Rava Kesari with Jaggery

Rava kesari has always been my favourite Indian sweet/dessert. However, it puts me off when the kesari comes in an extremely artificial orange colour. And then one day one of my aunty made rava kesari using brown sugar and it tasted fantastic! So, I'm trying to replicate my aunt's kesari, but instead of brown sugar I'm using jaggery.

Before staring on the kesari, boil some water and keep aside.

Dissolve the powdered jaggery with some boiling water and strain for impurities, if any.

 

In a pan heat some ghee and roast the chopped cashew nuts till light brown. Remove the cashew nuts once they are done and go on to roast the raisins till they plump up. Remove the raisins and keep aside. 

 

In the same pan, add in the semolina and roast for a about a minute till its nice and fragrant. 

 

Stir in the jaggery and add some of the boiled water.

 

Lastly, add the roasted cashew nuts, raisins and powdered cardamom.

Keep stirring till the kesari leaves the side of the pan.

Remove the kesari mixture from heat and pour it into a dish lightly greased with ghee. Let the kesari cool for about 15-30 minutes. Cut and serve. You may skip this step and just scoop the kesari mixture into individual dessert bowls and serve hot.

 

RAVA KESARI WITH JAGGERY

+PRINT RECIPE HERE 
INGREDIENTS:

1 cup semolina

1 cup powdered jaggery (dissolved in 1/2 cup hot water)

2 1/2 tbsp ghee

1 tbsp cashew nuts, roughly chopped

1 tsp raisins 

1/4 tsp powdered cardamom

2 cups hot water

METHOD:

1) Boil about 3 cups of water and keep aside.

2) In a bowl, place the powdered jaggery and add to it 1/2 cup of the boiled water. Once the jaggery has dissolved, strain for impurities if any.

3) In a pan, melt 2 1/2 tbsp ghee and roast the chopped cashew nuts and raisins separately and keep aside.

4) In the same pan, with the remainder of ghee, roast the semolina for about a minute till fragrant, in medium low heat

5) To the semolina, add the dissolved jaggery and water. Mix well.

6) Add the roasted cashew nuts, raisins and powdered cardamom.

7) Keep stirring for about 3 minutes till the kesari leaves the side of the pan.

8) Once the kesari comes together, remove from heat and pour it into a dish lightly greased with ghee and let it cool for 15-30 minutes. Once the kesari has cooled, cut and serve.

 * You may skip this step and just scoop the kesari mixture into individual dessert bowls and serve hot.

 

Chick Kut Teh

 

Chick Kut Teh is the chicken version of Bak Kut Teh (pork bone soup). My sister enjoys having Bak Kut Teh, so I thought I will try making some, but with chicken. 

This is a very simple recipe, but only the cooking time is a little long. I used ready made Bak Kut Teh herb mix, which I got 
from the supermarket.

Just start by bringing some water to boil and then add the herb mix, a couple of bulbs of garlic (cut a little at the top) and chicken. I used mostly chicken bones with little flesh only. I did this to enhance the flavour of the soup. Cover the pot and gently simmer it in low heat for 30 minutes.

Stir in all the seasoning ingredients and continue to simmer for 15 minutes.

Then add the shiitake mushroom and fried tofu puffs. Simmer for another 10 minutes.

Remove from heat. Discard the sachet and fish out the bulbs of garlic. You can eat the garlic with rice, along with the chick kut teh. 

Add the lettuce and sprinkle some chopped spring onion. Serve hot.

CHICK KUT TEH

+PRINT RECIPE HERE 

Ingredients:

1 packet ready made bak kut teh mix

2 bulbs garlic

2 liters water

500 g chicken

1 cup dried shiitake mushroom, halved

10 pieces fried tofu puffs, halved

2 cups lettuce

1 tbsp spring onion, finely chopped

Seasoning:

1 1/2 tsp dark soy sauce

3 tsp light soy sauce

2 tsp oyster sauce
1/2 cube chicken stock

Salt to taste

Method: 
1) Soak the dried mushroom in hot water for about 15-20 minutes.

2) Bring to boil 2 liters of water in a pot and add in the bak kut teh mix, garlic and chicken.

3) Cover the pot and gently simmer in low heat for 30 minutes.

4) Cut the shiitake mushrooms and fried tofu puffs into two. Keep aside.

5) Stir in all the seasoning ingredients and continue to simmer for 15 minutes.

6) Add in the mushroom and fried tofu puffs and continue to simmer for another 10 minutes.

7) Rinse the lettuce and tear it into pieces. Keep aside.

8) Finely chop the spring onion. Keep aside.

9) Remove the soup from heat.

10) Add the lettuce and sprinkle the chopped spring onion. Serve hot.

Mini Muffin Cup Frittatas

The other day I wanted to have some egg and veggie for dinner. But the thought of making an omelette did not fancy me and till now I can't really make a good omelette. Most of the time it turns out as scrambled eggs. So, I made frittatas in a muffin tin instead.

You can basically use any veggie or meat or even leftover to make these frittatas. Initially I wanted to make a nice vegetable frittata, but sadly I ran out of vegetables. So I just made do with potato and japanese cucumber .

Start by grating the potato and the cucumber. As for the cucumber, once you have grated it, squeeze it to remove excess moisture. Then finely dice and onion and 3 cloves of garlic.

Heat olive oil in a pan and saute onion and garlic with salt till soft and fragrant. Once the onion and garlic is done, remove from heat and stir in the grated potato and cucumber. It is done like this to ensure that the potato and cucumber does not cook through since the frittatas are going to bake in the oven for quite a bit. 

Crack the eggs into a bowl. To make the frittatas creamy, I added some greek style yogurt. Whisk the eggs and the yogurt till there are no lumps of yogurt.

Stir in the sauteed vegetables and pepper. Mix well and pour into greased muffin tins. 

Bake for 20-25 minutes till the frittatas are fluffy and golden brown.

MINI MUFFIN CUP FRITTATAS

+PRINT RECIPE HERE

Ingredients:

3 eggs

1 small potato, peeled & grated

1/2 japanese cucumber, peeled, grated and squeezed

1 small onion

3 cloves garlic

2 1/2 tbsp greek style yogurt

1 tbsp olive oil, more for greasing

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste.

Method:

1) Finely dice the onion and garlic.

2) Peel the potato and grate it.

3) Peel and grate the cucumber. Squeeze the cucumber to drain the extra moisture.

4) Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a pan.

5) Saute onion and garlic with salt to taste till fragrant and soft.

6) Once the onion and garlic is done, remove from heat and stir in the grated potato and cucumber. Keep aside.

7) In a separate bowl crack in 3 eggs and add in the greek style yogurt.

8) Whisk the eggs and yogurt till there are no lumps of yogurt.

9) Stir in the sauteed vegetables and pepper and mix well.

10) Grease muffin tin with olive oil.

11) Pour in the mixed ingredients in the greased muffin tin.

12) Bake for 20 to 25 minutes till frittatas are puffy and golden brown.

Decadent Eggless Chocolate Cake

For the past few months I've been wanting to bake an eggless cake. I do not usually bake any eggless/vegetarian cakes, but I thought its about time that tried making some. 

The other day when I was talking to a friend of mine, who was a vegetarian, she told me that she makes vegetarian chocolate cake with coca-cola. Yes, you read that right! Coca-cola! Immediately, I was interested in trying a similar recipe, and I got to work, googling for chocolate cake recipe with coke. After going through various sites, I found the recipe here favourable.

Start by sifting together he flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, soda bicarbonate and baking powder.

 
Beat the butter and sweetened condensed milk. Beat till there is no lumps of butter. Add in the vanilla extract and mix well.

Stir in the sifted dry ingredients. 

Lastly, quickly pour in the coke and combine well. 

 

Pour into a lined tin and bake for 1 hour.

The final product. Yummy chocolatey goodness!

 

DECADENT EGGLESS CHOCOLATE CAKE 

+PRINT RECIPE HERE 
Ingredients:
100 g butter, at room temperature
1 can sweetened condensed milk (500g)
225 g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp soda bicarbonate
250 ml coca- cola
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:
1) Preheat oven at 150 degree Celsius.
2) Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and soda bicarbonate. Keep aside.
2) Beat butter and sweetened condensed milk till there is no lumps of butter.
3) Stir in the vanilla extract.
4) Stir in the sifted dry ingredients mix well.
5) Pour in the coke and combine well.
6) Pour in a lined cake tin and bake for 1 hour.

Note:
1) I used self raising flour since I didn't have plain flour, which the original recipe called for. If you are using plain flour, use 2 tbsp baking powder and 1 tsp soda bicarbonate.
2) The top of the cake may appear a little hard once it is out of the oven. Don't worry, just let the cake cool completely for 1-2 hours and top will soften.

Traditional Gingernut Biscuit

Truth to be told, I never liked baking biscuits or cookies. I love baking cakes, but not cookies because I think it is such a tedious process i.e making several batches. I only give in to baking biscuits/cookies if the recipe intrigues me or I happen to like that particular biscuit/cookie.

Gingernut biscuit is one of my favourite type of biscuit. I like it for its hard texture, spicy yet sweet flavour and the wonderful aroma when you bake a batch.

The key ingredient for this biscuit, in my personal opinion, apart from the ginger, is the golden syrup. If possible try not to skip or substitute the golden syrup which is used in this recipe. Albeit the amount used is quite little, it makes such a huge difference in terms of flavour. You can get golden syrup from any shops which sells baking items or you can get it at Coldstorage, which is where I get my supply of golden syrup and don't worry, it doesn't cost a bomb. It is just around RM 3 for a bottle.

Start by mixing all the dry ingredients, i.e plain flour, powdered ginger, powdered cinnamon, baking powder and soda bicarbonate.

Cream butter and sugar till pale and fluffy. 

 

Crack an egg into the butter and sugar mixture and mix well.

Add in golden syrup and vanilla extract.

Add in all the mixed dry ingredients and mix well.

Refrigerate the mixture for 10-15 minutes.

Take a teaspoon of the mixture, roll it into balls and place it on a lightly greased tray. Bake for about 15 minutes till they are golden brown.

TRADITIONAL GINGERNUT BISCUIT

+PRINT RECIPE HERE 
INGREDIENTS:

150 g butter
225 g caster sugar
250 g plain flour
3 tsp powdered ginger
1/2 tsp powdered cinnamon
1 tbsp golden syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp soda bicarbonate
1 egg

Method:

1) Preheat oven at 180 degree celcius for 10 minutes.
2) Mix flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking powder and soda bicarbonate and keep aside.
3) Cream butter and sugar till pale and fluffy.
4) Crack one egg into the butter and sugar mixture and beat well.
5) Add golden syrup and vanilla extract and mix well.
6) Stir in well all the mixed dry ingredients.
7) Refrigerate the mixture for 10-15 minutes.
8) Take one teaspoon of the mixture and roll it into a ball. DO NOT FLATTEN it.
9) Bake for 10-15 minutes or till golden brown.
10) Remove from oven and let it cool before storing in an airtight container.

Note:

1) Do not flatten the rolled mixture.
2) Although the biscuits have been baked for 15 minutes and it has turned golden brown, the biscuits may be a little soft in the centre. It will harden once it has cooled overnight.