Grilled chicken and a Review

Do you like to own kitchen gadgets which are associated with famous chefs and food network cooks/chefs, I do. Not that it'll make me cook like them but it's kind of a pampered feeling, when you U get something like that, specially when it's gonna stay outside on the kitchen shelf (little show off won't hurt anybody right). So, thanks to CSN stores who have 200+ online stores and over 1 million products  I own my first piece of kitchen equipment which has name of one of our favourite chefs on it.....BAM!!! If you are thinking Emeril Legasse, you guessed it right.

If U remember my this post I got an offer from CSN to review any product from their site. I took few days browsing for single burner grill pan(cast-iron) and finally asked DH for some help in deciding and it took only few minutes and order was done. The moment he saw reversible feature on this YES one side is Grill and other side is Griddle, he said BAM! this is what your kitchen need. I'm going to share the recipe for grilled chicken I made using my new Emerilware Cast Iron Reversible Grill/Griddle, review after the recipe. Those who don't have a grill pan can surely bake it in the oven for around 30-40 min. at 350 degree F, depending upon the size of chicken pieces oven time will vary.

Note : I'm giving the recipe for 2 chicken breasts, which can easily fit in a pan also. If U are going to use two burner grill U can easily double the recipe as it can hold 4 chicken breasts I used combination of white(breast) meat and dark(leg pieces) meat because I wanted to see how much time does it take & which one gives the best result, check the review at the end of the recipe for details on that part.

What U need :

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breast cut into half(in total 4 pieces)
• 2 tablespoon thick yogurt/hung curd
• 7-8 garlic cloves
• around 1 inch piece of ginger
• 3-4 green chillies (use more or less acc. to how hot u like it)
• juice of half a lime
• 1 tsp. coriander powder(dhania)
• 1 tsp. turmeric(haldi)
• 1 tsp. red chilli(lal mirch) powder
• 1 tsp. garam masala
• salt
• 2 tsp. cooking oil

What U do :

1. Prick chicken with fork at 5-6 places.
2. Mix rest of the ingredients using small food processor/blender and marinade is ready.
3. Marinate chicken breasts in the above mixture for at least 4-5 hours. I marinate meat a night before as it gives very flavorful & moist result. Keep it in the fridge.
4. Take the chicken out of the fridge around half an hour before U want to grill it.
5. Prepare the grill, as I'm using double burner grill so it sets onto back & front burner. Before turning the gas on using a brush or kitchen towel oil the grill, make sure you get the oil on all the grill lines as this is not a non-stick grill so we gonna need that oil. In case of any x'tra oil on the grill blot dry it using some paper towel. I kept back burner on med. high and front burner on high(b'coz front one is small). Once it's hot adjust the heat level to med.. I adjusted back one to med. & front one to med. high, idea is to maintain same level heat(in my case I wanted med. heat) on both the burners so grill can maintain the same temp. (read notes in the review as I had a problem here).
6. Once the grill is hot put the chicken pieces onto it. I used my other cast iron pan to put some weight onto the chicken so I can get nice sear & grill marks(main reason for getting the grill) on the meat.
7. After around 7-8 minutes flip the chicken and cook for another 7-8 minutes. Use same tech. to get the marks on the other side too. I cooked chicken breasts for around 18 minutes in total.
8. Once the chicken is cooked, take it off the grill & cover it with foil & let it sit for 5 min. or so.
9. Serve it with chutney of your choice and some salad.

Now comes the REVIEW part of my Emerilware Double Burner Reversible Grill/Griddle

About Grill/Griddle : It's an Enameled Cast Iron by All Clad(a well reputed name in the kitchen world). Everyone can not understand how cooking can be fun when you have to move around a pan or a grill which is almost 13 & 1/2 pound in weight. Let me explain in simple words you get little extra iron in your diet when you cook in iron pots and pans, little extra flavor and a little workout at the same time and the satisfaction after looking at those grill marks priceless.

It's a reversible grill/griddle so that means one side is grill(with ribs) which can be used to make grilled meat, seafood, vegetables and grilled sandwiches like panini and you can have classic char grilled look specially on meats(with criss cross marks) and taste. Food cooks on elevated height for low-fat results.

Another side is griddle(flat surface) which can be used to make eggs, french toast, burgers, pancakes etc.

Size of the grill is 20" x 10.5" and perfectly fits on two burners which is good when U want to cook meal for the whole family. If U want to have criss cross marks on your meat don't overcrowd the grill as U need to move the meat around. Food cooked was moist from inside and we liked the char grilled look & taste. Here's my experience with 3 different foods I tried :

1) Grilled Fish : I used my this recipe & cooked 3 fillets of fish......2 tilapia & 1 rainbow trout.Now these are delicate fishes so didn't wanted to press them for grill marks. they cooked in around 8-9 minutes but did got stuck little bit(I had oiled the grill) and very little grill marks, wasn't very happy decided to grill fish steak next time as that is little more solid meat. But after few days saw 2 famous chefs(diff. shows) on food network grilling same tilapia and there result was also very much same like mine(now feeling much better).

2) Grilled Chicken : Chicken breasts were very moist(were done in 18 minutes) & was so happy to get the criss cross marks (to get that, turn the food by 1/4 circle once it's half way on the first side). I did used meat thermometer to make sure it's cooked. The problem here was dark meat, chicken legs do take longer time to cook so I did gave them a go ahead but by the time all other pieces were cooked legs were still raw from inside & because the grill was half empty it was making a smoke plus I wasn't sure if keeping them longer will still keep the meat tender so I finished cooking them in my toaster oven for another 20 minutes or so.

  For next time I have decided to use only one kind of meat at a time.

3) Burger on griddle : I really loved these. I used my recipe from here for meat balls & instead made burger patties 8 patties in 10-12 minutes, that's quick and in the mean time toasted the buns in toaster oven.

Cleaning Grill side : I loved the food but I really did not liked to clean the grill, though it's pre-seasoned & I also applied oil before grilling but still food got stuck & reaching all the spots in the grill can be time consuming(I'm talking 15 min. or so). U can not use any harsh metal brushes & also it's not advisable to soak cast-iron in water for long time. So for next time I'm gonna use a toothbrush I'm hoping that will make my job easier and also I might try cooking spray instead of oil if that works better.

Cleaning Griddle Side : This one sure was easy, took may be couple of minutes.

Weight & Storage: As I mentioned above it's around 13-14 pounds, not for a kitchen where U don't have a space to leave it on the kitchen top somewhere as it can be really heavy if U gonna store it inside after every use, chances are U might not use it at all. I don't have a very big kitchen so where I'm keeping it---- I have around one feet of counter space between pantry closet & stove, so I'm keeping it there on top of a non-skid mat,  in standing position leaned to the pantry closet.

Other Things to note : Though it is suppose to maintain heat level, I felt electric gas is not the best option for this as the food kept on the small burner side took longer time because the burner does not cover all the width of grill on its side so it wasn't very hot on the sides. Yesterday checked some reviews on the web & most of them said the same thing about using it on electric burner,but it's great for gas stoves. So, changing the apartment is one option I think I should consider now......ummm.....or may be just try to put only that much food on the smaller side burner which can fit on top of the burner area(I guess second option is more practical so I'll stick with that).

Some other features(as mentioned on the material provided with it) :

Enameled cast iron construction for superior heat retention and distribution.

Unique fat drainage channels incorporate pouring spouts for easy cleanup

Tough enamel surface reduces odor absorption.

Suitable for all stove tops, excluding glass and ceramic cook tops.

Lifetime warranty

Cost, Shipping & handling : Cost of  the Reversible Grill was $49.95, it seems like a pretty good deal. It did took around 3 weeks to get my grill some confusion as FedEx left my package at the apartment office without any notice on my door & I kept waiting. Finally got it at the end of November.

My Final words for this Reversible Grill : I like it, food cooked on it was moist & flavorful. I still have to try many things on it(most important one is to get my husband addiction of this, so that I can have vacation from the kitchen sometime...BAM!). I'm comfortable using griddle on any day but for grill I'll def. prefer weekend as cleaning is little time consuming, but once I get hang of it then it might be different.

Disclosure : Review given above about the Emerilware Reversible Grill is totally my opinion, it's no way influenced by any company or person. I was given an opportunity by CSN stores to do the review of any product from their site so I got this grill for free from their site. I have not received any money for the review, from CSN Stores or any other company or person.

Merry Christmas

Wishing all my readers a Very Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday Season.This year due to some reason we are not putting Christmas tree so my 8 yr. old decided to make one from green felt. And this year we are having white Christmas(it's snowing since friday mor.) so I decided to give little snow effect on the tree also using some white thread. She also wanted stockings, so I made these cute ones, it was a nice DIY project. As I said we are not putting any tree this year so to help Santa she made this sign couple of days back...

you can't stop smiling/laughing right but it's very important.....Santa is a busy guy he should not be confused.....Once again Merry Christmas.

And fear is all gone........ Eggless Pumpkin Pie

Finally I made The egg less Pumpkin Pie this Thanksgiving(after 4 years of will try next time) and the fear of eggless custard based pie is over and I’ve got the confidence that custard based pies can  be made eggless too. Also sharing a secret.....I was always doubtful until now that how pumpkin can taste good in dessert. So, was it good..... Of course it tasted good that's the reason I'm writing this post (though the picture didn't came out very good). Little help from the Internet and decided on using corn starch(corn flour) as egg substitute. Only problem the pie crimp(edges of the crust) came out little extra dark but the pie custard as well as crust tasted very good and did bring million dollar smile on my 8 yr. old face. Custard filling tasted very smooth & creamy and no taste of corn starch(that was my biggest fear it gonna taste chalky), crust was really flaky though I had reduced the butter as compared to original recipe. Now about the crimp, after thanksgiving was over I was looking at my local grocery shop ad page and I saw that they sell pie crust shield which covers the edges so that they don't over brown....oh !! so it looks like a common problem.

I used the recipe from Libby's can of pumpkin puree as a base and tweaked it a bit as I wanted eggless pie and also there were few things in the fridge which needed to be taken care of ASAP. So here's my version for 9 inch pie....

What U need :
For Crust :I used the Pate Brisee(short crust pastry) recipe from Joy of Baking but changed the amount of fat used in it.

• 1 & 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tablespoon granulated white sugar
• 4 tablespoon unsalted butter, chilled & cut into samll cubes
• 2 tablespoon vegetable shortening ( I used it cold cut into 5-6 pieces)
• 1/8 to 1/4 cup ice cold water

For Custard :

• 1 can(15 oz.) pumpkin puree(next time I'm sure I'm gonna make fresh puree)
• roughly 2/3 of a can condensed milk (it must have been 8-9 oz. as full can was of 14 0z.)
• 1 small can(5 oz.) evaporated milk
• 2 tablespoon ricotta cheese
• 4 tablespoon corn flour(corn starch)
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. ginger powder(i used sund from my spice rack)
• 1 tsp. cinnamon powder
• 1/4 tsp. all spice powder(can be easily substituted with clove powder)

Note : 1. I'm not using any sugar as I'm using sweet condensed milk.

2. If only evaporated milk is used U need to add sugar.
3. If only condensed milk is used I guess quantity of corn starch can be reduced by a tablespoon or so.

What U do:
For Crust :

1. Using a food processor mix flour salt and sugar for few seconds.
2. Add butter and shortening, process it using pulse setting for around 15 seconds. Mixture will look like coarse meal.
3. Add water to this mixture while the processor is running. U might not have to use all the water, start with small quantity & add only a tablespoon at a time till the dough comes together, it will be still crumbly kind & not smooth but that is the perfect dough for pie. This process should not take more than 30-40 seconds.
4. Take out the dough mixture on the work surface & gather it into round ball & flatten it a bit into disk and cover it tightly with plastic wrap & let it chill in the fridge for around an hour. I kept it overnight. Important : while working with pie dough try to handle it as less as possible because body heat from hands can melt the butter which can lead to hard crust instead of flaky crust.

For Custard :

1. Mix corn flour with evaporated milk, making sure there are no lumps. Keep it aside.
2. Mix Pumpkin puree & ricotta cheese. Use food processor if cheese is not mixing smoothly. I did not used any, there were few white specs of  chesse bits in pie but taste wise it was smooth and final output was creamy.
3. Mix corn flour mixture from step 1 with pumpkin puree mixture from step 2, mix in all the spices using a whisk and the custard is ready to be poured into the pie shell. At this point if U want it can be refrigerated also.

For Assembling & Baking Pie :

1. Once U are ready to assemble the pie, take chilled dough out & sprinkle some flour on the work surface.
2. Roll the dough into 13 inch circle( please check the original recipe for details about rolling the pie dough) and transfer it to pie pan.
3. Make some pattern on the edges or trim them....your choice. I did made some leaves with x'tra dough & attached them using little water but as I mentioned over browning of edges` was the only problem with my pie so I actually trimmed the edges before serving.
4. Cover it with plastic wrap & chill it for around half an hour. And while U put the pie crust in the fridge to chill take out the custard from the fridge if U prepared it ahead of time,using whisk mix it thoroughly to make sure that ingredients are not settled down.
5. When ready to bake preheat oven to 425 degree take the pie crust out & pour the custard into it.
6. Bake for 15 minutes in 425 degree oven & then turn down the temperature to 350 degree bake for another 40-45 minutes.
7. To check the doneness, knife inserted about 1 inch from the side of the pan should come out clean, center will still look wet, but in my case I baked it for total of 60 minutes(15 at 425 degree + 45 at 350 degree) and centre was also set properly. I'm not sure how it works for pie with eggs or for that matter eggless also as this was my first trial of any custard based pie. cool it on wire rack. Serve it as is or with some freshly whipped cream.

Useful Tip : I prepared the custard & pie dough a night before thanksgiving, assemble and baked the pie next day, saved me time on busy thanksgiving day. To store the custard keep it in the airtight container inside the fridge. For storing the dough, wrap the dough in plastic wrap & refrigerate it.

Sending this creamy custard & flaky crust pie to Champa's weekly bake-off and also to Suma of Cakes and More who's hosting a giveaway of  "The Cake Bible" by Rose Levy Beranbaum for her first blog anniversary celebration, Happy Blog Anniversary Suma. And if U like to bake I'm sure these are the blogs worth visiting.

Eggless Black Forest Cake BUT no cherries

November is the month for party & celebration in my house. Other than regular festivals we have 4 birthdays and 2 wedding anniversaries to celebrate and out of these 6 celebrations 5 fall within the period of 10 days . This year I decided not to bake any cakes for anniversaries but for birthday's no excuse. So today I'm sharing this birthday cake I baked for my little one, she is two now, independent enough to do everything by herself(at least that's what she thinks). She had lots of fun whole day singing her b'day song...."Happy birday toote cakeah" and do I need to say the girl enjoyed the cake as much as she enjoyed singing her b'day song.

Recipe is simple, you basically need two or more layers of chocolate sponge cake, fresh heavy whip cream, some maraschino cherries and some good quality chocolate bar.  And once you assemble all this tasty stuff into layers the end result will be Black Forest Cake. My cake won't count as true Black Forest as cherries are missing from mine, mainly because b'day girl love MnM's and also I opted not to use any cherry liquor(kirsch) which is traditionally used  to soak the cake but rest of the elements are there. Mainly it's the whip cream which my kids love to eat cakes with so I decided to go for this. I baked the batter divided into 2 equal parts in 6 inches round pan, it sounds small but with our family of four I found this is the perfect size of cake plus it's going to be double layer so everybody gets enough.....plus I've a personal reason also, if I bake big cake then I get to bake less often....so small cakes mean more baking. Now for the recipe :

What U need :

For Cake :

• 1 cup all purpose flour/maida
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup sugar(not using much sugar here as we r using sugar syrup & sweet whip cream)
• 1 cup buttermilk OR 3/4 cup of home made dahi + 1/4 cup of water
• 4 tablespoon butter at room temperature
• 1 tsp. vanilla essence

For Syrup :

• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tablespoon regular white sugar(adjust as per your taste, how sweet u like)

For Filling and Assembly :

• 1&1/2 cups fresh heavy whip cream(I only had 2 layers of cake in case if u r using more layers, will need more cream)
• 2-3 tablespoons on confectioner sugar(depending upon once taste.....more or less sugar)
• handful of M'n'M's (for filling if U can find small M'n'M's that works great, I was out of them so I used regular size only)
• semisweet chocolate bar

What U do :
For Cake :

1. Mix all the dry ingredients & sift  them to make sure no lumps are there.
2. Cream butter & sugar. Add buttermilk or dahi. Mix it.
3. Slowly add dry ingredients & mix everything together.
4. Divide the batter into two 7 inches greased pans & bake them in pre heated oven at 350 degree F till the tooth pick inserted comes out clean.
5. Let the cakes cool completely.

For Syrup :

1. In the mean time while cake is cooling mix the water & sugar & make a syrup. Keep it in the fridge.

For Filling and Assembly :

1. Whip up the cream with confectioner sugar to stiff consistency.(* see Baker's Notes) Keep it cold by placing it in the fridge when not working with it.
2. Keep one cake onto cake board/serving plate, using a pastry brush drizzle/rub some syrup into it.
3. Spread some whipped cream, around 1/2 inch thick layer & sprinkle some M'n'M's(see Notes if using cherries) onto it.
4. Now put second cake upside down on it (* see Baker's Note at the bottom).
5. Drizzle some syrup onto it.
6. Using a offset spatula spread some icing on all the sides, if U have a turntable make sure to use it here because it really makes it easy. If icing on sides is not very smooth don't worry as in any case chocolate shavings will cover the sides.
7. After icing on the sides ice the top of the cake, smooth it out.
8. On parchment paper grate/shave the chocolate bar, I like to use my vegetable peeler, just make sure it's washed & dry(no vegetable odors)(*see Notes)
9. Now come the most tedious or U can call it fun part  decorating the sides with the chocolate shavings. I did it the way I've always done it. Before starting with icing I always cut 4-5 strips of wax/parchment paper around 4-5 inch wide put them around & under the cake in a way so that half of the strip(width wise) is under the cake, so in case if icing etc. fell on the cake platter it's much easy to clean. Now either use your hands directly or put some choc. shavings on a piece of parchment paper & try to put it on to the edges.....icing will work as glue and will hold the shavings but there will be lot of chocolate shavings falling down & will get sticky & melty too so when it's done, to clean up U just pull the strips at the end and as a bonus U get to lick all that chocolate which falls on these strips...BUT now this is tedious way that's what I think & till now I never thought about googling it also as I normally decorate a cake once in a while(and my kids in routine are happy with some lots of whip cream & sprinkles on top). But now as I was writing this post thought about checking on web about same issue.....except the first result of my search nothing else(at least on the first page) delivered what I was looking for but that one result does answer this problem(click here if interested) and next time I'm gonna try that and yes it will change the sequence of steps in the filling & assembly part as according to that forum this should be the first step.
10. Decorate the top of the cake as U wish with M'nM's or cherries or cover it totally with chocolate shavings.

Click of Baby Black Forest (it's hardly 4-5 inches in diameter) I made last year when hubby dear said no to Black Forest cake for his b'day (made after his b'day to satisfy my craving) & instead he wanted this one. 

 Notes :

1. If using cherries drain & de-seed them. 
2. For filling crush some cherries and spread them inside the layer along with the whip cream, making sure do not spread them to the edges, keep at least 1 inch margin from the edge of the cake, otherwise when U put the second layer on top of it filling will come out.
3. Try to handle grated chocolate gently as it will melt quickly with your body heat.

Baker's Note :

1. Whenever U want to decorate a cake make sure to use downside up(or call it upside down) because that's the smooth side.
2. When whipping the cream make sure the bowl, whisk & cream everything is chilled otherwise it might not give U the right results.

Off goes this cake to Champa for her weekly bake-off.

Keema Patties/ Puff Pastry with Minced Meat filling

As I promised in my last post, here's one very easy recipe using keema(minced meat)....Keema Patties as we use to call it in India or I should say Savoury Puff Pastries with minced meat filling. It can be served as snack or as we like to have it as holiday brunch item also. Usually I cook keema a day before for this & then it's his responsibility to get these patties/puff pastries into final shape & to the table. You can use any left over keema or make fresh batch, only thing important here is, it should be totally dry & at room temperature. In case of any water in the cooked keema cook it on the high flame without any cover & keep stirring it till all the water evaporates & keema is pretty dry. Let it cool completely before using in the recipe. Following recipe will yield 4 patties.

What U need :

• 3/4 cup cooked keema(recipe here) for filling
• 1 ready-to-bake puff pastry sheet(each pack has two) thawed acc. to package direction

Note : Fish out the bay leaves & whole red chillies from the filling.

What U do :

• Open up the pastry sheet. Cut the puff pastry sheet into 4 equal squares.
• Divide keema filling into 4 equal parts. Put each portion of filling into the centre of each square.
• Wet one of your finger and run it over the inside edge of pastry sheet square.
• Fold it into triangles & press gently onto the sides to seal the edges. Repeat with all the squares.
• Put it on a lightly greased baking sheet. Using a fork pierce the triangles at 3-4 places. Bake as per the package directions or at 400 degree F till the patties turn lightly golden brown.
• Serve with your choice of sauce/ ketchup/ chutney and please be careful, meat inside will be really hot & did I told U they are addictive and I really mean it.

Keema Matar(Minced meat and peas) with hidden veggies and Upcoming Review

Today I want to share few things with my readers. First of all wonderful people at CSN contacted me again as a preferred blogger back in the month of sep. for review of any product from their stores (I see new gadget coming into my kitchen for a review). I promised them but  never get to blog about it, and now after almost one & a half month when I came back they still have that offer open from me....so they are wonderful, right? Today I was browsing their collection of  Dining Tables and came across this Dining nook set, how I'm wishing I had a little big apartment so I could have something like that in my dining area. Always love that kind of table, give me the feeling of being kid sitting on that bench.

Another thing to share is an award passed to me by one of my favourite blogger Suma of  Cakes and More. No doubt I love her Cakes/Bakes but also like More section of her cooking too. She is a wonderful cook & a Baker too. Thanks Suma, for sharing the award with me and sorry also as it took so long to post this award.

Also sometime back in the month of Oct. it was Spicebuds first blog anniversary, I myself was so busy with the family back in India that I totally forget about it. Now, moving to today's recipe it's very simple & tasty. Everyone in my house loves it, it's perfect for the times when U don't want to spend lot of time in front of the gas but still want all happy faces on the dinner table asking for another helping. Also a very versatile dish....can be served with rice, roti or naan. When U read the recipe you'll see why I love it so much.....it's quite easy to sneak in some extra veggies(see notes at the end) in this meat dish without losing actual taste of keema. This recipe serves 4 hungry tummies.

What U need :

• 2 pound of minced meat of your choice chicken/turkey/lamb (*see notes)
• 7-8 cloves of garlic, finely minced
• 1 inch piece of ginger, finely chopped
• 3-4 green hot chillies
• 1 med. onion finely chopped
• 2 stalks(branch) of celery, finely chopped
• 3 med. size tomatoes, finely chopped or pureed using blender/food processor
• 1 tblsp. of tomato paste
• 1/2 cup (or more)  peas
• 1 zucchini, finely chopped or very thinly grated.........totally optional
• 2 small carrots very thinly grated(good idea to use food processor here).............totally optional
• handful of fresh cilantro leaves for garnishing
• cooking oil *see notes
• salt
• 3-4 dry red chillies
• 1-2 bay leaves (tej patta)
• 3-4 cloves (laung)
• 1 tsp. cumin (jeera)
• 1/2 tsp. turmeric (haldi)
• 2 tsp. coriander powder (dhania powder)
• 1 tsp. red chili powder
• 1 tsp. garam masala

Notes : Chicken & Turkey keema(minced meat)  comes in many varieties in terms of Fat contents in it. When U look at the packet it says something like 93/7 means 93% fat free & 7% is the fat content. this is what I normally choose as I'm gonna use around 2 tblsp. of oil also for sauteing the garlic, ginger, onions & celery. But there is something like 80/20 also, so U can choose as per your taste & requirement or u can mix  & match.

What U do :

• Heat the oil in a heavy bottom pan, add cumin, dry red chillies, bay leaves & cloves. Once they start to splutter which should not take more then 15-20 sec. or so add garlic, saute it.
• Next goes ginger & a sprinkle of salt, which helps ginger not to stick with pan.
• After few seconds, in goes celery & onions, saute till they are soft & onions are translucent. Now add minced meat to the pan & brown it, also break the big lumps of meat using back side of a big spoon. I prefer to do this step on high gas while stirring it, once the meat is brown(it release some fat too) turn the gas to med. & keep stirring it occasionally making sure it doesn't stick let it cook for 5 minutes or so.
• Time to add all the dry spices except garam masala. stir it thoroughly. Add peas, zucchini & carrots, this will add some moisture also. Let it cook for another 10 minutes or so, stirring occasionally.
• Add green chilies, tom. paste & tomatoes. Cover & cook till done, approximately another 15 minutes or so. Check in between to make sure it's not sticking, if needed add water .
• Also toward the last 5 minutes of cooking add water as per the consistency of the final dish U need. We don't like it too liquid kind just little thick gravy kind to go with rice so I usually add around 1/2 cup of water.

Things to Note : If u r using veggies like carrots they gonna add little sweetness to the final dish so U might want to add extra heat by using an extra chilli or chilli powder.

Garnish with fresh chopped cilantro & serve it the way U want or for some extra ideas wait for the next post.

Back to blogging and a Flower Cake to share

First of all thanks to new followers & my readers who asked for my well being thru emails and sorry also as I could not respond to those mails or for that matter any mails during past 6-7 weeks. There I was back in mid of September, working on one of my post which I never get to complete and sudden plan for trip to India, my mind started working on another post just to tell the Blog world about my break & I never get to write that too. Now in the middle of night, making good use of jet lag, while I'm writing this post I'm thinking what happened to all that time where did it go, some of that is captured in camera as life long memories, some of it is in suitcases(in terms of shopping I did there) which are still lying every where in my living room but most of it is in our mind and hearts.....the time spent with family, watching kids playing and fighting with their cousins, urge to eat every single food which we like over there (still missed on so many), watching my little one that how she picked up new words and now her favourite word is "nahi" instead of "no" which is basically hindi for no only.....instead of "give me" now it's "lele" (hindi for take it)......list goes on & on.

Now, coming to the cake part this is the cake I baked for my DD's 8th birthday party this year back in April but never get to post it. So, I thought why not share it now. It was a basic egg less chocolate cake with butter cream frosting. This was my first public debut cake I would say, not that I have not baked cakes for friends & family before but in terms of real cake(decorated one) as my daughter say, this was the first one. I have always loved to bake cakes & my family and friends always enjoy it also but back in march when I told my DD how about I bake cake for your b'day party this year, reply was "Ohhhh.....no...no...no!!!". But once cake started to take shape she was on the cloud nine and me too..... it was a relief when the cake was totally done.

Here's another look....ready to go to party place....

tried my hands on making figures(using some help from the net) with fondant to give it a  little 3-D look, worked wonderfully

some leftovers after serving around 25 guests and getting few best compliments of my life

finally my helping hands

If anyone wants any details on the cake let me know I'll be happy to answer. That's it for now, will be back soon.