Cardamom cake with mango icing.

This one has to be one of my favorite recipes! More than a cake, its like a fancy Indian sweet. And even this time a friend got me those wonderful cardamom seeds. Top notch quality! Just the feel of those seeds made me want to cook. I was sure I didn't want to make another and sweet and garnish it with these seeds. I wanted to make something bog so that all the emphasis was on the seeds. And yay, it worked! About the mangoes, it was mango season and cardamom and mangoes go together like Bonnie and Clyde haha! Too sweet but too good! But if you cant find fresh mangoes, you can always use canned Alphonso Mangoes and puree them or just use mango puree. Remember the mango is only for the icing, so if you cant get the icing right you can just make a sauce!

So for this recipe, I thought I'd try a new product, "Pillsbury Creamy Supreme - Vanilla" You can make your own icing at home, but this was new and I just had to try it! So what I did was, I mixed mango puree and the icing and made it mango icing and then marbled it with mango puree for that extra mangoness and also because it looks pretty! If I had to rate the icing, I'd give it a 9/10. It was soft, fluffy and creamy, but a little too sweet, which can be neutralized of course. 

All in all, its a great recipe! And, its chocolate free, which my mom and the rest of my over - aged family loved! So I hope you try it and tell me how it is :)

You will need :

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup Castor sugar  
• 1.25 cups plain flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 1 cup sour cream/ yogurt/ thick curds
• 2-3 tbsp ground cardamom seeds

For the Icing : ( If you dont use the pillsbury one )

• 1.5 cup butter
• 1/4 cup icing sugar
• 1/2 tbsp vanilla
• 4 tbsp mango puree

Directions :  

• Sift flour, baking powder and baking soda and keep aside.  
• Combine the butter ( at room temperature) and sugar and beat till soft and fluffy.
• Add the eggs one by one and beat by hand or by using an electric beater till the mixture is well combined and the volume increases. 
• Add the vanilla and mix.
•  Once the mixture is evenly combined, ad the curds and mix till no lumps are seen. Do not beat.
• Add the cardamom seeds and mix. 
• Transfer the dough into a greased baking pan and bake for 20 minutes at 180 degrees C. 
• To check, insert a wooden stick in the middle of the cake, if the stick comes out clean the cake is done. If not bake for extra 3 minutes. 
• After it is done, cool for a while, else the icing will melt and it will be a mess. 

For the Icing :

• Beat softened butter till it is light. 
• Add the sugar spoon by spoon and continue beating. 
• Stir in the vanilla and the puree and mix well. 
• Spread the icing on the cake evenly after the cake has completely cooled. You can even cut the cake in half and add it in the middle. 

And thats it! 

Please comment and tell me how you liked it, if you tried it :)  

Julia Child / Julie Powell

   So today I watched this movie called Julie and Julia. Half way through the movie, I went out to buy some groceries and cooked the rest of the afternoon and continued with the movie in the evening. I was that inspired! What a wonderful woman Julia Child is; and what a wonderful life Julie Powell had. It was messy, yes. But I couldn't help but LOVE her passion, her little apartment and her perfect family! And Julia Child.. Oh! She was divine if I must say! Meryl Streep is legendary! The was she moves, her clothes and the way she relishes everything she eats and the best part is the way she says "bon appetite" I just loved it. Honestly, the best part of the movie was the fried fish, the chocolate pie and Meryl Streep as Julia Child.
This is my project. Not to follow a book and cook every day but at least once a week and finish this blog no matter who reads it! I started this blog due to one incident and I want to continue till the same date next year. I guess its a ritual of my own. I'm not sure. But for once, I want to finish something that I started too. And cooking is the only I can connect. Its the only field in which I make sense and the only field I can actually make an attempt to expertise in. Ha, I'm so inspired!

The real Julia Child. 

And, if you think you cant cook, you must watch this movie. It'll make you believe you can. Cooking is not a talent you're born with. Anything for the matter, is not a talent you are born with. You adapt to it and grow with it and then become an expert. This is what my music teacher taught me. Heck, I still cant sing, but can at least get the notes right now! I said this because I had a couple of people come to me and ask how I do it and that they cant even make toasts, well, they cant because they didn't try hard enough. Right?
If I can mix eggs, sugar, cocoa and butter and bake a cake, so can you :)

Pomegranates and saffron rice pudding.

I saw these little pomegranates that my aunt got me and they reminded me of little rubies. First thought of making a salad but then figured I couldn't emphasize on the pomegranates alone. Thats the weird thing about me; I always pick an ingredient, like a fruit or a vegetable, and then the props and backdrop for my picture, like plates and spoons and the flowers and then decide what to cook! I know it sounds funny but it always works out well for me! So, this time I thought of layers of pomegranate and then picked rice as my main ingredient and then I had this beautiful saffron that a friend got for me from Iran and bam, this  nice recipe :)
I loved the combination and the gentleness of the spices I used. I tried the same with cinnamon but still, there is something about saffron that makes this dish so luxurious.
Rice pudding is a dish that is made all around the world but with different key ingredients, but the same base. This pudding is called Shola-e-zard (Tajik, Afghan and Iranian) because of the saffron used and the pomegranates I added gave it a little touch.
So for this week, its the pudding. Its super easy and there is no way you can go wrong with this  recipe!

Ingredients :  

• 1 cup rice
• 1.5 cups milk
• 4-5 tb spoon sugar
• a pinch of saffron
• a pinch of salt
• 1 cup pomegranate (for garnishing)

Directions : 

• Was the rice and set aside. Place milk on medium heat and boil.
• Once the milk comes to a boil add the rice. 
• Let the rice cook and half way through add the sugar and let it dissolve.
• Add the saffron and cook till the rice is soft. Make sure the rice doesn't  boil or the pudding will get too soft and lumpy. 
• Let it cool and layer it with pomegranates as shown.

 Happy weekend :) and hope you all liked it! Give me a feedback and any suggestion and improvements on the recipe are welcome!