Hi everybody, Hope you are all doing well, I know I have disappeared from few days, it's a long gap between my posts, well, I have been so busy as Mom is here :))., Oh! I know its so wonderful to be with her here and enjoying her cooking completely. My kids have declared that their Mom is a super cook but their Paati ( Grandmother/Nan) is the world's best cook.  I will have to write about it more in my authentic recipes, which I am planning to post soon enough.  The reason for this little intro for my absence was because I took Mom few places here and still I need to show her some more, fingers crossed hope I will be able to cover as much as possible and I really don't want to miss this opportunity as she won't be coming back here again :(.
Today, I had to come to post this as you all know today is SRC Reveal Day. I thought of writing to my Hostess I might not be able to do it, but I just couldn't do it and really don't want to miss it, for two reasons going through Heather's blog when ever I had time, as her blog was in my phone permanently which I always do when I am assigned a blog!! and  I really wanted to bake and of course team spirit for SRC.
I feel  guilty and I never want to miss out, as this is such a big team and the stress and strain to manage this large group is not a easy joke. Hats of to the SRC team for that and thank them that I always come back to blogging just to post from SRC even sometimes I don't want to!!.

Suzanne my hostess had assigned me Heather's blog. She blogs at Fit Mama Real Food. A wonderful blogger with versatile things she blogs about. I had bookmarked a few like the Moist Banana bread, Zucchini Bread, Energy Balls, Nutella Balls and this Lemon and poppy seed bread. I have been going through her blog quite a few times when ever I got time to browse.  She is a fitness freak!!, Mom to a cutest kid, a good cook and loves to bake and cook good food no processed food and loves to eat what nature provides which turn into meals to please the little crowd!!, DIY and Organizer too.., and of course she is a food blogger, click on to her website you will know what I am talking about, I enjoyed going through her blog and do you want to know why I settled on to this recipe.., Just because of those words she wrote in this post made me feel that is what I always keep thinking when I get free time..
As Heather says:
Baking is total relaxation time for me.  When I need to get my mind off things, I head to the kitchen. When I’m bored I will bake.  If I want to procrastinate, I will bake.
I love to bake particularly Breads.., that's my favourite.
Coming to this recipe I had no poppy seed in hand and just got carried away with the recipe., I loved the texture of her bread as she has used Eggs (2) if you plan to make this Bread check out the original recipe. You will know what I mean. Looks really Gorgeous.  I had some Tutti fruity at home as I had baked a Bread out of it for them to take to school, the Left over filling I used it in this bread.  The bread isn't too sweet, it has the Lemony taste to it.

EGGLESS WHOLE WHEAT AND OAT MEAL LEMON, POPPY SEED, COCONUT AND FRUIT  BREAD
Adapted from Fit Mama Real Food with minimal changes

INGREDIENTS:
1 Cup ( 145 grms) Whole Wheat Flour
1 Cup (95 grms) Oat Meal Flour
100 grms Dried Fruits ( Dessicated sweet Coconut, Mango, Pineapple, Raisins, Cashews, Almonds )
3/4th Cup Natural Cane Sugar
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 Cup Butter
1 Cup Yogurt
1 tbsp Vanilla Essence
Zest for 1 Lemon
3 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1 tbsp white Poppy seeds ( Indian variety)

METHOD:
Preheat Oven to Gas Mark 1
In 2 tbsp of hot water soak Poppy seeds until you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
Take both the Flours and sieve together and keep aside.
In a Large bowl take the Lemon zest, Yogurt, Lemon Juice and sugar and mix them well together.
Grind poppy seeds with water into a paste ( It won't become too smooth ), add this to the above mixture to this add Baking powder, Baking soda you will start seeing bubbles forming.
Add melted butter to it and mix well.
Add Dried fruits to it.
Add the prepared flour little by little and mix well together don't over mix it.
Pour this on to the prepared Loaf tin and Bake at Gas Mark 3 for about 45 minutes and bake for an other 5 more minutes reducing the temperature to Gas Mark 2.
Totally bake it around 50 minutes I changed temperatures because of my oven.
Insert a toothpick to find out if it comes out clean then it is baked.

Here are my dear friends who have posted recipes for you to devour and enjoy a visual view of their creations from their kitchen through their Lenses...., take your time and enjoy the recipes... before I sign off I need to do a little thing.., My apologies for posting it a bit late Please do forgive me April, Suzanne and my dear Heather... Hope you like it..
Heather this Bread is so delicious.., I just couldn't resist I usually don't eat too much of what I bake just for tasting & texture to find out how it has turned out, but when I was slicing it Mom & me devoured it. Thank you for this recipe it is a keeper.

I am also sending this Recipe to
Nupur's  ''Cooking with Spice - Poppy Seeds'' started by Anu's ''SYF and HWS - Cook with Spices
Sowmya's ''Taste of Tropics - Coconut'' started by Chef Mireille's event
Srivalli's Celebrating 4 years - Kid's Delight potluck Party
Swathi's Favourite Recipes Event - Breakfast Recipes
Archana's Bake Fest # 11 - started by Vardhini

As you all know about The Secret Recipe Club which we bake or cook from each others blog, which we are secretly assigned to. This month I was paired with Sweet and Savoury Tooth of Heather's, was I happy - yes immensely, I loved her blog, she has beautiful recipes and absolutely delicious pick me up from the screen pictures..
As I said I have book marked a few of her recipes, which I would love to try out, she has made lots of cookies, cakes and bars.., The best thing I found was I could easily adapt them to make eggless one. I enjoyed her writing too.., Her baby and her hubby are so supportive and enjoy blogging with her. The cute post of her little girl dresses as a duck for Haloween was the best one :), and she rumbling through her sweet reminded me of my kids when they were small ( not too small as hers they were in their 5th form when I came here first 🙂 ).
Coming back to this recipe.., Like Heather, I had loads of Banana at home, I have been very busy from past two months on the home front, as always blogging is the last thing I would like to do, I am on the move, changing houses is such a scary thing.., Hopefully by mid of December I will settle myself in my new abode :), as I said earlier my bananas needed to be taken care off, I don't freeze them, Heather says she freezes them, which I didn't know, that's something I learnt, I try using them up or my H will eat them or I end up baking something, When I saw this recipe I was really interested as I always I think about my eldest daughter who doesn't like eating anything in the morning, If you ask her she says she feels sick, tired, no time, and gives me hundreds of reasons, I get so tired, irritated listening to all this..., So now and then I make these bars which she likes to munch on going to school with a glass of milk. I loved this recipe because of Bananas. I thought she would have eaten a fruit too, I know you would think silly woman 2 bananas for the entire week, well actually no as we four are gobbling those little beauties.., It's just a simple satisfaction - as goes the saying - something is better than nothing :).
Let me come back to the topic, Yes - The bars I made them Eggless and made it more healthy too.., I get carried away when I am baking don't you ?, Lots of things go in my mind first I want to make it eggless then how can I make it much more healthier so my kids benefit from my fit for baking... so here goes the recipe with my changes to it....

BANANA OAT SQUARES/BARS - HEALTHY AND EGGLESS



Recipe adapted from Sweet and Savoury Tooth 
Please do check out her blog for the original recipe and of course the photos, they look gorgeous than mine.
INGREDIENTS:
7 3/4th cup Old Fashioned Oats
1/2 Cup Wheat Germ
80 grams Butter
1/2 Cup Applesauce
200 gms Soft unrefined brown cane sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 (weighing 120 gms without skin) Mashed Bananas
260 gms Dry fruits (Raisins, Amonds, hazelnuts, Dates, Mango, Papaya, Walnuts, Pineapple )
1/4 cup Sweetened coconut
1/4 Cup Choco Chips

METHOD:
First of all  I chopped all the nuts and Dried Fruits I was going to use. Then mixed both oats and Wheat Germ thoroughly and kept aside.
Then turn on the oven to 350 degree F/Gas mark 3
Then peel the skin of Bananas chop them and the apple sauce blend it the mixie and to make it  into a nice smooth paste.
To this add Brown sugar and beat it well ( I just used my spatula - a hard one)

.

In a pan I had melted the Required quantity of butter to this I added my dry fruits and sauteed for a minute as the Dates I used were soft If you have dry dates you don't have to do this step, so the dates came apart and mixed well with the other dry fruits.
Then I poured this onto the the bowl, to this I added the oats mixture stir in well until everything is well incorporated.
Spread on to a Greased pan or use a butter paper for lining the pan and Bake it for almost an hour, cool it and cut it into bars.

NOTES:
I changed the original Recipe by not using an Egg and not just walnuts but I used lot of dried nuts and fruits, reduced the quantity of choco chips and my extra Ingredient was adding Wheat Germ. and added sweetened coconut, I made this in Large quantity as I have a family of five to feed :).

MY VERDICT:
Don't keep licking into the mixture now and then, try not to eat it before baking, the mixture before adding the Dried fruits reminded me of the Rasayana we make for the festival Prashadam, after licking a little promise very tiny bit I couldn't resist adding coconut then after adding the dry fruits it was heavenly.  Mmmm.., it was so gorgeous the smell of banana was superb.
So Do you think I need to tell how it turned out..., Guess what ... ?, my daughter picked up 4 pieces to take it school :), I think I have to bake them again..., this rate it will not last for a week..
The only thing I felt bad was all my baking utensils had been transfered to my other house and I was left with only my Pizza tray so I had to bake in it ending up making thin slices than a bit thick ones...
You could reduce the sugar and omit coconut for a more healthier version.
Reduce the quntity to 40 grams of butter and in place use more apple sauce instead....
You can even use Eggs, I would say you can use 2 Eggs for this recipe as the quantity is large...
Totally this is a winner of a recipe and you can make it much more healthier.., look no further if you want to eat healthy bars than shop bought ones...
Heather thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe.., I enjoyed Baking it and eating it and my family too..., I am a very satisfied mom today....
Thanks Angie I love you..., for assigning me to this blog... and Amanda for this wonderful club and all the hosts who are making it a success. Looking forward to the next one..., If you like to join SRC, check out our website...

I belong to a community called Iyengars (Vaishnavites), as we all know that we follow calendars according to Lunar or Solar, Tamilians follow the Solar calendar and so they call their month in different names and follow a Tamil Panchangam for auspicious events like Marriages, Upanayanam etc., So accordingly this month is Maargazhi Maasam (December 15th to January 14th), This month is very Important to us as People get up very early in the Morning and Pray to God for Moksha (Salvation).  So, why is this in this month....
It's a little story which I will not be able to write it down here as it will take a lot of space!, Godai or Andal as she is called is one of the 12 Alvars, She Devoted her whole life in trying to reach God! as a small girl and in the end she marries him that's how she at last reaches his abode If you click on to the link on her name you can read the story of her, She Prays to Lord Vishnu in the month of Maargazhi, as it is the coldest month and her penance is nothing concerned to religious rites but she says as the month is so cold getting up so early in the morning and following these simple things in her life she tries to please the Lord It is kind of Tapas (Penance) in her own way and yearns for the everlasting Service to the Lord , she has a written a Poem of 30 Stanzas which is called Thirupaavai, also called Paasurams in Tamil in praise of Lord vishnu and it is a part of the Divya Prabandham, a work of the Alvars.
Each song is sung each day during this month, and unmarried girls try to follow the little things she describes as kind of penance to the Lord to get Good Husbands!!, Vishnavas sing these songs to bring Peace, Prosperity and Divine Grace towards reaching Moksha (Salvation).
In the 27th stanza, she comes out of her Penance and Dresses up nicely and makes this sweet Porridge offering to the Lord, she even describes how this sweet should be...
She says '' Today is the day she will come out of her Vratham and adornes herself with beautiful jewels and clothes and will make Ksheeranam with milk and Jaggery and lots of ghee, wherein the ghee will flow down to her elbow when offering it to the Lord'', So that is how this Shakkarai Pongal should be made with lots of Ghee!!.
Well, as the days went by and People became health consicous, nobody wants to make Pongal that way!, but still we do get Sweet Pongal as Prasadam in temples the way she describes :)).

So here is my version of Sakkarai Pongal....

SAKKARAI PONGAL (SWEET PONGAL) 

INGREDIENTS:
1 to 1 and 1/2 of Jaggery (use Paaku Jaggery / Unde Bella)
1 Cup of Raw Rice
 1/2 Cup of Green Gram /Hesaru Bele / Paitham Paruppu / Moong dal
1 tsp of Cardamom powder
A Pinch of Pacchai Karpooram (Edible Camphor)
1 and 1/2 Cup Milk
1 and 1/2 Cups of Water + 1/4 cup Water
1/4 tsp of  Nutmeg
2 tbsp of Cashewnuts
2 tbsp of Kishmish/Raisins/Dried Grapes
1/2 Cup of Pure Ghee / Clarified Butter (increase it more if you enjoy eating ghee)

METHOD:
First of all in a wok add a tsp of Ghee and fry Green Gram into Golden colour, which gives a nice aroma around the Kitchen.
Then In a thick bottomed vessel take the washed rice and Moong dal with 1 and 1/2 cup of Milk and 1 cup of Water and either cook it directly on the stove if you are using a thick bottomed vessel (Vangala Paanai) or Mud Pot, I made this in a pressure cooker, Cook dal and Rice with milk and water close a lid to the vessel and pressure cook up to 3 whistles, ( If cooking directly I close a lid to the vessel as we know that when milk boils it froths up and spills out so it is better to close it with a lid and put a ladle in it, which helps the liquid not coming out ).
Meanwhile take Jaggery and 1/4 cup of water (use Jaggery according to your tastebuds) and allow it to completely dissolve it in the water, then leave it for 2 minutes allowing the impurities to settle down,  filter the Jaggery as it usually has impurities, take the filtered Jaggery in a vessel and start to boil it, until it reaches a ball consistency you can test this by dropping a tiny bit into a cup of water, where you can see that it doesn't spread out into the water but you can see it well and where you can bring it into a ball (next time I will try to take a photo tutorial of this).
It is important that you do this even after the cooker cools because when it reaches ball consistency it becomes hard and you have a add a little bit of water to keep in this consistency until your cooker cools, It's just the timing no need to panic, Once the whistle is gone, take the cooker out from the stove and keep it on a table top on a stand (as it will be very hot!), otherwise the heat from the stove keeps the cooker still warm for a bit longer.

Either way you can do it, like I said I cooked the dal and Rice in a vessel, use a thick bottomed vessel for boiling the Jaggery , Now to this add the cooked Rice and mix well, start boiling this whole thing in a medium flame stirring now and then to keep an eye on the cooking mixture so that it doesn't stick to the bottom of the vessel, as it will be a very thick once they all start coming together thick and lovely start adding Ghee it kind of swallows all the ghee, You can add a Cup of Ghee if you want and your Chakkare pongal will be very delicious as we are very health conscious we do not want so much ghee Leave around 2 tbsp of Ghee and add remaining Ghee from the 1/2 cup. I have mentioned add the other Ingredients Cardamom powder, edible camphor, nutmeg powder mix and switch of the stove and close a lid.

Now Garnish Chakkre Pongal, take 2 tbsp of ghee in a small pan once it is warm enough add chopped Raisins and broken cashewnuts fry them, Raisins becomes swollen and cashews turn golden in colour, keep the stove in a low when doing this and don't burn them add this to the Pongal mix well. 

Serve hot and Enjoy....
Notes: It is better to use Round Jaggery (Unde Bella), Check Valli's Blog for Jaggery Varities from this Recipe, she describes each one of them with a lovely click too!!
updated : Adding more ghee will not make the Chakkare pongal hard and keep it more moist, Anyway reheat in the MW for a minute before eating.