Coffee and Rum cake for the New Year 2015

 While new year came and went by ... ok, I mean the first day of the new year when people go nuts and create a huge hullabaloo about god knows what was it that went and what is it that is coming ahead ...  came and went by, I was still grappling with the lack of enthusiasm to sit down and write a post here on Kichu Khonn.
I have loads of photographs; unedited.
I have some drafts lying by; unwritten.
And I have an empty mind; unopened.
Just to think and write something creates a huge wave of blankness in me, these days.
Lazy? Me? I guess so.
No. Yes. I am being lazy. There is nothing to hide now.
The very thought of penning down a few words to go with a recipe and some photos gives me the heebie jeebies these days.
What do I write? How do I start? Is it worth writing about? The photos have turned out so bad; should I do a post at all?
And after a few anxious minutes, I shut the laptop and walk away. And stay away as far as I can , from it . for the rest of the day. 

It is not that I have been doing nothing.
Oh ... I have been very much busy. As busy as a jobless person can be. 
I have been spending the days entertaining; sometimes people, sometimes myself ... read being lazy again ... going on long drives and a picnic or two thrown in between; falling ill ... which I do very well and with all sincerity ... and stay ill for a good number of days so that it becomes a well justified reason to stay away from making a blog post. 
And I have been cooking too. 
A lot, actually.
And loving it. 
But the thought of clearing the dining table to make space, arrange the food and set about taking photographs again overwhelms me. 
And drives me away  from the very thought of it. 

And this is the way my days have been going on for the past few weeks.  
I had, of course, remembered Christmas. And had diligently soaked a big bowlful of dry fruits in rum ... with all the good intentions of baking a rum cake for Christmas. And did bake a cake ,finally.
But that was that.
1st of Jan came and went ... and so did the rest of the days after it. Life went on in slow motion ... literally.
All my fish dishes, the deep fried fritters, the two types of khichuris to celebrate the cold weather ... all came and went by. Nary a photograph. Or a thought of a blogpost.

Until this morning.

I had just stepped out into the early morning on my balcony. The fog was still hanging in mid air ... just like I had left it last night. The sun was out ... crisp and bright. I closed my eyes , felt the cold air on my face and took a deep, long breath. 
And jumped out of my skin.

"Chalo, breakfast mein cake banate hain!"
I did not know when B had come and was standing quietly beside me.
Half of my breath still stuck at my throat, I did a double take. Not only at the suggestion but also at the plurals. A quick retort bubbled up but died down just as quickly.
Maybe this was it. Maybe B's enthusisam will give me that push I so needed.
So turned at him and said "Why not?!"

 And that was how this cake got made ... in twenty five minutes flat.
And I could not help but catch the morning sun on it; smiling at my thought ... now Kichu Khonn will have a new year post.

Actually, I made two cakes ... which I always do with my measurements of flour and eggs.
This morning, I did not even refer to my posts. Just grabbed this and that and threw in them together.
There were some rum soaked dry fruits ... left over from the Christmas cake ... which I threw into the second cake's batter.
Sprinkled some coffee on the top ... I never mix the coffee with the batter ... and lo, my coffee rum cake was ready.

The first one was a plain vanilla cake.
I threw in 1 cupful of flour + ½ tsp baking powder + ½ cup ground sugar + 3 tbsp oil in a bowl and mixed well.
No, B did not help me with it ... proof ... my aching hands and shoulders.

Churned 3 eggs + 1 tsp vanilla essence in a mixer and dunked it into the flour.
Mixed the batter well.

B greased the tin and set the oven to pre heat at 150 degrees C.
I poured in half of the batter and put it to bake at 150 degrees C for 15 minutes.

The cake turned out wonderfully soft. And we found it full of ground sugar ... every bite was filled with beautiful, sugary sweet grains!
A new kind of experience for us.
I attribute it to the quick procedure ... I had not given the batter any time to soak or settle in ... just mixed and set it to bake.
Also. it did not get time to rest. Out of the oven ; into our mouths. 

We loved the fresh out of the oven , warm vanilla cake with our ginger tea.
No photos ... for obvious reasons. :-) 

The second part of the batter got the dry fruits and coffee in addition. And also the rum that they were soaking in.
And here is our Coffee Rum cake with dry fruits.
And oh ... I did add some orange zest too.
And happily clicked photos. 

Have a happy year, dear friends and readers.
Have a fresh year.
Have a blessed year.

My recipe for the Coffee cake is here - http://kichukhonn.blogspot.in/2008/05/coffee-cake.html

My recipe for the Rum cake is here -http://kichukhonn.blogspot.in/2009/12/rum-cake-with-fruits-nuts.html

And the mix of both is right here, on this post. :-)
My next post will have a detailed recipe; as always. Promise.


Enjoy!!

Orange Cupcakes & Vanilla Sponge Cake

In spite of my trying real hard, I have not been able to post as frequently as I'd like to.

The days stay busy, with a thousand chores
awaiting.
And I need more time than usual to finish a job now.

In the midst of all this I cook.
But of late cooking has mostly been on the spur.
Decide, prepare, cut/chop, cook, serve.
With almost no time to arrange a plate and click snaps.

But it does nag at the back of my mind when I prepare something good enough to share
with you all.
So no matter how quick I have to be, I try to manage a few clicks.

I've been craving for some good old fashioned Vanilla cake for a while now.
With eggs.
So baked one last weekend.


With winter gone and the weather turning dry and hot,
it is the evenings that are so endearing now.
A heavy breeze blows that takes me back to summery evenings back home.
Our garden had a grapefruit tree.
And the only thing I loved about it was the flowers.
Or rather their smell.

Citrusy, fragrant and so so sweet.
The evening air would be heavy with a mix of their smell and the smell of wet earth from the
just watered garden.
The elders would be sitting down to a cup of lemon tea
accompanied with something baked ...
either cakes or bakery biscuits.

I baked this cake just around evening, heart heavy with memories.

Just as I set about pouring the batter into the baking bowl,
I spied some beautiful oranges sitting on the table.
Immediately kept some batter aside
and added some orange zest to it.
Baked some cupcakes out of that batter.
Ok ... not some, exactly 5 cupcakes.


The zest gave such a wonderfully warm golden and light sunshine colour
to the cupcakes that
it almost hurt to eat them.
And the aroma of orange coming out of a warm cake is just so heady!

I threw in some choco chips that promptly sank to the bottom.
But it was fun to break open a cupcake and discover the chips in them.

The cake was perfect.
Brown and slightly crusty top.
Very soft and fluffy inside.
Melt in the mouth perfect sweetness.
Am so happy with it that I'm going to write the recipe here.
If not for anybody else,
then for my own self ... lest I forget.

By the time the cupcakes came out, we had finished half of the sponge cake ...
warm and just out of the oven.
So just the other half for a click.


Need :

1 cup maida / refined or all purpose flour
2 eggs
a little milk ( I use it only to make the batter thin )
vanilla essence - 3 big drops
1 tsp baking powder
a pinch of baking soda
a little less than 1 cup sugar
3 tbsp cooking oil

Around 1 tbsp orange zest to be added for the cupcakes.


How I made them :

Set oven to 160 degrees C to pre heat.

Grind the sugar into a powder.

Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda and oil in a bowl.

Add the sugar and mix well.

Beat the eggs for a while and mix in.

Add milk ( I needed just about a quarter cup or less ).

Add the vanilla essence.

Stir well till there are no lumps in the batter.

The batter should be of easily flowing yet slightly heavy consistency.

Brush a baking bowl with butter or cooking oil.

Dust it with some maida / apf.

Pour in the batter and bake at 160 degrees for around 15 minutes.

Switch off oven. Do not take the cake out immediately.

After around 10 mins remove and cool.


The Cupcakes

Just add the orange zest to the above batter.

If you want add some choco chips too.

Oil a muffin tray, pour in the batter and bake at 150 degrees for 10 minutes.

Remove from oven, cool and serve.


All golden in colour,
soft as sponge, sweet, with a bite of chocolate, these cupcakes were beautiful!

We enjoyed them with some light and flavourful
Darjeeling leaf tea.

And I kept smelling my fingers where the wonderful fragrance of
the orange zest lingered ...
long after every crumb was gone. :-)

Other Cakes with eggs on Kichu Khon

Rum Cake with Fruit & Nuts
Coffee Cake
( Yep ... just two!! All others are eggless! )

Ringing in 2011 with Eggless Coffee Choco Nuts Cake

Wishing you a very Happy New Year 2011 !!

A full year gone. How ... I won't get into that.
I had committed I'll come back ... so am here.

And a post on the first day of the year seems so ... well ... appropriate.

But had no idea what to cook to make the first post of the new year seem special ...
... if not to anybody, at least to me.
Couldn't think of anything that can be done on the fly.
So did what I do best ... cook on a whim.

Grab hold of whatever I have ... mix them all together and bake.
Easy.
The difficult part is when it comes to naming my experiments. :-)

Anyway ... am still not very much in my element.
My arranging skills have become rusty.
Need to relearn to hold the camera properly.

But I still love to bake.

And so do not wait to see if I have eggs in the fridge or do not.
This cake was made with whatever I had at hand.


Need :

1 cup maida/APF
(a little more than) 1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp oil
1/2 cup milk
1 small piece of cinnamon
1 piece of clove
1 tsp baking powder
1 pinch of baking soda
coffee powder ( to taste )
choco chips
chopped almonds and raisins
( this was all I had ... you can add others )
5-6 drops of vanilla essence

How to :

Pre heat oven at 110 degrees C.

Run the sugar in a mixer with the cinnamon and clove.

Mix the maida + oil + sugar + baking powder + baking soda well.

Mix in the milk and stir well till there are no lumps.

Add the chopped dry fruits.

Add the coffee and give a stir.

Sprinkle the choco chips on the surface.

Oil a baking bowl and pour in the batter.

Bake at 110 degrees C till an inserted toothpick or knife or skewer comes out clean.

Cool and serve.

The choco chips melt to give a chocolatey taste to the strong coffee flavour.
Turned out super moist and gooey.

I had made some Orange syrup with fresh orange juice and zest a few days ago.
Poured a little on a piece.

Tasted wonderful.

The tartness and zing of the orange syrup combined with the coffee and chocolate gave the cake a mixed flavour of ... well ... maybe of the gone year ... 2010. :-)

May the New Year bring happiness and health to you !!

Enjoy!

Other Cakes on Kichu Khon :

Rum Cake with Fruit & Nuts

Eggless Coffee Cake

Eggless Mango Cake

Eggless Apple & Walnut Cake

Eggless Banana Cake

Pineapple Cake

Savoury Lentil Cake / Handvo

My balcony is no longer mine.

Well ... it has never been mine for that matter. The small ledge is the bane of all good in my life ... read a little time spent on the balcony every evening ... or stand a while to enjoy the rains spray.

But no ... there are other important living beings who have laid claims on my property long back. They are our feathered 'friends'. Honestly .. am in a good mind to refer to them as foes henceforth.

First it were the pigeons. Amongst the fast paced real estate boom ... read numerous flats and buildings coming up ... they zero in on my balcony! After a good number of days spent fighting among themselves .. the most able and fittest get hold of the ledge. I wonder if this should give me some consolation regarding free security.

And then comes a longish time of having a baby ... nurturing it ... teaching it to fly. All through this ... dare I step into the balcony, the parents flutter about ... if I sit on the swing ... one of them will sit right across me on the railing and stare pointedly ... till I give up and go in.



Now this corner of mine has been taken up by two Shaliks ( in Bengali ). I had tried sealing the ledge with newspapers and thermocol boxes .. the enterprising pair scraped away part of the thermocol with their beaks and made a door ... and got a home!

The eggs have hatched and I can already hear the faint chirps and the parents are busy throughout the day carrying strugging insects in their beaks to feed the babies.

I love to be with my greens ... with the monsoon clouds and rain all over ... ok .. I have exactly three pots and 9 plants among them ... so what? I still love to be among my greens.

But no ... the moment I step there ... am shooed off with the best expletives in birdie language ... punctuated with screeches that go zzzzzzinggg .... right thru one ear and out the other. No ... they are not afraid of me or fly away ... it is I who has to give in ... always.

But at least they do not dirty the balcony as the horrid pigeons do.

I had planted exactly 15 saplings of Pui / Poi / Malabar spinach ... out of which only this many survived. DH sniggers everytime I water them or fuss around them ... mentioning something about a butcher taking care of a kid ... waiting.

Well ... I hope I get enough leaves on these so as not to feel guilty even if I do chop off a few for my Chorchori.



A few days back I had made the Dal Panchmela, and since I never measure stuff I am using for cooking I got some soaked dals left.

I usually grind them to a batter and make dosas or adai. But was in no mood to stand in the kitchen and fry one dosa after the other for a long long time.
So threw in a few things that came to my mind while grinding the batter and set it in the oven to bake.

Out came a savoury cake that we relished with tea that rainy evening. It is something close to a Handvo ... but I did check out the recipes for it ... and decided not to call this a Handvo for purists' sake.

This Savoury Lentil Cake came out very fluffy and spicy. Loved every bit of it.



Need :
A mix of 5 dals (Tuvar, Urad, Masoor, Chana, Moong ) soaked together
Fresh Coconut ( optional )
Fresh green chillies
Jeera / Cumin seeds
A pinch of Hing / Asafoetida
Baking Powder
Salt to taste
Lemon juice
A little water
A little cooking oil

Feel free to use whatever spices you want to ... I could not think of much.

How to :
Grind the dals with the coconut, jeera and the green chillies.

Add the hing, lemon juice, salt and baking powder to the batter.

Line a baking bowl with a little cooking oil.
Pour in the batter and bake at 150 degrees C for around 20 minutes.

Remove and cool.

Cut to pieces and serve hot or warm.




I had both my Peanut chutney and our very favourite Onion Chutney in the fridge ... enjoyed with both. And a hot mugga. :-)

Enjoy all !

Eggless Vanilla Muffins

I have been craving for some plain vanilla cake for a while now ... like the ones that were made in my childhood ... with eggs, vanilla, lots of cashews and cherries. Just could not make the time to make one.

A few evenings back I found a little time at hand ... and wanted to munch on something. But there was nothing at home except some biscuits and bread. Nah ... did not feel like having them. Again felt like having a slice of cake or a baked cookie.

So just got up and walked into the kitchen. Mixed up some flour with a few other things thrown in ... and I had a mix to bake!
Now what do I want ... a cake or a cookie ?
Cannot make it into a cake ... I ran out of baking powder. Cannot make it into a cookie ... it was too sticky ... had no intention of adding more maida ... means more oil ... and more baking powder ( I had just the empty bottle now ).



So decided to drop them into a muffin tray and see how they behave.
I had once seen Nigella make something like that ... mentioning that the muffin batter does not have to be too smooth ... so went ahead. Whatever will be, will be. If not anything, it will be edible at least. I mean how wrong can a sweetened mix baked well go wrong? ;-)
And that's how I got these. :-)


Need :

Maida / Apf - 1 and a half cup ( a medium sized tea cup )
Baking powder - 1 tsp ( I ran out of bp ... so do not know if a little more would have helped or not)
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
Sugar - 5 to 6 tbsp ( you can grind it to a powder too ... I did not)
Salt - very little ... just a pinch
Chopped candied cherries - around 2 tbsp
Cooking oil - 3 tbsp
Cold milk - just enough to make the dough ( very little actually )
Butter - just a little ( 1 cube will do )

How to :

Pre heat oven at 100 degrees C.

Except the milk, mix everything together and knead well.

When everything has mixed properly, add a little milk to mix some more. It will turn into a sticky paste ... do not do anything other than just to bear with it.

Just make sure there are no dry lumps of maida ... the batter should not be very smooth.

Line a muffin tray. Scoop out a spoonful of mix and gently drop it into the slots in the tray.

Bake at 100 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes. ( I always bake cookies and muffins at a lower temp to be on the safe side ... have not tried baking at high temp like a pro yet). :-)

Brush a little butter on the top of the muffins and bake for 5 more mins.

Remove and cool. They will harden a little after cooling.



Wonderful muffins ready in a jiffy! They were airy inside, not too chewy, not too dry. Perfect! :-)

They are best when warm ... so run them in the MW for a while before serving.

Enjoy with tea or coffee.
Since it is already very hot here, we had it with tall glasses of cold coffee. :-)



Well ... for those who have been asking me to add something new to my Travelogue, I finally got to post a very short trip and a wee bit longer trip there. :-)

TC folks !!

Rum Cake with Fruits & Nuts

When I came across this wonderful Fruit & Nut cake in Sunita's beautiful blog, I knew I had to try making it. So inspite of not blogging for a while .... oh ... am not away from the kitchen though ... just don't feel like making the beautiful dishes always a subject and train the camera on them till they fall flat or go cold with disappointment.
With a little cold here finally, hot dishes & soups are being enjoyed real hot .... from the stove or oven to the plates and famished tummies. :-)

A small disappointment did rile me for a while ... our travel plans were cancelled .... no, postponed ... for hubby's work. :-(

And my very original Instant Moong Dal Halwa , which has been made and loved by a lot of readers .... both bloggers and non bloggers equally .... showering me with mails and comments .... which has made me very proud of my recipe and happy too ... is unhappy.
A blogger who has appreciated it here has gone and used another blogger's comment space to call it yuck (without trying to make it). :-(
I really don't know what to make of it.

But such little things are not going to put me down.
The first issue is solved ... I have been promised a trip soon .... so am happy. :-)
And I am deluged with visiting friends and family now that the hols have started .... best friend D is here from Dubai ... my KG friend is visiting next with wife .... hubby found a long lost friend from college ... so the days are rushing by in a blur.



I was very excited at the thought of baking a rum cake. Back from a Book Fair, with two huge bundles of books in my arms, I was a spectacle ... well ... the guys in the shop looked real amused ... when buying rum from a shop ( hubby's presence did not help much ). ;-)
I went through Sunita's recipe and for a change did not want to experiment or deviate too much.
Just made a few changes more out of necessity than anything else ...

* I used maida / APF instead of atta / whole wheat flour.
* I reduced the amount of eggs to three.
* I used plain white sugar.
* I added a little vanilla essence lest my veggie ( ok ... eggitarian ) hubby gets a 'smell'.
* I had no nutmeg ... so could not add it.
* Ground a few cloves ( that I put in the sugar jar ) with the sugar.
* And since I tend to keep my cake batters a little too liquid, I added some Cranberry juice ( that was the only juice I had at home then) to make it more liquid.

I have stuck to my usual measurements of a cake ... still the batter was voluminous ... I made two cakes and six cupcakes out of these measurements.

Visit Sunita's World for the original recipe and some great snaps.

Need :

2 cups maida / apf ,
3 eggs,
1/2 tsp baking soda,
2 tbsp baking powder,
1 and 1/2 cup sugar,
a few drops of vanilla essence ( do not use too much ...
... or you can skip it too if you are used to eggs ) ,
a few cloves and cinnamon,
dark rum,
8 tbsp cooking oil,
zest of one orange and juice of one orange ( I used the same orange ),
dates, walnuts, cashews, black raisins.
Any fruit juice ( if needed ) ... I used a little Cranberry juice.

How to :

Chop or break the fruits and nuts and soak them in a cupful of water and rum in 1:1 ratio ( I used a small soupbowl and soaked them for half an hour).

Then pour them into a pan and cook on low heat till they are almost dry. Cool.
Add the orange zest ( added the juice and pulp too ) and keep aside.

Grind the sugar finely with the cloves and cinnamon.
Mix the flour, baking powder and baking soda together.

Whisk the eggs + oil + sugar + a drop of vanilla essence + 4 tbsp rum with an electric beater or in a mixie.
Add the flour in and mix well.

Pre heat oven at 150 degrees ( I am used to baking cakes at this temperature .... refer Sunita's recipe for her version).

Mix in the dry fruits to the batter.

Grease a cake mould and dust it with a little flour.
Pour in the batter and put to bake.
Do not forget to keep checking ... I often switch off the oven in between for even baking.
Bake till an inserted toothpick or skewer or knife comes out clean.

Sunita advises to cover the mould after a while of baking .... listen to her. :-)
I did not ... and the top got browned very quickly.

But all was not lost ... I decreased the temp. immediately and let it bake in a very low temperature.

Later I tried to pry off the top layer ... it was very thin and came away like an obedient child .... and there was nothing noticable at all.




This turned out to be the most wonderful cake I have ever baked .... too soft .... I pressed a piece with a finger and it slowly rose up again!

And when I bit into it, I was taken back to my childhood .... when Bapi ( Dad ) would get a Fruit cake everytime he went to Calcutta on a bussiness trip. I used to pick out the raisins then .... I still do from other cakes .... but this time I savoured every bit.

I just closed my eyes and was back home in the chilling winters .... holidays ..... school chapel .... a singing choir ... the nativity scene .... friends yelling out "Haaaaaappy Holidays!" .... Sisters smiling indulgently when we asked for an extra piece of chocolate cake from the Convent .... and asking us to be good in the holidays and not to trouble our parents .....

Oh! I can go on and on and on .....



Instead .... here's wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a wonderful and Happy New Year 2010 !!

Stay well ... stay warm ... stay happy ... and savour the love and happiness of your dear ones around you!! :-)

Good cheer to all of you .... c'ya all soon!

Eggless Apple & Walnut Cake

When I went through my blog recently, I saw that I have baked quite a few eggless fruit cakes. And by fruit cakes I mean I have used fresh fruits.

Baking has been a challenge for me ... always. It goes against my experimentive nature. I love to play with stuff ... go beyond rigidity. So going by exact measures, exact proportions, exact temperatures .... nah ... is not for me. And to make things worse ... I hate reading or following cook books. I just don't have the patience.

Besides, I do not like anybody telling me what to do ... even if it is a cookbook. :-)

But then ... I love to eat cakes. And to bake them too. So I started baking them. Perfected my Coffee Cake .... the family's favourite now.

Mustered the courage and baked Eggless Coffee Cake too. Successfully.

And then started with fruits. The Eggless Pineapple cake was a huge first time success. So was the Eggless Mango Cake. I baked an Eggless Banana cake too.

I was on a roll. No complex recipes ... as with all my other recipes. I loved the smell of the fruit in the cakes ... which is why I never tried to use eggs in them ... and consequently did not need any vanilla essence. Loved every one of them.

This time there were a few apples in the fridge. This was the first time I tried making an Eggless Apple Cake. Had some walnuts at hand ... so chopped them up and added to the batter. And purposely kept the apple's age old partner ... the cinnamon ... away.

If you want the complete recipe, just go to the other fruit cakes that I have mentioned here ... and substitute the used fruit with pureed apple. And use Apple juice in place of the used liquid.



But there were some minor accidents while making it ... so the results were slightly different from the usual other cakes.
No ... do not get me wrong. It tasted heavenly. But I am writing down the mistakes more for myself than for the log of the recipe.

Firstly .... I eyeballed ... as usual. But overconfidence does not always work.

Then, the cup of vegetable oil I was using slipped from my hands .... resulting in too much of oil for too little flour. So the cake turned out a little too moist.

Next, I measured the sugar only after grinding it. Baaaaaad idea .... where was my mind? The cake turned out to be toooo sweet. But a plus .... the crust was very crisp. You win some, you lose some.

And used a tablespoon for measuring the baking powder. Result .... a cracked cake. I know ... I should be the one who should be called that. :-p

And last, but not the least ... I added vanilla essence.
So what? So this.
Every bite tasted awesome! But only till you asked "Guess the flavour?".
It was somewhere between mango / chocolate ( I guess the crispy crust ) / what not ... anything but apple or vanilla.



So there folks ... am convinced that am going bonkers. So decided to give myself a break. The cake was just as awesome as the snaps are ... believe me. But I guess I was just plain lucky.

But if I try anything new again, am positive I'll ruin something far more important than the cake. ;-)

So am taking a break. I promise to return with some great but simple recipes again .... soon. Maybe by Christmas .... or early next year.

Till then ... I'll have some fun, family, friends and of course food time for myself !! :-)
Even if it is not a 'Summer holiday' .... I still feel like singing " no more cooking for a week or two ...". :-)

Take care all !! :-)

Whole Wheat Eggless Banana Cookies

( Vegans can use soy milk or plain lukewarm water.)

Am into cookie baking big time these days. Both sweet and savory.
Mostly sweet since the man of the house is starting normal routine these days.
That means going out ... mostly to office. That means carrying homemade stuff ... no outside food.
That means home made snacks.
It took me some time and brain wracking as to what snack could be taken from home that is packed in the morning and will stay good enough till evening.

And then decided biscuits are the best option. So am baking cookies / biscuits these days.


These cookies are healthy .... using whole wheat flour and very little cooking oil. They turned out perfect and are great to carry along with.

I threw in a handful of dry raisins too. But while baking they puffed up like small balloons ... and I realised my mistake. The cookies were too dainty to hold their weight. Next time will run them in a blender / chopper first and then mix into the dough.

I was so fascinated with the sugar not melting in the oven heat when I made these cookies the last time that I went overboard and threw in a lot of sugar this time. Loved the crunch in every bite. :-)




Need : 1 and a half cup of whole wheat flour, 1 pureed ripe banana,
a little cooking oil ... around 1 tbsp ( only a little for the dough to stay moist), 1 tsp baking powder,
a few tbsp sugar ... around 3 tbsp ... (I did not want them to be too sweet), some more sugar to spread on the cookies, milk ... around half a medium cup ( use just enough to knead the dough ).

I forgot to add vanilla essence ... and it turned out to be a boon. The mild flavour of the banana would not have been evident otherwise.

How to : Knead everything together to make a dough like we make for rotis.

Take a medium sized ball of dough and roll out a thickish circle ... like a big roti. You can use flour to dust when rolling.

Prick with a fork all over ( this way the cookies won't puff up ).

Sprinkle some sugar all over and pat it down.

Cut with a cookie cutter ... or any small sized bottle cap will do.

Oil a baking tray or use a baking sheet. Arrange the cookies on it.

Pre heat oven at 160 degrees C and bake in the same temperature for around 20 minutes.




Done!

See you all after Diwali friends. Have a great time this festival of lights !!

Happy Diwali !! :-)

Coffee Cookies

"Didi, do you go for mendikur pendikur?"
"Mendi what?"
"Mendi kur."

That was my maid.
Of course, who waits on whom is a very debatable topic. She has been with me for a very long time and has at some point decided that she is indispensable. Worse ... that she is my guardian.

So I have to listen to her constant chatter. And constant comparision with every single lady she comes across or works for.
I have to put up with her. Why? I don't know.

Maybe am not too adventurous when it comes to judging people ... I have my scars ... so the very thought of interviewing a new one and getting used to a new person in the house gives me cold feet.

Besides, this one won't leave me.
And when I need her, she is nowhere around.



On this particualr day, I am angry. I yell at her for being late. So she is sweet talking.

"Bolo na didi ... aap ko mendikur pendikur nahi accha lagta?"

I am exasperated.
"What on earth is mendikur pendikur ?!!"

"Arey! You don't know?!! Mendikur pendikur karo toh nakhun saaf karke dete hain. Nakhun acche dikhte hain! Aur nail palish bhi laga kar dete hain!"

I look at my nakhun ... nails. They seem pretty clean to me. And 'acche' too.

"Nail polish?!"
"Ho."

And then she says .... so and so didi went to have mendikur pendikur ... keeping the kid with her. So she was late.

I had already started laughing by then. And could not stop. I knew what she was trying to tell.

Mendikur pendikur .... manicure and pedicure!!!!
So there. A new word that is already doing the rounds amongst my cousins and friends. :-)

This recipe is long overdue. I had posted a snap in this post ... but for lack of time could not post the recipe sooner.

Right after I made the Onion Cookies, I was so taken by the easy procedure that Iwanted to make some sweet cookies.

Did not give much thought and went ahead with ... horror ... my coffee cake recipe. Only this time I did not add milk and just made a dough with the egg.

And they turned out just great! I had added baking powder, so they puffed up a little and were slightly crumbly .... and the coffee gave the much loved slightly strong flavour.





For the recipe ..... just follow this. But skip the milk. I added eggs to give the necessary moisture ... but not too much. Just enough to make a dough.

For the cookies : Take medium sized balls from the dough and roll them out like a thick roti.

I used a little oil and dry flour alternately to roll out. Prick with a fork all over. Cut into small pieces with a cookie cutter or any small sized round thing ...

I used a small jam bottle cover. Preheat oven and bake at 160 degrees C.
Or check out the process here.




And so my cookie jar holds cookies now. Finally! :-)

Wish you all a very happy and enjoyable Durga Puja & Navaratri dear friends !! :-)

Celebrating Kichu Khon with Eggless Mango Cake

Warning : Long Post :-)

Two years back, on a whim I made an account on blogspot for my ramblings ... which I still do here . And then suddenly life took me on a whirlwind tour so fast I forgot who my own self was ..... leave alone blog. Then a year later when I came back to it, I decided to turn it into a log of my adventures in the kitchen.

And today Kichu Khon completes a whole year ! :-)

Learning how to cook does not only mean heat a vessel, dunk in stuff and wait for it to cook. After numerous accidents and burnt food, after numerous burns and scalds, after destroying the cooker completely for using it without enough water ... I learnt what this adventure is all about.

I learnt that the oil has to be smoking hot before you let in those potatoes / fish. I learnt that just browning the vegetables in a fry does not mean they are cooked inside too. The water has to boil well before letting in the rice / noodles.

Iodised salt is different from plain salt ... so the amount you are using matters. Not to mention learning how to buy fish / vegetables ... and to knead atta .... the biggest challenge of all.

I had to learn the North Indian way of cooking, the Rajasthani way of cooking and for my nostalgic self the Bengali way of cooking. All the while wishing I had spent a little time everyday in the kitchen back home. But cooks consider kitchens their domain ... so had no luck ( now I consider it luck). :-)

Today I am confident in the kitchen ... can rustle up a snack from almost nothing ... and can serve a dinner for 6 ( that's the max I allow at home ... if more ... we eat out ) successfully.

When I go through my blog, I see how I have grown. And the number of dishes I have dished out amazes me .... and that is only the tip of the iceberg. Not all dishes we cook lands up in our blogs. I wonder if every woman kept a track of the number of dishes / snacks she made in her lifetime ... what would the figure come to?

Anyway ... am ranting now. One year back, with much apprehension I started off with my first post. Today I have a pretty ok kinda blog ... if not a very gorgeous one.

And I want to thank Everybody who has visited Kichu Khon and have cared to leave a line. I thank those who have stuck by me even when I had no comments ... who have encouaged me ... advised me and helped me with your suggestions. I have learnt so much from your blogs.

And for turning into such dear friends ( you know who you are .... I could not have done it without your continious support & love ). :-)
Today I can say I love my virtual world friends as much as I do my real world ones. :-)
My blog gets so many hits .... and am so happy about it. People spend so much time here ... visit so many recipes ... download snaps ... my site has even been ripped once ... (I take it as a compliment though ) .... return to the same recipes. BTW I would like to mention here that my most visited recipe is .... Kundru ki Sabzi !! :-)

I just wish they would leave a line here. It does not take much to say "I liked this" / "I did not like this". I am not about to pout or stomp my foot demanding a comment ... but I still think it is good manners.

Initially I was disheartened .... the number of comments never seemed to increase ... now I know better. So all you fellow bloggers ... don't judge the popularity of your blog by the number of comments it gets. :-)
I made an eggless Mango Cake to celebrate ... ok, ok ... I am still on the lookout for a reason to get rid of those mangoes. I have made this cake earlier with mango juice ( I used Slice ) ... but this time I have added milk.
Need : 

1 cup maida / APF, a little less than 1 cup powdered sugar, a little less than 1/2 cup cooking oil, 
a little cold milk [ ( use enough to make the batter of pouring consistency ... I prefer a batter that keeps on flowing when pouring into the baking dish .... and not fall in huge lumps .... (get the idea? ) ],

2 teaspoon baking powder, 5-6 drops of vannila essence, one meduim sized ripe mango pureed ( I used the Begunfuli / Badam variety ... they are quite fleshy ... if using a smaller variety you can use 2 or 3).


How to : Mix everything together .... you can use a hand blender too.
Add the milk after adding the mango puree. The batter should be thick but of pouring consistency. So adjust the milk accordingly.
Warm oven. Grease a baking dish with a little cooking oil / butter. Pour in the batter and bake at 130 - 160 degrees C.
The cake turned out to be dense, moist and very flavourful. I got two medium sized cakes from the above measurements.

Note : If you are preheating the oven ... check that it does not get too hot. If you have the Warm option .... use it to preheat.
I start the baking at a low temperature first ... it helps in cooking the inside of the cake ... and then increase the temp. to brown it.
Keep checking ( by inserting a wooden knitting needle / knife / chopsticks) and turning off the oven at intervals for proper and even baking and browning.

And if you see that the cake is done yet has not browned well ... keep it in grill mode for around 2 mins ... and then switch off the oven. Do not leave it even for a while when on grill ... it burns very quickly.
Go by your instincts and by what you see. You will get that perfect cake. :-) 


Here's a slice for everybody who has visited Kichu Khon. :-) Enjoy !!

Updated on the 26th: Am sending this cake to Srivalli's Mango Mela! :-)

Eggless Coffee Cake

I bake this Coffee Cake very often as it is an absolute favourite. And I hardly ever deviate from the original recipe ... though while making it for SIL's family I did reduce the number of eggs on her insistence. The result was not at all different ... and I in fact got a very good cake.
Since then this recipe has been a favourite in the family.




I have never tried baking it eggless though. I wanted to bake a cake for our trip last weekend to Karpe Wadi ( post in my Travelogue ) ... just to munch on during the drive. But since I turn a veggie on certain days of the week ... and it turned out one of those days fell on the weekend ... I tried baking an eggless cake this time.

The result is here for all to see. Am so happy with this ... am now going to try eggless baking with different other stuff too.


This turned out to be the moistest & softest coffee cake I have ever baked. After the cake was done I noticed the top hadn't browned so well ... but did not want to bake further.

So just grilled it for around 3 minutes on low ... and got the perfect crispiness on the top crust. :-)
Maybe this won't go down well with purists ... but the grilling gave it that perfect crusty top.
Perfect!! :-)



Need : 2 cups maida / refined flour, a little more than 1/2 cup cooking oil, 1/2 cup milk, 3 teaspoon baking powder, 1&1/2 cup sugar, 1 pinch salt, 6-8 drops of vannila essence, coffee powder (don't use the fine powder ... the granules are better) .

How to : Grind the sugar into a powder first. Mix everything together ( I do not follow any steps ... just add everything and blend well).

Just make sure there are no lumps. And the mixture should be of pouring consistency .... so add more milk if you find it turning thickish ..... don't worry about measurements ... (see my experimentive self speaking? );-)

Pre heat oven. Bake at 150-180 degrees C. Remove from oven only when the cake has cooled.


A bite anyone? :-)