Baking Partners: A new Baking Group

Baking Partners: A new Baking Group

A group of home bakers helping each other to achieve perfection.

Baking a home made Baking a homemade bread, cake or cookies will give the best outcome. However in order to achieve the best results, a perfect recipe and right techniques are required.

We are a small group of home baker friends, who love and want to learn more about the nook and corners of baking.  We are planning to try out recipes from books/magazines and cooking shows.  Every member gets a chance to present their choice of recipe and share important points with the rest of the group.

Main purpose of this group is to learn the techniques, critic the procedure if there are ways to improve, and to eat a delicious food.

Rules are simple, we will choose one recipe and send it out to the group by 16th of every month and the reveal date will be 15th of the next month. On that day we will blog about it. A linky tool will be open during that time and each member can link their post.

First month we are going to do a recipe, 2nd and 3rd month will be a theme and the 4th month we will be back at a recipe. By doing in between recipes, we will able to learn more.

All enthusiastic bloggers interested in baking are welcome, please email Swathi  of Zesty South Indian Kitchen  at favoriterecipes12@gmail.com.

We will appreciate the use of logo or worded link that will help to spread the word.  A bunch of thanks to Tina for designing this beautiful logo

If you   want to make it a gluten or vegan free diet, you can do those modifications also.

Tried and Tasted Revamped

Dear Friends as I had already mentioned in my posts in my Facebook Page for the past few weeks I have been in an effort to revamp my long forgotten event "Tried and Tasted". What is it about? The event is all about bookmarked recipes. 

There are 1000s and 1000s food blogs and food websites. Each and every site is unique in its own kind. Many recipes are new, some of them old, some of them are presented in a tongue tickling style, some of them have drooling photographs of food, some traditional, some are dedicated to their loving mother, many national and international recipes. 

Many a times it happens that I start somewhere searching for a recipe or maybe going through someones new post. And from there keep continuing, jumping from one blog to another fully immersed in the recipes, beautiful photographs and so on. And after the end of about 1 hour, I would have bookmarked 100s of recipes. And not only are these recipes bookmarked but several times also "Tried and Tasted". 

And many a times it happens that we start liking recipes of some particular blog, for many reasons. Firstly because we Tried a recipe from this blog and the 1st time itself we would received a great round of applause from our family members. Sometimes because we like their way of instructions, sometimes because of their tongue tickling photos and so on. So then we start frequenting this blog, try out many recipes from this particular blog. And so this is the whole idea behind this event. 

The event "Tried & Tasted" (T&T) is all about appreciating our fellow blogger for their hard work. And how can we honour them for their work? Best way is to try their recipes and letting them know that their recipe had been of great success to us by showcasing their recipes in our blog. And by doing this we will not only appreciate them but also confirm that their recipes are worth it.

"Tried & Tasted" (T&T) is a monthly event started by Zlamushka of SpicyKitchen and was taken over by me. Every month recipes from one particular blog will be "Tried and Tasted". 

Tried and Tasted was going on successfully for quiet sometime but then because of lack of time I couldn't conduct it for sometime in between. And now since I am able to find some time for me and my blogs and the event "Tried and Tasted", I would like to get it back going again. So with all your support I started back the event again this month.

This month the event is hosted by the very famous Priya of Priya's Versatile Kitchen. And she has chosen another beautiful blog which needs no introduction to many of us. Its Sharmis Passion which has many beautiful photos, healthy recipes, many eggless recipes and step wise instructions. 

So go ahead folks, prepare as many dishes as you want from Sharmis Passion this month, post it in your blog and link it back to Priya's Versatile Kitchen. For more details about how to link back please refer to her post. Use of logo is appreciated since it helps to spread word about the event. So please I request you all to use the logo.

So here is the host line up for the event.

Dec'12 : Priya of Priya's Versatile Kitchen - Sharmis Passion

Round up

Jan'13 : Sowmya of Nivedhanams - RAKS KITCHEN
                     
Round up

Feb'13 : By Lakshmi Venkatesh(Me) at Classic Chettinad Kitchen - Chettinad Cuisine




Mar'13 : Sona of Spill The Spices

                         
Apr'13 : Madhuri of Satya's Cooking Experiments

May'13 : Rafeeda of A Big Sweet Tooth


Jun'13 :


Jul'13 :


Aug'13 :

Sep'13 :


Oct'13 :


Nov'13 :


Dec'13 :

I request all my friend bloggers who are interested in hosting the event in the future to leave me a message here as a comment or you can also send me an email with subject "T&T" to venkateshlakshmi7(at)gmail(dot)com. Otherwise you can also leave a message in my Kitchen Chronicles facebook page. 



January - 2013

This month it is Sowmya of Nivedhanams who is hosting the T&T event. And RAKS KITCHEN is the blog being Tried and Tasted. For more information on the event please visit Nivedhanams. Please send in your entries and make the event a success.

Veg Fried Rice

Veg Fried Rice is very common in our house. Simple and Fast. All you need to have in hands are some veggies like Carrot, Beans, Peas, Corn, Cabbage etc. And it is ready in a jiffy. Many a times I prepare this for my children's and hubby's lunch box.

Ingredients

Rice - 1 cup
Onion - 1 medium size (chopped)

Veggies of your choice - 1/2 cup ( Grated Carrot, Finely choped beans, boiled peas and corn, shredded cabbage, small cauliflower florets etc)

Green Chillies - 2 to 3 (slit into half)

Salt to taste

White Pepper Powder - 1/2 t.sp (optional)

Spring Onion Greens - a handful

Oil

Method

Wash and cook the rice till it is 90 percent done. Add about 1 tb.sp of oil and some salt to the rice while cooking. Transfer it to another vessel and allow it to cool. Heat a fry pan, pour some oil in it. When the oil is hot toss in the onions and green chillies. When the onion becomes translucent add in the veggies and saute it till the veggies are almost done. Add salt while sauting. When the veggies are almost done add the white pepper powder and mix well. Then add the cooked rice and mix well. Cover and cook on low flame, stirring in between for about 2 to 3 minutes. In the end add the spring onion greens and mix well. Serve hot with Papad and  Raitas.





Here I have skipped green chillies and added Tobasco Sauce and hence the orange colour.

Godhumai Halwa / Wheat Halwa

Easy, traditional and tasty Godhumai Halwa / Wheat Halwa.

For  recipe please visit my other blog Classic Chettinad Kitchen - Wheat Halwa

Candied Fruit Cookies

This month Priya had chosen Sharmis Passion for the Tried and Tasted event.  So when I read Sharmis Passion, the first thing that came in mind was the "Tutti Frutti Cookies". They look so yum in her photos I wanted to try it. And since the time of the year was also so apt for trying out these cookies, I made them for these Christmas. I made three batches of biscuit and I just got the 3rd batch for the photographs, all others vanished in no time.

And so they were very tasty and were hassle free to be made. Took very less time for preparation work and the baking time is also very less. "These Tutti-Fruitty cookies are sure worth a try".

I just followed the same recipe as Sharmis, just used Candied fruits instead of Tutti Fruitty since they were not available here nearby.




Ingredients

Maida - 1 cup
Candied Fruits - 1/3 cup
Powdered Sugar - 1/2 cup
Butter - 6 tb.sp (room temperature)
Milk - 1 - 2 tb.sp (only if and as required)



Method

1. Cream the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl, till light and fluffy.
2. Use of a hand wisk is enough, no need of any machines for the mixing.
3. Mix together Maida and the Candied Fruits.
4. Add milk little by little to make a soft and little sticky dough.
5. Roll it in a wax paper and freeze it. You can dust the wax paper with maida if needed so that the dough will not stick to the paper.
6. Freeze the rolled dough along with the wax paper for about 15 to 20 minutes.
7. Pre-heat the oven to 150 degrees C.
8. Remove the dough cut into even slices and place them on a butter paper lined tray.
9. Bake it for 10 to 15 minutes.
10. Once the sides start browning a little, remove it and cool it on a wire rack.
11. Once it cools down it will become crisp.
12. Store it in a air-tight container.

Points to remember

• Use milk carefully since adding more milk will make it very sticky.
• Freezing is necessary. If you are not planning to bake it immediately then keep it in the fridge.
• Be careful of overbaking, since they tend to get burnt soon.

Sending it to Priya's Versatile Kitchen for the "Tried and Tasted" Event.

Sending it to also
Quick and Easy Recipe Event hosted by Ammaji Recipes
Favourite Recipes Event - Christmas Recipes Hosted by Zesty South Indian Kitchen
Lets Cook Edible Gifts For Christmas Hosted by Simply Food

Cookies and Cakes for Xmas Hosted by My Culinary Creations
Mission Bake With Fruits Hosted by Yashodha's Kitchen started by CookCookandCook and by Cook-Eat-Burp

Celebrate Christmas hosted by Divyas Culinary Journey started by Jagruti



Eggless Bakes and Treats Hosted by Nivedhanams

Friends, I am also in need of hosts for this Tried and Tasted event in the future. You can find the host line up here in this announcement page.

Mysorepak

Mysorepak is a traditional south indian sweet which has a porous and melt in the mouth texture. It is made using a generous amount of Ghee. It has just three ingredients and takes just about 20 to 30 minutes to prepare it. The traditional Mysorepak has three beautiful layers, the top and bottom layers are light brown in colour and the middle layer is little dark brown.

The beauty of Mysorepak is that even after we have poured it in the greased plate its cooking process in not over. Because of the heat which gets trapped inside it the cooking process continues. Many a times people face lot of problems with the preparation of this traditional sweet. Its just that the art of making it has to be perfected.  Here I have tried to explain the procedure as far as possible.  For making a perfect Mysorepak first you will have to perfect the art of sugar syrup and its stages.  Thats it and life becomes easy as far as Mysorepak is concerned. And please try to use a non-stick pan as far as possible.

The tamil version for this recipe is here in my other blog Classic Chettinad Kitchen.

Ingredients

Gramflour (Besan) - 1 cup
Ghee - 1 + 1/4 cup
Sugar - 1 1/2 cup
Water - 1/4 cup
Milk - 1 tb.sp

Method

1. Sift the gramflour so that it becomes free of lumps.
2. Grease a tray and keep it ready.
3. Heat 1/4 cup ghee in a non-stick pan. Heat just till the ghee melts and the gramflour and roast till you get a nice aroma. Roast it on medium or low heat.
4. Add sugar in a non-stick pan and add water till it just covers the sugar. Maybe about 1/4 cup or little less should be enough here.
5. Heat it over medium heat till the sugar dissolves. 
6. Side by side heat ghee in another vessel in low heat.
7. Add the milk to the sugar syrup and allow the scum to surface up, remove it with a help of a ladle. Reduce the heat and make a sugar syrup of one string consistency. Here is a nice post on stages of sugar syrup written by Chitra of Ratatouille - Anyone can Cook, which will be very useful here.
8. At this stage add the roasted flour and keep stirring, do not stop stirring or distract your attention from the pan.
9. Once the flour gets incorporated well with the sugar syrup add 1 the ghee one ladle at a time.
10. Every time you add the hot ghee it will become frothy and go back to its normal stage again. 
11. In the whole process never stop stirring.
12. When you are finished with the last ladle of ghee. Keep stirring, it will become frothy and set back. Again after a few seconds it will froth again and move around in a single mass. It will also slightly start changing its colour. This is the right stage you have to pour it in the greased tray.
13. Smooth the surface without pressing it to hard, because this is the time when the air bubbles form in between to make it porous, so don't press it too hard. 
14. If you like sprinkle some sugar crystals on top and cut it into pieces.
15. Don't remove them from the tray at this stage, let it cool down and then remove it from the tray and serve. 

Points to remember

• Very important point to remember is that once you start with the process do not divert your attention till you are finished with it.
• As far as possible try to make it in a non-stick pan.
• The stage of the sugar syrup is very important. If  you are a first timer with making sugar syrups then maybe you can have a trial session of the stages of sugar syrup with about 1/4 cup of sugar before you begin with the process. It will be worth the effort and lot of knowledge will be gained.
• Keep all the things measured and ready and then start.
• Remove it as soon as it starts changing it colour otherwise the mysorepak will become very dark in colour and give a burnt taste.
• Last but not the least, follow each and every step to the wee bit.

Vanilla Cup Cake with Chocolate Frosting

Back to my passion of baking after a very long time. Have been baking for quiet sometime now but couldn't manage to get a click.  

This Vanilla cup cake is very simple and the delicious chocolate frosting will keep you licking. 

Ingredients for the Basic Vanilla Cupcake

200 gms Butter

8 oz Castor Sugar

8 oz Maida

1 tb.sp baking powder

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla essence

Milk about a tb.sp

1. Sieve the dry the ingredients and keep it aside. 
2. Line the cupcake pans with the cases.
3. All the ingredients should be at room temperature. 
4. Preheat the oven at 180° C.  
5. Beat the butter lightly and then add the castor sugar and beat well.
6. Incorporate the eggs one by one.  
7. Add the vanilla essence. Mix and add the dry ingredients.  And fold in.  
8. Add milk as required and only if required. 
9. The batter should be of dropping consistency and not pouring consistency.
10. Spoon the batter in the cupcake cases.
11. Bake for 15 to 20 min at 180° C.
12. Remove and cool on a wire rack when its done i.e. the skewer comes out clean.

Ingredients for the Chocolate Frosting :

2 tbsp cream
100 gm Chocolate
50 gm Butter
100 gm Icing Sugar

In a pan heat butter add the chocolate and cream, stir till combined. 
Remove from heat and add in icing sugar, stir till smooth.
Fill it in a piping bag attached with a star nozzle. And pipe it on the cooled cupcakes.

Sent the cupcakes to the event Merry Christmas Celebration hosted by Sheelu Agarwal at Ghar Ka Khana

Khasta Kachori

Khasta Kachori is a deep fried snack of North India. These kachoris are given a spicy moong dal filling.

Khasta means flaky. And these flacky Kachoris originate from Rajasthan and very famously known as Rajasthani Kachori. It is a very famous road side snack in Bombay. In Bombay they are served with a filling of dahi, sprouts, sweet chutney and a spicy chutney. Those kachoris used to be bigger in size and was a very filling snack. I was a great fan and a great addict to these Kachoris. There was a famous Kachori wala in a small lane near the Mulund Railway station. There used to be always lot of rush for his Kachoris and we had to take coupons and wait for our turn.

I am posting this recipe for the Indian Cooking Challenge - September conducted by Srivalli in her blog Spice Your Life.

You can find the recipe for it here.

Cauliflower Fritters - Indian Version

Cauliflower Varuval, well, that is how we call them. Cauliflower Fritters are everybody's favourite. In most of the Chettinad marriages and functions you can find this Cauliflower Varuval. People of all ages love it. I make it for my children whenever Cauliflower is in season. They eat it up without murmuring or making  fuss. Today prepared this for their lunch box. Both of them were very happy, early morning their face lit up like 100 watts bulb as soon as they saw it in their lunch box.

 Normally they are made using just using Besan i.e. Kadalai Maavu, Bengal gram flour. Here I have made some changes. It is very versatile, just add or remove any of the ingredients keeping Cauliflower as the base veggie.

Ingredients
Cauliflower - 1 big sizes (Cut into small florets)
Haldi / Turmeric Powder - 1 t.sp
Red Chilli Powder - 1 to 1 1/2  t.sp
Besan / Kadalai Maavu / Bengal gram flour - 1/2 cup
Rice Flour - 3 to 4 tb.sp
Makai Flour / Corn Flour - 5 to 6 tb.sp
(Note : This is not the usual Cornflour which we get, this is just corn grinded to a little coarse powder)
Salt - As per taste
Oil for deep frying

Method

1. Boil water in a pan add salt to it. Put in the cauliflower florets. And put off the gas. Let the cauliflowers be in the water for about 3 to 4 minutes, depending upon the size of the florets.
2. Mix together the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add salt here also.
3. Drain the florets, remove the excess the water completely.
4. Add them to the mixed flour. Carefully mix them together. Add water very slowly as required.
5. Important : After mixing it the florets should be well coated with the batter. The batter should not be dripping from the florets and it should also not coat the florets very thickly.
6. Deep fry them in oil till done. Remove them on kitchen tissues or tissue paper so that it absorbs the excess oil.
7. Serve it hot with Tomato Sauce or Pudina Chutney or Vara Milagai Chutney or Tomato Chutney.

For Homemade Tomato Sauce please have a look here.

Aval Upma / Poha

Poha, a very common breakfast in North India. Mostly in Maharashtra, Gujarat etc, you mostly get only Pohas for breakfast in most of the hotels. Poha is Beaten Rice in English. Its very easy and very simple and mostly liked by many. Many a times I make it for night dinner also.

Here is a Wikipedia explanation for Poha alias Aval in Tamil.

Flattened rice (also called beaten rice) is a dehusked rice which is flattened into flat light dry flakes. These flakes of rice swell when added to liquid, whether hot or cold, as they absorb water, milk or any other liquids. The thicknesses of these flakes vary between almost translucently thin (the more expensive varieties) to nearly four times thicker than a normal rice grain.

This easily digestible form of raw rice is very popular across Nepal, North East India and Bangladesh, and is normally used to prepare snacks or light and easy fast food in a variety of Indian cuisine styles, some even for long-term consumption of a week or more. It is known by a variety of names: Poha or Pauwa in Hindi, Baji in Newari, Pohe in Marathi, Aval in Tamil,Chindé in Bengali, Chira in Assamese, Phovu in Konkani, Chudaa in Oriya, Avalakki in Kannada, Atukula Poni in Telugu, Pauaa/Paunva(પૌંઆ) in Gujarati, and Chiura (चिउरा) in Nepali, Bhojpuri and Chhattisgarhi.

It is a very versatile dish, add or remove the ingredients according to your tastebuds.

Ingredients

Poha - 3 cups (Choose a little thick Poha and not the very thin ones)

Onion - 1 small

Halved Green Chillies - 2 to 3 

Tomato - 1 big

Grated Carrot - 1/4 cup

Grated Potato - 1/4 cup (wash it in water after grating it)

Turmeric Powder - 1/4 t.sp

Mustard - 1//4 t.sp

Urad dal - 1/2 t.sp

Channa dal - 1/2 t.sp

Peanuts - about 1/2 a handful 

Curry Leaves - 4 to 5 leaves

Oil

Salt to taste

Coriander Leaves for Garnishing

Lemon Juice - from 1 lemon

Sugar - 1 t.sp

Method

Cut all the veggies as required.  Keep all the things ready. 

Wash lightly the Poha in a colander by showing it under running water for a few seconds only.  Don't  over do it. Keep it aside, let the excess water drain off. 

Heat oil in a kadai, add in the mustard seeds, urad dal, channa dal, Peanuts, turmeric powder. Fry for about 1/2 a minute. 

Toss in the onion and green chillies. 

Once the onion becomes translucent toss in tomatoes. Stir a little and add some salt. Cook in medium flame. 

After the tomato has let out its juice and is fully cooked add in the veggies. Keep stirring till the veggies are almost cooked. 

Adjust the salt, according to your taste. 

Add the sugar and stir for a minute. 

Separate the washed and drained Poha with your hands and add them to the kadai. Mix well in slow flame. 

Add the lemon juice and mix well. 

Transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with coriander leaves.

You can also use veggies like Peas, Cauliflower, but cook them in salt water before using them. In the end if you like you can also add fresh grated coconut for garnishing.

Microwave Easy Cooking (MEC) Event - Calcium Rich Food Announcement

MEC Event was a long awaited event by me to host it at Kitchen Chronicles here. At last have it here for this month. Thanks a lot to dear Srivalli for this opportunity, who had started this great event. I have chosen the theme Calcium Rich Foods.

 

Image Source - IOF

We all know to some extent that Calcium is very important in our day to day food. But how much is it important is the question. It is very important for growing children and also equally important for all the adults, men and women. So we give a lot importance for calcium in our foods. But for this calcium to be absorbed in our body we need an essential Vitamin i.e. Vitamin D.  So we have to give importance to both Calcium and Vitamin D. You can find some information on Calcium here. Please go through it since it gives a lot of vital information.

Since this event is specially for Microwave Cooked Foods, cook up some special Calcium Rich Food or Vitamin D Rich foods in your Microwave. Post the recipe and the instructions in your blog.Then send it to me @kitchenchronicles1(at)gmail(dot)com along with a picture attachment (essential).

Now here are some points to be remembered. 

1. The dish should be completely cooked using Microwave only, no cooking or preparation should be done on stove top.
2. The entries should compulsorily be linked my announcement page i.e. here and to Srivalli's MEC post. (http://cooking4allseasons.blogspot.com/2007/08/announcing-microwave-easy-cooking-event.html).
3.  Multiple recipes are permitted.
4.  Recipes submitted to other events are also permitted.
5.  Recipes from archives are accepted ONLY if updated as current posts.
6. Use of logo is very much appreciated. 

Non-bloggers, please send your entries with your recipe to me kitchenchronicles1atgmaildotcom.

Last but not least the last date to receive entries is 31st May, 2011. 

Here is a link to help you all to cook some mouth-watering Calcium Rich Dishes. Please note that the dish should be cooked 100% using Microwave only. So please all of you cook up some, easy and fast Microwave Calcium Rich recipes and send them to me before 31st May.