Peanut butter cups

The COVID-19 situation has pushed us out of our comfort zone. Working from home has become the new normal, correction - working from home and schooling kids from home has become the new normal. And that brings about plenty of challenges. Juggling meetings while helping kids with their online classes and their homework, fixing up their meals, answering the door and for a while managing without domestic help, it is these challenges that push us to innovate. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention. 

When the lockdown was imposed, we all stocked up on essentials. I typically have supplies to last a couple of weeks, but a month's lockdown and anticipated further extensions, led me to stock up on atleast two-three months worth of provisions. And I was very apprehensive of not having the children's favourites on hand. Making my little one eat is a challenge. So I really needed to stock up on some of their favourite eats, to I could cater to their whims and fancies. 

Well for starters, I started making bread at home once a week, and kept jam, butter, nutella and other spreads handy. I had pasta sauce and a couple of pasta varieties ready in stock. Not to mention instant noodles were also in stock. 

As folks know with the stock piling and demand for packaged food increasing I was unable to get peanut butter of my choice - American Garden Creamy Peanut butter 

I went in for a different brand, considering natural unsweetened peanut butter would be a good alternative, but my elder one who is usually very adventurous with food, did not like it one bit. 

So I had to find another way to consume it. I found this recipe while looking for something to do with the that box. 

Why not make myself a nice treat with that peanut butter? It will certainly save me some time breakfast. 

Recipe (Makes about 16)

Ingredients:  

Natural creamy peanut butter (unsweetened) - 1 cup (400g) (I used Alpino peanut butter)

Organic Coconut butter - 175 g (I used Dhatu organic coconut butter)

Cocoa powder - 5 tbsp 

Method:

Line muffin cups with aluminium foil liner or paper cupcake liners. Or you can use silicone moulds, and there is no need to line the moulds.

Melt the coconut butter in a microwave safe bowl in 20 second intervals until completely melted. I melted it in the bottle in the microwave. 

Transfer the melted coconut butter to a large bowl. Stir in the peanut butter and cocoa powder. 

Using a tablespoon measure, scoop two tablespoon onto the prepared muffin cups. 

Tap the muffin cups just a bit to settle the mix, smooth on top. Pop them in the fridge for a couple of hours to set. 

Enjoy them when set. 

Store them in airtight containers in the fridge. 

One butter cup is about 215 calories. Just unmould it from the refrigerator and enjoy a quick healthy breakfast. 

Verdict: I loved the creamy richness of these butter cups. It was bitter as I had not added a sweetener, but you can add maple syrup for regular butter cups or a sugar-free sweetener as indicated in the original recipe if you want it as a keto snack. On the other hand you can use sweetened peanut butter. I have not tried the sweet version of this yet. Do let me know how it works. 

Prawn Fry

I remember the first time I had prawns when I was a little girl at my grandmother's house. Growing up inlands, I was not exposed to sea-food at all, except when I visited my grandmother at Chennai. It was a Sunday special for them to head to the wet market and purchase fish/prawns. I had no idea what prawns looked like or tasted like. It was a couple of hours before they got back and another couple of hours before they could clean it well to start cooking. Those were small prawns so it took a lot effort to clean and when cooked they rolled up to the size of buttons. I found that fascinating and not to mention yummy.

 

At that time, I did not realize that it would be more than a couple of decades before I started cooking prawns myself. And from the first experience, I was not looking forward to the cumbersome cleaning that was involved.  

One evening my husband had ordered jumbo prawns (cleaned and deveined) from an online store and instead they sent small ones without deveining. He patiently started cleaning them and got tired mid-way and left the deveined prawns right on the kitchen top and uncleaned ones in the sink and scooted off. I stepped in to cook dinner and could not get to the sink without finishing up what he started and cleaning the sink and kitchen top as well. It took me a couple of hours to get through the whole chore and obviously dinner was delayed way beyond. I was furious with the online store and with my husband. 😡

But all that effort is worth it when the prawns are cooked 😉. I personally prefer prawns soup or prawn curry based on coconut milk, but somehow my daughters prefer the fry. As expected their preference wins 😁. But hey! When the kids polish off their bowls and look satiated that is a reward in itself right? So no complaints on that front. 

Anyways to the recipe. This recipe is something I remember having seen on facebook. Based on what I remembered from that video, I tried it out and it turned out well, I just kept at it since then only varying the spices level. 

Recipe (serves 4)

For garnishing:

Curry leaves - 4-5

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp 

Green chillies (slit) - 2 (optional, I always leave this out)

For the fry:

Onions (finely chopped) - 1 medium

Tomato (finely chopped) -  1 small 

Salt - to taste

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp 

Cumin powder - 1/4 tsp

Ginger - 1 inch piece (mashed well)

Garlic - 4-5 cloves (mashed well)

Prawns (medium sized about 25-30 in number) - 500g

Oil - for frying (I prefer olive oil or coconut oil)

Method: 

Heat some oil in a frying pan, add the curry leaves, cumin seeds and green chillies. When the cumin turns colour, add the onions and turmeric powder. Fry until the onions turn transparent and then start shrinking. Add the tomatoes and mashed ginger and garlic. If you prefer to use the garlic-ginger paste, you can use about 1 tsp of the paste. 

Fry until the tomatoes turn into a nice pulpy consistency. Add a little more oil if needed. Finally add the chilli and cumin powder until the whole mix comes together and the oil starts to separate. 

At this stage add the cleaned deveined prawns and toss the fried paste around the prawns. Fry for a while (2-3 mins) and watch in fascination as they shrink and start shrivelling. 

Close the lid of the frying pan and let it sit for a few minutes. The prawns release water. There is no need to add any more water. I usually leave the lid closed for about 3-4 mins. Do not overcook the prawns. Open the lid and let the water evaporate. 

Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rice or roti. 

Tip: Whenever I fry something, I feel a lot of the spices and gravy get stuck to the pan and go straight down the sink when washed. My mom used a trick to make use of the remnants of gravy in the pan and I adopted the same more for the taste. Take a couple of spoons of white rice and toss it into the kadai and scrape off the oil and spices and gravy stuck to the frying pan. Now your pan is clean and you have about 1/2 cup of flavoured and yummy rice. My daughter loves this. 

Verdict: I have standardized the above recipe as I have cooked it several times. It turns out mildly spiced and I prefer it with olive oil as opposed to coconut oil. You can use the oil of preference, and adjust the spices as per your taste. 

Banana Bundt cake

Banana and chocolate make delectable baked goods. I always keep a couple of over-ripe bananas in the freezer for that quick sweet craving, either pancakes for breakfast or a delicious cake for an evening treat. 

I made this on my dad's birthday and the kids were super excited about having him cut the cake in the evening. 

The recipe is from Divya's blog

Recipe (serves 6) 

Ingredients:

Flour (maida) - 3/4 cup

Baking powder - 1 1/2 tsp

Baking soda - 1/4 tsp

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Banana - 1 large very ripe

Sugar - 3/4 cup

Egg - 1 (at room temperature)

Butter - 1/4 cup

Buttermilk - 50ml (see note)

Vanilla extract - 1 tsp

Note: Buttermilk can be made by taking 50 ml of milk, removing 1tsp from it and replacing it with 1tsp of vinegar. Let it sit for 10 mins.

Optionally, you can use 25ml of curd beaten and added to 25 ml of milk and let it sit for about half an hour. 

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

Grease a bundt pan (6 cup). It is a good idea to grease well with butter and then sprinkle some flour on the butter. That way the cake releases easily from the bundt pan.

Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a bowl. 

Make sure the banana is really ripe and mash it using a blender. 

Add the sugar and egg to the mashed banana and beat well. Then add the butter and beat for another minute until the mixture is thick and creamy. 

Add the buttermilk and vanilla extract and beat until just blended. 

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredient bowl and fold in until just blended. Make sure not to over mix as it will result in a tough cake. 

Scoop into the bundt pan and smooth out the top evenly. 

Bake for about 40mins or until the top turns golden brown and the cake passes the skewer test.

Remove and let it cool completely before you try to turn the pan and release the cake. 

Verdict: Quick and easy recipe for a delicious evening snack. I would have preferred it a little less sweet. I will be trying it out with 1/2 cup of sugar instead of 3/4 cup next time. 

Some pictures from the celebrations my daughters had set up for my father. Love of the children is just immeasurable. Happy Birthday Appa!