Celery-Apple Salad.

A quick refreshing salad to beat the summer......

Ingredients :

• 1 head celery or 1 cup carrot julienned(cut into long thin strips)
• 3 red apples
• 3 tbsp store bought eggless caesar salad dressing
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 tbsp mayonnaise 

Method:

1. Wash and finely chop the celery.
2. Dice apples and mix celery and apples with the salad dressing. Add the mayonnaise. Chill
3. Before serving, stir in the walnuts.

In Germany, searching for an ingredient can be a treasure hunt in the super markets. Not finding Caesar salad dressing, I knew I would have to make it on my own. Hubby googled the recipe, so I am clueless as to which site he got it from. Here's what you need:

• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tsp mustard
• 2 tbsp parmesan cheese
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tsp worchestershire sauce
• 1/2 tsp salt

Blend all of the above in a blender.

Pictured above is celery apple salad and Broccoli fish bake(yet to do the posting).

Cappuccino Walnut Cake.

Do you have those days where you have disasters in the kitchen?? Well, I had one today and the worst part was it being my daughter Anna's 8th birthday. I had decided upon the cake two weeks ago. Flavour wise, it was something i had never tried before and the best part was it had to be decorated with flowers.
  
           I baked the cake a day ahead and decided to decorate it today. I got up with all the enthusiasm i had, having already envisioned the cake decorated pretty with chrysanthemums. Having followed the recipe to the T, the preparation of the icing seemed to be going on well, until it separated into water and lumps of icing(the whipped cream had not expired). I was devastated, to add to the disaster i had no extra whipped cream. The worst part about living in Germany is, if you need anything at all, there isn't a single store, not even a single store open for you.

Having never faced disasters I had to come up with some decoration. She was waiting to cut her cake. After quickly googling recipes, I narrowed on a chocolate icing which too didn't turn out the way it was supposed to. It's a mystery as to what went wrong. Nevertheless, I was exhausted with the disappointment, chaos, what with my kitchen being transformed to an utter mess and me sweating like hell(the kitchen right now is a furnace, what with temparature's touching 37 deg celcius), I proceeded with the chocolate icing and finally ended up with the above cake. My chrysanthemum's are still in the flower pot. So, while I go and do a post mortem as to what went wrong, here is the recipe from good Housekeeping magazine. a point to note: The cake in itself was awesome with the combo of coffee and walnuts!!

Ingredients:

• 4 tbsp butter
• 100 gm maida
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 4 eggs
• 125 gm sugar
• 1 and a half tbsp instant coffee dissolved in a little milk
• 3/4 cup walnuts finely chopped

For the decoration:

• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

For the icing:

• 200 gm white chocolate
• 4 tsp instant coffee dissolved in a little milk
• 500 gm whipped cream

For the garnish:

Fresh edible flowers or petals.

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 190 deg celsius. Grease two round cake tins and line the base of each with a circle of greased butter paper. Sift together the flour and baking powder.
2. Beat eggs and sugar in a bowl, over a pan of barely simmering water for 3-4 minutes until fluffy. Remove from heat, beat till cooled.
3. Fold in butter, coffee, walnuts. Sift and fold the flour in small amounts carefully but quickly with a metal spoon. Pour into tins. Bake for 20 minutes or till done. Let it cool.
4. To make the decoration, whiz the walnuts in a food processor with the sugar and cinnamon until finely chopped. Do not overdo it.
5. For the icing, melt the white chocolate by putting it in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Meanwhile, beat coffee and whipped cream until smooth. Slowly beat in the melted chocolate.
6. Spread 1/3 icing on top of one cake, sandwich with other cake. Smooth remaining icing on top and sides. Scatter nuts around the sides of the cake. Decorate with flowers.

Luckily, the flavor of the cake was yummy and the family relished it, inspite of me ending up with a different icing altogether!!!

Choco-Chip muffins!!

Thursday is generally a busy day for the kids and me. What with the three of us having our respective music classes followed by Deutsch lessons late in the evening. Our tutor Frau Maria is a wonderful teacher and am glad that she is able to motivate and teach the children their german lessons well. Right from the start, Maria and I developed an instant rapport and i enjoy the small chats we have in between the classes.

       Maria is a teacher in Würzburg, she teaches by day and tutors expat children till late in the evening. To get to us she needs to spend two hours on the road. I know how tiring it must be for her considering the fact that back home, i was in the teaching profession too, but not tutoring. She comes pretty tired, but her spirit is always high. She is cheerful and has the maximum level of patience with the kids. 

Most of the time I try to bake cakes on thursday knowing that she comes hungry after a tiring day, if not, we manage with some treats from the bakers. I made a simple choco-chip muffin today which she relished so much. I had to convince her that she would not put on any extra kilos if she ate a few!!

Ingredients :-

• 250 gm flour
• 100 gms cocoa powder
• 250 gms brown sugar
• 4 eggs
• 200 gms butter
• 1 and a half tsp baking powder
• chocolate sauce
• half cup chopped almonds 
• few choco chips

Method :-

1. Sieve flour, cocoa and baking powder together and keep.
2. Beat the eggs till fluffy. Add sugar and beat well.
3. Add the butter to the mixture and keep on beating.
4. Add the sieved flour little by little and keep mixing well.
5. Grease a muffin tray and preheat oven to 150 deg celsius.
6. Drop spoons of batter into the muffin tray, sprinkle choco chips and bake for 20-25 minutes or until done

       

(This was the second batch, forgot the choco chips)

Let the muffins cool for a while. When ready to serve, drizzle some chocolate sauce and sprinkle chopped almonds. The above recipe makes 18 muffins. Enjoy!!

May's Choco-Walnut Cake.

This posting is for my good friend in Bangalore, pretty Preety!! Her name is Preety and she is very pretty!! Love to call her that! When I began this blog, Preety wanted a recipe for Walnut cake and am sure she must have got fed up waiting for one. Now here's the best part...
                 I have reached a stage where I have begun experimenting with baking, with no help from recipe books. I am proud to say that the end result turns out delicious as ever.  I thought it fitting to name this cake after me...:-) Here goes the ingredients which I have measured carefully and noted down.
Ingredients :-

• 250 gm self raising flour(maida)
• 100 gm cocoa powder
• 250 gm sugar
• 1 and a half tsp baking powder
• 4 eggs
• 200 gms walnuts
• 200 gms butter
• powdered sugar for dusting

Method :-

1. Sieve flour, cocoa and baking powder together and keep aside.
2. Grind walnuts to a coarse powder.
3. Beat eggs and sugar together till fluffy.
4. Add butter and continue beating.
5. Now slowly add the sieved flour little at a time and continue beating and mix well.
6. Finally add the ground walnuts to the batter and mix well.
7. Grease a baking tray and pre heat oven to 160 deg.
8. Pour batter into the tray and bake for an hour or until the cake is done(to test, poke a knife into the cake and if it comes out clean, the cake is done).
9. Once the cake is cool, dust it with powdered sugar and serve with tea or coffee.

P.S :- Didn't go for a fancy photograph of the cake, since my daughter declared that all the cakes look the same. So, that's my presentation for the day!!

Egg Korma.

This post is in continuation with my last week's posting. I had served my hubby a scrumptious lunch to give him a break from the cafeteria food. Since then, his company has been kind enough to send him to work an hours distance away, hence he hasn't come home for lunch :D (I do love him coming home though).

Ingredients :

• 5 eggs(boiled)
• 2 tsp coriander powder
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin powder
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tbsp ginger garlic paste
• 1 tsp cumin seeds.
• 2 tomatoes(chopped)
• 1 cup coconut milk

Method :

1. In a bowl mix the powders along with some water and the paste. Keep aside.
2. In a vessel heat oil. When hot add the cumin seeds.
3. As they splutter, add the paste from the bowl and fry on a low flame.
4. Add the chopped tomatoes and fry well.
5. Now add the coconut milk and a little water only if required.
6. Add slit eggs(or whole) and let it boil till done.
7. Add salt to taste.
8. Garnish with coriander leaves.
9. Serve hot with roti or rice.