Plum Cake

Plum cake is the one that comes to my mind after Santa during Christmas season😃 It was in my wish list for a long time. I made sure to bake it this year before Christmas & post it in my blog. But I was not much confident about the outcome as I rarely bake cakes & also its my first try on Plum Cake. And yes..finally I made a super soft & aromatic Plum cake👍 Felt nostalgic as it tasted similar to the one which my Dad used to get me from a famous bakery in my hometown😃 I always had a doubt why its called Plum cake when no plums are added to it or rarely can see dried plums in it. Then I came to know, initially Plum cakes made in European countries were prepared with fresh plums & hence the name. Then it changed over time & a wide range of cakes made with dried fruits & nuts are often referred as Plum cake or Fruit cake. In traditional method they used to soak the dried fruits & nuts in Rum for a month before adding to the cake mix. But in this recipe I soaked those in Orange & grape juices replacing Rum. Its a bit long process, but worth the taste😋
Try this recipe & celebrate Christmas with a yummy Plum cake🎂 Wishing you all a Merry Christmas🎄🎅 & a Happy New year💥

🎂Plum Cake Recipe🎂

Preparation Time : 15-20 mins | Soaking Time: 1day | Baking Time : 40-50 mins | Makes:1.65 lb
Category : Dessert | Cuisine : Indian

Ingredients   

All purpose flour/Maida - 2 cups

Brown Sugar -2 cups

Unsalted butter(softened) - 1 cup

Eggs - 5

Baking soda - 1/2 tsp

Baking powder - 1 tsp

Salt - a pinch

Vanilla extract - 1 tbsp

For Soaking:

Orange juice - 1 cup

Grape juice - 1/2 cup

Chopped nuts(Almonds,Cashews,Walnuts,Hazel nuts,Pistachios) - 1 cup 

Raisins(Black) - 3/4 cup

Tutty fruity+cherries - 1 cup

Orange Zest (top layer of orange peel)) - 1 tbsp

 

For Sugar caramelization:

Sugar - 1/2 cup

Water - 1/4 cup

Boiling water - 1/4 cup

For Spice Mix:

Cinnamon - 2 inch piece

Cloves - 5

Cardamom -2

Method:

1. The first step is soaking. Chop the nuts you needed to add. Put the nuts in a mixing bowl along with raisins, Tutty Fruity, Cherries & Orange zest & mix well.

2. Prepare a cup of fresh Orange juice & 1/2 a cup of grape juice. Add those juices to the above mixture in the bowl.

3. Allow overnight or 1 day to get those dryfruits & nuts to get soaked well & absorb those juices. I allowed to soak it for a day.

A day after..look how the fruits & nuts absorbed the juice.

4. Now comes the Caramelization part. Add 1/2 cup of sugar in a heavy bottomed vessel & a little water, say 1/4 cup or even less. Allow it to boil till all the sugar got dissolved & a thick syrup consistency is reached. It should be brown. Turn off the stove. 

While that process is going on keep ready 1/4 cup of  boiling water. Now add the boiling water to the thick, brown sugar syrup. The syrup will harden a bit. Turn on the heat again & heat till the sugar crystals dissolve. Once all the sugar crystals are dissolved & you get a smooth syrup (just like honey consistency) turn off the heat. Set aside & let it cool while you proceed with the cake preparation.

5. Add 1/2 cup of sugar, cloves, cinnamon stick & cardamom in a small mixer jar/blender & make it a fine powder.

6. Sieve 2 cups of all purpose flour/maida & set aside. Add softened butter in a mixing bowl & blend well with a hand whisk or an electric whisk.Then add 5 eggs & blend well. Now add caramalized sugar syrup, powdered sugar & spice mix & blend.

To the blended mixture add the remaining 1 cup of sugar, a tbsp of Vanilla extract, all purpose flour, a pinch of salt, baking soda & baking salt and blend well for 2 mins.

7. Finally add the soaked nuts & fruits mixture along with the juice to the above blended mixture. Blend those well. The mixture should be neither thick nor watery. It should be in the consistency shown in the pic. 

   Coat the cake tin/pan with butter & dust it with little flour. Or you can place a butter paper if u have.

8. Pour the blended cake mix to the coated cake pan evenly. 

9. Preheat the conventional oven to 350 F. Bake it for 40-50 mins. If you are baking in 10 inch pan it may take 70 mins. Check after 40 mins inserting a tooth pick. If it comes out clean without sticking, your cake is done & ready to take it out from the oven.

10. Allow it to cool completely & then make pieces.

Now the yummy Plum cake is ready to eat!🍰

Points to be noted:

• You can coat the soaked dry fruits & nuts with 3 tbsp of flour before blending so that it wont get deposited at the bottom while baking. 

• If you want to make this cake instantly without soaking for a day, you can boil those dried fruits, nuts & juices altogether for 5 to 6 mins in medium flame. Allow to cool completely & then add it to the cake mix batter.

• Don't skip adding Orange zest. It adds more flavor to the cake. You can add less cloves if u want less spice flavor. I added more to supress the egg smell.

Ghee Mysorepak

Mysorepak is one of the traditional sweets prepared during Deepavali in most of the houses. I tried it few years back but not satisfied with its texture. I always wonder the melt in mouth texture of Krishna Sweets Mysorepak. It was a nightmare & I never thought I'll be able to make this melt in mouth magic just by following an extra step of mixing besan flour & ghee. I gave it a try again.Yes..finally I got it:) Mysorepak can be made easily with less ingredients & its also less time consuming. Enjoy this Deepavali with this melt in mouth Mysorepak!!

Ghee Mysorepak Recipe

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 25 mins | Makes : 25 small pieces (approx)
Category : Sweet | Cuisine : South Indian

Ingredients

Besan Flour - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 cup
Water 1/4 cup
Ghee - 1.5 cup (1cup for mixing flour + 1/2 cup minus 2 tbsp for stirring)

Method

 1. In a pan add a tsp of  ghee and add a cup of besan flour to it & roast till a nice aroma comes, say for 5 mins. Then sieve the flour so that no lumps are there. Grease a plate with little ghee & keep aside.

2. In a bowl add 1 cup of ghee. Now add the sieved flour to it gradually stirring it without forming any lumps. Keep aside. Now add a cup of sugar in a non-sticky pan. Add 1/4 cup of water to it.

3.  Allow it to boil in medium flame till a single string consistency is reached. Reduce the flame to low. Now add the besan+ghee mixture to the sugar syrup and stir it continuously. Add the remaining 1/2 cup (minus 2 tbsp) ghee in intervals little by little while stirring.

4. Keep stirring till the mixture is not getting sticked to the pan. At a stage it will form a mass without sticking & bright yellow bubbles will appear. This is the right stage where you have to switch off & pour it in the greased plate. It will flow by itself beautifully as in the picture below. No need to flatten. Allow it to cool for sometime. When its warm cut it into squares or diamonds as you wish.

Store it in a clean container & enjoy your Mysorepaks.

Points to be noted:

* Besan flour should be roasted to avoid the raw smell. Don't skip it.

* There are 2 stages where you need to be very careful. One is checking the single string consistency of sugar syrup. The other one is to switch off & pour it when the correct consistency is reached. If not the Mysorepak will not be soft.

* Before adding the remaining 1/2 cup ghee while stirring remove 2 tbsp ghee if you dont want ghee oozing out. When I made Mysorepak first time I added 1/2 cup ghee fully. After pouring it in the plate some ghee oozed out though it didnt affect the taste or texture of Mysorepak. To avoid ghee oozing out this time I removed 2 tbsp from 1/2 cup.

* The whole stirring process should be in low flame. Use non-sticky pan for best results.

Ola / Ribbon Pakoda

As Diwali is round the corner everyone will be busy in shopping & the other important thing going in our mind will be to decide the Sweet & Savory we are going to prepare this Diwali. The best and easy option for Savory is Ola/Ribbon Pakoda. Its a good tea time snack too. Ola Pakoda can be made in two ways. We can soak the idly rice and grind it along with the other ingredients. The other method is using rice flour/Idiappam flour, grinding the ingredients separately and adding to it. Here I gave the easy method with rice flour. In this recipe we are not going to add besan flour. Instead I'm going to add roasted gram flour which makes the Pakoda more crispy. Lets get into the recipe..

Ola Pakoda Recipe

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 25 mins | Makes : 4 cups
Recipe Category : Snack | Recipe Cuisine : South Indian

Ingredients

Rice flour/Idiappam flour - 1 cup
Roasted bengal gram(Pottukadali) flour -1/4 cup
Butter - 1 tbsp
Sesame seeds(White) - 3/4 tsp
Salt as needed
Hing/Asafoetida -1/4 tsp
Oil - for frying

For grinding:
Dry red chillies -2
Garlic - 1 or 2 pods
Curry leaves - few
Jeera - 1/2 tsp

Method

1. Grind the roasted gram dal into fine powder and sieve it.

2. In a bowl add rice flour, roasted gram dal flour, melted butter, Sesame seeds, Hing & salt. Keep aside.

 

3. Now grind the ingredients given under For Grinding into a fine paste adding little water. Add it to the above mixture & mix well so that it all gets blended.


4. Add water to it little by little till you get a smooth dough consistency.

5. Heat the oil. Fill the dough in the Murukku press. Use Ola pakoda plate.

6. Press the dough in a circular motion in the heated oil. When one side is cooked well, flip to the other side.(Ssh sound & the bubbles will reduce once it gets cooked). Continue the same with other batches till all your dough is over.

7. Drain it in tissue paper & allow it to cool completely. Store it in an airtight container.

Points to be noted

* You have to grind the red chilli paste finely so that the seeds will not get stuck in the hole while pressing. You can even replace red chillies with a tsp of red chilli powder. Once I used green chillies. It tasted good too.

* Oil should be in a perfect temperature. Don't over heat. It will turn brown. If not enough heated the dough will split. So be careful in heating. If you drop a pinch of dough in oil it should rise immediately. Its the correct temperature.

* If you add more butter the pakodas will get separated in oil.

Kaara(Spicy) Kozhukattai

I thought of sharing this recipe long back. But somehow missed. As Vinayagar Chadhurthi is approaching I don't want to delay it further & wanted to share this recipe of Kaara Kolzhukattai. I was surprised when I heard from my friends & neighbours making Kaara Kozhukattai using rice flour. In my native place mostly they make it only with idly rice. I hope most of you follow the rice flour method. Do try this method for a change. This method is a bit longer. Believe me once you try this method, you'll stick on to this than making with rice flour. Though it comes under snack category, we usually have it for dinner.

Kaara(Spicy) Kozhukattai Recipe

Soaking Time: 2 hrs | Preparation Time : 20 mins | Cooking Time : 15 mins | Serves : 4
Recipe Category : Snack | Recipe Cuisine : South Indian

Ingredients:

For Grinding:
Idly rice - 2 cups
Shredded Coconut - 3/4 cup 
Cumin seeds(Jeera) - 1.5 tbsp
Curry leaves - a sprig
Salt as needed
Water - 1/2 cup

For Seasoning:
Oil - 1.5 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp
Channa dal - 1 tsp
Urad dal - 1 tsp
Onion(Medium sized) - 1(finely chopped)
Green chillies - 4 or 5 (Chopped vertically)
Curry leaves - a sprig
Cilantro - chopped finely

Method:

1. Soak the rice for minimum 2 hrs.

2. Grind all the ingredients given under For Grinding in a Mixie jar. Grind coarsely. Keep aside.

 
3. Add oil in a non sticky pan & season it with mustard seeds, channa+urad dals. Once they turn golden brown, add curry leaves, green chillies & chopped onions. Fry them till onion gets cooked & raw smell leaves. Add chopped cilantro & give it a quick stir.

4. Now pour the ground coarse batter to the seasoning and stir well continuously till it becomes thick. It will form a mass. Switch off at this stage & allow it to cool for sometime till it becomes warm.

5. Grease your hands with oil. Take a small portion & make cylindrical shapes pressing it with your finger impression. Repeat the same for the entire mixture.

  6. Arrange it in an idly plate & steam it for 15 mins.

Serve hot.

Points to be noted:

• Don't grind it smooth. The ground mixture should be coarse to get softer Kozhukattais.
• You can also grind red chillies with the mixture if you don't want to add green chillies in seasoning. But the taste will differ slightly.

About me

Hi Friends

Thank you for visiting my blog!!

To introduce about me..I'm Sathyasuganya, the writer and photographer of this blog. I'm living in USA with my husband Sivakumar and my 4 year old smart kid Sashwat.

As most of the ladies say, I too learned cooking only after my marriage. I just know to prepare tea pre-marriage. My mom is a great cook. I always admire the way she cooks. She cooks so fast and also every time it turns yummy too. But I never showed interest to learn cooking, as I got tasty food everyday. After my marriage one fine day came, where I was left alone in the kitchen to prepare sambar for lunch. I made a total mess, putting chana dal instead of toor dal, also added a full tsp of turmeric powder to get an attractive colour:) After such a terrible 1st experience in cooking, I realized that eating is a necessity but cooking is an art. Then I always used to call my mom and trouble her for each & every step of whatever I cooked.

My husband being a good critic, always gives me the right feedback, which helped me to improve a lot in my cooking. My little one is the sole reason for further improvisation in my cooking. He is a good taste indicator and never eats a food if something in it is lacking or excess. So I used to be very careful in preparing the food to make him eat. From my experience, I felt anything cooked with care, love & affection always adds a new flavor to the food. I always try new recipes whenever I invite some guests. Its weird right?:) But it worked well for me everytime, as I used to be more cautious that nothing should go wrong.

My passion for cooking really started once Sashu started eating solid foods. When I started to search a variety of recipes for him, I came across so many food blogs. I got impressed by the photographs in those blogs and I started exploring them. Also I started to experiment sweets & snacks, as here in US we don't have sweet shops in all places.Though there are some branded canned sweets in Indian shops, I usually wont prefer that. Nothing equals the homemade fresh ones.What say?

I went crazy on taking photographs whenever I prepare some special food, in order to show my mom on Skype. Also I like anything presented in an aesthetic way. But I never ever thought of starting a food blog, until I posted some of my clickings on Facebook. Some of my friends & my hubby motivated me to start a blog & now I'm here into the world of food blogging.

I don't admit myself as an excellent cook. Practice makes anyone perfect. Most of the recipes I post here are borrowed from my mom, referred from some food blogs and friends. Here I only post the successful recipes I have tried. I also apologize for not posting step-by-step pictures, as I have to put a lot of work all by myself right from cooking, arranging and composing a perfect shot before my kid returns from school(or else he'll pesture me for the camera:-) But I will try my level best to give clear instructions on step-by-step procedures.

My other interests are painting, arts & crafts and now food photography.

Hope you all enjoy my blog!!

Your comments & feedback are most welcome.

If you have anything to ask me regarding any of the recipes on the blog, you can mail me at sathyasdelicacies@gmail.com.

Strawberry Jam (Homemade)

How can I resist myself from making a recipe with the yummy fresh Strawberries picked straight from the farm?:) It was really a wonderful experience visiting a farm full of beautiful, delicious, ripe Strawberries ready for us to pick. My kid enthusiastically picked lots of berries and I was not sure if I can make use of all those before it gets spoiled. As the shelf life of Strawberry is less, I thought of making some recipe with it other than milkshake & finally came across this homemade Strawberry Jam. Yayyy! It turned out so good beyond my expectation. It is so easy to prepare and a good combo for not only bread, even Chapathis too. Now sharing with you all the recipe of Homemade Strawberry Jam without any preservatives or chemicals.


Recipe Cuisine: Continental | Recipe Category : Condiments
Prep Time: 10 mins | Cook Time : 15 mins | Makes :3/4 cup

Ingredients:

Fresh Strawberries - 30

Sugar - 3/4 cup

Lemon - 1

Method:

1. Remove the green leafy part and wash the Strawberries well.

2. Make puree of it using a blender without adding water.

3. Heat a non sticky pan and transfer the puree to it.

 4. Now add sugar and lemon juice to it and stir well.

5. Continue to stir it in medium heat for 10-15 mins till it becomes thick and glossy and switch off.

6. Allow it to cool and refrigerate in a clean airtight container.

Points to be noted:

• Don't make it too thick. Switch off once the puree is not watery and it reaches the glossy texture. It becomes even more thick when it cools down.
• Adjust the amount of sugar based on the tanginess of the berries you use. 
• You can even add a pinch of salt to enhance the sweetness.
• It stays good for 2 to 3 weeks if handled properly.

Royal Rose Falooda

Falooda is a rich, cold & creamy dessert/beverage most popular in the Northern parts of India. Though I'm not a big fan of Falooda, just wanna give it a try for my kid this summer when I came across some pictures of it in beautiful layers. The preparation of this dessert is so easy when all the ingredients needed for this recipe are kept handy.

Recipe Cuisine: Indian | Recipe Category : Dessert
Prep Time: 10 mins | Cook Time : 15 mins | Serves : 2

Ingredients: 

Milk - 1 cup
Rose Syrup/essence - 2 tsp
Vermicelli - 1/4 cup
Sabja(Tukmaria)/Chia seeds - 1 tbsp
Rose/Strawberry Jelly - 1/4 cup
Vanilla Icecream - 1 scoop
Chopped nuts - few for garnishing

Method

1. Soak the Sabja(Tukmaria) seeds in a cup of water for 15 mins.

2. Boil 2 cups of water & add the Vermicelli to it & cook till it becomes soft. Drain it & keep aside.

3. Boil milk in medium flame till it becomes little thick. Switch off & allow it to cool.

4. Meanwhile chop the Rose/Strawberry jelly into small pieces. Chop the nuts & keep it ready.

5. Once the milk got cooled, add rose syrup to it & strir well. If your rose syrup has sugar in it don't add sugar. If not or if you add rose essence, add sugar according to your taste.

6. Refrigerate the rose milk for 30 minutes. 

Serving:

1. Take a serving glass and first add a layer of  jelly to it.

2. Add rose syrup/essence above the jelly.

3. Then add a layer of cooked vermicelli.

4. Now add a layer of soaked Sabja/Chia on top of it.

5. Then add the chilled rosemilk till 3/4th level of the serving glass.

6. Now add a scoop of Vanilla Icecream at the top.

7. Garnish it with chopped nuts & jelly.

Serve cold.

Points to be noted:

• Don't forget to refrigerate the rose milk before serving.
• Add sugar based on the rose syrup you are using.
• Icecream of any flavor can be used.
• You can even garnish with fresh or dry fruits while serving.