Chocolate Cupcakes

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

This was one of my impromptu attempt to bake something that turned out quite great. It had been long time since I had the frosting in the fridge so thought about baking something to use that one and these cupcakes worked perfectly well with the frosting.


Ingredients
2 Cup Sugar
2 Spoon Vanilla Essence
1 Egg
1/2 Cup Oil
1 Cup Milk
1.75 Cup Maida
1 Cup Coco Powder
1 Spoon Baking Powder
1 Spoon Baking Soda
1/2 Spoon Salt
2 Spoon Instant Coffee

Method

• Preheat oven at 325F/160C
• Mix together egg, sugar and vanilla essence.
• Add in oil and milk and whisk the mixture over medium speed.
• Sieve maida, coco powder, baking powder and baking soda couple of times to form homogeneous mixture.
• Add the sieved contents and salt in the egg-oil-milk mixture and whisk on low speed till well combined about 2 minutes
• Warm 1 cup of water with coffee in microwave for about a minute.
• Add the coffee to the cake mixture and whisk on low speed for another 2 minutes.
• Line around the cupcake pan with around 14 cup cake liners and fill them with the cake mixture about 3/4th level in each.
• Bake in the oven for 18 minutes.
• Allow the cakes to cool off for at least an hour and then serve with frosting and optionally filling

Notes

I didn't use the filling but chocolate ganache would be great option.
I used chocolate butter cream that I have made previously to frost another cake as the frosting and it went well.

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Fish Kabab

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

Last Sunday when looking for making something to go along with evening tea/coffee time, I made these. They came out really good and we ate them even next day.


Ingredients
2 Fish Fillets (180g boneless)
1 Onion
4-5 Garlic Cloves
1 Spoon Ginger
1/4 Spoon Red Chili Powder
1 Green Chili
1/4 Spoon Black Pepper Powder
1/4 Spoon Cinnamon Powder
1/4 Spoon Cloves Powder
1/2 Spoon Coriander Powder
1/4 Spoon Garam Masala
1/4 Cup Cilantro
4-5 Small Sweet Bell Peppers
1/2 Lemon
Salt
Oil

Method

• Smash the fish fillets and add in black pepper powder, red chili powder, cinnamon powder, cloves power, coriander powder, garam masala and salt.
• Add in finely chopped onion, green chilies, bell peppers and cilantro.
• Squeeze lemon juice in the mixture.
• Mix well and prepare kabab rolls.
• Heat tawa and add in oil, and shallow fry the kababs over medium heat from all sides till they are brown.

Notes
I thawed the frozen fish in microwave with auto defrost for the fish this time and it works wonders. I didn't have to wait long time for fish to thaw and could easily make this as a tea time snack when we both were so hungry.
You could serve these as snacks, starters, side dish or even stuffing it in the pav.

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Harabhara Kabab

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

I made these kebabs on Saturday and I felt they were so much better than earlier version. Everyone was asking for recipe so here it is. (Note I had this in my drafts for 2 months and finally getting around to put it on the blog :))


Ingredients
6 Cup Muttor
2 Big Potatoes
1.5 Cup Paneer
3 Handful Spinach Leaves
2 Handful Coriander Leaves
1 Handful Pudina Leaves
3 Green Chillies
4 Garlic Cloves
2 Spoon Chaat Masala
1 Spoon Aamchur Powder
1/4 Cup Breadcrumbs
1 Cup Cashews
Salt to taste
Oil

Method

• Pressure cook potatoes and let them cool off. Peel off cover and mash them into big bowl.
• Microwave 4 cups of muttor for 3 minutes.
• Add the muttor and spinach leaves to mixie and grind to fine paste.
• Add in coriander leaves, green chillies, garlic cloves and salt. Grind again to fine paste. Pour the paste into the bowl with potatoes
• Add grated paneer, chaat masala, aamchur powder and breadcrumbs and mix well.
• Microwave remaining 2 cup muttor for 2 minutes and add it to the bowl and mix well.
• Make small balls, flatten them, press in a cashew and shallow fry the kebabs on medium heated tawa till dark brown on both sides

Notes
The mixture was little sticky when I used it immediately. But I had remaining paste stored in fridge and when I used it directly out of fridge it was easier to fry them without disturbing its shapes.
Also note that unlike other recipes where it yields product for around 4 people, I made this for party of around 12 people as starter.
I used fresh paneer. Boiled 1 liter of 2% reduced fat milk and adding one lemon's juice in it. Drained the mixture after milk curdled on a cloth and used it by crushing it into fine powder by hand.

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Grilled Spicy Tilapia Fillets

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

I had not cooked this fish anytime earlier and its been while since we had fish. I wanted to switch to diet that has more fish and vegetables instead of any other meat (chicken, prawns or crabs) so we got this from Costco. They sell it skinless and boneless big fillets so i instantly thought of trying grilling them. Yesterday we had barbeque planned and so it was perfect time to experiment.


Ingredients
2 Tilapia Fillets
1 Spoon Red Chilli Powder
3/4 Spoon Coriander Powder
1/2 Spoon Jeera Powder
1/4 Spoon Garam Masala
1/2 Lemon
Salt to taste
Oil

Method

• Apply salt, red chilli powder, jeera powder, coriander powder, garam masala and lemon juice to the fillets.
• Massage the fillets by rubbing these spices and lemon juice for couple of minutes. Keep aside for 45minutes to an hour
• Heat the grill and apply oil spray on both sides on the fillets and grill them for about 3-4 minutes each side.

Notes
If you don't have grill, you could cook them on pan over medium heat too. Grill gives nice finish.
I served this with mint chutney that i made from fresh mint from my patio garden as starter and ate most of it :) In fact out of two fillets only half i could save for next day and click photo :) I used that half in salad with the mint chutney as dressing. Perfect lunch :)

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Methi Corn Aappe

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

This recipe is inspired by the Corn Aappe Recipe I had posted long time back.. I thought little taste change in same recipe would bring variation and thats how this one came to life :)


Ingredients
4 Cup Sweet Corn
2 Cup Rawa
4 Green Chillies
1 Cup Methi Leaves
1 Cup Coriander Leaves
1/2 Spoon Garlic Paste
1/4 Spoon Ino
Salt to taste

Method

• In a mixie, crush together green chilies and corn till smooth paste.
• Add in salt, rawa, garlic paste and mix.
• Add in finely chopped methi leaves and coriander leaves and mix.
• Add in ino and if required little water and make batter by mixing well.
• Heat the aappe pan and sprinkle drop of oil in the pan and pour in spoon of batter in each appe cup.
• Cook the appe till they become brown, flip and let it cook till the other side browns too, serve hot

Notes
If using frozen sweet corn microwave them for couple of minutes so that making paste is easier.

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Harbara Daal Vada and Dosa

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

Today I wanted to try something new for breakfast, and an recipe I had read somewhere few weeks back came to my mind. So these vadas I made for breakfast using the fresh mint from my patio garden. In the evening with remaining batter I made Dosas and they turned out equally good so here is recipe for both.

Harbara Daal Vada

Harbara Daal Dosa

Ingredients
2.5 Cup Harbara Daal
4 Spoon Green Chillies
4 Spoon Coriander Leaves
4 Spoon Pudina
4 Garlic Cloves
Salt
Oil

Method

• Soak harbara daal overnight.
• In the morning, in the mixer grind the daal, green chillies, garlic cloves, coriander leaves, pudina and salt together into fine paste.
• For Vada: Fry them by dropping spoonful of batter into the hot oil, brown on both sides over medium heat
• For Dosa: Mix in water to thin it out, drop it on greased pan and spread it. Cook till both of sides till brown.

Notes
If you are going to make vadas, its better to make them immediately after making the batter otherwise they might get oily. That was another reason I made dosas in the evening when i had batter left from the morning.

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Banana Kofta

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

This recipe is mere inspiration from all the food network shows I watch.. When I was sitting watching TV i thought why not make something different with bananas that we had in fridge. So i think about koftas.. Then for gravy i was literally smelling and adding spices as per the aroma.. Felt wonderful to create a dish based on my intuition and mood.


Ingredients
3 Raw Bananas
1 Cup Cashews
1/4 Spoon Black Pepper Powder
1/4 Spoon Black Pepper
1/2 Spoon Saunf
1/4 Spoon Poppy Seeds
2 Garlic Cloves
1/2 Spoon Ginger
1/2 Spoon Sugar
1/4 Spoon Red Chilli Powder
1 Stick of Cinnamon
2 Cup Milk
1/4 Onion
Salt to taste
Oil

Method

• Grate bananas and add finely chopped garlic, grated ginger, black pepper powder, 1/4 spoon saunf and salt to it. Knead well.
• Make small round balls and fry them in oil over high flame till golden brown in colour. Keep aside.
• In a mixie, add cashews, black pepper, remaining 1/4 spoon saunf, cinnamon and grind it to fine powder
• Add in onion and grind again.
• Add a cup of milk and make smooth paste.
• Heat a spoonful of oil and add in grinded paste, 1 cup water and remaining 1 cup milk. Cook over medium heat till mixture starts thickening.
• Add in salt, sugar and koftas and let it simmer for another 2 minutes.

Notes
Bananas were such a good choice for koftas, they get crispy quickly and they dont soak oil unlike potato or eggplant.
I tried to give two distinct flavors to kofta and gravy. They both gel well as well as can be tasted distinctly.

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Paneer Burger

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

It was one of those days when I wanted to make something different with Paneer. I had decided to make Pizza but then we decided to go out. So I gave up on idea of paneer and instead decided to make burger.


Ingredients
8 Burger Buns
8 Cheese slices
400g Paneer
1 Cup Maida
2 Potatoes
1 Spoon Ginger
3-4 Garlic Cloves
3-4 Green Chillies
1 Spoon Black Pepper
Handful of Coriander leaves
1 Onion
1 Tomato
1 Cup Lettuce
Salt to taste
Oil

Method

• Make cubes of Paneer and shallow fry them till golden in color. Keep aside.
• Cook the potatoes in cooker till completely done.
• In mixer make fine paste of garlic, ginger and green chillies.
• Mix the ginger-garlic-chilli paste, smashed potatoes, black pepper, finely chopped coriander and salt to taste.
• Add in Paneer cubes and make the patties out of these mixture.
• Mix maida with water to form thin paste. Dip the Patti in the mixture and fry it in oil over medium heat till brown on both sides.
• On each burger bun, put onion, tomato and cheese slice. Stack up Patti and lettuce and close the bun and serve with ketchup.

Notes
I didn't use mayo or anything in the burger itself, instead served it on side to dip it in. The main goal of this was Indian-spicy taste and yet burgerish feel.

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Methi Puri

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

Few weeks ago after getting fresh Methi from Indian market, i decided to try something different than usual paratha or vegetable and so came this puri. The first attempt itself was perfect and so tasty that I had to share.


Ingredients
1 Bunch Methi
2 Cup Maida
1 Cup Wheat Flour
2 Green Chillies
1 Spoon Ginger
4-5 Garlic Cloves
Salt to taste
Oil

Method

• Wash methi and add it to the mixer
• Add ginger, garlic, green chilli and half cup of water. Crush it to fine liquidy paste.
• Pour it into the plate, add in maida, wheat flour, salt and knead soft dough.
• Add couple drops of oil and knead again for a minute. Keep aside for half an hour
• Heat oil in pan, roll small puris from the dough and fry them till light brown on both sides.

Notes
Making very fine paste is important because otherwise the pieces will come out while rolling and the puris would remain flat.
I didn't need to use more water while kneading dough as the paste itself was enough to accommodate the maida, but you could change the water and maida quantity if you need to.

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Sabudana Poha Chiwada

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

This chiwada is so easy to make and a sure shot success recipe :) Even when I was small i loved this chiwada the most, for it was light and tasty. Now i love it even more for it is so easy to make too :) I am going to be making this regularly :)


Ingredients
100g Sabudana Poha
1 Cup Peanuts
2.5 Spoon Red Chilli Powder
1 Spoon Jeera Powder
1 Spoon Sugar
1 Spoon Salt
Oil

Method

• In a mixie add in red chilli powder, sugar, salt, jeera powder and grind till fine powder. Add this to a big bowl
• Heat oil in a pan and fry the peanuts till light brown. Add them to the spice mixture in bowl and stir
• In the same oil fry sabudana poha, few at a time. After each batch is fried add it immediately to the spice mixture an give it a stir.

Notes
Add in pohe immediately to the spice mixture after you take out of oil, otherwise the spice wont stick to the poha and it wouldn't get the taste.

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Coriander Chicken

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

Friday I when Ajoy asked me to make Chicken Rolls, I made this one for stuffing. I didn't want to make the red gravy so threw in some coriander and spices to go along with it. When he tasted the chicken, he was like this is out of world :) On the other hand, this was such a minor twist to how I cook chicken normally that I didn't even think about clicking photo and putting it as a blog post. My thought was because I made chicken after such a long time, probably he got too excited. But then, when we decided to invite friends for dinner last sunday, he was like you have to make that chicken again. After making it once again, and he giving same reaction after tasting it, I decided to click photos and may be post it. Now that even friends have same thoughts about the dish, I had to post the recipe :)


Ingredients
1/2 Kg Boneless Chicken
1 Spoon Jeera Powder
1 Spoon Coriander Powder
1/2 Spoon Garam Masala
1 Spoon Red Chilli Powder
1 Spoon Black Pepper Powder
3-4 Garlic Cloves
1 Spoon Ginger Paste
1 Big Tomato
2 Cup Coriander Leaves
Salt to taste
Oil

Method

• Marinate the chicken with salt, jeera powder, coriander powder, garam masala, black pepper powder and keep aside for half an hour.
• Heat oil in a pan and add in marinated chicken. Cook on medium high till chicken browns a bit.
• Meanwhile, in mixer mince tomato, garlic and ginger paste together.
• Add in coriander leaves and grind it to fine paste.
• Add it to the chicken, add some salt and cook till it reduces to dry gravy.

Notes
You can use this to make chicken rolls with onion or just it as a side dish with rice or roti. It just goes with anything.

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Puri for SPDP (Shev Batata Dahi Puri)

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

Since we came here, we weren't able to get the puris for making SPDP - Shev Batata Dahi Puri which is among favorite chaat items for Ajoy. Using paani puri's puri for SPDP doesn't seem right and I am sure it wouldn't taste as good either. So I decided to give try making these puris. Tried few times and now I think I have got the recipe right which gets best results, and is certified by many friends who had chance to taste :)


Ingredients
1 Cup Maida
2 Spoon Rawa
1/4 Cup Melted Butter
Oil
Salt

Method

• Mix Maida, Rawa and salt together.
• Add in melted butter and mix well.
• Add in 1/4 cup water and knead soft dough.
• Grease the dough with 1/4 spoon oil and cover and keep aside for an hour.
• Make round balls and roll them thin and big. Cut using cup or cookie cutter into small round shapes.
• Heat oil and fry the puris on both sides over medium flame till light brown on both sides. Take out on kitchen towel and let it soak oil from puris.
• Heat oven to 350F/175C and bake the puris in it for 10 minutes.

Notes
I have noticed that if you roll the puris thin then they wont bubble up and that's how you want them for SPDP.
Also I baked the puris again because that make them crispier, that is any rawness and moisture left after frying goes away and puris.

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Mango Mousse Cake

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

At Hardik and Shweni's farewell party, there was this mango mousse cake that I liked a lot. The first bite into it and I wanted to make my own cake :) In fact the cake was such a hit that people wanted to leave Seattle so that they get farewell and this cake :) When everybody were talking about this, I was quite and when they turned to me, somebody mentioned: "No, Sheetal doesn't need to leave Seattle, she will make it herself :)". I thought the expectations from me are rising, so i didn't say anything that time, but that was the very moment I had decided to try this out over weekend itself. The one we ate had used artificial mango flavor, I decided to use using Alphonso mango pulp, the taste has come out really well. Now I just need to invite all the party attendees to validate if Cake is at least as good as the one they had got :)


Ingredients
1 Cup Maida
3 Eggs
200g Cream Cheese
3 Cup Whipping Cream
5 Cup Alphonso Mango Pulp
1 Spoon Corn Starch
2 Spoon Milk Powder
1/4 Spoon Baking Powder
1.75 Cup Sugar
4 Spoon Gelatin
4 Spoon Lemon Juice
2 Spoon Oil
1.25 Spoon Vanilla Essence
1/4 Spoon Salt

Method

• Preheat oven at 350F/175C.
• Sieve through Maida, corn starch 5 times. Add in milk powder, baking powder and sieve couple of times. Keep aside
• In a standing mixer whip egg whites and salt together till foamy.
• Add in 1/4 Cup Sugar and whip till peaks can hold. Keep aside.
• In a bowl whisk egg yolks, 1/2 Spoon Vanilla Essence and 1/4 cup Sugar and whisk till sugar dissolves.
• Add in oil and another 1/2 spoon Vanilla Essence and whisk for 30 seconds.
• Carefully fold in egg whites.
• Fold in Maida mixture 1/3rd at a time. Don't over stir.
• Line the springform or any 9inch round baking pan with parchment paper, grease it and pour in the batter.
• Bake the cake in oven at 350F/175C for 20 minutes.
• Immediately take out the cake on the wire-rack and let it cool down.
• In the mean time, in a pan heat 1/4 Cup Sugar and 1/4 Cup Water together with stirring till it boils. Let it cook for another 2-3 minutes and then take off the heat. Add in 1/4 Spoon Vanilla Essence and let the mixture cool down a bit.
• While the sugar syrup is cooling down, in a bowl whip cream cheese, 1 cup sugar and 2 spoon lemon juice together till soft.
• Heat 1/4 Cup Water in microwave for 1 minute. Add in 2 spoon gelatin and mix till it dissolves completely. Whip it in cream cheese mixture.
• In separate bowl, whip whipping cream till its fluffy and can hold peaks. Fold it in the cream cheese mixture.
• Fold in 3 cup mango pulp till mixture is smooth consistency.
• Now divide the cake into two layers. Put one layer at bottom of the 9inch springform pan. Brush 1/2 of sugar syrup over the cake. Pour in half of mango cream mixture. smooth it with spatula. Put the second layer of cake, brush it with remaining sugar syrup. Pour remaining mango cream mixture and smooth it with spatula. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
• After the cake has refrigerated for 45 minutes, take remaining 2 cup mango puree in bowl, add in 2 spoon lemon juice and heat it over medium flame. Cook the mixture till its hot, don't let it boil or you will loose the flavor. Take off heat.
• In a bowl microwave 1/4 cup of water for 1 minute. Add in remaining 2 spoon gelatin and let it dissolve completely. Mix this mixture in mango puree and stir thoroughly. Let it stand still so that its warm to touch. Stir the mixture again.
• Take off the cake from refrigerator and pour the mango puree over all over the cake. It should form uniform layer over the cake.
• Refrigerate for at least 8 hours before serving. Remove the ring, decorate with fruits and cut into pieces.

Notes
The second layer of cake if is of same diameter as the spring form cake, cut its side so that when you remove the cake there is only base layer visible. My cake was fluffy in the middle so when i cut it into two layers, the top one was automatically less in diameter so worked out perfect.
If you let the cake cool out in pan itself, it will stick to the pan so it is very important to flip it on wire-rack immediately.
I have used mango pulp which is sweetened hence if you are using fresh mango puree then sweeten it with sugar.
Even though process looks lengthy, after first try you will know that the process isn't tedious. Once you know what to do, it is easier and off course the end result is mind blowing :)

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Cabbage Broccoli Kabab

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

You may notice that the last recipe I posted used Cabbage too.. Its because, this is left over from the last week's Cabbage :) I had lot of left over Broccoli too.. So last evening I decided to make a mix vegetable out of it but it was only when I actually started making it I thought this would make great Kababs. They are really tasty and very easy and quick to make. I made them in half an hour.


Ingredients
2 Cups Cabbage
3 Cups Broccoli
1 Tomato
1 Spoon Oregano
1 Spoon Jeera
1 Spoon Mustard
1 Spoon Chaat Masala
1/2 Spoon Red Chilli Powder
1/2 Lemon
1 Spoon Coriander Leaves
1 Spoon Pudina Leaves
2 Spoon Maida
1 Spoon Rice Powder
A Pinch of Asafoetida
1/4 Cup Cashews
Salt to taste
Oil

Method

• Heat half spoon of oil and add in tomato puree.
• Add in oregano and red chilli powder and cook till completely done. Keep aside.
• In a pan, heat another spoon of oil and let mustard, jeera splutter. Add in Asafoetida.
• Add in Broccoli chopped into small pieces and cook with constant stirring till broccoli is almost done
• Add in finely chopped cabbage, pudina leaves, coriander leaves and cook till cabbage turns light brown.
• Add in earlier cooked tomato paste, lemon juice and salt to taste and cook for another minute. Take off heat and let it cool down.
• Add in maida, rice powder and chaat masala. Mix well. Make balls with these mixture and press them between palms with a cashew.
• Heat pan and add 2 spoons of oil and cook on both sides till they are brown.

Notes
I even had tomato paste ready for I had made it for Rice Bowl last week. I had made double quantity and had used half of it. Its a great item to store in fridge for quick flavoring

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Bread Dahi Wada

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

As you know with New Years and my jetlag my unofficial resolution of the year is to eat anything but simple bread butter or cornflakes in breakfast :) So when Ajoy got bread with groceries I came up with this :)


Ingredients
8 Bread Slices
2.5 Cup Curd
2 Green Chillies
4 Garlic Cloves
3 Spoon Sugar
1/4 Spoon Black Pepper
A Pinch of Red Chilli Powder
A Pinch of Chaat Masala
Handful of Coriander Leaves
Salt to taste
Oil

Method

• Soak Bread slices in water and immediately press them in your palms to remove the water.
• In a plate add this bread, finely chopped green chillies, garlic, ground pepper an salt to taste. Knead really well and make the lemon sized balls.
• Fry these balls in hot oil till brown.
• In a bowl mix curd, sugar, red chilli powder, chaat masala and salt to taste
• In plates serve the fried bread mixture balls, covered with curd and garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves

Notes
If you are not going to eat all the wadas at a time, then keep the bread dough and fry it later, otherwise fried and stored wadas get little rubbery.

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Cabbage Pattice

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

First of all, Happy New Year to everyone. With parents around, then our vacation, in last few months, I had to hardly anytime make breakfast. So given the long break from cooking breakfast and Jetlag which makes me wake up really early in the morning, i was set to try out something different for breakfast. So here comes the new entry.


Ingredients
2 Cup Cabbage
2 Potatoes
2 Spoon Corn Flour
1/4 Cup Rava
1/2 Spoon Jeera
2-3 Garlic Cloves
Salt to taste
Oil

Method

• Pressure cook potatoes and keep aside till they are cold enough to handle
• Heat a pan and add few drops of oil.
• Let the Jeera splutter in it.
• Add in finely chopped garlic and cabbage and cook till cabbage is brown.
• Grate the potato and add the corn flour, salt to paste
• Knead it well, put couple of drops of oil and finish the kneading.
• Make lemon sized potato balls and press them to make a cup shape.
• Add in half spoon of mixture in each cup and close them. Press each ball lightly to make Pattice
• Roll each Pattice in the rava and cook them on tawa sprinkling drops of oil couple of times.

Notes
I didn't want to make the cabbage very spicy instead i wanted to give it flavor of garlic and Jeera hence i didn't use any other spices in this at all. Its really upto you to decide the spices you want and can vary the flavor each time you make this.

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Eggless Chocolate Cake

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

Atul's mom had asked me for egg-less cake recipe almost 6 months back but every time something or the other came up and I didn't get chance to try out anything. Today that we are going to his place for snacks I thought that it would be perfect time to try out and see how she likes it. The cake looks, tastes awesome. It is perfectly moist and fluffy, i think i like it better than this chocolate cake with the eggs or this birthday chocolate cake again with the eggs.


Ingredients
4.5 Cup Maida
1 Cup Coco Powder
3 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Oil
1 Spoon Baking Soda
2 Spoon Vanilla Essence
1 Spoon Salt

Method

• Preheat oven to 350F/175C
• Sieve together maida and coco powder in a bowl.
• Add in baking soda and salt and mix well.
• In another bigger bowl, add in oil, 3 cups of water, Vanilla Essence and beat it together until frothy.
• Add in sugar and blend again.
• Sieve in the maida-coco mixture into it and beat till mixed well.
• Grease the baking pan and pour the mixture in it.
• Bake the cake for 50 minutes on 350F/180C, turning it after 35minutes.

Notes
I drizzled it with Chocolate Ganache and decorated it with the saved white chocolate cream cheese frosting.
If you are going to decorate on top of Ganache then let it set down for 3-4 hours because i didn't and the decoration kept sliding off the place i intended it to stay.

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Red Velvet Cup Cakes

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

I had made these when mom dad were around but they weren't perfect especially they were little on drier side. So this time I made little bit change in quantities and they come out perfect. I frosted them with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting.


Ingredients
2.5 Cup Maida
1/4 Spoon Coca Powder
1/4 Spoon Baking Soda
1/4 Spoon Salt
1.5 Cup Sugar
1 Egg
1.5 Cup Oil
2 Spoon Curd
1 Spoon Liquid Red Food Color
1/4 Spoon Vinegar
1/4 Spoon Vanilla Essence

Method

• Preheat oven to 350F/175C
• Sieve Maida and Coca Powder in a bowl
• Mix in baking soda, salt and sugar in it
• In separate bowl add in egg, oil, red food color, vanilla essence and vinegar.
• In a cup add in the curd and fill it with water. Mix well with the fork and add it to the wet mixture (oil-egg mixture)
• Beat the mixture on low speed till smooth
• Add in sieved dry mixture of maida-coca powder a cup at a time and beat slowly till it accommodates in the mixture.
• Line the cupcake pan with the paper cups. Divide the mixture in 12 cups.
• Bake the cake on 350F/175C for 22 minutes

Notes
I normally turn around the cupcakes after 70% of baking time in this case around 15 minutes. It helps in even baking of the cakes.

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Spice Paratha

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

I made these simple spice parathas today for dinner. They are very easy to make and taste yum.


Ingredients
2.5 Cup Wheat Flour
1 Spoon Maida
1/2 Spoon Jeera
1 Spoon Jeera Powder
1/4 Spoon Coriander Powder
1 Spoon Red Chilli Powder
1/4 Spoon Turmeric Powder
Salt to taste
Oil

Method

• In a plate mix in maida, wheat flour, jeera, jeera powder, coriander powder, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and salt to taste.
• Add in 2 spoon of oil and mix well.
• Add water and knead the dough. Sprinkle 1 spoon of oil and knead again. Keep aside for at-least 30 minutes.
• Make lemon sized balls and roll the 3 fold parathas and cook them on the tawa, sprinkling oil.

Notes
The turmeric gives them awesome yellowish tinge and they look awesome. I also cooked them with very few drops of oil and that helped in retaining the yellow tinge
Maida helps getting crisp parathas.

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French Fries

मराठीमध्ये वाचण्यासाठी इथे क्लिक करा

Ajoy likes to eat french fries once in a while. We get those frozen ones and fry them as and when needed all the time. But i had been thinking of making them at home given that they are so simple. Always read about freezing them and keeping them cool before actually frying adding to the preparation time which off course i never had, given a sudden demand of french fries :) So last Saturday i decided to try them without refrigeration and all and worked out fine. So here is the quickest french fries recipe.


Ingredients
2 Potatoes
Salt to taste
Oil

Method

• Peel of the potatoes and cut them in small rectangular pieces.
• Keep them under running water and wash them thoroughly till the water is clear.
• Keep them in cold water for 5-10 minutes.
• Take it out of water and spread them on kitchen towel so that they are dry.
• Heat oil and fry them till light golden in color. Spread on kitchen towel
• Just before eating, fry the fries again till golden brown in color.
• Spread on kitchen towel, sprinkle salt and serve.

Notes
If you are making them for party, you could fry the fries for the first time and then store them in refrigerator. Fry them second time just before serving.
Two times frying is necessary as it helps in taking out moisture, cooking the potato and then making it crisp.

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