Lemon, Ginger and Honey cake

Every year around this time I am looking for a new cake recipe for Aswin's birthday. This time I came across this recipe which doesn't use any sugar or butter. I was intrigued and decided to try it out.

I was not going to do this post because I thought the cake had not turned out exactly as I expected it. But everyone who tasted it said it was unique and delicious. So even though it didn't rise as much as I had expected, the flavor shone through. So here I am writing about it.

I took the recipe from Cookthink and then tweaked it to our taste. I used whole wheat, omitted out the cinnamon and used fresh ginger which gave it a spiciness. I also made a syrup of fresh lemon juice, honey and powdered sugar which I added on top.

Here is how I made it

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
3 tspoons baking powder
1/4 tspoon salt
2 tspoons fresh ginger
zest of 1 large lemon
2 large eggs
1 cup good honey
1 cup whole milk, warmed (but not boiling)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tspoon vanilla

For glaze:
juice of 1 lemon
2 tbspoon honey
2 tbspoon powdered sugar

Method:
Preheat the oven to 350F, grease an 8-inch cake pan generously with oil spray, and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, salt, ginger and zest together to blend. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs a large bowl, then add the oil and mix it together. Then add the honey until well-blended.

Next add the warm milk to the egg mixture in a slow, steady stream. Add vanilla and and whisk again.

Add the flour slowly to the mix, stirring constantly till everything is mixed well. The batter was quite runny.

Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 35-45 minutes. Keep checking though as mine was done in 38 minutes.

Transfer it to a plate. For making the glaze, mix all the ingredients together, warm it and then pour it over the cake.

For the dinner, I served it with some chocolate pudding and fresh raspberries.

Previous birthday cakes:
Orange and Almond cake
Spiced Applesauce cake
Black Forest cake
Chocolate cake with Whipped Cream

Happy Diwali!

Happy Diwali dear family, friends, bloggers and readers.

Fried Butterfish - two ways

We've entered the winter season, and I know it from the cold, ear infection, cold, cough and many more rounds of the same in our family. The other way I know is I am starting to crave more fried food, and especially if it is a fresh fish, nothing makes me happier.

We found butterfish at Monahan's (we have found great variety and wonderfully fresh fish here) and picked up a few not knowing what I was going to do with it.

I ended up frying it a couple of times with different marinades. Don't ask me to choose one cause I won't be able to. Each one gave it a distinctive taste and nothing spells comfort like a fried fish on a rainy day.

Ingredients:
Fish Fry -1
With Soy Sauce marinade
3-4 fish
2 tbspoon soy sauce
1 tspoon rice wine vinegar
1 tspoon chopped garlic
1/2 tspoon siricha sauce
1/2 tspoon turmeric powder
3-4 tbspoon oil
Salt to taste

Fish Fry -2
With ginger, garlic paste, cilantro and green chillies stuffed (the fish soaked in all the flavors from the stuffing)
3-4 fish
1 tspoon ginger grated
1 tspoon garlic
2 green chillies - chopped
small bunch cilantro (you can replace it with your favorite herb) - chopped
1/2 tspoon turmeric powder
1/2 tspoon chilli powder
4-5 tbspoon oil
Salt to taste

Method:
After letting the fish marinade for 1-2 hours, heat oil in a shallow nonstick pan and fry the fish 4-5 min on each side or till done.

Serve warm either as a starter or with garam garam dal bhaath!