Carrot Cake Muffins

I have been craving for these for over 2 years now (appro the gentle push of a friend I have got down to baking these with my sous chef, and guest of today's article Nisha S Das aka NSD. :)



Things you will need for this muffin:

• 1 cup (100 grams) walnuts
• 340 grams raw carrots (finely grated)
• 260 grams flour/maida
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 8 egg whites
• 360 grams white sugar
• 120 grams butter
• 120 grams olive oil / any other vegetable oil
• 3 tsp pure vanilla extract

First I asked NSD to finely grate the 2 1/2 carrots that approximately weighed 340 grams on my analogue food scale. She did so,  effortlessly. 

I made NSD grind 4 cinnamon sticks to a fine powder. 

In the meantime I roasted the walnuts on a dry heated pan for about 2 minutes, by stirring them continuously without adding oil and keeping the heat at medium. After 2 minutes I set them on a plate to cool.

I sifted the flour baking soda, baking powder, flour and cinnamon and set aside.

Now I separated the egg whites from the eggs.

 

I weighed out 120 gm of butter and put it in microwave for 30 secs to melt it. Then I added 120 ml oil & 120 gm of molten butter, sugar &  vanilla extract.

Then I added it to the electric mixer and I let it whip for a minute or two. I poured this into a deep vessel and slowly folded in the flour to the mixture, followed by carrots and walnuts. 

Before I start baking, I always do a quick microwave test for 2 minutes to check texture and taste. It tasted very good and it was something to keep us satisfied till the real thing came along.

Now comes the real part: Arrange the muffin tray. I have a silicon muffin tray so I filled the tray with muffin cups. I took 3 tbsp olive oil in a small bowl and dip my fingertips in the oil and lubricate these cups so that the batter doesn't stick to the paper once it's done baking. I tried initially with 1/2 cup batter but then I fill the cups to 3/4 with batter and set the timer for 20 minutes. The oven has a tendency to burn the cake from below so I add in a bowl of  salt water at the base of the oven to maintain temperature @180F. Normally it should take 10-15 minutes.

The 1/2 filled muffins took 15 minutes but the 3/4 filled took 20 minutes.
At this time a fork poked(actually a tooth pick should be inserted, but since i didn't have that) should come out clean or bake it  for a minute or two, more , but  be out on the lookout,  not to over cook it.

 

This is how the 1/2 cup muffins look.

Later I tried 3/4 filled cups, this is how the muffins looked.

Ideally this should be served with cream cheese frosting but by this time it was 2 AM in the morning and I was beyond tired after a hard day's work. I thought I'll do the cream cheese frosting some other day. And some other day I did.

Stay tuned for my pumpkin muffin with cream cheese frosting recipe. :)

Tomato soup for the sick and lazy

I woke up with a terrible stomach ache, one that was well anticipated and I had already arranged for a work from home situation. Either way I realised I need something that goes down gently without much turbulence.

So I  started making the tomato soup.

Things you will need for this tomato soup:

1. 7 medium sized tomatoes
2. 2 long carrots
3. 1 pressure cooker
4. oil
5. whole jeera seeds
6. bay leaf
7. 8 cloves of garlic
8. ginger powder
9. Spaghetti
10. Italian basil
11. lemon grass
12. coriander powder
13. garam masala
14. aamchur powder
15. salt
16. sugar

Poked 7 medium tomatoes through and through with a knife and set it on the microwave in a deep dish for 10 minutes while I minced 2 carrots.

Took a pressure cooker, put in 1.5 tsp olive oil, 1/2 tsp jeera seeds and 1 bay leaf.

Then I added the carrots and fried them till they lost their moisture.

By this time the tomatoes were done, and I squashed the now thoroughly cooked tomatoes with a fork.

Lot of online websites suggested that I peel and mix and remove the pulp, but if I were ready to perspire that much then this wouldn't be a lazy blog is it?

Now we add the squished tomatoes to carrots and stir.

Then I microwave 8 cloves of garlic in the microwave for 20 seconds easily peels off the skin (this way of peeling garlic is a great time saver and quite fun too). Using the handy mortar and pestle I grind it to a paste.

I have a ginger powder that's rather handy and put in 2 tsp of ginger powder, all the masalas at home - coriander powder, garam masala, aamchur powder & pepper. 

Then I add about 10-15 strands of spaghetti, 12 leaves of Italian basil and about 2 inches long sprigs (about 10 in number) of lemongrass to the mixture, add 2 tbsps of salt, 1/4 tsp of sugar to balance the acidic taste of tomatoes. Also taste post its ready - namak swaad anusaar! And about a ton of water - kidding, about 750 ml should do.

Then set the pressure cooker lid and wait for two whistles when the aroma of basil and lemongrass fills your home that's when you know you are ready to get fit, as this soup heals the soul.

This is how the soup finally looks. =)