Marble Cake

And then the big day arrived, Ms. Vanilla and Mr. Cocoa hugged, kissed, dissolved into each other's soul, and they lived happily ever-after... 

Alright, now let's get back to reality! ;-)  This beautiful togetherness happens when mom craves for vanilla and the chocoholic daughter disagrees at that very moment while making plans to bake. I being the not-so-considerate and the not-so-selfish mom, decides to bring together the best of both worlds and thus creates this patterned beauty called Marble Cake.  

This is the most popular cake especially in Kerala and one of a kind that can satisfy both chocoholics and vanilla lovers. Baking this cake is really a cake-walk as the ingredients go into the mixing bowl all at once and get blended. And most importantly, this is a quick-bake cake.

 

 

Ingredients

• Maida/All-purpose flour - 1 cup
• Butter - 1/2 cup
• Sugar - 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp
• Egg - 3 no.s
• Cocoa powder - 1 tbsp
• Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
• Vanilla essence - 1/4 tsp
• Hot water - 4 tbsp   

Method 

1. Pre-heat the oven for 5 mins.
2. Dilute cocoa powder in hot water and make it a lump-free mix.
3. In a mixing bowl, add all ingredients and beat well until it is creamy and fluffy.
4. Divide the batter into two equal portions.
5. Add cocoa mix into one portion and incorporate it well.
6. Grease a bundt pan and add the cocoa and the vanilla alternatively.
7. Use a skewer and give it a quick swirl to create a marbled effect.
8. Bake it at 180 c for about 20-30 mins or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

:-) Your easy peasy Marble Cake is ready to gorge on. A slice of this with a cup of tea is a bliss! So do try it out and lemme know... ;-) Happy Baking!

Orange Upside Down Cake

When life gives you lemons, you should make lemonade! What happens when life keeps throwing oranges at you? I turned it upside down and made a cake.;-) I had to rush and find a way out to de-stress myself. 

So here are the tips to de-stress when you have a handful of oranges. :-)

1. Take out oranges.
2. Start by cutting off both ends, and then cut off the entire skin of the orange. Trim the white parts.
3. Now, take the orange and remove every part by cutting between the slices.
4. You will now see a thin white skin between each slice. Cut into the flesh, remove the skinless orange wedge one-by-one. Woohoo! You are done. Do you feel better now? :-P I did!

Ta-da! Now you are stress-free and have quite a good amount of Orange Supremes, which go as the base for this cake.
Now let's move on to the interesting task of turning those oranges upside down...

Ingredients

• Oranges - 5  medium or 4 large
• Castor Sugar - 1/2 cup
• Brown Sugar - 4 teaspoons
• All purpose flour - 1 cup
• Milk - 3 tablespoons
• Eggs - 2
• Butter - 2 2/4 tablespoons, melted
• Baking powder - 2 teaspoons

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 410 degrees Fahrenheit (210 degrees Celsius).
2. Grease a cake tin with enough butter, sprinkle with brown sugar, and arrange the orange supremes to cover the base of the cake tin completely.
3. Whisk together eggs and sugar. 
4. Add flour, baking powder, butter, milk and mix well.
5. Pour this mixture over the orange supremes and bake for 40-45 minutes.
6. Remove it from the oven and let it cool. Un-mould it on a flat plate. It didn' cause any hassle when I turned it upside down. It should come out fabulously well for you too. ;-)

This is one of the charming and easiest cakes I have ever baked. The color is that of a bright Sun, the glaze and the flavor of this cake makes you feel accomplished. It tastes the best with warm vanilla cream sauce. The already-drooling-me didn' have the patience to wait for any cream sauce, I sat down and gobbled a piece. I had this Brown & Polson Vanilla Custard mix handy, I made custard sauce for the next piece. The warm vanilla custard sauce drizzled lightly over the cake puts this into other-worldly spheres. Oh my yummy, that one was deeeeelicious...If served warm, it is like the most comforting perfect dessert ever.

Life is beautiful even if it gives lemons and oranges at times... ;-)

Low Fat Whole Wheat Honey-Banana-Choco Chip Muffins!

Do you guys feel guilty after you over-do something? I do feel so to a great extent. For instance, when I got my hair shortened beyond the level I had planned, I rushed to the super market on my way back home to buy the most advertised hair oil  for a super fast hair growth. Aah, yes, the crazy me! :-D Similarly, I get all conscious when I over-feed myself during my Kerala visits. This time around, I was on Good-Food search in Kerala, now you can imagine what I was up to the whole of this weekend! So I have declared this month as "Guilt-Free Low Fat Month" and I am on the go... ;-)

And the whole wheat idea in this recipe is sponsored by my empty all-purpose flour container. When you crave for muffins and when the yummiest recipe calls for ingredients, which you are short of, it's quite natural to be heart-broken and depressed and look away from the food picture. I did the same for a while, but the wheat flour refused to stay away from the corner of my eyes.. ;-) Gee, I grabbed it!

It turned out to be tender, light, fluffy, incredibly delicious muffins and bread! This is a lesson for me, when you are short of an ingredient or a couple, don' you worry. Pull out all somewhat look-alike, taste-alike, feel-alike ingredients from the kitchen rack and choose and use. After all, this is how all the interesting recipes were invented !!! ;-)

Before we begin, please note that I used both loaf pan and muffin cups for this recipe. If you are using a loaf pan, name it as "Honey Whole Wheat -Choco-Chip Banana Bread" or use muffin cups and name it as "Honey Whole Wheat -Choco-Chip Banana Muffins"... ;-)

Ingredients

Vegetable Oil: 1/3 cup 
Honey: 3/4 cup
Eggs: 2 large
Banana: 3 medium or 2 large, mashed
Chocolate chips: 1/2 cup
Vanilla Essence: 1 tsp
Salt: 1/2 tsp
Cinnamon powder: 1/2 tsp
Whole wheat flour: 1 3/4 cups
Baking soda: 1 tsp
Hot water: 1/4 cup

Method

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit (165 degrees Celsius) and grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan or muffin cups.
2. In a large bowl, beat oil and honey together. Add eggs and beat well.
3. Stir in banana and vanilla, then stir in the salt and cinnamon. Finally, stir in the flour, just until combined.
4. Add baking soda to hot water, stir to mix, and then mix briefly into batter until it is evenly distributed. 
5. Fold in chocolate chips into the batter.
6. Spread batter into the greased loaf pan or muffin cup.
7. (Optional) Sprinkle some cinnamon powder and swirl with a toothpick for a pretty marbled effect.
8. Throw some chocolate chips on the top of the batter.
9. Bake for 60 to 65 minutes. A toothpick inserted should come out clean if the bread/muffins are done.
10. Let it cool for 10 minutes, then transfer the loaf to a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes before slicing. Don' wait for so long if you are baking muffins. ;-)

Make a steaming cup of tea and have this along... :-)

Kerala-Style Squid Masala

 Ever since I learned about this New Frosty's cold storage from my friend Sarada's brother, I was wanting to visit this store. It was on a relaxed Sunday evening that I planned to explore the New Frosty's. I was all excited about the plan and knowing me and my silly reasons for being happy, my girl too contributed her itsy-bitsy share of excitement. 

All set, we rode down the street and there you see the heaven. Yes, you feel like being in heaven when you step in. Atleast, I felt so :-P As soon as you step in, you will pass by the vegetable counter with a tempting collection of farm-fresh vegetables, which you might get to see only in villages, exotic vegetables from various parts of Karnataka, Kerala, and so on. This sight might brainwash you to become a vegetarian for the day, but no, I have a strong mind. Grabbing back my strong mind from the vegetable counter, I headed towards that separate room with a glass door. There you see an array of sea food in various shapes and forms from which you can choose. You will see a neat counter inside where they clean fish. Unlike other stores, your noses won' demand your palm on it or self-suffocate it by not breathing. This place is just a cool treat, my mind already started cooking. I went on choosing one after the other. My girl who was standing quietly all that while, pointed her li'l finger towards the squid and asked, "Are we not buying the Ring Fish?" Did I hear it right? Yes, I did! I looked at her with astonishment because rarely does she ask me for a particular fish. I billed it without a second thought.  Did I just finish promoting New Frosty's !?!!

Coming back to out topic, squid is usually cut in ring shape, or rather people prefer that shape. There are many delicious dishes that we can prepare out of squid, but trust me, squid masala is the most delicious one. Finger licking is not a sin if you are having squid masala ;-) I didn' stop Meghna this time. Its irresistible spice-rich taste lingers on for a while...  ;-) This recipe, though I call it Kerala-style, this is just my way of preparing it because whenever I felt like adding more ingredients and when I thought it's better to cook squid with ginger-garlic paste along with other powder, I didn' hesitate to follow my mind. Give it a try, you won't go wrong. ;-)  When mine turned out lip-smackingly delicious, yours will too..

To talk about the nutritional facts of squid, it is highly nutritious, rich in natural protein, prevents arthritis, it eases migraine (can you believe this? :-) I found out a natural, tasty medicine for my migraine ;-)), regulates blood sugar level, reduces high blood pressure, and boosts our immune system.

Kerala-Style Squid Masala

Preparation time: 15 mins.
Cooking time: 30 mins.
Serves: 2

Ingredients

For Marinade

Squid - 300 gms, cleaned and cut into rings
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Chilly powder - 1 tbsp
Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

For Roast

Onion - 2 big, thinly sliced
Tomato - 2 medium sized, sliced
Green chillies - 2-3 nos., slit lenghthwise
Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Pepper powder - 1.5 tsp
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 spring 

Salt to taste

For Seasoning

Coconut oil - 2tbsp
Curry leaves - 1 spring 
Mustard - as required
Red chillies - 2 nos.


Method

1. Clean and cut the squid into rings, marinate it with ingredients listed under "For Marinade", and keep it aside for 15 mins.
2. In a pressure cooker, pour in adequate amount of water and  cook the marinated squid until the cooker whistles thrice.
3. In a pan or manchatti (earthen pot), heat oil, season it with all ingredients listed under "For Seasoning".
4. Add onion, green chillies, and salt, saute until onion turns translucent.
5. Add tomato and ginger-garlic paste, fry until the raw smell goes off.
6. Add coriander powder and turmeric powder, fry it. (Take care not to burn).
7. Add the cooked squid into this mixture, pepper powder, garam masala and cook until the water content is absorbed and oil is separated. Drizzle little coconut oil if required. Add curry leaves and keep it covered for 10 minutes.
8. Your delicious spicy squid roast is ready. It goes well with Kerala boiled rice, steamed rice, roti, appam, dosa, or even just that. ;-)

Notes:

• Adding curry leaves towards the end of cooking retains the natural flavor and keeps the leaves fresh. 
• Using freshly ground pepper and coconut oil enhances the authentic taste and flavor.

Chocolate Walnut Fudge Cake

Butter brags !!! Hmm, people brag, but butter? Yeah, why not?

;-) Well, butter ball, when you are in my cake, you have all rights to brag... Being so utterly, butterly, deliciously, fatty, rich and creamy, you should,  c'mon now. You see, I don't use these lean, skinny, boring vegetable oil or canola oil to bake diet cakes. You are so precious, butter ball. I so yummly love you !!!

And now what is this "Butter brags" all about??? Well, when I named my blog as "SlurpBurp", people did say, "Eww! What a name! Name it something like "Cooking and blah", "Spicy and blah", "Rasmi's kitchen". "Rasmi's kitchen" !?! How disgusting! As it is, my friends call me "RaSSSm" because of my "H" deficient name. And after all this, a blog by that name??? ;-) Anyways, my strange choice of name "SlurpBurp" remained as is and now just when I wanted to post the recipe here, this thought creeped into li'l brain. Why not my cakes have a deserving name? Suddenly, all the beautiful things in my cakes came alive in my mind and flashed a beautiful smile. Among all, butter looked amazing like a cute, chubby, fairy to me.
 
:-O Now let me guiltily confess to all my dear friends whom I have tempted with food photographs and offered cakes and cookies with so much of love and to all my family members whom I have welcomed with generous servings of cakes and cookies. I do add a llllot (you know what I mean by multiple "l"s. Read it with raised eyebrows and wide-opened eyes, you will get it) of pure butter chunks in my cakes. So I am gonna let it brag and let the world know what it's up to. So hereafter, my cakes and cookies are branded as "Butter brags Cakes and Cookies". Should I patent this? LOL ;-)

 
So, all butter-haters and diet conscious people out here, this is a danger zone, stay miles away... ;)

By the way, do you all get this sudden, irresistible cravings for chocolates right after breakfast, mid mornings, just after lunch, evenings, Ok forget it, at least once in a day? Ask me, :-) I even steal chocolate bars from Meghna's school bag because her bag never falls short of chocolates due to birthday celebrations at school.

Here I am presenting the most sinful chocolate overloaded cake that I have ever baked... This deep, dark Chocolate Walnut Fudge cake will for sure satisfy all your chocolate cravings. It's truly worth a try... ;-)
 
Ingredients 

1. All purpose flour - 1 cup
2. Unsweetened cocoa powder - 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp
3. Unsalted butter/cooking butter - 1/2 cup
4. Brown sugar-1 1/4 c, packed
5. Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
6. Salt - 1/4 tsp
7. Large eggs - 2
8. Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
9. Walnuts - 1/2 cup, roasted and chopped
10. Hot water- 1/2 cup

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C).  Grease an 8 inch cake pan with butter and dust it with plain flour. 
2. In a non-stick pan, melt butter and let it to cool.
3. Add the sugar to it and combine it well with the butter by using a wooden spatula.
4. Add in both the eggs and vanilla together and mix until combined.
5. Add in all the dry ingredients and mix until well incorporated. Make sure the batter is smooth and lump-free.
6. Pour in the hot water and mix it well. (Don't panic if the cake batter becomes watery. That's the consistency of this cake unlike other ones.)
7. Fold in the chopped walnuts and keep aside a few to sprinkle on the top of the cake batter.
8. Pour the cake mix into the baking tin and sprinkle the remaining walnuts on the top of the batter.
9. Bake for about 35-45 mins or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
10. Remove the cake from oven and let it cool. ;-)

This was mainly baked for my office friends. But the chocolate-lover in me couldn' resist, I gobbled one generous portion of this delicious cake before I transferred the remaining pieces into the container. And my li'l girl, who was pretending to have fallen asleep tip-toed to the kitchen to take away her share. So, the rest of it goes to my office tomorrow for the long-pending treat that I had promised ... ;-)

Crunchy Apple Streusel Cake - With Streusel Topping

;-) Heyyy SlurpBurp, here I am, back again with a much more fabulous recipe !!! You see, I have been busy and I know I kind of alienated you for so many years.. Never again, trust me !!! :-)

Did I tell you that this is the first ever cake that I have baked with Apple as the main ingredient? The fruit stall near my home was vibrant and colorful with blushing red apples... ;-) How can I ignore and not take away a few along? Once back home, without giving my overexcited brain much time, I started hunting for my kitchen sweethearts - butter, sugar, all-purpose flour, my not-so-favorite walnuts, and the 1 lonely egg left after the "overly-eggy" tutti-fruity cake that I baked a couple of days ago. And not to forget my dusky beauty, the WANKANAI tightly packed brown sugar, which my friend has dearly gifted me a month ago. All put together, I got this gorgeous, brown beauty for my dear buddy who visited us today with her kiddo!!! I couldn' wait for it to cool down to gorge on it. It was just too delicious to resist and I finished half the portion with generous dollops of yummy Vanilla Ice-cream... ;-)
 
The simplicity of this recipe and the amazing result it gave me reminded me of my slurpburp and my foodie friends... So here you go... ;-)

For Streusel Topping:

1. All purpose flour - 1/2 cup
2. Cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces - 3 tablespoons
3. Ground cinnamon - 1/2 teaspoon
4. Brown sugar - 1/4 cup
5. Walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped  - 1/4 cup

For Cake Batter:

1. All purpose flour - 1 cup
2. Baking powder - 1 teaspoon
3. Salt - 1 pinch
4. Unsalted butter (room temperature) - 1/4 cup
5. Granulated white sugar - 1/2 cup
6. Large egg - 1
7. Milk - 1/3 cup
8. Vanilla extract - 1/2 teaspoon
9. Large apples (peeled, cored, and thinly sliced) - 2

Method
  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C).  Grease an 8 inch cake pan with butter and dust it with plain flour.

Streusel Topping

1. In a large bowl, mix together the flour and ground cinnamon. 
2. Add the chopped, cold butter with fork until it resembles coarse crumbs. 
3. Stir in the brown sugar and chopped walnuts. Set this mix aside.

Cake Batter 

1. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. 
2. In a separate bowl, beat the butter until creamy and smooth. 
3. Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. 
4. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until well incorporated.
5. Add the flour mixture, alternately with the milk. Continue to alternate between the milk and flour mixture and end it with flour mixture and beat until combined. 
6. Spread the batter into the the prepared cake pan, smoothing the top with an offset spatula.
7.  Evenly arrange the apple slices on top of the cake batter (do not press it) and then sprinkle with the streusel topping.
8. Bake for about 45 - 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. 
9. Remove the cake from oven and let it cool.

Slice it and indulge... It tastes the best when it is warm or at room temperature with vanilla ice cream or softly whipped cream.

Makes 9 - 10 servings.

Happy Baking !!! :-)

Chicken/Mutton Thoran

Yeah, the combo of 'Chicken' and 'Thoran' sounds a bit strange because in traditional kerala cuisine, a 'Thoran' means stir fried vegetables with coconut. And It is a compulsory accompaniment with any typical Kerala meals. This recipe is dedicated to my wonderful mom who is no more with me. I learned most of the cooking from my mom who was an excellent cook. She used to make each and every dish very special in her own creative way. This is her very special dish which she used to make with Chicken/Mutton meat served with Rice and Chicken/Mutton bone curry. When I was a kid, I used to literally bury those 'juicy, rich with bone marrow' bones inside the rice served because both my naughty brothers had this habit of finishing off my portion first and then indulge in their portion of curry served with a "Sis, I really don't know how your curry vanished, and now you dare not touch mine" expression, which they still continue to practice whenever we get together... ;-) This weekend, I prepared this Chicken Thoran for my dad and my li'l girl. I felt really nice when they certified that it tasted exactly like my mom's Chicken Thoran... So here is the recipe of my mom's very special Chicken/Mutton Thoran. All non-veg coconut-lovers out here, I am sure you all will love it. So it's worth a try. All non-veg coconut-haters, you can still give it a try because coconut taste is not felt much in this dish... ;-)

Ingredients

Chicken (preferably flesh) - 1/2 Kg, cut into small cubes
Coconut - 1.5 cup, grated
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Small onion - 1 cup, cut into two
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Red chilly powder - 2 tbsp
Ginger-garlic paste - 1.5 tbsp
Curry leaves - as required

For seasoning

Small onion - 6, sliced
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Urad dal - as required (I use about a tbsp of it)
Red chillies - 4, cut into two
Cooking oil (my mom uses coconut oil for that flavor) - as required (use a bit more)
Curry leaves - as required

Method

1. Wash chicken thoroughly with 1 tsp turmeric powder (apart from the qty mentioned in the ingredients list). My mom uses turmeric powder to wash chicken to remove that raw flesh smell.
2. Cook chicken with adequate amount of water, onions, chilly pdr, turmeric pdr, ginger-garlic paste in low flame in an open vessel until the chicken is properly cooked. Add curry leaves at the end and let it cook for sometime until the flavor mixes well with the chicken. (we don't use pressure cooker for this dish).
3. In the meantime, while the chicken is getting cooked, prepare the coconut masala by coarsely grinding coconut and cumin seeds in a mixer.
4. Add the coconut mix into the chicken and cook it for about 10 minutes until the water content is completely absorbed and the raw smell of coconut is gone. Keep this aside.
5. Heat oil in a deep frying pan and add the mustard seeds. When they pop, add urad dal and leave it until it turns light brown (do not let it burn, so simmer the stove).
6. Next add the sliced onions, red chillies, and curry leaves. Fry lightly until the onions turn soft and translucent.
7. Finally add the cooked chicken into the pan. Stir around to combine and saute it for about 10-15 minutes until you get a fried coconut smell.
8. Remove from the fire and garnish it with a few fresh curry leaves. Serve warm as a side dish with rice or rotis/chappathis.

As I have mentioned earlier, this is an accompaniment with my mom's special chicken/mutton bone curry. I am yet to try that one. So my dear foodie buddies, you don't have to wait for long. Will be trying out during one of these weekends. So keep watching this space for the bone curry recipe as well...;-)