Banana Cranberry Cake

          I had always been thinking about baking this cake, especially whenever, I had some very ripe bananas lying around, but somehow didn't bring myself to do it, until now. Even so, I was a little doubtful about the taste, but, then being a food blogger, I thought I should give it a try. And the end result, well the cake turned out to be really good with a nice texture. I added some dried cranberries and the sweet crunchy taste in between made the cake taste even better..

Need To Have

• All Purpose Flour Or Maida - 1 cup
• Sooji Or Rawa - 1/2 cup
• Sugar - 1/2 cup
• Baking Soda - 1 teaspoon
• Baking Powder - 1 teaspoon
• Salt - a pinch
• Ripe Bananas - 2
• Cranberries - 1/3 cup
• Milk - 1 cup
• Yogurt Or Curd - 1/2 cup
• Oil - 1/4 cup
• Vanilla Extract - 1/2 teaspoon

Method
          Preheat the oven to 350F. Mix a little flour to the cranberries ( the ones that are dry and sweetened), so that they do not sink to the bottom while baking. In a large mixing bowl, first peel and mash the bananas, to this add sugar, salt, mix, add the curd, mix, now add the milk, oil and vanilla extract and mix everything well. Now for the dry ingredients, add the maida, rawa, baking powder and baking soda one after the other, mix really well without any lumps. Finally throw in the cranberries and give one last stir, pour it into a greased pan and bake for 45 to 50 mins, I used a loaf pan. Keep checking after 40 mins, insert a knife in the center, if it comes out clean, your cake is done. Cool it, slice it and have it with a cup of Indian tea.

Note
The final cake batter will be runny, don't worry, the cake will turn out fine.
Adding rawa to the batter gave a nice taste.
If you need a very sweet cake, increase the sugar to 3/4 cup.
Do not increase the oven temperature, the cake will turn brown on the outside, but might not be done inside.

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Brinjal And Mochai Curry

          Brinjal or eggplant is one versatile vegetable, which can take many avatars and enact each one of them very gracefully. You can see it in almost all of the world cuisines, and in our own Indian kitchen, either in the simple sambar, poriyals, or in the more exotic baingan barthas and gutti vankayas. Fresh mochai or field beans is available in India during the Pongal season, and here in the US, throughout the year, one can find them in the frozen section of the Indian stores. Brinjal and mochai get along very well in any dish, a  marriage made in heaven..

Need to Have

• Brinjals - 10 small ones
• Mochai - 1/2 cup
• Onion - 1
• Coriander Leaves - chopped 3/4 cup
• Grated coconut - 1 tablespoon

For Seasoning

• Mustard Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
• Cumin Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
• Asafoetida - 1/4 teaspoon

 To Powder

• Channa Dal - 2 tablespoons
• Cumin Seeds - 1 teaspoon
• Fenugreek Seeds - 1/4 teaspoon
• Dry Red Chilli - 2 

Method
       
          Slice the brinjals and chop the onion. Roast the ingredients under To Powder and grind coarsely, at the end add the chopped coriander and coconut, pulse the grinder once and keep. Heat oil, add the seasonings, saute, add the onion, saute till it turns pink. Now, add the brinjals and mochai, cover and cook, sprinkle some water so that the mochai cooks well. Once the vegetables are cooked, add the ground powder, mix well and remove. Your brinjal and mochai curry is ready to be served with rice and any sambar or dal.

Note
You can cook the mochai separately and add.
If you don't have fresh ones, soak dry mochai, pressure cook and add to the above curry.
My bag of red chillies is very spicy, you add more or less depending on yours.

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Soy Chunks Kurma

          Soy is another way to get protein in our diet, either in the form of soy milk,soy chunks, soy beans or tofu. Many of us don't like the taste of soy milk or soy beans, at least in my home. But soy chunks and tofu are acceptable if cooked in kurmas or added to noodles or rice. This recipe is once again a very easy one, with minimum ingredients, but tastes great..

Need To Have

• Soy chunks - 2 cups
• Onion - 1 medium 
• Green Pepper Or Capsicum - 1 small 
• Tomato Puree - 4 tablespoon
• Garlic - 3 cloves
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 teaspoon
• Chilli Powder - 1 teaspoon
• Coriander Powder - 1 teaspoon
• Cumin Seed Powder - 1 teaspoon
• Fennel Seed Powder - 3/4 teaspoon
• Coconut Paste - 1 tablespoon
• Curry leaves - 1 sprig
• Coriander Leaves - to garnish

Method
          Wash the soy chunks two or three times. Chop the onion, garlic and the green pepper. Heat oil in a pressure pan, add the onion, garlic and green pepper, saute for a few mins. Add the tomato puree, saute well, add all the powders and coconut paste, mix well. Add the curry leaves, mix, add the soy chunks, add enough water to cook the soy ( about three cups or more), add salt, pressure cook for 1/2 the time you take to cook rice. It's done, garnish it with coriander leaves and serve it with rotis or any rice. I didn't have coriander leaves that day, so left it out.

Note
Alternatively you can soak the soy chunks in boiling hot water for 30 mins, then proceed with the recipe and avoid the pressure pan.
Don't leave out the green pepper, it gives a nice flavor to the dish.

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Black-Eye-Beans Dal

          Protein is a must in our daily diet, either in the form of the South Indian sambar or kootu or in the form of dals. This is a simple dal, not many ingredients and not much time in the kitchen. Blackeyed beans is one of those dals that doesn't even require pre-soaking, so always comes in handy on those days,, when you have to come up with something on short notice..

Need To Have

• Blackeyed Beans - 1 cup
• Onion - 1 small
• Tomatoes - 2
• Green Chillies - 6
• Turmeric Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
• Chilli Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
• Cumin Seeds - 1 teaspoon + 1/2 teaspoon for seasoning
• Fenugreek Seeds - 3/4 teaspoon
• Garam Masala - 1/2 teaspoon
• Grated Coconut - 1 tablespoon
• Curry Leaves - a sprig
• Coriander Leaves - 1/4 cup chopped

Method
          Pressure cook the dal with turmeric and little salt, chop the onion and tomatoes. Heat a teaspoon of oil, saute the cumin seeds and fenugreek seeds, add the green chillies and onion, saute for a few mins, then add the tomatoes saute till soft and add the curry leaves mix and remove. Cool and grind this mixture with the coconut. Heat oil, add the cumin seeds, once it splutters add the ground paste, saute for a few mins, add the cooked dal, chilli powder, cook for a few mins. Now add the garam masala, mix, check for salt and garnish with the coriander leaves. This goes well with either rotis or any pulao.

Note
Can leave out the chilli powder if the green chillies are spicy enough.
Can add garlic or ginger too, while sauteing, I forgot both.

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Vella Puri

         
           As the name suggests, it's a puri but why vella(white) puri, no clue, might be the white dot-like things that appear on the puri when it's fried. The dish is popular in my husband's family, one of his favorite tiffins and I got the recipe from his sister. The traditional recipe calls for soaking parboiled rice for an hour, grinding it coarsely with tuvar dal, red chillies, coriander seeds without adding much water, adding cumin seeds and making puris, sounds like too much work eh.. Came up with this short-cut, no regrets taste-wise..


Need To Have

• Idli Rava - 2 cups
• Rice Flour - 1 cup
• Tuvar Dal - 1/4 cup
• Coriander Seeds - 1.5 tablespoons
• Cumin Seeds - 1 teaspoon
• Dry Red Chillies - 4
• Curry Leaves - 1 sprig 
• Oil For Deep Frying

Method

          Soak idli rava with just enough water for 2 hrs. Soak the tuvar dal for the same time, grind it with the chillies, coriander seeds, cumin seeds and curry leaves. Add this to the idli rawa along with the rice flour, salt and mix it to form like puri dough. Grease a plastic sheet with oil, take a ball of dough, flatten it into puris, slide it into the oil. 

          This puri takes some time to rise up in the oil, once it rises, press slightly like we do for the regular puris, to puff it up. It takes slightly longer to cook than the usual puris, cook on both sides and remove. At home this puri is served with a tomato chutney and an onion-garlic raitha.

Tomato Chutney
          Saute onions, tomatoes and red chillis, grind, season it with mustard seeds, urad dal, asafoetida and curry leaves.

Onion-Garlic Raitha
           Season oil with mustard and curry leaves, add  an onion and two cloves of garlic, both of them sliced finely, saute them well, add turmeric and chilli powder, mix well for a minute. Cool and mix in curd and salt.

Note
If the idli rawa is very coarse then reduce it to 1 cup and add 2 cups of rice flour.
If the final dough is sticky add little more rice flour.
When grinding the tuvar dal, let it be to a chutney consistency.

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Cauliflower And Peas In Mustard Gravy

 

          I have tasted vegetable curries cooked with mustard paste at a Bengali friend's place, liked the taste, it was different from the regular kurmas and gravies, the taste of mustard is very unique. I have added tomatoes in this gravy to suit my taste, almonds and poppy seeds to make the gravy thick, try this out..

Need To Have

• Cauliflower - 1 medium size 
• Fresh Or Frozen Peas - half-a-cup
• Tomato Puree - 5 tablespoons
• Panch Phoran - 2 teaspoons
• Almond Slices - 1 tablespoon
• Yellow Mustard Seeds - 11/2 - 2 teaspoons
• Poppy Seeds - 2 teaspoons (white)
• Turmeric Powder - 1/2 teaspoon
• Chilli Powder - 1 teaspoon, more or less to suit your taste
• Coriander Powder - 1 teaspoon

Method 
          Grind mustard seeds, poppy seeds, almonds, tomato puree, turmeric powder, chilli powder and coriander powder into a fine paste. Cut the cauliflower into big florets.

          Heat oil, add the panch phoran, let it splutter, then add the cauliflower and peas and salt. Mix well, cover and cook till the cauliflower is half-cooked. Now, add the paste, stir well, add water, cook for five mins or more till the vegetable is cooked completely. Check for salt, remove and serve with rotis.

Note
Panch phoran - mix equal amount of mustard seeds, cumin seeds, fennel seeds, onion seeds or nigella or kalonji and fenugreek seeds.
Cook the cauliflower till done but not mushy.

Update
When I cooked again for updating the pictures, I used 3 tomatoes, I had used a bigger cauliflower.

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Podi Idli Upma

       

          Everyone has their own version of idli upma, adding some seasonings, vegetables and so on. I was not a big fan of this dish made from leftover idlis, until I tried this one at my friend's place. My daughter became an instant fan, so nowadays, this upma is a must after the day I make idlis. Very simple to make, and very tasty too..


Need To Have

• Idlis - 6
• Onions - 2 medium 
• Green Chillies - 2 or 3 
• Idli Milagai Podi - 1 tablespoon, more or less depending on spice level
• Sesame oil - 2 teaspoon

For Seasoning

• Mustard Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
• Urad Dal - 1 teaspoon
• Asafoetida - a pinch
• Curry leaves - few

Method
          Chop the onions and slice or chop the chillies. Break the idlis with hand and mix the idli milagai podi and sesame oil, keep aside. Heat oil, do the seasoning, add the onion and green chillies, saute for a few mins, add the broken idlis, mix well and serve warm.

Note
The onions and the idli podi give the taste, add atleast half the amount of chopped onions as broken idli.
While mixing the idlis do it on low heat to prevent sticking or you'll have to add more oil.
Can also add cashews with seasoning for the nutty taste.

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