Egg-less Pineapple Cake

This week I needed a dessert that could be made a day in advance for an afternoon party. I started to cook an Indian dessert with the can of pineapple I had at hand, but changed my mind and baked a cake instead. This super easy recipe bakes an amazingly delicious and moist cake and I have to thank Manjula’s kitchen for posting it online. I made a few changes and altered the measurements accordingly.

Ingredients

All purpose flour – 1 cup

Wheat flour – ½ cup

Butter – 1 stick

Condensed milk – 1 small can

Pineapple juice – ½ cup

Crushed pineapples – ½ cup

Cardamom powder – ½ tsp

Baking powder – 1 tsp

Baking soda – ¼ tsp

Salt – ½ tsp

Method

Grease a cake pan and put it aside. Pre-heat the oven to 325 F. combine the flours, baking powder and soda, salt and cardamom powder in a bowl. In a small bowl, melt the stick of butter. Add the butter, condensed milk and half of the pineapple juice to the dry mixture. Add the crushed pineapple puree too and fold everything together slowly. Pour the batter in the greased pan and bake for 50 minutes. Baking times may vary so keep checking after 30 minutes have passed.

Insert a knife in the center of the cake to check whether it’s done or not before taking it out of the oven. Once the cake cools down a bit, take it out on a plate and prick it with a fork at several places. Brush the remaining pineapple juice generously on the cake while it is still warm. This will enhance the flavor and retain the moisture in the cake making it soft. Let the cake cool off completely, slice it up and serve !

Tips

·         You can use chunks of pineapple instead of puree.

 Interesting fact

·         In the Philippines, pineapple leaves are used to manufacture wall paper and furnishings.

Shrikhand

Of all the desserts I have cooked in my life, there’s been nothing as effortless as the Shrikhand. Other than the time that it takes to drain the liquid off the yogurt, Shrikhand can be made in no time at all. I call it the “no cooking” dessert as it is indeed assembled and not cooked. But do not underestimate its flavor based on the simplicity. It is not only the easiest but also one of the most delicious desserts I have cooked.

Ingredients

Greek Yogurt – 2 cups

Sour cream – ½ cup (optional)

Sugar – 1.5 cups

Cardamom powder – ½ tsp

Chopped almonds – 4 tsp

Saffron – couple of strands

Hand the yogurt wrapped in a thin cloth and tightly bound. Alternatively empty the yogurt in a soup strainer, cover and let the liquid drip. Whatever method you use, make sure all the water from the yogurt drains and what remains is the rich, creamy leftovers. This may take anywhere between 8 to 12 hours. Drain the sour cream and keep aside.

In a mixing bowl take the rich and thick yogurt. Add all the remaining ingredients except the almonds and blend in slowly. Do not use a hand blender or any kind of whisker. Use a big spoon and go about mixing slowly. Once all the ingredients come together finely, sprinkle the crushed almonds and refrigerate covered for 2 hours before serving.

Serving suggestions

·         With Puri, as dessert.

Tips

·         You can use any kind of yogurt; feel free to experiment with flavors.

·         You may also use any nuts of your choice - walnuts, pistachio,  cashews etc.,

·      Many variations of the Shrikhand can be made by adding fruits like mango, strawberry or  even mixed fruits.

Interesting fact

·         Shrikhand is a prominent dessert in Gujarati and Maharashtrian cuisines.

·         Shrikhand is a very popular fasting food.


his Sweet dish is going to:
http://myedibles.blogspot.com/2012/01/kids-delight-something-sweet-event.html
http://spicingyourlife.blogspot.com/2010/01/announcing-kids-delight-wholesome.html

Marble Cake

As soon as I saw this recipe on a blog, I knew I had to try it out. Somehow it reminded me of the chocolate vanilla cone I used to eat as a kid at Dairy Den, a favorite local ice-cream parlor.

As I hurried through the list of ingredients to check if I had the necessary material to bake it right away, I discovered this cake was eggless and butterLESS! Yes, butter-less and believe me, if you ever try it out, you won’t miss the butter in it at all. Instead, it uses a wonderfully healthy ingredient called yogurt, which made me jump with joy.

I marked this cake for one of the afternoon projects with my daughter and she loved helping me bake it. Her favorite part was making swirls with a fork in the batter. Her only  disappointment was not being allowed to check the oven every 2 minutes (why is it taking so long to finish??). At the end of it though, she declared that this was the best thing we ever cooked together in our kitchen and the compliment made my day!

You can find the original recipe at http://erivumpuliyumm.blogspot.com/2011/12/eggless-marble-cake.html

So here are the pictures of the marble cake baked in my oven, dig right in!

Things done different

I used Vanilla Bean Yogurt in place of plain yogurt.

I cut my cake into big squares for ease of serving. 

Kulfi

I have to thank my dear friend Sirisha Prathi for sharing this wonderfully easy recipe for home-made kulfi. Such an exotic dessert and made from such few and simple ingredients.

The kulfi needs almost zero preparation time and can be made in advance. So once again thank you Sirisha for not only sharing the recipe of kulfi but making tons of it for me when I was pregnant and perpetually hungry !

Ingredients

Condensed milk – 1 can (14 oz)

Evaporated milk – 1 can

Whipped cream – 2 cups

Cardamom powder – half a spoon

Saffron strands – 4 to 5

Ricotta cheese – ½ cup (optional)

Warm milk – 3 spoons

Heat a small skillet and cook the Ricotta cheese on low flame constantly stirring till all the liquid evaporates and what remains is a dry powder of the cheese. Allow it to cool. Add saffron strands to the warm milk and let them sit for a while. Mix the remaining ingredients and powdered ricotta cheese in a Blender. Add cardamom powder and the milk with saffron strands, stir well. Pour into molds or plastic cups. Cover well and freeze for 8 hours. Serve chilled.

Serving suggestions

·         With Falooda (rice noodles)

Tips

·         Ricotta cheese in this recipe gives a better texture; its absence does not alter the taste of this dessert, hence optional.

  Interesting fact

·         Traditionally frozen in Earthen pots (matka), this dessert is also known by the name of  “matka” kulfi.

5 Minute Dessert

I had made up my mind to call this “cake in a cup” for that is what it actually is. Unfortunately the pictures of cup and the cake in it did not come out as nice as expected and this is such a wonderful and insanely simple and fast recipe, an average click would not have done justice to it.

To make matters even simpler, this isn’t my own recipe. Was lucky enough to stumble upon it one lazy night (on a wonderful blog called 4^th Sense Cooking), tried it out immediately and I have no excuse for not posting this on my blog all this while.

What I can tell you about this dessert is that it is a cake, it is eggless and it can be cooked in a microwave in less than 5 minutes.

If you are tempted to try it out click here for the original recipe.

Serving suggestions

·         With ice cream.

Basbousa - An Egyptian Dessert

The internet is a wonderful tool, helps bring all kinds of known and unknown food in your kitchen. For me it was a “sweet” revelation. Really wanted to cook a dessert other than the usual for friends coming over. After browsing through a couple of recipes, I came across the recipe of “Basbousa”.  Tried it and turned out delicious, very aromatic too, maybe it was the rosewater …

So here goes the recipe I discovered (there are a couple of variations), am so glad that I found it and tried it. And if you do the same thing after reading this one, I am sure this sweet little square (or diamond) will live up to your expectations!

Ingredients

Semolina flour/Rava – 1.5 cups

Yogurt – 1 cup

Butter – 1 stick (softened)

Baking powder – 1 tsp

Vanilla essence – 1 tsp

Sugar – 1/2 cup and 1/4 of a cup

Honey half a cup

Rose water – 4 tsp

Lemon juice 2 tsp

Almonds – 16 to 18

Mix the butter and half a cup sugar thoroughly with a hand mixer. Add yogurt and vanilla essence and beat again for a couple of minutes with the mixer. Add the semolina flour (rava), baking powder and mix with a wooden or plastic spatula. The result will be a sticky loose kind of dough. Keep aside for half an hour.

Make a honey syrup in the meanwhile. In a pan, combine honey, one fourth cup of sugar and 2 tsp rosewater, cook for 10 minutes to form a syrup. Turn the heat off, add the lemon juice and 2 tsp rosewater and mix well. The honey syrup is ready to use.

Now, transfer the dough in a greased baking dish or pan. Level it as much as possible by gently pressing with hand or spatula. Bake it at 375 F for about 25 minutes first. Take the pan out, the dough will be partially cooked by then. Cut the in squares or diamonds as preferred and press an almond into each one of them. Don’t forget to wear your oven gloves while doing all this. Back in to the oven for another 20 minutes or till the edges appear brown. Once this is done, increase the temperature of the oven to “Broil” mode and bake further for 5 to 8 minutes so that a fine brown crust is formed on the Basbousa. Carefully watch the Basbousa every 2 minutes while it is on broil, food burns easily at that high temperature.

Pour the honey syrup all over the squares as your baking dish comes out of the oven. Cool and transfer the pieces to a serving dish or a storing box as this dessert tastes best the next day.

Serving suggestions

·         With whipped cream on top.

·         With strong coffee.

Tips

·         Cooking times can vary depending on the Oven, adjust the timer accordingly.

·         Reduce the amount of sugar if you prefer your sweets to be less sweet.

  Interesting fact

·         Basbousa is called by different names (Hareesa, Ravani) in the Middle Eastern regions.

·         It is a very high calorie (220) per piece dessert.

The Lighthouse

How many times have you read “Cooking is an Art”? Probably, a million. How about “Cooking is a Craft”? Probably not so much!

On a rainy afternoon, when I had exhausted all my reserves of entertaining a 5 year old, she decided to entertain me. (Did I mention earlier in my blog somewhere that she is an inspiration for quite a bit of the cooking I do?).  She asked me if we could make a light house at home and since there was no cardboard, we zeroed in on ice cream.

So, kindly forgive me for the format of this recipe, I have tried to go step by step, the way we created a tiny lighthouse out of ice cream and crackers. It is like I said before, a craft and not a recipe. For there is little to cook and more to arrange.

Step 1

Pick a tall glass or bowl which is freezer safe and keep it ready for stuff to go in. We want the top layer to go in first. Pick 4, 6 and 8 scoops of the ice creams of your choice and leave it at room temperature for half an hour or so to melt.

Step 2

I had two flavors handy, caramel and chocolate. I needed a third color so I crushed a handful of fresh strawberries in the mixer and added it to 2 scoops of caramel ice cream to give it a light pink color. We then proceeded to fill the bottom layer of the tall bowl with the melted pink ice cream. Back in the freezer it went for about one and a half hours.

Step 3

Next, we mixed some M&M candies with the soft chocolate ice cream and in went the second layer of the lighthouse on top of the frozen pink layer. The freezing time was about the same, one and a half hours. While the candies were not visible, we eventually tasted them when we dug into the lighthouse and it was kind of a crunchy invisible surprise.

Step 4

The last layer to go on the frozen pink and brown ice cream was the caramel ice cream mixed with some crumbled mini Oreo cookies. An hour and a half more we had the structure of the light house ready. Since four and a half hours had already passed we decided to take a break and continue the next day. Can you imagine, 4.5 hours gone without any kind of actual cooking!!

Step 5

The 3 layers looked quite pretty inside the plastic and we were keeping our fingers crossed for getting them outside on a plate intact. I ran the sealed bowl under hot water for a minute and then gently slid a long knife in circles around the ice cream. Praying hard, we turned the bowl upside down on a plate. The lighthouse came out with a couple of rough edges, but looking beautiful nevertheless. The decoration was a breeze.  Some Oreo cookies, couple of pink animal crackers and four brown crackers made up the roof of the lighthouse. And my daughter insisted we do the bottom of lighthouse pink as well (since it was a girl’s lighthouse) so I scattered a couple of pink animal crackers at the bottom too.  

To make it easy on the reader, I have listed the ingredients for the lighthouse below:

Caramel ice cream – 4 scoops plus 8 scoops

Crushed strawberries – 4 tsp

Chocolate ice cream – 6 scoops

M & M candies – 6 -8

Mini Oreo cookies – 10

Wheat crackers – 4 medium

Pink animal crackers – 6 – 8 small

The light house looked worthy of being the center piece at an ice cream party, which is just what we had that evening.





This Food Craft is going to :

Rumana Rawat's Treat to Eyes : Series 2 - http://rumanarawat.blogspot.com/

&

Also

Celebrate Sweets - "Ice-Cream" @ Rasoi 

http://rasoithekitchen.blogspot.com/2011/03/celebrate-sweets-ice-cream-event.html

http://niveditaskitchen.blogspot.com/

Almond Ras Malai

Ras Malai is not something I would have tried cooking at home; if not for the Paneer I made at home and didn’t know what to do with. On each occasion I made Paneer at home, it enticed me to combine its self with either Saag (Mustard greens) or Mutter (green peas). This time around, I thought, let’s take Paneer for a sweet ride.

Almond Ras Malai easily falls under the category of “do it yourself dessert” even for chefs like me who suck at cooking dessert. The basic ingredients for this dessert are Milk and Paneer or fresh cheese. All you need to make Paneer at home is bring a huge pot full of milk to boil, add 3 tsps of vinegar or lemon juice and let the milk curdle. Turn the heat off and strain the liquid, what remains is the Paneer.

Ingredients

Paneer – 2 cups

Condensed milk – 1 can

Whole milk – 3 cups

Saffron – 5 strands

Almonds – 6

Cardamom powder – half tsp

Water – 4 cups

Sugar – 1 cup

Knead and make oval shaped balls out of Paneer. In a pan, mix water and sugar, bring to a boil and cook till the sugar dissolves. Add the Paneer balls and cook covered for about 15 minutes in the sugary liquid.

Soak almonds for 2 hours in water, peel off the skin and slice them finely. Mix saffron in 2 tsp of warm milk and set aside.

In another vessel bring the whole milk to a boil and cook for 15 minutes or so constantly stirring so that it reduces a little. Add condensed milk, turn the heat off and stir well. You can go ahead and strain the milk if you want to. Finally in your serving bowl, combine the milk, Paneer balls, almonds, cardamom powder, saffron and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

Tips

*Ready made Paneer can be used for this recipe.

*If home-made Paneer turns out too soft, add 1 tsp of all purpose flour and Knead

 a dough and then make oval shaped balls out of it.

*Pistachio nuts can be used in place of or together with almonds.

*Evaporated milk can be used in place of whole milk, in which case you don’t need

 to cook it for 15 minutes, just bring it to a boil.

*Evaporated milk/condensed milk are used in this recipe to shorten the

  cooking  time, you can use plain milk instead, cook till it reduces to half and add

  sugar as desired.

Interesting fact

*Paneer can be used to make Ricotta cheese by leaving it at room temperature

  for 12 to 24 hours and cooking it further.