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 !! :-)

... for our bravehearts.

Stir Fried Vegetables

"Trim?" The lady smiles and asks.
"Cut." I smile and answer.
And know exactly what is coming.
She tries to hide the smirk on her face. Tries to keep a straight face and asks "Around half or one inch?".
I smile again and indicate somewhere on my upper arm. And wait, knowing what will come next.

But this lady is patient. Maybe she guesses I don't know even how much an inch is after all.
So she holds the ends of my tresses between her fingers to around an inch and holds them up in front of my nose.
"This much?" I can get that tone in her voice.
"No." I smile back. "This much". I point to my upper arm ... again.

And did not have to wait for long. She gasped. " This much?!!!".
I nod ... still smiling.
She looks horrified. "But how can you cut such long hair?! Girls would happily die to have such long hair!".
I did not have the inclination to tell her that beautiful tresses won't be of much use if you are already dead.

So I hold my tongue. And assure her they grow back very fast. She had nothing to worry ... I'll be back to meet her in three months again.
She still looked unsure. And I prayed.

I prayed that someday this ordeal will come to an end. Both for me and for those nice souls who feel so guilty everytime they have to chop off my long hair.

But that is the story. I have tried visiting different places where I might find people who would happily chop of my hair without feeling scandalised or as if I am asking them to cut my head instead of my hair.



I have even tried to befriend the Chinese lady D in our society ... invited her and her dog over to tea ... ok ... I invited her and she got the dog.

Hasn't helped. Only made her more caring after that.

And I so miss our childhood no nonsense barber who used to come over to our house. After Dadu ( grandad ) and all my uncles would get their job done, it was the turn of a long line of squirming, giggling and jostling grandchildren ... most of them girls.

Moina, the barber, would bring out his special big sized scissors that he kept for us, babu ghoro chua ( children of the big house ). He couldn't tackle the straight & adamant thick tresses of us kids otherwise. After snipping the scissors menacingly in the air a couple of times, he would reach out to grab one child after the other by the scruff and snip off in no time.

Which made me ask the other half sometime back " Will you take me to your barber the next time you go for a haircut?".
And have recently noticed that he has been getting his haircut on his way back from the office. Sigh! :-(



My recipe today is a simple stir fry of vegetables. I do not like to eat cold salads for a few reasons. The first being I do not like to eat anything cold. Food has to be piping hot for me when served.

Secondly, I do not like boiled vegetables ... so steaming or boiling and then munching on flavourless stuff is not for me.

And to make them tasty I have go overboard and dunk in bottled dressings that is best not eaten regularly.

So I stir fry. Just throw in the veggies of my choice in a little oil and toss them around. And use whatever flavour of seasoning fancies me. And love to much on the steaming hot yet crunchy veggies. :-)

This stir fry has no special seasoning except freshly ground black pepper. And instead of lemon juice or vinegar, I have thrown in some fresh tomatoes ... they gave whatever little tang was needed.

So dear Rush, here's your stir fry. :-)



Need : Vegetables of your choice cut into smallish cubes .... just make sure they are of the same size for uniform cooking,
finely chopped garlic, onion cut into big cubes ( check out the snaps for the exact sizes ),
freshly ground black pepper,
a little cooking oil ( olive or vegetable oil ) , salt and sugar to taste.

You can use butter if you want to ... it makes the dish wonderfully flavourful.

How to : Heat a little oil in a non stick or heavy bottomed pan. On low heat add the garlic. Wait for a while ... do not fry for long.

Increase heat and add the onions and the rest of the vegetables. Keep tossing and stirring on high heat.

Add salt and sugar and keep tossing ... they will cook in their own juices.

If you want to you can cover it for a while .... just make sure you lower the heat .... and the veggies don't turn soggy or burn.

Sprinkle some freshly ground black pepper and serve immediately.



This makes a great meal as is. Or you can combine it with some bread and soup too.

I served it with some fried chicken meatballs on the side ( I made them for the next recipe coming up ).

Enjoy all !! :-)


Other Stir Fries

Stir Fried Macaroni with Roasted Vegetables & Chicken

Stir Fried Chicken with Vegetables