Whole wheat banana cake (Eggless)

With a toddler at home, I am used to him being really fond of a food item one week and completely hating it another week. There are many days when I buy a bunch of bananas for him and they just get ignored and become over-ripe. So I thought of making a whole wheat banana cake, which is loved by everyone in the house.

Here's the recipe.

What do I need??

1 and half cup whole wheat flour
3 small over-ripe bananas
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
A pinch of salt

What are the steps??

1. First we need to preheat the oven at 180 degree Celcius.
2. Mash the bananas well so that they look like a smooth paste.
3. Add oil and sugar and mix well until sugar dissolves completely.
4. Add the vanilla essence and mix well.
5. Sieve wheat flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda to avoid lumps.
6. Now fold the flour into the banana mixture slowly.
7. Dust a baking tin with butter and flour and pour the batter into it.
8. Bake the cake on 180 degree celcius for 45 mins.

Any tips??

1. If the mixture becomes too thick, add some milk to get batter consistency.
2. Add walnut or almonds to make the cake more interesting.

Masala Doodh for Kojagiri Poornima

Kojagiri Poornima or the full moon day in Ashwin month is celebrated as Kojagiri Poornima in Maharashtra. Traditionally people stay awake whole night on this day and get together to spend time in singing bhajans and other cultural programmes.

Being away from family, we don't celebrate this day in the traditional way anymore. But we do enjoy the main delicacy of this night, Masala doodh :) This is a sweet preparation of milk with lots of dry fruits and spices.

These ingredients are enough to prepare two cups of masala doodh.

                                    

What do I need??

Half a litre milk

2 tablespoon sugar

1 teapoon unsalted almonds

1 teaspoon unsalted pistachios

1/2 teaspoon unsalted cashews

1 teaspoon charoli (chironji)

A pinch of Cardamom powder

A pinch of nutmeg powder

A couple of strands of kesar (saffron) [optional]

What are the steps??

1. Dry roast the almonds, pistachios and cashews. Add a few drops of pure ghee for taste while roasting the dry fruits.

2. Once done, keep a few dry fruits away for garnishing. Grind the rest in a coarse powder.

3. Dry roast the charoli (chironji) in a similar way. There is no need to grind it.

4. Keep the milk for boiling and once its reduced to around three fourth its original quantity, add the sugar, dry fruits powder, charoli, cardamom and nutmeg powder. Add the kesar too. Keep stirring it so that it does not spill over.
5. Continue boiling the milk until it is half the original quantity.

Garnish with chopped dry fruits and its ready to be enjoyed under the cool light of the Kojagiri full moon

Cheesy corn and spinach grilled sandwich

When I started my first job after graduation,  me and my friends used to hang out in coffee shops often. The ones like Cafe coffee day and Barista. We used to have coffee, smoothies and tasty sandwiches. I always ordered the corn and spinach sandwich which had a cheesy and creamy stuffing!

Some time back I realised how much I miss those days and thought I could bring back at least some of those memories by trying out my favourite sandwich :)

So here it is:

What do I need??

1 small onion, finely chopped,
1 bowl of spinach, washed and finely chopped
1/2 bowl of frozen corn kernels
1 teaspoon grated garlic
1 teaspoon Butter
1 tablespoon all purpose flour (maida)
1 tablespoon grated cheese
1/2 cup warm milk
4 slices of bread

Mixed Italian herbs seasoning
Chilli flakes
Salt to taste

What are the steps??

1. Heat butter in a pan. Add the garlic and onion and saute till the onion is soft.
2. Add the spinach and corn and add some salt to season the vegetables.
3. Once the spinach is reduced and about cooked, add the flour and mix well together.
4. Now, add the milk and beat everything together nicely so that it gets a creamy texture, like white sauce.
5. Add cheese, chilli flakes and herbs for seasoning and turn off the heat.
6. Spread the mixture between two slices of bread. Spread a little butter on the outside of the sandwich and grill in a toaster/grill or on a pan.

Enjoy the cheesy corn and spinach sandwiches with ketchup !!

Any Tips??

* Chilli flakes can be replaced with black pepper if unavailable.
* The dish can be made healthier by using whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose flour.

   

Tangy Apple and Spinach Salad with almonds

Lately, I'm developing an interest in trying out a variety of salads. I especially like my salads to be tangy and spicy. I'm sharing the recipe of the Tangy apple and spinach salad recipe which I tried out in a Cooking Without Fire competition at work along with Green olive and jalapeno topping on crackers.

Here's the recipe:

What do I need??

1 medium apple

2 tbsp grated onion

1 bowl of fresh finely chopped spinach

2 tbsp white vinegar or lemon juice

2 tbsp olive oil

Paprika or red chilly flakes to taste

1 tbsp sesame seeds

1 tbsp chopped almonds

Pinch of sugar

Salt to taste

 

What are the steps??

1. Roast the almonds with half a tsp of ghee or butter, once roasted, sprinkle a pinch of sugar or salt (depending on your taste). Switch off the heat once the almonds are coated with the seasoning.

2. Mix the grated onion, olive oil, vinegar or lemon juice, sesame seeds and paprika together. Add salt to to taste. Let the mixture stand for 10-15 mins so that the onions are marinated.

3. Peel the apples and cut them in bite size pieces. Add the apple, spinach and roasted almonds to the mix and let it stand for a some time before serving.

Serve this delicious salad in your next get together and gather lots of praise :)

Any Tips??

* If you don't have almonds, you can also add roasted-salted peanuts. 
 

   

Green olive and jalapeno topping on crackers

I recently took part in a Cooking Without Fire competition at work. I planned to make an Tangy Apple and Spinach Salad with almonds. But then I thought is this too less? Should I have another appetizer to go with the salad? And that's when I thought of this dish.  I just carried these ingredients randomly and came up with this recipe on the spot. Believe me, it sold like hot cakes :)

Check it out !!

What do I need??

A Box of salted Crackers (Or biscuits of a similar variety like Brittania 50-50)
1/2 bowl marinated green olives.
1-2 marinated jalapenos
2 tbsp grated cheese
1/2 tsp Oregano or mixed herbs seasoning

What are the steps??

1. Chop the olives and jalapenos into very small pieces. Choose the number of jalapenos based on how spicy you want the topping to be.
2. Add the grated cheese and seasoning to the chopped olives and jalapenos and mixed well.

Your topping is ready. Spice up your crackers with this topping and impress your guests :)  

Mouth watering Stuffed Mushroom

Presenting a mouth watering quick and easy mushroom appetizer !!


What do I need ??

10-12 mushrooms
2 medium size boiled potatoes

2 tablespoon grated cheese
4-5 Garlic cloves
1 tablespoon chopped green chillies
1 inch ginger
1 table spoon chopped coriander
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1/2 teaspoon Chat Masala
2-3 tablespoon cornflour
Oil for shallow frying
Salt to taste

What are the steps ??

1. Wash and clean the mushrooms. Now, gently pull out the stem of each mushroom, so that there's a cavity in the otherwise whole mushroom.
2. Grind the ginger, garlic, green chillies and coriander leaves together, to make a coarse paste.
3. Mash the boiled and peeled potatoes and mix the above mixture in it along with coriander powder and chat masala. Add the cheese and mix well. Add salt to taste.
4. Now, stuff each mushroom with this potato mixture. Mix some salt in the cornflour and gently coat the mushrooms with it.
5. In a shallow pan heat about 2-3 tablespoons of oil and gently shallow fry the mushrooms. Make sure that you turn the mushrooms very gently.
6. The yummy mushrooms will be ready to serve within 2-3 mins of frying.

Serve with pudina chutney or ketchup. In fact, I would say, you don't need any compliments to this yummy dish :)

Egg Paratha

My mom, who is pure vegetarian herself, invented this quick and easy 'Egg Paratha'  to get us excited about egg and also to couple it up with the healthy whole wheat instead of bread which is made out of Maida (refined wheat flour). As time went by and we could cook ourselves, we started making this yummy dish ourselves so that Mom is saved from cooking egg.

What do I need ??

For the stuffing

 

1 large Egg

1 tsp chopped green chillies

1 tsp chopped coriandar

Red chilly powder to taste

Salt to taste 

For the Paratha

 

1 cup whole wheat flour (or enough for two parathas)

Pinch of ajwain or carom seeds

Salt to taste 

What are the steps ??

1. Beat the egg together with all the other ingredients for the stuffing, and keep aside.

2. Mix the wheat, water, salt and ajwain to make a dough similar to a roti dough. Divide it into two balls.

3. Roll out a ball of dough about 4 inches in radius. Apply a few drops of oil on the top surface, and fold it twice, so that it becomes like a quarter of a circle. Now roll this out like roti the shape of a triangle.

4. Place this paratha on a pan, roast it well on both sides without oil and take it off the pan.

5. Now gently open up one thin layer of the paratha so that it looks like a flap. Place this back on pan and pour the egg mixture on the open paratha. Now, gently close the flap. Sprinkle some oil on the paratha and cook from both sides.

You delicious egg paratha is ready !! Serve hot with tomato ketchup !