EVENT: SHHH COOKING SECRETLY THEME: FESTIVE THEME RECIPE: THANDAI RAVA CAKE Thandai Rava Cake is so soft, egg free and with amazing flavours of thandai spices,rose and saffron. A perfect bake for the Holi Festival. Who doesn’t love cakes, whatever the festival maybe. What Is Thandai Rava Cake? Thandai is a spice mixture that is quite popular during the Holi festival. Besides making thandai drink, it can be used for several other festive dishes like kulfi, mousse, cookies, muffins, chia pudding, malpua, etc. Rava is the hindi word for semolina. Semolina cakes turn out so soft and are easily to bake. Add a sugar syrup on top to keep it moist or don’t. The choice is yours. A Bit About The Group This group brings…
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Continue ReadingEvent: Sunday Funday Theme: Yogurt Recipe: Lemon Yogurt Cake – Eggless Lemon Yogurt Cake – Eggless is so easy to make, moist with a soft crumb and refreshingly delicious. Slightly tangy, the addition of black poppy seeds adds a delightful texture to the overall flavour. A Bit About Lemon Yogurt Cake – Eggless The first time I baked a lemon yogurt cake, with eggs I simply fell in love with the flavour and soft texture. My friend tasted the cake and asked if I could bake one without eggs. I just increased the amount of yogurt and voilà it worked. Subsequently, baked it several times without eggs. I just cannot resist the lemons we get here in the grocery stores. So different from the…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: SUNDAY FUNDAY THEME: SHORTCAKE RECIPE: STRAWBERRY LEMON SHORTCAKE Strawberry Lemon Shortcake is a perfect spring summer time dessert with homemade shortcake or biscuit, whipped fresh cream and juicy strawberries. A decadent and filling dessert, the shortcake comes together within an hour. WHAT IS SHORTCAKE? Well, when Sue suggested the theme, I had to give this new bake a try. But what is shortcake I had to ask myself. It is such an American term, something that I had not paid much attention till this theme came up. As my research began, got more and more interesting. Shortcake has nothing to do with the height of the cake. It apparently is derived from an old English cooking definition of short which referred to something…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: SUNDAY FUNDAY THEME: CREATIVE LASAGNA RECIPE: VEGETABLE LASAGNA Vegetable Lasagna, loaded with vegetables and home made sauces is satisfying, delicious and a filling dish. Pretty easy to make once you have all the ingredients at hand. What I like about lasagna is that one can add any vegetables of their choice. Here, I have also used a mixture of three cheeses, cheddar, mozzarella and parmesan. Along with tomato sauce, I like to add béchamel sauce or white sauce to add a creaminess to the overall baked dish. Sunday Funday Sunday Funday is a group of Food Bloggers. Every Sunday we share some fun, traditional, hearty or easy recipes to make Sunday Family Meals a bit more exciting. To join this fun group, visit the…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: SHHH COOKING SECRETLY THEME: FLATBREADS RECIPE: FOUGASSE Fougasse is a stunning French Flatbread with a crisp crust and a slightly chewy crumb. Easy to make it is pronounced as ‘foogaas’. This flatbread actually quite famous in the Provence region of France. However, it is believed that the it originates from the Rome. Panis focacius the Roman flatbread was cooked in the ashes of a wood burning hearth called focus. What is Fougasse? Fougasse is patted with the hands into a leaf shape and then cuts are made to resemble the veins of a leaf. The open areas actually help the flatbread to bake well to achieve that crispy crust. Intially, I thought that shaping the bread and the recipe must be difficult.. like most…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: SHHH COOKING SECRETLY THEME: HEALTHY IDEAS RECIPE: CURRIED CHICKPEA STUFFED SWEET POTATOES Curried Chickpea Stuffed Sweet Potatoes is a healthy, delicious, filling and easy to make healthy, gluten free meal. Enjoy it for lunch or dinner and it is a perfect hot meal for the cold season. Basically, I prepare a thick chickpea curry and stuff baked sweet potato with it and serve with some plain thick yogurt. Actually, I love sweet potatoes whether they are the whitish oriental variety or the orange flesh ones. The Oriental variety is commonly available in Kenya and India. However, sometimes they are quite small and not really ideal to stuff them. Usually, those ones I bake or boil and enjoy with some salt, chilli powder and generous…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: SUNDAY FUNDAY THEME: CHRISTMAS COOKIES AROUND THE WORLD RECIPE: KARACHI BISCUITS Karachi Biscuits are soft and melt in the mouth kind of cookies or biscuits. Easy to make, they are studded with tutti frutti and flavoured with cardamom and rose essence. Generally, these cookies are enjoyed throughout the year with a cup of masala tea. However, I love to make them for Diwali and Christmas. In fact, they are perfect to gift to friends and family. Why Are They Called Karachi Biscuits? To begin with these biscuits or cookies are not at all from Karachi. They are famous biscuits from Karachi Bakery that is located in the city of Hyderabad, India. As a matter of fact, Khanchand Ramnani, a Sindhi who migrated from Karachi…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: SUNDAY FUNDAY THEME: MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM PARTY RECIPE: BEETROOT & CHOCOLATE MINI MUFFINS Beetroot & Chocolate Mini Muffins is a fun way to enjoy bite size soft, fudgy chocolate flavored beetroot muffins. Ideal for parties, topped with a cream cheese frosting, the muffins are so delicious. Adding cooked and pureed beetroot is a good way to sneak in this vegetable for kids. Use less of cocoa powder, omit yogurt and you land up with Beetroot Red Velvet Muffins without adding any artificial food coloring. This muffin recipe is without any eggs. We had a very small tea party with some of my neighbours and I baked these mini muffins. Sunday Funday Sunday Funday is a group of Food Bloggers. Every Sunday we share some…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: A- Z RECIPE CHALLENGE THEME : AN INGREDIENT BEGINNING WITH THE LETTER T RECIPE: ROASTED TOMATO & RICOTTA TOAST Roasted Tomato & Ricotta Toast is warm toast slathered with ricotta cheese and topped with garlicky roasted tomatoes. Perfectly enjoyable as breakfast, or served with some soup as a light meal option. Roasted Tomato & Ricotta Toast This one one of my favorite ways to enjoy fresh seasonal tomatoes. The first time I tasted roasted tomato & ricotta toast was as a brunch option in Montreal. On the side had poached eggs, some salad greens and roasted potato chunks. That brunch sat happily in my tummy till evening! I’ve tried this recipe with the normal big tomatoes roasted but it doesn’t taste the same. Got…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: FOODIEMONDAY/BLOGHOP THEME: #279 SESAME SEEDS RECIPE: ITALIAN SESAME SEED COOKIES/BISCOTTI REGINA Italian Sesame Seed Cookies Italian Sesame Seed Cookies/ Biscotti Regina, a classic Italian treat, so crunchy and lemony. These authentic Italian cookies are so easy to make. Originally called Biscotti Regina these cookies from the Sicily region make a good snack option. They can be served as dessert or with coffee. Translated, the name Biscotti Regina means Queen’s Biscuits. Crunchy outer because of the sesame seeds and a slightly soft center, these cookies are best enjoyed dunked in coffee, milk or tea. Biscotti Regina Unlike the more famous biscotti we know which are twice baked, Biscotti Regina are baked only once. How they originated is debatable. In this case, it is believed…
