Fruit chutney- sweet & spicy

I was looking for something fun to cook (meaning- little effort and great taste) when I stumbled upon this one in my archive. This one is for the keeps, trust me. The lovely blend of berry's tartness, date's sweetness and chili's spiciness with the hint of ginger makes you go yumm…..

Since I did not have all the ingredients of the original recipe,so I modified it a little, but essentials are the same.

Ingredients:
1. 1 large Tomato, Chopped
2. 2 Cups of Chopped Strawberry (Fresh or Frozen)
3. 1 katori(200 ml) Pitted Dates- chopped
4. 1 Red Apple chopped into small pieces
5. 1 teaspoon of Mustard Seeds
6. 1 Red Dry Chilli
7. 1″  Cinnamon Sticks
8. 1 Hot Green Chilli Pepper, chopped
9. 1″ Ginger Peeled & grated
10. 1 Cup Sugar
11. 1 Tablespoon Vinegar
12. 1 Cup Orange Juice

Preparation:

1. Heat a pot.
2. Add the mustard seeds, Red Dry Chilli & the Cinnamon sticks.
3. When the mustard seeds start to pop, add all the other ingredients and simmer at low heat, till the Fruits are soft & mushy & the consistency gets thick enough to coat a spoon. I just kept it on fire and got busy in preparing dinner with occasional checking in between. It took about 40 minutes to be done.
4. Pour the Chutney mixture into sterilized jar whilst still hot. Cover with an airtight, plastic lid. A metal lid will be corroded due to action of spices and vinegar, so it is not advisable to use it.
5. Keep it in the refrigerator after the jar cools down to room temperature

Serving suggestions

You can make a sandwich, or serve it with rolls, croissant, buns etc.
I enjoyed it with the Indian chapatti too! as an accompaniment , since I'm not much of a pickle eater.

Banana & Honey Ice cream

Anybody who knows me well, knows that I'm an ice-cream fan. The only problem being that, I need to count calories and I try to avoid food with added colors. That’s one of the reasons why I'm on the lookout for healthy recipes for my sweet cravings.
This is one of the experients which took a tasty turn. Ideal for a yummy treat!

Ingredients
1. 2-3 ripe bananas-mashed
2. Evaporated milk- 157 gm (for 1 tin)
3. Honey -1-2 tbsp
4. Vanilla extract-1/2 tsp

Method
1) Take the bananas and mix them with evaporated milk.
2) Add vanilla extract.
3) Add the honey to this mix. You can taste the mixture before freezing and adjust for sweetness by adding more honey.
4) Pour into a metal or a air-tight container and keep for freezing.

Serving suggestions
You can top it with fresh fruits. I used strawberries and pineapple which gave a very fresh feel to it.

Banana Pancakes with Saffron cream

With the rainy season on full bloom, I often feel like whipping up something warm and cozy to eat. These pancakes come along as a perfect Sunday brunch recipe for such a weather.

(Makes 6 medium sized pancakes)
Modified from this recipe by Soma of ecurry
Ingredients
1. 1 & 1/4 cup of all purpose flour/maida/ white flour
2. 1.5 tsp baking powder
3. 5 tsp sugar
4. Pinch of salt
5. 1 egg
6. 1.5 cups of milk
7. 30gm melted butter
8. 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
9. 3 large bananas mashed or cut into very small pieces
10. Butter to cook pancakes

Equipments
Thick bottomed Skillet
A whisk
Deep bowl

Method
1. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Alternately you can mix it thoroughly with a fork or even a spoon. The idea is to mix it so that, all ingredients are evenly distributed in the mixture.
2. In a separate deep bowl, whisk the egg, melted butter, milk and vanilla extract.
3. Now add the dry ingredients, stirring till smooth. You can also add 1/4 of the flour mixture alternating with stirring till all the flour mix is incorporated in the batter.
4. Add mashed bananas and blend with hand blender or plainly mixing it well.
5. Heat the skillet and put butter on it. Pour the batter with the help of a large spoon/ladle.
6. Keep it on medium flame, cover it for few minutes. Uncover and flip to cook the other side.
7. Serve with a delightful saffron cream.

Saffron cream (modified from ecurry)
This cream served as a perfect accompaniment for the pancakes.


Ingredients
1. Chilled cream( I used Nestlé)- 4 tsp
2. Pinch of saffron
3. 1 spoon warm milk for saffron infusion
4. 1 spoon of milk
5. Sugar to taste

Method
1. In the warm milk, put the pinch of saffron. Keep aside for 30 min.
2. Combine the sugar infused milk with cream.
3. Add sugar and 1 spoon milk. Mix well
4. Keep it in the fridge till all your pancakes are ready. Better if you can keep it overnight (tasted good to me both ways).

Happy weekend!