Add food colouring, if you want. Make sure it is nice and fluffy. From here, the possibilities are endless. If you are sandwiching cakes together, you know what to do - spread some icing then place a layer on top carefully. If you want, you can add fruit. But you don't have to. You could keep going. Get a spatula/offset spatula/smooth knife and slap the icing onto the sponge, the top and sides.
This will be a 'crumb coat' - it will catch all the crumbs in the cake. You could just leave it and call it a 'naked cake'. Just add some fresh fruit, then. Or if you want to do full coverage, leave it in the fridge to set. Then grab your spatula thingy again. Smooth some more icing on the cake - be very generous, you can always take away icing. Dipping your spatula in hot water every so often makes it easier to spread the icing.
Or, if you can't get it perfect, do a rugged coating. Now add whatever you want. Fruit always looks beautiful. You can use chocolate shavings/shards, nuts, sweets, candles or sprinkles. If the buttercream goes really wrong, just cover it in a ton of sprinkles.
We'll show you how to make chocolate ganache using only chocolate and water. OK, so first get some dark chocolate and break it into little bits. And then boil some water, and pour it into the chocolate. The mixture should be 4 parts chocolate and one part boiling water. Then mix, like, really fast. Don't worry, the chocolate won't seize or do anything weird. Instead, it will be all shiny and chocolatey.
Then get your plain cake and pour it all over. Or drizzle a little. Dump a whole lot of fruit on top of a ganache.
For Mughlai cuisine, which has probably garnered the most mileage as Indian food, a velvety curry is often the essence, one that ends in a happy marriage with any carb of your choice (rice, naan, paratha, you name it). The easiest way to get there is to enlist cashew nuts, char magaz (pumpkin, cucumber, water melon, and musk melon seeds) and poppy seeds in your arsenal.
Dry roast them for a couple of minutes and then coarse grind. Put the coarse powder in a bowl and progressively add warm milk (not water, milk) as you mix your way to a fragrant paste. You can of course use plant based milks (almond works best) as an alternative to cow’s milk. Add this rich paste once your gravy onions are almost cooked.
You have to stir continuously, as the paste tends to stick, and add milk continually to keep the consistency alive. 15–20 minutes on low-medium flame and you can already see your dreamy curry taking shape. It works wonders for most curry-based chicken/paneer/mixed veg Mughlai dishes and gives you the seemingly unattainable restaurant taste.
While we are on onions of course, instead of tossing raw onion (chopped or grated) to the pot, try par boiling and grinding them first. Your dish cooks faster and the boiled onion paste just adds to the velvety sheen of the curry. On the other hand, marinades are an integral part of most non vegetarian Indian dishes.
Anywhere between 2–4 hours of marination will add a tender bliss to your chicken, while also allowing for flavours and salt to penetrate. If you’re cooking with bigger chunks of chicken, feel free to poke softly at the flesh with a fork, for maximum absorption. This will work wonders at your next barbecue.
For best results, marinate overnight, or for at least 6–8 hours, and then slow cook your dish to a delicate perfection. For ultra-level Indian cooking, besides the basics like coriander, cumin, turmeric and red chilli, invest in some good quality level 2 and level 3 spices like nutmeg, clove, bay leaves, star anise, cardamom (black and green), mace, fenugreek, fennel, nigella, asafoetida, peppercorns and cinnamon.
The best way to add whole spices is in the ghee/oil as a first step, before adding anything else, to nicely temper the ground for everything that follows. If you want to grind spices into a powder instead, remember to dry roast them first. Let the knives speak to you. This is a cliché, but often taken for granted.
Remember the scene in Julie and Julia where Meryl Streep chops a mountain of onions in an instant like a boss? That’s the goal, sort of. Chopping is a dark horse in cooking, and adds more to the dish than you can imagine. It determines how fast and how well your veggies will cook, while also doing wonders to the aesthetics of your dish. Invest in a good set of knives, and a sharpener. Your biggest enemy in the kitchen is a blunt knife.
The leftovers in a pan after you sear/cook the protein, the charred caramelized remains (fond) are the best base for the complementary sauce to your meat. Once you’ve cooked the meat, reduce the flame and put a bit of wine on the pan, to deglaze with the remains, cook for a while, adding a dollop of honey if you like sweeter sauces, till the sauce is nice and thick.
Now add butter liberally to the mix, and your favourite herbs, to get a smooth product with a sheen that will speak volumes. Pro-cooking is unbelievably sensitive to timing. To master the clock, keep all ingredients ready before you put the flame on. Arrange them in order of when you need them, so you don’t waste precious seconds doing the last minute chop or that last minute scavenger hunt to locate the thyme.
Plus, once you lay down all the ingredients (la mise en place), you’ll already feel like the pro you’ve always wanted to be. Always keep some hot water ready in the kettle too. When you add water to a gravy/ soup, it should always be hot, cold water will just slow down the cooking process as well as undermine the taste of your dish.
If you are passionate about Indian food, it is always a good time to be seduced by its flavors and spices. But if there is a time par excellence to enjoy and live the Indian cuisine is this. So do not miss the opportunity, take ideas and get ready to enjoy a true banquet and immerse yourself a little more in the culture:
1. Chicken Tikka Masala
With green curry rice, it is an ideal dish that demonstrates without doubt the abundance of spices of traditional Indian cuisine like cilantro, cardamom, coriander, ginger, basil. But do not be intimidated by the long list of ingredients, as the preparation is very simple. And the result is worth it! In addition, once you have taken the trick to spices you can prepare many other recipes with chicken as a protagonist in Indian cuisine. Dare to try them all!
2. Biryani
While the traditional cuisine of our country bets for tasting the lamb almost in its purest form, the biryani widens its possibilities and reveals the flavors that can be extracted from its meat leaving it to slowly marinate in spices. Next to him, the aroma of basmati rice puts the soft and subtle touch to an intense dish full of flavor.
If you're fed up with so much meat and prefer a different flavor with a touch of the sea, Basmati rice with red curry and prawns with honey is the ideal dish. A recipe full of contrasts, made for daring palates and where spicy, sweet and salty combine perfectly. Do you dare to try it?
3. Naan
Naan is a flat bread, typical not only of India but also of countries like Iran or Bangladesh. It is traditionally prepared in the tandoor oven, cylindrical and with charcoal, but you can also make it in the electric oven at home or even in a frying pan. The recipe varies from one to another, but basically you will need 300 grams of white flour, 10 grams of baker's yeast, 100 milliliters of milk, a yogurt and a little salt.
What to do with that? Mix and knead everything well, let it stand and grow in a bowl greased with oil until it doubles its size and then cut it into flat and oval portions of about 60 grams. As a finishing touch, you can paint the bread with ghee or melted butter.
Preheat the oven to about 230 degrees, and let it cook for 10 minutes. As you can see it is very simple and besides being a great accompaniment to any dish, it goes very well with different fillings, like nuts and raisins or potatoes.
4. Banana Puri
Banana Puri or kele ki puri are fried banana based sweets. If you think that the banana cannot be used for delicious and irresistible recipes, you must read our 10 best recipes with bananas. This fruit is generally eaten raw but, with a little skill in the kitchen, it can be cooked together with other ingredients to prepare delicious recipes.
Peel and crush a banana, add a cup and a half of sugar, almond powder, a tablespoon of ghee, salt and cardamom, then mix well. Add 5 cups flour and knead for 5 minutes until you get a soft dough that you leave to rest for about 2 hours. After two hours, spread the dough well and with a biscuit mold or simply with a glass to make the shape of your puri. At this point, fry in hot oil and cook (turning them from time to time) until they are browned.
5. Chicken Curry
In a large pot over medium-high heat, heat 2 tbsp oil. Add 1 chopped onion and cook until soft, 5 minutes. Add 2 lb chicken cut into 1" pieces and sear until no pink remains, 5 minutes. Stir in 2 tbsp garlic and ginger and cook until fragrant, 1 minute.
Add 1 tsp each of paprika, ground turmeric, ground coriander, ground cumin and cook until very fragrant, 1 minute. Add 2 crushed tomatoes and 1 cup chicken broth and bring to a simmer. Stir in 1 cup heavy cream, and season with salt and ground pepper. Simmer until chicken pieces are cooked through and tender, about 10 minutes.
Serve over rice or with naan, garnished with cilantro.
6. Shahi Paneer
Wash the paneer very gently and cut into any shape you like. Make sure the pieces have good width because if you cut them thin, they will get dissolve in gravy. Take 2 large onions and 8 to 9 cashews and grind them into a fine paste. Make a fine paste of tomatoes. You can take 3 big tomatoes and add 2 green chilies in it.
Take a pan and pour some oil in it. Add some cumin, ginger garlic paste and finally add onion paste in it. Saute it well, until the oil gets to start to release from onions. Add Tomato puree and sauté it well until oil starts releasing. Now add all spices into gravy including salt, red chili powder, Kashmiri powder (for color), coriander powder, garam masala powder, turmeric, kasoori methi, and 2 cups butter.
Turn the gas at low flame, add 6 tbsp of cream or fresh homemade cream and one cup of milk. Mix it well. Add the paneer into gravy and gently mix it. Switch off the gas and garnish it with fresh coriander. Your delicious and tasty Shahi Paneer is ready to eat. You can enjoy this with parantha, chapati, rice or naan.
7. Kele ke chips
One of the main dishes of Navratri and Diwali is the kele ke chips. Banana chips are a genuine and delicious snack that will accompany your afternoons and those of your children. A festive dish, cheerful and definitely out of the norm to enjoy those bananas that never mature. And if you need an appetizer instead of a snack Why not try kele ki sabji, all made with banana!
Peel 5 unripe bananas and immerse them in cold water for about 10 minutes. Slice the bananas into thin slices. Dry the washers with the kitchen paper. Sprinkle with chilli powder and pinch of turmeric, making sure that all are flavored properly. At this point, separate them one by one and let them rest on a tray for 1-2 hours, making sure they can dry out a little.
Heat the frying oil. Fry the washers for about two minutes, or until they have a golden color and look crisp. Place them on kitchen paper to dry the oil and sprinkle with salt. Serve with a fresh drink.
7. Banana cheesecake
Do you want an aromatic dessert, delicious and different from the usual? We recommend the preparation of the banana cheesecake. The classic combination is with chocolate, as a filling of a cake or a crepe, but also goes well with fresh cheeses such as ricotta, to create soft dough. If you love experimenting, bananas are also perfect for making original versions of famous sweets, like tiramisu.
8. Quick Pulao
Chop the vegetables like onions, tomatoes into cubes or slices. Heat two tablespoons of oil in a pan. Add the vegetables, dry fruits like cashew or groundnuts. Once the veggies are overdone, add cooked rice and fry. Season with salt and add two teaspoons of garam masala and pepper.
9. Bread Paneer Roll
What all you need is paneer, onion, bread, ketchup, salt, coriander, red pepper, and butter. Take a pan and add finely chopped onions to the paneer. Add salt, red pepper, coriander and ketchup to the mixture and keep it aside. Take the bread and cut its crusts from all the edges. Roll out the bread with the assistance of a belan to make it as thin as potential. Add the mixture to the bread and switch it into a roll.
Take a skillet and add butter and cook the roll until it turns crisp golden brown.
10. Aloo sandwich
What you need is mashed potatoes, finely chopped onions, pepper, coriander, salt, bread, and butter. Place the mashed potatoes on a bowl and add onions, coriander, pepper and salt. Take a slice of bread and butter that. Add the mixture to that and top it with another slice of bread. Heat butter in a pan and place the bread and cook until it turns golden brown.
11. Curd rice
This is basically stewed rice, curd, salt, mustard seeds, and butter. Add curd to the stewed rice followed by salt. Heat butter in the pan adds mustard seeds to that. When the mustard seeds begin to pop add it to the curd-rice mixture. Combine well and eat.
12. Gobi Musallam
One doesn’t need an oven for making Gobhi Musallam (whole cauliflower). You just need a kadahi (wok) large enough to hold the whole cauliflower, and a lid to cover it. Remove the thick stem of the cauliflower and clean between the florets. Wash and dry the cauliflower. Put oil/ghee in the kadahi and fry the cauliflower top and the bottom till you get the aroma. Drain the oil and remove the cauliflower.
Prepare the gravy as per the recipe. Put in the cauliflower topside down first., making sure gravy fills into the spaces between florets. Allow to cook on low heat for 10 min., then carefully flip the cauliflower. Cover and cook on low heat for 15 min. (The underside needs longer to cook). Switch off heat. Uncover and sprinkle chopped coriander leaves and thinly julienned fresh ginger.
13. Chole Bhature
Add 250 grams all-purpose flour, 50 gm sour curd, salt to taste, and 1/2 teaspoon baking soda in a bowl and mix well. Gradually add 150 ml water to the flour and knead soft dough. Cover the dough and keep it aside for about an hour so that some yeast gets added to it.
During this, heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a pressure cooker and then add 2 teaspoons cumin seeds and 5 bay leaves to it. Also, add 4 chopped onion and 2 teaspoons ginger-garlic paste to it and fry it on medium heat until golden brown.
When the onions are roasted then add 3 chopped tomatoes and 2 green chilies cut into long pieces and cook them till the tomatoes become soft. Also add 1 teaspoon red chili powder, 2 teaspoons cumin powder, 1 teaspoon garam masala, salt as per taste, 250 grams of soaked chickpeas, and 350 ml water and mix well.
Now close the lid of the cooker and let it cook till 5 whistles come. Let the pressure cooker cool down automatically and then open the cooker and add hot spices and green coriander to it. Delicious chickpeas are ready.
Make a dough of 2-inch size with the refined flour. Then place the oil in a pan to heat it and apply some oil on the dough and roll it into a size of about 6 inches. Now fry it on both sides.
14. Rabri
Take 2 liters of milk and bring it to boil by stirring continuously for around 10 minutes at high flame. After 10 minutes let it boil at low to medium flame. Keep stirring continuously till it reduces to to approximately to 1/3rd it's amount. In the end add sugar, elaichi and saffron. As it cools down it becomes more thicker.
15. Kada prasad
Take one cup of sugar and two cups of water and boil then together till sugar dissolves and keep aside. In another pan take one cup ghee and one cup wheat flour and fry the wheat flour in in ghee till it changes it's colour to light brown. As wheat flour turns light brown add the sugar solution in it and cook till it turns dark brown.
16. Shahi Tukda
It is believed that Shahi Tukda recipe was invented by a way of using unused bread in nineteenth-century mogul kitchens. The delicious combination of milk and honey, infused with saffron, makes this dessert extraordinary.
17. Phirni
Another variety of milk pudding prepared during the holidays, especially Eid and Ramzan. The best is served in mitti ke kasore or in mud pots. A delicious dessert, traditionally made on occasions like Eid, Diwali, etc.
18. Palak paneer
First wash and cut the palak leaves properly. Then boil the spinach. Take a pressure cooker and on high flame, boil the water. Put the palak leaves in boiled water. In the meantime, heat a pan and put 2 spoons of oil. Add 1 spoon cumin seeds. Add 2 spoon chopped garlic. Cook them on high flame.
Add 1 cup of chopped onion and cook till it turns golden brown. Add salt as preferred. Add 1 spoon red pepper. Add half spoon turmeric. Add 1 spoon cumin powder. Mix all the spices well. Now add 2 chopped tomatoes. Add chopped ginger and chopped green chilies. Stir it. If the masala starts sticking to the pan, add little water to it. Cover it for 5 minutes and let it cook for 5 minutes.
Till then, take out the boiled spinach and add the cold water. Then drain all the cold water out. Now, blend the boiled palak in the blender. And keep it aside. By the time, your masala will be ready. Remover the cover from the pan and add chunks of paneer to it. Mix it well. Now add the blended palak into it. Mix it again with spatula. It will become super creamy without even using extra oil or butter.
Add cream. You can grind the leftover paneer and little milk to make a paste. Add this mixture to the palak paneer. Lastly, add dry Kasuri methi and black pepper and garam masala too. Your Punjabi palak paneer recipe is ready to serve.
19. South Indian filter coffee
Now to make the filtrate (called Decoction), mix coffee powder with an additive called Chicory. The exact proportions vary according to taste and you may want to try different ratios to find what you prefer the most. Add about 4-5 tablespoonfuls of this mixture to the upper container and flatten it down with the back of the spoon (some filters come with a flattener). Ensure that there is at least an inch of space at the top for adding water.
Add boiling hot water over the mixture, right till the very top. Close the lid. Wait for 5 minutes and add some more water. Close it again. Let the decoction form overnight. To make the coffee, pour boiling milk into a steel tumbler and add decoction to it till your coffee achieves the required strength. Add sugar as per your preference.
Your coffee is ready and you can have it straightaway. Or you can do one more step and get a complete experience. You need to froth it. Hold the tumbler (with the coffee) in one hand and the bowl in the other and start pouring from the tumbler into the bowl. Keep increasing the height you pour it from as it flows. Repeat this a few times till you get the desired frothiness. Pour it all back into the tumbler and consume.
20. Dahi Chicken
Make this Dahi chicken on your family get togather or in weekend lunch and impress all with your culinary skills. Take a large bowl, then add 200 gm fresh curd, 500 gm chicken, and 1 chopped onion. Marinate the chicken pieces along with 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste, 1 tsp coriander powder, 1 tsp red chilli powder, and 1 tbsp oil and salt.
Once the chicken pieces are properly marinated, keep them aside for 1 hours so that the flavours are well-absorbed by the chicken pieces.
Then, take a pan and add 2 tbsp oil in it and heat it over medium flame. Once the oil became hot add onions and saute till they become light pinkish in colour. Once the onions get transparent, add the marinated chicken pieces and cook for 10 minutes. Put the lid on and let it simmer for 15 minutes. Finally add chopped coriander leaves and 4 small chopped chilies and garam masala powder. Serve it with rice or roti.
21. Chilli Paneer
The main thing that is needed to make restaurant style paneer at home is a very high flame which is there in restaurants or the alternate option is to use a very thin layered utensil and using at normal high flame. Cut the paneer in to cubes, add some salt, red chilli powder and then add cornflour and apply on all cubes properly.
Fry the paneer cubes until golden brown and keep aside.
Cut onion, capsicum in to small pieces. Add oil in a pan and heat at high flame, add ginger garlic paste, green chillies and stir well. Add onion and capsicum and let it cook at high flame for 2–3 minutes. Add soya sauce, little ketchup and little Schezwan sauce in it and mix well. Add the fried paneer and mix at high flame and cook well. Your chilli paneer restaurant style is ready.
22. Horn of Plenty Salad Recipe
If you are a seafood lover, you should like this dish. The salad is quite rich and royally beautiful. We will use red caviar, and the composition of the salad will include healthy and delicious shrimps, as well as exquisite salmon.
Ingredients
- Salmon or trout (slightly salted) - 250 g
- Shrimp - 250 g
- Rice - 1 cup
- Canned corn - 430 g
- Cucumber - 2 pc
- Eggs - 5 pc
- Lemon - 1/3 pc
- Green onions - 3-4 feathers
- Parsley (for decoration)
- Mayonnaise - 170 g
- Salt - to taste
- Ground black pepper - to taste
- Red caviar - 50 g (for decoration)
How to cook a cornucopia salad with caviar, shrimp and salmon
- Cook the shrimp in salted water for 3-4 minutes. We clean them from the shells.
- Cut fish into small pieces.
- Mix the pieces of fish and shrimp in the same bowl and pour with lemon juice. Leave aside to pickle.
- Cook rice in salted water for 20 minutes. Wash boiled rice under running water.
- Cook hard boiled eggs for 10-12 minutes. With the peeled and cooled eggs, we separate the yolks and leave them aside. Squirrels and green onions chop finely.
- In a deep container we mix all the ingredients: rice, fish and shrimps, corn, cucumber, green onions, egg whites.
- Dress the salad with mayonnaise and mix everything thoroughly. Spread the salad in the form of horns on a flat dish.
- Sprinkle the Horn of Plenty salad with yolks grated on a coarse grater
- Decorate the Horn of Plenty salad on top with mayonnaise, caviar and parsley. We leave the salad with salmon and caviar aside for 2 hours.
23. Shrimp Zucchini Pasta Recipe
Want to cook a quick and tasty recipe for the whole family or guests? Try cooking this pasta with zucchini, shrimp and cream.
Ingredients
- Pasta (pasta-feathers, etc.) - 300 g
- Zucchini - 1 pc
- Peeled shrimps - 250 g
- Garlic - 1-2 tooth
- Vegetable oil - 2 tbsp
- Cream - 200 ml
- Salt
- Pepper
How to cook pasta with zucchini, shrimp and cream
- Fry chopped garlic in olive oil.
- Add zucchini, cut into small pieces, fry.
- Add peeled thawed shrimps and fry too. Salt, pepper and simmer on low heat for 7 minutes
- Add cream, mix and simmer for another 3 minutes.
- Drain the water and overturn in a colander. Move the paste to the pan. Stir and then paste with zucchini, shrimp and cream for 1 minute.
- Pasta with zucchini, shrimps and cream is ready.
24. Shrimp Soup Recipe
This recipe is simple and unusual! With this shrimp soup you will surprise the most discerning guests.
Ingredients
- Shrimp - 250 g
- Rice - 2 tbsp
- Tomatoes - 1 pc
- Tomato paste - 1 tbsp
- Onion - 1 pc
- Cilantro - 1 bundle
- Dill greens - 0, 5 bunches
- Garlic - 2 cloves
- Bay leaf - 2-3 pc
- Ground black pepper - 1 tsp
- Vegetable oil - 2 tbsp. spoons
- Salt - 1 tsp
How to cook Shrimp Soup Recipe
- Prepare the ingredients for a recipe for shrimp soup. Shrimp can be used boiled, frozen and raw.
- How to cook shrimp soup
- Peel the shrimp. It is most convenient to start cleaning the shrimp from the head.
- Wash tomato and chop into slices.
- Peel, wash and chop the garlic.
- Rinse the dill under cold running water and chop.
- Put the shrimp in the pot (or pan). Then add sliced tomato, garlic, bay leaf and fennel into the pan with shrimps.
- Add 1 liter of water and put on a big fire.
- Meanwhile, peel the onions, rinse with cold water and chop finely.
- Preheat the pan and Fry finely chopped onion in vegetable oil over medium heat, stirring constantly.
- Put fried onions in the soup.
- Tomato paste diluted with 2 tablespoons of broth.
- Add tomato paste to the soup.
- Rinse the cilantro with cold water and chop finely.
- Wash rice several times with cold water. Rinse until water is clear.
- Then add the rice and finely chopped cilantro.
- Salt and pepper the shrimp soup and cook on low heat for 20 minutes.
- Delicious and simple shrimp soup is ready! If necessary, add hot water (depending on the number of servings).
- Pour the shrimp soup in a la carte plates, decorate with greens and serve hot!
25. Shrimp Salad with Mayonnaise Recipe
If are searching for on how to cook a fresh salad with squid and shrimp, so that the taste of seafood remains all the same rich and pronounced? Here I offer you just such a recipe. Eggs perfectly complement and enhance the taste of seafood, so the salad turns out to be just deliciously delicious!
Salad with squids and shrimps in no less delicate. A delicious and healthy shrimp recipe will give you real pleasure. At first glance, this salad with creamy dressing is real simple. What's in it, seafood and eggs, you say. But having tried, you will understand that the combination is very good. This green salad really turns out very tasty!
Ingredients
- Carcass Squid - 200 Grams
- Shrimp - 150 Grams
- Eggs - 2
- Mayonnaise - 80 Gram
How to make salad with squids and shrimps
- Prepare all the necessary ingredients. Boil shrimps in lightly salted water beforehand. Scald carcass of squid with boiling water, remove the film from it, and clean it inside. Boil the squid in boiling water (5-7 minutes).
- Peel and chop the shrimp.
- Boiled squid cut into small cubes.
- Boiled hard boiled eggs cut into cubes.
- Mix all the ingredients, season the salad with mayonnaise. Mix it well.
26. Watermelon Jelly
Remove the seeds from a watermelon, pass in through a vegetable mill. For every litre of juice add 100 grams of sugar, 80 of cornstarch and a cinnamon stick. Bring it to a boil while stirring. Let it cool down and add chocolate chips.
27. Chocolate Mousse
Separate the eggs into egg whites and yolks. Beat the egg whites into a stiff meringue. Melt the chocolate and keep it warm. Beat the yolks with the butter and sugar and cook over a double boiler until they are tempered - hot but still liquid. Add in the chocolate. Mix. Then fold in the meringue. Chill for several hours.
Try it and it will win you over your mother-in-law!
