Eggless Chocolate Cupcake

After making the vanilla cupcakes, i wanted to try my hand at chocolate, and see if I could make that work (this time at least!) with the new recipe. It worked!! So here goes:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Maida/All purpose flour (apf)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened chocolate powder (i prefer Hershey’s, you can use any other brand, but the taste may be slightly different)
• 1.25 cup thick curd
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup cooking oil (except olive oil)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp soda bi-carb
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Method:

• Pre-heat the oven @ 210 deg C / 400 deg F
• In a large mixing bowl, mix the curd and sugar until the sugar has completely dissolved.
• Add in the baking powder and soda bi-carb and let it rest. the mixture will start to “bubble” in 2-3 minutes
• Sieve the maida/apf and chocolate powder together and set aside
• Add oil and essence to the curd-sugar mixture and mix well.
• Gently add the flour and mix thoroughly to avoid clumps
• The mixture should now be in dropping consistency, else add a bit of curds.
• Grease your baking dish/cupcake moulds with oil and lightly dust with maida/apf
• Pour into the baking dish of choice and place in oven
• Bake for 10 minutes
• Lower the temperature to 150 deg C/ 300 deg F and bake for ~18 minutes at the lowered temperature.
• Test the cake by inserting a toothpick into the center. When pulled out, it should be clean, without cake stuck to it.
• Visually, the top should be lightly browned and formed a “crust”
• Let the cake sit for a few minutes in the dish before removing it.
• Let the cake rest on a wire grill to cool. Let it cool to room temperature before cutting.

I hope you enjoy making this quick and light cake!

Eggless Vanilla Spongecake

I’ve been experimenting with quite a few recipes to finally get this one right. This recipe can be modified into a regular cake, or cup-cakes. The time taken to bake is slightly different, but all else is the same!

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups Maida/All purpose flour (apf)
• 1 cup thick curd
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup cooking oil (except olive oil)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp soda bi-carb
• 1 tsp vanilla essense (or butterscotch)

Method:

• Pre-heat the oven @ 210 deg C / 400 deg F
• In a large mixing bowl, mix the curd and sugar until the sugar has completely dissolved. You can use castor sugar, but the amount to be used may vary.
• Add in the baking powder and soda bi-carb and let it rest. the mixture will start to “bubble” in 2-3 minutes
• Sieve the maida/apf and set aside
• Add oil and essence to the curd-sugar mixture and mix well.
• Gently add the flour and mix thoroughly to avoid clumps
• The mixture should now be in dropping consistency, else add a bit of curds.
• Grease your baking dish with oil and lightly dust with maida/apf
• Pour into the baking dish of choice and place in oven
• Bake for 10 minutes
• Lower the temperature to 150 deg C/ 300 deg F and bake for 35 minutes
  • For cupcakes bake for 25 minutes at the lowered temperature.
• Test the cake by inserting a toothpick into the center. When pulled out, it should be clean, without cake stuck to it.
• Visually, the top should be lightly browned and formed a “crust”
• Let the cake sit for a few minutes in the dish before removing it.
• Let the cake rest on a wire grill to cool. Let it cool to room temperature before cutting.

I hope you enjoy making this quick and light cake!

Aloo Rasedar

This is a dish that my husband has always praised. It used to be served at his college, and so has always been associated with good memories. However, I wasn’t very familiar with UP cuisine, and wasn’t able to search this recipe out. Recently though, my husband came by the name, and I was finally able to re-create this dish!

Aloo Rasedar

This is a typically UP dish, and does not use onion or garlic. It makes a great side to parathas or puris, and is easily prepared.

Ingredients

• 4 medium potatoes/aloo
• 2 medium tomatoes
• 1 inch ginger, finely chopped
• 2 tsp turmeric powder
• ½ tsp red chili powder
• 1 tsp cumin/jeera
• 1 tsp coriander powder/dhania powder
• 1 tsp dry mango powder/amchur powder (optional)
• ½ tsp garam masala powder
• 1 tsp salt

Method:

• Peel and boil the potatoes till they are very well cooked and can be easily crumbled.
• In a wok, heat some oil and add the jeera and dhania powder.
• add finely chopped ginger and saute for a half a minute on low flame.
• Add the chopped tomatoes, chilli powder, turmeric and braise till the tomatoes are completely cooked and mashed.
• Mash some of the potatoes and add along with salt and mix well.
• add water and braise till it reaches the consistency you want. The gravy will come from the mashed potatoes and tomato mix.
• Here you can add dry mango powder/amchur powder and garam masala. Keep braising till the gravy comes together.
• Add chopped coriander leaves for garnishing.

This gravy is best served hot. Since it doesn’t really take very long, its a perfect breakfast/dinner dish.