Carrot Coconut Cake

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

We were invited to a New Year get together. It was a potluck and I picked to make a cake. Party was at 7.30 PM and at 3 PM, I still didn't know what I am going to make (it is very not like me. I plan ahead for the week completely a week before). I started looking through my never ending collection of cook books and I chose a recipe called 'Carrot Loaf Cake' from 'Southern Living Cakes Cook Book'. It had so much of oil in it, I started making a note of my modifications. When I gathered the ingredients, I came short on some, so added something else. The  original recipe had no coconut in it. It had drained crushed pineapple and I used sweetened coconut in its place. Result was a completely different low fat cake that looks so good that we are trying hard not to slice it and start eating. The recipe calls for egg, but can be easily substituted with flax seed meal. I usually don't try to convert a recipe into egg less unless I have already made it with eggs and have liked the way it bakes up. So, next time I'll make it egg less so that I can eat it too. Here goes the recipe..

Ingredients:

1. Sugar - 2 cups
2. All purpose flour - 3 cups
3. Baking soda - 1 tsp
4. Salt - 1/2 tsp
5. Ground cinnamon - 1 tsp
6. Coarsely grated carrots - 1 1/2 cups
7. Peeled grated apple - 1/2 cup (Optional. Increase the grated carrots to 2 cups if omitting this)
8. Sweetened shredded coconut - 1 cup
   
9. Vegetable oil - 2/3 cups
10. Applesauce - 2/3 cups
11. Eggs - 2 beaten
12. Raisins - 1/2 cups
13. Chopped walnuts - 1/2 cups
14. Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
15. Almond extract - 1/2 tsp
16. Lemon extract - 1 tsp
17. Confectioner's sugar - 2 TBSP for dusting (optional)
    

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease and flour a 9 or 10 inch tube pan or a bundt pan. You can make these into loaves. You'll get two standard loaves or 3 small (not mini) loaf cakes out of this measurement. I used a tube pan. In a bowl, mix flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon. Set aside. In a large bowl, mix oil, sugar, applesauce. Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition. Add the extracts. Fold in the grated carrots, coconut and apple (if using). Slowly fold the flour mixture and at the end fold in raisins and nuts. Batter will be very thick. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 55 minutes to an hour till done (by toothpick test) if using the tube pan. If baking in a larger loaf pan, it might be ready between 45 and 50 minutes. Let stand in baking pan for 15 minutes and then invert to the cooling rack. Cool completely on the wire rack. Dust with confectioner's sugar (if desired) and serve.

Happy Baking!! Pin It

Rave Unde (Rava Laddoo)

We were visiting relatives this past week. There was a ceremony for which I volunteered to make sweets and savory things and carry it over. One of the sweets I made was 'Rave Unde' or 'Rava Laddoo'. Here is my version of it..

Ingredients:

• Fine Soji (Chiroti rave) - 3 cups
• Sugar (Measured and then powdered) - 2 1/2 cups
• Sugar - 3/4 cups to make syrup.
• Grated dry coconut (Kobbari or copra) - about 1 cup
• Ghee - 1 cup (You can put upto 1 1/2 cups, but 1 cup is a minimum that you need)
• Cardamom powder - pods of 9 - 10 cardamom or a tsp.
• Cloves - 5 - 6 (optional)
• Broken cashews - 1/2 cup
• Raisins - 1/2 cup (I used the green ones that we get in Indian stores)

Method:
Dry roast the soji or rave till done. Make sure it is not raw because once you mix it with sugar, you cannot fix it. Couple of ways to check to see if they are done are: put a small amount in your mouth (roasted rava) and you should be able to get a feel as if you are biting a cracker or something that is well roasted. And they should not have the raw smell. Keep aside. Heat ghee in the same pan. When hot, add cloves if using, when they splutter, add broken cashews and when they are half done, add raisins. Now, stir the roasted rava and mix well. Turn off the heat and add powdered sugar, grated dry coconut, cardamom powder and mix well. In a saucepan, bring 3/4 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup of water to a boil. Turn it off. (I do this way so that the rave unde can be stored for longer periods of time. If you use milk and do not refrigerate, they get a funky smell after few days). This simple syrup is used in place of milk to help make the balls.
When the mixture has cooled down a little bit (good enough for you to handle, but not totally cool), put couple of spoons of the sugar syrup and start making balls. For the above mentioned quantity, I got 50 undes or laddoos. But, I didn't make mine too big.  After forming the ball, let them dry on a plate for 10 - 15 minutes and then you can store them in an air tight container.

Happy New Year everyone!! Pin It

Cake Decorating Basics - Part 3

First of all, I need to apologize for not adding more posts to this series before. I got sidetracked by all the holiday cookies I ended up making. This post is a continuation of the previous posts Part II and Part I.

This post is dedicated to frostings, frostings and frostings. Base for any frosting is fat (butter, creamcheese, heavy cream, shortening),flavorings (vanilla, almond, butter, lemon or any other extracts) and sugar. Most of the decorators use three kinds of frostings mainly. They are buttercream frosting, cream cheese frosting and whipped cream frosting. There are advantages and disadvantages of each.

Buttercream frostings: There are two kinds of buttercream frosting. Powdered sugar or confectioner's sugar based and the other is egg white based or Meringue buttercream. Powdered sugar buttercream tends to be very sweet, but can be left out at room temperature for more than 24 hours. Meringue buttercream are very soft and not so sweet, but cannot be left out at room temperature for long. Powdered sugar buttercream is the best to make flowers and decorate the cake. You can make some kind of flowers using meringue buttercream, but not all. We'll be concentrating on powdered sugar buttercream frosting in this post. I have never made or ate meringue buttercream since it uses egg and I try to avoid using eggs as much as possible.

Creamcheese frosting: These frostings are great on fruit flavored cake or spice cakes. In these, part of the fat is from creamcheese along with butter and/or shortening. These are very similar to regular powdered sugar buttercream, but are not sickly sweet due to tang of cream cheese. You can pretty much make any decoration using this, but cannot be left out for more than couple of hours. We'll talk about this in the next post.

Whipped cream frosting: This is whipped cream with sugar. This one is not very sweet, so lot of people love them, but is not suited for a lot of decoration. You can frost the cake with this, but even piping a simple border is a challenge. Also, the decorations might lose shape if left out of the refrigerator for couple of hours. These are great to swirl on cupcakes though. There are many ways of making it sturdy by adding pudding mix to this frosting, but they still need to be refrigerated. There is another frosting called 'mocked whip frosting' which can be left out and is made by cooking flour and milk and adding butter and sugar. We'll go over that in future posts.

BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

Did you know that when someone says buttercream frosting, it need not have any butter in it? I did not know that till I took wilton cake decorating courses. I was shocked when I heard about this in the first class. I honestly think that every mom should make her kids' birthday cakes herself with or without decorations. Bakery uses tubs of frostings that come prepared and have high transfat shortening in it. Why? firstly because it is easy to handle shortening based buttercream than butter, secondly shelf life is very long and finally they can withstand the temperature of hottest places in summer. If any of you have used shortening to make the buttercream, you'll know that zero transfat crisco based buttercream tend to melt compared to high transfat shortening based one.

Wilton's all shortening white buttercream

Ingredients:

For stiff consistency -

1 cup solid vegetable shortening

2 TBSP water or milk

1 TBSP meringue powder (This helps in crusting, to make it egglesss, add 1 TBSP of corn starch in its place)

4 cups of powdered sugar.

Flavoring - vanilla or almond or butter or combination of these extracts.

Method:
Beat shortening, meringue powder or corn starch and 2 TBSP of water. To avoid sickly sweetening taste, add a pinch of popcorn salt or grind regular salt very finely and add or dissolve salt in 2 TBSP of water and use that instead. Slowly add powdered sugar and beat till mixed very well. This is perfect for making roses, string work.

To make it medium consistency - To the above recipe, add 1 TBSP of liquid and beat. This is used for making drop flowers, borders, flat petaled flowers, stars.
To make it thin consistency - To the above recipe add 2 TBSP of liquid and beat or 1 TBSP of liquid to medium consistency buttercream. This is used for icing the cake, writing, cornelli lace.
You can know more about where to use which consistency icing here. If the consistency is not correct, you can always make it thicker or stiffer by adding more confectioner's sugar and thin by adding more liquid and whipping or mixing again.
This can be stored in refrigerator for 2 weeks if using milk or outside for 2 weeks if you use water.

A tip: If you are planning on coloring this buttercream with violet, make sure you use milk. If you use water, it'll turn blue and never be violet.

Half and Half buttercream

I call it half and half because this is basically the same recipe as mentioned above but uses half shortening and half butter. This is much better tasting buttercream than wilton's all shortening buttercream. But, you might not need all the liquid since butter has some water content in it. There is one important thing no recipe tells you. That is your body heat. Some people have very warm hands. Those people need to make their icing stiffer than usual to prevent sugar melting due to heat and becoming hard to pipe.Once you play with the icing, you'll know what works best for you.

Now coming to my favorite buttercream which crusts beautifully and I can control the consistency very well is here..

My Favorite buttercream
This is a result of my experimenting with various buttercream recipes from different websites and forums. I have come to the conclusion that this is the best suited for me so I am sharing this with you all..

Ingredients:
1 cup unsweetened butter at room temperature
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup of solid vegetable shortening (crisco)
flavoring (I use quite a bit vary according to your taste) - 2 tsp of favorite extracts.
3 pounds of confectioner's sugar
1/4 cup corn starch
Heavy whipping cream  - 6 to 8 TBSP based on the consistency desired.
Corn syrup to thin the icing if needed.

Method:
Beat butter, shortening together till creamy. Add salt and slowly add confectioner's sugar about a cup. Then add whipping cream in steps of 3 TBSP each and alternately add confectioner's sugar and corn starch till you have used up all the sugar.Beat for a minimum of 15 minutes and adjust the consistency using corn syrup.

There is no picture for this post, but I am away for the week and not in my kitchen. So, whatever I write if I write till I get back home will not have pictures. Any questions, leave a comment and I'll answer it to the best of my knowledge.

Hope you have enjoyed reading this post. Pin It

Repost of Eggless goodies for an event

Since I am new to blogging, I don't even know who has what event going on. Many a times I'll have made something which qualifies to be sent for an event, doesn't get sent due to ignorance. I came across Sara's Corner's Cakes and Cookies event, I thought why not send them since all these are egg less.

Here goes my entries to this event.

Date Cake with Coconut

Coconut Almond Cookies

Coconut Macaroons

Dry Fruit Cookies

Peanut Butter Cornmeal Cookies

Vegan Almond Cookies

Happy Holidays everyone!!

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Cranberry White Chocolate chip bars

In my previous post, I had written that I would give the recipes of the cookies in coming posts. Here is the fourth recipe.I make these when I am pressed for time. Since my plan was to make four kinds of cookies for the platter, and by the time I finished making 3 kinds, I was exhausted. All were made the same day with regular house work and my full time job, so I used my other recipe as a base which uses cake mix to make the bar cookies. Here goes the version of this one..

Ingredients:

1. Cake mix - 1 pack I have used white cake mix here.
2. Butter - 1 stick or 1/2 cup melted.
3. Eggs - 2  You could use Ener-G egg replacer here.
4. Light brown sugar - 1/2 cup
5. Vanilla - 1 - 2 tsp.
6. White chocolate chips - 3/4 cup. 
7. Sweetened dried cranberries - 1 cup.

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Rub a 13 X 9 aluminum cake pan with the butter wrapper that you used the butter slab of. Melt the butter in a microwave safe bowl. Add brown sugar, vanilla, eggs to it. Mix and then dump the whole pack of cake mix to it. Mix well with a wooden spoon. Stir in chocolate chips and cranberries. Dump the dough on to the pan and spread evenly with the spatula. score couple of places with a fork. Don't worry, they won't be visible after baking. It is just to make sure they don't puff up in the center. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes or until the toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If you are using a dark coated non - stick pan or a glass pan, reduce the temperature to 325 and bake 3 - 5 minutes longer. Cool on wire rack for at least 30 minutes before slicing. Typically this should make 24 bars ( 6 X 4 rows), but I have always cut them into 7 X 5 to get 35 pieces. It stays fresh for a week in room temperature and you can freeze them for up to 3 months.

I am sending this to Food Blogga : Eat christmas cookies and the beautiful cookie roundup.And to Priyanka's Its' Time To Jingle Again Christmas event.

Happy Baking!! Pin It

Coconut Macaroons

In my previous post, I had written that I would give the recipes of the cookies in coming posts. Here is the third cookie recipe. This recipe is adapted (barely) from here. I did make the cookies much smaller than what the original recipe called for and baked at lower temperature. Here goes my version..

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 5 1/2 cups flaked coconut - 1 14 Oz sweetened flaked coconut bag.
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For Dipping: (This step is optional)

• Chocolate candy coating (almond bark) -  1 1/2 squares
• Semi sweet baking chocolate - 1 square

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, coconut and salt. 
3. In a microwave safe large bowl, warm the sweetened condensed milk  for 2 - 3 minutes. (This is to make it easier to mix the dry ingredients). Add vanilla  and stir well. Add the dry ingredients and slowly mix using a strong wooden spoon or your hands until well blended. Cover and refrigerate for an hour to make it easier to shape. Use a cookie scoop to measure the dough and make nice ball using your hands. Wet your hands with little water if needed and place on the prepared cookie sheets. Original recipe asked to make golf ball size cookies, but I made mine about an inch big.
4. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes in the preheated oven, until coconut is lightly toasted. You can bake for longer if you like it more toasted. 
5. If you want to dip them in chocolate, in a microwave safe bowl, melt both chocolate and candy coating. Stir well. Now dip the bottom of the cookies and place them on wax paper. Let it set for about 20 - 30 minutes. Now macaroons are ready for packaging.

 I am sending this to Food Blogga : Eat christmas cookies and the beautiful cookie roundup.And to Priyanka's Its' Time To Jingle Again Christmas event.

Happy Baking!! Pin It

Ginger Spice Cookies

In my previous post, I had written that I would give the recipes of the cookies in coming posts. Here is the second recipe. This recipe is adapted (barely) from here. I am posting my version here..

Ingredients:

1. 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2. 2 teaspoons ground ginger
3. 1 teaspoon baking soda
4. 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
5. 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
6. 1/4 teaspoon salt
7. 1/2 cup butter softened
8. 1/4 cup Shortening (zero transfat)
9. 1 cup white sugar
10. 1 egg
11. 1 tablespoon water
12. 1/4 cup molasses
13. 1/4 cup raw sugar for rolling the cookie ball

Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat mat. Sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together the shortening, butter and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then stir in the water and molasses. Gradually stir the sifted ingredients into the molasses mixture. Shape dough into walnut sized balls, and roll them in the raw sugar. Place the cookies 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet, and flatten slightly.Sprinkle more raw sugar if needed.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.  These cookies puff up a little and then go flat once they are cooled.

I am sending this to Food Blogga : Eat christmas cookies and the beautiful cookie roundup.And to Priyanka's Its' Time To Jingle Again Christmas event.

Happy Baking!!

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Chocolate chip cookies

In my previous post, I had written that I would give the recipes of the cookies in coming posts. Here is the first one of them. I collected this recipe from a forum I used to participate in. I do not know the original source of this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups self-rising flour (See tip below)
  
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 pkg vanilla pudding (Instant no sugar added)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup butter (softened)
  
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 3/4 cups brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 TBSP vanilla
• 1 tsp butter flavoring (optional)
  
• 1 bag Nestle chocolate chips (12 Oz) or any other chocolate chips. One bag is about 2 cups.

Method:
Cream butter and sugars very well. Add one egg at a time and beat. Add the vanilla, butter flavoring. In another bowl, mix self rising flour, all purpose flour, salt, pudding mix and stir well. Slowly add dry ingredients to butter sugar mixture and beat at low. Dough will be thick and you might have to fold using a spatula at the end. Stir in chocolate chips. Preheat the oven to 350 F and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Make 1 inch balls of the dough and bake for 10 - 12 minutes. You can make them bigger and bake for longer. This makes about 5 - 6 dozen cookies depending the size of the ball you are making. You can make them into a log and freeze and slice and bake when required. Just add 2 - 3 more minutes in the oven. (Try to use up the frozen dough within 3 months)

Tips:
If you do not want to buy self rising flour, here is how to make it using all purpose flour. For each cup of all purpose flour, add 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt. Mix well and then measure out and use as per the requirement.

I am sending this to Food Blogga : Eat christmas cookies and the beautiful cookie roundup.And to Priyanka's Its' Time To Jingle Again Christmas event.

Happy Baking!! Pin It

Holidays Cookie platter for kid's school

I had mentioned earlier in my post that I bake goodies for the school for the holidays. This time, from two kids I have 5 teachers to give gift to. Along with a small gift for each teacher, I made a box of goodies for each of them. But, there are lot of other people (staff and other teachers) whom I don't give a gift. So, I make a big platter of cookies and leave it in the office for them. This time, I made four different goodies. Recipes will follow in future post, but here are what they are.

1. Chocolate Chip cookies
2. Cranberry white chocolate chip bars
3. Coconut macaroons
4. Ginger spice cookies

Here is how the platter is before wrapping up..

Center one is ginger spice cookies. You can see coconut macaroons in two places. I dipped the bottom in chocolate.

Here is one after wrapping up. Picture didn't come out very good but I was tired after baking so many batches of cookies.

And one of my friend wanted to see the plate. It is so pretty I feel bad to cover it up. Here it is.. You can see the boxes of goodies for the teacher on the side. (I didn't take a picture since they were not decorative and they went in a gift bag along with the gift)

Now coming to the picture of goodies, what to expect in future posts..

Chocolate Chip cookies..

Cranberry White chocolate bars..

Coconut Macaroons dipped in chocolate..

Ginger spice cookies..

Update - I have posted the recipes for these here.

1. Chocolate Chip cookies
2. Cranberry white chocolate chip bars
3. Coconut macaroons
4. Ginger spice cookies
   

Happy Holidays Everyone!!

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Masala Corn Muffins

I have always dreamed of perfecting a savory paniyaram recipe which can be baked. The one you use dosa batter and add onions, chillies and cilantro to it and pour into paniyaram/appe/gundupongal pan. I had made couple of versions of the same in the oven and they were okay, not extravagant or anything like that. I wanted to make some savory muffin using corn meal for Madhuram's 'Whole Grain Event - Corn'. When I was at the grocery store the other day, it hit me. 'Avocado' as an egg re placer. I used the recipe by Emeril Lagasse. But I should say I have adapted this recipe so much to my taste (or Indian taste), this is a completely new recipe. Here goes the recipe..

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup finely chopped onions
• 1 teaspoon salt (Might have to add more depending on how hot your muffins are)
  
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal (I used stone ground)
  
• 1/2 TBSP baking powder
• 5 green chillies chopped very finely (You might increase it if you want it hotter)
  
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 3 TBSP oil - divided use
  
• Mashed Avocado - 1/4 cup (It is a little more than half a medium size Avocado)
  
• 2 pods of garlic finely chopped
  
• 1 TBSP honey (You could use sugar here or even omit it altogether)
• Chopped cilantro - 1/4 cup
  

Method:
In a sauce pan, heat 1 TBSP of oil and saute green chillies, garlic, a pinch of salt and onion till onions are cooked. Add chopped cilantro, mix well and turn off the heat. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 375 F. Spray a mini muffin pan with vegetable oil spray. In a bowl, mix corn meal, all purpose flour, salt, baking powder. Stir to combine. In another bowl, mix oil, honey, mashed avocado and buttermilk. Stir well. Add the cooked onion garlic mixture to this and combine. Now, add the dry ingredients slowly and stir to combine. Don't over mix. Check for salt and add more if needed. Fill mini muffin pans almost full and bake for 12 - 15 minutes or till done. Cool on the wire rack and remove from the pan after 2 - 3 minutes. If you are using regular muffin pans, you might have to bake it for 18 - 22 minutes. I got 22 mini muffins from the above recipe.

Serve warm or at room temperature. Left overs can be reheated and eaten.

Happy Baking!! Pin It

Chegodilu / Chekodilu for Indian Cooking Challenge

When I saw this month's (first time for me) recipe, it reminded me of Kodubale which is a karnataka speciality. I love kodubale especially the ones my mother makes. When I say they are the best kodubale I have eaten, I am not lying and it is not even due to my mother's love that makes me say it. Hers are the best. Anyway, coming to this recipe, I used one of the recipe given. Link to the announcement is here.  I am copying the recipe that I followed here..


Ingredients:

1. Rice flour - 3/4 cupAll purpose flour/ Maida - 1/4 cup
2. Ghee - 2 tbsp
3. Ajwain - 1/4 tsp (I used 1/4 tsp jeera and 1/4 tsp white sesame seeds in its place)
   
4. Red chilli powder - 1/4 tsp
5. Turmeric really a pinch
6. Salt as per taste
7. Oil to deep fry

Boil 1 cup water in a bowl, add salt to it.

When the water starts boiling, remove from stove, add ajwain, red chilli powder, turmeric and flours. Stir with a ladle to make sure it is mixed well. Pour ghee on it and cover.

Once it cools, knead it to form smooth dough.

Pinch out small balls of dough and roll them like threads between your palm, bring the ends together to form into small rings.

Fry them in hot oil til they turn golden in color. Pictures didn't come out good. I was in a hurry. Here is one more..

Happy Cooking!! Pin It

Instant Congress Kadalekayi (Spiced Peanuts)

If you are from Karnataka or have visited karnataka and eaten churumuri (puffed rice spice mixture you get from street vendors), you know what I am talking about. Traditionally peanuts are dry roasted and skin removed and then spiced up. I am giving the version of using already roasted and skinned peanuts. This is very easy, but very tasty and can be addictive.

 

Ingredients:

1. Dry Roasted peanuts (unsalted) - 2 cups
2. Veg or peanut oil - 2 TBSP
3. Hing - a big pinch or two
4. salt - to taste
5. Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
6. Pepper crushed to coarse powder - 1 TBSP or more
7. Rasam powder - 1/4 tsp - 1/2 tsp (optional)
   
8. Sugar - 2 tsp
9. Curry leaves - half a handful

Method:
Dry roast the curry leaves till crisp. Set aside. Heat oil in the same pan. When hot, add hing and then add peanuts. Stir to coat oil. Keep the pan on low heat and add turmeric, pepper powder, salt. Mix well and add rasam powder if using and sugar.Stir well and adjust the seasonings. Meanwhile, crush the dried curry leaves and add it to the mixture and after a minute or two turn off the heat. You can snack on this as is or make churmuri and eat.

Happy Cooking.

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Peanut butter Cornmeal cookies (Vegan)

When Madhuram announced her 'Whole Grain Baking event - Corn', I wanted to try something with cornmeal that I had bought to make some corn muffins for my kid's school. This is based on my Vegan Almond Cookies recipe. Outcome was surprisingly crunchier from outside and soft and chewy from inside cookie. I am not a big fan of peanut butter. I wanted to try it out on peanut butter and then if it came out good, would make it with almond butter. (See, almond butter is much more expensive than peanut butter) Here goes the recipe..

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar (Increase it to 1/2 cup if using no sugar added peanut butter)
  
• 1/2 cup stone ground yellow cornmeal
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 - 3 tsp of water/soy milk to bring the dough together.
• More Sugar for rolling the cookie dough.

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or use silpat mat. Mix peanut butter and sugar thoroughly. Mix vanilla to the peanut butter sugar mixture. You can use the electric beater, but I mixed it by hand. Mix the flour, cornmeal, baking powder in another bowl and stir to combine. Add this mixture to the peanut  butter, sugar mixture and mix with hand. Sprinkle water a tsp by tsp to get the cookie dough consistency. It won't be a very smooth dough, it will be a little crumbly so don't put too much of liquid. Make key lime size rounds from the dough and roll it in sugar and flatten it with a fork (You can do criss cross or pattern with the bottom of the glass) and place on the cookie sheet. It will not spread, so if you don't flatten it, you'll get a peanut cookie ball. I got 30 small size cookies for the above measurements. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes or till the bottom of the cookie has golden brown color. If you touch the cookie when it is still hot, it'll be soft. They get harder as they cool down. Cookies are crunchier due to cornmeal. It adds texture to it. But if you like it less crunchier, use 1/2 cup of all purpose flour and 1/4 cup of cornmeal. Or go for fine ground cornmeal.
I am sending this to Madhuram's Whole Grain Baking event - Corn.

Variations:
Can make this with almond butter instead of peanut butter. In that case, use 1/2 cup of sugar and almond extract.


Happy Baking!! Pin It

Barley Dosa

When Madhuram of Egglesscooking announced the 'Whole Grain event - Barley', I was excited to try something new. I did not want to just use the barley flour, but wanted to use the whole barley and bake a casserole. I didn't get around to do it due to Thanksgiving holidays combined with my vacation. The event is now over, but I had a pack of whole barley (not pearl barley) sitting and staring at me in my pantry. I used it to make dosa and not only they are healthy, but yummy too. Here goes the recipe..

Ingredients:

1. Whole Barley - 2 cups
2. Urad gota - 1/2 cup
3. Methi seeds - 1 tsp
4. Salt - to taste
5. Oil for making dosas.
   

Method:
Soak Barley, methi seeds and Urad for  5 - 6 hours. Rinse thoroughly and grind to a fine paste like any other dosa batter. The batter will look grainy even when it is a fine paste. Test between your fingers to check if it is done. Add some salt and let it ferment for 8 - 10 hours. When ready for use, heat a dosa tawa or cast iron skillet and make dosas. Serve with any chutney of your choice. Here, I have served with coconut coriander chutney (recipe follows). You could serve with other chutneys like Cranberry Chutney, Heerekayi sippe chutney or plain chutney powder with some oil. I found that these dosas are soft and not crispy like normal dosa made with rice. You could use half rice and half barley if you want it a little crispy. Color of the dosa will not be bright white either. All in all this recipe is very good for lowering cholesterol and is good for diabetic people too.

Recipe for Coconut Coriander chutney:

Ingredients:

1. Grated Coconut of 1/2 a coconut or about 1/2 packed cup of coconut gratings.
2. Tamarind - a key lime size ball
3. salt - to taste
4. Green chillies - 8 - 10 or to taste
5. Cilanthro - chopped 1/4 cup or more if you like the flavor
6. Dalia or hurigadale or putani - 1/4 cup

For tempering:

1. Oil - 2 tsp
2. mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
3. curry leaves - a few
4. hing - a pinch

Method:
Grind all the ingredients with little water to thick paste. Adjust the salt. Heat oil in a small pan and when hot, add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add curry leaves, hing and turn off the heat. Pour the contents of the pan to the chutney and mix well.



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Some Money saving tips on food

Even before I started blogging, I used to communicate with couple of already established bloggers. Sometimes I would leave a comment there saying how differently I would do something or if you buy it in a particular store, how you can save money. One such blogger who became my friend once asked me if I could write up something so that she can post it on her blog as a guest post. It never got around to be done for various reasons. Since I had jotted down what I want to put it on the post, I thought I'll share it with people who might be interested in it.

Here are some of my thoughts or tips. If you have something to add on to, please feel free to enter them in the comments. These tips involve some work, so these might not work for everyone. Here they go...

1. Buy in bulk the things you use up most. For example rice, instead of buying a 10 lb bag, buy 20 lb bag. Stock it up when there is a sale. Rice doesn’t go bad for years if stored in cool, dry place. Same goes with all purpose flour, bread flour if you bake regularly. I found 50 lb bag of bread floor for 14 dollars in Costco. It does need to be stored, but I bake bread at least twice a week for just the house. When I entertain, it gets used up more. Some of the things you can stock up in bulk are oats, sugar, dals, grains like chana, dry peas, rajma etc. Mixing couple of bay leaves will keep the bugs away. Another way to keep bugs away is to freeze the unopened packets of dal/legumes for couple of days and then transfer to containers. This ensures that the nits if any are killed so that there won’t be any bugs in them. Nuts can be bought in bulk too. They store for a year in freezer. Just take small amounts at a time and put it back in the freezer. Buying big packets of soji/rawa is cheaper. Just roast it and keep it and they’ll stay fresh for months. You can actually roast them in the oven with no effort.
   
2. Just buying in bulk does not save any money if it goes wasted. If you are worried about spoilage, try finding someone who might be interested in the same ingredients and split these with them. It works out great since you don’t have to store all of it.
3.  People pay a lot for the name brand. Quakers oats (2lb +) box costs approximately 3 dollars in most of the stores. (It is 3+, not less anywhere I have seen) If you go for the store brand, it is always less than 3 dollars. Even in Indian stores, Lakshmi brand or Deep brands are more expensive unless they are on some kind of promotion or sale. Basically all these are the same, and it doesn’t make any difference if you use the store brand except for saving some money.
4. Major share of grocery bill is milk. I know you cannot get this in bulk and store. Shop around and keep an eye on the sale. Sometimes stores sell milk for half the price as a promotion. You’ll be able to find some store which sells it cheaper and if that store happens to be on the way to your work or another grocery store you regularly visit, it is actually good thing to buy it there. I know lot of people might think it as waste of time, but you can get enough milk for up to 3 weeks and store it if you have enough space in the refrigerator. Plus, make your own yogurt. Homemade yogurt tastes better, doesn’t have any additives and is more economical. Just do the math here. If you make yogurt for half the gallon of milk, which is around 2 dollars, check how much yogurt you can get for 2 dollars. It is that simple.
5. Butter can be bought when on sale or from stores like BJs, Costco, Sams and frozen for later use. It is so cheap to buy like that than individual packs.
6. “Homemade is money saved”  - This is so true. We are all humans and we all need a break. Instead of eating out just out of laziness, plan ahead and when you make curries, make more and freeze in individual containers so that it is enough for one meal for your family. You can freeze idly batter, dosa batter for up to 3 months. I have a wet grinder and when I make these batters, I make more and after they are fermented, put in different freezer safe boxes (just enough for one or two times) and freeze them. When I am out of the batter in the refrigerator, I take it out and thaw it in the refrigerator for 24 hours and use it. I don't keep this for more than two days after thawing.
7. Buy vegetables from local truck patch or farmer’s market when available in bulk and either freeze them or cook something with them and freeze/can. This summer, I bought a basket of 28 lbs of tomatoes for 10 bucks and froze half of that. With the other half, I made tomato jam, tomato gojju, tomato soup. We are still using the jam. And gojju typically stays in refrigerator for a month if made in proper way. Compare it with 99 cents/pound (cheapest you can get tomatoes around where I live) against this. 
8. Research the prices in all the grocery stores in your area. I have found that ALDI is the cheapest though it doesn’t carry everything we need. Next comes Walmart super center, Wegman’s etc.
9. We are vegetarians and I do use eggs sometimes in some recipes even though I do not eat them. (I decorate cakes for family and friends and it is easier to carve, stack the cakes made with eggs rather than egg less cakes) I have found that there is no reason not to use medium size eggs where it calls for large unless the number of eggs in the recipe is more than 3. I am putting this here since medium sized eggs are cheaper than large eggs and are sometimes on sale for half the price compared to large eggs. 
10. I basically bake and cook everything from scratch, but I do keep cake mixes in my pantry for emergency purposes. With kids around (you cannot make them eat fruits all the time), when they ask for brownies, I can make a batch of brownies using cake mix (actually two batches since this makes a huge pan compared to brownie mix) in 30 – 35 minutes for less than 2 dollars whereas I would use 2 dollars for brownie mix alone for half of this. Refer to my recipe as to how to use a cake mix to make blondies. Same if you make with chocolate mix, it comes close to a brownie.
11. Buy berries in season and spread them on cookie sheet and freeze them. Once they are solidly frozen, pack them in Ziploc freezer bags and freeze them. This will be half cheaper than buying frozen berries when not in season.
12. If you have kids, morning breakfast can be an expensive deal too unless they eat Indian breakfast. Most of the time a working mom like me, has no time early in the morning to make an elaborate breakfast everyday. I do give my kids pancakes, waffles some days. Some days they eat cereal. When I give them pancakes or waffles, it is not made then and there. Even a half batch of pancake would make at least 6 and unless you have more than 3 people eating, it is sort of waste of time. I make it every other weekend and when cooled, freeze between wax papers. Just take them out and pop it in the microwave for 20 – 30 seconds and the pancakes or waffles are ready. I even make the syrup myself once in two weeks. Recipes for them will follow soon. These are much better and healthier than eggo waffles or pancakes you get in the freezer section. At least mine are just 2 weeks old and I save money on it too.
13. If you like Granola and use it regularly for breakfast, it is cheaper and better to make it at home than buy from the store.
14. It is Holidays season now and even though we do not celebrate Christmas, we have to give some gifts to teachers, colleagues etc. Even if your budget is 20 dollars per person, you can’t get anything decent for that money and that 20 dollars times number of people you are gifting add up to a big fat amount. I always bake something for the school and teachers. They love my food and I love baking and it saves me some money on gifts. I would rather give something they enjoy rather than giving something they stuff in their basement and clear it up in their next garage sale.
15. Use coupons. If you use coupons at least 2 times on 50 % of the products you buy in a wholesale clubs like BJ's or Costco, the savings will pay for the membership themselves. You are getting free membership for already low prices.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this.

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Green Mango Apple Gojju

I am very fond of Mango let it be green raw one or ripe yellow one. My mother used to make a lot of savory dishes with green mango like Mango rice, mango gojju, chutney, uppinakayi/pickle. The green ones we get here in U.S are not that sour but this hasn't stopped me in making these dishes with it. I had just one green mango and I wanted to use it up. I mixed this with tart granny smith apples to make this dish. Here goes the recipe..

Ingredients:

1. Green Mango medium size - 1 seeded and chopped.
2. Granny smith apples medium size - 3 cored and chopped.
3. Oil - 2 - 3 TBSP 
4. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
5. Turmeric - a big pinch
6. Hing - a big pinch
7. Red chillies - 2 broken
8. Curry leaves - a few
9. Salt - to taste
10. Tamarind - lime size ball. Soaked and pulp extracted.(You could use ready paste here about 3/4 tsp)
11. Jaggery - a lime size ball or to taste.
12. Rasam powder or saarina pudi - 1 1/2 tsp - 2 tsp or to taste

Dry roast and grind to powder:

1. Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
2. Methi seeds - 1/2 tsp
3. Black sesame seeds - 1/2 tsp

Method:
Heat oil in a pan. When hot, add mustard seeds. When it splutters, add broken red chillies, hing, curry leaves. Now add chopped mangoes. Add turmeric, little bit of salt and saute for couple of minutes. When they are semi cooked, add chopped apples, saute for a minute, add water to cover and let it cook. When apples and mango are cooked, add tamarind pulp or paste, jaggery, rasam powder. Let it simmer for a few minutes. Check and adjust the seasonings. When the raw smell of jaggery is gone, mix in the roasted ground spice powder and switch off the heat. Mango Apple Gojju is ready. This taste great with rice, but goes well with chapathi or akki rotti too.

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Coconut Almond Cookies

When I came across 'Global Kadai' a new event started by Cilanthro, I was very much interested in participating since I consider myself very good at 'Indianising' any recipe that I come across. Announcement of this even can be found here. The challenge was to Indianise a 'Chocolate Mexican Wedding Cookies' recipe which was given in the announcement.

I made lot of changes and here is my version of it. I cannot call it anything near chocolate since I did not use any. Here it goes..

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup butter softened,
2. 2/3 cup confectioner's sugar (I doubled the sugar since I was omitting chocolate)
3. 2 teaspoons ground cardamom
4. 1/2 cup of sweetened shredded coconut.
   
5. 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
6. 1 cup ground almonds
7. a pinch salt
8. 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar for rolling the cookies

Method:
In a large bowl, cream butter and 2/3 cup of confectioner's sugar until creamy. In another bowl, combine flour, ground almonds, cardamom powder, coconut, salt. Stir well. Gradually add dry ingredients to butter sugar mixture. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for 1 - 2 hours or until firm. Preheat the oven to 325 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Shape dough into 1 inch balls (I made mine smaller). Place balls 1 inch apart and bake for 15 - 20 minutes or until cookies are firm to touch.( Even though I made my cookies so small, I had to bake for 17 minutes) Cool 1 minute on the baking sheet and the transfer to a wire rack. I just pulled my parchment paper on to the wire rack.


Roll the cookies in confectioner's sugar when still warm. I hope Cilanthro accepts this for her Global Kadai event.

Observations:
I actually halved the recipe and made small 30 cookies. Original recipe says to make them only 16 cookies and if you do that, they'll be huge. My cookies went a little flat instead of holding the ball shape due to not using cocoa powder in the recipe. But, whatever it is, this is one of the best tasting cookies I have baked and I have baked a lot of them.

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Pecan Pie Bars (Eggless)

One of my friend is having a potluck party this weekend and she wanted to keep the theme to be everything baked. Starting from appetizer to dessert should be baked. Me being into baking lot more than my friends around here, took couple of courses. I am planning to make my pesto crescent rolls and for dessert, I chose Pecan pie bars just because the hostess of the party likes them a lot. I used the recipe from here. I made some changes and made it egg less. Here is my version of the pecan pie bars.

Ingredients:

1. 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2. 1/4 cup white sugar for the crust
   
3. 1/2 cup butter
4. 1/4 teaspoon salt
5. 2 TBSP of ground flax seeds mixed with 6 TBSP of warm water.
   
6. 3/4 cup light corn syrup
7. 1/2 cup white sugar for the filling
   
8. 1 tablespoon butter melted
9. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
10. 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
    
11. 1-1/4 cups chopped pecans (Chop and then measure)
12. 2 TBSP cold water. 

Method:
In a food processor, mix the flour, 1/4 cup of sugar, salt, butter, almond extract and run it till it resembles coarse meal. (Just like a pie dough). I used 2 TBSP of water to bring the dough together. It would have been very crumbly without it. I lined the pan with parchment since this was the first time I was making it and I didn't want the filling to caramelize and give me a chore to clean the pan. Press the dough to a 7 X 11 pan. Preheat the oven to 350 F if using aluminum pan and 325 F if using glass or non-stick. I used glass so I set it to 325 F. Bake for 25 minutes. Meanwhile mix the corn syrup, remaining sugar, 1 TBSP of melted butter, vanilla extract, flax seed and water mixture very well.Stir in the chopped pecans. Pour this mixture on the hot crust and place it back in the oven and bake for 35 - 40 minutes or till set. Let it cool completely in the pan before trying to slice it or removing from the pan. Overall I liked this recipe and I was happy that I could make it egg less so that I can enjoy them too. I cut them as small pieces so that people won't feel guilty about eating a piece. I actually made them into 30 pieces.

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Handvo with green peas

I was exposed to Gujarathi cuisine when I was in my graduate school. I have a friend who is a Gujarathi whose place I used to visit often. Her mom who is no more was an excellent cook who never got tired of cooking a lot of dishes all the time. I ate Handvo in their house for the first time and fell in love with it. I did learn how to make it too.
For those who do not know what Handvo is it is basically a rice and lentil cake baked in the oven with spices and vegetables mainly like Doodhi (bottle gourd), zucchini and sometimes methi. My friend's mom did make handvo with corn kernels once and that is what inspired me to try it with green peas. You could soak rice and dal and grind and let it ferment, but I used the handvo flour you get in Indian store and fermented that. Here goes the recipe..

Ingredients:

1. Handvo flour - 2 cups
2. Yogurt - 1 cup
3. Salt - to taste
4. Turmeric - a pinch
5. Oil - 4 - 5 TBSP divided use
6. Green chillies - 6 (Vary according to your taste)
7. Ginger - 1/4 inch piece grated
8. Green peas - 1 cup microwaved for couple of minutes to make them tender.
9. Baking soda - 2 big pinches (My friend's mom used Eno fruit salt and I didn't have any)
10. Cilanthro - chopped about 1/4 cup
11. Hing - a big pinch
12. Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
13. White sesame seeds - 1 tsp
14. Curry leaves - a few
    

Method:
Mix the Handvo flour with a little bit of salt and yogurt and let it ferment 10 - 12 hours. Add more water if needed to make it a idly, dosa batter consistency. After they are fermented, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a pan with vegetable oil spray (I used a 7 X 11 glass dish). Mince ginger and green chillies. Add it to the batter. Add cilanthro, green peas, baking soda, turmeric and 2 TBSP of oil and mix the batter. Heat the remaining 3 TBSP of oil in a pan. When hot add, mustard and when the splutter, add curry leaves and white sesame seeds. Turn off the heat. Check for the salt in the batter and add if necessary. Pour the batter to the prepared pan. Pour the tadka/ Oggarane mix on the top of the pan evenly. I did not use too many sesame seeds. Traditionally, they use lot of oil and lot of sesame seeds and cover the entire pan with the mixture. Do what you like the best. Bake in the oven till the top is golden and edges and sides have a brown tint. Check with the toothpick at the center and it should come clean. Some people bake it for a long time to get very brown crust which I personally don't like. I feel it makes it hard and chewy. I baked mine for 35 minutes. Let it cool and cut into pieces. Serve with chutney or tea or coffee. I forgot to take a picture before slicing the Handvo. Here is another picture in the pan with slice marks.

You can experiment with other vegetables too. It is similar to corn bread but with spices and vegetables.

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Yam and apple kofta and curry

I don't watch lot of TV, but how much ever I watch, 50% of the time it is food network. Last night I was changing the channels and there was Rachel Ray making some sausage patties. She had onion and a granny smith apple which she mixed with sausage or whatever meat and she made patties and shallow fried them on the griddle. That gave me an idea of making a different kofta which is not really rich. So, here is my version similar to malai kofta but does not have any malai in it.

Making Koftas:
Ingredients:

1. Yam - 2 medium sized ones - steam cooked and peeled and mashed.
   
2. Granny smith apple - 1 medium size, cored and chopped finely.
   
3. Red onion - 3/4 of a big chopped finely.
4. Salt - to taste
5. Red chilli powder - to taste (I used about 1/2 tsp)
6. Cumin coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
7. Garlic - 1 pod minced.
8. Oil - 1 TBSP
9. Corn starch - 2 - 3 TBSP.
10. More oil for shallow frying.
    

Method:
Heat oil in a pan. When hot, add garlic, fry for couple of seconds and then add onions. Sprinkle some salt. Let it cook. Now add the chopped apples and cook for 3 - 4 minutes stirring occasionally. Add more salt if needed, chilli powder, cumin coriander powder. Mix well and turn off the heat. When they come to room temperature, mix it with mashed yam, add corn starch and mix again. This will be a little thinner than the traditional kofta since yams are watery compared to potatoes and here there is no paneer added.

At first, I was thinking of making patties myself since I wanted to avoid deep frying. When I was pulling the skillet, right next to it was my paniyaram pan / appe pan / paddu pan or gundu pongal pan. So I decided to try with that. Heat the paniyaram pan and add a little oil in each cavity / kuli. Make small balls out of the mixture and place it in the pan. After a couple of minutes, check the bottom and if they are nice and brown, turn them around. When the other side is also brown, take it out and let it cool down.

These actually were sweet even after adding the chilli powder. So, next time I probably will add more chilli powder or use potatoes along with yams.

Making the Gravy:
Ingredients:

1. Onion - 1 big chopped
2. Garlic - 2 pods chopped 
3. Tomato puree - 1 - 1/2 cups
4. salt - to taste
5. chilli powder - to taste (I used 3/4 tsp)
6. Coriander cumin powder - 11/2 tsp
7. Oil - 2 TBSP
8. Cashews - 1/4 cup
9. Cilanthro - chopped about 3 TBSP
10. Turmeric - a pinch
    

Method:
Heat oil in a pan. When hot, add garlic, saute for 30 seconds or so and add onions. Add turmeric, salt and stir. When they are half way done, add cashews. When the onions are done, turn off the heat and let it cool down a bit. Place these in a blender and puree them. Return the puree to the pan. Add tomato puree (I used canned one here, but you could make your own). Add about a cup of water and turn the heat on. Now is the time to add chilli powder, coriander cumin powder. Adjust the taste. When they start simmering, add cilanthro and stir. Finally add the koftas gently and cover and simmer for 2 - 3 minutes and turn off. Serve hot with roti, naan, kulcha.

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Cake Decorating Basics - Part II

This is a continuation from my other post Cake Decorating Basics - Part I. I realized that not many people understand the cake lingo or cake language. So, I am writing something up so that everyone can understand some of the basic words used in making cakes and decorating.

Let's start with the ingredients. I have seen people asking questions as to what is this just because it is called something else in their place. I am not an expert about all the ingredients' names all over the world, but will share with all of you what I know.

1. Flour - all purpose flour or Maida.
   
2. Cake Flour - It is a mixture of all purpose flour and corn starch. It gives finer crumb texture compared to all purpose flour. Just put 2 TBSP of corn starch into 1 cup measuring cup and fill it with all purpose flour to get one cup of cake flour.
   
3. Sugar - Depends on the recipe what kind of sugar is called for. White and light brown sugar are mainly used.
4. Baking soda - Leavener. It is responsible for the rising and creating air pockets in the cake. Contributes to texture.
5. Baking Powder - Same as Baking soda mixed with cream of tartar. This has double action. While baking soda aerates the moment it is mixed with liquid, baking powder does so in addition to raising when the temperature gets high (while baking).
6. Liquid - Depends on the recipe. It could be buttermilk, milk, water, juice, coffee.
7. Eggs - Mainly used for binding and in some cases, this is what is mainly used for leavening. Example angel food cake. Most of the recipe calls for large eggs, but unless the number of eggs is more than 4, it is okay to use medium eggs in its place or X-Large in its place. Doesn't make any difference. Also, 4 egg whites equals 3 whole eggs. So, if you just want to use the whites, you can and the texture won't be compromised.
8. Flavoring - Vanilla, almond, butter extracts or any other extract called for in the recipe. Cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg  etc. also fall under this category.
   
9. Fat - This could be butter, oil, shortening (same as dalda in India) or combination of these.
10. Cocoa - Unsweetened in powder form or bar.
    

These are the basic ingredients of any cake. If the ingredient has a prefix of sifted, that means you have to sift and then measure. (Many people call sifting as sieving too) It it has a suffix of sifted, that means measure and then sift.

I won't talk a lot about baking because many people out there do know how to bake. It is pretty simple if you follow a good recipe and measure the ingredients properly. Some of the tips are, don't over mix the batter. Grease the pan well with home made release as I mentioned in my previous post of this series. Don't overfill the pans. Don't open the oven door before at least 3/4th of the suggested time is over. Use bake even strips for even rising. Tap the cake pan 10 times on the counter after filling the batter and before placing in the oven to break huge air bubbles. And always use paddle attachment of your mixer and not the whisk. Whisk is for whipping and incorporating air, not for making batters. Last, but not least preheat the oven at least 15 minutes before you place the pans in and invest in a good oven thermometer to ensure the temperature is what you have set it for.

Now comes the decorating lingo.

1. Leveling - taking the dome part of the cake off so that it is flat.
2. Torting - Splitting the cake in half height wise to make more layers.
3. Filling - Filling with some kind of filling between the layers of cakes so that it looks pretty when sliced. This is the place where you can build your flavors. Example Banana cake with chocolate truffle filling frosted with caramel frosting. I think I gained 5 pounds just by writing about it.
4. Frosting - Covering the top and sides of the cake with frosting like butter cream frosting, whipped frosting, ganache, cream cheese frosting.

And there are some more which are like what is marzipan, fondant, gumpaste, modelling chocolate. I'll cover those in the future post, but I want to explain how to smooth the frosting.

There is absolutely no reason or rule to make your cake covered with smooth icing even though it is required if you want to make decorations. You can make swirls with the back of the spoon or make knife marks and make it pretty and keep it simple if you don't want to go for all the trouble of smoothing. But, if you decide to work hard and make smooth top on the cake, there are mainly two methods used.

• Hot spatula method - This works very well with non-crusting frosting. Dip the spatula that you are using for smoothing in hot water and dry it quickly. Run them to smooth the icing. Dip it again and repeat till you get the result you desired for.
• Smoothing with parchment paper - This works very well with crusting frosting. The ratio of fat to sugar is what makes a frosting crust or not crust. When I say crust, that means after a while of applying, if you touch it with your finger, it will not stick. Most of the wilton frosting recipes are crusting. After they are crusted, take a parchment paper, place it on the cake and smooth on the top of the parchment with your hands. Heat from your hands will melt the sugar, so be careful not to overdo. If needed, let it rest and crust again and repeat. The final touch up to this is by using Viva paper towel. That is the only paper towel with smooth surface. Place it on the cake (yes, directly) and smooth with a fondant smoother if you have and an expired credit card will do the trick too.

That's all for today. I hope you have enjoyed reading this. If you have any question, please leave a comment and I'll try to cover that in my next post of this series.

Thanks for reading and Happy Baking !! Pin It

Heerekayi sippe chutney / Chinese okra peel chutney

My mother, who is a very frugal lady would never make chutney with the skin of this vegetable heerekayi or chinese okra. I have seen other people making it, but my mother's theory is it is waste of time. My in-laws's house has different rules though. They never throw anything that can be used in some other way. I ate this chutney in my SIL's place and I was skeptical to even try it. But, I did love this and it gives a nice change from the traditional coconut chutney. I was making dal or tovve with this vegetable and made the chutney. I did not follow any recipe, so it might not be the traditional way of making it.  Here goes the recipe..

Ingredients:

1. Peel from one big chinese okra / heerekayi in kannada.
2. Oil - 2 TBSP
3. Mustard - 1/2 tsp
4. Green chillies - 8 or more depending on your taste.
5. Salt - to taste
6. Hing - a big pinch
7. Turmeric - a pinch
8. Chana dal or bengal gram dal (kadale bele) - 1/2 cup
9. Tamarind - a key lime size soaked in couple of tbsp of water and softened.
10. Curry leaves - few
11. Shredded coconut - a handful (optional)
    

Method:
In a sauce pan, dry roast the chana dal till golden brown. Set aside. In the same pan, heat oil, when hot add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add green chillies, curry leaves and hing. Add the peel and sprinkle turmeric and some salt. Let it cook for a few minutes till tender. Turn off the heat and let it cool down a bit. Grind this with chana dal, coconut if using and tamarind with very less water to thick paste. Adjust the salt. This goes very well with rice. Mix with hot rice and put some ghee or oil and eat. It can be served with idli, dosa too. The only reason I made these were peels of vegetable and fruits have more nutrients than the inside part and we throw the one we should be eating. And it is yummy too.

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