Eggless Lemon Drizzle Mini Loaf Cakes

Last week was the start of the Great British Bake off Series 7. I am a huge fan of this awesome show and really enjoy watching all the challenges and creations that the participants partake. I love the docile Mary Berry and the candid Paul Hollywood with his piercing blue eyes that are enough to give you the shakes!!! I was fortunate to have had the opportunity to make some bread with Paul at a recent bloggers event.You can read all about it here .

On last weeks GBBO episode we saw bakers bake a Drizzle cake, make Jaffa cakes and create a show stopper of a Genoise cake with a mirror glaze. I was totally inspired by the drizzle cakes and so here I am sharing my bake: Eggless Lemon Drizzle mini loaf cakes.

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Eggless Lemon drizzle Mini Loaf Cakes

by Nayna Kanabar August-29-2016

Decadent and moist eggless cakeS with pungent citrus flavours.

Ingredients:

• 270g Plain Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon Baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda
• 250g Sugar
• 75ml Sunflower Oil
• 1 tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
• 3 tablespoons Lemon Juice
• 220ml Water
• 1 teaspoon Lemon zest
For Drizzle Syrup







30g Sugar
2 tablespoons Lemon Juice
2 tablespoons Water
1/2 tablespoon Icing Sugar for dusting

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C and grease the inside of 8 mini loaf tins.Place the loaf tins on a baking tray.2.Sift together the baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and the flour. Place in the bowl of the Nutri Ninja3. In a jug add the oil, water, lemon juice, lemon zest and apple cider vinegar and mix together.4.Add the wet ingredients to the flour in the Nutri Ninja bowl and whisk the ingredients until it forms a batter. Do not over mix.

5. Divide the batter into the eight loaf tins and place the tins into the middle shelf of the oven to bake for 40-45 minutes util cakes are golden brown and a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.6. Remove cakes from the oven and leave aside to cool.7. To make the drizzle warm the lemon juice, water and add the sugar, wait for it to dissolve and then remove from the heat.8. Using a skewer poke hole in the top of the cakes and spoon the warm syrup into the cakes.Leave the cakes aside for syrup to soak in9. Demold the cakes and sprinkle with a flurry of icing sugar before serving.

Details

Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 45 mins Total time: 1 hour Yield: 8 mini loaves

I used the Ninja Kitchen System with Nutri Ninja to whisk up my cake mix. The Ninja®Complete Kitchen System with Nutri Ninja® is a power machine that incorporates three appliances, a food processor, high speed blender and a nutrient extractor. Its 1,500 watt of power  is perfect for all kitchen tasks such as mixing, blending, kneading,chopping and whipping.

I am delighted to have this addition to my kitchen as its going to be very handy whilst I create some exciting challenges inspired by the GBBO.


I am also excited to feature the Paul Hollywood bakeware by Kitchen Craft during my GBBO posts. The bakeware is made from extra thick carbon steel which won't warp during baking and will give all your cakes an even bake.The bakeware is dishwasher,fridge and freezer safe. Its100% PFOA, PTFE and BPA-free and comes with  a 20 year guarantee (5 year non stick guarantee). The range is available in most cookware shops.

I was sent the The Ninja®Complete Kitchen System with Nutri Ninja® and the Paul Hollywood bakeware to review in the simplyfood kitchens.

I love the classic lemon drizzle cake, you can also check out some other drizzle cakes below:
Blueberry Loaf Cake with Lime Drizzle by Jac from Tinned Tomatoes
Lime, Coconut and Cardamom Loaf Cake by Choclette from Tin and Thyme
Blackberry cake with Orange drizzle by Jac from Tinned Tomatoes
Apple and Rum drizzled cake by Tracy from its not easy being greedy
Lemon rose and gin drizzle cake by Kevin from The crafty Larder
Submitting this to :
Great Bloggers Bake Off with Jenny from Mummy Mishaps.

Tomorrows Kitchen Instant Marinater Giveaway

My last post for Chilli Garlic Mogo (Cassava) was marinaded in the Vacuum Instant Marinater pot by Tomorrows Kitchen. The amazing pot works on creating a vacuum inside the pot which opens the pores of the food being marinaded ,allowing the flavors to seep in.

The Instant Marinater is:

• Easy to use, saves time
• Marinates and tenderizes in minutes
• For meat, fish, poultry and vegetables
• Ideal for Home Cooking and barbecues

The pot comes in various sizes and is perfect for marinating and tenderising food. It is available on line from Tomorrows Kitchen or on line at Amazon.It retails at £21.99

The people at Tomorrows Kitchen have been really generous and they have agreed to send one simplyfood reader a 2.5 l Instant Marinater pot to try out.

How To Enter

• Simply complete the Rafflecopter widget below to verify your entries
• Entries can be via blog comment, Facebook, Twitter etc
• Please read the rules they form the terms and conditions of this Giveaway
• Closing date – 17th September 2016
• Prize 1 2.5l Instant Marinater
• Open to UK  Residents over 18 years.

How Rafflecopter works:

• You will need to complete the mandatory entry first – usually making a blog comment. You can do this by clicking on leave a comment at the bottom of the post and leaving your reply in the comment box. Please note your comment will not show immediately as it needs to be moderated however rest assured it will appear on the site, so carry on with rest of entries.
• Login to Rafflecopter – click to see what the question is. Make a comment answering the question on the blog.
•  Go back to Rafflecopter and click the green button to tell me you have made a comment, this will unlock all the other options. All entries are checked to see that the mandatory question is answered, if its not all bonus entries will become void. 
• Rafflecopter will tweet, like and follow on your behalf.
• For information on how to find the URL of your tweet click here. 
• For bonus entries you can return to this page and enter the daily bonus entries. 
• If you are still unsure as to how Rafflecopter works please do check out this short video.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Chilli Garlic Mogo (Cassava)

Mogo or more commonly known as Cassava or Yuca is nutty flavoured starch Tubor. Cassava or yucca is a very common vegetable eaten in South America, India and also African countries. In East Africa cassava is a staple just like potatoes are in the west.

Cassava root is long and tapered, the vegetable has a thick outer brown skin and a white flesh. The tough outer skin/ rind  has to be peeled before cooking. It can be eaten boiled, fried, mashed or dried made into flour too. It is also known as Tapioca. Cassava roots are high in starch and contain lots of calcium. It is high in vitamin C, folic acid and potassium.

We love Cassava and I cook with it on a regular basis. On this blog you will find my Chilli Mogo (Cassava ) recipe and also Mogo (Cassava) Bhel .One particular recipe we love is Chilli Garlic Mogo. The recipe is simple but the main process is to marinate the cassava prior to cooking. I have found a fool proof way to marinate  using my Instant marinater made by Tomorrows Kitchen. The Instant marinater is a container with a vacuum storage . It extracts the air out of the container enabling the marinade to seep into the pores of the food giving the food more flavour. Marinating the cassava in this way added real flavour to the cassava and made the recipe extra tasty.

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Chilli Garlic Mogo (cassava)

by Nayna Kanabar August-27-2016

Mogo baked in garlic infused flavours with  aromatic spices .

Ingredients:

• 480g Frozen Cassava Chips
• 10 Garlic cloves
• 2 Red chillies
• 4 stalks Fresh Coriander
• 1 Lemon
• 3 teaspoons Salt
• 2 tablespoons Olive oil

Method:

1.In a large pan add the cassava and 2 teaspoons of salt. Add 2 litres of water and boil the cassava until its fully cooked but not mushy.2. Drain the boiled cassava and cut it into 2 inch long pieces. Discard any tubors 3. Peel the garlic and chop it coarsely.4. Slice the chillies into round thin slices.5. Extract the juice from the lemon and keep it aside.6. Finely chop the coriander.7. In a jar add the garlic, chillies, coriander. lemon juice, 1 teaspoon salt and the olive oil and stir together.8. Add the boiled cassava in to the marinater and pour over the marinade and mix it into the cassava. Vacuum seal the container and leave the cassava to marinade for 30 mins.9. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.10. After 30 minutes, release the vacuum and transfer the marinated cassava to an oiled baking dish.11.Bake the chilli garlic cassava in the preheated oven for 45 minutes or until it turns crispy and starts to brown slightly. Half way through cooking time, give the cassava a turn to ensure even cooking.12. Remove the chilli garlic mogo from the oven and transfer to a serving dish. Serve with mint chutney and tamarind chutney and lemon wedges.

Details

Prep time: 45 mins Cook time: 45 mins Total time: 1 hour 30 mins Yield: Serves 4

I was sent the Instant Marinater to review by tomorrows Kitchen. The Chilli Garlic Mogo is served in the beautiful copperwareplate and spoons  by Sass and Belle and Kitchen Craft

Peach Milkshake

I love peaches and since they are available in abundance at the moment I am making the most of them. I particularly love the white flesh peaches, they seem to have a sweeter taste and are great in recipes too. For this recipe you do need the ripe ones however for salads the slightly semi ripe peaches work better.

I made this simple tasty Peach milkshake in a jiffy and it tastes absolutely delicious. It also looked gorgeous served in the tropical summer glass tumblers from Sass and Belle. The tumblers come in four different designs and are really pretty.

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Peach Milkshake

by Nayna Kanabar August-18-2016

Refreshing and delicious peach milkshake.

Ingredients:

• 2 Peaches (white flesh peaches)
• 2 scoops Vanilla ice cream
• 100 ml Skimmed Milk
• 1 cup Ice cubes
• 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla essence
• slices for garnish Peach

Method:

1. Destone the peaches and cut them into chunks.2. Add the peaches, milk, vanilla essence, ice cream and ice to a blender jug and blend until smooth. I used Optimum 9400 blender which is super powerful and crushes ice in a jiffy.

3. Pour the milkshake into pretty glasses and garnish with peach slices and serve immediately.

Details

Prep time: 5 mins Cook time: none Total time: 5 mins Yield: 2 glasses

NB- You can use any type of peaches although I used the white flesh ones in my recipe. If you are using another blender, make sure that it is capable of crushing ice like my Optimum 9400.

You can read about this awesome blender here. If you like the sound of it and want to purchase it you can quote "Brand Ambassador offer" to get extra two year warranty. It is currently on offer for £329. instead of £399 a saving of £70

Master class with Antonio Carluccio and Celebrating 160 years of Cirio

One of my favorite cuisines is Italian food. I love pasta and pizza and I absolutely adore tomato based sauces with oregano, garlic and herbs such as basil. This sort of food is my firm favorite. I also use lots of tomatoes in all my Indian cooking, one particular brand I adore is Cirio. I buy it in bulk from the cash and carry. There is a whole range of tomatoes available in the Cirio brand, passata, plum tomatoes, chopped tomatoes, Pomodorini cherry baby tomatoes, pizza sauce and Filetti tomatoes too.

Cirio recently celebrated 160 years anniversary and I was really excited to be invited by them to an event to celebrate their 160 years of Cirio tomatoes. The event was at the good housekeeping institute and it was a cookery masterclass with Antonio Carluccio. I was super excited to meet this wonderful chef in person and also pick up some great Italian cookery tips from him too.

Antonio cooked a wonderful tomato based mussel soup with passata, muscles, white wine and herbs that my carnivore friends really enjoyed.

For the vegetarians he cooked a lovely Italian soup with tomatoes and bread called Pappa al Pomodoro. The simple flavours in the soup made using cirio tomatoes with a hint of garlic, basil, fresh toasted bread and vegetable stock was delicious. 

There were only a few ingredients in the soup but it had amazing flavours, as they say sometimes simplicity gives best results.

Meeting Antonio Carluccio and hearing about his life and his journey through the culinary world was really inspiring and was the icing on the cake. I am now an even bigger fan of his after meeting him in person.

I have come away from this class with lots of inspiration and have been sent some Cirio products. All I need to do now is brush up on my Italian vegetarian recipes and hope to feature them on my blog together with the many tomato Indian recipes I already have posted.

I made this delicious Tomato and Vegetable pasta sauce for dinner this week using Cirio Passata.

I would like to thank Cirio for inviting me to this wonderful celebration and the awesome masterclass with Antonio Carluccio and also for the products they gave me.

Dinner at The Gate Restaurant London Islington

The city of London is a haven for dining out, you will find all the cuisines of the world in every nook and cranny. I do enjoy eating out but I am fairly choosy with where I eat as being a vegetarian it's sometimes difficult to get a large choice of dishes on the menu, usually you are limited to  3-4 dishes where my carnivore friends have the whole menu to choose from.

On my recent visit to London with a food blogger friend Heidi from Heidi Roberts Kitchen Talk, we visited The Gate Restaurant, a vegetarian restaurant near Angel station. I had heard a lot about the The Gate Restaurant so I was very excited to actually get the opportunity to visit. The restaurant is tastefully decorated and has a nice lively ambiance. It was pretty busy even though it was a Tuesday night, there was a steady stream of diners which is always a good indication for a restaurant.

We were greeted by a lovely waitress and were seated at a window table. (Natural lightening is perfect for food photography!!)  We opted for soft drinks although there was a large range of wines on offer. The menu had a lot of choices, which made it difficult to decide as all the dishes sounded great.

The summer evening had rather turned chilly so, I settled for the Sweet potato, coconut and chilli soup whilst heidi chose the Pickled Asian Salad. I really enjoyed the soup which was served with a lovely char grilled piece of bread. The flavours were sweet with a hint of chilli, it was rich and creamy. Heidi's salad looked tasty too.

For the main course Heidi ordered the Aubergine Teriyaki with sweet potato wedges . I decided to order the Sweetcorn and Cilantro fritter with some sweet potato wedges too.

The Sweetcorn and cilantro fritter was served with a black bean, roast pepper and grilled corn on the cob salsa with chargrilled mediterranean vegetables and Guacamole. The dish was beautifully presented and looked really looked appetizing. 

I particularly liked the salsa which was nicely flavoured, tangy and spicy with a hint of chilli. I was slightly less impressed with the fritter as I did find the fritter too large and because of the size a little doughy inside. I think it would have prefered if they had served 3 mini fritters instead of one large one to ensure a less doughy texture. The mediterranean vegetables and the guacamole were delicious 

too.

The sweet potato wedges were cooked to perfection, crispy on the outside and light and fluffy on the inside. They were served with a creamy garlic and chive sour cream. They were rather delicious.

For dessert, there was a really good selection but I settled for something light. My choice of three mini scoops of mixed ice cream was certainly the perfect choice. The mixed ice cream flavours were lemon curd, vanilla and strawberry.The ice cream was refreshing and really delicious especially the lemon curd flavour, which I could have easily eaten another helping of. Heidi chose The Eton Mess, it looked equally mouthwatering and I am sure Heidi really enjoyed the love summer freshness it exuded.

We both skipped on coffee as we wanted to savour the taste of the desserts which were delectable.

In all it was a really enjoyable meal, with great service and tasty food.I would most certainly visit again as The Gate Restaurant has another branch in Hammersmith too.

Heidi and I were guests at The Gate Restaurant, all the views and opinions are of my own experience of the meal.

You can read what Heidi thought here:

India Travels

Last year we were attending a family friend's wedding in Delhi. The wedding functions were spread over 3 weeks so for convenience we rented an apartment in Delhi.  It was going to be our base so that we were not moving our luggage around and were free to explore the wonderful country between all the wedding functions. 

Delhi is the capital city of India, it’s the hub of India, a large cosmopolitan city with lots of malls, fine dining and beautiful sights. On the other hand we loved the local places like Chand ni Chouk , the local eateries and the street vendors.

Staying in an apartment was a good idea we were free to self-cater when we had enough of eating out and it was a convenient to have a set address to have a lot of our shopping delivered. Of course you cannot go to India and not shop. We were pleasantly surprised that just like any other country we were able to shop on line for a lot of the things we needed. 

Delivery is just as quick and speedy as it is in UK and the convenience of on line shopping meant that it left us lots of free time to travel. We were also able make a lot of saving on our purchases by getting some great deals and discount codes from CoupoNet. The codes offered some great savings from brands such as Amazon.in, Ebay.in, Snapdeal, Flipkart, Jabong and Foodpanda. We also enjoyed savings on Domino’s Pizza which were a lifesaver for my Pizza addict daughter. Of course with all these amazing voucher codes we were able to shop more with the money we saved!!!

Our trip was divided into three sections firstly to travel north to Punjab to see and experience the Golden Temple and the Wagh Border where India meets Pakistan. This was the most amazing trip we encountered. We enjoyed amazing scenery and ate the best parathas on way at the Dhabas (roadside eateries). We enjoyed the the amazing patriotic ceremony, and the serene nad spiritual Golden Temple.

The second trip we made was to Haridwar and Rishikesh for a pilgrimage tour. These amazing spiritual places are beautiful and we really enjoyed our stay in both places. Transport from Delhi is easy, a large airport offers International and local flights to all destinations in India. The local trains are an experience and taxis and rickshaws are available in abundance.

 In Delhi we really enjoyed the wedding festivities  which were grand and colourful and it was a very memorable experience. Amazing decorations, music food and a mirage of traditions and colours were totally out of this world. We had never been to such an extravagant and wonderful wedding.

After the wedding festivities we did a trip to India's "golden triangle" which was a trip to Jaipur, and Agra. Jaipur is beautiful with its heritage, forts and pink city . In Agra magnificient Taj Mahal was mesmerising and truly magical. India is a truly acity of diverse cultures and we were greeted with a rainbow of colours, flavours, sights and sounds. A country that is so full of tradition and culture that it left us in a trance.We can't wait for our next trip and we are  already dreaming of it.

This post is in collaboration with Couponet.in