Egg Fried Rice

Ingredients:

Rice - 1/2 cup
Carrot - 1 cut into strips
Cabbage - small piece cut into strips
Onion - 1 small cut lengthwise
Beans - 5 to 6 nos. cut into strips
Capsicum/ Bell pepper - 1 small cut in strips
Spring Onions - 1-2 nos cut into small pieces.
Soya Sauce - 2 tsp
Tomato Ketchup - 2 tsp
Salt
Pepper powder
Egg - 2 nos
Oil - 3-4 tsp

Cook rice in sufficient water. The rice shouldn't be fully cooked. It should be little uncooked for any fried rice recipe. Drain the water. Hold the rice under cold water and drain all water. Put a tsp of oil and keep aside.
In a pan add a tsp of oil and stir fry all the veggies starting with onions, carrots, cabbage, beans, and finally capsicum. Put some salt and pepper powder and set aside.
Now take another tsp of oil and break the eggs into the oil. Stir continously till it forms into a scrambled egg mixture. Put some salt and pepper powder on this too. Now add the stir fried veggies and the rice and mix all. Add the soya sauce and tomato ketchup. Mix thoroughly. Check the taste and adjust salt and seasonings. Add the spring onions and fry for a minute. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Serve hot.

Note : I haven't added spring onions as i did not have it. This fried rice can also be made without using egg. Rest of the procedure remains the same. Be careful while adding salt as both the sauces also contain salt in them.

Black Forest Cake

I wanted to trying my hand at a Black Forest Cake from a long time. But I wasn't able to find the cherries for this. Everywhere I could find fresh cherries. But for this cake I needed canned cherries which have a beautiful red color. Finally while checking out a new store I found a jar of cherries. I have used readymade cake mix for this. I had only 1/4th cake mix so I could make only a small cake.

Ingredients:

Betty Croker Super Moist Chocolate Fudge mix - 1/4 of the total quantity.
Pillsbury Funfetti Frosting (Vanilla flavor) - 1/2 of the jar
Maraschino Cherries - 10 oz jar
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Hershey's milk chocolate - 1 small bar

Method.

Heat 1/2 cup water and add 1/2 cup sugar and stir till it is dissolved. The sugar should be just dissolved in water. Don't heat for too long. Keep aside to cool.
Bake the cake as per the instructions on the box. Let it cool. The cake should be fully cooled before applying frosting. Once its cooled cut the cake horizontally into 3 equal discs.
Take the first disc. Drizzle few drops of sugar syrup on it. Apply the frosting. Spread frosting with the help of a knife. Put some chopped cherries. Then place the second layer on this. Follow the same procedure for the second one starting with sugar syrup, frosting, and cherries. Then place the final layer of the cake. Drizzle sugar syrup and spread frosting carefully on top as well as the sides of the cake covering the entire cake. Grate the chocolate on the top and on the sides. Place whole cherries on top. Refrigerate and enjoy.


This is the first frosted cake that I made. I thoroughly enjoyed making and eating it. But I was not fully satisfied with the frosting. It became a little hard on refrigerating. Next time i am planning to use whipped cream for frosting.

Update (20/Feb/2009)
Made a 2-layer black Forest cake for our Wedding Anniversary. This time I used Cool Whip for the frosting and Cherries from the Cherry Pie Filling .
I liked this icing more than the previous one but for the cherries I think Maraschino is a better choice as the Cherry Pie filling is slightly sour. This time I did not use the chocolate shavings and instead used some chocolate sprinkles.


Made another one for my birthday with the chocolate shavings.

Chappati Upma

I dont know what to name this dish. This is my mother-in-law's recipe. Leftover chapatis can be converted into this yummy dish. Adding grated cheese and tomato ketchup is my addition to this recipe.

Ingredients:

Leftover chapatis - 2
Jeera -1/2 tsp
Haldi - pinch
Red chili powder- 1/4 tsp
Coriander powder -1/2 tsp
Salt
Grated cheese - for garnish
Methi seeds - 1/4 tsp (optional)
Oil- 1 tsp

Method

Cut the chapatis into small pieces. In a pan take a tsp of oil and temper jeera. then add methi and fry for a minute. Put it on a very low flame and add all the spices and salt. Then add chapatis and mix till all the spices have coated the chapati pieces. Switch off the gas and garnish with grated cheese. Dot with some tomato ketchup and chilli sauce. Serve .

Macaroni with Cheese

The original recipe is from Bawarchi.com. I wanted to make a macaroni dish and i found this recipe quite interesting. I made it with the vegetables i had in my refrigerator. The outcome was great.

Ingredients

Macaroni - 1 cup
Onion - 1 medium, cut lengthwise
Beans- 1/4 cup, cut into thin strips
carrots - 1/2 cup, cut into strips
Peas- 1/2 cup
Corn - 1/2 cup
Milk - 1 cup
Grated cheese - 2 tbsp and more for garnishing
Maida - 1 tbsp
Tomato Ketchup - 2 tbsp
Red chilli sauce - 1 tsp
Butter - 2 tbsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
Salt and white Pepper as per taste

Boil Macaroni till tender. Drain the water. Run cold water through it. Drain and add few drops of oil and keep aside.
Wash the vegetables.
Heat oil in a pan. Starting with onions saute all the vegetables. Add salt and pepper and keep aside.
Now in another pan add one tbsp of butter and put it on a low flame.
Add maida to it and fry for a while. Then add chilled milk and stir till mixture becomes little thick.
Remove it from stove and add macaroni and cheese and little salt and pepper.
Now take an appropriate baking dish and grease it with oil or butter. Then spread a layer of the stir fried veggies. Then spread half of the macaroni mixture. Cover it with little tomato ketchup and chilli sauce. Put the remaining veggies and top them with the rest of the macaroni mixture. Garnish with some grated cheese. Dot it with some butter and bake in a preheated oven for 15-20 min or till cheese melts.

Note: The original recipe has capsicum and cabbage. I have replaced it with some frozen veggies. I have reduced milk from 2 cups to 1 cup. The original recipe has macaroni as the bottom layer. I have used veggies for the bottom layer as i found macaroni sticks to the base.

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.

Goli Baje

Goli Baje is another famous Mangalorian snack. Goli means round and baje means bhajias.

Ingredients:

Maida/All purpose flour - 1 cup
Besan/Chickpea flour - 5-6 tsp
Salt
Sugar- 1 teaspoon
Green chillies- 1
Ginger- 1/2 tsp
Baking soda- 2 pinches
Buttermilk (dilute) - as needed

Grind green chilly, ginger, salt, sugar in mixer. To this add maida, besan, soda and make a thick batter adding buttermilk as needed. Keep aside for an hour. Heat oil for deep frying. And release small quantities of mixture into the hot oil using a spoon or carefully by hand. Once it golden brown remove on a paper towel and serve with chutney.

Watermelon Surnalli

Surnalli is a thick dosa. It can b made using watermelon/ Cucumber/ash gourd. Watermelon surnalli will have an orange colour while the other ones will be white. A pinch of turmeric powder can also be added to the batter for a yellow surnalli. Surnallis sold in Mangalorian restaurants are yellow in colour. This is my mom's recipe for soft spongy surnallis.

Ingredients:

Rice- 1 cup
Coconut powder - 1/3 cup
Bread - 2 slices
Beaten rice(Poha) - 1 fistful
salt
Jaggery- 2-3 tbsp grated
Watermelon red and white part near the skin - 2 or 3 big pieces

Soak rice in plenty of water for 3-4 hrs. After it is soaked grind it with all the above ingredients. Add water only if necessary. Watermelon already has enough water. Make a smooth thick batter. Ferment overnight.
Heat a tava. Pour a spoonful of oil. Drop in a ladle full of batter. Dont spread it. Cover it and cook till the lower side is golden.
Serve with chutney.
Tastes best when served with a small dollop of butter.

Note: The dosa should have small holes in it. If u dont observe holes add a pinch of baking soda to the batter and remove dosas. Surnalli is usually cooked only on one side.