Banana Bread~

Fresh out of the oven. I can't contain myself to slice into this aromatic banana bread and have me some with garama garam chai (never mind the sultry and humid Mumbai weather). I got this recipe from a friend for an egg free and butter free banana bread. I tried it once before and it turned out marvellous...so here's my post with my second attempt.

3/4 cup wheat flour
1/4 cup maida (all purpose)
2 tbsp curd
1/4 cup milk
4 tbsp oil
3/4 cup sugar (can use white or brown)
2 large bananas mashed
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla essence (I substituted with cinnamon powder as I was out of vanilla, the aromas in my house right now is indescribable)
Handful of sultanas
Chopped almonds optionally

Preheat oven to 180c. All you do is pretty much mix all the wet Ingredients and the sieve in the dry ingredients ...pour it out to a bread tin and let it bake for 40-45 mins or until a skewer comes out super clean.
And like I'm doing now, wait for it cool to room temp and then slice away.

Hope all you lovers of banana do give this a try and leave your feedback and comments. 😍

~Parpu Kanji ~ Mahashivratri Fasting Recipe

If you are one of those people like me who love food that is made on fasting days (especially in India), just cause it tastes so good, you are on the right page. 
India and Shiva devotees world over are celebrating Mahashivratri today and on this occasion my earliest memories of food on this day goes back to my Ma making a sweetened Lentil Soup which we called Parpu Kanji.

For most Iyer homes, Parpu Kanji is a popular fasting food as it is full of proteins, minerals, dairy and fills you up real good. 

Those of you looking for options to add to your fasting platter today or simply want to try this recipe...here it is~

3/4 cup split Moong dal (yellow Moong dal)
3/4 Grated Jaggery
2-1/2 cups milk
1-1/2 cup water
2 Cardamom pods (optional)
Handful of cashew roasted in ghee (optional)

In a pan dry roast dal until it turns golden brown and gives out a flavorful aroma. Make sure not to burn it.
Pressure cook this dal with 1 cup water for 3 whistles, until it softens.
Boil milk and keep separate.
In a heavy bottom pan add Jaggery and 1/2 cup water and let Jaggery melt.
Add cooked dal and mix well.
Turn off the flame and add milk, Cardamom Powder and roasted cashew.
Serve warm.

Avoid Cardamom and Cashew if you think they are not to be had for a fast.  This whole recipe is debatable for a pure fast but nonetheless, I love it and I don't observe a fast for any religious purposes...I feast on food with every opportunity I get...so hope you enjoy :)

His Royal Persian Highness ~ Shahi Falooda!

 

I never really understood if Falooda needs to be slurrped first or to be eaten first, in any case you need to do both! Haha! I'm definitely not a big fan of ice-cream (surprised!).  Even in scorching summer months I prefer to stick to popsicles and make myself fresh fruit juices than fall for ice-cream.  The only form of Kulfi or ice-cream that I really gorge on is when it has been added to my favorite Shahi Falooda, also known as Royal Falooda in some places. 

Badshah's Variety

My earliest memories of Falooda are from our friendly neighborhood juice center.  As a kid, it was a "royal" privilege to be treated to Falooda (as mom really watched those calories I put in, but i guess all in vain :P).  For my birthday, we would often go to Crawford Market in south Bombay to buy return gifts for my party.  As though buying return gifts and in return buying a whole load of South east asian made school stationary stuff for me, wasn't quite thrilling enough, we had to have more.  The real show stealer of the trip was a stop at to our favorite restaurant Badshah~the best Falooda place in town (hopefully till date)!!!   Just as the name would suggest Badshah's "Royal Badshah Falooda" was an ultimate regal indulgence!!!

Though I haven’t been to Badshah in years, I still crave a good Falooda.  Even more so after my terrible Falooda experience quite recently at the same friendly neighborhood juice center.  Either my standards have changed drastically or he has dropped his quality by leaps and bounds.  Plainly put it disappointed me to great lengths but also motivated me to come home and make my very own Falooda the very next day!  With a little help of creativity and remembering what Badshah’s Falooda tasted like, I came up with my own ~ Shahi Falooda!  Do give it a royal try and you wouldn’t regret it J

Ingredients: (Serves 4)

400 ml cold milk (skim or full)

½ cup falooda sev or vermicelli noodles

6 tsp rose syrup (rooafzah or mapro)

2 tsp falooda seeds (also called takmaria or sabjah or basil seeds)

2 cups Strawberry Jelly (or any other flavor you prefer)

¼ cup mixed dry fruits (cashew, almonds, raisins and pistachio)

¼ cup tutti-frutti (dried fruit peels or dehydrated fruits)

4 scoops of Kesar Pista ice-cream (or kulfi, or any other flavor, preferably not chocolate)

Method:

1. Soak the sabjah seeds in water for at least 1 hour. 
2. Boil the noodles/sev in water for about 5 minutes (optionally add yellow food color to make it colorful). Drain the water, and run it under ice cold water and keep aside. 
3. Finely chop dry fruits.
4. To assemble Falooda: In a tall glass, place ½  cup jelly at the bottom, top with noodles, Rose syrup and sabjah seeds.  Pour in 100 ml milk, top with a scoop of ice-cream or kulfi.  
5. Decorate with Tutti-frutti and chopped dry fruits.   
6. Eat or slurp or alternate between both, enjoy! J

Do read more about Badshah Falooda at the following blog~ http://onlybombay.blogspot.com/2008/12/badshah-falooda-crawford-market-mumbai.html

Mango Mania!

Now that Mangoes are available left-right-and center all over town, what better way to celebrate my darling niece's birthday than indulge in her favorite fruit - MANGO!  So here's a dedication to her.  ~Mango Trifle Pudding~

Mango Trifle Pudding

Ingredients:

2 Ripe Mangoes

8 tsp Mango Jam

8 slices of Fruit bread (I use Kwality here in India)

2 cups prepared Custard

2 cups Whipped cream

1 cup Biscuit crumbs (powdered Marie)

1 cup Sugar Syrup flavored with mango essence or Mango juice

8 small glasses (a little larger than shot glass)

Method:

1) Peel both Mangoes and extract pulp from one mango and cut the other mango into small 1 inch pieces. (Reserve the juices that you collect while cutting the mango, this can be added to the sugar syrup).

2) Divide the bread into half, so you should have 16 rectangular pieces.

3) In each glass, start layering the trifle with the bottom most layer of fruit bread.  Press it down firmly.  Pour 1 tsp of sugar syrup over it. 1 tsp of Mango jam forms the next layer. 1 tsp of biscuit crumb forms the next layer, press it down.  1 tsp of Mango puree, followed by 1 Tbsp of whipped cream layer.  Drop in a 1- 2 pieces of mango and repeat the bread layer with sugar syrup.  Finally top with 2 tsp of custard.

4) Decorate with Mango pieces and mint leaves.

Note: Make sure you cover the edges, as the layers are important to be seen through the glass. 

A lot more where that came from.... tucked away in the refrigerator for later ;) Ahhhh blissss!!! :)

Happy Cooking :)

Purely Organic - Red Rice Pudding with Honey

Just a couple days back a food blog that I ardently follow posted a recipe for Brown Rice Pudding. I have tried making Brown Rice pudding in the past and it turned out really well.  The most important aspect was of course the “guilt-freeness” of this recipe.  Brown Rice is definitely much lower in calorie as compared to regular rice, plus it comes with a truck load of benefits and to make it even more guiltless the blogger added no cream or butter whatsoever, yet got a rich looking pudding.  It still had sugar, damn! Obviously, creative juices were making a cocktail in my system and I decided to put it to rest!  Two items in my pantry that were really calling out to me were the organic Red Rice that I purchased last Sunday at the Farmer’s Market (those of you interested, it happens every Sunday 10am – 3pm in Bandra, near Kobe’s Sizzlers) and freshly extracted honey (pure 15 kgs yelling out at me)! 

Before I get to details of my experiment and describing the flavors I achieved, let me mention that Red Rice has a natural healing remedy for different health ailments. Ailments range from digestive problems, circulatory problems, to high cholesterol levels (read more: Benefits of Red Rice | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_5127094_benefits-red-rice.html#ixzz1FRQAKkut) and of course one need not get into the already well-known benefits of honey!

I made the first batch day before.  Disaster!  Note: If Brown Rice takes long to cook, Red Rice takes forever! When I made my first batch, I did not anticipate that it would take me 3 hours to make this pudding…phewww!! And I’m sure you would not want a recipe for something that takes so long to cook, no matter how good the health-benefits appear ;)

So, I made a second batch today. 

With a few alterations – the first thing I did is pre-soaked the Red Rice.  I soaked it over night and it worked like magic!  It took almost the same time to cook as it would take with regular rice pudding.  What I like about Brown and Red Rice is the nuttiness.  The flavor of these ingredients is defined by its rich nut-like texture and taste!  If you have had Badam Halwa or Akrot Halwa…Red Rice pudding is very close to that experience… minus all the ghee of course! And I completely eliminated Sugar and replaced it with Honey…which again brought with it a very unique taste, some-what middle-eastern twist! Additionally flavored with Cardamom powder and Saffron (like most Indian desserts), added a few chopped almonds (would have loved to add Pistachios, but didn’t have any in the pantry) and results were simply finger-licking good J

What I really loved about this recipe, is that apart from being nutriously beneficial, it is also absolutely guilt-free! Low-cal yet filling!  A perfect end to your spicy Indian meal!  Without wasting much time, I’m getting straight to the recipe~

~Ingredients~

1 cup Red Rice

½ cup Honey (or more as per taste)

4 cups Water

2 cups Low-fat Milk (you can use 2% Milk or Soya Milk)

½ tsp Cardamom powder

A pinch of Saffron

½ cup chopped Almonds (save some for garnish separately)

~Method~

1.      Pick out any husk in the rice.  Wash and pre-soak the rice overnight.

2.      Add water to a pan, add rice and let it boil.

3.      Once it reaches boiling point, simmer until all water is soaked by the rice, about 10 – 15 minutes.

4.      Add milk and let it boil once again.

5.      Once it reaches boiling point, simmer until all milk is soaked by the rice, about 10 – 15 minutes.

6.      At this stage the rice should be well-done and soft and mushy.  Add honey, cardamom, saffron and chopped almonds. 

7.      Let it cool, garnish with additional chopped almonds and a drizzle of honey. 

I love it best at room temperature, though some folks at my place prefer it chilled.  As they say some like it hot, some like it cold…however you like it… its full of flavor in every which way!

Would love to hear your feedback and comments J Happy Cooking J