Among all the milk-based Diwali sweets that I was making and seeing all around me, this pista badam burfi recipe is a refreshing break since it uses no milk, just crushed nuts cooked down in sugar syrup. I did roast the nuts in ghee but you can easily substitute with any neutral oil to make the pista badam burfi vegan. Pin Pista badam burfi recipe Ingredients Instructions Getting the dreaded one-string consistency in sugar syrup for sweets is not my favourite part of sweet making during Diwali....

Rava pongal recipe for pongal festival : I love Ven Pongal and my mom-in-law makes it really well. During their last visit, she made pongal with rava which was very new to me. Makes it a bit lighter than regular khara pongal which is quite heavy and I am usually not hungry at lunch time if I have pongal for breakfast. I would still eat though. When has not being hungry ever stopped some of us from eating, eh?...

Methi Paratha was the outcome one weekend when I really wanted my cooking duties to end with a simple, single dish. I checked out many recipes online and a couple of cookbooks I have. I realised there are two ways to make methi paratha: Make a spiced stuffing like you do for aloo paratha or gobi paratha and make methi parathas the same way. 2. Chop up the leaves and add them to the dough while making the dough and make parathas as normal....

Thai recipes are not supposed to be vegetarian. They like their seafood and their meat, and create magic with it. Also check out vegetarian pad thai recipe . Vegetarian Thai Tom Kha Soup Instructions: Discard the bottom 2 inches of the lemongrass. Discard the top woody part and use the middle portion (about 8" of it) for the soup. Cut this part into small circles and set aside. Roughly chop the galangal, chillies, and shallots....

Split yellow peas or moong dal is considered one of the most healthiest foods in the world and Indian cuisine uses it extensively, be it North, South, East or West. Kerala Cuisine is definitely not as lentil-rich as its northern counterparts, but there are some wholesome curries which use minimum oil and are still protein-rich. Also check out Kerala Parippu Curry that’s used for Onam and wedding sadya. Vellarikka Parippu Curry...

We had two maids at the time who would get fresh cow dung from the milk man down the road. They would then line the terrace walls and the compound wall with small pats of cow dung about a feet apart. One of us would then follow with the mud diyas which would, by the way, be brought out from storage that morning and aired in the sun. These are then placed on the cow dung so that as the cown dung dries, the diya is held firmly in place....

While palada pradhaman uses the same ada, the process for making this jaggery-based payasam is more tedious but with good reason. It’s way more delicious and you can make it vegan by omitting the ghee added to it! It’s coconut milk all the way and we made some fresh coconut milk for ada pradhaman. You need coconut milk with two levels of thickness (ideally three), also called onnaam paal and rendaam paal in Malayalam....

“I just read in your blog that you are looking for yeast in Hyderabad. I got some yeast packets from USA, when I used to live there. So if you think it is ok with you, I can mail you some of them. This is not going to be any botheration to me, so please dont hesitate. I will be more than just happy to mail them. The packets are small sachet size, so they can easily be mailed in an enevelope....

Coconut ladoo recipe, learn how to make these quick and easy 15-min coconut ladoo using condensed milk and desiccated coconut. A quick and easy sweet recipe this Diwali. I love coconut so making coconut ladoo has been high on my things-to-cook list. This coconut laddu recipe has only 2 key ingredients and takes not more than 15 mins to come together, so it’s perfect for those looking for quick and easy sweet recipes for Diwali ....

Easy chicken fry recipe : a simple and basic recipe for making chicken fry using cubed boneless chicken pieces and spices. There are probably thousands of different variations to an easy chicken fry recipe including what you can add to the marinade, the quantity of spices, whether you use pepper powder or not, etc. While I love my chicken 65 recipe which we tend to default to quite often, this easy chicken fry is a close second....

Pin Kaalan KERALA KAALAN RECIPE Serves 4 Ingredients: Curd - 1.5 cups lightly beaten to remove lumps, best if slightly sour Elephant yam (chena) - ½ cup, cubed Coconut - ½ cup Pepper powder - ½ tsp Turmeric powder - ¼ tsp Green chillies - 2 to 3 Fenugreek seeds (uluva) - ¼ tsp Dried red chillies - 2 Oil - 1 tbsp Mustard seeds - ½ tsp Curry leaves - a few How to Make Kaalan...

I don’t know how many of you have heard of Kailash Parbat before this. I did for the first time earlier this week and learnt its a pretty popular vegetarian chain in India, specialising in Sindhi food.. Since we have a formidable number of desis in the Singapore office now, and because Kailash Parbat newly opened in Singapore, all the desi Googlers decided to head there. Pin The menu is quite extensive and since they are known for their chaat, we decided to start with that....

Generally brinjal masala is made in a red chilli based gravy but green chillies add a wonderful flavour to brinjal recipes as I found out. Try out this brinjal rice recipe and serve with warm rice and any kuzhambu of your choice. Kathirikai Masala - Brinjal Masala Recipe Ingredients: Brinjal / eggplant - 2 cups, cubed Shallots / small onions - about 12 to 15 Green chillies - 3-4 Tomato - 1 small, chopped Grated coconut - 2 tbsp Cumin / jeera powder - ½ tsp Coriander / malli powder - 1 tsp Jaggery - ½ teaspoon powdered Mustard seeds - ¼ tsp Urad dal - 1 tsp Oil - 1 tbsp Salt - to taste...

I’ve been wanting to try some of my own and finally got around to it couple of months back. It’s not a short and easy recipe, let me be honest, but it’s all worth it at the end, trust me. The first step is to make the aloo paneer koftas so go on ahead and do that, I’ll wait. Ready? Ok now to the gravy to complete the Malai Kofta Recipe....

Learn how to make mushroom korma, an easy and simple mushroom side dish for appam, dosa, rotis. My niece was visiting Kottayam with me last week for Christmas holidays and while browsing through Vanitha (a Malayalam magazine), we saw a great-looking recipe for Kadai Mushroom. I promised her I’ll make try a mushroom recipe before I leave and even bought and kept some fresh button mushrooms in the fridge....

Mushroom tikki recipe - a simple yet unique recipe for tikki using mushrooms, perfect for vegetarians or those looking for more plant-based snack recipes. The Husband and I eat vegetarian burgers for dinner occasionally. It’s a tried and tested recipe and we like it. However, I recently tried a new mushroom tikki recipe and it turned out really fab so the next time we make vegetable burgers, I may just make larger mushroom patties with this recipe and try it instead – they were that good!...

Pin You will also need to grind up some stuff. This is the essence of the recipe so, read on. Palak Khichdi Recipe Source: Geetha Perima Serves: 2 to 3 What I Used: 2 cups rice 1 cup halved green dal (always use 2:1 ratio for rice:dal) 1 bunch green spinach, chopped fine 1 large onion, chopped 1 teaspoon jeera/cumin ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder ½ teaspoon red chilli powder ½ teaspoon garam masala or goda masala 1 teaspoon ghee (optional) 1 tablespoon oil Salt to taste To grind: 1 cup loosely packed fresh coriander leaves ½ cup loosely packed mint leaves 2 green chillies, or to taste A 1" piece of ginger 4 cloves of garlic 2 tomatoes 5-6 pearl onions/shallots How I Made It: 1....

August is a nice month for a number of reasons. It’s my b’day month for one and although I am turning 30 this year and bidding farewell to my 20s, I am doing it cheerfully. The past decade has been mixed but at the end of it, I feel it was largely positive. TH is planning a special day and while we will be staying put in Singapore, it’s going to be spent outside, according to him....

Pin Tomato paneer pulao recipe: learn how to make tomato paneer pulao, a tangy paneer pulao recipe with simple spices and ingredients. Paneer pulao is a great lunchbox recipe and stores well. Paneer and tomatoes go really well together and form the base of many popular dishes we know and love (like paneer butter masala and paneer jalfrezi ) so why not marry the two to make a tomato paneer pulao, I thought one day....

Vegetable spring rolls are a classic Indo-Chinese Recipe that’s also popular in Thailand, served in restaurants and coffee shops. A cooked vegetable mixture is rolled into a spring roll casing and either deep fried or baked to get a crunchy, delicious, and addictive snack or appetizer (below pic updated on Dec 9th, ‘13). If you want to make baked vegetable spring rolls instead of fried, that’s quite easy too. Please check notes below....