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.

Ragda patties

I keep searching for recipes on the net  which I can try.I chanced to see the ragda patties recipe & thought why not try it ? I tried it & found it quite easy to replicate.

Ingredients for Ragda  : 1 cup white vatana ( peas ) soaked overnight,1/2 tsp turmeric,1/2 tsp hing,1 tbsp oil,1/2 tsp red chilli powder,1/2 tsp dhania jeera powder,salt to taste.

Ingredients for garnish : a bunch of fresh dhania cleaned & finely chopped,1 cup thin sev ( available in market ) ,1-2 onions finely chopped.

Method : Pressure cook the white peas in 3 cups water for 3-4 whistles.After the 4th whistle ,slow down the gas . Keep the cooker on slow flame for 5 minutes.Put off the gas.Let the cooker cool.

In the meanwhile make the green chutni as given in sandwich dhokla recipe .Make kahjur chtni as in Sev puri recipe .

Patties can be aloo tikkis or vegetable tikkis ( opt out of using beet root as beet root will colour the tikkis a deep pink, which kids may not eat ).

After cooker has cooled,remove the ragda from the cooker.In avessel ,heat 1 tbsp oil.Add dhana jeera powder followed by red chilli powder.Pour the mashed ragda onto the spice mixture .Mix nicely Bring this ragda -spice mixture to boil.Add salt.Mix.Put off the gas.Keep aside.

Take 2 patties on to a plate.Pour 1/4 cup of ragda mix on top of the patties.Now put 1 tsp each of green chutni & khajur chutni on top of the ragda on the patties.Put chopped onions on top of the chtuni followed by the sev & top it up with freshly choppped dhania..This is quite a heavy chaat & fills tummies fast !

As seen from snap,I did not have thin nylon sev.I got some bhujia sev which was available nearby.I felt that my ragda was not mashy enough ( like thick tur dal consitency ) ...next time on ,I will cook it more till it has more even consitency & post new pictures !

Rasgullas

I simply love rasgullas ! Recently I learnt that rasgullas are full of protein ! Hence ,I am elated.Moreover ,the rasgulla syrup is less dense in sugar than that of gulabjamuns ! So many positive points ! No oil is used in making rasgullas ! So fat free,low sugar & protein rich !

I searched for recipes & came across two which I combined & made rasgullas.The two recipes I picked up are rasgulla recipe at LiteBite   & Divya's rasgulla recipe These  recipes are so easy that my love for rasgullas has multiplied many times over !

Ingredients : 1/2 litre low fat milk ( I get Amul Taaza Milky Milk with 3 % fat minimum & S.N.F.8.5% minimum ),1/2 cup sugar,2 -3 tbsp dahi,1/2 tsp cardamom powder( optional ), 1 tsp ghee to grease palms to make rasgulla loddoos.

Method :Open the milk packet & pour the milk into the container.Boil the milk.After it has boiled,slow the burner to sim or slow.Now add 2-3 tbsp dahi & keep stirring the milk.Milk will start curdling.Let it continue.Keep stirring & simmering the milk on the gas for 10 minutes.Switch off the gas.By this time ,the clear water ( whey ) of the milk & milk solids would have seperated.

Collect the milk solids onto a thin & large  cotton cloth piece.Collect all the milk solids on to the cloth.Then tie up the loose ends of the cloth into a knot tightly.This is to squeeze out all the remaining water from the milk solids. Hang the cloth from a hook .Better on the cloth knot,put some vessel which has weight so that it helps in squeezing out water.Rub some ice on the part of the cloth which contains the milk solids.Keep rubbing ice for 5 minutes.Keep aside the milk solids in the cloth knot for half an hour.

After half an hour,remove the milk solids which would have formed a mass of white colour from the cloth.This is cottage cheese or channa. Knead this mass nicely for about ten minutes till no lumps remain.It will become very soft after kneading for 10 minutes.Apply a little ghee to the palms & make small balls out of the channa. Repeat the process to make more balls till all channa gets over.Keep aside.

In a vessel take 1/2 cup sugar.Add 1 cup water .Boil till, all sugar dissolves. Cardammom powder can be added while it is boiling.Put off the gas.

Drop the channa balls into the sugar syrup.Take a pressure cooker & put the vessel containing channa balls in sugar syrup in the cooker.Pressure cook till 1 whistle.Then lower the gas & cook for 5 minutes on slow .Put off the gas.I released the pressure after this step by slowly lifting the whistle .Then after the cooker's whistle almost went away,I removed the whistle.

Then remove the lid of pressure cooker.Take out the vessel containing rasgullas & keep it in a bigger vessel containing some water to cool off.

After an hour or so ,one can relish the rasgullas !

Next time on ,I am just going to let the cooker cool on its own, without releasing the pressure by lifting up the whistle.It is so much effort ! Maybe ,rasgullas will become more juicy ,then !

Pineapple raita

I love raitas.They rarely need cooking .So ,they are ready in a jiffy ! I cam across pineapple raita  in restaurants & was hooked.

Nowadays as I have become lazy & tend to stay at home,I try recipes to bring in variety.So I got pineapple slices available at a street fruit seller.It is priced at Rs 10/ only for 5 slices & decided to make this raita.

Ingredients : 5-10  pineapple slices roundly cut,1/2 tsp  cumin seeds ,1/2 tsp red chilli powder,1/2 cup yoghurt,salt to taste.

Method : Roughly chop the pineapple slices into chunks.Keep aside.Take yoghurt & whip so that it becomes like cream.Add salt & mix nicely.

Add the chopped pineapple chunks into the dahi.Mix nicely.Keep aside.

Dry roast cumin seeds on tawa on low flame for 1-2 minutes.Let it cool.Roughly powder them with a pestle.Sprinkle this powder on the pineapple dahi mix.Sprinkle red chilli powder on the raita as well.Enjoy with pulav,roti Or just by itself !

This is a sweet-tangy raita ! And immensely popular !

My guest post

I have met many bloggers at blog meets & online.I am also lucky to be part of a group of women bloggers on facebook.We giggle  gossip,interact,rant & share our concerns,moments of joy as also sorrow.ALl of us have come closer vide this group.

Janaki Nagraj is one blogger, I met, when I had gone to attend a blogger meet.Her smile & gentle nature made me her fan.She is a poetess & an ace photographer.In fact, at blogger meets,she is flooded with requests to click pictures of nearly each one of us.I have read her poems & they are simply beautiful ! Her snaps  are just stunning ! Do go & peek at her clicks at Vithika @ http://janakinagaraj.wordpress.com/ & you are sure, to be  mesmerised !

She shares her feelings, through her poems, at her blog "Memoirs of a homemaker " @ http://janakinagaraj.com/.She invited me to write a recipe as a guest blogger on her blog Memoirs of a Homemaker .Well,how could miss this chance ?I hardly have any followers on my blog & here Janaki was lending her blog, to me, with her followers.I wrote this recipe on alu vadis, which is one of my most loved dish.I can just keep on eating this, till the stock gets over ! Please read about my  recipe of alu vadis @http://janakinagaraj.com/2013/09/inspirations-3.html as you must, try this recipe before the monsoons get over & that could be anytime now.

Vegan banana bread

Lots of fruits were left over...all due to Ganpati festivities.Some over ripe bananas.So ,thought of making banana bread without using curd or milk.Hence ,this vegan bread using egg replacer flaxseed meal & mashed bananas.

Flax seeds are powdered in mixer to get flax seed meal.I keep flax seed meal in the refrigerator as it tends to get rancid if kept outside for long.The flax seed meal must be soaked in water in the proportion of 1 :3 for 15 minutes before it can used as egg re placer in any baked dish.So,if I am using 1 tbsp flaxseed meal,I must soak it in 3 tbsp water for 15 minutes so that it gets gooey & works as the egg replacer.

Ingredients : 1 cup multigrian atta ( I used Pilsburry ) ,1/2 cup mashed over ripe bananas( bananas can be pureed in mixer as well ), 1/3 cup brown sugar,1/4 cup oil,1 tbsp flax seed meal soaked in 3 tbsp water for 15 minutes,1/2 tsp baking soda,1/2 tsp baking powder,1/4 tsp vanilla essence,a pinch of salt,10-12  cashew cashew nut pieces( optional ).


Method : Mix all the dry ingredients : atta,sugar,baking soda,baking powder  & salt.Mix thoroughly  with fork or whisk.Keep aside.

Mix mashed bananas,oil,flax seed meal water mixture,vanilla essence nicely.Now pour this liquid mix into the dry mix.Mix with a whisk   so that no lumps remain.Keep aside this batter.

Take a microwaveable vessel.Line it with butter paper.Pour the batter into the vessel.Sprinkle some cashews  on top of the batter.

Microwave for 5 minutes .Let it cool.After 5 minutes,test with a knife by inserting in the cake.If knife is clean,cake is done.If not ,bake for another minute.Repeat knife test.Cake will be done.Put off microwave.Wait for another 15 minutes. Remove cake from microwave.Let cake cool outside for 10 minutes.Invert the vessel on to a plate.Carefully,remove butter paper from the cake.Cut into desired shapes & serve.

This bread was just sweet.If you have a sweet tooth ,you may want to add more sugar.

Banana poha

What to do with over ripe bananas ? Well ,so many options...make Sri Satyanarayan type halwa with rava,bananas,sugar etal,make banana cake or banana bread .All these options need some time.Another option when one is really hungry & bananas need to be consumed just then  is to make banana poha. Moreover ,Vaishnavite tradition is to eat poha in many forms.After all,Krishna devoured poha  brought in as gift, by his dear chum Sudama. Krishna had to stopped from eating more poha by Rukmini, lest all the wealth got transferred to Sudama.

I can survive  on savoury poha almsot daily.Even during  Ekadashi,we consume savoury poha.

Ingredients : 1/3 cup thick poha,2 over ripe small bananas,1 tbsp brown sugar,ghee for garnish ( optional ),1/3  cup warm milk.

Method : Wash poha two to three times.Drain water & keep aside.Mash bananas,add milk & sugar & mix nicely .Add washed poha to this &  mix nicely.This can be topped by a tsp of ghee if desired.More milk can be added if one wants it to have  more liquid consistency.

This must be consumed immediately as keeping it makes it dry & more milk will be needed.

This is enough for 1 person.

Thin poha can be used...only it need not be washed as washing will make it into a paste.Take thin poha & add mashed bananas,milk & sugar to it & mix nicely.Consume it as soon as it is ready otherwise...it will get pasty & tasteless.