ORANGE CAKE WITH ORANGE ICING

Beauty lies in the Eyes of the Beholder -- A very famous saying by John Keats. I truly believe it, having said that I have to admit that I feel winter to be a beautiful season....WHY ??? not very sure, may be its cause of my birthplace. Being brought up in beautiful state of Meghalaya, my love for Winter season is kind of very natural. The long winter vacations might have something to do with it as well :D .  Along with winter comes the beautiful fruit -- Orange. Mangoes mark the start of Summer and Oranges mark the onset of Winter. Shillong has abandace of Oranges, every house has at least 2 orange trees. And in the chill weather, having oranges after lunch is a different feeling all together. I still remember those days, we had a tree just near the bedroom window ; before lunch Mamoni would call us (Me and Anna) out and she would pluck the oranges and me and my sister would run to the yard with a basket, we were responsible to catch the oranges before it hit the ground...soon we would have a basket full of oranges--- plump, sweet and juicy. The orange is one of the most common and popular fruit. Delicious and juicy orange fruit contains an impressive list of essential nutrients, vitamins, minerals for normal growth and development and overall well-being. It goes perfectly in any sweet or savory dishes and its also perfect on its own. :) .My love for the Oranges has nothing to do with the healthy benefits, anyways let me share some of the health benefits of oranges I have read ; Regularly consuming vitamin C retards the development of hardening of the arteries and oranges is abundant source for vitamin C. Oranges contain a compound called liminoid, has been found to help fight cancers of the mouth, skin, lung, breast, stomach and colon.  The high vitamin C content also acts as a good anti-oxidant that protects cells from damages by free radicals. The alkaloid synephrine found under the orange peel can reduce the liver's production of cholesterol.  Whereas the anti-oxidant fights oxidative stress that is the main culprit in oxidizing the LDLs in our blood. Even though the orange "tastes acidic", it actually has an alkaline effect in the digestive system and helps stimulate the digestive juices, relieving constipation. A high intake of flavonoids and vitamin C has been known to halve the risk of heart diseases and oranges is abundant source for vitamin C. Studies have shown that a flavonoid called hesperidin in oranges can lower high blood pressure. Drinking orange juice daily can significantly drop the risk of formation of calcium oxalate stones in the kidney. The anti-oxidant in orange help protect the skin from free radical damage known to cause signs of aging. Consuming vitamin C rich foods helps to lower the incidence of peptic ulcers and in turn, reduce the risk of stomach cancer. Oranges have abundance of polyphenols have been shown to provide protection against viral infections. On the 26th Jan, we celebrated the 63rd Republic day. Watching the flag hosting and parade on the television, just fills me with a great zeal and pride to me an Indian. Last year on this day I enjoyed the day with Colorful Mash, and I won the first award for my cooking.....it was great. This year I wanted something sweet. It so happened that last weekend I bought loads of oranges, and was planning to turn that in a cake. 26th Jan'2012 seemed to be a great day to make the cake.....finally my Orange cake with Orange Icing was created.

FOR ORANGE CAKE
Orange, finely grated zest only	1 medium sized
Eggs	2 numbers
Flour	1 & 1/2 cup
Baking Powder	1 tablespoon
Sugar	1 cup
Nutmeg (grated)	1 teaspoons
Butter	1/4 cup
Salt	Just a pinch
Ground-Nut Oil	1/2 cup

FOR ORANGE ICING
Orange juice, freshly squeezed	1 medium sized
Icing sugar	1/2 cup

    ORANGE CAKE:-

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Butter and flour the sides of the cake tin and set it aside.
2. Grind the sugar till it becomes fine and powdery.
3. Whisk together eggs and powdered sugar till the sugar is dissolved.
4. Add the orange zest to the egg mixture and whisk again till the mixture becomes light and fluffy.
5. Melt the butter in a saucepan , add the oil to the melting butter in the saucepan.
6. Add the oil + butter mixture to the egg mixture and stir well.
7. Sift in the flour and baking powder in a separate bowl.
8. To the flour mixture, add the grated nutmeg and salt ; mix well.
9. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and fold it all together gently.
10. Pour the cake mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes at 150C or till a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.
11.  When the cake is done,place the tin out of the oven and allow to stand for about ten minutes before removing the cake carefully from the tin. Allow the cake to cool completely.

    ORANGE ICING & ASSEMBLY:-

1. Sift the icing sugar into a bowl and stir in just enough orange juice until it is soft; see that the icing is not runny. 
2. Place the cake on a serving plate and spread the orange icing over the top in a zigzag pattern. 
3. Let it stand for 15 minutes and serve.

         

The slice of the sweet and orangey cake given a very pleasant feeling .

1st BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION WITH 'SALAD RICE WITH SWEET & SPICY CHICKEN'

A year has passed by and along came in 2012 with lot of new hopes and dreams. Wishing you all a Great New Year Ahead.......may every moment be filled with joy and hope all your dreams come true....!!!! It’s been more than a month that I wrote anything. Did I lose the excitement......No way; rather I was caught in the hands of faith. I met with an accident and was in bed-rest all this time. Sadly I missed a lot of important and fun occasions in the process --- I missed to celebrate my blog's birthday, SORRY BUON APPETITO :( , I missed the new year celebration and I even spent my birthday lying in bed. Well no use crying over spilt milk, today I started cooking and I decided to making something that celebrates my cooking experiments and it’s my way of saying sorry to my blog for missing out on her birthday :) . Do join me to wish BUON APPETITO a very Happy 1st Birthday. I just cannot believe that one year has passed by and I had a lot of fun with you (BUON APPETITO). Before I begin with the recipe I want to share the story behind my blog. I was always interested in cooking since childhood but I have started serious cooking some 6-7 years back ---after I moved out of my home and I was tired of eating out. Over the years I had treated my friends & family now and they would always encourage me a lot. My friends would often ask for my recipes and it got me thinking that I should have a space where I could note down my recipes and everyone could access it. During the same time, my younger brother started blogging and he explained me all about it and it seemed to be a great idea........and I started my first blogs -VERSATILITY. In a few days I realized that blog could be a great way of noting my recipes and anyone could access them easily if they wanted. With this thought in head I came to office on December 18th, 2010 and I determined to start my recipe blog. However I didn’t know what to name it and the whole day in office I kept thinking about it, I even involved my younger sister in the process. At night 11:00pm it struck me.......I had read an article sometime back, that Italians never start their meal without wishing "BUON APPETITO" meaning 'Enjoy your Meal' to all and it felt just perfect. I have some fascination with everything Italian---the architecture, food, men everything stands out in my eyes :) . And I want everyone to enjoy my dishes.....so my blog is named "BUON APPETITO". I started blogging with no knowledge about it. I thought blog is only for personal entries---that’s what I saw in Movies, I didn’t even know that there are other peoples who blog about recipes. Over the last year I discovered the blogger community; I met many wonderful people and loved the experience. Now let’s move to the recipe---SALAD RICE with SWEET & SPICY CHICKEN. I wanted to make something special to celebrate the birthday......however I was torn between trying something new or revisiting an old recipe. Finally I decided to make this dish.....it has a great importance to me. This is the dish that marked the beginning of my journey with kitchen. The first time I made it was some 4 years back just for me.....and then I had it again for my parents some 2 years back. Today when I made the dish I had made a few changes and I liked the variation.

FOR SWEET & SPICY CHICKEN
Chicken thighs	8 pieces
Potatoes	2 medium sized
Carrots	2 medium sized
Red Onion	1 large
Ginger-garlic paste	2 teaspoons
Grape Juice	1 cup
Lime Juice	1/2 of a Lime
Honey	1 tablespoon
Tomato puree	1/2 tablespoon
Paprika	3 teaspoons
Salt	As per taste
Ground-Nut Oil	2 tablespoons

FOR SALAD RICE
Basmati Rice	2 cups
Onion	1 large sized
Carrot	1 large sized
Cucumber	1 medium sized
Tomato	2 medium sized
Yogurt	4-5 tablespoons
Lime Juice	1 number
Turmeric powder	1/2 teaspoon
Paprika	1 teaspoon
Salt	As per taste
Ground-Nut Oil	2 tablespoons

    SWEET & SPICY CHICKEN:-

1. Marinate the chicken thighs in a bowl with salt, 1 teaspoon paprika and lime juice. Let it stand for 15-20 min.
2. Chop the vegetables --potato, carrot and onion, in medium sized cubes.
3. In a large pan, add oil and fry the chicken till it get golden. Remove the pieces in a foil and fold the foil so that the chicken pieces stay warm.
4. In the same pan, add the ginger-garlic paste and fry. Add the cubed vegetables and lightly fry them.
5. In a separate bowl, whisk together paprika, tomato puree, honey and line juice. Pour the liquid mixture in the pan. 
6. Add the warm, fried chicken pieces to the cooking pan and cooking again for 4-5 minutes; see that every vegetable and chicken are properly coated with the liquid mixture.
7. Pour the grape juice to the pan; let it cook on medium heat till the chicken and vegetable are cooked and the liquid is a evaporated.

    SALAD RICE:-

1. Heat oil in a large pot; add the rice to the pot and fry it for 5-6 min.
2. Whisk together the yogurt, turmeric powder, paprika and salt in a bowl.
3. Pour the yogurt mixture to the frying rice, mix well and let it cool for 6-7 min.
4. Add water to the pot and let the rice cook.
5. Chop the onion, carrot, cucumber and tomato into small cubes. 
6. Add lime zest. lime juice and salt to the chopped vegetables and let it stand for 10 min.
7. Mix the tangy vegetables to the cooked rice.

         

The tangy Salad Rice with Sweet and Spicy Chicken makes a great combination.