Eggless coffee pear cake

I had got tired of eating pears.Hence, thought of using pear in a cake.I googled & came across this coffee pear cake using yogurt.I tweaked it a little & my cake turned out beautiful !

Ingredients : 1 cup wholewheat flour, 1/3 cup brown sugar, 3/4 cup curd or dahi, 1/2  tbsp coffee powder ( used Nestle ) , 1 ripe pear  cut into thin slices ( deseeded )  1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda,a pinch of salt, water as needed, optional :streusel topping .

Method : Mix all dry ingredients that is mix atta, baking powder & soda, sugar ,salt & coffee powder together .I mix with a whisk many times over .This ensures that all ingredients are thoroughly mixed.Keep aside.

Line a baking dish with butter paper. I cut pear at this stage, as if cut earlier,pear slices must be rubbed or sprinkled with lemon juice lest they turn  brown.Keep aside.

Mix dahi & the dry mix of atta , baking powder,soda, sugar ,coffee powder & salt.I found that the dahi was inadequate for the batter.Hence, added water  bit by bit. The batter must be like idli or dhokla batter.No lumps should remain in mix. Pour the cake batter into the baking dish.Line the top of the cake batter with thin cut slices of pear. On the pear slices, sprinkle streusel topping  ( I had ready made struesel topping which was a ready mix part of a ready muffin pack ) .Alternatively ,after cake is removed from oven ,it can be sprinkled with powdered sugar or just a plain cake would look lovely with sliced pears !

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade.Bake  the cake at 180 degrees for 4-45 minutes or till knife poked into the cake comes out clean. To be doubly sure, bake in microwave mode for two minutes after the 40-45 convection baking is over. Let it cool. Take out the cake .Put it upside down on a plate.Turn it over.It looks splendid ...mine did...the snap proves that.Cut into desired shapes & serve !

I have replaced the oil with yoghurt in the recipe.Hence, this is guilt free ...oil free cake !

Atte ka halwa

I have always loved wheat flour halwa.I had tasted it many times over in temples & in homes of friends .Recently ,a close friend staying in the same building as me made it .I was tempted to try it.And so I googled about the most easy way to make it.I came across Rak's kitchen liked the recipe stated there.I am cautious as I want to try a very small amount before I get it right.

Ingredients : 1/ 3 cup whole wheat flour, 2 tbsp ghee, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/3 cup water, optional :a pinch cardamom powder.

Method : Roast the wheat flour in ghee in a kadhai till it slightly changes colour. Add water & sugar & mix.Actually ,both sugar & water  will get  absorbed very quickly & the halwa might start sticking to the bottom of kadhai.Hence, keep gas flame on slow from the beginning.

Put off gas.Sprinkle the cardamom powder on top of halwa.Before serving halwa, mix so that cardamom powder mixes nicely with all the halwa.

Dry  fruits like almonds & cashews roasted in ghee can be used a s a garnish on the halwa.Since ,this was my first attempt,I did the most simple version.Next time around,I hope to make this dish more rich .And trust that my snap of the dish will be much better !

Apple sauce cake

I have been thinking of getting back into baking since long. Yet ,with the Microwave convection oven that I have , I had failed many times.Sometimes, the baking soda & baking powder were not up to the mark.At other times, I had forgotten to pre heat the oven.This time around,I wanted to be careful as I baked the convection way.

I looked at cakes using applesauce, flaxseed & wholewheat flour.I did come across a few recipes using wholewheat flour, applesauce ,flaxseed etal.Yet,they used just one or two ingredients.So ,instead of atta, maida was used,I wanted to avoid it. Hence, used my experience & made my version of cake.

Ingredients : 1 cup wholewheat flour, 1 cup homemade applesauce,1/3 cup brown sugar, 1  tbsp flaxseed powder , 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, ,a pinch of salt, optional :some streusel topping

Method : Cut 2 apples into 4 pieces each.Pressure cook them up to 3 whistles.Let the cooker cool.Take out the apple pieces. Depeel & deseed them.Alternatively , the apples can be de seeded & de peeled before pressure cooking them.Make pureee of the cooked apple pieces in mixer. Keep aside. Soak 1tbsp flaxseed powder in 3 tbsp water for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile mix atta with baking , powder & baking soda nicely with a whisk many times.Add brown sugar & salt.Mix thoroughly again.

Mix flaxseed water mix with applesauce.nicely.Pour this mix into the atta sugar baking powder soda mixture. Mix such that no lumps remain. Line a baking dish with butter paper. Pour this cake mix into the dish over the butter paper. Sprinkle  top of cake mix with  streusel topping .Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Bake  in preheated oven at 180 degrees for 30-40 minutes or till a knife poked into cake comes out clean. If ,bottom of cake feels moist, bake in microwave mode for 3-4 minutes.

Cool.Put cake upside down .Cut into desired shapes .

The cake was very moist & dense. Next time around,while using flaxseed meal ,less flour needs to be used. I had streusel topping at home.It was leftover topping of ready made muffin mix. Powdered sugar can be sprinkled as a topping on cake or even shrikhand can be smeared as a topping ! This cake was just aptly sweet.Brown sugar is less sweeter than white sugar.

Rajbhog

I have been thinking of trying out rajbhog ( stuffed rasgullas ) .I thought of going innovative after reading many recipes on rajbhog. And perhaps ,I wanted to pat myself on my back .As rasgullas were turning out quite well in my hands ,I must graduate to the next level that is rajbhog.

I went through many recipes ..namely Easy rajbhog recipe ,Kesari Rajbhog  & some more. I even saw You tube video by Nisha Madhulika.

Ingredients : 1 litre toned milk ( 3.5 % fat ) lower the fat content , better it is for rasgullas, 1.5 cups sugar, 18-20 strands of kesar , 1 tbsp khajur paste,1  lemon cut into 2 halves, 8-10 almonds, 8-10 pistas, 1 -1.5 tsp maida, 1 tsp ghee.

Method : Heat the milk. Put some 8-10 kesar strands into the  milk.After it has boiled, put off gas.Add lemon juice to milk & mix nicely.Milk will start curdling. Slowly ,clear water will clear & cheena will separate out from the milk. This will take 10-15 minutes. Pour this onto a thin muslin cloth kept in a perforated vessel on top of a big vessel to drain the water. The drained chenna water which is  yellowish in colour can be used to make chapati dough & can be added to cook rice. It is rich in proteins.After the chenna has collected in the muslin cloth, wash it by running tap water for some time.This is to rid the chenna of lemon juice flavour. Take all edges of the muslin cloth & make a potli containing chenna. Squeeze all the water out. Keep a heavy vessel on the potli so that remaining water gets squeezed out slowly.Keep aside for 45 minutes to one hour.

Meanwhile boil 1 cup water. Drop badam & pistas into it. Put off gas.After 10-15 minutes, remove badam pistas & peel off their skins.Chop them finely.I had readymade khajur paste. I micxed kahjur paste with chopped badam & pista& kept aside.

If you do not have khajur paste, khajur can be soaked in milk for 1 hour or so.Khajur  will become soft. Drain the milk.Add chopped badam pista into the softened khajur & make it into a dough.  Keep aside.

Take a wide bottomed pan as rasgullas need lots of space.Put sugar. Add 2 cups water.Put on gas on slow flame. Add 8-10 kesar strands. The syrup will get ready as one prepares chenna balls.

Take the chenna which was kept aside. Remove the muslin cloth & drop the chenna on to a plate.Make chenna soft by repeatedly moving palms & fingers as one makes chapatti dough. Continue kneading for 10-15 minutes. This will make chenna very soft. Grease hands with ghee.Add a tsp of maida to the chenna & mix nicely.This will prevent  chenna balls from breaking. Take a small amount of chenna on to the palm.In the centre ,take atiny amount of khajur badam pista dough or mix .Now enclosed the kahjaur badam pista dough from all sides with chenna.Make this into a nice chenna ball by rilling repeatedly in your palms.Keep aside. Repeat by stuffing remaining khajur badam pista stuffing into chenna balls as stated before. By this time ,syrup would be ready as it would be boiling .Drop chenna balls into the syrup.Cover with lid. Let it continue till 5-10 minutes. As lid is removed, chenna balls will have doubled in size.Add one more   water to syrup.Cover with lid & cook for 15 minutes. Put off gas.Let the lid remain.

After 15-20 minutes, remove lid.Let it cool. Refrigerate. Enjoy rajbhog with family & friends !

I observed that I had rolled chenna balls onto maida before dropping them in syrup.This made balls sticky when I took them out from syrup.Next time,I am not going to roll them in maida. The rasgullas or the chenna balls were less spongy,I felt.So ,I must make chenna dough more softer next time around.

Saatvik chhole.

I had read about this authentic chhole recipe in Sangeeta Khanna's blog banaras ka khana.I had tried it before .I had skipped posting what I tried.I had used grated raw mango in place of aam chur. I tried it again .This time I made use of kairi preserve or raw mango preserve.

My mom realised that many kairis had been given to us by our neighbour who has planted mango trees at their factory grounds.Since,mango pickle is not relished  throughout the year.this is because , somehow,the mango pickle loses its crunchiness as , she thought of grating the kairis.Then she added salt,haldi & hing to the grated kairi.And we bottled this kairi preserve to add to dishes as a souring agent in dishes if a change in sour taste was needed.The bottled kairi preserve is stored in refrigerator.

Ingredients : 1 /2 cup kabuli chana &  1 tbsp chana dal soaked overnight, 1 tsp kairi preserve, 1 hari mirchi roughly chopped,1-2 byadgi mirchi broken into pieces, 1bay leaf,3-4  peppercorns,1 clove, 1/2 inch grated ginger ,1 tsp dhania powder , 1/2 tsp jeera powder, salt to taste, 2  tsp oil.

Method : Pressure cook the soaked chana & chana dal with salt for 2-3 whistles.Then slow down the gas & cook for 15 minutes.Put off gas.


Grind all dry spices.Add adrak & hari mirchi to dry ground spice mixture & grind again.

Take oil in kadhai.Heat the oil.Drop the ground spice mixture in that.After the aroma wafts across, add the pressure cooked chana chhole mix to the spices in kadhai.Mix nicely.Add raw mango preserve.Mix nicely.Let it all boil for 10 minutes.It will start thickening .If you need it to be watery,add water. Put off gas.Serve with rotis,naan ,bhature and rice.

This came out so nicely that I am thinking of making it again & again. No bother of chopping onions & tomatoes .And the taste is so authentic !

I added amla candy piece to the water in which the kabuli chana & chana dal was being cooked.This gives the chana the brown tinge .No haldi was added.Even a teabag can be added to water or tea in a small potli ( a thin piece of cloth with tea wrapped & bound ) can be dropped in the water which pressure cooks the chhole.Using tea bag gives the same brown tinge to chhole.I added a pinch of baking soda to the chhole chana dal mix while it was pressure cooked so that the kabuli chana & chana dal are cooked mashably well !

I did not have badi elaichi & so skipped using  it. In the original recipe ,it is added.I added both byadgi mirchi as also 1 hari mirchi as byadgi mirchi has little pungency .

Tomato rice.

I had been served tomato rice in Chennai. They even sell tomato pickles there. This tomato pickle can be mixed with rice & consumed if one feels lazy to cook rasam or dal to go with the rice. Very handy for someone lazy like me.

I looked up many versions of tomato rice on the net. I felt ,I must make my own version .

Ingredients : 1 cup cooked rice  ( rice cooked in pressure cooker ) , 1 tbsp oil,2 tomatoes roughly chopped, 1 onion ,thinly sliced, 1-2green chillies finely chopped, 10-12  kadi patta leaves, 1 small cinnamon stick, 1bay leaf, 1/2 tsp mustard seeds,1/2 tsp garlic ginger paste or ginger paste,1/2 tsp urad dal or chana dal or both, 1/4 tsp haldi, 1/4 tsp hing,1 byadgi mirchi broken into two three pieces, 1 tsp rasam powder, salt to taste.

Method : Spread the pressure cooked rice in a large plate. Keep aside.

Heat oil in a kadhai. Add mustard seeds.When they pop,add urad dal and or chana dal .After the dal has turned golden brow, add byadgi mirchi & kadi patta.Add garlic ginger paste or ginger paste. Mix nicely.Add onions & hari mirchi.Fry nicely.Add cinnamon stick & bay leaf. Mix nicely.Add haldi & hing. Add chopped tomatoes & salt.Mix nicely.Within 5-minutes, tomatoes will start getting mushy.Let it cook for 5-10 more minutes. Mix nicely. It will become a puree now. Add rasam powder now. Mix nicely. Put off gas.

After 5 minutes. Add this spicy puree to rice & mix nicely.Tomato rice is ready .It can be eaten with dahi or raita or with papd or chips.

My tomato rice was just right for my taste buds...not spicy at all.One can add sambar powder as well.Or even garam masala or maybe more chillies.

Mango rasgullas.

I have tried strawberry rasgullas as also orange rasgullas though have not yet posted the recipes.

Since mangoes are the flavour of the season ,i thought of trying mango rasgullas. I googled & came across two recipes.....one at Priya's Versatile recipes & another at boldsky.

I mixed up the two recipes.

Ingredients : 1/3 cup mango puree ( used Kesar mango puree ....home made from kesar mango ), 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 litre fat free milk ( Amul ), juice of 1/2 - 1 lemon, 1-2 strands kesar, ghee for greasing hands, 1/2-1 lemon
.
Method : Boil half a litre of milk.Add kesar strands.As soon as malai starts forming ,add lemon juice by the spoonful ..Keep mixing the lemon juice with milk with a spoon. The milk will start curdling. Keep adding lemon juice & mixing till milk is curdled completely.This stage is when clear greenish water can be seen separated from lumps of solid white milky mass.The milky mass is chenna.

Keep a big white thin cotton cloth over a strainer.Keep this on a big vessel so that the clear water gets collected in the vessel.Strain the curdled milk with chenna on to the cloth on the strainer. The chenna will get collected in the cloth. Add 1 tbsp mango puree to the chenna. Mix nicely. Now wash the chenna with water 3-4 times  to remove all traces of lemon juice. Tie the cloth into a tight knot .This will squeeze remaining water from the chenna. Keep a heavy bottomed pan on the knotted cloth .Keep aside for half an hour to 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, boil 1 cup water in a  pressure pan .Add sugar.After sugar has dissolved inwater, put off gas. Add remaining mango puree .Add 1 cup water. Keep aside.

After 45 minutes of keeping chenna, it will have lost most of the water. Start kneading the chenna. Knead it for a good ten minutes. It will get softer & softer just like chapatti dough. Grease hands & start making small balls of the soft kneaded chenna. Drop these balls in the sugar mango syrup. Pressure cook upto 1 whistle. Then slow down the gas. Let it be on slow flame for 5 minutes. Put off the gas after five minutes.

Let the cooker cool.Remove lid & lo ,the mango rasgullas in mango puree are ready !

Let them cool to room temperature.Refrigerate the rasgullas & enjoy cold mango rasgullas !

I used Kesar mangoes as they are more sweet than alphansos.The sweetness was just right or maybe less sweet. Next time around, would love to try this without adding any sugar & using just pulp with water .