Oaty banana snack cake

I don't know where I got this recipe - it was in my collection of recipes, hand-written in those days when I (presumably) didn't have a printer handy. I can't imagine why else I would have written it out painstakingly rather than printing it. Once upon a time, I used to be an enthusiastic letter writer, writing chatty letters of up to a dozen pages to penpals and friends. In fact, the number of handwritten pages doubled if I was writing to my German penpals at the time, because I'd have to compose my letter in "rough" (because of the many stop-starts and cross-outs) and then copy it out again in "fair". 

And to think that now, if I have to write more than 10 lines at a stretch, I get cramps in my hand...! Yes, actual cramps - and honestly I don't know whether that's due to old age or the unaccustomedness of exerting pressure on a pen with my fingers. I did attempt to write longhand letters to a couple of old friends recently, but the effort didn't last beyond two exchanges. The fact that I don't write anymore has no bearing on my love for writing paper and fountain pens - I just LOVE both!

Um... yes, I do realise that pens, paper and handwritten letters have no bearing on this recipe. The cake is chewy with oats, rich with the flavour of bananas and not very sweet. I used an expensive brand of orange oil extract because I didn't have any oranges (for zest). But do use actual fresh orange zest (and 1/4 cup of orange juice) if you have them. The batter is thick enough to take the optional 1/4 cup of juice without becoming overly runny.

Recipe for: Oaty banana cake

Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups oats (I used organic jumbo oats)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon powder
1/3 heaping cup demerara sugar (or use brown sugar)
1/3 cup sultanas or raisins
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (two medium)

1 large egg
1 cup yogurt (I used low-fat Greek style)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp orange zest or 2 tsp orange oil extract
2 tbsp oil
1/4 cup orange juice (optional)

Method:

1. Mix together the oats, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, raisins and cinnamon powder in a large bowl.

2. In another bowl, lightly beat the egg, then whisk in the yogurt, oil, vanilla extract, orange zest

and mashed bananas.


3. Pour the wet batter into the dry mix,

then lightly stir until just mixed.

Do not overbeat. The batter will be quite thick.
4. Spray a 7" square baking pan with Pam (or grease thoroughly with butter, if you like), and pour the batter into the pan.
5. Bake at 180C/350F for about 30-40 minutes, or till a tester comes out clean.

Check the cake after 30 minutes and keep an eye on it thereafter. Once the cake is done, let it remain in the pan for 5  minutes. Remove to a wire cooling rack.

When the cake is cool, cut into bars and serve. 

RECIPE: OATY BANANA SNACK CAKE

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups oats (I used organic jumbo oats)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon powder

1/3 heaping cup demerara sugar (or use brown sugar)

1/3 cup sultanas or raisins

1 cup mashed ripe bananas (two medium)

1 large egg

1 cup yogurt (I used low-fat Greek style)

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp orange zest or 2 tsp orange oil extract

2 tbsp oil 
1/4 cup orange juice (optional)

Method:

1. Mix together the oats, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, raisins and cinnamon powder in a large bowl. 

2. In another bowl, lightly beat the egg, then whisk in the yogurt, oil, vanilla extract, orange zest and mashed bananas. 

3. Pour the wet batter into the dry mix, then lightly stir until just mixed. Do not overbeat. The batter will be quite thick. 

4. Spray a 7" square baking pan with Pam (or grease thoroughly with butter, if you like), and pour the batter into the pan. 

5. Bake at 180C/350F for about 30-40 minutes, or till a tester comes out clean. Check the cake after 30 minutes and keep an eye on it thereafter. Once the cake is done, let it remain in the pan for 5  minutes. Remove to a wire cooling rack. When the cake is cool, cut into bars and serve. 

Cherry muffins

This is a simple muffin recipe - not that muffins are overly complicated things to make, but there are recipes which do turn them into a full-scale production. For this one, however, you mix the dry and the wet separately, then introduce the wet to the dry to make the batter, fold the cherries in briefly and voila! Bob's your uncle and the muffin batter is all ready to go in the muffin pans. (If, by the way, Bob IS your uncle, do say hello from me. I don't have an uncle Bob in my life.)
Recipe for: Cherry muffins

Ingredients:

2 cups sour cherries (I used canned cherries, drained)

2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp vanilla extract

4 tbsp butter, melted

2 large eggs

1 cup milk

Method:

1. Mix together the flour, baking powder and sugar in a large bowl.
2. In a smaller bowl, mix the melted butter,

milk,

eggs and vanilla

and stir till well combined.
3. Make a well in the flour, then pour in the wet milk mixture and stir together lightly until the flour is just combined.
4. Stir in the cherries,

 then spoon the batter into a muffin pan lined with paper cases. Bake at 180C for about 30 minutes, till the muffins are golden brown on top.

Remove from the oven and let the muffins cool in the pan for 10 minutes.

Serve warm.


RECIPE: CHERRY MUFFINS

Ingredients:

2 cups sour cherries (I used canned cherries, drained)

2-3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp vanilla extract

4 tbsp butter, melted

2 large eggs

1 cup milk

Method:

1. Mix together the flour, baking powder and sugar in a large bowl.
2. In a smaller bowl, mix the melted butter, milk, eggs and vanilla and stir till well combined.
3. Make a well in the flour, then pour in the wet milk mixture and stir together lightly until the flour is just combined.
4. Stir in the cherries, then spoon the batter into a muffin pan lined with paper cases. Bake at 180C for about 30 minutes, till the muffins are golden brown on top. Remove from the oven and let the muffins cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Serve warm.

Brussels sprouts and cabbage with sesame masala

Cabbage and brussels sprouts are not most people's favourite vegetables, but I love them. I made this recently for the first time when a friend came to dinner. It went down very well with rice and sambar, but it would also be just as good with rotis. Cabbage love is such a heartwarming thing when it happens naturally... Please don't ask me what that means, because I don't know. The sentence/sentiment just popped into my head and out through my fingers. Anyway, I'm sure you'll enjoy this dish, readers mine, so do try it.
Recipe for: Brussels sprouts and cabbage with sesame masala

Ingredients:

2 cups cabbage, shredded

1/2 cup brussels sprouts, shredded
2 tsp oil
1/8 tsp asafoetida powder
1 tsp mustard seeds

3 dry red chillies, broken into 1" pieces (or to taste)

2 tbsp sesame seeds

1 tsp coriander seeds

1/2 tsp cumin seeds
3-4 fenugreek seeds
10 curry leaves (optional)
Salt to taste
Method:
1. Dry roast the chillies, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds and curry leaves in a small pan on medium heat, stirring constantly, until the seeds and chillies turn aromatic and a little darker in colour (about a minute).

Remove from the heat and set aside.
2. Now dry roast the sesame seeds separately until they turn a shade darker and start to sputter a little. Let it cool down, then grind the sesame seeds along with the rest of the roasted seeds into a fine powder.
3. Heat the oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds and asafoetida powder. When the seeds stop spluttering, add the shredded cabbage and sprouts. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage is cooked but not mushy.

4. Sprinkle the sesame seed powder over the cooked cabbage and mix it in. Serve hot as a side with rice and sambar, or with chapaties.

RECIPE: BRUSSELS SPROUTS AND CABBAGE WITH SESAME MASALA
Ingredients:

2 cups cabbage, shredded

1/2 cup brussels sprouts, shredded
2 tsp oil
1/8 tsp asafoetida powder
1 tsp mustard seeds

3 dry red chillies, broken into 1" pieces (or to taste)

2 tbsp sesame seeds

1 tsp coriander seeds

1/2 tsp cumin seeds
3-4 fenugreek seeds
10 curry leaves (optional)
Salt to taste
Method:
1. Dry roast the chillies, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds and curry leaves in a small pan on medium heat, stirring constantly, until the seeds and chillies turn aromatic and a little darker in colour (about a minute). Remove from the heat and set aside.
2. Now dry roast the sesame seeds separately until they turn a shade darker and start to sputter a little. Let it cool down, then grind the sesame seeds along with the rest of the roasted seeds into a fine powder.
3. Heat the oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds and asafoetida powder. When the seeds stop spluttering, add the shredded cabbage and sprouts. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the cabbage is cooked but not mushy.
4. Sprinkle the sesame seed powder over the cooked cabbage and mix it in. Serve hot as a side with rice and sambar, or with chapaties.

Aubergine parmigiana

I kind of gave myself a rather big shock yesterday. Like 9.8 on the Richter scale level of shock.


Determined to use an aubergine which I'd bought with the intention of making something for Pete (my dislike of this vegetable in ANY form is well documented, so I won't harp on it), I'd settled on aubergine parmigiana (actually called melanzane parmigiana on the BBC website where I saw this recipe). I'd done the prepping and pan-fried the sliced aubergine and made the tomato sauce and had even finished placing the aubergine-tomato sauce-mozzarella layers in the baking dish, ready for baking, when I realised something.


Well, two things, actually.


One, it was a vegetarian recipe, therefore fit to appear on my blog (never mind that nothing short of prolonged starvation would make me eat the stuff!).


Two, I'd not taken any photographs!!!


I think it was realisation No 2 that really gave me a jolt. I mean, for the last few years my camera has been as much part of my kitchen equipment as anything else... it's been splashed with sauces and dunked into flour and put away with the fruit (note that none of these and other such incidents were on purpose) and generally suffered for my "step-by-step" photos of recipes being made. I've been pretty consistent - and a tad obsessive - about taking those photos... and yet there I was, food blog forgotten and with no idea of the whereabouts of my poor abused camera.


Yep, 9.8 on the Richter scale, folks. Anyway, that's the reason for the very few photos in this post.


And yeah, I've made a mental note to neglect my food blog a little less... it's been around a while, possibly the longest I've kept something going, and with some luck and effort on my part, and plenty of encouraging visits from all you lovely foodies out there (hint, hint), this blog will keep going for a while longer yet!


As regards this particular recipe, I've no idea how it tastes. My husband was reasonably encouraging, merely remarking that perhaps the addition of some sliced portabello mushrooms layered with the aubergine would have imparted their umami flavour and made it taste less "vegetable-y" (and there speaks the carnivore!). But he liked it as it was, and said he would eat it if I made it again. That'll do me. The mushroom addition experiment will have to wait till the next time I make this.


Recipe for: Aubergine parmigiana

Ingredients:
1 medium aubergine/eggplant/kathirikkai
1-1/2 cups chopped ripe tomatoes
2 tbsp sliced black olives (I used canned)
150 gm mozzarella, sliced
1/2 cup fresh basil, shredded
1 tbsp olive oil plus more for brushing
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
2-3 cloves garlic, sliced thin
salt and pepper to taste
2-3 tbsp parmesan


Method:
1. Slice the aubergine vertically into 1/2 cm slices. (You can sale them, place them in the colander with a heavy weight on top to let the bitterness out, but I didn't bother with this step.)
2. Brush both sides of each slice with some oil.
3. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and add the garlic, frying on medium heat until they are soft and fragrant. Then add the tomatoes, olives and cinnamon. Let the sauce simmer for 10-15 minutes, giving it a stir now and then, until the tomatoes are soft and mushy.
4. While the sauce is cooking away, heat a large frying pan or griddle. Fry the oiled aubergine slices in batches, without crowding, on both sides till they are light brown and soft.
5. When the aubergine slices are cooked, place a layer of the prepared tomato sauce in a small oven-proof casserole dish.
6. Now place a layer of aubergine on top of the sauce, then a layer of mozzarella slices and a sprinkling of shredded basil. Season the layer with freshly ground pepper and salt.
7. Continue the layers in the same order, topping it off with a layer of tomato sauce and another sprinkling of basil.

8. Sprinkle the parmesan cheese over the top

and bake at 160C for 30-40 minutes, till the sauce is bubbly and the top is golden brown.
9. Let the dish rest for 5 minutes or so, then serve up the aubergine parmigiana with crusty buttered bread and a green salad.


RECIPE: AUBERGINE PARMIGIANA
Ingredients:
1 medium aubergine/eggplant/kathirikkai
1-1/2 cups chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp sliced black olives (I used canned)
150 gm mozzarella, sliced
1/2 cup fresh basil, shredded
1 tbsp olive oil plus more for brushing
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
2-3 cloves garlic, sliced thin
salt and pepper to taste
2-3 tbsp parmesan


Method:
1. Slice the aubergine vertically into 1/2 cm slices. (You can sale them, place them in the colander with a heavy weight on top to let the bitterness out, but I didn't bother with this step.)
2. Brush both sides of each slice with some oil.
3. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan and add the garlic, frying on medium heat until they are soft and fragrant. Then add the tomatoes, olives and cinnamon. Let the sauce simmer for 10-15 minutes, giving it a stir now and then, until the tomatoes are soft and mushy.
4. While the sauce is cooking away, heat a large frying pan or griddle. Fry the oiled aubergine slices in batches, without crowding, on both sides till they are light brown and soft.
5. When the aubergine slices are cooked, place a layer of the prepared tomato sauce in a small oven-proof casserole dish.
6. Now place a layer of aubergine on top of the sauce, then a layer of mozzarella slices and a sprinkling of shredded basil. Season the layer with freshly ground pepper and salt.
7. Continue the layers in the same order, topping it off with a layer of tomato sauce and another sprinkling of basil.
8. Sprinkle the parmesan cheese over the top and bake at 160C for 30-40 minutes, till the sauce is bubbly and the top is golden brown.
9. Let the dish rest for 5 minutes or so, then serve up the aubergine parmigiana with crusty buttered bread and a green salad.

Baked masala peanuts

It's been years since I first saw this recipe on Bee & Jai's amazing food blog, Jugalbandi, and every so often since then I've thought to myself "I really should try making those peanuts" but never got around to it.


Finally, last week I broke through the "must make it" barrier to burst triumphantly into the "WILL make it today" arena... only to find that I was out of raw peanuts. Cue frantic trips to Tesco, Sainsbury's and Morrisons on a desperate hunt for peanuts - whole, skinned, broken, unskinned, whatever I could get - but all I found were monkey nuts or the ready-to-eat salted/roasted kind.


You can have no idea just how thwarted I felt, because I'm certain that most of you wonderful people are the kind that don't thwart easily (especially if you live close to any ethnic food-stores). But me, I had to go back home empty-handed and log on to an Internet site that sells all manner of ethnic goodies... and peanuts. Raw, whole, broken, unskinned, pink, red, jumbo - pretty much every kind of peanut I could think of.


Reader, I bought them.


For my first batch of these addictively good masala peanuts, I changed the quantity of the spices used, not the spices themselves, and added fresh curry leaves. But the procedure was otherwise exactly as set out by Bee and Jai. (I made another batch for Pete with no chilli powder at all, and he scarfed the peanuts down like they'd been made for him. Oh. Wait...)


A note of warning - I used an enamelled metal tray to bake these peanuts, and I must say that it took some serious elbow grease to get it cleaned of the rock-hard baked-on chickpea flour mixture. Did I mind the effort? Not in the least - all I had to do was think of the container of uber crunchy spicy peanuts, and the hard work was totally worth it. Just - whatever you do, don't use a non-stick tray. You have been warned.


Recipe for: Baked masala peanuts



Ingredients:
1.5 cups raw peanuts (skinned or unskinned)
1.5 cups chickpea flour (kadala maavu/besan)
2 htsp red chilli powder (or to taste)
1/2 tsp ground ajwain (bishop’s weed)

1 tbsp dried fenugreek leaves (kasoori methi)
1.5 tbsp rice flour
Handful of fresh curry leaves, roughly torn up
Salt to taste
Water as required


Method:
1. Mix together the chickpea flour, red chilli powder, ground ajwain, fenugreek leaves, curry leaves, rice flour and salt to taste.

2. Take half the spiced flour in a bowl and carefully add just enough water

to make a thick paste that drips slowly off a spoon.

3. Add the peanuts to this and mix well.

4. Now add the remaining spiced flour and mix it gently. Be warned, this is an exasperatingly sticky job.

5. Spread the peanuts onto a metal baking tray. (See warning above of exasperating stickiness. Persevere.)

6. Bake at 180C/350F for 15 minutes, then stir the peanuts around, using a metal spatula to scrape and loosen the worst bits.

7. Bake for another 8-10 minutes, until the peanuts turn a darker colour in spots. They will crisp up as they cool down.

Stir them around once or twice as they cool.

Store in an airtight container.


RECIPE: BAKED MASALA PEANUTS
Ingredients:
1.5 cups raw peanuts (skinned or unskinned)
1.5 cups chickpea flour (kadala mavu/besan)
2 htsp red chilli powder (or to taste)
1/2 tsp ground ajwain (bishop’s weed)
1 tbsp dried fenugreek leaves (kasoori methi)
1.5 tbsp rice flour
Handful of fresh curry leaves, roughly torn up
Salt to taste
Water as required
Method:
1. Mix together the chickpea flour, red chilli powder, ground ajwain, fenugreek leaves, curry leaves, rice flour and salt to taste.
2. Take half the spiced flour in a bowl and add enough water to make a thick paste that drips slowly off a spoon.
3. Add the peanuts to this and mix well.
4. Now add the remaining spiced flour and mix it gently. Be warned, this is an exasperatingly sticky job.
5. Spread the peanuts onto a metal baking tray. (See warning above of exasperating stickiness. Persevere.)
6. Bake at 180C/350F for 15 minutes, then stir the peanuts around, using a metal spatula to scrape and loosen the worst bits.
7. Bake for another 8-10 minutes, until the peanuts turn a darker colour in spots. They will crisp up as they cool down. Stir them around once or twice as they cool. Store in an airtight container.