Flourless Chocolate Cake

Chocolate lovers favorite dessert. Easy to prepare and is gluten free too!! The baked cake comes out light,crisp on the outside and moist in the inside. The recipe includes simple ingredients, and  is a perfect dessert for sweet indulgence!!

Ingredients

12 ounce plain Chocolate chopped
1 1/2 stick unsalted butter
6 Eggs, separate egg whites and yolks
1 1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
1/4 tsp Coffee powder
Coco powder for dusting the 8 inch cake pan
1/4 tsp Pure vanilla essence 
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup confectioners sugar for dusting over the baked cake (optional)
Mixed berries (optional to add on the top)





                                               

Ingredients

Melt Butter and chocolate in microwave

Separate egg whites and yolks

Add egg yolks to melted chocolate

Beat egg whites 

Add whipped egg whites to cake batter

Fold in care fully the egg whites

Dust cake pan with coco powder

Add prepared cake batter to cake pan

Dust baked cake with confectioners sugar and add raspberries and blueberries 

Method:
1. Preheat  oven to 350 F . Using two bowls, separate egg whites from yolks, using a hand beater, beat  egg whites till they form soft peaks.Keep aside.
2. In a medium bowl,add broken pieces of chocolate,  add butter, stir together and microwave for 2 to 3 minutes, remove from microwave and stir to melt the chocolate.
3. Add egg yolks one by one to  melted chocolate. Next I like to add coffee powder as it enhances the flavor of  chocolate. Also add salt, and vanilla essence.
4. Add sugar to the beaten egg whites and next add this egg whites to the cake batter. Fold in the cake batter, don't over mix.
5. Dust a round cake pan, approx 8 inch in diameter, with coco powder. Pour cake batter and bake at 350 F, for 1 hour and to test if it is ready, put a toothpick in the cake, and making sure it comes out little wet but not too gooey. Cool the cake on a rack, and later dust with confectioners sugar on the top, and you can add some berries too for the added touch.
Alternately, instead of putting confectioners sugar and berries, you can add vanilla frosting or other fruits of your choice too!

Grilled Tandoori Salmon & Asian Grilled Salmon

Salmon fish provides high quality protein, almost 40 gm in about 5 ounce fillet of salmon. Filled with omega 3 fatty foods, salmon is one of the heart healthy fish too. Making it  a good alternative to eating chicken or meat.
Also fairly  easy to prepare ,doesn't require much time to get cooked,  try to eat salmon, preferably 2 to 3 times a week.  Good source of many other nutrients like vitamin B, B 12, magnesium, potassium and it is a low calorie, food. 

  Grilled Tandoori Salmon

Tandoori Salmon
Ingredients
4 Fillets of Salmon, each  approx  6 to 8 ounces each, skinless
1 pod of garlic, grate the cloves for added flavor
1 inch ginger grated
1/4 cup oil
salt to taste
1 tsp red chili powder
2 tablespoon Shaan tandoori powder ( ready spice mix available in Indian stores)
2 green chilies finely chopped

Method: 1.Clean and wipe the fish fillets, with a paper towel.  Pre heat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a medium bowl add oil, grated ginger, green chilies, garlic, and Shaan powder, salt , red chili powder and 1/2 lemon juice, mix all together to form a paste.
3. Add the fish fillets and allow to marinate in this paste mixture for about 30 minutes.
4.Place  marinated  fish fillets, on to a  foil covered baking sheet and bake for about 8 minutes on both sides, and serve hot along with green chutney. ( Recipe of green chutney in this blog) or you can buy ready made too from an Indian grocery store.

                                   

            

               

Prepare the marinade

Place marinated salmon fillets to grill 

Cooked Salmon

Asian Grilled salmon

Ingredients
 4 to 6 fillets of salmon 
1 clove garlic chopped finely
1 inch freshly grated ginger
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp vinegar
1 medium size lemon cut in thin slices 
salt to taste
black pepper
1 tbsp chili garlic sauce ( lee kum lee)
Olive oil
1/4 cup mustard sauce


Method
1.Mix together in a bowl, honey mustard,soy sauce,chili garlic sauce,
finely chopped garlic,ginger.
2.Add vinegar, and sprinkle salt and black pepper on the cleaned fish fillets, keep aside for about 10 minutes.
3. Coat the fish fillets with the prepared sauce. Keep marinated for approximately 10 to 12 minutes.
4. Heat a non stick pan, add 2 to 3 tsp olive oil. Add the marinated fish fillets, two at a time. Allow to cook over medium heat for about 5 to 6 minutes, on each side. Continue with the remaining fillets.
Serve garnished with lemon slices.




                                                

Add vinegar,salt ,pepper

Marinate Fish fillets

Asian grilled salmon

Asian Grilled Salmon

Pistachio's and saffron rice pudding (Kheer)

Kheer, a traditional Indian sweet , prepared by most of the Indians. The rice is cooked along with milk, and the addition of sweet cardamom provides the scented aroma, also pistachios and additional nuts adds  richness and flavor to this Indian sweet dish ,  Kheer. It can also be referred to as rice pudding, but call it what ever this recipe will make you want to try it immediately and enjoy the richness and  taste.

Ingredients 

4 cups whole milk ( use low fat is preferred)

1 cup uncooked basmati rice

1 can condensed milk

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup sliced pistachios

1/4 cup sliced almonds

pinch of saffron 

3 to 4 seeded small cardamoms seeds

Pistachio & saffron Kheer

Method

1. Begin by washing  rice and adding it to  4 cups of milk, add  sugar and cardamom seeds and begin to  cook rice and milk, in a heavy bottomed medium sized cooking utensil, over low to medium heat. Add in pinch of saffron. Continue to stir the rice, and cook for approximately 20 to 25 minutes, as the rice appears to be cooked , add in pistachios and continue cooking on low flame. Reserve 2 tsp pistachios for decoration.

2. Next, stir in  condensed milk, and cook for another 4 to 5 minutes, and check for sweetness, if  not too sweet ,add another tablespoon of sugar, but if you prefer less sweet then this is perfect.

3. Close the burner and pour out the ready kheer  ( rice pudding ) into a serving dish , garnish with more pistachios, and almonds and refrigerate.

Trifle Pudding

Trifle is an English dessert, prepared with custard milk and cake,  fruits  that are layered. The dessert is very refreshing and a perfect dessert for a party gatherings and just for your own self too. 

Ingredients
1 medium plain sponge cake (store bought)
16 oz  container of cool whip cream ( preferably light )
1 packet raspberry jelly
1 packet ready vanilla pudding mix
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 small can pineapple slices ( in syrup)
1 cup whole milk
1 cup fresh strawberries sliced into halves.
1/2 cup Blue berries (optional)

Trifle Pudding

Method:
1. Using  instructions, given on the pudding mix box, prepare custard by heating 1 cup milk on low to medium heat,add pudding mix contents ,stir continuously for 4 to 5 minutes, until the milk thickens and custard forms. Add 1/4 tspn of vanilla extract. Cool and  refrigerate for an hour.
 2. To prepare Jelly , heat 2 cups of water ,as it begins to boil, lower  heat and start adding  contents from jelly packet,stir and pour into a glass bowl, allow to cool before keeping in the refrigerator to form jelly.

 (You can use a flavour of your choice for Jelly, but since we are using strawberries I thought Raspberry and Strawberry go well)
3. Slice the strawberries, cut the pineapple slices into halves. Layering of Trifle
1.Using a transparent bowl. Place cubed pieces of  cake, arranging to create a layer at the  bottom of the serving dish. Add 2 to 3 spoons of  pineapple juice to sponge cake pieces, will help to  keep them moist. Next add sliced pineapple slices and for next layer add a layer of prepared jelly. 
2. Follow with  a layer of fresh sliced strawberries, to this add a layer of prepared pudding mix. Repeat the layers again by starting with cake cubes . For the top layer, cover with a layer of cool whip,decorate with sliced strawberries.  Allow to refrigerate for an hour before serving.