Beet root halwa in microwave.

I had made beetroot halwa once earlier a kadhai on gas stove once.I had not posted it then. This time in Navratri, I decided to make this halwa in the microwave.

A few words about malai or cream. I remove malai daily from the milk which has been heated up & cooled as I don't like malai in tea, coffee , chaas etc.I cannot use this malai for making butter or ghee as it is low fat .I get low fat milk . .Every once in the month, when malai has accumalated to nearly 1 cup or more, I make some sweet dish using malai like carrot halwa, doodhi halwa etc.

Ingredients : 1.5 cups peeled & grated beetroot, 1 cup malai, 1/2 cup sugar,1/2 tsp elaichi powder, 1 tbsp ghee, assorted dry fruits for garnsihing.

Method : Take a microwaveable vessel.Add ghee to it & grated beetroot to it. Mix gheee with beetroot .Microwave on high for 2 minutes. Remove the vessel .Stir the beetroot nicely.Add the malai to it & mix with the beetrroot. Microwave on high for two minutes. Remove vessel from microwave. Give the ingredients a good stir. Microwave on high again for 2 minutes .Give one more good stir to the ingredients of the vessel & once gain microwave on high for 2 minutes.

Add sugar to the vessel.Mix all the ingredients in the vessel nicely so that sugar is evenly distributed. Microwave on high for 2 minutes. Give the ingredients astir & repeat heating in microwave on high. Repeat process one or two  times.Add cardamom powder to the vessel. Mix all ingredients nicely. Microwave on hih for one minute. Put off microwave.

Let the vessel cool in microwave for 15-20 minutes. Remove the vessel from microwave. Add thinly sliced dry fruits as garnish. Serve beetroot halwa hot with assorted dry fruits as garnish.

I used thinly sliced pistas as garnish & the green colour of pistas perfectly compliments the rich red hue of the beetoot halwa ! I read that beetroot halwa will taste divine with ice cream, ! Next time, I make this halwa, I will get ice cream to go with it ! 

Vegan Upside Down Apple Cake

I avoid eating apples as I feel they constipate. Since,   I had some apples at home , I decided to make this  upside down apple cake.I have borrowed generously from recipe of Apple cinnamon coffee cake & upside down wholewheat apple cake.

Ingredients : 1 cup atta + 1/ 4 cup maida, 1/2 cup sugar + 2 tbsp sugar , 2 medium apples peeled , de seeded & thinly sliced after 1 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1 tbsp coffee powder,1 tsp cinnmon powder, 1/4 tsp clove powder, 1/4 tsp cardamom powder, 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce, 2 tbsp oil, a pinch of salt.

Method : Take a baking vessel.Line it with butter paper. Arrange the wedges on the bottom of the vessel over the butter paper.Mix clove powder, 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder, cardamom powder & sugar nicely with a fork.Sprinkle this powder on the apple slices so that all slices are covered with this powder. Bake these apple slices at 180 degrees  centigrade  for 8-10 minutes.Keep aside.

In a bowl, mix all dry ingredients namely atta, maida, sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder, baking powder, baking soda & alt.Mix with a whisk or fork or spoon many times over, so that, ll dry ingredients are nicely mixed.Keep aside.

Add 3-4 tbsp water to 1 tbsp coffee powder. Mix nicely so that no lumps of coffee remain undissolved. This is the coffee decoction. Keep aside.

In another bowl, mix wet ingredients....applesauce, oil, coffee decoction nicely with spoon or whisk.

Pour this wet ingredient mix into a well made in the dry ingredient mix. Mix all nicely so that a batter is formed. It must have just drop down consistency like idli batter.

Pour this batter over the apple slices which have sprinkled with sugar-clove-cardamom-cinnamon powder. Bake for 30-40 minutes at 180 degrees centigrade or till a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.

I always bake in microwave mode for 2-4 minutes, even 5 minutes. after this convection baking to make sure that all batter has got cooked.

Put off oven. Let it cool in the oven for half an hour. Remove cake from oven after half am hour. Cool the cake outside oven for another half an hour.

Take a plate & invert the baking vessel on the plate. The cake will drop down. I felt the apple slices were too moist . So I put the cake in vessel & baked in microwave mode for 2.5 minutes.Let it cool for 5 more minutes. Take out the cake on the plate.Cut it into desired shapes & serve.

Tips : I sliced apples into very thin pieces. Apple wedges can be cut instead of slicing apple.After cutting apples into slices or wedges, sprinkle lemon juice to prevent darkening of apple pieces.

The coffee powder used is Nescafe classic. The coffee powder that was remaining in bottle was less than 1 tbsp. Maybe 3/4 tbsp.I used up the whole thing. Since it was less than 1 tbsp, the coffee flavour was there & yet, not pronounced.

I used white granulated sugar to sprinkle on apple slices. In the cake batter, I used nearly 1/4 cup white sugar & the remaining 1/4 cup jaggery sugar. Simply because jaggery sugar that remained to be used was just 1/4 cup.

Tomato Gojju

One of the food blogs that I  follow is Saffron Trail by Nandita Iyer.She is  a doctor by profession. The other day, she had posted tomato gojju recipe.I was tempted top make it as shes stated that this recipe is from Karnataka.I did make the recipe after asking my mom for the recipe.

The recipe became possible as there were quite a few small ( lemon sized ) tomatoes in the refrigerator.

Ingredients : 5/6 tomatoes  chopped  roughly, 1 tbsp chickpea flour or besan 1 tbsp oil, 1/2 tsp mustard seeds,1/ 4 tsp fenugreek or methi seeds,   1/2 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp hing, 1/4 tsp turmeric, 1-2 byadgi mirchi broken into 2-3 pieces each, 1-2  green chillies chopped,  a few curry leaves, 1 tsp jaggery, optional : 1 tsp or less of sambar or rasam powder or any everyday curry powder ( being used for making daily vegetable ) , salt to taste.

Method : Heat oil in a kdahai.Add mustard seeds.After they splutter add methi seeds.After they pop up , add jeera.Next add curry leaves & byadgi mirchi followed by turmeric & hing.Add tomatoes & mix all ingredients in kadhai.Keep cooking on slow gas flame. After 10-15 minutes, tomatoes will become mushy.Take care that the tomatoes do not stick to kadhai bottom.Add salt  to taste.This will make tomatoes all the more mushy. Add jaggery. Mix nicely.After five minutes, add the curry powder or sambar or rasam powder or combination of all three powders . Mix. Take 1tbsp besan & mix it with little water & make apste with no lumps in it.Add it to tomato spice mix in the kadhai constantly mixing with the spoon as it is being added to the kadhai. Keep stirring the spoon in the kadhai till the besan paste has become one with the tomato spice mix.Add more water if consistency is too thick. Bring the mix to a boil Put off gas. Serve with rotis and or rice.


This is  very tangy dish.And very easy & quick dish to make.Besan is added to make it thick.In other versions, soaked chana dal- tur dal mix is ground with coconut to make the gojju thick in place of besan.

I added more curry leaves as I had many of them in stock. One can add more chillies and even more curry powder as per  taste.Or it can be without curry powder .Or it can be with curry powder & no green chillies. Instead red chilli powder can be used.

Jeera rice

I have made jeera rice earlier & it turned out mushy. This time around , I was determined to make a  a better version. I wanted to use the pressure cooker method. I have no patience trying to cook rice in an open pan.I checked a few recipes like Nithya's Nalabagam & Veg recipes of India.

And believe me, my version of jeera rice turned out real good though it can be made better next time.

Ingredients : 3/4 cup rice, 1/2 ts jeera, 2 cloves slightly crushed , 1-2 bay leaves, 1/2-1 inch cinnamon stick, 1tbsp ghee,

Method : In a vessel, heat ghee. Add bay leaves, crushed cloves, cinnamon stick & jeera or cumin. After they all get aromatic, add rice & mix all nicely.Roast for 2-3 minutes. Add salt Add 1 1/4 cup water. Pressure cook upto 2 whistles .Put off gas.After cooker cools, remove lid of pressure cooker. Jeera rice is ready ! This can be served with aloo matar or whole masoor or chhole or rajma or any other side dish of choice.

I think ,i need to add more cumin seeds. Next time around, I must improve on that.

Coffee ice cream.

My daughter had got this Nestle coffee mate ,Hazel Nut flavour.She had stopped having it just as suddenly as she started liking or rather gulping it with coffee. I get very cross with such wasteful attitudes. I started using the Coffeemate powder in cakes.And yet, I could hardly use one to two tablespoons per cake. The hazelnut flavored coffee mate powder continued to occupy space in my kitchen.I started googling for coffee mate recipes & came across many at the Nestle Coffee mate site .I tried searching for an ice cream recipe as that would help in using up almost all of the remaining coffee mate powder.I thought, coffee mate could be used as it was like milk powder .Moreover, it was sweet as it had added sugar.I had come across custard powder ice cream recipe.

Hence, I wanted to try ice cream with this coffee mate powder. I had one packet of 200 ml Amul Fresh Cream packet. And I had almost a tiny bit of malai removed that day itself from fresh milk.I decided to use all this to make ice cream.

Ingredients : 2.1/4 cups Nestle Hazel Nut coffee powder containing sugar, 200ml Amul Fresh Cream, 2 tbsp instant Coffee powder ( I used Nestle instant coffee powder ), 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1tsp cream ( mali removed from milk -optional ).

Method : Mix all the ingredients. If needed, add water drop by drop.There will a batter type consistency.Mine was quite wet. Blend all in a mixer .Pour it into a freezer safe air tight container. Freeze for an hour or more.

Take it out after more than an hour & blend it again in the mixer grinder. Again piur it into the same container from which it was removed & refreeze for more than an hour.

Repeat this freezing , de freezing & blending 3-4 times. This will make the ice cream get a creamy consistency.

Then  after it has frozen for the last time, remove it & scoop it out into bowls & serve.Eat it immediately as it melts quite fast .

Scopped ice cream can be garnished with nuts of choice. We had our scoops just like that.The quantity made was enough for five to six persons ( 2 small  scoops per person ) .

Notes : I found ,that I had added too much of coffee powder. Maybe, one tbsp of coffee powder would have sufficed. Initially,I had skipped adding brown sugar.After I tasted the ice cream ,I realised that sugar was needed. If just one tbsp of coffee had been used, there would be no need to add sugar. Coffee mate has added sugar & that is sufficient unless one likes ice cream to be more sweet & yet ,that would dilute the coffee flavour.

I used coffee powder to make coffee ice cream as the recipe used Nestle coffee mate powder .I felt that the coffee mate would blend nicely with coffee.

The ice cream was creamy in consistency.Yet, I feel, ice creams are best eaten outside, as home freezing can never compete with commercial refrigeration.

Vegan chocolate cake.

I wanted to make a chocolate cake after my friend posted her vegan chocolate cake on whatsapp.Her recipe used warm water & vinegar.I googled & came across this vegan chocolate cake recipe using applesauce. I thought, this was a brilliant idea to sneak in an apple into the cake !

I have posted an eggless chocolate cake which was baked in microwave, earlier on the blog.

I made just an alteration or two & my cake turned out super ! Except that it hardly tasted sweet.Because ,I used jaggery sugar & white sugar in 1 :1 ratio.So , I sprinkled powdered sugar on the cake & then rubbed fingers all over the sprinkled sugar.so it looks as if it is smeared over the cake.

Ingredients : 1 cup whole wheat atta, 1 tbsp maida ( In the original recipe,there was corn starch .I googled to learn that corn starch could be replaced by flour, flax seed meal etal ) ,1/2 cup sugar ( I used part jaggery sugar & part white sugar  as jaggery sugar got over) , 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder, 1/2 tsp Coffee powder, 1 tsp baking soda,1/3 cup apple sauce, 1/2 to 1  cup warm water ,a pinch of salt.

Method  Preheat oven to 180 degrees centigrade.

Meanwhile as oven pre heats, mix all dry ingredients that is whole wheat flour, maida,sugar, cocoa powder, coffee powder, 1 tsp baking soda & salt. Mix all ingredients many times over so that all are thoroughly mixed with each other. Keep aside.

Cut an apple into 4-5 pieces.Deseed them.Pressure cook to 1 whistle. Cool. Deskin the apple pieces & mash them up.This mashed up apple mix is unsweetened applesauce.

Make a well in the dry ingredients mix.Add the apple sauce & mix thoroughly.I found that applesauce was less. The batter was dry...in fact not all flour had got wet even.So , I warmed some water & added to dry ingredients applesauce mix till I got a cake batter. Add water drop by drop or rather spoonful by spoonful.Add water carefully so that the batter does not get runny. If apple sauce amount is enough for cake batter , then ,there is no need to add warm water. Cake batter must have idli batter like consistency.

Take a bake able dish & line the insides of the dish with butter paper. Pour the batter into the vessel on the butter paper. Bake in oven at 180 degrees centigrade for 30-40 minutes. My cake was baked in 30 minutes.

Do the toothpick test. If toothpick comes out wet, bake in microwave mode for 2 minutes. Let it cool for 10 minutes.Take out the cake & cool outside oven for 15-20 minutes. Cut into desired shapes & serve.

My cake was not sweet at all....so please add more sugar.If adding white sugar, maybe a little more than 1/2 cup sugar would suffice.In case brown sugar or jaggery sugar is used, 3/4 cup sugar may be needed. I think ,even amount of coffee powder should be reduced .Maybe 1/4 tsp coffee powder can be used. Coffee powder can be skipped as some recipes use it & some recipes don't.

Apple cinnamon mug cake in microwave

I am fascinated by mug cakes.I tried once or twice.No more than that.Earlier attempts failed.This time, I tried sincerely ,I think.I loved this recipe.I tweaked it & made this cake in a mug !

Ingredients : 1/4 cup atta ( whole wheat flour ) , 1 tbsp apple sauce,1 tbsp jaggery sugar, 1/4 tsp cinnamon powder, 1 tbsp Nestle coffee mate powder , 1/2 tbsp peanut butter, 1/4 tsp baking powder & oil or ghee to grease the mug.

Method : To make apple sauce, deseed & peel an apple.Chop it into 4 pieces.Pressure cook the washed apple pieces up to 1 whistle. Cool.Mash up the cooked apple.Apple sauce is ready.Keep it aside.

Take atta in a bowl.Add the Nestle Coffee mate powder,baking powder, cinnamon powder.Mix all nicely many times over.Keep aside.

Take 1 tbsp apple sauce &  1 tbsp jaggery sugar.Mix nicely.Add peanut butter & mix nicely.Add this liquid mix to the dry atta mix kept aside.No lumps should remain. The  batter thus ready , must have drop down consistency similar to consistency of idli batter.

Grease inside surface of mug with oil or ghee.

Pour the cake batter into the mug.Microwave cake batter in mug for 2 minutes. Put off microwave. Cool.Put a toothpick in the mug cake to test if it is baked. If it is wet,microwave for 30sec -1 minute.Cool & enjoy !

In the topmost snap , the cake can be seen leaving the sides of the mug.That is an indication that it is fully baked !

The mug cake was fluffy & nice.Except that cinnamon was not traceble.Next time, I must put 1/2 tsp cinnamon instead of 1/4 tsp.

This mug cake or for that any mug cake is a great idea for a quick & easy bake.It is a sumptuous snack !

Tips : I used Nestle coffee mate as I had no options..My kid had got it some time before & was lying around in the kitchen shelf. In the original recipe, milk is used. Since, I used whole wheat flour & that too 1/ 4 cup ,I used 1/4 tsp baking powder.  As Nestle coffee mate is sweet ( it has some sugar ( , I used just 1 tbsp jaggery sugar.I replaced oil in original recipe with peanut butter .One can use ghee or oil .If flaxseed meal is used or even yoghurt, then , ghee or oil or butter need not be added.Flaxseed meal or yogurt will make up for the fat content.

I have posted picture of jaggery sugar in my earlier blog post of Vegan Strawberry cake.

If batter is too watery, keep microwave on for up to 3-4 minutes, instead of 2 minutes.If batter is too semisolid, it may get done faster. Batter must have drop down consistency or be like idli batter ( dosa  batter is more watery in comparison to idli batter )

Vegan Strawberry cake

I had some strawberries . I was itching to make a cake using strawberries. I had made a bread & an eggless cake earlier.This time, I was keen on making a cake & icing it with strawberry sugar mix.Finally, decided to make a cake decorated with strawberries & without icing.I feel ,that I may be unable to do icing.Maybe another time, on another cake !

I loved this recipe .I tweaked it & made it vegan.I discovered that I have made a vegan version of strawberry earlier though the recipe is different.

Ingredients : 1 cup wheat flour, 1/2 cup maida, 1 tbsp oil, 1/ 2 cup leftover gulab jamun syrup , 1/2 cup jaggery sugar, 1.5 tsp baking powder, 1/2 cup apple sauce, 16 -20 strawberries diced into four pieces each, , 1/2 tbsp flaxseed powder , a pinch of salt.

This is jaggery sugar...available in Sahakari Bhandar at BARC colony,Mumbai.Above is the packet photograph.And on this side is the actual jaggery sugar snap...it is dark brown. That's why my cakes are all dark in colour .Also due to whole wheat flour being used.


Method : Add 3 tbs water to flaxseed powder in a bowl.Mix nicely.Keep aside for 15 minutes.

Mean while , pressure cook for 1 whistle.an apple after dicing it into 4 -5 pieces.Cool the cooker.Remove the apple pieces.Deskin the pieces & deseed the pieces as well.Mash the apple pices.The pallesauce is ready.This is a good egg replacer for cakes & breads.Add oil & gulab jamun syrup to the applesauce .Mix nicely.

Take whole wheat flour.Add maida, salt, baking powder  & sugar.Mix all nicely with a whisk many times over. Keep aside.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees centigrade. By now , flax seed soaking is over as 15 minutes are over.Mix the flaxseed water mixture to the wet mix of syrup-oil-apple sauce.

Make a well in the dry ingredient mix. Pour the wet mix into the dry mix.Fold all nicely till a batter is formed without lumps.Line a baking vessel with butter paper.Pour the batter into the vessel.Tap it on sides so that air bubbles are released. Add water to batter if any lumps are there.  Add the strawberry pieces on the batter in any pattern as per wish.Bake the cake at 200 degrees centigrade for 10 minutes.Thereafter bake it for 180 degrees centigrade for 1 hour.With a toothpick ,check if cake is completely baked.Bake it in microwave mode for 2-3 minutes. Let it cool.

After it cools, let it drop down upside on plate.Turn it over.Cut into desired pieces & serve.

This cake turned out a bit too dry. It was not crumbly & yet it felt dry. I felt it was too sweet though my parents disagreed.I used leftover gulab jamun syrup.One can use white sugar as well.White sugar is more sweeter than this jaggery sugar and brown sugar.Hence , use accordingly.

Apple sauce cake

I have been thinking of getting back into baking since long. Yet ,with the Microwave convection oven that I have , I had failed many times.Sometimes, the baking soda & baking powder were not up to the mark.At other times, I had forgotten to pre heat the oven.This time around,I wanted to be careful as I baked the convection way.

I looked at cakes using applesauce, flaxseed & wholewheat flour.I did come across a few recipes using wholewheat flour, applesauce ,flaxseed etal.Yet,they used just one or two ingredients.So ,instead of atta, maida was used,I wanted to avoid it. Hence, used my experience & made my version of cake.

Ingredients : 1 cup wholewheat flour, 1 cup homemade applesauce,1/3 cup brown sugar, 1  tbsp flaxseed powder , 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, ,a pinch of salt, optional :some streusel topping

Method : Cut 2 apples into 4 pieces each.Pressure cook them up to 3 whistles.Let the cooker cool.Take out the apple pieces. Depeel & deseed them.Alternatively , the apples can be de seeded & de peeled before pressure cooking them.Make pureee of the cooked apple pieces in mixer. Keep aside. Soak 1tbsp flaxseed powder in 3 tbsp water for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile mix atta with baking , powder & baking soda nicely with a whisk many times.Add brown sugar & salt.Mix thoroughly again.

Mix flaxseed water mix with applesauce.nicely.Pour this mix into the atta sugar baking powder soda mixture. Mix such that no lumps remain. Line a baking dish with butter paper. Pour this cake mix into the dish over the butter paper. Sprinkle  top of cake mix with  streusel topping .Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Bake  in preheated oven at 180 degrees for 30-40 minutes or till a knife poked into cake comes out clean. If ,bottom of cake feels moist, bake in microwave mode for 3-4 minutes.

Cool.Put cake upside down .Cut into desired shapes .

The cake was very moist & dense. Next time around,while using flaxseed meal ,less flour needs to be used. I had streusel topping at home.It was leftover topping of ready made muffin mix. Powdered sugar can be sprinkled as a topping on cake or even shrikhand can be smeared as a topping ! This cake was just aptly sweet.Brown sugar is less sweeter than white sugar.

Vegan apple banana bread

I had some apples & ripe bananas.I wanted to bake cake or bread using the ripe bananas & the apples.And I wanted to try a vegan version.I searched & got this vegan apple banana chunk bread recipe .

I added flax seed meal to the recipe & made my own version of this bread.I added flax seed meal as it gives a nutty flavour & the nutty flavour goes well with the bread.

Ingredients : I cup multigrain atta ( I used Aashirvaad ),2 apples ( peeled & desseeded,1 ripe banana ( peeled & pureed in mixer or blender ) ,1 tbsp flax seed powder soaked in 3 tbsp water for 15 minutes & more ,1/3 cup brown mineral  sugar + 1 tbsp brown mineral sugar, 1 tsp baking soda,1/4 tsp cinnamon,a pinch of salt.

Method : Take one peeled & desseded apple & pressure in cooker for 1 whistle.Let it cool.Then blend that apple into puree.This is the applesauce.Mix this applesauce with pureed banana.Add flax seed meal soaked in water to this fruit puree mix.Mix nicely to blend the fruit puree with flax seed water mix.Keep aside.

Take another peeled & deseeded apple.Cut into small chunks.Keep aside.

Mix all dry ingredients that is mutligrain atta,sugar,baking soda,salt ,cinnamon powder nicely with a whisk or fork.Mix many times over so that all dry ingredients blend into each other.

Add the apple chunks into the dry mix.Now fold the apple chunks such athat each apple chunk is coated with the dry mix.

Slowly add the apple banana puree into the dry apple chunk mixture.Mix so, that no lumps remain.This is the bread mix.

Line a microwaveable vessel with butter paper.Pour bread mix or  batter .Bake in microwave for 8-9 minutes.Switch off microwave.Let it cool for 5 minutes.Remove & check with knife if cake is done.If knife comes out clean ,cake is done.Otherwise microwave for 1 more minute.Check again.Let it cool for 15 minutes.Put the bread vessel upside down on a plate.The bread  will drop down on plate.Else ,it can be gently removed from sides of vessel so that it drops down on plate.Cut into desired shapes & serve.

Beetroot carrot cake

When I was new to baking ,I had come across a  beetroot carrot cake.I tried it & I had messed it up.Now,that  I have  some what honed up my baking skills,I wanted to give it another try.I failed to get hold of that earlier recipe on the net.I saw & read some.I decided to do it myself as some had one fruit too many & others had very huge measurements.

Ingredients : 1.5 Cups multigrain atta ( I used Pillsburry ) ,1/2 + 1/3 cup brown grainy sugar( I get 1 under brand name Sunehra.... it is just like refined white sugar...except that colour is brown  in Sahakari Bhandar at BARC colony ,Mumbai) ,1/4 cup oil,1/4 cup dahi,1/4 cup apple sauce,1.5 cups grated beetroot & carrot mix,3/4 tsp baking soda,3/4 tsp baking powder,a pinch of salt.

Method : Chop an apple into two & pressure cook it for 1 whistle.After the cooker has cooled,puree the apple after removing the skin & seeds.Keep aside.

Take a vessel & put all dry ingredients .....multi grain atta,baking soda,baking powder & salt .Mix nicely.Keep aside.

In another vessel,mix all liquid ingredients ...oil,grated beetroot carrot mix,apple puree,dahi,oil .Add sugar.Mix nicely.

Make a well in the dry ingredient mix & pour the liquid mix into it.Whisk with a spoon so that no lumps remain.The cake batter thus ready must have drop down consistency.Add water if the batter is very thick. Keep aside.

Line the bottom of a a   microwaveable vessel with butter paper .Pour the cake batter into it.Microwave for 10 minutes.Put off the microwave.Let it cool for 10 minutes..Insert a knife in the middle of the cake.If knife comes out clean ,it is done.If not,microwave for 1-2 minutes more.Cool & check again.

Keep the cake out side for 10-15 minutes.Put it upside down on to a plate.Remove the butter paper .Cut the cake into desired shapes & serve.

Banana chikoo cupcakes : Eggless

I have made chikoo cake earlier.Hence,it was time to mix another ingredient & make a cake.I added 1 banana with chikoos to make these cupcakes .Well ,the texture of the cupcake speaks for itself !

Ingredients : 2 chikoos,1-2  bananas,1/3 cup dahi,  1tbsp oil,1/2 cup brown sugar,1 cup atta,1/2 tsp baking powder,1/2 tsp baking soda,salt to taste.

Method : Mix all dry ingredients that is atta,baking powder,baking soda & salt. in a bowl Keep aside.

Peel chikoos & bananans.Remove seeds from chikoos.Put chikkos & banana in a blender. Blend into a smooth paste.This paste must be 1 cup.Into this paste add,sugar & mix.Add dahi & oil & mix nicely.

Make a well in the dry ingredient mix & slowly pour the paste into the well.Mix with a whisk.No lumps should remain.Keep aside.

Take microwaveable cup cake moulds & line them with butter paper moulds.Pour batter into each of the moulsds. Just fill upto 3/4 of the cup cake as the batter will rise during baking.Bake in microwave for 2-2.5 minutes.Let it cool for 2-3 minutes.Prick a toothpick to check if  cup cake is baked.If not bake for another 1/ 2 minute.Cool.Remove from microwave.Let it cool for 10-15 minutes more .Then by a spoon just loosen it from sides of butter paper mould. The cupackes are ready to be served.

These cup cakes had that crunch of chikoos which we experience when we savor chikoos.I got some 17-18 cupcakes-some small & some big ones as I have various sizes.

Eggless strawberry bread

I had strawberries &I had made strawberry cake before,I needed a new recipe.I came caross this strawberry bread @ http://priyaeasyntastyrecipes.blogspot.in/2011/06/eggless-whole-wheat-strawberry-bread.html

I made some changes & baked it !

Ingredients : 1 cup multigrain atta ( I used Pillsbury ),1/4 tsp baking soda,1/4 tsp baking powder,a pinch of salt,
1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup strawberry puree,1/3 cup dahi,1/2 tbsp vinegar,1 tbsp oil,some strawberries to line the bottom of the bread( optional ).

Method : Pureesome strawberries in a blender.Add  sugar & blend again.Keep aside in abowl Add vinegar & dahi & oil.Mix again.Keep aside.

Mix  multigrain atta,baking powder,baking soda & salt nicely.Make awell in the centre of this mixture.Pour the strawberry puree mix into this well.Whiskthis all so that no lumps remain.The batter must have drop down consistency.If batter is thick ,add some more dahi.Mix agian. Keep aside.

Take a glass vessel & line the bottom  with butter paper.On the botter paper ,line with thin slices of fresh strawberries in any fashion as you please.Pour the batter into the glass vessel lined with strawberries .Bake in  microwave for 8 minutes.Put off microwave.Let it cool.

After 10 minutes,remove vessel from microwave. Prick the cake with fork or knife.If it comes out clean,cake is done.If not bake for 1-2 minutes more.Cool.

After the vessel is out of microwave,let it cool for 15 minutes.Then put the vessel upside down on to a plate. The cake will drop down on to the plate.Remove the vessel.Let the cake cool for 5 more minutes.Now cut into desired shapes & serve.

The bottom slices of strawberries was not a good idea.They had become mushy.The sugar ,I used was of a very sweet taste- of some prasada ( temple offering ). The only strawberry taste, I detected, was from the thin slices of strawberry at the bottom of the cake.At the next attempt,I must add more strawberry puree to cake batter & maybe ordinary or even brown sugar.

Eggless Bournvita banana cake

I read about this cake @http://www.egglesscooking.com/2011/05/03/chocolate-banana-bread/.I made some changes & the cake turned out quite well.

Ingredients : 1/2 cup  whole wheat flour,1/2 cup ragi flour, 1/4 tsp baking soda,3/4 tsp baking powder,1/2 tbsp Bournvita powder ( I did not have cocoa & so I used Bournvita ),salt to taste.

3 medium sized ripe bananas-all mashed  & pureed,1/2 cup jaggery sugar( this is almost chocolate colour - ordinary white sugar can be used),1/4 cup yoghurt,2 tbsp oil,1 tbsp vinegar.

Method :In a bowl,mix  banana puree,oil,sugar & yoghurt nicely till sugar dissolves.Add vinegar & mix nicely.Keep aside.

In another bowl, mix all dry ingredients by sifting the flours ,Bournvita powder baking powder & baking soda.Make a well in the dry ingredient mix & slowly pour the banana puree oil-vinegar-sugar mix .Mix nicely into a batter so that no lumps remain.Add water, if batter is too thick.It must have drop down consistency.Keep aside.

Take a  microwaveavble vessel & line the bottom with butter paper.Pour  the cake batter into this vessel.Microwave for 7-8 minutes till a toothpik inserted comes out clean.

Let the vessel be in microwave for 10 minutes.Then take it out from microwave.Cool outside the microwave for another 10 minutes.Put the vessel upside down on to a plate.It will take some time before the cake drops down on to the plate.Then cut it into desired shapes & serve.

My cake turned out very moist & the wonderful aroma of bananas.Sugar content was just right.Jaggery sugar is very sweet -hence I used only 1/2 cup.It can be increased if more sweetness is needed.

Veg Frankie

My kid loves rotis.I am constantly tensed up thinking about her tiffin box- she must eat nutritious food & she abstains from eating upma, lemon rice,dahi rice etal.She suggested frankie one day & I said that I must try this.

I googled & realised that rotis can be made of atta ,maida or a mixture of both.I took the easy way out.I made use of left over rotis.Her school is very early for me to prepare rotis as also the frankie filling in the morning.Of course ,those of you who are very enthusiasitic may do this & more .I am lazy & often opt for such solutuons !

Ingredients for the frankie roll: 3 or 4 Leftover chappatis,or rotis or plain parathas,3-4 tsps butter ( I used Amul butter - you can use any butter or even ghee )

Ingredients for frankie filling : 2-3 medium sized boiled potatoes,1 medium sized onion -finely chopped,1 small capsicum -finely chopped,1/4 inch ginger - grated,1/4 tsp haldi,a pinch of hing,1/2 tsp red chilli powder,1/4 tsp dhana jeera powder,a dash of lemon juice, 1tbsp oil & salt to taste.

Method : In a kadhai, saute chopped onion in oil.Add grated ginger & saute again.Add chopped capsicum & mix nicely.Cook for 2-3 minutes by covering with a lid.Add haldi & hing.Mix nicely.Break the boiled potataoes into chunks & add to the kadhai.Mix all nicely.Add dhana jeera powder & red chilli powder.Mix nicely.Cook for 1-2 minutes by covering with a lid.Now put off the gas.After a minute or two add a dash of lemon juice & mix to give the filling a tangy taste.

Take a roti & warm it on the tawa.Take a tsp of butter & spread the butter on the whole of the roti.After the warming for 1 minute ,take a generous amount of the tangy filling & put it in the middle of the roti .Now roll both the ends of roti one over the other so that the filling is covered.The roll must look like masala dosa roll.Remove this from the tawa .The roll can be turned upside down on the tawa to make it crisp on both the sides.

Repeat similarly for the remaining rotis.I cut the frankie in the middle, so that my kid can just shove each frankie piece into her mouth.

One can use amchur powder or tomatoes instead of lemon juice.Chat powder can be sprinkled on the filling to give more tangy taste.