Healthy Peach upside down cake.

Well, this post is a result of a huge bag of peach that I brought from the farmers market two weeks back. Not only Peach I also brought Plums and Cherries. Could not resist them as they were fresh , glowing and not to say they were on Sale too!!!. Thats why I love summers. While cherries and plums got over by sunday evening peaches were not touched. As my Husband hates peaches, the whole week I managed to finish off most of them by myself.

Finally I had 5 more ripe peaches left in the basket, and I started looking for a peach cake recipe. As usual I mix and matched few recipes and came up with this healthy version(no butter , no egg but some oil though) which made a delicious snack for our short trip over the weekend. Here is the recipe.





Ingredients:
For the base.
4-5 ripe but firm peaches
2 tblsp brown sugar
1 tsp cinnomon
1 tsp flour
1 tsp vanilla powder/essence

For the Cake:
1 cup All purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup milk
1tsp Baking soda
1 tsp cinnoman
1 tsp vanilla essence/powder

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350F /180 C
Coat the baking pan with a tsp of melted butter.

Blanching:
Boil a pot of water, remove from the heat and put the whole peaches in it, close with a lid. Peel the skin after 10 minutes.



Slice the peaches and place in a plate. Sprinkle cinnomon, brown sugar and vanilla essence and flour over it. Carefully toss it using a spoon so that its well coated.
Arrange these slices on the Baking pan. Reserve the left over juices from the fruit.









For the cake beat the sugar and oil well, and the add milk beat well. Sift the dry ingredients once or twice and then add to the sugar oil mixture. Add the reserved juices and blend well.
Pour the mixture over the arranged peaches. Bake for 30-35 mins










Invert the cake after its completly cooled.

Serve warm with a dollop of vanilla ice cream.
















Since Peaches are very much in season here in july and august off this dish goes to the "Eating with the Seasons" hosted by Maninas

Minty Couscous

Posting the recipe for the minty couscous that I made the other day along with stuffed tomatoes.This is my first attempt on couscous. I prepared it just like rava kichadi using bell peppers, except that I used olive oil instead of ghee. The result was not disappointing.
I think it goes along great with coconut chutney, but I was already tired preparing and clicking my tomatoes, we decided to just have it on its own, with stuffed tomatoes on the side.

Ingredients:
1 cup couscous
1 medium onion sliced
4 garlic cloves chopped
1 medium bellpepper sliced
1 green chilli slit
1 cup chopped olives(optional)
a hand full of mint leaves

Method. In a pot, add the olive oil. When its hot add the garlic, onion and gren chili.Fry till opaque. Add the bellpeppers ,salt and fry well. Add 2 cups of water, throw in the mint and olives, close and allow it to boil. When the water is boiling , add the couscous and stir well. Close with a lid , simmer and cook for 10 minutes


Note

• We can also add some tomatoes and peas and other vegetables as per taste
• It does not stick like Rava, so need not worry about lumps.
• Amount of water may differ depending on the brand of couscous we use.

Off this goes to Ammalu's kitchen for the Herb Mania - Mint

Tried and Tasted - From Other Blogs

Will be updating this page regularly with all my Tried and Tasted recipes from other blogs.



Yogurt Berry Cake

Carrot Walnut Cake

Date Walnut Cake

Potato Rolls

Methi Channa

Avacado chappati

Stuffed Brinjal curry

Ridgeguard and potato curry

Arundathi's Yogurt Berry Cake

Arundathi's Yogurt Berry cake.

It was a very simple recipe and the taste was delicious. Recipe is just the same, I just did some almond topping.
Probably for my Oven conditions I should reduce the time by few minutes.







Recipe to Keep:
2 eggs
1 cup plain yogurt
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup oil
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla essence
a handful of mixed berries
Preheat oven to 180deg C/350F 
Combine yogurt, eggs, sugar, vanilla and oil in a bowl until completely mixed.
Sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda together.
Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients gradually until well combined. Sprinkle the berries on top - they will gradually sink into the cake as it bakes.
Pour into a round tin and bake for about 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Chilli Garlic Mushrooms

Decided to try something new for this months AWED - Chinese hosted by DK of Culinary Bazaar. This is my favorite event featuring new cuisine every month giving me an oppurtunity to explore new recipes.
Coming to Chinese cuisine I have never attempted anything apart from the regular fried rice and Veggie noodles.Though I cook mushroom atleast twice a week , its always in the form of some curry, or pulao. Thought why not give mushrooms a try with some nice and spicy Chinese recipe .With that in mind, started digging my recipe collections and found this small scribbling in a corner of a page, which had whole lot of recipes, waiting to be tried.
I remember noting it down from one of my favorite tamil magazine 'Aval Vikatan'.
This recipe seemed very simple and morever I had all the ingredients except vinegar. Since I dont like the taste of vinegar, replaced it with lime juice. At first I was a little hesistant to add tomato ketchup, but believe me a little sweetness enhances the taste.
I also tried the same recipe with cauliflower and also with chicken, both turned out great, will post them later this month.

Here you go with the recipe.

Ingredients:
1 pack white button mushrooms, cut into quarters
1 medium onion sliced
1 medium green bell pepper sliced
3 medium garlic chopped
a very small piece of ginger chopped
1 tsp tomato ketchup
1 tsp chili powder
3 tblsp light soy sauce
1 tblsp corn powder dissolved in 3 tblsp water
1 tblsp lime juice
1/2 cup spring onion chopped

Method:
Cut mushrooms into halves.
Cut capsicums into halves, remove the seeds and cut into thin strips
Drain and keep aside.

In a pan add 2 tblsp of olive oil
Add the onion ,garlic and ginger and fry till translucent
Add capsicums and mushrooms. Add salt.
Stir fry till vegetables are tender crisp.
Add chili powder tomato ketchup and ¼ cup water. Simmer till almost dry
Add soy sauce and Lime juice. Mix corn flour with water and add.
Bring to a boil, simmer for 1 minute.
Sprinkle with spring onion ,give it a toss and switch off the stove.
Serve hot with roti's , noodles or fried rice



Note:
We can also add chopped green chillies along with garlic, instead of chili powder and vinegar instead of lime/lemon juice.

Stromboli

I have tasted spinach & cheese Stromboli many times. Everytime I used to think that making the dough would be something very time consuming.But last week when I stumbled upon this recipe in food network website, I was very glad to see that it requires just the basic pizza dough.
The recipe for this starter is very simple and it can be done in minutes if you have the right ingredients.Since the base needs a basic pizza dough, I used the store bought pizza flour mix, not the frozen one(which also works fine).I mixed and matched many recipes and came up with this list of ingredients for stuffing, which is because this is what I had left in my refrigerator that day :)
It turned out perfect and we loved it.
I think I will include chicken in the stuffing when I try it next time.

Ingredients:
Any pizza dough, frozen or ready mix.
3 cloves garlic minced
1 green bell pepper thinly sliced
1 medium onion thinly sliced
1 tomato sliced 1/4 cup olives chopped
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese / any cheese of your choice
1 tsp olive oil
2-3 tblsp pasta sauce/marinara sauce ( its better if its chunky)
1 egg for egg wash / 1/4 cup


Method:
Preheat the oven to 350F /200C
Add the olive oil in a pan and fry the garlic ,onion and peppers.Keep aside.
Roll out the pizza dough into a rectangle , about 1/2 inch thick
Spread the onion mixture evenly leaving 1 inch at the borders.
Spread the tomatoes and olives over it.Top it with the pasta sauce.
Sprinkle the cheese as we do for pizza.
Brush one long end with the egg wash.
Roll the dough like a log, starting from the end without egg wash.
Brush the top with egg wash, and sprinkle some Italian seasoning
Place the log carefully on a baking sheet and bake for 20 - 25 mins.
Cut into think slices and serve warm.

Asha's Carrot-walnut cake

I have made carrot walnut muffins earlier.Was thinking of making the same recipe into a bread as a dessert for a dinner with friends.But came across Asha's Carrot cake recipe and my mind was set on it.
Whipped it first thing the next morning and it turned out great.
Some recipes will be in your bookmarks for ages, waiting for the moment, but some recipes will immediatly get your attention and make you get right into it.This is one such recipe.



Posting the recipe just for the record. I didnt prepare the glaze, however Iam publishing it for keepsake.Thanks Asha for such wonderful quick recipes

Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour,
1/2 cup chopped walnuts,
1/4 cup Raisins,
1/2 granulated sugar,
1/2 cup brown sugar packed,
3 teaspoons baking powder,
1 tsp ground cinnamon,
1/2 tsp salt,
2 cups finely shredded fresh carrots,
1/2 cup milk,
1/3 cup vegetable oil,
1 egg.

How to bake:
Preheat oven to 350F/200C
Spray with no-stick oil inside one 9 1/2 x 5 1/2" loaf pan or three 5 3/4 x 3 1/2 inch loaf pans. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, nuts, sugars, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt until well blended. Stir in the remaining ingredients just until moistened.
Spoon into pan or pans. Bake 50 to 60 minutes for a large loaf, 35-45 minutes for small loaves, or until they are baked in the middle.
Cool on a rack before glazing.Place a wide plate under the cooling rack to glaze.

Glaze:
mix 1/2 pack of Cream Cheese,
1cup powdered sugar or more or less than you like,1 tsp Vanilla essence,drop or two Orange food color,and add enough milk to make it thin enough to pour to coat the cake.
Heat this for 40 secs in the microwave,not more than that.Whisk and pour on the cake with a plate underneath the cooling rack to catch the extra glaze.
Let the get firm on the cake and replace the plate with another and pour the glaze again on the cake until evenly coated.Garnish with baby carrots and walnuts.
Cover and chill the cake if you like or keep it in the cake dish covered.Tastes great the next day with all the goodness of Carrots and Walnuts!:)