Traditional Vanilla Cake

Baking cakes on family occasions has been an old tradition. What goes into the oven are a few common ingredients, but what comes out is the aroma and taste of eternal love and emotions!! Be it simple or lavish, baking a cake is always a wonderful experience for the entire family. And there are times when, "Simplicity is the best virtue" makes a lot of sense, as in this case. That's how birthdays, christmas, thanksgiving, graduation parties or anniversaries are always cherished alongwith sweet memories of a freshly baked home-made cake!! (Dig out your old pictures and see how many of then have a cake in it!) So here's my very simple recipe for the traditional Vanilla Cake. I always associate this with my brother, because he has baked many such cakes for me since childhood:) (image courtesy noshteria.com)

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour (maida)
2 cups unsalted butter
2 cups sugar (powdered)
2 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup plain milk
2 tsp baking powder
2-3 eggs
1 tsp salt

Method
Heat the oven to 400° F. Lightly coat a cake pan with butter and dust with all-purpose flour. Sift the cake flour, baking powder, and salt into a large mixing bowl. Beat in the butter and sugar in a separate bowl. Beat the eggs and pour them into the butter and sugar mixture and mix everything well together.Using an electric mixer set on low speed, add flour slowly to this mix and beat the mixture until it is smooth and you see sharp peaks form in the mixture. If you are using a large spoon and your hand to beat this, make sure you are always stirring in the SAME direction (clockwise or anticlockwise).

Finally add the vanilla essence and milk and blend everything together. Do not over beat. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 35-40 mins, or until the edges have separated from the sides of the mould and a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let the cake cool (about 15 mins) before trying to remove it from the mould or cut into slices.

There are a million things that can go with this Vanilla Cake like ice-cream, chocolate sauce, fruit syrups, puddings, whip cream or more. But most of the times I prefer it alone, just the way it is! Simple, pure and divine!! Make any memory a sweet one with this simple home-made cake; you don't even need to be an expert cook for this!!

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Would Fries Taste the same if they were "Low-Fat"??

French Fries are the most loved food of most people, especially Americans. Easy to grab, tasty to eat, its an ideal snack and a food-to-go. The only thing that might draw you away from digging into a bag of french fries is the amount of oil that it soaks!! But what if I told you that you can now make delicious french fries at home with just a tablespoon of olive oil and 3% fat content??? Would that interest you enough?

French Fries and Deep fryers go hand-in-hand, and it's hard to imagine seeing fries being made in a vessel that uses no oil! I am a foodie who's highly into eating healthy as much as possible, but then, there are some things which are just eaten for their taste, and you absolutely cannot make them taste the same if you try to alter them into "low-fat" or "healthy". Fries, undoubtedly, fall in the same category.

The European kitchen company "Tefal" has come out with a new electronic gadget called Actifry, which seeks to preserve the crispy goodness of fried foods while getting rid of the fat and oil, unlike the traditional deep fryer. It claims that with as little 1 tablespoon of oil you can enjoy about 2 pounds of french fries at home that promise to be crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and most importantly - Healthy.

Actifry incorporates convection style heating with a spinning stir attachment that promises even cooking. Using fans and motion, it coats about 4 potatoes worth of fries in about a tablespoon of oil, which it then re-circulates throughout the fry cooker using a motor and heat. The end result, delicious almost zero-fat fries! The Actifry can also be used for cooking frozen chips, scampi, chicken drumsticks, stir-fried vegetables and lots more. They also include a recipe book with the package. An odourless filter keeps your kitchen fresh, and you can check on progress through the viewing window on the top. Everything except the base can go into the dishwasher, and of course there’s no oil to filter after frying.

While the concept is interesting, and worth a try if it really fulfills what it claims, the pricetag is something that'll throw you off. The ActiFry comes at an exorbitant price of $300!!! That's a lot of money, so the obvious question is: Is this worth it? Plus, would french fries taste the same without the oil which actually adds all the flavour to it?! I think Not. Unless you are a fitness freak, you can easily reduce your fried food intake without losing much on the taste factor; there's no need for extreme steps which you know you might end up regretting. But if you are on a diet, or have been advised by a doctor to quit fats and oil, Actifry might be a good alternative. What you choose is your personal choice, so think before you buy, and settle for something that you would actually use!

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Simple and Sweet - Carrot (Gaajar) Halwa

Carrots are the best food to help purify your blood. And though they are wonderful to be eaten raw, there's nothing more fulfilling than cooking them with milk and dry fruits in the form of a dessert! Yes, Carrot Halwa, or "Gaajar ka halwa" is a very popular dessert and I'm sure anyone who's ever been to an Indian restaurant would have left with sweet memories about it!! And what's more encouraging is the fact that it is indeed very simple and quick to cook; you can even make it in a microwave!! So try this healthy recipe for a quick satiation of your sweet tooth.

Ingredients
4 cups carrots - shredded
2 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups whole milk or khoya
1/2 cup ghee (clarified butter)
1-2 tsp cardamom powder
1/2 cup dry fruits - pistachio,almonds,cashews-chopped or slivered

Method
Take a heavy saucepan and add the ghee to it. Cook the carrots in it till evenly coated. Now add the milk (or khoya) and sugar and let it be completely soaked by the carrots. Do not add water. Keep cooking on low to medium heat till carrots are well done.Now add half of the dry fruits, cardamom powder. Remove from flame and set to cool.
You can do this whole process in the microwave too! So add this to your microwave-recipes list and be sure to try it when you are in need of a healthy and quick dessert.

Serve it warm, garnished with pistachios and other dry fruits. It also tastes delicious with vanilla ice cream or custard.

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