Puttu - Kerala style (Steam Cake)

Ingredients

 

Rice flour -1 1/2 cup

Salt

Water - 1/2 cup

Grated coconut - 1 cup

In a bowl, add rice flour, hot water with little salt in it. Mix it really well. Make sure to use enough water as we don't need too much of water. But at the same time rice flour should be wet enough to get the right consistency. Make sure you have a puttu maker or puttu kutti before you start. Pour 4-5 cups of water in puttu maker in the bottom vessel. Then for top part, you will find a round shaped disc with holes which we need to fix at the bottom of the top part of this vessel. Here we need to add 2-3 tablespoon of grated coconut first and then 5-6 tablespoon of the mixed flour. Again keep adding grated coconut and then flour. Finally add grated coconut on top of it and make sure to cover the vessel with lid. Once water in the bottom part of the puttu maker is hot enough, slowly fix the upper part of the vessel and make sure this is fixed well as we don't want the steam to go out in between the top and upper  part of the vessel.

After 6-7 minutes, slowly remove top part of the vessel using handle of puttu maker. Take out the lid. And using a knife or any long stick push the disc at the bottom  of the vessel so that entire puttu comes out of the cylindrical shaped vessel without breaking  it. Try to do this with little  patience :) as we don't want the puttu to break in between. Very easy to make once tried. Also Kerala puttu is famous with kadala curry , chicken curry or egg curry. You can always try any curry with this. This is a common breakfast recipe for keralites. One of my colleague from Andhra Pradesh was asking me to get puttu and kadala curry once as he still remember this awesome dish which he had from his childhood from Malayali neighbors. :) I promised him to get this one day to office. Guys, please try it out since this one is an easy and healthy recipe.

Christmas Plum Cake (Christmas Fruit Cake )

Ingredients

All purpose flour - 2 cups

Baking  powder - 1 teaspoon

Baking  soda - 1/2 teaspoon

Salt - 1 teaspoon

Vanilla  essence - 2 teaspoon

Sugar -1 1/2 cup

Egg - 5

Unsalted  butter - 250 grams

Spices powder - 1 teaspoon  (cinnamon,  cardamom,  cloves)

Black raisins - 1/4 cup

Cashew nuts - 1/4 cup

Red cherries - 1/4 cup

Tutti frutti - 1/4 cup ( red, yellow  and green )

Lemon zest - 1 teaspoon

Dried orange peel - 1/4 cup

Rum -  1 cup

For caramel

Sugar  - 1/2 cup

Water - 1/4 cup

Preheat microwave  to 180 degree  Celsius. Butter cake pans after placing parchment paper. Here I used two round moulds of 6 inch and one square cake mould. Arrange all the dry fruits. I have used finely chopped cashew nuts and dried orange peel. Mix all the above listed fruits in a bowl and add one cup Rum in it. Let these fruits completely  soak in the liquor. I just kept it for half an hour.

Meanwhile prepare caramelised  sugar. In a pan add 1/2 cup sugar and heat it in low to medium flame. Now sugar will start  to melt and slowly turn to light brown color. Keep stirring  it until it becomes dark brown  in color. Switch off the flame and let it cool. Later add 1/4 cup of water to this and heat it again. Keep stirring until it melts completely. Keep this aside.

Now in a bowl add unsalted butter (in room temperature) and sugar. Mix it with a hand mixer. Add vanilla essence and two eggs in it. Beat again for sometime , later slowly add remaining eggs and beat well until you get a creamy texture. In another bowl sift, all purpose flour, baking  powder, baking soda, salt and spices powder. Now slowly add this flour mixture with the egg mixture. Take only half of the flour mixture in the beginning. Also add half of the caramelised sugar into this and fold this mixture gently. Again add the remaining  flour  mixture and sugar syrup into this. Repeat the process. Finally add all the dry fruits after mixing it with two tablespoon of all purpose flour as we dont want this mixture to go and sit at the bottom. Once everything is mixed properly, immediately pour the  batter into the cake pans. Bake this for 40-45 minutes. Make sure not to overbeat the mixture. Also try adding fruits of your choice. Once it is done keep the cake on wire rack and let it cool completely for at least 10 - 15 minutes. Remove the parchment  paper and your christmas cake is all set to serve in style. :)

When it was in the oven my home was filled with the aroma of this cake. Also I was bit tensed about the sugar part. But everything was perfect including the sugar. I was so happy and excited  as this was the  first time I was baking a Christmas plum cake. And I should say that the cake came out so well and it was so yummy. I just loved it. In fact everyone at home. :) You will get the flavour of all those fruits, vanilla and spices and it's just an awesome feeling when you finally see that dark plum cake on your table just out of microwave oven :)

Thanks to paul for gifting a Samsung Galaxy  Tab using which I published this post :) Also his help throughout as I normally lack patience in baking since I don't like long hours of waiting. Am famous for that among my friends and relatives. They used to make fun of me by calling me with names of all the fast moving trains in India. :) Anyone can make out this in my blogs aswell as i normally go for simple and fast recipies else the posts will be short and simple. I guess this is my lengthy post so far.

Jokes apart, i would really  suggest everyone to try this Christmas cake. This was my first attempt for this Christmas and would definitely like to try more good recipes. And since its holidays, am planning to publish few more posts soon. Wishing everyone a happy and a blessed Christmas in advance. :) Happy holidays!

Cauliflower Egg Poriyal

Ingredients

Cauliflower  - 1 or half

Green  chilies  - 3 - 4

Onion  - 1

Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon

Mustard seeds

Egg -3 - 4

Turmeric  powder  - 1 teaspoon

Cumin powder  - 1 teaspoon

Red chilly  powder  - 1/2 teaspoon

Salt

Oil

Coriander  leaves

Curry leaves

Pepper  powder  - 1 teaspoon

In a pan, cook finely  cut cauliflower for 2-3 minutes.  Drain water  completely and keep  it aside. In the same pan, add little  oil. When oil is hot, add mustard  seeds, Cumin seeds and curry leaves. Once mustard starts spluttering  add green chilies and finely chopped  onion in it. Saute it until onion turns golden  brown in color. Now add half cooked  cauliflower  florets in it. Add all  the  masala  ingredients which includes  turmeric  powder, pepper  powder,  red chilly  powder and Cumin powder. Saute it for a minute. Add salt in it.

Finally add the beaten  eggs and salt if required. Don't stir it for a minute. Once egg starts covering  cauliflower,  mix it well. Add finely chopped  coriander  leaves. Cauliflower egg poriyal is ready to attack. :) It was so tasty. I liked it so much as cauliflower is one of my favorite. I mean it's a favorite dish for almost all the vegetarians though am a half vegetarian. :) Everyone should  try out this since its very easy to prepare and tasty recipe as well. :)