Molten Chocolate Lava Cake, sure you should love this, if you are Chocolate lover. I first had this sort of cake at dominos pizza. once even i tried by making nutella indentations inside chocolate cup cakes. which was good, but i did'nt see chocolate lava from it!! On Googling, i landed on my favourite Joy of Baking, referred to me by Nirmala. I just followed  the recipe and the outcome was Just Perfect to produce Lava..



Cake was just like Pudding. It's Chocolate inside and outside its little crisper and crumblier. It was Heavenly with Vanilla Ice Cream. I could'nt click decent pictures, as the Ice-cream melted over the hot cake. and the cake raised so good, but it went down soon after it is taken from oven. you got to experience this chocolate magic..

Ingredients:

1/4 Cup     Butter (or) Margarine
1/3 Cup     Sugar (Powdered)
2                Egg's (seperated)
1 tsp          Vanilla extract
1 Cup        Dark Chocolate (6 oz. approx. 180 gms)

Method:

*  Melt the Dark Chocolate and Butter by Double Boiling Method.

*  Pre-Heat the Oven to 200C.

*  Take Half of the mentioned Powdered Sugar in the recipe and beat with Egg Yolks with Hand Mixer, till it turns out fluffy and pale white. Add Vanilla extract and beat in middle. It takes about 3 minutes by hand mixer and 5 minutes, if beating by hand. To this add the Melted Dark Chocolate, Butter and Beat with Hand mixer, till mixture is evenly mixed.

* In Another Bowl, beat the Egg White's with a pinch of salt, till soft peaks are formed. Add the rest of the granulated sugar while beating. Now mix it with the egg yolks and melted chocolate mixture. Mix them all together with a wooden spoon or spatula.

* Grease the Ramekin bowl's and dust it with some powdered sugar. Scoop in the the prepared chocolate mixture into ramekins bowl, just half of its size.

* Bake them at 200C for about 10-12 mins. Longer you bake, you wont get lava. the cake rasies well and you would get cracks on top of the cake.

* Serve with Vanilla Ice-cream for the Divine Experience. or dust with powdered sugar and serve with fresh cut fruits.

I rarely try out new recipes for breakfast. When i saw barley khichdi in a magazine, i found its so easy to make. the best time to try is this summer, isn't it? so went ahead and tried this great healthy breakfast. it came out Good, and what a nice way to have barley in khichdi form..i have tried it twice and loved it so much.

Nannari is a Summer Special herb from Nature. It Cools down the body heat. There are Plenty of Good things about this herb. It Reduces Pitta dosha from Your body. To Sum up, its best to have during Summer, as it avoids de-hydration. Nannari Syrup is available at all stores, i remember seeing it on Nilgris dept.store. I could have bought one bottle, but the challenge for the food blogger is to try it out, isnt it. Hubby got some Nannari root from Naatu Marunthu Kadai. Googling helped me to land on Jayasree's Recipe. i also referred few other recipe and tried it out.

Recipe for Nannari Syrup:

Ingredients:

Nannari Root - 50 gms
Water - 2 cups + 1 cup
Jaggery / Vellam - 150 gms

Method:

Take a Stone Mortar and Pestle. Crush the roots with Pestle twice or thrice, the root will loosen up and you have to remove the inner part (white part) of the root.


After Removing, Take the roots in your mixie jar and grind them just for a second. its just to break the roots into small pieces.

Boil 2 cups of Water in a vessel, remove from flame and instantly add the grinded roots and close the vessel with its lid. Leave the Vessel un disturbed for 5 - 6 hours. dont open in between, as you may release the steam. Let the Roots infuse Water

After 6 hours, Strain the roots away. strain with a muslin cloth. Keep the water aside.

Add 1 cup of water to a Pan, Add Jaggery and melt the jaggery and filter it. now heat the filtered jaggery water. slowly add the root infused water to the jagger water and let it boil.

Boil for about 10 minutes in slow flame till they reach single string consistency. remove from flame and let the Nannari Syrup Cool Down.

Store the Nannari Syrup in a Sterlised Bottle and you can keep it in fridge and use it.


How to Use Nannari Syrup:

* You can make Nannari Sarbath
* You can mix the Syrup with Tender Coconut Water
* You can mix with Milk
* You can prepare Jigarthanda

Recipe for Nannari Sarbath


Ingredients:

Lemon - 1
Nannari Syrup - 3 tbsp's
Chilled Water - 1 Cup

Method:

Extract Juice from the Lemon and mix with Water and add Nannari Syrup to and Mix well. Serve chilled. its better to take this sarbath in empty stomach.

Notes:

* The Roots can be put in Clay Pot of Drinking Water.
* With this Root, kuzhambu can also be prepared.
* Nannari leaves can be used for making thuvaiyal.

Soure about Nannari - My Domestic Helper. I Tell you what, She is  Wikipedia for me and also the best Naturopathy doctor. to be noted, she never stepped school.

I find Scones are very easier ones to try. Scones are always loved at Home. Last Saturday i decided to make these Cranberry scones for break-fast. A typical English Break-Fast after watching the Royal Wedding! It was easy to make and it tasted Great!! I referred Soma's Cranberry and Almond Scones and Joy of Baking to prepare these Delicious Scones.


Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour - 1 and half cup
Dried Cranberry - 1/4 cup
Chilled Butter - 6 tbsp's
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Baking Powder - 1 tsp
Milk - 1/4 cup
Egg - 1


Method:

Pre-Heat the oven to 200C.

Chop the dried Cranberries and set aside. Beat the Egg with 1/4 tsp of water and keep aside.

In a Big Bowl, add the Flour,Sugar, Baking Powder and mix well. To this add Chilled Butter and mix with your hands, the final mix should be like Bread Crumbs.

Now add Dried Cranberries and mix. Add Milk little by little, to gather the dough together. slowly knead the dough and roll the dough for 1/2 inch thickness, with rolling pin.

With the help of Cookie cutter, shape them. place them on greased baking tray with gap inbetween to let the scones expand while baking.

Give an Egg Wash over the scones just before baking.

Bake the Scones at 200c for about 15 minutes till the bottom of the scones gets golden colour.

Once Baked, let the Scones Cool down in wire wrack for about 10 minutes and Serve.

We went to Pollachi last week. We Choosed to stay at Maitreyi Vedic Villiage and had a Nice Time with the Nature. The Food over there was so hygienic and it was just like our home made food. The Food Prepared are without Onion and Garlic. We had Thakkali Kuzhambu there and we liked it very much. Today when i was raving about the kuzhambu to my Freind Anu, she said me her MOM's recipe for Thakkali Kuzhambu. I just followed the recipe and got this Lip-Smacking Curry. This is best eaten with Hot Idli's or Rice.


How to Prepare?

To Dry Roast:

Dhaniya / Corriander Seeds - 1 tbsp
Jeeragam / Cumin - 1 tbsp
Milagu / Pepper - 1 tsp
Dry Red Chilli's - 3
Grated Coconut - 1 tbsp

Dry Roast the above ingredients one by one.


Other Ingredients to Grind:

Oil - 1/2 tsp
Tomatoes - 3

Pottu Kadalai / Roasted Gram - 1 tbsp
Turmeric Powder - a pinch

Heat a Pan, add 1/2 tsp of Oil, and add chopped tomatoes and fry them till the tomatoes turn soft and their skin peels off.

Add the fried tomatoes to the dry roasted ingredients. Add Pottu Kadalai and turmeric powder along with the tomatoes, add 1/4 cup of water and Grind them all together into a smooth paste.

For Seasoning:

Sesame Oil - 2 tbsp
Mustard - 1 tsp
Dry Red Chilli - 2
Curry Leaves - 1 sprig

Heat Oil in a Pan, add Mustard seeds and let it splutter, add dry red chilli and curry leaves and roast them. add the grounded smooth paste to the pan. add 1/2 cup of water to the pan and make the kuzhambu thinner.
let the kuzhambu boil for 5 mins atleast and remove it from flame.

Serve Hot with Hot Rice or Hot Idli's or Dosa's.


Notes:

I avoided Onion and Garlic, you may use it while grinding the masala's.

Roasted Gram / Pottukadalai adds good taste.

You can also add Chana Dal(Kadala Paruppu) if not using Roasted Gram. But Chana Dal should be Dry Roasted.

Adding Coconut is also Optional.

It took me 2 years-9 months, to try this Delicious Payasam. I instantly fell in love with Laavanya's Elaneer Payasam, the recipe is so simple. last week i tried and served for my friends(can also be called as food critics). They all Loved it very Much! Thanks Laavanya! The Recipe is so easy and simple, but it Tastes Heavenly. It just takes 5 minutes to prepare. but you got to chill the payasam for atleast 30 minutes. Ideal Dessert to try for this Summer Season!


Ingredients:

Tender Coconut Water and Pulp of 1 Tender Coconut / 1 elaneer vazhukkai yudan.
Sweetened Condensed Milk - 150 ml 
Milk(Boiled and cooled) - 1 cup / 200ml
Elachi - 1
Saffron strands - 3
Ghee - 1/4 tsp
Cashews - 3
Raisins - 3


Method:

Grind the Tender Coconut Water along with Pulp. Need not grind smoothly, as bits of coconut pulp tastes better in payasam.

Mix the Condensed milk with the Chilled Milk.

Now Mix the Grinded Pulp with Tender coconut water  to the Chilled Milk + Condensed Milk. Mix well.

Heat a small pan, add 1/4 tsp ghee, roast the cashews and raisins and add to the Payasam.

Add Crushed cardamom pods and Saffron strands to Payasam.

Chill them in fridge for about 30 minutes and serve.


Serve with small bits of Tender Coconut Pulp upon the Payasam.

Notes:

* Payasam should be Watery. so adjust the milk and condensed milk ratio.
* You can reduce milk and add more tender coconut water.
* If you dont have Sweetened Condensed Milk, You can Sugar instead to the above recipe.
* Try to serve this payasam little chilled with less sugar, to enjoy the Nature's Best!

I love Brownies but folks at home dont, so baking brownies becomes rare. I baked these low fat brownies for Divya's Brownie Event. Iam making into the event at last minute desperately, as i very badly missed not being part of her Very Famous Best Chocolate Cake Event.


I just want to share 2 Brownie tricks. one is Brownie takes less flour compared to Cakes. second is cooling the baked brownie for atleast 40 minutes is a must. These Low Fat Brownies dont ask for Butter, but still you will never miss butter in brownie. The Guilt part is the Egg's.

Recipe from GoodHouseKeeping's Cakes and Bakes.

Ingredients:

Makes about 12-16 brownies

Olive Oil / Sunflower Oil - 50 ml / 2oz.
Dark Chocolate - 250 gms
Egg's - 3
Demerara Sugar - 150 gms / 5 oz
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
All Purpose Flour - 75 gms / 3oz
Baking Powder - 1/4 tsp
Cocoa Powder - 1 tbsp
Butter - 1 tsp for Greasing the Cake Tin.

Method:

Pre- Heat the oven at 180C. and Grease the Cake Tin with Butter and set aside.

Melt the Dark Chocolate by placing in Microwave for 30 seconds at 900W. or melt the chocolate by double boiler method and let the chocolate cool after melting.

Break the Eggs into a large bowl, add Oil, Sugar, vanilla extract and whisk well.

Sift the Flour with Baking powder and cocoa powder and mix the flour to the large bowl which had egg-oil whisked. Mix them all together.

Mix Melted Chocolate to the bowl. mix with a wooden spoon. mix very lightly, as the chocolate thickens up the mix so quick. Transfer the mix to the Greased pan.

Place the Pan on Oven and Bake it for 20 minutes.
Once baked, check the brownie by inserting a toothpick close to the centre of the brownie , it comes out clean.

Cut the Bownies, while its still on the pan. and let them cool for about 40 - 60 minutes in the pan.

Remove the Bownies from the Pan and Serve with Ice-Cream.


To Store, wrap the brownies with cling film and store it in air-tight container.