APF/Maida/Plain flour Archives - My Veg Fare

Kodubale/Kodbale - A Delicacy from Karnataka

Jayasri Ravi — Thu, 18 May 2017 00:51:40 +0000

Kodubale is a delicacy from Karnataka. It’s one of the deep-fried snacks from this cuisine. “Kodu” means Horn like shape (after a lot of debating with my friends I got stuck to this now!) and “Bale” means Bangle! So, a dish made in the shape of Horn but turned it into a bangle to keep them intact! Whatever, this tasty snack is simply delicious you can’t just stop at one it's so very addictive!
This is my Amma’s (Mother) favourite snack. She loves making these often, my mom learned a lot from my periamma (Maternal aunt) and I too learnt a lot from her, she was a real foodie! She used to try new recipes and keep the authentic recipes alive as well. I have never seen anybody like her in, my whole family. She is no more and I miss her a lot. Most of my recipes are what I have learned from these two women in my life. This post is dedicated to my Mum and her late sister.

I remember very well my childhood days in our rented house it was a tiny kitchen she used to put the oil and little dough to each of us make us sit in front of her and ask us to make them, it was like a thumb rule, they should be perfectly in a bangle shape.
I remember my childhood days very well, it was a tiny kitchen in our rented house. When she put the oil on heat Mom used to give us all a steel plate and little dough to each of us in a bowl, make us sit right in front of her and ask us to roll them into little bangle shaped rings, it was like a thumb rule, they should be perfectly in a bangle shape. She is still a perfectionist.
After she fried she used put them in little plates next to us and to munch on so we enjoyed our given task!! Sometimes we used to go crazy and we used to make the first alphabet of our name or any other shape we fancied, she wouldn’t mind as long as the job was done. As she always made in large quantities. (I am sharing the same quantity here as given by her, and even today I make the same quantity). But, after some time my sisters used to get bored and run away but, I always stuck with mom and completed the task! Probably, that is one of the reasons I started learning and loving to cook from a very young age. I was a sous chef to them!

I still remember the only time she would never allow us to make kodubale was during Gokulashtami festival, every item on the list had to made with Madi (Madi is a term used in Brahmin communities wherein men and women in the family after bath wears dried clothes untouched by other persons and cook food without eating anything as they make it for Puja and God!). That’s the only one time she wouldn’t allow us to touch and mom, dad, and periamma used to make all the savouries and sweets they used to make around 30 dishes! Those days were fun, all the three of us use to enjoy!! Gokulashtami is a big festival in Tamil families. The Mango leaves, a lot of flowers, different kind of fruits, Rangolis etc.., It was bliss!!

This recipe I promise you, you will keep it forever. Don't forget to check my notes on my tips and follow it to T for a fool proof and perfect recipe.

Kodubale/Kodbale (Spicy Bangle rings)! Delicacy from Karnataka

Kodubale is a speciality from Karnataka. Delicious, spicy and crispy perfect Bangle shaped snack which is deep fried, quick to make and tasty.

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 7

Total Time 17

Ingredients

4 cups Rice Flour
1 cup Chiroti rava
3/4th cup Maida
1 tbsp Omam (coarsely powdered)
2 to 3 tbsp white Sesame seeds
2 tsp salt ( salt as required)
1/3 cup oil (Hot Oil)
1/4 cup (2 sprigs) chopped curry leaves

Grind to paste

1 cup freshly grated coconut ( pressed almost tightly)
1 cup Dried copra (precisely 1/2 the dried copra)**
20 Byadgi chillies**
1/4 tsp Hing (Asafoetida)
1/4 cup coriander leaves (loosely packed) (optional)

Instructions

Heat a pan and dry roast maida and chiroti rava till it is warm to touch. Keep aside to cool.
Take all the Ingredients under Grind put it in a mixie jar and grind to a smooth paste of coconut, dry copra, red chillies, Hing and coriander leaves (optional).
Take a bowl put all the dry ingredients together, Maida, Chiroti Rava, Rice flour, coarsely powdered Omam and salt as required mix well and keep aside.
Heat a ladle full of (1/3 cup) of hot oil and pour it on the dry ingredients, mix well and keep aside. Heat oil in a wok keep it on the stove to a medium flame.
Next add the ground smooth paste into the dry ingredient mixture mix well cover and keep aside.
Heat oil in a wok keep it on the stove to a medium flame. Take a little portion of the mixture in a separate bowl sprinkle water and start kneading it to make a dough! Do not add more water, sprinkle or use little water ( 1 to 2 tbsp of water) every time and start bringing it into a dough consistency. (check notes)
Once the dough has come together, knead it once and start making Kodubales! The dough should be rolled like a rope with the thickness of our little finger (about 3/4th of an inch) it should be perfectly in a round shape like a bangle with the end pinched and pressed to seal the edge on to the overlapping dough on which it is turned around so that they don’t get opened when they are fried in oil
once the oil is hot drop around 8 to 10 in one batch, depending upon how much oil and kadai you have used to fry! Keep frying them turning around now and then so they cooked well on both sides and turn crispy, on a medium low flame. They turn golden brown once they are done. Take them on to a kitchen towel so it absorbs oil.
Follow the same procedure with the rest of the dough ingredients deep fry all the them. Once done, store them in a air tight container it will stay up to 20-25 days! (unless you don't finish them before that)
Hope you try it out make and enjoy!!

Notes

Notes and Tips:

I have given quite a large quantity so, please do remember do not add water completely to the mix. Divide the mix in parts, take one portion at a time and mix water little by little knead well and make the dough. According to my mom If you make dough out of the whole mix and then use it, when you fry the rings they will absorb more oil, also they change the colour of the end product and they won’t have a long shelf life.
Don't forget to add hot oil to the mixture and mix well, this is the trick for the crispiest kodbales!
Keep the temperature of the oil constant for perfectly made crispy kodbales. Once when done and after you remove the kodbales bring the flame to low when you drop the rings then go back to the medium flame and fry them until done.
When you roll out them into ropes sometimes you might find that they break or become hollow don’t worry it is natural. Again, knead them into the dough, and roll them they will be fine. Do not extra Maida or anything else to make it stiffer. Just knead well and use it.
Seal the edge after you overlap it onto the main ring, so it won’t open up.
Before frying check, the oil is sizzling hot! To find out hold your hand 3 to 4 inches above the oil you can feel the heat! Otherwise, check by adding a pinch of the dough into the oil, it should come up within seconds and float to the top that means your oil is at the right temperature. Now you can slide the kodbales carefully from the side of the wok don’t drop it from a height, this will splash the oil everywhere, so just slide them into the oil.
Don’t leave the rings to dry out cover them with a cloth and the dough mixture too!
I have mentioned you can make around 60, it depends on the size you make. It also depends the thickness of the dough rolled don’t make them too thick, it may be not crunchy, don’t make it very thin as well it will be very crunchy but loses its taste.
I have used only Byadgi chillies, you can use a combo of Guntur and Byadgi chillies.
You can use Roasted Gram (chutney dal) instead of sooji as some kannada people make it.
My Mom sometimes uses 1 whole coconut it gives real taste.

The post Kodubale/Kodbale - A Delicacy from Karnataka appeared first on My Veg Fare.

Honey cake (#Iyengar Bakery style) #pinktober

Jayasri Ravi — Sat, 01 Oct 2016 23:17:57 +0000

“The Best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched, they must be felt with the heart”

– Helen Keller

Sincere Apologies for the long gap between posts. It was unintentional, the summer months in Britain is our official holiday season! that means going to India. It’s become a kind of ritual I have to go to India whatsoever! To visit my parents and family. It’s like Popeye and his spinach. It’s like the potion of love and I can somehow manage the whole year without seeing them. It all comes back to heart down the lane, it’s that love which makes you do things and takes you places without which we do not survive.

“Love is not a matter of what happens in life it’s matter of how you are dealing with it” – Ken Keyes

Coming back from India I had to juggle with a lot of things, every year the same story repeats itself predominantly, things to sort out! Kids going back to University and my lovely garden needed a lot of tending some tear and care as it was kind of abandoned with a ritual of unrealistic seasonal changes with sunny spells, sudden emotional downpours! And off course the ghastly wind how can I forgo it from my thoughts, remember those days one cold night in December the northern lights brought severe winds which would bring Santa down to earth but alas! It blew away my innocent greenhouse to my next door neighbour’s garden, knocking things around. Poor Lady called me waking me up from my dreams to the reality to a shock of how she was trying to hold down the greenhouse not to fly away to visit another neighbour! who wouldn’t be happy at all!

With all the chaos I baked this cake, this cake brings me back a lot of wonderful memories. My school days when I would wait for my daddy to bring this cake for us to munch on as after school snack, sometimes we would be treated with puffs, apple cake, Khara bun, palya Bun and Congress Kadalekai beeja (Indian Spiced peanuts) the list can go on and on, But, this cake was always my favourite. A cake so delicious so moist with the sweetness of honey. A cake you wouldn’t say No!

This would be a perfect cake for any celebration be it a valentine’s Day or Birthday or just a keep it as a centre-piece! when baked it in a tray it goes to say pick me up. This cake can also be an inspiration for the Breast Cancer awareness #Pinktober 2016.

Everything to do with your heart, either way , A day to celebrate Love –

“Doubt thou the stars are fire; doubt that the sun doth move; doubt truth to be a liar; but never doubt I love you. I love thee, I love but thee with a love that shall not die. Till the sun grows cold and the stars grow old”

– William Shakespeare.

Little did I know I would have to travel again which came as a surprise and I had to do this post, my holiday simply extended within a span of weeks now I am in Netherlands! A country which I love coming back to! A country with Scenic beauty and a land of canals, anywhere and everywhere you turn around you are surrounded by water, you just can’t miss it. Streaming down with lush greenery, swans, ducks and whatnots swimming and wading and an array of birds - chirping and chattering playfully on the trees, giving us a wake-up call. The beautiful landscape has never ceased to amaze me.

It’s a love affair, it might be a fellow human being or nature it doesn’t matter and it has no criteria. Love is a universal Language, it doesn’t know caste, creed, colour or religion. Rich or poor alike, it is just a given and give policy. So, here is how you make this cake, pouring lots of love to it…..

“Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye” – H. Jackson Brown Jr.

Honey Cake (Iyengar Bakery style)

Recipe Author: Jayasri
Type : Indian
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time : 45-50minutes
Food type : Dessert
Servings : 6 to 8
Shelf- life: up to 1 week without refrigeration

Ingredients
Ingredients for the cake
185 grams All-Purpose Flour
185 grams Sugar
150 grams Butter
50 grams Coconut Oil(any oil)
5 Eggs
½ tsp Baking Soda
¾ tsp Baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 tsp Agar Agar powder or cream of tartar
2 tsp vanilla essence
Ingredients for the topping
6 tbsp Jam
4 tbsp Honey
1 tbsp water
¼ to ⅓ cup Desiccated Coconut

Method
1. Keep all the Ingredients at room temperature
2. Take a 9’’ by 3’’ heart shaped cake tin or a square tin** prepare the tin by rubbing the butter and then sprinkling All-purpose Flour completely so it is well coated.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F/180 degree C/Gas Mark 4
4. In a mixing bowl take all the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Using a sieve sift the dry ingredients at least 3 times so they are well combined. set it aside.
5. In a large mixing bowl take butter and whip it until it is light and fluffy, then add sugar ¼ cup at a time until everything is incorporated.
6. Now to this butter, mix add one egg at a time and beat well, If you find it curdling please do not panic it’s just normal add 2 tbsp of the flour mix into it. Use all the eggs until well combined, add 2 tsp of vanilla essence when beating the eggs.
7. Now take the dry ingredients and combine carefully little at a time. Fold it in the butter & egg mixture without over mixing it.
8. Pour the cake batter into the prepared tin and bake in the preheated oven for at least 45 to 50 minutes, mine took around 50-55 minutes. This depends completely on how your oven works.
9. Check the cake with a skewer or any other way by piercing it in the middle of the cake to make completely sure that the skewer comes out clean.
10. When it’s baking make the syrup / topping for the cake. Place a pan on a low flame to this add Honey and mixed fruit jam to loosen it up. Once it starts to combine well and a tbsp of water mix it thoroughly and keep it aside until needed.
11. Remove the cake once done onto a cooling rack. Let it cool for 10 to 15 minutes.
12. Taking a toothpick, prick holes all around the cake. If your cake tin is springform, it is easy to remove even after pouring the syrup. If not, it is better to remove the cake onto a serving plate, or onto a stand.
13. Place it on a board and pour the warm topping mixture onto to the cake completely spreading it all around. Don’t allow it to drizzle around. once the syrup is poured all over the cake. Leave it for a while 20 to 25 minutes.
14. Then sprinkle the desiccated coconut all over the cake and that’s it your cake is done.
15. Just bake it and enjoy it.
** In India this cake is usually baked in a square tin and cut into small squares and sold individually.

Honey cake (#Iyengar Bakery style) #pinktober

Most delicious cake, Drizzled with the sweetness of honey and jam. It's definitely a honey cake!

Course Dessert

Cuisine Indian

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 55

Total Time 1 10

Servings 6

Author Jayasri

Ingredients

Ingredients for the cake
185 grams All-Purpose Flour
185 grams Sugar
150 grams Butter
50 grams Coconut Oil
5 Eggs
½ tsp Baking Soda
¾ tsp Baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 tsp Agar Agar powder or cream of tartar
2 tsp vanilla essence
Ingredients for the topping
6 tbsp Jam
4 tbsp Honey
1 tbsp water
¼ to ⅓ cup Desiccated Coconut

Instructions

Keep all the Ingredients at room temperature
Take a 9’’ by 3’’ heart shaped cake tin or a square tin** prepare the tin by rubbing the butter and then sprinkling All-purpose Flour completely so it is well coated.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F/180 degree C/Gas Mark 4
In a mixing bowl take all the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Using a sieve sift the dry ingredients at least 3 times so they are well combined. set it aside.
In a large mixing bowl take butter and whip it until it is light and fluffy, then add sugar ¼ cup at a time until everything is incorporated.
Now to this butter, mix add one egg at a time and beat well, If you find it curdling please do not panic it’s just normal add 2 tbsp of the flour mix into it. Use all the eggs until well combined, add 2 tsp of vanilla essence when beating the eggs.
Now take the dry ingredients and combine carefully little at a time. Fold it in the butter & egg mixture without over mixing it.
Pour the cake batter into the prepared tin and bake in the preheated oven for at least 45 to 50 minutes, mine took around 50-55 minutes. This depends completely on how your oven works.
Check the cake with a skewer or any other way by piercing it in the middle of the cake to make completely sure that the skewer comes out clean.
When it’s baking make the syrup / topping for the cake. Place a pan on a low flame to this add Honey and mixed fruit jam to loosen it up. Once it starts to combine well and a tbsp of water mix it thoroughly and keep it aside until needed.
Remove the cake once done onto a cooling rack. Let it cool for 10 to 15 minutes.
Taking a toothpick, prick holes all around the cake. If your cake tin is springform, it is easy to remove even after pouring the syrup. If not, it is better to remove the cake onto a serving plate, or onto a stand.
Place it on a board and pour the warm topping mixture onto to the cake completely spreading it all around. Don’t allow it to drizzle around. once the syrup is poured all over the cake. Leave it for a while 20 to 25 minutes.
Then sprinkle the desiccated coconut all over the cake and that’s it your cake is done.
Just bake it and enjoy it.
** In India this cake is usually baked in a square tin and cut into small squares and sold individually.

Notes

This cake is usually baked in a square tin, I have baked it in a medium sized heart shaped tin. You can bake it in a square tin and cut into a heart shape as I have done as shown.

The post Honey cake (#Iyengar Bakery style) #pinktober appeared first on My Veg Fare.

Gluten free, Dairy free, Coconut flour Pineapple cake

Jayasri Ravi — Sat, 14 Nov 2015 03:57:34 +0000

Hi everybody how have you all been doing? I am so happy Diwali has brought me a special gift in my blogging world!! Yup! I am excited to share with you all are you interested in hearing? This is my first ever product review! I never thought I would get a chance like this, when I was glancing through my mails on my iphone, I chanced upon an email from Indigo herbs saying products dispatched! Excitedly I opened up my email to see what products they had sent I was jumping with joy in my heart to see Organic Coconut flour, Organic Banana powder, Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil, Organic Coconut Sugar, Organic Raw white Sesame Tahini paste, Organic Raw Black Sesame Tahini Paste. Thank you Indigo Herbs for giving me an opportunity to create a recipe for you and so glad that I got a chance to try all these lovely products.

I have been quiet busy we had Diwali this week, did you all enjoy and had a safe Diwali. I haven’t brought you what I made for Diwali but something different for a change, bake this for a thanksgiving celebration or for Christmas or for a birthday or just a weekend treat, well it’s so delicious you don’t need a reason to bake this cake. My photos don’t make justice to this cake if you love coconut this is for you. I baked this cake a fortnight ago but, as I was prepping up for Diwali I couldn’t post it.

I am a bit of a health freak, I stopped baking regularly once I realised I was making my family eat too much unhealthy stuff, I started looking for things I could change to make it bit healthier say if not 100% at least to some extent, when I decided I started changing flours then how I could cut down on fat and refined sugar. The thing which I still am unable to compensate is Sugar, my family have come to terms with flours and fat but not with sugar, they are fine with unrefined sugar but I am not allowed to reduce itJ. So, I can’t do anything about it unfortunately. When I shop I keep looking for different ingredients I can bake with one such product I had an eye for a long time was Coconut flour, I was always tempted to buy and try it out but somehow I kept postponing. Probably I was waiting for a good Organic product as this one.

These days people have started thinking about their diet seriously, they are switching on to gluten free, dairy free, egg free, paleo diet etc. So, here is your stop for Organic products to buy online which is worldwide shipped with a full postal guarantee. I was so happy to receive emails telling me, its dispatched and when it will arriving then another email telling me when it will be delivered and who is delivering it, his name and what time! Isn’t it fantastic?

Somerset is a county in South west England, and is known for its beautiful country side with rolling hills and is a beautiful country side. Here in Somerset is Glastonbury is not just famous for a musical festival but also Indigo Herbs who are online suppliers of organically developed healthy/alternative life style products bringing about natural health products of the best quality as their website states. They have brought about products for all kind of life style, organic blends which can be used as substitutes for different kinds of food diets.

As this was the first time I was using Coconut flour in my baking I had to do some research on how to use it, lots of people said it’s a very highly absorbent flour, some of them said you need to use a tried and tested recipe to get a perfect bake, it all scared me a bit, but as I had already decided to go with it. I gave it a go, Coconut flour is a unique non-grain fibre rich protein highly absorbent flour. Coconut flour is made from coconut milk when it is pressed the left over coconut bits that is the solid which is left over is dried over at low temperature and ground to produce a soft fine powder. So we all know about coconut flour now let’s get baking with it.

Ingredients:
100grms Samai flour(little millet)
75 grms Sorghum flour ( Jowar)
40 grms Organic Coconut flour
145 grms Caster sugar
40 grms Organic Coconut sugar
150 grms Coconut milk
150 grms Pineapple puree
¼ Cup Organic extra virgin Coconut oil
¼ Cup Olive oil
1 ½ tsp Baking powder
½ tsp Baking soda
3 Eggs
3 tbsp Pineapple Juice

For the Chocolate layer (Optional)
20 grms Coco powder
2 tbsp coconut sugar
1 tbsp of Pineapple juice

For the Icing:
1 Cup Icing Sugar sifted
1 tbsp Pineapple juice
¼ cup desiccated coconut

METHOD:
Preheat the oven to 180°C / Gas mark 4, Grease a Bundt cake with any of the gluten free flour about I mixed it with a bit of coconut flour as well.
In a bowl mix all the dry ingredients millet flour, sorghum flour, Baking powder and Baking soda sieve well and keep aside.
In another bowl mix the wet ingredients Coconut sugar, Caster sugar, coconut milk, Pineapple puree, coconut oil and olive oil blend them well together
In a bowl break one egg at a time and beat them well adding both the sugars until fluffy to this add the wet ingredients until smooth.
Completely incorporate the dry ingredients with the help of a spatula.
I made a Chocolate mixture using the ingredients above the chocolate layer heading.
Pour in the cake batter into the prepared Bundt tin in two parts layering the Chocolate mixture.
Bake this for about 55 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean when inserted near the tube of the tin.
Let it cool then release the cake around tap gently and unmold it from the pan onto a wire rack.
In a bowl combine the Icing sugar with the pineapple juice until it is thick and runny, pour this over the cooled cake allowing it to drip it down the sides of the cake then sprinkle some desiccated coconut over it to get a more coconut flavour if you prefer otherwise just leave it as it is.

Somethings to note:
Please check your oven as my oven very heated up I bake my cakes in Gas mark 3, I have mentioned above the usual cake baking temperature. I baked my cake for 55 minutes.
I was just thinking I shouldn’t have used chocolate layer this way next time I would completely make it a chocolate cake or a marble swirl cake.
I have cut a circle in a cardboard using a Bundt pan and a hole in the middle and insert it into the tin, this helps the cake sliding on to the board nicely.
I have given 3 tbsp of pineapple juice don’t wonder why I have not said anything about it, as the batter had become slightly thicker than I wanted it to be I used it to thin it down.
I used Canned Pineapple and the juice from it, if you are going to use fresh pineapple just check if they are sweet otherwise you might end up with a sour cake and your sugar wouldn’t match it.
I have used canned coconut milk as well, buy the best product I did not use the water but the thick cream on top when you open it.
Hope you Enjoy baking this cake, My family and friends told me that it was very moist for a gluten free flour and they could never think it was a gluten free. If you bake this cake do write to me and tell me how it turned out

Gluten free, Dairy free, Coconut flour Pineapple cake

Gluten free, dairy free Coconut flour pineapple cake, rich and moist delicious cake

Course Dessert

Cuisine International

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 55

Total Time 1 25

Servings 8

Author Jayasri

Ingredients

100 grms Samai flour little millet
75 grms Sorghum flour Jowar
40 grms Coconut flour
145 grms Caster sugar
40 grms Coconut sugar
150 grms Coconut milk
150 grms Pineapple puree
¼ Cup Coconut oil
¼ Cup Olive oil
1 ½ tsp Baking powder
½ tsp Baking soda
3 Eggs
3 tbsp Pineapple Juice
For the Chocolate layer Optional
20 grms Coco powder
2 tbsp coconut sugar
1 tbsp of Pineapple juice
For the Icing:
1 Cup Icing Sugar sifted
1 tbsp Pineapple juice
¼ cup dessicated coconut

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180°C / Gas mark 4, Grease a Bundt cake with any of the gluten free flour about I mixed it with a bit of coconut flour as well.
In a bowl mix all the dry ingredients millet flour, sorghum flour, Baking powder and Baking soda sieve well and keep aside.
In another bowl mix the wet ingredients Coconut sugar, Caster sugar, coconut milk, Pineapple puree, coconut oil and olive oil blend them well together
In a bowl break one egg at a time and beat them well adding both the sugars until fluffy to this add the wet ingredients until smooth.
Completely incorporate the dry ingredients with the help of a spatula.
I made a Chocolate mixture using the ingredients above the chocolate layer heading.
Pour in the cake batter into the prepared Bundt tin in two parts layering the Chocolate mixture.
Bake this for about 55 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean when inserted near the tube of the tin.
Let it cool then release the cake around tap gently and unmould it from the pan onto a wire rack.
In a bowl combine the Icing sugar with the pineapple juice until it is thick and runny, pour this over the cooled cake allowing it to drip it down the sides of the cake then sprinkle some desiccated coconut over it to get a more coconut flavour if you prefer otherwise just leave it as it is.

Notes

Please check your oven as my oven very heated up I bake my cakes in Gas mark 3, I have mentioned above the usual cake baking temperature. I baked my cake for 55 minutes.
I was just thinking I shouldn’t have used chocolate layer this way next time I would completely make it a chocolate cake or a marble swirl cake.
I have cut a circle in a cardboard using a Bundt pan and a hole in the middle and insert it into the tin, this helps the cake sliding on to the board nicely.
I have given 3 tbsp of pineapple juice don’t wonder why I have not said anything about it, as the batter had become slightly thicker than I wanted it to be I used it to thin it down.
I used Canned Pineapple and the juice from it, if you are going to use fresh pineapple just check if they are sweet otherwise you might end up with a sour cake and your sugar wouldn’t match it.
I have used canned coconut milk as well, buy the best product I did not use the water but the thick cream on top when you open it.

Thank you Indigo Herbs for sending me these products. All the opinions is my own and are under no influence.

The post Gluten free, Dairy free, Coconut flour Pineapple cake appeared first on My Veg Fare.

Linzer Cookies - Eggless

Jayasri Ravi — Fri, 13 Dec 2013 19:05:00 +0000

It's nearly Christmas, kids are thrilled, adults are happy ah! sure :), yeah! are you ? most say yaaaaahh.., the long yaaaah and give a big smile, whatever it is I love Christmas, I love the festive season, makes me very happy when I see the little kids chatting away delightedly in the gifts they are going to get and lots of pampering from their thick and thin family, rich or poor everybody try their best to please the kith and kin around them.

I don't celebrate Christmas as I am Hindu, But, I do celebrate it in my own way, Have I ever told you my little story about why I celebrate Christmas, I have told many of them here, when they keep asking me are you ready for Christmas ? and I would go with a stupid smile on my face and start saying with "well, I don't have Christmas but I do celebrate in my own way as my kids love it" , of I go with my story and after hearing they would be bemused!, The story yes.., when I was in India, my children were very little and every Christmas my MIL used to bring them a small Christmas tree, it was not exactly "The Christmas tree" it was a branch but she wanted the kids to believe it was and she used to pot it and keep it in our Lounge.
Next with totally excited kids towing behind her take them in a rickshaw to shop, she used to buy little trinkets, fairies, colourful balls and all the little things to decorate the tree, and definitely a Santa and she used get them chocolates and spoil them with all the sweets and savouries. when I asked her about this she used to say how she used to think of Santa and presents when she was a kid and she would say let them enjoy.
Even today I keep wondering about the things she used to do on a whim to please them and her Grand children adored her and miss her very much, every Christmas I remember her. when my kids put up the tree and decorate they think of their Grand mother just like me. Those days I hadn't seen any of the families around us would celebrate Christmas this way. It was a bit out of the way.

May be coming over here and celebrating Christmas has become religious and part of our life now, like the same way we did back then, I used to buy them presents and buy presents for my friends and my kids do the same, particularly my youngest girl she has all packed and kept it ready a week back, I don't buy them presents any more as they are grown up now and choose to buy things whenever they like anything. But, they do enjoy visiting family and enjoy eating all the treats I bake. I enjoy baking cookies, Biscuits and cakes during this festivity season.

These cookies are the tastiest cookies I have ever baked, (so I say to most of them I think :)), I myself couldn't resist eating them they are utterly butterly delicious. These are one of the quintessential cookies for Christmas I suppose.
Linz is a biggest city in Austria, Linz is the reputed home of the famous Linzer torte, This tart is made up of a pastry rich with butter, almonds and cinnamon, and the tart is originally filled with Black currant preserves and topped with Lattice crust. It is one of the oldest know tarts, this was given a makeover by making the pastry to little cookie shapes and jammed with Jams/preserves/conserve/jellies you can make use of any of these to make these cookies and dusting with Icing sugar.
I did not know which recipe to follow exactly so I took it from here and here and made it into Eggless and it turned out superb.

EGGLESS LINZER COOKIES
Makes around 20 cookies

INGREDIENTS:
2 and 1/2 cup ( measured 275 grms) All Purpose Flour
1 Cup ( measured 225 grms) Butter
1 Cup (measured 150 grms) Almond meal
1/2 cup Granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp Cinnamon powder
1 tsp Pure Vanilla extract
1 tsp Baking powder
1 and 1/2 tbsp water
1 tbsp Arrowroot powder
1/2 tsp Lemon Juice
Raspberry/Black currant/Apricot any choice of your filling

METHOD:
In a large bowl take Flour, Almond meal, cinnamon powder and salt, mix them all well together.
In an other bowl beat together softened butter, vanilla essence with sugar until well incorporated to this add the above said dry ingredients until they resemble bread crumbs.

In a little bowl take Baking powder, 1 and 1/2 tbsp of water, lemon juice and Arrowroot powder mix them all together you will see them bubbling up now add this to the buttery flour, combine them to a dough ball, it might be a bit sticky just flour your hands lightly and make into a ball.

Now half the dough ball into two and cover them separately with cling film and put it into the fridge and let it harden up for at least an one to two hours. ( you can even leave it in the refrigerator overnight and bake it next day).
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees/ Gas Mark 5
Line baking sheets with parchment paper and keep it ready.
Take the dough out one part of it, roll into a circle or Rectangle in between two cling films do it quickly before it becomes too soft because of your hand heat or you can lightly flour the surface and roll out to an 1/4 inch thickness.

Now using your cookie one big and one small round, square, hearts or whatever shape you like cut out the circles, equally divide them into two parts and cut out 1/2 of them in the center with smaller cutters and place with 1" apart put them back in the refrigerator for 15 to 20 minutes, this helps in the dough hardening up and when baking them in a preheated oven cooks them quickly and does not leak or spread and bake them in the preheated over for around 8 to 9 minutes. Half way through turn the cookies and bake them.
Once they are baked remove them on to a cooling rack, adapt the same procedure to the rest of the dough, re roll the left over dough and make similar cookies
I used some of the left over dough and made little cookies.

ASSEMBLING COOKIES
Dust Icing Sugar on the eyed cookies (that is the cookies which are cut in the center) and lay them out.
Once the first batch comes out fill in the cookies with Jam/jelly conserve or anything of your choice and spread it on to the base of the cookie then using the cut out cookie top it out on to the base and sandwich them together lightly.
If you store it in an airtight container the cookies will become soft and if you store it in an airtight container and leave it in the fridge, they are good to stay for several days.

NOTE:
Remember to preheat the oven 10 minutes before you would plan to take the dough out and get them ready to bake. Preheating ensures that the cookies are cooked evenly, quickly and will not melt away.
You can make your own Almond meal spread the Almonds on a baking sheet and bake for 10 to 15 minutes remove, cool it and dehusk the almonds next blend them to a powder form using /14 cup of sugar, adding sugar in the process helps in the almonds becoming a paste.
Do not forget to refrigerate every time you take them out to roll or cut them into cookies put them back, and don't bake until it is firmed up.
I have used Arrowroot powder if you can't find you can use Corn flour/corn starch instead or Potato flour or Chickpea flour / Soya flour / Quinoa flour hope this helps.
My cookie cutter was a bit out of shape I was so concentrating on cutting them out I wasn't looking how they turned out, my daughter noticed it they were not exactly circle but a bit oval in shape ah!, noted point
You can also use Hazelnuts instead of Almonds to make these cookies. That is my next in the agenda baking these cookies with Hazelnuts

These cookies are so delicious, when my photos weren't too good I was so disappointed, I love natural light I struggle get good photos were it gets dark, I get upset as it goes dark so quickly in winter and as I was moaning about it, my eldest was telling it's ok you can always bake them again we don't mind eating them.., there goes the verdict on my cookies. If you try these out do tell me... Enjoy c you soon again

The post Linzer Cookies - Eggless appeared first on My Veg Fare.

Purslane & Kale Fatayer

Jayasri Ravi — Mon, 09 Dec 2013 23:55:00 +0000

PURSLANE & KALE FATAYER

I came to find out that Fatayer (Lebanese savoury triangular pastries) is a Mediterranean street food, usually made with Purslane (Baqleh) and the one made with spinach called Fatayer bil-sabanegh and she says can be adapted to using any kind of greens we like.

I had started thinking what shall I bake, I had a busy day from past two days, came home late last night had a terrible headache and I was in no mood to bake anything, My baking or cooking always ends up with my kids coming back from school they come home look for something to eat, they love something like a snack, but I always prefer that they eat well, something healthy, always look for something good for them to gorge.

H got me this plant and I have been trying to protect it now as it is so cold in my conservatory, It grew very well in summer with beautiful leaves but I never used it. I was scared that it might die, this plant is grown everywhere in India it is commonly known as Purslane or Verdolaga, in Tamil it is called Paruppu keerai, in Kannada Dudagorai. Basically it is a weed grown everywhere in India, It is still used in various cooking ways in India. I still keeping looking for it everywhere here if I could find a bunch of it, As I was googling through I found out that they are very rich in Omega 3 fatty acids, and they are also rich in vitamin C, they are even used in medicine for treating cancer etc.., etc.., Just Google around to see more information on this plant.

I wasn't sure if I could grow it here, for the weather conditions, it seems Googling I have found out that it will be dormant and grows back, I don't want to take any risk so I keep it in my conservatory, not that it is looking any healthy now, fingers crossed it won't die on me.

I was searching for something new I could cook up from this plant, I was surprised to see a few ways now I can use it not only in the India way of cooking, when searching I found this recipe on Anissa's blog, I was in awe with her photography and loved I could try out something new.

I so found out that middle eastern cookery enjoy this nutritious weed, here is how I made it, I have adapted the recipe very much but tweaked it a little bit, as I did not how much my kids would love it, when ever I prepare something new I use what my kids like and see how it goes and then revert back to the original recipe.., kind of making them comfort with their usual food. This is how I made it...

PURSLANE, KALE, SPINACH, WATER CRESS AND ROCKET FATAYER

Recipe Source: Anissa's blog

Serves : 4

makes : 12 (depending on the size)

INGREDIENTS:

FOR THE DOUGH

175 grms ( nearly 1 and 1/4 cup) of All purpose Flour

2 tbsp of Garlic Flavoured Extra virgin Olive oil

1/2 tsp salt
Nearly 3/4th cup of water

FOR THE FILLING

1/2 Cup of Purslane

2 Cups of Kale

2 medium sized onions

1 Cup of Water Cress, Spinach and Rocket

1 tbsp of Sumac

1 tbsp of Sichuan Pepper

1 tbsp Olive oil

1 tsp salt
Cheese (optional)

METHOD:

In a bowl take all the Ingredients under For the dough mix them well first, resembles like a crumbled cheese make a well in the center and start from 1/4 cup of water making it into a dough, keep adding water until a firm dough is formed. Knead this dough until it is smooth and elastic and leave it in a bowl covered with a wet cloth until you make your filling ready. In a bowl wash drain and and chop the Greens roughly, to this add chopped Onions and all the other Ingredients listed under the filling mix them well thoroughly and leave aside. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees ( I preheated and baked my pastries on Gas mark 6 as my oven gets too hot).

Take the dough make 12 round balls and one by one, flatten into a disc place some filling on each disc lift two sides 1/3rd of the circle and pinch them together and lift the third side and pinch them like a triangle seal all the three sides with a thin raised inverted Y in the middle.

Be sure to seal the pastry well so they don't open up during baking, transfer them on to a baking sheet and bake 15 to 20 minutes according to your oven's heat.

Bake them until they are golden in colour and serve them warm or cold.

VERDICT:
The pastry was really delicious, my children loved them, they even told me I shouldn't have added the cheese!, Next time I can just stick to the basic recipe without my little tweak of adding cheese in it thinking kids would like it.

Do not use any cheese in this recipe and you will have a wonderful Vegan Savoury pastry to enjoy.

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Eggless Vegan Orange Chocolate Nut Brownies

Jayasri Ravi — Wed, 04 Dec 2013 23:09:00 +0000

EGGLESS VEGAN ORANGE CHOCOLATE NUT BROWNIES

Chocolate and Oranges in a brownie is the most addictive dessert to Indulge, These are Vegan and Eggless as well! I love this combination and I keep using it always in my bakes!

Vegan why?

Because I love trying out baking Eggless and vegan, it’s like an adventure to me! But, to tell you the truth, being born in a vegetarian house hold we never had eggs. That’s the reason I try to bake eggless, when venturing into eggless baking I wanted to try if I could make it vegan!

I was not planning on baking these, when my thinking was loud that I am thinking of baking something, immediately kids called out from upstairs Brownies please...., Kids..? Uhh., don't get confused they are teenage children, anytime every time they love brownies especially my twins.
My eldest doesn't care for chocolates (Just like me!), can you believe? I have completely stopped eating chocolates from past 2 months. I never used to eat chocolates before, coming here I had kind of got addicted to it, and I was eating chocolates everyday like a tablet! Now I have come back to my normal phase, (senses I mean!) my only favourite chocolate was snickers, yeah you know why ! Because I love nuts, I love to eat anything with nuts from chocolates, cakes to Ice creams but everything in limits though.

The days are getting shorter, and its becoming colder, weather keeps changing all the time, sometimes I think cold is much better than rain, the worst part is the daylight, it doesn't seem to wait for me at all. Baking becomes an obsession especially in winter.

Here comes my recipe, a quick brownie which is eggless and delicious.

EGGLESS ORANGE CHOCOLATE NUT BROWNIES
Recipe : Jayasri

Prep time : 20 minutes

Bake time: 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

165 grms / 1 & 1/4 cup whole wheat flour or All purpose flour (Maida)

60 grms 1/3 cup Barley flour

2 tsp Baking powder

1 tsp Baking soda

1/2 Cup Orange Juice

1 tbsp Orange zest

1/4 Cup Oil

1 cup + 2 tbsp Cup Natural Cane sugar

1/3 cup Cocoa powder

1/4 cup Milk alternative

1/2 cup assorted nuts ( almonds, pistachios, walnuts optional)

METHOD:

Preheat the oven Gas mark 4 / 180 degrees.

Grease and place a parchment paper on a 9'' x 14'' rectangular pan.

Take all the dry Ingredients Plain flour, Barley flour, Baking powder, Baking Soda, Cocoa powder together sieve them well twice to this add Sugar and mix well and keep aside.

In an other bowl take all the wet Ingredients and mix them well enough to this add the dry ingredients blend them all well together do not over mix.

Scrape this on to the prepared pan smooth it and spread some nuts on top of it and bake it in the middle rack of the oven, until the skewer comes out clean for around 20 to 25 minutes.

When done take it out of the oven and cool it on a wire rack.

slice them and serve it for the hungry lot... Enjoy...

Notes:

These brownies are bit chewy because of Barley flour if you don’t want you can skip and just use whole wheat flour!

Natural cane sugar will not be sweet so you can substitute with ordinary sugar or Brown sugar

updated :

I have used just chocolate chips and one whole orange which I sliced thin boiled it twice threw the water away chopped it and I have used it in making these brownies!

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Thin Crust Best New York Style Pizza with Veg and Best Pizza Sauce

Jayasri Ravi — Thu, 23 May 2013 22:53:00 +0000

Hi everybody, It's been a long time I came here, I would really like to thank all my readers who have been in constant touch with my blog even though I haven't been able to update for such a long time. To start with, I was not blogging for a reason, I am in the process of changing my blog hopefully I will be able to do it by next month. I would also like to thank few of my blogger friends whom I have been associated with in some events which I love so much, have patiently been waiting for me to post my recipes. Once such event is Baking partners by Swathi of Zesty south Indian Kitchen.

Who doesn't like Pizza, I think that's everybody's favourite, especially kids, I don't eat cheese for 40+ reasons, I mean as I am 40+ and... I have reasons!! , but I love cheese in my pizza, I am no way better than a kid when it comes to pizza I just love it with the gooey cheese on it Just love it..., I have tried and still trying different kind of pizza dough to get the perfection, one more which I have to still try is the OO' grade flour to make pizza and see the difference.
Coming back from my disastrous holiday which was only for 2 weeks which later part of the 2 week got ended up with one week of food poisoning, ended up with a migraine. That was when I remembered I had to do the Baking Partner Challenge and decided to make the dough and thought will make it the next day when I come back from work, funnily.., God knows what happened, even though my mind was ready to accept as always my body wasn't ready to accept that I was Jet lagged and poorly, coming back from work, cooked something for my kids and hit the bed It's been such a long time and I have never slept like that for almost 7 hrs till 10 O' clock in the night and kids woke me up and telling me that they were hungry!!, I cooked up something and went back to bed again!! I had an overdose of sleep I think, through all this I had completely forgotten about my resting dough in the fridge, so decided to make it the next day, without my knowledge I had rested my dough for 72 hours and the result was really amazing, that was an awesome pizza, Three of our friends from our group asked us to bake Pizzas, I chose Pam's recipe which she had adapted from 2 blogs one for Pizza crust and one for Pizza Sauce.

PIZZA TOPPING:
1 Small Green Pepper (Capsicum)
10 Olives
1 Small Yellow Pepper
1 Small Pink Onion
7 to 8 Vine Tomatoes
3 to 4 sprigs of Basil leaves
1 tsp Chilli flakes
1 tsp Italian Herbs
Salt to taste
Grated Mozzarella cheese
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reading through many blogs and books, when I first started baking pizza at home I used to bake with plain flour , then I started using Bread flour and mixture of flours for healthy baking, I have yet to use OO' grade flour, will surely do once I get hold on it and want to see the difference. I have come to know that the Italians use this grade flour to make their pizza's!.
Coming back to this recipe, I too make the same kind of sauce changed it our family taste a bit, I made it a bit spicy so increased the chilli flakes,

NEW YORK STYLE PIZZA SAUCE
Recipe Source: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/10/new-york-style-pizza-sauce.html

INGREDIENTS:
28oz / 3 Cups Peeled Tomatoes
1 tbsp Olive Oil
1 tbsp Butter
2 Cloves Garlic
1 tsp Dried Oregano
1 tsp Red Pepper flakes
1 tsp Red chili flakes
Salt as required ( If using tinned, there will be salt already so check before you use)
2 sprigs of Basil leaves
1 medium yellow Onion peeled
1 tsp Sugar

METHOD:

In a large bowl of water cook Tomatoes with their skin, after few minutes drain the water and keep aside, peel the skin of the tomatoes, chop and blend them in a food processor in a coarse consistency, It should not be very smooth,

Chop Onion and Garlic blend them to a coarse consistency, heat oil and butter in a deep pan add Red Pepper flakes, chilli flakes and dried oregano to this add coarsely blended Onion and garlic fry for few minutes stirring frequently keep an eye not to brown it but the raw smell disappears then add the coarsely blended Tomatoes stir well, to this blend add chopped Basil leaves and sugar, bring the flame to low and cook until it reduces to half for about an hour, season it with salt.

Once done store it in an airtight container stays well for 2 weeks.

THE BEST NEW YORK STYLE PIZZA
Recipe source: http://feelingfoodish.com/the-best-new-york-style-pizza-dough/

INGREDIENTS:
6 Cups ( 28 oz or 780 grms bread flour) All purpose Flour / Bread flour / OO' Grade Flour
2 and 1/4 cup (17.4 oz) water
1 tsp Instant dry yeast
2.5 tsp salt
3 tsp olive Oil

METHOD:
1. I used only half of the Ingredients and made half the dough, I halved the recipe on everything even yeast.
I used 390 grms of flour, In a large bowl take yeast add couple of tbsp of warm water to activate it, within a few minutes you can see the bubbles, this is to make sure your yeast is active.
2. Now to this add all the dry Ingredients mix well, Now add water enough to make it a dough consistency** (see notes), then add oil and bring it to pliable dough, The dough actually will be a bit on the stickier side, knead the dough for 4 to 5 minutes hand kneading if the dough is kept for 72 hours But, if you are using it the next day that is for 48 hours knead the dough 8 to 10 minutes.
3. Add oil at the end and bring the dough together, I halved the dough into two then place it in a large bowl and cover it with cling film and leave it in the refrigerator for 48 hrs or 72 hours, I left mine for 72 hours.
4. The day you are baking take it out of the fridge and leave it for 1 or 2 hours for it to come back to room temperature.
5. Meanwhile preheat your oven with your pizza stone for an hour, at the highest temperature, she asks to preheat at 550 degree. I just kept my oven at Gas Mark 4 for almost 1 hour (I was a bit worried about my pizza stone as I did not how good it was).
6. Once the dough comes to room temperature, take one part of the dough with help of flour flatten it on to a parchment paper by pressing it around flatten it out thinly using more flour.
7. Take another piece of parchment paper sprinkle semolina*(see notes) on to it, then place the flattened dough on to the surface
8. Apply pizza sauce on to the surface, get all your chopped veggies top them on the sauce then grate Mozzarella cheese on to it, spread evenly on the topped vegetables.
9. Slide prepared pizza spread on to the preheated pizza stone and bake pizza for 6 to 7 minutes, cheese starts melting, just keep an eye that it doesn't get burnt.
10. what else to say, take it out, slice them out take a bite and Enjoyyyy...., !!!

NOTES:
Important thing always weigh your flour, as each brand is different from each other.
As I said earlier I had halved the recipe the water was a bit extra for my dough so had to discard a bit, but the dough was a bit stickier in consistency.
The author of this recipe says we had to heat the oven to 550 degree but my oven only Gas Mark 9.
I was watching a TV show in which Chef was saying sprinkling semolina on to the surface of the pizza base ensures nice crispy bottom

VERDICT: Pizza was totally awesome, the first one I made was only with Tomato sauce, I mean the pizza sauce with cheese, my kids really relished it, next day I made with veggies topped with cheese, kids were totally bowled out, they loved it very much..,
I have planed to try out the base with OO' grade flour and will update here soon enough.
Thanks to swathi and Pam for this wonderful recipe.

The post Thin Crust Best New York Style Pizza with Veg and Best Pizza Sauce appeared first on My Veg Fare.

Eggless Mixed Fruit Tart with a surprise filling..

Jayasri Ravi — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 23:50:00 +0000

Hi everybody, Hope everything is good at your side, Here is a quick post for you which I made quickly to join the blogger's buzz team, I was unable to search for my step-wise-photos, for time constraint please stay tuned in and I will update this post soon. But here is a quick recap of how I made it.. Hope they will accept my entry as I am a day late :).

EGGLESS MIXED FRUIT TART

FOR THE PASTRY CASE:
1 cup Plain flour
65 gms butter
1/8th tsp salt
1/4 cup Sugar
1/4 + 1 tbsp water

FOR THE FILLING :
1/2 cup Plain Flour
3 tbsp of melted butter
1/2 + 3 tbsp sugar
1/8th tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp Baking powder
1 tbsp Yogurt
2 tbsp Soya Custard**
1 tbsp Hot water
1/4 tsp Vanilla Essence
A pinch of Yellow food colouring (optional )

FRUITS FOR DECORATING
125gms Blue Berries
1/2 cup Rasberries
2 Fresh Apricots
1/4 cup of Melon
1/4 cup of Persimmon
6 Large Strawberries
1 Kiwi
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp Honey
2 tbsp water

METHOD:
TO MAKE THE PASTRY
First of all Mix everything under Pastry except water they will be like crumbles now start adding water until it is well combined to make it into a dough not too soft or not too stiff. cover it with a cling film and allow it to chill in the fridge.

TO MAKE THE FRUIT DECORATION
Meanwhile In a large sauce pan take 2 tbsp of Honey and water to this add 1/4 cup of sugar and start warming it up keep stirring until all the sugar dissolves now add the Blue berries and cook carefully until they are soft but doesn't loose their shape when 1/2 way through add chopped Apricots ( I added Apricots as they were tart, if they are quite sweet you can just use it as it is).
After few minutes switch off the stove and drain them out through a strainer and keep aside. To this sauce add Raspberries, shake them a bit so all of them get coated, now leave them in the pan.

TO MAKE THE FILLING
Meanwhile take little Tart tins apply butter all over and keep aside until need. Now Take out the dough from the fridge make little balls and roll out little disc shapes, Take these little rounds and carefully place them on the tart tins and press all over the sides, with the help of a fork prick the bottom of the tarts, don't make holes just give a prick all over.
Top all the 6 Tarts with Baking parchment and add Baked bean balls on top of it and bake these Tarts for 15 minutes on Gas Mark 3 / 170 degrees
once done take out these Tarts on to a wiring rack to cool down, after 5 minutes, remove the baked beans and the baking parchment and allow it to cool down a bit.
Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 3
Meanwhile when it is cooling down In a bowl take Plain flour, to this add Bicarbonate of soda and Baking powder, a pinch of salt mix well and keep aside. In another bowl take melted butter, sugar, soya custar, yogurt and mix well together, add a tbsp of Hot water and mix well.
Scoop this above cake mixture in a spoon and spread them evenly on all the tarts, Put them back in the oven and allow them to cook for an other 20 minutes,
Beautiful cake forms on top of the tarts, once done, switch off the Gas and take them out leave them on a cooling rack.after 5 minutes remove them all from the tart tins.

ASSEMBLING THE MIXED FRUIT TART
Slice of the top portion the cake nicely, and remove the top portion, take the cooked Blueberries, Raspberries, Apricots and arrange them on the tart shell as you desire.
Now either serve them just as it is otherwise with the help of tea strainer, sprinkle some Icing sugar on top of it and serve them.

These little Individual tarts were not only beautiful to look but also tasted very nice.
The sweet tart and cake inside the tart and the sweet fruit filling was divine..

Sending this to Blogger's Buzz, I am joining them and so looking forward to it...

The post Eggless Mixed Fruit Tart with a surprise filling.. appeared first on My Veg Fare.

Eggless & Vegan Danish Cream Cake - Drommekage fra Brovst

Jayasri Ravi — Sun, 03 Feb 2013 23:55:00 +0000

I think this is the month of Dutch specialties Yes, I will be posting an other one, which I baked but I haven't posted. Already this post is 1 day late, This is a very delicious cake I baked, so say our customers (@home!!), and they recommend my cake to our friends as well, My kids have been praising me so much, they just loved the coconut in it.., If your coconut maniac like me you will just love this, I myself couldn't resist eating it.

As always I have changed the recipe to Baking it Eggless and also made it vegan. I was a bit scared how it turns out.., to my astonishment, it was a total success.

Before going on to my cake recipe, I have to tell you that this might be not your choice of cake, as I have used a different flour, you might not want to try it out, If you don't like you can just stick on with All purpose flour / Maida flour / plain flour. The cake was a bit chewy but so so soft couldn't believe it.

This is how I made it..

EGGLESS AND VEGAN DANISH CREAM CAKE - DROMMEKAGE FRA BROVST
Recipe source : Diana's Desserts

INGREDIENTS:

125 gms Self Raising flour

100 gms Barley Flour*

1 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 cup oil / coconut oil / soya spread

200 ml Coconut milk ( I used ready made )
1/4 soya custard milk ( or use just 1/4 cup warm water)

1 tbsp Apple cider Vinegar

300 grms coconut Palm sugar

1 tsp Vanilla essence

FOR THE TOPPING
100 grms dessicated coconut
225 grms of brown sugar
1/4 cup powdered oats
1 tbsp coconut oil

METHOD:
Preheat Gas Mark 4 / 180 C**
Grease a baking 8 - 9'' square or round tin with parchment paper and keep it ready.
Take all the dry Ingredients in a large bowl both the flours, baking powder and baking soda, sieve them all well together and keep aside.
.In an other bowl take coconut milk, vanilla essence, oil, Apple cider and coconut sugar, beat them all until well combined.
Immediately start adding the dry Ingredients in little quantities, until all of them is incorporated completely.
Pour this batter into the tin and bake for 20 - 25 minutes ***, until well baked or a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.
Meanwhile when it is baking make the topping and keep it ready.
Once the cake is ready remove it from the oven, leave the oven to 200 degree / Gas mark 5.
Spread the topping on top of the baked cake, put it back into the oven and bake it for an other 10 minutes, Remove it from the oven cut it into squares and serve it.

This total is not exactly a Danish cream cake, I have changed to my liking as this was a challenge, we have made it Eggless according to the challenge. To make it more healthier I have used Barley flour. If you want the real Danish cream cake, check the link above and make this wonderful cake. You will definitely love it.

VARIATION AND NOTES:
*I have used Barley flour for healthy baking you can just substitute with plain flour which might have a superb texture and won't
** I baked this in Gas mark 3, as always I say my oven gets too hot and burns loads of my baking!!
*** As I baked it in lower Gas mark, I had to bake it for around 30-35 minutes.

VERDICT:
The cake was bit chewy, but very delicious, If you love coconut, this is the cake for you, My kids really loved it so much, I had never seen my children eating dessert immediately after food, they ate promptly and recommended to my friends too...
something new and something you should know...
I have used coconut palm sugar, which is not too sweet, it was quite expensive, I started searching about this product and I have come to know much about it, I will do a post about this soon.., After that you can decide do you want to use it or not, I thought I could recommend it to people with diabetes, even though it has low GI Index, it is high in fructose, as Googling I found out that sugar is sugar, and use it less is good. This has a Caramalized taste, It is not too sweet, so your cake will not be too sweet, you can substitute ordinary sugar, brown sugar, caster sugar etc.., It is golden brown in colour and is unprocessed.

Sending this also to Anu's Healthy Recipe Substitution event
and Bake fest #16 of Vardhini's hosted by surabhi of My cook book

The post Eggless & Vegan Danish Cream Cake - Drommekage fra Brovst appeared first on My Veg Fare.

Eggless Mint flavoured cookies - Mary Leprachaun cookies

Jayasri Ravi — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 19:53:00 +0000

Of course it is not St.Patrick's day does it mean we should not make these cookies and eat it..,Well for something Green for St.Patrick's day she had made these, as she says you need not be an Irish to celebrate this day nor there is any excuse to celebrate festival days right ?. When I went searching in her blog for recipes, My eyes caught these cookies, I got hooked to these cookies as they had minty flavour and which I had never tried this before, I was a bit scared how my kids would like it, but they really liked it :)), I was a happy mother. As you can see I did not use too much green colour in it. so you would definitely see the difference in our cookies..
Oh! I never told you why I posting this recipe, and about what I am talking about, This is our Secret Recipe Club Assignment, next is to whose blog I was assigned to right ?, Suzanne my hostess had assigned me to Adventures in all things food by Andrea, she is into so many things not only cooking, baking, Farming, products and Giveaways and crafting. Do check out her blog you will definitely try it out...
I have halved the recipe.
Here is the Recipe...

EGGLESS MINT FLAVOURED COOKIES - MARY LEPRACHAUN COOKIES
Recipe Source: Adventures in all things
Time Required: 45 minutes
Made 15 cookies

INGREDIENTS:
1 and 1/4 cup All purpose Flour
1/4 tsp Baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
75 grms butter*
1/2 Cup Cane Sugar**
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
1 tsp Mint extract
1 tbsp Corn Flour
4 drops Green food colouring
1/4 cup Choco chips (dark Chocolate)

METHOD:
Preheat the oven to 350 degree ***
Take all the dry Ingredients together and mix well except for sugar.
cream Butter and sugar together, add food colouring, extract, then add the dry Ingredients into it mix well with choco chips, Refrigerate the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes, Make small balls flatten it a little bit and place them on a parchment paper and bake them for 20 minutes.
Remove them on to a cooling rack for 10 minutes and enjoy it..

NOTES:
I halved the recipe so I could just substitute for 1 Egg
*I have reduced the butter she uses 1 stick butter (around 125 grms)
**Increased sugar by 1/4 cup, I have used Demarara Natural Cane sugar
***I baked them in my oven at Gas Mark 3 as my oven has a very high temperature.

The post Eggless Mint flavoured cookies - Mary Leprachaun cookies appeared first on My Veg Fare.