Curried Brown Chickpeas - Chana Upkari | Happy Ugadi

Every Friday when I was in school, I would wake up to the sound of fresh pepper being ground in the traditional Indian style spice grinder. No modern pepper mills for my mother.. even now its the same. The pepper would then be added to a seasoning for cooked brown/black chickpeas - kaala chana - along with a handful of coconut gratings to make Konkani style chona upkari. 

Every Friday it was a ritual to include chickpeas in the menu. No idea why this was but most Konkani homes followed this tradition on Fridays and also festival days as well.This continues even today and come Thursday night, I will soak chickpeas (black /white) or rajma or other dried beans (being little experimental).

Ugadi or New Year for Konkani, Kannada and Telugu communities falls today and is being celebrated with traditional rituals and food. A New Year for me means Khotte/Ittu along with my mom's special coriander chutney, lemon pickle (nonche), chana ghhasshi and upkari.  Every Konkani festival this was my breakfast. Though ofcourse marriage changed all this. Its good to have a spread when your mom is cooking, but when you have to do it, then its a bit tough...ahem !! 

Anyways today being Friday and also Ugadi, I thought I would share the simple chana upkari with you all. Khotte/ Ittu being a distant dream due to lack of jack fruit leaves and inability of yours truly to turn the leaves magically into a basket.. Oh.. the Goodness of mothers..

Ingredients:

Brown Chickpeas : cooked 1 cup  (any chickpeas will do)

OR 

Soak 1/2 cup chickpeas overnight and cook it in a pressure cooker next day  or 1 hour on stovetop adding little salt.

Seasoning:

Mustard: 1/2 tsp

Cumin seeds/Jeera : a very small pinch 

Curry Leaves: 5-8 

Dried Red Chillies: 1-2 

Fresh grated Pepper : 1/2 tsp +/- (adjust the chillies and pepper )

Salt: as per taste

Fresh coconut gratings: handful /as per your taste

Preparation:

Wash and pressure cook the soaked chickpeas adding little salt. Once done drain the cooking water. You can keep this water for later use like to make rasam or whatever you want as its good healthy lentil water. You can even use canned chickpeas after draining off the water.

Heat oil in a deep pan. Add mustard. When it sizzles add cumin ,red chillies, curry leaves and fresh grated pepper. Let these sizzle till you get a nice aroma from the pepper. Add in the cooked chickpeas and saute well to mix everything well.

Mix in the coconut gratings and let it cook for 1-2 minutes on low flame so that water if any is remaining will be absorbed by the coconut and we get a dry curry. Adjust salt and garnish with more coconut if needed before serving.

Serve as side to whatever you like - idli, khotte/ittu, dosa, puri ,roti/breads or even rice.. Goes well even as a teatime snack... be creative and be traditional.

Wishing all a healthy & prosperous Ugadi and wonderful year ahead..

Vegan Potato Knish | Baking Partners April 2016

Knish is an Eastern European snack consisting of usually potatoes and meat filling in a doughy crust and can be either baked,grilled or deep fried. Made popular in USA by the Eastern European immigrants, a Kentucky Knish version has also come up. Knishes can be made round rectangular or square with filling completely covered or peeping out.

For this months Baking Partners Challenge by Swathi Knish was tried out by Yours Truly. That too a vegan knish  from here with a tofu filling from here and in 3 different shapes.

Ingredients:

Mashed Potatoes: 1 cup

Oil: 1 tbsp

Salt: 1 tsp

All Purpose Flour: 3 cups

Baking Powder: 1 tsp

Cold water: 1/2 cup (+ 1/4 cup)

Filling:

Oil: 1 tbsp

Chopped Onions: 1 cup

Tofu: 1.5 cup mashed

Fresh Parsley: 1/4 cup

Garlic Powder :1/2 tsp OR Garlic cloves: 2-3 minced

Black pepper: 1/4 tsp or as per taste

Salt: 1 tsp +/- as per taste

Other spices : as per taste

Preparation:

In a big bowl, beat together mashed potatoes, 1 tbsp of oil and 1 tsp of salt.

Add the flour and baking powder and mix well.

Mix in water and knead into a soft and smooth dough. More water might be needed depending on how moist your mashed potatoes are.

Let it rest in a bowl or counter covered with a cloth or plastic wrap for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile prepare the filling.

Heat oil in a deep pan and saute oinions and minced garlic until transparent.

Add the scrambled/grated/mashed tofu along with parsley, salt and other seasonings.

Incase going for garlic powder, add that also at this stage. Mix well and let it cook for another minutes or few more until almost done.

We can go with whatever filling we want. Traditionally mashed red potatoes with caramelized onions is used with meat added for nonvegetarians.

Once the dough is ready divide into 4 portions. Work with one portion while the others are resting.

Shape 1: Cylindrical Round : Source : JoePastry

Roll out the dough as thin as possible into a rectangle.

Place a mound of filling on the dough  on the longest side .

Enclose the filling with the dough.  This should not be either too tight as it might burst out while baking.

Continue rolling up to get 2 + layers of the dough. The more you roll more flakier you will get the snack. This is the reason why the dough should be rolled out as thin and possible.

You can stop once you get as much layers as you want and trim off the excess (to be used later) using a pizza cutter.

Now decide how big you want you knish. I went for bite sized ones. So select an appropriate  length, give it a pinch with your fingers to mark it.

Give it a twist.

Then using a pizza cutter/knife  or even your palms ,cut it off.

You'll get a small sausage like dough piece. Pinch the ends shuts to enclose the filling.

Place it on the counter/palm and push it down with your palm to form a cylinder.

Place it on greased/lined baking pan and press the top down with your finger to keep the center from puffing up in the oven.

Repeat the process with the rest of the dough and make other cylinders.

Shape2: Crimped Round:Source: JoePastry

This is another way of making knish.

Roll out the dough into a thin rectangle. With a cookie cutter, cut out circles.

Place the filling on top of a circle and press it down with with another dough circle on top.

Press the edges lightly to let the air out.

Fold the edges and press to crimp. Then place the knish on the baking sheet with the crimped side down. So that we get a smooth top.

Continue with the rest of the dough circles

Shape 3: Rectangular:

Roll out the dough as thin as possible. Cut into rectangles. Place 2-3 tbsp of filling in the middle.

Fold the sides in first

and then the ends.

Place the folded side down on the bakingsheet.

Bake in a preheated oven at 175C/350F for about 20-25 minutes until the top turns golden.

Serve with your choice of dip.

A simple recipe which can be tweaked as per our convenience and availability of ingredients for fillings. Some authentic recipes contains eggs along with potatoes to make it more rich and moist but this vegan dough is also tasty. In case you are too tired to make your own dough, use any bread dough freezing in your refrigerator. Traditionally potatoes are part of dough or filling, but its upto you to choose otherwise and create yet another tasty pastry.

ANZAC Biscuits | Oats Goodness

After posting a War time cake I think its apt to post another war time goodness.. ANZAC cookies or Biscuits. The Australian New Zealand Army Corps were the First World War (1914-18) Army corps and formed in Egypt in 1915. They were used in the Battle of Gallipoli and were finally disbanded on 1916. Well coming to interesting stories, its said that the mothers or in general families of the soldiers used to mail  them cookies or biscuits which were sturdy and egg free and basically traveled and kept well. These cookies are known as ANZAC cookies or Biscuits.

ANZAC cookies are made with oats, flour, dessicated coconut, butter, sugar, golden syrup/dark corn syrup and boiling water.I selected the recipe from KingArthurFlour site. The recipe was quick and easy and out came  chewy-crispy,buttery coconutty cookies . I have followed the recipe to the 'T' and the only change I made was double the dark corn syrup/golden syrup.

Ingredients:
Whole Grain Oats: 1 cup
All Purpose Flour: 1 cup
Granulated Sugar: 3/4 cup
Salt: 1/8 tsp
Shredded sweetened /unsweetened coconut flakes: 3/4 cup

Salted Butter: 1/2 cup (8 tbsp / 100gm)
Dark Corn Syrup /Golden Syrup: 4 tbsp

Boiling Water: 2 tbsp
Baking Soda: 1.5 tsp

Preparation:
In a big bowl mix together, oats, flour, sugar, salt and coconut flakes.

In a small bowl, melt butter and syrup together till it bubbles. Keep aside.

In another bowl, add baking soda to boiling water and then mix in the butter syrup.

Add  the mix to the dry mix and stir well until it all comes together. You will be getting a moist lightly sticky mass and not a concise dough.

Scoop tablespoonful of dough and with greased hands shape it into rounds and place it on a greased/lined working sheet. These cookies might spread and so keep these atleast an inch apart from each other.

Bake in a preheated oven at 350F/ 175C for 13-15 minutes until the top is golden brown.

Take out and let these cool in the baking sheet itself on a wire rack. This hardens them and turns them crunchy.

Serve anytime.Chewy- crunchy and oaty and buttery and coconutty.A perfect tiffin box snack. Make more and share with friends or have all by yourself.

Coconut Raisin Bread | Tea Time Snack

I am always looking for tea time snacks.If it involves baking  then I need to plan it beforehand . This planning bit actually puts me off a bit. These days the oven is getting a well needed rest and though my hands itch to use it something else comes up and baking takes the backseat again. Though ofcourse tea time snacks are a must. and usually deepfrying gets the priority during winters. I love fried items and come winter I use it as an excuse for deepfrying. But these days thanks to majority opinion at home fritters and other fried stuff were vetoed out and I was again on a lookout for tea time snacks.

I had bookmarked this recipe long time back and was under the impression that it will take time, but it was quicker than I thought though of course it was quickest to disappear from the table.I had adapted the recipe from GourmetTable. It was designed on the lines of sweet coconut Goan poi bread or a sweeter version of populist bread 'pav'.

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour: 225gms or 1.5 cups + 

Instant yeast: 1 tsp

Sugar: 1.5-2 tbsp

Salted Butter: 2 tsp at room temperature

Dessicated/Fresh coconut: 1/2 cup 

Cardamom powdere: 1/2 tsp

Raisins: 1/4 cup

Milk: 1 cup lukewarm

Preparation: 

Place the yeast and sugar in a small bowl and pour in  the milk over it. stir it once and leave in a warm spot for 10-15 minutes until frothy.

I would suggest half the quantity of milk to be added to yeast keep the rest aside to add as and when needed. I went as per the recipe and had to add additional 3/4 - 1 cup of flour which reduced the sweetness slightly. 

Mix together butter and powdered cardamom and keep aside.

Place flour in a large mixing bowl. Add the yeast mixture and knead until the dough comes together.Add more milk/flour if needed.

Turn out the dough onto a clean counter and knead in stretching motions pulling with one hand and pushing with the other for around 5 minutes until you get  soft dough.

Incorporate the butter cardamom mix and knead again. Work in all the butter into the ough and knead until you get a soft pliable dough. 

Shape into a ball and place in a bowl and let it sit until doubled in volume ,covered with a plastic wrap for about 20 minutes or more.

Punch the dough to release the air.Flatten  the dough on the counter and sprinkle coconut and raisins. 

Fold over a couple of times and knead the doungh lighlty until the coconut and raisins are well incorporated.

Shape into a ball and place in a lined /floured baking tray. Make shallow incisions on the dough using a sharp knife to allow air to escape. Sprinkle flour over the loaves and leave it to rest uncovered for another 20 minutes or more until doubled.

Bake in a preheated oven at 200F for about 20-30 minutes,unitl brown. Cool completely before slicing.

A bread similar to sandwich loaf. The coconut and raisins add to the flavour and make it definitely gourmet.Its perfect as a tea time treat and the taste increases the next day as per the author. But mine was over the same day itself.

Spiced Yam Soup | GoodBye Winter

Some of you might not have heard or tried this vegetable -yam aka elephant yam, chenai/chena suran, khamalu, chapri alu and also karunai kilangu in someparts of TamilNadu. This is a tuber which comes in different varieties an colours in different continents and most of them edible to eat and is starchy and has good levels of potassium, manganese, thiamine and dietary fiber while being low in sodium and  saturated fat. 

At the same time I have heard that vegetables like pumpkin and yam is not good if arthritis runs in your family. But still it is a vegetable that can be turned into a snack or curry or even cake if you check out this page on Wiki.

Yam has been a part of my regular routine cooking and yes I enjoyed it in different forms even  tikkis Chettinad Style. During Onam in Kerala, chena/yam plays an important role being a part of aviyal, kaalan,thoran,fritters etc and these days I have heard of payasam or kheer as well.It is cultivated all year round, but actual season is November mid -December. The traditional dish of "Thiruvathira Puzzhukku" made on "Thiuruvathira Day" where they celebrate Lord Shiva's Birthday has yam and other seasonal tubers taking centrestage and offcourse the tubers play their role excellently. 

I have loved yam in various ways but have never tried/ made a soup out of it. So I decided to try out the yam soup with fennel seeds from Chef Vikas Khanna's Hymns from the soil. I loved the soup and it was easy to make as well. I have definitely become a fan of Chef Khanna. 

Ingredients:

Oil: 1 tbsp + 1 tbsp

Onion: 1 medium sized finely chopped

Fresh Ginger: 1" pieces peeled and chopped/minced

Garlic: 2 cloves peeled and minced/chopped

Powdered Cumin : 1 tsp

Turmeric: 1/2 tsp

Fennel Seeds: 1tbsp

Chilli Powder: 1/2 tsp + 1-1.5 tsp or as per taste

Green Chili: 1 coarsely chopped

Yam/Chenai: 1 pound or 1/2 kg or 2.5-3 cups peeled and cut into small pieces

Vegetable Stock: 3 cups

Cream: 1/2-1 cup

Cilantro: for garnishing

Preparation:

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a deep pan and saute onion,ginger and garlic until soft and the raw smell goes for about 3-4 minutes.

Add in cumin, turmeric, fennel seeds, green chilli, 1/2 tsp of chilli powder,salt and yams and cook for few minutes until the flavours and blended. Pour in the stock and bring to boil. Reduce the heat to low and let it simmer under cover until the yam is cooked through for about 20 minutes. If you are doubltful about the time, feel free to cook it in the pressure cooker for 2 whistles atleast.

Remove from heat and let it cool a bit. Stir in the cream and blend the mixture to a fine puree in batches if needed.

Meanwhile in a small pan, heat the remaining 1-1.5 tsp of oil. Remove from heat and stir in the reminder of chilli powder as per taste.

Congratulations, you have made a chili oil which can be used as a garnish not just for this soup but for whatever dishes you like.

Ladle the soup in bowls, drizzle chili oil and also sprigs of fresh cilantro/coriander. Enjoy the chili night with a warm filling bowl of yam soup thinking what else you can turn the yam into.

An easy to make gourmet soup made from a rustic or country vegetable. Never thought I would enjoy the combo  of yam with fennel seeds. Try the recipe and enjoy.

Sweet Rice Pudding | Happy 2016/ Makar Sankranthi/ Pongal

Makar Sankranthi/ Pongal is being celebrated today in several states across India. Makar Sankranthi marks the start of the journey of the Sun  northwards or "Uttarayan" or when the sun enters the 10th house of Makar or Capricorn. Basically a harvest festival, it indicates the arrival of spring in India and falls usually with Jan 13-15. In South India it is celebrated as Pongal which almost a week long festival. 

Christmas came, New Year came and it started on a good or rather musical note. After travelling, after working after lazing around, I  thought atleast now I should start blogging for the year. Today  Makar Sankranthi/ Pongal being celebrated  in some parts of India I thought I should start with a simple healthy traditional and also different dish. 

Now Pongal is a festival celebrated worldwide by all Tamilians. Each region and sometimes each family have their own recipe with slight adjustments and adaptations. This time I thought I could try a slightly different Sri Lankan Tamil version adapted from here. Its easy, healthy and vegan too if you avoid the drizzling of ghee while serving

Ingredients:

Raw rice/ white rice/sona masuri : around 1 cup

Moong Dal / Split yellow gram: 1/4 cup

Jaggery: grated around 2-3 cups made into a syrup(adjust as per taste)

Clove powder: 1/2 tsp

Coconut Milk: 1/4 -1/2 cup medium thick

Raisins/ dried prunes/currants: handful

Cashew nuts: handful 

Ghee (optional) : for roasting the nusts and raisins and also drizzling on top.

Preparation:

Dry roast the moong dal lightly in a pan until the raw smell goes and it starts browning. Add it to rice.

Cook together rice,roasted dal and clove powder in enough water until its done. I prefer my pongal slightly mushy or overcooked but its your choice.

Add jaggery syrup to this mixture and continue cooking, stirring in between so that it doesn't burn. Do the taste test and add more jaggery syrup incase you want it to be more sweet. 

Add in the coconut milk and continue cooking for few more minutes on low heat. Once it thickens or reaches your consistency then remove from heat.

Serve warm in bowls as a dessert garnished optionally with ghee roasted nuts and raisins.

The measurements are guesstimates and feel free to change as per your needs. Pongal is usually made with cow's milk  and cardamom powder and I just twisted it to make a defferent yet same Lankan one which is vegan if you close your eyes to the garnishes. 

Hope you'll enjoy the dish as much as you enjoy the festival.

Spiced Pumpkin Rolls for Thanksgiving | We Knead to Bake # 33

Its autumn and season of apples and pumpkins. Thanksgiving which is celebrated on 26th November every year in the US makes full use of autumn produce - pumpkins, orange sweet potatoes, apples, cranberries etc. So its only apt that we decided to bake spiced pumpkin bread rolls to ring in autumn for We Knead to Bake by Aparna. Of course though pumpkin is available year round in India but still its the season of pumpkin and Jack O lanterns.The recipe adapted from BeyondKimchee is super simple and the bread made with and shaped like a pumpkin makes it gourmet.  This makes it real special.

Ingredients:

Warm Milk: 1/3 cup

Honey : 2 tbsp

Instant Yeast: 2 tsp

Pureed pumpkin: 8 tbsp

Melted Butter: 1.5 tbsp

Egg: 1 OR Ener G egg : 1.5 pkd tsp + 3 tbsp of Water

All Purpose Flour: 1.5 cups + 4 tbsp more

Cinnamon: 1/2 tsp

Ground Dry Ginger: 1 tsp

Allspice Powdered : 1/2 tsp

Salt: 1 tsp

Preparation:

In a bowl, add in warm milk. Add honey and yeast and mix well and leave aside for 5 minutes until it froths. 

In a processor bowl, add in flour, salt and spice powders and blend well. Add in the yeast mix, pumpkin puree , melted butter and egg.

Knead well until you have asmooth elastic dough thats sticky but which pull away from the side of the bowl. You can add more flour if needed.

Turn it out onto a counter dusted with flour and knead with hand for another minute. Shape it into a big ball and place it in a greased bowl, turning around to coat well. 

Loosely cover and let the dough rise for an hour or so until double in volume.

Gently deflate the dough on a dusted counter and divide it into 8-10 small but equal sized pieces. Shape each piece into a round ball. Flatten it slightly and then using sharp scissors make 8 cuts at equal distances from each other from the edge of the ball to the centre, leaving the centre uncut to resemble a flower.

Place these flowers on a lined/greased baking sheet and let these rise or puff up a bit for about 45 minutes or so.Poke a deep hole in the centre of the flowers to insert a "stem". Brush the flowers with milk or egg wash. Bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. 

Take out the rolls and brush with melted butter  or honey for more shine. Cool and insert halved pecans into the hole for "stem". You can also use cloves, spring onion greens or celery stalks instead of pecans as stems.

A simple spiced healthy bread shaped like autumnal pumpkin. Firm crust and soft crumb.  A regular sandwich bread which is made gourmet. The breads turns soft the next day. You can actually make it more spicier or more sweeter by altering the spices and adding more honey or sweetness.

Sweet Potato Peanut Bisque | Soup Saga Continues

Now that rains have decided to show up (better late than never!) , I thought I would post another soup or bisque. A bisque is a creamy and thick pureed soup made using seafood and these days even vegetables or fruit. Bisque is usually a term associated with seafood though the veggie ones are not behind in taste and wholesomeness.

This time I tried out another bisque made using sweetpotato and peanutbutter. I was searching for African recipes when I chanced upon this recipe here which sounded good and though sceptical I tried it out without much changes and found it very filling and warm.

Ingredients:

Sweet Potato : around 3-4 cups chopped

Olive Oil: 2 tsp +
Onion: 1 small chopped
Garlic: 2 small cloves  minced

Green Chillies: 1-2 medium size chopped

Fresh Ginger: 2 tsp minced
Allspice: 1/2 tsp ground

Vegetable Stock/ Water: 1 cup +as needed
Peanut Butter: 6-8 tbsp as per preference

Salt &Pepper: as per taste

Preparation:
Cook the sweetpotatoes either in steamer or microwave. You can even roast the sweetpotato and then chop it. Choose the sweetpotato accordingly to get roughly 3-4 cups.Peel and chop the sweet potatoes  and keep aside.

Heat oil in a deep bowl and saute onion until its transparent and start to brown. Add in minced garlic and saute till raw smell goes. Then add in the green chillies, ginger, allspice and the tomato juice. Bring the mix  to boil and let it cook for another 10 minutes on medium heat.

Add half of the cooked sweetpotato to the pot and continue  cooking. Add the rest to a blender or food processer along with peanut butter and veg stock/water and puree until smooth. Add this puree to tho the soup pot and let it continue to simmer for few more minutes.

Adjust salt and pepper and other seasonings and serve warm optionally garnished.

A simple soup which is very filling. You can thin it down with more stock/water or even tomato juice as per taste.Peanut butter leaves a hint of taste in it and never overpowers. We get a mix of sweet potato and peanut flavour from the soup.Maybe you can add more peanut butter if you so prefer as per your taste.

 The sweetpotato pieces added  give something to chew or bite into. But its my opinion that you can actually puree the whole of the cooked sweet potato and add to the soup.The soup will be very thick though. Instead of peanut butter you can go with peanuts also though I am yet to try it.

Irish BarmBrack or Speckled Bread | We Knead to Bake #32

After spicy quiche, its time for sweet nutty fruity barmbrack. This month Aparna had chosen Irish Barmbrack or speckled bread for the We Knead to bake challenge. A tasty sweet bread it turned out to be with the dry fruits soaked in "tea".

Thats true. Barmbrack or Bairin Breac or simply brack is a dry fruit bread where there the dry fruits are soaked in tea and then added to yeasted and spiced dough. It is actually a part of Irish Halloween tradition and a slice goes very well tea. You can enjoy it buttered or simply toasted or just warm from the oven.

Ingredients:

Chopped dried fruits: 3/4 cup

Strong Black Tea: 1.5 cups

All Purpose Flour: 3.5- 4 cups + more for dusting

Instant Yeast: 2tsp

Granulated Sugar: 2/3 cup

Salt: 1/4 tsp

Ground Cinnamon: 1/2 tsp

Ground Ginger: 1/2 tsp

Powdered Allspice: 1/4 tsp

Soft Unsalted Butter: 1 tbsp or 30 gm 

Egg: 1 or Ener G Egg: 1.5 pkd tsp of Ener G + 4 tbsp of water

Milk: 8-12 tbsp to make 1 cup of milky tea.

Preparation:

Soak the dry fruits in hot strong tea overnight or atleast 4 hours. When done, drain them but don't throw away the tea. To this tea add enough hot milk to make a cup.

In a bowl or processor, mix together the flour, yeast,sugar, salt and the spices. Add in soft butter and egg and whisk/beat well. 

Add in the milky tea and knead together to get a slightly sticky dough. Add in enough flour and continue kneading to get an almost nonsticky dough. Transfer the dough onto a dusted counter and flatten it out.

Sprinkle the drained dried fruits and fold in half and fold once again. Basically you need to incorporate the plumped up dry fruits into the bread dough and ensure they are evenly dispersed.

Shape the dough into a ball and place in a greased container. 

Let it rise covered with a plastic wrap  until doubled in volume for almost 1.5 hours.

Gently knead the dough and divide into 2 portions. Shape into round balls  and place on greased baking sheets or even loaf tins if using.

Let these rise for another hour or so until they puff up. Bake in a preheated oven at 180C for about 45 minutes until they are golden brown and done. Take out cool on a wire racks and then jump in.

Soft crumb with a firm crust. Sandwich bread texture except that here the crumb is sweeter and little crumbly.

You can warm it in the oven or toast it and you can experience the aromas of spices taking your  moods to a new height and a warmth around you. Wash it down with hot tea and your evening or afternoon is done. Perfect winter bread.

Except for butter and milk the bread is vegan friendly. You can replace butter with vegan substitutes and even avoid milk and go with black tea to make it completely vegan. 

Lets see what else Aparna is talking about the bread.Hop over to her post.

Yeasted Banana Sandwich Bread | We Knead to Bake September '15

I love banana bread though I never tried yeasted version. So when Aparna suggested yeasted version from KingArthurFlour for this months challenge I did try it out and it was perfect with nutella and peanut butter.

I halved the recipe and got a mini loaf which went well with tea.

Ingredients:
Lukewarm Milk:4+ tbsp
Wheat flour: 1 cup
All Purpose Flour: 1/2 cup
Vital wheat gluten: 3/4 tsp
Soft Butter: 1 tbsp
Instant yeast: 1 tsp
Salt: 1/2 tsp
Honey: 1.5 tsp
Banana: 3/4 cups chopped +/-(12 tbsp)

Preparation:

In a bowl, mix together the flours,gluten,yeast and salt. Add in honey,butter and milk (3 tbsp at first) and start mixing together adding milk little more if needed. Once a sticky dough is formed, fold in the chopped bananas and continue kneading until you get a smooth soft almost non sticky dough.

Mine was ok -ok. The bananas got mashed and added to the stickiness.I needed barely 5 tbsp of milk.

Shape it into a ball and place in an oiled bowl and let it rise for another 1.5 - 2 hours until it doubles.At this stage you can refrigerate the dough and let it rise in the fridge overnight. If this is done, take it out atleast 20-30 minutes before the second rise.

Gently deflate the dough and place it in a greased loaf tin and let it rise under a loose wrap for an hour until it assumes the shape of the loaf and hopefully rises above the corners of the tin.

Meanwhile preheat the oven to 180C, brush the top of the bread with milk and sprinkle optional toppings like oats etc.

Bake for 30-40 minutes or more until the top is golden brown. Take out let it cool completely on a wire rack.

The bread is not sweet. Maybe it will be if the bananas used are overtly sweet. The bread can be used as a sandwich bread with even savoury spreads or gravies.
Else you can serve it with maple/butterscotch syrups, nutella and other sweet preserves/spreads.

You can even spice it up with cardamom, cinnamon etc and include nuts as well while kneading the dough. And obviously you can replace the bananas and go for oranges pineapple etc to get a different flavoured bread. Make sure you adjust the sweetness quotient as per your choice.

Chili con Elote -Chili with Corn | Mexican comfort for chilly nights

Now that its raining at nights, I thought I better prepare something that will keep us full and warm. I was thinking of good ol' chili when Aunt Google showed me chili with corn or Chili con Elote. I was under the impression that chili sin carne or meatless chili which has corn was the ultimate. But curiosity made me try this 'sweet corn only no other veg' chili  from here and it hit the tastebuds like anything.  Seriously its easy to prepare and goes well as a soup or with rice and/ or breads.

Ingredients:

Onion: 1 chopped (almost 1 cup)

Garlic: 1 medium size chopped

Green Bell Pepper : 1 medium :chopped into bite size pieces

Vegetable Stock / Water: 2 cup +/-

Tomatoes: 1 cup chopped 

  OR

Tomato Paste : 2 tbsp

Fresh/ Frozen Sweet corn : 2 cups +

Cooked Red Kidney Beans: 3 -4 cups

Paprika / (Mexican) Chili Powder: 1/2 -1 tsp

Cumin Powder: 1/4 tsp

Oregano: 1 tsp + 

Salt: as per taste

Oil: for sauteing

Preparation:

Saute onion and garlic in oil until transparent and aromatic. Add in green pepper pieces and saute for another 2-3 minutes. Add in the spice powders, little salt,corn and tomato chopped/ tomato paste along with water/stock and bring to boil. Also add in the cooked beans mashed coarsely.

Reduce heat and let it simmer for bout 20-30 minutes till it thickens a bit and reaches your choice of consistency. Do taste test and adjust the salt and spices.

Serve as a soup, side with bread/roti/rice and also as tortilla filling or bread spread or even as a dip if you grind it coarsely

A simple spicy gravy or curry if you prefer so. I liked it as a soup as well. An easy one too if you have cooked beans sitting in the fridge waiting to be used. No hassle of chopping other vegetables too. You can refer the other varieities of chili - sweetpotato and chocolate if you prefer to add veggies or go different from the usual.