Cooking with My Baby

Kesar  Elaichi Mawa Cake... name itself suggests how rich this cake is... If you are keen on aromatherapy, Go ahead and make yourself this cake. Roasting the mawa, grinding the elachi, watching kesar giving orange colour the milk.. All will surly make you feel so relaxed. Then all aromas combine to give you the ultimate orgasm, when cake starts baking in the oven..  Your entire house starts smelling so good... Then you cant resist biting into this tender sweet cake..... Ingredients: 1 ¼ cup all purpose flour (maida) 1 tsp baking powder 5 cardamom (elachi) powder pinch of saffron threads ½ cup (100 gm) grated mava ½ cup butter 1 cup sugar ½ cup milk 2 eggs pinch of salt Method Coat the cupcake mould or cake tins with butter & flour or  Cake greasing mix. In a bowl, sift flour, baking powder, cardamom powder & salt. I used Mortar pestle to grind the cardamom seeds... Very very aromatic exper

Wanted to make something different with my eggplant. Usually I make “भारता ”. Recently I got gifted with a book on international cooking by Karen Anand. So decided to try this simple recipe, making changes to suit my needs. It turned out really well, so here it is... Ingredients: ½ eggplant 2 tbsp olive oil 1 tsp salt Cheese 1 tsp mixed herbs 1 tbsp bread crumbs Italian tomato sauce 1 cup tomato puree 3 tbsp chopped garlic 2 tbsp olive oil 1 tsp salt 1 tsp sugar 1 tsp black pepper Pinch of oregano 2 basil leaves Method: Blanch, skin, chop & puree tomatoes. I just chopped & pureed tomatoes to form chunky tomato puree. Cook the puree in a pan ,till the puree becomes thick. It took about 5 min. Add sugar , salt, pepper, oregano & chopped basil Remove from the gas. Heat olive oil in small pan. Fry garlic till its golden brown.. I abs

Viennese Biscuits, Also called as "Whirls" are made of butter, sugar & cornflour to give wonderful melt in mouth texture. Dip them in chocolate & enjoy. They also make perfect gifts to people you love. Grab a piping bag & start making these light buttery Treasures Ingredients ·          1 ½ cup unsalted butter ·          ½ cup powdered sugar ·          2 cups flour ·          ½ cup corn flour ·          ½  tsp baking powder ·          1 cup chocolate (dark) Method Melt the butter till it softens (about 30 secs) in microwave or keep butter out of fridge for ½ hour In a large bowl mix sugar, flour, corn flour, baking powder & butter with the help of wooden spatula taking cake no to incorporate more air in the paste. Choose a star nozzle for piping bag. Fill the piping bag with paste Pipe out the paste on non stick baking mat / greased baking paper / silpat which is placed on the baking

Love eggs & toast.. Wanna try something different…. It tastes good & looks great Ingredients 1 egg 3 slices of Bread Butter/ olive oil Salt Pepper Mayonnaise/ mint chutney Cookie cutter Method: Heat Non stick frying pan. Add butter / olive oil & let it sizzle Cut a hole with cookie cutter or simply tear a hole out from the middle of a slice of bread. Place the bread on the buttered pan. Keep the heat medium, such that egg cooks along with bread. If its too high, bread will burn before eggs cook. Toast other 2 bread along with egg/bread combo. Break an egg into the hole Sprinkle some salt & pepper Fry it on a pan Wait for the egg to cook. Flip the bread & egg Cook on other side    Serve it with other two toasts covered with mayonnaise / mint chutney Now what I did with the piece of bread left behind was, covered it with delicious

French Fries Tadka ( potato vegetable) Sounds weird!!! But that’s what I made. When I have no vegetables in home, my dearest potato never fails to help me to make quick and tasty meal. We are a family of potato lovers. So बटाटा भाजी in any avatar is always a big welcome. Trust me & try it Ingredients: 2 large potatoes 1 tbsp oil 1 tbsp mix spices( mustard, sesame, ajwain, kalonji, jeera, badisaunf) Pinch of asafetida ½ tsp turmeric 1 tsp garam masala 1 ½ tsp chilli pwd Salt ( to taste) Method: Heat oil in non stick frying pan Once oil is hot, add in asafetida and mix spices. Let me tell you a secret, Neil often plays with my kitchen boxes, last night he shook my फोडणीचा डब्बा (spice box) and some of my spices got mixed. I used that spice mix in this recipe. But I found that little amounts of various spices made interesting mix which went along with this meal. Add potatoes which have bee

             Yesterday, when we went grocery shopping, I was thrilled to see pack of Snow peas. I knew what I was going to do with that bright green fresh pack of goodies, I was going to cook Chow Mein. It’s first time I was able to get snow peas in India.Yes,they did add extra crunch to my regular noodles. What are snow peas? Bright green snow peas – often used in Asian stir-fries –are edible peas with the best features of snap beans (tender and crispy) and garden peas (sweet and meaty ). Snow peas are flat with tiny seeds that are barely visible through the pods. Low in calories and high in Vitamins A and C, snow peas are a great addition to a healthy diet .   Ingredients : 200gm hakka noodles Water 1 tbsp oil 2 tbsp sesame oil 2 tbsp garlic 1 tbsp ginger 1 cup onion ½ cup carrots ½ cup capsicum ½ cup sweet corn ½ cup mushrooms ½ cup snow peas ½ cup babycorn For the sauce: 1 tbs

I use all kinds of grains while cooking for Neil, Jowar being of them. I have been feeding him this porridge since he was 7 months old.  Jowar is rich in carbohydrate, proteins, iron & vitamin B complex. Dates are again good source of tannins, iron, potassium & many essential nutrients.  I added dates as sweetening agent instead of adding refined sugar. This porridge is very simple to make & nutritious feed for your baby right from 7 months. Ingredients: ·          3 tbsp jowar flour (sorghum flour) ·          1 tbsp ghee (clarified butter) ·          1 cup milk ·          1 cup water ·          3 tbsp date paste Method: ·          In small frying pan, roast jowar flour with ghee till it turns light brown ·          Lower the heat & add the milk & water, stirring continuously with a whisk so that no lumps are formed. It very essential to whisk continuously while adding milk & water to get smooth consistency of porridge. ·          Add