Minggu, 25 Desember 2011

Carrot Cake | Eggless Carrot Cake Recipe | Step by Step Recipe

Merry Christmas to all my readers!

Since it's holidays for the kids, I wanted to bake something different than the usual chocolate versions. But trust my boys to insist only on chocolates. So to get them off my back, I made another version of my eggless chocolate cake first and ended up baking two times as the first batch disappeared before I could even blink!

After the second batch saited their love for chocolate cake, they let me get on with the baking I had in mind. I have been wanting to bake a carrot cake for a long time. Couple of days back I read this recipe in a book and saw that it is very similar to the basic condensed milk cake that I bake.

Everytime I have excess carrots on hand I always think I should bake a carrot cake, but never come around baking it. Years back, when we have excess carrots it was always carrot halwa that was made. When I started using microwave, the entire process became even simpler with the microwave version.

Now we hardly make carrot halwa because of the calories. If the kids ate sweet, I could at least make for them. However they hardly touch a sweet. They do love cakes, only chocolate at that. Anyway I went ahead making a cake with carrots just at least to see if it tastes.
Eggless Carrot Cake

 Step by Step Picture Recipe
Wash, scrape and trim the ends.
Grate enough carrots to make 2 cups.
Dust with 2 tbsp flour
Mix everything together.
Sieve the flour along with baking powder, baking soda and corn flour.
Measure out soft butter to a cup
Take the soft butter and 1/2 tin condensed milk in a bowl.
Cream everything together.
Add 2 -3 tbsp castor sugar and cream it again.
Add the flour mix to the creamed butter
Mix everything together.
Sliver handful of almonds
Grease and dust a 9 x 5 baking tray, sprinkle the almond slivers over it.
Gradually mix in the carrot mix to the creamed butter and blend everything together.
Add 1/2 cup milk and blend to a semi pouring consistency.

Pour into the prepped tray.

Pat it down on the counter top to make sure the batter settles well. Meanwhile pre heat the oven at 170 degree C
Bake first at 170 degree C for 17 mins, then reduce to 140 Degree and bake for 15 mins.
Insert a sharp knife in the center to check if it is done.
Allow to cool over the rack and then slice
Since the cake is not that sweet you can dust icing sugar on top.

Eggless Carrot Cake

Carrot, grated - 2 cups
All purpose flour - 1 & 1/2 cups
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Baking soda - 1 tsp
Condensed Milk - 1/ 2 tin
Castor Sugar - 3 tbsp
Milk - 1/2 cup
Corn Flour - 1 tbsp
Butter - 3/4 cup
Flour - 2 tbsp for coating carrot
Almond Slivers - Handful

How to make Carrot Cake

Wash, scrape and trim the ends. Grate enough carrots to make 2 cups. Then dust with 2 tbsp flour and mix everything together.

In another bowl, sieve the flour along with baking powder, baking soda and corn flour twice. Keep it aside.

In a mixing bowl, measure out a cup of soft butter and add 1/2 tin condensed milk and icing sugar. Cream everything together.

Once the butter is creamed well, add the flour mix and combine everything well. Now add the grated carrots and mix everything, making sure you don't beat it too much. Add 1/2 cup milk and blend to a semi pouring consistency.

Dust a greased baking tray and sprinkle almond slivers.

Pre heat the oven at 170 C.

Pour the batter into the prepped tray, tap on the counter to make sure the batter spreads evenly.

Bake first at 170 degree C for 17 mins, then reduce to 140 Degree and bake for 15 mins.

Insert a sharp knife in the center to check if it is done.

Allow to cool over the rack and then slice

Since the cake is not that sweet you can dust icing sugar on top.



Other Eggless Cakes

This goes for my Snack Mela, which is on till the end of the month.

Sabtu, 24 Desember 2011

Microwave Eggless Chocolate Cake | Christmas Special Cakes | Step By Step Recipe

It's time for the usual Christmas Special Cakes to make it's appearance. Last year I was bent on making Plum cakes or Fruit cakes, but I completely forgot to soak the fruits this year.

So wanted to make something special this year, even if it was another chocolate cake. We do not celebrate Christmas as it is supposed to be. But the festive mood surely gets on to you and end up doing something special to mark the day.

Last year it was two wonderful fruit cakes without eggs


The moment I took the butter out, my boys wanted to make chocolate cake. Though I had Carrot cake in mind, I ended up baking chocolate cakes two times as the boys were not happy with just one round. The first round of cake disappeared the moment it came out of oven. Finally the second batch was saved for a click.

Step By Step Pictures





Ingredients Needed:

Plain Flour - 3 tsps
Cornflour - 1 tsp
Baking Powder - 1/4 tsp
Baking Soda - 1/4 tsp
Castor Sugar - 3 tbsps
Cocoa Powder - 2 tsp
Milk Powder - 3  tsps
Milk - 2 tbsps
Condensed Milk - 1 tbsp
Butter - 2 tsp
Chocolate Syrup for topping

How to make Microwave Eggless Chocolate Cake

Melt the butter in a mw bowl.

Cream the butter along with sugar in a bowl. then add the condensed milk to the sugar-butter mix.

Sieve the dry ingredients together in another bowl.

Add the dry ingredients to the liquid mix and gently fold. Check the consistency

Pour them in a greased mw bowl and microwave for 2 mins. Check and mw again for 30 secs if required.

Allow it to cool for a min before turning over.

Once done, top it with Chocolate Syrup.
Sending this to Kavi, who is hosting my MEC this month and she is accepting all dishes made in microwave.

And you will be seeing some quick Snacks in the view that Snack Mela is coming to an end this month. Have you linked your entry yet?..For my Snack Mela, which is on till the end of the month.

Senin, 19 Desember 2011

Vankaya Bangaladumpa Koora | Brinjal Potato Curry | Step by Step Recipe

Vankaya Urulagadda Kura is one of those most frequently made side dish in our house. Though Amma used to make a variation of this at home, the typical Brinjal Potato Curry per se according to hubby dear started after I got this introduced by Athamma. She makes this side dish for Sweet Poli, the combination I got to know after my marriage. I must say it does taste great!

I know I have been so behind my posts here, not sure how exactly I missed out so many days. But it struck me very strange and I thought I could at least share the pictorial I took while I was making the festival dishes, Athamma was making this. Funny part was, I completely forgot to take the final gravy and then it became that I wasn't cooking brinjal or potato at home, so will click another one when I start making the vegetables.

Meanwhile enjoy the pictorial! The recipe for Vankai Urulagadda Kura as we call, is exactly the same as I have already published.





















I also completely forgot about preparing for the Christmas Cakes. So here's what I had made last year!


Have a great week ahead.


Rabu, 07 Desember 2011

Soups and Salads Mela ~ Part 2

After the wonderful round up of Soups in the first edition, it's time for the Salads to make an appearance. There were so many that I was really glad getting in all of them. Now there is no reason to say we have no ideas.


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Now for the entries!

Bava Narayanan's Corn and Rajma Salad




Kalyani's Couscous Salad



Sujatha Subramanian's Black eyed bean - capsicum salad

Veena krishnakumar's Paneer and Bean sprout salad
Vidhya Subramony's Lettuce Cups

and finally from me Beetroot Salad

Amita's Spiced Chicken Salad

Ingredients Needed

Chicken - Big 1 & 1/2 inch pieces to be carved from the boiled chicken with which the stock was prepared
Red Bell.Pepper - 1, diced into 1- 1 & 1/2 inch pieces
Yellow bell Pepper - 1, diced into 1- 1 & 1/2 inch pieces
Onion - 1, diced into 1- 1 & 1/2 inch pieces
Soya Sauce+ Vinegar+ Olive oil - Just enough to add colour and Taste

Garam Masala to be ground fresh:
Cinnamon, Cloves, Cumin Seeds, Black Peppercorn - whole+ Cardamom Black - 25 gms each (should be freshly roasted on a tava, and ground coarsely immediately)
Salt / Pepper to taste
Ghee - 2tbsps

How to make the Spiced Chicken Salad

Chop all the ingredients and keep in in separate bowls.

Heat the pan, add the oil when smoked, add the coarsely ground spices, soya sauce+ vinegar . and gently fold in the chicken pieces one by one over a low flame. Add salt/ and pepper to give the necessary taste.

Remove from the fire. Allow it to cool.

Just before serving:

Add the veg, fold in gently. along with the dash of olive oil.

Serve immediately along with the almond & chicken soup otherwise it will lose its crispy style.

This can be served with the Chicken Soup and garlic bread

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Thanks to everybody who joined in me. Please let me know if any entry is missed out. Will add in promtly!

And do join me in Snacks Mela!

Senin, 05 Desember 2011

Soups and Salads Mela ~ Part 1

With so many entries I was bound to be late with the round up and as expected it got delayed. We have over  146 entries for this Mela, with about 62 different Salads to choose and rest all appetizing Soups! When I announced Soups and Salads Mela, I wanted to make sure I get enough to help me plan my salad days. I must say I have been very happy.

For today, lets see the Soups that came in.

Amy's Cream of Mushroom Soup, Cream of Parsley & Onion Soup
Archana's Cal de Verde & Tomato Soup
Ashwini's Low Fat Broccolli Soup
Cool Lassi(e)'s Meatball and Collards with Pasta Soup. Red Lentil Soup with Mint and Potatoes, Roasted Vegetable Bisque
Dhyuthi's Cabbage Soup, Cream of Mushroom Soup, Spicy Indian Yogurt Soup & Spinach Carrot soup
Divya Viswanathan's Healthy Vegetarian Minestrone Soup & Roasted Red Pepper Soup


Gayathri Kumar's Carrot Soup
Harini - Jaya's Black Eyed Peas Soup, Cabbage-Chickpea Soup, Carrot-Orange Soup With Curried Tofu, Curried Carrot Lentil Soup, Red Chori Bean Soup & Soy Chunks - Vegetable Soup
Kalyani's Schezwan Tom Yum Soup
Kavi's Sopa De Ajo (Castilian Garlic Soup)
Krithi Karthi's Apple Celery Soup, Broccoli - Cheese Soup, Minestrone Soup, Mixed Vegetable Soup, Tomato Basil Soup & Vegetable Clear Soup with Quinoa

Malathi Savitha's Corn Carrot Soup, Ragi Soup & Simple Potato Soup
Meenakshi's Vegetable and Lentil Soop
Nisha's Cream of Broccoli Soup
Pavitra's Tomato Oats Soup
PJ's Minty Lemon rasam
Pradnya's Alpha Past Soup, Mulligatawny Soup, French Onion Soup, Gazpacho Soup & Sweet Corn Soup


Priya Suresh's Mushroom Glass Noodles Soup, Onion Soup, Pumpkin Oats Soup, & Vegetable Clear Soup
Priyadarshine's Tomato Soup
Rajani's Creamy Tomato Soup, Mixed Vegetable Soup, Rice Soup - Kanji &  Tomato Salsa
Rudra's Cold Cucumber Soup, Gazpacho & Green Pea Soup
Sadhana's Spinach & Bean Soup
Shobha's Clear Corn Soup, Cream of Spinach Soup &  Rajma Soup


Smitha Joga's Indianized Vegetable soup with lentils, Mexican Tortilla Soup & Vegetable and Corn Chowder
Sukanya's Cream of Mushroom Soup
Suma Gandlur's Black Bean - Carrot Soup, Black Eyed Peas Soup, Broccoli - Cheese Soup & Corn Soup
Sumedha's Pumpkin Soup
Vani Hegde's Sweet Corn Veg Soup
Vardhini's Carrot Lentil Soup, Garlic, Chickpea and Spinach Soup , Minestrone Soup & Oven Roasted Tomato Soup
Veena krishnakumar's Cream of carrot soup, Persian Shorba, Pumpkin Soup, Roasted beet-carrot soup & yellow bell pepper soup

Amita's Chicken & Almond Soup
A recipe from my reader

Ingredients Needed:

Chicken stock - 1 Litre
Almonds slivers. - 20 - 25 no
Salt/ Black pepper/ ajinomoto - to taste
Soya sauce+ Vinegar - Just enough to add colour and give that tangy taste.
Cornflour - 2/3 tbsps
Almond essence.+ Butter - if required (a few drops only)
Parsley - A few leaves

How to make Chicken Stock

This can be made from boiling one small broiler chicken which has been thoroughly washed/ cleaned & patted dry. Add I litre of water+ Chicken jointed into 4/6 pieces+ laung (5/6 pieces) + dalchini (1inch piece)+ Nutmeg (1cm bit coarsely crushed) + adequate amt of salt)

After boiling  and checking that the chicken is tender, the chicken may be drained & set aside.

Almonds slivers.
Almonds - washed and soaked in water for i hour/ or heated in a microwave 3 mts. Cool and peel, and cut longitudinally into slivers. Set aside.

How to make the Chicken and Almond Soup

Put chicken stock on the burner.
Add all ingredients except the slivers of Almonds and cornflour.
Let it simmer on a low flame stirring in between till the ingredients mix well and the aroma pervades the room. This might take about 10 mts
Thicken with the cornflour mixed in a little water to make a smooth homogeneous paste. Remember to keep on stirring continuously while adding the cornflour else it will get lumpy
Add 1/2the slivers of almonds into it.
Serve hot along with parsley and left over slivers of almonds


Jaleela kamal's Sweet corn Chicken soup
Smitha Joga's Chicken Chilli Soup
Taruna Deepak's Chicken Soup

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Will be back with the Salads shortly, I hope I have included all the soups that came my. My sincere apologies if any entry is missed.

Sabtu, 03 Desember 2011

Gurugakku Pappu / Chenu Akka ~ Authentic Andhra | Step by Step Recipe

Now if I am to say what this variety of greens is called in English, then I am really at wits ends to know what it is called in English. This is a variety of greens that is only grown in the back yards in villages or towns. Amma got these green when we had visited our native place sometime back. I was so surprised at the different versions that they used to prepare with this. We made a pappu with it, and it made a wonderful meal.

I have been trying to update this space for a while, yet something or the other comes up and I loose focus. I have also been busy teaching my boys for their term exams. It's been equally a tough period for me, as I have to understand how to make them understand. They have so much portions to study, I wonder why 5 year old kids need to learn so much. They have sample worksheets followed by the actually exams. I am sure they have so many other things that can do much in ways to teach them. 

Anyway coming to the recipe, check out the step by step pictures to make this dal.










Ingredients Needed:

Chenu akku - 1 bunch
Toor dal - 100 gms
Green chilies - 3-4 long
Tomatoes - 2 small
Tamarind - 1 small marble size
Salt to taste
Oil - 1 tsp

Seasonings
Mustard, Urad dal - 1/4 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
Curry leaves few
Sambar onions. - 4

How to make the dal

Wash and take the greens in a pressure cooker along with washed toor dal, green chillies, tomatoes,
tamarind, sambar onions and enough water. Pressure cook till done.

Once the pressure falls, remove the water and churn the greens and dal using the lentil masher.

Heat a pan with oil, temper with seasoning ingredients. Saute till the onions are sauteed well. Then add the mashed dal with greens.

Add salt and enough water and bring to boil. Simmer for couple of minutes as required.

Serve with steamed rice.