Birthday Cupcakes

Years ago I saved this recipe (from a much forwarded email) and promptly forgot about it.
I chanced upon the recipe when going through my archives looking for a new recipe for chocolate cupcakes.
This recipe is astonishingly similar to the one from One-Pot Cakes so I suspect it originated there.

These were the cupcakes I made for my daughter's birthday last month.
I made several batches of these cupcakes and each batch baked up consistently good. Soft and sweet; not the toothache inducing sort of sweetness. The cupcakes remained moist even a couple of days after they were baked. A keeper recipe, no doubt.

Ingredients
6 tbsp unsalted butter
2 oz bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 ¼ cups brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
a pinch of salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 ¼ cup flour
½ cup hot water

Method
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Prepare the cupcake pan (either grease and flour the pan or use cupcake holders).
Put the butter in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for about 45 seconds.
Add the chocolate and microwave for about a minute; till the chocolate is mostly melted.
Stir the mixture till the chocolate melts completely.
Add the brown sugar and stir till combined.
Add the eggs, vanilla, and salt and mix well.
Add the flour and sprinkle the baking soda. Mix well.
Stir in the hot water.
Spoon the batter into the cup; roughly ½ full.
Bake for about 15-20 minutes; till a tester inserted in one of the cupcakes comes out almost clean.

Though the yield is supposed to be a dozen cupcakes, I always had some batter leftover. So I'd say each recipe yields about 14 cupcakes.
Cool completely before frosting.
The cupcakes deflate slightly as they cool.

The frosting was similar to the one used here, except I omitted the coffee powder and the liqueur.
The cupcakes were topped with one of these flowers.

It Was A Good Year

It all started with wanting to participate in Nupur's A to Z of Indian Vegetables.
It has been a year since my first post and quite a year it has been!

I had no idea where I was headed with this blog (not sure I know even now). But blogging has been one of the most creatively satisfying projects I've ever undertaken.

Along the way I've met some truly wonderful people, people I wouldn't have met if it hadn't been for this blog. A few of them right in my back yard.

A huge thank you to all who have visited my blog, commented on the posts, tried some of my recipes and, most importantly told me how they turned out.

Thank You!

Flowers From My Kitchen

The child couldn't make up her mind.
One day it was butterflies. An hour later ladybugs were requested.
Finally, she settled on flowers.
We were talking about the decorative topping for her birthday cupcakes.

Several year ago I had made simple designs using melted chocolate piped onto parchment paper and I remembered being quite happy with the results. Great to embellish simple cakes.
But since she wanted colourful flowers (not just chocolate flowers), I turned to candy melts.
Though the process of making these flowers is just a little time consuming, the results are so wow-inducing that it is worth all the time.

Here is how I made them:

Step 1
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper (not wax paper).
Melt about ½ cup of chocolate chips. I usually microwave them for about 20 seconds at a time till most of them are melted. At this point, stir the chips till they all melt and become smooth.
Spoon the melted chocolate in the corner of a zip top bag. Snip off a tiny piece of that corner. How much you snip off depends on how thick you want the outline.
Pipe the desired shape onto the parchment paper. Since I was making flowers, I piped an outline of the flowers.
Let the outline dry completely before moving onto Step 2.

Step 2
Follow directions on the package to melt the candy pieces. Spoon the melted chocolate in the corner of a zip top bag. Snip off a tiny piece of that corner.
Pipe the melted candy to fill in the petals and the center of the flowers. Make sure you completely fill into the outline.

Don't worry about flowers not being smooth. The side that is visible right now is the wrong side. The other side that is perfectly flat and smooth will be visible on the cupcakes.

After the flowers have cooled they slip right off the parchment paper.
They can be stored for several weeks in an airtight container.
As they taste pretty good on their own, you have to hide them from sneaky people.

The finished product:

Here is a flower topped cupcake. These were some super moist chocolate cupcakes. More about them in the next post.

PBP: Peanut Butter Pear Sandwiches

These sandwiches are a favourite snack.
Any kind of pear will do. As long as it is not too ripe and retains a bite.
Unsalted crunchy peanut butter is preferred.
Snack on!

Raaga, these are coming your way; my entry to AFAM: Pear .

Oh Crepe!

"You haven't made crepes in such a l-o-n-g time. Could you please make crepes, please please".

Such a simple request. But this guilt package was twice as heavy. First, the obvious guilt of not having made something that they enjoy so much. Second, the request was for crepes. Those ridiculously easy to make crepes.

So here I was serving up crepes for breakfast wondering why I don't make them often enough.
We've enjoyed crepes for breakfast and dessert. We once even had them for lunch at a fast food place, but those were ginormous ones stuffed with spinach, onions, cheese etc. Totally spoilt the delicateness of the crepes.

Apart from being so easy to make, they can be made ahead for time. Not only can you store the batter in the fridge for a couple of days, the crepes can be stored (separated by wax paper)for just as long. Such lifesavers.

This time I made several substitutions, replaced part of the all purpose flour with whole wheat flour, one egg with an equal measure of egg substitute, 1 tbsp of butter with a tbsp of oil. I was quite happy with the results.
The amount of sugar is greatly reduced as I much prefer to sweeten things with fruit or yogurt. Another reason for not making the crepes sweeter is that they can also be used for savoury fillings or toppings. Less work is good; especially since I'm not inclined to making two versions of the batter.

Crepes
Ingredients
¼ cup whole wheat flour
¼ cup all purpose flour
2 eggs (or 1 egg and egg substitute for 1 egg)
½ cup milk (nonfat is ok)
2 tbsp butter, softened (or 1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp oil)
1 tbsp sugar (or more)
pinch of salt



Method
Mix all the ingredients and run them through a blender or food processor till well combined.
Heat the pan (I use a 6-inch nonstick pan) and add a tiny dab of butter.
Pour a little less than ¼ cup of the batter in the middle of the pan.
Lift the pan and twirl the pan to spread the batter evenly, covering the entire pan.
(With just a little practice one gets the hang of it and is able to make the crepes of even thickness and avoid the supercrispy outer edge. Not that the edges are a bad thing.)
Cook for about 1 minute on medium heat. The crepe will start pull away from the sides of the pan.
Flip and cook the other side for about 45 seconds.
Makes about 8 6-inch crepes.
This recipe can be easliy doubled.

Some Variations We Enjoy
In addition to the usual yogurt and fruit (even here the permutations and combinations are endless), PBJ is good too.
A little bit of Nutella-love spread on the crepe and topped with a little chocolate sauce and some toasted nuts.
Fruit and thinned jam.
Spinach and cheese.

One day, some day I want to try this crepe-cake.

Chocolate (shrug)

Around this time of the year, my son and I have a conversation which typically goes:

Me: So, what cake do you want for your birthday?
Him: Plain Chocolate. shrug (not even looking up).
Me: Filling?
Him: Chocolate. shrug (still not looking up).
Me: Frosting?
Him: Chocolate. My usual. Why change a good thing? (Can't argue with that).
I thought our conversation ended here, but moments later he continued (finally making eye contact) 'This time, how about chocolate-hazelnut with a bit of coffee in there somewhere?'

Aww, me boy is growing up!

Though this is without doubt our most favourite cake, it was never requested by the kids as the birthday cake. The cake is not too sweet but is moderately rich. The hazelnut flavour is just fantastic.

I found this recipe scribbled on a wee piece of paper tucked in my copy of Joy of Cooking. The recipe was in all likelihood jotted down from a book (sigh, don't remember which one) when browsing thru books in the local public library.

I usually use hazelnut meal but if I take the time to buy the nuts, roast, and grind them, I'm amply rewarded.

Most often, I make a chocolate-ganache which acts as the frosting and the filling. This time I made a chocolate-coffee frosting (recipe below) which turned out to be just right. So incredibly flavourful, full of that coffee-chocolate taste; a perfect foil for the hazelnut cake.

Hazelnut-Chocolate Cake
Ingredients
1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter
1 ½ cups turbinado sugar (see Notes below)
2 large eggs
1 ¾ cup all purpose flour
1/3 tsp salt
½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 ¼ cup sour cream (low fat is ok but not fat-free)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup finely chopped toasted hazelnuts or hazelnut meal(see Notes below)
½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or 3 oz coarsely chopped dark chocolate.

Method
Grease the baking pans (one bundt, two 8inch round pans, or one 13x8 pan).
Preheat the oven to 350C.
Combine the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.
Cream the butter and sugar till well blended and fluffy.
Add and beat the eggs, one at a time.
Mix in the vanilla extract.
Add the dry ingredients to the butter-egg mixture alternately with the sour cream.
Stir in the chopped hazelnuts and chocolate.
Pour the batter in the prepared pan(s) and bake 35 mins (25 mins if using two pans) or till a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.

Notes
Instead of the turbinado sugar, 1 cup packed brown sugar can be used as well. But the turbinado sugar is preferred as it adds a bit of a crunch.
You can increase the amount of the hazelnut up to 1½ cups; proportionately decrease the quantity of the flour. If you increase the hazelnut any more, the cake doesn't hold well; been there, done that.

Chocolate-Coffee Frosting
1 cup whipping cream, chilled
¼ cup cocoa powder
½ cup confectioners sugar
1 tbsp instant coffee powder
1 tsp coffee liqueur

Mix all the ingredients and beat on medium speed for about 1-2 minutes (or till the mixture gets stiff enough for spreading).

Kolhapuri Flower-Batata Rassa

When looking for recipes to use the masala that Nupur sent, my stack of Saptahik Sakal came through in a big way. Though I found several recipes for Kolhapuri food there, most of them were either for non-vegeterian food or they didn't involve using any pre-made masala.

Finally I settled on making a rassa. Any vegetable preparation with gravy is categorised as a rassa (ras/ rus = juice). The usual suspects in a rassa are caulifower, potatoes, and green peas. Sometimes a tomato puts in an appearance.

One common thread I noticed in the recipes for the non-vegeterian dishes was that the masala was added to sauteed onions and then ground to a paste (kalwan). This paste was the main seasoning.
If the masala was aromatic to begin with, the kalwan was even more so.
Taste wise it packed a major punch. None of those delicate, subtle or barely-there flavours.
The masala that was stuck to the sides of the mixer bowl was carefully collected, spread over a slice of bread and one squirt of lemon later I was in sandwich heaven.

Kolhapuri Flower-Batata Rassa

Ingredients
2 cups cauliflower florets
1 medium sized potato, cubed
1 medium onion, sliced
2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp Kolhapuri masala
4-5 stalks of cilantro, chopped
salt, to taste

Method
Heat 1 tbsp oil and saute 3/4th of the onions till brown.
Add the masala and cook slightly (just under a minute). Do not add any water.
Grind the onion-masala mixture (kalwan).
Heat the remaining oil and saute the onions that were set aside.
Add the kalwan and cook for about 1-2 minutes, stiring constantly. If the kalwan sticks to the pan, add a bit of water. The colour reduces a bit on cooking.
Add about a cup of warm water, salt, and the vegetables.
Cover and cook for 7-8 minutes (or less if you like the vegetables to retain a crunch).
Adjust the salt.
Enjoy with bhaat (rice), bhakri, or ghadi-chi poli.

Adding links to the chain
Being a part of the Arusuvai Friendship Chain (US edition) has been a lot of fun. The most satisfying aspect of blogging is getting to know like minded food bloggers (snobs and all).
I'd like to pass on Aurusuvai mystery packages to the following bloggers who continue to inspire with their fresh take on food, their writing, and their breathtaking photographs:
Food For Thought and Evolving Tastes.

When the Bay Area Indian food bloggers get together was announced, I heard from several non-bloggers who were interested in meeting the people behind the blogs. As it was a strictly bloggers-only event, I had to turn down these requests. But if they'd like to receive an Arusuvai package from me, please send me an email (the.best.cooker@gmail.com).

One Hot Package

It is not often that I receive a package in the mail. So when I saw the packet sent by Nupur in the mailbox, I literally ripped it open in a childlike fashion. Fortunately for me, I was by myself at that time. The package that I'm talking about is part of the Arusuvai Friendship Chain. It is all about sharing the bounty of your kitchen with your foodie friends via surprise packages. The ladies behind the Yumblog initiated this effort in India. Latha brought it closer to home.

Inside my package was a packet of fiery red masala, a bag of nutty crunchy toffee and, a wonderful handmade card. From the card dangled a certified sho-shweet little Kolhapuri chappal. The candy is wicked addicting stuff.

The masala is incredibly bold and spicy. It obviously had red mirchi, garlic, coconut, and onions. It was my hunch that what I held in my hands was kolhapuri masala. And that exactly what it was, as Nupur confirmed.

Stay tuned for some earthy Kolhapuri fare.

Meanwhile the Amish Friendship bread starter that Bee sent aeons ago is being fed and is getting smellier by the day. Something good should come out of it pretty soon.

Meet & Eat

I don't remember the last time I was under so much pressure. Is the place clean enough; tidy enough? Will I run out of the punch? Should I have gone with the (alcoholic) sangria instead of this fruity version.
Is the hummus any good....I must've tasted it a dozen times. What if the tarlets turn soggy?
And the biggest one: what if there are long periods of silence where one doesn't think of anything to say. Shudder.

Playing host to a group of confirmed foodies (whom one is meeting for the very first time) is not something that ones takes lightly.
Even an impending visit from the in-law-types wasn't ever so stressful.

My fears and worries vanished soon after TasteTinkerer walked in followed by Mythreyee and got the party going.
Each new arrival was then put through a guess-test. Who needs ice-breakers?
I didn't do quite as well as the others in matching the person in front of us with their blog identities. The only person I guessed correctly was Ashwini.

What followed then was one of the best afternoons in a really long time.
And no, there wasn't even one nano second of silence; the decibel level was quite high in fact. So high I didn't even realise when the husband escorted the kids away from the madness.

On to the food: we started off with a fruity punch (rasberry-cranberry, orange, and lemon juice with apple cubes; left to mingle overnight in the fridge), hummus & crackers and savoury tartlets inspired by Nabeela.

Sreelu brought along another appetiser but I'll let her tell us about it.
Hop over to her blog find out.
Shankari ,who initiated this meet and greet eat, wasn't able to join us. What a shame after all the effort she put into organising this event.

Meanwhile about that hummus:
In the food processor bowl, mix a couple of cups of garbanzo beans, 1 tbsp chopped garlic, 2 tbsp tahini sauce, 2-3 tbsp olive oil, juice from a medium size lemon, salt to taste. Pulse till well blended.
Adjust the salt and lemon juice levels.

I used a combination of garbanzo beans and white cannelini beans. As these beans are similar in texture, colour, and to some extent the taste, you couldn't tell that there were two kinds of beans in the hummus.

For the savoury tarlets: Thaw the pastry sheets. Cut each rectangle (each pack has 6 rectangles) into four pieces. Roll each piece slightly and line the moulds of a mini-muffin pan. Stuff with a mixture of roasted peppers, sundried tomatoes, and jalapeno jack cheese. bake at 350F for about 10-12 minutes.

Lapping up the Lapsi

Most weekday dinners are poli (or phulkas), a bhaaji (vegetables) and a simple daal.
There are times (a particularly hectic day, an aced test, or just a very good day) one craves a sweet something to go along. On such days, a welcome addition to the meal is a bowl of kheer or sheera (suji halwa).
Child development experts frown on using food as rewards etc., but sometimes a bowl of warm kheer does so much more for the soul than the body; especially if fat free milk and conservative amounts of sugar are used! So I don't mind; we are like that only.

The kheer of choice is ravyachi kheer (suji, cream of wheat) but I'm always on the lookout for alternatives.
Making the lapsi from Tarla Dalal's The Complete Gujarati Cookbook
Lapsi has been on my to-make list ever since I bought this book last year.
It seemed too rich (6 tbsps of ghee) and too sweet (1 cup of sugar) for my tastes. Using greatly reduced quantities of these ingredients, I went ahead and made the lapsi anyway.

We loved it! But then I already knew I was going to like it.
What ever little was left over tasted even better the next day. The nutiness of the cracked wheat, made better by roasting it in ghee is totally delicious.

So here is a low-fat version of the Fada Lapsi:

Ingredients
1 cup cracked wheat (dalia)
1 cup sugar (I used 1/3 cup and it was sweet enough for us)
6 tbsp ghee (I used 2 tbsp)
3 cups hot water (see Notes below)
a pinch of powdered elaichi
10-15 almonds, coarsely crushed (optional)

Method
Over medium-low heat, roast the dalia in the melted ghee.
Slowly add the water to the dalia.
Add the sugar and elaichi and mix well.
Cook this mixture stirring often and breaking any lumps that form.
Let this mixture cook for about 8-10 minutes or till you see ghee on the sides of the pan. If you use less ghee, it won't be visible right away. In that case cook till the wheat is cooked.
Add the nuts, if using.

Notes
Lapsi is made with either milk or water. This time I used just water, but next time I'll definitely be using milk. Since I've greatly reduced the quantity of ghee, milk (even fat-free) will add some richness.

This lapsi is my entry to RCI:Gujarat, hosted by Mythili. Regional Cuisines of India (RCI) is a brainchild of Lakshmi.

Quinoa Kheer

Though we like the savoury Desi version of quinoa, quinoa kheer is good too.
To make this kheer, wash cooked quinoa in several changes of water to remove much of the bitter taste. In savoury dishes this bitterness is welcome; not so much in sweets.
Add milk, sugar, a pinch of elaichi, and a strand (or two) of keshar and cook for about 10 minutes on medium-low heat.
The quantity of milk and sugar depends on how thick you like your kheer and the preferred sweetness levels, respectively.
I've also made a vegan version of this kheer using soymilk. My cousin, who is a vegan, loved it...I'll take his word for it.