Somaas

Posting on behalf of a non-blogger to link up with my ongoing event 'Sweet Celebration' :)

PARTICIPANT NAME: Thangalakshmi Maharajan

RECIPE NAME: SOMAAS

I am from South Tamil Nadu and we have many traditional sweet recipes (Inippu) that have been passed down generations. One such is somaas which has a stuffing that isn’t so sweet and also it keeps well in shelves for a good time period.

INGREDIENTS:

For Outer Layer:

All purpose flour/Maida-1cup

Ghee -1tsp

Salt-1/2 tsp

Water-1/4-1/2 cup

For Stuffing:

Grated Fresh Coconut-1/4 cup

Ghee-1 tsp

Roasted gram/Buna channa-1/2 cup 

Sugar-1/3-1/2 cup

Cardamom-5 pods 

Oil-For deep frying

STEPS TO FOLLOW:

1.Take a mixing bowl add  the ingredients given  for the outer layer except water and mix them well with the tip of your fingers.

2. Then add the water slowly and knead the dough to a pliable mass. Let the dough be thick so add water carefully

3. Knead the dough for further 5-10 mins and rest the dough for at least 1 hour in a covered bowl.

4. Now for the stuffing add ghee to a hot pan, add the coconut and fry until they are golden brown. Remove them from the pan and allow it to cool.

5. Now add roasted gram, sugar and cardamom pods to a mixer jar and grind them to a coarse powder.

6. Mix the coarse powder and fried coconut keep aside.

7. Divide the dough into a small lemon sized balls and rolling them in to a circle.

8. Now spoon the filling across the diameter of the circle 

9. Now slowly take one side of the circle and stick to the other side by pressing the ends with a little water in your hands.

10. Prepare the rest of the dough in the same way.

11. Take a heavy bottomed pan and pour the oil needed for deep frying. Let the oil become really hot.

12. Now drop 1or 2 somaas ‘carefully into the oil. It will soon puff up on one side. Then turn them to the other side and fry them until they are golden.

13. Remove them from oil and place them on tissues to absorb excess oil.

14. Once they are cool store them in a clean, dry, airtight container.

15. Serve with sugar sprinklings on top.

Notes:

*Resting time is very important for the dough to soften.

*Add water carefully as the dough must be a little hard. So do not add excess water.

*You can also add desiccated coconut. Stuffing with coconut will stay good for 3-4 days. Stuffing without coconut can be stored for 10 days.

*Add sugar according to your taste.

*You can also grind the stuffing to a fine powder. The coarse powder will give a great texture. I added some black sesame seeds to the stuffing for texture.

*Roll the dough as thin as you can which ensures the crispiness of the outer layer.

*The oil must be really hot for even frying and also see to that you remove them when they are golden brown as they tend to get easily burnt.

*Stick the ends of the dough properly otherwise they will leak all the stuffing when dropped in oil.

Linking this recipe to Shruti’s ‘Sweet Celebration’ Event :)

Banana Ring Rolls

Posting on behalf of a non-blogger to link up with my ongoing event 'Sweet Celebration' :)

PARTICIPANT NAME: ANU ASHIN (From: Kitchen Snippets-For the love of Cooking)


RECIPE NAME: BANANA RING ROLLS

INGREDIENTS:

2 no. Ripe bananas
1/4 cup Grated coconut
1/4 tsp Cardamom powder
3 tbsp Sugar

4-5 tbsp Ghee/Oil

STEPS TO FOLLOW:

1. Peel bananas and cut them into long slices with medium thickness.Heat oil/ghee in a pan and shallow fry the slices on both sides.Keep aside.
2. In the same ghee/oil add grated coconut ,cardamom and sugar and stir well till coconut starts to change colour.Remove from stove.
3. Place one banana slice on a flat surface and put some coconut mixture along the slice.Then roll the slice carefully and fix it using a toothpick.Repeat the same with all the slices.
4. Serve as an evening snack!

Linking this recipe to Shruti’s ‘Sweet Celebration’ Event :)

Unique Brownie

Posting on behalf of a non-blogger to link up with my ongoing event 'Sweet Celebration' :)

PARTICIPANT NAME: MAULI SHAH

RECIPE NAME: UNIQUE BROWNIE

Most of people like chocolates…. Chocolate flavoured dishes. I am one of them. I can say that I m a big fan of choclolates or addicted of chocolates. In a day I have to eat chocolate or chocolate flavoured dish. 

Often I used to make cakes n brownies of chocolate flavoured. Specially brownie. I love it. very yummiiee… creamy… chocolaty…. Hot brownie… Bt it takes good time to cook n also its pre-preparation. As I can’t wait for long time to eat this delicious dish , I find a trick to prepare this delicious dish more faster and easy. 

INGREDIENTS :

9 Pieces bourn-bourn cream biscuits

9 Pieces hide ‘n’ seek biscuits

6 Pieces merry biscuits

3 tbl spoons sugar powder

4 tbl spoons drinking chocolate powder

1 tbl spoon cocoa powder

1/2  tspn baking soda

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup malai

FOR GARNISHING

Walnuts

Cashew

Chocolate sauce

STEPS TO FOLLOW :

1. First in a bowl mix trio (bourn-bourn, hide ‘n’ seek, merry) bisuits in a small pieces form and mix it well.
2. After it add sugar powder, drinking chocolate, cocoa powder and mix it.
3. Than add milk and malai and mix it by blender for 10 to 15 minutes till it becomes smooth and creamy.
4. Add baking soda in mixture and blend it for 2 mins.
5. Take  a microwave proof pan n grice it by butter.
6. Add the mixture in it and garnish it with roasted walnut n cashew.
7. put it for 4 mins in pre-heated microwave.
8. After take it out put it in a fridger for 5 mins to set and its ready to serve.

Note : We can serve it with choco or vanilla ice-cream with chocolate sauce and can make the moments and parties more special with this special dessert.

Linking this recipe to Shruti’s ‘Sweet Celebration’ Event :)

Event Announcement: Bachelor Cooking

A NEW EVENT ANNOUNCED @ COOKING WITH SJ: 

LIMITED INGREDIENTS:

• Bread
• Mushrooms
• Eggs
• Pasta
• Beans/Lentils
• Potatoes
• Tomatoes
• Onions
• Garlic
• Cauliflower
• Wheat Flour
• Besan
• Basic Spices
• Oil/Butter/Ghee

RULES OF THE EVENT:

1. You must add a link to announcement page - 'Bachelor Cooking' event by SJ in your recipe. Usage of logo is mandatory as it helps spread a word.
2. Only recipes with ingredients listed above is valid. Also, it should be quick and easy for students/bachelors to cook.
3. Dishes can range from appetizers, soups, salads, mains, sides… Everything except desserts! If you’ve got some sweet entries, link up with Sweet Celebration with a giveaway.
4. One must like my facebook page and subscribe me via email for valid entries.
5. Any number of fresh entries are welcome. Max 3 archived entries are allowed.
6. Non-Bloggers may send their entries on myownfoodcourt@gmail.com with contestant name, recipe name, cooking time, ingredients, method and picture of the dish.

Start linking your entries for ‘Bachelor Cooking’ series HERE OR @ COOKING WITH SJ…

Drop a comment to this post once you link your recipes which will help me verify them.

Carrot Fruits 'n' Nuts Cake

Posting on behalf of a non-blogger to link up with my ongoing event 'Sweet Celebration' :)

PARTICIPANT NAME: Roshny Daniel

RECIPE NAME: Carrot Fruits 'n' Nuts Cake

Ingredients:

1. cup*   All purpose flour

1 cup Whole wheat flour (atta)  

2 cup sugar 

2 tsp  baking powder 

2 tsp Vanilla essence

2 tsp ground spice(cinnamon,clove,nutmeg,cardamom) 

1/2 tsp salt 

4 eggs 

1 1/2 cups vegetable oil 

2 cups grated carrots 

1 1/2 cups chopped nuts(cashew nut,almonds)

1 cup dried fruits

* 1 cup=16 Tbsp

Preparation:

- Preheat the oven to 180 C . Lightly grease and flour a  cake pan.

- In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients flours, salt, spices and Baking powder.

- In a large mixing bowl beat together eggs and sugar till fluffy .

- Add in vanilla essence and mix .

- Next add in  oil .

- Slowly add dry ingredients and blend together well with out lumps.

- Add carrots, fruits and nuts.

- Pour into cake pan and bake for 35-45 minutes. Check after the first 35 minutes, to see if a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. If not, continue to cook, checking every 5 minutes.

- Remove cake from oven when done and cool.

Linking this recipe to Shruti’s ‘Sweet Celebration’ Event :)

Upside Down Apple-Cinnamon Cake

Posting on behalf of a non-blogger to link up with my ongoing event 'Sweet Celebration' :)

PARTICIPANT NAME: Roshny Daniel

RECIPE NAME: Upside Down Apple Cinnamon Cake

Ingredients:

Topping

4 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup  sugar ( for caramelization)
2.5 medium apples-Peeled ,cored and cut to wedge shape
1/4 tsp Cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp nutmeg powder

Cake:

6 Tbsp unsalted butter(room temperature)
1 cup Sugar
2 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla essence
1 cup flour
3 Tbsp cornflour
1 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1 apple peeled ,cored and diced

Preparation:

- Preheat oven to 180 C. Line a cake pan with butter.

For Topping

- In a sauce pan melt 4 Tbsp butter .
- Add 1/2 cup sugar and cook till sugar melt to light golden brown.
- Add cinnamon and nutmeg powder.
- In to sugar syrup add apple wedges and cook on medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes.Stir occasionally to avoid burning of sugar.
- Cook the apples in butter sugar solution till apples release juice.
- Pour this mixture into the greased cake pan and arrange.

For Cake batter

- Mix together the flour,corn flour, salt, and baking powder in a small bowl and set aside.
- In a bowl beat 6 Tbsp butter and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy.
- Mix in the eggs and vanilla essence.Beat until well blended.
- Mix the dry ingredients alternating with milk in to the creamed mixture until combined.Dont over beat.
- Gently stir in the chopped apple in batter.

- Pour batter in to the cake pan lined with apple and sugar syrup.
- Bake the cake for around 40 minutes or until golden brown.
- Leave the baked cake to cool for 5  minutes and then invert the cake to serving plate.
- Do not allow cake to leave in cake pan to cool as it will let the caramel to stick to base of cake pan.
- Serve warm with a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream.

Linking this recipe to Shruti’s ‘Sweet Celebration’ Event :)

Black Forest Cake

Posting on behalf of MY GUEST-WRITER to link up with my ongoing event 'Sweet Celebration' :)

PARTICIPANT NAME: Rashmi Madhan

RECIPE NAME: Black Forest Cake with Chocolate Leaves

INGREDIENTS:

1 Chocolate Cake (as above) or 1 Devils Food Cake (your choice) Slit into 3 layers.

2 x 425 grams PITTED black cherries.  

2 tablespoons arrowroot/corn flour

Drain and reserve the cherries and juice/liquid separately.  Of these keep at least 8 cherries aside and let them drain on a kitchen towel so as to remove as much juice as possible.

Take the liquid/juice in a saucepan and heat it gently. Mix the corn flour/arrowroot with two tablespoons of the juice and return it to the pan.  Do not let it boil but let it heat gently and add the cherries back to the pan.  

Once you have a thickened saucy cherry sauce take it off the heat and let it cool.

You can do this a day ahead of time and keep it in the fridge.

2 x 300 ml cartons whipping cream

4 tablespoons icing sugar

Whip the cream and sugar together till soft peaks form

¼ Cup of Kirsch or White Rum

Chocolate Leaves: 

12 or more Leaves from Roses or any Leaves that have a well defined shape and veins.  Clean with a damp cotton cloth and pat dry making sure they do not have any moisture clinging to them.

1 bar of 70% Dark Chocolate grated.  

1 Packet Chocolate Hail.  If you can not source Chocolate Hail then use grated Chocolate instead.  1 Chocolate should be enough.

Method for the Leaves:

- Place a sheet of baking paper or any waxed paper on a flat surface.  Separate the leaves and place them in a bowl.  

- Keep a very small spatula or a butter knife handy.

- Melt half the grated chocolate on a double boiler and once it is nice and glossy smooth remove from the boiler and wipe the bottom to ensure no water gets in.  Add the other half of the Chocolate and continue stirring.  This is known as tempering the chocolate and it helps the chocolate set well. The result should be a smooth and glossy chocolate sauce.

- Carefully “paint” the back of each leaf with this Chocolate.  You can even use your fingers if you find it difficult to use a knife or brush.

Place each leaf carefully on the baking sheet, Chocolate side up.  Once you have finished all the leaves you need to do put the baking sheet with the leaves in the fridge and leave for 20 minutes.  Remove from the fridge and carefully peel of the leaf and you will be left with perfect Chocolate Leaves.  Believe me, it sounds more fiddly than it is!!  These can then be stored in an air tight container and kept in a cool place for later use. The rest of the chocolate can be grated and used to decorate the sides.

Assembly:

Place the Bottom layer of the cake on the serving platter and bruh with a third of the Kirsch, top with a layer of cream and half the cherry sauce.  Repeat with the middle layer.  Now place the final layer of the cake and brush with the remaining third of the Kirsch.  Cover the top and sides with cream and decorate with the cherries and chocolate leaves on top and the chocolate hail or grated chocolate on the sides.

Serve and Enjoy!!!

Linking this recipe to Shruti’s ‘Sweet Celebration’ Event :)

Dolly on a Hat

Posting on behalf of MY GUEST-WRITER to link up with my ongoing event 'Sweet Celebration' :)

PARTICIPANT NAME: Rashmi Madhan

RECIPE NAME: Dolly on a Hat

For this pretty lady I used two Chocolate Cakes.  One made exactly as above and another made in a deep pudding basin.  If you do not have a pudding basin, you can easily use any bowl shaped vessel that is a) deep enough to hold the batter at two-thirds full, so as not to over-spill its edges and b) Ovenproof, it would be disastrous to try and bake in a pan that was unsuited to being in an oven!

To put it together I used Chocolate Ganache.  When I initially heard the term Ganache, I was quite intimidated but now I know that it is just a fancy term for melted chocolate mixed with cream to a nice spreadable consistency.  Here I used three large bars of dark chocolate and about 200mls. of fresh cooking cream.  To make the Ganache, break the chocolate into small pieces and put it in a heatproof bowl. You can then microwave it in short bursts of 1 minute each or hold it over a pan of hot simmering water and stir till it is soft and gooey.  Remove it from the heat and wipe the outside with a towel.  Take care DO NOT let any water into the Chocolate, because the Chocolate will seize up and you will not be able to use it!  Once you have removed the chocolate you can whisk in the cream till you have a desired nice chocolate cream that is easy to spread.  If at this stage you feel it thickening too much just return it to the simmering pot and stir it again or give it a 30 second burst in the Microwave.

Just spread the Ganache over the cakes and sandwich them.  Decorate with multicolored sugar strands, silver balls and sugar flowers and of course top with a pretty little Dolly.

This particular version of the cake has had many Avatars, it has transformed into A Dinosaur, A Farm with A Sheep and Pig, A Cat and lately it was a Graveyard.  It happily changes its persona to suit the occasion or the Birthday Boy or Girl’s preference.  Very versatile indeed.

Linking this recipe to Shruti’s ‘Sweet Celebration’ Event :)