Black Grape Cake or Jeweled Cake

I was driving past a fruit cart and the gleaming black grapes caught my attention. My mother really loves these and she was telling me the other day how much she misses them in Kolkata. Well, I made a mental note to carry some in the my next trip, along-with the usual white onions for Baba, and the idea of baking a cake with them came my way.

So, all you need is half a kilo of black grapes, 1/5 cups of flour, 4 tbsp vegetable oil, 2 small lemons, 1/2 cup of sugar,1 tsp vanilla essence, a pinch of baking powder and 2 eggs.

Beat the eggs well. Add the sugar and beat some more till the sugar dissolves. Add the oil and beat for another minute. Now add the vanilla essence, lime juice and grated lemon rind. In the side sieve the flour and add the baking powder. Now mix the wet and dry ingredients and fold in the batter together. If a bit stiff, add a little milk just to make your movement easy.

By now ensure your oven is preheated. Now in your baking tin ready with baking paper, pour a bit of the battera nd spread it out. Throw in the grapes randomly. Continue in layers till the batter is finished. Right on top jewel the cake with some more grapes. bake at 140 degrees for 45 mins or till it is cooked. Use the usual needle testing method. The colour is light and soft. 

BBQ'ed Chicken sticks

Tara and I were driving to Crawford market, my first time, and discussing new ideas for starters with chicken. Lo behold, this lip smacking starter was born! I included it in a menu for a Saturday night party at a successful couple's and many of their guests asked for the peppercorns contact. Yay!

Marinate boneless chicken pieces(Chilly chicken sized) with Bar-B-Que sauce (Kraft, the best and Fun Foods pretty good too) , generous amount of cayenne pepper seasoning and salt. Keep in the fridge for 24 hours.

At cooking time, warm olive oil in a wok. Add crushed garlic. When the garlic turns light brown, add in the chicken. Stir fry at low heat on a covered wok for 15 minutes. Keep stirring every 2/3 minutes. The chicken will cook in its own juices. In the last minute, increase the flame and stir fry till chicken is dry and golden brown in colour and of course well-cooked and soft. Keep the chicken aside till it reaches room temperature.

On small sized wooden skewers or tooth-picks, add cheese cubes, length wise cut half black grapes and chicken pieces, all one each.

You are ready, now get to the Margarita!

Breakfast Toast Cups

Kavery discovered this recipe and Ishani tried it. I am late in the band wagon. It was high time and it is also a lovely day, wish all of you a happy Gudiparwa, 2013. A simple quick-to-do breakfast for a happy family.

Apply olive oil or butter on the muffin tray. Take FRESH bread and fit it into the tray like in the picture below.

Stick it into the oven for 8-10 mins at 150 degrees.

Till then, stir fry finely chopped onions. once pink, add in baked beans. Another 2 minutes of stirring and you are done with that. Now take some beaten eggs and garnish with salt and pepper. Once the bread gets slightly crisp, take them out. Fill each cup with beans, the beaten egg, some bacon or ham or sausages chopped and crisped and lastly some flaked Parmesan or any grated cheese for that matter.

Put the tray back into the oven and toast for 10 more mins or so. Once done the toast cups come out of the muffin cups cases easily. Serve hot.

Spicy cod rice

I am a huge fan of one-pot meals. They are great for today's on-the-go society. You get your carbs, veggies and proteins in one large pot, and yet no one is complaining! Sharing this lovely recipe, a one pot spicy cod rice.

So take some 12-14 cod pcs (can use deboned Rawas instead) and lightly salt it. Now take 2 tbsps flour, 1 tbsp cumin powder and 1 tbsp of coriander powder and mix them well, they are all dry. Now coat the fish well and set them out on a baking paper on a tray. Store in the fridge for 30 mins.

Till then de-shell peas(can use frozen ones), chop red carrots in julienne pieces, finely chop bird eye red chillies and spring onions. Also fry a few cashews till golden but do not over fry them.

Now boil a cup and a half long grained rice, please avoid over cooking the rice.

In well warmed oil in a large pot or wok, shallow fry the fish till both sides are golden brown. Set aside. To the same warm oil, add the spring onions and toss for 1 min. Then add the carrots, peas and the red chillies. Fry for 2 mins. Next add the cashew nuts and toss everything together. Add 2 tbsp soy sauce and 2 tbsp sweet chilly sauce. Now add the rice and stir well. Add salt to taste remembering that soy sauce is salty on its own. Finally add the fried fish and once again give the pot a nice big toss.

Make this your Sunday family meal. It is lip smacking and wholesome.

Banana bread

So, Tara has a beautiful friend called Ekavali who bakes in a jiffy! The stuff that she dishes out are 'to die for'.

Enough for me to pile on to her famous banana bread recipe. It is truly amazing! Just get baking asap-it is divine.

Take 2 eggs, 1 cup of flour, 1 cup of butter(soft 100 grams works out well), 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder(optional though I recommend) , 1 banana.

Chop the banana into small bits. beat the egges, not separately with a hand beater. Add in everything. Mix well with a spatula and beat with the spatula for 20 mins or so. If required add 2 tbsp milk to ensure easy movement.

Put in a bread baking tray. bake at 200 degrees for 25 mins or so. Of course, check for complete baking with the old fashioned needle prick.

Enjoy!

Cream Kadai Chicken

Anecdote

Sharmita and I are actually quite poles apart. The main difference is that she is slim and trim, ahem, let’s not go that way about yours truly. We almost never agree on movies. We also most often disagree on food as we almost always like different restaurants. We dress quite differently, of course with such different body types, what did I expect?

Having said that we are rather different, we are also pretty similar. Our views about child rearing are almost identical. We are two women who worked together on an equal footing and never fought. We support each other largely, almost often, in our quest for woman power, the battle being drawn against the spouses most often. And most importantly, there have been many moments of shared happy banter in the last 12 years.

Sharmita claims to be a non-cook, well her husband says she never cooks any vegetarian dishes after he has turned vegetarian!. Well, this statement being as unfounded as it sounds, Sharmita is not much of a kitchen person yet loves to throw parties and serve home-made meals. This is one recipe which she had been advocating to me since two years, a specialty of her mother, and I take my hats off to both the ladies, it is an outstanding one!

Stuff that you must have:

Chicken, a kilo, curry pcs

Ginger, 2 inches

Garlic, 8 odd pods

Turmeric powder

Tomatoes, 2 big ones

Pepper powder

Lemon juice, a tsp

Green chillies, 2

Kashmiri chilly powder

Cardamom, 3pods

Onions, 1 big

Garam masala powder

Kasuri methi

Cream, 1 cup

Salt

What to do:

Step 1

Marinate the chicken with 11/2 tsp ginger paste, 11/2 tsp garlic paste, ½ tsp turmeric powder, 1 tsp pepper powder, 1 tsp lemon juice. Keep aside for 6 hours or overnight.

Step 2

Take 2 tomatoes and cut into big pcs. Chop 1 tsp ginger and garlic respectively and finely. Take the green chillies, cardamom, ½ tsp Kashmiri chilly powder and a cup of water. Cook everything together for 3  to 4 minutes. Grind to a paste. This is your tomato paste.

Step 3

Shallow fry the marinated chicken till it is slightly brown

Step 4

In a warm wok, add oil. Now add 1 tbsp chopped ginger and 1 large chopped onion. Fry till golden brown and soft. Now add 2 tsp Kashmiri chilly powder, ½ tsp turmeric powder, ¼ tsp pepper powder, ½ tsp Garam masala powder and ½ tsp Kasuri methi. Fry the masalas for 2 minutes in low flame. Now add the tomato paste from step 2. When it simmers, add the chicken post step 3and cook till the chicken is soft.

Step 5

Pour a cup pf fresh cream and serve garnished with coriander leaves.

How to serve:

A very North Indian or rather Afghani tasting gravy dish, it is best served with Roti or Paratha. Methi infused roti would be really nice. Though we have already used methi in the gravy, the fragrance is subtle.

Trivia:

Use of cream in Indian curries, especially in meat dishes dates back to Moghul era. This in turn was largely influenced by Afghani and Middle eastern cuisines.

Barbecue Chicken Salad

Kavery gave me a lovely book on salad recipes. Till I realised that i was allergic to chicken, I ate it almost every night and I would always look around for good chicken recipes. This one is a superb one and you just must try it. 

Place 1 tbsp olive oil, 4 tbsps tomato sauce, 1 tbsp clear honey, 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce and i tsp mustard powder in a shallow bowl and mix it together. Season it with salt and pepper. Add the chicken and turn to coat in the marinade. Cover and leave to marinate in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours or overnight.

Pre heat oven to 200 c. Place the chicken on a roasting tin. Spoon over any remaining marinade and roast in the oven for 40 mins until cooked through and lightly charged in places. Cool for 5 mins.

Arrange lettuce leafs,4 grated carrots, 6tbsps of sweet corn and a half thinly sliced red pepper on the serving plate. To make a dressing mix sour cream and chives in a small bowl and season with salt and pepper.

Thickly slice each chicken breast and arrange on the salad serve with dressing.