Mango Halwa

I came across Madhuram's mango halwa a few days back while I was looking for ways to use up some mango pulp that had been left over from a recipe I'd tried a couple of days earlier. I decided to give her recipe a try based on the great feedback she'd received by way of comments, and her beautiful picture of the halwa.

Ingredients:
(For 7-8 small pieces)
2 cups canned mango pulp (easily found at any Indian store)
1 Tbsp ghee


Method:
In a heavy-bottomed pan, add the ghee followed by the mango pulp. Cook, stirring at regular intervals till the pulp thickens. It will reduce considerably as the moisture in it evaporates, almost 55-60 minutes. It is advisable to use a splatter screen while cooking to keep the stovetop and its surroundings clean. Though I cooked the pulp for close to an hour, I did not get the consistency that I was looking for. I thought that refrigerating it would help solidify it a bit, so I left it in the refrigerator overnight. However, it was still very soft and gooey the next day. I then microwaved it (in a small microwave-safe cup) for 5-8 minutes taking the sticky mango mass out of the microwave and stirring every couple of minutes. Finally, it began to come together.

Place the halwa on a small greased plate and spread as evenly as possible.

Refrigerate, cut and serve.

Notes: I managed to get the texture that Madhuram got (she cooked almost 3 cups of the pulp in 45-50 minutes on stovetop alone) only by a combination of stovetop cooking (an hour, in my case) and microwaving (another 6-8 minutes)- too much work considering that all I wanted to do was just use up some leftover pulp! This is definitely a lot of work for something that yields so little. The taste, despite a hint of sourness, is simply fantastic. I will make this again for sure, relying completely on my microwave the next time, to simplify things a bit to get the job done.

Savory Semolina Cake

Since I rarely plan meals ahead of time, I am usually at a loss for what to make when it’s time to get started on my cooking for the day. It was one of those weekend mornings when I was stumped, as usual, on what to make for breakfast. I turned to my bookmarks folder for help and inspiration came in the form of this recipe that I’d bookmarked ages ago, from Arundathi’s blog. The original recipe is Anjum Anand’s, and here she demonstrates how the cake (I like to call it a baked rava upma ) is made.

Ingredients:

1 cup semolina/rava/sooji/cream of wheat

1 cup plain yogurt

1/3 cup water (somewhere between ¼ to ½ cup of water - use just enough to make a thick batter)

½ tsp red chilli powder

½ tsp roasted cumin powder

1 tsp baking soda

Salt

Also required are:

2 Tbsp oil

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

2-3 finely chopped green chillies

5-6 curry leaves, finely chopped (kasuri methi would work too, for a different flavor)

½ tsp ginger paste

½ onion, finely chopped

¼ red bell pepper, chopped

¼ cup frozen peas

Method:

Preheat the oven to 375 F and grease a loaf pan.

Heat the oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, green chillies, chopped curry leaves and ginger, followed by the vegetables in quick succession. Cook for a minute or two, stirring frequently.

In a large bowl, mix together the semolina, yogurt, water, the contents of the pan, and salt to make a fairly thick batter. Add more water if required, to bring the batter together.

Stir in the baking soda and immediately pour the batter into the loaf pan.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the top is golden-brown. Mine was almost done in 30 minutes; so I turned off the oven and just let it sit inside for another 5 minutes or so.

Remove from the oven and cool for a bit. Slice and serve.

Happy Diwali!

Zebra Cake

Yesterday, I finally made Farida's gorgeous Zebra Cake. I'd come across her spectacular looking cake sometime last year and had promptly bookmarked it. I remember being rather intrigued by the wonderful zebra-striped pattern of her cake and wanting to make it right away. In spite of being very eager to try it out in my kitchen immediately, I finally got around to baking it only last night. The cake turned out pretty well considering that it was my first attempt. The texture was perfect- the cake was soft, light and very moist. Taste-wise, I found it to be just alright. It was missing a little something, but I can't quite put a finger on what it was. However, it looked so pretty that I'm willing to overlook the fact that it was not flavorful enough. I'm sure that with a little tweaking, that can be rectified. In any case, this cake’s all about the looks- I'm definitely going to be making it again!

I followed Farida's recipe and instructions very carefully but ended up making a few changes (based on what I had on hand).

I had enough batter to bake 1 round 9-inch cake and 2 mini heart-shaped cakes.

Wet ingredients:
1 cup sugar (I would add more the next time)
4 eggs
1 cup oil
1 cup milk (I only use 2 % milk so I used ¾ cup of that, and to add some richness, I also added about 3 tsp of ricotta cheese because I had a tub that was nearing its expiration date.)
2 tsp vanilla extract

Dry ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda (optional)
A pinch of salt
2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa (I used Hershey’s)
2 oz Hershey’s baking bar (optional)

Method:
Line a 9-inch round baking dish (I do not have a cake pan) with foil and grease it. (I also greased 2 other small heart-shaped pans that I had since I found that I had more than enough batter for just the baking dish alone.)

In a large bowl mix together the sugar and eggs till creamy and light yellow. (I use my hand mixer for this.) Add the oil, milk and vanilla extract and mix well again.

Place the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in another bowl and whisk together. Add to the wet ingredients, a little at a time, making sure that everything is incorporated well and the batter is lump-free.

Pour half of the batter into another bowl. Each bowl will now have roughly 2 cups of batter. To one half add the cocoa powder. (I also melted 2 ounces of chocolate and added it to the brown batter as a result of which it got a little denser/thicker than the white batter. I'd recommend adding a tsp or 2 of milk to thin it out a bit.)

Pour the vanilla and chocolate batters alternately into the center of the baking dish. I used 2 ladles (1/4 cup measurements) for doing this. (Farida has explained the process very well in her post.) Repeat until all the batter has been used up.

Bake at 350 F for 45 minutes. Check after 35 minutes or so. The surface of my cake was done before the rest of it was, so I covered the top with some foil and continued to bake it for another 10 minutes till it was all done. Cool. Slice and serve.



Notes:
The cake was pretty plain and not as sweet as I'd have liked it to be. Next time, I'll definitely increase the amount of sugar (by another ¼ - ½ cup), and maybe I'll use a frosting of some kind (nutella would work well, I think) although that would cover up the lovely pattern on top of the cake. I might even try replacing the oil in the recipe with butter. I’m going to play around with the basic recipe and see what I can come up with to make this cake taste as good as it looks.

Happy Onam!

Also, a very happy first anniversary to my sister and brother-in-law!

Carrot Halwa

I had a huge bag of carrots that had been sitting in the refrigerator for a good 2 weeks before I decided that something needed to be done with it. I decided to make one of my favorite Indian sweets- Gajar Ka Halwa.

This dessert is a bit time-consuming and takes a little over an hour to prepare, but it is a delicious treat that is well worth the time spent making it.

I followed the basic steps in Manjula's recipe video while making the halwa.

Ingredients:
4 cups grated carrots
1 cup heavy cream
2 cups milk (I used 2 %)
3 Tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
½ cup sugar
¼ tsp powdered cardamom
A handful of raisins
A pinch of saffron

Method:
Heat the ghee in a large saucepan. Toss in the raisins and fry them. They will absorb the ghee and plump up. Remove and set aside. Next, add the grated carrots. Cook for about 5 minutes till the carrots are coated well with the ghee.

Pour the heavy cream and milk into the saucepan, add the saffron strands and cook till the milk-cream mixture comes to a boil, about 3-5 minutes. Turn down the heat, add the raisins back and continue to cook, stirring constantly, till the carrots absorb all the liquid, about 45-50 minutes.

Add the powdered cardamom and sugar. Mix well, stir continuously and continue cooking till all the sugar melts and the carrot mixture is almost dry, 5-7 minutes.

Serve hot or cold. I like to have this warm with a good scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Summer Couscous Salad

I have been making a lot of salads lately. Here's a delightful and refreshing one I made recently to add to my collection of salad recipes. The lime juice adds a nice zing and a hint of freshness to the couscous.

Ingredients:
(for 2 large servings)
3 cups cooked couscous
1 ripe mango, peeled and chopped into cubes
1 cup of cooked black beans (I used half a can of beans after draining and rinsing)
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped into small pieces
2-3 scallions, chopped
4-5 chives, minced

For the dressing:
2 Tbsp olive oil
Juice of 3 limes
1 Tbsp sugar
3/4 tsp roasted cumin powder
Salt & Pepper

Method:
Cook the couscous according to the instructions on the packet. I used Near East's Toasted Pine Nut flavored couscous. Fluff it up with a fork after cooking and let it cool.

Throw the couscous along with the rest of the salad ingredients into a large bowl.
Add all the ingredients for the dressing into a small bowl and mix well. Pour the dressing over the salad and mix well.

Refrigerate until ready to serve. Sprinkle with chives before serving.