Naan/ White flour flatbread- Khana restaurant style

Let me admit it..I feel proud of myself that I could make this amazing restaurant staple at home..yipee!! And that too without oven…yes, I made it on stove top. Amazing, isn't it! I really have to thank recipe website by Nishamadhulika for this easy method, but I'll share my experience with you.

Naan- for the uninitiated, it’s a kind of soft, differently flavored  flatbread we associate with big wedding parties and restaurants in India. It's made in big clay ovens or "tandoor"  as we call it. These triangular naans go best with North Indian dishes like kadhai paneer, dal makhni, dal fry, butter chicken, mutton in rich gravy, palak paneer,dum aloo and the list goes on. Basically heavy (read, rich in fats and spices) gravies go well with naan.

Ingredients

White flour- 200gm

Curd- 100gm

Baking soda/soda bicarb/Khane ka soda- 1/4 tsp

Sugar-1/2 tsp

Salt-1/4th tsp

Oil- 2 tbsp

Lukewarm water- to make dough

Method

1. Take white flour/maida. Make a well in the centre.
2. Pour oil and curd in this well and also add the rest of the ingredients.
3. Mix thoroughly.
4. Add lukewarm water and knead till a soft, pliable dough is formed.
5. Keep covered for 2-3 hours in a warm place and let it rise. It should approximately double it's size.
6. Divide the dough into 8-10 portions. Keep a little white flour on the side in which you can roll the portions like we do to make chapati.
7. Roll one portion into a round. Apply butter on the edges and fold into a "D". Again apply butter onto the edges and fold to make a quarter of the circle. With a rolling pin extend this shape to make a triangular naan.
8. Heat a skillet/heavy tawa
9. Apply water on one side and place it on the skillet, water side down.
10. You will observe bubbles on the visible side…this indicates that its browning at the other side.
11. Remove from skillet and cook the other side (the bubbled one), on the flame directly.
12. Serve hot

Savory cheese pasta cups

Sometimes you need something new to add to your evening snack apart from cheese and crackers. These pasta cups were a perfect filler. Easy to make and tasty (its got cheese..right!). I would say a thumbs -up to it anytime.

Cheese Pasta Cups
Please serve freshly made ones, reheating makes them lose flavor.  
Adapted from eCurry

Ingredients:

1. 1 Cup Cooked Pasta: Boil the pasta as per instructions.( I used macroni..u can use shell or any other small sized pasta)
2. 1 Cup Grated/Shredded Cheese (Any Cheese or any combination of 2 or 3 cheeses – cheddar, parmesean, amul or britannia cheese cubes will also do) I used grated paneer alongwith cheese cubes.
3. 2 Tablespoons of whole wheat flour
4. Salt to taste
5. Black Pepper to taste
6. Herbs (optional- any herbs you want to use…. I used dried Parsely and a mix of Italian seasoning)
7. Garlic -3-4 cloves minced or grated

Preparation:

• Lightly grease muffin pans/cup cake liners or silicon cups.
• Combine all the ingredients above & spoon it into muffins pan or cup cake liners.
• Bake at 375 Degree F for about 15-20 minutes or till the cheese melts & start to brown on the top.
• Cool on a rack for about 10 minutes.
• Carefully take out the Pasta cups. Serve Warm.

Eggless Choco-orange cake with Nutella frosting

Happy new year!!

I know I've been absent from the blog space for a while now, but now I'm bacck! And we are starting this new year with this very celebratory choco-orange cake...yummm.


Choco-orange cake with nutella frosting
Adapted from Anushruti's cake 

Ingredients

200 gm (1 1/2 cups) plain flour (i use whole wheat flour, pre-milled)

50 gm (1/4 cup) cocoa powder( i used Hershey's)

30 gm (4 tbsp) fine sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda/ sodium bicarbonate

1 tin/400gm sweetened condensed milk ( Nestle)

150 gm butter melted

1 tsp Orange extract

250 ml  (1 cup) water

For soaking the sponge

Orange juice ( fresh or packed, i used packed)- 5 tbsp approximately, but you can use more if you wish to. I intend to use more next time.

Nutella frosting

 Nutella- 1/3 cup

orange extract - 1 tsp

Filling for layer

Pulp of 2-3 oranges (or mausmi/moshumbi)  - about 1/2 cup

Icing sugar- 25 gm (5-6 spoons approx.)

20 gm butter

Method

1. Grease and line the bases of cake tin with greaseproof paper/baking parchment/butter paper.

2. Assemble the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder and baking soda, mix with a fork and sieve once to make the mixture uniform.

3. Preheat the oven at about 150 c/300F.

4. Add in the condensed milk, melted butter, vanilla and water. Beat with an electric hand mixer or whisk till the mixture is uniform and smooth and there are no lumps. Do not overbeat.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake for 50-60 min. or until a skewer or toothpick comes out clean.

6. After the cake is, allow to rest in their tins forsome time and then cool them by keeping them on a cooling rack.

7. When the cake is cooled, slice it from the middle and divide into 2 parts. Sprinkle the Orange juice. Keep both parts seperate and leave them overnight.

Filling

Mix all the ingredients together and leave it overnight.

Frosting

Put Nutella in the microwave for 10-15 sec to make it smoother in consistancy, add orange extract and whip it to mix well.

 Assemble the cake

Spread the filling on the bottom portion of the cake and place the upper part on it. Press gently. Now spread the nutella frosting on the top and sides with a flat spoon or butter knife. You can sprinkle a little icing sugar or white chocolate chips on it.

Devour the yummy cake...;)

enjoy

Pumpkin pie- an eggless dessert

When you throw a ladies party last in the chain, you have to really rack your brains to come up with a great dessert. Thankfully, I was all armed with this amazing eggless pumpkin pie recipe by Anushruti of Divinetaste.

My friend help me serve it, and by the time I came out of the kitchen..all was gone except a teeny-tiny piece for me. And with all the kudos came numerous requests for the recipe. I know I'm a wee bit late in posting this, but here's to all my friends here.

Pumpkin pie
from Anushruti of Divinetaste
Ingredients:

For the crust:
○ 140 gm (1 cup) plain flour
○ 1/3 cup cold butter
○ 1/2 teaspoon salt
○ 5-7 tablespoons cold water

For the filling
○ 2 cups (500 ml) Pumpkin puree
○ 400g, sweetened condensed milk
○ 2 tablespoons cornflour (cornstarch)
○ 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon powder
○ 3/4 teaspoon freshly-grated nutmeg
○ 1/2 tsp ground cloves
○ 1/2 tsp ginger powder
○ 1/2 teaspoon salt

Prepare the crust:

1. Mix the flour and the salt and cut the butter into the flour with your fingers until you get coarse breadcrumbs.
2. Alternatively, combine the flour, butter and salt in a food processor and process with short bursts until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
3. Add the cold water and form into a soft dough. Do not handle the dough more than required at this stage.
4. Gather the dough into a ball and chill well for an hour or so.
5. Place the dough on a floured surface. Roll out the dough to a circle, to line a 9-inch pie dish or cake pan with removable bottom. Prepare the edges and chill till you are ready with the filling.

Prepare the filling:
For the pumpkin puree:

1. Cut the pumpkin into wedges.
2. Scoop out the seeds, pith and fibre with the help of a spoon.
3. Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade.
4. Place the pumpkin wedges cut side down on a lightly oiled baking sheet and bake in the oven for about 45 minutes to an hour or until the pumpkin is tender when pierced with a knife.
5. Scoop flesh out of the skins and puree with a hand blender or mash well by hand.

To make the pie:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 200 C.
2. In a bowl, mix in the pumpkin puree, condensed milk,  cornflour, spices and salt and beat until there are no lumps.
3. Spoon or pour the filling into the chilled crust and level with the help of a palette knife.
4. Bake for about 60 minutes (the original recipe says 40 minutes, but i got better results in a longer period of time) or until the filling is set and the top crust is a nice golden brown.
5. Allow to cool, cut into wedges and serve. (I did not follow the cooling step well, couldn't keep everyone waiting!)

Home made Hummus

Every once in while we go out to have Lebanese food. Pita bread, falafal, hummus and Zatar are some of the favorites. I used to think that Hummus might be a very elaborate recipe, but I still wanted to know how is it made, so I set out to search for it.

Most of the recipes i had come accross were wanting Tahini which I knew nothing of, then luckily I read the post of Hummus and cucumber sandwich by Soma (of Ecurry). I tried my hand at it and was able to have this delicious hummus at home.

You can find her recipe here. I just omitted the paprika, since I did not have any at hand.

I would have loved to give the recipe here, but sometimes its better to hear from the creator herself..:)