Monkey Cake - 1

I know I have been posting a lot of cakes. April is birthday month at home. So we had a very busy schedule with two parties. First one was for Ishaan’s school friends and teachers. Then came the other party, a bigger one, for all our close friends and family. This time we celebrated both the kids birthdays. I am glad all the birthdays for the year are done and we can relax till next year :).

monkey cake1 - 2 monkey cake1 - 3

First birthdays are always special. This time it was more special for us as we celebrated both the kids birthdays together. We had a swim party which Ishaan was asking for. Since Ayaan also loves water, we decided to go with it. Both the kids and their friends had a fantastic time.

monkey cake2 - 4 monkey cake2 - 5

Ayaan has been always curious about all his monkey toys. I call both of them my little monkeys, always curious about things, always jumping around. So when I had to decide the theme, I knew it would be monkey theme. I chose carrot cake with cardamom as the base. Swiss meringue buttercream was used to crumb coat the cake. I went with Veena’s fondant recipe again for decorating the cake. The biggest lesson I learnt was not to mess with a perfect recipe – I substituted cream with milk (just because I was too lazy to go for shopping again). It messed up the fondant quite a bit. It was too loose and I had to add lot of sugar to get it into workable condition!. Last time I had followed the recipe exactly and it made the perfect fondant.

monkey cake3 - 6 monkey cake3 - 7 monkey cake4 - 8 monkey cake4 - 9

We had about 60 guests (including 25 kids). Since it was an afternoon party, we decided to serve lunch. We kept the menu quite simple. I made masala puri , Idli-sambar-chutney , onion chicken . We ordered vegetable biryani and chicken biryani from outside. We also had fruits, cucumber, pizza, chips and soft drinks. I was little overwhelmed trying to arrange the party. I have never cooked in such a big scale (mainly because of my small apartment kitchen and lack of big utensils). Also, Ayaan is at a phase where he has become extremely clingy, it become hard to get anything done with him pulling my legs. It was a good decision to have birthday on a Sunday since V was home on Saturday and took care of kids, that gave me enough time to cook. V’s cousin, who is studying at a college here in Kansas, came home for two days and he was a huge help around the house.

monkey cake-food1 - 10 monkey cake-food1 - 11 monkey cake-food2 - 12 monkey cake-food2 - 13 monkey cake-food5 - 14 monkey cake-food5 - 15 monkey cake-food3 - 16 monkey cake-food3 - 17 monkey cake-food4 - 18 monkey cake-food4 - 19 Beetroot - Black eyed peas Sidedish - 20

While growing up, we ate lot of dried beans. Of late, beans have become side lined in my kitchen. I am trying my best to bring them back to table. One of my favorite legume was black eyed peas – we called them alsande. I loved dishes like alsande randayi , padwale randayi etc that my aayi made. I make these very often now. Recently I started experimenting with alsande, combining it with other vegetables to make new dishes. One such dish is this beetroot – black eyed beans sidedish. We liked this so much that it has become very regular now.

beetroot-black eyed peas sidedish1 - 21 beetroot-black eyed peas sidedish1 - 22 beetroot-black eyed peas sidedish2 - 23 beetroot-black eyed peas sidedish2 - 24 beetroot-black eyed peas sidedish3 - 25 beetroot-black eyed peas sidedish3 - 26 beetroot-black eyed peas sidedish4 - 27 beetroot-black eyed peas sidedish4 - 28

Pictorial:

Beetroot - Black eyed peas Sidedish

Ingredients

  • 2 cup beetroot pieces use thick stems and leaves also
  • 1 cup black eyed peas alsande
  • 4-5 curry leaves
  • 1 tea spn mustard seeds
  • 3-4 green chillies
  • 2 tea spns chopped garlic optional
  • 1/2 tea spn cumin powder
  • 1/2 tea spn coriander powder
  • A pinch turmeric
  • Oil
  • 1 tbl spn fresh/frozen coconut
  • Salt

Instructions

  • Heat a little oil and add mustard seeds (I directly make this dish in my pressure cooker).
  • When they start popping, add curry leaves, green chillies, garlic.
  • Now add chopped beetroot, black eyed peas, cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric, salt.
  • Add 1 cup water and cook for about 3 whistles.
  • Serve garnished with coconut.