Recipes

Orange Cake (Eggless)

Published

3 years ago

December 1, 2022

Diaspora

Prep Time : 20 mins

Cook Time : 35 mins

Total Time : 55 mins

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat flour – 120 grams or can use all-purpose flour or half-half of both the flours
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 pinch salt
¾ to 1 cup Orange Juice – If using whole wheat flour then add 1 cup orange juice and if using all-purpose flour, then add ¾ cup orange juice
½ cup raw sugar – 100 grams, can use powdered jaggery or powdered sugar – add more if required
¼ cup sunflower oil or olive oil or butter or any neutral oil
½ to 1 teaspoon orange zest
1 tablespoon cornstarch (cornflour) or eggless custard powder

Instructions

Making batter

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius/356 degrees Fahrenheit.
Sieve whole wheat flour with the corn starch (or custard powder), a pinch of salt, baking powder and baking soda. Keep this sieved mixture aside.
In a bowl add the sugar and oil. You can also use softened butter instead of oil.
With an electric beater or hand beater or a wooden spoon, beat this mixture of oil/butter and sugar for a few minutes until well blended. Set aside. I have made this cake with jaggery too. So you can add powdered or grated jaggery instead of sugar.
Now make the fresh orange juice. You can extract the juice with a handheld juicer or in an electric juice or blender. For the blender method, blend the orange segments (with seeds removed) and strain the juice to filter out the fibers. I have used three medium oranges to get a bit more than 1 cup juice.
You can use packaged juice too.
Measure and add 1 cup of the orange juice to the sugar and oil mixture. If using whole wheat flour, then 1 cup of orange juice works well and if using all purpose flour, then you can add about ¾ cup of orange juice.
Mix very well until all the sugar is dissolved.
Now add the sifted flour mixture and orange zest. To get a more dominant flavor of oranges, add a bit of orange extract or essence.
Mix everything very well with a wired whisk. There should be no lumps in the cake batter.

Baking orange cake

Pour the batter in a lined or greased cake tin of about 7×4 inches. Use a spatula to scrape the batter from sides and add it to the cake pan.
Tap the pan from the sides or tap the bottom of the pan on the countertop, so that excess air bubbles are released and the batter becomes even in the pan.
Bake the cake in a preheated oven for 180 degrees Celsius/356 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 to 35 minutes.
Check the cake by inserting a bamboo skewer and it should come out clean. If it has any batter on it, bake the cake for some more minutes.
Place the cake on a wired tray or rack to cool it completely at room temperature.
Later gently remove it from the pan. Slice the eggless orange cake and serve as a sweet dessert or with tea or coffee. You can wrap the remaining cake or store in an tight container and keep in the fridge for about a week.

Recipes

Vegetable Fried Rice Recipe

Published

1 year ago

October 1, 2024

Diaspora

Prep Time : 15 mins

Cook Time : 30 mins

Total Time : 45 mins

Ingredients

For cooking rice

1 cup basmati rice or long grained rice – 190 to 200 grams
4 to 4.5 cups water
½ teaspoon salt or add as required
2 to 3 drops toasted sesame oil or any neutral oil

Other ingredients

3 tablespoons oil – any neutral flavored oil
1 star anise
¾ to 1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic or 3 to 4 small to medium garlic cloves
½ teaspoon finely chopped ginger or ½ inch ginger – optional
¼ cup chopped spring onion whites (scallions)
¼ cup finely chopped french beans
¼ cup finely chopped carrots
¼ to ½ cup finely chopped cabbage – optional
¼ cup chopped bell pepper or capsicum – red, green or yellow
1 cup chopped button mushrooms
1 tablespoon finely chopped celery – skip if you do not have
3 tablespoons soy sauce (naturally brewed) or tamari – can add as required
1 teaspoon rice wine or rice vinegar
½ teaspoon black pepper powder or add as required
2 tablespoons chopped spring onions greens
salt as required

Instructions

Cooking rice

Rinse rice very well till the water runs clear of starch. Soak rice in water for 30 mins. Drain and keep aside.
In a pot, bring water to a gentle boil with salt and 2 to 3 drops of toasted sesame oil.
Add the soaked and drained rice to the hot water.
On a low to medium to medium-high heat simmer rice without the lid.
When rice becomes al dente or just about cooked, remove the pot from the heat. Strain the rice in a colander or sieve.
You can also gently rinse cooked rice in water so that they stop cooking and don’t stick to each other. Cover the cooked rice and set aside until the rice cools completely. You can even refrigerate rice with a covered lid for 30 minutes.

Chopping veggies

When the cooked rice is cooling, chop the veggies finely and keep aside.
Remember to chop the french beans very finely. They take more time to cook than other veggies. You can also blanch them first and then cook. Another option is to add the beans first and then add the other vegetables.

Making fried rice

Heat oil in a wok or a pan. First add the star anise and fry for a few seconds or until the oil becomes fragrant.
Add the garlic, ginger and sauté for some seconds. No need to brown the garlic.
Add the spring onions whites and sauté for about 2 minutes.
Then add finely chopped french beans.
Stir fry french beans for 2 to 3 minutes over medium to medium-high heat.
Add the remaining finely chopped veggies, including mushrooms and celery. Increase the heat to a high to thoroughly cook all of the vegetables.
You have to continuously toss and stir while frying so that the veggies are uniformly cooked and do not get burnt.
The vegetables have to be stir-fried, until they are almost cooked and yet retain their crunchiness and crispiness. Stir-frying vegetables on high heat takes about 4 to 6 minutes.
Add the soy sauce, salt and pepper. Stir quickly and add cooked and cooled rice. Stir fry for a few minutes until the sauce has coated the rice well. Keep a check when adding salt, as soy sauce already has salt in it.
Serve the fried rice hot as it is or with with your favorite Chinese side.

Serving suggestions

Though fried rice tastes great on its own, you can pair it with Veg Manchurian, Gobi Manchurian, Chilli Paneer, Spring Rolls or Chilli Mushroom. More side recipes for veg fried rice are linked and listed in the main post.

Storing fried rice

Vegetable fried rice stays good for a couple of a days. But I would recommend it to be eaten as soon as you can since many days old rice is not good for health.

Recipes

Methi Matar Malai Recipe

Published

1 year ago

August 4, 2024

Diaspora

Prep Time : 10 mins

Cook Time : 20 mins

Total Time : 30 mins

Ingredients

For the paste

⅓ cup chopped onions or 1 medium-sized onion
¼ cup cashews – whole cashews
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon chopped garlic or 4 to 5 medium-sized garlic cloves
1 teaspoon chopped ginger or 1 inch ginger
1 teaspoon chopped green chilies or serrano peppers or 1 to 2 green chilies

Other ingredients

2 tablespoons oil or ghee
1 cup chopped fenugreek leaves (methi leaves)
½ cup water or the stock/water of boiled green peas – add as required
½ cup green peas – boiled or steamed
½ cup light cream or low-fat cream, check notes below for whipping or heavy cream
½ teaspoon sugar or add as required
salt as required

For garnish

1 to 2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves (cilantro)
1 to 2 tablespoons green peas boiled or steamed – optional

Instructions

Preparing the ground paste

In a grinder jar or blender, add cumin seeds, chopped onions, cashews, garlic, ginger and green chilies.
Blend or grind to a smooth paste withput adding any water.
If you are not able to blend, then you can add 1 to 2 tablespoons of water.
For cooking the green peas, you can either boil them in a pan with 1.5 cups water for 7 to 8 minutes until tender or steam them in an Instant pot for 3 to 5 minutes adding about 1 to 1.25 cups water in the steel insert.
You can also boil the green peas in a stove-top pressure cooker for 5 to 6 minutes. Reserve ½ cup of the cooked water if you have boiled the peas.

Sautéing ground paste

Heat ghee (clarified butter) or oil in a pan or kadai.
When the ghee melts or becomes lightly hot, add the ground paste.
Sauté the paste for 6 to 7 minutes on a low heat until you see the fat separating from the sides.
Stir often when sautéing so that the paste does not stick to the pan. You should see fat releasing from the sides and the paste will also have a nice aroma.
You will see the paste coming together and becoming glossy. Do not brown the paste.
If the ground paste sticks to the pan or gets browned add a few splashes of water. Mix, deglaze and continue to sauté.

Making methi matar malai

Add in the chopped fenugreek leaves and sauté further for 2 to 3 minutes.
Then add ½ cup water or the stock/water in which the green peas were cooked in two parts. Mix thoroughly and simmer the gravy for 3 to 4 minutes. Stir at intervals.
Add the boiled peas and cream.
Simmer the gravy for 5 to 6 minutes on a low heat.
Finally add the sugar and salt. Mix again. At this step, you can opt to sprinkle 2 to 3 pinches of garam masala powder.
Garnish with coriander leaves and serve methi matar malai hot or warm with naan, paratha or roti.

Recipes

Rava Idli | Suji ki Idli

Published

2 years ago

May 28, 2024

Diaspora

Prep Time : 35 mins

Cook Time : 12 mins

Total Time : 47 mins

Ingredients

For frying & roasting

2 tablespoons Ghee (clarified butter)
14 halved cashews
½ teaspoon mustard seeds
1 teaspoon chana dal (husked and split bengal gram or split & husked chickpeas)
½ teaspoon cumin seeds
10 curry leaves – chopped
1 pinch asafoetida – optional
1 teaspoon or 1 inch finely chopped ginger
1 green chilli – finely chopped

For batter

2 tablespoons finely grated carrots – optional
2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves (cilantro)
½ teaspoon salt or add as required
1 cup or 175 grams cup rava (sooji, semolina, cream of wheat)
½ cup Curd (yogurt)
½ to ¾ cup water or add as required
1 teaspoon eno (fruit salt) or ¼ teaspoon or 2 to 3 pinches of baking soda

Instructions

Frying & Roasting

Heat 2 tablespoons ghee in a pan. Keep the heat to low or medium-low. Add the halved cashews. Stirring often fry the cashews till golden. Remove fried cashews with a slotted spoon draining the ghee and keep aside.
To the same pan add mustard seeds and let them begin to splutter. Keep the heat to low or medium-low
When the mustard seeds begin to splutter add the chana dal. Stirring often fry chana dal till they look golden and crunchy. Then add the cumin seeds and fry for 4 to 5 seconds.
Now add the chopped curry leaves, asafoetida, finely chopped ginger and green chillies. Mix well and fry for 10 seconds. Keep the heat to a low.
Next add rava (cream of wheat, suji, semolina).
Mix well and stirring often roast the rava till they become aromatic, change color a bit (but should not get browned or golden) and the grains look separate. Roasting rava will takes about 5 to 7 minutes depending on the thickness and heaviness of the pan, and the flame intensity. Once the rava is well roasted, keep the pan aside. Let the rava become warm.

Making Batter

To the roasted rava, add 2 tablespoons finely grated carrots, 2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves and ½ teaspoon salt or add as required.
Next add curd (yogurt) and water as required. Depending on the quality of rava and the thickness of curd, you can adjust the water from ½ to ¾ cup. If the curd is liquid and has whey in it, then add ½ cup water. If the curd is very thick, then add ¾ cup water. Basically you need to get a medium consistency batter.
Mix very well and let the batter rest covered for 20 minutes. The rava idli batter is neither thick nor thin in consistency and has a medium consistency.
Brush oil or ghee on the idli pan moulds. Place a fried halved cashew in the center of the moulds. Also heat 2 to 2.5 cups water in a pot. Keep a small length trivet stand or a rack in the pot. Heat the water till it comes to a boil.
After 20 minutes this is the consistency of the batter after resting. If in case the batter looks thick, rava idli batter looks thick, then add 1 to 2 tablespoons of water to get a medium consistency. Rava absorbs water and so the batter might thicken after 20 minutes. If the curd is thick, then also you may need to add more water. If you have added more water in the beginning, then you may not need to any water at this step.
Sprinkle 1 teaspoon eno or ¼ teaspoon baking soda evenly over the batter. Quickly mix very well.

Steaming

Pour the batter in the idli moulds. Place them in the pot with the hot water. Cover with a lid and steam rava idli for 10 to 12 minutes.
To check the doneness, a toothpick or wooden skewer inserted in the rava idli should come out clean. Remove the idli plates carefully and let them rest for 3 to 4 minutes. Then with a spoon remove the rava idli.
Serve the steaming hot rava idli with sambar and your favorite coconut chutney.