Shortcut Lemon Sandesh with Chocolate Ganache Topping by Nitai Sundara

And now one for one of my relatively accessible recipes:curd from 2 liters milk
juice from two lemons
 

¾ cup sugar
½ t vanilla extract
zest of 1 small lemon
¾ cup semisweet chocolate chips or small-chopped pieces
2/3 heavy cream
 

Preheat the oven 110C (230F). Break the curd into rough pieces and put in the food processor with the sugar and lemon zest. Blend until smooth, stopping to stir in any clumps that might be stuck. The final texture might appear to have very small grains due to the sugar, but these will dissolve later.
 

Butter a 20x20cm (8x8in) glass baking dish. Scoop the curd paste into the pan and pat it down and tap the pan gently to remove any air bubbles. Smooth the top and bake uncovered for 15-25 minutes, or until the mix seems solid, but still soft, and pulls away from the sides of the pan when you tilt it. How long it bakes depends on the wetness of the original mix, which will be different for different milk and with different straining conditions.
 

Allow the sandesh to cool for 1 hour or longer. Heat the heavy cream in a saucepan until the sides just begin to bubble. Remove from heat and toss in the chocolate. Allow to sit for the 3-5 minutes and then whisk until completely smooth. Pour this mix evenly over the sandesh and allow to cool uncovered at room temperature. Refrigerate overnight and then cut into squares while cold. Serve cold or at room temperature, but be warned, the chocolate will be quite soft at room temperature.

Eggplant Parmagiana by Nitai Sundara

I only have this recipe in (mostly) European measurements (I assume all of Europe uses deciliters?) so others will have to convert. You can use any tomato sauce you want, but please, for the love of Italian Gods, leave the mustard seeds and cumin out of this one :) The chickpea flour in this is not to make them pakoras, but it makes a thin batter t...hat acts like egg in a normal version, helping the bread crumbs to stick.Tomato Sauce:
2 T extra-virgin olive oil
½ t asafoetida powder
1 T tomato paste
1 t italian seasoning
1/8 t red pepper flakes or a dash of cayenne powder
1.5 kg diced tomatoes, pureed
¼ t black pepper
1 T brown sugar
2 ¼ t salt
1 ¼ deciliters minced fresh basil (divided)


Eggplant:
1 kg eggplant sliced into 1/3-inch-thick rings
2 t kosher salt
olive oil for coating baking sheets
1 ¼ deciliter chickpea flour
¼ t salt
¾ deciliter
4 ¼ deciliters bread crumbs*
1 ¼ deciliters parmesan cheese
1 t italian seasoning
6 deciliter shredded mozzarella cheese
*These bread crumbs are best made by taking bread and processing it in a food processor until it becomes fine crumbs.

Toss the eggplant slices with kosher salt and put them in a colander to drain for 40 minutes. This and the next step will make it so that the eggplant does not become very soggy in the final preparation.

After the eggplant has drained for about 40 minutes (don’t go to long or else it will lose too much liquid) lay all the slices out flat between 2 layers of paper towels and press down with all your strength. This further removes some liquid and will not damage them at all, so don’t worry.

During the 40 minutes that the eggplant rings are draining prepare the sauce by heating the olive oil over medium heat, briefly sauteeing the asafoetida and then the tomato paste, italian seasoning, and red pepper right before adding in the pureed tomatoes. Add the remaining ingredients (but only half of the basil) and cook, stirring occasionally, until it becomes like a thin pasta sauce, 20-30 minutes. Add the remaining basil after the sauce is off the heat.

Preheat the oven to 245C and place the rack in the lower-middle position. Spread olive oil on one large or two medium metal baking sheets. Mix the bread crumbs, italian seasoning, and parmesan cheese in a bowl and set aside. Whisk the chickpea flour, salt, and milk together in another bowl. The mix should be fairly thin.
One-by-one, dip the eggplant rings in the batter, wiping any excess on the lip of bowl, and then drop the ring into the bowl of bread crumbs, sprinkling more crumbs on top so the ring is covered in bread crumbs. If the batter is too thin and it is dripping too much into the breadcrumbs, whisk in more chickpea flour, 1 tablespoon at a time. Set the breaded rings on the baking sheets and repeat until all slices are breaded.

Bake the eggplant rings for 30 minutes or until both sides are crispy, flipping with a metal spatula halfway. Leave the oven on after the eggplant is done.
Assemble:

Spread 3 ½ deciliters tomato sauce across the bottom of a 33 by 22 cm glass baking dish. Place half of the eggplant rings in the dish, covering the bottom and overlapping if necessary. Spread another 1 ¾ deciliter of sauce over the eggplant and sprinkle half of the mozzarella. Layer remaining eggplant and spread 2.5 deciiliter more of sauce, leaving much of the eggplant exposed so that it will stay crisp. Sprinkle remaining mozzarella and back for 10-15 minutes, or until the cheese is browning and bubbly. Cool for a few minutes and sprinkle with a little fresh basil and parmesan cheese.
Serve hot with extra sauce available on the table.

Hanuman Carob Cake by Vishnupriya Devi dasi

Hanuman cake:

• 1 round carob cake
• 1 small carob cupcake
• Carob icing
• Fondant

Cake and muffins:
(double the recipe for twelve muffins and a 9" round cake)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup milk
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch
• 2 cups flour
• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3.../4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup carob powder

Process:

1. Preheat oven to 375F, about 5 minutes.
2. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners and oil the round-cake tray.
2. Combine dry ingredients with the softened butter, add wet mixture (water,milk and vanilla) and stir just until blended.
4. Divide batter in two parts equally. One part will be divided into 12 muffin cups, the other will be the batter for the round cake. Bake until golden and tester comes out clean, about 30- 35 minutes.

Carob icing ingredients and process:

1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup softened butter
1/3 cup honey
1 cup dry milk
1/4 cup carob powder
1/4 cup water
1 tsp vanilla

Mix all the ingredients.

Fondant ingredients and process:

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tbsp. butter or shortening
1 tbsp. milk or water
4 drops of yellow coloring

Mix all ingredients together until very firm, then roll the fondant out on wax paper.

ASSEMBLING THE CAKE:
Step 1. Place cake on the plate in which you are going to decorate it.  Ice the carob cake with carob icing.  Take one small carob cupcake and split into two using a knife. The other muffins you can take them on breakfast :). Place on either side of the cake for the monkey ears.  Ice with carob icing as “glue” to hold against the side of the cake and ice the top of the cupcakes.

Step 2. Take a ball of a size of a golf ball of fondant. Roll out with a rolling pin between two wax paper sheets. Trace onto wax paper the Hanuman's face.  Cut out the parchment monkey face and place onto your fondant. Do the same for the ears and tilak. Use a toothpick to trace the shape and then use table knife to cut the face out of the fondant.

Step 3. Place the face onto the carob icing.  Do the same with the ears.

Notes:

1. I modified the idea of the cake from this website:  http://www.toppartyideas.com/mod-monkey-cake/

2. The fondant recipe is a modification of the one found in the link below.
http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,236,153178-233200,00.html

Fudge & Peanuts Mini Cake by Cintamani

So here it is. not accurate recipie with measurement but rather idea how to do it. Bake a sponge cake in muffin's tray. everybody has a recipie for thair own best sponge cake. Cat in 3 layers, Filings are: cream wipped with icing sugar and a spoon od peanut butter added on the end, caramel made of can of condense milk cooked in water for 3 hours (I think every ISKCON devotee knows how to do it, you put a can with sweet condence milk into a pot full of water and boil it for 3 hours)- this caramel is on the top, and other layer is same caramel mixed with mascarpone (1:1) with a little lemon juice to make it thick. You also have to add some peanuts rosted first in oven and crumbled best for caramel layer. it makes cake more crunchy and breaks sweetnes of it. Hope I was helpfull with it. Please belive me it is not my intention not to share recipie with you but I do not have exact one for it. If something is not clear please ask a question and I'll try to answer.

Wonderful Waffles by Alaksya

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 egg replacer equivalent

I use Bob's Red Mill's egg replacer: http://www.bobsredmill.com/vegetarian-egg-replacer.html

You could also probably use sour cream to replace the egg.

Stuffed Vine Leaves by Nada

‎1 Ib. fresh tender vine leaves - or vine leaves in brine (jar)
2 cups rice (I use basmati but can use any)
1/2 cup chick peas can either be soaked overnight, or if tinned, just rinsed.
1 cup chopped flat leaf parsley (or any parsley, but this... is my preference)
1/2 cup chopped mint
1/2 cup minced chives
2 cups chopped tomatoes (finely diced, a...lso get them pretty ripe and juicy)
1 cup olive oil
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. white ground pepper
1/2 tsp. black ground pepper
1 cup lemon juice
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. fenugreek
1/8 tsp. crushed cloves (basically the tiniest amount)
1 tomato, sliced (for the cooking pot)
1 small potato, sliced for the pot
2 whole garlic bulbs - sorry devotees, it does taste good! But actually I have made it without and its still tasty
Soften vine leaves by dipping in boiling salted water for a minute. Or if using jar in brine, rinse thoroughly in cold water. Drain and pile in deep dish while preparing stuffing.

Prepare cooking pot: use a deep pot, cover the bottom of it with slices of potato and tomato, and the whole garlic cloves. As you roll each vine leaf, place in this pot. (This gives them starch to hold shape and also stops them burning on bottom of pot)

Stuffing: Wash and drain rice. Crack hummus (which has been soaked overnight if fresh, or rinsed if tinned) with rolling pin and remove skins. Make stuffing of rice, hummus, parsley, mint, chopped tomatoes, spring onions, salt, spices (all of the ones listed above), and oil. Can add more seasonings to taste. I like mine very very peppery but not too much cinnamon as can take over.

Stuff one leaf at a time, use a heaping teaspoon of stuffing for each leaf. Fold bottom of leaf up over stuffing, then fold in from each side toward middle. Roll up like a cigar. Rolls should be about three inches long and the thickness of… your thumb? Although will taste good no matter what! The most important thing is that they are totally rolled up so no rice can escape. Don’t break the leaf while rolling as they will burst when cooking. They will be quite juicy, once you have finished rolling each one, pop it into the pot you’re going to cook it in, giving it a little squeeze over the pan, to firm it up and hold its shape; arrange them side by side in layers in the cooking pot.

Sprinkle with salt and lemon juice. Add about a cup of water and any of the juices left over from the stuffing mix. Add some more chopped tomatoes/ tomato paste/ passata sauce (the richer the yummier in my opinion) to the pot (this is probably the point where Scott would add marmite but it's NOT traditional!!!) , you want the juices to just lick the top layer of the stuffed leaves. Place a plate on top of the leaves in the pot, this will weigh them down and hold their shape.

Simmer gently for 45 minutes with lid on. Open lid and simmer uncovered until sauce is thickened. Taste sauce. Add more lemon and salt if necessary. Allow to cool in sauce. Serve cold, with fresh yoghurt to dip them in. Prepare a day ahead, if possible, for best flavour.See More
18 hours ago ·LikeUnlike · 1 personRohini Dasi likes this.

Crumpets by Jayada Radhika

Crumpets

milk
2 tbsp yoghurt
1 1/3 cups sugar
3 heaped tbsp butter
4 cups plain flour
4-5 tsp baking pwd
1 tsp salt

Mix all together with enough milk to reach a thickish pouring consistency. You don't want it to runny. Let sit to prove 45 mins or so.
Now for Scottish Crumpets just drop spoonfuls of batter onto a heated griddle or frying pan on ...med-low to low heat depending on your stove. In India it was about 4 but here I find I need to have the heat at between 2.6 and 3. Leave room for spreading. When little holes appear on the surface and it has a kind of glazed, not wet, look, turn over and cook other side about 1 min or 'til pale golden.
If English Crumpets are desired then you need a few egg rings. Place the egg rings in the pan or griddle and spoon in the batter 'til it fills the ring about half way. DON'T OVER FILL! It rises and if you over fill it, it will spill over the sides and you will have a very difficult time getting your egg ring out of the middle of your crumpet. Trust me! I'm talking from experience, here. As above, when top is no longer wet and has got lots of holes then remove the egg rings and turn over. Cook about 1 min or 'til golden. Toast as needed and spread with butter and all kinds of yummy things like, honey,