WELCOMING 2008 WITH COCONUT CAKE, BLACK EYED PEAS HUMMUS AND FRITTERS FOR GOOD LUCK!

My family wishes a very happy and healthy New Year to all of you. Let's all have a great new year!!:)
Last year we were in Orlando, FL at this time and had published my 2006 New year post from there! I am at home this year and enjoying it too!:D
I am welcoming 2008 starting with a delicious Coconut-Raspberry Layer Cake and ending with Black Eyed Peas Hummus and fritters to bring our family good luck as southerners believe!
Another dish with Black Eyed Peas I made last year is "Hopping John" and another Spinach dish you could try is "Spinach-Ricotta Gnocchi". Enjoy!!:)

Photo from istockphoto.

I can't believe how fast 2007 went by!!
It was a wonderful and fun year for us. Hope it will be as peaceful, happy and healthy in 2008 as well. Usually I don't make any new year's resolutions as I accept life as it comes to me. But I will be making few changes in the way I blog this year to have a tad more time with my kids who are growing up with a lightening speed!:D
Here they are...
1. To take frequent and complete blog breaks, absolutely no visiting any blogs on weekends and limit to 2-3 recipes in one post except RCI posts if I can! I will try my very best!!:D
2. To visit only the blogs of the my regular readers which I do enjoy, who come to my blogs every week with their sweet comments (if you are taking a break for any reason, it's quite okay not to visit of course!) and to visit few of my favorite bloggers who do not blog that often. That means if I see your name in my blogs, I will see you in your's, fair isn't it? :D
There will be a new blog roll this year. You can't believe how many blogs I visit everyday blindly, just because they pop up in my blog roll! Even in some blogs who almost never comment in my blog! It's taking lot of time out of my day to visit 80+ blogs every single day which I have blog rolled since June 2006! I have just realized this in the last month or so. I know! I am a bit slow to catch on!:P
3. To convince myself NOT to feel obligated to enter every event out there in the blogosphere, it's okay for me not to participate if I don't have the time or inclination and NOT to feel guilty about it!
4. Lastly and most importantly, make and spend more time with my kids talking to them, to get involved even more in their day to day happenings and guiding both to enable them to make the right choices/decisions in their lives. It is very tough to raise teenagers and deal with their "attitudes", "issues" and "mood swings" etc! Hahaha!
I will have 2 teenagers at home this March as Tushar is turning 13! After hearing Brittany Spears family saga, watching films like JUNO and looking at teenage moms walking into my daughter's junior and senior high school classes with their tiny babies, I better spend more time with my kids discussing about choices so they can manage their lives in the right way! Specially spend more time talking with my son (don't want him to be a teenage father either now, do I?!) more than my girl who will be 17 yrs old who seems to be far more mature for her age thankfully!!
Okey dokey, these are enough goals for this year, let's see how these work out first!:D

Here I go....

Coconut Layer Cake with Raspberry and Buttercream filling:

I am sending this to Bindiya from "In love with food" for her "These are a few of my favorite things" event with a theme of "cakes and Muffins" this month. Thanks Bindiya, enjoy!:)
This beautiful Coconut-Raspberry celebration cake recipe(with my own slight changes) came from a book called "Perfect Cakes" by Nick Malgieri, which is to me is the best cake book ever! Yes, it takes time and lot of butter and egg whites to make this cake but worth making once a year, specially if it has my favorite sweetened coconut!!:)

For the Cake you need:
2 1/4 cups cake flour or plain flour,
1 tbsp baking powder,
1/2 tsp salt,
8 tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened,
1 1/2 cups sugar,
1/2 tsp coconut essence or Vanilla essence,
1 1/4 cups milk,
1/2 cup egg whites (from about 3 to 4 large eggs,separated)
Buttercream filling:
1/2 cup egg whites (from about 4 large eggs),
1 cup powdered sugar,
20 tbsp (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened,
1 tsp vanilla essence.
For garnish:
1/2 cup seedless raspberry preserve or Jam,
One 7 oz bag of sweetened shredded coconut.

Two 8" round cake pans, lined with parchment or wax paper and sprayed with oil or buttered.

To bake the cake:
First, preheat the oven to 350F.

1. Sift the cake flour, baking powder, and salt onto a paper or a plate.
2.Beat the butter and the sugar with a paddle attachment in a mixer until light and creamy. Add in the essence.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the milk and the egg whites. Add 1/3 of the flour mixture in the blender to the butter mix and beat until smooth. Add in 1/2 the egg white mixture and then add in 1/3 of the flour mixture. Beat well. Add in the remaining liquid and the flour mix. Mix until well incorporated.
4. Divide the batter between two pans and bake for 30-35 minutes or until done. Cool in the pans for five minutes and then cool on the racks. Peel off the paper.
To make buttercream filling:
Whisk egg whites and sugar in the electric mixer first. Take the bowl out and put it over a pan of simmering water to whisk until the egg whites are hot, and sugar has dissolved. Attach it again to the blender, whip this mixture until cool, increased in volume and buttery smooth. Beat in vanilla essence.
To layer the cake:
Slice each layer of the cake horizontally into half into 4 slices. Place on layer on the platter. Spread with 1/3 of jam and then 1/4 of buttercream on it. Top with another layer of cake and repeat. Place the last layer on top and spread the top and sides of the cake with the remaining buttercream. Press the sweetened coconut all over the outside of the cake. Chill the cake for 2 hrs to set the cream and coconut.
Serve at room temperature or you can keep it the fridge for about 3 days. Enjoy!:))

Black Eyed Peas Hummus with crisp Olive oil-herb Pita wedges, few Dimes for luck and Black eyed peas and Spinach fritters!
Hummus recipe is from "Holiday Celebrations" cook book and Southern US style fritters are like the yummy Indian Pakodas, but made using plain flour/Maida. Black eyed peas called "Alasande" in Kannada, which is my favorite beans to make side dishes for rotis or Saaru with rice. I used canned black eyed peas which makes the job easier for me and added spinach to fritters to bring us prosperity and few dimes for good luck on the plate, not inside the fritters to save our teeth!:D

According to southernfood.about.com, "A staple in the Southern diet for over 300 years, black-eyed peas have long been associated with good luck. A dish of black eyed peas is a New Year's tradition in most areas of the South, thought to bring luck and prosperity for the new year. Jessica Harris, author of "Welcome Table" says in her book that some add a dime to the peas for an extra "boost" of luck to the recipient. Greens, thought to symbolize folding money, are often eaten with the black eyed peas on new year's day". (1 Dime=10cents)

To make Hummus:
This is the ame recipe as delicious Chickpeas Hummus but added Black eyed peas instead, was very tasty with crisp Pita bread. You can use crisp Tortilla and Khakras(Indian crisp rotis) for dipping too. Hope you try.


You need:1 can (15oz) Black eyed peas or 2 cups cooked Black eyed peas,
1 tsp Cumin seeds powder,
1-2 Garlic,
few Cilantro leaves,
3-4 tbsp Tahini or Toasted Sesame seeds paste,
Salt and cayenne pepper to taste,
2 tbsp Lemon juice to taste,
water, only if needed to thin to your consistency,
Red or green onion, finely chopped, cilantro to garnish.



To make it:
Grind all the above to a fairly smooth paste adding enough water to thin it to a thick puree. Serve in a bowl garnished with onion and cilantro pieces.
Herb Pita wedges:
Take 3 to 4 Pita bread, brush them with Olive oil and any herbs like Parsley or chives or even spice powder you like on the top. Cut each Pita into 8 wedges. Heat the oven to 350F and place Pita and bake for 5 mins or until just until crisp, not brown. Take them out and cool.


Black eyed peas-Spinach Fritters:
I loved these fritters, best eaten hot and crisp right after frying. Make sure spinach is dry, dough thick and oil is hot(370F) when frying to prevent them soaking too much oil. Enjoy.


You need:
1 can (15oz) Black eyed peas or 1 1/2 cups cooked Black eyed peas,
1/2 cup or more Plain flour,
1/8 tsp or a pinch of Baking soda,
1 tbsp Cornstarch or corn flour,
4 tbsp chopped Cilantro or Parsley,
1/2" finely minced ginger,
1/2 tsp garlic pd,
1/4 cup finely chopped Onion,
1/2 cup chopped Spinach,(if using frozen, squeeze them well until dry)
1 tsp Cumin seeds,
salt and red chilli flakes to taste.


To make fritters:
1. Heat enough oil to 370F to deep fry.
2. Add drained cooked peas in to a bowl, mash roughly until coarse with your hands or with a spoon but not into a smooth paste. It should still have pieces of beans visible but mashed coarsely.
3. Add in all the other ingredients shown above, and mix well to a very thick dough like Pakora mix. Since beans don't have much gluten to hold them together, you should add plain flour to make it thick enough to bind the dough.
4. Adjust the salt and chilli flakes and using two spoons, drop large Walnut sized, oval shaped fritters into the hot oil and deep fry until golden all over.
Serve with Ketchup or hot sauce.

Here is our Christmas feast; Honey baked Ham, Cranberry sauce, spicy Potato fry, Coleslaw, Apple-Orange Marmalade-Feta cheese salad and Italian Panettone!


Well..I had planned to post this on the 1st of Jan. but then realized it's a public holiday and went to watch "I am legend" with the family (not worth the money!). Trisha and I went to see Tim Burton's "Sweeney Todd" last Wednesday and enjoyed it thoroughly. Watch it if you get a chance, beware of the spurting blood and gore though!
Have a great beginning Y'all!! See you next Wednesday as usual with some Indian dishes, had enough of cakes and cookies already!:D