Chocochip Pound Cake

One of my first cooking loves was baking. I grew up baking with my grandmothers and aunts, then moved on to baking on my own (with some supervision) using cookbooks for kids and then using boxed mixes (shudder!). There was a time in the middle, for about 10 years, where I did not bake much. There was college, then work and general growing up – Life happened. But once I started living alone in Gurgaon, I started cooking for myself a lot more. And the first things I bought for the kitchen were not pans and spatulas – but an oven and measuring cups πŸ™‚

One of the best food memories I have of growing up was eating simple vanilla cake! Specifically pound cakes, tea cakes and loaves with a vanilla base. However, I somehow never got around to baking a pound cake until very recently. I was somewhat daunted by the task of baking something so close to my heart. When I decided to setup this blog, I knew I had to have a pound cake (or a few) in it. But, turns out it wasn’t that easy to bake a pound cake. Who would have thought? I had a fair few not-so-great outcomes. But after some trying and testing, I finally feel I’ve got it right! I’ve nailed the flavours I loved when I was a child and I feel that I can now confidently say I can bake a lovely pound cake πŸ™‚

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Tawa Paneer

Growing up, there were a few standard paneer recipes that were made at our house. Being from the east of the country, paneer really wasn’t core to our food. The Delhi impact was not as high for paneer as it was for Rajma and Chole πŸ™‚ Those we adopted with much more enthusiasm than we did paneer. I think it stemmed from the fact that we thought paneer was a bit bland.

However, all my friends ate paneer in many forms and quite often. That’s where I grew to develop a stronger taste for paneer and realized that while it is not spiced or bursting with flavour on its own, it provides a lovely canvas for a whole range of flavours. Now I am at a level where I can just eat paneer heated on a pan, dusted with some salt and garam masala; topped off with a squeeze of lime. Much proud, I say! πŸ™‚

This recipe for tawa paneer is something I have tweaked and honed ever since I started living by myself, 4 years ago. Paneer was my quick fix dinner after a long day at work. It is easy to make, quick to cook and is really tasty!

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Keema Aloo (Mince and Potatoes)

Growing up in a Bengali-Bihari household, mutton has been such a core part of our cuisine. By mutton, I mean goat. Not lamb. (India’s most common ‘mutton’ is goat)

This meat was cooked in various forms – light curry, intense curry, cutlets, mince – you name it. Each of these versions is delicious. It has a deep, dark, meaty taste, tons of flavour from the spices and leaves with you such a sense of satisfaction! I will post more mutton recipes on the blog over time, but am starting off with a version of the mince. Keema (minced mutton) was made at home once in a few weeks. It was made very simply, just with spices, onions, tomatoes and peas (that version will also go up on the blog sometime). Given its texture, it is delicious with chapatis or rice. In fact, I used to love eating it with khichdi! It gave a little extra oomph to the simple meal.

Today’s version is a little amped up version of that keema, and it has my favourite ingredient – Potato! I know you’re not surprised! πŸ™‚

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Aloo Gobi (Potato and Cauliflower)

How many of you have watched the film ‘ Bend it Like Beckham’? If you haven’t, please watch πŸ™‚ It’s a fun film about a girl’s football club in England and an Indian girl trying to make football her career, facing some resistance along the way. It has some lovely music, some really funny lines and shines light on how girls in sport are not always looked upon favourably. Boo.

Anyway, enough about the film’s story. The reason I bring it up, is a line in the film. The Punjabi mother asks the girl whether or not she knows how to make aloo gobi. Aloo gobi is used as a symbol of basic, easy yet tasty home food that every girl must know, in order to be a good wife/mother/Indian girl etc etc. While that I don’t think is true (at all!), the way ‘aloo gobi’ was said in that line has stuck with me. It’s even cooler when the girl tells her friendΒ  ‘Anyone can cook aloo gobi, but who can bend a ball like Beckham?’Β  YEAHHHH! Way to go! This movie made aloo gobi iconic! Who’d have thunk it? πŸ˜€

Whenever I cook this dish, I hear this line in my head. Sometimes I say it out loud too. Even though I have zero football skills.

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