Savory Semolina Cake

I am paired with Nayana Pikle for Shhh Cooking Secretly Challenge. She has suggested two ingredients; Semolina and Coriander. I made this flavorful and spicy savory semolina cake which has become a hit here. I didn't expect it to be so tasty. It is definitely worth a try again. 

Adapted from here and here.

Ingredients:

Semolina 1 cup
Red Chilli Powder 1/2 tsp
Coriander Powder 1/4 tsp
Turmeric Powder a generous pinch
Baking Powder 1/2 tsp
Baking Powder 1/2 tsp
Peas 1/4 cup
Chopped Beans 1/4 cup
Carrot 3 grated - medium
Onion chopped - 1/2 - medium
Finely chopped Ginger 1 tblsp
Yoghurt 1 cup
Water 1/2 cup
Salt
Sesame seeds for topping

To temper:

Mustard seeds 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds 1/4 tsp
Finely chopped Curry Leaves 1 tbsp
Finely chopped Coriander Leaves 3 tbsp
Oil

Method:

Preheat the oven at 175 deg C. Grease and line a loaf pan with baking paper.

Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl until well combined. 

Add oil in a pan. When hot, add mustard seeds. When it starts popping up, add cumin seeds, chopped coriander and curry leaves. Pour this tempering into the mixture and mix until well combined.

Pour the batter into the loaf pan. Bake at 175 deg C for 35-40 minutes until done or a tooth prick inserted comes out clean.

Serve hot with green chutneys and ketchup.

Notes:  I used yellow semolina. If using regular sooji, pulse it in a mixer for a few seconds before adding. I think beans can be avoided as it was quite difficult for me to cut thinner slices. 

Blonde Brownies for Home Baker's Challenge

For Home Baker's Challenge this month, Sharanya of Just not the cakes has suggested each recipe for the American food holidays; 

January 6 National Shortbread Day      

January 16 National Fig Newton Day

January 21 National Granola Bar Day

January 22 National Blonde Brownie Day

January 23 National Pie Day

January 29 National Corn chip Day 

I've chosen Blonde Brownie. Blonde Brownies (or just blondies) is a rich dessert prepared with just flour and brown sugar. It turned out delicious. I am very happy as my little one liked it too.. 

Adapted from here.

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour 1 cup

Butter 1/2 cup melted

Egg 1

Vanilla Powder 1/2 tsp

Brown Sugar 1 cup

Baking Powder 1/2 tsp

Baking Soda 1/8 tsp

Chopped walnuts 1/3 cup

Salt a pinch

Method:

In a bowl, combine all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix well and keep it aside

In a large bowl or a stand mixer, combine melted butter, vanilla powder and brown sugar. Mix well until well combined. Now add egg and whisk on a medium speed till done.

Preheat the oven at 180 deg C for 10 minutes.

Add the flour mixture little by little until all of it gets combined well with the wet ingredients. Add chopped walnuts and give it a mix.

In a loaf pan, arrange a baking sheet. Spread little flour and butter on the sheet. Pour the mix into the pan. Gently press using another baking sheet so that it is spread uniform.

Bake at 180 deg C for 20-25 minutes until done or a tooth prick inserted comes out clean. Cool and then cut into squares and serve.

Notes: I've used dark brown sugar. The original recipe calls for 8x8 pan. I didn't have it; so tried with usual loaf pan. You can replace walnuts with chocolate chips or any other nuts. 

Custard Powder Cookies ~ Valentines day recipes ~ Happy Valentines day to all

I love the flavor of custard powder particularly vanilla flavored. I wanted to try cookies with this custard powder just to know how it would taste as I simply like its flavor. I tried a small batch today. It turned out as good as its flavor. But somehow chocolate chip cookies remains my favorite.. :-)

My Hearty Valentines day wishes to all of you.. !! 

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour 3/4 cup
Sugar 1/8 cup
Custard Powder 1/8 cup
Butter 60 gm
Milk 2 tsp

Method:

Powder Sugar, sieve and keep it aside.

Sieve All Purpose Flour along with Custard Powder, Baking Powder. Keep it aside.

Beat Butter (at room temperature) till fluffy and shiny. Add Sugar and beat till the mixture turns shiny.

Now add the flour mixture little by little. Combine well and add milk to form a stiff dough.

Pre heat the oven at 180 deg C for 10 minutes.

Roll the dough between two baking sheets. Cut the dough into desired shapes.

Bake at 180 deg C for 12-15 minutes or until done and gets slightly brown.

Notes: To make it more in quantity, just double the recipe. 

Baked Bitter Gourd Chips ~ Indian Fritters

I prefer cooking Bitter Gourd at least once in a week just for its health benefits and we do not hate his bittery vegetable much. It has been a long time wish of mine to bake bitter gourd. But due to lack of time (or lazy me), I was just preparing either stir fry or deep fry with bitter gourd. This time I compulsorily made myself free to bake this gourd. It came out as crispy as deep fried ones.

Adapted from here.

Ingredients:

Bitter Gourd 2 Long
Chilli Powder 1/2 tsp
Sambar Powder 1/4 tsp
Rice Flour 1/2 tsp
Ginger Garlic Paste 1/8 tsp
Salt
Oil 3 tbsp

Preparation:

Cut Bitter gourd into thin dics. (not very thin).

In a bowl, add tamarind and little salt. Crush tamarind to extract its pulp. Do this for few times so that all pulp is extracted. Add sliced bitter gourd. Allow soaking for at least for an hour. This is done to reduce the bitterness of the vegetable. 

Remove the slices. Drain and then add Ginger Garlic paste, Chilli Powder, Sambar Powder, Rice Flour and Salt. Mix well and keep it aside for at least ten minutes. Segregate the thinner and thicker discs separately. The middle of the bitter gourd is slightly thicker.

Pre heat the oven at 180 deg C for 10 minutes.

Line a baking sheet in the baking tray. Arrange the slices with little space in between.

Now bake it for 15 minutes at 180 deg C. Remove and then turn each slice to the other side. Bake it for another 15 more minutes or until done.

Remove the done chips.

                                   

Pre heat the oven again for 10 minutes. Meanwhile arrange the undone thicker slices.

Bake it for 15 minutes at 180 deg C. Remove and then turn each slice to the other side. Bake it for another 15-18 minutes or until done.Store in an air tight container.

Serve it as a snack or as an accompaniment to steamed rice with sambar/curd.

Notes: You can also bake all the slices together and then bake those undone thicker slices for some more time. I found this method quite easy.

If not using sambar powder, add a combination of cumin powder and coriander powder or just cumin powder alone.

I forgot to add jaggery. You can a tsp of grated jaggery while mixing the vegetable with masala powders.. 

This goes to Love 2 Bake event happening at spicy treats. We share baked recipes every Monday.

Biscuit Sablés/Eggless French Shortbread Biscuits

This is my first entry to Home Bakers Challenge. One of this month's challenge is Biscuit Sablés.

The French word sable means sand, also this was created for the first time in a town called Sablé sur Sarthe few years ago, because of the texture and the origin these biscuits are named as Sablé, however these biscuits are seriously very soft, delicate, buttery with a fantastic texture. Its true that it makes a wonderful pair with a cup of tea or coffee.

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour 1 1/4 cup
Butter 1/2 cup (110g )
Powdered Sugar 1/4 cup
Vanilla Powder 1/4 tsp
Milk 1 tsp

Method:

Powder sugar, sieve it and keep it aside.

Beat Butter (at room temperature) until fluffy. Add Sugar and beat again so that sugar gets combined well with the butter and till the mixture turns fluffy.

Sieve All Purpose flour and Vanilla Powder. Add this little by little to the mixture until it gets combined well. Now add milk and knead to form a stiff dough.

Preheat the oven for 10 minutes.

Using two non greased baking sheets and with the mixture in between roll out the dough. Using the cookie cutter, cut it into desired shapes. 

Bake at 180 deg C for 15 minutes. Cool it completely in a wire rack before storing it in air tight containers or before serving. 

Notes: I halved the recipe. check out here for the original recipe. I use an eletric oven and baked in the middle rack.

Linking this also to Love 2 bake happening at spicy treats. We share baked goodies every monday.

Oven stir fried Broccoli ~ Indian Style

I've never had too many flops as much as I tried cookies. This is my first try with Broccoli in oven, it came out too good. Though I've made pan stir fried broccoli some time back, this is something different. This is quite crispy and required very less oil. I've recently started cooking broccoli and thus yet to try other variations. 

Ingredients:

Broccoli 450g
Chilli Powder 1/2 tsp
Sambar Powder 1 tsp
Olive Oil 3 tsp
Salt

Method:

Mix Broccoli with the other ingredients.

Pre heat the oven at 180 deg C.

Bake/Cook initially for 10 minutes. Remove & stir and then allow cooking for 10 more minutes. Remove again, stir and then allow cooking for five more minutes or until it turn crisp and slightly brown.  (It took totally 25 minutes for me; I used frozen broccoli.)

This goes to Love 2 Bake event initiated by Sangee of Spicy Treats. We share oven baked recipes every monday. If you are interested, check out here.

Buttery Baked Corn

Though I finished off two corn cobs, two more remained yet to use. I've never baked corn cob. I thought let me try my hands on it. The flavors came out excellent. I couldn't restrict my hands on it before clicking. The flavors of butter, garlic and the corn itself is amazing. It got cooked perfect and we enjoyed with a glass of green tea.

Recipe Source: BBC Good Food

Ingredients:

Corn Cob 2
Butter 50g
Pepper Powder 1/8 tsp (or acc. to your taste)
Garlic clove 2 - grated
Coriander Leaves few

Method:

Remove the outer layers and the silky layers of the corn cob.

Pre heat the oven.

Mix butter, pepper powder,grated garlic and chopped coriander leaves. Spread the mixture on the corn cob. Place the corn cob in aluminum foil and cover its edges. Need not seat it completely.

Bake it for 25 minutes at 200 deg C.

Serve as a snack with tea.

Notes: I added very less pepper powder as my toddler son may eat. Increase the quantity as per your taste and preference.

Rotisserie chicken

Rotisserie is a style of roasting where meat is skewered on a spit - a long solid rod used to hold food while it is being cooked over a fire in a fireplace or over a campfire, or roasted in an oven. The rotation cooks the meat evenly in its own juices and allows easy access for continuous basting if desired. Source - Wiki.

I had a very strong desire to bake the whole chicken in this Rotisserie style. But my Hus alone cannot eat so much chicken. So decided to experiment with a small piece. The end results were good, said my hus who tasted it. I was very happy as my son liked it. Who knows what kids like??

Ingredients:

• One whole leg of Chicken – approx 200g
• Pepper Powder ½ tsp or acc. to your taste
• Salt
• Juice from a Lemon
• Oil 2-3 tsp

Preparation:

Marinate Chicken with all the other ingredients and keep it aside for half an hour.

Method:

• Preheat Oven to 225°C for 10 minutes.
• Once done, arrange the marinated chicken in between the rotisserie spit.
• Allow to bake for 35-40 minutes or till done.

Linking this recipe to Anyone can cook series of Taste of Pearl City and Iftar Nights of Jabeen's Corner.