Eggless Zebra Cake - Day 6, Blogging Marathon#4

Zebra Cake, has been in my list for a very long time.   I made two cake mix, One White and another Chocolate and have alternated to get the Zebra Pattern. 
I baked this for the Weekend. My Kiddo was watching Spiderman Movie, He was super excited to see the Spider-Man Cake!! So before i could take the snap of the whole cake, Father-Son Duo have already devoured 2 slices of it!!! So, i couldn't take snap of the Full Cake. Here is a Slice for you all.

Recipe Source : CCN Basic Eggless Sponge Cake

Ingredients : White Cake Mix
3/4 Cup Al-purpose flour/Maida 
6 tbsp Powdered Sugar
3/4 tsp Baking powder
1/4 tsp Baking soda
Salt – a pinch
1/2 Thick curd 
1/4 Cooking oil 
1/2 Cup Warm Water.
1 tsp Vanilla essence 

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 200C. Sift the flour twice and set aside. In a bowl, mix the curd and sugar until the sugar dissolves completely.Once done,add the baking powder and baking soda into the curd mixture. Mix well and set aside for 2-3 minutes. The curd will turn frothy and start rising and increasing in volume.Add the oil and vanilla essence to the curd mixture. Stir gently so that the air in the mixture is not lost.Next, gently fold in the flour. Dont stir very vigorously. Add the warm water and give it a nice, gentle Stir!!!!! Keep this aside.

Ingredients for Chocolate Cake Mix
10 tbsp All Purpose Flour
2 tbsp Cocoa
6 tbsp Powdered Sugar
3/4 tsp Baking powder
1/4 tsp Baking soda
1/2 Thick curd 
1/4 Cooking oil 
1/2 Cup Warm Water.


Method 
Sift the flour and cocoa together twice and follow the above procedure.

To Make the Zebra Pattern

Grease an 8"inch Cake pan. Add the a tbsp of white cake mix, wait for a second, let it spread a bit. Now add the Choco-Cake mix. Wait for it to spread a bit. Go on, alternate like this with white cake mix and Cocoa Mix. Giving a little time for the batter to spread.

Once done, you can make web pattern with a tooth-pick. Bake @ 200 C for 20 minutes and reduce the temperature to 170C and bake for another 15 minutes. Let the cake sit in the oven for few seconds. Take it from the Oven, Let it cool!!! Go head Slice and enjoy!!! Baking time differs from Oven, so to the tooth-pick test to confirm the done-ness of the cake. 

While Making the Cake Batter, First Mix the Curd and Sugar and add Baking Powder and soda and Keep it aside. While the Curd is rising for both the batters, Sift the Flour and Keep it ready. This way, you don't have to make the batter sit for a longer time and avoid thickening of the batter, which makes spreading a bit tough. I m a novice baker, i m sharing what i know and how i did, in-case i m wrong somewhere, please let me know, i love learn!!!!!

Check out my Blogging Marathoners doing Group 3 BM#4 along with me Diabetes Diet/Management: Kamalika, Smitha, Suma 
Kid Friendly Recipes: Anusha, Cool Lassi(e) 
Seven Days of Soup: Priya Suresh 
Seven Days of Indian Bread: Jayasree, Pavani 
Seven Days of Cakes:  Priya Vasu 
Seven Days of Preserves: Gayathri Kumar, Vaishali 
30 Minutes Meals: Priya Mahadevan, Srivalli

Bhatura ~ Deep Fried Indian Bread

For the Indian Bread series of the Blogging Marathon, today I decided to post a deep fried bread. Soft and fluffy bhatura served with chole is very hard to resist. As a kid, I liked to order bhatura for its big size. Bhatura is usually made with maida or all purpose flour. I have used half and half of maida and whole wheat flour/atta. Once its deep fried, though maida or atta, doesn't make much difference

You need

• Wheat flour/Atta - 1 cup
• All purpose flour/Maida - 1 cup
• Yogurt/curd - 1/2 cup
• Cooking soda - 1/2 tspn
• Salt - 1/2 tspn
• Water to make the dough
• Oil to deep fry

Method

Sift atta, maida, cooking soda and salt. Add yogurt to the flour mix. Knead to a soft dough by adding water.  Apply oil on the surface of the dough and cover with a damp cloth and leave it for an hour. 

Divide the dough into equal sized balls. Roll out the dough into circles. The size depends on the size of the kadai in which it will be deep fried later. I don't roll out into big circles, since that will call for more oil and I don't want too much of left over oil after deep frying.

Enjoy hot baturas with Punjabi Chole.

Check out my Blogging Marathoners doing Group 3 BM#4 along with me

Diabetes Diet/Management: Kamalika, Smitha, Suma
Kid Friendly Recipes: Anusha, Cool Lassi(e)
Seven Days of Soup: Priya Suresh
Seven Days of Indian Bread: Jayasree, Pavani
Seven Days of Cakes:Priya Vasu
Seven Days of Preserves: Gayathri Kumar, Vaishali
30 Minutes Meals: Priya Mahadevan, Srivalli

Pan Fried Okra (Bindi)

We love okra and especially when it's sauted or fried in a pan. Anush liked to eat it raw. I remember my Mom saying that if you eat raw okra, you will do good with mathematics. I don't know how true it is, but I really laugh at Anush when he eats it. I can eat cooked but not raw because I feel it's slimy and mushy. I know raw or half cooked vegetables are good for you, but raw okra is not in my list, but definitely will appreciate Anush eating it. :-)

Ingredients:

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1 lb Orka

1/4 Gram Flour (Besan)

1/4 cup Coriander powder

2 tsp Chili powder

1 tsp Cumin powder

1 tsp Gram masala powder

Salt and Pepper to taste

1 1/2 tsp Oil

Method:

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1. Wash okra, drain all the water and wrap in a paper towel or kitchen towel so that there is no moisture and the okra should be dry, else it will make the recipe mushy and will not fry well.

2. Slice the okra into quarters.

3. In a small bowl add gram flour, salt and pepper, cumin, chili, coriander and garam masala powder. Sprinkle this flour over the okra and make sure all the okra is well coated and keep it aside for about 15-20 mins.

4. In a large pan add oil and when it's hot add the okra, make sure that you don't over crowd the pan and keep the flame in medium high, stirring it occasionally until the okra is cooked and crisp on the outside for about 10-12 mins.

5. Serve this hot or warm with any steamed rice or roti.