Rich fruit cake

Today I am posting a recipe that's really close to my heart . As a baker , we have some cherished recipes. I love baking so I have a few recipe that are really dear to me . It's a little tedious baking stuffs . It's a scientific lab kitchen where you cannot go wrong with ingredients. Today's recipe is our family recipe. We love fruity cakes. So there will get over within two days ,whatever the quantity maybe. 
The cake is a very tricky one. As there are soo many ingredients with lots of nuts ,not to forget the butter and ghee that's the integral part of thic cake.
The cake has few points to be noted .

Do not topple the cake in warm state. It will break into crumbles. Cooling the cake is very important. I would prefer overnight cooling as it is a large cake it takes time to cool . The nuts and the dry fruits add to the nature of the cake and they float perfectly in the cake without falling to the bottom .
One more important note for the cake is the weight . Before combining the flour and the liquid egg mixture, check the weight. The principal theory is that the weight of the liquid should be equal to the liquid egg mixture .
Both will weight one kilo, according to the recipe . I always say those who love baking and intense bakers who would love to explore fruit cakes this is perfect for you. So just follow the recipe and few guidelines that I have mentioned above and you will get a wonderful bake for this year.
Here's the recipe..

Ingredients

• 200 grams black grapes
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 100 grams orange juice
• 1/2 cup cashews
• 1/2 cup black currents
• 1/2 cup golden and brown raisins each
• 1/2 cup dates pited
• 1/2 cup almonds
• 1/2 cup apricots
• 1/2 cup figs
• 50 grams honey
• 250 grams plain flour
• 250 grams butter soften
• 6 large eggs
• 250 grams fine sugar
• 100 grams ghee
• 1 teaspoon Black Jack syrup
• 2 tablespoon Whole spice powder( clove, Cardamom,nutmeg, Cinnamon.)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

Method

• Butter two pans ( 9") and lay parchment papers along the sides and the bottom of pan for easy removal of cake once done .
• Preheat oven 160degree .
• Crush the grapes and sugar with hand.
• Extract the pulp as much as possible.
• Add the orange juice and boil till thickened . Carefull not to burn the bottom of pan.
• Add honey and stir.
• Add the dry fruits and stir and cook for 5 minutes . Stir well and take off the flame and cool aside.
• Beat the butter and sugar till creamy.
• Add the eggs one at a time
• Add ghee . Beat well.
• Add the syrup ( you can add dark caramel syrup instead) blend well.
• MIx the flour and nuts mixture .
• Fold this gently to the egg mixture ,By hand.
• Pour into pans and bake for 90 minutes or till skewer inserted comes out clean .
• Bake at 160degree for 90 minutes
• Once the cake is done let it cool completely .
• The cake is very rich and so it has to be cooled before topping off to a rack .

PS ...this is the best cake I have in my repertoire 殺

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Star Cookies

If there is something I love to do is cooking really elaborate meals. I love long  table filled with varieties for breakfast lunch and dinner. And having a large family to dine together and make a lovely feeling of being together. But things are not always the same . The minute college is over then kids move out. The west culture is happening in my place too. We have a bunch of them moving to cross countries and  living abroad . But seriously thanks to our tech gadgets we are still able to contact and keep in touch as much as possible. When my brother's get together being the only girl and who loves to cook I prepare sweets in plenty. Then plan out meals and dinners and an array of Kaddis( snacks) for tea . And bake some too.

This tine I made some cookies for them and they were soft and crunchy. But I did forget to put them in air tight containers which made them really softer.hemm shouldn't have done that though.

Star Cookies are one of many super old time aged  Christmas cookies that everyone seems to love so much . Especially this homemade version is times  better than what you’ll find in , at the stores during the holidays and the frosting white  chocolate takes them to a whole new level of yumminess.

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cups Flour
• 3/4 cups  Powdered Sugar
• 1 Egg
• 60 grams Unsalted Butter
• 1 teaspoon Ginger Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
• Salt a pinch
• sprinkles as needed
• melted white chocolate for dip

Method

• Beat butter sugar and eggs till it turns creamy
• Add flour baking powder salt ginger powder and make it to a soft  dough.
• Divide dough to half and wrap in plastic cover.
• Chill for 1 hour
• Now preheat oven to 180 degree c for 10 minutes.
• Take the dough  and roll it between plastic sheets for easy rolling.
• Cut it with cookie cutter.
• Arrange on lined baking sheet on pan
• Sprinkle some edible  gold dust on top of cookie before baking
• Bake for 8 to 10 minutes .
• Remove from oven and cool for about 10 minutes .
• Serve with desired frosting.

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Easy chicken cooker recipe

This is a very simple recipe and a savior recipe if you have sudden guests coming over . My mom makes it a dozen of time , with pathirri and Pathal . Chicken is mixed well with spices and oniions and there is no stiring or cooking for long time ' required for this recipe.
The ingredients are also very less and you will get a nice bowl full of gravy that can be had  along with chapathis or ghee rice .

Mom follows only  few recipes and they are all finger licking clean. Chicken curry and coconut grind curries are always famous in North Kerala. They are all easy to follow and the best part is only few ingredients are needed.
There is so much going on and we are all living on the edge . The networks and the papers are filled with  atrocities being comitted as a result of the CAB and NRC bills almost being processed. We are tensed here in India as we do not know exactly how things are going to come about to this regards... only time can tell ..something's for sure, whatever's destined it will happen,and I hope this will pass us. Thinking too much isn't supportive for us and getting mentally challenged about things isn't going to help us anytime soon. Inshallah, whatever said our weather is cooling as we are having some winters coming by..hope next year brings us some good news too...

Coming back to today's recipe, I always have some easy recipes for stand by and this is very helpful when I have to finish our chores quick especially when I am lazy to cook ☺️. The chicken cooked is well  blending  in very little masalas and done in just 10 minutes.. woow..this a party recipe and all will enjoy it as the recipe included coconut shreds which turns out to be really yummy.

Ingredients

• 1 kilo chicken cut in pieces
• 2 onions sliced
• 2 tomatoes , medium chopped
• 1 green chilli slit
• 2 garlic crushed
• 1" ginger crushed
• 1 teaspoon red chilli Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Corriander powder
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
• Salt to taste .
• 1 cup hot water

For the grind

• 1/2 cup coconut
• 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 2 chopped shallots
• Few curry leaves
• 1 teaspoon red chilli powder

For the tempering

• 2 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 red chilli
• 1/2  teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1 teaspoon red chilli flakes

Method

• First mix the chicken chunks with the ingredients above .
• After layering it in pressure cooker add the hot water.
• Close the lid and cook for one whistle . Off and let the pressure ease.
• Next roast the 'to grind' ingredients mentioned above ..cool and grind to smooth paste
• After the chicken is cooked add the paste and boil well till the gravy is thickened.
• Temper the gravy by heating the oil and add the
• the ingredients mentioned above.
• Finally add the red chilli flakes to give it a red color to the curry.
• Cover for 10 minutes till the masalas are merged well with gravy.
• Serve warm with garnished corriander leaves .

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Peanut butter cookies

Peanut butter cookies are soft and perfect with the sweetness that they are not going to overload the other ingredients. Thinking of overload .. some things I life are just full of overloads. Ever since we got watspp and Instagram Children  and adults are nearly 80 % overloaded with it. I have rules in my home that no one uses mobile phone over dining table and liesure time. It really gets on my nerves. My kids listen but AJ doesn't. He is and addict on the watspp and YouTube . It's either the 'no more grey therapy ' on the YouTube or watching and sharing on watsapp. I am ,for one good reason am not a complete addict as a foodie my phone even smells kitchen always. 

Coming to the recipe ,it's a genius one. I have a bottle of peanut butter as kids have for breakfast . I usually don't bake with peanut butter as I love to just lick finger clean off it. My watsapp foodie group once put up this recipe and it got many reviews on it. 

I wanted to make it instantly.. that's the ' thing about cookies ... Bakers always have the ingredients for any cookie that fits perfect of the family.
Here's the recipe for the day ...I baked these thee times in a row. ...

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 plain flour
• 1/4 milk powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder.
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tablespoon crunchy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup sunflower oil
• 1 egg for white wash

Method

• Preheat oven to 180 degree c.
• Combine all the ingredients except for the egg .
• Make a soft dough . Divide equally to lemon size balls .
• Make a dent in the centre of the cookies .
• Place them one inch apart and brush with egg wash .
• Bake in a pan layered with butter paper .
• Bake for 15 minutes.
• Cool on wire rack
• The cookies are really soft and crunchy with peanuts .
• I would prefer to bake for another two minutes more for my oven as I would have loved it to be a little more dense.
• But it is really worth a try.  Totally yummy.

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Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting

Carrot cake has a never ending style to it. It is a rich cake with moisture and spices of cinnamon and nuts and pineapple crushed to endure the cake as a whole . To make things even more elegant it is gorgeous with a nice cream cheese frosting . I like the colour of the cake . A nice orangish tan of the grated carrots . 
Now some recipes might be having addition of apple sauce instead of pineapple crush. If your pantry has apple sauce it can be added ..just that you have to add atleast 1/2 a cup of it  to the batter instead of the pineapple crush ..

But personally I love the pineapple crush more .  The tanginess gives a nice kick to the recipe making it really so desserty..
Although carrots have a sweetness to it just like beetroot , I think it's a fair veggie to be added to making a wonderful cake .I have a caramel carrot cake here , that's a traditional cake which my mum used to bake every week for chai..and we used to love it all the more...

While baking this cake she gave her vote to the caramel carrot cake ... Well I love both as both ahve their own tastes and we cannot compare it at all. This cake has a frosting which is cream cheese based and a dash of vanila essence made wonders to it. It is said or I think a friend once told me that carrots usually comes from the Greek era and ' karaton' as they called it was given to soldiers everyday as a visionary diet which would obviously help them in the nights. But this recipe originates in the Euro sweets cakes as carrots are cheaper to find. So much for a timely history of the cake itself hehe ..
Here's the recipe

Ingredients

• 1 cup walnuts
• 2 and 1/2 cups  raw grated carrot
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon  salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 4 large eggs ( at room temperature)
• 1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup , sunflower oil
• 226 grams  pineapple, crushed this is  optional

Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon   vanilla essence
• 1 teaspoon  lemon juice
• 340 grams full fat cream cheese, softened

Method

• First preheat your oven to 180 degree c .
• Grease and lay parchment paper into two tins 9×2 inches.
• Roast walnuts to brown colour.
• Grate carrots . Keep aside
• Sift all the dry ingredients, flour Baking Soda and baking powder,ground  cinnamon .
• Beat eggs to fluffy
• Add sugar and essence. Beat well.
• Add the oil in thin stream . Beat well for two minutes . Off the beater .
• Add the sifted ingredients. Combines all with spatula.
• Fold in the walnuts and carrots .
• Bake in oven for  40 minutes.
• All ovens may vary in time . So check after every 20 minutes.
• After the cakes are cooled after  baking ,remove the cakes  from pan and allow to cool for 10 minutes  . Cool further on wire rack . 
• The cook should cool completely before frosting.

.

Cream Cheese Frosting: 

• Beat butter to smooth .
• Add powdered sugar and vanilla essence.
• Beat till fluffy for 2 minutes .
• Now add the cream cheese and scrape the sides to combine well.
• The frosting will be smooth.
• Assembling the cake .
• Cut the cakes to two layers each .
• Gently spread the frosting inbetween the cakes  and layer some chopped nuts which is optional.
• Serves around 12 to 15 people.
• Note the cake is super moist and just bake till it relieves from sides of pan.
• Baking time differs for each oven ..

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Creamy vegetable kurma

Vegetable Kurma is authentic recipe in every state . Kerala menu is blunt without this recipe in their menu. A normal morning breakfast includes varieties to choose from like appams, puttu , ishtu curry ( coconut based vegetable curry) kadala curry , etc. 

Today I am posting a curry found at all weddings. This creamy vegetable curry is served with null puttu or porottas. A wide variety of vegetables are added like carrots, cauliflower, potato,green peas that makes this curry really rich.  Coconut and cream makes it all the more creamy and I always try to make my curries a little more creamy by either adding some cream or coconut milk or even sometimes milk .
U can omit the cream but the taste would differ a little . Here's the recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon jeera seeds
• 1 sprig curry leaves .
• 1 onion sliced
• 2 green chillies slit
• 1 inch ginger crushed
• 1 cup chopped vegetables ( potato,green peas,carrots, cauliflower)
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 Vegetable stock cube
• 1 teaspoon pepper powder.
• 1 teaspoon jeera powder
• 1 teaspoon crushed red chilli powder
• 2 teaspoon Coconut oil
• 1 cup fresh thick coconut milk
• 3 teaspoon fresh cream
• Corriander leaves for garnish .

Method

• In a pressure cooker, heat the oil , splutter the mustard seeds and jeera seeds.
• Next add the curry leaves, crushed ginger  and green chillies and saute
• Next add onions , salt and saute till soft.
• Add the veggies along with the masala powders and saute till well combined.
• Add the Coconut milk.
• Close the cooker and pressure cook till whistle goes off and , simmer  10 minutes  minutes.
• After the veggies are done ,add the cream and corriander leaves for garnish.
• Serve hot with rotis and chapathis.

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Chocolate yul log cake

As the last month has come, I am in mixed emotions. As of right now we wait for December to arrive .. something is always cozy about it . I think , because kids don't have school .or may be the feeling is because there is hardly a week of school and then the exams are to come and go and we have a vacation where we travel to places that we love. But this December it's not cool nor is it comfortable . The weathers' are all changed and I cannot but argue that is taken a toll on the kids. They are all sick and I have to deal with it . All my kids are having exams this week and I am hoping they get well soon . 

As December is usually the baking month of the year. I try out few recipes. We get all the fresh berries and , citrus fruits are really cheap and many of my friends who live abroad are into baking plum cakes and cookies. Starting this month I made this cake which I wanted to make for so long.
Bûche de Noël (BuSH dunoh EHL) or yul log cake as it is called here, is a special  sweet dessert in itself. As a French pastry  dessert , there are variant  recipes for this traditional cake dessert, my version is  deliciously moist  chocolaty sponge cake, that is filled with  whipped cream, rolled into a pineapple filled  cylinder, and then frosted with chocolate ganache. 

The cake is usually dusted with Powder sugar to illustrate a snowy effect and decorated with maringue strawberries and cherries for everyone to dive in.

The cake is super moist so follow the instructions carefully as you wouldn't want a broken cake  while folding .

Ingredients

• 4 large eggs, separated yolks and whites .
• 2/3 cup sugar, halved
• 1/2 cup  flour
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• FILLING:
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoon of pineapple chunks jam .

FROSTING
For the  ganache:

• 200 ml whipping cream
• 200 grams chocolate bar.

Directions

• Separate the egg yolks and whites .
• Let the whites stand for 30 minutes .
• Prepare a baking pan of size 15 "/ 10 " / 1 " greased and layer with paper. Set aside.
• Beat the egg yolks for 5 minutes.
• Add 1/3 sugar . Beat to combine.
• Add the flour, baking cocoa, baking powder,salt.( All sifted well twice ).
• Set aside.
• Now beat the egg whites for five minutes. And the remaining sugar gradually 1 teaspoon at a time. Beat till soft peaks form. Gradually fold with spatula to the batter . Spread evenly on pan and bake for 10 to 12 minutes till the skewer comes out clean once inserted .
• Set aside for 5 minutes to cool.
• Dust some Coco powder on a clean kitchen towel and roll the cake over like a cylinder. Now let it cool in this state completely.
• Beat the whipping cream according to packet instruction. Add powder sugar if needed.
• Unroll the chocolate cake and spread one tablespoon of pineapple jam with chunks in it .
• Top with whipped cream.
• Roll the whole cake again slowly.
• I made ganache heating 200 ml of cream and 200 gms. chocolate bar. Pour onto the cake and decor with maringue starwberries or just give a bark shape to it as I have done. I have cut it and placed a piece on the other side to give it a broken bark shape.,.

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