Banana Walnut Cake

I have been meaning to bake and bake a good cake ever since Vivek gifted me the small oven.
I have made many attempts but most have been extremely dis satisfactory.
I love banana walnut cake. Its a unique mix of ingredients. Am not personally fond of bananas but somehow the fragrance of the banana and the crunchiness of the walnuts seem to go so well together.

So here goes... me baked a Banana walnut cake!


You need:

3/4th cup plain flour
1/4th cup wheat flour
1/4th cup sugar
4 tbs oil
1 mashed banana
1/4th cup chopped walnuts
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup milk

Method:
- Mash the banana and mix in the vanilla essence and oil to get a well blended light mix.
- Sieve the flours and baking powder and mix into the wet mix.
- Mix in the milk to get a good consistency.
- Add the walnuts at the end and mix.
- Turn the cake mix into a prepared baking tray and bake at 210 degrees for 35 minutes.
- The cake is ready to eat!

Chocolate Cake - Arusuvai Chain

Bharathy roped me into the Arusuvai friendship chain...and told me I'd recieve an ingredient soon... and I recieve a white packet from Kamini... and tasting it I instantly knew it was "Baking Powder"...
Only I didn't want to bake as it would consume so much E energy. (and I had many an options but strangely nothing seemed nice enough)
And then again.... I haven't baked a thing in so many years... I didn't even remember the proportions of butter, flour and eggs!

So as you would assume, it did take me a couple of bad bakes to get to this one...
It doesn't look the best, but its the a really tasty and soft Chocolate cake.
Well if I'd follow my mother's recipes correctly more often I'd not have any failures... :)

You need:
170 gms Butter (melted)
170 gms of Sugar
140 gms of flour
1 tsp of baking powder
2 tbs of cocoa powder
A few drops of Vanilla essence
3 eggs
1/2 cup of milk

Method:
- Grease and dust a baking mould
- Seive the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder together.
- Mix in the melted butter and sugar and beat it till its white and fluffy (the trick is in how much and how long you can beat it)
- Mix in the eggs one at a time and mix thoroughly
- Fold in the flour mixture gently and little by little and mix it well.
- Add in the vanilla essence and some milk to get a dropping consistency.
- Add the mixture into a mould and bake it in a pre heated oven at 180 degrees for 20-30 minutes.

Chocolate cake is ready!

More Pickles

Making pickles has been an art. Not everyone has a flair for it, they say
and its not so easy to make them. I suppose its got to do with the fact that you
don't make pickles often, and therefore its all about having your hand set
at it. That's also the reason why grandmothers are a master at it and
mothers are just turning good :)

In any case, I yearn these pickles sometimes. Their colors are so vibrant!
Once again, I decided to try some more, but different pickles that I've
remembered enjoying at Gujarat.

Ada Muli/ Tumeric, Ginger and Mango Ginger's pickle



This is a ultra simple pickle that one will find in the beginning of spring in
most houses in Gujarat. The art is that each root is cut really thin.
(Gujaratis have an obsession with making things very fine)
Its made from 3 roots. Fresh and young ginger, young turmeric and young
"manga hingi" - its a root that tastes like mango but looks like ginger. Has
a very subtle mangoish fragrance.

You need:
100 gms of manga hingi (mango ginger root)
100 gms of young turmeric
100 gms of young ginger
6 lemons
1 cup of salt

Method:
- Wash, peel and slice all the roots.
- Extract the juice of the lemons and cut the leftover skins into quarters.
- Fill a jar with the juliennes of the roots and the lemon, add the salt and the
lemon juice.
- Close the bottle tightly and let it stand for 1 day. Its ready to eat the
next day.
- I like to add the lemon skins because they turn really yummy after
getting soaked a few days in the lime water. You could add lime slices
too.

Punjabi pickle



This pickle my friend, Indu's, mother used to make... and I remember how I used to love it! She actually used to ask me not to eat like a vegetable! But the fact is, it is indeed like a vegetable to accompany rotis and parathas. Well Aunty made it much better... I have yet to get the hang of it. But what I ended up making is quite close.

You need:
2 cups of Vegetables
Cauliflower florets
Carrots
Turnip
Peas
1 tbs split mustard seeds
4 tbs oil
4 tbs vinegar
1 tbs chilli powder
1/2 tbs turmeric powder
1 cup jaggery
2 tbs salt
1 tbs ginger and garlic paste

Method:
-Soak the vegetables in hot water for 15 minutes.
-Heat oil in a pan
-Add the garlic ginger paste and fry for 1 minute
-Add the mustard seeds, the chilli powder and turmeric powder and mix it

well in the hot oil
-Mix in the jaggery and let it dissolve
-Drain out the water from the vegetables as well as possible and let the mixture cook for 5 minutes in the oil.
-Add the vinegar and check the salt
-Store in a air tight jar

Raiwala Marcha (Mustard Chillies)



This pickle goes excellently with theplas and debhras.... well with any
meal in fact.

You need:
100 gms of big chillies
1 tbs of split mustard seeds/ mustard powder
1 tbs of salt
1/4 tsp asafetida
1 tbs of oil

Method:
- Clean and slit all the chillies. Divide the slits into 2 if the chilli is very
long.
- Remove any extra seeds to keep its spice level down
- Mix with the chillies the mustard, salt, asafetida and oil.
- Rub the chillies nicely so that the salt and mustard covers each one well.
- The "Marcha" are ready to eat in about half an hour!

Instant Golkeri



You need:
125 gms of mangoes
150 gms of jaggery
1/2 tbs of fenugreek seeds
1/2 tbs of methi seeds
4 large dry kashimiri chillies
1 tbs of shambhar masala
or
1 tsp mustard powder
2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp tumeric powder
2 tsp salt

Method:

Heat oil
-Add the red dried chillies broken into half, fenugreek and coriander seeds
and saute for 1 minute.
-Add the asafetida
-Saute the mango pieces such that they are covered with the other
ingredients well
-Mix in the Jaggery and let it dissolve slowly on slow fire.
-Add the shambhar masala or alternatively, mustard powder, chilli powder
and tumeric powder and mix well.
-Take the mixture off the fire as soon as the jaggery dissolves

Dahiwale Aloo

Ingredients:

250 gms baby potatoes

1 onion chopped

½ tsp mustard seeds

½ tsp cumin seeds

½ tsp onion seeds

½ tsp fennel seeds

1 pinch asafetida

2 cloves

1 bay leaf

1 piece of cinnamon

½ tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp coriander cumin powder

1 tsp dry mango powder

1 cup beaten curds

1 dry red chilli

1 tbs chopped coriander leaves

1 tbs oil/ghee

Method:

_ Boil and peel the baby potatoes

_ Heat the oil or ghee in a pan and add the mustard, onion, cumin and fennel seeds to it along with the asafetida. Fry for a minute until the seeds begin to crackle.

_ Add the cloves, cinnamon and the bay leaf and the dry red chilli.

_ Add the onions and sauté them till they are golden brown

_ Add the baby potatoes and mix them well.

_ Now add in the turmeric powder, red chilli powder and coriander cumin powder.

_ Mix well and add in some water to cook the masalas

_ Mix in the beaten curds and the dry mango powder.

_ Let the curry boil for 2 minutes on slow fire.

_ Sprinkle chopped coriander leaves on top.

_ And serve hot!

Orange Basundi

The season of Oranges is here and its my favorite favorite food...

What can be better than to explore sweets with this sweet and sour fruit! So here goes my sunday afternoon venture. None of it was leftover, glad I clicked a picture of it before ... :)

Ingredients:

1 litre milk

½ cup sugar

½ tsp of Cardamom powder

Few strands of saffron

Chopped nuts

2 oranges

½ tsp juice of lemon or orange

Method:

_ Boil the milk and let it simmer on slow fire until it comes down to half its quantity.

_ Add sugar to it and let it thicken.

_ Add the saffron and the cardamom powder.

_ Chill it

_ Peel the oranges and remove the skins to leave only the pulp.

_ Add the orange and the lemon juice/ orange juice to the chilled basundi

_ Sprinkle chopped almonds and pistachios on top.

_ Serve Chilled!

PICKLES

PICKLES
Originally uploaded by lavannya

Fed up of getting readymade pickles that somehow miss the flavor that comes from home made pickles, I decided to make my own. Atleast try my hand at the art of making pickles...
I tried these three... The green pepper one totally Rocks!
Clockwise from Top:
1. Fresh Green Chilli Pickle
2. Green peppers and Lime
3. Mango, chick pea and garlic pickle

1. Fresh Green Chilli Pickle:

You need:
1 cup large bhavnagri chillies
2 tbsp Oil
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds
1/8 tsp Asafetida
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp Lemon juice

Method:
- Cut the chillies into 1 cm thick rounds
- Heat oil in a pan
- Add the cumin and the fenugreek seeds to it. Stir and add in the asafetida.
- Add the chillies and saute them for 2 minutes and remove from heat.
- Add the salt, sugar and the lime juice and mix well.
- It can be stored for 2-3 days

2. Green peppers and Lime

You need:
250 gms green peppers
6 small limes
1 piece of fresh ginger (you could add more)
Green chillies slit into halves
1 cup of Salt

Method:
- Wash and dry the green peppers. Let them lose all the water.
- In a glass jar, fill all the green peppers, pieces of ginger and the green chillies.
- Squeeze in all the lime and add a cup of salt. You could add more salt if needed. The more the salt the longer the pickle will live.
- Chop all the squeezed limes into fours and add them to the jar.
- Leave the jar aside for 5 days. Keep shaking the jar once a day. The salt shall turn into water and the Lime will soften.
- This pickle tastes heavenly with Curd rice!!

3. Mango, chick pea and garlic pickle

You need:
2 raw mangoes
1 peeled bulb of garlic
1 tbsp of fenugreek seeds
1 cup chick peas
3 tbsp of Oil
3 tbsp of Sambar masala (will write recipe for this separately)

Method:
- Soak the chick peas overnight. Dry them out on a flat surface so that they lose all the water content.
- Soak the fenugreek seeds overnight and put them out to dry in the sun.
- Similarly chop mango pieces and soak them in salted water overnight. Dry them out properly on a flat surface.
- Heat the oil and let it cool.
- Mix in the mango pieces, garlic, fenugreek seeds, chick peas and the sambhar masala.
- Store in an airtight glass container and let it sit for 5 days.
- A hot crunchy pickle is ready to eat!

Jalebi

Dashera... and it reminds me of the late nights of Garba/navratri, the sweat, the dressing, the music, the energy... going back after the 9th night only after 7 am...having danced all night... and spent time at restaurant's cafeteria the remaining time...

Away from home, the Jalebis and Fafda memories lurk...
Today I decided to make my own Instant Jalebis

You need:
1 cup Maida / flour
1 tsp Besan or gram flour
1 tbs melted ghee
1/2 tsp fresh or dry yeast melted in warm water
few drops of yellow food colour (optional)
3/4 cup of water for mixing
1 tsp of sugar
Ghee for frying

For syrup:
2 cups of sugar
1 cup of water
few strands of saffron
1/2 lemon's juice

Method:
For the syrup:
- Heat the sugar, water, saffron and the lemon juice to get a thick syrup.

For the Jalebis:

- Mix in the all the dry ingredients for the Jalebi and mix in water to see to it that there are no lumps left and the batter is of dropping consistency.
- leave the batter aside only for 10 minutes.
- Heat ghee in a pan
- Fill the batter in a piping cloth or a thick plastic bag with a hole cut at one end
- pipe in concentric jalebis in the heated ghee and fry till golden brown on both sides.
- Dip it in the sugar syrup and remove immediately.
- Jalebis are ready to eat!