I am guest hosting an event after a long time. This time it is Jagruti's Know your Natural Sweetness event with the theme of Brown Sugar. I love Jagruti's themes and happy to be a part of this event. Sweetness is the most prominent and preferred taste among the five (sometimes six) tastes. Who doesn't like something sweet after dinner? This month being the cookies and cakes month for Christmas and New year, it is more appropriate to treat yourself and your sweet tooth. Make or bake something with Brown Sugar and link it up.
Guidelines for the event:
1. Send in any dish which uses brown sugar/raw sugar. The dish can be sweet or savory.
2. Only Vegetarian dishes are allowed. Eggs are allowed if you prefer.
3. Entries posted from December 1st to January 1st are allowed.
4. Link to this post and Jagruti's event announcement page are mandatory.
5. Use of logo is appreciated.
6. Non-bloggers can email your recipe to krithiskitchen [ at ] gmail [dot] com with a picture of your dish.
Linky for Know Your Sweetness:
I can start this post saying horse gram (aka kollu in tamil) has numerous health benefits and is good for you. It is rich in protein like any other bean and has good amount of fiber. Kollu rasam/horse gram soup is good for cold and sinuses. But mind that too much of anything good is bad. Though horse gram taken in moderation is good for you, too much of it causes increase in body heat.
But I had actually thought of starting this post saying that the best side dish for idlis are podi. Podi popularly known as Idli podi is made of lentils and there are infinite combinations and recipes for making it. I have already made and blogged about Idli podi, Curry leaves podi earlier. Here is a healthy and tasty recipe for Idli podi with horse gram.
Ingredients:
Horse gram dhal / Kollu paruppu - 2 cups
White Sesame Seeds / Ellu - 1/4 cup
Dry red chillies - 20
Curry leaves - a few
Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp
Salt - to taste
Method:
Dry roast all the ingredients one by one until toasted (except salt). Allow to cool on a plate and pound to a coarse powder in a blender / coffee grinder. Mix
with gingelly oil and serve with idli/dosa.
Come Summer we get more Asian vegetables in the supermarket. I love the season due its abundant availability of fresh vegetables. Curry leaves, Methi leaves and not to forget Banana Blossom / Vazhaipoo. It is a rare vegetable to come by in this country and when I find one I pick it immediately. We mostly prepare vadas with this one but this time MIL made delicious kuzhambu with this. This time too I missed to take the step by step pictures on how to clean and prepare this one but would do so next time.
Ingredients:
Banana Blossom/Flower/Vazhaipoo - Prepped and chopped - 2 cups
Onion - chopped - 1 cup
Garlic - 4 cloves - sliced thin
Tomato - 1/2 - chopped
Tamarind - size of a lemon - soak in water and extract juice
Fenugreek seeds/Vendhayam - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - a few
Gingelly oil - 3 tbsp
Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp - optional
Buttermillk - 1 tbsp
Water - 2 cups
Roast and grind:
Red Chillies - 5
Coriander seeds - 3 heaped tbsp
Chana dhal - 2 heaped tbsp
Method:
Prepare the banana blossom and chop finely. Put the chopped stems in a bowl of water mixed with a tbsp of buttermilk until ready to use. Roast the ingredients under 'Roast and grind' one by one and allow it to cool. Make a fine powder in a mixie or a coffee grinder. Heat oil in a kadai and add the fenugreek seeds and curry leaves. When the curry leaves splatter add the chopped onions and saute until translucent. Drain and squeeze the chopped banana blossom and add it to the onions. Fry for about 5 mins until half done. Add the chopped tomato and fry for about a minute. Now add the powdered spice and mix well. Add 2 cups of water and cover and boil for about 5-7 minutes until the mixture is cooked. Now add the tamarind extract and salt. Check for heat and add chilli powder if needed. Allow it to boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Serve hot with steamed rice.
Citrus flavored bakes fascinates me. They are very light tasting and with every bite it is like a party in your mouth. When I was searching for a cake with orange juice which is also eggless I stumbled upon Priya's recipe here. I made few substitutions and baked this cake for a birthday. This recipe can also be made as a loaf cake or muffins.
Ingredients:
Makes on 9" cake; Serves 8
All purpose flour/Maida - 1 cup
Whole Wheat flour - 1/2 cup
Corn Starch - 2 tbsp
Salt - 1/8 tsp
Baking Soda - 1 tsp
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Orange juice - 1/2 cup - preferably freshly squeezed
Thick greek yogurt - 1 cup (room temperature)
Olive oil - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1/2 cup + 1/4 cup
Orange zest - 1 tbsp - I used lime zest, hence the green hue
Pure Vanilla Extract - 1 tsp
Method:
Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix 1/4 cup of sugar with the orange zest and set aside. Grease and flour a 9" deep pan. Mix the flours, salt, baking powder, baking soda with a whisk or fork until it is well mixed. Whisk the yogurt and sugar together until the sugar melts. Add the olive oil, vanilla and the sugar with zest and mix well. Now add the dry ingredients alternating with flour mixture and juice. Do not overmix. Pour in the greased bowl and bake for 30-40 minutes. Serve as a simple snack with a cup of tea.
Notes:
1. You could use all all-purpose flour for a lighter cake.
2. I did not frost the cake. You could use a whipped cream frosting with sugar and perfumed with orange zest.
3. Alternatively you could soak up the cake in sweetened orange juice before serving.
4. I have substituted 1/2 cup of Splenda for 1/2 cup of sugar to make a low-calorie version.
Linking this yummylicious cake to the following events: What's with my Cuppa event by Nupur; Bake Fest #13 eveny by Vardhini; CWF - Whole Wheat Flour event by Kiran.
