Chocolate Pumpkin Cake

My housemate (also known as my de Facto by a friend of mine) and I are doing this 6 week diet plan so start looking sexxxual to lure in lovers and possible suitors. Week 1 was Vegetarian week! sigh. For anyone who knows me, they all know I'm the biggest carnivore alive. I cannot survive without my meaty goodness. At home in mother Lanka, we have to be vegetarian one day a month when it's a full moon day (a religious mumbo jumbo) and I pretty much starve the whole day, because I hate vegetables and there's nothing for me to eat. I survive on Maggi soup. It's really painful. you just don't understand my love for meat, like seriously. 

Anyway, since I decided it's time for me to start looking sexxxual because it is the prime of my life or something to that effect, I decided to make week 1 vegetarian week. So option A lunch was Dhal and Mushroom curry. Option B lunch was Pumpkin curry. Week 1 went really well actually. I didn't crave meat as much as I thought I would. 

Anyway, I wasn't meant to be writing about my stoopid sexxxual diet. I was meant to write about why and how I made Chocolate Pumpkin Cake. Yeah, so we had extra pumpkin left over from week 1. I never really understood the fascination with pumpkin in desserts. It's a big Halloween and Thanksgiving thing in America but I didn't find it that interesting. The de Facto brought home a super moist almost fudge like dense piece of cake from work and she said to eat it and tell her what the flavour was. I'm normally really good at figuring out flavours and ingredients but I just couldn't figure this one out. When she said it was pumpkin -  MIND = BLOWN. So I decided to make some. I found the original recipe here, but as per usual I changed the ingredients and added my own twist to it. It came out so moist and dense and awesome.I topped it off with some Brandy Butter Icing. But instead of brandy I used whiskey because that's all we had at home. Don't ask me why.

Your Challenge: Pump it up with some Pumpkin stuff

Ready --- Steady --- Cook

Chocolate Pumpkin Cake

INGREDIENTS:

100g Plain flour

100g Self raising flour

200g sugar

120g salted butter

50g cocoa powder

2 eggs

2 tablespoons cinnamon

1 tablespoon nutmeg

200g pumpkin  puree

1/2 cup yoghurt or sour cream

2 teaspoons Vanilla

 

METHOD:

1. Pre-heat the oven at 180°C and grease pan (Bundt cake pan or whatever you have).

2. If using fresh pumpkin, chop it and add a little yoghurt or sour cream and blend it till it's a puree.

3. In a bowl combine the dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder,  cinnamon and nutmeg.

4. In a mixing bowl with electric mixer, cream butter with sugars until light and fluffy.

5. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and then beat in vanilla.

6. Slowly beat in the dry mixture, alternating with the sour cream/yoghurt and pumpkin. Beat until well blended, scraping the sides of the bowl a few times.

7. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan

8. Bake for 25 mins or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted.

9. Cool in the pan on a rack for 15 minutes. Invert onto a serving plate to cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar or ice with an orange tinted glaze or thin icing.

 

Notes:

You can find the original recipe here. I have halved the ingredients in the original recipe and made this version and even then there was waaay too much batter left. My recipe yields a lot because the 2 eggs make a very fluffy/rich batter.

-Also, I mixed plain flour and self raising flour because I did not have baking soda at home. Whoops.

-I used fresh pumpkin and blended it with the yoghurt to get a puree like substance.

-I used yoghurt because I didn't have Sour Cream at home either. (really didn't think this one through)

-The original recipe says to bake it for 1 hour. I generally do the toothpick trick because every oven is different. So bake till you deem necessary.

Brandy Butter Icing:

Whisk butter, icing sugar and a tablespoon of Brandy together.

To make it feel Pumpkin-ee, mix in orange colouring and serve on the side.  

Note: Orange = Red+Yellow  food colouring. However, mix the yellow in first and add red little by little depending on how dark you want it to be.

Challenge Accepted ???

Enjoy

Tosakanth!

Baklava

One of my friends in Sydney was leaving and going back to the mother land for good. So for her farewell they wanted me to make something because they've been seeing all the culinary expeditions that I've been on. I've been out Sheesha-ing with this chick who is leaving a few times and she mentioned that she LOVES Baklava. When I say love, what I really mean is - obsessed. She buys these things in bulk from a shop in some godforsaken corner of Boganville NSW. How she finds these places, I don't know.

I am not a Baklava fan. I find it too sweet to handle. I feel a bit nauseous just from its super sweet rose-watery aroma. Anyway, I decided to make Baklava for her because she loves it. May as well fare her well, well.  I always thought it must be super difficult to make because it looks pretty complicated. But seriously, it's soo easy. The only thing that is annoying is the layering of the sheets and there is so much butter involved, this cannot possibly be good for you. Anyway, I looked up a few recipes and found some good ones and mixed them all together to get the final result. So the recipe below is a fusion of about 3 recipes. It turned out pretty well. I myself had a few pieces and enjoyed it without feeling nauseous. That says a lot. Seriously. I can't walk by donut shops without feeling nauseous. To get myself to actually eat the Baklava proves that it's a good recipe.

Your Challenge: make some Baklava for your Luvah.

Ready --- Steady --- Cook

Baklava

INGREDIENTS:

375g pack filo pastry 
450g Chopped Walnuts and Pistachio mix
250g Butter
3 tablespoons of sugar
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons of Rose Water
1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract

For syrup:
200g sugar
250ml water
130 ml honey
3 tablespoons rose water
1 teaspoon orange blossom water
Squeeze of lemon juice

Makes 30 pieces

Prep: 40 minutes | Cook: 40 minutes

METHOD:  

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Butter the bottom and sides of a 20-23cmx30cm baking dish. 

2. Toss nuts with cinnamon, 3 tablespoons Sugar, 2 teaspoons of Rose Water and Vanilla Extract and set aside.  
3. Unroll filo pastry. Cut whole stack at once to fit the dimensions of the baking dish. Cover filo with a damp cloth to keep from drying out as you work.   
4. Melt the butter fully. (This is used for the layering)
5. Place two sheets of filo in the dish, buttering the top layer. Keep adding 2 sheets together and buttering the top sheet until you have a good thick base of about 20 sheets. 
6. Sprinkle a good serving of the nut mixture evenly on the filo pastry layers. 
7. Continue layering and buttering the sheets of filo pastry. Place 2 sheets per layer and butter and add another 6 layers at least before puting more nut filling. 
8. Keep doing this until you finish the nut mixture. 
9. Continue layering and buttering the sheets of filo pastry. The top layer should be 8-10 layers deep. 
10. Using a sharp knife, cut into diamond or square shapes all the way to the bottom of the dish. 
11. Butter the top layer well to have a golden crisp look once baked. 
12. Bake in preheated oven for about 35 minutes or until baklava is golden and crisp. (pay close attention as it may burn depending on the oven) 
13. Once Baklava is baked, remove from oven and immediately and pour the hot sugar syrup over the hot pastry. Let it settle and cool before cutting it. 

Sugar syrup:

while the pastry is baking, prepare the sugar syrup.  

1. Combine the sugar, honey and water in a saucepan. Bring to the boil for 15 minutes.  
2. When the syrup becomes slightly viscous, remove from heat, add the rose water, orange blossom water and mix through. 
3. Add a squeeze of lemon juice. 
4. Remove form heat and allow to cool. 


Challenge Accepted ???


 Enjoy!

Tosakanth

French Onion Soup

I have been telling my friend DashGlowPrincess to come over for dinner for a while so I can cook her an awesome romantic 3 course meal just for funzies. Eventually after much fuss and persuasion she finally decided to grace me with her presence. I cooked up an absolute storm that night, if I can say so my self.. so the romantic dinner menu included:

Starter: French Onion Soup with Cheesy Garlic Bread

Main: Cheese Stuffed Chicken Wrapped in Bacon with Crispy Herbed Baked Potatoes

Dessert: Cheesecake Brownie Swirl 

Just realised that 'CHEESE' may have been the theme for the night. I didn't plan that one out well enough I guess. Oh well. anyway, one can never have too much cheese. we had a great time. and the food was pretty delish too. win-win!

Your  challenge: Cook some soup and give me a hoot!

Ready --- Steady --- Cook

French Onion Soup

INGREDIENTS (serves 6)  

60g butter, chopped  
2 tablespoons olive oil  
6 (1kg) brown onions, thinly sliced  
2 teaspoons brown sugar  
2 tablespoons plain flour  
4 cups beef stock    
3 cloves of garlic, chopped 

METHOD:

1. Heat butter and oil in a heavy-based saucepan over medium-low heat until sizzling. 
2. Add garlic, onions and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook, uncovered, stirring often, for 45 to 50 minutes or until onions are very soft. 
3. Stir in sugar and cook, stirring often, for 10 minutes or until onions caramelise.
4. Add flour to saucepan and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. 
5. Add stock and 2 cups water. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes to allow flavours to combine.
6. Ladle soup into bowls. Top with cheese, season with pepper and serve. 

Challenge Accepted ???

Enjoy!

Tosakanth
 

Chili Chicken

Back in 2008 my sister cooked this amazing Chili Chicken and Sticky Rice for my mom and I when we went to visit her in the UK. It was out of this world. super spicy and super awesome. I've been telling her to recreate that for years now but she has never been able to get it right. When they came to visit me in June 2012, she tried making it but wasn't as good because she made it a curry instead of a dry Devilled Chili Chicken. Yesterday, I was craving some super yummy chicken and also my food stock for the week had finished so I decided to try whipping up this amazing Chili Chicken. I must say that it turned out really really really well. A pretty close match to my sister's one. 

Your Challenge: Cook some Chicken in your kitchen!

Ready --- Steady --- Cook

Chili Chicken

INGREDIENTS:

300g Chicken (roughly 3-4 thighs)

1 Onion (sliced)

2 cloves garlic (chopped)

3 tbs Chili Paste 

2 tbs Sugar

3 tbs Sweet Chili Sauce

3 tbs Cooking Oil

Salt to taste

METHOD:

1. Heat the oil, add the garlic and onions and temper until onions are soft or brown and set aside.

2. Add the chicken to the pan with some oil and cook for 10 mins or until chicken is cooked.

3. Add the onions to the chicken and mix well

4. add the chili paste, sweet chili sauce and sugar and mix well.

5. add salt if needed

6. taste and adjust spicy-ness to taste.. if too spicy add more sugar, if you want it to be dynamite add more chili paste or dry chili pieces

Note: You can buy Chili Paste in any Asian shop or Supermarket. It's generally made with garlic, shallots, Thai dried chili peppers, tamarind, shrimp paste and palm sugar. Alternatively, if you want to go totally home-made, here's a thai chili paste recipe or the best one to use is this dynamite recipe.
You could also add some broccoli and red bell peppers to the chicken to make it extra Thai like.

Challenge Accepted ???

Enjoy!

Tosakanth

Pol Roti (Coconut Flat Bread) & Lunu Miris

One fine day I was on the train and I could smell someone eating a banana and for some weird reason I could also smell butter. The only thing that came to mind the moment that aroma hit my nostrils was -- POL ROTI. This probably doesn't mean anything to you. Pol Roti is a very traditional, standard Sri Lankan breakfast meal. Pol = Coconut, Roti = Roti/flat bread. We normally eat it with Lunu Miris, which is a super duper spicy dynamite onion sambol thingy, Onion curry or Dhal curry. Alternatively, kids like to butter it when its hot off the hot plate and eat it with a banana. It's soooooooo goood. You have to try it out, it's super duper simple to make, and super duper yummy. So here's the recipe to super duper Pol Roti:

Your Challenge: make some roti and feed a hottie!

 

Ready --- Steady --- Cook

Pol Roti

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup Whole Wheat flour

1 cup Plain Self Raising flour

1 cup shredded coconut (or 3/4 cups desiccated coconut soaked in 1/4 cup of water)

1/2 onion chopped
Salt to taste

METHOD:

1. Mix the all the ingredients in a bowl. 

2. Next add cold water little by little so that all the ingredients come together to form a dough. Take care not to get it too wet.
3. If the dough is too wet add a little bit of flour.
4. Knead the dough and break into balls of about 2" diameter.
5. Flatten on a floured board or plate using your palms. If more crispy crust is desired, roll using rolling pin. on Cook in a heated heavy bottom pan till 6.golden brown on both sides under medium heat.

Accompany it with some Lunu Miris or butter and a banana.

makes: 10 - 12 Roti 


Lunu Miris

INGREDIENTS:

1 Onion diced

Chilli powder

Dry Chilli Pieces 

Lime Juice

Salt

Maldive Fish

METHOD:

add all the ingredients together and mix well. you can add extra lime juice to get an extra kick. 

once all the ingredients are mixed together, put it in a mortar and pestle and grind it. 

Challenge Accepted ???

Enjoy!

Tosakanth

Tosakanth's Sangria

Sangria is my new favourite chillaxing drink. Since Spring is finally coming along and the sun is out, I like whipping up some Sangria to relax to after a long day of doing nothing.

As usual, I used a sangria recipe to get the general gist of ingredients, but I make my own easy -6 ingredient- sangria for my daily merriment. 

What I pretty much do is put what ever I have at home into a pitcher and call it Sangria. Do observe:


Your challenge: Give it a go and let me know which one you prefer. I bet it's Tosakanth's Sangria that is more dear..

Ready --- Steady ---Drink

Tosakanth's Sangria

INGREDIENTS:

1 Granny Smith apple

1 Orange

few squirts of Lemon juice to taste

1/3 bottle Red Wine

1/3 bottle White Wine

1 can of Energy Drink (preferably V or Redbull)

METHOD: 

1. Cut the orange and apple into 0.5cm slices

2. Squeeze the juice from the orange into the pitcher and put the pieces in too

3. Add the apples in to the pitcher

4. Add the Lemon juice to taste

5. Add the Wine

6. Add the Energy Drink

7. Mix and chill in fridge

The Original Sangria Recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 Bottle of red wine (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Rioja, Zinfandel, Shiraz)
• 1 Lemon cut into wedges
• 1 Orange cut into wedges
• 1 Lime cut into wedges
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• Splash of orange juice or lemonade
• 2 Shots of gin or triple sec (optional)
• 1 Cup of raspberries or strawberries (may use thawed or frozen)
• 1 Small can of diced pineapples (with juice)
• 4 Cups ginger ale

PREPARATION:

1. Pour wine into a large pitcher
2. Squeeze the juice wedges from the lemon, orange and lime into the wine. 3. Toss in the fruit wedges (leaving out seeds if possible) and pineapple. 
4. Add sugar, orange juice and gin. 
5. Chill overnight.
6. Add ginger ale, berries and ice just before serving. 

If you'd like to serve right away, use chilled red wine and serve over lots of ice. However, remember that the best Sangrias' are chilled around 24 hours in the frig. - allowing the flavors to really marinate into each other. 

Challenge Accepted ???

Enjoy!

Tosakanth