Vote for me! 3 days to go!

So, finally the time is here and I am a bit late. Virgin Mobile Saudi selected me as top two finalists to compete for the position of Virgin Foodie.
I was really curious who am I competing with?! Unfortunately, they selected presenter of Sufrati to do so.
Now this doesn't satisfies me at all. First of all, the guideline stated to keep the video to 90 seconds, 
her professional and perfect video also made by SUFRATI is of more than 4minutes! Ha! 

Well, well, well instead of being all disappointed I will compete and lets see what it holds for me.

But certainly did not expect this to happen.

Anyways fellas, here is the link :

http://www.virginmobile.sa/vote/candidate/aisha_khanam/

And keep the fingers crossed!

Red Velvet Hearts

I baked red velvet 7 years back, and they were everything but red! Haha, I remember the disastrous color and texture. I wouldn't dare to bake red velvet again, I thought then. But every wound heals with time, doesn't it? So did my foodie pride! Too sentimental ... lol :p

So, here is my success story of red velvet cake! By the way, let me make this clear, I got silicon heart molds and that's why I wanted to bake red velvet cake. My inner girl was being cheesy.

I used my all time favorite Joy of Baking recipe but I had to make my own buttermilk, cake flour and substitute baking soda. Follow the links below and make your baking easy easier!

Red Velvet Cake Recipe by Joy of Baking

How to make buttermilk at home?

I used, white vinegar!

How to substitute baking soda?

I used the first method, replacing it by baking powder and instead I used 3 teaspoon baking powder and I felt absolutely no bad effect in the taste :D

How to make your own cake flour?

eh no link? Its as easy as 1,2,3!

1) Get one cup of the usual flour.

2) Throw 2 tablespoon of flour back into the canister.

3) Replace with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch / cornflour 

And VOILA!

Cake flour is ready to use.

Use your commonsense and do it for every cup mentioned in the recipe.

Umm what if some Hershey's semi-sweet chocolate chips surprise you with the bite of velvety cake???!!!

Yup! The hard to see little thing in there is the chocolate chips effect! Pour the cake batter half way through, throw in some chocolate chips, pour rest of the batter and nomnomnomnom!

That's it for now, finding almost no time to blog :( I am busy running after my little one with his food in hands and all over me to make sure he eats enough! 

No complaints <3 

Motherhood is awesome :D

Red Plum Chutney

Last weekend my hubby got few red plums for the salad but then he discovered (after 2 years) that I don't like red plums at all! These little red babies were resting in my fridge since almost a week now and before they go to waste I decided to make a chutney, something out of ordinary. In our homes we usually make dried plum chutney but I thought this time we will make fresh plum chutney *YAYY* . Time for an experiment :D

I browsed through alot of recipes on internet and found out that the one at CHOW seemed really good and spicy and tangy and yumm! (http://www.chow.com/recipes/11048-spicy-plum-chutney)

I made few changes though, used only 6 plums and 4 garlic cloves (I love garlic). I also added a stick of cinnamon for some extra kick and red paper flakes to make it spicy.

First let it all boil in 2 cups of water, keep stirring from the bottom of the saucepan after every few minutes as this chutney is very stubborn and likes to burn alot. I added more water afterwards until everything was mixed up really well. Once you like the texture and chutney turns into syrup, you may consider it done and bring it off the the heat. As they have mentioned on their page, consume it within a week.

Personally, I don't like any chunks in my chutney, so I removed the cinnamon stick and decided to blend the chutney in the blender ofcourse. And hey we are done! Its that easy....its sweet, tangy, spicy and with the kick of cinnamon!

We usually enjoy it over the deep fried and very unhealthy but delicious snacks like samosas, spring rolls etc. I believe it will go best along grilled chicken and fish or maybe in a lamb curry! We will do some experiments with that later on ..... Bon appétit!

My first fondant cake!

We all see those creative, cute and beautiful fondant cakes and they are best to order/make for a loved one to mirror their lives, personality, relationship etc. I wanted to give it a try too! =D
So, perfect time was here; my husband's 26th birthday was coming up and I thought to give him a birthday surprise. Now it wasn't easy to decide the theme of the cake as he is not a very easy-to-understand human being (that he is). My ideas flowed from one to another:

1) Minion cake with One in a minion tag.

2) Music note cake.

3) A cake to represent his current life! (yes that was it)

"Saen Tou Saen", is a saying in my husband's native language, Sindhi. "Saen" mean "sir", so the whole phrase can loosely be translate to "Sir is Sir". Sindhi men are known for their mustache and this explains the idea pretty much.
Ring is to celebrate our relationship and feeder to cherish our newly bestowed parenthood.
Yalla enough with my blabber, I will now share links I used to put up this cake together.

Make your fondant first, I made it a week before:

Make chocolate mousse a day ahead:

Recipe of Chocolate Pound Cake

These are some basic recipes I followed and for figures just use your imagination or find a tutorial online.


- Don't forget to crumb coat your cake with some whipped cream or butter cream before applying your fondant.

- Let the cake cool completely before doing anything with it at all!


That's it! Now go make a grocery list for your upcoming baking adventure :D

Gooey Lemon Pudding Cake!

Lemon desserts are always a hit. In this dessert you will taste cakiness in the top layer and gooey lemon pudding in the second. The batter of cake divides itself into these two layers like a magic! :D Its best for quick and impressive dessert for guests.

This recipe is not too sour and not too sweet, tailored just perfectly.

Ingredients: 

3 tablespoon butter

2 large lemons (1 tablespoon fine lemon zest)

1/4 cup lemon juice

3 large eggs separated

Pinch of salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup all purpose flour 

1/2 cup granulated sugar

Lets get started:

Preheat oven to 325F.

1. Beat sugar, lemon zest and butter together until its fluffy. 

2. Now add vanilla, all purpose flour and lemon juice, mix it well. Your batter will be more of a liquid at this time.

3. Add one egg yolk at a time and whisk thoroughly.

4. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites at high speed so they are fluffy and not runny at all! Remember they will resemble whipped cream.

5. Add 1 tablespoon of whipped egg whites into the lemon batter and mix it. Then with the help of a spatula fold remaining egg whites into the lemon batter.

6. We will use Bain Marie method to bake this pudding cake. 

Picture is only for demonstration and its not taken by me!

7. Boil some water and pour it into the holding dish like the one showed above.

8. Bake for 30 minutes or until the center of the cake is settled. Do NOT poke this cake to check the center.

TAADA! You have your very own lemon pudding cake ! Waaaiitt a second, let it all cool for 40-50 minutes :D

Pâte à Choux with custard filling!

I always thought this French pastry was one of those tough to bake stuff. But to my surprise it was hell easy and wow what a beautiful art of the combination of ingredients. Without any baking soda or yeast this little thing gets all puffy with a hollow inside so that you can fill it with whatever you like!

Before I start I apologize for not many pictures, its really hard to take out time with a 2-month old!

This recipe is on 1:1:1:1:1 ratio (based on Michael Ruhlman recipe):

1 cup water
1 stick butter
1 cup flour
1 cup eggs (4 large)
1 pinch salt

Preheat over to 425 F.

1. Bring the water and butter to simmer at medium heat and then add flour. Keep stirring until the flour absorbs little water and form a dough. Take it off the heat.

2. For this step, transfer your dough into another bowl to avoid the heat of the previous one. And wait for 4-5 minutes to let it cool.

3. Add one egg at and time and keep mixing. Put the salt in at this time.

4. Your dough will be of a hard paste like consistency, get a piping bag and transfer your dough like thing into it.

5. Now pipe puffs in a circular patter going from outside to inside and up! Like a swirl ! Keep some water beside you, dip your fingertip in it and press down the peaks of your puff.

6. Bake it for 10 minutes on 425F and then on 350F for 30 mins or until they are of cute yellowish golden color.

For custard filling:

I simply used the instant custard mix (safe lot of time with the little one). Keep it thick enough for the filling and refrigerate it before you start baking.

For filling the inside of your puffs, poke a little hole by the help of a knife and use a piping bag (yes again) to fill the custard and those puffs go inside the fridge! You can also drizzle it with icing sugar or pour chocolate sauce on.

Yalla like and share foodies!