Banana Bread

I ate this at Simi's place in my usual round of neighbourly chat, amongst the assortment of her bakes. Followed it word for word as given in her recipe except that I put in more chocolate chips, cause more the chocolate the merrier was the mantra for the day. I even had my son help me bake this, he was more excited about the whole thing than I was.

I even had my friend Jen walk in through my door just when I left the cake to cool on the dining table and was it candy to her eyes or what, she simply couldn't resist asking me to cut a portion for her...like it was left there to just dig into...the aroma of a fresh bake was irresistably wafting through my whole house.

Ingredients:
Flour - 1 3/4cup
Butter - 100gms
Egg - 1 beaten well
Castor Sugar - 1 cup
Vanilla Essence - 1tbsp
Chocolate Chips - 1/2cup
Baking Soda - 1tsp
Banana - 3 large (mashed to a smooth consistency)

Preheat the oven to 160 C. Grease a loaf tin and keep aside. Sift the flour and baking soda and set aside. Cream the butter, eggs and vanilla till smooth. Add in the mashed banana and mix well. Then add the sifted flour little by little and continue to mix well. Then fold in the chocolate chips. Bake for 35minutes or till done. Serve warm and this can be stored in an airtight container for about a week if it lasts that long.

The other happiness added to the joy of baking is that Madhuri Kumar of Cook- Curry Nook passed on this precious award and made my day even special.

Snake Gourd and Split Gram Dal Thoran

Gourds are high in fibre and commonly used in Ayurveda diets to help purify blood tissue, enhance digestion and stimulate the liver.

Ingredients:
Snake Gourd - 250gms
Split Gram Dal- 1/4cup
Coconut gratings - 3tbsp
Green chillies - 2 finely chopped
Shallots - 8-10 finely chopped
Garlic - 2pods
Turmeric Powder- 1/4tsp
Cumin Powder - 1/4tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2tsp
Curry Leaves - 2 sprigs
Dry Red Chilli - 1
Salt to taste

Cook dal in one cup of boiling water.Drain and keep aside. Scrape off the skin, remove the pith and seeds of the snake gourd and cut into tiny cubes. Grind coconut, chillies, a couple of shallots, garlic, cumin powder to a coarse wet paste. Place the snake gourd into a non stick pan with the masala in the middle. Pour about 1/4cup water, cover and cook till the gourd is tender and the mixture is dry. Mix the reserved dal into it. Temper the mustard seeds, curry leaves and shallots. Add the dry red chilli and fry for a couple of seconds and pour over the thoran.

Coconut Stuffed Dumpling (Kozhukotta)

An easy to make tea time snack. Something that appeals to the young and old alike.

Ingredients:
Fine rice flour - 250gms
Boiling water - 500ml
Salt - 1/2tsp
Grated coconut - 250gms
Jaggery - 250gms
Water - 50ml

Boil and the jaggery till it melts with the water and strain this onto the coconut and cook till almost dry. Pour boiling water into the rice flour and make a soft dough. Make lime sized balls with the rice dough. Fill each ball with a teaspoon of the coconut filling close and seal. Steam all the dumplings for about 15-20minutes and serve warm with tea.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Succulent meatballs in a nice sauce to make your dinner as relishing as possible. 

Ingredients:

Minced Chicken or lean beef mince - 400gms (uncooked)

Breadcrumbs - 1/2cup

Onion chopped - 6tbs

Ginger garlic paste - 1/2tsp

Worcestershire Sauce - 1tsp

Pepper and salt to taste

Oil for frying.
For the Sweet and Sour Sauce

Brown Sugar - 1/2cup

Vinegar - 1/4cup

Soya Sauce - 1tbsp

Cornflour - 1tbsp

Tomato sauce - 1/4cup

Green Capsicum - to garnish

Combine all the ingredients for the meatballs. Make about 20 meatballs and deep fry in moderate hot oil till golden brown and cooked. Drain onto absorbent paper and keep warm.

Into a small pan, combine the ingredients for the sauce and bring to a boil and simmer till the sauce becomes thick. Arrange the meatballs onto a serving plate and pour the bubbling sweet sauce over and garnish with capsicum.

Tuna Rissoles

I was searching for vanilla beans in my kitchen cupboard and 4 cans of tuna just stare at me. Instant flicker of the bulb in my head and I was all set to make rissoles for the day.

Ingredients:
Onion - 1 finely chopped
Green chillies - 2 finely chopped
Ginger - 4cm finely chopped
Curry leaves - a sprig
Canned Tuna - 400gms drained
Potato -  31/4 cup boiled, mashed
Salt and Pepper to taste
Egg yolk - 1
Egg white - 1
Breadcrumbs

Heat oil into a non stick pan and saute the onions, chillies, ginger and curry leaves until tender. Flake the tuna into a food processor and add to the pan and stir fry for about 10minutes. Mix in the potatoes, salt and pepper. Stir in well for 15minutes. Remove from heat and cool. Mix in egg yolk and make the rissoles. Dip in egg white and dust with breadcrumbs and deep fry in medium hot oil. Serve hot.

Tip: These rissoles dusted with breadcrumbs can be stored in the freezer bag for up to a month. Thaw before frying.

Watermelon Cooler

The current trend in our lifestyle is to scout for methods that would save time. Net result, we end up buying a tetra pack of whatever flavor of juice that is available without wasting time in preparing it. All this recipe requires is peeling, cutting the melon into pieces and switching on the blender to blitz everything in...try it out and see for yourself.....
Am sending this entry across for the event 'Serve me some' - Juices, Shakes and Smoothies hosted by Madhuri.

Ingredients:
Watermelon - 4cups de-seeded, without the rind and cut into small chunks
Cold Water - 11/2cups
Lemon Juice - juice of  1 whole lemon
Sugar to taste
Mint leaves a few

Blitz in all the ingredients except the mint leaves. Serve the juice immediately, with a lemon wedge and mint leaves.

Dense Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Glaze

Criss had already told me much in advance about wanting a cake for her daughter's (Michelle) b'day. I was not quite sure what to bake....when Simi updates her blog on 'Blast from the past'...and bang on the recipe was just there...just waiting to be tried. As dense and moist as it could get, I got the children to attack this irresistible chocolatey double delight not to mention the grown ups too had themselves licking their fingers!
I'm sending this across to Divya for her event 'The Best Chocolate cake'.

Ingredients:
Dark Chocolate - 380gms chopped
Butter - 240gms cubed
Eggs - 5
Sugar - 100gms
Vanilla - 1tbsp
Flour - 100gms
Baking Powder - 1tsp
For the Chocolate Glaze
Dark Chocolate - 200gms chopped
Cream - 200ml
 
Preheat the oven to 160 C. Into a saucepan about a third full with water brought to boil. Place a bowl over the saucepan, add the chocolate and butter and melt the mixture and set it aside. Then beat eggs, sugar, vanilla essence till volume rises to double from the original amount. Then add this egg mixture into the melted chocolate and fold. Next spoon in sifted flour and mix well. Pour batter into a greased 9 inch springform pan. Bake till done or wooden skewer comes clean.
To make the chocolate glaze, pour the cream into a saucepan and heat till close to boiling point, Remove from the heat and add to the chocolate to blend together. Glaze and cool at room temperature.