Easy Oat Cake

Want to bake your own cake...but scared that your baking would become a disaster? Don't worry! For even i had the same feel when i wanted to bake my first cake, and at then i didn't even have the conventional oven for doing it.

Now i know cake baking is no chemistry or magic. All you need to have is the right ingredients, proper meauring & mixing, good practise and the confidence to do it. With all these you can make it. Reason? even i can bake a proper cake!

(Small Trivia! Cake making began in ancient Egypt as round, flat, unleavened breads cooked on hot stone. Their evolution had travelled over many centuries, along with new ingredients, technology, innovation and creativity.)

Here I have given the recipe of Easy Oat Cake. The name itself would justify it is easy to make, and the taste and health facts are amazing...as you must be knowing the value of oats!

This oats cake does not require any skills, unusual ingredients or a conventional oven. This has a dead easy recipe that can made from the stuff already available in your kitchen.

You Need:

1/2 - 3/4 cup sugar (as per your taste)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 whole egg (if you like to add only egg white, then take 2 nos.)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup milk
a pinch of cinnamon powder (to give a lovely aroma when baked)

Directions:

1. Coarse grind oats and keep aside

2. Add the rest of the ingredients (sugar, salt, butter, vegetable oil, egg, vanilla extract, baking powder, cinnamon powder and milk) in a mixer jar/food processor and whip for 3 - 4 seconds

3. Now mix this well with the grounded oats (dry nuts and other flavorings are optional, and can be added at this stage)

4. Grease in a baking tray with butter and pour the mixture

5. Microwave it for 5 minutes

6. Now switch on the oven to grill mode and cook it for 2 minutes (increase the time to 1 - 2 minutes if necessary, but never leave it unattended...as microwave would easily dehydrate and scorch your food)

7. Now you can indulge yourself with this heavenly soft oats cake

(Note: Cake is done when it springs back to the touch)

Aatu Kaal Paya (Madras Style)

Aatu Kaal Paya is a very delicious curry made from goat/lamb legs. Paya curry is believed to have its origin in the asian culinary tradition. This spicy-scrumptious 100% non-vegetarian dish is my all time favourite (dad's too!), and no wonder i always insist my mom to make it. Even during my recent visit to mom's place...i had it three times!

I'm not sure how the name paya originated, but heard Paya means the feet of Lamb. It is considered a delicacy for breakfast in Southern Part of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. During olden days when wood or coal was used as a cooking fuel, it is believed that women would start this dish at night and slow cook it in until the morning.

Recipes for this dish vary slightly from region to region. In madras we usually eat it with appam, iddiappam, idly, dosa, kal dosa and similar varieties for breakfast, other avatars of paya can be had with naan, roti, phulka...

Mom usually makes paya during the winter months, as it is believed that consumption of peppered paya removes phlegm/sputum from the chest and heats the body. If you love to discover something new on your table, then it's time to try this dish. It is a much enjoyed side dish, but still if you are not comfortable in eating the skin or chewing the bones, you can still enjoy the taste by eating only the curry!

Here I have given the recipe of Aatu Kaal Paya (Madras Style).

Ingredients:

Paya: (Lamb's/Goat's Legs) - a dozen
Onions: 4
Tomato: 1
Oil: 2 tbsp
Ginger-Garlic Paste: 5 tsp
Turmeric Powder: 1/4 tsp
Green Chilly: 3
Poppy Seeds: 1 tsp
Chilli Powder: 1 tsp
Coriander powder: 1 tsp
Cumin Seeds: 1 tsp
Fennel Seeds: 2 tsp
Bay Leaves: 1 or 2
Cinnamon: 1
Cloves: 4-5
Garam Masala: 2 tsp
Coconut Milk: 1 cup
Curry Leaves: handfull
Freshly Ground Pepper Powder: 1 tsp
Salt to Taste

Method:
1. Clean, wash and pressure cook the washed Lamb Legs with little turermic powder and water on simmer flame for about an 1 hour (usually takes more time to cook. So my mom pressure cooks it the previous night and would reheat the cooker the next day morning and would use the cooked legs for the next day morning's breakfast)

2. For the masala: grind Sauted onions and tomato, ginger-garlic paste, cumin seeds, poppy seeds, fennel seeds, chilli powder, coriander powder and garam masala

3. Now heat oil in a pan, fry Bay Leaves, Cinnamon and Cloves...Now add the grounded masala and cook for a while

4. Now add the cooked Lamb legs to this mixture, mix it well and add required amount of water and close the pan, allow it to cook for atleast 10 min on low flame

5. At this stage add the pepper powder, sliced green chillis and salt to taste and cook for another 5 minutes

6. Sprinkling curry leaves is the last step before switching off the flame

7. Now you can relish this wonderful curry with appam, idly, dosa or anything of your choice.