While breaking the fast or for Iftar we first drink a glass of juice or smoothie before eating anything heavy. So lately, I’ve been making juices and smoothies with different fruits, veggies and dry fruits. I prefer fresh homemade juices over any store brought ones. If you have tried drinking homemade fresh orange juice and then drink Tropicana orange juice, you could feel the difference. I agree store bought juices are convenient especially in the morning when we are rushing for work. So, mostly in the evening or during weekends I try to make my own version of juices and milk shakes. I dare to combine different kinds of fruits, nuts and veggies while making my juices or smoothies. So far I haven’t made any weird tasting smoothies, most of the fruits and veggies when blended together seems to get along well.

Last night I tried combining apple and dates, as I didn’t have any other fruits left in my refrigerator. Pureed apple and dates along with milk and vanilla extract. I couldn’t get over the taste of this smoothie: it was rich, creamy and extremely delicious.

Apple Dates Smoothie

Ingredients:

Serving: 2 glass

• Apple, skinned and chopped- 1 large (red delicious or gala apple)
• Dates, pitted- 10 no’s
• Sugar- 2 1/2 tbsp
• Vanilla extract- 1 tsp
• Cold milk, skim- 1 1/2 cups

Preparation:

1. In a blender puree all the ingredients to a smooth constituency.
2. Pour into a glass along with ice or without ice.
3. Sip and enjoy this yummy creamy smoothie.

I am getting ready for Ramadan which is starting on Monday. While talking with my sister and my cousins last weekend, they all had asked me to share the recipes for some healthy snacks that can be made during Ramadan. Since then, I have been thinking and researching on healthy snacks. Today, I tried making a snack with plantain and dates. Plantain and dates are my favorites, and they both are packed with all good nutrients and are quite healthy too. I mashed the plantain along with dates and coconut, made into a dough. Stuffed the almond into the cutlet and ghee roasted it after coating it with egg and coconut. The aroma that came out while the cutlets were roasting in the ghee was so seducing and the cutlets tasted incredible.

Wishing everyone a Happy Ramadan!!!

Almond Stuffed Plantain Dates Cutlet

Ingredients:

For making dough:

• Plantain, medium ripe- 1
• Dates, pitted- 10 no’s
• Coconut, sweetened flaked or grated- 1/2 cup
• Ground Cardamom- 1/4 tsp

 For coating:

• Egg, beaten-1
• Coconut, sweetened flaked or grated- enough to coat the cutlets

Other ingredients:

• Almonds- 1/cutlet
• Ghee- 1 tbsp/cutlet

Preparation:

1. Plantain for making this should be medium ripe, it shouldn’t be too ripe.
2. Steam boil the plantain till it gets cooked well, let cool down.
3. Mash the plantain along with the dates without any lumps.
4. Add sweetened coconut and ground cardamom to it, combine well and make it into a dough.
5. Make small balls out of the dough, keep aside.
6. Flatten each ball and place an almond on it, close the ball and make into round shape, slightly flatten it between your palms.
7. Beat an egg and place the sweetened coconut on a plate.
8. Dip each cutlet first into the beaten egg and then coat it with sweetened coconut.
9. Place a frying pan over medium heat, use 1 tbsp ghee/cutlet.
10. Let the ghee melt, place the cutlet over the ghee.
11. Lower the heat to medium low and roast the cutlets till both sides turn golden brown in color.
12. If the heat is high coated coconut will get burned, so make sure to keep the heat to medium low.
13. You don’t have to deep fry the cutlet, just pan roast it. If you prefer you could use more ghee to roast it.
14. Serve hot, if you want you could garnish the cutlets with almonds.

This pickle has been very popular in my family and is prepared during almost all occasions mostly to serve along with Biryani. At the end of the meal, almost everyone will be seen licking their fingers and requesting for more. This pickle is also served at Malabar weddings, in fact I believe this dish belongs to Malabar cuisine.

I tasted this for the first time at my cousin’s wedding several years ago and it tasted so unbelievably good that this particular dish captured almost everyone’s attention and we talked about it for a few days. After that, my mom got the recipe from someone and prepared it for us. Since then, she has been making this quite often and sharing the recipe with others.

I make this whenever I make biryani, as this is a perfect accompaniment for biryani. Last Sunday, I made chicken Biryani and of course dates pickle was there too. The sweetness of the dates, spiciness from the green chillies and the tanginess from the tamarind; all these flavors will dance in your mouth and will tickle your taste bud.

Dates Pickle

Ingredients:

Waking up naturally to the sound of birds chirping and trees swaying, staying up late night and getting a sound sleep as soon as my head hits the pillow, these are some of the moments I enjoy during a long weekend. We are having a quite relaxing long weekend, with everyday motorcycle ride to the beach and other neighboring fun places. It was a few days ago I thought that finally summer is in its peak, and yesterday morning I woke up to heavy rain, thunderstorm and lightning. I was relived when the sky eventually turned blue and when the sun started to shine, which tempted us to hit the beach. We had a beautiful evening at the beach. On our way back home, all of a sudden dark clouds carpeted the sky, which in a split second poured down to heavy rain, the sky thundered and the lightning flashed. The rain didn’t seem to slow down and we continued our ride and enjoyed the ride in the rain. Hope everyone out there is having a fun weekend as well.

On Friday, while preparing a chicken dish for lunch, I saved some marinated chicken to fry later in the evening. When I took the chicken out of the refrigerator and was about to give it a fry, I had a second thought and my hands swiftly moved into the pantry and took the rice flour out of it. Coated the marinated chicken first with beaten egg whites, then with rice flour and I fried them in hot oil. Voila! an impromptu chicken nuggets were made. I was so thrilled to see the crispy chicken nuggets that came deep fried out of the oil. I then had a question raised in my mind: Where is the dipping sauce?

My eyes wandered into the pantry and refrigerator for some inspiration and I got hold of dates from the pantry. I was reminded of the dates chutney my mom always make to serve with biryani. I tweaked that recipe and made my own version of dates dipping sauce which I thought would be perfect for chicken nuggets. I added tamarind and chilly paste to the sauce which gave a sweet, sour and spicy taste to the dates sauce.

I wanted to make this chicken nuggets gluten free so that my husband can enjoy this, so I had to coat the chicken with rice flour. Chicken nuggets were crispy and the slightly spicy marination along with the dates dipping sauce made it an incredibly delicious evening snack. Of course, we both snacked till the last piece.

Chicken Nuggets

Ingredients:

• Chicken breasts, boneless, cubed- 1/2 pound
• Oil- enough for frying

For marination:

• Ginger-Garlic paste- 1 tsp
• Chilly powder- 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder- 1/8 tsp
• Garam masala- 1/2 tsp
• Fennel powder- 1 tsp
• Ground pepper- 1/4 tsp
• Salt- to taste
• Lemon juice- 1 tbsp

For coating:

• Rice flour- 1 cup
• Egg whites, beaten- of 2 eggs

Preparation:

• Marinade the chicken with the above mentioned ingredients for marination for 1-2 hours in the refrigerator.
• Spread the rice flour on a plate and beat the egg whites of 2 eggs in a bowl.
• Place a frying pan over medium heat, add enough oil for frying.
• Dip the chicken first in egg white and then coat it with rice flour.
• Deep fry the chicken till it gets golden brown and crispy.
• Transfer on a paper towel.
• Serve hot.

Dates Dipping Sauce

Ingredients:

• Dates, pitted- 12 no’s
• Tamarind juice- 3 tbsp
• Soy sauce- 1 tbsp
• Chilli paste- 1 tsp
• Water- 1/4 cup+1/4 cup
• Salt- to taste

Preparation:

• Combine dates and 1/4 cup water in a saucepan.
• Cook the dates till it gets mashed up.
• Soak 2 inch slice fresh tamarind in 3 tbsp warm water, squeeze the tamarind into the water and strain it.
• Add 3 tbsp of tamarind juice to the dates mixture and let the mixture come to a boil.
• If you are using concentrate tamarind paste, you wouldn’t need 3 tbsp, add little and taste it.
• Remove from the heat and let cool down.
• Grind the mixture in the blender.
• Add soy sauce, chilli paste, salt and 1/4 cup more water while grinding to smooth paste.
• Taste it, adjust the salt and spice level.
• Serve in a bowl along with the chicken nuggets.

Rice flakes or flattened rice (“Poha” in Hindi and “Aval” in Malayalam) are often used to make snacks, sometimes a quick meal can be whipped up on lazy days, they are also found  in some rice cereals. In Kerala, wet rice flakes (Aval Nanachathu) combined with grated coconut, jaggery/sugar is quite famous and is made often as an evening snack in many houses. My mom used to make rice flakes balls mixed with banana, honestly I wasn’t a huge fan of this. That could be the reason why I never cared to buy rice flakes all these years.

A few weeks ago, I happened to see rice flakes in a grocery store and that kind of stirred up some childhood memories. I couldn’t resist buying it and made sure that I would make something more appealing and appetizing with it. And I did make a snack that impressed my taste buds a lot. After wetting the rice flakes, I combined it with plantaina and dates and ghee fried till it turned brown. The aroma of the ghee, the sweetness from the dates and the mushiness of plantain made these rice flakes balls a perfect healthy snack which can be enjoyed by both kids and adults.

Ghee Fried Rice Flakes Balls

Ingredients:

• Rice flakes, white or brown- 1 1/2 cups
• Water- 1/4 cup (to wet rice flakes)
• Plantain or banana, ripe- 1
• Dates, pitted- 12 no’s
• Sugar- 1 tbsp
• Saffron- 2 pinches (optional)
• Ghee- 3-4 tbsp

Preparation:

Rice flakes:

• Wet the rice flakes with 1/4 cup water till it turns soft, don’t make it too mushy. Drain the water through a sieve and gently press the  rice flakes so that the water drains well.
• In a bowl, combine rice flakes with plantain or banana, dates, sugar and saffron.
• Using your hands, mix well till everything is well incorporated.
• Make medium sized balls out of it and keep aside.
• Place a frying pan over medium heat, when it turns hot add ghee.
• Place the rice flakes balls over the ghee and fry it till it turns golden brown.
• If needed add more ghee.
• Remove from the pan and place the balls on a plate.
• If there is any ghee left on the pan, pour it over the fried balls
• Serve warm.

Tips:

• You could use ripe banana instead of plantain, with ripe plantain rice flakes balls taste even more delicious.
• If you are using thin rice flakes, it only takes a minute or so to turn soft when wetted with water; if the rice flakes are thick it might take more time to turn soft.

I always stock up dates in my refrigerator. I eat them just like that or sprinkle them on my cereal, couscous and often make my favorite dates cake in caramel sauce, the yummiest cake of all. So, this time I wanted to try something different with my dates and I did. I was reminded of tempuras and so tried making dates tempura. The dates were coated with the batter and gave them a deep fry, it came out perfectly crispy and yummy. Dates itself is sweet and soft, when deep fried it got a caramelized taste which enhanced the taste of the dates remarkably. In no time you get to enjoy dates tempura and this is going to be the favorite snack of everyone from here onward.

Dates Tempura

Ingredients:

• Dates- 20 no’s
• All-purpose flour or Maida- 6 tbsp
• Baking soda- 2 pinches
• Salt- a pinch
• Sugar- 1 1/2 tbsp
• Water- 2-3 tbsp, just enough to make a thick batter
• Vegetable oil- for frying

Preparation:

• Heat oil in a non-stick frying pan.
• Combine all purpose flour, baking soda, salt and sugar in a bowl.

• Add water to the flour mix and make into a thick batter.

• Put the dates into the batter, coat it evenly with the batter.
• Fry the dates coated in batter until both sides turn golden in color.

• Transfer the dates tempura on to a paper towel.
• Just like me, you will also be tempted to taste it while it’s hot.

Tips:

• If the batter is watery, add more of the all purpose flour and make it thick, you want the dates to be covered with the batter.
• If you want you could also add 1 egg to the batter.

I tricked my brain and made a healthy breakfast from scratch this morning in less than 15 minutes…

My hubby was surprised to see steaming hot breakfast made from scratch and beautifully served on the table. I’ve mentioned before that I always depend on cereal, whole grain bread, fruits or instant oats for breakfast. More than being lazy, my brain acts weird in the morning. By the time my brain figures out what to make for breakfast it would be time to make lunch. Surprisingly, I woke up this morning with a healthy breakfast idea in my mind. Before my brain got active and stopped me from entering into the kitchen, I rushed into the kitchen and in under 15 minutes I came out with a healthy breakfast. My hubby who was expecting cereal was blown away to see steaming hot breakfast in front of him. The way he devoured it made me feel extreme happiness. Before he could say it would be nice to have this kind of breakfast everyday, I made this statement: “Honey, don’t expect this every morning”  Lol…

This is good for breakfast and could be served as an evening snack as well. Kids will love this as dates in this gives it a sweet taste, so don’t skip the dates.

I loved this so much, the taste and the ease with which I can make this, that I made a second batch for today’s lunch. It seems I will end up making this for dinner too: P

Healthy Steamed Oats with Dates and Coconut

Serves- 2 people

Ingredients:

• Instant Oats, (I used Quaker oats)- 1 cup
• Water- 3 tbsp
• Salt- a pinch
• Chopped dates- 1/2 cup
• Coconut shredded- 1/4 cup

Preparation:

• In a bowl, combine oats and salt.
• Add water little by little to the oats and mix it with your hand breaking any lumps that form.

• Combine it until you can make balls out of the oats, but neither watery nor dry and keep aside.
• Fill 1/4 of the pressure cooker with water and place it in medium heat with its lid closed.
• In a puttu maker, layer the oats, dates and coconut.
• First, add 1 tbsp of coconut into the puttu maker, then add 2 tsp chopped dates and on top of that 1 handful of oats.

• Repeat this and make 2 layers, on the top should be dates and coconut.

• Close the puttu maker with its lid.
• When steam starts to come out of the pressure cooker through the whistle hole, place the puttu maker on to the whistle hole.

• Steam cook for 4-5 minutes or until steam comes out of all the holes on the puttu maker.
• Remove from the pressure cooker and invert the puttu maker on a platter, oats in round shape will fall onto the platter.
• Serve this while it’s steaming hot, oats will be soft and the dates in it gives this dish a sweet taste.
• You could also substitute oats with rice flour, wheat flour or Semolina ( Sooji).

Tips:

• Don’t add too much water to the oats, it should be slightly wet at the same time not too dry.
  
• You could make this with just the oats and coconut, but dates enhances the taste of the oats greatly.
• This should be served hot, it will dry out when it turns cold.
• You could even add almonds along with dates.

Notes:

• Puttu maker is sold in some Indian stores and can also be bought online.
• Traditional puttu maker has 2 parts, a bottom vessel for filling the water and a long cylindrical rod with a lid for layering the rice flour or oats or wheat flour or your choice of flour with coconut.
• Puttu maker I have is a simplified and easy to carry version which can be placed on pressure cooker.

I have already baked this cake many times in just three months. One of my dear friends, Shinu gifted this cake to us on Christmas eve party. As soon as we got home, we unwrapped the gift and tasted the cake. Believe me, in no time my hubby and I finished this cake. It was so delicious and one of the best dates cakes I have ever tasted in my life.
Since then baking this cake in my kitchen was my only intention. This is the easiest cake to make and the Caramel sauce poured over the cake enhanced the taste of the cake greatly. I had made this cake for my friends and my cousins, they all loved this. I had to share the recipe with almost everyone who had a bite of this cake. Here, I am sharing the recipe with you guys also.

Ingredients:

For Dates cake:-

• Chopped dates – 1 cup
• Water – 1 cup
• Baking soda – 3/4 tsp
• Sugar – 1 cup
• Butter – 1/4 cup
• Eggs – 2 nos
• All purpose flour – 1 cup
• Vanilla essence – 1 tsp

For Caramel sauce:-

• Brown sugar – 3/4 cup
• Butter – 1/4 cup
• Heavy cream – 1/2 cup
• Vanilla essence – 1 tsp

Preparation Method:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
• Boil 1 cup of chopped dates in 1 cup water.
• Remove from the stove and let cool down.
• Add 3/4 tsp of baking soda to the dates, combine well and keep aside..
• Using a electric hand mixer, cream the sugar and the butter together.
• Add eggs to this and whisk well.
• Add vanilla essence to this and add flour and fold to this mixture.
• Add the cooled dates mixture to this and mix everything well.
• Grease the baking pan with butter and pour the dates mixture to the pan.
• Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a fork inserted into the middle of the cake comes out smooth.

Caramel Sauce:

• Mix all the sauce ingredients together and bring to a boil.
• Let it simmer for 5-10 minutes until it gets a thick consistency.
• Pour the caramel sauce generously over the dates cake.

Decorate with dates and enjoy the delicious dates cake!

Tips:

• After 45-50 minutes of baking, if the center of the cake is not firm enough, keep the cake on the upper rack of the oven and bake it for another 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and let the cake cool down for 10-15 minutes to set.
• This cake with the caramel sauce tastes incredible after chilling it.