Grandmas wheat cake in kadai

So easy to make the cake. Why I gave the name? Grandma can’t go out. It’s lockdown and she is above 65. So she decided to bake a cake with the available ingredients. Grandma doesn’t like baking soda or soda powder. Instead she use rice starch water and fermented coconut water. Let’s see how it turns up. It’s not cake soft. Sure it’s a super evening snack that grandma can cook.

Ingredients 

Wheat flour 1 cup, 

Cinnamon powder 1 tsp., sieve both to get rid of lumps and granules if any. 

Rice starch water 1/2 -1cup, 

Fermented coconut water 1/2 cup,

Yogurt/curd 1/2 cup,

Grated jaggery 1/2 cup,

Vegetable oil 1/3 cup,

Fried groundnut 1/3 cup,

Raisins 1/4 cup.

Put the jaggery, oil and curd in a bowl and whisk well to melt the jaggery. Add rice starch water and fermented coconut water and again whisk well. Add wheat flour and cinnamon powder to it and thoroughly mix to form a smooth semi thick batter. Add 2/3rd of the nuts and raisins into the batter and combine well. Keep it for 2 hours to ferment.

Preparation 

Transfer the mix into a flat cake pan brushed with oil. Tap the tray twice or thrice to level the surface. Sprinkle the balance nuts and raisins over the cake mix.

Take a shallow kadai, place a tray stand inside, heat the kadai to maximum, keep the flame low, place the cake mix tray on the stand inside the kadai and close with a lid. No water needed in the kadai. Cook for 50 minutes. Run a fork or tooth pick into the cake to make sure it is cooked. I put a kitchen tissue over the tray to avoid water droplets from the lid. Take the cake out and allow to cool down for1-2 hours. With the help of a spatula get it separated from the sides and lift the cake up and transfer into the serving plate. Cut it into thin or thick pieces. Grandchildren will surely love it. Hope you shall please try. Thank you ❤️

Moringa flower fried rice

Today made a totally different fried rice. Southwest monsoon is on. Our Moringa tree is full bloomed. The showers are bringing down some flowers also. I had made a delicious stir fry with this flowers. It is covid 19 pandemic time, and we seniors are still locked down. Enjoying our passions. One among my favourite passion is exploring more recipes in cooking. It is going on. Lucky to have tasters in next doors to comment on the dishes. 

It is a good exercise to pick and collect the flowers from the ground, wash it, cleaned , drained and chopped. I love the workout of picking flowers. After washing I soaked the flowers in turmeric water. Then only drained and chopped. To make the dish more colourful I add carrots and fresh moringa leaves.

Ingredients 

Basmati rice 1 cup, cooked with a pinch of turmeric and salt to taste,

Carrot 3, peeled and grated,

Moringa flowers chopped 11/2 cups,

Onion 1, ginger 1-2 inch piece, garlic cloves 9, all three finely chopped,

Green chilli 7, silted,

Pepper corns few,

Vegetable oil 1 tbsp.,

Soy sauce 2 tsp., and chilli sauce 1 tbsp.,

Salt to taste.

Preparation 

Heat the oil in a shallow pan, drop in the onion, ginger and garlic, sauté till tender, add carrots and  salt , sauté till stewed, add moringa flower, mix well and allow to cook for 2 minutes in low flame, add moringa leaves, mix well, add the soy sauce and cooked rice, combine well, garnish with chilli sauce. Serve hot. It’s super delicious and nutritious.

 

Instant Moringa flower side dish with rice

Lot of time to spend in our homestead. The rain is shedding down the Moringa flowers. It is a new routine now for the last two days to pick the fresh flowers from the ground. It is so pretty to see, lots of vitamins and minerals , great taste, so why to turn away. Last time I washed and chopped. This time I thought to cook it quickly and add an instant easy recipe in my blog. No cumin seeds added, coconut not grinded and no need to chop the flowers because it is getting cooked so quick and becomes so tender. 

Washed the flowers twice in water to get rid of any dust or soil in it. Then soaked it in water for 15 minutes. Took out from  the water and allowed to drain. 

Got about two handfuls of the flowers. 

Shallots 4, garlic cloves 4, green chilli 4, all three finely chopped. Heat coconut oil in a shallow pan, drop in mustard seeds, allowed to crackle, add dried red chilli broken pieces and curry leaves followed by shallots, garlic and green chilli. Sauté till tender, add Moringa flowers, little turmeric powder and salt to taste. Mixed well and covered with a lid for 2 minutes to get cooked. Add 2 tbsp. of grated coconut. Combined well and transferred into a serving bowl. The volume comes to half when it gets cooked. Simple to cook. Enjoyed Grandma’s delight. Served with chapatti.

Waiting to pick the flowers tomorrow.

Tapioca coconut sweet balls

A new recipe tried today for evening snack. Was having cooked tapioca. Also fresh grated coconut. Desiccated coconut is always in the pantry. Whenever squeezing milk from coconut used to dry it or light fry it and kept for thickening curries or rolling sweet or savoury snacks. Don’t want to waste any thing when it can be recycled. Decided to try this novel dish, inspired from a tapioca roll made out of tapioca flour we had from a Philippine restaurant in Singapore.
Tapioca coconut sweet balls

Ingredients and method of preparation
Cooked tapioca a bowl, remove the inside fibre and mash it up in a blender,
Sugar 1/4 cup,
Cardamom 4, grind both sugar and cardamom in a mixie,
Grated coconut 1 cup,
Mix all the ingredients into a dough.
Make lemon size or desirable size balls, transfer into a plate of desiccated coconut powder layered plate. Roll around well and transfer into the serving plate. Enjoy the super soft sweet tapioca coconut balls with your loved ones, friends or relatives. If they are having it for the first time no way they are going to recognise or identify cooked coconut. You have to complete it in a stretch or can refrigerate but I am not for that. Better to prepare and have it immediately.

Tapioca juice

Tapioca juice, refreshing good as a quick meal. New recipe born in the lockdown that too on environment day. Please try the recipe and comment. We too loved it. A total makeover of tapioca dishes. New idea, implemented, liked it. Ready to serve in the next gathering. Can’t wait to post it. Made it so simple.
Ingredients
Cooked tapioca a handful, remove the centre fibre and squeeze with hands to make it loose,
Sugar 2 tbsp.,
Cardamom 2, powder it in a mixer,
Chilled Milk 2 glasses.
In a blender, blend the sugar and tapioca to a smooth paste adding milk little by little. Transfer into a bowl, add the rest of the milk, whisk it, directly pour into the serving glass and have it.
It’s delicious.

Sardines fry on a veggie tray

It’s still lockdown for kids and seniors. Today we need to go out in connection with essential needs. Back by afternoon. Lunch yet to get ready. Looked into the refrigerator, knew that marinated sardines are there, dosa batter is there, sambar is there. No rice left. Morning we had dosa for breakfast. For a change what to do?
Looked into the vegetable tray, found raw banana, carrots, tomato, green chilli, ginger, curry leaf, cilantro etc. Then why not try the fish fry on the top of a veggie bed. Grab an onion and garlic cloves. Sautéed the veggies in coconut oil with salt to taste, fried the sardines in coconut oil. Transferred the cooked veggies into a serving tray, topped with the fried fish and garnished with chopped cilantro. So easy, very tasty and highly nutritious. The spice of green chilli, ginger, garlic, saltiness, sweetness of carrots and onion, the stuffiness of raw banana, herbal taste of curry leaf and cilantro, the aroma of coconut oil, all turned the dish into simply delicious. It is the ‘brain food’.

Jackfruit seeds candy (ചക്കക്കുരു മിഠായി)

A new recipe born in my kitchen. Jackfruit seeds candy. It’s covid19 Lockdown. No way to go out, travel or visit relatives. Lot of time to fire up the passions. Cooking variety dishes are my true passion. Also love to utilise the available resources around.
Jackfruit seeds builds up muscles, combats anemia, improves gut health, skin and hair health. A 100g serving of the jackfruit seeds contains 7 g protein, 2 g fibre and about 40 g of carbohydrates. It is also rich in vitamins and minerals.
When you get enough jackfruit seeds and not having time for 3-4 days, then directly boil cook it, peel and refrigerate for further use. That’s my technique to ease the hectic task of cleaning and processing the seeds. In a pressure cooker with an inch water above the seeds cook for a whistle. Allow to drain and spread the seeds to cool and dry. Peel the outer white layer and cook directly or refrigerate for a maximum of 5-6 days.
Ingredients
Jackfruit seeds cooked and cut into circles less than 1 cm thickness,
Jaggery 150g  jaggery,
Sesame seeds 1tbsp., fried,
Cumin seeds 1 tsp., fried,
Ghee 1-2 tsp.
Preparation
Just dry fry the prepared seeds to absorb the moisture.
Melt the jaggery in half cup of water. Sieve it to get rid of the impurities. Boil the jaggery juice to syrup, add ghee, cumin and sesame seeds and the jackfruit seeds. Combine well. When it is coated transfer into a ghee layered tray, spread out, allow to settle for a minute, flatten the surface with the flat bottom of a small steel bowl. Mark the way you desire to break the candy. Don’t pierce it to the bottom. When completely cooled down, lift the candy from the tray and break it. It will be loved by all ages. Super tasty. My husband and my taster had it, they didn’t recognised jackfruit seeds. Awesome 😎