Upside-down cherry almond rose cake

I love upside-down cakes. This one was made for one of my closest friends on her 30th birthday. She is not very fond of chocolate cakes or cakes with frosting. So I came up with something that I thought she would like and she certainly did!

Ingredients for a half kg cake batter:
75 grms butter/margarine
115 grams sugar
Few drops of Rose essence
2 eggs
115 grams all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

For the base of the cake tray which becomes the topside after baking:
A cupful of deseeded cherries
Handful of sliced almonds
A tablespoon of butter
A tablespoon of brown sugar

Cream the butter with sugar. Add the essence and eggs and whisk till light and fluffy. Fold in the flour and baking powder gently till it's well incorporated.
The cake batter is ready. Keep it aside.

Now take a cake tray. Spread the butter at the base. Sprinkle the brown sugar. Randomly place the cherries and almonds. Pour the cake batter over the nuts and fruit.

Put the tray in a preheated oven and let it bake for 45 minutes at 180°C.

Once done keep aside for 10 mins on a cooling rack and invert on a serving tray. Let it completely cool for a couple of hours before it completely dissappears in minutes! 

Pastry sheet pizza with goat cheese

This is a really quick and yummy starter recipe. The idea for this recipe came from a friend who in turn got the idea from her colleague and I assume he must have got the idea from someone else. So I wish to share with you this recipe so you can in turn share it with others! ;)

To be convinced how simple and tasty this starter is try it out yourself.
Get;
-A ready pastry sheet (from the refrigerated section in the supermarket)
-some black olives (sliced)
-goat cheese
-sliced sausages  (I tried this when making a nveg version)
-pepper powder
-any dried or fresh herbs like parsley, basil or rosemary
-cherry tomatoes cut into half
*You could add any other vegetables like corn, spring onions, etc.
***A layer of pesto also adds more flavour.
***Do not add any salt as the goat cheese is quite salty already.

Place the pastry sheet on a baking paper and then on a baking tray. Cut the sheet into small squares. Add olives, tomatoes, corn and sprinkle herbs and spices. Finish with pieces of goat cheese. Bake in the oven for 20-25 mins at 200°C.
The crispy, cheesy snack is ready!

Turkey mince kababs

I bought some extra minced meat to attempt kabab on skewers for the very first time. You could use the recipe to make kababs as in the picture or use only the recipe 'for paste' and two mashed potatoes and make flat cutlets, coat with bread crumbs and shallow fry them. Both turned out super delicious. Actually emabarassingly delicious! My husband entered the kitchen, went down on his knees kissed my hands and said 'You are amazing!'

This recipe makes approximately 20 pieces.

500 grams - turkey mince

1 egg

Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon

White pepper powder - 1 teaspoon

Garam masala powder - 1 heaped teaspoon

salt to taste 

1 medim onion - very finely chopped

For paste: Add a little water to make a paste in a chutney jar. Don't make it too smooth.

Ginger - 2 inch piece

3 garlic pods

3-4 green chillies

1 teaspoon - anardana/dried pomegranate seeds

1/2 teaspoon - Kalonji/onion seeds

Dried Fenugreek leaves roasted and powdered - 1 teaspoon

2 teaspoons oil

dry roast coriander seeds -1tablespoon

dry roast anis seeds-1/2 tsp

1 teaspoon dried mint leaves or 5 fresh mint leaves

Before serving:

1 lime

chaat masala

Marinate the meat with all the above ingredients (except lime and chaat masala) for at least 2-3 hours.

Place the skewers on a baking tray lined with foil. The two ends of the skewers must rest on the sides of the tray so the main body doesn't have any contact with the tray. You can also improvise using cucumber.

Now take some meat and press it around the skewer. The meat may appear to slip off. Don't panic. Simply rest the skewer on the tray with the ends resting on the sides and use both your hands to spread the meat evenly across the length of the skewer. Line all the skewers. Brush the meat with oil.

(I did not preheat the oven.) Set your oven to the maximum temperature possible. Place the tray on the topmost level closest to the upper coil. Set the timer for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes turn the meat so the side touching the tray faces upwards. Put it back into the oven for another 7 minutes. 

Remove the tray. Cut the lime in half and rub it on the meat. Remove from skewers cut into pieces and toss the meat in the juices in the tray. Sprinkle chaat masala and the serve. 

Serve them as starters or use as filling for a kathi roll.

PUMPKIN AND COCONUT SOUP

Here's a healthy, tasty and quicky soup especially to accompany a cold autumn evening.



1/2 kg red kuri squash
150 ml coconut milk
Anis seeds
Dried parsley
Chilli powder
Pepper powder

Boil and mash the pumpkin.
Add coconut milk to it. Add other spices, a cup of water and bring to a good boil.
Serve hot with bread/ bread sticks.

Microwave Idiyappam

The schools are closed here for the summer holidays and so I have a 2 weeks long break from work. Holidays give me another reason to celebrate, experiment and relax in my own way. I think this break is going to turn out to be a South India cuisine week, apart from the other non-food things planned. Yesterday I made neer dosas. There is idli batter fermenting in the kitchen right now. Today I made amazing idiyappams/string hoppers/shewey/semiya for lunch.Here's the recipe.

You will need: Serves 2-3
A non-stick pot
3.5 cups water
1 tablespoon of oil
salt
3 cups rice flour
idli steamer
oil for greasing the idli stands
Sev maker

Boil 3.5 cups water with salt and 1 tablespoon of oil. Add 3 cups rice flour to the boiling water. Turn off the stove immediately and mix the ingredients thoroughly. It'll form into a dough. Divide it into 6 portions.

Push the dough into the sev maker. (Remember to choose the correct sev attachment, not too thin, nor too thick.) Close it tight and press the noodles onto greased idli plates.

***Please note that the process of pressing the idiyappams can be tiring, so relax your
hand muscles when a batch is steaming.

I used a microwable idli maker. If you don't have one you could use a regular steamer. Microwave for 5 minutes. 

That's all! The Idiyappams are ready. Turn them over into a keep warm casserole and serve hot with stew or yummy egg curry like we did. :)

(Repeat the process of pressing the noddles and steaming till all the dough is over.)

Coffee time special: A date, walnut, apricot and cranberry cake

My parents are here this summer and that is enough reason to celebrate. Here is one of the many treats I prepared for them. 

This recipe is a variation of a date and walnut cake recipe I found online. The original recipe had too many fruits in comparison to the cake, and raisins instead of apricot and cranberries. I also recommend roughly pureeing the dates in a blender.

Here is our last Sunday’s Coffee time special:

150 grams brown sugar

100 grams butter

3 eggs

150 grams all-purpose flour

1.5 teaspoon baking powder

100 grams seedless dates

100 grams walnuts

60 grams dried cranberries

40 grams dried apricots

1 cup water

In a cooking pot boil a cup of water. Add the dates. Turn off the heat and keep covered.

Cream the sugar and butter.

Whisk in the eggs and scrape the sides of the vessel at regular intervals.

Fold in the flour and mix well.

Now puree the dates in a blender and add to the cake mix.

Add the other fruits and mix well.

Pour the batter into a greased cake form and bake at 180 degrees C for 45-50 minutes or till a toothpick comes out of the cake clean.

Relishing the last piece of this cake as I write this post! Yummm!

DIY: Plant holder for a vertical garden

As a teenager it always fascinated me to watch carpenters at work turn planks of wood into beautiful pieces of furniture. The strength and the skill appeared magical. When I first came to Germany on holiday at the age of ten, I noticed that our German host had his own carpentry workshop in the house. He would spend few hours a day working on his masterpieces. Then I learned that it is very German to have at least some part of one’s home built by oneself. I was impressed then and continue to be impressed with the German attitude of self-reliance.

At the same time it's not that difficult for anyone to try their hand at carpentry or any other activities since the tools are easily available in specialised 'Baumarkt's (hardware stores) and often also in regular supermarkets at offer prices. Moreover, the staff at the stores give you all the guidance you need about the tool, its use and maintenance. If you are someone who prefers to watch and learn, then there are plenty videos to watch on the store’s website itself. Besides, Youtube is always there to help!

Over the last couple of years my husband and I have been collecting different tools to build and repair things at home. I had been thinking over a year to add to that collection and finally bought myself an electric saw earlier this year.

My first attempt at carpentry is this simple holder for hanging plants on the wall. Here is the intended framework.

I combined a wooden square frame that came with some electronic device we had ordered and added two scrap wooden pieces to form a cross in the centre of the frame.

I trimmed the sides with an electric saw and reinforced the joints with nails and carpenters glue.

Finally I sprayed the entire piece with white varnish and randomly sprayed red varnish to decorate.

a pop-up bday card

A friend's cute little daughter celebrated her second birthday over the weekend. Since I knew of her love for animals I made this pop-up card wishing her an awesome two!

The front page (sorry for the wrongly oriented picture, the software is acting up.)

The trees and grass are cut from card paper.

I used googly eyes for the word 'look' and a 3-D sticker for '2' with a candle on it.

The inside -

The background is a ready A3 size jungle theme cardpaper.

The animals have been hand made from card paper.

Passionate Flavours

Our friends, Jeshu and Shwetha, celebrated their first wedding anniversary last weekend. As a little gift from us I baked and decorated this peach and passion fruit cake with self made marzipan flowers, chocolate hearts and chocolate bars. It was a hit and disappeared in a matter of a few minutes!! Creamy, fruity, soft and delicious.

Happy Anniversary Jeshu and Shwetha! Our wish to you is that your marriage blossoms into a beautiful garden of love, trust, happiness and excitement!

Just by chance!

Yea, this is a product of an accidental discovery when browsing through Youtube videos for sewing projects. Canadian smocking is what the technique is called. I am so much in love with it. For starters a pretty table piece. Am sure am going to be smocking up lots more.

Step 1: A square piece of cloth. needle, thread, sequins/beads. Mark the grid.  

 Step 2: Sewing the flowers.












Step 3: Decorating with flowers.

Step 4: Adorning the bar table.

DIY: Table Mats

A week ago I was grounded at home because of cold and body pain. While I 'rested', I dug into my craft basket and the crafty side of my brain, and crafted out some really nice projects. Here's one of them. A simple technique and some simple materials gave me simple, pretty, economical table mats.

Earlier that week I had bought 4 yellow, 1 red and 1 orange felt sheets from a Euro store. Make sure they are the thick variety. Then I got some yellow thread, scissors and a needle from my sewing kit.

Using the yellow felt sheets as the base, I cut simple shapes from the red and orange sheets and then sew them on the base as in the pictures below. 

Nature's colour treat

Autumn is my favourite season. It's that time of the year when nature exhibits the most beautiful colours. Shades of red, orange, brown, maroon, yellow and green. Truly a visual treat in all its glory! That time of the year is back again. I guess it is nature's way of compensating for the sun's guest-like appearance and the gloom created by the haze, dark clouds and dropping temperatures and eventually naked branches.

I had gone for a walk recently when I picked up some leaves of different colours to decorate MIRAKEL, our home. Since I chose yellow and orange as the colour theme for this years autumn home decor, this collage suits perfectly. I'm simply following nature's law of compensation inside our home.

Pizza party

I love to cook! I love to eat! AND I love to feed! Quite a deadly combination in the kitchen I'd say :D And the result of that could sometimes be as deadlicious as this!

My husband and I invited one of our newly married friends home for dinner, drinks and sleep over. I wanted to keep away from the traditional rice, roti and curry combination. Since our friends are vegetarian and we wanted to keep the TGIF mood, I said a Pizza party is what we deserve!

I had baked a Pizza a couple of weeks ago but there was still something not so perfect in the bread. I looked up a couple more recipes online and then settled for this one. (I used butter instead of olive oil.) It turned out to be the perfect choice.

After you've left the dough to rise for at least 2 hours, roll it out on your baking pan and again leave it to rise for another 2 hours.

For the Pizza sauce with an indian touch you need:
1 tablespoon oil or butter
1.5 teaspoon chopped garlic
2 x medium sized onions chopped
1 x 400 gram tomato puree
3 green chillies slit
pepper and salt to taste
half teaspoon each of dried oregano, basil and parsley

Ideas for topping: For best results marinate overnight
1. Paneer (I used homemade paneer with 2 litres of milk), red capsicum (cut into rings) and onion: Marinate the two with 1 tablespoon curd, and salt, pepper, chilly powder, garam masala powder, coriander powder, jeera powder, turmeric. Also sprinkle some fresh chopped coriander.
2. Pineapple, mushrooms and capsicum: Marinate the mushrooms with chinese red chilly sauce and garam masala.

Assemble the pizza by spreading the sauce, then the topping and some Pizza cheese. Bake at 180 degrees for 20 minutes.
You'll refuse to order from a Pizza place again....!!!

Chocolate Truffle Cake

The truffle cake has been my all time favourite. I remember every birthday celebration at home meant a rich, moist, googy chocolate treat that we enjoyed with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or some potato chips. I decided to recreate that old time magic in my own kitchen and boy... I couldn't have been happy with the results!

We celebrated one year of moving into our own home MIRAKEL on the 28th of April and we treated ourselves to this piece of magic!

First get the following ingredients ready for the half kg sponge cake. Bake in a 6 inch baking tin at 190 C for 35-45 minutes depending on your oven. Let the cake cool on a wire rack.
Flour - 100 grams
Powder sugar - 115 grams
Egg - 2
Margarine - 90 grams
Baking powder - 1/4 tsp
Vanilla essence - 1/4 tsp
Milk - 1/3 cup
Cocoa powder - 15 grams

While the cake is baking prepare the icing and the decor.
You could use either black or white chocolate icing. The icing is known by different names, most commonly chocolate ganache, but also as chocolate fudge icing and chocolate truffle. Most recipes I found on the internet suggest more or less equal quantity of chocolate and whipping cream. I experimented with the following which gave me the perfect taste, shine and texture I was hoping for.
235 grams of dark/milk chocolate (I had a lot of chocolate bunnies and eggs from Easter, so I used that too)
200 ml cream
30 grams of butter
In a microwave proof glass bowl melt chocolate and cream for 2-3 minutes. Mix well till you get a homogenous mixture. Now add the butter and mix well. The icing will still be very thin. Leave it aside to cool. It will thicken gradually. You could also put it in the fridge.

Cut the cake horizontally into two parts. To moisten it further prepare a sugar syrup and sprinkle it over the cake that forms the base. You could also flavour the syrup with rum or orange essence. Once the ganache reaches a spreading consistency, layer it between the cakes. Sprinkle some more syrup on the top of the cake. Now pour the ganache over the top and sides and decorate as per your taste.

You might be curious to know more about the dolphin and hearts on the cake. Its simply melted white chocolate spread as shown in the picture on butter paper. The shape is guided by cookie or marzipan cutters.

For the dolphins I actually used coffee top decorators.

Ol turns new!

I love recycling things... And if that makes old stuff look like something new and different it should be good not just for the environment but also for the wardrobe! ;)

Last week my ol' pair of jeans were reincarnated into..... a trendy handbag!

For a video tutorial check here.

Cut the pair of jeans and stitch as shown in the video. I then used a belt from an old shirt and tied it to a loop to look like a bow. Using fabric paints I then painted a red and yellow flower on one of the pockets. In my sewing kit I had a few colourful cloth flowers which I hand-stitched on the rim of another pocket.
If you like you could use velcro, a zip or buttons to close your bag.

pingu key chain

A non-working day plus public transport strike results in this cute Pingu keychain.

All you will need is black felt cutout as body, yellow or orange felt for the beak and feet, white for the tummy and loop. These will look like this...

I had saved an old keychain ring for this project. Get two little beads to look like eyes.

Once I had cut the felt, I stitched the white piece of felt for the loop on the back side top end of the body. The eyes, beak, feet and stomach were stuck using craft glue. 

This took approximately 20 minutes to complete.

Date and Walnut cake with Marzipan Xmas icing

I wanted to get into the mood of the Christmas season and I thought what better way to start than a Christmasy looking cake. I decided to try this recipe. I used cranberries instead of raisins. It tasted delicious. But there was way too much fruit and I couldn't enjoy the cake as much. I would recommend that you follow the original recipe with the following changes...

80 grams walnuts

30 grams raisins/cranberries

For the decor I used white marzipan* and green and red food colours. Roll out the green marzipan and cut out the leaves. Make small balls from the red marzipan for cherries. Roll out the white marzipan to make two circular sheets with even edges. Place over the cake loaf as shown in the picture. Arrange the leaves and cherries. Just one more step...... EAT THE CAKE! :D

*Marzipan recipe in my next blog.

'Mock' Ragda pattice (serves 4)

So the story of the mock ragda starts here. I was craving to eat some chaat and wanted to treat my husband to something he hadn't tasted before. Now since I didn't have white peas at home, which is the main ingredient in the original ragda I came up with this quick-match-the-original version! I loved the result!!!

For the pattice: (Makes 12)

4 large boiled and mashed potatoes

1 tsp ginger garlic paste

1 tsp garam masala powder

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp chilly powder

1 teaspoon crushed coriander seeds

11/2 teaspoon chaat masala

1 teaspoon lime juice

salt to taste

handful freshly chopped coriander leaves

handful freshly chopped mint leaves

2 tbsp oil

Add all ingredients to the potatoes and mix well. Divide the dough into 12 equal balls and flatten each to form a patty. Shallow fry in oil. Keep aside.

For the 'mock' ragda:

1 tbsp oil

1 tsp jeera seeds

chopped garlic

pinch of asafoetida/ hing

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp onion powder (optional)

1 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp jeera powder

1 tsp garam masala powder

1 large bowl green peas

half cup boiled yellow moong dal

2 tbsp besan/ gram flour

For the sweet chutney:

1 handful of tamarind deseeded

50 grms dates deseeded

100 grms jaggery

1 tsp fennel seeds/ saunf

4 cups water

Boil all the ingredients for about 10 minutes or until all the ingredients have melted to form a smooth paste. Remember to stir occasionally. You might need to strain the pulp of any fibre from the tamarind.

For the garnish:

1 large chopped onion

chopped coriander

nylon sev

'sev puri' puris

Place the pattice on a plate. Pour radga over it. Pour some sweet chutney. Sprinkle some chopped onions, sev and crushed puris. And its time to treat the tummy...

Chicken Biryani

Looks like I am on a dedication spree. The credit for this recipe goes to my darling husband. A delicate blend of spices to make an aromatic and light flavoured rice and chicken. Make a vegetable or boondi raita and your sure to steal the show. Thanks for sharing this Flav. And Gody hope you try this out! :)

Ingredients... (Serves 5-6)

For Marination

1 Kg Chicken 
1 Cup Curd 

1 Tsp Turmeric powder

2 Tsp Chilli powder

1.5 Tsp Salt

For Masala/gravy

4 Tbsp Oil

3 Cloves

4 Cardamom

1 inch piece Cinnamon

3 Onions (finely chopped)

1 Tomatoes (finely chopped)

2 Tsp Biryani or Meat Masala

3 cups Basmati Rice

Here's what to do...

Mix the chicken, curd, turmeric, chilly powder and salt in a bowl and marinate covered for about 2 hours (overnight in the refrigerator is best).

Heat oil in a pan, add cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and fry till the cinnamon changes color.

Add onions and fry till golden brown. Add tomatoes and biryani masala and fry till the mixture appears uniform and turns reddish orange in color.

Now add the chicken and cook the mixture on a medium flame till the chicken is half done (should be able to poke it easily with a fork).

Wash the rice and add 3 cups of water in a rice cooker. Add the entire chicken curry mix from above in the rice. Mix well and allow it to cook for about 20 min. There will not be any gravy left; just the masala.

Your biryani is ready.

Tips and Garnishing...

To make it more authentic, add fresh mint leaves while preparing the chicken masala (add along with the tomatoes). And finally when the biryani is done, garnish with fresh coriander.

If you do not

have a rice cook, use a pressure cooker or a cooking pot with lid and follow the same procedure.

Brazilian Chocolate Cake with Nutella icing and chocolate plastic flowers

Sharmi this post is especially for your mum! :)

This I baked a few months ago for a friend's surprise baby shower.

Brazilian chocolate cake + Nutella Icing + Chocolate plastic flowers

+ coarsely crushed nuts of your choice

Cut the edges of the cake so that it is smooth and even. Do not throw the extra pieces. Crumble and save for later. Divide the cake horizontally to have two parts. Spread a generous amount of icing to sandwich the two parts and then spread the remaining over the top and sides of the cake.Sprinkle the cake crumb and some crush nuts of ur choice on the side of the cake.

The Plastic chocolate was quite a pain I must say. I had planned to abandon my trusted marzipan and decided to make a tasty baby cradle out of chocolate plastic. The plastic sure tasted great but working with it was very very difficult. In the end I did what I do very often... When plans don't work, IMPROVISE. Since we didn't know if the baby was 'blue' or 'pink', I made flowers of the two colours to keep the guessing mode on.

The result was decent in appearance but great in taste. Soft, creamy, lightly chocolately! :)