Cloud Swiss roll

This is more of an eye candy apart from being an amazing recipe. Who doesn't like a good soft, spongy, creamy Swiss roll. I can just look at this dessert all day long with dreamy-eyes. It feels like you ate a cloud after you gobble this baby down. Its that time of the year again and this is my treat. Merry Christmas to all you lovely people! : D

What you need:
Sponge:
4 Eggs
1/2 cup caster sugar
I cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup hot milk
Extra caster sugar

To fill:
Whipping cream, 150 ml
Icing sugar
vanilla essence, 1 tsp
Mango, chopped
grapes. diced
strawberries, chopped
strawberry crush

Set oven temperature to 190 deg cel. Grease a 30*25 cm tin and line the base and sides with butter paper. Beat eggs and sugar together for 8-10 minutes or until mixture is thick and creamy. Sift flour and baking powder 3 times. Lightly fold through egg mixture, then fold in the hot milk. Pour into prepared tin and gently shake into the corners. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until springs back when touched.

While sponge is cooking, spread a damp tea-towel on a clean table, place a piece of butter paper over the tea-towel and sprinkle with extra sugar. Remove your sponge from the oven and take it out on the butter paper.

Whip cream with icing sugar and vanilla essence and spread it on the sponge. Sprinkle fruits and strawberry crush, make sure you don't go on the sides only in between because once you roll it will spread to the sides. Very carefully roll the Swiss roll and seal it in a cling film or silver foil. Keep it in the freezer for sometime. Serve cold from the fridge. And we are done!

Instant chicken!

I cooked this chicken in a solar cooker and i can't explain in words how juicy it was. You can do the same by cooking on slow flame. Its going to be a tangy and chilli chicken. Serve with hot rotis or even rice.

What you need:
Chicken 500 gm
Red chilli powder, 1/2 tsp
Geeen chilli, 1 chopped
Coriander powder, 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder, 1 tsp
Curd, 1 cup, whisked
Ginger-garlic paste, 2 tbsp, freshly pounded
Black salt, 1 tsp
Onion, 1 chopped
Oil, 2 tbsp
Garam masala, 1 tbsp
Cumin seeds, 1 tsp
Coriander leaves, chopped
Chicken masala, 2 tsp
lime juice, 1 lemon
salt, to taste

Mix everything (Red chilli powder, Geeen chilli, Coriander powder, Turmeric powder,Ginger-garlic paste, Black salt, onions, oil, garam masala, chicken masala, lime juice, salt, cumin seeds, coriander leaves) the whisked curd and put on the chicken. Make sure you do it nicely with hands. Keep it overnight.

Heat some oil. Put the chicken in the oil and leave it on slow flame for an hour (i used solar cooker). Stirring in between. Check after an hour if the chicken is cooked thoroughly if not keep for some more time. And we are done.

Exotic Fruit salad!

This is such a beautiful looking salad and also very nutritious. I have used dragon fruit here which is a gorgeous fruit, not easily available in India but you can get it from your nearby fruit mandi. It has a kiwi-litchi like flavor but much sweeter than kiwi. Have it for dinner or breakfast or in between meals, Very filling and extremely tasty.

What you need:
Seasonal fruits, I used-
Pomegranate
Dragon fruit/pitaya
Apple
Banana
Orange
Dried cranberries
Strawberries
Kiwi
Figs

Dressing:
Honey/powdered sugar
Lime juice
Slightly crushed cornflakes (i use hands to crush)
Toasted muesli, i used strawberry muesli
Mint leaves, chopped

Chop all the fruits and mix with the dressing. Make sure you add cornflakes and muesli in the end to maintain the crunch. You can eat this just like that or serve with some vanilla ice cream.

Amritsari chole with methi (fenugreek) poori..

This is a recipe most of us crave for while making cholle. This is my mother's version and it is so flavorful. Perfect for a Sunday brunch or even for a dinner with a few friends. You can even serve them with bun kulchas, plain pooris or parathas.

What you need for the chole:
Chickpeas/ Kabuli chana, 250 gm/5-6 handful, soaked overnight and boil with salt
Onion, 2 big ones
Ginger, 1 inch
Garlic, 5 flakes
Red chilli powder

Turmeric powder, 1 tsp

Coriander powder, 2 tsp
Garam masala, 2 tsp
Chole masala, 3 tsp
Tomatoes, 2 big
Cumin/jeera seeds, 1 tsp
Green chillis, chopped
Anardana powder/dried pomegranate powder, 3 tbsp (gives an amazing texture, flavor and color)
Coriander leaves, chopped
Salt to taste
Oil, 4 tbsp
Iron kadhai, optional, gives a nice natural black color to the dish

Poori:
Methi, chopped 1 cup
Wheat flour/ aata, 2 and a 1/2 cups
Garlic paste, 1 tsp
Oil 1 tbsp
Haldi 1/4 tsp
Sesame seeds/til, 1 tsp
Water, enough to make a good dough

Boil the soaked Chickpeas with some water, enough to cover the chickpeas and salt. It should boil in about an hour (first on high flame and then on slow flame). Grind Onions, ginger and garlic to form a paste in a mixer grinder. It should be coarse and NOT pureed. Heat some oil and add the cumin seeds to crackle. Add the onions and ginger- garlic now and saute them with some salt. Grind the tomatoes on the other side again do not puree, coarsely grind.

Once the onions start leaving oil add turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander powder, cholle masala, anardana powder. Now add the tomatoes you ground earlier and saute till the tomatoes are cooked and leave oil from the sides. That is when you know your tadka/tempering is cooked. Add the chopped green chillies and add this tadka to the boiled chickpeas. Mix it all together.

Make sure there is not much water in  the dish and if there is you must keep it on the gas and medium heat and reduce it. In the end add garam masala and garnish with chopped fresh coriander. Please taste the curry from time to time to make sure there is a good balance of flavors.

For the poori mix everything together and start kneading to form a dough. Water should be added in small amounts to make a nice dough. Make small pooris on a chakla-belan and fry them in hot oil. And we are done!

Saffron infused Apple jam!

This is my grandmothers recipe. Only difference is i used saffron to give some color instead of food color. Saffron works like magic in this recipe giving a beautiful natural color. Extremely simple and rustic. Do try it!

What you need:
Apples, 6 washed, peeled and grated
Lime juice, 6 lemons
Sugar, 2 cups
Saffron, 12-15 strands (you can use food color too, a drop)

Take a clean heavy bottomed pot and put all your ingredients in. Let it stay on medium heat for a while till you get the consistency shown below. Stir at all times.You can put it on high flame towards the end. To check if they are done put a drop on a steel plate and if the drop stays without leaving any water from the sides your jam is ready. Should take around 20 mins for 6 apples.

Rainbow butterfly Cupcakes!

These babies would definitely make you go crazy. If you are feeling low they would lift your spirits for sure and if you are feeling good you'd feel much better because just looking at them is pure joy! Ah! I am so excited posting this recipe. I am not a big fan of using food colors but once in a while never hurt anyone. Kids would love these cupcakes. You would become a master chef in their eyes and nothing else you cook or bake would be able to top these cupcakes. It is a simple butter cake you can even bake your favorite chiffon or sponge cake for this recipe. It would make everyone wonder how you did it. Let me help you do that ; )

What you need :
185 g unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup caster sugar
3 eggs
3 cups flour
Pinch salt
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp baking powder
2 Milk chocolates, cut into small pieces, cut not chopped
Food colors
Cupcake molds and cases (if not available you can bake a cake too in a cake tin)
Should yield 12- 15 cupcakes

In a large bowl beat butter and vanilla essence till it softens. Add sugar gradually, beating until mixture is light and fluffy. Lightly beat eggs and add gradually to the creamed mixture beating well after each addition.

If using an electric beater, add 1 tbsp of milk while beating the butter and sugar- this will help dissolve the sugar crystals. Sift flour and salt. Using a large metal spoon, fold flour lightly into creamed mixture alternately with milk until mixture is smooth.

Now i took 5 different bowls and 5 different colors (yellow, green, blue, orange and pink) and divided the batter into these 5 bowls. Like shown in the picture below.

Now all you have to do is just keep on pouring spoon by spoon into the cupcake molds and once you filled half place a small piece of chocolate in between and then fill again spoon by spoon, color by color. In the end just take a back of a spoon and make swirls on the top otherwise you could just leave it as it is. Bake at 180 deg C For 15-20 minutes and if you are baking a cake 40 mins. You can check if its baked by piercing with a knife (i use knitting needles), if it comes out clean it is baked perfectly. 

You can do some chocolate or cream icing or jam, i prefer plain with some hot coffee or dipped in cold custard. Once you split them into two they would resemble a butterfly and look like little pieces of heaven : )! And we are done. 

Sunny side up sandwich!

This is an easy recipe and uses minimum resources. Amazing for breakfast or tea time. Absolute comfort food. Do give it a try !

What you need: 
2 bread slices
1 egg
Pepper
Chilli flakes
Mayonnaise
Mustard sauce
1/2 Capsicum, chopped coarsely
Butter
1/2 tomato, chopped coarsely
salt to taste
Oil, 2 tsp

Heat 2 tsp of oil on a non-stick pan or a regular pan. Crack the egg once the pan and oil are hot. Sprinkle some salt, pepper and chilli flakes on top of the egg. Once the white is opaque (not transparent) you can flip the egg if you don't like the yolk runny (like me), to cook it a little. Otherwise you can just cover it with a lid and let it cook for 3-5 minutes.

Spread some mayonnaise one one bread slice and some mustard sauce on the other slice. Spread the chopped capsicum and tomato on one side and put the egg you cooked earlier on other, join both bread sliced to make a sandwich.

Heat some butter in the same pan and grill your sandwich a little on both sides till its golden brown. Be careful while flipping it over with the filling. You can grill the bread earlier and keep it aside to make your job easy, but if you do it with filling everything becomes nice, gooey and warm inside in the sandwich. And we are done.