Thepla

This is a very nice snack/breakfast/lunch item.

Ingredients

-          2 cups wheat flour (for 6 theplas)

-          1 ½ cups finely cut fenugreek leaves

-          Salt to taste

-          ¼ tsp red chilli powder

-          ¼ tsp turmeric powder

-          A pinch of garam masala powder

-          1 green chilli finely cut

-          ½ tsp grated ginger

-          1/3 tsp ajwain  seeds

-          1 tbsp oil

-          ¼ cup beaten curds

-          Water

Instruction

-          Mix all the ingredients except water first. Then slowly keep adding water and kneading to get a soft dough.

-          Smear oil on the surface of the dough and keep covered for about 20 minutes.

-          Divide the dough into 6, roll each portion into thin rounds, cook on a hot thava, drizzling some oil on both sides

-          Serve with pickle and curds, or with any sabzi.

                    Here, thepla is served for breakfast, with cabbage peas sabzi and water melon

Banana Coconut Cake

Two ripe bananas were eyeing me from the dining table. I moved to the kitchen and the grated dried coconut (copra filings) looked at me longingly. Yes, I got the message – time to bring them together in a cake. So that’s what I did. And it turned out to be such a delicious one, with the divine aroma of nutmeg and cardamom! The lightness it was imparting, was it because of the added butter milk? No idea.

Ingredients

-       ½ cup wheat flour

-       ¾  cup refined flour (maida)

-        ½  tablespoon baking soda

-       A pinch of salt

-       ¼  tsp nutmeg powder

-       ¼ tsp cardamom powder

-       ¾ cup  sugar

-       ¼ cup ghee

-       1 egg

-       2 ripe bananas, mashed

-       ¼ cup grated dry coconut (you can omit this item too)

-       ½ cup buttermilk

Instruction

-Preheat the oven to 175 degrees C (350 degrees F). Grease and flour the baking dish, or just line with baking paper, which I do.

- Sieve the flours, baking soda, and salt together, add the nutmeg and cardamom powder and keep aside.

- Mix together sugar and ghee in a large bowl till it becomes fluffy. Add the egg and mix well.

- Mix in mashed bananas and grated coconut.

- Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk, mixing well after each addition.

- Pour batter into the prepared dish.

- Bake in the preheated oven until cake springs back when gently pressed, or a tooth pick inserted deep comes out clean, about 40 minutes.

- Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack or towel. Slice when cool and serve with tea/coffee. Be ready to get complements J