Rice and Coconut Milk Payasam

Makara Sankranti is celebrated in most parts of Southern India. We usually make Sihipongal , Khara Pongal, and distribute Ellu and bella. This time with Ellu Bella, I made one simple payasam with coconut milk. It was very easy to make and excellent in taste. 

Ingredients: 

Cooked rice - One  cup

Jaggery - 3/4 cup ( more if its your taste) 

Coconut milk - 2 cartons of 200 ml each ( 400 ml)

Cardomom powder - 1 tsp


Ghee  1 tsp

Dry Fruits - Cashew, Almonds, Pistachio and Raisans.

Method


Cook the rice in a pressure cooker with a little coconut milk for flavour.


Melt the jaggery  in a deep bottom pan by adding very little water. 

When it melts, add the cooked rice and mix well. Add kesar and cardamom powder.

When the mixture starts boiling add  200 ml of coconut milk and a little water.

Mix well and let it come to a boil. Add the rest of the coconut milk and reduce the heat. 


Turn the heat off and garnish with dry fruits of your choice roasted in Ghee.

Serve hot or chilled. Either ways it is as tasty. Best part of this is you can turn a leftover rice portion into yummy payasa within minutes.

Ciao..

Eggless Sponge Cake

Got a chance to try something new after a long long time. Painting has taken a lot of time and trying something new in the kitchen took a back seat. My sister is here and she made this egg less sponge cake (using thick yogurt/curd) . Amazing part is that there is no trace or smell of the yogurt in it and it is as spongy as any cake. Please see the  recipe here  too. This is where we got it from it was Nita Mehtas which the blogger used too.

I somehow cannot still take the smell of raw egg kindly so the search for eggless recipes. Not that the end product will be exactly as the same as its counterpart with eggs in it. But they are different in their own way and tasty too.

This simple cake is great in taste and simple in method and can be made with the ingredients available in the house.

Ingredients:

Maida/All purpose flour – 1and half tea cup
Curd /thick plain yogurt – 1 cup
Baking soda – 1/2 tsp
Sugar          3/4 cup
Baking powder – 1 1/4 tsp
Cooking oil  – 1/2 cup
Vanilla essence  – 1 1/2 tsp

Method: 

Preheat the oven at 200 C for 10 minutes. Dissolve the Sugar in the curd completely. When it is completely done whisk it well with the baking powder and baking soda and let it froth a bit for a just about 5 minutes. Mix well till it gets frothy . Add cooking oil, vanilla essence and mix well again. Add the maida/all purpose flour slowly while whisking and blending it with the mixture to form a thick creamy batter. 

Grease a baking pan and dust the pan with a spoonful of dry flour, tap and turn the flour in the pan, so as to coat the pan with flour  and pour the batter evenly.

Bake in preheated oven at 200 degree C for 10 minutes, then reduce temperature to 180 deg C and bake it for another 20 minutes

Check by pricking the toothpick in the center.If it comes out clean the cake is done. Let it cool for about 20 to 25 minutes. Delicious Vanilla cake is ready. 

 Enjoy this simple yet delicious cake with your tea or as dessert or just as cake...
Ciao and thanks to prabha for this recipe.

Eggless Choco soft cake

It has been a very busy month with festive season and celebrations all around me. I tried out lots of recipes and this particular recipe from khana khazana , turned out the best. It is very simple and easy to make , though I would not put it as the best tasting one it is quite tasty with some chocolate syrup on it. The ingredients are easy to find and very few too.


Eggless Choco soft cake:
Here is the recipe without much of a prologue.


Ingredients :


Parle-G biscuits : 4 packs
Sugar (powdered) 15 tsp
Cocoa Powder -  6 tsp
Eno (fruit salt)- 1 tsp
baking soda  1/2 tsp
Lukewarm milk - 3 cups
oil /butter for greasing
Chocolate syrup for the topping


Method:


Make a fine powder of the Parle-G biscuits, Sugar and Cocoa powder without lumps. Then add Eno (fruit salt ) and baking soda. Add the lukewarm milk little by little and mix it only towards one side. 
Grease the microwavable tray with butter or oil.pour the mixture into it and microwave for 5 minutes at high.
It will be done by then. check with a knife or a skewer. Let it cool for a few minutes and add the chocolate syrup on the top.


I am having problems with uploading the pictures today. I will load them some other time.


Ciao.

EGGLESS CHOCOLATE CAKE

Having the girls home for the Half term holidays was welcome. It meant I could actually give them some good healthy traditional Indian breakfast, time and attention. But that also meant that I should keep them busy to be away from the Idiot Box all day long. I seriously believe that more than one hour of screen time really makes children sluggish.It is not easy to keep them occupied for 12 hours a day inside the four walls, the weather does not allow much to play outside but still walking and skating did take up sometime of the day,but still they had to be kept occupied. As a process of this week long engagment I browsed to get some baking recipes where a found a fairly simple EGGLESS CHOCOLATE CAKE recipe...I am mighty delighted as a vegetarian I am not too fond of using Eggs..., but I do eat cakes which contain egg, as long as I dont see them being used (hypocritical mind).

Well, I gave them the ingredients and with very little help of mine they baked this lovely cake.. two little sweet chefs who managed to make and gobble it up for lunch... Thanks to the digi cam I could take pictures for keep sakes and some software touch made them a photo dairies too.. The recipe was fairly simple but I did try to make a few changes in them to suit my taste.I am quite pleased with the outcome enough to post it here with my girls photosession....they need a boost too !!!!!!!

It is a fairly simple process making this cake, with few ingredients and fewer
steps to follow the happiness on their faces made the whole effort (of cleaning up the mess later) worth while.
Some pictures here with details I added at their behest...






EGGLESS CHOCO CAKE

Ingredients
3 cups self raising flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 cup cold milk
1/4 cup butter /margarine
2 cups sugar
1 bar of chocolate to break and add as bits.
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup cold water(as and when required

METHOD

Preheat the oven for 15 minutes

Mix 1/2 cup cocoa with 3 cups of self raising flour in a small bowl,
(add bits of chocolate for a rich and crunchy taste )

In a jug, dissolve two tsp of baking soda in a cup of cold milk

In a large bowl cream two cups of sugar with 1/4 cup butter or maragarine. Add milk and flour alternately to the creamed mixture and whisk until thick.. add cold water to get intended consistency.

Pour the batter in a greased cake tin or pan and cook at 200 degrees for 15 minutes.

Allow the cake tin to cool and with a knife smoothly loosen the sides...

Serve warm with some cold coffee. Yummy!!!! who can resist this?????