Sabudana Khichdi Pic : Priya Q

Sabudana / Pearl Sago -  2 cups

Boiled pototoes – 1 cup (diced into cubes)

Plain Roasted Peanuts – 1/4 cup

Turmeric – 1/2 tsp

Chilli powder – 1/2 tsp

Fresh green chilli – 1-2 tsp (optional)

Onions – 1 cup (finely chopped)

Coriander  – 2 tbsp

Salt – 1/2 tsp

Lemon juice – 1 tbsp

salt to taste

Oil – 2 tbsp

1. Take sabudana in a flat plate and sprinkle water. Keep mixing with hands to gauge how much more water is required. It should be nice and moist (not wet and sticky). Leave it aside. Sabudana actually soaks up the water nicely and increase in size.
2. Heat oil and add onions to it. Fry nicely
3. Add peanuts, chopped coriander, potatoes and sabudana. Mix gently without breaking the potatoes
4. Add salt, chilli and turmeric. Mix
5. If you still feel the sabudana is hard and chewy. Sprinkle water and close the vessel. Cook for few more minute on low flame.
6. In the end add sugar and lemon juice. Mix well
7. Garnish with fresh coriander
8. Serve immediately

*In North India people have this during fast, for which you can omit onion. Add more potatoes instead!

till next time….happy cooking!

Chickpeas Curry Pic: Priya Q

Successful experiment by fluke is how I would describe this recipe. I had soaked chickpea the previous night and my maid didn’t turn up the next day. I was not in a good mood with so much of unexpected work thrown at me. Least to mention the chickpea I had planned for breakfast with some steaming puttu. So instead of usual recipe I decided to go an easy route…and it turned out quite delicious )

Black Chickpeas – 2 cups (soaked overnight)

Chilli powder – 1 tsp + a pinch

Turmeric – 1/2 tsp + a pinch

Coriander powder – 3 tsp

Mustard seeds – 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Oil

Onion – 1 no. (big sized – sliced fine)

Coriander leaves for garnish

1. Pressure cook chickpeas with a pinch of turmeric and chilli powder till soft and done
2. Soak the masalas in few drops of water. Masala should be nicely damp
3. In a pan add few tsp of oil and add mustard seeds when hot
4. Once they splutter add the soaked masalas and fry for few seconds
5. Add sliced onions and fry for few minutes
6. Add the cooked chickpeas into the above pan and mix well
7. Season and garnish with fresh coriander

Now wasn’t that simple!!? It tastes simply delicious. Serve it with out of rotis / bread

* the onions will be quite crisp and add a different texture to the dish

Till next time….happy cooking!

Chocolate Banana Cake Pic: Priya Q

This one is for my friends Akhila and Adheeth….Akhila finally I get to posting the recipe! Adheeth…its quite a simple cake recipe you can use! I will be posting more in the time to come

Ripe Bananas – 3 nos

Castor Sugar – 3/4 cup

Refined Flour (Maida) – 185 gms

Baking Soda – 3/4 tsp

Baking Powder – 3/4 tsp

Eggs – 2 nos

Olive Oil – 3 Tbsp

Milk – 1/4 cup (roughly 60 ml)

Dark Chocolate – 100 gms

1. Lightly beat eggs and keep aside
2. Grate Chocolate and set aside in the fridge
3. Prepare the baking dish – Grease, line butter paper and re-grease
4. Sift the flour with baking soda and baking powder once
5. Mash bananas nicely and combine with sugar
6. To the sifter flour add eggs, olive oil and milk and gently mic with a wooden spatula/spoon
7. Preheat the oven at 180 degree C
8. Fold in the grated chocolate
9. Pour into the baking dish
10. Bake for about 50 minutes or until the skewer comes out clean
11. Cool the cake on a rack before slicing
12. Serve warm or cold

* I had punctured few holes in the prepared cake while cooling it off and poured some chocolate sauce over it to get a marbled effect

** you can add walnuts to it after adding chocolate for a walnut chocolate banana cake!

*** I have used both baking powder and soda since chocolate is being used for this cake recipe

Till next time….happy cooking!

Orange Peach Pudding

Orange Peach Pudding

What best to have on a rainy Sunday lazy afternoon post a heavy biriyani lunch with friends? Am a very much chocolate person; can’t think of a dessert with no chocolate in it, but Orange Peach Pudding is kinda nice change and my friends simply loved it…so here goes!

Eggs – 2 nos

Condensed Milk – 1 Tin

Fresh cream – 200 ml

Sugar – 3 Tbsp + 1Tsp

Gelatin – 1 and 1/2 Tbsp

Water – 1/4 cup + 1 Tsp

Peach conserve – 1/2 cup / Tinned peaches that needs to be chopped and stewed (peach conserve is readily available in the market)

Orange concentrate (squash / Tang) – 1 Tbsp

Tea cake / Sponge cake

Rum – 1/4 cup + 1.5 Tbsp (optional though it enhances the taste)

1. Separate the eggs
2. Add gelatin to 1/4 cup of water, mix and keep aside
3. Combine peach conserve and orange concentrate and set aside
4. Put in a sprayer 1tsp sugar, water and rum and mix well
5. Line the serving dish with cake slices up to 1 inch. Spray it generously with rum mixture
6. To the yolk add condensed milk and whisk well
7. Now add fresh cream and sugar. Whisk and cook on low flame till it forms a thick custard. Keep whisking while cooking to form a smooth custard
8. To the custard add the prepared gelatin mix. Whisk well and keep aside the custard to cool off completely
9. When the custard is cool add the peach mixture and 1 and 1/2 Tbsp rum. Whisk well. Take care that the custard should be cool
10. Beat the egg whites until it forms stiff peaks  and add it to the main mixture. Whisk well
11. Add the custard to the prepared serving dish (with cake) and leave it to set in a refrigerator. I generally put it in the freezer for about 1/2 hour before I do the icing
12. Mix whipped topping with a bit of orange color and decorate your pudding with the design of your choice. I used a piping bag to make feather icing.
13. Serve & enjoy

 Till next time…happy cooking!

Black Forest Cake Pic Credit: Priya Q

I made this cake for my husband’s birthday an year back and everybody had good good things to say

Chocolate sponge cake
Tinned canned cherries and syrup – ½ portion
Fresh whipped cream – 1 cup
Powdered sugar – 3 tbsp
Vanilla essence – 1/2 tsp
Grated dark or plain chocolate

1. Beat the cream over a tray of ice cubes with a hand beater. Do not over beat. It should form soft peaks. Fold in the sugar and vanilla essence. Mix gently.
2. Put some icing in a icing cone leave the rest in the bowl. Refrigerate both
3. Slice the cake into two halves.
4. Fill cherry syrup in a sprayer and spray evenly on each half. Allow to soak for 10 minutes
5. Spread the cream icing on lower half and cover it nicely
6. Place the cherries on the cream and place the other half of the cake on top
7. Decorate your cake using icing cone
8. Decorate with cherries
9. Sprinkle chocolate flakes all over the cake

Sponge Cake used for Black Forest Pic credit: Priya Q

This is fatless version that can be used as a base for many cakes like black forest, white forest, logs, swiss rolls etc

Eggs – 4 nos
Refined flour (maida) – 85 gms
Baking powder – 1 and ½ tsp
Cornflour – 1 tbsp
Sugar powder – 160 gms
Vanilla essence – 1 and ½ tsp
Brandy – 1 tbsp

1. Sieve together – refined flour, baking powder and corn flour
2. Separate egg whites and yolks
3. Beat egg whites till stiff and dry (it should form firm peaks)
4. To the yolk add sugar powder, brandy and vanilla essence and 1 tsp of water. Beat till you get an off white mixture
5. To the yolk mixture add 1 tbsp each of egg white mixture and refined flour mixture and slowly and gently mix in cut and fold method. Keep repeating till everything has been incorporated
6. Pour this into a greased tray (greased, lined with butter paper and re greased)
7. Spread the mixture evenly
8. Bake it immediately in a preheated oven at 180 degree C for 20 minutes*

*time varies from oven to oven. So check with a toothpick in about 15 minutes. If it comes out clean then your cake is done
* for a chocolate sponge cake add 20 gms of cocoa, ¾ tsp baking soda and ¾ tsp of baking powder to 65 gms maida

Kadhi Pic credit : Priya Q

This yogurt based curry is quite a delicacy. Perhaps, that is why we have so many variations to it! from punjabi kadhi to gujarati kadhi to sindhi kadhi…. I have already shared with you the recipe for the Kerala style version of it…. here’s the punjabi version of it…which we learnt during our stay in the North of India.

Is yogurt and curd one and the same? Well, the only difference I could make was that the plain yogurt is creamier than curd. So, me thinks that plain yogurt is good to go for this recipe!

For pakoras

Gram flour (besan) – 1 cup
Chili powder – 1 tsp
Carom seeds (ajwain) – ½ tsp
Turmeric – ¼ tsp
Salt to taste
Onions – 2 medium sized (finely sliced)Water
Oil for frying

Curd or plain yogurt – 2 cups
Gram flour (besan) – 3 tbsp

Turmeric  – ½ tsp

Fenugreek seeds – ¼ tsp
Mustard seeds – ½ tsp
Dry red chili – 2 nos
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Onion – 1 nos (finely chopped)

Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Salt to taste
Garam Masala – a pimch

1. Combine all ingredients for pakoras to get a semi liquid consistency (it should not be runny)
2. Heat oil and with the help of a spoon drop in small portions of batter into the oil
3. Fry till golden brown. Take it out on an absorbent paper
4. Combine yogurt, turmeric and gram flour. Keep aside
5. In a thick bottom pan heat 2 tsp of oil. Add mustard and let it splutter
6. Add fenugreek seeds, chili, and curry leaves
7. Add the prepared yogurt mixture and bring it to boil
8. Add salt and pakoras
9. Simmer the burner. Sprinkle garam masala and close the vessel
10. Serve with cumin rice

*for Cumin rice : Heat a tbsp of oil / clarified butter (ghee); add 2 tsp of cumin seeds followed by whole black peppercorns and sliced onions. Saute. Add basmati rice (washed and soaked for 20 minutes) and water. Once the water boils add salt; simmer the burner and close lid.

for 2 cups of rice you need 4 cups of water.

Easy Chocolate Cake Pic credit: Chitra Gupta

Thanks Chitra for the easy chocolate cake recipe

All purpose flour (Maida) – 1 cup (heaped)
Sugar – 3/4th cup
Refined Sunflower oil – 3/4th cup
Baking powder – ¾ tsp
Cocoa Powder – 1/4th cup
Vanilla essence- ½ tsp
Eggs – 4 nos

For Icing:  Chitra used the ready-made Pillsbury chocolate icing on this cake. To make your own home made icing you can use the following. Melt chocolate in a microwave safe bowl, add fresh cream to it. Initially it will become a bit hard, but keep adding the cream and stir well, till pouring consistency is reached.

1. Whip the eggs and sugar together in a blender, till the sugar dissolves completely, and the consistency is slightly creamy
2. Then add the vanilla essence and refined oil to the egg sugar mixture, whip again thoroughly
3. In the meantime, sieve together the maida, cocoa powder, and baking powder
4. Grease a baking dish and lightly dust with maida
5. Gently add the whipped mixture to the flour mixture, stirring continuously, beating the mixture till air bubbles are visible on the top.
6. Gently pour the mixture into the greased tin and bake in pre heated oven at 180 degrees for 45 minutes.
7. Check with a knife to see if done, cool.
8. Cut the cake into two equal halves, (use a thread to get a clean cut)
9. Slather the icing onto both the halves, join them again
10. Cover the cake with the icing, place in the fridge to cool and the icing to set
11. Later you can dust the cake with icing sugar, using a sieve, (can use any stencil too, to create patterns)

*for a healthier version, replace all purpose flour with wheat flour. The cake will be browner but tastes equally good.

Chitra Gupta is a homemaker and a mother of two lovely kids. She believes in making food interesting and enticing through lots of experimenting. She ensures her family has healthy food through the week. However, some days she believes in some sinful indulgence too!

Pepper Chicken pic credit: Priya Q

Feel like eating something exotic on a day you don’t feel much like cooking? Try this simple recipe of pepper chicken. It is simply delicious. Try it and you will know what I mean

Chicken – 1 kg (washed and skinned)
Plain Yogurt – 1 cup
Ginger Garlic paste – 3 tbsp
Onions – 4 large (sliced thin)
Big cardamom – 2-3 nos (powdered)
Butter – 2 tbsp
Oil – 2 tbsp
Ground black pepper – 5-6 tbsp
Salt to taste
Cilantro / Coriander leaves – for garnish

1. Marinate the chicken in yogurt and ginger garlic paste. Keep aside for atleast 30 minutes
2. In a thick bottom pan heat butter and oil together
3. Add powdered seeds of the big cardamom to the pan. Wait for few seconds till you get an aroma
4. Add onions and sauté
5. Add marinated chicken, salt and mix well
6. Close the pan and add about ¾ cups water on the lid
7. Cook on low flame. Stir in between
8. Once the chicken is half cooked add pepper and stir
9. Cook till chicken is done
10. Garnish
11. Serve with any Indian bread or plain / flavored rice

*adjust the water content based on the desired consistency of the gravy

till next time….happy cooking!

Egg Snack Pic credit: Priya Q

My mom is always upto some culinary experiment and when I visited her last time I found Egg snack being served albeit as a side dish. Me thinks you can serve this as your cocktail snack and it will be a sure hit with your friends and relatives!

Hard boiled eggs – 3-4 nos
Potato – 3 big nos (boiled and mashed)
Coriander / Cilantro – 4 tbsp (finely chopped)
Bread crumbs – 5 tbsp
Chilli powder – 1 tsp
Coriander powder – 2 tsp
Dry mango powder / Chat Masala – 2 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil for frying

1.    To the mashed potato add all ingredients and mix well
2.    Cover the hard boiled egg with the  prepared potato mixture
3.    Press the mixture nicely with your hands so that it doesn’t crumble while frying
4.    Rest for sometime
5.    Heat oil for frying in a deep thick bottom pan
6.    Fry in batches the prepared eggs
7.    Drain extra oil on an absorbent kitchen tissue
8.    Cut into half each fried egg with a sharp knife to get an even two halves
9.    Sprinkle chat masala and chilli powder as garnish
10.    Serve hot with your favorite sauce

till next time….happy cooking!