Fat Free Almond and Banana Bundt Cake flavoured with Cardamom

I've been baking with bananas so regularly these days that if I say it's banana bread my daughter say can't U make a regular cake like chocolate cake. So this time I baked it in regular size bundt pan & didn't forget "not to mention bananas anywhere", so..... it's cake with chocolate chips......served with some freshly whipped cream and did I mentioned it's cardamom flavor, again something NOT to be mentioned(to her) and yes, no mention of whole wheat flour either & wait there is more almond meal & flax seed.....let me give you the whole recipe but before that another look while cake is cooling down.

No!No!No! it didn't stick to the pan, but....

A Mouse in the House now the recipe.....

What I used :

• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour(I use atta available at Indian grocery stores)
• 1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup almond meal(grind almonds using a spice/coffee grinder)
• 2 tablespoon ground flax seeds/flax meal
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 egg
• 3 over ripe bananas
• 4 green cardamoms/choti illachi (seeds taken out & crushed into powder,)
• 2 tablespoon of dark brown sugar
• handful of chocolate chips

See it didn't stick to the bottom

What I did :

1. Grease 6 cup capacity bundt pan. & heat oven to 350 degree F.
2. Mix all the dry ingredients,including sugar & cardamon powder, making sure there are no lumps.
3. Mash the bananas to smooth paste, add egg, mix it together.
4. Mix dry ingredients to wet. Mix everything together & finally fold in handful of chocolate chips.
5. Bake till toothpick comes out clear, mine was done in exact 30 minutes.

Note :

1.  Don't throw the outer shell of green cardamons, use them for flavouring tea or rice.
2. I used 6 cup capacity bundt pan as I wanted to test my new pan(yes I'm addicted to bundt pans now, first I got the baby ones then med. size & this is the new addition to the collection) but I believe this recipe would fit in the 8" or 9" square or round pan also.
3. If  U don't like cardamom flavour replace it with vanilla.
4. I tried same recipe egg less also by replacing egg with 1/4 cup buttermilk & increasing baking soda with around 1/4 of tsp. came out good.
5. I'm not using any butter or oil in this recipe & believe me we didn't miss that, bananas work good as butter substitute also.
6. Also it's not very sweet but sweetness from bananas & little brown sugar was perfect for our taste buds, but for those who love their cakes more sweet, quantity of sugar can be increased.

 And finally the Mouse is caught in action

did I mentioned she was born in the year of Rat as per Chinese zodiac....so basically she is just doing what she is suppose to do and not giving up any of her mousy tricks....and btw my little mouse had big serving of this cake as her lunch that day....off it goes to Champa for her weekly bake-off.

For other recipes for baking with bananas like cake/biscotti/muffins/bread U can click here.

Roti Stir-fry......quick snack, using left over roti

As I mentioned in my previous post now a days lunch is home made ice cream, so on one such day after gorging on home made vanilla & mango ice cream around late afternoon when stomach started to rumble that was the sign that I need to go to kitchen & cook something. So this quick dish is result of all the above. I had some left over rotis(Indian flat bread), instantly the idea of roti poha on the lines of bread poha came to my mind. This dish was done in within less than 10 minutes start to finish, it's just a guideline one can add any veggies of their choice.

What U need :

• 4 left over rotis/chapatis, cut into around 1 x 1/2 inch pieces
• around 1 & a half cup of thinly shredded cabbage
• 1/3 cup of frozen peas
• 1/3 cup of frozen corn
• 3-4 green chillies, chopped
• 1 tsp. mustard seeds (rai)
• few curry leaves
• 2 Tbsp. of cooking oil
• pinch of asafoetida(hing)
• salt to taste
• 1 tsp. turmeric powder(haldi)
• 1 tsp. red chilli powder(lal mirch powder)
• 1/2 cup dry roasted peanuts
• 1 Tbsp. dry roasted sesame seeds
• cilantro or green onions, chopped for decoration
• juice of 1/2 a lime

What U do :

• Take a wide pan/wok/karahi, heat oil in that.
• Add mustard seeds once they splutter add curry leaves, also add hing.
• Turn the gas to high & add cabbage & cook it for 1-2 minutes on high heat only and then add peas & corn. Keep stirring veggies as it's on high heat.
• After another minute or so add salt, turmeric, chilli powder & chopped green chillies.
• After another minute or so add roti pieces, mix everything together. Once rotis get coating of all the flavors, around 2 minute, turn the gas off.
• Sprinkle peanuts, sesame seeds and lime juice. Garnish with green onions or cilantro.

Note : this dish is done on high heat & no liquids are used, only little oil, so make sure U keep stirring the veggies otherwise they might stick to the bottom of pan. If needed use only a spoon or two of water. Cooking them quickly on high heat helps in retaining the crunchiness of cabbage. If  U prefer little water can be used & cabbage can be cooked till it's fully soft. Once dish is done Covering the pan with lid will also helps in getting some moisture to the dish & making it little more soft.

So next time U have any left over rotis, try this recipe it's perfect as anytime snack or as morning breakfast, healthy and filling, enjoy.

Basic White Bread with the touch of Whole Wheat Flour

I don't need the bread, but it's nice to do something creative

- John Goodman

I have a very good excuse for making another bread in a row, Champa of Versatile Vegetarian Kitchen is hosting a CSN giveaway for which she has a condition that bake/cook anything from her blog , so what can be a better reason for trying new recipes & also I really like her baking recipes, specially breads. Make sure you check out her blog for more wonderful recipes. My first trial from her collection of bread recipes was Challah Bread which came out really good & now is the turn of Basic White Bread, again with good results. I've mainly followed the original recipe but have made little changes in term of ingredients. So please check the original recipe for full details as I'm only going to write down the changes I've made.

• Original recipe uses 3-3 & 1/4 cup Bread flour or All purpose flour(APF), I substituted 1 cup of APF with whole wheat pastry flour & rest I used was APF.
• I used only 1 tablespoon of sugar & not 2.
• Salt  1 & 1/2 tsp.
• I also covered my bread after first 10 minutes of baking as I've noticed in my previous bakes like Challah & Biscotti that my oven brown the breads & cookies little too early so to prevent that covering it loosely with the foil is way to go.
• I used stand mixer to knead the dough at speed 2 for around 7-8 minutes.

Here's another look at the dough/bread at various stages.

Shaping a Loaf : Just in case if some one is new to bread making I thought these 3 steps about how to shape a loaf, will be helpful(source : KitchenAid stand mixer recipe book)  :

1. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a rectangle, approximately 9x14 inches.
2. Starting at a short end, roll the dough tightly. Pinch to seal the seam.
3. Pinch the ends & turn them under. Place the dough, seam side down, in a loaf pan. Follow the directions in the recipe for rising & baking.

Also sending this bread to Champa's  weekly bake-off.

Challah - A Jewish bread

I don't even butter my bread. I consider that cooking.

- Katherine Cebrian

I Love to make bread but the only problem is when it's freshly made at home there is no portion control, it happened earlier also & happened again this time too. It vanishes or 1-2 slices are left. Few weeks back I tried my hands on Challah bread after seeing it on Champa's blog, she has a good collection of baking recipes. Not once but two days in a row I made this bread. First day I tried with all purpose flour & second trial was with whole wheat flour. I divided the recipe into half so that I get only one loaf ,also made little bit of changes, for original recipe click here. Now for the recipe :

What U need:

1. All purpose flour- 2 cups
2. Sugar - 2 Tblsp.
3. Vegetable oil - 2 Tblsp.
4. Salt - 1 tsp
5. Egg  - 1
6. Warm water - Mixed with egg to make 3/4 cup
7. Active Dry yeast - 1/2 Tblsp.

What to do :

1. Add enough water to beaten egg so that it make 3/4 cup of liquid in total. Pour it into stand mixer bowl. Sprinkle yeast & sugar on it. Let it sit for 8-10 minutes or till yeast become frothy.
2. Add salt & oil, attach the dough hook & turn the mixer on at speed 2 & slowly start adding flour, half a cup at a time. Knead it at speed 2 till it turns into smooth dough, took around 6 minutes or so (This process can be done by hand also as suggested in original recipe you need to knead the dough for about 10 minutes or so).
3. Rub oil in a big bowl & let the dough rest in it, cover the bowl with plastic wrap. In an hour or so dough should be doubled in size but it can take more time also depending upon the temp. in the room/kitchen where the dough is kept. Mine took 1 & half hour this time.
4. On a lightly floured surface divide the dough into 3 equal parts & roll each part into around 10" long log. Place all the 3 logs side by side.
5. Wet tips of your one hand fingers with some milk & pinch one end of all the 3 logs together to join them. Dry your hands & make a braid with those 3 logs & again join them at the end, the way we did in the beginning.
6. Move the braided dough to parchment lined baking sheet. Brush it with milk. Cover loosely with aluminum foil & let it rise for another hour or so.
7. Toward the end of rising period turn the oven on at 375 degree F for pre-heating. Again brush it with milk before putting it in the oven.
8. Bake at 375 degree F for first 10 minute. Reduce the temp. to 350 degree F & continue baking for another 20-25 min. or till nicely browned and the bottom sounds hollow when tapped.
9. Cool on wire rack.

Note : In my first trial bread got too much browned.

So when I baked it second time the very next day I covered it loosely with foil after first 10 minutes of baking & result was good. Also I kept the oven at 375 instead of 400. It was a whole wheat version......some time taking so many pics can be confusing....forgot to take picture of final result. 

For Whole wheat version I added around 1 & 1/2 Tblsp. of thick home made curd(yogurt) while kneading the dough as whole wheat flour usually needs little extra liquids or u can simply decrease the quantity of flour by 2-3 Tblsp. I'm sending this bread to Champa of  Versatile Vegetarian Kitchen for her weekly Bake-off.

Pav Bhaji

You don't have to be a mumbalite to love Pav bhaji, for those readers to whom these terms sounds like words from alien language Mumbai is the financial capital of India.The city also houses India's Hindi film and television industry, known as Bollywood.......largest in the world in terms of ticket sales and number of films produced and Pav Bhaji is one of the very famous street food from that city, popular through out India.

I don't think I have ever met any Indian who doesn't like Pav Bhaji. As it's not only tasty but you also get full dose of veggies in one shot (also a multi-day dose of fat/butter if you make it the typical way street vendors make it over there). I use to make bhaji at home & bring burger/buns/pav whatever best I can get my hands on from the grocery store. But if you like pav bhaji, you know how important pav is in this dish. Couple of months back while browsing thru my papers I found a piece of paper with the recipe for home made pav in it......I'm sure I must have noted down this from "Greh Shobha" magazine. It's an Indian magazine and my MIL has a big collection of it, so when ever I visit her, one of my favorite thing to do is read all those magazines and many a times note down few recipes also. So, I gave it a try and they came out good......decided, no more bread buying for bhaji.....I have made few changes in terms of flour. Here goes my version of pav bhaji :

What U need for Pav :

• 1 cup all purpose flour( i use maida)
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour(regular atta can be used)
• 1 cup bread flour
• 1 Tblsp. active dry yeast
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1cup luke warm water
• 3 Tblsp. oil
• few drops of milk

What U need for Bhaji :

• 1 large potato
• 2 green bell peppers(capsicum / shimla mirch)
• 2-3 carrots
• 1/2 cup peas
• 1/2 cup cauliflower
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 -3 medium size tomato, chopped
• 2-3 green chillies, chopped
• 2 Tblsp. tomato paste
• 3-4 tsp. pav bhaji masala (i prefer MDH)
• salt
• 1/2 tsp. turmeric(haldi)
• oil / butter

What U need for final dish :

• handful of chopped red onion
• handful of chopped cilantro
• Amul butter lots of it OR as little as you want(or any butter U like)
• lime/lemon pieces

What u do :
For Pav :

Add yeast & sugar to luke warm water, let it sit for 5-7 min. till it get little foamy. In a big bowl take flours add salt, yeast water & oil. Knead it to a soft dough. Take another clean big bowl grease it & keep the dough in it covered with plastic wrap. Leave it at warm place for 2 hours or so till it gets almost double in size.

Once double in size punch down the dough, knead it again & make around 8-9 same size balls. Arrange them next to each other in greased mould, I used Pyrex dish for that. Let them rest again at warm place for another hour. Heat oven at 350 degree F brush the dough balls with milk & bake for 15-20 minutes. Once the golden brown crust forms on the bread that means pav's are ready. Take out of the oven & mould let it rest & cool.

For Bhaji :

Steam all veggies except onion & tomato with very little water, salt & turmeric. Once done, mash them using potato masher or back side of serving spoon. Now take a big pan/karahi, heat some butter(I use half butter, half oil) & saute onions in it. Later add tomato paste, chopped tomatoes & green chillies. Let everything cook. Add pav bhaji masala, after a minute or so add mashed veggies & let everything simmer for at least 15-20 minutes. If  looks too dry add few spoons of water.

How to serve :

Cut each pav horizontally into two parts, top & bottom. Put some some butter on to the hot griddle/tava & toast pav's on it(cut side down). Now to serve put pav with the butter toasted side up in the plate & next to it put a serving of bhaji, sprinkle some lime juice, chopped red onions, cilantro & lots of utterly butterly delicious Amul butter(India's most famous butter).

Note : Bhaji tastes much better if you make it at least few hours ahead of time. One can easily control the amount  of butter used in this dish & it still tastes good.

I wanted to send it to Champa's "Baking with Book-Breakfast event" but never got a chance to complete it in the month of April. But still it's on it's  way to champa of Bangalore Baker for her weekly baking event.

Wheat Pulav - Vegetable Dalia

Dalia-cracked whole wheat, many of you must have eaten it in the form of porridge, roasted then boiled with milk or water sprinkled with some sugar or honey. It's a very common breakfast in Northern India. It's one of that thing you like it or don't.

This is not only healthy but truly one-pot dish gets ready in 15-20 minutes. It's kind of regular in my house, I usually serve it with home made dahi(plain yogurt). I always loved dalia(cracked wheat), the sweet version with milk but no one other than me likes it over here. Few years back when I ate this savory version of dalia for the first time, at my MIL's friends house I didn't liked it much( I was so use to of eating sweet version) but I liked the idea. After coming back to my house I decided to try it for my DH, he instantly liked it. Since then it's regular in my house, many a times when nothing else to cook or don't want to spend time in kitchen this is one dish which comes to my mind. And now I enjoy it more than the sweet version. Here's how it goes :

Ingredients :

• 1 cup cracked wheat(dalia) available at Indian grocers
• 1 & 1/2 cup of chopped mixed veggies (like carrots, beans, peas etc.)
• 2 & 1/5 cup of water
• salt ar per taste (I used 1 & 1/2tsp.)
• 1 Tblsp. freshly chopped ginger
• 2-4 green chillies
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper(kali mirch)
• 1/2 tsp. turmeric(haldi)
• 1 tsp. garam masala
• 2-3 cloves(laung)
• pinch of asafoetida (hing)
• handful of chopped cilantro
• lime or lemon juice
• plain yogurt(dahi) to serve with
• 1 Tblsp. of clarified butter( desi ghee) or evoo for vegan version

Method :

1. Heat ghee/evoo in the pressure cooker add hing to it and after few seconds add cloves. Now add ginger & then add dalia to it & roast it for few minutes(may be for 5-6 minutes), you'll know it with the aroma, that it's roasted. OR instead you can also dry roast dalia in a big pan in advance & keep it in a air tight container for later use so you can avoid roasting it at this stage.
2. Once it's roasted add chopped veggies & all the dry spices along with the chillies & water. Close the lid of the pressure cooker.
3. After one whistle turn the gas to slow for another 3-4 minutes and then turn it off.
4. When all the steam escaped open the lid add lime juice & fluff up the dalia using a fork & garnish with fresh cilantro before serving.

It's very healthy dish, and very full filling also. You can change the flavours by using spices of your taste, but for me & my family this works really well. It's very healthy for little ones also, my little one started to enjoy this at the age of 10 months or so.

Note : 1) Cracked wheat is usually available in two types one is very finely cracked which is good if making sweet version or using it for babies. Other type is of little coarse consistency which looks very similar to cous-cous pasta, and that is the one I prefer for this savory version.

2) Proportion of water can some time vary according to the quality of dalia, if it comes out too wet , next time reduce the quantity of water by little bit.

Roti - Indian Flatbread

Roti, chapati or as we call in our house phulka(literally meaning which has been inflated), is the basic Indian bread and is a staple food of North India, though it's also been eaten in other parts of India but in northern India it's basically part of every meal. Roti is generally defined as Indian flat bread made with whole wheat flour(atta). No rising agents are used for the dough as roti is unleavened flat bread. Unlike bread, roti is usually eaten fresh, when I say fresh that means dough can be prepare in advance kept in the fridge & at the time of lunch/dinner roti is rolled & cooked. But if you have any leftovers of roti they really taste good with acchar(pickle) or chutney or just put some cooked dry veggie on it & roll it like burrito.....nothing can match that taste.

When one of the fellow blogger asked me if I'm gonna do post on roti, I thought that's simple, but wait a minute, it's simplicity itself is main difficulty here....it's so simple & basic that we never measure the flour or water portions for this, everything is eyeballed. Whenever I finish with one batch of dough I knead next batch, no matter what, roti dough is always there in the fridge.

Roti can be eaten with cooked dry vegetables called subzi, lentils or with gravies vegetarian as well as non-vegetarian & also with seafood.

Here's the recipe for roti/chapati/phulka, I tried my best but I think for a person who's never seen roti specially the process of making it, first time it might be little difficult.

Ingredient :

For dough :

1. whole wheat flour 1 & 1/2 cup (I use Laxmi brand chapati flour available at Indian grocery store)
2. water at room temperature around 1/2 cup
3. salt 1 tsp. (optional)

For roti :

1. x'tra wheat flour(around 1/2 cup or so) needed for rolling the roti.
2. rolling pin
3. any flat & smooth surface to roll the roti (you can use clean counter top surface)
4. Tawa(flat griddle), preferably cast iron or non-stick pan will also do.
5. ghee(clarified butter) or butter can be used

Method :

For Dough :

1) Take 1 & half cup of flour, salt(if using) add little water, using your hand mix them, add little bit more water & mix it again. Never put all the water in one time, always put little at a time, when all the flour comes together, just wet your hand when needed & make one big ball of the flour.

2) Now knead it for around 2 min. or so using the back side of your fist. It'll be little sticky in the beginning. Now just cover it with either a damp cloth or with some bowl.

3) Let it rest for roughly 10 min. After resting time knead the dough for 2-3 minutes, this time it will be very smooth. Once done take 2-3 drops of oil on your hand & roll the dough ball in it. Keep it in a bowl with tight lid on it in the fridge.

4) Take the dough out of the fridge at least 10 min. prior to making roti.

Note : Roti dough is not very loose or tight dough, it's soft dough. In case if u find it's difficult to handle you can always add little more water or dry flour to get the right consistency. Every time you make the dough water quantity may vary little bit, due to temperature, different flour brands etc..

This dough can be kept in the fridge for upto 2 days or even more but it's best to use within 2 days.

To make soft rotis(specially for the kids) instead of water milk can be used, but then dough should be used within a day or so. Another option is to use around 1 tblsp. of cooking oil alongwith water.

Making Roti :

1) Heat griddle/pan on med. high. Put x'tra flour in some flat plate or bowl, big enough to hold the rolled roti(approximately 6-8" in diameter).

2) Take a little dough(little bigger then ping pong ball) roll it in your hand like a ball. Now roll it into x'tra dry flour, gently shake it to get rid of x'tra flour.

3) Put it onto the flat surface & roll it(around 3" in size) using the rolling pin,

4) Take the rolled roti turn it 90 degree & again roll it till u get around 7" or so, whenever you feel it's getting sticky gently pick it up put it on the flour plate & again back to rolling surface & roll it. It's not that difficult as it sounds and don't worry if in the beginning you can't get exact round....I have made few, actually lots of international maps when I started to make rotis. Only a little bit of practice & lots of patience.

5) To check if griddle is hot or not, keep your hands 2" away(on top side) from the pan/griddle, if it's hot enough you can feel it, you won't be able to keep your hand there for long time.

6) Now put the rolled roti on it, after around 35-40 seconds turn it upside down. Again after 35-40 sec. turn it back, this time you will see from some spots it's puffing up. Using kitchen towel u can gently press at the spots it's not puffing & soon it will start to puff up, now again turn it upside down for 7-8 seconds, if you are not comfortable using kitchen towel as hot air sometime directly blow on your hands, it's better to use spatula. Take it off the pan.

7) Apply ghee/butter. Eat fresh with Subji(cooked veggies), dal(lentils) or your favourite non-veg dish.

Note: If you want to make them ahead of time in that case line a heavy duty foil with a kitchen towel & keep your rotis inside that. You can also directly puff the roti's on the direct flame, but might be little tricky for the beginners.

To make it totally fat free and vegan ghee can be left out.

Banana Oat and Wheat Muffins

As I mainly do egg less baking and to replace eggs I use different fruit sauces. But banana is one thing I use only for banana bread & not for muffins or cupcakes because the smell of it overpowers all the other flavours and then I have to admit it to my DD that it's not real cupcake(Secret : many times I bake apple bread batter in muffin tins dress it with whip cream top it with sprinkles and yeahhh.....cupcake is ready & DD is happy). This time I had two over ripe bananas and I decided that no matter what I've to bake banana muffins and back of mind I knew that I might be ending up eating these so I thought, why not make it little bit more healthy and I changed my basic recipe for muffins to adjust these changes.

Ingredients :

1. 2 ripe bananas
2. 3/4 cup whole wheat flour(I used regular chapatti flour)
3. 3/4 cup all purpose flour(Maida)
4. 1 cup instant cooking oats
5. 6 tablespoons of brown sugar(little less then 1/2 cup)
6. 2 tsp baking powder
7. 1 tsp baking soda
8. pinch of salt
9. 1 cup reduced fat/fat free milk(I used 1%)
10. 1/2 tsp vanilla
11. 1/4 C frozen blueberries mixed with 1 Tbsp flour(Optional)
12. Handful of semi sweet choc. chips(Optional)

Method :

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2) In a bowl, combine all the dry stuff : flours, oatmeal, sugar, baking powder, soda & salt.Mix it with the fork.

3) In another large bowl, mash both the bananas using the back side of the fork then add milk and vanilla combine thoroughly.(Use whisk to bring everything together).

4) Add dry mixture into wet mixture until just combined. then add choc. chips to it & fold them into the mixture.If using blueberries, at this point fold them also into the mixture.

5)Place in muffin tins (greased or lined with paper cups). Bake at 400 degrees F for 20 mins. or until lightly browned and toothpick comes out clean.

In the picture few muffins show some x'tra chocolate on the top that was to impress my DD. I topped few of them with some choc. shavings. As I said in the beg. smell of banana....when muffins were almost towards the end of baking she came running what's that smell...it's so good.....so both of us ate one each, right away, the moment it came out of the oven.I loved it, gonna make it more often. She didn't liked the blueberries in it but otherwise she enjoyed it.

Note : As I was using non-stick muffin pan, so I didn't lined them, neither did I grease them & muffins came out fine.
Vegan version : Simply use Soy milk instead of regular milk.
I'm sending these delicious Oat & Wheat Muffins to :
1) CFK-Wheat guest hosted by Sireesha of Kidz Delight, event authored by Sharmi .
2)Srilekha's EFM-Oat Series.
3)Madhuram's Wholegrain Eggless Baking Event - Oats .