White Chocolate Cupcake with white chocolate frosting

After much effort…By effort I mean my colleagues effort, I am finally able to connect to my blogJ

I am in Shenzhen and enjoying the novelty of being a novelty here!! Haha

In the past , most places , may be exception of Cambodia, there was always a long queue in immigration for foreigners. But to my surprise, in Shenzhen immigration, I am the only foreigner in the queue.

The awkwardness started with the officer going through all my passport pages one by one.Later in the evening when I went out with my colleague I started to notice that people are really starring at me! I mean not in a bad way, guess that they r just curios.

2 days here, I am yet to see a foreigner, let alone an IndianL

Anyways that is not going to stop me from exploring the shopping districts during the weekend.

Coming to today’s recipe, it’s a decadent white chocolate cupcakes. Made a batch on these during last weekend for the birthday of my friends daughter.

White Chocolate Cupcake with white chocolate frosting.

Recipe Adapted from: Baking bites 

Ingredients

1 Cup Flour

1 tspn baking powder

Pinch of salt

125 gms milk chocolate

60 gms butter

1/3 Cup sugar

1 egg+1 egg white

1 tspn Vanilla essence -optional

1/3 Cup milk

For icing

60 gms white chocolate

1 tbspn butter

1 tspn milk-optional

Wilton coloring-optional

Directions

Sift together the dry ingredients- Flour, baking powder and salt.

Cream the butter and sugar. Beat it well until the color turn lighter.

Add in the egg+egg white and mix well.

Meanwhile melt the white chocolate chips in a microwave. Stir it well using a spoon. Let it cool down a bit

Add the melted white chocolate and vanilla essence to the egg/butter mixture and beat well .

Add the dry ingredients and milk in 3 alternating additions to the batter and mix until no more flour is visible.

Bake in a 170 degress preheated oven for 15 minutes.

For preparing the icing, add the butter to the melted white chocolate and stir well.

I added some pink colouring for the birthday girl .

If you are preparing the icing in advance, you will need to add in a little milk to get the pipping consistency as the icing will be quite thick.

Mango Oats Fudge

I scratched my head quite a bit thinking what to name this lip-smacking sweet!

It looks very similar to the Laddu but the texture is very chewy and fudgy so nailed down on this name!

It’s a simple ,3 ingredients recipe but tastes just yummm!

Mango Oats Fudge

Ingredients

1/2 Cup Mango Purée

1/4 Cup condensed milk

1/3 Cup Instant oats

Directions

Mix the mango puree and condensed milk in a nonstick wok and heat it on low flame .

keep stirring , that is the key

The mix  will start to thicken and change into a slightly darker color in 5-10 minutes.

You can powder the Instant oats for few seconds in a mixer.

Add the powdered oats to the mango mix and continue to stir until it starts to leave the sides and have become a fairly thick mix.

Let it cool down a bit and roll into balls.

You might need to add little less or more oats depending on the consistency of your mango puree to get the desired thick consistency.

Fig and Dates slice -Eggless and whole meal

Back in my home-town,  we usually get dates which are ultra dried , really hard and are super sweet and push you into a Sugar comma!

You have to chew those forever and you would get a jaw ache after eating few of those!

Later once I got the real taste of the fresh ripe dates and the semi dried ones, there was no looking back. I became a buff.I always have a box of dried dates in my pantry, I don’t mean the rubbery ones but the soft, juicy ones!

As I am on a healthy wholesome baking spree, here is a eggless, whole meal, nutritious  snack 

Fig and date slice -Eggless and whole meal

 Ingredients

100 gms Whole meal flour

100 gms Instant Oats

60 gms Brown sugar

75 gms butter melted

75 gms Milk

Juice of half Orange

 For the filling

150 gms Figs/Dates

50 ml water

1 tspn Sugar

Flavoring- I used some ginger syrup

Juice of half Orange

Directions

Chop the dates and figs , add water, sugar, flavoring and orange juice and let it simmer for about 10 minutes until is very soft and mushy. Let it cool down

Meanwhile mix together the dry ingredients- Whole wheat flour, Oats, brown sugar and mix well

Add the melted butter and milk , orange juice and mix well.

Spread half of the mix in a square pan and spread it evenly using a spatula

Spoon the dates/fig mix on top of it and spread it out.

Add the remaining batter and spread using a fork .

Bake in a preheated oven for 25-30 minutes until it is golden brown on top

Once cooled down, cut it into slices and enjoy.

Nonya Acar/Spicy Vegetable Pickle

Are you guys having a good weekend?

We are having a long weekend yeyyyy! I had a great start, pampered myself at a local spa and later had a blast at Russell Peter show here!Man, I have seen his youtube videos but the live show is no match! I actually got a tummy ache after laughing non-stop for 2 hrs!

 It’s been some time since I have posted something here! Let me put the blame on my day job and not on my lazinessJ

So let me share a lovely Nonya recipe which I made few weeks back.Nonya cuisine or Pernakan cuisine is a unique blend of Malay and Chinese flavors.Although I live in Singapore, which has a wide array of Nonya Cuisine options, being a vegetarian makes my choices limited!But I can make up on the Nonya desert sectionJ

This is a very unique combination of Spicy, sweet ,sour and crunchy Pickle.You can go ahead and add vegetables of your choice like cabbage,long beans etc. Here I am sticking to basic one

Nonya Acar/Spicy Vegetable Pickle

 Ingredients

1 Cucumber

1 Carrot

1 Small  Pineapple cut into 1/2 inch cubes                                                           

2 tbspn Sesame seeds

1/4 Cup roasted peanuts,pounded

1 tspn Tamarind soaked in 3 tbspn water

1 tspn Brown Sugar

Salt to taste

2 tbspn Sesame Oil

To ground to paste

2 Red Chilies

1 Dried Red Chili

4 shallots

1 Clove Garlic

Ginger a small Piece

Directions

Slice cucumber and carrot to 3 mm long slices.

Rub some salt to the cucumbers and set aside for 30 min and pat dry with kitchen towel to drain the excess water.

Heat 2 tbspn sesame oil in a wok and add the ground paste and sauté until the raw small is gone

Now squeeze the tamarind and add the juice to the wok along with salt and sugar.

Let it come to a boil. Switch off the flame and add the vegetables and mix well

Add the sesame seeds and peanuts and let it cool.

The pickle is best eaten the following day.

Fig and Date Balls

Eureka! I have found the perfect guilt free snack! And what more ,its eggless, no bake and not even any cooking involved.

And with the added goodness of dates, figs , almonds and Oats!

Me being a sneak, I didn’t tell about the hidden Oats and nuts and gave the Sweet balls to DH who absolutely hates anything with a healthy tag on it!

He thought its some laddu and gorged on it and finished it in no time!

Later in the evening, he was searching the refrigerator for the sweet ballsJ

And he was like, it was soo good and you made such a small batch! And that’s when I reveled the secret ingredientsJ

I told him that in fact it had all his “enemy” stuff in it!

Still he was telling me that Oats and nuts are well hidden and next time I should make a larger batch!

So waste no time in whipping, mixing and baking instead try this Super power Fig and Date balls .

I bet these will satisfy your sweet tooth!

Fig and Date Balls

Ingredients

4 Dried Figs

8-10 Dates

10 almonds

3 tbspn Instant Oats

Directions

In a food processor or Mixer ,powder the oats first and keep aside.No need to make it a fine powder. Just a single pulse will do.

Next pulse the almonds for few seconds.

Now add the chopped dates and figs and pulse for few seconds.

Take the mix out to a plate, the mix will be quite sticky now.

Add the oats and mix well . The oats will absorb any left moisture and the mix will be no longer sticky.

Next , roll one tbpsn each to balls and enjoy the healthy snack

This is my entry to the favourite healthy snack recipe event hosted by Nags and Megha 

Podi Idly

What to say about this ultimate comfort food!! Soft , fluffy Idlies coated in Spicy Idly podi!

I bet this must be in the all time favorite breakfast for most South Indians

I typically use 2:1 proportion of Rice ad Urud dal  for Idly and this give super fluffy Idlies

Podi Idly

Ingredients

20 Mini Idlies

2-3 tbpson of Idly Podi

1 tspn oil

Curry leaves 10 nos

1-2 Dried red chillies

½ tspn Mustard seeds
1 tspn Urad Dal

Heat the Oil in a wok, once it is hot add the tempering - Mustard seeds, curry leaves and Dried red chilies and sauté for few seconds
Add the Urad dal and sauté until it is browned.

Add the Idly podi and mix well

Next  the idlies and mix well so that Podi get coated well.

Sprinkle some water and cover and cook for a minute to let the flavors infuse well.

Corn and Tomato Rice

                                

I just love the idea of one pot meals!

Isn’t it such a cool idea!  Chop,mix and cook .There you have a healthy and comforting meal!

Today’s recipe is one such  easy breezy recipe. A perfect lazy weekend mealJ

Corn and Tomato Rice  

Ingredients           

1 Cup Cooked Rice

2 Tomatoes Pureed

1/3 Cup Corn Kernels

1 Onion chopped finely

1 Green Chilly chopped finely

½ inch piece of Ginger/2 Cloves Garlic Chopped finely

Curry leaves 10 nos                                                                                                           

1 tspn Oil

Flavorings:

1 tsp Chili powder

1 ½ tspn Coriander powder

½ tspn Turmeric

Salt to taste

Directions

Heat Oil in a wok and add the Garlic , ginger and chilies and sauté until fragrant.

Add the onions, curry leaves  and the flavorings and continue to sauté until the onions turn transparent.

Add the pureed tomatoes, corn and 2 tbspn water, salt cover and cook for 8-10 minutes.

Continue to cook until the gravy has thickened.

Once the gravy has thickened ,add the  cooked rice and mix well.

Cover and cook for 5 minutes to let the flavors infuse well.