Lemon cake with Lemon Frosting

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  Now that September is here and everyone is feeling the 'pressure of Fall' I have chosen some fall colors to say it's not so bad.  You say you don't feel the pressure? Well, I did. Especially when Colorado experienced a sudden drop in temperature yesterday.  I decided it was here to foil all weekend plans. Yes, I know, I can check 'weather.com' and find out for sure if things will clear up but as all things go anxiety overrules commonsense.  Regardless my spirits are quite high.  I am celebrating my success with the Lemon Cake.  The zesty, rich, utterly scrumptious cake and what a perfect day to share this recipe with you.

 September hold a dear place in my heart for many reasons.  One is that some of the dearest people in my life celebrate their birthdays. I will unfold who over the coming days.  Secondly, I got married some gazillion years ago.  Ah..ha! Now you will agree I have enough reasons to be merry.

Talking about birthdays, today one of our dearest friends both Sunitha and mine, celebrates her birthday.  R, wish you a very happy birthday.  Today's recipe and flowers are a collaborative way of saying we love you dear friend.

  And as for you, have a great weekend we love you too.



Ingredients:

For Cake:

Flour- 2 3/4 cup
Baking powder- 1 1/4 tsp
Baking Soda- 1/2 tsp
Plain yogurt- 1 cup
Grated Lemon zest- 1 1/2 Tbsp
Fresh Lemon Juice- 1/4 cup
Pure Vanilla Extract- 1 tsp
Unsalted Butter- 1 cup
Sugar- 1 3/4 cup
Eggs- 4

For Frosting:

Confectioner's sugar- 1 cup
Lemon Juice- 2 Tbsp




Method:

1.Whisk together the flour and baking powder in a mixing bowl and keep aside.
2.Preheat the oven at 350 degree f (180 degree C)and prepare a 9 1/2 inch bundt pan /tube pan by greasing and dusting with flour.
3.Whisk the yogurt, zest, lemon juice and vanilla extract together in a small bowl.
4.Beat the sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl.Add eggs one at a time and beat to mix in.
5.Add the yogurt mixture and baking soda ithis and mix well.
6.Finally add the flour baking powder mix and beat everything together to mix well.
7.Spoon out into the prepared pan and bake for 45- 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
8.Cool on a wire rack for a few minutes before inverting the pan.
9.Prepare the frosting after the cake cools well, by mixing the sugar and lemon juice well.
10.Spoon it over the cake. It should have a flowing consistency, but not too thin.



Notes:

1.This recipe serves 12-15.
2.You could use cake flour for this as in the original recipe.
3.Also you could use low fat yogurt if you wish, but I used the regular yogurt

Recipe adapted from :Woman's day

Sending this cake to Champa's (Versatile Vegetarian kitchen)Bake off event
And EFM-Cakes and bakes in Srilekha's Me and My Kitchen





Also sending this Pista Kulfi to Priti's "Festive Foods- Rakhi" and BSI-Milk hosted by Sanyukta.





Contributor: Namitha

Chinese Fried Rice

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How are you doing on the 2nd of September? Happy New Month! Nobody wishes on a new month, what!? I will.. Happy New Month to you and me.

I cooked some Chinese fried rice today not to celebrate the new month but just out of whimsy. It's quite convenient you see for a Malayalee to make fried rice. After all, the china wok is what we use daily for our thoran and mezhukkupuratti 'cheena chatt.' Yep! Kerala and China go a long way back. Otherwise I don't know why everyone I know back home uses this chatti.

Now that we have established the convenience of making fried rice for me let me also say I quite like this dish. When we make it at home we can bring the amount of oil to a bare minimum making it quite healthy too. I will not keep you with anymore rambling. Let's get to the point, alright!



That little golden glory you spot in the picture is outside my window. Yellow leaves mottle the oak tree and the iredescence of the sunlight on it. Quite distracted with the sun and the rustle of leaves outside

Ingredients:

Rice - 2 cups

All vegetables diced to small pieces (I say, smaller the prettier)
Ginger - 1 tspn
Garlic - 1 Tbspn
Green Chilies - 4 nos
Onion - 1 small diced into small cubes
Carrot - 1
Beans - 20 nos
Cabbage- 1 cup chopped
Celery - 1 stick
Oil - 1 Tbspn
Soya Sauce - 4 Tbspn (watery kind, use more if you like)
White pepper powder - 1/2 tspn



Method:

Cook rice, please follow instructions here

1. Heat wok and add a tablespoon of oil
2. Add vegetables starting with onions, ginger, garlic and green chilies. Fry on high heat
Followed with carrots, beans, cabbage quickly stirring with each addition. If you cannot keep up with quick stirring crank the flame down so as not to burn the vegetables
3. Add salt once vegetables are done.
4. Sprinkle the pepper and stir in

5. I set the cooked vegetables aside and then add 1 day old cooked rice. Add soya bean sauce and when the rice is heating. Stir in the cooked vegetables.
6. Finally, top with scrambled eggs



We would like to send in some entries for Jay's Letz Relish- Paneer event



Kadhai Paneer
Malai Kofta

Entering the rice for Festive Rice Event 

Contributor: Sunitha

Karimeen Vazhayilayil pollichathu/Pearlspot dry fried on Banana leaf

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When someone says "karimeen", this evergreen malayalam song reverberates in my mind.."ayala porichathundu, karimeen varuthathundu, kudampuli ittu vacha nalla chemmen kariyundu" The heroine is elaborating on the dishes for lunch.  To woo her hero and win his heart. She sure believed "Stomach is the way to a man's heart." The translation is something like this:fried mackerel and pearl spot fry, kokum added prawns curry. For most of us listeners the song became a paradigm for cooking fish. If it is pearl spot, it's best fried! Go ahead and dispute it if you dare I have a whole state backing me up. :)

We have posted a "meen pollichathu" earlier. That is fried and then smothered in a wet gravy. Today's is smeared with masala, wrapped and fried in banana leaf



Ingredients:

Karimeen/Pearlspot- 2-3
Black pepper powder-2 tsp
Red chilli powder- 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder- a pinch
Garlic paste- 1 Tbsp
Ginger paste- 1 Tbsp
Lemon juice- 1 tsp
Salt
Curry Leaves-2 sprigs
Banana leaves- for wrapping the fish
Coconut Oil- enough to spray on the leaf

Method:

1.Clean the fish by taking out the head with the parts in the stomach of the fish. Keep the tail intact.Make some shallow slits on the fish.
2.Prepare the marinade by mixing together all the ingredients, add a little water to make it a thick paste and rub it on the fish.
3.Heat an earthen pot on medium heat.Spray the coconut oil on the banana leaf and wrap the marinated fish in it.
4.Keep it in the pot and cook on low heat, turning the sides after every 2-3 minutes.
5.Serve warm with rice and a gravy of your choice.



Notes:

1.If pearlspot is not available you could use Pomfret instaed.
2.You could reduce the amount of pepper if you would like it to be mild.
Contributor: Namitha