Baked Aloo Tikki and a Special Award.

Before going to the recipe I want to mention about this award that I have received from Viki ( EliteFoods) whose blog I love to visit and have also tried some of her amazing recipes.What makes it so special is that, she has created it herself  and am very happy to receive it first hand from her.To be very frank this is my second award from the Blogosphere.Thank you Viki.

I would like to pass this  lovely award to the following ladies
CoolLassie at  PanGravyKadaiCurry
Tina at Kaipunyam
HappyCook at MyKitchenTreasure.

Please pass on this award to as many blogers as you wish.

Now going to the recipe, I made this tikki's (or should I say cutlet) for a small get together.I had planed to make it as a regular tiki using the tawa and made the filling accordingly.I was interrupted by a very important work that day, so ran out of time and decided to take my chance and bake it.It turned out quite great and everyone loved it.

Ingredients:
4 large potatoes.
1 large onion chopped
3 green chillies chopped
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 tsp chopped ginger
1/4 cup chopped coriander leaves.
2 tblsp lemon juice
1 tsp chat masala( optional)
1/4 cup bread crumbs + 1/4 cup for rollling
salt as required

Method

Preheat the oven to 220C
Boil the potaoes.Cool and peel the skin.Mash the potatoes well
Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well
Watch the amout of salt as the breadcrumbs and the chat masala will have salt in it.
Make small balls out of the mixture.
Take 1/4 cup of the bread crumbs in a plate.

Line the baking tray with foil.Grease slightly with oil.
Flatten the potato balls and roll the disc over the crumbs and place it in the prepared baking sheet
 Bake it for 15 - 20 mins approx, or until the crust turns golden

Pav Bhaji with Moong Bean Sprouts

I started making pav bhaji after coming to belgium just because of the beautiful soft buns that we get over here. These buns , lightly toasted with butter and scooped into this gravy is a mouthful of delight and is simply irrestible. Hence this dish started making its way into my kitchen atleast twice a month, especially during those lazy weekend mornings when we get up late and decide to have a brunch. Since I make it quite often I decided to make it healthy and filling by adding sprouted moong dhal. This bhaji was delicious and it completely wipes away the guilt of having white bread and butter.

I soak and sprout the dhal on thursday so its ready for saturday morning.


Ingredients:
1 cup sprouted moong dhal
2 medium potatoes , peeled and cubed
1 medium onion chopped
2 medium tomatoes chopped finely
1 carrots peeled and chopped
1/4 cup of peas
1/4 cup of chopped beans
1/4 cup chopped cauliflower
2tblsp of ginger -garlic paste.
1/4 cup chopped coriander leaves
1/4 tsp garam masala pwd
1 tblsp pav bhaji masala
1 tsp chilli pwd
2 tsp coriander pwd
1 tsp lemon/lime juice
salt and turmeric as required

Method:
Add a Tblsp of oil in a pressure cooker.
Add the chopped onions and fry till translucent.
Now add the ginger-garlic paste and fry well.
To this add the chopped tomatoes, salt , chilli pwd, coriander pwd, pav bhaji masala and fry till oil leaves the sides.
Now add all the vegetables and the sprouts, give a good stir.
Close and pressure cook till 3 whistles.
After it is cooled open the cooker, add chopped coriander, and give it a boil for 2 mins without the lid. Add a tsp of lemon juice and stir well.








Note:
Alternatly you can also pressure cook the vegetables forst and then add to the masala, mix and boil for 10 mins.
The choice and number of vegetables is completly upto the individual taste.
If you dont have pav bhaji masala, substitute it with 1/2 tsp jeera powder+ 1/2 tsp chat masala powder+1/4 tsp of garam masala powder.


Sending this over to Meeta's for the Monthly Mingle where this months theme is "Brunch".

My First Chocolate Cake

For an ardent chocolate cake lover like me it took me this long to bake one. I like plain chocolate cake with simple icing , not those which are loaded with layers of cream. So I usually satisfy my craving by settling on the store bought mixes. But this time I decided to give it a go and tried out the recipe from Pusiva's culinary studio. I did'nt like the strong bitter flavour of the cocoa powder that I get here, so used chopped cooking chocolate instead. The cake turned out to be moist and perfect, exactly the way I like it.

We had the cake with some whipped cream, but next time I will make a single layer of chocolate Ganache.




Recipe Adapted from Pusiva's culinary studio.
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup plain flour
50gms of cooking chocolate.
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp hot water
1 tsp instant cofee powder or granules
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
3/4 cup water


Method:
Melt the chocolate by double boiling method and allow it to cool.
Mix the coffee poder in the hot water and allow it to cool.
Grease and prepare the cake pan
Seive the flour , baking powder and soda together.(if you are using cocoa powder, include that here)
Beat the buttr and sugar until light and fluffy.Add the egg and beat well for a min.
Now add the cooled chocolate, cofee mixture, vanilla essence , beat for approxately 2 - 3 min.
Add the flour little by little alternatly with water, finally ending with the flour mixture.
Give it a gentle stir by hand until all the flour dissolves. Do not beat while adding the flour.
Pour the mixture on to the prepared pan and bake in an 175C oven for 40 - 45 mins.




Note:
If your cake is browing quickly throw in a sheet of foil over the top of the pan after 20 mins of baking.
I baked the cake twice with and without the coffee powder , it tasted great. So the coffee powder is completly optional.


Having baked my first Chocolate cake I have gained confidence to try out so many different versions of chocolate cake out there with diffrent Icing. So you can expect few more posts on chocolate cakes from me in the future.

Enjoy !!!
Iam sending this Chocolate Cake over to Cook for Yourself event at Food for 7 stages of life.