Instant Wheat Appam | Godhumai Appam | Wheat Flour Appam | Krishna Jayanthi Recipes

So here it is as promised, next sweet recipe for your Janmashtami celebrations. It is an instant appam recipe, that too with wheat flour. If you have a paniyaram/appe pan then it's double damaka! No deep frying needed. And also it is sweetened with jaggery. What more does one need for a healthy sweet indulgence right? :) You can whip up the batter in 10 minutes and making 20 paniyarams would take around 20 minutes. So in half an hour you are done with it!

This recipe is very handy not only during festive occasions but also when you crave for a sweet with your evening cuppa kaapi/chai. Most of the ingredients would be readily there in any pantry. So it's an instant fix for that sudden sweet tooth. Initially I tried this with cup ½ jaggery and 2 bananas. Then Deeps felt it's not sweet enough and asked me to add more bananas next time. But that sweetness was fine with me. But anyways I did so the next time and also slightly increased the jaggery quantity as well. This time I got a thumbs up! So it all depends on your taste buds. So play along!

Makes: 20 appams

I Took: 

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

I Used:

Wheat Flour	-	1 cup
Rice Flour	-	1 tbsp
Grated Coconut	-	2 tbsp
Cardamom powder	-	of 1 pod
Baking Soda	-	A pinch
Salt	-	A big pinch
Jaggery	-	½ - ¾ cup
Banana	-	½ cup mashed (nearly 4 small bananas)
Water	-	As required

The Way:

1. Take the jaggery in a pan and add little water, just to immerse it. Heat it over low flame so that the jaggery dissolves completely. Filter it to remove any impurities (I use organic jaggery, hence did not filter) and keep aside. Allow it to cool

2. Mash the bananas to a smooth paste with a fork or you can also give a quick pulse in mixie

3. Now take the other ingredients together in a bowl viz. wheat flour, rice flour, grated coconut, baking soda, salt, cardamom and stir it well

4. Now add the mashed banana and jaggery syrup (it should not be hot) and mix evenly. Add water and mix well without any lumps. It should be of idly batter consistency

5. Now heat a paniyaram/appe pan. Add ½ tsp oil/ghee in all holes. Then add about 1 tbsp (depends on the size of your pan) of batter in each hole

6. Lower the flame and allow it to cook. You can cook covered for around 2-3 minutes and the flip over

7. Again now allow this side to cook for about 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a plate and it's now ready to be served with a hot cuppa chai !

Notes: 

• If you do not have a paniyaram/appe pan you can also deep fry the appams. In that case take a laddle of the batter and pour it into hot oil. The appams should come up and not sink down. That would be the right temperature for the oil

• If you do not have normal whole wheat flour you can also use atta. Taste would slightly vary as compared to normal whole wheat flour

• I use cherupazham (yelakki) variety of banana for this recipe

• Also don't pour the hot jaggery syrup to the flour mix. Allow it to cool and then add

• Stick to a pinch of baking soda. More of it can make the appams flat and sticky and will be very difficult to cook properly

Cheers,
Chitz

Eggless Strawberry Banana Muffins | Strawberry Banana Yogurt Cupcakes

I love strawberries, but they have to be sweet. Now that's an ambitious request right? Very seldom I come across fully sweet strawberries. Most of the times it will be semi-sweet or sour. Then I resort to milkshakes or smoothies or yummy bakes, as they would need a small amount of sugar & would taste out of the world :) Last week we had a guest for lunch & they bought us a lot of fresh berries - blue, black, red & straw ;) And also we had a small outing to a nearby lake during the weekend. Then I thought I would bake some of these muffins & make it a tea outing that day ! I should admit that I thoroughly enjoyed baking these cuties, as they filled my whole house with a yummilicious smell. Do try them out as they are very simple & less time consuming and also you are guaranteed of a fabulous outcome !

Recipe Source: Joy of Baking 

I Took: 25 minutes (Prep) + 25 minutes (Baking)

Makes: 12 regular sized muffins

I Used:

Strawberry - ½ cup - cut into bite sized pieces Banana - 1 big sized - mashed All purpose Flour - 1 cup + 2 tbsp Butter - ¼ cup Yogurt - ¼ cup Vanilla Essence - 1 tsp Granulated Sugar - ¼ cup + 2 tbsp Baking Powder - ¾ tsp Baking Soda - ¼ tsp Ground Cinnamon - ¼ tsp or an inch stick mashed with banana Salt - ½ tsp

The Way:

1. Mash the bananas. If you do not have ground cinnamon then add the cinnamon stick to the banana & mash it
2. Melt the butter (in an oven or saucepan) & allow it to cool to room temperature
3. Pre-heat the oven to 175 degree Celsius in conventional mode 
4. In a bowl whisk together yogurt, vanilla essence & mashed banana. Add the melted butter & stir to combine
5. In another large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon (if available) & salt. You can sift it for 3 times for even mixing of the dry ingredients
6. Then gently fold in the strawberries into the flour mixture making sure that they are coated well with the flour. This helps the berries to prevent from sinking during baking
7. Now add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients & stir gently so that they are combined. Do not over mix, else the muffins might become hard
8. Line a muffin pan with paper liners or butter the muffin cups in the pan 
9. Place 2 spoons of the batter in each cup using a spoon 
10. Bake it for about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted through it comes out clean. Do not mistake the fruit within the muffin to be wet batter. Mine was done in 25 minutes

Cheers,

Chitz