Kerala Egg Puffs

Hi there!!!!!!
Its been ages that I hopped in here. Anyway lets start with a Happy 2015..:)...Now to say, there are a lot of excuses but lets just leave it behind..
 Again its that part of the year where in the clouds in Beaverton decide to fight and finally cry throughout the day, making the earth completely wet and the air completely cold. I do miss those lovely snows back in Grand Rapids, but yeah you got to enjoy what you have...right??? And what is the best way to enjoy a rainy day to us Indians...yup something warm and spicy..doesn't matter if its fried, baked or steamed.. So here is one such baked recipe that is best for those evenings or for that matter any evenings...:)

Puff Pastry sheets-1 no(cut to 6 pieces)
Hard boiled eggs-3 nos(cut to halves)
Onion-1 medium(sliced thin)
Green Peas-2 to 3 tbsp(frozen)
Curry leaves-3 to 4(torn to small pieces)
Ginger-1/2 tsp(finely chopped)
Garlic-1/2 tsp(finely chopped)
Chili powder-3/4 to 1 tsp
Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp
Garam Masala-1/2 tsp
Black Pepper Powder-1/2 tsp
Tomato Ketchup-1/2 to 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil-1 to 2 tsp
Milk/Egg for egg wash

Method of preparation:
1. Take the puff pastry sheet and let them thaw at room temperature for 40 minutes.
2. Heat oil in a pan, add onion, garlic, ginger and curry leaves. Cook till onion turns golden brown.
3. Add the green peas and cook till it is soft.
4. Add chili powder,turmeric,garam masala, black pepper powder and salt. Cook for about 2 minutes.Add the ketchup and mix well.Turn off the heat. Let the mixture cool.
5. Preheat the oven at 400F. Prepare the baking sheet by setting up parchment paper on it.
6. Cut the puff pastry sheet to six equal pieces. Place about 1 tbsp of the mixture on one end of it. Place half of the egg and then wrap with the other side of the pastry sheet.
7. Press the edges of the pastry sheet lightly but firmly with a fork.
8. Place it on the baking sheet and continue it for the remaining pieces. Then just brush milk/egg wash on top of the pastry sheets.
9. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes. Once golden brown take them out and serve once warm.

Notes:
1. Thaw the pastry sheet before using.
2. Add the chili powder according to your tolerance level. If you want more color without much spiciness use kashmiri chili powder instead.
3. Instead of green peas you can add carrot .

Double Chocolate Cake

     Life becomes so busy sometimes that you tend to run and in that race you usually forget/ignore stuffs that is important to you. "It can still wait" goes on until finally you totally forget about it and it remains in a corner unnoticed. Same is the case here...Its been real long time. Now there are a lot of things that I can say to support the absence but its best to move on...
   This was a chocolate cake done a little while back. A perefct chocolate lovers cake...Loaded with chocolate. The recipe is from here. Delicious cake with lovely texture.

 Bittersweet chocolate- 2ounce(chopped)
Vegetable oil-3/4 cup
Sugar-1 cup
Egg-1 large
All purpose flour-2 cups
Dutch-process Cocoa powder-1/2 cup
Baking Soda-1 tbsp
Salt-3/4 tsp
Coffee-1 cup
Buttermilk-1 cup
Semi Sweet Chocolate chips-1/2 cup

Method Of Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and dust a 8" pan and 4 cupcake liners or 9" pan or 12-cup bundt pan for baking.
2. Melt the chocoate in a pan/bowl on low heat/microwave. Transfer it to a large bowl and let it cool slightly. Then add the sugar and oil into it and whisk until smooth. Add egg and whisk again.
3.In another bowl mix all the dry ingredients and set aside.
4. Now add half the dry ingredients, 1/2 cup of coffee and 1/2 cup of buttermilk to the chocolate mixture and mix until smooth. Add the remaining dry ingredients, liquids and mix smooth.
5. Add the chocolate chips and fold it lightly to the batter.
6. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 40-45 minutes or until toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs attached. Cool the cake in pan for 10 mins and then transfer it to cooling rack to cool completely.

For Icing:
Semi sweet chocolate-2 ounce
Unsalted Butter-5 tbsp(soft)

Method Of Preparation:
1. Melt the chocolate to smooth  in a microwave safe bowl. See that you dont burn up the chocolate. You can do it using the double boiler method.
2. Add butter 1 tbsp at a time to the melted chocolate and mix well.
3. In a large bowl take some chilled water.Place the chocolate butter bowl on top of chilled water and beat till it reaches the spreadable consistency.
4. Pour the chocolate mixture on top of cooled cake and spread it with the help of spatula.

 Notes:
1. Use good quality cocoa powder and chocolate.
2. The coffee was warm when i used it.
3. Chocolate chips can be omitted.

Baked Chickpeas

Snack is an unavoidable stuff in our house. Be it with tea or while watching late night movies we tend to munch on something which goes on as a repeated relay of actions form bowl/pack to mouth. Now I dont claim that we always snack on healthy stuffs..but once in a while I like to snack on them and these here make a perfect crispy, crunchy snack which is kindof healthy too..You will be surprised at how quickly the bowl gets empty...:)

Chickpeas-1 cup
Olive oil-2 to 3 tbsp
Salt to taste
Cumin-1/4 tsp
Chilli powder-1/4 tsp(add more if you want it spicy)
Turmeric- 1/4 tsp
Lemon juice-1 tbsp

Method of Preparation:
1. Wash the chickpea and pressure cook it till its soft but not mushy. I pressure cooked it for 6 times on medium high heat. There was no pre soaking.
2. Drain the water and spread the chickpeas on tissue to dry. you can pat dry too.
3. Preheat oven at 400F.
4. In a bowl mix all other ingredients with the chickpeas and spread it on a baking sheet.
5. Bake them for about 30 to 40 minutes until light brown and crispy. See that they dont burn. Do shake the baking pan inbetween for even baking.
6. Serve hot or at room temperature.Stores well in an airtight container.

Molten Lava Cake

This was our valentines day treat...I know the day is gone long back and I had been planning for this post since then...and finally its here..A delicious molten lava cake. My search for something that was not too much of work, perfect for two and done in few minutes ended here.

Semi-sweet chocolate chip-1/4cup
Butter-2 tbsp
Powdered Sugar-1/2 cup
Egg-1
All purpose Flour-3 tbsp
Vanilla Extract-1 tsp
Raspberries, Ice cream,Powdered Sugar to indulge.

Method of Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 400F
2. Grease 2 ramekins with non stick spray/butter. Place the ramekins on baking sheet and set aside.
3. In a medium microwave safe bowl melt chocolate chips and butter for about 1 and 1/2 minutes  until smooth.Stir every 30 seconds to avoid burning.
4. Add the powdered sugar and mix until smooth.Then add egg and whisk until smooth.
5. Stir in flour and vanilla extract and mix until no lumps remain.
6. Distribute the batter equally into two ramekins and bake them for 12 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and let them rest in bowl for 1 more minute.
8. Then invert into a plate and dust with powdered sugar and serve with a dollop of ice cream.

Tomato Curry/Takkali curry

A simpe tomato curry with coconut perfect to go with flat breads and rice.

Tomato-2 nos(sliced long)
Onion-1 medium(sliced long and thin)
Green chilli-1 no(sliced to round)
Turmeric-1/4 tsp
Red chili powder-1/2 tsp
Coriander powder-1/2 tsp
Grated coconut-1/8 cup+ 1 tbsp
Salt to taste
Coconut Oil-2 tsp
Mustard-1 tsp
Curry leaves
Coriander leaves-1 tsp(chopped)

Method of preparation:
1. Heat oil in a pan. Sputter mustards and then add curry leaves.
2. Then add the chopped onion along with green chilies and fry them till it is golden brown and transparent.
3. Add tomatoes and mix well. cook for 2 minutes and then add the powders along with salt.
4. Mix well and cook it till tomatoes are soft.
5. Grind the coconut along with little water to a smooth paste.
6. Mix the coconut paste to the tomato mixture along with water to make a curry.
7. Heat the curry till the coconut mixture boils. Check for salt and add accordingly. Turn off the heat and then add the coriander leaves and mix well.
8. Serve with rice or with flat breads.

Chocolate Raspberry Sandwich Cookies

   Sometimes you just want to kill the evening when you have a super excited son and a completely drained mommy. Those are the times when I want him to sit with something instead of frog hopping or running. I offered him a lot of options like reading, painting and all he did was suggest me frog hopping and running...offcourse with a smile that I cant say No to..Then I finally decided to tell him I will give cookies if you go and play..oh come on you guys do that too...right... So after 5 minutes of playing he came running for the cookies. Now to fight with a 3 year old over cookies is something you rarely want to do...because they always win it...No matter what.:(..So finally there I was searching for a simple recipe with less work.

    That when I found this recipe and thought of keeping my son busy with it. So we started with the work. Mixing and rolling was done by me and half of the cutting as my son got quite bored after doing one set. He was much interested playing with all purpose flour as a powder.So at the end I had a completely white faced son..:), quite bit of white floor and these delicious cookies.

Raspberry Jam:

Raspberry-1 cup
Sugar-1 cup
Lemon juice-1/2 tsp

Method of preparation:
1. Wash the raspberries and pat them dry.
2. Add the sugar to raspberries and crush them little and set aside for 15 minutes.
3. Heat a pan and add this mixture to it. Mash the raspberries little more and cook the mixture till it boils and then add the lemon juice and mix till it becomes thick. It wont take much time.
4. Turn off the heat when its done and transfer it to a clean bottle.

Chocolate Cookies:

All Pourpose Flour -3/4 cup

Cocoa Powder-1/2 cup
Butter-6 tbsp(at room temp)
Salt a pinch
Brown Sugar-3/4 cup+ 1 tbsp
Egg-1 large
Vanilla-1 tsp

Method of Preparation:
1. In a bowl mix the flour, cocoa powder and salt. Set aside.
2. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.Beat in the egg and vanilla on low speed.
3. Add in the dry ingredients and mix well. Roll the dough into two balls and set aside in the refrigerator to chill for about 1 hour.
4. Preheat the oven to 350F. Take a ball of dough and place it between two parcment papers. Now slightly press the dough and using a rolling pin roll it to 1/4 inch thick.
5. Using a cookie cutter cut out shapes. Do dip the cutter in flour to prevent sticking of the dough to cutter.
6. Place the cut out cookies on baking sheet and bake for 10 to 12 mins. Let cool on a wire rack.
7. Once cooled transfer them to an airtight container. Five minutes before serving sandwich the jam between two cookies.

Notes:
1. When the dough becomes soft and difficult to handle keep it back in the refrigerator.

Rava Kesari

There was a time when we wanted to indulge in something sweet and dint have anything in hand. It was at that movement I realised about this sweet and rich dish. There was no second thought and I just whipped it up and we enjoyed it to the last spoon.
Rava kesari is a sweet made of rava, milk,sugar and ghee. Its very delicious and quite easy to prepare.

Rava- 1/2 cup
Milk-1 nd 1/2 cup
Sugar- 1 cup
Ghee-3 tbsp
Cardamom powder-a pinch
Cashews-2 tbsp
Raisins-2 tbsp
Orange food color-a pinch(optional)

Method of preparation:
1. Heat a pan on low and add about 1 and 1/2 tbsp of ghee into it.Add the cashews and raisins and fry them till golden brown. Drain and set aside.
2.  Now add the rava into it and roast it till it gives a nice aroma and has light golden color to it.
3. Heat the milk in another pan and once it gets boiled pour it into the rava and give a nice mix. Let the rava get cooked in the milk.
4. Once the rava is cooked add the sugar into it and mix well. This will end up into a runny mixture. Continue cooking and mixing and slowly the mixture starts to thicken.
5. Add the food color(if using) and give a good stir so that it mixes up well.
6. Then add the remaining ghee little at a time and mix to form almost a lump. The mixture shouldn't stick to bottom.
7. Now add the cardamom powder along with fried cashews and raisins and mix. Turn off the heat and serve warm.

Notes:
1. Cook on low flame to reduce the risk of burning milk or kesari.
2. Add sugar only after the rava is cooked completely.
3. You can add any nuts in there, though traditionally its just cashews and raisins.