No-sugar Carrot Cake

I've been toying around with the idea of substituting natural sugars for processed cane sugar. I was somewhat skeptical at first, but I think I might try these tricks with other dessert options as well. Why use heavily processed white sugar, when you can just easily derive sweetness from natural sources? I still have to tweak the recipe further, to achieve the right consistency and sweetness, but this was a decent start to a whole new world of baking. Next time, I might experiment one step further, and eliminate the egg too. Clearly the possibilities are endless.

Ingredients:

2 cups wheat flour
1 1/2 cups grated carrots
1 cup combination of dates and raisins
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup water
almonds or other nuts

Directions:

1. Cut up the dates into smaller bits and combine and dates and raisins with the water and bring to a boil  in a saucepan. Let it simmer for about 10-15 minutes until the dates and raisins are soft. Drain the excess water and pulse the date raisin mixture in a food processor to produce a pulpy consistency.

2. Sift the flour with the baking soda, baking powder and salt and set aside.

3. Beat the eggs with a whisk or in mixer until lightly fluffy and add in the date-raisin mixture, the flour mixture and the rest of the ingredients. Combine well. Empty dough into well-greased cake pan.

4. Preheat oven to 350 F, and bake for 50-60 mins.

Vegetarian Kheema (Minced Vegetable Curry)

Yes, it's been a while since I last posted. Almost a year, actually, and that's a little bit ridiculous. This year has just flown by. I remember going out on New Year's Eve like it was just yesterday. Over the past year, I've managed to keep up the cooking and experimenting, but haven't done a very good job of documenting all the various recipes and taking pictures of them. I did take a few pictures with my not-so-great but passable iPhone camera, so until I resume taking pictures with my fancy dSLR, we'll have to make do with these. 

As is probably true with most people, my admiration and interest in home cooked food(especially my Mom's style of cooking) has grown exponentially as I've grown older. I find that my taste has developed to appreciate simplicity and minimal ingredients. I still have my sweet tooth, but I tend to be a little more discerning with my choices. Not to mention, it's also a conscious effort to develop a taste for healthier options. I used to believe that taste was mostly inherent. As in, either I liked x, y, and z or I didn't. I envied other people's healthier proclivities but didn't believe that taste could be adapted to. In just a few months of healthier eating, I find myself naturally gravitating toward salads, fruits and lots of veggies. Which, for me, is a HUGE sign of encouragement!

Coming back to the Kheema, I found that it's a pretty simple no-fuss curry to be eaten with chappati or naan. I actually like eating just the curry without anything to necessarily go with it, but I suspect that might just be me. 

Ingredients:

1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, diced
1 medium sized Cauliflower cut into small bits
3-4 carrots thinly shredded
1/2 can tomato puree or 2 tomatoes, diced
1 cup peas
4 tbsp vegetable or olive oil
1 cup yogurt
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp turmeric powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp ground coriander seeds
salt to taste
coriander leaves for garnish

Method:

1. In a saucepan, sautee with cauliflower and carrots with about 2 tbsp oil for about 10 minutes until the vegetables are somewhat cooked. Set aside.

2. In the same saucepan, sautee the onions and garlic in another 2 tbsp oil until the onion is soft and browned. Add the chili powder and turmeric powder and sautee the mixture for another 5 minutes or so. Add in more oil, if needed.

3. Add the diced tomatoes to this onion mixture and cook for another 5-6 minutes under med to high heat. Throw in the ground cumin and ground coriander seeds.

4. Blend the yogurt into the onion and tomato mixture and stir for a minute or so. Add the cauliflower an carrot mixture with cooked peas to this and let cook for about 10 minutes. Add salt to taste.

5. After the vegetables are cooked, garnish with the fresh coriander.

Chocolate-almond bark

Continuing from the last post, we also decided to make a holiday bark to add to our collection of cookies to give colleagues and friends. Turns out, everyone loved the goodies, and this will mostly likely be an annual tradition here on out!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 tbsp butter

3/4 cup almonds

1/2 lb 60% cacao chocolate

sea salt for sprinkling

Directions:

1. Line a baking sheet with foil. Place sugar in saucepan and make caramel out of it under low heat. Do not stir; wait for edges of sugar to turn brown. Swirl slightly. After about 20 minutes, after the sugar has turned brown, remove from heat. Add in the almonds, and the butter. Stir until well coated. Transfer to baking sheet. and break to form caramel coated almonds. Set aside nuts to top bark. 

2. Stir chocolate in a bowl set over simmering water. Stir chocolate is completely melted. 

3.  Remove from heat and add in nut mixture. Spread chocolate nut mixture on the baking sheet. Top with the reserved nuts and sprinkle with salt.

4.  Chill until chocolate is set, around 3 hours. Break bark into pieces.

Cardamom crescent cookies

As part of making holiday cookies for colleagues and friends, we picked out recipes from last month's issue of Bon Appetit. These cardamom cookies looked especially delicious and capture the holiday spirit marvelously, while looking great too. I was sold on cardamom. It must be the Indian in me. As a kid, I remember drinking this great cardamom- milk drink sold at train stations. I can still taste it. I digress. I was mostly pleased with this cookie recipe, but I would have made the cookies a little smaller for next time around.

Ingredients( 24 cookies):

1 1/4 cups flour

3/8 tsp ground cardamom

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup pecans

1 stick unsalted butter

1/2 tbsp vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. 

2. Whisk flour, cardamom, cinnamon and salt in a bowl. Then combine, the sugar and pecans in a food processor and pulse until a coarse meal forms. 

3. In a mixer, beat the butter and vanilla extract until creamy for about 2-3 minutes. Add nut mixture and beat to blend. Then add dry ingredients and blend well. Then transfer to work surface and knead to form a ball. 

4. Form small balls and shape into crescent. Space the cookies about 1 inch apart on the baking sheets on the parchment paper. . 

5. Bake for around 12- 15 minutes until the bottoms are golden.

6.  Sift the powdered sugar. Roll the warm cookies in the powdered sugar. Transfer to wire rack and let cool.

Almond-oatmeal crisps

For the holidays, we wanted to make a collection of cookies to share at work and with friends. Inspired by recipes we saw in last month's issue of Bon Appetit, we decided to try them out. I had never tried making oatmeal crisps before, but I remember eating them when my family bought them at Costco. They are still delicious, by the way. This particular recipe is super easy, and the results were super too. And they're pretty, and dainty, who are we kidding?

Ingredients(Makes 24):

1/2 cup whole almonds

2 tbsp oats

3/4 stick unsalted butter

6 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp honey

1 tbsp flour

1/4 tsp salt

Melted chocolate to brush on

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. 

2. In a food processor, chop and pulse the almonds and oats until a coarse meal forms.

3. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the sugars and the honey and whisk until well blended and the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat. Add nut mixtur, flour and salt. Stir until well-blended.

4. Spoon the batter into 2 tsp portions onto baking sheets, spacing around 2 inches between each cookie portion. Bake the cookies for 12 minutes until they are dark golden and form a think layer.

5. Slide cookies onto parchment paper and let cool.

6. Brush half of each cookie with melted chocolate. Let stand until the chocolate is set, about 2 hours.

Chocolate Espresso Kahlua mini-cupcakes

For my friend Miranda's birthday, we decided to surprise her at midnight with cupcakes. I personally think that regular cupcakes are way too big and rich, but mini-cupcakes almost always do the trick for me. They are almost bite-sized, and quite a bit cuter too. I also wanted to recipe that had a considerable amount of alcohol in it, and seeing as how I love Kahlua, I figured this recipe would do the trick.

Ingredients (for 24 mini cupcakes):

For the mini-cupcakes:

 3/8 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tbsp. instant espresso powder

3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cups sugar
3/4 tsp. baking soda
3/8 tsp. baking powder
3/8 tsp. salt
1 large egg

3/8 cup warm water
3/8  cup buttermilk

1 1/2 tbsp. vegetable oil

1/2tsp. vanilla extract

Kahlua, for brushing the mini-cupcakes

Frosting:

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
5 tbsp. Kahlua liqueur
1 1/2 tbsp. heavy cream

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line the mini-cupcake pan with liners. 

2. Combine the cocoa powder, espresso powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a mixer. Then add the egg, warm water, buttermilk, vegetable oil and vanilla extract to the mixer and mix on on Medium for about 2-3 minutes until the mixter has a runny and smooth consistency. 

3. Using an icecream scoop or spoon, divide the batter evenly into the 24 mini-cupcake liners. It should be about 2/3 full. Bake for about 18 minutes, and rotate the pans halfway through baking. Let the mini-cupcakes cool for around 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack. 

4. Using a fork, poke holes on top of each mini-cupcake. Brush on the kahlua onto each mini-cupcake while still warm. Then allow the minis to cool completely.

5. To make the frosting, beat the butter in a mixer, until the butter is smooth and fluffy, for around 2 minutes. Mix in the confectioners' sugar. Add in the Kahlua and beat some more until the Kahlua is well-blended. Add in the heavy cream and beat on medium-high for around 4 minutes, until the frosting is light and fluffy.

5. Frost cupcakes and serve.

Baklava with pistachios, walnuts and almonds

This particular recipe has been in our family for a few years now. My aunt had made home-made Baklava and I had no idea how easy it was to make until I got down to actually making it myself. Not only is Baklava relatively easy to make, it is also fun to make! Making the filling and preparing the layers is easy and somehow makes for great stress-relief. I typically use a little rose essence in the syrup but you can substitute it with flavor of choice.

Ingredients:

Filing:

2 lbs mixed nuts. (I used a mixture of pistachios, almonds, walnuts and pecans)

1/3 cup sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp allspice

Other Ingredients:
1/2 lb sweet butter

1/2 lb phyllo pastry

Syrup:

1 cup honey

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

1 cinnamon stick

1/2 tsp grated orange peel(optional)

1 tsp rose essence

Directions:

1. In a food processor, grind or chop all the nuts to make a coarse nut mixture. I personally like my Baklava a little crunchy, but you can make it smooth, based on preference. Add in the cinnamon, allspice and sugar and set aside in a bowl. 

2. Melt the butter such that you can brush on the butter with a brush. Brush a 9x13 pan with some butter. Lay a sheet of the phyllo pastry on the bottom of the pan. Brush the sheet of phyllo with a layer of butter. Add another sheet and repeat brushing it on with butter. Every part of the phyllo sheet must be brushed with butter to bring out the flakiness.

3. For every 2-3 sheets of phyllo, add the nut mixture evenly throughout the pan. Repeat until you have used up around 9-12 phyllo sheets. I typically have 2-3 layers of nut mixture.

4. With a sharp knife, cut into the phyllo sheets and cut the phyllo sheets to make triangles or diamond shaped pieces. Insert a clove on the edges of the pieces, if you like. 

5. Bake at 350 F for 1 hour until the baklava has browned.

6. In the meantime, combine all the ingredients for the syrup in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes. Strain, if you like, and let it cool.

7. When the Baklava has browned, remove from the oven, and pour the syrup over it evenly such that it penetrates into the layers. Let cool and then serve.