Oats & Banana Loaf (Eggless)

Ingredients
1 cup oats
 ½ cup honey
½  cup ripe banana (mashed)
1 cup wheat flour
1 cup milk
½  cup buttermilk or curd
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
pinch of salt
Method
Grease a baking tray or line it with a baking paper.
preheat it at 180°C.
In a mixing bowl mix the dry ingredients i.e. (oats, wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda & a pinch of salt). Keep aside.
In a separate bowl add the mashed banana, curd or buttermilk, vegetable oil, milk & honey. mix well until all are incorporated.

Now mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and with the help of a wooden spatula gently mix it.
Pour the batter into a baking tray and sprinkle some oats on the top.
Bake for 30 mins or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
When the loaf comes to room temperature remove it and serve with coffee or tea.

Oats & Ragi Pancakes

I would like to share my recipe @ the Healthy Dessert Competition which got a consolation prize. Competition was held by Art of Living, Oman chapter

Oats & Ragi pancakes

Ingredients

1. ½ cup oats
2. ½ cup ragi flour
3. 3 tbsp semolina
4. 6 tbsp jaggery (or as needed)
5. 1 tsp baking soda
6. 1 tsp clarified butter + some more for greasing the pan
7. pinch of salt
8. skimmed milk as needed
9. few drops of vanilla essence
10. Honey & Fresh strawberries for serving

Method

1. Dry roast the oats for 2 minutes in a pan & make powder. Keep aside for further use.
2. Dry roast the ragi powder & semolina separately for 2 minutes (don't over roast the semolina)
   
3. Mix the ragi, oats, semolina. jaggery, salt, clarified butter, vanilla essence & skimmed milk and keep aside for 15 minutes. Taste the batter if you need some more jaggery add as required.
   
4. The consistency should be free flowing (similar to dosa batter)
5. Before making the pan cakes add the baking soda & mix the batter properly
6. Heat the griddle, grease it with clarified butter, add a spoonful of batter & prepare the pancakes on medium flame.
   
7. Cover the pancake
8. You will see some bubbles forming on the pancakes, flip the pancake after 5 minutes. Cook until done.
9. Serve immediately with honey & fresh strawberries.
   The above recipe will yield 12 pancakes.

 

Batata Wada

Batata Wada needs no introduction, its a popular roadside snack eaten all across Maharashtra. The Wada is made with boiled potatoes with added spices, coated with besan & deep fried. Batata Wada  is sandwiched between soft bun which is called Wada Pav.

Ingredients
For the Wada
8 medium size potatoes (boiled & mashed)
1 onion (finely chopped)
10 green chillies
2 " ginger
10 cloves of garlic
handful of coriander leaves (finely chopped)
3 tbsp lemon juice
Salt as needed
2 tbsp oil for tempering
2 tsp mustard seeds
1 pinch of turmeric
1 pinch of hing  
2 stems of curry leaves
oil for frying
For the Batter
1 cup besan (gram flour)
1 tsp red chilly powder 
1 tsp turmeric powder
salt to taste
pinch of baking soda
water as needed
Method
Boil the potatoes, keep them aside to cool, mash/grate the potatoes when they come to room temperature,  
Grind the green chillies, ginger & garlic, add this to the mashed potatoes.
In a pan add oil, when it becomes hot add the mustard seeds, turmeric, hing, curry leaves & onions. fry until the onions turn transparent. keep it aside to cool.
Add the lemon juice & chopped coriander to the mashes potatoes, the onion mixture and mix well.
To make the batter mix the besan, red chilly powder, turmeric, salt & baking soda. Add water as needed. mix it with the help of a whisk. See to it that there are no lumps in the batter. The batter should be thick but not very watery. Similar to dosa batter.
Make flat patty of the potato mixture, dip it into the batter and deep fry until golden brown. Drain excess oil on kitchen towel.

Serve immediately with soft buns (pav).Batata Wada can be served with tomato ketchup, garlic chutney or fried green chillies.
To make the fried chillies, make a slit into the chilly, fry it on the gas stove, add salt serve immediately.

Naan without yeast

Naan is one of the most commonly eaten bread in Punjabi cuisine which is prepared in a tandoor. At home you can make naan in an oven,microwave or on a griddle (tava). It can be prepared using both maida & wheat flour. Following is the yeast-less recipe of making the traditional naan

Ingredients
1 cup Maida or Wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp warm oil
1/4th cup curd
pinch of Salt
chopped garlic for garlic naan
butter or ghee as required
water as required.
Method
In a plate add the flour and make a well in the centre, to it add the add the warm oil, salt, baking soda & curd and make a soft dough by adding water as required. Make sure that the dough is soft and doesnt become too sticky
Keep the dough aside wrapping a cling film in the bowl & let it rest for 4 hrs in a warm place (microwave is a good option)
Knead the dough, make equal sized balls, add ghee to it and fold it twice then roll into elongated shaped naans. 

 

preheat the oven to 180 degrees, arrange the naan over the baking tray to be baked. brush the naan with butter or ghee and garlic (for garlic naan). Bake until the naan is cooked on both the sides and turns golden brown

How to make Naan on tava?
Heat a tava &roast naan on both sides. Brush ghee or butter and garlic (for garlic naan) over the naan.  Bake it from both the sides until it turns golden brown

Serve immediately. Goes well with Rajma, Chicken masala, palak paneer

Fish Curry by Sarah

A big shout out to my best friend Sarah for making this fish curry for me, she has pampered me by feeding this fish curry during my pregnancy so many times, I loved the sour, spicy taste of the rich fish coconut curry served with boiled rice. So far this has been the best fish curry I've ever eaten. Thank you once again Sarah for the ready made recipe, I just copy pasted n clicked the picture to be uploaded on my blog.

Ingredients 

6 pieces of King Fish
1 coconut (grated)
3 medium size Onions
4 tsp oil

2 red whole chillies
2 tsps roasted whole coriander & roasted cumin seeds
1 whole garlic

2 inch ginger
3 tbsp fish masala (Priya brand)
1 tsp red chilli powder

3 pieces of kokum

3 tsp warm water to grind the paste
3 cups water for gravy

turmeric powder to apply on fish
Salt as per taste 
4 tbsp Tamarind pulp

Method
Wash the fish pieces and apply turmeric & salt over it, keep aside for an hour.

Dry roast coriander, cumin seeds and red chillies. Slice 2 onions.

Grind coconut, roasted coriander & cumin seeds, ginger, garlic, red whole chillies, one onion, Kokam, warm water to make a smooth paste
Now in a deep bottom pan add oil, add in the sliced onions, saute. Add the coconut paste and cook well till the paste leaves oil.
Now add in salt, fish masala, red chilli powder, tamarind paste. after a while add in water and let it boil for 5-7 mins
Add in fish pieces & cook for 10 mins
Ready to serve with steam rice