Chocolate and cherry compote slices

Do we need any excuse for having a chocolate cake? Certainly not and there‘s no denying a moist chocolate cake is the most appropriate and enjoyable way to end a meal. If u like and savor it you are most welcome to have a slice baked with fresh cherry compote drizzled and served with your choice of either whipped cream, chocolate sauce or some of your favorite guilt free topping.

Whipping a cake never requires any special occasion or an excuse for me. If I am not mistaken I do bake as often as I can. Trying and testing with varieties of dry fruits, fresh fruits and sampling with nuts ignites my passions and keeps me rolling. I just enjoy shifting all ingredients in the baking pan, turning down the oven and wandering around while the oven does all the work.. After sometime, delicious aroma starts to waft through the house and as the kitchen warms up it is time for me to devour every crumb.

Ever since I have started baking from my 12th grade I have experimented replacing and substituting ingredients but never taken chances with the raising agents that gives life and lift to the cake .Even though the cake tastes delicious but the soft and porous texture makes a lot more difference. Once I remember I was baking at my in laws place and I used Sodium benzoate (preservative) instead soda bi carbonate by mistake and cake turned out to be rock hard. It was such an embarrassment when they were eagerly waiting for their lions share.

I have been visualizing this cherry compote and chocolate combo cake since ages and during my recent visit to the farmers market I quickly grabbed a carton of fresh cherry and happily skipped home to warm the oven and get my mittens ready.

Here are list of ingredients
For the compote
1 cup of pitted fresh cherry
¼ cup sugar

Combine the pitted cherry and sugar in a saucepan and keep stirring on a medium fire till the mixture thickens and resembles like this. Remove and cool it.

For the cake
2 cups plain Flour
2 eggs
1cup sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
2 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup butter
½ cup milk
1teaspoon Vanilla essence

Method. Shift the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder in a bowl. Beat sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla essence and whisk till it is mixed well. Add flour and milk alternatively and mix the batter well.

Grease a baking pan and pour half of the above batter .Spread the prepared Cherry compote evenly and top it with the remaining batter. Preheat the oven 180’c and bake for 25 to 30 min or until done. Slice and serve it with cherry compote.

Note- you can use baking cocoa for rich and dark color and some cinnamon to enhance the flavor the compote. Orange zest also adds zing to the chocolate cake.

On recent browsing of old pictures from the hard drive I found this butterfly cake picture that was completely wiped out of my memory. I baked this cake for my friend’s daughter on her third birthday.

It was a regular sponge cake and I used whipping cream and icing sugar for the frosting.

Dating with Dates - Date rolls or Barfi

Date rolls or Barfi with out sugar!! I can already hear some of you saying, “ Hey don’t spin me round the mulberry bush”

I can tell you that I certainly had my head spinning while going through the ingredients list for the classical Indian style Barfi. The amount of sugar and ghee that go into making this item is just outrageous. If you love Barfi and are also health conscious, I would insist that you avoid looking at the original recipe. Not that it would stop you from eating that, but then why have the additional guilt. J

I decided to try out and see if I could create a low calorie version . So I tried this Barfi’s which do not require any sugar and include just a tablespoon of ghee. While I thought that the low calorie version would taste good, I was quite confident that it wouldn’t be anywhere close to the taste of a traditional rich khoya Barfi. This did not prevent me for taking an attempt whatsoever.

Dates and nuts are always part of my pantry. So this was a quick sweet delight, and with in no time I could shape up the delectable rolls. Luckily, I had some packets of Varak (silver foil) that added the twinkle and luster to these nutty rolls.

By the way, Dates are rich in fibres, and here is an interesting article about some other benefits of dates. Dates are also loaded with natural sugars and they make a scrumptious dessert on their own.

Trying out new dishes and cooking in odd hours is something that I really enjoy. I vividly remember when I completed my high school and we had long summer holidays. I used to sneak myself into the kitchen when my mom used take an afternoon nap. I loved to experiment with new recipes that were shown on cookery shows and would hardly ever miss any of those girly shows that had a segment devoted to cooking. I was so touched when she brought a new oven for me to bake and enjoy my summer holidays. Anyway , back to my recipe.

Ingredients

500 gms Dates pitted and chopped
200 gms unsalted almonds roughly chopped
200gms unsalted pistachios
1tsp poppy seeds
1tsp sesame seeds
1tbslp ghee/ butter
Silver foil or chandi varak (optional)

Method

Heat ghee in a heavy bottom pan. Add poppy seeds and sesame and then add the pitted dates. Keep stirring on a slow fire until they are mixed. This will take 15 approx.

Cool them slightly and add chopped nuts and roll them into logs. Wrap the silver foil and keep refrigerated for couple of hours.

Slice and serve.

The original recipe is adapted from Savvy cookbook Nov-2007

Pumpkin and rosemary loaf

Pumpkin with Rosemary sounds interesting. This was one of the first recipes that attracted my fleeting glimpses while browsing the latest edition of the Superfoodideas. Down my memory lane I had few yeasty disaster that stopped me further pushing myself into bread baking exploration. I was quite content with baking cakes and cookies until I started my blogging. The whole world of wonderful blogs was bursting with some awesome bread recipes that again propelled me to try my hands with this yeasty mystery.

I started using instant dry yeast and results were quite pleasing. Information about various kinds of yeast can be found here. After scores of failure, I realized one of the biggest mistake is the temperature of the water that allows the yeast to ferment. It should be warm enough to make your fingers feel comfortable when dipped. If using the thermometer then the ideal temp is 100ºF for fresh yeast, 110ºF for active dry yeast. Hot water kills the yeast resulting into sure failure.

Now that I have realized my blunder, bread baking is part of my cooking repertoire and the aroma of freshly baked bread often wafts through the house.

The original recipe had called for SRF but I have used a combination of bread flour whole wheat flour and instant dry yeast.

Ingredients
1 cup bread flour
1 ½ cup whole wheat
½ cup corn meal
3tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
2tbslp rosemary leaves chopped
2tsp instant dry yeast
2tsp salt
2/3 warm water/milk
2tbslp pumpkin seeds
1 cup pumpkin puree

Method
Cook pumpkin in a saucepan of boiling water for 10 min or until tender.Cool and gently mash with fork. In a bowl mix flours and corn meal. Add salt, yeast, rosemary, cheese, pumpkin puree and warm milk/water to knead into soft dough. Grease a loaf pan and place the dough in the pan. Cover with a plastic wrap and let the dough rise to double the size. It will take approx 1 ½ hours.

Brush the top of the loaf with milk and sprinkle the seeds. Bake for 10 min in a preheated oven at 220 c. Then lower the temp to 175 c and bake further for 20-30mins till the loaf sounds hollow when tapped underneath.

When done, remove from the oven and let it cool down. Slice and serve with butter or cheese.
It tastes divine.

Some of the websites that I found useful and have got information about making bread are The freshloaf has got some wonderful tutorial for newbie’s. Mydiversekitchen has some great healthy bread recipes too and I also loved the DK's banana bread, it is a must every week at our home. Now I can bake my bread and have it too. I know the corner side baker is not a very happy man when he sees me smiling walking past his shop. Like they say the cat’s out of the bag for him now.

Tandoori Fish

Hello everyone. I am back again. :- ))

I am happy that everything has been wind up very smoothly and now I have moved to the new place and have been enjoying the reunion. It is a bit of challenge again to settle down in a new place where no one anything else but Chinese. And my Chinese is still at the very the basic level. Thankfully the company(where my husband works) takes care of the relocating issues, such as helping us in finding a good accommodation and arranging a new school for Rohan.

Rewinding back, it was in the middle of Rohan’s academic session last year, that my husband got a transfer order to move to Qingdao from Beijing. Normally, for a 4-year old child changing in the midst of the school session would not make much of a difference academically. But somehow I was not too keen for my little boy to abruptly wind up everything and start afresh. So I decided to stay put in Beijing for some time along with Rohan.

I must admit here that staying away from my husband and handling everything along was not the easiest decision to make and live through. Especially with the double the amount of loneliness when u already stay away from your own country and the loved ones. While staying alone, one of the things that I missed was the opportunity to cook elaborate meals as a part of our daily menu. I mean, who do you cook for?? So I used to go for only the simplest meals. The practically dotted my cooking repertoire in the last several months.

Here is one such recipe from those times. Wonderful and an easy to make recipe. Just marinating the fish with the blend of spices and pan-frying them was a complete meal for me.

Ingredients

2 Fish fillet or pieces
3tbslp Yogurt
1tbsp Garam masala
1tbslp Tandoori masala
1tsp Ginger paste
1tsp Garlic paste
1 or 2 Green chillies
Salt to taste
Lemon juice
Chat masala (optional)

Method.

Wash and dry the fillets, apply salt and lemon juice. Blend chilies, ginger and garlic to paste. Marinate the fish with yogurt, dry masala and the paste for at least 2 hours.

Heat oil in a pan and shallow fry them till done. Sprinkle chat masala and lemon juice and serve hot with coriander chutney and some tomato salsa.



My husband had come to receive us at the airport. As a welcome present, he had baked a lovely spiced apple cake for both us. Indeed, the joys of reuniting with your loved ones are bountiful.

COCO - NUTTY SQUARES

Just a few more days of my stay remain in Beijing as we prepare to move to a new destination. Unlike many times before, this time the move is within the country, to Qingdao. Qingdao is only an hour’s flight from Beijing, a nice quiet place away from the din and bustle of Beijing. It lies within a short distance of one of the finest beaches in china.

As always I am excited to start afresh again. Our stay at Beijing over the past 2 and ½ years has probably been the longest that we have stayed at a particular. Sounds strange, doesn’t it. But I feel lucky to have traveled so much and get exposed to many cultures.

This time however, I am a bit worried about my little boy who is very close to his buddies at school. He will have a tough time the first couple of days. But I also believe that kids are the first to adapt to a new friend circle compare to us choosy adults.

The moving company will be arriving tommorow and start packing up our stuff. I thought of quickly baking something with the left over pantry , to help me munch through my remaining days in Beijing.

My wonder full cookie book came to my rescue. I was glad to find a recipe that exactly matches my leftovers.

I used the left over butter and all the dry fruits when the original recipe had called for only almonds. The original recipe had also called for 6 tbsp of butter -- I decided to use only 3 tbsp and added ½ cup milk to make up for the remaining butter.

As I sign off on my last blog entry from Beijing, I have enclosed some pictures of the street where I lived by in Beijing — a nice lively place surrounded by cafés and nik-nak shops that used to keep me busy.

Amen! And I see you all again in Qingdao very soon.

Ingredients

3tbslp of butter
½ cup milk
2 cups rolled oats
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 light brown sugar
2 tbslp wheat germ
1tbslp orange zest

Topping
2 large eggs
¼ cup brown sugar
¾ mixed nuts( almonds, cashews, raisins and handful of tutti frutti)
½ shredded sweetened coconut
1tsp vanilla essense

Method

Grease the pan and prepare the base.
Mix flour, oats, wheat germ, sugar, butter, zest and milk .Press the mix into the grease pan.

Prepare the topping
Beat eggs and sugar and add the nuts ,essence and shredded coconut. Gently the spread the topping on the base and bake it at 180 ‘c for 35 mins or until done.

Then cool cut into desired shapes.

Enjoy and Savour it

Spicy Mutton Curry - also known as " Mansa Tarkari "

Ask any Oriya what makes her or him most nostalgic thinking about a lazy Sunday afternoon growing up and they would say the aromatic smell of pot cooked mutton (mansa) the secret recipe handed down from mother to daughter. The sons accompanying their dads and uncles to the butcher (the local mutton vendor) arguing over the cuts and to add some liver and to hold the fat

Times have changed, places have changed and we have traded a lot to be what we are today and yet something’s never change. Like the aroma of the foods that our mother so lovingly cooked the cricket matches that went on forever and the love that warmed the hearts. This recipe originally comes from the kitchens of the Nawabs that once occupied Kalinga and perhaps this is one of their better remembered legacies.Unlike the mutton curry from the rest of India, this specialty requires the overnight marinade of the cuts and then the slow cooking of the mutton (traditionally this was done in earthen pots over wood fired cow dung plastered home made ovens in the backyard where it would not touch the vegetables in the Handishala (kitchen). With no earthen pots I have had to rather reluctantly use the non stick cookware to cook the mutton to its succulent best by preserving the traditional spices that give it the nostalgic remembrance.I have also tired to make a small variation by holding off the water to make the gravy more thick to be in times with the modern day food styles. Another important variation is not using the fat of the mutton to cook it as well one has to watch one’s heart over one’s tongue.

I recently came across a wonderful article in the reader digest that marinating meat not only enhance the taste but also helps in lowering the unhealthy cholesterol compounds that form during cooking.

Ingredients

500gms Mutton/ lamb cut into pieces

½ cup yogurt

2 onions medium sized grind into a paste with dried 2 to3 red chilies

3 tomatoes cut into pieces

1 tblsp garlic paste

1 tbslp ginger paste

1tsp black whole pepper

3 to4 cloves

1 inch cinnamon stick

3 to4 cardamom pods

1tbslp cumin powder

1 tbslp coriander powder

1tbslp turmeric

1 tbslp Garam masala

2 potatoes cut into big chinks

2 tbslp Vegetable oil

Salt to taste.

Chopped coriander ( optional)

Method .

Wash and clean the mutton and trim the excess fat. Marinate it with yogurt and salt for over night in the fridge.

Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan. Add slightly crushed pepper, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon. when they start spluttering, add the onion paste, sauté till the onion is done and it does not have raw smell. Add the chopped tomatoes and sauté till the tomatoes are blended well. Add the dry masala and salt excluding the garam masala. When the masala is cooked thoroughly add potatoes and marinated mutton pieces (drain the excess liquid from the mariantion).

Keep stirring it on medium fire for approx ten mins. Keep sprinkling water so that the masala doesn’t stick to the pan . Finally add 2/3 cup of water and cover with a lid that’s fits well . Cook on a slow fire for approx 45 mins. Keep checking in between and stirring occasionally so that it doesn’t get dry. Add more warm water if the gravy gets more dry. Finally check if the mutton is well cooked and add the Garam masala and chopped coriander.

Serve hot with plain rice or Jeera ( cumin ) rice. It is delectable.

Kitchen notes . Cooking on a slow fire imparts a great flavor.

If the meat is tough, just add ground raw papaya paste to the marinated meat just couple of hours before cooking. If the raw papaya is not available use ripe papaya skin paste. It is a great natural meat tenderizer

Moist low fat carrot cake

Exercise seems to be slowly disappearing from my daily routine. Last few weeks or to be more precise months I have been concocting every excuse for not hitting the gym. The yoga classes have become passé. My yoga teacher bumped into me recently at a coffee shop,"Hey I thought u have moved”, and my response was that was a good guess, sorry have been little bit busy but I definitely am joining up from next week.

But I didn’t, I have no idea why I am doing this even if I strongly believe in the old adage Health is wealth. I guess I am bored of over doing things.

In the past 18 months hardly have I missed a single class and I was really in a top shape and bouncing with an over dose of energy that I feel is slowly fading away.Exercise in daily routine is a must and no excuse is pardonable.

I was feeling so dull with my midday blues and pinning to have some dessert but was in no guts to gear over the sugar laden ones. The only choice was my low fat carrot cake that I have been baking since last seven years. It is a “no fail” cake and my friends have high regards for this loaf. I had collected this loaf while browsing at the local library. I feel extremely bad for not being able to recollect the author’s name and book .My sincere apologies to the author but only thing that I clearly remember was that it was a superb collection of low fat recipes.

Here goes a moist mildly spiced carrot cake to indulge without any guilt.

Ingredients

¾ cup whole-wheat flour

3/4 cup plain flour

1tsp Baking soda

1tsp Baking powder

1 ½ tsp cinnamon

1 /4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ginger

2/3 cup Brown sugar

3 tbslp oil

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla essence

½ cup skim milk

1 ½ cups grated carrots (squeeze the excess moisture)

1( 8 oz) crushed pineapple tin well drained

½ cup raisins

¼ cup walnuts

Method

Step 1 Shift the flours and add Baking powder, Baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger.

Step 2 In bowl mix egg and sugar, add oil, essence and milk. Mix well till the sugar is dissolved.

Step 3 Add the crushed pineapple to the above mix.

Step 4 Gently add the flour mix and blend till well incorporated.

Step 5 Add the grated carrots, raisins and walnuts.

Step6 Preheat the oven at 180 c. Grease a loaf tin and bake for 25 to 3o mins till done.

My son loved it with the store bought cream cheese frosting. What a treat.

Dahi Macha(Yoghurt Fish) from diaries of Oriya cusine

A lip smacking curry from my humble state and is one of the classic curries we Oriyas are proud to showcase.. Dahi macha has class of its own. Seafood lovers ,we the people of Orissa with a long coastline cannot exclude this relishing mustard curry from our diet.

I have been going through this authentic craving since last few days. Finally gave a call to my dear mom.The mentioning of ingredients made me salivating,Fish simmering in mustard gravy enriched with yogurt was to hard to resist. The ingredients are limited and flavor of mustard is echoed in this recipe. Yogurt blended in this gravy renders a creamy velvety texture.

A journey to Orissa is never complete without slurping the macha jholo( Gravy) and gulping the warm rasgullas from Pahala, the place that is famous for making fresh rasagulla’s before the roost of the cock. .

Source-wikipedia

As I started to cook along, the fragrance wafting from the simmering gravy of mustard with turmeric awoke my hunger and made me feel very nostalgic. Vivid memories of my last visit flashed through my mind and made me browse the lovely pictures captured on celluloid. Lucky enough to be nestled in a place surrounded by beautiful craved temples dating around 11th centuries. Here are couple of pictures of the temples that are visble from our terrace in Bhubaneswar.

Ingredients for recipes
Serves -2
2 pieces of Fish approx 400 gms
½ cup yogurt
2 ½ tbslp black mustard seeds
1tsp posto ( poppy seeds)
1 potato cut into medium chunks
2to3 green chillies or more
2to3 garlic cloves
1 small onion chopped
1 small tomato chopped
2tsp turmeric powder
1tsp panch putona
salt to taste

Method.
Wash and dry the fish. Apply salt and 1 tsp of turmeric powder, heat oil in a pan fry it 5 mins . Don’t over cook it..

Dry grind mustard and posto and then add garlic, chilies and little water to make a paste.

Heat oil in shallow pan. add panch puton , when they start to crack , add onions . Fry them till they are translucent. Add potatoes and fry them. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Add chopped tomatoes , sauté for couple of mins and then add mustard paste, turmeric powder and salt to taste.. Stir on a medium fire for two mins. Add yogurt, fish and ¾ cup of water to the paste. Cover and simmer for 10 to 12 mins till the gravy is thick and potatoes done.

Garnish with chopped coriander and serve hot with rice





PS – I used sea bass but if u prefer the smell of the ocean dweller use Rahu, catla or Hilsa. The gravy will have awesome taste.