Eggless Chocolate Apple Upside Down Cake (Healthy & Vegan)

I have prepared an Apple Upside Down cake many times with egg.  So this time I just thought of an Eggless cake with a difference so this is the change I made by adding cocoa powder.  I just tired this out and it turned beautiful.  This recipe is a keeper.  My friends just enjoyed this cake and whatever I had taken for them was just not enough.  This is a lovely spongy and soft cake.

I would like to specifically mentioned do not use a spring form tin for this cake, because the first time I made an Apple Upside Down Cake I used this tin.  As the sugar starts to melt is seeps down and this how the oven caught fire .  Thank God I was near the oven at that time.  A fire averted in the house.  

Ingredients
For the Apple layer
2 Apples peeled, cored and sliced
1/4 cup demerara brown sugar
¼ tsp cinnamon powder
¼ tsp nutmeg powder
1.1/2 Tablespoon oil
few drops of lemon juice

For the Cake batter 
1.1/2 Cup All purpose flour

1/4 Cup Dark Cocoa powder
1 Teaspoon Baking powder

1 Teaspoon Baking soda
1 Cup Water Lightly warm ( or a tablespoon or two more)
1/2 Cup Vegetable oil
3/4 Cup Caster Sugar 

1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla powder

Method
Grease a round cake tin ( Do not use a springform tin for an Upside Down Cake) .  Arrange the apple slices neatly on the base of the pan in single or double layer. Sprinkle all the ingredients mentioned for apple layer. Keep the pan aside.

Sieve all the dry ingredients.   In a bowl add the water oil and jaggery mix well, then add the dry ingredients mix well so that no lumps are formed. Pour the batter in the prepared cake pan layered with the apple slices.  Bake at 180 degrees in a pre-heated oven  for about 55 minutes.

Serve this cake with tea or coffee or as an after meal dessert with vanilla ice cream.   H had it next day with vanilla ice cream and enjoyed it.

Try this cake and give your comments.

Labels: Apple, Cakes, Chocolate, Eggless, Vegan, Healthy, Upside Down Cake 

Tindora (Tendli / Gherkins) Fry

April 4, 2014

This vegetable has so many names tindora/ivy gourd/Tendli, Dondakayalu,Gherkins.  This Tindora fry recipe requires just a few ingredients and a flavor that you will love, even the person who says that they do not like this vegetable will eat it happily.   This makes for a good side dish with roti or rice and dal. This is so simple to make.

Ingredients
250 grams Tendli cut into juveniles

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 Teaspoon mustard seeds
Pinch of asafoetida
2 Green  chilies slit
1/4 Teaspoon turmeric powder
salt to taste
2 Tablespoons oil

Wash the tindora and nip the tip and tail ends and cut them into juveniles.

 Heat oil in a pan add the mustard and cumin seeds and let them splutter. Then add asafoetida, green chillies, tindora, turmeric powder and salt fry till soft and done on slow flame.  The pan should not be covered.  Serve hot with steamed rice and dal.

Labels: Healthy, Main course,Vegetables, Vegan, Tendli

Mint Chutney

This mint chutney can be prepared in a matter of minutes by using fresh mint and coriander leaves. This chutney is easy and quick to make. Serve it with Indian appetizers like tikkas and kebabs or use it to prepare your favorite roadside snacks.

Ingredients
2 Cups Mint leaves
1 Cup chopped coriander
1 Medium  Onion -sliced
1/2 Teaspoon Cumin seeds
3 Green chilies
2 Tablespoon Lemon juice
1/2 Teaspoon Sugar

Salt to taste or Sandhav namak  

Method
Combine all the ingredients and grind to a smooth paste in the grinder using very little water. Refrigerate and use as required.

Labels: Chutneys & Dips, Vegan, Mint

Manchow Soup: Indo - Chinese Food

March 31, 2014

Indian-Chinese food is very popular in India, and is my favorite. I enjoying watching the street side food joint cooking noodles, fried rice,soups etc., in a wok over high flame.  In India we have adapted seasonings and cooking techniques of Chinese cuisine to our taste and style.  Here is a vegetarian version for Manchow Soup. This soup is  transparent and you can see all the vegetables. This soup thickens because of cornflour; no cream is added to it. Since soup is my dinner, I make it even more healthy by not adding fried noodles or boiled noodles to it. Its not that I do not eat noodles, love them but avoid them in my night dinner. Also, I have not add mono sodium glutamate (MSG) or ajinomoto in my soup. If you like MSG add it in your bowl of soup about 1/4 teaspoon).

Ingredients
1 Teaspoon chilli oil
1 Teaspoon Coriander chopped

1 Teaspoon Spring Onion Whites, chopped
1 Teaspoon Garlic, chopped finely
1 Teaspoon Ginger, grated
1/4 Cup Assorted Vegetables, finely chopped
2 Cups Vegetable Stock or 2 cubes of vegetable soup mixed in 2 cups water
1 Teaspoon Soy Sauce
1/4 Teaspoon Chili Sauce
Salt, Sugar, Black Pepper Powder to taste 

1 Teaspoon Cornflour
1/2 teaspoon Vinegar 

For garnishing
Spring Onion Greens, chopped
Chili Oil
Crispy Noodles

I used vegetables- 2 French beans, 1/2 a Carrot, 1Capsicum, 2 leaves of Cabbage and 3 tablespoons sweet corn kernels. I just put all the vegetables except the corn in the chopper and chopped them finely. They get cooked faster and the soup is easy to make. I even chop the white of the spring onions, ginger and garlic in the chopper.  These gadgets make our cooking a lot easier and less tiresome.

To make

Chili oil
Heat 1/4 cup  oil in a pan on high flame till smoking point, add to it 5-6 broken dry red chilies & switch off heat. Allow to cool. Strain use this ‘chili oil’ as and when required.  This oil does not turn rancid for 2 to 3 weeks.

Crispy Noodles
Boil a packet of Chinese noodles along with a tsp of oil & salt until just about 50% cooked. Let it drain completely on the strainer & spread them on dry cloth & let them dry for 15-20 mins. Then sprinkle some corn flour over them and deep fry in hot oil till just about golden-brown & crispy. Drain on absorbent paper & allow to cool. Use it to garnish soups or eat it as a snack. Can be stored in airtight container for a week. ( This I avoided to make the soup healthy). You can avoid this process totally, now in the stores fried noodles are available.

Method
Heat oil in wok on high flame, then add spring onion whites, garlic,ginger ,coriander, sauté few seconds & add the vegetables stir fry 2 minutes. Add vegetable stock, soy sauce, chili sauce, mix well, add salt, sugar and  black pepper powder to your taste let it boil.  Then add the cornflour paste ( mix cornflour in 2 tablespoon water ) and  cook, stirring continuously till it thickens. Finally add vinegar, mix & remove from heat.  Transfer to bowl, sprinkle chili oil on it, garnish with spring onion greens and crispy noodles, serve hot.  As I am writing this post, am enjoying the bowl of  Manchow Soup.  Do try this recipe and post your comments.

Labels:  Healthy, Pure Veg, Soup, Vegan, Continental Cuisine, Chinese, Manchow Soup 

Eggless Almond-Date Cake - Vegan and Healthy

March 30, 2014

Baking gives me so much of joy that if you tell me to bake at anytime and for any occassion I will do it.  This was the cake I baked for our trekking group when we visited Mridul point at Yeor Forest on a Sunday. 

Ingredients
1 Cup  Almonds
22  Dates  (pitted) (I used black dates)
150 ML Oil
1.1/2 Cup Wheat Flour
1.1/2 Cup All Purpose Flour
2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 Teaspoon Salt
3/4 Cinnamon Powder
1.1/4 Brown Sugar or Light brown sugar
Golden syrup for glaze.

Method
In a cup of water add the dates and micro for a  2 minutes.
Grind the almonds and dates to a fine paste adding as much of water as is needed to make about 3 cups of the paste (a little thick batter consistency should be fine).Add oil to the paste and  give a run in the mixer.

In a mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients and seive it thrice. Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix so there are no lumps. Don't over mix it.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Grease and flour the baking pan.  I used a Bundt pan  and also a rectangle pan, since the bundt pan was a small one.
Carefully pour the batter into the prepared pan and place it in the middle rack of the oven.
Bake for about 55 minutes depending upon the oven or until a tooth pick comes out clean. When the cake is slightly cooled unmould it and pour the hot glaze over it.

For the glaze :  Take 2 tablespoon water and 2 teaspoons golden syrup and boil it.
This cake was so spongy and soft that all enjoyed it. I wanted to decorated this cake with almonds but it was so late when I finished baking, so I left it just like that.  The glaze cannot be seen but this glaze make the cake even more soft and spongy.

Labels: Cakes, Eggless, Healthy, Vegan, Almond, Date