One weekend recently, I made this gorgeous sesame tofu and decided to make some vegetable noodles to go with it. Not the instant version but the popular Indian Chinese vegetable noodles that Indians love! The only time-consuming part of this recipe is julienning the vegetables. I have a handy slicer that does the job beautifully, especially on vegetables like carrots and potatoes so I used it to get the thin long strips (picture below)....

Walnut basil pesto recipe: how to make basil pesto with walnuts . Pesto is a popular Italian sauce that’s hard to miss, what with Italian cuisine being such a popular one globally. I developed a very gradual liking to pesto. In fact, the first couple of times I tried it, I found the flavour of the basil leaves too strong. Then I got to taste pesto in a couple of great restaurants and that converted me....

Cheddar Cheese Soup Source : Nita Mehta’s Soups, Salads and Starters Serves : 5-6 What I Used: 2 onions, chopped 3 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped 25gm (1 cube Amul cheese) cheddar cheese, grated 2 tablespoon butter 1 cup milk (I used low fat ‘cuz that’s all I had) 5 cups water ½ cup sour cream (I didn’t use this) ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1 teaspoon salt To Garnish: Croutons 25gm (1 cube Amul cheese) cheddar cheese, grated Fresh coriander leaves (optional) How I Made It: 1....

As much as I love coconut, especially in the form of Coconut Chutney , I buy it fresh from Little India about once a month and freeze it in small batches which does make thawing it quicker but not quick enough when I am really really hungry for breakfast and the only thing that stands between me and hot, steaming idlis is a stupid lump of frozen coconut. This Onion Chutney is handy for those days because it’s a chutney recipe with no coconut and the onions get browned in less time than it needs for you to steam your idlis or make your dosa / uthappam....

Keerai Kootu is a delcious and healthy vegan recipe from South India using spinach ( keerai in Tamil, cheera in Malayalam, palak in Hindi), yellow moong beans and a coconut mixture that’s cooked together. Keerai kootu is usually served with rice but also goes really well with roti and dosa. Spinach is one of those vegetables that I ate while growing up only because my grand mom told me repeatedly that it would help make my hair grow thick and luscious....

Mochakottai Sundal Recipe Ingredients: Mochakottai / Butter Beans - 100gm Grated coconut - ½ cup Red chillies - 5 Urad dal - 1 tsp Mustard - ½ tsp Curry leaves - 1 strand Oil - 1.5 tbsp Salt - to taste How Its Made: Pressure cook the beans till its soft. Heat oil, add mustard seeds and let them cackle. Add the urad dal, red chillies and curry leaves and fry for a min....

Paneer tikka masala recipe, restaurant-style paneer tikka masala with pre-made paneer tikka pieces. When I posted the recipe for paneer tikka, a few people commented that I am quite the paneer lover. More than loving to eat paneer, I love cooking with it. It’s so versatile! Cheese that lends to grilling, frying, crumbling, and rolling has got to rank up high in any cook’s list, right? Paneer Tikka Masala Recipe Ingredients Instructions Pin...

Pineapple cupcake recipe, learn how to make easy pineapples from scratch with canned pineapples and no butter. Pin Pineapple cupcake recipe Ingredients Instructions Cupcakes and I are besties and I’d usually not say no if a good cupcake comes my way, especially if it’s chocolate-flavoured. However, this pineapple cupcake recipe is a dream – it’s beginner-friendly, frosting-optional, and uses fruit which is, well, healthy-ish, right? It’s also fail-proof because I have made three batches on three different days with great results every time....

Sharjah shakes were all the rage when I was in college. Although it feels like just yesterday that I was in college, sadly, it’s been a while. It’s a sweet milkshake with banana, dates (hence the name Sharjah from where the dates are supposedly from) and a malt drink powder like Boost or Maltova. That’s the time when milk shake parlours sprang up all over town and people of all ages dropped by for a quick relief from the heat and humidity that’s almost always present in Kerala....

Tamarind idiyappam or puli idiyappam, an instant recipe with idiyappam or sevai that’s spicy, tangy, and delicious. Growing up, this tamarind idiyappam was a specialty dish at home since we just ate idiyappam with stew or ghee and sugar and it rarely got made into anything else. Pin Tamarind Idiyappam Recipe Ingredients Instructions We also use the terms sevai and idiyappam interchangeably. I don’t believe we’ve ever made sevai the traditional way....

Learn how to make this easy 10-min Cheese Garlic Bread . It serves as a great appetizer and is easy to prep ahead and serve hot in large batches. Who doesn’t like Garlic Bread ? Wait, don’t answer that. Who doesn’t like Garlic Bread with Cheese? Even my in-laws who are generally garlic-dislikers would say yes to Garlic Bread especially if it came with some cheese on top. Now, you can be all fancy and make this 10-min Cheese Garlic Bread from scratch but that won’t get done in 10 mins and you will be left with a bunch of vessels to clean....

Pears are known for its mild flavour and firmness. This is why I like them best in salads and maybe poached. Wiki also says that in some varieties, its difficult to tell apart apples and pears. This was quite surprising to me since we get only one kind of pear in Hyderabad and maybe a couple of varities of apples. And really, it’s not difficult to tell them apart easily....

The other day I got some gorgeous baby brinjals (new-born, even) and had to make something non-fussy and flavourful. Although vatha kozhambu was on the cards, that didn’t end up happening so I adapted a quick dry masala recipe for the baby brinjal and peanuts to have a go at each other. I think they like each other. This is a no-onion, no-garlic recipe. Baby Brinjal and Peanut Masala Recipe (Kathirikai Curry) Serves: 2...

I always associate Chicken 65 with Madurai although I have only been to Madurai once and I didn’t eat Chicken 65 during that trip. Weird, I know, but not too much because Chicken 65 is a very popular and spicy street food in Madurai. Anyway, I am sure none of you are new to this deliciously spicy fried chicken dish from South India that serves as an appetizer as well as it does a main dish....

But seeing that I may not make dulce de leche any more in the near future, and since this is a really good recipe which I tried eggless, I want to share it anyway. Eggless Dulce de Leche Brownies Preparation time: 15 minutes Cooking time: 30 minutes Makes 8 large brownies Adapted from: David Lebovitz’s A Sweet Life in Paris Ingredients: ¾ cup of chopped bittersweet or semi sweet chocolate (6 oz / 170gm) ½ cup of butter, cut into pieces (8 tbsp) ¼ cup of cocoa powder 3 tablespoon of flaxseed powder / flaxseed meal (or 3 eggs) 1 cup of sugar 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract 1 cup of all-purpose flour ½ cup of any nuts of choice (optional - I used pecans) ¾ cup of dulce de leche...

A few things before we start: It’s important to have a powerful enough motor to be able to knead dough since it’s a ’tough’ job for a machine. Make sure you check manufacturer’s manual to make sure if you can make dough in your food processor Keep all ingredients ready before you begin I usually add a bit more water to the dough than needed, for smoother kneading, and then dust more flour and finish the final knead by hand HOW TO MAKE CHAPATI DOUGH IN FOOD PROCESSOR Preparation time: 10 minutes Makes enough dough for 7 chapatis...

This may not a big deal for all you North Indians who eat roti or chapati every day. As a hardcore South Indian who eats them probably once a week, I hate making the chapati or roti dough . It gets sticky, I need to pour water with one hand and mix with the other, the stuff gets under my nails, and worse, it takes forever to clean my hand afterwards, not to mention the energy you need to exert to get it ready....

It was my first step by step recipe 2. I posted pictures of my oven and every other reader of this blog immediately had a gazillion questions about it! Ok, I tend to exaggerate a bit but in this case, its only a teeny bit. True story. Considering all the emails I have replied (happily, may I add) on the subject, this post is terribly late. But then, here it is, finally, after a break of 9 days, my longest in a while....

Millet flour pancakes that are gluten free and also toddler friendly, a big hit from my recent experiments to please the 1 year old in the house who has been on primarily Indian food and textures for a while. Pin Millet Flour Pancakes Recipe Ingredients Instructions Notes It has been a personal goal for me to try and include different flours (both from grains and seeds) into our diets, including for LilS....