Pineapple Upside-down Cake

Ingredients for the Topping :

• 1 medium sized Pineapple ( Peeled, cored and sliced to 1/2 cm thickness )
• Maraschino Cherries  
• 100g of grated Jaggery ( can be replaced with brown sugar or muscovado sugar )
• 2 Tbl spoons of butter   

Ingredients for the Batter:

• 200g of Sugar.
• 200g of Self Raising Flour. (If using plain flour add 2 Tea Spoon of Baking Powder)
• 200g of Unsalted Butter.
• 3 Large Eggs.
• 1/4 Cup of Pineapple juice 
• 1/4 Tea Spoon of Baking Powder.
• 1 Tea Spoons of Vanilla Extract.

Directions (Serves 12):

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) 
• Butter (or spray with a non-stick vegetable spray) a 8 inch round cake pan

Topping:

1. Place the butter and jaggery in a saucepan and stir over medium heat until the butter and jaggery has dissolved (this will take around 2 minutes).
2.  pour this syrup mixture into your prepared cake pan.
3.  Arrange the fresh pineapple slices in a desired pattern on top of the sugar mixture and place the cherries in the gaps between the pineapple slices ( do as your heart desires. I followed the pattern as seen in the above picture )  

Batter : 

1. In a bowl add the butter and sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and pineapple juice to the mixture and beat for few seconds until they are well incorporated.
2. Add the baking powder to the flour and sift around three times. 
3. Add flour to the prepared mixture in step one in three additions (fold the mixture gently between each addition). 
4. Transfer the batter to the prepared cake pan and bake it for 40-45 minutes or a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean
5. Leave on a wire rack to cool for 5 to 10 minutes.
6. Run a sharp knife around the edge of the pan and then invert the cake onto your serving plate

Serving suggestions: serve this with vanilla Icecream or whipped cream  

This is one of my favorite dessert/cakes and Hope you all try this at your home and enjoy as much as I did. 

Rich Tea Biscuit Pudding / Marie Biscuit Pudding

Ingredients:

• Rich Tea Biscuit / Marie Biscuit 300g (If you like to have more biscuits in your pudding like me this could vary, can add another 50g )
• Butter 200g
• Caster sugar 400g
• Large Eggs 2 ( Separate the yolks and the whites but we will be using them both )
• Cocoa Powder 4 Tbsp 
• Milk 6 Tbsp 
• Brewed Coffee 1 cup (Warm)
• Vanilla 2 Tsp
• Chocolate Liqueur or Amerrito 1 Tbsp (Optional) 
• Roasted Cashew nuts 50g (for garnishing) 

Directions (Serves 12) :

Pudding Mixture:

1. Beat the butter and sugar in a bowl until well combined and form a creamy texture.
2. Add the egg yolks to the mixture one at a time while beating the mixture.
3. Add Vanilla essence and Amerrito to the mixture and beat for about 1 minute.
4. In a separate bowl beat the two egg whites until they form stiff peaks.
5. In a Sauce Pan over a low flame add the milk and cocoa powder and mix till they are well combined into a smooth paste free of any lumps (Make sure the mixture is not burnt, this will only take one minute or less).
6. Add the above chocolate paste to the bowl with egg whites and whisk for about 1-2 minutes, until they are well incorporated.
7. Then fold in the above mixture to the creamed butter and sugar mixture prepared in step 1-3 above.

Assembly:

1. Take a bowl with around 2-3 inch depth and soak each biscuit in the warm coffee for about 2 seconds (make sure the biscuit are not too soggy and fall apart, the biscuit still need to have some crunch to it) and lay them to cover the bottom of the bowl. 
2. Then add a layer of the pudding mixture over the soaked biscuit layer.
3. Repeat the above two steps until you have used up all the biscuits and the pudding mixture. Just make sure you finished the top most layer with the pudding mixture instead of a biscuit layer.
4. Refrigerate the pudding for at least 6 hours, or ideally overnight.

Tip: When assembling the pudding you can add roasted cashew on top of each layer of the pudding mixture (I love cashews so I was a bit heavy handed on the cashew, but it is totally optional and up to your own preference).

This is my all time favourite, no bake biscuit pudding recipe, which I can devour all by myself. Hope you all will love it as much as I do.

P.S This is certainly not for those of you who are counting calories. There are simply too many to count :D

Mango & Lime Frozen Yogurt

Ingredients:

• Frozen Mango (Diced)  500g  (More ripe the mango, the better the taste and sweetness)
• Yogurt (Plain unsweetened / Greek yogurt) 100g
• Honey 4Tbsp
• Lime zest 1/2 Tsp
• Lime Juice 1 Tbsp

Directions (Serves 4) :

1. Add all the ingredients to a food processor and blitz it for about 5 minutes until you get a smooth mixture.
2. Transfer the mixture into an airtight container and freeze for about 6 hours or overnight.

It is simple as that my friends. Enjoy your delicious FroYo which is also healthier than most frozen desserts without any compromises. You can also try the same recipe by replacing half the amount of mango with pineapple to get another great combination of tropical mix Froyo. So go crazy with the flavours and Enjoy !!!

Chocolate and Banana Frozen Yogurt (FroYo)

Ingredients:

• Frozen Bananas (Sliced)  500g  (More ripe the banana the better the taste and sweetness)
• Cocoa Powder 50g
• Yogurt (Plain unsweetened / Greek yogurt) 100g
• Honey 4Tbsp
• Vanilla extract 1Tbsp

Directions (Serves 4) :

1. Add all the ingredients to a food processor and blitz it for about 5 minutes until you get a smooth mixture.
2. Transfer the mixture into an airtight container and freeze for about 6 hours or overnight.

That's it! Enjoy your delicious FroYo which is also healthier than most frozen desserts without any compromises.

Homemade Nutella Ice Cream

Yield: 950ml of Ice Cream

Ingredients:

• Condensed Milk 225g (Refrigerated at least for couple of hours) 
• Double Cream (a.k.a: heavy whipping cream) 400ml  (Refrigerated at least for couple of hours) 
• Nutella 200g
• Chocolate Liqueur or Amerrito 1tsp (Optional, but this would make the ice cream to be soft and smooth as alcohol doesn't freeze hard)

Directions:

1) Beat the double cream in a bowl until it forms soft peaks.
2) Then add the condensed milk, Nutella and Chocolate Liqueur and beat until all the ingredients are well combined (about 2 minutes).
3) Finally, transfer the mixer to a container and leave it in the freezer for atleast 4-5 hours ideally overnight.

Optional Steps to give your Nutella Ice Cream an Extra Oomph!
If you want to add a chocolate ripple effect just the way I have done here follow these simple steps:

• Take about half a bar (around 50g) of good quality dark chocolate and roughly chop it up.
• Put into a microwave safe container and melt the chocolate in 30-second intervals.
• Every 30 second take out the container and give the chocolate a good mix.
• Repeat the above step until the chocolate is fully melted.
• In step 3 above when you are transferring the Ice Cream to the container do it in two or three layers and spoon in a generous amount of the melted chocolate in between each layer and spoon in the remaining melted chocolate on top of the Ice Cream.
• Now the easy part :) take a bamboo skewer or a toothpick and gently stir the Ice Cream mixture in a figure eight motion (This will create the lovely ripple effect in your ice cream as seen in the picture above).

How amazing it is to know that you can get this done with no fancy equipment. Hope you all enjoy my Nutella flavoured ice-cream. No churning No fuss!

Don't forget to go crazy with the flavours!!! Enjoy !!!

Home Made Coffee Ice Cream (No Churning, No-Fuss, Cost less than £2)

Ingredients:

• Condensed Milk 396g (16 oz) Can (Refrigerated at least for couple of hours) 
• Double Cream (a.k.a: heavy whipping cream) 400ml  (Refrigerated at least for couple of hours) 
• Espresso Coffee Powder 2 tbsp (Instant Coffee Powder would be fine as well)
• Coffee Liqueur or Amerrito 2tsp (Optional, but this would make the ice cream to be soft and smooth as alcohol doesn't freeze hard)

Directions:

1) Add all the ingredients to a bowl and mix using a hand beater or stand mixer until the mixture form soft peaks (This will take around 10 minutes depending on your mixer).

Tip: Whipping up the double cream first until it forms soft peaks and then adding the rest of the ingredients could make it easier to achieve the nice fluffy and thick consistency that we want.

2) Finally, transfer the mixer to a container and leave it in the freezer overnight.

Wola! you have a delicious coffee Ice Cream! no churning, no-fuss!

 Experiment and go crazy with the flavours!!!

Sri Lankan Eggplant Pickle (Wambotu Moju \ Batu Moju)

Ingredients:

• Eggplant 500g
• Salt 1tsp (Adjust according to taste)
• Turmeric 1 tsp
• Shallots 250g 
• Green Chillies 50g (Make an incision at the center of each green chilli)
• Chilli Powder: 1tbsp
• Sugar: 2tbsp
• Mustard 2tbsp (Ground)
• Garlic 4 cloves (Ground to a smooth paste)
• Ginger 1/2 inch piece (Ground to a smooth paste)
• Vinegar 5tbsp
• Oil for frying 500ml

Directions:

1) Cut the eggplant into thin batons of 2-inch length (More like french fries).
2) Put the eggplant into a bowl add turmeric and salt and mix well.
3) Heat the oil in a saucepan and deep fry the eggplant batons until it takes a dark amber colour and crispy in texture.
4) In the meantime in a glass bowl mix the following ingredients to make the paste for the moju and leave aside:Vinegar, Sugar, Chilli Powder, Ginger, Garlic, Mustard.
5) When all the eggplant batons have been fried add the shallots and green chillies to the oil and fry it for 30 seconds (This will get rid of the rawness of the shallots and mild the heat of the green chillies a bit)
6) Finally add the deep fried eggplant batons, shallots and green chillies to the paste prepared in step 4 and mix well.

That is it, you now have a delicious Wambotu Moju! (The taste improves even more over time) Enjoy!