A GOOD BAKE CAN MAKE YOUR DAY! FOR ME, IT IS JUST BAKING THAT RELIEVES ME OF STRESS!
They say, I sincerely cuddle what is called stress and do not wish to let it go; that taking stress is my favourite time pass. I do not refute their allegations; nor do I understand how you do not care about your own; specially of your child who is living alone in an unknown land. If your child is a weird stuff, your concern multiplies. I keep on telling that young fellow to cook something in the oven at least over the weekend; say some boiled lentil; a chicken curry or a grilled fish. A mix of boiled carrot-beetroot-potato mashed with a generous drizzle of butter & a bit of salt; completes your meal. Who listens? I fear it will spoil it's system eating outside every day! I think how is it so difficult to chop few vegetables, wash, marinate them together with washed chicken, a readymade spice, little oil and cook in the oven and have with rice. Some days, it can be fish instead of chicken. I do not even want it to eat store bought chapatis; so it should be either rice or bread!Ever since, it has left home, I have almost stopped getting cakes from the bakery; I prepare them at home, the simplest ones. One of them is this VEGETARIAN BAKE; COCOA FRUIT YOGURT CAKE.
WHAT IS FEEL GOOD TO YOU MAY NOT BE THE SAME IN MY CASE! TO ENJOY COOKING & GARDENING, YOU NEED NOT BE AN EXPERT!
Yesterday, after coming back from the market buying vegetables for my Tuesday's client; I again went out to get those two flower pots. There were only two look alike left. I did not mind the lack of smooth finish as I got each for 8$. These little buys make me very happy. I really do not wish to spend on a rented space; that too on a space which is not properly renovated. However, our owner is a very nice person. It is just that, we live in a very good location with all the amenities within our arm's reach at a good price. If we go little interior; we get very well renovated, bigger space at a lower price. Then, everyone in the family have to agree on that. They wish to live in the centre with all the facilities at the doorstep and I will have to stay near to the Indian / Bengali Market! So, as of now; I keep bringing in little of changes at this corner and that, in the tiny ledge! It was a pleasure to get a Chic-A-Boo meal for the senior yesterday for lunch; I had rice & lotey maach er jhuro / Fresh Bombay Duck Bharta. We had some Bengali French Toast in the morning and at night I made some Ragi & Bajra roti to go with Aloor Dum. I found it so difficult to prepare a gluten free hand rolled bread; I cannot accept those poorly shaped ones and definitely would add some wheat flour to the dough making, next onwards!
As I always maintain; if my own are hale and hearty; I will make life beautiful for myself in the best possible way even if the senior does not offer me a car ride to the market. May be there is something way better he gifted me?
WHAT IS THIS COCOA FRUIT YOGURT CAKE? I DID NOT KNOW UNTIL DONE I COULD PREPARE SUCH A TASTY VEGETARIAN CAKE WITH SO FEW INGREDIENTS!
It all started with the leftover fruit yogurt I had offered on the Saraswati Puja day! One pack I used to prepare the "chal makha" and of the rest, I forgot to pack one in the senior's lunch box or to eat one. It was already two days later on a Sunday morning I discovered them and felt the urge to use them up, else they would spoil. Cristine was busy to go for her Sunday outing; I cannot think of asking the man to have it in the morning; had our child be there, they would have been finished on the first day, itself. What I did was to quickly take out the self raising flour; do some mixing job; and just BAKE A CAKE. I hurriedly topped it with some pumpkin and melon seeds and there it is; all you can see is a soft and fluffy COCOA CAKE with VANILLA FLAVOUR. It you are like me, who is equipped with just some basic skill in baking; try this cake and make it your SNACK TIME pleasure! You can do it in the microwave mode within 3 minutes but it feels to me that baking gives the best tasting cake!
INGREDIENTS :
SELF RAISING FLOUR : 1/2 COFFEE MUG [ IF YOU ARE USING PLAIN FLOUR; ADD 2 TSP BAKING POWDER & 2 PINCH OF BAKING FLOUR TO IT]
COCOA POWDER : 1 TBSP
FRUIT YOGURT : 300 ML [ANY FLAVOUR]
SUGAR : 1 TBSP [MORE IF YOU ARE USING PLAIN YOGURT]
VANILLA ESSENCE : 1/4 TSP
PUMPKIN SEED : 2 TSP
MELON SEED : 1 TSP
OIL : 2 TBSP
PROCEDURE :
Add it to the flour mix and fold in very well. Beat for 2-3 minutes.
Pour the batter onto an oven proof bowl and top it some pumpkin seeds and melon seeds.
Every machine is different, do take care of the time required in your's.
We are done, it tastes the best when we have it fresh & warm with tea, coffee, milk.
Looks great! We always use yogurt as basic ingrefient for the cake or other pastries. It also makes pastry cotton soft. But so far i have not tried pumpkin and melon seeds in cake mixture. I will try it and share this information with my neighbours/friends. Have a nice day.
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