Apple-Banana Cake

This cake "happened" when I had quite a bit of fruits at hand which were dangerously close to going bad. I browsed a bit for banana breads, apple cakes and assembled this recipe. What is so unique is that you don't need oil though 1/3 cup of the same will make it softer. Here is the Oil-free version. Happy Baking!

You will need:
2 Braeburn apples or any other kind you've got lying around
4 Large bananas (doesn't matter if its over ripe and wobbly)
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
Brown sugar to sprinkle










1. Preheat the oven to 350 deg C.
2. Whip the bananas for about 4-6 min until there are absolutely no lumps.
3. Mix the baking powder, baking soda, flour, sugar, salt, eggs and vanilla and add it to the banana mix. Whip it into a batter.
4. Take a 13"x 9" pan (You can use a 9"x9" if you want a thicker cake), grease the bottom, sprinkle flour and then the brown sugar. Place the thinly sliced apples in any pattern and pour the batter in.
5. Bake for around 40 min or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool and invert the baking pan into a serving tray.

The Everything Rasam

Amma never made rasam. Don't ask me why. We are south Indian, very much Tamil and we had everything a good Tamilian is supposed to relish- Sambar, poriyal, appalam, koottu, puzhi kuzhambu....you name it. Just no Rasam. And so it was shocking in seismic proportions to my husband that I did not define Rasam as the end to every meal!!! I learnt to make this "soup" (as Indian restaurants in the US tend to name it) from a variety of sources- mostly from my husband's relatives- and it has evolved quite a bit through the process.
So here it is....the Everything Rasam....
You will need:

1 small tomato
1 tsp whole pepper
1 tsp whole jeera
3 cloves garlic
5-6 curry leaves
3/4 cup chopped cilantro
marble sized ball of tamarind
1 tbs rasam powder

and to temper:
1 tsp oil, mustard seeds, urad dal, curry leaves and a pinch of hing.

(I use less oil trying to be healthy and all :)...a tsp would suffice though the actual recipe calls for 1 tbs of oil)


1. Soak the tamarind in 1-1/4 cup of moderately warm water.
2. Grind the jeera, pepper, garlic and curry leaves into a coarse mix. Add the tomatoes and cilantro and pulse for a wee bit. You don't want to grind it to a paste as the chunkiness will give it a unique flavor.
3. In a sauce pan, heat some of the tamarind water, add the rasam powder and just when its about to boil, add the ground mixture and the rest of the water. Let it heat up and remove from stove top once it starts to bubble.

4. In another pan heat the oil, add mustard seeds, urad dal, curry leaves and hing. (OK, tempering is an art...maybe I should cover it in a separate post!!!) And and pour it in to the rasam.

Its delicious with rice, poriyal and appalam.

Colocasia fry

Its been quite a while since I created this blog...I'm getting around to posting my first recipe after a year!!! Better late than never I keep telling myself :)!!
Anyway let me start with a very simple yet delicious something. You don't really have to know how to cook to get this one right.

You will need:
6 medium sized colocasia
1 pinch turmeric powder
1tsp chilli powder
1 tbsp dhania (corriander) powder
1/2 tsp jeera powder
salt to taste
4tbsp corn oil



Wash the colocasia thoroughly under running water. Be careful since you may develop a nasty itch if they are nice and fresh.Keep some olive/ coconut oil handy to apply to your hands as water will only aggravate the itch!
Slice the colocasia...remember the thinner the crispier! In a big bowl mix the rest of the ingredients along with the slices. Keep it aside for about 15 to 30 min.
Heat a large pan, add the oil. Then place the slices on the hot oil and shallow fry for about 4-5 min. Turnover and repeat until its as crisp as you want it to be. If you feel the pan is drying out add more oil all around.
You can add a twist by placing the fried slices in whipped curd!! Great as a side for rice or rotis.

Another blog? But why?

I din't have the foggiest notion of putting up my own food blog...I was content to browse through the zillion others on the web, mostly lurking and occasionally contributing. And then I put up images some cakes I had baked over the last year in my other blog.
Though it felt good to get positive response it was the negative...or rather the diffident that set me along this path. Ey, who is ever so ready with his constructive criticism of my personal blog, said in reply to my inquiry of his thoughts on my pictures "What? Those food things, eh?"
I was a little hurt but I realize that when I was back home in Chennai, I would have thought along those very lines. Cooking, we thought was unglamorous where you slave in the heat to make something when you might as well order in. There were more important things to devote your time too. Like composing..or art...or developing a skill.
But Cooking to is all about composing, its an art and a skill...and its just as creative as sculpting a mural. And I have come to feel for it with passion and this is what I want to share with all my readers and friends....the story of how I fell in love...once again. :)