Sabudana Kheer/Tapioca Pudding with Saffron and Nuts

ndia is the land of festivities. Believe it or not but national and regional festivals together would probably go into three figures. What's more is that these vary widely in the way they are celebrated from one region to another. Some are quiet and solemn including prayers and worship, some an expression of love and affection and most are attributed to deities and celebrated with quite the pomp and fervor.

Many of the regional festivals often are the quiet and solemn kind (but still elaborate nonetheless) and they are often associated with fasting. Fasting is a way of worship where you eliminate certain food groups from your diet for the period of the fast or sometimes, depending on how resilient you are and the method the particular festival dictates, not eat or drink at all.

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Upside Down Banana Coconut Cake (Eggless)

I will start this post with an apology for my regular visitors. If you have noticed me not being very regular with my posts and feedback in the last few days, I sincerely apologize as during the holiday season family and visitors are getting a larger share of my day. Regardless, I am having fun and here's wishing you all a very very happy holidays!!

 Now to the post. I am personally not a big fan of ripe bananas as a fruit but it still is a regular in our house as hubby and my little daughter eat it practically every day for breakfast. I do however like them in breads and other baked stuff. I do bake a few different types of banana based breads and muffins but this time around this upside down cake caught my fancy. Now me being who I am, I had to make it as soon as I thought of it. Had the bananas, flour and other stuff. Just one problem, when baking egg less, I normally use either sour cream or buttermilk as a replacement. This time I had neither. That is when creativity kicked in I figured I'd try using some coconut milk instead. I had half a can left over (lucky for hubby or I would've made him drive up to the store :) Not sure whether the coconut milk did anything to make the cake light but it sure did add that nice creamy coconut flavor and yes the cake came out nice and light too.

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Date and walnut muffin (eggless)

Growing up, for breakfast we mostly ate chapatis along with with some pan fried veggies  or poha or upma and on special occasions or on weekends poori and sabji.That was mostly the routine of course with variations on some days. Our parents did that forever and so did their parents (and I am sure their parents did the same :). After which off we went to where ever we had to go, school, college or work. Our current lifestyle being a little different, these days I go for much a lighter breakfast especially on weekdays. Be it a bowl of cereal or oatmeal or a quick sliced bread sandwich with some fruits and veggies. To keep things interesting, I always find myself looking for ways to come up with interesting but light and yet 'breakfasty' recipes. I have found that a light muffin or a light fruit bread comes really handy. Also you can create different variations of the same basic muffin or bread. Here's a recipe for a date and nut based muffin that was really liked by hubby and my princess alike. It is mildly sweet, has a distinct taste of dates, cinnamon and walnuts, not to forget the bite of tangy cranberries and is extremely light that makes it just right for breakfast.
Here it is -
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Marbled Banana Bundt cake (Eggless)

To be honest banana - as a fruit - is not something I am completely in love with ;) I still buy them for my daughter and hubby. It so happened once, that I had bought some and both of them were going through a 'no bananas' phase... so it was sitting on my kitchen counter getting ready to be trashed. I hate to waste food, so I went online for some ideas and I read about banana bread. I tweaked and tried some recipes, made the bread... got brave... and tasted it and couldn't believe I liked the banana flavor in the bread :) Next time I added some chocolate in it and it got even more awesome (chocolate just makes everything better). After having made banana breads a few times I tried making banana cakes and it was  a super hit... simple yet impressive, plain yet elegant because of the shape of the bundt cake pan (my new proud possession) it was baked in. The cake has a wonderful texture,  is very moist because of the sour cream which I am currently obsessed with and put in almost everything I bake, particularly when doing egg less. I also marbled it to give it a nice appearance.  It can be served  as dessert and it also  goes wonderfully with a cuppa coffee or hot chocolate in the morning for breakfast or after dinner. Also I don't use eggs so can be enjoyed by pure vegetarians too. It is also a hit with kids and is terribly easy to make .

Here goes the recipe-

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Ginger tea lemonade

t may sound a little unusual for an Indian household but we do not drink tea in our home. Neither me nor hubby really liked it ever. The concept of iced tea however always had our fancy but again we never liked the taste, funny eh! So this recipe met me one day while I was watching Giada's show (again). As I usually like lemon flavors in my drinks, be it lemon tea, lemon soda or lemonade (you get the idea), this recipe struck home with me as she was making it. I went ahead and tried making it as-is and it was fabulous. It has a feel of a sophisticated mock-tail with tea and lemon flavors and a hint of ginger. Something you would want to sit sipping on the beach on a hot summer afternoon (yes you can put an umbrella in your glass :)

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Eggless Double Chocolate Mocha Muffin

 better half.. he does not detest chocolates, he will eat it.. but combine it with a little coffee and he absolutely loves it! I on the other hand will eat chocolate of any kind, anytime, dark chocolate being my favorite. I don't mind a little coffee either. So whenever I make anything chocolaty at home there has to be a little coffee in it. I personally think as well that coffee when combined with chocolate takes it to a whole new level.
So I just mixed a little coffee in chocolate muffin batter and this recipe was born. I also don't always like the eggy taste in my bakes so I skip the egg altogether and it comes out great :) It is always a hit with kids too atleast I know my little one loves it.

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Cherry crumble

I love fruit based desserts. Cherries are something I absolutely adore... they are just so cute, gorgeous red, juicy n plump. Whenever they are in season I am always tempted to buy them every time I see them anywhere :) Had bought some from the farmer's market yesterday.. was craving something sweet after dinner.. so this recipe was born. Simple, quick and totally decadent. We had it with some vanilla ice-cream and the warm yummy dessert with the crunchy crumble topping and the soft sweet gooey cherries beneath it.. was heaven! We loved it.

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