Pistachio Sponge Cake (Eggless)

Source:

Neha Divakar, HBG

Ingredients:

Milk - 100 mL
Vinegar - 1 tsp
Castor Sugar - 70 gm
Flour - 75 gm
Baking Powder - 1/2 tsp
Baking Soda - 1/4 tsp
Pistachios - 30 gm (powdered)
Oil - 4 tbsp
Milk - 1 to 2 tsp
Green Color/Pista Essence - 1 drop (optional)

Procedure:

1.  Mix 100 mL milk and vinegar in a bowl and keep aside for 10 minutes.  it would have curdled in 10 minutes.

2.  Preheat oven at 180 degrees for 10 minutes.

3.  Grease the bottom and sides of a 6 inch round pan with oil and line the base with parchment paper.

4.  Sieve together flour, baking powder, and baking soda.

5.  Mix in the pistachio powder to the sifted flour.

6.  Add sugar to the milk-vinegar mixture and whisk well until the sugar dissolves.

7.  Add oil to this and whisk well.  Add the green color or the pista essence and mix.

8.  Fold in the dry ingredients (the flour mixture) into this.  Add 1 to 2 tsp milk if needed.

9.  Pour the cake batter into the lined baking tray and bake at 180 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

10.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes.  Turn the cake tin upside down after running a knife around the edges to loosen from the tin onto a wire rack and allow to cool.  Serve or cling wrap and store in freezer until use.

Notes:

I made this pista cake and filled and frosted with mango mousse and whipping cream and mango jelly drip along with pista praline.

Bisibele Bhath

Adapted From

100 Rice Delights by Mallika Badhrinath

Ingredients:

Rice - 1 cup

Thuar Dhal - 1/2 cup

Tamarind - 1 big lime sized

Mixed Vegetables (chopped) - 1 cup

Green Peas - 1/4 cup

Small Onions - 1/2 cup (peeled)

Salt - 1 tbsp (or as per taste)

Ghee - 3 tbsp

Cashewnuts - 1 tbsp

For Masala Powder:

Red Chillies - 10

Coriander Seeds - 1 tsp

Fenugreek - 1/4 tsp

Urad Dhal - 1 tsp

Bengal Gram Dhal - 1 tsp

Cinnamon - 1 inch piece

Cloves - 2

Grated Coconut - 2 tbsp

Fry all the above ingredients in half a teaspoon of oil until light brown.  Powder them.

Method:

1.  Pressure cook peas and chopped vegetables in just enough water until 3/4th cooked.  I used brinjals, cabbage, drumstick, and carrots.  The original recipe calls for just potatoes instead.  Use vegetables of your choice.

2.   Wash and pressure cook dhal with rice in 6 cups of water for 10 minutes in medium flame until soft.

3.   Soak tamarind and extract thick juice from it.

4.  Heat oil in a kadai and fry the peeled onions for 2 to 3 minutes.  Add the tamarind extract and bring to boil.  Cook until the raw flavor goes from it.

5.  Add salt, asafoetida, cooked peas and vegetables, and the powdered spices.

6.  Pour this to the cooked rice mixture as soon as it is removed from the pressure cooker.  Mix well to incorporate them all together.

7.  Heat ghee, fry the cashewnuts and garnish.  Add curry leaves and chopped coriander leaves if desired.

8.  Serve hot with chips or pappad or fried vadams or onion raitha.

Notes:

I used a big onion sliced lengthwise and fried until golden and crisp in hot oil.  I used these fried onions to garnish the bisibele bhath.  They gave a real flavor to the dish.

If desired, add a teaspoon of idli chilli powder to increase the spiciness of the rice.  This is purely optional.

Triple Chocolate Brownies

Recipe Credits

Mrs. Roshini Mathan

Ingredients:

Dark Chocolate (or Compound) - 185 gm

Butter - 150 gm

Powdered Brown Sugar - 275 gm

Eggs - 3

Flour - 85 gm

Cocoa Powder - 40 gm

Cashews/Almonds/Walnuts (chopped) - 1/2 cup

White Chocolate Chips - 50 gm

Milk Chocolate Chips - 50 gm

Baking Powder - 2 pinches

Baking Soda - 1 pinch

Salt - 1 pinch

Procedure:

1.  Double boil the butter and dark chocolate until the chocolate melts completely.  Allow to cool.

2.  Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C for 10 minutes.

3.  Grease a baking tin and line the base and sides with butter/parchment paper with extra hangover on the sides so that it can be pulled off easily after baking.

4.  Sieve together flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.

5.  Whisk together the eggs and brown sugar until creamy and fluffy.

6.  Pour the cooled chocolate mixture and gently fold it.

7.  Add the sifted flour little by little and fold gently until incorporated well.

8.  Lastly stir in the chopped nuts, white chocolate chips, and milk or dark chocolate chips.

9.  Pour the batter to the greased and lined baking tin and spread the batter into the corners and gently level it.

10.  Bake at 180 degrees C for 35 to 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean (i.e. with some dried lumps).

11.  Remove and cool on a wire rack for 10 to 20 minutes.

 

12.  Pull out the hanging over butter paper for easy removal of the brownie from the tin.

13.  Cut into equal squares and allow to completely cool down.

14.  Store in containers until use.

15.  Soft, gooey triple chocolate brownies are best relished with homemade icecreams.  Slightly warm the brownie and serve icecream on top.  Serve immediately.

Notes:

I used an 8 inch square baking tin plus a 4 inch round tin to bake.  Acquired a thick brownie with soft base and crunchy top.  Got 9 pieces from the square tin and one small round brownie.

I used palm sugar 150 gm and 100 gm of powdered sugar as only these were available with me at the time of baking this recipe.  I was in a hurry to do it for a bake sale and just couldn't take pics of them.  Next time for sure.

Using baking powder, baking soda, and salt is optional.  The original recipe did not use them.

Cheesy Rings

Ingredients:

Bread - 16 slices

Onions - 2 (medium)

Capsicum - 1

Tomato - 1

Soy Chunks - 1/4 cup

Cheese - 100 gm

Pepper Powder - 1 tsp

Salt - As per taste

Tomato Ketchup/Sauce - 2 tbsp

Butter - 2 tbsp


Method:

1.  Cut each slice of bread into rounds using a lid or round cutter.  Thus, you will get 16 bread disks.  I used multigrain bread for this recipe.  You can use any bread of your choice.

Out of the 16 bread disks, keep aside 8 disks and cut a smaller circle in each of the remaining bread disks to form a ring.  So, 8 round bread disks and 8 bread rings are in hand with us now.  Keep aside.  Save the center smaller rounds of the rings for later use in another recipe.

2.  Finely chop onions, tomato, and capsicum.  Grate cheese.  Boil 1/2 cup water and add soya chunks and switch off flame and squeeze out the excess water.  Crumble the soft soya chunks coarsely.

3.  Mix together the chopped onions, chopped tomatoes, chopped capsicum, crumbled soya chunks, half of the grated cheese, pepper powder, salt, 1 tbsp of tomato ketchup/sauce to form a filling mixture.  Keep aside.

You can add any other spices of your choice to satisfy your taste buds, viz., chilli flakes, italian mixed herbs, etc.

4.  Make an applying paste by mixing together butter, 1 tbsp tomato sauce, 2 tbsp grated cheese, and salt.

5.  To assemble, take a round base bread disk and apply the butter mixture evenly on one side.  Place a bread ring on the butter applied base.  In the center, place about a tbsp of filling mixture.  Spread some grated cheese all over the ring portion of the bread.  Assemble all the other slices of breads in the same manner.

6.  Preheat oven for 10 minutes at 200 degrees C.  Grease a baking tray with butter or oil and place the assembled cheesy rings on the tray and bake at 200 degrees C for 15 minutes or until golden brown and the cheese melts.

7.  Crispy baked cheesy bread rings are ready to be served.

You can assemble the cheesy rings and refrigerate them until the time they need to be baked and served hot for your family or your guests and friends.

Raw Papaya Caramel Muffins

Ingredients:

Butter - 50 gm

Powdered Sugar - 50 gm

Flour - 50 gm

Eggs - 2

Vanilla Essence - 1 tsp

Raw Papaya (grated) - 50 gm

Granulated Sugar - 20 gm

Baking Powder - 1/2 tsp

Baking Soda - 1/4 tsp

Salt - A pinch


Procedure:

1.  In a kadai, add raw papaya and sugar and mix together well in low heat.  Keep stirring until all the liquid that oozed out dries up and a semi-solid soft pulp (like halwa) is formed.  Do not leave it for long as it will crystallize and become hard.  Transfer to a bowl and set aside to cool.

2.  Preheat oven at 180 degrees for 10 minutes.

3.  Line the muffin molds with paper liners for easy handling and serving.

4.  Sieve together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together.  Keep aside. 

5.  In a mixing bowl, whisk butter until soft, say for about 2 to 3 minutes.

6.  Add powdered sugar and continue to whisk on high speed for about 5 minutes until it is creamy, soft, and fluffy.

7.  Add eggs one by one and whisk at medium speed for a minute until it mixes well.

8.  Add vanilla essence to this and whisk for a minute.

9.  Add the sieved flour little by little and fold with the spatula until it is incorporated.

10.  Finally, add the prepared papaya pulp to the batter and mix gently until just incorporated.

11.  Fill this batter in the muffin molds until 2/3 level and bake at 180 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

12.  Cool on a wire rack and serve.

Yield: Approximately 6 muffins of 40 gm each.

Vermicelli/Semiya Green Pulao

Inspired By

Gayathriscookspot


Ingredients:

Short Vermicelli - 2 cups ( I used Savorit)

Oil - 2 tbsp

Cloves - 2

Cinnamon - 1/2 inch stick

Sombu/Fennel Seeds - 1/4 tsp

Fresh Green Peas - 1/2 cup

Onion - 1 large (sliced lengthwise)

Water - 3 cups

Rock Salt - 1-1/2 tsp or according to taste

Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp

Finely Chopped Coriander Leaves - 1 tbsp

Fried Cashews (optional) - Few to garnish


Grind Together:

Green Chillies - 4

Mint Leaves - A handful

Coriander Leaves - A handful

Ginger - 1 inch piece

Garlic - 3-4 cloves

Make a smooth paste of all these ingredients by adding some water as needed.


Method:

1.  In a kadai, roast vermicelli until light brown using and keep aside.

2.  After transferring the roasted vermicelli, add oil in the kadai and then add in the cloves, cinnamon, and sombu.

3.  When they crackle, add the sliced onions and saute until golden brown.

4.  Cook green peas until tender in another pan with just enough water.  Drain the excess water and set the cooked peas aside.

5.  When the onions are fried enough, add the ground paste and turmeric powder.  Saute well until the raw smell goes.

6.  Add the cooked peas and saute well.

7.  Add water and salt and allow to boil.

8.  When it starts boiling, add the roasted vermicelli and let it cook on low flame for a few minutes with the lid covering the kadai.

9.  Once all the water is absorbed (this may take a few minutes), switch off the flame, and cover the kadai again with the lid.  Leave it as such for about 5 minutes.

10.  Garnish with coriander leaves and fried cashewnuts.  Serve hot with any accompaniment of your choice, may be a raita or a gravy.

PS:  I could not take a snap of my pulao as it vanished off in a jiffy.  I will surely post pictures the next time I do this recipe.

Peanut Butter Energy Bars

Inspired By

Sharmis Passions


Ingredients:

Oats - 1/2 cup

Cornflakes - 1/4 cup

Honey - 3 tbsp

Peanut Butter - 2 tbsp (Click for recipe of Homemade Peanut Butter)

Unsalted Butter - 2 tsp

Brown Sugar - 2 tsp

Water - 2 tsp

Dry Fruits and Nuts (chopped) - 1/3 cup (I used cashews, almonds, peanuts, figs, candied ginger, dried grapes)


Procedure:

1. Dry roast oats, cornflakes, dry fruits and nuts in a deep pan until the oats turns light brown and nice aroma of it comes.  Keep aside.

2.  In the same pan, melt butter.  Add honey, peanut butter, sugar, and water.  Bring to a boil.

3.  Add the roasted oats mixture to this and mix well until combined together.  Check if the honey-peanut butter mixture is coated on all of the oats mixture.

4.  Line a tray with butter paper.  Transfer and spread the mixture immediately on the butter paper to 1/4 inch thickness with a wooden ladle.  Straighten the edges with the ladle and make it into a square or a rectangle.  Gently press all over with the ladle to make it intact.  Allow to cool for 5 minutes. Cut into rectangular bars.

5.  Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees C for 5 to 7 minutes.  This step is purely optional.  When baked, it gives crispiness and crunchiness to the bars.  You can leave this step, yet the energy bars taste good.

5.  Cool and store in airtight containers.

These are crunchy, chewy energy bars loaded with all the healthy ingredients and give instant energy.  A good alternative to other sweet treats that are not so good for your health.

Usually, I pack and carry these bars when I travel.  A great snack to munch on-the-go that would not affect your tummy.  No hazards of the white sugar too.  A real energy booster to have it handy.