Strawberry Sandwich Cake

(From Banu's Cookbook)

Ingredients:

Basic Cake baked in 2 - 8" or 9" round cake pans and cooled. See the recipe here
Fresh Strawberries - 1 Pint
Sugar - 1 Cup (or more if the strawberries are sour)
Optional - Whipped cream - for decorated - thawed to room temperature

Method:
1) Take a cake plate or any other plate and place the first round white cake on it.
2) Mix the strawberries and sugar well.
3) Spread this mixture over the cake. You can put spread a layer of whipped cream on the cake before you spread the strawberry mixture and again after it just to get that white layer.
4) Place the 2nd white cake over this and press very very gently to settle them. Wipe any strawberry mixture that might have oozed out between the cakes.
5) Decorate the top layer with more whipped cream and fresh strawberries cut into pieces.
6) Put this in the fridge for at least 8 hours for the strawberries and the cream to set.

Basic Cake Recipe

(From Banu's Cookbook)


Ingredients:
Sugar - 1 Cup
Butter - 1/2 Cup (At Room temperature)
Egg Whites - 2
Whole Egg - 1
All Purpose Flour - 1 1/2 Cup
Baking Powder - 1 13/4 tsp
Vanilla Extract - 2 tsp
Milk - 1/2 Cup

Method:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2) Grease and flour a 9x9 inch pan.
3) In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Stir in vanilla.
4) Beat in the eggs, one at a time - alternating with the flour/baking powder mixture.
5) Stir in the milk slowly, constantly mixing, until batter is smooth.
6) Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden brown and toothpick comes out clean.
7) Let it cool for 10 mins and then you can decorate it and cut it out.

Puliyogare Gojju

(From Banu's Cookbook)

Ingredient

Thick tamarind juice 1 cup
Salt to taste
Jaggery small piece or sugar 1 tbsp (More if you want a little sweeter Gojju)

For seasoning:

Oil for seasoning
1 tsp Mustard seeds
1 tsp Urad dal
2 tbsps Peanuts
1 tsp Chana dal
3-4 Red chillies
Few Curry leaves

For Dry Masala (to be ground):

1 cup Dessicated coconut or shredded copra
2 tsp Coriander seeds
1 tsp Peppercorns
A pinch of Asafoetida
6-8 Red chillies (Can be increased or decreased based on how spicy you want the gojju to be)
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
2 tsp Sesame seeds
2 tsp Chana dal
1 tsp Urad dal
1 tsp Peanuts
A few Curry leaves

Method:

Heat oil in a non stick pan. Add the seasonings one by one and once the mustard seeds splutter, add the tamarind juice.

Mix it well and add the salt and jaggery. Allow this mixture to come to boil.

Now add the ground dry masala powder to the boiling juice. Turn the heat to medium and boil for a few more minutes until the juice becomes thick and also you can see the oil separating from the mixture.

Now the Gojju is ready. Allow it to come to room temperature and then you can store it in the refrigerator for close to a month.

Preparing Puliyogare Rice:

Heat a little Ghee and Oil in a pan. Add seasoning of mustard seeds, urad daal, Peanuts and curry leaves. Add 2 to 3 tbsp of the puliyogare gojju and mix well. Add this to the cooked and cooled rice and mix well. Garnish with Freshly grated coconut. You can even mix just the gojju with cooked rice and eat, but this extra seasoning that you add gives an added taste.


Note: You can always use Rasam Powder instead of the the dry ground masala powder as it has pretty much the same ingredients. You might need 10-15 tsp of the Rasam powder depending on how hot you want the gojju to be.