Muffins

Once I got a lovely birthday present from a friend of mine. A muffin tin with a muffin recipe book. Since then, and especially because of my son, I've been baking endless number of muffins now. They so pratical as they are really quick, need less time to prepare and less time to bake, and very easy to make. I do not look in my recipe book anymore!

This is the quickest recipe I know of when you want to make something sweet spontaneously and quickly for teatime for guests.

You need a muffin tin for 12 muffins, two deep bowls, one whisk, one spoon, spoon measures (tsp., tbsp.) and a kitchen scale.

Time: 20-30 minutes for preparation and 20-25 minutes for baking.
Basic recipe:
Preheat oven to 180°C [356°F] (see below).

Mix in a large bowl:
250g (8 oz) wheat flour (use any kinds, whole wheat, or a mixture),
2 1/2 tsp baking powder,
1/2 tsp soda powder,
(Note: Soda or both the raising agents can be replaced with cream of tartar based baking powder. It usually also contains soda. So, 3 tsp cream of tartar baking powder).
OPTIONAL:
50g (1 1/2 oz) grated nuts (any kind: almond, hazelnut, walnut or any other, even coconut),
or
3 tbsp. cocoa powder (for some recipes)


In another deep bowl stir gently and shortly (DO NOT mix for long or make it frothy) the following:
1 egg (leave out egg, if egg-less is desired; 1 tbsp. apple puree or just joghurt or milk can be used to replace the egg),
250 g (8 oz) Yoghurt or 300 ml (1 1/5 cup) Buttermilk,
60-80 ml (1/4 - 1/3 cup) veg. oil (makes the cake juicier than butter; or use 100g butter),
150g (5 oz) sugar

Add to it:
150-300g (5-10 oz) Fruits of choice, sliced or chopped or whole berries, or chocolate pieces or any kind of chocolate which can be baked. You can also add these after pouring the batter into the muffin moulds.

Now mix everything together with a whisk or spoon really quick. DO NOT WHIP OR MIX FOR LONG! The muffins will come out soft only if you do not beat it , but just gently mix everything and immediately start baking. As soon as all the ingredients are wet, stop mixing and pour the batter into the greased muffin moulds.
Bake at 180°C (160°C convection oven) [356°F (320°F)] for 20-25 minutes.

Tips: Add 1- 2 heaped tbsp of cornflour to the flour, add 1 or 2 tbsp milk for it to the batter, and they turn out really soft and fine grained. Has been my experience with baking so far.
If you are using fruits in the recipe, use paper muffin liners for the tin.
If using a muffin tin without the paper liner, then grease the tin with butter and put in the freezer and take out just before pouring the batter. No greasing and freezing is required if using silicone cups for baking.
Let the muffins cool down for a minute or two before you take them out of the moulds, otherwise they might crumble.
Twist them from above while taking out.

Pasta with home made Green Pesto

For 4 portions:
Ingredients:

300-400 g Pasta (chonchiglie-shown above)
1 small yellow bell pepper, cut into small squares
1/2 Aubergine, cubed small
3-4 sun-dried-tomato halves, chopped finely
2 large garlic cloves, grated
1 tsp pine nuts
1/2 tsp fresh thyme / a pinch of dried thyme
3-4 cm piece of parmesan, grated
1/2 cm piece of ginger (optional), grated
olive oil
salt to taste

For the Green pesto, grind together:

2 handfuls of Basil leaves (1 small pot of sweet basil)
a handful of pine nuts, roasted slightly
a 5 cm chunk of Parmesan or Grana padano or Pecorino
1-2 tbsp olive oil
a few drops of lemon juice (optional)
salt, if required

Cook pasta in boiling water with 1 tsp salt for 8-10 minutes or until done. After draining away the water, add a tbsp of olive oil to it.
In the meanwhile, cut the vegetables and prepare the pesto.
Sauté the garlic in olive oil with the pine nuts, thyme, ginger and sundried tomatoes for short, add vegetables, saute till done.Add the cooked pasta and the pesto and mix. Turn off the heat, let cook further for half a minute.
Serve hot sprinkled with parmesan and garnished with a basil leaf.

Note: I prefered not to add any garlic to the pesto, instead fry it in oil and add to the veg. to reduce smell.

GEMÜSE LASAGNE

Zutaten:

1 gr. Zwiebel

½ (oder 1 kleine)Aubergine

1 rote Paprika

250g (½ Pk.) kl. Champignons

½ Zucchini

Kräuter wie Salbei, Thymian oder Rosmarie nach Geschmack

Alles sehr feingeschnitten!

2-3 El Öl zum anbraten

Salz und Pfeffer nach Geschmack

Für die Soße:

300 ml Tomatenpüree

1 EL Schmand

1 Becher Saure Sahne

Nach Bedarf Wasser

10 Lasagneplatten

Salz und Pfeffer nach Geschmack

80-100g Gauda, gerieben, zum Überbacken

Eine große rechteckige Backform

Zubereitung:

Gemüse waschen, putzen und fein schneiden. Und in möglichst wenig Öl anbraten. Die Zutaten für die Soße mischen und aufkochen. Lasagne platten mit Wasser anfeuchten. Erst ein bisschen Soße auf dem Boden verteilen dann die 2 platten nebeneinander, dann wider Soße, Gemüse und wider ein bisschen Soße. Danach wieder die platten und so weiter. Zum Schluss Soße und dann geriebene Gauda darauf. Im vorgeheizten Backofen auf (Umluft) 175°C 30 Minuten backen. Frische gehackte Petersilie darauf streuen.

PG 13. Feb. 2008

Strawberry cake for Rishab's second birthday

I modified the recipe below only slightly for Rishab's second birthday, which turned out really superb. I used just frozen (German-) strawberries instead of peaches and raspberries for the cake and a box of fresh strawberries for the decoration. It was a snowman cake (See the marshmello snowman below). I used butter instead of margerine. I don't mind using Rama or similar types of margerines, but NO hydrogenated fats (trans fatty acids) for me.
Sorry! It's in German right now:

Blechkuchen Pfirsich Melba
(Source: Marions Kochbuch)

Zutaten:

250 g Margarine
200g Zucker (Sugar)
1 Pkt. Vanillezucker (vanilla sugar)
1 TL Zitronenschale (grated lemon peel, I use readymade ones)
Salz (Salt)
250 g Mehl (raising flour)
75 g Speisestärke (cornflour)
1/2 Pkt Backpulver (Baking powder)
75 g Mandeln, gerieben (grated almonds)
4 Eier (eggs)
3 Dose Pfirsiche (peaches)
350 g Himbeeren (raspberries)
500 g Schmand (a type of German heavy cream or sour cream)
4 Pkt Vanillezucker (Vanilla sugar)
600 g Sahne (heavy cream)
2 Pkt Sahnesteif (whip-it)
1 Vanilleschote (A vanilla bean)

25 Portionen - 356 Kcal pro Portion
**** - 30 min Zub. - 60 min Ges.

Für den Blechkuchen Pfirsich Melba

1. Margarine mit Zucker, 1 Pkt. Vanillezucker, abgeriebener Zitronenschale einer unbehandelten Zitrone und Salz schaumig schlagen.
2. Mehl mit Speisestärke, Backpulver und gemahlenen Mandeln mischen und im Wechsel mit den Eiern unter die Margarine rühren.
3. Backblech fetten und Rührteig auf das Blech streichen.
4. Pfirsiche in ein Sieb gießen und gut abtropfen lassen. Pfirsiche in Spalten schneiden.
5. 1/3 der Pfirsiche mit genügend Abstand auf dem Blech verteilen.
6. 150 g der Himbeeren zwischen den Pfirsichen verteilen. Ofen auf 175° vorheizen und Blechkuchen auf der mittleren Schiene ca. 35 Min. backen.
7. Blechkucnen aus dem Ofen nehmen und abkühlen lassen.
8. Schmand mit 4 Pkt. Vanillezucker glatt verrühren. Sahne mit Sahnesteif schlagen und das Mark einer ausgekratzten Vanilleschote unterheben. Sahne unter die Schmandcreme heben.

Wenn man weiß, daß der Kuchen an einem Tag aufgegessen wird, kann man die Schmandcreme auf den Kuchen streichen und die restlichen Pfirsichspalten darauf verteilen. 100 g Himbeeren zur Dekoration verwenden. Restliche Himbeeren pürieren (evtl. noch zuckern) und über den Blechkuchen Pfirsich Melba träufeln. Wenn man den Kuchen über mehrere Tage essen möchte, ist es besser, den Kuchen aufzuschneiden und die Zutaten in kleinen Schüsseln extra zu servieren. Dann kann jeder seinen Kuchen selber dekorieren und der Kuchen hält sich so besser, da er nicht so durchweicht. Die Schüsseln können abgedeckt im Kühlschrank 2-3 Tage aufbewahrt werden.

Chocolate Cake for Rishab's third birthday

Rishab's Birthday Cake

Rishab loves chocolate and anything made with chocolate, so I was sure what kind of cake I'll be making from him. A chocolate cake. I spent quite a lot of time to find a good recipe for a cake with a lot of chocolate (: D)! And I found one which I felt would just be the right thing.
And since we were going to celebrate his birthday two days later, on a Saturday, Rishab was home on the Friday, when we both made the cake together. He loves helping me with baking cakes and muffins. It was not a very relaxing activity for me, but I wanted to make sure that Rishab had his share of fun. After all, the party was for him. And the cake turned out really good. I had to use more frosting than given in the recipe, which I have basically copy pasted from the source (cacaoweb.net). I used a slightly simplified version of the cake (two layers instead of four).- I had too many guests for that. To be exact, I had invited ten children (with parents and siblings) of which nine actually came. Since Rishab had just started going to the kindergarten, I had invited all of his friends (or going-to-be-friends).

Chocolate Layer Cake
Ingredients

1 ½ cup (340 g) butter, softened
1 2/3 cup (340 g) sugar
6 eggs
2 2/3 cup (340 g) all-purpose flour
ca. 3/4 cup (120 g) finely ground almonds
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup boiling water

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180° C (Gas mark 4 or 350° F).
2. Line two 9 inch (23 cm) cake tins with greaseproof or other non-stick paper and grease the tins.
3. Beat the softened butter with sugar.
4. Add one egg at a time, mix well between each egg.
5. Mix with flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, vanilla extract, and finely ground almonds.
6. Add ½ cup of boiling water and mix well.
7. Transfer to two separate cake tins and bake at 180°C just until set in the middle, approximately 30-45 minutes. A wooden pick inserted in centre should come out with just a few moist crumbs on it. Do not over-bake!
8. Cool the cakes and cut each in half, horizontally. They are easier to cut if they are kept in a refrigerator for a few hours before cutting.

How I made the cake: I took the recipe as it is but, instead of taking two baking tins made it simply on a baking try of an (European-) oven, which was almost the same size as the two tins together. And instead of making four layers, I just made two layers. So, I cut the cake once horizontally. Now, I first cut the cake once in the middle to prevent the layers from breaking, and separated the two layers. Once I had poured enough chocolate frosting over the lower layer(s), I put back the upper layer(s) back and poured the rest of the frosting. Before the frosting hardend, I started placing gummy bears and fruits over the cake together with Rishab.

Frosting
Method with heavy cream:

1 cup (240 ml) heavy cream or whipping cream
14 oz (400 g) sweet dark chocolate/ milk chcolate (or a mixture of both)

1. Heat the heavy cream or whipping cream in a sauce pan.
2. Remove from heat, add finely chopped sweet dark or milk chocolate, and stir until smooth.
3. To test it, transfer a tablespoon of the frosting into a chilled cup and place in the fridge for 15 minutes. If it is too thin, add some more melted chocolate. If it is too thick, add a few tablespoons of cream, stir until smooth, and test it again.

Couscous salad

Easy to make.
Cook couscous in water (do not soak) with salt till done.
Soak chickpeas overnight and change water a couple of times before cooking it in a pressure cooker (is much faster) for about 10 minutes with salt and turmeric.
Clean the Mushrooms with a wet paper towel and cut into halves or quarter and fry in the pan in olive oil with onion, grated garlic and ginbger. Add coriander powder, turmeric, salt.
Once done mix with couscous.

Salad: I used lamb's lettuce (corn sald)-German: Feldsalat, avocado, tomatoes, spring onion, the round red radishes and an oliveoil-lemonjuice dressing (vineagrette) to which I also added roasted cumin powder.
We ate it with joghurt.
Despite the cuscous being a bit too sticky it tasted good to me.
Warning!: It was not appreciated so much by my family. So, I'll have to try out something new next time.
I still don't know how people make the couscous so that it does not turn sticky. Maybe I should add the couscous after the water starts boiling, just like with pasta. Or I took too much water.

Tips:
1. Bulguar can also be used instead of couscous.
2. Precooked (canned) Kidney beans instead of chickpeas would have made a good combination with it as well. (I have previously tried a recipe with Bulguar, ehich also does not turn so sticky somehow)

Broccoli Parantha with Raita

This is a healthy recipe for children and adults alike. It demands a bit of preparation in advance, otherwise it is easy.

Raita shown in the picture here is nothing but stirred yoghurt with some salt (kala namak) and roasted cumin powder (bhuna jeera). You can add chopped coriander leaves and fresh or dried mint leaves to it. Or make any of the endless variants you like.

Broccoli Parantha:
Dough:
Atta (chapati flour),
1/2 Broccoli cut into small pieces, or left over broccoli sabzi (vegetable) from the day before(or even better broccoli soup),
salt and Spices for the dough (e.g. ajwain, salt, chilli, dhania powder, fennel seed powder, etc.),
1 tsp. lemon/lime juice.

Filling:
2-3 large Boiled potatoes (boiled with skin and peeled-can be done a day before and kept in the fridge),
Spices for the filling (e.g., chilli, 1/2" ginger-grated, dhania powder, fennel seed powder, kala namak /black salt),
Coriander leaves (cilantro),
Mustard oil for frying/baking (very healthy - rich in unsaturated fatty acids, especially omega 3 fatty acids).

Steps:
1. Either use the leftover broccoli sabzi from the day before, or steam half a broccoli in half a cup of water till tender but still fresh green. Add lemon juice and puree it with a (hand-) mixer.
2. Knead a soft dough with the broccoli, salt and spices as per desire.
3. Mash potatoes with salt and spices. Add coriander leaves.
4. Roll out paranthas with the potato filling. Here is one link if you want to know how.
5. Fry them in mustard oil on a cast iron tawa (griddle).
6. Serve with Raita.

Tips:
1. Wash the cooked Broccoli with cold water to prevent it from cooking further and loosing its fresh green colour.
2. Cook potatoes in the skin (healthier) a day before. Can be done for the broccoli as well, just add some fresh lime/lemon juice to it. Store in the fridge.