Banana Pancakes

My love for bananas goes up another level when it comes to banana pancakes. It's a perfect weekend breakfast. Pancakes are usually made of maida or refined flour. But I make a healthy version of it using whole wheat flour and also kicked it up a notch by adding roasted oats :). So to sum it all, its banana, milk, wheat and oats!

One ripe banana, 2 cups whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup roasted oats, little jaggery or sugar, milk, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and not to miss ... 1/2 a teaspoon of salt.
Put them in a blender and get it into a smooth thick batter, not watery.

Carefully pour 2 laddle-fulls of the batter onto a nonstick pan and spread it evenly. Leave for a minute. When you see the holes forming on the surface, give it 30 more seconds. Then flip it. You will see a golden colored pancake. Wait for the other side also to turn golden, and then remove from the pan.

Stack them all and pour honey or maple syrup on top. Cut through the layers and stuff it in your mouth. I cannot tell you how heavenly that feels....ummm.
Wanna kick it up another notch? Add some butter! umm umm umm...sinfully heavenly!

note: Click on the images to get the bigger versions

Gajar halwa

This is one of my favourites that I picked up from Mom. Its not made with the regular orange color carrots. These are different type of carrots that come during Jan season. They are dark and a bit pinkish in color and taste is also slightly different from regular carrots. During the season, you can see carts filled with heaps of these carrots almost everywhere. I love that sight!
What makes this dish distinct and rich is the addition of roasted poppy seeds in the end.

Grated gajar, Ghee, Milk, Almonds, Cardamom powder, Sugar and Poppy seeds.

Saute the grated carrot in a little ghee till it softens. Add milk, sugar, slivered almonds and cook for some more time. Add some cardamom powder in the end. Once done, roast some poppy seeds in a separate pan and add to the halwa.

Next time I wanna try this out using Jaggery.