ABC Series: B for Banana

I am really thrilled by the response received for my new event series - ABC Series. The theme for September was Apple. Thanks to everyone who participated in the event. I am amazed by the variety of dishes prepared with apple, you girls are so innovative with your recipes! Take a look at the 42 recipes I received for the event by clicking the link below...

ABC Series:A for Apple entries


Here is an award from me to all of you who contributed to the event. 

Coming to the theme for October, it is the most commonly used fruit all over the world - BANANA.

Benefits of Banana

• Bananas are one of our best sources of potassium, an essential mineral for maintaining normal blood pressure and heart function.
•  Bananas are good for your kidneys and bones: Benefits to the kidneys and the bones are again due to the high potassium content of bananas. A normal intake of potassium suppresses calcium excretion in the urine and minimizes the risk of kidney stones. 
•  Bananas are  recognized for their antacid effects that protect against stomach ulcers and ulcer damage. 
•  In addition, bananas contain pectin, a soluble fiber that can help normalize movement through the digestive tract and ease constipation.  

Rules for the event:
1. Send any recipe that has Banana as one of the ingredient. Banana can be the main ingredient or used in combination with any other ingredients. Raw or ripe bananas can be used. Recipes with Plantains and other related products like banana blossom (flower) are also allowed. Veg and non-veg entries are accepted.
2. Please link back to this announcement page and use the logo above. Link your recipe using the linky tool at the end of the post.
3. Archived entries are most welcome. Please update it with a link to this announcement page and use the logo in the post before linking it.
4. If you have any issues in linking, please drop a comment or send a mail to events.ramyasrecipe@gmail.com. Non-bloggers can send the recipes to this email id.


Please note that you need to add the name of the DISH in the box below and not your name or blog name

Eggless Chocolate Muffins with Butternut Squash

Finally this post has come out of my drafts. I made these muffins last week and totally forgot to post it. These muffins taste very unique with the flavours of butternut squash and chocolate together. This is my first attempt of making muffins without following any recipe and I was very doubtful of the texture of the muffin without using egg or egg substitutes. But after mixing all ingredients, I had a confidence that this would be soft, moist and delicious. The butternut squash pureed with brown sugar itself was so tasty that my daughter started licking from the blender jar :-). Try these muffins for a unique flavour combo.

For those who are not familiar with butternut squash, here is a pic. It tastes similar to pumpkin. You may use pumpkin and follow the same recipe.

 Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 1.5 cups
Baking Soda - 1 tsp
Unsweetened Cocoa powder - 3 tbsp
Butternut squash - 1
Dark Brown sugar - 3/4 cup
Oil - 1/2 cup

Preparation:

1. Peel the butternut squash using a peeler, scoop out the seeds inside and cut the flesh to small cubes. The peel is very hard to remove with a knife. Steam these cubes till soft, about 10 mins.
2. Once the cubes cool down a little, keep about 10-12 cubes aside. These are to be used to top the muffins. Puree the rest of the cubes along with brown sugar. Keep aside.
3. Preheat oven to 200C and line the muffin tray with paper muffin cases or grease with a little oil.
4. In a mixing bowl, sift together APF, baking soda and cocoa. Add the puree and the oil and combine with a spatula till all the ingredients are incorporated well. Do not mix too much.
5. Scoop into the muffin tray and top it with a cube of the butternut. Bake for 15-25 mins till they are baked well.  Insert a toothpick or cocktail stick to check.

Linking this recipe with 100 day Global Food Festival

Double Ka Meetha

Another Blog Hop Wednesday is here and this time I have a sweet treat from Vaishali's blog  - Ribbons to Pastas. Apart from recipes, Vaishali's blog has a lot of crafts which shows how creative she is. Vaishali has a unique range of Sindhi recipes in her blog which are very new to me. I wanted to try a traditional dish, but unfortunately I couldn't spend much time in the kitchen. My daughter is down with viral fever for more than a week now and she clings to me all day and night. This leaves me with very little time to cook and do other household chores. Regular visitors of my blog would have noticed my absence for a week. So I looked for an easy recipe in her blog and finalized on Double Ka Meetha, a Nawabi dessert which is similar to a bread pudding. I am so very glad that I tried this, it was a sweet treat to the taste buds. It is a tasty and easy dessert option when you have guests and can be made the previous day and refrigerate if you would like to serve chilled. We had half of it while still warm and I refrigerated the other half portion and relished it the next day. I liked the cold one more :-)

I had to make a few changes to Vaishali's recipe due to the unavailability of ingredients mainly Khoya. I used Nestle Coronation Evaporated Milk instead of boiling and thickening milk, which made it much easier. View the original recipe here.

Ingredients:

Bread Slices - 5
Evaporated Milk - a 400 gm tin
Sugar - 1/4 cup or to taste
Cardamom powdered - a pinch or two
Saffron - a pinch
MTR Badam Feast powder - 2 tbsp (Optional. I just added it for the badam flavour)
Nuts and raisins roasted in ghee - to garnish
Ghee or Oil - to deep fry

Preparation:

1. Cut out the edges of the bread and then cut each slice to four. Deep fry the bread pieces and keep aside.
2. Heat the evaporated milk in a pan or in microwave. Add sugar, cardamom, saffron and the badam feast powder and stir well.
3. Arrange the bread slices in an oven safe dish. I used a glass roasting tray for this. Pour the prepared milk and top it with the nuts and raisins roasted in ghee.
4. In an oven pre-heated at 180 C, bake it for 5-7 mins.

Serve warm or refrigerate and serve chilled.

This pic goes to Black and White Wednesday

Off this goes to Blog Hop Wednesday - Week 5,  Diwali Special - Sweets& Savouries at Tickling Palates and Diwali - Festival of lights at Anu's healthy kitchen

Also goes to Khushi's My Diwali My Way

Spinach/Palak Paratha

Palak Paratha with Boondi raitha and Pickle

Ingredients:


1. Spinach/Palak leaves chopped - 2 cups
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Green chilly paste - 1 tsp
Red chilly powder - 3/4 tsp
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Cumin powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt for the dough
Oil - 1 to 2 tsp

2. Atta/Whole Wheat Flour - 2 cups
Water for the dough
Butter/Ghee - as needed

Notes:
1. Another method is to puree/grind the spinach mix after sauteing and then mixing it with the dough.
2. Substitute methi (fenugreek leaves) to make Methi Paratha

Preparation:

1. Heat a pan and add the oil. Add all the ingredients listed as item 1 and combine well and saute for a minute or two till the spinach turns darker and shrinks. Remove from the stove and transfer it to a mixing bowl.
2. Add atta and enough water to the same mixing bowl and knead to make a soft dough like roti/chappathi. Keep aside for 10-15 mins.
3. Make lemon sized balls from the dough and roll it the same way like chappathis.
4. Heat a tawa and cook the paratha and flip till both sides are cooked well. After the last flip, smear some ghee or butter.

Serve hot with raitha and pickle, any chutney or curry you like..

Linking to Anyone can cook:Series 34 and to Life is Green