Recipe Index

 Whole Orange Cake  

Whole Orange Cake

 

 

Ingredients:

1 large navel orange or 2 mandarin oranges
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
3 eggs
pinch of salt
1/2 cup room temperature butter or 2/3 cup oil
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup milk
2 cups flour (I used whole wheat flour)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour cake pan. A bundt pan works best but you can use any big pan. Cut orange in half, remove seeds, squeeze orange and reserve the juice. Put the peel including the white pith, in the food processor. Work it in bursts till the peel is finely chopped. Add the eggs, milk and butter or oil and process till everything is mixed well but not too much. Sift flour and salt with baking soda and baking powder; add sugar, nuts and raisins. Add blended mixture to dry ingredients. Mix till just incorporated. Pour batter into pan, bake for about an hour or till done. (Toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean)

For an extra orangey flavor, if you have orange liqueur, sprinkle it on the done but still warm cake. Refrigerate it if you do so.

Choco Bread P – U – Ding Ding recipe (That’s what I called it when I was little!)

 

4-6 slices of stale preferably brown bread
1/2 litre scalding hot milk plus ¼ cup warm milk
2 eggs beaten (optional)
Sugar to taste (If not using egg, use a tin of condensed milk for sweetness)
Lots and lots of raisins and walnuts
Some cinnamon powder, nutmeg powder
2 -3 tbsp coco powder or a slab of bittersweet/ semisweet cooking chocolate, melted

Break up the bread into bite size pieces in a microwave safe dish. Mix in the raisins and walnuts. Add the coco powder to the warm milk, and mix it with the hot milk. Alternatively, add the melted choco to the hot milk. Dissolve the sugar/ condensed milk in it. Add beaten eggs if using. Add cinnamon and nutmeg powder. Dump all this on the bread, let it soak it up for about 15 minutes to a half hour. Microwave on high for 3 minutes and then on 50% power for 4- 5 minutes more, 2 minutes at a time until the pudding is set. If you want to get some browning on top after microwaving it, you can bake in a 400 C oven for 8 to 10 min. Alternately, bake in a 350C oven for about 20 to 25 min until set.

Mrs. M’s Chicken curry

About a pound and a half of chicken breasts, cut into small pieces and marinated in lemon juice, turmeric and salt. If you add some ginger garlic paste to the chicken while marinating, it will impart more flavor.

4 – 5 pieces of black cardamom
An inch of cinnamon stick
5 – 6 cloves
1 large onion, chopped
2 large or 4 small (Roma) tomatoes, chopped
1 inch piece of ginger, grated or chopped fine
8 – 10 cloves of garlic, grated or chopped fine
2 – 3 green chilies, slit down the middle and left whole
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
Chili powder to taste
Any good quality tandoori masala 1/2 teaspoon (NOT curry powder). If you don’t have this, use a mixture of cumin and coriander powder, 1/3 teaspoon each.
Now this is my secret ingredient. A heaping tablespoon of an Indian spice called Kasuri Methi. These are basically dried fenugreek leaves. If you don’t have this, use fresh coriander leaves.
Salt to taste. Freshly chopped coriander to garnish.

Method: Add 2 tablespoons of oil to the cooking pan set on medium heat. Put in the cardamom, cinnamon stick and cloves in. Swirl for a few seconds till fragrant. Now add onions, ginger and garlic along with the green chilies. Cook this over a medium heat till it starts getting a bit brown. While this is cooking, chop the tomatoes roughly – they usually get chopped while the onion mixture is browning. Tip these, juice and all into the pan with the onions, add a little salt (just enough for the onion – tomato mixture; we’ve already put some salt in the marinated chicken). Add all the spices at this point – turmeric, chili powder, tandoori masala and kasuri methi. Cover and let cook for say 3 – 4 minutes till the tomatoes start getting a little soft. Now add the chicken, along with the marinade and mix well. Cover for about 4 – 5 minutes on medium heat. Heat up about a cup of water while that is happening and add to the chicken. Cover, lower the heat and let the chicken cook for about 10 minutes. Taste and adjust the salt. Garnish with freshly chopped coriander and serve with rice or bread.

Apple cake-bread with no added sugar

 Ingredients:

1 cup chunky applesauce (no sugar added) made with the red eating apples not the green tart
2 very ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup finely chopped dates
¼ cup fresh orange juice
3 eggs, at room temperature and well beaten just before mixing with other wet ingredients
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1 ½ cup all-purpose flour (I use whole wheat flour entirely)
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
½ teaspoon ginger powder
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
½ cup walnuts

Method: Mix the first six ingredients in a bowl. Sift the remaining dry ingredients except for the walnuts into another big bowl. Make a well in the center and add the wet ingredients. Mix until just incorporated. Mix in the walnuts. Do not over-mix. If the mix seems to be really very dry, add another ¼ cup of the applesauce or half a banana or ¼ cup orange juice. Put batter into a greased and floured bundt pan. Bake in a pre-heated 350 F oven for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.