Avoca Dabra – Suma Ganesh

The holiday season is here and it won’t do without a scrumptious plum cake! If you’re a newbie to baking, fret not! The traditional plum cake uses rum or brandy, or even eggs in the process. However, the recipe for plum cake has evolved over the years and everyone has their own style or process of making it.

So, if you’re a newbie to baking, fret not! It is the perfect cake to try your hand at.

Christmas is the time to fill your world with joy, colour, laughter, love and light. So make sure you add these special ingredients when baking a cake with and for your family and friends.

Below is the recipe you can try for an eggless, rumless plain ol’ plum cake.

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour (maida) 
• 150ml milk
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 200gms sweetened condensed milk
• ½ teaspoon vanilla essence
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon mix-fruit jam (or any jam you love)
• A pinch of garam masala (a little bit of spice is key)

Now we know that a plum cake is incomplete without fruits and nuts. You can choose the ones you like the most – cashews, almonds, black currants, raisins, or dried berries. The quantities also depend on your liking.

Steps:

1. Take maida, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl and sieve it. Add sugar to this mix.
2. In a pan, head butter and milk till it is lukewarm. Add sugar caramel to it and mix well (procedure to make sugar caramel at the bottom).
3. Add the milk, butter and sugar caramel mixture to the bowl and whisk it.
4. Then add the sweetened condensed milk and vanilla essence and whisk it till you get a smooth consistency (ribbon-like consistency).
5. Now add the jam (whisk it a little before adding to avoid lumps) and your choice of fruits and nuts to the mix.
6. Finally, add a pinch of garam masala and mix it well. Your batter is ready.
7. Grease the baking tin with butter and dust it with maida. You could also use butter paper for the inner surfaces of the tin.
8. Pour the batter into the tin. Place it in a preheated oven at 200 degrees celsius for 30 min.

Now, goodness takes patience. Sit back and let time do its thing!

After 30 min, insert a knife into the cake to check if any batter is sticking to it. If it is, your cake needs a little more time. If not, it is ready to be devoured!

Sugar Caramel to make your plum cake sweeter

Take two parts sugar and one part water into a pan and heat it. Make sure to not take too much sugar. For the above recipe, ½ cup sugar will do. Keep stirring it lightly. The sugar will start to melt and turn brown and sticky. Once you see lines forming when you pour the sugar, you know has turned to sugar caramel. This makes one of the key ingredients for your plum cake. Keep this small recipe handy to add to other desserts too.

Flaxseeds are native to the East-Mediterranean region and are one of the oldest known crops. They are known to be high in Omega 3 fatty acids and fiber. This may help reduce cholesterol, blood pressure and stabilize blood sugar levels.

Over the past many years this wonder ingredient has taken on India by force too! So much that traditional recipe now incorporate flax seeds too!

Here’s a chutney powder recipe that we tried and loved!

Chutney pudi goes very well with dosas, idlis or hot rice – with a bit of ghee or coconut oil

Ingredients

• 1 cup flax seeds 
• 10 – 15 red chilies (adjust as per your taste)
• 1/2 cup chana dal
• 1/2 cup urad dal
• 1/2 cup dry coconut or desiccated coconut
• 1/4 cup curry leaves
• 1/2 tsp asafoetida
• 1 small lemon sized tamarind (I used vate huli powder)
• Salt as per your taste
• Sugar as per your taste (optional)
• 2 tsp cooking oil

Step:

• To a pan, add each of the ingredients below, dry roast separately and set aside
  • Flax seeds
  • Chana dal
  • Urad dal
• To the same pan add cooking oil and fry the red chilies until they are puffed up
• Add coconut and curry leaves. Fry until curry leaves are crisp
• Add asafoetida, tamarind and salt
• Add sugar if you like and give it all a good mix
• Add the roasted dals and turn the flame off
• Allow this mix to cool and grind until fine

You can store the chutney powder in an airtight container.

Flaxseeds are native to the East-Mediterranean region and are one of the oldest known crops. They are known to be high in Omega 3 fatty acids and fiber. This may help reduce cholesterol, blood pressure and stabilize blood sugar levels.

Over the past many years this wonder ingredient has taken on India by force too! So much that traditional recipe now incorporate flax seeds too!

Here’s a chutney powder recipe that we tried and loved!

Chutney pudi goes very well with dosas, idlis or hot rice – with a bit of ghee or coconut oil

Ingredients

• 1 cup flax seeds 
• 10 – 15 red chilies (adjust as per your taste)
• 1/2 cup chana dal
• 1/2 cup urad dal
• 1/2 cup dry coconut or desiccated coconut
• 1/4 cup curry leaves
• 1/2 tsp asafoetida
• 1 small lemon sized tamarind (I used vate huli powder)
• Salt as per your taste
• Sugar as per your taste (optional)
• 2 tsp cooking oil

Step:

• To a pan, add each of the ingredients below, dry roast separately and set aside
  • Flax seeds
  • Chana dal
  • Urad dal
• To the same pan add cooking oil and fry the red chilies until they are puffed up
• Add coconut and curry leaves. Fry until curry leaves are crisp
• Add asafoetida, tamarind and salt
• Add sugar if you like and give it all a good mix
• Add the roasted dals and turn the flame off
• Allow this mix to cool and grind until fine

You can store the chutney powder in an airtight container.

Everyone in my daughter’s class has been falling prey to flu. Cold, cough, runny noses run amok despite every precaution. On such occasions, we whip up a flavourful rasam that could warm the soul any day. The best part, is that the ingredients are very simple and you will almost always have them handy

Here goes..

If you do manage to source such produce, here’s a recipe that will do it complete justice. A finger – licking – good pickle recipe that comes straight from a grand old lady of our family, lovingly curated by my Mother. 

Ingredients for tempering (tadka)

• Mustard – half a teaspoon
• Udad dal – half a teaspoon 
• Curry leaves – few
• Ghee – 2 tablespoons

Ingredients for rasam

• Freshly ground pepper: 2 teaspoon heaped
• Tamarind – Small lemon sized ball, soaked in warm water
• Jaggery – 2 small lemon sized balls, crushed
• Onion – 1 small chopped up

Preparation Steps: 

• Add mustard and udad dal to hot ghee and allow them to crackle
• Add curry leaves in quick succession and allow them to crackle too, making sure the udad dal does not turn over brown or burn 
• Add chopped onion and fry till they turn pink
• Add in tamarind water, jaggery, salt and pepper. Add more water, if required 
• Let this mix simmer till the tamarind jaggery are fully blended

That’s it!

This superbly simple rasam can turn your day around with a burst of flavour any day, but even more so on a cloudy gloomy day you are down and out. We have enjoyed this delicacy / home remedy during many flu seasons along with hot rice and some ghee. It’s light on the stomach and wonderful to the throat.

When it’s mango time, it’s MANGO time! Pickles, sweet treats, sour candy, desserts, meals all revolve around this one singular theme. 

This season, we were blessed with a big bag of raw mangoes from a friend’s farm that lend beautifully to a traditional pickle recipe. I wish words could describe the burst of flavours and fragrance from produce grown chemical – free in rich soil naturally. You have to experience the difference to know it 

If you do manage to source such produce, here’s a recipe that will do it complete justice. A finger – licking – good pickle recipe that comes straight from a grand old lady of our family, lovingly curated by my Mother. 

Ingredients: 

• Raw country – side (gaonti) Mangoes – 2 kgs
• Salt – ½ kg
• Mustard – 200 gms 
• Jeera – 100 gms 
• Methi – 50 gms 
• Red Chili – ½ kg 
• Pepper – 1 tablespoon 

Method: 

• Cut mangoes into medium sized pieces. Add salt and set aside in a large jar 
• Roast the ingredients with some oil, till the mustard splutters. 
• Turn the heat off and add 2 teaspoons of turmeric
• Grind and set aside in a dry air tight jar 
• In a pan, take some oil and temper with some mustard and a pinch of asefoteda (hing)
• Turn the heat off and add mangoes and pickle masala, in a proportion that suits your taste. 
• Mix well and store in a moisture – free jar 

As the days go by, the pickle just gets better. But we wouldn’t know, a pickle so delicious never lasts that long in our household!

The practice of Fair Share and Earth Care extends in traditional farming, to Livestock care too! Unlike conglomerates and the commercial dairy industry, the farmers of rural India extracted and used milk that was in excess after the calf had had its fill.

Perhaps because of this, or just pure delicious taste, a form of Coffee that you will find in Coorg in Bella Kapi or Black Coffee made with Jaggery. If you love jaggery and strong black Coffee, this is a great recipe that’s light on the stomach but great of Caffeine hit. 

At Poomaale, at the end of a lovely vigorous hike across the estate, you almost always will find our staff waiting with a hot cup of Bella Kapi and a smile! Do try this recipe at home too and let us know how you liked it 

Ingredients: 

1. Water – ½ Cup
2. Jaggery – 1 teaspoon 
3. Filter Coffee Powder – ½ teaspoon 

Steps 

1. Bring water to a boil in a saucepan and add crushed jaggery
2. Once the jaggery has melted, add coffee powder and stir
3. Bring the saucepan off the heat
4. Strain and pour into a cup and enjoy this hot and light beverage any time of the day!

Lately, one has been constantly been hearing about health problems stemming from lifestyle choices. However, It is difficult to separate the noise from the news. But I figured we can’t go wrong if the products we consume are largely naturally made.

While buying natural products is always an option, the joy of making a product at home and watching your loved ones use them is something else. (Moreover, homemade products rarely contain preservatives)

Here’s a simple recipe with common kitchen ingredients that could help you make a small start:

COFFEE BODY SCRUB 

What you need: 

• As a base : 1 portion used coffee powder (Not instant Coffee)

If you have recently used one of our Bewild Indian Filter Coffee or Bewild Cold Brew Coffee, store the leftover coffee powder and use it

• As an addition, any of these ingredients: 1 portion coconut oil, 1 portion of fresh grated coconut or 1 portion of brown sugar 

Steps: 

• Transfer the used coffee powder to a small glass jar 
• Add any one of the additional ingredients, depending on your preference.  
• Mix well
• Refrigerate or store in a cool and dry place

It is best to make small batches, since this recipe does not recommend the usage of any preservatives

That’s it!

You may use this as a full body scrub, including the face. You can choose to keep it on as a mask for 10-15 minutes or just rinse it off immediately. On most days, you may not even feel the need to use a soap after this! 

Do share your experience and own unique DIY recipes with us. It keeps us charged too!