Yogurt and BlueBerry Compote Cake

Hello all you wonderful people. Today I am so thankful to all you folks who wished us both for our 4th anniversary. Its already 4 years and hardly believable. I remember getting tensed for the first time while meeting parents and now our journey has come far along. Life has been a great adventure just like a video game where we are taking everything that comes along and enjoying it.

So I made this cake as that one sweet for celebrating this milestone. I know that most of you there are health conscious and I am proud to say that I fall in the same list. So a cake that is full of sugar, cream and fats is an absolute no no. Thank god for this new experiment, I found a healthier way. The difference is, I am using whole wheat flour instead of Maida or All purpose flour and sugar substitute for actual sugar. This substitute is the most natural one obtained from Stevia leaves. I have cut the oil in half and the milk and yogurt I have used is non fat.

When it comes to frosting, traditionally I use cream cheese, whipping cream, butter and sugar. For this cake though, I am using nonfat yogurt and brown organic sugar. Also for decoration, I have used natural blue berries to make a compote (similar to sauce) and used very minimal brown sugar instead of making sugary jams or jellies.

Please enjoy making this guilt free cake and for the first time, "You can have the cake and eat it too" :). Also note that this is good to eat after chilling in refrigerator for 2-3 hours, but try eating it with in a day or two.

Serves: 6-8

Preparation Time: 25 mins baking time + 10 mins Frosting + 20 for compote and mixing

Ingredients for Cake:

• 1 cup + 2 tbsp whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup + 1 and 1/2 tbsp sugar substitute ( I used stevia sweetener, or use 1 cup ordinary sugar)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• 1/2 tbsp vanilla essence 
• 1/2 cup oil ( any non pungent oil would do, I used vegetable oil)
• 1 cup 1%, 2% or fat free milk
• 1/2 cup water
• A pinch of Saffron
• 1 tsp orange zest (grate orange peel using a small eyed grater)

Ingredients for Frosting:

• 1 and 1/2 cup set curd or any low fat yogurt
• 3 tbsp normal or brown sugar
• 1 tsp lemon juice

Ingredients for Compote:

• 2 cup blueberries or grapes
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tsp lemon juice

Method for Cake baking:

• Preheat the oven at 350F or 180C.
• In a mixing bowl add all dry ingredients - flour, sugar, soda, salt , saffron and orange zest and mix well.
• Add wet ingredients to the flour mixture - vinegar, vanilla essence , oil, milk and water and mix well using a hand beater or hand mixer. It will be little running, don't panic.
• In a 9 inch round pan, add 2 tsp oil and coat the pan uniformly, add parchment paper cut to fit the bottom of the pan.
• Add the batter into the pan and bake it for 25-30 mins.
• Let it cool of half an hour after baking and place it on the rack for further cooling. Cake is ready to be decorated. At this point add parchment paper on a turn table for cake and reverse cake on rack to sit on turn table.

Method for Cake frosting:

• In a mixing bowl, add yogurt, lemon juice and sugar. 
• Using a manual beater, beat this yogurt mixture to form a thick, creamy uniform coating.
• Check for sweetness, add more sugar if needed, or add more lemon juice in case its too sweet.
• Dump this yogurt mixture on the cooled cake, spread it uniformly, its ok if its little runny and messy. Place the cake along with turn table in the top most compartment of fridge, closest to freezer, but not inside freezer.

Method for Blueberry Compote:

• In a small sauce pan, add water and blueberries (or grapes) , heat this first on a medium high flame for about 5 minutes.
• Add sugar and lemon juice and cook it on a medium low flame for about 15 minutes.
• Switch off the stove and let this compote cool completely, you can also keep it in fridge for 15 minutes to let it chill.
• After the compote has cooled and yogurt has set, add this compote on the yogurt frosting in any design you like and viola, the cake is ready to be served.

Tomato Ash Gourd Chutney

Hello everyone. I bring a new recipe with me. Something unheard of but turns of great! who knew.

This idea came from my mom, she just had a casual dinner with my dad and told me about ash gourd (boothkumblakayi) chutney. She told it was very sour but that didn't stop me from thinking in that direction.

So I came up with some simple and basic ingredients which worked. Be careful though, ash gourd has very delicate  taste and cannot take much of heat or sourness. So I have barely added one green chili and little bit of tamarind paste. In case the tomato you use is too sour, you can entirely skip the tamarind. I am sure these two ingredients are available everywhere so please try it and do let me know how it turned out for you.

You need to use it the same day as the taste changes drastically after 9-10 hours. Best is to use it immediately. Since its mild, Use it with something spicy like nucchinunde (spicy lentil balls) or Adai dose.

Serves: 2

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1/8 Ash gourd cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1 tomato seeded and chopped roughly
• 1 green chili
• 2 tbsp coconut grated
• 1/2 tsp tamarind paste
• Salt as needed
• 1 tsp oil
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• A pinch of hing
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 dry red chili
• 1 cup water

Method:

• In a sauce pan add a cup of water and bring it to boil. Add the ash gourd pieces, salt, tamarind paste and cover and cook for about 10 minutes on high to medium high.
• In a mixer grinder, add the cooked ash gourd (after draining water), tomato, grated coconut and green chili. Grind it without any water into a fine paste. Check for salt and mix well.
• For tempering use a small spatula add oil and heat. Once hot add mustard seeds, hing and cumin seeds, after hearing couple of splatters add in the red chili and switch off the stove. Enjoy!

Bell Pepper Teriyaki StirFry

Hello friends and family. Its been wonderful here. The weather here is such a warm gentleman and its perfectly treating us here on East coast.

Aah, summer is here and it is that time of the year where the streets are filled with such sweet scents and sights of colorful flowers and lavish greens. I am a complete outdoorsy person. And yay, we will be visiting India soon. I am counting days and completely excited. We are doing our last minute shoppings, the chocolates especially. Hope they don't melt by the time we reach there (In case it survives us munching on them).

I am off juice fast and must say I lost around 8 pounds. Which is not nearly as good as the glow in my skin. For the first time I have this flawless skin, so never underestimate the power of natural fruits and veggies.

This time it was my own experiment that became successful. I was craving for something Japanese style, so I came up with this. And what better veggies to use in summer than bell peppers from the local farmers market. I was completely smitten by the colors of these babies.

Since Bangalore days, I know of only two Japanese styles, Terikayi and Teppanyaki. Teriyaki is any dish with sauce - a sweet and tangy one and teppanyaki is a dish made on grill or iron plate. I had lots of Teppanyaki veggies with bread which tasted real good but had never tried the Teriyaki. So when in need, better to cook it. You can have this with any kind of bread or on its own. Trust me it will be finger licking good, once you do it with love!!

Serves: 2

Preparation Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

• 1 of red, yellow and orange bell peppers, diced into 1" squares
• 1 large onion diced to 1" cubes and layers separated
• 1 tbsp oil
• 3 tbsp Sriracha or hot sauce
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp tamarind paste
• 1 tsp brown sugar or organic sugar
• 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 tsp ginger paste
• 1 tsp garlic paste
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar or apple juice
• Salt to taste
• 1 tsp pepper powder

Method:

• On a flat skillet add a tsp of oil and let it heat over a high flame.
• Add onions and bell peppers with little bit of salt and roast on this high flame for about 5 minutes and switch off the stove. Do not over cook it. It should retain the crunchy texture.
• In a sauce pan, add the remaining oil and heat in a medium flame. Once hot add the fennel seeds and fry for 2 seconds. 
• To this add the ginger and garlic paste and fry till there is no raw smell, for about 2 minutes. 
• Now add the sriracha, soy sauce, tamarind paste and brown sugar, stirring continuously until it forms a saucy concoction for about 5 minutes.
• Add in the Rice vinegar and again stir it for 5 minutes until it combines with the sauce.
• Finally, add the roasted bell peppers and onions to this sauce and mix it for 2 minutes adding required salt and pepper. Then switch off the stove. Bell pepper stir fry teriyaki style is ready to eat.