Spices n Secrets

Its that time of the year, when mumma's birthday calls for something that will excite her. And in this lockdown birthday celebration, I did not want to buy cake from outside.

Thus, came the idea of baking one myself. And since it has to be a unique one, I came up with something that reminds her of Cinnamon Roll or Cinnabons.

So, here is presenting Cinnamon Swirl Cake that has all the necessary elements of cinnamon rolls but minus the yeast, and loads of butter.

Ingredients for 250gms Cake/ 4-5 Servings: 

1. 1 cup flour
2. 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp. castor sugar
3. 1/2 cup vegetable oil or unsalted butter
4. 1/2 cup milk
5. 1 tbsp. baking powder
6. 2 tsp. cinnamon powder (click to buy Cinnamon Powder)
7. 1 tsp. vanilla essence (click to buy French Vanilla)
8. 1/4 tsp. salt
9. 1 egg

Coconut is an absolute delicious ingredient to cook with. Sweet and nutty, with coconut you can prepare savory and sweet dishes.

Today I made one of my favorite recipes out of coconut - Coconut Cake.
It is moist, packed with coco-nutty flavor, and goes super with a glass of milk or cup of tea.
I have added a good amount of coconut milk powder. But if you can get your hands on coconut milk (fresh or canned) (click to buy Coconut Milk) then add 1.5 cups of it and skip milk+coconut milk powder completely. If you could add a few drops of coconut essence (click to buy Coconut Essence), then that would be best. It will not only complement the vanilla essence but also make the coconut flavor burst into the cake!

So do try!

Ingredients:

1. 2 + 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2. 1 + 1/2 cups milk
3. 1 + 1/2 cups sugar
4. 1 cup desiccated coconut (click to buy Desiccated Coconut)
5. 3/4 cup vegetable oil or butter
6. 1/4 cup coconut milk powder (click to buy Coconut Milk Powder)
7. 2 + 1/2 tsp. baking powder
8. 1 tsp. vanilla essence (click to buy Madagascar Vanilla)
9. 1/4 tsp. salt
10. 2 eggs

Method:

Grease and flour cake tins.
Preheat the oven at 150 degrees celcius.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together sugar, oil, desiccated coconut, vanilla essence, coconut milk powder, eggs and milk.

Sieve the flour, baking powder and salt.
Combine the dry ingredients with the wet and mix till a smooth cake batter forms.
Pour the batter in the cake tins.
Bake at 180 degrees celcius for 45 minutes or till the cake domes and a toothpick inserted comes out dry.
Cool the cake inside the tin for half an hour and then unmould.
Slice and serve. 





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This recipe is dedicated to my Ma because she loves chutney. She is diabetic but when it comes to pineapple chutney she really does not bother to care about diabetes.

Ingredients:

1. 1 pineapple (grated with spoon or grater)
2. 2 red chillies
3. 8-10 cashews
4. 8-10 raisins
5. 1 tbsp. mustard oil
6. 1/2 tsp. roasted cumin powder
7. 1/2 tsp. panchphoran
8. 1/4 tsp. turmeric powder
9. 1/4 tsp. salt
10. sugar as per taste

Method:

Heat oil in a kadhai.
Temper panchphoron and dry red chillies for 4-5 seconds.
Add the grated pineapple.
Saute for 15-20 minutes in low heat.
Add salt, turmeric powder, cashews and raisins.
Cook for another 10 minutes.
Sprinkle cumin powder and switch off the heat.
Refrigerate in an air-tight container for atleast 2 hours.
Serve chilled.

It was husband's birthday. Thought of going out for some Bengali food joints. But unfortunately,  I did not find any restaurant in my locality as I already mentioned that I am staying outside Kolkata, that is Bangalore.

Therefore, with no option left but still had to treat him, I made this dish.

Ingredients for 6 Servings:

1. 500gms prawns
2. 4 green chillies slit
3. 1/2 cup chopped onions
4. 1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
5. 6 tbsp. mustard oil
6. 4 tbsp. mustard seed paste
7. 3 tbsp. sour yogurt
8. 2 tbsp. poppy seed paste
9. 2 tbsp. milk cream
10. 2 tbsp. fresh coriander leaves
11. 1 tbsp. refined vegetable oil
12. 1+1/2 tsp. sugar
13. 1 tsp. haldi
14. 1 tsp. kashmiri chilly powder
15. 1/2 tsp. black cumin seeds or kalongi
16. 1/2 tsp. red chilly powder
17. salt to taste

Method:

Smear little salt and haldi on the prawns.
Shallow fry them.
Keep aside for later use.
meanwhile, prepare a mixture of mustard seed paste, poppy seed paste, yogurt, milk cream, haldi, red chilly powder, kashmiri chilly powder, sugar and salt.
Add 2 tsp. mustard oil to it as well.
Keep aside.
Now heat a kadhai and add mustard oil and refined vegetable oil.
Temper black cumin seeds and green chillies.
Add onions and saute till golden in color.
Add tomatoes and cook till tomato softens.
Pour the prepared mixture of mustard and poppy.
Stir for 15 minutes on low heat.
When oil begins to surface on top, add the previously fried prawns.
Stir for sometime.
Add coriander leaves.
You can add water as per requirement.
Cook for another 10 minutes on low heat.
Finish off with a teaspoon of mustard oil and serve with plain steam rice. 

My love for baking is not limited to cakes. I also do bread making from time to time. In these quarantine months when I have so much leisure time, I wanted to bake something that does not involve too much fat and sugar, and utilizes the available ingredients at home.

I do not have yeast and yet was able to bake bread, which I think is really commendable. After my second attempt, this recipe is now perfect for sharing.

When I say no yeast, it does make one wonder that how will the bread rise and develop the chewiness that is no quintessential to a bread. And while I do not promise the same degree of bread-feel to this Oat Bread recipe, it is amazingly delicious and goes perfectly with butter, jam, as a toast with fried egg ... basically anything!
So, how will the bread rise?

Well, the answer is that Oat Bread uses the same technique in which a cake is baked. The same raising agents (baking powder & baking soda) are used. You can even refer to this recipe as a savory cake.

What also sets apart this recipe from other yeast bread recipes, is the usage of oats.

Up until now I have come across oat bread recipes that never really uses oats. The amount of oats used is reduced to minimum and the major ingredient is wheat flour.

But I was intent on using oats if not majorly, atleast in 50-50 ratio.

So, anytime you are bored of eating oats with milk, just put the same ingredients with some other ones and give yourself a gourmet bread experience.

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup plain oats (any variety will do) (click to buy oats)
2. 1 cup wholewheat flour (can use all-purpose flour/maida)
3. 1/2 cup sour yogurt
4. 1/2 cup milk
5. 1 egg
6. 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
7. 2 tbsp. sugar
8. 1 tbsp. honey (click to buy Honey)
9. 2 tsp. baking powder
10. 1 tsp. salt
11. 1/4 tsp. baking soda

Method:

In a bowl, add oats, milk, yogurt, egg, oil, honey and sugar.
Mix well and keep aside for 15 minutes at room temperature.
Preheat oven at 180 degrees for 10 minutes.
Grease and flour a baking loaf pan. (click to buy loaf pan)
Sieve flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
To the softened oats, add the flour mixture.
Stir gently with a spoon till all the ingredients mix.
Do not over whisk.
The batter will be sticky and soft, so do not use hands for kneading.
Pour the sticky bread dough into the prepared loaf pan.
Flatten the edges.
Sprinkle some dry oats on top for decoration.
Bake for 30 minutes on 180 degree celcius heat or till the bread rises and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Do not overbake as it will dry out the bread and make its exterior hard to chew.
Cool and cut into slices.




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Coconut chutney is one of my favorite dishes. I can take this even without Dosa or Idli. As this is my favorite and I am also staying in Bangalore, so for this reason I learnt how to prepare it from one of my South Indian friends.

Ingredients for 8 servings:

1. 1 cup grated coconut
2. 1 cup roasted bengal gram or chana dal
3. 1/4 cup chopped onions
4. 8-10 garlic cloves
5. 3 green chillies
6. 2 dry red chillies
7. 3 tbsp. vegetable oil
8. 1+1/2 tbsp. lemon juice
9. 1 tbsp. chopped curry leaves
10. 1/2 tbsp. sugar 
11. 1+1/2 tsp. black mustard seeds
12. 1 tsp. zeera whole
13. 1 tsp. urad dal
14. 1 tsp. ginger paste
15. 1/2 tsp. kashmiri chilly powder
16. 1/2 tsp. red chilly powder
17. 1/2 tsp. haldi
18. 1 pinch hing
19. salt to taste

Method:

In a bowl, mix coconut, bengal gram, ginger paste, garlic, onion, green chillies, kashmiri chilly powder, red chilly powder, haldi, curry leaves, lemon juice, hing, sugar and salt.
Now in a mixer-grinder, add the mixture with some water.
Grind the mixture into a smooth paste.
In a non-stick pan, heat some oil and temper dry red chillies, mustard seeds, zeera and urad dal.
Roast them in low flame.

Turn off the heat.
Pour the tarka on the prepared paste.
Store in air-tight container in fridge.
Serve chilled with idli, dosa, uttapam or paddu.

Debottoma Chatterjee Debnath

Hi! Myself Debottoma. Little bit introvert but I love to cook or you can say cooking is my passion. Whatever is my mood be it happy, be is sad or angry - I love to do cooking as it helps me to relax. Previously, I was working with IT sector as Admin & HR executive and now I am working with child care sector as Centre Head.