Kerala beef fry

Ingredients

Beef – 750 gm ( diced )

To marinate

Red chilli powder – 1 tsp

Turmeric powder – ½ tsp

Coriander powder – 1 tbsp

Pepper powder – 1tsp

Cumin powder – ¼ tsp

Salt
shallots -5 numbers ( finely chopped)
Curry leaves -  few (torn)

Other ingredients
Red chilli flakes - 1 tsp
Coconut oil

Onion – 3 finely chopped or  shallots 1 1/2 cup( thinly sliced)

Ginger minced – 1 tbs

Garlic minced – 1 tbs

Curry leaves

Garam masala - 1 tsp 
Pepper powder - 1 tsp ( freshly crushed)

Coconut slices - 2 tablespoon

Method

Marinate the beef with the ingredients and keep it aside for an hour. You can also add a tsp of meat tenderiser while marinating to make the beef soft.

Pressure cook the beef by sprinkling some water for 5 whistles on a low flame. Cooking time vary depending on the beef.

In a pan add coconut oil , add red chilli flakes and fry for few seconds.
Add the chopped  onion and sauté  until brown.

Add minced ginger, garlic and fry until raw smell goes off.

Add curry leaves and  cooked beef .

Cook for some more time  (uncovered) until the gravy thickens and coats the beef.

Meanwhile roast coconut slices in some coconut oil until golden brown. Add this to the beef and mix.

Finally add some pepper powder and drizzle some coconut oil and remove from fire.

Black forest cake

Ingredients  - serves ( 8-10)

For the chocolate sponge ( I use 200 ml cup)

Plain flour- 100 gm( 1 tbs less than I cup)

Sugar – 140gm ( ¾ cup)

Butter – 50 gm /1/4 cup (melted)

Cocoa powder – 25 gm

Eggs – 4 large

Baking powder – ½ tsp

Vanilla extract – 1 tsp

Salt – pinch

For syrup

Sugar 3/4 cup

Water – 1 1/2cup

Brandy/cherry brandy  – 3 tbs

For filling /frosting

 Double cream – 600 ml

Icing sugar – 5 tbs or according to your sweetness

Vanilla extract – 1 ½ tsp

For decoration

Fresh cherries

Grated chocolate/ chocolate strands

Method

Making the cake

·         Measure flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt in a mixing bowl and keep it aside.

·         Beat eggs with sugar and vanilla extract until its thick and trebled in volume for about 5-8 minutes.

·         Sieve the dry ingredients from mixing bowl to the egg mixture and fold in gently.

·         Add in the cooled melted butter and gently fold in.

·         Divide and pour the batter into two 8 inch cake tins and bake in a preheated oven at 180 degree Celsius for about 10-12 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

·         Cool the cake completely .

  Preparing the syrup
         In a saucepan add sugar and water and stir it until it boils and all the sugar melts.

         Turn off the flame and 2 tbs of brandy. Let it cool down.

  Preparing the filling

Whip the cold cream with icing sugar and vanilla extract for couple of minutes until soft peaks are formed

Assembling the cake

·        Cut  each layer of cake into two and you will get 4 layers of cake.

·        Place the  first  cake layer on a cake stand and pierce with a tooth pick and pour the sugar syrup over it.

·        Spread cream over it evenly

·        Place the next  layer and repeat the process.

·        Cover the whole cake with whipped cream and decorate as you like with fresh cherries/ grated chocolates etc

·        Chill the cake for the flavours to mingle.

Wholemeal bread

               

Hello all…

Unless I start taking food pics in my  phone, my blog is not going to survive because  I haven’t got the time to take my camera out, style it, take pics and edit it after spending all my energy running after a 1 year old ! Hopefully I might get time to do all that again  soon, but until then  I would rather update my blog  with phone pics than losing my tried and tested recipes  fore ever. So here I am with a bread recipe which I have made couple of times with whole meal flour which is a hit in my household. Nothing can beat the taste of freshly baked home made breads …trust me got to make it to believe it !

Recipe adapted from Paul Hollywod

                

Ingredients

Whole meal flour – 250 gm

Strong white bread flour – 250 gm

Salt – 5g

Instant yeast- 8 gm

Unsalted butter – 40 gm

Tepid water – 320 ml

Olive oil

Method

Tip flours, salt, yeast, butter into a bowl, add water little by little and knead until you get smooth dough. You might not need all the water.

Put the roughly kneaded dough into a work surface and knead with little olive oil, folding the dough inwards for couple of minutes until you get a smooth and silky dough.

Place the dough in a bowl and cover it with a tea towel and let the dough proof for one hour or until double in size.

After an hour knock out the air in the dough and knead again, folding inwards until you get smooth dough.

Place the dough into an oiled loaf tin and let it proof again for another hour by covering it with a clean plastic bag.

Preheat the oven to 200 degree C. Put a roasting tray in the oven with hot water to create steam which gives lighter crust.

Place the loaf tin inside and bake the bread for about 35 minutes, you should hear a hollow sound if you tap the base of the bread if it’s cooked.

Let it cool.

Enjoy!

Methi dal

Finally first post of the year … Better late than never! Posts may not be regular, pictures may not be appealing but still I am not going to give up blogging :)

Moving on to today’s post…

It’s not easy to fresh methi easily here unless we go to a desi area but  luckily one of the superstore here stock up frozen methi leaves. It’s so handy to make dishes like methi dal or methi chicken without having to clean and prepare them and I end up making methi dishes a lot and  today I am sharing a  simple methi dal  recipe which is absolute comfort food for us.

Ingredients

Moong dal – ¾ cup

Onion – 2

Tomato -2

Ginger garlic paste – 1 ½ tsp

Methi leaves – one bunch or 1  frozen cube

Cumin seeds/jeera – 1tsp

Turmeric powder – ½ tsp

Red chilli powder – 1tsp

Garam masala – ½ tsp

Method

Soak dal for ½ an hour and pressure cook for 2-3 whistles adding enough water

Meanwhile in a saucepan add oil and sputter cumin seeds.

Add chopped onions and saute until light brown.

Add ginger garlic paste and saute for a minute or so

Add chopped tomatoes,turmeric, chilli powder and cook for few minutes

Add methi leaves and cook until leaves are almost cooked

Finally add the cooked dal, water if required  and let it boil.

Add garam masala, salt and let it simmer for 3-4 minutes.

Remove from fire and garnish with chopped coriander leaves if you wish.

Serve hot with rice/roti and enjoy !