Shokolade Kuchen

This is Chocolate cake in Deutsch (german).

There was a simple recipe in my recipe book that I had written around 14 years back. It was lying there without anyone trying it. Patience pays! And this sunday it attained salvation and magically transformed itself from a dull bunch of words on a old paper into a sumptuous delicacy waiting to be devoured !

Heres the recipe for the low-calorie , egg less , easy to make chocolate cake.

Try it -you will be surprised that such a simple recipe can yield such a delicious treat!

Ingredients:

• 1 ½ cups Maida
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder

• 1 tbsp vinegar
• 1/3 cup sunflower oil
• 1 cup water
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

Method

1. Sift all the dry ingredients twice
2. Mix all the wet ingredients in a bowl and mix lightly.
3. Add the dry ingredients slowly. Do not beat just mix
4. Bake at 180 deg C in the oven (or convection mode in your microwave oven) for 40 min.
5. Prick and check if it is done and cool it before serving!

I made this in a Silicone baking dish that my sister got me. It is just superb !

The cake tiptoed so gracefully out of this !

So, all in all it was a Happy Sister’s day!

Idli Reigns Supreme!

Yes ! In the kingdom of breakfast ,Idli is the undisputed king!
Healthy, tasty and filling !

What more can you ask for?
I used to hate them when I was small – but you can't hate it for long !
Not when you are born in a south Indian family ! It grows on you and one day you will crown it …
So, here’s the easy formula for fluffy , soft and nutritious Idlis. I bet you will like this …

Ingredients
1 Cup Urad Dal
2 ½ Cups Idli Rava/Idli Soji
4-5 Tablespoons Poha/Avalakki
Salt to taste

Method

Soak Urad dal and poha for a min of 4 hours
Wash the Idli rava in water
Soak the idli rava in warm water for 30 minutes
Grind the urad dal and poha into a fine paste
Squeeze out the water from Idli rava nad add it to the dal mixture
Blend it in the mixer for a couple of minutes
Ferment it for at least 8 -10 hours (tropical climate)
Add salt and water to get dropping consistency (thicker than dosa batter)
Set in greased moulds and steam it for 15- 20 minutes
Cool it for a couple of minutes before scooping it out.
Allow the moulds to stand in a cold water bath for faster cooling

QED ! (Quite Easily Done)

Savour it with sambhar or chutney!

MultiGrain Rotti

Who says healthy food is not tasty – Try this…
Rotti cannot get more nutritious than this one !
This is a mix of 4 different cereals and is really yummy when you eat it hot.
You could pack this for lunch too.

Ingredients

• ½ Cup Rice Flour
• ½ Cup Ragi Flour
• ½ Cup Fine semolina
• ½ Cup Maize (JoLa ) Flour
• 2-3 Tsp Jeera /Cumin Seeds
• 2 Medium onions finely chopped
• 1-2 carrots grated
  
• 6-8 Green chillies (paste)
• ½ Cup Coriander chopped
• Salt to taste
• Oil
  

Method

1. Boil 2 cups of Water (1:1 of all the flours). Add salt and Jeera.
2. Switch off the flame and add the flour Mixture.
3. Mix thoroughly using a spatula (I use a thin rolling pin).
4. Add green chilly paste, carrot,onions and coriander.Mix well with your hands.(Warning: hands will be messy!)
5. Smear a little oil on a brown wrapping paper with a plastic sheet.Pat this mixture( size of a small orange) on a plastic sheet as thin as you would want.
6. Transfer the Rotti onto a hot Tawa. Leave it on the tawa with the wrapping paper for a few seconds and then carefully take the sheet out.
   
7. Dribble 1/2 tsp oil all over the rotti. Cover it and cook till one side is done.
8. Reverse the rotti and cook till done.
   
9. Serve hot with chutney or just like that.

Roasted ShavigeBath

This is quite a tasty variant of the rice sevai or the lemon shavigebath.

It is a real quickie – can give Upma a run for its money!

Keep the roasted vermicelli (made out of wheat and available ready in stores) handy. You can dish this up really fast. It has a mild flavour of spice yet not too harsh on the stomach . I make this for breakfast and everyone likes it!

Ingredients

• 2 cups Roasted vermicelli
• 2 onions – chopped
• 1 tomato – chopped
• 1 tbsp grated coconut(optional)
• 2 tsp red chilly powder
• 1 cardamom
• 1 cloves
• ½ inch cinnamon
• 1 sprig of curry leaves
• 2 tbsp chopped coriander
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp Jeera
• dash of turmeric
  
• 1 tbsp oil
• salt to taste
  

Method

1. Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds, jeera, turmeric.
2. Add cinnamon, cardamom and clove.
3. Add curry leaves and onions and sauté till onions are done.
4. Now add chilli powder and sauté it for a minute.
5. Add tomatoes and add 3.5 cups of boiling water,vermicelli and salt.
6. Keep this covered and let it simmer on low flame.
7. Mix it a couple of times and switch off once the vermicelli is cooked.
8. Garnish with coconut and coriander.

Poori and Jhunka

Imagine :You have been planning to go to the super market to pick up veggies but have found no time.
Couple of onions are staring at you and that is all you have in the kitchen.
And you still want to dish up something for the couple of friends who decided to stop over !
Don’t fret ! This is an ideal situation for preparing Jhunka – a simpleton's side dish with no frills that goes best with pooris and also gives Bhakri (jowar roti ) and chapathi good company.
Jhunka always reminds me of Simhaghad (a fort on a hilltop near Pune ). We trekked uphill exhausted and met this lady who makes Bhakar-Jhunka and we gobbled it up at lightning speed and ended the meal with a Chaaz (masala majjige/buttermilk) , hmm.. fond memories …

Jhunka

Ingredients

• 2 level tbsp besan
• 2 sliced onions
• 1 tomato(Firm and chopped)
• 4-5 green chillies
• 1 tsp sesame seeds(white)
• 1 tbsp coriander leaves
• 1 sprig of curry leaves
• ½ lemon size tamarind
• salt to taste
  
• Oil for seasoning

Method

1. Heat the oil and season with mustard, cuury leaves, sesame seeds and slit green chillies.
2. Add thinly sliced (length-wise) onions and sauté it till golden.
3. Add chopped tomatoes.
4. Meanwhile mix besan with the tamarind juice and salt. Add enough water to make this mixture around ½ cup.
5. Now slowly add this to the seasoning and stir it well.
6. Let it cook for 6-8 minutes and keep stirring it. Add little water if it becomes too thick.
7. Take it off the stove and garnish it with coriander.

Poori
Ingredients

• 2 Cups Wheat Flour
• 1-2 Tbsp Fine rava
• 1 tsp ghee (to make it crisp)
• 1 tsp sugar(for browning)
• 1 tsp salt
• Water
• Oil for deep frying

Method

1. Mix all the ingredients into a tight dough and cover it.
2. If the dough is really tight , its easy to roll out the pooris.
3. While rolling out pooris I use a dot of oil instead of flour as it spoils the oil fast.

Dal Chutney Powder

Another chutney powder that is a “must” on any south Indian dining table !
Be it with rice or idli or dosa this makes a perfect spicy accompaniment.
Shelf life is 4 weeks without refrigeration.

Ingredients

• ½ Pav Urad Dal
• ½ Pav Channa dal
• 2 Tbsp Ground nuts
• 10-15 Red Chillies (Guntur-hot variety)
• 10-15 Red Chillies (Byadagi – the one that imparts a dark red color)
• 1 bunch curry leaves (washed and wiped)
• 1 big lemon size tamarind
• Little jaggery
• Salt to taste
• 1.5-2 cups grated dry coconut(Copra)
• Hing to taste
  

Method

• Roast Urad , channa dal and ground nuts till light brown separately
• Use few drops of oil if necessary
• Roast the chillies with a few drops of oil
• Roast the curry leaves till fully dry
• Roast tamarind with little oil(few drops)
• Roast the grated copra till light brown
• Add salt and grind all the ingredients except copra coarsely
• Once it is done , add the copra and grind it again.

Variation :

1. You can use more curry leaves – very healthy – full of iron
2. You can use a big bunch of mint/Pudina instead of curry leaves. You have to wash and pat it dry before roasting. The shelf life w/o refrigeration reduces with mint. Finish it up in 2 weeks :)-

Creamy Kheer

Since the festival season began last week, I wanted to start it off with a kheer at least.
I made Daliya / broken wheat kheer with milk and sugar. However, I always like Kheer to be creamy - but alas i cannot perish the guilt of using sinful cream, condensed milk and the like...
I decided to try something very simple. Some of you might have tried this already ...
I just mixed 1 tablespoon of vanilla custard powder in cold milk and added that to the kheer and brought it to a boil. Believe me - it was delicious - creamy yet not sinful!
Try it with any milk based kheer. Be careful about any other flavor that may want to add - like cardamom. I would suggest mild flavouring as the vanilla will also blend with this.
Anyway let me know if you tried it!
Sorry, did not take a pic of the kheer -:(