Tag: Home grown

Plantain/Raw banana flour:

September 6, 2017

Plantain flour is a powdered form of dried banana, which can be a good raw material for any healthy baking or cooking, for people who follow Paleo, Vegan, gluten-free diet and it is diabetic friendly and organic too. Last month when I was thinking about gluten-free baking and options regarding its flours, what immediately comes to mind is our day to day available ingredient- the cheaper, more nutritious alternative to commercially available gluten-free flours. I have seen banana flour as baby food in my native and people prepare this flour at home and feed their babies as a healthy top food. Keeping that in my mind, I headed towards preparing homemade banana flour. I took small varieties of homegrown bananas from my native and started my journey.

pic 1

Ingredients:

Raw bananas – 1 kgs

Method:

-Select firm and raw bananas.

-wash, peel outer skin and immerse in plain water.

collage 1

-Take one wide, big plate. Line with one clean towel.

-Slice bananas directly on towel. Keep this in bright area, either near window sill or under sunlight.

collage 2

-If you keep under sunlight, it will take 2 days to dehydrate and become crisp.

-If you keep indoors, it will take 4 days to dehydrate.

-After it becomes crisp and dry, powder this in a dry grinding jar in a mixer grinder.

-Sieve the mixture and collect the fine powder.

pic 2

-Such a simple method and you will be ready with your gluten-free healthy flour for any of your bakes or for cooking!

Butterfly pea flower and Lemon grass tea:

December 3, 2016

Two months back, when I was going through some articles, This article about Butterfly pea flower tea and its benefits attracted my attention and I tried my hand  it by preparing and experimenting, and my family loved this tea very much and now I want to share this recipe  with my readers too.

Butterfly pea flower, name itself is so exotic isn’t it? It is nothing but our wildly grown “Shankha Pushpa” flower. In Kannada Shankha means Conch and Pushpa means flower. This flower is widely used in making exotic teas, edible colour in Thai cuisine. Normally we find two colours in this, white and ink blue.

If you use blue flower for brewing, tea becomes pink after adding lemon juice.

Ribbet collage 1

Here I have used white flowers and some fresh lemon grass from my garden. When we use white flower and lemon grass, the tea becomes golden yellow. If you add lemon juice for additional flavour, it changes its colour to transparent, like normal water.

This tea is fragrant, at the same time it is filled with so many good anti-oxidants. Over all it is one Exotic drink.

Now we will see, how I prepared it,

Ingredients:

For one big glass:

Water – 1 big glass

Butterfly pea flowers – 7 to 8

Lemon grass – 4 stalks

Sugar – 1 tsp

Lemon – ¼

Method:

-Collect fresh flowers, wash; chop lemon grass into 1 or 2” size pieces.

Ribbet collage 2

– Put water, lemon grass and flowers together and boil, until lemon grass changes its colour.

-Strain and add sugar or honey, whatever you prefer. You can use artificial sweetener as well.

-Your Exotic tea is ready to have, Pour into a serving glass.

-If you would like to add a little sourness, add lemon juice and see the magic. Golden tea will become transparent and glossy.

-Have your dose of antioxidant in this chilled weather and enjoy.