Low Fat Chocolate And Banana Bread ~ Vegan And Refined Sugar Free

Call it a bread or a cake, but this is the ultimate healthy thing I have ever baked. All purpose flour has been replaced with whole wheat flour and refined sugar with jaggery. Indians and Sri Lankans widely use jaggery in many of their desserts, jaggery is wholesome unrefined sugar, it is made from concentrated sugarcane juice and processed in a natural way and no chemicals are added at any stage of its processing. It has got high protein, vitamin, iron and it has 50 times the mineral content of refined sugar.

Jaggery has got lot of health and healing benefits and moreover it tastes great. It's rich caramel kind of aroma is heavenly. There are many varieties of jaggery and all have distinct tastes, some are more salty and lighter in colour while some are darker with less salt and more sweetness. Jaggery is great for nibbling too, I have seen many people eat chana and gur together to kill boredom. 

My dad used to go on his official tours to these small villages where they made this jaggery, and while returning he used to bring big blocks of dark coloured disc shaped jaggery. Mom used all her strength and might and with a hammer she used to break the disc and we nibbled on the small pieces.

For another interesting jaggery recipe, check this previous guest post by my dear friend Farwin of Love And Other Spices where she shared her famous Sril Lankan "Aggala" recipe.

Ingredients:

Whole Wheat Flour- 1 Cup
Banana- 1 Large
Jaggery- 1/3 Cup ( Adjust little more or less depending on the sweetness of the jaggery)
Chocolate Chips- 1/4 Cup
Canola Oil- 2 Tbsp
Cinnamon Powder- 1/2 Tsp
Baking Powder- 1/2 Tsp
Baking Soda- 1/4 Tsp
Almond Milk- 3/4 Cup
Walnuts (Roughly Chopped)- 2 Tbsp
Salt- 1/4 Tsp ( if the jaggery has got salt then omit this)


Procedure:

1. Preheat the oven at 180 Degrees C.

2. Take a banana, peel and cut it in small discs.

3. With the help of a fork mash the bananas and add cinnamon powder, oil and chocolate chips in that, mix and keep aside.

4. In another bowl take whole wheat flour and add salt, baking powder, baking soda and chopped walnuts.

5. Powder the jaggery in a mixer and add it in the flour. Now add the banana mixture in the flour and with the help of almond milk, fold everything together gently.

6. Grease a loaf pan or a small cake tin...choose a tin so that the mixture is atleast 3/4th of the tin. Now pour the bread batter in the prepared tin and keep it for baking in the pre heated oven for 35-40 minutes or till a skewer inserted in the centre of the bread comes out clean.

7. Take out the bread from the oven and let it cool completely before inverting it out of the tin.

8. Now invert the bread in a plate and cut in wedges or slices.

My kiddo enjoyed this bread with a glass of juice. 

Choco Coffee Cake ~ A Guest Post For Grishma At Zaika Zabardast

Some time back, I saw a Facebook message from Grishma of Zaika Zabardast where she invited me to write a guest post for her wonderful blog, and I did not even think twice as there are two strong reasons for it....first that it's my first guest post and I was really honoured and secondly Grishma is a lovely person. Most of you must be familiar with her blog Zaika Zabardast. I remember stumbling to her site and the first thing which attracted me was her site's name, so catchy and I loved her recipe and fabulous pictures. She is a lacto vegetarian like me and is a pretty girl who seems to have so much of energy.

I am sharing a super easy and vegan choco coffee cake which can be made in a jiffy. Check out Grishma's space for the recipe and do say hi to her. Also visit her Facebook page and tweets @zaikazabardast for beautiful pictures and yum recipes.

And I am linking this cake to Priya's Healthy Diet Event~Baked Goodies hosted by me.

Handvo/ Savoury Lentil And Vegetable Cake

I am very fond of Gujarati dishes, one such dish which is very much liked by me and my family is Handvo or Ondhwa. This is a baked savoury cake made with combination of rice with lentils and vegetables. This is very healthy and ideal for breakfast. Even my daughter who rarely eats anything apart from bread for breakfast, enjoyed this a lot. This recipe is from my dear friend Meghana's blog.

I have used store bought Handvo flour for this, but this should not be confused with readymade Handvo mix. 

Those who cannot get this flour, look out my notes at the bottom of this post.

Ingredients:

Handvo Flour- 2 Cups

Grated Bottlegourd- 2 Cups

Fenugreek Leaves- 2/3 Cup (Chopped)

Corn- 1/4 Cup

Onion- 2 Medium Sized (Chopped)

Ginger-1 1/2 Inch Piece and Green Chillies- 2 ( Make a paste out of it)

Jaggery- 1 Tbsp

Turmeric- 1 Tsp

Red Chilli Powder- 1/2 Tsp

Salt- To Taste

Yoghurt- 1/2 Cup (Well Beaten)

Canola Oil- 2 Tbsp

Baking Soda- 1/2 Tsp

For Tempering:

Oil- 2Tbsp

Mustard Seeds- 1 Tsp

Cumin Seeds- 1/2 Tsp

Whole Red Chillies- 2

Asafoetida- A Pinch

Sesame Seeds- 1Tsp + 3 Tbsp for sprinkling on top

Procedure:

• In a mixing bowl mix together all the ingredients except baking soda and tempering. Make a medium consistency batter with some water and let the batter rest overnight.
• In the morning check seasoning and consistency, if required add little more water.
• Preheat the oven at 190 Degree C. Grease a baking dish with oil and keep aside.
• Prepare the tempering by heating oil in a pan. After the oil gets hot add in asafoetida, mustard seeds and cumin seeds, once they splutter add in red chillies and 1 Tsp of sesame seed.
• Mix this tempering with the batter and now add in baking soda. Mix well.
• Pour this batter in the baking dish and sprinkle generously with sesame seeds.
• Place in the pre heated oven and bake for about 45- 50 minutes. Bake until the corners turn slight brown and a toothpick inserted should come out clean.
• Now broil for another 5 minutes to get a crispy crust.
• Remove the dish from the oven and let it cool for around 15 minutes before cutting into slices. 

Serve warm with green chutney and/or ketchup.

Notes:

• These can be made vegan as well by omitting yoghurt and adding vegan buttermilk and juice of 1 lime.
• Those who cannot get handvo flour can use this combination instead- 1 Cup of rice + 1/4 Cup- Pigeon peas+2 Tbsp- split bengal gram +2 tbsp- split green gram +1Tbsp -split black gram. Soak the rice and lentils overnight and grind them in a smooth batter in the morning using little water. Now mix other given ingredients except tempering and soda. Add little water in the batter if required. Now keep this mix for about an hour and proceed as per point 3 in the procedure written above.

Sending this to my own event Veggie/ Fruit A Month- Bottlegourd which was started by Priya of Mharo Rajastan.

Bottle Gourd Chocolate Cake

New Year...new outlook towards life...new resolutions...and a new you...is what we all have in our minds. But do we need excuse of new year to start something which is good for us...No... Each day is a new day which brings lots of hopes, promises and good things in life, and the resolutions are meant to be broken..so do not make resolutions but make good choices and take decisions which have positive effect in life. 

I used to make resolutions every year but now have stopped making them cause I know I will not be able to stick on even a single of those. But I have promised myself to try to live each day to its fullest, to spend more quality time with my DH, play lot more with my daughter and make more new friends but cherish the old ones for ever :)

I am a big fan of veggies in baked goodies, earlier I have made a beet bundt, carrot muffins and even a savoury pumpkin scone, so now this time I sneaked bottle gourd in chocolate cake. The cake turned out to be super moist and no body could guess that bottle gourd was in it..hehe (evil smile).

I dressed up the cake with chocolate sauce and it was divine.

( Recipe inspired from goshthatssovegan)

Ingredients:

For the Cake-

All Purpose Flour- 1 Cup

Unsweetened Cocoa Powder- 6 Tbsps

Sugar- 1/2 Cup + 2 Tbsps

Baking Soda-1 Tsp

Instant Coffee Powder- 1 Tsp

Salt- 1/8 Tsp

Canola Oil- 1/4 Cup

White Distilled Vinegar- 1 Tsp

Vanilla Extract- 1 Tsp

Water- 3/4 Cup (Approx)

Bottle Gourd- 1 Cup grated and packed

For Chocolate Sauce-

Sugar- 1/2 Cup

Soy Milk or Dairy Milk- 1/2 Cup

Unsweetened Cocoa Powder- 1/2 Tbsp

Salt- A Pinch

Vanilla extract- 1/4 Tsp

All Purpose Flour- 2 Tsp

Procedure:

For The Cake-

• Preheat the oven at 180 Degrees C for 10-15 minutes.
• Grease a cake tin with oil and line up with a parchment paper then grease the top of the paper with oil and keep aside.
• Grate the bottle gourd and measure 1 cup packed and keep separate.
• Sift all the dry ingredients ( flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, coffee, salt) together in a large bowl.
• Make a well in the centre and pour the wet ingredients ( oil, vinegar, vanilla, water) in it.
• Mix all the ingredients together. 
• Squeeze out water from the gourd and mix the grated gourd in the prepared cake mixture. Stir gently till everything is combined.
• Pour the batter in prepared cake tin. Choose a cake tin so that batter is more than 1/2 in the tin.
• Bake the cake in the preheated oven at 180 Degrees for 35-38 minutes or till a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. I baked the last 10 minutes with the top of the cake covered with aluminium foil.

For Chocolate Sauce-

Combine all the ingredients together in a saucepan and mix well so that there are no lumps. Boil the sauce for   

about 2 minutes in slow heat. Remove from heat. The sauce thickens as it cools. If the sauce gets too thick then add in more milk and heat it up a bit.

Pour the sauce on the cake and serve warm.

Sending this cake to Veggie/ Fruit A Month- Bottle Gourd which is a brainchild of Priya of Mharo Rajasthan and currently being hosted at my space.

Also linking this to Cooking Concept's Chocolate Fest.

Vardhini's Bake Fest #3 hosted at Pumpkin Farm.

Srivalli's Chocolate Mela

Vardhini's NewU event

Suma at Veggie Platter's Cook Eat Delicious Desserts event.

Vegan Beet Bundt

Since I took the vegan challenge I had not made any dessert or sweet as most of the Indian sweets I make are made with ghee and milk. But when I saw this vegan bundt cake at Food Librarian's space I was amazed at it's texture and since I had all the ingredients handy, I immediately put on my baking gloves.

The cake turned out to be super moist and had rich flavour. Beetroot gives this cake a wonderful red colour and softness. 

Ingredients:

All Purpose Flour- 1 Cup

Beetroot Puree- 1 Cup ( Steam 2 medium beets and purée in a blender)

Canola Oil- 1/4 Cup + 1 Tbsp

Unsweetened Cocoa Powder- 4 tbsp

Vanilla Extract- 1/2 tsp

Packed Brown Sugar- 3/4 Cup

Baking Powder- 1 tsp

Salt- 1/8 tsp

Confectioner's Sugar- For dusting (optional)

Procedure:

• Preheat the oven at 190 degrees C and grease the bundt pan and keep aside.
• In a bowl cream together oil and brown sugar. Add in the beet purée, cocoa powder, vanilla extract and mix together.
• In another bowl sieve all purpose flour, salt and baking powder together.
• Add this dry mixture to the wet beet mixture and mix everything together just until combined.
• Pour the mixture in the prepared bundt pan and bake for 35- 40 minutes or till done. If a screwer inserted in the centre of the bundt comes out clean, the bundt is done.
• Wait for the bundt cake to cool and then invert in a plate.

My husband and daughter liked their cake with generous dusting of confectioner's sugar and I enjoyed mine plain.

Note-Instead of cocoa powder 1/4 cup of any non dairy choco chip can be substituted .And dairy choco chip can be substituted for a non vegan version.

Sending this bundt to National Bundt day at Mary- The Food Librarian's space.

Also linking this to Srivalli's Kid's Delight Event hosted at Cooks Hideout space.