Eggless Vanilla Cake

Makes one 8 inch round cake or one 4 in x 7 in loaf tin.

Ingredients:

195 gm or 1 1/2 cup All purpose flour
100-150 gm Sugar (grind it to make it fine after measuring if it is coarse or use
store bought castor sugar) *
240 ml yogurt (can be substituted with 240 ml thick buttermilk)
100 ml Oil or melted butter (cooled) **
1 1/4 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
A pinch of Salt
2 tsp Vanilla essence
Milk or water to adjust consistency of batter

Method:

1. Grease or line your tin and preheat the oven.
2. In a bowl sieve the flour, salt and baking powder. Add soda and mix well.
3. Grind your sugar to make it fine.
4. In another bowl beat the curd/thick buttermilk until smooth. Add the sugar powder and oil/melted butter to this and mix well. Add vanilla essence. Mix  well with a whisk until the fat is emulsified.
5. Add the flour to this mixture in tow additions and fold gently until just about combined. Do not over mix. Some lumps are OK. The mixture should be of dropping consistency. 
6. Add milk or water to adjust.
7. Add any dried fruits to the flour mixture and any liquid flavorings to the liquid mixture.
8. Bake for 30-40 mins at 180 deg C. Oven temperatures may vary, so keep a check on your cake.
9. Cake is done when toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
10. Leave it in the oven for 2 mins to cool. Then take it out from the pan and
11. Cool on a wire rack.
12. ENJOY

Note:

• Adjust the sugar to your taste. Some sugar brands are way too sweet than others.
• You need to have fine sugar since there is no beating involved in the cake making and you will be left with sugar granules in a baked cake.
• I find 100 ml of oil or butter enough, but you can add up to 120 ml if you find it less.

Karnataki Vada (Southi Vada)

This vada is another version of medu vada. Its south indian snakes or breakfast recipe. Generally sreves with coconut chutney or tomatoes chutney or sambar.

Preparation Time - 5 to 6 hours
Cooking Time - 8 to 10 minutes
Serving - 2
Recipe source : Riddhi's kitchen

Ingredients:

• White Udad Dal - 250 gm
• Oil - 2 tablespoons + Deep Frying
• Muster Seeds - 1 Teaspoon
• Curry Leaves - 6 to 8
• Hing - 1/2 Teaspoon
• Chopped Onions - 2 medium
• Chopped Green chilly - 3
• Salt To Taste

Method:

1. Soak the urad dal for 4 to 5 hours or overnight.
2. Grind the soaked dal to a smooth batter with little water if required.
3. Heat oil in pan add musteed seeds, curry leves hing.
4. Add the tadka in batter or onions , chili and salt , mix well
5. Heat oil in kadai.
6. Make the vadas and deep fry.
7. Serve vadas, hot or warm with coconut chutney.

Puran Poli

The perfect preparation of puran poli is considered a highly-skilled task… an art actually! unlike maharashtrian puran poli which uses chana dal, the gujarati version makes use of toovar dal. In Andhra pradesh (bobbatlu or bakshalu) and other places, even moong dal or Chana dal is used, even a mix of lentils is used in some recipe. Boli in Tamil Nadu is a golden yellow sweet pancake from South India. It is eaten during a traditional Sadhya along with Payasam. Its unique flavour and characteristic aroma can be attributed to the special indian spices used.

Preparation time: 30 min
Serving for 3 people.

Ingredients

For The Dough

• 2 cups whole wheat flour (gehun ka atta)
• 2 tbsp oil

For The Filling

• 1 cup toovar (arhar) dal
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp ghee
• 1/2 tsp cardamom (elaichi) powder
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg (jaiphal) powder

Other Ingredients

• whole wheat flour (gehun ka atta) for rolling
• ghee for smearing

Method:

1. Combine the flour and oil in a bowl and knead into a soft dough using enough water.
2. Combine the dal with 1½ cups of water and pressure cook it for 3 whistles.
3. Allow the steam to escape before opening the lid.
4. Drain any excess water and mash the dal lightly using the back of the spoon.
5. Heat the ghee in a broad non-stick pan, add the dal and sugar and cook on a medium flame for 20 minutes or till the mixture thickens, while stirring continuously.
6. Add the cardamom powder, nutmeg powder, mix well.
7. Cool slightly and divide it into 15 equal portions. Keep aside.
8. Roll out one portion of the dough into a samll circle.
9. Place a portion of the filling in the centre and fold the edges of the dough over the filling. Pinch the edges together to seal the filling in.
10. Flatten the dough and roll again into a circle, using a little wheat flour for rolling.
11. Cook on a tava (griddle) over a medium flame till it turns golden brown in colour on both the sides.
12. Smear a little ghee on each puran poli and serve hot with Gujrati Kadhi.