Purple Cinnamon

This is a light non-fussy kind of cake. It will remind you of a sponge cake but the ingredients are totally different. Perfect with a cup of tea in the evenings when your friends come over.

3/4 cup caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

My favourite breakfast will always include American pancakes. Light, fluffy and super-delicious! They’re very easy to whip up and will make your friends and family think you’ve slaved in the kitchen for at least a few hours.

Yields 6 pancakes

Ingredients:
1 cup flour (maida)

1 cup milk

1 egg (whites separated)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp baking soda

3 tblsp sugar

1 tblsp oil

1 tsp cinnamon powder (optional)

a pinch of salt

1 tbsp icing sugar (optional)

2 tbsp honey (optional)

Method:

Combine all the dry ingredients together.

Add the egg yolk to the milk along with the vanilla and oil.

In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites till they are frothy.

Now mix well the milk and egg yolk to the dry ingredients.

Tip in the frothy egg whites and fold it into the batter. Do not whisk.

Pour a ladleful of batter on a hot pan. If you do use a non-stick pan you dont have to use butter or oil to grease it.

Let it cook for about a min, or till you see small bubbles on the sides.

Now flip the pancake to see the nice golden brown colour on the cooked side, so the other side cooks as well. That should take another 40 secs to a minute.

Take it off the pan. Serve warm.

Serving suggestions:

Top the pancakes with honey, or even better – maple syrup with a dusting of icing sugar. In the picture given you can see the pancakes have company. You could do the same to make it a complete breakfast or brunch. Scrambled eggs, chicken sausages and a cupcake! That’s what we went with. What a start to a great day 🙂

Well, I basically have no name for this omelette look alike! We ended up making this omelette clone when we basically wanted to have a heavy breakfast and were bored of the usual scrambles and and bull eyes. The simple trick is to beat the eggs (3 nos) till they are slightly fluffy. When the pan is hot, pour in the beaten eggs. To it add oregano, tiny cubes of cheese and chopped coriander and salt to taste. Now here is the trick for it to become a pizza look alike…do not stir it or attempt to turn it, just cover it with a lid. This will make it fluffy and cook the top as well.

Siaa, in Hyderabad is one of the best places for dinner. A contemporary and cool place over looking the city lights definitely lets a serene atmosphere for some cocktails with friends. Well, I happen to visit Siaa on an afternoon for ‘Salsa’ reasons. The lunch buffet was classy and a good conglomeration of cuisines. I am a total appetizers person and for me that was the best part. What impressed me the most is the presentation of the food and certainly, the choice of the dishes. Theprawn cocktail had the perfect peppery zing to the continental tomato ‘shorba’, served in cute little cocktail glasses. My favourite was the smoked cheese with walnuts. The after taste on your palate makes you crave for some more of that I say! Another prawn item on the appetizer menu was the sea food salad, where the squids and prawns were generously soaked with the thousand island like dips. The smoked peppers and corn are the vegetarians’ delight…cooked to perfection. I still cannot figure out how they could mince the meat so flawlessly, they make an awesome bite! the assorted treats were irresistible…tiny tiramisu and mousse treats just brightened the end of your meal. As for the main course, they lay the best of the choices from the Indian, Continental and Chinese cuisine. Will concentrate more on the main course the next time…I just couldn’t get enough of the appetizers that afternoon!