EGGLESS CHRISTMAS CAKE

Ho… Ho…. Ho…..It’s that time of the year again…..The air is filled with a festive scent. The requests I received for an eggless fruit cake was immense and how can I not please in this merry merry season. The eggless fruit cake recipe is vegan version of original fruit cake.  The eggless fruit cake recipe which requires intense amount of ingredients and pre-planning. It is healthy, nutritious but takes a little efforts and time. The major ingredients and the crucial steps remain, only the use of eggs is replaced. The use of dry fruits and nuts in abundance makes it tremendously nutritious and highly calorific dessert.  Most fruit cake recipes call for soaking the dried fruits in alcohol for several days to weeks. But this recipe shared here is an instant one which doesn’t require you to soak them in advance.  I have already shared one recipe last year on Christmas which is also non-alcoholic and instant fruit cake recipe. This rich fruit cake is moist, delicious and absolutely bang on the flavour’s and this cake is cure for anytime hunger. Merry Christmas to all of you and God bless you and your family in this wonderful season…!!!!

INGREDIENTS:

¼ Cup Orange Juice

1 tablespoon Raisins, chopped

4-5 Dates, chopped

4 tablespoon Tutti- Frutti

2 tablespoon Dried Cranberries

7-8 Glazed Cherries, chopped

5-6 dried Apricot, chopped

¼ Cup granulated Sugar

1 Cup All Purpose Flour

1 teaspoon Baking Powder

½ teaspoon Baking Soda

2 tablespoon Milk Powder

2 teaspoon Corn Flour

¼ teaspoon Cinnamon Powder

¼ teaspoon Dry Ginger Powder

¼ teaspoon Cardamom Powder

¼ Cup Vegetable Oil / Butter melted

½ Cup Milk

1 teaspoon Vinegar

1 teaspoon Vanilla Essence

¼ Cup Mixed Nuts, crushed roughly

For Caramel Syrup:

1 tablespoon Sugar

5 tablespoon Water

METHOD:

STEP 1 –  Pre-heat the oven at 180 degrees C for 10 minutes.

STEP 2 – Grease the cake tin with little oil, cover it with parchment paper and dust some flour. Remove excess flour from the tin. Keep it aside.

STEP 3 - Take orange juice in a mixing bowl, add raisins, dates, tutu-frutti, dried cranberries, cherries and apricots in it and mxi very well. Keep it aside for at least 1 hour.

STEP 4 - Now in another mixing bowl, add ½ cup milk and 1 teaspoon vinegar. Mix it and keep is aside undisturbed for 5 minutes.

STEP 5 – For making caramel syrup, add 1 tablespoon sugar and 1 tablespoon water in a sauce pan and heat it up. Cook until caramelized. Then add rest 4 tablespoon water and mix it well. Your caramel syrup is ready, let it cool down.

STEP 6 – Add this caramel syrup with ¼ cup sugar to the dry fruits –juice mixture. Give a nice stir and mix well.

STEP 7 – In a another mixing bowl, sieve flour, baking powder, baking powder, cardamom powder, cinnamon powder, ginger powder, milk powder, corn flour and mix it well with a fork.

STEP 8 – Now add dry fruits-orange juice mixture, milk-vinegar mixture in the flour mixture

and mix well.

STEP 9 – Add chopped nuts, oil and vanilla essence and mix the batter with cut and fold method.

 Don’t over mix the batter.

STEP 10 – Pour the batter in the prepared cake tin and tap it once or twice on the kitchen counter top.

STEP 11 - Bake it for 40-45 minutes at 180 degrees C. Keep a close eye on it during baking. Check it with a wooden toothpick. If it comes out with wet batter on it, it needs more baking time. If the toothpick comes out with a few dry crumbs, it is perfectly baked and needs to be removed from the oven.[see notes]

STEP 12 – Cool it for completely and then turn the cake over onto a plate, remove the parchment paper and slice it up.

Slice it with some classic Christmas carols in the background, I bet all your worries and tensions will just vanish……..The fabulous eggless fruit cake is ready to attack.

NOTES: *Start checking after 40 minutes. Time may vary depending upon the brand of the oven.

WHEAT FLOUR GOND LADOO

Gaund or Gond is an edible gum extracted from the bark of a tree. It is a kind of edible resin and is available in supermarkets as gum resin. It looks lightweight, transparent crystals and are roasted in ghee before use. It gives warmth to the body when consumed during winter. One of the best way to consume gond is to prepare delicious ladoos from it. The taste of gond atta ladoo is very awesome and very healthy.  Traditionally, it is had in the morning as breakfast along with a glass of milk. They are popular in North India especially Rajasthan wher winter is very severe. Gond ke ladoo is prepared with wheat flour, gond, sugar / jiggery, dry fruits, cardamom powder and ghee.  It has many health benefits. I found gond ladoo generates heat so it should not be given to pregnant ladies, wheras, lactating mothers can have this for the strength.  As it generates heat mostly it is made in winter season and method of making ladoo is same just like besan ladoo. These ladoo are high in calories because of all the nuts added. So it should be eaten in moderate amount. You can serve this to kids to improve their stamina and also to the kids who are underweight. Here in my recipe, I crushed the nuts roughly to get a crunchy bite, but you can make a powder by blending it in mixer pot for few seconds. You can add nuts as per your choice. You can add jaggery instead of sugar if you like.  So let us see how to make Gond Atta Ladoo. If you try my recipe, then do share your feedbacks with me. Also do not forget to check the other recipes from my blog….!!!

INGREDIENTS:

1 Cup Wheat Flour

1 ¼ Cup Powdered Sugar

1 Cup Ghee / Clarified Butter

¾ Cup Coarsely chopped Almonds

¾ Cup chopped Walnuts

½ Cup Dry Dates Powder / Kharik Powder

¾ Cup chopped Godambi [Bhilawa Seeds]

½ Cup Khus Khus / Poppy Seeds

1 Cup Puffed Lotus Seeds [makhana] [optional]

½ Cup Dry Desiccated Coconut

1 teaspoon Feneel Seeds Powder

1 teaspoon Dry Ginger Powder

1 teaspoon Cardamom Powder

¾ Cup Gond / Edible Gum

METHOD:

STEP 1 – In a frying pan, add some ghee and fry makhana in it for few minutes till they become crisp. Don’t let them brown too much. Remove in a plate and cool them.
 STEP 2 – In the same pan, add more ghee and fry gond. Fry them until they puff up like popcorn. Remove it and keep it aside to cool.

STEP 3 – Dry roast desiccated coconut until light brown and then add poppy seeds and roast for few more minutes. Remove it in another bowl and cool it.

STEP 4 – Now add makhana, gond

and coconut in mixer pot and grind it separately. Keep aside.

STEP 5 – Heat a pan with ghee, add wheat flour and roast it well till it is aromatic and changed its colour slightly. Keep the flame low and keep stirring the flour continuously to prevent burning. It takes about 10-15 minutes.

STEP 6 – Add crushed almonds, dry dates powder, dry dates powder and godambi in it and mix well.
 STEP 7 – Switch off the flame. Remove the pan from heat, add coconut-poppy seeds mixture, blended makhana and gond in it and mix well.

STEP 8 - Then add  powdered sugar and now mix everything very well.

STEP 9 – Add ginger powder, cardamom powder and fennel seed powder and mix well.

STEP 10 – Now take a little mixture in your hands and roll and shape them into ladoos.

STEP 11 – Repeat the same and make all the ladoos with the rest of the mixture.

Serve or store them in an air tight container.

 Since there is no water content, these ladoos will stay fresh for long. 

NOTES:* Gond comes in form of yellowish brown translucent crystals of varying sizes. Hence the amount of ghee required to fry them will depend upon size. If you feel they haven’t cooked well, add in more ghee.

SARSON KA SAAG

 Sarson Ka Saag  [mustard leaves curry] is a very famous delicacy from Punjab. This delicious saag is served with make ki roti [bread made with cornmeal]. Sarson ka saag and make di roti is a very popular combo from Punjab. Sarson ka saag is a traditional recipe made with mustard greens and other leafy vegetables and a delicious tempering of onion, garlic and ginger in ghee.  Now a days in winter, one can find this combo all the restaurants. In India, this delicious and famous combo is usually made in cold weather when green leafy vegetables are easily and abundantly available. There are so many different ways to make sarson ka saag and I have already one recipe earlier.  Here is how to make Sarson Ka Saag recipe with step-by-step pictures.Happy cooking…!!!

INGREDIENTS:

1 Bunch Mustard Leaves [ Sarso]

½ Bunch Bathua Leaves

½ Bunch Spinach / Palak Leaves

1 Cup Methi / Fenugreek Leaves

2 “ White Raddish

Salt as needed

2 tablespoon Makke ka Atta / Maize Flour

2-3 Cups Water

For Tempering:

1 Onion, chopped

1 teaspoon Garlic, roughly crushed

1 teaspoon Ginger, roughly chopped

2-3 Green Chillies, chopped lengthwise

¼ teaspoon Turmeric Powder

1 teaspoon Red Chilli Powder

1 teaspoon Coriander Powder

3 tablespoon Oil/ Ghee

METHOD:

STEP 1 – To begin with washing and cleaning the greens to make it adulterant-free. Soak the greens in lukewarm water and add a pinch of salt in it.

STEP 2 – After washing the leafy veggies properly, drain all the excess water and chop all the leaves.   Add all green to a pressure cooker with 2 cups of water, chopped white raddish and salt. 
 STEP 3 – Pressure cook it for almost half an hour or until greens cooked properly. Let it cool for some time.

STEP 4 – When the pressure released, remove water from it and mash the greens very well [here I blend it roughly in mixer pot].

STEP 5 – Then add maize flour/ cornmeal in it and mix well. There should be no lumps. Keep it aside.

STEP 6 – Now add some water in it, mix it and cook it on low flame stirring it occasionally.

STEP 7 – In another pan, add oil/ ghee and heat it up.

STEP 8 – Now add chopped onion and cook it until translucent. Add ginger, garlic and green chillies and sauté and cook well for 1-2 minutes or until raw smell vanishes.
 STEP 9- Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, coriander powder in it and mix well and roast it for few seconds.

STEP 10 – Pour this tempering to the cooked saag and mix well.

STEP 11 – Cook it for about 20-25 minutes till it comes to required consistency to eat and your sarson ka saag is ready to serve.

While serving the saag, add a dollop of ghee on the top.

Serve it with makkai ki roti. If you are fond of white butter, add a dollop of it to make this dish even more indulgent. Serve a glass full of lassi or a sweet bowl of phirni to complete the meal.