Marble Cake

This last week has been a cake fest at home! It so happened that I had to bake 3 cakes for different reasons. Here's the first - marble cake!

Marble cakes are a combination of vanilla and chocolate cakes where the batter is roughly mixed, so you get cakes that look very artistic and are absolutely delicious.

This cake is for my son's school's christmas party. He is two and half years old and I think this combination cake is perfect for toddlers. They are inquisitive and curious, so this dual colour cake makes them really happy! It was my first time and the cake turned out really good, infact one of the best cakes I ever made I think!

For this you will need -

80 gms - Dark chocolate
150 gms - Flour
1 1/2 tspn - Baking Powder
1/4 tspn - Baking Soda
1/4 tspn - Salt
85 gms - Unsalted Butter
125 gms - Powdered White Sugar
2 Nos - Eggs
1 tspn - Vanilla Extract
40 ml - Plain Yoghurt
60 ml - Milk

A bundt pan. You can also make it in other pans, but this looks good and is slightly easier because of it's shape.

Method -

Make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature. This will help get a moist, fluffy cake!

Melt the chocolate on a double boiler or by microwaving. Double boiler means to keep a wide bottomed vessel with water directly on the stove and the chocolate in a smaller vessel that sits on top of the wide bottomed vessel. This ensures that direct heat doesn't hit the chocolate and it will melt only because of the steam rising from the water underneath. Keep the melted chocolate aside to cool.

Now sieve the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt thrice and keep aside. (Leave out the salt if you are using salted butter)

In another vessel take the butter and beat till light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar to this and kepp on beating till it is light and the sugar incorporated. Then add the eggs, one at a time and beat till smooth and ribbony. Add the vanilla extract and beat some more. Now add the yoghurt ( I use home made yoghurt, am not sure how it will be if you use store bought, because the dahi you get in India has a different texture which is questionable according to me) Beat some more. Now the batter might look curdled, but it is fine. Once we add the other ingredients, it will be okay! Once you are done beating, now add the milk and the flour mixture alternatingly and start and end with the flour.
You don't have to beat these, just fold using a spatula. Make sure you have mixed the ingredients thoroughly and there is no flour lying at the bottom.

Now, take 2/3rds of the batter into another bowl. To the remaining 1/3rd, add the melted chocolate and mix really well.

Grease your bundt with butter and flour and now you can start filling it with the two batters. This is how you do it. Take one scoop of the vanilla and put it along the outer edge, then one scoop of chocolate and along the inner edge. Keep alternating till the pan is filled. It will look like this!

Now, to give it the marble effect, take a knife and lightly draw circles. Do not overmix the batter, then the layers won't be distinct.

 

Bake this at 180 deg C for 30 minutes. A fork inserted should come out clean, which means the cake is ready.

Devour and enjoy!

Just imagine serving these to children, they will go bonkers! Infact, I think serve this to anyone and they will become children :)

 

 

Vaangibaath, tambuli and hagalkayi kosumbri!

Today is again a classic from Bangalore - Brinjal - Capsicum rice with bittergourd salad and mint and pepper flavoured yoghurt! It can perfectly serve as your lunch/dinner menu :)

Let's start with the masala for the rice. This is a hot favorite among all kannadigas because it is versatile and flavoursome. The use of this powder is only curtailed by your imagination! For the purpose of this post, I'll call it vaangibaath powder, but otherwise you can add it to other dried curries and rice preparations as well :)

Vaangibaath powder -

For this you will need -
Take any cup as a measure.

2 tspn - Oil for frying the spices, grams
1 Cup - Urad dal (Deskinned black gram)
1 Cup - Chana dal (Split Chick Peas)
6-7 Nos - Dried Red Chillies
1 tbspn - Coriander Seeds
1 inch - Cinnamon Stick
1 - Marat moggu ( I have no idea what it is called in English)
 It looks like this  -

If you are keen on reading a little more about this unique spice, here's an interesting link -

http://forumhub.com/southfood/29959.03.01.08.html

Great! So once you have all the ingredients, heat the oil in a wok and add the dals. Fry them till they emit a wonderful aroma and then add the rest of the ingredients. Continue frying til they turn golden brown.

Cool and grind to a powder. You can store this for upto two weeks.

For the vaangibaath -

300 gms - Rice (cooked)
250 gms - Brinjal (Sliced lenghtwise)
100 gms - Green Capsicum (Cut into cubes)
5-6 nos - Curry Leaves
1 tspn - Mustard Seeds
1 tspn - Turmeric Powder
Salt as per your taste
1 tbspn - Oil
A handful of coriander leaves
2 tbspns of the masala
1/2 - Lemon

Heat the oil in a wok, add the mustard seeds. Wait for them to splutter, then add the curry leaves. Then add the veggies and salt and turmeric. Cover and cook for 4-5 minutes, till the veggies are done. Then switch off the gas, add the masala. Give it a good stir and then add half the coriander leaves, fine chopped and finally squeeze the lemon.
Take the cooked rice, when it is hot, in a big bowl. Add 1 tbspn of oil, 1 tbspn of the masala and 1 tspn of salt. Give it a good mix. To this add the prepared veggies and mix it really well. Taste for salt and sourness, if you feel like add more. Garnish with the remaining corinader leaves.

TAMBULI is a yoghurt based salad that is cooling and absolutely delicious. One can eat it just like that! It is traditionally made with doddipatre leaves. The scientific name is coleus aromaticus but yeah I have no clue what it is called in English :) Here however, I have used mint. Next time I get the doddipatre, I'll post that. The recipe is the same, just substitute the leaf!

For this you will need -

2 tspn - Cumin Seeds
2 tspn - Black pepper
1 tbspn - Fresh Grated Coconut
2 tspns - Ghee (Clarified butter)
A handful of mint leaves - chopped
Salt to taste
1 Cup - Yoghurt

Method -

Heat the ghee and add the cumin and the black pepper. Fry for a minute and add the chopped leaves. Fry another minute. Turn off the gas and add the coconut, so it just becomes hot in the pan. Once cooled, grind to a fine paste. Add this to the yoghurt, add salt and mix well!

BITTERGOURD KOSUMBRI -

For this you will need -

2 medium sized - Bittergourds
1 tbspn - Fresh grated Coconut
1 tspn - Tamarind paste
2-3 Nos - Dried Red Chilli
1/2 tspn - Fenugreek Seeds
1/2 tspn - Asfoetida
1 No - Onion ( fine chopped)
1 tspn - Turmeric Powder
1tbspn - Oil
Salt as per taste

Fine chop the bittergourd ( grate away the peel if you don't want extra bitterness ). Marinate this in salt and turmeric for about 15 minutes. In the meantime, grind the coconut, tamarind, chilli, fenugreek seeds and asfoetida into a fine paste.
Heat the oil and add the bittergourd. If you want to further reduce the bitterness, squeeze the pieces and throw away the liquid. But I love the bitterness and always add the liquid too! Fry the pieces for about 5 minutes. Then add the ground paste. Fry for another 2 -3 minutes. Switch off and just before serving add the chopped onions. They give a great crunchy texture and an awesome flavour to the whole dish :)

 

Akki rotti and badnekayi palya (Rice flour rottis and aubergine curry)

I can bet that anyone who eats this can't help loving it! This is a traditional Bengaluru breakfast item, deceptively simple. It involves some knack in making it! You will need a couple of tries to get it right. So if you are game, read on..

For the akki rotti you will need

1 cup (approx 150 gm) - Rice Flour
1 No. - Big onion ( very finely chopped)
1 No. - Carrot (grated/ finely chopped)
1 No. - Green Capsicum (very finely chopped)
2-3 Nos - Green Chillies (finely chopped)
4-5 Nos - Curry Leaves (finely chopped)
A handful of chopped coriander leaves
1 tspn - Cumin seeds
1/2 tspn - Asfoetida
Salt as per your taste
Water - enough to make the dough

Oil to cook

Take a large bowl and put in the chopped veggies, cumin, asfoetida, salt. The veggies for this has to be really fine chopped, you can use the food processor if you like. But make sure not to mash the veggies, just fine chop! Take everything except the rice flour in the bowl. Give it a good mix with the hand. Then add the rice flour and mix it thoroughly. Taste for the salt and spice. If you want add more green chillies or salt. Now add water little by little and make it into a dough that is soft to the touch and not squishy squashy. if you press the dough with your index, it should just sink in.

Keep the dough aside for 15 minutes. Now take a tava and pour 2 tspns of oil. Spread it on the tava with your palms so that it covers the entire surface. Take a fist sized ball of the dough, even a little smaller will do. Drop it in the middle of the tava and keep patting and turning into a round shaped rotti by spreading it on the tava. If you feel it's a little dry and cracking, dip your fingers in awater and continue patting. The trick is to make it not too thin nor too thick! Once you are done, make a hole in the centre and if you want a few at other places too. This will help cook it evenly. Now put a couple of tspns of oil, in the holes and all around the rotti and keep it on the gas on high flame to cook. Cover it and after about 3-4 minutes, keep it on sim for another 3-4 minutes. You will hear it sizzling.  When you open, it should look something like this, on the inside.

You can see the holes and the edges would have turned brown. That's when you know it is done. Switch off the gas and take it off. Now you have to wait for the tava to cool before you can start patting the next rotti! SO what we generally do is, have two tavas and keep alternating. Traditionally, at homes this is done in woks. It is trickier when you do it in deep bottom vessels, so better try on tavas first!

NOTE - The above picture has red capsicum, onions and fenugreek leaves in it.

That's the beauty of this rotti, you can make it with anything you like! And it's always yummy!

 

For the Aubergine Curry you will need -

1/2 kg - Aubergines

This long variety is really tasty.

2nos - Onions (chopped)
2 nos - Tomatoes (chopped)
4 nos - Dried Red Chillies
2 tbspn - Ground Nuts
2 tspns  - Sesame Seeds
1 tbspn - Coriander Seeds
1 tspn - Mustard seeds
4-5 nos - Curry Leaves (chopped)
1 tspn - Turmeric powder
Handful - Coriander Leaves (chopped)
Salt as required
2 tbspn - Oil
50 ml - Water (or as required)

Method -

Roast the red chillies, groundnuts, sesame seeds and the coriander seeds. Cool and grind to a fine powder. Take a wok. Heat the oil and add the mustard seeds. Once the crackle add the chopped curry leaves, onions and tomatoes. Fry nicely, then add the ground masala. Add salt and turmeric powder to this and fry for a couple of minutes. Now, add the aubergines that are cut lengthwise and allow the masala to coat every single piece! Add about 50 ml water and cover. Let it cook for 10 minutes or till the aubergine is soft. Now give it a good stir. If you want add a little more water to get the right consistency. Give it 2 minutes and garnish with coriander leaves and serve with akki rotti!

 

 

Grilled Chicken Breast with Red Pepper Rice and Veggies

On November 28th , we celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary. It had to be special and the only way to make it speacial for my husband is to have chicken on the plate :) That is his only grouse, that I don't cook enough of it! Well, in my defense, I have been a vegetarian for the most part of my life, the first 20 odd years but now I eat almost anything as long as it doesn't make me squirmish ;) Once I started eating, I started cooking too and over the years I think I can say I cook decent meat!

This was a special day so I took the effort to make a whole meal and I must say both my son (two and half years) and husband loved it!

Let's start with the Grilled Chicken Breast with a spicy red sauce. I buy frozen meat, I still can't handle fresh from the butcher!

Also I think mine was a tad overcooked. So I am slightly modifying the cooking time here.

For this you will need -

2 nos - Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts

Marinade -

1 tspn - Dried Thyme
1 tspn - Dried Rosemary
1 tspn - Dried Basil
2 tspn - Red Chilli Flakes
2 tspn - Red Chilli Powder
1 tspn - Black Pepper Powder
Salt as per your taste

Method -

Make a few slits on the breast and rub the marinade all over it. Let it refridgerate for about an hour or two. Then grease the pan in which you will cook with olive oil. Add 1 tspn olive oil on each breast piece and cook at 200 deg C for 3 minutes. Then grill it for 2 minutes on each side.

In the meantime, you can make the sauce -

2 tbspn - Ketchup
1 tbspn - Chilli garlic sauce (You can use only chilli sauce and add chopped garlic)
2 tspn - Brown Sugar

Mix the above ingredients well and warm it so the sugar melts.

Pour this over the hot grilled chicken and serve!

 

For the Red Pepper Rice -

 

1 Cup - Cooked Basmati Rice ( Cooked with Cinnamon and Star Anise)

1 Small - Red Pepper

1 Tbspn - Butter

1 tspn - Salt

2 tspns - Pepper

1 Tbspn - Olive Oil

1/2 tspn - Sugar

Method -

Heat the oil and butter in a vessel and add the chopped red pepper. Saute for a couple of minutes. Add the sugar, this will help retain the red colour. Now add the infused rice (infused with the aromas of cinnamon and star anise) and give it a good stir. Finally add salt and pepper.

For the Stir Fried Veggies -

1/2 cup - Choppen Beans
1/2 Cup - Chopped Carrots
1/2 Cup - Chopped Cauliflower
1 tbspn - Olive Oil
1 tbspn - Butter
6 pods - Garlic crushed
Salt as per your taste
1 tspn - Black pepper powder
1 tspn - Sugar

Method -

Heat the oil and butter in a pan. Add the crushed garlic and saute. Then add the veggies cut into bite sized pieces. Stir well and add the sugar. Now add the salt and pepper. Cook for 7-8 minutes and turn off the stove.

 

Finally for the crispy potato

 

3 nos - Whole boiled potatoes

Salt to taste

2 tspn - Black pepper powder

2 Tbspn - Oil

 

Method -

 

Mash the boiled potatoes when hot and add the salt and pepper. Mix it really well so there are no lumps. Shape it into patties and shallow fry in hot oit for 2-3 minutes on each side.

 

Voila, you have a great meal!

 

 

Sweet pumpkin pulusu

 

Today I am in the mood for some simple food from the villages of this wonderful state I live in currently, Andhra Pradesh ! The cuisine of Andhra Pradesh is very varied and is most famous for its degree of hotness. Can't blame them as they are the capital chilly growers of India. Also, every region has specialities just like any other state in India, which makes this country possess one of the most complex food histories in the world! Every few hundred kms the style of cooking and the taste of food varies which makes a food lover like me go crazy :)

 

This sweet pumpkin pulusu is like a hot, sweet sour liquid with big chunks of pumpkin in it. Ideal accompaniment to rice.

 

For this you will need -

200 gms - Sweet pumpkin, diced into big chunks
1 - Big Onion (chopped finely)
2-3 - Green chillies slit (up or down the number depending on your spice threshold)
1 tspn - Red chilli powder
1 tspn - Tamarind concentrate
10 gms - Jaggery

For the seasoning -

1tspn - Bengal gram (Chana dal)
1tspn - Black mustard seeds
1/2 tspn - Fenugreek seeds ( Methi)
1/2 tspn - Cumin (Jeera)
2-3 - Whole dried red chillies
5-8 - Curry leaves
4-5 pods - Garlic (crushed)

Method -

Take a big pot and chuck the sweet pumpkin, onions, green chillies and the red chillipowder in it. Add water so that the pumpkin pieces are just submerged and put it on heat for 15 - 20 mins. Let it be cooked with a lid on top, so it cooks faster and the flavours remian intact. Keep it on simmer all the time. Once the pumpkin is soft, add the tamarind and the jaggery. Give it a good stir and cook for another 5 minutes.
Now heat oil in a kadai and add the mustard and cumin. Wait for it to splutter and then add the bengal gram. Fry this till it turns golden, then add the garlic, chillies, fenugreek and fry for a minute. Finally add the curry leaves and switch it off. Pour this onto the pulusu and serve hot!

 

Banana Muffins

I made these long back but forgot to post the recipe! These were made with the bananas that we bought from road side sellers who had just got it off the farm! So yummy and delicious :)

For this you will need -

230 gms - Flour
150 gms - Powdered Sugar
113 gms - Butter (Salted is what I used)
1 tspn - Baking Powder
1/4 tspn - Baking Soda
1 tspn - Ground Cinnamon
2 Eggs
400 gms of ripe mashed bananas
1 tson - Vanilla Extract

Method -

Preheat the oven to 180 deg C.

In one bowl, sieve the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon.

Beat the eggs and keep aside.
In another bowl combine the mashed bananas, eggs, vanilla and melted butter. Now fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients till you get a uniformly mixed batter that is sticky and thick. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups, making sure to fill only two thirds or less and bake for about 20- 25 minutes. A toothpick inserted should come out clean to ensure your muffin is ready.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

NOTE - Make sure to use over ripe squishy bananas. Anything less will not yield the desired result.

 

Eggless Vanilla Cake with Pink Frosting

Yet another classic recipe passed on from mum. Easy-peezy and yummy yummy !

For the cake you will need -

Cup - Any cup that you desire, I generally use a regualr sized tea cup
7 inch round cake tin
An electric beater

1 cup - Sugar (powdered)
1/2 cup - Refined Oil ( Any oil that has no strong odour or flavour)
1 cup - Curd (if thick like yoghurt or "dahi", thin it with water and then measure)
1 1/2 cups - Flour
1/2 tspn  - Baking Soda
1/2 tspn - Baking Powder
1 tspn - Vanilla Extract
A pinch of Salt

For the Frosting -

50 gm - Cream (Approx.) ( I don't measure!)
Pink Food Colour - 3-4 drops
1/2 tspn - Vanilla Extract
10 - 15 - Dark Choco Chips
Coloured Sugar Sprinkles - As much as you want for decoration!

Method -

Bring all the ingredients to room temperature before starting. Pre heat the oven to 160 deg C. Take your cake tin and grease with butter or oil and then put a spoon of flour and spread evenly. Keep aside. This will help you take the cake out of the tin easily, once baked.
In a bowl take the curd and add the baking soda to it and give it a good mix with a spoon. After a minute or two it will start to froth, so you know the soda has begun it's action.
In a second bowl, sieve the flour, baking powder and salt and keep aside.
Take a larger third bowl ( large enough to hold all the ingredients) and first  put the oil, vanilla extract and the sugar. Beat well. Now, alternatingly add the curd mixture and the flour mixture, starting and ending with the flour mixture and beat till you get a uniform batter.
Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake at 160 deg C for 25-30 mins or till a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cool and then you can do the frosting.
Beat the cream with the vanilla extract and the pink colour till you get stiff peaks, this will take anywhere between 15-20 mins. Only then will you be able to spread the icing on the cake, else it will run all over and become really messy!
Note - All the creams that I have bought here already have sugar, so I don't add extra. But taste before hand and if you want, you can add a tablespoon or two of castor sugar or icing sugar.

Once you have the stiff peaks, spread evenly all over the cake. I made an extra tear drop in the centre. Sprinkle the color sprinkles all over and a few choco chips in the centre and voila, you have a birthday cake :)