Orange Cake

Ingredients:
All purpose flour – 2 cups
Egg - 3
Butter – 1 stick
Orange juice – ¾ cup
Sugar – 2 cups
Baking powder – 2 tsp
Vanilla essence – 2 tsp
Salt – a pinch
Orange Zest – 1 orange zest

Preparation:
Take a large bowl add butter and sugar into it and beat till smooth with hand or cake mixer. Then add eggs and beat until fluffy. Sift flour, baking powder & salt and add to this along with orange juice, zest and vanilla essence. Blend all the ingredients to get a smooth batter. Preheat the oven to 350 degree c. Pour the batter into a greased baking pan and bake. When it is done, remove cake from oven, and allow it to cool. Then spread whipped cream on top and between layers and decorate with orange and serve.

Chocolate Sandwich

Ingredients:
Milk – ½ cup
Chocolate – 1 big ( I used Hershey's milk chocolate)
Butter - ½ stick
Bread – 4 slices
Preparation:
Take a deep bottomed vessel, pour milk and boil it. When it starts boiling, add the chocolate. When the chocolate melts, start stirring. When it thickens (like thick sauce), remove from flame and allow it to cool for sometime.

Meanwhile, grate some chocolate and butter and keep it aside.

Take the bread and apply the chocolate sauce on the bread. Keep one slice on top of the other. Take a pan, apply some butter and toast the bread.

After toasting the bread, decorate with grated chocolate and butter and serve.

Mango Lassi

Ingredients:
Yogurt – 1 cup
Mango – ¾ cup chopped mango (or) mango pulp
Sugar - 2 tbs. You can add more or less your choice
Milk - ¼ cup(optional)
Water – ½ cup

Preparation:
Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Keep it in refrigerator and serve chill. When you serve you can add ice cubes or add a scoop of ice cream on top if you want.
Note: If you want lassi to be thick or thin adjust the ingredients slightly more or less.

Chicken Stew

Ingredients:
Chicken – 1lb
Potato –2 medium sized
Onion - 2
Ginger - small piece
Green Chili – 4(slit lengthwise)
Cardamom - 5
Cloves - 3
Cinnamon - 2 stick
Coriander powder - 2tbs
Black pepper - few
Coconut milk thin - 1 1/2 cup
Coconut milk thick - 1/2 cup
Oil - 4 tsp
Salt as required

Preparation:
Wash chicken and potato nicely,peel the outer skin of the potato & cut into small pieces and keep aside. Heat oil in a pan on medium flame & sauté cinnamon, clove, black pepper & cardamom for 2 to 3 minutes. Add chopped onion, green chilly, ginger and fry until onion turns transparent. Then add potato and fry for few minutes. Now you can add coriander powder and salt followed by chicken pieces mix well reduce the heat and allow it to get cooked. When it is half done add thin coconut milk and cook for some more time. Finally add thick coconut milk, simmer the flame and leave it for a minute and remove from fire.

Serve with Rice, Chapathi, Appam.

Beetroot Halwa

Ingredients:
Beet root - 3No’s
Milk – 3 cups
Sugar 1 ½ cup
Ghee – 2 tbs
Cashew nut & Raisin – few

Preparation:
Wash the beetroot, peel of the skin and grate it nicely. Take a large pan, pour the milk into it and add the grated beetroot and cook on low flame. When the beetroot is cooked add sugar and keep stirring. When it starts getting thick add ghee and mix well. Mean while roast cashew and raisin by adding little ghee and keep aside. When the beetroot starts leaving the sides garnish with cashew & raisin and remove from fire.

Allow it to cool and serve. This is the best way to make kids eat who don’t like vegetables.

Note: Make sure that you add sugar only after the beetroot is cooked because sugar will not allow beetroot to get cooked.

Aval Vilayuchathu

Ingredients:
Aval - 2cups
Jagery - 1/4 cup (I used jagery powder)
Coconut - 1/4 cup
Water - 4 tbs
Cardamom powder - 1/2 tsp
Raisin - few
Sesame - 1/4 tsp (This is optional)

Preparation:
Take a pan add jagery and water to it, bring it to boil on low heat to make syrup. Meanwhile take a bowl put aval into it and sprinkle some water and mix well and keep, this will make the aval soft.

Add the grated coconut to the syrup and saute. Then add the aval and cardamom powder and mix it well until the aval is coated nicely with the syrup. Add raisin and remove from fire. Allow it to cool and then serve.

This is nice evening snack.

Ethapazham Halwa (Plantain Halwa)

Ingredients:
Plantain - 3 No's (Nicely riped)
Sugar - 1 1/4 cup
Water - 1 cup
All purpose flour -2tbs
Ghee -1/4 cup
Nuts -1/4 cup

Preparation:
Steam the banana's and remove the outer skin & the black layer inside. Mash the bananas nicely with hand or make it to a paste in food processor/blender.

Take a large pan, add cup of water to it and boil, when it starts boiling nicely, add the mashed banana and sugar and keep on stirring. When it starts to boil and starts becoming thick add ghee little by little followed by all purpose flour by mixing it in water. Keep on stirring the mixture. When attains a thick consistency ghee will start to ooze out. At this stage add nuts mix well and remove from fire and pour into a greased pan. Allow it to cool and cut into desired shapes.