Doodhi Bateta Nu Shaak - Bottle Gourd and Potato Curry

"Doodhi Bateta Nu Shaak" is a traditional vegetable curry from Gujarat. I tasted this dish for the first time a few years back when we were invited over for a pooja lunch at a friend's place. Though my friend is from the North, her MIL is a Gujarati and had prepared this simple yet delicious dish as part of the pooja naivedyam (as it is made without onions and garlic). I loved this shaak a lot and immediately requested her for the recipe. She willingly shared her recipe with me and I have been making this curry very often since then.



Ingredients -
1 medium sized doodhi/ Bottle Gourd
2 small boiled potatoes
Oil
Cumin seeds
Mustard seeds
Pinch of hing
Red chilli powder
Turmeric
Dhana jeera powder (coriander and cumin powder)
Cilantro
Salt to taste
Sugar to taste

Method -
1. Peel the outer skin of the doodhi and chop it into small pieces. Boil the doodhi
pieces with some water till tender
2. Chop 1 boiled potato into small pieces
3. Mash the other potato and add some water to it to make a smooth potato paste
Heat oil in a pan.
4. Then add some mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds splutter, add some cumin seeds
Add pinch of hing and little turmeric
5. Now add dhana jeera powder and red chilli powder and mix well. Turn off the
stove if needed or add few spoons of water to prevent the spices from burning.
6. Add potato pieces to the pan and mix well. Then add the boiled doodhi pieces and
also the potato paste to the pan. Add salt and sugar to taste and mix well.
7. Now cook the vegetables some more so they absorb the spices and form a delicious
thick gravy. Garnish with cilantro.
8. This shaak tastes best with hot chapattis and some yogurt.

Sour Cream Streusel Coffee Cake

Though baking is my passion, I'm feeling a little exhausted with all this baking I have been doing for the last few months since Swara was born. With each passing day, she is becoming more demanding and requires our full attention when at home. So I usually pursue my baking/ cake decorating hobby at night after I put her to bed. Although I am exhausted by then, the idea of whipping up new and creative confections puts me back in high gear. Believe me, its really very rewarding to bake your own cakes & nothing tastes sweeter than fruits of your own labor.

Anyways, so continuing with the tradition of celebrating her monthly B'days, I decided to bake this Sour Cream Streusel Coffee Cake from my "The Cook's Encyclopedia of Baking" book for her 11th month B'day. I like the fact that the recipe calls for brown sugar, making it a little different than the other cakes I have baked so far. The layer of brown sugar, cinnamon and walnuts on top of the cake was a little too sweet for us, but nevertheless, the cake turned out to be very moist and delicious.

Time just flies….can't believe my little princess will be 1 year old next month. We have already started planning for her first B'day. Although it's a big challenge, I'm planning to bake and decorate the cake at home.



Ingredients -
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs, at room temperature
1½ cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup sour cream

FOR THE TOPPING -
1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
2 tsps ground cinnamon
1 cup walnuts, finely chopped
4 tbsp cold butter, cut in pieces

Method -
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line the bottom of a 9- inch square cake pan with wax paper and grease.
2. For the topping, place the brown sugar, cinnamon and walnuts in a bowl. Mix with your fingertips, then add the butter and continue working with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
3. To make the cake, cream the butter with an electric mixer until soft. Add the sugar and continue beating until the mixture is light and fluffy.
4. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. In another bowl, sift the flour, baking soda and baking powder together 3 times
6. Fold the dry ingredients into the butter mixture in 3 batches, alternating with the sour cream. Fold until blended after each addition.
7. Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle over half of the walnut topping mixture.
8. Pour the remaining batter on top and sprinkle over the remaining walnut mixture.
9. Bake until browned, 60 -70 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes, then unmold and transfer to a cooling rack.

Diwali Snacks - Chakli / Murukulu

Chakli, also known as Murukku or Murukkulu in Southern India is a very popular savory snack item traditionally made during DIWALI . Every part of India has its own version of this delicious fried snack. There is absolutely no other snack that I enjoy more with a steaming cup of coffee than this one. I have made chaklis for every Diwali since I got married. My SIL's MIL is a great cook and I really admire and adore this lady. At 75, she is still active and I’m amazed to see her enthusiasm in the kitchen. I tasted her chaklis for the first time after I got married and have made chaklis using her recipe ever since. This is a simple recipe that uses only rice and all purpose flour and is less complicated than the more traditional Maharashtrian Bhajani Chakli.

In the future, I do plan to make Bhajani Chaklis from scratch and also few other south Indian chakli varieties that I have book marked over the years. So stay tuned ….





Ingredients -
4 cups rice flour
1 cup maida
3/4 cup ghee/ unsalted butter
2 tsp red chilli powder
2 tsp dhana jeera powder
1/2 tsp turmeric porwder
1/4 tsp hing
2 tbsp white sesame seeds
salt to taste
oil for deep frying

Method -
1. Mix 4 cups of rice flour and 1 cup of maida together.
2. Use room temperature ghee/ butter without melting it. Apply ghee/ butter evenly to the mixed flour.
3. Add red chilli powder, dhana jeera powder, turmeric powder, hing, white sesame seeds and salt to it.
4. Make a soft dough by gradually adding cold water like regular chapati dough.
5. Take a small portion of the dough and form a cylindrical shaped log and drop it in the chakli/ murukku mold.
6. Heat oil in a deep frying pan/ kadhai.
7. Using your hands, press the chakli mold to form concentric circles either on the back of a slotted spoon (called "zhaara" in marathi) as shown in the picture. You can also lay old newspaper flat on the kitchen counter and form several chaklis on it. (I love the zaara method as it is much easier to drop the chaklis in hot oil without losing its shape).
8. Deep fry the chaklis in hot oil on medium flame. Fry both sides till they turn golden and take them out on paper towel or old newspaper to drain the excess oil.
9. Allow them to cool and store them in an airtight container.

Dark Chocolate and Vanilla Zebra Cake

While I was looking for something interesting to bake for Swara's 10th month B'day, I saw this dark chocolate and Vanilla flavored Zebra cake on Deeba's blog. I followed the links and finally landed on this Blog . When I read through the post and the detailed recipe, I decided to give it a try. This cake requires simple basic vanilla batter. The tricky part is how you assemble the cake with alternating layers of vanilla and dark chocolate batter, which creates the beautiful zebra pattern. I followed the recipe without making any changes and the cake turned out pretty well.



Ingredients -
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup milk, at room temperature
1 cup oil (corn, vegetable or canola is fine)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 teaspoon vanilla powder
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 tablespoons dark cocoa powder (I used Dutch processed Hershey's dark chocolate)

Note - Make sure dark chocolate you use is not very bitter.
Dark zebra pattern won’t stand out with light cocoa powder

Method -
1. In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs and sugar. Using a hand-held electric mixer or wire whisk beat until the mixture is creamy and light in color
2. Add milk and oil, and continue beating until well blended.
3. In a separate bowl, combine and mix flour, vanilla powder and baking powder. Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and beat just until the batter is smooth and the dry ingredients are thoroughly incorporated. DO NOT OVERBEAT to prevent air pockets from forming in the batter. The consistency of the batter should be neither very thick not too loose.
4. Divide the mixture into 2 equal portions. Keep one portion plain. Add cocoa powder into another and mix well.
5. Preheat the oven to 350F.
6. Lightly grease a 9 inch cake pan with oil. If you don’t have non-stick baking pan, grease whatever pan you have then line it with parchment paper (baking paper).
7. The most important part is assembling the cake batter in a baking pan. This is what you do. Scoop 3 heaped tablespoons of plain batter (you can also use a ladle that would hold 3 tablespoons) into the middle of the baking pan. Then scoop 3 tablespoons of cocoa batter and pour it in the center on top of the plain batter. IMPORTANT! Do not stop and wait until the previous batter spreads - KEEP GOING! Do not spread the batter or tilt the pan to distribute the mixture. It will spread by itself and fill the pan gradually. Continue alternating the batters until you finish them. The pictures below will guide you through.

This is how the cake will look before it goes in the oven.



8. Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes. Do not open the oven door at least the first 20 minutes or the cake will shrink and will not rise. To check if the cake is ready, insert a toothpick into the center. It should come out clean when ready. Remove from the oven. Immediately run a small thin knife around the inside of the pan to loosen the cake, then invert the cake onto a cooking rack. Turn the cake back over and let cool.

Apple N Almond Cake

There are several lovely blogs that are a source of inspiration for new bloggers like me. But the one that I worship and admire the most and also visit almost every day is Deeba Rajpal's "Passionate About Baking" . Her creations have truly been a great source of inspiration for me and I have pretty much bookmarked every recipe that shows up on her blog. I baked this Apple and Almond Cake for Swara's 9th month B'day. I also served this as dessert on a potluck picnic lunch the next day. The apples slices layered on top gives this cake a nice tartness and the almonds give it some crunch. The cinnamon compliments the apple and almonds really well. The part that my friends and family loved most about this cake was that it was very lite and not too sweet. So everyone had second and third servings without feeling guilty. This is another simple coffee cake that would be perfect with a steaming hot Cuppa Joe.

 

Ingredients -
All purpose flour - 1 1/2 cups
Granulated sugar - 3/4 cup
Baking powder - 1 1/2 teaspoon
Baking soda - 1/2 teaspoon
Salt - 1/4 teaspoon
Eggs - 2
Plain yogurt - 1/4 cup
Butter - 1/2 cup / melted
Almond extract - 1 teaspoon
Apples - 3 / peeled and thinly sliced
Almonds - 1/4 cup , sliced
Granulated sugar - 3 tablespoons
Cinnamon - 1 teaspoon

Method -
1. Preheat your oven to 350F. Butter and flour a 9 inch spring form pan.
2. In a bowl, stir together flour, almond flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, beat eggs. Stir into the eggs, yogurt, butter and almond extract.
4. Stir wet ingredients into the flour mixture just until combined.
5. Pour batter into prepared pan. Arrange apples over the batter.
6. For the topping: Combine almonds, sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle the topping over apples.
7. Bake for 1 hour 20 minutes or until cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

Wilton Course # 2 - Grand Finale Basketweave Cake

Wilton Course # 2 - Grand Finale Cake Prep Work

 

 

 

 

 

Bhendi Jaipuri

This is another classic dish from Vahchef . I tweaked it a little to suit our palate. This is a great accompaniment with a simple sambhar rice meal or can also be served as an appetizer.





Ingredients -
300 gms okra/ bhendi
1 tsp amchoor powder
2 tbsp broken cashewnuts
1 tbsp red chilli powder
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp dhana jeera (coriander & cumin) powder
1 cup besan/ gram flour
3-4 tbsp of vinegar
salt to taste
1 tsp sugar
onion slices (optional)

Method -
1. Cut the ends of the okra and slice them at an angle into thin slices.
2. In a bowl, add the sliced okra, broken cashewnut pieces, cumin seeds, amchoor powder, chilli powder, dhana jeera powder, salt and sugar
3. Now sprinkle some vinegar on the okra mixture. Mix well. Adding salt and vinegar brings out the moisture from the okra and also reduces the sliminess of the okra.
4. Now add some sliced onions
5. Add some besan and mix. Dont over mix and let the mixture sit for sometime.
6. Add few drops of water if the mixture is dry.
7. Heat oil in a pan and deep fry okra mixture. Drop the mixture in hot oil just like onion bhajji. Fry till crisp.
8. Garnish with cilantro

Phaldhari Kebab

I think plantains/ green bananas is a very versatile vegetable and can be substituted for potatoes in many dishes. I believe Jains who abstain from root vegetables like potatoes, extensively use raw bananas in their cooking. These are easily available throughout the year in the Indian stores here in the US, so I'm always looking for ways to add these to our meal. I guess, by now everyone knows or have heard of Sanjay Thumma of the VahrehVah fame. He has been a huge inspiration for me and has definitely taken by cooking to a whole new level. When I saw this Phaldhari kebab recipe on his website I immediately wanted to try these. I guess they are called Phal- dhari kebab bcoz they use bananas, cashews, raisins etc that fall in the fruit category. These kebabs turned out to be awesome and is a must try for vegetarians.



Ingredients -
2 Plantains/ raw bananas
1 cup finely chopped fresh corn
1 small finely chopped/ grated carrot
1 tbsp chopped raisins
2 tbsp crushed cashewnuts
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp garam masala
2 green chillies
1/2 lime juice
1 cup paneer
1 pinch red chilli powder
1 pinch chat masala
Handful of cilantro leaves finely chopped
salt to taste

Method -
1. Boil green plantains for 20 mins and remove from hot boiling water. You can also pressure cook the plantains. Just make sure you take them out of the water as soon as possible and wipe them with paper towel to remove any excess moisture
2. Use a grater to grate the plantains
3. Add finely chopped green chillies, chopped cilantro, cumin seeds, chopped corn, finely chopped carrots.
4. Then add some chopped raisins, crushed cashewnuts, grated paneer, garam masala, chilli powder, pinch of chaat masala, salt to taste and mix well.
5. Now knead the mixture like dough. Needs to come together and hold shape. If there is any moisture, add some maida or corn flour.
6. Once ready put it on a wooden spoon or a skewer to form elongated kebabs and remove from the skewer.
7. Deep fry till they turn golden brown.

Note - I deep fried the kebabs and they tasted heavenly. Nothing beats that but the kebabs can also be baked in the oven. Just brush it with some butter and bake it till they turn golden brown

Eggless Chocolate Brownie Cake

It looks like Tarla Dalal has a variety of easy eggless cake recipes. When I came across this brownie cake recipe, that uses yoghurt and has no eggs, I could not wait to try it out. This is pretty different than the brownies I have tasted here in the US. But can pass as a very simple yet delicious eggless chocolate cake that requires no fancy kitchen gadgets and only a few basic ingredients from your pantry. I have successfully baked this cake few times before. My baby turned 7 months old this week. I had this fun monkey shaped cake in mind and this chocolate cake turned out to be the perfect base for the decorations. All you need is some frosting and fun candies to bring this monkey to life. It was pretty simple to make and is sure to bring a smile on anyone's face





For the Brownie Cake

Ingredients -
1. 2 cups plain flour (maida)
2. ½ cup cocoa powder
3. 1½ cup powdered sugar
4. 1 teaspoon soda bi-carb
5. 1 teaspoon baking powder
6. 12 tablespoons curds
7. 10 tablespoons milk
8. 10 tablespoons melted butter
9. 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method -
1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 C (350 F).
2. Mix all the ingredients in a mixing bowl using a wooden spoon, making sure there are no lumps.
3. Pour this mixture into a greased and dusted 9" round baking pan
4. Place in the oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
5. Cool and proceed with the decoration as given below.

Note - If you like, you can also add 1 cup of chopped walnuts to the cake batter

For monkey cake decoration -

Ingredients -
1. 1 (9-inch) round cake
2. 2 chocolate-covered doughnuts
3. 1 cup pink frosting (I used left over pink icing from my Wilton class. You can use vanilla frosting and tint it pale pink with some red food coloring)
4. 1 Wilton ready to use red icing (You can tint @ 2 tbsp vanilla frosting with red food coloring for dark red color for the lips)
5. 2 tbsp white vanilla frosting
6. 1 can (16 oz) chocolate frosting
7. ½ cup chocolate sprinkles
8. 2 black jelly beans
9. 2 miniature York peppermint patties
10. 1 red Twizzler

Other Tools -
1. A bread knife/
2. A serving platter
3. 2 resealable sandwich-size plastic bags (Ziploc)
4. Kitchen shears or scissors

Trimming the cakes -

1. Place the cake on a clean work surface. Using the bread knife, trim a 1 ½-inch triangle-shaped notch from opposite sides of the cake (see template). Discard scraps. Place the trimmed cake onto a serving platter.
2. Cut ½ inch from one side of each doughnut.



For the white, red, and pink frosting -
1. Spoon ¼ cup of the untinted vanilla frosting into a resealable plastic bag.
2. Add enough red food coloring to 2 Tbsp of the vanilla frosting to tint it red and spoon it into a separate resealable plastic bag.
3. Add a few drops of the red food coloring to the remaining vanilla frosting to tint it a pale pink.

Frosting the cake -
1. Spread the chocolate frosting onto the top and sides of the cake
2. Spread the pale-pink frosting into a kidney bean–shaped area over the monkey's mouth, chin, and cheeks, as pictured.
3. Press the chocolate sprinkles into the forehead, the top of the head, and the underside of the monkey's chin.

Assembling the cake -
1. Press the trimmed edges of the doughnuts onto the cake for the monkey's ears. Press the jelly beans into the center of the cake to make the monkey's nostrils.
2. Pipe a red frosting line onto the pink part of the cake for the monkey's smile.
3. Pipe 2 white circles onto the top of the cake for the monkey's eyes and press the peppermint candies into them. Add a dab of white frosting for the sparkle in each eye, as pictured.
4. Snip the Twizzler into thin 2-inch strands with kitchen shears or clean scissors and insert them into the top of the cake for the monkey's hair.

ENJOY!