Bliss Cravings .... Dark Chocolate Tea Cake !

There are a very few things that can make one as happy as a dark... Bitter-sweet.... Rich .... Chocolate cake...

Sharing a  recipe that have won many hearts and is the gift I give to most people ... Eat it as it is.... Or with some Whipped Cream and Chocolate sauce.... Tastes Brilliant all the time .

Chocolate cake

100g salted butter

2 tbsp hung curd 

120g sugar

80g Flour

40 g cocoa

½ tsp baking powder

¼ cup choc sauce

3 eggs

1 cup Chocolate Chips 

• Beat the butter and sugar till light and fluffy and till it turns really pale 
• beat in the hung curd 
• Beat in eggs one by one
• Beat in chocolate sauce
• Sift all dry ingredients together
• Gently fold dry ingredients into the mixture
• Pour the mixture into a lined cake tin and bake like a loaf at 180 degrees  Celsius for 30 minutes
• Serve Warm or microwave for a few seconds before serving 

Mushroom Claypot Rice.... Monsoon Comforts .....

Mushrooms, have a natural mood uplifting quality about them. It is said that they have natural MSG like substances in them that intoxicate your taste buds and improve the flavor of anything that they are cooked with. I simply  adore their versatility. However the recipe i am sharing today is a classic and is pure elixir when u have a cold or it is raining cats and dogs outside. well i am blessed to have a kitchen which has no doors or windows and i can enjoy cooking this recipe wile i can smell the whiff of the first rain on the grass.
and this is my favorite monsoon recipe . it also does wonders to a misty glum winter lunch.

Mushroom Claypot  Rice 

Rice Boiled 1 cup

Stock:

Water 1 L

5 mushrooms

2 shitake mushrooms

Carrot ½

Bay leaf

Star anise

Pepper

Boiled shitake mushrooms 6

Fresh mushrooms 6

Fried garlic 1 tsp

Fresh garlic 1 tsp ( grated)

Salt

Pepper

Sugar

MSG

Spring onion chopped 1 tsp ( garnish )

Sesame oil for garish

Oil for cooking

Chinese Cooking wine 1 dash 

• heat all ingredients for the stock for 30 mins on high heat covered.... (till it becomes half) 
• strain and put aside 
• Heat oil sauté garlic and sliced mushrooms till they wilt 
• Add boiled rice and the stock.
• Add the seasonings and cook till the stock gets thicker
• Finish with sesame oil chinese wine and chopped spring onion

P.S. serve with chili oil and chopped spring onion greens on the side.

Aloo.... SIGH !

It seems everyone loves ALOO... Aloo, potato, is one vegetable i have never been able to favorite (although, looking at me you would refuse to believe so ). My family is forever after me to make, Dum Aloo Kashmiri, Cripsy Honey Chili Potato, Tandoori Aloo, Tikkis, and a many more such things... Sharing with you one the the recipes that i teach in the first session of my Indian cooking class.... The trick behing a perfect, semi sweet, Kashmiri Aloo Dum ...

If you are an ANTI- ALOO like me , feel free to make this recipe with  fried plantains (kacha kela ) or Kachhe Kele ke Kofte , Plantain Koftas

Dum Aloo Kashmiri 

Small Potatoes 250g

Onion 3 nos ( make into fine paste)

Tomato ketchup ½  cup

Sugar 1 tsp

Honey 1 tsp

Kashmiri Red chili powder 2 tbsp

Almond powder 2 tsp

Cream ½ cup

Curd ½ cup

Water ½  cup

1 tsp besan  ( gram flour)

Dhania powder 1 tbsp

Turmeric ½ tsp

Ghee 2 tbsp

Salt to taste

cream for garnish

• Peel and fry the potato
• Heat ghee and add sugar and honey
• Caramelize the sugar and add dry spices
• Add the onion paste and cook till dry
• Add the ketchup and cook till ghee leaves sides
• Beat the curd with besan and remove all lumps
• Add the cream and curd to the spices with ½ cup water
• And add the potatoes
• Cook on a slow flame and covered.
• Garnish and serve hot

Guilty Pleasures .... Paneer tikka ....

There are very few things that get me salivating... ( that's a lie) Well there are some that make me salivate more than others... Just like every Punjabi, I love paneer.... and i love it even more if its paneer tikka.... 

Its a very simple recipe but there are a few point that one needs to keep in mind in order to make a good paneer tikka a brilliant one ... sharing a recipe that has never disappointed me hope everyone else loves it too

Paneer Tikka

Paneer 250g

Capsicum 1

Tomato 2 Deseeded

For marinade

Salt

Pepper

 Red Chili paste 1 tbsp

Ginger 1 cm piece

Garlic  3 -4 cloves

Yogurt ½ cup

Mustard oil 1 tbsp

Ajwain 1 tsp

Dhania powder 1 tbsp

Meat masala 1 tsp

Chat masala 1 tsp

Sattu 1 tbsp

·        Mix all ingredients for the marinade together in a blender till a smooth paste is formed

·        Add paneer and marinate for some time save some marinade for tomato and capsicum

·        Arrange in skewers alternating paneer and capsicum and tomato

·        Grill at 250 degrees ( both grillers on ) on grill till golden  baste with butter at end (optional )

 P.S. Top Quality Paneer means Top Quality Paneer Tikka 

 P.S. It is best if the paneer is left in the the marinade for 3 - 4 hours 

Vegetable Au Gratin.... Simple and always Sinful

There are a few simple dishes that cannot be substituted with even the most awesome gourmet dishes.... 

Vegetable Au Gratin is one of them. The creaminess of white sauce .... the fresh vegetables .... and sinful cheese... Gatinee ( or Au Gratin ) is a classic cooking term which means flashing of dry heat in the surface to give a golden crust. Guilty pleasures of cheating on my diet with the pretext makes me make this things in my cafe ... Bon Appetit - The Cafe.... 

Vegetable Au gratin

White sauce (béchamel)

Butter 50g

Flour 50g

Milk 500ml

Double Cream 50 ml

Cloves 10 nos

Onion 1 nos

Nutmeg 1 pinch

Salt to taste

White pepper powder

Cheese grated  for baking 50g

• Heat milk with onion studded with cloves and strain
• Melt butter in a pan and add flour
• Add milk and whisk so that no lumps are formed
• Add the nutmeg and season with salt and white pepper powder
• Finish with double cream 

Corn 50g

Carrot 50g

Green peas 50 g

Beans 50g

Potato 50 g

Broccoli 50g

• Blanch all vegetables after cutting them into small dices

• Mix all vegetables in the white sauce top with cheese and bake till a golden crust if formed.

 All done this golden cheese is too hard to resist.... to hoots to the diet... I DIG IN !!! 

Adios ... till we meet again 

Bon Appetit 

Goin' Grapes .....

I simply love what fruits do to desserts .... and if one gets nice round chunky grapes.... the sky is the limit....
was wondering what fruit i should use on a red velvet cake, as strawberries are not in season and i didn't want to use plums ... Went to the market and saw huge red grapes and got a brain wave ... Whipped some cream and iced mt red velvet into a yummy-licious grape gateaux....

used the trimmings and made Grape Trifle Puddings as well

P.S. I AM ON A DIET ! so i cook to satiate my taste buds... cooking satisfies me way more than eating

See you soon ...