Cake House

MILK LOAF An amazing, rich, very soft and so tasty loaf of bread, courtesy of the WI ladies. Apart from using whole milk instead of water, it also has a higher fat content, making the texture incredibly soft and irresistibly delicious.  You could use semi skimmed, but I followed the original recipe, from the days when those WI ladies had never heard of semi skimmed. I have adapted the recipe to use dried yeast and you can imagine the original used fresh yeast.  But use dried active yeast [not quick] Pre heat your fan oven to 210C and lightly butter a baking sheet. 1 lb strong plain flour 1 teaspoonful salt 3 oz butter ½ pint lukewarm whole milk 1 level tablespoon dried active yeast  some extra milk to glaze Add the yeast to the warm milk  and leave until frothy, with half a teaspoon of sugar. In a medium mixing bowl, [or like me, a mixer with a dough hook] place the flour, salt and butter then rub in the fat until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the frothy milk an...

P ani Puri is one of my favorite chaats from childhood. Whenever we go out, we used to thoroughly enjoy the chaat from the roadside street vendors. In every nook and corner, you can see a pani puri stall. We used to have competition, as who will have more puris. Every Indian like pani puri to the core. It is said that this not only satisfies your taste buds but also keeps the kid in you alive. Once during fasting time, in Bangalore, after breaking the fast I had 30- 35 pani puris without eating anything. I like to have them anytime of the day. After coming to the US it has become very rare to find pani puri. We will get the pani puri kit in all the Indian stores. I started making it from scratch as we don’t find the puris most of the time in stores. My daughter loves it a lot. She won’t eat anything else if pani puri is there for snacks. Pani puris have different names like the puchkas, gol gappas and so on. Pani means water and puri are the fried puffed dough balls. Yesterday was my s...

CARAMEL FINGERS I love the old recipes from the Cornish Ladies of the 1960s WI. This is another of their wonderful recipes. Just delicious. Butter a shallow ish square tin 6” x 8” and pre heat your fan oven to 170C 4 oz butter 4 oz soft dark brown sugar 1 large egg tablespoon treacle 4 oz self raising flour 4 oz chopped dates 2 oz chopped walnuts 2 oz sultanas pinch salt vanilla extract In a medium bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then beat in the egg. Stir in the rest of the ingredients and spread into your prepared tin. Bake for about half an hour, or just over, leave it in the tin and carefully cut while hot then leave to cool. Dust the top with a sprinkling of caster sugar while hot. Yum Yum PS - Why are they called Caramel Fingers? Just a yummy dark sponge mix really. Hey ho, who am I to disagree with a lady from the WI?

Duchess Cake Let's start off the autumn season with the most delicious moist cake that is also a great keeper. A friend from Helford gave me this recipe from a tatty old cake small paperback book circa about 1970. I was so impressed by the old book I looked for a copy on eBay - hey presto. I now have my own copy. It was written by a lady named Margaret Bates  and is entitled Talking About Cakes and within its pages are some brilliant recipes. More of those during the next year. Butter and line a 7” spring form tin. Pre heat your fan oven to 160C 6 oz softened butter 6 oz caster sugar 3 eggs 6 oz plain flour ½ teaspoon baking powder almond extract Vanilla extract or bean paste about 8 oz marzipan Flaked almonds Roll out the marzipan to just under a 7” circle. Set aside for a mo. In a medium bowl, cream the butter and caster, until really light and fluffy. Whisk in the eggs one at a time followed by the extracts. Fold in the flour and baking powder and mix well. Tip half of the mixtu...

N owadays we are more into healthy salads for dinner. I was searching for some salad recipes and got this balsamic chicken salad which is a one pot salad that is very filling. As I had all the ingredients readily available in the kitchen, I tried it out. This dish is not only easy but a very delicious and appetizing. With very fewer ingredients, we can make a healthy, protein-rich, nutritious dish by spending very less time in the kitchen. A perfectly balanced meal, with the choice of veggies. In this, the chicken pieces and veggies are coated with balsamic dressing and baked till done. This dish is versatile and with full of flavors. Try this out and let me know. Ingredients: Adapted from here : Boneless Chicken- 1 lb Minced Garlic- 3 tbsp Dried Thyme- 1 tbsp Dried Oregano- 1 tbsp Salt- as required Pepper- 1 tbsp Broccoli- 1 Cup Carrots- 2 nos (peeled and cut into thin strips) Mushrooms- 1 Cup (cut into half) Method: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F Mix the balsamic vinegar along wit...

T hese healthy and nutritious laddus are made out of quinoa and oats which turn out to be very appetizing and a delicious snack. If you think that quinoa is only good for salads and pilafs, then you should try this combination of quinoa along with oats. Oats help to control the blood sugar and keep you feeling full and quinoa adds a little extra protein. The amazing combination of both will make your day. In this laddus all the dry ingredients are roasted, then mixed along with jaggery, ground and rolled in the form of laddus using clarified butter. The addition of nuts will improve its taste to another level. Nuts are a good source of vitamins, fibers, and essential minerals. Flax seeds are called as the most powerful plant foods on the planet. These contain high levels of omega-3 fatty acid. Chia seeds are a common substitute in vegan cooking. These chia seeds also contain rich omega-3 fatty acids. All together this snack is a  full power packed one which can be had after a nice ...

EID MUBARAK!!!!!!!!!!!!! E id ul Adha or Bakrid is also called as “feast of sacrifice. Bakrid is one of the most important Muslim festivals. Eid began with we all getting ready to go to the eidgah for the eid prayers. This is the first time, I went to the mosque to offer festive prayer. I was pretty much excited and after finishing the prayers, there was a small breakfast session and kids enjoyed a lot as many games were there for them. After spending some time, we came back and my lunch work started. This time I wanted to make it simple, so instead of biryani, I planned to make ghee rice, mutton curry and Kerala style parippu payasam .  For the mutton curry, I thought of making something different, which I never made before and so I finalised on “nalli nihari”, which from so long I was thinking of preparing. Nihari is a stew made of meat in which traditionally the meat is slow cooke...