Low Sugar Pumpkin Bread with jaggery

October brings a plethora of pumpkins after the fall harvest. The 2 famous fall pumpkin recipes - pumpkin spice and pumpkin pies are not something I enjoy or look forward to, and one doesn't even have pumpkin in it. But pumpkin as a vegetable is versatile and it can be used in savory and sweet dishes. Pumpkin Indian flat breads are the softest and most tastiest.

To make these pumpkin muffins the pumpkin can be steamed or roasted but I prefer roasted in baked good and it doesn't take all that much time. Using good quality cooking pumpkins that don't have a stringy pulp is important. I recommend you find cooking pumpkins as opposed to the halloween pumpkins because they are not as tasty or worth the effort. Check this out for "How to roast a pumpkin".

We generally tend to eat pumpking bread or muffins for breakfast and I have reduced the amount of sugar. If you want it as a sweet bread increase the amount of sugar. Adding nuts and dotting some of them with chocolate chips gives it some more sweetness for those with a sweet tooth. These low sugar breads can be enjoyed with icecream as a sweet treat.

I used ramekins to bake them into smaller size to resemble slightly bigger muffins. Loaf pan works fine too. Using unrefined sugar or jaggery or any kind of natural unprocessed sugar.

Recipe in pictures,

Seive and whisk together flour, baking powder and baking soda. Get the eggs ready.
Whisk the oil and jaggery. Add the eggs and whisk them altogether.
Add the pumpkin into the egg and oil mixture.
Start adding the flour into the pumpkin mixture and mix it gently till incorporated.
Fold in the nuts and now spoon the batter into the ramekins. Add chocolate chips on top in a few of them.
Bake at preheated 350F for 15-25 minutes till a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Low Sugar Pumpkin Bread with Jaggery
Preparation Time:20 minutes
Cooking Time:40-50 minutes
Ingredients

1. 1 1/2 cups of unbleached all purpose flour
2. 1 1/2 cups of pumpkin pulp (how to get pumpkin pulp)
3. 1/3 cup of jaggery
4. 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
5. 1/2 tsp baking soda
6. a pinch of salt
7. 1/2 cups of roasted chopped pecans or walnuts (or a combination)
8. 2 eggs
9. 6 tbsp of butter + 1/2 cup of olive oil (or just 3/4 cup of just olive oil)
10. 1/4 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease ramekins or the loaf pan in which you want to bake the bread.
2. Sieve flour, baking powder,salt and baking soda into a bowl.
3. In a mix bowl add the olive oil and jaggery. Add the eggs, and whisk it together.
4. Add the pumpkin pulp to the eggs and mix well.
5. Now gently fold the flour into the pumpkin mixture till all the flour is well incorporated.
6. Add the nuts.
7. Spoon in the batter into the ramekins and bake for 15 minutes, check and bake for 5-10 minutes more if required.
8. Add some chocolate on top on some of them if preferred.
9. Cool and save them in containers. They stay good outside for a couple of days and refrigerate the left overs. Warm a bit before eating.

Warm up the bread a bit and serve with some sweet cream or vanilla ice cream :). Like what you are reading? Subscribe!

Roasting a Pumpkin - How to roast a pumpkin - a pictorial

Pumpkins are so versatile and they can be used in a lot of recipes. Baked goods are tastier when the pumpkin is roasted and the pulp extracted rather than steamed. Pumpkin seeds are delcious when roasted so save and dry them.

Halloween pumpkins, the ones that are used for carving take a lot longer to roast and not as good for cooking. So avoid using those for baking but they might work well in cooking recipes.

The time for baking the pumpkin is dependent upon the type of pumpkin. It can be done as quickly as 20 minutes or it can take as long as 50 minutes for the halloween type hard pumpkins. Depending on the type of pumpking watch from 20 minutes on so they are not burnt .

How to roast a pumpkin?
Preparation Time:5 minutes
Baking Time:15-25 minutes (50 minutes if it is a thicker skinned pumpkin)
Ingredients

1. 1 pumpkin
2. 2 tsp of oil

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Clean the pumpkin, wipe dry, split in half lengthwise. Rub oil on the outside and also on the inside.
3. Sprary oil on a baking tray and place the pumpkin skin side down. Roast for 15 minutes.
4. Flip and roast on the other side for another 10 minutes till a knife inserted comes out clean.
5. With a spoon remove the pulp to a container.

Wash the pumpkin, pat dry and cut in half lengthwise and then rub some oil on the inside and outside.
Spray the tray and put the skin side facing up. Preheat the oven to 350F, and bake for 15 minutes and if required flip and cook with the skin side down for another 5-10 minutes or till a skewer inserted comes without any resistance.
Using a spoon the pulp can be easily scopped up for use.

Fig Jam

Having a sweet tooth simply means, it is a daily struggle to keep your hands mouth away from anything and everything that has sugar = these days anything that is processed. Even products that are sold as savory or healthy options have sugar in them. Think Fat Free means Sugar Full :) Store bought jams and jellies for morning breakfast means you are consuming 4-5 tsp of sugar right in the morning. Fruits are good but store bought jams and jellies, I am not so sure. I'd rather save the sugar for savoring some dessert later in the day. Homemade jams/jellies gives you the option to control the sugar and what else goes into it.

Should I grow Fig Trees?
Having fruit trees at home gives you the option to have fresh fruit right away :) If you live in a tropical, semi tropical or an area where you do not get sub zero temperatures, there is no excuse not to grow them. They are no fuss and do very well with fairly minimal maintenance. We get freezing temperatures in the winter, early morning frost and copious amounts of snow some years but even in these conditions figs do very well for instance near a south facing wall. The wall gives protection and some warmth. In much colder places they can be grown in containers which can be brought indoors during the cold months. Your local extension might have advice on how and where to grow and what varieites. Here is a link to what grows best in for us in Maryland.

End of August is when we start harvesting figs. This year the first fall frost was 2 weeks late so we enjoyed figs for a bit longer. If you are hard pressed for time to do anything with them, you can always eat them fresh and freeze the excess for use in smoothies. With the season extended I got some time to savor the figs and make some jams. Just 3 ingredients and I have resorted to cooking jams/jellies in an Instant Pot and that makes it even more easier to do.

it is just as easy on the stove top and should take the same amount of time or lesser. I use an Instant Pot because the saute mode provides constant heat and there is no danger of burning or sticking to the bottom of the pan. I have added far less sugar than the usual jelly recipes call for. Usually the ratio of fruit to sugar 2:1. That is a lot of sugar for a fruit like fig which is itself extremely sweet when ripe. All I needed was 1/4 cup of sugar for 2 cups of figs. So adjust for your needs accordingly.

Get the ingredient for the fig jam ready. Chop the figs.
Transfer the figs, sugar and lime juice and gently mash.
Cook the figs mixture till the liquid evaporates and the jam coats the back of the spoon.
Transfer to sterlized containers.

Fig Jam
Preparation Time:5 minutes
Cooking Time:15-20 minutes
Ingredients

1. 2 cups of figs (about 15-20)
2. 1/4 cup of raw sugar
3. 2 tbsp of lemon/lime juice

Method

1. Wash and pat dry the figs, remove the top step and cut the fig into smaller pieces.
2. Transfer the cut figs into a saute pan if cooking on stove top or instant pot, mix in the sugar and lemon juice into the cut figs and gently mash with a potato masher.
3. Place the saute pan on the stove or if using Instant Pot set it to cook in saute mode.
4. Stir continuously till the liquid almost evaporates and the jam coats the back of the spoon. Do a water test, take a small plate with some water in it. Add a small bit of the jam on to the water and if it does not dissolve the jam is ready.
5. Transfer to a sterilzed glass jar once the jam is coolerd down to room temperature.

Jam is ready for toasts or to sppon over ice cream and enjoyed. Like what you are reading? Subscribe!

Frozen Bananas Chocolate Ice Cream

Try as you might, you always end up having over ripe bananas. They are great in smoothies or banana bread. I started freezing them whole with the skin and all to be used up for a banana bread 2 months later. I can thaw them and remove the skin and then use it in the bread. For use in ice creams though, it is better to peel and slice and then freeze. It comes in handy in the summer months when you crave for frozen treats but want to skip the store bought ice cream with all its additives and heavy cream.

This is absolutely a 3-4 ingredient recipe. I made my own condensed milk by reducing the milk and adding only the required amount of sugar or you can skip the sugar and add none at all as the ripe bananas are pretty sweet by themselves.

Recipe in pictures below. Very quick and easy, you can use store bought condensed milk for even faster results. Replace with almond milk for a vegan version

In a sauce pan, boil the milk till it thickens, once thickened add the cocoa powder, sugar and mix it well and turn off the heat.
Pour in a container and set in the fridge to chill. Take the frozen bananas in a blender and blend to smooth.
Add the chilled condensed milk and mix it well in the blender.
Pour the banana - milk mixture into a freezing tray and let it freeze for 2-4 hours and then serve.

A guilt free treat when you feel like it.

Frozen Bananas Chocolate Ice Cream
Preparation Time:10 minutes
Condensed Milk Cooking Time:30-45 minutes
Ingredients

1. 4 frozen bananas
2. 1 cup of whole milk reduced to 1/3 or (1/3 cup of store bought condensed milk)
3. For Vegan: Use 1/3 cup of almond milk or any milk of choice
4. 1 tbsp cocoa powder
5. 2 tbsp of sugar (skip the sugar if using store bought condensed milk)

Method

1. If making your own condensed milk, take the whole milk and keep cooking till it reduces to a third, keep stirring so it does not stick.
2. Add the cocoa powder to the thickened milk. Mix the cocoa in some hot milk prevents lumps. Remove and chill.
3. Take the frozen banana in a blender and blend to smooth, now add the cocoa condensed milk and mix it into the banana puree.
4. Pour into a tray and freeze for 3-4 hours and then serve.

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