Back to blogging!...Banana Walnut Muffin (Egg less)

Almost a year break from blogging...Time flies really fast indeed....A rollercoaster ride like pregnancy & childbirth is the reason for the hiatus from my blogging.....'Aal Iz Well' now...I'm now blessed with the most precious gift ever- my cute little 9 month old baby boy. Cooking has been a big challenge these days given the very little time I have in hand right now. Nevertheless, the alarm in the tummy clock never fails to buzz, so I have been managing to cook against all odds.
So I realized that if I put in a little extra effort to take pictures of what I cook & post the recipes, may be I can keep my blog going. So I start out with something which is not my usual forte in cooking i.e.baking. I had some bananas which were really ripe and so decided to bake eggless Banana Walnut Muffin.I was inspired by Saffron huts wonderful recipe for this and made a small change to the kind of flour used.The highlights to this muffin is I have used 50% whole wheat flour and 50% AP flour. Well, no one could tell the difference 'coz it tasted really delicious.. Try it out and u would know.....

Ingredients:
All Purpose(AP) flour- 3/4 cup
Whole wheat flour(I used Pillsbury atta)- 3/4 cup
Butter- 1/3 cup(unsalted)
Sugar-3/4 cup
bananas- 4 ripe
baking soda- 1 tsp
baking powder- 1tsp
salt-1/2 tsp
chopped walnuts/raisins
Method:
Preheat oven to 375 F.
Mash the bananas really well.mix it with sugar and melted butter.
In the meantime use a flour sifter to mix all the dry ingredients together.Add this to the mashed banana and mix everything together really well. Fill the muffin pan with paper cups & pour this batter to 3/4th of each muffin slot. Add some chopped walnuts/raisins on top of each of this & bake for about 20 mins or when a fork comes out clean.Let it cool a bit and then serve. I made 12 regular size muffins with this proportion.
Enjoy the yumm yumm muffin!

Sprouts Pulav

Sprouts is one of the richest source of protein and I got the idea of making Pulav with it from my sis Reva who is a big fan of sprouts.This is also a kid friendly dish and a clever way to introduce sprouts into their diet.You can use store bought sprouts or home made ones.....I used home made sprouts. Here is the quick method to make sprouts at home followed by the recipe for Sprouts Pulav..Enjoy!
To make Sprouts:
Wash nicely & then soak Whole Green Moong dhal in water on day 1. The next day i.e day 2, drain all the water and leave the moong closed in a container for the entire day. You will see that the moong has begun to sprout nicely on day 3. You can refrigerate this sprouted moong and use it upto a week easily. It can be added to Salads, soups, Kurma or rice.
Sprouts Pulav:
Ingredients:
Basmati Rice- 1 Cup
Onion- 1 thinly sliced
Green chilly- 3 slit
Sprouts- 2 cups
Red bell pepper- chopped- 2 tbsp (optional)
Coconut milk- 1 cup
Garam masala powder- 1 tsp
Salt to taste
To make into paste:
Ginger- 1 inch piece
Garlic- 2 pods
Cinnamon- 1 small stick
clove- 1

To Temper:
Bay leaf- 2
Cloves-2
Cinnamon- 1 stick
cardamom- 2

Method:
Wash and Soak the basmati rice for 10 mins. Drain the excess water and keep it aside.
Heat oil + 1 tsp of ghee and add the tempering items.When the nice aroma of masala rises, add the slit green chilly and sliced onions and saute them nicely. Now add the masala paste and saute well until the raw smell goes away. Then add the sprouts and saute nicely until it mixes well with the masala. Now add the chopped red bell pepper(this is optional, I added it to make it colorful). Then add the washed basmati rice to this masala and mix well. Sprinkle a tsp of garam masala powder, salt to taste and transfer this to a rice cooker. Add a cup of coconut milk + a cup of water(I used rice to water ratio as 1:2, use appropriate ratio based on kind of rice used). Cook for 20 mins or until rice is cooked well. Garnish with roasted cashews and serve with raita & chips.
Yumm yumm Sprouts Pulav is ready!

Sweet Corn Soup

I'm happy to be back to blogging after my couple of months break....Sweet corn soup is one of the easiest and healthiest soups to make....Corn is a complex carbohydrate loaded with vitamins, minerals, folic acid and high in fiber content.....you can use either canned corn or frozen corn for this recipe...ok, here goes the simple recipe for Sweet corn soup.
Ingredients:
Frozen or canned sweet corn- 1 cup
Finely Chopped green beans, carrot & corn kernels- 3 tbsp
Green(Spring) onion- 2 or 3
salt to taste
Black pepper powder to taste
Oil- 1 tsp

Method:
Finely chop the bulb of green onion and keep the green leaves aside for garnishing. Saute the chopped bulb of onion in a tsp of oil and then add the finely chopped green beans, carrot and a tbsp of corn. Sprinkle some salt and saute this slightly. In the meantime, blend a cup of corn in a mixer and add it to the sauted veggies. (I blend a cup of corn to get the thick stock, this way I avoid adding corn flour to the soup ) Add some water, salt and black pepper powder to taste. Let this boil for 4-5 mins. Garnish with the chopped leaves of the green onions and serve with some garlic bread.

Small break !!

I will be on vacation to India to attend my dearest sis's wedding, so will be taking a short break from blogging....Check out my blog again in May for more recipes.take care till then.....!

Stop Plagiarism!

I was soo shocked to know that some of the pictures from food blogs have been copied and claimed as theirs...one such stolen picture was Mahimaa's. As a fellow blogger, I would like to express my support to Mahimaa and all other bloggers affected by this and also would like to strongly condemn this kind of plagiarism...it takes a lot of time and effort to think of a recipe, cook it, take pictures, and then post it......it is such a shame to take credit for someone else's hard work and time!

Karadayan Nonbu Adai

Karadyan Nombu is observed in the last few hours of the tamil month of maasi before the birth of the month panguni. On this day married women observe fast and pray to Goddess for the long life & prosperity of their husband and young girls pray to be blessed with a good husband. It is believed that it is on this day that Savithri saved her husband Satyavan from Yama. The offering for Goddess on this day is called Nombu adai and there are two kinds of it - one is spicy Upu (meaning salt) adai and the other one is sweet adai made with jaggery called Velam(means jaggery) adai. These two adais are placed on a banana leaf with butter, fruits, beetel leaf and the sacred thread called 'nombu saradu'. After offering this to the Goddess by saying
"Urugatha Venayam oru Adayum naan Tharuven, Oru kaalum en kanavar enai piriyathu irukanum" which means I'm offering you unmelted butter and nombu adai, please bless me with a long married life with my dear husband and we should never part,after saying this the woman would tie the nombu saradu(sacred thread) around her neck.
Moving to the US has not changed my belief and liking for these rituals even a bit..infact I see all the more reason to do it here without fail, to remember our wonderful culture and try to continue the family tradition.
Luckily I got some fresh banana leaves from Food 4 less and I used canned black eye peas which saves some time in soaking and cooking the beans.....So here goes the recipe for Nombu Adai. BTW I usually call my mom to check with her for the recipe until I came across the very clear recipe by Menutoday. I followed her recipe step by step. I'm going to make a note of it here for my future reference.
Nombu Adai (salt)
Ingredients:
Rice flour- 1 cup
water- 1.5 cups
Boiled black eye peas-4-5 tbsp
coconut pieces or shredded- 2 tbsp
salt to taste
For tempering:
Oil- 2 tsp
curry leaves- few
Green chilly- 2or 3
red cilly-2
Hing
mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp
Urad dhal- 1 tsp
Ginger finely chopped-1 tsp
Method:
Temper the above items in oil and then add the water. when the water boils, add the coconut pieces, salt and black eye peas. Add the rice flour when the water boils nicely and mix without lumps. cover and cook for 2-3 mins. then transfer it to a bowl and let it cool.(cover it with a wet cloth to retain the moisture). After this cools down, knead it nicely and(if need be sprinkle water) and make small ball of it, flatten it, make a hole in the centre and steam it until it gets a nice shiny finish.
Serve with butter.
Nombu Adai(sweet)
Rice flour- 1 cup
Water- 1.75 cups
Jaggery- 1 cup
cardamom powder- a pinch
Boiled Black eye peas- 4-5 tbsp
coconut pieces or shredded- 2 tbsp
ghee-1 tbsp
Method:
Dry roast the rice flour to a slight brown colour
Mix the jaggery and water and let this boil well. Now add the coconut and black eye peas. Then add the roasted rice flour and mix without forming any lumps. cover and cook for 2-3 mins. Then turn off the stove, add the cardamom powder, ghee and mix well. Cover with a wet cloth and keep it. Once cooled, knead it well, take a small ball of it, flatten it, make a hole in the centre
and steam it until it looks shiny.
Serve with butter.

Carrot Halwa

This is a relatively healthier sweet than the others filled with ghee. I just used 2 tbsp of ghee, organic carrots, some milk, sugar and it took me only about 20 mins to make it. So here is the simple recipe for Carrot Halwa.
Ingredients:
Carrot- grated- 2 cups
Milk- 2 cups
Sugar- 1/2 cup
Cardamom powder- 1 tsp
Nuts- cashews/raisins- 2 tbsp
ghee- 2 tbsp
Method:
Heat ghee in a wide skillet or pan and roast the nuts slightly. Keep the nuts aside. In the same ghee, add the grated carrot. Saute it in medium flame till the carrots changes color and get cooked. In the meantime, take 2 cups of milk and boil it nicely. add this milk to the carrot and continue to cook the carrots in the milk. It will take 6-7 mins for all the milk to get absorbed and the carrot becomes thick. At this stage add the sugar. The sugar will ooze out more water now.. so continue to cook until the halwa gets thick and leaves the sides of the pan. Add the cardamom powder,mix well & add the nuts and serve.