Eggless Marble cake

Marble Cake!! Or can also be called as "Chocolate Lover's delight", is a combination of vanilla and chocolate cake batter, which are swriled together inorder to get a marble effect on it. It has no egg, no butter, but the texture is simply awesome. Being very moist, light and soft, it literally melts in mouth. If you are a fan of chocolates, apply some chocolate frosting, it will be just heavenly!!

Well!! Do you wonder what makes this cake so moist even without eggs and butter? The secret ingredient is Apple Cider Vinegar. Adding a tablespoon of it makes all the difference.

So, lets get started on the recipe

Ingredients

For Vanilla batter

• All purpose Flour / Maida - 1+ 3/4 cup
• Sugar - 1 cup
• Baking soda - 1 tsp
• Salt - 1/2 tsp
• Hot water- 1 cup
• Apple Cider Vinegar - 1 tblspn
• Vanilla extract - 2 tsp
• Oil - 1/4 cup

For Chocolate Batter

• Hot water - 2 tblspn
• Cocoa powder - 2 tblspn
• Vanilla batter - 1/4 of prepared batter

Method

• Preheat the oven @ 350 deg F or 176 deg C
• Grease your cake pan or loaf pan well.

For Vanilla batter

• Combine all purpose flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a bowl and mix really well. Use a whisk to mix it properly.
• In another bowl mix together hot water, vanilla extract, apple cider vinegar and oil.
• Incorporate wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix well avoiding lumps as much as possible.
• Your vanilla cake batter is now ready

For Chocolate batter

• Take 1/4th of the prepared vanilla batter. Add cocoa powder and hot water and mix well. 
• Now both your batters are ready.

How to proceed

• Pour 1/2 of the vanilla batter to your greased cake/loaf pan.
• Now pour half of the chocolate batter. Make swirls using the fork
• Now again pour the vanilla batter on top of it
• Again the chocolate batter and make swirls. Don't over do as it will spoil the marble effect on the cake and it will become a chocolate cake finally. So, be careful with that.

• Bake in the oven for about 30 - 35 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

 

• Allow it to cool for 10 minutes
• Run a knife around the edges of the cake and invert it carefully on a plate.
• Apply chocolate frosting once it is cooled down completely.

 

• Sprinkle some nuts if you wish and dig in!!

 

Mor Urundai Kulambu

We had this for the first time from my best friend's house, few months ago. Myself and my hubby liked it to the core. I wrote down the recipe and prepared it twice or thrice and did not prepare this for months. Today, when I wanted to prepare this, I forgot the recipe. At last, I found the recipe what I wrote and made it. Not only my hubby, his lunch group friends too enjoyed this dish. A big thanks to my friend..!!!!

Do try this, and you will love this, as we did..

Ingredients

For the coconut paste

• Coconut - 1/2 cup
• Fried gram dal / Pottu kadalai - 1 tblspn
• Green chillies - 2
• Red Chillies - 2
• Salt - 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Yoghurt - 1/2 cup
• Water - 1/2 cup

For the Dal dumplings

• Toor dal - 1 cup
• Urad dal - 1 tblspn
• Green chilly - 1 or 2, according to your spice preference
• Ginger - 1/2 inch piece
• Onion - 1 , finely chopped
• Coriander leaves - 1 tblspn, finely chopped
• Salt - to taste

For seasoning

• Oil - 1 tsp
• Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
• Urad dal - 1 tsp
• Red chillies - 2 nos
• Curry leaves - 1 spring

Other ingredients

• Coriander leaves - 2 tblspn
• Curry leaves - 5 or 6

Method

For the coconut paste

• Combine all the ingredients in the "For the coconut paste" heading under the ingredients list, in a blender and blend it to a very smooth paste. Keep aside

For the Dal dumplings

• Wash and soak toor dal and urad dal together for 1 hour

• Drain the water completely and grind it along with some salt, ginger and green chillies. Do not add water while grinding. Grind in to a coarse paste.

• Transfer this paste in to a bowl and add onion and coriander leaves and mix well.

• Grease your idli molds well

• Make small lemon sized balls out of ground lentils and place them on the idli molds

• Steam it for about 7 - 8 minutes in a medium heat. Open the lid and check whether it is raw. It will be little hard if it has cooked properly.

• Your Dal dumplings are now ready

How to proceed?

• Transfer the coconut paste in a vessel and bring this heat. Add water and adjust the consistency. It should not be too thick nor too thin.

• When it is just about to boil, add the half of the curry leaves and coriander leaves. Save the rest for seasoning and garnishing.

• Check the seasoning and adjust accordingly.
• Take the steamed dal  dumplings and add in to this

• Mix very gently. Make sure not to break them. Allow it to cook for a minute and them turn off the heat
• In a seasoning pan, heat oil and crackle mustard seeds. Add urad dal. Mix until it starts turning golden brown. Add red chillies and curry leaves. Turn off the heat. Pour this hot seasoning in to the curry.
• Transfer the curry to a serving dish and garnish with coriander leaves. Serve with hot rice or string hoppers / idiyappam.

Kadai Mushroom masala

Mushrooms are one of the veggies I will always stock inside my fridge. I used to prepare at least one dish a week using that. We both just love it a lot.

I used to do a lot of experiments using mushrooms. Once I had kadai paneer prepared by my friend and was totally blown away by the taste. It was absolutely the restaurant quality dish. Felt like I was having a meal from a North Indian restaurant. It was that yummy. I asked her to share the recipe and she did. Tried a couple of times using paneer and once using cauliflower. This time I tried using mushrooms and believe me.. It tasted twice better than paneer or cauliflower. 

Please do try out and I am sure you will really love it.

Ingredients

To grind

• Onion - 2 big onions
• Ginger - 1 inch piece
• Garlic - 3 cloves
• Cashews - 8 nos
• Almonds - 8 nos

Other ingredients

• Mushrooms - 200 gms, cut in to medium pieces
• Capsicum - 1 , cubed
• Green chillies - 2, slit
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Butter - 1 tblspn
• Oil - 2 tsp
• Bay leaf - 1 , broken
• Cinnamon - 1 inch stick
• Cardamom - 2 nos
• Cloves - 2 nos
• Star anise - 1/2
• Fennel seeds - 1 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Salt - as per taste
• Sugar - 1 tsp
• Tomato puree - 1 cup
• Chilli powder - 2 tsp / according to your spice preference
• Cumin powder - 1 tsp
• Coriander powder - 2 tsp
• Garam masala / Kitchen king masala - 1 tsp
• Kasuri methi / dried fenugreek leaves - 1 tblspn , crushed
• Curd - 1 tblspn
• Cream - 1 tblspn
• Coriander leaves - to garnish

Method

To Grind

• Combine all the items under  "To Grind"  heading in the ingredients list in a mixer jar and grind it to a smooth paste. Keep it aside

How to proceed?

• Take a non-stick pan and heat 1 tsp of oil. Fry capsicum until its cooked. Do not over cook and make it mushy. The crunchiness should still be maintained.
• Remove from the heat and keep aside
• In the same pan, add 1 tsp oil and fry mushrooms. Add a pinch of salt. It will start releasing water. Cook until the water is completely evaporated. Mushrooms would have properly cooked by then
• Remove from heat and keep along with the cooked capsicum
• In the same pan, heat butter and add bay leaf, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, star anise, fennel seeds and cumin seeds
• Fry for few seconds until it starts releasing its aroma. Now add the ground paste (under "to grind" heading) , green chillies and saute this for 5 minutes on a medium heat. Add salt and turmeric powder.
• Once the raw smell of ginger, garlic and onion goes, add the tomato puree. Close the lid and allow it to cook for 8 minutes. The raw smell from the tomato should be disappeared completely. 
• Now add chilli powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, garam masala powder and crushed dried fenugreek leaves (kasuri methi)
• Whisk the curds very well and pour in to this. Add cream also.
• Now add the fried mushroom and capsicum. Cover and cook for a minute and then turn off the heat.
• Sprinkle some coriander leaves and cover the lid again. Let it sit for 10 minutes before you serve.
• Serve with hot phulkas, rotis, naan, pulao etc.

 

Carrot chutney

 

Carrot Chutney, though not a regular menu at our house, I make this whenever I run in short of coconut/ tomato. This is my husband's one of the favorite chutney, as it has a sweet taste. The sweetness from the carrot.

I have added 7 pods of garlic for this chutney. But you can reduce it if you dont like the garlic flavor. You can also add 1 small piece of ginger instead of garlic, which also gives a good taste.

Sometimes I add coconut while grinding the chutney and have along with hot steamed rice. It will taste heavenly delicious.

If you do not have sweet tooth, you can increase the red chillies in order to compensate the sweetness from the carrot.

Ingredients

• Carrot - 1 cup, finely chopped
• Oil- 2 tsp
• Asafoetida - a pinch
• Urad dal - 2 tsp
• Red chillies - 3 or according to your spice preference
• Garlic - 6-7 cloves
• Onion- 1/2 cup, roughly chopped or small onions
• Tamarind - 1 small gooseberry size
• Salt - as per taste
• Curry leaves - 1 spring

Method

• Heat oil in a pan and add urad dal.
• When it starts to change its colour, add red chillies, Asafoetida and curry leaves. Saute for 5 seconds and then add the onions and garlic.
• Fry them until onions become translucent and garlic becomes cool. Add salt to ease the process.
• Add the carrot now. The cooking time of the carrots depend on how big / small you chop the carrot. To make the cooking easy, I chopped it finely. Do not add water to cook the carrots.
• Keep sauteing it until the carrot is cooked and soft. Once it is done, switch off the flame and add the tamarind / tamarind pulp. Mix once. Close the lid and let it cool.
• Once it is cool, grind it to a smooth paste. Add water if necessary. 
• Your chutney is now ready. This chutney will be little sweet and goes well with dosa, idli, paddu / panniyaram etc.

Try and let me know your feed back

Sweet Corn Khara Panniyaram

If you are bored of eating idli / dosa, try making this. You will definitely love this dish. My mom used to spice this up by adding onion, ginger and green chillies. My hubby is not a big fan of ginger flavor. So, I do not add ginger in making this. They are crispy from outside and soft from inside.
Here I made khara panniyarams by adding onion, green chillies and mainly sweet corn. Adding sweet corn gives a unique flavor to your panniyarams. Once I prepared this for my hubby's clients and they totally loved it.

Ingredients

• Idli / Dosa batter - 2 cups
• Oil - 1 tsp
• Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Urad dal - 1 tblspn
• Channa dal - 1 tblspn
• Green chillies - 2 , finely chopped
• Curry leaves - 1 spring, finely chopped
• Onion - 1, finely chopped
• Salt - as per taste
• Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp (powder)
• Boiled sweet corn kernals - 1/2 cup
• Coriander leaves - 1 tblspn, finely chopped
• Oil - to prepare panniyarams

 

Method

• Heat oil in a pan and crackle mustard seeds. When it splutters, add channa dal, urad dal and asafoetida.
• When the lentils become golden brown, add green chillies, curry leaves, onion and salt. Saute until onion becomes translucent.
• Now, add the sweet corn kernals and fry for 2 minutes. Add coriander leaves and turn off the heat.
• Add this in to the dosa / idli batter and mix well.
• Heat your appe pan. 1st keep the heat in high. Once it is very hot, change the heat to medium-low.
• Pour 2 - 3 drops of oil in each of the cavities of your appe pan.
• Fill each cavities with the batter. Make sure fill it just 3/4th.
• Cover and cook for few minutes. You can see the bottom part is crispy.
• Turn carefully with a skewer or spoon and let the other side also get cooked. Add 1/4 tsp of oil in each cavity.
• Do not cover and cook at this stage. Flip again and cook if you need it a little more crispy. When they are golden from all the sides, transfer it to a hot case box, so that it will remain hot until you are done with the next batches.
• Serve along with any chutneys / idli podi