Christmas Fruit Cake recipe

It is Christmas season and how could I not bake a cake? I just had to. I had already tried out the fruit cake recipe from http://www.joyofbaking.com/FruitCake.html 3 weeks ago and it was delicious. So I just had to make it again. I had some palm sugar this time - bought it from the Lumiere organic store near Marathahalli, so I decided to use it. I was a bit hesitant as I've never used palm sugar before. Jaggery in cakes and tea - yes.. but Palm Sugar - NO.. Anyways, I decided to go ahead. Those of you who know me, do know by now that always the recipe will have some twist.

This makes a very large cake.

Ingredients :
1. 3/4 cup of whole wheat flour - for a healthy twist
2. 1/4 cup of maida
3. 1 cup of rum
4. 1.5 cups of chopped apricots, dates(not the dried ones), figs and raisins
5. 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts
6. 1/2 cup of palm sugar - you could also use jaggery, see note below
7. 1/2 cup of almonds - ground to a flour - I powdered these with the palm sugar
8. 2 eggs
9. 1/4 cup of milk
10. 110 g of unsalted Butter (softened)
11. 12 almonds for decorating
12. 1 tsp baking powder
13. A pinch of salt
14. Zest of one lemon
15. Juice of one orange

How I made it :
1.  Soak the chopped dried fruits in the rum overnight for best results. 30 minutes will also do.
2. Preheat the oven to 160 degree C
3. Prepare the cake tin by oiling and dusting it with maida
4. Beat/cream together the powdered sugar, powdered almonds and butter.
5. Add the eggs, beating well after each addition.
6. To this add the rum along with the soaked dried fruit and walnuts.
7. Also add the orange juice and lemon zest.
8. In another bowl, mix together the maida, whole wheat flour, salt and baking powder. Pass this through a sieve to incorporate some air.
9. Mix the dry and wet ingredients in both the bowls.
10. Add milk to make the batter smooth.
11. Pour the batter into the cake tin. Decorate with almonds on the top and put into the hot oven.
12. Bake for about 40 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 140 degree C and bake for another 30-40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Note : If using jaggery, dissolve the jaggery in as little water as possible and pass through a sieve to get rid of impurities.

Strawberry Smoothie

Strawberries all around... I can't get enough of strawberries, they remind me of my childhood in Ooty where these yummy, red, juicy berries grew in our garden. Unfortunately, with the rapid urbanization of the area around my house, the drains do not hold up :( This totally affected the area where our strawberries used to grow. Hmm, well they are history now.

Anyways, the street vendor tempted me into buying the last box of strawberries and immediately I was thinking "SMOOTHIE".

Ingredients for 2 glasses of smoothie :
1. 12 strawberries
2. 1/4 cup fresh cream
3. 3 tbsp honey - adjust as per sweetness desired
4. 1 tsp flax seeds - for the Omega 3 - can be omitted
5. 1.5 cups of milk
6. 1/4 cup of water

Method :
Blitz the ingredients together in a juicer and serve :)

I could not get any really WOW pictures but the smoothie was truly WOW

Eggless Strawberry Pancakes

Well, it is holidays now and I get really lazy, more so that it is quite cold this year in Bangalore. I woke up and Pras was like "I want some breakfast!!" I had hardly any ingredients on hand to make a healthy breakfast, not even eggs!! I went to open up the fridge and I saw "STRAWBERRIES". Out they came and pancakes were on my mind. Quickly, as almost always, I went to one of my favorite blogs and adapted the recipe from Eggless Blueberry Pancakes by Nags.I also had some condensed milk handy. So I served the pancakes with the condensed milk.

Ingredients  to make 3 pancakes :
1/3 cup maida
1/2 tsp baking powder
Sugar - 1 tbsp as the original recipe. Use more if not serving with maple syrup or sweetened condensed milk
A pinch of salt
2 tsp olive oil
A little under 1/2 cup of milk
A handful or more of strawberries
2 tbsp nutella ( optional)
2 tbsp butter/oil

Method :
Mix together the maida, baking powder, sugar, salt, olive oil, nutella and milk to form a smooth batter. Chop the strawberries.
Heat up a tawa. Smear the butter. Pour on some of the batter on the hot tawa. Once the bubbles start appearing, sprinkle some of the chopped strawberries over the batter. Cover it for about 30 seconds. Make sure the heat is on low. Take off the cover and flip the pancake. Cook until golden brown on the other side. Take off pan and serve with sweetened condensed milk.

This is ready in minutes and is eggless. Do give it a try. It was truly yummy with the condensed milk ;)

Planning a trip to Bhutan??

Bhutan is one country which is recently opening up to tourism. When Pras and I decided to travel there, we did not find much information about things to do and places to visit. Ultimately, we were at the mercy of our tour guide and the taxi driver to take us places. Most of the websites and forums have information from non-Indians, which is really not helpful for an Indian travelling to Bhutan. Our trip turned out to be quite expensive since we were under informed. So here's a post on how to plan your trip to Bhutan.

Getting there :
By Air
There are flights from Delhi and Kolkatta. These are small ATR type flights which get filled during the season. The online site of Druk Air quotes all prices in dollars which is not an option for us Indians. To book the ticket, travel to Kolkatta or Delhi. Spend a day or two roaming around the place and try to book the tickets directly from the Druk Air counter at the airport. A round-trip flight via Kolkatta to Paro costs 12000 rupees(approx) per person. The tickets are more expensive via Delhi. You could book via a travel agent too and we got responses from different agents claiming different air fares. The flight is for about 2 hours.

By road
You can get to Paro via road through Bagdogra - the border town in India. There are regular buses that ply this route. It usually takes about an over night journey from Bagdogra.

Stay :
We had opted for a package which costed us 3300 rupees per person per day for stay at a 3-star hotel including all meals, sight seeing and taxi fare. Though the hotels claim to be 3-star, they barely make that mark compared to real 3-star hotels in India. We stayed at Hotel Pedling in Thimphu which was actually quite nice, except for the noisy discotheque open on weekends alone. In Punakha, we stayed at a resort which was beautiful - Meri Phensuem resort. In Paro, we were put up at the worst of all hotels for *3* nights - hotel sonam trophel.
One can book hotels online rather than go through a travel agent. Make sure to indicate that you are an Indian.

Food :
There are not many options for food in Bhutan. You do get Chinese and North Indian food everywhere. Traditional Bhutanese cuisine is limited to Ema Datsi with red rice and Pork Pa. Beef is basically imported from India as cows are considered sacred there. My advice would be to try and avoid the beef dishes. Ema Datsi is a mix of sauteed chillies (big variety which is used for making Bhajis in India) with cheese.  The chillies can be replaced with a variety of cooked veggies and pork but the basic taste remains the same.
We did try the Buttered tea which can be very well missed in my opinion.

Getting around :
As I mentioned that the taxi fare was included in the package. We were provided with a suave Hyundai Sante Fe to go sight seeing. The vehicle is fab but let me tell you that had we taken a taxi at will rather than having one at our beck and call, and too an SUV, we'd have saved precious money.

Things to do :
1. Visit the great Buddha statue being built by a Chinese company in Thimphu
2. Visit the Punakha Dzong
3. Travel to Chelela pass
4. Don't miss the hot stone bath - stones heated in a fire are used to heat up water in a tub.
5. Walk around the streets of Thimphu and Paro - they are really small and the walk is well worth it.
6. Watch an archery match  in Thimphu or Paro.
7. Visit the Swiss Bakery in Thimphu - don't miss the chocolate eclair
8. Take a walk amidst the rice fields and take in the fresh non-polluted air
9. Get a taste of Ara the local brew from rice
10. Bird watching on the way to Chelela pass
11. Visit the weekend market in Thimphu
12. Get a taste of Shambaala, a beef patty, in the local market in Thimphu


Getting a guide :
We had opted for a guide at rupees 500 per person per day. The guides are well trained and speak good english. However, do make sure you let them know what it is that you exactly like doing. Our guide took us to numerous temples and forts which did get boring and repetitive.

Places to visit :
Visit Thimphu, Punakha, Chelela Pass, Bumthang. Bumthang is considered the switzerland of Bhutan and is not to be missed.

Mushroom Bread Burger with baked Mc Cain Smileys

I just love mushrooms since I was a kid. Fortunately, it was one of the things that both my dad and I liked. Usually, we'd be arguing over what was to be made for lunch or dinner cause of our differing tastes. I always preferred roti and sabji and he would prefer south indian meals with rice. I had mushrooms as well as buns the other day and so tried this recipe out. It was scrumptuous. This time, I did not get the buns but had fresh bread at hand, so decided to get experimental.

This recipe is adapted from Mushroom Veggie Burger Recipe. Thanks to Pras for taking this yummy looking picture.

Ingredients :
For the patty
1. Button Mushrooms - 1 packet
2. Onion - 1/2 chopped
3. Garlic - 6 cloves minced
4. Olive oil - 3 tbsp
5. Salt to taste
6. Pepper to taste
7. Oats - 1/2 cup ( I don't know what rolled oats are so just used the Quaker oats that I have at hand)
8. Bread crumbs - 3/4 cup
9. Parmesan cheese - 1/4 cup - I had bought this at acres wild, coonoor. It is also sold at the "Bee Museum" in Ooty.
10. Eggs - 2 beaten
11. Oregano - I did not have any at hand this time
For the burger
12. Tomato - 1 sliced
13. Cucumber - 10 slices
14. Pudina chutney - recipe Mom's pudina chutney
15. Tomato sauce
16. Cheese slices - 5
17. Bread slices - 10
18. Butter

Method:
For the patty
1. Heat the oil in a pan. Fry the garlic, onions and sliced mushrooms till all the water that the mushroom leaves out evaporates.
2. Mix the above mixture with the oats, bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, beaten eggs, oregano, salt and pepper. Leave this aside for minimum 15 minutes.
3. Shape into patties of desired shape.
4. Heat oil on a gridle/tawa - just enough to form a thin coating of oil on the tawa.
5. Place the patties and let them cook for about 3 minutes on medium heat on either side.
Assembling the "bread" burger
1. Butter 5 slices of bread and heat them on a tawa/gridle till they just start getting brown - this firms them up.
2. On the other 5 slices of bread, spread out the pudina chutney as much as you would like. Place these to warm up on the tawa. Make sure to place the plain side on the tawa.
3. On the buttered side of the bread, place the cheese slice. Place a slice of cucumber and a slice of tomato. Place the hot patty on top. Top that with another slice each of cucumber and tomato. You could add some tomato ketchup. Cover with the other bread slice.

Now, warm this up for 30 seconds in the microwave and serve hot with tomato ketchup. I also added baked McCain Smileys to the plate.  These smileys were introduced to me by a colleague and friend, Rachna Gupta.  She also did suggest using Robin Cuffs N Collars on a stain, which seemed like of oil on my new jacket, which actually works. Now, just as she does, I first use Robin Cuffs N Collars on any stain.
Alright, awright.. enough of rambling..... Go ahead and enjoy this yummy hearty burger.

Rava Idli Cake with Coconut Chutney

I am an ardent follower of a good friend's blog http://www.fingerlickingfoodblog.com. Namratha and I studied in St. Hilda's together and recently we caught up while she was here in Bangalore. I am always on the lookout for good and easy to make breakfast recipes and I've made this one from Namratha's blog earlier too. This time I captured some good pictures - at least I would like to think so :) The main reason why I religiously follow this blog is because the method and ingredients are so much like what I've grown up eating. So here is the how I made my own version of http://www.fingerlickingfoodblog.com/2007/11/rava-idlis-and-bombay-gojju.html.
My husband won't allow me to buy an idli cooker saying that too many pots and pans in the kitchen make shifting houses/places more difficult. So, I make idli cakes ;)


Ingredients
1 Cup rava dry roasted till fragrant
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp urad dal
1 tsp chana dal
5 whole cashews cut roughly
1/4 cup oil
1 cup sour curd
1 cup fresh curd
Salt to taste
1 sprig of curry leaves
1 medium carrot grated
1/2 cup peas - if not using the frozen variety make sure to boil them separately before use

Method:
1. Heat the oil.
2. Put in the mustard seeds.
3. Once they splutter add the curry leaves, urad dal, channa dal and cashew bits.
4. Once the cashews start to brown, add the rava and salt.
5. Once this mixture cools, add the curd.
6. Oil a vessel. Sprinkle the peas and grated carrot. Pour over the batter.
7. Steam in a cooker for 10-15 minutes till done.

Stray dog menace in Bangalore

I hate to give my post this title but I am left with no other choice, with the number of people who actually put it that way. I just don't get why they call dogs a menace? What makes us humans so superior and more important that instead of actually controlling our population we go around controlling the number of stray dogs on our streets? Just because a few of the dogs get ferocious and infected with rabies, it does not mean that all the dogs out there need to be put to sleep. To me, in a very humorous manner, it's like saying, since a few humans are causing terror, planting bombs, going on shooting sprees, let's kill all human beings. Duh!! I mean, come on. Some are calling it "people's welfare". Excuse me, have you ever thought that there could be something like "dog's welfare" too?
I do know how it feels to be surrounded by dogs chasing your two wheeler or having a bunch of them come charging at you when you are alone - believe me.. I am terrified too... like crazy but that would never get me to agree to the suggestion that all strays be killed.
May be some better involved measures need to be taken. All of us who don't find the dogs a menace and those who unfortunately do, should unite and help the authorities to do what best they are doing. We need to report incidents of ferocious dogs or dogs which may be infected and make sure that they are isolated. Any other way, other than killing all the strays out there?

Pav Bhaji

Since I keep trying new stuff, it is a long time before I actually repeat a recipe. Also Pras prefers that I make something new with the same ol' ingredients. I had beetroot which for long was lying the basket. To put it to use, I hit upon "Pav Bhaji". I did refer Mom's Pav Bhaji. Namratha is a fantastic cook. She used to be my classmate and I am proud of what she has achieved with her blog. So here goes - I made it a tad bit different ;)

Ingredients:
To be boiled together till mushy:
4 medium sized potatoes - cut into quarters
1 medium sized carrot - cut into roughly small pieces
1 medium sized beetroot - cut into roughly small pieces
1/2 cup of cauliflower florets

To grind into a paste:
4 small to medium sized tomatoes
3 long green chillies - adjust as per taste and hotness of chilly
6 cloves of garlic

Other ingredients:
1 large onion finely chopped
1 medium sized capsicum/green bell pepper finely chopped
1 1/2 tbsp Pav Bhaji masala
1/2 cup green peas
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1 tbsp oil
water as required
salt to taste

To garnish :
freshly chopped coriander
chopped onion
1 tbsp butter
lime juice to taste

How I made it :
1. Heat 1 tbsp oil.
2. Add the onions and fry till dark golden brown. You can add more oil to prevent the onions from burning.
3. Once onion is brown, add the bell pepper and green peas. Fry till green peas are almost done.
4. Add the red chilli powder.
5. After 30 seconds, add the tomato paste. Fry till oil separates
6. Mash the boiled veggies and add.
7. Add salt and the pav bhaji masala.
8. Add a little water and allow to simmer for 10 minutes with cover on.
9. Garnish with chopped onion, coriander and a sprinkle of lime juice.

Serve with buttered pav.

Veg Moussaka

I adapted the recipe from http://arundati.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/moussaka-not-quite. It was truly yummy. If only I had a 8x8 baking dish, I would have had great pictures to post too.

I did make a few changes - I did not add the pasta as was suggested and I made the belchamel sauce a tad bit differently. However, I prefer plain belchamel sauce - made up of maida, butter n milk.

Ingredients

1. 12 thick slices of potato

2. 1 large brinjal cut into 1/4 inch thick slices

3. 2 tbsp oil

For the soya layer which replaces minced meat

3. 1 1/2 cup soya granules soaked in boiling hot water

4. 1 1/2 cup tomota puree

5. 1 large onion finely chopped

6. 1/2 capsicum finely chopped - I had this left over from the sandwiches that I made earlier in the week

6. 8 pods of garlic - I used the large variety which are considered more pungent

7. 1 tsp red chilli powder

8. 1 cinnamon stick

9. 1/2 tsp cumin/jeera powder

10. salt to taste

11. 1 tsp oil

For the belchamel sauce

12. 1 tbsp butter

13. 2 tbsp maida

14. 1 1/2 cups milk

15. 1 cup grated cheddar cheese

16. salt to taste - be careful as the cheese and butter are salted generally.

17. pepper to taste

How to make...

1. In a wide pan, heat the 2tbsp of oil. Lay the potato slices and fry till they are 3/4th done on both sides.

2. While the potato is getting done, you can salt and keep the brinjal slices aside so that any bitterness will be removed.

3. Once the potato is 3/4th done, remove and place on paper towels to drain. Fry the brinjal slices in a similar fashion till done. Remove on kitchen towels to drain.

4. In the same pan, add a little more oil. Put in the cinnamon stick. Fry the onions and capsicum till onions are translucent. Add the chilli and cumin powders. Add the soya, after draining all the water. Fry the soya for a minute. Next add the tomato puree. Adjust salt. Fry this till almost dry.

5. In another pan, melt butter. Fry the maida till fragrant. Add warm milk, whisking throughout to make sure there are no lumps. Add pepper, cheese and salt(with care). Once it reaches a sauce like consistency, take off from fire.

6. Now to assemble the whole thing together. Place the potato pieces at the bottom of an oven proof pan. Place the brinjal slices on the top of that. Layer with the soya granules. Now pour over the belchamel sauce. Bake for 30minutes in a pre-heated over at 180 degree C.

Sakkarai Pongal

My sweet tooth got the better of me yesterday and I made sakkarai pongal, which is very simple and easy.

Ingredients :

Rice 1/2 cup

Yellow mung dal - 1/2 cup - dry roasted till fragrant

jaggery - 1/2 cup powdered

coconut milk - 1/2 cup

cashewnuts - a handful - dry roasted

almonds - sliced and dry roasted - a few

water - 2 cups

milk - 1/2 cup

ghee - 4 tbsps

How I made it :

1. Soak the rice and mung dal for about 30 minutes

2. Cook the rice and mung dal with 2 cups of water and 1/2 cup of milk - slightly overcook them.

3. Mash the rice and mung dal with a masher or the back of a ladle.

4. Add the jaggery.

5. Once the jaggery melts and mixes in, add the coconut milk.

6. Add ghee. You could fry the nuts in the ghee before adding.

7. Decorate with the nuts and serve.

Tastes best cold. Add elaichi/cardomom pods if you like the taste of those. My hubby detests it like crazy. We constantly argue about this.

Review of Orange County, Kabini

It has been a hectic start to the year 2011. Shopping for my brother's wedding and then attending the wedding, falling sick twice after the wedding, hectic work schedule amongst being a homemaker. I had told Pras that I want a luxurious holiday where I can get really good food and just relax. I don't really remember how I got to know about Orange County or Kabini either but I compelled him to take me to Orange County, Kabini for my birthday. Yes, I did find it expensive but I felt we owed ourselves a good, relaxing time.

They had an offer for a 2 night 3 day package with meals starting from lunch on the arrival day and ending with breakfast on the day of departure (basically meals for 2 days) which costed around 39k. I had taken the Friday off so that we could make the best of the money that we had spent and reach the place for lunch ;).

Let's go, Alto! It took us about 5.5 hours to reach the resort. The last 8kms to the resort are miserable. Pras and I took turns driving to our destination. Upon arrival, we were greeted with lime sherbet and were told about the various activities that were available to us in the oh-so-woody open arrival lounge of the resort. The staff were very pleasant, except that Pras and I felt that the "Namaskara"s were excessive.

We then were ushered off for lunch. The lunch was a very impressive spread with a mix of local ethnic cuisine as well as the well known north-indian and italian dishes. Frozen cut fruits, sprouts, fresh garden salad, chicken salad, fish salad were some of the salads available. The local ethnic cuisine confused me a bit as Kabini is a part of Karnataka but the local ethnic cuisine turned out to be more of a kerala affair. We were offered bittergourd poriyal, beetroot poriyal, raw banana curry, bottlegourd curry, pork curry, kerala fish curry along with red boiled rice as part of the local ethnic cuisine spread. The dessert menu did not impress us much though - the items available had a very similar taste. I wished I could've seen more variety there. After all, when you are paying so much mostly for the food, you have to be more than pleased with what is offered.

Post lunch, we were taken to our pool hut. It was impressive. I could not hide my excitement. I have decided that my house will have the same design - minus the pool. We had a pool all to ourselves with a lovely hut. The hut had a dining table, sitting room and the bed room was the only room to be air-conditioned. What turned us off was that the television was not available nor viewable from the bedroom. The sitting room had a reverse osmosis system to provide us with drinking water. The water did taste a bit odd but we had to drink it as they had taken away our plastic water bottles lest we throw them around. Orange county believes in "Responsible Tourism". The refrigerator in the room had soft drinks and drinking water all on the house. Also on the house were cashew nuts, cookies and fresh fruits.

As part of the 39k that we paid, we could go for a 15 minute elephant ride, interact with the elephant for an hour - basically feed and bathe the in-house 43 year old elephant - Meenaxi, go for a nature walk cum bird watching tour as well as take a 15 minute coracle ride. We opted for the nature walk alone. The coracle ride was made comfortable by placing a table in the middle of the coracle on which one could sit - this would never give you a thrill. I had tried the real coracle ride when we had visited Punnamada in Alleppey.

The bird watching tour was worth it. We saw the green bee eater, golden oriole, egrets, ducks,storks, owlette, different types of mynas, different types of bulbuls. We were given Olympus 10x50 binoculars which really made the experience a memorable one. The enthusiasm and passion of the naturalist made it a very rewarding experience.

After the bird walk and a hearty breakfast, we went for a bicycle ride into the village. Manju took us to his village. It was very hot and none of us were able to ride far enough. We headed for Manju's village, had tender coconut, just off the tree and returned back. This was a nice experience too. Manju is one of the employees at Orange County but is a local whose village was relocated when the Kabini dam was constructed in 1974. Manju is not very happy with what the government has done for such locals. Each such family was given 3 acres of farm land but irrigation is tough and left for the locals to organize. Houses which won't last in the rain are being provided and most of them have no access to the basic needs of life.

We also opted for the vehicle safari which costs 1k per head.If you take a video camera, you need to pay an additional 1k to the forest department. This was not as rewarding as we did not get to see the predators! It was very depressing.

As part of the package, one can opt for having dinner at the barbecue restaurant instead of going for the buffet spread. We tried this and the food was excellent. We did miss the tribal dance as we were tired after being tossed around in the vehicle during the safari.

However, we did enjoy the food and the pool. Overable a 7 out of 10 experience.

Mom's pudina chutney

You will need

1 bunch of pudina/mint

1/2 bunch of coriander leaves

1 tsp cumin seeds/jeera

1 tbsp coriander seeds

1 medium onion chopped

4-5 green chillies

4-5 cloves of garlic

1 inch ginger

Salt to taste

Grind all these together, adding as little water as possible. Goes well with Parathas and can be used for chutney sandwiches. Sometimes, I do add this to the biryani masala.

Chutney sandwiches - interesting sandwiches part II

I love my mom's pudina chutney. One very simple and easy sandwich would be the chutney sandwich. It is an ideal picnic option.

You will need :

2 slices of bread

1 stick of butter

1 tsp of pudina chutney

Method :

Spread the butter on one slice of bread.

Spread the pudina chutney on the other slice.

Place the slices of bread over one another. Go ahead and eat!!!

Interesting sandwiches

I almost always experiment with the vegetables that I buy. This time it was with Capsicum. I totally love this vegetable, once liked only on Pizzas.

I bought some eggless mayonnaise from the store nearby and sandwiches it is for breakfast the next morning.

Ingredients :

1 medium sized capsicum chopped finely

1 small sized onion chopped finely

1 carrot grated

2 green chillies finely chopped

2 tsp pepper powder

6tbsp eggless mayonnaise

4 slices of bread

Method:

Spread approx 3 tbsp of mayo on one slice of bread. Sprinkle green chillies, capsicum, onion, carrot and pepper over the mayo. Place the other slice of bread over this. Repeat this with the other 2 slices of bread. Toast/grill and enjoy with tomato ketchup.

Banana cake

Jyothi Madanlal January 28 at 9:40am

I adapted the recipe fromhttp://www.cookingandme.com/2011/01/best-banana-cake-recipe-ever-with-cream.html

Ingredients:
1 cup wheat flour
2 large ripe bananas mashed
3/4 cup powdered jaggery
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup chopped walnuts dusted with flour to prevent them from sinking in the cake(did not have these that day)
1/4 cup oil/melted butter
1 egg
A pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla essence/extract
Milk - as needed to get the correct batter consistency

How i made it:
Prepare baking tin - line with butter paper or spread butter and dust with flour.
Preheat oven at 180 degree C
Mix together all the dry ingredients - wheat flour/baking powder/baking soda/salt.
Whisk together the banana/butter/jaggery/egg. Add the vanilla essence.
Fold in dry ingredients into the wet. Add the walnuts
Pour into the cake tin and bake for 30-40 minutes.

Milk will be required if the consistency is too lumpy/thick

Honey Garlic Grilled Eggplant

I adapted the recipe from http://www .beyondsalmon.com/2006/09/honey-garlic-grilled-eggplant.html.

Ingredients :

1 large eggplant/aubergine/brinjal

4 cloves of garlic

1 tbsp of vegetable oil

1 tbsp of honey

1 tbsp of white vinegar

2-3 drops of dark soy sauce

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

How I made it:

• Cut the brinjal into rounds, about .5cm thick each
• Smear some salt on either side and leave aside for 15 minutes
• Pat dry the rounds and keep aside
• Mix together the remaining ingredients in a bowl
• Graciously dip the rounds in this marinade and grill/cook on a tawa both sides of the rounds till golden. This was truly delicious. Loved the sweetness of the honey and the sharpness of the garlic.