Banana-Walnut Cake

My Hubby never eats cake,that's the reason I stopped baking cakes at home. To my surprise one day he said he used to go to Starbucks near his office and became a great fan of Chai-latte & Banana-Walnut cake. grrrrrrrrrrr! The very next day I baked this cake and thereafter it became our favourite evening snack. :)

Ingredients
Bananas-2
Walnut(broken into small pieces)-1/2cup
All purpose flour-11/4cups
Sugar-1/2cup
Baking Powder-1/2teaspoon
Baking Soda-1/2teaspoon
Cinnamon powder-1/4teaspoon
Pure Vanilla extract-1/4teaspoon

In Room Temperature
Butter-1/4cup
Milk-1/4cup
Eggs-2

Method
Sieve the flour with Baking powder-baking soda-cinnamon powder twice and keep aside.
Separate the egg whites and yolks.
Cream the butter and sugar. Add egg yolks-vanilla and beat well.
Then add the flour and milk alternatively, mix well.
Mash the bananas, fold it with the flour mixture.
Beat the egg whites and fold it with the cake mixture.
Finally add in the walnut pieces,mix well.
Pour it in a buttered baking dish and bake it for 45 to 50 minutes in a 350F preheated oven.

Cool the cake for 2 hours..slice it and enjoy with tea!

Amazingly soft cake with nice crust.Be ware,won't be able to stop eating! :P



Sending this recipe to "Healing foods -Banana" event event started by Siri & hosted in Krithi's Kitchen.

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Baked Potatoes -Indian Style

Ingredients
Small Red Potatoes -10
Chilli powder-1teaspoon
Cumin powder-1/2teaspoon
Olive Oil-1tablespoon
Garlic-3 cloves
Salt
To Garnish
Chopped onions-1tablespoon
Chopped cilantro-1tablespoon


Method
Wash and chop the potatoes into big chunks.
Boil 2 cups of water..add the potatoes with little salt and cook for 3 minutes and drain them.

Add chilli powder,cumin powder,grated garlic,salt,oil with the potatoes..

Toss it well and keep aside for 30 minutes. Then transfer the potatoes to a baking dish.

Preheat the oven to 350F, bake the potatoes for 30 minutes(stirring once in between). Garnish with chopped cilantro and onion..

and bake again for 5 minutes.Serve hot n enjoy!

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Minced Chapathi with egg

This is a simple and tasty recipe to finish off the left-over roti's! ;)

Ingredients
Chapathi/Roti -5
Egg-2
Onion(medium size)-1
Chopped Capsicum -2tablespoons
Green chilli-1
Chilli powder-1/2teaspoon
Sakthi Curry Masala powder-11/2teaspoon
Oil
Salt

Method
Cut the chapathi(roti's)s into small pieces.
Chop the onion-green chilli.
Heat oil in a heavy bottomed kadai and fry the onion-green chilli-half of the capsicum pieces with little salt, till the onions become soft.
Add chilli powder and one egg, mix everything well.
Now add the roti pieces,give a quick stir, then add the other egg.
Cook till the egg is done and add the curry masala powder-mix well and switch off the stove after a minute or two.
Garnish with the remaining capsicum pieces and chopped onion.
Enjoy it with Onion-raitha or plain curd.

Note
Be careful while adding salt,as roti has salt too!

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Thattai

Ingredients
Boiled Rice-11/2cups
Dhaliya(Pottu kadalai)-3/4cup
Red Chilli-10 (adjust to your taste)
Cumin Seeds-2 teaspoons
Channa Dhal-2tablespoons
Salt
Oil

Method
Wash and soak the channa dhal for 2 hours.
Wash and soak the rice with red chillies for 4 hours.
Powder the dhaliya in a grinder and keep it aside.
Grind the soaked rice and chillies with little water to a fine paste.
Combine the dhaliya powder-cumin seeds-salt with the rice-chilli batter.
Drain the excess water from channa dhal,add it with the rice-chilli batter.
Mix everything together to form a stiff dough.
Meanwhile heat the oil in medium heat.
Once the oil is hot add 2 tablespoons of hot oil with Murukku mixture and knead well.
Make small balls out of the dough,flatten it with your fingers on a greased plastic sheet.
Carefully take them off from the sheet and deep fry them in the oil.

Crispy thattai is ready. Store it in air tight container and enjoy! :)

Note

• Adding hot oil will give the nice crispness to the Thattai for sure,but still you can add a tablespoon of butter (in room temperature) to dough while kneading. [I was running out of butter,so didn't add it,but no difference in the taste. ;)]
• Heat the oil in medium heat,once its hot,reduce the flame to uniform low medium heat. Don't adjust the flame every now and then, as it will spoil the colour and texture of the thattai.

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Am sending Thattai recipe & some more recipes to Gayathri's "Walk through the memory lane" Event.

Murukku

Opputtu/Coconut Poli

Uppu Paruppu
Spinach Masiyal

Back home, Murukku and thattai are the snacks usually done for every Pongal. To read the stories( in Tamil) behind these snacks, click here.
Other recipes are our regional specials, of course, I learnt from my mom. :)

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Oats Rava Dosai

Ingredients
Oats-1cup
Aata-1/4cup
Rava-1/4cup
Rice flour-2tablespoons
Green Chilli-1
chopped Cilantro-2tablespoons
Cumin seeds-1teaspoon
Water
Salt
Oil

Method
Powder the oats in a mixer.
Combine oats flour-rava-aata-rice flour-salt...add water little by little and mix it to dosa batter consistency.
Keep it in the fridge overnight.
Add chopped cilantro-green chillies-cumin seeds to the batter and mix well. Add little more water to make the batter thin.

Pour as thin dosa's in hot griddle..drizzle little oil. (Don't panic by the look of the dosa in the photo below..it tastes awesome! :) )

Flip the dosa, cook on the other side..

And enjoy with your choice of chutney/sambar.


Note: I have used both old fashioned oats and instant oats for this dosa,both are giving nice taste.

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Spring Onion Dhal

Ingredients
Spring Onion -1 small bunch
Moong dhal-1/4cup
Red chillies-2, Green chilly-1 (adjust to your taste)
Mustard Seeds-1/2teaspoon
Cumin Seeds-1/2teaspoon
Turmeric powder-1/4teaspoon
Ghee-1/2teaspoon
Oil
Salt

Method
Wash and trim the edges of the spring onions..chop them finely. Chop the green chilly.
Pressure cook the moon dhal with enough water and keep it aside.
In a pan,heat oil..make the tempering with mustard-cumin seeds followed by g.chilly,red chilly and fry for a minute.
Add the chopped spring onion and sauté them for 2-3 minutes on low heat.

Then add the cooked moong dhal,turmeric powder and salt.
Bring it to boil. Finally add the ghee and switch off the stove.
Simple spring onion dhal is ready to serve.It goes well with with white rice.
Mor milagai will be the perfect side dish for these kind of dhal! :P :P

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Cabbage-Carrot-Beans Poriyal

Sometimes we will have little quantity of the veggies, by then, the combination poriyal comes handy to finish of those veggies.Adding moong dhal enhances the taste and make the poriyal wholesome and healthy!

Ingredients
Cabbage-100grams
Carrots-2
Beans-7
Moong dhal-11/2tablespoon
Grated Coconut-1tablespoon(optional)
Onion(small)-1
Green Chilli-1
Red Chillies-2
Mustard Seeds-1/2teaspoon
Urad dhal-1teaspoon
Channa dhal-1teaspoon
Oil
Salt

Method
Was and soak the moong dhal for an hour and microwave it with enough water for 3 minutes and keep it aside.
Wash and chop the veggies into fine pieces. Chop the onion and green chilli.
Heat oil in a kadai,make the tempering with mustard seeds followed by urad dhal-channa dhal. Then add the onion-g.chilly-red chilly and sauté for a while.
Add the chopped veggies, sprinkle some water and add salt. Cover the pan and cook for 4 minutes.. add the cooked moong dhal,adjust the salt and let it cook for couple more minutes.
Finally add the grated coconut and, and switch off the stove.
Serve with white rice - sambar/kuzhambu..this will go well with roti's too!

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Scrambled Egg with Veggies

Ingredients
3 Large Eggs
Half of a Red Capsicum
Few Broccoli Florets
One (small size) onion
2 Green Chillies
One (small) Tomato
Cilantro to Garnish
Salt and Pepper Powder
Olive oil

Method
Chop all the veggies into big chunks.
On high flame,heat oil in a skillet, add the veggies except tomato, sauté them for a minute.

Add in the tomato pieces,salt and pepper.

Cover the pan and cook them for a minute.

Transfer the veggies to a plate and keep aside.

Beat the eggs with salt & pepper,pour it in the same skillet.

Spread the veggies on the egg mixture and sprinkle some oil.

Mix the veggies & egg..cook for a minute,switch off the stove and garnish with cilantro.

Enjoy the Quick breakfast with a cup of juice and bread!!! :)

Sending this recipe to Bachelor's Feast event happening at Jaleelaa akkaa's Samaiyal attakaasam

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Aloo-Matar

Ingredients
Small potatoes-12
Frozen green peas -1/4cup
Onion(medium size)-1
Green chilli-1
Tomato(big)-1
Gignger-1/4" piece
Garlic-2cloves
Turmeric powder-1/4teaspoon
Chilli powder-1teaspoon
Coriander powder-1teaspoon
Cumin Seeds-1teaspoon
Oil
Salt

Method
Boil the small potatoes and peel the skin. Shallow fry them with little oil and keep it aside.

In the same pan,add crushed ginger-garlic,chopped onion-g.chilli and fry till the onion becomes transparent. Then add chopped tomatoes and cook till it becomes mushy. Add the spice powders,cook on low heat till the raw smell goes.

Let it cool. Grind the masala with little water to fine paste.
Heat oil in a pan,make the tempering with cumin seeds, add the masala with enough water and bring it to boil.
Add the (defrosted) green peas and the potatoes.
Cook on low heat for 5 minutes. Switch off the stove and garnish with cilantro.
Aloo-matar is ready to enjoy with roti/poori.

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Horsegram Dosai/Kollu Dosai

Last week while talking with my mom, i was telling about kollu idli/dosa recipes,she was also interested to see the outcome. At last tried it and had a healthy and yummy breakfast on this week end. Thanks Malar for the recipe! :)

Ingredients
Brown Rice-2 cups
Horse Gram(kollu)-1/2cup
Fenugreek seeds(vendhayam) -1 teaspoon
Salt

Method
Wash and soak the horse gram, rice & methi seeds for 6 hours.
Grind the rice and fenugreek seeds together and horse gram separately. Add enough salt, mix it well and keep aside for 8 hours for fermentation. (fermentation time varies according to your weather though! :))
Make dosas and enjoy it with your choice of chutney/sambar.

Crispy dosas with Mint Chutney

Recipe Source: http://www.kitchentantra.com/

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Thepla

Being a South Indian, I am not aware of many speciality dishes of North India. Accidentally I came across this recipe Here. Adding coriander powder-chilli powder-kasoori methi..hmm,interesting!! :) Had all the ingredients mentioned there,and prepared it for a Saturday lunch. Turned out to be really delicious!

I took pictures,they were lying in my laptop for long! To my surprise, saw thepla's in many of the fellow bloggers spaces lately.There are lot of variations,and this one is a simple yet yummy recipe.

Ingredients
Aata -1 1/2cups
Curd -1/2cup
water-1/4cup
Kasoori Methi-1tablespoon
Chilli Powder-1teaspoon
Coriander Powder-1teaspoon
Sugar-1teaspoon
Oil-1teaspoon
Salt

Method
Add the water with curd and beat it well.
Combine all the ingredients in a wide bowl..

Knead well to form a smooth dough.

Keep it covered for (at least) 15 minutes and make the roti's as you do for normal chapathi's.

Serve the thepla's as such or with pickle/kurma/chutney or Honey. It was totally new for me to have roti's with honey. As I don't like honey, I never tried it. My hubby compelled me to try that,at last I had it. It was really yummy!! Unfortunately,that was the last one. Somehow managed to click this for the blog! :)

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