Eggless Vanilla Cupcakes with Butter cream Frosting

I have been baking cakes since long but never dared to post a recipe! I have always felt that there is so much more to learn & kept on postponing. After making dozens of cakes, now I feel confident about my baking skills. So here I am with with my first cupcake recipe with butter cream frosting !!

I baked 40 cupcakes for my son's birthday last week. He took 26 cupcakes to school & remaining I gave to his friends at our apartment. Made two batches of chocolate & a single batch of vanilla cupcakes.

Pardon me for the poor cupcake decoration...

Preparation Time: 10 mins
Baking Time: 20 mins

Recipe source for the cupcakes: Cookcurrynook

Ingredients: (Yields around 13-14 cupcakes)
For vanilla cupcakes:

• All-Purpose flour/Maida : 1 & 1/2 cups
• Yogurt/Curd: 1 cup
• Sugar: 3/4th cup
• Cooking Oil: 1/2 cup (I used sunflower oil)
• Baking soda: 1/2 tsp
• Baking powder: 1 & 1/4 tsp
• Vanilla extract: 2 tsp

For vanilla flavored butter cream frosting:

• Butter: 1 cup
• Confectioners sugar/powdered sugar: 3 cups
• Yellow food color: 3 drops
• Vanilla extract: 2 tsp
• Milk: 1-2 tbsp

Other ingredients:
Rainbow sprinkles

** All the measurements mentioned above are leveled & not heaped!

Method:
For the cupcakes:
Preheat the oven to 400F/200C for 10 mins. Grease the cupcake moulds with butter or place cupcake liners.
In a large bowl, mix the yogurt & sugar until the sugar dissolves completely.

Add the baking soda & baking powder to the yogurt mixture

Mix the baking soda & baking powder. Keep it aside for 5 mins. The yogurt mixture will turn frothy & will slightly increase in volume.

Meantime, measure & sieve the AP flour.
Pour in the cooking oil, vanilla extract to the frothy yogurt mixture & mix.

Add the flour & gently fold the mixture. Don't stir vigorously.

Scoop out around 2 tbsp of mixture to each cupcake mould.
Reduce the oven temperature to 360F/180C & bake the cupcakes for about 15-18 mins.
To check if the cupcakes are done, insert a toothpick & if it comes out clean, cupcakes are done.
Place the cupcakes on a wire rack & allow them to cool. (I cooled my cupcakes for about an hour!)

For the frosting:
Prerequisites: 
The butter has to be at room temperature.
Milk has to be cold.

I poured in the butter & sugar to my food processor jar & pulsed it for 10 secs.
When it was almost done, I added 1.5 tbsp of milk, vanilla extract, food color & pulsed again for 5-10 secs. Frosting was all done.
#In case, you don't have food processor, you could do it with your hand mixer/stand mixer. You could also mix it using your hands. Good exercise!!

Besan Laddu : Festive Foods

Few of my friends ask me, why don't I publish during festivals? I always cook a lot during the festivals, but at the end of the day I get so tired that I never take any pictures! This week I had three occasions back to back. Swarna Gowri Pooja, Ganesh Chaturthi & the following day was my son's birthday. I have cooked so much over those three days that I feel I need rest for the next three weeks!!

For the Gowri pooja, I had cooked kadlekalu guggri/usli (Spiced Chickpeas) & besan laddu as neivedyam/prasad.

I follow my aunt's measurements for making the besan laddu. It turns perfect every-time.

Preparation Time: 15 mins

Cooking Time: 30-40 mins

Makes around 20-22 laddus

Ingredients:

• Besan/Gram flour/Kadale hittu: 2 cups
• Sugar: 2 cups
• Ghee/Clarified Butter: 1/2 cup & a tablespoon

Method:

Sieve the gram flour & keep aside.

Take a wide & thick bottomed pan. Add the gram flour & roast until the flour is warm on a medium-low heat.
Add the ghee to the warm gram flour & gently mix until the ghee is well coated on the gram flour. It will form a mass now. 
Keep breaking it & roast it on low-medium heat for 25-30 minutes. The aroma of the flour roasted in ghee should fill your home. The flour will slightly change its color. 
Turn off the heat & let the flour cool completely. 
Powder the sugar & keep aside.
When cool, add the sugar & mix well. Take a tablespoon of mixture & press it firmly with your fist. Make medium lime sized balls with the mixture & store them in air tight container. (In case your mixture is breaking, refer the notes below). This stays good for up to 15 days without refrigeration. 

Notes:

• Sometimes the mixture might turn too powdery & becomes difficult to make balls out of it. In that case, add a couple of teaspoons of warm ghee & mix well. Then make laddus out of it. Some people add warm milk too. But with milk, the shelf life of the laddu reduces. 
• On the contrary, the mixture might become very soft making it difficult to make laddus. In such a case, refrigerate the mixture for 10 mins to make the mixture a bit hard. Make laddus out of it.
• Very soft mixture is an indication that more ghee was added. Reduce the ghee for the next batch! 
• Add dry fruits of your choice to make the laddus rich! 

Kushboo Idli

Loads of unpredictable things are happening to me these days, more in a not-so-good way. I'm stressed & strained. I am trying to involve myself in other activities to forget the pain.  The main relaxation to me is the cooking. I have been cooking enormously over the last week. To rejuvenate myself I decided to cook dishes that I bookmarked from my blogger friends. This whole month, I dedicate to the bookmarked recipes!

Last weekend, we celebrated Krishna Janmastami & here is a glimse of what we offered (Pardon the poor pictures as it was taken late night!)

Kushboo idli is tried from Priya's Feast. It was super soft! Since, the quality of urad dal isn't that great here, I made few modifications to the original.

Preparation Time: 30 mins
Cooking Time: 20 mins
Makes around: 30-35 idlis.

Ingredients:

• Urad dal: 1 cup
• Idli rice: 3 cups (original calls for 4 cups of raw rice)
• Sago/Sabbakki/Sabudana: 1/2 cup
• Salt: 2 tsp
• Water: As needed to grind.

Method:

• Wash the rice & sago together. Let it soak for 4-5 hours.
• Wash the lentils thoroughly & let them soak for 3-4 hours. Drain the water from the soaked lentils & add them to the food processor jar. 
• Add 2-3 tbsp of ice cold water to the lentils & pulse for few seconds. Add few tablespoons of ice cold water to the very coarsely done lentils & pulse again. Repeat the whole process of adding ice cold water & pulsing for at-least 5-6 times. 
• The lentils must be very smooth & frothy.
• Scoop out the lentils paste to a broad vessel. 
• Drain the water from the rice. Grind the rice & sago together with very little water to a fine paste.
• Scoop out the rice paste. Pour it over the lentils mixture & mix it well. 
• Let it ferment for 8-12 hours depending on the outside temperature. After proper fermentation, the batter would have raised.
• Grease the idli plates. Add salt to the batter & mix it. (I used ramekin moulds to prepare the idlis)

• Pour couple of tablespoons of batter to each mould. 
• Place it in the steamer & steam the idlis for 15-20mins.
• To check if idli is done, insert a tooth-pick, if it comes clean, idlis are properly cooked. 
• Remove the idli stand from steamer & allow it to cool for 2-3mins. Carefully remove the idli using a spoon or knife.
• Serve it hot with a chutney, sambar of your choice.

Notes:
Refer the beginner series post on idli for detailed info about how to grind the lentils. 

Oats Idli | Oats Idly Recipe

...... How to make oats idli?

When I was in India last year, I happened to follow few of the regional cookery shows. Most of the cookery shows talked about being healthy; healthy foods & magical grains that helped the humans. Every single show talked about oats.  My question is are we encouraging the usage of oats at the cost of our staple food??

We have such wonderful grains like ragi/finger millet, jola/sorghum, bajra/pearl millet & others. They are all great for health. Why are those grains not encouraged? No, I'm not against eating oats. I too buy oats & use it regularly.What I mean to say here is, don't blindly follow what is said. Consume oats but at the same time analyze what is better for you!

Here is a reference of nutritional information of oats and sorghum. Refer here for more.

Oats vs Sorghum

Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 100g or 3.5oz Amount Per Serving Calories  389 Calories from Fat 58 % Daily Value* Total Fat  7g 11% Saturated Fat 1g 6% Trans Fat 0g Cholesterol  0mg 0% Sodium  2mg 0% Total Carbohydrate  66g 22% Dietary Fiber 11g 42% Sugars 0g Protein  17g Vitamin A 0% · Vitamin C 0% Calcium 5% · Iron 26% *Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your Daily Values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs. Nutritional Data by SkipThePie.org

Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 100g or 3.5oz Amount Per Serving Calories  339 Calories from Fat 28 % Daily Value* Total Fat  3g 5% Saturated Fat 0g 2% Trans Fat 0g Cholesterol  0mg 0% Sodium  6mg 0% Total Carbohydrate  75g 25% Dietary Fiber 6g 25% Sugars 0g Protein  11g Vitamin A 0% · Vitamin C 0% Calcium 3% · Iron 24% *Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your Daily Values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs. Nutritional Data by SkipThePie.org

Above information is taken from here.

Wasn't that too much of controversial discussion?! Let me get back to my business!
Here is the recipe of oats idli.

Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 20 mins

Ingredients: (Makes around 15-18 idlis)

• Quick cooking Oats: 1 cup
• Rava/Semolina/Cream of Wheat: 1 cup
• Yogurt: 1 cup
• Water: 1 cup
• Oil: 2 tsp
• Mustard seeds: 1/2 tsp
• Channa dal/Gram dal: 1 tbsp
• Curry leaves: 8-10 nos, coarsely chopped
• Cashew nuts: 1.5 to 2 tbsp
• Eno's fruit salt: 1 tsp (Refer notes below)
• Salt: As needed.

Method:
Dry roast the oats on medium heat until it changes its color. Allow it to cool. Once cool, grind it to a coarse powder.
Heat oil in a broad pan. When oil is hot, throw in the mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds splatter, add the channa dal & cashew nuts. Roast until the dal & nuts turn golden brown. Add in the curry leaves & saute.
Add the semolina to the mixture & roast on medium heat until the semolina releases a nice aroma. The semolina will gradually turn to golden brown. Turn off the heat & scoop it out to a clean bowl. Allow it to cool. 
Once the semolina comes back to room temperature, add in the powdered oats & mix well. 
Beat the yogurt & add the yogurt, water & salt to the semolina oats mixture. Mix well & let it sit for about 30 mins.
The mixture will thicken after 30 mins, add little water to bring it to the normal idli batter consistency. 
Grease the idli plates/moulds & keep the steamer on medium-high heat.
Add in the fruit salt & mix gently. The batter will rise & become soft & fluffy. 
Scoop out around 2-3 tbsp of batter & pour it on the idli/idly moulds. Steam the idlis for 15-20 mins.
Allow it to cool for 5 mins. Serve it hot with a chutney/dip of your choice.

Side dishes that go well with this idli are:
Bombay Saagu
Vegetable Saagu
Ginger Chutney
Red chilli chutney

Notes:

• If you cannot find Eno's fruit salt, you could replace it with half the quantity of baking soda. 
• Once baking soda/ fruit salt is added to the batter, make the idlis immediately. The batter should not be kept for a long time unused. 

Bread Chilli in Chilli Parotta Style with step-by-step pictures!

We all know that it is not good to skip the breakfast. Even then, some of us miss it.I too was having minimal/no breakfast days. Thanks to my son's long summer holidays, I am not missing it anymore! I make elaborate breakfast for us & during one of the days, I made this bread chilli with the left over bread :)

My son coined the name bread chilli. Though he found it little spicy, he loved it to the core. He was sipping the water every other bite but never wanted to say "no" to it :)

Preparation Time: 15 mins
Cooking Time: 15 mins
Serves: Me & my six year old ;)

Recipe Source: Loosely adapted from Cookery Corner

Ingredients:
For the bread chilli:

• Bread slices: 8 nos, I used wheat bread.
• Capsicum: 1/4th cup, cubed
• Onion: 1/4th cup, cubed
• Ginger-garlic paste: 1/2 tsp
• Green chillies: 4 nos, sliced
• Oil: 1.5 tbsp
• Salt: As needed

For the spice paste:

• Oil: 1 tbsp
• Onion: 1 , small sized (around 1/3rd cup)
• Tomato: 1, medium sized
• Khus-khus/Poppy seeds: 1 tsp
• Cashew nuts: 1 tsp or 5-6 nos
• Coriander powder: 1/2 tsp
• Red chilli powder: 1 tsp
• Garam masala: 1/2 tsp
• Salt: 1/2 tsp

For the garnish:

• Coriander leaves/cilantro: 1 tbsp, finely chopped

Method:
For the spice paste:
Roughly chop the onion & tomato. Keep it aside.
Heat oil in a medium sized pan. When oil is hot, throw in the onions.

Saute till the onion become transparent. Add in the tomatoes & saute till tomatoes become soft.

Add the poppy seeds, cashew nuts, coriander powder, red chilli powder, garam masala, salt & mix thoroughly.

 Cook on a medium heat for a couple of minutes. Let the mixture cool.
Once the mixture is cool, make a smooth paste out of it by adding couple of teaspoons of water. Scoop out the spice paste & keep it aside.

Toast the bread (either on a griddle or toaster). Cut them into 1/2 inch cubes & keep aside.

For bread chilli:
Heat oil in a broad wok. Once oil is hot, throw in the onion & ginger-garlic paste. Toss on a medium-high heat.

When the onion turns golden brown, add in the capsicum & green chillies. Saute on high heat.
Add in the spice paste, salt & saute again. Add couple of tablespoons of water,if needed.

Throw in the cut bread slices & toss well. Toss the bread on medium-high for couple of minutes.

Turn off the heat, garnish with coriander leaves & enjoy!

Notes:

• It is important to toss the onion, capsicum & bread on medium-high heat.
• Remember we added salt while making the spice paste. So, adjust the salt accordingly.
• This dish could be garnished with spring onion greens too. 

Cooking Tips

• When trying to chop the boiled potato, it sticks to the knife. To avoid it, dip the knife in water & then chop the boiled potatoes.  
• Sometimes dosa(especially neer dosa)/akki rotti sticks to the spatula when we try to remove it from the griddle. Dip the spatula in water & then use it. The dosa will no more stick to the spatula.

Simple potato roast with fenugreek leaves | Aloo methi :Dry sabzi

This dish is nothing to fancy about. It is a very simple & quick stir-fry that can be whipped in less than 30 mins. It tastes great as a side dish with roti, rice-dal or paratha!

Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 20 mins
Serves: 2-3

Ingredients:

• Potatoes: 3 medium sized
• Methi leaves/fenugreek leaves/menthe soppu: 1 cube, frozen (approximately 1/2 cup, fresh methi leaves)
• Oil: 1 tbsp
• Cumin seeds: 1 tsp
• Ginger-garlic paste: 1 tsp
• Turmeric: 1/4th tsp
• Red chilli powder: 1 tsp
• Coriander powder: 1 tsp
• Salt: As needed.

Method:
Wash the potatoes, peel the skin & dice them. Soak the potatoes in water.
Thaw the methi leaves.
Heat oil in a broad pan. When the oil is hot, add cumin seeds. When cumin seeds turn brown, add in the ginger-garlic paste. Saute till the raw flavor of the ginger-garlic disappears.
Throw in the methi leaves & saute for a couple of minutes.
Drain the diced potatoes & add the potatoes the sauteed methi leaves. 
Add the chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder & mix well. 
Cook it covered until the potatoes are almost done. Keep stirring in between to ensure the potatoes doesn't burn & get cooked evenly. 
Add the salt & mix well. Keep cooking until the potatoes are soft.
Turn off the heat & serve it hot!

Notes:

• This is a very basic & a simple potato roast. You could add other vegetables too, to make this dish more nutritious & interesting. I sometimes add in green peas or cauliflower. 
• If you are using fresh methi leaves, separate only the leaves from the stem and wash thoroughly before adding!