Morning cake, The Tutti Fruitti Cake

At times am extremely lazy in the morning and often end up skipping my breakfast. Sometimes i even do not fill like boiling milk or egg , these are times when i just want to relax and would not leave my couch at any cost. For such occasion i crave for a slice of cake. Oh gosh! i love cake and nothing can give a better start to a lazy morning than a fruit cake. Further, this cake always has a better chance to switch your lazy overly relaxed morning into so called Yactive Day!!!.

In India i always used to have the Packed cake, like Britania Marie Cake which came into variety of flavors. Since the time i left India i have been missing my type of Cake :-( Until recently when i discovered that i can bake one myself. :-) Tidddinggg . 

I have baked a large cake to keep a check on my breakfast.I just do not want it to go void any more. Here's sharing you the recipe of the Tutty fruity cake.

Yield - Cake of 2 Pound or more
Preparation- 30 minutes
Cooking time- 20 to 25 minutes.
Level of difficulty- Medium

Ingredients:

• All purpose flour- 225 gms
• Sugar- 250 gms
• Butter- 250 gms
• Eggs- 5
• Vanilla essence- 2 Tsp
• Baking powder- 1 Tsp
• Baking soda- 1 Tsp
• Salt- 1/2 tsp
• Tutty fruity- 1/2 cup

Preparation:

• Sieve flour, baking powder and baking soda.
• In a mixing bowl, bring together butter and sugar, whip until a smooth paste appears.
• Add eggs one by one and whip the mixture with each addition.
• Add the vanilla essence and salt.
• Now incorporate the flour little by little in the batter and blend until a smooth dough is formed.
• If you find your dough to be too tight loosen it by adding 1 to 2 tablespoon of milk in it.
• Add half the amount of tuty fruity in the batter. Give it a fold once.

Preheat your oven  at 180 Degree

Line your baking tray with parchment paper or butter paper

Fill the baking tray only to 2/3rd of its height. You can transfer the rest of the batter into another baking tray. On the top of the Batter sprinkle the remaining tutty fruity.

Now bake your cake at 160 degree C for 20 to 25 minutes. After 20 minutes of Baking you can check your cake if it is done by inserting a tooth pick, if it comes out clean, your cake is ready. Take out and let it cool on the wire racks.

Slice and enjoy the tuty fruity Cake. :-)

Inspired from the Recipe of Sanjeev Kapoor khana khazana cook books.

By- Sushmita Pandit

Paneer matar Makhni, Paneer matar Butter Masala, Cottage cheese Butter curry

My mother is a great fan of Paneer dishes , reason being she is a complete vegetarian . By saying so, i mean she never use onion and garlic in her food. When she is bored of vegetables, lentils and chickpea's she loves to have Paneer. My mum prepare this one curry since my childhood "The paneer aalu masala"(Cottage cheese potato curry). I have always loved that dish, but could never cook it the way she did. So this paneer recipe is dedicated to my mother who is strong, lovely and extremely beautiful.

Paneer Matar Makhni/Paneer matar Butter Masala

This recipe will serve- 4 people
Preparation- 5 Minutes
Cooking- 15 to 20 Minutes
Level of difficulty- Easy

Ingredients:

• Paneer or Cottage cheese or Tofu- 200 gms
• Pea's -200gms
• Tomato- 4 medium size
• Ginger- 2 inch, sliced 
• chilli- 2 Optional
• Cumin seed- 1 Tsp
• Coriander Powder- 1.5 Tbsp
• Cinnamom powder or garam masala powder- 1 Tsp
• Cream- 200 ml
• All purpose flour- 1 Tbsp
• Salt as per taste
• Butter- 100gms
• Oil- 1 Tbsp

Preparation:

Paneer -

• Cut cubes out of the paneer, dust them with all purpose flour and salt.
• Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a kadai or skillet.
• Now carefully add these paneer cubes in the skillet. Flip once until each side of the paneer is light golden brown in color. Take them out in a plate.

Fried Paneer

Tomato ginger chilli paste-

• Bring together tomato , ginger and chilies in a food processor or Mixer grinder. Grind them to a fine paste.

Method of cooking:

• Use the same skillet in which we fried the paneer cubes.
• Add 50 gms of butter and let it melt.(To avoid browning of butter Add 1tsp of oil)
• Add the cumin seed and let them crackle.
• Once the cumin seed crackle add in the tomato paste and coriander powder, season with salt, cover and let it cook for 5 minutes. Stir occasionally. Once you see that the color of the tomato paste has browned a little add in the peas. season peas with salt cover and cook for 2 minutes. Stir Occasionally.
• After two minutes add the cream and let it come to boil
• Once it comes to boil add the fried paneer cubes. Sprinkle the garam masala and cook for 1/2 minute. Turn off the heat add the remaining butter.

Your Panner pea's butter masala is now ready to be served. Serve it hot with any bread or rice.

Enjoy and Happy cooking :-)

By- Sushmita Pandit.

Masala Nan, Nan stuffed bread, Tandoori Nan

I have always loved masala nan. I almost like all the dishes that are cooked in Tandoor. While mentioning tandoor i feel like little talking about it. Traditional Tandoor is a mud packed oven, which is quite economical and extremely environment friendly since it is made up of pure clay or mud without the addition of any minerals. It is also not put up into furnace before people start using it. It is simply sundried before it is brought in use. And with the help of tandoor some amazing dishes are prepared. To mention a few namely, tandoori roti, tandoori chicken, tandoori gosht and the list continues.
But here i have prepared Nan by using the science of Tandoor in gas stove  and oven. The results are no less brighter than the Tandoori Nan . I got excellent nan by this process and therefore i would love to share this recipe with you.

This recipe will serve- 4 people(12 medium size nan)
Preparation- 45 minutes to 3 hours
Cooking - 2 to 3 minutes for each nan
Level of difficulty- medium

Ingredients:

For Dough 

• All purpose flour- 500 Gms
• Olive oil- 2 Tbsp
• Salt -1 Tsp
• Sugar- 1 Tsp
• Yeast- 1/2 of fresh block or 1.5 Tsp of instant yeast powder or granules
• Yogurt- 2 Tbsp
• Luke warm water- 130 ml

For the filling

• Potato- 4 large size boiled
• Onion- 1, finely chopped
• Curry leaves- 4 to 5 (optional) or any herb of your choice.
• Mustard seed or cumin seed- 1 Tsp
• Butter- 1 Tbsp
• Chili optional
• Turmeric powder- 1/2 Tsp
• Salt as per taste
• Butter for greasing nan

Preparation:

Dough preparation

• Bring together all the ingredients except luke warm water and then by adding little luke warm water time to time prepare a soft dough. Cover this dough with wet cloth and leave it aside for minimum 45 minutes to 3 hours.

Nan dough after 1 hour of kneading.

Masala Preparation or Filling Preparation

• Heat 1 Tbsp of Ghee or Butter in a skillet, add the seeds and let them crackle. 
• Add the turmeric powder and fry a little .
• Now add the curry leaves and then the onion. 
• Season with salt and fry until onion is translucent. 
• Now pour this whole preparation over the boiled potatoes. Now mash the potato. Your filling is ready.

Masala or potato filling

Nan preparation and baking 

• Fold the dough after the given time. Take 2 inch size ball from the dough.

1 inch size ball

• Dust it with flour.

Ball pressed between palms and then dusted with flour

• Fill in with the masala.

• Roll it flat, prefarably in oblong shape
• Super heat Tawa or frying pan. 
• Grease the flattened nan with water on both side.
• Place this greased nan on the super hot tawa. watch it rise after 30 seconds, Flip it. wait for another 30 second.

Nan on super hot pan, flipped once

• Now place a pizza pan inside the oven and turn on the broiler in the oven.
• Transfer the nan from pan to Pizza pan. Broil for 30 seconds, flip onto other side, broil for another 30 seconds. Take out and grease with butter.

Nan broiling in oven

Nan broiling in oven flipped onto other side.

or

After step 4

(if you have pizza stone heat it inside the oven and straight away place the nan on your pizza stone. Flip onto other side once you see the nan has risen up and allow it to brown on the other side too. Once it is brown grease it with Butter and enjoy)

Repeat the process until you get desired number of Nan's.

This is how we make nan by replicating the mechanism of Tandoor.

Enjoy your masala nan with Mutton Rogan gosht or any curry of your choice.

Ready to east nan, Greased with butter 

Happy cooking.

Don't forget to comment, because your words are inspiration to me and keeps me going. Thanks :-)

By- Sushmita Pandit

Mutton Rogan Josh Curry(Lamb Curry)

After tasting this dish several times i had to take up the challenge to cook it up all by myself. And to my surprise i did it. This Dish came out to be absolutely wonderful Lamb curry. I prepared it with Minimal use of spices thereby keeping intact Lamb's own flavour. One Challenge was to prepare it without the use of Pressure cooker, since i like meat on my plate to be buttery and not chewy. I cooked it slowly on the skillet and i reached to a point between chewy and buttery. Anyways i loved the gravy as well. I wish to prepare this dish Back home in India in my village and serve it to all my family members.

This recipe will serve- 4
Preparation- 5 to 10 minutes
Cooking time- 45 minutes.
Level of difficulty- Easy

Ingredients:

• Lamb or mutton- 500 gms
• Onion-400gms
• Ginger garlic paste- 1 Tbsp
• Salt as per taste
• Red chilli powder or Paprika- 1 Tbsp
• Green Chillies-2(optional)
• Curd- 1 Tbsp
• Coriander leaves for Garnishing
• Oil for cooking
• Salt as  per taste
• Water- 1 liter

Following Whole spices are required

• Cinnamon stick-1
• Pepper con- 4
• Cardamom brown or normal- 1 to 2
• Cloves- 3 to 4

Roasted masala and then powdered 1tsp (optional) This can be prepared in following manner-

• Coriander seeds- 1 Tbsp
• Cumin seeds- 1/2 Tbsp
• Pepper cons- 4
• Red dry chilli-1 to 2

Roast all the above and grind it into a powder.

Preparation:

• Heat 2 Tbsp of oil in a Pan.
• Add the whole spices and wait until you can smell some aroma out of them.
• Add green chillies and onion. Season onion with salt.
• Saute until onion becomes golden brown.
• Add the ginger garlic paste saute for 1 minute.
• Now add the washed mutton or lamb. Carefully season mutton with salt.
• Give it a qick mix and add around 500 to 600 ml of water . Cover the pan and in medium heat let this simmer for 25 minutes.
• After 25 minutes add the Roasted masala powder, Yoghurt and paprika powder.
• Add 200 - 300 ml of water. Cover and let it simmer for another 20 minutes until your lamb is cooked as you desire chewy or buttery.

After this your mutton Rogan josh is absolutely ready to be served. Garnish it with coriander leaves and serve it hot with Nan , rice or Chapati.

Enjoy and happy Cooking ...

By- Sushmita pandit.

Mushroom and Pea's Curry(cooked with just two spices)

I have always been hunting for quick easy and delicious curry recipe. And my search ended with this curry which is so easy in preparation and tastes awesome.

This recipe serves- 4
Preparation time- 5 minutes
Cooking time - 15 minutes
Level of difficulty- low, Easy

Ingredients:
For making mushroom pea curry we need

• Mushroom- 250 gms washed, dried and then quartered
• Peas- 1 Cup
• Whipping cream - 200ml
• Cinnamon powder- 1 tsp or garam masala- 1 tsp
• Curry powder-1 tsp ,it is optional
• Salt as per taste and oil for cooking.
• Turmeric powder- 1 Tsp
• Coriander Powder- 1 Tbsp
• Cumin seed- 1 Tsp
• Kasoori methi leaves
• Tomato and ginger paste. For preparing this paste: take three to four  small size tomatoes and chop them. Take 1 inch of ginger chop it well too. Adding green chilies is optional. Now make a paste out of these using a blender , mixer or a food processor.

Mushroom Peas curry

Method of Preparation

Step 1
Heat two table spoon of oil in a pan.
Once the oil is hot add cumin seed, once it starts crackling add the turmeric powder,
fry for 10 seconds and then add the tomato paste.

Step 2
To this tomato paste add the coriander powder, garam masala powder and the curry powder.
Fry these spices until the all the moisture from tomato is absorbed and the colour of the masala turns little brown.You will also find that the oil has got separated from the masala or spices which indicates masala is ready.

step 3
To this masala add the green peas, season the peas with salt. Give it a stir and then cover and cook for two minutes. keep stirring in between to avoid burning of peas and masala.

step 4
After two minutes add the whipping cream and let it come to boil, once it comes to boil add the mushroom.
Season mushroom with salt. be careful while adding salt because foe peas we have already added the salt.
Sprinkle little obit of garam masala powder.
Add some crushed Kasuri methi to this.

Step 5
Cover the pan, lower the heat and let the curry simmer for 2 minutes.
Your mushroom pea's curry is absoluetly ready for taste after two minutes.

Serve it hot with nan, chapati or rice.

Enjoy and Happy Cooking

By- Sushmita Pandit

Macaroni Cheese Au-Gratin

Macaroni Cheese Au Gratin

Am fond of macaroni. The first time i tasted the spicy macaroni prepared by my friend. It was awesome  What i liked about it ,is its simplicity, the ease with which it easily gets blended with anything.
I had been preparing the masala macaroni for long, but it was only this year i learnt how to do it "Au-Gratin".  I loved the cheese and the bechamel sauce combination. These casserole recipe is quite filling.

This recipe will serve- 4
Preparation time- 10 minutes
Cooking time- 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• Macaroni- 250 gms(Boil until al-dante )
• Oil
• Salt

Bechamal sauce

• Cheese- 100 gms(combination of whatever variety you like)
• All purpose flour- 1 Tbsp
• Butter- 1 Tbsp
• Salt- as per taste
• Paprika powder- 1 Tsp
• Pepper- Freshly crushed- 1 Tsp
• Milk- 300 ml

For Au-Gratin

• Cheese- 100gms
• Herbs of your choice
• Cherry Tomato-4 (optional)

Method of Preaparation

• Boil 1 ltr of water in a pan and place Macaroni with little salt and oil. Boil until al dante.
• For preparing Bechamal Sauce Heat butter in a pan, Add the flour and fry until slight brown in colour. To this add salt , Paprika and Pepper. Now add the milk and let it come to boil. Once it comes to boil add 100gms of cheese. Stir until cheese melts and gets blended well in the milk. Turn off the heat. Your Bechamal sauce is ready.
• Preheat the oven at 220F for 5 minutes.
• Quickly Layer the baking  tray with a layer of macaroni, Pour in half of the Bechamal sauce. Layer out rest of the macaroni and again pour the rest of the bechamal sauce. Now at the top, layer it with rest of the cheese and tomato. Sprinkle herbs of your choice.
• Now at the bottom most area of your oven place the tray and bake it at 220F for 10 minutes. After that for 5 minutes grill it until you see a golden crust at the top of your baking tray.
• Take out of oven and serve it hot.  

Your Mac cheese is absoultely ready to be served. Enjoy :-) Happy Cooking.

By -Sushmita Pandit.

http://riappyayan.blogspot.de/2012/01/announcement-of-my-event-spotlight.html

Le Maharajah Indian Restaurant, Paris, Review

I have been recently on a holiday trip to paris, the city of Love. I had a great time being there. My only concern throughout the journey was if by chance i would get an Indian Restaurant near close to any Sight seeing area, and to my luck i found Maharajah very close to Notre Dame Cathedral.

The ambiance is good. You will find all carved dining chairs and lots of Mughal arts on wall as well as glasses. The Hospitality of the Hotel Manager Siddharatha is quite over whelming. Not to miss mentioning the punjabi Chef who creates magic in his creations.

The Food was great.
We ordered a vegetable soup with chicken as starter. The soup was extremely delicious and was an excellent appetizer.
Then in the main course we ordered Rogan ghost , Nan and masala kulcha. The ghost or the mutton curry was Fantastic, it had correct blend of spices and its texture was awesome . 1 plate of curry was okay for two people.
Masala kulcha was stuffed with potato masala . It was soft and the masala stuffed inside was mouth watering. Although Butter nan was ok.
We also ordered cocktail in drink. I liked it too.

Atlast, since it was extremely cold outside we ordered Masala chai, which was good too. You can ask them to adjust the amount of milk you want in your tea and they would happily serve you back.

Although the food was extremely delicious the price was okay can't say over expensive but then yes it was expensive. We paid 39 euro's altogether for this but i found it really really worth it.

http://www.maharajah.fr/#!/

On a scale of 10 I would rate this as
Ambience: 8
Cost: 7
Taste: 10

Notre Dame Cathedral 6 Parvis Notre-Dame Place Jean-Paul II, 75004 Paris, France

	1. Head southwest on Pl. du Parvis Notre-Dame/Parvis Notre-Dame - place Jean-Paul-II toward Promenade Maurice Carême
		59 m
	2. Continue onto Pont au Double
		54 m
	3. Continue onto Rue Lagrange
		87 m
	4. Continue onto Rue du Fouarre
		37 m
	5. Continue onto Rue Dante
		140 m
	6. Turn left onto Bd Saint-Germain Destination will be on the left
		100 m

72 Boulevard Saint-Germain 75005 Paris, France

Potato curry in Almond & Poppy seed Gravy

Potatoes are life saviors at time when you are  utterly hungry and have no time to hop in grocery to buy any other vegies or food. In the above video you can find a very easy yet filling and tasty Potato curry.
The special gravy that is made with Poppy seed and Almond adds to the flavor of Potato.

Serves- 4
Preparation - 15 mins
Cooking time-15- 20 mins

Ingredients:

• Potatoes boiled- 5 medium in size
• Onion- 1 finely chopped
• Green chillies- as per taste
• curry leaves- 10
• Paanch foren or Cumin seed-1 Tsp
• Tomato- 1 large , diced
• Spices
• Turmeric powder- 1 tsp
• Coriander powder- 1 Tbsp
• Curry Powder- 1 Tsp
• Pepper Powder- 1 Tsp
• Paprika powder- 1 Tsp
• Oil for cooking
• Salt as per taste
• Almond and poppy seed paste.(Equal amount of almond and poppy seed grind them in a mixer or food processor by adding little water into a fine paste)
  

Method of preparation:

• Heat 2 Tbsp of oil in a pan, once the oil is Hot, Add the paanchforen(which is mixture of several seeds) or simply the cumin seed. Once the cumin seed starts crackling add the chillies and onion. saute them for 1 minute.
• Add the tomatoes and fry for 1 minute. 
• By the time tomatoes gets fried we will prepare the spice paste by adding water to the mentioned spices. 
• Add this spice paste and fry until oil separates from the it. Separation of oil from tomato or masala(Spices) is the indication that masala is done now.
• Add the potato and salt as per taste,toss them well so that they get a coast of the spices. 
• Now Add 1/2 cup of water and let it simmer for 1 to 2 minute in medium heat. 
• Let me tell you that at this point your curry is almost ready ,if you do not wish to add the Almond and poppy seed paste you can simply serve the potato curry like this as well.
• However addition of this paste furthur enhance the taste of the curry and also helps in adding weight to the gravy which is very gud when we are having this curry with any bread.
• After adding the almond and poppy seed paste we will futhur simmer the curry in low heat for minute or two . Adjust the salt and then your Potato curry is absolutely ready to serve.

You can Serve it hot with any kind of bread or Rice .

Happy cooking :-)

By- Sushmita Pandit

Click here for another potato curry.

http://wahsushkitchen.blogspot.de/2013/01/aloo-sarson-postapotato-mustard-curry.html

Garlic Chicken baked

This is an amazing garlic chicken recipe. The dish always came out with bright colors and mouth watering taste. Its an awesome style of baking chicken specially when you have not much time to cook and also when you want to use minimal spices and ingredients in your food. There's more to this, yes we get baked potatoes and onions free with the chicken all cooked in masaledar juices of chicken, onion, garlic, butter and few spices. So lets get started

• Serves- 4
• Preparation time- 10 minutes
• cooking time- 20-25 minutes

Ingredients:

• Chicken - Whole (800-900 gms skin intact) or  4 leg pieces with thigh(skin intact)
• Butter- 100 gms
• Ginger Garlic Paste- 2 Tbsp
• Salt as per taste
• lemon- 1
• Rosemary and other herbs of your choice
• Pepper- freshly grounded
• Cuury powder or curry paste- 1 Tsp
• Potatoes- 4, sliced into quarters
• Onion- 2 large size, sliced thickly

Method of Preparation:

• Clean the chicken and pat dry with towel
• In a bowl take the butter(soft not melted), add the ginger garlic paste, pepper, salt,Lime juice, rosemary and other herbs. Mix together and come up with a paste like consistency.
• Rub this butter paste every where in the chicken. Place the paste inside the skin of the chicken, this will help chicken to absorb the flavors of spices and will keep it moist.
• Preheat the oven at 200 degree Celsius or 400 degree Fahrenheit.
• Grease the baking tray with butter
• Cover the base of the tray with onion slices and potato wedges, season with salt and pepper
• Now place the chicken over the onion and potatoes.
• Cook it for 10 mins, take out and grease it with the juices that are released in the bottom of the tray.
• Cook for another 10 minutes, check by poking a fork inside the skin near the leg, if it goes in easily and juices come out of chicken, it means your chicken is ready .
• Let the chicken sit for 10 mins before you serve it. 

Your chicken is ready to be served, Enjoy !!!!!!

Happy cooking.

By- sushmita pandit 

Wanna know how tomake kabab: http://wahsushkitchen.blogspot.in/2011/09/chicken-kabab.html

Puri or Poori

Puriyan kachodiyan aur mithayan, ye sirf pakwan hi nahi balki un choti choti khusiyoun k sajhedar hain jo zindagi ko aur bhi Khubsurat aur mazedar banate hain.
Ya you heard it right, these are just not simple mere food, but these are the food that brings smile and sense of joy on one's face, because i strongly believe that life is all about how we celebrate it. That is why India is a land of celebration. Holi is approaching fast, and i have some dishes for the menu already being planned in my head, and ofcourse puri is one of the item.

Lets get started:

Ingredients:

• Whole purpose flour or atta- 2 cups
• Water for kneading the flour
• ghee or butter- 1 Tbsp
• Salt- pinch of
• Sahi zeera- 1 Tsp
• Carom seed or ajwain- 1 Tsp
• Oil for frying

(Atta orwhole wheat flour which is use for making chapati's are easily avalable in Indian store.

The most famous brand are ashirwad aata or pillsbury atta.

)

Preparation:
Step 1.
Bring together atta, ghee,carom seed, salt and shahi zeera.
With the help of water knead the dough.
The dough shouldnt be too soft or too tight.

Step 2. 

Make logs out of the dough

and then cut 1/2 inches of balls out of it.

step 3.

Take drops of oil on the surface where you are going to flatten the balls into puri

With the help of a rolling pin roll the balls into neither too thick nor too thin puri's, otherwise the puri's wont puff.

step 4.

Heat oil in a pan for deep frying puri, keep the heat in medium

Place the puri's in the hot oil and allow it to puff, once it puffs flip onto otherside, wait until you get a golden crust on both sides. Carefully take out the puri on a kitchen towel , which will absorb the excess of oil from puri's.  Repeat the process until you get desired amount of puri. Leftover kneaded dough can be well refrigerated for 2 days in an air tight container.

It goes really well with currys and kheer(Pudding) too. So enjoy your meal with puri.

Happy cooking :-)

By-Sushmita Pandit