Banana Oats Cookies

Okay gals, without any doubt this is the healthiest recipe I have on my blog. As I said before, I am trying to cut back on processed foods. I am not very happy to say that I am not even close enough, but I keep trying to substitute as much as possible with healthy versions. There are many variations of this cookie in the internet, I went through few of them and made this batch. Many recipes call for sugar, some do not. I very bravely omitted the sugar at last after having several self-talks. I almost added 1/4 c sugar but at the end, I am glad that I did not. This recipes tastes so good even without sugar. These are perfect at breakfast with a glass of milk, or as an afternoon snack with tea or coffee.

You can pack some for a nice gift for your friends.

Ingredients
Makes 12 cookies

Oats - 1 and 1/2 cup
Bananas - 3 medium
Chocolate chips - 1/2 cup
Almonds- 1/4 cup, chopped
Raisins - Fistful
Vanilla-1/2 teaspoon


Mash the bananas well, few chunks are absolutely okay. I used very ripe bananas, if yours are not ripe enough, you may add 2 tablespoon of sugar.

Add the oats to it and mix well.

Add the chocolate chips to it. I did not have any chips, so used regular bar of chocolate.

Add the chopped nuts, raisins and vanilla to it. Mix well.

Roll them in whatever shape you like. Grease a baking pan and spread on it.

Preheat oven at 180 C. Bake them for 15 minutes or till golden brown. Let it cool for 10 minutes more.

Tastes best straight out of oven. Also it is very good after school snacks for hungry kids. Not to forget it is equally good for my odd hours hunger pangs.

Love - Black and White Wednesday 116

This week we are celebrating Valentine's Day at Black and White Wednesday and Lynne of Cafe Lynnylu is hosting this week.

This is a homemade fruit cake that I did last holiday season. You can find it here.

This is my contribution for this week's event. This amazing event was started by Susan of The Well Seasoned Cook and is now managed by Cinzia of Cindystar. You can find the participation details here.

Shorshe Sheem aka Seim Beans with Mustard Paste

What in bengali household is known as "sheem" is better known in the world as Indian flat beans or more scientifically as hyacinth beans or seim beans. A quick search in the wikipedia showed me bright purple (or is it magenta?) beans which I have not seen in my life. What we have as a winter bounty every year are dark green flat beans that make its way to curry. I like them best with mustard paste and that is how it was mostly cooked by my Maa. Sometimes few beans made their way to a mixed vegetable curry.

It is very easy and takes only few minutes to be cooked. Only hard part is making the mustard paste.

Ingredients

Seim beans - 10-15 beans
Nigella seeds (kalo jeeray) - a pinch
Mustard oil (any oil of your choice)- 1 tablespoon

For mustard paste

Mustard seeds - 3 tablespoons
Poppy seeds - 1 tablespoon (optional)
Green chilies  - 1 or more according to taste
Salt  - To taste
Turmeric - a pinch

For the paste, add all the ingredients with 1/4 cup of water and make a paste in mixer grinder. Add more water if required. It takes nearly 8 to 10 minutes to make a smooth paste. The texture will be really smooth.

Cut the beans in 1 inch pieces.

Add oil in the pan and heat. Add the beans and saute for 3-5 minutes.

Move them to the side of a pan and add the nigella seeds and saute for a minute or two more.

Add the mustard paste to it and smear it well with the paste. You might add a couple tablespoon of warm water to it. Add a pinch of sugar to it (my mother hates it, but I like it).

Also, add a pinch of turmeric for nice color.

Cook it covered for 5 minutes more or till the beans change color and are cooked.

Serve it with a plate of warm white rice.

Enjoy!