Moist Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients:

Cake
300g of all purpose flour
100g of cocoa powder
400g of castor sugar (I have used 300g only)
1 tsp of baking powder
1 tsp of baking soda
1 tsp of vanilla extract
250ml of hot water
250ml of vegetable oil
250ml of low fat milk
3 large eggs

Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda and keep aside for later use.

In a mixing bowl beat eggs with sugar and vanilla extract then add water, vegetable oil and milk. Now add in the sifted dry ingredients gradually without over mixing the batter.

Pour this batter on a baking pan which have been applied with butter and flour (I have used bundt pan), dust off excess flour and bake this cake for 30-45 minutes at 150 to 170 degrees depending on your oven requirement. The cake is done when you insert a skewer and it comes out clean, let the cake cool overnight or at least few hours before pouring the ganache.

Chocolate Ganache Frosting

50ml of cream

200g of dark chocolate

1 tbsp of butter

Melt all dark chocolate and cream over double boiling method, once chocolate is perfectly melted add in butter for a glossy look. Let the ganache cool before pouring over the cake and decorate upon your creativity.

See how glossy is the ganache 

Do try and let me know how it turned out for you!

Spicy Chicken Briyani

Ingredients:

(Serves 4)
4 pcs of chicken drumstick
4 hard boiled eggs
2 cups of Basmathi rice (70% cooked)
1 tbsp of coriander powder
1/4 tsp of cumin powder
1/4 tsp of fennel powder
1 tsp of red chilli powder
1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
1/4 tsp of garam masala
2 onions (chopped)
2 tomatoes (chopped)
2 green chillies (slit)
1 tbsp of ginger garlic paste
2 tbsp of cashew nuts
2 tbsp of raisins
A bunch of coriander leaves
1/2 cup of mints (chopped)
1 cinnamon stick
2 star anise
4 cloves
2 cardamom
3 tbsp of ghee
1 cup of water
Salt to taste

In a pan, heat ghee and add cinnamon stick, star anise, cloves, cardamom and stir for a minute then add  chopped onions fry until translucent. Now add in ginger garlic paste, mix well and add chopped tomatoes and cook until tomatoes turn mushy. Then add green chilli, chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, fennel powder and cumin powder, mix everything together so that the spices incorporates well and add in chicken drumsticks, half a cup of water. Let all this cook on medium flame until the chicken is cooked and the liquid is evaporated.

Now add in boiled eggs, 70% cooked rice to the chicken mixture mix everything well and pour in the balance water, adjust seasoning and cover to cook until rice is fluffy. Mix in coriander and mint leaves to the rice and cover for a couple of minutes so that the flavor will be infused in the rice. Finally add in cashews and raisins that have been fried in ghee to garnish.

Now our Spicy Chicken Briyani is ready to be served. Do try and let me know how it turned out for you!

Mint Watermelon Juice

Ingredients:

3 cups of watermelon (chilled)

5 mint leaves (or as you prefer)

1 tsp of sugar (optional)

Blend all the ingredients above and ready to be served for a nasty, horrible weather. Hehehe...this is lunch for me. Do try and enjoy!

Grilled Chicken Sandwich

Ingredients:

2 slices of wholemeal bread
2 slices of tomato
2 slices of onion
1 chicken patty
1 slice of cheese
Chilli sauce/ Tomato Ketchup
Butter

Grill chicken patty until its cooked, top it with a slice of cheese and keep it aside. Toast both the bread slices applied with butter. Now time to assemble the sandwich, layer a slice of bread top it with the grilled chicken patty, tomato and onion, chilli sauce and finally another slice of bread. Now slice into half and now our Grilled Chicken Sandwich is ready to be served. 

How easy can that be? Do try and enjoy!

Chicken Meatball Pizza for HBC

I'm so much delayed in posting my Pizza for our HBC, I think I'm the last one to post even though I made it long ago. I was so tied up with work and family matters, I hope that you guys will pardon me for the delay, better late than never right? Now let me share the Chicken Meatball Pizza that I made for our challenge. This is a very simple to make pizza and anyone can make it it in jiffy;

                                          

Ingredients:

Base

2 cups of bread flour

1 tsp of yeast

1 tsp of sugar

3/4 cup of warm water

A pinch of salt

1 tbsp of olive oil

Topping

1 cup of green  capsicum (diced)

1 cup of grated mozarella cheese

1 can of Prego tomato sauce

200 g of minced chicken

1 tsp of corn flour

A dash of pepper

A pinch of salt

For the topping take bowl add minced chicken, corn flour, salt and pepper and mix well. Make small balls and keep it aside. Take a pan, add the tomato sauce let it simmer for a couple of minutes then add in the chicken meatballs and cover to cook, then add in the diced capsicum let it cook until the chicken meatballs are cooked, adjust the seasoning. Let this cool until its ready to be applied to the pizza base.

For the base, mix yeast warm water and sugar and let it foam it takes about 10 to 15 minutes. Pour this mixture to bread flour, olive oil and salt mix , knead until everything is well incorporated and set to rise for an hour. Once the dough rise punch it down to release the air and separate the dough to 2 part. Then roll the dough to your preference for thin crust or thick and apply the topping, cheese and bake at 170 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until the base is cooked. I have used 8'' cake pan and applied some olive oil to the pan before laying in the base.

The pizza is ready to be baked, do try and let me know how it turned out for you!

I'm sending this post to our beloved sisters blogs Priya's Versatile Recipe and Divya's Culinary Journey

Quick Thengapaal Appam/ Indian Pancake

Ingredients:

750g rice flour
1 tsp of yeast
A pinch of salt
A pinch of sugar
2 cups of water
1/2 cup of cooked white rice
1 cup of coconut milk
1/2 cup of grated coconut

Blend cooked rice, sugar, yeast and grated coconut with a little water then add rice flour and for a couple of minutes. Now pour this mixture into an airtight container with a pinch of salt and let it ferment for at least 7 to 8 hours or overnight (the consistency of mixture should be thick something like idli mixtures)

After the mixture sits to ferment, mix 1 cup of coconut milk to dilute the fermented mixture, it should be watery not thick to make sure you get crispy edges with spongy middle. Mix the coconut milk only when you are ready to make the appam.

You need appam pan, heat appam pan on low flame and pour a ladle of mixture and rotate the pan to get thin and crispy edges and the balance mixture will form spongy middle. Cover and cook until the edges turn golden brown and crispy. Now remove it to a plate and serve with freshly squeezed coconut milk (added with sugar).

Now our Thengapaal Appam is ready to be eaten, do try and let me know how it turned out for you!

Walnut Chocolate Chunks Brownies

Every-time I go shopping for pantry items, I have always wanted to try Pillsbury's ready made brownies mix. Its super easy to make and awesome, fudgy delicious brownies. I have added some chopped walnuts to give perfect brownies, finally my dream came true....hehehe...

Ingredients:

1 pack of brownies mix
1 cup of chopped walnut
75 ml of water
30 ml of oil
1 egg

In a bowl, mix everything together, pour into a 9x9 greased square tin and baked for 20 minutes on a preheated oven at 150 degrees. Once baked let it cool before cutting and serving the brownies. Now our Hazelnut Chocolate Chunks Brownies is ready to be served!

Yummy yummy brownies