Whole wheat banana pancakes

June 28, 2012 at 3:34 pm (Breakfast)

I like changing our breakfast menu often so as not to be bored.  Today I made banana pancakes since I had these bananas that were really ripe. These pancakes are certainly different from regular pancakes. They are slightly more dense than the regular ones, but good nonetheless. These were sweet enough so we could eat them plain – they didn’t need any syrup or whipped cream! We had strawberries and oranges on the side 🙂

Ingredients:

2 medium sized bananas

2 eggs

3/4-1 cup whole wheat flour (depending on how much is needed)

sugar – to taste (about 3-4 tbsps., or more if you have a really sweet tooth!)

1/4 tsp baking powder

butter – to grease the pan

Method:

Puree the bananas and eggs together with a stick blender until smooth. Add sugar one tablespoon after another making sure that it isn’t too sweet, that will partially depend on what kind of bananas you use. If you would like to eat your pancakes with syrup, you might not want to add the sugar at all.

Add the baking powder and then add flour little by little (starting at 1/2 cup) until the batter has a dropping consistency. The amount of flour needed will depend on the type of flour you use – how fine it is ground, etc.

Do a taste test to make sure that the batter is sweet enough. Be careful though, because if you add too much sugar, you can end up having darker pancakes – the sugar caramelizes and burns faster.

Heat a skillet on medium heat and grease it with some butter. Pour about 1/4 of a cup of batter onto the skillet  and spread it out slowly. After a few minutes turn it over, make sure it is slightly browned and let it cook for another minute or two.

Serve with fruit like blueberries and strawberries and if required, with a dollop of whipped cream.

This recipe makes enough pancakes to serve two – about 5 medium sized pancakes.

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Whole wheat pancakes

May 14, 2011 at 12:28 pm (Breakfast, Fruits, Snack)

I got a little tired with monotonous breakfasts, so I decided to try pancakes today. I decided not to use all purpose flour and that obviously made a huge difference! I think I was happy with the outcome though. I decided to use some of the strawberries that I bought on sale. Hubby wasn’t too enthralled about that so I made plain ones for him. I’m definitely going to play around with this recipe until I’m totally pleased with the end result. Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

Whole wheat flour (atta) 1.5 cups

Baking powder – 3.5 tsps

Salt – 1 tsp (I used 3/4 tsp for a low sodium alternative)

Sugar – 1 tbsp (next time I might try brown sugar)

Milk – 1 1/4 cups milk

Egg – 1 large

Butter – 3 tbsps, melted

Water – 1/2 – 3/4 cup (It will depend on how thick your batter is)

Method:

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth.

The batter will be thick. Add enough water to bring it to pancake batter consistency.

Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat.

Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. If you want to add toppings like strawberries or blueberries do it before you flip it. Brown on both sides and serve hot with butter or syrup.  We had ours with pure maple syrup and it was yum! 🙂

I wanted to include a pic of the plain pancake, so here is a pic (it’s on the far left, it looked so plain compared to my colorful ones!) On a side note, I also need to spruce up my pictures. I’m using my point and shoot for all the pictures here. I should probably take lessons from hubby to take better pics. Also, I don’t have too many props to make them look nice 😛 and more often than not, it takes a lot of effort to take these pics because the husband is very keen on eating first! By the time we finish eating, there’s nothing left to take pics of 🙂

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Ragi(millet flour) dosa

May 3, 2011 at 5:55 pm (Breakfast, Snack)

I must be on a roll to be posting on two consecutive days, right?  🙂 I never know when that will end though, so here is another recipe I made for breakfast. I love dosa, but the regular dosas contain rice. Rice is something I am trying to avoid for the next few months. Because it’s so tempting to eat rice I have stopped buying it altogether!

I have adapted this recipe from my mom’s recipe. She uses whole millet or ragi, I was unable to find it in the Indian store and so I used ragi flour. It still turned out pretty good. And I say that not to comfort myself, but because the husband who is not particularly fond of dosa said he actually liked it (after I asked him if he liked it :P) The procedure is similar to rava dosa. I’ve heard that ragi flour doesn’t keep for very long, so it’s best not to buy it in huge quantities. Hubby also likes ragi porridge for breakfast in the morning, although I, personally, am not a huge fan. So I think this dosa is quite the compromise for both parties involved 😀

Ingredients:

Urad dal – 1/2 cup

Ginger – 1 inch piece

Chilli peppers – to taste (I used 2 serrano peppers)

Cilantro – 5-6 sprigs

Salt – to taste

Ragi flour – 1 cup

Water – as much as required

Oil or cooking spray – to apply on the skillet

Procedure:

Wash and soak the urad dal for at least 2 hours. I let it soak for about 6-7 hours.

After soaking it, grind it to a fine paste with the ginger and chilli pepper and let it rest untouched in a warm place for about 8 hours. If you are making this for breakfast it works well if you grind the dal at night and let it sit overnight in a warm place. Since the weather here in the U.S. is very different from India, I have found it difficult to ferment foodstuff. It’s helpful to leave the batter inside the oven. I’ve heard of some people who keep it in an oven that is turned to the ‘warm’ setting and then turned off before going to bed. I have personally never tried it (partly because I’m afraid I will forget to turn it off!), but even an oven that is turned off works just fine for me. It’s warmer in there than on the kitchen counter.

After 8 hours mix in the ragi flour, cilantro and salt. Mix in enough water to have a dropping consistency.

Heat the skillet to medium-high. Lightly apply oil to the skillet.

Spread the batter like a dosa or pancake. Once it has browned a little turn it over and let it cook for a minute or two. Take it off the skillet and serve hot with chutney of your choice. It goes well with both cilantro chutney or podi chutney. Hubby had it with garlic chutney. To each his/her own!

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Pundi

April 7, 2011 at 3:03 pm (Breakfast, Rice based dishes, Snack)

I’ll begin blogging by something I cooked recently. That happens to be pundi, or in other words Mangalorean rice balls. Indian cuisine varies from state to state. My family is from the south, from the state of Karnataka. Mangalore is one of the larger towns in southern Karnataka. My grandparents migrated to Bombay, which is in the West, for work. I was born and brought up in the Bombay, but grew up eating primarily South Indian food. However, I am certainly not partial towards it. I don’t normally make all the traditional foods I grew up eating. I do make them when I crave them, or to finish some of the ingredients in my pantry. This pundi cooking spree was a mix of both. I called my mom and asked her to give me the recipe. I used different ingredients from the ones that she mentioned, but that’s just me, I love experimenting 😛

Here’s the recipe

1 cup rice flour (normally idli rawa is used, I used Japanese rice powder!)

1 cup water

1 tsp oil

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

2 red chillies, broken in 3 pieces

1-2 tsp urad dal (husked black gram – you’ll find it in the Indian store)

sugar – 1 tsp (optional)

salt to taste

Procedure:

Keep oil to heat in a thick bottomed pan on medium heat.

Add mustard seeds and let them splutter, add the urad dal and red chillies.

Add water. When it boils turn off the stove and add the sugar, salt and rice flour. Mix it and cover the pan for 5 mins.

After 5 mins, open the pan and take the pan off of the stove. Make sure the dough inside is not too hot. Mix it again and form golf sized balls.

Now steam these golf sized balls in a steamer for 15-20 mins.

The pundi can be eaten with sambhar or any type of chutney. We normally had it for breakfast or as a snack in the evenings. I personally like to eat it with coconut and cilantro chutney or pudi chutney (powdered chutney). The recipes for those will be coming up next!

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