Eggless Orange Chocolate Cupcake

So here it is- The classic combo- Orange Chocolate Cake. Some days before I tried a new variation with orange flavor, I made Coffee Orange Cake and some people liked it where as some requested for chocolate orange cake recipe.I tried the eggless version of the same and I was very satisfied with result and posted it immediately. I quite relished the spongy textured Orange Chocolate Cupcake.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup All Purpose Flour
• 3/4 sugar
• ¼ honey
• 3/4 cup hot Milk
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1 stick melted butter
• 2 tbsp orange rind/grated orange peel
• tsp Baking Soda
• tsp Baking powder
• tbsp Cocoa powder
• 1 tsp orange essence (optional)
• 5 tbsp orange Juice
• 1tsp lemon juice

Method:

1. Preheat the oven at 180C for 10 minutes
2. Take bowl and put together honey,melted butter, milk, and sugar. Keep mixing till sugar dissolves.
3. Sieve together all purpose flour,salt, baking powder, cocoa powder and baking soda.
4. Slowly combine milk mixture with flour mixture. Mix till batter is smooth. Then mix in orange essence.
5. Lastly add lemon juice and orange juice and give it a quick mix.
6. Put the batter in 12 cupcake liners and Bake it for 25-30 minutes at 180C or till when toothpick inserted it comes out clean.

Notes:- This can be made into a cake also. Use 8inch round pan and the cake will turn out to b fine.

-To increase the orange flavour just add more orange rind.

Eggless Chocolate Fudge Brownies

I love brownies, I went to a restaurant recently and found Chocolate Fudge Brownies in the menu and I ordered it, and let me tell you there is a difference between normal brownies and fudge brownies! Fudge brownies are more like a cake (not a crisp layer). I wanted to try these brownies at home, after many trials I can vouch on this recipe now. All the brownies lovers do try this one!!































Ingredients:-
1 cup All purpose Flour/Maida

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter minus 2 tbsp, soft or melted at room temperature.

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup +2 tbsp yogurt

About 3/4 cup water

1/2 cup chopped chocolate or choco chips, I used milk chocolate.

1tsp vanilla extract

Method:-

1. Preheat the oven at 175 C and line a 9x9 inch brownie pan with parchment/baking paper. Brush it with a little butter.

2. Shift flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda and salt together.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk butter, yogurt and vanilla together till well blended.

4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in batches and stir. Add water in batches till you get a condensed milk like consistency. Stir in the chopped chocolates.

5. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared tin and bake it for 35 minutes. A skewer inserted in the middle of the brownie will come out clean.

6. Let it cool down at least for 2 hours before slicing. You will get neat slices then.

7. Enjoy it warm with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream and chocolate sauce.I just dusted it with icing sugar.

Notes:-Please do not skip melted chocolate, this is important to have that fudge taste.

-You can add any kinds of nuts to have that extra crunch.

Eggless Orange Coffee Marble Cake

Eggless Orange Honey Cake is an old fashioned remarkably simple and easy dessert. I wanted to make this cake into marbled cake; generally people love the combination of orange and chocolate, I wanted to try the flavor of orange with coffee and I was very satisfied and happy with the aromatic flavors  This festive season do try this cake and let me know the results.

Ingredients: 2 Cups refined Flour/maida 2 tsp Baking Powder ½ tsp. Baking Soda 2 tsp. Orange zest 2 tsp. Orange Essence 1½ tsp. Cinnamon/dalchini powder ½ tsp. Clove/laung powder ½ Cup Oil 2 tbsp orange juice 1 Cup Honey 2 tbsp coffee powder ½ Cup Milk

Method:

Preheat oven to 180C

Sift dry ingredients together into a large bowl.

In a separate bowl mix Oil, Orange Essence, Honey and Milk together. Add the mixture to the dry ingredients beating together until smooth.Lastly mix orange juice till some bubbles appear.

Take 1 cup of mixture in a separate bowl and add coffee powder to it and mix very quickly.

Pour the orange batter in a prepared pan, over it spoon the coffee batter and then with a help of a toothpick mix so that there is a marble effect.

Bake for 20-30 minutes. Allow to cool for ten minutes before cutting.

Vegetarian Grilled Quesadilla- Italain Style

The Wiki Says -- A quesadilla is a Mexican food made primarily of cheese inside a folded corn or wheat tortilla and cooked until the cheese melts. ...In simple language Quesadilla is a Mexican style stuffed paratha which has a yummy cheesy filling.

It is an ideal party snack which can be enjoyed with tea, coffee and can be had at anytime. I wanted to try this recipe from a long time, perhaps was waiting for a nice weather :-). I was very happy with the result, all I can say is that it’s my new favorite Italian dish (oh yes! I like it more than pizza.) I missed my brother while eating them because he is mad about Italian food. I mailed him the pic and he was so tempted. :)He wants me to cook this for him when I am in India next time.

Ingredients:

6 flour tortillas

1 cup grated cheese ( i used mozzarella)

1 cup chopped mushrooms

1 cup finely chopped onions

¼ cup finely chopped cabbage

¼ cup finely chopped green bell peppers

1 cup finely chopped fresh tomatoes

Butter/oil for toasting the tortillas

Salt and pepper to taste to taste

Oregano,basil,thyme mix-2 tbsp

Method:

Heat oil in a pan, saute the onions, mushrooms and green bell peppers until tender. Turn off heat. Add cabbage, tomatoes, salt,Oregano,basil,thyme mix and pepper and set aside this vegetable mixture.

Heat a frying pan to medium heat.

Take one flour tortilla and place it in the pan. Spread some butter/oil on the tortilla. Toast the tortillas for about 10 seconds each side until air pockets begin to form within the tortilla.

Spread about 2 tablespoons of the vegetable mixture over one half of the tortilla. Add about a tablespoon of cheese on top of this vegetable mixture.

Fold the tortilla covering the mixture into a half moon shape or semi circle. Press down on the tortilla for a few seconds, allowing the cheese to melt.

Take the tortilla and toast in sandwich toaster- Like in a pic below.

 If you don’t have a sandwich toaster like mine (grilled), then you can toast it in the pan itself till brown spots appear.

Serve with the lettuce, salsa or chutney

Tips:-The stuffing for the quesadillas can be anything of your choice, cooked, uncooked, any vegetables like sweet corn, baby corn, carrots, peas, beans etc. Experimenting can be lot of fun.

-It is a very good snack for parties; just keep the stuffing ready and serve hot when guests arrive.

Masala Pav- Mumbai Style

I think the time is finally here, for a super tasty spicy street food of Mumbai. No, its not Pav Bhaji but yet another member of the same family- Massala Pav. I would say Massala Pav is very similar to Pav Bhaji but is much quicker and is more like a tea time or an evening snack. Massala is spicy vegetable mash and Pav is yeasty pull apart dinner rolls.

Having lived in Mumbai, I have seen vedors selling Massala Pav as an open sandwich, roasted with butter and garnished with onions. I have also eaten the ones which are served as burger wherein a thick layer of massala is coated inside the bun, later roasted in butter and then served with chopped onions.

Massla Pav gets ready in breeze if you have all ingridents ready. My favourite way is the burger style but feel free to make it as an open sandwich as well.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons Butter

2 cloves garlic, grated
1/4 cup Onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup Tomatoes, finely chopped
1/4 cup Bell Pepper, finely chopped
2 tablespoons Coriander Leaves
2 teaspoon Pav Bhaji Masala
Red chilli powder, to taste
1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/2 cup water
Salt to taste

4 pav

1/2 cup chopped onions (to garnish)

Method:

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a pan. To it add garlic and onions. Saute for 30 seconds.

Add chopped bell peppers and tomatoes. Add 1/2 cup of water. Cover and let it cook for 1 minute.

Add the remaining ingridents and mix. Cover and cook again for 30 seconds.

Let the massala cool down.

On the same pan, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon butter.

Take bread and slit it in two halves

Apply a thick layer of massala on the innerside of pav. Close the pav and roast on the pan till it gets golden colour.

Serve with chopped onions.

Chocolate Cake With Chocolate Frosting

One more chocolate cake recipe is here, but this time with Chocolate Frosting.I kept this cake quite simple, i just pour the chocolate frosting on the cake and decorated it with almond flakes. Any time I wanted to eat a cake my mom would make this quick frosting. This frosting is very liquid in nature and best when served hot. Love this quick frosting.

Ingredients:

For Cake-
1 1/2 cup All Purpose Flour

1/2 cup sugar

3 tbsp honey

3/4 cup Milk

1/2 tsp Salt

1 stick melted butter

tsp Baking Soda

tsp Baking powder

tbsp Cocoa powder

1 tsp Vanilla essence

1 tbsp Lemon Juice

For Frosting-

150 grams dark chocolate

1/8 cup honey

3 tbsp butter

1/2 cup milk

Method:

For Cake:

1. Take bowl and put together honey,melted butter, milk, and sugar. Keep mixing till sugar dissolves.
2. Sieve together all purpose flour,salt, baking powder, cocoa powder and baking soda.
3. Slowly combine milk mixture with flour mixture. Mix till batter is smooth. Then mix in vanilla essence.
4. Lastly add lemon juice to it and give it a quick mix.
5. Bake it for 25-30 minutes at 180C or till when toothpick inserted it comes out clean.
6. For frosting boil milk till you see bubbles appear at the sides. 

For Frosting:

1. Take chopped chocolate in a bowl and pour the hot milk on the chocolate. You will see chocolate melting away, keep mixing.
2. On a very slow flame keep mixing the above mixture till chocolate is melted. Add honey and butter, mix till it is glossy and butter has melted away.
3. Just pour the above frosting on the cake and decorate with almond flakes. 

Baked Channa Dal- Haldiram's Style

Who doesn't like to eat fried channa dal, but what if the same dish is converted into baked one with only 1 tbsp of oil. Oh yes! its like a craving come true :) There are very famous brand of snacks in India which are liked by all of us like Haldirams, Bikaji, Samrat etc. I love Haldiram's Fried Channa Dal, so I thought of making it baked. Every diwali I wanted to eat this dish and one day my mom baked it for me; It was tasty, when I ate it all she told me that it was baked;).So this Diwali lets make Baked Channa Dal

 Ingredients:

Channa Dhal-1cup
Salt-to taste
Red Chilli Powder-To taste
Olive Oil-1tbsp

Procedure:
Wash and soak channa dhal for 2hours.

Drain water and spread it out on cloth to absorb extra mositure.
When dal is dry, take a bowl and mix oil, salt and red chilli on it. Mix dal and spices well.
Take a baking tray and line it with foil. Spread the prepared channa dal on the foil.
At a Preheat oven to 200C. Bake the dal until golden brown. It takes around 10-12 minutes. 

When you will take it out from oven, it looks soft but when cooled it becomes crunchy.

Eggless Chocolate Cupcakes- Celebrating 100th Post

Celebration Time- Its my 100th post, So I chose to make chocolate cupcakes.I am sure all of us love Chocolate Cupcakes. This is a very easy chocolate cupcake recipe, all we need is hot milk ; no condensed milk or curd is needed, so even if your milk is not at the room temperature and you wish to make a cake, ah! no problem at all, just heat the milk and you are ready to go. I took this recipe from my friend who is an excellent baker (especially her eggless baking is too good.)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup All Purpose Flour
• 3/4 sugar
• ¼ honey
• 3/4 cup hot Milk
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1 stick melted butter
• tsp Baking Soda
• tsp Baking powder
• tbsp Cocoa powder
• 1 tsp Vanilla essence
• 1 tbsp Lemon Juice

Method:

1. Take bowl and put together honey,melted butter, milk, and sugar. Keep mixing till sugar dissolves.
2. Sieve together all purpose flour,salt, baking powder, cocoa powder and baking soda.
3. Slowly combine milk mixture with flour mixture. Mix till batter is smooth. Then mix in vanilla essence.
4. Lastly add lemon juice to it and give it a quick mix.
5. Bake it for 25-30 minutes at 180C or till when toothpick inserted it comes out clean.

Kadai Chole: Street Food Style: Dry Version

For all this time if like me, you have also thought that Channa Massala/Pindi Channa is similar to Kadai Chole,  then you are mistaken. Well Channa Massala or as we say regular chole is wet in consistency whereas Kadai Chole is the drier version. While making channa massala you want the chole to be dark in colour and that is why you need to add tea bags while boiling the chickpeas but so is not a case in kadai chole. Please go to my recipe for- Punjabi Chole: ChannaMasala for detailed recipe.

Just like Rajma Chawal (red kidney beans and rice) Chole Chawal is also a popular combination. But Kadai Chole as already mentioned is very dry and thus doesn’t go well with rice. I believe Kadai Chole is overwhelming when served with indian breads.

Kadai is an Indian utensil just like a wok but it’s heavy bottomed which makes it perfect to roast the massala. One of the most important ingredients to bring that exotic flavour is ajwain or carom seeds. The final step of kadai chole street food style authentic recipe involves tadka/tempering of ajwain and ghee. Here is how to make Kadai Chole.

Ingredients:
2 cups chickpeas/ chole
2 teaspoon garam masala
2 medium tomatoes- finely chopped
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, grated
2-3 green chillies, slit
2-3 cloves/laung

1 black cardamom/badi elyachi

2 inch cinnamon stick/dal chinni

1 teaspoon turmeric powder/haldi

1 tablespoon coriander powder/dhaniya powder
1/2 teaspoon red chili powder/lal mirch
2 teaspoon cumin powder/jeera powder
1 tablespoon cumin seeds/jeera

1 inch ginger, cut into thin strips
salt to taste

1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 tablespoon oil

1 teaspoon ghee

1/4 teaspoon carom seeds/ajwain

2 tablespoon coriander leaves, chopped

Method:
Wash and soak chana in 3 cups of water overnight. Drain and pressure cook with 3 cups of water and salt and turmeric for 3-4 whistle.
Heat oil in a kadai. When hot add laung, elaychi, cinnamon stick. Let it roast for 5 seconds.

Add in cumin seeds. Let it crackle.

Add chopped onion and grated garlic. Sauté till onions become soft and transparent.

Add chopped tomatoes. Mix in coriander powder, jeera powder, red chilli powder, garam massala. Add 1/2 glass of water. Cover and cook on low to medium flame for 8 minutes.

When tomatoes and soft and massala is well cooked, add in green chillies, ginger and lime juice.

Add boiled chickpeas. Cover and cook again for 10 minutes.

In another pan heat ghee, when ghee gets hot add ajwain seeds. Let it crackle. Add this as a tempering on the cooked chickpeas.

Mix. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Serve hot.

Eggless Chocolate Almond Cake-No Condensed Milk And No Curd

Eggless cake is not very easy to make. I have seen many recipes for eggless cake with curd or condensed milk, but I always use the below recipe for eggless cakes and it turns out to be fine. All of us learn something from our experiences, thus my this recipe is for the best teacher in the world -"Experience". With many trials and observations I could finally rely on this recipe. This recipe will make cake crust crispy, just like brownies. Do make this one.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup All Purpose Flour

3/4 sugar

¼ honey

3/4 cup Milk

1/2 tsp Salt

1 stick melted butter

tsp Baking Soda

tsp Baking powder

tbsp Cocoa powder

1 tsp Vanilla essence

1 tbsp Lemon Juice

1/8 cup almond flakes (optional)

Method:

Take bowl and put together honey,melted butter, milk, and sugar. Keep mixing till sugar dissolves.

Sieve together all purpose flour,salt, baking powder, cocoa powder and baking soda.

Slowly combine milk mixture with flour mixture. Mix till batter is smooth. Then mix in almond flakes and vanilla essence.

Lastly add lemon juice to it and give it a quick mix.

Bake it for 25-30 minutes at 180C or till when toothpick inserted it comes out clean.

Notes-Any other type of nut can also be added. 

-Just increase the amount of maida and omit cocoa flour to make vanilla cake.

Jowar Ki Roti/ Sorghum Indian Flat Bread-Gluten Free

Jowar/Sorghum is very healthy and one must include Sorghum in his/her diet quite often. Jowar ki roti is very famous Indian flat bread eaten during winter. This roti is gluten free and rich in fibers  Like most of the people I was also scared of trying this type of bread at home, but believe me cooking Jowar ki roti is no rocket science. My mom is expert in making various kinds of rotis; and she gave me the secret of making this roti. She said that If you kneed the dough well then you can never go wrong with it. Now when winters are approaching;I had to try this recipe. And yes! I did it and she was right there is no Rocket Science in this recipe. Love You Maa!..

Ingredients:

1 cup Jowar Flour  1 cup hot boiling Water Salt to taste 1 tbsp Ghee

Method:

Mix the Jowar flour, water and salt to form smooth dough. Kneed it for 3-4 minutes.Divide in equal portions. Roll out each portion (either by palm or by rolling pin) into a roti and put it on a hot griddle over medium flame. Cook from both sides and then put it directly on the fire to puff up. Turn it over during puffing and put off the flame. Now smear a 1/8 tsp of ghee over the Jowar Roti.

Lauki Kofta Ki Dahivali Curry/Fried Bottlegroud Dumplings In Yougurt Sauce

Bottle gourd in India is known by many names; people call it lauki, doodhi, ghiya-and It is a very nutritious vegetable. I love pretty much any kofta-based recipe and lauki kofta has been on my mind for ages now.Last year when I went to mom-in-law's place she taught me how to make this curry. So here comes my thanks to her. Enjoy with rice, roti or parthas.

Ingredients :

Grated Lauki/Bottleguord  – 1 cup

Besan/Gram flour/Chickpea flour – couple of spoons to bind the koftas

Yoghurt/Curd/Dahi -1.5 cups

Cashew nut powder/Kaju ka powder – 2 tsp

Onion – 1 medium finely chopped

Green chillies – 2 chopped

Coriander/Dhaniya powder – 2 tbsp

Chilli powder -1 tsp

Salt to taste

Turmeric/Haldi powder – a pinch

Coriander leaves for garnishing

Oil for deep frying

Method

1. Mix the grated luaki with little salt and keep it aside for 5 mins. Now sqeeze out as much water as you can out of the lauki and mix it with little besan and chilli powder. The quantity of besan should be just enough to bind the koftas and to absorb the little moisture it has.
2. Now heat oil in a kadai and deep fry the koftas to golden brown. Keep aside the koftas in a tissue or kitchen towel to drain the excess oil
3. Now to make the gravy add a spoonful of oil in a skillet and splutter the mustard and cumin seeds. Then add green chillies and onions with little salt.
4. Once the onion gets cooked, whisk up the yoghurt nicely with coriander, turmeric and chilli powder and add it to the skillet. Keep stirring frequently so that the yoghurt does not fall apart. Let it simmer for around 5 minutes
5. Now add the powdered cashews and then bring it to a boil and switch it off. The cashew powder just thickens sauce a bit.
6. Put all the fried koftas in the gravy and mix.

Eat piping hot with bread or rice.