Fruit Cake for Christmas - Two versions (With eggs and Eggless)

What's Christmas without Fruit Cake? As a child, my mom would buy the most delicious Plum Cakes from a cake-seller who would come to their bank each year. These fruit cakes are no replacement for those childhood memories of rich-dark cake, but do come close nevertheless.

I have been making Fruit Cake for Christmas since the last five years, but not putting down the recipes in one place always made me hunt high and low for the perfect recipe for me, weeks before Christmas. The perfect recipe for me would be low on butter or oil and also an eggless recipe that tastes as good as the eggy one, if not better.

The eggless version, I got inspiration from Anushruti's Divine Taste. The idea of using smoothly mashed potatoes in place of eggs was a first for me. And since it worked beautifully for her, I had no doubt that it would for me too. I am glad to report that my eggless version is yummier and softer that the one with eggs.

The recipe with eggs is adapted from Raaga's blog. I used the same recipe last year too, with much success.

Both recipes have a common starting point which is soaking the fruit a few days ago and then making the caramel a few hours before starting the final cake making.
Although, fruitcake covered with white frosting is popular, i have never been a fan of any kind of icing or frosting, whose only purpose is to send us on a sugar overload. So here are the two recipes that I have used this year with much success.


Prepare in advance
3 cups of mixed dried fruits, citrus peels (raisins, apricot, fig, currants, tutti fruitti, glaced cherries soaked in 1 cup rum with 1 tsp cinnamon powder - for one week-1 month

[Chop the apricot, cherries and fig into small pieces before soaking] I use half this fruit (two cups) per recipe - so 4 cakes for this quantity of fruit.
One batch caramel - reqd per recipe that makes two 8” cakes.

Making caramel

Place ½ cup sugar in heavy bottomed pan. Keep ¾ cup water to boil on the side. On a low heat, let this melt. When it is melting, stir it until it is dark brown in colour. Once sugar has reached this stage, carefully add the boiling water little by little stirring well, until you get a smooth caramel syrup. You can make this ahead as it needs to be completely cool before using in recipe.

Recipe for Christmas Fruit Cake using Eggs
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1-2 tsp instant coffee powder

1 cup oil
1 cup fine sugar
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp ginger powder
2 tsp vanilla essence or 1 tsp mixed fruit essence
3 eggs
¼ cup mixed nuts and seeds (chopped)
3 tbsp Cointreau or Limoncello (optional)
2 cups of soaked fruit

Directions
Grease two 8” round tins and line with parchment paper. You can also bake in multiple foil tins for gifting away smaller cakes. Baking time will be less in case you are using smaller foil tins.
Preheat oven at 175 C.
In a large bowl, beat together oil, sugar, cinnamon and ginger powder, vanilla essence and 3 eggs.
Add the cooled caramel. Whisk well.
In a large dish, sieve the flour, soda, baking powder and instant coffee powder.
To the wet ingredients, add the dry ingredients in batches, folding well to incorporate.
Once nearly done, add 2 cups or half the soaked fruit, nuts and the liquor. Mix well and pour equally into the two greased tins.
Bake for 30 minutes at 175 C and another 15-25 minutes at 150 C covered by foil.
Test the center of the cake if it is done. Cool for 15 minutes in pan. Remove along with paper onto a cooling rack.
Poke holes with a skewer or toothpick and pour two tablespoons of rum or any other liquor. Once cooled, cover with parchment paper and keep in a tin. Repeat the rum-soak every other day for a week or so (optional)



Christmas Fruitcake - Eggless version / Low fat version

Ingredients
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1-2 tsp instant coffee powder

1 cup finely mashed potatoes (pressure cook 3 medium potatoes. Remove skin when cool and mash with fork, removing any lumps) Bring to room temperature.
1 cup yogurt plus keep ½ cup yogurt if batter too thick
½ cup oil
1 cup fine sugar
Caramel made using ½ cup sugar and ¾ cup water
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp ginger powder
2 tsp vanilla extract or 1 tsp mixed fruit essence
3 tbsp Cointreau or Limoncello (optional)

Directions

1. Grease two 8” round tins and line with parchment paper. You can also use multiple foil tins for gifting away smaller cakes. Baking time will be less in case you are using smaller foil tins.
2. Preheat oven at 175 C.
3. In a large bowl, whisk well the oil, yogurt, mashed potato, sugar, caramel, spices and vanilla.
4. In a large dish, sieve the flour, soda, baking powder and instant coffee powder.
5. To the wet ingredients, add the dry ingredients in batches, folding well to incorporate.
6. Once nearly done, add 2 cups or half the soaked fruit, nuts and the liquor. Mix well and pour equally into the two greased tins.
7. Bake for 30 minutes at 175 C and another 15-25 minutes at 150 C covered by foil.
8. Test the center of the cake if it is done. Cool for 15 minutes in pan. Remove along with paper onto a cooling rack.
9. Poke holes with a skewer or toothpick and pour two tablespoons of rum or any other liquor. Once cooled, cover well with parchment paper and keep in a tin. Repeat the rum-soak every other day for a week or so (optional)

Tip

For both versions, let the cake sit overnight before slicing or it may be very crumbly.

So Merry Christmas to all of you. Eat all the good stuff in moderation and save yourself from guilt pangs. Revel in the festive spirit and close 2010 on a high.

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In search of a good vegetarian Stroganoff - Mushroom Stroganoff

I have been glued and addicted to watching Masterchef Australia on Star World. It is the classiest reality show to be aired on Indian television, in my humble opinion, of course. Trolls, please excuse. What's a vegetarian's interest in watching this predominantly meat based show, you may wonder. It is the passion for food, the techniques, the presentation, the tips given by the stalwarts in the field, that make this show very endearing to the foodie in me.

When a couple of weeks ago, they made the Beef Stroganoff in an elimination challenge, I liked the way the dish had layers of flavour to it. I just had to find the right substitute to the beef and serve it with some plain steamed rice or spaghetti.

Also, I had to look around for authentic paprika, which is essential to this Eastern Europen dish. Some of the Indian spice brands sell spice bottled as paprika, but it is essentially just chilli powder. Finally, I found this real paprika, in the Waitrose aisle of Hypercity. Pricey, but authentic and the husband egged me on to put it our trolley and take it home.

Here are some of the recipes that I found good to try out -

Mushroom Stroganoff with mustard and chive mash from The Vegetarian Society

Rose Eilot’s Mushroom Stroganoff from The Guardian

Vegetarian mushroom stroganoff from Mushrooms.Canada website - which is the one I adapted.

 

I had some fresh button mushrooms, dried oyster mushrooms and another variety of large sized dried mushrooms that our friend had gotten us from Bangkok. Combining the three, I had a good mix of flavours and textures to proceed with a recipe.

 

 

My Version of Mushroom Stroganoff

Adapted from Mushrooms.canada

Serves 3-4 people

Ingredients

1/2 cup of dried oyster mushrooms or any other dried mushrooms

1 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves finely minced garlic

1 large onion, finely chopped

1/2 tsp of fresh thyme leaves or 1 tsp of dried thyme

1/2 tsp of fresh marjoram or 1 tsp dried marjoram (optional)

10-12 sliced button mushrooms (upto 200 grams)

1/3 cup tomato puree

1 vegetarian stock cube (I used Maggi seasoning cubes)

30-45 ml of brandy or sherry or red wine

1 tsp English mustard

1 tsp paprika (substitute with Kashmiri Chilli powder if you cant find paprika)

1/2 cup sour cream 

1 tbsp cornstarch

1 tsp salt or to taste

To serve

3-4 cups of steamed rice or Spaghetti cooked according to instructions and tossed in olive oil with some dried or fresh herbs

Preparation

First, wash the dried mushrooms under running water and then soak in 1-2 cups of hot water, cover the vessel and keep aside for 10 minutes. You can either snip the soaked mushrooms under the water or drain them and chop into even sized pieces. Do NOT throw away the water in which they were soaked as it is full of flavour and we will be using it later to build the sauce of the stroganoff. 

Directions

1. In a heavy bottomed pan, heat the olive oil. Add the onions, garlic, fresh thyme and marjoram. Saute on medium heat, till they are soft.
2. Add the chopped fresh and rehydrated mushrooms, stir well to mix with the aromatics. Let this cook on medium flame till nearly done, say 5-7 minutes. 
3. Add the tomato puree and cook it off for 2-3 minutes on high flame.
4. Add the stock cube, the water in which the mushrooms were soaked. Cover and let this simmer till the mushrooms are soft, for about 5 minutes.
5. Next, add the brandy, mustard, paprika. Make a slurry of cornstarch in a little cold water and add it to the simmering stroganoff along with the sour cream. Add some water if you think the sauce is drying out. Add salt and let this simmer for 5 minutes until all the flavours infuse into the mushrooms. 
6. The final dish should be a stew of very flavourful mushrooms in a good quantity of thickish sauce that you can eat the rice / spaghetti with.

I was tasting stroganoff for the first time and I quite loved it. I had prepared this in the afternoon and by dinner time, the flavours had intensified. It went perfectly well with the mild spaghetti. The husband relished it thoroughly too. Will I be making this again? You bet, I will.

Making sour cream at home

Collect the cream from the top of boiled and cooled milk for 3-4 days and storing it in freezer. Once you have half a cup of cream, remove this in a cup and add a tsp of yogurt to it and mix well. The cream will sour in 5-6 hours, depending on the weather. Keep it for longer if the weather is quite chilly. Refrigerate the sour cream in an airtight container for a day or so, until use or in freezer if you are not going to use it soon.

Shopping for ingredients in Hyderabad

• Dried oyster mushrooms - available at Spar, Begumpet - for around Rs.20 a pack. Look in the Noodles / Chinese ingredients aisle
• Real paprika - Waitrose shelf in Hypercity, Inorbit Mall or you can buy the Keya's Kashmiri Paprika
• Fresh Thyme, Marjoram - Spar, Begumpet ; Dried herbs in any Fabindia or Keya's brand in most supermarkets

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Recipe for Diwali Okkarai

Recipe for Okkarai

This is a jaggery-based, low-fat sweet made from chana dal / kadalai paruppu, does not require much ghee - perfect for health conscious folks.

Ingredients
1 cup chana dal
1 cup jaggery

5-6 cardamoms
1/2 cup freshly grated coconut
2 tbsp gingelly oil / you can use ghee if you dont have this oil
1-2 tbsp ghee for frying cashews
10-12 cashews, halved
2-3 tbsp of raisins



Preparation
Chana Dal
Dry roast the chana dal till golden brown and aromatic. This will take 7-8 minutes on medium heat. Soak this roasted dal in lots of water for 3 hours or so.
Coconut
Dry roast the coconut flakes till golden and aromatic. This will take around 5 minutes on low flame. Keep aside.
Cardamom
Remove the skin, grind the seeds along with a tsp of coarsely granulated sugar in mortar-pestle till you get a fairly fine powder. Keep aside.
Cashews and raisins
Heat 1-2 tbsp ghee and fry them till cashews are golden. Keep aside.



Directions

1. Grind the soaked chana dal to a fine paste, adding as little water as possible, to get a fairly thick doughy paste.
2. Place 3 cups of water in a big pressure cooker (5L+) / steamer. Make loose dumplings of the ground dal and place in a deep, big vessel that fits in the cooker.
3. Close the lid of the cooker MINUS the weight- so you use it as a steamer.
4. Steam the ground dal for 20-25 minutes on medium flame. Open the cooker after a few minutes and let these steamed dumplings cool.
5. Now, you can either grate these cooled dumplings or crumble them with your fingers. The former gives a more uniform look to the sweet.
6. In a large wok, hear 2-3 tbsp of gingelly oil (Nalla yennai) and fry the crumbled / grated dal mix on a low flame for 5-7 minutes. Keep aside.
7. Instructions for the Vella-paagu (Jaggery-pak)

Place 1/2 cup water in a heavy bottom pan.
Add 1 cup of crushed jaggery to this and let it melt on a high flame, with constant stirring.
Once the jaggery has melted thoroughly, lower flame and keep stirring.
In 7-8 minutes the mixture will get a deep colour and start thickening.
Keep a small plate handy, and pour a drop or so of this onto it, every 2-3 minutes.
Try rolling this drop between your thumb and index finger. If it turns into a ball and makes a sound when you drop it on the plate, your jaggery-pak (vella-paagu) is ready for the okkarai.

8. As soon as your paagu reaches this stage, turn off the flame. Remove the wok from the stove and start adding the ready dal crumble in batches, giving it a good mix to coat evenly. Once the crumble is all evenly mixed with the jaggery paagu - it will be soft, sweet and not sticky, but like perfectly cooked basmati rice - fluffy, dry and separate.
9. To this, add the roasted coconut, cardamom powder and fried cashews and raisins and mix gently.

Your Okkarai is ready for Diwali. If you like a richer taste, you can use more ghee to fry the cashews, but 1 tbsp is more than enough.

It is a labourious recipe, but with just two main ingredients - to get such a flavoursome and healthy festival sweet, it is totally worth it.

The recipe has been given to me by my maternal grandmother, who has been making this for every Diwali as far as I can remember.
I am so glad I made it this year and it is going to part of my Diwali cooking every year, now on. 

Hope you find this recipe useful to recreate your family tradition :)

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Fusilli with roasted fennel and carrots in vodka sauce

Yesterday morning, with my son at playgroup, I went off to my favourite supermarket to stock up on vegetables and fruits for the week. This place has the freshest produce I have seen in Hyderabad, including most exotic vegetables. When I spotted fresh bulbs of fennel with vibrant and lush green tops, I had to bring one home. At that point I had no clue what I would do with the fennel, but it was too pretty not to take back home.

I had some vague idea of roasting it with garlic and olive oil, but then i'd have to think of another dish to go with it. That's when it struck me to saute this with carrots and toss it with pasta in a light faux cream sauce.

My spaghetti loving husband pronounced this pasta dish totally out of the world, despite the fact that I'd used fusilli for this dish. The vodka is totally optional, but I just felt happy using it in a Friday night pasta dinner inspired by the pasta sauce Rachel Ray popularised by the name of "You won't be single for long Vodka Cream Pasta".

When you taste the fennel raw it has very strong taste of fennel seeds - but sauteeing mellows down the flavour to a great extent. I trimmed off the greens from the thick stems and stored it overnight in the fridge to make a thuvaiyal this morning. This lovely green chutney made in the tambram style, by grinding roasted red chillies, udad dal and coconut along with wilted fennel greens tasted so fresh and different in flavour. With rice and a roasted papad, it made a super lunch for me. My resolve of not to waste any edible food totally paid off and discovered this new twist on a thuvaiyal. 

You could make a classic white sauce for this pasta, but my faux cream sauce has all the positives of a white sauce minus the calories, so do give it a go!

Recipe for Fusilli with roasted fennel and carrots

 Serves 2 generously

Ingredients

4 handfuls of fusilli pasta

1 fennel bulb

2 medium carrots

1 tbsp olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp chilli flakes

salt

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried oregano

1 sprig fennel greens for garnish

For Sauce

1 cup milk

pinch of grated nutmeg

3 cloves garlic,finely grated

1/2 tsp black pepper powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp of whole wheat flour or all purpose flour

1-2 slices cheese

Direction

1. Place a large pot of water to boil. Once this starts boiling put the pasta to cook.
2. To prepare the fennel - cut off the top part with the greens. Take the bulb (lower part) and separate the stalks and slice. Wash these well in a large bowl of water to dislodge all the soil and grit. Drain and keep aside.
3. Peel the carrots. Slice off the tops and tails. Cut into not-very-thin rounds. Keep aside.
4. In a large pan, heat the oil and saute garlic for a few seconds, followed by chilli flakes.
5. Now, add the prepared fennel and carrots. Saute on a medium-high flame till the oil coats them thoroughly and let this brown a bit on a low flame for around 5-7 minutes. Sprinkle salt.
6. Add 1/2 cup water. Cover and cook till the fennel slices are soft. Since fennel is quite fibrous it will not turn as soft as carrots, there will be a bite to it even when cooked.
7. Whisk all the ingredients for the sauce with a fork in a bowl and pour it over the cooked vegetables. Let this simmer till thick (3-4 minutes). Add 30 ml vodka to this and then add the drained, boiled pasta.
8. Add dried herbs, adjust salt, pepper - 1-2 slices of cheese and simmer for 2 minutes, until flavours come together and cheese has melted into the sauce.
9. Serve hot.

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Simple cauliflower mash - Gobhi bharta

Dear Readers,
I have managed to update the recipe index and the blog template after ages. Hope the index is helpful and the colours of the template are cheery enough for you to spend time on the blog.
Your constructive feedback is welcome.


Coming to this post, this is one of the simplest ways of preparing cauliflower, as I discovered only recently. A perfect recipe for a beginner and quick to prepare. Delicately spiced by way of a simple tadka (tempering) this mash is a good match for rotis, bread and as a low-carb filling for masala dosa alike. I served it with toasted bread for a light dinner and it tasted just right. 

All this onion-tomato-ginger-garlic fry up with lots of other spices works fine but sometimes you just crave the simple taste of veggies with some essential spices that gently lend their flavour to the dish without getting overwhelming. This is just that sort of recipe. If you are a newbie in the kitchen, I'd highly recommend you try this with the freshest cauliflower you can find and the results will surprise you.

Please choose fresh cauliflower with tightly bound florets and no discolouration as it is the star of this dish.

Ingredients

2 cups cauliflower florets (broken into medium size)

1 medium potato, peeled and cubed

 1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

2 tsp rice bran or any other cooking oil

Pinch of asafoetida

1 green chilli, finely minced

1 tsp finely minced ginger

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

Directions

1. Soak the cauliflower florets in salted water for 10-15 minutes while you cut the potatoes, chillies, ginger and get the ingredients ready.
2. In a pan with a lid, place 2 cups water with the salt and turmeric powder. Bring it to a boil. Drain the cauliflower and add this to the boiling water with the cubed potato. 
3. This will take around 8 minutes to be fork tender. Drain the boiled vegetables, transfer to a bowl and mash with a fork to a rough puree. Do not throw away the residual water. Use it in soup, rasam or dal.
4. In a small wok, heat the oil. Add the asafoetida,splutter the cumin and mustard seeds. Saute the chilli and ginger for a few seconds and transfer the tempering to the boiled, mashed vegetables.
5. Lightly mix around with a fork to flavour the vegetables evenly. Check for salt and adjust if required.

This tasted divine to my taste buds and the pure tastes of the vegetables came shining through, with the ginger giving the right spice hit.


Try this for your toddlers to go with rotis or soft bread, I'm sure they will like it too.


A lot of my bachelor friends on Twitter have been asking me to post bachelor-friendly recipes and this one is the first of many to come.

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The best ever cornbread baked in my kitchen

I have already been raving about my crush on Mexican food ever since I opened that tiny tin of Chipotle chillies that Nupur got me. I don't know if winter has officially set in, in Hyderabad or is it some random cyclone effect - but the mornings and evenings are chilly and the day is generally cloudy. I am not a big sun person, so this suits me just fine. More so, I can indulge in infinite cups of tea, drink big bowls of soup for dinner and my taste buds suddenly develop a liking for spicy stuff. "Bring back the Chili" said my tastebuds to me yesterday. And opposites attract, don't they. What better way to complement the hot and flavour blasting chili than this mildly sweet cornbread, scented with cumin and coriander leaves?

I have baked cornbread some 3-4 times and this was THE. BEST. EVER. I am not exaggerating.
Especially if you are someone who has shied away from baking this because you don't eat eggs, you are in for a pleasant surprise. My husband quit eating eggs a few years ago and I am constantly figuring out ways to turn out decent baked stuff with replacements for egg and yesterday I hit gold. Flaxseed which is one of the best sources of Omega-3 for a vegetarian. You can buy the seeds and powder the quantity required for each recipe in a coffee grinder / chutney jar of mixer.

For each egg to be replaced - use 1 tbsp flaxseed powder whisked into 3 tbsp of very hot water. You will get an emulsion like beaten eggs and use it at the stage of the recipe when it calls for eggs.

This was most perfect match for the chili and I must add that my toddler son loved this too - in fact he was making it extremely difficult for me to take a picture, by digging his tiny fingers into it!

Recipe for Eggless Cornbread
Serves 3-4
Loosely adapted from Alton Brown's Creamed Corn Cornbread recipe

In a large bowl, mix-
1 cup yellow cornmeal (Makkai ka atta)
1/2 cup all purpose flour (Maida)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar

In a medium bowl, whisk well-
1 cup buttermilk
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp flaxseed powder whisked into 6 tbsp hot water
1/2 cup milk

Extras
2 tbsp finely chopped pickled jalapenos or 1 tsp finely chopped green chillies
2 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves
1 tsp cumin seeds for garnish (optional, but gives a nice look to the bread)
1/4 cup frozen corn kernels (gives a nice sweet crunch, but I did not have it on hand, so did not use)

Directions
Preheat the oven at 200C.
Grease a loaf tin or line with tin foil.
Mix the wet ingredients into the dry - till just combined and stir in the jalapenos, coriander leaves and corn kernels. I added a few spoons of the brine from pickled jalapenos as I found the mix somewhat dry. This gave a big flavour boost to the bread.
Pour into greased loaf tin. Flatten lightly with wet fingers and bake for 20 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.
Let it rest for 15-20 minutes outside, before slicing.
Serve warm with chili. Recipe for chili posted here.

Food shopping in Hyderabad

Flaxseed also called Alsi in Hindi and Tashi in Bengali (knowledge shared by my twitter friends) is available with most grocers nowadays.
In Hyderabad, you can buy it at -
Ratnadeep (Srinagar Colony / Madhapur)
Q Mart (Road no.2 Banjara Hills)
Hypercity (Inorbit Mall, Madhapur)
Fabindia outlets that stock food

Pickled Jalapenos are available in all supermarkets. American Garden, Frigata are some of the good brands.

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Ukrainian Honey Cake - Exotic and low-fat

When I saw this cake posted on Blondie's Cakes as an entry for the Foodbuzz Blogger Challenge, I knew this was just my kinda cake. Low on oil, lots of flavours and can be adapted to be made eggless.

A Ukrainian cake sounds so exotic. The ingredients however can be easily sourced on our kitchens. Addition of ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg make it a perfect warming cake with your morning cuppa tea and the addition of coffee gives it a depth of flavour. I substituted the two eggs in the original recipe with yogurt and the results were quite good. The icing with honey, sugar and lemon juice gives it that extra kick - making it perfect for your tea party.

Ukrainian Honey Cake

Adapted from Blondie's Cakes
Ingredients

1 1/2 cups atta (whole wheat flour)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
4 tbsp yogurt
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup strong coffee (1 tbsp instant coffee powder dissolved in 1/2 cup hot water)
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
Icing:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp honey
Directions

1. Preheat oven to 175 C / 350F. 
2. Seive the flour, baking soda, baking powder, spice powders, and salt together into a large bowl. 
3. In another large bowl, whisk together yogurt, sugar, honey, coffee and oil.  Add the dry ingredients and whisk till combined. 
4. Pour into a greased 8" round pan and bake for around 30min, until toothpick comes out clean. Let cool a few minutes and unmould.
5. In a small bowl, beat well with a fork the ingredients for icing and drizzle over cake before slicing.

A cake with such regular kitchen ingredients and easy to put together in a jiffy, plus just 2 tbsp of oil is sure to be a hit with us. This recipe now resides in my iPhone notes so can make it just about anytime!

Though I used freshly grated nutmeg, I've tasted stuff made by my friend using Keya's Travencore Ground Nutmeg and the flavour is absolutely hard-hitting delicious. So I would totally recommend you use it if you like bold nutmeg flavours in desserts.

Thanks a lot Blondie for this superb family recipe.

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