I love banana breads. Its so simple to make, all it needs is a single bowl and the outcome is something divine. At times I try different varieties with what I have in hand. And that is how I made this banana bread. The tropical flavors are predominant in this bread with the pineapple and coconut which makes it the more merrier. But if you are not a fan of the flavors then you can skip the pineapple and coconut and add walnuts instead, it still tastes fabulous. The bread keeps good for 2 to 3 days, but beyond that it starts drying up a little due to the whole wheat flour.
~*What U Need*~
Ripe Bananas - 2 or 3
Crushed Pineapple - 1/4 cup, drained
Coconut Oil - 1/4 cup
Sugar - 1/2 cup
All purpose flour - 1 cup
White whole wheat flour - 1 cup
Baking soda - 1 tsp
Ground cinnamon - 1 tsp
Ground ginger - a pinch
Sweetened shredded coconut - 1/2 cup
How I made it:
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Lightly grease and flour your loaf pan. In a large mixing bowl, mash the bananas and add the sugar, pineapple, and oil and whisk to incorporate. Sift in the flour, baking soda, spices, and salt. Use a wooden spoon to mix until the wet and dry ingredients are just combined. Fold in the coconut. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and sprinkle with nuts or more sugar if you want. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes (regular loaf) or 20 to 25 minutes (mini loaf). The top should be lightly browned and a knife inserted through the center should come out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool for 20 minutes before transferring out of a pan and onto a wire rack to cool completely.
I made this cake two days before Christmas, stored it carefully feeding it with rum every day and then on the D day, I shared it with friends, devoured it to hearts content and then totally forgot about it. Today when I was going through my food pics, I found this and I came to realize that I had missed posting this for Christmas. Well now that I have found it, I am not going to spare another moment to share this recipe with you. Its the best and just like all other christmas cakes it gets better and better. I have been following this recipe for the past 2 years but each time I use a different pan and do not flour it believing that the non stick coating would do its job but finally I would end up with the cake sticking to the pan. So this time I made it a point to grease the pan, line the pan with parchment paper and grease and flour the pan too. And look how neat and yummy the cake looks!!!
Recipe adapted from here
~*What U Need*~
For soaking the dried fruits
Dry fruits - 1 1/2 cups ~ Raisins, dates, pineapple, apricot, cranberries, dried papaya, dates, almonds, cashews
Rum - as needed (I used CaptianMorgans. U need to immerse the fruits completely in rum and then refill as and when you find the amount reducing)
Caramel syrup - 2 tbsp (2tbsp sugar + 1 tbsp water)
For Caramel Syrup to be used in cake
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Water - 2 tbsp
Hot water - 6 tbsp
How I Made it:
Heat 2 tblsp sugar with 1 tsp water on medium heat until the sugar melts and browns up. Take off the heat and carefully add the water and stir well. Atleast 2 weeks in advance , chop all the dry fruits and place them in an airtight container. Pour the rum on top of it, add the caramel syrup and allow to soak. On the day of baking, heat 3/4 cup of sugar with 2 tbsp water in a saucepan. The sugar will start melting. COntinue heating till the syrup turns brown or almost black in color. Take it off the stove and add the hot water and stir well. Allow to cool. Preheat oven to 350F and grease your cake pan. Sift together all the dry ingredients with the spices. Add the powdered nuts, mix well and keep aside. Beat the butter with powdered sugar until smooth and creamy. Add the egg yolks one at a time and mix well until well incorporated. Add in the dry ingredients slowly and mix until combined. Add the Vanilla essence, orange zest and Caramel syrup and combine everything together. Strain the rum soaked fruits (save the rum), and coat the fruits with some all-purpose flour and add the fruits into the cake batter. Fold the fruits into the cake evenly. Beat the Egg Whites until soft peaks form, add powdered sugar and continue to beat until the peaks look stiff and glossy. Gently fold the egg whites into the cake batter. Pour the cake batter into the cake pan and bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the cake center comes out clean. After taking the cake out from the oven, immediately pour 2-3tblsp of the saved rum over the cake. Allow the cake to cool for 15 mins and then flip the cake pan onto a wire-rack. Once cooled brush the sweet rum all over the cake. Keep the cake covered with aluminium foil/plastic wrap and brush the cake with more Rum everyday until you cut the cake.
I love low fat bakes, the one which uses just 2tbsp oil... Its guilt-free and you can eat without worries. I love it all the more when I use fruit purees in my bakes. The favorite being banana and thats why you see so many banana breads and muffins in my space. Adding banana puree gives you a moist, tender and flavorful crumb which will make you want to have more. Having two slices of banana bread with a cup of hot nutella or cold milk for our morning breakfast is one thing that me and the huss enjoy anytime.
I like pineapples not that I love them and I don't go out of the way and buy a pineapple. I hate cleaning it, then plucking out it's thousand eyes and finally slicing them. At times, very rare times if I have an urge to have a pineapple slice or two, I run along and get a tin of pineapple slices. Thats fine for me... and so I never care to buy a pineapple. Moreover there are no big time fans at home and so that makes up for another reason.
Sometime back we were visited by a close relative and they walked up laden with fruits and there was a fully ripe pineapple peeping from the basket. Left with no other option and after a strenuous 1 hour battle with the fruit, I was left with some juice and a highly massacred pineapple body. One part was cut up and had with some vanilla ice cream and the other half was dumped in the fridge. A few days later when I found no takers for the fruit, I thought of making some cakes. A pineapple upside down cake sounded just right but the rings were not perfect and so the idea was ruled out. Finally settled for this low fat, healthy pineapple cake. The cake was gone in minutes and was re-visited with the remaining portion.
~*What U Need*~
Whole wheat flour - 3/4 cup
All purpose flour - 1/4 cup
Oil - 2 tbsp
Yogurt - 1/4 cup
Egg - 1
Brown sugar - 1/4 cup
Sugar - 1/4 cup
Pineapple puree - 1/2 cup
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
Pineapple/vanilla essence - 1/2 tsp
Pineapple cubes - 1/2 cup
Honey - 2 tbsp
How I Made it:
Preheat oven to 180C. Grease and flour a cake pan. Sieve together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside. Mix the sugar with the oil. Add egg and beat well.
Add yogurt followed by the pineapple puree. Mix well, add the pineapple essence and combine well. Add the flour and fold gently.
Line the base of the pan with chocolate chunks and then honey. Pour the batter and bake for 35-40 mins or until a toothpick inserted comes clean. Remove and allow to cool. Slice and serve...
...version 1.0
Let's talk about the version later... First of all Happy Ugadi to all my readers. Hope you had a fun filled gala time with all that sweets, pooran bolis and everything traditional not to forget the ugadi pachadi.
Its just like everyday over here and preparations are going on to welcome the Tamil New Year along with the kid. Amma makes the traditional South Indian Thali with kootu, aviyal, sambar, rasam, paruppu, vada and payasam and nothing can beat having all the varieties on a banana leaf. #simplepleasuresoflife#
And now to the version. I already have a pineapple rava kesari recipe in the blog but it contains food coloring and artificial flavorings. Its not good but it surely satisfies your pineapple cravings off season. Then why another recipe... I have an answer to that too :) The kid had moved on to solid foods long back but its just been rasam saadam or fresh curd rice on his plate. I have been advised to show varieties in his food incorporating more flavors ~ sweet, sour and spiciness.
And so I made this kesari again with no artificial flavoring or coloring and with some fresh chopped pineapple pieces for him and for Ugadi. And when he took his first bite, there I sat with the camera on one hand to capture my big boy's moments. I wouldn't say he loved it , all he had was two mouthfuls and one thing I could say is that he is just like mama.. not quite a sweet tooth except for cakes and chocolates. As of now his is a lover for milk chocolates and vanilla cakes but kesaris and payasams are just not his type...
~*What U Need*~
Sooji / Semolina / Rava – ½ cup
Sugar – 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp
Water – 1 ½ cups
Ghee – 3 tsps
Cashew, raisins - 5 each
Pineapple essence - a few drops(optional)
Chopped pineapples - 1/2 cup
How I Made it:
Dry roast the semolina till golden brown and u get a nice aroma. Boil 1 ½ cups of water till you see bubbles coming up. Add in the semolina and keep stirring till the water is absorbed, say 3-4 mins. Add the sugar and mix well. When the sugar has melted and combined well, add the 2 tsps of ghee, pineapple essence and the pineapple pieces. Stir well till the mixture comes off the pan. Remove from flame.
Fry the cashew and dry grapes in ghee, add this to the kesari and combine well. Grease a plate with ghee, drop the mixture onto this and smooth out. Once cooled, cut into slices or if you are lazy like me, scoop and serve in bowls.
Yes, you read it right. This pilaf is fit for a king, fit to be in the kitchen of kings and queens and fit for everyone out there. Its sweet from the crunch of the fruits, mildly spiced and rich from those ghee roasted cashew bits. Is that enough reason for you to try this dish atleast once. Yes, try it once and you will be hooked to it or else you would want to try it atleast once every month, a change from the regular spicy and masala-y biryanis. Atleast that's what has happened in our case.
I love to try new dishes much to the huss's annoyance. He always sticks to the tried and tested recipes. Once during a common friend's treat, we ordered an Indian bread basket. It had naans, tandoori rotis, stuffed phulkas and a heavily buttered Kashmiri naan which was totally ignored by everyone. It sat there beautifully studded with red and green tutti frutties and that made me grab the naan. I totally loved it ~ the slight hint of sweetness worked out great for me and since then its been Kashmiri naan for me.
But Kashmiri pilaf has never made it to my plate till date. Whenever I imagined Kashmiri pilaf, all I got was an overdose of sweetness. And so when the question of weekend lunch was thrown during the weekday dinner, I thought of giving this a go mainly because I was in control of what went into the pressure cooker. I browsed for recipes but was not satisfied with what came up and hence went by my instincts. It came out good and I am sure I will be making this often. I made a simple potato masala to go with it and the two teamed up great.
~*What U Need*~
Basmati rice - 1 1/2 cups
Water - 1 cup
Milk - 2 cups
How I Made it:
Clean and soak basmati rice for 15 mins. Add the saffron to the warm milk and set aside for 10 mins. Chop the fruits and set aside. Fry the raisins and cashews in 1 tbsp ghee till golden and puffy.
Heat the remaining ghee in a pressure cooker. Add the cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and bay-leaf and fry. Add the slit green chilli and fry.
Add the sliced onions (from 2 onions) and saute till golden and soft. Add the ginger garlic paste and saute. Once done, add the water, milk and soaked basmati rice and pressure cook for 2 whistles. Meanwhile deep fry the remaining sliced onions till brown.
Once the rice is done, fluff with a fork. Sprinkle the soaked saffron mixture onto the rice and fluff. Add the frutis, half of the fried onions, fried raisins and cashews and mix carefully not to break the rice.
Disclaimer: This is gonna be a lengthy post so please bear with me.
Like all the food bloggers out there, I wanted to end 2012 with a recap, a thankyou note and a wish. But then the kid never allows me to sit in front of the laptop these days. As soon as the welcome screen pops live, he comes crawling at jet speed out of no-where. And then it is literal banging to the screen... oh, I don't know till when the lappy is gonna last and its just been out of service. That said, I just couldn't find time to browse through recipes and put down those recipes that the readers loved as a post. The lappy remains closed all through daytime and I sit to compose a post or trim a pic only when the kid has been rocked to sleep. And at times, I just give up and crash on the bed.
So giving up on the replay post, I moved on to other thoughts. A whole lot of ideas have been going through my mind on what to post on new year's eve. Orange curd tartlets or a chocolate mudcake.. why not butterscotch blondies (..oh the blondies have been in my to-do list for a long time) or nutella brownie bites. Ideas seem to come pouring. But I just couldn't bring myself together to bake something. The idea of celebrating a New year without the huss is weighing me down and is making me sulk. And just like a booster, came by the FB msg from Karthi. She wanted another guest post for her beautiful blog and the theme was Xmas and new year. Since I had already posted a Christmas fruit cake for this year, I took up the theme of New Year. Not wanting to do an elaborate bake, I wanted to keep it simple and when I saw a fully riped pineapple sitting on my kitchen counter, I knew what the recipe was going to be. Its a simple but elegant dish and is best served hot, topped with a dollop of ice cream and drenched in chocolate sauce. Do hop over to Sumanarthy's kitchen to know more. She hasn't posted it yet so do give it sometime.
Talking about this year, its been quite adventurous and I can describe it as a wholesome package of joy. We took a step ahead in life and ventured into parenthood ~ entered our god-sent-gift on the month of April and ever since he has been keeping us on our toes. Its been a roller-coaster ride, I would say. But end of the day, when I see him cuddled next to me, his tender hand resting peacefully across my bosom, my heart feels like bursting with love and happiness.
On the blogging front, I would say I have my own milestones. Done with my 200th post (..ok I know it is too slow, but I am happy that I could get there), my blog has got 300+ followers and am planning to open my FB page (... I didn't till now, becos I know me and I know I will not be actively maintaining it), announced my first event, had a winner for that and got done with a giveaway. Started with posting the cake that I bake for my kid's monthly birthday on the 22nd of every month which has got many readers attention and comments. And yeah, I thought of giving up blogging with the entry of the kid, but I was reluctant to do so. But thanks to DH and amma, I am in full form till now. Lets see what the future holds.
On the personal front, I have seen F.R.I.E.N.D.S sitcom for the 3rd time, completed all the seasons, finished reading the whole Harry Potter series for the 7th time and am reading more articles on food photography (I know my photos donot reflect anything of that kind but I am still on the READING stage). Added to that I never miss an episode of GREY's ANATOMY and now I have two dream boys added to my list... McDreamy and McSteamy.
When I was thinking that the year was coming to a peaceful end, (...yeah the Mayan calendar was proved to be wrong and we still live, thanks to that) the whole world was shook first by the Connecticut shooting and then by the Delhi r**e. No-one in their right mind would attempt to do something like that and still the sinners live. A friend of mine posted this on her wall:
Rightly said... No action has been taken till date that would make the victim's family happy. No action has been taken by the government to assure the citizens that they are in safe hands and sins like this will not be tolerated. Days after this incident happened, I came across another article: read this and this. Where has humanity gone, where has law gone, where has social dignity gone, where is the world going to end up. Lets wake up, lets stand up and fight for our rights. I know nothing can be done against the government and these ill mannered men but atleast we can ensure our own safety.
** Stand up when you see a b*****d rubbing against a woman
** Call back and I say use words, when you see a group teasing a girl
** Shout when you see someone verbally assaulting a lass
** Have a pepper spray in hand or atleast a compass, believe me it comes handy
** Protect your children, have an eye on them anytime, anywhere. Donot trust anybody, your father, your brother, your FIL even your huss, when it comes to your child.
** Talk to your child, let them know what is bad touch and good touch. Make them talk about their day and you will know if anything has gone wrong.
Do share the below pic in your space if you wish to.
Okay I know I have mouthed penned many of my thoughts here and am putting an end to it. All I wanted to tell is Stay safe, be safe and Play safe.
WISHING YOU ALL A HAPPY AND SAFE YEAR AHEAD. And thanks to all my dear readers who have taken their time throughout the year to stop by and say a Hi through your comments. Do visit more often.
Updated on 26/1/2012 with the full recipe
~*What U Need*~
For the chocolate sauce/gravy
Butter - 2 tbsp
Unsweetened cocoa powder - 1 tbsp
Flour - 1 tbsp
Sugar - 2 tbsp
Milk - 1/2 cup
Vanilla - 1/2 tsp
How I Made it:
Heat butter in skillet. Stir in flour, cocoa powder and sugar and continue to cook over low heat for 2-3 minutes. Add the milk slowly say 1 tbsp at a time, whisking till incorporated. Cook for another 2 minutes, until thick. Add vanilla and remove from flame.
Store in air tight containers...
~*What U Need*~
For the Grilled Honey Pineapple
Pineapple slices - 4, fresh or drained
Honey - 2 tbsp
Butter - 2 tbsp
How I Made it:
Heat butter in a grill or griddle. Place the pineapple once the grill is hot, drizzle honey around the sides and cook for 3-4 mins till nice and caramelized. Flip, drizzle more honey and cook again. Once caramelized remove from pan.
Serve hot, with a dollop of icecream (..which I missed) and drizzled with chocolate sauce.
** My Notes:
** Use fresh pineapple or canned ones. If using canned drain the juices fully.
** Using a grill gives the beautiful lines, but since I didn't have one, I used a griddle. But I highly recommend using a grill.
** You can also add 1 tsp of lime juice and 1/4 tsp of cinnamon. ** I used Cadbury's cocoa powder and hence skipped the vanilla.
** Cook till forms a thick custard and if it is too thick, dilute using milk to the desired consistency
** The sauce can be stored and used within 2 days. Serve as a dip for fruit bites or breads.
So bye guys, See you next year... Have fun and enjoy life. and do check out this video which I found quite useful..
Happy Vijaydashami and Dussehra wishes to all my dear readers. I know I am late in wishing but I wanted to, never mind the time. So again hearty wishes.
Today ends the maha~navratri festival and with due respect and prayers we pray to Durga maatha to bring us prosperity and happiness. Wanted to end the vrat with a sweet note and so made this delicious pineapple rava kesari and black-eyed peas sundal for neivedhiyam. I had some pineapple essence in my pantry so used that to flavor the kesari but you can use crushed pineapple pieces too. Also I was out of sugar and cashews, so used what I had in hand ~ only half cup of sugar while the recipe called for 1 cup but the sweetness was okay for us. Feel free to use one cup if you are a sweet-tooth. Also I replaced the cashews with almond and pistas since that was what I found in my pantry.
~*What U Need*~
Sooji / Semolina / Rava – ½ cup
Sugar – 1/2 cup
Water – 1 ½ cups
Food color – a pinch
Ghee – 3 tsps
Chopped almonds, pista - 5 each
Pineapple essence - 1/4 tsp
Dried grapes - 5
How I Made it:
Dry roast the semolina till golden brown and u get a nice aroma. Boil 1 ½ cups of water till you see bubbles coming up. Add in the semolina and keep stirring till the water is absorbed, say 3-4 mins.
Add the sugar and mix well. When the sugar has melted and combined well, add the food color, pineapple essence and the ghee. Stir well till the mixture comes off the pan. Remove from flame.
Fry the almonds, pista and dry grapes in ghee, add this to the kesari and combine well. Grease a plate with ghee, drop the mixture onto this and smooth out. Once cooled, cut into slices. Serve!!!
Kaaramani idlipodi sundal ~ After adding ginger to my previous sundal, I wanted to add flavor to my next try and hence tipped in some idli podi which I had in hand and bang, the sundal was yummy and different from the regular ones.
Adapted from Priyasfeast
~*What U Need*~
Kaaramani/Cow gram - 1/2 cup
Grated Fresh Coconut - 2 tbsp
Idli podi - 2 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1/4 tsp
Urad Dal - 1/4 tsp
Dried Red Chillies - 1-2
Curry Leaves - 1 sprig
Hing - a small pinch
Salt, Oil
How I Made it:
Soak kaaramani for 4 hours. Rinse and drain. Pressure cook for 2 whistles till soft. Drain and set aside. Heat 1 tsp oil in pan. Add the mustard seeds, urad dal and let them splutter. Add the broken red chillies, curry leaves and hing and fry for a few seconds.
Now add the cooked cow gram and saute for a couple of minutes. Add the idli podi and mix well. Next goes in the grated fresh coconut and salt. Mix well. Remove from flame. Serve hot!!!
a.JPG)
a.jpg)
b.jpg)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.jpg){kind=spacer}
.jpg){kind=spacer}
.jpg){kind=spacer}
.jpg){kind=spacer}
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.jpg)
.jpg)
