Easiest Cake Ever!

Back after a very very long hiatus.. something which extended for 3 years! :-p Hope no one thinks I cooked nothing worthwhile in this period; just plain lazy!! :)

I am currently in my bua, Reshma Aunty's place in Rourkela and remembered this page while trying to teach her the basics of blogging. She is an avid cook and I always used to tell her to put her recipes on the net. My unplanned stay here helped us go through the steps.

The recipe that I am putting below is something I learnt from her only :) The easiest cake recipe ever.  Just has 4 basic ingredients; nothing fancy! It makes yummy moist cakes and you can never ever go wrong with this.

You will need:

For the cake:

Parle G biscuits – 140gm ( The Rs 10 pack :-) )

Bourbon biscuits/ or any other chocolate cream biscuit - 100 gm ( Rs 10 pack again)

Milk – 100 ml (as per need)

Eno – 1 sachet

That's it! :-)

For topping:

Choco chips (optional)
Chocolate syrup (optional)

Preparation:

1. In a mixer, blend together the Parle G & chocolate biscuits into powdered form.
2. Take it out in a vessel & add milk little by little to make the cake batter.
3. Add Eno to the batter and mix well.
4. Transfer into a greased baking tin. You can decorate with choco chips as well.
5. Preheat an oven at 200 degrees for 10 min.
6. Bake for 20 mins at 180 degrees. Check at end with a toothpick/fork and if needed bake for 5-10 minutes more.
7. Your cake is ready!! :)

Note: 

1. You can make this cake in Gas Oven as well. It would take about 15-20 minutes in low flame.
2. Optional: You can drizzle chocolate syrup on it while serving.

Apple Pie

Made this for children’s day celebration on 14^th Nov. This Wednesday was a regular working day for us, being the day after Diwali, many ppl were on leave and it was a pretty laid back day in office. Learnt towards afternoon that it’s children’s day. I have been thinking of trying to make an apple pie since many days.. I didn't have pie baking dish so was waiting till I buy one. Anyways on Wednesday, I decided to finally make one for Shaurya. Downloaded a couple of recipes from internet. All the ingredients are generally easily available at home. Instead of pie dish, I baked it in the cake baking tin that I have. It turned out good.. was very tasty and got over in a huff!! My cake tin has a 7 inch diameter so I used the quantity as mentioned below. I had a little dough left at the end. You will have to improvise based on the quantity that you need.

You will need:

For the Pie crust

Maida (all-purpose flour) – 250gm

Butter – 60-70 gm (the more the merrier.. J - recipe said unsalted but I used the regular amul salted butter)

Powdered sugar – 1 tsp

Cold water – to knead the dough

For the apple filling

Apple – 2 (peeled and cut into small pieces)

Water – 1 cup

Powdered sugar – 2-3 tsp (depends on the size & quantity of apples)

Lemon juice - ½ lemon

Cinnamon powder – 2 tsp ( I had cinnamon sticks with me.. grounded them to make a course powder)

Milk & butter – 1 tsp each to brush the top of the pie

Preparation:

Pie Crust:

1.       Cut the butter into small cubes and mix it in maida & sugar powder. Don’t melt the butter, use refrigerated ones only.. just use your fingers and rub it with maida till it gets thoroughly mixed. You will get a bread crumbs kind of texture.

2.       Now add cold water little by little.. 1 tbsp at a time and knead it into a dough. Don’t make it too soft or knead a lot. It should just bind enough so that u can roll it into a circular shape for the pie crust.

3.       Wrap it in plastic wrap and keep it in fridge for at least an hour.

Apple filing:

1.       Take water in a pan and bring it to boil.

2.       Add the apples and cook till all the water is absorbed and apples become a little tender.

3.       Now add powdered sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon powder.

Assembling & Baking the Pie:

1.       Preheat an oven at 200 degree C for 10 min.

2.       Take out the crust dough from the fridge and divide it into 2 portions.

3.       Using a rolling pin, make a circle of uniform thickness with each. The diameter of the circle would depend on the baking dish that u r using.. mine was a cake tin so I made it big enough to cover the tin base and the sides. Use the same logic based on the size of the dish that u have.

4.       Grease the baking tin with butter and use one of the circular dough to cover the base and sides of the baking tin. Ease the dough carefully so that it doesn’t break. Cut the excess dough with a knife.

5.       Now fill in the apple filling and spread it uniformly.

6.       Cover it with the second circular dough. Cut the extra dough from the edges and crimp the edges using your fingers.

7.       Using a knife make 4-5 small 2inch slits from the centre of pie towards the edge. (to allow for steam to escape)

8.       Grease the top of the pie with milk.

9.       Once the oven is preheated, put in the pie and bake at 180 degree C for 45 min. some 5-10 min before the end, take it out, brush it with butter and resume the baking again.

10.   Serve it hot or cold. J

Note: 

1. Recipe said egg yolk for brushing the top of the pie but being veg, I replaced that with milk/butter. I believe egg yolk will give a better texture/glaze to the top.

2. My pie had a different shape owing to the usage of a cake baking tin and not the actual pie baking dish.. and hence it looked different. :-)

Daal Baati

It was raining here yesterday. A rain in between the gruelling heat of summer is so refreshingly welcome. M was back from office early yesterday and while having our evening snacks, we were discussing what to make  for dinner. The cool rainy whether prompted us to try making Daal-Baati - an awesome rajasthani delicacy. I have never made Daal-Baati on my own. At home, mom used to make it in Gas Tandoor. Snce I didn't have one, I never tried making it. Yesterday we thought of trying it in microwave - convection mode. Since the principle of cookng the Baati remains same - as in slow cooking in hot air - we reasoned that convection mode should also work. I have seen my mom and daadi make it countless times and hence was aware of the method. However just to ensure I dont miss anything, I called up my daadi for a quick recap. The recipe below is as per her directions.

You will need:

For Baati:

Wheat flour - 250 gm

Ghee - 2 tbsp ( the more the merrier :) )

Salt to taste

For Baati-filling:

Sattu ka atta - 100 gm

Ghee - 2 tsp

Green chillies, ginger & garlic paste - 1 tbsp

Red chilli powder - 1 tsp

Garam masala powder - 1 tsp

Dhania powder - 1 tsp

Haldi powder - 1/2 tsp

Ajwain - 1/2 tsp

Amchoor powder - 1 tsp

Juice of 1 lemon 

Salt to taste

For Daal:

Mix of 5 daals - totallung 2 cups ( equal portions of Toor daal, Yellow Moong daal, Green moong daal, Urad daal and Chana daal)
Dhania powder - 1 tsp

Haldi powder - 1 tsp

Salt to taste

For seasoning of the daal:

Ghee - 1 tbsp

Whole Jeera - 1 tsp

Mustard - 1 tsp

Bayleaf - 1 to 2

Cloves - 2

Green chillies, ginger & garlic paste - 1 tbsp

Garam masala powder - 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Chopped corriander leaves

Preparation:

Baati:

1. Mix the wheat flour, ghee and salt. Using water knead it into a little tight dough. Keep aside.

2. For the filling, heat Ghee in a pan (Kadhai) and roast the Sattu flour for 5 min till it becomes little pink in colour. (Sattu is the powder of roasted chana daal so we need to roast it for a long time).

3. Move it into a bowl and add all the remaining ingredients mentioned in the filling section. Mix it well and keep aside.

4. Prepare small balls out of the wheat flour dough, stretch it with hands to make a small round puri and fill it with the Sattu filling. Seal it at the top. (Use the same method as done for filling katchoris). 

5. Similarly prepare all the baatis.

6. Preheat convection microwave for 10 min.

7. Place the baatis inside the microwave and heat in convection mode for 35 min (at 200 degrees - that's the max setting in my microwave)

8. Keep turning the baatis after every 10 min.

9. Once the baatis are done, take it out and put it in a bowl of ghee. Using fork make some holes into the baati so that the ghee can seep in. Once the baaati soaks the ghee, take it out and keep it in the hotcase.

Daal:

1. Dry roast all the daals in a pan till it changes color. 

2. Take it out and add water, salt, haldi powder, dhania powder and pressure cook it.
3. For the seasoning, heat ghee in a pan. Add jeera and mustard seeds.

4. Once it crackles, add bayleaf, cloves and chilli ginger garlic paste. (You can also add curry leaves to it)

5. Once it turns slight brown, add the cooked daal to it.

6. Let it simmer for about 5 min in low flame.

7. At the end, add garam masala powder and chopped corriander leaves and remove it from the flame.

Both daal and baati are now ready to eat. Here's how it looks :-)

Besan Burfi

Finally after a long, long and really loooooooong absence, I am back with a recipe - Besan Burfi. This Diwali, we (M & I) were unable to go to our hometown. In order to bring some festive cheer and set the mood for Diwali, I decided on making all the sweets and eatables at home. M said he would like to eat Besan Burfi, his favorites. Since I have never made it before, I did what any other girl does - called up my Mom. :-).

The recipe below is as per her directions. There's one change - instead of Khoa I used Milkmaid (Have been hearing lot of stories of adulterated Khoas in Pune, hence did not want to buy it from the market and used a branded alternative instead). Also since Milkmaid already has sugar, I removed sugar altogether from my mom's recipe.

You will need:
Gram flour (besan) - 250 gm
Ghee - 150 -200 ml
Milkmaid - 250 ml

For Garnishing,
Almonds - 8-10 finally chopped/shredded
Pistachio - 8-10 finally chopped/shredded

Preparation:

1. Add Ghee in a pan (Kadhai) and melt it.
2. Add besan to it and roast it in low flame. (Ensure the flame is slow to avoid burning the besan)
3. Keep on frying the besan till it turns little pinkish in colour and a sweet aroma starts to come out of the besan (It would take around 20-25 min in low flame).
4. Now remove it from the flame and add nearly 3/4 of the shredded nuts to it & mix.
5. Once it cools down a little (after about 3-5 min), add the milkmaid to it and keep stirring it continuously to avoid lump formation.
6. Now pour it on a greased plate and leave it to set.
7. Garnish the top with the remaining shredded nuts.
8. Once it cools down and sets, cut it into diamond shaped burfis and serve :-)

Drumstick Kadhi

I love drumsticks though I dont eat them. Confused? :-) The thing is I like the aroma and taste that drumsticks leave in whatever curry you put them in, however I don't actually eat the drumsticks. I add them while preparing the curries and keep them aside while eating. The recipe below is one of my favourites.. drumstick kadhi. The quantity below will serve 4. (Everytime I make Kadhi, I plan to cook for 2 people, but it turns out to be enough for 4. Since both M and I love kadhi, we tend to finish it off fast. :-) )

You will need:
Drumstick - cut into 12-15 pieces of 2" each
Gram flour (besan) - 2 tbsp
Curd (Yogurt) - 250 gms
Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 - 1/2 tsp
Salt - To taste
Hing (Asafoetida) - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 8-10 pcs
Corriander leaves - chopped
Oil - 1 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds (Jeera) - 1/2 tsp
Fenugreek seeds (Methi) - 1/2 tsp
Green chillies - 2 - chopped

Preparation:

1. Pressure cook the drumsticks till medium soft. Approx 3 whistles will do.

2. Mix Curd and besan in a bowl. Make sure that there are no lumps. Add water if needed. Add turmeric pwd and red chilli pwd in it. Add salt according to taste.

3. Heat oil in a kadhai. Now give tadka of jeera, mustard and methi seeds. Add chopped green chillies & curry leaves. Stir till a little golden brown.

4. Add hing to the tadka. Now add the curd/besan mixture to it. Bring it to boil in high flame.

5. Now heat it in medium flame and let it simmer. Keep stirring it from time to time. If the kadhi gets too thick, keep on adding little water at regular intervals to maintain the consistency.

6. Cook for about 8-10 minutes and add the boiled drumsticks to it. Boil for 5-8 minutes more.

7. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and turn off the flame.

Serve hot with chapatis or rice. Kadhi is awesome with steamed rice. :D