Choco-Narayankataar

Nankatayi is called Narayankataar in Konkani. As I said before this is birthday season for our family. Today happens to be my brother's (Harish) birthday. I promised to make something special for him. I had recently baked a cake so did not want to make a cake again. But I wanted to make something with Chocolate as it is his favorite flavor. Whenever he brings home an ice cream it has to be chocolate flavor unless he brings two of them. I thought of making a Chocolate Walnut Fudge but realised that it required condensed milk which I did not have.
Finally I decided to make Shilpa's Nankatayi .I wanted to try these since the past many months. I converted it into a Chocolate Nankatai by adding some Cocoa to the dough. I followed her recipe exactly, only added a tbsp of Cocoa powder in addition to get that Chocolatey flavor. I was a bit skeptical about it as I always manage to mess up with cookies. I have tried 2-3 different types of cookies till date but they always spread and become rock hard. This time something different happened. I baked it for the required time and also got the cracks on top which was the indication that the cookies were ready. But they still appeared soft. I felt that they would become crisp after they cool down. On cooling they were not as soft but they are still quite fragile. I wonder if Nankatayis are ought to be like that or if I have messed them up this time too.
But this time I am satisfied with the outcome as they taste wonderful and have a nice aroma of ghee. I am sure my brother would have loved it.


I wish him a very Happy Birthday and a happy and bright future.

Pizza

Who doesn't love a pizza. It happens to be the only western food that I love as it is not as bland as the other foods. So whenever we go out we look for pizza outlets.
During my initial days in US once we went to Target. After all the shopping we ordered a Cheese pizza. Compared to all the pizzas I have eaten till date, the target cheese pizza happens to be my favorite. It is a simple Cheese pizza but is very soft and rich. I haven't tasted such soft pizza elsewhere. But that day when I opened the pack there was a pizza with red roundels starring at me. I thought it to be tomato slices. To be sure I asked my hubby who was shocked to see the ham slices. We returned it back and luckily we got our money back.
Few months back my mil had come to visit us. On one weekend we set out to visit Manhattan. When we were hungry we settled at a pizza outlet. Hubby ordered Mushroom and Spinach pizza. When I was about to take a bite I noticed a red piece hanging from it. Again it was a piece of ham that got stuck to my veggie pizza. We had already cut the pizza so this time we couldn't get our money back. Nowadays I am very careful whenever we eat out. I thoroughly inspect the food before having a bite.

For making this pizza I have taken tips from Shilpa's Garlic Pizza and from Vah Chef's videos.

Ingredients :
For the base
Maida/All purpose flour - 1 1/2 cups
Whole wheat flour - 1/2 cup
Salt
Sugar - 2 tsp
Warm water - 1 cup
Oil - 2 tsp
Active dry yeast - 1 envelope

Take 1/4 th cup of warm water. The water should be warm not hot. Add the sugar. Mix and then add the yeast. Leave it to rise for about 10 min. Bubbles will appear which is an indication that yeast is active.
Then add the remaining water(warm) and salt.
Take the flours in a big bowl and add the water little by little and form a dough. Knead well. The dough will be sticky. Add the oil and again knead well.
Cover it with a plastic and rest in a warm place for an hour.
After an hour the dough doubles in volume. Punch the dough to remove the air.
Again rest it for half an hour.
Now spread the dough on a pan or pizza stone.



For the sauce
Tomato - 2 medium
Capsicum - 1/2, chopped
Garlic - 1 big, chopped finely
Butter - 1 tsp
Salt
Sugar - 1/2 tsp
Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Pepper powder - pinch

Make small cuts on tomato and put in boiling water for 30 sec. Remove and put in cold water. Peel off the skin. I cut one tomato into pieces and pureed the other one.
Heat butter in a pan. Add garlic and fry. Then add the capsicum pieces. Fry for a minute and add the tomato pieces. Fry and add tomato puree. Now add salt, sugar, pepper powder, chilli powder.
I also added 2 drops of red food colour. Cook till the desired consistency has reached.

For assembling a pizza.

I spread the dough on a non stick pan without a handle. Spread the sauce on top and topped it with onions, bell peppers, mushrooms, shredded cabbage and mozzarella cheese and dotted it with oil.
I heated the pan over a low flame for about 5 mins and then baked in oven at 450 F till the cheese melted.
Garnished it with chilli flakes, pepper powder and dried parsley.


With a remaining dough I made a thin crust pizza and topped it with paneer in addition to the toppings used above.

Both pizzas were absolutely delicious and it was a great experience to make it from scratch.

Note: Adding herbs like oregano and basil gives a nice flavor to the sauce. As I did not have any of those I haven't added it. I have used Imitation Mozzarella Cheese in place of Mozzarella as it is low in Cholesterol. I have also added a few pieces of fried garlic to the dough.

Update: I am sending this to Bread Mania event at Sindhura's blog

Zebra Cake

Ever since I saw the lovely Zebra Cake on Ujwal's blog I was drooling over it. I couldn't make it for New Year so was waiting for an occasion. Finally I decided to make it for my father-in-law's birthday. My fil is thousands of miles away from us and I can't even send him a piece of the cake but all I wanted was an occasion to indulge in this yummy cake.
The cake is not as difficult as it looks. It just requires some extra efforts.
I made it with half of the quantities mentioned in the recipe and got a decent sized cake.
I baked it for the time mentioned in the recipe and when the knife inserted in the center came out clean I took it out.
I was so excited to see it rise so beautifully but the moment I took it out of the oven it became flat, almost the size it was before baking.
It still tasted very good and was very nice and soft.

The plain and Chocolate batter
The cake before going into the oven

Cake just out of the oven

The final piece

This recipe is definitely a keeper. The next time I make it I will add a little more sugar as we would have preferred it to be a little more sweeter. And will try with the entire quantities.

Tila Undo (Sesame Ladoo)

Til Gud Ghya Godd Godd Bola.
Happy Makar Sankranti to fellow bloggers.

Til laddoos happen to be my second favorite after Churma Undo (Wheat Four Ladoos). But I only prefer the ones which have the right amount of stiffness. I myself have no experience in making these ladoos so the next thing was to log in Aayi's recipes. It happens to be the first site that I look for any recipe. Luckily I got the recipe.
I followed Shilpa's recipe but used only half the quantity of the original recipe as I usually do when I fear that I may mess it up. But to my surprise I got perfect Til laadoos. They were neither too soft nor rock hard. Just perfect.

Ingredients

White Til (Sesame) - 1/2 cup
Cashewnuts - 1 tbsp roasted and coarsely powdered (optional)
Jaggery - 1/3 cup (1/4 cup according to original recipe)
Cardamom Powder
Ghee

Wash Til well. Drain all water and spread the til on a kitchen paper and let it dry for 15-20 mins. Then fry the til on a medium flame till they pop up and lend a nice aroma. Keep aside.
In another pan take the Jaggery and add 2 tbsp of water and put it on a medium flame. Keep stirring.
Take some water in a plate and put a drop of melted jaggery in the water. If it stays as a drop then the jaggery is ready. (If not heat for some more time.)
Now add the roasted til ,cashew nuts and cardamom powder. Switch off flame and mix well.
Take a big spoonful of the mixture on a plate and keep the remaining covered.
Grease palms with ghee and make small balls of 1 inch diameter.
The mixture is very hot at this stage so be careful. I almost burnt my palms so came up with one more tip.
Take a small spoon and spoon out small portions from the big spoon separately on a plate. Let it cool for a minute and then shape the individual portions into ladoos.
Repeat the procedure. Dont keep the mixture for long as it hardens quickly.

I could make 29 small ladoos from 1/2 a cup of til.

If you find making ladoos difficult press the mixture on a plate. Cut into desired shapes and make chikkis.

Thanks a lot Shilpa.

Veggie Burger

I am not very fond of burgers for reasons not known to me so I have never ordered a burger for myself while in India. But after coming to US i wasn't left with too many vegetarian options and I had to order it once or twice. But it was quite bad or may be I was just not used to eating it.
But when I saw it on Sailaja's blog I couldn't resist myself from trying it. I brought the lettuce and bread crumbs specially for making this burger. I followed all her steps except one. Sailaja had baked the potatoes in a microwave and pressure cooked the other veggies.
But I boiled potato cubes with the rest of the veggies so I couldn't squeeze much water out of the veggies which was an important step. So when I tried to make patties they were a little more soft and difficult to handle. However I managed to make the patties. I did not add any Ranch Sauce as i didn't have it. I just added some red chilli sauce with tomato ketchup and I loved this burger of mine.
I refrigerated the remaining veggie mixture and made burgers the next day also and this time the mixture wasn't that soft and i could shape it into patties easily.



I plan to make more burgers in future but am still hesitant to try it again in a restaurant. This time i had deep fried the patties but the next time I will shallow fry it.
Thanks Sailaja for your lovely recipe and your step by step illustrations which changed my attitude towards this food to a certain extent.

Birthday Cake

Yesterday was my dearest hubby's birthday. I wanted to bake a cake from scratch. I dont have much experience in baking cakes and i have never prepared a frosting. In my previous Black Forest Cake i had used readymade frosting. Initially i was planning to make a pineapple cake but finally made Shilpa's Simple Egg Cake. For the Frosting i followed the Butter Cream Cheese Frosting recipe from Martha's Baking Favorites DVD.

For the Cake:
I followed Shilpa's recipe as it is and baked for nearly 50 min.

For the Butter Cream Cheese Frosting: The original recipe
Unsalted Butter - 1 stick (1/2 cup)
Cream Cheese - 8 oz
Confectioners Sugar - 1 lb
Vanilla Essence - 1 tsp
Crushed Pecans - 1 cup

Take butter and cream cheese at room temp. (R.T.)
Add Vanilla essence and beat till soft and fluffy.
Add sugar and beat till smooth.
Then add pecans.
Chill in refrigerator.

I used half the quantities mentioned above and did not add pecans. I added 2-3 drops of yellow food colour.
I made the cake the previous day and cooled it in the refrigerator.
I cut the cake into 2 halves. Spread some butter cream mixture on one half of the cake. I added few pieces of pineapple murabba on top of it, placed the 2nd cake and spread the remaining mixture on the top and sides of the cake.


I decorated it with few chocolate coated peanuts and coloured sprinkes and added some Ready whipped cream just before cutting the cake.

The cake tastes great but has a slight smell of egg. I think i should have added 1 more teaspoon of vanilla essence to the cake batter. But the smell wasn't noticeable on refrigerating the cake.

Bread and butter pudding

Bread and butter pudding is a traditional dessert popular in British cuisine. It is the baked form of French toast. Read more about this on Wiki.
Few days back I was googling for a bread halwa recipe. My friend N had made this bread halwa and we liked it a lot. I wanted to use up a few slices of bread which were lying in my refrigerator since a week. But while searching for the halwa recipe the first site I landed upon had a Bread pudding recipe. I found it quite simple and I dropped the idea of making halwa and instead made this pudding. It is simple, easy to make and tastes great. Here's the original recipe.
I have changed the proportions slightly to make a smaller pudding.

Ingredients
Milk - 1 cup
Butter - 2 tbsp
Sugar - 1/3 rd cup (brown or white) (I used white) [Increase or decrease as per taste]
Eggs - 1 large
Cinnamon powder - 1 tsp
Ground Nutmeg - pinch
Vanilla Extract - 1/2 tsp
Bread - 2 cups, torn into small pieces
Raisins - few (optional)

In a pan, heat milk just until a film forms on top. Add the butter and stir until butter melts and then cool to lukewarm.
Combine sugar, eggs, nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer at medium speed for 1 min. (I did this step with the help of my blender at the lowest speed possible). Slowly add the milk mixture.
Place bread in a lightly greased pan.
Sprinkle raisins. Pour the batter on top.
Bake at 350 deg F for 30-40 min or until set. Serve warm.


Note :
Depending on the type of pan used adjust the time of baking. Don't forget to grease the pan. I have tried this in a square pan as well as a loaf pan and prefer using a square pan as it bakes within 30 mins in it. This dessert tastes best when warm so while serving take the required amount and heat it in a microwave for 30 sec. Store the rest in the refrigerator. This recipe is good for using day old bread. I have also tried this using pieces of jam filled Danish pastry.

I am sending this along with Banana Walnut Loaf to Mansi's Vegetarian Thanksgiving event.


Update : I am sending this to Bread Mania event at Sindhura's blog.

BANANA WALNUT LOAF

As the name suggests this cake has banana, walnuts and is made in a loaf pan. This is the first cake i tried. Before this i made a chocolate cake using a cake mix. I am quite new to these ovens. Back in India i had never used any kind of ovens. When i saw the photo on Sapna's blog i knew i had to make this. We liked it so much that i have made it thrice till now. This is even a good food item to carry while traveling.
I have followed the recipe as it is. The only change i made is i added little more sugar.

Ingredients:
Wet Ingredients:

Ripe bananas - 2
Melted butter - 6tbsp
Vanilla essence - 1tsp
Eggs - 2 (large)

Dry Ingredients:
All purpose flour - 1 and 1/3rd cup
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
Baking powder - 1/4 tsp
Sugar - 1 cup (original recipe calls for 2/3 rd cup)
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Walnuts - 1/2 cup chopped

Combine all dry ingredients except walnuts.
Mash bananas. Add butter and vanilla extract to bananas and mix well.
Beat eggs lightly.
Mix banana mixture and eggs till smooth. I did this with the help of my blender.
Then slowly fold small portions of the dry mixture into the wet mixture and mix well.
Add the chopped walnuts. Reserve a few for addding on top of the cake.
Apply butter to all sides of the loaf pan and sprinkle some flour.
Pour batter into the pan. [Note: There should b ample space in the pan for the batter to rise]
Sprinkle walnuts on top.
Bake in a preheated oven for approximately 55 min at 350 F
A wooden toothpick or a knife when inserted in the center should come out clean.
Cool the cake for 10 min. Remove loaf from pan.
Can b stored at room temp for 4-5 days.

I am sending this to Mansi's Vegetarian Thanksgiving event.