My mom celebrated her birthday last month and I had every reason to bake a cake, especially when it's for her. I made plans, that too elaborate and I was determined it had to work well, secretly. Wanted to bake an Eggless Blueberry Gateau and chalked out timetable such that things would fall in place.

It wasn't probably the best day for me. Somethings just don't work right, that too when you are super excited to the pinnacle about it. Two days in advance to the D-day, I took time off in the evening to bake the cake. I chased my husband to buy some fresh cream and he was out on the hunt for what would sound a meaningless, clueless ingredient to him. Meanwhile, I baked an eggless sponge using the recipe for condensed milk. My baby sat in the pram silently looking at me as I shoved the cake to oven, let it bake there and skipped around setting up things for the frosting. The cake baked to perfection and it rose beautifully. I flattened the tops, sliced the center, moistened them with the syrup and let them sit on the stand to work artistically later. Things seemed positive till then.

I put myself back to relaxed mode, turned on the music, sipping tea and waiting patiently for my husband to be back with my dedicated ingredient. Clock ticked away and three hours later, he was back. I eagerly looked into the bag, hoping a liter pack would pop out. 'No fresh cream anywhere in town' he announced! The impulsive me almost blurted out the cry. "Yeah! I hunted the entire town. It's nowhere. There's a vendor issue they say." he confronted. I was broken. To him, it was more simpler to order an eggless cake from our dedicated Chef Bakers outlet. He comforted wondering why I should go through all this trouble of making a cake when we get the same fancy stuff outside. It may have sounded the simplest solution to anyone then :) The cake I baked was pretty massive. I had sliced it across, moistened it well, even spread the blueberry compote. I felt a sudden gush through my spine as my plans went topsy-turvy. I felt totally at loss.

The recipe I bring today is nowhere related to the cake I wished to prepare. But it's surprising how things do not work at times despite planning. A well prepared me had least thought that it was just not my day that evening, while this honey ice cream made out of no fore thought turned out to be one of the best flavors, something I least expected considering I was making it only to wipe off the last few spoons from the bottle!

Honey Ice-cream

INGREDIENTS

5 tbsp honey
200 ml low fat milk cream
100 ml milk
1 tbsp cornflour

DIRECTIONS

Prepare a thick custard by heating a mixture of 100 ml milk and a tablespoon of cornflour. Heat it till the mix thickens and coats well on the back of a spoon. Refrigerate till needed.

Whip cold cream along with honey and the prepared custard till it's all well combined. Taste your ice-cream at this stage. Add more honey if preferred. Transfer to a freezer proof bowl and freeze it for an hour till it just begins to set. Once it's almost set on the edges, remove and churn it briefly. Repeat a couple of times. This helps ice-cream to be creamy. After the final churn, freeze till it's completely set.

The ice-cream is simple to make and uses everyday ingredients available in every home. You can skip the cream and make a gelato too. My husband is not a honey lover, but the moment he tasted a spoon of this ice-cream, all he said was "Wow!". And it's the flavor from honey that makes it rich and delicious. Top it with nuts and they will only make it more decadent. Roasted almonds make the best pair for these and that reminds me of my favorite Baskin Robin's Honey and Roasted Almond ice-cream. Probably my next project, yeah?

Easy Nippattu Recipe | Easy Masala Shenga Recipe

I am very fond of Ganesha, the God of wisdom and prosperity and invoke him everyday. I believe in God, the strength prayers bring and the rituals performed for well being of our family and society. They bestow peace to my mind, an orientation in life which is of utmost importance for a healthy life.

This year Ganesha brought bounty happiness to our home and family. This Chaturthi had to be special for all of us. I fondly love to call my little one as Bal Ganesh and of course with due respect to my Lord, she has been named after him. She's prosperity for us, just as her name suggests. For the festival, our entire family came together for prayers and offerings, followed by a good spread of lunch and we felt pretty well soaked in the festive disposition.

A day before the festival, my mom and I came together to make both sweets and savories for the festival. While Modaka, Shankarpali and Tambittu were sweets made to offer our Ganesha, for savories we had Nippattus and Masala Shenga. Masala Shenga/Peanuts were not exactly for the offerings, but surely to serve the guests who came over to greet us.

Nippattu

INGREDIENTS

2 cups rice flour
1 cup maida (all purpose flour)
1/2 cup besan (chickpea flour)
1 tsp hing (asafoetida powder)
2 green chillies
3 strings chopped curry leaves
2 tbsp coarsely ground peanuts
2 tbsp hurigadale (roasted bengal gram)
2 tbsp chilli powder
2 tsp white sesame seeds
Salt to taste
2 tbsp cooking oil
Water to knead
Oil for deep frying

DIRECTIONS

Mix in all the flours, i.e. the rice flour, maida and besan. Add the hing, green chillies, finely chopped curry leaves, coarsely ground peanuts, roasted bengal gram, chilli powder, sesame seeds and salt to taste. Drizzle about 2 tbsp of oil. Using water little by little, knead gently into a soft dough.

Pinch lemon sized balls from the dough and roll out on an oiled surface. You can either use a granite stone or use a butter paper to pat the nippattu. An inverted and oiled steel plate will also do.

Heat oil in a fry pan. Gently drop the rolled nippattu and fry them on a medium low flame till they turn golden brown. Remove them and drain on a kitchen paper. Store them in air tight containers and they are good to go for a month long, well if you can resist not eating them so long!

Masala Shenga (Spiced Peanuts)

INGREDIENTS

For the Spice mix

1 cup gram flour (besan)
1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp red chilli powder
Salt to taste

Other Ingredients:

3 cups roasted peanuts
Water as needed to bind the spices and flour
Oil to fry

DIRECTIONS

Mix all the spice mix ingredients mentioned above together in a large bowl. Add water in small quantities to the spices and flour. The quantity should be sufficient to ensure the spices coat the peanuts uniformly.

Heat the oil in a kadhai or fry pan on medium heat. Oil your hands a little as it will help in dropping the peanuts into the oil. Drop the peanuts in batches ensuring they are separated while frying. Fry the peanuts till they cook evenly and turn golden brown in color. Drain the peanuts on a kitchen paper to absorb the extra oil. Spread them out and allow them to cool down to room temperature.

Store the Masala Peanuts in an air-tight container and these are good for a month long. Again, these go very well as tea-time snack. Pack it up for travel treats or picnic munch-ons.

Both these spicy treats make great travel accompaniments and are excellent tea time snacks. Nipattu is another traditional dish from Karnataka cuisine and is commonly served as a snack in many Karnataka households. So the next time you have guests at home, greet them with these spicy Nippattus and Masala peanuts. Be promised, these spicy treats are sure to let their taste-buds lingering with it's spices.

How to make Shankarpali | Tambittu Recipe

Wishing all my readers a very Happy Ganesh Chaturthi. Even before I have recovered from the heavy feasting we had on Krishna Janmasthami, we already have Ganesh Chaturthi here. More festivals to follow and I am looking forward to them eagerly. Festive season is here again and with good things happening in our life this year, I am all the more determined to celebrate our festivals with grandeur.

Ganesh Chaturthi is the festival I never miss to celebrate. The festival marks the birth of Lord Ganesha. Just like many, Ganesha happens to be my favorite God too. Our childhood did revolve around listening to mythological stories woven beautifully by my paternal grandma during our bed-time.

Larger than life-like clay models of Lord Ganesha have been making rounds in market, weeks before the festival. That's good enough an hint that the festival is just round the corner. Public celebrations of the festival, tableau and processions are hugely popular with streets laced with rice bulbs, music and heavily decorated pandals that host the God for 10 odd days.

Lord Ganesh is often associated with food and is known for his fondness for sweets like modaks, laddus, karjikai and savories like chakklis, kadabu and kodbale. Every Chaturthi, we have a ritual at home of waking up early for the bath, followed by puja. An array of dishes, both sweet and savory made at home by my mom a day before the festival are offered to Lord Ganesha on this day. The celebration goes on for 11 days, hence the sweets and savories are made in large quantities so that can last long. Like every year, Modaks will be made to offer the Lord this year too. Apart from this, we have Shankarpali, Nippattu, Huri Shenga, Tambittu and Panchakajjaya to offer our Ganesha this year. Fortunately, I have my mom close by, so it's been a combined effort. I shall share the recipes for Shankarpali and Tambittu today. Nippattu shall be on another post.

Shankarpali

INGREDIENTS

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup ghee
Pinch of salt
Oil or Ghee for deep-frying

DIRECTIONS

Mix the milk, sugar and ghee in a kadhai and heat to a boil. When it is warm enough to touch add the salt followed by flour and stir well. Add the flour till it comes to a kneading consistency, good enough to form a soft dough.

Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough flat to a centimeter thick. Using a pizza-cutter cut into diamond shapes. Deep fry them in hot oil/ghee till they turn golden brown. Fry on medium low heat. High heat will result in dark brown crust on the outsides and under cooked beneath. Remove and drain on a kitchen paper.

The amount of sugar mentioned above is the right amount of sweetness we like. If you prefer it more sweeter, you may increase the amount of sugar as per your taste. The amount of flour mentioned above is an approximate number. While preparing the Shankarpalis, add in flour till it comes together to form a soft dough.

Spicy version of Shankarpali can also be made by replacing sugar with 2-3 teaspoons of chilli powder and omitting the cardamom powder. Shankarpali is a popular sweet all across the country. It's called Shakkarpare in the north while it's Shankarpali in the south. The names may differ, but the recipe is almost similar. It's pretty popular in Maharashtra and Karnataka and is often made on festivals in large quantities to offer the Lord and distribute among family and friends.

Tambittu

INGREDIENTS

1 cup rice flour
1/4 cup hurigadale hittu (roasted bengal gram powder)
1/4 cup coarsely ground roasted peanuts
1 1/2 cup grated dry coconut
1 cup grated jaggery
1/4 cup ghee (clarified butter)
2 tsp sesame seeds

DIRECTIONS

Dry roast rice in a hot pan till it turns golden. Allow it cool. Grind it with roasted chickpeas to a fine powder.

Dry roast the grated dry coconut and sesame seeds till brown and set aside.

Take ghee in a fry pan/kadai and heat it till it's hot (not smoking). Dissolve the grated jaggery in hot ghee and stir well till the jaggery melts completely and the liquid just comes to a boil.

Mix together the coarsely powdered peanuts, sesame seeds and grated coconut. Add this to the boiling jaggery ghee mixture. Add the rice and roasted chickpea powder and keep stirring till the mixture becomes like a dough to make balls. Mix well to prevent the formation of lumps. Switch off the stove. Close and keep till it cools down. Grease your hands and roll balls to make tambittu.

A little tedious it may sound, but isn't that effort required to impress your God? Tambittu is a traditional sweet dish commonly made in Karnataka household, often made to offer God during festivals. Again, these laddus stay well for a couple of weeks, so store them well in air-tight containers and they are good to go for your evening chai. You can see above we made a big batch to go for a few days.

As everyone celebrates Ganesh Chaturthi today with religious fervor, here's me wishing our Ganapati a very Happy Birthday. May Lord Ganesha shower you with success in all your endeavours. Hope this Ganesh Chaturthi brings home all the happiness, prosperity & fortune.

Jai Shri Siddhi Vinayaka

"Do you really think you will use it? I bet, it will end up as a clutter in your home!" she said as she handed it over to me. I nodded in disapproval as I packed and shoved it into my bag. On the way back to home her words kept ringing in my ears "I'm sure this craze won't last long. You will give up soon after a few flip flops." I was determined, I wouldn't... atleast not so soon.

It's almost close to 3 years now since the day I borrowed her legacy Racold oven with the baking tin. The old square 9" baking tin that was handed over to me by my mother and that's when I actually began my baking with. And the test baking with pressure cooker was my inspiration to begin with :) I still love this old round aluminium oven that I borrowed. It feels ancient and classy. Back then mom did everything with cooking and baking that I do today. Baking cakes, cookies, puddings, mac and cheese, everything that would make kids feel happy about food.

Soon Indian markets began to flood with baked goodies and most of these products were easily available in big supermarkets. So with time all this took a backseat and she focused on cooking traditional healthy food. Again, she comes from a school of thought which said "Why bake when you can get the same stuff at an affordable price with no efforts in a well presented way?" Also, since it's just a piece or two one would buy, we would not indulge in over eating as against baking at home where surplus quantities tempt you to eat more. She has a point. She was darn sure that at some point in time I would agree with her. But these flops seem to have made me a bold baker. And beyond feeding yummy goods to others, I find it a great stress buster which helps me forget myself.

For the moment I ain't retiring. In fact since my daughter's birth I haven't really cooked much apart from our typical Indian menu. Time has been my real enemy :( Sorry, I am cribbing about it again. Incidentally, I got a good chance at hand this weekend to bake something as dear hubby agreed I needed some time off for myself.

Nita Mehta's recipe for Eggless Sponge seems to be quite popular. Many blogs have appreciated the recipe as a successful attempt at using curd (Indian name for yogurt) as substitute for eggs. Sharmilee, a dear blogger friend from Chennai blogs on Sharmispassions and I have been an ardent follower of her blog for long. We have been good virtual friends and catch up online often. Meeting Indian bloggers has it's perks, since our wavelength with baking and cooking match well and it's easier to connect with them. When I saw this recipe on her blog, I was totally convinced that the resulting cake would be spongy. Her step-by-step recipe motivated me further and I had to give this a try. I went ahead with the basic recipe, used butter instead of oil, added a handful of dried cranberries and the resulting loaf was soft, buttery and excellent.

Cranberry Sponge Loaf

Inspired by Sharmispassions.com
Source: Nita Mehta

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups All purpose flour
1 cup Thick Curd/Yogurt
1 cup Sugar
1/2 tsp Baking soda
1 1/4 tsp Baking powder
1/2 cup Butter
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
A fist full of Fresh/Dried Cranberries

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 200 deg C for 10 mins. Grease a butter paper and layer it in the loaf pan.

Sieve all purpose flour twice and keep aside. Cream the sugar and curd until sugar completely dissolves. Add baking powder, baking soda to the creamed mixture and mix well. Leave aside for 5 mins and till bubbles appear on the mixture. Now add in vanilla essence and softened butter and beat well. Next slowly add all purpose flour in portions at a time and blend with wet ingredients. Beat well with a till creamy and thick.

Coat the cranberries in all purpose flour. Finally fold in the cranberries gently. Pour the batter to the loaf tin and bake in the pre-heated oven for 10 minutes at 200 degrees. Then reduce the temperature to 180 deg C and bake it further for 30-35 mins. Check using a fork inserted into the center of the cake. It should come out clean. Allow the cake to cool down for 10 mins, then invert and remove the butter paper. Slice them into pieces and enjoy with a cup of milk or coffee.

This recipe is a keeper for sure. I have attempted many variations with this recipe. Tried cupcakes with the same recipe, they were an instant hit. Attempted a small increase in the amount of flour, did not beat the batter much, added a few chocolate chips and made yummy muffins, we were bowled by it's taste and texture. No one can tell they lack eggs in them. It's so simple that it needs no bookmarking and can be easily replicated anytime. The recipe for eggless sponge can be adapted to make different flavored cakes, gateaux, cupcakes, layered treats and much more. Just a few ingredients will result in a cake that is extremely yum, with the perfect sponge and excellent texture.

I apologize for being so late on this. I probably should have done this post long time ago, but I am doing it here finally! I have been receiving many requests on fetching ingredients and equipments related to baking in Bangalore from my blogger pals and mostly from my non-blogger friends who follow my blog. From ingredients I use to the springform pans and white ceramics I fetch, where and what - these are the common queries I have received from many. Unfortunately, baking at home in India is not so popular and most Indian homes won't see many of these items. Keeping in mind, the hassles I went through personally while shopping for pans and tins along with the ingredients required, I have put in an honest effort at sharing baking essentials I use and the places I fetch them from in Bangalore.

Dairy products and Cheese

Milk: I use regular Nandini milk with 3% fat in it. Full fat milk is used when I make puddings, halwas, kheer or when a recipe specifies it. Else skimmed milk works just fine.

Cream: 25% fat Amul Fresh Cream has worked for all my recipes and I love the fact we atleast get this one in market. Whipping Amul/low fat cream to stiff has been a common problem to most of us living in India. :) Warm tropical weather makes it worse. I am sure most of you will agree on that. Although, that’s not entirely possible to whip it stiff, I can suggest alternatives here.

1) Make an old fashioned cooked frosting called Custard Frosting for recipes that call for whip cream/frosting. It holds the shape well and tastes pretty good.

2) Another alternative is to increase the fat content in low-fat cream you whip. The higher the butterfat content, the better it will whip, since the whipped fat traps the air bubbles. Introduce butter in slow streams while whipping cold low-fat cream till it holds stiff peaks.

3) If using gelatin is not a problem with you, add gelatin to low-fat whipped cream. The gelatin will help to stabilize the cream. Read here.

We get non-dairy Rich's whipping cream which most coffee joints across the city use, but since it's sold only for industrial/commercial use, getting access to it easily is another task itself. Apart from this, there are imported brands like President's Whipping cream and Whip cream sprays available in supermarkets, however I have never used them, so I can't vouch. However these are quite pricey and not worth the money spent in my opinion.

Whip Cream powder: I bought whip cream powder only once. It was fetched from my trusted local bakery. And although it whipped well and tasted exactly like fresh cream, I did not go back to it again with the fear of using an unbranded product and not knowing it's constituents. If you are like me, curious to explore options, catch hold of a local bakery that can part away with a sample for a small price. It will be good for a try. I recently came across Bluebird products online and will be keen to order some soon. They have whip cream powder on their list.

Butter: It's Nutralite: Better than Butter most of the times. Amul Lite is my alternate choice. I have always used them confidently with results which are on par with butter. These are low-fat, low-salt table margarine derived from vegetable oils. That saves me from the task of adding extra salt.

Condensed Milk: I use either Nestle's Milkmaid or Amul Mithai Mate. It can be either and depends on which one has the latest date on stands.

Mascarpone cheese: I have tried Italian cheese available on stands in Foodworld. It's almost similar to what we can make at home. Bring some full fat milk cream to boil, add in a teaspoon or two of lime juice and allow it to curdle. Give some standing time and strain using muslin cloth. Allow it to set in the refrigerator for atleast 2-3 hours. Mascarpone is ready to use. Homemade mascarpone cheese is better since it's fresh and free from additives and preservatives.

Mozzarella cheese: There are many brands out there, but Britannia or Amul are my trusted brand. I use it in pizzas with pretty satisfying results.

Cheddar cheese: It can be either Amul or Britannia, again depending on which brand has the latest date on stands.

Cream cheese: Philadelphia cream cheese is easily available in most supermarket counters and is my go-to cream cheese for any recipe. I've tried Britannia cream cheese just once, and they are good too considering they are a local brand and more economical in comparison to the imported peers, however their supply is quite tardy and getting them available on ease hasn't been any easy. Again, about 180 gm pack costs about INR 150, which is still quite expensive. So I am happy trying alternatives for cream cheese if I'm making a cheesecake at home.

Greek Yogurt: I haven't come across Greek yogurt anywhere in Bangalore, possibly because making yogurt at home is a very domestic task for every homemaker in India, hence its sale in market would be frail. Greek yogurt varies from regular yogurt in terms of its density. Its thick and has very little water content, more akin to sugarless Shrikhand. If you want make Greek yogurt at home, simply tie the regular yogurt in couple of layers of muslin cloth and hang it in a cool, dry place with a bowl placed underneath to catch the whey for a couple of hours. The thick yogurt can be used in recipes that call for Greek yogurt. Typically works well for savory dips and dressings such as Tzatziki. If using in desserts, I substitute Amul Shrikhand. It's thick and works like magic in cheesecakes. I always have stock of homemade yogurt which we consume on a daily basis. So if it calls for use in eggless cakes or brownies, I use homemade yogurt only.

Oils

Oil: I use Saffola or Dhara vegetable oil. There's no certain preference over these.

Olive Oil: I'm currently using a Spanish product called Musa. Colevita is another trusted brand that I've used and liked in the past. There are many available in the market, hence you can make your choice. Taste is a matter of personal preference.

Flavored oils: Where recipes call for flavored oils like garlic oil or herb oil, I heat up some oil, add in the garlic and allow the flavors to infuse for couple of hours. I make mine at home and since it's fresh it adds great flavors. The same goes to herb oils as well.

Sugar

Sugar: Parry's superfine sugar works like a charm even where caster sugar is asked for. I use it in my daily tea as well as in baking.

Caster sugar: Eagle caster sugar is the best I use. When I don't have one at hand, I simply put my regular sugar into mixer and grind them fine.

Brown Sugar: It's been long since I purchased brown sugar. Imported variety of light and dark brown sugar is now available here, but they are expensive. They cost about INR 250 for 500gm pack and I think it's not totally worth spending that pricey amount when baking at home, unless you are a professional baker or serious about sticking to the recipe to the T. I would rather put that money in sourcing fresh local ingredients, preferably organic.

FabIndia sells Organic Brown sugar and Damerara too. When in stock, I prefer buying my Brown sugar from them. At INR 125 for 500gm, they are the best deal I can get.

Demerera sugar: Again Eagle's sugar is my best choice.

Icing sugar/Confectioner's sugar: I pretty much use regular sugar powdered in my mixie.

Miscellaneous Baking Products

Flour: I use regular all purpose flour or maida for baking almost everything. We do not have easy access to highly refined flour or bread flour in India, hence this is the best choice. I sieve the flour once for cakes and cookies and twice to make breads and pizza base. I have never faced problems with that till date. Again, Bluebird products online have Super Sifted Flour on their list.

Self-rising flour: If you only have all-purpose, here's how you can make one at home. Measure the desired amount of flour into a container. For each cup of all-purpose flour measuring about 125 gm, add 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder and 1/4 tsp salt. Sift well to combine.

Cake Flour: Make your own with one cup sifted cake flour with 3/4 cup (85 grams) sifted all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons (15 grams) cornstarch.

Baking powder: I use Weikfield baking powder and it gives me a good rise.

Baking soda: It's Weikfield again. The thumb-rule is to always keep it closed in an air-tight container and never use a wet spoon while handling baking powder or soda.

Yeast: I source fresh yeast from a local trusted bakery nearby, specially for baking pizzas and bread. I've used instant dry yeast from Eagle's and Baker's, they are good, but do not give the best rise. I've been told that Gloripan instant yeast works well too. If you have relatives or friends traveling from West, request them to fetch you a couple of sachets of instant yeast. You will find a world of difference if you can manage to lay your hands on them.

All spice powder: For an Indian, all spice powder would probably mean garam masala, but this does not suit baking. I always have a stock of homemade spice powder which is an instant rescue for recipes that call for it's use. My mixed spice is homemade and is freshly ground with cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and nutmeg going into it. I store it in air tight glass container and it stays fresh for months.

Vanilla extract: I buy my bottles of vanilla extract during my trips to hill stations. It's been long since I bid bye to the synthetic vanilla essence you get in markets. I've come across blogs which tell how to make vanilla extract at home and I know it's super easy, but I haven't attempted them yet. May be some day!

Vanilla Sugar: Honestly, I have never used it or did not see the need to use it.

Dark/Milk/White Chocolate: Morde and Marco chocolate compound. Those are the choices we have here. As much as I love Ghiradelli and Lindt, I don't see it's worth using them for my regular baking as they cost a bomb. And with a bar costing close to INR 550, I would rather enjoy eating them as is. :)

I buy my chocolates from Tuscany, Forum Value Mall. A little over-priced than what it costs outside, I buy it from here since this is the closest to where I live. You can fetch the same from many other vendors across Bangalore. I have purchased dark chocolate bars and chocolate chips from Nilgiris, Brigade Road and Durga Enterprises in Madivala. The ones sold in Durga Enterprises melt easily on heating. If you want chocolate chips that hold shape even after baking, look for them at Nilgiris. They work great in muffins.

Cocoa powder: I have used Cadbury's before Hershey's hit Indian market. I have been using Hershey's since then as I love it's dark, denser color and taste.

Canned/ Dry fruits and Nuts

Blueberries, Cranberries, Cherries: These fruits are not common in India, atleast I have not seen any of these in form of fresh fruits anywhere in Bangalore, though fruit jams are easily available in most supermarkets like Foodworld and Reliance Fresh. I use Mother's Maid and I pretty much like it. I get them imported from Dubai and these are canned blueberries that come in tins. I used to get fresh blueberries whenever my husband would visit the States, but unfortunately, they rot easily and have a short shelf life.

Unfortunately, we do not grow these in India. Northern part of India does grow peaches, plums and cherries, but these are very expensive in South. I use imported dried blueberries and cranberries from Ocean Spray which I got from US. It will last me for a couple of months. They work good in cakes and muffins.

Fruits and Fruit preserves: I always prefer using fresh fruits and organic preserves. I buy my jams, marmalades and fruit preserves from Fabindia. They have host of good organic products. They also sell organic vanilla pods and vanilla powder.

Cherries: I purchased a can of tinned cherries from Durga Enterprises in Madivala. When fresh cherries are available, I like to pick them then.

Hazelnuts, Pecans, Pine Nuts: Again these nuts are not so popular in India, but I have seen them in Hypercity mall, AECS Layout, Bangalore. I have purchased hazelnuts from there, but never tried bought Pecans or Pine nuts.

Cashews, Almonds, Pistachios: My parents used to buy almonds and cashews in bulk from wholesale dealer and I would take it from them, but I have now moved to buying in smaller quantities from supermarket. I buy half a kilo packets and use them as required.

Slivered almonds: Slivered almonds are ideal for baking and for making cookies and to me, beyond baking, the task of chopping almonds, powdering sugar, lining the tin, softening butter, happen to be the most boring. I wish I could avoid them! I used to buy packs of slivered almonds from Nilgiris, but again, it's expensive and hardly last for 2-3 bakes or so. So I have been doing this job at home in my kitchen. I suggest you follow the recipe given on this site. It works beautifully!

Dried herbs: I use Keya products for oregano, basil, thyme when fresh herbs are not at hand. They are freeze dried and are pretty good to serve the purpose.

Perishables

Herbs: Nothing beats the flavors from fresh herbs. I buy organic spinach from Namdharis. I purchase all my herbs from Foodworld, Whitefield. Whenever they get fresh stock of rosemary, parsley, lettuce or basil, I love to load my shopping carts with them. They have a wide variety of herbs which are uncommon to Indian cooking.

Vegetables and other products: Foodworld, Whitefield is my one-shop-stop for most products. It has a good range of fresh, local and imported products which satisfies my requirement for baking. It stocks many imported ingredients like variety of cheese ranging from Mozzarella, Parmesan, Cream Cheese to Flavored cheese, Whipping Cream Spray, Lindt Dark Chocolates, Haagen Daz ice creams, imported tinned fruits, imported soy milk, imported silken tofu, variety of local and imported pastas, gnocchi and lasagna sheets, Range of sauces like Teriyaki, Worcestershire, Tabasco. They also have fresh rare seasonal vegetables and fruits like Chinese cabbage, celery, broccoli, oyster mushrooms, asparagus, wheat-grass, lemon grass, fresh parsley, Granny Smith apples, prunes, kiwis, chinese pears, dragon fruit, mangosteen, plums, etc. Most of these products are also available in Hypercity mall, AECS layout and Nilgiris on Brigade road where I do shop often. For organic products, my choices are Namdharis and FabIndia.

DISCLAIMER: The products mentioned here are not meant for advertisement. This is not a paid endorsement or any kind or promotion for any product or shop. These are product I use and shops I visit. This has been posted with sole intention to help others.

That's yet another addition to my ever-growing book collection. Earned points from my account and got a gift voucher from Crossword. That ended up in me buying another cookbook and this time it was exclusively Chocolate. I purchased this book named Chocolate: The Food and the Music, with recipes using chocolate as base ingredient. The hardbound book comes with CD which carries a collection of sweet melodies along with 100 odd tempting chocolate recipes. I guess it's probably aimed at making a romantic evening dessert for two. :)

I have been scanning through recipes from the book for long now and decided finally I should put it to use. DH got a new pack of oats and it's been lying to be used for our breakfast. He loves it, especially when he's had heavy dinner the previous night. I fuss over it. Agreed it's good to keep your tummy light, but I think it's a little too light, sort of like a patient's food :( I eat it, but by no means reserve any liking for it. May be I should put it this way... I don't like them in form of porridge, probably? What I do instead is to disguise it in food in form of oat flour. I pound some regular oats to fine powder and make instant oat dosa. They are good for disguise and one can't say oats have gone into it. I recently experimented with some oat flour muffins and they were yum!

A flapjack is a sweet tray-baked oat bar made from rolled oats, butter, brown sugar and golden syrup. This dish is found in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, and is also found in Australasia, but known as a 'muesli bar'. In other countries including Canada, the United States, and South Africa, flapjack refers to a form of pancake, although flapjacks do exist as 'Hudson Bay Bars'. Source: Wikipedia Now call it Flapjacks, Granola Bars, Muesli Bars or Hudson Bay Bars, I love them all!

I am gripped by books that have catchy photographs, it's an eye-candy. This is one such book which has an amazing collection of tempting chocolate recipes which I would love to re-create. Chocolate Chip Flapjacks were made inspired from this book. I tweaked the recipe a little by reducing the amount of butter to 100gm and sugar to 30gm and increased honey by 3 tablespoons. Also threw in a good amount of dates which is sweet by nature too. Again, as I insist always, test-taste your food for sweetness before you push them into oven for baking. However, the recipe I've put down here is right from the book with no changes.

Chocolate Chip Flapjacks

Adapted from the book Chocolate: The Food and the Music

INGREDIENTS:

115gm butter
60gm caster sugar
1 tbsp honey or golden syrup
350gm rolled oats
85gm dark/plain chocolate chips
85gm sultanas
50gm pitted and chopped dates

DIRECTIONS

Pre-heat the oven to 180 deg C. Lightly grease a 8" cake tin.

Place the butter, caster sugar and honey in a saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring often, till the sugar has melted and mixture has combined well. Remove the saucepan from heat and stir in the oats and mix in till they are well combined. Add the chocolate chips, the dates and sultanas and combine well. Turn into the prepared tin and press down well. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 30 mins. Cool slightly and mark squares on it. When almost cold, cut into squares and transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Flapjacks are extremely easy to make. I suggest instead of the stove-top method, you can even microwave the said ingredients, mixing them at regular intervals, till the sugar has melted. Just toss in rest of the ingredients and bake them. I assume this would be simpler and may be I should give it a try next time. You can add dry fruits, nuts as per your tastes. These are great as snack bars for kids or tea time treats. Also good for travels and as picnic accompaniments.

My countdown begins as I have just about a week to go. My heart is aching as my maternity leave comes to a fag end and I shall soon resume work full time. Time has flown so quickly and my tiny tot is in her fourth month. Resuming work won't be any easy as I leave my little one behind and shall be away for 10 odd hours. My heart wrenches and eyes wet even as I think of being without her. I have been her throughout the night and day all these months, almost every minute. Staying away from her with be a challenging task for sure.

On another note, we have named her Ridhi and we love her name. It's unique and means wealth/ prosperity/ success/ good fortune in Sanskrit. Hunting a name for her was an ardent task in itself. Hundred odd names were looked up, many suggested by our near and dear ones, mostly to be rejected. Blame me. I am choosy. My better half was not any better. I had many conditions, so did he :) Name should be unique, be meaningful and hopefully should be associated with some God or Goddess... etc, etc, etc...

As kids we had couple of common names in our class that would lead to an awful confusion while names were called out. Fortunately enough I did not face such incidents in my high school or pre-college, but, I have been through it while in my graduation where I shared my name with another girl for four years. I am hopeful she won't have any hassles of facing half a dozen similar names in her class :D I would often blame my parents as I never liked my name till Ms. Sherawat made my name popular! I know it's thinking a little too ahead, but least, as she grows old she would not blame us as I did!

As my countdown to join work begins, I am going into a panic mode. The passionate cook in me hasn't been able to cook or bake much and with me resuming office soon, I fear if I will be able pursue my passions. I am hoping I should, for the love of cooking and blogging. For moment I'm feeling positive.

What I have for you today is this Chocolate Biscuit Pudding made using microwave method instead of the traditional stove-top one. I've made this sort of a pudding cake earlier in vanilla flavor and have received several positive reviews by my readers on it. In fact, it's one of the most popular posts on my blog and I am glad it's received well since it's been a never fail recipe for me personally.

I have been using microwave quite a lot off late as it simplifies my work a tad bit. I am loving to make eggless custards in microwave as there is no hassle of custard settling at the bottom. Just mix in everything and microwave for a few minutes, stirring them in intervals. I bet you will love this method too.

Chocolate Biscuit Pudding

INGREDIENTS

1/2 lt full fat milk (approx 2 1/2 cups)
2 tbsp cornstarch
200 gm sugar
2 tbsp cocoa powder (+ more if you prefer darker)
100 gm Marie biscuits
A few tbsp of warm milk
Chocolate vermicelli to decorate

DIRECTIONS

Microwave method: Dissolve all the ingredients in a microwave safe pot and microwave on high for about 8-10 minutes or till thick. Stir the mixture in regular intervals of 2 minutes. Check the consistency and microwave further if it's not thick enough. Ensure it's thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove and allow it come to room temperature.

Stove-top Method: Dissolve the cornflour into 1/4 part of milk and set aside. Bring rest of the milk to a boil. Pour in the cornflour milk mixture in a gentle stream, stirring the milk continuously. It's best to do this in a non-stick pan.

Dip each biscuit in warm milk and lay them side by side on a pudding plate. Spread the prepared pudding onto the biscuit layer. If you want to make a cake, follow up with another layer of biscuits and pudding. Fill the pudding into piping bag with star nozzle. Sprinkle biscuit crumbles on the pudding layer and pipe decorations on the prepared cake. Refrigerate for 2 hours. Decorate with chocolate vermicelli on top before serving.

I made this pudding as a weekend activity while my hubby was baby sitting our daughter. It's super quick and easy using microwave method. The pudding sets well in the refrigerator and tastes great cold, so I suggest you do that. I admire art in any form. The creative side of me has hardly been able to explore much of cake decorations, except for the Black Forest Cake I made for dad last year. I'm inspired by blogs who can pool in so much time and patience to blossom their creativity in practice. I'm sold instantly. This pudding is a testimony to satisfy that urge in me to decorate cakes. It's magical.

Mango season is almost seeing it's end and I realize I do not have a single post on mangoes for this season. We have been enjoying mangoes thoroughly almost every single day. Neelam variety of mangoes have hit the stands already and soon the last batch of mangoes for this season will dissapear without any being used in desserts, soley to please my blog first and our taste buds next :)

I love mangoes in their true form, especially if they are naturally sweet. To me they can compete with any dessert. These days our meals complete with mangoes, thus leaving no room for any other dessert. I initially thought of using them in a baked version of my beloved mango cheesecake which I made sometime back. But soon the thoughts on baking took a backseat as time is not at my luxury these days. I think of baking and my baby calls out for me with her cries even before I can pre-heat my oven or get my pans out. Thoughts disappear. The pans are back in their shelves. I need to attend her. I sit down to write a line or two for my blog and again she calls out for me. I need to attend. Period! Finally I get a chance today... to jot down beyond just a sentence or two. Phew!

Year's ago when we were kids, Nestle's condensed milk, Milkmaid often came with a complimentary recipe booklet which had a collection of some excellent recipes made using condensed milk. My mom would collect these recipe books, file them and often make sweet treats for us. I was inspired by a recipe for an eggless mango ice-cream from an old recipe booklet that I had borrowed from my mom's collection. I modified it to make the ice-cream more creamier and rich.

Do you by any chance know how I chop my mangoes? It's been a trade secret for long. Sssshhh ;) That's reveled now :D. I use a peeler to peel off the skin from the fruit. Then chop them to long wedges or squares as desired. I find this process easier and mess-free for the clumsy me. And that old steel peeler cum grater has been an obedient friend of mine serving it's purpose on a daily basis as needed. I can't survive without it.

Mango Ice-cream

Inspired by Milkmaid's recipe booklet

INGREDIENTS

2 ripe mangoes weighing almost 750 gms
400 ml sweetened condensed milk
200 ml low fat milk cream
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
100 ml prepared thick custard

DIRECTIONS

Prepare a thick custard by heating a mixture of 100 ml milk and 10 gm cornflour. Heat it till the mix thickens and coats well on the back of a spoon. Refrigerate till needed. Alternatively, you may use a store bought vanilla/mango flavored custard powder and prepare the same using instructions on the pack. I used a store bought vanilla custard powder for this recipe.

Wash the mangoes, skin them and chop the fruit roughly. In a mixie or using a blender puree the mangoes along with cold sweetened condensed milk, ice cold low fat milk cream (I used 25% Amul cream), prepared custard and the vanilla extract. Blend them well till they are homogeneous. A touch of vanilla enhances the flavor of mangoes. Transfer the ice-cream to a freezer proof, air-tight container and freeze them for an hour or two. Remove when you see the sides of ice cream setting. Run the ice cream in a mixie or a blender and return it to the freezer. Repeat the process a couple of times for creamier ice cream. Return to freezer and freeze for a couple of hours till set. Remove the ice cream and leave on the counter for 5-10 mins before serving. This will soften the ice cream a little and help in scooping it out with ease. Alternatively, you may dip the scooper in hot water first and then scoop out the ice cream to serve.

The original recipe suggested the use of gelatin which will help in reducing crystallization of the ice cream during the freezing process. Gelatin wasn't the best option for me, so I skipped it and had no problems with that. This is by far the creamiest ice cream I have made. I left the ice cream sit in freezer over night and I had no trouble with ice crystals forming on the ice cream.

Making ice cream at home needs some amount of patience especially if you do not have an ice cream maker. The daunting job of freezing, churning and re-freezing would be saved to a greater extent. I am envious of the one's who own it. But then making this way has it's own charm. My family enjoyed every scoop thoroughly, sought out for more helpings. Served with freshly chopped mangoes, we could taste the freshest, ripe fruit that went into it with every bite. This is my best way to bid adieu to the summers.