Orange Yogurt Cake

Ingredients

Flour (maida) - 2 cups
Baking powder - ½ tsp
Butter - ¾ cup
Sugar - 1 ½ cup
Eggs – 3
Yougurt - ½ cup
Orange juice - ½ cup
Orange zest - 1 tbsp
Vanilla essence - ½ tsp
Salt - ¼ tsp

Preparation

Add baking powder to the flour sieve twice
sprinkle orange zest in the flour and keep aside.
Powder the sugar and mix well with soft butter.
Separate egg yolks and white.
Add the yolks and salt to the butter sugar mixture
beat to a silky consistency.
Beat egg whites to its peak and keep aside.
Add yogurt, orange juice and vanilla essence
spoon by spoon and whisk well.
Fold in the egg whites .
Now spoon by spoon add in
flour and baking powder mixture.
Grease the baking pan with butter and dust with flour.

Pre heat the oven at 180 .
Bake the cake for 45 to50 minutes.
After 45 minutes insert a skewer and
if the skewer comes out clean, the cake
is done. If it is sticky keep again in the oven for
few more minutes.
Let the cake pan cool on the wire mesh for 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes remove from the pan
And brush it with orange glaze.

Orange glaze

Orange juice -3 tbsp
Sugar - 6 tbsp
Rum -1 tsp
Butter - ½ tsp
Mix sugar in orange juice and keep on low flame.
Take out from flame and immediately add rum and butter.
Brush the glaze on the cake for sweet and golden colour.

Christmas Cake with Royal Icing

"Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace,
good will toward men!"

Merry Christmas to all my friends!

For recipe, refer to my previous posts
(Christmas cake, Tea cake and Royal Icing).

Panettone( Italian Sweet Bread)

Panettone is a sweet Italian bread traditionaly
cupola(dome)shaped, made mostly during
Christmas and New Year.

Legends and history add to its popularity.
One story dates back to 15th century Court of
the duke of Milan, where a kitchen boy, 'Toni', baked
a sweet bread for christmas and the court cook presented
it to the guests as a sweet dish.
In appreciation,this sweet bread was named -
Toni's bread (Pan de Toni).

There are lots of variations found in this recipe.
Almost all the ingredients used in christmas cake is
included in this recipe.

In Italy this bread is served mainly with a
glass of wine and 'cream of mascarpone' made from
mascarpone cheese.

'Panettone' is truly a bread of luxury.

Ingredients

Flour - 2 ½ cups
Sugar - 1/3 cup
Dry yeast – 2 ½ tsp
Salt -1/4 tsp
Warm milk - ½ cup
Soft butter – ¼ cup
Eggs - 3 large
Raisins - 1 cup
Orange zest - 1 tbsp

Preparation

In a cup of warm milk add 1 tablespoon of
sugar and dissolve yeast;
keep aside to rise in a warm place.

Take a large bowl beat eggs, add the remaining sugar, salt, butter,
the doubled yeast in milk, raisins and flour. Mix well and pour
into a greased, dusted baking dish, cover it with a warm
moist cloth.
Keep in a warm place again for the dough to double for about
2 to 4 hours.
Preheat the oven and bake the bread for 35 minutes.
As soon as you take it from the oven, with a skewer, pierce
the top of the bread all over and pour hot rum syrup.
After about 10 minutes remove from the baking dish .

Serve panettone with plain soft butter and a glass of wine.
This sweet and soft panettone will be a
great hit on your christmas table....

Rum Syrup

Rum - 1/3 cup
Sugar - 1/4 cup
Combine rum and sugar and bring to a boil.
Turn off the flame and pour the rum syrup hot on the bread.

All the ingredients specially yeast should be fresh and
in room temperature for best results.

Tea Cake with Royal Icing

Tea cake

ingredients

Maida(plain flour) - 3 cups
Baking powder - 3 tsp
Butter -1 cup
Sugar - 3 cups
Eggs large - 6
Vanilla essence -1 tsp
Salt - ¼ tsp
Lemon zest - 1 tbsp
Rum (optional) -1 tbsp

preparation

All ingredients should be in room temperature.

Sieve maida and baking powder thrice and keep aside.

Powder the sugar and mix it with soft butter in a large
mixing bowl. Mix till it is silky soft.

Separate the yolk and the white from the eggs.
Add the yolks, essence, salt and rum to the mixing bowl .
Wisk till it has a silky flow.

Beat egg whites frothy to its peak.
Add egg whites to the mixing bowl and slowly
fold in. Now spoon by spoon fold in sieved
maida and lemon zest.

In a baking dish apply butter on all sides and
dust it with maida. Pour the cake batter to
half the baking dish and pat it on
the work floor to release air.
If you want to decorate the cake with
nuts on top, first dust the nuts with plain flour
then sprinkle the nuts on the cake or else
the nuts will sink to the bottom.

Preheat the oven at 180c .Place the baking dish and
bake for 45 minutes. If you are pouring the cake batter
in cups or small bowls , you will get your cakes
ready in 25 minutes. After the baking time
prick the cake with a skewer and if it comes out clean the
message is your cake is done.

Royal icing

Icing sugar - 400 gms
Egg white - 1
Lime juice -1 tbsp
vanilla essence - 1/4 tsp

In a bowl beat egg white gradually adding
icing sugar and vanilla essence. Add lime juice and
whisk faster till it stands on its peak
very smooth and white like snow.

Royal icing can be used to cover the cake,
do lattice work or write with a nozzle.
Adjust the icing sugar as you need the flow.

Fish Pickle

Ingredients

Fish - 1 kg
Garlic - 100 gm
Ginger - 200 gm
Turmeric powder - 2 tsp
Chilli powder -3 tbsp
Kashmiri chilli powder -1 tbsp
Oil - 3 cups
Natural vinegar - 2 cups
Salt
curry leaves - 1 cup

Preparation

Cut the fish and wash thoroughly with salt and water.
Marinate the fish (prawns or oysters ) with 1 tbsp chilli powder,
turmeric and salt. Do not add water.

Peel and wash ginger , garlic and pat it dry.
Make a fine paste of it by adding a little salt and vinegar.

Fry the fish pieces, curry leaves and retain the oil.

In another wok pour oil and sauté the ginger- garlic paste.
As it turns brown add turmeric ,chilli powder and sauté
for two minutes. Now add the remaining fish oil,
vinegar and fried fish. When it is cooled, store it
in an air–tight container.
It looks gorgeous....

This pickle is of a great help to our children
from the boring hostel food.

Stuffed Banana Roast

Ingredients

Ripe banana (kerala banana) - 2
Grated coconut - 1 cup
Sugar - 3 tbsp
Water -3 tbsp
Cardamom powder - 1 tsp
Maida (plain flour) -1 cup

Preparation

Make a slit on the banana (ethapazham) with the skin on.
Steam it in a steamer till it turns soft.
Peel and remove the outer strings and inner seed strings.
Mash the bananas without any lumps.
Do not use very ripe bananas.

In a wok on medium flame, add sugar and water .
Stir till you get sugar syrup. To this, add grated coconut
and cardamom powder.

Make six balls of the mashed banana and stuff it with
the sweet coconut mixture. Roll this in flour and
deep fry in oil on medium flame.
Try to retain its golden yellow colour.
Serve hot with tea.

This recipe takes me back to an instance years back.
Banana roast or unnakaya famous in Malabar, was not much
known in southern and central part of Kerala at that time.
Just married and very young, I had to take charge of the kitchen
for some days, as my in–laws were not in station.
Message came, my in-law’s aunt, a grand old lady
and her two daughters were arriving for tea in an hour.
Though I had no experience in cooking, I decided
to serve this banana roast for tea. Our maid
tried to dissuade me saying time was limited
and that she has also never tried this before.
My first attempt came out successfull and
Well appreciated by the guests.
Later my mother-in-law was surprised to hear from her
aunt “ the banana fritters your daughter-in-law
made was great!”
Thereafter, at our home this snack is known
‘marumode vazhkapam’.
These nutritious bananas (ethapazham /nentrapazham)
are mainly grown in Kerala and in parts of Tamilnadu.
Unlike other small bananas, this banana is a food in itself

Our balcony

Honey dear



Roses at bloom


Full bloom


flowering time



Our dear bulbuls.


One of the squirrels who visit us.


one of my friends.


A bull and his master.A view from our balcony




Sanyasis with an elephant.


A man with a monkey.


During festival season people dressed
as tiger and lion visit houses and
perform pulikali a kind of dance.
A view from my balcony.