Vegan Banana Rabanada / Brazilian French Toast

Rabanada is a Brazilian version of French toast and is served as part of Christmas breakfast there. The bread slices are dunked in egg and milk mixture, soaked, fried and served with a generous sprinkling of cinnamon-cocoa mixture. This vegan version is made with bananas, milk and cornstarch and of course uses no eggs. I went by Pavani's idea to serve it with maple syrup as my daughter too preferred it that way though originally, maple syrup is not associated with rabanada. This rabanada had become her recent favorite and thanks Pavani, for the recipe. And there may be extra banana mixture leftovers if serving only 2 or 3 as it happened to me and I used it to make pancakes later.


Ingredients:
1 baguette
2 very ripe bananas
1&1/2 cups almond milk or any other non-dairy milk
2 tbsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Vegan butter / Cooking spray
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

 Method:
* Sliced baguette diagonally into 1" pieces.
* Blend bananas, milk, cornstarch and vanilla until smooth.
* Arrange the baguette slices in a single layer on a baking sheet. Pour the banana mixture over the bread and flip the slices to coat all over evenly. Let them sit for 10 minutes. Then flip them over and soak again for 10 more minutes.
* Preheat a non-stick skillet, over medium heat. Melt butter over the pan or spray with cooking spray. Place as many bread slices as the pan can hold. Cook for 5 -7 minutes or until it is toasted golden brown. Flip to the other side and cook until it turns golden brown as well.
* Keep them covered with foil to keep them warm while cooking other batches or serve them immediately.
* Mix together cinnamon and cocoa powder together in a small bowl. 
* When ready to serve, arrange the french toast on the serving palte and generously sprinkle the cinnamon-cocoa mixture. 
* Serve with maple syrup / fruit if desired.

This goes to Blogging marathon #60 under the theme 'Bookmarked Recipes'. Check the link to see what other marathoners are cooking.



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8th Blog Anniversary & Belagavi Kunda / Belgaum Kunda

My entry into the blogging world happened this week, eight years ago. As my husband points out often, I am the kind who looses interest in things when the initial bubble of excitement fades away. Surprisingly, blogging did not make it into that list and my love for cooking has sustained my enthusiasm in food blogging over these years. Thanks to my friends and readers (even silent ones :)) who  have been a part of this wonderful journey. 
  
Now to blogging. I am going with "North Karnataka' cuisine today and decided to go with a dessert since I am in a celebration mood. Though I lived in southern Karnataka, I have tasted some authentic food from the northern region. Thanks to one of our Dharwad friends, I first got to taste their bhakris, jhunka, authentic pedas, their special chivda and much more when I was a tiny kid. And my best friend is married to a North Karnataka guy and during my visits to India, she keeps feeding me some of their signature dishes. My choice would have been Dharwad peda for today if I had known the secret of creating the magic.

North Karnataka obviously covers the northern parts of Karnataka and is mostly semi arid with a hot climate. It includes the districts of Belgaum, Bidar, Bijapur, Bagalkote, Bellary, Dharwad, Gadag, Gulbarga, Haveri, Koppala, Raichur, Uttara Kannada, and Yadagiri. North Karnataka's history and culture date back to prehistoric times. One of the prominent dynasties that ruled the area was Vijayanagara empire, (that is considered to be the greatest medieval Hindu empire) with it's capital city as Vijayanagara, the present day Bellary. Belagavi / Belgaum is the headquarters of the present day North Karnataka.
 
Now to kunda. Kunda is a yummy sweet prepared with milk and sugar and is a specialty of the Belagavi region. I read somewhere that kunda was born accidentally. A mithaiwala who was boiling milk forgot to turn off the stove when he left the store. By the time he came back, he noticed the solidified milk and decided to add some khoya as well. He cooked it further, liked it and named it kunda. I got this recipe from a regional television show and most of the recipes I found online are similar to it and do not include khoya. The recipe is quite simple and easy, especially if you plan to prepare it when  you are taking care of some thing else in the kitchen. It involves stirring now and then and you would not notice the time if you are involved in something task. :) 

There are three steps in making kunda.
1. Curdling the milk
2. Caramelizing the sugar
3. Cooking the milk-sugar mixture to a thick consistency like halwa (The last step takes about 20 minutes but there is no need to hover around the stove.) 

Ingredients:
1 - 2 tbsp ghee
1 tbsp. semolina / rava
2 cups milk
1 - 2 tbsp. yogurt
3/4 to 1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ground cardamom (elaichi powder)
Slivered nuts to garnish

Method:
1. Melt ghee in a sauce pan, preferably a non-stick one. Add semolina and roast it until it starts to turn golden brown.

  2. Add milk to the same pan and bring it to a boil.
 

* Then add yogurt, stir and turn off the stove after a couple of minutes. The milk would have curdled by the time.
3. Take another non stick pan and add sugar to it. Do not add any water to sugar. 
 
* Heat the sugar on a medium flame in a non stick pan. Just shake the pan holding the handle. You start to notice sugar melting after a few minutes.
 
* Just keep tilting the pan instead of using a spoon to stir it. When the sugar melts and attains a good amber color, turn off the stove.
 
4. Now add the caramelized sugar to the milk pan in step 2. 
 
* Cook the mixture on slow flame keep stirring the mixture  intermittently until it thickens and comes to a halwa consistency.
5.  Add cardamom powder, stir and turn off the stove.
 
 6. Garnish with nuts before serving.

Notes:
1. A tbsp. of edible gum powder was also added in the original recipe. If using it, add it to the ghee before semolina and toast it.
2. It thickens a little after cooling and so cook accordingly.
3. Using a non stick pan makes the preparation easier and mess-free. Otherwise there is a possibility of mixture getting stuck to the bottom of the pan.

Check what other marathoners are cooking during this marathon.

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D for Dominican Republic ~ Dulce de Leche en Tabla

 

Event: BM #44
Choice of country: Dominican Republic
Capital City: Santo Domingo
Official Language: Spanish

I am going with Dominican Republic for the letter 'D' and it is in Atlantic ocean, between north and south American Continents. 
Caribbean sea, a sea in Atlantic ocean lies towards the southeastern side of USA and is home to 22 island territories. This Caribbean island group is called the Greater Antilles and one of these islands goes with the name Hispaniola. This particular island is divided between two nations, Dominican Republic and Haiti. The original inhabitants of the region were Taino people and they called the island, Quisqueya (mother of all lands) and Ayiti (land of high mountains.). Christopher Columbus, the Spanish explorer landed on the island in 1492 and named it Hispaniola. The region became the site of the first permanent European settlement in the Americas and Santo Domingo became Spain's first capital in the new world. Santo Domingo is the oldest, continuously inhabited, European settlement in the Americas. It is the site of the first university, castle, cathedral, monastery and fortress in the new world.
The native Taino, Spanish and African influences are predominantly seen in Dominican Republic cuisine. The Spanish dishes are made with a new twist while the native and African dishes are still dominant, some of them unchanged.  Dominican Republic cuisine resembles the cuisines of other Latin American countries. 

During the recipe hunt for this marathon, I have come to admire two food bloggers from the Latin world. One is from Colombian background and the other one is Clara from whom this recipe comes. I have started to like her photography, writing skills and recipes immensely and have bookmarked few of her recipes. Initially I wanted to try her cassava bread but when I saw the pictures of this Dominican version of milk fudge, I was sold. We literally were bowled over the taste of it and couldn't stop comparing it to our own doodh peda. We, especially my husband who enjoyed it the most started reminiscing about the good old days spent in our homeland and the melt in mouth kind, doodh peda we get to taste there. He doesn't have a sweet tooth and  I have seen him over the years, enjoying at the most only 2 or 3 kinds of sweets. Then imagine how good these milk sqaures must have been when the above said man was popping a fudge each day, without anyone reminding him.
 
Now let's come to the Dominican version of this milk fudge. Guess this is one of those dishes that crosses countries and cultures and connects people. :) I am always amazed when I see a familiar recipe in other traditional versions across the globe. I wonder how people worldwide created similar dishes without even ever realizing it. What do you do when you have loads of left over milk but no refrigerator? "Make some yummy dulce de leche en tabla" must have been the answer if you lived in Dominican Republic before the refrigerator era. This one is a yummy treat for everyone with a sweet tooth.
Traditionally this dish is prepared by continuously boiling and stirring a large quantity of milk for hours, until it is thickened. Then the mixture is poured into mold, allowed to set and then cut into squares. It stays fresh for days without getting spoiled. This method takes hours to prepare but it is worth it. For a short cut method, the below version uses condensed milk and one can quantity takes less than an hour (about 30 - 40 minutes if I recall correctly.) 

Ingredients: (Yields about 10 pieces)
14 oz / 400 grams sweetened condensed milk (I used it.)
or 
14 oz / 400 grams unsweetened condensed milk + 1/4 cup sugar

Notes:
1. The original recipe mentions to use an iron / aluminum pot. By default I reach for a nonstick pan when I am preparing sweet dishes, especially if they are milk based ones and cook on low flame. In that way I am ensured that the dish doesn't get burnt and my efforts don't go through the drain. And so I advise you to go with a non stick pan and a wooden spatula while preparing this fudge. The recipe is quite simple and just involves stirring. 
2. Here is a trick I learnt to avoid continuous stirring while preparing this fudge. Turn off the stove after 10 minutes of stirring and leave the pan on the stove-top for about 3 - 5 minutes and relax in the mean time. By the time one comes back to it and starts cooking it again, it would have thickened more than the time at which it was stopped (without hogging over the stove and stirring). Repeat it after every 10 minutes through the cooking process. This fudge making process did not seem tedious to me for the above reason.
3. I had no idea that it would become real firm once it gets cold and went on cooking. I could not drop the mixture into a mold because of it and shaped the warm mixture into squares by hand instead. 

Method:
*  Grease the mold with oil / melted butter / ghee.
* Pour a can of condensed milk into a nonstick pan and start cooking on low flame. Low flame is the key here. You cannot turn the heat high even if you are using a non stick pan. In spite of the continuous stirring and nonstick pan, the condensed milk starts burning around the edges, on high heat. And so keep cooking milk on low flame and keep stirring to avoid the milk sticking to the bottom.
* Keep stirring and continue cooking. The condensed milk keeps becoming darker in color and thicker in consistency.
I took the pictures every10 minutes once to show the progress. And if I recall correctly, these must be after 10, 20 and 30 minutes of cooking, respectively.

 

* If you are using sugar, stir in once the milk thickens enough and starts to lift from the bottom, about 15 minutes.

* It is ideal when the mixture reaches a consistency similar to peanut butter. Do not be tempted to cook it longer / thicker since the mixture forms up considerably once it cools down. I guess mine was a little bit thicker.

* Pour the mixture into a prepared, square shaped mold / a heat resistant plate with high edges. Gently smooth the top using a spatula. When it has come to room temperature, remove from the mold and cut into squares. 
* If you are not going to finish them sooner, refrigerate them. I stored them in a stainless steel box and left it over my kitchen counter. They are fresh even after a week.
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An InLinkz Link-up

Chocolate-Nut Covered Strawberries

Though today's post looks like catering towards a valentines day treat, it is actually not. It is for the "iron rich foods" based theme of this week's blogging marathon. Believe it or not, dark chocolate with at least 70 cacao solids is a rich and an unexpected source of iron. Our body can absorb iron better in the presence of vitamin C, for example like citrus fruits. So this dark chocolate covered berries happen to be a good source of iron. I rolled them in crushed peanuts for an extra dose of iron. It can be substituted with other iron rich nuts like almonds, cashews, etc. Sweet, plump strawberries paired with chocolate and nuts is a delicious treat and a kid approved one at my home.

Ingredients:
About 4 - 5 oz of bitter chocolate, chopped
A pint of strawberries
1/4 cup of crushed nuts

Method:
* Wash the berries and pat them dry.
* Melt chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl or in the top of a double boiler over simmering water.Stir until chocolate is smooth. 
* Holding the berries by stem, dip them in the molten chocolate one by one, about 3/4th of the way to the stem.
* At this point if you prefer, roll them in crushed nuts.
* Place the berries stem side down on parchment paper lined plate or on a paper plate.
* Chill in refrigerator until hardened.

These go to the following events.
1. Blogging Marathon #41
2. Srivalli's "Kids' Delight", hosted this month by Kalyani with the theme "Iron rich recipes". 

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Ice Cream Sandwiches

I prepared a couple of vegetable based sandwiches in advance this time for blogging marathon only to come up with other posts at the last moment. So much for advanced planning. I didn't bother even to use the initially planned ones. :) I wanted to include a dessert as well in the "Sandwiches without using bread" theme and so here is this drool-worthy confection. These are perfect for kid centric parties as they can be made in advance and the assembly literally needs no time. 

Ingredients:
Cookies
Ice cream of your preference
Chopped M&M' s (optional)

For each sandwich, use 2 large cookies and about 1/4 cup of ice cream, slightly softened. Usually chocolate chip cookies / wafers are used for sandwiches and vanilla ice cream is the popular one used for the stuffing. I had run out of both and so went with shortbread cookies and strawberry ice cream though I would have preferred vanilla flavored ice cream. I used pecan shortbread cookies which are not large sized and so used about 2 Tbsp ice cream for each sandwich. 

Assembling the sandwiches:
* Leave the ice cream on counter for about five minutes to soften it. Using a big spoon, spread the softened ice cream across the flat side of one cookie.

* Place the flat side of the second cookie onto the ice cream and press gently. You can even roll the ice cream edge into chopped M&M's. Wrap each sandwich in plastic wrap and freeze for about 15 minutes or up to a week.

This is my Day 3 post of Blogging Marathon #26, under the theme "Sandwiches without using Bread". Check what other marathoners are cooking during this BM#26.

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