Vazhaithandu Thogayal/Banana Tree Trunk South Indian Chutney

Banana Tree as a whole has lot of Nutritional Properties.Banana Tree Trunk in particular has lot of fiber.This white portion contains more fiber essence and also increases haemoglobin level in our blood. I got This Thogayal/South Indian Chutney recipe from Vijay TV's Cookery Show.

Ingredients

Medium sized Banana Stumps/Trunk - 2 nos.
Shallots - 250gms
Red Chillies - 7-8nos
Salt to taste

Seasoning

Mustard seeds - 2 tsp
Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp

Method

Remove the outer layer of the banana stump and cut it into small cubes.Saute it well for 10-15 minutes.
Peel the shallots and retain the whole.Heat oil in a pan and saute the shallots for a minute or two. Dry roast the red chillies for a minute. Take care not to over do this.

Let all the sauted ingredients cool. Grind them all to a fine paste with little water.Transfer it to a bowl.

Heat oil in a pan, splutter mustard seeds, add asafoetida and some curry leaves and add the chutney to the seasoning and saute it well for 20 minutes.

Makes a great combo with Idly/Dosas, tastes good with rice too.

Eggless Banana Chocolate Cake

In baking, I am trying to  do away with all purpose flour completely. I decided to try a whole wheat cake. I used half cup of wheat flour and 1/2 cup of multigrain flour. The pillsbury brand has come out with a mutligrain flour that has 80 % of atta and 20% of soy, oats, maize, ragi, chana dal and barley together. Since I had that flour in hand, I decided to try that in baking, again thanks to Madhuram's whole grain baking series. And in my attempt to make it healthy, I omitted white sugar and used  brown sugar and  honey. Considering the less amount of oil, the cake was very moist. All in all this is a keeper recipe. I will be trying with coffee flavor soon.

You need

Whole wheat flour - 1/2 cup


Multigrain flour - 1/2 cup

Arrowroot powder - 4 tblspn ( you can use corn flour)

Cocoa powder - 4 tblspn

Baking powder ,baking soda - 1 tspn each



Mashed banana - 1 cup

Brown sugar - 4 tblspn

Honey - 3 tblspn

Oil - 1/3 cup

Milk - 1/2 cup + 2 tblspn

Yogurt - 2 tblspn

Vanilla essence - 1/2 tspn

Cashew nuts to garnish - optional

Method

Sift the fry ingredients together - Atta, multigrain flour, arrow root powder, coco powder, baking powder and cooking soda.

Mix banana, brown sugar and honey well. It smells like Panchamritam. Add milk and whisk till blended, followed by yogurt. Finally add oil and vanilla essence. Beat till everything is blended nicely.

Fold in the dry ingredients into the wet mix, mixing after each addition. Transfer to a greased baking tin. I usually dust the greased with some flour before transferring the batter.  Garnish with few cashews on top. If you wish you can add some to the batter too.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180 C for 35 minutes or till a skewer inserted comes out clean. I baked at 200 C. The top cracked.

The cake was very moist and spongy. Perfect sponge cake with chocolate flavor and no hint of banana. For those who you like the cake to be sweet, you can increase the sugar by 2 tablespoon.

This is off to Divya's Show Me Your Cake and  Sara's Cakes n Cookies event.

Title Contest Submissions

Recently we sent out a call for stories and a contest to name our new series about the secret life of girls around the world, girls and the women they become. So far we have received hundreds of title submissions and we wanted to share some of them. Here is The List:

The Permanent Rose Project
Our Stories, Our Truth
Our Shared and Common Destiny
Hear Our Voices
Listen, Over Here
Over Here
Congratulations, it's a girl! (Or just: It's a girl!)
Spinning Straw into Gold (Or just: Straw into Gold)
And Jill came tumbling after
Let the girl do it
That's what girls do
The Shape of a Women
Sister Songs
Sister Secrets
Girlhood
unrealistic expectations
the girl nextdoor
Secret Spaces
The Secret Lives of Babes
The women they became
Sister's Garden
Girlstuff
Dolls, Damsels and Darlings: a journey to becoming a woman.
The Unsilencing of Girl Voices
Girls To Women
Who Are Girls
Spotlight On Girls
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Girl Time
Girls Ave
Time for Girls
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Wise Word
High Heels to Bare Feet or (Foot) Chronicles
Bare Feet or (Foot) to High Heels Chronicles
SisterSpeak
FemaleFactor
Shattered Ceilings or The Shattered Ceiling(s) Stories
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Girl Meets
World Meets Girl
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Operation Story
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Daisy Chains
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Ophelia's Tales
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The Bridge to Neverland
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Under the Purple Nightshade
Cherry Pits
Cherries: Pits and Blossoms
Sugar and Spice
Silent Keepers
Hush
Muse
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Marienetta
Celine
All about Eve
Just like a Woman
Hear her Sing
Her Secret Story
The Jill Project
In Her Words
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Tracing Emily
The Amiga Project
Inheriting the secrets of women's lives
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Heirlooms of stories by women and girls
The secret heirlooms of our fair sex (sexist context?)
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Buried heirlooms unearthed by women and girls around the world
More and more
Beneath the Veil
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Secrets Out Loud
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Limelight Moments
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Growing Up a Girl
Grown-up Girl Stories
The Dreams of Ladies
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Go Girls
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Great yarns
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Don't Know Much About Her-story
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The XX Files
The XX Project
XX no Ys
XX
XX World
Table Fables
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Table Tales
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The Daily Bread
New Wives Tales
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Wise Maria’s Kitchen Tales
Shall We Gather in the Kitchen?
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In Memory’s Kitchen
Stories from the Soul Kitchen
Rattling Our Pots and Pans
Recipes for Memory
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Gadiola Light
Sprung From Memory
Her Voice
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Pandora's Vox
All About Eve
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Hear Her Song
Her Secret Story
The Jill Project
In Her Words
Fertile Voices
Tracing Emily
The Amiga Project
True North
Period Piece
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The Girls Network
Being a Girl
The Sister Next Door
Girl Culture
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On Becoming Women
Finding Her Voice
This One's for the Girl
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1001 Kitchen Secrets
Stories Rising
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Voices from the Kitchen
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1001 Ways to Cook a Secret
Sisters at the Table
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Mother Tongue
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What She Said
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I Enjoy Being a Girl
Evolution--from Girl to Woman in Non-Easy Steps
Becoming Real--Girls Grow Up
More than Lipgloss--What It Means to Become a Woman in the Twenty-First Century
Womanhood Defined--Girls Coming of Age
The Unveiling Project
The Blossom Project
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Life on Venus
Womanhood Confidential
she will tell you: stories from girls & women around the world
WOMYN
Women Underground
A Girl’s Story
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She, Me, Her
Rock, Paper, Scissors
Women: Lost & Found
Secrets and Lives: The Incredible True Stories of Women and Girls
The Lost Girls: True Stories of Hidden Heroines and Everyday Warriors
The Secret Society of Hidden Heroines
Forgotten Girls Found
The World Girls Club: The Secret Society of Hidden Heroines and Underground Rituals

Thank you to the following for their submissions: Deborah Pardes, Marsha Weiner, Eve Epstein, David Wilson Burnham, Kate Jessup, Mina Kim, Sara Blumenstein, Eliza Hotchkiss, Venus Brown, Kate Blood, Chris Altwegg, Michelle Ito, Jolene Ketzenberger, Mika Gans, Malaika Horne, Catherine Gund, Sasha Vasilyuk, Brooke Miller, Carla Eckels, Catherine Price, Mark Bell, Sheryl Kraft, Jan Bell, Emelie Gunnison, Liza Mock, Andi McDaniel, Summer Brenner, Julie Bien, Judy O'Shea, Amy Tan, Bettina Birch, Rachel Vandagriff, Catherine Dauer, Lisa Busch, Laurie Fabiano, Catherine Pantsios, Chris Strachwitz, Henry Cordova, Mark Bell, Larry Corwin, Jenny Tonks, Jennifer Morla, Tracy Alverson Euler, Ahri Golden, Catherine Stifter, Susan Freinkel, Allison Barlett, Denise Emanuel Clemen, Carolyn Krause, Karen H. Phillips, Catherine Haley Epstein, Mae Maracek, Robert Seibert, Eloise Melzer, Rae Umsted

If you have a title idea you would like to submit, send it to kitchen [at] kitchensisters.org