I love Pancakes!

Not everyone has the luxury of a big, fat oven which can help you make all the gooey delicious and scrumptious cakes. But, hopefully, we all have access to an old fashion fry pan and stove. For a few years, I was living by myself and I did not have an oven or a microwave. And I was really really missing cakes. My entire childhood, I used to see my mum sifting the flour and mixing it up with eggs, sugar and the works. Put it into the oven and voila, a beautiful cake would rise up and appease to every one's senses. Of course, those delicious cakes never lasted for more than a day tops, even with our family of just four!

Nevertheless, I was pretty sure I wouldn't have to go out and buy cakes just to relive that memory. There's just something wonderful about mixing flour, sugar, eggs and a dash of vanilla essence which makes the entire cake-eating experience a lot more fruitful. So, I opened up my laptop and figured out that the blissful pancakes would come to my rescue. So, I started off and hand blended all the ingredients, which was a first for me, but oh, what fun! I know it sounds weird that blending something by hand could be fun. But its the end result that was really pushing me. (Plus, I think I was frustrated that I didn't have an oven and mixer and was desperate to use up all the energy!)

This is the recipe that helped me get nostalgic again, and the images follow below! Enjoy!

What you'll need:

A stove and a fry pan....and a "pancake flipper".
3/4 cup milk...warmed up is good!
1 cup all-purpose flour...or regular wheat flour. No worries!
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons sugar
pinch of salt
1 egg
2 tablespoons regular cooking oil
1 teaspoon Vanilla essence


Here's what you have to do now:

1. Pour the oil, egg and sugar into a bowl and whisk up until its impossible to separate one from another.
2. In another bowl, mix the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. One spoon at a time, start mixing this into the wet batter. Keep whipping the batter as you go.
3. If the batter seems to get too thick, add in the warm milk slowly and steadily. But make sure its not too watery. Its a cake batter after all!
4. Add in the vanilla essence now. Lets make sure we don't smell the egg part in the batter while cooking now.'
5. If you like, you can even add chocolate chips/cinnamon/mashed banana/coffee or anything else that you wish too. Just experiment!
6. Now lets warm up that griddle and add a dash on oil to grease it up. 
7. Pour one tablespoon of the batter on the pan and don't spread. It should be fluid enough to do so on its own a bit. 
8. After a few minutes, you'll notice that bubbles have started forming. Don't flip just yet. Let them pop. We want the pancakes to be airy, and porous in texture. 
9. Now flip it. Sometimes, it tends to get sticky after this. So I just cover it with a lid for a minute to let it rise. This was, you don't need to add extra oil to grease and struggle to pull it off the pan.
10. Flip it again now, did it rise like a cake on the pan?
11. Repeat till all the batter is finished.

I usually get a little curious and starting hogging while making more. Its kiddish, but fun and lets you know if the sugar-salt ratio is up to your taste. If not, don't worry and just adjust the mixture before the next one gets on the stove. So you're basically doing everyone a favour by tasting it first you know. Why would you want to feed them something with off taste right?

Since this isn't a traditional food in India (that's where I'm from), I'm not sure what all you might want to add. I guess maple syrup, honey, cream, jam, or anything else sweet works. In fact, even chocolate spread works great, something I added between all the layers once to turn it into a birthday cake for a friend! Came out amazing! Must try! 

Anyway, this is what it all looked like when I was making it:

 

The batter! Mix all the wet ingredients first and slowly add in the dry ones. 

Keep in mind to use warm milk as needed to make the batter thinner. 

It really helps to fluff it all up when put on the griddle.

Let those bubbles pop. Takes a little time, but makes it really nice and fluffy!

Flip it! If you cover it now, you might get a good rise out of it!

Did you get concentric rings on yours too?

The first few piled up. Posing with the "pancake flipper"

Random sizes, I started with two spoons of batter, but realized later that one works just as well.

The pretty side of it. Happy hogging!

Eggoticons!

So, I recently discovered an awesome website called http://bucketlist.org/. It is simply amazing because it is a sort of a to-do list of all the things you probably want to do at some point in your life, and some that you just read about and think, "Ooh, I want to do that too!"
Also an interesting part of the website is that you can track other people's list and read about the goals they have completed and how the experience was for them. 

For me, its a chance to simply go crazy! Not that I need a reason to do that specifically, but it gives life a new direction all together. You get to read about what other people did and felt great about. Where they traveled, what they ate and just about every single thing they found amazing. It definitely calls to the adventurous side in me and gives me a reason to do things that truly make me happy, however small and crazy they may be!

Well, one of the goals I had put in was - well - starting this food blog! Maybe its more than just a food blog, but I'll let time decide that on its own perhaps. Another goal was -- Draw funny faces on all the eggs in my fridge!

Believe me when I say this, it was crazy and nutty, I accept. But every single day, when anyone in the household opens up the fridge, and sees the highly expressive eggs lined up with the big eyes, smiles and the works, it reflects on our faces. Of course, I'm betting everyone is saying to themselves, "She's crazy!" But the way I see it, "Made ya smile!"

Here's a snap of the eggs, accompanied by your smiles!

Spaghetti Bolognese...without spaghetti and meat!!!

Italian food is delicious. Not just the stereotypical Pizzas and Garlic Breads, but also the Spaghetti noodles, Pasta and Lasagnea! Divine!

Again I craved for Spaghetti..not just any, but Bolognese. Since I know you can Google for the authentic recipe, I'm not giving it here. I experimented, yet again...and came up with Pasta Bolognese!!! Without meat, since I made it at Mum's place and hence, in the No-Meat-Zone!

Hope you like the outcome...because I loved it!

Red Onions, chopped finely!

Some believe that Garlic should be crushed, and not cut...you choose!

A spoonful of Dark Soya Sauce!

Pasta!!!

Fresh Tulsi...I'm told this is Basil...but you might want to Google it!

Yellow and Red Bellpeppers...and spicy green chillies!

Tomatoes..6-8...ground to pulp!

Saute the Garlic in 2 spoons oil, till light brown. Also a dash of the Rosemary.

Add the 2 monster sized onions...saute till golden tinge!

Add the bell peppers, and green chillies too!

Tomato puree...but only once the onions and peppers are a little cooked.

Stir in the ingredients. Add a tinge of salt..as per taste of course!

Let it boil and bubble. I like it saucy, so I added a tad bit of water too.

Meanwhile, boil the pasta in water (mixed with a dash of salt and oil)

Boil away dear Sauce!

Once the pasta is boiled, place at the bottom of the Serving Bowl.

Add the Sauce and mix lightly. Garnish with corriander...

Looking too pretty to hog?

The final result, as you can see, was delicious! Mum and I enjoyed every single pasta strand and ended up licking the bowl clean (at least I did)!

The story of the Delicious Sunken Cake...

Egg-less Carrot Cake

So, today I made a Carrot cake. The recipe was picked out from an ancient newspaper article (My mum had clipped it out and saved it years and years ago) and called for Yogurt, instead of Eggs or Vinegar. Since I've never successfully baked an egg-less cake, the curiosity to try out the recipe bit me hard! 

If you are as curious as I was, here is what the recipe said...and what I did...

Actual Recipe (and what I did)

Ingredients (I made half the quantity and...)

Whole Wheat Flour : 2 cups (I used just 1)

Sugar, Brown : 2 cups (I was out of brown, so made so with 1 cup of White sugar)

Carrots, Grated : 4 cups (I thought it was a bit much, but still worked with the 2 cups)

Walnuts, crushed : 1/2 cup (I was totally out of walnuts!)

Butter : 1 tablespoon (I attempted to use half...but might be a bit more...and it was salted)

Low fat milk : 1/2 cup (I used 1/4th and a bit more)

Yogurt : 1.5 tablespoon (3/4 tablespoon was used for my experiment)

Baking Powder : 2 teaspoon (I used 1)

Baking Soda : 2 teaspoon (I used 1, though I was surprised to see this quantity)

Nutmeg Powder : 1/4 teaspoon (Oh the fragrance when you grind it fresh...Mmmm)

Cinnamon Powder : 1.5 teaspoon (Another divine flavor!)

Method

Beat the butter and yogurt together. Add all the remaining ingredients and blend well. Pour into an 8 inch greased cake tin and bake on Medium heat (350F or 176C) for 40 minutes.

As it so happens, the cake cake out DELICIOUS! But it rose and then sank. So the consistency came out a little squishy. I'm wondering if the milk was more than sufficient? Possibly. Or was it the quantity of baking soda? Could be. Or was the time and temperature insufficient? Well, I have heard that each and every oven is unique and its settings are unique. Though I've only heard it when the cakes come out not-so-good!

Hmm, curiosity killed the cat they say. Well, I'm the cat and its going to make me fat!

But I don't think anybody minds as long the cake is cooked to completion and tastes yummmm....

As to what I did...here are the photographs with the step by step actions...

The ingredients...left to right...
Cups first
Yogurt-Milk-Sugar-White Flour-Carrots-more Carrots
Spoons
Baking Soda-Nutmeg Powder-BUTTER-Cinnamon Powder-
Baking Powder

Beating in the main ingredients...well, except the carrots!

Adding the first cup of carrots...and wondering if the second
cup should be included or not..already the batter looks dry.
Hmm...a bit more milk perhaps?

But I still add the second cup of carrots.

Lack of a cake tin...so I substituted with a Borosil Bowl!
Greasing tips: Oil it first and shake-shake-shake
a spoon or two of flour around!

After beating for a while. It seems, the carrot's natural water
content has increased the consistency.
I'm now wondering if I should have let the milk
quantity be as is.

Poured into the greased bowl...

...and into the oven it goes

The Oven settings...though its been about 10 mins since it started!

Its rising...its rising....!!!!

What it became!

At least it had sufficient browning!

It rose and it fell!

Soft to cut...

A bit too soft! :(

Nevertheless, DELICIOUS!

It was really fun to make a cake using curd, though the quantity required wasnt much. Now, I continue my task of looking out for another recipe of eggless cakes, perhaps the same even, and hope to make an AWESOME eggless cake!

Wish me luck!