Caramelised Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Hello Everyone!

What' on your Holi menu?:-)

Well, lately I have been a little tied up at work , so haven't started my holi preparations as yet except that I made this cake for the Holi Potluck at my workplace.I thought let me make a colourful cake(without icing) for Holi. Suddenly it struck me, let's go for pineapple upside down and will decorate it with cherries to give it a good blend of brightness and colour. Caramel also adds some good sheen to the cake.So all in all I zeroed in on this  caramelised pineapple cherry cake to kick-start the Holi celebrations.All my colleagues loved it.This one is one of my personal favorites too.It was taught to me by one of my dearest aunty. This goes well with icing too. I've made fresh fruit cake with icing using this one as a base and it has turned  out really well.

Here's my Take :-

Ingredients

1 and a 1/2 cup refined flour (Maida)

1 cup powdered sugar

150 gm butter at room temperature

3 eggs

1 and a 1/2 tsp baking powder (levelled)

Vanilla essence- 2 tsp

Tinned Pineapple

Tinned Cherries

For the caramel :- 3 Tbsp sugar and 2 Tsp water

Method

1. Sieve maida and baking powder and keep it aside.
2. Beat sugar and butter in a bowl until the mixture becomes creamy.
3. Mix in  eggs and vanilla essence.
4. Fold in the dry ingredients to the above mixture and the batter is ready.
5. Preheat the oven at 180 degrees Celsius.
6. Grease the baking tin (around 8" round tin) with butter.
7. Arrange the pieces of tinned pineapple and raisins in the tin.
8. Prepare the caramel by heating 3tbsp sugar with 2 tsp of water.Turn off the heat when the syrup turns golden brown.
9. Immediately pour the caramel over the  pineapple and raisins.Make sure it doesn't crystallize.You need to be very quick and careful here.
10. Pour the prepared batter over this.Give it a light tap .
11. Bake at 180 deg Celsius for 25-30 mins.
12. Once the cake is ready, allow it to cool for sometime.Decorate with cherries.
13. You can cut it and store in the refrigerator.This cakes tastes good when it is cold.

Enjoy! :-)

Happy Takes! & Happy Bites!

Oats Soup

Hello friends!

Well, this soup has a very interesting story.I was down with viral and had been to the clinic , where I  found the recipe of oats soup along with few other healthy recipes pinned on the display board and my happiness knew no bounds on spotting the recipes at a place, where I least expected it.I mean it's really exciting when you find your favourite things at totally unexpected places.But at the same time I felt it's a good practice to display  healthy recipes  at the clinic.

I also think it's my love for cooking and food that coincidently made me sit near the display board which had the recipes! Isn't it true love? :-)

When you love something so much you often find it everywhere. With food, it happens with me everytime! Have you also experienced it ? I am sure you would have such stories too.Please do share your experiences .Would love to read.

So , finally I made the soup today.

Here' s my Take:-

Ingredients

2 Tbsp of unroasted  oats

1 onion sliced

1/2 inch of ginger grated

4-6 cloves of garlic chopped

Finely chopped carrot

Finely chopped bell peppers

Small bunch of coriander Chopped

Soya sauce to taste ( 1-2 tsp)

Tomato sauce to taste (1-2 tsp)

Red chilli sauce to taste (1-2 tsp)

Juice of 1 lemon

Black pepper

Salt

Mixed herbs

For Garnishing :

1 tbsp of roasted oats

Chopped coriander

Croutons of your choice (optional)- I used the ready made garlic & cheese Croutons. 

Method

1. In a pan, add little oil.I used olive oil.
2. Saute ginger , garlic  and onions.
3. When they turn light brown, add carrots and bell peppers.You may add any vegetable of your choice.
4. Add around 6 cups of water.
5. Give it a good boil.
6. Add, lemon juice, salt, pepper, mixed herbs and all the sauces.
7. Let it boil for 5-10 mins and then transfer to your soup bowl.
8. Garnish with roasted oats, coriander and croutons. 

Relish it with toasted garlic bread or any bread of your choice.

I really liked the idea of adding oats to the soup.We loved it! You too try and enjoy this healthy soup!

Happy Takes! & Happy Bites! 

Fresh Homemade Guacamole

I must say, I have experienced it often with food that whenever I think of something it appears right in front of me!

Few days back I was thinking about making guacamole and today an unplanned, first time entry into a speciality gourmet store led me to buy avocado.And the first thing I did after reaching home was-I immediately made IT! Yes, I couldn't wait to make it.It was already tea time.I had bought some garlic toasts from the store as well.So I quickly  made fresh guacamole,  applied it on top of the toasts and had it along with our evening tea.We all loved it! :-)

We know guacamole is a very healthy option but you must like the taste to enjoy it.That depends from person to person.So try it out atleast for health'sake.You can have it with corn chips or tortillas or even with khakhras and papads or use it as a filling in sandwiches.All up to you! :-)

One quick & easy  to make dip it is!

Here's the recipe :-

Ingredients

1 finely chopped onion

1 finely chopped tomatoes

1 avocado

A bunch of finely chopped coriander  leaves

1 lemon

Salt

Pepper

Mixed herbs
2-4 Garlic cloves( optional)
Roasted cumin powder (optional)

Method

1. Cut the avocado into half.
2. Remove the seed.Scoop out the soft pulp and transfer it to a bowl 
3. Mash it with a fork.
4. Add juice of 1 lemon.
5. Add the chopped onions,  tomatoes and coriander leaves.
6. Add salt, pepper and mixed herbs, grated garlic, cumin powder.You can add any spice of your choice to get the right taste.

And it's ready! Enjoy! 

Happy Takes! & Happy Bites!

Some Homemade Icecreams

Hi Everyone!

This summer I 've got addicted to making homemade icecreams and after doing some online research, I've made a simple formula for making No Churn Homemade Icecreams. Trust me, it just requires 15 mins of preparation time and 2-3 hours of freezing time and your icecream is ready!

Here are the details of few of my experiments.

BASIC ICECREAM RECIPE

Ingredients & Equipments Required :-

1. Nestle Condensed milk : Amul Fresh Cream = 1 :2 ( I used 200 ml condensed milk and 400 ml amul fresh cream (i.e, 2 tetrapacks of 200 ml)
2. 1/4 tsp salt
3. Required flavour.
4. An electric double beater
5. An icecream box -It's a box with a lid (Can be aluminium or glass or even tupperware boxes  will do)

Method :-

1. Beat the condensed  milk and cream for 10 mins.
2. Add salt and the required flavour.
3. Beat for another 5-10  mins 
4. Freeze the empty icecream box for 5-10 mins (You can do this simultaneously during the beating exercise).
5. Pour the icecream in the icecream box.Tap it on the surface once.
6. Cover the lid and freeze for 2-3 hours until ready.
7. Enjoy your icecream plain or top it with sauces, fruits and nuts of  your choice or have it with your favourite piece of brownie or cake.

Here are few of my Takes :-

       STRAWBERRY ICECREAM 

Here , in this one I added strawberry paste to the basic whipped icecream mix (recipe is mentioned above) .

For making strawberry paste- I blended around 200 gms of fresh strawberries and 2 tbsp of strawberry jam and transferred almost 3/4 of the paste to the whipped mix, gave it another whip for around 5-10 mins and saved the rest as strawberry sauce for using it as a topping for the icecream. It just tasted yumm! :-)

This was an impromptu improvisation.You can also use strawberry essence, little bit of strawberry crush along with fresh strawberries to make this or can  use only fresh starwberries to give it a raw taste.

COCONUT ICECREAM

In this one I added around 1/4 cup of coconut milk, some chopped coconut, 2 tsp of  virgin coconut oil to the basic whipped icecream mix. You can even add tender coconut meat.

I wanted to replicate Naturals tender coconut icecream but this tasted very different from that although the taste was awesome.This one is just another type of coconut icecream .You'll love it if you have a liking for coconut and coconut products.

COFFEE WALNUT ICECREAM 

Well, I referred to this blogpost for making this one :-

http://justindianfood.com/coffee-walnut-ice-cream/

It is this blogpost that inspired me to try many more varieties on my own.And I must say this one tasted exactly like Naturals. :-)

Do share your ideas and inputs on icecream making.

Happy Takes! & Happy Bites! :-)

Homemade Chocolate Icecream

Hello everyone!

Well it's been a long long time since I blogged about my experiments with cooking and food.I have been very active in the kitchen lately,just couldn't manage blogging alongside.But I promise, I'll be regular now, will atleast improve my frequency of blogging. :-)

So here I am with my take on homemade chocolate  icecream.What got me into making this is actually a very interesting story.This is infact an outcome of a dream.I dreamt that one of my dearest friends is treating me with homemade made chocolate icecream and the effect of the dream was so much that it got me to making the icecream.I really hope I get such dreams more often. ;-)

You really never know what all can be the source of inspiration for you.Sometimes it can be a dream too.Here's a proof. :-)

So as I was too desperate to make a chocolate icecream, I also wanted it to be an" easy to make " one.Mostly because I have seen my mother making a lot of icecreams when we were kids and she used to use cmc,  gms and china grass as ingredients and I knew we didn't have any of those ingredients at home and neither did I have the patience to go and buy the ingredients.I was looking for a quick and easy recipe to satiate my homemade chocolate icecream craving.So I searched for an easy chocolate icecream recipe and was glad to find it on one of my favourite food blogs-Edible garden.

Here's the recipe that I followed -

http://www.cookingandme.com/2014/01/homemade-chocolate-ice-cream-recipe.html

A helpful note on my Take-

1. This recipe advices on using cream that has atleast 35% or more fat.I could only manage to get Amul fresh cream, which I found had only 25% fat, but still I thought of going with it.I used two packets of 200 ml Amul fresh cream and followed rest of the recipe as it is.

2. I also made it without using an icecream maker.Instead I used an electric double beater.I just didn't get the soft serve texture before freezing but the icecream turned out flawless.I churned it twice in an interval of 2 hours and then 8 hours. Although I felt it had turned out great after one churn only.I churned it in the icecream box using an electric beater.

3. I used a frozen aluminium icecream box , i.e., I kept it in the freezer before using it.It worked out well.This was a handy tip from my mother as she has made umpteen icecreams in the same box and she was there to remind me to freeze the box before using it.

I totally loved the recipe and the icecream.It is completely a lip smacking one, one that will totally satisfy your sudden cravings and you'll love it more if you make it on your own for yourself and your loved ones.The joy of making your icecream is unmatched and unbeatable.Do go for it and experience this piece of chocolaty heaven! :-)

Happy Takes & Happy Bites!