Ina Garten's Lemon Yogurt Cake

I picked up a copy of Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa At Home from the library a few months back. One of the first recipes I promptly tried out from the book was the lemon yogurt cake. I watch Ina’s show on television and have made a few of her recipes before with excellent results. This one too turned out to be fantastic.

Ina uses vegetable oil and yogurt instead of butter in this cake. I followed her recipe totally but used low-fat yogurt instead of whole-milk yogurt. I skipped the lemon glaze altogether and used just the lemon syrup, and the cake still had a nice lemony flavor.

Ingredients:

· 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

· 1½ tsp baking powder

· ½ tsp salt

· 1 cup plain yogurt (I used low-fat)

· 1 cup sugar

· 3 eggs

· 2 tsp grated lemon zest (2 lemons)

· 1 tsp vanilla extract

· ½ cup vegetable oil

· 1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

For the lemon-sugar solution:

· 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

· 2 Tbsp sugar

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a 9x5- inch loaf pan and set aside.

In a bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt.

In another bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, oil, yogurt, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla extract.

Combine the dry and wet ingredients and mix well.

Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Stir together the lemon juice and sugar in a small saucepan and heat until the sugar dissolves.

While the cake is still warm, pour the lemon-sugar solution all over the cake and allow it to soak in. Cool, slice and serve.

This cake is flavorful, light, moist and absolutely delicious, and it has now become one of my favorites. The recipe is a keeper for sure!

Lemon-Honey Tea

We like to have a steaming hot cup of this tea every now and then after dinner. It's also a great winter warmer.

Brew a cup or two of your favorite tea. I like the Lipton Yellow Label Loose Tea. Add some honey and a couple of good squeezes of lemon. Add a touch of sugar if required. Enjoy hot or cold.

Blueberry Cornmeal Cake

Berries are in season now and I usually buy whatever it is that’s on sale in my grocery store. Last week, I picked up 2 pints of blueberries. After leaving them sitting in the refrigerator for almost a week, I finally decided to make a blueberry crumb cake using a recipe I’d come across in a magazine.
Now, I’ve never been one to follow any given recipe exactly- I usually just take the general idea and go from there. This time too it was no different. I started out by making a couple of minor changes to the original recipe. By the time I was done though, I’d tweaked the recipe to such an extent that it looked nothing like the original- what started out as a recipe for a blueberry crumb cake ended up becoming one for a blueberry cornmeal cake! But it turned out pretty well, and so I wanted to document it for myself.

Here's what I used-

Dry ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup fine white cornmeal
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
A pinch of salt

Wet ingredients:
2 eggs
½ cup sour cream (I used light)
¼ cup oil
1 cup brown sugar (use more for a sweeter cake)
Juice of 1 lemon
Zest of one lemon
1 pint fresh blueberries

Method:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a foil-lined round pan/baking dish with oil.

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, oil, sour cream, sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest until smooth.

Add flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; whisk gently to combine.

Toss in the blueberries (reserve a few for topping the batter) and mix gently.
Pour the batter into the pan; sprinkle the remaining blueberries on top.

Bake until the cake is cooked and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 30-35 minutes. Cool, cut in wedges, and serve.

Lemon Rice

It has been a while since I posted a South Indian dish here. Here’s something simple and quick that I made for dinner yesterday.

Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked basmati (or any other long-grain) rice
2 Tbsp oil (gingelly/sesame oil would be ideal here)
1 tsp chana dal
1 tsp urad dal
1 tsp mustard seeds
2-3 red chillies
A pinch of asafoetida
½ tsp turmeric powder
3-4 green chillies, minced
4-5 curry leaves
½ onion, finely chopped
¾ tsp ginger paste
A good handful of coriander leaves, chopped up
½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (I used 2 large and juicy lemons)
Salt
Sugar

Method:
Cook the rice. (I always use the microwave for this.)

Meanwhile, heat oil in a large pan. Add chana dal, urad dal, mustard seeds, red chillies asafoetida, turmeric powder, green chillies, and curry leaves. Next add the onions, ginger paste, and salt. Cook till the onions soften.

Add the hot rice and mix well. Turn off the heat; add lemon juice to the rice. Add a touch of sugar too if you so desire. Keep for at least 30 minutes before serving to allow the rice to absorb the lemon juice and all of the other flavors.

I normally use rice that has been left over from the previous day to make preparations like tomato rice, tamarind rice, ghee rice, etc. In the case of lemon rice though, I have found that it tastes best when the rice used is fresh and steaming hot.

Lemon Cupcakes With A Greek Yogurt Topping

I made these cupcakes last night as an after-dinner treat. I’d made a dozen of these yesterday but I only have four left now, less than a day later!
The cupcakes have a wonderful flavor and a fresh, tart taste that comes from adding both lemon zest and lemon juice to the batter.

(For 12 cupcakes)
Dry Ingredients:
1 and 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
¾ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp baking soda
A pinch of salt

Wet ingredients:
2 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
¼ cup oil
¼ cup buttermilk
Freshly squeezed lemon juice (I used 2 lemons)
Grated lemon zest (2 lemons)

For the topping:
Greek Yogurt (I used this)
Honey
Lemon juice
Lemon zest

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.

Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, brown sugar, oil, buttermilk, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. With a rubber spatula, make sure it's all incorporated.

Spoon the batter into the muffin tray, filling each paper-lined cup till it is three-fourths full. Bake for 20-22 minutes or so till the tops of the cakes are nice and golden brown or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cupcake comes out clean.

Allow the cupcakes to cool a bit before topping.
For the topping, combine Greek yogurt, honey, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a bowl. Mix well till smooth. Spread over the tops of the cupcakes.