why i love sunday.

every sunday, after performing our ward librarian duties, we come home and make a big delicious breakfast. this week i was out of my favorite waffle mix so i turned to my go to cook book -- better homes and gardens -- and made my own. i will never use the mix again. these are so fluffy and delicious. you can get the recipe here. and if there are only 2 of you, i recommend only making half the recipe.

sometimes i wonder...do i blog about food too much??! i hope not, because food just makes me so happy.
as my mom and i always say...
we don't eat to live, we live to eat.

Madhuri's Guest Post On My Blog

Its incredible what has been happening in the last few weeks since I started blogging!! My exposure to food, baking in particular, has been mind boggling. I have been cooking and baking since quite some time, but have learnt so much only in the last few weeks. Howzatt!! I had earlier thought of my obsession with food as insane and abnormal. I am so so happy to discover that I am perfectly sane and normal:-))) There are so many folks out there who obsess with food as much or more than I do.Yaayyy!!

I have been interacting with so many foodies who are so willing to share recipes, tips and techniques, filling such a huge void I had had all these years in this area. Thanks guys for being such a supportive community!! Am thrilled at the thought of like minded folks being just a click away! Isn't that great!! May the foodie bloggers tribe increase!

Now coming to my fellow blogger and  friend Madhuri Kumar of Cook - Curry Nook.  It has been wonderful knowing her and having her as a friend and a foodie friend at that!! And we live in the same city and within reasonable driving distance(read within distance of delivering food, desserts. Wink:-)) She is the one who also gave me my first ever award which coincidentally arrived when my blog turned a month old. Thanks a ton Madhuri for the award as well as being such a pal. She has agreed to write the first guest post on my blog. Thanks again!!

Madhuri has been blogging since 4 months and she has an amazing repertoire of recipes and such drool-worthy pics on her blogs. Be sure to visit her blog , in case you haven't done so yet. Her yummmilicious Alu Makkai Sev Di Tikki, Rich Chocolate Cake, Oats Kharabhat and Bread Dahi Vada will have you scooting to your kitchen to try these out. I am really looking forward to put up her guest post here. Pssstt ..she has promised that she will be also be getting the dish for me to taste and not just show me a fab picture of the dish. Now - am really, really, really looking forward to that!! :-))

Watch this space for the delicious post from Madhuri!!

Food in Bangkok

I have eaten some great food in Bangkok. However, first I just want to mention some of the weirder stuff that has challenged me in one way or another.

We're staying at Pantip Court on Sathorn Road (great hotel btw and good value for money), and every morning we have a breakfast buffet including pastries, cereal and fruit. Being me, I have been going for the odd soup in the corner that everyone seems to avoid (seriously, in 3 days I have not seen anyone, including the Thai guests anywhere near it)

One day, that's congee with chicken (rice cooked with chiken and lots of water until it gains a gloopy consistency), spring onions, and pickled, mild, yellow chillies, with some soya sauce for flavour. And on another day, it's just boiled rice (with lots of water left in, again), with little fish bits, crispy bits of pork rind and fishy powder to add flavour. Sounds a bit disgusting, I agree, but I have really got into this savoury porridgy-type breakfast, and I'm actually looking forward to seeing what variety of rice soup they have this morning. I may even try and make it at home, as it looks really simple - boil some jasmine rice in lots of water for ages, either with bits of chicken or without, then add whatever you want to flavour it - some fish sauce, soya sauce, chillies, fishy bits, bacon bits, spring onion or chives...

 

Next, I have to mention the fruit - not really the fruit itself, but what they serve it with - a mixture of sugar, salt and chilli flakes. My family, being open-minded, tried it, and declared it an abomination, but I have to say I really like it! Of course, you won't like this first time round - it's weird - but if you keep eating it you begin to enjoy the balance of sweet, salty and spicy - it's really refreshing and will see if it tastes as good in the UK once the strawberry season starts...I may try it with apples in the meantime

And, finally, I tried something I have wanted to try every time I have been to Thailand (and that's quite a few times) but I could not bear to even pick up...which makes trying quite difficult as you can imagine... as you can see down below my little brother kindly helped me with the picking up part this time, and, after a moment of apprehension, I was away!

 

That's right, I ate bugs - the lady selling them gave us a bit of everything, even things I would have thought I didn't want to try - grasshoppers I was ready for - but larvae, maggots and fly-like-things I wasn't

 

However, it turned out that the grasshoppers were the most difficult to handle  (I think it's the faces), the maggots and larvaes - delicious! I had loads of 'em with my singha beer. The ones you can see up there, the fat ones, were really tasty and meaty inside

Finally, something on the more pleasant side - I have a restaurant to reccommend is you are staying anywhere near the Sathorn Road - it's certainly not very cheap - a meal for 4 with some wine cost int he region on 3000 baht, but it's modern and trendy with lots of young Bangkovians (is that what you'd call them?), as well as more the more chic types of tourists from nearby hotels. It's called "Pandanus"  and the address is 50 Soi Nunta, Sathorn 1 Rd.

 

The duck red curry you see up there was superb - finally something properly spicy and not watered down to Western tastes! It had grapes in it as well, which I hadn't come across before in red curry but worked really well. And above that, you see soft shelled crab with chillies and garlic - yum - and morning glory with tofu in peanut sauce - simple and delicious - I think you make do this in the UK by substituting the morning glory for something like spinach or watercress.

I really must get a new camera, as mine only has 3.2 megapixels (I have recently been informed that this is ridiculous) so can't really be expected to get accross the spirit of the food as well as I'd like it to. I was going to get one in Thailand, but it turns out they are they same price as in the UK. It's on my to-do list anyway.

Salted Caramel Cupcakes

Today was the last Saturday of February, and therefore the last day we had to get to Partridge's and sample a Crumbs and Doilies flavour of the month -salted caramel.

We got there a little later than planned due to me trapping 3 fingers in the door on the way out and then having a girlie moment about it (tears were involved..it hurt and still does!) but thankfully they still had a couple of the large salted caramel cupcakes left!

Manny spotted a stall selling some rather tasty looking chocolate goodies, Chez Moi Chez Vous, so we also got one of their chocolate "cupcakes" and then did our usual Partridge's routine - visit the lovely old couple who run the Indian Kitchen stall and get some yummy curry for lunch (I highly recommend this stall!)

We had originally planned to visit the Cupcake Company in Kensington Church Street as well, but the Central Line wasn't working and getting back from Notting Hill (where we ended up) was a pain enough without that - such a shame as we may have spotted Leona Lewis buying cupcakes..whoop-de-do. Also due to a really crap website we weren't even sure if the Cupcake Company were open (is it so difficult to list opening times etc on your site?) so we decided to head home to scoff our bounty with a cuppa!

First, the salted caramel cupcakes. Now I can't make up my mind if I like salted caramel - I like it if it's not too salty - the bacon/salted caramel cupcake we had in New York was wrong in many ways but mainly it was way too salty for my palette and led me to declare "I hate salted caramel" but since eating William Curley's salted caramel chocolates I've gotten a taste for it so was keen to try February's flavour of the month. I'm glad I did - it was gorgeous. Not too salty, but with a slight hint of saltiness in the frosting. The caramel cake was moist and very fresh and the frosting was very moreish. Definitely a winner!

Onto the chocolate "cupcake" from Chez Moi, Chez Vous - first up it really isn't a cupcake. I do wish people would stop calling something a cupcake when it isn't. This was blatantly a brownie in a cupcake case - a very tasty brownie but NOT a cupcake. Also melting a bit of chocolate on top does not frosting make. Manny of course loved it in all its chocolaty goodness, and it was nice, just not a cupcake.

Finally, a reminder that C&D's flavour of the month for March is Hot Toddy;

A spicy cinnamon, lemon and clove infused sponge combined with a delicious Irish whisky buttercream icing. Warming, indulgent and just the thing to see you through the no-doubt dreary British springtime.

Sounds fabulous - I shall be heading down to try one, and have a curry!

Flavours of the month from March-June are now online here.

yes yes yes.

i can hardly contain my excitement....

look what i found at costco today!
the perfect cupcake carrier!
see more about them here...
(they are half the price at costco)

as much as i love turquoise, i went with the petal pink.am i crazy to be so excited about this? quite possibly. my husband told me i was taking my cupcake love to a whole new level.
it's true.
i am also crazy excited about our massages tomorrow, its going to be so fab! recently i have been thinking in little letters...here are a few on my mind.

dear weekend,
thank you for coming. please go by very slowly.

dear costco,
how did you know i love cupcakes so much?

dear husband,
thank you once again for the massage tomorrow. you da bomb.

dear self,
start exercising again. your jeans feel tight and the whole "too busy" excuse isn't cutting it anymore.

happy weekend and good night!

A pretty place to rest your cupcakes

I've been meaning to blog about this rather fabulous Russian Doll cake stand since first spotting it a few weeks ago and it totally slipped my mind.

Then, last week, cake stands suddenly entered my consciousness again when I was reading a blog about someone's* visit to Bea's of Bloomsbury and I spotted the most gorgeous cake stand ever. Immediately via the wonder that is Twitter I contacted Bea and she sent me a link - it is designed by Tina Tsang and just so lovely and totally perfect for showing off your cupcakes!

Finally, if the rabbit cake stand is a little out of your price range, what about this pretty bird cake stand I spotted and had to share.

*Sorry I can't remember whose blog I was reading when I spotted the post about Bea's! Thank you though :)

Instant Nimbe Hannina Gojju (Hot and Sweet Lemon Sauce)

Tic-Tac-Toe, Tic-Tac-Toe, Which one, which one do I do?? Dosa-Chutney / Dosa-Potato Palya / Dosa -Chutney Pudi ...I lazily contemplate on a Sunday morning. The usual power cut takes chutney out of question. Ravenous hubby and kids can't wait till I make the Potato Palya. And I don't get much satisfaction out of eating dosa with Chutney pudi.  Instant Nimbe Hannina Gojju  comes to my rescue on such days. 'Gojju' generally refers to a hot-sweet and sour sauce, sometimes plain and sometimes made with a fruit or vegetable added to it for an unique flavor. The very popular ones in this category are Pineapple gojju, Mango gojju and Hagalkayi(Bitter gourd)Gojju. These generally need more in terms of ingredients, time and effort, but definitely worth putting in all three.

But on lazy or rush days, this super quick, tangy and tasty sauce goes really well with hot crisp dosas (also with Rawa Upma made without onions, a must, must try combo) making it a satisfying and filling meal with hardly any effort at all.

Ingredients
Jaggery - 1/4 cup
Rice Flour - 1 tablespoon
Fried Bengal Gram Flour - 1 tablespoon
Sambar Powder - 1 teaspoon
Oil - 1 teaspoon
Slit Green Chillies - 3
Curry Leaves- a few
Mustard Seeds -3/4 teaspoon
Channa Dal - 3/4 teaspoon
Urad Dal - 3/4 teaspoon
A pinch of Hing
Turmeric -1/2 teaspoon
Water - 2 cups
Lemon Juice from half a lemon
Salt to taste
Chopped coriander for garnish - 1 table spoon

Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard and allow to splutter. Add the urad dal and chana dal. Saute for a few seconds. Add the green chillies and the curry leaves, saute for a few seconds. Add the hing and the turmeric powder. Pour the water into this and add in the jaggery. Stir to melt the jaggery. Mix the roasted Bengal Gram powder and the rice flour in enough water to make a smooth paste. Add this paste to the jaggery mixture in the pan, stirring well ensuring there are no lumps. Add the sambar powder and salt. Boil on low heat for about 5 minutes. The sauce will thicken. Take off the fire. Squeeze in the lemon juice. Garnish with chopped coriander and serve hot with dosa or Rawa Upma.

because i love you.

dear friends,
as you know, i am a treataholic. i found this recipe for homemade oreos on a new favorite blog -- just cook already -- and made them that very night. i never know when my need to bake will strike so i always try to keep my kitchen stocked with my baking favorites. these are easy, soft and tasty.
make them for your lover/friends/family.
love, emma.

M&S cupcake yummyness

A couple of items in store for Mother's Day including this gorgeous recipe journal (which I'm totally getting for myself) and these cute little cupcake magnets. I'm sure any mother would love to receive them.

Also in store this cute little t shirt - and for every shirt sold £1 goes to the Clic children s cancer charity - and any little girl would look adorable on it! If only they did it in adult sizes!

I want candy

The fabulous Molly Bakes recently supplied cakes for Jodie Harsh's 25th birthday and I just had to share them with you as they are gorgeous.

...when Jodie tells me the brief for the cakes was the "I Want Candy" sequence from the recent Marie Antoinette movie I squealed with delight - this was too perfect!

We went for candy coloured cupcakes using decorations such as sparkly sweetie wrappers, roses, dragonflies, bows, butterflies all in contrasting sugar sweet hues. Not only did we go for cupcakes I also decided to create a two tier giant cupcake which of course turned out to be my most spectacular creation yet!

Molly constantly makes me hungry with her cupcake postings on Facebook and Twitter, particularly the photos of her giant cupcakes, which always look fantastic. You can also check out her blog for even more pics of her yummy cakes - be prepared to drool a little!

Shamefully, I've been meaning to get to Molly's stall at Sunday Upmarket for months now and just haven't made it -but I will get there soon, I promise - and of course will report back! If they taste as good as they look I'll be in cupcake heaven :)

Orange and Chocolate Marble Cake

My  Rainbow Cake was indeed a pleasure to look at. It was also oh -so-delicious!! Moist and light...just the kind of cake you would want to eat as is on a picnic or send as a snack-box treat for your child. And quick and easy enough to make on the spur of the moment and take it for your ever- ready-to-be-your guinea-pig-cousins that evening. The taste of Farida's cake still lingering on my tongue, I had been wanting to bake the cake again. My cousin had just landed a terrific job in her campus interview and I had been wanting to bake a cake for her. The opportunity came when I had to take my son for a show that evening, very close to my cousin's place. Perfect.

I had read a lot about the famous Orange-Chocolate cake combo, but never eaten or made this ' flavors marry well' delight. I thought it would be great to try out  Farida's recipe with these flavors. So I again made a couple of modifications and the recipe went as follows. And it resulted in an extremely refreshing zesty orange and chocolate cake, teasing and leaving my taste-buds( and my cousins:-) asking for more...

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Makes one 9-inch (23 cm) cake
(Enough to feed 8 grown up cousins or 20 little kids in second grade:-)

INGREDIENTS
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup (8 oz / 250 g) powdered sugar
1 cup (8 fl oz / 250 ml) milk, at room temperature
1 cup (8 fl oz / 250 ml) oil (corn, vegetable or canola is fine)
2 cups (10 oz / 300 g) all-purpose flour
1/3 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 tablespoon (equals 3 teaspoons) baking powder (if not available, substitute with 1 teaspoon baking soda)
2 tablespoons dark cocoa powder (make sure it is not very bitter) such as Dutch-processed
3/4 tea spoon grated Orange Zest

You’ll also need: mixing bowls, electric mixer or wire whisk, 9 inch (23 cm) non-stick round cake pan.
1. Preheat the oven to 350F (180C). Grease and line your baking tin with butter paper and flour it lightly.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs and sugar. Using a hand-held electric mixer or wire whisk beat until the mixture is creamy and light in color

3. Add milk and oil, and continue beating until well blended.

4. Sieve the flour and the baking powder. Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and beat just until the batter is smooth and the dry ingredients are thoroughly incorporated. DO NOT OVERBEAT to prevent air pockets from forming in the batter.
5. Divide the mixture into 2 equal portions. I added the Orange Zest and some Orange food color to one portion. (Oh, why had I not used this orange for the Rainbow cake:-( ). Since I was not very sure about how much of orange zest I would need, I added 1/3 spoon of vanilla as well as I did not want an eggy smell due of less orange zest.

6. Add cocoa powder into the other part of the batter and mix well.

7. Layer the orange and chocolate batters alternatively.

Give a gentle swirl with a chop stick (with the tip of the chop stick touching the bottom of the pan). Oops! Seemed like the tin was almost 3/4th  full!!! I risked the marble design and took out a ladle ful of batter out from the edge of the pan. Thought it would be better than the batter overflowing out of the tin.  Had some batter left over as my pan is smaller. Made a few cup cakes later.

Could have swirled a little less...

8. Baked for about 40-45 minutes.
The cake was cracked at the top, but otherwise fine. It also took a little longer  to pass the skewer test. (More batter than I should have put I guess).

Try this out ! You will adore it and find excuses to bake it again and again and again!!

"Cookies", Haad Salad, Koh Phangan

I find blogging in Thailand slightly frustrating. Even though internet is readily available everywhere, I seem to encounter constant problems. I can't upload photos, or the wireless cuts out, or my card runs out, as happened tonight, and I lost my whole blog. So despite being in a beautiful, calm, relaxed place, and am blogging through gritted teeth, and don't feel very zen at all.

Deep breath... tonight we went to a lovely restaurant which I have to recommend to anyone going to Koh Phangan. It's on Salad (Pirate) beach, on a hill on the left hand side of the beach, if you are facing the sea. In fact, it was recommended to me by a collegue back in London. We came here two days in a row, because we realised on the first night that we needed to order to some "specials" the day before. And if you're doing that, you may as well reserve the best table too, as the place gets packed and there's not much chance of getting it otherwise

 

The restaurant itself has a colonial feel to it, which is unusual in Thailand (unsurprisingly, since it has never been colonised), so feels incredibly chic, while retaining the Thai relaxed, friendly attitude.

We had a few great dishes here, but first I must mention this really simple drink that I wll be making all summer in the UK, when it finally arrives

It's yoghurt with honey and mint blended together with some crushed ice (Yoghurt Fizz)- heaven on earth

That there is one of the "specials" I mentionned earlier - chicken wrapped in (pandan?) leaves, which you need to order a day before. It has an unsual flavour that I wouldn't necessarily  think was Thai if I had eaten it somewhere else - it is earthy rather than fragrant. Would strongly recommend trying it though!

Other things that stood out were Thai-style sweet and sour fish, crab in curry powder and BBQ fish. All the food is lovely and fresh and I wouldn't say anything is actually bad, but the Moo Manao (pork salad) wasn't so special and it was the only thing that didn't get scraped off the plate. So, to sum up, if you're ever in Koh Phangan, be sure to visit!

v day.

our love day was just perrrrrfect.
we decided to stay home for dinner in order to avoid the crazy crowds. isaac cooked me the most delicious dinner and i baked/dipped a bundle of treats.

yum yum yum. husband is quite the chef.
please ignore the knick knack desk.

after dinner i surprised isaac by taking him to wiseguys comedy club at trolley square and we laughed our bums off. dwayne perkins is a funny funny man. it was fun to surprise ike. if you read his blog, you know he loves him some comedy.

and guess what isaac got me for valentines...a couples massage!!!!
i can't wait, i need it real bad.

It's time to meet the muppets...

I've been meaning to post these since I first saw them on Cirencester Cupcake's Twitter - aren't they beautiful! You can read all about them, and see more photos, here.

Louise is definitely one of the most talented cake decorators I've seen and the good news is she's opening a shop in Cirencester so all of you lucky enough to live nearby can visit soon - I wish I lived nearer! I have had a peek at train info to get there and it doesn't seem that difficult so I may be popping over for a visit in the Summer to get my hands on some cupcakes.

You can keep up to date with the shop's progress, and read about/order cupcakes on her website and blog.

Also today on Twitter Louise posted some gorgeous photos of her mother's day cupcakes - I think I may send some to my mum as they're really pretty. You can see them on flickr. Once ordering info etc is online I shall post it on here.

Thanks to Louise for use of her lovely photographs.

Cold Coffee With Ice Cream

 Chocolate, men, coffee - some things are better rich.  ~Author Unknown.

I can bet my last piece of chocolate cake if most of the Indian population is not craving for a cool drink at this moment:-)) Its getting hotter by the day and for a coffee lover like me, nothing better to beat the heat than a tall glass of cold coffee.  Caffeine in any form is most welcome and if its Cold Coffee with a scoop of ice cream, its achieves the status of a dessert.  And, now I can't really resist this... At the cost of sounding immodest, I prefer my creamy home-made cold coffee to the ice-diluted ones in the fancy coffee shops. And since its low-fat, makes it all the more of a delight.  This low fat version compensates a tiny little bit for adding the scoop of ice cream, making me feel less guilty:-))

Ingredients:

Skimmed Milk 1 Cup

Powdered Sugar 2 teaspoons (or sweetener)

Skimmed Milk Powder 1 teaspoon

Instant Coffee Powder 1 teaspoon

Vanilla Essence a little more than 1/4 teaspoon

1 Scoop Vanilla Ice Cream

Grated chocolate for garnish

Heat 1/4 cup milk in a saucepan. Add the sugar, instant coffee and the skimmed milk powder, stir to dissolve everything well. Heat on low heat for about 30 seconds. Take off the heat. Mix this milk with the rest of the milk. Stir in the vanilla essence.

Pour about 1/4 cup of the coffee in an ice tray, cover with cling film and put it in the freezer. Chill the rest of the coffee till serving time (for at least 3 hours). Put the chilled coffee in a blender, add the cubes of frozen coffee and blend well till thick and frothy. Pour into a serving glass, top with the ice cream. Grate some chocolate over the ice cream and serve immediately. Sip on with straws slowly... and enjoy!!! And don't forget the tall spoon for the ice-cream!

Please Note: It is very important to freeze some part of the coffee and blend it with the rest of the chilled coffee. It helps keep the blended coffee really chilled and also avoid the taste getting diluted (by addition of normal ice). Adding the milk powder gives creaminess and thickness to the coffee.

Adding coffee powder to hot milk gives it extra flavor as compared to directly adding it to the milk.

This recipe is also my entry to Madhuri's 'Serve me Some Juices, Shakes, Smoothies' event.

P. S: Am still trying to learn my way with the camera and this is the best I could do. And pictures of glasses at that! Whew!! Somebody give me tips please !! 

Happy Cupcake Dress

I finally got round to catching up on some emails today and was having a quick browse through Shana Logic's latest mail out when I spotted this cute dress designed exclusively for them by Xenos Designs featuring their happy cupcake logo.

So cute!

The Big Swap

Fair Trade Fortnight starts on Monday and if you've not already embraced Fair Trade why not start with The Big Swap. The website lists a vast amount of things you can swap to Fair Trade, from baking goods and cotton to real ale and wines, making it easy to choose Fair Trade instead of your usual :)

The Fairtrade mark is the only independent consumer label that ensures farmers in developing countries receive an agreed and stable price for the crops they grow that covers the cost of sustainable production... so it deserves support. And its so easy - brands like Tate and Lyle and Green and Blacks (my chocolate of choice for baking who have just announced they're going 100% Fair Trade) feature on there, and so do a wealth of other baking ingredients so its easy to make that little change, which won't cost you much but will make a world of difference to someone else.

To celebrate Tate and Lyle have allowed me to share a couple of recipes created by Lily Vanilli for them- if you make them please let me know, and send pics! I might give the Devil's Food cupcakes a go but as readers of my blog know I do not enjoy bacon on my cupcakes!

Lily Vanilli’s Fairtrade Bacon and Banana Cupcakes

4 rashers unsmoked organic back bacon

150g ripe Fairtrade bananas (approx 2 small)

60g Fairtrade honey

100g unsalted organic butter (at room temperature)

40g Tate & Lyle Fairtrade caster sugar

140g organic plain flour (sifted)

1/2 tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

2 large, free-range organic eggs (at room temperature)

Handful Fairtrade Brazil nuts (toasted & chopped)

1/2 tsp grated Fairtrade nutmeg

1/2 tsp Fairtrade ground cinnamon

12 paper cupcake cases

1. Lay rashers of bacon on a foil lined sheet and place in a cold oven with the temperature set to 200c for approx 20 mins or until crispy. Allow to cool

2. Turn heat down to 180c

3. Mash bananas with honey in a small bowl and set aside

4. Sift together all the dry ingredients into a large bowl - flour, sugar, baking powder, salt

5. Cut butter into small chunks and add to the dry ingredients, blend with an electric mixer on medium speed until evenly incorporated

6. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition

7. Mix in the banana/honey mixture, spices and Brazil nuts to taste

8. Spoon into cupcakes cases, filling almost to the top

9. Bake in preheated oven for 15 mins or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean

10. Remove and leave to cool in the pans for approx 3 mins - then transfer to a cooling rack and leave to cool completely.

Frosting:

55g unsalted organic butter (at room temperature)

325g Tate & Lyle Fairtrade icing sugar

1/2 cup (4fl oz) organic double cream

2 tbsp Fairtrade honey

1. Beat the butter until smooth, then add half of the sugar, the double cream and the honey

2. Continue beating, slowly adding the rest of the sugar to achieve a smooth, even texture

3. Ice each cooled cupcake with a thick swirl of frosting and top with strips of cooled bacon and chopped Brazil nuts.

Fairtrade Devil's Food Ale Cupcakes

115g unsalted organic butter (at room temperature)

45g Divine Fairtrade cocoa

155g Fairtrade ale (Honey Ale)

170g organic plain flour (sifted)

Pinch of salt

2/3 tsp baking soda

225g Tate & Lyle Fairtrade caster sugar

1 large free-range, organic egg (at room temperature)

3 fl oz (3/8 cup) organic buttermilk

12 paper cupcake cases

Preheat the oven to 180c

1. Bring ale to the boil in a saucepan. Remove from the heat and stir in the cocoa. Leave to cool until it reaches room temperature

2. Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda and set aside

3. Cream the butter and sugar together with an electric mixture until very light and fluffy (about 5 mins)

4. Add the egg and beat until just incorporated

5. Beat in the cooled ale/cocoa mixture

6. Add the sifted dry mixture in three parts, alternating with the buttermilk in two parts - beginning and ending with the dry and beating after each addition

7. Spoon the batter into a baking tray lined with cupcake cases (2/3 of the way full)

8. Bake in preheated oven for 15 mins or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean

9. Cool briefly in the pans and then transfer to a wire rack until cooled completely.

Frosting:

85g/3 fl oz (3/8 cup) - Fairtrade honey ale

15g Fairtrade cocoa

115g Unsalted organic butter (at room temperature)

340g Tate & Lyle Fairtrade icing sugar

1/2 tsp Fairtrade vanilla essence

Small bar Fairtrade chocolate to decorate

Handful toasted Fairtrade Brazil nuts (optional)

1. Boil ale in a saucepan, remove from the heat and stir in the cocoa. Allow to cool completely - transfer to a bowl and place in the fridge if necessary

2. Beat the butter until smooth

3. Add the vanilla, ale/cocoa mixture and half the icing sugar and continue to beat. Gradually add all of the sugar - beating continuously until you reach a consistency you like

4. Spread onto cooled cupcakes and top with shavings of Fairtrade chocolate and Brazil nuts.

Muddipalya ( Pepper, Lemon & Greens In Lentils Gravy)

Madhwa Brahmin Cuisine comes with its own amazing variety of delicious food. I grew up in a family where traditional Brahmin food was the staple everyday, with the odd deviations now and then. My mom is an amazing cook and so was my grandmother. Even today, when I go over to my parents place, I unashamedly admit, I hog rice at least 2 times a day with her tongue-tickling chutneys, pickles, rasams, gojjus, huli, tovve etc. Yumm... Somehow, we never seem to get that taste into food  like our mothers effortlessly  do. Hope my daughter says this about me when she grows up too:-))

Coming to Muddipalya, it  is a very common everyday dish in the Brahmin community. The basic ingredients here are Toor Dal and greens. You could dish up lots of varieties with the same basic ingredients. Let me save these for my later posts:-)). In this case, green chillies, crushed pepper, jeera, hing, tomato and lemon go with the lentils and greens, and there you are.  Goes very well with hot rice and the quintessential spoon of ghee.


Ingredients
1 cup Toor Dal
3 cups washed and finely chopped fresh Fenugreek(Methi) Leaves
2 tomatoes (the sour variety works best)
4 green chillies, ground to a fine paste
1/2 teaspoon jeera
3/4 teaspoon Jeera Powder
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper(more for an intense peppery taste)
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
A generous pinch of asafoetida(hing)
2 teaspoons oil
Juice of 2 lemons
Salt to taste


Method. Pressure cook the dal with a pinch of turmeric till soft. Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pan or kadhai. Add the mustard seeds, allow to splutter. Add the jeera saute for a few seconds till light brown. Add in the hing, turmeric powder and then the methi leaves. Saute for 2-3 minutes and add the chopped tomato. Cook till methi and tomato are soft.

Now add the cooked dal and let it come to a boil. Add the chilli paste, jeera powder, pepper powder and salt to taste. The dal must be quite thick. If it is very thick add about half a cup of water and adjust the consistency. In case it is thin, mix in a teaspoon of wheat flour in 2-3 teaspoons of water and add this paste to the dal when it is boiling.

Boil the dal for about 5 to 10 minutes on a low flame. Take off the fire. Add the lemon juice just before serving. 

Please Note: You could skip the green chillies altogether and step up on the pepper powder. In case you wish to reduce the quantity of pepper, add more chillies.

You could also use spinach instead of methi, in which case, you would need at least 4 cups of chopped spinach.

tonight.

i am 100% grump.
my poor husband.
i attribute it to the fact that i am applying for my capstone and it is stressing me out big time.
in a way i am deciding my career!
which is exciting, but stressful.

dear husband,
i am sorry for having a snarl on my face.
i love you.

i just need to take some really deep breaths.

It Rained Awards On My Blog!!

Well, for me as a new blogger, 4 awards in one day is too much to take :-)) Am sure you will all agree with me. Renuka of Love Of Cooking has showered these on me. So, so generous of you Renuka to share these with me too. Do check out her blog for some really easy and delicious Maharashtra style cuisine. I tried her Tawa Pulav and it was fantastic! Keep those recipes coming Renuka!!

So my turn to pass these on to my friends.



Madhuri -  Cook - Curry Nook
She has got some fantastic tasty and healthy recipes and absolutely beautiful clicks. Her oats idli and Kharabhat a must try on my list.

Priya Narasimhan - Priya's Vegetarian Recipes 
Check out her blog for some amazing vegan cakes and bakes among a host of other delicious recipes.

Madhuram - Eggless Cooking 
You are an inspiration for everybody wanting to try egg less cakes and bakes. Innovation is her middle name!!


Deepa Joshi  FoodLyrics 
You must check out her snacks among other delicious recipes. Baked Tikkis anyone??? Wow!

Jyothi -  Panch Pakwan 
Mouth watering chutneys with a North Karnatka flavor among many other yummy recipes

Avanika -Yumsilicious Bakes 
At 18, how can anybody do so much?? A must must visit blog for anybody who loves baking. You will learn a lot from her. Kudos Avanika! 

Nithu - Nithu's Kitchen  Take a peek into her blog for some yummy Kootu and Kozhambu recipes

Congratulations Everyone!!