Banana Caramel with Vanilla ice cream

My love for anything sweet has no bounds. I recently got to eat one of the most mind blowing desserts Banana caramel with vanilla ice cream. This one is my attempt at recreating the dessert. Hope you girls love it too.

Ingredients

2 large bananas

2 Tbsp brown sugar 

2 Tbsp melted unsalted butter
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
3 to 4 Tbsp Chopped walnuts
Vanilla ice cream

Preparation
1. Pre heat oven at 350° F.
2. Mix the sugar, butter and Cinnamon powder
2. Slit bananas along the center and cut it into 2 pieces.
3. Place the cut bananas onto an oven safe tray n pour on the mixture of sugar, butter n cinnamon. Sprinkle the chopped walnuts.
4. Bake this at 350 for 15 to 20 minutes or until banana is soft.

Serve it with a few scoops of vanilla ice cream.

Wheat Pancakes

My love for pancakes goes back to when my mum used to make sweet dosas (Indian version of pancakes). I have made pancakes with maida or all purpose flour mostly in my bachelor days. But then now i decided to make the more healthier version :-D. I love them so much its on my breakfast menu almost every week.

Wheat Pancakes

Ingredients

1 Cup whole grain Wheat flour
2 to 3 Tbsp granulated white sugar or brown sugar (i prefer brown sugar)
1 Tsp baking powder
1/4 Tsp baking soda
1/4 Tsp salt
1 large egg or 2 small eggs
2 Tbsp melted Butter
1 Cup Buttermilk (if you don't have buttermilk at home please look below to make buttermilk)
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
Oil

For Butter milk

1 cup milk
1 Tbsp White Vinegar

Preparation
1.  In case you have Buttermilk you can skip this step. To the 1 cup of milk add the vinegar and let it stand for 5 to 10 minutes.
2. Beat the egg/s in a bowl. To this add melted butter, vanilla extract and the buttermilk and mix well.
3. Now add wheat flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt to the above mixture and mix well. You should mix to make a batter untill there are no lumps. Allow the batter to rest for 1o to 15 minutes.
4. Heat a pan. Use a spoon to scoop out a little of the batter and pour it on the hot pan and drizzle som e oil. I usually make two pancakes on one pan. Check to see if one side is cooked or until it gets the lovely golden brown and then flip it over to cook the other side.

Lovely hot and heathy Wheat Pancakes are ready to be served.

I usually eat it plain but a good combination would be with maple syrup, just normal sugar syrup or even butter and strawberry jam.
You can also make Banana wheat pancakes by adding smashed 1 large ripe or 2 small ripe bananas to the batter and then pour on the pan.

Hope you girls get to cook it and enjoy it as much as i do.

Chocolate covered Strawberries

Summers here and along come the berries.
Strawberries are my favourite. This is a quick, fun and easy to make Fruit Desert. Takes about 15 minutes to cook with minimal ingredients.

Ingredients

Ripe Strawberries
Chocolate

Procedure

• Take room temperature Strawberries, wash and dry them well. Cover a plate with Aluminium foil and set aside.

• Melt the chocolate: Take a small vessel with a little water. When the water is hot, place a small bowl that fits the top of the vessel. (Make sure the bottom does not touch the water. Chocolate has to melt in the steam.) Add cut chocolate pieces to the bowl. It takes about 4-5 minutes for the chocolate to melt. As it melt occasionally stir it. Once the chocolate has completely melted turn off the stove.
  

The chocolate should be melted on a low flame.

• Holding the stem of a strawberry dip into the chocolate. Cover ¾ of the berry with chocolate. Now hold it up for a few seconds for the excess chocolate to drip. Now place it on the plate. Do the same with the rest of the strawberries.

• Place the plate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
  

Tasty Strawberries coated with chocolate are ready and waiting to be eaten.

Its tastes best when eaten on the same day.

You can use any chocolate, Milk/ Dark. Here I have used Milk chocolate. You could coat it with candies, ground almonds etc. Just dip the chocolate strawberry on the ground almonds before allowing it to cool.

Suji Kakra

Suji Kakra is one of the traditional Oriya sweet dishes. These are mostly prepared during festivals and offered in puja as prasad. You can also serve it as snacks. These are delicious, tasty and healthy.

Ingredients:

• Suji: 4 cups
• Maida (Flour): 1/2 cup
• Coconut: one
• Sugar: 1cup
• Cardamom powder: 2tsp
• Water: 3cups
• Oil: Needed for frying

Procedure:

• Grate Coconut in to small pieces. In a frying pan ,add grated coconut , 1/2 cup of sugar and 2tsp of cardamom powder, fry it till sugar melts.
  
• In another vessel heat 3 cups of water , Add 4 cups of Suji and 1/2 cup of flour. Knead it lightly to form soft but tight dough. Set aside to cool.
• Divide the dough in to small balls . Add coconut sugar stuffing into it.
  
• Take care that the filling doesnot ooze out.
  
• Prepare all the kakra and keep it aside.
  
• Heat oil in a frying pan and deep fry the kakra balls in batches on a medium flame till it turns golden brown.

Suji Kakrna is ready to be served...:)

Here I have mentioned Kakra only in one shape(as balls). You can also try with differnt shapes.

Methi Poppu

Poppu is a traditional Andhra dish. It’s a dish most andhraites cook everyday. It’s nutritious and protein rich. You will enjoy cooking it as its easy, quick and your kitchen will be filled with the aroma of methi and toor dhal simmering in its seasoning.

Ingredients

• Toor dhal ½ cups

• Methi leaves 1 cup

• Chopped Tomato 1

• Green chillies 5

• Tamarind chocolate size

• Turmeric ¼ tsp

• Crushed Garlic 2 cloves

• Oil 2 tsp

• Mustard ½ tsp

• Cumin ½ tsp

• Red chillies 1

• Curry leaves

Procedure

• Wash the dhal well. Add 1 cup of water, turmeric, 2 green chillies and ½ tsp of oil to it. Pressures cook this for 2 whistles. Once the pressure is released, mash it well with a wooden masher.

• Soak the tamarind in hot water for 10 minutes. Squeeze it well and set aside.

• Transfer the mashed dhal into another vessel, add the chopped tomato, methi leaves and boil it. Can add little water if required.

• Once the tomato and methi are cooked add salt and the tamarind pulp. Boil it for 4 minutes.

Preparing the seasoning

The key to a delicious poppu is its seasoning.

• In another vessel heat 2 tsp of oil. Add the crushed garlic cloves, 2 chopped green chillies, 1 red chilli and fry. Once the garlic has turned brown on its edges add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and curry leaves. Let it splutter before removing it from the heat.

Add the seasoning to the dhal and cook on a low flame for 5 minute.

Delicious methi poppu is ready to be savoured. Its best served with hot rice. Pappad and peanut chutney powder are its best accompaniments.

Microwave Brownies

As all good things start with a sweet my 1^st recipe is Microwave brownie.

Beware if you are on a diet. Do not read further.

This dish is easy to cook and tastes yum… It takes 20 minutes to make.

Ingredients

• Sugar 1 cup

• Plain flour ¾ cup

• Butter ¼ cup

• Eggs 1

• Coca powder 1 tbsp

• Vanilla essence 1 tsp

• Corn flour 2 tsp

• Baking powder 1tsp

Procedure

• Melt the butter. Place the butter in a microwaveable dish and microwave it for a minute on high. Set it aside.

• Break the egg in a large mixing bowl. Beat it well. Add the sugar slowly and continue to beat. Make sure the sugar is dissolved. Add vanilla essence.

• In a small bowl mix the plain flour, coca powder, corn flour and baking powder.

• Mix the flour, eggs and the melted butter together. Mix well. Make sure no lumps are formed.

• Grease a microwaveable dish well and pour the mixture into it.
  

Optional: Sprinkle some chocolate chips

• Microwave on high for 4-5 minutes depending on the microwave power. Its done when its surface is hardened and the edges are no longer sticking to the bowl.

• Cool it for 5 minutes and cut them into the required shapes. (Cut it while its still warm as it hardens as it cools.)

Tasty Brownies are ready to be savoured.

Gond(Edible gum) Burfi

Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success. -Henry Ford

As the saying goes, now that we have come together let us celebrate it with "Gond(Edible Gum) burfi" :)

Gond or edible gum will be in crystal form. It will be white/brown in color and is available in small pieces. Gond burfis are highly nutritious and should be eaten in winters as the gum has been known to generate heat in the body.

Ingredients:

• 125 gms Gum, golden color
  
• 1/4 kg Dry coconut finely grated
  
• 1/4 kg Dried dates / Khajoor broken into small pieces
  
• 1/2 tsp Cardamom powder
  
• 50 gms Khus Khus / Poppy seeds
  
• 100 gms chopped Almonds
  
• 100 gms chopped Cashews
  
• 100 gms dry grapes
  
• 1 cup Ghee
  
• 500 gms Jaggery
  

Note: Quantity can be altered according to individual’s requirement.

Method of preparation:

• Fry the gum in the ghee. It will puff up into light. Make sure you fry it on medium flame. They fry very fast, so there are chances of them getting burnt.
• Grate the coconut and roast it in a little ghee until slightly very light brown.
• Roast the Khus Khus and keep aside.
• Roast the almonds, cashews and grapes until slightly golden brown and keep aside.
• Mix all the fried ingredients in a separate bowl.
• Preparation of syrup from Jaggery: In a vessel add jaggery and add 1 1/2 cups of water. Boil the mixture until you achieve a one-thread consistency.
• Mix the fried ingredients with Jaggery syrup. On a medium flame, mix until the contents get mixed with syrup properly.
• Apply little ghee to a plate (wider one is preferable). Pour the mixture on to the plate. Before it gets cooled cut it in whichever shape you want.
• Once it gets cooled down you can separate the burfis.

Delicious, mouth watering burfis are ready to serve.:)