Chris's Carrot Cake

My friends and colleagues think that since I am a vegetarian, Carrot cake would be my favorite cake, but it was not until I ate a bite of Chris's carrot cake. Chris got these for a retirement party at work which was in some other department. But call it destiny, that there were some leftovers and she decided to bring it over in our dept since our dept is famous for foodies.
I was skeptical to try one, but just to be nice, I picked a small piece and then wondered why I dint pick up 2-3 pieces.
Wasting no time, I went to her and asked for the recipe. She gladly gave it to me in writing. I first prepared it for Pavi's Bday (cupcakes), for my brothers bday and then for Radha's Bday - all very special to me :)
And am writing it up for them and others who love baking.

1 Cup Canola Oil
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
3 small jars of baby food carrots
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 and 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup walnuts
1 small can crushed pineapple (drained)
1/2 Cup Golden raisins

Mix first 5 ingredients in one bowl, add dry ingredients, add crushed pineapple and raisins last.
Grease the pan and pour the batter in it.
Bake at 350F for 45 minutes in 13x9 inch cake pan (glass pan preferred), or until toothpick comes out clean.
You can also make 36 cupcakes with these measurements. Grease the cupcake-moulds well.
Refrigerate when the pan cools down.

Generally, Carrot cake is served with Cream Cheese on top, but this one will go with or without ;)

Ripe Mango Curry

Ingredients:  Tamarind, dried chilies, one ripe yellow mango, asafoetida/hing, some curry leaves, 

jaggery, sesame seeds and mustard seeds.This curry is sweet, spicy and tangy all at once. 

Sweetness from the mango, tangy sourness from the tamarind and spice from the chillies.
So first, slice and dice your mangoes, and then pluck out the soft pulpy insides into a bowl

 

Meanwhile you can begin to roast your spices on an open pan.

 Spread your sea same seeds and dried chili onto the pan and roast till it turns to a 

golden brown. 

Roasting the spices is definitive to the flavor of the dish. 

Keep an eye on the color as it turns, to make sure you don’t burn it – or the whole dish

 could be ruined!
Once the spices are nice and golden, put it into a blender and grind into a paste. 

This is where all that delicious flavor comes from! 

Remember the tamarind? This next step is where we use it. 

Remove the tamarind pulp and mush it around in a glass of warm water to 

release the flavour. 

Once the water turns into a light brown color, you can squeeze out the tamarind 

and discard it; 

we will only need its liquid flavor. Add that to your spice mix.

Your mango should be getting soft, and slowly disintegrating over the fire. 

To that lovely yellow pulp, we add some grated jaggery.

 Jaggery has a fuller sweetness than sugar, and it’s more local, which is a philosophy 

we try to follow –

 using good, clean, fresh and local products in every dish.

Now, pour in that creamy spice paste into the mango pulp.

Some red chili powder and salt to taste.

And finally, a little tadka to bring all the flavors of the dish together: 

2 teaspoons of hot oil in a pan, hot enough for the mustard seeds to burst on contact, 

and some of the hing we kept aside in the beginning.

Throw in a few curry leaves to bring out that mouth-watering aroma.

And your mango curry is ready to be plated!
Nothing goes better with this sweet and spicy curry than some beautifully steamed white rice.
Soul food for the balmy summer heat!

 

 

(Adapted from an article on yahoo website)

 

 

Fried Rice - spicy :)

The following recipe is by my bestie Divya, who loves to try out new dishes and this one is my favorite.
She admits to have followed an internet recipe but tweaked to give a homely touch -

2 cups Rice
3 tbsp Oil
100 gms Beans Finely Chopped
2 Carrot Finely Chopped
1 Onion Sliced
100 gms Cabbage Finely Chopped
2 Spring Onions Finely Chopped
2-3 Green Chilies cut lengthtwise
1 tsp Ginger Chopped Finely
1 tsp Garlic Finely Chopped

    2 Eggs

2 tbsp Soya Sauce
1/2 tp Ajinomoto
Salt & pepper to taste

How to make chinese fried rice:

YUMMY CHINESE FRIED RICE

Cook rice
Heat oil in a kadhai / large pan and stir fry all the chopped vegetables.
Cook for 3-4 minutes.
Take care that vegetables are not overdone, they should be crisp.
Mix salt/ajinomoto and pepper to taste.
• Take a seperate pan.. put some oil.. add two eggs and scramble it ( add salt or pepper - very little though)

Add the cooked rice and mix well. Now mix the soya sauce (I have chilli soy sauce) and or little Chinese chilli paste to it.
• and add the scrambled egg and cook the chinese fried rice for 2-3 minutes and serve hot.

Garnish with Spring onions.

Goadacha Sheera

1 measure of Rava (cream of wheat)
1 and 1/4 measure water
1 measure milk
(So for 1 cup rava, you need 2 and 1/4 cup of liquid)

1/2 measure (or 3/4 measure, if you like sweet) sugar
2 tablespoon ghee
5-6 almonds / cashews
1 pinch of fresh cardamom powder 
1 ripe banana, cut into pieces (optional)
 

Roast the rava in one tsp of ghee ON LOW FLAME until it is nice crisp brown color. You will have to keep stirring for a long time to prevent it from burning. Around 10-15 minutes.
Keep it aside.

In a separate pot, add one tbsp ghee, sautee the almonds/cashews, and pour the milk and water. Add sugar. Bring it to boil. Keep it on high flame.
Add cardamom powder and mix well. For one minute.

Now comes the skillful part -
Make sure the water+milk liquid is really boiling and bubbling, because that is going to cook the rava instantly.
Pour the rava mixture into the boiling liquid (in circular motion) and at the SAME time, stirring it so as to not form lumps. Also, COVER it as soon as you pour all of the rava, since it starts to splatter on your hands and face.
(You may require other person to help you pour and stir it while they cover it).
Turn the flame to low.


Keep stirring for one more minute, Now the splattering will stop, add the banana pieces mix well.
Delicious aroma tells you it is done. After one more minute turn it off. cover it with a lid for 5 minutes. Best when served with Hot Chai!

Don't be surprised if you feel like taking a nap after eating this rich delight!

OUR favorite Italian dessert - Tiramisu

Love this heavenly dessert and thought how wonderful it would be if I can own this piece if heaven, and when I try something new, I try really basic recipe for the dish and when I made this one, it tasted no different than complex ones, so here it is:

- Lady's fingers (Italian cookies, 1 packet, hard biscuits)
- one pound of Mascarpone cheese
- whipped cream (1 can or 1 small container) You can also make it fresh with heavy cream and stand mixer.
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar 
- 1-3 tablespoons rum (brandy/ whiskey also works well)
- cocoa powder
- a double shot (about 2 to 3 ounces) of espresso
- a cup of prepared coffee ( instant coffee also would do)
- grated unsweetened dark chocolate to top

 Steps:
Mix coffee and espresso and chill (10 min)
Mix the Mascarpone cheese, rum, sugar and mix it well, fold in the whipped cream and chill.(10min)

Grease the pan (glass pan makes it look nice) with a butter stick.
Now dip each lady finger in coffee and start lining them on the pan.
Then spread the cream mixture on top of it.
Sift the cocoa powder (a tea strainer works well) to spread evenly.
Then dip the remaining lady fingers in the coffee and layer on top of the cream.
Spread the remaining half of the cream mixture on the top and sift the cocoa powder too.
Now grate the bar of dark chocolate to form the topmost layer.


Chill for at least 30 minutes, overnight works well too.


[adapted from a website cookingforengineers.com ]

Last Made on Jan 20, 2024 on my birthday eve with the help of Rob and Maya :)
We ate it for breakfast on the day of!

Pictures from those lovely times 

Palak Saag

Ingredients -
1 bag of fresh spinach
1 small piece of fresh ginger - 1 big garlic pod - 1 green chilli(Jalapaeno/ serrano peppers)
1 white Onion (cut into cubes)
1 Tomato (cut into cubes)
1/4 teaspoon Garam Masala (Indian spice for extra hot soup)
2 teaspoon of Olive oil

Tempering-
1 teaspoon Ghee (Clarified butter)
1/2 teaspoon Cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon turmeric

Serving options -
Lemon juice
Cream

Kruti-
Make a paste of ginger/garlic/Jalapeno. You can use a mortar pestle for best results.
Heat oil (1 teaspoon) and add half of the ginger-garlic-greenchilli paste.
Add the onions and the tomatoes.
Saute them for a while and once they soften, let them cool down.
Use a grinder to blend them into a puree. Keep it aside.

Now, use the grinder to puree the fresh bunch of spinach (yes, raw), slowly, adding little water.

Tempering Process-
Heat one spoon of ghee and add the tempering trio ingredients - cumin-mustard-turmeric

Once they start to splutter, add the remaining ginger-garlic-chilli paste, and then the tomoato-onion puree.
Add bit of Garam Masala (optional) and pour in the spinach puree.

Let it come to a boil, add salt and let it cook for 2-3 steams on low flame.

After it cools, down, stir in some lemon juice and decorate it with some cream circles.
Have it with you favorite bread, with yoghurt on the side. yummm!

This is pure saag of spinach(sure to cleanse your stomach the next day, coz you can drink it like soup, straight)
Also, you can add, cooked potatoes, fried paneer(cottage cheese), or small onions and cherry tomatoes per your liking and make it a meal.

Two advantages of spinach - Natural laxative and rich source of iron.

Tava Bhaaji

Courtesy - Anita SAthe

1 whole bowl of assorted veggies - preferred broccoli/ cauliflower, carrots/ mushrooms/ potato
1 big onion
2 medium tomatoes (1 cup Puree can be used)
Kitchen King masala/ Chilli powder
All Tadka ingredients
1 cup of beaten yoghurt (sweet dahi)

Kruti:
Heat oil and add the tadka items (Hing-jeera-mohri-haldi)
Add onions and saute till they start becoming soft and add tomatoes and sautee some more.
Add the kitchen masala - 2 big spoons and 1 spoon chilli masala
Add the carrots, sautee some more and add other veggies.
Cover and let it cook on steam on medium flame.
After 1 steam, add salt.
After two steams, switch off the gas.
Now after the steam evaporates, add the yogurt and mix it well.

Enjoy the yummmy flavor of spices in colorful veggies immersed in yoghurt !