Banana Cream Cheese Cake

Ingredients:

Crust:
     Graham cracker/Vanilla biscuits --   20 - 25 nos
     Dark brown sugar                                --   3 tbsp
     Unsalted butter                                     --   ½ cup

Cheesecake filling: Recipe from here
     Cream cheese softened                      --   24 oz
     White sugar                                            --   ¾ cup
     Eggs                                                           --   3
     Bananas                                                   --   4 ripe
    Vanilla Extract                                      --   2 tsp
     Fresh lemon juice                                --   1 tsp

Creamy Custard Topping:
       Unflavored gelatin                           --   1½ tsp
       Cold water                                           --   1 tbsp
       Whole milk                                           --   1 cup
       White sugar                                         --   1/3 cup
       Egg yolks                                              --   4
       Vanilla Extract                                  --   2 tsp
       Heavy whipping cream                 --   1½ cup

Preparation of the cheese cake:

Crust:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan and keep ready.

Grind the crackers/vanilla biscuits into a fine powder. Mix this with brown sugar and melted(and cooled) butter in a bowl until well combined.

          

Press mixture on the bottom and sides of the pan. Bake for 10 minutes or until set and lightly browned.

           

Cheesecake filling:

Preheat the oven to 320°F.

Mash ripe bananas well and sprinkle the lemon juice and set aside.

Beat the cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy.Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Then add in the bananas and vanilla extract. Mix well.

Pour into the prepared crust.Place pan on a cookie sheet and bake in the 350 degree oven for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 200 degrees and bake an additional 75 minutes, or until center is almost set

Let it cool. Run a warm knife through the rim of the pan before you remove the sides. Refrigerate for 5 - 6 hours or overnight.

Creamy Custard Topping:

Soak the gelatin in cold water and let it rest for 5-6 minutes.

Meanwhile whip the yolks and sugar until light and thick. Heat milk in a small saucepan over medium-low heat until hot but not boiling. Slowly add it into the egg mixture.Make sure to beat continuously while adding the milk.

Keep this mixture over a water bath and cook until it start to thicken. Add vanilla extract and mix well to dissolve.

Melt the gelatin and add into the egg mixture. Let it cool until half set, I kept it in the refrigerator. Make sure you stir in every 5 - 10min to keep the mixture smooth.

Whip cream to soft peaks. Fold in the cream to the half set custard. Spread the vanilla cream over the entire top.

Chill and serve. Run a wet knife around the outer edge of the cake before removing the sides for a cleaner look.

Mango Cake – Eggless

Ingredients:

Fine Semolina/Rava    --   1 cup
Mango pulp                     --    1 cup (You can use readymade or homemade pulp)
Butter                                 --   ½ cup
Sugar                                  --   ½ cup
Baking powder              --   1 tsp
Ground cardamom      --   ½ tsp
Chopped walnuts/almonds  --   ¼ cup

Preparation of mango cake:

Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9 inch pan and keep aside.
Mix the semolina/rava with sugar, cardamom powder, chopped nuts and baking powder. Melt the butter and add it to the semolina mix and mix well.Now add the mango pulp and mix again. Let it sit for 10 minutes.
If using homemade mango pulp, make sure that you make a thick pulp. In case the pulp is thin, keep the mix aside for a while until the rava absorbs the water  content.

Pour the mix into a greased pan and sprinkle some almonds on top. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a tooth pick or a skewer inserted inside comes out clean. Make sure you do not overbake as the upper layer of the cake becomes hard.
Let it cool and serve.

Recipe Courtesy: Red Chillies

Unnakaaya (Ripe plantains with coconut filling)

Ingredients:

Plantains(medium ripe)    --   2 big
Grated coconut                     --   1 cup
Egg                                            --   1 (optional)
Cardamom powder            --   1/2 tsp
Cashew nuts(broken)         --   1 tbsp
Sugar                                        --   2 tbsp
Ghee                                          --   1 tsp
Oil                                               --   to deep fry

Preparation:

Cut the plantains into 2-3 pieces. Place it in a steamer and cook it until they are soft/ the skin starts to break up. You can also do it in a microwave. I am never a microwave expert, so I always like to steam cook. Make sure that the bananas are not over cooked. Also, if the plantains are overripe, you ll have difficulty in the further steps.

     

Remove the skin and cut the banana vertically. Remove the back seeds and the string(not sure what to call it. I hope you got it..) attached to it.
Mash or grind it into a smooth dough without any lumps. Do not add any water. This should be in the consistency of a thick dough. In case, it is a bit watery, refrigerate it for a while or add a little rice flour. This is not recommended.
Beat the egg with sugar and keep it aside.In a pan heat ghee and add cashews and saute for a while until they are light brown. Add the grated coconut and saute it for a minute or two. Mix the beaten eggs and cardamom powder to this and scramble it. Mix well and keep it aside to cool.



Make a lemon size balls out of the banana dough.Divide the coconut mixture into equal amounts as the number of the banana balls.
Grease your hands with ghee or oil. Take one ball and flatten it on your palm. Keep one portion of the filling in the center and close the edges,press lightly and roll it in your hands into the shape of unnakkaya.(as shown). Repeat it with all.
Heat oil in a frying pan. Once it is hot, reduce the flame to medium and carefully slide in the unnakaya into the oil. Keep turning the sides till all the sides become uniformly brown. Do not burn it.
Drain on to a paper towel.
Serve with hot tea.

Recipe Courtesy: Amma