Dry Fruit Cake

Today is my dearest husband's birthday :) and I baked a cake for him. I followed the cake recipe given by sailu and replaced the tutti frutti with dry fruits. The cake recipe is very simple and tastes yummy. I had a hard time waiting till mid night so that I could lay my hands on the cake. Wishing a very happy birthday to my dearest Praveen, this post is dedicated to him :).

Ingredients: 
All Purpose Flour/Maida - 2 cups
Eggs - 2(room temeperature)
Butter - 1/2 cup(room temperature)
Granulated Sugar - 11/4 cup
Baking Powder - 2tsps
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
Pineapple Essence - 2 tsp
Skimmed Milk - 1/2 cup
Dry Fruits - 1/2 cup(almonds, walnuts, raisins - roughly chopped)

Method of Preparation:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Sieve the dry ingredients(all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder) thrice.
2. In a large mixing bowl add the softened butter and sugar and mix till it becomes creamy.
3. Add an egg at a time and mix well till the mixture becomes creamy. Add the pineapple essence to the mixture and mix well.
4. Divide the dry flour mixture into 3 parts and add one part along with some milk to the egg mixture and mix well. Repeat this step till you finish up the flour and milk.
5. Grease the cake pan with little butter and dust it with a little flour.
6. Fold in the dry fruits gently, do not over mix the batter.
7. Pour the cake batter into the greased cake pan and bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
8. Take out the cake and let it cook down before removing the cake from the cake pan.
9. Enjoy the yummy dry fruit cake.

Kerala Aval Poha

Its been a while since I bought the Kerala Aval/Atukulu/Beaten Rice from the Indian grocery store. Finally I made a very simple dish using them. The Kerala aval poha is a good option for a quick breakfast.

Ingredients:
Kereal Aval - 1 cup
Onion - 1, medium sized, roughly chopped
Green Chillies - 3, chopped
Raw Peanuts - a handful
Mustard Seeds - 1/4 tsp
Cumin Seeds - 1/4 tsp
Bengal Gram - 1/4 tsp
Curry Leaves - 5
Oil - 1 tbsp
Lime Juice - 1/2 tsp
Salt - As per taste

Method of Preparation:
1. Heat oil in a vessel and add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds. raw peanuts and Bengal gram. Once the seeds start spluttering add the curry leaves, chopped onions and chopped chillies.
2. Fry till the onions become transparent.
3. Add the Aval/Atukulu/beaten rice and mix well.
4. Add salt and sprinkle a little water. Mix well.
5. On low heat, cook covered till the aval/atukulu gets cooked.
6. Add a dash of lime juice on top, adjust the salt and serve the kerala aval poha, while it is still hot.

Cinnamon Honey Granola

Granola is one of those breakfast options that is very tasty, healthy, satisfying and pretty costly too. However, it is very easy to prepare granola at home. The best part about preparing granola at home is that you can tailor make it as per your taste and preferences and can also make it in small batches so that the granola stays fresh.

Ingredients:
Old Fashioned Oats - 1 cup
Cinnamon Powder - 1/8 tsp
Salt - a pinch
Honey - 1 tbsp
Canola/Vegetable oil - 11/2 tbsp
Brown Sugar - 1 tsp
Almonds - 8, finely sliced
Pumpkin Seeds - 1 tbsp(optional)
Walnuts - 2 tbsp, roughly chopped
Dried Cranberries - 2 tbsp

Method of Preparation:
1. Preheat the oven to 250F. In a bowl add oats, cinnamon powder, salt, brown sugar and mix well.
2. Add the oil, honey to the bowl and combine all ingredients using your hand.
3. If you like to have granola clusters, then fold a little amount of the granola in your fist and press firmly to form small lumps.
4. Line the baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the oats mixture on it evenly.
5. Place the baking sheet in the middle rack of the oven and bake for 10 minutes.
6. Take out the baking tray and using a spatula turn the granola mixture around. Add the nuts and dried cranberries and mix well. Spread the granola evenly on the parchment paper and put the baking tray back in the oven for 10 minutes.
7. Take out the baking tray mix well and spread evenly the granola mixture. Switch off the oven and place the baking tray back in the oven for 5 to 8 minutes or until it cools down.
8. Transfer the cinnamon honey granola to an airtight container and store.
9. Add milk/soya milk/yogurt to your cup of cinnamon honey granola and enjoy.

Mixed Vegetable Curry(Using Curry Powder)

This is a very easy and tasty mixed vegetable curry that goes very well with hot rotis. You can use any of the seasonal vegetables along with mushrooms for this recipe.

Ingredients:
Onion - 2, small, roughly chopped
Potato - 2, medium sized, peeled and chopped
Capsicum/Bell Pepper - 2, medium sized, deseeded and chopped
Carrot - 2, medium sized, peeled and chopped
Tomato - 1, large, finely chopped
Green Chillies - 3, slit length wise(adjust according to spice levels)
Curry Powder - 11/2 tbsp
Oil - 11/2 tbsp
Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
Yogurt/Curd - 3 tbsp
Salt - As per taste
Corn Flour/Starch - 11/1 tbsp

Method of Preparation:
1. Heat oil in a vessel and add cumin seeds. Once the seeds start spluttering, add the slit chillies and chopped tomatoes. Mix well and cook till the tomatoes soften.
2. Add the curry powder and mix well. Add all the chopped vegetables, mix well. Add salt and cook covered for 5-10 minutes. Stir in between.
3. Once the vegetables are half cooked, add the yogurt and mix well. Add 2 cups of water and mix well. Cook covered till the vegetables are cooked through.
4. Adjust the salt. In a small bowl add the corn flour and couple of spoons of water. Mix well and add it to the boiling curry on low heat.
5. Once the curry thickens, take off heat.
6. Serve mixed vegetable curry with rotis.

Home Made Curry Powder

There are a lot of branded curry powders available in the market, but nothing comes even close to the fresh home made curry powder. It just takes a couple of minutes to prepare this amazing curry powder. You can add a couple of spoons of curry powder to a mixed vegetable curry or stir fry and see the difference.

Ingredients:(Yields around a cup of curry powder)
Coriander Seeds - 2 tbsp
Cumin Seeds - 2 tbsp
Black Cardamom - 2
Green Cardamom - 2
Cloves - 10
Cinnamon - 2 inch stick
Fennel/Saunf Seeds - 2 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp
Chilli Powder/Paprika - 2 tbsp

Method of Preparation:
1. Dry roast all the ingredients. Let them cool down.
2. Grind to a fine powder in a spice blender or a grinder.
3. Store in an air tight container.

Pepper Rasam

Pepper rasam is the best combination of the right amounts of sourness, spice and aroma. This is one of those comforting dishes which my mom used to make for us specially when we had a slight cold, sore throat or fever. However, this is one of those dishes that is very easy to prepare and can be had regularly. 

Ingredients:

Pepper Powder - 1/2 tsp

Garlic - 3 pods

Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp

Coriander Powder - 1 tsp

Tamarind - a large lemon sized ball

Sugar/Jaggery - 1/2 tsp

Salt - As per taste

For the Tempering:

Oil - 11/2 tbsp

Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp

Curry Leaves - 6

Dry Red Chillies - 3, broken into pieces

Method of Preparation:

1. Soak the tamarind in warm water for 30 minutes and extract the pulp.

2. Using a pestle, crush cumin seeds in a mortar, add coriander powder, pepper powder, salt and garlic pods. Crush them too. (If you do not have a mortar and pestle, place the ingredients on a chopping board and crush them using a rolling pin)

3. Heat oil in a vessel and add the cumin seeds, mustard seeds and curry leaves. Once the seeds start spluttering, add the crushed pepper garlic mixture on low to medium heat and mix well for 30 seconds.

4. Add the tamarind pulp, water(to dilute the tamarind pulp), sugar/jaggery and mix well.

5. Adjust the salt and let the rasam boil on medium heat for 5-8 minutes.

6. Enjoy the pepper rasam with steaming hot rice.

Tomato Cabbage Curry

Tomato cabbage curry was one of my favorites in the Infosys food court at Hyderabad :). This is a very quick and delicious curry.

Ingredients:
Cabbage - 2 large cups, Finely chopped
Onions - 1 medium sized, roughly chopped
Tomato - 3, medium sized, roughly chopped
Green Chillies - 5, slit length wise(adjust according to spice levels)
Garam Masala - 1/4 tsp
Oil - 11/2 tbsp
Mustard Seeds - 1/4 tsp
Cumin Seeds - 1/4 tsp
Bengal Gram/Urad dal - 1/2 tsp
Curry Leaves - 6
Salt - As per taste

Method of Preparation:

1. In a large pan heat oil and add the cumin seeds, mustard seeds, bengal gram and curry leaves. Once the seeds start spluttering, add the chopped onions and chillies.
2. Once the onions turn transparent, add the tomatoes and cook covered till they become soft.
3. Add the chopped cabbage, mix well and cook covered for 4 minutes.
4. Stir once in a while till the cabbage is almost cooked. Add salt and garam masala.
5. Mix well, cook covered for 2 more minutes.
6. Serve the tomato cabbage curry with rice or roti