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May 20, 2017

Pressure Cooker Cake Without Egg – How To Make Eggless Vanilla Cake In Pressure Cooker

Pressure cooker cake recipe
Eggless vanilla cake using a pressure cooker is my long time pending readers requested recipe. Many readers who tried my eggless cakes using convection oven had requested me to share some eggless cake recipes using a pressure cooker. Long back I had shared an eggless chocolate cake in a pressure cooker. But its procedure and recipe is completely different from the usual cooker cake. I used water in the bottom of cooker instead of salt or sand. 

Today I have shared the proper & perfect pressure cooker cake using powdered salt. I followed my eggless tutti frutti cake recipe and made it using pressure cooker instead of baking in oven. This simple, eggless cake recipe is made without using condensed milk or butter. Curd and cooking oil are the major ingredients. Cake came out really well, spongy and very soft as expected. The texture of the cake is equally great with the oven ones. There is no much difference in baking time as well. This vanilla sponge cake can be used as the base, decorate it with simple frosting and enjoy for birthday & anniversary celebrations Or it can be relished as simple tea time cake as well.For variations, you can mix in some tutti frutti to make this cake colorful.

 Friends, do try this cake during this vacation for your kids. I am sure you will get perfect results. I tried frosting the cake using Amul fresh cream.It tasted great but its texture was not so perfect. Soon I will try to make a simple and easy frosting recipe using fresh cream and share here. Lets see how to make eggless vanilla sponge cake in a pressure cooker with step by step pictures and video !


Eggless cake in a pressure cooker

Eggless Pressure cooker Vanilla sponge cake


Eggless Pressure cooker Vanilla sponge cake Eggless vanilla sponge cake in a pressure cooker
Cuisine: Indian
Category: Cakes
Serves: 1/2 kg
Prep time: 10 Minutes
Cook time: 40 Minutes
Total time: 50 Minutes


INGREDIENTS
1 cup - 240ml
  • All purpose flour / Maida - 1.5 cups
  • Baking powder - 1.25 tsp
  • Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
  • Powdered Sugar Or fine sugar – 1 cup
  • Fresh curd - 1 cup  ( Semi solid)
  • Cooking oil - 1/2 cup (I used refined oil. Any flavorless oil works)
  • Milk - 1 to 2 tbsp ( optional)
  • Vanilla essence – 1.5 tsp
  • Maida & cooking oil – 1 tsp to grease the baking pan
HOW TO MAKE EGGLESS VANILLA CAKE IN PRESSURE COOKER - METHOD

  • In a wide bowl, take the curd. Add sugar and mix till sugar dissolves in curd. Then add baking powder and baking soda. As soon as u mix them, bubbles appear in the curd. Mix  gently and keep the curd bowl aside for 5 minutes. It foams up well.
    How to make eggless cake in pressure cooker
    How to make eggless cake in pressure cooker
  • After 5 minutes, add vanilla essence and cooking oil in the curd mixture. Mix gently.
    How to make eggless cake in pressure cooker
  • Add sieved maida to the curd mixture little by little. If the cake batter is too thick, add 1 to 2 tbsp milk and loosen the batter slightly. Batter should be thick but pourable.

  • Take an aluminium baking pan and grease with oil. Spread 1 tsp maida all over the pan and pat the excess flour. Pour the cake batter and pat it twice to spread the batter evenly.
    How to make eggless cake in pressure cooker
  • Take the pressure cooker, remove the gasket and whistle in the lid. Spread 1/2 kg powdered salt evenly in the bottom of cooker. Put a slotted plate or any plate over the salt.
    How to make eggless cake in pressure cooker
  • Heat the cooker in high flame for 5 minutes. Salt gets heated well. Now open the cooker and place the cake pan inside it carefully. Close with the lid and heat the cooker in very low flame for 30 to 40 minutes. Open the cooker after 30 minutes and insert a toothpick or back of spoon. If it comes out clean, cake is done else cook for another 5 minutes. Mine got done in 35 minutes.
    How to make eggless cake in pressure cooker

  • How to make eggless cake in pressure cooker
  • Remove the cake pan carefully and rest it for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the cake and invert in a plate. Cut the cake into pieces after it becomes warm. Enjoy. Store the leftover pieces in an air tight box. Do not refrigerate or let it open, cake will become dry. It stays good for 2 days. How to make eggless cake in pressure cooker


Enjoy !

Note
  • Adjust the quantity of sugar as per your taste. For me 1 cup sugar was fine.
  • Do not add more milk than the mentioned quantity.
  • Baking time varies from 30 to 40 minutes. So keep an eye after 30 minutes. Make sure you don’t burn the cake.

How to make eggless cake in pressure cooker

Try this soft and spongy eggless pressure cooker cake. You will like it ! I tried frosting the cake using fresh cream. Soon I will try to make a perfect frosting recipe and share here !

How to make eggless cake in pressure cooker
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May 19, 2017

Vegetable Sagu Recipe – Karnataka Style Saagu Recipe For Poori, Set Dosa, Rava idli

Vegetable sagu recipe - Karnataka style
Sagu is the most popular side dish for poori, set dosa, rava dosa and even for rava idli in Karnataka hotels just like vegetable kurma in Tamil nadu. It is served along with coconut chutney. In Kannada Sagu means Kurma. Being in Bangalore for the past 10 years, I had tasted this saagu ( mixed vegetable sagu) several times in restaurants, marriage functions here.

In some places, potato sagu is served instead of vegetable sagu. During avarekalu season ( Field beans), avarekalu sagu is served. Recently I got this recipe from Nagalakshmi ( one of my friends in School moms group). Actually she shared two versions. One is the green version and the other one is red. But I wanted to try the hotel style sagu recipe. So I chose the green version and tried it for Ragi Poori. It came out really well. In some hotels, sagu looks red in color. To make that, use byadgi red chilli / Kashmiri red chilli while grinding masala or use red chilli powder.

Before posting here, I shared a picture of this sagu with my friends in Whatsapp, got their approval about the color and texture and posting it confidently. The flavor and texture of this sagu is very similar to south Indian veg kurma. Coconut, poppy seeds are the most important ingredients. It forms the base for this gravy. You could find many variations in sagu masala. But tastes good in all the ways ! Lets see how to make Karnataka style mixed vegetable sagu recipe with step by step pictures.

Mixed vegetable sagu recipe

Saagu recipe / mixed vegetable sagu recipe


Saagu recipe / mixed vegetable sagu recipe Karnataka style mixed vegetable sagu recipe - side dish for poori, set dosa, rava idli and rava dosa
Cuisine: Karnataka
Category: Side dish for poori, dosa
Serves: Serves 3
Prep time: 10 Minutes
Cook time: 20 Minutes
Total time: 30 Minutes


INGREDIENTS
1 cup - 250 ml
  • Mixed vegetables - 1 cup ( 1 medium carrot, 5 beans, 1 potato, handful green peas ) ( Cauliflower, knol khol can also be used)
  • Big onion - 1 no
  • Tomato - 1 small ( optional)
  • Salt & water - as needed
To Grind
  • Grated coconut - 1/4 cup
  • Green chillies - 3 nos ( use 2 for less spicy taste)
  • Poppy seeds/Khus Khus – 1.5 tsp
  • Fried gram dal – 1.5 tsp
  • Big onion – 1/2 no (medium sized)
  • Coriander seeds - 1/2 tsp
  • Ginger - 1/2 inch
  • Garlic cloves - 2 nos
  • Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
  • Cinnamon - 1 inch piece
  • Cloves - 2 nos
  • Cardamom - 1 no 
  • Coriander leaves - 1 tbsp
  • Tamarind – A pinch (Optional)
To Temper
  • Cooking oil – 2 tbsp
  • Mustard seeds – 1/2 tsp
  • Urad dal – 1 tsp
  • Curry leaves - Few
HOW TO MAKE VEGETABLE SAGU - METHOD

  • Wash and chop all the vegetables finely. Grind all the ingredients given under “ To grind” to a smooth paste. Set aside.

    Vegetable sagu recipe
    Vegetable sagu recipe
  • Heat oil in a pressure cooker base. Temper mustard seeds, urad dal and curry leaves. Add the finely chopped onion and saute till transparent.
    Vegetable sagu recipe
  • Add the chopped vegetables and required salt. Mix well and add ground paste. Saute till raw smell goes off. 
    Vegetable sagu recipe - Karnataka
  • Lastly add 1 cup of water. Mix well and Pressure cook for 1 whistle in low flame. Open the lid after the steam is released. If its watery, boil for a minute. If its too thick, add some water to adjust the consistency. Mix well and serve with poori, set dosa or rava idli.
    Vegetable sagu recipe - Karnataka
  • Enjoy !

Note
  • Adjust the quantity of green chillies as per your spice level.
  • Adding tamarind is optional while grinding masala.
  • You can add 1 tsp of ginger, garlic paste instead of ginger and whole garlic.
  • You can also add few mint leaves while grinding.
Try this easy, Karnataka special vegetable sagu for poori, dosa. Its flavorful and healthy too!
Vegetable sagu recipe - Karnataka
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May 16, 2017

Ragi Poori Recipe – Finger Millet Poori – Ragi Recipes

Ragi Poori Recipe
I am happy to share a millet recipe after a long time in my space. As you all know, I have been trying varieties of Poori recipes during weekends and sharing the same in my web page. Soon I will make a collection of them in my page for quick reference. 

Last weekend I tried ragi poori for our Sunday breakfast. Ragi (Finger millet in English, Kezhvaragu in Tamil, Mandua in Hindi, Ragi in Kannada, Koovaragu in Malayalam, Ragulu in Telugu) is a very healthy millet that is rich in calcium & iron.Usually I make recipes with ragi flour at least once in a week to include it in our regular diet.  Most of the time I prepare ragi dosa as its a quick, easy and instant dosa recipe. Sometimes Ragi porridge/Ragi kanji and ragi idli. 

Recently I came across this finger millet puri in some websites. I quickly browsed for the recipe, made some changes and tried it. It came out really well and soft.Though it looks hard & dry in the picture, the actual texture and taste was really nice. We are adding equal quantity of wheat flour to the ragi flour to give a binding to the poori dough. Rava is used to maintain the puffiness of poori for long time. Ghee is to give softness.

Do try this poori  for a change with a healthy addition of Ragi.You will like it I think :). Lets move on to the recipe of how to make Ragi poori with step by step pictures ! Please watch my basic Poori video for reference as the ingredients and the method of making this ragi poori is almost the same.


Finger millet poori

Ragi Poori - Finger Millet Poori Recipe


Ragi Poori - Finger Millet Poori Recipe How to make Ragi Poori/Finger millet poori recipe for breakfast - Basic poori recipe with a healthy addition !
Cuisine: Indian
Category: Breakfast Recipes
Serves: 9
Prep time: 20 Minutes
Cook time: 2 Minutes
Total time: 22 Minutes


INGREDIENTS
1 cup - 250ml
  • Ragi flour / Finger millet flour - 1/2 cup
  • Wheat flour / Atta - 1/2 cup
  • Ghee - 1/2 tsp
  • Rava/Sooji - 1 tsp ( I used upma rava,coarse ones)
  • Salt & water - as needed
  • Cooking oil - to deep fry poori
HOW TO MAKE RAGI POORI - METHOD

  • In a wide bowl, take the ragi flour, wheat flour, required salt, rava, ghee and mix well. Now add water gradually and make a thick dough.No problem if the dough is slightly sticky and have cracks.
    Ragi Poori recipe
  • Now grease your hands with oil lightly.Knead the dough very well for 5 minutes.Dough will become smooth and non-sticky. Do not rest the dough. Make poori immediately else it may drink oil.
    Ragi Poori recipe
  • Make small balls from the dough and set aside.Keep it covered with a plate. Take one ball, dust in wheat flour and roll into small, thick poori. Poori won’t puff up if rolled thin.
    Ragi Poori recipe
    Ragi Poori recipe
  • Heat oil in a kadai and when it gets heated , drop a pinch of dough.If it rises to the top immediately, oil temperature is right.Oil should not be smoky hot.Drop one poori and when it starts to float on top, press it with a ladle gently. Poori puff up well. Flip the poori and lower the flame to medium.
    Ragi Poori recipe
  • Cook the other side and remove in a tissue paper. Again increase the flame and drop another poori. Repeat this and make all the puri. Serve hot with kurma! I made Karnataka style vegetable sagu as side dish.
    Ragi Poori recipe
  • Enjoy !


Note

  • Do not add more ghee. Poori won’t puff up.
  • Poori should be rolled thick to puff up well.
  • Adding Rava is also optional.
  • Do not rest the dough for long time. Poori may absorb more oil.
  • Poori won’t puff up if oil temperature is less. So maintain proper heat.
Ragi Poori with mixed vegetable kurma is an yummy combination. Do try it !
Ragi Poori - Finger millet puri
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May 14, 2017

Veg Mayonnaise Sandwich Recipe – How To Make Mayo Sandwich Recipe Indian

Mayonnaise Veg Sandwich
Vegetable Mayonnaise sandwich was in my try list for long time. I make sandwich recipes only during weekends if I have less time to prepare breakfastWinking. Most of the time I make vegetable sandwich in this way. Recent days I started looking for varieties of Indian vegetarian sandwich ideas. One such recipe is this Veg Mayo sandwich. In fact my friend Shalini told this recipe long back but couldn’t try it. Last week I bought a box of Fun Foods Veg Mayonnaise ( eggless mayonnaise) to slather in Veg burger for my daughter. Suddenly I reminded about this sandwich and tried it with few leftover bread slices at home. As the sandwich filling/spread is a no cook recipe,I felt it very easy to make.The only time consuming part is to grate or chop the vegetables finelyTongue. When you make it for just two people, its not that difficult too. I have toasted the bread with butter before filling with the mayonnaise spread. But toasting the bread is completely optional. If you want to prepare a quick and simple sandwich, you can just smear butter in the fresh, plain bread slice and enjoy it. If your kids like this sandwich, you can pack this for their snack box. Overall, this sandwich is a good choice for Indian vegetarians to make a quick breakfast or dinner. Ideal for bachelors and working women. Lets see how to make Vegetable mayo sandwich recipe with step by step pictures. I will upload the video soon.

Check out my Grilled Cheese sandwich and paneer sandwich recipes too !



Mayo sandwich recipe

Vegetable Mayonnaise Sandwich Recipe - How to make Indian Veg Mayo Sandwich


Vegetable Mayonnaise Sandwich Recipe - How to make Indian Veg Mayo Sandwich Easy, quick Vegetable mayonnaise sandwich recipe for breakfast or dinner !
Cuisine: Indian
Category: Sandwich recipes
Serves: Serves 2
Prep time: 10 Minutes
Cook time: 10 Minutes
Total time: 20 Minutes


INGREDIENTS
1 cup - 250ml
  • Bread slices – 6 nos ( I used white bread, U can use whole wheat bread too)
  • Eggless Mayonnaise – 1/2 cup ( I used Fun Foods brand)
  • Grated carrot – 1/4 cup
  • Capsicum – 2 tbsp ( Chopped finely)
  • Big onion – 1/4 cup ( chopped finely)
  • Boiled Sweet corn – 1/4 cup
  • Chopped Tomato - 1 tbsp
  • Black Pepper powder – 1 tsp
  • Red Chilli flakes – 1 tsp
  • Chat masala powder - 1/2 tsp ( optional)
  • Salt – as needed
  • Grated Cheese  or cheese slices – 2 tbsp /  3 slices (Optional)
  • Butter or ghee - As needed ( to toast the bread)
METHOD

  • Take a bowl and mix all the ingredients except bread slices. Make the filling and keep it ready.
    Vegetable mayonnaise sandwich
  • Heat a dosa pan and melt a tsp of butter. Toast a bread slice till golden brown on both the sides. Toast all the slices similarly.
    Vegetable mayonnaise sandwich
  • Take a toasted slice and spread the mayonnaise stuffing.Cover it with another slice of bread. Cut it diagonally and serve immediately.
    Vegetable mayonnaise sandwich
    Vegetable mayonnaise sandwich
  • For variations, you can skip the toasting part and make it in raw bread to make your job simple. If you use fresh bread, this sandwich would be very tasty. For this, apply butter on one side of bread, spread the filling and cover with the another buttered bread slice. You can also grill this sandwich if you wish.Enjoy !

Note
  • Adjust the quantity of pepper powder as per your taste.
  • You can add grated cheese in the filling if making for kids.
  • You can make this sandwich using fresh, raw bread slices without toasting them.
  • For variations, you can keep slices of onion, tomato, cucumber instead of making filling with mayonnaise.
Try this easy, yummy veg mayo sandwich for your kids. They will love it.
Veg mayonnaise sandwich
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May 12, 2017

Mango Frooti Recipe – How To Make Frooti At Home

Mango frooti recipe
Homemade mango frooti recipe with video and step by step pictures. Frooti is my most favorite mango drink since childhood. I guess most of you are like me. On those days, for any small functions at home like birthday party or guest visits, Frooti bottle makes its presence without fail. My mom used to serve it as a welcome drink. Even though there are many soft drinks available in the market, the craze for this store bought mango drinks like Frooti, Maaza or Slice never goes away. But once my family had a bad experience after drinking Frooti in a tetra pack. It must be an old stock I guess. So we stopped buying it and started running miles away whenever I see it in functions or parties. I restrict Raksha & Sendhil too. 

Last week I bought few alphonso mangoes and a raw mango to try some interesting recipes with it. When I was browsing for it, I saw few homemade Frooti recipe. I never imagined Frooti making process at home would be so easy with very less ingredients and that too without any preservatives. What else I need to try this !. I became very happy and tried it immediately with an over ripen mango which I wanted to finish off. This juice came out yummilicious in taste. It tasted very close to Frooti, Maaza or any store bought mango drink. 

Sendhil & Raksha loved it and gave a big thumbs up. You can make this as concentrate, refrigerate & store it, add ice cold water to dilute it and drink chilled anytime.The best part is we didn’t get any stomach pain, loose stools, cold/throat infection or fever.

 As everyone says, homemade is always the best !! Now I don’t have to buy the highly priced mango drink from shops anymore. I have tried this drink thrice so far with different mangoes and observed few points.

To make a perfect homemade Frooti recipe, you must follow this.

1. Use only Alphonso mangoes. It works the best ! Taste differs for Badami, malgova or Banganapalli mangoes. 2. Mango should be over ripen. Make sure it doesn’t have sour taste. You can clear off the over ripen ( about to decay) mangoes by making this drink. 3. The ratio of ripe mango & raw mango should be 2:1 based on the size of raw mango. Raw mango is just to give mild tanginess. 4. Quantity of sugar differs as per the sweetness of mango. 5. Color of the juice also varies based on the color of mango.

Now I can confidently prepare this mango juice for my guests.  You too try this recipe in this summer vacation for your kids and family. I am sure your kids will sing  “ Mango Frooti Fresh and Juicy”.

Ok, Lets see how to make Homemade mango Frooti recipe with step by step pictures and a video !



Mango Frooti Recipe

Homemade Mango Frooti Recipe - How to make Frooti drink at home


Homemade Mango Frooti Recipe - How to make Frooti drink at home Mango Frooti Recipe - How to make mango frooti drink at home without any preservatives and very less ingredients !
Cuisine: Indian
Category: Drinks
Serves: 4 glasses
Prep time: 10 Minutes
Cook time: 20 Minutes
Total time: 30 Minutes


INGREDIENTS
1 cup - 250ml
  • Over ripen Alphonso mango - 1 no  (1 cup chopped)
  • Raw mango - 1/2 no (If small sized mango or 1/4 part of big mango) (1/2 cup chopped) 
  • Sugar - 1/4 to 1/2 cup (Adjust)
  • Water - 3 to 4 cups
  • Ice cubes – while serving
METHOD

  • Wash and peel the skin of raw mango & ripe mango. Chop into pieces.
    Homemade Frooti Recipe
  • In a pressure cooker, take the chopped mango pieces, add 1/3 cup sugar and 2 cups of water ( If you want to make thick concentrate, add 1 cup of  water). Pressure cook in very low flame for 2 whistles or till mango cooks soft.
    Homemade Frooti Recipe
    Homemade Frooti Recipe
  • Open the cooker after the steam is released.Strain it and filter the cooked water. Keep it aside till use.

    Homemade Frooti Recipe 
  • Grind the cooked mango to a pulp without adding water. Mix this pulp with the cooked mango water. Mix well and strain it again to remove the fiber part of mango. Discard the fiber part.
    Homemade Frooti Recipe - How to make mango frooti at home
    Homemade Frooti Recipe
  • Mix the mango juice well and check for taste and thickness. If you want to store as concentrate, pour in a glass bottle and refrigerate it. If serving immediately, add 1/2 to 1 cup water and adjust the consistency. If sugar is less, add little more sugar and mix well. Refrigerate for 3-4 hours till chilled.
    Homemade Frooti Recipe -How to make mango frooti at home
  • Put some ice cubes in a glass and pour the drink. Serve immediately ! This drink stays good for 3 days if refrigerated !

    Enjoy !
Note
  • Use over ripen alphonso mango for best taste.
  • Adjust the quantity of sugar and water as per taste and desired consistency.
  • Some recipes suggested equal quantity of ripe mango and raw mango. But I feel 2:1 ratio would be fine.

Enjoy yummy, juicy homemade Mango Frooti !
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May 9, 2017

Simple Potato Poriyal Recipe – Boiled Potato Curry For Rice - Urulai Kizhangu Poriyal

Potato poriyal
Potato curry ( Urulai Kizhangu poriyal in Tamil) is known to be one of the best side dish recipes for sambar rice, rasam rice, Dal rice or even curd rice for many South Indians. Sometimes I love to have it rolled in chapathi as its a dry curry.Indian style potato roast or potato fry ( Aloo curry in Hindi) can be done in ‘N’ number of ways. People prepare it with their own variations and style. Most of us have adopted our mom’s recipe when we were beginners in cooking. Yes, I too learnt this way of making boiled potato curry from my mom. She makes it for rasam rice. Every Thursday Dal/Paruppu,Tamarind pachadi/ Puli pachadi, Rasam, Potato curry and Papad would be our lunch menu before my marriageWinking. But amma makes spicy potato curry whereas I prepare a less spicy version. So adjust the quantity of chilli powder according to your taste.  In most of our houses, potato curry makes it appearance once in a week at least for our kids sake as this would be the favorite side dish for many. In my house too, I make this potato poriyal mainly for Raksha’s lunch box as she loves to take it without any complaints and brings back empty lunch box in the eveningHappy.So I pack Dal rice( Paruppu sadham) and Potato curry (Urulai kizhangu poriyal in Tamil) at least once in a week for her lunch box.Its also an easy side dish to prepare during busy morning hours.When you have boiled potato ready in hand, this poriyal can be done under 10 minutes.I am sure bachelors and working women find this recipe useful. Do try this easy and simple boiled potato fry and let me know your feedbackHappy. I love it with Sambar & Rasam sadam. Lets see how to prepare South Indian style Potato poriyal with step by step pictures and a video !
Check out my MIL’s Potato poriyal version which I make it specially for my guests Winking.Also check out my no onion no garlic Brahmin style potato curry !

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