Monday, April 18, 2011

Vanilla Sponge Cake



Ingredients

1 cup of all purpose flour / maida flour
1 cup of powdered sugar
1 teaspoon of baking powder
6 eggs
50 gm of butter (optional)
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F)

Seperate eggs to white and yolks.

Sift together the all purpose flour and baking powder.

In a bowl, beat the egg yolks with handheld electric whisk. Add 2 tablespoon of sugar and vanilla extract, continue to beat in highspeed until yolk mixture becomes double the volume. Keep it aside.

Clean the whisk attachment.

In an another bowl, beat the egg white with electric whisk. Meanwhile add sugar to egg white mixture. Beat in highspeed until white, light and fluffy, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Add whipped egg yolks into whipped egg white mixture, combine gently with rubber spatulla.

Add all purpose flour, baking powder mixture, melted butter (optional)and fold in using a rubber spatula until throughly combined.

Set the cake tin with greased and base- lined with greased baking parchment paper.

Pour the mixture into the cake tin, rotate the pan gently to remove any air pockets that might remain and bake on the middle shelf of the preheated oven for about 30 minutes, or until a wooden skewer or knife inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Leave the cakes to cool in the tins for 10 minutes before turning out on to wire cooling racks.

Turn the cakes the right way up and leave to cool completely.

Use a long bladed serrated knife to slice cakes into layers for filling.

Cakes can be filled with butter cream, jam, or whipped fresh cream.

Friday, April 8, 2011

Onion Koftas with Yogurt dip



Ingredients

500 gm of onions, thinly sliced
1 tsp of coriander powder
1 tsp of cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder
2 green chillies, deseeded & finely chopped
3/4 cup of besan flour / gram flour / chickpea flour
2 tablespoon of chopped fresh coriander
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder(optional)
Salt as required
Oil for deep frying

For yogurt dip

1 cup of yogurt
1/2 teaspoon of red chilli powder
1/2 table spoon finely chopped fresh coriander
salt as required.

Method

Place the onions in colander or strainer, add the salt & mix it well. Keep it aside for 30 to 45 minutes, tossing twice.

Squeeze out any extra moisture in the onion and place into the bowl. Add coriander powder, cumin powder, turmeric powder, green chillies, fresh coriander and mix well.

Add besan flour and baking powder to the onion mixture. Mix everything well with hand.

Shape the mixture by hand into small size balls.Gentle pressure is enough.




Heat the oil , fry the koftas 4 to 5 at a time cooked until it become deep golden brown

Remove with a slotted spoon and drain the excess oil on paper towels.

For yogurt dip
In a cup of yogurt add pinch of salt, red chilli powder, finely chopped coriander and mix it well.

Pour some yogurt dip in a plate, arrange some koftas on top and serve it warm.