Marble cake / Choco vanilla cake

Marble cake is one of the most popular cakes sold in Kerala bakeries. The choco and vanilla layers fascinated me from childhood days. Having this cake is like a double treat, you can enjoy both the flavours in a single bite.

Ingredients:


All Purpose flour / Maida - 2 cups
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Butter - 100 gms, softened
Powdered sugar - 1+1/4 cups
Eggs - 2 (at room temperature)
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
Milk - 1 cup (luke warm)
Cocoa powder - 2 tbsp

Preparation:

1. Sift together maida and baking powder in a bowl.
2. In another bowl, combine butter and sugar. Add eggs and whisk well. Add the vanilla essence and milk and whisk together. Add the flour and whisk well till all ingredients are combined well and you get a smooth batter without any lumps.
3. Preheat oven to 180C and grease a cake tin.
4. Pour half of the cake mix in the tin.  Add the cocoa powder to the other half  in the bowl,and combine well. Pour this cocoa mix on top of the vanilla layer in the cake tin . Using a knife or toothpick, swirl the batter to create a marbling effect.
5. Bake for 30-40 mins. Check if cake is done by inserting a skewer in the middle. Let the cake cool completely.

Linking with my own event ABC Series:DESSERTS that ends tomorrow.

Events:

The Kerala Kitchen - Jan 2012 hosted by Kaveri, an event series started by Ria and Rose. 
Cooking concepts - Chocolate Fest by Sravani
Chocolate lover @Daily Cuppa
Valentine's day event @ Teenz Yummy delights
Chocolate Mela @ Cooking 4 all seasons
Valentine's special @ Anzz cafe
Tea time snack event @ Torview

Chettinad Chicken roast

Spicy and finger licking good chicken roast that leaves you craving for more. The aroma of freshly ground masalas is the speciality of this dish.

Ingredients:

Chicken - 1 kg, cut to medium pieces

For marination
Chilly powder - 1.5 tablespoon
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder - 2 tbsp
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Lemon juice - 2 tbsp
Salt as needed

For masala
Oil - 2 tbsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Fennel seeds - 2 tsp
Onion - 1 large, chopped
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Tomatoes - 2, chopped

For tempering/seasoning
Oil - 1 tbsp
Dry red chillies - 2 or 3
Curry leaves - a sprig
Onion - 1 small, sliced very thin
Coarsely crushed pepper - 1 tsp
Garam masala - 1 tsp (Use freshly made garam masala. Check here for the recipe)

Preparation:

1. Wash and drain the chicken. Combine all the marination ingredients in a bowl and add the chicken pieces and marinate for a minimum of 30 minutes.
2. In a pan, heat oil and add fennel and cumin seeds. Add onions and saute till soft. Add ginger garlic paste and saute for a few minutes. Add tomatoes and saute till oil starts oozing. Add the marinated chicken and cover and cook till chicken is done. As this is a dry preparation, no need to add water as chicken gets cooked in its own juice.
3. In  another pan, heat oil and add red chillies, followed by curry leaves and onion. Fry till onion turns brown. Add crushed pepper and garam masala and saute till you get a nice aroma. Add this mix to the cooked chicken and combine well.

Serve hot with rice, appam, parotta, roti etc...

Sending this over to Hot & Spicy treats

Potato Egg rice

The complete makeover of some leftover rice...Potatoes and eggs make it a yummy meal perfect for lunchbox too...

Ingredients:

Cooked rice - 2 cups
Potato - 1, peeled and cubed
Oil - 1 to 2 tbsp
Jeera/Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Chilly powder - 3/4 tsp
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Egg - 1 or 2
Coriander leaves chopped for garnishing

Preparation:

1. Heat oil in a pan and add jeera. Add the potatoes and chilly and turmeric powders, salt and garam masala. Fry it well. Sprinkle a little water and cover and cook till potatoes are done(they should retain the shape).
2. Beat the eggs and add it to the cooked potatoes and scramble well.
3. Now add cooked rice and coriander leaves and combine everything well and toss it for a few minutes.

Serve with plain yoghurt or raitha.

Events


Lets cook with leftovers

The Kerala Kitchen - Jan 2012 hosted by Kaveri, an event series started by Ria and Rose.

Let's Cook: Rice by Radhika

Also to Potato Mania hosted by Siri

Potato Thoran

Sometimes when I don't have any veggies in stock for a thoran (kerala style stir fry with coconut), I make this one. Potatoes are almost always available in any kitchen and this is a quick one when you need a side dish for rice. You may use black pepper or green chillies.

Ingredients:

Potatoes - 2 large, peeled and cubed

Oil - 1 to 2 tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Shallots - 3 or 4, peeled and sliced thin

Curry leaves - a sprig

To crush coarsely

Shredded Coconut - 1/4 cup

Jeera/cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

Whole black peppercorns - 1 tsp (adjust to suit your taste)

Garlic - 1 or 2 cloves

Salt to taste

Preparation:

1. Steam cook the potato cubes till 3/4th done(or boil it).

2. Heat oil in a pan and splutter mustard seeds. Add shallots and curry leaves and fry till shallots turn brown.

3. Crush together the ingredients given above. You may give it a pulse in a mixer/food processor. Add this mix and the potato cubes and combine well and fry well till all the ingredients are combined well.

This B&W pic for Susan's BWW.

This recipe goes to the below events.

The Kerala Kitchen - Jan 2012 hosted by Kaveri, an event series started by Ria and Rose.

Anyone can cook: Series 38

Also to Potato Mania hosted by Siri

Carrot halwa/Gajar ka halwa and a reason to celebrate !

I have two reasons to celebrate today :-) This is my 150th post and I just noticed that I now have more than 100 friends following my little space. Thank you all, for inspiring and encouraging me to make this possible. Here's a sweet treat for you...

Wishing you all a Happy Pongal / Makara Sankranti.

Ingredients:

Carrots - 500 gms, peeled and grated(or shredded)

Hot Milk - 1.5 cups

Sugar - 1/2 cup + more if you like

Cardamoms -  5 (powdered or crushed)

Ghee - 2 tbsp or more

Cashewnuts and Raisins - as much as you like :-)

Preparation:

1. Heat ghee in a big pan and fry the cashewnuts and raisins till done. Drain to a small bowl. Keep aside.

2. In the same ghee, add the carrots and fry for sometime. When the colour of the carrots change, add the hot milk and stir well. After it boils, lower the flame and cook for few minutes. Add sugar and combine well. Cook till the carrot is done and the milk is almost absorbed.

3. Garnish with the fried cashewnuts and raisins.

Enjoy as it is or with Vanilla icecream...

Im linking it with ABC Series:DESSERTS happening at my blog this month.

Also to Yummy Dessert hosted by Pranati.

Also sending to Anyone can cook: Series 38

Yam fries for BWW

This pic is for Susan's B&W Wednesday.

Check the recipe HERE

Pepper Chicken with gravy

I have already posted a Pepper chicken recipe which is a dry preparation and can be used as a starter. Today's version has a thick gravy and is best paired with some fried rice, pulav, roti or naan. Check the other recipe HERE

Ingredients:

For marination

Chicken - 1 kg, cut to small pieces

Whole Pepper corns - 1 tbsp

Green chillies - 3 or 4

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt - to taste

Onion - 2 large, sliced thin

Freshly ground ginger garlic paste - 1 to 2 tbsp

Tomato - 1, pureed

Bellpepper/Capsicum - 1, seeded and diced

Soy sauce - 1 tbsp

Corn flour - 1 tsp mixed in 1/4 cup water

Pepper powder - as needed to adjust the spice level

Oil - 2 + 1 tbsp

Preparation:

1.Grind together pepper corns and green chillies. Marinate the chicken with this ground mix, turmeric powder and salt for half an hour.

2. Meanwhile, heat 2 tbsp oil in a large pan and saute the onions till they start browning. Add ginger garlic paste and tomato puree and combine well. Add the marinated chicken and mix well. Cover and cook till chicken is done. Add water if you need more gravy.

3. In another pan, heat 1 tbsp of oil and saute the bell pepper and soy sauce for 2-3 minutes. Add this to the cooked chicken and combine well. Add the corn flour mix and bring to boil. Check and add more pepper powder if required. 

Curry tastes best after a few hours. Best enjoyed on cold winter days :-)

Sending this over to Hot & Spicy treats

ABC Series: DESSERTS

The theme for ABC Series this month is DESSERTS. A dessert is the last course of a meal and is usually sweet food. Desserts can be ice creams, puddings, cakes, mousse, pies, tarts, pastries, cheesecake, Indian sweets, payasam etc. All of us love to have some dessert at the end of a special meal. So, this month lets celebrate with desserts !

The previous events on my blog can be found HERE

Rules for the event:

1. Send any DESSERT recipe before 31-Jan-2012.The recipes must be posted on your blog between Jan 1 - Jan 31, 2012.
2. Please link back to this announcement page and use the logo above. The use of logo is mandatory as it helps spread the word about the event. To participate, all you need to do is to link the recipe using the inlinkz tool. The link tool doesnt support images, so I would be doing a roundup in the first week of Feb.
3. Archived entries are most welcome. Please re-post it with a link to this announcement page and use the logo 
4. If you have any issues in linking, please post a comment or send a mail to events.ramyasrecipe@gmail.com. Non-bloggers can send the recipes to this email id.

ABC Series: CAKES for CHRISTMAS event roundup

Hope all of you had lots and lots of cake during the Christmas-New year time. I am so happy to receive many entries for the CAKES event. Thanks to each and everyone for their awesome entries.  This time I got to know many more blogger friends through this event. Here is an award for all of you, please accept it and I would be really happy to see it on your blog.

Poornima, Sobha Shyam and Prathibha gets a special one - Top contributor Award for sending 3 recipes each.

So, lets move on to the Roundup.

The first entry was Dates cake with buttercream frosting from Chitra of Chitranna. This also happens to her son's 3rd birthday cake. Belated Happy birthday, Shridhar.

P

Amina has sent her Soft Sponge Cake. Her blog also features her crafts and creative skills.

Poornima who participated in my blog event for the first time, surprised me with 3 yummy cakes Eggless custard powder snack cake

Strawberry chocolate mousse cake

Fruit and Nut cake

Eggless Brownie from MyIndiaRecipes. This also happens to be the 200th post on the blog. Congrats and keep posting yummy recipes !

Teena has sent this beautiful Plum upside cake

Eggless fruit cake from Resh of Daily Cuppa. Fruit cakes are my favourite.

Chocolate cake -  Egg and dairy free from Reva. Love the raspberries on it.

Rathai's Fruit cake perfect for the festive mood.

Vidhya has sent Chocolate rum raisin cake, I just love the combination of raisins and rum.

Sobha has sent this unique Stuffed Banana Muffins, Eggless oats banana muffins and Eggless carrot cake. Thanks dear, for supporting me from the beginning.

Chocolate lava cake recipe oozing chocolate from Malaysian Delicacies

Christmas Rum cake from Richa Priyanka for the festive season.

Prathibha has sent Christmas Fruit cake, the traditional kerala plum cake

A three tier cake that also happens to be her daughter's 2nd birthday cake 

and some Chocolate Chip cupcakes

Amy has sent these cute Rainbow cupcakes and Vanilla cupcakes

Sandhya's awesome Chocolate cake with nutella biscoff

Hyma's cute Eggless choco brownie cupcakes

The previous events on my blog can be found HERE

Vegetable pulav

A yummy and healthy pulav loaded with veggies. A one pot meal perfect for lunchbox.

Ingredients:

Basmati / Biriyani Rice - 2 cups, washed and drained

Onion - 1, finely chopped

Tomato - 1, chopped

Chopped mixed vegetables - about1.5 to 2 cups 

(I used beans, carrot, capsicum, green peas, potatoes, cauliflower and babycorns)

Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp

Ghee or oil - 2 tbsp

Green chillies - 2 or 3, grind to a paste

Salt to taste

Whole spices

Cinnamon - 2 inch piece

Green cardamom - 2

Cloves - 4

Star anise - 1/2 of a flower

Bay leaves - 2

To garnish

Cashewnuts and raisins roasted in ghee 

Coriander leaves chopped

Preparation:

1. Heat ghee/oil in a pan and add the whole spices and fry for a minute. Then add ginger garlic paste and ground green chillies and saute. Add onions and mixed veggies and tomato and saute for 2-3 minutes.

2. Add the rice and combine everything well. Meanwhile boil 4 cups of water in another pan/kettle. Pour the boiling water and enough salt and cook covered till rice and veggies are cooked and all the water is evaporated.

3. Garnish with coriander leaves and Cashewnuts and raisins roasted in ghee.

Enjoy with raitha, papad and pickle.

This image is for Susan's B&W Wednesday.

The healthy pulav goes to the following events

Cook with spices: Cardamom

Royal feast - Biriyani

Let's Cook: Rice

Kerala Kitchen - Jan 2012 hosted by Kaveri