Eggless Moist Carrot and Nuts Cake

This cake is very soft and moist and has a very nice flavor, which will be loved by all, from children to elder ones. I did not imagine that this simple vegetable will be so delicious when added to the cake batter. The specialty of this cake is that, it has no butter and no eggs!! Also, the maida can be replaced with whole wheat flour.
In this recipe I replaced egg with yoghurt and the outcome was surprisingly great. Yes.. I just took a chance this time. This cake was prepared for my best friend, who is fond of cakes. Even my hubby is very fond of cakes, and when it has no butter he eats it without any guilt. This is one of such cakes, he liked a lot and asked me to prepare this more often here after.

Recipe for Eggless Moist Carrot Cake

Ingredients

• All Purpose Flour / Wheat Flour - 1 cup (170gms)
• Grated Carrot - 1/2 cup (More or less as you prefer)
• Yoghurt/Curd - 3/4 cup (200ml)
• Oil - 1/4 cup (60ml) Olive, Canola or Sunflower. I used sunflower oil
• Milk - 2 tblspn
• Sugar - 1/2 cup (100gms)
• Vanilla essence - 1  tsp
• Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
• Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
• Salt - a pinch
• Chopped nuts of your choice - 1/2 cup
• Apple Cider Vinegar - 1 tblspn (Optional)

Method

• Preheat the oven @180 deg C. Grease a cake tin with oil/butter. Dust some flour, spread all over the tin and tap off the excess flour.
• Sieve together, Flour, Salt, Baking Powder and Baking Soda. Set aside. Sieve it 2 times at least.

 

   

• Now comes the wet ingredients; Mix milk, sugar, oil and curd. Mix until the sugar is completely dissolved.

 

• Now add vanilla essence, grated carrot, 1/4th of the nuts and apple cider vinegar. Mix well.

• Now, add half of the flour mixture, folding in gently avoiding any lumps.

 

 

• Now add the remaining flour, folding in gently.

 

 

• Transfer it to the greased baking tin. Even it using back of your spoon and tap it gently.

• Sprinkle the remaining nuts. You can also mix the entire nuts in the batter. I liked this way.

• Bake it in the pre-heated oven @180deg C for about 30-35 minutes, or until the tooth pick inserted comes out clean. The baking time varies from oven to oven. So always keep an eye that it not charred.
• Once baked, run your knife through the edges of your pan to loosen it. Let it sit for 20 minutes, before you remove it from the pan

• Slice and Serve. 

 

 

White Sauce

Ingredients

• Butter - 1 tblpsn
• All purpose flour- 1 tblspn
• Milk - 2 cups
• Salt - 1 tsp
• Pepper powder - 2 tsp
• Mixed Italian herbs - few

Method

• Heat butter in a vessel and add all purpose flour. Fry for few seconds and then add milk, while mixing it continuously to avoid lumps. 
• Keep the heat in medium. Keep mixing until it starts becoming thick in consistency.
• Add salt, pepper powder and mixed Italian herbs to it and mix well. Adjust the consistency by adding milk to it, if it becomes too thick.Turn off the heat and use as required.

Pizza Sauce

Hii Friends,

Sharing with you all the recipe for pizza sauce, which can be stored in an airtight container, in the refrigerator for many days. It can be used instantly in any Italian dishes.

This is my own version of "Tried and Tested and Successful" recipe and I am sure you will love this

Lets see how to make this

Ingredients

• Tomatos - 2
• Olive oil - 2 tsp
• Onion - 1/2, chopped very finely
• Capsicum - Chopped very finely
• Garlic - 4 cloves, chopped very finely
• Tomato puree - 2 cups (Homemade / Store brought)
• Salt - to taste
• Sugar - 2 tsp
• Chilli powder - 1 tsp
• Fennel powder - 1 tsp
• Mixed italian herbs - (Oregano, thyme, marjaram, basil)- few each

Method

• Boil water in a vessel. Give 2 or 3 slits in the tomatoes and dop them in the boiling water. Close the lid and let it sit like that for almost 30 to 40 seconds.Shock the tomatoes in the cold water and remove the skin starting from the slit you made on them. Once it is cool, chop them ery finely. Keep aside
• Heat oil in a pan and add garlic. Keep the heat in medium. Saute until it is fried a little. Now add onions and saute till it is very well cooked.
• Now add the capsicum and saute it fr a minute.Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, salt and sugar. Add litle water, close the lid and allow it to cook for
• 20-30 minutes. Make sure it does not become too thicck. Keep stirring in between and add water if necessary.
• After around 30 minutes, add chilli powder, fennel powder and italian herbs. Close the lid again and cook for a minute or so. Check the seasoning and adjust accordingly.Turn off the heat. Store this in an air tight container once it is cooled doen completely and refridgerate. Use when necessary.

For Tomato puree at home

Ingredients
 

• Tomato - 6 big tomatoes
• Water - 3 cups

Method
 

• Boil water in a vessel. Give 2 or 3 slits in the tomatoes and dop them in the boiling water. Close the lid and let it sit like that for almost 30 to 40 seconds.Shock the tomatoes in the cold water and remove the skin starting from the slit you made on them.Chop them roughly. Once it is cooled down, blend in a mixer to get a fine puree.

Vegetable Bread Lasagna

PIZZA SAUCE AND WHITE SAUCE

Preparing Lasagna has become a simple task now. You just need marinara and white sauce read, it will be ready in no time. No Lasagna sheets used  here. Just few bread slices replacing Lasagna sheets.
I got this idea from my friend "Priya Mani" and my Co-sis Ashwini Raghavender, who posted their recipe in CAL (Chef at large). Thanks a lot to you both. It seemed so yummy which prompted me to try this. Making some changes, I came out with this Vegetable Bread Lasagna. It can either be served as a starter or as main dish, if preferred, along with toasted bread. It is absolutely rich and creamy, which will melt in your mouth so easily.
Now, I cannot wait to share my own version of Vegetable Bread Lasagna with you all

Ingredients

• Pizza/Pasta Sauce - 1 cup
• White sauce - 1 cup
• Sauteed mixed vegetables - 1 cup (Recipe given)
• Bread - 8 slices (More or less)
• Salt - 1 tsp
• Freshly crushed pepper - 1 tsp
• Chilli flakes - few
• Mixed Italian herbs - few

For Sauteed Mixed Vegetables

• Olive oil - 2 tsp
• Onion -1 , chopped
• Capsicum - 1 , chopped (Any colour)
• Beans - 10 to 12, cut 1 inch size
• Carrot - 1, cut lengthwise, 1 inch size
• Sweet corn - 1/2 cup, boiled
• Mushrooms - 6 or 7
• Grated cheese of your choice
• Garlic - 6 pods, finely chopped
• Freshly crushed pepper - 2 tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Sugar- 1 tsp

Method

For Sauteed Vegetables

• Heat oil in a pan and fry garlic until it starts changing its colour.
• Add all the vegetables(Including onion) to the pan. Keep the heat high
• Saute them until the vegetables become tender. Do not make it mushy.
• Now add salt, sugar and crushed pepper. Mix well. Turn off the heat. Close the lid and keep it aside

How to proceed?

• Take an oven proof bowl or a pan. Grease well using olive oil.
• Start layering.
• First comes the white sauce, the bottom layer. Spread it evenly.
• Second, the bread slices. Place them without any gap between each other.
• Thirdly, the Pizza sauce. Again, spread them as evenly as possible.
• Fourthly, sprinkle some grated cheese
• Fifth, Place the sliced bread without any gap between each other.
• Sixth, The pizza sauce
• Seventh, the vegetables
• Eighth, the white sauce
• Nineth, the grated cheese. Be as liberal as you want. Sprinkle some salt, Crushed pepper, Italian herbs and some chilli flakes.

• Preheat the oven @170 deg C. Close the bowl conpletely using aluminum foil.
• Bake it for 20 minute. Remove the aluminum foil and then bake for another 10 minutes.
• Your Vegetable bread lasagna is now ready.

• Let it sit for 15 minutes before slicing.
• Slice and serve along with ketchup/ toasted bread/ Pizza sauce. 

Paneer tikka masala

 

 

Hii all,

Paneer is one of the favourite item for all the vegetarians across India. It is used almost in all North Indian dishes. 

I prepared Paneer Tikka masala for our guests who came to visit us all the way from Nuremberg. I am so happy that they liked it and thanks a ton for them to give a lot of encouragement. That is the reason why I am sharing this recipe with you all. It is an easy to make recipe with very few ingredients which will always be available in your kitchen.

Let's see how to make it

 

Ingredients

To be marinated

• Paneer - 200 gms, cubed
• Onion - 1, cubed
• Tomato - 1, de seeded and cubed
• Capsicum - 1, de seeded and cubed
• Thick curd - 2 tblspn
• Salt- to taste
• Ginger garlic paste - 1 tblspn
• Kasuri methi/ dried fenugreek leaves- 1 tblspn crushed
• Chilli powder - 2 tsp
• Coriander powder- 2 tsp
• Cumin powder - 1 tsp
• Garam masala - 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder- a pinch
• To cook the marinade
• Oil - 1 tsp
• For the gravy

To grind

• Onion - 2
• Ginger - 1 inch piece
• Garlic - 4 cloves
• Red chillies - 2 nos
• Green chillies - 2 nos
• Cashews - 4 nos
• Almonds - 4 nos
• Fennel seeds- 1 tsp
• Other ingredients
• Butter - 1 tblspn
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Salt - to tatse
• Sugar - 2 tsp
• Tomato puree- 1 cup
• Coriander powder- 2 tsp
• Garam masala- 1 tsp
• Cream - 1 tblspn
• Coriander leaves - to garnish

Method

For marination

• Combine all the ingredients under "To be marinated" heading in the ingredients list in a bowl. Gently mix until everything is combined. Close the lid and keep it aside for 20 to 30 minutes atleast.
• How to proceed?
• Heat oil in a pan. Transfer the marinade in to the pan. Keep the heat in medium. Toss them in the pan until the vegetables are half cooked. Make sure the raw smell from ginger, garlic and masala should be vanished.
• Also, keep in mind that the shape of the onion, tomato and capsicum should still be maintained and should be crunchy. So, do not over cook them.
• Keep this aside

For the gravy

To grind

• Grind everything under "to grind" heading in the ingredients list in to a smooth paste. Keep it ready for the gravy

How to proceed?

• Melt butter in a pan and crackle cumin seeds.
• Add the paste which was ground (onion, ginger, garlic etc, in the "to grind" list). Cook this for 5 to 8 minutes until it becomes light brown in colour. Add salt and sugar to speed up the process.
• Now, add the tomato puree and some water. Close the lid and let it cook for 15 minutes in a medium heat. Keep stirring in between.
• Add coriander powder and garam masala. Mix well and then add the cooked marinade and cream.
• Cover the lid again and cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Add water to adjust the consistency.  Sprinkle some coriander leaves. Keep the lid closed for 5 minutes. Let all the flavours blend together. Serve hot as a side dish for any Indian flat breads or any pulao.