Mango Lassi

Mango Lassi is a perfect summer drink with its creamy texture and cooling properties. You can use fresh mangoes if it is in season or you could also use frozen or canned ones. This drink is flavored with cardamom or/and saffron. This is one of the popular beverages in Indian cuisine. You will definitely find them in menu of any Indian restaurant. 

Ingredients:

1. Ripe Mango - 1 cup
2. Yogurt - 1 cup
3. Milk - 1 cup
4. Sugar - 2-3 tablespoon 
5. Cardamom pods - 5

Method:

1. Peel the ripe mangoes, remove the pit and cut into large pieces. Add the mangoes pieces in a blender along with rest of the ingredients.
2. Add 5-6 ice cubes and blend them into smooth puree.
3. Serve immediately.

I had the opportunity to select the theme for "Shhh cooking secretly" challenge. This is a group in Facebook which has a monthly challenge. In this challenge a theme is selected at the beginning of the month by one of the participants. All the members are grouped in pairs. The participants will exchange 2 secret ingredients with their partners who are supposed to prepare a dish that matches the theme of that month. This month's theme is "Mango recipes" where we could make a dish from any cuisine using raw or ripe mangoes. My partner for this month is Preethi Prasad who blogs at Preethi's cuisine. My ingredients were cardamom and yogurt and I gave her coriander seeds and poppy seeds. She made a raw mango curry which is a perfect curry for hot steaming rice. 

Chocolate Ice cream - No milk or sugar recipe

This is one of the easiest and guilt-free ice cream recipes. This does not contain milk, eggs, or sugar. My kids are always super excited about this ice cream. They always like to eat it even before I freeze it.

I used Chiquita banana for the recipe but you can replace it with a small variety but make sure to increase the number to 5-6. Almonds can be replaced with cashews. I used Tunisian dates but you can use other varieties as well. Depending upon the size of the dates and your sweet preference, you can change the numbers used. 

Ingredients:

1. Banana - 2 large(Chiquita)
2. Almonds - 20 nos.
3. Cocoa powder - 1 tablespoon
4. Vanilla essence - 1 teaspoon
5. Dates - 10

Method:

1. Cut banana into thin slices and freeze it for at least 8 hours. 
2. Soak the almonds in water for 2 hours.
3. Once the almonds are soaked, peel the skin off and set aside.
4. Soak the dates for 5 minutes in warm water.
5. Take a blender/grinder and add frozen bananas, soaked and peeled almonds, cocoa powder, dates, and vanilla essence. Grind them into a fine paste by adding 2-3 tablespoons of water.
6. Transfer the mixture into a freezer-safe container and freeze for 8-10 hours.

Serve the ice cream in a cone or bowl. 

"Shhhhh Cooking  Secretly" is a monthly challenge in the Facebook group. At the beginning of the month, a theme is chosen by one of the participants and all the participants are grouped in pairs. The participants will exchange 2 secret ingredients with their partners who are supposed to prepare a dish that matches the theme of that month. 

This month's theme was "Frozen Treats" and it was chosen by Pavani Gunikuntla who blogs at Pavanis Kitchen. I am so glad she chose this theme for hot summer days. Do check Pavani's blog for "Easy Oreo Ice Cream". It looks super delicious and very easy to make. 

My partner for April 2021 is Mayuri Patel. She gave me bananas and dates as my secret ingredients. I gave her passion fruit and cream. She made a very unique 'Passion fruit and Tree Tomato Ice Cream'. Please do check her blog for the recipe and to read the interesting write-up about the history of ice cream and her memories associated with it. Her blog has a wide collection of delicious recipes. Some of them which I want to try very soon include "Mango and Vanilla Panna Cotta" and "Vanilla Pudding". 

Homemade Ice cream - No Sugar | No Condensed Milk | No Cornflour

Homemade ice cream served in store bought cone

This homemade ice cream is made without added sugar, condensed milk, cream or cornflour. It can enjoyed guilt free. 

Ingredients:

1.  Banana(Chiquita) - 3
2. Dates - 10 count
3. Almonds - 25 count
4. Vanilla essence - 1 teaspoon

Method: 

1. Make thin slices of banana and freeze for at least 4 hours.
2. Soak almonds and dates in water for 1/2 hour.
3. Take a blender and add soaked almonds, dates and 2 tablespoon of water and grind to a fine paste.
4. Add frozen banana slices and vanilla essence and blend till they form a smooth paste. 
5. Add the mixture in a freezer safe box(preferably glass) and freeze for at least 8 hours. 

Serve this ice cream in a bowl or store bought cones.

Banana Walnut Muffins

Makes: 12 muffins

Ingredients:

1. All purpose flour - 1.5 cup
2. Baking powder - 1 tsp
3. Baking soda - 1/2 tsp
4. Cinnamon powder - 1 tsp
5. Salt - 1/2 tsp
6. Banana - ripe - 3
7. Sugar - 1/2 cup
8. Brown sugar - 1/4 cup
9. Butter (melted) - 1/3 cup
10. Egg - 1
11. Vanilla essence - 1 teaspoon
12. Walnuts - 1/4 cup chopped

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 deg F(180 deg C). Line muffin tray with muffin cups or grease with butter.
2. Sift all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon powder and salt and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, mash the ripened bananas. Add sugar, brown sugar, butter, egg and vanilla essence and combine them together.
4. Fold in flour mixture into wet ingredients in small quantities. 
5. Add in half of the chopped walnuts and mix well.
6. Equally distribute the batter in muffin cups.
7. Sprinkle little walnuts on top of the batter. 
8. Bake for 25 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
9. Cool for couple of minutes and serve.

Kayappam | Undampori | Bonda

Kayappam is easy-to-make and one of the popular snacks in Kerala tea shops. It tastes best when  served with tea.

Ingredients:
1. Wheat flour - 2 cup
2. Banana - 1 medium or 3 small bananas
3. Jaggery - 1/2 cup
4. Cardamom powder - 1/2 teaspoon
5, Salt - 1 pinch
6. Baking soda - 1 pinch
7. Oil for deep frying

Method:
1. Melt jaggery with 1 cup of water. Strain the syrup to remove any impurities and allow to cool.

2. In a large mixing bowl, take wheat flour, cardamom powder, salt and baking soda and mix well.

3.  Peel and mash the bananas with a fork. Add the mashed banana to dry ingredients along with jaggery syrup. Combine well to form a very thick batter. It more or less should be like a sticky dough.

4. Allow the batter to ferment for 4-6 hours.

5. Heat oil in a frying pan on low-medium heat. Wet your hands by dipping in a bowl of water, take a lemon sized batter, roughly shape into rounds and drop in hot oil. Fry on low-medium heat until the outside turns dark golden color.

6. Drain excess oil in a tissue and serve with tea.

This can be stored in an airtight container for 2 days.

Check out the video of how to make kayappam in youtube.

Oats Energy Bites

Ingredients:
1. Quick cooking oats - 1 cup
2. Pitted dates - 1 cup
3. Honey - 1 tablespoon
4. Vanilla essence -  1/2 teaspoon
5. Cocoa powder -1 teaspoon
6. Salt- a pinch

Method:
1. Dry roast oats on stove top until they turn crisp. It takes around 15 minutes on medium flame. Stir continuously to avoid burning.

2. Blend roasted oats with rest of the ingredients in a food processor or blender.

3. Roll into balls. They can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Linking this recipe to "Shhh Cooking Secretly Challenge", a monthly event started by Priya. For the month of March, I paired up with Amrita who gave me oats and honey as my ingredients.
Amrita blogs at "The Food Samaritan".

Pineapple Kesari

Serves: 4

Ingredients:
1. Rava/Semolina - 1/2 cup
2. Sugar - 1/4 cup
3. Pineapple pieces - 1/2 cup
4. Ghee - 3 tablespoon
5. Raisins and Cashews - 2 tablespoon
6. Salt - a pinch
7. Turmeric powder - a pinch for color

Method:
1. Heat a tablespoon of ghee in a pan and fry raisins and cashews and set aside.

2. In the same pan, add pineapple pieces and 1/2 cup of water and cook until all the water evaporates.

3.  In a different pan, boil 1 1/4 cup of water and add salt and turmeric powder.

4. Reduce the flame to medium and add semolina and stir continuously. Make sure there are no lumps.

5. Now add cooked pineapple, 2 tablespoon of ghee and sugar and give it a good  mix. Cover and cook for few more minutes and finally add fried cashews and raisins.

Serve hot or cold.
Turmeric powder can be substituted with saffron or yellow food color. Sugar quantity can be adjusted as per your taste.

Banana Bread

Recipe Source: Grandma's Banana Bread

Ingredients:
1. Ripe Bananas - 3 large
2. All purpose flour - 1 1/2 cup
3. Butter (melted)- 1/3 cup
4. Egg - 1
5. Sugar - 1 cup
6. Baking soda - 1 teaspoon
7. Salt - 1/4 teaspoon

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 350 deg F/180 deg C. Grease a 9 x 5 loaf pan.

2. Combine salt and baking soda to flour and set aside.

3. In a large mixing bowl, mix together melted butter and mashed bananas.

4. Add sugar, egg and vanilla extract.

5. Add flour mixture and mix well.

6. Pour the batter in greased loaf pan and bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Kulkuls | Goan Christmas Sweet

Ingredients:
1. All purpose flour/ Maida - 1 cup
2. Sugar - 1/3 cup
3. Melted butter - 1/4 cup
4. Salt - 1/4 teaspoon
5. Vanilla extract - 1 teaspoon
6. Oil for deep frying

Method:
1. Add sugar and vanilla extract to melted butter and mix well.

2. Take flour in a mixing bowl and add salt and butter mixture. Rub the flour between your palm to get a course texture.

3. Add water little by little and knead the flour into a soft dough.

4. Cover the dough and let it rest for 15 minutes.

5. Take small marble sized portion of dough and shape into a ball. Place the ball on the back of fork, flatten it and gently roll to form a shell shaped kulkuls. Do the same with remaining dough.

6. Heat oil for deep frying on medium flame.

7. When oil is hot, fry the kulkuls until they turn golden brown. Drain excess oil on a paper towel.

8. Cool them completely before storing in an air tight container.

Banana Halwa - Kerala Style

Ingredients:

1. Nenthra pazham / Kerala banana - 2 large well-ripened 

2. Ghee - 1/4 cup

3. Sugar - 1/2 cup

4. Cardamom powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Method: 

1. Take a heavy bottomed vessel and add sugar and 1/4 cup of water. Turn on the stove on medium flame.

2. Once the sugar melts, add finely chopped bananas and cook until bananas are soft. Stir occasionally to avoid sticking to the bottom of vessel. This takes around 15 minutes. 

3. Add ghee and mix well. Cook on medium flame and stir continuously. Cook until bananas turn dark brown in color and the ghee starts to separate from halwa. It takes around 45 minutes to get to this stage. 

4. Add cardamom powder, mix well and turn off the flame.

5. Transfer the halwa on a greased cookie sheet or similar container, level the halwa and allow it to set for around 1 hr. Cut into desired shape and serve.

Ari Unda | Rice Ladoo

Ingredients:

1. Red rice/Parboiled rice - 1 cup

2. Coconut grated - 1/2 cup packed

3. Jaggery - 2 cubes or 1/2 cup grated

Method:

1. Wash the rice and drain the water completely. Spread them on a kitchen towel and allow it to dry for 1 hour.

2. Take a heavy bottomed pan and dry roast the rice on medium flame until they turn crisp. It takes around half and hour to roast the rice.

3. Powder the rice into coarse powder(just like puttu podi).

4. Mix rice powder, grated coconut and grated jaggery and pulse in a blender for few seconds.

5. Shape them into lemon sized balls and enjoy.

Chickpea flour and Wheat flour burfi

Ingredients:

1. Chickpea flour/Besan - 1/2 cup

2. Wheat flour - 1/4 cup

3. Fine rava/semolina - 2 tablespoon

4. Butter - 4 tablespoon

5. Brown sugar - 4-5 tablespoon 

6. Salt - a pinch

7. Cardamom - 2 

8. Milk - 1-2 tablespoon

9. Oil - 1 teaspoon for greasing pan

Method:

1. Grease a plate/baking tray with oil and keep it aside.

2. Heat butter in a pan on medium heat and add chickpea flour, wheat flour and semolina. Stir continuously and fry until the flour turns light brown in color. Check if you get the bitterness of chickpea flour. If yes, continue roasting for few more minutes. Uncooked chickpea flour tastes bitter.

3. Once the flour is well roasted, add a pinch of salt, brown sugar, powdered cardamom and a tablespoon of milk. Mix well and check for sugar. Once the sugar melts, the flour mixture turns into a thick paste. 

4. Transfer this mixture into a greased plate and let it cool completely. 

5. Slice the burfi into desired shape and serve. 

Avocado Chocolate Banana Smoothie

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

1. Avocado (sliced and frozen)- 1 

2. Banana (sliced and frozen)- 1 

3. Unsweetened cocoa powder - 2 tablespoon

4. Cold Milk - 1 cup

5. Brown sugar - 3 tablespoon

Method:

1.Put all the ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth.

2. Pour it in serving glass, sprinkle little cocoa powder and serve.

Homemade Bordeaux Cookies

Bordeaux cookies are crispy and best enjoyed with a glass of cold milk. These cookies taste very similar to Pepperidge Farm Bordeaux Cookies.

Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in southwest France. The historic part of the city is on the UNESCO World Heritage List as “an outstanding urban and architectural ensemble” of the 18th century. Bordeaux is also an upscale place- a city for luxury shopping, drinking, and eating. (Info from http://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-guides/france-travel-tips/bordeaux/). 

Adapted from: Grandma Bees Recipes

Yields - 20

Ingredients:
1. Flour - 1 cup (I used whole wheat white flour, but you can use all-purpose flour)
2. Unsalted butter - 1 stick/8 tablespoon, softened
3. Brown sugar - 2/3 cup or white sugar - 1/2 cup
4. Baking powder - 1 teaspoon
5. Whole milk - 2 tablespoon

Method:
1. In a mixing bowl, cream together sugar and butter until smooth.

2. Add milk and baking powder and mix well.

3. Slowly add flour and combine together to form a dough.

4. Wrap the dough in a plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

5. When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 deg F.

6. Meanwhile roll the dough into 1/4 inches thick and cut into desired shape using a cookie cutter.

7. Place the cookies in parchment lined baking tray with at least 3 inch distance between each cookie. The cookies are going to spread while baking.

8. Bake for 7-9 minutes until the top of the cookie turns golden brown. These cookies are soft just after baking but they harden once they cool down. Store in an airtight container.

Submitting this recipe to "International Food Challenge", an event by Saraswathi of Sara's Yummy Bites.

Boterkoek | Dutch Butter Cake

Recipe Source: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/boterkoek-dutch-butter-cake/

Serving: Makes 1 8 inch round cake

Ingredients:
1. All-purpose flour - 1 1/4 cup
2. Butter, softened - 1/2 cup
3. Sugar - 3/4 cup
4. Egg - 1 beaten
5. Baking powder - 1 teaspoon
6. Almond extract - 1 teaspoon
7. Almond slices - 1/4 cup

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).  Grease a 8 inch round cake pan.

2. Mix together all-purpose flour and baking powder and keep it aside.

3. In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add beaten egg, reserving a teaspoon of it to brush over the top.  Stir in the almond extract.  Add the flour and baking powder mixture and combine well with a wooden spoon.  The dough will be stiff.

4. Press evenly into the greased pan.  Press almond slices into the top and brush the top with reserved egg.

5. Bake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.

Linking this recipe to "International Food Challenge", an event by Sara.

An InLinkz Link-up

Coconut Ladoo using Ricotta Cheese

This year's Krishna Janmashtami is celebrated on August 17th and I have decided to make this coconut based sweet dish. It is Coconut Ladoo using Ricotta Cheese. 

Ricotta Cheese is made from whey of milk. It has a very similar texture as that of khoa, but khoa and ricotta cheese are not the same. Khoa is made from whole milk and lower in moisture content. 

Ricotta Cheese acts as a good binding agent and adds a very good flavor to this coconut ladoo. 

Servings: Makes 8 medium sized ladoo

Ingredients:
1. Grated coconut(fresh/frozen) - 1 cup
2. Ricotta cheese - 1/2 cup
3. Sugar - 1/4 cup
4. Cardamom powder - 1/4 teaspoon
5. Raisins - few(8-10 count)

Method:
1. Heat a wide non-stick pan on medium flame.

2. Add in ricotta cheese and sugar. Stir continuously until all the moisture evaporates and this takes around 15 minutes.

3. Then add in grated coconut and mix well. Reduce the flame to low-medium and stir continuously to remove all the water content from coconut.

4. Turn off the flame and add cardamom powder. Let it cool to room temperature.

5. Make small balls and stick a raisin in each of the ladoo.

These ladoo needs to be refrigerated if you are not consuming immediately.

Healthy Green Peas Dessert

If you are one of those who like the taste of green peas, then I bet you will surely enjoy this delicious dessert. There is no sugar added, instead the sweetness is from dates. This creamy textured healthy dessert has all the richness from green peas, dates and almonds.

Ingredients:

1. Green Peas - fresh/frozen = 1/2 cup

2. Dates - 7-10 count

3. Almonds/Badam - 10-12 count

4. Greek Yogurt - 1 teaspoon

Method:

1. Soak almonds and dates in hot water for around 5 minutes. Peel off the skin of almonds and remove the seeds from dates. Soaking dates in water makes them soft and easy to grind.

2. Cook green peas on stove top for around 10 minutes or microwave for 3 minutes.

3. Keep aside few almonds for garnishing. Blend rest of the almonds, green peas, dates and Greek yogurt into a fine paste.

4. Refrigerate for an hour. Garnish with almonds and serve chill.

I am linking this recipe to CWS event hosted by A Bowl Of Curry, organized by Priya's Versatile Recipes.

Also linking this to Foodalulous Fest, an event hosted at A Bowl Of Curry, organized by Simply Tadka.

Linking this recipe to Dish it out Event - Green Dishes at Cook's Joy - July 2014.