This is the quickest cake ever. I found this recipe on the back of the pancake box I had. :)

Ingredients

• Pancake Mix – 1 cup
• Cinnamon powder – 3/4 teaspoon
• Milk – 1/3 cup
• Honey/Maple syrup – 3 tablespoons
• Melted Butter or oil – 1/4 cup
• Egg – 1

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 350F and prepare the cake pans by greasing and dusting with flour.
2. Combine the pancake mix and cinnamon powder in a bowl.
3. Whisk milk, egg, honey, and butter together in a separate bowl.
4. Combine the wet and dry ingredients with a spatula. Make sure there are no lumps in the batter.
5. Pour  the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 25 minutes.
6. Once the cake cools down, serve it with a topping of fresh fruits.

• Coca-cola : 2 cups
• Butter :1/2 cup
• Unsweetened cocoa powder : 1 cup
• Large eggs : 2
• White sugar : 1/4 cup
• Dark brown sugar : 1 1/2 cups firmly packed
• Flour : 2 cups
• Baking soda : 1 teaspoon
• Salt : 1 teaspoon

What You’ll Do

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Prepare the cake pan by greasing and dusting it with flour.
2. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in  a separate bowl and set aside.
3. Combine coca-cola, cocoa powder, and butter in a saucepan and heat until the butter is melted. Whisk in the white and brown sugars. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the mixture to cool. Whisk eggs and add into the cooled cocoa mixture until combined.
4. Fold the flour into the cocoa mixture until combined. Make sure you do not overbeat the batter. In fact, I would highly recommend that you not use an electric mixer for this cake. Overbeating of the batter can cause the cake to be tough.
5. Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 40-50 minutes. Insert a toothpick into the cake to check if it done. The toothpick should come out clean. Allow the cake to cool on a wire rack completely. Decorate it as per your style.

Happy Valentine’s Day, folks!

What You’ll Need

• Potatoes : 2, boiled, peeled, mashed
• Onions : 1/2 cup, finely chopped
• Ginger : 1/4″, finely chopped
• Green chillies : 2, finely chopped
• Salt : to taste
• Flour : 2 tablespoons
• Breadcrumbs : 1 cup

What You’ll Do

1. Boil and mash the potatoes. Add onions. ginger, green chillies, and salt and combine the potatoes really well. Ensure that there are no lumps in the mixture. Now make small balls of the mixture and flatten them a little.
2. Heat some oil in a deep pan. You may deep fry the cutlets if you wish, however, shallow frying works really well too. I avoid deep frying as much as I can.
3. Add a little water into the flour and make a loose paste, with milk-like consistency. Place this mixture in a small plate. Also keep the breadcrumbs ready.
4. Briefly dip a cutlet in the flour mixture and dredge it in the breadcrumbs. Gently drop it into the deep pan of oil, to fry.
5. You may fry 2-3 cutlets at a time, depending on the size of the pan. Drain the cutlets on a tissue paper to get rid of the excess oil.

Enjoy these crispy cutlets with chutney or ketchup.

Toss. Stir-fry. Serve. Well, almost!

When you are too tired on a Tuesday night, or when you are in the middle of a move (like me), simple and tasty dinners are the need of the hour. I used flat rice noodles and frozen vegetables to come up with this this dinner which is part Indian, part Thai, and part Chinese.

Ingredients

• Flat rice noodles : 2 cups, ready for stir-fry
• Mixed vegetables : 1 cup, defrosted and diced (carrots, beans, peas, capsicum)
• Sesame seeds : 1 teaspoon
• Ginger : 1″, sliced lengthwise
• Garlic : 3-4, crushed
• Soy or Schezwan sauce : 2 tablespoons (as per taste)
• White vinegar (or rice vinegar) : 1-2 teaspoons
• Salt : as per taste
• Chilli flakes : as per taste

Method

1. Let’s prep the rice noodles for stir fry. In a deep bowl, soak the noodles in hot water. Add a teaspoon of salt to this water. Allow the noodles to soak for 20-30 minutes and then drain. In the meanwhile, you can get the rest of the ingredients ready. Be careful to not oversoak the noodles. Or else, you are going to end up with a sticky mess you can use as glue some day! :)
2. Heat a wok, add a few tablespoons of oil. Toss in the ginger slices and garlic and saute for a few seconds. Now add the sauce into the wok and stir. Add sesame seeds.
3. Add the mixed vegetables and stir-fry. Add vinegar, salt, and chilli flakes into the wok. Continue stirring. Mix in the noodles and continue stir frying.

Dinner is served!

Ingredients

• Potatoes : 2, boiled, peeled, cubed
• Spinach : 250 gms, washed, drained, roughly chopped
• Tomatoes : 1, finely chopped
• Onions : 1/2 cup, finely chopped
• Ginger : 1/4″, finely chopped
• Garlic : 2-3 cloves, finely chopped
• Jeera : a pinch
• Turmeric powder : a pinch
• Red chilli powder : 1/2 teaspoon
• Salt : to taste

Method

1. Boil, peel, and dice the potatoes. Set aside.
2. Heat some oil in a pan, add Jeera seeds to splutter.
3. Add onions, ginger, and garlic and saute well.
4. Add tomatoes and cook further.
5. Add the potatoes into the pan and mix well.
6. Add turmeric and red chilli powder.
7. Now, add in the spinach shreds and cover the pan with a lid. This allows steam to wilt the spinach.
8. Add salt and mix well.
9. Cook this dish for another 3-5 minutes and serve.

This dish is a personal favorite. I love Aaloo Palak with freshly made rotis!

Ingredients

• Beans : 1 cup, finely chopped
• Onion : 1/4 cup, finely chopped
• Ginger : 1/4″, finely chopped
• Garlic : 1-2, finely chopped
• Green chillies : 1-2, finely chopped
• Coconut shreds : 2 tablespoons, fresh or dried
• Mustard seeds
• Curry leaves
• Turmeric powder : a pinch
• Salt : to taste

Method

1. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a pan.
2. Add mustard seeds and curry leaves and allow them to splutter.
3. Add chopped onions, ginger, garlic, and green chillies to the pan and saute.
4. Add finely chopped beans into the pan and mix well.
5. Add turmeric and salt to taste.
6. Now add the coconut shreds and cook with a lid on the pan. This allows the steam to do all the cooking.
7. When the beans are well cooked, serve it as a side dish in a rice platter.

This is how I normally make most of the thorans.

Ingredients

• Rice : 1 cup of plain rice, pre-soaked and cooked
• Onion : 1/2 cup, finely chopped
• Ginger : 1/4″, finely chopped
• Green chillies : 1-2, finely chopped
• Curry leaves : 6-8 leaves
• Mustard : 1 teaspoon
• Dried red chillies : 1-2
• Dal : 1 teaspoon
• Peanuts : 4-5 (optional)
• Cashew nuts : 4-5 (optional)
• Raisins : handful (optional)
• Turmeric : 1 teaspoon
• Asafoetida/Heeng : 1 pinch
• Lemon juice : 2 tablespoons
• Salt : to taste

Method

1. Heat some oil in a wok.
2. Add mustard seeds, curry leaves, and dal. Allow the seeds to splutter.
3. Add raisins and the nuts and fry for a few seconds.
4. Now, add the chopped onions, ginger, and green chillies and saute.
5. Add turmeric, red chilly powder, and heeng and mix well.
6. Add the cooked rice into the wok and mix well.
7. Add lemon juice and salt and mix.

Your lemon rice will be best served along with pappadam and pickle.

Ingredients

• Flour : 3 cups
• Sugar : 2-1/4 cups
• Cocoa powder : 3 tablespoons
• Salt : 1-1/2 teaspoon
• Eggs : 3, at room temperature
• Butter : 1-1/2 cups, room temperature
• Buttermilk : 1-1/2 cups
• Red food coloring : 6 tablespoons
• Vanilla : 1-1/2 teaspoons
• Vinegar : 1-1/2 teaspoon
• Baking soda : 1-1/2 teaspoon

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 F degrees and prepare two identical cake pans by greasing and dusting them with flour.
2. Mix cocoa powder, red food color and vanilla essence in a small bowl. Make sure there are no lumps in the mixture and set aside.
3. Mix salt into the flour and mix well with your hand. Set aside.
4. Cream butter using a hand mixer. Add sugar one tablespoon at a time, and beat for 3 minutes.
5. Add eggs one at a time and beat well.
6. Add the cocoa mixture into the bowl and beat until well combined.
7. Add buttermilk and flour into the bowl, in batches. Combine well but do not overdo it.
8. Mix vinegar and soda in a small bowl and quickly add in into the batter when it froths. Stir the cake batter with a spatula.
9. Transfer the batter into the two cake pans and bake for 40 minutes. The bake time may differ based on the oven, so I would suggest you try the skewer test to make sure your cake is well done.

Frosting

This cake is actually incomplete without its contrasting frosting. You may use a readymade creamcheese frosting like I did. Or, you can try out the following frosting:

1. Blend 3 tablespoons of flour and 1 cup of milk. Make sure there are no lumps. Cook this mixture over medium heat, constantly stirring, until it gains a glue-like consistency. Allow this mixture to cool.
2. Cream 1 cup sugar, 1 cup butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla until fluffy.
3. Add the cooked flour mixture and beat until very fluffy.
4. Use this frosting to decorate your cooled cake.

Decorating

You now have two really red cakes that have cooled down sufficiently. You also have some rich frosting ready. I will be honest — I am not much a cake decorator and what a mess I made of decorating this cake — well, let’s just say that there are not too many pictures of that process!

The simplest method I followed was a helpful video that I found on the internet. Take a look:

This rich, ruby-colored cake is a sure winner of a Valentine’s Day cake.

Ingredients

• Chickpeas : 1/2 cup
• Garlic : 3-4 cloves, chopped
• Ginger : 1/4″, chopped
• Green chilli : 1-2, chopped
• Coriander leaves : 1/4 cup, chopped
• Flour : 1-2 tablespoon
• Cumin : 1 teaspoon
• Coriander seeds : 1 teaspoon, crushed (optional)
• salt and pepper

How to Make Falafels

1. Place the chickpeas in a large bowl and cover it in water. Allow the chickpeas to soak overnight. Drain the chickpeas, spoon it into a food processor, in batches. Pulse and blend the chickpeas until you obtain a puree of breadcrumb consistency. Transfer into a bowl.
2. Blend ginger, garlic, coriander leaves, and a tablespoon of the chickpea puree, in the the food processor. Transfer into the bowl.
3. Add flour, crushed cumin and coriander seeds, salt and pepper into the bowl and mix well. You may add a few drops of water if this mixture is too dry.
4. Heat oil in a deep pan to fry the falafel. While the oil heats, prepare the falafel balls. You can do this by taking a small amount of the mixture and molding it into tiny balls, with your fingertips.
5. Gently drop the falafel balls into the oil and fry until golden brown. Stir using a slotted spoon, occasionally. Drain the falafels on a plate with tissue paper to absorb the excess oil.

Enjoy the falalfels with the hummus we prepared earlier!

Ingredients

• Chickpeas/Kabuli chana/Safed chana : 1/2 cup
• Lemon juice : 5 tablespoons
• Garlic : 3-4 cloves
• Salt : to taste
• Olive oil : 2 tablespoons
• Chilly flakes
• Parsley

Preparation

1. Soak the chickpeas in water, overnight.
2. Pressure cook the chickpeas along with the water, until you can easily squash a pea between your fingers.
3. Allow the chickpeas to cool down to room temperature and drain it. Reserve the water from the pressure cooked chickpeas so that you may use it in the next step.
4. Combine chickpeas and garlic in a blender until you obtain a smooth paste. If the paste is too dry, you can add a little bit of the water you reserved in the previous step.
5. Add lemon juice and salt to the paste and mix well.
6. Transfer the paste onto a serving bowl and, using the back of a spoon, create a well in the center.
7. Drizzle in the olive oil and garnish with chilly flakes and dried herbs (parsley).

Notes

• In case you do not have a pressure cooker, you can cook the chickpeas on the stove top, for 40 minutes.
• Some folks like to add Tahini sauce and olive oil into the blender while making the paste. It really depends on your taste.