APPLE CAKE

Apart from Indian food cakes are my all time favorite and that too Apple cake...With a cup of hot chocolate or green tea or black tea is a great combination. Baking is my hobby means I just love baking cakes and breads yeh…. cookies also but my husband doesn’t like cookies. Every time when I bake first I give a try and then second time I make some changes and if any mistakes clear them and then I post the recipe here. In the original recipe they didn’t add chopped apple to the batter but they top the cake with apple wedges, that wedges gave a juice and crunchy texture to the cake so when yester day I again bake this cake I added some chopped pieces in the batter too and this time the cake taste more delicious with crunchy apple pieces and nice cinnamon flavor. We just enjoyed the cake hope you all also like the recipe. Now let’s check the Apple cake recipe….

INGREDIENTS:----

Self-rising flour --- 250g

Un-salted butter --- 250g

Caster sugar --- 250g

Eggs ---- 4

Vanilla extract --- 1 tea sp (you can use ½ tea sp vanilla essence also)

Cooking apples --- 2 peeled, cored and cut in to wedges

Cooking apple --- 2 peeled, cored and chopped

Demerara sugar --- 2 tab sp

Cinnamon ground ---- ¼ tea sp

METHOD:----

1. Pre heat the oven at 180 c gas mark 4 for 10 min.
2. Butter a 26cmx16cm tin then line the base with a baking paper
3. Now in a big bowl beat the eggs it they become stiff and leave a side
4. Then in a big mixing bowl beat butter and sugar till it turns fluffy.
5. Now add beaten eggs to the butter and sugar mixture mix well to combine.
6. Then add flour to the wet mixture and beat quickly to make a smooth batter.
7. Add vanilla, chopped apple and mix well to combine.
8. Now pour this batter in to the prepared tin and top with the apple wedges
9. Sprinkle with the demerara sugar and cinnamon.
10. Bake in a pre heated oven for 1 hour or till skewer comes out clean.
11. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for few mins.Then release the tin and cool the cake on a wire rack.
12. Serve warm with a cup of green tea (with out sugar)
13. I used self-rising flour you can use all-purpose flour with 1 teasp baking powder.
14. I used green apples (total 4 apples) you can use any cooking apples you like.
15. For me it took 1 hour to bake it depends on your oven if it is not finished in 1 hour then you can keep it for 5 min. more ... check with a skewer before you remove from the oven..

TOMATO CHUTNEY

Some times we get bored with same old coconut chutney with dosa and idli,at that time this Tomato chutney will be a great choice and it goes very well with any thing like dosa, idli, hot steamed rice or even with chapathi. Same thing happened to me this morning at breakfast time I don’t want to make same chutney for dosa, I am craving for some thing tangy and spicy then I checked my fridge there were some beautiful red tomatoes and here I go with the Tomato chutney

INGREDIENTS:---

Tomato ---- 3 medium (red ripe tomatoes)

Green chilies --- 5-6 or according to your taste

Tamarind --- 1 inch piece

Coriander seeds --- 1 tea sp

Cumin seeds --- 1&1/2 tea sp

Garlic -- 4 cloves

Salt to taste or 1 tea sp

Oil -- 1 tab sp

Coriander leaves --- 1 tab sp chopped

METHOD:---

1. Cut tomatoes in to small pieces and slit green chillies and leave a side

2.Heat a pan and add coriander seeds and cumin seeds fry till they change the color and nice aroma comes out.

3. Remove from the pan and grind in to a fine powder.

4. Now heat oil in the same pan add green chilies and tomatoes and fry till tomatoes become soft. Then add tamarind piece to the cooked tomatoes and leave a side to cool.

5.After tomatoes cool down add this green chilies and tomatoes, tamarind and salt to the coriander and cumin powder grind in to a smooth paste

6. At the end add garlic cloves and chopped coriander leaves, grind for a second to blend well.

7. Remove from the blender jar and serve with dosa, idli or any thing you like.

PALAK PURI (SPINACH PURI)

Hi everyone I am back from my one month vacation. When I came back from my holidays I have only some wheat flour at home and I don’t know what to make for dinner and I didn’t have vegetables also at home yeh I have some cauliflower pickle in the fridge which I made before I am leaving for holidays and suddenly I remember that there is a packet of frozen spinach in my freazer.I thought of making dal or palak paneer then I realize that I don’t have dal and paneer also at home ahhhhhhhhhh.. Getting mad .Then subbenly hubby dear told me that` way didn’t you make palak puri we can have them with that cauliflower pickle’. Hummm not a bad Idea and here is the recipe……

INGREDIENTS FOR PALAK PURI(SPINACH PURI):-----

Whole wheat flour (Atta) --- 2 cups

Spinach ------ 1 small bunch or 1 pack of frozen palak (after you make the paste that should measure 1 cup or 100 Gms)

Garlic --- 5 cloves grated

Oil -- 1 tab sp

Salt to taste (aprox.1/4 tea sp)

Oil for deep frying

According to Spinach paste and Wheat flour measurement that should be in 2:1 that means if you take 2 cups of Wheat flour then Spinach paste should be 1 cup.

BLANCHING THE SPINACH:---

1. Blanching vegetables is a Cooking form that makes the vegetables soft, intensifies the color and heightens the flavor but remains the crunchiness of the vegetable especially leafy greens like spinach.

2. To blanch Spinach fill a large pan with water and bring to a full boil add spinach to the boiling water.

3. Blanch Spinach for 30 seconds or till leaves turn in to bright green color.

4. Now switch off the flame and strain the spinach from water in to another bowl and add ice water with ice cubes this will stop further cooking.

5. Remove Spinach from ice water also and squeeze all of the excess water.

6. Now you can make paste with this blanched spinach and use in your curries like palak paneer and palak puri too

NOW LET US SEE HOW TO MAKE PALAK PURI(SPINACH PURI):---

1. In a big mixing bowl add wheat flour, spinach paste, salt, one tab sp oil, grated garlic and mix with your hand to make a semi- hard dough(if you fell like dough is little bit hard to form like a ball or cracks on the ball then sprinkle little water and knead well).

2. Keep the dough covered for at least 10 min.

3. Then divide the dough in to equal sized balls (this measurement gives you nearly 15 balls)

4. Now dust the surface with little flour and roll the each ball in to 4 inch – diameter discs.

5. In the same time heat oil in a deep frying pan and fry this beautiful green color puries both sides in a medium heat.

6. Remove from oil and drain on to an absorbent paper and serve hot with any pickle and curd or raita or you can try with dal fry also a good combination for this puri

DRY FRUIT HALWA

This dry fruit halwa is from my mom's kitchen.Halwa with lots of nuts,Amma made this delicious halwa for both of us(me and my hubby).She already prepaired her menu for my vecations before I landed here.When I eat a piece of this halwa and told superb amma she gave a beautiful smile to me and i enjoyed that smile.And this halwa is really so mouth-watering with a special ingredient thats my moms love............
Hope now you all understand where i am yaa I am in India for vecation...

INGREDIENTS:------
Maida (all purpose flour) --- 1 cup
sugar ---- 1 cup (or according to your taste you can increase or decrease the sugar)
Yellow food color --- 2 pinches
Cashew nuts --- 20 broken
Almonds --- 20 chopped
Pista -- 20 chopped(fry all nuts in ghee till light brown color)
Netmeg powder --- 1/4 tea sp
Ghee --- 1 cup
Cardamom powder --- 1 tea sp
METHOD:----
Now add little water to sugar and boil it to make a sticky syrup(add a little water to sugar don't add too much water ).

Shift maida in to a big bowl and add water to make a thin batter like rava dosa batter and add food color to this maida batter and leave a side.Now add maida mixture to the sugar syrup keep stirring well. with in 6-8 min it will get thick.

In the same time heat the ghee, now start adding the ghee to the maida and sugar syrup mixture and keep stirring.

The halwa would absorb all the ghee then again add some more ghee and keep stirring.

By the time you finish the ghee halwa starts to leave the sides of the pan and it will become like a ball around to your laddle. Now add cardamom powder and mix well.

Now add fried dry fruits, netmeg powder mix well.

Now transfer it in to a greased plate and make it flat with a spoon and let it cool and cut in to pieces.
enjoy your sweet.

This will stay for 15 days if you keep it in the fridge 1-2 month s

When ever you want to serve remove from the fridge and keep it in the microwave for 5 sec. and serve.

This process will give a fresh taste and texture to halwa.

SWEET CORN AND VEGETABLE SALAD WITH ITALIAN DRESSING

Like any other words in cooking language SALAD also came from French word 'Salade' of the same meaning,which is originally came from a Latin word 'Salata' means vegetables seasoned with salt,pepper powder ,some herbs and olive oil or any salad oil. Vegetables seasoned with brine was a popular Roman dish (Brine is a saturated water which is comonly used in preserving vegetables,meat.fish and some cheese like Feta cheese.). Salad is often served as an appetizer before a meal but also some times served as a side dish or a main course. Now a days 99%people are health-conscious so they don't like high calories in their every day meal ,due to their low calorie density these salads became a main course in their every day meal.most of the people like salads with lots of green leafy vegetables, vegetables, lentils,meat and seafood also. After the vegetables the main ingredient in this salads is dressing many light edible oils, vinaigrettes , mayonnaise are used in this salad dressing but my personal favorite is olive oil with some italian herbs and lemon juice.And to day I am here with a simple salad with Italian dressing and the recipe is like this.................
INGREDIENTS:----
Sweet corn -- 1 cup
Carrot -- 1 cup chopped
Olives -- 1/4 cup chopped
Red bell pepper -- 1 chopped
Green bell pepper -- 1 chopped
Zucchini -- 1 chopped
FOR DRESSING:---
Extra-virgin olive oil -- 1 tab sp
Freshly ground black pepper -- 1/4 tea sp
Lemon juice --- 1 tab sp (optional)
Salt to taste
Basil -- 4-5 leaves chopped
Dry Italian hearbs -- 1 tea sp
salt to taste
METHOD:---
Mix all dressing ingredients in a small jar or bottle and shake well(or you can take this in to a big mixing bowl and wisk well) and leave a side.
Mix all vegetables in a mixing bowl and pour the dressing on top of the vegetables and now toss well to coat evenly .
Garnish with lots of carrot juliennes
Enjoy your salad with brown bread..
If you like you can add boiled and chopped chicken to this salad.

GINGER - GARLIC PASTE -- BASIC RECIPE FOR INDIAN COOKING

In many Indian recipes one of the main ingredient is Ginger garlic paste . so many of us generaly brought this from store but most of the times we make this at home also.but other then store brouht ginger garlic paste what we make at home will give a better taste and aroma to our curry.A must ingredient in every non-vegetarian recipes.Normaly we make this paste and store it in the fridge for 1 week so that we can use it when ever we need. to day let us see how I make and store ginger garlic paste for long time.


INGREDIENTS:----- Ginger -- 250 g.
Garlic --- 250g.
METHOD:---

1. Wash ginger peel a little skin(if you like with skin then no need to peel but that will give a brownish color to the paste)
2. Peel garlic also and chop both garlic and ginger in to small pieces
3. Now blend ginger and garlic in to a fine paste in a blender.
4. Remove from the blender jar in to airtight container and store it in the fridge.

1. If you want to store this for long time then add 1tea sp salt and 1 tea sp oil while grinding ginger and garlic.
2. And then place 1 tea sp paste in each block of ice cubes try and place it in the deep freezer and leave it for over night to make ginger garlic cubes( that means at least 12- 15 hours)
3. Then take out from the freezer and remove the cubes from try and place them in a container and again leave it in the freezer.
4. When ever you want to use take out from the freezer before you start cooking
5. This will stay fresh for 1 year with its original aroma.
6. You can make Ginger and green chili paste also in the same way and store it in the freezer

Regarding this ginger-garlic paste storage I got 2 questions...
1. when I place the try in the fridge I covered it with foil so that the strong smell of the g&g paste won't spread in the freezer.
2.@ Malar .. yes if you keep it in the fridge some times it changes the color but you do like this the color won,t change.

TOMATO CHARU (SPICY SOUTH INDIAN TOMATO SOUP)

Charu – Rasam – Saru is a very common dish in every day meal in South Indian cuisine. Charu or Rasam means extract or juice in Telugu or any other south Indian language. Traditionally made by tamarind extract and seasoned with spices like black pepper corns, dry coriander seeds and cumin seeds. Charu is a tangy and spicy thin tamarind soup which is a very power full home remedy for digetation, clod and perfect comfort food when you are having flue it keeps you warm. This traditional recipe was adapted in to British cuisine as Mulligatawny soup (pepper water) and it is very popular even today in England. A bowl of lightly mashed rice with a few drops of ghee and mix with hot Charu and vadiyalu (vadam,sundried rice flour wafers, deep fried in oil like fryams)or a potato stir fry, yummmm is there any other comfort food other then this …….. If you ask me no… any way

There are so many versions in this Charu recipe like

Chintapandu charu (tamarind Soup),

Vellulli charu(garlic soup)

Pappu charu or pappu rasam (lentil soup)

Miriyala charu (black pepper soup)

Pineapple rasam (spicy pineapple soup)

Ulava charu (horse gram soup)

Nimmakaya charu (lemon soup)

Tomato charu (thin spicy tomato soup)

Tiyya charu (sweet tamarind soup)

Pachi charu(pachi pulusu, Raw tamarind soup)

Majjiga charu (butter milk soup)

In some versions we use pappu kattu(cook 1 tab sp any lentils with 2-3 cups of water till lentils become soft remove from the heat and strain the water and use this water in the place of normal water for making charu. If you like you can add that cooked lentils also but mash well and mix with Charu).And to day here I am with the recipe TOMATO CHARU………….

INGREDIENTS:----

Tomato --- 1 big

Tamarind -- 1inch pieces 4-5 pieces soak in hot water(if you hold all these tamarind pieces tightly in your hand that should become like table tennis ball size.After you soak and extract water from this tamarind that should be 100 ml thin tamarind extract.

Oil -- 1 tab sp

Garlic -- 3 cloves crushed

Mustard - 1/2 tea sp

Asafoetida --- 1 pinch(hing, inguva)(optional)

curry leaves -- 12 leaves

salt to taste

Water --- 2&1/2 -3 cups

Charu podi (rasam powder) -- 1&1/2 tea sp you can use any brand which is easly available in any Indian store like MTR - Rasam powder or Priya Rasam powder or you can make at home check my recipe here.

Coriander leaves --- 1 tab sp chopped.

Soak tamarind in warm water and extract juice with 120 ml water and you can get 100 ml tamarind juice from that.

Pour this tamarind juice in to a heavy bottom pan and start boiling in a medium flame.

Take 1 big tomato and make puree in a blender. when you measure this tomato puree this should be 1 cup means 120- 130 ml.

Now add this tomato puree(if you want you can strain this tomato puree to remove the tomato skin pieces add 50 ml water (1/2 cup) and strain through a juice strainer) to tamarind juice,add 1 cup water(120 ml) and boil in a medium heat the raw smell of the tamarind and tomato will disappears .

This will take 10 min. to boil.After 10 min. add crushed garlic, salt to taste,curry leaves and 1 more cup water, charu podi(rasam powder), bring to a full boil lower the flame and let it cook for 15 min.

After 15 min add chopped coriander leaves and cook for 2 more min and remove from heat.

Now heat oil in a pan add mustard seeds and let them popup(here you can add a pinch add asafoetida if you like) then add this seasoning to Charu immediately cover with a lid and let it rest for at least 10 min before you serve.

Serve hot with rice.

Note: -- if you want to make a fresh rasam powder the

Coriander seeds -- 1/2 tea sp

Cumin seeds -- 1 tea sp

Black pepper corns -- 1 tea sp

Garlic cloves -- 3

few curry leaves (if you are making this instant Rasam powder with garlic and curry leaves then no need to add garlic and curry leaves what i have given in the ingredients list.)

Dry roast all ingredients in a pan and make a coarse powder in a hand pastel or a coffee grinder.This will give a great aroma to charu.

You like hot and spicy soups then strain this Charu through a strainer and enjoy like a soup.