Eggless whole wheat pound cake and Giveaway for a valid cause

"We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give" - W.Churchill.

Before we get on with the recipe of Whole wheat pound cake, I want to share something with you. My fellow food blogger, Siri, is on a remarkable, warm hearted mission. She has started a fund drive to benefit Vaidehi Ashram for Destitute Girls, Hyderabad. The ashram, at present, houses 108 girls (3 to 22 years) each of whom is either an orphan or has a single parent unable to take care of her. Do take the time to read on for every little act of kindness holds in it the potential to make someone’s life a little better.



Participating in the fund drive is fun too because it comes with 40 different sponsored raffle prizes. Contributing to the drive automatically entitles you to select from this list of wonderful goodies.

I’ve sponsored a raffle prize in the form of a Sanjeev Kapoor cookery book set of 5.



So, are you willing to extend a helping hand? If yes, then here is how,

1.Click on the 'Chip in' button below.(It will take a few seconds to load.)

1 Raffle Ticket = $10 or Rs.500



2.Contribute: Via Paypal or credit card. You can donate any amount. Each $10 (Rs.500) donation will get you one raffle ticket towards a raffle prize of your choice.
Click here to view the list of raffle prizes.

3. Once you have completed the donation process and you get the payment confirmation,please forward it to info.siri@gmail.com, clearly specifying which raffle prize(s) you are interested in. Within 24 hours, your name and contributed amount will be added to the 'Fund Drive Supporters List'.
4. The fund drive ends on Feb 25th and a random drawing by the Ashram kids will determine the winners on 27th Feb 2012. You will be notified of the same on the said day.

If you'd like to choose my raffle prize, remember the code, RF 9. I will be shipping it to anywhere in India, with postage paid. Even if you reside outside India, you can always opt to have your gift mailed to a shipping address of a friend/relative in India and collect it later.

Please visit Siri's post on the Ashram so that you are doubly sure that you are indeed contributing to a valid cause.Click here.

Thank you for your patient hearing and here is the scrumptious recipe for you...

Whole wheat flour - 2 cups
Sweetened condensed milk - 1 tin (400 gms approx)
Soft brown sugar - 1/2 cup + 1/4 cup for crust
Ripe banana puree - 1 cup (3 medium bananas)
Vanilla extract - 1 teaspoon + 1/4 teaspoon for the crust (I use powder)
Unsalted butter - 200 gms
Baking powder - 1 teaspoon
Soda bi carbonate - 1/2 teaspoon
Almonds - 20 Nos

Whisk the condensed milk and 1/2 cup brown sugar, in a mixer bowl or blender, till the sugar has completely dissolved and you get a smooth mixture. Addin the banana puree and the butter,at room tempreture, to the mixture and whisk everything together. Pour into a wide mixing bowl and add in the wheat flour, vanilla, baking powder, and soda bi carbonate.

For the crumbly crust

Coarsely grind the almonds and brown sugar together in a mixer jar, along with 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract.

Preheat oven at 250° for 10 minutes. Line a baking tray with baking parchment. pour in the batter. Evenly sprinkle the almond - brown sugar crumble on top. Bake at 150° for 40 minutes. Insert a tooth pick or fork to check if done.

Whole wheat banana, raisins, and Chocolate muffins

This quick, wholesome muffin gets full points for nutrition and taste with minimal effort and time. Eat it for breakfast or pack it in your kiddos lunch box.


The recipe can be found here.

Chocolate, beets, and carrot muffins and a very happy 2011 to you!

Happy New Year 2011 to all my readers and friends! My New year fruit cake is still half done, so, for now ,here is a quick and healthy muffin I baked over X'mas for my little girl. My husband, who initially winced at the sight of veggies going into a chocolate muffin, later commented , " It's just not possible to figure out this one has beets and carrots in it. Really nice!". Little Abhi, as usual, enjoyed her mother's rare baking attempt.

All purpose flour (Maida) - 1 cup
Whole wheat flour - 1 cup
Baking powder - 1 teaspoon (5gms)
Egg - 1 large
Olive oil - 1/2 cup
Jaggery syrup - 1/2 cup
Pure Date syrup - 1/2 cup
(If you do not have jaggery or date syrup at hand then use packed brown sugar or even plain white sugar instead)
Beetroot - 1 small (grated very fine)
Carrot - 1 small (grated very fine)
Dates - a few (deseeded and chopped)
Dark unsweetened or semi sweetened chocolate chips - a liberal handful
Vanilla essence or powder - a few drops or pinches ( I used powder because I could not find propylene free essence)

Whisk the egg till it froths ( I use a braun electric handheld blender with whisking attachement). Add the olive oil and syrups, blend well. Sieve the flours and baking powder to ensure even blending. Add all ingredients, except chocolate chips, together and mix well. If you find the batter dry add a little buttermilk or milk at room temperature. Finally mix in teh choco chips.

Preheat oven at 200. Line the muffin tray with cases and pour in to fill 3/4th. Baking time might vary with the oven. I have a very basic OTG and baked my muffins at 150 for 25 minutes. Insert a toothpick and if it comes out clean your muffins are done.

Here's a picture of how this looks inside.

Brown bread rolls and Paneer tikka kaati roll repost

Been away for quite sometime now. Internet connectivity problems have been bugging us for over a month now. Planning to switch to a wireless connection as soon as we get back from the month long trip to India.
Irratic connectivity is my reason for not appearing on fellow blogger's sites too. Hope my friends will excuse the lapse. Being away for a while has made me lazier, but just had to do this post because I had agreed to Pari of Foodelicious that I would participate in the food event on at her blog. The last time I promised and could not keep it due to certain reasons and then I had told her I'd definitely participate in the next event she hosts. So, here you are Pari. For you...



For the filling

Button mushrooms - 10 Nos
Carrot - 1 medium sized
Chicken sausages (frankfurters/frankies/franks) - 4 Nos (vegetarians use paneer)
Onion - 1
Green chillies - 1-2 Nos
Garlic - 3 cloves
Ginger - 1" piece
Hot sauce - 1 teaspoon
Chilli powder - 1/4 teaspoon (optional)
Salt to taste

Thinly slice the mushrooms. Julienne the carrot and dice the onions and garlic. Mince the ginger and slit the green chillies. Warm a teaspoon of olive oil in a skillet and toss in the onion, garlic, and ginger. saute for a minute and then add the rest of the veggies. Boil 2 cups of water and dunk the sausages in. Let simmer for about 5 minutes, drain and slice into thin roundels. Add to veggies along with hot sauce. Saute for a couple of minutes and allow to cool.

Assembling the bread rolls

Brown bread (wheat bread) - 8 slices
Trim the edges of the bread. Place each slice on a wooden chopping board. Slightly wet with water and use a rolling pin to flatten out the bread slice.Place a little filling in the middle and join the two edges to form a roll. Since I used brown bread with added bran , the edges wouldn't stick easily and so I had to place it within my palm and gently apply a little pressure to make it hold.
Preheat oven. Line a baking tray with aluminium foil or baking parchment and line up the rolls. Bake at 200 for 10 minutes. Serve the extra filling on the side.


This is off to Foodelicious' 'Only' Kids Delight
event


Also reviving an archived Paneer Tikka Kaati Roll post for the same event. The recipe can be found Here



Also sending this over to Sreevalli's Kids Delight -Finger Food
event at Spice Your Life. She has been good enough to allow in my really late entry. Thank you, Sreevalli.

Chocolate morsels

Yesterday, a friend and family invited us over for a weekday night dinner without prior information. Hubby was busy at work and I was stuck with limited mobility (a woman catching a cab by herself out here is not a very sensible choice and I don't have a gulf valid driving license!). However, we have a small supermarket at walking distance and I decided to browse around for something to take for the host's little boys. Somehow din't find the regular, off the shelf choclates attractive. Suddenly remembered a Nigella Lawson recipe that I chanced upon a long time ago on Travel and Living. A simple chocolate recipe which called for very little time, effort, and ingredients. I really don't remember the exact name or propotions the recipe called for but decided to give it a shot anyway. Turned out quite nice and I felt extra nice when the younger child, an avid choclate eater, finished an entire set, ran up to me, and very sweetly said, "Aunty, this is really very nice. thank you so much". Must I say I am still grinning

Mars choclate bars - I used up an entire 27g gms bag of mini bars
Corn flakes - 2 cups
Unsalted butter - 10 gms
Water - 1/4 cup
Roasted, almond flakes - 1/2 cup (optional)
Cup cake cases - 40-50 small ones

Roughly break up the choclate bars into a thick bottomed skillet. Add the water and simmer stir till the choclates begin to melt. Add the butter in and keep stirring till the choclate completely melts and it thickens. Add the cornfllakes and almonds and stir till the choclate completely coats the flakes. Take off flame. Line up the cup cake cases on a tray and and spoon in the mixture while still warm into the cases. Allow to set for an hour or so.


Watch your lil ones enjoy the tiny chocolate morsels.

Nutty Surprise

I love nuts! And peanuts top my personal list of comfort foods. Sitting by the beach with a huge bowl of freshly roasted peanuts and a book is my concept of a perfect holiday. By the same note, anything and everything cooked with an overdose of nuts is my concept of ideal foodie heaven!

Roasted and skinned peanuts - 150 gms

Walnuts - 50 gms

Almonds - 50 gms

Small whole Figs - 15 nos

Jaggery - 100 gms

Cardamom - 5 Nos

Dry ginger powder - 2 pinches

Dry roast all nuts together. Cool and pulverize to granules in a mixer/food processor.Boil a cup of water (200 ml) and dissolve jaggery in it. Filter to remove scum. Place a thick bottomed skillet on the flame and pour in the jaggery. Keep simmer stirring till jaggery thickens to one string consistency (a slight syrupy texture). Add in the granulated nuts, whole figs, ginger powder and powdered cardamom. Keep stirring till the mixture reaches a jam like consistency. Take off flame.
When slightly cool place the mixture in a wax paper/aluminium foil/cling film and roll up into a tight cylinder. Place in the freezer for a couple of hours to set. Later, remove from wrapping and cut into slices.
The surprise element in this nutty treat are the bits of luscious, grainy figs that you stumble upon while munching
This yummy delight is softer, unlike the traditional chikki.

This is my entry to Mythreyee's Sweet Series - Chikki and Laddu event. The event is on at http://www.paajaka.com/2008/08/announcing-sweet-series-chikki-and.html

This also goes to EC's WYF: Color in Food event. My colour is deep , earthy brown from the Jaggery! The event is on at http://simpleindianfood.blogspot.com/2008/07/wyfcolour-in-food-event_30.html#comment-form

Also sending this to Lore's Original Recipe - Monthly Roundup event. The event is on at http://culinarty.sapiensworks.com/articles/original-recipes-monthy-round-up-event/

Molaga bajji

Molaga bajjis (batter fried chilli crispies) are the first to greet you on your evening out on the beaches of Marina at Chennai. Numerous make shift stalls adorned with garlands of molaga (chillies) burst with the yummy smells of frying bajjis. The chillies used for making molaga bajjis are big and light green in colour with not so much of the heat of their smaller counterparts. If you don't get these bajji chillies, jalapenos work as well.
For the batter
Roasted gram flour (kadala maavu/besan/chickpea flour) - 100 gms
Rice flour - 50 gms
Corn flour - 10 gms
Red chilli powder (cayenne pepper) - 5 gms Turmeric powder - a pinch
Cumin (jeera) - 1/2 teaspoon
Asafoetida (perumkayam) - a pinch
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying
Mix all the ingredients with sufficient water to create a thick batter. The batter should be thick enough to form a stable coating on the chillies.

For the bajjis
Bajji molaga (jalapenos) - 5-6 Nos

Slit the jalapenos ensuring taking care that they remain intact at the stems. If the chilli is very large then you can opt to completely slit it up into two. Heat oil in a thick skillet. Drop a small dollop of the batter in, if it rises up with a sizzle then you know the temperature is right. Dip the slit chillies in the batter. Ensure that it is coated all over and in between the slits.
Drop into the oil gently and fry ensuring all sides are an even crusty brown.

Serve hot with tomato ketchup! Nothing to beat a rainy or wintery day like a piping hot molaga bajji with tea!

Shrikand (flavoured hung curd dessert)

My first taste of 'shrikand' was at my aunt's sister's place. The son-in-law of the house was a north indian and an ardent fan of shrikand. Sadly, his wife abhorred it ! As a result, whenever a guest turned up (this time us), he would happily feed them, along with himself, to a generous helping of readymade shrikand picked off supermarket shelves. To be honest, I did not quite like the over sweet, sour taste of the thing. Then recently had it again at a restaurant, the fresh variety this time, and fell head over heels in love! Made it at home yesterday, of course with minor variations to the traditional recipe ;-)
This is my entry to Paajaka's 'Sweet series event - cool desserts'.
Thick curd (plain yoghurt) - 500 g
Demerara sugar (brown sugar) - 2 teaspoons (10 gms)
Cardamom (elaichi) - 4 pods
Saffron - 4-5 strands
Pistachios - 10 Nos
Almonds - 10 Nos
Red pomegranate - 1 large

Place a large pored sieve over a deep vessal. Drape a thin muslin cloth over it. Now pour the yoghurt through this, cover with lid, and leave for 4-5 hours for the water to completely drain out. This is hung curd. Transfer to another container.

Dissolve the saffron in a teaspoon of warm milk.
Powder the cardamom. Crumble half the pistachios and almonds in a mixer. Add these, along with the sugar to the hung curd. Refridgerate for 1/2 an hour. Serve over a bed of pomegranate rubies. Garnish with silvered almonds and pistachios.

Yummy! especially when you know it's dessert that good for you! All those probiotics sans the calories!
The Paajaka 'Sweet series event - cool desserts' is on at http://www.paajaka.com/2008/07/announcing-sweet-series-cool-desserts.html

Bread bajji

Bread - 8 slices
Besan ( kadala maavu/chick pea flour) - 1 cup
Rice flour - 1/2 cup
Red chilli powder - 1 teaspoon
Asafoetida (kayam) - 1/4 teaspoon
Cumin (jeera) 1/2 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying
Mix the besan, rice flour, chilli powder, asafoetida, jeera, and salt together. Add water to make a loose batter. Cut the bread slices into two. Dip each piece into the batter and make sure that batter gets coated evenly over the bread slices.
Heat oil and gently place each batter coated bread piece in. Fry till golden brown on all sides.
Serve hot with ketchup.

Easy choclate

Skimmed milk powder - 1 cup
Cocoa powder - 1/4 cup ( the pure dark, unsweetened variety; not drinking choclate mix)Condensed milk - 1/2 cup
Almonds - 5-6 nos

Lightly toast the almonds in a skillet, cool and coarse grind them in a mixer bowl. Sift the milk powder and cocoa so that they blend through well. Add the powdered almonds and the condensed milk. Knead well to form a dough. Make little balls out of it and place on a butter paperd tray. Refridgerate for 2 hours. It's ready to eat!PS: Store the choclates in the refridgerator if it's not yet in your stomach ;-)

Tasty fish fingers

Fish fillets (any white fleshed fish works for me) - 1/2 kg
Pepper powder - 1 teaspoon
Lemon - 3 juicy ones

For the batter
Corn flour - 1 cup
Egg white - 2 eggs
Rice flour - 1 teaspoon
Semolina - 1 teaspoon
Salt & Pepper powder - just a little bit
Bread crumbs - as required to roll the fingers in
Oil - to deep fry

Cut the fish fillets into strips. Marinade in the lemon juice, pepper powder, and some salt for about 1 hour.Seperate the egg whites from the yolks. We need only the egg white here (cuts down the calories ;-). Whisk the egg whites well and add in the cornflour, rice flour and semolina. Semolina is optional but adds to the crispiness. Add a little water if the batter is too stick. Stir well to clear any lumps. Season with salt and pepper powder.Dip the fish fingers in the batter and swirl till they are well coated. Spread the bread crumbs in a plate and roll the batter coasted fish fingers till they are covered by bread crumbs. Deep fry in any odourless vegetable oil.Place them on kitchen tissue to absorb the extra oil and serve with tomato ketchup and onion rings marinaded in lemon juice.

Instant jam tarts

Marie or arrowroot biscuits - 1 packet
Mixed fruit jam - as required
Cherry preserves - as required

Arrange the biscuits on a baking tray. Top each biscuit with a dollop of jam. Spread it out to cover the entire top of the biscuit. Bake on medium heat for about 4 minutes. Let cool and garnish with a cherry on top.

Fruit salad in cake n custard

For the fruit salad ( serves 2-3 people)

1) Apples - 2
2) Orange - 1
3) Black grapes (seedless)- 1/2 cup
4) Green grapes (seedless)- 1/2 cup
5)Pineapple - 1/2 a medium sized fruit
6)Bananas - 2
7) Lemon juice - 2 teaspoons (10gms)
8) Honey - 2 teaspoons (10gms)
9) Assorted nuts (almonds, cashews, pine nuts etc) - 1/4 cup (optional)

Cut all the fruits. Add the lemon juice and honey. Refridgerate for 1/2 hour.

For the cake n custard

1) Ready to make custard powder(vanilla) - 2 dessertspoons (20 gms)
2)Milk - 1 litre
3) Sugar to taste
4) Ordinary sponge cake (tea cake) - 1 loaf

Keep 1 cup milk seperately and boil the rest of it. Into the cool milk add the custard powder and make a smooth paste (ensure there are no lumps). Pour this into the boiling milk along with sugar to taste. Keep stirring till it reaches a thick, pourable consistency. Note that we need to make this a little thicker than the ordinary custard. Let cool slightly.

Slice the cake.

Method

In a flat glass dish (you should be able to see the colourful layers of this dish from the outside), place a layer of cake. Top this with a layer of fruit salad. On top add a layer of custard. Again a layer of cake, followed by fruit and then custard. Repeat process till everything is finished.

Note that the topmost layer should be custard. Sprinkle a few cherries or nuts to make the top more colourful.

Refridgerate till its time to serve.