Banana Bread and an Award

Banana Bread - A flavorful delight, one can enjoy anytime with tea/coffee/milk

One can make various types of banana bread once the measurements are known. You can add nuts along with grated coconut for flavor. I sometimes add coconut milk to it by adding only one egg to the process.

Many variations can be done as per your interest and thats why I often choose to make this banana bread recipe.

First time I had no hand mixer at home , so I used the so called Indian Mixer and prepared the batter. I was surprised to get a very good banana bread .

Once u develop the interest you can always go for a hand mixer as its very handy and easy to operate.

        

Ingredients :

 All Purpose Flour - 1 1/4 cup

 Sugar - 1 Cup

 Eggs - 2

 Bananas ripe - 2

 Baking Soda - 1/2 tsp

 Baking Powder - 1/2 tsp

 Salt - 1/2 tsp

 Vegetable Oil - 1/2 cup ( I opt oil rather than butter ) / (If butter - 1/3 cup melted)

 Butter - 2 Tbsp (melted)

 Nuts ( walnuts/ cashew ) - 1/2 Cup (chopped)

Cinnamon powder - 1/2 tsp

nutmeg - 1/2 tsp (optional)

Vanilla Essence - 2 Tbsp

 Required Material:

Measuring cups, 2 mixing bowls, hand mixer / (Indian blender ), 9/5 inch Loaf pan

Method:

• Preheat the Oven for 350 F

• In a big mixing bowl, combine all the powder ( Flour, baking pwdr, soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt) and mix it gently with a spatula and keep aside.

• In another mixing bowl combine eggs and sugar. Whisk it properly - this is generally referred as creaming.  To this add mashed bananas, vanilla essence and oil. With the help of hand mixer, keeping the speed on 1 whisk it for 2-3 minutes. ( note: Do not over do it as it may loose the binding)

• Add nuts to the above mixture and mix it very gently with a spatula. One can even add 1/2 cup of  unsweetened coconut to it. Tastes yummm..:)

• Combine the above banana - egg mixture in the Flour mix bowl. Whisk it again till the flour and banana mixture gets a flowing thick consistency by adding extra 2Tbsp of butter for smoothness.  Speed should be 2 if using hand mixer. If Indian mixie -  press on pulse till the mixer gets combined and then switch to low/1 speed for 4-5 minutes.

• Butter the Loaf pan or coat with cooking spray and pour this mixture. Keep the pan in the oven set the oven time to 60 minutes - temperature - 350 F.

• Remove from the oven and allow it to cool for 10 minutes. Then invert the pan and let the bread cool completely for slicing and serving :)

(Tip: First set the temperature for 50 minutes. Insert  a  knife/ tooth pick  in the bread, if it comes out clean , it means its properly done. If  bread is getting sticked to the knife/  tp, set for another 10 minutes and check.)


MY FIRST AWARD :
This my first award that I received from my friends Vasavi Suresh and Asha Mernedi.
Thank you very much ladies for considering me as one of the versatile bloggers :)
Love ur blogs - Its always interesting, creative and exciting with delicious recipes !!!! 

7 Things about myself:


1. Fun loving person  
2.  Extrovert - My nature
3. Cooking - my passion
4. Traveling - my hobby
5. Interior designing - my interest
6. Love my Husband and my family more than me
7. Believe in spiritualism - Fear and faith in God


I would like to share this award with the following 15 other friends:
1. Gayatri Raj 
2. Jay
3.Padma's recipes
4. Pranitha 
5. Deepa 
6. Padhu
7. srividhya 
8. Satya
9. Pavithra 
10. Shanti 
11.Priti
12. US masala
13.Aathidhyam
14. Savi ruchi
15 EC

To accept this award

• Thank the person who gave you this award
• Share 7 things " About myself"
• List 15 friends you like to pass on this award to.

Mexican Rice - Indian Style

  Steamed rice cooked with colorful bell peppers and soy sauce


Mexican Rice traditionally includes onions, garlic, tomatoes and rice cooked with broth. I tried this recipe with an Indian touch. I had 3 different colored capsicums at home and thought why not modify a bit , as each color capsicum has a different flavor in it, so tried using this in the recipe and it tasted yummm  and looked colorful :)

The first time I made this Mexican rice, everybody at home loved it, though a different method but later got to know that Mexican rice can be made in different forms using broccoli's/tomatoes/capsicums. One can use this as a side dish with tortillas, beans or with tacos. But we relished only Mexican rice all alone whole heartedly.

So here is a very simple and a quick fix Mexican Rice recipe with an Indian tinge:

                                         Mexican Rice

Ingredients :

Rice - 1 cup

Water / Vegetable Broth - 1 1/2 cups

Onion - 1

Bell peppers/ capsicums chopped into long slices - 2 cups

Tomato - 1 large (if using red capsicum you can avoid tomato)

Cabbage shredded - 1 cup

Garlic - 3-4 cloves

Chilli powder - 1 tsp

Soy sauce - 1 Tbsp

Butter/ oil - 2 Tbsp

Salt to taste

Method:

• In a pressure pan , put some oil or butter and fry chopped onions till transparent, add crushed  garlic to it and saute for a minute. To this add  Rice and gently fry for 1-2 minutes and add 1 1/2 cups water/broth ,cook for 1 whistle keeping on medium flame. Sim for 5 minutes and turn off.

       [Note: one can use rice cooker but make sure that the rice grains are separated no matter what process u follow to cook the rice.]

• In a pan, add 2 tbsp oil/ butter, fry capsicums for 3-4 minutes and add shredded cabbage, fry for 2 minutes, add tomato slices , chilli powder, soy sauce, salt  and mix it. 

• Finally add the cooked rice and gently mix along with all the ingredients. Garnish with parsley :)

Gobi Paratha - Quick n Easy

Cauliflower curry stuffed in the plain bread/roti and served hot with pickle, salad and curd

Gobi Paratha is my all time favorite delicacy. Its a bit tricky to make gobi parathas since while rolling the dough , the stuffing can spill out because the stuffing is not as soft as that of  the other parathas.

I have mentioned two methods of making the paratha.I find the second method very quick and easy with lots of stuffing in it.

Nutrional facts: Three florets of cauliflower a day will provide you with 67% of your daily vitamin C requirement. When purchasing cauliflower, make sure the tops are white. If the floret has begun to spot brown or puple, it is past its nutritional peak.

One can eat raw cauliflower for the nutritional benefits, however if you cook it...one can steam it or slights cook the vegetables but not fry it completely till it changes its color.

Step by step procedure:

Serves : 8-9 parathas
Dough:
Chapathi flour - 2 cups
Mix the dough by adding a pinch of salt, 1 tbsp of oil and required amount of water. Prepare the dough. Apply oil and keep aside covering a wet cloth on it for about half an hour.

Stuffing
Cauliflower - 1
Green chillies - 2-3
Ginger 1" - 1
Cumin powder - 2 tsp
Coriander Powder- 3 tsp
Chilli Powder - 1 tsp
turmeric - a pinch
Salt as per taste
Corriander leaves for garnishing.
oil - 1 Tbsp

1. Grate cauliflower finely and keep it aside.
2. In a pan add 1 Tbsp of oil and add finely chopped green chillies and ginger. Add grated cauliflower to it and mix all the ingredients and cook on medium flame till the raw smell of cauliflower and the moisture in it goes away.
3. Keep aside to cool.

Method 1:
Make round balls for the parathas. Roll it to a puri size and place the stuffing as shown below

2. Close the roll by joining all the edges just as a dumpling shape.
3. Make a bigger roll by dusting the flour. The stuffing should be spread evenly as shown below.

3. Place this on the hot pan / tava. keep turning till the both sides are cooked evenly. Apply a dot of butter and serve hot gobi parathas with pickle and curd :)

Method 2.
1) In this method,  take two small balls and prepare like chapathis . Spread the stuffing on top of one chapathi Pic shown below.

2) Now place the second chapathi above it and seal the edges evenly. If possible spread some flour and roll it  slightly finally. Place this on a hot pan and cook them on both sides.
3) when done, you can cut into any shape or serve one full paratha placing a dot of butter on top of it. :)