Tres Leches Cake

Tres Leches is a popular Spanish cake which literally means "three milk cake". Its a basic  sponge cake soaked in three kinds of milk. Every bite of this cake is so moist and creamy yet so light making you crave for another big bite. So hurry up and get your baking supplies to try this out.

Prep Time: 1 hour + 12 hours soaking time
Ingredients

Sponge Cake

All purpose flour: 1 cup

Eggs: 4

Vanilla Essence: 1 1/2 teaspoons

Sugar: 1 cup 

Milk: 1/3 cup

Baking powder: 2 teaspoons

Milk mixture

Condensed Milk: 1 can ( of which only less 3/4 gets used up)

Whole Milk/Heavy whipping Cream/half and half: 1/2 cup

Evaporated milk: 3/4 cup

Heavy Whipping cream: 1 pint box

Fresh fruits for garnish (We like berries and bananas)

* We used the deep rectangle disposable aluminium foil tray to bake the cake and set everything in the same dish.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Lets begin making the sponge cake. Separate the egg yolks and whites. Beat the sugar and yolks until smooth and ivory in color. Add the vanilla essence and milk and beat well. Sieve the flour with the baking powder. Add the flour into the yolk mixture. Beat well. Now whip up the egg whites until stiff and forms peaks. Fold the whipped egg whites into the cake batter. Do not over do the mixing else the cake will be flat. Bake the cake until the center comes out clean when poked.

Take the cake out and let it cool for about 10-15 mins. 

Mix the condensed milk, evaporated milk and whole milk. Let the cake cool down before you use the milk mix. Pour the mix little by little all over the cake. The cake will drink it all up. So usually 3/4 of the mixture gets used up. But if you feel it needs more, continue to add the milk. Cover and refrigerate.

 This cake needs to be made at least 12 hours ahead of serving. So that the cake soaks up all the mixture. Usually works well if you make it previous night. After the 12 hours just poke through with fork in all corners to see if the milk has seeped in. If you find any dry area just drizzle some more milk. Couple of hours before serving, beat the whipping cream with about 3 tablespoons sugar until stiff and spread over the cake well.

Serve with cut berries and bananas.

Pepper Chicken

Pepper chicken is a famous dish from the Chettinad cuisine and giving all justice to its name this is sure to blow your senses away.

Prep Time: 45 mins

Ingredients

Chicken (medium sized cubes): 1 cup

Onions (chopped): 1/2 cup

Tomato (pureed): 2
Pepper powder: 2 teaspoons

Chili Powder: 1 1/2 teaspoon

Turmeric Powder: 1 teaspoon
Coriander Powder: 2 teaspoon

Bay Leaves: 4-5

Curry Leaves: handful
Lemon Juice: 1 tablespoon
Ginger garlic paste: 1 tablespoon

Masala (we ground the following)

Cloves: 4-5

Pepper pods: 1 tablespoon

Dried red chili: 4-5

Cardamom: 2 pods

Nutmeg powder: 1/4 teaspoon

Jeera: 1/2 teaspoon
Saunf: 1/2 teaspoon

* Dry roast the above spices on low heat for 5 mins and then grind it into a fine powder.

Marinate the cubed chicken in salt, little turmeric, chilli powder, pepper powder and lemon juice for 20 mins. Heat about 5-6 tablespoons of oil in a deep dish. Fry the marinated chicken till about 75% cooked. Take it out and keep aside. You can use the same pan. Heat some oil. Add the bay leaves, ginger-garlic paste and saute. Add onions, curry leaves and keep frying until the onions turn slightly brown. Add turmeric powder, chilli powder and coriander powder. Keep sauteing on medium heat. Now add the spice powder. Adjust the salt. Add the tomatoes and cook until it becomes all brown. Add the cooked chicken and keep sauteing. Everything will coat up on the chicken and slowly oil should start to come out. You can adjust the spice levels to your liking.

 Absolutely delicious with hot parathas.

Bagara Baingan

Bagara baingan is a dish that brings back memories of the wonderful city of  Hyderabad and the great cuisine it offers. Even though eggplant is referred to as not so likable vegetable, here  it's cooked in a perfectly balanced gravy that makes you thinking again. So have no glitch and try this recipe soon, its sure to be a hit.

Prep Time: 30 mins
Ingredients

Smal Indian Eggplants: 6-7

Onions: 1/2 cup (finely chopped)

Green chillies: 2-3

Ginger-garlic paste: 1/2 teaspoon

Curry leaves: few

Grated coconut: 1/3 cup

Peanuts: 1/4 cup

Sesame seeds/Til (white): 1 tablespoon

Tamarind pulp: 1/4 cup

Water: about 1 cup

Turmeric powder: 1 teaspoon

Chilli powder: 1 1/2 teaspoons

Coriander powder: 2 teaspoons 

Oil: 3-4 tablespoons

Salt to taste

*  you can add 3-4 cashews to the peanuts to make it a little richer.

* You can add a 1 teaspoon of grated jaggery to the gravy when it is boiling. This enhances the taste. Those who don't prefer the sweetish ting can skip this step.

Slightly roast the the peanuts and sesame seeds on low heat. In a mixer grind the peanuts, coconut, sesame seeds with the tamarind pulp into a smooth paste and keep aside.

Wash and dry the eggplants and give partial slits on the eggplants all around. Don't slit it in full, this is just for the masala to seep in.

Heat oil in a deep dish. Shallow fry the eggplants with a dash of salt until almost cooked on all sides. Take it out and keep aside .

If you wish you could add tempering of mustard seeds and jeera. We skipped the step because we didn't miss the flavor much .

In the same oil add the ginger garlic paste, chopped green chillies and onions. Saute well until the rawness fully goes away. Add salt, turmeric powder, chilli powder and coriander powder. Keep mixing on low to medium heat for 5 more mins. Now add the ground paste. Dilute it with water and let it simmer. Add the fried eggplant and let it all come to a nice boil on low heat. If you think the gravy has gotten very thick you can dilute it with little water. Adjust the spices. This curry is meant to be little thickish. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves. 

Serve with rice or rotis.

Chemeen Theeyal/ Prawns in a roasted coconut gravy

Theeyal is a very common dish  to every household in Kerala. Its when Wikipedia defined it as a burnt dish, we also realized that it does mean that in literal terms ("Thee -Fire"). Theeyal can  be made with several combination of vegetables, but this one is our favorite.

Prep Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

Grated  Coconut: 1/3 cup

Shallots/Pearl onions: 6-7

Drumstick : 1

Tomato: 1

Potato: 1 (small chopped)

Tamarind pulp: 1 tablespoon  

Water: 1 cup

Prawns: 15-20

Green chillies: 3-4(slit)

Curry leaves: 1 sprig

Chilli powder: 2 teaspoons

Coriander powder : 2 teaspoons

Fenugreek seeds: 5-6

Salt to taste

Oil to saute

* Vegetarians can make this theeyal with a combination of Ladyfinger(okra), shallots and potatoes or bitter-guard and shallots or eggplant and shallots.

Roast the coconut and fenugreek seeds on medium heat until coconut turns brown. Keep stirring and make sure you don't burn the coconut. Then add chili powder and coriander powder and stir for 5 mins. The key  to a good theeyal is browning the coconut with the masala without burning it. After this has slightly cooled, grind it to a smooth paste without adding any water. The oil will come out to make it a thick paste. Keep aside.

Heat some oil in a deep pan. Saute the shallots, green chillies, drumsticks, potatoes and curry leaves for about 5-10 mins. Add the chopped tomatoes and tamarind pulp mixed with water and let it come to a boil. Add the ground coconut paste. Adjust the salt. Now let it boil and check if the drumstick and potato has cooked. Then add the prawns in the very end because they take very little time to cook. Boil on low- medium heat until the oil starts to show on the top. Theeyal is ready and serve with rice.