Simple Homemade Cake (Delights of blogging)

See? I am back, just like I promised. Ok, maybe three weeks is a bit late, but for someone who did not blog for a whole year, three weeks is a good time. So you have to credit me with that. And yes, I do remember saying that my next post would feature Chocolate Squares. I will be sharing those with you as well, but just on a later date. Why?  Well let's just say that I am in the mood for cake. :) Boy, I am I in the mood for cake ! I have gone cake crazy in the last couple of weeks you could say. Let me tell you why.

For a long time now I did not have a good functioning oven. The one that I did have drove me mad. Its thermostat conked off and I became  aware of this  only when its temperature soared so much that the handle on the door of the oven melted and fell off. Can you beat that? Have you ever heard of anything like that?  So for a long time baking came to a standstill. But then out of the blue my mom asked me if I needed a oven. She had one that my sis left behind when she moved to the States. It is a well used oven, but it works just fine and now it's mine. I am so thrilled. So I have been baking, inspite of the hot weather. I even took a cake as a present for my niece, when I went to wish her All the Best for her 10th Std board exams. I love gifting homemade cakes. There is something just so special about it.

I will admit though that all my cakes are plain cakes. I do not go for fancy frostings or any kind of toppings. My family too loves the plain ones best. Now this one I have for you, is the first one I made last week. I have posted this under my Delights of Blogging category. This is a category I have for food that I have tried  from another blog. This simple but yummy looking eggless cake (yes!! it is eggless) had caught my attention ages ago and was sitting in my favourites list for God knows how long. I have so often been asked for a good eggless cake recipe so I have tried a few recipes in the past, but unfortunately the cakes that came out were not so good.  So much so, that I had begun thinking that a good eggless homemade cake is a myth. But then I saw this cake on Divine Taste a blog that I follow and I had to try it out. It looked amazing and I couldn't believe it was eggless.Thanks to Anushruti, who runs this lovely blog with the most awesome food and pics.

So here's how to go about it. I followed Anushruti's recipe verbatim.

Ingredients:

250 gm plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda/ sodium bicarbonate

1 tin/400gm sweetened condensed milk

100 gm butter melted

175 ml milk

2 tsp good quality vanilla extract/ or vanilla essence

Method:

1. Preheat the oven at about 100 to 120 degrees centigrade
2. Grease and dust bottom of an 8” square or 9” round cake tin.
3. In a mixing bowl, assemble the flour, baking powder and baking soda, mix with a spoon and sieve once to make the mixture uniform.
4. Put in the condensed milk, melted butter, vanilla essence and milk into the mixing bowl containing the dry ingredients.
5. Beat with an electric hand mixer, whisk or spoon until the mixture comes together and there are no lumps. This shouldn’t take more than a minute with an electric hand mixer/beater. Be careful not to over beat the mixture as this could result into a dry cake.
6. Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake for an hour at 150 degree centigrade. Since this is an eggless cake, you might find the batter on the looser side, but not to worry, as it comes out alright, soft and spongy out of the oven.
7. The cake is done when a knife or cake tester comes out clean when inserted in the centre of the cake.
8. Leave the hot cake in the tin for a little while, till it cools down slightly. Inverting a very hot cake is not a good idea. This could break the cake.
9. Once it has cooled down a bit, invert it onto a cooling rack  and let it cool further.

Now you could enjoy it just like that with a cup of tea or coffee or, you could cut the cake horizontally and sandwich the two layers with jam. Sprinkle some icing sugar on top and viola you have a fancy Victoria Sponge Cake on your hand. Or you could apply jam to the top surface of the cake and sprinkle dessicated coconut on it. The possibilities as they are endless.

ENJOY!!!

 

Kajukanda: Little cashew treats to bring back the child in you.

Hi to all of you after almost a whole year. Many of you might even have trouble remembering who I am and I cannot say I blame you. Anyway let be jog your memory a little. I am Anupama, and I blog about all the delicious things (if I may say so myself) that I make in my little kitchen. I have been on a year long break for various reasons that I wouldn't want to bore you guys with. But I am back. Believe me I have missed by blog just as much as you all have. I was desperate to get back into the blogsphere on so many ocassionsin this last year, but it was just other commitments that I had taken up myself that wouldn't let me. 

Now my intention to come back to my blog was always there, but two things that kind  made my resolve to blog again even stronger were:

1. Firstly friends started talking about my blog in the past tense. Oooooh how scary and sad that was!

2. Secondly avid readers of my blog and even a couple of new neighbours who until recently did not even know that I had a blog, kept asking me to update. It was really touching. It made me realise how much people liked what I posted.

 

So here I am back in action. What I have today and what you see in the pic above are two kinds of treats. Chocolate Squares and Cashewnut and Rose Flavoured Squares, which are called Kajukanda in Marathi. I'll tell you more about the chocolate squares in my next post. But this one is for Kajukanda.

 

Many of you must have enjoyed Kajukanda as kids and some of us enjoy it even as adults. They are little bites of sugary delight that are hard to resist.

Now Kajukanda is sold by the truckload in most food stores, but I often wonder how much of real cashews actually go into them. Seriously sometimes they taste more of peanuts than cashews. So when my mom came up with this recipe of homemade ones, I jumped.

 

The first batch she made was a trial and it disappeared in a matter of minutes. Ever since she makes them every so often. As she is a Grandma to three kids (not all mine.... god forbid :)), who constantly crave sugar in all its forms, she has ample opportunity to make them. Believe me, once you try these homemade ones, you will never buy the store variety. They are easy to make, not at all time-consuming and definitely heaps tastier.

 

So here goes

 

Grease a 8" x 10" tray. (Dimensions of tray are approximate)

Ingredients

• 2 cups finely powdered plain cashewnuts (I used an ordinary teacup. You can use any other cup, but then stick to the same for measuring the rest of the ingredients.)
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 drops of pink food colour
• 1/2  a tspn of  rose essence (Available in all food stores)
• Water to make a syrup

Method 

1. Place the sugar in a heavy bottom pan.
2. Pour just enough water over the sugar till all the sugar is just about submerged in the water. Do this very gradually, so you don't end up with too much water in the pan.
3. Switch on the heat on low simmer.
4. Let the sugar dissolve and the syrup come to a boil on a low simmer till you have a 2 string consistency syrup. This took me about 7 to 8 mins. But that can change depending on the amount of water you add to the sugar and also the heat settings of your hob.
5. A more assured way of checking this is to take a tiny drop of hot syrup between your forefinger and thumb and pull your fingers apart, a couple oof times. You should see two strings of syrup formed clearly everytime you pull your fingers apart. This is the tricky part in the recipe. So it's best to keep the heat on low simmer throughout the recipe, so you don't overdo the syrup.  
6. Once your sugar syrup has reached the right consistency, add the cashew powder and the rose essence to it.
7. Cook further for approximately 3 to 4 minutes, or until you see the mixture leave the sides of the pan. All on low simmer.
8. Pour the mixture into your prepared tray.
9. Give the tray a couple of gentle bangs on your kitchen platform to get a smooth top surface. Don't touch the mixture with your fingers.
10. The mixture will set in a few minutes.
11. Cut out squares the size you want.
12. Store a tight lidded container.

As there is no milk in this recipe, Kajukanda keep well for a reasonably long time. But in warm weather they can be stored in the fridge too.

 

 

 

Enjoy !! And save some for your kids too :))

Coming up next are Chocolate Vanilla Squares

 

 

Fizzy Watermelon Cooler

Hi everyone!! This post is going to start without too much chatter chatter chatter by me. Because it is too hot to type so many words. I mean I can barely even breathe in this heat,but this drink is something that cannot be passed without sharing with you guys.
The whole credit for this super duper cooler goes to my Aai. She is a great cook and is not afraid to experiment in the kitchen . Of course her experiments are also a hit most of the times, so I think it's a good idea to take full benefit of them put the recipes on my blog for you.


So here goes:


For around 10 glasses of this drink you need:


Juice of 1 large watermelon :
(Do not bother to remove each and every seed ,just cut the fruit into large chunks, put them in your blender and work the blender on the "pulse " mode. This produces juice without crushing the seeds. Later just strain the juice to get all the seeds out of the way)


One and half inch piece of ginger grated or pounded finely


1.5 tspn salt
A little sugar if the juice is not very sweet
500ml bottle of Sprite or 7 Up


Method:
Mix the juice ,ginger, salt and optional sugar all together and leave to chill in the fridge until its time to serve. This helps the flavour of ginger to infuse into the drink.


When serving strain the juice again to take out the ginger .


Fill each glass up to half with this juice and top it up with delicious chilled fizzy Sprite or 7 Up.


That's it ! Your Fizzy Watermelon Cooler is ready to enjoy!! People normally want a second helping of this ,so make plenty :))

Mataar Pohe: Simple food at it's best

I know I know, many of you might be laughing and saying to yourself "Oh! why has she posted Mataar Pohe ?" It's such a simple and common dish, prepared at least once a week in most Marathi households. But isn't this exactly what makes Pohe so very special and close to your heart . I mean I have travelled to quite a few places throughout the world and have enjoyed the cuisines of each and every place I visited, but the craving that you get for your own staple food is unbeatable. Particularly when you return home after travelling for a few days to new destinations and after tasting and trying different exotic dishes, the one thing you want to eat on returning home is something familiar,simple and that which you have grown up eating in your Mom's kitchen. And for me Mataar Pohe or simply Pohe falls in that category.

And I know for a fact that the love for Mataar Pohe is not restricted to the Marathi household. I had non-marathi friends in school who loved it when I got this in my short break dabbaa and asked their moms to make it at home and I once even had a German friend staying over at our place who was mad for this dish. So I think it is safe to assume that it is a hit dish.

As green peas are in season right now I make mataar pohe quite often ,so it had to have a place on my blog.
Here's how
For 4 people

5 big handfuls of dry pohe (the thick variety), to get a good handful put your hand in the pohe container and grab as much pohe as you can.
1 large onion finely chopped
1 cup shelled  green peas
 8 to 10 curry leaves
5  tblspns of oil
2 tspns mustard seeds
1/2 tspn hing
1.5 tsps Jeera (cumin seeds)
1 tomato chopped
3 to 4 green chillies cut into small pieces
1/2 cup freshly grated coconut (the fresher the better)
1 lemon
2 tspn sugar,
1/4 tspn turmeric powder
1/2 a cup water
salt as per taste
coriander for garnishing

Wash the Pohe in a sieve  ,draining all the water and set to one side . This will soften the pohe.

In a deep pan heat the oil and prepare the tempering by adding the mustard seeds first. When they begin to splutter add the hing and then the cumin seeds. Fry for few seconds, then add the curry leaves and green chillies.

After a seconds add the chopped onion and fry this for a few minutes on moderate heat. Next add the peas and now cover and cook on low heat until the peas go soft.

Now add the sugar ,salt ,turmeric powder.

Next add the washed pohe and toss it all nicely until completely mixed with the onions and peas.

Now splash a generous amount of water on the pohe and cover and cook for 1/2 a minute. This makes the dish moist. You do not want dry pohe,so the generous splash of water.

Uncover the pan and add the chopped tomato, give it a toss and again cover and cook for another 1/2 a minute. Not more than that  as we do not want to cook the tomatoes completely . Squeeze the lemon and check the taste at this stage . Add more salt sugar or lemon juice if you want.

Garnish with plenty of fresh coconut and coriander and serve hot .

Ranch Eggs / Ranchero Eggs : Call them whatever you like ,they are simply awesome !

Sunday ho ya Monday roz khao Ande!! This slogan is taken very seriously in my household. OK maybe not everyday ,but that's only because I don't give my family the option of having eggs everyday. If I let them have their way they would live on eggs . So you can imagine their reaction when I made this dish for the first time. My son ate this eggy breakfast at my sister's once and since then he kept telling me how Moni maushi had made this very very yummy egg dish that I just had to make at home for him. So I first asked her to make it for me too and I too loved it . And from there onwards began the tradition of cooking eggs in this way.
It's a very hearty and filling dish that is a great combo of some of the elements of a five item English breakfast and then some other things thrown in to make it even more versatile. It's got eggs, baked beans, mushrooms ,coloured peppers, sweetcorn and you eat it with hot buttered toast. My sister uses tomato puree instead of baked beans, so the recipe is very much tweakable.



Here's how you make it for 4 people:
Ingredients:


8 eggs (I normally take 2 eggs per person)
1 400gm can of baked beans
1 onion thinly sliced
2 cups sliced coloured peppers
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup sweet corn
4 tblspns cooking oil (use olive oil if you have that)
1 tspn jeera
Italian or Mexican spice mix as per your taste (you can even use the spice sachets that come along with takeaway pizzas)
salt and pepper
1/2 cup of water


Method:
In a non-stick pan heat the oil and add the jeera first
When the Jeera is slightly dark in colour add the onions and fry for a few seconds
Next add the coloured peppers, and the mushrooms ,fry these until the mushrooms lose all their moisture
Now it's time to add the sweetcorn and the baked beans
Add the spice mix, salt and pepper next and let the beans heat through completely. Give this a taste now and adjust all the spices and salt etc . You can even add a little chilly powder to turn up the heat a bit. Add a little water if the mixture gets too thick
Now lower the heat and make little dents in the pan and crack one egg in each dent very gently so that the egg does not spread through the whole pan ,but stays in that dent. Cover and cook over very low heat . This does not take too long. Make your toast in the meanwhile.
The dish is ready when the eggs are slightly firm but completely cooked.


Serve with toast and your favourite juice.
As I said this dish is very forgiving and tweak friendly, so make your own additions to it by all means.

Mataar Usal and Bread ( A very hearty and filling winter supper)

Winter has settled beautifully over Pune . The mornings kick off  really cold and all throughout the day the air is pleasantly cool even with strong sunshine. It makes going out, even to do daily chores a pleasurable activity . I mean you don't return home all sweaty and feeling all dusty and gritty.  So I am enjoying it while it lasts. Another lovely delight is the wonderful veggies that are available in this season. The greenest of greens can be seen at the grocers and everything is so fresh that you want to buy even those veggies that you wouldn't know how to cook.:))

 And to top it all I have found this wonderful little stall that sells organic vegetables..  Yes !! really delicious and fresh and the tastiest of organic fruit and veg is available to me on my daily morning walk route. The spinach  and methi are awesome , the ginger and garlic are so packed with flavour that I was completely zapped the first time I used them , but the star attraction for me are the sweet limes. They are sugar sugar sugar sweet. I have never eaten a sweet lime that has so lived up to its name. And of course I must mention the carrots. To look at they are quite unattractive , but they are sensational to taste. We have been eating bagfuls of carrots and practically fighting over them at the dinner table. Last week though I also bought a whole load of green peas from the same place and these too passed taste and freshness test with full marks.
Now in most Maharastrian households you will find that this mataar usal (call it green peas curry) is cooked for dinner at 5/6 times during these cold winter days. Firstly because the best of green peas are  available in abundance and secondly and more importantly it is a very  comforting and soul warming to eat this hot and spicy usal  on a cold winter evening with soft slices of bread ,dollops of homemade white butter (लोणी) ,thinly sliced onions and wedges of lemon.
The bread soaks up this thin runny curry or (रस्सा )  and each mouthful is a delight.

So here goes: (For mataar usal for 4 people)

1/2 kg green peas (boiled )

For the green masala paste)

3/4 cup fresh grated coconut
1.5 cups fresh coriander
juice of 1/2  a lemon
5 to 6 small cloves of garlic
2 tspns jeera
1 large onion (optional)
1 tspn salt

2 tblspns jaggery
5 tblspns oil for tempering
2 tspns mustard
1/4 tspn hing

4 to 5 tea cups of water (start with 4 and add the last one only if you want a very thin curry)

Method:
Boil the peas until slightly soft. They don't have to be completely cooked at this stage as we will be cooking them further later
In your grinder put all the green masala ingredients and grind to a fine paste. Don't forget the lemon juice as this retains the green colour of the dish.
In a pan heat the oil and temper it with mustard and hing.
Add the green masala paste to the pan and fry it on a moderate heat for 5 minutes. Adjust the heat so that the masala does not burn
Now add the boiled peas , water  and jaggery and increase the heat to high
Bring the usal to a roaring boil and then lower the heat back to moderate. Give it a taste. It will need more salt but do taste it first before adding any. Let it boil on a moderate heat until the peas are completely cooked and the oil in the curry rises to the top.
Give it a final taste and immediately transfer the usal to a glass serving bowl so that the fresh green colour is retained. Leaving the usal in the pan tends to darken it in colour.

As I said before enjoy it with fresh bread, butter and an onion salad.

Happy Sankrant Everyone ! Tilgul Ghya Goad Bola!!

It's that time of the year again folks, winter is in full bloom in Pune and it is deliciously cold. After experiencing the severe winters in UK for last  six years this mildly cold weather of Pune is a delightful change for all of us. I admit it still makes getting up early in the morning on school days very difficult, and almost everyday I am tempted to let my little one sleep and not bother him to go to school. Hmmm .... but that's not the way it works does it? If I give in to this temptation he would probably miss school every second day, and that is definitely a big NO NO.
Its also Sankranti time. One of my favourite festivals! I love tilgul and gulachi poli and halwa and the fact that the colour black is celebrated. I have a favourite black saree which I always make a point to wear on Sankranti. Sankrant is normally celebrated on the 14th of January,only this time it is on the 15th. So tomorrow I'll be preparing gulachi poli, and tilgul.

 As with most Indian festivals which are in one way or the other associated with the seasons of the year , Sakranti too has an association with the winter season. Sesame and jaggery the 2 main ingredients here both produce heat in the body and are the main heroes in all the sweets prepared for this event.
Many married women also invite other ladies to their homes for a haldi-kumkum ritual ,during which tilgul is distributed and each lady also gets a small gift to take home. That's the fun part of this programme. It's great fun going into the markets which are jam packed with different goodies you can buy for your haldikumkum function.
Today I am going to share with you the recipe for Gulachi Poli, which is a delicious sweet poli made with a filling of jaggery and sesame. Its to be eaten strictly with generous dollops of homemade ghee. That's a must.
So here goes:

Ingredients for 10 to 12 polis

1/4 kg plain jaggery (available at any grocery store)
1/2 cup of roasted sesame powder,
1/2 cup gram flour
1/4 cup oil to roast the gram flour
1/4 tspn cardammom powder

For the outer poli cover:
2 cups of wheat flour
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup fine semolina
1/4 cup gram flour
1/2 tblspn rice flour
1 pinch of salt
1/4 cup of very hot oil
1/2 cup rice flour to dust the poli when rolling it out

To make the filling:
Heat the oil and roast the gram flour until it changes colour slightly
Grate the jaggery. When the gram flour cools down add to it the  jaggery and the cardammom powder and the sesame powder. Knead the mixture until it all blends well together. You could even pound it a bit. Keep it to one side.

For the cover:
Mix all the ingredients for the cover and knead into a slightly stiff dough.
divide the dough into 18 to 20 equal portions and the jaggery filling into 9 to 10 equal parts
Now for every poli you need two portions of dough and one portion of jaggery.
Roll out all three portions into small discs of equal size. Place the jaggery portion in between the two dough portions and then roll out all three together into a thin poli the size of the regular phulka or roti.
Roast it on the tawa .
These polis will not be soft like normal rotis . They are slightly stiff to touch and break easily into smaller pieces. That's the way they should be.
They keep easily for 8 days without refrigeration.
Serve with big dollops of ghee.

Other Sankrant special recipes on Food-n-More:
Sesame snaps

Tilgul

Simply Refreshing Homemade Widaa (Paan)

This post of mine has been coming up for the last 6 months and I am sure most of you are thinking that I have completely forgotten about it or have simply abandoned my blog and run away. Initially I found it funny that I have a very smart statement (a bit oversmart actually) like coming up next  posted here but nothing happens for six months and I actually had a good laugh over it everytime I popped in to see my blog  but then gradually it was not funny anymore. I knew I had to get down to actually  creating the post, as this is definitely something worth sharing .
The delay happened at first because I wanted to click step by step pics of the whole process of filling and  rolling a widaa, but somehow I never got to take the pics. I just kept thinking I'll get them I'll get them but to no avail. So I have finally decided that I am going to share this post with you pics or no pics :))

So here we go:

As most of you know this is a paan recipe, except that it is a homemade paan which called Widaa in marathi. It is a very much healthier version of the paan we buy at the roadside paan shops and very very delicious.

Paan is basically the betelnut leaf which is found in many varieties the most popular being Maghai and Banarasi. Paan or Widaa is eaten after a meal to cleanse the palate and leave a very refreshing taste in the mouth and it also acts as a very good digestive so much so that new mothers are advised to one paan everyday for at least a month after giving birth.
At home we make Widaas  on special occasions and it is my mom who is the expert although my sis and I have learnt the art too.

What you need to make these homemade widaas:

For 10 widaas:

20 Maghai leaves (can be bought at the local paan shop , some people also have the maghai plant in their gardens)

10 generous  tspns of gulkand

5 tspns of store bought ground masala supari

1 tspn elaichi powder (a pinch in each widaa)

10 tblspns of fresh grated coconut

paan chutney (available at paan shops)

a small amount of chuna (a smear of chuna on each paan is enough)

and kaat balls (this is what colours your mouth read after eating a paan)
10 cloves to pin the paan together
10 whole almonds
few strands of saffron (optional)

Method:

1. Wash and de -stem all the paan leaves .
2.Place 2 leaves one on top of the other with the dark green and glossy side of both leaves facing downwards. Arrange all the leaves (in pairs) similarly in a row so you fill all the widaas simultaneously .
3.Put a smear of chuna on the top leaf of each pair. Then place a tspn full of gulkand on top followed by half a tspn of masala supari, pinch of elaichi , a couple of kaat balls, 1/4 tspn of paan chutney and half a tspn of coconut and a couple of strands of saffron .
4.Now roll the top leaf only by bring in all the sides (OOHhh I wish I had the pics at this stage)
And then wrap this rolled leaf into the outer leaf ( close the bottom edges and leave the tops open)securing the edges with a clove.Prop up all the rolled paans tightly together  in a container as you see in the pic above
5. Put the remaining coconut into the open tops of the paans and tuck in an almond in each of them.
6. You can place them in the fridge for a little while as they taste really fresh when eaten cool .

Believe me although it is very easy to pop over to your local paanwaala and buy a paan these homemade widaas are highly appreciated when you are entertaining guests , people can't believe you took all the effort to make these at home and they are worth every bit of the effort you take

Non-Fried Dahi Wada (Dahi Bhalla)

I bought a new non-stick appam patra (Appam Mold) last week and to say that I have been using it non-stop will be a serious understatement. I have made sweet appam by the dozens for the first time ever and  impressed my family, but the really really impressive bit came when I made wadas for my dahi wada dish in my appam mold. Yesss ! Wadas in made in appam style. Frankly though I cannot take the credit for this idea. It was my Aai who came up with this idea a couple of years back and always told me to do the same to make dahi wadas oil free. Many of you might also be doing it the same way but when I told my friends what I done , it was a completely novel idea to them and they loved it, not to mention they loved the Dahi Wadas too. It was their praise that prompted me to immediately blog about them. 

The entire process of making the wadas is just the same as you would for the fried version. Even the ingredients are absolutely the same. Only while preparing the wadas instead of deep frying the batter, pour spoonfuls into the appam mould. Now because I wanted them to taste just as good as the fried ones I put a few drops of oil on each wada (and I seriously mean a few drops) Cook on moderate heat for 4 to 5 mins on either side and pop them out.

Ingredients for the wadas:

3 cups urid dal (Split black lentils) soaked overnight or for 5 to 6 hrs

1 cup fresh grated coconut,

10-12 chillies,

3 tblspns cumin

2 to 3 tspns sugar

salt to taste.

Ingredients for the yogurt mix:

1 litre and a little more thick whole milk yogurt,

sugar to slightly sweeten the yogurt,

3 tspns of ginger  and chilly paste,

1 tspn cumin and coriander powder each

salt to taste

Ingredients for the tempering:

3 tblspns of oil,

2 tspns mustard

10 to 12 curry leaves finely chopped

1/2 tspn asafoetida (hing)

Method:

Soak the urid dal overnight or at least for 5 to 6 hrs,

•Grind the soaked urid dal finely along with the grated coconut, chillies , cumin, salt and sugar . While grinding the dal add water in small quantities only as much as needed to aid the process of grinding.

•Keep aside for a little while.

•Prepare the yogurt by whipping the yogurt to a smooth consistency.

•Add some milk to the yogurt to give it the consistency of a thick pouring sauce. Mix in the sugar ,salt and ginger, cumin and coriander powders and the ginger-chilly paste.

•Before cooking the wadas keep a large pan of lukewarm water at hand . Add to the water a little yogurt and mix it well . This water is used to soak the cooked wadas .

•Drop tblspnfuls of wada batter into the the mold and cook  on a very moderate heat turning them over once.

•After cooking  the first batch let them cool . After they have cooled pop them into the lukewarm water and let them soak in the water for a while until they become slightly soggy

•Repeat this process with all the wadas, putting them in water only after they have cooled slightly

•Note: if hot wadas are put in cold water they remain hard at the centre, so let them cool slightly first.

•When all the wadas have been put in the water squeeze out the water from each wada by pressing it gently between your palms and place them flat one next to the other in your serving dish.

•Pour over the prepared yogurt evenly over all the wadas

•Prepare the seasoning by adding the mustard seeds to hot oil. When they begin to splutter add the hing and the curry leaves and switch off the gas.

•Spoon this seasoning over the dahi wadas carefully . Sprinkle some chilly powder over the finished dish and garnish with coriander . Let your guest help themselves to the date and tamarind sauce

•Also offer your guests extra cumin and coriander and chilly powder .

This makes a wonderful side dish during a meal or a main snack at tea time and now you can enjoy these in unlimited quantities as they are NOT FRIED . YEHHHHHH!!!!!

Two Kinds of Pizza: One Saintly and the other Naughty :Just a Teaser

If there is one food I can never resist , it is Pizza . Well ... come to think of it there can be quite a few others as well but don't even get me started in that direction. Right now we are talking about Pizzas and that's what we will do. I can eat all kinds of Pizzas. I can eat Pizza in the middle of the night, cold, out of the fridge .I love the normal fare from Dominos and Pizzahut definitely, but I also love the desi varieties of Pizzas that are on the menu at my local Pav-Bhaji  stall.  Boy!  Does the chef have an imagination or what!! He puts everything possible  on that little disc of Pizza Base. There's tomato puree of course, topped with a very spicy stir-fried mixture of  capsicum, onions sweetcorn , and green peas , and I suspect sometimes even cauliflower. Yesss , that's right cauliflower. But I am not complaining. The whole thing is topped with loads of Amul Cheese  and has a mind-blowing taste. I always order that for home delivery when I visit my mom. My dad and I enjoy it immensely. Infact my Dad very seriously said the last time we had one that he likes it much better than the Pizzahut one and ..... hold your breath....... even the one he ate in Italy. Yes , Italy .... the Mecca of Pizza. We had a good laugh over that . What can I say ?? To each his own.

So the kinds of Pizzas I normally tend to make at home are the two you see here. If I am in a very virtuous mood I make the one with a Wholewheat Pita Bread as the base with minimum cheese which I mix with veggies like mixed bell peppers, sweet-corn asaparagus, mushrooms and tomatoes and spiced with dried oregano, and basil. t tastes awesome no doubt , is extremely healthy and completely guilt-free.

ON THE OTHER HAND....... if I am not feeling so saintly ,and am in the mood for wicked food then it has to be the other one. It has a mini naan as a base , not many veggies , well actually only tomatoes and sweetcorn, but loads of cheese. Sometimes even a combination of Mozzarella and Cheddar. I also spike it with chilly flakes. Naan makes a fabulous base, it's  much tastier than the readymade plain pizza bases that are available in the stores. Best one to go for is the coriander and garlic. It's a whole load of white flour to consume that's why I use only the mini naans and not the big ones. If the Pizza is going to be shared then it's ok to use the larger Naans

So tell me! What's your favourite kind of Pizza?

Harry Potter and Yummy Rawa Idlis and Dhoklas

One weekend can be so different from another. Last weekend was simply horrible, we had a power failure for 20 hours , yes that's right 20 hours, my maid did not turn up for two consecutive days without any prior notice . Yes I have to admit , that in spite of having done all my washing up and laundry and vacuuming myself for last 6 years , I am now already used to the luxury of having a daily maid come in and do all that for me and although I don't have a major panic attack if she doesn't turn up I do get a bit irritated no doubt. And to top it all the hattrick was completed by no water supply. Aaghhhh !!! But I some how managed to keep my calm and keep things going.

But this weekend has been a delight so far. Saturday started late and that is very late. After a quick trip to my son's school to complete some scholarship formalities we had a leisurely brunch of idlis and dosas washed down with cups of hot filter coffee and aromatic ginger tea at a nearby restaurant. Afternoon was spent helping D with his homework and preparing a bit for his forthcoming unit test (surprisingly it went very well with D co-operating to the T). But the best bit came in the evening which we spent with Harry Potter. Reading this you might think that I am a big Harry Potter fan ,but believe me you couldn't be further from the truth. I am probably the biggest Harry Potter non-fan ever , so much so that I am always teasing hubby and son that I am going to start a Non Harry Potter fan club etc etc. So the funniest thing is I have not watched any of the Harry Potter movies nor have I read any of the books other than 1/2 of  the first one but today I watched the last one Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. That too in 3D in a cinema hall .Can you beat that?  And I quite enjoyed it. My friends laughed at me saying that I am probably the first person who has started enjoying Harry Potter in the reverse order. Come to think of it I am kind of toying with the idea of reading Harry Potter :)) Lets see how long my interest in HP lasts.

Anyway speaking of brunches and idlis reminds me that I too made some idlis last week. These were simple Rawa Idlis which I sometimes serve as Idlis and sometimes as Dhokla. They taste just as awesome either way.

When made as Idlis I just put a couple of vegetables like grated carrots and maybe peas in them and sometimes even cashews and as dhokla I just add loads of fresh coriander and green chillies. They are perfect to take on picnics or as a healthy afterschool snack. Here's how I make them:

Ingredients:

1 cup coarse Rawa (ordinary Semolina, not Idli rawa)

1 cup water

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1/2 cup grated carrots

1/4 cup par boiled peas (or frozen ones which are already par boiled)

1/4 cup urid Dal  which have been soaked it water for 1/2 an hour (split black lentils)

handful of chopped cashews

2 green chillies very finely chopped

Some chopped coriander

1 tspn Eno Fruit Salt

1 tspn sugar

Salt to taste

Method:

Mix all the above ingredients keeping the soda-bi-carb for the last.

The mixture should have the same consistency as ordinary idli batter.

If you find it too thick just add some more water.

Give it a taste once you have mixed it and adjust the seasoning accordingly. 

It does not need any resting time.

Just leave it aside until you oil the Idli moulds and then you can immediately steam them.

Serve hot with coconut chutney or ketchup. 

On other occasions make the batter with finely chopped green chillies and plenty of fresh coriander and steam the batter as dhoklas like in the pic below

Serve the Dhoklas with the traditional tempering of hot oil , mustard, asafoetida and curry leaves. Put dollops of hot and sweet ketchup on top of each piece to make it pretty and also easy to eat.

Kadhai Paneer and Hot Phulkas (A Killer Combination)

Ooooh it really feels good to blog again. I have been away from the blogging scene for so long that that it feels like it did when I had just started Food-n-More in UK. It was the only thing I could think about . I used to constantly check (like about 50 times a day) to see if there were any new comments and everytime I made something new I wouldn't let hubby or son have a taste of it until I had photographed the dish from all possible angles and was finally satisfied with my amateurish photography attempts. They have always been so sweet and indulgent about it . Hubby has always proudly shown off Food-n-More to all his friends and colleagues and son is so sweet that he has started his own blog in which he posts about the different construction toys he makes. He also calls it by a name similar to my blog . He calls it Struxx-n-More because he wanted something just like Food-n-More. Needless to say that they are both very happy that I am blogging again.

There have been times when I made food especially for blogging and then at other times I have blogged about recipes that are firm favourites in my house with classic ingredients. A very hot favourite of mine is Paneer. Just thinking about it makes me smile. I love to cook with paneer, so much so that if I am having guests over hubby usually asks me  "So what paneer recipe are you thinking of madam?" And he is usually not wrong in guessing that there will be atleast one paneer dish.

I don't exactly remember when I made this Paneer Kadhai because I cook so often with paneer, but I thought it good enough to share with you guys. Chapatis is another thing I love to make. Whenever we had get togethers in the UK where all of us pooled in and prepared the meal ,chapatis were always alloted to me, or rather I always volunteered to make chapatis. Believe me well made soft chapatis can very often be the show stopper.  So this makes the picture above my all time favourite meal. Delicious Paneer and  soft pliant chapatis hmmmmmm !!!!

Recipe for Paneer Kadhai: (taken from Tarla Dalal and tweaked a bit here and there)

500 gms paneer 

2 cups capsicum (or coloured bell peppers which I have used)

2 tsp coriander seeds

5 whole red chillies

3/4 tsp dried fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi)

2 green chillies, chopped

2 tsp chopped ginger

4 tomatoes, chopped

2 tbsp chopped coriander

3 tbsp ghee

salt to taste

For the paste

6 cloves garlic (lehsun) mixed with a little water

Method

1.Cut the paneer and capsicum into cubes

2.Pound the coriander seeds and red chillies together.

3.Heat the ghee, add the garlic paste and cook on a slow flame for a few seconds.

4.Add the capsicum and pounded spices and cook on a slow flame for 30 seconds.

5.Add the green chillies and ginger and fry again for a few seconds.

6.Add the tomatoes and cook until the ghee comes on top.

7.Add the kasoori methi and salt and fry again for a few seconds.

8.Finally, add the cubed paneer and cook for a few minutes.

9.Sprinkle coriander on top serve hot and enjoy it yourself too.

These are a few of my favourite things

To say that the last 6 years of my life in the UK have been brilliant will be a major understatement. I have spent the best days of my life there , eaten some of the best  food  in the world  and seen so  many beautiful places not only in UK but all throughout Europe that I truely consider myself to be very lucky.

 Having now moved to India and after spending the last 3 months here in my hometown, in all honesty I will have to say that very often it is only my physical presense that is here whereas in my mind I am miles away in my UK home. And believe me it does not take much to trigger off  memories of beautiful days spent  there. It can be anything like a jar of peanut butter,  or tea made with tea bags and a hot water kettle, or seeing iceberg lettuce in some store or simply a pair of socks I bought at Wimbledon. It makes me long to go back. I know this was to happen . It is not an easy transtion and I need to give myself time ,but I cannot dodge that feeling of melancholy that takes over for some time, until I make a very conscious effort to drive it away by distracting myself  into something else. But at other times I don't want to let go of the memories and what I do then is open my drawer of little treasures that I have collected over the years. Today I want to share a few with you: And here they are:

I bought these Little Elf Bowls in TK Maxx last Christmas. I absolutely did not need these but I just fell in love with them. I am sure I will put them to good use.

These Salad Hands are simply too good. They are marvellous to use to serve salads of all kinds. Those of you familiar with Sainsbury's will know the brand TU that you can see on the tag

This little wall piece I bought as a gift for someone ,but eventually could not bear to part with it. Bought it from Little Timbers , a gorgeous little shop selling all kinds of wooden artefacts with funny things written on them. It now hangs happily on my kitchen wall in India.

One of favourite shops in UK was The Works where I always found some or the other good bargain. These cute postcards will soon be framd to put up in my new home

These cute magnetic fridge pegs are for those important reminders that need to be there on the fridge all the time staring you in the eye so you do not forget. These are of course from the Kath Kidston Collection and I bought these on my way back on the airport.

The plan is to bring UK into my Indian home with these small but special  personal touches. They make me feel good and bring back lovely memories of some of the best days of my life. Feels good to share them with you all :))



Ashadhi Ekadashi (An Auspicious start to blogging again)

A very big Hello to all my dear readers. Yes, I am back with Food-n-More after a year long break . And boy what an year it's been. It's brought about  huge changes for me and my family. As I already mentioned in my previous post, Food-n-More now comes to you from India and you bet I am very excited about that. Blogging from my home in India is going to be great fun for me. There is so much more I can experiment with here. I have my mom close by from whom I can take live demos from for all those dishes that I find daunting and besides having access to all the brilliant  ingredients available at my local grocer , I am also very excited about all the loads of crockery I have in my cupboards that I can use in my pics. My crockery is one thing I used to miss very badly when I was away.So much so that hubby used to say that I miss it more than I miss my parents, but I think most of my culinary buddies will relate to that feeling we have about our precious possessions in the kitchen.

Let me tell you that I spent a lot of time thinking about what I could blog about in my first post after so long. I kept thinking it had to be something extraordinary , something that would blow everybody way but then I altered my thinking and felt that it was also so much nicer to share something that I love eating myself, which is basically what I have always done  . And it is this thought that made it so much easier for me to start off.

I started writing this post yesterday as it was Ashadhi Ekadashi .Although not a very religious person at heart I thought it was a  good auspicious day to restart blogging. That's the reason behind the picture above of Lord Vitthal and Rukmini.. Ashadhi ekadashi is a religious procession festival and is celebrated during the months of June- July.  People consider the two eleventh days, "Ekadashi", of every month to be of special importance. But the eleventh day (bright) of Ashadh is known as the great Ekadashi or Mahaekadashi. This Mahaekadashi is also known as Shayani Ekadashi, because on this day Vishnu falls asleep to wake up four months later on Prabodhini Ekadashi in the Kartik month. This period is known as Chaturmas and coincides with the rainy season.

Now Ashadhi Ekadashi is a day of fast and on this day people go walking in huge processions to Pandharpur singing the Abhangas (chanting hymns) of Saint Tukaram and Saint Dnyaneshwar to see their God Vitthal. The yatra starts in Allandi and ends on Guru Poornima day at Pandharpur.

For me and my family Ekadashi is a day on which we enjoy all the foodie treats that are allowed on a day of fasting. Not for us a fast which comprises of eating only fruit or having only liquids .... oh no we love our "fast" food too much :)) So I made a couple of things yesterday, out of which I managed to photograph only one and that is my favourite Dahi Sabudana.

Now inspite of being my favourite it's surprising how rarely I make this dish. I don't know why. But I made it a point to make it yesterday and we all loved it, even my 9 year old who had it for the first time. It's one of those things which prove the saying "The simplest things in life sometimes give you the most pleasure" Well Dahi Sabudana definitely ticks all the boxes for me. What you need is:

Ingredients:

1 cup sabudana (Sago seeds)

1/2 cup crushed roasted peanuts

3/4 to 1 cup plain  yogurt

1/4 cup milk

4 tblspns finely chopped coriander

2 tspns sugar 

Salt to taste

For the tempering:

3 tblspns oil

2 green chillies finely chopped

2 tspns Jeera (cumin)

Method:

• You need a bit of prepping the day before you make this dish or in the morning if you would like to serve it in the evening .
• As this is a dish eaten cold and the sabudana is not actually cooked we need to roast the sabudana well before leaving it to soak.
• So roast the sabudana on a low to moderate flame for at least 15 to 20  minutes.
• Let it cool off completely before soaking it
• Once it has cooled soak it in water (water level should be only 1/2 a cm above the sabudana) for at least 6 to 7 hrs or overnight.
• To prepare the dish first prepare the tempering and leave it to cool.
• In a large bowl mix all the items listed under Ingredients and then add the cooled tempering to it. It is very important to have cooled the tempering before mixing it with the sabudana.
• Garnish the dish with more chopped coriander and crushed peanuts
• And that's it really .Dahi sabudana is ready to eat .  

Eat it at breakfast, as an evening snack or even as a light supper on the day of fasting. Or better still don't wait for a day of fasting enjoy it anyway. :))

Food-n-more is coming back very soon !!! Yehhhhh !!!!

Yes that's right !! Food-n-more will soon be coming back with delicious dishes and tips and much much more very soon. And guess what it is now coming to you from INDIA.

So watch this space guys and get ready for some brilliant gastronomic delights.

Crispy Vegetarian Spring Rolls (A real Treat)

Let me begin this post by wishing all my Indian readers  A VERY HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY. I started the day by explaining to my eight year old (who has lived in UK since he was 2 ) why this day is celebrated in India as Independence Day and how we used to go to school  very early in the morning to hoist our tri-colour. Explaining it to him also made me remember things about our history  that I had not thought about for a long time, and that was good. We fnished our mother-son talk by me reading to him part of the book Great Freedom Fighters of India in the Amar Chitra Katha  Series.We read about Lokmanya Tilak and although he listened to it like any other story I enjoyed answering all his questions . It's a great series by Amar Chitra Katha which makes everything so enjoyable for a young children to read understand, rather than just read about history only from a textbook. I definitely recommend it.


 Secondly I would  like to say a big Thank-You to each and everyone of my reader who has visited by blog regularly inspite of my very irregular and sometimes none at all posting. You readers have been so good , not only visiting my blog but also dedicating posts to me and giving me credit for inspiring you to cook and think about cooking in a different light. Gosh thanks a ton for all that love and appreciation. It has also motivated me to take that effort again to start posting again.


So here's what I have today. It's the summer holidays going on currently in England and as I work in a school I too get to enjoy 6 weeks of summer holidays. I have recently come back from my holiday in Italy and now is the time to catch up with everything pending like deep cleaning the house, cooking something different other that the daily fare, spending time with my son watching DVDs together  and going out for a Pizza with him and of course catching up with friends and a bit of entertaining.


Last week I had a friend over for lunch and  I made these veg spring rolls which we all loved. Vegetarian because at present we are not eating any non-vegetarian food as it is the month of Shrawan which is a auspicious month in the Hindu calender. And although I am not a very staunchly religious person I do like to follow certain practices only because they teach you self control. Particularly in  the west where restaurant menus are  so dominated by chicken , pork and beef . (Although I draw the line at chicken and fish and would never ever dream of eating pork or beef. )  So no non-veg food for a month at least and for 4 months (the entire Chaturmaas  till after Diwali)  if I can manage it. Not so difficult is it? And the one ingredient I love and always rely on to  make my veg dishes perk up is Paneer.:)) Yes gorgeous , delicious, creamy full fat paneer. It never let's me down. That's what I used here too.


So what you need  for 16 to 18 spring rolls is:


Ready made store-bought spring roll wrappers (available in Indian or Chinese grocery stores)  OR  Sheets of Filo Pastry (available in all big food stores)
Note: If you do get the special spring roll wrapper they are already in the correct square shape and size, so that one wrapper makes one roll, but if you are using filo then you will need to cut out the sheets into approx 5" X 5"  squares. Also remember to keep the pastry or wrappers covered with a damp tea towel as they dry out very easily.


For the filling:
1 cup each of finely chopped or grated of the following veggies
carrots, beans, spring onions, cabbage ,coriander
1 cup of frozen or fresh corn kernels
1 cup of green peas
1 cup finely diced paneer,
1 cup boiled noodles (optional)
1/2 cup finely diced chestnut mushrooms (optional)
1 red chilly finely diced
1 tblspn chinese soy sauce
1 tblspn sweet chilly sauce
1 tblspn chinese five spice
1 tspn hot chilly powder
1 tspn of garlic paste, 1 tspn of ginger paste
Salt to taste
Oil for cooking


Method:
Heat 3 to 4 tblspns of oil in a wide pan or wok
Add the garlic and ginger paste and fry on low heat for few minutes
Add all the other veggies and mushrooms and stir them all frequently
Add the five spice, chilly powder, salt soy suace and sweet chilly and cover and cook until vegetables are cooked but still have a bite in them.
Lastly add the boiled noodles and paneer, give it all a good stir ,
Give it a taste and adjust all the seasoning according to your taste
Let this filling cool completely before you start making the rolls


Making the rolls:


Lay out a wrapper on dry surface with one corner towards you. Place a large tblspnful of filling near the corner .
Now roll that corner over the filling twice. Next fold inwards the the two side corners so your roll will be closed from the sides. Roll up the rest of the wrapper  up to the  corner away from you . Apply a bit of water to this corner so that it sticks firmly to the roll.
Do all the rolls in the same way. make these in advance at least a few hours before you want to fry them, so that they have a chance to seal well.
Fry in hot oil and drain over kitchen papers
Serve with sweet chilly sauce, schezuan sauce or any othet sauce of your choice.
Make loads of these if you are entertaining as it is very likely that they will be the star attraction particularly when your friend know that you made them at home:))