What is a Ladoo?

So many of you might not know what a Ladoo is. It is an Indian confection typically made from flour, sugar and ghee (clarified butter) that is shaped into a ball. 

A dear friend of mine Muskaan got me hooked onto a delicious Date, Nut and Seed Roll as it might be popularly known in the western world. To me, it reminded me of home and Ladoos. 

It is one of the easiest and wholesome snacks that you can whip up in a few minutes. It has become a staple tea-time snack (for me coffee time, I don't drink tea unless it is Green Tea). Yes, yes I am from North India and I don't drink tea. This is a whole new discussion and needs its own air time :) So back to the exquisite ladoo. The wholesome ingredients in it provide such a richness and satisfying quality to it that makes for a perfect snack when you crave sweets. Who knows the 4:00pm sugar craving snack-time I am talking about? I know its not just me.

Date Nut and Seed Rolls

RECIPE: Date, Nut and Seed Roll
Ingredients
20-25 Dates
2 tsp milled Flaxseed
2 tsp Chia seeds
2 tsp Hemp seeds
1 cup shredded coconut, plus 3 Tbsp for garnish
1 1/2 cup Cashews, unsalted
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cardamom powder

Method

1. Using a food processor, blend it all together and shape them into balls. Roll each of them into the saved coconut powder and keep them in an airtight container.

I store them at room temperature and they get consumed really fast. I make them once a week at least. And here you have a healthy, delicious, all natural snack in under 30 minutes, as simple as that. This has eliminated the use of Granola bars in our house. No matter how healthy they may sound they still have fillers and preservatives that I want to eliminate as much as possible. I had most of the ingredients when I first heard about it and made them soon after. Hope you buy the ingredients on your next grocery trip, if you don't have them handy. Let me know how they turn out for you.

Marbled Choco-Coffee-Banana Loaf

The name is quite a mouthful. I love marbled Chocolate cake as well as Banana bread so here I have decided to marry the two with a dash of instant coffee granules (as an afterthought) to the mix and it turned out amazing.

RECIPE: Marbled Choco-Coffee-Banana Loaf

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)

2 Eggs

1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 Tbsp Instant Coffee Granules

Cooking spray

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350° and grease your loaf pan with some oil.
2. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.
3. Place sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute). Add banana, eggs, and yogurt; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist.
4. Place chocolate chips in a medium microwave-safe bowl, and microwave at HIGH 1 minute or until almost melted, stirring until smooth. Cool slightly.
5. Add 1 cup batter to chocolate, stirring until well combined. Spoon chocolate batter alternately with plain batter into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Swirl batters together using a knife. 
6. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. 
7. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Step-by-step-process,

Preheat oven to 350° and grease your loaf pan with some oil or butter.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.

Place sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute). Add banana, 2 eggs, and yogurt; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist.

Banana, eggs, yogurt

Place chocolate chips in a medium microwave-safe bowl, and microwave at HIGH 1 minute or until almost melted, stirring until smooth. Cool slightly.

Add 1 cup batter to chocolate, stirring until well combined. Add a Tbsp of the instant coffee granules (this was a last minute addition).

Spoon chocolate batter alternately with plain batter into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Swirl batters together using a knife. 

Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

A Long Sabbatical

Big question I asked myself this Summer was whether to write or not to write. Not writing is not an option I'd be happy with so here I am back from my long-ish sabbatical.

Its been roughly 2 years since my last blog post. For that, I apologize to my subscribers and readers. A few reasons for this long pause has been kids, routines, a long trip to India and the list goes on and on. Life happened and that is enough of my excuses.

The biggest reason for the lull in my writing has been my own fault. It was simply some unrealistic expectations I had set for myself. I was aiming to post a recipe everyday and anyone who cooks knows what it takes to cook an elaborate dish let alone taking pictures and documenting every step while cooking, uploading, editing, writing and publishing. Even if I devoted 24/7 to this task it would still be nearly impossible. So going forward I will be making a few changes.

Post in the comments section if you have any special requests. Its good to be back and looking forward to hearing from you.