Chocolate peda with condensed milk and milk powder is sweet number 2 from my kitchen this Diwali. After making the rava ladoo , I was wondering what other easy Diwali sweet I can make (with chocolate in it, I admit!), and zeroed in on chocolate peda. This recipe uses milk powder and condensed milk to make the job much easier, so it’s a shortcut sweet. I mean, what else did you expect from me, eh?...
Learn how to make an easy quiche with mushrooms and onions. This is a vegetarian quiche recipe that uses eggs. I am really not sure why I have never made quiche before. It’s quite fail-proof and lends itself so well to customisations. While eggless quiche recipes are really popular all over the Internet now, I wanted to try a simple basic quiche recipe for my first attempt at making quiche....
Idiyappam or sevai is a regular breakfast in our home in Kerala. In fact, steamed rice-based dishes are the most common and until I moved out and started cooking on my own, I never realised what a luxury it was to eat the hot, healthy, and delicious breakfasts that seemed to waltz effortlessly out of my mom’s kitchen. The most common breakfast items at home are idli , dosa, idiyappam, puttu , appam , adai , kozhukkattai, chapati, and on rare occasions, toast with homemade butter....
Needless to say, I did this extremely time-consuming task watching tv and recruited TH to help me too. He did it with an expression that seemed to say “why are we doing this again? I don’t feel compelled to eat this thing if prepping it is such a pain you know”. I ignored it and kept plucking diligently until I had a large plate full of fresh drum stick leaves....
A bit about Navratna Korma although I don’t usually like doing yada yada (get to the recipe already!), but this dish is seriously interesting. Navratan means nine jewels and this dish is supposed to contain a mix of 9 fruits, vegetables and fried nuts. In true Mughlai cuisine fashion, cream (or cashew nut paste) is added to form the gravy. This is different from the less rich coconut based mixed vegetable curry from South India....
There really isn’t a specific recipe for Sambar Vadai. If you know how to make Medhu Vadai and you have a good sambar recipe in hand, just use them both and dunk the vadai into the sambar before serving. That’s really it. I made Sambar Vadai for breakfast one day (with leftover soaked urad dal from making idli batter ) and had so much fun photographing it that I had to share the recipe with all the pics I took!...
I was one of you two years back so here’s a quick guide that hopefully helps you. Pressure Cooker Pressure cookers are most commonly used in India which means you get a large variety and the cheapest options here. There are lots to choose from but unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to check them out because I got 3 pressure cookers as a gift for the wedding, of which 2 I carried with me to Singapore....
The secret to getting a good deep colour for your jalfrezi is to use tomato paste instead of fresh pureed tomato. I use tomato paste from a can or from tubes which are much easier to use. Since these are really concentrated, a teaspoon or two at the most is usually sufficient. As for the vegetables, you can go for any you like. I used carrots, beans, baby corn, bell pepper, and onions this time around....
Pin Aloo Palak is a sure-shot winner at home since TH loves both potatoes and palak. And its generally a quick recipe for me since I chop the spinach during weekends and freeze it or sometimes buy it chopped. Aloo Palak is originally a Punjabi recipe, (which reminds me - what happened to RCI??) and the authentic recipe includes addition of some methi or fenugreek leaves to it. My version is very customized to my laziness so you may or may not find it to resemble something you would get in a Punjabi restaurant 😉...
Pin Basil Pesto Pasta Serves 2 Ingredients : 2 cups of pasta of your choice, cooked al dente ¾ cup basil pesto One small broccoli, cut into florets A handful of green peas 1 tomato, cubed 1 teaspoon minced garlic 2 tablespoon olive oil Freshly ground pepper, to taste Salt, to taste 2 tablespoon parmesan cheese A few basil leaves, roughly chopped (optional) How I Made It: Heat the olive oil in a skillet and add the minced garlic....
Anyway, this post is not so much about all that, it’s more about my sister, her blog , and her lovely Blueberry Muffins. I have been especially caught up in other stuff over the past couple weeks (a work trip followed by a vacation followed by marketing classes at INSEAD for those of you who are curious) and was lamenting to the sis how I am just not able to post something in here....
Chocolate cupcakes with white chocolate frosting, an easy chocolate cupcake recipe I made when I was still fairly new to baking. Step by step recipe below. Pin In a recent survey on the left sidebar of this blog, I had asked what makes you visit me. Is it easy recipes, step by step recipes, the food pictures, food photography tips or anything else. A vast majority of you liked the step by step recipes so I dug up this one from the drafts....
Pin Step by Step Pictures for Making Gobi Paratha: Pin Pin Step by Step Pictures for Making Gobi Paratha: Pin
Most recipes in this site call for thick or thin (and sometimes both) coconut milk. In malayalam, coconut milk is always referred to as onnam paal (literally meaning first milk), rendaam paal (second milk), etc. The lighter coconut milk is used to simmer ingredients in and the first milk is added in the end just before turning off the heat - it should never be boiled. Amma being the ever-resourceful person she is, also extracts moonnam paal (or third coconut milk) by just mixing the squeezed coconut shreds with some warm water in the end, without blending....
Pin I started making paneer at home more frequently when Mustafa Centre stopped stocking Amul paneer cubes intermittently. Although they were practically tasteless compared to homemade paneer, I always have a small bag in the freezer just in case the urgent need to make some paneer butter masala kicks in. When I make fresh paneer at home, I usually end up using it within the next day or two so the store-bought ones were good for storing away for a paneer emergency....
This Instant Wheat Dosa recipe , among many others, reminds me of my late Grandmom, Aatha to me. She was an expert at making these crispy, lacy, tempered, instant wheat dosa (or Godhuma Dosa as we call it) mainly because although it’s an instant dosa recipe, it requires more time to cook than regular dosas due to the wheat flour or atta used to make the dosa batter. Her wheat dosa recipe only contains wheat flour that’s diluted in water and then tempered with some spices and curry leaves....
My MIL is the queen of easy cooking. You will never find her slogging for long hours in the kitchen but the delightful part is, everything comes out tasting great. Puli aval is one such recipe that got made on a weeknight. If you want to cook up a fast meal after work, here’s what I suggest. As soon as you get home, soak the aval (poha or flattened rice) in the tamarind extract and go take a shower, change, and relax/read for a bit....
Pin Rhengan Reveya is a traditional Gujarati recipe that is a delicious satay of baby aubergines and baby potatoes marinated in a spicy peanut paste. I have not yet tried peanut-based curries and that made this all the more exciting. Also, aubergines are my weakness, as you can see from the number of kathirikai recipes on this blog 😀 Anyway, on to the recipe now. Pin Rhengan Reveya Recipe Original recipe inspiration from here Serves 4 Ingredients 6 baby brinjal / kathirikai 2 potatoes, cubed (or 8 baby potaoes, halved) For Spice Powder / Marinade: ½ cup peanuts 1 tablespoon coriander seeds 2 teaspoon cumin seeds/ jeera / jeerakam 4 dry red chillies 1 pinch turmeric powder ½ teaspoon amchur / dry mango powder (optional but recommended) 1 teaspoon sugar A big pinch of hing / asafoetida / kaayam 1" piece grated ginger A bunch of coriander leaves, finely chopped 3 tablespoon oil Salt to taste For Tempering: 2 teaspoon oil 1 pinch hing / asafoetida / kaayam A few cumin / jeera seeds How I Made It: 1....
Pin Tandoori chicken recipe , learn how to make tandoori chicken at home baked in your regular oven. If you save some time for marination, tandoori chicken works as a great starter recipe when you are entertaining. Growing up, tandoor-baked dishes were not part of our menu whether we were eating our or at home. Kottayam had no good North Indian restaurant from what I can remember and we invariably defaulted to Indian Chinese food during Monthly eating out routine....
