Dried Mix Fruit Cake with leftover bread served with Custard

 

If you have left over bread at home and don’t know what you want to make… here is a easy recipe of a Cake with leftover Bread that you can easily prepare at home… it’s delicious.. the ingredient measurement are taken in measuring cups and spoons. Please follow the proper recipe. Here I have made 2  cakes in 2 different methods. One is on the gas in a heavy bottom vessel and another cake in the oven.. 

Ingredients 

10 slices of Brown Bread 

2 cups of Toned Milk in room temperature 

100 grams of Butter

2 tbsp Curd

1/4 tsp Vanilla Essence 

3/4 cup of Caster Sugar 

3/4 cup Dried Mix Fruits chopped and chopped Nuts - Cranberries, Raisins, Apricot, Kiwi, Almond, Cashews etc. 

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Baking Soda 

1/4 tsp Soda Bicarbonate 

1 tsp Wheat flour 

Method- 

Take a bowl, cut the bread pieces into small pieces, add 2 cups of Milk, let the milk soak into the bread. In another bowl, take butter, sugar, salt, curd and vanilla essence. Beat the ingredients together until creamy and sugar has mixed well with the ingredients. Add the soaked bread, continue to beat until all the ingredients have combined together and there are no  bread pieces seen. The batter may look curdled but it’s ok. Now keep half of the dried chopped fruits and nuts aside. Add the wheat flour into one portion of the chopped dried fruits and nuts, mix well, add this into the batter, also add the soda bicarbonate and baking powder, beat once more. The batter should be of thick dropping consistency. Don’t over beat. Now take 2 moulds, grease both the moulds with butter. So here I have taken one normal mould and one bundt ring cake mould. Pour the batter in both the moulds, up to 3/4 of the containers. In the normal Cake mould, after pouring the batter, sprinkle some chopped dried fruits and nuts. Rest of the dried fruits and nuts keep aside. 

To cook on the gas - Take a heavy bottom pot, place a ring at the bottom of the container so that the cake tin doesn’t come in direct contact with the pot. Cover the pot and on medium flame let the container heat for 2 to 3 minutes until the pot becomes hot. Remove the lid and keep the cake container over the ring, cover and let it bake for 20 minutes. After that insert a tooth pick to check. Switch off the flame and let the cake cool down. 

To make it in a oven - 

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees celsius. Bake the cake for 20 minutes, check the cake after 20 minutes by inserting a stick. Once done remove the cake from the oven and let it cool. 

To make the Custard 

Ingredients 

2 cups of Milk

2 tbsps Custard Powder 

1 1/2 tbsp Sugar

The remaining chopped dried fruits and nuts 

Method 

Take a cup, add 1/2 cup milk, add the custard powder. Mix the custard powder well with the milk. Keep the rest of the milk to boil, add sugar, let the milk simmer for a 2 minutes, add the custard powder milk and on a low flame keep stirring the custard, so that no lumps are formed. Cook the custard until the custard has thickened up and has reduced half in quantity. Switch off the flame. Let the custard cool a bit. Add the chopped dried fruits and nuts. Stir and mix well. Let the custard cool down completely. Keep the custard in the fridge to chill. 

To serve the cake - 

Before serving the ring bundt cake, pour the chilled custard into the centre cavity, garnish with dried mix fruits and nuts. 

To 

Oats Uttapam

 

Oats Uttapam - A quick, tasty and instant snack / breakfast that is also very healthy….. 

its easy to make and I am sure children will love it.. Serve this with chutney of your choice. 

Here is how I make it at home …

 

For the Veg Masala Spread - 

Ingredients 

4 tbsp chopped Onion 

4 tbsp chopped Tomato 

1 chopped Green Chilli 

2 tbsp chopped Coriander 

Few chopped Curry leaves 

2 tbsp Grated Coconut 

1 tsp Sambar powder 

Salt to taste 

Method- 

Mix all the above ingredients together and keep it aside 

For the Batter- 

Ingredients 

3/4 cup Oats 

1/4 cup Semolina 

2 tbsp Curd 

Salt to taste 

Method 

Take a blender jar, add the above ingredients and add 1/2 cup water, mix and keep it for 10 minutes, now add little water at a time and blend all the ingredients together, the batter should be thick dropping consistency. Let the batter rest for another 15 minutes. 

To make the Uttapam- 

Ingredients 

Batter

Veg Masala spread 

Ghee 

Method 

Take a skillet, once the skillet is hot, reduce the flame to medium low, pour a big ladle spoon of batter on the skillet, spread the batter a bit, spread the veg masala spread over the batter. Drizzle little ghee. Cover the uttapam and let it cook for a minute, open the cover and check, turn the uttapam and let it cook for another minute. Serve the uttapam with Chutney of your choice.

Caponata

Its a classic Sicilian starter or a side dish. 

The sweet and sour dish is eaten with bruschetta,  meat or fish, rice or pasta. It’s a type of vegetarian relish, some add fish to the dish. It’s made with egg plants , bell peppers, celery, tomatoes, zucchini, onions, olives, capers etc. Apart from the vegetables white wine vinegar or red wine vinegar is added for the tanginess and honey, raisins or sugar is added to the dish for sweetness. Some time pine nuts are also added. Each house has their own variant of making Caponata. This dish is eaten when warm, room temperature or cold .. this dish can be cooked a day prior and refrigerated and eaten the next day. 

Ingredients 

3 Long Eggplant cut into cubes 

1 Yellow Zucchini cut into cubes 

1 small Red Bell Pepper cut into half and sliced 

1 Onion cut into half and sliced 

1 Celery stalk sliced 

5 to 6 crushed Garlic 

4 tbsp Green Olives sliced 

Few fresh Parsley for garnishing 

2 tbsp Capers or Pickled Green Peppercorn 

Salt to taste 

1/2 tsp Pepper corn crushed 

4 tbsp White wine vinegar or Red wine vinegar 

3 tbsp Tomato sauce 

1 tbsp Honey 

2 tbsp Olive Oil 

Method 

Sprinkle little salt and drizzle little oil on the egg plants and zucchini, grill the vegetables at 180 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes. Keep them aside. Take a pan, add the olive oil, add the onion, garlic,  bell pepper, and celery, sauté until the onions are lightly browned. Add the olives, capers or pickled pepper corn, tomato sauce, white wine or red wine vinegar, honey, salt and crushed pepper. Stir and sauté for few seconds, add the grilled egg plants and zucchini. Stir and cook for another minute. Sprinkle fresh parsley. Let the dish come to a room temperature, serve the dish with bruschetta. 

Chandrapuli

 Chandrapuli 

It’s a quintessential Bengali sweet dish made with Coconut and Mawa. The name of this sweet derived from the shape of the sweet “Chandra” means shape of the moon.. I remember during my childhood days in Kolkata, there use to be a sweet seller visiting my Aunty’s house to sell sweets required for offerings to God. One of my favourite sweet that is mostly offered to God mainly during Durga Puja and Laxmi Puja and during other pujas too and then for our pet puja as Prasad.. 

There are many ways of making this sweet. Wooden moulds are available in the market to make this sweets. I am using a clay mould which I have inherited from my mother. Here is one of the easy way you can make this sweet at home.  

Preparation time - 15 minutes 

Cooking  time - 30 minutes 

Number of Sweets made - 14 pieces 

Ingredients 

1 small Coconut grated (around 1 cup) 

1/2 cup Mawa 

1/2 cup  Milk or Coconut Milk 

1/4 tsp Cardamom powder 

5 tbsp  Sugar 

1/4 tsp Salt 

1 tsp Ghee for greasing 

Method 

Add the grated coconut, mawa, salt, cardamom powder and coconut milk in a grinding jar. Grind all the ingredients into a smooth paste. 

Add the paste into a non stick pan. Cook the paste on low heat. We have to keep stirring the paste. When the paste thickens, add the sugar and continue to cook. Continue to cook and stir further on low heat until the paste starts to leave the side of the pan. To check take a very small portion of the mixture, when the mixture begins to roll easily without breaking then the paste has cooked well. Remove the paste on a plate. Grease the Chandrapuli mould, with ghee. Take small portion of the mixture while it is still warm, gently press the mixture and shape the mixture with the help of the mould. Gently demould the sweet  and keep it on a greased plate.  Repeat the same process for the remaining mixture. Keep the sweet aside for 3 to 4 hours before consuming. 

We got 14 pieces as our mould was small. 

Kala Chana and Ragi Soup

 Kala Chana and Ragi Soup (Desi Style)

This soup is wholesome, healthy and delicious .. 

I have added coconut milk for enhancing the flavour (optional). Ragi is added not only to thicken  up the soup, but it is also  healthy and has high nutritional values. 

Ingredients 

1/2 cup boiled Kala Chana / Black Chickpeas 

3 tbsp Ragi / Nachni flour 

1 small Onion finely chopped 

1 small Tomato finely chopped 

1 Green Chilli finely chopped 

5 to 6 Garlic cloves finely chopped 

1 tbsp chopped Coriander leaves 

1 tsp Roasted Cumin powder 

Lemon wedges for serving 

Salt to taste 

3/4 cup Coconut Milk (optional)

1 tbsp Ghee 

Method 

Coarsely grind the Kala chana without water. Take out a tbsp of the coarsely grounded Kala Chana and keep it aside for garnishing. Add 2 cups of water In the rest of the ground Chana. Take a pot, add ghee, once the ghee melts, add the garlic and onion. Sauté until translucent, add the tomato and green chilli, sauté for a minute, add the ragi flour and continue to sauté for another minute. Add salt and roasted cumin powder. Stir all the ingredients. Now add the ground Chana with water and constantly stir the soup as no lumps should form. On a low heat let the soup cook, until the soup has thickened up a bit. Add the coconut milk and continue to simmer for few seconds. Switch off the flame. Garnish with some coarsely ground chana, coriander leaves and serve the soup hot, squeeze some lime juice before having the soup. 

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