Blueberry Sourcream Cake

This recipe is from one of my good old recipe books BBC Good Food Magazine, 101 Cakes and Bakes. This is the book which taught me how to bake. I never went wrong when I tried something from this book. Although I blog for different recipes and try a lot of new recipes, the cakes and bakes from this book are  my all time favourite.

If you want to buy this book click here.
Recipe adapted from the book BBC Good Food Magazine, 101 Cakes and Bakes
Serves 10
Ingredients:
Plain Flour- 225 g
Caster Sugar or Fine refined sugar- 175 g
Eggs-3
Butter- 175 g softened
Baking Powder- 2 tsp
Bicarbonate of soda- 1/2 tsp
Soured cream- 142 ml
Vanilla extract- 2 tsp
Blueberries- 300g
For the Icing
Soft Cheese like Philadelphia- 200 g
Icing Sugar- 100 g
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 degree celsius. Butter and line the base of 9 inch cake tin. Put the butter, sugar, vanilla extract, eggs, flours, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Beat with a electric mixer until well combined and looks pale. Beat 4 tbsp of soured cream and  stir in half of the blueberries.
Tip the mixture into the tin, level it and bake it for 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean..
Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then remove it from the tin, peel the paper. Then leave it in the wire rack to cool completely.
Beat together the soft cheese, icing sugar, soured cream until it looks creamy and smooth. Spread over the top of the cake and scatter the blueberries. You can also make like a blueberry sauce, by heating the blueberries with some honey, until the berries get mashed up, pour it on top of the cake.
The cake will keep in the fridge for a couple of days, this cake is at it's best when it's served on the day made.

This recipe goes to the bake-off event by Champa. A Visual treat  Colour your palate by Creative Sanyukta. It also goes to the event Dish Name Starts With B by Akila.

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My Three Course Meal For Ready Steady Cook Challenge

Ready Steady Cook Challenge was started by Hila of Add To Taste. When I first saw about this challenge in her blog I immediately signed in without any second thoughts. I was so excited to see about this challenge since this is a programme which I used to watch in TV almost everyday.

 Although my recipes were ready a few weeks before I was able to post it only now after a few difficulties in my network connection. Probably I'm the one who is the last to post the recipes for the challenge. 

 Anyway the challenge is about, you'll be given a list of 7 ingredients along with that you can use the pantry ingredients and create a three course meal. To view the pantry ingredients you can click here.

Here is the list of 7 ingredients which I got from Marissa of Creative Pot, thank you Marissa for giving me this excellent choice of ingredients..

• Dark Chocolate
• Rice
• Chicken Fillets
• Cheese(Any)
• Baby Marrows
• Red  Pepper
• Cardamom

I know this is a bit long post, but please take your time to view each recipe individually and I would love to know your comments about each recipe.

Right know let's go through the menu and then go straight into the recipes.

Paneer Wrapped With Baby Marrow

Ingredients:

For Home Made Paneer:

Milk- 1/2 litre

Lemon- 1/2

For Red Pepper Sauce:

Red pepper-1

Garlic- 2 cloves

Chilli flakes- 1/4 tsp

Olive oil- 2 tsp

Salt and pepper to taste

To assemble:

Paneer cubes- 3

Baby marrow- 1

Red pepper sauce- 1 tbsp

Wooden Skewers- 1 cut into 3

Oil- about 2 tbsp

Method:

For paneer:

Boil the milk in a pan, when it boils completely add the squeezed lemon juice little by little and stir it slowly, after few minutes you can see the milk curdling, and it gets separated. At this stage immediately take it off  from heat, and pour it in a muslin cloth and drain the water completely and wrap the cloth tightly, place a heavy bottomed pan on top of it. Leave it for few hours like 2 or 3 hours until the water drains out.

For the Red Pepper Sauce:

Wash the Red pepper, drizzle with oil and place it in a baking sheet, cook it in the preheated oven at 250 degree celsius until the outer skin gets blackened. Take it out from the oven, remove the outer black layer, blend it along with garlic, chilli flakes, oil, salt and pepper.
To assemble:
Cut the paneer into cubes. Wash the baby marrow, using a peeler, make some ribbons out of it. Season the paneer with salt and pepper, and  shallow fry in oil until it's lightly brown in colour. Wrap it with baby marrow ribbon, insert a skewer to hold it. Slice the remaining babymarrow and fry it slightly in oil, season it with salt and pepper.
 To assemble in a plate, pour some red pepper sauce in three circles, arrange the wrapped paneer cubes on top it, place the fried baby marrow on sides. Serve warm, it can also be served cold.

Rice, Kebabs and Stir Fry

Ingredients:
For the Rice:
Basmathi Rice- 1 cup
Butter- 1tbsp
Cardamom- 2
Cinnamon stick- 1/4 inch
Garlic- 2 cloves finely minced
Salt and Pepper to taste
For the kebabs:
Chicken Fillet- 1 diced into cubes
Red Pepper Sauce- I used the same which I used for starter along with juice of 1/2 a lemon, extra chillies,salt and pepper.
For the Stir Fry:
Baby marrow- 2
Garlic cloves- 2 minced
Cumin - 1/4 tsp
Oil- 1/2 tbsp
Salt and Pepper to taste
Method:
Chicken kebabs:
For the kebabs wash the chicken well, dice it into cubes, add the red pepper sauce along with juice of 1/2 a lemon, chillies, salt and pepper. Allow it to rest for about 1 hour.
 Preheat the oven to 220 degree celsius, insert the chicken pieces into the skewer stick, and cook for about 20 minutes on each side until the chicken is completely cooked.
For Stir Fry:
Dice the baby marrow into small cubes, heat the oil in a pan, add garlic and cumin. Now add the diced baby marrow, stir well, cover the pan and cook till it releases water. Leave it bit saucy, so that when you serve with rice it's not too dry.
For the Rice:
Heat the butter in a pan, add cardamom, cinnamon and garlic. Fry for 1 or 2 minutes. Add rice, 2 cups of water and salt. Cook until the rice is cooked and it's fluffy.
Serve the rice, kebabs and stir fry while they are still warm.

Dark Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake:

This is my third and final course for Ready Steady Cook Challenge. This is almost like a cross between mousse and cheesecake. I used a same recipe for mousse but instead of cream I have used cream cheese here.

Ingredients:
For the mousse:
Dark chocolate- 100 g
Egg- 1
Cream cheese- 50 g
Sugar- 1 tbsp
Butter- 1/2 tbsp plus 1 tbsp
For the biscuit base:
Butter- 100 g
Flour- 150 g
Sugar- 50 g
Method:
Browned Butter Biscuit:

For the browned butter, melt the butter in a pan in low heat, increase the heat and keep stirring until the milk solid turns brown and you get a nice nutty aroma. Pour it in a bowl, let it cool down. Cover with a cling film, keep it in the freezer for 15 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180 degree celsius. Sift the flour in a large bowl, add the butter and work with your fingers until it resembles a bread crumbs, then add the sugar,bring the dough together.
Grease and line a baking sheet. Take small balls out of the dough, roll it between your fingers, flatten it and place it in the baking tray. Bake it for about 30 to 35 minutes.

For the Mousse:
Melt 60g of chocolate in a bowl, sitting on top of simmering pan of water. Take the bowl when the chocolate is melted, add the butter, stir well, until the butter melts completely. Separate the egg yolk and white. Add the egg yolk to the chocolate mixture and beat well. In a separate clean bowl beat the egg whites until soft peak forms, slowly add the sugar little by little and beat until stiff peaks form.
 Add the beaten egg whites to the chocolate mixture, one tbsp at a time to loosen the chocolate mixture. Finally add the cream cheese, fold it gently into the chocolate mixture.
To assemble, crumble about 10 biscuit, add 1/2 tbsp of  melted butter to the crumbled biscuit and mix well. Place a Chefs ring in a plate, add the biscuit crumbs, press it gently, not too tightly, cover with cling film and leave it in the refrigerator for 1 hour, then pour the chocolate mixture on top of it. Cover it and let it set in the refrigerator for about 3 hours.
Melt the remaining chocolate or even some more with it, pour it in a freezer bag, make it like a cone shape, slightly snip the edges and pipe it in a greaseproof paper to your desired shapes. place it on top of the mousse when ready to serve.

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Golden Onion Quiche- Sweet Punch Challenge for September 2010

This is my second challenge with Sweet Punch Team, this time our challenge is savoury by Ria of  Ria's Collections.
 We have to bake a savoury quiche with veg or non veg, as I have all meat eaters in my family I have to make only with chicken. Quiche is something which used to fear to make it , due to the tart base. I never felt comfortable with the blind baking the tart case, and I have gone wrong a few times when I tried it. This time with Ria's recipe, I found that it can be done without blind baking yet delicious and melt in the mouth pastry. Actually I haven't tasted yet, just now I made it and I'm posting it immediately since I'm a bit late with this month challenge.

The buttery pastry, tandoori chicken filling, cheese and the Italian seasoning... Oooooh! I just have to wait a few more hours until Iftar :-(
If you want to start baking with Sweet Punch click here.
Ingredients:
For the pastry:
Plain Flour- 200 g
Butter- 100 g ( frozen)
Baking Powder- 1/4 tsp
Egg- 1 beaten Lightly
Cold water- 1 or 2 tsp
For the filling:
Tandoori chicken shredded- 1/2 cup( I used 2 to 3 thighs of chicken)
Milk- 3/4 cup
Cheese- 1/2 cup( the actual recipe suggested cheddar, I couldn't get that so I have used emmentaler)
Eggs- 3 lightly beaten
Onion- medium sized sliced thinly
Red, Yellow and Green Pepper- 1/4 of each chopped
Italian seasoning- 1/4 tsp( mixture of dried herbs like dried red pepper, garlic, black pepper, oregano)
Salt and Pepper for seasoning as required
Oil- 1/2 tbsp
Method:
For The Filling:
Shred the chicken from the bone completely. Slice the onion thinly and chop the peppers. Heat the oil in a pan, add the chicken and fry for 2 minutes, since it's already cooked it dosen't need much time. Add the onions, keep the heat in medium and stir until the onion reaches golden brown, take care not to burn the onions. Finally add the chopped peppers and take it off from heat.

In a large bowl mix together the eggs, milk, cheese and seasoning. Then add the chicken mixture and mix well.
Keep it separately
For The Pastry:
Preheat the oven to 200 degree celsius. Sift the flour and baking powder in a bowl, add the grated butter, rub between your finger tips to resemble like a fine bread crumbs. Add the beaten egg and bring the dough together, if it didn't come like a dough, add a few drops of cold water and bring the dough together. Roll out the dough to fit your baking tin size, carefully lift the dough and slide it inside the tin and press the edges.

Pour the filling inside the pastry case and bake it for 25 to 30 minutes, until the filling is set and pastry looks slightly brown on sides.
Serve the quiche warm with some side salad.

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Award Time

There is been a few awards which I received earlier, I couldn't post it immediately, sorry friends for the delay. Every time when I receive a award it makes me feel so excited and motivated. Thank you everyone for passing me these awards and showing your love and support.
Sister Jaleela have passed me the following awards

Super Chef Blogger Award by Sister Jaleela, Thank you sister for passing me this award.

Outstanding Blogger Award by sister Jaleela, Thank you sister for passing me this award.

Best Blog Award by sister Jaleela, Thank you sister for passing me this award.
Please don't forget to visit her blog to check all her mouthwatering recipes.
A Thank you card by Akila for participating in CID event. Thank you Akila for giving this card, do check her blog for all her creative recipes.

Again a Thank you card by Akheela of Torview for participating in her cold dessert event. Thank you Akheela for this beautiful card. Check her blog for all mouthwatering recipes , there is also a giveaway going on in her blog , don't miss it.

A Thank you card by Sara of Sara's Corner for participating in her Monthly Mingle- Party Treats. Thank you Sara for this lovely looking card.

Amrita Kalyani of AK's Vegetarian Recipes has passed me these awards, Thank you so much Amrita for passing me these awards.Do check her blog for her yummy recipes.

Next Innovative Chef Award by Niloufer of Kitchen Samraj for participating in her Soccer Mania event. Thank you so much Niloufer for giving me this great award.

This award comes with a rule, I need to pass this award to 5 other fellow bloggers, so I pass this to

1. Suhaina of My Singapore Kitchen
2. Nithu Bala of Nithu's Kitchen
3. Menaga of Sashiga
4. Kamalika of Silence Sings
5. Ananda of A Pinch Of Love.

Do visit all their blogs individually for all their creative recipes and beautiful photographs.

Thank you dear fellow bloggers for showering me with this all lovely awards and cards, your motivation keeps me blogging....

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Veggie/ Fruit A Month- Cherries Round Up

We have the round up of Veggie/ Fruit A month Cherries event round up on line with all luscious cherry recipes. I once again like to thank Priya Mitharwal who gave me this wonderful opportunity to host her event.
  I would also like to thank each and everyone who participated in this event and made this event a big success.
Without any further blabbering we'll go straight to the round up. It's in the order in which I received the entries.

Aipi of US masala started this event with her gorgeous looking red Cherry crumble with oaty crust and gooey cherries inside.

Next we have Cherry Almond Bars by girlichef with sweet cherry filling and buttery almond topping .

An easy to make Cherry Cake by Sathya of Super Yummy Recipes which is so soft, moist and delicious.

A beautiful looking Cherry Clafouti , a  heavenly dessert made by Sanyukta of Creative Sanyukta.

We have another delectable dessert from Aipi of US masala, Cherry Trifle made with layers of sponge cake, custard, cream, cherries and jelly.

A cooling and yummy milkshake , Cherry Mango Blast by Amrita Kalyani.

A spicy Dried Cherry and Onion Chutney by Priya Mitharwal.

A delicious rich Fruit Custard by Niloufer of Kitchen Samraj.

An easy to make fruit dessert to wow your guests in minutes, Cherry On Top by Reshmi Ahmed .

Dutch Cherry Cake, a light sponge cake with a lovely sugar crust by Sudha of Malaysian Delicacies.

Suneetha of Suneetha's Kitchen has send her refreshing summer drink, Cherry Lemonade.

A cooling and soothing Cherry Banana Lassi by Suneetha of Suneetha's Kitchen.

Light Fruit Cake , soft and moist fruit cake by Torview.

Whole Wheat Cherry Pancake, a healthy pancake by Aparna of APY Cooking.

A cute Almond Cherry Flower Cookies by Sathya of Super Yummy Recipes.

Following are my entries for the event

Cherry Tea Bread by Taste Of Pearl City.

Chunky Cherry Cookies by Taste Of Pearl City.

Cherry Halwa by Taste Of Pearl City.

Cherry Dosa by Taste Of Pearl City.

Hope you all enjoyed the roundup and got some good recipes using cherries. Once again my big thanks to all the participants. If I have missed any of your recipes please let me know. Have a nice weekend.
This month Veggie/ Fruit A Month- Okra is hosted by Kiran of Sumadhra, don't forget to check it out.

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Almond and Fig Peda

As a sweet lover I never said no to sweets, that too when it's celebration and festivals without any guilt there is been lots of sweets flowing around. This is one of them which I made it in the beginning of Ramadhan.
Ingredients:
Sweetened condensed milk- 1 can( about 297 g)
Home made paneer- 1 cup ( to see how to make your own paneer click here.)
Ground Almonds- 1 tbsp
Saffron - 1/4 tsp soaked in warm milk
Dried figs- 6 to 7( pureed with little water)
Rosewater- 1/2 tsp ( optional)
Method:
Blend the paneer in a food processor until it becomes soft and comes together like a dough or mash it up with your hands well. Crumble the cheese completely and mix it with condensed milk in a large microwave safe bowl. Keep it in the microwave high for 5 minutes without covering the bowl.
  After 5 minutes take the bowl out and stir well. Pour half the mixture separately in another bowl. To one half mix the ground almonds and saffron, mix it well. To the other half add the pureed figs and mix well.
 Microwave the almond mixture for 5 minutes, take out and stir well. Again microwave for 2 minutes, take it out and stir well. By this time it should have reached the required consistency, if it's still runny and liquid, microwave again for 2 minutes until it becomes thick and leaves the sides of the bowl.
 Repeat the same with the fig mixture and finally add the rosewater. Grease a plate with ghee or butter, first pour the fig mixture and flatten it, then pour the almond mixture on top of it. Let it cool down and cut it into squares, place a almond on top of each square.
This recipe goes to the event Celebrate Sweets- Peda by Joy of Cooking originally started by Nivedita.

This recipe also goes to Letz Relishh Paneer by Tasty Appetite.
Along with this recipe I'm also sending my carrot and paneer parathas to the Letz Relishh event.

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Cooking With Seeds- Nigella Seeds

Hi Everyone,
  Time for another event in Taste Of Pearl City. I'm more than happy to host Cooking With Seeds event started by Priya of  Priya's Easy N Tasty Recipes. I would like to thank her for giving this opportunity. I don't think we need introduction for Priya, she is popularly known among the bloggers for using the ingredients in a very creative manner, check out her delicious and creative recipes here.

  Next coming to the event, the seed for this month is Nigella Seeds which is also known as black cumin seeds, black onion seeds or kalonji seeds. You can see this seed mostly for the bread topping, this month just extend your creativity to use this seed in various other recipes as well.
  Nigella seeds are known for it's medicinal purposes for centuries both as a herb or pressed into oil. It has been known to reduce the risk of illness and disease by strengthening your immune system.
In Islam  it is regarded as one of the greatest forms of healing medicines available, Prophet Mohammed(saw) said nigella seeds can heal every disease except death, as recounted in the following hadith:

[Sahih Muslim : Book 26 Kitab As-Salam, Number 5489]

Abu Huraira reported that he heard Allah's Messenger as saying: Nigella seed is a remedy for every disease except death.

Narrated Khalid bin Sa'd :We went out and Ghalib bin Abjar was accompanying us. He fell ill on the way and when we arrived at Medina he was still sick. Ibn Abi 'Atiq came to visit him and said to us, "Treat him with black cumin. Take five or seven seeds and crush them (mix the powder with oil) and drop the resulting mixture into both nostrils, for 'Aisha has narrated to me that she heard the Prophet saying, 'This black cumin is healing for all diseases except As-Sam.' 'Aisha said, 'What is As-Sam?' He said, 'Death.' " (Bukhari)

Nigella seeds are also used for treatment of rheumatism, bronchitis, skin diseases like eczema, boils. Read more about Nigella seeds here and here.

Criteria for the event:

1. Cook or create any dish using Nigella seeds, veg and non veg are allowed.
2. Alcohol, pork or animal gelatine are not allowed for the event.
3. Link back to this event announcement page and Priya's event announcement page.
4. Old entries are also allowed , but please repost it by linking back to this announcement page.
5. No limit to the number of entries, you can send as many as possible.
6. Use of logo will be appreciated.
7. Email me at ayeesha.riaz@googlemail.com with the following details

• Name:
• Recipe Name and Url
• Category of the dish
• Picture width 300 px wide

Please send me your entries before September 30th.
Start using this precious seed in your cooking and send me your entries.

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