Sweet Onion Relish

Sweet Onion Relish from Vegan Dad on Vimeo.

INGREDIENTS
- 9 lbs Vidalia onions
- 1/2 cup salt
- 4 cups apple cider vinegar
- 4.5 cups sugar
- 1-2 tsp tumeric
- 1/2 cup chopped roasted red pepper, or pimento
- 1 tbsp pickling spice
(more or less this recipe)

The Perfect Pound Cake Recipe

Sweet Punch July is extra sweet and special because the sis and I baked the cake together. Being the more creative one of the two, she suggested this (in addition to helping me decorate the last photo in this post) idea so we did it during our short vacation in Kottayam last month.

It was challenging. We braved lack of sufficient vanilla extract, too-small eggs, frequent power cuts that had me beat mixture in 5 intervals, and amma didn't have a loaf pan (her regular cake pan was too big for this amount of batter) so we improvised by using a steel vessel lined with aluminium foil.

Thankfully the power stayed put while the cake was baking and it came out lovely, crumbly, and perfect as the recipe says. Our crust cracked but turned a lovely golden brown. What you see in the picture in an overturned cake.

We have chosen a recipe from The Cake Bible, where Rose has come up with a new method of baking the pound cake, very different from the butter-sugar creaming and wet+dry ingredients, the usual cake route. This method, according to Rose, ensures a tight crumb.

Perfect Pound Cake Recipe
Recipe source: The Cake Bible


Ingredients:
3 tablespoons Milk
3 large Eggs
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
1 ½ cups sifted cake flour (150gm) -  recipe for cake flour below
¾ cup sugar
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
13 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened (184 gms)

How We Made It:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 F. Butter an 8 inch by 4 by 2.5 inch loaf pan, or any six cup loaf or fluted tube pan.

2. Lightly whisk together milk, eggs and vanilla in a medium bowl.

3. Place dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix on low speed for 30 seconds, until blended. Add the butter and half the egg mixture, and mix until dry ingredients are moistened. On medium speed, beat for one minute. This will aerate and develop the cake’s structure. Scrape down sides.

4. Add the remaining egg mixture in two batches, beating for 20 seconds between each addition. Scrape down sides.

5. Pour batter into prepared pan. Smooth surface with a spatula. Bake for 55-65 minutes (35-45 minutes if baking in a fluted tube pan), until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cake cool on a rack in the pan for 10 minuets before inverting onto a greased wire rack. If using a loaf pan, flip the cake over so the top is up.

For making cake flour at home - Take one cup of all purpose flour and remove 2 tbsp from it.Replace the 2 tbsp flour with cornflour and sift together 2-3 times. Cake flour is ready to use.

Thanks for baking with me sis!

Nethili Meen Fry / Anchovies Fried Kerala Style

This is probably my most favourite Kerala fish recipe - nethili (natholi / uzhuva) fry. Its supposedly high in calcium because we eat the bones too.

Anchovies make regular appearance in a lot of Asian cuisines, especially in Malay dishes but those are much tinier than the ones I have seen in Kerala. I hear these are also called bait fish because of their size and alternate use.

Since I don't cook meat or fish in my kitchen, raw fish/meat slightly turns me off. I contemplated for a long time before posting this. Its one for the Kerala non vegetarian lovers :)

My mom adds a special ingredient to the marinade to make it yummier. Its probably common in your kitchen but she got the tip a few years back and nethili fry in our kitchen has been awesome since then.

Nethili Meen Fry / Fried Anchovies Recipe
Serves: 2-4
Recipe source: Amma

Ingredients:
250gm nethili meen / anchovies
2-3 tbsp maida / plain flour or half an egg (the extra ingredient amma adds!)
Oil to deep fry

For Marinade:
8 shallots
3-4 cloves of garlic
2" piece of ginger
1 tsp red chilli powder (adjust to taste)
A pinch of turmeric powder
1/4 tsp pepper powder
Salt to taste
Water as needed

How Its Made:

1. Clean the fish and cut / pinch off the head part. I have never cleaned fish so no tips from me here, sorry.

2. Grind all the ingredients for marinade into a smooth paste. Mix in with the fish and set aside for atleast an hour.

3. Heat enough oil to deep fry about 1/4th the fish at a time. Before frying, mix in half the egg or the maida and make sure its well incorporated into the fish-marinade mixture. This gives a nice texture to the fried fish.

4. Fry until nicely browned. At home we prefer fish that's not fried to the bones so that the flesh is still soft. Go with what your heart says.

Always serve fried fish with chopped, raw onions. Always. Trust me on this, the onion-breath afterwards is worth it.