Institute Of Baking and Cake Art - A Discovery!!

A board which I have seen a score times near the Double Road flyover. Always wanted to make a visit to the place and explore. But the almost obscure entrance on the side road and the old building that houses the Institute of Baking and Cake Art made me wonder if the place was still operational. The numbers listed on the  website were not of much use.

And then Vani dropped a comment on my blog about this 'one stop shop' and tempted me to make a visit t the place ASAP. Thanks so very much Vani!! All baking enthusiasts in Bangalore rejoice!! Of all the places, I have hunted so far in Bangalore, this one takes the cake:-)). I had been to the Institute yesterday and came back as pleased as punch. If you are interested in baking and cake decoration, you must, must visit the place.

Seriously Low Fat Brownies!!!!

Its been a hectic summer with kids at home and having a busy time at work too. I had in fact looked forward to more free time for cooking, baking and blogging as I would have not homework and school assignments to deal with. Boy!! How wrong I was!! All I have been talking about to anybody and everybody who cares to listen is how much I am looking forward to the school reopening. My days would then start early, but would be so much more sane:-)) The joys of being a work from- home-Mom!!

I have been cooking and baking as always but have not really been able to sit down and post them as often as I like to. I have put in a few hurried posts, pics taken in a hurry before the food in question gets polished off by kids. This is one of the recipes from Sanjeev kapoor I have tried form the same book, "Simply Stylish Entertaining at Home'. The name of the recipe actually is "Very Low Fat Brownies' and I was so tempted to try this out as it is really, seriously low fat and super quick and easy to put together.

I made this on the spur of the moment when I had to go to my parents place. The picture was taken in a hurry(isn't that obvious??) before they went into the box. The brownies were tasty and loved by all. A fab treat for the sweet tooth sans the sinful calories, particularly so when teamed with low fat ice cream or low fat chocolate sauce. The recipe for the sauce soon follows...

Dal Lucknowi

What happens when I get a chance to watch a live cookery show of Master Chef Sanjeev Kapoor?? The legend of Indian cookery shows who with his charm, mouth watering recipes and friendly smile has had us addicted to Khana Khazana since ages??  The show makes me finish cooking my break fast on Sunday mornings by 9.30 or defer it till 10 am :-). I have been a huge fan of Sanjeev Kapoor since my college days and love the way he makes every recipe seem so simple, easy and do able.

I got a chance to watch this live cookery show at Kitchen Yatra show thanks to Madhuri. It was on a weekday and I somehow manged to get hubby to baby sit the kids(anything to grab the opportunity of a lifetime!!) It was great to watch him cook and also get to taste the same. And of course also ask him endless questions which were answered in his true witty style. It was a show to remember.

Well, it brings me back to the question, what happens when I get a chance to watch a live cookery show of Master Chef Sanjeev Kapoor?? I read more of the Chef's books and of course tried some of the recipes. I tried  Lucknowi Dal from his fantastic new collection, "Simply Stylish Entertaining at Home'. Do absolutely check this book out, I simply loved the recipes, more coming here.

This creamy Dal is subtle in flavor, is extremely easy to make and is a wonderful, elegant accompaniment to rotis or rice. Perfect for entertaining when you are pressed for time or have unexpected guests.

This recipe is also my entry to Sara's 'Cooking with Cumin Seeds' event

Chickpea & Black Eyed Bean Salad

A foodie on a diet!! Isn't that a tough, tough life??  Yeah, yeah,  I know I am exaggerating:-)) But it isn't easy either when you have food on your mind but not on your plate. Naw, am not starving, far from it - eating small meals and snacks all day. Healthy snacks of course. I am on the look out for the health bhi, taste bhi recipes, now more than ever. At the cost of repeating myself, like a lot of us, good, tasty food is very important to me  If I am on a diet, then it had better be low calorie tasty grub. Like this Chickpea and Black Eyed Bean Salad.

This Sanjeev Kapoor recipe was in my recipe diary since ages, but I had not made it as I was just plain lazy to take the trouble of cooking the beans separately. Its sometimes so strange that some ridiculously simple things like having 3 or 4 variety of beans at the same time in your pantry just takes ages to happen!!! Well, at last, I got the beans, soaked them and cooked them separately. Well,  it was 4 beans actually, but the third bean, the kidney beans, refused to cook well in spite of repeated attempts. I gave up!!! I forgot to get the green gram:-(. It became a Two Bean Salad instead of the original Four Bean Salad.

Again, there are no rules for making salads. Add or skip ingredients and vary the proportions of the same according to your taste and preference. A chilled salad is such a pleasure in summers, more so if its protein laden, low in fat, can be made ahead and stored. Indulge in this tongue tickling, chaat like preparation without any guilt whatsoever.

Broken Wheat Bisi Bele Bhat

One of South India's most loved dishes in its healthiest form!! Bisi Bele Bhat (BBB for ease)is usually made with rice and lentils, mostly Toor Dal, vegetables and spices. BBB can also be made with thick beaten rice flakes and Moong Dal- this one is reserved for the no-rice day, Ekadashi. Of late, my mother and sister both have been making the BBB with broken wheat and moong dal and it tastes just great. Replacing rice with broken wheat makes it a low GI meal making this delicious dish your dietitian's delight. You can whip up this dish in a hurry on a weekday morning taking the 'shortcut' method,using your sambhar powder or ready-made Bisi Bele Bhat powder. Or opt to make the masala from scratch on the day you make the dish or a day before.

There are of course a number of variations to making the BBB. North Karnataka Folks generally make this masala powder and store it like rasam or sambar powder.  Folks in Bangalore and around the area specially  make this powder fresh on the day the dish is made. Try serving a 'ready masala mix / Sambar powder' BBB to a hard core Bangalorean and see the reaction:-))

Psst.. a secret.. though I can spend hours baking or making desserts, snacks etc, I don't really love to spend time making rasam or sambar powders. Yeah, Mom and Mom-in-law are my lifelines for these quintessential masalas. I prefer to use home made sambar powder or MTR  Bisi Bele Bhat powder to make this scrumptious dish. Serve this spicy dish with potato chips or papad and raitha and there won't be anybody who will not over eat!!!

Strawberry Cake Ice cream (Reposted)

There is something so wonderful about being all wrapped up in a cozy blanket, eating cold ice cream in winter. Having an elephantine sweet tooth, I go ga ga over cakes. And when its Cake with Ice cream, I admit I am absolutely shameless. The best thing about this dessert is it can be made and frozen well in advance. (Not that it will  remain uneaten for a long time:-)). Imagine, just removing a dessert from your freezer and serving it to an unexpected guest. Or just feeding your sweet tooth when  the dessert craving hits on a lazy day. I would make this and stove it into the freezer just to have the comfort of having a dessert ready at hand anytime. Uuummmmm....

Golden Cake

Isn't this an amazing and intriguing name for a cake?? I saw this on Sheeba's blog and it instantly went on to my growing, 'must try' serpentine list of cake recipes. The slice of cake looked so, so soft and golden gorgeous and had me sighing.  I have visited and revisited Sheeba's blog for this and so many more drool-worthy cakes she has on her blog. In case you haven't been there yet, you must, must visit Art, Food and Travel Chronicles.

I had half a cup of butter sitting in my fridge since days and it started featuring in my dreams too. I normally bake with oil, so having butter at home is a rarity and kind of pushes me into baking something, before the best before date. Not that I need much of pushing when it comes to baking, I just needed to find a good recipe with half a cup of butter and of course a reasonably good excuse to bake:-))

I work from home, which is luxury and allows me to pop a cake into the oven and plonk myself back in front of my computer. I had a particularly productive, though busy month at work, and took a baking break( I take these breaks too often I know) to sort of celebrate.

The cake turned out so..offt and delicious just as Sheeba promised it would. Thanks a lot for sharing this Sheeba!!

Healthy, Delicious Granola by Mallika

 Here ends your wait for Mallika's post, here comes healthy, delicious home-made wholesome Granola, which looks super delicious and tempting enough to grab off the monitor!!! Over to Mallika..

'Thank you Suma for providing me this opportunity to write on your blog and contribute a recipe for the same. Firstly, let me introduce you to myself. I am Mallika (I use MD to address myself on blogs). Other than being a full time working IT professional, you'll find me meddling around in the kitchen, cooking, reading, photographing, blogging, etc. I scuffle through my professional work life and personal passions by squeezing in time for cooking, juggling in a bit of baking, a little photography, blogging and loads of eating! ;)

I love the art of cooking and have been involved with it for many years now. It has helped me in many ways. Being a creative and adventurous person myself, cooking has rightly been an art involving both ventures of creativity and adventure. It's a great stress buster and I enjoy it thoroughly as it allows me to explore my boundaries beyond any limits. The happiness you get just by the satisified looks of people relishing what you've cooked is immensely encouraging. And it was out of sheer passion for cooking, that I unfolded my blog Veg Bowl! 

Allow me to share this healthy breakfast recipe for Granola. This Granola is loaded with nuts and we love it that way. The honey roasted oats and nuts bring out some good flavors while the nuts add a great deal of crunchiness to this recipe. 

Cappuccino Muffins

I am a sucker for caffeine!! I can't imagine starting my morning without my HUGE mug of coffee and am quite fussy about my cuppa. I find the smell of coffee extremely irresistible and it finds its way into my cakes and desserts quite often. I had never baked muffins with butter or coffee earlier. When I saw this recipe on Deeba's blog, the combo sounded so damn, damn irresistible. You bet I visit PAB ever so frequently to drool over Deeba's utterly gorgeous cakes and bakes. I want to bake every cake on her blog and these Cappuccino Muffins called out to me real loud:-).

Mallika's Guest Post

The best part about blogging has been getting foodie friends and if they live in the same city as well, nothing like it!! Mallika of Veg Bowl is another blogger friend of mine. I came across her blog just before I started this blog and I was delighted!! Her Chocolate Truffle Cake, Tiramisu and Christmas Fruit Cake had me drooling all over the place. I was thrilled to discover that she lives in Bangalore:-)). Ah, someone at last, I can contact about baking and cake stuff!! Its been great knowing her and having a 'Helpline' to call when I bake those cookies and other bakes she has tried and I have not yet.

She has fantastic recipes, I particularly love her cookies and desserts, and super, super pics on her blog. Hop on to Veg Bowl, if you haven't yet and  you will surely be asking for more..

When someone I know would be baking or trying out a recipe for the first time, I keep calling them now and then to know how its going. (I am more excited than them), how it tastes etc. Was pleasantly surprised when Mallika called me the other day to know if my first butter cake had come out well. LOL!! I was so happy to know someone who is like me:-)) Its been great knowing you MD!!

I am so happy she would be writing a guest post for my blog. Thank you so much Mallika!!

Watch this space for Mallika'spost...

Baked Fig Halwa

This was one seriously gorgeous looking dessert I had seen in the magazine Bangalore Food Lovers some time back. Bangalore foodies- Do definitely check out this magazine if you haven't yet. Its got restaurant reviews, recipes and gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous food pictures. Awesome eye candy for any foodie.

 

I love figs, both fresh and dried, and this was one to be definitely tried. My mother-in-law had sent lots of fresh figs from Bellary and here came my opportunity to try out Baked Fig Halwa. The halwa tasted great topped with the reduced milk and hubby loved the dessert. Now on to the recipe..

Microwave Low Fat Masala Peanuts

One of my fondest childhood memories is of my father taking us all to a nearby canteen to buy us Masala Peanuts. Those were the crispy, spicy, gram flour coated deep fried ones. We used to enjoy eating them out of small paper cones. 

I was delighted to find this recipe for the masala peanuts in Tarla Dalal's Microwave Cooking book. These taste so good and you can make a cupful of these with just one tablespoon of oil. Isn't that great! It takes time and effort to make these, but hey you get this lovely snack with relatively so few calories and fat(from oil) to go with your evening coffee. Makes approximately one cup.

Ingredients
1/2 cup unsalted peanuts, unskinned
1/2 cup gram flour
2 teaspoons chilli powder
A pinch of Ajwain seeds( you could use fennel seeds or hing here)
1 tablespoon oil
2-3 tablespoons water
Salt to taste

Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the water and oil. Be careful not to add more water. Avoid eyeballing measures for this recipe. I have tried eye-balling and the results were not so good. Ensure the batter coats the peanuts evenly.

Drop the peanuts one by one or in clusters of 2-3 peanuts max on wax paper. These would need to be arranged in a circle near the outer edge of the paper, no circles within the outer circle, no peanuts in the middle. (I know I may be sounding ambiguous,hope you get what I mean to say)  You could also drop on the peanuts on the microwave plate, but using wax paper is quicker and less mess later to clean up. Microwave on HIGH for 1 1/2 minutes. Remove from the wax paper, cool and store in an air tight container. Enjoy with your coffee!!

Please Note: As goes with a lot of microwave recipes, even a few seconds extra can cause the peanuts to harden too much or burn.

Do not reuse the same wax paper more than twice as it may burn.

Kitchen Time Savers - Share Your Tips and Tricks

Whew! Whew!! This is the first time since I started blogging, I haven't put up a post since a whole WEEK!!! Reason- I have been quite busy with my office work and its summer break for school .  Having two hyper active kids at home, demanding my attention(EQUAL puhleez!!), demanding snacks and treats every now and then,  is not exactly the perfect setting for me to blog away!! Here I was thinking, I will blog and bake to my heart's content during summer, without a worry about homework, practice and stuff:-((

Being the foodie I am, I loathe to compromise on food for any reason in the world!! And the food had better be good and healthy! But hey,  now I do not have the luxury of time, but would love my kids to have some decent grub when they wish. I would love to spend some time with them, rather than in the kitchen... yet dish out some good food everyday, spend my time on productive office work when they are away at the 3-hour summer camp( What a respite:-)). Now, isn't that a tall order and also every mother's wish??

 You could tell me how I cut down the cooking time, what I can make ahead to a certain stage and then finish when I need, what I can freeze well, things that can be whipped up real fast - like 10 minutes without much prior preparation, everyday grind and store versatile masalas and pastes, ingredients I will need to stock up on to come up with a quick snack -  In short just about anything to make cooking easier and faster. I am fine with one time effort, but not repetitive. Do tell me your recipes in short too( without worrying about the measurement of ingredients that go in).

I will give a couple of my own(and quite common ones) here so that I make more sense in this crazy, hurried post.

1.Grind green chillies with salt and turmeric and store in the fridge to avoid cutting them everyday.
2. Dry roast all ingredients of Upma, just add water and cook when needed.
3. Grind roasted onion-tomato-ginger- garlic and freeze in small quanities for our own low-fat ready curry paste.
4. Grind roasted poppy seeds, roasted dry coconut, almonds, dates, mix with jaggery. Store. Bring milk to a boil and add the paste to make a quick Poppy Seed payasam.

You get the drift...

Every home maker has a few of these signature tricks up her sleeve. So guys, please share your time saving tricks and tips and lend a helping hand to a foodie in need:-)) Hope I sound desperate enough!!! Hope my next post comes in here soon and with a recipe..