Banana Bread

Recipe courtesy: Joy of baking.

I have tried this a couple of times and everytime I am happy with its results.I have blindly followed the recipe without any modifications other than the addition of some chocolate chips to it.This is one perfect tea time bread and is very easy to prepare.We just loved the aroma of banana in it and the combination of banana and walnuts is incredible.I like to cut it into thick slices and the bread a little bit and have it with a cup of tea either as morning breakfast or evening snack.Try it and I am sure even you will say the same thing.I even tried the banana bread - eggless version which is equally amazing and I will try posting it some time later.

Ingredients:

1+3/4 cup(245 gms) All Purpose flour
3/4 cup(150 gms) White sugar
2 large eggs,at room temperature
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup (113 gms) Unsalted butter
3 large ripen banana's
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup walnuts,chopped

Method:

• Grease a Loaf pan( 9 x 5 x 3) with butter and dust it with flour evenly or place a butter paper in the pan.
• Preheat the Oven to 180 deg for 10 mins.
• Slightly toast the walnuts in oven or on stove top and chop them into small pieces.
• Melt butter and let it cool to the room temperature.
• Beat the eggs with a hand whisker slightly until it is done.
• Sift together flour,baking powder and baking soda twice to let them mix uniformly.
• Grind sugar to a fine powder.
• Mash the Banana with hands until all the lumps are removed.Add in sugar powder and mix properly.
• Now add beaten eggs,vanilla essence and cooled butter to the banana mixture and mix until everything is mixed properly.
• Add all the dry ingredients(Flour mixture,salt and cinnamon powder) to the wet ingredients(banana mixture) and gently fold using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula and mix until the batter is thick and chunky.(Do not over do the process of mixing as that yields in a rubbery bread).
• Slightly coat the walnuts and choco chios with 1/2 tsp of flour and add to the batter and fold in roughly.
  
• Gently scrape the batter into the greased loaf pan and place it in the oven and bake at 180 deg for 45-50 mins or bake until the crust is brown and tooth pick should come out clean when inserted.
• Cool it on the wire rack and slice it and serve.

Note:

1. As I did not have enough walnuts at that time I added 1/2 cup of walnuts and 1/2 cup of chocolate chips instead of 1 cup walnuts.
2. You can even add other dry fruits like raisins,pecans,etc.
3. You can even add 2-3 tsp of cocoa powder to the batter to get the chocolate flavor of banana bread.

Serving Suggestions:

1. Toast the banana bread slice and serve it warm with tea.
2. Apply peanut butter to the toasted slice of banana bread and serve.
3. Serve it slightly warm(by keeping it in microwave for few seconds) with vanilla icecream.
4. Serve it at the room temperature.
   

Raw Banana Pepper fry & Drumstick kootu.....a platter from Rak's Kitchen

Sometimes we will run out of ideas about what to cook for lunch/dinner and I am sure that this will be a common problem for most of us....;)In that sense,blogging is helping me a lot in getting lot of ideas,infact it is inspiring me more to try out new dishes from different regions and cuisines.I generally make sambar out of drumstick or I will use in aviyal at the most and I rarely cook raw banana at home.When I saw Rak's post I was sure that I will be going to cook that combo for my hubby's lunch box.On the same day I went to buy those veggies from the vegetable vendor just next to our building(that is the comfort of staying in our mother country,everything is easily accessible..) and prepared it for hubby's lunch box next day.Thank you Raks for sharing this,we just loved it.I modified the recipes lil bit to adjust according to our taste.

Drumstick kootu:

Ingredients:

2 Drumsticks
1/4 cup Moong dal
1 tsp sambar powder
1/4 tsp haldi/turmeric powder
1 Tomato,chopped
2 generous pinches of hing
salt to taste

To grind:
1/2 cup grated coconut
1/4 tsp Rice flour

for Tadka:
1 tsp ghee/Oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp urad dal
1/2 tsp jeera
a pinch of hing
a sprig of curry leaves
1 tbsp chopped shallots



Method:

1. Cut drumstick into 2 inch long pieces.
   
2. Boil moong dal with tomato,turmeric,sambhar powder in pressure cooker until done.
3. Meanwhile cook drumstick and salt in a vessel until tender.No add cooked moong dal to it and mix properly.
   
4. Grind coconut and rice flour with little water and add to the cooked drumstick,moong dal mixture and let it boil,remove from fire after one boil.
5. Heat ghee in a tadka pan and crackle mustard seeds and jeera.Add urad dal,curry leaves and hing and fry for a minute.Add chopped shallots and fry until the onion is soft and pink.
6. Add the tadka to the dal mixture and stir.

Serve it hot with rice and papad.

Note:

• For a Vegan version use oil instead of ghee for seasoning.

Raw Banana pepper fry:

Ingredients:

2-3 Raw banana
1 tsp sambar powder
1/4 tsp haldi/turmeric powder
1 tbsp curds
1 tsp freshly ground pepper powder
salt to taste

for Tadka:
1 tsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp urad dal
1 sprig of curry leaves

Method:

• Peel the banana's and dice them into 1/2" cubes and drop them in salted water mixed with curds.This helps in retain its color.For a Vegan version avoid adding curds to water.
  
• Wash the banana cubes properly and boil them in enough water mixed with sambar powder,salt and turmeric until they are nice and tender.Drain them and keep aside.
• Heat oil in a kadai,crackle mustard seeds and add urad dal and curry leaves and fry for a minute and then add cooked banana pieces and stir fry on high flame for 1-2 mins until it is dry.Add pepper powder to it and mix well.
  
• Add grated coconut to it and mix well.

Serve it hot with hot steaming rice with ghee and papad.

Lobia fritters and Lobia sundal

And here comes the last two dishes which prepared on diwali and directly to the recipes today.

Lobia Fritters/Alasandula vada:

Ingredients:

1 cup Lobia/Alasandulu/Black eyed peas
3-4 tbsp finely chopped Onion(1 onion)
2 tbsp finely chopped coriander
2-3 tbsp grated carrot(optional)
1 " ginger,chopped
3-4 green chillies
1 tbsp chopped curryleaves
salt to taste
Oil to deep fry

Method:

• Soak lobia overnight or atleast for 3hrs.Drain them and spread over a kitchen towel/napkin to remove excess water and pat dry.
• Grind lobia with ginger,salt and green chillies to a coarse paste,preferably do this process in whipper mode.
• Add finely chopped onions,coriander,curry leaves and grated carrot and mix well.
• Heat oil in a deep kadai over low flame until it is quite hot.
• Grease a thick plastic cover or banana leaf or your palm with oil and take a small portion of batter and make a round ball out of it and slight pat it until it forms vada by pressing it at the edges and carefully lower them into hot oil and fry them over medium flame until it is golden brown and crisp outer side.
• Drain them on paper towels and serve it hot with tomato ketchup.

Lobia Sundal/Alasandula Guggillu:

Ingredients:

1 cup cooked Lobia/Alasandulu/Black eyed peas
1 tbsp chana dal
1 tsp urad dal
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
a pinch of hing/asafoetida(optional)
5-6 curry leaves
2-3 tbsp fresh grated coconut
3-4 dry red chillies,broken
1 tsp lemon juice(optional)
1 tsp ghee/oil
salt to taste

Method:

• Soak lobia overnight or atleast for 3hrs.Pressure cook them with some salt until 3-4 whistles,it should hold its shape and should not become mushy.Drain cooked lobia and set aside.
• Heat ghee in a kadai and crackle mustard seeds.Add chana dal and urad dal and fry until they turn red in color.
• Add broken red chillies and fry for a minute.Now add curry leaves and hing and fry for another minute.
• Add cooked and drained lobia and stir fry for few minutes,do this process carefully in order to avoid lobia to become mushy.
• Add little salt as we added already some salt while cooking them.Add grated coconut and mix properly.
• Switch off the flame and after a minute add lemon juice and stir properly and serve.
  

Serve it hot/warm/cold.

Note:

• For a Vegan version use oil instead of ghee for tempering.

Pulihora / Puliyogre

I have already mentioned in my previous post that my next post will be pulihora,so I am posting this recipe.And again you guys guessed it correct,my next post will be that lobia sundal...ha ha..Pulihora is especially prepared on the festivals in south India,I like it because of the multiple tastes balanced by the right proportion of ingredients in it.If it sits for longer time the taste will invariably increase and this is also a nice lunch box recipe.Now to the recipe directly.

Ingredients:

1 cup sona masura/ponni rice
1 big lemon size tamarind
3-4 tbsp groundnuts
2 tbsp grated jaggery
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 tbsp chana dal
1 tbsp urad dal
4-5 dry red chillies,broken
3-4 green chillies,slit
a pinch of turmeric/haldi(optional)
2 generous pinches of hing
a sprig of curry leaves
2 tbsp oil(normal cooking oil what ever you use)
1 tbsp sesame oil
salt to taste

To roast and grind:
2 tbsp white sesame seeds
2 tbsp grated dry coconut
1/4 tsp methi seeds/fenugreek
1/4 tsp mustard seeds

for garnish:
2 tbsp grated fresh coconut
1 tbsp chopped coriander


Method:

• Wash the rice properly twice or thrice and add enough water to it and cook it in the normal as you cook rice,either pressure cooker or direct stove top or microwave or electric rice cooker method whichever is convenient for you.
• Once the rice is done cool it completely by spreading it over wide plate smear with oil lightly.
• Soak tamarind in 1/4 cup of water for 10-15 mins or microwave the mixture for 1 min.Microwave method is quite quick when u have lack of time.After it is cooled add grated jaggery and mix well until it is melted completely.
• Dry roast mustard,fenugreek seeds separately.Dry roast sesame seeds until they pop up.Cool them completely and grind all the roasted seeds along with grated coconut to a fine powder.
• In a kadai heat normal oil and sesame oil and crackle the mustard seeds,add groundnuts and fry until they turn red.Add chana dal,urad dal,red chillies,green chillies and fry for a couple of minutes until done.
• Add curry leaves,hing and turmeric powder and fry for a minute and then add tamarind pulp mixture and mix until the mixture thickens completely.Add enough salt to it and mix.
• Now remove it from the stove and let it cool a bit and reserve some mixture and pour the remaining mixture over the cooled rice and also add the powder (ground) and mix properly until everything is well blended.Now check the taste of it and add more tamarind mixture or salt according to your taste.
• Garnish with coriander and grated fresh coconut and serve.

Palada...a Diwali sweet

I hope everyone would have enjoyed the festival to the fullest extent with wonderful feast and bursting crackers.The whole blogging world is full of Diwali celebrations showcasing the sweets and savories prepared especially for the festival.As my cousin was visiting me last week mom has sent some sweets and savories with him for the festival,so I did not feel like preparing anything else even though I had some plans after seeing those delicacies getting posted by our fellow bloggers.On the festival day I did pooja and offered palada,pulihora,lobia sundal and lobia fritters to the god as prashad and in the evening I have lit the diya's and burst some crackers in the balcony.
During my last trip to Bangalore I had visited one of the MTR's outlets and while on the loot of MTR products this Rice ada packet caught my attention and thanks to my blogging world which has already given me enough knowledge about new things,so immediately I added that packet of rice ada to my shopping cart.I have just followed the instructions given behind the packet and modified the recipe little bit according to our taste.I added condensed milk to it as I like the richness that gives to the sweets.I liked the chewy texture of the ada which s quite different and simple from the other kheer's.And here comes my version of this recipe..

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (around 50gm) Rice Ada(I used MTR)
500 ml milk
5-6 tbsp condensed milk
2-3 tbsp sugar(adjust according to your sweet levels)
1/2 tsp Elaichi powder
1/4 tsp saffron
1 tbsp ghee
8-10 badam/almonds,chopped
8-10 cashewnuts,chopped
1 tsp chironji seeds(charoli)
12-15 raisins
2 pistachios and 2 almonds,soaked,peeled and slivered


Method:

• Soak saffron in 2 tbsp of warm milk for half an hour.
• Boil the remaining milk in a container.
• Boil 1 cup of water in a kadai and add rice ada and mix and let it cook for 8-10 mins until the rice ada is soft and done.
• Add hot milk to the cooked ada and simmer the flame and let it cook until the milk is reduced to 3/4 th level by stirring it in between.
• Now add condensed milk and sugar to it and boil for 2-3 mins.
• Add saffron soaked milk to it and let it cook on low flame for 5-6 mins.
• Heat ghee in a small tadka pan and fry chopped cashewnuts and badam in it for 1-2 mins and then add raisins and fry it until they rise.
• Add the fried dry fruits and elaichi powder to the cooked kheer and give a stir.
• Pour it in a bowl and decorate with slivered pistachios and almonds

Serve it hot or chilled.


and you guessed right..my next recipe will be pulihora and sundal...:)

and now comes the Award time.

Renu has passed me "Kreative blogger" award to me.Thanks a lot Renu for thinking of me and passing that award.Thanks a lot dear.Updated in my side bar.

Priya has passed me "Presentation" award to me.Thanks a lot priya for thinking of my blog and passing that award.

Vidhas has passed me "A Giant Bear Hug" award to me.Thanks a lot Vidhas for thinking of my blog and passing that award.Updated in my side bar.

Sushma , PJ,Shubha have passed on an award and a tag for me.Thanks a lot girls for thinking of me and passing that lovely award to me dear.

This award goes with a fun meme which has to be passed on to 6 of your favourite blogs and which has to be answered with only one word.Here is the meme part:

1. Where is your cell phone: next to my laptop

2. Your hair: Black

3. Your mother: Hamsaveni

4. Your father: Ramanath

5. Your favorite food: Chaats

6. Your dream last night: dont remember

7. Your favorite drink: Badam milk

8. Your dream/goal: To settle in a better way and position

9. What room are you in: living room

10. Your hobby: blog hopping these days

11. Your fear: Darkness

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years: anywhere

13. Where were you last night: at home

14. Something you aren’t: simple

15. Muffins: I love any variety,especially chocolate and Banana flavored ones

16. Wish list item: too many

17. Where did you grow up: Andhra

18. Last thing you did: had my lunch

19. What are you wearing: skirt and t-shirt

20. Your TV: Off

21. Your pets: No

22. Your friends: quite a few

23. Your life: happy

24. Your mood: normal now

25. Missing someone: my niece

26. Vehicle: car

27. Something you’re not wearing: bangles and toe rings

28. Your favorite store: central

29. Your favorite color: Black and red

30. When was the last time you laughed: dont remember

31. Last time you cried: might be yesterday watching some soaps in tv..:)

32. Your best friends: R,S,S,P

33. One place that I go over and over: the grocery store

34. One person who emails me regularly: all the blogger friends

35. Favorite place to eat: too many places in bangalore and bombay

I would love to pass it on to all my Blogger friends who did not recieve these awards as it is very difficult to choose as I love reading and visiting every one's blog. So please accept this Award and pass it on to ur friends.

Billa Kudumulu / Rice Rava Tikkis & Onion Chutney and my 100th post..!!

Hurray....!!!!!
I have finally reached a small milestone in my blogging world...yes this is my 100th post.Before I proceed to the recipe I would like to thank all my blogger friends for their tremendous support by visiting my blog regularly and writing those lovely words. Thanks a lot girls,without your support I would not have reached my milestone so easily.Thanks a tonne..:)

As it is my 100th post I thought of posting something which is not familiar with many of you guys. This is a typical traditional food which is prepared only in few house holds of Andhra and Karnataka,so many people might not be aware of this dish.This is a all time favorite breakfast made at our place and especially my brother likes it so much that my mom makes this atleast once every fortnight.Even though the recipe sounds so simple,the preparation is bit time consuming in making the billakudumulu/tikkis and frying them,but the outcome is all worth the effort you had put in that.Do give a try once,you will definitely like it.

Ingredients:

1 cup Rice Rava /Akki tari/Biyyapu rava
3 cups Water
2 tsp oil
Salt to taste


Method:

• Slightly roast rice rava until you could smell the aroma of it.Cool it completely.You can even fry it and keep it in advance and store it in airtight containers.
  
• Bring the water to a boil and add salt and oil to it,Once it starts boiling add roasted rice rava to it and keep on stirring until it gets cooked and forms a lump.
• Now turn off the flame.Let the mixture cool for a while(not completely) until you can handle the mixture with your hand.
• Grease your hands with little oil and take some mixture and make it into a smooth round and flatten to 1/2 inch thickness like a round or oval patties and give a nice shape pressing at the edges.Do follow the same procedure to prepare the remaining ones.
• Now on a heavy tawa pour 3tbsp of oil(on a medium flame)and place the prepared tikki's on it and shallow fry both sides on medium flame applying oil on both sides until golden brown and crisp.This is bit time consuming as it takes more time to get browned on both sides on low flame.so please be patient at this part.This should be roasted in such a way that when you try to tear a place it should split into two parts.
  

Serve it hot with Onion Chutney or Coconut Chutney.

But in our house,Onion chutney and Billa kudumulu are like made for each other combo.

Note:

1. To prepare Rice rawa: Clean and Soak the rice for some time and drain it completely and spread over a cloth so that it will drain off excess water.Coarsely grind the pound mixture in a mixer and then sieve it(do it in whipper mode).Use the rawa which is in sieve and the flour that it is sieved can be used for dosa's or regular rice flour.
   
2. Rice rawa can also be prepared directly by grinding it in the mixer in whipper mode and sieve it.
   
3. Instead of 1 cup rawa,add 3/4 th cup of rawa and 1/4th cup of coarsely ground toor dal(generally they will be ground together in 3-rice:1-toor dal ratio).Even this tastes very yummy and different in taste than the regular one.They turn little yellowish in colour because of the addition of toor dal.
4. You can add soaked chana dal(approx - 3-4tsp) and grated fresh coconut- 2tsp to the boiling water along with rice rawa.
5. These Tikki's(Billakudulumu) can be even steamed like how we do for Idli's for healthier version,but the roasted version will be more tastier than the steamed one's.

Onion Chutney:

Ingredients:
3 big onions,sliced
6-8 red chillies
1/4 cup grated dry coconut
1 tbsp tamarind pulp
1 tsp grated jaggery(optional)
salt to taste
2-3 tbsp oil

for tadka:
1 tsp mustard seeds
a sprig curry leaves
1 tsp ghee


Method:

• Grind red chillies,grated dry coconut,jaggery and salt to a coarse powder.
• Add sliced onions and tamarind pulp to it and pulse it in whipper mode.The mixture should be slightly chunky with onion bites.
  
• In a kadai heat oil and add ground mixture and fry for 8-10 mins until brown and starts leaving the edges.
• Heat ghee in a tadka pan crackle mustard seeds and add curry leaves and fry for a minute.Add the tadka to the onion chutney and mix.
  

Serve it with Billa kudumulu.

Notes:

• This stays good for 3-4 days when stored in refrigerator.
• This taster better with billa kudumulu, rice flour rotti/akki rotti and chapathy.
• For a Vegan version use oil instead of ghee for tempering.

I am sending this entry for "WYF:Light Meal"-event hosted by EC.

Capsicum & Potato Pulav

A simple pulav with raitha is always a simple and comfort meal for lunch after having a heavy south Indian breakfast on weekend mornings.Every time I ask my hubby what does he prefer for lunch,his answer would be still the same,a simple pulav/jeera rice as he does not like eating heavy elaborated meal as the morning breakfast itself would be so heavy on weekends.I always be in search of new type of rice dishes and that intensive search made me to buy Mallika Badrinath's -100 Rice delights book which has different varieties of pulav's and rice dishes.Each recipe is different from the other in its own way and preparation.It is always fun for me to try new recipes and waiting for the turn to taste it and this recipe is tried from her book and is loved at home.This is infact a life saver as it can be prepared with the minimal available vegetables at home and I am sure it will be definitely a party kind of pulav.
Ingredients:
1 cup Basmati rice
4-5 baby potatoes
2-3 Capsicum
2 Onions
1 cup tomato pulp
1 cup water
salt to taste
1/4 tsp Garam masala
3 Laung
1"cinnamon
1 bayleaf
2 cardamoms
2 tbsp ghee/oil

Masala to grind:2 1/2 tsp grated fresh coconut
7 red chillies
1 onion
1 tbsp fried gram
4 garlic pods
1 tsp dhaniya
1 or 2 Tomatoes


Method:

• Wash basmati rice and soak in water for 10mins.
• Pressure cook potatoes for 2 whistles and then peel the skin.
• Dice the onions and capsicum into 1" cubes.
• Grind the ingredients mentioned under 'To grind' into fine paste without adding water.
• In a pressure cooker heat ghee/oil add dry masala's like laung,cinnamon,cardamom,bayleaf and fry for a minute.Add diced onions and fry until pink in color.
• Add diced capsicum and continue cooking for 2-3 mins.
• Add boiled baby potatoes and ground masala paste and fry until nice aroma starts.
• Add tomato pulp,water(1 cup) and add enough salt and let it boil.
• Add soaked and drained basmati rice and cover it with lid and let it cook on low flame for 10-12 mins(2 whistles).
• Add chopped coriander and mint to it and mix before serving.

Serve it hot with Onion raitha and papad and wait for the complements.

Note:

• For a Vegan version use oil instead of ghee for tempering.

Mixed Sprouts Adai

I generally make big batch of sprouts and sprouts are best to be consumed within 3-4 days as we should not store sprouts for longer time .Sometimes it happens that I would not be able to comsume it with in time,so I generally turn them into making adai's which are healthy and an instant breakfast which can be done within 15 mins.check my another version of Moong Adai for perfect and crispy Adai's.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Whole Moong sprouts
1/2 cup Matki sprouts ,(moth beans)
1/4 cup small Black eyed peas sprouts(chauli,small lobia)
2-3 tbsp Rice flour
1 tbsp fine chiroti rawa (baarik rawa)
1 medium onion,finely chopped
2 green chillies,slit
a sprig of curry leaves
1/2" ginger,chopped
1 tsp jeera
two pinches of hing
salt to taste
oil


Method:

• Grind the sprouts along with jeera,green chillies,ginger,curry leaves and hing to a coarse mixture.Add little water if required.
• Now add riceflour,chiroti rawa and salt to it and mix well and keep it aside for 10-15 mins.
• Heat Nonstick pan and spray PAM over it(or you can smear some oil over it) and spread adai over it,it should be slightly thicker than the regular dosa .
• Sprinkle finely chopped onions all over it and lightly press with a spatula.pour oil all over from the sides.
• Cover it and cook on medium flame until it is brown and crisp on one side.Now carefully flip it over to the other side and cook until it is crisp on the other side too.
• Serve it right from the pan and on to the plate.

Serve it hot with Ginger chutney.

Note:

• To make sprouts,soak all the dals in water for 5-6 hrs or overnight and wash it atleast once and drain them and tie it in muslin cloth and hang in a dry place for one day.
• You can just make this with whole moong sprouts instead of mixed sprouts by increasing the volume of moong sprouts and following the same procedure.
• If you want crispier Adai's ferment the batter for 4-5hrs(it takes less time to ferment) and then add chiroti rawa and follow the same procedure to prepare adai's.

I am sending this entry for "WYF:Light Meal"-event hosted by EC.

Dal Makhani :


I am sending this entry for "Garnish the Dish"-the first event hosted by these super SIL's Pavithra and Nithya.




Thank you Ambica for sharing your first award with me..It means a lot dearie for me..Thanks a lot.
I would like to pass this award to
Pavithra,
Raks
Rekha
and Lubna.
plz accept my big hug girls..