Vankaya Kothimeera karam/Aubergine coriander stir fry

As a child I never liked Brinjal / Aubergine, in fact I ate very few vegetables as I dint like anything slimy or gooey. My brother would love the brinjal curry and dad used to say that it is the king of vegetables.

Thinking of it I was a very difficult child....specially when it come to eating, I would pick out all the mustard seeds from Rasam rice...pick up onion from upma....in fact bullied my family members to do it for me. I hope my daughter does not grow up to be a bully like me. I am sure my folks will enjoy if she becomes one ;).

Well...coming back to the recipe....When it was my turn to cook, I wanted my family (post marriage) to taste this brinjal curry which everyone liked when my mom used to make. So I tried it one day & could not resist to taste it as it was made my me. I fell in love with this curry ever since. It’s a very simple yet flavorful recipe.

Lesson learnt.....never refuse anything without  tasting it :)

I don’t eat any other curry made out of brinjal but this one is my favorite.

 

Source : Mom

Ingredients

Brinjal /Aubergine           - 6 medium size, I choose the long ones, you can use any variant

Coriander                         - 1 cup washed  

Green chilies                   - 2 to 3 you can increase or decrease based on your spice level

Salt                                  - As per taste

ingredients for tempering

Oil                                   - 1 tablespoon    

Mustard seeds               - 1 teaspoon

Turmeric pwdr                - ¼ teaspoon

Hing                                - Just a pinch

Curry leaves                    - 1 spring

Procedure

• Wash & cut the coriander leaves into small pieces
• Cut Brinjal into half inch think 3 inch long pieces, make sure you put them in salt & turmeric water (just add a pinch of salt & turmeric to the water). This will  prevent brinjal from discoloring & turning sour
• Blend coriander leaves & chillies to a coarse paste in a mixer, I prefer to use coriander stems also as they add a lot of flavor
• Heat oil in a cooking pan, add mustard seeds let it splutter, then add turmeric powder & hing, finally add washed curry leaves    
• Add cut brinjal, fry them with the lid on for 3 to 4 mts, fry with the lid open for 3 to 4 mts more , make sure the pieces are soft.
• Add coriander leaves & chili paste, add salt and fry it till the raw smell goes, may take 5 to 7 mts
• Serve it with cooked rice.

Cookie & Cream Cake

Hello All
I have been contemplating on posting recipes for a while now, I wanted my first recipe to be an original…..I have copied so many recipes from blog sites that I really lost count & the source of them…so if you find any of your recipes & no mention of your name…all I can say is thank you so much & very sorry for not keeping track of the source. I guess I was too excited to copy & try the recipe than to bother about the source.

I was regular out of collage working girl….never was I interested in cooking……….I could not make tea/coffee even after 20 ;). I got married and my new family of 6 thought I can cook. I had to live upto their expectations…….I guess our learning curves get very sharper when you are in pressure…that’s what happened to me. I learnt very quick & started enjoying cooking so much that I started cooking for small get togethers. I was called the SAMBAR QUEEN in the office as I would make Sambar for most of the small parties at colleagues homes. Well the credit goes to my mom as her Sambar powder did the magic and not me.

Later my inspiration for cooking came from my mom & her sisters (2 of them) though their styles are totally different but there is one thing in common…they are terrific cooks. From authentic Andhra…Tamil Nadu dishes to the North Indian or Spicy food, they tried them all. I still remember my mom cutting recipes from news papers and magazine……their sources were so very limited still they tried to be experimentative & different. I hope one day the treasure of my mom’s recipes (the paper cuttings) will come to be. I am sure I will retain them in the original form but also make e copies.

I used to just cook the regular food, however had to take a break from work when our angel Aadya arrived, I was so tied up with her for 1 whole year….never realized how the time passed. As she was growing her dependencies on me were lessening. That gave me ample time to unleash my skills J. And I love to surprise her with new stuff. She is 3 now and is highly allergic to artificial food colors & preservatives….another reason why I choose to bake a lot at home.

Coming to the recipe…..I had made this cake to please my sweetheart on her 3rd birthday, she thought Oreo cookies were staple food….I am happy that she came out of it in a months time. She wanted me to make a cake with Dora on it………as I said my limitation is colors hence could not make one but ordered Dora Cake for the party & made cookie & cream cake for cutting at home.

The sponge had to be egg less as elders in the family do not eat egg. To my surprise the cadenced milk added so much flavor to the cake that I would prefer making egg less sponge.

Recipe – Chocolate Sponge cake
Source : Tarla dalal’s egg less chocolate sponge
Ingredients
125 gms plain flour (maida)3

2 tbsp cocoa powder

1/2 tsp soda bi-carb

3/4 cup (200 gm) condensed milk, I used milkmaid

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

60 ml melted butter

1 tsp vanilla essence
Method
1. Sieve the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and soda bi-carb together.
2. Combine the condensed milk, melted butter, vanilla essence and 75 ml. Of water and beat well.
3. Add the prepared sieved flour-cocoa soda bi carb mixture and mix gently with help of a spatula.
4. The batter should be of dropping consistency.
5. Pour the batter into a greased and dusted 7” diameter tin.
6. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180ºc (360ºf)for 20 minutes or till done. I had to keep it for another 5 mts.
7. The cake is ready when it leaves the sides of the tin and is springy to touch.
8. Remove from the oven and leave aside on a wire rack for a while. Invert the tin over a rack and tap sharply to unmould the cake.
9. Keep aside to cool and use as required.
Ingredients for frosting
1 cup Sugar Syrup (just add 4 to 5 Tbs of Sugar to 1 cup of water)
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 cup Icing sugar, quantity varies based on taste( you can also do away with it, I added as it was for my daughter & she likes it sweeter )
15 to 20 Oreo cookies crushed1/4 cup chocolate chips
Few more Oreo cookies for final deco

Assembling the Cake
1. Once the cake is cooled completely, slice the cake into 2 even layers, freezing the cake will help you slice it evenly & also frost it better.
2. Pour sugar syrup on both the layers evenly.
3. Spread little less than half of the whipped cream on one of the layers with a spatula.
4. Sprinkle half the crushed cookies & half the chocolate chips on the layer
5. Place the other layer carefully on top of this layer, cover it completely with the whipping cream
6. Sprinkle the remaining crushed cookies on top & around the cake
7. Decorate the cake with whipping cream & Oreo cookies, as my cake was small I cut the cookies into half & decorated the cake with them.
8. Refrigerate at least for 2 hrs