Hot from my oven

Homemade Nutella/ Hazelnut Spread

Phewwwwww..I am back, after a month loonng break.

I am soo sorry to have left this place without a wordL in fact I didn’t even intent to take a break from blogging you know…just that there were soo many things happening in life that I just had to put this off to later, later and ended up with this loonng break …

Now the last few months has been a roller coaster ride..Ups and downs and up again. Letz now go flash back into the last few months Arrghhhh.

Bottom line I am at a very happy space now..enjoying my long break..little over 2 long weeks. First few days I just slept it all off, just getting in time to eat.And now busy shopping Christmas gifts and packing my bags for my 10 day break in my Hometown, yippppieeee.

Lately blogging and even cooking have become an weekend affair for me.After my last post, I don’t think I have visited this space more than twiceL That too not more than few minutes..

I am caught up in the midst of a whirlpool at work and I can say that I am virtually living in my office and coming home just for sleeping. Needless to say my kitchen and oven have been idle for weeks..The craziest part is I am even dreaming of work, slides, and even colleagues..to be specific bossesL. Every morning when I wake up, I feel like I just came out of a long exhausting meeting.

To keep myself sane, I am making some time for some fun activities as well. DH and I have started going to mandarin classes..which turned out to be 2 hrs of sit-up comedy. 4 classes down and I can’t even remember 4 phrases. And even those 4 , when I tried on my colleagues, I got weird looks, stares and one even said never ever say that loud again. So I am absolutely sure I haven’t even nailed down a single phrase yet.The most difficult part for me is the tones..Oo man , no wonder why Chinese people are way smarter. If they can master such a difficult language they ought to be smart !

And yes, we started Salsa classes too, thatz was weird at start ..but turning out just like the mandarin classes...Two classes down and our dance doesn’t look even look a teeny tiny bit close to Real salsa dance.

Weekend is here..Oo lalalala.Let’s start it with something sweet. Homemade salted Caramels!

I have been wanting to make some homemade caramels recipe ever since I have the most yummiest cheesecake ever..Salted Caramel Cheesecake.Also I badly needed to use the candy thermometer which I have used only twice in last 3 years, if not I may not even remember that ever existed!

I blindly followed the recipe from Joy of Baking and worked like a charm. It makes a perfect gift item if you can manage to spare a few.

Happy Diwali /Deepavali to all my lovely readers!!Hope you are enjoying this festival of lights with your dear ones and with lots and lots of diwali sweets and snacksJ

For this Deepavali I made a simple savory snack which reminds me of a very very special person who is very close to my heart.

Back in my hometown in Kerala, it’s a very closely knit society and our neighbours are more like our family.So the Ammumma next door is more like my own grandmother.

I must admit that I spend a veee bit more time with her than my real grandparents. As both my parents were working I can say that I was practically living at their place.My clumsy description can't do justice to a person like our Ammumma…Infact all of us called her Ammumma including the kids gang ,my parents, other uncles and aunts in our colony.Such a pious, serene, loving person she was..The fondest memory I have of her is me lying down by her side in a straw mat in afternoons and she reading out stories from “Urumbum Pravum”.

How I wish I got a chance to relive all those precious moments..I wish I could go back and hold her hands once more and tell her how much we all adored her…

Even though she is not with us anymore..her memories are soo vivid and I still can feel the her love and warmth..Love u always Ammuma..

I am in a total hibernation mode…After a very long and nerve-racking week at work, I took a day off and am enjoying my 4 day weekendJ Now who can beat that!

Cant believed that two days of my precious 4 day weekend end is already over and all I did was go moo-moo and eat. Both of which I hardly did in last one week.

Sigh sigh..Diwali is round the corner and I haven’t made a single festive snack.Let alone snack, I haven’t made a meal in almost a week now. I rarely switched on my stove and when I did it , it was just to make some tea or coffee.

Anyways tomorrow I have a big todo list ,hopefully I can break out of my laziness shell and make some festive snacks. Meantime here is a veganised recipe of my favourite sticky dates cake.

Oo my..I have been ignoring my bloggy for more than 10 days.Its almost dead..let me quickly give it some CPR!

DH was sick..This time it was big-time !May b the virus was visiting him after 3 long years, it stuck him ,world class this time.DH as a rule is a hyperactive adult who absolutely hates sleeping and when he is down and asked by doctor to sleep until cows comes home..it’s like asking for the moon!Sigh sigh

I have been missing all those lip-smacking dishes from my dear blog buddies ,especially the early diwali sweets.. Soo much to catch upL

Coming to today’s recipe it’s an egg less orange cake with a simple chocolate icing. This cake has been in my drafts for over a month now.. I adapted the recipe from Vaishali’s awesome blog Holy cow. Just halved the recipe and made some changes in the flavourings.

Jalebi..Jangri..Jilebi..Or even JilaybeeeJ I honestly don’t know the right name.In my place we call is Jilaybee .After all what’s in a name.

It’s basically a yummy Indian sweet. As like most Indian sweet its superb sweet and not for light hearted folks. Its deep fried , doesn’t stop there and then we go ahead and soak it in a sugar syrup.

Now don’t count calories during this festive season , just indulge in this yummy sweet and bounce to the seventh heaven due to the sugar rush.

Match or Green tea is an acquired taste. At least that was the case for me! I absolutely hated it about 5 yrs back ,used to wonder how people can eat this weird green colour tea, that too flavor your cakes and bakes with that!! My liking started with Green tea ice creams and mochi, slowly moved on to cakes, cheese cakes, chocolates and now I am absolutely addicted!

I am soo glad I am born after Green tea was discovered..how would I have lived without it!!!

Traditionally the yummy rice krispie treats are made from Rice cereal , Marshmallows and oodles of butter. But this one is not your regular rice Krispy treats with Marshmallows. It’s a lighter and healthier version with Dates Puree and peanut butter. Isn’t it great to hear that your favorite snack can be made so healthy and wholesome.. now you can munch on this non-stop without worrying about growing horizontally!!

I guess my quest for the perfect breakfast bakes has come to an end with this perfect Dark chocolate Banana Muffins. There are awfully chocolatey ,fruity and nutty and not too sweet to drag you to a sugar comma in the morning! I made a batch of this on Sunday and am enjoying this Muffins for breakfast. You have to trust me blindly here when I say that you have a bite of this Dark and divine muffins for your breakfast and your day is suddenly all brighterJ

Eat Muffins and Live long..and here goes the recipe!

If you have been to Hong Kong Airport, I bet you never missed the famous Kee Wah bakery. If you haven’t visited the place yet, please please do go there. Their best seller Pineapple shortcake is fabulously awesome. I tasted some of the best candies I ever had from here as well..Dates Candy , Pumpkin candy. I bought back a big pack of Pumpkin seed candy and my friends loved it.

It has been in my to-do list for a long time and I finally managed to clear that off from my list this weekendJ.

Honestly I have no clue what the hell is seasonal cooking. How will I get a chance when I am in Singapore where there is only one season..Summer.. we get most veggies and fruits round the year. We get mangoes, berries, apples, oranges, plums, melon round the year. The only way I am in sync with the seasonal fruits is via the blogs and food porn sites J When I see a flood of blueberry recipes…probably it is blueberry season in rest of the world. Anyways I am seeing lot of blueberries in supermarket these days. Since I am giving some rest to my oven I chose to make a simple lemonade and add some blueberry syrup to that. I must say the sweet blueberries and tarty lemon is an awesome combination.

I am falling in love with ginger, especially after reading Ayurveda Bible.Great book to know your body constitution or Prakruthi,how to balance your energy , the right food for your body type , the best way of making it and more.Ginger is universal medicine used soo widely in Ayurveda and that is the magic wand to my body type .You can check your body type here . I have heard my father saying that eating fresh ginger before lunch and dinner to enhance digestion and better absorption of nutrients by the body tissues. So say bye bye to bloating and try this soothing sweet n hot ginger candy.

It’s a rain soaked weekend for us here so no special plans for Sunday evening other than making this souperlicious soupJ.What better way to enjoy your cozy weekend than this..the sound of rain outside your window, cool breeze, your favourite book in hand, hot coffee by the table and the smell of this hearty soups simmering in the stove.

My notion about Ice creams was that its best to get from store. I have tried my luck at making homemade ice creams with the perfect creamy texture..didn’t have much luck there. Few years back I even lugged an ice cream maker from US, to tell the truth that is happily sitting in the top cupboards, hardly ever used it. Luckily I recently moved my Kitchen Aid up as well. Now ice cream maker have a companyJ. Both of them are blissfully hibernating. I see some eye rolling .. heard that right, I rarely use my kitchen aid. Mainly because I usually bake for just 2 of us and for that I always rely on my 10 dollar hand held mixer which come handy . I have been using it for 3+ years and still going strong. Love it!

Remember the emotional coma episode I went through after spotting my first grey hairL.I almost went into a panic mode for next few days doing treasure hunt in my head every morning! Ooopphh

Anyways I have decided to give that a stop for the time being coz I am pretty sure that I am gone find more if I am getting soo worked out by that one silver strand!

So basically I have decided to eat healthy ,stay fit and seriously thinking about coloring my hairJ.

Tuesdays..Pilates class .. rigorous hour long exercise(or should I call tortureJ?)..and I am almost dying..

So nothing to write..no stories to share..my brain has shutdown and soon my hands will stop working too.Lemme quickly share the recipe before my body shutdown completely

Wait wait I told you here that I am keeping the best for later..remember?

So ladies and gentle man..let me present to you my pilates teacher, May. And yeah thatz her in the picture.

Take your time , go to her site..open your mouth wide open..let your eye pop out..Its all absolutely normal and expected and I have seen that many many times.

And yes she is an excellent trainer..the best I have had so farJ

No pressure..take your time,relax, take some deep breaths and come back to the recipe at your own pace!

Yesterday morning I received a message from a friend that a photo from my blog is being shared by another guy in facebook.

It’s not soo simple. Firstly this guy have copied my photo, secondly he have taken the time and effort to come to my blog, copy my recipe, translate it in Malayalam and post it in his facebook and happily share it and not even a single mention of the source of the image or recipe.Grrrr. Plagiarism at its peak.Whoever did this shameless task should at least have the bare minimum courtesy to leave a link or even a mention of the source of the image and recipe.

And what did I do : Politely dropped him a personal message, left a comment on his blog. Nothing rude. Just mentioned that it is a copyrighted image/recipe and appreciate if he removed it (See..how nice I am? I myself am impressed by my politenessJ)

Luckily my politeness and patience wasn’t tested for long and peace was restored .The person apologized and provided a link of my blog as the source for the pic and recipe!

Had a fun weekend?For me the highlight was a lovely nostalgic movie, Manjadikuru. Kudos to Anjali menon for taking us for a ride through the colourful childhood. I am sure many Keralites can absolutely relate to this, the summer vacations in the late 80’s and 90’s, appuppan and ammuma waiting eagerly for you in front of the big ancestral house ,the pond, mango trees,lots and lots of ppl, fun fun and more fun. I personally enjoyed every second of the movie. It was like I was reliving my childhood. Only difference was that there was no pond in our Tharavadu instead our ancestral house was on the shore of the serene Bharathapuzha and the population is slightly higherJ. Yeah I have a total of 24 cousins!

Lord grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to hide the bodies of those people I had to kill because they pissed me off!

I am pissed off!!Let me tell you why! Remember I joined Pilates class in our office clubhouse during lunch time? I am happily doing Pilates , partly because I like doing stretches and partly because the teacher is totally absolutely motivating! More about my pilates teacher later. [Yeah I am keeping the best for last, you will know soon why J]So I got changed and rushed to the studio and see the studio is locked down! My teacher and few other colleagues were waiting in front of the studio. Apparently the cleaner misplaced the key, the teacher told us that the lady was looking for the keys. Meantime I saw the cleaner lady coming down few times and frantically looking for the keys everywhere. After 5 minuets she said , if we mind using the next room, which did not have mirrors. We said, sure why not!

Then enters the Lady Violent, let’s call her Mrs.V. She come down and ask us what is going on, teacher briefs what’s happening and suddenly she started fuming. “Why why why? Tell me your boss number? Let me call and complain right now. You people are damn careless. We paid soo much for the lass you see Blah blah #!%!” The poor lady who was new was almost in verge of tears..

I looked around and most of them were as shocked as me. We tried to calm Mrs.V.”Calm down,. It was an honest mistake. let’s use next room”. She started yelling at us as well!”Mistake? What the hell..these people must be taught a lesson “.Finally the teacher asked the cleaner to go upstairs and tried to calm the violent lady! She kept muttering for next 10 minutes.

Seriously do you have to be this harsh to a person just because we missed 5 minutes of a class? Don’t we all make mistakes? Was our 100 dollars worth a poor cleaners job?

How I wished Dexter Morgan lived in Singapore so that I could get a personnel training from himJ

A girl can never have enough shoes!! Never ever! Proved that again this weekendJ

DH needed a new pair of sports shoe and we went down for the Royal sports ware house sale! Sadly , he didn’t find any for his taste , but I found a cute pair of lactose shoes. With this black shoe, I think my shoe collection is just perfect, almost have a matching shoe for most of my pants..Great! Picked it!

Got out of the sale, what do I see? Crocs new arrival collection! Now, I have to try that. I tried a few but DH started to bug me as we had a movie to catch.All I could think during the movie is the cute little black crocs shoe calling out for me “Buy me please..pretty please”!! My shoe collection will be totally absolutely complete if I had that one more black crocs shoe, I started to fell a gravity pull or rather a croc-ity pull. After 1.5 hours of dreaming of the shoe in the midst of a movie, I went straight to the shop and got that one as well and walked happily to MRT doing the happy dance. Guess what there is a shoe sale in the courtyard, I automatically started to do another round of shoe to dress mapping! Man I am a shopaholic shoe-aholic! I NEED HELP!!!I NEED HELP!!

Happy Onam !!Hope you all had a wonderful Onam Sadya and said hai to Maveli!

I decided to skip making sadya this year, spend my day in office and had a grant sadya in evening at a Kerala restaurant.

“Vegetarian is an old Indian word for bad hunter”..Yes,that is my DH’s favorite quote, who also happens to be a hard core carnivore. So you can imagine how our 6 years of marital life would have been. The omnivore me trying to convince the meat lover about the hazards of being a red meat eater and he in turn persuading me to try all “delicious” stuff. The other day we went to a Japanese restaurant for dinner

DH: The beef tastes awesome, you should seriously try this!

Me: No way..

DH: The cow will feel bad if we don’t eat it. It’s the cows destiny to be a good steak one day. So you are not letting the poor animal fulfill its destiny!

Me: #&!!!! Huh? Ok I better don’t reply to that ..it will be an insult to my intelligenceJ.(I will let my actions speak). Gives him one tight pinch

DH: OOO! That hurts!!

Me: So a pinch hurts so badly isn’t it? So imagine the pain the poor animal went through before it became your favorite steak!

DH: Silence ..followed by a big wideJ

Every time I talk to my mom she keeps reminding me that I was such a super picky eater when I was a kid, there was no way she could make me eat vegetable unless it is all mashed or juiced

I am soo tempted to say that the grown up me is not at all like that but sadly I am still a picky eater. But of course the pickiness has changed to a different direction. I love my veggies and fruits but started to develop a dislike for hot spicy food somewhere in my late teens and that still continues. I can see some eye rolling, yes coming from India, land of curry and spices I cannot take spicy food. Correction, I can still take..but I will have to spend a pretty long time in toilet the following day.So thinking about a 30 min toilet break, I try to maintain a safe distance from Super hot food.

After the hit of the Fig and Date balls I am on a steady hunt for no bake, no cook easy yet healthy snack.

Why waste time on whipping, mixing and baking when I can make a super easy dessert in less than 30 min which is healthy ,hearty and guilt free too!

I have been trying different combinations of dried fruit, nuts, seeds and flavorings and there is always a box of this super power balls in my refrigerator.

So here is the latest recipe I have tried with one of my fav ingredient, desiccated coconut.

Howz the week coming along?For me not soo good so far…I was expecting a slow week at work, turned out to be exactly the opposite.

On positive note, I joined a pilates class in office clubhouse during the lunch hours, having a fun time stretching and moving and a very hot teacher to inspire us all!Only down side, after 1 hr intense stretches to each and every muscle on my body.I literally have to kick myself to keep my eyes open for rest of the office hours.

Back in Kerala we always look forward to the trip to Moms home during school holidays. The best part of the trip was the drive from my hometown to moms place which is in Thiruvalla. Typically it would take 6-7 hours , but we always end up taking 12 hrs or more.We stop almost every 1 hr or so and enjoy each and every local delights or specialties on the way. It was on one of those stopovers that I tasted the famous Ambalapuzha Pal payasam for the first time.. Hands down, that is the best thing in the world, the true beauty of the payasam is its simplicity, just three ingredients Rice, Milk and Sugar

The exact taste, texture and the pinkish color of the famous payasam comes from thickening of the Milk. There is absolutely no added flavors like cardamom or saffron or dry fruits. Hands down thatz the best thing I ever had. The only down side is that once you have tasted this king of payasams, any other payasams you have from then on is just another payasamL.

What a great evening, start of a 4 day loooong break! Doing the happy dance nowJ

Done with a milestone at work, finally got some breathing space and yes I managed do some baking after 3 long weeks.

I have made plans to catch up with my two best friends, a list of to-do items including baking.And I got to catch up on those scrumptious updates from you all which I have been missing for last couple of weeks

Back to today’s recipe, it’s a mix of my three favorite ingredients: Malt powder / Horlicks, Coconut and Oats.Now that can’t go wrong..right?

Malted Milk, Oats and Coconut Cookies

Ingredients

1/2 Cup Instant Oats

1/2 Cup Flour

1/3 Cup Sugar

1/4 Cup Malted Milk Powder/Horlicks

1/3 Cup Desiccated Coconut

½ tspn Baking powder

70gms Butter

1-2 tbspn Milk

Directions

Preheat the oven to 180 Degree

Mix together the dry ingredients and make a well in the center

Add the melted butter and a 1-2 tbspn milk and mix well until combined into a soft dough.

Roll tablespoon of batter into balls, flatten lightly and place in a tray.

Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown

Let it cool on a wire rack and enjoy the crunchy cookies

Apricot Banana Soy Shake

Its Friday and the life has suddenly become all brightJ

I took a day off work, just to get some amble rest [read it as sleep , sleep and more sleep]

As it is an off day and a day for myself, I made this simple and effortless breakfast for today.

This is a great energy booster for breakfast or a pre workout drink, with all benefits of Soy and fruits

The banana and apricots provide plenty of complex carbo hydrates, the soy milk provides a combo of calcium and protein.

I bet Apricot Banana Soy Shake is definitely the kind of smoothie your family would love to have !

Apricot Banana Soy Shake

Ingredients

1 Cup Soy Milk

6-8 Dried Apricots

1 Ripe Banana

1 tspn Brown or Raw Sugar

Directions

Pour about ¼ Cup boiling water to apricots to soften it. Let it cool down for 15 minutes

In a blender combine the Soy milk, apricots, Banana and Sugar and process until it is smooth.

Top it with some ice cubes and enjoy the breakfast smoothie

Green Apple & Celery Juice

This is one of my favorite juice, which is absolutely refreshing.

An amazing combination of crunchy , sweet n sour green apple and super food, alkaline Celery. They both compliment soo well and make the most energizing drink.

As I still very much trapped in my laziness cocoon plus my work is keeping me busy, I am hardly doing any baking and very minimal cooking..

But I am still continuing my new found interest, JuicingJ

So here is a recipe for the Super juice.

Green Apple & Celery Juice

Ingredients

2 Green Apples

2 Stalks of Celery

1 Cup water.

Directions

Chop the apples and celery , blend them for few minutes.

Add the water and continue to blend for few more minutes.

Spiced Plum Juice

Enjoying the weekend pals?

I am having a rather quiet weekend, home alone…but having some fun time with my Brand new CameraJ

Yes, I got a new Cam for as a birthday gift,a Nikon D5100J.

Can you believe that I couldn’t play around it for 1 whole week?

I am swamped in neck deep work and crazy meetings. When I say crazy, I mean literally crazy..I had to yell at them to give me a 2 min toilet break.

My brain has gone dump after justifying, arguing and fighting from 9-6 for 5 days..

So as my brain is on strike, plus I am home alone, plus laziness mean no cooking and no baking.

The only thing I am doing is JuicingJ.

Here is the Plum juice, which was my breakfast and lunch.

Spiced Plum Juice

Ingredients

4 Sweet Plums

Honey/Sweetener of your choice

Pinch of dried Ginger {pwder

1 Cup water

Directions

De-seed the plums.

Add the plums, sweetener as per your taste and the dried ginger in the blender.

Blend for a few minutes, add the water and continue to blend for few more minutes.

Buckwheat and Prune Cupcakes

This time I took a pretty long break from blogosphere. Something unexpected happened untimely, I was in India for about 10 days.

Took about another week to get back to routine and move on.

I made these cuppies long back after the hit of the Buckwheat muffins.

Buckwheat flour has a nutty flavor and is one of the best plan based protein. Combine it with some prunes and there you have a yummy little cuppies

Buckwheat and Prune Cupcakes

Ingredients

¼ Cup flour

¼ Cup Buckwheat

½ tspn Baking powder

60 gms sugar

50 gms butter

2 egg whites

100 gms prune

50 ml milk

Pecans -15

Directions

Cream the butter and Sugar, until it turns light in color.

Add the egg whites and continue to beat until mixed well.

Blend together the prune and milk in a food processor and add it to the butter mix and mix well.

Sift the flour and baking powder to the mix and stir until just combined.

Spoon about a tbspn batter into cupcake moulds and place a pecan on top.

Bake in a 180 Degree preheated oven for 15-20 minutes

Matcha /Green tea Chiffon cake

I have been keeping the Matcha powder I got from Japan like a little piece of jewel for the past few months.

Every time I see it in the cupboard, I just open it ,smell it ,close it tightly and dare not to use it .. I paid quite a hefty price for the small can of Matcha powder.

In the past 3 months I just used 1 tspn of it for making a batch of cupcakes.

So this weekend I decided to bake something with the fragrant matcha powder and the dice fell for the Chiffon cake

Who doesn’t love the soft, fluffy, melt in your mouth chiffon cakes.

This one has a teeny tiny hint of bitterness from the Matcha powder and it has an amazing fragrance!

Matcha /Green tea Chiffon cake

Ingredients- for 6 inch Cake

2 Eggs

20 ml Milk

20 ml Oil

40 gms Self raising flour

70 gms Caster Sugar

¾- 1 Tbspn Matcha Powder

Pinch of Cream of Tartar

Directions

Beat the egg whites until foamy, add the 50 gms sugar and cream of tartar and continue to beat until still peaks are formed.

Add the remaining 20 gms of sugar to the egg yolk and beat well.

Add the matcha powder, oil,milk to the egg yolk mix and mix well.

Folk in the flour to the mix.

Lastly fold in egg white into the egg yolk mix in 3 batches.

Pour the batter into a chiffon tin .

Bake in a 170 degrees preheated oven for 35 min.

Remove from oven and invert the cake as quick as possible on to a cooling rack.

After 10-15 minutes you can gently remove the tin, the cake will fall off by itself.

Tofu Veggie Scramble

This is the best vegan alternative to egg scramble..

The best thing about tofu is that it is mostly like a sponge, it absorbs the flavors soo well.

You can throw in the spices and veggies of your choice and prepare this easy recipe in few minutes

Here I added some Chili powder and Garam Masala to give the scramble a hint of spiciness

I served the Spicy Tofu scramble with some warm Naan and we loved the combo!

Tofu Veggie Scramble

Ingredients

100 gms Firm tofu

1 Carrot grated

1 Onion finely chopped

2 tomatoes-pureed

¼ Cup Green peas

Few mint leaves

1/2 tspn Turmeric power

½ tspn Chili powder

½ tspn Garam Masala

½ tspn Ginger Garlic paste

½ tspn Cumin seeds

1 tspn Oil

Salt to taste

Directions

Pat dry the tofu using some kitchen towel and crumble it using a fork

Heat the oil in a wok. Once the oil is hot, add the cumin seeds.

Add the ginger garlic paste and sauté for few seconds

Now add the onions and sauté until the onions turn translucent.

Add the purred tomatoes and the spice powder-salt,turmeric power, chilly power and Garam masala.

Add the grated carrots , peas and Tofu.

Add two tablespoons of water and cover and cook for about 10 minutes.

Add the mint leaves and mix well.

Pages

Malted Milk, Oats and Coconut Cookies

Apricot Banana Soy Shake

Green Apple & Celery Juice

Spiced Plum Juice

Buckwheat and Prune Cupcakes

Matcha /Green tea Chiffon cake

Tofu Veggie Scramble

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