Paneer Tikka Masala, Jain style

It was Saraswati Puja and the menu for the day was vegetarian without onion and garlic, Jain style that is. As usual, I straight away went to Manjula aunty's blog looking for ideas and decided on Paneer Tikka Masala. The two pictures here are of the marinated paneer and the final dish.

Very easy to prepare, it turned out to be a great success . You can find the recipe here at this link

http://www.manjulaskitchen.com/2010/05/23/paneer-tikka-masala/

Bon Appetit!!

Checkerboard Cookies

I came across this recipe in Page One's publication, the Golden Book of Cookies. Unfortunately, I placed the dough in a straight line instead of weaving them and so my cookies ended up as striped cookies. Fortunately, they tasted very yummy. :) :)

Sift 200 gms maida with 1/2 tspn baking powder and 1/8 tspn salt. Beat 150 gms butter with 100 gms granulated sugar and 1/2 tspn vanilla extract till creamy. Mix in the sifted maida to firm a stiff dough. Divide dough in half  and knead 2 tblspn unsweetened cocoa powder to one half. Make three logs from each dough. Place the white , brown and white logs next to each other . Beneath it place the brown, white and brown dough. Press all of them together. The recipe book actually has us sticking the logs to each other by brushing egg white on the logs. But mine stuck together by just pressing.  U will now have a rectangular log. Now wrap in a cling film or  foil and refrigerate for an hour ( important). Remove and slice dough in thin pieces. Use a sharp knife. Preheat oven at 375 F or 190 C ( gas 5). Butter cookie sheets and bake until slightly browned for 10-15 mins. Mine were ready in 15 mins . They may seem soft initially but they become firm on cooling. If u bake in two lots, u may like to check progress after 10 mins for the second lot. As the oven is hot, the second lot may bake faster. 

Happy Baking!

Foil Baked Pomfret ( Meen Pollichathu)

I was looking for a pomfret preparation which would  involve less frying but at the same time would taste lovely. Came across this recipe  in blog mykitchenantics.com.
In Bengal we have something called maacher paaturi where in the fish is stuffed in a parcel made of banana leaf before being cooked. Thai pandan chicken has chicken stuffed in a parcel made from pandan leaves before being cooked further. This recipe looked like the Kerala version of cooking fish in banana leaves. I love the smell of kadi patta / curry leaves. The use of tamarind gave a different flavour to the tanginess .  All in all turned out to be a winner recipe.

A link to the original recipe and  a step by step description of the recipe is as below :

http://mykitchenantics.blogspot.sg/2011/10/foil-baked-pomfret-with-indian-spices.html

Dorie Greenspan's French Yogurt Cake ( with wheat flour)

My friend Swati Palekar introduced me to this lovely but very simple to make cake.  I used the zest of green lemons and was delighted when the entire sugar turned green with the aroma of lemon filling the kitchen...This is a lovely cake to ave for tea time. I again baked this with wheat flour and so substituted the 2 tspns of baking powder with 1 tspn of baking powder and baking soda each. I also doubled the vanilla essence to mask the smell of wheat flour. If one uses wheat flour one needs to beat a little more than what one would while using all purpose flour.

The link to the original recipe. Do read carefully all the recommendations given by the author. 

http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/19/the-bakers-apprentice-french-yogurt-cake/

Eggless Tea Cake ( with wheat flour)

This recipe has been shared by my friend Swati Palekar. Is a yummy accompaniment to the evening tea. I substituted the all purpose flour with wheat flour ( atta) . So the changes I made were I divided the quantity of baking powder equally between baking powder and baking soda. I also added freshly grounded cinnamon ( to mask the smell of wheat flour) and skipped the dessicated coconut. Since I used wheat flour , the cake looks dense. Swati's cake looks very fluffy and so that's what you will get if you stick to the original recipe.

Swati tweaks the same recipe by adding a variety of  fruits or flavours like blue berry and lemon zest ;  banana, cranberry and cinnamon to come out with  different but awesome tasting muffins .

The link to the original recipe

http://radiancerecipes.com/yoghurt-cake/