Tabak Mans

Ingredients :
Mutton or lamb pieces from leg or shoulder - 1/2 kg,
Curd - 115 gm ( beaten ),
Red chilli pwd - 1 tsp,
Corriander pwd - 2 tbsp,
Cumin pwd - 1 and 1/2 tsp,
Onion - 1 ( grated ),
Garlic and ginger paste - 2 tsp ,
Cloves  whole - 6,
Black cardamom  whole - 3,
Cinnamon stick - 1 ( 2 inch ),
Bay leaves - 2,
Oil - 2 tbsp and  ghee - 2 tbsp- ( use 4 tbsp of oil if you do not like ghee ),
Onion - 3 medium size - thinly and evenly sliced,
Salt to taste,
Green chilli -2- deseeded and chopped or you can just make a slit in the middle.
Saffron - a pinch diluted in warm water .
Water - 2 and 1/2 cup or  650 ml

Method

1. Take a deep pan and heat 2 and 1/2 cups of  water.
2. Take a bowl and mix mutton pieces, red chilli pwd, corriander pwd , cumin pwd, ginger garlic paste , ground or shredded onion , curd , cloves , big cardamom , cinnamon and bay leaves.
3. When water  is warm add the mutton mixture and let it come to boil.
4. As it starts to boil , lower the heat and put a lid on it .Let it cook for 20 or till meat is half cooked .
   Let the mutton  cook  on simmer .
5. Take a kadhai and put 2 tbsp oil and 2 tbsp ghee and fry the sliced onions to golden brown .
6. Close the gas and tilt the kadhai and with your spatula bring all the onions on one side .The extra oil will gather on one side . 
7. Take out the onions in a bowl and let it cool and then grind it in a grinder .
8. The left over ghee or oil will be used to cook to tender the mutton.When mutton is half cooked ( 20 minutes ) close gas .
9. Take a small bowl  and put 1/ 2cup of water and dip each mutton pieces to remove any  spice  on it .The above water should be added to the strainer  in next step.
10. Take a bowl and put a strainer on it and cover with a muslin or cheese cloth.Pour  the mutton gravy without the pieces through the strainer  .
11. Squeeze out all the liquid so that maximum flavour is extracted . Since it is hot ,press with a spoon and as it cools down use your hands to take out all the juice.
12. Heat the kadahi in which onions were  fried.Pour the strained liquid ,mutton, fried onion coarse paste and salt .Be careful with the salt as the gravy is thin.
13. When the gravy comes to boil , lower the gas and put a lid on it .Let it cook for 20 to 25 minutes or till the mutton is tender .
14. Add saffron water  and green chilli .
15. Let it cook for few seconds .
16. Taste salt .
17. Tabak Mans is ready. But if you like it dry then let it simmer  till water dries up and only ghee or oil remain.

I like to have some gravy in my dish as it goes very well with roti and for my husband well with rice too :)

Baked Vegetable in White Sauce

Ingredients

1 zucchini (sliced)
100 gms broccoli (cut into florets)
75 gms french beans (chopped)
100 gms carrot (chopped)
2 large capsicums (chopped)
1 large onion (chopped)
5 garlic cloves (chopped)
2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp all purpose flour

½ cup mushroom (sliced) 

Dried Oregano 

Bread Crumbs 

1 stick fresh thyme 

Olive Oil for cooking 

1 boiled egg 

White Pepper for flavor 

500 ml Cold Milk 

Grated cheese as per requirement

Salt (to taste)

Method
1. Wash and chop all vegetables.
2.Boil broccoli, french beans, carrot, and mushrooms.
3. Heat olive oil in a pan and saute garlic for 1 minute. Add onions and saute for 2 minutes. Add zucchini and mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes. Add all boiled vegetable and salt as per taste. Season with oregano and white pepper. Cook for 5 minutes and then keep it aside
4. For white sauce : heat a pan (medium heat) and melt butter. Put all purpose flour and cook for 5 minutes at medium flame.
5. Remove saucepan from heat and put milk to it in one go.
6. Again Heat the mixture and season it with oregano, red chili flakes, white pepper, salt and bring milk to a boil.(keep mixing in order to avoid lumps). Add 1 tbsp grated cheese to it and take the mixture off the flame. 

7.In a microwave cooking bowl first put layer of white sauce, then vegetables ,repeat till the top layer is of white sauce.

8. In a grinder put bread crumbs, thyme and olive oil. 

9. Place boiled egg in centre of the dish and sprinkle grated cheese and breadcrumbs mix and bake (uncovered) at low rack in preheated oven at 250 degree Celsius for 10 – 15 mins. 

10. Serve with cheese toast

Red Velvet Cakes

I have been on the search for the best homemade red velvet cake recipe for a while now. I wanted one that was easy,  super moist, melt-in-your mouth soft with that signature light chocolaty red velvet taste.

I’ve tried a few recipes that were…OK.  Nothing that really blew my stilettos off though. Until I played around with merging three recipes (God I love chemistry) and out came THE MASTERPIECE!!! Or at least we think so!

This red velvet cake recipe is SUPERB!!!! And it passes the stick to the back of the fork test like a champ!

The BEST Red Velvet Cake Recipe. Easy. Moist. Homemade

 

Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2 Tablespoons unsweetened, cocoa powder
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1-2 oz. red food coloring
• 1 teaspoon of white distilled vinegar
• ½ cup of prepared plain hot coffee (don’t skip this ingredient)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325.

• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt. Set aside
• In a large bowl, combine the sugar and vegetable oil.
• Mix in the eggs, buttermilk, vanilla and red food coloring until combined.
• Stir in the coffee and white vinegar.
• Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients a little at time, mixing after each addition, just until combined.
• Generously grease and flour two round, 9 inch cake pans with shortening and flour.
• Pour the batter evenly into each pan.
• Bake in the middle rack for 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Do not over bake as cake will continue to cook as it cools.
• Let cool on a cooling rack until the pans are warm to the touch.
• Slide a knife or offset spatula around the inside of the pans to loosen the cake from the pan.
• Remove the cakes from the pan and let them cool.
• Frost the cake with cream cheese frosting when the cakes have cooled completely.

~TIPS~
Be sure to not overbake! Check the cake at 30 minutes as some ovens run really hot.
Cakes are really moist and you may need to refrigerate them to firm them up before stacking and frosting.
To bake cupcakes, bake for 18-20 minutes, checking at the 18 minute mark.

The cream cheese frosting that goes with this red velvet cake is….how can I say this…. THE BOMB!!! It’s silky smooth, light, and sweet but not so sweet that it overpowers the cake like some cream cheese frosting tend to do, you know what I’m saying?

Chocolate Chip Muffin

My Husband loves chocolate, and he loved these chocolate muffins. We make them with cocoa powder and semi-sweet chocolate chips, so they'll satisfy even the most serious chocoholics.

The key to these chocolate muffins is, after we fold the chocolate chips into the batter and fill up the muffin pan, we sprinkle additional chocolate chips on top before baking.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour (260 grams)
• ¾ cup cocoa powder
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 1 Tbsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 1¼ cups whole milk
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 2 Tbsp butter, melted
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, plus 1/3 cup additional chocolate chips for sprinkling

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F or If you cooking in your Microwave and it says preheat of 250° F choose that.


2. Combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, sugar and salt in a large bowl.


3. Combine the milk and the melted butter. Then add the oil, and finally whisk in the beaten eggs and stir in the vanilla extract.


4. Thoroughly grease and flour a muffin pan (or better yet, you can use paper muffin liners).


5. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ones and mix no more than ten seconds. The batter should be visibly lumpy. That's OK! It's extremely important not to overmix the batter, or the resulting muffins can be hard or misshapen.
   
   TIP: The dry and wet ingredients, respectively, can be mixed in advance, but as soon as the wet and dry ingredients have been combined with each other, the liquid will activate the baking powder and the batter needs to be baked right away.


6. With a rubber spatula, gently fold 1 cup of chocolate chips into the batter. Don't overwork the batter.


7. Carefully spoon the batter into the prepared muffin pan (you can use a small ladle or even an ice-cream scoop).


8. Finally, sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips onto the tops of the muffins, and transfer to the oven immediately.


9. Bake 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean in an oven or in Convention Mode in Microwave for 10-13 minutes. Check with toothpick.


10. Remove pan from the oven and let the muffins cool for five minutes in the pan. Then remove the muffins from the pan and let them cool another five minutes on a wire rack.

Makes 12 to 18 chocolate chocolate muffins.