Monday, February 29, 2016

Chocolate Cake

This is by far the best moist chocolate cake I have baked. The recipe is adapted from "The Art Of The Dessert" by Ann Amernick.


The above cake we made was for giving a surprise birthday celebration to Liesel. Riya, Liesel and Narin were coming to our place to have a small reunion after almost a decade. Liesel's bday was coming on the following week so we had this surprise bday celebration for her. We even called Diya and Lakshmi on skype to complete the group :) And it is Diya on the phone screen in the below photos. We were all roommates during our college time. And we used to have this surprise b'day celebration in our room for all birthdays.Those hostel days were some of the most beautiful fun days in my life. And to meet Riya, Liesel and Narin after so long was so much fun!




In the above picture I have filled and frosted the cake with Raspberry mousse and chocolate ganache


The same cake recipe was used to make Anjan's Birthday cake last year. Chocolate ganache was used for cake filling and frosting.






Ingredients:

  1. Sugar - 2 cups
  2. Cake Flour - 1+2/3 cup
  3. Cocoa powder - 1 cup
  4. Baking soda - 2 tsp
  5. Baking powder - 1 tsp
  6. Salt - 1/4 tsp
  7. Instant coffee powder - 1/2 tsp
  8. Buttermilk/ Yogurt - 1 cup
  9. Water - 1 cup
  10. Eggs - 3 large
  11. Vanilla extract - 2 tsp
  12. Melted butter - 1 stick


Note:

  • All ingredients must be in room temperature


Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 350F heat
  2. Line 2  9inch round cake pans with parchment paper and butter the paper and sides
  3. Sift sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt and coffee powder into a large mixing bowl
  4. Whisk buttermilk, water, eggs and vanilla extract until just combined
  5. Whisk the egg mixture with the dry mixture till the batter is smooth, scraping the sides with a rubber spatula.
  6. Add the melted butter now and stir with the whisk until well combined. The batter will be somewhat thin
  7. Divide the batter evenly among the 2 pans and bake it for 16-18 minutes until the cake tester comes out clean when inserted
  8. Let the cake cool on a wire rack in the pan for 10 minutes and then invert them on to the rack to remove parchment paper. 
  9. Invert it again and cool till the cakes reach room temperature
  10. The cakes can be filled and frosted now or can be wrapped tightly in a cling wrap and frozen for upto a month.

Friday, February 26, 2016

Crème Brûlée



Crème Brûlée or Burnt cream is a sweet creamy custard topped with crispy browned sugar surface.
If you have a sweet tooth and if you are not scared of calories then this recipe is for you..

Ingredients:
  1. Fresh cream- 2 cups
  2. Egg yolk- 5
  3. Sugar - 1/2 cup
  4. Vanilla extract/ puree - 2 tbs
  5. Sugar - 1/2 cup


Method:
  1. Beat egg yolks with sugar and vanilla till it is mixed well and pale in color
  2. Heat milk cream in a pan until it starts to get slightly frothy on the edges
  3. Add 1 or 2 tbsp of hot cream to the yolk mixture and mix well
  4. Strain the above mixture in a fine mesh
  5. Add some more hot cream, about half a cup and whisk it well
  6. And finally add the whole of the milk cream to the egg mixture and mix well ( Step by step adding and mixing of hot cream to the egg mixture is done to avoid cooking of egg in hot cream)
  7. Pour the mixture equally among ramekins, about 3 or 4
  8. Preheat the oven to 325F heat
  9. Place the ramekins in a large roasting/cake pan with hot water filled till half of the ramekin height
  10. Bake for 30 minutes or until set
  11. Cool them to room temperature and chill it in the fridge for 3-4 hrs
  12. Brown 1/2 cup of sugar with a tsp of water in a wide pan (Don't stir sugar during browning, you may swirl the pan for uniform browning)
  13. When sugar reaches the required color (see the picture for the color), pour it over the chilled pudding in ramekins to form a thin layer
Crème Brûlée is ready to be served. I loved cracking open the crispy browned sugar surface and digging into the creamy goodness :) 




Friday, February 12, 2016

Chicken & Beans Stir Fry






Ingredients:

  1. Chicken, cut into cubes - 1/2kg
  2. Corn starch - 2 tsp
  3. Salt
  4. Pepper - 1 tsp
  5. Sriracha  - 1 tbs
  6. Ginger paste - 1 tsp
  7. Garlic paste - 1 tsp
  8. Vinegar - 2 tbs
  9. Onion cubed - 1/4 cup
  10. Oil - 3 tbsp 
  11. Ginger, chopped - 1 tsp
  12. Garlic chopped - 1 tsp
  13. Beans - 12-15
  14. Soya sauce - 2 tbsp 
  15. Tomato ketchup- 1 tbs

Method:
  1. Marinate chicken with ingredients from 2 to 8 and keep it for an hour
  2. Heat 1 tbs oil in wok or pan
  3. Fry chicken in it till chicken is half cooked and almost changed to white color outside
  4. Move chicken to another bowl and keep it aside
  5. Add 2tbs oil to the same pan
  6. Saute chopped ginger and garlic for 2 minutes
  7. Add onion cubes and beans to the above and saute till beans is almost cooked but still crunchy
  8. Add the chicken back to the above and saute everything again till the chicken is well cooked
  9. Add soya sauce, tomato ketchup and a cup of water to the above and cook till gravy thickens
Serve chicken beans stir fry with fried rice!

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Egg Paratha







Ingredients

  1. Onion chopped 1/2 cup
  2. Cumin and coriander seeds, crushed - 1/2 tsp each
  3. Green chilli chopped -1 
  4. Ginger chopped - 1tsp
  5. Wheat - 1.5 cup
  6. All purpose Flour - 1 cup
  7. Egg - 4
  8. Coriander leaves - 5 tbs
  9. Salt to taste
  10. Butter - 1.5 tsp for each paratha


Method:

  1. Mix wheat, flour, salt, onion, green chilli, crushed cumin and coriander seeds and chopped ginger well
  2. Knead the above mixture with approximately a cup of water to make smooth dough. I have used mixer to do this.
  3. Keep the dough wrapped in cloth for about 30 minutes
  4. Mix 4 eggs, required salt and chopped coriander leaves in a bowl and keep aside
  5. Make around 6 balls from the above dough
  6. Roll each ball into round shape
  7. Apply half a teaspoon of butter on the above and spread it using a brush or spoon
  8. Fold it into half and place 1/4 tsp of butter on it
  9. Fold it again and roll it. Use oil or flour while rolling the paratha to avoid sticking to the rolling pin and board
  10. Heat a tawa, and add 1/2 tsp of butter on it
  11. Place a paratha on the butter and allow it to cook for 1-2 minutes and flip it to the other side
  12. Spoon the egg mixture on to the paratha and flip the paratha again after 2 minutes
  13. Spoon the egg mixture again to the otherside and cook for 2 more minutes so that both sides of paratha have egg mixture on it and paratha is cooked well.
  14. Repeat the same with the rest of the dough balls


Serve hot paratha with curd and pickle!