Easy Plain Cake using Microwave

This cake is simply delicious. Its easy to make and tastes great. You can enjoy a slice of this cake with powdered sugar or whipped cream. You will require a microwave oven with convection to prepare this cake.

Ingredients:
All purpose flour / Maida - 1/2 cup,
Baking powder - 1 tsp,
Egg - 1no,
Sugar - 1/2 cup,
Oil - 1/4 cup,
Milk - 1/4 cup,
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp.


Method
1. Powder sugar in a mixer. Mix 2 egg with the sugar in a bowl and blend nicely.
2. Pour oil and vanilla essence to the egg mix and blend again.
3. Sift maida and baking powder, slowly add to the batter and blend again.
4. Pour milk little by little till you get a medium thick batter - similar to the dosa batter. Don't add the entire milk if you feel the batter will be very thin.
5. Grease the microwave safe glass dish with butter or oil. Pour the mix till 1/3 of the dish only.
6. Switch the micro+convection mode, set the temperature at 170 deg. cel.
7. Bake for 4 minutes. Allow the cake to rest in the oven for a about 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool outside for about 10 minutes.

Samosa - Indian vegetarian snack (Both Baked and Deep fried version)

This is the one of the most common recipe of north india, prepared in households during party, get-together or when some guests arrive. It's also used as a popular tea-time snack. But today its available all over india in bakeries and restaurants and also abroad.

Ingredients:
For stuffing:
1.Potato - approx. 3 nos.,
2.Green peas fresh or frozen - 1/2 cup,
3.Oil - 2 tbsp,
4.Cumin / jeera - 2 ts,
5.Onion (1 large) finely chopped - 1/3 cup,
6.Ginger and green chilly - 1 tsp each - finely chopped.
7. Amchur or dry mango powder - 1/2 tsp(optioonal),
8. Salt - as per taste,
9. Chilly powder - as per taste,
10. Garam masala or kitchen king masala powder - 1/2 tsp,
11. Finely chopped coriander leaves - 2 tbsp.
For outer covering:
Wheat flour or Atta - 1 cup,
All purpose flour - 1/4 cup,
Carom seeds - 1/2 tsp,
Oil - 2 tbsp,
Salt - as per taste,
Water for kneading,
Oil for deep frying.

How to make
1.Wash potatoes thoroughly and cook in pressure cooker - about 2 whistles. Allow to cool, peel the skin and mash nicely.
2. Take both flours in a large bowl and pour 2 tbsp of hot oil, add carom seeds, salt and mix with fingers.
3. Add water little by little and knead into a dough. Cover it and allow to rest.
4. Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a pan, add cumin, when it splutters, add onion, green chilly and ginger and saute for 2 to 3 minutes.
5. Add all the powders mentioned in the list 'for stuffing' and saute for a minute.
6. Add green peas, sprinkle few spoons of water, cover and cook till done.
7. Lastly add  mashed potatoes, coriander leaves and mix well. Filling is ready.
8. Roll the dough into thin 9 inches round or circles similar to chapathi's.
9. Cut each circle into two equal pieces. Take one half circle in your hand, join the radii of the circle by pressing with fingers to make a cone.
10. Fill the cone with the prepared masala filling, press and close the cone.
11. Make similar cones using the dough and masala filling, keep them closed in a wide plate.
12. Heat oil in skillet and deep fry the stuffed cones - about 2 - 3 nos. at a time, till golden brown.
13. Serve hot with coriander chutney or tomato ketchup.

How to make the baked version:
Prepare the stuffed cones as mentioned above. Pre-heat the oven at 180 deg. cel. for 10 minutes and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or till it turns light brown color. To get crispier samosas drizzle 1 to 2 tsp of oil on each samosa before baking.
Also you can use maida and atta in equal quantity for the baked version for better results, but keep an eye on the oven while baking as the time needed will be lesser by 5 to 8 minutes

Eggless Whole wheat cookies Or Oatmeal & Coconut Cookies

These are one of the easiest and tastiest cookies. Its egg-less and free of  Maida :))) so, healthiest also!!!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Butter

1/2 cup Granulated Sugar

2 tablespoons Honey

1 cup Wheat flour or Atta used for making chapathi.

1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda

1/8 teaspoon Salt

1 cup grated Coconut

1 cup Quick Cooking Oats

Method:

1. Melt the butter with the sugar and honey in a small saucepan over medium heat. Let it cool.
2. Preheat the oven to 180c for 15 minutes. Butter two cookie sheets.
3. In a large bowl sift together the flour – I used Atta, baking soda and salt. Add the coconuts and oats.
4. Pour the melted butter mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well with a spatula.
5. Add one or two teaspoon of milk if you feel the dough is too dry. If you want to reduce fat content, then replace butter with vegetable oil or half the butter with milk.
6. Roll into balls (almost the size of a lemon). Place 1cm apart on the baking sheet and flatten it slightly with a fork or flatten it in your palm before laying it on the sheets.
7.  If you want the cookies to be very crispy then flatten it nicely so that they are very thin else, the inside will be slightly spongy.
8. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown. If you are using 2 cookie sheets, shift racks halfway through the baking to ensure even browning. Mine turned golden brown after 17 minutes. I think it depends on the oven, so keep an eye on the cookies after 14 minutes itself.
9. Let the cookies cool on the sheets for 2 to 3 minutes. Then using a spatula carefully lift the cookies and transfer it to a wire rack to cool completely.

Beetroot Chocolate Cake (Eggless).

Ingredients:
Beetroot – 2 large ones,

Unsalted butter – ½ cup,

Sugar – 3/4  cup,

Vanilla-extract – 1 tsp,

Milk – 1 cup,

All-purpose flour – ½ cup,

Baking powder – 1 tsp flat,

Unsweetened cocoa powder – ¼ cup,

Instant espresso powder (or Nescafe coffee powder) – 1 tbsp,

Mini chocolate chips – ½ cup,

Method:

·        Peel and chop the beetroots. Steam them for 10 minutes or until cooked.

·        Grind it into a thick smooth paste without adding water. You get about 1 cup full and little extra puree.

·        Whisk together butter and sugar in a bowl until smooth. You can also use vegetable oil to replace some of the butter.

·        Add vanilla, then add milk little at a time.

·        Add the beetroot and mix until well blended.

·        Sieve together flour, baking powder, cocoa powder, and espresso powder into a separate bowl.

·        Now add this dry mixture into beetroot mixture until just combined.

·        Lastly add chocolate chips. Pour into greased baking dish

·        Preheat Oven at 350F. Bake for 30 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out almost clean. Cool and cut into pieces.

·        This is a great treat using beetroot. You can hardly guess its presence. It’s delicious, moist and chewy.