Just Bake - Sponge cake with choco icing

Now that i had started to bake I wanted to bake something special for our 4th wedding anniversary. I rushed into the local store and bought a heart shaped cake tin and started to bake a cake..


Preparation time: 20 minutes
Baking time: 30 minutes


Ingredients: 

For the sponge: 

1. Maida 1.25 cups
2. Sugar 1.75 cups
3. Butter 2 cups
4. Eggs 3 or 50gms of egg mix
5. Vanilla essence 1tsp
6. Baking powder 1/4tsp
7. Salt a pinch
8. Milk as required

For icing:

1. Icing sugar 100gms
2. Butter 50gms
3. Cocoa powder 1.25tbsp
4. Milk if required


Method: 

For sponge: 

1. Sieve maida, salt, baking powder twice.
2. Fold in butter (melted) and sugar.
3. Mix beaten eggs and vanilla essence till fluffy.
4. Add this mixture to the butter sugar mix and blend well.
5. Slowly add the flour mix and blend well. Add milk as required to dropping consistency.
6. Pour into greased tray and bake in a preheated oven @ 190 degrees for 25-30 minutes or till done. (you can check this by poking a stick, if it comes out clean it shows its done).
7. Cool completely before you proceed for icing.

For icing:

1. Soften butter (at room temperature).
2. Add icing sugar and cocoa powder and mix well to make a thick paste.
3. Spread over the cake or pipe through a nozzle as desired.

Just Bake - Eggless Cupcakes

Baking, an interest i developed of late and as a beginner i always have the zest to keep baking something all the time so for starters i bought a  new muffin (cupcake) mold and after buying it i had to try out right.. so i started with the eggless version.


Preparation time: 20 minutes
Baking time: 20-25 minutes
Makes: 10 cupcakes


Ingredients: 

1. Maida 1.5 cups
2. Cocoa powder 2tbsp
3. Baking powder 1tsp
4. Salt a pinch
5. Sugar (powdered) 1.25 cups
6. Butter 1 cup
7. Milk 1 cup
8. Vanilla essence 1 tsp


For icing: 

1. Icing sugar 1 cup
2. Butter 1/2 cup
3. Vanilla essence a few drops
4. Milk if required


Method: 

1. Preheat oven @200 degrees for 15 minutes.
2. Grease the muffin tray/mold and keep aside.
3. Sieve maida, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder twice.
4. Fold butter, sugar, vanilla essence and mix well.
5. Add flour mix and fold gently. Add milk as required so that batter comes to a dropping consistency.
6. Spoon batter into mold till 1/2 or 2/3 full.

7. Bake for about 20-25 minutes or till brown.



For icing:

1. Sieve icing sugar to make it lump free.
2. Soften butter well and mix it with icing sugar and vanilla essence.
3. Add milk if required and spread as desired or pipe it in.

Mixed Vegetable sagu

Sagu.. the side dish, the name of which is synonymous along with puri and chapathi promises to be one tasty delight east to make and healthy to eat.


Preparation time: 20-25 minutes
Cooking time: 35-40 minutes
Serves: 7 people


Ingredients: 

1. Veggies [I took 200gms each of carrots, beans, potatoes, chow chow (seeme badanekai) and green peas]
2. Onions 3
3. Tomatoes 2
4. Green chillies 9-10
5. Coriander leaves
6. Fresh grated coconut 1/2 cup
7. Ginger 1 inch
8. Garlic (optional) 4-5 pods
9. Mustard seeds 1tsp
10. Salt
11. Water
12. Jeera seeds 1tsp
13. Poppy seeds 1tsp

Method: 

1. Cut the veggies into small cubes and wash them well and cook.
2. Grind green chillies, ginger, garlic, jeera seeds, 1 onion, 2 tomatoes, corinader leaves along with fresh grated coconut and poppy seeds to a fine paste.
3. Slit the remaining onions and cook them along with veggies.
4. Once vegetables are cooked add the ground paste to them and mix well.
5. Let it boil until raw smell disappears.
6. Finally make seasoning of mustard seeds, garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with puri or chapathi.


Variation: You can add about 1/2 inch cinnamon stick and about 2-3 pods of cloves as well for grinding for that extra taste.

Health is Wealth - Broken wheat Tomato bhath

Its good to get health conscious, not occasionally but often.. and as one such occasion I decided to cook something tasty from broken wheat. I used to make it often earlier but as i got lazy and stuck to making chapathi's for dinner i totally forgot about how to eat a healthy dinner. Well, better late than never i started off again and this time with my hubby's all time favourite tomato bhath, but made of broken wheat.

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Serves: 3

Ingredients: 

1. 2 cups broken wheat
2. Onions 3
3. Tomatoes 4-5
4. Garam masala powder 1tsp
5. Green chillies 3-4
6. Ginger garlic paste 1tbsp
7. Oil
8. Mustard seeds 1tsp
9. Coriander leaves
10. Dhania powder 1tsp
11. Jeera powder 1tsp
12. Turmeric powder 1/2tsp
13. Salt

Method: 

1. Slice the onions into thin strips and chop tomatoes and keep aside.
2. Slit the green chillies into halves.
3. Dry roast the broken wheat for about 2-3 minutes.
4. Heat oil in a pressure cooker and make seasoning of mustard seeds. Add ginger garlic paste and saute along with green chillies and onions.
5. Add turmeric powder, garam masala, dhania powder, jeera powder and saute till onions turn golden brown.
6. Now add tomatoes and mix well.
7. Add salt, and mix well. Leave it for about a minute till tomatoes take in the powders well.
8. Now add the roasted broken wheat, and about 2.5 cups of water and mix well.
9.  Close the lid and let it cook for about 2-3 whistles.
10. Once the cooker is cooled add fresh coriander leaves and serve hot with any raitha or just like that.

Jolada rotti

Jolada rotti or jowar roti's are very famous in north Karnataka region, infact it their staple food and since Bangalore is a cosmopolitan city, its gained a lot of popularity here as well. Every area in the city has many such food joints serving Uttara Karnataka specialties.

My mom used to make rotti out of this jowar flour but unlike the bhakri's they make in North Karnataka. This one's the usual akki rotti style but made out of jolada rotti. One fine day i had to experiment it on my hubby and the end result he loved it, the best part however is that not only him but other members of the family as well ended up liking it.


Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Serves: 4 rotti's


Ingredients: 

1. Jolada rotti (Jowar flour) 2 cups
2. Onions 3
3. Green chillies 4-5
4. Salt
5. Water
6. Coriander leaves
7. Fresh grated Coconut 1/4 cup


Method: 

1. Finely chop the onions and keep aside.
2. Take the flour in a bowl and add onions, finely chopped coriander leaves, coconut, green chillies, salt and mix well.

3. Add water and make a dough out of it. Divide into balls and flatten with fingers on tawa smeared with about 2tsp of oil.

4. Bake well on both sides till light brown.
5. Serve hot with chutney or pickle.

Summer treats - Badam and cashew kulfi

Well its summer time again, time for scorching sun and time for the refrigerator to get working in full swing again. Its still February end and the heat already rising giving clear indications that its going to be a real hot summer this time around. And when you have something chilly and tasty in the freezer all members of the house are delighted.. ensured..

Tried this as starters for the weather and as mentioned earlier people at home loved it..

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15-20 minutes
Serves: makes about 16 kulfi's


Ingredients:

1. Milk 1/2 litre
2. Cashews about 20 soaked in milk
3. Badam about 15 soaked in milk.
4. Sugar 100gms
5. Khova 100gms (instead you can used the doodh pedha made out of khova)
6. MTR Badam drink powder 2-3tbsp
7. Elaichi powder 1/2 tsp


Method: 

1. Boil the milk and let it cool.
2. Grind the cashews and badam to a fine paste.
3. Add this to the milk and stir well and boil for 2-3 minutes.
4. Now add the pedha/khova (I used around 8 pedha's. If you're using pedha break them into small pieces and grind in a mixer into a smooth paste).
5. Add sugar as required (Keep in mind the amount of sugar you use while using pedha since it's already sweet)
6. Now add the MTR Badam drink powder and elaichi powder. Mix well.
7. Let this cool completely. Pour them into kulfi moulds or cups and freeze them for about 5-6 hours.

Variation: You can grind pista's as well along with cashews and badam. Add kesar for more taste.

Just Bake - Chocolat cake - Anniversary cake...

The word chocolate sends across many arousing signals to any humans minds.. Not only kids but even adults just love chocolate so much that some just can't resist the cravings.

Well I didn't need a much better occasion than my brother in law and co-sister's 1st wedding anniversary to bake a special home made chocolate cake for them, even though this was the 1st time i was trying one the thought that it had to be special for them made me more excited to bake it..


Preparation time: 20 minutes
Baking time: 25-30 minutes
Serves: About 320gms of yummylicious cake.


Ingredients: 

1. Maida 2 cups
2. Castor sugar 2 cups
3. Butter 2 cups (soft)
4. Eggs 4
5. Cocoa powder 3-4tbsp
6. Baking powder 1.5tsp
7. Vanilla essence 1tsp
8. Milk as required

For icing: 

1. Butter 1 cup
2. Icing sugar 2 cups
3. Milk 2-3tbsp
4. Vanilla essence 1-2 drops

Method:

1. Sieve maida, baking powder, cocoa powder 3 times
2. Cream the butter and sugar well. Keep aside. .
3. Beat the eggs well and add vanilla essence and blend.
4. Now add this to the sugar butter mixture and mix well.
5. Fold in the flour mix and mix well.
6. Add milk as much as required to get the mixture to a dropping consistency.
7. Grease a tray and pour till half full and bake @190degrees for about 25-30 minutes or till done. You can check this by poking a stick into the cake, if it comes out clean at all places it means the cake's done.
8. Cool on wire rack completely before you proceed for icing.

For icing: 

1. Soften butter and mix icing sugar and vanilla essence. Add about 2 tbsp of milk if required.
2. Spread a layer on the cake or pipe it through a nozzle into desired shape or message.



Here I've used colourful gems and cherries for the decoration.