Amitabha's Kitchen Chronicles

While I love cooking and find it extremely therapeutic after a busy work week or day, the last 6 months (after our relocation to another city) has almost been a dry season for cooking anything exotic. It has also involved getting re-acquainted with the life in the big city, cramped spaces, pollution, bad roads and being constantly on the run. We also had to settle into using a smaller kitchen without the access to our huge sunny terrace adjoining the kitchen. It coincidentally prompted a question by a senior colleague as to how am I now going to make my usual winter pickles since we do not have the luxury of a open terrace. An impending visit by a very close friend egged me to start thinking to make something special in celebration of our close friendship. And I wanted to use the Bailey's Irish Cream lying unused for sometime. In search of an inspiration, I chanced upon a recipe of a bundt cake using whole wheat. To continue the feel of healthier eating and feeling less guilt, ...

In our kitchen, the role of the baker is generally handled by my better half, D. On some rare occasions, I do sometime try out my hand on the bakery stuff. And when a cake lover comes for dinner, its worth the effort. The recipe was inspired by another formidable creative genius who had posted a thought and had enough people oodling over it. So I ended up making an impromptu 'banana walnut almond coffee and cocoa' cake. The cake lover certified that it has indeed turned out nice and I had to put aside my low carb diet for a day. Ingredients (to be at room temperature): 3 very ripe bananas ½ cup toasted walnut ½ cup almonds 2 teaspoons of Coffee 2 tbsp of Cocoa powder 1 ¼ cup unbleached flour (Wheat flour ~ aata) 1 tsp baking soda ½ teaspoon fine salt 2 large eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla essence / ½ tsp vanilla extract ½ cup unsalted butter + bit for pan 1 cup sugar Recipe: Soak the almonds in boiling water for about 5-10 mins. Once cooled, peel the almon...

Simple Banana & Coffee Cake In recent times, my wife D has been on a baking spree. From pizzas (flour to whole wheat versions) to varieties of cakes and muffins on demands of the younger lass at home. Of course, I had the privilege of enjoying the without cheese version. With the incoming weekend and post Pujo de-stressing in the works, thought let me also join in the baking spree. However, this was planned to be gifted for a friend visiting home. After sifting through various options, planned to bake a banana coffee cake. While most of the recipes are for various banana cakes, I worked in a bit of twist with coffee. Without doubt the proof of the pudding is in the eating and I am waiting for the feedback from the "consumers" :). The recipe is as captured below. Ingredients 1/2 cup butter 1 cup white sugar 2 eggs 2 ripe bananas, mashed 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 3/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt Coffee: 2 tsps; mixed in 1/2 a cup of luke...

For the past few years, baking a Christmas cake has been a regular affair at home. And since this has only been the last 5-6 years, I am always on the lookout for healthier recipes year on year, but unfortunately using it all the regal ingredients. This time I discovered a new recipe and added some twist to make a it a tad bit healthier. And this is how it turned out .. The recipe is here for reference: Ingredients: ·    Melted butter, to grease the pan ·   Mixed dry fruits (chopped) soaked in rum for atleast 10 days. It can be kept soaked for 2-3 months as well. Keep replenishing the rum as the fruits gets exposed. you can also add tutty fruity though I did not use that this year. This year I used o    Cashew o    Black Currant o    Raisins o    Pistachios o    Dried figs o    Almonds ·          1 tablespoon finely grated orange rind · ...