Orange and Banana muffins (no eggs)

Generally when I am cooking our daily meals, I don't really think too much and almost work on auto-pilot. The vegetables from the fridge, the onions and potatoes from the baskets, the masala powders and the indispensable set of spices. Thanks to my son's early morning school, I can now make rotis at 5.30am, when I am barely even awake.
But when it comes to baking, I am a little more careful, after the few disasters I've had. I prefer to follow a recipe, at least for the measurements, though I still don't have kitchen scales.



This time around, I decided to make these muffins with the oranges and the lone banana lying around in the fruit bowl. I like the idea of adding fruit purées and juices in cakes and muffins. They add a lot to the flavour and softness and its fun to try these with different seasonal fruits. Puréed banana with a little baking soda works as a perfect substitute for eggs in muffins



My friend and her kids were to come over and I had half an hour on hand, so I just grabbed the ingredients and made these real quick, without really referring to any recipe this time. Was really happy with the way they turned out. I guess I have finally the hang of baking without reading thru each line of the recipe every time !
Co-incidentally my friend brought along orange muffins too, hers had some ginger and chocolate grated into it, which was a delicious combination

Egg-free Orange and Banana muffins

What you need-

3/4 cup wheat flour
3/4 cup APF / maida
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1 banana
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup sugar (I used powdered sugar this time)
5-6 almonds cut into pieces
1/2 cup butter (Can use oil instead)
1/4 cup milk

What you do with it -

Pre-heat the oven to about 180 C (convection microwave) or 160 C (OTG)
Mix the flours, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl
The butter should be soft enough. Add this to the sugar and beat till the sugar has completely mixed in
Run the banana and about 2 tbsp of milk thru a blender / mixie
Add the orange juice and the pureed banana to the butter
Beat well and combine the dry ingredients into the this, mixing it in gently(a wooden or silicone spatula works best)
Add more milk if the batter is too dry
Line the muffin tray with paper holders
Spoon in the batter upto 3/4th level of the holder
Top it with some chopped almonds
Bake for 10-12 mins (May take upto 15 mins in the microwave convection mode)
Allow it to cool and then remove the muffins from the tray

Fruit purée and raisin loaf

The last couple of weeks have been really crazy. My domestic help seems to have disappeared and its been really difficult. I hate the fact that I am so dependent on help, but its really been tough managing all the work at home, alone. And the worst part is that all this cleaning, washing and cooking feels like such a thankless job. The daily routine just gets to me somedays. I really miss my work life, my friends and family back in Bangalore.
I get into this mode sometimes, and I sit and wonder what I am really doing with my life. Then the routine takes over, before I realise and I am hardly left with time to think about it all.

I decided to bake my blues away and came up with this delicious healthy loaf



It basically started off as a banana loaf, but then I added a pear and an apple and realised that I had a whole bag of raisins stashed up, so wanted to use that too.
I often use fruit purée as an egg substitute when I bake muffins or loaves. It adds great flavour, cuts down on the fat and is definitely healthier !
I used this purée of bananas, pear and apples to make this really moist raisin loaded loaf.
Hopefully it will help me get my life back in perspective.



What you need -

2 small bananas
1 pear
1 apple
1 cup raisins
1 cup APF / maida
1 cup wheat flour
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup milk
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

What you do with it -

Peel the apple, bananas and pear and chop into pieces.
Blend to a puree with the sugar and a little milk, if required
Melt the butter and add it to the puree
Pre-heat the oven to 180 C. Line a loaf tin with parchment paper
In a bowl, sieve the flours along with the baking powder and baking soda
Roll the raisins in the flour, so its coated well. This helps it from sinking to the bottom while baking.
Mix the dry ingredients with a spatula and add to the purée. Add as much milk as required to get the batter smooth enough.
Combine and pour into the prepared loaf tin
Bake for 45 mins at 180 C
Allow it to cool for 10 mins before you slice it

Eggless Oat Wheat Strawberry Loaf

I love the idea of baking bread at home and have baked a few times, though not as often as I'd like to. My friend would, co-incidentally, always come over the day I had baked bread and she thought I did this on a daily basis !
Ever since she had this multigrain bread at my place, she's been insisting that I show her how to bake bread with yeast, since she was nervous to do it on her own.

Our bread baking plans went kaput a few times and then finally last week, we actually got down to it. While the dough was rising beautifully, we decided not to waste time and baked a strawberry loaf meanwhile !



I checked for a few recipes and then zeroed in on this one from Priya's blog It turned out really soft and had a wonderful flavour of the strawberries

We did bake the bread too, a garlic and herb focaccia, which was really good. We gobbled it down before I could get down to taking any pictures !

I made this strawberry loaf again when a friend from Delhi was visiting, and this time I used oats and wheat flour. It wasn't as soft as the one with APF, but it wasn't dense either. It tasted really nice with the strawberry puree and the little bits of strawberry in the loaf, that burst with flavour...

What you need -

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup oat meal (quick cooking oats powdered in the blender)
(Or use 1.5 cups whole wheat flour and 1.5 cups APF/maida)
1 cup granulated sugar
a pinch of salt
1/2 cup oil (I used safflower)
3 tbsp plain yoghurt
10-12 strawberries
1 ripe banana
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp vinegar


What you do with it -

Remove stalks and wash the strawberries. Cut 4-5 strawberries into small pieces and keep aside
Purée the remaining strawberries with the banana and half cup sugar
In a bowl, add the wheat flour, oatmeal, salt, remaining sugar and baking soda
Preheat the oven to 180 deg C
Grease a loaf pan and line it with a baking sheet. I generally use the baking sheet so that its maintains the shape, comes out easily and lesser cleaning !
Add the oil and yoghurt to the purée. Stir well and then add the vinegar
Add this to the flour in the large bowl and stir gently 4-5 times, till it all comes together
Add the strawberry pieces and stir one more time
Bake for 25-30 mins. Allow to cool slightly before you cut into it
Enjoy it with a cup of tea or coffee

Bhubhus Roti / Sweet puri / Mangalore buns

TH loves anything sweet and these are a favourite. Its called Bhubhus roti in Konkani and famous as buns in Mangalore. Its more like a sweet banana-flavoured puri. I've made these after ages, though everytime there is an overripe banana, TH suggests I make these !
Yesterday, I finally gave in and made these and he really enjoyed them, along with our son, who has inherited his sweet tooth !



Surprisingly, banana happens to be optional in the original recipe, though I can't imagine these without that lovely banana flavour. This recipe if from Rasachandrika, the complete Saraswat cookery book...This book was gifted to me when I got married and I have really used it so much over the years - if you'd like to try cooking authentic Konkani food at home, this one is extremely useful...



Bhubhus Roti

Recipe Source - Rasachandrika

What you need

1 overripe banana
2 cups maida / all purpose flour
1/2 cup curd
1/2 cup powdered sugar
a pinch of salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ghee (clarified butter)
oil for deep frying

What you do with it

Mash the banana. Add the flour, sugar, salt and baking soda
Then add ghee and curds and mix well
The dough gets very sticky, but that's how its supposed to be
Cover it and set aside for an hour (I left mine for 4 hours)
Divide the dough into small balls and roll out the dough into a small thick round
Heat oil in a deep pan and deep fry the puris till golden brown
These can be made and stored in an air-tight box for about 4-5 days

Eggless Banana Bread

I buy bananas almost every other week, mainly for my son - its a big energy boost and that sees him thru his non-stop activities thru the day
Unfortunately, I always land up with one or two overripe ones and nobody in the house will touch these bananas if they have more than a few black specks showing up, so I am always on the lookout for some interesting recipes using bananas
Have tried the muffins many times over, so this time went in for the banana bread that I saw on the RedChillies blog...



The bread was moist and tasted really good, not overly sweet and did not have the banana overpowering the taste...

Recipe Source - Redchillies.us

Followed the recipe except for a few changes, my version here...

What you need -

3/4 cup maida / APF
3/4 cup wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup brown sugar
3 ripe bananas
1/3 cup milk
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 cup raisins
1 tbsp almond paste (6 almonds, soaked in hot water, peeled and ground to a paste)

What you do with it -

Preheat the oven to 180 deg C
Mix the maida, wheat flour, baking soda, sugar and salt in a large bowl
In a blender make a paste of bananas along with milk
Add the banana mixture and almond paste into the mixing bowl with the dry ingredients
Add the butter and the cinnamon powder and mix well
Add the raisins to this mixture
Grease a loaf pan and pour the batter into it
Bake for 45 minutes at 180 deg C
Cut into thick slices and enjoy with your coffee, tea or milk !

Eggless Banana Almond Muffins

What did I do with over ripe bananas before I started this blog ? I threw them away...
What do I do after I started this blog ? I make banana muffins !!

I make butter at home now and almost always make muffins when I have butter on hand, I use the butter milk (from churning out the butter) to make scones.
Starting this blog has helped me discover the use of a whole lot of new ingredients and made me appreciate what I can make with what I have on hand...



My son loves muffins and every time he sees bananas going black, he asks me if we are making muffins !
I have this icing set that I got a while back, but havent really used it...He calls it the injection for cakes and has been pestering me to use it...thats the next project on hand !

These are fairly simple ones that I have made something similar earlier, with oats. This time, I used only maida / AP flour. Add chopped almonds for the crunch and a little powdered cardamom for flavour...
Used this recipe from Nithya's beautiful blog, with a few changes...

What you need -

4 ripe bananas
1.5 cups maida / AP flour
8-10 almonds chopped
a pinch of powdered cardamom
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup white butter
pinch of salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

What you do with it -

Mash the bananas
Beat the butter and sugar in a bowl till they combine well
Add the vanilla extract and mashed bananas to the butter
Combine the baking powder, baking soda and powdered cardamom with the flour
Pre-heat the oven to 190 deg C
Gently fold in the wet ingredients with the dry ones
Add chopped almonds and mix once more
Grease the muffins pans or use the paper liners
Fill in the batter upto 3/4th level in the moulds or liners
Bake for about 20-25 mins
Enjoy with some hot tea

Strawberry Banana Bread

Back from a refreshing break in Bombay...Had a great time catching up with my cousins, eating out and shopping !
Miss the school days when we had huge vacation time and went on holidays together and sat up chatting late into the night...Now, a few rushed days to attend a wedding is about all we manage to have time for ! This time, though, was much more relaxed and
I was really happy I got to meet so many of them in the family...

An aunt made this really nice strawberry bread when we were visiting her. I bought a box of strawberries to make this and made it from what I remember her telling me. It turned out nice, so I'm guessing I remembered it right !
The bananas were my addition and I cut down on one egg..



My blog turned 2 on the 1st, so this strawberry bread (made slightly healthy) is for my blog's 'Happy Birthday'. Enjoy it for breakfast or tea.. It isnt too sweet or too heavy and goes great with a cup of hot tea..

What you need -

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 ripe banana
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup flour / maida
1 cup wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
a pinch of salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup curd / yoghurt
1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts
1 cup chopped strawberries

What you do with it -

Mix the flour, wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a bowl and keep aside
Mash the banana and keep aside
Beat the butter and then add the sugar and beat till it gets fluffy
Add the eggs one at a time and beat well and then add the mashed banana
Add the yoghurt to this and mix once
Pre heat the oven to 180 deg C
Grease a loaf pan and dust with a little flour and keep aside
In a large bowl, add a scoop of the flour and some egg mixture and beat, adding little of each alternately till its combined well
Fold in the strawberries and walnuts
Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan
Bake for about 50 mins. Allow to cool and then cut into slices
Enjoy with hot tea

Butterless Chocolate Banana Cake

May i present to you, the new baker in our home - my almost-5-year-old son !!
I am so excited about this cake, since its the first time my son insisted on making it 'all by myself' !

I had picked up these colourful sprinkles a while back and he's been mega excited about using it. Last weekend, he insisted that we make a cake and use these sprinkles over them. I asked him if he can help me and he said he wants to make the cake himself...



Ok, I obviously read the recipe and took out all the ingredients, but he did the measuring and mixing and couldnt wait for the cake to get ready...He held the bottle with sprinkles for as long as the cake baked and then was in a hurry to put it all over, so we couldnt wait to even out the cake or layer it with a ganache, like I had planned to...



I got the recipe from JoyOfBaking, used slightly lesser sugar and water..It turned out to be wonderfully soft and moist, despite no butter being added...I am sure this can easily be made without eggs too. I just didnt want to tamper with the recipe for his first experiment...

If you want to give this a shot without eggs, just add another banana and 1/4 cup of oil..

This stores well. I just had the last piece with my tea now and its just as soft...

What you need -

Dry ingredients -
1 3/4 cup sugar
1 3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
a pinch of salt

Wet ingredients -
2 eggs
2 ripe bananas
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup oil
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Topping
sprinkles (optional)

What you do with it -

Pre heat the oven to 180 deg C

Mix in all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and set aside

Mash the bananas and beat the eggs into it
Add all the other wet ingredients and mix well or beat lightly till its all combined well
Pour this into the dry ingredients. Stir together or beat for 2 mins

Grease the pan and dust lightly with some flour
Pour the batter a greased pan and bake in the pre-heated oven for about 45 mins

Top with sprinkles

Eggless Oat Banana Walnut Muffins

I've made muffins a number of times since this first attempt of mine...Its simple, quick, tasty and a big hit with kids. I've tried various combination based on what I had on hand - with eggs, eggless, with fruits, chocolate, oats, wheat and thankfully, so far, its always turned out quite successful !



These banana muffins turned out really awesome and I managed to take a picture before it was all devoured...

The milk we get here, from Amul, is really rich and I collect all the cream and make butter at home..I simply love the white butter with parathas and dosas and everytime I make butter, I make muffins ! This one is with oats and bananas. Turned out soft and yum !

I pretty much followed the recipes from Mytheyee's blog Paajaka, but substituted AP flour with oat flour, added some ground cinnamon and increased the quantity a wee bit
This made about 15 muffins

Here's the recipe...

What you need -

5 ripe bananas
2 cups oat flour (I used quakers oats and put it thru the blender)
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 - 3/4 cup powdered sugar (depending on how sweet the bananas are)
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup walnuts

What you do with it -

Keep the butter out for at least 15 mins before you use it
Chop the walnuts into little pieces
Line a muffin pan with the cups
Mash the bananas. I used a potato masher and the bananas were ripe, so they turned into a nice puree
Add the butter and sugar to the bananas
Pre heat the oven to 200 C
In a bowl, add the oats flour, baking powder and baking soda
Add the cinnamon powder and mix with a spoon or rubber spatula
Add this four to the banana and stir in well using the spatula
Stir in half the walnuts
Top the muffins with the remaining walnuts
Bake for 20-25 mins

The muffins turn out real soft and was soft even after I kept it out for 3 days
Reheat in the oven if needed

Masala Keli (Spiced Bananas)

When I was out grocery shopping last week, I found this 'Kerala Store' that stocked a lot of white pumpkins(the veggie vendors here never have this), small red pumpkins and the famous 'nendra pazham'/kerala bananas. I had never seen these bananas or even the elaichi bananas that you get in Bangalore, in a real long time. I was so thrilled to see all this, that I bought a cute little red pumpkin and 4 of the nendra pazhams.

I made the mathanga erissery from Nags' blog with the red pumpkin and Ma made this masala keli with the nendra pazhams. The masala keli / spiced bananas is traditionally made with a chutney stuffed in the bananas, but this is Ma's easy version, and I totally love it




You could try making this with any variety of bananas I guess, but the nendra bananas have a very different flavour and it suits this the best

What you need -

4 nendra pazhams / ripe bananas
3/4 cup dessicated coconut
2 red chillies
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 cup chopped coriander leaves
3 tbsp grated jaggery
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ghee

What you do with it -

Peel the bananas and make thick slices
In a bowl, add the bananas, coconut, jaggery, coriander leaves and salt
Toss and keep aside for about 10 mins
For the seasoning, heat the ghee add mustard seeds and the broken red chillies
Add the seasoning to the bananas

If you try this with any other variety of bananas, do let me know how it turns out

Will try the authentic version of stuffing the bananas with the chutney and post it soon

Eggless Banana Walnut Bread

I am really not an oats person, but I do push S to have it - he needs a power breakfast, with his erratic lunch timings and with the cholesterol levels reaching the not-so-good highs, this was a good option and thankfully, he didnt complain that much !

When I saw the lovely oats dosas at Usha's blog, I knew there was a much better way to get our quota of dietery fibre !

My first attempt with oatmeal was this banana walnut oatmeal bread, which I adapted from Usha's Eggless Cardamom Flavoured Banana Oat Wheat Bread with a few modifications.
It had most of what I added in his oats - bananas, cinnamon and milk and looked way better, and S was not complaining at all !!

It turned out really moist and soft



A slice of healthy goodness...



What you need -

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup oat flour (I used Quackers quick cooking oats and processed it in the blender)
1 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
1 tsp cinnamon powder
2 really ripe bananas
1 apple
1/3 cup milk
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup walnut pieces

What you do with it -

Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside
Peel and grate the apple
Puree the bananas to a smooth paste with milk in a blender
Add the banana puree and apple to the flour mix
Add sugar and butter to this and mix well
Pre heat the oven to 200 deg C
Grease a baking dish with a little butter
Pour in the batter and bake for about 30 mins (or till done)