Banana walnut cake

I was looking out for some eggless cake recipes on the internet and found many options. Made a few tweaks, experimented a bit and came up with this one.

You need:
Dry ingredients

1. All-purpose flour (maida) - 1 cup
2. Icing Sugar - 3/4 cup
3. Baking powder - 3/4 tsp
4. Baking soda - 1/3 tsp
5. Salt - 1/4 tsp
6. Cocoa powder – 1 tbsp
7. Cinnamon powder - 1 pinch
8. Walnut pieces - 1/2 cup

Wet ingredients

1. Ripe Bananas - 1 medium
2. Buttermilk (unsalted) – 1/2 cup
3. Melted Butter or vegetable oil - 1/2 cup
4. Vanilla essence - 1 tsp

How to:

1. Sift maida, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cocoa powder and cinnamon powder and keep aside.
2. In a bowl add oil (I used vegetable oil, you can use melted butter also) and butter milk and mix well. (I gave it a quick whisk in the blender for a smooth finish)
3. Either mash or cut the banana into really small pieces and add to the liquid. Also add the vanilla essence.
4. Fold the flour mix into the liquid now. Don’t beat.
5. Dust the walnuts in some flour and add to this mix. Fold in. The mixture will be of a thick consistency.
6. Preheat the oven to 180⁰ C for 10 minutes. (You can turn it on while starting the preparation for the cake)
7. Pour the mix in a rectangular tin. You can add walnuts on top as garnish. Bake at 180⁰ C for 35-40 minutes. Do a check at 30 minutes as the cake may bake earlier if your layer is thinner.
8. Remove from oven and let it cool. Remove from the tin and cut into thick slices. Dust with some icing sugar.

Dessert topping

Quick and easy to do :) and you can store it for later use. Can also be used as a filling in chocolates for that extra crunch.

You need:

A handful of cashew nuts ( or groundnuts)

A cup of sugar

How to:

Grind the nuts to a grainy powder. Heat a  nonstick pan and caramelise sugar. When it's turning a nice golden brown, remove from the flame and quickly add the powdered nuts and stir well. In a greased plate pour this mix out as small dollops and wait for it to set.

Once it's cool and hard. Give it a turn in the blender to a coarse consistency. Ready to be sprinkled!

To store keep in a sealed container and refrigerate 

Sabudana Vada

Most people eat it during fasts, but i just love the snackiness of it :). It does take some prep time though since the Sabudana needs to soak. So you need to plan at least 2 hours in advance.

You need:

1. Sabudana - 1 cup (soak for at least two hours)
2. Boiled potatoes - 4 small or 2 medium
3. Green chilli - 1 - finely chopped
4. Roasted unsalted peanuts - 2 tbsp (optional)
5. Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
6. Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
7. Salt to taste
8. Bread crumbs/ Maida/ Rice flour  - whatever is available to coat the vadas before frying
9. Oil to deep fry

How to:

1. Wash the soaked sabudana till all the starch is gone and only the pearls remain
2. Crush the peanuts
3. Mash the potatoes
4. In a bowl mix all ingredients (except the coating ingredients)  and knead well till it sticks together
5. Make small patties and roll them in the bread crumbs
6. Heat oil in a deep pan. When it's really hot, add the vada's to fry till they are a darker shade of brown
7. Serve hot with green chutney 

Aate ka halwa (Kadah Prasad)

The simplest and quickest sweet dish to make in my opinion. Plus it tastes yum.

You need:

1. Wheat flour - 1 cup
2. Ghee (clarified butter) - 1/2 cup
3. Water 2 cups
4. Sugar - 1/2 cup
5. A handful of raisins and cashew nuts (optional)

How to:

1. Put ghee and wheat flour in a pan over a medium flame. Stir continuously to cook the flour evenly
2. In another pan add water and sugar and leave to heat on a low flame
3. When the flour is a dark chocolate brown (not burnt!) quickly add the dry fruits and give a stir. 
4. Quickly add the water and sugar mix and stir furiously till its a smooth finish. Make sure there are no flour lumps.
5. Cook till the ghee leaves sides.
6. Ready to eat :) 

Bhindi Masala

Again a very simple recipe and my favorite dish.

You need:

• Bhindi (Ladyfinger) - 250 g
• One small onion - optional - cut into quarters
• Cooking oil - 4 tbsp (sorry folks - this is a high oil dish, you can use lesser oil, but then make sure to use a non-stick pan)
• Mustard seeds (rai) - 1/2 tsp
• Cumin seeds (jeera) - 1 tsp
• Asafoetida (hing) - 1 pinch
• Salt - to taste
• Red chilly powder - 1 tsp (If you want it spicy, add another 1/2 tsp)
• Coriander powder - 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Dry mango powder (amchur) - 1/2 tsp - option (i.e. if you like your food with a slight tang)
• A pan (preferably non stick) that can be covered

How to:

• Remove the top and tail of the ladyfinger and slice into 4 pieces vertically (lengthwise)
• In the pan, heat oil. Once hot add asafoetida, cumin seeds and mustard seeds. 
• When they start crackling, add the chopped ladyfinger. Mix well so that the oil coats all pieces and cook for a minute.
• Add all the spices except Amchur, cover and cook on a low flame for 15 minutes. Keep stirring well after every few minutes to avoid the masala burning or sticking to the pan
• Once the ladyfinger is cooked, add Amchur and stir well. Remove from flame, cover and keep aside. 
• After 5 minutes, move the ladyfinger to the serving dish. In the cooking pan there will be some oil and masala left over. Heat the pan again, add chopped onion and cook till it is nicely translucent.
• Use as a garnish on top of the Bhindi Masala
• Serve hot with rotis

Aloo Pyaz ki Subzi (Potato and Onion curry)

This Rajasthani delicacy is quite time consuming to make an exceptionally heavy on the tummy. But tastes divine with hot rotis. I'm not going with the original version but using my edited version that is simpler to make.

You need:

1. Potatoes - 2 large
2. Onions - 6-7 small onions and 2 medium onions
3. Tomatoes - 3-4
4. Garlic - 10-15 cloves (you can use less if you want less garlicky flavor)
5. Ginger - 1" piece
6. Green chillies - 1
7. Curd - 1 cup (preferably sour)
8. Black Cardamom (badi ilaichi) - 1
9. Cinnamon (Dalchini) - 1 stick
10. Peppercorns (kali mirch) - 2-3 corns
11. Cloves (laung) - 2-3
12. Salt - to taste
13. Red chilli powder - 1 1/2 tsp
14. Coriander powder - 2 tsp
15. Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
16. Garam masala - 2 tsp
17. cumin seeds - 1 tsp
18. Asafoetida (hing) - 1 pinch
19. Oil to fry
20. Fresh coriander to garnish

How to:

1. Remove the peel of small onions and make a slit lengthwise
2. Peel potatoes and chop lengthwise in to thick slices (like french fries)
3. Heat oil in a pan and deep fry the small onions and potatoes. Keep aside
4. Make fine paste of the medium onions, tomatoes, green chillies, garlic, and ginger in a mixer.
5. Heat 6 tbsp of oil in a pan. Add asafoetida and cumin seeds and temper
6. Add the tomato-onion paste. Cover and cook well for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally and add water if needed
7. Tie the cardamom, cinnamon sticks, peppercorns and cloves in a muslin cloth and add to the pan
8. Mix the remaining spices in the curd. Add this to the pan and mix well.
9. Cover and cook for another 30 minutes till the oil leaves sides. Stir occasionally and add water when needed.
10. Remove the muslin cloth of spices.
11. Add the fried potatoes and onions and cook for another 15-20 minutes.
12. Garnish with fresh coriander and serve hot with rotis.

Palak Tamatar ki sabzi - Spinach and tomato curry

Coming home after a hectic day and cooking can be quite a pain sometimes. So I mostly try quick fix stuff. This one cooks in a jiffy and is doable for the health buffs too. Just moderate the oil - 'cause I don't.

You need:

• 1 large bowl of washed and chopped spinach
• 1 large tomato - diced
• 1 large onion - finely chopped
• salt to taste
• red chilly powder - 1 tsp (if you like it spicy make it 1 1/2 tsp)
• turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• coriander powder - 1 tsp
• cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
• asafoetida - 1 pinch
• Oil - 1 1/2 Tb sp (you can use lesser if you want)

How to:

• Heat oil in a pan. Add asafoetida and temper the cumin seeds
• Add onions and sautee till translucent
• Add chopped spinach and tomato and stir well
• Add all the spices - cover and cook till the spinach and tomatoes are soft and the curry leaves oil at the side. Stir occasionally to avoid it sticking to the pan
• Ready to eat - yummy with hot paranthas

Strawberry Coulis

We shifted to our new place this week and things are pretty much in a test mode; including the fridge. On a shopping spree drooled over some strawberries and bought a couple of packs. Came home to find out that the fridge had decided to go on a strike. So now I was stuck with more strawberries that we could possibly eat in one night and to waste them would be a shame! Decided to experiment a bit and came up with the following that we enjoyed with pancakes the next morning.

You need:

Strawberries - 2 cups - chopped
Sugar - 1/2 cup (will depend on how sweet the strawberries are)
Water - 1 cup
Juice of one lemon

How to:

In a non stick heavy bottomed pan put the strawberries, sugar and water. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Remove the cover and cook till the coulis achieves pouring consistency. Remove from flame and stir in the lemon juice.

Easy peasey!