Baking with Merry

It's been quite sometime since I have made payasams  or kheer at home. The last I made was an Ada Pradhaman for last year's Onam. Suddenly I had an urge to make a payasam yesterday. I looked for the available ingredients and found a packet of cheru payar parippu /split  moong dal in my pantry. I googled for moong dal payasam / kheer and found many. Finally, I zeroed in the recipe from Spicy Treats , since it was quite easy to make. Ingredients: Recipe Source: Spicy Treats Moong dal - 1 cup Jaggery - 1-2 cups, grated Milk - 2 cups Cardamom powder - 1 tsp Cashew nuts - 8-10 Raisins - 8-10 Ghee - 2tsp + 1 tbsp Method: Cook moong dal with 3 cups of water in a wide vesssel . When the moong   dal  is 90 % cooked, add the grated jaggery. Stir well till the jaggery gets completely dissolved and the raw smell leaves. Add cardamom powder and stir well. Add 1 -2 tsp ghee and stir well. Then add warm milk to the dal  syrup and stir gently.

Milkshakes have proven to be the best hunger supressing food in my home. They are always ready by the time my son comes home from school. Lately, I have been trying out various combinations and most of them are quite fruitful!! One such is this Choco-Banana Milkshake.  Ingredients: Source: My very own Banana, large variety - 1 Bournvita - 1 tbsp Sugar - 1 tbsp Chocolate sauce - 1 tbsp Milk, chilled - 1 cup Method: Place all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth and frothy. Transfer to a serving glass and serve with love *winks*.  

Serradura or Sawdust Pudding is a  Portuguese  dessert made up of sweetened, vanilla whipped cream and crushed biscuits. Serradura, one of the easiest pudding I have made to this day. And taste-wise, it was just delicious!  Ingredients: Recipe Source: Kurryleaves Marie biscuits - 20-25 Whipping cream - 1 cup Condensed milk - 5 tbsps Vanilla - 1/2 tsp Method: Powder the biscuits in a blender until superfine and keep aside. In a bowl, whip the cream until thick. Add condensed milk and vanilla extract, and whip to form firm peaks. Place the powdered biscuit into a bowl. Add a layer of the whipped cream. Repeat the process, finishing off with cream. Sprinkle powdered biscuit on the top. Serve chilled.  

Finally, one of my bookmarked recipe sees the limelight. I had jotted this recipe from Swapna's Cuisine few months back, but had completely forgot about it. Few days back, I had a few over-ripened bananas (a usual thing in my home)  and when I was wondering as to what to do with those, I remembered about this recipe. When I checked out the ingredients in the recipe, I found I had everything, and viola the Chocolate Banana Bread got baked..... Ingredients: Recipe Source: Swapna's Cuisine All purpose flour - 230 gm Cocoa powder - 30 gm Granulated white sugar - 200 gm Baking powder - 1 tsp Baking soda - 1/4 tsp Salt - 1/4 tsp Chocolate chips - 1 cup  Egg - 1 Yoghurt - 2 tbsp Unsalted butter - 1/4 cup Bananas - 3 ripe Vanilla essence - 1 tsp Method: Preheat oven to 180 C. Butter and flour the bottom and sides of a loaf tin. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

“A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.”  ―  Washington Irving I made this love-shaped or heart-loved (whatever!) cake last week for my mom's birthday, but somehow got delayed in posting it...Anyways, "Better late than never".... Ingredients: Recipe Source: Newspaper (Sadly, I don't remember which one!) All purpose flour - 1 2/3 cups Brown sugar/Granulated sugar - 1 cup Cocoa powder - 1/4 cup Baking soda - 1 tsp Salt - 1/2 tsp Water - 1 cup Vegetable oil - 1/3 cup Vinegar - 1 tsp Vanilla extract - 1/2 tsp White chocolate chips - 1/4 cup Dark chocolate chips - 1/4 cup Method: Preheat oven to 180 C. Mix flour, brown sug