The Perfect Carrot Cake!

We found the most awesome recipe for Carrot Cake on the internet and we baked it this weekend! The result was so good that we thought we have to share the link with you.

Here goes: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/sams-famous-carrot-cake/detail.aspx

This recipe has a lot of ingredients but don't let that be a deterrent for you. We followed it to it T and the cake was just perrrrrrrrrfect!!! 

Tabbouleh

I've never eaten Tabbouleh in a restaurant but Harsh has, and he absolutely loves it. I've been promising to make some for him at home for months now.
Finally a couple of days ago I tried my hand at this Lebanese salad made with bulgur, mint, parsley, spring onions and tomato.
This salad is especially refreshing when served cold on a warm summer day.

Ingredients:


Bulgur wheat - 2 cups
Flat left parsley - 200 gms
Mint leaves - 50 gms
Spring onions - 4
Tomatoes - 2
Freshly squeezed lemon juice - 1 lemon
Olive oil - 4 tbsps
Pepper - to taste
Salt - to taste
Cold water - 2 cups

Method:


Wash the bulgur with cold water. Drain it and place in a large bowl and pour cold water over it. Leave it to stand until the bulgur has absorbed all the water and the grains have swollen.
Now, add the lemon juice and olive oil to the bulgur and mix well. Season with salt and pepper.
Finely chop the parsley, mint, spring onions and tomatoes and mix into the bulgur.
Serve cold. 

Bulgur Salad

We've been planning to do a barbecue in the park all month but it's been a very rainy summer. Finally, we decided that since we hadn't got any respite from the rain in weeks we'd go ahead with a little barbecue at home with our electric table grill.
We bought some marinated chicken from Lidl, the German supermarket. (Their marinated meats are pretty good and also very reasonably priced.)

 I decided to make some salad at home as an accompaniment to our grilled chicken. I wanted to make something that's healthy as well as tasty, simple and yet filling and so I decided to make us some Bulgur Salad. The recipe is simple but you need to prepare a few hours in advance.
 Here it is:

Ingredients:


Bulgur wheat - 2 cups
Chicken bouillon cube - 1 1/2
Water - 2 cups
Chopped tomato - 1
Chopped cucumber - 1/2
Chopped carrot - 1
Chopped yellow bell pepper - 1
Finely chopped parsley - 2 tbsps
Lemon juice - 1/2 a lemon
Freshly ground garlic powder - 1/4 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1/4 tsp
Freshly ground pepper - to taste

Method:


Wash the bulgur wheat with cold water and drain completely.
Add one bouillon cube to two cups of water and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in the bulgur. Let it stand for 45-60 minutes.
Mix the bulgur with the chopped vegetables and the parsley.
 In a small bowl whisk together the lemon juice, garlic powder, chilli powder and half of the chicken bouillon cube. Pour this over the salad and mix well.
Sprinkle a little freshly ground pepper.
Refrigerate the salad for a couple of hours and serve cold.

Vegetarians can replace the chicken bouillon cubes with vegetarian ones. The bouillon cubes usually have a lot of salt so I haven't added any extra salt but you may need to vary the quantity of cubes you use as per taste.  

Murg Methi

I harvested another crop of methi this weekend and put it to good use. Balcony farming is so addictive and fulfilling!!

Here is the recipe for Murg Methi:

Ingredients:


Boneless chicken cut into pieces - 500 gms
Chopped Methi - one cup
Finely sliced Onion - 1 (large)
Finely chopped tomato - 1 (large)
Ginger-Garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Finely chopped Green chillies - 2
Curds - 1/4 cup
Kashmiri chilli powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric Powder - 1 tsp
Jeera Powder - 1/2 tsp
Dhana powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Sugar - 1 tsp
Oil- 2 tbsps
Salt - taste

Method:


Heat oil in a non-stick pan. Saute the onions until brown. Add the methi leaves and continue cooking for 5-8 minutes. Now, add the chopped tomato, green chillies, ginger and garlic and cook until the oil begins to leave the side. Add the chicken, chilli,  turmeric, jeera, dhana and garam masala and cook until the chicken is almost completely cooked. Lastly, add the curd and a tea-spoon of sugar and cook until the chicken is tender and ready to be served. 

Aprikosen Kuchen

I must admit that as much as I love cooking, baking cakes has never really been my cuppa tea. I've always looked forward to birthdays in our family because it meant that my mother and sister would be busy planning and baking their next cake. Dropping by the kitchen to lick the cake batter off the bowl was more like my kinda thing to do.
Recently, ever since Harsh's birthday, I've suddenly felt inspired to start baking cakes. And I must tell you...it's very addictive!!
My first was a simple, microwave recipe for a  chocolate-walnut cake that I found on Sanjeev Kapoor's website. I then tried making his equally simple Zesty Lemon Cake. Happy with my efforts and the results I decided to try something else.
Just last weekend I'd bought a bagful of apricots at the farmer's market. I sometimes get carried away while buying fruit and end up buying a lot more that I can eat. Baking an Apricot Cake seemed like the perfect plan!!

I searched the internet and found a German recipe for the cake.

It's a great recipe but I've made a few changes to it.

Ingredients:


Softened butter - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 cup
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
Eggs - 3
Maida/Flour - 2 cups
Baking powder - 2 tsp
Soda Bicarbonate - 1 tsp
1/4 cup - beaten curds
Fresh Apricots (cut in half) - 8-10

Method:


Sieve together the maida, baking powder and soda bicarbonate and set aside.
In a separate bowl cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla essence. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the flour, a little at a time and mix. Now, add the curds. Mix/beat well.

Grease the cake tin lightly with butter. Transfer the batter in the cake tin and place the apricots on top (cut side facing down).
Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 C for 40 minutes.

Serve with sweetened whipped cream.