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!

Gajar ka Halwa

This sweet dish is popular across India, especially in the winter season when you get Dilli Gajar, as the red long variety of carrots is called.

My recent kitchen acquisition has been a Dutch Oven or cast-iron cooking pot. And this sure has been help for making this absolutely amazing sweet. The slow-cooking ability enhances the flavors by letting the carrot cook very slowly.

Gajar ka Halwa in my DO

Ingredients:

• 1/2 kg carrots – peeled and grated
• 1 tbsp ghee
• 1/2 ltr milk
• 1 heaped cup sugar
• ground cardamom, cashew nuts and raisins/sultanas

Method:

• Heat the ghee in the Dutch oven or any other deep, thick cooking dish.
• Add the grated carrot and mix well, letting the ghee coat the carrot completely.
• Add the milk and sugar and mix again and set the heavy lid.
• The carrot would normally cook for about an hour on a slow flame. However, the time taken will vary depending on the kind of dish used for cooking. A thinner dish may take lesser time.
• Mix well intermittently to prevent the carrot from sticking to bottom of the dish. Take care not to mash the carrot as it cooks.
• When done, the milk would have completely been absorbed into the carrot.
• Add the ground cardamom and mix well.
• Add the cashews and raisins, and any other dry fruit as desired.

This sweet can be served hot or cold. However, hot is preferred as it tastes better that way. Many times, people prefer it to be even heated a bit before serving.
It lasts for about 3-4 days without refrigeration.

I hope you, dear reader, enjoy this sweet dish as much as we do in this season! 🙂

Palli Muddalu (Groundnut Laddoo)

Its been a long time that I’ve blogged about anything. Well, it’s not that I’ve not been cooking! 😉 It’s just that so many things have been happening in real life that this aspect of my own took a backseat.

I’ll start this one with a dish that happens to be a favourite of hubster’s, but I’ve not dared to attempt. The reasons for which will be clear thru the rest of the blog post. 😉 This particular batch was prepared by my SIL, with initial help/support provided be me.

Palli Muddalu

Ingredients:

1. Groundnuts (Palli) 1.5kg
2. jaggery 1kg
3. water – a bit for melting the jaggery. approx 1/2 cup i guess

Method:

• Pound the jaggery so that it is a fine powder. The reason for this is that it mixes better and faster this way.
  • The way I do this is take a thick plastic cover, find a heavy stone, and pound the heck out of jaggery while in the plastic cover. The cover goes waste, but you have fine jaggery powder within a min or so.
• Dry roast the groundnut till the skin is dark and brittle.
• Once it cools, remove the skin and blow is off. This is normally a process that is a bit time-consuming, as the skin needs to blow of completely for the next steps.
• Break the groundnuts into halves.
• Transfer the jaggery into a large, thick-bottomed vessel, and add the water and mix it in till the jaggery is completely melted.
• Set the syrup to cook on a high flame,stirring constantly.
• Set aside a small cup with water to check the consistency of the syrup. Once it reaches single-string consistency, drop a bit into the water. The syrup should set and not melt into the water. Keep at it till this point is reached.
  • A little longer would mean it gets crystallized. A little lesser means the laddoo wont form properly.
• Take it off the flame and immediately add the broken groundnut and mix very well. Ensure all the groundnut is covered with the syrup.

Ready to be made into laddoos!

• Move to a table that’s been covered with old newspapers. Set out a plate that has been greased. Keep a bowl of water for wetting the hand within easy access.
• Keeping the palm wet, take up a bit of the groundnut syrup and roll into a ball. Note the syrup is still hot at this time, so please be careful! 😉
  • Actually this is the part where I have an issue 😛

Wet the palm and then shape the laddoo.

• Once all the laddoos have been shaped, set for drying out for at least 10 hrs (or overnight if making in the evening)

Once cooled down, this is a fun snack to have with your evening tea. 🙂