Flower Basket Cake

This is my 100^th post and I wanted to make something special. I have tried my best to make this cake look like a basket. This is a simple vanilla cake with chocolate butter cream frosting. This was made for my dear hubby.

Ingredients

• ¼ cup unsalted butter ( 57 gms)
• 1  cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• ½ cup + 1 Tablespoons milk
• 4 egg whites

Lightly grease 2 9 inch round pans and line bottom with parchment paper.

Pre heat oven to 350˚F (175˚C).

With the standing mixer/ hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Add the vanilla essence and beat for a minute. Add the flour mixture alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with flour. Stir until just combined.

In another bowl beat the egg whites until foamy and fold into the flour mixture. Pour the batter into two pans. Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool on wire racks completely.

Chocolate Butter cream frosting

• 2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• ¼ cup cocoa powder
• 6-8 cups confectioners (powdered) sugar, sifted
• ½ tsp. table salt
• 1 tbsp. vanilla essence
• 8 tbsp. milk

Beat butter for a few minutes with a mixer on medium speed. Add 6 cups of powdered sugar gradually and turn your mixer on the lowest speed (so you don’t get a cloud of sugar everywhere) until the sugar has completely mixed with the butter. Increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla essence, salt, and 4 tablespoons of milk and beat for about 5 minutes.

Note: If the frosting needs a more stiff consistency, add remaining sugar. If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add remaining milk at a time.

{NOTE: The flowers are made of vanilla butter cream. I had set aside few frosting before adding the cocoa powder. Also I have added few drops of red colour. I have used Tip # 12.

For basket, I have used Tip # 47, 44 & 32.

Leaves are made out of rolled fondants. }

No-bake Nutella Cheesecake

I have had this chocolate cheesecake recipe for a while however ended up trying it out very recently. Now usually I would go with the regular cheesecake variant however the temptation for chocolate was one of the reasons why I went for this. Now Nutella is something that I indulge in once in a while (in fact the last time I indulged, the jar had to be pried away from my clenched fists).  To get the best out of this dessert, make it one day in ahead.

Ingredients

• 1 ½  cups of Arrowroot biscuits crushed
•  ½ cup of Granulated Sugar
• 85 gms unsalted butter, softened + 1 tsp.
• 3 tbsp. Nutella or semisweet chocolate
• 2 8oz Cream Cheese, softened at room temperature
• 1 cup of Confectioner Sugar + 2 tbsp.
• 1 ½ cups of Nutella
• ½ tsp. of Vanilla Extract
• ¼ cup of Heavy Cream + ¼- ½ cup
• 4 oz of Semisweet Chocolate at room temperature

For the crust: Add biscuits, sugar, butter and chocolate/nutella into your grinding bowl and grind until everything is crushed and holds together. Press the mixture in the bottom and one inch up the sides of a 9” spring form pan, set it in the fridge while we prepare the filling.

For the filling: With a hand mixer, beat cream cheese and then the nutella in a bowl. Mix completely. Add sugar, vanilla essence and cream. Mix for about 5 minutes until you get a smooth batter. (yummmmm).

Pour the batter into the crust. Cover with an aluminium foil and set in the refrigerator overnight.

For the Topping: Either you can sprinkle some confectioners’ sugar or you can have a ganache topping.

In a pan, add cream and bring to boil. Add the cream to the chocolate and mix completely until the chocolate had melted. Add in the butter. Pour over the filling and let set for another one hour or more.

For serving, carefully remove the pan and sprinkle some confectioners’ sugar and some chocolate shavings or any one of them. Wipe your knife each time you cut out each slice.

Dig in guys!!!!!!

Strawberry Bites

This dish was specially made for Tannu bhabhi who had invited us over to her place for a get together. This dessert is an easy bake & should be a definite hit among the little ones. You can use raspberry jam, blueberry jam, black currant jam, pineapple jam or for that matter of fact any jam of your choice. My pick was strawberry - other than being my favourite, strawberry jam gives a colourful outlook to these treats. I tried making a few shapes (like leaves, stars etc.) out of dough for a decorative topping. But since that experiment flopped I just crumble them on top. You don’t need many ingredients to make this.

Ingredients

• 1 cup (226 gms) Unsalted Butter, softened
• 2 Cup plain flour
• 1 Egg
• 1 cup Granulated Sugar
• ½ tsp. Salt
• 1 tsp. Baking powder
• 1 tsp. Vanilla essence
• 1 cup seedless Strawberry Jam

 Preheat the oven to 375 °F/200° C.

Line a 9X9 inch baking pan with parchment paper and grease/spray it, set aside. 

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar for a minute. Add egg and vanilla and mix in until combined. 

In to that, add the flour, salt and baking soda and mix it all together until a dough forms. 

Set aside a lemon sized ball dough for the topping and press the remaining dough into your prepared pan; smear the jam all over and take the reserved dough and crumble it for the topping. 

Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely before cutting or otherwise you won’t get bars.

Cabbage Thoran

This is one of the few vegetable dishes that both I & my husband concur on. Again this one would fit the Kerala variant in which loads of thoran (stir fried dishes) are made. This is a real quick make & is best tasted when served with rice & curd.

Ingredients

• 2 cups Cabbage grated or chopped finely
• 1 tsp. turmeric powder
• 1 small piece of ginger crushed
• ¾ cup Grated coconut
• 4 Green chillies slit
• 1 sprig Curry leaves
• 1 tsp. Mustard seeds
• Salt - To taste 
• 1- 2 tbsp. coconut oil

In a bowl, add cabbage, turmeric powder, green chillies, curry leaves, salt, and ginger. Add 1 tsp. coconut oil & Rub them with your hands and keep it aside for 5 minutes. 

Heat the oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds and add the cabbage; cover and cook on low flame till the cabbage is done. Stir in between. Remove from heat.

Note: If you find chopping cabbage a little difficult, you can either grate them with a grater or you can grind them in the grinder without adding any water.

Beetroot Pachadi

Beetroot has always been something which I have loved to have every now and then. But like in many cases since my hubby doesn’t like this I end up trying out beetroot inspired dishes on a lesser scale. This particular version is usually made during our traditional festival of Vishu & Onam. Back home my mom chops the beets, while over here I have opted to puree them. But this is not going to alter the taste in any way & speaking of taste this is one tasty dish that is healthy too.

Ingredients

• 1 Beetroot medium finely grated or chopped
• 2 Green chilies slit or chopped
• ¼ cup yogurt beaten
• Salt – As required
• ¼- ½ cup Grated coconut
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1 tbsp. Coconut Oil
• 1 tsp. Mustard seeds
• 2 Dry red chilies
• 1 sprig Curry leaves

In a pan, add the grated beetroot, chopped green chillies and salt. Add water and cook until beetroot is cooked properly. Grind the grated coconut with cumin seeds to a very fine paste adding water, if required, in a mixer.

Add the 1 tbsp. cooked beetroot to the coconut mixture and grind. Add this to the pan, cover and cook for about 5-6 minutes. Remove from heat and add yogurt. Check for salt and mix nicely.

In small pan, add 2 tsp. coconut oil, splutter mustards, fry dry red chilies and add curry leaves. Pour it over the beetroot curry and mix well. 

Pullinji/ Injampulli

This dish is prepapred by fresh ginger, jaggery and tamarind extract. It is  a side dish prepared during festive season in Kerala especially for Onam & Vishu.  This dish is known by different names in different parts of kerala like pullinji or inji curry ou injam pulli. 

Ingredients

• ½ cup Ginger finely chopped
• Tamarind ball - a lemon-sized
• 6 Green chilies finely sliced
• ¼ tsp. turmeric powder
• 1 tsp. chilli powder
• 1 tsp. coriander powder
• ½ cup – ¾ cup of Jaggery (less or more according to your taste)
• Salt – To taste
• 1 tsp. Coconut oil
• 1 tbsp. Mustard seeds
• 1 tsp. fenugreek seeds (uluva/Methi)
• 3 Dry red chilies
• Curry leaves – 1 sprig

Soak the tamarind in 1/2 cup warm water for a few minutes.

Squeeze the tamarind and set aside the extract in a bowl. Add ¾ to 1 cup of water, salt, turmeric powder, chilli powder and coriander powder. Bring it to a boil. Add the ginger, curry leaves,  jaggery  and green chilles. Let it simmer until it reaches a thick consistency (soup like) and stir occasionally. Do not cover the pan. It would take more than 45 minutes to get a thick consistency. 

Heat oil in a small pan. Splutter mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds; Add  the dry red chilies and curry leaves. Pour it to the gravy. Yuummmm !!!

Puttu (Steamed Rice Cake)

Aha – there will be hardly a Keralite who doesn’t like puttu. Also known as steamed rice cake, this is a wonderful dish that we have for breakfast. While the traditional side for this dish would be a kadala (black chickpea) curry(Recipe posted), puttu also goes well with any non-vegetarian gravy dish too. There is a special vessel in which the traditional puttu is made – called the puttu kutti (cylinder). In my case I have gone for the coconut shell shaped bowl which is placed over a pressure cooker.

Ingredients

• 2 cups Rice flour
• 1 cup grated coconut
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• Water & Salt as required

Wet or moisten the rice flour, add salt and cumin seeds and rub them with your hands until you get wet crumbles by adding little water.

Grind the flour for couple of seconds.

(I have my aluminium coconut shell shaped vessel in which I cook my puttu with the help of my cooker. I add 2 cups of water and close the cooker without the weight. You can add water to your puttu kudam and boil as well).

In to the vessel, add freshly grated coconut and top with rice flour and then coconut and repeat the process until the vessel is full. Donot press in the mixture too tightly.

Cover and keep it on the top of the kudam or cooker and cook for about 5 minutes after steam starts coming out of the vessel.

Transfer to the serving dish.

Kadala Curry ( Black chickpea)

This is one of my hubby’s fav curry. I make this dish along with puttu (Recipe posted). I make this for breakfast and occasionally for dinner when I feel lazy to cook. Oil free cooking is the main highlight of this dish. I have gone easy on the dish with chilli powder. Best combo – Puttum kadalayum. Can also be served with rice as well.

Ingredients

• 1.5 cup black chickpea (soaked in water-overnight)
• 1 onion medium sliced
• 1 tsp. turmeric powder
• 1 tbsp. chilli powder
• 3 tbsp. coriander powder
• ½ cup grated coconut
• 1 tsp. ginger garlic paste
• 1 sprig curry leaves
• Salt/ 1 ½ veg stock cube
• 1 tbsp. fennel seeds (perum jeerakam)

In a pressure cooker, add chick pea, onions, turmeric powder, chilli powder, ginger garlic paste, curry leaves and salt by adding 1 cup of water. Cook for about 4 whistles. Once the pressure is released set side 2 tbsp. of cooked chick pea.

In a non-stick pan, add Fennel seeds and roast them for about 3 minutes. Add grated coconut and roast till darkish brown. Do not burn them. Add coriander powder and sauté for about 2 minutes. Remove from flame and add the 2 tbsp. chick pea to it. Set aside to cool.

Grind them to a smooth paste without adding any water. Add this paste to the curry and mix well. Check for salt.