Mung Bean + Raw Papaya = A thoran at its best!

The incessant rains have stopped and the climate here is pleasant. With a pleasant weather and an urge to make one among the many of my comfort food, I set about doing just that... The comfort one here being a thoran that contains pacha payar (mung bean) thoran. I love mung bean with anything..Just off the cooking pan is what I like the best. Normally when I make thoran using payar, it always has either cabbage, cauliflower to accompany it.

This time around a papaya tree in my vicinity that I have been waiting to see bear fruit finally did. It did bear a lone papaya. While craving for payar thoran, with no above-mentioned pairing to go with, I used the papaya. An unripe green papaya is what I used.

So, what you need for this thoran are:

Mung bean-1 cup, boiled

Raw Papaya (medium sized)-1 chopped
Grated Coconut-1 cup
Green Chillies-2
Garlic-1 pod
Turmeric Powder-1/4t
Mustard Seeds-1/4t
Curry Leaves- a sprig
Shallots-5 sliced thinly

Coconut Oil- 2T

Grind coconut, green chillies, garlic and turmeric powder.. to a coarse paste..Heat oil preferably coconut oil. Add the mustard seeds and allow it to splutter. Add the sliced shallots and fry until they soften. The coarse paste follows this. Add the chopped papaya. Add 1/4 cup of water and cover and allow the papaya to cook, which takes just 3-4 minutes. Add in the boiled mung beans and stir the mixture and cover and cook until all the moisture content evaporates. Finally do a salt check and sprinkle curry leaves and serve.

So there you go.. This thoran, white rice, and moru (curry made from yoghurt) is the ultimate comfort food. Served warm, this simple yet very tasty thoran would be so for anyone who tries this.

Since this thoran contains mung beans that belong to the Fabaceae family, this thoan makes my entry to MLLA-17 hosted by Sra, an event created by Susan.

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Burnt Sugar Cupcakes and mini bundts....

It is the time of the month when we at Cake Slice bake a cake from a book and for November, we baked a Burnt Sugar Cake from Southern Cakes by Nancie Mcdermott. I liked the choice because anything caramely that I indulge in, I am in heaven!!! I halved the recipe to fit my mini bundt pans but I had more batter for cupcakes.

The making of the cake requires a burnt sugar syrup which needs to be done pretty carefully. Despite adding the boiling water along the sides of the pan, the liquid bubbled and spurted but thankfully it didn't harm anyone. The burnt sugar frosting was a breeze to work with as well but was too sweet for my liking.

The bundts bakes beautifully but after getting them off the tin, they were quite moist on the outside and not as moist regarding the crumb. The paper cup cakes domed well in the oven but sank once I took them out of the oven. However, it was not so with the one in the silicone cup. It browned better for the same baking time. I frosted a few cupcakes and they were too sweet for our palate. So i decided to keep the remaining cupcakes and the mini bundts sans frosting. I glazed the bundts with the burnt sugar syrup. I am pleased with the results because these delights are enjoyable in small sizes and can get addictive. Above all, the ease of making is what puts it on top of my list.

November’s Cake: Burnt Sugar Cake

(Recipe from Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott)

For the Cake

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tbsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup milk

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

1¾ cups sugar

4 eggs

½ cup Burnt Sugar Syrup (below)

For the Burnt Sugar Syrup

1 cup sugar

1 cup boiling water

For the Burnt Sugar Frosting

3¾ cups confectioners sugar

½ cup Burnt Sugar Syrup (above)

¼ cup (½ stick) butter

½ tsp vanilla extract

2 – 3 tbsp evaporated milk or normal milk

Method – Burnt Sugar Syrup

Heat the sugar in a cast iron skillet or another heavy bottomed pan with high sides. Heat over a medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar melts into a clear brown caramel syrup. It should be the colour of tea. Gradually add the boiling water, pouring it down the sides of the pan so that if the syrup foams and bubbles up, you should be protected.

Continue cooking, stirring often, until the water combines with the syrup and turns a handsome brown syrup. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool. Store the cooled syrup in a sealed jar if not using straight away.

Method - Cake

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 9 inch round cake pans.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt and stir with a fork to mix well. Stir the vanilla into the milk.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and the sugar with an electric mixer at high speed for 2 – 3 minutes, until they are well combined. Stop now and then to scrape the bowl down. Add the eggs, one by one, beating well each time. Pour in half a cup of the burnt sugar syrup and beat well. Add a third of the flour mixture and about half of the milk, beating at a low speed, until just incorporated. Mix in another third of the flour and the rest of the milk. Finally, add the remaining flour.

Divide the batter between the cake pans and bake at 350F for 20 to 25 minutes until the cakes are golden brown, spring back when touched gently in the centre and begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. Let the cakes cool in the pans on a wire rack for15 minutes. Turn out the cakes into the wire rack to cool completely.

Method – Burnt Sugar Frosting

In a large bowl, combine the confectioners sugar, the burnt sugar syrup, butter and vanilla. Beat with a mixer at medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes, scraping down the bowl now and then to bring the ingredients together. Add 2 tablespoons of the milk and continue beating until the frosting is thick, soft, smooth and easy to spread. Add a little more sugar if it is thin, and a little more milk if it is too thick.

To Assemble

Place one layer, top side down, on a cake stand or serving plate. Scoop about ¾ cup of the frosting onto the cake. Spread to the edges and place the second cake layer over it, top side down. Frost the sides of the cake, and then the top until it is evenly covered.

Do remember to check what my fellow Cake Slice bakers baked.

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Persimmon and Almond Loaf

I bought a couple of persimmons a few weeks back.... These are common in the Indian market only since the past couple of years... I love all fruits but this is one fruit that is not quite to my liking...The only thing I like about this fruit is the inner shade of colour, the shape and that it is seedless. I know that there are two kinds of persimmons-fuyu and the hachiya. The first time I had this fruit, i promised myself I would not ever buy it again owing to it being unpalatable...until I realized the so-called variety had to ripened well to remove that astringent quality..and so after a year when I saw them at the store, I bought a few of them...After eating one and no more takers in the house for the fruits,it stayed in the refrigerator until I found a neat recipe and I did at Susan's Fatfree Vegan Kitchen.

Persimmon Bread (from here with my substitutions in italics)

1 C pulp of persimmon
1T lemon juice
2 T applesauce
1/2 cup agave nectar (I used honey instead.)
2 C whole wheat flour
1 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t ginger (Fresh ground ginger)
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 t salt
1/4 cup raisins (omitted)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (1/2 C chopped toasted almonds)

Mix persimmon pulp, lemon juice, apple sauce and honey in a bowl. Combine the remaining ingredients except for the nuts.Add the wet mixture into the dry. Do not overmix. Fold in the toasted nuts. Grease a loaf tin and pour the batter in, which is of a thick consistency. Bake in a oven that has been preheated at 350 degree F. Cool once done and then slice.

A great recipe that works well... A very crumbly texture and a nice way to use persimmons. The apple sauce apart from the persimmon pulp lends a much needed additional moistness to the crumb. The orange specks you see on the crumb are the persimmons. I think they pair well with almonds or any kind of nuts...A quick bread full of spiciness, sweetness and goodness!!!

A similar recipe and a wonderful write up worth reading .

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Chocolate, zucchini, orange cake....

What do you do when it rains non stop? the roads are flooded...so there's no way you can take a walk or the car. The programs on TV are boring and how long can one browse...

So what did I do? I baked a cake and experimented with zucchini and chocolate. Having never used zucchini in a cake and only in a salad, I did get quite a few surprising glances and my other half asked me not to please add it into the cake. But me being me, who ensures she gets done what she plans to do, I did make the cake...yes with the zucchini in it and the other half of mine did eat it..He still thinks there was no zucchini and was just chocolate.

And where did I go for a recipe....Food librarian of course, who has been doing bundts almost every other day...It is a visual pleasure to visit her place every time a new post is up...Each bundt is different and very gorgeously done. She's done 25 till now and I am sure going to try more of them.

I chose to do her chocolate zucchini bundt. Mary had done Simply Recipe's Chocolate Zucchini Cake . Mary used squash along with zucchini but mine had zucchini with orange zest and chocolate of course.

The cake was moist with an extremely tender crumb. There was no proof tastewise for the presence of zucchinni in the cake. It was mildly sweet which was a a tad bit less for our sweet palate. Hence the chocolate cream ganache with butterscotch chips.

It was crunchy on the outside but with the ganache it turned moist. It will probably have tasted better if cream cheese frosting had been used but owing to exorbitant prices of cream cheese in India, the chocolate ganache and the butterscotch chips made a great great substitution!

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TheNeverending Macaron Saga......

I have never eaten a macaron before...but yes have definitely eaten a macaroon. The making of a macaron, a very successful one at that has been debated on the net for quite some time. I have been doing my reading too and have attempted too but gave up on it a year back because it failed.

On macarons being announced as the DB challenge, believe me I already came to a conclusion that I'd better not try because there was no way my macarons are going to get "feet". Hence, I set it aside until I started drooling over the amazing array of macarons on the forum. I tried it not once, but four times until I got it right!The first time the batter gave me a crumpled mass, whose ideal place was the thrash. I know it isn't right to waste food but there was none at home willing to at least give the rumpled mass a try!

The second time around I followed the DB recipe and aged the egg whites for 48 hours. And this time I used pecans along with almonds too. The process went well.. at least that is what I had guessed so. With a little bit of pink food colour, it was ready to be baked. Sigh! No feet and no domes, just flat, thin crisps.

The third time around and I promised myself and my husband that it would be my last trial because he had enough of eating the sugary thin crisps. This time I used 24 hr aged egg whites and added cocoa and used just powdered almonds. But for reasons I still don't know my batter was thinner from the earlier consistency. When piped into circles they ran into each other. But I did bake them and I got flat thin crisps again!!!!

So yesterday I went back to reading all about macarons again and when I found myself having nothing to do at home, I said to myself that I would try for the very last time. I used David Lebowitz's recipe for chocolate macarons. I followed his exact recipe for the shells. I aged no egg whites and used room temperature egg whites. And yes I was lucky and was immensely happy to see feet finally on my macarons. They did not dome real high but feet is all that mattered to me then. Some cracked on the surface and a pair did not have feet.Although these lack in appearance, they still have "feet".

These chewy, sweet meringue cookies were put together with a nutella filling. The thin crust, the ground almonds within and the filling put together is amazing...So why wait, go make a batch of your own....

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What you see below are my end results of the first three attempts. Macarons they are not, but sure did make extremely sweet crisps (I like to call them that).

The chocolate and the pink pecan crisps were good on their own with a cup of tea along side.

Sandwiched together by the daughter using nutella was her way of eating it.....

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

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Pecan Cinnamon Coffee Cake **Cake Slice Bakers**

We at the Cake Slice are starting our new book, Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermottand this cake is the first of the many from the beautiful book. Previously we had baked from Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes. And yes I just bought myself a copy of the latter on a random visit to the bookstore. With me, when I go to the bookstore with the intention of buying a particular book, it just is unavailable but I somehow always manage to find them on random visits :)

The Cinnamon Pecan Coffee Cake won the votes and was the choice this month. When you read the recipe, there is no coffee listed as an ingredient, so I wonder why the name.. Probably it is served along with coffee just like tea cakes.

We like pecans, we like cinnamon but we just don't like raisins. They are always picked out if found in anything at home. Since I had no other berries at home, I used chocolate chips instead. Bad choice or good? Good is what I would say!I was apprehensive of the amount of cinnamon and sugar called for in the filling and the batter. Trusting my instincts I reduced the amount and it was still very intense.Myy only hassle was I couldn't get a neat piece of the pan. I had to serve a crumbling cake, which was overlooked owing to the unique taste of the coffee cake. although a tad bit too sweet for our palate, this was quick to do and needed no dressing up!

For the Cake

360g plain flour
1 T baking powder
1 t vanilla extract
225 ml milk
200 g butter, softened
225g sugar
2 eggs

For the Cinnamon Raisin Filling

300g light soft brown sugar (I used 200g)
3 T plain
3 T cinnamon
225g raisins (I used chocolate chips)
175g pecans
150g butter

Combine the light brown sugar, flour and cinnamon in a bowl and stir with a fork to mix everything well. Roughly chop the pecans and mix with the raisins and pecans in another bowl. In a third bowl, melt the butter until liquid and set aside until needed along with the cinnamon mixture and nut raisin mixture for use later.

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and flour a 13x9 inch/32x23cm pan.

In a large bowl combine the butter and sugar and beat with a mixer on high speed until pale yellow and evenly mixed, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the bowl to ensure a good mix. Add the eggs and beat for another 2 minutes, scraping down the bowl now and then, until the mixture is smooth and light.

Combine the flour and baking powder in a bowl. Stir the vanilla into the milk.

Add about a third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir only until the flour disappears. Add a third of the milk and mix in. Repeat twice more until all the flour and milk mixtures have been incorporated. Stir just enough to keep the batter smooth.

Spread half the batter evenly into the prepared pan. Sprinkle half the cinnamon mixture over the batter followed by half the melted butter. Scatter half the raisins and nuts over the top.

Drop spoonfuls of the remaining batter carefully over the filling and use a spatula to smooth the batter all the way to the edges of the pan. Top with the leftover cinnamon, butter and nut mixture, covering the cake evenly.

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, until the cake is golden brown, fragrant and beginning to pull away from the edges of the pan. Place the pan on a wire rack and allow to cool in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes before serving in squares right from the pan. The cake is delicious hot, warm or at room temperature.

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Shortbread Daisies.....

What can be better than baking your own giveaway gifts for a festival. Yes, I'm talking about the festival of lights. I ensure I make homemade treats for the occupants of the apartment, where I stay. Last time around, for Christmas, this and this is what I had sent out. Since I am not very good at making traditional Indian sweet and also for the reason that every house receives sweets every Diwali. So I decided to do what I do best. Bake cookies and yes very rich, buttery short bread cookies or rather shortbread daisies.

The recipe is from Martha Stewart and her recipes are fool proof.

What you need are (here)

1 C unsalted butter, room temperature
2 C AP flour
3/4 t salt
1/2 C sugar

Sift flour and salt in a small bowl. In a large bowl, beat butter until fluffy. Add sugar, and continue to beat until very light in color and fluffy. Fold in flour and shape into a disc and leave to refrigerate covered with a cling wrap. remove and roll out the dough and cut into shapes using a cutter. I let it refrigerate again for a firmer shape. Bake these at 200 degree C. I even added orange rind in the dough.

Since these can be enjoyed at any hour, it was all the more welcome.Butter produces a pastry of the ultimate flavour more than any other shortening from my experience.Baked and wrapped, these were ready to go and they did!

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Sunflower seeds and Sesame Bread

Bread has become a staple at home now...I bake rather than buy my bread now, which has become very therapeutic for me. Of late there has been a lot of experimentation using bread dough and the results have been mixed. So when the World Bread Day was announced, the sesame bread that I made is what I narrowed down for the event.

A blog that I recently discovered is thepassionate cook andthe blog is what you could call my tea companion.. A pumpkin seed and sesame bread is what I made first but it didn't turn out rise because the yeast failed me. The second time around, I had no pumpkin seeds, but replaced them with sunflower seeds.

I used her exact measurements except for the use of sunflower seeds. The recipe is for the awesome loaf is here. Do not use dry yeast because then you have to compromise on the flavour... And you could also use other seeds..the possibilities are endless...

The bread rose well, baked well, browned well and when toasted and dabbed with butter, it is entirely a different thing in the way you bite into the seeds in the toasted slice... A very nutritious loaf!

This bread is my contibution to:

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