I’m not a great fun of pumpkin or rather I don’t take plain pumpkins. Actually, I used to hate them. Ever since my mother started cooking pumpkin chapatis, I changed my perspective towards pumpkins. They are the secret to soft, sweet chapatis. In many Kenyan households, chapati is a common dish mostly prepared on weekends when people are out of work. Why not try out this easy pumpkin chapati recipe then you can make them for the whole family? Trust me, they will be flying off the plate and you would want to have them every single day of the week.

INGREDIENTS

1 kg wheat flour

1/2kg diced pumpkin

Salt to taste

1/4 cup sugar

Cooking oil

500 ml warm water

PROCEDURE

Boil the diced pumpkin(without the outer cover) adding salt to taste until it is tender and easy to mash. (I use pressure cooker because it takes less time)

Use a mwiko to mash the pumpkin or Puree the pumpkin in a blender.

Using your clean hands mix the flour, salt, sugar and the pumpkin puree in a bowl kneading at the same time.

Add water if required and continue kneading until you have a smooth dough. Add 2 tablespoons of oil and keep kneading the dough untill its well mixed.

Cover the dough and let it rest for 20 minutes.

Knead the dough again and divide it into balls. Dust the surface with some flour to avoid the balls from sticking. Flatten each ball and roll out thinly into sizeable circles.

Heat the pan over a medium flame. Lightly grease the pan and slowly heat the first chapati. Cook on one side for about 1 minute or until lightly brown, then flip and cook the other side.

Remove the chapati and place it in a warm dish. Repeat this process for every chapati.

Enjoy your chapatis with stew of your choice but I prefer peas stew and some steamed cabbage.

Yeast-based pizza dough is by far the best, but not everyone can eat it and not everyone has a stash of yeast on hand at all times. So what’s the next option if you’re in the mood for pizza? Well, I’ve found that my second favorite leavening agent, baking powder, works quite well as a substitute.

The dough is easy to work with and bakes up nicely to retain a crusty texture and light flavor. Those who need a meal quickly will also benefit from the dough’s lack of need to rest before using it. This pizza dough with baking powder whips up quick and bakes easily to perfection!

For the Mozzarella cheese, I couldn’t get any at my nearby stores so I opted to make my own homemade cheese but I won’t talk about that, it will be a topic for my next blog.

Ingredients

For pizza dough
2 cups flour
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup water

For pizza sauce

2 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion,finely chopped
1 fat garlic clove, crushed
4 chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 tsp brown sugar

For toppings

1 cup Mozzarella cheese
1 large Green capsicum
2 Tomatoes
1 Onion

Procedure for sauce

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan over a low heat, then add the onion along with a generous pinch of salt. Fry gently until the onion has softened and is turning translucent. Add the garlic and fry for a further min. Add the tomatoes and sugar. Bring to the boil and add the tomato paste. Simmer, until thickened and reduced. For a really smooth sauce, blitz with a stick blender, otherwise leave as is. 
2. The sauce will cover large pizza base. 

Procedure for pizza dough

1. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl.
2. Add vegetable oil to the flour mixture. With a fork, mash in the oil until a crumbly mixture forms.
3. Pour in water slowly. Constantly mix in water until a dough ball forms and no flour is left clinging to the bowl.
4. Move the dough ball to a well-floured surface and knead for 2-3 minutes.
5. On the same surface, roll out the dough with a rolling pin. Always roll from the center outward and make sure to flip the dough to achieve a circle shape. Roll it out as close to the size of the pan you plan to bake the dough on.
6. Lightly grease a pizza pan and transfer the dough onto it. Pull the dough to the edge of the pan.
With a fork, poke all around the dough. This process will eliminate any bubbles that may occur when baking.
At this point, the dough is ready for sauce and toppings. Spread the pizza sauce, sprinkle some cheese then the desired toppings and finish off with cheese.Bake at 400° for 25-30 minutes or until crust is lightly browned.

Points to note

For the sauce, you can keeps well in the fridge for 1 week or stored in a container in the freezer

If you plan to make the pizza later, cover and store the dough in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use it.

You can use toppings of your choice.

Dalgona Coffee also known as whipped coffee, Frappe Coffee (Greek), Beaten Coffee (Indian) is the BEST thing ever! It’s only 3 ingredients! It’s fluffy and incredibly delicious , and takes only 5 minutes with a hand mixer!

You must be wondering why it is named ‘Dalgona Coffee’? Well, In South Korea whipped coffee is called as Dalgona Coffee as it is similar to the Korean honeycomb toffee. And, thus the name!

Dalgona coffee is like a Cappuccino turned on its head, with the frothy coffee on top and the milk underneath. It only requires three ingredients to make and you can have it hot or cold. The hardest part is getting your picture just right!

So this is how we make dalgona coffee:

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons instant coffee
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar 
• 2 tablespoons hot/warm water
• 1 cup milk (warm/cold)
• Ice cubes for cold milk(optional)

Procedure

1. Add the coffee, sugar and hot/warm water in a bowl (you can easily double or triple this recipe). Using a mixer, whip on the mixture.

2. Whip the mixture for about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides and whip any bits that didn’t get whipped. Whip until it is light brown, fluffy and holds stiff peaks when the whisk is removed.

3. Spoon the fluffy mixture over milk in a glass filled with ice. (You could also spoon it over warm milk for a hot drink.) Stir carefully to combine. Enjoy!!

Point to note

Use only Instant Coffee Powder to make beaten coffee.

If making small amount, you can use a milk frother to beat the coffee.

You can store the beaten coffee in refrigerator for up to 7 days. But do not freeze.

You can store your whipped coffee for a week in an air-tight container.

I love making my own cupcake liners because they give the them a fuller and more homemade appearance. It’s also WAY cheaper and less time consuming to make your own cupcake liners.

So since I keep getting requests about how to make these, I thought I would pop in today with a quick blog.  All you’ll need is a roll of parchment paper and scissors.  Then in just about ten minutes, you can have a dozen of these cute little liners ready to fill with your favorite cupcake or muffin batter.  They’re so easy!

Procedure

1. Cut your parchment paper into 5-inch squares.  Precision is totally not important here, so it’s ok if they’re not perfectly square or exactly the same size.  In general, though, I’ve found that a 5ish-inch square works for a standard-size cupcake pan.  
2. Poke the parchment into the baking cups.  Center the square above a baking cup, and then press it in so that the entire cup is covered by parchment and the edges stick up.  If you want them to look extra-pretty and even, I recommend pressing down four even corners inside of the baking cup (like in a small square), and folding the edges over so that they are facing the same direction.    The folds probably won’t all press down completely flat.  But don’t worry, they will flatten out more once we add the muffin or cupcake batter.

POINTS TO NOTE:

1. Because parchment paper is sturdy, it will hold this shape very well.

2. Filling these muffin/ cupcake papers without making a mess all over the sides of the paper is a little tricky, just go slow and easy. Or pour your batter into a disposable cake decorating bag to fill the cupcake /muffin cups.

3. Baked in these liners, cupcakes/ muffins are a cinch to lift out of the pan to cool. Just pick them up by two “ears.” To open right at the moment of consumption, pull on two opposite “ears” and Viola! There it is, a beautiful, moist, luscious piece of heaven.

4. For jumbo-size muffins, 7-inch squares of parchment work perfectly.

* The red velvet cake is also known as “Real Waldorf Cake”, “Red Carpet Cake”, “Red Mystery Cake” and “flame cake”.

* Velvet Cakes had been made since 1800s, but the Red Velvet Cake’s true origins aren’t completely known.

* The red velvet cake is known for it’s delicious, smooth and velvety texture, it is usually combined with cream cheese frosting or ermine frosting and it was initially not made with food colouring.

* To make the best red velvet cake, you should use; Unsalted real butter, eggs, vanilla extract, sugar, buttermilk, vegetable oil, white vinegar, cake or plain flour, salt, baking soda and cocoa powder.

* The responsible ingredients for the cake’s colour are non-Dutch processed strong cocoa, vinegar and buttermilk. The combination resulted in a firm, smooth, deep red-brown texture. It’s all down to a chemical reaction between the ingredients.

* The use of food colouring is now used because there isn’t much non-Dutch processed cocoa around. Dutch processed cocoa has a weaker colour and doesn’t react with buttermilk to give the same vibrant red effect compared to the non-Dutch cocoa.

* Red velvet cake has an acidic taste that comes from the use of buttermilk and vinegar as well as the cream cheese in the frosting. The acidity is balanced out by the sweetness of the cake itself.

* The distinct flavors of red velvet cake come from the buttermilk, vinegar, cocoa powder, and cream cheese frosting.

INGREDIENTS

* 450g full-fat block cream cheese, at room temperature

* 225g unsalted butter , softened to room temperature

* 480g powdered sugar, sifted

* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

PROCEDURE

1. In a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand-held electric mixer in a large bowl, mix the cream cheese, sugar, and butter on low speed until incorporated. Increase the speed to high, and mix until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. (Occasionally turn the mixer off, and scrape the down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.)
2. Reduce the speed of the mixer to low. Add the vanilla, raise the speed to high and mix briefly until fluffy (scrape down the bowl occasionally). Store in the refrigerator until somewhat stiff, before using. May be stored in the refrigerator for 3 days.

Cream cheese frosting is suitable for RED VELVET CAKES. In my previous blog it was a recipe on red velvet cake so most people requested me to share a recipe on cream cheese frosting. There we go, very simple and easy.