Apricot Orange Fruit Cake

Sugarless Apricot Orange Fruit Cake

The fragrance in the house while the Apricot Orange cake is baking is worth mentioning.  Before I left Bangalore, I baked a few cakes for my Mum and sister.  This can be made with or without sugar, wrapped in brown paper and foil  and stored away till Christmas.  Open every week and sprinkle  alcohol of your choice over the cake and eat it when you are ready to do so.

The Recipe:

250 gms salted butter; 200 gms dried apricots, chopped and stoned; zest and juice of 2 large oranges; 100gms sugar - optional; 4 large eggs; 260 gms flour; 1 tsp baking powder; 1 tsp cinnamon.

Crack the seeds and extract the kernels.  Keep aside for the topping.

Mix all ingredients together and gently stir  till mixture is smooth and glossy.  Pour half the batter into a greased and lined 10 inch pan, scatter half of the kernels on top and bake at 150 degrees celcius for 40 minutes or until skewer inserted in centre comes out clean.

Pour the remaining batter (half full) into cup cake cases and bake at 150 degrees celcius for 15 minutes or until skewer inserted in centre comes out clean.

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Masala Chai Apricot Fruit Cake

Masala Chai Fruit Cake

As we have a surplus of Apricots this year,  we decided to make all our Christmas Cakes with Apricots.  So we searched all over the net and combined a few recipes to come up with our very own Masala Chai Apricot Fruit Cake.  And best of all it is a butterless cake that is absolutely delicious and moist and just what one would expect a Christmas Cake to be like.

The Recipe:

3 Masala Chai Tea Bags ( brand of your choice)- I used Taj Mahal brand; 500 ml hot water; 60 gms brown sugar; 375 gms maida or all purpose flour; 2 level tsp baking powder; 250 gms cashew bits; 2 tsp cinnamon; 1/4 tsp grated nutmeg; a pinch of salt; 300 gms dried apricots, stoned and chopped into tiny pieces- crack the nuts and extract the kernels-  keep aside for topping.

Soak the tea bags in the 500 ml hot water for 10 minutes or until dark in colour.  Remove bags and soak the apricots in the tea overnight at room temperature.  Next day preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius and grease and line  a 9 inch square pan or  use cup cake cases like I did.  Strain the fruit and add to the rest of the ingredients.  Mix to combine.  Add the tea a little by little to the cake mixture, gently stirring until the batter is of a thick, flowing consistency.  Pour into pan, scatter the kernels on top and bake  for about 50 minutes or until skewer inserted in centre comes out clean.  

For Cup Cakes: Pour the batter (half full) into the cases and bake at 150 degrees celcius for 15 minutes or until skewer inserted in centre comes out clean.

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Raisin Walnut Bread

My journey with baking bread continues and my guinea pigs are very pleased with the results.  Here is another recipe I made a while ago.  It barely lasted for a sitting.  So I made it again and yet again.  I am sure, you will too.  

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Guilt Free Dessert

Anytime Dessert

This is a quick, delicious, guilt free dessert that you could make the previous night and keep in the refrigerator to soak in all the lovely flavours.  Children love it and so do adults.  We tried it out on a group of people a few weeks ago and it was walloped in 10 minutes flat.  Maybe you'd like to try it too.

The Recipe:

1 cup thick curds; honey to taste; 2 tablespoon oats; fresh fruits of your choice- I used two kinds of melon, pomegranates, grapes; 1 tsp chia seeds.

Beat the curds and honey till smooth.  Using a ball tool, scoop out the melon flesh into attractive rounds.  Peel the pomegranate and keep ready with other ingredients in a dish.

Assembling:

Take a transparent disposable plastic glass and put 1 dsp of oats at the bottom of the glass.  Pour 1/3 cup curds and honey mixture over.  Arrange a layer each of melon, grapes and pomegranate seeds on top.  Pour 1/3 cup curds over. Scatter the chia seeds on the curds.  Add the remaining oats and repeat the layers ensuring the melon and pomegranate are on top.  Close and keep overnight in the refrigerator.  Next day, enjoy this delectable desert whenever you feel like it.

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Classique Moroccan Chicken

Chicken With Cous Cous

Chicken with cous cous tastes much better than it sounds.  I was quite curious as to how it would taste and to my surprise it was really good- feedback received from daughter number two.  I googled cous cous and found out it was similar to rawa or soji  so used that instead.  This is a baked dish, quite dry , low in calories and goes well with chappathis or bread of any kind.  For those who like it watery add more soup. 

The Recipe:

1 kg chicken jointed, washed and drained; 1/2 cup coarse  rawa ( soji) ; 1 cup hot water; 1 chicken soup cube; 1 large onion, chopped; 5 garlic cloves, minced; 1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp coriander powder; 1 1/2 tsp jeera (cumin) powder; 6 dates, pitted and chopped fine;  1/4 cup almond flakes; 1 stick cinnamon; 1 tbsp honey; 1/4 tsp cinnamon powder; salt and pepper to taste;  stir fried vegetables of your choice to serve.

Dissolve the  soup cube in the hot water and pour over the soji or rawa.  Cover and keep aside for 5 minutes.  Fluff with a fork and add 1 tbsp oil and keep aside till required.  
Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a nonstick pan and stir fry onions and garlic till golden brown.  Stir in the coriander and cumin powder, dates and almonds and cook for two to three minutes or till soft.  Stir in the rawa mixture and add the chicken pieces and cinnamon stick to it. Season with salt and pepper to taste.   Mix together until all the chicken pieces are coated and transfer to a large baking dish.  
Whisk the honey, ground cinnamon, a dash of salt and pepper, remaining cumin powder and olive oil and pour over chicken.  Bake in a preheated oven at 200 C or 400 F for 40 to 45 minutes or until juices run clear when pierced with a metal skewer.  Remove from oven, keep covered for 10 minutes and serve with vegeables of your choice.

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Arabic Rice

Arabic Rice

I loved this rice from the minute I ate it a few years ago in Bangalore and made up my mind to get the recipe by hook or by crook.  I can't tell you how many recipes I've tried from www.google.com and how often we ate the many versions of  Arabic Rice.  To cut a long story short, I was going through my list of recipes last month and decided to google the internet once more and I found what I had been searching for.  Here it is, modified by me.  I cooked and froze about 6 boxes for the family to use while I am travelling or too lazy to cook.

The Recipe:

1 kg skinless chicken, jointed, washed and drained; 250 gms Low G. I. brown  Basmathi rice, washed and drained; 1 large tomato, quartered; a fe carrots; 6 cloves garlic, crushed;  1 lemon juiced; rind of 1 lemon; 1 tsp pepper to taste; 1/4 cup olive oil; 1 stick cinnamon; 3 cloves; 3 cardamoms; 1large onion sliced; 500 ml water. 3 boiled eggs for garnish, halved.

Mix the spices, garlic, lemon juice, rind, pepper powder and olive oil in a bowl.  Marinade the chicken in half of this mixture for 30 minutes.  Next, boil the chicken and carrots in 500 ml water and simmer for 5 minutes.  Take the chicken and carrots out and keep warm.  Measure 500 ml stock to cook the rice and keep the remaining aside.
Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a non stick pan and stir fry half the onions till glazed.  Add the rice and gently stir fry till coated with oil.
Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in another non stick pan and  fry the remaining onions till golden brown.  Add the remaining lemon and olive oil mixture and stir fry for 2 minutes.  Add to the rice and mix well.  Transfer to rice cooker and add the 500 ml stock.  Cook till done.  Transfer to large pyrex dish and layer the chicken and rice.  Pour the remaining stock over and bake for 15 minutes at 200 C or 400 F till the chicken on top is brown.  Garnish with carrots and boiled eggs and serve with a mint and cucumber yoghurt.  This is one dish I could eat everyday.  Mmmm...

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Baked Seer Fish With Gravy

Baked Seer Fish With Gravy

This is a wonderful recipe to serve at parties and to make an impression.  It is not only a visual treat and  a gastronomical delight- it is easy to prepare.  Just get everything ready the night before and throw it in the oven the next day.  Multi task and get everything done together.

The Recipe:

1 small seerfish ( about 900 gms), gutted, washed and drained. Slash the fish on both sides to enable the marinade to go in.

Masala Paste:1 tbsp ginger garlic paste; 1 dsp coriander powder; 1/2 tsp jeera powder; 1/4 tsp turmeric powder; 1 tsp chilli powder or more to taste; 2 tbsp vinegar.
  Mix all the ingredients together into a thick paste.

3 large potatoes, parboiled and sliced thickly.

Rub the masala paste inside and all over the fish and potatoes.
Marinade the fish and par boiled potatoes in the masala paste  overnight.  Next day bring to room temperature and bake fish and potatoes in a pre heated oven at 200 C or 400 F for 20 minutes each side.  Test with a metal skewer for doneness.  Rest for 10 minutes, garnish with greens and tomatoes and serve hot with boiled rice or any bread. 

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https://plateculture.com/where-to-eat/optimummm-indian-cooking-workshop