Eggless Chocolate Cake - Vegan

This ( the search for the recipe ) started when we were to have some guests from US....one of T's cousin and her family...which included a granddaughter who was allergic to diary...

I had a couple of favourite cakes - one date, and the other chocolate - but both had milk, butter, or eggs or yogurt....so checked the net ...and found this one in all-recipes site...

It is such a simple recipe and yet it turns out into an amazingly delish cake - it is a little chewy sort of brownie type...really liked it...after which I have made it many times - even for regular ( i.e. non allergic ) folks...and everyone has loved it too...

There are some changes that I have made to the original recipe....one is to reduce the sugar...we like ours to be just sweet...not too sweet...sometimes I replace a quarter cup of sugar with brown sugar - that gives it a more caramelised taste...
I also like to reduce the oil - so my standard substitution for that is to skin and grate an apple ( small ) - and then micro it for about 4-5 minutes with a few drops of water till it becomes soft and pulpy...cool and use in the cake batter...this increases the taste, nutritional value besides making it more healthy by reducing the oil...and of course cannot do without some nuts, so chopped walnuts it is...( this is optional and can be omitted )

Ragi Bread (made with yeast)

Ragi Bread

I think we are all increasingly become a wired society...just this moment I connected my camera to the comp ...to upload the pictures of the bread I had made...there u go ...wires...then job done..rolled it up and put it in...
In the morning - more wires ...to charge up my laptop...wires of mobiles(in plural) ...for each of us...why(?!?)...who knows...being so connected to the world is not necessarily a very good idea...methinks. Soon with evolution we might start growing wires out of our own bodies ( theory being that - that which is not used disappears and that which is frequently used becomes stronger )....science fiction ?!? you say...well u never know...it just might be the future.

Nyways just random & stray thoughts...were we better off when lives were simpler...and access to all a little bit more restricted...when we were not so privy to every itty bitty detail of others lives & happenings(Facebook & What's app)....where they all are at any given time...what they ate, what they saw, did, enjoyed...who they met...
I guess every bit of development & progress has it's cons...and we have to live with that whilst enjoying it's benefits.

What has that to do with this recipe...nothing actually...sorry guys...to let you down this path...just thought I would let out a bit of my angst.

So coming back to this bread...I am on a bread discovery, new flours discovery, and more healthful alternatives to the original options...hoping to achieve food nirvana some day... :-).

This bread contains a mix of 3 flours, used ragi ( nachani ) my new favourite, whole wheat, and some all purpose to lighten the dough a bit...
Dates is my new sweetener...have written more about it below...
Fruits or veggies my all time favourite...try to always incorporate them in my baking..

It all worked out beautifully and came together in the form of this bread...which can be had for breakfast or evening tea, or even a midway snack...it is not sweet at all...so for those with a sweet tooth...the sugar or dates can be increased...otherwise it could be had as is...with butter or fruit preserves of choice.

And here goes, the recipe for an amazing bread is as given below....


Ingredients:

3/4 cup Ragi flour
3/4 cup Whole wheat flour
1/2 cup All purpose flour
1/2 cup milk
3/4 tsp active yeast
1 Tblspn sugar
8-10 dates, seeded and chopped**
1 Tblspn olive oil ( or any other oil )
1 large or 2 medium carrot(s) grated (optional)*
1/2 tsp salt


Topping (optional ):
1 tsp milk 
1/2 Tblspn sesame seeds

Method:

1) Warm the milk, add sugar and yeast and keep aside for 10 minutes, add the chopped dates to this mixture.
2) Mix all the flours in the bowl, add salt, oil, and mix thoroughly.
3) Add the grated carrots, and the yeast mixture, knead to form a smooth dough - you could add some water or flour if required, the dough is a bit sticky.
4) Oil the dough surface, and the bowl, keep covered with a moist cloth for 1 hour in a warm place. The dough rises to double it's size.
5) Beat the dough down and knead it lightly, shape in form of a loaf...put it in a baking dish - cover with cloth and keep again for 1 to 1 and 1/2 hrs to rise again.
6) After the second rising - pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees C, brush the dough with milk, and sprinkle sesame seeds over it, press lightly so that it sticks to the dough.
7)Bake 180 for 35-40 minutes till done. Check with a toothpick to see if done.

8) Cool over a wire rack - then slice and serve.
Enjoy !!!

Note:
*1) The carrots are optional - it is just to add some more flavour and to increase the nutritional quotient...you could add spinach or bottle gourd ( dudhi ) or zucchini...but in case of those you may need to remove some of the water esp. regards dudhi or zucchini...so as to not make the bread too moist.
Apple or banana also make a good addition...have used it in other recipes - turns out good.
You could also just go with plain ....

**2) The addition of dates is to increase the sweetness of the bread without increasing the sugar...
Dates provide a lot of health benefits - it is a rich source of iron, vitamins, minerals and also helps lower cholesterol...it is a natural form of sugar so I try to use it instead of sugar in most of my sweet dishes.

The previous time I had tried a whole wheat bread - it had become too dense - and since it was not too sweet either I did not have a lot of takers for it...so had to valiantly finish it off on my own...this time decided to try with smaller portions ...
So this was a half measure of an recipe with my modifications ....make one small loaf - the slices look big cause I cut it a bit diagonally...but you could go double it to get a regular sized big loaf...
Hope you try this ...I loved it...and do plan on making it again myself.
And regards my angst above...don't worry any communication from my readers is most welcome...please do let me know what you think..re. my recipes...or in general....life & the world... :-)

Eggless Ragi Banana Cake

Eggless Ragi Banana Cake

Recently, I met up with one of my very close friends(D had a great time with you) who was visiting India ( she lives in Dallas US )...and we got to discussing the various grains and cereals and what is good and healthy...and can be used in a lot of our day to day cooking, baking etc...

One of those was amaranth...and while trying to get the Indian name for it we mistakenly referred to it as ragi...then later realised that it is not so...the actual name is rajagira...which is supposed to be very good, considered a superfood.

All this bought to fore my desire to move on to new methods and ingredients in my baking in my quest for a more healthy sweet or dessert...since we have tried unsuccessfully many a time to resist the sweet temptations.

So while browsing for recipes got a few using ragi ( nachani ) flour and was very impressed with a couple of them - one was a chocolate cupcake and the other a banana cake...
The latter won the toss mainly cause I had 3 bananas on verge of going to the bin if not used immediately...but I also wanted to try an eggless version and use sweetened condensed milk which was part of the first recipe....confusing right ....nyways the end result was a combination of parts of both.

Ragi is a cereal which is very nutritious, it is rich in  calcium, has a lot of dietary fibre, has a lot of iron, is a natural relaxant, and a host of other properties...

So after reading the above recipes I was quite keen to try it out - though I was unsure how it would be received by all at home, generally I do not have much takers for my "healthy attempts" ...but this one turned out so amazing - it was soft, delish (even with the reduced sweetness) and one could not make out that it was made without the regular flours...

Healthy Dates & Carrot Quick Breakfast Bread

Dates & Carrot Breakfast Bread

So now I am on a health trip - trying to find ways to reduce the sugar, all-purpose flour from my recipes...did a bit of experimentation with yeast...and then found my way back to the quicker variety with baking powder & soda...

Though right now I am still continuing with the carrots & dates & banana or apple pulps combinations, this particular bread recipe had agave ( for sweetness)  which I replaced with honey...the previous recipe was a whole wheat bread which was very dense - so decided to go a bit lighter this time with a combination of flours...and since this had oats(loads of goodness)...felt I could add in a bit of AP flour...the sweetness is due to the dates and honey - both of which just barely flavours the bread - and that is good for a breakfast bread..which is where I was going with this one...
However if you would like it more like a dessert you make add more honey or dates or even sugar to the mix.

The spices in this bread brings out the flavours of dates, the slight aroma of banana...and brings to mind the Christmas plum cake...making it absolutely yummy !!!

Methi puri...a great snack

Methi Puris

My sister in law T makes amazing khari puris, have tried making it myself ...but have not been too successful...it was not that bad..but you know ...I was not too happy with the result....did not try after a couple of times...

Nyways had dropped the thought of making my own until I saw this on TV - some cooking show had methi puris on - and boy it was so simple the way they did it (at least that's how it appeared)...so I got charged up...and put it on my list of stuff to try out...not the exact same thing as a khari puri...but close enuff...and I love methi...so nothing holding me back...except maybe  'time'...?!?

Finally managed to get the time, get the ingredients...so here's the way I went about making this...by the way I checked the net..and there are so many different proportions of the flours and even the flours themselves...they have mix of all purpose, whole wheat, rava(semolina), besan ( chick pea flour)...with any or all of them and as I said the ratio also differing...
I went with the one I felt sounded right...and it actually turned out pretty good...used a tip from the TV show...roasted the jeera before adding it..

Cinnamon Cookies & the misadventures in the making...

I guess the title tells it all....but here goes the whole long tale...

Cinnamon Cookies

There was a story which we had heard when we were young, do not remember it properly - but it goes like this - a monkey ( or maybe a kid  who knows ) was given a banana - and asked to split it equally and give it to two children. 
He peeled it and broke it in half - the halves were not equal - so to make it equal - he took a bite from the bigger half...and then he saw that the other half was a bit bigger - so then he bit from that one...and so on...
You can guess how this one ends...lol !!!

My misadventures was sort of like that story - I did follow the recipe as mentioned...but somehow found that my dough was a little dry ...to counter that I added some ghee (Indian clarified butter) - and that made it too soft and moist...so added some maida ( all purpose flour) - and then felt the sweetness was less, so the final batch was rolled in some sugar/cinnamom powder. (Now I am not sure if my story matches the one above...it just somehow bought that one to my mind)

Nyways...I made a batch with every alteration - so have some 5 different varities of the cookies...with just the one dough. :-). 
See below pictures...                                                                                                                                                                                                     

All 5 varities

Different textures of the cookies

Eggless Low-fat Chocolate Brownie....or cake...or something in middle

Now this is a sort of repeat of one of my earlier posts, but had to put it down - could have done a update - but decided that it needed it's own space :-)

How it all started...

End of last year I had discovered a low-fat brownie recipe which I liked a lot - and as I mentioned in that post - it was not a proper brownie recipe -which is supposed to have a high proportion of fat to flour ...whereas that one was more cake like - and the term low-fat brownie is sort of an oxymoron...but as I said since it was such an amazing recipe - and I added a chocolate drink powder on top to give it an icing look - and turn it into a yummy desert...I had been thrilled with the end product and with myself... :-)

Anyways so yesterday we were invited to a sort of snack fest by one of our cousins - and I was to bring brownies with me to the do...now many in my hubby's family are non egg eaters...hence the search last night for an egg less brownie...
Turned up quite a few - but none as quick and easy as the earlier mentioned "low-fat brownie recipe"....so decided to innovate and turn that into a egg less recipe...

And again am so thrilled with the recipe and the end product and myself too... that I had to put it down in a post of it's own - to celebrate the success...

Onion Bread

Onion Bread

Well, this was not the first bread that I had baked - and some of them have turned out pretty good - and some not that great ....some with yeast and some quick bread (of which banana bread is my all time fav.).

But somehow I was quite impressed with this bread that I had experimented with this morning...am not quite sure how I got around to doing this today - had not really planned it so...but sometimes I find myself just working on a new recipe without realising it...it just happens...and those are sometimes the best dishes.

This is one of them...I had earlier backed some buns with coriander, garlic & cheese stuffed in them - it was pretty good...and T and discussed that onion would be a good stuffing too...while reading up some recipes, I got this one which is not exactly a stuffing but the onions are fried ( browned ) and then mixed with the dough - so you get the flecks of it all thru - not just in the centre...
As usual I made some changes - added some garlic too (one of our favourite ingredients) - and also brushed the top with some milk and put some sesame seeds onto it...gave it a more professional look and feel.

Low fat Chocolate Brownie / Cake / Something in middle...

Ok, So I am doing this after a very long time - by this I mean putting down my recipe....not sure why ....
I am generally rather thrilled when I plan to try out anything new and even more thrilled when the end result ( after all my changes ) comes out successful....

I start off with quite a bit of research on the net....take on a few of the best options (with regards to the recipes & it's ingredients) ....check out the pros & cons...and then generally try out one of them with a few of my own variations....
And if it turns out to be a winner - boy am I thrilled (as mentioned above)...and that's when I love to blab about it to anyone who will give me a ear...( or think of blogging...in case the first is missing). 

And that is the cause of my confusion - why the delay ??? in posting - but anyways now that I am here - let me get on with the recipe, this time it is the brownie that I was into...
Actually this is not my first...I have used the box mix many a time with beautiful results...this was way before I started  on my adventures with baking from scratch...with cakes, muffins etc...

I have also baked a sort of instant brownie - which was supposed to be a single serve...which was not bad ....but this was supposed to be full fledged recipe.

As I said I researched and found quite a few - more true to the concept of brownie than this one...but it all had a huge amount of butter, or oil, and sugar..and then I came upon this one...
The recipe said that it was low fat - that was the main attraction for me...as for the sugar - I had my own twist on that...
The only thing is that in most brownie recipes as opposed to cake the flour and butter proportions 1/2 cup is to 1 cup - whereas this really did not fit that category, hence does not fall into the true brownie category - but does it matter...
It is quite fudgy, chocolaty, yummy, delicious - call it what u want  - brownie, cake or anything in between....but do try it...bake it...enjoy it.....cause it is fantastic......and my secret to reduce the sugar ????...to make it more amazing....Dates !!!!
And a twist to an amazing icing on the brownie - Bournvita !!!! that is a chocolaty drink which we have at our place at all times...

So when my alterations to an already amazing recipe yielded even more amazing results - I had to put it down...
Could I have used the word "amazing" any more...well ....let me see.... :-)....

Date & Walnut Cake (Eggless)

Eggless Date & Walnut Cake

I was so sure that I had already put down this recipe in an earlier post, so decided to run a check on my blog for cakes...to my surprise did not find any entry...What?!?  cannot believe I did not post any cake recipes at all...well that is certainly not the case, so then....duh...guess what? somehow I had not put that down as a label at all, so had to do a more thorough check thru the dessert list and found I did have a chocolate cake down ( one of the many I make regularly )...but no entry for the above date cake - which is an absolutely amazing cake and one of my favourites.
Wondering however did I miss both the label cake in my blog and the post for this date cake...anyway set out to rectify both. 

So here I am, in the process of baking this once more ( this time at a request from hubby )...took some pictures of the final product - sorry do not have any of work in progress cause as I said - did not know that this was not down already in my blog...so anyways the next time maybe I might manage to get that too...

There are a lot of recipes for the same on the net... this one was adapted from one of them - have made the original one too but this is more moist and had a more intense date taste, due to increase in the no. of dates used.

I have passed on the date cake recipe to many and all have loved it, including my friend C who visited us the other day - she had come over for lunch and the dessert for that day was a rice & date kheer ( another recipe I really need to get down here ) - nyways this started her off on a discussion on the date cake - and how simple it is to make and how amazing it turns out, and how all her colleagues and friends with who she has shared the cake and recipe loved it....etc...

All this talk on the date cake made hubby long for it too...and hence the request for it ( not that I need a reason to bake it )...

Oh and did I mention that it is egg less - a boon for when I have to take something across for those of my friends and relatives who are vegetarians ( including C ).

Eggless Banana Walnut Muffins



Banana muffins

Every post ( recipe ) starts out with a long story (so say my folks)....and  there's one for this too... so here's how this goes.....

It all started with us planning to visit my hubby's cousins - for some reason or the other we have not been able to go over to their place for quite some time...we have met out ( at other's friends, relatives place & functions )....but it is not the same as just visiting them and chilling out - have chai, gupshup and generally relaxing together...

Finally we made plans to go on one Sunday ( yesterday ) as they and we were free...it happened to be Maha Shivratri also ....so while considering what to carry with me....I had to think egg less....

I had bought some bananas a few days back planning my favourite banana muffins - but then that had egg...checked the net out for a few egg less options and noticed that some bloggers used an additional banana  to replace the egg in their recipes....
So that decided it for me...
Went ahead with my favourite recipe ( which is also my first blog - and one of my first few bakes [as an adult ] ) Banana walnut muffins made a few changes to the original as follows....

Bananas 4 instead of 3
Addition of  1 tsp of vanilla essence

I found the mixture a little too dry / thick - so added a couple of spoons of milk, it is possible that the omission of egg reduced the liquid component of the original recipe...in case you find that it is not so in your case you could omit the milk.

The muffins turned out wonderfully soft and moist ( you could not make out that it was made without eggs ) it looked good and got to taste it too later.
So thought that this deserves a post of it's own....

Hubby made a cover for the box of muffins (more as a joke )- it was so artistic, so cute that I had to put it up here...(though with some changes , removed the photo and a bar code which he had put up to make it look like an item on sale)  - this  ofcourse caused our cousins to wonder whether I have started marketing  professionally....the answer to which is....no, nyet, nahi, ijji, non....in all the languages that I know and some... :-)

As for the evening with our cousins - it was really wonderful - we had such a great time - we had tea, with snacks and muffins ( which did taste good )....after tea we chatted, sitting out in their balcony which overlooks  Shivaji Park  (beautiful grounds in Dadar, Mumbai )- there was a gentle breeze blowing thru, sounds of  people playing in the park - traffic on the street below...and us reminiscing about places, people and events...

It was followed by a sumptuous dinner, which included undhiyu, puri, shrikhand, kadhi, rice - the undhiyu ( which is such a complicated dish to prepare ) was perfection itself - we relished the food....and the company...were truly sorry to say bye...

Thank you Be Ru Da ...for the lovely hospitality...we had a great time and hope it was the same for you and that you all enjoy the eggless banana muffins too...till we meet again...

Healthy hearty bread

The current trend is to eat healthy -anywhere and everywhere you read, there is talk of how to make the food that we eat more healthier, 
There are so many things that are considered bad for you,  that finally we may have to give up eating all together...[ though that may not be so bad, I hear fasting is good for you :) ]

The most confusing part is that the powers that be keep changing the rules of the game...how do we keep it all straight ?

Sometimes it is wine that is bad, now a glass of red is considered good..chocolates were bad...now dark chocolate has the nod...whole wheat flour was considered better than all purpose flour or maida...oh wait...that is still considered  to be so...but now there are a whole bunch of other flours which is said to be better that WWF...millet flour, sourgham flour, soyabean flour, amaranth flour.....

After going through the net I found some recipes for rotis, chapatis with a combination of all these above along with a little bit of  flax seed, sesame seeds, fenugreek seeds all powdered...
tried various combinations and now try to make it the healthy way most of the times.

Then of course the natural progression was from rotis to breads...got some recipe for healthy bread...tweaked it a bit to make it more healthy and also added some fruit pulp, either banana or apple ...along with some nuts ( love the crunchiness in all baked goods )...
This also contains oats ..yogurt, milk and honey ...with so much goodness ....it would be hard to improve upon...but that did not stop me !?
So here's the healthy hearty bread recipe...

Ingredients :

1 cup oats + 2 Tblspns
11/3 cup wheat flour
1 cup AP flour
1 cup yogurt
3/4 cup milk
2 tsps Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 banana mashed
1 egg
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup chopped nuts - I used almonds

Method:
Preheat the oven to 375 F or 190 C.
Coat a 9 x 5 pan with oil and sprinkle one tablespoon of oats all around it.
Mix the whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, flax seed, baking powder, baking soda, salt in a bowl with a whisk
Mix all the wet ingredients along with 1 cup of oats.
Mix the flour mixture with the oats mixture stirring gently - do not overmix - put in the chopped nuts, vanilla essence and mix gently.
Pour into the prepared pan and bake for about 50 minutes - 1 hour or till a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Cool for 10 mins in the pan - and after removing for another 15 mins on the rack.
Enjoy !!!

Tips : You can make it healthier by reducing the oil and adding applesauce.
I reduced the 1 cup of AP flour to 1/2 and substituted the remaining 1/2 with a mix or millet flour, sourgham flour, a tablespoon of soya flour...