Vanilla Cake (Eggless)

 

INGREDIENTS:

All Purpose Flour - 1 cup

Sugar - 1/2 cup (Powdered)

Baking Powder - 1 teaspoon

Baking Soda - 1/2 teaspoon

Salt- a pinch

Whole milk - 1/2 cup

Sunflower oil - 1/4 cup

Vanilla Essence - 1.25 teaspoon

Lemon Juice - 1 teaspoon

METHOD:

1. Preheat the baking oven at 180 celsius for 10 minutes.

2. In a bowl, mix all purpose flour, powdered sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt . Mix them all without any lumps.

3. In a mixer, add milk, oil, vanilla essence and mix them well for 4 to 5 seconds. Mixer helps in mixing the ingredients without any lumps.

4. Now add the wet ingredients from mixer to the dry ingredients. Do not over mix. Just mix gently. Mixing too much will give a dense cake. Now add a teaspoon of lemon juice  and mix gently. 

5. Brush a 6 inch round cake pan with with oil and place baking paper. Pour the cake mixture into the pan and tap getnly to avoid any bubbles.

6. Bake at 180 degree cesius for 25 to 30 minutes. Every 10 minutes once, check with tooth pick to see how much is done. The outer layer of the cake should turn slightly gold in colour and you will get a nice aroma, once the cake is done completely . Also, the tooth pick should comeout clean without any wet batter on it.

7. Allow it cool down for 10 minutes . Then slice them to pieces. Store it in refrigerator and consume within 2 to 3 days.

High Protein Sugarless Chocolate Cupcake

 

Preparation Time : 15 minutes

Cooking Time : 12 miutes

Serves : 6 no.s

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 scoop chocolate whey protein

2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt (adds protein + softness)

1/4 cup lukewarm milk (adjust as needed)

3 tbsp Monk fruit sweetener

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp oil (optional, for moisture)

Pinch of salt

METHOD:

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) for 10 minutes

2. Line or grease cupcake molds.

3. Mix dry ingredients in one bowl.

4. Mix wet ingredients in another bowl.

5. Combine both gently (don’t overmix).

6. Pour into molds (fill 3/4 full).

7. Bake for 12 to 13minutes at 180 degrees celsius.

8. Check with toothpick → should come out clean.

Note : Batter should be thick but pourable . Like idly batter consistency .If batter very thick, add some more milk. If batter very runny, add some more flour.

Foxtail Millet Ladoo

 3 ingredients sweet - Foxtail millet / Thinai Ladoo

INGREDIENTS:

Foxtail millet flour - 1 cup

Brown Sugar - 1/2 cup

Ghee - 1/4 cup

Cardamom powder- a pinch ( optional)

METHOD:

1. In a pan, dry roast foxtail millet flour for 5 to 7 minutes in medium to low flame, until nice aroma comes and also the flour slightly changes colour. This step is very important, as this will be the only way of cooking the flour. Then switch off the stove. 

2. Now add  1/2 cup of brown sugar and mix well. Also add  cardamom powder and mix well.

3. Now add 1/4 cup warm ghee and mix well. The mixture gets sticky and  wait for sometime for the mixture is warm enough to touch. Now take some mixture and try to hold them to shape. If difficult, add some more ghee and make ladoos. Follow the video below , for more detailed description.

Carrot Halwa

 Easy Indian sweet - Carrot Halwa with limited ingredients available at home .

INGREDIENTS:

Carrot - 250 gms

Milk - 290 ml 

Sugar - 1/4 cup

Cardamom Powder - 1/4 teaspoon

Saffron stands (optional) - few

Cashews - 4 to 5 no.s

Ghee - 3 teaspoon

METHOD:

1.Grate 250 gms carrots and keep aside. In a pan , add 1 teaspoon ghee  and fry cashews golden brown and keep aside. 

2. In a pan, boil 290 ml of thick milk.

3. When the milk starts to boil, add the grated carrots. Keep stirring constantly in medium flame to avoid the milk getting burnt in the bottom of the pan . slowly, the milk gets thicker and get absorbed and mixture thickens. It takes about 10 - 13 minutes. 

4. Once the mixture thickens well, also when the carrots are cooked well , add sugar and saffron strands  .

5. Once the sugar is added, it lets out moisutre and carrot halwa gets gooey and starts letting out water. Keep stirring constantly for 2 to 3 minutes . Do not stir for more time, then the halwa will turn out very dry. when it is still with moisuture and looks gooey , switch off the stove . 

6.  Now add 2 teaspoon of ghee, roasted cashews and 1/4 teaspoon cardamom powder and mix well. Serve warm .

Badam Halwa

 

INGREDIENTS:

Almonds -1 cup ( I used 240 ml cup)

Sugar -  2/3 cup ( use 2 * 1/3 cup . I used golden  sugar. You can use white sugar also . Add another 1 to 2 tablespoon of sugar, if you need more sweetness)

Milk - 1 cup

Ghee - 1/2 cup

Saffron - a few strands

Cardamom powder - 1 teaspoon

METHOD:

1. Soak  almonds overnight. In the morning, remove skin and wash the almonds.

2. In a mixie jar, add almonds, milk,saffron strands,sugar and grind to a smooth  paste. Now , in a heavy bottomed vessel, add 1/4 cup of ghee and add the almond paste and mix well.

3. Now comes the process of constant stirring.  You need to keep stirring the contents continously, without leaving it. The mixture starts slowly thickening. You can also see the colour changes slightly dark. The total time of stirring takes about 15 to 20 minutes to get the final product.

4. When it starts thickening, add the remaining 1/4 cup ghee and keep stirring again continously. You can see the ghee starts leaving the sides and the mixture thickens further .

5. After 20 minutes, the final end product look like below.  Then switch off the stove. Add another table spoon of ghee and mix well. It gives a glossy look. Also add 1 teaspoon of cardamom powder. Badam Halwa is ready !!!!

NOTES:

* Instead of milk, you can add water to the almond while grinding. It will increae the shelf life of the sweet. If using milk, the sweet can stay good for 2 days.

 

 

Sweet Bonda

 This is a tasty sweet made using whole wheat flour , banana and jaggery. 

Yields: 15 pieces

INGREDIENTS:

Whole wheat flour - 1 cup

Banana - 3 medium sized

Jaggery - 1/4 cup

Caradamom powder - 1/4 teaspoon

Baking soda - a pinch

Salt - a pinch

METHOD:

1. Add 3 medium sized banana in a mixer and make puree and take it in a bowl. Now add 1/4 cup of jaggery and mix the contents well without any lumps.

2. Now add 1 cup of whole wheat flour, cardamom powder , baking soda and salt. Mix the contents well. The batter should be in the consistency of cake batter. If needed, you can add some water. 

3. Now , wet your hands with water and take some batter and dip them in the oil in round shapes. Fry till they changed to golden brown. The flame of the stove should be low to medium.

4. Serve with hot chai. sweet bonda / banana appam is ready!

Motichoor Laddu

 Try this easy moti laddu for this diwali. I have made this without adding any artificial colours or flavorings. 

Serves : 9 no.s of laddus

Cooking time: 45 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

Channa dal/ bengal gram - 1/2 cup

White sugar - 1/2 cup

Water - 1/4 cup

Saffron strands - 3 to 4 no.s

Cardamom powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Oil - For deep frying.

Ghee - 2 to 3 teaspoons(optional) 

METHOD:

1. Soak channa dal in sufficient water for around 5 to 6 hours. When you take a dal and try to break it with hands, it should break softly. Now, drain all the soaked water, and grind the dal in the mixie without adding any water. You should grind it little coarse, with few dals visible. The grinding should be similar to how you grind for making vada. 

2. Now , heat oil in a pan. Take above prepared dal paste and make small flat vadas in hand, and deep fry them in oil . Allow them to cool completely. Break the vadas in to small pieces. 

3. Then grind them in mixie just for 1 to 2 second, to get a coarse powder as shown in the picture below. Do not grind for too long.

4. Now , in a pan, add 1/2 cup of white sugar and 1/4 cup of water. Once the sugar dissolves completely, the sugar syrup starts to boil.  In 2 minutes, if you touch the sugar syrup , it will be sticky. That will be the correct consistency. Do not wait for  string consistency.  Now, keep the stove in simmer mode and add the saffrons strands and  dal powder which you prepared in step 3. Mix them gently and you can see the mixture thickens. Once all the water absorbed, switch off the stove. Sprinkle some cardamom powder and mix well. Allow the mixture to cool for sometime and start making laddus. 

Note: If you want the ladoos to look moist and shining, add some ghee in the mixture ( 2 to 3 tsp) before making laddu . Also grease your hands with ghee and start making laddu. 

Almond Ladoo

 Easy almond ladoo in 20 minutes !. Try this recipe for this diwali. You will absolutely love it !

INGREDIENTS:

Almond - 1 cup + 10 almonds

Dessicated coconute powder - 1 cup 

Jaggery  - 1 cup

Cardamom - 2 to 3 no.s

Ghee - 3 tablespoon

Cashews ( optional) - 4 to 5 no.s finely chopped

METHOD:

1. In a heavy bottomed pan, dry roast almonds for 3 to 4 minutes in medium flame. Make sure not to burn the almonds. When you taste the almonds it should be crunchy and you could smell a nutty flavour. Switch off the stove and allow it cool down. Then grind them in mixie along with cardamom seeds ( remove the skin of cardamom and use only the seeds)using pulse mode, to a fine powder. Do not grind for too long , as the powder release oil and gets too sticky. Just use pulse mode, and grind the almonds into a fine powder .

 2.  In the same pan, take a cup of dessicated coconut powder and dry roast them in low flame , until they turn slightly brown. 

3. Grind the dry roasted coconut powder and 1 cup jaggery in the mixie, using pulse mode for couple of times to a coarse powder. 

4. Mix the almond powder, along with coconut , jaggery powder. In a small pan, take 3 tablespoon of ghee. Roast the chopped cashews in the ghee and add it to the mixute. Mix the contents well . Once the ghee is added, it comes well to shape them in to ladoos. If you find the mixture still dry and couldnt hold shape, add some more ghee. Follow the video, below to make ladoos.

5 . Almond ladoo is ready ! Store in air tight container in fridge. Almond ladoo can stay good for over a week.