Seviyan barfii

Trial and Error..

Thats what comes to my mind whenever I think of this yummy dessert. One of my cousins once brought a box of these barfis to our house and one bite of it was enough for us to start guessing the recipe, so that we could recreate it later. And as soon as She got the time, My Mom along with her two helpers (me and my sister) tried cooking up a batch that would be similar to the orignal barfi that we had got.
What mummy concluded after tasting the crisp, n crunchy barfi was that, it had three main ingredients - seviyan, condensed milk and nuts.
The First batch - It was not at all the same, it stuck to our hands..and we couldn't even get out proper pieces.
Second Batch - we decided to increase the amount of vermicelli and roast the quite a lot and with a little ghee. But the result was still not perfect - it was still lacking in the crunchiness
TADAA.. THE THIRD BATCH - This one was perfect and it became a frequently mad edessert in our house, the only difference in this batch was that after spreading it on a tray, mummy put it in the oven for a bit to crisp up the top, and it turned out perfect....

Ingredients:
150 - 200 g seviyan (vermicelli)
1 can of sweetened condensed milk (400g)
2 tbsp ghee
100 g mixed nuts (almonds, pistachios, cashews or walnuts), you can toast the nuts a bit if you want.

Method:
Prepare a tray by lining with foil and grease with a little ghee.
Dry roast the vermicelli till a little fragrant. then add ghee and roast for a few minutes. the vermicelli should be golden brown and fragrant. add the condensed milk and chopped nuts. Mix till all of the vermicelli is coated with condensed milk.
transfer into lined tray immediately, and flatten with the backside of a bowl or the underside of a glass.
score with a knife into diamonds or squares.
bake the barfi in the oven for 10 - 15 minutes at 160 degrees Celsius. to crisp up  the top, and make it nice and crunchy. (you can skip this step if you like it softer)
Let cool and separate the pieces.

Perfect to carry as a gift for your friends and family

crisped to golden perfection

Marble Cake

Perfect tea time accompaniment...

Its amazing how something so simple, can look so sophisticating. When i was a child it always used to fascinate me that how can two flavors be baked in a single cake with such beautiful designs ( I also used to try fist eating all the white cake parts and then the chocolate parts from the slice).

I always used to love a slice of marble cake either with tea in the evening or in the lunch box, or a late night snack. We used to get this lovely slabs of freshly baked marble cake at the bakery which would get over in no time at all.

Its one of those things that makes you realize that beautiful things don't always need a lot of effort, its more about the technique and the thought behind it.

A marble cake is a basic white cake, with cocoa powder mixed with some of the batter and then swirled in. the technique is the same as chocolate swirl cake

i also tried this coffee swirl cake with the same technique.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup ground oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 cup plain, yogurt
25 g cocoa powder
2 tbsp milk

OR

2 tbsp butter, room temperature
2 1/2 tsp instant coffee granules
1/2 tsp cocoa powder
1/4 cup brown sugar


Method:
Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease and flour a 10-inch bundt pan.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in eggs, one at a time, followed by vanilla extract.
Stir in half of the flour mixture, followed by the yogurt (or sour cream), then stir in remaining flour mixture. Batter will be thick.
In a seperate bowl dissolve the cocoa powder in the milk, and then mix it with half or 1/3 of the cake batter.

OR


In a small bowl, beat together butter, instant coffee/espresso, cocoa powder and brown sugar until well combined. Mixture will be crumbly. add 3 - 4 tbsp of the batter to this mixture

Spread half of the cake batter into prepared pan. Spread the chocolate or coffee batter in the center of the layer of cake batter (doesn't need to be neat), then top with remaining cake batter, spreading it evenly to cover the chocolate or coffee mixture. swirl with a knife or a wooden skewer.

Bake for 45-50 minutes, until the cake springs back when lightly pressed and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Allow cake to cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Plain Marble cake

Coffee swirl cake

If you have more time on hand or if you are feeling more adventurous, you can even try piping a design with the brown colour batter on the base. although my first try din't turn out rite, i guess it was because of the brown sugar in my coffee batter...maybe next time

Failed attempt at making hearts

Creme Caramel

From Scratch....

We all have had a few ready from the packet desserts or instant desserts stocked in our pantries, likr always. I know i have....from the time i can recall, my mom always had a shelf full of assorted jellos,custard powder, caramel custard, and dream whip packets in her kitchen cabinet (i mean who doesn't), these were the first desserts i learned to make. and what is there to lean really, just boil a the given amount of milk or water (as the packet says). dissolve all ingredients in the packet and pour into bowl and voila..your dessert for the day is ready.

But as i grew older, i always had this curiosity to try these same desserts from scratch, yeah i know some people just find that painstaking, but I say why not...

So over the years 

• I Have tried whipping my own cream, and after trying it have realised whipped cream powder is better and quicker,especially with the quality of cream that we get here (only 25% fat, takes a really long time to whip). An even better option i discovered is to dissolve your whipped cream powder in the single pouring cream available, instead of milk or water.it gives a real nice and thick whipped cream within minutes!!!
• I have tried making my own jelly with fruit juice and gelatin...and that didn't turn out too bad...infact i prefer that to all the artificial coloring and fruit flavors...why not have the real thing.
• Custard, well i still think i like my eggless custard powder better
• And creme caramel...yes I finally tried it. I've been wanting to try it since a long time and so i finally did. (plus i had a few extra yolks i wanted to use up instead of throwing them away after i made some garlic sauce)

i used this recipe i saw on donna hay's website, but made a few adjustments to fit my two yolks...you can make the same recipe even without the yolks, what i normally do for substituting yolks in any recipe is to - use 1 egg instead of every two yolks, works fine all the time as i usually don't like using only yolks.

Ingredients :

1/2 cup (120g) caster (superfine) sugar

⅓ cup (80ml) water

400ml milk

2 tbsp custard powder

3 eggs

2 egg yolks, extra

1/4 cup caster sugar, extra

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 150°C . Place the sugar and water in a saucepan over high heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Bring to boil and and cook for 8–10 minutes or until the mixture is dark golden. Pour into 4  - 5 ovenproof dishes, or you can even use just one big dish if you want. Set aside for 5 minutes or until the caramel is set.
Place the milk and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat until it just comes to the boil. add custard powder dissolved in a little cold milk, and cook for another minute.Remove from heat.
Place the eggs, extra yolks, and vanilla in a bowl and whisk until well combined. Gradually add the milk mixture, whisking to combine. Strain the mixture and pour into the dishes. Place dishes in a roasting pan or cake tin lined with a dish towel(prevents the dishes from slipping) and pour boiling water around the sides till it comes halfway up the the dishes. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until set. Remove from the dish and refrigerate for 2 hours or until cold. Remove the crème caramels from the fridge 30 minutes before serving. Turn out onto plates to serve.

creamy delights ..

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Picnic time....

Since the time i've seen this post, i've been wanting to try these...for someone who loves chocolate chip cookies...this is like even better, because i'm not a cookie person...i prefer cakes n muffins. And I love chcolate chip anything...

I made them to carry along on our weekend trip to Matheran. and they were perfect to snack along for int he car and all through out our trekking...

Although i didn't finally use the same recipe. i looked for a different one with whole wheat n oatmeal. I don't remember where i found this recipe. but it did turn out really good. 

Ingredients:

3/4 cup milk

1/4 cup melted butter

1 egg

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup refined flour

3/4 cup ground oats

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt 

3/4 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Method:

Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius. and line your muffin tins with paper liners.

beat egg, milk and butter in a bowl. Sift all the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, and whisk till properly mixed.

whisk dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir with spoon ( no electric beater required). Mix in the chocolate chips and walnuts.

I topped each muffin with a sprinkling of sugar crystals to give it a nice sugary look.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

Carrot Cake

Winter Chillzzz.....

Winter is Finally here, and for a change Its actually chilly in Mumbai. Winter in Mumbai means the season for Fresh strawberries, and Figs..and Red Carrots...Yess, red carrots are in season, so its the season for carrot Halwa, and fresh carrot juice. So this time I thought let me also try a carrot cake, since i've always heard so much about it.
I have actually tried a carrot cake one time before....but this was like way back (at a time when i thought how can carrots be in a cake)...but it had not turned out good. I don't know why but nobody had liked it.
Any ways i still decided to give it another try. this was the recipe i zeroed on. and it turned out pretty good. what more could anyone want with a cup of tea than a piece of whole wheat healthy carrot cake

Ingredients:
175g light muscovado sugar
175ml sunflower oil
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
140g grated carrots (about 3 medium)
100g chopped dates
grated zest of 1 large orange
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup ground oats
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp dried ginger powder (optional)
½ tsp grated nutmeg (freshly grated will give you the best flavour)
1 tbsp orange juice.

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 C. Oil and line the base and sides of a square cake tin with baking parchment.
Tip the sugar into a large mixing bowl, pour in the oil and add the eggs. Lightly mix with a wooden spoon. Stir in the grated carrots, raisins and orange rind.
Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda and spices, then sift into the bowl. Lightly mix all the ingredients – when everything is evenly amalgamated stop mixing. The mixture will be fairly soft and almost runny.
Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 40- 45 minutes, until it feels firm and springy when you press it in the centre. Cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn it out, peel off the paper and cool on a wire rack. (You can freeze the cake at this point.)
Beat together the frosting ingredients in a small bowl until smooth – you want the icing about as runny as single cream. Set the cake on a serving plate and boldly drizzle the icing back and forth in diagonal lines over the top, letting it drip down the sides.

Pineapple Upsidedown Cake

Going down the upside down lane....

Finally, pineapple upside down cake....You see..I love pineapple the fruit, but when it comes to store bought pineapple cake or the jello packets that are available...they always taste so artificial, not at all like the actual fruit..
So when i wanted to make my pineapple cake, i didn't want to use any canned fruit...i went for the fresh pineapple (coz that's easily available and cheaper and healthier ), and i must say the cake turned out truly amazing. Ther is just something about the goey caramel at the bottom...or top that literally make you lick the plate and the spoon in the end.
It also makes you wanna try all kinds of upside down cakes.
after googling for some time I narrowed down to the recipe here as i found it best fit my requirements (or maybe looked the simplest).

Ingredients:

Topping:-
1/2 medium pineapple, peeled, quartered lengthwise, and cored
3/4 stick unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

Batter:-
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup unsweetened pineapple juice

Method:
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Make topping: Cut pineapple crosswise into 3/8-inch-thick pieces. Melt butter in skillet. Add brown sugar and simmer over moderate heat, stirring, four minutes. Remove from heat. Arrange pineapple on top of sugar mixture in concentric circles, overlapping pieces slightly.
You can reduce the amount of caramel, if you have a smaller cake pan, or if you have left over caramel, just add a litlle water to the pan, bring it to a boil and make caramel syrup to use in any recipe later.(that's what i did). the recipe was for a 9 inch pan, and I have a 6 inch pan.
Make batter: Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, then gradually beat in granulated sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Add half of flour mixture and beat on low speed just until blended. Beat in pineapple juice, then add remaining flour mixture, beating just until blended. (Batter may appear slightly curdled.)
Spoon batter over pineapple topping and spread evenly. Bake cake in middle of oven until golden and a tester comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Let cake stand in skillet five minutes. Invert a plate over skillet and invert cake onto plate (keeping plate and skillet firmly pressed together). Replace any pineapple stuck to bottom of skillet. Sprinkle rum over cake and cool on plate on a rack.
Serve cake just warm or at room temperature.
Do ahead: Cake may be made one day ahead and chilled, covered. Bring to room temperature before serving.

absolutely scrumptious 

Multigrain crackers

Crackery goodness

I know I know, its been a long long time since my last blog, what with wedding season in full swing plus a short trip only to return home, not in the pink of health...just couldn't find the time to complete this blog earlier...hopefully will try to be quicker from now on..

I love baking...I really love pulling out freshly baked warm cookies and cakes from my oven. But once in a while i just don't want to make something sweet. I've always loved crackers, chips, saltines and the likes...so when i finally found this recipe here, i just couldn't wait to try it...the thing i've felt with similar recipes is that usually it takes longer to get them crisp than the said time (or you have to keep them at a lower temperature for a long time to dry out). The difference with this recipe was the semolina flour. and I found that It actually got them crispy and crunchy much faster. also you can try it with all sorts of flour combinations.
these are also a healthier option for growing kids...especially when they are at the age when they love chips n other dry snacks that they can eat on their own.

Ingredients:
3/4 cups semolina flour
1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup ragi(nachni) flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup warm water
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (or vegetable oil)
Coarsely ground flaxseeds

Method:
Whisk together the flours and salt. Add the water and olive oil. Using a mixer with a dough hook attachment mix the dough at medium speed for about 5 - 7 minutes. Alternately, feel free to mix and then knead by hand on a floured counter-top. The dough should be just a bit tacky - not too dry, not too sticky to work with. If you need to add a bit more water (or flour) do so.
When you are done mixing, shape the dough into a large ball. Now cut into twelve equal-sized pieces. Gently rub each piece with a bit of olive oil, shape into a small ball and place on a plate. Cover with a clean dishtowel or plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for 30 - 60 minutes.
While the dough is resting, preheat your oven to 200 degrees C. Insert a pizza stone if you have one.
When the dough is done resting, flatten one dough ball. Using a rolling pin or a pasta machine, shape into a flat strip of dough- I didn't have a pasta machine so i rolled it by hand, but it becomes easier to roll between two sheets of cling wrap, especially if you are using a combination of different flours, you can roll it as thin as you want without the dough sticking or braking(so crispier crackers, yay). Pull the dough out a bit thinner by hand (the way you might pull pizza dough). You can also cut the dough into whatever shape you like at this point. Set dough on a floured (or cornmeal dusted) baking sheet, poke each cracker with the tines of a fork to prevent puffing, add any extra toppings, and slide into the oven (onto the pizza stone). Repeat the process for the remaining dough balls, baking in small batches. If you don't have a pizza stone, bake crackers a few at a time on baking sheets. Bake until deeply golden, and let cool before eating - you will get more crackery snap.

Makes a dozen extra large crackers.

I tried the same recipe to make cornmeal crackers, this time I mixed some spices into the dough instead of the topping. also since cornmeal is pretty course, i switched it with the semolina, but later i felt that it took longer to crisp than the ragi crackers, but these were definitely better in taste.

corn meal cracker - In cute little fish shapes

YES!!! they look so professional b'coz of the shapes, and I got to use my new cookie cutters. your kids will love these

Ingredients:
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3 - 4 Tbsp grated cheddar cheese
1 Tbsp sesame seeds
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp oregano
3 tbsp olive oil
1/3 cup boiling water

these are so great you will want to try out all kinds of different combinations...