Kerala Vegetable Stew / Ishtew and Aapam

Whenever I visit a new city in our out of the country, I make it a point to visit the local supermarkets. Nothing reflects the local culture, food habits and buying preferences of people in that city as much as the local supermarket. You might find that crazy but major of my shopping ends up being from the food section of these stores, be it in London, or my trip to Kuala Lumpur last year...I even enjoyed doing the same during my week's stay in Hyderabad end of last year.

In Mumbai, although I regular shop in a couple of stores closer to home, sometimes it is just convenient to stop by a large store if you are on the way from somewhere to save time and fuel. That's how I chanced upon this really huge store that carries almost everything under the sun. It was fun to see them carry a whole range of south Indian 'bhakshanam' (snacks), papads and even interesting mixes like aapam mixes, puttu mixes, instant sevai etc. Being located close to south Indian localities, we find regional variations in what is stocked by these stores.



Since I had never tried making aapam before, I decided to try out this pack of Rice Paalaapam mix, which required not much effort to get it right. This packet has been lying in my 'extra groceries' shelf for over 4 months and last night I realised it is high time I brought it out, also since I had run out of aata (doesn't speak much for my housekeeping skills does it?) the aapams were a good substitute for rotis.

Kerala cuisine has a variety of aapams, all made with nearly the same basic ingredients - ground rice, coconut, yeast or toddy for fermenting, salt and sugar. The fermentation gives the final product a soft spongy texture that is perfect for mopping up gravies or liquids such as the stew. Although I used a ready mix this time over, I will most surely give the homemade aapam batter a try next time, especially since this combination received a double thumbs up from the husband. He loved every bit of the stew aapam combo and I have another quick dinner idea to cheer him after a hard day at work!

The stew took hardly 15 minutes of effort (I use either powdered or packaged coconut milk, that explains it) and the aapams are made walking around between the dining and kitchen, amidst conversations and TV and it is no effort at all. We both eat as they are getting made, hot off the pan, so this can never be a sit-down dinner for us!

This is the first time I tried something proper Keralite in my kitchen, if you minus the kootans, avials, araicha sambars we make as a part of our Iyer recipes. After going through a few stew recipes online and on the food forum, on a whim I decided to omit the shallots / onions, and use a pinch of turmeric and sambar powder. The sambar powder added a nice flavour without making the stew taste 'sambary' at all. Turmeric was just to turn the stew to a light golden yellow as I am not a big fan of milky white curries. And while we were nearly 3/4 of the way to finishing the stew I remembered reading about RCI Kerala, so managed to take a quick pic of the quickly diminishing stew :)




Vegetable Stew - Kerala style with Aapam
Category - Quick dinner, Stew, Regional Cuisine of India
Time Taken - Under 20 minutes for stew and over a minute per aapam
Stew serves 2-3 people generously

Ingredients:
2 potatoes, boiled, peeled and cubed
2 cups small cauliflower florets
1/2 cup fresh / frozen green peas

1 tsp oil
3-4 cloves
2 green cardamoms
1" stick cinnamon
1 - 2 green chillies, sliced
1/2 tsp ginger shredded
2 sprigs curry leaves

a pinch of turmeric powder
1/2 tsp sambar powder (optional)
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup coconut milk

Directions

In a pan, place over 1/2 cup water with the cauliflower florets and green peas. Cover with tight fitting lid and boil for 4-5 minutes, until both veggies are tender yet crisp. Keep aside.

In a wok, heat the oil. Stir in the whole spices and then the chillies, ginger and curry leaves. After 30 seconds, add the cubed potatoes, peas and cauliflower along with the water used for boiling. Season with salt, turmeric powder and sambar powder. Stir well. Once this comes to a simmer, add a cup of coconut milk. Let this come to a gentle simmer and then remove from flame.


For Aapams - I used the ready Rice Palaapam mix (Fine rice flour with yeast) to be reconstituted with water, salt and a pinch of sugar.

Keep this covered for over an hour.

Grease a tsp of oil on a rounded aapam pan or any non stick pan. Wipe with a tissue to spread the oil all over the surface. On a moderately hot pan, pour a ladle of the batter, and rotate the pan around to spread the batter into a circle. Cover and cook on medium flame. Aapams are cooked only on one side unlike dosas that are flipped over and cooked on both sides. Remove and serve hot with stew.



Variation: You can also break an egg in the center portion of the aapam while its cooking and cover for over 1-2 minutes. The white gets cooked fully and the yellow is slightly jiggly. Crack some pepper and salt into this and you can dip the edges of the lacy aapam into the soft egg before taking a dig into the stew.

This is my submission for RCI Kerala hosted by Jyothsana at Curry Bazaar

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Soya nuggets in a brunch plate

Soya nuggets have long been a favourite of mine, even before I started thinking of nutrition and eating healthy. The very fact the the boiled nuggets turn spongy, all ready to absorb any flavours you dunk them in, make them a delight to cook with. Biting into one of the nuggets and letting the absorbed juices explode in your mouth is a foodie's delight. They are odourless and tasteless by themself, presenting to every cook a blank canvas to paint on. I love using them as substitutes to eggs in egg curries, in stir fries, in pulaos and the different shapes available (such as granules, smaller nuggets) allow one to adapt them into a variety of recipes. Poha made with a mixture of beaten rice and soya granules is a favourite in our house.

Ruchi was one of the first companies to bring out and popularise these soya products in India under the brand name Nutrela. They claim to use exceptionally high quality, non-genetically modified soya beans - the nuggets have a protein concentration of 50-55%, the highest for any vegetarian source and negligible fat content. You will find a whole lot of recipes listed on their site.

These nuggets are made like our Indian vadis, using soy flour - dried out in the sun and used as per need. Here's a nice little breakfast / brunch recipe which goes wonderfully with lightly buttered and warmed pav (Mumbai special bread). You can also have this as a salad by itself, being high in protein it is extremely filling.

Note the increase in size after boiling

The dried nuggets have to be either soaked in salted boiling water for a few minutes or boiled in salted water for 3-4 minutes, until they have balooned out and become soft, before use. Follow the instructions on your pack for this. Idea is to soften them and yet keep their texture intact, or else you can end with a mushy mess.

Soya Nugget Salad with Pav
Category: Vegetarian protein, accompaniment with bread, Salad
Time taken: Under 20 minutes
Serves 2

Ingredients
14-15 larger size soya nuggets - boiled as per instructions above

1 medium onion - sliced

1 small carrot - diced

1 medium capsicum - deseeded and diced

1 tsp olive oil

1/4 cup thick yogurt

2 tbsp low fat mayonnaise ( I used Karen Anand brand Eggless mayo)

7-8 black pepper corns - roughly pounded

Dried herbs of your choice (I used parsley)

pinch of chilli flakes

1/2 tsp salt

Pav (1 slab of 6) or any other bread

Directions

Heat a tsp of oil in a wok. Add the vegetables and saute for 2-3 minutes, with a tiny pinch of salt. We want them to retain their crispness. Meanwhile, take the boiled nuggets in a colander and press down hard with a rounded bowl or so, to drain out all the water from them. Cut them into quarters or smaller pieces and add them to the wok.

Stir to mix it with the vegetables. Remove wok from flame and keep aside.

In a large bowl, take the mayo, yogurt, roughly pounded pepper, salt, herbs and beat with a fork to mix well. Once the contents of the wok are cooled, transfer them to the bowl. Mix to coat the dressing uniformly.

Garnish with chilli flakes.

To prepare the Pav, tear them into individual pieces. (They generally come in a slab of 6 or 8) Slice them into two horizontally, but not going all the way through. Apply a dot of butter on the inside and on both the outer sides, place on a hot skillet, until lightly golden and crispy on the outside.

If you do not get pav, where you live, try out this superb tried and tested recipe for home baked Mumbai-special Pav.

This is my entry to WBB - Soy hosted by Rajitha at Hunger Pangs.

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Low fat - restaurant style Matar Paneer

Hello and glad to see you in the new year. Trying to stick to my resolutions (to blog more regularly) - I was ready with the draft 3 days ago, but that's when respiratory infection and bronchitis caught up with me and has kept me down for over 3 days. In Bombay, the temperature difference is well over 15 degrees between day and night, leading to an epidemic of sorts in respiratory infections. The only times in the last three days I've managed to drag myself into the kitchen, is to make a huge pot of Molagu Rasam (Clear pepper soup), and keep warming it up in the microwave, sipping the spicy liquid through the day. Apart from that, my diet has generally been antibiotics, antihistaminics, expectorants and mucolytics. Sounds like quite a spread right??

Back to the topic of the post - this is one dish that is an extremely popular Indian curry - the origins as far as I know being Punjabi in nature, the land where paneer has been predominantly used since many years. If one has paneer and frozen peas, this can be made out of the stuff you'd normally have in your pantry, bailing you out, if you got a day late in replenishing your stock of vegetables.

For a person who cooks almost 3 meals each day, it's odd that I rarely make the typical restaurant style Punjabi dishes like Malai Kofta, Makhanwala and the likes, going mostly with the more earthy simple dishes, where veggies are not drowned in rich gravies and recipes which give veggies more respect than that! However on a whim I decided to try out this matar paneer curry, also since I had nothing else in my refrigerator that evening, except for the staple onions-tomatoes-ginger and garlic.

The recipe here is adapted from a food video prepared by Chef Sanjay Thumma. You'll find plenty of his videos on rediff iShare, youtube and his own site. Ofcourse, this is a much calorie cut version of the same. You could watch his video for a richer, creamier version of the same. But hey, does the title of the post - 'low fat' 'restaurant style' sound like an oxymoron? Well, if you ever try this recipe, you'll know what I mean :)




Matar Paneer ( Indian curry with green peas and cheese )
Category - Vegetarian side to be eaten with rotis, parathas or rice
Time taken - Around 30 minutes
Serves - 3 to 4 people

---

Ingredients

1 tsp oil
1 tbsp broken cashewnuts
2 medium onions, finely chopped
3 medium tomatoes finely chopped
1/2 tsp fresh grated ginger
1 tsp finely chopped garlic cloves
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chilli powder
1-2 tsp coriander-cumin powder or 1 tsp each
1/2 tsp garam masala powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup frozen or fresh boiled peas
200 g paneer cut into 12 cubes
1 tsp kasoori methi - dried fenugreek leaves, crumbled into a rough powder

Directions
1. Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed wok. Start by sauteeing the broken cashews till lightly golden.
2. Next, add the chopped ginger-garlic and onions and cook on a low flame with a pinch of salt till they soften and turn light brown.
3. At this stage, add the tomatoes with the turmeric powder. Stir well and cook for 5-7 minutes, till mushy.
4. Remove the contents of the wok and blend to a fine puree in a blender, once cooled throughly. You may use upto 1/2 cup water to aid the blending process.
5. In the same wok, transfer the fine puree. Season with spice powders (red chilli powder, cumin coriander powder, garam masala) and salt. Simmer for 3-4 minutes till the gravy is infused with the spices.
6. Add the frozen / boiled green peas to this gravy and simmer for 5 minutes, after which the paneer cubes go in. Simmer for another 2 minutes, check for salt, sprinkle crushed kasoori methi and give it a stir.
7. Matar paneer is ready to be removed in a serving bowl.

Notes
Serve hot with rotis, parathas, naan or plain steamed rice seasoned with cumin seeds.

I personally prefer to have this with a plain tandoori roti or a phulka as the dish is quite heavy, it is better balanced by a lighter bread. A raita on the side would be nice too, or a simple cucumber salad.

Health tips

It's perfectly okay to use store bought paneer.Using paneer made from skimmed milk at home will further reduce the calories from fat keeping the protein content intact. In restaurants, this dish is made with plenty of ghee /butter, a large chunk of nut paste (almond or cashew) plus a dollop of fresh cream added towards the end to make it even richer.

This version uses just one teaspoon of vegetable oil and the small quantity of cashewnuts are enough to provide the rich creamy restaurant taste without the added calories from fat. The key to a delicious gravy is to not skimp on the onion sauteeing and make a really fine puree using a good quality blender. The pinch of kasoori methi in the end makes all the difference in giving that 'restauranty' flavour.

Vegans can substitute the paneer with tofu or boiled-drained soya chunks (sold in Indian stores under the brand Nutrela).

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Thoughts on the 31st December, 2007

It's that time of the year again when we think about the year that was and the year that will be. I'm glad that this love for food blogging has sustained its second year well. There have been the recent lows due to my regular broadband connection going AWOL, and google taking a full minute to load on my standby datacard. But that's history now. The broadband has been restored to its earlier glory and so will food blogging.

To capture all the action on Saffron Trail in 2007, I'd like to index all the recipes, category wise. The WBB round ups are all there on the left column. Saffron Trail had the honour of hosting Jihva for Ingredients in the month of July. Chillies were the chosen ingredient and the round up had 65 entries to make your mouth and eyes water!

Index of recipes blogged in 2007


Healthy Eating & Living
How to snack and lose weight
Detox diets – an overview
Weekend Detox plan
Vijaya Venkat's all natural lunch box ideas
14 ways to reduce your kitchen's carbon footprint

Breakfast
Breakfast Pancakes
Savoury pancakes with mushrooms and onions
Poro – Parsi Omelette
Onion Rava Dosai with spicy tomato chutney
Oats for dinner
Oats and mango in a glass
Farka – a Tunisian porridge
Vattayappam – steamed rice cakes from Kerala

Vegetables
Cauliflower and fenugreek greens in spicy peanut gravy
Bhindi Masala
Potato in Tamil Brahmin cuisine
Spinach mash or Keerai Masiyal
Bottlegourd in gravy or Dudhi ki sabzi
Snakegourd with lentils
Mushroom tikkis
Kovakkai Paruppu Usili
Bittergourd in spicy gravy or Pavakkai Pitlah
Chargrilled eggplant in yoghurt
Potato wedges
Potato for pooris
Ratatouille
Instant mushroom methi currry
Cabbage curry with Bengali spices
Steamed vegetable manchurian in gravy
Thalagam – Winter vegetables Tambram style
Green beans poriyal

Soups and salads
Red Soup
Cauliflower soup
Herby tomato salad with cheese and pine nuts
Yellow lentil and raw mango salad
Gobo inspired mango salad

Breads
Whole wheat pita bread
Beet milk bread
Zaatari parathas
Poori

Rice, Pasta, Noodles, Starches
Crispy bulgur patties
Cauliflower – Spinach – Pasta casserole
Thiruvadirai Kali
Fried rice with mustard greens
Onion rice

Lentils
Black eyed peas burgers
Instant green moong curry
Sambar with freshly ground spices

Sauces, Chutneys, Dips and Pickles
Homemade Marinara sauce
Mushroom & bell-pepper chutney
Tomato salsa / Instant tomato chutney
Eggplant dip and Red bean dip
Spicy yoghurt dip

Cakes, bakes, desserts
Carrot cake
Eggless beet cakes
The all Indian Strawberry Cheesecake
The easiest Brownies
Quick mango sandesh
Mango coconut icecream
Banana coconut semolina cake in 15 minutes
Seven cup cake
Cocoa ripple ring
5 minute besan laddoo
Eggless mava cake
Eggless banana cake


The most popular section week after week has been the Tamil Brahmin recipes where I jot down notes, taken over the phone (held between my shoulder and ear), while I'm hovering over the stove with a strong craving to eat food my genes are made up of. 2008 will see more of the rarer Tam-Bram recipes find their space on the blog. The piece written about Bhut Jholokia also seems to be on the top 5, at most times. This makes me wonder how many chilli obsessed people there are in the world.

Weekend Breakfast Blogging, the event started in 2006 to popularise breakfast as a meal and to get inspirations from food bloggers all around - found a different home each month from Feb 07 onwards starting with Eggs at Live to eat. The themes ranged from green leafy veggies to summer fruits, spices to oats. Breakfasts then went through Ethnic twists to leftover revivals, the most recent ones being omelettes and cornflakes.
A big vote of thanks to all the lovely hosts who spared time and effort to keep the WBB wheel moving. The event took a break in December, only to start afresh in Jan. (Watch this space!)


Here are some of my personal favourites from 2007

Black eyed peas burgers – Something so interesting from something seemingly boring

Dudhi ki sabzi – One of the best tasting zero-oil recipes ever made in our kitchen

Eggplant dip (Badenjan Dip) – Inspired from Nigella Lawson's show

Cauliflower spinach pasta casserole – my first attempt in casserole making and we fell in love with this dish

Strawberry cheesecake – First attempt and last attempt (by the time we'd eaten all of it, there was an extra inch on our waist)

Nupur of One Hot Stove has beautifully captured the year that's gone by and has asked fellow food bloggers to share the same - this section of my post goes to her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Plans for 2008
With the Applied Nutrition degree that will be mine in the beginning on the year, the focus will be on healthier, more nutritious food. Through the blog, I hope to share info on healthier foods, cooking techniques and nutrition fundamentals with all the health conscious folks.
The focus will also be on lesser known Indian regional cuisines. I'd love to discover newer healthy ingredients to cook with, making them more adaptable to Indian palates. Another thing on the agenda is to explore the vegetarian recipes from the cuisines of the world. I've also promised myself to better my photographic skills. Any pointers towards books and websites that help one do so are welcome.

A user-friendly index of recipes blogged so far is on the cards for long now. It should be up and running by end of Jan.

I'd like to thank all my readers for their continued support, the encouragement & caring from friends I have made in the food blogging world and of course my husband who has been super encouraging about any wild combinations I've come up with or anything new I've made him try, never making me feel foolish about something gone wrong or not tasting that great. He's been a huge positive influence for this blog. After all, every cook needs patient tasters right!

We'd like to wish all of you a wonderful 2008, that brings you tons of joy, love and good health and everything else you wish for.

Signing off and see you in the new year.
Nandita

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Thiruvadirai Kali and Thalagam

Kali and thalagam are a unique combination in Tamil Brahmin cuisine. Kali is a kind of jaggery sweetened upma and thalagam is a kind of sambhar made specially on this day of the year. Generally sambars are always had with rice or tiffin items like idlis and dosais. It is quite unusual that here a savoury thalagam is made to pair with the sweet Kali, something that brings to my mind the cliched phrase 'Opposites Attract'

The web portal Kerala Iyers gives a description about the Thiruvadirai ( Thiruvatharai / Thiruvadarai ) festival.

The celebration of this festival by Kerala Iyers is a mixture of the practice of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Early morning after the bath everybody tries to visit a Shiva temple. Afterwards 'Kali' a sweet made of Jaggery and fried rice powder is prepared. As a side dish (Kari) a very special preparation made out of Kavittu (Dioscorea yam), pumpkin and Averaikai (lab lab beans) is made. This is the only occasion when a salty side dish is prepared for a sweet. In Kerala homes Kali is made out of Arrowroot powder and Jaggery. In Tamil Iyer homes the side dish is similar to the usual Sambhar with large number of vegetables. They insist that a few of these vegetables must be tubers and a few born on tendrils. They call this preparation Thalagam. The chanting of Thiruvembavai common in Tamil Nadu is not observed in Kerala. In the afternoons swings made of split bamboo are hung in trees and all the children enjoy the swift swing. This practice is absent in Tamil Nadu.

Though we are not Kerala Iyers, my mother's family make thalagam as per the description above. Fresh winter vegetables like red carrots and Haricot beans along with red pumpkin, colocassia tubers, sweet potatoes and even plantains are cut into large chunks, cooked till soft and simmered in a freshly ground gravy - consisting of mainly red chillies, sesame seeds, coconut and a bit of rice and udad dal. Tamarind is used to give the tanginess and a bit of jaggery to balance it all out. The result is a thick vegetable stew, without the use of any cooked lentils for thickening as is always the case in sambar.

I have blogged about thalagam before, but I guess I have a more accurate recipe here, using the right kind of vegetables.



Thiruvadirai Kali
A traditional sweet rice and lentil preparation
The prepared recipe serves 4-5 people

To prepare the base
2 cups raw rice, washed several times in water, drained and dried off for an hour on a muslin cloth
3/4 cup moong dal (green gram dal, dehusked and split)

In a wok, place the rice and stir around on medium flame till it turns golden. This can take from 10-15 minutes.
After this is done, in the same wok, place the lentils and saute them till they are golden brown too.
Remove both onto a large dish and cool off.
Once cooled, grind in a mixer till you get a coarse powder.

To prepare Kali
1 cup of prepared base powder
1 cup jaggery crushed
2 1/2 to 3 cups water
1/4 cup fresh scraped coconut

Directions
1.In a wok, place 2 1/2 cups water to boil, along with the coconut scrapings. Once it is ready to boil, add in the crushed jaggery and stir till melted.
2. After the jaggery has melted, slowly add the prepared base powder to this on a medium flame with constant stirring so that no lumps are formed.
3. Keep stirring this until all the water has been absorbed and it the consistency of upma. If it is too dry, you can gradually add upto 1/2 more cup of water during the process.
4. Once this is done, remove the entire contents of the wok into a vessel that will go into your steamer or pressure cooker. Steam for 10 minutes (if in cooker, remember not to place the weight).
5. Serve hot with some melted ghee as it is or with thalagam.



Thalagam
Spicy thick vegetable stew made on festive occasion - Thiruvadirai
Generously serves 6 people

Vegetables required and preparation

1 large or 2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into 3/4" thick pieces
1 plantain, peeled and sliced into 3/4" thick pieces (kaccha kela / vazhaikkai)
6-8 small colocassia tubers (arbi / seppankizhanku)
1 medium sweet potato (ratthalu / seenikizhangu)
1/2 cup large dices of red pumpkin
10-15 haricot beans - stringed and snapped into half ( paapdi / avarakkai)

Peel the colocassia and sweet potato. If the colocassia are very small, then leave them as it is. Cut the sweet potatoes similar in size to the carrots and plantains.
Pressure cook the veggies in 2 cups water, with a pinch of turmeric and 1/2 tsp of salt for 5 minutes. (After the first whistle, reduce the flame to SIM and pressure cook for 5 minutes)


Tamarind extract
Soak 2 packed tablespoons of tamarind in water for 15 minutes OR Microwave this for a minute and keep aside to cool. Squeeze the tamarind to prepare a concentrated extract. Keep aside.


Preparing the spice paste
1/2 cup freshly scraped coconut
2 tbsp white sesame seeds

5 red chillies
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 heaped tbsp udad dal
1 tbsp raw rice
1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds

Directions

1. In a small kadai / saucepan, heat a tsp of oil. To this, add the coconut scrapings and stir for 5-7 minutes, till it turns very fragrant and slightly golden. Remove onto a dish to cool.

2. Next, place the sesame seeds in the saucepan, and saute till they turn golden and start crackling. Takes about 30 seconds to a minute. Remove onto the dish with the sauteed coconut and let cool.

3. Heat a tsp of oil in the same pan, add the mustard and fenugreek seeds. Once mustard seeds splutter, add the red chillies, raw rice, udad dal and saute till the rice and dal turn golden brown. Remove from flame and let cool.

Take all the above and grind to a very fine paste in a mixer adding up to a cup of water. Keep aside.


Final assembly
In a large pan, transfer the pressure cooked veggies with the residual water. To this add the tamarind extract, the ground spice paste. Stir well to mix and bring to a simmer. Add a tsp of salt (or to taste) and a small piece of jaggery. Add some more water if you want to thin out the consistency. Check for salt and serve hot with kali or plain steamed rice. Don't forget to fry some appalams (Tamil papads)

Tags: Thalagam, Kali, thiruvadirai, thiruvadarai, Festival Food, Recipe, Food, Indian food blog, Healthy eating, Healthy living, Mumbai, India

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A Ready-made Wishlist for Santa

Pic courtesy NY Times

The 'tasteful giving' list on the NY Times website, has caught my eye and heart and caught it badly. Each stuff is carefully chosen and is sure to be a delight for any food & kitchen lover. I wish there was one such list of irresistible foodie stuff compiled from stores in India...I'm sure there'll be something (am keeping my eyes open)!

Can you resist a cute yet practical grater like the one above?

For dining and wine lovers in the US, consider this a ready made wish list for Santa :)

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Another Banana Cake - David Lebovitz inspired

Warm pieces of cake

I never tire of making banana cakes (or bread if you like to call it that). Banana cake was the first thing I ever baked and it has remained a hot favourite. Besides, now that we are trying to avoid eggs in baked products too, it is fun to look at innovative ways to bake our favourite goodies by using interesting substitutes like yoghurt, coconut milk, coconut water, flaxeed paste etc.
For a banana cake, since bananas are a great binding agent anyway, use of adequate baking powder and replacing the liquid part of the eggs with a liquid of our choice seems to work pretty well.
I came upon this beautiful piece of cake on one of my favourite blogs, and I had to tie my apron on immediately. This was over 2 months ago and the cake turned out so moist and delicious, we simply loved it. In that one, I had sprinkled poppy seeds and arranged a sliced firm banana on the top - in addition to mashed ripe bananas in the mix. The banana slices caramelized to a yummy brown colour and deep rich taste. Unforgettable. I do remember having taken pics, but will take me a while to fish them out.
Today's version looks plane Jane in comparison, but I can already smell the sweet heady aromas, as it is baking.
Here's my recipe adapted from David Lebotitz's blog.



Dressed up BANANA CAKE

Time taken - Around one hour
Makes one loaf
Ingredients
1/2 cup All Purpose flour (Maida)
1 cup whole wheat flour (Atta)
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¾ cup crushed jaggery
4 tablespoons coconut water or coconut milk
2 medium sized, very- ripe bananas

½ cup yoghurt (homemade dahi)
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons ghee or butter or canola oil plus some more for greasing baking tin
1/3 cup walnuts or mixed nuts

few thin slices of banana, tbsp of sugar, pinch of cinnamon powder and poppy seeds (optional) to sprinkle over the top for decoration, before baking
Preparation
Butter a 9-inch (23 cm) square pan or a loaf pan. Preheat the oven to 350F (180 C).
Directions
1. Sift together in a bowl the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
2. In a mixer, put in the bananas, jaggery, coconut water and yoghurt. Blend into a fine puree.
3. In a large bowl, place the melted ghee. Add the puree into this along with vanilla essence.
4. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and stir in the wet ingredients with a spatula until almost mixed. Add in the nuts and stir until just combined, but don't overstir: stop when any traces of flour disappear.
5. Scrape the mixture into the prepared pan - top with banana slices nicely arranged, sprinkle sugar and cinnamon with some poppy seeds over the top and bake for 40 minutes, or until the center feels lightly-springy and just done.
6. Cool on a wire rack.
Notes:
This cake is very low in fat, from the two tbsp used. Sugar is replaced by jaggery which is a healthier source of sweetness, not to mention the lovely golden brown colour it imparts. Eggs are replaced by coconut water and 2/3rds of the the AP flour is replaced by whole wheat flour, adding to the fibre content.
I have also tried using 1/4th cup Semolina and 3/4 cup whole wheat flour, for a cake with added texture. Diabetics can enjoy a slice of this cake too, right after lunch or dinner without worrying about shooting up their blood sugar too much.

A word about WBB for December - I was trying to contact the blogger who had confirmed to take up this month until this week, and since I haven't received a response yet, I am assuming it is quite late to start the proceeds for the month. However your hostess for Jan is in the loop and I shall request her to announce the event by end Dec / early Jan for the first edition of WBB in 2008. In the meanwhile, you can expect a recap from me about WBB 2007 soon!

Other banana delights on Saffron Trail:

Eggless banana cardamom loaf

Honey banana muffins

Steamed / Microwaved Rava Banana cake

Morning Glory muffins

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