Sweet Melange For A Merry Christmas - Nendiram Pazha Halwa - Banana Halwa

SWEET MELANGE FOR A MERRY CHRISTMAS

NENDIRAM PAZHA HALWA / BANANA HALWA

We presented our " Vegetarian Menu Recommendations For A Tasty Christmas" last year. This year we are ready to welcome Christmas with a "Sweet Melange". Fruits, vegetables, flour, milk, nuts, sugar and jaggery combine with many other ingredients and are all set to metamorphise into delicious sweets of varying shapes,colours , textures and tastes in this Sweet Melange For A Merry Christmas.

Nendiram Vazhai Pazham is a special variety of banana which abounds in the south west coast of  India. This variety of banana  is the best choice for preparing a delicious banana halwa due to its golden colour and unique taste.

INGREDIENTS

Nendiram Vazhai Pazham - 2 ( roughly 4 1/2 cups when sliced)

Sugar - 2 cups

Ghee - 4 tbsps

Cardamom powder - 1pinch

Mixed nuts - a few

METHOD

1. Heat 2 tsps of ghee and roast the nuts and keep aside.

2. Peel and dice the banana into thin slices.

3. Heat 2 tbsps of ghee in a heavy bottomed pan and add the banana slices.

4. Stir well and cover with a lid.

5. Cook on low flame stirring now and then till the banana slices become mushy.

6. Add sugar and cook till the sugar melts and blends well with the fruit mash.

7. Keep stirring on low flame till the halwa starts leaving the sides of the pan.

8. Blend in the remaining ghee, roasted nuts and the cardamom powder and switch off flame.

Enjoy the Nendiram Pazha Halwa in scoops while still warm. 

 Or spread the golden coloured halwa on a greased plate, and cut them into desired shapes when cold. Either way Nendiram Pazha Halwa tastes heavenly.

Cardamom Honey Grilled Chicken Skewers

I wanted to post few recipes to my own event on Spices in which I chose Cardamom as this months spice. I lov the cardamom flavor, but as it's my own event, I wanted to make something different and special, which is easy to make. Whenever we think of cardamom, it's always some sweet recipe that comes to our mind. But I wanted to think out of the box and make this recipe a unique one with not much complication. :)

Ingredients:
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6 Chicken Strips
1 tsp Cardamom powder
2 tbsp Honey
1 tbsp Pepper powder
1 tsp Lemon juice
Salt as needed
1/2 tsp Olive Oil for brushing

Method:
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1. In a mixing bowl, add all the ingredients except oil along with the chicken, marinate it for about 30 mins.
2. Now in a grill pan, when it's hot, brush with oil.

3. Place the chicken strips into skewers and arrange it over the grill.
4. Make sure that you don't over crowd the grill pan and leave 1inch gap between.
5. Cook each skewer for about 3-4 mins on each side and flip to the other side and cook again for the same amount of time.

6. Meanwhile in a pan add the remaining marinade and heat it for one boil and reduce it to simmer for about 5 mins.

7. Once the chicken is done. Transfer it to a serving platter and pour the warm marinade sauce and serve it hot. You can garnish with little bit of lemon and parsley/cilantro.

Sending this to my Series Event SPICES - "CARDAMOM" - Dec 5th to Jan 5th.

You Might Also Like:

	Chicken Kabab
	Oven Fried Chicken
	Veg (Potato) & Non-Veg (Chicken) Samosa

Eggless Bluberry Boy Bait / Eggless Blueberry Cake

Just two days before when I was reading something, I came across  'Baking Boy-Bait' and I googled it to know more about it resulted few cake recipes. Among them, I inspired by this egg less blueberry boy bait from Chef In You and immediately the next day I prepared it and today I posted it.

Now, you want to know what is 'Bluberry boy-bait' right? From my understanding, it started with a teen-age girl who participated in Pillsbury's baking competition. Simply, here you go with the story behind this cake and the name.



"In 1954, a 15-year old girl participated in the junior level Pillsbury baking competition and won second prize with moist, tender, soft blueberry cake. The cake created a wonderful effect on teenage boys just with a bite, made her named the cake as 'boy bait'"



It is really a soft, spongy and yummy cake. you will really like it!



Basic Information:

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Cooking Time: 45-50 minutes

Serves: 8-12

Ingredients:



All purpose flour - 2 cups , divided

Baking powder - 1 tablespoon

Salt - 1 teaspoon

Unsalted butter - 1 cup, room temperature

Granulated Sugar - 1 cup (plus 1/4 cup, if you need more sweet)

Vanilla extract - 1 teaspoon

Milk - 3/4 cup

Yogurt - 1 cup

Fresh Blueberries - 1 cup, divided

Granulated Sugar - 4 tablespoons, for top decorating

Method:



1) Preheat the oven to 175C(350F). Grease the 8" round cake tin or 8"X8" square cake tin or 9"x13" cake tin with butter and then flour.

2) In a mixing bowl, mix well the flour, baking powder and salt. Keep it aside.

3) In an another bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add vanilla extract and mix well.

4) Add one third of the flour mixture to butter mixture and mix just until incorporated.

5) Add half of yogurt and half of milk. Mix until all incorporated.

6) Add half of the remaining flour. Mix it until incorporated. Continue with remaining yogurt and milk and then finish with flour. Make sure not to over beat.(flour, milk and yogurt, flour, milk and yogurt, flour - follow this order)

7) Now in a small bowl, take blueberries and toss with a teaspoon of flour.

8) Add the tossed blueberry to the batter and using the rubber spatula, gently fold in.

9) Spread evenly in the baking tin prepared(as said in step1).

10) Scatter the remaining blueberries over the top of batter. Sprinkle granulated sugar followed by it.

11) Bake it for 45-50 minutes or until the toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Cool it for 15-20 minutes and transfer to serving plate with top of the cake facing up.

12) Serve warm or cold.

Note:

1) I halved the recipe to occupy enough with my baking dish. However, I have given the original recipe for easy understanding.

2) I stored the cake in an airtight container for 2 days and it was good.

3) Tossing of blueberry in the flour keep them from sinking to the bottom of the cake.

4) Though I have not tried with frozen berries in this recipe concerned, you can use frozen berries too but do not defrost as they tend to muddle with batter.