No-Bake Dessert Recipes - easy desserts that need no baking

No-bake desserts are a bit of a specialty of mine. Yes, I love baking cakes and cookies but when it comes to making desserts, especially for a crowd for a party or potluck, I generally default to no-bake recipes that need no baking, no oven, and in some cases, no cooking or heat at all. Mind you, no baking does not necessarily mean it takes lesser time. Some of these recipes do need to set in the fridge or be cooked in a particular way for them to be ready but yet, if your oven is not working or it's a particularly hot time of year and you just don't want to bake anything, these recipes are for you.

The usual methods of making no-bake dessert is to
a) use a microwave
b) use a steamer
c) use the stove top
d) no cooking needed - just mix and maybe allow to set in the refrigerator.

My favourite methods among all of this is using the steamer. This is because it allows the dessert to cook anyway and gives you similar results as baking. Of course, this depends on what you are making. No-bake cheesecakes require no steamer or oven and yes, that's one delicious dessert too!

So take your pick and I hope you enjoy making these. Please leave a comment if you have a favourite no-bake recipe that's not listed here. I have avoided sharing Indian dessert recipes that need no baking simply because Indian desserts by nature are not usually baked. The cooking methods tend to be elaborate though and can't usually be classified as "simple". These are desserts that are more for parties or when you are cooking for a crowd.

Share and enjoy!

Steamed Chocolate Cake

Pressure Cooker Cake

Oreo Cheesecake

Chocolate Mug Cake

Banana Toffee Pie

Tiramisu

Eggless Strawberry Mousse

Biscuit Brownies

Microwave Chocolate Cake

Mango Cheesecake

Chocolate Pistachio Fudge

I will be adding more no-bake recipes as I post them so keep checking back. If you try any of these recipes, do drop me an email with the picture of your dish and I'll feature it in my Facebook page! All details here.

Vegetable Jalfrezi Recipe, Easy Veg Jalfrezi Recipe, Step by Step

Vegetable jalfrezi - Learn how to make vegetable jalfrezi,  a semi-dry Indian recipe with a mix of vegetables cooked in a tomato-based gravy. I love paneer jalfrezi and make it often mainly based on Sanjeev Kapoor's vegetable jalfrezi recipe but last weekend, I was out of paneer and opted for this vegetable version with my own adaptations. Can I just say it was delicious? A healthy mix of vegetables cooked with minimum spices to bring out the flavour of the individual vegetables, that's really my favourite style of cooking. Restaurants tend to make vegetable jalfrezi and paneer jalfrezi really greasy and oily and some even add cream to it which baffles me. A simple jalfrezi recipe made at home with as many vegetables as possible thrown in is should be kept healthy and simple, in my opinion.

The secret to getting a good deep colour for your jalfrezi is to use tomato paste instead of fresh pureed tomato. I use tomato paste from a can or from tubes which are much easier to use. Since these are really concentrated, a teaspoon or two at the most is usually sufficient. As for the vegetables, you can go for any you like. I used carrots, beans, baby corn, bell pepper, and onions this time around. You can even make vegetable jalfrezi with paneer if you have a few cubes of it lying around but not enough to make an entire dish with the paneer.

Jalfrezi is a good option to use as a filling for kathi rolls too. Take a tortilla wrap, add some filling inside, roll it up, and you are good to go! Kathi rolls make very easy evening snacks if you have the filling ready. However, I serve jalfrezi as a side dish so we feel we are actually eating some vegetables instead of just a dal and a paneer side dish. Since it's semi-dry, it's good to complement it with some dal or at least raita. While chapatis go really well with vegetable jalfrezi, I opted to make a simple peas pulao last weekend to keep things simple.

Here's a tip if you'd like to get your jalfrezi on the table in a jiffy - keep all ingredients prepared and ready. Probably the more time-consuming activity in preparing this recipe is the chopping of the vegetables. Try to keep them long and evenly thick for uniform cooking.

Similar recipes you may enjoy:
Paneer jalfrezi
Paneer mushroom masala 
Paneer korma

VEGETABLE JALFREZI RECIPE

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:
4-5 cups of cut vegetables (carrot, baby corn, capsicum, beans, cauliflower, etc)
1/2 cup of onions, sliced
1/2 tsp of cumin seeds
2 tbsp of oil
1 tsp of coriander powder
1/2 tsp of red chilli powder (adjust to taste)
1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
1.5 to 2 tbsp of tomato paste
1/2 tsp of garam masala
1 tsp of kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
4 tbsp of chopped fresh coriander leaves (cilantro)
1 tsp of ginger garlic paste
A pinch of sugar

INSTRUCTIONS:

Prepare your vegetables first by washing, peeling, and chopping them.

Heat oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds. When they sizzle and turn a darker brown, add the sliced onions.

Saute until the onions turn soft and a light golden brown. Add the ginger garlic paste and saute for another 30 seconds. Then add the coriander powder, chilli powder, and turmeric. Fry for 20 seconds taking care not to burn the spices. Turning the heat lower at this stage helps, especially if you are a beginner cook.

Now add the tomato paste and mix well.

Now add the chopped vegetables and give everything a good mix.

Top up with 1-1.5 cups of water and bring to boil. Lower flame and cook covered until the vegetables are cooked.

Take care not to overcook them to a mush, the vegetables should still hold their shape. By the time the vegetables are done, the water would have mostly been cooked up. If you find the gravy still very watery, cook a bit longer leaving the pan open.

When the vegetables are cooked and the dish has the desired consistency, add salt, sugar, kasuri methi, and garam masala. Mix well and turn off the heat.

Finally garnish with chopped coriander leaves.

Paneer jalfrezi should be served hot with chapatis or pulao. A simple peas pulao or jeera pulao would be a great combination. Refrigerate leftovers for up to two days. This can be rolled up in a roti or wrap or even sandwiched between bread. Enjoy, do send me a picture at if you try this recipe. Details are in my Facebook Page.

For vegetable jalfrezi recipe in Urdu, Hindi, Tamil, etc, please use the Google translate button in the sidebar.

Easy Gobi Mushroom Masala Recipe, Step by Step

Gobi Mushroom Masala recipe with gobi (cauliflower), and button mushrooms cooked in an onion-tomato spiced gravy. This gobi mushroom masala goes best with pulao or jeera rice but will also serve as a good side dish for roti or chapati.

My everyday recipes are often the same, following the same method using similar ingredients and cooking method. I often share these recipes with you all in the hope that it helps your menu planning and getting some food quickly on the table. This particular gobi mushroom masala recipe has a tomato onion base and I have used some whole spices (garam masala) for tempering to give it more flavour. Mushrooms and cauliflower is also TH's favourites so it was a no-brainer to combine the two vegetables to make a quick curry.

One quick word on herbs, curry leaves, and coriander leaves. When in Sydney, I found that curry leaves were near impossible to find fresh and coriander leaves were quite expensive for the kind of lavishness I am used to when using them. So I resorted to kasuri methi a lot. For the uninitiated, kasuri methi is dried methi or fenugreek leaves which has a wonderful, deep, smoky flavour. It's also faintly bitter like the fresh leaves are. Of course, kasuri methi is not a direct substitute for fresh coriander leaves but for most tomato-onion based gravies and curries, I found it to be a great addition that almost made me not miss fresh coriander in my life.

For most of my North Indian curry recipes like paneer butter masala, paneer jalfrezi, and even palak paneer, I use kasuri methi quite generously but this gobi mushroom masala is more of an experiment. Do let me know if you try and like the recipe too!

GOBI MUSHROOM MASALA RECIPE

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:
4 cups of cauliflower florets
2 cups of chopped button mushrooms
1 tbsp of canned tomato paste (see notes)
2 cups of sliced onions
1/2 tsp of Kashmiri chilli powder (or any red chilli powder)
1/4 cup of raw cashew nuts
2 tsp of oil
1 bay leaf
A few cloves
1" piece of cinnamon
1/4 tsp of turmeric powder
1/2 tsp of cumin seeds
1 tsp of coriander powder
1 tbsp of kasuri methi (dried fenugreek leaves)
2-3 green cardamom pods
1 tsp of ginger garlic paste

INSTRUCTIONS:

Soak the cashew nuts in warm water for 30 minutes and set aside.

Heat 1 tsp oil in a pan and add the sliced onions. Saute until golden brown and add the tomato paste along with 1/4 tsp red chilli powder, ginger garlic paste, and some salt.

Cook for a while longer until the mixture turns fragrant and is well roasted, like below.

Cook and grind the above along with the soaked cashew nuts to a smooth paste. Add water as needed when grinding.

Heat the remaining 1 tsp oil in the same pan and add cumin seeds, cinnamon, cardamom, and bay leaf.

Toss around for 15 seconds and then add the cauliflower florets. Mix well to combine. Let the cauliflower roast on low heat until semi cooked.

Then, add the mushrooms and mix well again.

Add the remaining 1/4 tsp chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder and some salt. Mix well.

Now add the cashew-onion-tomato paste along with 1/2 cup water.

Mix well and simmer on low heat until the mushrooms and cauliflower are cooked through. Adjust salt as needed. When the vegetables are cooked, sprinkle the kasuri methi on top, give everything a final stir, and remove from heat.

Add more or less water as needed for the right consistency. This gobi masala should typically have some gravy.

Notes:
- I use tomato paste in a lot of my recipes since it's easier than chopping up and grinding tomatoes on a busy day and also, the paste gives the dish a deeper colour and flavour. You can replace the 1 tbsp tomato paste in this recipe with 1 cup fresh tomato puree. Expect the colour of the final dish to be a lot lighter in that case
- You can omit the cashew nuts and 2 tbsp cream at the final stage along with kasuri methi
- Instead of adding whole spices like cardamom etc in the beginning, you can finish off the dish with 1 tsp garam masala powder when adding the kasuri methi
- A fistful of peas would fit right into this gobi mushroom masala recipe so add some if you have any handy

Easy Chicken Broccoli Stir-Fry Recipe with Bell Pepper

Stir-fried chicken with broccoli and bell pepper, one of those easy chicken recipes I cooked during the last few days in Sydney when I was home alone and cooking just for myself. The recipe is inspired by a chicken stir fry I used to buy often at a Chinese food stall that would be so simple but so delicious with steamed rice. If you like broccoli and bell pepper, then you'd love this easy stir-fry of the vegetables with chicken.

I love the combination of broccoli and bell pepper, especially when stir-fried with just chilli flakes and salt. In this recipe, I added some corn flour and soya sauce to get a semi gravy that would go with rice. The recipe can be adapted in so many different ways with whatever vegetables you like. I had some leftover soaked almonds after making badam milk and added that too but some roasted cashew nuts or peanuts can be substituted too (or completely left out).

Our apartment in Sydney was near this lovely organic supermarket called About Life and they'd have GMO-free, organic chicken cut into strips, ready for you to stir-fry or make into chicken fingers. I loved how easy it was to buy a pack and quickly cook up something. Sometimes I marvel at how easy it is to put together a simple stir-fry dish rather than a South Indian lunch which has to have some kuzhambu, curry, maybe another curry, papad, curd, phew. Yes that's comfort food but I felt pretty well comforted by this simple one-pot dish too.

I love cooking with chicken but don't do it often since TH is vegetarian and it's too bothersome cooking something for myself and then separately for him. Doesn't really go with my goal of staying in the kitchen as little as possible. That said, here are some popular chicken recipes in Edible Garden.

Chicken 65
Dry chilli chicken
Kerala chicken curry
Chicken fried rice
Simple chicken curry with coconut milk

Let me know what your favourite chicken recipe is in the comments!

CHICKEN STIR FRY WITH BROCCOLI & BELL PEPPER

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Serves 2

INGREDIENTS:
100 gm of chicken strips or chicken breast cut into long strips
2 cups of broccoli florets
1 cup of bell pepper, cut into cubes (any colour)
A fistful of almonds, cashew nuts, anything you'd like (optional)
1/2 cup of chopped onions
2 tsp of corn flour (corn starch)
2 tbsp of oil (I used rice bran oil)
For the marinade:
1 tsp of vinegar
2 tsp of soya sauce
1 tsp of minced garlic
1 tsp of corn flour (corn starch)
1/2 tsp of chilli powder (or to taste)
1/2 tsp of black pepper powder

INSTRUCTIONS:

To marinate the chicken strips:

Add the corn starch, pepper powder, chilli powder, some salt, garlic, soya sauce, vinegar, and chicken pieces to a bowl. Add about 1-2 tbsp water to bring everything together, mix well, and set aside while you chop the vegetables and prepare the other ingredients. You don't need to marinate a lot, 10 mins is plenty.

To prepare the stir-fry:

Heat oil in a wok or non stick pan and add the onions. Keeping flame on medium, cook until the onions turn soft. I also added a few pieces of garlic at this stage but this is optional.

Next, add the broccoli florets and bell pepper. Mix well to combine.

Then add the marinated chicken pieces and mix well again. Lower heat to medium-low and cook, stirring frequently until the chicken is cooked through. The time it takes to cook will depend on how thinly you cut them. I'd recommend keeping the strips about 1/2" thick since that would make sure it cooks fast but if you cut them too small, then on cooking the meat will shrink further and turn the chicken into an almost-minced stage. That won't be fun in a stir-fry, I think.

OK so once the chicken seems cooked through, add the nuts (I added soaked and skinned almonds) if you want to use any and give a quick mix. Also add more salt if, needed, at this stage,

Now the final step. Do this only after ensuring your vegetables and chicken are cooked fully and you have adjust salt, pepper, chilli, etc.

Mix 2 tsp cornflour in 1/4 cup water and add to the above. Keeping flame low, mix throughly and remove from heat. The mixture will look watery but it will thicken quite a bit on cooling. This will give you some delicious gravy when it cools down.

All done! This chicken stir-fry with broccoli and bell pepper can be made into many different versions. For instance, try adding some chopped celery for a change in texture and flavour. Use tomatoes, beans, carrots, anything you'd like, keeping the base the same. The vinegar adds a bit of tang so don't skip it.

The black pepper is an important addition too so highly recommend adding that. Doesn't matter if it's freshly cracked or bought powdered.

You can also add some ginger garlic paste to the onions when they are frying up. Adds a bit more zing but personally I prefer to only flavour this chicken stir-fry with garlic.

Enjoy hot with some steamed white rice!

Chilli Chicken

Chili Chicken

Ingredients for chicken marinate:

• Boneless chicken Thigh : 500gm
• Salt : 3/4 tsp
• Soy sauce : 1 tsp
• Chili powder : 1/2 tsp
• Corn flour : 3 tbsp(level)
• Egg: 4 tbsp(beaten)

Direction for Chicken Marinate:

• Marinate chicken in all these ingredients.
• Cover and leave it for at least 20 minutes.
• Deep fry the marinated chicken and set aside, now its ready to use ahead.

Ingredients for Gravy:

• Green capsicum : half(cut in small cubes)
• Red capsicum : half(cut in small cubes)
• yellow capsicum: half(cut in small cubes)
• Onion: 1 medium (cut in cubes)
• Green chilies : 3 medium finely chopped
• Garlic : 5 cloves(crushed)
• Ginger : 1 tbsp(minced)
• Sea salt : to taste
• Chili powder : 1/2 tsp
• Paprika powder : 1/2 tsp
• Black pepper : 1 pinch
• Soy sauce : 1 tbsp
• White vinegar : 1 tbsp
• Tomato ketchup : 1 tbsp
• Red chili sauce : 1/2 tsp
• Corn flour : 3 tbsp
• Water : 2 cups
• Oil : 4 tbsp(olive pomace oil)
• Chinese salt : 1tsp

Direction for Gravy:

• Heat oil in a wok and add garlic into it.Fry it till transparent and add green chilies into it.
• Add chili powder and paprika powder into it along with little water
• Add onions into it and stir a little.
• Add capsicum in to it and stir for 2 minutes.
• Add soy sauce, vinegar, chili sauce, salt and ketchup into it.
• Fry it for 5 minutes and now add fried chicken into it.
• Add 2 cups of water into it and give it a boil
• Add corn flour in half cup of water and add it slowly in to the chicken mixture to form thick gravy.
• Its ready to serve with egg fried rice.

Vegetarian Thai Green Curry Recipe, Step by Step

Thai green curry is possibly the most popular among all the curries available in the cuisine. The blend of Thai basil, lemon grass, lime leaves, and spices gives a unique and delicious twist to the curry. This green curry recipe uses a vegetarian green curry paste and uses no fish sauce so it's probably not the most 'authentic' recipe but hey, vegetarians need to enjoy a good Thai green curry too, right?

This recipe is adapted from a cooking class I took in Bangkok at May Kaidee cooking school. They specialise in Thai vegetarian recipes and teach only those and I learnt a few amazing and simple recipes. I've probably made this green curry the most because once you make the curry paste, you can freeze it and I generally make enough for 3-4 rounds of curry-making. From what I saw, the key to making a good vegetarian Thai curry is to get the right kind of soya sauce and coconut milk. I highly recommend buying them from a Thai store and choosing products imported from there. Check out my green curry paste recipe post to see a picture of the products I used.

Green curry goes best with steamed jasmine or Thai hom mali rice but you can also serve it with a light tofu and egg fried rice. We like our gravy a bit on the thinner side but you can adjust that consistency by adjusting the amount of water you add and keeping the coconut milk thick. I used canned coconut milk. If you use fresh Indian coconuts, the taste may vary a bit since Thai coconut meat tastes a bit different and to me, less sweet.

I also make a mean vegetarian Tom Kha soup in case you want to check it out. Here's how to make vegetarian pad thai and the most gorgeous Thai Mango Sticky Rice recipe, one of the most often pinned recipes in Edible Garden.

Check this post on how to make coconut milk at home.

THAI GREEN CURRY RECIPE (VEGETARIAN)

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:
1.5 cups of mixed vegetables like baby corn, carrot, beans, pumpkin, capsicum
2 tbsp of homemade green curry paste
1 tbsp of oil
2 small pieces of lemon grass
2 kaffir lime leaves
2-3 small pieces of galangal
2 cups of thin coconut milk (see notes)
1 cup of thick coconut milk
1 tsp of sugar
1 tbsp of light Thai soya sauce (Healthy boy brand if you can find it)
1 tsp of lime juice (optional)
1/4 cup of red onions, sliced

INSTRUCTIONS:

Before beginning to cook the curry, prepare all ingredients by cleaning and chopping the vegetables, measuring out the soya sauce, coconut milk, etc. Once you start the cooking process, simply add the ingredients in the order below and you will have a steaming pot of Thai green curry ready in no time.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wide pan and add 2 tbsp green curry paste.

Lightly saut� it for 20 seconds until fragrant.

Add all the vegetables, onions, galangal, lemon grass, and lime leaves to the pan and mix well.

Add the 2 cups of thin coconut milk and cook on medium flame until the vegetables turn softer but not mushy.

Add the soya sauce and sugar and mix well.

Now add the 1 cup of thick coconut milk and give everything a good stir. Also add the lemon juice at this stage, if using. 

All done! Serve hot with rice.

Notes:

1. If using canned coconut milk, dilute it with equal parts of water to get thin coconut milk. Don't skimp on coconut milk since that's what gives this curry body and flavour
2. A good Thai curry should have the perfect balancing of sweet, sour, and spice so adjust as you go along to make sure it's all good to your taste

Vegetarian Thai green curry keeps well in the refrigerator for a day. Reheat gently before serving, don't boil.