Saturday, April 1, 2017

Lactose free cake, olive oil chocolate frosting !

Lactose free cake - 
This was made during my Birthday when Niket was on a lactose free diet. It was an experiment and it was a hit, so we better keep a record of what we did !!
Ingredients-
1 1/4 cup flour (I used multi-grain flour)
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 egg
3/4 cup almond milk 
1 tbs vinegar
1/2 cup oil 
1 tsp vanilla

Method- 
Usual - mix the dry first, mix the wet next, and then mix them together slowly. (Fold the dry in the wet)
Bake at 350 F till the cake is done. Let cool. 

The frosting-
Now this was really awesome. We used olive oil for the frosting!
6 tbs olive oil
3/4 cup cocoa
1.5 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup or less almond milk

This frosting does not harden.. So use the almond milk only enough to make frosting in the consistency you want it to be. 
Once the cake is cool (or not) just pour the frosting over. Lick the remaining like I did, it was my Birthday after all. 

1st April is my grandfather's birthday. He is no more with us. He passed away on January 9th this year. But I am dedicating the cake and my post to him. Cheers Baba !

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Samosas in puff pastry sheets

Niket and Yashi love samosas. But we cannot eat the ones sold in the stores because they are so spicy. I made a healthy stuffing of carrots, potatoes and brussel sprouts. And they were a hit. Please excuse the weird shape. I used a steel tiffin lid to cut circles in the rolled out puff pastry sheets. That was easy for me! No one even asked for ketchup as they disappeared before you could click pics.
I used this recipe-
http://hungrydesi.com/2011/02/16/puff-pastry-samosas/

Thursday, March 9, 2017

Pancake Paniyaram

The bulb lit up, and I chanced upon this blog too-
http://www.ohtastensee.com/2010/06/09/pancake-paniyaram/

Friday, March 3, 2017

Banana - avocado chocolate smoothie in a bowl

Inspired by this recipe-
http://www.emilieeats.com/chocolate-banana-avocado-smoothie-bowl/

I used whole milk and brown sugar and also used a big spoonful of peanut butter (or two) for creaminess.
I used home-made granola and crackers as toppings

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Strawberry jam in the instant pot

Strawberry jam in the instant pot- Red for the Valentine's Day !!
We roughly followed this recipe- 
http://www.hippressurecooking.com/minimalist-strawberry-jam-two-ingredients-pressure-cooker/

strawberries
honey =3/4 the weight of strawberries (we added a bit more than half)

Kept the strawberries and honey on saute mode till honey was liquefied and bubbling. Then cancel, select 2 mins on manual and close lid. Let the instant pot release pressure naturally after hitting cancel. Check the jam and let it saute for some time- about 10-12 mins.That's it !

Paneer makhanwala / paneer buttermasala

Cooking from my blog-
Chhole or Chana masala - https://ambrotos.blogspot.com/2011/04/chhole-masala.html

Beetroot tikkis -
https://ambrotos.blogspot.com/2011/03/beetroot-n-raw-banana-koftas-low-cal.html
 

Paneer makhanwala-
It is surprising this recipe is still not on my blog. However I have found a very easy way to make this!

http://thegirlthatmadeitall.com/recipe/paneer-butter-masala-instant-pot/

I skipped the kashmiri red chilli and honey (heated honey is not good I believe) and I did not have kasoori methi so that too. But the recipe is so easy to follow. I think the gravy can be used for chicken and other veggies too !



Sunday, January 15, 2017

Happy Sankranti ! Mishti Doi recipe





This is what we Biharis eat on Sankranti -
Dahi Chura - also known as Poha.
I made mishti doi and this is what I did -
1 cup plain yogurt
1 can evaporated milk
1/2 can condensed milk

I thoroughly mixed the three. I did not add any cardamom, you can if you like to. I kept the bowl in which I was setting the yogurt in the oven with the light on. I wish I had warmed it up a little as the consistency was not so good.

Other recipes here-
https://ambrotos.blogspot.com/2011/12/choora-dahi-with-aloo-baingan-bhujia.html

https://ambrotos.blogspot.com/2011/05/bihari-khichdi.html

We also eat khichdi and bachkas on Sankranti for dinner, the pic below shows what we ate! Sorry for the bad pic :-)

Dinner menu was -
Aloo matar
Aloo gobhi
pooris
Khichdi
Fuloris / bachkas / pakoras
Sakkara pongal
Kulfi

Happy Sankranti !!


Wednesday, January 4, 2017

Banana cake with chocolate frosting

I baked this banana cake for New Year celebrations at home. I followed one of my favorite blog recipes-
http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2016/08/10/best-banana-cake/

Some changes that I made are-
I used olive oil instead of butter.
I used milk and vinegar mixture instead of buttermilk.
I halved the sugar as it felt like too much sweetness than we could handle.

The cake was a super hit at home and all of us really loved it.

Frosting recipe is impromptu -
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon cocoa

Melt the butter and whisk in the sugar and cocoa and pour it over the cake. I did this while my cake was still warm as we wanted a softer frosting. That's it!


Sending my post to -
http://www.vidhyashomecooking.com/2016/12/15/hosting-kids-delight-event-cakes-and-cookies/