Chocloate cake with rich chocolate frosting

Ingredients

For cake
All purpose flour/ self raising flour -1 1/4 cup
sugar - 1 cup
Butter -1/2 cup
Eggs -2
cocoa powder - 1/4 cup
Baking powder- 1 tsp
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp (optional, if you are using self raising flour no need to to add baking soda)
vanilla essence - 1 tsp
Milk - 1/2 cup
Salt -a pinch

For frosting

Double cream - 100 ml
Butter - 25 g
Dark chocolate - 100 gm
Honey - 1 1/2 tbs

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 180 degree c

Sift all purpose flour /selfraising flour and keep it aside.
In a mixing bowl beat butter,followed by sugar . Add cocoa powder and beat again until it is well incorporated. Add sifted flour,baking powder,baking soda,salt and beat again. Finally add vanilla essence , milk and beat. Pour the batter into a greased cake tin.Bake for about 40 - 45 minutes( if a knife inserted come out clean cake is ready).Remove from the oven and allow the cake to cool for some time.

For Frosting

Heat double cream in pan and when it is about to boil switch off the stove and add rest of the ingredients and wait for five minutes until the chocolate melts . Mix well.

Spread the frosting on the cake and finally decorate the cake with grated or shaved chocolate.Wait for the frosting to set before you cut the cake.

Butter Naan

I am a big fan of all Indian breads, but never thought about making one at home until I came across the recipe of naan here. The clicks was so temting and I made up my mind to try it soon.I wasn't sure that how it is going to turn out. Whenever I try new recipes its like a lucky lottery draw, sometimes it comes out incredibly well , but sometimes it will be a total failure :)

Sangeetha's instructions was so clear , So I didnt have any second thought. My naan came out very well . Me and my hubby loved it. Even my 15 month old baby ate half of a naan.Thank you sangeetha for sharing the recipe.She has got a wonderful blog out there. You can find her recipes here

Awards

I got this wonderful cheering award from Asha latha of Asra ashaon ka .Thanks for cheering me up Asha.



Priya of priyas recipe has given me a beautiful thank you award .Thanks for the gift priya.

I would like to pass these awards to all my blogger friends.

Baingan bartha

Ingredients

Egg plant -1 large

Onions -2

Tomatoes -2

Ginger-garlic minced - 1 tbs

Green chillies -2

cumin seed- 1 tsp

Corainder powder - 2 tbs

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

cumin powder - 1/4 tsp

Garam masala - 1/2 tsp

Redchilly powder -1 tsp

Green peas -1/2 cup

Preparation

Rub oil over the eggplant and bake it in an oven at 200 degree c for about 1 hour .You can also burn the eggplant directly over flame turning the sides over or grill over charcoal until the skin is charred.Let it cool for some time .Peel the skin and chop the flesh.

In sucepan take oil and sputter cumin seeds. Add chopped onion and saute well until it becomes soft.Add chopped tomatoes,green chillies ,minced ginger and garlic and saute for few minutes until it becomes a paste .Add all the masala powders and saute until the raw smell of the masala goes. Add chopped flesh of egg plant and stir for few minutes.Finally add the green peas and cook it covered until green peas get cooked.Garnish with coriander leaves.

Gobi manchurian

Ingredients

For Frying

Cauliflower -1 (small)

All pupose flour/Maida -5 tbs

Cornflour-3 tbs

Ginger- garlic paste - 1tbs

Pepper powder- 1/2 tbs

salt

Oil

For Sauce

Onion -1 large

Green pepper Capsicum)chopped - 1/2 cup

Spring onion

Minced Ginger and Garlic -1 tbsp

Green chillies -3
Tomato Sauce -4 tbs

Soya sauce -2 tbs

Redchilly Sauce - 2 tbs

Salt

Cornflour

Water

Preparation

Saute chopped onions in a pan until it becomes soft. Add minced ginger and garlic, chopped green chillies,capsicum and stir for few minutes. Add all the sauces and cook for 1-2 minutes.Dissolve 3-4 tbs of cornflour in 3/4 cup of water and add slowly to the pan.when it starts to thicken turn off the flame.

Make a batter of cornflour and all purpose with water adding pepper,salt and ginger - garlic paste.Dip the cauliflower florets in it and deep fry the florets in oil until cripy and light brown in colour.

Add Fried cauliflower to the sauce and mix well. Cook it covered for 2 minutes.Garnish with spring onions.

Fried Rice

Ingredients

Basmathi rice - 2 cup

Scrambled egg (2 eggs)

Carrot - 2

Green pepper(capsicum) - 1

Chopped beans -little

Green peas -little

Pepper powder 1/2 tsp

oil

Salt

Spring onion

Preparation

Cook rice and strain the water.Wash the rice with cold water to remove the starch. Keep it aside.

In a pan add some oil and fry finely chopped vegetables and green peas until it is cooked. Add little salt and pepper powder to it. Add scarmbled eggs and cooked rice and stir for few minutes. Garnish with spring onions

Palak Paneer

Ingredients

Palak - 2 bunch

paneer -250 gm( cubed)

Onions -2

Tomato -1

Green chilllies -3

Chilly powder -1/2 stp

Turmeric powder - 1/2tsp

Corainder powder - 1tsp

cumin seeds -1tsp

cumin powder - 1/2 tsp

Ginger garlic paste - 1 1/2 tsp

Garam masala - 1 tsp

Salt

Preparation

In a saucepan cook palak with little water for 2 minutes with lis open , if you overcook you wont get the green colour for the dish.

Allow it to cool down for a bit and then blend  with some water into fine paste .

Shallow fry paneer for few minutes,flipping the sides over .

In a sucepan take some oil sputter cumin seeds.

.Add chopped onion and saute well till the onions becomes soft. Add chopped green chillies, ginger garlic paste and cook for a minute.

Add all masala powders and cook until raw smell goes.

Add chopped tomatoes and saute again for few minutes until it becomes a fine paste.

 Add palak to the gravy and  add water if required. 

When it starts to boil, add paneer .Cook covered for 2-3 minutes.

Rava upmav (cooked in milk)

Ingredients

Rava - 1 cup

Urad dal - 1 tbs

Milk - 2 cup

Greenchillies - 2

Ginger chopped- 1 tsp

Carrot- 1(finely chopped)

Curry leaves

Mustard - 1 tsp

Oil/Dalda/ ghee

Preparation

Roast rava for few minutes and keep it aside

In a pan take oil/dalda/ghee and sputter seeds. Add urad dal and when it becomes brown in colour add onions and saute until it becomes soft. Add curry leaves,chopped green chillies,ginger,and carrot. saute for few minutes. Add milk ,when the milk starts to boil ,simmer it and add the roasted rava and stir well. Cook for 2-3 minutes.

Using dalda will make upmav even more tastier .For those who are worried about cholesterol can reduce the amont of milk. sometimes I cook with 1 cup water and 1 cup milk .

Chilli chicken

Ingredients

For marination

Boneless chicken 3/4 kg

Kasmiri red chilli powder - 2 tsp

soya sauce - 2tsp

Egg - 1

Ginger - Garlic paste - 2 tsp

Cornflour- 3 -4 tsp

Salt

Marinate the chicken with all the above ingredients and keep it aside for 1/2 an hour.

For Gravy

Onions - 2 large

Green pepper (Capsicum) - 1

Ginger - Garlic minced - 2 tablespoon

Tomato Sauce - 5 tbs

Soya Sauce - 4 tbs

Sweet chilli Sauce or chilli sauce (add little sugar to chilly sauce)- 4 tbs

Spring Onions - a small bunch

Salt

Preparation

Heat oil in a pan and deep fry the chicken and keep it aside .

In a pan saute chopped onions till it become soft. Add minced ginger and garlic, chopped green pepper and white portion of spring onions and saute for few minutes. Add all the sauces and mix well. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the fried chicken. Mix it and  cook it for a minute or so. Garnish with spring onions.

INSTANT DOSHA

To prepare this dosha we dont have to grind the rice and keep the batter for fermentation.I soak the rice overnight and grind in morning and make dosha with the batter.

Ingredients
Rice - 1 1/2cup
Grated coconut -1/4 cup(optional)
Shallots or Onions chopped (handfull)
cooked rice(1/4 cup)
Fennel - 1 tsp
salt

Preparation
Soak rice for 5-6 hour.Grind the Rice with all the ingredients above by adding water.The batter should be loose,otherwise dosha will be hard. More water you add dosha will become softer .
Take a nonstick pan pour one laddle of the batter and swirl it .Close with a lid and cook for 1-2 minutes.
Take dosha from pan and serve it with vegetable stew , kadala curry etc

Back home we make this dosha in "dosha kallu" made of iron, its very heavy otherwise I would have managed to bring one here.The dosha we make in dosha kallu is very tasty.

TOMATO RASAM

Usually on sunday afternoon we indulge ourselfs without keeping an eye on calories...So for dinner we prefer something light thats when I make rasam and have our dinner with just rasam and some thoran..

Ingredients

Tomato -5

Toor dhal- less than 1/4 cup

garlic - 5-6 pods

redchilly powder- 1/2 tsp

turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp

pepper powder - 1/4 tsp

coriander leaves

curry leaves

cumin seeds

asafoetida- pinch

Preparation

Cook toor dhal in a pressure cooker by adding more water .Take the stock and add little of cooked dhal to the stock.

In saucepan add oil and add cumin seeds and crushed garlic and stir for few seconds. Add chopped tomatoes , redchilly powder,tumeric powder,pepper powder,salt and stir for few mintes. Add toor dhal stock and cook for 20 minutes.

In a pan take some oil sputter mustard seeds,add curry leaves and a pinch of asafoetida.Stir for few seconds. Add this to rasam.

Garnish rasam with chopped coriander leaves.

Glass painting

I love to do painting..But now adays I dont have enough time for my craft works..Here is one of my glass painting which I did long time back...

Tandoori chicken in oven

Recipe adapted from Vahchef

Chicken legs- 1 kilogram
Kashmiri red chilli powder - 2 tbs
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 1/2 tbs
Garam masala/chicken  masala - 1 tsp
Pepper powder - 1 tsp
Cumin Powder- 1 tsp
Ginger garlic paste - 3 tsp
Yogurt - 4 tbs
Lime juice - 2 tbs
kasoori methi powder - 2 tsp
Salt
Oil - 4 tbs + extra for basting

Preparation

1.Marinate the chicken legs with all the ingredients and keep it at least for 1-2 hrs or preferably overnight.
2.Place them in a tray and cook in a preheated oven at 180 degree C for 40 minutes, basting it with oil every  10 -15minutes and  flipping sides half way through( this is important as this keeps the chicken juicy )

Enjoy hot !

Ney payasam

Ingredients

Rice - 1/2 cup

Jaggery- 1 1/2 - 2 cup

Ghee - 1/2 cup

cahshewnut

cardamom powder

Preparation

Cook rice and keep aside

Melt jaggery by adding little water in a saucepan , add cooked rice to it and cook for few minutes. Add ghee slowly to the mixture.Simmer the stove until the payasam becomes thick . For the aroma add little cardamom powder.

Fry cashewnuts in ghee and garnish the payasam with cashewnuts.

We usually dont make this payasam at home ,we get this payasam from temple as prasadam.Usually in ney payasam a lot of ghee is added ,its very very rich...I didn't add that much ghee ...Those who are not scared of eating more ghee can add 1 to 1 1/2 cup ghee.

Chicken Curry

Back home in Kannur my mom make varutharacha chicken curry ,but I am not a big fan of varutharacha curry,but if we want more gravy then there is no other option rather than varutharakkal. If there is any non malayalees reading this they might be wondering what varutharakkal is ..We saute grated coconut in coconut oil till it becomes dark brown in colour and then grind it in a mixie to get a smooth paste that is what we call varuthrakkal. To add taste we add curry leaves, redchillies, shallots, cinnamon sticks, fennelseeds, cardamom , pepper pods, garlic , cloves etc to grated coconut .The aroma of that paste is so good.This is not the recipe that I am going to post now.

Here goes my recipe

Ingredients
Onions - 5 large
Green chillies - 4-5
Curry leaves
Tomatoes - 1-2
Ginger garlic paste- 11/2 tablespoon
Redchilly powder - 2tsp
Turmeric powder- 1/2 tsp
Chicken masala - 2 tsp
Coriander powder - 2 tsp
Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 1tsp (By grinding same ratio of cinnamon sticks,cloves ,fennel seeds and cardamom )
salt
coriander leaves
Chicken 1 kg

Marinate chicken pieces with redchilly powder,turmeric powder,chicken masala,Coriander powder and salt .Keep it aside for 1/2 an hour

Saute onions is a saucepan till it become light brown in colour ,add chopped tomatoes,ginger garlic paste,green chillies,curryleaves and saute for few minutes. Add marinated chicken piece and cook until chicken is cooked. Add pepper powder and garam masala powder and let it boil for few minutes.Garnish with coriander leaves

I usually dont add water or coconut milk to the curry as we get lot of water from chicken itself,the gravy will be much more tastier if we dont add water or coconut milk.But if we want more gravy add some water while cooking chicken or if coconut milk is your choice add coconut milk after the chicken is cooked. Adding grinded coconut is another option which also tastes good.

Dhal and Seafood

I am dedicating this recipe to my 13 month old baby as this curry was an experiment I tried to make him eat rice. When he was around 7 months I started giving rice to him with parippu as curry, Just the plain parippu with salt and turmeric..but later on I started adding vegetables to parippu so that he will eat vegetables aswell. I didnt gave him any meat or fish till his first birthday..I thought let him be a pure vegeterian till his birthday..Soon after his birthday I gave him meat and fish and he liked it very much ..After having meat and fish for fewdays I cooked a vegetable curry last week but he started spitting rice without meat or fish..I tried the vegetable curry next day also, but again he started spitting and I didnt want to starve him....Thats how I made this dish which is very easy if you have seafood collection in your freezer.

Ingredients
toor daal - 1/4 cup
Onions - 2
Tomato - 1
Green chillies-2-3
Curry leaves
Garlic -2-3 pods
chilly powder - 1 tsp
turmeric powder - little
coriander powder- 1 1/2 tsp
chicken masala - 1 tsp
salt
seafood collection( prawns,mussels,scallops etc)

Preparation
Saute onions till pink in colour add chopped tomato saute for few minutes till it become a paste. Add greenchillies, garlic,curry leaves and all the powders and add some water.Add seafood collection and cook.
Cook toor daal in a pressure cooker and pour it to the curry mixture.Let the mixture boil for few minutes. our curry is ready..Garnish with coriander leaves.

I am back after a long time

I am back after a long time. I didnt get time for cooking experiments since jan 2008 as I was expecting..Morning sickeness was so horrible so I didnt cook for the whole 9 months..But when the baby came I couldnt even get time to sleep.He keeps me awake all night and so during day time we both slept. Now my baby has grown up ,he is one year old now.I hardly get time to do cooking these days too...but once I start blogging again I will find time to cook somehow,in that way my hubby can also eat some good food. I havent got a recipe today but will post one soon...