Tag Archives: Jaggery

Desserts

Easy Nendran Banana Halwa | Nendrabale kele halwo

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This halwa is a quick fix for mommies like me who don’t have the time for elaborate halwa making as kids keep pulling our legs to come play with them 😄. Kerala Bananas or Nendrabale kele (in Konkani) is a regular in my house as kids love it very much right from when they were babies.

I usually cut the bananas into round shape, fry it in ghee and give them but sometimes it gets over ripe very quickly (all thanks to the summers here). So I make this halwa which my husband’s aunt made when she had less bananas to make the original version of nendrabale halwa.

This is super easy to make yet comes out too delicious for words. We love it a lot for our post dinner dessert and kids enjoy it as well. My daughter has given it a name “Banana squares”. Trust kids these days for modern and unique names for our age old dishes 😅.

Hope you all try this when you have leftover nendran bananas staring at you to use it up 😄. Happy and healthy cooking!

RECIPE:

Ingredients:

3 over ripe Nendran Banana/ Kerala Banana/ Nendrabale kele

1/2 Cup to 3/4 Cup Jaggery powder or grated Jaggery (to taste)

2 Tbsp Ghee

1/2 tsp Cardamom powder (optional)

Step by step recipe:

1. Peel and mash the bananas well using hands.

2. Heat ghee in a pan (preferably non stick) and add the mashed bananas. Fry well on medium flame till the rawness of the bananas goes away. Takes about 5 mins.

3. Now add jaggery powder.

4. Now continuously mix till the mixture leaves the sides of the pan and turns golden in colour. Takes about 10 mins of continuous mixing. Add Cardamom powder and mix once.

5. Remove and put in a plate greased with ghee. Level using spatula. Cut and serve after it cools slightly.

Notes:

* Over ripe nendran bananas work well for this recipe as it can be easily mashed with hands and cooks quickly too.

* Normal banana halwa can be made this way too but the texture would be different and not thick like this nendran banana halwa.

* Jaggery can be adjusted to taste as per the sweetness of the bananas.

* Fry the bananas well in ghee before adding jaggery so that there is no rawness in the halwa. After adding jaggery too, keep stirring well on medium flame till the mixture leaves the side of the pan. Both these steps as very important to get perfect halwa.

Desserts

Jaggery Shrikhand |{ How to make Hung curd }

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I love sweets and Shrikhand is one of my favourites. We used to buy Amul Shrikhand available here but I always felt it was a tad too sugary for my taste (inspite of being all sweet teeth in my mouth 😉). So it was kept for rare cravings.

Then one day when I was chatting with my friend Sonali Baindur (Divya) , she said she makes Shrikhand at home following her mother in law, Vidya Baindur’s recipe. She mentioned that not only is making Shrikhand at home easier but a lot cheaper too. So that gave me the much needed encouragement to try it out.

And as she said, it is very very easy. I made Shrikhand with Jaggery instead as we love Jaggery flavour a lot more. It tasted so yummy that I really wonder why I did not make it these many days. We already made it thrice this month. Very cooling for the summers here in Qatar too.

Thank you Divya for the inspiration. Hope you all try and love it too.

Happy Gowri Pooja and Vinayaka Chaturthi to all my readers. Shree Ganeshaya Namaha. 🙏

RECIPE:

Ingredients: {Makes about 1 Cup Shrikhand}

1 Cup Curd or Yogurt (full fat or low fat, both are fine)

1/4 Cup Jaggery powder or grated jaggery

Step by step recipe:

1. Take a bowl and keep a strainer over it like shown.

2. Now keep a muslin cloth or a clean handkerchief over it. Add 1 Cup regular Curd.

3. Tie it well tightly squeezing excess water into the bowl. Now keep a heavy object over it. I kept my pestle.

4. Refrigerate overnight (with the bowl underneath to catch the extra water dripping) or atleast for 6 hours. See how much water has dripped in the bowl after overnight refrigeration.

Note: Don’t discard the dripped water. Add it to curries instead of water or to your dosa batter while grinding or roti dough when kneading.

5. Untie the cloth. See how well the hung curd has set.

6. Remove into a bowl. This is HUNG CURD. You can use it in many recipes.

7. Now sieve powdered jaggery into this bowl or add finely grated jaggery.

Note: Sieving powdered jaggery is important as I found it gives a creamy Shrikhand.

8. Mix well together.

9. Serve right away or chilled.

Notes:

* Don’t forget to tie the cloth tightly and keep a weight on top so that you get perfect hung curd.

* Also don’t discard the dripped water. Add it to curries instead of water or to your dosa batter while grinding or roti dough when kneading.

* Sieving powdered jaggery is important as I found it gives a creamy Shrikhand. So don’t skip the step. If you are grating jaggery, then no need to sieve.

* Jaggery can be substituted with cane sugar or even regular powdered sugar for a normal sugar based Shrikhand.

* You can also add cardamom powder or saffron strands for flavour.

Desserts

Cherry Jaggery Compote

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In our weekly groceries, fruits are an important part as we all thrive on them for mid meal snacking. My kids love Apples, Bananas, Mangoes, Mandarins and Berries while I am a huge fan of Papaya. We also make sure we get our dose of Vitamin C by drinking orange juice everyday. So all these fruits are a regular in our place.

Now it’s the season of cherries here and we get them every week with our grocery. They are very sweet and we love to gobble them anytime. Just look at these beauties.

Apart from eating them as it is, my recipe finder of a husband saw that cherry compote can be made. So we made it just for a try with our favourite jaggery instead of sugar and fell in love with it. Now we buy cherries just to make this compote. It tastes so delicious that you can’t stop licking your fingers.

Hope you all try it if you get cherries in your place. Happy and healthy cooking!

RECIPE:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cups Cherries (whole and unseeded)

1/4 Cup Jaggery

1/4 Cup Water

Step by step recipe:

1. Remove seeds and stem from the cherries and halve it. Keep in a bowl aside.

2. Now add water and jaggery (1/4 Cup each) to a preferably non stick pan and allow to come to a boil. Let it boil for about 5 mins till it turns thick. Now add the halved cherries to this. Mix well.

3. Use a masher to mash the cherries slightly. Cook on medium flame.

4. Cook till it turns thick and the mixture leaves the sides of the pan.

5. Cool down and enjoy it as it is or over a toast or with Yogurt.

Notes:

* Compote is actually served over cakes. We enjoy this compote as it is as a dessert or over a toast or with Yogurt.

* Compote is usually made with sugar but I love how yummy it tastes with jaggery. Also if you use pure jaggery, it is much healthier too.

* You can substitute cherries with other berries or ripe tomatoes but tomatoes need more cooking time.

Breakfast time, Snacks

Chow Chow Bath

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If you are wondering about the name Chow Chow Bath, let me tell you it’s nothing but upma, sheera and simple coconut chutney. It is easily available in hotels in Karnataka especially in the southern parts of Mangalore and Udupi where I belong to.

I first tasted it post marriage when I was very intrigued by the name and ordered it. To my surprise, it was just something so basic yet the overall combination tasted too heavenly for words. I fell so much in love with it that my eldest brother in law whom I fondly call Danthanna used to call me “Chow Chow Bath Ammi” (Ammi is the short form given by hubby’s family for the name they have put for me as part of marriage ritual – Amitha). I am so lucky to have such a loving family as in laws who love me like their own daughter.

Coming back to Chow Chow Bath, it became our special occasion breakfast apart from Masala dosas. Easy to make and starting the day with sweet on birthdays so that the whole year turns out as sweet. That is my intention. Maybe childish but still something I cherish a lot.

Hope you all those who have not tried this will try and love it. It turns out super delicious. Happy and healthy cooking!

RECIPE:

Ingredients:

For Upma:

1 Tbsp Coconut Oil

2 tsp Ghee (optional but gives great flavour)

1/2 tsp Mustard seeds

1/2 tsp Urad dal

1 Tbsp broken Cashews

Few curry leaves

3 green chillies

1 Cup wheat Semolina/ Rava/ Sooji

1 Tbsp Sugar

Salt to taste

2 to 2 1/2 Cups Water *(read notes)

2 Tbsp freshly grated coconut

For Sheera: Check the detailed recipe here.

For Chutney: Check Notes at the end

Step by step recipe:

1. Keep water to boil in a pan.

2. Heat oil and ghee together in another pan (I use my iron kadhai) and splutter mustard seeds. Add urad dal, curry leaves, cashews and green chillies. Fry till cashews turn light brown.

3. Now add semolina and roast continually on medium flame till it turns light brown in colour and turns aromatic. Takes about 3 to 5 mins.

4. Add sugar and salt. Mix well.

5. Now add the boiling water to this. Be sure to add very hot or boiling water else the upma won’t have desired texture.

6. Mix well continually with a ladle as you add the water so that there are no lumps in the mixture. Mix continuously on medium flame till the mixture cooks well and leaves the sides of the pan. Takes about 5 mins.

7. Cover and keep for 2 mins on low flame. Garnish with grated coconut and remove from the flame.

Notes:

* Remove the upma into a bowl and make Jaggery sheera in the same kadhai. Here is the detailed recipe.

* For Coconut Chutney, just grind together coconut, green chillies, ginger and salt with little water to a smooth paste. Remove into a bowl.

* When making upma, if you want a really soft texture like a lump, add semolina to water ratio as 1 : 2.5 times. If you want fluffy texture, add semolina to water ratio as 1 : 2 ie twice the water as compared to semolina.

* You can also add ginger, onions and tomatoes in the seasoning along with little turmeric powder and sambar powder in the upma to make khara bath. That tastes good too but as Chow Chow Bath, we prefer this basic version of upma.

* While eating Chow Chow Bath, take one serving of each upma and sheera, dip in chutney and eat. Tastes so delicious!

Breakfast time, Konkani Recipes, Snacks

Vastad rotti | Wheat Banana flatbread

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I am sure if you are checking this recipe, it must be either due to the amazement of the unique name “Vastad rotti” or have savoured this delicious snack made by your grandmother and just wish to recreate it in your kitchen.

Anyhow for all of you, Vastad rotti is nothing but tava fried version of the famous Mangalore Buns. My grandmother made these rottis as evening snack when she did not want to deep fry the leftover buns dough again. They tasted so delicious that I loved it more than buns itself.

After marriage, when I tried it for the first time, my husband did not know about it but to my amazement, he too loved it very much. So now whenever there are leftover bananas, he asks me make these rottis. In fact, sometimes he brings bananas only for this. Such is the love for these cute small Vastad rottis. 😍

Hope you all try and love it too. Happy and healthy cooking! ♥️

RECIPE:

Ingredients:

3 Cups Wheat flour (or as required)

1 Cup mashed bananas

1/2 Cup Curd or Yogurt

1/4 Cup Powdered Jaggery or Sugar

2 Tbsp Besan/ chickpea flour

1 tsp Cumin seeds/ Jeera

A pinch of pepper powder

Salt to taste

1/2 tsp Baking soda (optional)* check notes

Step by step recipe:

1. Take mashed bananas in a large bowl. Add besan, jaggery or sugar, cumin seeds, pepper powder, salt and baking soda ( if adding).

This is an old picture. I add powdered jaggery now.

2. Add curd and mix well using a spatula.

3. Now slowly add wheat flour 1 Cup at a time and keep mixing till it forms a dough. Knead with hands lightly.

4. Coat the dough with oil and cover and keep overnight or for 6 to 8 hours to ferment at room temperature in a warm place.

5. When making vastad rottis, make equal portions of the dough.

6. Roll like you roll out puri into a thick circle. Use dry flour if needed.

7. Heat a tawa and place the rolled roti on it. Look at it puff up and form tiny bubbles on the surface.

8. Add ghee. Flip and cook the other side too.

9. Serve hot with chutney or dalitoy ( Konkani style dal).

Notes:

* Actually the measurements of this recipe can vary a lot depending on the variety of bananas, water content in curd and quality of wheat flour. So please go with the step by step recipe and follow accordingly.

* You can also make with leftover bananas even if you have only couple of them. Not necessarily 1 Cup mashed bananas are required.

* Add curd along with other ingredients and see how much wheat flour is needed to get it to form a dough.

* Please do not add water while forming this dough. The moisture should come only from bananas and curd.

* I skip baking soda sometimes and even though there is a difference in texture, taste is almost the same. With baking soda, the texture is flaky like a paratha and without it, the texture is like a thick chapati.

* After fermentation of the dough, the dough might leave water and turn very sticky. Just add more wheat flour and form a manageable dough.

* Roll the dough into a thick circle and cook well on medium flame. On high flame, the rotis can turn black due to the presence of bananas in it.

* You can use powdered jaggery or sugar in the dough. Does not make much difference.

Other Konkani breakfast recipes that you can try:

Urad Moong dal Idli | No rice idli

Urad Rava Idli | No rice idli

Batat Phovu

Kobi Pohe | No onion Pohe with cabbage

Chane Usli – Godu Phovu

Muga Dali usli| seasoned moong dal

Idli Usli | seasoned leftover idlis

Pejje polo | cumin flavoured dosa

Surnali | Sweet and spongy dosa

Magge Surnali | using Mangalore cucumber

Horsegram Idli

Instant Cucumber idlis | Thoushe mudho

Instant Cucumber Bhakri

Instant Rava bhakri

Undi with Piyava Gojju

Kharbas dosa

Mushti polo

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Desserts, Konkani Recipes

Bottlegourd Halwa / Gardudde Halwo/ Lauki Halwa

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We have a ritual of making sweets every weekend to enjoy post dinner and I love to try different healthy desserts. This bottlegourd halwa was just an experiment as I was not sure if the kids will like it or not.

But to my pleasant surprise, they loved it a lot and my daughter asks it to be made every weekend. And what better that she enjoys a vegetable without making a face at it. Feels very happy when the family enjoys it.

If you are a Konkani, you might have already tasted this gardudde halwa sometime in your life. It is a famous dessert for special functions and occasions. Hope you all can make it at home and enjoy too just like how we do. Happy and healthy cooking.

Here is a picture of bottle gourd for those who don’t know which vegetable it is.

RECIPE:

Ingredients:

1 medium sized Bottlegourd/Gardudde/ Lauki/ Sorekai/ Chorakka (around 2 cups when peeled and grated)

3/4 Cup Jaggery

3 Tbsp Milk ( You can skip milk to make plain halwa)

2 Tbsp Ghee

1 Tbsp chopped Cashews

1 Tbsp Raisins

1/4 tsp Cardamom powder (optional)

Step by step recipe:

1. Wash well, cut the ends, peel and cut the bottlegourd into long slices. *Save the peels for a delicious upkari. Check notes at the end.

2. Grate the bottle gourd using a grater.

* If the bottlegourd is old and the seeds are huge, the seeds need to be discarded, else if the bottle gourd is fresh like in the above picture, you can grate along with the core and use the seeds too.

3. Heat ghee in a kadhai (I use iron kadhai to make this halwa). Fry cashews till it turns slightly brown and till raisins puff up.

3. Add grated bottlegourd and fry for few minutes till the bottle gourd changes colour.

4. Add milk and cook till milk evaporates.

See how the milk has absorbed. Add jaggery only now.

6. Add jaggery (either powder or melted jaggery) and cook till the mixtures leaves the sides of the pan. Add cardamom powder. Mix well and remove from the flame.

Notes:

* For 2 Cups of grated bottle gourd, 3/4 Cup of jaggery turns out perfectly sweet for us. You can reduce or increase as per your taste.

* As mentioned above, if the bottlegourd has huge seeds, you will have to discard it while fresh bottlegourd can be grated along with the core.

* Please don’t discard the bottlegourd peels. Just chop the peels into small pieces. And make upkari with chopped potatoes. (season oil with mustard seeds, hing, green chillies and add peels and potatoes. Add salt and little water. Cook till they turn soft. Add grated coconut on top.) Turns out delicious.

* Fry well and let it cook well with milk before you add jaggery. Once you add jaggery, it won’t cook much. So do a taste test if it is cooked well before adding jaggery.

* Also allow the milk to absorb fully before adding jaggery, else the jaggery can curdle the milk.

* I sometimes skip milk to make plain bottle gourd halwa. It tastes delicious too.

Dosa corner, Konkani Recipes

Magge Surnali | Mangalore cucumber sweet dosa

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I have already posted the basic version of Surnali / sweet and spongy dosa. This version is like an upgrade to it by adding Mangalore cucumber. The addition has so many benefits like:

* The dosa turns out very soft and porous as you can see from the pictures.

* The aroma that the mangalore cucumber gives out is simply heavenly.

* You are adding a vegetable in your diet even without your knowledge. (This is the main reason I make these dosas atleast once weekly. Kids love it and they don’t realise they are eating a vegetable hidden in it 😁)

There was one more reason last year why I made this dosa too often. My husband loves gardening had planted these Mangalore cucumbers from seeds that he got from the core of store bought ones and we had a yield of about 50 of them from our kitchen garden. Yes 50!!!! Here is a picture of some of them.

Since they have a very good shelf life, I kept it as such on counter top and it lasted us a good 6 months. Looking at them everyday made me so happy. ♥️

Sharing the dosa recipe for all of you to try and enjoy too. Happy and healthy cooking!

RECIPE:

Ingredients:

2 Cups of peeled, cored, cubed Mangalore cucumber / Magge/ Velarikka

2 Cups Raw Rice (Any variety of white rice)

1/2 Cup grated coconut ( fresh/ desiccated)

1 Cup Beaten rice/ Poha

1/2 Cup Curd

3/4 Cup Jaggery

1 tsp Turmeric powder

Salt to taste

Ghee to cook the dosa

Recipe:

1. Wash well and soak the raw rice for 2 to 4 hours.

2. Take the peeled, cored, cubed mangalore cucumber and grind to a fine paste.

3. Now add soaked rice along with Poha, jaggery, coconut, curd, turmeric and salt to a smooth paste. Add buttermilk instead of water while grinding for spongier surnalis. Pour into a steel vessel. Mix well with hands to start fermentation.

5. Keep aside covered for 8 to 12 hours or overnight.

6. Take a ladle full of the batter and pour a thick dosa. Add ghee on top.

7. Cover and cook on low flame till the dosa cooks. (This dosa requires low flame to cook. Else it will turn black due to jaggery in it.)

8. Remove and serve hot with butter.

Notes:

* Any variety of white rice ranging from Sona masoori to short grain white rice (used for eating) works well to make this dosa.

* You could substitute curd with buttermilk.

* Ensure the batter is a slightly thick ( not very thick) smooth paste and not watery to get perfect surnalis.

* The amount of jaggery is to taste. You could increase or decrease as per your taste. You can also skip jaggery and make plain dosas with Mangalore cucumber.

* I substitute Mangalore cucumber with watermelon rind ( the white part) sometimes and it tastes delicious as well.

For regular Surnali without Mangalore Cucumber, you can try this recipe:

Surnali

For more Dosa recipes, check my Dosa Corner page.

Drinks, Konkani Recipes

Paanak | Jaggery Lemonade

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Paanak is a drink made at temples and homes on the occasion of Ram Navami celebrating the birth of Lord Rama. I remember how I used to wait for this drink when they distributed at our local temple at Katapadi and the flavour is still afresh in my memories. That flavour is difficult to recreate at home just like all temple foods as they are filled with divinity.

At my house, I make Paanak for Ram Navami and along with that, it’s a regular during the summer months here in Qatar. We don’t drink carbonated drinks and this is a healthy replacement. When my husband comes back tired after work, Paanak makes him refreshed.

Hope you all try this drink too!

RECIPE:

Ingredients:

1 large block or 2 small blocks of Jaggery (about a cup of powdered jaggery)

1 large Lemon or to taste

1/2 inch Ginger, grated

1/4 tsp Pepper powder

1/4 tsp Cardamom powder (optional)

A few leaves of Tulsi / holy basil leaves

Step by step recipe:

1. Melt jaggery with little water in a vessel. (Just melt, don’t make it into a syrup.)

2. Strain to remove any impurities. Now let it cool down.

3. After cooling down, add lemon juice, grated ginger, pepper powder, cardamom powder. Also add little more water to dilute the juice as per your taste.

4. Now add Tulsi leaves on top and refrigerate till it cools down.

5. Strain using a sieve and serve chilled. Enjoy!

Notes:

* Refrigerate the remaining drink and sieve and use when needed.

* You can skip Tulsi leaves if not available but it adds a wonderful flavour and also good for health.

* You can add all ingredients to taste as there is no specific measurement while making this.

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Cakes and Bakes

Dates and Oats cake

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I am always on the lookout for healthy cake recipes and so far have had great success in baking with wheat flour, ragi flour and oats. I add jaggery powder in all the cakes and it tastes so good that you can never say it’s a jaggery cake.

I have already shared the yummiest whole wheat chocolate banana cake recipe and Ragi Chocolate cake recipe. So here is another healthy cake with the goodness of the superfood oats and dates in it. This is also a wheat jaggery cake.

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When I first made the cake, I could not believe that Oats in a cake could taste so yummy. But you could never say it has oats in it. The dates and milk hides the nuttiness quite well. In fact so well that my kids never know that it’s actually a healthy cake.

Look at the moistness!

This cake is a perfect example that healthy food can be delicious too. The exact principle on which I started writing this blog. Hope you all try this cake. Happy and healthy cooking!

RECIPE:

Ingredients:

1 Cup = 240 ml

Dry Ingredients:

3/4 Cup Whole wheat flour/ Atta

3/4 Cup Instant Oats

1 tsp Baking powder

1 tsp Baking soda

1/4 Cup Jaggery powder or brown sugar or cane sugar or regular sugar

Wet Ingredients:

Around 20 Dates (Deseeded and roughly chopped)

1 1/2 Cups Milk

1/2 Cup (113 grams) Butter

1 tsp Vanilla essence

Step by step recipe:

1. Soak the chopped dates in hot milk for an hour.

2. Measure 3/4 Cup Instant Oats in a bowl.

3. In the same bowl, sieve together whole wheat flour, baking powder and baking soda. Mix everything well.

4. Melt butter in a bowl and add the dates- milk mixture to this. Also add vanilla essence.

5. Add the dry flour mix to this and mix till the flour specks can’t be seen.

6. Add 1/4 Cup Jaggery powder to this and mix everything once. Do NOT overmix.

7. Preheat the oven for 10 mins at 180 C. Line the cake pan with parchment paper. Else with oil or butter. Pour the batter into the pan.

8. Bake at 180 C for 30 to 35 mins. I baked for 30 mins and then checked. Since the inside had to cook a little but the top surface had baked, I covered with parchment and baked for 5 mins more.

9. Allow it to cool completely. Invert onto a plate. Slice and enjoy!

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Click on the image to save the recipe on Pinterest

Notes:

* Since every oven is different, keep an eye after 20 mins into baking time so that the cake doesn’t burn.

* Towards the last 5 mins, cover the cake pan with a parchment paper/ aluminium foil and bake so that the top surface does not form a crust.

* You can use any dates for this recipe but the soft ones work best. You can even grind them with little milk if you don’t like the bite of dates in your cake.

* Butter can be substituted with oil but I personally love butter in my cakes as oil cakes does not taste good after a while.

* This cake lasts well for a week if refrigerated and handled well.

If any doubts, do message me on my Facebook page Healthy cooking with mithaor on my Instagram handle and I would be happy to help. Happy cooking!

You can check all my healthy cakes and cookies recipes in this page:

Healthy Cakes and Cookies Collection

Did you know Oats is such a versatile ingredient, you could make Cake, Idli, Paratha, varieties of dosas and even gluten free pizza with it?

Sharing all varieties of dishes in which I use Oats and make regularly. Eat healthy, be happy. ❤️

Oats Recipes Collection

Editing to add: You can also bake them as cupcakes. I baked then for my kids’ snack box to school and they turned out amazing. Perfect for the little hands to handle. Just use the same measurement and bake at 180 C for 25 to 30 mins or till done. The measurement yields 12 medium sized cupcakes.

Cakes and Bakes

Eggless Chocolate Banana cake, using wheat flour and Jaggery

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Baking a cake is very easy. Hardly takes 15 mins to make the batter and then you just have to keep it in the oven to see magic happen. But those 15 mins while making the batter needs to be done precisely. Else the whole recipe can turn a disaster. In my case, post two kids, getting alone time for even 5 mins is difficult, leave 15 mins. Hence baking becomes a rare occasion when the husband is at home.

During Christmas holidays, I got some free time and decided to bake my favourite banana chocolate cake. It really gives me immense pleasure to bake and my free time was spent well. The family loved it and it made me happy to see them devour the cake.

You can never say this is a wheat jaggery cake. I have tasted many chocolate cakes from renowned bakers and this one really matches them in all levels. The cocoa powder and bananas mask the wheat taste very well.

I have used the same frosting that I used for Ragi Chocolate cake and it really takes the cake to another level. Hope you all try the cake and love it. Happy and healthy cooking!

RECIPE:

Ingredients:

Dry Ingredients:

2 Cups Whole wheat flour

1 1/4 Cup powdered Jaggery/ Cane sugar

2/3 Cup unsweetened Cocoa powder

1 tsp Baking soda

Wet ingredients:

1 1/2 Cup hot water

1/2 Cup fully mashed Bananas (ripe ones)

1/2 Cup melted Butter [1 stick or 100 grams] (salted/ unsalted)

1 Tbsp Lemon juice

1 Tbsp Vanilla extract/ 2 tsp Sugared vanilla

For the frosting:

1 Cup full fat Milk

1/4 Cup Sugar

2 Tbsp Cocoa powder

1 tsp Vanilla extract

Step by step recipe:

1. Preheat the oven at 180 C for 10 mins.

2. Meanwhile, sieve wheat flour, cocoa powder and baking soda in a bowl. Add powdered jaggery and mix well. Keep aside.

3. Add mashed bananas, melted butter, lemon juice and vanilla extract in another bowl. Add 1 1/2 Cup hot water and whisk.

4. Now add in dry ingredients to wet ingredient mixture. Mix so that both are combined well and you can’t see any flour specks. Do not over mix.

5. Line a baking pan with parchment paper or with oil/ butter. Pour the mixture evenly into it.

6. Bake at 180 C for 20 to 30 mins. My oven took exactly 30 mins.

7. Remove and check with a toothpick in the center of the cake. If it comes out clean, it’s done. If it comes out wet or sticky, it still needs some more baking time.

8. Allow it to cool. Invert and remove the parchment paper.

9. For frosting, combine together milk, cocoa powder, sugar and vanilla in a bowl. Whisk well first and then keep on flame.

10. On medium flame, keep whisking continually while allowing it to get thicker (usually takes about 5 mins). Once it gets thick, remove from flame and pour over the cake and spread evenly.

11. Allow the frosting to set for atleast 30 mins before you slice and serve.

Notes:

* This cake lasts well for a day without refrigerating. After that stays well for atleast 4 days if handled properly.

* Ensure that you use over ripe bananas and mash them well with fork before adding into the cake.

* The cake tastes amazing with the frosting. So don’t skip it unless you want just a plain banana bread for tea time.

* Since it is made of wheat flour, it takes time to bake. So give the cake atleast 20 mins of baking time before checking. Don’t open the oven door before that to ensure even bake.

If any doubts, do message me on my Facebook page Healthy cooking with mitha or on my Instagram handle and I would be happy to help. Happy cooking!