BE SMART...DIY LIKE HE DID IT!

My brother lives alone in the US alone and is constantly in a fix about everything,... specifically Cooking...and he is forever on the phone with me asking me what to do???what to cook???how to cook???what to eat??? and so on and so forth haha.
Recently he came across an even bigger problem, his stove was not working and trust me it is enough for him to throw a fit... and call me up...of course lol, after hearing him out patiently, I suggested that he get either a repairman or as a last resort another stove top, now he being a student and on a tight budget at that was so completely devastated...then suddenly it stuck me...I had come across this cool website Partselect.com.
Both of us logged onto the site together and heyy check this out...there it was, everything you ever needed and on top of that- same day shipping, 30 day returns, 2 million parts, as we checked out the brand he owns there was even listings by colour, material and what not!
He quickly checked out what he needed, and there are even videos of how to replace that part, how helpful is that.I then pointed out to another good feature a Virtual repairman!, you just put in the model number and he will diagnose the problem for u!!
All in all so very helpful and my brother happily reported he got the stove fixed at a fraction of the cost, so I decided to post about it so that it helps my readers in a fix just liked it helped my bro!

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GOOEY CHOCOLATE CAKE FOR MY BIRTHDAY (eggless and healthy too!)

This is the cake I chose to bake on my birthday today, since a lot of my family and friends don't eat eggs.The cake is deliciously moist and tender due to the addition of yogurt, and intense chocolaty too due to the generous amounts of cocoa powder, a keeper all the way for sure, this is my go to recipe for an eggless cake!
The recipe is from the very talented Deeba's kitty and can be found here, I however played around with outstanding results, omitting eggs altogether whilst increasing the amount of yogurt.

 

Ingredients:

Flour – 1 1/2 cups

Wholewheat flour -1/2 cup

Cocoa – 2/3 cup

Instant Coffee – 2 tbsp

Baking Soda – 1 tsp

Baking powder – 1 tsp

Salted Butter – 1/2 cup; at room temperature

Sugar (powdered/caster) – 1 cup

Thick and fresh Yogurt/curd – 2 cups

Vanilla Extract – 1 tsp

Coffee Extract – 1 tsp (optional)

for filling-

Unsalted butter-50 gms

Chocolate-75gms

Icing Sugar 2 tbsp

for the frosting-

Full cream milk-2 cup
Cocoa powder-2 tbsp
Sugar (icing)-2 tbsp
knob of butter(1 tsp)

Method:

• Grease well & flour pan you would be using approx 9' one, & preheat the oven to 180C.
• Sift both the flours + baking powder + baking soda + salt + cocoa. Keep aside.
• Beat the butter & sugar. Add the coffee & vanilla extract & beat.
• Now alternatively add the flour mix & yogurt till well incorporated. Don’t over mix. The batter will be quite thick, ie, not a flowing one.
• Turn into loaf tins/round/bundt cake pan level out & bake for 45 mins to an hour/until done. Slide a sheet of foil over the top loosely if you see it browning too soon.
• Once done, cool in pan for 5 minutes, turn out on rack. 
  For the filling-
  Microwave chocolate and butter till beginning to soften, mix well icing sugar(sieved) and beat well ,slice cake in half and sandwich.
  for the frosting-
  Take a small saucepan and add ingredients for the frosting, boil rapidly for 20-25 minutes till thick,add butter, let cool.Drizzle on top of the cake and add silver balls, chocolate savings etc. as desired.

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NIGELLA'S CHOCOLATE FUDGE CAKE TOPPED WITH FRUIT

"This is the sort of cake you'd want to eat the whole of when you'd been chucked. But even the sight of it, proud and tall and thickly iced on its stand, comforts." what do you do when the cake is described as such?Bake it and frost it and eat it and go to heaven :-)
Well worth all the rave reviews on the net..this one is a keeper!The cake itself is pretty easy to pull together and has a fine, tender crumb but the buttercream frosting is a bit over the top, it calls for 250gms of butter which is a bit too much by any standards, I made it anyways but used it just to sandwich the cake and chucked the rest!, instead I opted for a lighter Chocolate frosting from one of my previous posts and also topped the cake with some fresh fruit, basically black grapes and kiwis, the end result...absolutely delicious!!.
Here's the recipe from Nigella's own website-

Ingredients

FOR THE CAKE:

• 400g plain flour
• 250g golden caster sugar
• 100g light brown sugar
• 50g best quality cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 eggs
• 142ml/small tub sour cream(I used yogurt with 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice)
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 175g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 125ml corn oil
• 300ml chilled water

FOR THE FUDGE ICING:

• 175g dark chocolate, minimum 70% cocoa solids
• 250g unsalted butter, softened
• 275g icing sugar, sifted
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Butter and line the bottom of two 20cm sandwich tins.
3. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugars, cocoa, baking powder, bicarb and salt. In another bowl whisk together the eggs, sour cream/yogurt and vanilla until blended. Using an electric mixer, beat together the melted butter and corn oil until just blended, then beat in the water, at this stage I was quite amused and excited to use chilled water, something I have never used before, it did cause the butter to harden up again but continue and things will be fine. Add the dry ingredients all at once and mix together on a slow speed. Add the egg mixture, and mix again until everything is blended and then pour into the prepared tins.
4. Bake the cakes for 50-55 minutes, or until a cake-tester comes out clean. Cool the cakes in their tins on a wire rack for 15 minutes, and then turn the cakes out onto the rack to cool completely.
5. To make the icing, melt the chocolate in the microwave - 2-3 minutes on medium should do it - or in a bowl sitting over a pan of simmering water, and let cool slightly.
6. In another bowl beat the butter until it's soft and creamy and then add the sieved icing sugar and beat again until everything's light and fluffy.DO NOT SKIP THIS or the icing will be unsoothingly lumpy. Then gently add the vanilla and chocolate and mix together until everything is glossy and smooth.
7. Sandwich the middle of the cake with about a quarter of the icing, and then ice the top and sides too, spreading and smoothing with a rubber spatula.
8. I did use a quarter of the icing for sandwiching the cake but used a lighter, glossier frosting(recipe here) for the top.Top with fresh fruit.

Serves: 10. Or 1 with a broken heart!

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WINTER SPECIALS- CONDENSED MILK CARROT/GAJAR KA HALWA

The craving for dessert intensifies during Winter months, and I find myself hunting for a bite of something sweet especially after meals, gajar ka halwa/meetha is one such dessert without which Winter months seem incomplete, it is an absolute must-have!, mostly cooked in large quantities and stored in the fridge, small quantities are then taken out over time and heated till piping hot before consumption.Here's how to make this delicious dessert-
Ingredients-

• Carrots- 3/4 kg
• Condensed Milk-1 can
• Milk- 1 liter full fat
• Cardamom (green)-2-3 crushed
• Mixed dry fruits-1/2 cup
• Clarified butter(desi ghee)-1/2 cup+1 tbsp for frying the dry fruit

Method-

1. Wash, peel and grate the carrots.
2. Heat ghee in a heavy bottom pan and fry grated carrots till fragrant, about 15 minutes,this is very important to impart a good flavour to the halwa
3. Add the Milk, condensed milk and cardamoms and cook on a slow flame, stirring carefully till Milk is absorbed, this will take about half an hour, do not stir too much or you will end up with a mush, but be careful not to burn it also.
4. Adjust sugar, fry the dry fruits and garnish the halwa with them, you can also add some khoya/mawa to the halwa at this stage.
5. Enjoy the halwa hot :-)

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Bakeware set shopping at CSN stores

First of all wishing my lovely readers a very Happy New Year! Hope you guys partied hard, coz I certainly did :-)...secondly I am soooo excited...finally I would be getting my first Springform pan, have been eying one for a really long time..., cheesecakes here I come!I think the benefits of such a pan are many, for sponge cakes, cheesecakes and angel cakes, they are so convenient, will be getting one from CSN stores, they have a great collection esp. their cute little tart and quiche pans.
And they also have a terrific range of Modern office furniture, which would be just lovely in my New office..so I am all set for some serious 2011 shopping!!
Till then take care

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HOMESTYLE CHICKEN CURRY

Once in a while I love to make something totally unpretentious, simple and earthy, in other words "homestyle", easy and full of wonderful flavours this delicious curry had every one asking for seconds, serve piping hot...it will definitely be more than welcome in this biting cold.
Ingredients- 

• Chicken- 1 (cut into 12 pcs)cleaned and washed
• Ground onions- 3 medium sized
• Tomatoes pureed-3 medium sized
• Bay leaves-2
• Cloves-4
• Cinnamon- 1 pc
• Cardamom-2 crushed
• Clarified butter(desi ghee)-2-3 tbsp
• Whipped thick curd-1/2 cup
• Ginger garlic paste-1 tbsp
• Cumin seeds-1/2 tsp
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Coriander and green chillies to garnish

Method-

1. Heat ghee, add all the whole spices and fry till fragrant.
2. Add the ground onions and fry till brown stirring all the time
3. Now add the tomatoes and ginger garlic till masala leaves side of the pan.
4. Lastly add yogurt and the chicken, cover and cook till chicken is done, no need to add more water as chicken will leave water.
5. Check if Chicken is done then season with salt and pepper , garnish with slit green chillies and coriander.Enjoy with hot paranthas, butter naans or rice!

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