Recipes Collection

Monday, January 27, 2014

Cottage cheese cake Paneer Cake Perfect tea time treat

A trip to Madras is incomplete without a drive to Pondicherry. Once, we took up a homestay and stayed over for a couple of nights - walking around the lovely streets in the French quarter, peering into some bookshops, boutiques, incense and candle shops while we were there. During a peek into one such bookshop I came across this little book on baking called Baking Delights by Aruna Sheth with the kind of recipes my mothers generation would make at home. The sections include breads, biscuits, cakes, multi-purpose meals, puddings & pies and snacks.

I have a liking for all things old-fashioned and so I got this home. After reading those quaint old recipes many a times - I fell in love with one Cottage cheese cake, the recipe of which had no butter or oil. With my slight modifications, I turned this into a faux mava cake, using the Mixed Fruit essence and some tutti frutti - a total 70s style cake, perfectly simple to make, and just right with that cup of tea / coffee - feels like a treat but not like a sinful indulgence.

So here is the recipe for Cottage cheese cake with Tutti Frutti

Ingredients

Makes 2 small square cakes or 1 loaf

1/2 litre milk, 1 tbsp white vinegar - to make paneer

1.5 cups atta

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup sugar, or slightly less, ground with seeds from 3 cardamoms

4 tbsp milkmaid

2 tbsp oil

1 tbsp vinegar

1/4 cup tutti frutti in any colours

1/4 cup milk (if required)

Directions

Bring the milk to a boil, add the vinegar and stir till milk splits to give paneer and clear whey. Filter out paneer and save the whey.
Preheat oven at 180 C.
Line 2 square tins of 12 cmX12 cm with foil or a loaf tin. Grease the foil with some oil.
Sieve the flour with the baking soda and baking powder.
In a large bowl, mash the paneer well with the oil, milkmaid. Add 1 tbsp vinegar, sugar-cardamom mix to this and half the whey water.
Add the flour in batches into the whisked wet ingredients. Use the reserved whey water and extra milk if required to get a batter consistency.
Fold in most of the tutti frutti, reserving some to decorate on the top of the cake.
Divide the batter into the two square tins or a single loaf tin, sprinkle remaining tutti frutti on the top.
Bake for 30 minutes (in case of two small tins) or 45-50 minutes for loaf at 180 C reducing the temperature after 20 minutes to 160 or so in case of square tins to prevent excessive browning of the tops.
Remove, cool in the tin itself for 15 minutes and remove out with the foil. Slice and serve warm.

Food-shopping in Hyderabad

Where to buy Tutti-Frutti - Branches of Heritage- Fresh, QMart-Banjara Hills, branches of Ratnadeep

Disposable aluminium foil baking containers available at most supermarkets - eg. Balaji Grand Bazaar in Road.1

Sunday, January 26, 2014

My Humble Petition

(Parental warning- this post is rated PG 13)

Dear Wise and Merciful Goddess,

There have been so many gruesome failures (or quasi-semi-successes not worth sharing) in my tiny blue tiled cocina of late that I am perilously close to throwing in the towel and crying, WTF? I am spending days (yes, days!) feeling hollow from hunger because I can't find anything in the cruel pantry to eat. Especially for breakfast. And brunch. And snacks.

I can usually rustle up a tasty dinner built around potatoes or rice with a piece of fish or the one sausage I can eat. But truth be told- as you may already know in your omniscient all-knowingness- I am missing eggs and cheese like crazy this week. Dear Divine One, what I wouldn't give for one of my pasta frittatas. Or a sizzling tray of nachos. Or- Oy!- a hot and cozy slice of my roasted vegetable kugel.

With limited sources of protein to pick from- beef, pork and some fish- I am stymied at breakfast. Not to mention mid-day. And late afternoon snacks! I mean, seriously. Who wants to eat fish three times a day as my brisk and steely Nurse Practitioner (transplanted from coastal Maine, duh) advised?

And if might gently and sweetly ask, is it really wise to eat beef every day- even if it's grass fed and organic and roaming the range with Tommy Lee Jones and all that good stuff? I kinda doubt it. Not at my overheated pesky age.

As you well know, I'm no spring chicken.

Which I'm also allergic to. Here's the thing. Without my brown rice and beans, my peanut butter on rice cakes, my grabs of almonds and cashews, protein powder smoothies, and hummus? And those fast and fabulous grilled quesadillas? I am, quite frankly, more than slightly askew. Not to mention, cranky. And some days- like today, for instance? Yours in devotion is frustrated and gloomy and frankly, wicked pissed and hungry.

And I'm not going to lie about it.

Read more + get the recipe >>

Easy Creme Brulee Recipes no torch required

Crème Brulee

Foodnetwork.com crème brulee recipe #simple #delicious #recipes

One of my favorite desserts and its so easy to make! Its creamy yet crunchy. This is a great idea for holidays gatherings.

Ingredients:

4 cups of heavy cream
1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup of sugar
6 egg yolks
1/2 cup of brown sugar

6 crème Brulee bowls

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In a medium sauce pan, heat the cream and vanilla to a simmer. Remove pan from heat and let sit for 10 minutes. In a bowl whisk together the sugar and yolks until they are a pale yellow. Whisk cream into the egg mixture and pour into 6 custard dishes.

Place dishes in a large baking dish line witha towel. Pour boiling water into baking dish so that it comes to half way up the custard dishes. Bake for 30 minutes or until custard is firm but still wiggles. Chill for at least one hour. Top with brown sugar in an even layer and place under broiler until sugar melts and bubbles. Serve at room temperature.

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Egg Omelet Curry

This curry is a special variation to normal egg curries which can be prepared easily and gives a wonderful taste. For this all we need to make omelet of eggs and mix it with onion and tomato gravy along with some spices.

For this gravy we can just make use of plain omelet or if you want you can add whatever veggies you need. I used just onions. And we can cut omelet into small or big pieces whichever is desirable. This goes well with plain rice or with rotis.

Ingredients:

Omelet

Onion – 1 no small

Eggs – 3 no

Green chillies – 2 no

Salt

Turmeric powder

Chilli powder – If required

Gravy

Onion - 1 no
Tomato - 1 no

Mustard seeds - ½ tsp

Cumin seeds – ½ tsp
Sambar Masala - 1 tsp
Red Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Ginger Garlic paste - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - a pinch
Dry Coconut - 1/4 cup
Tamarind - 1 small lemon size
Green Chillies - 1 no
Curry leaves - 5 -6 tsps
Coriander leaves

Oil – 2 tsps

Preparation

Omelet

Take eggs, onion, green chillies, salt, turmeric powder in a bowl and mix well.
Make omelet in a pan with little oil by the above mixture.
Cut the above cooked omelet to small pieces and keep aside.

Gravy

Heat oil in a pan add curry leaves, cumin seeds, mustard seeds.
When the cumin seeds splutter add onions, green chillies.
After onions turn soft add ginger garlic paste, turmeric powder.
Add Tomato and cook till the raw smell goes away

Add coriander powder, red chilli powder, salt, sambar powder and mix well
Now add tamarind paste and cook well
Add Omelet pieces and mix well so that the gravy spreads equally over the pieces.
Now add dry coconut and mix well
Add little water and cook till the gravy comes together.
Garnish with coriander leaves.

Sending this to ABC Series - EGG hosted by Ramya , Hot & Spicy Treats - Curry/Stew hosted by Amy, Healthy Delights hosted by Sangee

Easy Individual Flan

Its that time again. My turn for me to make dessert for my dinner group, The Dinner Divas. I think I am getting better but I still cant help feeling nervous that its going to turn out awful. I have to say that although this started off a little shaky, it turned out really well!

I found this recipe at grouprecipes.com. Although the custard came out excellent the caramel recipe was missing a main ingredient. The recipe stated to melt the sugar in a preheated pan until it melts and becomes caramel. Well, that just didnt happen. After speaking with some more experienced bakers, the sugar needed to melt in water to become caramel. What a mess. My poor all-clad pot was put to the test and I was able to get the sugar out after it hardened in my pot. It took a while but I saved my precious pot. Luckily I had caramel sauce and butterscotch sauce (for ice cream) in my fridge and I used that instead. Turned out fabulous! The custard was perfect and everyone liked it. What a surprise, right? Ha ha ha!

I am going to put a link to the recipe if youd like to see it yourself. I did leave a comment there so no one has the same issue I did. Hopefully everyone else knows better or knows to read the comments. I am going to give you the recipe without the sauce though because I didnt get to try it the right way. The recipe states that it will fill 6 ramekins. Maybe they are very large ramekins because I used 8 regular sized ramekins and I had so much of the custard that I threw half of it away. I would have made another large one but I didnt have enough caramel. I baked mine for about 1 hour until they were no longer jiggly in the middle.

Easy Flan Recipe

From GroupRecipes.com

Ingredients:

Prepared Caramel Sauce
6 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
2 - 13 oz cans evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Pour 2-3 tablespoons caramel into each ramekin, tilting to swirl the caramel around the sides. Using a hand held mixer, blend the eggs together. Mix in the milks then slowly add in the sugar and then the vanilla. Blend until smooth after each ingredient is added.

Pour custard into caramel lined ramekins. Place ramekins in a large glass or ceramic baking dish and fill with about 1-2 inches of hot water. Bake for 45 minutes in the water bath and check with a knife just to the side of the center. If the knife comes out clean, its ready. Remove and let cool. Let each ramekin cool in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Invert each ramkekin onto a small plate, the caramel sauce will flow over the custard.

Click here for a printable version of Easy Individual Flan.

Friday, January 24, 2014

SPAGHETTI

On snowy winter days, when it is good to stay close to home, I enjoy making dinner in the slow cooker. One of our favorites is spaghetti; our kids were raised on this recipe and it is one of picky-picky husbands favorites.

The thick and hearty sauce and tender meatballs really need a solid six hours or more in the slow cooker, so dont be tempted to rush this recipe. I love the way my kitchen smells when I make this sauce.

MEATBALLS

1 pound of lean (90% or better) ground beef

1/2 cup fine dry bread crumbs

1 egg

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Mix all of the meatball ingredients and shape into walnut size meatballs. Bake in a 350 oven for 15 minutes then drain well before adding to sauce.

SPAGHETTI SAUCE

(1) 14 ounce can of tomato sauce

(1) 12 ounce can of tomato paste

4 cups water

1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup finely diced carrot

1 clove of minced garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil

2 teaspoons dried sweet basil

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon fennel seed

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon sugar

Saute the onions, garlic and carrots in the olive oil until they are very aromatic (they dont need to be cooked through). Add the rest of the sauce ingredients and bring to a boil. Put EVERYTHING in the slow cooker and add the baked meatballs. Cook on high for 6 hours.

The last couple of hours, leave the slow cooker lid open just a crack so the sauce will reduce and thicken. Serve over spaghetti noodles.

NOTE: If you like mushrooms, add them the last hour of cooking.

NOTE: No matter how hard I try to make a "smaller" batch of spaghetti sauce, it always ends up making too much, so now I plan on it. The sauce that we dont use on night one, goes into a lasagna casserole for the freezer. Some sauces just need to be cooked in big batches I guess.

Lemon Cheesecake Limonlu Peykek

As much as I love cheesecakes, I cannot make a cheesecake crust. I tried many times, but for some reason it doesnt work. Yet it didnt stop me from making cheesecakes; I buy the crust.

This is a very light and refreshing cheesecake recipe, perfect for summer time.

9 inch cheesecake crust

16 oz (app. 225 gr.) cream cheese (I used 1/3 less fat cream cheese)
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp lemon zest (app. zest of 1 lemon)
1/4 cup lemon juice

-Leave cream cheese out in room temperature for at least an hour.
-Mix cream cheese with a mixer for at least 2 minutes until softened.
-Add sugar, mix for another minute.
-Add eggs one at a time.
-Then add lemon zest and juice, mix for another minute.
-Pour the mix into the crust.
-Bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes.
-Let it cool completely on a wire rack. Cover an chill for at least 8 hours.
-Serve with Nolans delicious chocolate sauce.

This recipe is for YE#24 Recipes with Lemon hosted at Limon Cicegi.