Mile High Coconut Cream Cake

This is so easy to make! It's a combo of mug cake and pudding frosting. Here's how to make both:

Mug Cake:

Ingredients:

1 box mix of angel food cake

1 box mix of vanilla cake

Water

Directions: 

Combine the two cake mixes in a large container or plastic bag. 

In a large mug or soup bowl (you need something that is large and flat on the bottom, not rounded), spray with non-stick spray and then mix 6 tablespoons of the combined cake mix with 4 tablespoons of water. 

Microwave that for 1 minute and you've got mug cake. 

You can repeat this as many times as you want for as many layers of mile high cake that you want.

Pudding Frosting:

Ingredients:

1 small box of instant pudding (I used coconut cream flavor)

1/2 cup of milk

1 tub of cool whip

Directions: 

Combine instant pudding mix with milk. Mix for a minute until it's pretty thick. Then fold in 1/2 of the cool whip. (Don't let the milk/pudding mix sit for too long before adding in the cool whip bc it will get too thick to deal with).

Now it's time to layer your little mug cakes with frosting in between (I made 3 mug cakes and cut each cake in half so I had a total of 6 layers). Use the rest of the cool whip to frost the outside of the cake and sprinkle it with coconut. If you find your cake is too flimsy and falling apart, try frosting each cake separately, then put each cake in the freezer. Once it's firm it might be easier to layer the cake and frost the outside. 

Eid Mubarak!

Every Eid I make sugar cookies and hand them out after salah. I use this simple recipe from Epicurious: 

Ingredients:

2 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions: 

Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes in a stand mixer or 6 minutes with a handheld. Beat in egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, mixing until just combined.

Form dough into 2 balls and flatten each into a 6-inch disk. Chill disks, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 1 hour.

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.

Roll out dough about a 1/4 inch thick on a well-floured surface with a well-floured rolling pin. Using a cookie cutter, cut out as many cookies as possible from dough with cutters and transfer to an ungreased baking sheet, arranging cookies about a 1/2 inch apart.

Bake cookies, 1 sheet at a time, until edges are golden, 10 to 12 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool completely.

Meanwhile, gather scraps and chill until dough is firm enough to reroll, 10 to 15 minutes. Make more cookies with remaining dough and scraps and bake on cooled baking sheets.

For the icing:

Ingredients:

1 cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

Combine all ingredients. Stir until smooth.

Using a spoon, scoop some icing onto a cookie and spread evenly. Let cool.

Use black icing mixed with water to decorate. 

Mooli Kay Parathay (White Raddish Stuffed Fried Indian Flatbread)

Mooli also known as daikon or white radish:

Mooli aka Daikon aka White Radish

Ingredients:

1 and 1/2 lb. mooli (1 giant white radish)

1 teaspoon salt + 1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon turmeric powder

1 teaspoon red chili powder

1/2 teaspoon crushed red chillies

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

2 cups atta (whole wheat flour)

~2 tablespoons oil per paratha + 1 tablespoon oil
~1 tablespoon dried, crushed methi aka fenugreek leaves (optional)

Directions:
Take the white radish, wash it, peel it, wash it again, and shred it in a bowl. Toss in a teaspoon of salt and let sit for ~10 minutes.

After the 10 minutes, squeeze all the water out of the shredded radish. Make sure to capture and save the radish juice.

Mix turmeric powder, chili powder, crushed chillies, cumin seeds, and crushed methi with the shredded radish.
Next mix the flour with 1 and 1/2 cups of the radish juice along with 1 tablespoon of oil and 1 teaspoon of salt. Mix well and knead for 5 minutes.
Time to roll out that dough. Make a 3 inch ball of dough, flatten it with your hands, then pinch the edges flat.

Next, take a rolling pin and roll it out slightly on a floured surface (should be about 5 inches in diameter). Make another disk similarly.

Take a couple tablespoons of the white radish mixture and put it on one disk.

Lay the second disk on top, flatten it, then seal the edges by pinching them with your hands.

Roll it out again (should now be ~10 inches).

Heat a pan with 2 tablespoons of oil at medium temp. Gently lay the stuffed disk into the pan and cook on each side for 3-4 minutes.
Remove from pan and place on a paper towel to drain out some of the oil. Then eat with whatever you want...we eat it with yogurt and achar.

Saag

Ingredients:

1lb. spinach

1lb. mustard greens

1lb. turnip greens

1lb. broccoli or cauliflower

1/2 cup kusoori methi (dried fenugreek leaves) - optional

1 1/2 tsp. salt 

5-10 green chillies (depending on how spicy you want it)

1 big onion

3 serving spoons of corn flour

Butter - optional 

Directions: 

Wash and roughly chop the greens. If you want to use methi, then soak the methi in water and drain several times to makes sure the dirt is out. Put the greens (except the methi), salt, green chillies, and 2-3 cups of water in a pot and cook for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Add methi 30 minutes into cooking the greens. Then add the corn meal and cook ~10 minutes. 

Let cool a bit, then blend the saag with an immersion blender. 

Next chop onion into thin slices and lightly fry them until they are a translucent pink color. Add the fried onions to the saag and cook 5-10 minutes. 

Top with butter or margarine or nothing. 

Easy Chicken and Aloo (potatoes)

This easy and delicious recipe is courtesy of my dad from his college days. If he could do it then, anyone can do it now.

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2-1 teaspoon red chili powder
1/3 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/3 teaspoon black pepper
1 8oz. can tomato sauce
3-4 potatoes
pinch of regular salt
a few cups of water

Directions:
Marinate the chicken with the garlic salt, chili powder, turmeric powder, and black pepper for at least 15 minutes. Put 1/2 cup water in a pot, drop the chicken on top, and cook on high until water boils. Then reduce heat to medium and cook for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, peel and cut the potatoes into thin slices. Add a pinch of salt to the potatoes, mix, and let them sit for 5 minutes, then wash them. When the chicken is done, add the potatoes, tomato sauce, and 1 and 1/2 to 2 cups of water to the pot. Cook until the potatoes are tender and when there is about 1 cup of sauce left.
Easy peasy pumkin breezy.

The Basics Part 2: Roti (Indo-Pak flat bread)

Ingredients:

4 cups atta (whole wheat flour)

2 cups water

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon oil

Directions:

Mix all ingredients in stand mixer using bread attachment or knead with hands for ~5 minutes. 

Divide dough into 8 parts. With each part form a ball, roll ball around in a little flour, then roll ball out on a floured surface into a circle. Cook on a flat pan at medium heat for a ~1 minute per side. Then flip and cook each side again for ~30 seconds.  

The Basics Part 1: Chawal (Basmati Rice)

Important ratios:

Rice : Water
1 cup rice = 1 + 3/4 cup water

Rice : Salt
1 cup rice = 1 teaspoon salt

Rice : Oil
1 cup rice = 1 teaspoon oil

Directions:
Measure 1 cup rice. Wash rice thoroughly, draining excess water (unless if you bought an American brand, then I think it's pre-washed right? Not sure, never bought an American brand of Basmati rice). Add washed rice, 1 3/4 cup water, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon oil to a pot. Stir everything up a bit. Cook on high until water starts to boil. Once the water starts boiling, turn the heat down to low, cover pot, and let cook for 20 minutes. Use a timer! After 20 minutes, the rice is done!


Additional Notes:

• 1 cup of dry rice makes ~4 servings.
• When making large amounts of rice (more than 3 cups), use the following rice to water ratio: 1 cup rice = 1 + 1/2 cup water.
• To easily make the rice more desi, add a couple of whole cloves to the pot.
• To easily make the rice even more desi, add 1/4 teaspoon of zeerah or cumin seeds and add some gharam masala (1 teaspoon black pepper + 1 teaspoon cloves + 1 teaspoon cinnamon + a couple cardamom pods).