Moist Carrot Cake Recipe

I never really gave carrot cakes much thought until I came to Singapore. Cedele kind of opened my eyes to them with their really good carrot cakes with tons of walnuts in them. For the longest time, I really believed that they had the best carrot cake in Singapore!

Until one day I saw this box in our office pantry labeled "Sample for Google Employees". Inside was an 8" carrot cake with cream cheese frosting that was still cold from the fridge. I took half a slice, brought it back to my desk and forgot about it for the next couple of hours. Big mistake! 

Eventually, when I did end up taking a bite, it was a virtual explosion of taste and texture in my mouth. That is hands down the best carrot cake I have ever tasted! If you are in Singapore and you wouldn't mind a carrot cake changing your life forever, order one from Calendar's. 

Anyway, all this carrot cake overload made me want to bake my own and I was aiming for a moist, dense, yet soft one like they baked at Calendar's. The following recipe worked great!

Moist Carrot Cake Recipe a la Calendar's Carrot Cake Recipe

Adapted from Recipe Trezor

Ingredients

1 cup all purpose flour / maida

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon (not optional)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice (optional but really adds flavour)

2 eggs

1/2 cup + 2 tbsp vegetable oil (I used veg oil with carotene which explains the deep orange colour of my carrot cake)

1/2 cup sugar

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup milk or buttermilk (I used milk)

1.5 cups peeled, shredded carrots

1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

How I Made It:

1. Preheat oven to 350F / 180C

2. Butter and flour a cake pan of choice. I used my 8" square baking pan.

2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and allspice. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl or using your stand-mixer, whish the eggs, oil, both sugars and milk (or buttermilk) until blended. Stir the flour mixture into the egg mixture just until combined. Fold in carrots and walnuts.

4. Transfer to your greased and floured baking tin. Bake about 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let it cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then invert onto a rack and let cook completely.

Cream Cheese Frosting

I always use my own eye-balled measurement for frosting. Most of the frosting recipes I come across have too much sugar and since I don't ever pipe on icing to cakes (I prefer the slathering technique), I just follow what I want to put together frosting, tasting as I go.

Ingredients:

Half a block of Philadelphia Cream Cheese (about 125gm) - at room temperature

4 tbsp unsalted butter - at room temperature

1/2 to 3/4 cup icing sugar (taste as you go and stop when its sweet enough)

1 tsp vanilla extract

How I Made It:

In a large bowl, mix cream cheese and butter until smooth. Then add the sugar and vanilla and beat until blended. You can do this by hand or using an electric beater. Spread evenly over the cooled carrot cake and serve immediately. I prefer a thin layer but go with what your heart says!

Refrigerate remaining cake for up to 4 days but make sure you bring to room temperature before serving. 

Fortified Curd Rice Recipe

The most striking thing about being married to a Tamil Brahmin is the addition of curd rice to my daily diet. TH cannot do without at least a spoonful of curd rice at the end of each meal, if we are having rice and curry. He is not very particular about rasam and is fine if I make only one kozhambu and two side dishes but curd is not subject to compromises, ever!

So I always have a good amount of curd in the fridge and proceed to make the next bowl if the current one is depleting. This is extra-advantageous after a long day at work and neither of us feel up to cooking or going out for dinner.

I don't find just curd and rice with pickles a justifiable meal because I feel it doesn't have even nutrition, comforting as it is. So I have a 'fortified' version adding as much vegetables as can be eaten raw.

Here's my standard version that I stick to more or less each time we have only curd rice for dinner.

Fortified Curd Rice
Serves: 2
Preparation time: 15 mins

What I Used:
4 cups cooked rice
1 cup thick curd / plain yogurt
Half cup or so water
1 grated carrot
1/4 cup grated cucumber
1/2 tsp grated ginger
A bunch of fresh coriander leaves, chopped fine
A pinch of salt

For tempering:
2 tsp oil
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp urad dal / ulutham paruppu
A pinch of hing / asafoetida / perungaayam
2 red chillies, torn into small pieces

How I Made It:

1. Mash the rice with a potato masher. Add the curd and water and mix well.
2. To this, add the chopped coriander and grated vegetables and mix well.
3. Heat oil in a pan and add the ingredients for tempering. When the mustard seeds pop, remove from fire and add to the rice. Mix well with salt.

If the consistency is too thick, add some more water / curd. If you keep this for long, the rice will absorb the water and make it thick, so adjust accordingly.

Isn't this so much nicer and prettier than normal boring curd rice? ;)

Tomato Spinach Pulao - Step by Step Recipe

Whenever I post step-by-step recipes for baking, most of you love it, try it and give me your thoughts. I have been itching to do the same for normal recipes too, but the only reason stopping me was the poor lighting in my kitchen. After many months of giving myself this excuse, I decided to go ahead and do it anyway.

Because of this, you will see pictures with different lighting in this post, so bear with me. Hopefully you find it useful (not the lighting, the recipe!)

After all that talk, I'm hungry. Let's have a nice bowl of hot tomato spinach pulao, shall we? If you want to skip the pictures and yada-yada, scroll to the end of this post for the recipe in one place.

Ok. First, chop 4 cups of green spinach, 2 tomatoes and grate 1 carrot and set aside (ignore the green chillies, we don't need them, unless you want to use them and reduce the amount of red chilly powder in the recipe).

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a kadai.

Add 1 sliced onion and 3 cloves of chopped garlic to this.

Fry until the onions turn transparent and brown slightly.

Time to bring out the 2 chopped tomatoes. Add these to the fried onions.

Cook well until the tomatoes have wilted and turned soft.

To this, add 1 tbsp coriander powder and 1 tsp jeera. Mix well.

Time to spice things up a bit. Bring out your red chilly powder and add about 2 tsp of that. Go on, dare yourself and add another tsp if you wish ;)

We've already added 2 tomatoes but since this is tomato spinach pulao, we will need a more dense tomato flavour. Canned tomato paste works best.

Add 1 tbsp of that and mix well. If you don't want to use the paste, add 1 more large tomato in the first step.

To this, add the chopped spinach and..

.. grated carrot and mix well.

Close the kadai and let it cook on medium-low fire for about 10 mins. Don't add any water, the spinach will give out its own water while cooking making the mixture soft.

Open kadai carefully after 10 mins and add salt.

Add about 3 cups cooked rice to this mixture. I used basmati rice but any rice will do, even warmed leftover rice.

Gently fold from one side so that the rice isn't mashed up too much.

Garnish with some roasted cashwes and serve hot. I roasted the cashewnuts in the microwave on medium power for a minute. Saves time and oil.

Here's the pulao recipe again, all in one place.

Tomato Spinach Pulao

Serves: 3 to 4

What I Used:

3 cups cooked rice

4 cups chopped green spinach

1 grated carrot

2 chopped tomatoes

1 tbsp tomato paste (or add another tomato)

1 sliced onion

3 cloves chopped garlic

1 tbsp coriander powder / malli podi / dania powder

1 tsp jeera / jeerakam / cumin seeds

2 tsp red chilly powder

1 tbsb oil

Roasted cashewnuts to garnish (optional)

Salt to taste

How I Made It:

1. Heat oil and fry the onions and garlic for 3 mins. Add the tomatoes to this and cook well until soft and mashed.

2. Add the coriander powder, jeera and red chilly powder. Mix well and fry for 2 mins. Add tomato paste to this, if using, and mix well.

3. Add chopped spinach and grated carrot. Close and cook for 10 mins until soft.

4. Add salt and cooked rice to this. Fold gently and serve after 3o mins, garnished with roasted cashewnuts.

Gajar Matar Recipe - Carrots & Peas In A Milk Gravy

The moment I saw this on their blog, I knew I wanted to try it. It seemed so simple and the story behind it was quite amazing. I tried it a few weeks ago and have been wanting to post it ever since! 

The fact that cilantro / coriander leaves was a must and not just a garnishing suggestion made me wait until I had some fresh leaves ready to be used. 

I didn't have onions so added a few chopped shallots instead. I also omitted the cream, but otherwise, the recipe is 'authentic' :D 

Gajar Matar Recipe

Carrots and peas cooked in a creamy spiced milk gravy

serves 2

What I Used:

Carrots - 1.5 cups, chopped
Peas - 1 cup
Shallots - 1/4 cup, finely chopped
Milk - 2 cups
Cumin / jeera- 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - a generous pinch
Chilli powder - 2 tsp
Garam Masala -1 tsp
Oil - 2 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Fresh coriander leaves - add as much as you want, chopped

How I Made It:

1. Heat oil in a pan and add the jeera. Once they splutter, add the shallots and fry lightly. 

2. Add peas, turmeric and chilli powder to this and stir around for 2 minutes. 

3. Add the chopped carrots and a little water (not more than 1/4 cup) and cook covered, until the carrots are semi-cooked. You can also pre-cook the carrots separately or in the microwave. 

4. Add 1.5 cups milk and top it off with the garam masala and salt. 

5. Keep fire on sim and cook covered for about 10 minutes. At this stage, the curry will be dry and the vegetables cooked. Add the rest of the milk (1/2 cup) and bring to boil. Do not let the gravy thicken too much because it will once you remove from fire. For a more creamy consistency, add err.. cream! 

6. Garnish with coriander leaves and enjoy! 

This is my entry to JFI - Cilantro hosted by Cilantro :D Wow! There's going to be a lot of Cilantro at the round up! 

Carrot and Baby Corn Stir-Fry Recipe

This recipe is from Das Sreedharan's Easy Indian, and he is right, it is easy! The book is a good mix of really simple recipes like this one and ones that require a bit of practise, like Indian dumplings. Even then, the entire book has recipes with easy-to-get ingredients and something all Indian kitchens stock up on anyway.

Though there is nothing much that's unique or different about the recipe, the combination was quite new to me, something I hadn't tried before - carrots and baby corn! The crunchiness of the baby corn offset the soft cooked carrots and the simple masala mix gave it a nice twist.

Carrot and Baby Corn Stir-Fry Recipe

What I Used:

Carrots - 1 cup, cut into long thin pieces
Baby corn - 1 cup, quartered into long pieces
Onions - 1/2 cup, chopped into thin long slices
Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam masala or curry powder - 1 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1/4 tsp
Oil - 2 tsp
Salt - to taste
Fresh cilantro / coriander leaves - to garnish (optional but highly recommended)

How I Made It:

1. Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds. When they pop, add the onions and fry until soft and transparent.

2. Add the chilli powder and salt and fry for another 30 seconds. Then add the chopped carrots and sprinkle some water on the it. Cook closed for about 5-7 minutes until the carrots are cooked through. Make sure to check in between to ensure that they don't burn and the carrots don't get too mushy.

3. Increase the heat to high and add the baby corn, stirring continuously until the vegetables mix well. Lower the heat, mix in the garam / curry masala and adjust salt if required. The baby corn should still be crunchy so remove from fire about about 2 mins.

4. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve hot with steamed rice or wrapped in a chapati / roti.

Carrot Rice

When I was about to leave to Hyderabad for 3 weeks, the vegetable tray had an assortment of veggies that were unused. Among them was one carrot, a few green chillies, 2 onions, some okra, 10 beans and so on. I fried the okra and made usili with the beans but was stumped on what to do with just one carrot. I could have made a salad but then thought I should probably add it to rice and make it a carrot rice!


This is an easy rice dish that I have seen in many blogs. But most of them use chana dal in it. Since I was feeling plain lazy to soak, grind and all the rest of it, I made a simpler version. It came out quite tasty but next time I think I will try it with the dal and other masala in it.

What I Used:

Serves 2

Cooked rice - 3 cups
Grated carrots - 1
Green chillies - 3, slit lengthwise
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Curry masala - 1 tsp
Turmeric - a pinch
Salt - to taste
Oil - 2 tsp

How I Made It:

1. Heat oil and saute carrots and green chillies in turmeric till the carrots become limp (for lack of a better word)

2. Now add the ginger garlic paste, curry masala and salt and fry for a minute or two.

3. Mix in rice and leave on for another 2 minutes.

Serve warm with raita, papad and pickles.

See how simple it is? :)

This orange-y rice goes to Pooja's Indian Independence Day event.

Republic Day Special Dish : Beans-Carrot Thoran

When I saw Pooja's blog and her theme of the week - orange, white & green - event, my mind starting whirring into action. I thought of making a tri-coloured sandwich with carrot and cilantro chutney. I thought of using the chutneys on a dosa. Finally, zeroed in on one of my favourite dishes, thoran, using carrots and beans.

Here is wishing all my Indian readers a very happy Republic Day.

May we all live in peace and harmony just like the vegetables, coconut and masala in this curry blends to make a great-tasting dish.

For thoran recipe, click here.

This post goes over to Creative Pooja's very creative event.

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Reminder: You have four more days to send in your papaya recipes for AFAM this month. Details here.