Cake House

Y esterday was my dad’s birthday and so this post is for my dad who loves this palak paneer. You read it right, he likes palak paneer. But today’s post is of palak tofu. I have added tofu instead of paneer as tofu is said to be one of the healthiest foods available in the world. Tofu is made out of soy milk that is curdled and then pressed into a sliceable cake. This is an excellent source of amino acids, iron, calcium and other micronutrients. Tofu is having many health benefits. This is the reason why I prefer tofu over paneer. My dad likes palak paneer a lot, so I made this palak tofu, which is almost the same as paneer. This is a simple and a quick version of palak paneer. Adding cream is an option. A completely healthy vegan dish which can be served along with rotis/ naans/ pulav. Ingredients: Palak- a bunch Tofu- 1 cup (cut into cubes) Ginger and Garlic Paste- 1 tbsp Green Chillies- 3 nos Onions- 2 nos Tomatoes- 1 no Oil- 1 tbsp Cumin Seeds- 1 tbsp Garlic ( crushed)- 1 tbsp Turme...

I found these beautiful Gien plates this morning, asking for seafood. Sardines! Out of season, so I scoured the freezer (red mullet!) and the larder (a fennel bulb!) and remembered a recipe from ateliersdeschefs.co.uk and looked it up. Found the required tin of crab meat and started. Mixed the crab with some mayo and parsley and put it in the fridge. Then made the sauce with lemon juice and olive oil. A matter of tasting, not too oily, not to acid.  Still not satisfied I reduced some orange juice till sirupy, let it cool and added that. Perfect. Then used the mandoline to slice a funnel bulb wafer thin. Marinated the fennel in some of the sauce. Added chopped chives to the rest of the sauce and panfried the mullet in a slightly oiled pan. Served as shown. Looking good and simple!

Only 12 ingredients, but yes, Ottolenghi again from the Guardian and it was delicious! 250g tender stem or sprouting broccoli, 250g button mushrooms, halved 50ml olive oil,  100ml white wine,  1 bay leaf,  3 thyme sprigs, chopped ½ tsp sugar,  150ml double cream,  Grated zest of 1 lemon, 1 garlic clove, crushed 3 tbsp chopped parsley,  20g Panko* breadcrumbs, or another,  250g pappardelle Clear any leaves from the broccoli and cut into 4cm-long pieces (stalks and florets). If the stalks are thick, cut along the centre. Blanch in boiling salted water for two minutes and drain. In a large saucepan, sauté the mushrooms in the hot oil until they start taking on colour. Add the wine, bayleaf, thyme and sugar, reduce to a third, then add the cream. Season to taste and keep warm. Mix together the lemon zest, garlic and parsley. In a hot pan, toast the breadcrumbs until golden, stirring occasionally. Cook the pappardelle in salted water. When just ready, ...

Ottolenghi today! Vegetarian! Start by preparing the fennel bulbs. First, cut off the leafy fronds, keeping a bit aside for the garnish. Next, slice off the end of the root and remove the tough outer layers, making sure the base still holds everything together. Cut each bulb lengthwise into 1/2 in. thick slices. Melt butter and olive oil in a large frying pan over high heat. When the butter starts to foam, add a layer of sliced fennel. Do not overcrowd the pan and don’t turn the fennel over or stir it around in the pan until one side has become light golden, which will take a few minutes. Using tongs, turn the slices over and cook for another few minutes. Remove from the pan, add a bit more olive oil and butter if needed and repeat the process with the remaining raw fennel. Once all the fennel is done and removed from the pan, reduce the heat, then add the sugar, fennel seeds, and plenty of salt and pepper to the pan. Fry for 30 seconds, adding a little more oil or butter if needed, un...

Difficult part: buy Japanese tempura flour. Follow instructions (lumpy is GOOD!) to make the batter. Cut beetroot, celery stick, carrot, paprika into bite sizes. Use the leaves of the celery too. Soooo nice and crispy! Dip veggies in the batter and deep fry. Eat with chopsticks and soy sauce. Or a bit less vegetarian, with juicy shrimps:

Happy Valentines Day T his bread and butter pudding is one of the easiest pudding to prepare. In this dish, a layer of buttered bread slices, sprinkled with raisins is arranged over which egg and milk mixture is poured, seasoned with cinnamon powder and finally baked to a desired consistency. Some like to eat this just like that and some might like it along with custard or cream. Instead of raisins we can also add chocolate chips or any dry fruits of choice. This pudding is a no fail dish, which I can prepare any time of the day within minutes and am also sure that, this will be loved by all. I love the light golden colour crust formed on top. Tip: Dry bread would make this pudding more tastier :-) Ingredients: Bread- 10- 12 Slices Butter- ¼ Cup Sugar- ¾ Cup Milk- 2 Cup Cinnamon Powder- 1tsp Eggs- 2 nos Vanilla Essence- 1 tsp Raisins- ½ Cup Method: Gently warm the milk over low heat and mix the sugar till it gets dissolved. Beat the eggs and van...

P ickles are staple in our home. Whatever be the gravy, a tinge of pickle is a must. So I never let any pickle bottle to empty. One is finished, the other will be ready. Garlics are loved much in our family. It also has many medicinal values and can even be eaten raw. This pickle will be very good for digestion as well, especially along with a heavy binge meal !! Ingredients: Garlic Cloves- 250 gms Dry Red Chillies- 7-8 nos Curry leaves- few Red Chilli Powder- ¼ Cup Turmeric Powder- 1 tbsp Asafoetida Powder- 1 tsp Fenugreek Powder- 1 tbsp Mustard Seeds- 1 tbsp Fenugreek Seeds- 1 tsp Gingelly Oil- ¼ Cup Salt- as required Vinegar- 2 tbsp Method: Heat oil in a kadai. Splutter mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds. Add the curry leaves, dry red chillies and the garlic cloves. Stir for a minute. Remove from flame, add the red chilli powder, turmeric powder, fenugreek powder and asafoetida. Mix well. Add the vinegar and mix. Let it cool and store in clean glass bottle.

The freezer still had half a packet of escargots in their shells, with garlic butter. But I still had some mushrooms I had to use before they would go off. So this was my idea for a nice starter. As the garlic butter in the shells would not be enough for dipping enough crunchy bread in it I started with cutting half a shallot very finely and did the same with 3 cloves of garlic, which I sweated in 50 gr of salted butter. In the meantime I started on the last of the parsley, cut it till I had about 4 tbsps. Mixed it with the garlic/shallot butter, off the heat. Then took out the defrosted snails from their shells with a toothpick, incl the garlic butter and added them to my mixture. Cleaned the mushrooms and took out the stems and fried the hoods. Then heated up the snails and hoisted them into the upturned mushrooms. Added a red pepper for colour and served with fresh crusty bread. The empty shells were just decoration.

Start with the 'pesto', boil a handful of frozen peas for 7 mins, drain. Use the stick blender to blitz them with olive oil, 2 tbsp of mint leaves  and 1 garlic clove till the right consistency.  Then crumble some feta cheese and mix that in as well. Next: boil a few potatoes. Then sear the fish (the recipe said sea bream, but I had sea trout) in a lightly oiled pan, skin side down. When the skin is nice and crisp, turn off the heat and turn the fish. It will be done in a minute. In the meantime crush the potatoes with a fork and add some olive oil. The recipe also asked for some spring onions, but I didn't have any, so I finely cut half a shallot and sweated that for a minute and added to the mash. `For color I added some parsley as well. Inspiration: atelierdeschefs.co.uk PS Don't forget, like I did,  to serve with lemon wedges!

Start (preferably a day before) with the pickled cucumber. Cut a cucumber in half and remove the ends. Then slice both halves lengthwise very thinly till you reach the seeds. Then put  a good glug of white wine vinegar and a tbsp runny honey in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Turn off the heat. Wait a minute or so and put in the cucumber. Mix well. Cool and keep in the fridge overnight. Normally chicken breast are used, but I found a nice fat coquelet ( 650 grams) which is enough for 2 people and meat from the bone is always more tasty. Warmed up the oven at 230C and oiled the coquette. Put it in the oven, turned down the heat to 180C and left the oven do the work for 45 mins ( but every 15 mins basked it with some oil). In the meantime I had enough time to make the sauce (but you can buy it readymade if you want): mixing 1/2 a cup of mirin, 3 tblsp sake, 1/4 cup of superfine sugar, 1 tbsp fresh grated ginger and 4 tbsp soy sauce. Then boiled the rice. To give it some color and b...

I am so sorry that I have completely forgotten my blog from the past one month. Actually my little one is keeping me damn busy. I am not getting time to check other blogs or do anything in my blog. New year, new recipes, new ideas……. everything I had planned, but couldn’t do much. So while my little one was sleeping, I started this post. Todays recipe is one of my favorite biryani, which my mom makes whenever I demand. So this time. This is an easy dish that has an authentic taste of hyderabadi biryani. Just try this out and experience it… Ingredients: Mutton- ½  kg Basmati Rice- 4 Cups Water- 4 ½ Cups Onions (sliced)- 5nos Green Chillies- 4 nos Ginger and garlic paste- 1 tbsp Tomatoes- 3 nos Red Chilli Powder- 3 tbsp Coriander powder- 1 tbsp Turmeric powder- ½ tbsp Curd- 1 Cup Cardamom Seeds- 4-5 nos Cloves- 6-7 nos Cinnamon Stick- 1 no Chopped Mint and Coriander Leaves- 1 cup Oil- 2 tbsp Ghee- 2 tbsp Method: Wash and drain rice. Keep this aside. Heat oil and ghee in a large pot. ...

We found this recipe on the web, it was posted by a guy called Marc who only allows us a link to his website. Well here you go: http://norecipes.com/recipe/fish-and-chips-recipe . Our fries however were shop bought. The sauce: 2tbsp mayo, 2tbsp creme fraiche, 1 tbsp finely chopped small gherkins, 1 tbsp finely chopped pearl onions, pepper, salt.