Besan Halwa

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Besan Halwa1

It’s the first day of Diwali today and every Indian household is preparing to kickstart the festivities in a gala way. This year it’s our first Diwali outside India, every year we fly down to home to celebrate it with friends and family. However this year around Mum-in-law decided to come and visit us.

It’s really special having her around. She is working with me on spring cleaning the house, having the lights decorated in the small balcony, making sweets and savories, shopping for new clothes and jewellery. It’s like we have a Santa in the house way before Christmas.

Today is a very auspicious day for Hindus, it’s called Dhan Teras. We offer our prayers to Goddess of wealth – Laxmi for success, prosperity and peace. It’s a traditional custom to buy jewellery or utensils for good luck.

Rangoli

Rangoli is made at the entrance of the house welcoming the Goddess. Rangoli is hand made designs using colored powders and flowers. Deeyas (oil lamps) are used to enhance the decoration and also lighted as a traditional way to welcome the festival. Deepawali or Diwali is also known as a festival of lights.

Besan Halwa

I’d be featuring some of the family favaorites in the coming days, starting with Besan Halwa. You can also read about Sooji (Semolina) Halwa and Rava Nariyal Laddoos (Semolina & Coconut Balls) I posted last year.

Prep Time : 5 minutes
Cooking Time : 25 mins
Serves : 6 persons

Ingredients

1 cup besan (chickpea flour)
1 cup sugar
3 cups water
1 tsp eliachi powder
3/4 cup ghee (clarified butter)
1/2 cup mix chopped nuts

In a saucepan, heat water on medium heat and add sugar and crushed cardamoms. Adding the elaichi to the sugar syrup makes it fragrant and allows the sugar to blend in the cardamom flavors.
In a thick bottom kadai (wok), heat ghee and add besan. Please ensure that you keep stirring the besan so that the mixture does not have any lumps.
The color you are looking for is a pale golden and do not let the besan brown or stick to the bottom. While roasting the besan in the ghee, it gives out a very nice aroma. It is usually is good after 5-7 minutes.

Add the coarsely chopped nuts,  I used cashews, almonds and pistachios.

In a different pan, heat some ghee and add the raisins and let them bloom a bit. Add the raisins to the mixture.

Now add the sugar syrup to the mixture. Be careful with this step and ensure that the burner is on low heat since the syrup will start to bubble and will sprinkle all over.

Blend in all of the mixture with the sugar syrup evenly and keep folding the mixture so that it does not stick to the bottom of the saucepan.

After a few minutes, you will see the mixture thicken and almost start leaving the sides. Take it off the heat and transfer it in a bowl and garnish with some more chopped nuts.

Besan Halwa4

On this sweet note, here’s wishing you and your family a Happy Diwali! I hope the festival of lights illuminate your lives with happiness and contentment 🙂

Tomato Thokku / Chutney

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Everyone has a version of a tomato thokku (cooked down relish or chutney). This recipe is a favorite in my household. I was introduced to Tomato Thokku many years back, by my school friend who used to have this almost everyday in her lunch box. I remember the texture for the Thokku her mum made to be slightly runny.

Tomato Thokku

I serve this with Idli, Dosa or just plain rice and dal. I was even forced to serve this with some Cheese & Herb Garlic Bread. Look!

Garlic Bread

Sahil says this is better and healthier alternative to having pickles \o/

Tomatoes

Tomatoes are my favorite ingredient to work with and tomato chutneys with different variations are a staple in my refrigerator, I make them almost on a weekly basis.

Tomato Thokku

Ready in 20-25 minutes
Ingredients

5 Plum or Romano Tomatoes finely chopped
1 medium sized red onion finely chopped
4 tsp canola oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp carrom seeds
2 dried red chillies
8-10 curry leaves
1 tsp coriander powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper powder
1/2 tsp brown sugar
2-3 tsp tomato paste
Salt to taste

In a thick bottom saucepan or kadai, heat oil on medium heat.

Tempering

Add cumin seeds followed by mustard seeds, let them splutter.

Add carrom seeds, curry leaves and dried red chillies broken in half. You can choose to remove the seeds from the chillies if you want the chutney less spicy.

Now add red onion, cook them until they are translucent.

Add chopped tomatoes and let it cook until the tomatoes are soft and mushy.

Now on medium heat, add salt, coriander powder, cayenne pepper powder and brown sugar to the mixture and cook them until there is a ring of oil on the sides of the wok.

Add tomato paste to the mixture and cook for another 1-2 minutes. I add tomato paste since I like how it lends good consistency and color to the chutney.

Tomato Thokku

Take it off heat and transfer in a clean and dry mason jar. It stays well for 4-5 days if kept refrigerated.

I’m gearing up for Diwali next week and you will a lot of posts in the coming days for sweets and savoury items traditionally made to kick start the festivities.

First Blog Anniversary :D

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Chocolate Cake

Today my blog completes it’s first year *happy dance*

Yes! It’s been a fantastic year of creating foodie memories for myself and my family. It feels like it was just yesterday when I shared my first blog post. Like how every first brings an amazing sense of nostalgia of the time gone by, this one did too. I woke up all chirpy and have a smile plastered on my face 🙂

It’s such a great feeling when my mum, friends or cousins call me to say that they like what they read. My best supporter has been my grandmother who relies on the translations my mum gives her for my writing. It’s funny when she asks me to Whatsapp her pictures of something new I cooked or baked. She is tech-savvy that way. Ain’t she the coolest grandma ?

She loved every picture I clicked at my Italian cooking class, she found the Pasta machine quite exciting. This makes me very proud since she is my mentor, she is the one because of whom I first held a chopping knife or learnt how to make a dough. I owe my love of cooking to her.

I have hosted many dinner / lunch / brunch parties to bring in someone’s birthday / anniversary / promotion / farewell or just catching up with everyone. Friends and family been very supportive and let me take pictures before digging in to the feast. They do email me recipes, they want me to try out and feed them. I like how I got to make some really good friends bonding just over food. I also did get to introduce some non-Indian friends to Indian cuisine and now it’s wonderful to see how they enjoy it and ask for that white pancake recipe while referring to Dhokla.

Dining out on weekdays when I’m too tired to cook after a long day at work came in it’s own pleasures. It gave me and Sahil with some alone time to catch up with each other. We also did a round up for nearly most of the coffee shops. This habit came into being since the very beginning of starting our expat journey here, we do weekend coffee dates just before hitting the supermarket for our grocery shopping.

The first year meant experimenting, getting conscious of the responsibilities which come in with having a food blog. Spending Thursday nights curled up on the couch reading up food blogs or wandering over food websites, buying cookbooks or baking supplies over a pair of shoes, having a window open for The Kitchn while at work, bookmarking favorite recipes, testing the recipes and trying to get across the same emotions into writing as I felt while cooking the recipes. I learned and listened to many people share their food stories and philosophy, letting me in to their personal space and asking me about mine.

I think during the course of the year I came across some really fantastic people be it the restaurant owners when we go out to dine, asking them about their foodie journey or fellow food bloggers who share same passion as me.

I also got to be a part of the wonderful Fooderati Arabia group. Attending fabulously put together food events and reading their food blogs. All of them have been such an inspiration.

It’s been a fun ride so far. The year has passed by in a jiffy, I promise to get more regular with my updates for the next year. I have a better vision and clarity for this blog now. I hope the second year brings in more excitement and learning.

Cake

Like I always say – A prayer in my heart, a song on my lips and spatula in my hand, I love my life 🙂

p.s. I have posted pictures for two of the cakes I baked this year for two very special people in my life. First is for a dear friend and second picture is for Sahil’s birthday cake!

Red Cabbage & Carrot Salad

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Off late I have taken a liking to eating carrots with a side of hummus or zataar labneh. It’s my usual go-to snack at work as well. I have always liked eating the red carrots I find back home. When I first came to Dubai, finding red carrots also referred as Pakistani carrots became a rarity.

I took my own sweet time liking the orange-tinged New Zealand or Australian carrots but now I use them in mostly everything. I put diced carrot in tomato soup (it lends a beautiful color and adds an undertone of sweetness to the acidity of the tomatoes) in savoury snacks like Poha, Upma or just carrots in salads.

Orange carrots are a good source of beta carotene and Vitamin A. Long hours spent glaring at the computer screens have left my eyes looking tired so I munch on these apart from investing in an eye cream.

I have family come over often for weekend lunch. My brother in law likes experimenting with salads and his favorite is the sprouts salad I make. However this time around he asked me to make something different.

Salad 2

I instantly remembered a bookmarked recipe from BBC Good Food’s website. I had red cabbage in the fridge and decided to make this Red Cabbage and Carrot Salad. It’s an adapted version.

Ready in 10 minutes max
Serves : 4 people

Ingredients

3 carrots grated
1 baby red cabbage
1 medium sized red onion thinly sliced
4 sprigs of coriander and mint leaves each
1/3 cup toasted and coarsely chopped salted peanuts

Dressing

Juice of 2 limes
2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper powder
1 tsp organic brown sugar

Toss all the veggies in a salad bowl. I have added more of the peanuts since we like a bit more crunch in the salad. I have used a pack of pre-toasted and salted peanuts which you easily get in Indian supermarkets.

In a small bowl mix the ingredients for the dressing and blend them well.

Add the chopped herbs and pour the dressing over it. Add the toasted peanuts and serve immediately or chill for 10 minutes.

Salad

I hope you like this recipe as much as my family did.

Bombay Bites Restaurant Review

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It’s been a long gap after which I have started posting my old blog posts pending in my ever increasing drafts folder. Work has been crazy off late, leaving me with no time. However I have been cooking to my heart’s content in the last few weeks given the dinner parties I have been hosting for friends and family. Here’s a post I wrote when I was craving Mumbai street food. Read on to know how I found some yummy street food.

I miss Bombay, also known as Mumbai, my home city and there are days when all I want is, to pack my bags and sit at Worli Seaface especially this time around the year. Anyone who is from Bombay will tell you this that Bombay rains are to die for. The scenic lush green cover that the city adorns itself in, the waves splashing against the shores, the odd teen selling cutting chai and chocolates to the lovey-dovey couples holding hands at the sea side, kids jumping in puddles of water on busy roads while returning back from school, the mums reprimanding them. The city has a character and the rains lend it one.

The rainy season is almost over now but it was pouring cats and dogs in Bombay for the last week for so and talking to my folks back home, hearing them taking it easy and enjoying afternoon siestas followed by masala chai with onion bhajjis, I started missing home and the rainy season even more.

I was craving Pav Bhaji and thus began my quest to look for the same. I turned to Twitter to ask for suggestions. Many options were floating like Sukh Sagar, Kailash Parbhat, Aamchi Mumbai, Mumbai Express.  I have had Pav Bhaji at Sukh Sagar and Aamchi Mumbai and it was kinda average.

I eventually went to Bombay Bites, it is based in Bank Street in Bur Dubai. The owner is from Mumbai and prides himself in his Maharashtrian roots. It started as a cafe where only snacks were served, I first had a Misal Pav and Vada Pav over there last year and never went back since it is a long drive from my place in JLT.

This time around we realized that they have taken over a bigger place and opened a full fledged restaurant next door.

Bombay Bites

We tried their Pav Bhaji and it was yummy. It sure left me satisfied, if you after a fancy presentation and a fine dining experience this is definitely not the place to be. But it has got good flavorsome food.

When I first paid them a visit, it was the mango season. The owners had specially bought Alphonso Mangoes which are the speciality of Ratnagiri region in Maharashtra. The texture and flavor of this variety of mango is best for milkshakes, ice creams, preserves and smoothies. They had displayed the bounty just at the entrance to the restaurant, it was enough to make me salivate at the thought of ‘Aamras’.

Aamrkhand : Aamras

Aamras is mango pulp flavored with a very faint hint of elaichi (cardamom) powder. I also followed it up with Aamrkhand, it is mango flavored Shrikhand. It is a traditional dessert made from strained yoghurt mixed with sugar and then flavors are added. It is best served chilled with hot pooris (deep fried Indian bread)

The Pav Bhaji came complete with tava (flat pan) roasted pao (Indian dinner rolls). The best thing about the bhaji is it is doused with spices and not subtle at all. It is really spicy and has the “Aaahaa” factor in every morsel. The complimentary finely chopped onions and lemon wedges play havoc on the palette.

Pav Bhaji

We went there again last week, this time around again we had the pao bhaji and followed it up with Kesar (Saffron) Dryfruit Milkshake, it was loaded with the goodness of nuts and a hint of saffron on top. It was quite a heavy option and Sahil did not touch my dessert later and this doesn’t happen ever!

Dryfruit Kesar Milk

I was reminiscing about Juhu Beach hence ordered Kesar Falooda. It is a chilled dessert. Again I was ecstatic with the result, a tall glass made a grand entry with even layers of fine vermicelli, basil seeds, pistachios, almonds, three scoops of vanilla ice cream, jelly, chilled sweetened milk, almonds and topped with rose syrup.

Kesar Falooda

Everything about this was wonderful. It was just perfect to be had after the spicy meal I had just devoured.

I think in a city where you have many eateries promising you Mumbai style street food, this is one of best of the crop. It is priced very affordably. Finding a parking spot can be tricky on weekends, I usually end up here during weekdays.

Chat up with the owners, they are a friendly couple. I spoke to them in Marathi and the conversations which followed had me walk out smiling!

Disclaimer : All featured dishes and meals were paid for my me and this post is not a sponsored one.

Perfect Your Pasta Cooking Class at Galeries Lafayette

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I have always loved Italian cuisine. Sahil, my husband dreams of long getaways in the Tuscan countryside and whenever he speaks about the same I get all dreamy.

One day while casually sipping coffee and going through posts on Facebook, I came across a contest ‘Perfect Your Pasta’ by Good Magazine UAE. My eyes lit up and I quickly decided to try my luck, said a quiet prayer in my heart and participated.

I am a bit of a magazine junkie, having subscriptions to most of the leading magazines crowding my work desk in the first week of every month. I usually retain cut outs of favorite articles and recipes and put them in my folder.

So I was delighted when I won a spot for this cooking class. What made it perfect was that I could bring along a plus one, Sahil volunteered, it was fun cooking with him. We bonded well over pasta flour and who managed to get the consistency right. Poor guy! He struggled but he was ok after a while.

On arriving at the very plush Galeries Lafayette, we were welcomed by the PR team of the store and then were greeted by Chef Russell Imparizi, the Culinary Director for Galeries Lafayette Gourmet.

Galeries Lafayette is a French department store located in Dubai Mall. The store is aesthetically decorated. I have frequented their in-house grocery section on the second floor many times but I have never sampled the food out there.

GL

Chef Russell and his team of talented chefs took us through each and every step very patiently and were all ears to our questions. Chef Russell started by taking us through the ingredients list and introduced us to the flour used for making pasta.

Pasta Flour

I was very excited since this was the first time I got to make the pasta dough on my own and actually used a pasta machine. There were two other participants apart from us. We were divided in teams of two and were allotted different work stations.

We made basic pasta dough, the one to the left belong to moi. They came out pretty well and it’s amazing how easy and simple it is to make your own pasta.

Basic Pasta Dough.jpg

After that Chef instructed us to choose our individual preferences for making the flavored pasta dough.

Purees

Sahil chose to go for Beetroot while I stuck to my favorite Spinach. Yes! I’m the Popeye of the family.

Other options were chocolate and carrot. The purees were already made for us so it was easy to use a couple of spoonfuls of the puree to our basic pasta flour and then go ‘knead-knead’.

Pasta Filling

You can see all the different pasta doughs stacked against each other.

Flavoured Pasta Dough

After the dough was made, it was allowed to rest for around half an hour. Thereafter we moved on to working on the pasta machine, it was fun making the pasta in different shapes. We made Ravioli, Tortellini and Tagliatelle pasta.

Tagliatelle

I had fun rolling the pasta sheet, layering the filling and then shaping the Spinach Ravioli. Cynthia from the PR team was great and she ensured she went all ‘click-click’. She very sweetly shared the pictures the very next day.

Spinach Ravioli

The Spinach ravioli had a spinach and ricotta cheese filling whereas the beetroot ravioli had a sun dried tomato and goat’s cheese filling. You can see Sahil in the pictures below concentrating on getting the proportion of the filling to pasta right.

Beetroot Ravioli 2

It took me quite a while to get a hang of making the Tortellini and I have to say I just couldn’t get it right. So here’s the ugly looking Tortellini I made. Chef Russell was kind enough to pep me up and say that at least I managed to get the dough correct.

Tortellini

How could we not have dessert! So there comes Chocolate Ravioli *happy dance* We stuffed the ravioli with tiny chocolate ganache logs.

Chocolate Ganache

We then proceeded to see how the sauces are prepared. Chef demonstrated the basic pesto sauce and tomato sauce. He had marinated different types of tomatoes with garlic and some oil and let it rest for the flavors to seep in.

Tomato Sauce

The pesto was one of the nicest pesto I have ever tasted. The trick was to have more of water and less of oil said the Chef. Nonetheless the texture was creamy because of the parmesan cheese and the sauce was very fragrant and fresh.

Pesto

While the team sent the sauces to be used in the kitchen and the pasta to be dished out, Chef took us on an impromptu tour of the ingredients they retail in-store. We tasted different tomatoes, the Baby San Marzano, the Saveol Coeur De Pigeon. The latter was the juiciest tomato I have ever tasted. I also loved the Heirloom tomatoes on display looking very rustic.

Tomatoes

Chef also gave us quick lessons on how to pick tomatoes for sauces and how to peel and use garlic. I saw the most beautiful ever garlic, here see:

Garlic

He then introduced us to the different varieties of Balqees Honey on display. We tasted saffron infused, ginger honey and a whole lot of Yemeni honey.

Balqees

I especially loved the Yemeni honey, it had a wonderful after taste and felt very soothing.

Yemeni Balqees Honey

He also told us about different ways to use honey in bakes and salad dressings. He was all praises for the health benefits for honey as well.

After a couple of minutes was the most fascinating part of this cooking class, the tasting. We got to taste the pasta we had made once the Chef’s team had worked up their magic on them.

Tasting

So we started with Tagliatelle Pasta in Pesto sauce and Carrot Tagliatelle in Tomato sauce.

Tasting

The Beetroot Ravioli came with toasted pine nuts and beetroot reduction and a garnish of fresh parsley. It was the prettiest of the lot.

Beetroot Ravioli

It was followed by the ooh-so-wonderful Spinach Ravioli just doused in butter and sage. This was so delicious I wanted more and kept craving for the rich buttery flavor even on days that followed.

Spinach Ravioli

After catching up with the fellow participants and ooh-ing and aah-ing over the delicacies, we moved on for desserts. This was fun, chocolate ravioli deep fried just for close to 30 seconds, the result nicely puffed up beauties.

Chocolate Ravioli

Chef showed us how to plate up a dessert. It was served with a smear of chocolate ganache, white chocolate sauce infused with vanilla bean topped with nuts, shredded white chocolate and ice cream. Chef also showed us a few easy techniques on how to get the shredded chocolate and quenelle the ice cream.

Dessert Chef

We plated up our individual portions. Mine was overdone, I went crazy with heaping the plate with a good dollop of ice cream and chocolate ganache.

Dessert1

That’s what I call Awesomeness on a plate, Sahil plated this and Chef declared his plate the prettiest. Win!

Sahil Dessert

I came back really happy after the interactive session and a hearty meal. We also got a copy of the recipes. I’m sharing it here so that it gets easy for all of us to try these at home.

Perfect Your Pasta

Perfect Your Pasta 1

I look forward today for the launch event of Lootah Premium Foods ‘ Meet The Blogger’  Event at Galeries Lafayette Dubai Mall wherein some of the best food bloggers from UAE will be giving a cooking demonstration and showcasing their recipes. The crowd will then be able to taste their delicacies.

This is a week long event week and there’s also a grand prize for 3 days in Mauritius at a stunning resort. This prize would be given to the person who captures the best picture of the event and puts it up on Instagram tagging #LootahPremiumFoods

Lootah

I’d be attending the launch event today and thereafter would see some of my fellow food bloggers in action! This should be super fun 🙂

Tzatziki – Cucumber & Yoghurt Dip

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As a kid I used to hate drinking milk and this habit has stayed with me even in my adult years. I like all dairy products and also enjoy my milk shakes but cannot stand the sight of plain white milk.

So how do I ensure my calcium intake ? By eating loads and loads of yoghurt. I never miss a small cup with my lunch or an occasional fruit yoghurt smoothie to keep the mid day hunger pangs at bay.

I also like incorporating yoghurt in different dips and sauces. This recipe is for a Greek sauce Tzatziki, simply said a yoghurt and cucumber dip. This is closer to the Cucumber Raita minus the garlic, we Indians are used to eating at home with Vegetable Pulao (pilaf).

Cucumber Dip

1 400 ml tub full cream yoghurt / store bought Greek yoghurt
3 cloves garlic finely grated
2 cucumber finely chopped / grated
Few sprigs of fresh dill leaves chopped
3 tsp olive oil
Salt to taste
A pinch of black pepper
Few drops of lemon juice

I usually use a cheese cloth to strain the yoghurt for 4-5 hours or even longer if you wish. Else you can also buy Greek yoghurt readily sold in supermarkets, which I find horribly expensive. You can also use low fat yoghurt but I like the full cream yoghurt since the texture for the dip comes out beautifully.

After all the water has been drained from the yoghurt, you can add finely grated cucumbers. You can even chop them finely if you wish. Make sure to drain all the juice from cucumbers beforehand. You don’t want a runny dip.

Now add the cucumbers, finely grated garlic and dill leaves to the mixture. You can choose any herbs you prefer like mint or parsley. Once I did not have any fresh herbs, so I just used dried mint powder and it still tasted good. Here’s a picture for the same, this time around I did not strain the yoghurt enough and hence it is runny.

Tzatziki

Add a generous drizzle of olive oil. Season with salt and black pepper to taste and mix it well.

Refrigerate for 2 hours or more for the flavours to seep in and the dip is ready to be served. Finish it off with a garnish of few sprigs of dill.

Serve with toasted pita bread, roast baby potatoes or carrots. This dip stays well for up to 3 days when refrigerated.

Oats Masala Idli

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My love for traditional Indian fare is well known and I have discussed this in my previous posts. I do not like to tamper with the classics but sometimes you like to give it your own twist. One such craft master whose expertise is well known Michelin star awarded Chef Vineet Bhatia who owns Rasoi in London, Geneva and Indego by Vineet in Dubai.

I have been following his culinary journey to Indian cities looking for unique flavors and incorporating his own take on them in his popular series showcased on “Twist of Taste” on Fox Traveller with his beautiful wife Rashima in Season 1 who used to uncover the tourist attractions or shopping secrets the city had to offer.

In the first season of the show, Chef Vineet made Tomato Sev Rice with Ghatta Sabzi(Gramflour dumplings in tangy sauce)and Shikari Murg. Being a vegetarian I substituted the chicken with paneer and the result came out well. My husband loves this recipe so much that now even when I do not have the Paneer(Cottage Cheese) handy, I just make the ghatta sabzi with sev rice. This looks pretty too, recipe to follow soon 🙂

Tomato Sev Rice

I even tried the Besan Chilla stuffed with Dal served with a side of crispy okra. Unfortunately I’m not able to find a picture for that as yet.

I was at my mum’s place last month and was catching up on Season 2 wherein this recipe for Oats Masala Idli was showcased. I immediately tried this recipe since I knew it would be great as a evening snack. Healthy, nutritious and a quick savoury dish which can be served to a hungry army in a jiffy.

Oats Masala Idli

Ingredients
1 cup oats
1/2 cup semolina
1 cup yoghurt
2 tsp fresh coriander roughly chopped

Tempering
2 tsp oil
1 tsp urad dal
Few fenugreek seeds
7-8 curry leaves finely chopped
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
2 green chillies finely chopped
1 onion finely chopped
1/4 cup grated carrots
Salt to taste

Dry roast cooking oats and semolina in separate pans on medium heat and keep it aside.

Whisk yoghurt and add the oats and semolina to it. Blend well and let the mixture rest for a while.

Now prepare the tempering, heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds, once it splutters add curry leaves, fenugreek seeds, urad dal, green chillies and let the flavors get infused.

Add onions and cook them until they are translucent. Now add grated carrots to the mixture. Add salt to taste, you may also add coriander powder I skipped this.

Saute them for a minute and take it off the heat. Allow it to cool for sometime and then add this to the oats mixture.

Add fresh coriander to the mixture and blend well.

In a idli steamer, pour little water and grease the idli moulds with little oil. Add a spoonful of batter to the idli moulds and put them in the steamer.

Cover the steamer with a lid and let it cook for 7-8 mins. This mixture yields 18 Idlis in total.

Uncover the goodness after a while and serve with Garlic Rasam, Tomato Thokku, Coriander Chutney or Tiffin Sambhar.

Eggless Vanilla & Almond Crumble Cake

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Almond Crumble Cake
After a long hiatus I’m back with something sweet. I visited my family back in Mumbai last month and spent 15 days of bliss in my room.  Surrounded by the similar sense of warmth and comfort which can be experienced, only when you sit cross legged on the couch, endless rounds of tea and snacks been passed around with family gossip sessions which go on for hours on end.
I planned this trip since I wanted to be there for my Dad’s birthday. I’m a typical daddy’s girl and he pampers me silly always. He is the one who still calls me and says ‘I Miss You, come back home soon’. He said this just before his birthday was approaching and it was enough to make me teary eyed and book my tickets. My dad has a terrible sweet tooth, one of the many things which I have taken on him.
He has border line high blood sugar but he still hasn’t restricted himself much in terms of popping the usual ladoos and halwas. His Punjabi genes are to blamed for the same, as a family we like our desserts way too much. I used to bake cakes for him before I got married off. See the one I baked him way back in 2010.
Dad Birthday Cake 2010
Last two years in a row I couldn’t bake him one and used to feel worse. So this time around, we were quite excited to bring in his birthday together.
I went armed with an oven (my mum never bothered to replace the old one once it went bad after I left) and a healthy cake recipe. I made him an Eggless Vanilla & Almond Crumble Cake. This recipe is adapted from Nita Mehta’s book – Eggless Desserts.
This recipe calls for no butter and very less sugar. You can up the sugar up to 1 cup if you like the cake on a slightly sweeter side. The texture for the cake will be moist and not too crumbly.
Today happens to my mum’s birthday, she turns the big 50 today. My mother is a compassionate person and a very confident lady, she is the life of every family get together and an agony aunt to the entire family. We can’t imagine our lives without her soothing smile. Here’s their picture taken on my wedding day.
Mum Dad
This post is a tribute to my parents, I am what I am because of the values they instilled in me and the life lessons they gave me. Sorry I get carried away when talking about family, moving on to the recipe 🙂
Almond Crumble Cake1
Ingredients
1  1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1/3 cup almond crumble
2 tsp flaked almonds to garnish
1 cup of plain yoghurt
3/4 cup of sugar (powdered)
1/2 tsp of baking soda
1 and 1/4 tsp of baking powder
1/2 cup canola oil
1 tsp of vanilla essence
Preheat oven to 180 Degrees Celsius. Grease an 8″ cake pan with some butter, layer with baking paper on the base and set aside. Dust some flour on the sides of the cake pan so that the cake comes out clean once it is done.
Whisk the yogurt (at room temperature) well and add the sugar to it. Mix well until the sugar is incorporated well.
Sieve flour, baking powder and baking soda and mix well. Add this mixture to the wet ingredients.
Add vanilla essence and and oil. Fold it well and keep aside for 5 minutes for the baking powder and soda to start working it’s magic.
Pour half the batter in the greased cake pan and layer with the almond crumble mixture. Put the remaining the batter and sprinkle the remaining almond crumble mixture.
To make almond crumble, soak almonds in warm water for 30 mins. Dry them well on a kitchen towel and crush them coarsely in mortar and pestle. Keep the texture slightly coarse and crumbly. If you want a crunch to the cake, then slip the blanching step and instead just coarsely chop almonds or give them a quick blend in the spice grinder and do not soak almonds in warm water.
If you do not want to give the cake a layered look, then you can add the almond crumble to the batter and mix well.
Bake in the pre-heated oven for 30-32 minutes until the top turns a golden brown and a tooth pick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out with clean.
Let it cool down completely. I took the Orange Preserve from La Pain Quotidien for my parents and garnished it with the same along with chopped almonds once the cake was cooled. You can also serve it with any other preserve you like.
Almond Crumble Cake

I recently served this cake with raspberry coulis and garnished the cake with almond flakes, topped it with some fresh berries and it looked very pretty!

Almond Crumble Cake1
Serve with a smile!
p.s. A dear Twitter acquaintance tried this recipe the day I tweeted about this recipe. She has till date made this recipe thrice, makes me believe I did something right out here. Here are images which she shared, her little girls helped her make this. Ain’t it prettier than my pictures 😀
Cake

Tomato & Roasted Pepper Dip

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Tomatoes are my favourite ingredient to work with. With an abundance of so many varieties available in supermarkets, it is interesting how different varieties result in getting different textures. I prefer the Plum, Roma or cherry tomatoes the most while cooking.

As a kid, I used to eat tomato ketchup with everything – be it fries, crackers, roti, bread, rice, crisps. I used to even put it in a bowl and just eat it as is. And who can forget painting lips with ketchup and licking it clean later. Yumm! Don’t judge me, we all have done crazy things as kids!

I think as a teen, I took a liking to Italian cuisine since they use tomatoes liberally in their sauce base and other wise. Picture Caprese salad looking pretty with rings of mozzarella nestled between thick slices of tomatoes cut round and with a generous drizzle of olive oil and basil leaves or give me tomato soup at the end of the day with toasted garlic bread on the side and I’m back to being my chirpy self again.

Dinner parties see me making this tomato dip often. This also happens to be a staple dip at home, I’d even eat this with dal (lentils) rice or plain roti (Indian flat bread).

Salsa

Cooking Time : 20 minutes
Ingredients

5 large plum tomatoes finely chopped
1 medium red onion finely chopped
1 medium red bell pepper finely chopped
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 Thai red chilly deseeded and finely chopped
20 ml olive oil
1/2 tsp rock salt
Salt to taste
Ground Black Pepper to taste (optional)

Blanch the tomatoes in warm water until the skin comes out clean. Let them cool and dice them finely. If you are running short of time, just chop them finely.

In a pan, warm the olive oil and add the thai red chillies. Do not deseed them since they impart the heat to this mixture. Once they splutter add the onion and cook them until they are translucent. If you would like to keep the heat quotient low, use cayenne pepper or red chilly flakes as per your preference.

Add tomatoes, cook them until they are mushy and leave the oil on the sides of the pan.

Add red bell pepper and cook them until they are soft. You can also toss them separately in a pan with little olive oil on high flame until they wilt. When I am not short of time I prefer roasting the bell pepper on high flame, peeling off the skin and then adding it to the tomato mixture. It gives a nice roasted flavor to the dip!

Season it well with salt to taste and pepper. You may also add dried herbs if you wish. I also add little garlic butter towards the end to give the mixture a glossy finish.

Dip & Dhokla

Serve with Crackers, Falafel, Pita Bread, Potato Wedges, Chips, Nachos or even Dhokla.