Desi Flavours: Mutton Tikka Masala

Being a stay at home mom, all i do every day is cook, clean and take care of the kids. It gets frustrating, it gets monotonous and most of the times it feels like a job with no rewards. Don't get me wrong, i do love the feeling when you get to play with your kids and they smile at you. But once you know you are capable of achieving much more in life, you are just never satisfied with a little less. I'm not being ungrateful, i know i have wanted to have kids for a long time, but staying home and cooking and cleaning all day is not really what i signed up for. This is mostly the reason i want to write more. I want to find joy in those daily monotonous chores. I want to be appreciative of the fact that all of those women out there who are sacrificing their careers for their families  are more than just cooks and cleaning ladies. In our part of the world it is considered a woman's "Job" to cook food for the family. If she fails to produce a good quality meal, she is a lesser person and no it doesn't matter how good she may be at something else. Anyway, enough of the rants, i only meant to write a pretext for this simple everyday recipe i wanted to share. Sometimes you need to look for the joy of cooking in simple everyday desi recipes. You need to photograph that "salan" getting cooked in your old pressure cooker while your maid stares at you thinking "baji harr waqt he khane ki tasweerain leti rehti hain". Just because you need to appreciate your own self and reassure yourself that you have what it takes and you are doing the best that you can.

Eid has just passed and i'm sure all of our freezers are stacked with meat waiting to be cooked either for family get togethers or an everyday meal. The simplest thing you can do with meat in a Pakistani way is to cook it in some yogurt, onions and tomatoes and you have a delicious meal ready in a jiffy to be served with hot chapattis. Here is a recipe for Mutton Tikka Masala. I use this procedure to cook everyday meat and poultry.

Ingredients:

Meat 1 kg (beef or mutton)
Yogurt 1/2 kg
Vinegar- 1 Tbsp(optional)
Onions 4-5 medium sized, finely chopped
Tomatoes 4-5 Medium Sized boiled in 1 cup water
Salt- to taste
Red Chilli Flakes-1 Tsp
Turmeric Powder- 1/2 Tsp
Fennel Seeds-1 Tsp
Ginger Garlic Paste- 1 Tbsp
Oil- 1/4 Cup
Fresh Coriander- 1 Tsp
Finely Sliced Ginger- 1 Tsp
Garam Masala Powder-1 Tsp
A small piece of hot coal placed on an aluminum foil with a tiny opening for the smoke to escape


Method:

Heat oil and add the chopped onions in it. Fry them till they change their color to white. Then add the ginger garlic paste and stir for half a minute. Then add the fennel seeds and stir until you can feel their aroma. Put in the meat and cook until it changes it's color and loses the redness. This is an important tip if you want to get rid of the smell of the meat. Add vinegar at this point if you are using it. The yogurt and vinegar will also help in the same way. Add the salt, red chilli and turmeric to the yogurt and mix well Pour it over the meat and stir it till the water evaporates and you can see the oil on top. Now boil the tomatoes and blend them well until you get a runny puree. (you can also use tomato puree but in that case you will need to add extra water to make sure the meat is cooked well) Now add this tomato mixture to the meat and cover it, Let it cook till the meat is done. Once it is done the water will have almost evaporated. If you think the meat is still uncooked, add more water and return the lid. Once the meat is done raise the heat and dry the gravy until it is reduced and oil comes on top. Sprinkle fresh coriander, garlic and Garam Masla and put the burning hot piece of coal on top. Pour some oil over it so the smoke starts to release and put on dum for 5 minutes. Serve hot with chapattis.

Note: The extra step where you first cook the meat in yogurt and vinegar helps to get rid of any sort of smell from the meat. You can skip it if you are not very picky. Just add a thicker tomato puree with less water as the yogurt has water content on its own which helps the meat to be cooked.

Apple Pie

Apples and cinnamon is probably one of my most favorite combinations. On a winter afternoon, there is nothing better than a homemade apple pie with a cup of coffee. While i prefer this dessert warm in the winters, it can also be served in summers with a dollop of ice cream. Make it a day before you want it to be served so the filling has time to set. I made one a few days ago though i could only photograph the leftover pieces. Here is the Recipe. 

There is this thing with baking that you must be precise in your measurements and follow the instructions of the recipe very carefully. I just cannot stress the importance of it more. For example in this recipe it says to place the pie at the bottom rack of the oven. You must do that. I placed it in the center and it took longer to cook. Which resulted in a little bit cracking of the crust from top. And DONOT forget to place something to collect the juices while the pie bakes otherwise you will have a messy oven and the drizzle itself will burn and create a lot of unwanted mess. 

Happy cooking!

The little munchkins turn 1

I have had a very busy week followed by a very lazy one and i kept putting off this blog post to the next day which as expected, didn't arrive until i had to push myself. Literally! The twins had their birthday last weekend and i spent the whole week preparing. It has been pretty stressful trying to put together an event you truly wish to be perfect with two wailing kids who refuse to follow their routines just when you need them to. I would cook during the day and craft decorations during the night when they would sleep. For some deranged reason, i had this notion of doing every single thing by myself. Whether i had a point to prove or not, i'm not sure, but eventually everything kind of settled and the event was pretty much a success. Phew!

The theme was Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse. Here are a few pictures from the decor;

By the time i took this picture, the helium was evaporating from the balloons and they dropped down. It looked better when i put them up. The red hats with mickey ears were for the boys and the black hats with bows were for the girls. Same pattern followed for the goody bags. I was supposed to make a centre piece of mickey's head but i couldn't find a Styrofoam ball anywhere in the market so i had to drop the idea. Instead i placed the photo props in the middle since the background was supposed to serve as a photo booth as well. 

I have pinned dozens of crepe paper squares on this sign from my own bare hands, so i felt pretty proud of this one!

The number 1 pinata, photographed later. 

Some buntings, the first ones are printed, the second ones are simply cutouts from colored paper.

Photo timeline for A and Z. One side for Z and the other for A. And if you could see the garlands with mickey head silhouette hanging from the ceiling.  

By the way i have learnt the art of making tissue paper pom poms. It is pretty simple. I think i will share it on my blog someday. No need to buy the ones that are available in the market, they cost about 250 Rs. each. Whereas you can make one at home only with a crepe paper that costs Rs. 25. Budget friendly much? And the best part is you can make them in any desired color. Usually here in Pakistan the ones that we get from the market come in very few colors. 

The food was mostly served in individual serving. Bite sized items look great on the table but i have realized that they are much more time consuming to make.  I tried making most of it in advance and looked for recipes that could be frozen or half cooked because i wanted to focus on the birthday cake the last day. Little did i know all that will be no good and the cake will be pretty much of a disaster. I will share my cake story in a bit, first some pictures of the food items. 

Sugar cookies

This was my first attempt at sugar cookies. I didn't even have a mickey shaped cookie cutter. So i made one following a video on youtube. I used the same method to make a smaller one for the fondant cutouts on the cake. The cookies turned out great. Decorating them was a challenging part. I made the royal icing using meringue powder which turned out to be just the right consistency but it didn't dry hard like it is supposed to because the whether was too humid. I had to wait overnight for each color to dry. And even then the white icing was difficult to work with while making buttons. 

I took the recipe for sugar cookies and royal icing from glorioustreats. This is my favorite website for cookie decorating ideas. 

Chocolate Cupcakes

The recipe for these cupcakes comes from joyofbaking dot com. I have tried these a dozen times and they are your recipe for ultimate chocolate indulgence. to save time i had bought Betty Crocker's chocolate fudge frosting for these, but the one mentioned in the recipe also works great.  

Mini Burgers

This is my own recipe for the chicken patties and i will share it shortly in another post. 

Other savory item included Fish with Tartar Sauce, Chicken Tenders, Mini Pizzas and Pasta in Alfredo Sauce. All of which i was unable to photograph but i will share their recipes with new photos soon. 

Shortbread Tarts

These tarts are my favorite. They are easy to make, taste great and the best part is that you can freeze them. I made them a week ahead and put them in the freezer. I took them out one night before and they were as butter crisp and fresh as on the day they were baked. Just make sure to put them in a good wrapping so they don't smell of other food items in the freezer. I filled them with white chocolate (molten chocolate chips) as i was already using cream cheese frosting for my cake. Besides it was easy just to melt chocolate chips and fill the tarts. Here's a link to the recipe. 

Cake trufles

These were supposed to be cake pops. But i didn't have cake pop sticks and they just kept sliding off the skewers so i simply put them in a pastry liner and topped with some sprinkles. Which also brings me to my cake story. 

I chose to make a two tier cake, the bottom layer being a Red Velvet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting and the top tier was supposed to be a plain vanilla cake with buttercream. I dedicated one whole day to baking the cakes so i don't mess it up. I made two 9" red velvet cakes and one 6" vanilla cake following the recipes mentioned in the hyperlinks. The cakes turned out beautiful. I was actually feeling proud of myself until i had started to frost them!

The frosting just wont set. I had backup jars of store bought frosting but even that kept running. The weather was too hot. I had planned on frosting the cakes with colored icing rather than covering them completely with fondant but the icing simply refused to cooperate. Thankfully i had some left over fondant from my decorations so i thought lets cover it up. Bad idea! The fondant was getting hard to handle as well. Add more sugar, it stiffens, add shortening or water, it melts. I kept rolling and kneading and adding for a good one hour, finally getting it to cover the cake and wham, it just rip when it hit the icing. At that point i was too exhausted to think of more ideas so i let it rest in the refrigerator overnight and try again in the morning, The fondant was set in the morning but it wasn't really what you call a neat wrapping. I took out the cake to stick the decorations to it but then it started to melt again. The top tier actually started to slip off the bottom one. That is when i decided to stop. As much as i wanted the cake to be perfect, it just proved the fact that we can't get everything done on our own and at times it is okay to ask for professional help. I have worked with fondant before, but that was usually in spring or winters, i didn't think a humid weather would be an icing killer. I read a lot about this online later and now i am determined to learn how to tackle this issue in the future. For now, here is a picture of the cake. 

It is only decorated from one side because honestly i had given up. It did taste great though! My youngest sister practically finished it all in a couple of days. What a sugar rush i'm sure!

Anyway, all is well that ends well. Most of my husband's relatives don't have a sweet tooth and they don't really eat cake(yes that is true, such good people exist in this world unlike you and me!) so nobody was really concerned how it looked. The savory stuff was however gone in minutes and my sisters helped finish the rest! The kids were cranky but they loved it later when we opened the presents. I was tired and sleep deprived, but happy because i had finally pulled it off and everything was ready on time. At the end of the day, all that matters is the effort which you put in, especially for your kids who mean the world to you. 

We are having the next birthday at McDonalds though! Just Kidding! I would love to pamper my kids with theme parties of their choice every year. 

Disclaimer:

A few of the decorations (cupcake toppers, buntings and food labels) have been printed from HomeKeeters.com. The rest of the toppers and everything else has been hand crafted by me. 

Lemon Sponge Pudding

My dad lives in a different city and because of the fact that he hates to travel due to his health, it's is seldom i get to see him at my place. But whenever he does come over, i have this Honest-to-God urge to impress him. I don't know where it comes from, but i just need everything to be perfect when he comes over. A spotless house and the food being perfect and well presented. Maybe it is because he has done so much for us all our lives that it feels like now he deserves perfect everything in whatever capacity we can give him. Or maybe a part of me just wants to prove to him that i'm not just his little princess anymore and am an independent person capable of managing things perfectly, just the way he raised us all to be. I love to cook for my dad, he, like me, is also a food lover and appreciates new efforts. I believe the best part about cooking is to share it with the ones you love. I have always loved spoiling family and friends with good food.

So today he is coming over and i have been preparing since morning. Excited as i am, i decided to try out this new recipe for lemon sponge pudding. As i mentioned in my previous post that i have been wanting to experiment with lemons. Seeing my excitement hubby dear brought me these amazing looking lemons from the supermarket.

It is not everyday you see lemons this big over here in Pakistan. Usually the local "sabzi wala" has ones that are much smaller in size. I saved a lot of zest for future use so i guess you can expect more lemon-related recipes soon.

Here is the recipe for lemon sponge pudding. I love the tangy-ness in it and the soft texture. It can be served both warm and cold maybe with a dollop of whipped cream but personally i like it served warm with a dusting of icing sugar.

                            

On an ending note, I'm absolutely enjoying trying out all these zesty recipes. In my book, when life gives you lemons, you make lemon sponge pudding.

                           

Lemon Cake

I haven't been able to bake much lately, let alone post something. Z has been sick with some viral infection, and we all know how crazy life gets when one or more of your kids are under the weather. Anyway, she is feeling better now which is a relief. However i'm feeling quite paranoid about A now. It's like waiting for the other shoe to drop. It's inevitable that they both share germs and i know sooner or later he is going to catch it too. But so far he seems fine. *fingers crossed*

Today I'm going to share the recipe for a lemon cake that i made recently. I have never really experimented with lemons in baking. I remember making a lemon curd once for a Boston Cream Pie but that was a flop because it tasted too much of egg yolks. So i decided to start my lemon-y goods experiments the other way round and this time i made a simple lemon cake. Lemon curds and puddings will follow later. 

This is basically a pound cake which uses lemon juice and lemon zest to give that moist and tangy flavour. The final touch is your lemon frosting which is made by combining confectioners icing with lemon juice. Everyone in my family loved this cake. It is just the right amount of moist and sweet and tangy. My husband is not a fan of the tangy-ness of the glaze though. But i loved it. You can make the cake without the glaze and this will probably be the best recipe for pound cake in your recipe collection.

Here's the recipe.

And this is how it turned out. I made it in a loaf pan, but i would suggest to use a round cake pan so the frosting settles on top. With a loaf pan you have to make it real thick if you want it to drip along with staying over the surface.

Chicken and Mushroom Cannelloni

My recent haul and a fallen marble bundt cake

Online shopping is probably the worst kind for your budget. Otherwise it would mean stepping out of the house which stay at home moms like me seldom do and as a result we don't shop often. But having stuff just a click away is a little too hard to resist. Especially when you are all for trying out new products.

Recently i have been updating my stock of bake-ware and i got a little carried away with my recent purchases. Here is what i bought;

A mini cheesecake pan with removable bottoms. I have been really wanting this ever since my individual cheesecakes experiment.

A 9" non stick tart pan with removable bottom. I don't own a tart pan/ pie dish. I have always used my mom's for the apple pies. Really want to experiment with more pies and tarts.

A ceramic bundtform pan. Just because this was relatively cheap and bundt cakes are so pretty looking. I have never made a bundt cake in my life and as soon as i got my hands on it, i tried one. I used the marble cake recipe from joyofbaking.com and the result was a perfectly light and amazingly good tasting cake that fell apart due to my own impatience. (So no picture for you guys)

The recipe clearly said to make sure the cake cools in the pan before you turn it over. Well i being the impatient woman that i am, didn't wait long enough and it broke from the top as i flipped it over. Nevertheless it tasted good and as much as i wanted to save the leftovers for a later time, there weren't any. Here's a picture of the last slice i helped finish today. 

At this rate if i continue with my baking experiments and keep consuming them, i'm afraid i will never lose those extra pounds i gained during my pregnancy. (Yes i'm still carrying them) One of these days i would like to post about eating healthy. I really hope that is soon enough. My dear husband generously offered to take all these yummy goods off my hands by taking them along with him to work. I really like the offer, but to avail that i must make sure i make pretty looking cakes next time, not the ones that fall apart. 

Coming back to the online shopping part, i would like to add that there are a lot of pages on facebook these days which deal with all sort of baking supplies. Initially all these supplies were not available in Pakistan and they still are hard to find at local stores, so your best option is to shop online. The best part is that most of them let you contact them via whatsapp so you can inquire about the product in detail and they even let you have the cash on delivery service. I ordered the first two products from Bakers Supplies. I'm very happy with their pricing, the quality of product and their service. The bundt cake pan was ordered from Daraz.pk. I'm really looking forward to more bundt cake recipes. And i promise myself i wont let the next one fall apart. "Feeling Determined"!

Foodie Review on Bombay Chowpatty

Bombay Chowpatty has been in town for a while. We heard a lot about it's amazingness but never had a chance to visit until recently when it opened a new branch in Z block DHA. We were quite prepared for the food to blow our minds, little did we know that it would literally do so. Yes, it was that spicy!

We were four people and we ordered one dish each. Firstly our order took a while to arrive. Secondly, despite having mentioned that we want the order to be brought all at once, the server kept bringing it one by one. The last dish was so late to arrive that half of us were already finished.However the manager was quite humble when we complained about this and promised to cater to this problem in future.

We ordered the following items

All of them looked extremely appetizing presentation wise. We couldn't wait to dig in. But upon tasting, not only everything was extremely spicy, it lacked any kind of flavor. Indian food generally is supposed to be spicy, but i am pretty sure one can sense the flavor within that spiciness. It needs to have that balance. Still apart from masala dosa, the rest were not too bad. Papri chat and bihari wrap was actually good and had a blend of flavors. But if we can get a better papri chat from a thelay wala or a wrap equally good from a place called "waqai bara shawarma" why would we want to visit someplace fancy? we were really looking forward to the Indian delicacies, but sorry to say they were a disappointment.

Price wise, the place was quite reasonable. 

Will we ever visit it again? Probably yes if we want that chat or pani puri just because everywhere else in the city is getting sealed up due to unhygienic conditions.

Our rating: 4/10

Foodies in matrimony

My husband is a great cook. And like all the best people (courtesy of julia child) he loves to eat almost as much as i do. Infact, food is one of the very few things we have in common. Yes, you read that right, very few! we are two people who couldnt be any different. Kind of proves you don't need to have alot in common to be in love. Anyway, ever since we got married we have been eating out atleast a couple times a month (hence the unexplained weight gain) and every time we do, we make it a point to try out a new restaurant. We have tried alot of restaurants in Lahore and a few in Islamabad and beleiveit or not, every time we used to visit a place, we used to rate the food we ordered on a scale of 1 to 10. His idea of romance would be to ask me how i rate my meal? Yes. And for some reason i would totally love it. Before we had kids this was quite a common practice. We even marked a few places as a "no - go" in our list because they were so terrible. So this other day we are driving back from monal, discussing the details of the overpriced and over rated meal we had at the Monal Tree House, we stumbled upon this idea of writing these reviews about all the places we visit in a blog. While i generously offered to incorporate it in this blog, we sort of never got around to doing it. What can we say, life is busy with two kids.

But then soon after we went to this new place in Islamabad which was the talk of the town and the experience we had there made us feel like we owe it to the Pakistani world of foodies out there to put these thoughts in words and hence today i launch this new page in my blog by the name of Foodie Reviews. Both me and my husband will be updating this depending upon the frequency of our visits. Looking forward to this joint venture and some comments from our readers sharing their experinces.

P is for Plain and Simple Pound Cake

Pound cake is usually the first thing you learn to make when you start baking. Also commonly known in Pakistan as "plain cake" this is the cake that is available at every nook and cranny of the city. This is also the same cake that our moms use to make when we were kids. I have to admit i haven't made a pound cake as much as i would have liked, probably because we always used to have it at our place. And need i say that my mom made it the best? Well she actually did, no favoritism. Hers is always moist and tender with a subtlety of vanilla. I never bothered asking her for her own recipe because i always thought it was the same everywhere, that is; a pound of everything. But today i learnt i was so wrong!

Z has not been eating properly lately. She would simply refuse all the "good things" i give her at mealtimes but gladly grabs a cookie or a cake crumb if someone else is having one. As much as i hate to let kids have dessert before mealtime, i have been desperate for her to eat at least something to her fill. So today i decided to bake something at home instead of letting her have the store bought crap, justifying myself that at least this way she will get some egg and butter in her tummy. I know it is not the best choice but hey, no judging, we all do desperate things as moms don't we? Anyway, so i decided to make a simple pound cake for her. When i went online to look up a good recipe, i was pretty amused to see that there were a lot of variations to it. I chose a Martha Stewart Recipe for this one. Here is how it goes.


INGREDIENTS

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pan
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt


DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 6-cup (8 1/2-by-4 1/2-inch) loaf pan; set aside.

Using an electric mixer on high speed, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition; add vanilla and salt. With mixer on low, gradually add flour, beating just until combined (do not overmix).

Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, about 1 hour (tent with aluminum foil if browning too quickly). Let cool in pan 15 minutes. Invert onto a wire rack, and turn upright to cool completely.

This is how the cake turned out.

I loved the vanilla flavor in it. While adding two tsp of vanilla essence i thought it might turn out bitter, but it didn't. And it smelled great. But i think it was a little too dense. Maybe i was comparing it with mom's version which was always so moist and light. So next time i'm definitely calling up my mom and ask for her recipe. Saving this one for Z and my afternoon tea. 

A colorful new template and a brand new recipe

Life has been a little too busy with the twins. There are days when i can hardly get anything done and hence the absence from the blog world. Unless i wanna post about all the baby food i make and the struggle to make them eat it. No thanks, i'm not looking for a writers meltdown, been having enough of those already. 

One of my friends suggested to spend sometime with myself as a way out of  all these recent meltdowns i have been having. She is a fellow blogger and herself keeps up the activity to keep her sanity intact. Well here you go Fatee. Here's my attempt of trying to write again. I hope i keep up with it. 

Actually I have been wanting to change the blog template, put on something fresh before i post a new recipe. But after a lot of tweaking and my failed attempts to customize the one i really liked, i had to go with something simple and easy that is available at blogger.com. Another realization of the past few days that the techy in me has been long lost somewhere. A friend said on Facebook when i mentioned this; "And if you extend your maternity leave for more than nine months then all you remember is dirty diapers and your kids food time" So true. 

Anyway, A and Z will have their birthday in about a month. There are alot of things i have been planning for that, which would mean you all will get to see some new recipes. It may also be the starting point of the event planning part of Zoya's Bakeshop. I have a lot of ideas in line for that, but im just looking for the right time to launch it. Right now i feel like i already have a lot on my plate so hitting the pause button on execution of my plans. 

My grandmother brought a lot of Kirkland's almonds from her last trip to Canada. She is always complaining how we don't get the right kind over here. Even though i agree to disagree with my beloved nano on this, i gladly accepted a few handfuls and started thinking of all that i could bake with "free" almonds. On a serious note Kirkland's products are actually really good and are available at all the good supermarkets in Pakistan. Here is an Almond Biscotti recipe for now. I simply love how crunchy this Scottish biscuit can be. Perfect for a tea time snack. As for the leftover almonds stock, i'm gonna try Petit Fours very soon. Looking forward to that already. 

Ingredients:

3/4 cup (180 ml) whole almonds (blanched (skins off) or natural (skins on))

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract

2 cups (260 grams) all-purpose flour

3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated white sugar

1 teaspoon (5 grams) baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

For Chocolate Dipped Biscotti: (optional)

6 ounces (180 grams) semi sweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Place the almonds on a baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes or until very lightly brown and fragrant. Let cool and then chop coarsely.

Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a small bowl whisk the eggs with the vanilla and almond extracts.

In a large bowl whisk the flour with the sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir in the chopped almonds. Then add the egg mixture and stir until a dough forms. Divide the dough in half, and on a lightly floured surface roll each half into a 7 inch (18 cm) log that is about 3 - 4 inches (8 - 10 cm) wide. Transfer logs to the prepared baking sheet and bake for about 35 minutes, or until firm to the touch (log will spread during baking). Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for about 10 to 15 minutes.

Transfer logs to a cutting board and, using a sharp knife, cut logs into slices about 1/4 - 1/2 inch (6-12 mm) thick on the diagonal. Place the slices of biscotti on the baking sheet and bake about 10-15 minutes, turn slices over, and bake for another 10-15 minutes or until firm to the touch. (The longer you bake the biscotti the more crisp and crunchy they will be.) Remove from oven and let cool. Store in an airtight container for several weeks.

For Chocolate Dipped Biscotti: Place 4 ounces (120 grams) of the finely chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl and place it over a saucepan of simmering water. Once the chocolate has melted, remove from heat. Add the remaining chocolate and stir with a wooden spoon until it has completely melted and is smooth and glossy. Taking one biscotti at a time, dip one end into the melted chocolate and place on a parchment or wax paper- lined baking sheet. Once all the biscotti have been dipped in the chocolate, place the baking sheet in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes, or until the chocolate has hardened.

Makes about 40 biscotti.


Courtesy of joyofbaking.com

Quick and Easy Pancakes and Waffles

This is probably the easiest thing to make. Whenever someone comes over for breakfast, the first thing that comes to your mind is to serve them some eggs and pancakes. Or a younger sibling needs some cheering up, waffles and ice cream are ready in a jiffy. My sisters love them, my husband loves them, my in-laws love them, even i love them (minus the fattening part)

I use the same batter for both pancakes and waffles that is why i'm sharing them both in one post. However i would like to add that it takes a while to practice the perfect round and fluffy pancakes. As for the waffles, just whip up the batter and let your waffle iron do the rest. 

For the round part, just don't add milk all at once. Keep adding it bit by bit until you get the right consistency. It takes a little practice to know what is right for you to work with, It shouldn't be runny and should be pour-able. (or you can always use a cookie cutter to shape your pancakes in the pan)

Most of my life i had been making pancakes that were round but flat. I thought that is how they are supposed to be. Until i ate some at some very good restaurants and figured that they make their pancakes fluffier. So to achieve that i realized i'm adding very little quantity of baking powder. Secondly, let the batter sit for a while and then pour, it gives a better result speaking from experience. 

Here is my own recipe:

Ingredients:

1 Cup all Purpose Flour

2 Tsp Baking Powder

salt - a pinch

2 Tbsp Butter

1 egg

3/4 cup - 1 cup milk

Instructions:

Add the baking powder and salt to flour. Then add the butter to egg separately and mix in flour mixture and mix well. Add milk slowly and whisk till you get the right consistency. Pour the mixture in a non stick pan/waffle iron. It is best to use non stick so you don't have to grease it. Serve with maple syrup or any topping of your choice. Ice cream, whipped cream, fresh fruit and nutella can be some of the best options. 

Banana Bread- The answer to everything in my dictionary

Surplus Bananas that no one would eat ? Bake some Banana Bread! Guests coming over for tea? Pop some Banana Bread out of the freezer, put it in toaster and voila, tea is served! Want some comfort food with a steaming cup of coffee in winters? Banana Bread is your best friend!

This is exactly the importance Banana Bread holds in my life. It is easy to make, you don't have to clean a lot of dishes later, it smells great, it tastes great, it can be frozen for later and it is a crowd pleaser. Having said all that I don't think i need to go above and beyond in explaining my love for banana bread. Simply put; i love it!

Here is the recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup (115 grams) walnuts o r pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped (optional)
1 3/4 cups(230 grams) all-purpose flour
3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 ripe large bananas(approximately 1 pound or 454 grams), mashed well (about 1-1/2 cups)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place oven rack to middle position. Butter and flour (or spray with a non stick vegetable/flour spray) the bottom and sides of a 9 x 5 x 3 inch (23 x 13 x 8 cm) loaf pan. Set aside.

Place the nuts on a baking sheet and bake for about 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly toasted. Let cool and then chop coarsely.

In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nuts. Set aside.

In a medium-sized bowl combine the mashed bananas, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla. With a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, lightly fold the wet ingredients(banana mixture) into the dry ingredients just until combined and the batter is thick and chunky. (The important thing is not to over mix the batter. You do not want it smooth. Over mixing the batter will yield tough, rubbery bread.) Scrape batter into prepared pan. Bake until bread is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 55 to 60 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool and then remove the bread from the pan. Serve warm or at room temperature. This bread can be frozen.

Makes 1 - 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf.

Recipe courtesy: joyofbaking.com

My recent attempts at cheesecakes

Cheesecakes are expensive affairs. I say that not only in monetary terms but also because they are too high on calories. I always felt these were reasons good enough not to try one and satisfy my cravings by buying a slice (yes one and only one) from the bakery. It wasn't until recently i thought why not, lets try it at home, and here is what i went through in the process;

At first i started looking through some recipes provided by local tv channels and saw that most of them made the no-bake type of cheesecake by adding gelatin to a relatively small amount of cream cheese and whipped cream. I looked up online and most of the no-bake types there were without gelatin and used a larger quantity of cream cheese. So i decided to go with the local recipes and chose an oreo cheesecake as my first attempt, it turned out as it was supposed to and it tasted good too but....

.......yes there is a but!

But it was a cheesecake that was set using gelatin! It is not how a cheesecake is supposed to be like in a perfect world. So then it was hard to stop me and i just had to try the PROPER cheesecake, the one that is baked .

I looked up a simple recipe at joyofbaking.com and made individual cheesecakes. This is a picture of how they turned out.

Not so pretty right? And a cheesecake just has to be pretty, that is the beauty of it. I found it pretty wrong that they were baked in a muffin pan using muffin/cupcake liners because the liners left an imprint which was really unbearable for me to look at. Jaworski says in the recipe to dip a knife in warm water and smooth out the sides but that didn't work so well for me. Secondly, for some reason, the tops of these mini cheesecakes sunk after a while. I had to put caramel sauce to hide that. But apart from all that, they tasted great. Tender and creamy and just the right amount of sweet. 

So the next time i thought i will make them in a proper loose bottom, round mini cheesecake tray. I have ordered one from a local store and it will be in my hands soon.

Meanwhile i decided to try the same recipe for a 9" cheesecake, Stephanie Jaworski has done the same on her website.  The cake this time looked fine and didn't sink from the top, but it was a little hard and not as moist and tender as the individual ones i made. What did i do wrong? i still have to figure that out with a third attempt. And when i do, i will share the result with you all. Till then, ciao. 

Recipe References:

Individual Cheesecakes