Recipes

This was my first attempt at baking brownies. As expected, they were quite easy to make and with a few tips from a friend, turned out quite well. Here’s how I made this lip-smacking treat.

Ingredients:

Brownies:

• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Frosting:

• 3 tablespoons melted butter
• 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup icing sugar

Directions:

1. To prepare the batter, whisk the sugar, eggs and vanilla extract with the melted butter.
2. Add cocoa powder, flour, salt and baking powder and beat the mixture well.
3. You could also add chopped nuts or chocolate chips to the batter at this point.
4. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees (centigrade).
5. Prepare a baking pan by greasing it with butter and sprinkling a little flour over it.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes until firm.
7. Combine all the frosting ingredients together and mix well.
8. Frost the brownies while they are warm and add sprinkles or chopped nuts.
9. Refrigerate the frosted brownies and then cut into squares.

Recipe Courtesy: Allrecipes.com

There you have it – a delicious dessert made in less than an hour. If you do try out this recipe, let me know how it turns out!

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We came back from our trip last week, armed with delicious chocolate cake baked by my cousin. The only problem was that it got over all too soon, and left the boys craving for more. I remembered some over-ripe bananas I had frozen sometime back and decided to make this chocolate banana bread.

Well, it’s a pretty easy recipe to follow, except I didn’t have enough white flour or chocolate chips. So, I modified the recipe a bit and decided to make my own version instead. It turned out surprisingly well (even if I do say so myself) ;). Here’s the recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup white flour
• 3/4 cup wheat flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup softened butter
• 3 bananas
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Mash the bananas with a fork and keep aside.
2. Dump all the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix them together. I used a whisk to mix the 2 types of flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt together until they were well combined.
3. Mix the wet ingredients together in another bowl. I used a hand mixer to combine the eggs, butter, mashed bananas and vanilla extract.
4. Add the dry ingredient mixture to the wet ingredients and combine until you get a thick batter.
5. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees (centigrade).
6. Prepare a baking pan by greasing it with butter and sprinkling a little flour over it.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 40-50 minutes.
8. The cake is ready when a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

There you have it – a simple dessert or evening snack made in little over an hour. If you do try out this recipe, let me know how it turns out!

If you’re a regular reader here, you’ve probably noticed the dearth of recipes on my blog. There’s a reason behind this. I’m not a good cook – and no, I’m not saying it to be modest :). I really don’t enjoy cooking, and I cook only to stave off my family’s hunger pangs.

Given that, my recipes tend to be plain, simple and easy to follow. Here’s one such standard recipe (south Indian, I think)… It’s my go-to chicken recipe, one I know will not disappoint my family.

Ingredients:

For the marinade:

• 1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

While cooking:

• 1 Kg chicken (cut into medium pieces)
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 tablespoon garam masala powder
• 2 large onions (finely chopped)
• 200g tomato puree
• 1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste
• 1 sprig curry leaves
• 1 handful coriander leaves (finely chopped)
• Salt (to taste)
• Pepper (to taste)

Directions:

1. Wash the chicken and mix in the marinade ingredients.
2. Let the chicken marinate in the fridge for at least 2 hours. {I usually leave it in the freezer until the day I want to cook it}
3. Heat the oil in a non-stick pot and add the garam masala powder.
4. Add the onions and fry until they turn golden brown.
5. Add the ginger-garlic paste and stir for a minute.
6. Add the tomato puree and mix it around for a minute.
7. If there is no chilly powder added in your garam masala powder, you may have to add a teaspoon or two of chilly powder {depending on how hot you’d like your chicken}.
8. Add the marinated chicken (at least partly thawed) and make sure the pieces are all covered in the paste. {Add a bit of water if required}
9. Add a little salt (depending on your taste buds), cover the pot and let the chicken cook on low heat.
10. The chicken should be cooked within 30-40 minutes.
11. Add the curry leaves, coriander leaves and pepper powder; give it one last stir and your chicken gravy is ready!

Well, if you’re done laughing at my obvious ignorance of food blogging terminology; I’d like to recommend to you, a few food bloggers I follow:

• What’s Cooking Today!!
• MJ’s Kitchen Thrills
• Comfy In The Kitchen

I recently came across this quiche recipe by Women Living Well. I found it to be a pretty simple recipe and decided to raid my refrigerator to hunt for the ingredients. I made a few alterations to the original recipe to incorporate the ingredients I already had at home.

I used chopped chicken sausage instead of the ham that the original recipe called for. I seriously have no idea where you get a reasonably priced chunk of ham in India :)! A friend had given me a tin of evaporated milk which I used as a substitute for the heavy cream. Again, I have no idea where you get heavy cream – two of my local supermarkets don’t have any. Hmm… Maybe I need to hunt for ingredients farther away from home :(.

The recipe also used a pre-made pie shell – but I made it from scratch. It was really simple and it actually turned out pretty well. I used the Homemade Food Processor Pie Crust Recipe (it has a detailed video) by Smockity Frocks, but used a hand mixer instead. Here’s step by step instructions to make the pie crust & the quiche.

Ingredients:

Pie Crust:

• 1 Cup Flour
• 100 grams Salted Butter (chopped into small chunks)
• A little Cold Water

Filling:

• 6 Eggs
• 1 Cup Evaporated Milk
• 1 Cup chopped Chicken Sausage
• 1/2 Cup chopped Onion
• 1 Cup grated Cheddar Cheese
• Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:

Pie Crust:

1. Add the flour and the butter chunks into a large bowl.
2. Using a hand mixer, blend the mixture until it resembles course crumbs.
3. While mixing, add the ice-cold water one tablespoon at a time until the dough starts holding together. (Check the video for a better idea)
4. Gently press the dough to make a ball. Cover it with plastic wrap (I used a plastic cover) & freeze it for 15-20 minutes (or refrigerate for 1 hour). {I got the filling ready while the dough was in the freezer.}
5. Take the cold dough out and gently roll it on a slightly floured surface. Roll the dough in the shape of a circle – large enough to cover the bottom and sides of your baking pan.

Quiche:

1. In a non-stick pan, add a little oil and fry the onions & sausage with until browned. You could add pepper/salt/capsicum/any other spices/if you choose to be adventurous.
2. Beat the eggs & evaporated milk together with salt & pepper.
3. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
4. Lightly butter the baking pan and flour it (an alternative to using greased paper).
5. Place the rolled out pie crust in the pan and gently press it to cover the bottom and sides of the pan completely.
6. Layer the grated cheese on the pie crust.
7. Layer the fried onions and sausage over the cheese.
8. Pour the egg and evaporated milk mixture over the filling.
9. Place the pan in the oven and bake for 35-45 minutes until set. I baked until the center of the pie remained firm. The edges of the crust started to burn after about 20 minutes, so I covered the pie with aluminium foil and let it bake till it was done.

This was my first attempt at anything involving a pie crust – and I was surprised that it came out well. We enjoyed it with a wee bit of tomato ketchup. I think the pie crust by itself was a big hit :). My husband and sons really enjoyed the quiche – needless to say, the I-can’t-cook voice in me was silenced :D.

If you do try out this recipe, let me know how it turns out!

I am linking up with:

     

I’ve found a few simple recipes online over the past few weeks that I’m eager to try out.  These recipes require basic ingredients – the kind I can get from my local supermarket.  Check them out for yourself… Click on the images below to be directed to the original recipes.

Homemade Chocolate Syrup

Chocolate Banana Bread

Shortbread Thumbprints

Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

Don’t they look just too good to be true?  Will you be trying out any of these recipes in the near future?

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