Eggless Pumpkin Bread

This month the Baking partners decided on baking using Pumpkins - the fall vegetable. I can see so many different types of them - shape, size and color. I have seen so many recipes and pictures of spiced pumpkin breads and cakes, but never got a chance to bake one. Thanks to the Baking Partners, I finally baked this pumpkin bread. 

This is an eggless recipe which can be easily made vegan by replacing the honey with Maple syrup as the original recipe calls for. The bread turned out to be amazing and I see myself baking them again in future.

What you’ll need

1. All Purpose Flour – 1 cup
2. Whole Wheat Flour – ¾ cup
3. Baking Soda – 1 tsp
4. Baking Powder – ½ tsp
5. Salt – ½ tsp 
6. Cinnamon Powder – ½ tsp
7. Speculaas Spice Powder – ½ tsp
8. Brown Sugar – 1 cup
9. Honey – 3 tbsp
10. Pumpkin Puree – 1 cup
11. Oil – ½ cup
12. Water – 4 tbsp
13. Walnuts – ½ cup, chopped

Method

1. Pre- heat oven to 175 C.
2. Grease and dust a loaf pan.
3. In a wide bowl, add the flours, baking powder, baking soda, spice powders, brown sugar and salt.
4. Mix and keep aside.
5. In another mixing bowl, add the pumpkin puree, oil, honey and water, mix until well incorporated.
6. Add the wet ingredients mixture to the dry ingredients and mix just until well incorporated. Do not over mix. The batter will be really thick. Don’t worry.
7. Fold in the chopped walnuts.
8. Transfer the batter to the greased loaf pan.
9. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes. Check after 50 mins.
10. Once done, remove from oven, and cool.
11. Slice after it has completely cooled.

Spider Cupcake - Eggless Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Glaze

As Halloween’s day falls on the 31^st of October, the Groovy Gourmets decided to make some spooky stuff. While searching the web to make something spooky, I came across these spider cupcakes. I enjoyed making these cupcakes and kids loved the look and taste of them. They are pretty easy to put together.

Adapted from here

Makes 12 cupcakes

What you’ll need

For the eggless chocolate cupcake

1. Maida/All Purpose Flour – 1 ¼ cup
2. Cocoa Powder – ¼ cup
3. Curd – 1 cup, fresh and beaten
4. Oil – ½ cup
5. Sugar – ¾ cup
6. Vanilla Essence – 1 tsp
7. Baking Powder – 1 ¼ tsp
8. Baking Soda – ½ tsp

For the Chocolate Glaze

1. Chocolate chips – 3 tbsp
2. Butter – ½ tbsp
3. Milk – 1 tbsp

For assembling the spider

1. Chocolate vermicelli
2. M & M/ Gems
3. Black Licorice Strings/Drop Veters (Dutch name)

Method

To make the cupcakes

1. Pre - heat the oven to 180 C.
2. Line the muffin tray with cupcake liners.
3. Sift the all purpose flour and cocoa powder and set aside.
4. In a bowl, whisk together, curd and sugar until sugar is completely dissolved.
5. Next add the baking powder and baking soda, mix well. Set aside for 3 to 4 minutes. The mixture will start frothing.
6. Now add the oil and vanilla essence and mix well.
7. Finally add the flour and cocoa powder and mix until everything is well incorporated. Do not mix for a long time.
8. Pour into paper lined muffin tray and bake for 20 minutes at 180 C
9. Check if it’s done by inserting a toothpick. The toothpick should come out clean.
10. Allow to cool completely before applying the glaze.

To make the glaze

1. Take the chocolate chips and butter in a microwave proof glass bowl and heat for 30 seconds, remove mix once and heat for another 30 seconds.
2. Mix well, the butter and chocolate chips would have melted well.
3. Add milk and mix well.
4. Now dip the top portion of each cupcake into the glaze and set aside.

To assemble the spider

1. Sprinkle the chocolate vermicelli on the chocolate glaze, to cover the top of the whole cupcake.
2. Place to red colored gem/M&M for the eyes.
3. Poke small holes carefully, on the sides of the cupcake and place small strings of the licorice for legs.

And there, your spooky spider cupcakes are ready.

Pineapple Kesari

Kesari is my go to sweet when I have unexpected guests. It not only gets done quickly but also tastes delicious. Kesari was one of the first sweets I learnt to make. 

I have been wanting to try this Pineapple Kesari for a while now. It is usually served in marriages,  but the taste of Adyar Ananda Bhawan, Pineapple Kesari is unforgettable. It is just awesome. So ever since I tasted it there, it has been on my to do list.

I have used tinned pineapples in this recipe, but they can be easily replaced with the fresh fruit. Do read the notes at the end if you are using the fresh fruit.

So if you are bored of your regular kesari, try this fruity flavoured kesari for a change. I'm sure you will love it.

Serves 2 to 3

What you'll need

1. Rava/Semolina – ½ cup
2. Sugar – 1 cup
3. Pineapple pieces – ¼ cup, finely chopped (I used tinned pineapples)
4. Ghee/Clarified butter – 3 tbsp
5. Cashewnuts – 5 to 6, broken into small pieces
6. Pineapple Essence – 1 tsp
7. Yellow Food Color – a pinch
8. Water – 1.5 cup

Method

1. Heat a Kadai with a tbsp of ghee. Fry the cashews until light brown.
2. Add the rava and roast for 4 to 5 minutes on medium heat, taking care not to burn it.
3. In the meanwhile, heat 1.5 cups of water with the food color and bring to boil.
4. Once rava is roasted, add the boiling water and the chopped pineapple pieces  carefully to it and mix well.
5. Lower heat and cook covered for 3 to 4 minutes, or until all the water is absorbed and rava is cooked well.
6. Now add the sugar and mix well. The mixture will become runny and you may see small lumps. Don’t worry at all, keep stirring in a while the mixture will thicken and there won’t be any lumps.
7. Add the remaining ghee and mix until the mixture starts leaving the sides.
8. Add the pineapple essence and remove from heat.

Serve warm.

Notes:

1. If using fresh pineapple, finely chop the pineapple add 2 tbsp of sugar and keep aside for atleast 2 hours. This will soften the fruit and also remove some of the tanginess.
2. Add the pineapple pieces after roasting the cashewnuts and fry in the ghee for 3 to 4 minutes before adding rava. Then follow the same procedure as above.
3. Adding the essence enhances the flavor, so don’t skip it.
4. You may avoid adding the food color if you don’t like.

Brown Channa Masala Sundal

Here's what I made for naivedyam today. The spice powder gives a lovely flavor and aroma to the sundal. So if you are bored of your regular coconut green chilly tempering. Try this masala sundal. 

What you'll need

1. Brown Channa – ½ cup
2. Scraped Fresh Coconut – 1 tbsp (optional)
3. Salt to taste

For the masala

1. Channa Dal – 1 tbsp
2. Coriander Seeds/Dhaniya – 1 tbsp
3. Dried Red Chilly – 1 or 2

For tempering

1. Oil – 2 tsp
2. Mustard Seeds – ½ tsp
3. Asafoetida – a pinch
4. Curry Leaves - few

Method

1. Soak the channa overnight or for 6 to  8 hours.
2. Discard the water in which the channa is soaked, rinse well add water and pressure cook the channa with required salt for 3 to 4 whistles or until channa is cooked well.
3. Remove from cooker once cooled and strain.
4. To make the spice powder, dry roast, channa dal, coriander seeds and red chilly until the dal changes color.
5. Powder and keep aside.
6. Heat a kadai with oil, temper with mustard seeds. Once the seeds crackle, add asafoetida and curry leaves.
7. Add the cooked channa and sauté for couple of minutes.
8. Next add the spice powder and mix well. Also add the grated coconut if using and mix well.
9. Sauté for a minute and remove from heat.
10. Sundal is ready.

Vella Puttu

Vella Puttu is a popular neivedhyam prepared during Navarathri. Most people try to prepare this atleast once during the nine days of the festival. It is also made at home when the girl child attains puberty.The process of making this is slightly laborious but the end result is very delicious. The main task is roasting the rice flour. Once that is done then, half the work is over.

I don't remember my mother making this, as we never had the tradition of keeping doll/kolu at home, but Mil does. And, she makes this compulsorily on one of  the nine days of Navarathri, usually on a Friday. And that's how I came to know about this traditional recipe, which may be forgotten in many households.

Off to the recipe:

What you’ll need

1. Rice Flour – 1 cup
2. Salt – pinch
3. Turmeric Powder – a pinch
4. Powdered Jaggery – 1 cup
5. Scraped Coconut – 2 tbsp
6. Cardamom – 3 to 4
7. Ghee – 1 tbsp
8. Cashew nuts – few
9. Raisins – few

Method

To make rice flour

1. Wash and soak the raw rice for 1 hour.
2. Drain the water completely and spread it on a cloth. Let this dry on the cloth for about 10 to 15 minutes in shade.
3. Powder in mixie to a fine powder, sieve, powder the residual flour again, sieve and use.

To make Puttu

1. Dry roast the rice flour until the color changes to light brown or a little more. Cool. Sieve and keep ready.
2. Warm some water with salt and turmeric powder.
3. Add it little by little to the roasted rice flour and start rubbing with the fingers to form a crumbly mixture.
4. Add just enough water so that the whole rice flour is moist but still powdery, i.e if you take some flour in your palms and press, it should retain the shape and at the same time should disintegrate when crumbled lightly. I needed about ½ cup of water to reach this stage.
5. Place this mixture in a big handkerchief or white cloth, tie the edges together to form a bundle and steam in the pressure cooker for about 8 to 10 minutes. Alternatively, you can steam in a puttu maker, if you have one.
6. Remove from cooker, cool and then pulse this steamed mixture for few seconds so that the mixture is again soft and powdery.
7. Heat a kadai, add the jaggery and ¼ cup of water. Once the jaggery has dissolved completely, strain for any impurities.
8. Wash the kadai and pour the syrup back into it and bring to boil, on medium heat.
9. Also add the scraped coconut.
10. Keep boiling, taking care not to burn the jaggery, until it reaches hard ball stage.
11. To check consistency, take some water in a small bowl, drop a little syrup into the water, then bring that drop together with your fingers, form a ball and just drop it on a steel plate if you hear a sound then your syrup is of the right consistency.
12. Remove from flame and add the steamed rice flour to the jaggery syrup. Mix well.
13. Mix very well with the back of a flat spoon/ladle until the mixture becomes lumpfree and turns almost powdery.
14. Transfer to another vessel.
15. Crush cardamom and add it.
16. Heat a small frying pan with ghee, fry the cashews and raisins and add it. Mix well.
17. Cool and store in airtight container.

Keeps well for almost a week.

Note:

1. You can add small bits of coconut fried in ghee at the end instead of the scraped coconut.
2. Take care to roast the flour really well, it is very important.
3. Add the roasted rice flour only after the jaggery syrup has reached the correct consistency.
4. Transferring the contents to another vessel once mixed properly is also important, else the puttu may become hard.
5. The key to getting soft puttu is in mixing just the right amount of water to the flour. The quantity of water may vary depending upon the quality of rice used.