Winter morning. Warm Sunlight. Warmer Muffins.

Wake up to the aroma of freshly baked orange almond muffins… just out of the oven! What a thought! Just made real.

My inspiration to bake comes from my kid who loves anything pulled out of the oven. His love for these treats make me all the more adamant to bake clean-good stuff than feed him lard-loaded bakes from the local bakers! Not to mention the ever-increasing junk that comes with it (read synthetics, preservatives, colors, and many things gooey and weird).

Here is a simple recipe that wont take too much time or effort. Within half hour you will find a batch of warm, soft, orangy, fuzzy, crunchy, yummy, cupcakes ready.

Big Batch of Almond Muffins with Orange Juice & Peels

My ingredients are always approximates and keep changing everyday but to help you get the idea, here is the closest measurement.

Ingredients for Orange Almond Cupcakes:

• Flour – 1 1/2 cup
• Baking Powder – 1 1/2 tsp
• Oil – 3/4 cup
• Sugar – 3/4 cup
• Eggs – 3
• Salt – 1 pinch
• Vanilla Extract – 1 1/2 tsp
• Almond Extract – 1 tsp (optional)
• Orange or Lemon Juice – About few tablespoons or as per taste
• Crushed Almonds – a handful
• Dried orange peels – a handful (optional)

How to make Almond Orange Cupcakes:

• Sieve flour and baking powder together. Keep aside.
• Whisk eggs well.
• Add vanilla essence, almond essence, sugar, oil, salt, orange juice and mix well.
• Add almonds and dried orange peels.
• Add flour to the wet mixture. Mix gently.

To make Orange Almond Cake:
Grease your baking dish with oil or butter and dust with flour. Pour the cake batter immediately. Bake for 30-40 mins at around 170 degrees centigrade or until the toothpick/knife comes out clean.

To make Orange Almond Muffins:
Spoon the batter into cupcake moulds and bake for 15 mins at around 170 degrees centigrade or until the toothpick/knife comes out clean.

Crusty Muffin Top with Craters - An Invitation by Itself

My Notes:

• These cupcakes were born out of available ingredients in the kitchen. Anything that could seemingly fit in the taste meter was popped in. Orange, almonds and vanilla is a good combination. So it works. If you substitute orange juice with lemon juice, you get Almond Lemon Cake or Cupcake.
• The sugar can be adjusted as per taste. I generally use minimum quantity of sugar in the bakes. I do not believe in icing unless the occasion demands embellishment.
• Orange peels are the secret behind many tasty cakes. Follow the link for a quick and easy way to make dried orange peels that can be added to Christmas cakes, chocolate cakes, etc.
• The almond essence is not required unless you need heavy almondy taste. Since most of the available almond essences in the market are synthetics, it is really not needed. Go more on real almonds.
• Some people like their cupcake crust crunchy and browned. For this, you can leave them in the oven for a few minutes extra.

The floral mania continues. This is the season to celebrate and the world seems to have come alive in all colors and hues. Adding joy and mirth to every nook and corner are the lovely flowers in thousands of colors. And then add the magic of rain… forming dewy drops on the petals.

There is so much to take in but alas the rushed man. Where is the time to stop? Where is the time to see?

Here are some of the rain-laden beauties that were captured as life went by. These are no exotic flowers of the garden but run along the alleys and roads. Some call them weeds; some stray seeds. I call them soul food.

Bling Busy

All set to become a juicy vegetable. Awaiting the pollinators.

Pink? Magenta? Fuchsia? Purple? Phew!

I wish I had a better camera.... no?

Purple burst. Never thought delicious would be the word for this

Ah! Paradise.

Peruvian by nature

The journey from yellow to scarlet.

My purple flower fixation continues. Someone help me.

All flowers and no twigs? Some pearls of wisdom here.

This floral journey will continue… Apologies, it is too hard to stop.

Please let me know if you have captured any flowering beauties this season. Drop your link here. I would love to see.

Color me Orange! (Pix Credit: Lukas, Berlin)

Holidays are back again! Time for all things exciting and beautiful. Holiday decorations, gifts, loved ones and not to mention the cakes and bakes.

To help you kick start the baking season, here is a quick tutorial on how to make dried orange peel that goes as a secret ingredient in many yummy cakes, bakes and savories. A little secret about the orange peels is that it curbs your hunger pangs too

Oranges are in season and orange peels go into garbage. A better way is to harvest all the orange peels, sit in the comfort of your chair and make candied orange peels that you can eat right out of your tin or add to your cakes.

How to make dried orange peel
Here is a simple recipe with no hard and fast rules for measurement. You will arrive at the best quantity of each ingredient after an attempt or two. Here is my personal favorite:

• Peels of 2 big oranges (having eaten the lovely fruit)
• Sugar – Handful
• Water – Enough to cover the peels

Having eaten the orange, collect the leftover peels.

With a spoon or a knife, clean the pith. The white part of the peel is slightly bitter and can be removed. If you like a bit of bitterness in your baked goodies, you can leave it on. I prefer scraping the pith as the dried orange peel tastes sweet and tangy.

Scrape the pith for making dried orange peels

Wash the peels thorougly and cut it into thick or thin slices.

Julienne Well - Cut orange peel into thin slices

You can wash the thin slices again before you boil to ensure all the scraped pith and little bits are left behind.

Strips of orange peel ready to become candy

Boil the peel in adequate water with sugar. You could leave it on slow fire for a while for the peels to become tender.

15 minutes should suffice.

Boil - to infuse the peel with sugary sweetness

Drain out the peels, spread it on a plate or tray and leave it out in the sun for 2 days.

Sun-kissed luscious strips

After two days, take a bite of this peel to see if it is done.

If it is crunchy and crumbles, it is done and dried.

Done and Dried

Stock on this dried orange peel which can last for months. You could simply chew on them (as they are addictive), add a few into your iced tea or hot tea, dip into molten chocolate and set it to dry or simply pop in a few into the cake or cookie batter.

Whats an orange cake without a peel within?

That was yummm!!!

But even yummier are the candied orange peels that follow the same procedure as above. The moment you drain the peels from the water, roll them in powdered sugar so that the peels are well coated and put it out to dry. You could also bake these to speed up your drying time.

I’d prefer the sun-kissed peels and day. I made quite a few of these but needless to stay that they are disappearing at a fast rate. You know why!

For all the christmas cakes, apple cinnamon cakes, carrot cakes and more, this one ingredient does wonders. Did I tell you that chocolate and orange is a killer combination?

So all you bakers, make you own box of candied peel and keep adding that yummm factor to your baking escapades!

You could also gift a box of these as goodies to someone who bakes. Hmmmm, thats a very thoughtful handmade gift.

Let me know if this helped. And if you too are munching it away

There is something sacred about sand.

It is abundant near water. It is abundant where there is no water.
It sifts through if you try to hold but leaves a few grains behind if you let go.
It looks like a dull color of gold but see closer you find colors breathtakingly bold.
It is magic. It is real.

And it continues to remain mysterious and elusive, giving us a lifetime of discovery and delight in every grain of sand.

Serenity - A Moment in Time - 24" x 24"

Working with sand is at a different realm altogether. Brushes and knives dont seem enough.  The sand with its dunes, soft peaks, and patterns is a mesmerising medium… we only have to follow the way of the sand. It is like working with someone who has a mind of its own. The artist becomes an apprentice.

This abstract nature landscape painting was made from a salvaged canvas that had a green abstract.
But it never felt complete.

The sand did to it what I could not. It raised the work to another dimension. Touch it and you will know how.

Hot, Crisp and Spicy Fried Arvi

This is neither a vegetable that figures first on your shopping list nor is a choicest pick when you go grocery shopping. This poor fella is usually left out in favor of the good looking luscious veggies. Cant blame it on looks alone, this one gives a nasty itch to your hands if you dont know how to treat (peel) it right.

Fuss apart, Arvi is a lovely little vegetable that packs in a lot of taste, texture and surprise. Also known as arbi or taro, this rhizome is a great filler and substitute for potatoes in curries and most dishes. Its leaves are edible too and make great wraps for steaming other delicacies.

My childhood memories are linked with arvi ka khatta, or even better arvi gosht ka khatta. This root goes well with any meat. It is equally tasty in simple and solo dishes. I guess it important how this vegetable is introduced to you as a child. Once you like it, there is nothing like it.

Here is my version of simple arvi fry. When you cook this, you should not worry about the slime, spice or quantity of oil. They all end up as a marvel in unison.

Cooking Colocasia Can Cause Craving

Here are the simple steps:

Mix arvi chunks with salt, chilli powder, dhania power and turmeric. Keep aside.
Temper hot oil with mustard seeds, dry chillies, curry leaves and garlic.
Add the masala coated arbi chunks to the tadka. Keep frying till done.
Thats it. The crispier the better.

My Notes:

• If you are new to colocasia, you will definitely end up with itchy hands. The trick is to peel this vegetable dry. The moment water comes in contact with its scaly skin, you will end up scratching your hands for a while…  swearing never to touch it again. But who said good things come easy?
• Most people pressure-cook before peeling. It makes your job a lot easy for its half cooked and less itchy.
• The key to tempering is to wait till the mustard seeds split and crackle. Then add the other  ingredients of tadka.

Now, is colocasia in your shopping list?