The Cooking Mile

Zucchini Coconut Cake

By manju Sunday April 29, 2012

This is like condensed milk (think Milkmaid) meets coconut meets zucchini going into the oven and turning into some magical piece of loaf cake.

I mean it’s Zucchini people. How much more bland-er can it get huh? Right? Right. Except for the pretty green strands in your loaf and nice extra moisture, lets just pretend we didn’t put zucchini in there. Because that’s all there is to it. Fancy Americans and their fancy cakes No offense I love how you can get kids to eat their vegetables masqueraded as a dessert. Plus, by now you should have known I some sort of a leftover specialist. I see a red pepper I roast it and make a pesto. I see a zucchini, I toss it into cake. Piece of cake. (What’s with today, I am so full of puns!)

Anyway, so the purpose of that long, windy rant was this – “You dont have to have a zucchini to make this bread. Toss in carrots if you know, orange is your color and green isn’t”. You get the point.

Now it is the other flavorings that go hand in hand. Ever eaten ice cream with coconut flakes? Or Bounty with chocolate and coconut with condensed milk texture? Right. You get the same taste when you bake a loaf like this if you toss in some sweetened/unsweetened dry coconut flakes. And add some cinnamon and toasted nuts of your choice. And even if that wasn’t enough for you, you can pretend it is Christmas and turn it into a holiday cake with pretty looking dry fruits in it – think cranberries, raisins…etc. I sure did pretend it was a festival and threw in raisins. (Refer the adventurous golden raisin story below)

And that is all there is to it. Also I want to maybe leave a note at Starbucks -

Dear Starbucks, I am not paying $2.99 for your slice of “cinnamon something something” cake, ok?

The adventurous golden raisin story begins here

In other news, I wanted to buy golden raisins and I very trustworthily bought it from the trustworthy Indian trustworthy grocery store. (Did I tell you it is trustworthy already?). Right. So I rip it open today and I find “not so golden” raisins mixed in there. Next time I am there, I plan to give my piece of mind to the store manager (who also likes to trick me into buying a DVD of Saat Khoon Maaf because he thinks my idea of spending a relaxing weekend is watching Priyanka Chopra randomly killing men.) “Madam, this also take. Nice movie” – exactly his spoken words. No darling, I might as well watch the most slapstick nonsensical Adam Sandler movie than Saat Khoon Maaf x-(

INGREDIENTS

Recipe is inspired by Joy of Baking

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (that thing we like to call Maida. I think Maida, the word, has a nice tone to it than the bland all-purpose flour x-(

1 cup grated zucchini (if it gives out water, dont throw them out, we want that in the cake for the moisture)

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp cinnamon (maybe 1/2 tsp if you love cinnamon)

1/2 cup unsweetened dry coconut

1/2 cup of chopped and toasted nuts + dried fruit of your choice (I went with you know, Indian staples – cashews and raisins)

3/4 cup sugar (ok 1 cup if you have a sweet tooth)

1/2 tsp sea salt (ok regular salt is fine!)

2 large eggs

1/2 cup cooking oil (canola, vegetable..whatever. but not some fancy pants flavored oil ok? God bless America for the options)

1 tsp vanilla extract (hmm, heaven! To whomsoever it may concern, if you have a farm of vanilla beans, can I marry you? Please.)

RECIPE

This is seriously no fuss cake. You take two bowls – one with all the wet ingredients and another with dry ingredients.

Before that pre-heat your oven to 350F. Ya, turn it on, like right now.

Lets start with dry. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Now whisk this well so it blends. Baking soda, hanging in there in a corner is not good (leads to lumps and all). Now in the other bowl, add oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla extract and whisk for sometime till it appears smooth.

To this wet bowl, add zucchini and mix well. Now mix in flour little by little and whisk. (You know life will be so good if I have a nice kitchen aid mixer that can do everything for me and I just have to stand and stare. My future husband, are you listening? I dont even want those high heels or dresses like the other girls. We can also watch blood and gore movies and games. All I ask you is an electric mixer. Ok am done begging)

Now toss in coconut and toasted nuts and mix.

Take a 9 x 5 loaf pan and grease the surface. Throw in flour on it to cover the surface and throw out any excess flour.

Now we are ready to pour in the batter. Stick it in the oven.

Wait.

*Crickets chirping*

If you are restless, I have some ideas to keep you occupied at this very painful waiting period. Watch a movie, play a game, read a book. Heck, do push ups. All I did was get the kitchen back to shape. Sigh.

Keep checking in on the cake (ovens are different. Cant emphasize enough). Mine took about 50 mins to bake.

A test of doneness – insert a fork into the cake and it should come out clean.

Now with a knife edge out the cake on all four sides, and flip it on a ceramic plate or a cooling rack if you have one. Let it cool.

Once it is cool enough, if you fancy, you can glaze it. Or if you are impatient like me, cut right in and taste.

Biting into one right now. (Thats right bitches, you dont have one. You gotta make one.)

Lemon Rice

By manju Friday April 27, 2012

Childhood nostalgia time.

*Insert B&W flashback reel here*

As a kid, I hated lunch time. (Yes, me, hating lunch. Quite a biggie)

I hated opening my lunch box to find lemon rice and an almost perfectly round shaped omlette on the top of it. Everyday I bickered about it to mom after school. Whining. Throwing up my arms and legs in despair. Why cant I get something heavenly for lunch? Like that guy who owned a Udipi hotel? Or that Bengali chick always getting some finger-licking-good chicken?

Crazy as it seems now, all I crave is some kind of flavored Indian rice for dinner. It is even ridiculous to tell you this (oh well I will tell anyway..), I used to be so embarrassed that I would eat my lunch in under 5 mins after the lunch bell, so no one would notice I brought the same lunch EVERY DAMN DAY.

I sort of feel bad thinking about how I felt then. Never take food for granted! I probably wouldn’t know what it feels to go hungry like those zillion people out there who might not get square meals. So yes, confession made. Very very ashamed. But dont tell my mom/dad that I told you so. Dont like them getting back at me with another of those “See, we told you so. Always listen to parents” x-(

Between the time this dish was prepared and this blog being written, I have finished two servings of lemon rice (with tons of lemon pickle. More lemon FTW!), an omlette, yogurt cup, 2 big pieces of Ghirardelli, 3 Parle-G biscuits and heading now for tea. And my eyes have fallen on the packet of bourbon biscuits on the kitchen slab, rather lonely looking. God help me. Why am I so f’ing hungry all the time? I am not even like a teenager or an athlete. All I do is freaking sit and stare at the laptop everyday. Beats me.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups cooked cold rice

2-3 tbsp lemon juice (adjust to your taste. Add more if you like it to be more tangy)

2 green chillies, slit

1 sprig of curry leaves

2 tbsp peanuts

1/2 tbsp Urad Dal (split black gram)

1/2 tbsp Channa Dal (split dry chickpea)

Pinch of asofoetida (aka hing)

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 small onion (optional)

1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste

1 tsp mustard seeds

Salt to taste

RECIPE

A trick that works good for me is this – I salt and add lemon juice to cold rice so I can taste it and adjust. Works better for me.

In a deep dish, add oil. Let it heat. Add mustard seeds and let them crackle.

Now add asofoetida, peanuts and fry them till golden-dark brown.

Add channa dal and urad dal and saute till golden-light brown.

Add onions and chillies, curry leaves, turmeric and salt (if you havent added to rice already) and mix.

Add ginger garlic paste and saute for 30 secs.

Add the rice and lemon juice (if you havent added to rice already) and mix well to coat.

Garnish with cilantro if you like.

This rice is even better the next day. But screw that. We love instant gratification:)

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