Cold coffee

Everybody loves coffee and with summer setting in, moving from hot drinks that warm our hands to cold drinks that refresh us,  this instant chiller is a winner! 

Made with ice cream and coffee, this drink is something you can whip up in minutes and enjoy on a lovely summer evening.

Chicken Hariyali

As the name suggests, this chicken is green. The reason being the main ingredient-coriander or cilantro.

Chicken hariyali can be made gravy style or as a starter. The starter is usually called chicken hariyali kebabs and are made with boneless chicken on skewers. I have made the kebab style as well, but with boned chicken pieces instead. I always feel that boned chicken tastes better than boneless chicken.

Wholemeal fruit cake (with chia seeds)

I have used a very basic sponge cake recipe to make this melt in the mouth fruit cake. I have however, replaced all purpose flour with whole wheat flour and white sugar with brown sugar. The addition of 1 cup of fresh strawberries made it a lovely fruit cake. You can add any fresh or dry fruit of your choice.

The addition of chia seeds is optional. I had them stocked up so I used 1tbsp of whole chia seeds in the recipe.

raw whole chia seeds

This Link will give you all the nutritional information on chia seeds and its potential health benefits.

Khubani ka meetha/apricot dessert

Khubani ka meetha is the most simple yet most rich dessert I have ever had. The best part is that there is no oil/ghee/butter included in making this dessert. It is made with apricots only. Apricots are very good for health and a  good source of fibre, vitamins, iron and many other essential nutrients. 

Kesari/Suji ka halwa

Lately I've been craving some typical hot Indian dessert. Kesari also known as 'suji ka halwa' - my most favourite hot dessert is the first thing that struck when the craving started ;)

Banana Muffins

A big hello to all my readers.

 I have been unable to update my blog for a long time and I apologise for that. I have been extremely busy as I am running on a tight schedule. I do hope to update my blog on a regular basis henceforth.

My daughter Zia, who is nearly 2 and a half now is keeping me on my toes the whole day. She is however, taking a keen interest in cooking and is in the kitchen every morning. "Mommy, I help you" is what she keeps saying. Zia loves mixing and pouring ingredients and has mastered the two now. 

Last week, on one of our visits to the supermarket she spotted a 'Dora' little chef set that came with 4 muffin moulds, a dora plate and a little book. "Zia wants dora plate." she said, and so I got her the set :) 

In the Dora book that came along, I got this fun simple recipe for the banana muffins. Zia had so much fun making it the first time that she asked to make it again today. So we did :)

I'm sharing this fun recipe with you so you can make it with your lil one's or lil siblings. 

These are healthy tasty muffins enjoyed by adults as well as kids and is a good way to get kids to eat their fruit.

I have replaced the ingredients a bit to suit me and make it healthy ;)

To make these muffins you will need

Preparation time : 10 minutes

Cooking time : 15 minutes

Makes 4-5 yummy banana muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 large or 2 small bananas
• 1 medium egg
• 2 tbsps vegetable oil
• 40 g brown sugar
• 100 g wheat flour(wholemeal)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 65 ml milk

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C
• Peel the bananas, throw them in a mixing bowl and mash them with a fork.

• Add the egg and oil to this mash and mix, mix, mix(like Zia says it)

• Then add the sugar and mix, mix, mix.

• Add the sifted flour and baking powder to this little by little and mix well.
• Lastly add milk and mix, mix, mix.(Zia even remembered the last ingredient from the previous time. After mixing the flour she said, 'now milk' )

• Place the muffin moulds in an oven proof tray/plate and pour the mix into them(grease and dust the moulds if they are not silicon moulds). Fill them until 3/4th full.
• Pop the tray into the oven for 15 minutes. Prick the centre of the muffins with a toothpick to check if they are done. Remove and let it cook.
• Enjoy these tasty, melt in the mouth, easy to make muffins.

Notes:

1. The original recipe used the following ingredients

1 large banana

1 medium egg

2 tbsp rapeseed oil

40 g brown sugar

100 g plain flour ( self raising)

65 ml milk

Shabnam