Eggless Fruit Cake Without Alcohol

Merry Christmas to all my family, friends and viewers. In conjunction to the most awaited long holiday season of the year, and well-cherished Christmas goodies, gifts and Santa Claus stories among kids and grown-ups, this year is never been whole without the making of fruit cake. Our family loves eggless bakes, and this cake recipe is adapted from Bincy Chris of Merry Boosters website  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K53PwJo_U5s&t=99s...I tweaked the recipe a bit. My cake is very dark as I have used molasses sugar or muscovado brown sugar and I used lots of dark raisins. This is a keeper recipe and the fruit cake was so lovely and tasty. We couldn't believe it was made without eggs. I hope you guys would give a try for this Christmas. 

Eggless Fruit Cake Without Alcohol

INGREDIENTS: 

Good quality salted butter - 150g

Premium molasses powder/ Muscovado dark sugar - 150g

Plain flour - 225g

Baking soda - 1 teaspoon

Thick yoghurt (strain it to discard the excess water) - 240ml

Raisins - 1/2 cup and 1/3 cup

Chopped cranberries - 1/2 cup

Chopped dates - 1/2 cup           

Chopped almond - 1/2 cup

Vanilla essence - 1/2 teaspoon

Ground ground cinnamon - 1/2 teaspoon

Ground cloves - 1/2 teaspoon

Ground nutmeg - 1/2 teaspoon

Orange zest of 1 orange (You can add 2 tablespoons of fresh orange juice)

**DRY FRUITS AND NUTS CAN BE FROM 350 GRAM TO 375 GRAM**

METHOD:

1. First, add  a good quality salted butter and molasses/ muscovado brown sugar  in a baking bowl. Cream until fluffy and pale. Then, stir in the thick yoghurt that has been strained to remove the excess water.

2. On the other hand, sift plain flour, baking soda and spice powder. To the flour mixture, add all your chopped dry fruits and nuts, and give a good mix to coat well.

3. Now, combine the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Give a gentle fold and mix until the fruits and nuts are well coated.

4. Pre-heat your oven for 5 minutes at 170 degree Celsius.

5. Line your round baking tin with parchment paper. There is a link to teach you precise way to line your tin

6. Pour the cake batter into the tin and give a tap. 

7. Bake the cake in the oven for 1 hour or until it is baked well. You know this when you insert a skewer to top of the cake. If it comes clean, then your cake has baked properly. 

8. Remove the baking tin from the oven and let it cool for 10 minutes.

9. Finally, gently remove the cake from the pan and let it sit in a cooling rack until it is completely cool.

10. I have transferred the fruitcake into the fridge by storing it in a stainless steel container. The next day, in the morning, when the cake is still firm, I cut them into desirable pieces(It was an easy cutting process when the cake is chilled).

Thank you

Abby 

Pepparkakor 'SWEDISH GINGER SNAPS' - VERSION 1

Pepparkakor is the Swedish name for ginger snap that they usually bake during Christmas, and these cookies are so traditional and full of aromatic spices that give warmth in the cold winter time. These are not your conventional gingerbread cookies or English ginger snaps as they are made thin and crunchy. I have never heard of the cookies before, and when I stumbled across some sites, I found this unique cookies. The dough is slightly wet and sticky, and that's how it should be, and that's why it is kept in the fridge to rest overnight. The rolling of the dough has to be thin so that the cookies are crisp and crunchy. I made a mistake by rolling my second batch to normal sugar cookie thickness that took me more baking time. I recommend you to roll it thin so that it becomes like eating crackers. Give a try for this Christmas.

Pepparkakor 'SWEDISH GINGER SNAPS' - VERSION 1

INGREDIENTS: 

Good quality salted butter - 150g

Premium molasses powder - 250g

Plain flour - 450g

Baking soda - 1 teaspoon

Plain room temperature water - 100ml

Ground ginger - 1 tablespoon

Ground ground cinnamon - 1/2 tablespoon

Ground cloves - 1 teaspoon

Ground cardamom - 1 teaspoon

METHOD:

1. First, add  a good quality salted butter and molasses powder(not syrup) in a heavy bottom saucepan, and keep the flame very low. Allow everything to melt and well combine. Then, set it aside to cool. 

2. In a big bowl, sift all purpose or plain flour and baking soda. Now add in all of the spice mix powder into the flour and give it a good stir. 

3. Pour in the cooled butter-molasses concoction into the dry ingredients in the big bowl and 100 ml of water. By using a wooden spoon, give it a good mix. If you find your dough dry, add little bit more water. The cookie dough will be fairly wet and sticky at this stage. Don't worry. 

4. Wrap the wet and sticky dough with a cling films plastic and keep it refrigerated for overnight.

5. The next day, knead the dough lightly and cut the dough to 4 parts. Roll out first part of the dough on a floured surface of a wooden board. Roll it thin to about 1/8 inch or 3mm. Cut desired shapes using cookie cutter.

6. Bake in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes, watching closely, until the cookies are baked crisp and have started to darken slightly.

7. Cool in a rack, and store in an air tight container. 

Thank you

Abby 

Indian Style Tamarind Rice Paste or Puli Kaichal

At home, mother often makes Tamarind rice paste that can be stored and kept in the refrigerator for weeks. It is like a pickled spice paste with all the wonderful spicy tangy ingredients that can be prep up when you are in a hurry. When this paste is made a head, it can often be mixed with piping hot rice. It is a must to use gingerly oil or 'Nallanai' which we call in Tamil. This type of oil is available in any Indian store. The amount of oil, red chilies and salt used may seem to be quite a lot, but they work as a preservative and flavor enhancer that keeps well in the fridge without getting spoilt. Here I have given ingredients and method to make the paste. Some other day, I will post how to mix the paste with the rice with other extra ingredients. You may also like to visit my YouTube video on how to make this paste https://youtu.be/1vbXTq23UPs. I hope you will try this at home. 

Indian Style Tamarind Rice Paste or Puli Kaichal

INGREDIENTS: 

Tamarind - lime size

Turmeric powder - 1 teaspoon

Water - 3 cups

Jaggery/ brown sugar - 1 teaspoon

TO MAKE SPICE POWDER:

Channa dal - 1 tablespoon

Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 teaspoon

Dry red chili - 1

TO TEMPER:

Gingerly oil - 1/4 cup

Mustard - 1 teaspoon

Urad dal - 1 teaspoon

Channa dal - 2 tablespoons

Dry red chilies - 15 (broken to small pieces) (reduce it if you don't like spicy food)

Asafoetida - 1/2 teaspoon

Curry leaves - 2 sprigs

METHOD:

1. First, take tamarind into the size of lime. Adding 3 cups of water to the tamarind and let it soak for 5 minutes. After that, squeeze tamarind in the water, and strain the tamarind water and discard the pulp.

2. In a pan, add a drop of gingerly oil, 1 tablespoon of channa dal, 1/2 teaspoon fenugreek seeds. Roast the ingredients until golden brown. Lastly, add 1 dry red chili and fry for 1 minute only as you don't want to burn the chili. Grind it to fine powder. 

3. Heat a pan with gingerly oil, add mustard and allow it to sputter. Then, add urad dal and channa dal, allow them to become light brown colour. After that, add broken pieces of dry chilies, asafoetida and curry leaves. 

4. Immediately, add the tamarind water into the tempered ingredients. Let the tamarind water boil and reduce to half.

5. When it has reduce to half, add salt (I added 1 tablespoon), jaggery or brown sugar, turmeric powder and all the grind spice powder. Let the concoction boil and thicken further. At this stage, add another 2 tablespoons of gingerly oil. Boil for 5 minutes after adding oil. When oil starts floating on the surface and it has become semi- thick paste, switch off the flame. 

semi- thick paste

6. Cool this paste and store it in an air-tight container. Keep in the refrigerator. 

Thank you

Abby 

Homemade Clarified Butter / Ghee

One of my friends requested to teach her how to make clarified butter or ghee at home. This method has been followed by my mother for many years to make clarified butter or ghee at home. Give a try and leave your comment here. Thanks.

Homemade Clarified Butter / Ghee

INGREDIENTS: 

Good quality salted butter - 1 block

Black peppercorns - 1 teaspoon

Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon

Curry leaves - a sprig

Moringa leaves - a sprig (optional)

METHOD:

1. First, add a block of good quality salted butter, a teaspoon of each cumin and black peppercorns in a heated pan. Keep the flame low and gently stir it. 

2. It will take some time for the butter to melt, and start boiling and sizzling. Keep the flame low as you don't want the ghee to burn. 

3. When you see the the clarified butter is changing into light brown colour, you can add curry leaves or moringa leaves. You hear the sputtering noise, and when the sound has settled, and the leaves have wilted, you may switch off the flame. 

4. Remember to remove the pan from the heat after the clarified butter reach golden brown colour, and you may find the residue underneath the clarified butter has become brown in colour too.

5. Last step is to strain the clarified butter, and store in a bottle. You may keep this at room temperature or in the refrigerator.

Thank you

Abby 

Beetroot Soup

This is a simple comforting beetroot soup. I have already posted beetroot soup in my blog before. But, the only difference is in the type of lentils that I used and the way I cut the beetroot. The procedure is almost the same. This soup is very light and refreshing. It can be taken with piping hot rice or even on it's own. Either way, it is still the best, especially in rainy days. 

Beetroot Soup

Ingredients:

Medium sized onions : 2

Medium sized ripe tomatoes : 5

Medium sized beetroot : 1

Small green chilies : 3

Toor dal : 1/4 cup

Curry leaves : a sprig

Turmeric powder : 1/4 tsp

Water 4 cups or more

Salt : as needed 

To Temper :

Oil : 3 teaspoons

Cinnamon stick : 1 (3 inches long)

Cloves : 6

Star anise : 1

Fennel seeds : 1 tsp

Whole black peppercorns : 1/2 tsp

Method :

1. First, rinse the toor dal 3 times until the water is clear. Cook the washed dal by adding 1/4 teaspoon of turmeric powder and 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil. You can add 4 cups water to cook the dal. Then, mashed the dal. Excess dal water will be used as a stock in the soup.

2. In a pan, add 3 teaspoons of oil. After the oil is slightly hot, temper all the ingredients under "To Temper" section. The color of fennel seeds should change to light brown.

3. Then, fry sliced onions till translucent and immediately continue the frying process with slitted green chilies, curry leaves, roughly diced beetroot, finely chopped tomatoes and salt.

4. After the tomatoes turn mushy and well cooked, now mix cooked toor dal or lentils which has been mashed well and 4bcups of dal water or more if you want thinner soup.

5. Let it simmer for 15 minutes.

6. Switch off the flame and garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves.

Thank you

Abby

Mung bean flour, Cashew nuts and Clarified butter SWEET Balls (Nei Urundai)

Mung bean flour, Cashew nuts and Clarified butter SWEET Balls (Nei Urundai)

We made Nei Urundai for Diwali, and it was delicious with the nice nutty smell of homemade clarified butter and bits and pieces of cashew nuts here and there. The sweetness of the balls are just nice for us as we don't have sweet tooth. The process of making this sweet balls is as easy as ABC. The only thing that I would emphasis is that please roast your store bought Mung Bean flour though it's stated roasted in the packet. The raw smell of the flour will never give you that impeccable divine aftertaste. I strongly suggest that you should never substitute cashew nuts with other nuts because Mung Bean and cashews are marriage made in heaven. They work magic in the sweet balls. My elaboration will raise the eyebrows of many, doubting the result of this too simple ingriedients based sweet. But, don't judge a book by it's cover, give a try. The only trouble you may face is while clumping the flour mixture into balls, and that's why the clarified butter has to be heated until it's hot enough. Practice makes a man perfect is well-said. Good Luck!!

INGREDIENTS: 

Green Mung Bean flour - 2 cups

Homemade clarified butter or Ghee - as needed to bind into balls

Organic brown sugar - 1 cup

Roasted cashew nuts pieces - a few

METHOD:

1. Here I am using store bought Mung Bean flour(BABAS brand). Although it is stated roasted in the packet, I kept the flame on low and started roasting it for a good 20 minutes to reduce the raw smell from the flour. This step is crucial.

2. Take 1 cup of sugar and powdered it fine. Mix the roasted Mung Bean flour and powdered sugar in a wide bowl. 

3. I am using homemade clarified butter which has been made into this form using Emborg Salted Butter. You can also opt for store bought ghee which is readily available in any Indian grocery.  Remember to heat the clarified butter until it is hot enough, but need not be boiling. Just heat it up until it's hot. In the same ghee, fry chopped cashew nut bits until golden brown. 

4. Pour this ghee along with the cashew pieces slowly into the flour sugar mixture. Keep mixing it with your hand, and try to clump or press it together into balls using one hand. I can't give you precise measurement for the ghee, but the thumb rule is to pour ghee little by little, along with the the process of clumping it into balls. If you pour a lot of ghee at one time, then it will become soggy and watery.  

4. The balls are then kept in an air-tight container at room temperature for a week time. 

Thank you

Abby

Sweet Dessert with Bottle Gourd (Bottle Gourd Halwa)

 

Sweet Dessert with Bottle Gourd (Bottle Gourd Halwa)

INGREDIENTS: 

Full cream milk powder - 3/4 cup

Fresh milk - 1 1/2 cup

Finely grated fresh young bottle gourd - 3 cups tightly packed

Brown sugar - 3 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons

Saffron - a small pinch

Cardamom - 4 pods

Chopped nuts - 2 tablespoons (optional)

Clarified butter or ghee - 5 tablespoons

METHOD:

1. First, rinse, peel and grate bottle gourd finely. Before you cook, taste the bottle gourd, if it has sour or bitter taste, discard it and don't cook it. Sour bottle gourd will curdle the milk and bitter bottle gourd will toxify your body. Always choose freshly harvested young bottle gourd and taste it before using.

2. In a heavy pan, add 4 tablespoons of ghee, after it has become warm, add grated bottle gourd. Using medium flame, keep stirring until all the moisture from the bottle gourd has evaporated. You have to cook bottle gourd in ghee until you don't taste the raw smell of the vegetable and also it has soften to perfection. This stage is crucial and don't take any short cut. It took me approximately 15 - 20 minutes. 

3. While frying the bottle gourd, I use another heavy deep bottom pan to cook the fresh milk, cardamom pods, saffron and I diluted 3/4 cup of full cream milk powder for extra richness and creaminess. I used low flame and continuously stirring the milk because I didn't want the milk to have any burnt taste at the bottom. I did the sautéing and boiling of milk simultaneously. The milk has to thicken and become half in quantity. 

4. So now, I have hot thickened milk and piping hot well-cooked bottle gourd. Now, pour the milk into the bottle gourd. Keeping both milk and bottle gourd hot is really necessary as to prevent the milk from curdling. 

5. Keep stirring the milk mixture on low flame until it thickens further and some moisture evaporates. 

6. Lastly, add the remaining 1 tablespoon of ghee and allow it to marry all the wonderful creamy flavor. The consistency of the halwa is slightly thick and it has to be eaten by spoon. 

7. Last step is optional. Scatter some silvered almonds and roughly chopped pistachio for extra goodness of nuttiness. 

8. Serve hot or cold. I like the combination of chocolate ice cream, potato chips and this halwa. It's a weird combo, but cocoa and salt work perfectly well as they cut down the creaminess of the halwa.

Thank you

Abby