Eggless Chocolate Banana Marble Cake

Baking this cake can make a delightful family treat.It is soft, moist and infused with a beautifull blend of flavors that will simply burst their tastebuds asking for more.The advantage of this cake is there is no need to use eggs considering the moistness and texture of this cake.

Ingredients

• 2 cups All purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 ripe banana
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup yogurt
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder

Procedure
Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius.Grease the 9x5x3 inch loaf pan and keep aside. Sieve the dry ingredients all purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and together 3 times.

Beat milk and sugar together till sugar dissolves.Add oil,yogurt,milk,mashed banana,vanilla extract and mix nicely.Combine with the above dry ingredients and mix nicely until all lumps dissappear.

Remove 1 cup plain batter into a bowl and mix cocoa powder to it nicely.Pour the spoonfull of cocolate batter followed by spoon full of plain batter and alternatively repeat the process for rest of batter now run a knife gently through the batter to get a nice swirl effect.

Bake for 60 minutes and test with a toothpick in the very center of the loaf to come out clean.Let it cool on a cooling rack, slice and enjoy.

Anytime Munch Rice Flake Mixture

Its summertime and the last place you want to be is the kitchen, kids are always demanding in these moments for a snack and there can be no better option to delight them with this light and crispy popular snack mixture.

Using microwave is a healthier option to prepare this snack without compromising on the taste

Ingredients

• 2 cups superfine rice flakes/chivda/atukalu/aval
• 1/4 cup peanuts
• 1/4 cup roasted dal
• 2 tbsp rice bran oil
• 3 springs of curry leaves
• 6-7 chopped green chillies
• 1/4 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp cummin/jeera seeds
• 1/8 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp chilli powder
• 1/4 tsp chat masala
• pinch of hing
• salt to taste

Procedure
Microwave the rice flakes stiring every one minute until it turns crispy in a microwave safe bowl for approximately 10 ten minutes. Keep an eagle eye else it may burn. Keep aside

Heat oil in a pan add cummin seeds,mustard seeds,hing and once it splutter add curry leaves, green chillies, peanuts and fry in a medium flame till peanuts roast properly.Then add the fried gram stir for 30 seconds and then the beaten rice, salt, turmeric, chilli powder , chat masala and stir until it blends completely

Let it cool and store it in a airtight jar to enjoy with a hot cup of tea anytime.

Delicious Eggless Thumbprint Jam Cookies

I have watching food food channel lately and it is so inspiring to watch Rakesh Sethi cook some wonderful recipes.Its been a long time I baked some cookies and this happens to be one of my favorite. These cookies have a mild crunch and would melt in your mouth.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup cooking butter
• 1/4 cup superfine sugar
• 1/4 cup maida / all purpose flour
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• 1/4 cup of dry fruits mixture
• 2 tbsp jam of your choice (I used mixed fruit jam)

Procedure
Dry roast the almond, pistachio, cashewnut and make a rough grained powder.

Beat the jam with the spoon until it becomes a smooth consistency and keep aside

Beat the butter and superfine sugar (powered sugar) and mix the vanilla essence and milk to it,then add the all purpose flour and mix nicely with a spatula and then with your hands into a soft lump , cover the dough with a cling wrap and refridgerate for 10 min

Preheat the oven for 180 degrees

After 10 min divide the dough into small lemon size balls. Roll the balls on the dry fruit mixture  then remove and press softly and make a small thumbprint in the center and fill with 1/4 tsp jam and place on a greased metal tray

Bake them for 30 minutes until they begin to turn golden brown .

Enjoy your cookies

Note:

1. Keeping the dough in refridgerator makes the dough more firm to handle

2. Dont refridgerate for too long otherwise the dough will become too hard

3. You can more versatile by a any other jam of your choice, I used kissan mixed fruit jam

The Authentic Panchapuran Aloo Mooli Curry

This authentic dish is prepared in the northeast part of India. It is traditionally cooked with 5 spices, panchpuran simply means "five spices" in Bengali. In Bengali cuisine mustard oil is extensively used, the aroma of mustard oil complements the other flavors of this gravy really well .

Ingredients

• 2 cups diced radish(approx 5 to 6 medium size)
• 1 cup diced potatoes(approx 2 medium size potatos)
• 3/4 cup chopped onion
• 3/4 cup chopped tomato
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp saunf
• 1/2 tsp black jeera
• 1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds
• 1 tbsp coriander powder
• 1/8 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp chilli powder
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp garlic ginger paste
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 3 tbsp mustard oil (see the note)
• 1/2 tsp himalayan salt or salt to taste.

Cooking Procedure
Wash the radish and poatoes and peel them ,cut them into dices.

In the pressure cooker heat another tbsp oil , add cumin seeds,mustard seeds,fenugreek seeds,saunf and black jeera (panchapuran) , when these seeds splutter, add onion garlic ginger paste,turmeric powder and stir till light golden brown. Add tomatoes and cook till soft.

Add all remaining powders,sugar,salt and stir until oil begins to saturate out of gravy.Then add the radish chunks and potatoes and stir and blend the mixture with the veggies and fry for 5 mins.

Add one cup of water mix nicely and cover the lid ,pressure cook for three whistles.Once it cools open lid and switch on the flame again and bring it to a boil.Mash some potato chunks in the curry to make the gravy little thicker.Check the consistency if needed add a little water.

Serve hot with rice or rotis.

Note:
1.Normally panchapuran and potao combination is awesome and when it is cooked in mustard oil it become awesome but prefer ot add some veggie with potato.

2.To cook food with mustard oil,first heat oil until the mustard oil begins to smoke otherwise the mustard oil would smell and spoils the dish.

3.Cooking with mustard oil is purely optional, but I prefer to cook my gravies with mustard oil for the authentic flavor and healthy benefits.

4You can shallow fry radish and potatos lightly before adding it to gravy but i prefer the above method when i am really in jiffy.

5.You can replace the radish with cauliflower and it will also taste awesome.