Pineapple Icecream Bombe

Quick fix dessert

You have guests coming all of a sudden and you don't know what to serve for dessert ? or maybe you just don't feel like making something elaborate or time consuming ?
Doesn't happen with me most of the time, but sometimes yes !! you just don't have the time to do everything.
So what do you do ? make a cheat's dessert....Its ok its allowed..as long as it tastes good.
I don't have any exact quantities for this one as i just eyeballed it.

Ingredients:
3/4  -  1/2 a pineapple (pureed with 1 tbsp sugar)
500 ml vanilla ice cream
sponge cake ( I used my leftover mawa cake )
3 -4 slices of pineapple ( cut into quarters )

Method:
Take any round bowl and line it with either aluminium foil or cling wrap (preferably don't use a glass bowl as it becomes difficult to overturn when set)
mix your vanilla ice cream with half of the pineapple puree until properly combined.
cook the rest of the puree with 1/4 cup of water and 1- 2 tsp sugar until somewhat thick and add 1 tbsp cornstarch dissolved in water to make a nice glossy glaze. cook for another 1 minute and cool.

add some of the pineapple ice cream  in the bottom of your bowl. then cover with thinly sliced cake, then add another layer of ice cream and cover with another layer of cake. continue until your bowl is full. I didn't want a lot so had used a rather small bowl. but you can adjust the quantities accordingly.
freeze for 5 -6 hours or preferably overnight.
turn over once properly chilled and set, decorate with sliced pineapple and drizzle with glaze.

you can also straight away use pineapple flavored ice cream, but i prefer the natural pineapple flavor to the artificial tasting store brought one.

Fenugreek or Spinach Cake

Cake or Not a Cake...

Its the third week of Ramadan already !!!

and I didn't get a chance to post any special Iftar recipes yet...

so lets not waste any more time now. A spinach cake...well yes its possible and also tasty...all you need to do before trying it, is to stop expecting a sweet cake...its the best savory, spicy cake I've ever eaten. 

it tastes more like a dokhla, but is better taste wise and health wise, as a dhokla only uses besan (bengal gram flour) and this is a combination of whole wheat and besan flour, with added green leafy veggies. i think we could even try it with different combinations of flour, as long as we keep the total amount of flour the same. (maybe next try).
with a little coconut chutney, they really taste amazing.

Cake with a twist

Ingredients:

1cup methi leaves/spinach leaves

1 cup sweet corn

1 medium onion

3 green chillies

2 cloves garlic (optional)

1/2 cup coriander

1/2 cup milk or buttermilk

1 egg

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup semolina

1/2 cup bengal gram flour

salt to taste

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

sesame seeds and grated coconut for garnishing

Method:

preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius

liquidize the fenugreek or spinach leaves, corn, onion, egg, chilies and coriander.

in a mixing bowl, mix all the dry ingredients, slowly beat in the oil, milk or buttermilk and the liquidized mixture. mix until smooth, pour into one large pan or muffin tins, sprinkle with sesame seeds and grated coconut.

bake for 20 - 30 mins or until done.(if using muffin tins, bake for 15 mins)  

the naturally green colour can be very refreshing.

its even better than the savory muffins. 

Ramadan Kareem all.....

Lemon Pudding

I love watching cookery shows, and its probably the only thing i usually watch on tv.

Donna hay is my new favorite, i love her recipes as they are really simple and easy to make in a few minutes.

i have been thinking about trying a lemon cake for a long time now, but that day has not yet come (hopefully soon). when i saw this recipe for a lemon pudding i really wanted to try it, although i was sceptical about the whole lemon in it, what with pith a all.

anyways after much contemplating with myself i decided to give it a go...and even though i changed the recipe quiet a bit for my liking it still turned out exactly like described. Sweet..velvety...with an amazing crust on top...Now i'm a bigger fan...

the changes i made to the original recipe

• I cut down the sugar
• used 2 eggs instead of 3 yolks
• used milk instead of cream

Ingredients:

1 whole lemon

180 ml cream / 200 ml milk

200 g sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla essence

3 tbsp corn flour

30 g melted butter

Method:

Mix sugar and lemon (cut into eights and deseeded) in a food processor and mix till lemon is finely ground. Add cream and mix further. Add the eggs and vanilla, and mix. Add the corn flour and pulse for a few seconds.

Pour into greased individual ramekins or a single oven proof dish.

Bake in a preheated oven at 170° C for 25 -30 minuted until just set.

Can be served warm or chilled. Can top with vanilla ice-cream or whipped cream

Wholesome Yeasted Nachni Muffins

this one is a true experiment....why so...

well, I had some left over cookie dough after i tried making teething cookies for my 8 month old. The problem with the cookies, they didn't turn out crisp and were very crumbly, although the taste was good. could be because of more liquid in it as i added applesauce, or could b because i didn't add any baking powder or soda, as they were for an infant.

anyways i decided against making cookies out of the rest of the dough, and thought i can finish the dough by making muffins out of it.

since i didn't add any leavening agent in the dough, i was thing id baking powder mixed in water or milk, and then mixed with the dough would work. then i thought why not try leavening them with yeast instead.also b'coz i had bought some fresh yeast for making pizzas, but didn't get to make them and didn't want to waste the yeast. so I thought why not experiment.

the result, well i think i added a bit too much yeast (20 - 25 g), and they were smelling a bit to yeasty, other than that you could say i was like a combination of a bread and cake, not too bad, but not that good either. 

If i do try it again with less yeast will let you know...

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
3 tbsp applesauce
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp dried ginger powder (optional)
1/4 cup nachni flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
5 tsp oats
1/4th cup lukewarm milk
1 large banana chopped
15g fresh yeast

Method:
soak the yeast in some lukewarm water with 1 tsp sugar for 5 to 10 minutes
cream butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add the egg and beat well, add in the apple sauce. add in the yeast, stir in the milk
sieve the dry ingredients separately, a mix into the wet mixture. Add the chopped bananas and mix.
cover and keep for 45 minute to an hour in a warm and dark place. (i use a switched off preheated oven for yeasted recipes if the weather is not favorable)
the mixture will become frothy after an hour.
spoon 2 tbsp into a lined muffin tin and bake in a preheated oven at 180 for 12 - 15 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

a bit bready from the inside....
but extremely soft

Moist Chocolate Cake

everyone should have a no fail chocolate cake recipe. a simple and quick recipe that can be mixed minutes and turn out absolutely yumm. the kind of recipe that can be frosted whichever way you want and can be turned into absolutely fabulous party cakes or pastries.
So when i saw this recipe, i knew i had to try it because it looked so easy and yet so yummy. And after trying it i was immediately reminded of the pilsburry cake mix cakes that i used to bake in my teens...but without the mix, it tasted just the same...moist chocolaty goodness...
this is the hershey's moist chocolate cake recipe, but i first saw it on this page. I've halved the recipe as even this much makes quite a lot (a 6 inch round cake)

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar
1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup cocoa powder
¾ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 egg
½ cup milk
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup boiling water

Method :

Heat oven to 180°c. Grease and flour your baking pans.

Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the eggs, oil, milk and vanilla; beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin).

Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake for 30 – 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes and remove from pan.

Let the cake cool completely before icing as desired. 

first time i tried this recipe i frosted it with hazelnut ganache

the other two pictures the left one is a simple ganache with sliced strawberries in the centre and top. and the right one is a very impromtu icing of coffee whipped cream and chocolate ganache (but it was still delicious )

i'm telling you this recipe has never failed me as of yet. and hopefully will not in the future.would love to try it for a black forest cake next.

Chocolate Truffles

what could be the best compliment one can get for something they have made ? ....

any guesses ?? well for me the best compliment i got for these was...people ate them b'fore i had a chance to serve them....confused ?

I made truffles for the first time last Eid and had thought i would serve them in them evening, but in the evening when i opened the fridge, i discover that half of them are already gone !!! My cousins couldn't wait till the evening and they just checked the fridge knowing i would have made something and enjoyed them while i was having a nap...what could be a better compliment..you don't even ave to serve it.

after i made truffles for the first time.. the first thing i thought to myself was that, why haven't i tried this earlier..they are so simple and yet so yummmm.

since this was the first time i tried them, i had made basic chocolate truffles, and the variation was only in the coatings where i used almonds, chocolate sprinkles, cocoa powder and desiccated coconut. i did later try some hazelnut truffles and coffee truffles which were even better.

Ingredients:

400 g of dark chocolate or milk chocolate

200g of fresh cream

Flavoring – coffee/hazelnut powder or almond powder/orange zest/mint essence

Cocoa powder/chopped nuts/crushed toffee/crushed peppermint/crushed biscuits/desiccated coconut for rolling.

Method :

Finely chop the chocolates and place in a bowl.

Heat the cream on slow flame, stirring constantly until boiling. Pour boiling cream over the chocolate, wait for a minute and then mix into a smooth paste.

Refrigerate for 4 -5 hours or overnight so that it gets firm. Use a melon baller or a tablespoon to remove and shape with hands into small balls coat with desired coating and chill.

Coffee flavored – add 1 tsp of coffee powder while boiling the cream.

Hazelnut / almond – add 1 - 2 finely ground hazelnut or almond powder for every 100g of chocolate

Mint – add 1 tsp of peppermint extract to prepared ganache or boil handful of mint leaves with the cream. Let it steep for half an hour. Strain the leaves, boil again and use to prepare ganache.

Orange – boil orange peel with cream; Let it steep for half an hour. Strain the leaves, boil again and use to prepare ganache.

carrot halwa

If you are an Indian, You most probably love Gajar Halwa . evry Indian household has its own recipe of gajar(carrot) halwa, some add no milk, some add khoya, some add only milk, other condensed milk...the list will be endless. the carrots used are usually the red ones you get in winter, which are sweeter than the regular carrots, and it makes this a special winter treat. and you will find mother or grandmother making pots full of halwa in the winter to send to their children or grand children. b'coz lets face it moms love feeding their children and more so their grand children.
My moms recipe is one where she adds a lot of milk to the carrots, and the whole thing is then slow cooked for hours until the milk is completely reduced...time consuming .... yes... but also the best.

I had some left over short crust tart shells that i used to server them in.
the biscuit added a nice twist to it.
My very own Gajar halwa tarts.












Ingredients:

1 – 1½ kg carrots, peeled and grated
1 ½ - 2 L milk

250g sugar
50g cashews, coarsely chopped

50g almonds, coarsely chopped

50g pistachios, coarsely chopped

3 - 4 pcs green cardamom

3 tbsp ghee

Few strands of saffron

Method:

Start cooking the carrot on medium flame in a non-stick pan. Add 250 ml of milk at a time and cook till slightly reduced before adding more milk, until gradually all the milk has been added to the carrots. Also add the saffron, split cardamom and chopped nuts while cooking the carrots.

When the milk has been almost completely reduced, add the sugar and cook till dissolved. Keep cooking till halwa starts leaving the sides of the pan.

Add the ghee and cook for another 5 -8 minutes, while stirring continuesly.

Remove from heat and garnish with sliced nuts.