Cheese Namkeen

Cheese Namkeen

Diwali is just an excuse to cook and cook some more. It helps in guilt free binging. So do all our festivals for that matter. And why only the ones we celebrate. 

Food is an excuse to binge during all festivals to simply have yummy puddings and Christmas cake during Christmas, Sheer Khurma and meethe chawal during Id, Dhansak and Sali Murgi during Navroz. Festivals are just an excuse to make and share food. 

Ingredients

2 cups flour
1 ½ tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp ghee
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Water to knead the dough
Oil to deep fry

Sift the flour into a big bowl. Add the salt and baking powder and mix well. Pour in the ghee and rub with your hands till the ghee is completely mixed. Add the cheese and mix well. Now make a stiff dough. Knead it well. Cover and keep it for 30 minutes. 
Dust the working surface well with flour. Heat the oil. Make big balls of the dough and roll them out real thin. Cut into desired shapes. I first cut long strips and then diagonal cuts on the strips to make diamond shapes. Deep fry in the oil. 

Sweet and Spicy Chicken

Sweet and Spicy Chicken

If you want a quick and easy snack for a lazy day this is a very good option. Want to curl up on the sofa to watch your favorite movie then this is the perfect accompaniment. This recipe works best with chicken wings. However you can use boneless chicken or simple curry cut chicken. 

Ingredients

500 gm chicken
1 onion, minced
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 tbsp soya sauce
2 tbsp honey
2 tsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp sesame seeds
½ tsp pepper powder
½ tsp chilli flakes
A pinch of salt (remember you are already adding salt through the soya sauce)

Whisk all the ingredients together and marinate the chicken in it for 2 hours. 

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees Celsius. Bake for about 20-25 minutes. 

How to make Sun dried tomatoes

How to make Sun dried tomatoes

Ever have few kilograms of tomatoes on hand and wonder what to do with them. You can make puree and freeze them. However a better use of the tomatoes will be to make sun dried tomatoes. You can have them on pizza or bake them with bread. I like to chew them just like that. 

My kitchen garden yields  lots of tomatoes. They are of the lcal variety and have a sharp sour tang to them. Making a puree is not a preferable option for me because when added to gravy it make them quite sour. Whereas if you use the dried form on Italian food it  tastes superb.

Ingredients

As many tomatoes as you want
Some olive oil
Some salt

Cube the tomatoes. Put them on a big plate. Sprinkle olive oil and salt on the tomatoes and then keep I the sun for a few days. Your sun dried tomatoes will soon be ready. 

Egg Potato Salad

Egg Potato Salad

Well to be frank this is not a healthy salad. It doesn't have green leafy veggies or low calorie dressing. This is creamy and delicious. I came across a new flavor of mayonnaise – Tandoori Mayonnaise. And it is so yummmmmy that I now try to found excuses to eat that in any form. 

Ingredients

2 hard boiled eggs, cubed
2 potatoes, boiled, cubed
1 tbsp Mayonnaise
2 tbsp Tandoori mayonnaise
1 tsp English mustard
Salt to taste
½ tsp pepper power

Mix all the ingredients. Check the seasoning as per your taste. Take a spoon and have a bite. Now that you will not be able to help yourself go ahead finish it off. Now make another bowl for your guests.

Chocolate Caramel Banana Crepe

Chocolate Caramel Banana Crepe

My son has been after my life to make him crepes and of course it has to be chocolate. Banana and chocolate are a good combination. And this is a good way to put some fruits into the young one. It has become an alarmingly prevalent trend with all kids. Junk food ..Yes!! Healthy food…Yukkk!! So like all mothers I have to learn how to camouflage nutrition in the garb of something that will appeal to him


Ingredients

For the caramel Banana
2 bananas, cut into roundels
2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp brown sugar

Heat a pan. Add the butter. As it starts melting add the sugar. Once the sugar starts bubbling add the bananas. 

Swirl the pan around to coat the sugar well. Cook for 2 minutes and keep aside.

For the crepes

2 cups flour
2 tbsp cocoa powder
4 tbsp sugar
1 tsp cinnamon powder
¼ tsp baking powder
½ tsp nutmeg powder

Mix all the ingredients together. Add water and make a smooth batter of spreading consistency. 

Heat a pan. Spoon a ladle full of batter on the pan. Cook for 2 minutes till bubbles start appearing. 

Flip and cook some more. Roll the crepes, spread caramel banana on top and garnish with chocolate sauce and icing sugar. 

This is my son's expression while he was eating.

And this is the modern art he left behind on the plate.

Phoolkophir torkari (Cauliflowers in aromatic spices)

Phoolkophir torkari (Cauliflowers in aromatic spices)

The best thing about Bengali cuisine is the simplicity of cooking and the genuineness of flavors. Most of our food has the simplest of spices which allows the actual flavor of the vegetables to dominate.
 There is no overdose of onions, garlics, garam masala, etc. Most of our food is in fact without onion and garlic.

 I remember my grandmother cooking such lovely yet simple fare every day. Making use of all odds and bits of vegetables she would conjure up such healthy dishes. Be it pea shells, bittergourd leaves, harsingar leaves, banana stems, sehjan flowers and so many more such things that we usually throw away. 
The drawback of urbanization is that we no longer get such green leaves and vegetables in our air conditioned supermarkets. These things can only be found in haats and bazaars. I have forgotten how they used to taste like and my son will never know their unique flavor. 

In the world of fast food joints these simple fares have lost their identity. Not only have we lost out the purity of fresh produce we have lost the recipes and cooking methodologies. Even if some good soul compiles a cookbook where are we going to find these by-products of the main vegetable in our concrete jungles? 

This cauliflower sabzi is very simple yet something that I have to make regularly because it tastes so awesome. The cauliflower is the main star here unadorned by garnishes of masalas. 

Ingredients

1 big cauliflower, cut into florets
1 tsp cumin seeds
4 tbsp mustard oil
2 tsp ginger paste
2 big tomatoes, blended
1 tsp salt
1 tsp turmeric powder
Pinch of sugar
½ tsp cinnamon powder
½ tsp cardamom powder

Heat the mustard oil to smoking point. Add the cumin seeds. When they start to splutter add the cauliflowers. You do not have to lower the flame now as you have to fry the cauliflowers well. Keep stirring or they will start burning. 

Sauté for about 5 minutes till they are golden brown. Now lower the heat and add the ginger paste. Sauté a minute, add the tomato puree, salt, turmeric and sugar. Fry for another minute on medium flame. 

Now lower the heat, cover and cook till the cauliflowers are done. Before taking off heat add some ghee, cardamom powder and cinnamon powder. You can garnish with chopped coriander leaves. 

Moist Carrot Cake with Coconut Cream Frosting and Peanut Praline

Moist Carrot Cake with Coconut Cream Frosting and Peanut Praline

What do you look for in a cake when you read a new recipe? I notice the ingredients first and try to imagine the combination of flavors. When I came across this recipe the first thing that struck me was the awesome mix of various fruity flavors. Carrots, pineapple and coconut. I could already envision a soft fruity cake which would give different bursts of taste with each mouthful. This was a cake I definitely had to bake. 

We literally had a cat fight in the house on this cake. Each slice was measured and accounted for because all of us wanted it to ourselves. It really is a cake worth fighting over.

 It so happened that I applied the icing and then I had to leave the cake for one whole day because I was out. Surprisingly this added to the flavor because the cake absorbed moisture form the icing and became softer. Moreover the coconut cream added to the icing had more time to mix with the cake crumb. The result was awesome!!


Ingredients

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon powder
4 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 ½ cups oil
4 pineapple rings, blended in the mixer
1 cup desiccated coconut 
2 cups grated carrot
½ cup raisins
½ cup chopped walnuts


Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius. Sift together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon powder. Whisk together oil and sugar. Add the eggs one by one beating well after each addition. Fold in the flour mix gently. Add the carrots, pineapple, coconut, raisins and chopped walnuts. Bake for 1 hour. 


For the icing
2 cups whipping cream
4 tbsp coconut cream (if you don't have coconut cream then extract some coconut milk and keep it in the freezer for 1 hour. Then skim the buttery thing that freezes like malai on the top)
2 tbsp coconut liqueur ( optional)

Beat all three ingredients together till peaks start forming. 


For the Peanut Praline

1 1/2  cup sugar
1 cup peanuts, roasted and without the skin

Heat a pan. Add the sugar and keep it on medium heat. Let the sugar melt. Do not stir with a spoon or it will crystallize. You can rotate the pan gently. When the sugar has melted add the peanuts and gently rotate the pan again so that the peanuts are coated with sugar. The sugar will start bubbling and will get a caramelized look. Turn off the heat and tip the whole thing onto a tray lined with parchment paper. Leave it like that till it is completely cool. Do not try to touch it because caramelized sugar is very very hot. Once it is cool break it into pieces and whiz in a mixture. Your praline is ready. 

Assembling the cake

Cut the cake into two halves vertically. I use a big piece of string to cut the cake. 

Now sandwich the two layers with the icing. Spread the remaining icing all over the cake. Apply praline on the icing. 

Sour Chocolate Cake

Sour Chocolate Cake

A friend asked me how often do you bake and when I thought about it I found I was actually baking 5 days a week.
 Baking is so addictive that even at -3 degrees Celsius I can’t stop my shaking, shivering self going into the kitchen. Through my window I can see the snow clad mountains. For anyone who loves hills and dales this is a heart-warming (though body numbing) sight. And the icing on the cake (literally) is the warm baked smell of cakes and breads. 

How many ways can you bake a chocolate cake? A number of ways, it turns out. With vinegar too!! This is a Sour Chocolate Cake and the sourness comes from the use of vinegar which actually complements the bittersweet chocolate. I enjoyed eating it and you must enjoy baking it.

Ingredients

2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
¾ cup shortening
¼ cup butter
1 tsp baking soda
½ cup cocoa powder
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tsp ground cinnamon
½ cup milk
1 ½ tsp vinegar
Mix the milk and vinegar and let sit for some time until it curdles slightly. 
Preheat the oven at 170 degrees Celsius. Whisk together flour, sugar, cinnamon and baking soda. 
Mix together shortening, butter and ½ cup water to a boil. Mix in the cocoa powder and cook for 5 minutes, whisking all the time.
 Cool slightly. Add the milk mix and the beaten eggs. Slowly fold in the flour mix. Bake for about 40 minutes. 

Microwave Choco chip Mugcake

Microwave Choco chip Mugcake

I personally like to bake in a conventional oven. That way you can feel the fresh baked aroma slowly seeping through the nooks and crannies of your house. 
Moreover slow baking imparts a distinct taste, colour and texture to the cakes which is simply not present in the 2 minute cakes. 
However all said and done there is no harm in experimenting. Moreover these 2 minute cakes are just the answer for midnight cravings when you simply can’t spend 20 minutes prepping and 40 minutes baking a cake.

There are so many recipes online. I have taken this particular recipe from isaveazz.com. it is actually ridiculously simple to make and rather nice to eat. Maybe I will try some more variations of these microwave mug cakes. 

Ingredients

4 tbsp flour
4 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 egg
 4 tbsp milk (the original recipe calls for only 3 tbsp. however I have added one more tbsp because I felt my cake needed it)
3 tbsp oil
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 tbsp choc chips

Mix the flour, sugar and cocoa powder in a microwave proof cup/mug.

 Add the egg and mix well. 

Add the milk and oil and mix again. Add the vanilla essence and choco chips and mix. 

Micro HIGH for 2 ½ minutes and you are done!!