Caramel filled Cupcakes

Who doesn't like moist spongy cupcakes, and when they are filled with gooey caramel and topped with nutella.... oh that is pure bliss :) :).
Made these sinful choco mocha cupcakes to pamper my Nutella lover boy. I have posted one more kids friendly recipe with nutella  Gary- the snail some time back....

Now coming back to today's recipe, let's get started :)
Caramel filled Choco Mocha Cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 tbsp coffee powder
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 2 tbsp refind oil
• 1/2cup butter milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

 For filling:
Caramel sauce (see recipe here)

For frosting:
1/2 jar Nutella 

Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Baking Time: 10-12 minutes
Assembling Time: 10 minutes
Yields: 4-5 cupcakes

Directions

• Preheat the oven at 180 degree C for 10 minutes.
• In a mixing bowl sift together all purpose flour, cocoa powder, coffee powder, baking powder,baking soda and powdered sugar.
• Add oil, butter milk and vanilla extract to the sifted flour and fold gently.
• Pour this batter into your greased muffin tray.
• Bake for 10-12 minutes at 180 degree C.
• Let them cool for 10-15 minutes and invert onto a wired rack.
  

Assembling:
Using a round cookie cutter or a small bottle cap cut the center of the cupcake carefully keeping the base intact as shown in the picture.

Fill the cupcake with 1 tbsp of caramel sauce and cover it with the cored piece.

Frosting:

• Take some Nutella on a butter knife and spread on the cupcakes generously.
• Top them with your favourite chocolates,sprinkles and serve with love :)
  

Rajasthani Daal Baati Churma

To the most of us, we start thinking of Rajasthani cuisine with Daal Baati Churma. Traditionally, originally Daal Baati was cooked on dried cow dung cakes (in villages its still done that way

) giving it a unique and rustic taste. I had a chance to enjoy this taste during my last visit to my village (in- laws), the baatis were 'effortlessly super' and baking of baatis actually key to the success of this dish.

Since living in cities we do not have such privilege to cook in a traditional manner, thus, I'm sharing a recipe which is easy to cook, with readily available resources while maintaining the taste and quality.

Ingredients:
For Daal:

• 1 cup panchmel daal
• Salt as per taste
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 2 bay leaves
• 4 cups water.

For tempering:

• 2 tbsp ghee/ clarified butter
• Pinch of asafoetida
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 2-3 cloves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 tsp ginger garlic paste
• 1 onion chopped
• 2 green chilly chopped
• 2 tomatoes chopped
• 1 tsp red chilly powder 
• 1/2 tsp coriander powder 
• 1/2 tsp Garam masala

Directions:

• Pressure cook daal with water salt, turmeric and bay leaves till 3-4 whistles and keep aside.
• In a wok heat ghee/clarified butter add asafoetida, cumin seeds, cloves and cinnamon stick. When it starts to splutter add green chilly and ginger garlic paste, saute for a minute, add onions and let it cook till it is transparent. Add tomatoes and cook till soft. Put all dry spices, cook for few minutes then add the boiled daal, cover and let it cook for 15 minutes. Daal is ready.
  

Ingredients:
For Baati

• 2 cups wheat flour
• 1/2 cup ghee/Clarified butter (half for kneading and half for dipping baati)
• Salt 1/2 tsp
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• Water as required

Directions:

• Knead stiff dough using all this ingredients and let it rest for 15 mins
• Take lemon size portion and make balls of equal size
• Preheat tandoor for 5 -10 mins and keep dough ball in tandoor and cook till done 

• Alternatively preheat oven at 180 degree Celsius and cook baatis for 10-15 mins or till done.

Churma:
Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup plus 1/4 cup ghee/clarified butter
• 1/4 cup Milk to knead 
• Ghee( for frying)
• Powdered sugar/ bura to taste
• 1 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
• Some chopped nuts to garnish

Directions:

• In a big mixing bowl add flour, 1/2 cup ghee and mix well. 
• Knead a tight dough using milk, let the dough rest for 10-15 minutes.
• Divide the dough into equal parts and make lemon sized balls.
• Heat ghee/oil in a wok and fry the dough balls on low flame till they are perfectly cooked from inside and brown from all the sides.
• Let the baatis come to room temperature and coarsely grind them in a grinder.
• Next, heat 1/2 cup ghee in a wok, add churma mixture, powdered sugar and cook on slow flame for 2-3 minutes.
• Switch off the flame and garnish the churma with chopped nuts.

With as much as Ghee as you can, Enjoy a Royal Lunch with 'Daal Baati Churma'

Flax seeds & oats crackers

Crispy, nutritious, high fiber, health packed crackers with the goodness of flax seeds and oats.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp flax seeds
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tbsp cooking butter
• 1 tbsp italian seasonings
• 1/4 cup milk

Prep time: 10 minutes+ 20 minutes resting time
Baking time: 10 minutes
Yields: 20-22 crackers
Kitchen equipments required : Oven, Grinder,2  Mixing bowls, Whisker, Aluminium foil/Parchment paper, Baking tray,Rolling pin, Knife/Cookie cutter/Pizza cutter

Directions:

• Grind rolled oats and flax seeds to a fine powder using a grinder.
• In a mixing bowl add oats flour, flax seeds flour wheat flour, baking powder, salt, dried italian seasonings and mix together well.
• In another bowl whisk together sugar and butter, now add the flour in this and mix well.
• Using milk knead into semi stiff dough. Cover and let it rest for 15-20 minutes.
• Sprinkle some flax seeds over the work top.
• Divide the dough into equal sized balls. Take a dough ball and roll over the the sprinkled flax seed. 
• Dust the work top with some flour and roll the dough ball into 1/8inch thickness using a rolling pin.
• Cut into desired shapes and prick each cracker with a fork.
• Preheat oven to190 degree C.
• Line the baking tray with a aluminium foil and arrange the crackers leaving 2 inch space.
• Bake the crackers for 10-12 minutes or until the edges begin to brown.
• Allow them to cool on the rack completely before serving.
• Serve them with your favourite dips, or tea
• Store in an air tight container.
  

Red chilli garlic dip

Fiery hot chilli garlic dip, a great side dish for your meals and perfect accompaniment to your monsoon snacks

Ingredients:

• 10-15 dried red chillies
• 4 pods garlic
• 3-4 medium sized tomatoes
• 2 lemons
• Salt to taste
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
• 1 tsp fenugreek seeds
• 2 tbsp Prep time: 30- 45 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes
Kitchen equipments required: grinder, a wok, mixing spoon, a knife
Difficulty level: Easy

Directions:

• Soak red chillies in sufficient water for at least 30 minutes.(deseed the chillies if you can't tolerate the heat)
• Peel garlic cloves and chop the tomatoes.
• In a grinder make a smooth paste of red chillies garlic and tomatoes, use little water if required.
• Heat oil in a wok, put fenugreek seeds and mustard seeds, when they start to crackle add garlic chilli paste along with sugar and salt.
• Add water, cover the wok and let it cook on medium flame for 5-6 minutes or till the oil starts to float on the surface.
• Sprinkle lemon juice and mix well.
• Let it cool and store in a sterilized jar in refrigerator for 2 weeks.

Amritsari Kulche Chole

Flavourful, spicy chole from Amritsar served with buttery soft  aloo kulcha.

Ingredients:
For chole:

• 2 cups white chickpeas soaked overnight
• Salt to taste
• 2 tea bags
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 2 tsp dry mango powder
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp carom seeds
• A pinch of asafoetida
• 1 tsp ginger paste
• 1-2 chopped green chillies
• 1 onions (paste)
• 2 tomatoes (pureed)
• 2 tomatoes (roughly sliced)
• 2 medium sized  boiled potatoes
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 3-4 tbsp oil

Dry spice mix:

• 11/2 tsp cumin seeds
•  5-6 cloves
• 10-15 black pepper corns
• 1 no. mace
• 2 black cardamom 
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 tsp coriander seeds
• 2 dry red chillies

For garnishing:

• Chopped coriander leaves
• Choppoed green chillies( optional)

Directions:

• Dry roast the spices mentioned under dry spice and grind to a fine powder and keep aside.
• Peel potatoes and cut them into big chunks and deep fry till crispy, keep aside.
• Boil chickpeas in a pressure cooker with 3 cups of water put tea bags and salt, cook till tender. Discard tea bags after opening the pressure cooker. Save the water for later use. keep aside.
• In a wok heat oil, add asafoetida, carom seeds and bay leaves, saute it for few seconds then add onion paste and cook till it changes the colour to light brown, next add tomato puree and cook till oil separates.
• Add boiled chickpeas, chilli powder, ground spices, dry mango powder, half of the reserved water, mix well and cook for 5-7 minutes.
• Put tomato slices and cook for 2-3 minutes.
• Add fried potato chunks, sprinkle lemon juice and stir well.
• Garnish with coriander leaves, ginger juliennes and some chopped green chilli.
• Serve hot.

(I prefer the texture of chole little dry, but you can increase the amount of water in the gravy)

Aloo Kulcha
Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 cup curd
• water as required

For stuffing:

• 2 boiled potatoes:
• 2 chopped green chillies
• Some chopped coriander leaves
• Salt to taste
• 1/2 tsp Dry mango powder
• 1 tsp chaat masala
• Red chilli powder to taste

For topping:

• Chopped coriander leaves
• Nigella seeds

Directions:

• In a mixing bowl add both flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar and whisk well. Make a well in the center, add oil, curd and water and knead into a soft pliable dough.
• Cover the dough with a wet muslin cloth, and keep it aside for 2 hours.
• Mix together all the ingredients mentioned under stuffing and divide into 4 equal portions.
• Take an orange sized ball from the dough and roll into a roti. Place one portion of the stuffing in the centre of the roti.
•  Bring together all the sides in the centre and seal tightly and roll into a medium thick roti on a clean surface dusted with flour
• Top it with some chopped coriander leaves and nigella seeds.
• Apply some water on the top of the kulcha and put it on a tawa from the wet side so it sticks to the tawa.
• Cook on medium flame, when the kulcha starts to puff on the top turn the tawa upside down and cook kulcha on direct flame from the top side.
• When cooked put a dollop of butter and serve hot.

Soya chaap stuffed potatoes

I'm  back to my kitchen after a small  fun filled vacation and to start with I decided to make these quick and easy baked potatoes stuffed with soya chaap enriched with proteins for my potato lover son :P, It turned out quite appetizing and my family loved it :) I had shared one more version of baked potatoes sometime back and they were a big hit :)

Ingredients:

• 6-7 medium sized potatoes
• 150 gms frozen soya chaap
• 100 gms crumbled cottage cheese
• 1/2 cup hung curd
• 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/2 tsp red chilli powder
• Salt to taste
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• Few mint leaves to garnish
• 1-2 tbsp herbed garlic butter

Preparation time:15-20 minutes + 2 hours
Cooking time: 45-50 minutes
Yields: 6-7 servings
Kitchen equipments required: scooper, mixing bowls and spoons, kitchen knife, cutting/chopping board, saucepan

Directions:

• Wash potatoes and pat dry, cut thin slices from both the ends of each potato.
• Boil potatoes in a saucepan for 10-12 minutes till they are partially cooked.
• Scoop out the centre to make a cavity in each potato keeping the base intact.( keep aside the trimmings for later use)
• Thaw soya chaap and chop finely.
• In a mixing bowl add hung curd, ginger garlic paste, dry powdered spices, lemon juice and give them a good mix.
• Add chopped soya chaap, crumbled cheese, mashed potato trimmings to the marinade, keep in ion for at least 2 hours.
• Fill the potato cavity with the marinated soya chaap mixture.
• Brush the outside of potatoes with garlic herbed butter.
• Pre heat the oven for 10 minutes at 200 degree C.
• Arrange the stuffed potatoes in a baking tray and bake for 35-40 minutes or till crisp.
• Garnish with mint leaves and serve with your favourite dip or sauce.
  

Layered Aam panna and Kala khatta granita

For those, who were the 90's kids this would be a breeze of nostalgic summer afternoons, Remember chuski or gola sold by thella wala? It used to take hours sometimes to convince mom to let us have those colourful snow sticks painted in vibrant sweet syrups and dripping all over us. The taste is still in my memories and hence today, played with the ingredients and some favourite flavours of childhood to prepare a layered Aam panna and kala khatta Granita.

Aam panna granita:
Ingredients:

• 3-4 Raw mangoes 
• 2-3 tsp roasted cumin powder
• 2 tsp black salt 
• Back pepper powder to taste
• Salt to taste
• 1 cup Sugar or to taste
• 15-20 crushed mint leaves
• 2 cups water

Kitchen equipments required: pressure cooker, sauce pan, mixing spoons, cling wrap, 2 deep baking dish and a fork
Yields: 5 servings.

Directions:

• Wash mangoes and pressure cook till 2-3 whistles.
• Remove the peel and take out the pulp
• In a saucepan add water, mango pulp and cook along with sugar and spices for 5-6 minutes.
• Add mint leaves and switch off the flame.
• Let the mixture cool. (This is the basic aam panna recipe)

For Granita:

• Pour aam panna into a deep baking pan. Freeze for 1-2 hours, scrap the icy edges with a fork and bring them to the centre, cover the pan with a cling wrap and return to the freezer.
• Repeat the process 3-4 times after every 30 minutes or until it is completely scrapped.
• Scrap granita once again before the final serving.

For the kala khatta layer I have used 2 packs of ready to drink Paper Boat Jamun kala khatta juice.
(For kala khatta Granita follow the same procedure as we did for aam panna granita)

Assembling:

• Take a serving glass, jar ( or a disposible cup if you want to enjoy it as a chuski). Spoon a layer of aam panna granita and then kala khatta granita, repeat twice and put the serving jars or glass in freezer for an hour.
• Garnish with some fresh mint leaves.
• Serve chilled.