Meredith's Banana bread

Who would have thought that a dish made with mashed over-ripe bananas tastes this delicious???!!

I have never in my life eaten bananas! I would not eat it even when I was a baby, tells my mom!! Just thinking about blackened mushy bananas made me sick!! However, my manager Meredith Bishop at ConAgra foods Inc; got me addicted to this delicious bread :P 

Although I am writing it in 'A Perfectionist's cookbook' I have realized, I am not perfect at it :( I think it lacks Meredith's personal touch. She is one of the sweetest people I have ever known. She surprised me with loaves of banana bread every once in a while and it simply made my day. She shared the recipe with me and also gifted me the book she referred to for this recipe! She is the best!

Its been over a month that I stopped working at ConAgra, and I missed it so much, couldn't wait! I am crazy about this bread. Its sweet, its made with bananas, and yet its my favorite ;) This ones for you Meredith :)

This is a slightly healthy twist (also, if you replace the egg with alternatives, its a vegan recipe!)

You will need:

A greased bread loaf tin

3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup atta (or regular whole wheat flour)

1.5 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

3/4 cup sugar

1 cup mashed bananas (over-ripened **not photogenic :P)

1/4 heaped tsp ginger (finely grated)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

My cousin helped me :)

Bake oven to 350

sift/mix the flour, baking powder and baking soda

In a large bowl, blend together the bananas and oil, followed by egg and sugar. Beat until fluffy.

Mix in the ground ginger and lemon rind

blend in the dry mixture

stir in the walnuts

pour batter in greased bread tin and bake for about 50-55 minutes

serve warm, stays good for a couple of days at room temp. freeze-thaws well!

*Note: You can add 1/4 tsp cinnamon if you like.

             I did not have a loaf tin, so I used a 9" square tin (that way     

             I get more surface area for the crust- I reduced baking time

             to 45 min (adjust baking time according to the shape and 

             size of you tin))

yields one loaf of yummy, golden, moist.......well, just the 'perfect' Banana bread ever!

Masaale Bhaat

(Spicy Maharashtrian rice, a must-have in wedding menus)

It's so difficult to get hold of authentic traditional maharashtrian style masaale Bhaat. I wish I had appreciated it more in the past! Now I crave for it :P

A few years back I had masaale bhaat for the last time in waadi (a pilgrim place in Maharashtra). We were there for my cousin's threading ceremony, and they make it at the temple kitchen! And it was soooooo good, I got up at 6.00 am to watch them make it from scratch for someone else's wedding :P

Of course I had to hear a bit from my mom for disappearing like that! But she melted when I made it for her after we got back to Pune using a packet of masala the sweet lady over there gave me :)

Now that masala of course is the soul of this dish and unfortunately I finished all of the sample she gave me :/ so I made this using regular maharashtrian goda (kala) masala.. And it tastes good.. Not as good as the waadi one, but quite good!
This recipe serves 6 ppl. U can make half too. In the pictures I have made double of the following recipe.

You will need:
2 cups rice-washed, soaked for a bit and drained
Medium size chopped/cubed vegetables:
Cauliflower, potatoes, peas, tondli (tinda), are typical to masaale bhaat. (a total of 1.5- 2 cups of vegetables)
1/2 capsicum cut in squares


Oil
6-8 Curry leaves
Turmeric
extra Asafetida
2-3 dried red chillies
1-2 green chillies- slit
1 heaped tablespoon+ Goda masala
1 tbsp Coriander powder
1tsp Cumin powder
Whole spices: cumin seeds (1 tsp), bay leaf (2), black pepper (6-8)
sea salt or normal salt
1/4 cup minced Jaggery
Chopped cilantro

For garnish:
Fresh grated coconut
Chopped cilantro
Ghee :)
Wash and soak rice for at least 30 min. Then strain dry.

boil 3 cups water in a pan.

in another pan Heat oil (in a heavy bottom metal pan (if you have brass, perfect))

Add cumin and other whole spices
Add a little extra turmeric and asafetida (very important for the typical flavor profile)
Add curry leaves, chillies, chopped cilantro and capsicum

Add the other vegetables and fry or a bit
Add the masala and the powdered spices, followed by sea salt.
Stir in the strained rice. 

After a couple of minutes add the boiling water (with jaggery and salt mixed in for uniform mixing) to the rice and veggies.
Once it starts boiling, add minced jaggery stir and cover with a lid.
Cook on low flame for about half an hour.

Serve hot topped with cilantro, ghee and grated coconut if you like :)

I made this for my lab potluck dinner and got the opportunity of witnessing this! Masaale bhaat being eaten by chopsticks :) Thanks for posing Lin!

Sabudanyachi Khichadi

Tasty breakfast snack made with sago pearls. Eaten during fasts.

Today is my Aji's birth Anniversary. And whats better than sharing the recipe of the most amazing thing she made?! Sabudanyachi khichadi. Theres a 100 different ways people make this dish, but of course I like it only. this. one. way. Cannot (and in my opinion should not) be made in any other way :P 

I have had certain nightmarish experiences with khichadi. So let me make it clear: Curry leaves, hing, turmeric, mustard and the likes are not acceptable in the taste profile. At least not in the authentic maharashtrian style upawasachi khichadi.

She used to make it (on demand) every time we had guests or any fast. And I just longed for such occasions :) She was the best at the whole 'fast-menu' actually, but well khichadi is, was and will always be my favorite. Its utterly unhealthy and super fattening, but I dont care!

Sorry no pictures this time, but considering how much I crave for it right now, they will be up soon ;)

Pre-preparation:Soak sabudana (sago pearls)- take a cup of sabudana wash it 3-4 times with cold water, drain not to well and keep it overnight. The next day it should be dryish on the outside but every pearl should be soft and hydrated when crushed. 

Dry roast deskinned peanuts and crush them to a grainy powder in the grinder

Boil, peel and dice potatoes

Other ingredients needed:
Ghee and/or oil
Cumin seeds whole
Chopped (or crushed) green chillies
Chopped fresh cilantro
Lime juice
Salt to taste
Sugar (a lot- a little more than you would expect a savory dish to have) or you can completely omit this. My grandmom made it sweet!

Procedure:

Add salt and sugar in the sabudana and keep aside.

Heat oil and ghee mixture in a non-stick pan. 
Crackle cumin seeds and add green chillies and diced potatoes. 
When potatoes become golden add the peanut powder and stir. (It will cook and give off a nice aroma and become a moist oily pasty mixture. )

At this point add the sabudana. Stir and taste. Add more salt and sugar if needed ( I usually have to). The khichadi has to taste hot and sweet. And enough salty :)Cover for a few minutes, open and drizzle ghee on top and turn the heat off and cover again. Uncover after a couple of minutes and season with finely chipped cilantro leaves and lime juice. The end result should be moist but not a rubbery chunk. If its too dry sprinkle water and steam for an extra couple of minutes. 

Shrewsbury biscuits (cookies)

Yes! The buttery, crisp yellow cookies.. And this recipe yields perfect results. If you hail from Pune, you know what exactly I am talking about. 

The recipe is egg-less and soooo easy, great to do with kids.

I did these this weekend with my cousin! And look how much she enjoyed it :) we made one huge batch after another until we had almost 200ish small cookies!! She took them to her school! (The recipe below yields 50-60 small cookies or 25-30 large (actual shrewsbury size) cookies)

If you don't have Custard powder replace that by corn flour and vanilla extract.. The result won't be the same but not bad. Will still turn out like tasty shortbread cookies.

Perfect Christmas gift, this time well in advance :)

100g Amul butter (or 1 stick salted yellow butter)

1/2 cup sugar

1.5 cups all purpose flour

1 tbsp vanilla flavored custard powder

Milk

1/4 tsp soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven at 300 F.

Mix flour, soda, baking powder and custard powder.

Beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy.

Mix the dry mixture little at a time 

Knead into a dough.

Add milk as needed (I added a couple of tablespoons)

Roll manageable portions onto a clean surface and cut cookies

Bake on a greased sheet for 12-15 minutes at 300F.