Banana Coconut milk Ice cream with honey as sweetener

 

 

A gentle reminder to all "The Cook Eat Delicious Dessert Event with no refined sugar or flour will end in another two days”,  please send in your entries soon.

This ice cream was my first attempt in trying to make an ice cream with coconut milk. I made it almost two years back and was  lying in my drafts for a long time. I made this before I got my ice cream maker so had to blend the coconut milk and banana mixture to prevent crystallizing and to get a nice texture. But the only draw back was it tastes so yummy, I couldn’t resist myself in having few spoons of this mixture each time I blended it.  Very easy to make and tastes absolutely superb. But using the ice cream maker definitely makes a huge difference in the texture of the ice cream. So come summer, when you try all different treats, make sure to try this easy one and let me know how you liked it.

Preparation Time – 15 Minutes

Cooking Time – 10 Minutes

Serves – 4

Ingredients

Coconut milk – 2 Cups

Agar agar powder – 2 Tsp

Honey – 1/4 Cup

Banana – 3 small to medium sized

Vanilla extract – 1 Tsp

Hot  water – 1/4 Cup

Method

1)  Place the agar agar powder in hot water and let this sit for some time. Now heat this mixture and stir it till it dissolves. Remove from heat and set this aside.

2) In a high speed blender pour the coconut milk, banana slices, vanilla extract, honey and agar agar mixture and blend till smooth.

3) Pour the mixture in a container and place it in the freezer. After 2 hours remove the mixture and blend it till smooth and put it back in the freezer once again. Repeat this 2-3 more times and leave it to freeze over night.

4) Remove from the freezer and let this sit in room temperature for 5-10 minutes on a hot day and serve with some toasted nuts.

Recipe adapted from healthycookingcoach.com

Events

This goes to Cook Eat Delicious Desserts – Refined Sugar & flour free whole some desserts an event hosted by me and started by Raven

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Vegan Granola Bars with maple syrup as sweetener – A guest post for Kitchen Swathi

When Swathi asked me to do a Guest Post for her blog, I surely was super excited. I totally love her recipes and especially her step by step photo graphs.  It took me a while to decide which one  to share and then finally decided on this Granola Bars. Because I know for sure she loves baking from all those yummy bakes in her collection. The bake should be sweet to celebrate the Swathi’s new born. So let’s get on to this simple and easy to make recipe.

If you buy store brought granola bars then this recipe is for you. If you include Oats and Wheat in your diet, this recipe is a sure keeper.

Check out the recipe here in Swathi’s space.

So Swathi thanks once again for giving me an opportunity for doing the Guest post.

Events

This goes to Cook Eat Delicious Desserts – Refined Sugar & flour free whole some desserts an event hosted by me and started by Raven

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Cilantro Quinoa

Quinoa is a staple in my house. Traditionally we are rice eaters and make so  many varieties of rice. Since Quinoa has replaced rice, now I try out the different rice dishes with quinoa. Believe me instead of just adding it to salads and eating, the addition of spices give a totally new taste to this nutritious pseudo grain. Since quinoa is high protein and complex carbohydrate grain, even if you are weight watcher, diet watcher or carb watcher perfectly fits the bill.

For those of you who have questions on quinoa - Quinoa (pronounced Keen-wah) is an ancient food that has been cultivated in South American Andes since at least 3,000 B.C. Technically quinoa is not a true grain, but is the seed of the Chenopodium or Goosefoot plant. It is used as a grain and substituted for grains because of it's cooking characteristics. Quinoa can be found in most natural food stores and if you are buying in bulk, look for deals online.

Cooking Time – 20 minutes

Serves – 2 to 3

Ingredients

Cooked Quinoa – 2 Cups(Preferably cooked previous day and refrigerated)

Cilantro leaves – 1 bunch(washed, stalks removed)

Tamarind – 1 inch piece

Red chilies – 2 or to taste

Salt – 1 Tsp or to taste

Asafoetida – 1 small piece

Mustard seeds – 1 Tsp

Split Urad Dal – 1 Tbsp

Coconut oil – 1 Tbsp

Water – 1/4 Cup or more

Roasted Peanuts - handful

Method

1) Heat a pan and add 1 Tsp of coconut oil. Once the oil is hot add the mustard seeds. After the seeds stop spluttering add the asafoetida piece and urad dal. Once the urad dal slightly browns take a Tsp of spluttered mustard seeds and urad dal and keep it aside.

2) Now in the hot pan along with the rest of the ingredients add the tamarind piece, red chilies and saute till the chilies are slightly brown. Switch off and allow this to cool.

3) Now reheat the cold quinoa and once warm, add the spluttered mustard seeds and urad dal, roasted peanuts and keep it ready.

4) In a blender put the cilantro leaves, the roasted content, salt and add little bit of water and blend into a smooth paste. Add water as necessary and do not add more as we are not making a juice but a thick paste.

5)  Now add this cilantro paste to the warm quinoa and rest of the coconut oil and combine it. Serve with some vegetable raita and enjoy.



Events

Sending this to Sangee’s HITS- Fiber Rich foods.

Sending to Julie’s EP-Series Herbs & Spices Cilantro and Cumin.

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Dates & Nuts Fudge/Halwa (With dates as sweetener)

To all my readers and friends a very Happy and Colorful Holi. To celebrate Holi in a guilt free way, thought of coming up with this Dates fudge/halwa. If you are looking for a gluten free treat made on stove top with no refined sugar, then you have to try this recipe out for sure. This date halwa/fudge takes a little bit of patience and time in making but it is well worth the effort. These are an absolute treat and makes a perfectly guilt free dessert. Made with very few ingredients, they make a perfect treat to pack as a gift for any special occasion.

Once again dessert is dessert, even if it is a guilt free one. It is still a sweet so do not forget to enforce portion control. Dates indeed are a very good source of Iron and doesn’t cause cavities like sugar. But keep in mind two dates have 15gms of sugar and these dry fruits are high in fructose. So if you are on a low sugar diet this dessert is not for you and keep tuned in for desserts made with xylitol which I will post soon or check out my other desserts posted with Xylitol here.

Ingredients

Dates – 2 Cups

Milk – 1 1/2 Cups warm

Almond powder/meal – 3/4 Cup powdered into meal

Almonds & Cashew toasted and chopped – 1/2 Cup

Cardamom powder – 1/2 Tsp

Ghee(Clarified butter) – 4 Heaped Tbsp

Method

1) Soak dates in warm milk for at least 2 hours.

2) Grind almond into fine meal and keep this aside.

3) Toast the almonds and cashew in a toasted or little bit of ghee and chop them into fine pieces and keep it ready.

4)  Take a thick bottomed pan and heat it. Add 2 Tbsp of ghee to it.

5) Grind the dates milk mixture into a fine paste along with cardamom powder and pour this in the pan and add the almond meal to it and mix it thoroughly without any lumps.

6) Reserve 1 Tbsp of ghee to be used in the end. Keep on stirring for around 40-45 minutes and in between add little bit of ghee now and then, so that mixture doesn’t stick at the bottom.

7) At this stage the mixture would have thickened and become a thick mass and started leaving the sides of the pan. Now add a tbsp of ghee and the toasted nuts and mix well to combine.

8) Remove this from the stove and pour this in a greased plate and smooth the top. Set it aside to cool down and cut it to pieces of desired size and serve.

Recipe adapted from Ecurry.

Events

This goes to Cook Eat Delicious Desserts – Refined Sugar & flour free whole some desserts an event hosted by me and started by Raven.	Sending this to Holi fest event hosted by Kalyani of Sizzling Taste buds.
Sending this to Holi Hai hosted by Best of my Kitchen.	Sending this to Spotlight – Color Holi by Chandrani
Sending this to Healthy Morsels event hosted by Taste of Pearl City.	Sending this to Anjali’s Cakes, Cookies and Desserts event.

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Papaya & Cucumber Salad

I love the color of papaya and the nutritional value in it and buy it often from the farmer's market. But not always the fruit is sweet and if it is slightly sweet , I make a smoothie or milk shake. But the one which I got  last week was absolutely bland and it wasn’t worth making anything sweet out of it.  I make pineapple and mango salsa with bland pineapple and mangoes. These fruits turn out great in salads with some salt and pepper and that’s how this idea of pineapple salad came to my mind.  Very easy to make and tastes absolutely delicious and refreshing. Do try it out some time when you papaya in hand and let me know how you liked it.

Preparation Time – 10 Minutes
Cooking Time – Nil
Serves – 2

Ingredients

Papaya – Peeled and Cubed 2 Cups
Cucumber – 1 (Peeled and deseeded and cubed)
Onion – half red onion chopped into fine pieces (small in size)
Cilantro – handful
Lemon juice – 1 Tsp or to taste
Salt – 1/2 Tsp
Crushed black pepper – 1 Tsp or more to taste

Method

1) In a bowl combine papaya, cucumber, onion and cilantro.
2) To this add salt, pepper and lemon juice.
3) Toss and serve.

Events

This goes to Beat the Heat by Best of Kitchen.	This goes to Ramya’s Fruit Fietsa.
This goes to Srav’s Cooking Concepts Vegan Diet.	Sending this to Summer Splash an event hosted by Sangee of Spicy Treats started by Kalyani.
Off to I’m the star event hosted at Veg Food & Me	Off to Speedy Snacks hosted by Simply Sensational Food.

Off to

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Mung Bean & Coconut Pudding(Pasi Paruppu, thengai Payasam) with Jaggery(Panela) as Sweetener

When Raven asked me If I am interested in hosting Cook Eat Delicious Desserts, I was really thrilled to get this opportunity.  I used to love and still love sweet dishes but I have this bad habit of subscribing to lot of health food News letters and also reading them.  The more and more you read, you think twice, thrice to consume white sugar. Just check out this article in New York Times to read about a very interesting article on Sugar. May be all these problems might or might not occur for every one and only after couple of years, we might know about it. One thing was sure for me, once I start eating something with Sugar, it makes me to crave for more sweet dishes and now I have stopped sugar from my diet. I no longer have that craving for something sweet.  I make desserts once in a while and now make them with alternate sweeteners instead of sugar  which doesn’t make you to crave for more and more.
Traditionally most of Indian desserts are sweetened with Jaggery(Panela) which is rich in trace minerals, Iron and doesn’t cause cavities like refined sugar.  Also there are lot of Indian desserts which are bean and coconut based so are gluten free and also rich in protein. But keep in mind, a dessert can be whole some and healthy but still it is a dessert so limit the quantity.

Preparation Time – 5 Minutes
Cooking Time – 20-30 Minutes
Serves – 3 to 4

Ingredients

Mung Bean/ Mung Dal – 3/4 Cup
Split Channa Dal – 1 heaped Tbsp
Jaggery - 1/2 cup Heaped (Increase this to 3/4 Cup or 1 Cup depending on your taste)
Coconut – 1 Cup firmly packed + 1 Tbsp
Water – 3/4 Cup for grinding the coconut + and as required for boiling the bean and more to adjust the thickness as desired.
Cardamom pods – 1/2 Tsp(Shelled and the black seeds)
Cashews – 10 toasted
Saffron – few strands(this is not traditionally used, but I love the flavor of saffron so add it)

Method

1) Dry roast mung bean and split channa dal till slightly brown and aromatic. Make sure to stir in between and roast on a medium heat as they become black very quickly.
2) Now soak the roasted dal in some warm water and keep it aside. This soaking for some time will help out to cook quickly. Meanwhile grate the coconut and grind it with 3/4 cup of water and cardamom seeds into a smooth paste and set it aside.
3) Break the cashews into half and in a toaster toast till slightly golden/brown or add a tsp of ghee(clarified butter) and roast till golden.
4) Add the saffron strands and cook soaked beans on medium heat adding enough water till the beans are soft and mushy. Now add the powdered jaggery and simmer till the jaggery is well dissolved.
5) Now add the ground coconut paste and simmer for few minutes and add more or less water depending on the thickness you like.
6) Add the toasted nuts and serve it.

Events

This goes to Cook Eat Delicious Desserts – Refined Sugar & flour free whole some desserts an event hosted by me and started by Raven.
Sending this to Holi fest event hosted by Kalyani of Sizzling Taste buds.

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Cook Eat Delicious Desserts Event for March 2012 - Wholesome Desserts with no refined sugar or flour

To all my blogger and non blogger friends, happy to announce my that I will be hosting Cook Eat Delicious Desserts for the month of March 2012 - Wholesome Desserts with no refined sugar or flour. Also this is the first event I am hosting here in this space. Please put on your thinking cap and come up with any wholesome desserts without refined sugar or refined flour and link it to this event. Looking forward to see a lot of interesting entries from you all.



The details are given below and if you have any problem in using the linky tool or any questions please feel free to leave a comment or send me an email at sensibleveg@gmail.com.

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