Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Mango Overload


Ingredients for Cake:
All Purpose Flour – 1 Cup
Mango Pulp/Puree – ¾ Cup
Baking Soda – A pinch
Baking Powder - 1 Tsp
Salt – A pinch
Sugar – ¼ cup
Oil – 1/3 Cup
Milk – 3 Tbsp

Mix all the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients separately.
Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix well until you form a smooth batter.
When the mixture is well incorporated, grease a cake pan, and pour the batter into the pan.
Chop the almonds, and top the cake with the chopped nuts.

Pre-heat the oven to 350F and bake for about 35 to 40 minutes. A knife inserted in the middle should come out clean. If the cake is not cooked through, the knife will have some batter on it.





Mango Whipped Cream:
Whipped Cream - 1 Cup
Mango Puree - 1/4 Cup
Mix them carefully, folding the mango pulp into the cream. Do not over mix.

When the cake is cooled, cut into squares. Place a square on the plate, top with the mango whipped cream. Top with chopped nuts and place another square of the cake. Top again with the mango cream, the nuts and finally top with some plain whipped cream.
Drizzle some mango pulp for the extra mango burst.

Enjoy!

Sunday, May 1, 2016

Mediterranean Platter

Here's an elegant and clean meal that is satisfying, filled with protein and delicious. It's perfectly satisfying for the Vegetarians as well as the meat lovers.

It has most of our favorite Mediterranean dishes and dips including:
Hummus
Tzatziki Sauce
Tahini
Falafel Balls
Chicken Kebobs
Fresh Vegetables
Toasted Piza Bread


The recipe for the Kebobs can be found in my previous post. 

These are the fresh vegetables that work best with this recipe:
Cucumbers
Tomatoes
Onions
Lime
Cilantro
Jalapenos
Lettuce




Chop all the veggies, prepare the dips and make the Falafels and the Chicken Kebobs. 
Either of the Kebobs or the Falafels will perfectly work to make this a complete meal, but I was making this for friends, so I ended up making both.

 
Recipe For Sauces:
I added the recipe for the Dips in my previous post as well.

Falafel Balls:
Chickpeas/Garbanzo Beans - 1 Cup dry
Onion - 1 small or half big
Jalapeno/Green Chili - 1
Red pepper flakes - 1 tsp
Garlic - 2 to 3 cloves
Parsley/Cilantro - A small bunch
Salt - To taste
Red Chili Powder - 1 tsp
Cumin Powder - 2 tsp

Soak the Chickpeas overnight. All all the ingredients into a food processor and pulse until the mixture is coarse ground.
Make golf ball sized balls and either fry or bake them.
I love to use the paniyaram pan to make these, since they come out really crispy, just like the fried ones.

Serve with Fresh Vegetables, Toasted Pita and the Sauces.