Thalipeeth

This popular maharashtrian snack is easy to make provided you have the basic flour ready. Out here in Mumbai or most of Maharashtra and nearby places, it is easier to find the popular bhajani (roasted flour mixture) to make thalipeeth. Literally translating this means, Dish dough(thali –peeth). It is so named because I think it is spread with hands on a dish and then roasted on a griddle.

Ingredients
2 cups Bhajani
1 medium onion finely chopped
1 bunch finely chopped coriander
2-3 green chillies
salt to taste
Oil to cook Fresh butter/ ghee to serve
Method
1) Make a soft pliable batter mixing all ingredients except the oil.
2) On a flat surface, place a plastic sheet and wet it using some water.
3) Now make a ball using the dough and start flattening it on the plastic sheet to form a round roti. This is a thalipeeth.
4) Heat a griddle/ tawa and put I tspn oil and let it heat.
5) Now punch some holes in the rolled out thalipeeth and gently transfer it from the sheet to the griddle.
6) Let it cook well on one side. Drop some oil in the punctured holes. Now flip it around and let it cook on the other side.
7) Serve hot with curd or thecha (recipe due)

Check the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#8.

Bhajani (Roasted Flours)

This is a good to store mixture of roasted flours to have a quick snack as thalipeeth, vade. 

Ingredients
2 cups of washed and dried Rice
½ cup of washed and dried Split Yellow lentil (Mung dal)
½ cup of washed and dried Split Black lentil (Udid dal)
½ cup of washed and dried Split Bengal Gram (Chana dal)
2 tspn coriander seeds
½ tspn Fenugreek seeds
½ tspn Black pepper corns (optional)
Method
1) Roast the rice and lentils separately until they slightly change color and start giving a nice aroma.
2) Grind together and store in an airtight container. Use as required

Creamy corn Stuffings

This stuffing is good for canapes, calzones and sandwiches too. This can also be made in to a soup by adding some more seasonings of your choice. The flavor is elevated by the use of cream style corn. Although I have made it without cream style corn whenever I did not find the cans but now no more as I make the cream style corn at home.

Ingredients
1 cup cream style corn
1 cup regular corn nibblets
½ cup milk
1 tspn corn starch (Make a slurry wby dissolving in water)
salt to taste
1 tspn chilly flakes/black pepper powder
2 tbsp spring onion chopped finely
1 tspn butter/ oil
Method

1)    Heat a pan and melt some butter, add the corn slurry, milk and mix well

2)    Add the cream style corn, corn and stir. Cook until it starts to thicken

3)    Add salt, pepper and onions and mix.

4)    Stuff the creamy corn in your choice of bread

5)    Serve with your choice of salad, salsa or eat as it is.

Since I still had my tortillas around, so I opted to stuff this in it and served with my instant mexican style salsa.

Check the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#8.

Cream style corn

Normally during monsoons when we easily find the corn ears it is good idea to make the cream style corn at home. It is used mostly over and above the regular corn nibblets in soups and stuffing to get a rich and creamier texture and taste.This can also be made in bulk and stocked up well for couple of months if stored in freezer bags.

Ingredients
American Sweet Corn ears
Method
1)If you find very tender and sweet tasting corn ears, then go to step 3.
2)Blanch the corn ears by putting them for around 30 seconds in a boiling water and then running it under running tap water.
3)Hold the stem in your left hand and using a knife run through the sides of the ears and cut the strips of corns. You do not have to go to the roots of each corn nibble, cut them partially.
4)Repeat until you are done with all sides. Now using the blunt side of the knife repeat the process to extract the cream from the corn.
5)Mix the extracts and store. Use as required

Instant Mexican style salsa

Instant Mexican style salsa

Ingredients

1 large onion finely chopped
1 large tomato finely chopped
1 tbsp chopped coriander
2 tspn Hot chilly tomato ketchup

Method1) Mix all ingredients in a bowl
2)Use as a salad, sandwich stuffing.

Tortilla Chips

Munching on chips on a rainy day sitting by the window...the race to last longer is always won by the rain and lost by the chips.

Tortilla chips are so easy to make esepcially if you have the tortillas available handy.Also, who stops us from adding the dips and salsas.

Ingredients
Tortillas (as many your like) cut in sections about 6 per tortilla
Oil to fry
Seasoning( Salt, Red chilly flakes)
Method

1) Heat oil on medium flame until it is just about warm.

2) Drop the tortilla pieces one after the other and let it cook for about 10-15 seconds each. Flip if required.
3) Drain them on a tissue paper and sprinkle with the seasonings.

Serve with your choice of dips or salsas

Check my fellow bloggers on Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#8.

Today you could find some interesting condiments to munch with the chips :-)

Corn Meal Tortilla

I have not tried very hard but the little effort I have put in was in vain to find masa harina in mumbai. This meant I had to look for an alternative to make tortillas at home.
Once I tried using the refined corn flakes powder mixed with corn starch which came pretty close but the efforts were too much. The other option is corn meal which is most commonly used to make tortillas after the masa harina.
I am sharing this basic recipe here. This can also be made in bulk and stocked up. It stays pretty good for weeks.

Ingredients
2 cups Corn meal flour (seived)

1 3/4 cups All purpose flour
1 tspn salt
2 cups warm water
Method

1) Mix the flours and salt and start kneading using the water to form a soft pliable dough

2) Let it sit for 45 min to 1 hour.

3) Roll out thin tortillas using some flour for dusting if required
4) On a hot pan (tawa) put the rolled out tortilla, flip it as soon as some spots start appearing.
5) Remove and let it rest. It does not require to be roasted fully at this stage, just good enough to cook barely (75%).

6) Also if the tortillas puff up then pierce them to let the steam escape else they would become hard.

7) Use  as required.

Baked Yogurt

This is the easiest option for a late night dessert. You simply mix up the ingredients let it cook in the oven and then pop it in fridge till the time you want to wait before eating it. There are no time limits to anything, the baking, or refrigerating.

I notched up the cooking challenge by deciding to make the condensed milk at home. While I agree that condensed milk is not something you should invest time unless you have reasons like your local grocery shop running out of stock, you have excess milk and are in no mood to consume it in a day, or like me you are experimental.

So I made the condensed milk for most part of the evening until the dinner was being prepared (by my goodie Elf). Once this was done, the rest of the thing was pretty easy.

Ingredients
2 cups beaten curd (hung and strained of water)
2 cups sweet condensed milk
1 tspn vanilla essence
2 tbsp icing sugar (Confectioner’s/ Powdered)
1 tbsp of fruit (optional) I used some custard apple this time was very good

Method
1)Mix the ingredients in a large bowl and lightly beat together.
2)Taste at this stage and check for the sugar.If the sugar seems less, add the icing sugar.
3)Put in small ramekins or individual pie pots and bake in pre-heated oven for 15 min.
4)Put in refrigerator for 15-30 min.

Garnish with nuts slivers of your choice.

Check my fellow bloggers on Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#8

Sweet Condensed Milk

Next time you have some excess milk with you this is one option instead of making lots of sweet dishes. This milk stays for about 10 days if refrigerated well. The reason to make this at home was to satiate my urge to understand the composition of this dish. The engineer in me keeps drawing parallels among different forms of ingredients that are made from same source. So for many years until I first made it at home, I wondered the essential difference between evaporated milk, milk powder, milk solids, Khoya, rabdi, and sweet condensed milk. How could one make different textures using the same base ingredient. On doing some research atleast I landed with an answer for sweet condensed milk. Although you will not find much material on the net about sweet condensed milk, you would definitely get to know the differences.

So applying some logic and scientifics I went about making this product at home.

To yield 600 gms of condensed milk, you need 1 Litre of Milk (that’s it, really to think that we pay 6 times higher price). The essential part to remember though is that you never allow the milk to solidify the way it does while making rabdi or basundi or khoya. To help this, you need to make one major change while cooking the milk, you need to dissolve the sugar well before you start reducing the milk. It is similar to making sugar syrup using milk instead of water.

Papaya pudding

This dish is so simple that I was ashamed to post it as a recipe for long. Cooking without fire gives the perfect reason to share this with all. Also the response I got for this dish was so amazing that I think it is defnitely worth sharing.

Check my fellow bloggers on Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#8

Also sending this to Kamalika, who is hosting this month's edition of Kid's Delight, themed on No Fire Cooking for Kids.

Ingredients

1 cup papaya chunks

1 cup sweet condensed milk
chopped fruits for garnish
Method

1) Mix the papaya and condensed milk and blend it to a puree. Add the mixture to a mould quickly as it starts setting as soon as the papaya is pureed.

2) Add any fruits at this stage to the mixture if you like. Also taste the puree to check for additional sugar requirement.

3) Let the mould sit in refrigerator for 15-30 min. The natural pectin in papaya will help the pudding to set, no need to add gelatin or pectin.

4) Unmould and eat.

Can any thing beat the simplicity of this dish? Also, if the pudding refuses to budge out of the mould, do not worry much, you can easily use a knife to run around the edges, the pudding won't loose its shape.

I had added mango chunks during summer, chikoo chunks, custard apples to it earlier. All gets blended very well.

You have to make it to believe it :-)

No bake Cheesecake

This is an all time favorite recipe. Quick and easy to make and loved by all. You can use whatever flavors you want. I usually opt for fruit cheese cakes as you can use the seasonal variety but this time I ran out of fruits as most people are fasting at home. I personally love mocha flavor and used this for making this cheese cake today.

Ingredients
200 gms cream cheese (unsalted)
200 gms whipped cream
200 gms icing sugar
1 tspn vanilla essence
2 packets of cream biscuits (I used 2 Oreo and 1 bourbon)
50 gms butter
1 tspn (instant coffee + cocoa powder)
Method
1) Crush the biscuits with the butter in a food processor to form a mixture.
2) Grease the base of a springform cake tin, and pour the biscuit mixture to form a base. Press gently with hands and let it sit in refrigerator until you are done with the cheese mixture
3) In a large bowl, whip the cream and icing sugar to form stiff peaks.
4) Add the cream cheese and fold it in. Add the vanilla essence and mix again.
5) Pour this mixture on the biscuit base and let it refrigerate for an hour.
6) Spring the cake and serve by sprinkling the coffee and cocoa mixture.

Springform tin

Do remember that since this does not have any eggs or baking the only way we can make this airy and hold its texture is by whipping the cream with icing sugar. Do not use regular sugar or powdered sugar as it wont give you the required texture.
Adding a new picture taken today of the last piece left.

Check my fellow bloggers on Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#8

Also sending this to Kamalika, who is hosting this month's edition of Kid's Delight, themed on No Fire Cooking for Kids.

Dadpe Pohe

As a kid I was not very fond of this dish. My mother never made this dish at home as it was always easy to make the regular kande pohe instead. Some years back I ate the rice flakes pudding at my british friend’s place who said she learnt it from her Indian neighbor. Her recipe was similar to this one. I am ofcourse deviating from the standard way and doing as per my preference. The point though is that this does not require any amount of cooking and is an healthy yummy option especially on a rainy day

Ingredients:
1 cup Rice Flakes Patal poha
2 finely chopped Green chillies 1 finely chopped Onions
1 finely chopped tomato
1 finely chopped Cucumber
½ cup Pomegrenate
1 tbsp Milk
1 tbsp grated Coconut
1/2 tbsp Water/ Coconut water (Optional)
1 tsp Lemon juice
Sugar to taste
Salt to taste

Method:

1.In a mixing bowl, add the poha, green chillies, onion, cucumber,water and mix well.
2.Let the pohas soak in it for 15 minutes.
3.Add the lemon juice, sugar and salt and mix well.
4.Add the milk to the pohe and mix again.
5. Garnish with pomegranate and coriander and serve.

Considering the janmasthami zeal, also reminds me of the dahi kala or gopal kala that is made. Simply substitute the Milk by beaten curd in the above dish.

Check my fellow bloggers on Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#8

Also sending this to Kamalika, who is hosting this month's edition of Kid's Delight, themed on No Fire Cooking for Kids.

Kabuli Chana Pulav

Kabuli Chana Pulav
This is inspired from a recipe I saw on Family food fight - TLC. I made a mental note of most of the ingredients but as always ended up making it my way.
The outcome was delicious, works well when you are in hurry and cannot afford to make a gravy dish with the rice.

Ingredients
2 cup Long grain rice (basmati)
200 gm soaked Chickpea( kabuli chana)
1 large onion thinly sliced
1 medium tomato chopped
1 medium tomato pureed
1 inch ginger (make a paste)
4-5 garlic cloves  (make a paste)
11/2 tspn Red chilly powder
1 tspn turmeric powder
2 tspn pickle masala powder ( I used bedekar pickle masala)
1 tspn crushed kasoori methi
½ tspn biryani masala (Use garam masala if not available, add a bay leaf extra)
1/2 cup beaten curd
salt to taste
Oil to cook
Mint leaves for garnish
Method
1) Pressure cook the chickpeas until they are cooked (3 whistles) with a pinch of salt using twice the quantity of water.
2) In a large wok, heat some oil, add the onions, and sauté them until they are translucent.
3) Add the chopped tomato, tomato puree and ginger garlic paste. Add the dry spices and sauté well.
3) Add the beaten curd and soaked rice and sauté again. Add another cup of water(depending on the consistency of curd add or reduce water)
4) When the rice is cooked about 75% add the cooked chickpeas along with the water.
5) Add salt and mint leaves and cover. Let it cook for 10 more minutes.

Serve with your choice of raita or curd.

Sending it to the Rice recipes.

Alpha pasta soup

Alpha Pasta Soup

No, I am not making scientific series of alpha, beta, gamma soups. I basically found an interesting pasta packet which had pasta shaped as alphabets. The pasta is made using semolina and wheat. I always look out for healthy snack time options for the 2 year old.

My son also took fancy to this pasta. I normally just boil them and mix in some ketchup and cheese and feed him as a quick pasta snack.

One day I made a veg clear soup using the same.

Ingredients

½ cup Alpha pasta (use any wheat / semolina based small pasta)
1 cup mix vegetables (cauliflower, potato, carrots, beans, peas)
1 tspn Oil
2 cloves of garlic
1 tspn black pepper crushed
1 tspn mixed herbs (optional – I did not add them)
salt to tasteMethod
1) In a sauce pan,. Heat some oil and add the crushed garlic and all vegetables, sauté them for 5 min.
2) Add water and let it boil till the vegetables are cooked.
3) Add the pasta and let it cook for another 5-10 min till the pasta shells are cooked.
4) Add the salt, pepper and mixed herbs.
5) Garnish and serve

Spot my son's name, below..

While researching on soups, just figured out that even the Italians call this pasta similar- the Alphabet Pasta Soup.




Also linking this to Srivalli's Soups and Salad Mela

Mushroom tikka biryani

I did not intend to make this when I started cooking this dish. For a Sunday meal, I usually make a grand rice dish, gravy and a side dish. For this particular Sunday, I planned to make stuffed mushrooms and pulav and spinach gravy. But eventually this is what I ended up with.

Ingredients

For tikkas
1 packet of button mushrooms, chopped
1/2 cup beaten curd
1 tspn red chilly powder
1 tspn turmeric powder
1 tspn tandoori masala (Else add garam masala + amchur powder + chat masala 1:1:1)
salt to taste
oil for cooking

For Rice
2 cup Long grain rice (basmati) washed and soaked
1 large onion thinly sliced
1 medium tomato chopped
1 inch ginger (make a paste)
4-5 garlic cloves  (make a paste)
11/2 tspn Red chilly powder
1 tspn turmeric powder
½ tspn biryani masala (Use garam masala if not available, add a bay leaf extra)
salt to taste
Oil to cook
Coriander leaves for garnish

Method
1) Mix the mushrooms with the rest of the ingredients(excluding oil) and let it sit for 15 min.
2) On a baking sheet lined with foil paper, spray some oil and put the mushrooms. Let it bake in preheated oven for 15 min at 180 degrees. Reduce the temperature if required.
3) In a large pan, heat some oil, add the onions and sauté till they are tender. Add the tomatoes, ginger and garlic paste and cook for another couple of minutes.
4) Add the dry spices and mix well.
5) Add 1 ½ cup rice and let it cook. Cook the remaining ½ cup rice separately to get steamed white rice.
4) When the rice is almost cooked, add the mushroom tikkas as a layer and cover them with the white rice.
5) Cover and let it cook till the flavours are mixed well.
6) Garnish and serve.

Sending it to my own event - CFE along with the Rice recipes.

Creamy spinach with crushed black pepper

I am not sure what to call this new found dish. So I ended up calling it Palak Cream, this will change if I manage to think of something interesting by the time I end typing. As I have now tasted it, I have changed the name to echo the flavors that leave a mark. I started out with the idea of making palak paneer, but dropped it mid way as I did not have paneer, was too lazy to run around and get some for a supper that was already running late by DH’s standards. Also with this dish I abruptly finished cooking my dish in half the stipulated time.

Ingredients
1 bunch of Spinach Leaves Blanched and chopped roughly
1 tbsp ginger garlic finely chopped
1 medium onion chopped finely
1 medium tomato chopped finely
2 tbsp fresh cream (Malai)
1 tspn red chilly powder
1 tspn black pepper crushed
1 tspn cumin seeds
Oil to cook
salt to taste
Method
1) In a pan, heat some oil and add the cuming seeds, let them splutter. Add the ginger garlic and sauté for a minute
2) Now add the onions, tomatoes and stir until they are cooked and reduced. Wait till the oil starts appearing on the edges again.
3) Add the chopped spinach leaves and let them wilt.
4) Add salt and stir well. Now add the fresh cream and quickly stir it in.
5) Add crushed black pepper and serve hot. Goes well as a side dish if not main.

Sending it to the Let's Cook: Sabjis for Rotis 

Babycorn jalfrezi

I am not a big fan of baby corn unless it is smartly covered under some guise. But for once I wanted to try the famous baby corn jalfrezi. So I did. Other reason was that I did not have any thing that could compliment including the paneer. (Our local dairy seems to have run out of stock big time, and I am off late in no mood to go through the process of making paneer at home).

I made the jalfrezi with just the baby corn and green peppers. You can also add fried paneer, red, yellow peppers, brocolli etc.

8 baby corns, cut into 4
1/4 tsp. cumin seeds
1/8 tsp. asafoetida
1 tsp. ginger-green chili paste
3 spring onions, sliced
1/2 green capsicum, sliced (Use colored if u prefer)
1/4 tsp. turmeric powder
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1 large tomato, pureed
1 tbsp. tomato puree (optional) I did not add, but is good to add as it changes the texture for good
2 tbsps chopped coriander
2 tbsps grated Cheese
1 tbsp. oil
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Heat the oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds and asafoetida. When they crackle, add the ginger-green chili paste, chopped spring onions, capsicums and saute for 2 minutes.

2. Add the baby corn, turmeric powder, chili powder, tomato, tomato puree and salt and sauté on a slow flame for 4 to 5 minutes till the baby corn is cooked.

3. Garnish with the grated cheese , chopped coriander and serve hot.

Sending it to the Let's Cook: Sabjis for Rotis

 

Oats and Carrot Cake (Savory)

I keep oscillating the culinary interests from rich, delicious foods to light, nutrition packed dishes. This maintains the right balance in the foods I eat or make.
I normally enjoy a hot bowl of oats porridge along with my son most mornings. DH abhors the idea of eating oats- he has never eaten them ever, wonder why. Strange as he otherwise is very eager for anything recommended as healthy. For his sake, I decided to disguise the oats in something special.
I picked whatever I had in front of me on the shelf next to the oats and then thought of what to make.

Akhkha Masoor

If you have read about this discovery that I made during my visit to Kolhapur last month, then you would also like to know that this one dish has made many of the localites millionaires. Most restaurants serve only Rice, bhakri (roti) and Akhkha Masoor and make a fortune on National highway 4 in and around Kolhapur.

You ould be glad to find the recipe just here. This was not rocket science as I also had my Mom and lil' sis with me when I tasted. They both can spot the last and least important ingredient from any dish by just tasting it. So by the time we were finished with the meal, I had the recipe filled in my ears.

When I came back , this was the first dish I attempted with the packet of red lentils (masoor) I had as spare.

Ingredients

1 cup Red Lentils (Masoor)

1 medium size onion finely chopped

1 medium size tomato pureed

1 tbsp ginger garlic paste

1 tspn coriander-cumin powder

1 tspn Garam masala (Use any Sabzi masala)

1/2 tspn turmeric powder

1 tspn red chilly powder (add more as per requirement)

1 tspn crushed black pepper (Lentils and Tomatoes make a sweet combination, to cut the sweetness)

2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves

2-3 cloves of garlic (lightly peeled)

Oil to cook

salt to taste

Method

1) Wash and pressure cook the lentils until they are cooked (3 whistles are more than sufficient).

2) In a sauce pan, add oil. When it is warm enough add the garlic cloves, remove and set them aside when the oil has infused the flavor in it.

3) Now add the onions and ginger garlic paste and saute it till the onions are well cooked.

4) Puree this onion mixture and back to the pan, cook until oil leaves the sides of the pan.

5) Add the tomato puree and all the dry spices.

6) Now add the cooked red lentils. and let it mix well

7) Let it simmer for 10 minutes.

8) Garnish with coriander and garlic cloves (removed in step 2). Add fresh cream if you so prefer.

Eat it with white rice or roti

Sharing the recipes with the following events,

 Let's Cook: Sabjis for Rotis, Iftar Nights, Dish it out-tomato and chilli originally started by Vardhini

Gnocchi

The best accompaniment for Pesto sauce is undoubtedly the Gnocchi pasta. The potato based pasta is very easy to make fresh pasta. I say it easy but if you are first timer then you would need to be aware that it requires patience and artistic approach.

Ingredients

4 large potatoes (look for new crop as they are more starchy)

1 egg

1 cup Refined flour

Water

Salt

Method

1) Boil the potatoes until soft and flaky (approximately 30-40 minutes). I cut them in halves to speed up the process

2) Mash the potatoes with a fork and not the masher as you should ideally have a fluffy mixture.

3) Beat the egg and add to the potatoes. Roll it up and now start kneading the dough by sprinkling flour as and when required.

4) You may end up using all the flour but usually we need to work up a dough similar to one taht we make for patties (ragda patties / aloo tikki).

5) Now roll up the dough in 1/2 inch thick ness and cut small pieces (eclair shaped and size). Pattern with the fork on one side.

6) Boil a large pot of water with salt. Add the gnocchi pieces in 10-15 batches. Fish them out when they pop up to the surface.

7) In a separate pan, heat some oil, add pesto sauce, add the pasta water to make a thin paste.

8) Once hot add the gnocchi and top with parmesan.

9) Eat immediately - Yummy

Linking the recipe to Herbs and Flowers- Basil event hosted at this blog

Chocolate Mousse

In my entire family I am the only one who loves chocolate mousse. I have not seen anyone really opting for chocolate mousse as a dessert any time any place.
Nevetheless, I got hold of a recipe that did not require eggs in it. This part almost always pleases DH. Also, I had some marshmallows left in a packet that kept blaring its expiry date asking me to use it up before that day dawns.

I did not measure all my ingredients and went mostly by gut feel but I have a tentative measure that I have put below,

Ingredients
1 cup of marshmallows
1/2 cup of milk
2 tbsp of nutella
1 cup of fresh cream (I used regular milk cream really , you can use whipped cream)
Method
1) In  a sauce pan, mix the marshmallows and milk and let it cook until the marshmallows melt.
2) Now add the nutella paste and stir in until it is mixed well.Turn off the heat and let it stand till room temp.
3) In a large bowl, whisk the cream until stiff peaks are formed.
4) Mix the 2 mixture while gently folding together. Ensure that the temperature of the marshmallow mixture is not above room temperature.
5) Pour the mixture in the serving cups and let it sit in the refrigerator for 30 minutes (only!).
6) Serve with garnishings of your choice, grated white chocalate maybe.
Trust me this is the easiest and the tastiest chocolate mousse without eggs ever EVER!.

Mohanthal

I ate this for the first time post marriage when my DH’s grandma made it for us. She and my MIL still make it almost regularly – I would say that we always find a box full of these delicious melt in your mouth sweet whenever we visit her house. I have never dared to make these on my own as I am too scared to fall short in front of the flair that both the senior and experienced ladies possess. However, this time I decided to take a plunge with a short amount under the vigilant eyes of dear MIL.

I would not say that this is an easy activity as like most Indian mithai’s this one requires the patience and practice to master. Especially when things go slightly unexpected and when you have to make the required variations.

Eggless Vanilla Cupcakes

For my own birthday, I made these cup cakes. I opted for the eggless version as my birthday kicked off the Shravan month this year. This is the first time that I baked eggless cup cakes at home. I am not fond of eggless cakes given a choice. But I surprised myself with the results of my cake recipe.

Ingredients
400 gms All purpose flour (Maida)
125 gms Unsalted Butter (Use Nutralite butter,if you don’t have unsalted)
75 ml Vegetable Oil
400 gms Sweet Condensed milk (1 tin)
7 5 gms Granulated Sugar
2 tspn Vanilla Essence
4 tspn Baking powder
1 tspn Baking soda

Method
1) Cream the butter and sugar until the sugar is dissolved, add the condensed milk and beat further using a hand beater. Add the vanilla essence to it.
2) Sieve the flour and baking powder and soda together.
3) Mix in the flour mixture to the butter and start folding in. This batter is relatively stickier.
4) Start adding the oil in a steady flow to get a shiny looking batter. It helps losen the stickiness as you go about mixing.
5) I also added a couple of tbsp water as the batter appeared very thick for me. You can add if you find the same situation. Else reduce the flour quantity by 70 gm.
6) Line the muffin tray with cupcake liners. Drop your batter about 2/3^rd of the area or little lesser.
7) Bake in a preheated oven for 18-20 min.
8) I used butter cream frosting for some and chocolate frosting for others. It taste’s delicious without the frosting too.
9) I also used my own colored sugar sprinklers to add some flush.

Enjoy the visual treat below,

Sending this to 

- Amy's Decorating Challenge Event

- Kaveri's Jingle All the Way
- Hema's  Christmas New Year Eve 2011

- Pari's Only - Cakes and Cookies

Sugar Sprinkles

Now, call this frugal living, or being creative. I saw the different sugar sprinklers in nature’s basket the other day and did not find them worth the cost or look at all. Unless you use them in astronomical quantities they do not lend any taste or flavor. Also, there is a shelf life to it which I can’t promise to meet considering I do not bake fancy cakes round the year (well I think so, DH thinks that’s all what I do). So coming back to the point, I made my own sugar sprinklers which I saw some where on the blogosphere. They looked very pretty crystals.

Here is how I made my own.

Ingredients

2 tbsp Granulated sugar (larger the granules better the result)
pinch of edible powder food color (no liquid)
a drop of almond essence/ oil (optional)
Method
1) In a bowl, mix the sugar with the essence and let it dry
2) Now add the color of your choice and toss the bowl. Do not mix with hand or spoon, just keep shaking the bowl until the color spreads evenly
3) Your sprinklers are ready. I made red, orange and purple.



Update
I also used another set recently. This time I used Caster sugar and liquid color. Start adding with 1 drop at a time to get the color of your choice. Take sugar in a container with cover.Add the color, cover and keep shaking until the color spreads evenly.