Walnut Coffee Cake Muffin

Ever since I discovered this new chore called baking it has only pushed me more into it, with the urge of doing something every other day needless to say it does not just end with regular cake. I would like to thank few friends who inspired me to get acquainted with this new genre of cooking. So let's get into this.

Who would not love a muffin with fresh aromatic coffee. I would live with a muffin and a mug of steaming coffee for breakfast. This is one such muffin. This muffin has little bit of chocolate coffee flavours with walnuts in each bite.

We would need to divide the recipe as three parts as muffin batter, coffee/cocoa layering, crown/topping.

Ingredients for Batter(12 muffins):

1. Eggs 4
2. Flour 2 cup
3. Melted Butter - 6 tb.spn
4. Oil 3/4 cup
5. Water - 1/2 cup
6. Baking powder - 2 tb.spn
7. Salt to taste
8. Regular sugar - 3/4 cup
9. Walnuts chopped in small pieces - 1/2 cup or as desired.

For Layering

1.  Instant Coffee - 1 tb.spn
2. Cocoa - 2 tb spn
3. Sugar - 3 tb.spn

For Crown

1. Flour 1/2 cup
2. Brown sugar 4 tb spn
3. Cinnamon powder 1/4 t.spn
4. Baking powder 1/4 t.spn
5. Melted butter 4 tb.spn

Preparation:

1. Sift flour, add baking powder, salt mix thoroughly and set aside. 
2. In a large bowl break in eggs, add oil, butter, sugar and water. Whisk until sugar dissolves. No need to use hand mixer.
3. Add in the flour in 3 parts and keep mixing. Finally add the nuts and fold in gently . Keep aside.
4. In a small bowl add all ingredients for layering and mix together, set aside.
5. In another bowl mix all dry ingredients, add sugar and butter mix and set aside.
6. Preheat oven to 180 C 
7. In greased muffin mould, pour one scoop of batter then dust a thin layer of coffee mix, swirl with a knife to form a texture , fill with more muffin batter close to rim. Top with the crown mixture with hand. Repeat this to fill all muffin mould.
8. Bake for 17 - 20 minutes until it's done. 
9. Remove from oven, let it sit outside for 5 minutes. Remove from mould and cool on rack.

Note:

 - Ensure the butter is cooled to room temperature

- Eggs should be used at room temperature

- You make bake in batches if your muffin tray can do only 6 at once

- You may also add other dry fruits / nuts of your choice  

Fresh Orange Green Juice (Cucumber)

Another combo I tried last week was Orange with cucumber. It was different and yet good to my taste buds. After all it's only orange and vegetable, not poison isn't? Ha ha ha :)

Simply add chopped cucumber and orange in a blender with water, sugar or honey. You might have to peel the skin off the cucumber and then chop.

What's better than some fresh home made juice.

Blueberry Apple Smoothie

I love blueberry and always ate it as fruit when I traveled. The other day when I went to my local grocery store found a pack, and marveled of-course it's expensive and imported.  I had to pay Rs.450 for merely 125 gm of packed blueberries.

It's summer here in Kerala and yes what's better than a good smoothie for breakfast. 125 gm would hardly make one large serving of smoothie. I combined it with some sweet apple, yogurt and viola - had a breakfast and another cup at midday.

You may use apply Fuji or golden as they are sweeter than other ones.

Simply wash and use the fruit. In a blender add the fruit, finely chopped apple, honey, milk, yogurt and ice cubes. Blend to get a creamy textured smoothie.

Enjoy this for breakfast or anytime during the day.

Kiwi Lettuce Juice with Green Grapes ! All Green

Kiwi is an expensive fruit in India as they are being imported. Best to have with fruit salads or juice. Ensure you use well ripe fruit while making juice. Most of my juices are made with fruit and vegetable combination or with more than one fruit as combo.

Here I have used 2 kiwi, couple of lettuce leaves, handful of green grapes to make around 750 ml of juice. It;s not concentrated but diluted with water.

Cut kiwi in small pieces. In a juicer or blender add everything with required water and sugar or honey. Blend well to form a frothy juice. You may dilute with more water if required. Strain and serve chill. I usually store in a bottle and refrigerate consume throughout the day.

Vegetable Omelette - Made easy

Omelette is a popular dish  and consumed widely throughout the world. I just can't name types of omelette the list goes on and on. You can experiment and prepare with anything you like. Cheese, Vegetables, spices, herbs etc.

This one is made with plenty of stir fried vegetables. You may use vegetables of your choice. I picked vegetables that could be eaten raw. So it does not require full cooking, simply stir fried on high heat for less than a minute. Remember to chop your vegetables finely and not large chunks for salad.

Ingredients for 1 serving.

1. Chopped vegetables of your choice as shown
2. 2 Eggs
3. Spices - Pepper, chili flakes, oregano to taste
4. Salt
5. Water - 2 t.spn
6. Coriander leaves or Parsley - finely chopped
7. Butter / olive oil - as needed

Preparation.

1. Stir fry all vegetables except tomato and leaves on high heat for a about 30 - 40 sec.
2. Let the mixture cool down. In a large bowl, break eggs, add salt and other spices, water. Beat the eggs well.
3. Add the fried veggies, chopped tomato mix slightly.
4. Heat oil or butter  in a small fry pan pour the egg mixture. Ensure the heat is medium - low
5. Sprinkle chopped green leaves
6. Egg should be cooked in low heat, use a spatula at the edges to ensure it's not sticking
7. When almost no liquid is on top, place a plate on top of pan. Cover it and turn it over so the egg falls on to the plate
8. No wipe the pan if you find dark brown residue of oil, you may use a tissue paper.
9. Slide the egg back in the pan, and let it cook the other side for couple more minutes. 
10. Serve hot with grated cheese or with ketchup if required. This can be enjoyed hot or cold.

Cleaning Guide & Tips

We use these sinks many a times, daily. Most of us do not pay much attention to how they are being cleaned if servants does it. You can spend some time on a weekend, the whole process takes 15 - 30 minutes to clean 2 sink and one bath room. You do not need anything special but the readily available stuffs at home to clean.

Here are the tips and procedure.

Brush/Scrubber
Lime juice / Lemon peel
Disinfectant solution such as Lizol
Vinegar (to clean strong stains)
Bleaching powder (If you do not have vinegar)

Cleaning Sink:

1. Dilute Lizol with water in a mug, add little lime juice of you have, pour over the sink, tab and around.
2. Rub the lemon peel on the tap, if there is stain.
3. Use brush to scrub after 10 minutes, and wash it way cold water.
4. If there are still stain marks, dab a cloth with vinegar and rub on the areas where there are stains be it sink or steel tap. (Ensure your hand or finger does not touch Vinegar it would make you feel itchy. Do wear glows)

Cleaning Bathroom Tiles:

Its usually the same process as above.

1. In a bucket take around 2-3 Ltrs of water, mix 2 caps of Lizol and little lemon juice if you have.
2. Just pour this mixture on the walls unto your neck level if possible using a mug, and on the taps
3. Sprinkle bleaching powder on the floor, if its slippery.
4. Rest it for 15 - 20 minutes.
5. Scrub using a brush with long handle.
6. Do the flooring first, then walls and taps. Finally wash with cold water.
7. For thick/strong stains repeat the cleaning method using Vinegar as mentioned in cleaning sink (Step 4)

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Cleaning Kitchen Sink / Remove stains from Kitchen Sink

You can follow the below easy steps to clean your kitchen sink. It not only clear the odor but also removes the hard water stains and gives a fresh & shiny look. I clean them once in a week to keep insects, bad odor aside.

1. A Scrubber/Brush - can be a brush with handle, if you use glows can use a small scrubber
2. Lemon juice or Lemon Peel (Optional)
3. Vim Liquid - couple of drops (if you do not have lemon)
4. Disinfectant Agent - Lizol (1 Cap)

Dilute Vim liquid/lemon juice with water and sprinkle all over the sink and the tap followed by Lizol.
After 15 minutes, wet the scrub/brush
Rub the Lemon peel on tap to remove the marks if you have, Lime is a natural bleach and cleans up real nice.
Run cold/normal water all over the sink, do a final wash.
Leave it to dry before use.

The same can be followed for tiled sink. 

Helpful Kitchen Tips

I have listed all the helpful kitchen tips learnt from my mother, few shared from friends and some out of my experience. These tips helps you in saving time while cooking, leaving a hygienic and clean storage area in your refrigerator during regular use. All you need to do is spend few extra minutes before dumping vegetables & greens bought from markets. You can share your thoughts too by posting a comment.

How to store vegetables

• To store curry leaves for a longer period, remove the leaves from the stem wash and keep in sun or under fan for the water to dry off. Store in a small container in fridge. While cooking you can use this directly, do not need to wash and this is off water.
• Green Chili - Remove the stem, wash and store in a container before refrigerating. Chilies would be fresh for almost 2 - 3 weeks.
• Avoid storing coriander leaves in a poly bag or as it is. Cut off part of stem along with root, wash remove excess water and then store in a box and refrigerate. All you need to do is chop when needed. If you prefer only leaves, while washing take only the leaves and then store them.
• To avoid ginger from drying, you may make ginger paste or chop ginger and store in air tight container ready to be used.
• Spinach is mostly seasonal, if you like cooking it. Don't worry you can store it for a week fresh before using. Chop off thick stems along with root. If you prefer to only leaves or cook leaves / small stems separately do the following:
• Cut in small pieces that fit in the zipper lock or container if you prefer to store it as whole
• Remove leaves and stem separately if you prefer this way. 
• Wash the cleaned spinach, drain the excess water. 
• Store in container or zipper bags. I personally store all stuffs in freezer safe containers or boxes based on the quantity.
• Stems can be used as supporting ingredients while making vegetable stew or Dal. Will post a separate recipe about using spinach stems.
• You may also refrigerate ready to cook cut and cleaned vegetables such as tapioca, green peas, carrot etc. for couple of days by storing in air tight containers. My mother usually cuts while watching television and store it to cook for upcoming days, this saves her time.

Easy Homemade Besan Ladoo !

All Indians go crazy about Ladoos, Besan ladoos are very popular in the northern part of India, its getting adapted down south too. I had my first besan ladoo during my college days in Panipat. I brought home, only to have broken ladoos, they are delicate.

From 250 grams of chickpea flour, i.e. besan I made around 11 medium size ladoos. I saw some videos online, and this is my third attempt with all dos and donts. Beware you might want to change hands while roasting the flour as this is a bit time consuming :)

Ingredients:

1. Besan flour regular
2. Rava - 1tb.spn
3. Powdered sugar - 125 to 200 gms, as per required sweetness
4. Elachi / cardamom powder - 1 t.spn
5. Cashew / Almond (cut them to small pieces)
6. Ghee - 100 ml

Preparation:

1. Flour need to be roasted first. In a large open kadai heat ghee in medium flame.
2. Add besan and rava, keep sauteing in low flame for around 25 - 30 min.
3. The besan would change color, releasing rich aroma. Time it for around 25 min and keep mixing without burning. You would also notice the besan becomes slight sticky as it releases the ghee.
4. Add elachi powder, nuts mix well and turn off heat.
5. Transfer this mixture to a large plate, let it cool down. While it's slight warm add sugar mix well with hand.
6. Start making ladoos in desired size, you might want to touch ghee to your palms to make the ladoos firm.

Notes:

• Do not add sugar when it;s still hot or very warm. Sugar crystallizes and making ladoos would be difficult.
• You may add little more ghee while roasting the flour, in that case you might not need extra ghee while making ladoos
• If you get besan ladoo flour, this would be coarse textured besan you can skin rava.

Italian Spaghetti Pasta - toasted garlic in Olive oil

Many of us love pasta and think it must be a complex recipe to prepare it's not. All you need is good pasta of your choice and veg/chicken and some sauce to go with it. There are plenty of pasta salad dressing available in the market you may use if you are making a cold salad. You may prepare your own sauce. For hot pasta dishes you might want to use fresh good sauce.

Most commonly used sauces are white, red, pesto etc. they are easy to prepare. This dish is prepared from garlic toasted in olive oil, cheese, some seasoning. Yes makes an excellent meal when combined with some salad, fruits. Simple ingredients and east to make.

Ingredients: 

1. Good quality spaghetti pasta

   

   Image courtesy - Google

2. Large Garlic Pods thinly sliced - 12 - 15 
3. Olive Oil - 50 ml (you may increase according to the servings.)
4. Grated cheese
5. Chopped Parsley or coriander leaves
6. Crushed pepper
7. Chili flakes
8. Salt to taste

Preparation

• Take water in a large vessel and bring to a boil, you should see bubbles. Add salt and put the pasta in it. You don;t have to break it, as it softens lightly push them in. Entire pasta would be immersed in water in no time. Stir intermittently to prevent sticking. 
• At the same time, in another burner heat oil in a flat pan. Add garlic saute them till they turn slight brown. This should be done in lowest heat. Would take around 5 - 7 min to get nice light brown color. Ensure it's not burnt.
• When your pasta is done, strain the water and add to the toasted garlic oil mix well. 
• Add cheese, seasoning, salt, parsley and toss well. 
• Serve immediately, you may add more cheese while serving.

Notes:

Thongs !! Image courtesy - Google

• Do not add oil to the boiling water while cooking pasta
• Do not let the cooked pasta sit for a long time, might have to toss into the sauce and seasoning while it;s still hot
• Do not over cook pasta, see the instructions on the pack for cooking time. some might take 7 some more than 10 minutes. Mine took around 12 minutes. 
• You might need a thong to pick pasta, and toss. 
• Alternatively use a large vessel transfer your cooked pasta, pour your sauce on top , add cheese and seasoning and mix with thongs before serving.

Hope these tips would be helpful to you. Enjoy cooking pasta.....

Shrimp / Prawn Bell Pepper Stir Fry

Majority seafood lovers like prawns or shrimps. I am a huge fan of shrimp dishes. I experimented this with minimal stuffs as I wanted to get the real flavors unlike curry or gravy. It turned out to be good and my friends wanted the recipe. So here is it for them.

The two main ingredients are Cleaned deveined shrimps and Sliced Red Bell Pepper or you may use any or multi-color your choice. Preparation would take somewhat time compared to the 5 mins cooking time.

Other Ingredients:

• Garlic - Sliced and crushed lightly. Not chopped or paste
• Ginger - sliced and crushed like garlic
• Light Soy Sauce - 4 to 5 t.spn (you should be using very little if you use dark soy sauce)
• Lemon juice - from one large lemon 
• Sugar - 1 tspn
• Red chili + green chili sauce - 1 t.spn each
• Black pepper and chili flakes to taste
• Vinegar - 1 - 2 t.spn
• Salt to taste
• Water - as required
• Oil for cooking (2 - 3 tb.spn) - You may use any oil, Veg / Olive / Peanut / Canola 
• Spring onion for garnish.

Preparation:

1. Marinate the shrimps with little salt and lime juice, keep the rest for sauce
2. In a bowl add all sauces, lime juice, pepper, chili flakes, sugar, little water & salt, 1 t.spn vinegar. Mix well and adjust seasoning accordingly. 
3. Heat oil in a pan or wok, saute ginger garlic for about 20 sec on high heat
4. Add in the shrimp cook them for about 30 secs, sauteing continuously to prevent burning. 
5. Add in the sauce and bring to a boil. Add the bell peppers. 
6. Saute & toss, so that shrimp absorbs most of the sauce. 
7. Add rest of vinegar at this time, and check seasoning.
8. Turn off heat, sprinkle spring onion. Serve as starter or side dish.

Note:

• Add salt little by little while making sauce. As salt is been added to prawns & all sauces contain salt.
• Do not overcook, as this would turn the shrimps hard and rubbery
• You may omit or change any sauces as you prefer.
• Bell peppers are added later to retain the crunchiness