Brazilian lemonade

Serves 4

Whole limes- 2, properly washed and cut into wedges with skin intact (remove the hard white pith which makes it bitter)

Cold water- 2 cups

Condensed milk- 1/2 a tin

Ice cubes- to serve

Into a blender add all the ingredients except ice cubes.

Blend for about 10 to 12 seconds, not more.

Strain into glasses, add a few ice cubes and serve cold.

Notes: Make sure you dont blend it for too long, or else the lemonade will end up tasting bitter.

Some of the lime wedges may not get fully blended and thats fine, just strain and use.

Adjust the condensed milk as per taste. It is a little on the sweeter side but thats how i like it.

Stays fine in the refrigerator for a day. The mix will separate, but just give it a good mix and it will be absolutely fine.

One bowl blueberry buckle

Recipe adapted from here

Unsalted butter- 113 gms, roughly sliced
Plain flour- 1cup

Baking powder- 1 1/2 tsp

Salt- 3/4th tsp

Granulated sugar- 1 cup

Whole milk- 1 cup

Vanilla extract- 1 tsp

Blueberries- 3/4th cup (frozen or fresh)

Preheat the oven to 190c.

Put the sliced butter into a 9x5inch loaf pan and place in the oven to melt.

Once fully melted, remove from the oven and keep aside. 

Whisk together all the remaining ingredients, except blueberries, till you get a smooth batter. (I first mix the dry ingredients and then mix in the milk and vanilla, but totally not needed. I do it out of practise)
Pour the mix into the loaf pan and roughly mix it with the whisk itself. Dont go crazy whisking it, there should still be large traces of butter visible, which is what gives fabulous buttery edges to the buckle.

Place it back into the oven and bake for about 50 to 55 minutes, or till a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. It should be nice and brown all over.

Place on a cooling rack and serve as slices or scoop it out and serve with ice cream.

Notes: The original recipe calls for self-raising flour, so omit baking powder in which case.

The buckle does buckle a bit once it cools down, so dont be alarmed.

Once my 50 minutes was up, i did reduce the temp to 170 and bake for another 5 more minutes, but i didnt think it was actually needed. So 50 minutes at 190 was the perfect timing for me

This is a stupidly easy recipe, everything prepped and cooked in under an hr really.

I like to serve it slightly warm. The caramelised buttery edges are really tasty.

Chilly pork

Pork- 500 gms, cut into cubes (equal quantity of belly pieces and shoulder or just belly is also fine)

Chinese 5 spice seasoning- 1/2 tbsp

Dark soy sauce- 1/2 tbsp

Ginger garlic paste- 1/2 tbsp

Pepper- 1 tsp

Salt- to taste

Oil- 1 tbsp

Ginger- 1 tbsp, grated

Garlic- 1 tbsp roughly chopped

Green chillies- 2, slit (adjust according to taste)

Spring onions- 3, chopped (just the white bits, keep the green aside for garnishing)

Tomato- 1 small, finely chopped

Bell pepper- a little more than 1/4 cup, cut into 1 inch squares

Onions- 1 small, petals separated and cut into 1 inch squares

Dark soy sauce- around 1/2 tbsp

Chilli sauce- 1 tsp (optional)

Mix all the ingredients from pork to salt in a pressure cooker and cook until done. I dont add any water, but if you want you can add a dash.

I cook on high till one whistle and then reduce heat to low and cook for a further 12 to 13 minutes. Wait for the pressure to release and then open the lid.

Once you open, if you find a lot of water, cook it off on high heat with just a wee bit of gravy remaining, around 1/4 cup liquid.

In a large wok, heat the oil and throw in ginger, garlic green chillies and spring onion whites till fragrant around 4 to 5 minutes on medium high heat.

Add the chopped tomato and cook for a further 3 minutes.

Add the bell pepper and onions and mix it all well. Cook for 5 minutes.

Add the cooked pork along with all the juices and give a mix with all the vegetables.

Reduce heat to medium, add the dark soy sauce and chilli sauce (and salt if needed) and fry the pork.

Keep stirring in between and cook till the oil surfaces and the pork is roasted well.

Garnish with spring onion greens and serve with your favourite noodle or fried rice.

Notes: This dish is best with belly pork as the fat renders the taste.

Roasting the pork on medium heat till the oil surfaces is key.

Leave a bit of the pork in the wok and add a cup of cooked rice to it and stir fry on high for a few minutes to get an incredibly flavourful fried rice.

Brinjal fry

Adapted from here (Serves 2 as part of side dish)

Gingelly oil- 1 1/2 tbsp

Garlic- 3 large, crushed

Baby brinjal- 6, quartered or 1 small aubergine

Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp

Chilli powder- 3/4th tsp

Salt- to taste

Curry leaves- a sprig

To grind

Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp

Cumin seeds- 1/2 tsp

Coriander seeds- 1 tsp

Fenugreek seeds- 1/4 tsp

Heat the oil in  kadai and saute the garlic till slightly crisp.

Add the sliced brinjal and saute to coat the pieces in oil.

Add the turmeric powder and salt and cook for a couple of minutes.

Now add the chilli powder, mix well and cover and cook till the brinjal is 3/4th cooked. Stir in between and make sure they dont burn.

Meanwhile, dry roast everything under the 'to grind' section till fragrant.

Cool a bit and grind to a powder.

Once the brinjal is more or less cooked, open lid and add the masala powder along with a dash of water, if needed (to make sure the masalas dont burn)

Saute on medium heat for a few minutes- roast the aubergines in the masala.

Add the curry leaves, close with a lid and take off heat.

Keep aside for 10 minutes after which give a good mix and serve warm with curd rice.

Bahama Mama banana rum cake

Recipe adapted from here

For the cake

Pecans- 3/4th cup

Butter, unsalted- 1 1/2 cups, at room temperature

Caster sugar- 1 3/4 cups

Brown sugar- 3/4th cup

Eggs- 5 medium

Banana- 1 cup, mashed (very ripe)

Vanilla extract- 2 tsp

Dark rum- 3 tbsp

Plain flour- 3 cups

Baking soda- 1 tsp

Baking powder- 1 tsp

Salt- 1 tsp

Yoghurt- 3/4th cup

Rum glaze

Butter- 1/2 cup

Water- 1/4 cup

Brown sugar- 1/4 cup

Caster sugar- 1/4 cup

Dark rum- 1/2 cup

Preheat oven to 175C and generously grease a large bundt pan with cooking spray or butter. Make sure you get it into the creases if its not the basic tube bundt.

Lightly toast the pecans in a pan over medium heat.  Roughly chop and sprinkle at the bottom of the bundt pan. Keep aside

In a large bowl, using a hand held mixer, cream together the butter and both sugars till light and fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition followed by mashed bananas, vanilla and rum. Mix well.

Sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and using the lowest setting on the mixer mix well till no traces of flour is seen.

Finally beat in the yoghurt and pour the batter into the cake pan, and bake in the centre rack of the oven for about 60 to 80 minutes, or till a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

While the cake is baking, make the rum glaze.

Mix all the ingredients for the glaze in a saucepan on medium high heat and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to medium and simmer for about 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and keep warm.

Once the cake is done, transfer to a wire rack and cool for about five minutes.

Poke holes in the cake and pour half the glaze all over as evenly as possible.

Cool for a further five minutes and then invert on to a serving plate.

Spoon the remaining glaze on to the cake, bit by bit and let it stand till all the glaze has been absorbed. 

Wait till the cake cools completely to slice and serve.

Notes: The cake has a really strong flavour of rum. Omit the rum in the glaze if you are not a rum fan.

Use good, ripe bananas and this cake will be fabulous. I used the Indian bananas as opposed to the ones you get in the supermarkets here.

Absolutely flavourful rice

Basmati rice- 2 cups

Coconut oil- 1 tbsp

Cardamom- 4 pods

Cinnamon- 2, 1 inch sticks

Cloves- 4

Cumin seeds- 1 tsp

Garlic- 1 heaped tbsp, finely chopped

Coconut milk- 2 1/4 cups

Chicken stock- 2 cups*

Salt- to taste

Fried onions- to garnish

Wash and soak the basmati rice for about 20 minutes.

Heat coconut oil in a heavy bottom pan and throw in the whole spices.

Once they sizzle and becomes fragrant add the garlic and saute on medium heat till they become a bit brown.

Drain the rice and add to the mix, sauteing well and making sure it doesnt stick to the bottom.

Increase heat to high and pour in the coconut milk and chicken stock.

Give a good mix, check salt and add if required.

Once it comes to a boil, reduce heat to low and close the pan with a well fitting lid.

Cook for about 12 minutes or till the rice is well done.

Keep closed for about 10 minutes after which fluff the rice, garnish with friend onions and serve warm.

Notes:*I used 2 Knorr chicken stock cubes diluted in 2 cups of hot water.

You know how long your rice would take to cook, so cook accordingly.

Add a lemongrass along with the stock and it gives a different flavour.

The rice is incredibly flavourful and so simple to make.

Cardamom cake with crackly almonds and sugar

Recipe adapted from here

Butter- to grease the cake tin

Caster sugar- around 2 tbsp

Almond flakes-  1/2 cup

Caster sugar- 264 gms

Eggs- 4 large

Plain flour- 160 gms

Salt- 1/4 tsp

Cardamom seeds- 1/2 tbsp (powdered)

Butter- 150 gms, melted

Vanilla extract- 1/2 tsp

Preheat oven to 170c (fan assisted) and grease a 9 inch pan using the butter. Make sure you generously do this.

Also line the base of the pan with grease proof paper.

Put the 2 tbsp sugar into the cake pan and swirl around/shake/tap to coat the side and base of the pan, as evenly as possible. Leave the remaining sugar if any at the base of the pan.

Cover the bottom of the pan with almond flakes. keep aside.

In a bowl whisk together the caster sugar and eggs using a hand held blender or in a free standing mixer., till it becomes pale and double in volume. This step is important so dont skimp it. It took me around 6 minutes.

Slowly fold in the flour and salt without deflating the batter.

Pour in melted butter, vanilla extract and cardamom powder and give a good mix, again without deflating the batter too much. The melted butter may go right to the bottom, so do scrape well and fold.

Pour slowly into the prepared cake tin, give a good tap on the counter and put into the oven.

Bake for about 45 minutes or till a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean (original recipe said to bake at 35 minutes, but it just wasnt done, so mine took about 45 minutes. Start checking at 35 minutes and keep increasing just 5 minutes at a time.)

Remove from oven and leave on the counter.

After five minutes run a knife around the sides of the pan and invert onto a cooling rack (i inverted it directly on to a serving plate)

Peel off the grease proof paper slowly, while the cake is still warm and leave to cool completely before cutting.