Orange cashew cake with chopped nuts inside and chocolate Icing

Special cake for the special one :D

On my husband's birthday I was thinking about which cake to bake. This time also didnt want to go by any recipe and wanted to try something by my own and finally we both (me and my son) decided to bake this super yummilicious cake for papa.

Ingredients required:

All purpose flour (Maida)- 1 cup
Wheat flour (Atta) -1/2 cup
Baking powder -1/4 tspn
Baking soda -1/4 tspn

Sieve the above ingredients through a narrow meshed sieve. And repeat the process twice as it helps in giving better aeration to the flour and thus making the cake softer.

Chopped nuts - 1/4 cup
Mix well the nuts with the flour. Keep it aside.

Other ingredients required are

Orange juice fresh -1 cup ( of one big orange). I have used the fresh one to get better taste
Sugar -1 & 1/2 cup powdered
Egg -3 numbers (separate the yellow and white)
Curd -1/2 cup + milk 1/2 cup (Total 1 cup)
Butter -100 gms
Cheese -50 gms
Orange food colour -less than 1/4 tspn
Orange essence - less than 1/4 tspn .

For icing :
The ingredients required are Icing sugar, butter, fresh cream and chocolate bar. Melt the chocolate bar in milk and make it thicker and can use. the quantity you can use as required.

Mix butter + cheese and powdered sugar and beat well till fluffy.  Add egg yellow and beat it again. Add curd + milk and again beat. Add the food essence and beat again. Finally add the food colour and egg white. beat again till light . fold in the sieved batter and mix till no lumps are there.

Grease the pan , dust with  flour and pour the batter and bake in a preheated oven at 200 degree for 30 minutes or till done.

Veg Kheema stuffed in snakegourd

Sounds different ? Generally kheema is minced meat of mutton or beef or chicken . But here I have given a twist for the vegetarians. Have used soya granules as kheema. It tasted good. And all soya lovers you have one more item to try with the granules.

Tasted this recipe with kheema from a friend's home and her mom had cooked it so tasty that I cudnt resist myself from trying this out of my own imaginations.

Recipe:
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soya granules -2 cups

Boil the soya in excess of water adding required amount of salt and when it is cooled squeeze of the water. Wash in cold water again and squeeze. Continue this process till the water coming out is clear and white.

snake gourd - (thin ones are better) -2-3 cut into cyndrical shapes.
Onion -3 medium
Garlic and ginger -minced to fresh paste -2 tbspn
keep 2-3 garlic pods and 1/4 inch ginger chopped extra for seasoning
shallots-5 to 6 nos
curry leaves -few, dhaniya leaves- few chopped

Make a masala of soya granules. For that heat some oil add chopped onions (2 nos) , freshly ground ginger garlic paste, few curry leaves, saute till nice aroma comes. Add the masala one by one
Turmeric power -1/2 tspn
Red chilli powder -1/2 tspn
Coriander powder-1 tspn
Gharam masala -1/4 tspn
Mix well and add the soya granules now . Mix everything together till the flavour gets into the granules.can add salt if required. Once done allow it to cool.

Fill this mix in the cylindrical shapes of snake gourd and press it hard to make a tight pack. (or else it will disperse off into the gravy).

For the gravy

Heat oil in a kadai. Crack some mustard seeds, saunf, small onions chopped, garlic pods and ginger chopped. Saute well and add curry leaves. Now add the following masala

turmeric powder-1/2 tspn
Red chilli powder -1/2 tspn
Coriander powder -3 tspn
Mix on low flame till the raw smell is gone. Now add enough water to cook the snake gourd pieces. Allow it to boil. Now add freshly ground gharam masala.
Once start boiling slowly drop in the stuffed snake gourds and cook on low flame Adjust the amount of salt required. In between turn the stuffed pieces so that the upper side also gets cooked. Cook covered. dont saute in between or else the stuffing will come outside.

All the non-veg lovers please try this with minced meat as the taste is awesome with meat. Veg lovers can try this recipe using soya granules. Serve with Rice or Roti. If can take a little effort this is really worth trying.

Beetroot Cutlet

This is a semi sweet and yummy cutlet. All the members in my family like this very much. My son also who does not like to eat vegetables or beetroot if given in a curry form tastes this without any complaint. So I guess surely this can become a hit in ur house too. :)

Ingredients required are

Beetroot grated -2 nos
Mashed aloo -2 nos
Onion chopped- 1 medium
Curry leaves, Ginger and gharam masala as required.
Can also add other ingredients according to your taste .

To enhance the taste I have added Mayonnise to this .can add butter or cheese instead

Mix everything together, roll on a batter of egg white or Maida, roll on bread crumps and deep fry. Enjoy with ketchup/sauce.

Spinach egg

This is a High protein dish with a different taste. A blend of chinese flavour is given to spinach and added boiled egg on top of it. Very easy to make recipe with minimum ingredients.

Ingredients required are

Egg boiled -2-4
spinach -1 bunch
Onion -1 
capsicum -1
garlic -5-6 cloves
ginger -1/2 inch chopped
Pepper and crushed pepper corns -as required

Cube the onion, capsicum and garlic. in a kadai heat some oil and add the chopped spinach leaves, few garlic and ginger cubes. Sprinkle some pepper powder. Allow the water coming out of the leaves to evaporate and make it dry .( Remember we have not added the salt to it).
In another pan heat some oil and saute the onion, garlic, ginger and capsicum (at last).  Now add the following sauces

Soya sauce -1 tspn
Chillic sauce (green chilli) -1 tspn
tomato ketchup -1 & 1/2 tsp
Mix well till raw smell is gone.

Finally add the cooked spinach and mix well. Sprinkle some pepper powder or crushed pepper on top if u want it to be a little more spicy. The sauces give the required saltiness to the dish. If you feel like adding a little more of salt then can just sprinkle some salt on to it. Now add the boiled eggs, scourged on sides on top of it. simmer the flame. Cover and keep it for few seconds till the flavour blends well with the egg. Enjoy with White rice.

Chena ( elephant yam) masala fry

We can use elephant Yam ( Chena in malayalam) for makign a variety of curries. This one is a different yet simple recipe that kids love too much. 

Ingredients

Elephant yam - 1 medium cut into small strips
Masalas required are
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tspn
Red chilli powder -1/2 - 3/4 tspn
Veg masala -1/4 tspn If you dont have veg/sabji masala u can add gharam masala or chicken masala too

Marinate the whole together with salt and leave for few minutes. If u see the water left out from the yam after marination throw it off as it will be a bit sticky. Fry the dry pieces in oil and serve with Rice or can have as a snack with sauce/ketchup

Dry nuts Upma

Most of us do not like to have upma . This is surely a relief for them

 
Just try this different and yet tastier version of our normal (boring) and common preparation.


Ingredients required

Bansi Rava - 1 &1/2 cup
Water - 3 cups
Onion chopped- 1 medium
Green chillies ( chopped) 2 nos
Salt and oil - as required
Curry leaves - few
ghee- 1tspn
Nuts/ dry fruits -as per your taste

I have used peanuts, cashew nuts, raisins for this. you can add other dry fruits also as per your taste

Heat oil in a kadai, crack mustard seeds, saute onion, green chillies, curry leaves, Add water and allow to boil. Add salt to this. Once bubbles are formed add Rava and stir on low flame till powdery.

Heat some ghee in a tadka pan and saute the dry fruits and nuts one by one. Garnish this on top of upma. Mix well while serving. SERVE HOT WITH FRIED PAPAD as it tastes even better with papad.
Can also prepare the upma in ghee for better taste or even drizzle a tspn of hot ghee on top while serving for excellent taste.

Yummilicious Choco-Nut Dosa

Yummy and Delicious choco-nut Dosa
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This crispy Dosa with chocolate melted in hot ghee is dedicated to all kids and all those who love to dig in Chocolates.

Very easy to make and yummilicous dosa for kids. I got surprised to see my son finishing and wiping off his plate very fast in few minutes. thats Really a satisfactory moment for any mom in this world. :D

The ingredients required are just three. 1) Dosa batter and 2) chocolate bars (either cooking chocolate /hazelnut choco bars that are available in various brands) and 3) few chopped nuts and badam (or can grate it too for better taste)

Pour out a laddle of batter on medium heat Tawa. Spread it to a thin dosa. Slowly increase the flame and drizzle drops of ghee on sides and center. Tilt the pan so that the ghee evenly spreads everywhere.

Now grate the chocolate on top of dosa. Immediately it starts melting on hot ghee. Spread the chopped or grated nuts.  Wait till sides get crispier. Can adjust the flame high/low accordingly. Slowly detach the sides of the dosa from pan and Roll on.

This is medium sweet in taste and the hot flavour of chocolate plus the yummy taste of ghee gives it a superb taste. This Dosa doesnt require any side dish also. You can have as such.Try this at home and  Enjoy :)