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 !

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/

Pancake Paniyaram

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

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

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 !

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 !!

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/

Best of year 2016

I stubled upon this event by chance while looking for events I could participate in ..
http://www.cooking4allseasons.in/2016/12/announcing-the-best-of-year-2016-event.html

As the post says, we can choose anything or all from -
1. Top 5 or 10 recipes of the year
2. Best dish of the month
3. Best recipe prepared from other blogs
4. Best Meal of the year
5 New things discovered in the year (can include anything related to cooking)
6. Best post or picture for each month or year
7. New blogs discovered
8. Cooking resolutions for the Year 2017!

I would like to share some of these -

2. Best dish of the month is definitely Kiwi Marmalade !
https://ambrotos.blogspot.com/2016/12/kiwi-marmalade-in-instant-pot.html

3. Best recipe prepared from other blogs is Smashed Potatoes
https://ambrotos.blogspot.com/2016/11/smashed-potatoes.html

5 New things discovered in the year (can include anything related to cooking)
This is definitely the Instant pot !!It made life so easy. I even use it sometimes to make tea :-)

https://www.amazon.com/Instant-Pot-IP-DUO60-Multi-Functional-Pressure/dp/B00FLYWNYQ

Sugar pumpkin halwa

Ingredients -
sugar pumpkins 🎃
ghee
sugar

Recipe-
I steamed the whole pumpkin in the instant pot and then cut in half. I removed the seeds and saved some to plant at Bhaiya's home. I then removed the pulp and pulsed on high for a minute in the food processor.

Add ghee, once heated, add the pumpkin pulp and let it cook for a few minutes. Keep stirring in between. Sugar pumpkin has its own natural sweetness so when you add sugar now, keep that in mind ! Stir for sometime after adding sugar and let the halwa thicken. That's it - halwa is ready !

Kiwi marmalade In the instant pot!

We got kiwis in bulk from Costco and they turned out sour 😡 We tried keeping them on the counter for about a week with no change. Then it was time to turn them to a pulp. 

On the left is a pic of the rose mithai that Niket got from his colleague from Iran. I had never tasted these earlier and they were awesome !

Ingredients - 

Kiwis- about 10

Sugar - 1.5 times quantity of kiwi pulp

 

Recipe-  

Chop the kiwis. Most recipes I checked called for peeling which I was too lazy to do. I first steamed them in the instant pot. I added some water to the chopped kiwis and steamed for 3 minutes, Natural release. 

Once the pressure was released, I added the sugar , stirring until disolved. I let this mix be on saute for a while- maybe about 15-20 mins. It turned a dark brown as the sugar caramelised. Switch off and let it cool before keeping in jars. We finished this in about 10 days.

 

Ghee in the instant pot - made from butter

This was so easy ! Here's my recipe - 

Store bought butter - I used 24 ounces

Recipe-

Turn on instant pot in Saute mode. Add the butter, let it melt and come to aboil. Turn on slow cook mode and set it for 1.5 hours. Once this is done, saute for 10-15 mins. I think I did this longer and my result was a dark brown. Nevertheless it was tasty !

Allow it to cool. Filter through sieve into bottle. This was my yield. I used salted butter hence the filtered brown stuff cannot be eaten directly. I am going to add it to dals and other dishes!

 

 

Grapefruit marmalade- pressure cooker and super quick !

Grapefruit marmalade made in the instant pot :-)

Ingredients -
1 large grapefruit sliced and bigger seeds removed
1 cup water or minimum that's needed for the cooker to come to pressure
double the amount of sugar
(if the grapefruit is 1 cup, you need 2 cups sugar) I used 4

Method-
place the slices and water in pressure cooker. Steam for 10 mins. I used steam function on my instant pot. Let it NR naturally release pressure. Open and give it a good mix. Also savor in your house smelling so good with that citrusy flavor 😀

Add double the quantity of sugar. Check taste. Keep in sauté mode for about 10 minutes and do not allow to stick to bottom. Since I didn't remove the pith mine was slightly bitter but still yummy !

There is another way to do this and I couldn't do that beCause my grapefruit was halved already -

if you are using a whole grapefruit, steam it whole in the pressure cooker and discard the water. This will remove the bitterness but will take time to thicken. You can also peel and remove the white pith for sweeter taste. 

Also check orange marmalade recipe here - 

http://ambrotos.blogspot.com/2016/11/orange-marmalade-in-instant-pot.html

Bihari Rasiya

I made this today for dinner. It's Friday night after all ! And I realised this was not on my blog.

Here's the recipe -

Rice - 1 cup
Gur / jaggery  / Brown sugar– 1 cup
Water - 2 cups (I eyeballed this)
cardamom – 1 crushed pod
Ghee 1 tsp

Recipe-

Take jaggery and water and let it boil. Then strain jaggery water and set aside. This is done to remove impurities from jaggery. I don't think this step is needed now. I used brown sugar and did not do this. 

I turned on the Instant pot in Saute mode , added the ghee and cardamom and let it sizzle. I did not use any nuts. If using some, you may want to fry them now before adding the rice and water. 

Add rice and water and brown sugar and keep on saute till it starts bubbling. Keep on 1.5 hours slow cook. Check the sweetness and consistency.Ready to served your highness !

Cooking from my blog recipes

 

Sattu paratha- http://ambrotos.blogspot.com/2011/02/sattu-paratha-makuni-or-litti-bihari.html

Tomato Chutney- http://saltiepie.blogspot.com/2011/03/tamatar-khajoor-ki-chutneytomato-date.html

Dahi Aloo aur Papad ki sabzi - http://ambrotos.blogspot.com/2011/10/dahi-aur-papad-ki-sabzi.html

 

Smashed potatoes

 

I made these following the Pioneer Woman's recipe - 

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/crash-hot-potatoes/

I used Russet potatoes and I topped them with a mix of Cheddar (Amul cheese) and Goat cheese. My brother got the goat cheese from Oregon when he went there for the Shakespeare Fest. And Amul- well because it was Diwali and the Indian store here was running an offer on it :-)

 

Pressure cooker Chinese Simmered Chicken

I made this some days back and it was finger-licking good !
The recipe is from This Old Gal blog site who also uses instant pot ❤️
http://thisoldgal.com/pressure-cooker-chinese-simmered-chicken/

I made some changes to the recipe based on ingredients I had at hand-
1- I used applesauce
2-I used onion tomato paste with Garam masala
3- I used teriyaki sauce

My sauce ingredients are as follows-

1/2 cup applesauce

1/4 cup water

1 cup onion tomato masala paste with garam masala

I followed the same process as the recipe called for. 

 

Bihar style chura bhunja

Chura bhunja or chivda recipe -

Ingredients:

1 cup Chura
1 spoon oil
1/2 cup groundnuts
Salt to taste
add fried red or green chilies, fried papad etc to taste

Method :

Heat oil in a deep pan or kadahi.
When sufficiently hot, add groundnuts, sauté for a couple of minutes and remove.
Reduce the flame and add chura . Sauté for a couple of minutes till they look crunchy.
Remove from stove, add the salt and groundnuts or any other additions as per taste.
It makes a great snack with evening chai and can even serve as chakhna 😀👍

Orange marmalade in instant pot

Using April Bloomfield's recipe from her book - The girl and her pig

Ingredients
8 medium size oranges
4 cups sugar (recipe calls for 5)
2 tsp fennel

Instructions
Wash oranges, in steel insert cover them with water, keep a heavy plate on top so that oranges don't bob up ! Steam for 8 mins, NR. Open lid and let cool.

Remove from water, reserve 2 cups of this water and discard rest. Slice oranges and check rind for bitternesss. The oranges I used did not have any bitterness or seeds inside. So I just mashed them up, added sugar, reserved water, fennel and kept on sauté for 30 mins.

If the rind is bitter then you would need to remove the white pith and also the seeds after slicing the oranges. If the quantity is less you may also use less sugar. Sugar only helps thicken quicker.

The marmalade thickened slightly at this point. Then I kept it on slow cook mode with lid partially open for steam to escape. You could also remove the lid and keep it on slow cook mode for 1.5 to 2 hours.

Once thickened, remove from heat and let cool. Transfer to clean jars and store in the fridge. Will keep for a couple of weeks. My recipe made 4 small jars.

Brownie cake

I baked a brownie cake for my daughter's 6th birthday. I cheated.. I used the brownie mix! And I frosted it 😀👍
tasted divine. Can you ever have an overdose of chocolate ? 😀😀
This is the brownie cake recipe -
http://www.lifewithgremlins.com/brownie-mix-cake-recipe-making-cake-from-brownie-mix/
And here is the frosting recipe -
http://www.crazyforcrust.com/2015/01/easy-double-fudge-brownies-amazing-frosting-ever/

Decorated with princess Sophia 😈