Monday, April 15, 2024

Indian Style Masala Pasta | Spicy Gemelli Pasta

Indian Style Masala Pasta, a delicious and spicy pasta with loaded vegetables and full of Indian flavor. It's one of our family favorites and I often make it for lunch/dinner. It's such an easy one pot recipe that can be prepared in 15 mins.

If you like pasta and wanna it make with Indian flavor then i would highly recommend you to give this a try ! I'm sure that you will love this !

Pasta

Any type of pasta can be used for this recipe. So try it with your favorite pasta shape. Macaroni, Fusilli, Penne and Gemelli Pasta are my favorites to make this dish.

Today, i have used Gemelli pasta. Just make sure to cut the vegetables according to the shapes of the pasta so that it all blends well. Like if you're using macaroni pasta, then try to cut the vegetables into small cubes instead of thin stripes like i did it here.

Vegetables

For today's recipe, i have used carrot, capsicum, peas and mushroom. But you can make this pasta with whatever you have in this list , still it would be delicious. Personally i feel that mushrooms and capsicum really go with the pasta flavor. So for me, that's a must to make this recipe.

Additionally, you can also add cauliflower, corn too.

Spices

Ginger garlic pasta, coriander powder and garam masala powder are the key spices to give that strong Indian flavor. So don't skip any one of those. Also, finish off with a lot of coriander leaves, it truly enhances the flavor to the next level.

Finally it's great for lunch boxes too so i often pack this for ST's lunch box. Now let's check out on how to make this delicious pasta.

Indian Style Masala Pasta | Spicy Gemelli Pasta

Preparation Time : 5 mins | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Serves : 2
Recipe Category: Pasta | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

Pasta - 1 cup

Onion - 1/2

Vegetables - 1 cup(i used carrot, mushroom, peas, capsicum)

Paneer ( cubed )- 1/4 cup

Tomato paste - 1 tbsp*

Ginger garlic paste - 2 tsp

Turmeric powder - a pinch

Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp

Coriander powder - 3/4 tsp

Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp

Mozzarella cheese (grated)- 1/4 cup

Coriander leaves(chopped) - a handul

Oil - 1 tbsp

* Instead of tomato paste, you can use two pureed tomatoes.

Procedure

First cook the pasta as per the package instructions and keep it aside. Reserve about 1/2 cup of pasta cooked water. Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pan, then add the finely chopped onions and saute till they are transparent.

Add the chopped carrots and peas, saute and cook till they are half-done. Next add the capsicum and mushroom. Saute till the mushrooms shrink.

Next add the ginger garlic paste, give a quick mix and then add the tomato paste(Instead of tomato paste, you can use two pureed tomatoes.).

Then add all the spices(turmeric, red chili powder, coriander powder and garam masala powder) and give a good mix. To avoid the burning of the spices, add that reserved pasta cooked water(it has salt that's enough for the veggies, so didn't add any additional salt here) and cook the spices till the raw smell is gone.

Next add the cooked pasta and give a good mix. (i have added salt while cooking the pasta so didn't add any extra salt here but do give a taste test and adjust the seasoning)

Finally add the paneer and the grated cheese on top of the pasta. Cover the pasta with a lid and let it cook till all the cheese melts. Open the lid and finish off with a lot of coriander leaves.

Mix gently and serve immediately. Tasty Indian style pasta is ready.

Related : How to make Pizza dough at home

Notes:

Cook pasta al dente so that it became perfectly soft once done without breaking.
Adjust the seasoning as per your liking. The above mentioned quantity of spices has mild spice level.
Don't reduce the amount of cheese, it will affect the taste.

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Chocolate Cake with Whipped Cream Frosting | Simple Chocolate Cake

Chocolate Cake , a delicious, soft and sponge cake with wonderful chocolate flavor. Chocolate has been one of the popular cakes for years and people still go crazy over chocolate flavor than any other flavor.

It's one of my recent favorite cakes that i have baked so far. The cake is so spongy and moist with the right amount of sweetness. This cake is so good on its own without any frosting. Often i bake this cake at home without any frosting and have it as a snack.

However, frostings like chocolate or whipped cream really go well with this cake. Last week, it was ST's birthday so i made this cake with whipped cream frosting. Honestly, it was the best and it tastes so much better than store-bought cakes without any preservatives. Additionally, the little one also enjoyed the cake so much. Overall ,I was so happy with the output.

Chocolate Cake

There are few things that i would like share for baking the best chocolate cake.

Make sure to use the good quality of cocoa powder. The flavor and the color of the cake totally depends on the cocoa powder. I have been using Hershey Cocoa powder for all my baking and i really like it.
In this chocolate cake, instead of butter, we're using oil. That gives the moist texture to the cake and also the cake doesn't firm up in the refrigerator like other butter cakes.
To make this cake batter, just whisk and bowl is enough. No need of a hand blender or stand mixer. It's such an easy batter, all you need to do is measure the ingredients, dump it and mix it. Tada, your cake batter is ready!

Whipped Cream Frosting

Whipped cream frosting is one of the easiest frosting that you can make in minutes provided that you have a hand blender/stand mixer. I simply love this frosting because of its simpleness and lightness.

This frosting needs to be refrigerated for better taste and the chocolate cake that we're making today doesn't firm up in the refrigerator so both are just match made in heaven and compliments each other well.

Decorating the cake

I'm not a professional baker so honestly i'm not good at decorating the cake. What i did here was slice the cake into half using dental floss (you can check out my Gulab jamun cake where i showed how to cut the cake using floss) and then filled and covered the cake with the whipped cream frosting.

Next smooth out the surface of the frosting with the dinner knife and piped some frosting on the top edge of the cake. Then I shaved some chocolate and pressed that chocolate shavings on the sides of the cake and sprinkled on the center of the cake too. Finally placed some chocolate chunks on the piped frosting. Voila, Chocolate cake is ready :-)

Ok, let see how to make this chocolate cake.

Chocolate Cake with Whipped Cream Frosting

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 30 mins | Serves : 2
Recipe Category: Curry | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

For the Cake

All purpose flour - 3/4 cup

Cocoa Powder - 1/3 cup

Sugar - 1 cup *

Baking Powder - 3/4 tsp

Baking Soda - 3/4 tsp

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Milk - 1/2 cup

Warm Water - 1/2 cup

Instant Coffee Powder - 1 tsp

Oil - 1/4 cup

Egg - 1

Vanilla extract - 3/4 tsp

For Frosting

Whipping Cream - 1 & 1/2 cup

Powdered Sugar - 2 tsp

Vanilla Extract - 1 tsp

* I have used 1 cup minus 2 tbsp of sugar.

Procedure

First preheat your oven @ 350 F and then prepare your baking tin. Butter the pan and lined it with parchment paper at the bottom. In a large bowl, add the all purpose flour.

Next add the cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a sieve and sieve it all together into the flour. Then add the sugar into the flour.

Mix all together well and keep it aside.

Now for the wet ingredients, crack open a egg in a bowl/measuring cup and then add the vanilla extract, mix it all together well.

Next add the milk, warm water mixed with coffee powder and the oil.

Mix it all well together and the pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix it well.

Immediately pour the cake batter into the baking tin and bake it in the preheated oven for 30 - 35 mins. Once the cake is out of the oven, let the cake cool completely.

For the frosting, add all the ingredients listed under frosting into a bowl and whisk it with a electric beater till it reaches soft peak.

When the cake is cooled down completely , cut the cake into half(you can check out my Gulab jamun cake where i showed how to cut the cake using floss) and frost the cake with the whipped cream as you wish.

After frosting the whole cake with whipped cream and i used some chocolate shavings and chocolate chunks for decorating the cake as you see here.

That's it, Delicious Chocolate Cake is ready to serve.

Related : How to make Hot milk cake

Notes:

As everyone says, every oven is little different so keep an eye on the cake after 30 mins to avoid the over baking and dryness.
This cake stays well for days at refrigerator.
If you split the cake batter and bake it in two tins, then the baking time would be roughly 20 mins.
We don't like too much sweetness so i have used 1 cup minus 2 tbsp of sugar and it's perfect if you're preferring mild sweetness.
I have used whipping cream with 30% fat content.

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Hara Bhara Kabab | Spinach Peas Cutlet

Hara Bhara Kabab, a North Indian Patties made with peas and spinach. It's one of our recent favourite snacks and I often make it as a side for evening tea. They are super delicious and healthy too .

When i started to search for evening snacks which are healthy as well as tasty, this kabab/patties got my attention. Ever since i made this hara bhara kabab at home, it became a regular in our evening time.

Making this kabab is super easy if you have boiled potatoes at hand. So if i'm planning to make these patties for the evening snack then i would probably boil a few extra potatoes while preparing the lunch itself , that way it comes handy in the evening.

The key to making these delicious kababs is to make sure that there is no excess moisture in any of the vegetables. Therefore drain the peas and spinach well before grinding and also make sure to remove the cooked potatoes from the water immediately once it's done because potatoes tend to absorb water if left it in water for a longer time.

Now let's check out on how to make these delicious Hara Bhara Kabab.

Hara Bhara Kabab

Preparation Time : 30 mins | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Serves : 4
Recipe Category: Snacks | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

Potato - 1 (Cooked)

Spinach/Palak - 1 cup

Peas - 1/3 cup

Green Chili - 2

Ginger - 1/2 inch piece

Garam Masala Powder - 1/2 tsp

Besan/ Kadalai Maavu - 1 & 1/2 tbsp

Sugar - 1/2 tsp

Salt - to taste

Cashew - 4(optional)

Oil - to pan fry the kabab

Procedure

First bring a pot of water to boil, then add the palak and peas(i'm using frozen peas).

Let them boil for 2-3 mins and then drain the water and let it cool. completely.

Next, in a blender jar, add the ginger & chili and grind into coarse mixture then add the palak and peas.

Grind them into a smooth mixture. Next mash the cooked potato well .and then add the palak peas mixture along with garam masala, besan, sugar and salt.

Then add the palak peas mixture along with garam masala, besan, sugar and salt.Mix it all well together and keep it aside for 30 mins.

At the time of making kabab, take a small amount of mixture and roll into a ball.And then flatten it a small disc and place a cashew(i have split a cashew in half and use it here) in the centre.

Heat a thick bottomed pan and add the oil for pan frying. Once the oil is hot , place the patties and cook it on the low flame till both sides are nicely browned.

Delicious Hara Bhara Kabab is ready to serve.

Related : How to make Hariyali Chicken Kabab

Notes:

Adjust chili as per your spice level.
For more flavor, you can add 1/2 tsp of cumin while grinding the mixture.
If you're not able to bind it all together and make a ball, then add a little more besan.
Try to squeeze the water as much as possible from the boiled spinach and peas.
I have used frozen peas but fresh peas also work well for this recipe.

Monday, February 26, 2024

Gulab Jamun Mix Cookies | Gulab Jamun Cookies

Gulab Jamun Mix Cookies, delicious and crispy cookies made with readymade gulab jamun mix. It's super easy to make cookies in minutes.

Every year during deepavali time, i buy ready made gulab jamun mix from the store for making gulab jamun. Usually i use half the packet and keep the rest to use later. But ever since i tried these cookies, this is my go-to recipe for finishing off the leftover gulab jamun mix.

I'm sure that many of you have some leftover gulab jamun mix in your pantry(Thanks to the one to one offer around festive time :-)) and if you would like to try something new with the gulab jamun mix, then give a try on these delicious cookies.

In today's recipe, i have used the MTR gulab jamun mix which is one of my favorite store bought gulab jamun mix. But i guess other brand mixes also work well.

Flavors

Coming to the flavoring agent , personally i like both the cardamom and rose flavor for this cookies. In today's recipe, i have used only rose essence but in the past i used cardamom powder(if you're using, add 1/4 tsp cardamom powder) and combination of rose essence & cardamom powder. All those variations are good in their own way. So you can make these cookies with your favorites.

Shaping the cookies

In this recipe, i have used cookie cutter to shape the cookies. But you can simply roll the cookie dough into a log then cover it with parchment paper and refrigerate it for 30 mins. After 30 mins, cut them into circles. That's way easier than the cookie cutter method if that's what you're looking for.

Now let's check out on how to make these yummy cookies.

Gulab Jamun Mix Cookies

Preparation Time : 20 mins | Cooking Time : 10 mins | Serves : 12
Recipe Category: Cookies | Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

Gulab Jamun Mix - 1 & 1/2 cup

Butter - 5 tbsp

Powdered Sugar - 1/4 cup

Milk - 1 to 2 tbsp

Rose essence - 1/4 tsp

Procedure

First preheat the oven @ 350 F. Next in a bowl, add the butter (make sure the butter is at room temperature) and beat it with electric hand mixer for a couple of mins or until it's creamy and then add the powdered sugar.