Orange almond cake

 

Ingredients

Butter-100gms, at room temperature

Demera Sugar-1/2 cup

Eggs-2

Almonds-125 gms

Fine semolina-1/2 cup

Baking powder-1/2 tsp

Finely grated zest of orange-1 tsp

Juice of 1 orange

To make syrup

1/2 cup of caster sugar

2 tbsp of honey

6 tbsps of water

juice of 1 lemon(optional)

1/2 tsp – fennel seeds

1 tsp – Rosemary, chopped

1 orange ,thinly sliced

Method

1.Preheat the oven to 160*C

2.Beat the butter and sugar in electric mixer for 5 minutes.

3.Beat in the eggs, one at a time

4.Combine, almonds, semolina, baking powder, salt and orange zest

5.Gently mix into the egg mixture with orange juice

6.Tip into the greased 20cm square baking tray. Bake for 30 minutes until golden and firm 

7.Cool the cake.

To make syrup

1.Mix all the ingredients in a pan except orange slices, boil it until it starts bubbling.

2.Reduce the flame to low, add the orange slices. Cook another 3 minutes. Switch off the flame and leave it aside.

3.Add the syrup while the cake is cold and leave it for 3-4 hours before serving.

Bhoondi ladoo

Ingredients

Besan -1 cup

For Sugar Syrup

Sugar-1 cup

Water-Half cup

Method

Sieve the besan 

Make a thin batter of it

Heat the oil and use boondhi ladle or similar one to make boondhi

To make the Sugar Syrup...

The Consistency of Sugar Syrup must be thick as the bubbles itself..

Make little more thicker than one string consistency for laddu....

Add the boondhi to sugar syrup when syrup is still hot, Add the fried nuts and raisin in it

Tips

Hope it will be useful

 Always sieve the besan flour before using it

Make the batter as thin as dosa batter

To get fine boondhis,

If u r not using boondhi ladle, never wipe the batter using a vessel on it

neither tape it to get the ball drop-lets..

 Clean the ladle from batter for every batch

Always hold the ladle 2 inches above the oil..

Remove the boondhis ,while it stops sizzling in the oil

For sugar syrup make them into thick consistency

Add the Cardamom and Pacha Karpuram in Syrup itself

Add the boondhis as a single batch to the syrup to get even color

Let the boondhis goes semi dry and then make balls with mild pressure ,

(may be with a little hint of ghee)

To test the perfect soaked bondi, press them in tip of ur finger, the boondi will be sponger and oozes sugar syrup...

Place the ladoos in a tray with a semi opened cover or place the paper on top.. So it dries somemore

Never keep them in air tight container as soon as u made it, It will spoil soon and breaks easily

Many newly weds are struggling to make this...The below tips are for those who tried and cudn't make it well...

Tips to Try again

If u dont get fine balls , Grind the boondhis coarsely and mix with perfect ones..

If u had over cooked the boondhis and turned very hard (if u added more rice flour or less water),

Sprinkle some hot water on hard boondhis and then add to the syrup

If the sugar goes too thick, add some water and boil it again to get perfect consistency...

Pesto pasta

 

To Make Pesto Sauce

Basil - 250 gms(3 cups)

Walnuts -1/3 cup

Olive Oil -1/3 cup

Salt -1/4 tsp

Method

Grind the basil leaves, garlic, walnuts and salt without water

Add the olive oil to the basil and grind it, Pour the thick sauce in an air tight container

This sauce can be stored for 6 months...

To Make Pesto Pasta

Ingredients

Pasta - 250 gms

Olive oil -1 tsp

Garlic, chopped - 2 cloves

Bell Pepper sliced - 1 cup

Pesto Sauce -3 tsps

Parmesan Cheese -2 tsps

Method

Boil the pasta and drain the water

Heat a pan, pour a tsp of olive oil

Saute the garlic and vegetables

Add the cooked pasta to it

Add the pesto sauce and toss the pasta

Sprinkle some cheese and serve it hot...



Chocolate banana bread

 

Ingredients

All purpose flour-1 cup

Sugar-3/4 cup

Cocoa powder- 1/2 cup

Baking powder- 3/4 tsp

Baking soda -1/2 tsp

Salt-1/4 tsp

Butter-1/2 cup, melted

Egg-1, egg yolk-1

Vanilla essence-1 tsp

Yogurt -1/4 cup

Banana - 2

Chocolate chips -1+1/4 cup

Method

1.Preheat oven for 350*Fahrenheit

2.Beat eggs, banana, butter and sugar with a beater

3.Mix all dry ingredients from all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt

4.Add yogurt, vanilla essence to the  wet ingredients.

5.Add dry ingredients in three portions gently and fold n mix all the ingredients together.

6.Add chocolate chips to the batter and fold gently

7.Add the batter to greased baking loaf pan

8.Bake at 350* Fahrenheit for 35 minutes.

Lavendar cupcake

Kindly requested my cousin shobana senthilkumar,who been an inspiration to start this blog to do a guest post.We loved sharing family recipes and the love for food and cooking is in the blood.So,here i am presenting her lavendar cupcakes…

Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 tablespoons dried lavender buds
2/3 cup cold milk

Procedure
Cream butter sugar together, add 1 egg at a time beat till it reaches a creamy texture. Then add in vanilla extract. Mix all the dry ingredients in along with a dried lavender seeds. Finally add milk and beat for 5 mins. Fill in the cupcake liners with 3/4 cup of batter and bake for 12 to 15 mins for 350″f.

Banana upside down cake

Ingredients

Butter-1/2 cup ,melted

Brown Sugar-1 cup

Eggs-2

Vanilla essence-1 tsp

All purpose flour-11/2 cup

Baking soda-1 tsp

Salt-1/2 tsp

Sour cream-1/2 cup

Walnuts-1/2 cup

Banana -3

Method

1.Mix flour,baking soda and salt ,Sift 2-3 times.

2.In a bowl, beat eggs ,sour cream, sugar and vanilla essence

3.Smash 2 bananas and add to the egg, beat them

4.Mix the flour mixture to eggs and beat gently or fold them

5.Grease a 8 inch baking pan layer sliced bananas and pour the batter

6.Bake in a preheated oven at 350* for 30 minutes.

Ribbon pakoda

Ingredients

Rice flour-1 cup

Besan flour-2 cups

Roasted bengal gram flour-1/4 cup

Butter-1 tsp

Asafoedia-1/2 tsp

Chilli powder-1/2 tsp

Oil to deep fry

Salt

Method

1.Mix Rice flour, besan flour, roasted bengal gram flour, salt, butter, asafoedia , chilli powder and 2 tsps of hot oil.

2.Add water to the flour and make wet dough

3.Heat oil in a pan and squeeze dough into thin strips spreading all over the oil

4.Flip them and fry both sides, crispy and remove when the sizzling of oil stops.