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.

Pumpkin moong dal

I was thinking hard about cooking adal...did not want to cook tur dal as I had it yesterday.So just picked up some chilke waali moong dal & added red pumpkin,some spices & made this dal ! It is too easy !

Ingredients : 100 gm red pumpkin peeled,diced & washed,1/4 cup chilke waali moong dal,2 tsp oil,1/2 tsp jeera,2-3 pepper corns,1 green chilli,1/8 tsp methi dana,1/4 tsp haldi,1/4 tsp hing,salt to taste.

Method : Wash the dal.Add diced pumpkin ,green chilli ,haldi & hing.Pressure cook for two whistles.Keep aside to cool the cooker.

Take oil in kadhai.Add methi dana & warm the kadhai on gas.When methi dana starts spluttering add peppercorns ( grind them coarsely with pestle ) followed by jeera. Put off gas.

Remove dal from pressure cooker .Pour the dal over the tadka in the kadhai.Mix with a spoon.Put on the gas & let the dal come to a boil.Put off the gas.Serve hot with roti or rice.