Dates and Banana payasam in coconut milk

This payasam/sweet/dessert is made using all natural sweeteners. Its easy to make , healthy and delicious and my kids relished it as their evening drink, following is the recipe for the same.

1.Pitted dates- 20
   Ripe Kerala banana ( Nendrapazham)- 2
   Water 1/2 cup
2.Grated coconut - 2 cups
   Hot water -1 cup
3.Cardamom powder - a pinch
   Cashew nuts - 2 tspn
   Ghee/clarified butter- 2 tspn

Pressure cook pitted dates and chopped bananas in half cup of water for 2 whistles or until it is cooked.
Remove the milk from the grated coconut using hot water in a blender and keep aside
Mash or blend the cooked dates and banana mixture and add the coconut milk and cook until the milk boils or bubbles.
Remove from flame, add a pinch of cardamom powder and fry cashew nuts in ghee/clarified butter and garnish over the payasam.

Note: Hope you would have noticed that I have not used any sugar or jaggery , all the sweetness comes from the dates, so if you want the payasam more sweet , please feel free to add more dates.

Serve hot or cold and enjoy!

Banana butterscotch cake

 

It was such a day when I had loads of over riped bananas in my fruit bowl and scratched my head as to how to use it off. being a weekend thought of baking a quick banana muffins with it , but dint have the patience to even arrange the muffin moulds and whole of the experiment resulted with a cake in the shape of a foccacia bread :) . Anyway it tasted lovely and so all was fair!!

Here goes the recipe which is quite simple and I did the mixing in my food processor bowl , so it was all the more easy, nevertheless the texture of the cake was good

            

                         

                               

  

Ingredients

Eggs  - 2

Mashed bananas - 1 cup

Raisins - 1 cup

Sugar - 2 tbspns

Whole wheat flour - 1 cup

Refined oil - 1/4 cup

Baking powder - 1 tspn

Baking soda - a pinch

Butter scotch - a handful

Method 

Mix everything in a food processor or in a large bowl whisk it up and pour the batter in a pan . Top it with a handful of butterscotch and bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees celsius for about 20 - 25 mins or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean

The butter scotch gives a very nice crunchy crust for the cake !

Banana, mango and vanilla frozen yoghurt

Banana, mango and vanilla frozen yoghurt 

Was watching Dona Hay's fast , fresh and simple few months back and she was making this smoothie, it was so simple and looked tasty too . Had thought of making this when the mangoes arrive. And to my surprise my dear husband reminded me about this recipe when he saw the mangoes in the fruits bowl! Without much delay I made it and its so so simple to make and is tasty too. So here goes the simple recipe

• 2 bananas, peeled and chopped
• 3 mangoes, peeled and chopped
• 3/4 cup yoghurt/curd
• Vanilla essence ( I used vanilla pods )

Place the banana and mango in an airtight container and freeze for 4 hours or until frozen. Place the banana, mango, essence/scrapes of vanilla pod and yoghurt in a food processor and process until smooth.  

• Make sure that you take good bananas,  preferably sweet robustas
• Make sure that you select the fine mangoes too , avoid the ones which you think will have thick fibres.
•  If not serving straight away, return to an airtight container and freeze. Allow to soften for 5 minutes before serving. You could scoop into ice-cream cones to serve.
• You can change the ratio of the mangoes and bananas to you preference. 
• Optionally you can sugar too

 

 

Caramelised banana

Caramelized banana


Ingredients 

Banana- 1 no. ( i use the big kerala banana) 
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/25/63498403_be58b14be4.jpg
Jaggery powder - 2- 3 tablespoon, add more if u want more sweet.
Water - 1 cup
Ghee- 1 tspn
Cardomom powder - a pinch

method:
1) Chop the banana into small round pieces and keep aside
2) Melt the jaggery adding one cup of water, seive it and pour in a thick bottom vessel.
3) Add the chopped banana pieces into the jaggery syrup and let it cook till the water reduces, keep stirring .
4) Remove from heat when the water disappears and the banana pieces looks really cooked and coated with jaggery syrup.
5) remove from heat, add ghee if u r serving for kids and sprinkle cardomom powder.