Eggless Apple Cake

1 big red apple cut into chunks or 2 medium

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup oil

1/4 cup milk

1 and 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda (soda bicarb)

1/2 tsp garam masala

1/4 cup walnuts

2 tbsp tutti-frutti

Preheat oven at 350 F or 180 C.

Grease a loaf tin and keep aside.

Cook the apples in the microwave for about 3 to 5 minutes till soft.

Blend the apples in a blender till smooth.

Pour this into a mixing bowl.

Add sugar, oil, and milk and blend till mixed.

Sift flour, baking soda, and garam masala pwd.

Add to the apple mixture and mix lightly.

Add walnuts and tutti-frutti.

Pour into the loaf tin and bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes.

Let cool for five minutes and then turn out of tin and cool an a wire rack.

Palak Paneer/ Saag Paneer

To make the paneer-

Boil about 4 cups of milk add 3 to 4 tbsps of lemon juice.

The curds will separate from the whey.

Then pour into a colander lined with a cheesecloth.

Pour cold water to cool the paneer down.

Place something heavy on the paneer to let it set.

This should take about 30 minutes.

Remove the cheesecloth and cut the paneer into cubes.

For the Palak Paneer-

4 cups of palak chopped or a 10 oz packet of frozen chopped spinach thawed

1 tomato

1 inch piece of ginger

2 green chillies

1 clove garlic

1 tbsp malai (top of milk)/cream

1 cloves

1 cardamon

1/4 inch piece of cinnamon

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 red onion chopped

1/2 tsp red chilli pwd

salt

2 tbsp ghee or more

Method-

Cook the palak with little water.

Grind in a Blender with the tomato, ginger, green chillies, garlic, malai, cloves, cardamon, and cinnamon.

Heat ghee, and pan fry the paneer till golden, add the fried paneer to half a cup of warm water and salt. This will keep them tender.

Using the remaining ghee, add more ghee if needed, add cumin seeds, add onions.

Saute till well browned, add the chilli pwd and then add the palak mixture and salt.

Cook till the palak mixture reduces and gets thick and creamy.

Squeeze the paneer out of the water, add to palak, stir well and remove from heat.

Serve with any kind of Indian bread.

Palak Pulao (Spinach Rice)

Pushpa Chechi this recipe is for you, I'm sorry it took me this long to put it up.

This is a nutritious rice dish, you can add other greens too, but spinach is so convenient to use and easily available. This pulao is not the fluffy dry kind of a pulao, its more like a rissotto I want to say, the rice does not get mushy or anything, but the whole thing stays together, very comforting to eat.

1 cup Basmati Rice washed and drained

2 cups chopped spinach/ palak

1/2 onion chopped fine

1/4 tsp turmeric pwd

1/2 tsp chilli pwd

salt to taste

2 tbsp oil or ghee

Grind to a paste: 1 tomato, 1/2 inch ginger, 1 clove garlic, 1 green chilli, 2 tbsp mint leaves, 1/2 inch cinnamon, 2 cloves, 3 cardamom pods.

Method:

Heat oil or ghee, add onion, fry till well browned.

Add ground paste, turmeric pwd, and chilli pwd.

Fry till mixture is browned and thick.

Add rice, saute for a minute.

Add spinach, saute for a minute, and add salt.

Add 2 and1/2 cup water, and cook in a pressure cooker for 1 whistle.

If not using a pressure cooker, just cover and cook till done about 20 minutes.

Once the pressure cooker cools, open and serve with raita.

I served mine with Beetroot Pachadi.

Aloo Rasedar

Aloo Rasedar is a different kind of side dish to eat with puris, especially if you get tired of eating it with the usual Aloo Sabji. This is a popular dish usually served for breakfast, in places like the Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Actually good to serve for brunch, lunch or even dinner.

1 Potato boiled and broken into big chunks

1 large tomato chopped fine

1/2 inch ginger minced

2 green chillies minced

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

a pinch of hing

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp chilli pwd

1/2 tsp coriander pwd

1/4 tsp mango pwd

1/4 tsp garam masala

2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves

salt to taste

1 tbsp oil

Method:

Heat oil add cumin seeds and hing, let it splutter.

Add tomatoes, grated ginger, green chillies, saute for a minute.

Add turmeric, chilli pwd, coriander pwd, and mango pwd.

Keep stirring the tomatoes, add a little water if it starts sticking to the bottom or gets too dry.

Once the tomatoes are soft and the mixture looks like it's blended well add potatoes, salt and 1 cup of water, if you want a really watery gravy add more water.

I usually put this whole thing in the pressure cooker and cook for 1 whistle, but you can just cover it up and cook on low to medium heat and let it come together.

Once done add garam masala and coriander leaves, remove from heat.

Serve with puris, this will easily serve 2 to 3 people.

Broken Wheat and Rava Idlis

I'm in Mumbai right now and enjoying the monsoons and the food. We wanted a quick breakfast this morning and came across rava idlis with potatoes, they looked really soft and delicious and so tried them with some variations. I used dalia or lapsi or fine broken wheat and semolina and just a tinge of baking soda to help them rise a bit. Rava idlis are ideal when you don't want to grind or ferment the batter, or when you are stumped about what to make for breakfast. Rava Idlis are steamed rounds of semolina, almost like a quick bread but steamed instead of baked and a very popular breakfast item in South India.

1 cup broken wheat(fine variety)

1/2 cup rava/semolina

3 tsps oil

1and1/2 cup yogurt

1 cup water

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 raw potato chopped fine

2 green chillies

1/2 inch ginger grated

2 tbsps coriander leaves

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

In a bowl mix the wheat and semolina add the oil mix and keep aside for a few minutes.

Add the yogurt, water, chopped potato, green chilli, ginger, cilantro and cumin seeds.

Add the baking soda and salt.

Keep aside for a few minutes.

Steam the idlis for 10 to 12 minutes, serve with chutney.