Procedure1 Preheat oven to 350F/180C for metal pans and 325F for dark non-stick pans. Line an 8-inch cake pan and a muffin tin with parchment paper and paper liners.

2 In a large bowl blend cake mix, yogurt, milk and oil at low speed until moistened.

3 Beat at medium-high speed for 2 minutes. Scrape bottom and sides of bowl. Continue beating at medium-high speed for 2 minutes. Pour batter into the prepared pans.

4 Bake according to the instructions give in the pack. Mine was done in 25 minutes. The cupcakes even sooner. Cake is one when toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean.

5 Cool in pans on rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pans and cool completely before frosting.

Taste The cake came out very good but I felt that it was very sweet. It had a nice airy texture. Since the cake was very sweet, I reduced the quantity of sugar while preparing the buttercream icing. The cake was perfect together with the icing.

Has my search ended for the best egg free vanilla cake? No. This cake was good, especially very easy to put together and simple procedure. Still, I’m going to keep looking.

Procedure1 Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease the bread pan.

2 Wash the strawberries, hull them and cut each strawberry into 4 pieces. Place it in a bowl and sprinkle a tablespoon of sugar and mix it and leave it for at least 5 minutes.

3 In a big bowl mix together the yogurt, mango puree, vinegar, sugar, cardamom powder and saffron strands. To this add the cut strawberries.

4 In another small bowl sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Actually I placed the sieve over the big bowl and added the dry ingredients directly into the wet mixture. Mix it until just moistened.

5 Fill the bread loaves 3/4th full and bake it for about 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Mine was done in 19 minutes.

6 Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack and cool for 5 minutes. Take out the bread from the pan after 5 minutes and let it cool on the wire rack. This is very important. I left the bread in the pan itself for more than 30 minutes and the bottom became soggy.

Taste

I can swear that it did not taste “healthy or fat free”. It tasted like any other regular quick bread, but I don’t know why my son did not like it. My husband liked that it was fat free but he did not like the saffron/cardamom combination that much. The bread was soft and spongy inside, which is because of the vinegar I think. It was not a very sweet bread, which is perfect for me. You may want to add another 1-2 tablespoons of sugar if you want it sweeter.

As for the texture, it was a bit soggy (see Procedure point no.6 and Notes point no.1). So I kept it on two sheets of paper towel and stored it covered in the fridge overnight and it was good in the morning. With minor alterations this recipe will yield perfect mango quick bread. Check my Notes for further details.

One more observation, if you are looking for a mango bread recipe with lot of mango flavor, I think it’s ideal to omit cardamom powder, saffron and use either vanilla extract or mango extract or a combination of both, or maybe use puree made from fresh mangoes. The recipe I have mentioned did not have the mango flavor. I think the cardamom overpowered the mango’s flavor. The brand of mango puree can also be a reason, I guess, because I used a brand which I have never used before. I think it’s better to use the Kesar Mango puree. And of course, using chopped mangoes instead of the strawberries I have used will also add to the mango “ness”.

My Notes1 I wanted to substitute the mango puree for the oil used in the original recipe, which is 1/4 cup, but I wanted to increase the mango flavor and added another 1/4 cup, so that’s one of the reason for sogginess. 1/2 cup is 8 tablespoons, that’s why I have reduced it to 6 tablespoons in the ingredients list.

2 Increase the quantity of sugar by 2-3 tablespoons if you go with 6 tablespoons of mango puree. Since the mango puree has sugar I had used only 1/4 cup sugar in place of the 1/2 cup mentioned in the original recipe. So if you reduce the quantity of mango puree, you may want to increase the quantity of sugar.

3 I think this measurement will yield about 8-9 regular size muffins and you will have to double the measurement to prepare a regular size quick bread. Sweatha has baked the muffins at 375F.

4 Mango lassi is a combination of mango, yogurt and sugar. So you know what to do if you have a cup of leftover mango lassi! Make this wonderful moist mango bread.

Procedure1 Preheat oven to 400F. Line muffin pans with paper liners.

2 In a medium bowl sift together the flours, salt, baking powder. Add sugar, dried fruit and the nuts. Combine well. Make a well in the center and set aside.

3 In a liquid measuring mug measure the milk, add the yogurt, orange juice (or peel) and whisk well.

4 Add the wet ingredients to the flour all at once and stir just until combined. Do not over mix. At this point I felt that the batter was very thick, so I added another 2 tablespoons of milk. The consistency felt right after adding the milk.

5 Now spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling each two thirds full. I have a ladle which holds 3 tablespoons of batter and it’s the perfect amount to bake the perfect sized muffins. Sprinkle oats on top, if using.

6 Bake in the preheated oven for 18-20 minutes or until golden and a wooden toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Mine was done by 19 minutes.

7 Cool in muffin cups on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove from muffin cups; serve warm (See Taste).

Taste The tartness of the dried cranberries and the orange flavor is a winning combination. But don’t try tasting it warm if you are using whole wheat flour. The original recipe used all purpose flour but I have used a combination of whole wheat flour and oat flour, so it did not taste good when the muffins were still warm. It was a sticky and bitter mass of dough inside, which really freaked me out. Thank God I was patient enough to come to a conclusion the next day morning and was relieved that it tasted good. Actually good enough that my son had it for breakfast everyday.

My Notes1 The original recipe used 1 and 3/4th cup of all purpose flour. You can go with it if you are not a fan of whole wheat flour or don’t have it. Baked goods with whole wheat flour definitely don’t taste exactly like it’s white counterpart. Like tofu, whole wheat pasta, it’s an acquired taste. We have got used to it now. So you may want to start slowly, maybe 1 cup of all purpose flour and 3/4th cup of whole wheat flour/oat flour.

2 Oat flour is readily available in some of the grocery stores. You can make it at home too by finely processing quick cooking oats in a food processor/mixer. Since oat flour does not contain gluten, it cannot substitute 100% of all purpose flour/whole wheat flour. Baked goods will not rise if it is only used. So it has to be used in combination with either all purpose flour or whole wheat flour.

3 I didn’t have fresh oranges to make the zest, so I went with 2 tablespoons of store bought orange juice. This does not give that fresh orange flavor, but be careful not to go overboard with the juice because sometimes the store bought juice has a bitter after-taste and it spoils the taste of the baked goods.

4 I have used 2 tablespoons of yogurt in place of one egg white mentioned in the recipe. Even after using 2 tablespoons of orange juice I found that the batter was very thick, so I had to use another 2 tablespoons of milk. I think the whole wheat flour and the oat flour absorbed more moisture. So consider what type of flour you are using and add water as required.

5 The original recipe is supposed to yield 12 muffins but I got only 9.

Procedure1 Preheat oven to 400F. Grease the muffin tin or line it with paper liner. If using a paper liner, after lining grease the liner by spraying with a non stick spray so the muffins will come out of the paper easily.

2 Combine the dry ingredients together in a big bowl. From granola to baking soda.

3 In another medium size bowl, whisk together the applesauce, milk, brown sugar, oil and yogurt.

4 Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and mix until just combined.

5 Divide evenly into prepared muffin tin, approximately 3 tablespoons of batter per muffin or 3/4th of the tin. Sprinkle little granola/oats on top.

6 Bake 18-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. I baked mine for about 26 minutes. Always set the timer for the minimum time mentioned in the recipe, test for doneness and if it’s not done, increase the time for 2-3 minutes at a time. (Check My Notes, point 5)

7 Let cool slightly in the tin and then remove to a cooling rack.

Taste I have to say that I did not like the muffins immediately (unlike my son), but started liking it from the next day. These granola muffins don’t have a fluffy texture but feel more like a dense cake. Also they are not overly sweet, in fact the sweetness is very mild, which is perfect for me. The mini chocolate chips and the raisins which you bite on here and there give the right balance. Also they did not taste cinnamony (I know it’s not a word, but you get it right!)

Will I be baking it again? Definitely.

My Notes1 I measured the applesauce using a dry measuring cup, not the liquid measuring mug.

2 If you prefer sweet muffins, either use sweetened applesauce or increase the quantity of brown sugar to 1/2 cup.

3 The original recipe did not use oat flour, I used it because I had it. So if you don’t have oat flour just use 1 cup of all purpose flour or in a food processor finely powder quick cooking oats.

4 Walnuts and semi sweet chocolate chips were not mentioned in the recipe. I added it to lure my son to eat something healthy and it worked! The chocolate chips also gave the sweetness. Always try using mini chocolate chips because you can cut down on calories, sugar and fat. In place of using 1 cup of chocolate chips, you can use just 1/2 cup of the mini without affecting the taste.

5 I had some flavored yogurt (which we did not like by itself) so I used it instead of eggs. I used peach flavored yogurt. Also while using yogurt to replace eggs, instead of measuring exactly 1/4 cup of yogurt, use 3 tablespoons of yogurt and 1 tablespoon of water or any liquid. For this recipe I emptied directly two small containers of yogurt and while mixing felt that the muffin batter was very thick and then I had to add extra water, which made it very watery. I think this is the reason I had to bake it for around 26 minutes. So while using yogurt measure 3 tablespoons of yogurt and 1 tablespoon of water in a cup, whisk it well and then mix it to the other ingredients or simply use buttermilk.

Cake Procedure 1 Preheat the oven to 325F. Lightly grease an 8-inch round cake pan and dust it with cocoa powder.

2 Grate the bottlegourd/zucchini, if using. After grating I also coarsely chopped it with a knife. Measure 1 cup and transfer it to a bowl. Let the water secrete from the gratings. If using the water you may omit the 1/4 cup of milk later.

3 In a large bowl sift together the all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa powder and sugar. Make a well.

4 Add all the wet ingredients one by one.

5 With an electric mixer, beat the mixture on low speed for 2-3 minutes until the dry and wet ingredients are well combined. Do not over beat it.

6 Add the grated bottle gourd/zucchini, if using. Mix together.

7 Pour the batter in the prepared pan. Tap the pan a couple of times so the batter is spread evenly and there are no air bubbles.

8 My cake was ready only around 38 minutes. I think it took longer because it was a dense batter with the whole wheat flour, applesauce and the bottle gourd. So start checking from about 20 minutes, depending upon the ingredients you are using. Toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake should come clean.

9 Once out of the oven, transfer the pan to a wiring rack to cool. After about an hour remove the cake from the pan and let the cake cool completely before frosting.

1 I think my cake had too much moisture content because of the milk, hot coffee and the water from the bottlegourd. I think that’s also one of the reasons it took so much time to bake. Also when I removed the cake from the pan I found that it was very wet. I had to use a couple of kitchen paper towels to blot the water. So I also refrigerated the cake for a couple of hours before frosting it. That’s the reason I have mentioned to omit milk if using grated bottle gourd or zucchini.

Frosting 1 In a medium size bowl add the margarine, ovaltine (powdered sugar) and cocoa powder. Start beating with an electric mixer on low speed. At this stage it may seem to be very dry. Don’t panic. Wait until you add the milk.

2 Add milk little by little and continue beating the mixture till you get a nice spreadable consistency. I used around 3 tablespoons of milk.

3 Now transfer the cake to a plate and start frosting it. I’m very lousy at it. Somehow managed to cover the cake with the frosting. But it was easier this time when compared to my first attempt. The frosting was in the correct consistency.

4 I saw this technique of using the back of a spoon to create swirls on the frosting. Tried it and I think it looked somewhat close. Create an indentation on the frosting with the back of a spoon close to each other.

1 The recipe for the frosting is from 1001 Low Fat Vegetarian Recipes. The original recipe requires margarine or butter. I didn’t have both. So I used the Promise blend which we have it on our toast. I was worried if it would work or not, but was so excited to see that the frosting came out beautifully.

2 There are 2 types of Ovaltine available. I used the Ovaltine which is fortified with 8 vitamins and minerals. I used Ovaltine because I didn’t have confectioner’s sugar at home, but in a way it worked out for the best. 4 tablespoons of Ovaltine (ie) 1/4 cup has 15gms sugar whereas the sugar content in 1/4 cup of confectioner’s sugar is 29gms. I checked it in the grocery store. So I think this frosting is even better and healthier than the original one. Even though Ovaltine has lesser sugar content than confectioner’s sugar, I found the frosting was a bit too sweet for my taste. Then imagine how it would have been had I used powdered sugar.

3 If you are going to try the ovaltine frosting, I would recommend decreasing the quantity of sugar in the cake to even 1/2 cup. I think this cake is a pretty healthy cake but for it’s sugar content.

Zucchini Thayir Pachadi

1 Wash the zucchini and grate it with the skin and place it in a bowl. Add the required amount of salt.

2 In a small frying pan heat the oil, add the mustard seeds. Once it splutters add the sliced green chillies, hing and fry it.

3 Add this to the zucchini and mix it well.

4 Mix the yogurt to the zucchini when ready to serve.

My Notes 1 If you don’t have the time to prepare the bisi bele bath masala powder you can buy it. I’ve tried MTR brand and it’s good too.

2 You could also buy the frozen Avial vegetables available in Indian grocery stores and save time chopping vegetables.

3 I have pressure cookers in all size so I used one for cooking the vegetables and one for cooking rice/daal. You can also cook both in any vessel on stove top, but as far as I’ve read brown rice takes more time to cook like that.

4 We don’t eat spicy food, so I used only 2 red chillies for the masala powder. The heat was very mild. If you prefer it more spicy use about 4-5 chillies.

Procedure 1. Finely chop the beet greens, both the leaves as well as the stems. Place it in a big bowl and fill it with water and let it stand for atleast 5 minutes. By doing this any dirt/sand in the greens would settle down in the bottom of the vessel. Now remove the greens and rinse it in cold water again.

2. I pressure cooked the beet leaves and beet stems together. Add water just enough to cover the greens and little salt too. I left it for 2 whistles.

3. Now grind together the coconut, cumin, chillies, besan. Add little water if required.

4. Mix this mixture with the yogurt and add enough water. This should be in the consistency of pancake batter or even thinner.

5. In a saucepan add the cooked greens, salt and yogurt sauce. Remove the pan from the stove after the first boil.

6. Add coconut oil in a small frying pan. Once it heats add mustard seeds and curry leaves. Once it splutters pour this in the kootu.

My Notes The greens which I got this time had very thick stems. So I did remove some fibrous strands while chopping it. Usually I pressure cook beet greens and stems for 1 whistle only, but this time I left it for 2 whistles for the same reason.

Procedure1. Dry grind the grits in a blender to the consistency of regular rava/sooji.

2. Combine together all the ingredients listed for the batter. Add water if necessary to get the consistency of idli batter.

3. Heat oil in a frying pan and add the items to be tempered one by one and pour this in the batter and mix it well.

4. Grease the idli moulds (on both sides) using a non stick oil spray and fill with batter. I also grease the back because the batter from the lower plate does not stick to the top plate and you will be able to get full idlis.

5. Steam the idlis for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

My NotesI prepared the idlis 1 hour after preparing the batter. But I guess that it’s not necessary, because rava idlis can be prepared as soon as the batter is ready.