Ragi wholwheat bread

So this Sunday I tried my hands on ragi cake for a potluck with friends with my fingers crossed and it came  out very good . Everyone liked it and didn't believe it was made from ragi! Which was a big achievement considering cakes are thought to be very unhealthy and ragi not so delicious. So this encouraged me to try other conventional recipes replacing the white flour with ragi, in moderation to start with. I bought sprouted ragi flour long back and used it to make cookies . Rest of it was lying in my kitchen cabinet waiting for its turn to be transformed into something appeasing to my pallet! Well I ended up using all of it with this second recipe and look forward to get more to experiment.

But be aware this bread is not very light like the one using wheat flour but it tastes good and can be used simply by toasting and putting some olive oil or butter. Its full of nutrients from ragi and wholewheat and you won't have to think twice before eating. What more one wants! So here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon active dry yeast 

1 cup ragi flour 

3/4 cup wholwheat flour 

4 tablespoon white flour 

2 tablespoon oil

1 tablespoon jaggery

1 tablespoon salt

1 cup water 

1 tablespoon oats , flaxseed, melon and sunflower seeds to coat

Recipe:

The very first step in any recipe calling for dry yeast is to proof it. This is done to make sure that yeast will work in the recipe. To proof the yeast add it to warm water with jaggery and keep aside at a warm place for 5-10 minutes. Water needs to be lukewarm and not too hot to kill yeast action. Once it is bubbled up it is ready to be added to the recipe.

Mix together all flours and salt in a bowl . Add oil and yeast mixture. Put it together using a fork adding yeast mixture in smash amounts.

Now using hands knead the dough . Dont be too harsh on dough and do this with medium pressure until it comes together as a smooth texture.Brush a bowl with oil and place dough in it. Rolling it over to its covered woth oil all over and doesn't dry up.

Now this has to be kept at a warm place for an hour or until it doubles up. I always preheat the oven to 250c and keep it there. After 30-45 minutes it would rise up. Take it on dusted work surface and knead again removing the air and rise. Shape into a loaf and roll on the oats and seeds. Brush the loaf pan with oil and keep the dough in it. Let it sit in warm place again for 30-45 minutes so that it rises again as in picture below. Once done,  bake in a preheated oven at 180C for about an hour.

Ragi cake with dark choclate glaze icing

I have baked many cakes earlier but never realised that I can try one using ragi flour as well until I came across with one of the posts on Facebook from some member of a foodies club. I had tried the ragi cookies earlier and they were good and being a health food freak I am and gave this recipe a try but with my own touch using some substitues in the original recipe . I baked it with my fingers crossed and was a little skeptical but it came out so good that I am sure I am going to make this again very soon and very often!

I am not a good food photographer and a little lazy in clicking pictures for step by step recipe . But this time around I did cick a few. Hope it helps. This is my first attempt at ragi cake and I will be trying more kinds with ragi as main ingredients. 

For now here goes the recipe.

Ingredients :

1 cup ragi flour 

1/2 cup whole wheat flour 

1/2 cup white flour(can replace with wholewheat flour)

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup date syrup 

1/2 cup canola oil

1 egg

1 tablespoon baking powder

For chocolate glaze:

50 grams dark chocolate bar

1 tablespoon oil

1/2 tablespoon sugar

Cherries to garnish 

Recipe:

Preheat oven to 180 C.

Sift together the flours and baking powder in a bowl. Beat the oil and sugar with an electric blender and add egg to it. Add vanilla essence and date syrtand beat again for 2 minutes. Fild in the dry ingredients and mix gently.

Brush the cake mould with oil amd dust with flour. Pour thr batter amd bake for 30 to 40 minutes.

To prepare the glaze, melt the chocolate in oil in microwave for 2 minutes. Add icing sugar. Wait for cake to come to room temperature. Apply icing with a spoon and garnish with cherries on top.

Emjoy guilt free!

Sabudana and raw banana cutlets

My MIL introduced me to appe and I hadn't have them any time earlier. But once I got my own appe cast pan and started making them I don't even remember how many variations I have tried in snacks and breakfast. The authentic one are made with dosa batter . But I tried palak pakora, saboodana cutlet, rava veg, oats to name a few. I even made some with left over pad thai noodles and believe me it turned out really crispy and yummy!

The one I am talking about here is made using raw banana and saboodana as main ingredients but you may add potato or a little bread as well . It's a life saver when it comes to put together something for snacks or breakfast which is easy to make and tastes good.

I didn't add any green chillies as I had them with coriander mint chilly cutney but you may add as per your taste. It's also a healthy recipe considering we are using very little oil and no potatoes. 

Here goes the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup saboodana/sago soaked for 8 hours (I soak overnight to make it in morning)

2 boiled and peeled raw banana 

Salt as per your taste

Finely chop coriander and mint leaves (handful)

1 tablespoon Jeera powder

1 tablespoon coriander powder

Oil to brush on appe pan.

Recipe:

Grate/mash boiled banana and mix saboodana. Add all other ingredients. Shape in round cutlets as per size of your appe pan. 

Heat appe pan and brush with oil.

Once its hot put the cutlets on moulds and cover with a lid. Turn flame on medium and keep an eye by turning them to get brown on both sides. This takes around 10-15 minutes.

Serve hot with green chutney.

You can add paneer, peas , boiled potatoes to make variations. 

Add up spices as per your taste.

Cookies, cookies and cookies!

Something special about cookies is that they are enjoyed across all age groups.

Whenever I bake them I make variations with same dough by playing around with some of the ingredients and getting variety of flavours with same effort 😄.  You can enjoy them as it is or just crush them into ice cream or pour some hot chocolate sauce over them. They taste delicious whichever way you eat them.

Though a big health freak I am , I was a little lenient while making these and didn't mind using some while flour and sugar which I otherwise try to avoid by using healthier substitutes. But you can adapt this by changing oats-white flour or sugar-date syrup ratios.

Here goes the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup white flour 

1 cup oats

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup date syrup 

2 tablespoons white chocolate chips

2 tablespoons dark chocolate chips

2 tablespoons dessicated coconut 

2 tablespoons cinnamon powder (or vanilla extract )

3/4 cup butter(at room temperature)

2 eggs

2 tablespoons baking powder 

Recipe:

Preheat oven to 170 degrees celcius.

Whisk together eggs with butter with a blender. Add sugar , date syrup and cinnamon powder and whisk again till everything mixes together well and appears light.

In another bowl mix the dry ingredients- oats , flour and baking powder. Mix dry ingredients to wet . Divide this mixture into 3 portions and add white, dark choclate chip and cocunut to each portion. You can also try using cashew and raisins. Pour the batter using spoon over greased baking tray. For hassle free cleaning afterwards you can also use a baking tray covered with greased aluminium foil which makes removing cookies easy. Drop in spoonfuls keeping a distance of 1 inche between one another as they will expand. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Let them sit for 10 minutes after removing from oven.

Enjoy warm.

Zuccini bread recipe

I have baked banana and carrot breads lots of times but recently came across this Zuccini bread recipe so gave it a try and it didn't disappoint me. I did make changes to original recipe replacing butter and sugar with canola oil and date syrup. Started substituting half of quantity in first attempt and then completely. It didn't cause any major change in texture and taste but made it alot more healthy. So will go with same in future!

Here goes the recipe 

Ingredients:

1/3 cup white flour

1/2 cup oats

1/2 cup wholwheat flour

1 cup dates syrup 

1/2 cup canola oil

1 tablespoons baking powder

1 egg

1 cup grated Zuccini 

1 tablespoons cinnamon powder

Flaxseed, melon seeds to decorate (optional)

Recipe:

Preheat the oven to 180c . Whisk egg and oil in a bowl. Add date syrup . 

In another bowl mix together all flours , baking powder, cinnamon powder.

Add the dry mixture to the wet one . Add 

Zuccini to this mixture.

Brush the loaf pan with oil and pour the mixture. Sprinkle the seeds on top.  Bake in oven for an hour . Check with a toothpick to make sure its cooked completely. Let it rest for 10 minutes before removing from pan.

Enjoy guilt free!