Peanut Butter Banana Muffins (Whole Wheat)

Category: Baking
Preparation Time: 10 mins  
Cooking Time: 17-20 mins
Servings: yields 12 muffins

Whole Wheat Banana Muffins with the addition of creamy peanut butter are super soft and moist:) 

Peanut Butter Banana Muffins

Ingredients: 

Dry Ingredients:

• Wheat Flour / Atta - 1 cup
• Baking soda - 1 tsp
• Salt - 1/4 tsp

Wet Ingredients:

• Banana, ripen - 3 nos (long variety)
• Egg - 1 no
• Creamy Peanut Butter - 1/2 cup (I used home made chocolate flavoured Peanut Butter)
• Brown Sugar - 1/3 cup
• Vanilla extract - 1 tsp

Other Ingredients: 

• Chocolate chips (Since I had used chocolate flavoured PB, didnt add this time) 

Method: 

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 F for 10 mins
2. Grease the muffin tray or line it with muffin liners and keep it ready
3. In a sieve, add the wheat flour, Baking soda and salt. Sieve the dry ingredients into a wide plate/bowl
   
4. In another bowl, mash the bananas well or we can blend it in blender
   
5. To this add the creamy peanut butter, blend well
   
6. Add in the egg and brown sugar, mix well until combined
   
7. Add the vanilla extract mix together to form uniform mixture
8. Add the sieved flour into the wet mixture and mix gently till combined
   
9. If using chocolate chips, add them into the batter and mix gently
10. Spoon the batter into muffin cups; fill only 3/4 th of the cup
    
     
11. Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 mins or until its done (can be checked by using tooth pick method)
12. Once its done, remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 mins
    
13. Then transfer the muffins from the tray to cooling rack
14. Serve Warm with a glass of milk!

Pineapple Rasam

Category: Lunch
Preparation Time: 10 mins  
Cooking Time: 15 mins
Servings: 3-4 servings

Pineapple Rasam

Ingredients:

• Toor Dhal - 3 tbsp
• Pineapple, finely chopped - 1/2 cup
• Pineapple, pureed - 1/2 cup
• Tomato, finely chopped - 1 no
• Tomato, crushed - 1 no
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Salt - to taste
• Coriander leaves - for granishing
• Oil - 2 tsp
• Mustard - 1/2 tsp
• Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp
• Split Urad dhal - 1/2 tsp
• Curry leaves - few
• Red chilli - 1 no 
• Asafoetida - a pinch
• Water - as required

To grind coarsely:

• Pepper - 1 tsp
• Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
• Green Chilly - 1 no

Method:

1. Pressure cook Toor Dhal with required water, Turmeric, few drops of oil  and mash well (I usually pre soak dhal for at least 15 mins for easy cooking)
   
   
   
2. Coarsely grind the pepper. cumin seeds and green chilly and keep it aside
3. In a vessel, add the crushed tomato, required salt, pinch of turmeric and around 1 1/2 cups of water; mix well and bring to boil
   
4. Chop the tomato and pineapple and extract pineapple juice/puree
   
5. Once the water starts to boil, add the pineapple juice and the coarsely ground mixture, allow to boil for few mins 
   
6. Meanwhile, heat oil in a pan, once it gets hot add the mustard seeds. When it splutters, add cumin seeds, urad dhal, red chilly, followed by curry leaves and asafoetida
   
7. Add the finely chopped tomato followed by pineapple pieces and saute till the raw smell of the tomato goes off
   
8. Then add the boiling mixture into the the pan and bring to boil
   
9. Now add the cooked dhal, required water and adjust salt; Mix well 
   
10. Keep the flame in medium and cover the pan with lid. Once it becomes frothy and started to boil, switch off the flame and garnish with coriander leaves 
    
11. Make sure not to boil the rasam after adding dhal
12. Serve hot with Rice or even as a soup!

Cheese stuffed Broccoli Cutlets

Category: Snacks
Preparation Time: 10 mins  
Cooking Time: 4-5 mins per batch
Servings: Yields 5-6 cutlets

Cheese stuffed Broccoli Cutlet

Cheese stuffed Broccoli Cutlet

Ingredients:

• Broccoli, finely chopped / grated - 1 cup heaped
• Potatoes - 1 no
• Small Onion, finely chopped - 5-6 nos
• Garlic, finely chopped - 3 pods
• Corn starch / corn flour - 1-2 tbsp
• Cheese - 1 slice or 2-3 cubes (as required)
• Pepper Powder - to taste
• Salt - to taste
• Oil - 1 tsp + for toasting
• Optional: Green chillies, finely chopped (can be avoided if making for kids)

Method:

1. Boil the potatoes and grate / mash it well without any lumps
   
2. Heat 1 tsp of oil in a pan, add finely chopped small onions and saute for 1 min
   
3. Add the finely chopped garlic and saute till they turn golden brown; If using chillies, we can add at this stage and fry well
   
4. Add the grated / finely chopped broccoli pieces along with required salt and saute in medium flame for few mins till it gets cooked
   
5. Once the broccoli is done, switch off and allow the mixture to cool
6. In a bowl, add the sauted broccoli and mashed potato, mix well
   
7. Add 1 tbsp of corn flour to it and knead well to form a stiff dough. If required we can add another 1/2 tbsp of corn powder
   
8. Make equal sized balls out of the kneaded dough; flatten one ball into a circular patty
9. If using cheese slice, we can cut them into thin strips and roll it as below and place in the center of the patty; when using cubes, we can grate it and place the same
   
10. After placing the cheese at the center, bring the sides inwards and form a ball
11. Flatten it gently into circular cutlet shapes; repeat the same for the remaining dough
    
12. Heat a pan and drizzle few drops of oil, place the patties and allow to toast for 1-2 mins in medium flame
    
13. Then flip it over and cook the other side too with few drops of oil till it becomes golden brown
    
14. Once its done, remove it and serve hot!
    

Paneer stuffed Sweet Potato Paratha

Category: Chapati / Paratha   
Preparation Time: 15 mins
Waiting Time: 30 mins      
Cooking Time: 20 mins    
Servings: Yields around 10 parathas

Paneer stuffed Sweet Potato Paratha

Ingredients:

For dough:

• Wheat flour / Atta - 2 cups
• Sweet potato - 1 no
• Ghee - 1-2 tsp (Optional)
• Salt- to taste
• Warm Water - if required 

For Stuffing:

• Paneer, crumbled / grated - 1 cup (Home made Paneer)
• Roasted Cumin seed powder - 1/2 tsp
• Coriander leaves, chopped - 2 tbsp 
• Kasoori Methi, crushed - 1 tsp
• Green chillies, finely chopped - 2-3 nos (can be avoided if making for kids)
• Salt - to taste

Other Ingredients:

• Wheat / Rice flour - for dusting
• Ghee / Oil - for toasting

Method:

1. Wash and cook the sweet potato in pressure cooker; can be cooked in a vessel placed inside the cooker
   
2. Once it gets cooked, peel off the skin and mash it well 
   
3. In a wide bowl, add the wheat flour, required salt, ghee (if using) and mix well
4. To this add the mashed sweet potato and knead well to form a smooth soft dough. Sprinkle water only if necessary; at times moisture in the sweet potato will be enough for kneading. Keep it aside for atleast 30 mins
   
   
   
   
5. For the stuffing, add all the ingredients in the above stuffing list in a bowl and mix well
   
6. Divide the dough into equal lemon sized balls, dust them with flour, flatten them to a circle
7. Keep a spoonful of stuffing in the center of the circle and bring the sides of the circle towards center as shown below. This way we will get square parathas; we can also do in a regular way for circular ones
   
   
   
   
8. Roll it to form a thin paratha
   
9. Heat the tawa, place the parathas and cook till bubbles started to appear on the surface
   
10. Turn over and cook the other side; spread few drops of ghee over it
11. Once it's cooked, spread a little ghee / oil on the other side of the paratha and transfer to plate or place it in hot box till you serve
    
12. These parathas are soft and can be had with curd or any gravy

Cinnamon sprinkled Banana - Walnut Muffins (Whole Wheat)

Category: Baking
Preparation Time: 10 mins  
Cooking Time: 20 mins
Servings: yields 12 muffins

Cinnamon-Banana-Walnut Muffin

Ingredients: 

Dry Ingredients:

• Wheat Flour / Atta - 1 1/2 cup
• Baking soda - 3/4 tsp
• Baking powder - 1/4 tsp
• Salt - 1/4 tsp

Wet Ingredients:

• Banana, ripen - 2 nos (long variety)
• Eggs - 2 nos
• Butter, melted- 1/2 cup
• Honey - 1/3 cup
• Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
• Cinnamon powder - 1/2 tsp

Other Ingredients: 

• Walnuts, chopped - 1/2 cup
• Wheat flour - 1-2 tsp 
• Oil spray / oil - for greasing
• Cinnamon sugar - as required 

(Cinnamon sugar can be prepared by mixing 1/4 cup of sugar with 1 tbsp of ground cinnamon and stored in air tight container)

Cinnamon Sugar

 Method: 

1. Pre heat oven to 350 F for 10 mins
2. Grease the muffin tray or line it with muffin liners and keep it ready
3. In a sieve, add the wheat flour, Baking soda, Baking powder and salt. Sieve the dry ingredients into a wide plate/bowl
   
4. In another bowl, mash the bananas well or we can blend it in blender
   
5. To this add the melted butter, blend well
   
6. Add in the eggs and honey, mix well until combined
   
7. Add the vanilla extract and cinnamon powder, mix together to form uniform mixture
   
8. Add 1-2 tsp of wheat flour to the walnuts and mix well so it gets uniformly dusted (this step is to prevent sinking of the nuts while baking)
   
9. Add the sieved flour into the wet mixture and mix well till combined
   
10. Add the nuts into the batter and mix gently
    
11. Spoon the batter into muffin cups; fill only 3/4 th of the cup 
    
12. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the top of the muffins
    
13. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 mins or until its done (can be checked by using tooth pick method)
    
14. Once its done, remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 mins
    
15. Then transfer the muffins from the tray to cooling rack
    
16. Serve Warm with a glass of milk!