Strawberry Blackberry Pie

Making an Apple Pie was in my wish list for a long time but when I bought fresh strawberries and Blackberries,I instantly decided to make a Pie with berry filling.The Pie crust came out good,flaky and melt in the mouth with rich buttery flavour.I adapted the recipe for the crust from here and used food processor for making the same.I am happy with the result and definitely Apple Pie is next on my list.

Ingredients:

For the pie Crust
All Purpose flour	1 ¼ cup
Cold butter	½ cup(100 gms)
Salt	¼ tsp
Sugar	1 tblsp
Ice water	1/8  to ¼ cup
For the Berry filling
Strawberries sliced	1 cup
Blackberries halved	½ cup
Lemon juice	1 tsp
Sugar(see note below)	¼ cup
All purpose flour	1 tblsp

Method: 

• Cut cold butter into small cubes.
• In a food processor,add flour,salt,sugar and process to combine.
• Add the butter and process until the mixture resembles bread crumbs Now add 1/8 cup of ice water water slowly through the feed tube until the dough just holds together when pinched.If necessary,add more water.Do not process more.
• Transfer the dough to a clean counter,bring them together and cover it with a cling wrap.Refrigerate for 1 hour.
• While the dough is resting,slice the berries and take them in a bowl.Add sugar,flour,lemon juice.stir well and keep aside.
• Preheat oven to 200 ºC .
• After 1 hour take the dough and divide into two portions. I divided one portion slightly bigger which I used for the base of the pie.Dust the counter with some flour and gently roll the dough to a circle to fit the pie dish.Transfer carefully to the pie dish.prick all over with a fork,cover with a cling wrap and again refrigerate for 10 mins.
• After 10 mins take out the pie dish and bake in preheated oven for 20 mins.Allow to cool for 10 mins.
• Take out the other portion of the dough,roll it to a circle and make strips out of it.Cover and refrigerate till further use.This is for covering the top of the pie.
• Take out the excess liquid from the berry filling if any.Spread it evenly on the pre baked pie crust.Sprinkle little sugar all over.Now cover the top of the filling with the prepared strips.
• Brush Milk all over the pie crust and bake in a preheated oven at 180 ºC for 25- 30 mins till the top is golden in colour.Allow to cool for some time,slice and serve.

Preparing dough without food processor: 

    Take the flour,salt,sugar in a bowl and whisk well.Add the cold butter and using a pastry cutter or with your finger tips,rub the butter to the flour till the mixture resembles bread crumbles.Now sprinkle ice water little by little till the dough comes together.Don't knead.Cover with a cling film,refrigerate and proceed.

Note:

• The main thing to note is to use cold butter and Ice water.Use fresh good quality butter.
• Don't pour all the water when making the dough.Just use little by little enough to bring the dough together.
• It is essential to refrigerate the dough.If not the dough may tear while rolling.so don't skip this step.
• Pre baking the crust before adding the filling is not needed.But I pre baked to avoid soggy crust.
• You can make the filling with strawberries alone or combination of berries as you wish.Increase or decrease the sugar quantity based on the sweetness of the berries.

Rava Khichdi

Rava khichdi is a simple and easy to prepare tiffin.It is a mushy variant of rava upma with some vegetables.Lets see the recipe.

Ingredients:

Rava/sooji	1 cup
Water	3 cups
Onion	1
Tomato	1
Peas(optional)	handful
Salt	as needed
Turmeric powder	¼ tsp
Oil	1 tblsp
To temper
Mustard seeds	1 tsp
Green chilli slit	1
Ginger finely chopped	1tsp
Channa dhal	1 tsp
Asafoetida	A pinch
Curry leaves	few

Method:

• Heat oil in a kadai and add the items given under "To temper" table one by one.
• Add the onions and fry till translucent followed by tomatoes,peas and fry till the tomatoes are cooked well.Add the rava,turmeric powder,salt.
• Boil 3 cups of water seperately and now add this boiling water slowly to the rava mixture and mix well.cover and keep in low flame for few minutes till rava is cooked well.

Note:

• I have used roasted rava. If you are using plain rava,roast them seperately in a pan till nice aroma comes and use in the recipe.

Eggless "Perfectly Chocolate" Cake

I am excited to post this cake for this month's Baking Eggless challenge. Gayathri had asked each one of us to suggest a recipe and the first recipe which came to my mind was this Perfect chocolate cake. I have used sour cream as egg replacer. The cake turned out soft and moist.

Ingredients:

All Purpose flour	1 ½ cup
Sugar	1 cup
Baking powder	1 tsp
Baking soda	1 1/2 tsp
Cocoa powder	5 tblsp
Salt	¼ tsp
Oil	½ cup
Sour cream(see note below)	¼ cup
Milk	½ cup
Hot water	½ cup
Vanilla essence	1 tsp

For the chocolate Frosting:

Butter	¼ cup
Sour cream	¼ cup
Icing sugar	1 cup
Vanilla essence	1tsp
Cocoa powder	2 tsp
Melted semisweet chocolate	2 tblsp

Method:

• Preheat oven to 170 ºC.
• Sift Flour,Baking powder,baking soda,cocoa,salt twice and keep aside.
• Grind the sugar and keep it ready.No need to make a fine powder.Just pulse once.
• Take the sifted flour mixture in a bowl,add the sugar and mix once.Make a well in the center.Add oil,sour cream,vanilla essence and milk and mix well.No need for any beating.Just mix using a whisk till the dry and wet ingredients are mixed well and there are no lumps.
• Finally add hot water and mix to get a thin batter.
• Pour it in a greased and floured baking pan and bake at 170 ºC for 30- 40 mins.
• Check the cake after 20 mins,if it starts browning on the top but still not fully cooked inside then reduce the temperature to 150 ºC and then bake till done.
• Allow the cake to cool completely before frosting.
• For the chocolate frosting,beat butter till fluffy,ass sour cream and beat well.Add vanilla essence,cocoa powder,melted chocolate and icing sugar and beat well till you get a nice consistency of the icing.I halved the cake horizontally into 2 layers and spread little icing in between and covered the entire cake with the frosting.

Note:

• If sour cream is not available you can substitute with Yogurt.
• I have used some sour cream in the frosting also.you can omit it and make the regular chocolate butter cream icing.

Cauliflower Paratha

This tasty and filling cauliflower Paratha can be prepared for Breakfast/Dinner.The only thing to note is to chop the cauliflower very finely so that the filling doesn't come out while rolling the paratha.Here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

Whole wheat flour	1 cup
Oil	2 tsp
Salt	a pinch
For the stuffing
Cauliflower	1
Chilli powder	½ tsp
Amchur powder	¼ tsp
Ajwain	¼ tsp
Coriander leaves chopped	2 tblsp

Method:

• Prepare dough for the paratha same as chapati dough,cover and keep aside for 20 minutes.
• Clean the cauliflower and chop/grate them finely using a chopper.
•  Heat oil in a fry pan,add ajwain followed by the grated cauliflower.Add salt,chilli powder and fry for 3-4 mins.Add the amchur powder and chopped corainder leaves.Let the stuffing cool for a while.
• Take a ball of the dough,roll it to a small circle and spread the prepared filling in the center.Now bring the edges to the center and make a ball. Roll this again to a circle of desired thickness and cook on a tawa using little oil till golden brown spots appear on both sides.Tasty cauliflower paratha is ready to serve .