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

Image Courtsey: www.facebook.com/joskitchen2013

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.