Coconut Blondie

Tea time cakes are fabulous you must agree. They're light, fresh, full of flavour and even better when home made. This one is an absolute favourite of mine. 

I wasn't very excited when I came across this, in 'Vanitha' magazine. I wanted to do a quick cake once and asked my mom to suggest a non-pound/chocolate/orange cake. She asked me to try her coconut cake, which is sooooo delightful. We hunted for the recipe a quite a bit. You know how it is. When you don't need something, it stares you in the face every day; and just when you need it, somebody in the house decided to do a bit of spring cleaning a day back!!!

So then, thankfully, my brain cooperated with me this time and reminded me of this recipe. So Coconut blondie it was! I made it for a birthday again, where most of the attendees were over 65 and not huge fans of chocolates. It went down more than very well, thankfully.

Again, I like this one without any icing or toppings. It's what tea-time cakes are meant to be - simple and without any fuss. It's a simple recipe and can be made in no time. The demerrara sugar and the coconut adds to the flavour

Coconut Blondie 

What you need 

1. Butter (softened) - 1 cup

2. Brown sugar/ Demerrara sugar - 1&1/2 cups

3. Eggs (big) - 4

4. Baking powder - 2 tsp

5. Vanilla essence - 2 tsp

6.All purpose flour - 2 cups

7. Grated coconut - 3/4 th cup

Here's How

• Preheat your oven to 350 deg F/ 170 deg C (I bakes at 150 deg C)
• Line and grease your cake tin (The recipe suggests 13x9 pan; I used a 20 cm round tin
• Beat the butter till smooth. Now add the sugar and beat till fluffy. Now add the eggs, one by one and beat on each addition till combined. Now add the vanilla essence
• Sift the flour with the baking powder; and fold it into the butter mixture. 
• Now, add the grated coconut and mix till combined
• Pour this into your cake tin and bake till a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake, comes out clean.(Took me around 45 - 50 mins in my oven)
• Cool and cut into delectable slices..tee hee

Recipe Source: 'Vanitha' magazine

Pav Bhaji - Street food/ fast food Indian style

Pav Bhaji is to Indians what hot dog is to the Americans, if I may. Indian fast food at it's best. Fresh pav buns toasted in ghee/ butter on the tava/pan with a medley of vegetables in a delectable amalgamation of spices, topped with a knob of butter and a sprinkling of finely chopped onions and a squeeze of lime. Drool-worthy to the last bite!

Vendors with pav bhaji are a common sight in the North of India, but unfortunately for those few of us down South, it is not. You do get in bigger cities here, but in my city, the only place that did serve street food closed quite some time back; and I'm not aware of any new place just yet

This is one my favourite recipe for pav bhaji. This recipe is chef Marut Sikka's version of the bhaji. I came across it in 'Rhodes across India' on UKTV. It uses mushrooms with gives it a nice texture, which is quite unusual in a traditional bhaji; I've also used cauliflowers sometimes. Really depends on how you like it. On the street, the bhaji is left to simmer for quite a while (Read an hour or more). Chef Sikka suggests 1/2 hour; I did 15 to 20 mins. 

Pav Bhaji

What you need

For the bhaji sauce

2 tbsp butter

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 large onion, finely chopped

400 g tomatoes, finely chopped

1/2 green pepper, finely chopped

1/2 yellow pepper, finely chopped

1 tbsp ground cumin

1 tsp red chilli powder

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

For the bhaji

3 tbsp butter

600 g potatoes, cooked, peeled and diced

1 large carrot, blanched and finely diced

150 g button mushrooms, quartered

1 green chilli, finely chopped

1 cm ginger, grated

2 tbsp chopped coriander

1/2 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp black salt, powder

To serve

50 g butter

pao bread rolls

Here's How

. For the bhaji sauce

1: heat the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat. Add the garlic and just allow it to soften before adding the onion. Gently fry until it turns translucent, without colouring. Add the tomatoes, reduce the heat and cook for 10 minutes until they start to reduce to a pulp.

2. Add the remaining ingredients, stir for a few minutes then remove from the heat. Transfer to a food processor and blend until smooth. Set aside.

3. For the bhaji: heat half the butter in a frying pan. Add the potatoes, carrots and mushrooms and cook for a few minutes, moving them around the pan so that the potatoes begin to break down. Remove for the heat.

4. In another large saucepan, heat the remaining butter over a low heat. Add the blended bhaji sauce and stir in the potato mixture. Add the green chilli, ginger, half the coriander, the garam masala and the black salt. Stir in a little water to loosen the mixture, then simmer gently for 30 minutes. In Indian street stalls it is usually left to simmer for 3-4 hours.

5. To serve: split the pao bread rolls in half and fry the centers in a knob of butter until crisp and golden. Serve with the bhaji.

Butter Cookies/ Jam Cookies

Call them what you want, but these are oh so lovely! These are the quintessential everyday biscuits/cookies (Depending on which side of the pond you stay). I remember Amma making us her version of the butter cookies, when we were in school. All shapes and sizes; melt in your mouth, simple home made biscuits. I'll reserve that for another day.

This post had been in my drafts for a while now. When I came across it in Ria's blog (Ria's collection), I made it immediately. I have made this over 20 times now and is equally loved by everyone. I always make this to send to my nephew and he loves it. He too prefers it sans the jam, though he is a 'jam person' (He loves his chapathis with jam too)

A few people have found it a tad bit less sweet for their liking; you could put on a small layer of jam then I suppose. I don't like to put jam on personally. I feel it masks the taste of the base cookie/ biscuit. These are ever so simple and tastes yum and fresh. Ria loves it with her jam I understand.


Butter Cookies/ Jam Cookies
What you need

1 cup butter, softened

½ cup sifted powdered sugar
2 ½ cup all purpose flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup raspberry/strawberry/mixed fruit preserve


Here's How

• Beat butter at medium speed of an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add powdered sugar, beating until light & fluffy. Add flour and vanilla, mixing well. Shape dough into a ball.
• Roll out the dough and cut out rounds, equal in nos. (You need 2 types: one solid round, another round with a smaller round in the centre i.e.; doughnut shaped); I did mostly solid round
• Pierce solid cookies with a fork. Bake at 300 deg for 20 mins on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake till very lightly browned.
• Spread jam just before serving & sandwich one solid cookie with the doughnut shaped cookie
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 Recipe Source: Ria's Collection 

(riascollection.blogspot.in)