South Tamilnadu's Chickpea tamarind curry தென் தமிழ்நாட்டு கொண்டைக்கடலை புளிக்குழம்பு

திருநெல்வேலி மிளகு கோழி கிரேவி Tirunelveli Pepper chicken gravy

Happy New Year 🌷🌷🌷🎂🎂🎂❤️❤️

 Hi friends, 

Wishing all a happy and prosperous New Year,

May God bless us all with happiness, health, wealth, wisdom, prosperity, good mind, a safe and honest world, success, love of the family and friends and peace 🌷💕😍

Lots of love and cheers,

Viki Xavier

Our Christmas tree, nativity scene, Christmas village 2022

 Hi friends, 

Merry Christmas. Here is the video of the Christmas decorations we made this year. 

Hope you all like my videos and will extend your support by subscribing to our channel.

Thanks,

Viki Xavier

Christmas fruitcake in Indian Bakery style

Hi friends,

Every year I prepare some fruitcake / plum cake during Christmas. This year I have created a video for my fruitcake / plum cake recipe. Hope you all find it useful. 

Blog links: This is the fruit cake I prepare every year during Christmas. The link to my old post is for 2 kg fruit cake is  here . The link for a 1 kg plum cake is here. I am reposting my recipe for fruitcake here.

I.For caramelizing

sugar-1/2 cup
water - 2tbsp + 1 cup
Add sugar and 2 tbsp water keep in stove at low to medium heat. When the s
ugar starts to turn brown , stir slowly .The sugar will start to change color from light brown to dark. In between , keep in microwave the water for 2 min and warm it. When the sugar starts to turn brown , pour slowly the warm water. Be cautious, as it may splutter (wear a hand gloves always for this step).

Ingredients
dry ingredients:
All purpose flour (maida)- 2 1/2 cup
baking powder - 2 tsp
baking soda - 3/4 tsp
Nuts and fruits:
dried fruits-(dates, raisins, tooti frooti)- 2 cup
dried nuts-(almonds, cashews and walnuts) - 1 cup
grape juice - 1/4 cup + orange juice- 1 cup + apple juice - 1/4 cup
(or) orange juice - 1 1/2 cup
wet ingredients: (others)
sugar -  1 1/2 cup
butter- 2 sticks (16 tbsp butter = 1 cup oil)
(use butter for perfect flavor)
egg - 6
salt -  1 tsp
vanilla extract -2 tsp
To powder:
lemon and orange peels - 2 tbsp
(I use peels of a large naval orange)
All spice powder (see below for recipe)- 2 tsp

Preparation:

Take half of the amount of dry fruits. (reserve the rest  for direct baking later). Except raisin chop others.

Soak 1 cup of dry fruits in grape + apple + orange juice for a few hours.
( I puree apple , grapes at home and use store bought orange juice).
Without any other juices,  orange juice will also do the same job.
I soaked it in orange juice for 3 days inside fridge.
Bring the butter, egg and everything to room temperature by keeping them out of fridge for few hours -  overnight.
Dry roast the almond, cashew and other nuts. Then chop them into small pieces.

Before baking:
Preheat the oven at 350 F.
Grease a 9 x 13 x 2 inch cake pan ( 1/4 sheet cake pan) generously with butter.
Sprinkle 2 tbsp all purpose flour and spread  it all over by shaking.

Method:
Wet ingredients: 
 In a blender (Indian mixie) add orange peel and crush it. To it add butter, eggs, sugar, vanilla essence, salt and beat again till fluffy.
Pour this to a large mixing bowl along with caramelized sugar.
Dry ingredients:
Sift together all purpose flour, baking soda , baking powder. I sift this over a large newspaper and will sift twice to ensure a fluffy cake. Sifting is  a MUST.
Add this dry ingredients to wet ingredients in the mixing bowl. Mix well with a large spoon. (or electric mixer).
Add the soaked fruits along with juice. it was soaking.
Take 2 tbsp of AP flour and mix it with the broken nuts and remaining unsoaked dry fruits.
Pour the cake batter to the cake pan .
Now spread the flour coated nuts and nuts over the cake batter . Shake gently and let the nuts sink a little. Don't stir them.
Bake in middle of the rack for 40 to 50 minutes in 350 deg F. If not cooked increase 10 min each time. The cake will be done in 45 minutes. The cake is ready when a toothpick inserted into it comes out clean.

Take out and cool for at least 10 - 20  minutes before transferring to cooling racks.
Cool the cake completely over cooling rack for 4 - 5 hours and slice as per need.
Store in airtight containers.
The cake tastes more delicious after 1 day - 3 days.


Note:
Makes one large 9 x 13 cake. or four 6 inch round cakes.
The above recipe gives 2 kg  ( approx 4.5 lb ) of fruit cake ( little more than that , depending upon the nuts and fruits we add).
Always use a good quality aluminum baking pan (eg Wilton cake pans) for evenly baking.
If using glass bakeware (eg Pyrex) , bake at 325 F . Don't exceed the recommended temperature.
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Using some kitchen appliances will make cake baking an easy job. Here are some of my tips for using various mixers for making fruit cake.

For kitchenaid mixer:
Using a whisk attachment beat the egg to fluffy (1 min - 2 min). (whites first then add yellow).
Melt the butter . Add butter and sugar together for 1 minute in speed 2.

Remove the whisk attachment and fix the flat beater.

Add all the wet ingredients and beat for 30 seconds at speed 2.

Then add dry ingredients and beat at speed 6 for 1 minute.
DO NOT over-beat the cake mixture.

For Indian mixie:
Beat the eggs together.
Then add all the wet ingredients.
Pour this to a mixing bowl.
Using a spatula or hand held electric mixer, blend together for 1 minute.

For Hand mixer (electric):
Cream sugar and butter together for 1 minute in low speed.
Then goes the wet ingredients for 1 minute in medium speed.
Add dry ingredients gradually and whisk at lowest speed till they get folded.
Then increase speed and mix for 1 minute.
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This is the all spice powder I use in my fruit cakes, pumpkin cake, ginger bread cookies etc. I think this flavor is fresh and better than the much expensive store bought varieties.

All spice powder:
cinnamon - 2 long rolls
cardamom - 1 tbsp seeds only
cloves - 1 tbsp
nutmeg - 1/4 of one
mace - 1
cumin - 1 tbsp
black pepper - 1 tbsp
dry ginger powder - 1/2 cup

Dry roast everything except ginger powder. Finely powder them all together and mix with ginger powder. (While powdering , I add ginger powder). Keep in a zip lock pouch or air tight container and keep in freezer for an year.

Happy Thanksgiving day!

 

image courtesy: link

image courtesy: link

Thanksgiving sale !

 I am sure most of us in USA look forward to this wonderful season of the year, 'the Thanksgiving and shopping'. Even though Thanksgiving should be associated with cooking and dining mostly, most of the stores has made it into a shopping holiday by announcing great sales. We too love this time of the year very much, as this is the time of the year, the weather starts to cool down and air is crisp. We can wear pretty boots and flaunt some winter coats. With the start of the 'Thanksgiving week', everyone begins to feel the magic of Christmas time. Malls start to get filled with cheerful faces, kids thrilled to get gifts and see the Santa, everyone making a list for the upcoming Christmas. Here in my surroundings we all start to set up the Christmas village. 

If you are looking for the best deals in town, check this website. Here are some of the items we bought during this sale and eying on:)  Also , I will be updating the better deals which I find useful imo. 

First the scented candles sold in walmart is our best choice. We grabbed a lot of these this year, as we  love this for our house and for gifting too. These 22oz size (big) yankee candles are in sale for $10. Definitely a good choice. Click to get the link.  

Art sets in walmart:  I am sure the artist in your family will love this art set gift from walmart.

Family pajamas in kohls.: We can get kohls cash rewards $15 for every $50 spent during this week.

These comfy PJs come at great discount this week. Stock them up for your loving family for Christmas. 

We bought this triply cuisinart cookware set this year. They are very heavy and of nice quality. Instead of triply one can buy the regular cookware too from cuisinart. 

11 pc cookware set is at good discount this year

The 12pc triply cuisinart cookware set we bought.

Two years ago, we got this much useful kitchen appliance 'Ninja foodie 6  in 1 smart XL indoor grill' . 

I find this extremely useful in our lifestyle. Kohls sells this item at a steep discount and you can get $45 as rewards too. If you can add this with rakuten app, then we can get more discount. 

Macys has these great deals in handbags, shoes and sweaters. It's the best choice for buying the Christmas outfits for the entire family.

Calvinklein bags are at 50% off.

Holiday shiny sweaters are popular among women during this time. 

Anyways Thanksgiving is a day to celebrate, so cook a lot of your family favorites and pick up a bunch of flowers for yourselves or your wife 💕 Eat well, stay healthy and enjoy !

Happy Thanksgiving 🌹

image courtesy: link