Lemon Yogurt cake

Sounds little different right. Here my husband like lemon flavor in food. So i was thinking to bake a cake with some lemon tangy twist. The first thing that went to my mind was Orange chiffon cake which i had made before. i thought of substituting lemon in place of orange in it and try. But then before getting in to it i just browsed if any better recipe is available and i found this one. This sounded really good to me because normally when i bake cakes with yogurt it use to turn really soft and fluffy. So i was like sure this will be great to try.

I had made this thrice and it was a big hit. we three itself sit and finish them. My lil one just love this cake. i could not stop in one or two piece once i start eating this. But I really apologize for the bad photography. This is not what i baked today. i thought of baking it today but i was running out of butter. but i wanted to post this today so i just searched my phone photos. because i always had the habit of taking pics of something i try new. This was made before i had any plans of blogging. So pics were taken in my mobile. I just took one which is much clear.

This is really simple and a plain cake with an amazing flavor in it. The most good part is the texture. its soo soft and moist. the Lemon and buttery flavor is just on in the first bite itself.
I guarantee you wont regret trying this unless you hate lemon taste or smell.

Recipe Courtesy - rias collection

Ingredients:

Unsalted butter in Room temperature - 180 gm
granulated sugar - 240 gm
Egg - 3 whole and 1 yolk
Lemon juice and zest - of 1 lemon
All purpose flour - 200 gm
Whole wheat flour - 40 gm
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Yogurt-5 tbsp

Method:

Preheat oven at 180 degree Celsius. Grease 10 inch cake pan.
in a bowl beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in egg one by one and beat well.  Add lemon juice and zest and beat for a min. 
In another bowl sift the dry ingredients and whist well. Add the dry ingredients to butter mix little by little and mix well. Fold in yogurt and mix well. Pour to the greased pan and bake for 45 to 50 min until the sides start leaving the pan or a toothpick insterted comes out clean and dry. 

Pineapple Upside Down cake

Upside down cake is a single cake baked any shaped pan keeping the main highlight ingredient down and then served upside down. Here our highlight ingredient is Pineapple which will be kept down in the pan while baking and then turned upside down wit pine apple on top while serving.

This cake just looks and tastes yummy due to its caramelized kind of top which is irresistible. Here the cake doesn't have any pineapple flavor. It gets its pineapple flavor from the pineapple arranged beautifully on the bottom line. If you like to five your cake pineapple flavor you can do so by adding little essence or fresh pine apple juice keeping the consistency.

But i guarantee you will love to eat this cake as it is with a juicy yummy topping. So here is the recipe for you.

Ingredients:

For Topping:

Unsalted Butter - 1/4 cup

Brown sugar - 3/4 cup

Pineapple round slices - 7 pcs (If using fresh pineapple it would be better to boil pineapple for 5 min to avoid the bitterness)

Maraschino flavored cherries

For Cake:

Unsalted Butter - 100 gm

Icing sugar - 1 cup

Egg - 2 separated

Vanilla essence - 1 tsp

All purpose flour - 1 1/2 cups

Baking powder - 1 1/2 tsp

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Cream of tartar - 1/4 tsp

Milk - 1/2 cup

Method:

Preheat Oven at 10 degree Celsius. Grease a 9 inch round cake tray.
Topping:- In a small sauce pan, stir over butter on low fire til it gets melted. Add in the brown sugar and stir constantly till it gets dissolved in butter. Once dissolved, stop stirring and continue cooking till bubbles start appearing around the edges. Remove from fire and pour to the baking pan. Arrange pineapples according to your taste. either small pieces or as round pieces as shown in pic with cherries. Keep aside.

Cake Batter:- In a bowl beat the butter and sugar till light and fluffy using an electric mixer or hand mixer. Its always good to get all ingredients in room temperature. Add egg yolks one by one and beat well scrapping the sides down in between. Add in vanilla extract and beat well.
In another clean and dry bowl sift in all dry ingredients except cream of tartar and mix well. Add this flour mixture in three portions to the butter mix with milk in between.
In another bowl take egg white and Cream of tartar and whisk well until firm peaks. Fold in the egg white mixture to the batter.

Pour the batter over the layered pineapple and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake for about 45 min till the sides starts to leave the pan and a toothpick inserted in the center come out clean.
run the knife through the sides of the pan to help turn the cake easily.
Flip on a wire rack let it cool.

Matar Paneer / Cottage cheese and Peas gravy

Matar Paneer is a north Indian dish which has cottage cheese aka paneer and green peas in it. It is mostly served with rice or rotis. This is a vegetarian dish cooked in a tomato based gravy.

Ingredients:

Cottage cheese/Paneer - 200 gm
Green peas - 1 cup frozen or cooked
Onion - 2 small finely chopped
Tomato - 1 large Pureed
Cashew nuts - 10 soaked and made to paste
Ginger - 1 tsp finely chopped or paste
Garlic - 1 tsp finely chopped or paste
Green chilies - 2 finely chopped
Red chili powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
Butter - 2 tbsp
Cumin - 1/4 tsp
Pepper cones - 5
Bay leaf - small
Cloves - 2
Cardamom - 1
Cinnamom - small pc
oil
Salt
Sugar - Pinch
Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp
Cream - to garnish

Method:

Heat a wok and melt butter. Add paneer and saute till it turns light brown. Change from wok and keep aside.
In same butter add 1 tbsp oil and splutter all whole spices. You can use butter itself instead of oil, but for a healthier option oil is better as we are already sauteing paneer in butter. once whole spices splutter add chopped onions. Saute well. Add Ginger Garlic and saute well till onion turns transparent. add some salt to fasten process. Once done add green chilies and tomato puree. saute well. add all dry powders and cashew paste. Add little water and mix well and close lid and cook for 2 min. Add green peas and close lid and cook for 5 min. Now add in the sauteed paneer and some coriander leaves and mix well. Close lid and cook for 2 min. Remove from stove. Serve by garnishing with some fresh cream and coriander leaves.

Aloo Paratha

Aloo paratha is a Punjab cuisine. Perfect lunch box item. Aloo paratha usually don't need any curry or gravy to complement. it goes well with thick curd or pickle.

Ingredients:

For potato Masala:

Potato - 2 medium
Ginger garlic - 1/2 tsp
Onion - 1 finely chopped
Green chilies - 2 finely chopped
Coriander leaves - finely chopped 3 tbsp
Cumin powder - 1/4 tsp
Amchoor powder - pinch
Salt to taste
Oil - 1 tbsp

For Paratha:

Wheat flour - 1 1/2 cup
oil - 2 tbsp
salt to taste
Hot water to make dough

Method:

Make paratha dough as normal.

For potato masala, heat oil in pan and saute ginger garlic. when smell starts to change add chopped onion. Saute well till onion turns transparent. add salt to fasten the step. add green chilies and coriander leaves and mix well. add all powders and saute well.
I like mixing the masala with the dough and then rolling parathas. you can also roll paratha to a medium shape and fill potato masala and close the paratha to again make a ball and then roll out again. here i have mixed all together and then made balls and rolled out to paratha. this helps me to get the masala flavour every where. when making paratha apply ghee or butter on both sides while turning on thava. Butter is just perfect.

Healthy Oats and Wheat cookies

Here comes my first recipe. So let it be something Healthy, Easy and Tasty as well.

Healthy Oats and Wheat cookie. Yes a "healthy" cookie.
This is really easy, tasty and perfectly crunchy. You just need to get all your ingredients together

This was the first cookie i tried and it was a success.

So here is the recipe for you.

Ingredients:

Oatmeal  - 3/4 cup

wheat flour - 3/4 cup
Cashew nuts - 1/2 cup (you can use any dry fruits)
semi sweetened chocolate chips - 1/2 cup
Baking soda - 1 tsp

Brown sugar - 2/3 cup
Vegetable oil - 1/4 cup

Egg - 1

Vanilla essence - 2, 3 drops 

Method:

Mix all ingredients well.

Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius. If you are using a cooking rage gas oven, just preheat on 160 for 5 min.

Layer a baking tray with parchment sheet. make small balls out of dough and press down to small round cookies and place on the parchment sheet. I like choco chips on top of the cookies. so i have just pressed down some chips on the dough before baking instead of mixing in with the dough.

Bake for 10-15 min. and there your healthy tasty cookies are.

About Me

i am just an average girl who likes to try new items. i am from Kerala, kannur dist. Resident in Qatar. Cooking was not my passion and i am not at all a foodie. but after marriage as most ladies i also started cooking looking recipes online and taking my moms recipes.

i was not at all confident in anything what i make except tea :-)…. my husband use to always complement for what ever i cook for him, but i felt it was just a good gesture for making me happy. Later as part of family gathering when i started to cook for others and when they complemented i started getting the confidence and feeling the need to improve more and tryout new recipes.

i love browsing cooking blogs and websites. when my husband see this he suggested me to start one of my own because he felt this will keep me active and occupied as i keep complaining that i get bored of the routine. but starting a WEBSITE!!! OR BLOG!!! was like not my cup of tea for me because i m not at all a technical person. but thanks to google and youtube where you get help for anything and almost everything.

and here i am. my cookery page Sizzling Platter!!!!!

hope i keep this on and this helps some out there looking for recipes.

Raseena