Farmer's Market and Palak Chicken

Farmer's market operates only during winter season.  This time it started from first week of December 2013.    It is an effort by Qatar government to get the farmers to sell their produce directly to end users.  There are really good - the only setback is that we need to get them in bulk and we normally go there in a group of 4 to 5 and split amongst ourselves.



Farmers Market buying spree

Palak is a vegetable that comes under the spinach family basically it is called Indian Spinach.  I have never cooked this type of spinach.  So when we saw loads of greens at the farmer's market, I decided to get them.  Haleema, who accompanied me to the farmer's market shared a recipe which she usually make.


Spinach - Palak

Palak Chicken
source : Haleema Rahman

Ingredients
500gm chicken breast
1 tbs ginger garlic paste
1 tsp of turmeric powder
salt to taste
1 bunch of palak
1/4 cup of water
1 small sized tomato
1 big onons
2-3 green chillies
1 tsp fennel powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp garam masala
2 tbs butter

Method
1.  Wash and chopped coarsely spinach.
2.  Wash and cut into bite size chicken.  Marinate with ginger garlic paste, salt and turmeric powder and shallow fry till cook.  Set aside.  Do not over cooked the chicken though.
3.  In a deep pan, put in spinach, chilli, chopped tomato and onions. Add in water and season with salt and cook till soft and spinach.
4.  Let it cool and blend (or if you have a hand blender - it works great) till fine and smooth
5.  In a different pan, heat butter, add in chicken, stir well and add in to the blended spinach.
6.  Season with salt if you require and serve with hot steaming rice or chapatis.

Enjoy





Sathiarani

Top 10 Health Benefits Of Cauliflower

Top 10 Health Benefits Of Cauliflower

Pandan Chiffon Cake

During my recent trip back home during the summer, I bought myself 2 tube pan for making chiffon cake.  But then while packing I realized that I am hitting overweight, so had to leave the pans and a few others, hoping someone would be able to bring it down on the next opportunity.  True enough I got my goods not long after and finally made them.

As the name calls Pandan Chiffon Cake, it calls for pandan juice but I did not have sufficient pandan leaves to make juice so I ended with the no so natural pandan essense.

I was really surprised at the outcome as this was the first time I made them.  They turned out perfectly well which is not only moist and soft, they had a nice pandany aroma.  Lets look at some of the pictures that I have taken before you look at the recipe courtesy of www.nyonyafood.rasamalaysia.com




Meringue



Chiffon Cake

Now that you have seen the pictures lets look at the recipe.  You should try them - it is not difficult at all. 

Pandan Chiffon Cake
courtesy of  www.nyonyafood.rasamalaysia.com

Ingredients
Step 1
8 medium egg yolks
58gm fine sugar
60ml pandan/screwpine leaves juice (made from blending 6screpine leaves with 60ml water
89gm corn oil or olive oil - I used corn oil.
142gm self raising flour

Method
1.  Beat egg yolk and sugar lightly with a hand whisk till sugar dissolve.
2.  Stir in pandan juice and corn oil
3.  Fold self raising flour into egg mixture.
4.  Set aside

Step 2
Ingredients

8 egg whites
142gm fine sugar
pinch of salt

Method
1.  Beat egg whites till frothy.  Slowly add in sugar and pinch of salt while beating at high speed.
2.  Beat until the egg white is stiff and shining but not dry - about 3 minutes.

Step 3
1.  Preheat oven at 175C
2.  Use a spatula and gently fold egg yolk mixture into the egg white(meringue)
3.  Pour into an ungreased 25cm tube pan
4.  Bake for 40-45mins
5.  Once cake is cooked, removed from oven immediately and invert pan onto wire rack.  Let it cool before removing cake from pan.  Use a butter knife to go around the pan to remove the cake from the tube pan.

Have fun trying out!

Sathiarani

Banana Coconut Cake

What do you do when you have a few bananas that is slowly turning into brown and no longer appetizing.  You make a cake out of it.  Its recommended to use bananas that have really turned brown and sort of mushy.

I wanted something different instead of the usual bananas and nuts or chocolate chips. I found this recipe and at baking.food and it was definitely worth to make them.  I made mine using a 10" springform tube pan just similar to the picture shown below. You get this beautiful sweet aroma when the cake is being baked.

As I made this cake for a friend who just moved into a new house,  I took the big piece and left the little one.  I had time to indulge on it 2 days later, not only it was still moist and soft, it was delicious and awesome.  My soon to be teenager son had one bite and decided to ask for more.



Courtesy of Mr Google.



The dark brown line that divides the cake is a mixture of brown sugar, desiccated coconut and spices.

This is what you get when you used this type springform - a big piece and eenie weenie cute one
Banana Coconut Cake
source :  www. baking.food.com

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 cup mashed ripe banan
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups flour
1tsp baking soda
1tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup grated coconut - I used desiccated coconut
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp tsp ginger powder

Directions
 1.  In a small bowl, mix the coconut, brown sugar, cinnamon and ginger.  Set aside
2.  Grase and flour a 9" tube pan.
3.  Cream butter and sugar.  Beat in eggs 1 at a time
4.  Add bananas, buttermilk and vanilla.
5. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Beat into banana mixture toblend. 
6.  Pour half of the batter into the tube pan.  Sprinkle with half of the coconut mixture.  Add remaining batter and sprinkle with remaining topping - which I forgot to do.
7. Bake at 175C for 50mins or till done.  ( I reduced my temperature to 160C as the pan that I used was dark coloured and cooked for an hour)


Sathiarani