The 'Leftovers' Fried Rice

"Frying gives cooks numerous ways of concealing what appeared the day before and in a pinch facilitates sudden demands" ~ Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin 

A weird recipe to share, but it's quite popular in my house. Ever since my Mum joined her book club, she is away one Wednesday a month and my Dad usually makes this for dinner. The key ingredients are leftover plain rice, leftover dhal and leftover vegetable fry. Those things are never that great to eat by themselves, but in this rice, it's quite grand. :) 


First fry together 1/2 chopped onion, 1 tsp grated ginger, 1 tsp grated garlic, 1/2 tsp jeera, 1/2 tsp haldi, 1/2 tsp corriander powder, 1 tsp of salt in about 3 tbsp of oil. Then break in 2 eggs and scramble them. Once the eggs are cooked add 1 chopped tomato. Then put in about 6 table spoons of the dhal. If you put more, it'll be very mushy rice- not necessarily a bad thing. Then put in the vegetable fry. This time, I found a bit of fried brinjal and used that, but anything will do. Lastly, once nicely fried together, add the rice. We had enough for about 3 people.

Note: I also added about 1/2 cup of frozen corn. Feel free to add other things as well- whatever you can find in your fridge/freezer. Great thing to cook when you're lazy and there are plenty of leftovers to use up.

Orange Cake and More Candles

Guess what? Another birthday and yet another cake.

My cousin Anjali is here by herself for a two week holiday and celebrated her 11th birthday the second day of her holiday.


I actually can't take credit for the beautiful cake we made, she did 90% of it. 

Now is our time.

When I saw this for the first time, I was awed. Such beautiful words, so simply said, and then it ended with Levis, and I was like, 'Huh?' 


I read this to learn more about the campaign and this being one of them. Quite an step for a clothing brand.


But it's the poem by Charles Bukowski, 'The Laughing Heart' which made me stop and think. Like seriously. 


Your life is your life
don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.
Be on the watch.
There are ways out.
There is a light somewhere.
It may not be much light but
it beats the darkness.
Be on the watch.
(The) God(s) will offer you chances.
Know them.
Take them.
You can’t beat death but
you can beat death in life, sometimes.
And the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.
Your life is your life.
Know it while you have it.
You are marvelous
(the) God(s) wait to delight
in you.

Mocha Sponge Cake

Birthday time again. For the past 5+ years, I haven't given birthday gifts to any of my immediate family, but I've baked the cake. Likewise again this year, I baked the cake for my Dad's birthday.

"This is the sort of cake that people label "very rich" but then go on to have three slices with languorous ease" 

I read this in Nigella Lawson's recipe of butterscotch layer cake, and I was so sure this was the one to make. Then I remembered that there'd be about 15+ people that day and 3 slices each would be a lot of cake to bake!

Cousins

Out of all the crazy pictures we took yesterday, these were my favourite. 
I found this perfectly apt poem by Beth Rogers.


Oh, tell me, please tell me, is there a trick
to get cousins to sit still, even real quick?
One giggles, one wiggles, one tugs on another.
One crawls, one tickles, then they pile on each other.
At the end of the day, when all is said and done,
taking pictures with cousins, is way too much fun!

Birthday Cake

"Let's face it, a nice creamy chocolate cake does a lot for a lot of people; it does for me." 
~Audrey Hepburn


Shraddha's birthday surprise calls for a homemade cake, especially since she asked for one. :)


It was after 12 in the middle of the night, when I finally decided to start the cake. Me and my procrastination. *sigh. Then, to my horror, there was only ONE egg in the fridge! Way too late for any shop to be open or for me to be wandering the streets looking for open shops and way too late to be knocking on neighbours doors. Then I found 2 more eggs that were part of my Brownie Points ingredients. Relief. 


I chose a pretty simple recipe of Nigella Lawson- Chocolate Fudge Cake (found in her book, 'Nigella Bites') The recipe called for 3 eggs. What a save! But then I decided to make half a recipe. So all that was unnecessary hullabaloo.


I adapted the recipe here and there, for lack of ingredients and laziness to measure accurately. This is the original recipe.


My adapted recipe: Beat vigorously together 90g of melted butter and 3/4 cup sugar. Add 60ml of oil and 150ml of cold water. Sift 2 cups flour, 5 tablespoons cocoa powder, 1 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp baking soda and half a pinch of salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients beating at a slow speed. In another bowl, whisk together 2 eggs, 1tsp of vanilla and 75ml of curd. Add egg mixture to cake batter and mix together gently.

Cinnamon Cookies

So, Brownie Points is adding a new item to our products soon. As part of research I made cinnamon biscuits today. Browsed through recipes for hours. There are so many online! Too many. Makes it really hard to decide.


I opted for the simplest one, with the best reviews. VERY easy to make. Tasty, but I think I prefer chunky chewy cookies better.


Oh cinnamon- my favouritest spice.


Recipe- read here. I am too lazy to type it out again. Or I could copy and paste it, but I am too lazy to do that as well. 


Ok fine- Here it is (I copied&pasted)

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 tablespoons molasses
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/8 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
2. Cream together butter and sugar.
3. Mix in egg and molasses, blending well.
4. Mix flour, baking soda and cinnamon; add to creamed mixture, mixing well.
5. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
6. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.

Quote of the day. So apt to my life!


"I like to write when I feel spiteful. It is like having a good sneeze."
~David Herbert Lawrence