Minced Chicken with Mixed Daal

"I'm singing in the rain, just singing in the rain; 

What a wonderful feeling, I'm happy again."

-Arthur Freed

 It was raining heavily outside, splashing and pelting down the window panes. I was vacuously staring through it. Trying hard to feel and be loved with the rain. But I failed. 

Rain doesn't entice me anymore. 

Why? 

I don't know. 

I flashed back to my student life…..

Then.............

The rainwater streaming down through the grit and grime Lal matir rasta (the red muddy lanes) aimlessly making its way to unite with the inundated paddy fields by the road. Ignoring the alarming overcast sky a group of 5 to 6 jubilant children of 8 to 12 years, were splashing and jumping in the water and catching fish with some strainers collected from their houses. Some empty glass jars were arrayed safely with some alive fish. In celebration of an off day from school that declared a rainy day from a sudden down pour we were coddling the free spirit of childhood.

                                        Being an incurably romantic rain lover, I had never missed a single rain. Even if it was in the midnight, you would find me by the window trying to hold the rain drops. The charm of the rain at night was spellbound for me. The reflection of the street lamps on the closed window glass, I could see melting down with the slushing rain. The darkness of the room and the pitter-patter music from the pour used to create an enchanting and mystic atmosphere. Stealthy, I used to elude from my bed so that my parents should not object my date with the rain at the oddest hour of the dark night. I used to open the window with an expert hand making sure not to make any noise and sneaked my hand to touch the rain. In no time the rain drops were dancing on my palm and a shiver flowing down through my body. I used to try hard to hold the rain drops and store it forever. The joy of the tiny little enthralled soul was different and beyond explanation. 

                                                         We used to have a wide view of a vacant land, yards after yards. And that view became like a blessing for us during the Monsoon. At night I loved to watch the drama of the lightning in interval, sparking and cracking the whole sky and tearing down the silence of the pitch-dark night with its roaring mighty rage. Moreover a nagging croaking sound of the frogs would bewitch an eerie sensation. In the day time the entrance of the dark cloud sprang us to rush and sit in the covered balcony to watch the bleary rain racing to us from the distance. The thrumming sound and the brumous view, the wild wind happily swaying the trees, were so enchanting that the feet used to tap with the rhythm and I hypnotically used to go out to drench myself ignoring my parents. My Parents kept on shouting behind me, but their voices never reached to my ear or I was then the most arrogant girl who didn't pay attention to her parents’ commands. I dared not to think what would happen next and how much scold was waiting for me. I just had the moment which I wanted to enliven it forever and ever. I slopped and dirt myself. Or sometimes I would take a ride on my cycle and speed behind the floating cloud and the pouring rain, singing aloud one of Kabiguru's (Rabindranath Tagore) Monsoon songs. I would hear my parents' voices slowly fainting, calling my name to return back home. But I was then totally in a different world. Yes for me the life was like this, basking in the free spirit of childhood with the nature. 

                                                                                  Rain then was for me everything, my love, my passion, my play-mate, my soul-mate et al. My tears poured down and coalesced in the rain so many times. I danced in the rain, I laughed aloud in the rain. It was only the rain who had witnessed my joy and my sometimes the sad spirit of mine. My mother had locked me so many times to shun the rain. But every time I took out a chance to touch the rain at least for a second. RAIN WAS FOR ME NOTHING BUT LOVE FOR WHOM I WAS THE CRAZIEST GIRL OF THE WORLD.

Now.............

I woke up in the morning and went to the Balcony. I saw the narrow lane by my house was half merged in water. A glance of the clogged water made me giddy in no time and a shiver with the thought how I would go out to do my daily chores!! Storming my brain with the morning blues I tried to remember when did it rain so heavily? A sarcastic smile brushed my face. Ah, I was then snuggled peacefully in my bed with the full on AC. How come the sound of rain would reach my ears? And if it was then it would not make me happy any more. My daughter has to go to school where Rainy Day is an obsolete word, My Husband has his office. Where would I hang the piled up clothes resting in the washing machine. I wondered - Am I not in love with rain any more? The other day I was travelling on my car to my daughter’s school. It was raining heavily and splashing down on the car. I tried to feel it from the core of my heart. I tried to avoid all the honking, the rustling bustling of the busy city life. But I failed. I just found a worried mother's heart who was desperate and tensed to reach to her daughter’s school on time. I wondered - Am I not in love with rain any more? The other day the sudden rain made me race and climb the three storied house to the roof top to fetch the wet clothes lined up for drying. My maid was out for some work. I tried to rescue the almost dry clothes from the rain. I achieved to a certain extend. At the same time I found myself totally drenched. I didn't find myself happy. An utter disappointment started to hover my mind. Where I would hang the wet clothes now!! I wondered - Am I not in love with rain any more? The other day my daughter wanted to experience the rain and drench herself. The worried mother inside me burst out and restricted her instantly. I dared what if she would catch cold and fall sick and would miss the school (missing a day means every day a shout out for low attendance). At the same time the city pollution has given my daughter a gift of suffering from a nagging cold and cough what makes the Mamma's heart always overprotective. That day I found my eyes welled up. I was failed to bring back my childhood to her. The free spirit to grow up embracing the nature. I found I was not in love with rain any more. Or maybe I am, my love for rain now floats through the stories of my childhood to my daughters that my parents tell them. Because the city life has caged my heart, petrified the soul and buried them under the mechanical city life that I am leading now.

Now let us move on to the recipe that today I am going to share. Its very tasty and healthy. You can have it with rice but it matches perfectly with roti. So here is the recipe:

Ingredients

Mixed Dal - 1 cup 

(Black lentil, Chana Daal/ Bengal Gram split, Arhar Daal/ Split Pigeon Pea, See Notes)

Minced Chicken - 200grm

Onion - 1 large

 Tomato - 1 large

Garlic - 6-7 cloves (Whole)

Ginger Paste - 1 tspn + 1/2 tspn

Turmeric Powder - 1/ 4 tspn + 1/2 tspn

Cumin Powder - 1 tspn

Coriander Powder - 1 tspn

Red Chili Powder - 1/2 tspn

Cumin seed - 1/2 tspn

Whole red chili - 1 -2

Bay leaves - 1- 2

White Oil - 2 tbspn (or less)

Garam Masala Powder - 1/4 tspn

Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup (Chopped)

Cream - 2 tspn (optional)

Salt and Sugar as per taste

Method

1. Put the Pulses/ Daal in a pressure cooker. Add 2 cups water, 1/4 tspn turmeric powder, 1/2 tspn ginger paste, 1/4 tspn red chili powder and salt to taste. Cook till 4 - 5 whistles blow. Reserve.

2. Finely chop the onion and tomato separately. Reserve.

3. Take a small bowl. Add all the powdered spices except the garam masala powder. Add sufficient water to make a semi - thick paste.

4. Now take a deep dense pan or a Kadai. Heat the oil. 

5. Add the cumin seeds, bay leaves and whole red chili. Add the whole garlic cloves when the cumin seeds start to splutter.

6. Wait till the garlic turns light brown. Then add the chopped onion. Cook till the onion turns brown and looks perfectly caramelised.

7. Add the tomato and cook till the it starts to loose oil. Then add the minced chicken and the masala paste.

8. Mix all together nicely by giving good stir. Cook on high flame for 3 - 4 minutes. Now add the Cooked Daal to it and cook till the juice evaporates and gives a dry texture to the dish. Check if Salt or sugar is needed to be added.

9. Add the Garam Masala Powder and the Coriander Leaves. Fold nicely and cook for a minute. Add the cream (Otional) and then serve hot with roti or rice.

Notes:

1. You can more varieties of pulses in it to make it more healthy.
2. It tastes great with with-bone chicken too. But then the recipe is a bit different, which I share soon.

Chicken Spaghetti with Lemon Butter Sauce

"With enough butter anything is good...."

-Julia Child

A short story I have written a while back.... 

Tactile Sensation

Her old aching limbs needed earnestly a fresh air walk. She locked the door and went out to relax in the fresh breeze for a while. She had a small shaded trail guarded by big green trees in her apartment complex, which she felt the only treasure remained in this concrete world. The air was no fresher to inhale, but still the trees worked as the catalysts to strain out the pollution and spread the freshness in the area. Burden of thoughts leaned down her head and her eyes aimlessly followed the path and suddenly got stuck on a feather. A feather with a colour of yellow and black and the length might be a palm long. She knew this bird, but didn’t know its name. She often saw it from her kitchen window, humming in the trees, flying from one branch to the other. Her heart suddenly felt with joy and the 9 year old child jumped out of her and picked up the feather in no time. Her life within a fraction of moment dated 50 years back when she was a desperate feather collector and was awarded the first prize in her school project for her feather collection. She rested her body on a lonely bench on the side of the trail and felt her pounding heart, which was though little bit exhausted with the brisk walk, much more excited about getting a suddenly found treasure. Her wrinkled and trembling fingers touched the soft surface of the feather. The delicate and smoothness of the feather just injected a weird kind of sensation in her whole body and it went straight and hit her heart. She felt a different kind of happiness and relaxation. A different kind of excitement started to run through her blood. She was holding the feather with the utmost care she could give it to. She didn’t want to distort the shape of the feather or any of its barbs. Her aged limbs were trying to gather all the power to give it the full comfort. The touch sensation of the feather infused new life in her senescent body. Again, it took her to the moment when she first held her daughter in her arms. The little bundle of joy made her whole life blessed. Though she was young enough at that time, her hands were trembling too then. Her heart was beating fast with a fear that might be her touch would hurt her little soft baby. Today she was feeling the same first time motherhood experience after so many years just after touching the feather. Her heart swelled with happiness and the joy flooded down her cheeks just alike what she felt that moment when she first had her baby in her arms. The two ages suddenly commixed with a new age and all her burdened soul, her burdened age energised with a new light of power to live life. She touched the feather in her cheek and closed her eyes, she felt like touching her newborn baby. She sensed the same joy and ecstasy. Her charged body headed towards home. Now her hands or limbs were not trembling nor were her limbs aching any more. She went straight to her room and grabbed for a secure place to keep the feather. The mere feather was not a mere feather to her anymore. It’s the source of power to live and sense the precious moments once again. Her excitement could not wait for a moment to share about her treasure and the tactile sensation with her husband, who would be back any moment from his job and her grown up married daughter who calls every day at night.

Now let us move to the recipe:

Ingredients

{Yields 3- 4 adults}

Spaghetti - a bunch that a fist can hold

Boneless Chicken - 200 grm

Garlic - 1 tbspn (chopped)

Butter - 3 tbspn heaped ( or less - See notes)

Lemon Juice - 2 tbspn

Salt, Sugar and black pepper as per taste

Spring onion (finely chopped) - 1/4 cup

Method

1.  Boil the Spaghetti with salt till it's tender. Strain the excess water and reserve. 

2. Heat the butter in non-stick pan. Add garlic and cook till it is light brown. Add lemon juice ad give a quick stir.

3. Add the boneless chicken cut in cubes and saute for a while. Add salt, sugar and pepper as per your taste. Cook for 5 to 6 minutes.

4. Add the spaghetti. Fold nicely with with chicken. Cook for a couple of minutes more and then add the chopped spring onion and serve.

Notes:

I made this dish when I was expecting my second daughter. I was craving for only butter and lemon. I could eat chicken only if it was cooked with lots of butter, drizzle with lemon juice or cream. So when you will make this dish adjust the butter portion with olive oil (If you want to avoid too much butter). But to be honest the taste of the dish actually lies in the amount of butter gets used as Julia Child has said - "With enough butter, anything is good..."

PS. It is a simple adaptation of Lemon Butter sauce inspired from many recipes based on it.

Bon Appétit

This recipe is off to the KFB Online event where the featured blogger of the week is Chitrangada who blogs at colorandspices is conducting the event.

Kung Pao Chicken

Chili Chicken, Chicken Manchurian, Hakka Noodles, Sweet corn Soup, Hot and Sour soup, and Chicken lolly-pops or Drums of heaven, these were the ultimate dishes which used to comprise the whole Chinese Cuisine for us. My sister and I both die for the Chinese delicacies, make sure as told earlier, for us (To be true, as per our knowledge), mainly Chili Chicken and Hakka Noodles meant all for Chinese cuisine. Whenever we used to visit any Chinese restaurant with our parents, we would order only the items among those. Once for a change we ordered for a new dish called Chicken China Town. We were pretty excited and anxiously waiting to taste a new dish. What we were served, was a dish tasted same like Chicken Manchurian. Only it was covered with an egg poach. Huh, so whether there were 30 odd items listed on the menu of a Chinese restaurant in India, say about 20 years back, the dishes tasted more or less the same. The present scenario has now totally changed. People gained a good knowledge on different cuisine about the varieties and authenticity of the tastes. But at the time of our childhood authentic taste of a cuisine only limited with the high end Restaurants which were not always affordable for us. Spending 250/-INR for a dish was mere a luxury nothing else. So we used to choose our comfort zone where each dish costs 100 to 150/- or less. To be honest once or twice we have visited such places but those Chinese dishes didn't tickle our taste buds for the mildness in the tastes, as we were used to with the dash of Ajinamoto, spicy and full of soy sauce gravy dishes.

It had only opened the whole arena of the versatility of Chinese Cuisine then, when I visited USA. Though not the authentic one, I at least came out from a world where Chilli Chicken and Hakka Noodles were not available. Rather I was introduced with Honey crispy Chicken, Mince Chicken with eggplant, Kung Pao Chicken or Gong Bao Chicken, Hunan Chicken, Wantons, Dumplings, Peking Roasted ducks etc. The variety in taste and flavour in-fixed my mind to What actually Chinese Cuisine is. I was introduced with the varieties of Sauces and spice in the Chinese local stores. The taste of Soy Sauce was so different from the one available in India.  I had never heard about the Sauces like Hoisin sauce or Oyster Sauce. I had never seen so many different varieties of Chili Sauce. The different kind of vinegar and et al. Thankfully now at this age we almost get most the global continental food items in the market. So one can easily delve in luxury to make different types of international dishes at home. Only you have to find out the proper recipe and give a try. Now Kung Pao Chicken is one of the dishes that we love from the traditional Chinese Cuisine. The recipe I have shared is not entirely the authentic one, but a near to it. So enjoy Kung Pao Chicken... 

This Magazine look I created inspired by my very talented friend Chandrima. Check out her blog Not out of the box for delicious recipes and eye catching food photography.

{Recipe partially adapted from HERE}

Ingredients

Marinade

Soy Sauce: 1tbspn

Chinese rice wine or dry sherry – 2 tspn (I used rice vinegar)

Cornflour – ½ tbspn

Boneless Chicken – 250 grams (Cut in to cubes)

Sauce

 Chinese black vinegar or substitute good-quality balsamic vinegar – 1 tspn (I used Balsamic vinegar)

Soy Sauce – 2 tspn

Hoisin sauce – 1 tbspn

Sesame oil – 1 tspn (I didn’t use)

Sugar – 1 tspn

Corn flour – 1 tspn

Ground Sichuan pepper – ½ tspn (See notes - #1)

For the final part:

White oil – 2tbspn + 2 tbspn

Dried red chilies – As per your taste

Spring onion – Finely sliced ¼ cup

Coloured bell pepper  diced -  1 & 1/2 cup

Garlic – finely chopped – 1 tbspn

Fresh ginger – grated 1 tspn

 Dry - roasted Peanuts – ¼ cup

Method:

1. Marinate the chicken with all the ingredients written under Marinade. Fold it nicely so that the cornflour gets mixed evenly.

2. Prepare the sauce, combine all the ingredients written under Sauce. Rest for a while so that the sugar gets dissolve.

3. Heat 2 tbspn oil a wok or a Kadai. Pour the chicken and fry for 4 - 5 minutes on high flame. Take them out and reserve in a bowl.

4.  Add the remaining 2 tbspn oil with the excess oil. Add garlic and let it turn light brown. Add the bell peppers and the chicken. Give a good stir on high flame for  2- 3 minutes. Then add the sauce and the dry red chilies (See notes - #2). Cook for 2 to 3 minutes more then add the peanuts. Cook for couple of minutes more. Then take it off the stove sprinkling the spring onions. Serve hot with rice / fried rice / noodles.

Note:

1. I didn't have ground Sichuan pepper. So what I did, I cut the dry red chilies in strips and added it.

2. Basically the recipe asks for tempering with the Dry Red chilies. I avoided it because of my kid. If your hot tolerance appreciates a good amount of chilies then go for it. Make sure to put your exhaust fan on high and keep your kids away from the kitchen while tempering the chilies.

3. #Tips : Don't cook the chicken for longer time otherwise it will kill the softness of the chicken and will make it hard and rubbery.

Mushroom Baby-corn Muffin

You must have read in my earlier post that preparing lunchbox for my 8 year old girl has become a nightmare for me. The reason, what ever or how much tasty dishes I share in her lunch box it will be surely coming back home only half eaten. I started spending sleepless nights - 6 hrs +2 hours stay away from home with such a little food consumption, must be badly affecting the lil one's health. So  in the evenings I started making myself occupied by giving trials with different snack idea. If the lil one approves then 'BINGO'.. Next day that will go in her tiffin box. The other day I made these little savoury muffins that did tickle my princess's taste bud and to my surprise the next day I found her tiffin box empty. Not only she but her friends loved it so much and now I have to send few extra so that my princess and her friends can have a snack party everyday. So here is recipe of Mushroom Baby-corn Muffin:

Ingredients

{Yeilds - 3-4 muffin (medium size)}

Egg - 2

Flour - 1 tbspn

Mushroom & Baby Corn - 1/2 cup chopped

Onion- 1/2 of one small chopped

Cream Cheese - 1 tbspn (Optional - See Notes)

Pizza Cheese - 1 tbspn (See Notes)

Nutmeg powder- a pinch (See Notes)

Tobasco/ Chili Sauce - 3 to 4 drops or as per taste.

Salt, Sugar & Black Pepper Powder - As per taste

Butter - 1 tspn

Method

1. Whisk two eggs and flour, add a pinch of salt and keep aside.

2. Heat a pan . Add butter, let it melt down then add garlic. Saute for a minute.

3. Add chopped onion. Fry them for a couple of minutes.

4. Add the Mushroom and Baby corn. Fry for 2 minutes more. 

5. Add salt, pepper, sugar and cream cheese.

6. Cook then in a low flame until the cream cheese gets melted and well mixed.

7. Sprinkle the nutmeg powder, mix well.

8. Cool the mixture for a while then add it with the egg mixture. Add the Pizza cheese and Tobasco/ chili sauce too.

9. Now take 3- 4 muffin cups. Pour the mixture evenly in each cup.

10. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes at 180 degree C.

11. Serve warm with some dips/ sauce.

Notes:

1. One can mix other vegetables too.

2.  One can add chicken/ bacon or sausages to make it more tasty.

3. To make Nutmeg Powder just take the nutmeg and grate it in a fine grater.

4. I had Britannia Cream cheese at home so used it here. But if it one doesn't have any just increase the cheese portion.

5. Instead of Pizza cheese,  Amul cheese cube can also be used.

Hilsa Festival Preview at Buzz, The Gateway, Kolkata

Festival - Hilsa Festival

Venue - Buzz, The Gateway Kolkata

Date - 10th July'15 to 26th July'15

Serving type: À la carte

Timing - 

Lunch : 1230 hrs to 1500 hrs

Dinner : 1930 hrs to 2300 hrs

Pocket Pinch - Meals for two, approx.INR 1500, inclusive of taxes (The price is based on main course items)

My recommendation: Ilish Pulao, Ilish Pithe, Doi 
Ilish & Smoked Hilsa

With the welcoming note of the Monsoon season, our home atmosphere got quite festive when the Man came after the morning shopping chore from the local market and announced with an elated smile:  "Ilish eshe gachhe" (Hilsa has come). The family members like a greedy child with salivated mouth sat down to decide the recipe that would do justice to the Hilsa/ Ilish fish for that day. My FIL with a gleeful joy started reciting a poem. Its a very old bengali poem what my FIL said. He had forgotten the title and the writer's name. But the gist of the poem what I understood is:
An old lady was all set to start her religious tour. Just at the moment she was leaving one of her relatives gave a surprise visit carrying "Jora Ilish" ( Previously people used to buy pair of Ilish). That lady without wasting any time cancelled her tour and sat down to cook Hilsa/ Ilish and enjoyed every bite of it.
 Thus Bengalies are that much carzy when it comes to Hilsa/Ilish. Though it is the national fish of Bangladesh, West Bengal would die for it. This is the one fish which can be cooked in various way. 

Team KFB reached Buzz on an invitation from Taj Gateway to sample the menu of the Hilsa Festival

Special thali for the tasting session.

that has started from today and will continue till 26th July'15. Buzz, the hotel restaurants of The Gateway Hotel has become famous for presenting the "Purbo Bangla/Opar Bangla" or the East Bengal delicacies along with the continental dainties. They never fail to celebrate the core Bengali festivals through their delicious delicacies. And to make sure they bring out the traditional regional dishes mostly from East Bengal and partially of the west Bengal. As the Monsoon knocks the door and the local fish market is flooding with Hilsa, Buzz without wasting any time organised the Hilsa Festival for the Hilsa Lovers with some traditional Bengali dishes from the both sides of Bengal. Thanks to Chef Ashish Roy, who took out his precious time and explained us each and every dish, like how they cooked, why they kept the dish in the menu etc. Now let us take a tour through the dishes that were designed specially for the Hilsa Festival.

What you will get in the Menu:

Starter
{Per dish INR 550 }

Shukno Lanka Peyaj Diye Ilish Bhaja
Block of Ilish fried in churned mustard oil with dried chilies and slices of baby onion

Ilish Pithe

Boneless Ilish stuffed in savoury dough and deep fried. This was the take of the day and highly recommended. Dhaka, Bangladesh specialises and is famous for the sweet and savoury Pithe. Among the the savoury one Ilish Pithe is one of the signature delicacies of Dhaka. 

{Picture Courtesy: Vishal Tupper}

Main Course
{Per dish INR 650 comes along with steamed rice, except Smoked Hilsa}

Narkol Diye Ilisher Paturi (Boneless)

Boneless Hilsa marinated with coconut and the steamed inside banana leaf. Paturi needs no introduction. Check any festive occasion  Paturi is a must added dish to the menu. And if it comes to the Hilsa season the menu goes incomplete without Hilsa/Ilish Paturi.

Ilish Mishti Kumror Jhol
Chef's special peparation cooked in iron griddle with the red pumkin and ground spices.

Ilish Pulao
Hilsa cooked in dum along with the finest hand-picked rice. Slowly cooked in the Hilsa fish stock the dish tasted heavenly. I have tasted Ilish Pulao in many famous food joints, but every where I found a kind of fishy smell dominating the dish. So I kept this dish out of my menu after that. But here to my surprise after tasting it, I didn't get that small rather I had fallen in love with it. So do try it.

Doi Ilish
Classical preparation with hung curd and churned mustard oil. This is another dish which I will highly recommend to try. Goes perfect with the white rice and also with Hilsa/ Ilish Pulao.
{Picture Courtesy: Vishal Tupper}

Smoked Hilsa

A western twist - fillet of boneless hilsa smoked with jasmine rice, honey and a dash of pommery - served with garlic bread. We all had fallen in love at one bite. Soft, creamy melted in mouth hilsa fillet that gives an out most sumptuous experience when you taste it. This dish is specially cooked keeping in mind for the international customers who will get the taste of the queen fish of Bengal with a continental touch up.

Apart from these Shorshebata Ilish (A classical recipe - Hilsa cooked in Mustard based gravy) and Kalojeera Begun diye Tel Jhal (A home style cooked dish with aubergine and tempered with kalonji/ nigella seeds). Hope those readers will enjoy the Hilsa Festival at  Buzz, The Gateway, Kolkata.

Happy Eating....

Cherry Banana Bread

Feeling like it has been a decade. Yes I am blogging after almost 7 months. The main reason was my health and the new addition to the family. I was blessed with my second daughter 2 months back and surprisingly both my girls were born on the same date. I didn't have any complications except an uncomfortable back pain which totally restricted me to sit with my laptop. Otherwise I was pretty flexible with long walks and doing all the daily chores. In fact this time I was hardly get any time to think of myself since I had to keep myself fully busy with the elder one. But my only concern was to keep my diet healthy. Only the last month restricted my movement. I had a risk of water breakage which led me to confine myself at home for almost 3 weeks. And then the baby arrived and made our life happy. Lil K wished for a sister and she was gifted a sister on her Birthday. So she was more than happy as we were. She is a doting "DIDI" to her baby sis - very protective and concerned about her each and every movement. And thus we spent 2 months and my darlings were growing together making our each and every day from brighter to brightest.

From this year Lil K's school hours got extended from 4 to 6 hours. This made me tensed, worried and forced me to spend some sleepless nights. The main concern was what to give in her lunch box. Lil K is a picky eater when it comes to her tiffin. She hardly eats anything and I get the lunch box returned almost full. So every day I have to go for a brainstorming session to add something new to her lunch box which can satiate my princess's taste bud. I was always very sceptical using bananas in my bakes. I have never tasted any so was totally unsure about the fact what would be the outcome. But again the passionate baker inside me forced me try this recipe. I have bookmarked it long back. This time I thought of executing it crossing my fingers if by any chance my luck favours. And to my surprise not only I but Lil K and all the family members appreciated a lot. It happily adorned the lunchbox and the box came home empty.  So here is the recipe Cherry Banana Bread..
{Note: I was pretty surprised why a recipe that could be easily justified as a cake, named after a bread. Then a few read made me understand that since were baking it in a bread loaf pan, it was therefore considered as a bread, nothing else. }

{Recipe adapted from HERE}

Ingredients

Ripe bananas – 2 -3 medium size (approx 1 cup mashed)

Butter – 4 tbs (room temperature)

Hung Curd – ¼ cup

Brown sugar – ¾ cup

Egg - 1

Vanilla essence- 1 tsp

Flour - 1 cup

Baking soda – 1tsp

Baking powder – ½ tsp

Salt – ½ tsp

Cherry – 10-12

Flour – 2 tbs

Chocolate chips – ½ cup

Chopped Cashew nuts – ¼ cup

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade for 7-8 minutes.
2.  Peel and mash the bananas.
3. In a mixing bowl pour the sugar. Add the bananas and mix well unless the sugar blends nicely. Add the egg and mix. 
4. Then slowly pour the hung curd and add the vanilla essence. Mix until well combined.
5. In a separate container combine nicely the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Do not over mix.
6. Slowly add the flour mixture to the banana mixture and mix well but do not over mix.
7. Add the chocolate chips and the cashews nuts.
8. Seed and slice the cherries and fold them in 2 tbs flour and add them gently to the mixture. Again do not over mix.  .
9. Grease and flour a 9'x 5' loaf pan and then pour the mixture in it.
10. bake it for for 50 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool it completely and then serve. It tastes better when it is served chill.                                                              

Note:

1. After it gets cool one can keep the bread outside for a day, depending on the temperature. Otherwise suggested to refrigerate and consumed within 3-4 days.

2. It tastes better when it is served chill.