Moist Carrot Cake

Ingredients

1 and 1/2 cups flour

1 cup cooking butter

1 cup castor sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

3 medium carrots, grated

Handful of nuts (raisins, almonds finely chopped)

1/4 tsp salt

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Grease the base and sides of a cake tin with butter

In a bowl, whisk the eggs and add in butter, sugar and continue to beat till the mixture turns creamy.

Mix in the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and sift into the bowl. Stir in carrots and nuts, lightly mix all the ingredients

Pour the cake batter into the tin and bake for approximately 40- 45 minutes, until the skewer comes out clean from the middle

Cool the cake and slice into pieces before serving

Nutella Swirl Cake

Ingredients

1 and 1/2 cups flour

1 cup cooking butter

1 cup castor sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

3 tbsp Nutella

Method

Preheat oven to 160 degrees.  Grease a cake or loaf tin with butter

In a bowl, whisk together eggs, butter and vanilla extract until soft and creamy. In another bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, sugar and salt together

Combine the wet and dry batter together till the texture is smooth

Spread half the batter in the tin, add a spoon of Nutella on top and use a fork or a skewer to swirl the mixture to get a marble like effect

Top it with remaining batter along with Nutella and repeat the swirling

Place the tin in the oven for approximately 50-60 minutes, until tested with a skewer

Allow the cake to cool before slicing and servicing

Potato Vepudu

Ingredients

2 big boiled potatoes cut into small cubes

1 tsp of red chili powder

½ tsp of turmeric powder

¼ tsp of coriander powder

1 tbsp oil

Salt to taste

Method

Heat oil in a wok, add the chopped potatoes and fry on high heat for about 3-5 minutes

Continue to cook the potatoes on medium for another 5 minutes and keep stirring occasionally

Add the spices along with salt and cook on low heat till the potatoes are coated well with the masala

Stir fry on high heat for 3 minutes till the potatoes turn golden brown

Turn off heat and serve hot with ghee rice

Sticky Toffee Pudding

Ingrediants

1 cup cooking butter

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1 cup dates, finely chopped

1 cup castor sugar

2 eggs

1 tbsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Toffee Sauce

1 1/2 cup cooking butter

1 cup cream

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180 C

In a vessel, combine dates and 1/2 cup boiling water for about 10 minutes. Take another bowl, Whisk in the flour, baking powder, and salt well

In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugar until they turn fluffy and add the eggs, continue beating well. To this, add the date mixture along with vanilla extract and mix well

Spread date batter evenly in a pan. Bake for 50 – 60 minutes

Remove cake from oven and cool for 5 minutes

Meanwhile to make the toffee sauce, in a saucepan, mix butter, cream, brown sugar and salt together. Heat over low, stirring occasionally till the sugar gets dissolved in the mixture.

Simmer the mixture for about 10 minutes till it becomes brown and sticky

Pour a cup of the toffee sauce over the pudding and wait for it to absorb

Slice a piece and relish the sticky toffee pudding with ice cream 

Veggie Enchiladas

Ingredients

4 corn tortillas

Grated cheese as required

1 onion, finely chopped

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1/4 cup tomato puree

¾ baked beans

1 tbsp. olive oil

½ tsp. mixed herbs

½ tsp. red chili flakes

½ tsp. paprika or pepper

Salt

Method

Heat oil in a pan; add onions and sauté till they turn light pink. Add minced garlic, bell pepper and cook till the bell peppers are softened for about 5-7 minutes

Add baked beans, tomato puree and stir in the mixture well. To this, add paprika/pepper, salt, red chili flakes and mixed dried herbs and mix and stir well. Turn off heat and let the mixture cool

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Place a tortilla on a work top, spread some of the filling evenly in the center and roll the tortilla. Place the roll in the baking dish and similarly make three more rolls and place them in the dish

Top the rolled tortillas with some remaining filling mixture along with generous amount of grated cheese and herbs

Place the dish in the preheated oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Serve hot

Spaghetti with broccoli cream pesto

Ingredients

1/2 cup broccoli florets

1/2 cup boiled spaghetti

1 tbsp. butter

1 tbsp. olive oil

1/2 small onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tbsp. of ground pepper and red chili flakes

1 tbsp. of herbs

4 tbsp. heavy cream

A handful of grated cheese

Method

Boil the spaghetti as mentioned in the cooking instructions on the pasta packet. Drain and reserve the pasta cooking water.

Once the broccoli florets are chopped, par boil until tender

In a cooking vessel, melt butter and olive oil together over medium heat and add onion. Sauté onions until tender and pink for about 5-7 minutes

To this, add garlic and cook for another two minutes. Toss in broccoli, salt and other seasoning to heat on a medium-high

Add cream and let the mixture cook for a minute

Cool the broccoli mixture and blend it till it’s grainy with a little sauce

Add the blended pesto sauce back to the vessel with the boiled spaghetti and a splash of pasta water. Cook over medium-high for about 2 minutes, tossing the mixture so that pasta is evenly coated

Add more water, if required to loosen the sauce

Season the pasta with herbs and pepper

Finally, sprinkle grated cheese generously and serve hot

Lemon Tart

Ingredients

For the tart shell

1 cup butter

1 ½ cup plain flour

1 tbsp icing sugar

1tbsp baking powder

1 tbsp extra

1 tbsp cooking oil

1 egg

For the filling

2 eggs

1 cup icing sugar + extra for dusting

2 tbsp finely grated lemon zest

Juice from 4 lemons

1 ½ cup cream

Method

In a large bowl, rub the butter into the flour until the mix looks like fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the icing sugar and baking powder

To this mix, stir in the oil, egg yolk and 1½-2 tbsp water until the dough comes together. Knead well, gather into a ball

Take the tart tin, ease the dough into the tin and then trim the edges by using your fingers

Once the tart dough is evenly laid, lightly prick the base with a fork, and then chill for about 10 to 15 minutes

Heat the oven to 190C and bake the tart shell for 20 minutes and let it cool

To make the filling, beat the eggs for 5 minutes. Sift the icing sugar into a bowl, and then beat in the eggs. Stir in the lemon zest and the juice.

Beat in the cream in the lemon mix until well blended

Pour the mix into the tart case. Place in the oven with the oven, reduce the heat to 150C and bake for about 25-30 minutes until the lemon mix is set with a slight wobble in the middle

Cool for about an hour and then serve