Chocolate cheese cake

Ingredients (Serves 12)

Cheese cake crust
1 1/2 cup    All Purpose flour
3/4 cup       Cold Butter ( cut into cubes)
1/3 cup       Sugar

Cheese cake filling
1 1/2 Lb     Cream cheese
1 cup          Sour cream
1 1/2 cup    Dark chocolate
1 cup          Sugar
3                 Eggs
1 tsp           Vanilla extract

Meathod

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Butter a 10 inch spring form pan.
Combine all-purpose flour, Sugar and cold butter in a bowl until u get the texture of coarse crumbs. Press this onto the bottom of the spring form pan and bake for 25 minutes or until lightly browned.
Meanwhile melt the chocolate.

In a large bowl, using a hand/stand mixer beat the cream cheese, sour cream and sugar, vanilla extract until well combined. To this mixture add the eggs one at a time and mix well.
Reserve 1/4 to 1/2 cup of this mixture.
Add the melted chocolate to the remaining batter and mix until the chocolate is well combined.
Pour this batter over the crust and spread it evenly around the pan.
Drizzle the reserved batter on top and swirl it around with the back of a spoon to give marble effect.

Bake it for 50 to 55 minutes. 
Once the cake has cooled down, chill it in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 hours or preferably overnight before slicing.
There could be few cracks on the cake and the white colour fades out. But don't worry about the cracks.. no one would notice it once u slice the cake.

 

Yogurt Chocolate Cake

I love making desserts, especially when i have guests over for dinner or lunch. Yesterday was one such day where I had guests for dinner  and i was out of milk and running out of eggs. I have never baked a cake without milk or heavy cream.. So yogurt being the only substitute I could use, I decided to make a yogurt chocolate cake.. I was skeptical about the flavor..but unlike what I expected, the cake turned out well and it tasted really good with the melted chocolate topping.

Ingredients (Serves 8-12)
1 cup       All-purpose flour    
1/4 cup   Butter                     
3/4 cup   Sugar                       
1/4 cup   Unsweetened Cocoa powder           
1 cup       Plain yogurt ( I used fat-free plain yogurt)
1   Egg
1 1/2 tsp  Baking power
1/2 tsp     Baking soda
1/4 tsp     Salt
1/2 cup    Dark Chocolate chip ( optional)

For Chocolate Topping
1/4 cup    Dark chocolate
1 tbsp      Milk chocolate
2 tbsp      Butter

Method
You will need 2 mixing bowls, 9 inch round cake pan and hand/stand mixer.
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Butter the cake pan and line the bottom of the pan with circle parchment paper.
In bowl 1, mix all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cocoa power and keep it aside.
In bowl 2 mix the softened butter and sugar until creamy. To this add the egg and beat until smooth.
Now add yogurt and mix until well combined.
Add the ingredients from bowl 1 to bowl 2. Mix it until all the dry ingredients from bowl 1 is well incorporated to the wet ingredients in bowl 2.
Finally add the chocolate chip and spread it around with a spatula.
Pour this batter to the prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Melted chocolate topping
Place the chocolate and butter in a heat proof bowl. Melt it using microwave or double boiler ( Refer Notes under One Bowl Brownie recipe). 
Once the cake cools down, remove it from the pan. Pour the warm chocolate frosting over the cake before serving.
Do not avoid the topping. Warm melted chocolate with this cake is something u can never resist. That's what happened to my little guest.. he just loved it :)

 

 

Prawn Mango Curry in Coconut Gravy/ Varutharcha Chemeen Manga Curry

Ingredients ( Serves 4)

To marinate:

Prawns       1 lb/ 450gms

Chilli powder        1 tsp

Turmeric powder  1/2 tsp

To make Coconut Paste:

Grated Coconut       3/4 cup

Chilli powder          1tsp

Turmeric        1/2 tsp

Jeerakam/Fennel seeds     1tsp

Water

For gravy:

Mango   1

Ginger    1 inch

Coriander powder      1 Tbsp

Curry Leaves    1 Spring

Salt to taste

Water

For Tempering:

Pearl onion       5-6

Coconut oil      2 tsp

Method:

Clean the prawns and marinate it with chilli and turmeric powder and keep it aside.

Clean the mango and peel the skin off (I usually prefer to keep the skin). Slice it into small Pisces. 

In a clay pot, add the sliced mango, chopped ginger, coriander power, half the curry leaves, salt and enough water to cover the mango and cook on medium heat. 

Meanwhile grind the coconut, chilli powder, turmeric power and fennel seeds to fine paste adding  enough water.

Once the mango is cooked, add the prawns and cook for another 2-3 minutes.

 

When the prawns are almost done, add  coconut paste and cook till the raw taste of the coconut is gone, preferably for 3-5 minutes.

Heat coconut oil in a pan and fry the sliced shallots till they turn golden brown. Add this to the curry.

Add the rest of the curry leaves and give a good stir. Delicious Prawns mango curry is ready. Serve it with rice or ari puttu/ rice steam cake :)

  

 

One Bowl Brownie

I love brownies.. who doesn't right?? Sunday afternoon after a spicy lunch, all i could think of was dark chocolate chip brownie. Most of the baking requires at least 2 bowls, mixers, measuring cups... I was too lazy to wash so many dishes after baking, so I decided to bake my brownie using 1 bowl and a spatula!!

Ingredients ( Servings 10)

All purpose flour     3/4 cup

Dark Cooking chocolate/Chocolate chip  1/2 cup + 1/8 cup

Butter         1/3 cup

Sugar          2/3 cup

Egg             2

Vanilla extract       1 tsp

Salt       1/4 tsp

Method

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a 9in x 5in baking tray with parchment paper.
Melt butter and 1/2 cup chocolate in a large heat proof bowl. You can either melt in a microwave or use double boiler(refer notes for double boiler technique).
Combine the chocolate and butter well. To this add sugar, vanilla extract and salt and mix until smooth.
Add egg one by one and mix it well. Finally add  all purpose flour and mix until well combined.
Pour this into the prepared tray and sprinkle rest of the chocolate chip on top of the batter.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Notes: Double boiler Technique
This is a method used to melt chocolate under indirect heat. All you need is a saucepan to hold hot water and a bowl that can fit securely over the sauce pan.
Pour hot water to the sauce pan. Heat the saucepan until water begins to boil. Turn of the heat and place the bowl with chocolate over the water. Be careful not to mix  water with chocolate.
Once the chocolate starts melting, stir it gently with a spatula. When almost all the chocolate is melted, lift it from the saucepan. Stir continuously until the chocolate is smooth and shiny.

Peanut Butter Cookie

Ingredients ( Servings 30)

All Purpose flour              1 1/2 cup    

Peanut butter                    1 cup                 

Unsalted butter                 1/2 cup or 1 stick

Granulated white sugar    1/3 cup

Light brown sugar            1/3 cup 

Egg                                   1

Vanilla extract                  1 tsp

Milk                                 1 Tbsp

Baking soda                     1 tsp

Cinnamon                        1/2 tsp               

Salt                                  1/4 tsp ( avoid salt if using salted butter)

Chocolate Chip to garnish

Method

You will need two mixing bowls, Hand mixer, Piping bag and 1 M piping nozzle.

Preheat the oven to 375 degree Fahrenheit.

Line a baking tray with parchment paper.

In bowl 1, whisk together  all-purpose flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt and keep aside.

Bring the butter to room temperature. In bowl 2 mix  butter, peanut butter, granulated white sugar and light brown sugar until smooth and fluffy. 

Add the egg, vanilla extract and milk to the peanut butter mixture and mix until well combined 

Add the dry ingredients in bowl 1 to the mixture in bowl 2 and beat until the batter is smooth.

Now load this batter to piping bag with 1M nozzle and do the swirl design, just 1 layer on the lined baking tray.

Garnish it with chocolate chip.

Bake for 10- 12 minutes.

 

Simple Chicken Soup

It's that time of the year, flu is here ... and hubby is down with the flu .... and its time for some yummy chicken soup ...

Ingredients 
( Serves 2 or may be your hubby alone if he really likes it ;) )

Chicken         1 boneless breast or thigh fillet
Carrot            1 medium
Celery            1 stalk
Onion             1 small
Potato            1 small
Green beans   4-5 
Spinach          8-10 leaves
Oil                  1 tsp
Water             3/4 cup
Salt                 to taste
Pepper           1/2 tsp

Method

I call this a simple chicken soup because it is real simple to prepare it.
Dice the carrot, celery, potato, beans, onion and cut the chicken into cubes.
Add the oil to the bottom of the pressure cooker and warm to medium heat.
Add the onion and saute till its becomes transparent. Now add the rest of the diced vegetables and saute for another 2-3 minutes.
Add the chicken, water and enough salt and cook till 1 whistle or until chicken is cooked. 
Once the pressure is released, open and add the spinach and simmer it on low heat for 2 minutes.
Add some pepper and it is ready to serve!!