Sooji Halwa

Sooji/semolina halwa is my all time favorite sweets. Even though the method to make them is the same both in the north and south of India, I kind of like the south Indian halwa, better known as rawa kesari better. I really don’t know what makes it so different from the way the north Indians makes it. Each time I visit A2B kesari is always on my menu list!

Ingredients:

Sooji/semolina/rawa – 1 cup

Sugar – ¾ cup

Water – 3 cups

Ghee – 3 tbsp

Food color – a pinch (optional)

Method:

In a saucepan add the sugar and water. Heat the mixture until sugar is dissolved and is just boiled. Keep aside.

Heat up a pan and add the ghee. Add the semolina and roast till it releases a nice aroma and is turned brown. Make sure you stir them often to even colour.

Once roasted add the sugar mixture. Stir continuously to prevent lumps. At this stage, check for sweetness. If you want it sweeter add sugar at this stage. Net add the food coloring (if adding).

Cook until the rawa is cooked and all the water is evaporated. You can spread the mixture while its still hot in a plate and later cut them in shapes when cooled.

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Sweet Buns

Last week I was feeling sick and didn't feel like eating anything heavy for my dinner. So decided to eat something light like bread or bun and go to sleep. But when it was too late by the time I took my decision. It was like half past 10 and all the shops were closed L! Damn!! The next morning I decided to bake a few for myself so that I could eat it any time I wanted.

Ingredients:

Flour/maida – 480 gms

Caster sugar – 4 tbsp (add more if you like it sweeter)

Milk powder – 3 tbsp

Dry yeast – 2 tsp

Butter – 40 gms

Egg – 1 (lightly beaten)

Salt – ½ tsp

Water – 150 ml (lukewarm)

Egg yolk – for glazing

Choc chips – for decorating (optional)

Method:

Preheat oven to 180C.

Sift flour, milk powder and salt. Add sugar and yeast. Mix well until they are combined. Make a well in the centre and add egg & butter. Again mix well.

Now gradually add water to form soft dough. Add more lukewarm water if required. Knead for 20mins until soft and elastic.

Place the dough in a greased bowl. Cover with cling wrap and allow it to double in volume.

Once risen punch the dough down and knead it again for another 10mins.

Beat egg yolk in a bowl and keep separate.

Roll and shape the buns and place them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle choc chips (if adding) and bake the buns for 20-30 mins. Glaze the top with egg yolk mixture.

Tips:

• You can dissolve the yeast in some lukewarm water than adding it directly into the flour.
• Make sure you add lukewarm water and not hot water. Hot water kills the yeast and won’t allow the dough to rise.
• Adding a lilttle bit of milk to your egg yolk mixture will give the buns a nice golden color.
• If you have a oven that has separate temperature settings for top and bottom rack, first turn on the bottom heat on and halfway turn on the top heat as well. This makes even cooking.
• You can even add some tutty fruity into the flour to make tutty fruity buns!

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Apple and Cinnamon Cake

With the amount of sweet stuffs I bake, I was am worried about my hubby’s health, which is why I thought this time for his birthday I might bake a very simple and fat free cake for him.

I love the combination of apple and cinnamon. I have had loads of apple and cinnamon muffins but never a cake. So this time I thought of baking an apple and cinnamon cake for hubby’s bday, fat free style!!

Ingredients:

Flour/maida – 1 cup

Ground cinnamon – 2 tsp

Baking soda – 1 tsp

Salt – ¼ tsp

Sugar – 1 cup

Eggs – 2

Veg oil – 2 tbsp

Apples – 2 (peeled and chopped not more the size of a pea)

Youghurt – ¼ cup

Honey – 3 tbsp

Method:

Preheat oven to 200C. Grease your cake tin. 

Sieve together flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt for a couple of times. Add sugar and apples and mix until they combine well.

In another bowl whisk together eggs, oil, yoghurt and honey.

Now gently fold the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. They might seem a bit difficult to combine but don’t worry, the mixture gets wetter as you keep combining them.

Pour the batter into your greased pan and bake for 30mins or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Let it cool. Best served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream! Yum!!

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Cupcakes Without A Muffin Tray

I love eating cupcakes. I remember as a child my grandfather used to always get me a box of goodies when he returned home from work and in that box cupcake was a constant goodie!

Yesterday when I went to bake some cupcakes I couldn’t find my muffin tray anywhere and I was craving for them so badly and I had to make them at any cost. You know how they say ‘where there’s a will, there’s a way’, well I found out that you could actually bake cupcakes without using a muffin tray!!

This recipe is the simplest way of making classic cupcakes.

Ingredients:

Butter – 125gms (melted & cooled at room temp)

Egg – 1 (beaten)

Milk – ¾ cup

Vanilla essence – 1 tsp

Self raising flour – 2 cups

Tea cups – 12 to 13

Note: you can make self raising flour at home. For every 1 cup of all purpose flour add 1 ½ tsp of baking powder and 1 tsp of salt.

Method:

Preheat oven to 200C

Sift the self raising flour couple of times. Add the flour to a bowl. Make a well in the center. 

Add the butter, milk, egg and vanilla essence to the flour and mix well with a spoon until well combined without any lumps.

Place the cupcake liners on top of the tea cups. Add dollops of the batter into each liner. (Every time you pour the batter be careful as the liner will sink into the tea cup coz of the weight. So pour it carefully.)

Arrange the tea cups with cupcake batter onto a tray and bake it for 15mins or until when a skewer inserted comes out clean. When done top it up with frosting.

Well they might not be pretty but tastes good!

Simple Frosting:

In a bowl mix 1 cup of icing sugar with 1 to 1 ½ tbsp. of water and a drop of color of your choice (if you want). Spoon it over the cupcakes.

This is a great technique for those of you who bake cupcakes only occasionally don’t want to spend money on buying a muffin tray.

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Doughnuts

Doughnuts come in 2 varieties; the glaced ring doughnuts and the filled versions. These yummy doughnuts are super soft and you can use the dough to make either of the 2 mentioned above. However, here I am showing the glaced ring version.

Ingredients:

All purpose flour – 2 ½ cups

Milk – ¾ cup

Yeast – 2 ½ tsp

Butter – 2 ½ tbsp

Warm water – 2 tbsp

Salt – ½  tsp

Sugar – ¼ cup

Vanilla essence – ½ tsp

Egg – 1 (beaten)

Method:

Add yeast to warm water and set aside for 10-15 mins for fermentation.

Sift flour & salt. Add sugar, yeast solution, melted butter, beaten egg & milk to it. Knead to form sticky dough for 4-5mins. The dough should me sticky but still manageable. (Don’t worry about the stickiness; you can adjust it later once the dough has risen)

Cover with a cling wrap and keep in a warm place until it rises in double. I usually keep it in the microwave to rise.

You can now see how the dough has risen! Now knead it again. Here you can add some more flour to remove the stickiness. Now roll them and cut into doughnut shapes. Leave them on a floured surface to rest for an hour.

After an hour fry on medium heat.  You can have them as it is or with toppings of your choice. I had it with choc topping. Simply melt some dark choc and dip the doughnuts and enjoy!

For sugar glaze:

Mix 1 cup icing sugar with a few drops of vanilla essence and some warm milk or water until smooth. Make sure you make this topping once you have finished making the doughnuts coz the glaze sets very fast.

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Mango Shots

Mango is one of my favorite summer fruits. Last night we went to cafe coffee day and had the mango shots. Gosh I fell in love with them and tried to make them. That is when I realized  why not make them the way I made the strawberry shots.
Its pretty much exactly the same method. I just replaced the strawberries with mangoes.

Ingredients:

Marie Biscuits – 4

Fresh mango – ½ cup chopped

Butter – 3 tsp (melted)

Thick curd – ½ cup

Fresh cream – ½ cup

Sugar – 4 tbsp (add more/less according to the sourness of the mangoes)

China grass – ½ tbsp (i used strawberry flavored coz I had left over from the strawberry shots I made earlier but you can use the plain version too)

Water – 2 tbsp

Note: In case you don’t find thick curd, take 1.5 cups of the normal curd, put it in a muslin cloth and hang it somewhere for an hour so that all the water drips off and you are left with ½ cup of thick curd.

Method:

Crush biscuits roughly and powder to a semi fine mixture. Then add melted butter to the powdered biscuits and mix well so that the mixture becomes moist. Fill this up as a base layer in your dessert bowl/glass and press firmly with the back of a spoon or fingertips. Leave this in the refrigerator while the other layers are getting ready.

Chop mangoes roughly and puree it with sugar. Set aside. In a mixing bowl, add curd and fresh cream, mix until they combine well.

Add strawberry puree (reserve 1/4 cup for later) to the above mixture and mix well. At this point check for sweetness and adjust according to your preference. If adding sugar, beat well until sugar is dissolved completely. Set aside. In a small heat resistant cup, add the china grass and water. Boil water in a pan and place the cup in the boiling water. Allow it to boil until you see a clear liquid when the china grass is dissolved completely.

Now add the china grass water mixture to the curd-cream-puree mixture, give a quick stir. Fill it up immediately in your dessert bowl/glass as a second layer reserving little space at the top. Chill it for 4-5 hrs or even overnight for best results. Then add the remaining strawberry puree as a third layer and serve chilled.

Just like the strawberry shots this pic too isn't pretty :( Will upload a pretty pic later :)

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Strawberry Shots

I love strawberries! When it comes to choosing an ice cream or milk shake or any desserts, I always go for strawberry flavor  After having the dessert shots at café coffee day, I so wanted to try them out myself. But they serve only mango and choc, so I was eagerly waiting for the strawberry season to approach so I could try out the strawberry version of the same.

Now this recipe is not exactly the same as the CCD version. But I’m sure you won’t regret these!

Ingredients:

Marie Biscuits – 4

Fresh strawberries – ½ cup

Butter – 3 tsp (melted)

Thick curd – ½ cup

Fresh cream – ½ cup

Sugar – 4 tbsp (add more/less according to the sourness of the strawberries)

China grass – ½ tbsp (i used strawberry flavored but you can use the plain version too)

Water – 2 tbsp

Note: In case you don’t find thick curd, take 1.5 cups of the normal curd, put it in a muslin cloth and hang it somewhere for an hour so that all the water drips off and you are left with ½ cup of thick curd.

Method:

Crush biscuits roughly and powder to a semi fine mixture. Then add melted butter to the powdered biscuits and mix well so that the mixture becomes moist. Fill this up as a base layer in your dessert bowl/glass and press firmly with the back of a spoon or fingertips. Leave this in the refrigerator while the other layers are getting ready.

Chop strawberries roughly and puree it with sugar. Set aside. In a mixing bowl, add curd and fresh cream, mix until they combine well.

Add strawberry puree (reserve 1/4 cup for later) to the above mixture and mix well. At this point check for sweetness and adjust according to your preference. If adding sugar, beat well until sugar is dissolved completely. Set aside. In a small heat resistant cup, add the china grass and water. Boil water in a pan and place the cup in the boiling water. Allow it to boil until you see a clear liquid when the china grass is dissolved completely.

Now add the china grass water mixture to the curd-cream-puree mixture, give a quick stir. Fill it up immediately in your dessert bowl/glass as a second layer reserving little space at the top. Chill it for 4-5 hrs or even overnight for best results. Then add the remaining strawberry puree as a third layer and serve chilled.

Yeah I know I have a pretty crappy pic of the dessert :( Will take a proper pretty pic of the same and upload it someday.

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