The Ant Blog

I have baked this many a times, and it has been a family favorite. A luscious chocolate cake is a great holiday treat. The lovely baking aroma of the rich chocolate cake draws my loved ones into the kitchen and makes it truly special.   Ingredients for Traditional Chocolate Cake Flour- 1 and 1/2 cup Sugar- 1 cup Baking powder- 1 tsp Baking soda- 1/2 tsp Vanilla essence- 2 tsp Sour cream- 2/3 cup Butter- 3/4 cup Cocoa- 1/3 cup Eggs- 2 Transfer the entire contents in a food processor and blitz together. Alternatively, mix the dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately and then mix them together and mix them until they all blend together.  Pour the contents into a tin (buttered and floured beforehand) and bake for 35-40 mins at 350 deg F or 180 deg C. Check with a knife, if done it will be clean after dipping in the cake. *Pre-heat oven at 350 deg F or 180 deg C before baking. For the icing , I double heated the dark chocolate 175...

My effort over the previous Sunday was very rewarding. It is by far one of the simplest things to make, and yet has the flavor to blow one’s socket! The prawns need to be fresh. I had gone down to the local market and picked up some fresh sea food that day.  To start off, the prawns need to be de-shelled. It is ok to take some extra time, but ensure that these babies are de-veined properly, else they may give you some serious sort of food poisoning. Clean the prawns well. Next, marinate them with  Lemon juice of half a lemon ,Lemon zest of the same, Red chili powder, Salt, Ginger and Garlic paste and keep this aside for half hour.                                 Coconut-crusted Beer dipped Prawns In a mixing bowl, take 1/2 cup Flour, salt,egg, ground peppercorns, baking powder and mix this with a fork. To this pour beer and mix the batter till the consistency is semi-liquid. If...

Inspired by a recipe from a magazine, I tried making this simple yet decadent treat at home. I had first tasted this at a shack in Goa. The cook tastes great with fishes like Mackarel, Surmai, Pomfret, Seer fish etc. Fish Rava/Semolina fried is a must try dish in Goa while you look out at the sea chugging down a mug of beer. I tried to recreate this experience , with a bottle of Brit-brewed beer and some average television :D Fish- 4-5 pieces Lemon juice of 1 lemon Ginger - 1 inch grated Salt- as per palate Cumin powder- 1/2 tsp Red chili powder- 1/2 tsp I mixed these ingredients and marinated the fish pieces for 25 mins. I dabbed  a little bit Red chili powder on both surface of the pieces, so that it takes the hue. (You may not follow this step, if you chose to. This will add an additional hint of heat, which goes with this fish) Take Semolina/ Rava and spread it on the surface of a plate. Place each fish piece on this plate, one at a time, and c...

This dish smells and tastes holiday. It is inspired by a dish of one of the hottest and one of my fav celebrity chefs, Nigella Lawson . For the caramelization we use Maple syrup . Alternatively, you may use honey. At first we marinade the chicken breasts on the roasting tray with some salt, ground peppercorns and thyme. For some acidity, squeeze half a lemon on these and zest of the same half lemon.  To this, add the rest of your vegetables. I have added Sweet potatoes because it tastes very good and is the hero in this dish (apart from the Chicken of course!). Also added peeled and diced carrots, one large diced onion. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on them too. Then pour onto the surface the luscious maple syrup over the chicken and  the vegetables. Toss everything well so that the ingredients cover the surface of the chicken and vegetables. I have also added some chili flakes to this, but that is optional but recommended.   Over this add about 2 Tbsp of Oliv...

I love this traditional American breakfast very much. I make Pancakes very often, and these soft, and light treats make for a very warm and comfortable breakfast. In my childhood, my mother would make the savory pancake kinds, with vegetables and mushroom which were delectable. However, ever since I began making the traditional kinds, I feel that these  with maple syrup or honey are my favorites now. It is so very easy to make..one can say it is almost child’s play.. Ingredients- For 2 people Flour- 1 and 1/2 cups Salt- a pinch Baking powder- 1 tsp Egg- 2 Milk- 1 cup Butter- 1 Tbsp; later 1-2 cubes to be placed above the ready pancakes Maple syrup/ Honey- to drizzle over the pancakes Take the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, viz. Flour, Salt, Baking powder and mix. To this, add Eggs, Milk and whisk till it forms a consistency which is neither too thick nor too runny.  Over a flat non stick pan, add some butter to the surface. To this add a ladle of t...

Tell me what can possibly happen when three cheery and chattery women meet after a long time.. Well one of the possibilities is that they  turn the place around into a loud and happy hangout :) One of our last rendezvous went something like that. It was a Friday night, so spirits were high in general, we wanted to check out a place where we hadn’t been to before, somewhere where there would be music but not loud enough for us to catch up. So, we headed to Mocha cafe in Mumbai at R city mall, which was conveniently located for all of us. We opted for the sit out area, which was bright and decorated with comfy couches and lodged ourselves on one of the couches. We ordered our Chenin Blanc and The Non- Vegetarian platter because we were all hungry after a long day. One can  select 4 mini dishes in the platter, from the menu options in veg/ non-veg platter. We went with Hot Tennessee style chicken wings, Nut crusted fish fingers, Moroccan meat balls, Chicken Bruschetta. ...

I have been to Global Fusion over eight times and I confess that till date I have never been able to taste all the dish on their menu. Such is the 'vastness' of their buffet! The very first time that we had been to this place, we were in for a surprise with this vast spread, but we learnt this soon enough and for our forthcoming trips we have been relatively prepared, because one cannot be fully prepared for this vast array of Asian food choices. Everything on their menu card happens to be on display, and one can order this together or in portions, for a fixed per head cost. Most of everything that they have on display are interesting options and good and the place is good value for money!  View from our Table 29 at Global Fusion Their display includes a Sushi counter. But my favorite is the Baked Prawn with Cheese and the Prawn Tempura. My husband is very fond of their Prawn Tempura and the Iceberg chicken. Their Tempura’s are perfectly crispy on the outside and m...

Prep Time: 5 minutes Cooking Time: 30 minutes I often experience pangs for a certain kind of food, ranging from sweet to savory. And then I go about taking care of that need :) So last week I was in much need of satiating my sweet-tooth. Also there were a few guests coming over for dinner that same night, so I thought of a very simple and yet delicious way of going about it. To begin, I used some flavored Custard powder that I had with me. It was Raspberry flavor, I made a paste of 2 Tablespoons of the same with 1/4 cup of milk, so that the lumps dissolved in the milk completely. Next I boiled the remaining of the milk from a 500 ml container, added 3 heaped Tablespoons of Sugar stirring continuously to dissolve the same and to reduce the  water content to make it condensed as possible. After 12- 15 mins of stirring, add the paste of the Custard powder and stir to completely dissolve the contents. Ensure that the water content reduces sufficiently. Turn of the heat ...