Aromatic Kitchen

Chocolate Cake

2012-12-26T15:17:00.000-08:00

LAYERED CHOCOLATE CAKE

First of all wishing all of my readers & fellow bloggers a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year !!!
Its been a while since I posted something in my blog ... cleaning around, running from one floor to another, nd managing my son , i was pretty lost somewhere.I guess many of you will be having the same situation .
Hope you will enjoy this recipe. Its like always inspired from my favourite recipe book by GU. Made it 3 times till now . This years Christmas cake for the family gettogether.
Happy Cooking !! Happy Blogging !!!

Things Needed:

4 - Eggs

250 gm - Sugar

200 ml - Orange juice

200 ml - Oil

300 gm - All purpose flour

3 tbsp - Cacao powder

1 tsp - Backing powder

Chocolate Gaze :

200 ml - Whipping cream

300 gm - Chocolate grated

Layering:

200 ml - Whipping cream once again

then:

Chocolate flakes, Some chopped peanuts, Hazel nuts etc. to decorate

Preparation Method:

1. Beat eggs with sugar until thick cream.

Add oil & orange juice into this , mix.

2. Mix dry ingredients together (flour,cacao,backing powder)in a bowl.

Add this to the egg mix using a sieve.

After mixing uniformly pour into baking pan (28'' or 26 '') & bake for around 45 min. Let it cool.

3.For the Glaze, boil 200 ml cream once in a pan. Remove from heat.

Add grated chocolate, mix uniformly until it melts.

4. Cut the cake into 2 layers.

Spread half (or less) of the melted chocolate uniformly over the base layer.

5.Whipp 200ml cream and pour over the chocolate layer.

Place the top layer cake over this.

6. Spread rest of the melted chocolate uniformly over the cake.

Decorate according to your wish.

Fruit cream torte - Obst Sahne Torte

2012-09-23T16:19:00.002-07:00

Things Needed:

2 Eggs

125 gm Sugar

100 ml Oil

100 ml Orange Juice

2 tbsp Cacao powder

150 gm All purpose flour

1 tsp Backing powder

For filling:

2 pack Vanilla pudding powder

400 gm Whipping cream

1 tsp Vanilla sugar

2 tsp cream stiffner

Fruits:

4 Pears

some Strawberry

some Blueberry

some Red n Green grapes

grated chocolate

chopped Hazelnuts

Preparation Method:

1. If you are cooking the pudding, prepare pudding first & Let it cool.

Grease backing form.Preheat oven to 170 degrees.

2. Beat eggs with sugar until creamy.
Add oil & juice, mix.

3. Mix dry ingredients together (flour,cacao,backing powder).
Add flour to the egg mix using a sieve.

After mixing uniformly pour into baking pan & bake for around 20 min. Let it cool.

4. Peel the pears cut into small pieces & distribute over the cake.
Now beat the cooled pudding to make it soft. Drop it over the pears using spoon & spread evenly.
Refrigerate the cake topped with pears-pudding.

5. Now whip the cream adding cream stiffner & vanilla sugar/a drop vanilla essence.

Spread it over the pudding.

6. Decorate your torte with Strawberries, blue berries, grapes, grated chocolate, chopped Hazelnuts etc.

Choco Nuts Cream Torte

2012-02-11T14:05:00.000-08:00

CHOCO NUTS CREAM CAKE

This time its a Double layered chocolate nut cream torte !!!
It was son's Birthday, i browsed chefkoch.de , my fav. and found this recipe.He likes chocolate n Hazelnuts so he loved his cake and I didn't get a chance to make a good decoration or photo shoot of it :(
He decorated himself with some chocolates, so I had anyway less work and had a nice time.
But overall it was fun.

Hope you enjoy the recipe.!!

Things Needed:

For the base:
All purpose flour -75gm
Cornflour(corn starch) - 75 gm
Eggs - 4
Warm water - 4 tbsp
Sugar - 125 gm
Vanilla sugar - 1 packet
Backing powder - 2 tsp
Hazel nuts powdered - 100 gm
Rum aroma - 2 drops

For the filling :
Whipping Cream - 600 gm
Sahnesteif (whipping cream stiffener) - 6 packet
Hazelnuts powdered - 100gm
Rum aroma - 2 drops
Nutella - 4 tbsp

Some pralines - 1 packet to decorate

Preparation method:
Mix flour, cornstarch & backing powder in a separate bowl.Separate egg into white n yolks.
Apply butter to the sides of the back form. Cover the base with backing paper.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

Beat the egg white until stiff.
Beat separate egg yolks with water,sugar & vanilla sugar until a thick whitish cream.
To this yolk mix add egg white & flour mix. Mix uniform with a spatula .
Pour this in the backing form & bake for 35-40 min. until its done. (Check with a wooden
toothpick if it comes out clean then its done.)
After its cooled down, remove the cake from form. Divide it into 3 equal layers.

Over the base apply evenly the filling below.

For the 1st filling :
Whip 200gm cream(1 packet) with 2 tbsp sugar & 1 1/2 packet cream stiffener to a stiff cream. Add 2 drops rum aroma & 100gm powdered hazelnuts into this & mix with spoon.

Filling for the 2nd layer & the top :
Whip rest 400 gm cream with 3 packets cream stiffener. Mix in 4 tbsp nutella.
Apply the cream on top as well . Decorate as you like.Bring your creativity.
As you see I didn't get much time to decorate. Son was always behind to see when I will finish it.

Banana Cream Chocolate Cake

2012-02-03T11:09:00.000-08:00

BANANA CREAM CHOCOLATE TORTE

Extra for Banana lovers....
Have made this so many times by now . Though I could take a clear snap only recently.
Recipe idea is from GU .
You can use any soft ripe bananas (not plantains) .
Yield is 20 pieces, since we are making in a baking tray. . Ideal for parties.

Things Needed:
All purpose flour - 350 gm
Backing powder - 1 small pack
Dark Cacao powder - 3 full tbsp

Eggs - 4
Sugar - 250 gm
Oil - 200 ml
Banana juice - 200 ml (if not available then make using 2 well ripe bananas adding some water, sieve it before adding)

For cream topping:
Vanille cream pudding powder - 2 packets (37gm each) for 1 litre milk.
1 litre milk for pudding making
Butter - 200 gm
Powder sugar - 8 tbsp or as per need
Bananas - 1 kg

For chocolate glaze:
Block Chocolate -200 gm
Whipping cream - 150 ml

Preparation method:
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Cover baking pan with baking paper . Grease the sides.
Mix roughly flour, backing powder, cacao powder in a vessel & set aside.
Beat well eggs in sugar adding one by one until thick creamy.
Add oil & juice . Mix.
To this add the flour mix using a sieve in 2 batches, mix well in between.
Pour this over the baking tray.
Bake for 20- 25 min. Check using a wooden toothpick to see whether its done.
Allow to cool when done.

Topping:
Meantime, make pudding according to the instructions written in the back of the pack (it differs)
Allow to cool. Refrigerate it for 3-4 hrs later.

Beat the butter until soft with the powder sugar. Add pudding to this & mix uniformly to make the cream topping.

Apply over the cake & spread uniformly using spatula.
Slice the bananas & press it almost into the cream .

Chop chocolate. Warm up cream . Melt the chocolate in it by stirring.
Pour it over the cream cake using a spoon.
Refrigerate . Cut using a wet knife.

Nadan Fish Curry

2012-01-27T07:09:00.000-08:00

KERALA STYLE NADAN FISH CURRY - Trivandrum

This mouth watering fish curry is made by my mom. I have been to other houses n tried their version of fish curries but none could beat my mom's. Its her special recipe. I am writing it just like she told me.

This time when we were at home mom was sun drying some kudam puli(Garcinia cambogia) that she plucked from my uncle's home. My mom's native place is full of Garcinia trees and whenever we goes there we used to eat it n make our teeth yellow..some memories !!!

This recipe includes coconut paste . There is another version of fish curry without using coconut paste called Fish moly is here.

Things Needed:
Fish - Something you like but with a hard flesh, cut properly, washed n so
Kudam puli - 2 pieces
Tomato - 2 small, sliced
Raw Mango or Drum stick(Muringa) -1, sliced

Tampering:
Finely chopped ginger - 1 tsp
Uluva - 2 pinches
Curry leaves - 2 spring

Grind to paste:
- 1/2 coconut
Shallot - 1 tbsp, cut
Chilli powder - 2tbsp
Coriander - 1 tbsp
Salt - 1 tbsp

Preparation Method:
Pour the ground coconut mixture in the pot. In house mom uses a clay pot (chatti), which actually brings more flavour to the curry.
Add kudam puli.
Place all fish pieces in the pan.The pieces should be dipped in it so add enough water if needed.
Cover & cook.
When it is almost cooked place sliced tomato pieces , mango pieces or green chillies.
Well adding mango or muringa & green chilli part is optional but it makes the curry damn tasty.
For tampering heat 2sp oil in another pan. Add ginger, uluva & curry leaves into it & finally pour this over the cooked curry.

This curry tastes its best even the2nd day & if you are using manchatti then you dont even need to put it in the refrigerator, it will stay good !

Idiyappam

2012-01-20T02:13:00.000-08:00

IDIYAPPAM

Idiyappam is terribly tasty esp. with chicken curry or kuruma ..yet you can't make it quick :(
You need to clean up few vessels & things for it.
In home mom used to grind soaked , drained raw rice (pachari) to make flour for idiyappam, kozhukkatta etc. since it is not possible at my place ..i m relying on packed rice flour from an Indian store. This flour can be used for making kozhukkatta as well.

Here is a video of the making http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChBAohE2uDY

Things Needed:
2 cup Rice flour
2 levelled tsp salt
2 tbsp oil
Boiled water for making dough- as per need
1/2 cup Grated coconut for topping

Method:
Mix flour & 2 tsp salt in a deep vessel.
Boil some water. Pour this water to rice little by little mixing using a stick or spoon.(the raw flour will get slightly cooked by this boiled water)
In between add 2 tb spoon oil & mix.

When everything is good mixed the dough must be of the consistency to make balls .
Grease the idli moulds with oil.
Fill an idiyappam presser/sieve and press the noodles into moulds of idli steamer or into a vegetable steamer. Top these with grated coconut. Then steam for 10-12 min.
Serve with a fast made stew or any non veg curry .

Marzipan Muffins

2012-01-13T06:30:00.000-08:00

CHOCO MUFFINS WITH MARZIPAN FILLING

Have made this tasty muffins 3-4 times n loved each n every time.
Thanks to 'meine Familie & Ich' for this wonderful recipe. They have more lip-smacking recipes which i will be publishing later.

Things Needed:

For the filling:
100 gm - Cream cheese
150 gm - Marzipan
50 gm - Almonds, powdered

For the muffins:
230 gm - All purpose flour
1 tsp - Cinnamon powder
2 tbsp - Cacao powder
2 tsp - Backing powder
1/2tsp - Backing soda
2 - Eggs
90 gm - Sugar
80 ml - Oil
280 gm - Sour cream ( Saure sahne)
3 drops - Almond oil

For topping:
150 gm - Powder sugar
1tbsp - Rose water
40 gm - Pistatios, chopped

Yield : 12muffins

Preparation Method :

Preheat oven to 175 degrees. Grease muffin form.
Heat a pan upto medium heat . Mix cream cheese, Marzipan, powdered almonds in it. Set aside.

Mix flour, cinnamon powder, cacao powder, backing powder & backing soda.
Beat well egg with sugar until creamy white. Add Oil, sour cream & almond oil to it & mix.
Add flour mix to this through a sieve in 2 batches. Mix well.

Now pour the batter in muffin form , filling only half of each form. Set the rest aside. Add each spoon of filling in the cetre of the batter in the muffin form. Now pour the rest of batter over this.

Bake for 25 min. or until done.

After its cooled down, mix powder sugar with rosewater & 2 spoons of water in a thick consistency. Spread this using a brush or spoon over the muffins.
Sprinkle with chopped pistatios and the muffins are done !!

Apfelstrudel

2012-01-04T16:40:00.000-08:00

Austrian Apple Strudel

Its a old traditioned Austrian dish.
Had it first in a restaurant in Wiesbaden.
Grateful to chefkoch.de for the great recipe !

Things needed:

For the Base:

250 g

All purpose flour

1pinch

Salt

Egg

100 ml

Lukewarm water

20 ml

Oil

For die Filling:

100 g

Breadcrumbs

50 g

Butter

120 g

Sugar

10 g

Cinnamon

170 g

Rosinen

2 tbsp

Zitronensaft

1 kg

Apple

1 pinch

Rum aroma

then....

Some extra Butter, Sugar & Flour for the preparation.

Preparation Method :

For the Base: Knead well the ingredients 5 min. to make a dough . Apply 3 tbsp oil to the surface & keep aside in a vessel closed with a wet cloth for half hour . Spread some flour in a backing paper,place the dough in a backing paper & roll it out to a thin long square using a rolling pin. Brush with melten butter.

For the filling:
Heat butter in pan. Roast breadcrumbs goldenbraun in it . Mix in cinnamon & sugar.
Then add rosinen,lemon juice,rum aroma & apples. Mix everything well.
Let it cook for 5 minutes mixing.

When the filling is ready place it on one half of the base dough. Close it with other half. Seal & bake in 175 degrees until golden braun.

After baking is done brush the strudel with butter. Cut them into required slices & let them cool.

Serve with powdered sugar & vanilla sauce. U can use the same vanilla sauce in DampfNudel recipe.

German Dampfnudel with Vanilla Sauce

2011-12-26T14:42:00.000-08:00

Dampfnudel with Vanilla Sauce

Winter is at the door & we are all craving for some warm food .!!!!!!!!!!! This time its a steamed cake served with a quick warm vanilla sauce . The hammer recipe is from chefkoch.de

VANILLA SAUCE

THINGS NEEDED:

1	Egg
2 EL	sugar
1 Pck.	vanilla sugar
1 level tbsp	cornstarch
500 ml	milk

PREPARATION METHOD :
Beat egg with sugar ,vanilla sugar, cornstarch. Finally mix in milk.
Boil once stirring well with a spoon.

DAMPFNUDEL

THINGS NEEDED:
500 gm - All purpose flour
20 gm - Dry yeast
50 gm - Sugar
250 ml - Milk
1 - Egg
1 pinch Salt
80 gm - Butter

For Steaming :
100 gm Butter
125 ml Milk

PREPARATION METHOD :
Mix everything to make a dough. Set aside in a warm place for 1 or 2 hour.
Make 9 balls from it.
Heat a pan. Melt butter, pour milk. Add sugar.
Place the balls over it. Close the lid.Lower the heat when the pan is full of steam.
Cook until the no milk in the pan & the bottom side of the ball gets golden brown.

Serve with warm vanilla sauce & cinnamon powder!

Non.Vegetarian Recipes

2011-12-19T17:56:00.000-08:00

CHICKEN RECIPES

Yogurt chicken curry

Thai Green Chicken Curry

Spicy chicken curry

Chilli Chicken

Thenga Varutharacha Nadan Chicken Curry

Kerala Chicken Fry

Kozhikode Style Chicken Biryani

Simple Chicken Biriyani

Pepper Chicken Chettinad

MUTTON RECIPES

Mutton Biriyani

Spicy Tasty Mutton Curry

Mutton Fry

BEEF RECIPES

Spicy Tasty Beef Fry

Beef Potato curry

Beef Garam masala curry

FISH RECIPES

Fish Moly (Kerala)

Fish Fry

Prawn Spicy Fry

Prawn Curry

Yogurt chicken curry

2011-12-19T14:50:00.000-08:00

YOGURT CHICKEN CURRY

Inspired from the Yogurt chicken that I had from the flight back home.

Simple Ingredients & very easy to make!!!

THINGS NEEDED:
Chicken - 1kg, cleaned n cut into small pieces
Ginger - 1tbsp crushed
Green Chilly - 1 sliced
Onion - 1 handful ,thinly sliced

Yogurt - 1 cup ( 400 gm)
Coconut powder - 3 tbsp
Curry powder - 1 tsp
Fresh garam masala- (5 cloves, 3 cardamom, 2 small cinnamon, 1 tsp fennel seeds)

PREPARATION METHOD :
Marinate chicken with 1tsp salt, 1tsp turmeric & 1/2tsp chillypowder.Set aside.
Heat oil. Saute ginger in it.Then fry onions until it starts turning brown on the sides.
Add chicken . Saute until it turns whitish. Add curry masala, garam masala . Saute well.
Add yogurt. Mix & cook covered.
After sometime like 10min. Add coconut powder. It makes the sauce creamy. Cook until done .
After finishing top with some chopped coriander leaves.

Serve with rice or chappathi.!!

Layered Apple Cake

2011-12-09T22:01:00.000-08:00

GEDECKTER APFEL KUCHEN

All credits goes to ChefKoch.de for such a wonderful recipe.
This this is my Kuchen Recipe for this X'mas. Last year was another Apfelkuchen. Tasty aswell , but Hazelnuts tastes awesome with Apples.!! You can't stop with a single piece !
This recipe I tried 5 times till now, tastier each n every time ! Going to make it again this week for the X'mas party in Shalu's kindergarten..

THINGS NEEDED:

For the base:

250 gm - All purpose flour
1 tsp - Backing powder
75 gm - Sugar
1 - Egg
125 gm - Butter

For the Apple layer:

1 kg - Apple, peeled, deseeded & cut to small pieces
100 gm - Sugar
1 tsp - Cinnamon powder
1/2 of a lemon

For the Hazel nut layer:

200 gm - Hazelnuts, coarsely grounded
1 tsp - Milk
125 gm - Butter
75 gm - Sugar
1 tbsp - Vanilla sugar
1 tsp - Lemon juice

26'' backing pan.

PREPARATION METHOD :

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees.
Beat well Sugar,butter & egg one by one.
Mix flour & backing powder separately and add to the egg mix using a sieve.
Knead well to a soft dough.
Grease the pan & spread 2/3 of the flour only in the base by pressing with fingers.
Bake in 175 degree oven for 6-7 minutes. Set aside.

Take 1/3 of the dough which was left and apply it to the sides of the baking pan to make the side.

Now we have base & sides..& for the filling,
Cut apples in small pieces. Mix in lemon juice, cinnamon powder & sugar.
Spread this uniformly in the baking pan.

For the Hazelnut layer, mix butter, sugar ,vanilla sugar , lemon juice , milk & crushed Hazelnuts.
Spread this using a spoon over the apples.

Bake in 175 degree oven for around 40 min. or until the top is brown.

Strawberry Cheese Cake - Erdbeerkäsekuchen

2011-07-08T14:57:00.000-07:00

STRAWBERRY CHEESE CAKE

This time we went twice for erdbeerpflücken & Their were so many strawberries at home that I made kuchen for colleagues & neighbours to get rid of them. Another recipe from my favourite kuchen book GU.

Things Needed: for the ground floor ;)
Eggs - 2
Sugar- 130gm
Oil - 100 ml
Orange juice - 100 ml
Cacao powder - 2 tbsp
All purpose flour - 150 gm
Backing powder - 1 tsp

2nd layer : for the 1st floor ;)
Eggs -3
Suagr -100 gm
Vanilla sugar - 1 pack
Quark -500 gm
Lemon juice - 1 tbsp
Whipping cream -100ml
Grieß - 1 1/2 tbsp

3rd layer : 2nd floor
Strawberries - 1 kg (carefully washed & dried)
Lemon juice - 1 tbsp
Tortenguss klar - 1 packet
Suagr - 2 tbsp

butter for the back form
Spring form - 28 cm

Preparation Method:
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Apply butter to the sides of the spring form. Cover the base
with backing paper.
Beat the eggs & sugar till thick cream .
Add oil & orangejuice. Mix.
Mix together flour, backing powder & cacao powder seperately.
Add this flour mix into the beaten egg-juice mix using a sieve in 2 batches.
Pour this into the form. Bake for 15 min.

2nd layer
Beat well 3 eggs with sugar & vanilla sugar.
Add Quark & mix.
Add lemon juice,cream & Grieß . Mix all together.
Pour this mix over the baked cake.
Bake again for another 25 min. until its done.

After its cool down place the strawberries on the cake.
Make the glaze with lemonjuice, 2 tbsp sugar,water using the instructions written behind the
glaze packet.
Pour this over the strawberries .
Refrigerate it min. 2 hrs.

Carrot cake

2011-07-01T00:15:00.000-07:00

CARROT CAKE

I actually wanted to publish this on Easter. But as son's kinder garten started time is high& i am always in a run. Better late than never :)
Hope you will enjoy this recipe from GU !!

Things Needed :
Grated carrots - 125gm
Eggs -4
Suagr - 125gm
Oil - 200ml
Carrot juice -200ml
Walnuts/Hazelnuts , chopped -200 gm
All purpose flour- 300gm
Backing powder -1pkt

Topping & Filling :
200gm powder sugar & 2 sp lemonjuice.

Preparation Method:
Preheat the oven to 180degrees
Mix flour with back powder seperately.
Beat egg & sugar until thick creamy. Add oil & carrot juice into this & mix.
Mix in the grated carrots. Chopped walnuts.
Add the flour with back powder into this and mix.
Pour this into the back form & back for 45 min.

New York Chocolate Cheesecake

2011-04-17T09:42:00.000-07:00

White Chocolate Cheese Cake

White chocolate is my Hus's fav. & cheesecake mine's . So they both turned out to be a good combination. !
Enjoy the Recipe !! Good Morning !!

Things Needed:

200 g	Keks (Amarettini)
100 g	Butter
200 g	+ 20gm White Chocolate
100 g	Crème double (or Creme fraiche)
600 g	Cream Cheese (Frischkäse)
1 Pck.	Vanilla sugar
100 g	powder sugar

Preparation Method:

Base:
Preheat oven to 180 °, grease springform pan.
Crumble biscuits (with rolling pin for example).Melt butter and mix with Amarettini crumble.
Spread this over the baking pan and press firmly.
Bake for 10 minutes.

Top:
Chop 200 g chocolate and melt with double cream over low heat.
Mix Cream cheese, vanilla and powdered sugar until smooth.
Stir in cooled chocolate cream.
Pour this mixture on the Amarettini base & spread evenly.
Level the top and refrigerate for about 6 hours.

Deko:
After cooled down remove the cake carefully from the pan.
Slice the rest 20gm chocolate and use for the decoration.
Can also use Amarettini's for deco , be creative.

Valentines day in Wiesbaden

2011-04-14T14:24:00.000-07:00

Was doing something in my garden & my hus planned to go out. He said let's just drive along the streets hearing some music. I was not in my pretty dress but anyway hurried up thinking to come back home before its dark. He was driving n driving & reached Wiesbaden. First time after coming here i got impressed by the buildings n churches here , looking very very rich with concrete decorations around the windows , in the cieling , each of them must be costing more than a million !! Very antique looking buildings , streets reminded me of paris ..finely decorated with plants n so!

We stopped for a coffee in a small Coffee shop seeing the lovely wedding cakes decorated with marzipan in the showcase . Also ordered for a piece of Nusskuchen (nut cake) & an apfelstrüdel . We had a nice time there. Even if we tried to wake him up son was sleeping tired in his kinderwagen. Then we returned home thinking of going there one more time on daytime .

Fun at Weihnachtsmarkt !!

2010-12-19T15:36:00.000-08:00

Weihnachtsmarkt ,Frankfurt

A glimpse of Römer

We got time last week to visit the Weihnachtsmarkt in Frankfurt.Its starts from one end of Ziel , goes through the beautiful Römer & ends near the Main river.This markt always tops in appearance as well as the number of visitors here . Its one of the important markts in Germany.

I still remember the previous year ,we were lost almost like a needle in the hay, can't walk well , can't take photos , people everywhere . This time we were wiser & earlier so was able to take some snaps of the great fest.
Anyone will love it there..... smell of fresh food on the air, country music & all those colorfulshops .. A must to see thing once you are here .

We first stopped for a Hungarian Langosch (also called Langos). There was one Hungarian lady standing there making all fast-fast.

Hus got one Langosch with Schinken -garlic (4 euro) & I got one with grated cheese(3.5 euro) .

Both were crispy, soo tasty !! I also tried them at home & will post the recipe soon.

Then we walked for a while ,passed through some colorful shops of candies,sweets,decorations etc..

Lebkuchenhaus -Gingerbread House

Now I will make this lebkuchenhaus SOME DAY!!!.. till then i will be making it in my dreams.
Looking almost like farmville.Naaa lemme c...recipes are available in chefkoch . give me bit time

More Lebkuchen in heart shapes. Is actually a nice thing to gift your sweetheart. (umm......Hus is not paying attention, sad me :( .... )

a store full of stars, soooo colorful..... also bit costly for us.

Finally I started to crave for something sweet, so we stopped in a sweet shop.
The last year I bought one from these piggies . Now look here the brothers & sisters of my piggie. All are rich n fat & made of marzipan !!

A glimpse to the sea of candies . they are all varieties of chocolates like.... chilly choco, strawberry - chilli choco (are you saying 'yikes' in mind like me), mint choco, Bombay curry ( oh I wonder wot is in it ...must be coriander) then the irresistible sahne truffel (cream version), Butter caramel, walnuts, Cappuccino & a lot more ...

& not to forget the chocolate coated fresh fruits...banana, Kiwi, strawberry& similar berries , Apple etc.
We bought for us these two ummm??? umm???.. it was a mix of sliced nuts (i think hazelnuts) covered with white & dark chocolate. White for him & dark for me :)
Then we wandered around a bit . Everything went peacefully as my son was sleeping, partially bad as he is missing so many things....we tried to wake him up but he slept anyway.

X'mas decorated rides...
Candles....

There are more pics, but will finish with this one.

All of all we had fun this time in the Weihnachtsmarkt . Thanks for reading !!

X'mas give away time - Apfel-nuss kuchen

2010-12-05T11:03:00.000-08:00

Its the 1st Sunday of Dezember. Today I was in the church after a loong time. When was the last time ? don't remember.
Church was almost empty as most of the young people here won't show up in church until X'mas (like me..lolz).
Couldn't understand wot the priest said, the German was like official n tuff . Now what happened today was one old lady captured my full attention , she came a bit late & was looking very different . I was looking at her time to time like magnet.
Hair was very wet & curly & not at all dried , as if just after shower .....can't imagine in this cold weather , was carrying a loong fancy pink umbrella, then one dark pink pants with lots of design n gilt ...must be from summer , seeing which I recognized that shez one of the women living in the streets.
She was wearing all she could to keep her warm in this cold winter . old but tidy boots, one long shawl, another wool thing covering her. It seems like she tried her best to look also good ..was wearing a red lipstick & took bath in this cold cold winter morning.. its like -7 degrees today.
What to say....I am full of respect for her . Even in such bad life situations she didn't let her spirit die. You need a lot of tolerance for it . Most of us can't.
Every day I have something to pray n today I prayed for her during the mass.
Once again may god bless my old lady & also you for stopping by :) !

Now comes my X'mas giveaway kuchen recipe : This time it is a crunchy delicious bailey's German apple-nuts cake . No time to make glamorous pictures as I hav to make as manyas possible.

Nutty Fruity - Apple Nuts Cake

Like my first give away this recipe is also from my favourite site chefkoch.de.

Things Needed :

Apple - 3 or 4 ( when they are big)
Sugar - 150gm
Eggs - 2
Butter - 60 gm, soft
Bailey's Irish cream - 4 tbsp ( can also use any sahne liquor)
All purpose flour - 200 gm
Backing powder - 1 leveled tsp ( or 25gm)
Hazel nuts - 3 tbsp roughly crushed

Oil
Cinnamon
Sliced Almonds

Sugar Topping:
Powder sugar -4 tbsp
Rum aroma -3 drops

Preparation Method :

Peel off skin of apples & keep aside.
Cover the bottom of spring form (26cm ) with backing paper, grease the sides with butter .
Preheat oven to 180 degree.

First beat well sugar butter & egg until creamy.
Add sahne liquor to this n mix.
Mix flour & backing powder seperate in a bowl .
Add this flour using a sieve to the egg mixture in 2 batches .
When all are good mixed. Pour this batter to greased spring form .
Add the crushed Hazel nuts to this, spread well.
Note:the batter is soft but now flowy. It is good so because we want it to hold on the apples.I mean no panic :)
Now slice apples n place in the batter . Press slightly so that it will stuck in the flour. You can shape them up like u want .For example like this.

Brush top of apple with some oil . Sprinkle some cinnamon powder. Again spread some almond slices . Bake in preheated oven for 35-40 min.
Check by inserting a wooden skewer , if it comes out clean then its done.
For sugar topping mix powder sugar , rum aroma & few drops of water in a bowl. Pour over the done cake when warm.

Deepawali celebration vth Badam Halwa

2010-11-04T11:06:00.000-07:00

BADAM HALWA

Irresistable Halwa, need bit of patience to make. Most of the time is needed for peeling off the skin of badam. I took 250 gm of badam , so it was quiet a bit. Just watch TV while doing it.

Badam is known for making the skin better, so hope we all gain a bit of color and glazing this deepavali ;) Happy Deepawali !!!!!!

Things Needed:
Badam - 250 gm
Milk - 1 cup
Sugar - 3-5 tbsp (as per need)
Cardamom - 4 pods crushed
Ghee - 5 tbsp
Saffron - 2 pinch , soak them in milk.

Preparation Method:
Soak almonds for around 3 hours. Peel off skin. Soak saffron in little milk.
Grind adding milk to make a coarse paste.
Heat ghee in a nonstick pan. Pour almond paste to this & saute continuously.
Mix in sugar , saffron , keep sauting.
Finish off adding cardamom.
Decorate with sliced almonds.

Dates payasam

2010-10-24T18:54:00.000-07:00

Eenthapazha payasam

This is a new variety of payasam here . Amazing taste of dates plus full of nutrition. I am already thinking of making this as a part of my next onam sadya.

Things Needed:
Dates -250 gm
Jaggery - 100 gm(not so much while dates are already sweet)
Coconut milk -if thin 1 can or else 1 cup from 1/2 coconut
( not too much of water content while it will be tough to evaporate all later)
Ghee - 3 tbsp
Cashew nuts - a handful
cardamom - 4 or 5 crushed

Preparation Method:
Well cook dates adding enough water to cover it.
Set aside to cooldown. Meantime heat some water, melt jaggery in it. Fry nuts also in 2 tbsp ghee.
Now grind the dates into a coarse paste. Pour this back to the pan .
Add melted Jaggery, coconut milk, 1 spoon Ghee & boil until thick.
Finally add cardamom & nuts.

My first Thai Luv !!

2010-09-12T07:24:00.000-07:00

Thai Green Chicken Curry

I got introduced to this exotic food by my hus. from a Thai Restaurant nearby named 'Thai Imbiss' in bürger straße. The restaurant is very small but cozy , the foods are served very warm & the aroma there is simply killing . The most important thing in the curry is a green paste containing galagant( a version of ginger), garlic, sugar, salt, lemon leaves , sojabean oil, bambus shoot n so ...there is so many exotic ingredients , which is tough to buy.
But for gods sake we gets everything in tins & cans ....I bought a tin of green thai curry paste called 'Exotic Thai food ' from Real. But it was tasting the same as from the restaurant. May be they r also using this . So here comes the recipe !!

What all you need ??
Boneless Chicken - 1+1/2 kg
Capsicum - 1/4 from all three colors , red green yellow
Carrots - 2 thinly sliced
Zucchini(courgette) - thinly sliced
Basilicum(Basil) - 2 strand
Bamboo shoot - a handful ( if u want )
Coconut Milk - 1 tin

Clean the chicken , marinate with salt & set aside.
Heat oil in a pan. Add curry paste to this & saute for 3 min. until fragrant.
Add coconut milk , simmer for 5 min.
Add chicken & cook for 10 min. until its half done.
Then add all the vegetables ( adding them later to keep it crispy).
Add basil leaves , simmer & remove from heat when chicken is cooked.

Serve it with aromatic Jasmin rice !!!! :)

Chilli Chicken

2010-07-01T15:56:00.000-07:00

CHILLY CHICKEN

This Chilly chicken is a mix of Indian and Chinese cooking. Very popular in South Indian restaurants. Mostly eaten with Parotta ( a layered bead ) . In the restaurants back home they also used to add ajinomoto which I have omitted in my recipe, mainly because its not healthy. Of course at home we want to make it most healthy as possible for our loved ones.So now check the recipe.

Recipe:
Things needed :

Chicken 500 gm ( breasts or almost boneless taken from a whole chicken)
Red Onion - 1 big cut into big cubes
Spring onion - 1 or 3/4 th of one
Ginger - 3 tsp
Garlic - 3 tsp
Bell Pepper or Capsicum 1/4th of one
Dry red chillies 3-4 broken into big pieces

Corn flour 1 full spoon for marinating the chicken
Cornflour 1 tsp dissolved in water to thicken the curry

Egg - 1
Pepper 2 tsp total, 1 tsp to marinate the chicken & 1 tsp to add in the curry making
Chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt required

Soya sauce - 3 sp
Tomato sauce or ketchup - 1 sp
Chilly sauce - 1 sp

Preparation method :

Cut the chicken into medium sized pieces.Clean.
Marinate the chicken with 1 full sp of cornflour, 1 egg , 1 tsp pepper powder & 1/2 levelled tsp salt.

Fry the chicken pieces in oil until brown like in the pic.

Heat oil in a nonstick pot , add dry red chillies , saute for some seconds.
Add ginger garlic chopped till its aroma comes out well and rawness goes.

Now add the Onion, white part of spring onion & green chillies.
Saute until onion becomes soft & transparent.
Add the capsicum.Saute for a min.

Now add the chilly powder ,saute .
Add soya sauce 3 sp, Tomato sauce 1 sp, Chilly sauce 1 sp mix well. Add 1/2 cup of water to make it a gravy.
Boil the gravy in medium heat for 2 min., simmering in between.
Add the fried chicken pieces into this gravy. Mix well so that the chicken pieces may get coated with the gravy.
Add cornflour syrup. Add enough water if required.
Cover the pot with a lid & cook .
If required season with salt.
Add the greens of the spring onion .
Let it stay in the heat for 1 min.

Chilly chicken is ready now.

This can be served with parotta, naan , chappathi or rice.

Gemüse Auflauf bei Maggi Knorr Fix

2010-06-30T09:39:00.000-07:00

VEGETABLE CASSEROLE BY KNORR FIX

Things Needed :
Potatoes - 6 , boiled , peeled & cubed
Red Onion - 2 sliced
Carrot - 3 sliced
Green peas - 3/4 cup
Mushroom - 1/2 cup, sliced
Bell pepper (Capsicum) - 1 , chopped

Maggi - Knorr Fix- Pfeffer - Rahm Medaillons - 1 pack
Whipping Cream(Sahne) - 150 ml 150 ml water + 100 ml sahne
Cheese for topping - any of these
Mozzarella-sliced (1st priority), Grated pizza cheese(2nd priority), usual cheese slices (3rd)

Preparation Method :
Heat oil in a pan. Toss in cut onions, carrot , green beans & season with 1 tsp salt . Stir fry .
When almost done toss in the sliced mushrooms .(We wont add mushrooms earlier while it get cooked fast).
Dissolve knorr fix in 150 ml water + 100 ml cream. Pour this over the done vegetables.
(much easier way..move the vegetable to one side of the pan. pour cream , water in the other corner & dissolve knorr in this . mix all together)
Stir & cook for another 3 min. Vegetable sauce is ready.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

Now place the potatoes in the Auflauf form (casserole form) . Season with salt ( & pepper for spice lovers).
Spread the vegetable sauce evenly over it.
Place the sliced mozzarella or pizza cheese over this .
Top with chopped bell pepper.
Bake in oven until the cheese melts & turns light brown . Takes around 25-30 min.

Baloo Shahi or Badusha

2010-05-05T11:41:00.000-07:00

BALOO SHAHI ~OR~ BADUSHA

I have been making this sweet for quite some time .Mainly because of its simple ingredients which is always available in home & easiness.. so thought of taking a snap today for my blog..so here it is..
Enjoy this sweet in all special occasions or make any occasions special with this sweet ;)

Things Needed:
1 + 1/2 cup -All purpose flour
1/2 tsp - Baking powder
2 tbsp - Butter
Yogurt - enough to make the dough.

Oil to fry

For making Sugar syrup:
Sugar - 300 gm
water

Preparation Method:
Mix flour , baking powder in a bowl.
Add butter and make crumbles using hand.
Mix in yogurt to this spoon by spoon & mixing using hand to make a tough dough.Enough tough to make balls .
Keep this aside for around 15 min.

Heat sugar with some water(should be only enough to cover the sugar. you can add later if needed) in a vessel. stir until it becomes a thick syrup. Set it aside.

Make small dumplings out of the dough ( I took 1 sp dough for 1 baloo). Press in the middle using thumb to make a cavity.
Deep fry in oil in medium heat until golden brown.

Add the fried pieces to the sugar syrup. Use a spoon & let it coat in all sides.
Top it with sliced almonds or pistachios.

Chocolate cake with German cream cheese filling

2010-04-27T17:49:00.000-07:00

Chocolate -Cream cheese cake

Another recipe from GU's cookbook. Cheers to all baking lovers !

For Cake:
4 eggs
250+100 gm sugar
200 ml Oil
200 ml Orange Juice
choco powder - 7 spoon
300 gm All purpose flour
1 packet (2 tsp - 15 gm) Backing powder

Center Filling:
Gelatine - 12 leaves
dark chocolate(ZartBitterschokolade ) - 200gm
Milk - 250 ml
Quark - 500 gm
Whipping cream (sahne) - 600 ml

Powder sugar

Preparation method for cake:
Preheat the oven to 180 degree.
Grease the backing tray(spring form) with butter.
Beat well eggs with 250 gm sugar until creamy.
Add oil & orange juice to this.
Take choco powder , flour & backing poder in another vessel & mix.
Introduce this flour mix to the beaten egg using a sieve in 2 or 3 batches.
Pour the batter in the greased spring form & bake in the oven for 40-45 min.

The filling :
Take some water in a bowl , immerse the gelatine leaves in this so that it will become soft.
Chop the chocolate into small pieces.
Warm up milk in heat. Add the chocolate to this and allow to melt stirring using a spoon.
Add the soft gelatine leaves to this and allow to dissolve stirring continuous.
Add the Quark & rest 100 gm sugar into this , combine well.
Allow the mixture to cool down.

Layering:
The cake & filling should be completely cooled down before layering.
Cut the cake into 2 layers.
Whip cream (600ml) & add the Quark mixture into this & mix well.
Pour this cream - quark mix over the base layer. Level it with spatula.
Refrigerate this for an hr.
Place the top layer over this & refrigerate for 1 more hr.
Top this with some powder sugar & choco decorations & serve as dessert.