I was planning to go home for my parent's anniversary. My mom is a big admirer of dates. It's a must in her pantry. So I decided to make something out of them for their anniversary. She normally prepares halwa and payasam out of it. So, I had decided on dates cake, something which she hasn't tried yet. Thanks to Hetal and Anuja's recipe . Mom and dad loved my cake and asked me to prepare it again (for an amateur baker its a big compliment :) ). Lets get started.

What I used:

Dates – 100g approx 20-25
Sweetened Condensed Milk – 400g
Unsalted Butter – 115g
Baking Soda – 1 1/2 tsp
Baking Powder – 1 tsp
All-purpose Flour – 200g

How I did:

1. Soak the Dates in warm water to soften them.
2. Sift the All Purpose Flour along with the Baking Powder and the Baking Soda. Avoid lumps
3. Make a paste of the Dates using as little water as possible
4. Melt the butter and mix it with flour, baking soda & baking powder. Add the dates and sweetened milk and mix well.
5. Grease a baking pan and pour the batter into it.
6. Preheat your oven at 180 degree and bake for 40 min.
7. Once done, take the cake out and allow it to stand for 5 minutes before taking it out of the pan.


How it looked:

Everyday sharp 5PM I start thinking hard on my son's evening snack and I have only 15 min for this as by 5:15 my son is ready with his question as to what I am planning to give him. That particular day I was blank and was tired of preparing the same things for him. Whenever I go blank, Google gets me out of it as usual. Found this simple tempting recipe and thanks to Nags(Edible Garden)

What I used:
Wheat flour  - 3/4 cup
Melted Jaggery  - 2 tsp
Grated coconut - 1/4 cup
Powdered cardamom - 1/3 tsp
Salt  to taste
Ghee - 2 tsp

How I Made It:
1. Mix all the ingredients well to make a loose dough. Neither watery nor very hard.
2. Heat a tava and add some ghee. Take out some dough with your fingers, place on the tava and smooth out to make a dosa. Cook both the sides until they turn brown.


P.S: If you don't have ready made melted jaggery then you need to prepare it. Add few teaspoons of water to jaggery and keep it on low flame until the jaggery melts and has a thread like consistency. If you doubt impurities in your jaggery then its safe to strain it once and then use it as required.


How it looked:

A typical scene in a typical family on a typical rainy season would be a running nose, roaring sounds of sneezes, high temperature and on such typical occasions its very typical of me, preparing jeerige menasu saaru. But this time I thought I would get out of this typical saga and prepare this recipe. Thanks again to Ramya's Mane Adige.

What I used:
1 tsp Coriander seeds
1 tsp Jeera seeds
1/4 cup fresh grated coconut
2 Dry red chillies
Little Cilantro
1/4 tsp Tamarind paste
1/2 tsp Jaggery

For Tempering:
1 tsp Ghee
Little Mustard seeds
A pinch of hing
3-4 Curry leaves

Salt as per taste

How I did:
    1. Grind together coconut, coriander seeds, jeera, cilantro and red chillies with some water.
    2. Add about 3 cups of water and dilute the masala.
    3. Bring to boil and add tamarind paste, jaggery. Boil well.
    4. Temper with mustard seeds, hing and curry leaves.

How it looked:

Me: What do I cook this Sunday?
My conscious: What else? repeat any of these... Veg palav, Fried rice, Jeera rice, blah blah....
Me: NO!!!!.. Am bored....
My conscious: But these are simple and you know them well ....
Me: NO NO NO .... Now, shut up and let me search something new...

and the result of me fighting with my conscious was this recipe. Thanks to Ramya's Mane Adige for making our Sunday delicious :)


What I used:

1 1/2 cup Basmati Rice
1 bunch Dill leaves, chopped finely
1cup carrots, beans
1/2 cup sweet corn
1 Green chilli
1/2 tsp Haldi
1 tsp Lemon juice
Salt as per taste

Dry Masala:
1 tsp Jeera
2 tsp Coriander seeds
2" Cinnamon stick
5-7 cloves
2 Bay Leaves
10 Black pepper corns
2 Elaichi/Cardamoms

How I did:

   1. Powder all the ingredients for the dry masala and keep it aside.
   2. Heat ghee in a cooker or whatever you generally use to prepare palav.  Add jeera and let it splutter.
   3. Add rice, vegetables, dill leaves, dry masala,  2 3/4 cup water, salt. Bring it to boil, close the lid and cook for 10 min.
    4. Once done, pour lemon juice, mix well and serve hot.


How it looked:

How it tasted:
Yummmmmmmmmmmm ..... yummilicious ..... :)