Chicken Quiche

Chicken quiche:I can finally make quiche! My favourite person's favourite thing in the world, isnt it? Can't wait to make one for her soon :)This one's for you Upsie!
Ingredients:

Crust:

150 gm flour

75 gm unsalted frozen butter cut into small peices

1 tb sp salt

3 tb sp ice cold water

3 tsp herbs (I used thyme)
Method:

Seive the flour. Add salt. Add the cold butter. Now using a couple of forks mash the butter into the flour till it breaks into smaller peices. Add the thyme. Now use your hands and quickly bring it together without using much pressure. Add the water to help form a dough which should not be too hard or too soft. Let it sit in the fridge for about half an hour. Bring it out and roll it to get 1/4 inch thickness. Using a knife or pizza cutter, cut out a big round shape, basically bigger that the rim of you pie tin. Now place it in the greased and dusted pie tin and scrape off the extra dough from the rim. Place a sheet of butter paper in it and fill it with kidney beans or rice or any grains to weigh the butterpaper down. Now bake this in a pre-heated oven for 30 min at 180-190C. This is basically to bake the crust.
Filling:

250 gm boneless chicken cut into small peices

1 med onion chopped

3 tb sp oil

Salt to taste

3 tb sp mixed herbs

1 tsp pepper

1 cup grated mozzerella cheese

2 eggs

1 cup milk
Heat oil. Add onions. Saute till it turns transparent. Add herbs. Add chicken, pepper and salt. Let this cook till chicken is done, that should be about 10 min. Let it cool. Bring out the baked crust in its tin. Remove the butterpaper with the grains. Arrange a layer of half the cheese at the bottom of the crust. Now add the chicken filling and again top it with the remaining cheese. Beat the 2 eggs into the milk and just before popping it into the oven pour it into the quiche filling. Bake for about 30 min in a pre-heated oven, at 200C, or till it forms a golden brown color on top. Let it cool before you tear it apart.

This makes for a great lunch with a side of steamed veggies and some iced tea maybe. So comforting :)

PS: Thank you so much Bhakti for these lovely pictures :)

Rum Tart

This was for a friend on his birthday. What better than an alcohol based chocolate dessert. Must be on every guy's wishlist. I learnt the basic 'art' of making tart at baking class. The alcoholic twist was my idea ;) So was the chocolate ;)

Ingredients:

Crust:

1 3/4 cups flour

1 cup cold unsalted butter cut up into small peices..veryy cold!

1/4 coco

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp milk powder

A pinch of baking soda

3 tbsp ice cold water
Filling:

1/4 cup cream

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1/4 cup coco

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 tbsp dark rum
Method:

crust:

Seive the flour, soda, salt, milk powder and coco together. Now drop the cold butter into it and using 2 forks and mash it as much as possible, till the butter has mixed with the flour to form coarse bread crumbs. Now use your hands and quickly bring it together making sure the butter does not melt. Add the ice cold water at this point to form a dough which is not too hard neither soft. Do not knead it. Just make a ball of dough. Let this sit in your fridge for about half an hour. In the meantime you can make your filling.
Filling:

Get all the ingredients together in a saucepan in a low flame and bring it to a boil. Keep aside and let it cool down to room temperature. Now add the rum and mix well.
Now bring the dough out and let it sit at room temperature for 5 min. Roll it out now to about 1/4 inch or even lesser than that if you can. Cut out round shapes using a knife or a big cookie cutter. Grease and dust the tart tins. Place the cut out dough into it one by one making sure it fits right. Scrape out any excess dough from the rim of the tin to give it a clean finishing. Now using a fork make a few pricks on the base and the sides of the dough lined tin and bake it at 180C for about 20 min or till it does not feel like dough anymore, in a pre-heated oven. Let it cool. Then spoon in the filling and let it chill in the fridge for atleast an hour before serving.

This makes for a great party dessert, or in my case, a hangover fix for the next morning! Haha!

Vanilla butter cake with creamy fruit frosting

Summer calls for a more lighter and refreshing desserts. That's when I tried this frosting. For the vanilla butter cake, refer to 'Sponge cake' recipe. I just wanted to top the usual sponge cake with a refereshing summer-y frosting.

Ingredients for frosting:

1 can of cut up fruits

250 ml fresh cream

2 tb sp gelatin

1/2 cup sugar (this you can alter according to taste)

1/2 cup warm water

Method:

Dissolve gelatin in the warm water and keep aside in refrigerator. Whip cream till almost stiff along with the sugar. Remove gelatin from fridge after 10 mins. Guve it a couple of runs in your blender, till it turns creamy. Now add the creamy gelatin into the whipped cream and fold them together. Add about 2 tb sp of the juice from the fruit can. Tip in the fruits, keep a few peices aside for garnish. Now spread, or like i did, slather this mixture on the cake completely. Just randomly place the remaining fruit peices on top of the creamy frosting. Ready to eat, or even better when chilled for an hour or so.

Enjoy! :)

Apple Crumble

I am possibly the biggest living apple pie fan. I will bake one once I have the pastry down. But for now I had to settle for a crumble pie. Of course my version with tips from a friend who wants to remain anonymous As you can see in the picture I have used a mini pie tin. Just to get it right, this being my first time and all.

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter

1 cup flour (maida)

1/2 cup powdered sugar

Filling:

1 tblspn butter

1 green apple (peeled, cored and cut into small pieces)

1 tspn cinnamon powder

3 tbspn powdered sugar

juice of half a lemon

Method:

In a nonstick saucepan, bring together butter and sugar. Add the flour in and whisk it. It will thicken and form a dough in a matter of a few seconds. When you see it becomes all thick and dough-like, take it off the heat and keep aside.In another pan heat a spoon of butter, add the apples, cinnamon and sugar. Let it cook for about 5 minutes on low heat(smells devine!) Take it off the heat. Now get your pie tin or any small baking tin. Take a handfull of the dough and line it inside the tin, pressing against the base and walls of it. When done, add the apple mix and top it with the rest of the dough in crumbles. Bake this for 40 mins at 170C or untill golden brown.

Let it cool before you dive in :)

Green apples and cinnamon together is a devine combination. This is a very easy fix for your dessert cravings in the evenings. Best eaten with a cuppa coffee or like me...straight up! ;-)

Brownies

These are your basic cakey-brownies. I wont claim them to be the best, I know I can do better. But I will still go ahead and share this recipe I came up with myself. Pretty good eh.
Ingredients:

3/4 cup of flour (maida)

1 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup cocoa, separate half

1 tspn vanilla

2 eggs

1 tspn salt

5-6 cashew nuts or walnuts roughly chopped

Method:

In a non stick saucepan, combine sugar, milk, vanilla, butter and half of the cocoa. Whisk together as they blend beautifully and come to a boil. Please do remember to keep your gas flame low. Once you see tiny bubbles, take it off the stove and let it cool, whisking it once in a while. In a separate bowl combine flour, rest of the coco and salt. Add the eggs to the cooled chocolate mixture. Whisk quickly. Now fold in the flour, salt and coco into the chocolate and egg mix along with the chopped nuts. Keep a few nuts aside to sprinkle them on top of the batter after being poured into a greased tin. Bake it for 20 minutes. When you stick a fork/toothpick into the brownie, it should come out with little moist crumbs on it or thick batter stuck to it, unlike baking a cake. If it does come out clean it only means that it has been over-baked. Brownie done!

When I do come up with a better recipe I will post it again. There are always many variations to cakes an brownies. We just need to find the one that we like best. I am not completely satisfied with this one, but it hasn't disappointed me completely as well.

Serve with a scoop of ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream when warm.Or the way I like it, straight up!

Aloo paneer matar in methi gravy

Potatoes, paneer and green peas. Potluck. Rush out to get methi leaves. Paneer aloo matar in methi gravy.Hit with friends. Yaiy!

Ingredients:
2 fistfuls/a bunch thats available in the market of methi leaves(fenugreek)

200 gms paneer (cottage cheese), cut into small peices and shallow friend till golden brown

1 big potato, cut into small peices

100 gms green peas, cooked

2 medium onions finely chopped

2 medium tomatoes finely chopped

6-7 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

2 inch ginger, finely chopped

4 cloves

3 cardomom1 inch cinnamom

4 cashew nuts

1/4 cup curd

2 tspn garam masala

2 tspn sauf (fennel seeds)

2 tspn jeera powder (cumin powder)

1 tspn coriander powder (coriander powder)

2 tspn turmeric powder

1 tspn chilli powder

4 tblspn oil

salt to taste
Method:

Heat oil.Add sauf.Saute the ginger and garlic till they change color(this smells devine).

Add the whole spices(cloves,cinnamon and cardamom).Tip in the onions and the methi. Let it cook till onions are golden brown. This actually makes a difference in taste. For good of course!Now add the tomatoes and all the powdered spices, garam masala,chilli, jeera, coriander powders and salt. Add about a tablespoon of water,to let all the spices come together well. Give it a good mix and shut the lid of your cooking pot and let it cook for about 10 minutes. Now add the potatoes as they need to be cooked. Also add a fourth of a cup of water and let it cook till potatoes are done, which will be soon since they are small peices. Once cooked tip in the cooked paneer and peas, give it all a good mix. Grind the curd with the cashew nuts together. Pour it into the almost done gravy. Now turn the heat low. Bring to a boil. Take it off the heat.

If you want more grave add more onions and tomatoes with some water. I intended for it to be more of a gravy but ended up with a little dry version of the same. which was good too.

Serve this with some hot plain parantas. YUM!

The X-treeeem Chocolate Cake

This is the most ridiculously chocolatey chocolate cake ever. Rich yet light because I haven't added an ounce of butter in it except for the icing.So moist you forget to chew. And most of all, so chocolatey you don't want to stop. I strongly recommend you trying this cake. You just have to take my word for it.It will make you the most popular amongst family and friends.

Ingredients:

Dry ingredients:

1 cup flour (maida)

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 tspn baking powder

1/2 tspn baking soda1/2 tspn salt

Wet ingredients:

1/2 cup curd

1/4 cup oil

1/4 cup boiling water

1 tspn vanilla1 egg (separate yolk and white)

Combine all the dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl whisk the egg white till almost stiff-very frothy.Add the yolk, curd, vanilla, oil and hot water to the dry mix. Mix well using a whisk but dont over whisk or beat it. When the batter is smooth, fold in the egg white. Grease your baking tin. Dust it with some flour, to avoid the cake from sticking to the tin. Pour all the batterand bake at 175C or low-med heat in oven for 45 mins or till the toothpick comes out clean when stuck inside.Remove and let it cool completely.

Psst psst: I forgot to add vanilla. Couldn't tell the difference anyways.

For the icing:

1/4 cup cocoa

1/4 cup milk

1/2 tspn vanilla

1/4 cup softened unsalted butter

3/4 cup sugar

Bring all the above ingredients to a boil on low flame in a saucepan. Keep whisking every now and then. Once it comes to a boiltake it off the heat and let it cool, all the while whisking it. Don't worry it will be thin in consistency when it is off the stove.But as it cools it will thicken to a fudge like consistancy. So beautiful it will stop your heart (not literally!)

Once it has completely cooled, generously pour it over the cake. Just to avoid mess, do place butterpaper under the cake.Or in my case today's newspaper. Once you've poured it, let it spread or you can do it yourself by using a spatula. Drench the cake completely with the chocolate frosting. Devilishly sinful chocolate cake is ready to serve.If you have left over icing, store it in the fridge. Whenever you need to use it, lets say for ice-cream sundaes or cakes , the likes, pop it in the microwave for about 15 seconds and enjoy!

There are many many chocolate cake recipes out there.It's just the matter of finding the right one that satisfies and have your taste buds tingle. I have a few such recipes for chocolate cake with different icing/frostings. Watch this space for more.

So ironic, this chocolate cake is so sinfully delicious leading you to think you're in heaven.