Molten Chocolate Lava Cake

Its Christmas. This is tat time of the year when you can hog on cakes, pastries, muffins and everything that is rich in calories without regretting a single bite.
Whenever I order a Pizza from Dominos, I always order this sinful indulgence of melted chocolate, wondering as to how it is made. After searching a lot on google, and watching Masterchef I came up with this recipe slight changes of mine. I hope you all will enjoy making this on this Christmas.

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Ingredients:
1/4 cup Chocolate Chips
1/4 cup Melted Chocolate
1Cup Maida

1tsp Baking Powder
1tsp Soda-bicarbonate

3/4 cup Butter
3/4 cup Castor Sugar
3tbsp Cocoa Powder
Few drops of Vanilla Essence
3/4 cup Curd
1 cup Milk
Few Cherries for topping











Procedure:

•  Pre-heat the oven at 180degree Celsius for 10 minutes.
• Sift together Maida + Baking powder + Soda bi-carbonate + Cocoa Powder. Keep it aside.
• Melt chocolate on a double boiler. Keep it aside.
• In a bowl, take butter + sugar.
• Mix well until creamy.
• Then add in curd.
• Mix well.
• Then add in the melted chocolate.
• Keep stirring until the mixture is creamy and soft and mixed well.
• After this gradually fold in maida mixture.
• Keep adding milk at the same time.
• Dont mix too fast as the cake wont rise much.
• Now line the muffin moulds with butter.

• Dust some maida.
• Fill in 1/4 of muffin mould. Put 1tbsp of chocolate chips in them
• Cover this with another tbsp of cake mixture.
• Muffin mould should not be filled completely till top. around 1 inch space should be left.
• This is done to give enough space for the cake to rise.
• Bake till 15 minutes in the oven.
• Demould.
• Top it with cherries.
• Serve hot.

Tomato Chutney (Tamatar ki chutney)

Pickles and chutney makes your meal complete. Be it a limy green chutney or a tangy tomato chutney. I always like to eat it with every meal. When I was small, my mother used to make this for me in winters coz thats the best time as you get really nice ripe tomatoes during this season. This little sweet little spicy chutney tastes great when accompnained with parathas, pulao.

Tomato Chutney

Ingredients:
1 kg Tomatoes
2 Green Chilies
1cup Sugar
1tsp Cumin Seeds
2 Whole Red Chilies
4 Green Cardamom
11/2tbsp Cumin Powder
11/2 tbsp Coriander Powder
Salt to taste
Black Salt to taste
2tbsp Ghee

Procedure:

• Dice the tomatoes.
• Heat ghee in a pan, add in cumin seeds + green cardamom + Whole red chillies.
• When it stops cluttering add in the finely chopped green chilies.
• Then add in the diced tomatoes.
• Mix well.
• Let this cook on low flame till the tomatoes gets tender.
• Add in both the salts+ cumin powder + coriander powder + red chilly powder.
• Mix all this well.
• Close the lid and let the tomatoes cook on low flame.
• All this will take around 20-25 minutes.
• After this add in sugar.
• Let it simmer on low flame, till the chutney thickens. for about 10-15 minutes.
• If required add water.
• When its done allow it to cool, and then store it in the air-tight container in the refrigerator.

Ras Malai

My liking for sweets makes me try for a new recipe everyday. I cant live without eating deserts and sweets be it Indian or International. My tongue craves for it like anything. So here I am posting a very simple tried and tested recipe for these sumptuous desert, First we should know as to what is Ras Malai. It is a dish made with home-made cottage cheese, made into sweet dumplings and served with thickened milk with a tinge of saffron and mixed nuts like almonds and pistachios.

Rasmalai

Ingredients:

For making the chena for the Ras malai:

1lt milk

2tbsp Lemon Juice

1 cup sugar

4 cups water

For the Rassa:

1lt milk
3tbsp Sugar

1tsp Cardamom Powder

1/2tsp Saffron

2tbsp mixed nuts (Almonds + Pistachios)

Procedure:

• Boil milk in pan. When it starts to boil add in lime juice.
• Stir gently.
• Then take a muslin cloth, separate paneer from water. Press well.
• Hang the cloth on the tap to remove excess water for 30 minutes.

In the meanwhile for the rassa:

• Boil the remaining 1lt milk in a pan, when it starts to boil, lower the flame.
• Add in cardomom powder, and saffron.
• Mix well.
• Let it simmer on low flame, till milk is reduced to half of what it was.

After 30 minutes:

• Take the chena, make sure that there is no water in the paneer.
• If required, grind it the mixer.
• Knead it into a smooth dough.
• Now divide this into small flat balls.(Make sure that there is no crack in the ball) 
• Now take a pressure cooker, add water and sugar.
• When it starts to boil, slowly put the paneer discs into it.
• Close the lid.  
• After one whistle, switch off the gas. 
• Take out the Paneer discs from the cooker, after 5 minutes.
• Squeeze each disc slighlty to remove the excess water.
• The Rasa would be thickened by now. 
• Add in mixed nuts in it.
• Now add the chena discs into it.
• Serve chilled.

Tomato & Basil Soup

Its winters and all that you want is a hot bowl of soup. Nothing can a beat a tomato soup and this can be possible in winters only when you get red ripe tomatoes in the market.

Tomato &  Basil Soup

Ingredients:
1kg Tomatoes
1medium sized Onion
1/2 cup Capsicum
5 cloves of Garlic
20 Basil Leaves
Salt to taste
Black Pepper Powder to taste
3cups Vegetable Stock or water
2tbsp Butter or oil

Procedure:

• Boil the tomatoes. Peel the skin when it cools down. Grind it in the mixer.
• Heat oil/butter in a pan, add in chopped garlic. Roast them for a while till it turns brown in color.
• Now add in chopped onions. Stir well. Let it cook till it turns pink.'
• Now add in the chopped capsicum.
• After 2 minutes, add in the tomato paste.
• Let it simmer on low flame.
• Add in basil leaves. 
• Remove from flame after 15-20 minutes.
• When it cools down. Again Grind it in the mixer so that it is smooth paste.
• Then strain it with a help of a strainer.
• Now add in vegetbale stock or water.
• Put it again on the medium flame.
• Let it simmer with basil leaves + black pepper powder + butter + salt until it thickens.
• Remove from flame.
• Serve hot with bread croutons.
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