Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting

Recipe coming up soon…

Easy Apple Jam

Hello again! I am finally back with a recipe. *big grin* As I write this, baby R is sleeping (whilst wriggling at regular intervals, signs that he might wake up soon and I should hurry) and I still have tons of things to do. But who can resist doing a blog post as soon as you make something new? I can’t.

Now, why am I suddenly making apple jam? All thanks go to the new celebrity in the house- baby R. Folks come to see him, get him cute stuff and get me apples! Although I love the fruit, I can only have as many right? Hence, apple jam.

Jams are really easy to make. You just need to follow a simple rule- equal quantities of fruit pulp and sugar and you are set. After that all that you need is a wee bit citric acid to add that tang and to preserve the jam.

You will need:

3 apples- peeled, cored, chopped
1 cup sugar (go by the equal portions rule)
1/4 tsp citric acid
1 sterilized glass bottle to pour out the jam in

Method:
- Blanch the chopped apples in boiling water for a minute. Drain and grind it to a pulp. You might want to add two tablespoonful of water to make grinding easy. I like a jam to be a little chunky and rustic, so I did not grind the apples to a super fine pulp. You may choose to do otherwise.
- Measure the pulp. Three apples yielded one cup of pulp when I made this. You may get less or more, so do remember to measure it.
- Pour the pulp into a thick bottomed saucepan and put it on low heat. Keep stirring. When the pulp starts popping (kinda like boiling) add one cup sugar. Keep stirring continuously till the jam thickens. Then add the citric acid and stir. The proportion of citric acid (as taught to me by my mom) is 1/2 tsp citric acid to half a kg fruit.
- The done test for a jam is – when you drop a little jam on a cold plate, the jam should set and not have any liquid oozing out of it. Test your jam.
- Remove from heat when done. Let it cool and store it in a sterilized bottle.
- I like a hint of spice in my apple jam. Hence I added 1/8th tsp of cardamom powder when adding the sugar to the pulp. You may skip that if you like the pure, no spice version.

Grab a toast, spread your homemade jam on it and dig in!

I am no superwoman with special powers to control my weight. I have also had weight issues which have been compounded by the fact of me being a foodie. All it took was taking extra effort to maintain a healthy lifestyle before conceiving and during pregnancy (yes, the actual work needs to be done way before the baby is born).

This is how I was 15 days before my baby was born

Amita- 15 days after Raajas's birth

Four months before we began trying to conceive I had begun exercising regularly (yes, I used to have days of laziness before that too!), quit all forms of alcohol (except a very rare glass of wine at a party) and kept a close watch on the calories that I was consuming. During pregnancy, I had just added about 300-400 calories to my routine diet as only that much extra is required to support the baby’s growth. By the end of nine months, I had gained 12 kilos and was looking quite a sight (which you have seen in the pic above) but had all health parameters normal.

My diet during pregnancy:
1 glass of milk
Breakfast: 1 portion upma/poha or 2 brown bread toasted with 1 egg omlet
1 fruit
Mid-morning: 1 banana (this is one fruit I had plenty of!)
Lunch: 2-3 rotis, 1 katori subzi, 1 katori salad, 1 katori dal or 1 serving chicken or fish curry
Tea time: 1 cup tea and later I would snack on 1 katori chiwra (spicy rice flakes) or a tomato and cheese sandwich
Dinner: Idli/Dosa and sambar or kadhi khichadi or vegetable pulao or parathas + 1 katori curd + salad
Post dinner: 1 glass of warm milk

Of course, I did deviate at times when I was struck by a craving to have some eight dosas or two large scoops of chocolate mousse icecream or when I went to my favorite kerala food restaurant- Sunny’s. But then, that would happen on one or two days of a week. And yes, I continued my regular exercise (1 hour walk and other stretching exercises as recommended).

Fifteen days after having a baby I was eight kilos lighter and now had only 4-5 kilos to shed.The fact that I am a breastfeeding mum helped a lot (in case you are not breastfeeding then you need to put in much more effort towards weight loss). Just when I thought, ‘another month and I would be back in shape’- my mom decided to load me with foods rich in dry fruits, proteins and carbohydrates. As a result, I lost only 1 kilogram in one month (see what a glutton I am!). So now, I have restricted my consumption of those ‘heavy’ foods and gone back to a regular roti subzi diet and whenever I get hungry (other than a meal time) I snack on a fruit!

Here are some quick tips to get back in shape:

- If you are breastfeeding, you will need about 400-500 extra calories per day. This you can manage by adding another portion to your breakfast and then having some of those traditional calorie rich foods.
- Walk, walk, walk! Of course after about 40 days of having a baby, as you will need that much time to recover.
- Try and consume about 3 fruits a day and keep regular meal times. Don’t worry, your baby will not leave you with time to eat much more.
- Watch what you drink as the full cream milk, fruit juices, milk shakes etc. are also loaded with calories.
- A healthy portion (about 400 grams) of vegetables a day will provide you with all the necessary vitamins and minerals that both you and your baby need.
- Drink as much water as possible (about 3 litres).
- If you have had gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia, high blood pressure then keep a watch on your diet and stick to your medications and doctor’s advice.
-Most importantly, keep your goals small and realistic. Enjoy motherhood and do not get depressed if you are not able to lose weight quickly. Every woman and her pregnancy is unique so there can be no ‘one formula works for all’ here.

Always remember that it is the easiest to lose the initial weight while the final few kilos take the most time and effort. Once your weight loss goal is achieved do not stop your weekly weigh ins as its super easy to gain weight post pregnancy too!

Now then while my baby sleeps, I must go do my exercises for the day (stretching and muscle toning exercises + 30 mins brisk walk everyday).

Here’s my favorite mommy blog these days- Mommygolightly by Lalita Iyer.

Take care!

Raajas Kelkar | Born on 20th December 2011

Please welcome our baby ‘Raajas’. All this while I was preparing for motherhood and now all that preparation is being put to test. Will be back soon…

A happy new year to all of you!

Cucumber Salad with lemon and peanut dressing

Here’s a quick post and an even quicker salad to make! I love cucumber as a salad vegetable as its very refreshing, takes up flavors easily and is always available! Just chop it, sprinkle some salt and pepper or chaat masala and you are done! This salad, or rather ‘koshimbir’ as Maharashtrian salads are known, is typically also flavored with a ‘tadka’ or tempering of oil/ghee, cumin seeds, green chilli. But I opt out of the tempering a lot of times when making this salad just for myself, to cut back on the fat calories. Only pointer- don’t make this salad in advance as then all the water from the cucumber will leach out and the salad will be no fun. There are loads of tips where they ask you to drain out water from cucumber but I would strongly advise against it, as that’s how you also lose out on the micro-nutrients in the vegetable. Here’s how I make it!

You will need:

2 fresh cucumbers, chopped or grated
1 tbsp roasted and coarsely ground peanuts (you can add more peanuts but just keep in mind that it adds to the fat calories too! )
1/2 green chilli, chopped fine
1 tsp toasted cumin seeds or cumin powder
1/2 tsp sugar (to balance the tang of the lemon)
2 tsp lemon juice (you can add more if you like your salad tangier)
salt to taste
some chopped coriander to garnish (I tend to add more as it adds to my salad)

Method:

- To the chopped/grated cucumber add all of the above ingredients, give it a good toss. Taste it, adjust seasoning. Garnish with coriander and serve!

Source: http://acid-reflux.computercompleto.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/acid-reflux-food-to-avoid.jpg

One might feel that acidity and acidic reflux or heartburn is caused only by consuming a heavy meal rich in fat and spices especially late in the night. But recently, I have been seeing a surge in the number of clients approaching me for diet counselling who also suffer from chronic acidity. These people are from varied occupations- busy executives, housewives, young men and women (age less than 30) and even adolescents!

Acidity is caused due to excess production, decreased utilization of the digestive juices (which are acidic in nature) in our stomach. This predominantly happens when there are long gaps between two meal times, the meal consumed is heavy in fat sugar and spices, when a person leads a very stressful lifestyle and due to lack of exercise. As a result, one gets a burning sensation in the stomach, throat and can often have an acidic reflux on lying down. Acidity is common in pregnant women as well, but that is because of the hormonal surge in pregnancy.

- The trick to managing acidity is to keep the stomach neither too full nor too empty. So the best way is to break down your breakfast, lunch and dinner into smaller portions and eat that food at an hourly interval.
- Another method is having sipfuls of cold milk every now and then- it helps stabilize the gastric acids. But beware, eating icecream is not equivalent to drinking plain cold milk as the fat (cream) and sugar in the icecream can actually aggravate your acidity.
- The most common tip, avoid spicy, oily, deep fried and fatty foods as they are a sure shot way of increasing the reflux.
- Increase the amount of fibre in your diet by increasing consumption of fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Fibre absorbs the extra acid in the stomach and helps to discard it out of the body. The salts that one gets from the fruits also help in neutralizing the acidity.
-Start the morning with half a cup of cold milk and a couple of digestive fibre rich crackers.
- When sleeping, elevate your head by adding an extra pillow under your head so that the acid remains low down and does not come up to your throat once you sleep.
- Drink atleast three litres of water every single day, it dilutes the acid.
- Drinking tender coconut water is also known to be beneficial.
- Advance your dinner time by atleast a couple of hours; dinner should be done by 8 pm so that you still have a couple of hours before you go to sleep.
- Practice yoga or meditation techniques which can help you relax- stress is the biggest lifestyle trigger to acidity.
- And of course, Exercise, Exercise, Exercise- EVERYDAY!

Bring into practice all of these points and I am sure you won’t be stuck in the cycle of acidity and antacids.

Take care!

Maharashtrian Style Capsicum Stir Fry

This is how I fell in love with capsicum or green peppers. In my childhood, we never used to get any red, yellow, orange peppers in Baroda (my hometown). In fact, I did not know that these were really real colors of peppers for a very long time, I and my mom always used to think that they were hybrid (a lot of things which were not common place were doubted to be hybrid back then!). My dad was never a fan of capsicum while my mom used to love it. So in order to make it more daddy-friendly, my mom started adding some besan (bengal gram flour) to a regular tadka subzi of capsicum. Later we also tried a version of this by adding soy flour and it tasted equally delish. The best thing(s) about this veggie is that it is really simple to put together, is crisp but not dry and surprisingly sour and sweet at the same time- the sourness coming from the capsicum and the hint of sweet coming from half a teaspoon of sugar added to this. You can have it the way M likes it- as a subzi with hot chapatis or top it up on a warm toast- either way it is a beautifully spiced dish that celebrates this wonder vegetable which is loaded with vitamins, flavonoids and good antioxidants!

You will need:

4 medium sized capsicum (green peppers or any peppers), chopped
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp chilli powder (or more according to taste)
1/2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp besan (bengal gram flour) or soy flour
salt to taste

Method:

- Heat the oil in a non stick pan/kadhai and add the mustard seeds to it and let them crackle. Next add the turmeric and the chopped capsicum and stir well. Then add the chilli powder, salt. Stir well and cover for two minutes taking care that the capsicum does not lose its color.
-Now lower the flame and sprinkle the besan and sugar on the capsicum and stir continuously. Capsicum should always be slightly underdone and have a bite and not become soft and soggy. Cook till just done- the capsicum will be glossy green with bits of browned besan sticking to it.
-Enjoy!

Chocolate Orange Medley Cake

All you guys have to thank Swati Koranne for this post- she is the one who has been reminding me to do this post for the longest time. Dear Swati, thank you for bearing with my absentmindedness and for yet again asking me to post this recipe.

I had made this cake on an odd day when I was actually feeling like baking a cake-cake complete with frosting and all. That time, I had quite a few oranges in my fridge and had recently bought some really good hershey’s dark cocoa and ghirardelli chocolate. This match of chocolate and orange was made in heaven! D-I-V-I-N-E!

I looked up recipes for chocolate frosting- the two best options available to me were making a chocolate butter cream frosting or a chocolate gananche. Now because making the ganache required cooking the chocolate, the lazy person in me was not thrilled with it. The butter cream frosting would have meant me adding atleast a 100 g of butter to just the frosting- the nutritionist in me groaned! So then, I decided to use low fat cream for the two frosting used in this cake- the one filled in the middle is orange cream and the one slathered on top is chocolate orange. And of course, the cake also has orange zest and orange juice. I could have added cocoa powder to the cake batter, but in retrospect, I quite like the contrast of the dark chocolate with the orangey yellowy cake and the filling in the middle peeping through!

You will need:

For the cake:
2 eggs
100 g salted butter softened (if using unsalted butter, add a pinch of salt)
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour (maida)
1 cup caster sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 cup fresh orange juice, strained
1/4 cup milk
2 tbsp orange zest

- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
-Sieve the all purpose flour and baking powder and keep aside. Cream the butter, sugar and eggs till fluffy.
-Now alternately add the flour mix, orange juice and milk to the creamed butter and mix well.
-Fold in the orange zest to give uniform specks of orange in the batter. If you want to be more indulgent, you can also add 1/4 cup chocolate chips to this batter.
- Bake the cake in a prepared 9 inch round tin at 180 degrees for 45 min. If you have two such tins and a large oven then, divide the batter into half and bake two cakes out of this. I don’t have two tins so I just baked one cake and then cut a cross section of the ready cake using a sewing thread. Just keep in mind that the cake might need less baking time if you are baking it in two tins.
- Once the cake is ready, keep it on a wire rack to cool. Remember, never to get hasty and begin frosting a warm cake!

For the orange cream frosting:
1 cup icing sugar
1/4 cup low fat cream (I used amul cream)
1 tbsp orange zest
1/2 tsp orange flavoring (optional)

- Whip up the cream to give soft peaks while continuously adding icing sugar to it. Once the desired easy spread consistency is achieved, add the orange zest and flavoring and fold it in well. Keep this frosting in the fridge for about 5-10 minutes so that it is not too soft when you spread it on the cake.

For the chocolate frosting:

1/2 cup dark good cocoa (I used hersheys)
1 1/4 cup icing sugar
1/4 cup low fat cream
1-2 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp orange flavor essence

- Mix the cocoa and sugar in a bowl. Whip the cream to a fluffy consistency, then slowly start adding the cocoa sugar and orange flavor and mix well till a nice spread consistency is achieved. If the frosting seems too thick, add one to two tbsp of milk.
- Put this in the fridge for 5 min so that it does not become runny consistency when spread on the cake.

Frosting the cake:

-If you are using two cakes then remember to assemble the top cake upside down on the bottom cake so that you get an even surface for the final frosting.
-If you are like me and have cut the cake into a cross section, then keep the top portion aside. Now frost the middle of the cake with the orange cream frosting so that it becomes a filling at the centre. Leave about 1 cm space free from the edges as the frosting will ooze out when you keep the top cake back on it.
-Reassemble the top of the cake and give it a quick press so that the cakes stick to each other. Now spread the chocolate frosting on the top and the sides of the cake as neatly as possible (!). If you want to go the old fashioned way then you can even create wavy peaks on the cake frosting.
-As a final touch, grate good good dark chocolate (I have used ghirardelli) on the top of the chocolate frosting. If you are more creative, you can even make chocolate swirls, decorate the cake with sugar flowers or pipe some icing!

Whole Wheat Focaccia

The focaccia won against the maharashtrian style capsicum stir fry in the last poll. So here I am with its recipe.

I adapted this recipe from the one given in Children’s Cookbook by Sara Lewis. Because I don’t usually prefer using maida or all purpose flour, I replaced that with whole wheat flour. But on making the bread I realized that I probably should have used half all purpose and half whole wheat flour, so that the bread would have been lighter. The final product using only whole wheat flour was more crusty and grainy, like an oatmeal bread. And yes, I did not have any sun dried tomatoes in the house, so I skipped those. This focaccia is best had warm with soup or salad and may be a dip like a mint yoghurt or hummus.

You will need:

750 g of whole wheat flour (or a 50:50 mix of whole wheat and all purpose flour)
1 and 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
3 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
9 tbsp olive oil
450 ml warm water
few stems of rosemary, fresh ( I used the dried one)
few black olives, pitted
sundried tomatoes, few pieces if available. you can also use oven dried tomatoes.

Method:

-Take a cup of the warm water (from the 450 ml) and add sugar and yeast to it, stir, cover and keep aside till frothy. This should take about 10-15 minutes depending on how sunny the day is.
- Take the flour in a bowl, add salt and three tbsp olive oil to it. Then add the yeast water and mix well. Gradually add the remainder water to make a soft but not sticky dough. Do not overwork the dough the way we would do for a chapati, mix it only till it just comes together as a soft dough.
- Cover the bowl with the dough using a cling film and put aside in a warm place for 45-60 minutes till the dough has doubled in size. Knock back the dough and knead it for 5 minutes. Now make three pieces/portions of this dough and pat each into a rough oval using your hands. I found it easier to pat the dough into shape keeping it directly on the oiled baking sheet.
- Make dents over each loaf using the end of a spoon. Press the sun dried tomatoes, olives, rosemary into these holes.
-Leave to rise for a second time in a warm place for about 20-30 minutes.
-Meanwhile preheat the oven at 200 degrees.
-Spoon 1 tbsp of olive oil over each bread. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes until the focaccia are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped with your fingers. Spoon the rest of the oil over the bread and serve warm.

Note: I have also used fresh garlic instead of sun dried tomatoes as I love the aroma of garlic, olive oil and hot bread!

Whole Wheat Focaccia

Maharashtrian Style Capsicum Stir Fry