Cake House

LEEKY LURRUP Don’t you just love the name of this tasty Cornish dish! The Larrup, I think, refers to when you “layer up” the pork and veggies. Just wonderful, as is this recipe from the WI Cornish recipes collection.  I am not sure why the recipe would suggest you only use the white part of the leek? The turnip will be swede, of course. Pre heat your fan oven to 200C and grease a sandwich tin [pie dish?].  I will use as is suggested in the 1960s recipe but a pie dish would be good too.  I lay across the dish two long parchment strips to help me lift it out. 8 oz rough puff pastry 2 large leeks [white part], chopped 1 large [2 medium] peeled potato, sliced 1 slice turnip, cut into small slices 3 large slices streaky belly pork Seasoning [inc parsley and a little veggie bouillon or cube] I have given the basic rough puff pastry recipe many times, but for the 8” tin I used: 8 oz plain flour, salt and pepper, 2 oz lard, 2 oz butter and a little cold water to mix. Rub in the f...

G obi 65 is a perfect snack or can be served as a starter dish. This is available in almost all the restaurants in India. This is an absolute party dish which can be made easily within no time and which tastes yumm. My daughter is a big cauliflower lover. Cauliflower in any form, she will finish it off as it is made.I make cauliflower dishes twice a week in the form of pakoda, kurma, gobi paratha, manchurian, side dish for rice and so on. After swimming class she would feel hungry and so once I made this gobi 65 which came out well and so from then on I make this quite often. This is a very addictive snack because of its flavor and taste. This is a very easy and a simple snack which will be loved by all. Ingredients: For batter: Cauliflower- 1 large Corn Flour- 2 tbsp Maida- 4 tsp Ginger and Garlic paste- 1 tbsp Red Chilli powder- 2 tsp Garam Masala Powder- ½  tsp Curry Leaves-few Salt- as required Oil- for deep frying For tempering: Oil- 1 tbsp Cumin Seeds- 1 tsp Curry Leaves- few...

DATE SLICES Memories of favourite childhood bakes come to mind when I make this traditional Cornish sweet pastry treat. Often made with left over pastry from pasties - or that is what my mother did. It was just wonderful with a dollop of clotted cream on the top, fetched from the farmer’s wife along the road from us. Just perfect. There is no real recipe here. Just rough puff pastry and dates. I cannot give you quantities as it would depend on how many you want to bake. Lots of pics on my Blog.  But for the 8 slices in the photos x 2, I used: 8 oz plain flour 3 oz cookeen [I am into using this!!] 1 oz butter very cold water to bind Just roughly rub in the fat and bind with the water and lightly knead until smooth, then chill for half an hour. Pre heat your fan oven to 200C  Dates - these 8 slices used up a packet of chopped dates [200gr]. I tried to get an old fashioned block but my local Asda did not have any. In a dish, place the dates, along with some lemon juice and a litt...

O nce in a while we can have a bowl of warm,cheesy, creamy, goodness. My daughter is a big fan of mac and cheese. Whenever we go out to restaurants, she will have her favorite pasta. I thought if she loves it a lot, then why not try make it at home and here it is. A simple but a creamy rich dish. You can vary the pasta, by adding boiled veggies, corn, prawns, chicken or anything of your choice. But I made it plain as this is the classical mac and cheese recipe. The addition of ground mustard will give an additional kick to the dish. Kids will love this amazing cheesy flavorful pasta. Whatever the occasion is, this mac n cheese will always spell comfort. Leftovers can be kept in the refrigerator and can be had anytime by reheating in the oven. If you feel the mac n cheese is dry just add some more milk and heat it on stove top. If you have an extra time, just bake the mac n cheese in a preheated oven by covering it with a lid or a foil in a casserole dish at 350 degrees F for about 20 m...

BOILED RAISINS CAKE Firstly, after my break, I must thank Nicola for passing on to me the WI Book of Recipes From Cornwall, dated from the 1960s. It is a veritable treasure trove of recipes and I will be making several from the book over the autumn and winter. I will tweak them, adapting to modern tastes but for the most part I will bake as printed, except that almost all recipes use margarine and not butter. There is NO WAY I will be doing that. How times change. In this lovely fruit cake recipe, the raisins are boiled, not the whole cake! You need to start a couple of hours before you intend to bake. I will quote the book, which is for a 6” cake but I increased the quantities [half as much again] to bake an 8” - my husband would think I had gone bonkers if I made a small cake. Pre heat you fan oven to 160C [350F] Grease and line the base of your tin. 6 oz raisins 3 oz butter 1 teaspoon nutmeg 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda 4 oz caster sugar 1 egg, beaten 6 oz plai...

T oday is Onam in Kerala. Onam is a harvest festival, which is a major festival celebrated in Kerala. It is one of the rarest festivals, which is celebrated by the entire state of Kerala people. The rich cultural heritage of Kerala comes out in its best form and spirit during the festival. We never celebrated onam, as  you all might know by now that I was born in Kerala, but brought up completely in Andhra pradesh because of my dad’s job. We used to go to Kerala during summer vacations and I never got a chance to celebrate onam. My mom told us what they used to do during onam like the “pookalam”- floral carpet, ona sadhya- special feast lunch served on a banana leaf, games like tug of war, boat race, women’s dance performed in circle around a lamp and many more such things during onam.I used to dream about all of them. Though we were not in Kerala to enjoy all these, my mom made sure to make sadhya for us. Sadhya includes avial ( mixed vegetables in coconut gravy), sambhar, parippu...

E id Mubarak To all Bakrid called as Id-Ul-Azha is one of the important festivals celebrated by the muslim community all over the world. Festivals are the time where we cook and share delicious food with family and friends. After the morning eid prayers, the preparations of appetizing meal starts which is from main course to dessert. Always for eid in my house, it would be a biryani (as my husband and daughter are huge biryani fans) and some kind of dessert. This time for dessert, I thought of preparing something different and ended up with an easy, simple but a luscious dessert, which can be prepared and served within no time. I prepared this, when my biryani was getting cooked. That means, it is very less time consuming dish to prepare. This is a creamy smooth kheer which naturally thickens when cooled. This is very easy to digest and will be finished within no time as this tastes heavenly. Just try this out…. Ingredients: Sabudana/ Tapioca Pearls- ½ Cup Milk- 1 Cup Water- ½ Cup Milk...