Carrot Bajjis (Fritters) / Carrot-a Bajo

I've had 'bajjis' of different vegetables, however, surprisingly, I've never had carrot fritters exclusively. I've had them as a part of a mixed vegetable fritter dish. Infact a few days back, I had them (once again, as a part of a mixed vegetable fritter dish) at a restaurant and made a mental note to batter-fry carrots for my son who loves both carrots and fritters.

Since I made these for my son, I used just one carrot and went very easy with the spices. Feel free to add more spices and increase the quantity of the fritters. My M-I-L adds ajwain which gives a nice taste to the fritters (and has several health benefits) so I added some.

Ingredients :
1 large carrot
2 tbsp besan
1 tbsp maida or cornflour
1 tsp rice flour
1 pinch ajwain
1 pinch jeera (cumin seeds)
1 pinch chilli powder
Salt to taste.

Method:

Wash, peel and chop carrot into 1/4th inch slices. (Mine turned out too thick, next time I will chop them thinner).
In a bowl add the rest of the ingredients. Add enough water and mix well to get a thick batter (I added about 2 tbsp water).
Dip carrot slices one by one and deep fry.

My son looked at the plate and smiled. 'Smiling bajo, smiling sauce', he said.

Hershey's 'Perfectly Chocolate' Chocolate Cake

The first chocolate cake I ever made from scratch was the Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake. It is what they call it - perfect. Easy to make, tastes great and it has never failed me. I have made this cake so many times, I've lost count - son's b'day, bro-in-law's b'day, friend's b'day, potluck parties, cake decorating classes.
I have toyed with several kinds of frosting on the cake - Hershey's ''Perfectly Chocolate'' chocolate frosting, buttercream icing, whipped cream icing, whipped cream mixed with oreo cookie bits. Tastes great without icing too. This recipe is definitely worth a try and before you know it, it may become your favourite dependable chocolate cake recipe.

Ingredients :

2 cups sugar 

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour (maida)

3/4 cup cocoa 

1 1/2 tsp baking powder 

1 1/2 tsp baking soda 

1 tsp salt 

2 eggs 

1 cup milk 

1/2 cup oil 

2 tsp vanilla extract 

1 cup boiling water 

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 350ºF. Liberally grease two 9" round cake pans with oil or cooking spray.

In a large bowl, mix sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. With a handheld electric mixer, beat on medium speed for two minutes. Add water and beat for a few seconds till it mixes well.

Pour the cake batter evenly into the two cake pans.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until a fork inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Here are some pictures of the cakes I made using this recipe - some when I just started baking and a couple in my cake decorating classes. More on that some day.

A couple of eggless chocolate cake recipes:
Eggless Chocolate Cake
Eggless Microwave Chocolate Cake

Sending this to Bookmarked Recipes and Hearth and Soul.