Monthly Archives: March 2013

Carrot Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

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Easter 2013 …..

Ayesha's Kitchen

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tspn vanilla essence
  • 1 cup caster sugar
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 2 cups grate carrots
  • 1 ½ cups self-raising flour
  • 1 cup grated dried coconut
  • 1 tspn cinnamon powder

FOR FROSTING

  • 250 gms cream cheese (room temperature)
  • 1 ½ cups icing sugar
  • 2 tbspns grated lemon rind
  • 1 tbspns fresh lemon juice

Procedure:

-Preheat oven to 180°C. Line sixteen 80ml (1/3-cup) capacity muffin pans with 2 layers of paper cases.

-Whisk together the oil, eggs and vanilla in a bowl. Add the caster sugar and brown sugar and beat to combine. Stir in the carrot, flour, almond meal and cinnamon. Spoon among lined pans. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centres comes out clean. Set aside to cool.

-Use an electric beater to beat the cream cheese, icing sugar, lemon rind and lemon juice in a bowl until smooth. Spread over the cupcakes to serve or with a piping bag decorate the top of your cupcakes.

-Refrigerate for 3 hours and serve.

Ayesha's Kitchen

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Chocolate Walnut Fudge Cake

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On our 5th Nikah Anniversary …….

Ayesha's Kitchen

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

  • 4 eggs
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • ¾ cup caster sugar
  • 4 tbspns melted cooking chocolate (melted in double broiler/ chocolate syrup)
  • 1 cup self-rising flour
  • 1 tbspns cocoa powder
  • 2 tbspns melted butter + extra for greasing
  • ¾ cup chopped walnuts

FOR ICING AND DECORATION

  • Some walnut halves to decorate
  • 2 tbspns milk
  • 2 tbspns cream
  • 3 tbspns melted chocolate (melted in double broiler/ chocolate syrup)
  • 100gms butter
  • 1 cup icing sugar
  • 1 tbspn honey
  • 2 tbspns nutella spread

Procedure:

-Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius.

-Grease a spring form pan (18cm).

-Sift the flour and cocoa together.

-Melt the chocolate (75gms chopped dark cooking chocolate) in double broiler or over boiling hot water. (Make sure when you are making the cake mixture, you have everything ready and handy).

-In a mixing bowl, crack 4 eggs and add both the sugars. Beat for 10 minutes with an electric beater until the mixture is pale and fluffy and trail is left when the whisk is dragged across the surface of the mixture.

-Add sifted flour and fold into the eggs and sugar mixture with a wooden spoon or palette knife.  Fold in the melted butter, chocolate and chopped walnuts.

-Pour into the prepared spring form tin and bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until springy on the touch.

-Leave to cook in the tin for 5 minutes. Then transfer to a wire rack and leave too cool completely.

-To make the icing combine everything together in mixing bowl and whisk until its smooth, use electric beater for smooth icing.

-Cut the cake into two halves.

-Spread the icing on one half and sandwich it with the other one.

-Spread the icing on the top of the cake and on the sides.

-Decorate with some walnuts and refrigerate for 2 hours.

-Serve.

“LIFE IS  A PIECE OF CAKE”

Ayesha's Kitchen

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Chicken & Vegetable Red Curry

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My own creation –

Ayesha's Kitchen

Ayesha’s Kitchen

 

Ingredients:

  • 3 chicken breasts (skinless)(cut into cubes/ strips)
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tbspns corn flour
  • Some salt and cracked black pepper
  • Some chicken salt
  • 1 tspn Garlic paste
  • Some oil for deep frying

FOR CURRY

  • 6 cup any vegetable(s) (cauliflower, broccoli, capsicum, onion, zucchini, celery, peas, beans, carrots, etc.)
  • 2 x140 gms tomato puree packs
  • 4 cups chicken stock
  • Some red chilli flakes
  • Some salt
  • 2 tbspns oil
  • 1 clove garlic chopped
  • 2 tbspns lemon juice
  • 2 tbspns vinegar
  • 4 tbspns hot sauce
  • 2 tbspns soy sauce
  • 1 tspn sugar
  • 4 spring onions (green part, chopped)

Procedure:

-In a mixing bowl, combine chicken with everything given for chicken and fry until the pieces are golden. (Not brown, red or fully cooked, just light golden)

-Heat oil in a wok. Fry garlic and red chilli flakes for 1 minute on medium – high heat.

-Add tomato puree and chicken stock. Mix and cook for 5 minutes. Add other sauces and seasonings.

-Now add fried chicken and your selection of vegetables.

-Mix and let it cook on medium heat for 5 minutes. Do not overcook the veggies, let them be crunchy.

-Now at this point, your sauce is going to be thick and chicken and veggies all cooked.

-Add spring onions, give your dish a last stir and serve hot with boiled rice or fried rice.

Grilled Chicken Avocado Sandwich

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Healthy sandwich packed with protien, good carbs of wholemeal bread, good fats of avocado, calcium of cheese and of course tangy rich tomato………..

Ayesha's Kitchen

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

  • 2 slices sandwich toast bread (lawsons or helgas preferred)
  • ½ avocado (scooped and mashed)
  • 2 thin slices of tomato
  • 1 slice coon (sandwich, reduced fat cheese)

FOR CHICKEN

  • 2 tenderloins/ ½ chicken schnitzel (pounded with meat tenderising hammer)
  • Some salt and pepper to season
  • 1 tspn oil/ NO OIL IF USING NON STICK GRILL PAN

Procedure:

-Heat the grill pan and place the pounded chicken on it. Season the chicken. Cook for 2 minutes per side and your chicken is ready to go. Do not overcook please.

-Toast the bread if you want to. Put some lumpy mashed avocado on one slice and cheese of the other one, then some tomato slices and your grilled chicken.

-Close the sandwich and serve.

Crispy Chicken Cutlets

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Desi style chicken cutlets ………..

Ayesha's Kitchen

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

  • ½ kg chicken mincemeat (with fats)
  • 1 medoum sized red onion (chopped in food processor)
  • 2 tbspns Crushed green chillies
  • 1 tbspn Crushed coriander
  • 1 tbspn Crushed mint leaves
  • 1 tbspn ginger garlic paste
  • Some red chilli flakes
  • Salt to taste
  • 4 tbspns crushed dried coconut

FOR FRYING

  • Some oil for shallow frying
  • 2 tbspns besan
  • 4 tbspns crumbs
  • 2 tbspns corn flour
  • 2 tbspns normal flour

Procedure:

-Mix all the crumb ingredients in a plate and keep it aside.

-Now in a mixing bowl combine chicken mincemeat with all the vegetables and spices. Mix well with your hands.

-Heat oil.

-Make medium sized oval shaped balls, flat them and coat them with crumb mixture and fry until golden crispy brown.

-Serve hot with tamarind sauce, ketchup, mint sauce or Pulao or Biryani.

Chicken Achari

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A New way to spice up your Chicken curry …….

Ayesha's Kitchen

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

  • 1 ½ kg chicken curry meat (skinless)
  • 1 cup oil
  • 1 tspn black pepper
  • 1 tbspn nigella seeds
  • 1 tbspn fennel seeds
  • 1 tspn cumin seeds
  • 1 tspn garam masala
  • 6 – 10 curry leaves
  • 4 – 8 bird eye chilli or dried red chillies
  • Salt to taste
  • 2 tbspns Grated fresh ginger
  • 1 tspn crushed red chilli
  • 1 tbspn dried fenugreek leaves
  • 1 tspn fenugreek seeds
  • 2 onion sliced
  • 1 cup yogurt

Procedure:

-In a separate pan, heat oil and fry onion and ginger until they are brown and crunchy. Now add meat and yogurt and cook on medium flame. Cover when the chicken starts to change its colour. When oil and yogurt starts to separate and chicken gives a tender look add  all the spices and cook with constant stirring until the oil starts to separate. Now add curry leaves and dry red whole chillies and cook for anoter 5 minutes.

-Serve hot with home-made chapattis or kandhari naan.