Brunch at a friend’s place So I figured many of you may have the same confusions so I am going to create some menu plans for your home parties, kids birthday parties, general hanging out with friends, etc. Most of these are what I have done in the past so I know they work. If you have any ideas or suggestions, please let me a comment and I will add it in....

Also check out the green mor kuzhambu with coriander leaves . I also love cooking with methi leaves (fenugreek leaves) and the lovely aroma it gives to the final dish. So when I saw this rural Andhra mor kuzhambu (called Thonthana in telugu) in Cooking with Pedatha that uses dal in the mix along with greens and yogurt, I was totally hooked until I tried it. The flavours are simple, yet complex, and the end result is absolutely delicious....

Palkova recipe, learn how to make palkova in the microwave in 10 minutes. Yes, really. Palkova in 10 minutes. What has the world of cooking come to? Traditionally, palkova and thiratipal would require you to painstakingly stir a pan of milk constantly to avoid burning until it reduces to a delicious mulch which is then sweetened. The resultant palkova cannot be compared to this 10-min microwave or stovetop version (let’s not kid ourselves) but it’s still quite magical to get a good bowl of hot palkova in just 10 minutes....

Recipe for a potato drumstick curry that has a thick tomato khus khus (poppy seeds gravy). Until I was 10, we used to live in a sprawling L-shaped house with a gorgeous garden. My mom has quite a green thumb and whatever shoot or seeds she planted would grow and bloom into beautiful things. We had a drumstick tree in the backyard and during one season, it showed off its splendour by giving us many baskets of long, slender drumsticks....

While my grand mom cuts the potatoes into small cubes to make potato fry, I chose to cut them up a bit differently. However you chop the potatoes, this dish is dead simple and there are no complicated spices to mask the earthy flavour of the aloo or potatoes. Since this fry is very mild, it pairs beautifully with sambar or any coconut based gravy like kara kuzhambu . BASIC INDIAN POTATO FRY RECIPE Preparation time: 10 minutes Cooking time: 10 minutes Serves 4 Recipe: from my memory of my grand mom cooking it...

Quinoa pulao with vegetables is one of my success stories! Quinoa has a nutty flavour and lacks the sweetness and stickiness of rice so I’d definitely say it’s an acquired taste. In fact, it’s a seed and not a grain so it cooks up easier than rice but does have a strong flavour, especially when you prepare vegetable pulao with quinoa. I used my standard vegetable pulao recipe and adapted it with the addition of quinoa instead of rice....

X Facebook Pinterest Telegram WhatsApp Yummly Singapore is the hub of Asian fusion food and Singaporeans love their food! Eating out is an activity on its own and done a lot, usually in big groups and with family and extended family. Local food is cheap and very tasty in what is called “hawker centers” where a huge number of food stalls are seen with a wide variety of food from all over Asia....

It took me a full two days to research on this dish and then another half an hour just to make the picture look presentable. The house we are in has just one are where there is natural light and the walls there are blue! Not even a baby blue but bright sea blue!! Which means all my pics will have a solid blue background and I really prefer white. So it took a while to find the cardboard piece to act as the backdrop and to position a small table near the window so there is enough light....

{For a different spin on bread upma, check out this Masala Bread Upma Recipe } The behind the scenes story is that we spent Christmas eve at her place and woke up late the next day. There was nothing in the house to cook with except 2-day old bread and some tomatoes and chillies. With utmost confidence, she chopped, diced and sliced and made this yummy bowl of amazing brunch! So this recipe here is an ideal one for all those bachelors left at home with stale bread in hand and no time to cook a proper meal....

Chunky, fudgy, gooey, yum! Nestle butterscotch chips are not always available in Singapore. I once saw a bag in Cold Storage in Bugis but it was overpriced and the expiry date was in another month so I didn’t get it. Then, Sala sent me an awesome goodie bag and there were butterscotch chips in that! The cookie dough comes together in a jiffy and this is really a no-fail, easy cookie recipe....

Pin Cherry chocolate brownie recipe : learn how to make cherry and chocolate brownies with an easy step by step recipe. These brownies are more like brownie cakes and not the dense and chewy kind but nevertheless, they make a fabulous edible gift for Christmas or really for any occasion. I baked them most recently to take to a birthday party and used glazed cherries that have sprung up in all supermarkets over Christmas....

Chicken dum biryani recipe: chicken biryani using ‘dum’ method is probably the longest standing recipe in my to-make list. While a quick chicken biryani is sufficiently satisfying, dum biryani is really special, especially when meat is involved. I hope this very detailed step by step recipe to make chicken dum biryani helps you, even if you are not a very skilled cook. I actually made this for the first time using this recipe and it came out perfect in the first attempt....

Pin This is probably my favourite section though. This shelf takes up so little space yet houses so many (important!) heavy things. Imagine how helpful this would be in a tiny kitchen. A food-lover’s kitchen cuz otherwise, you don’t even need so many kitchen gadgets! Pin The fritatta was super easy to whip up. It was partly cooked on a stove and then baked (Scan Pan is oven proof too, how cool is that?...

Easy Diwali Snacks Recipes

We are currently staying in a temporary accommodation with a tiny kitchen and I had to buy all my groceries again but I still had the necessary items to make this delicious and easy chana dal sundal last night. The smell and flavour of it reminded me so much of celebrating festivals back in Kerala as a child. I especially love the texture of kadalai paruppu in sundal. You can also check out Payar Sundal , Pattani Mangai Sundal , and Mochakottai Sundal ....

For more thoran recipes, check out chicken thoran , raw papaya thoran , and cabbage thoran recipe . TH thought it was ‘cheppan kizhangu’ or arbi (not sure of the english name for this) and since he loves stir-fried arbi, he encouraged me to buy it. I instinctively knew it was koorka but I didn’t whoop with joy until I came home, scratched some skin off the vegetable and smelled it 😀...

But more than that, who doesn’t like a list of them! Here’s mine. Hope you find it useful while preparing for your Diwali cooking this year, not to mention all those potlucks and parties we keep getting invited to 🙂 Click on the name or the image to get to the recipe.

I thought I should occasionally include reviews of new food products that I try. Sometimes, sharing a one-liner on Facebook or Twitter just doesn’t do it for me. So, the Indianized version of pasta - Maggi’s Pazzta Masala Penne. I got this from Hypercity in the Inorbit Mall in Hyderabad. I grabbed one pack each of the Cheese Macaroni (which I am yet to try!) and the Masala Penne. The verdict:...

Pin All of us have to start baking at some point in our lives. I started when I was 10 because I have a mom who baked a lot. Even then, we had just 2 cake trays - one was round and the other was heart-shaped. We had no cupcake trays so we never baked cupcakes. But, that really shouldn’t stop you. Here’s a quick tip on how to bake cupcakes with no cupcake moulds using your Indian spice box - or masala dabba as we call it back home....