Banana pancake

Ingredients:

1tbsp oats
2tbsp wholewheat flour
2 tbsp jaggery/sugar/honey
1 cup milk
2 eggs beaten
1 whole banana mashed or pureed
Pinch of salt for taste

Butter for frying



Method:

Mix well all ingredients except butter to batter consistency. Heat tawa, grease first with little butter and pour the batter, cook till holes appear and cook on the other side.

Serve hot with sweet sauce

kokum/sol/amsol

Kokum also known as Sol or Amsol is a fruit popular in coastal Karnataka and Goa.
  Rasam, Curry, sherbet, Sol kadi, chatni and a lot more can be prepared from this.
Kokum is a healthier option can be be alternatively used in recipes using tamarind if you are looking for healthy cooking options.

   Sol is available both in wet and dry forms.

Maroon or nearly purple colour is rendered to foods where this ingredient is used.

More to come............

Shrikhand

A Maharashtrian dessert also popular in Gujarat. Just the ideal dessert for summer in hot weather of Maharashtra and Gujarat. Shrikhand can be had alone or served accompanying other desserts. Shrikhand poori is a favourite in Gujarat. The flavours can be varied to give variesties of Shrikhand such as Kesar Shrikhand, Elaichi Shrikhand, Almond Shrikhand and Mango Shrikhand.
I got this recipe from a badam mix pack which i have altered.

Ingredients:
1 standard cup hung curd
2 tablespoon sugar
saffron soaked in tsp of milk
1/2 tsp elaichi powder

Method:
Mix well all the ingredients

Sprinkle chopped almonds and brown pistachios for garnishing.

Reduction of sodium intake/Sodium-potassium balance in body

Though sodium and potassium are trace minerals, their ratio of presence in our body makes a big difference. We imbalance this with consumption of salt(NaCl), baking soda and baking powder.
This is how you can do it:
1.Replace Common salt with organic salt/sendha Namak/Rock salt
2.If you are using egg in cakes, u can use minimum baking powder or entirely do without it too.
3.In some recipes baking soda is used to make
  1.to retain fresh colour of vegetables.
  2.help in cooking faster
  3.get a crispy texture in fried items
  4.sponginess in idlies, dosa, dhokla and other fermentation based foods.
    It is easy to do without baking soda in these dishes, as they will not make much difference in taste and worth because they have great health benefits.

Preserving freshness of fish

Take the cleaned fish
Apply little salt and vinegar
Wash and rinse well

Bengal fish curry

Fry the fish lightly with salt and turmeric.
Heat oil and throw in a little kalonji, a little grated ginger, red chilli powder and cumin powder.
Saute, add some chopped tomato if desired.
Pour in water, bring to a boil and then add the fish.
Cauliflower and potatoes can be added as well

Fish curry

Fry thinly sliced onions, ginger, garlic, curry leaves and green chillies.
To this add peeled and chopped tomatoes, fry well and add red chilli powder, coriander powder and cumin powder and turmeric.
Once the masala is well fried add hot water and make a gravy.
Bring it to a boil.
Slip in the cleaned and sliced fish and cook till the fish is done.

base ingredients for gravy

1. tomato onion paste
2. milk extracted out of American corn
3. coconut milk
4. cashewnut paste
5. sesame and poppy seeds paste

cleaning a tea strainer thoroughly

If your tea strainer is made out of plastic or metal just soak in water with very little washing soap or 1 tsp of vinegar and allow the all the blockages of the stariner to disintegrate for atleast half an hour and the wash off

A metal strainer can be immediately cleaned just holding it over a gas flame and allow the particles to burn off and then just cool off with flowing water

Breakfast planning

Why only breakfast planning? Why not lunch or dinner planning?
  The reason is time flies of quickly during mornings, and if you are indecisive about what to prepare you have lost nearly 3/4th of the preparation time.

Here are some tips to plan:
1.Reserve time consuming breakfasts with lots of veggies for the weekends.
2.If you have some leftovers which you would like to utilise, innovate and prepare a new breakfast.
3.You could make a list of breakfasts in alphabetical order and go by that order.


Some more to come .................

Mangalorean fish curry

Masala ingredients:
1tbsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp jeera seeds
8 red bedege and Kashmiri mixed chillies
7 cloves garlic
10 pepper corns
1 medium onion
1/2 inch haldi piece
1/2 a coconut scraped
lime-sized tamarind

 1 kilo fish cleaned
1 onion
curry leaves

Method:
1.Heat oil and fry one onion. Throw in some curry leaves, put the masala in and fry a little while then add water and keep boling lastly put in the fish and slowly bring it to a boil, simmer a bit and remove.

Crackling Spinach

Wash the spinach and dry completely. Then shred finely and deep fry in batches. Put the spinach on absorbent paper. Move the spinach around and change the paper till as much oil as possible is removed . To serve sprinkle with salt, a little sugar, toasted sesame seeds and finely chopped green chillies.

Egg - the versatile ingredient

Hmmm... I love boiled eggs, egg masala, plain omelette, cheese omelette, tomato omelette, egg scramble, cake, custard, pancakes, crepes, pudding ....mmmm my mouth is watering just at the thought of these delicacies and all are simple and easy to prepare. And all of them are egg based.
  Egg is a versatile ingredient because it is an emulsifier, gives fluffiness in cakes, blends well with other ingredients, lends good taste.
  Egg is used in mayonnaise to mix the oil the oil and vinegar and hold them. An eggless mayo can never be as good as the one with egg.
  It is the same case with cake too. Eggless cake needs condensed milk and more baking powder. Thus cake with egg in it has more natural products and cost effective too.
When cooked alone does not need to many ingredients to make it tasty unlike non-veg and veg food which generally need seasoning, spices oil etc.
  But boiled egg can be eaten even without salt and what more it is wholesome food! But it must be eaten with bread or other carbohydrate source to make it whole.

Egg

Spiced Cafe Au Lait

Ingredients:
2 cups milk
3 cinnamom sticks
20 whole cloves
150g good quality milk chocolate, chopped
60g bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
3 cups freshly brewed strong coffee
3 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup chilled whipping cream
pinch of nutmeg

Method:

Place the milk, cinnamom sticks, and whole cloves in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat  and add all the chocolate and whisk until melted. Cover and let stand for 15minutes.
Then, bring milk mixture back to a simmer and add coffee, 2tbsp of sugar and vanilla. Stir over medium-low heat for five minutes. Do not boil.
Meanwhile, beat the cream, pinch of nutmeg, and remaining sugar until soft peaks form.
Pour coffee mixture into mugs and top with cream. Sprinkle with nutmeg and serve.

Festive special eggnog

Ingredients:
1 fresh egg
Sugar to taste
Pinch of salt
1 tbsp premium whisky or brandy
1 cup full fat milk
1 tsp vanilla
pinch of grated nutmeg

Method:
Seperate the egg, beating the yolk and the white seperately. Add the sugar and salt to the yolk, then the whisky or brandy, milk and vanilla. Lastly add the white of the egg. Mix and strain into a tall glass and serve cold. Top with grated nutmeg. This makes one eggnog.

Choux pastry

Ingredients:

250ml water
125g butter
150g flour
4 eggs


Method:
Boil water and butter. Shoot in the flour, stir till flour cooks to form a ball and pulls away from the sides of the cooking pan. Remove from heat and beat in the eggs one at a time. It should end up smooth, satiny paste. Pipe into desired shape.
Bake at 200C for 20 minutes and lower it 180C continue for 8 to 10 minutes.

Kheer/Paayas/Payesh/Rice Pudding

Kheer is derived from the Sanskrit word क्षीर  "Ksheer" meaning milk. Alternate name is again derived from the Sanskrit word पयस "payas" meaning milk and paayas means milk derivative. In Bengali kheer gets the name Payesh and in South India it is Payasam/Paayasa.
  One of the oldest recipes surviving which is mentioned even in ancient texts. One of the ancient texts describes a Goddess in Kashmir as Paayasannapriya.
Did you know that the English rice pudding is believed to be inspired by our own kheer?

Goda Masala

A deviation from the actual recipe, I have used whatever available with me, and some ingredients of my own

Ingredients

dhaniya powder-1/4 tea cup
jeera powder    1/4 tea cup
dalchini pwder 1/2 tbsp
clove powder 1/2tsp
haldi 1/2 tsp
hing  1tsp
Red chilli powder 1/2 to 1tsp
dagad phool powder 1/2 tsp
saunf 1/2 tsp
kalonji 1/2 tsp
bayleaf -2 small leaves powdered
mustard 1/2 tsp
shahjeera 1/2 tsp
methi ( preferably dal methi) 1/tsp

oil-1tbsp
water 1/4 cup
dessicated dry coconut 1/2 cup
sesame seeds(roasted) 1/2 cup


Method.
Heat oil in a pan and add all the powderes masala ingredients and when the oil is hot.
Add water and roast till water evaporated
Add coconut and sesame seeds  and roast till dry.

Preserve this masala and add to sabzi or curry. This roasted masala is helpful for quick preparation of sabzi

Fruity pancake

Replace apple with raisins, chopped prunes, dates, figs and chopped almonds in the apple pancake recipe


Dates

a href="http://www.foodista.com/food/R4HWMCYJ/dried-figs" style="display: block; padding: 10px 0 0 0; width: 260px; background: transparent url(http://cf.foodista.com/static/images/widget_red.png) no-repeat scroll 0px -10px; text-decoration: none;">Dried Figs

Kindness cookies

I found this recipe in cooks.com, the reason I like it is


1.minimum use of oil

2.use of honey instead of sugar and

3.absence of baking powder



KINDNESS COOKIES



1/3 c. honey

1 tsp. oil

2 eggs

1 tsp. grated orange rind

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 c. oatmeal

1 cookie sheet

You may also add 1/2 c. raisins or other dried fruit, 1/2 c. chopped nuts, or 1/2 c. grated carrots or zucchini



Mix the honey, oil, and eggs. Add the grated orange rind, salt, and oatmeal. Drop spoonfuls of cookie dough on the oiled cookie sheet.

Bake in 400 degree oven for 8 to 10 minutes.



Serves 8. Be kind! Share your cookies!

Honey-jam sauce

Ingredients:

Any jam of your choice-2tbsp
Honey                          -2tbsp
water                           -2to 3 tbsp

Method:
Since pectin is added to jams for setting first jam and honey should be mixed well with a spoon to make a solid paste. Add  boiling water to this gradually as ur  mixing and reheat.

Apple Pancake

Ingredients:
1tbsp oats
2tbsp wholewheat flour
2 tbsp jaggery/sugar/honey
1 cup milk
2 eggs beaten
1 apple grated
1/2 tsp vanilla extract(optional)
Pinch of salt for taste
Butter for frying

Method:

Mix well all ingredients except butter to batter consistency.  Heat tawa, grease first with little butter and pour the batter, cook till holes appear and cook on the other side.
Serve hot with sweet sauce

Dont have a double boiler?

You may come across recipes where you are asked to melt chocolate, cheese or butter in a double boiler.

U need not go and purchase a new kitchen item for this. A milk cooker will do the job. Even if you dont have a milk cooker just heat water in a big pan and place a preferably thick walled utensil in this and use it as a double boiler. The advantage with this arrangemnet is u will be able to use utensils of any size depending on the quantity of cooking

Dear Readers

Hi Readers,
I have started this blog to share recipes and kitchen tips I have collected and created some of my own.
Some recipes I have not tried but I may publish them. I also I m interested in writing about food science and eating habits.