Say it with Chocolates !

The time has come to bid farewell to the year 2010 and welcome the New Year 2011 !

Lets hope the coming New Year will bring us all glad tidings -  good health, peace, happiness, prosperity and last but not the least some good healthy and tasty recipes too !!

Home-made chocolates with nuts and raisins

Say it with chocolates - what better way to wish all my relatives, friends, and readers, good health, wealth, peace and happiness on this coming New Year and start it on a sweet chocolatey note !

Semolina Banana Cake (eggless)

This is one of the most easiest eggless cake to make. Ideally, it should be called "No fuss  No Mess" Cake !. Its very simple to make as all the ingredients are almost always available in all homes and according to me a healthy one too, as it contains no maida, no baking powder and no butter !! This cake will not rise so there is no anxiety at all and this is best suited for a small oven as it will take only 15-20 mins to bake. The taste is simply delicious. However if baked in a loaf tin which I did this time, it takes a longer time to bake.

Just removed from the oven

Sliced cake

Ingredients:

Semolina (Fine sooji)	1 cup
Sugar	¾ cup
Milk	1 cup
Bananas (Robusta or Chiquita)	2-3
Cardamom  powder	½ tsp
Mixed chopped nuts	2 tbsps
Raisins	1 tbsp
Saffron/Kesar	A few strands
Ghee (clarified butter)	About 2tsps

Method:

1. Roast semolina in 1tsp of ghee till light brown.
2. Crush the saffron in a tsp of warm milk and keep aside.
3. Peel the bananas and puree it in the blender. Then add to it sugar, milk and the roasted and cooled semolina and run the blender for a few seconds.
4. Mix in the nuts, raisins, cardamom powder and the saffron into it.
5. Pour this batter into a greased (with 1 tsp of ghee) loaf tin.
6. Bake in the (preheated) oven at 170 degrees centigrade for 35-40 mins.
7. Cool it on a wire rack and cut into slices.

Preparation time: 30 mins
Baking time  :      40mins
Makes : 20 slices

Note :

If the cake is baked in a square or round cake tin instead of a loaf tin, then the baking time will be reduced to 15 to 20 mins only.

Chocolate chip cookies (eggless)

Its that time of the season when everybody is in the mood to have a good time and to eat yummy things. The climate too adds to the festivity. I too am in a mood of baking and what better way of starting it than the delicious chocolate chip cookies. 

This is an easy recipe and does not take much time to prepare or bake but the aroma of the baking lingers for quite sometime not only in your kitchen but also in your neighbour's ! So be prepared !

Ingrdients:

Margarine /Butter	125 gms
Castor sugar	50 gms
Brown sugar	50 gms
Vanilla essence	1 tsp
Following  to be sifted twice
All purpose flour (maida)	200 gms
Cocoa powder	25 gms
Bi-carbonate of soda	¼ tsp
Baking powder	½ tsp
Salt	¼ tsp
Combine the following
Chocolate chips	50 gms
Walnuts	50 gms

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180degrees centigrade. 
2. Cream butter and both sugars and vanilla essence together until light and fluffy.
3. Fold in sifted dry ingredients.
4. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts.
5. Mix and combine well into a dough.
6. Knead the dough and make little balls, flatten and place on baking tray 4-5cm apart.
7. Bake for 10-15mins.
8. Cool on a wire rack and store in an air-tight container when completly cooled.

Preparation time: 35 mins
Baking time       : 15 mins


Makes             : 40 cookies


Note:

• .If salted butter is used, do not add salt.
• Cookies will rise a little and will not expand much but small cracks may appear. 
• Cookies will be soft until cooled to room temperature.

Eggless Chocolate Pudding

The word "chocolate" brings a smile on any childs' face or for that matter any human being. It is difficult to resist the offer of any chocolate. Now-a -days more so, as  it has also been proven that dark chocolates are good for health. Moreover, its the season to cheer so even if you are health concious, once in a way I feel there is no harm in indulging !!

I have made this chocolate pudding using "China Grass" or "Agar Agar" as it is also known as. It  is used as a gelatine substitute mostly by vegetarians as gelatine contains animal matter. China Grass is derived from seaweed which helps to coagulate or 'set' liquids.

This is a very tasty and easy to make pudding.

 Ingredients:
 

Milk	½ litre or 500ml
Cocoa powder	2 tbsps
Drinking chocolate	1 tbsp
Sugar	100 gms or ½ cup
Corn flour	5-6 tbsps
Cream	100 gms or ½ cup
China grass (agar agar)	About 5 gms
Water	1/4th cup
For Decoration (optional)
Whipped cream and glazed cherry

 Method:

1. Put "china grass" (agar agar) in 1/4th cup of water and heat it till its completely dissolved.
2. Combine sugar, corn flour, cocoa powder,drinking chocolate in a bowl. Add litle milk and make a paste.
3. Boil remaining milk. Lower the flame and add to it the corn flour sugar etc mixture stirring constantly and until a thick and smooth mixture is formed. Switch off the gas.
4. Now add cream and the melted hot china grass into this smooth mixture. Mix well.
5. Rinse a jelly mould with cold water.
6. Pour the mixture in the mould and set in the freezer for 1 hour or refrigerate it for 2-3 hours.
7. Unmould pudding before serving and decorate it with whipped cream and glazed cherry.

Preparation time : 20 mins
Cooking time      : 10 mins


Note:

• China Grass is readily available in any Super Market.
• Instead of whipped cream, the pudding can also be decorated by mixed nuts or grated chocolate.

Lemon Grass & Tea

Hi ! Folks, it has been brought to my notice and rightly so, that I seem to be concentrating only on the " Ladle" part of my blog and thereby neglecting the "Brush" and the "Spade" part. So, this time I thought of doing some spade work and bring a little garden into my blog ! Fortunately or unfortunately, my gardening is confined to a limited space in my balcony wherein I have managed to grow some herbs, flowering and some ornamental plants. I shall begin by wrting about the "medicinal grass" i.e. Lemon Grass.


Lemon Grass or "Taakaa Tana" as it is called in Konkani is a medicinal plant and generally used in making tea for its flavour and also as a remedy for cold and cough. Two years ago, I got a small plant of lemon grass  from our village in Udupi district. Since it had small roots, I planted it in a pot After about a month, a small shoot appeared. And now it has grown to a considerable height. It grows easily in a pot without much care. It does need sunlight though and care should be taken to see that water is drained well and not retained at the roots.

Lemon Grass growing in my balcony

I often make tea from its leaves. It is not only very aromatic and refreshing but has a whole lot of medicinal properties. From its leaves I also make what is known as "Kashai" or "Kaadaa" i.e. a remedy for cold and cough especially for children. The surface of these leaves are rough and the edges quite sharp so care should  be taken while cleaning and handling the leaves. Always clean the leaves from the broad end towards the pointed end and not vice versa as it can easily cut your skin.

In Thailand and in China, the bulb of lemon grass is used for cooking.

Lemon Grass tea

Here is the quick recipe for lemon grass tea :

Ingredients : 2 cups of water and  3-4 leaves of lemon grass cleaned & chopped.


Method:
Boil  water and add to it the cleaned and chopped lemon grass. Let it boil for about 2-3 minutes  (the colour of water will turn slightly greenish). Switch of the gas and leave it covered for a minute and then strain it. Drink it while its hot and do not add sugar.

Recently, I also read that it has anti-cancer properties.

I came across this site which I thought of sharing with you all.
Fresh lemon grass fields in Israel become Mecca for cancer patients.