Chocolate cake

Chocolate cake-A scrumptious chocolate cake,moist, velvety,simple chocolicious and melts in the mouth and chocolate lovers heaven.
Ingredients:

10 oz sugar
6oz softened butter
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
6 oz natural low fat yoghurt
8 oz self raising flour
2 oz cocoa
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

For the icing:

2 oz softened butter
2 oz cocoa
3 tablespoons milk
12 oz icing sugar

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 325 F
2. Grease abaking tin and dust it with flour ,keep aside.
3. Mix together the sugar and butter and mix till smooth.
4. Mix together the eggs, yoghurt and vanilla essence and add to the butter sugar mixture.
5. Sieve the cocoa, flour and bicarbonate of soda,
6. Gently fold the dry ingredients with the wet, do not over mix.
7. Pour into greased cake tn and cook for approx 40 minutes.
8. Leave to cool .

For Icing:

1.Melt the butter in a pan
2.Add the icing sugar and cocoa and milk
3. Mix throughly and spread over the cake.



(For devils chocolatety cake reduce the icing sugar to 4 oz and add 8 oz milk chocolate instead. To make this icing you will need to folow steps 1 and 2 then melt that chocolate and add to icing.)

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Carrot Cake

Chocolate crunch Barfi

Couscous Salad

Couscous Salad-Couscous a grain made from rolled semolina wheat and very popular in Middle Eastern dishes. It’s very versatile; although on its own it’s bland in taste it can be flavoured in variety of different ways to suit the dish. It makes a beautiful and delicious salad or it can be served as a substitute for rice with any vegetable dish.
I first tried this salad whilst on holiday in Greece at a quaint Turkish Cypriot restaurant and since then it’s become a firm family favourite.

Ingredients

1 cup dry instant couscous (will yield 2.5 cups when cooked)
2 inch piece cucumber diced
1 tomato deseeded and diced
2 spring onions finely sliced
1 small carrot grated
1/4 red pepper finely diced
1/4 green pepper finely diced
8 seedless grapes cut in halves
1 tablespoon jalapeno peppers in brine (bottled)
1 tablespoon fresh chopped coriander
4 lemon wedges for garnishing

Dressing:

Juice of 1/2 a lime
1/2 teaspoon lime zest
1/2 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon white pepper powder
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons Tabasco sauce (hot red pepper sauce)

Method:

1. Make up the instant couscous as per packet instructions. Once couscous is ready, fluff it up with a fork and leave to cool.
2. In a jar with a lid add all the dressing ingredients plus 1 tablespoon brine from the jalapeno peppers. Shake and keep a side.
3. Add the dressing to the cooled couscous and stir in.
4. Mix together the diced cucumber, tomato, carrots and spring onions and peppers and the grapes. Stir in the flavoured couscous and toss together.
5. Transfer the couscous salad to a serving platter and sprinkle on top the jalapeno peppers and coriander.
Serve immediately with hot crusty bread or pitta bread and lemon wedges.

You may like:

Garden Salad with Italian herb dressing.

Khichdi (rice with lentils)

Khichdi-A glutonous porridge type of rice dish made with short grain rice and lentils.It is a hearty gujarati comfort food which is served with spinach or aubergine curry, kadhi (yoghurt soup)and rotla(millet rotis).

Ingredients:

1 cup patna shortgrain rice or thai jasmine basmati rice
3/4 cup split moong dhal with husk
1 teaspoon turmeric
2 teaspoons salt.
1 dollop of butter or ghee for serving
6 cups water

Method:

1.Wash the rice and dhal and place in a deep saucepan .
2.Add the water and the salt and turmeric.
3.Leave to soak for 1 hour
4.After 1 hour bring the rice and dhal mixture to boil, once boiling,turn the heat to the lowest setting cover the pan and leave to simmer for about 25 minutes
5.The khichdi is ready when all the water is absorbed ,it should be glutonous and soft and sticky.
6.While khichdi is still hot mix throughly and add a dollop of butter or ghee before serving.

Serve with aubergine or spinach sabji, kadhi and rotla.






You may like:
Gujarati Kadhi
Masala stuffed baby aubergines in gravy.

Masala Stuffed baby aubergines in gravy.

Masala stuffed baby aubergines in gravy – Whole baby aubergines stuffed with a spicy mixture, steamed and cooked in tomato gravy.
For Gravy:

3 medium ripe tomatoes ( chopped and blended smooth
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
1 tablespoon tomato puree
½ teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon chilli powder
½ teaspoon mustard seeds
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
3 tablespoons water

For stuffing:

2 tablespoons peanuts coarsely ground.
1 tablespoon chick pea flour (besan)
1 teaspoon ground cumin powder
1 teaspoon ground coriander powder
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 table spoon sunflower oil


Method:

1. Wash the aubergines and dry them.
2. Make a slit a long the length of the aubergine on one side only. Do not remove the stalk
3. Mix all the ingredients listed in the stuffing list above. It should make a crumbly mixture.
4. Lightly fill the cavity of the each aubergine with this stuffing mixture. (If there is any left over keep aside and can be added to gravy later)
5. Place the stuffed aubergines in a steamer and steam for 20 mins until tender (alternatively can be cooked in microwave in a covered dish for about 8-10 mins till tender.
6. While aubergines are steaming, heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a shallow pan, when hot add the mustard seeds.
7. Add the blended tomatoes and tomato puree and sauté.
8. Add turmeric powder, chilli powder and salt. At this stage you can also add any remaining stuffing you may have and 3-4 tablespoons of water to make thick gravy.(adjust as needed)
9. Cook the gravy till spices infuse in to the tomatoes and the gravy starts to leave oil.
10. Remove the aubergines from the steamer and place over the tomato gravy side by side. Do not stir otherwise aubergines will break.
11. Gently spoon over some of the gravy over the aubergines.
12. Cover the pan and heat through the aubergines on low heat about 5-8 mins.
13. Transfer to serving dish and garnish with chopped coriander.

Serve with Khichdi, Kadhi and Rotla (recipes for khichdi and rotla to follow soon.)



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Bainghan ka bartha

Chana Dhal ( split chickpea dhal)

Chana ( split chickea)dhal-A warm and hearty dhal, thick and chunky cooked in an array of aromatic spices. An ideal accompaniment to crispy finger parthas and rice.
Ingredients:

2 cups chana dhal (split chickpeas)
1 teaspoon ginger paste
1 teaspoon garlic paste
4 green chillies finely chopped
1.5 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon turmeric
2 tomatoes peeled chopped and pureed
½ teaspoon mustard seeds
2 red dried chillies
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ teaspoon chilli powder
1 tablespoon fresh coriander for garnish

Method:

1.Wash and soak the chana dhal in water over night.
2. Drain the dhal and cook with 2 pints water in a large vessel on stove top.(approx 25 mins) Dhal should be cooked but still holding shape not mushy
3. In a pan heat the oil when hot add the mustard seeds and red chillies.
4. Add the garlic and saute for 30 seconds taking care not to burn it.
5.Add the pureed tomatoes, ginger and chopped chillies.
6.Add the salt, turmeric and chilli powder and cook till spices and tomatoes blended and tomatoes start to leave oil.
7. Add the cooked dhal to the spice mixture and simmer on medium heat for 10 minutes.
8. With the back of a ladle gently press the dhal to break some of it up to give thickness to dhal. Add a little more water if needed.
9.Adjust seasoning if required.Transfer to serving dish and garnish with chopped coriander.

Serve with Crunchy finger parathas and rice.

Serving suggestion: Break up the Crunchy parathas on a plate and pour over hot piping dhal. Eat immediately with onion and tomato salad.




You may like:
Gujarati style tuver dhal.