Pasta - a well known traditional Italian recipe, has many varieties, it is quite common that we don't leave an Italian restaurant without ordering a pasta topped with cheese. I had pasta for the first time with my husband in an Italian restaurant, but was not a great fan of it, not until i tasted my sister's preparation, when i was pregnant just before delivery i stayed in my sister's house, one fine day my sister prepared it for me, at first i was really reluctant to just try it, but she said i would love it, so tried it out, and it was amazing, so that was the first time i liked it and later turned to be a great fan :-), one special thing about this pasta is my sister didn't add cheese as topping but still had a good flavour so that's really good, even 5 to 6 spoons makes our stomach feel full, as well it is really simple to cook even as a beginner. I am happy that my sister taught me this recipe, thank you akka :-)
Ingredients :
Pasta - 1 cup ( i used Farfalle)
Prawn - 1/2 or 1/4 cup
Spinach - 1/4 cup
Onion - 1/2
Garlic Pods - 2 (finely chopped)
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tsp
Coriander Leaves - few
Milk - 2 cups
White Pepper - 1/2 tsp
Black Pepper - 1/2 tsp
Chilli Powder - 1/4 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
Corn Flour - 2 tblsp
Oregano - 1 tsp
Olive Oil
Salt
Method :
Boil pasta in water with salt for 7 -10 mins or as given in the pasta instructions
Once cooked, filter the water totally and toss it with a spoon of olive oil
Keep it aside
Add ginger garlic paste, chilli powder, turmeric powder, salt to the prawns and marinate for 3 to 4 mins
Heat a sauce pan with 2 tblsp oil and cook the marinated prawns
Once it turns to a golden brown colour , keep it aside
Mix the cornflour powder to 1/4 cup milk and keep it aside
Heat a sauce pan with 2 tblsp oil and add garlic, onions, coriander leaves, spinach
Add white pepper, black pepper, salt, saute it and add milk to it
When milk comes to a boil, add the cornflour mix and stir it
When it comes to a thick saucy texture add the cooked pasta and stir it
Add the cooked prawns to it and mix it
Finally sprinkle the oregano and stir it, so done here you go with the pasta
Serve it hot with a topping of cheese if you prefer, kids will love it with the cheese..... Enjoy :-)
Chocolate cakes are delicious and yummy, who does'nt like chocolate indeed, but there are few exceptions too, so my next recipe will be vanilla cakes for people who are not chocolate lovers. At this point i would like to tell that, I learnt the art of baking soft and good textured cakes from my very dear granny, she is an expert in cooking, i still wonder the way she used to cook from veg to non-veg, chappathi to noodles everything, such tasty food that one would love to eat in a lifetime, i just thank her for inheriting me this gift of cooking that is all to say, i love you dear granny.
You might wonder what is ganache, sounds different right, some might know about it some may not so let me explain. Ganache is a French Term referring to a smooth and velvety mixture of chocolate and cream. It is made by pouring hot cream (cream with a 35-40% butterfat content) over chopped semi sweet or bittersweet chocolate or dark chocolate chips, when stirred it gives a shiny and smooth glaze which can be used for cakes as topping.
I have used Ganache on top of the chocolate cake and chocolate buttercream frosting for decorations.
Sometimes when we buy cakes from the shop it might be dry without any moisture left, which obviously we don't like much. A very good technique which my granny uses is she doesn't add egg yolks to the cakes, with just egg whites, the magic works. So here you go with the recipe.
Condensed milk - 2 tblsp(Gives additional taste, if not available use whole milk as alternate)
Salt - a pinch
For Ganache :
Heavy Whipping Cream - 3/4 cup
Chocolate chips - 1 cup (semi sweet or dark chocolate)
Unsalted Butter - 2 tblsp
Vanilla Essence - 1 tblsp
For Chocolate Butter Cream Frosting :
Chocolate chips - 3/4 cup ( semi sweet or unsweetened )
Powdered Sugar - 1/2 or 1 cup
Milk - 2 tblsp
Condensed Milk - 1 tblsp (Optional)
Butter - 1/3 cup
Method :
Chocolate Cake :
Seperate the egg whites and yolks
Sift the flour together with the baking powder to avoid any lumps (if using a cocoa powder add it to seive)
Bring the butter to room temperature by placing it on the double boiler once it melts measure it
Remember that softening the butter is really important, do not place the butter in the sauce pan directly it will tend to burn, use only the double boiler to do that
Double boiler is not a complicated one, just place a sauce pan filled with water and on top of that a heat resistant bowl or a stainless steel deep mixing bowl with the butter this will get the heat from the water and get softened, so this is how we should do it, Use the long wire whipper to mix it (please note the 7th picture below)
Once you measure the butter keep it aside in a seperate bowl
Add the chocolate chips to the double boiler on the same vessel which has the left over butter
Mix it similarly to the butter till it melts
Keep it aside in a seperate bowl
Take a clean and dry mixing bowl, pour the egg whites and start whipping it using the wire whipper or stand mixer
Keep whipping till you get a kind of shiny creamy layer which almost resembles a foam
Once done keep it aside
Keep it aside, take a clean and dry mixing bowl
Start whipping the butter, once it starts to thicken add sugar in intervals and keep whipping
Add vanilla essence, and add seived mixture(flour,baking powder) in intervals and whip it
Once everything is mixed well u get a kind of thick mixture
At this stage add the melted chocolate and milk to this and whip it
Finally add the beaten eggs and fold it using the spatula, folding is nothing but just moving the spatula in up and down strokes very slowly that you don't get in too much of air into the cake mixture, just move the spatula in the clockwise direction do not stir just fold it from the bottom
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees ( i use only this temp coz if we increase the temperature more than this at times the outer surface of the cake gets either cracked which won't look good or gets hard)
Once mixed well, place a parchment paper on the baking pan as a liner
Pour the mixture
Just pat the sauce pan hard on the flat surface to spread it evenly so that the air goes out of the mixture
Place in the middle of the rack in the oven for 30-35 minutes
Check out if the cake is cooked using a tooth pick on to the middle of the cake if batter doesn't stick to it the cake is done
Let it cool for 5 mins
Place a flat plate on top of the baking pan and turn it upside down
Since we place the parchment paper the cake does not stick to the sides it is easier to take it out from the pan
Remove the parchment paper and place the cake covered in refrigerator for 15 mins
Ganache :
Pour the heavy whipping cream in a sauce pan
Add the butter and vanilla essence to it and bring to a boil
Keep the chocolate chips in a heat resistant bowl or a stainless steel mixing bowl
Pour the hot whipping cream to the chocolate chips
Leave it for 2 -3 mins and start stirring till it gets mixed well
Let it cool down for 10 mins, once it cools down you get a thick sauce like texture which is easy to pour on top of the cake
Take the cake and place the bottom side on top, coz the bottom part will always give a even surface than the top layer
Place the cake on a wire rack, Gently brush off the loose crumbs on the surface
Pour the ganache to the middle of the cake and quickly spread the ganache with a spatula or a knife using big strokes to push the ganache over the sides of the cake
See if there are unfilled spaces on the sides when pushing to the sides, if so patch it up with the spatula
Once done wait for atleast 5 mins for the chocolate to drip off in the wire rack
Remove it from the wire rack and place it in the flat plate
Decorate the cake with the frosting you like, readymade or homemade
I have made chocolate buttercream frosting for decorating
You can use the leftover ganache also to pipe the details
Using a decorating tip i have designed the corners, if not available make a cone out of the parchment paper and cut it accordingly so that you can design
To get fine details Parchment paper is easy to pipe than the plastic bags
Methods for Making parchment paper cone is available online so you can check out
Refrigerate the cake for 10-15 mins once everything is done
So here you go with the chocolate ganache
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting :
Place the chocolate chips in a double boiler
Add the butter
Once both melts take it off from the double boiler and start whipping it
Add the powdered sugar, milk and condensed milk, you can add 1/2 tsp vanilla essence for added flavour
Ulunthu vadai or Medhu vadai, the most common south indian recipe that comes with breakfast, meal or a snack, I love it too especially the one which my mom makes and the other is the Saravana Bhavan vadai mmmmmmm delicious ;-)
During my childhood my mom used to prepare vadai as an evening snack i still remember those crispy vadai's that myself and dad used to enjoy. My cousin sister's are my mom's fan too, we used to sit together in the terrace and have the snacks, those where the good old days, and i miss them
too :-( ...
Vadai's are delicious and crispy if made well, a slightest change in proportion may lead to disaster as well( very hard ones ). Coz recently i had one such disaster, My sister and her family came home to stay with us on a long weekend, i wanted to prepare them a good breakfast along with a crispy vadai, it was early morning and as well i was sleepy i guess, accidentally i added 1 spoon rice flour instead of 1/4 tsp which made the vadai hard (oopsy) :-( , i felt really bad, we had no other option left so here comes the next option, sambar vadai, we soaked all the vadai's in sambar and had it :-). So the lesson is keep your proportions intact for a crispy snack :-), ok let me stop boring you guys, here you go with the recipe.
Ingredients:
Urad Dal - 1 cup
Fennel seeds - 1/2 tsp
Onions - 1
Coriander leaves - few
Green Chillies - 1 ( take off the seeds inside )
Curry Leaves - few
Rice Flour - 1/4 or less (optional)
Ginger - 1/4 tsp (grated)
Salt
Oil
Method:
Soak urad dal for 2 - 4 hours
Grind it with fennel seeds, rice flour and Salt without water, coz if too much of water is added you get a runny batter in which you cannot make the shape of the vadai. So even if water is needed add very little
Once the batter is ready
Add onions, ginger, coriander leaves, green chillies, and curry leaves to the batter
Place a plastic cover on a flat surface
Take a small lemon sized portion of batter and make it as a round ball
Pat it over the plastic cover into a circle with a hole in the center
Heat a kadai with oil and fry the vadai's
Serve it with sambar or chutney.... :-)
To get a crispier vadai we can use the grinder to grind instead of mixie.
