Indian doughnuts .. Jalebis dipped in Rabdi and served with mango pearls

Jalebi with dry fruit Rabri and Mango caviar (pearls)

Making jalebi at home is an altogether different feeling. When you see yourself shaping the round jalebis, frying those and dipping the same in sugar syrup, you feel amazing..

And when the jalebis turn out crispy, perfectly sweet, you feel even better... :-)

Yesterday I made these jalebis with almond and walnut Rabri. Added a special attraction of mango fruit pearls i.e. Mango caviar...

Perfect end to a beautiful weekend.

As I wanted to do it quickly, and had no time to ferment the batter for a day, I used rapid yeast to help in quick rise in batter.

Here's the recipe..

Ingredients for Jalebi batter
1) 1 cup all purpose flour (Maida)
2) 2-3 tbsp corn starch( if you prefer more crispy jalebis, you can add 3 tbsp, else add 1-2 tbsp)
3) 2 tbsp yogurt
4) 2 tbsp vegetable oil
5) 2 tsp rapid rise instant yeast
6) Yellow food color (1-2 drops)
7) saffron soaked in warm water( if you don't have leave it. I skipped it)

Ingredients for sugar syrup
1) 1 cup sugar ( not powdered , if you use powdered, you would need more quantity)
2) 3/4 cup water
3) 1 tsp lime juice
4) cardomom powder (1 tsp)
5) rose essence (optional) (1/2 tsp)

Procedure for making Sugar Syrup
1) Start preparing the sugar syrup first. You should have 1 and 1/2 thread consistency syrup ( not the one we use for rasgulla, but like the one we use for gulab jamun).
2) Add sugar, water and lime juice to a deep vessel and bring it to boil. Lower the flame once the syrup comes to a boil. Now add cardomom powder and rose essence. Let it cook until you get a semi thick ( 1 and 1/2 thread consistency) syrup. Add some saffron. ( or 1 drop of yellow color(optional))
3) Keep it on very low flame after it reaches the desired consistency. Keep adding few drops of water and stirring it,  if it becomes very thick while frying the jalebis.

Procedure for making Jalebi
1) First we will prepare the dough.
Add flour and cornstarch in a container. Mix it well.
Add yeast. Mix again.
Add sugar, yogurt and oil.
Add saffron with luke warm water. Mix it well ( if you dont have saffron, don't worry just add some warm water). Mix it well.
Keep adding warm water little by little and keep mixing well, until you get a smooth pouring consistency batter. Once you get the perfect consistency, cover the container with an aluminum foil and let it rest for 20-30 minutes in a warm place.
2) In a non stick pan, heat good amount of oil for frying jalebis.
3) After 30 minutes, you will see the dough would have risen to a good amount. Now pour the batter in a squeeze bottle or a piping bag. I used a piping bag as I am comfortable using it. Don't fill it completely. Just tightly twist the open part of bag and hold it with a hand such that the liquid does not flow out.  Cut out the tip of the piping bag. Don't let the hole be too small. ( first cut out small and try to pour the batter in oil, if it comes out too thin, then cut little more) Let it be medium sized cut.
4) Oil should be medium hot for frying the Jalebis. (Too hot oil with overfry the jalebis and cold oil with not fry the jalebis well). Move the piping bag from outside to inside in anticlockwise direction to form round jalebis. Can close by going vertical from centre to top. ( i feel it helps tying each jalebi well and the rings don't separate out later). Fry these until crisp and reach perfect yellow color, and immediately transfer it into sugar syrup. Let each jalebi stay in syrup for 1 minute. Now, tranfer it to a clean dry bowl.  Follow the same procedure for rest of the jalebis.

You can enjoy the hot jalebis as is.

I made some rabdi to accompany these hot jalebis and also made some beautiful mango pearls.

If you wish to, you can note down the recipe here.

1) Rabdi
Boil about a litre of milk and bring to boil. Now lower the flame and keep stirring and scrapping the cream from sides,  until it reduces to half.
Add some sugar ( around 1/2-1 cup) as per your taste. I added about 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk ( so I used less sugar).
 Add dryfruits of your choice. I roasted 8-10 walnuts and almonds, powdered it and added the same in milk.
 Add about 1 tsp of cardamom powder and 1/4 tsp fennel powder. Add some saffron strands soaked in warm water (optional).
 Once the milk becoms semi thick and reduces to almost 1/3 of it original quantity, switch off the flame. Your rabdi is ready. Let it cool down.

2)Mango caviar ( mango pearls)
1) Take about 250 ml fresh mango juice ( add sugar if u wish). Strain the juice to remove any fibres and lumps.
2) Heat a pan. Add the juice and 1/2 tsp agar agar powder to it.
3) Keep stirring. ( about a minute). Let everything get incorporated well and form a smooth paste.
4) Let it cool down for few minutes. Transfer it to a squeeze bottle.
5) Pour drops slowly one after the other in a glass full of vegetable oil. (The oil should be very cold. Refrigerate it in advance for 1-2 hours.)
6) Strain these beautiful pearls from oil after 4-5 minutes with strainer.

Plate rabdi in a dessert container. Top up the jalebis in centre. Place the mango caviar on sides.  Spread some fennel powder on rabdi. Enjoy the beautiful dessert with your loved ones with a smile :-)

Happy cooking!!!

Cheers,
Shweta 

No flour pizza.. with a base of cauliflower .. Healthy Pizza :-)

No flour pizza..with a crust of cauliflower

A gluten free and healthy version of pizza. No flour is used in making it. The base is completely made up of cauliflower. And to your surprise the taste is really good. If you like cauliflower as such in your meal in fried, stuffed, boiled or roasted form, try this interesting baked version too.

It's simple and yummy.

Here's the recipe.

1) Take one full cauliflower. One cauliflower would yield one medium sized pizza crust.
Cut the bottom and separate out the florets.
2) grind the florets in a processor and form a fine paste. If you using a blender you can add very little water to form a paste.
3) Add this paste on a dry heated pan. Add little water if you didn't add it while grinding. Saute it for few minutes (5 -10) until you see all the moisture dries out.
4)Let it cool down for 2-3 minutes. Transfer it to a muslin cloth and tie it. Sqeeze out all water from it.  Just like you would do while making Chhena from milk.
5) Now transfer it to a bowl and add some salt, red chilli powder or paprika, fresh parmesan ( I added grated fresh mozzarella ) or the cheese you prefer,  1 egg (helps in binding)
Mix and incorporate everything well.
6) Preheat your oven to 400 °f. Meanwhile line a wax paper on baking tray. Transfer the cauliflower paste onto the baking sheet. Flatten the batter with your palm. Bring it in round shape and size as thin as you prefer ( thin or thock crust). Shape out the corners to give it a final touch like a pizza.

7) Bake it for about 40 minutes. You will see thee crust becomes brown on both sides. You can use the inner side of crust as your pizza base for topping.
8) I quickly made fresh pizza sauce (recipe mentioned inline in step 9), spreaded it and topped it with available veggies(bell peppers,,tomatoes, onions,,olives), added some fresh grated mozzarella and cheddar cheese,sprinkled some red chilli flakes and dried oregano and baked it for 10 minutes at 450 °f.
9)Here's a quick recipe to making pizza  sauce.
Heat some olive oil in a pan. Add some minced garlic (2 cloves). Saute it lightly. Add some fresh oregano leaves, red chilli flakes, dry oregano. Mix it well. Add fresh tomatoes (4-5) or canned ones. Add some salt, sugar, black pepper, paprika powder. Let it cook for sometime until it becomes semi thick.  Might take 30 minutes to come to right consistency. Should be of spreading consistency.
Add a pinch of baking soda and stir well. It's  ready to be applied on pizza now.

I am sure you would like this healthy version of pizza.  Ofcourse cauliflower found a new use too :-).

Enjoy cooking!

Cheers,
Shweta

A cup of coffee and some delicious carrot cinnamon rolls!! What better way to enjoy your breakfast!!

Carrot cinnamon rolls with cream cheese glaze

A cinnamon roll is a sweet roll served commonly in Northern Europe and Northern America in breakfast. The sweet and sharp flavours work best with a cup of coffee.
I got really interested in doing this dish ever since I saw Masterchef USA participants doing it in one of the elimination challenges. Over and above all, seeing an Indian participant winning the challenge inspired me a lot.
I followed Chef John's pumpkin cinnamon rolls recipe. I did few customizations and made these carrot cinnamon rolls.

While these rolls were baking, the entire house was filled with the aroma of cinnamon. It just felt awesome.  By the way, if you see these beautiful cinnamon rolls, it also gives you a feel of our Indian snack, 'Bhakarwadi'.

After baking

Before baking

Stuffing layered over rolled sheet

Here's the recipe.

Ingredients for stuffing:

1) 3/4 cup brown sugar

2) 1/4 cup white sugar

3) 2 tbsp grpund cinnamon powder

4) raisins ( 1 cup or less as per your choice)( optional, I added it)

Ingredients for dough: ( ingredients listed in order of cooking procedure)

1) 0.25 ounce or 1 package active dry yeast

2) 1/2 tsp white sugar

3) 1/4 cup warm water (luke warm such that that you can easily tough with hand) 

4) 2 medium sized carrots grated 

5) 1/4 cup heavy cream ( I used heavy whipped cream) 

6) 1/4 cup white sugar and 2 tbsp brown sugar

7) 1/4 cup butter, melted

8) 1 tsp salt

9) 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, 1/2 tsp lemon extract (lemon extract is optional, I added it as per my flavour preference).

10) 1/2 tsp ground ginger powder 

11) 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg powder 

12) 2 cups all purpose flour

13) 1 egg

14) 2 1/4 cup purpose flour

15) 1 tsp vegetable oil 

16) 5 tbsp butter, melted

For cream cheese glaze.

1) 1/4 cup cream cheese 

2) 1 cup confectioners sugar

3) 1/4 cup milk

Procedure:

1) In a bowl, combine yeast, warm water and 1/2 tsp sugar. Whisk it well and let it rest for 10-15 minutes until the yeast foams out.

2) Now add carrots, cream, 1/4 cup white sugar, 2 tbsp brown sugar, 1/4 cup melted butter, salt, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, ginger powder, nutmeg powder, 2 cups flour, egg in  mixer/processor bowl. I used hand mixer with dough hooks. Mix the dough for 2 minutes.  ( or you can simply mix the ingreadients well with hands and knead a smooth elastic dough ) 

3) Now add rest of 2 1/4 cups of flour. Again mix it until you have a sticky smooth and elastic dough. Knead it with hand if you feel the dough is not smooth enough.

4) Remove the dough and bring it in a ball shape. Coat the dough all over with 1/2 tsp vegetable oil.

5) cover the vessel with an aluminium foil and let it rest in a warm place (a shut off oven could be a good place) for 1 or 1 and 1/2 hours until the flour doubles in size.

6) Meanwhile prepare the stuffing. Combine brown sugar, white sugar, cinnamon powder and mix well. Keep the raisins ready.

6) Now remove the dough and place it on a floured platform. Gently with your palms, flatten it and bring it in a rectangular shape about 1 inch thick. 

Flour both sides of dough and roll it out in a big rectangle (20 x 12 inch) with 1/4 inch thickness.

7) Now spread in generous about of butter ( 5tbsp) evenly all over the rolled out sheet. Leave out 1/2 inch border on each wide side unbuttered. Now spread generous amount of  stuffing all over the buttered surface evenly.

Place few raisins evenly over the stuffing. 

You can see the pictures for reference.

8) Now with your finger, gently spread some water over the unbuttered borders. Take the one wider side of the rectangular sheet and start rolling tightly to form a log. Keep pressing inside and applying butter on top side as you roll the sheet. This helps in sticking things well and stuffing staying intact. Seal the log on watered surface.

9) Now butter or oil the sharp side of a sharp knife. Now first cut out 4 big pieces. Then take each piece and cut out four small rolls (of equal sizes). Discard the uneven border rolls, as they would have no stuffing. Check the pictures for reference.

10) Butter a big baking tray generously. ( I used greased parchment paper layer over baking tray). Place the rolls on the tray, keeping some space between each. Place the baking tray in a warm place and let it rest for 25-30 minutes. You will see the rolls increasing in size (almost double).

11) Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake the carrot cinnamon rolls for about 30 minutes or untill golden brown.

12) Meanwhile we can quickly prepare the glaze. 

Combine sugar, milk and cream cheese in a container. Whisk it well to form a smooth semi thick glaze. You can add some flavour like vanilla, lemon etc of your choice. I added none. 

12) Let the rolls cool down. 

13) Serve the cinnamon rolls with a drizzle of cream cheese glaze.

Enjoy the beautiful and fragrant carrot cinnamon rolls along with a cup of tea or coffee. If you love the sharpness and fresh flavour of cinnamon, you will love it in the rolls even more.

Happy baking. 

Cheers,

Shweta

Mouth watering.. Chicken Tikka Kebabs

Chicken tikka kebab

This one is an absolutely simple yet delicious and an evergreen starter. I made it in oven on skewers. You could make it in tandoor :-) 

Here's the quick recipe:

1) Take one large chicken breast and cut into equal sized square pieces.

2) We will do two level of marination. 

 For first marination, transfer the chicken pieces in a large bowl. Add 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste, salt as per taste, 1 tbsp lemon juice . Mix it well. Let it rest for 20 minutes.

Now let's do second marination. 

In a bowl, take some mustard oil (1 tbsp).  Add 1 tbsp red chilli powder, 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste, 4 tbsp curd, 1 tsp lemon juice , some salt and palm crushed dried fenugreek (kasuri methi) (2 tbsp).

( If you like restaurant style orange colored tikka kebabs, then add 1-2 drops of orange color to the marinade and mix well. That is completely optional. I didn't add it. )

Mix everything well. Transfer the chicken into this marinade. (Keep some part of marinade aside. We will use it for making our mint mayo sauce.) Mix it well. Let it rest for 10-15  minutes. After marination is done, gently place these in 3-4 skewers. If you don't have skewers, simply transfer chicken to a parchment paper lined baking dish. 

Preheat the oven to 180°c. Bake the kebabs for 15-20 minutes or until you see little brownish color on all sides. Keep checking in between at 5 minutes intervals and turn the skewers to other side so that the kababs are cooked evenly. 

You can also let the oven be in broil mode for last 1-2 minutes. This would give a grilled  kind of flavour to the kebabs.

So, your kebabs are ready. Now remember we kept a part of the marinade aside for making sauce. So, now add about 1/2 cup of mayonnaise to the marinade. Add some mint leaves. Your mint mayonnaise sauce is ready. 

Enjoy the kebabs hot :-). You would surely love it and cook it again and again. It is an easy, quick and delicious starter. 

Cheers,

Shweta 

Heavenly yummy.. Hyderabadi chicken dum biryani

Hyderabadi Chicken Dum Biryani 

Ummm... That's something I am crazy about. I would like to thank the person who invented it  :-). Whenever we go out on weekend, we do have chicken biryani for sure in our meal. Sometimes when the week has been little under the weather, a good biryani on weekend yummily compensates for it:-) 

There have been few times when I have cooked Biryani at home, but I could not get the restaurant kind of taste which would satisfy my palate. I worked hard on it and now I have got a tried and tested ( tasted :-)) method to make a delicious Hyderabadi chicken dum biryani. 

Writing down the recipe here :

1) Soak 1&1/2 cup Basamati rice in water for atleast 20 and upto 30 minutes. 

2) In a big pan, bring water double the amount of rice get to boil. 

3) Now to bring fragrance in our biryani, let's prepare a small bag of spices.. Aka bouquet garni. In a small muslin cloth, put these spices. 3 black cardamom, 6 green cardamom, 10 black pepper corns, 6 cloves, 2 bay leaves, 2 cinnamon sticks. Now tie knots and make a bag. Let the knots be tight, so that the bag does not open up while cooking. Now transfer this bag into the boiling water. Add 1 tsp shahi jeera into the water. Add some salt too? Once water is boiling hot, add the soaked rice.  Add soaked rice and let it cook 3/4th. Don't let it cook completely. As soon as it is cooked, switch off the flame.  Let water be there in the rice. We will transfer the rice along with water when we cook our Biryani. 

4) Meanwhile let's marinate the chicken. We will need one 'with bone chicken' cut into medium sized pieces. Bones.. That's where the taste lies :-).. 

Place the big chicken pieces in a large pan (it should have a good lid) in which you will cook the biryani. Add 2 tbsp ginger garlic paste,1 tbsp red chilli powder, salt to taste, a cup of  yogurt, 1 tsp garam masala powder, 1 tsp green cardamom powder, 1 cup thinly sliced fried onions, 4 tbsp melted ghee, some coriander leaves, some  mint leaves,,2-3 whole green chillies. Mix well. Add 1 tsp turmeric powder and  juice from one lemon. Mix everything well. Let it rest for 1/2 hour.

5)Now that the chicken is marinated and the rice is 3/4 cooked, let's start with cooking our biryani.

In the same container wherein the chicken lies marinated, layer some ( not all) rice (along with little water) over it evenly. This little water would add required moisture to our Biryani. Now sprinkle some fresh coriander (2 tbsp), mint leaves(6-7), fried onions(3-4 tbsp) and garam masala powder(1/4 tsp) and green cardamom powder (1 tsp) evenly over the rice. 

Layer the remaining rice over it. As we did earlier, spinkle some coriander(1 tbsp), mint leaves (6-7) , fried onions (3-4 tbsp), garam masala powder (1/4 tsp), cardamom powder ( 1/4 tsp) and generous amount of ghee (5 tbsp) evenly all over it.

Also sprinkle some saffron (7-8 strands) ( which has been soaked in milk earlier). That adds a beautiful color and flavor to the Biryani.

6) Now we will be cooking our biryani in an authentic way. Now all across the edges of the pan, we will apply a string of dough. For this you need to quickly knead a dough like you would for chapati, from any flour( maida or wheat). Roll it into a long thick strip and apply it all over the edges of the pan. Now cover the lid. So now the vessel is completely locked. It helps the biryani stay moist and get cooked evenly with the inner heat. You can see the picture for reference.

7) Let the Biryani cook for 20 minutes on flame. You will see some steam coming out of the pan by this time. Now remove the dough from the lid. Let it cook on dum for 5-8 minutes which means put this vessel on any other pan on heat and let it cook. This way the biryani is not directly in touch with the flame. If you don't have any other pan, let it cook the same way on low flame.

8) Switch off the flame. You eill have both your rice and chicken cooked by this time. Open the lid when you are ready to serve. 

Yummy hyderabadi biryani is ready. With Biryani you should have a'raitax' for sure. :-) Any kind of raita be it a vegetable raita or fruit raita is fine. 

I made a khatta meetha vegetable raita. Take some ( around 1 cup) curd (I prefer thick yogurt). Add around 1/2 cup grated cucumber, 1/2 cup finely chopped tomatoes, 1/4 cup finley chopped onions, 1/4 cup finely chopped coriander leaves, 1/4 cup finely chopped mint leaves, some black salt, some normal salt, 1/4 tsp red chilli powder, 1/2 tsp roasted cumin powder, little sugar based on your taste preference. Add some chat masala on top.Mix everything well. Quick raita is ready. 

Enjoy the hyderabi chicken biryani from your own kitchen. I am sure you and your family would love it like they would from a biryani center.

Enjoy cooking. :-)

Cheers,

Shweta 

Mumbai's famous street food.. 'Vada Pav'

Mumbai's famous vada pav. The anytime anywhere snack of Maharashtra. Everyone's favorite :-) I would never miss having a vada pav when travelling by train. That's something I miss about Mumbai :-). But it's ok, I can make it at home :-) 

Here's the recipe.

Ingredients for Vada 

Stuffing:

3 boiled potatoes (meshed) ( yields about 6 vadas) 

1/2 cup chopped fresh coriander 

Salt to taste

1/4 tsp Turmeric powder 

1/2 tsp red chilli powder 

1/4 tsp mustard seeds

1/4 tsp cumin seeds

5-6 curry leaves

1 tsp lemon juice

2-3 green chillies chopped finely.

1/4 tsp ginger paste 

A pinch of hing 

Batter:

1 cup besan

1/4 tsp red chilli powder 

1/4  tsp salt

1 pinch baking soda

2 tbsp rice flour(optional.. Added for extra crispness)

1 pinch turmeric powder 

Procedure

1) First let's prepare the batter. Mix little water in besan flour and whisk it well so that the lumps are gone. Add limited water .. Only enough to remove lumps. We need bhajiya consistency batter.

2) Add rice flour, red chilli powder, salt, turmeric powder and baking soda. Whisk to ensure everything is incorporated well.

Batter is ready.

3) Let's work on the stuffing. 

-Heat a pan. Add 1 tbsp oil. Add mustard seeds. As soon as it crackles add cumin seeds,hing, green chillies, ginger, curry leaves and turmeric powder.

-Add meshed potatoes. Add salt and red chilli powder. Mix well. Switch off the flame. 

-Add lemon juice and coriander leaves. Stir it well. Let the stuffing cool down.

4) Let's make the aloo vadas now. Take little part of stuffing on palm and form small balls each of table tennis ball size. 

5) Let's start frying the vadas.

Take some oil in a pan enough for frying vadas. Dip each vada in besan batter and cover it all around with the batter and transfer it in the pan.  Fry it until each turns golden on all sides. 

6) If some batter remains, dip some less spicy green chillies in it and fry those too.. 

Now we have our vada ready. You need pav handy too.

Any green chutney (coriander) goes well with vada pav. However there is a special dry hot chutney that goes very well with it. Sukha garlic mirchi chutney.  Here's the recipe.

1) Dry roast 1/4 cup unsalted peanuts and 1/4 cup sesame seeds separately.  Blend these together in a blender to form a powder like mixture. Don't over blend. 

2) Take some oil in a hot pan and add finely chopped garlic (3 cloves), a pinch of  hing, 3-4 finely chopped green chillies, add 1/4 cup coconut powder. Add 2 tsp red chilli powder and 1 tsp cumin powder. Now add peanut and sesame powder. Add some salt (as per taste). Mix everything well. Switch off the flame. 

Teekha chutney is ready to be served.

Slit a pav and apply some green chutney. Sprinkle some teekha dry chutney over it. Place a vada and gently press it. Enjoy it hot. 

All I would say is, whatever you like, make it yourself. You and your family will love yourself even more :-)... 

Enjoy cooking..

Cheers,

Shweta

Our very own Gujarati snack.. Handvo.. A lentil and vegetable cake

Our very own lentil and vegetable cake.. Handvo 

This is the first time I made this 'every Gujarati's favorite snack' Handvo. Never knew it is made up of rice, three lentils and vegetables. But once I learnt how to make it, i couldn't wait to make it. I worked on baked Handvo version.

Here's the recipe. 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup rice soaked for 6-8 hours

1/4 cup channa dal soaked for 6-8 hours

1/4 cup udad dal soaked for 6-8 hours

1/2 cup moong dal soaked for 6-8 hours 

1 cup grated bottle gourd( water squeezed)

1/2 cup thinly cut cabbage

1/2 cup grated carrot

1/2 cup curd

2 tbsp finely chopped fresh coriander 

3/4 tsp baking powder or eno fruit salt

1 tsp salt ( or more as per taste)

1 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 tsp red chilli powder

2 green chillies chopped

1 inch grated ginger

2 tsp lemon juice

4 tbsp oil

8-10 curry patta 

2 tsp Sesame seeds

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

2 pinch asoefoetida (hing)

Procedure

1) Grind rice and all lentils separately in a food processor or a blender. Let the consistentcy be just like idli batter, coarseIf.  If water is required to grind the lentils, add minimal required amount. Bring together daal and rice mixture in a bowl, mix it well. Cover it with an aluminium foil and let it ferment in a warm place for 4-6 hours. You will see the batter doubled in amount.  If you can't wait to ferment it, you can carry on with the rest of the steps immediately.

2) Now to the batter, add grated bottle gourd(lauki), carrot, cabbage, ginger, green chilli,red chilli powder, turmeric powder, sugar, salt, coriander leaves, lemon juice and curd. Mix well.

3) Let's start preparing the tadka. We will pour 1/3 of the tadka in the batter now.  Remainin g 1/3rd part will be used at the bottom of the baking dish before pouring the batter and rest on the top after pouring the batter.

Add oil in a hot pan. Add mustard seeds. Let it crackle. Add cumin and sesame. Once it crackles add curry patta and hing. Put 1/3rd of it in batter now. Stir it well in the batter.

Keep the rest of tadka mixture aside.

4) Preheat the oven to 200°c. Grease the baking dish generously with oil.  Pour 1/3rd of remaining tadka mixture in the baking dish. Spread it evenly. Now pour the Handva batter in the baking dish. Now pour the remaining tadka mixture on top of the batter. Sprinkle some red chilli powder over the top. 

5) Bake the lentil cake for around 20 minutes. It would be crisp and brown on the top once the Handva is cooked. Also a knife inserted in the cake should turn out clean.

6) Let it cool down. Cut in small pieces and serve it will any chutney of your choice. :-) 

Enjoy our very own Indian lentil and vegetable cake 'Handvo' with your loved ones... Bet if you don't like it. :-)

Cheers,

Shweta

Ever tried making a cake from the healthy pistachio nuts.. If not, check this.. Pista and zesty orange cake

These days I make sure I bake something sweet on my near and dear ones' birthday. Though they are far away from me, it gives me a great pleasure to do so and makes me feel closer to them. It was my sister's b'day last week and I thought why not make a rich cake from the healthy pistachio nuts.  As an add-on I added zesty orange flavour to it. You could add your favourite flavours like lemon etc. Got good acknowledgement from family and friends for the perfect taste and texture of the cake..Here's the recipe for the pista and zesty orange cake.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp freshly grated orange zest

1/2 cup melted unsalted butter

1/2 cup powdered white sugar

 2 tbsp brown sugar (completely optional)

1 medium sized carrot grated (completely optional)

2 eggs

2 tbsp fresh orange juice

1 tbsp milk1/4 tsp vanilla extract 

1/4 tsp orange extract

1-2 drop of green color (for a smooth green color, completely optional)

2 cups dry-roasted unsalted pistachio nuts (deshelled) (if you like you can add 8-10 roasted almonds too and reduce the pista nuts by same amount).

1/2 tsp salt to taste 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp nutmeg powder (completely optional)

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

For the orange glaze:

1 cup orange juice, or as needed

2 teaspoons freshly grated orange zest

3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar, or more according to taste.

Procedure

1)Whisk together orange zest and melted butter in a mixing bowl. Add white and brown sugar and whisk until sugar has dissolved. Whisk in eggs until light and fluffy. Add carrot, orange juice, milk, vanilla extract and orange extract into egg mixture. Stir well.

2) Using a blender or a food processor, blend together all the pistachios until coarsely ground. Add salt, baking powder, nutmeg and flour. Blend again until everything is combined well. Now transfer pistachio mixture into the wet mixture and stir ( gently fold) until batter is combined. Add color if you want to at this point and mix it well.

3)Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease the baking dish with butter.

4)Pour the batter into baking dish. Tap it remove eliminate air bubbles.

5)Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until the top is lightly golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. 

6) Let the cake cool down. If you would like to spread some zesty orange glaze then heat a pan and pour the orange juice and sugar in it. Add orange zest too. Stir it well. Let it simmer until everything is mixed well and sugar is dissolved. It should be like a sugar syrup consistency.  Let it cool down. Spread it evenly on the cooled down cake. 

7) I garnished the cake with confectioners sugar using a tea strainer and placing some sliced  pistachios over it. You can if you wish too :-).

Enjoy the rich orange zesty pista cake with your loved ones. 

Cheers,

Shweta