Super Simple cake

OK this was usch a easy one to do....I wonder why I didn't do it before.

The ingredients

• Flour...about a cup
• 1 tin condensed milk
• About 50 grams butter....unsalted of course
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 tbsp baking powder

Preheat oven at 350 degrees Fareinheit.Melt butter.Let it cool but dont let it solidify (makes mixing the ingredients easier.Whip the eggs together...I just used the food processor.Then put all of this and the rest of the ingredients in a bowl.Mix them well so that no lumps are formed.Grease a baking pan well.Pour the batter in.Bake for about 30-35 minutes...you know what to do with a toothpick.

Enjoy!

Favorite-st salad

I made this salad one evening at around 11 o clock when I was SO hungry I could have eaten a horse.And I am so glad I did because this has become my favorite salad till date.Super easy to make....super tasty and super healthy.

This is what you need

• zest of 2 lemon (which is nothing but grated outer covering of the lemon)
• cucumber
• red pepper
• red grapes (no problem if you don't have red grapes....green grapes are just fine...its just that adding the red grapes gives the salad a delicious colour)
• green grapes
• avocados
• lemon juice
• extra virgin olive oil
• salt to taste.
• any lentil...I used masur....red lentil.

Take some water and bring it to a boil.Add some salt to this water and boil the lentil in it till they are just done and not mushy.Boil them and drain them just like you would do a pasta.Set them aside to cool.

For the dressing...take the Olive oil, juice of the lemon and salt to taste and whip them together well.

For the rest of the veggies chop them to bite sizes...or whatever size you want and mix them well...add the cooled lentil and the dressing.Mix and enjoy.

YUMMMMM....like I said.The bestest Salad ever!!

Parsi dish with lentils and potato

One of those days when I had a carbs craving....

OK the stuff I used were the day to day stuff that is found in any Indian kitchen, viz,

• mung dal...about 1 cup.I didn't know what mung dal in English was so I have attached a picture of it here.Tell me what these are called in English OK?
• Some water to boil the mung dal in.

OK take the 2 together.And boil it for about 30 minutes so that the dal is cooked but not soft.After they are done drain and set aside.

Next we need,

• Around 5 medium sized potatoes peeled and diced to about 2 inch cubes.
• Some oil
• Cumin seed
• About 4 large green chilies finely chopped (yes the dish is REALLY hot)
• about 4 garlic cloves...chopped
• Some amount of ginger....grated
• Some turmeric...powder one.For yellow colour in the food.
• Some chili powder (as much as you can take)
• Salt to taste
• Some sugar (Bengali's use a lot of sugar in their food.Even in their meats....I used to laugh at them...and would even go as much as to say 'ewwww' you people don't know how to cook.But I added sugar to this this...and now I swear by sugar in all my dishes.Of course for health reasons I wont put sugar in ALL the food I cook.But there will be sugar in my special meals...the flavour changes when you put sugar in the meal..try and then see)
• Some curry leaves
• About 1 and half cup tomato puree
• Cumin seed powder
• Cilantro/Dhania to garnish

OK so now heat the pan and pour some oil in it.When the oil is very hot....fuming...add the cumin see till it starts popping.I love the smell of cumin in HOT oil...reminds me of my grandmother :) Anyways once the cumin is done add the chillies ginger and garlic....stir continuously else the 3 will burn.To this add turmeric....just a little.Once this mixture had been cooked in high flame add the tomato puree.Add salt to taste and about 1/2 tbsp of sugar.Add the chili powder as well.OK now once the tomato is done add the potatoes in...and cook it thoroughly.You can also parboil the potatoes and put them in ....but I like to cook the potatoes in the sauce so that the flavour goes in well..Anyways if you decide to cook the potato in the sauce then you should add a little water at a time so that you don't burn anything.When the potatoes are almost done add the mung dal in it.Add a little water and cook till the potatoes are completely done.

The consistency of the food should be gravy like.

To be served with chappatis/rotis.

OK like I have mentioned before I don't like saying add 1/2 tsp this and 3/4 tbsp that...the flavours and the taste is entirely up to you.Even once a week in the kitchen is enough to teach you how much to add what??

Change

OK I changed the look of my blog.Black was a little bit depressing.So what do think of the new look?Let me know okie?

Also, I put in the advertisement thing.If you click on it I get money...........as simple as that.

Ok continue reading.

PS: There is a snow storm tomorrow so I'm thinking there will b lots of cooking tom....watch out for new stuff.

Flan

Ok before I made this thing I didnt know 2 things...

1. Flan is a super-easy to make Mexican sweetdish

2.There are things called evaporated milk which is available in cans.I looked up Wikipedia...turns out its a milk in whic 60 percent water has been removed.That means...if you boil milk for real long, till it turns real think, thats evaporated milk.Ok?

So lets get started

You need:

3/4 cup sugar

About 250 ml evaporated milk

About one can condensed milk (Milkmaid).I dont use the entire can.I cheat and pour it on the dish and leave a lot behind so that I can lick it off as I cook...I know.I am disgusting....but I cant help it.I LOVE milkmaid :)

3 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F

Put the sugar into a heavy bottomed dish (that you will be using later to bake in, so make sure its oven safe) spread it evenly and heat the dish.Directly over gas.So that the sugar starts melting (caramelizing).Make sure you stir the sugar occasionally.Once the sugar melts it will start turning brownish.Dont let it burn...just brown.Remove from heat when it becomes that colour and leave it to cool.With a spoon coat the sides of the dish a little with the syrup.

Now put the rest of the ingredients together in a bowl and mix it well.Put this mixture over ther caramelized sugar (be sure that the sugar is cold).

Now put this vessel in a water bath.You know...bigger vessel with about 1 inch boiling water.

Now bake this entire thing for about 45-50 minutes. I had a liitle bit of mix left with me so I tried making that in simple water bath..instead of baking it.Turns out, it doesnt work.Not in the same time anyways....maybe it will if you boil it longer.But boiling for over an hour is a pain...and i firmly believe in 'save energy save life'...so make life more comfprtable.just bake this thing.

After the mixture gets all firm remove it carefully from the water bath.Cool.

Put the flan in the fridge for minimum 4 hours before serving.

To serve just invert the flan onto the serving dish.There will be liquid in the dessert so make sure the serving dish isnt a flat plate ...

Ps: I found the dish a bit TOO sweet for my taste.So well adjust accordingly.Just the caramelizing sugar though.Nothing else.

Buttermilk Roast Chicken

ok so the picture looks sad....there are just 2 peices there.The thing is we forgot to take pictures and we realised this only when we had these 2 peices left

Anyways here's what I used :

chicken..drumsticks preferred but you can use any fleshy chicken i suppose.6 pieces is enough for 2 people :)

1 cup buttermilk....curd and water in equal parts.mix well.thats Indian buttermilk i suppose.Thats what i used anyways.

Vegetable oil.

Garlic

Chillies

Salt

Ground cumin...jeera.

Maple syrup (now the thing is...since i bought this syrup i have a big bottle of it....the concept of small bottles is unheard of in the US....pity; but ya...since i have this bottle the next few days i ll b making a lot of things which has maple syrup in it)

So this is what you do:

Put the chicken drumstick and the buttermilk together in a bowl and mix.put a little bit oil to it.Now peel 2 garlic cloves...2 pieces of garlic and smash it.I saw Nigella do it with a flat part of the knife so i do the same.you can use your fist if you want...but i strongly advice against it.So after you smash the garlic once put it in the bowl too.Now chop the chillies real fine and put it in.Salt to taste and about 1/2 tablespoon maple syrup (yes I had to buy a bottle of it for 1/2 tbsp) put it all in and mix well.

Cover it up and put it overnight in the fridge.If possible stir it once in between.

Ok here'e the thing.The book I was reading from asked me just to pick the pieces up and roast it.But there seemed too much of buttermilk mix to waste...so well,,,i went ahead and poured it all in....

anyways so preheat oven to 425 degrees farenhiet.line a baking dish with aluminum foil.put everything (chicken mix i mean) in.pour in a little oil over the chicken.Roast for about 30 minutes.

Serve.We had it without anything else...oh ya I had maaza and Mono had White wine.but well...no food side dish.

Yummm

Banana Smoothie

A super breakfast for lazy people like me..for people who wake up 15 minutes before they have to leave for work.And for those who can bare squeeze in time for breakfast.

All you need is a banana, sugar to taste, chocolate powder and a blender.

Put all of it together and blend.

Have it cold.

Its tasty and its filling.No more rushing to work with nothing in the stomach.

I refuse to put up pictures for this one.