Rajma (Red Kidney Beans Curry)

Ingredients:

500 gms Red kidney beans
1 large onion
1 tomato
2-3 tbsp oil

Spices for tempering:
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 pinch asafetida (commonly known as hing)
1 tsp ginger paste
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp turmeric

Spices for flavouring:
1 tbsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/2 tbsp Garam Masala
1/2 tbsp Chaat Masala
1 tbsp chilli powder
salt to taste
4-5 drops of lemon juice

Method:

• Soak the kidney beans overnight.
•  Boil them with some salt until soft (takes about 20-30 minutes in a pressure cooker and about 90-120 minutes in a pan.) Drain excess water and set aside. You may drain the water in another bowl and use the same for cooking later. This water contains a lot of nutrients from the beans. 
• Chop onions and tomatoes finely. 
• Heat the oil in a pan on medium flame (gas mark 3 or 4). When the oil is heated enough, add all the spices for tempering. 
• Add onions and cook until they turn translucent. Keep stirring and tossing the mixture. 
• Add the tomatoes and cook for another 2 minutes. 
• Add the boiled kidney beans. Keep stirring. Cover and let it cook for another 2-3 minutes. 
• Add all the spices for flavouring and stir well. 
• Add 1/2 cup of water, cover and let it cook for 7-8 minutes. Keep stirring every couple of minutes.
• Garnish with coriander/ sliced tomatoes/ sliced onions/ grated coconut. (optional) 
• Serve hot with roti/ paratha/ nan bread/ rice.

Palak Paneer (Cottage cheese in Spinach curry)

Ingredients:

1 big bunch spinach

200 gms cottage cheese, cut in  small rectangular pieces
1 big onion
1 small tomato (optional)
1 clove garlic
Salt to taste
5 tbsp oil, divided
1 lemon
water, if needed

Spices for tempering:
1 bay leaf
2-3 cloves
1 stick cinnamon
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
a pinch asafetida
1/2 tsp ground ginger

Spices for flavouring:
1 tbsp ground cumin
1/2 tbsp ground coriander
1 tbsp chilli powder
1 tsp Garam masala
1 tbsp Chaat masala

Method:

• Wash and sort the spinach thoroughly.
• Grind it in a blender with the juice of half a lemon, a pinch of salt and some water, (if needed) until it becomes a thick, smooth paste.
• Finely chop the onion and the tomato.
• Heat 3 tbsp oil in a pan and fry the paneer pieces in it. (You can even deep fry the paneer pieces but they come out almost the same this way and with less oil.)
• Heat the rest of the oil in a pan. Add the spices for tempering.
• Crush the garlic and add it to the oil.
• Add the onions and cook until they are translucent.
• Add the tomato and cook for another 2 minutes.
• Add the spinach paste and stir well.
• Add the fried cottage cheese to the gravy. Cover and let it cook for 3-4 minutes.
• Add all the spices for flavouring. Stir well, cover and cook for 10 minutes. Keep stirring every 2-3 minutes. Add some more water, if needed.
• Garnish with some liquid cream or coriander. (optional)
• Serve hot with nan/ rice.

Vegetable Pulav

Ingredients:

1 cup rice

1 carrot                                                                

1 large onion

1/3 cup peas

1/4 cup sweet corn (optional)

salt to taste

2 cups water

2 tbsp oil

Spices for tempering:
1 tsp cumin seeds
a pinch asafetida

Method:

• Wash the rice and soak it for 10-20 minutes.
• Wash the vegetables and dice onions and carrots.
• Heat oil in the pan. When the oil is hot enough, add cumin seeds and asafetida.
• Add onions and cook until they turn translucent.
• Add all the other vegetables and add some salt. Stir and cook for a couple minutes.
• Add the rice and water. Add more salt if necessary.
• Cook for about 30 minutes in the pan or about 15-20 minutes in the pressure cooker.
• Serve hot with curry and raita.

Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

3 cups plain flour (Maida)
2 cups sugar

1/2 cup oil
3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
a pinch salt
2 tbsp vinegar
2 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 - 2 cups water

For Icing:
200 ml fresh cream
Raspberry Jam (optional)
3 tbsp cocoa powder (sweetened or unsweetened. If it is unsweetened, add a tbsp of sugar to it)
1/4 cup water
handful strawberries (or any other fruit that you like - berries and kiwis go the best with chocolate cakes)

Method:

• Pre-heat the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
• Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
• Add vanilla essence and oil. Mix well.
• Slowly add the water and keep mixing thoroughly. Stop adding water once the cake batter starts falling in folds. It is just the right consistency.
• Line 2 nine inch moulds with oil and cocoa powder (you can use flour but it leaves white border on a chocolate cake whereas, with cocoa powder, that problem doesn't arise.)
• Pour the batter in the moulds and bake for about 25 minutes. Check after 20 minutes whether the cake is done. If you stick a fork or a knife in the centre of the cake and it comes out clean, then it's done.
• Let it cool before taking it out on a plate.

For Icing:

• Spread some raspberry jam on the first cake and place the second cake on it. (You can even use whipped cream here instead of raspberry jam if you prefer.)
• Make some chocolate sauce by boiling together cocoa powder and water. Pour this sauce on the cake and refrigerate for an hour
• Meanwhile, whip the cream until it has thickened enough that it stays up. Make sure you don't over-whip and make butter. Refrigerate it.
• After an hour, pull out both cake and cream and decorate as you like it. In the cake above, I have used  14 number star nozzle to make a circle in the centre and placed a strawberry and slices of kiwi on it. Finally, using a shell nozzle, I created a ring outline to the cake.

• For this cake, I spread the whipped cream all over the cake evenly, especially the sides. And then, decorated with fruit as wanted.

Vegan Icing:

• Pour chocolate sauce all over the cake. Let it cool in a refrigerator. 
• Melt some white chocolate. Dip a fork in the melted chocolate and randomly spread ribbons on the cake.