Pineapple Kesari

Picture clicked by my hubby :)

Kesari comes out perfect every time I follow my mom's recipe. The ratio of rava to water should be right to get the right consistency. I usually don't compromise on ghee because it is the only ingredient which makes this dish tasty.

Serves: 2-3

Ingredients:
Sooji/Rava/Semolina-1/2 cup
Sugar-1/2 cup
Water-1 cup
Ghee(clarified butter)-2 tbsp
Cardamom-1/4 tsp
Saffron-a few strands
Pineapple pieces chopped finely-1/4 cup
Milk-2 tbsp
Chopped nuts(almonds, cashews)-1 tbsp
Raisins-2 tsp
Food color(any color)-a pinch(I used pink)

Method:
Soak saffron in warm milk.
In a vessel, bring water and pineapple pieces to a boil.
In a pan, melt butter and make ghee. Roast nuts and raisins in ghee and transfer the mixture to a bowl. Return the pan to stove. Roast rava on low flame for 5-6 minutes. Add cardamom, saffron-milk, boiling water(with pineapple pieces) and food color. Keep stirring while pouring hot water to avoid lumps. Cook for a minute. Add sugar. Stir well and cook for 2 minutes. Add half of the ghee+nuts mixture and mix well.

Before serving kesari, top it off with remaining ghee and nuts.

Note: You may also add a few drops of pineapple essence to make it even tastier.
Instead of adding pineapple, you can make plain kesari and add a few drops of almond essence.



I am sending this to FIC: Pink/Rose - March 31st event started by Sunshinemom and hosted by priya.

BTW today is my parents' anniversary :) Last year they were here in the US with us and we went to Flower fields(in San Diego). The flowers are spread across 50 acres of land! It is a breathtaking view. They are open from March through May every year.

Banana dates muffin

I have baked banana bread twice with two different recipes. I did like them but never wanted to make them again. When I had some bananas, which either had to be used up or will find their way to bin stage, idea of bread did not seem to be interesting. So I decided to look for muffin recipe and finally found banana crumb recipe at Allrecipes. I tweaked it and I was amazed with the results. We both loved the muffins very much. And had some guests the next day I baked. They gave a big thumbs up tasting my muffins. Definitely I will be making this again. I forgot to add the crumb toppings. Seeing the reviews at Allrecipes, decided to add them during the last five minutes of baking. But with a phone call, half the way through the baking, I completely forgot about the topping. I am sure that will make it more delicious. That's reserved for the next bake.

Now to my version of the recipe

Ingredients
1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 tspn baking soda

1 tspn baking powder

1/2 tspn salt

1 cup mashed banana

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup chopped dates

Method

Sift the two flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt together. Whisk together sugar, oil, mashed banana and milk.Fold in the banana mix into the dry ingredients and mix just enough to moist. Stir in the chopped dates. Scoop the batter into the greased muffin pan
Bake in a preheated oven at 200 C for 25 minutes or till top is browned. Adjust the timing according to your oven.
Muffin was very soft and moist. It goes very well for breakfast with a glass of milk. It keeps well for for 3 days with out refrigeration. I got 9 medium sized one and 5 mini muffins.

I am sending these breakfast muffins to Lakshmi's SWC-Meals on Wheels

and to Recipes for rest of us:Picnic Eats hosted by Trupti, an event started by Ramki.

Coffee Chiffon

To increase my confident, I'd like to try again another chiffon which I made before. Other than instant granulated coffee, I added cocoa and cinnamon powder to give it an extra flavour. I love coffee with some cinnamon taste, it's wonderful! Some expert said, the smell of cinnamon could give you a clear of mind.

Inside the chiffon, I added some mocha beans that bought from Phoon Huat and I cut it in four portions. The mocha bean really gave the texture a boost and I won't feel boring with a plain coffee chiffon. This chiffon had given away so I'd no chance to cut out a piece for the shooting. But I'll do it another time. I'm very satisfied with the result, as it's getting much better, as well as the flavour really special. Hope you will like it.

Recipe for 17cm round chiffon

For the egg whites mixture:
110g egg whites
55g caster sugar
5g corn flour

For the egg yolks mixture:
40g egg yolks
50g milk
36g vegetable oil or olive oil
55g plain flour

1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
3g cocoa powder

3g instant granulated coffee

10g sugar

Method:

1. Mix the egg yolks, milk, oil until everything well combined then add in sifted flour. Mix everything well combine and no lumps left. Add the cinnamon powder, cocoa and granulated coffee and mix until everything dissolve then add in sugar. The mixture would be very thick and and smooth. Fold in the mocha beans.


2. Beat the egg whites in a clean large bowl until peak foam. Gradually add in sugar, one tablespoon at a time. Then finally add in corn flour. Continue to beat until soft peak foam. The egg whites mixture should be peak foam, smooth and shiny.


3. Gently fold in 1/3 of the egg whites mixture into the egg yolks mixture. When everything well combine then gently fold in the 1/2 of the remaining egg whites mixture. Lastly, fold in the remaining egg whites mixture. (Note: This stage took some times and patient and practice. Make sure all the egg whites mixture well combine with the egg yolks mixture without breaking the egg whites. Little egg whites left will cause a big hole in the cake during baking. And, over mixing will cause it hardly rise during the baking.)


4. Pour the well mix mixture into a 17cm chiffon cake tin and bake at a 160-170'C preheated oven for 45-50 minutes. After baked, let the baked cake turn upside down for cooling before unmold it.