Zeera powder
• 1/2 tsp - Black salt

For the masala:

• 2 Big - Potatoes, boiled and mashed
• 1/2 cup - Dry peas, cooked and slightly mashed
• 1 - Big Onion, finely chopped
• 1/3 cup - Coriander leaves, chopped
• 1 tsp - Chilly powder
• Salt to taste

Method:

• Boil the water with the tamarind for few minutes. Strain it and chill the water.
• Once chilled, mix all the ingredients. The measure of ingredients may vary from person to person. Some people like it extremely spicy thus add lots of chilly powder and at times, green chilly paste. You may add pudina paste if you like the flavor. I ike it sour so I put lots of chaat masala and aamchur too.
• To make the masala, mix all the ingredients into the cooked and mashed potatoes and peas.
• Make holes on the pooris. Fill the masala and dip it into the water and gulp!!

Aloo Tikki Dahi Chaat

Ingredients:

For the tikkis:

• 2-3 Nos - Potatoes, boiled and mashed
• 1 - Big Onion, finely chopped
• 3 Nos - Green chillies, chopped
• 1/3 cup - Coriander leaves, chopped
• 1 tsp - Chilly powder
• 1/2 tsp - Coriander powder
• Salt to taste
• Butter or vegetable oil to shallow fry (according to your choice)

For the chat:

• 1/2 cup - Dry peas soaked for minimum 1 hour
• 1/2 tsp - Turmeric Powder
• 3/4 cup - Curd, prefer chilled
• 1/3 cup - Onion chopped
• 1 tbsp - Corainder leaves, chopped
• 1/2 tsp - Red chilly powder
• 1/2 tsp - Dry roasted Zeera powder
• Black salt / Salt to taste
• a Handful of Sev

Method:

• Mix all the ingredients for the tikki and keep aside.
• Heat butter or oil( I prefer butter coz it gives a special flavor) in a pan just enough for shallow fry. Make flat patties/tikkis and shallow fry it in a pan till golden brown.
• Arrange it on a serving plate
• Mix salt in the cooked peas and mash it slightly and top it on to the tikkis.
• Beat the curd well with salt. Add a pinch of sugar if it is too sour. Pour it on to the plate with tikkis.
• Sprinkle black salt, chilly powder, and zeera powder on top of it.
• Spread the chopped onions and coriander leaves too.
• Sprinkle lots of fine sev on top and serve.

Vegetable Biriyani

Ingredients:

• 1 cup - Basmati Rice (serves 2 people)
• 3 nos - Cloves
• 2 nos - Cardomom
• 1/2 tsp - Fennel Seeds
• 1 inch long Cinnamon stick
• Ghee
• 1 big Onion, thinly sliced
• 2 tsp - Ginger-garlic paste
• 2 nos - Green chillies
• 1 tsp - Turmeric Powder
• 2 tsp - Chilly powder
• 1 - Tomato, chopped
• 1 cup - Vegetables of your choice, diced into sqaure pieces of 1 inch (I took cauliflower, potatoes, beans, carrot)
• 1/3 cup - Coriander leaves
• 1 cup - Curd
• 15 nos - Raisins
• 15 nos - Cashewnut
• Salt to taste

Method:

• Cook the basmati rice till it is 3/4th done. Pour some 1 tsp of oil and a pinch of salt while cooking. Strain and keep aside
• Heat a pan and pour 2 tbsp of Ghee and put all the spices and saute
• Put 3/4 of the sliced onions and saute till golden brown. Sprinkle some salt, it will fasten the process
• Add ginger-garlic, green chillies, red chilly powder and turmeric powder and saute well
• Add finely chopped tomato and saute. Add salt to taste
• Add the vegetable, mix well, cover it and cook for a while
• Add half the coriander leaves and 3/4 cup of curd into the vegetables. Simmer and mix well till the oil separtes.
• Fry the rest of the onions and keep aside.Fry the raisins and cashewnuts in ghee.
• Take a deep and thick based bowl, put 1/3 of the gravy into the bowl and layer it with rice. Put chopped coriander leaves, fried onions, raisins and cahsewnuts. Sprinkle some curd and ghee. Repeat the process. Cover the bowl tightly and cook on low heat for 10 minutes
• You may serve this with raita.

Maalpua

The courtesy of this dish goes to my hubby, who had spent a good part of his life in Ranchi(earlier part of Bihar) . This delicacy is simple to make and is probably the only mithai which can be made in a jiffy. Maalpua's are prepared predominatly during the holi time. But ever since my hubby made it for me we make it very frequently as I simply cant wait for Holi to come, which apparently happens only once in a year!!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup - All purpose Flour
• Milk to make batter
• 1 tbsp - Sugar
• 1/2 tsp - Fennel Seeds(saunf)
• Ghee for frying
• 1 cup - sugar syrup

Method:

• Make a smooth batter of Flour, Milk, Sugar and fennel seeds. The consistency should be of that of a dosa batter
• Heat a non-stick pan and pour ghee just enough for shallow fry. You may do a deep fry too but both of health reasons I prefer shallow fry
• Take a laddle of batter and pour into the pan to make 2" diameter pancakes. Fry the pancakes till they turn golden brown in color.
• Once done immerse the pancakes into the sugar syrup and let it boil till the sugar syrup is thickened.
• Maalpua's are ready and can be served by removing it from the syrup.
• Optional : To garnish sprinkle thinly sliced almond and pista.

Punjabi Chole Masala

Ingredients:

• 250 gm - Chick Peas or Chole
• 1 tsp - Tea powder
• 2 tsp - Refined Oil
• 1/2 cup - Chopped Tomato
• 1/2 tsp - Zeera
• 1/4 tsp - Mango powder or aamchur
• 1 tsp - black pepper powder
• 2 tsp - Ghee
• Salt
  For Wet masala(1):
• 2 Nos - Clove
• 1" long Cinnamon stick
• 1/2 tsp - Black pepper corns
• 2-3 - Green chillies
• 1" long Ginger piece
  For Dry masala(2):
• 1 No- Bay leaf
• 2 tsp - Mustard seed
• 2 tsp - Zeera
• 1 tsp - Fenugreek seed
• 3 Nos - Cloves
• 2 - Whole Dry Red chillies

Method:

• Soak Chick Peas over night in a bowl of water. Make a small pouch of tea powder and drop it in this bowl. After minimum 12 hours, pressure cook the chana along with tea leaves pouch till channa is soft. When cooked discard the tea leaves pouch and drain the chickpeas into a bowl. Do not discard the water.
• Prepare a paste out of masala(1) and mix this paste with cooked chickpeas and let it stay for atleast 10 minutes.
• Dry roast all the masalas(2) in a pan and when cool make a fine powder out of it in a mixer. You can make this masala and store. This makes the work easier.
• Heat some oil in a kadhai. Splutter some zeera and add some chopped onions and saute till golden brown. Saute the chopped tomatoes too.
• Now put the marianated chickpeas and add the dry masala(2 tsp), aamchur, black pepper powder and simmer the flame and let the water evaporate.
• Heat the ghee in a small pan till the smoke comes.Pour this ghee into the kadhai and keep it covered for sometime.
• Serve hot with batura or poori or even roti!!
• Optional : Garnish it with coriander leaves and chopped onion and tomatoes.
  

Chena Chamanthi or Yam Chutney

The credit to this lip smacking chamanthi goes to my Mother-in-law. I was quite amazed to see her make this yam chutney because I had never heard of this recipe ever before nor imagined anything of that sort. I was little hesitant to try at first but when once tasted never felt like saying NO!! The tang of the tamarind and the burnt flavor of the yam and shallots just perfect the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 3" sqaure piece, 1/2 "thick cut Chena or Yam piece
• 3-4 Nos - Shallots or kunjuolli
• 2 Nos - Dry Chillies
• 1 sprig - Curry leaf
• 1 small piece of Tamarind
• 1/2 cup - Grated Coconut
• 1 tsp - Coconut Oil
• Water to grind
• Salt to taste

Method:

• Roast the yam by keeping on gas stove directly till all the sides are cooked and turn slightly black in color. When cooled cut of the burnt sides
• Roast the shallots and Dry Chillies slightly.
• Grind coarsely all the ingredients along with the roasted items except coconut oil. Put very little water just enough to grind it.
• Mix coconut oil into the chamanthi and make it into a ball.
• Serve with kanji or boiled rice.

Sponge Cake - My First Post

This being my first blog I thought probably I should start with something sweet and simple!! The sweetness that coats the whole world and the sweetness that lasts for ever...

I shall try and put all those recipes on yum-world which I have tried and tested and those which I have inherited from my mom, dad, hubby, friends and ofcourse those ones which I love the most!! Keep reading and would definetly appreciate any form of encouragement and critical opinions..

Sponge cake is the most simplest cake in the world. This cake is the one which a starter should try while baking for the first time. And I am sure you can not go wrong with this if you replicate the recipe. And another important thing - my mother always says that baking can be fun when there are two people. So next time you bake pull in your better half also!! :)

Ingredients

• 1 cup - All purpose flour or maida
• 3/4 level tsp - Baking powder
• 3/4 cup butter at room temperature
• 3/4 cup - powdered sugar
• 2 - Eggs
• 1 tsp - Vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp - Warm milk

Method

• Preheat oven to 180°C. You may either grease the baking tray with lots butter and dust with flour or grease the tray with butter and put a greased butter paper. For amateurs I would suggest the latter.
• Sift together flour and baking powder twice and keep aside
• Whisk the butter until fluffy. Add sugar and continue to beat till sugar gets dissolved.
• Add egg one at a time and mix gently.
• Add vanilla extract and mix.
• Take flour in small quantities and slowly fold into the butter sugar mixture.
• Add warm milk, mix well till small bubbles form
• Pour the batter in to the baking tray.
• Bake for 30 minutes or till done. To check if done insert a knife and see. If the cake is done the knife will come out clean.
• Take it out of the oven once done and insert a knife onto the sides of the tray and loosen it to let it cool. Wait for the cake to cool completely before your turn or cut