Chocolate Cake

Technology has made us so dependant on it.. And I realised it when I changed my phone and lost all my reminders..

Feb is like the wedding season in India.. So most of my frendz have their anniversary in the month .. and thus, I require remindersssss...  This CHOCOLATE CAKE was for a dear frend on her anniversary (which I almost forgot.."almost" ..we were at her place with the cake just before it struck 12 :D )

I tried icing for the first time.. and I was very happy with the outcome.. did CHOCOLATE FROSTING and it enhanced the taste manyfold..

For Cake
Butter - 1 cup
Cocoa powder - 4 Tablespoons
Water - 1 cup
Sugar - 2 cups
Flour - 2 cups
Baking soda - 1 teaspoon
Eggs - 2

 

For Frosting
Butter - 2 Tablespoons
Cocoa powder - 4 Tablespoons
Milk - 6 Tablespoons
Walnuts (chopped)
Icing Sugar - 2/3 of a cup

1. Preheat oven to 200ºC.

2. Melt Butter with Cocoa and Water in a pan and bring to boil. Remove from heat and add the Sugar, Flour, Baking Soda and Eggs. Mix well (Either use a beater or beat with hand either clockwise or anti-clockwise... It is important to follow 1 direction only)

3. Pour into a greased cake tin. Bake in preheated oven for 20-30 minutes.Insert a skewer to check (it should come out clean). Let it cool before demoulding it.

4. For the frosting, boil Milk along with Butter, Cocoa and Nuts together in a saucepan.

5. Remove from heat and add Icing Sugar. 

6. Once cool, cut the cake into half horizontally. Sandwich the two layers with frosting, then garnish with frosting and strawberries. Spinkle Icing Sugar on top for garnish.

The cake is simple yet yummy :) Wish you a very happy aniv Sunaina :) .. this one is for you..

Linking to: Chocolate Lover, Teenz Yummy Delights' Valentine Event, Chocolate Mela, Sweet Luv, Lets Cook - Sweet Somethings, Lets cook for Valentines, Valentines Day @Annz Cafe

Spinach Rice

2012 seems to be a bad start for me.. an accident.. thn dealing with a crazy doc and now a skin allergy.. hope my quota of falling sick in 2012 gets over in this month itself .. fingers crossed.. Now with this state I just don feel like cooking.. and thus, try making a singular dish that would suffice a meal :) ... not that I aint lazy but this is truely out of compulsion (believe me ;)) ..

I had had this dish at a frendz sometime ago and so wanted to replicate it.. SPINACH RICE .. and I think I did a good job.. Arunesh & I ate it up all... and loved it !!

Ingredients 

Rice - 2 cups

Spinach - 1 bunch (blanched)

Onions - 2 (finely chopped)

Green Chili - 3 (you could reduce the chili as per taste)

Bay Leaf - 1

Black Peppercorn - 2

Cloves - 2-3

Mustard Seeds - 1 teaspoon

Cumin Seeds - 1 teaspoon

Salt

Water

Oil - 2 Tablespoons

Lemon Juice - 2 teaspoons

Cooking

Wash rice, drain water & keep aside.

Grind blanched Spinach & Chili together into a fine paste.

Heat oil in a cooker. Add Bay Leaf, Cumin Seeds, Mustard Seeds, Cloves & Peppercorns.

As Mustard Seeds start to crackle, add Onions & fry for about 5 mins. Next, add the Spinach-Chili paste & cook for 2 mins.

Finally add the Rice, Salt & 4 cups of water.

Cover the cooker & cook till 2 wistles.

Spinach Rice are ready.. Incase you find the rice still watery, cook uncovered for about 2-3 mins to dry the excess water.

Squeeze some Lemon Juice and serve hot.

Sending this entry to Nupur's New Year, New Dish event.

Baked - Spagetti with Baked Beans & Veggies

This dish has become a recent fav of mine.. It's easy.. tasty.. and quick.. and I bet everyone will love this one.. kids specially..



Sorry ... the pic of the complete dish got corrupt :(

 Spagetti - 250 grams
Tomatoes - 2 (large)
Onions - 1 (thinly sliced)
Capsicum - 1 (thinly sliced)
Carrots - 1 (chopped into small cubes)
Optional Vegetables - Baby Corn, Mushroom, Brocolli (chopped into small cubes)
Garlic - 2 flakes (finely chopped)
Baked Beans - 1 Can
Cheese - 1 Cup (grated)
Salt - to taste
Black Pepper - to taste
Chilli Sauce - to taste
Tomato Ketchup - 2 Tablespoons
Olive Oil - 1 Tablespoon
Water


Preparation
1. Boil Spagetti with water, salt and a drop of oil in a large pan. Once cooked, drain and excess water and keep aside in a sieve. (Do not over-boil..Al Dante would be best)
2. Blanch Tomatoes - Soak tomatoes in hot water for about 20 minutes or till the skin starts cracking. Remove from water and de-skin. Chop the tomato in small cubes. (Tomato will be very watery, make sure you don drain the gooey part - retain that along with the cubes)


Cooking
3. Preheat the oven at 350 F.

4. Heat Oil in a Non-Stick and saute garlic for about 2 minutes. Add Onions. Once Onions turn pink, add Carrots, Capsicum and the other veggies. (If you are using mushrooms, add them in the end)

5. After sauting the veggies, add the blanched-chopped Tomatoes and Salt. Cover with lid and cook for 10 mins on slow flame.

6. Add Baked Beans and the Seasonings (pepper, chili sauce, etc). Mix well and add the cooked Spagetti and 3/4 cup Cheese. Taste the mixture to adjust salt and spices level.

7. Transfer the mixture to a glass baking dish  - sprinkle Oregano and finally garmish with Cheese. Baked for about 10-15 minutes or til the cheese melts.

Our BAKED SPAGETTI is ready... :))

Sending the recipe to Bake Fest hosted by Pumpkin Farm 
.. and to New U by Zesty Palette

Spicy Garlic Mozzarella Muffins

Radhika's Blog Hop is not a new concept to many of us.. And I am glad to be a part of the same.. This month I am paired with Sangee of Sangeethaskitchen ... She is a long time blogger and I had a plethora of recipes to choose from.. was a tuff one honestly.. there are so manyyy that I wanna try..

My sister is over to stay with me and we decided on making the Spicy Garlic Mozzarella Muffins.. it just read so tempting and we wanted to try a non-sweet muffin..

Thanks Sangee .. it was a great recipe and we hogged on it.. The only lil modification I made was that I used Whole Meal Flour instead of All Purpose Flour...

Ingredients
Whole Meal Flour -   3/4 cup
All Purpose Flour - 1/4 cup
Garlic -   2 cloves (finely chopped)
Parsley -    2 tbsp (I used fresh)
Green chilli -   3 (finely chopped)
Butter -  2 Tablespoon
Baking powder -   1/2 Tablespoon
Salt -  1/2 teaspoon
Milk -  1/2 cup
Egg -   1 (beaten)
Mozzarella Cheese -  1/2 cup(shredded)

Cooking

Preheat the oven at 375 F.

In a bowl, add flour,garlic, parsley, chilli, baking powder,salt and mix well.

In another bowl, mix milk, melted butter and beaten egg. Add this milk-butter-egg mixture to the flour and  mix well.

Line Muffin Cups in a baking tray and  fill 2/3 of each cup.

Bake it for 17-20 minutes or until top turns light golden brown.

Muffins are ready... You can have them with scrambled eggs or with soup or just like that... They just melt in the mouth...

Chocolate Shots with Cinnamon Cream

I am a Chocolate Lover... can have it anytime & all the time..


I had a craving for Chocolate today and thus thought of this simple & quick choco recipe.. for days when you wanna pamper yourself with a yummy dessert... trust me, it's addictive ;)


Ingredients
Bittersweet Cooking Chocolate - 120 grams
Whipping Cream - 1 cup
Red Chili Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Cinnamon Powder - 1/2 teaspoon


Cooking
Break the Chocolate into small pieces and melt it over a double boiler.

Once the Chocolate is melted, add Red Chili Powder and mix well. Remove from the boiler and let the mixture cool.

In a seperate bowl, whip the Cream till it becomes semi-solid. Slowly fold 3/4 of the whipped Cream in the Chocolate mixture.

Pour into shot glasses and refrigerate for an hour or till set.

Take the remaining whipped Cream and mix Cinnamon Powder into it. Thinly layer this mixture on top on the set chocolate shots. Garnish with Cinnamon Powder.

Yummy Spicy Chocolate Shots are ready.... Serve Chilled...

Too Many Chocolateee events going around...
This recipe goes to Kalyani's Magic Mingle event.

And to Resh's Chocolate Lover event.

And to Srivalli's Chocolate Mela event.

And to Srav's Chocolate Fest.

Visitors.. Accident & Back to Blogging.. Punjabi Tadka: Spicy Egg Curry

I am feeling so good as I write.. It's been almost 20 days since my last post.. First things first.. A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR..May you have a great year ahead :))

... I had my cousins over for the new years.. we had a ball of a time.. kitchen was practically closed and guess I tried almost every fast-food restaraunt around... tried some great food & have jotted down a few recipes to try as well...

...My cousins had just departed and life had barely started slipping back into routine when I slipped (yes in the literal sense)... a small accident in the kitchen.. banged my head on the floor... A stiff back & a collar around the neck made it impossible to cook or blog ... hence the loooong pause... Now I am better and back to my kitchen..

Sharing the recipe for SPICY EGG CURRY in a typical Punjabi style, with flavors of red chili & cinammon..

Eggs - 5 (hard boiled - slit into 2 pieces)

Onion - 1 Big (thinly sliced)

Tomato - 1 Big (thinly sliced)

Fresh Coriander - handful (finely chopped)

Garlic - 1 teaspoon (finely chopped)

Red Chili Paste - 1-2 teaspoons

Cinammon Stick - 2
Turmeric Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Cummin Powder - 1 teaspoon
Garam Masala - 1/2 teaspoon
Salt - to taste
Powdered Cinammon - 1/2 teaspoon

Cooking

1.       Heat oil in a non-stick pan. Fry garlic & cinammon sticks for a minute. Then add the onions.

2.       Once the onions begin to brown, add coriander leaves, tomatoes & salt. Cover with lid and cook for 15-20 mins.

3.       Add red chili paste and cook for another 10 mins. Remove the pan from fire and let the mixture cool. Grind the mixture with 2 Tablespoons of water in a blender/grinder to obtain a fine paste.

4.       Transfer the paste back to the pan and add 1 cup of water for the gravy. On boiling, add the eggs.

5.       Simmer for 10-15 mins and sprinkle garam masala and cinammon powder.

6.       Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and serve hot.

The recipe goes to Food Corner's Hot & Spicy Treats ..

Egg & Cheese Stuffed Paratha

No mood to cook a full meal? But something tasty... Thats me since a last few days.. the winter laziness and preparing to host some guests next week.. I am just not cooking a full meal.. And resorting to my good old fav CHEESE & EGG PARATHA..

I recall as a kiddo I used to wait eagerly for saturdays as mom used to make us egg parathas for brunch.. I am sure each one of us would have such cute memories from childhood and food that we had then and miss now... I don miss the paratha thou but miss it being made by mom :))

This might be the easiest recipe of a paratha and I assure you that you would love it .. and your kids would hog on it...

Wheat Flour - 1.5 cups

Salt - to taste

Oil - 2 teaspoon

Water

Eggs

Cheese (grated)

Milk

Black Pepper - to taste

Red Chilli Powder - to taste

Oil/ Ghee (for frying)

Combine the first three ingredients (flour, salt, oil) to form a dough by adding required water. Knead the dough well and refrigerate for a while in a air-tight container.

In a small bowl, whisk an egg with 1 teaspoon milk, cheese, a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper.

Take a lemon size balls out of the dough and flatten it with a roller. Sprinkle little oil and a pinch of red pepper over the paratha. Gather this make into a ball with your hands and gently roll out a paratha again.

Heat a tava on a medium flame. Place the paratha on the tava and apply a little oil/ghee. Flip it over and apply a little oil/ ghee again. As the paratha swells, make a small slit with a knife and pour the whisked egg mixture over the paratha (the egg should fall inside the slit and over the paratha as well) Cook well from both sides.

Hot Egg & Cheese Paratha is ready to serve. Goes perfect with tomato ketchup :))