French Butter Cookies

Sablés, which is also known as French Butter Cookies, originates from Normandy in France. The cookie is crumbly in texture and derives it's name from 'Sablés', which in French stands for 'sand'. Traditionally the cookie is round in shape with fluted edges. The top of the cookies are usually brushed with egg wash to give them a shiny appearance. The classic finishing touch, which makes these cookies instantly recognizable, is to score a criss-cross pattern on the top of each. The flavor of the Sablés is dependent on the quality of the ingredients, especially the butter and vanilla extract. I chose to be a non-conformist with both the shape of the cookie and the pattern. Here's my version of the French Butter Cookies.

Ingredients

For the Cookie

10 Tbsp Unsalted Butter in room temp

1/2 cup Granulated Sugar

1 large Egg in room temperature

1 Tsp Pure Vanilla Extract

2 cups All-Purpose Flour

1/2 Tsp Baking Powder

1/4 Tsp Salt

Egg Wash

1 Large Egg

1 Tbsp Water

Directions for Preparation

1. Beat the butter and sugar together with an electric/hand mixer until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes). Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until blended. 
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and beat just until incorporated. Do not over mix the dough. At this point it is advisable to use your hands instead of the mixer. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface, knead the dough a few times to bring it together, and then divide the dough in half. Wrap each half in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm (at least an hour). 
3. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Remove one portion of the dough from the refrigerator and place on a lightly floured work surface. Roll out the dough until it is approx. 1 cm thick. Use a round fluted cookie cutter to cut out the cookies, placing them on the prepared sheet. I used a flower shaped cookie cutter instead just to give it a shape variation. Place the baking sheet of cut out cookies in the refrigerator for about 15 -20 minutes to chill the dough. 
4. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk the egg with the water for the egg wash. Remove the cookies from the refrigerator and brush the tops with the egg wash. Make the crisscross pattern on the top of each cookie with the tines of a fork. I chose not to make the classic pattern.

1. Bake cookies in the preheated oven for about 12-14 minutes or until golden brown around the edges.

1. Let the cookies cool down on a wire rack. And enjoy. Storing in an air tight container will help preserve the cookies for about a week.

Eggless Vanilla Sponge

Condensed Milk:1/2 cup

Butter:1/2 cup

Milk:1/2 cup

Flour:1.25 cup

Sugar:2-4 tbsp

Baking Powder:1tsp

Baking Soda:1/2tsp

Vanilla Essence:1tsp

Vinegar:1tsp

Pre-heat the oven at 250 C. Mix the butter and condensed milk. Add sugar and mix well. Then add the vanilla essence, vinegar and room temperature milk. Add the milk little by little in about 3-4 servings. Then add the sieved flour, baking powder and baking soda. Put it into the oven and bake for about 30-35 minutes or till a toothpick comes out clean. Dust it with some confectionery sugar and serve hot.

Wreath Shaped Vanilla Sponge Cake

When I am a bit off colour some days, therapeutic baking is all I need. One such day was yesterday. Baked a simple Vanilla Wreath Shaped Sponge Cake. In Denmark this type of cake is called Kransekake and are specially made to mark special occasions like Weddings, Christmas, Confirmation, New Year's Eve, Birthdays, Anniversaries etc. During these occasions this kind of wreath cakes are made with multiple concentric layers of cakes placed on top of each other to make a steep cone shaped cake stuck to each other with white icing. Ideally these cakes are hard to touch but chewy on the inside. Mine however, was a mixture of a traditional English Sponge Cake and the Danish Kransekake where I stuck to the recipe of the former and the shape of the latter. And of course did not go for multi-layered but a single layer only.

So here goes the recipe and the MOP:

Break 3 eggs and beat them with 3/4 cups of sugar. Add the sugar little by little as you beat the eggs. Beat it till the sugar is fairly dissolved and the mixture appears pale yellow in colour. Then add 3/4 cups of sunflower oil/olive oil/butter and beat it till it is completely dissolved in the mixture. add a tsp of Baking Powder and a tsp of Vanilla essence and beat. Then add 3/4 cups of sieved plain flour. Take off the mixture and fold the flour into the mixture. Line a baking tray with butter/oil and dust it with flour. add the mixture and bake it for about 25-30 minutes at 180 degrees or till a tooth pick comes out clean. Enjoy the warm cake with some whipped cream or just dust it with some icing sugar on top.

Prawn 65

I love my prawns in whichever texture, form or sauce they are in. Prawns give me an immense sense of satisfaction at the end of the meal. Something that any other acceptable variety (my husband eats anything that walks, crawls, flies and swims) of non-veg doesn't seem to bestow on me. Prawn 65 is an innovative version of the fish preparation which initiated as Chicken 65. Chicken 65 owes its origin to a certain restaurant somewhere down south of the country. It started as a very popular chicken dish, specific to the restaurant which was against the number 65. Customers used to place their orders as 'Chicken 65' and hence the name. As the popularity of the dish spread within the country, the dish was known as 'Chicken 65'. I remember trying this dish in a shack in Goa. Facing the sea, legs spread straight, leaning on a comfy chair with a tangy flavored, relatively hot and spicy dish befriending a chilled beer sitting on a stool beside me and witnessing the approaching gray clouds from far of over the salty waters. Ah! A trip to heaven and back.  
So when I thought of bringing in the flavors of the Chicken 65 into my prawns, 'Prawn 65' is what I got. So here is a quick recipe to a super tasty, tangy prawn curry.

Ingredients:

500 gms of prawns
1 finely chopped onion
Ginger and garlic paste
Schezwan sauce
Coriander leaves
Turmeric
Salt to taste
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp cumin seeds

Marinate the prawns after washing them properly in 1/2 tsp turmeric and 1/2 tsp salt. Let it sit for sometime till the sauce is being prepared. In a wok put the oil and let it heat for sometime. Then put the cumin seeds. As the seeds start to pop put the chopped onions. As it turns to light brown put the ginger and garlic paste. Let it cook for sometime. Then put the Schezwan sauce and cook for sometime. Put the prawns, turn the heat low and let it cook for about 15-20 minutes with the lid on. After 20 min check on the prawns. If it is cooked then put the coriander leaves, turn off the heat and let it sit there with the lid on. I prefer to have the Prawn 65 dry with a tad bit of curry just to keep it moist. So do not put water or you will lose the flavor.  

Lemon Cup-Cakes

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Baking a cake always enthralls me into a different world. The mental calculations of the recipe, the anxiety on the consistency, manipulations with the ingredients and finally the smell as I open the oven door. Baking a cake is a trip to heaven and back. So here is a my version of lemon cup-cakes.

Ingredients:

3 Eggs

3/4 cup butter/oil

3/4 cup granulated white sugar

3/4 cup white flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp lemon extract

1/2 tsp lemon zest

1/2 cup Chocolate chips (optional)

Method of preparation

Beat the three eggs and the sugar together. Pour the oil/butter (in room temperature) and mix. In goes the baking powder, the lemon extract and the lemon zest. Give it a good mix. Then put the sieved flour and fold it into the batter. Make sure the flour is folded into the butter till it is mixed. Do not over mix the batter as the air that has gone into might escape in the process. Preheat an oven at 180 degrees Celsius. Pour the batter into the cup cakes liners and bake at 180 degrees for about 15-20 min or till a toothpick comes out clean. Let it cool down on a rack. If you intend to frost it, make sure the cup cakes are completely cooled down before frosting. Enjoy. 

Raw Mango Chutney

Serve it as a dip for the smoking hot Pakoras, or spice up the vegetarian meal with an extra dash of flavour, the Indian chutney is definitely the Atlas in an Indian plate that cannot be shrugged. As the name suggests Chutney or Chatni is something that is meant to be licked. The licking gives the dish an extra hint of Oomph. Raw Mango Chutney is a traditional homemade side dip popular in the Eastern part of India namely Odisha and West Bengal. With the onset of the summer months and the early mango season, raw mangoes flood the markets and what better way to beat the heat than cool mango chutney. So here goes my mother’s recipe…

Ingredients:

4 small size mangoes

200 gms of jaggery (Gur)

1 tsp of oil

1 tsp of corn starch

1 tsp of salt

1 tsp of panch phoran (A mix of five spice-Cumin, Mustard Seeds, Fenugreek Seeds, Black Cumin Seeds, Fennel Seeds)

1 red chilli

5-6 curry leaves

2 tbsp of water

Here is how…

Wash, peel and cut the mangoes. Put them into a pressure cooker along with the jaggery and salt. As soon as the whistle goes off turn off the heat and let the pressure subside on its own. Take another pan, put the oil. As the oil heats up put the mix of the five spices or the panch phoran, the red chilli and the curry leaves. Pour the cooled mangoes as you hear the spices popping. Mix the corn starch with the water and pour it into the mixture. Bring it to a boil for approximately 2-3 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it settle down on the remaining heat of the burner. It can be consumed warm but for best results let it sit in the refrigerator for an hour. This Chutney tastes best when served cold.

If not Cake but definitely a Bake#Chicken Tandoori#

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It’s good to end a journey but it is the journey that matters in the end…And what other good way to end a memorable journey with a platter of succulent homemade Tandoori Chicken. Tandoori Chicken or Roasted chicken gets its name from the traditional clay oven in which the chicken pieces are roasted. However, where will you find a clay oven in the comforts of your home! So here is my version of Homemade Tandoori Chicken.

Ingredients

4-5 Chicken Leg Pieces

2 Tbsp of Yogurt

1 Tsp of Salt

1 Tbsp of Tandoori Masala (I prefer Everest Tandoori Chicken Masala)

1 Tsp of Vinegar

1 Tsp of Lemon Juice

1 Tsp of Black Pepper

Marinate the Chicken pieces with all the ingredients mentioned above. Leave it for a minimum of 1 hour or more. Then place the pieces in the oven and grill for about 30 min at 200 degrees, turning over after the first 15 min to ensure an all-round grilling. Leave it inside the oven for another 10 min. Enjoy hot with a dash of lemon juice on top and beautifully cut circular onion rings…

Carrot Cake

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Home is where the freshly baked carrot cake is! This delicious moist carrot cake packs a whole lot of cake for a whole lot of guests. Whether served warm with a dollop of ice-cream or eaten with a freshly brewed cup of coffee, the dulcet yet divine fragrance of this carrot cake will make your guests yearn for it. So here is the recipe and the method of preparation:

Ingredients:

6 cups of grated Carrots
1 cup of Brown sugar
1 cup of Raisins(Kismish)
4 Eggs
1 ½ cups of White Sugar
1 cup of Vegetable Oil
2 Tsp of Vanilla Extract
1 cup of Fresh Pineapples
3 cups of All Purpose Flour
1 ½ tsp of Baking Soda
1 tsp of salt
4 Tsp of Cinnamon
1 cup of chopped Walnuts or choco-chips (Its your 'Choice')

How to bind them all.....??? There it goes....

Use the fine side of a grater to grate 6 generous cups of carrot. Put the grated carrots in a bowl and mix a cup of brown sugar and set it aside for an hour. After an hour put a cup of raisins into it and give it a good mix. Then preheat the oven and grease and flour two 10’’ cake pans. Then in a large bowl add 4 eggs and mix. As the eggs are being beaten, gradually add 1 ½ cups of white sugar, a cup of vegetable oil, 2 tsp of vanilla extract. When the ingredients are fully incorporated, add 1 cup of crushed and drained pineapples. In another clean bowl add 3 cups of all purpose flour along with 1 ½ tsp of baking soda, 1 tsp of salt, and 4 tsp of ground cinnamon. Mix in the dry ingredients in with the wet. Finally add the carrot, raisin and brown sugar mixture and a cup of chopped walnuts. If you do not want nuts then you can add in choco-chips. Then pour the batter evenly into the prepared cake pans and bake it at 180 degrees for about 30-45 min or till a tooth pick comes out clean. Set them aside to cool down. You can enjoy it as it is or can frost it with freshly whipped cream/sour cream.