Hazelnut Chocolate Spread

Almost everyone I know is a "Nu.....a", fan, the super famous Hazelnut chocolate spread. So much so, that it would be blasphemy to say it aloud that I don't buy it for my little one. It is easy to say I don't care but for those of you who do, the next time you pick up a jar of the spread, do take a peek at the ingredients list. You will be surprised how little hazelnut actually is in there and how much of it is plain and simple flavoured sugar. Do try this easy home made, healthy version and tell me if you still find the commercial one better.

Hazelnuts - 1 cup ( a standard teacup)
Unsweetened Cocoa powder - 2 dessertspoons (20 gms approx)
Dark soft brown sugar - 1/4 cup or more if you want it sweeter(use powdered white sugar if you don't have soft dermerara)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil - 1.5 dessertspoons

 Roast hazelnuts in an oven or dry roast in a skillet. Cool completely and rub off the brown skin. Pour into a mixie jar and blend till powdered. Scrape the sides in and add the cocoa, sugar, vanilla, and the oil. Blend again till it amalgamates into a creamy whole. Add in a few more drops of oil if it is too thick. Check and adjust sweetness. Voila your very own hazelnut spread is ready! Enjoy. Do write in if you enjoyed it :-)

Easy nutty chocolates

A lazy day enterprise with my 5 year old who loves anything chocolate!

Good Quality cooking chocolate - 100 gms (we used 64% dark)
Assorted nuts - 1/2 cup (roughly chopped)
 Dates - 3-4 nos (chopped into small bits)

Melt cooking chocolate (we used 60-70% dark). Roughly chop up almonds, cashews, dates. Pop the nut-dry fruit mixture in the oven for a couple of minutes. Line an ice tray with a layer of the mixture, top up with melted chocolate. Cover with aluminium foil, pop into freezer. Set. Eat.

Dairy free, eggless, Black Forest Cake with Coconut Cream topping

My little one is allergic to dairy fat. Now, coming from essentially a South Indian background this was one fact that was really hard to assimilate. My childhood was fed on home grown cow's milk, yoghurt, milk sweets, ghee, butter what not. And, we are led to believe, from then, that there is no proper sustenance for a child without dairy intake. So, when I made the association between Abhi's (my lil one) colic and adenoid inflammation to milk fat intake, it triggered nothing short of a  mini earthquake in the immediate family circle. Someone even said , " It is because you are too hygenic about baby care", " You dont add salt into the rice you feed her", etc etc and power struggles with people (even close of kin) who refuse to give up on gifting her huge milk chocolate bars, ghee laced Indian sweet dubbas, cream biscuits etc. Well, well, well.. all in the game. Found this easy diary free, eggless  Black Forest Gateau recipe on Essential Vegan and wanted to try it for my daughter's birthday. I made my own tweaks to the original recipe, reduced teh sugar drastically, replaced all purpose flour with whole wheat flour etc etc. The daughter loved the cake and thought she was eating cream cake just like all her friends and that is all the appreciation I ever need :-)

Ingredients for Cake

Raw granulated brown sugar - 50 gms
Whole wheat flour (fine ground) - 170 gms
Unsweetened cocoa powder - 3 dessertspoons
Salt - 1/2 teaspoon (evened out to remove extra)
Baking powder (aluminium free) - 1 teaspoon
Sunflower oil - 60 ml
Apple cider vinegar - 2 teaspoons
Cold water - 200 ml

Ingredients for Topping

Unsweetened coconut milk - 1/2 tin
Castor sugar - 50 gms
Syrup preserved Maraschino cherries - 250 gms bottle (you will need all of the liquer in which the cherries are soaked plus as many cherries you need for decoration)

Mix the oil, sugar, and cocoa with a ladle so that the sugar granules start dissolving. Add the rest of the ingrdients and mix using a wooden ladle into a batter without lumps (do not use the electric mixer).
Preheat oven to 180 °. Pour batter into a proofed cake tin, ideally spring form tray since this cake will be very airy and can break on rough handling.
Bake for 1/2 hour at 150 °. Check with a fork to see if done or let be for another 10 mts. Remember oven tempretures differ and what works on my basic OTG might not be the exact time on your machine.

Topping prep work

Store the coconut milk tin in your freezer for atleast an hour. Place your castor sugar in a mixing bowl and keep it in the fridge too until time for assemble.

Assembling the cake

Remove cake onto a serving tray or plate only when completely cooled.Keep rough side up. Keep the cake in the fridge for about 15 minutes. take out and carefully pour the cherry liquer all over it, in batches so that it is all absorbed.
Take out and open teh coconut milk tin. You will find the thick coconut cream has risen and solidified as a top layer. Scoop it out into the bowl with cold castor sugar. Whip them up using a large fork.
Layer the cherry liquer soaked cake with the coconut milk cream and decorate with cherries. Cover and refrigerate for another 10 minutes or until serving time. Remember to take cake out only when it is time to serve.

Simple chicken curry using fresh, home-ground masala

It's been quite a while since I last posted here. I do go through occasional pangs of guilt when I see how deligently some of my food blogger friends keep their blogs going. So much care goes into the high resolution pictures, the side panels with their up to date blog tools and apps etc etc. Well, well... here is a quick one while the guilt trip lasts.

This recipe is inspired by my eldest paternal aunt, my dad's eldest brother's wife (valiya peramma). She was the one from whom I learnt that the 'readymade chicken masalas' that throng the supermarket aisles were in no way necessary to get that 'authenic kerala kozhi curry' (chicken curry) taste. Since then, i've experimented with fresh spices and slowly my taste buds learnt to despise the store bought masala as inferior.

No dificult elbow grease required for this one (have I told you what a LAZY cook I am). Happy cooking, buddies...

Ingredients
Fresh chicken pieces - 1 Kg
Tomatos - 2 medium sized (Cubed)
Onions - 2 medium sized (chopped fine)
Fresh Ginger - a large piece (  2-3 inches or so)
Garlic - 10 cloves
Tomato paste - 2 dessertspoons
Red chilli powder - 2 teaspoons
Salt to taste
Sugar - 1/2 teaspoon

Grind the ginger and garlic to paste.

Dry spices to be ground
Cloves - 4 Nos
Cinnamon - 1/4 inch stick
Nutmeg - a little piece ( I bring back whole nutmeg from my mom in law's garden, if you cant get whole, use powdered)
Mace - a couple of strands
Poppy seeds (khus khus) - 1/2 teaspoon
Fennel - 1/4 teaspon
Cumin - 1/4 teaspoon
Pepper corns - a few
Star anise - 1 No
Mustard seeds - a few
Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Coriander powder - 1 dessertspoon

Dry roast all the whole spices, on low flame, till an aroma emanates. Add in the turmeric owder and teh coriander powder and dry saute for another minute. Cool and blend to smooth powder using a chutney mixie jar or coffee grinder.

For the tempering (tadka)
Gingelly/coconut oil - 2 teaspoons
Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Curry leaves - a few sprigs

Method
Heat a heavy bottomed pan ( I skip non stick pans and prefer heavy guage steel, dutch oven models). Add the oil and the mustard seeds and allow the seeds to crackle well Add in the curry leaves and then the ginger-garlic paste. Saute till golden and then add the chopped onions, sprinkle the sugar and saute till golden. Add teh tomatoes and saute a couple of minutes. Add in the chicken pieces, the powdered spice masala, and the chilli powder. Add a cup of water. Put the lid on and simmer cook on very low fire, stirring once in a while. Once the chicken in almost done, add the tomato paste plus another cup of water if you want a slightly runny gravy. Once done, add salt to taste and simmer a minute.