Pineapple Praline cake

6 years of togetherness. There have been ups and downs and yet we sailed through it all. A sweet cake to celebrate  laughter, tears, fights, love that has brought us closer.

For the sponge:

AP flour – 1 cup minus 1 tbsp

Corn flour- 1 tbsp

Granulated sugar- 1 cup divided

Salt – ¼ tsp

Baking powder-1 ½ tsp

Eggs – 5 separated

Vanilla extract- 1 tsp

Whole milk- 1/3 cup

Preheat the oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit. Coat two 9 inch pans with butter and dust it with AP flour.

Sift together the dry ingredients  except for sugar and keep aside.

Beat the egg yolks with ¾ cup sugar till it is pale yellow. Add the whole milk,vanilla and beat for one more minute. Add the dry ingredients in batches and fold gently using spatula.

Take another clean bowl and whisk and beat the egg whites till soft peaks form. Add the remaining ¼ cup sugar and beat till the egg whites reach the stiff stage and almost triples in volume.

In three batches gently fold the egg whites to the egg yolk mixture. The first addition is to lighten the yolk mixture. Make sure that everything is folded very gently so that the mixture does not deflate.

Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes or until the skewer inserted comes out clean.

Turn on to cooling rack and let it cool completely.

For the praline:

Chopped almonds- ½ cup

Granulated sugar- 1/3 cup

Heat a pan and add sugar. Let the sugar melt and start to boil and reduce the heat and let the mixture turn golden yellow. Do not stir the mixture at this point. Take it off the heat, add the nuts, stir everything nicely and pout it to oiled aluminum foil or buttered parchment paper. Let it finish cooling and break them into small pieces using food processor or mortar and pestle.

For the filling and Frosting:

Whipping cream- 2 cups

Crushed pineapple- 1 tin (560 grams)

Vanilla essence- 1 ½ tsp

Powdered sugar- 2 or 3 tbsp

Chill the bowl and beater in freezer for 10 minutes. Beat the cream till soft peaks form. 

Add the sugar and vanilla essence and beat till stiff peaks form.

Drain the pineapple and reserve the juice.

Keep a cake on the cake board and brush it completely with pineapple syrup. You can cut the cake into two if you want more layers. Put some cream on the cake and add crushed pineapple. Keep doing it till the last layer.

Once the layering is complete frost the cake completely with whipped cream. Dipping the spatula in hot water and drying from time to time helps in getting a smooth frosting. Using a spatula or clean hands,  press the praline to the sides of the cake. Decorate and enjoy the cake.

Note:

Wipe all the utensils and beaters with vinegar to remove traces of oil and grease.

If you are using the same beater to beat both egg whites and yolk,beat egg white first since yolk contains fat content.

Kozhikode Thenga aracha meen curry

Kozhikode meen curry. It used to be the staple during every Saturday evening when I would return famished from the school. This delicacy was prepared by K mom’s helper and my sister’s caretaker. It was the only food mom asked her to prepare since she could never adapt herself to mom’s fiery red fish curry. I used to enjoy her Kozhikode meen curry so much that I never had to eat dinner on Saturdays. Well K and me always had a love hate relationship, not because she hated me but she loved my kid sister too much, whom she was taking care of. Anything new that was my kid sister’s irrespective of whether my mom and dad said otherwise .. “athente kuttide aanu”, meaning “ That is my Kid’s” was her usual remark . Still I used to hang around her because she was a treasure chest of juicy gossips and stories which mom never exposed us to. There are certain things mom’s have no control over ;)  I had been searching for her recipe for a long time and have tried variations. This was the closest recipe I could find. 

Slightly Adapted from Malluspice

Ingredients:

For Gravy:

Fish - 1/2 Kg

Shallots/kunjulli-  4 big sliced

Ginger garlic paste – 2 table spoon

Turmeric- 1/2 tsp
Red chili powder-1 tsp
Fenugreek seeds-1 tsp
Coriander powder- 1 tsp
Grated Coconut– 1 cup
Tamarind extract- 2 tsp or as extracted from a lime (small) sized ball.
Salt-1/2 tsp or to taste

Curry Leaves-1 sprig

Tomato -1  (optional)

For Tempering:

Coconut oil-1 tbs

Mustard- ½ tsp

Curry leaves- 1 sprig

Shallots-2 sliced

Instructions:

Grind the coconut to a smooth paste. Pour  it into a pan or claypot. Add all the ingredients listed under gravy to the coconut mixture and mash up everything nicely with your hand.

Bring the mixture to a boil and slide the fish gently to the mixture. Let it boil for another two more minutes.

Reduce the heat and let the curry simmer. Cut the tomatoes in round and place it on the curry. Take the pan by the side and give the curry a swirl so that gravy coats the tomato. Please take care not burn your hands. Let it simmer for another 10 minutes. Keep it aside

Pour coconut oil in another pan. Once the oil is hot add mustard, shallots. Stir till the shallots achieve a charred brown color. Add curry leaves, switch off and add it to the curry. Keep the lid closed for some time for the flavors to marry.

Easy 10 minutes Banana Fudge / Halwa

No blabbering today. Minu wanted the recipe immediately since she had to rescue some invalid black bananas,yelling to be saved from Dustbin. I saved mine just a few hours ago. Here comes the SOS recipe.

Recipe Courtesy: Trickntreat  blog

Ingredients:

1  cup   corn flour
1/4  cup  rice flour
1/2  cup   brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups mashed banana
3/4  cup  milk
2 tablespoon melted butter

Instructions: 

Preheat the oven to 330 degree Fahrenheit and butter a 8*8 inch square pan

Dump the dry ingredients together.

Blend banana,melted butter and milk together and add to the dry ingredients and blend on low for a minute till the batter is smooth.

Pour in the pan and bake for 30 to 40 minutes. The fudge is ready when the skewer inserted comes out clean.

Leave in the hot oven for another 10 minutes. Cool it ,slice it, enjoy it and post me a comment on it.

Vazhuthanaga / Egg plant Theeyal

People always ask me. Which is better US or INDIA?? Irrespective of whether I am in India or here, the question is bound to be asked and I am obliged to answer it. The answer is I haven’t thought about it at all. The nomadic in me never really had any special attachments to any places I have grown up. Anyway I had arrived in US with the preconceived Hollywood notion of US and apprehensive of what lay in front of us. It was just few days after our arrival, handicapped without car, with loads of vegetables in our hands and a wailing toddler in another, staring into the downpour wondering when it will stop. It was then that a hand touched my shoulder asking whether I would like a drive in the car. Yes, we had no other option but she had, didn’t she?? Yet, she had chosen the option to help. I have also experienced collective stares in the church while lil chef threw tantrums out of nowhere, and sympathetic smiles at the same time from different aisles. It was no different when I was Back in India. We have experienced housebreak in US and haggler cheating me under my nose in Commercial Street in Bangalore. Looking back I never come with an image of Bangalore without at least one of our friends cropping up, or of Nashville without them. It is not actually the place I remember when I look back, it is the people. So the answer is I haven’t thought about it and don’t think I am ever obliged to answer that question.

Over to the Recipe

Ingredients:

To roast and Grind:

Coconut, Grated - 1 cup

Coriander powder -  1 tbsp.

Kashmiri chilli powder - 3 or 4 

Shallots, Sliced - A scant 1/4 cup

Fenugreek Seeds - 1/2 tsp.

To cook the vegetable:

Egg Plant/Vazhuthanaga, Sliced - 1 and a 1/2 to 2 cups

Turmeric Powder - A pinch

Salt- to taste

Water - Just enough to cook the vegetable

Tamarind-one lemon ball size or to taste

Green chilli slit-3

To Temper:

Mustard- 1/2 tsp

Coconut oil-1 tsp

Shallots- 2

Curry leaves- 1 sprig

Whole red chilli- 1 or 2

Soak the tamarind and squeeze out the extract. Take a pan; add the vegetables, tamarind extract, green chilies, water, salt, turmeric to cook the vegetables on medium heat till it is half cooked.

Roast the coconut, shallots on a medium to low flame taking care not burn it. Add the rest of the ingredients and roast till the coconut is dark brown color and roasted well. Keep aside to cool.

Grind the mixture and add to the veggies and cook till the veggies are fully cooked and you attain the desired gravy thickness.

Heat the pan, add oil. Add the mustard .Once it splutters add the rest of the ingredients and temper till the shallots attain a golden brown color. Add it to the gravy and close the lid for the flavors to combine.

Banana Bread with a Cinnamon Touch

Ingredients :

3-4 ripe bananas 

1/3 cup melted unsalted butter

½  cup brown sugar

½  cup white sugar

1 egg beaten

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

1 1/2 cups flour

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C)

Line the loaf pan using parchment paper

In an blender add bananas, melted butter, egg and give a whiz till it is almost smooth.

Pour the mix a large bowl and add rest of the ingredients and mix using the beater or by your hand. Finally add the flour and mix everything together.

Pour the cake mixture to the lined loaf pan and bake to 35 to 50 minutes till the tooth pick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Note: Mine took 50 minutes since oven temperatures vary. Original recipe do not call for brown sugar but I used it since I had some sitting in my pantry for ages. Also I have found that keeping the cake in refrigerator in a closed container enhances taste.

Easy Mushroom mezhukkupuratti /stir fry

This is my brother's creation. It might have born because of the bachelor desperation known as missing Mom’s food or the health freakiness he had adopted during the bachelor days. Whatever the reason, this is one of those dishes which can be prepared in ten minutes and has earned good certificate from my otherwise anti mushroom hubby. You know mine (hubby) belongs to that kind who will cringe his face whenever there is mushroom, spinach and greens in the trolley, forever convinced that I am trying to convert him to a cow. Now another finding about this particular genus is that they love salads and consume it in loads whenever and wherever available. Even going to the extent of paying for a bunch uncooked leaves. About the cowiness, now that needs to be discussed in another post.

Ingredients

2 cup sliced mushroom

½  onion sliced thinly

3 green chillies sliced

½ teaspoon turmeric

Pepper to taste

Salt to taste

Oil  1 tablespoon

Instructions

Take a pan and heat the oil. Once it is hot add the slice onion, green chilli ,turmeric and sauté till it is translucent.

Add mushroom and salt and keep stirring it. Do not add water since mushrooms will release water on its own.

Keep stirring till all the water dries. Add pepper and give a final sauté till everything comes together. Enjoy with rice or chapathi.

Always,

Teena

  

Easy Veg Roll with noodles

Courtesy: Remya Jackson

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour

1 egg

 ¾ cup shredded cabbage

  ¾ cup shredded carrot

 ½ cup celery minced into small pieces

 ½ cup cooked maagi noodles without seasoning

 1 egg white

Instructions:

Add oil and saute the vegetables on high heat for two minute without                 caramelizing the vegetables.The veggies should not lose its crunch.

Add cooked noodles; salt to taste and saute it for one more minute so that the mixture comes together.

Keep aside to cool

Make a batter out of all purpose flour, egg and salt.

Take a pan and make thin crepes/dosa out of it. You will easily get 10-12 crepes out of it.

Put the filling into the crepes , roll it and seal the roll with a paste made of AP flour and water.

Brush the roll with egg white and coat it with crumbs. It is now ready to go into hot oil or you can store in the refrigerator and fry it just before your guests arrive.

The best combo is veg roll and tomato ketchup.