Dec 6, 2014

Banana Walnut Bread

This is another goodie I baked during the Thanksgiving break this year! Saw bananas going bad on the counter top and wanted to make something with it.  Immediately this bread came to my mind.  Unfortunately my girls hate walnuts and bananas. When I said I need their help in baking this, they said a big NO. But I gave a bribe saying we will add some white chocolate chips along with the nuts.  It sounded like a good deal to them and we started our prep work :). Again I got the recipe from allrecipes.com and adjusted the ingredient quantity according to our requirement.

Dec 5, 2014

Jam Filled Cookies

 I baked these cookies last week when my kids had Thanksgiving break.  It came out really really good.  I never thought I could really bake a buttery textured jam filled cookies.  I was browsing the allrecipes.com website and came across this one. I changed the measurements to adjust the required quantity. Here goes the recipe.

Nov 21, 2014

Pasta with Veggies

I made this pasta for thanksgiving feast at school today. It came out pretty good and it was pretty easy to make. I used the rotini pasta from Safeway.  I used the whole box as it was for more than 30 kids and many parents brought something to eat so I felt one box will be enough.  Here goes the recipe I followed to make this pasta.

Nov 13, 2014

Aloo Kachori


When we were in Delhi, we had chance to travel to many places in North India. I came across different types of kachoris during those trips. Every time we stop for breakfast or for snack, one of us will buy this and share it.  I never had the confidence to try making it at home.  Last week, when I started preparing for making samosas, I got the idea of trying Kachoris.  Below is the recipe, I followed to make this kachori.  I am not sure whether this is an authentic recipe.  But my girls and family liked it a lot.

Nov 4, 2014

Green Apple Instant Pickle

I made this green apple pickle using super sour green apples from my back yard. We were literally wasting those apple as none of us like sour apple. Came across this recipe when one of my relative visited us and gave me the idea of making this pickle. Initially I tried with just two small apples as I was not sure whether my people will like it and surprisingly, they really liked it.  In fact my girls liked taking it as side dish along with curd rice to school.  Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:
  1. Green Apple -  2
  2. Salt to taste
  3. Red chilli powder - 2-3 tsp (acc to taste)
  4. Hing - few generous pinches
  5. Sesame Oil - 2 tbsp
  6. Mustard Seeds- 1 1/2 tsp
  7. Fenugreek/Methi seeds - 1 1/2 tsp

  • Chop the apple into small pieces.  
  • Sprinkle the required amount of salt, mix it well and keep it aside for an hour.   
  • After an hour, heat the oil, crackle mustard seeds. 
  • Add methi seeds and fry it until golden brown.  
  • Mean time, add the required amount of chilli powder on top of the apple pieces along with few generous pinches of hing.  
  • Pour the hot oil tempering on top of the chilli powder and mix every thing well.  
  • Keep it aside for another half and hour and can be used after that.
Since this is an instant pickle, we can use the mustard seeds and methi seed as tempering.  If we are planning to make it in large quantity, it is better to dry roast mustard and methi seeds and grind it and use that ground powder.  It will definitely taste better. Above said quantity will last for two days with a family of five :)

Oct 11, 2014

Pineapple Muffins - No Guilt Snack

So, I call this a no guilt snack.  Why? Reason is I used few ingredients which are really good for health and you don't have to feel bad for eating a sweet.  First thing here I used Whole wheat atta instead of APF. I used EVOO for butter, Low fat yogurt for full fat sour cream, egg whites for 2 eggs and Xylitol instead of sugar.  You can read about the goodness of this sweetner here.

Oct 8, 2014

Plantain podimas - Thanjavur style

This is again one of my favourite receipe. In my mom's place, I haven't seen her making podimas with platain (vazhakkai). But in my In-laws place, they make this plantain podimas. The main ingredients are as follows:
Ingredients:-
  1. Plantain(vaazhakkai) - 2
  2. Oil - 2 tbsp
  3. Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
  4. Urid dal - 1/2 tsp
  5. Fresh coconut - 1 tbsp
  6. Green chillies - 2
  7. ginger - a small piece
  8. Lemon juice - 1 tbsp
  9. Salt to taste
  10. Curry leaves - 10 nos
  11. Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
  12. Asafoetida powder -

There are two ways of cooking vazhakkai here, one is remove the skin, cut it into small cubes, pressure cook it adding salt and turmeric powder, upto 2 whistles ( do not mash the cubes). The other method is, cut the vazhakkai into two pieces (after removing the edges), pressure cook it adding salt to it upto 2 whistles. After taking it out from the pressure cooker, remove the skin(it will be easier) mash it. You can choose either one.

Now take a wide pan, pre heat the oil, add mustard seeds, when it splutters add urid dal, green chillies, curry leaves, asafoetida powder, turmeric powder (if you choose the second method of cooking), ginger and try it till golden brown. Now add the vazhakkai pieces or mashed vazhakkai to it and mix everything thoroughly. Turn off the stove and let it cool. After 10 mts add the lemon juice to it and mix it. Sprinkle the fresh coconut on top of it. Vazhakkai podimas is ready to serve. This shoule be a wonder side dish for vatha kozhambu or any kind of kozhambu.

Oct 6, 2014

Eggless Dates & Nuts Cake

I made this cake after reading the post from Sony's Kitchen.  I almost followed the same recipe except I used dark brown sugar instead of granulated white sugar.  When we melt the sugar in milk/oil, it will ooze out little bit more water than the regular white sugar.  So I had to add more flour to this cake than the original recipe.



Oct 5, 2014

Spicy & Salty Potato Crackers

I made these crackers today for evening snack.  As usual got the recipe from Priya's blog. I almost followed the same recipe except included Ashirwadh atta along with APF.  Here goes my version of spicy crackers.

Apr 3, 2014

Dal Makhani


I just love this Dal Makhani.  Gravy with so nutritious lentils.  When we were in Delhi, we had a chance to live in Intercontinental Hotel for more than a month.  They have a restaurant inside called Singh Sahib and they make this dal makhani  and Dahi wali Bindi so nicely that we literally fell in love with this dish.  Even though I like this dish, I have never tried it personally at home.  This time I wanted to try this at home and finally I had a chance last week to try this dish and luckily it came out good...
Here goes the recipe.

Apr 1, 2014

Basil Pasta

I make Pasta for my girls once or twice a week. Every time I try to put different kinds of vegetables. Once with corn, once with broccoli, once with green peas and carrots.  This time I made it with peas and corn.  But i added basil pasta sauce to add more flavor to it.  It came out pretty good and my girls liked it.  Here goes the recipe.






Mar 25, 2014

Ginger Garlic Rasam

Rasam is one of the most comforting food.  My MIL is an expert in making so many varieties of Rasam.  I learned a few from her and you can check it out a few from here.  We make rasam using garlic occasionally. But this is something I tried here recently when my kiddo got sick with stomach upset and she started throwing up suddenly.  Because of that her throat became sore.  Ginger is good for throat and garlic is good for digestion.  Here goes the recipe.

Mar 23, 2014

Quinoa-Oats Chocolate Chip Cookie

This is something I made yesterday.  Kids wanted to eat chocolate chip cookie.  Instead of making plain chocolate chip cookie, I wanted to try something new.  I got this recipe from allrecipes website.  When it comes to baking, I rely on this website the most as I have followed their measurements without even considering twice.  The original recipe calls for 18 cookies but I changed the measurements for 8 cookies and followed the same.  Here goes the recipe.

Mar 22, 2014

Idly Sandwich

Idly is considered as one of the healthy breakfast dish.  My husband somehow is not a fan of idly.  He always complains that it has more carbs and there is no way you can fill it with veggies even though we make some side dish for it.  The idea of making idly sandwich is given by my husband.  I tried this sandwich with leftover potato curry. My suggestion after making this sandwich is never try with potato curry.  I should have tried with some mixed vegetable curry, spinach curry etc.

Mar 20, 2014

Nutella Filled Puffs

I always wanted to try making veggie puffs.  Not sure whether i can do it or not.  Finally i managed to find the puff pastry sheets from my local grocery and tried this nutella filled puffs couple of days before. For those who wants to know how to use the frozen pastry sheets, please follow this video.

Mar 17, 2014

Potato-Quinoa Tikki

I got the idea of making this tikki after going through a post in www.foodily.com.  I know that making a tikki needs patience and I am not that good in making this one so far.  The post I saw was a Quinoa & beef patty.  I just took the idea of using quinoa in making tikki and used it here as per my whims and fancies. Here goes the recipe for making Quinoa-Potato Tikki.

Ingredients:

  1. Cooked Quinoa - 1/2 cup
  2. Medium sized potato - 1 (boil and mash it)
  3. Onion - 1/4 cup finely chopped
  4. Green peas - 1/4 cup ( I used frozen peas, cook it in microwave accordingly)
  5. Coriander leaves - 1/4 cup finely chopped 
  6. Salt to taste
  7. Ajwain/omam - 1/2 tsp
  8. Chilli powder - 1 tsp (acc to taste
  9. Garam Masala powder - 1/2 tsp
  10. Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp (optional)
  11. Maida/Corn flour - for coating.
  12. Oil - 4 tbsp
    Quinoa-Potato Tikki

Mar 14, 2014

Pepper-Corn Cheesy Pasta


Here is another dish I tried after checking out Raks Kitchen.  I followed almost the same method but not the same ingredients.Its too bad that I forgot to take a picture properly.  I remembered it later on and took the picture from the lunch box. My kids liked it except for the fact that I added a little bit more pepper and they don't eat spicy stuff much.  Here goes my recipe.


Mar 12, 2014

Pepper rice noodles / Milagu Sevai

I make this rice noodles/instant sevai at least once a week for my dad.  I have never made instant sevai with cumin and pepper powder.  I usually make it white sevai, yellow/lemon sevai.  I grabbed the idea of making this milagu sevai from Priya 's blog

Mar 9, 2014

Paneer Fried Rice

Here is another recipe from Raks Kitchen.  I made this Paneer Fried Rice yesterday. I have made this rice many times and it is always a hit in our house.  My girls never like to eat panner.  But somehow they liked the taste of this panner fried rice and no complaints so far !!!

Mar 8, 2014

Chena Mezhukkupuratti / Yam Curry

Chena Mezhukkupuratti / mezhukkuvaratti is a famous simple side dish in most of Palghat Iyer families. We call it Upperi.  I just love this simple curry with a generous sprinkle of coconut oil. My patti is an expert in making this curry and I just love the way she makes it so crispy with less oil.

Mar 4, 2014

Gujarati Muthia

I work in a place where more than half of the people are from Gujarat.  So recently I have started tasting lots of Gujarati Dishes and learning few of them.  This is one such dish which I really liked.  I wanted to try it and got the recipe from my friend.  Here goes the recipe.

Mar 2, 2014

Instant Oats Idly

Instant Oats Idly
My dad got his green card last year and moved to USA mid last year.  He eats light dinner everyday and I try to make some light tiffin for him.  This instant oats idly is a recipe, I got from raks kitchen.  It came out pretty good and its very easy to make within half an hour. 

I am linking this oats idly to Priya's Healthy Diet - cooking with Whole grains event and this month it has been hosted by Nupur


Mar 1, 2014

Malai Kofta

 Malai Kofta - Nobody can say no to this creamy side dish. I love this dish so much.  Yesterday I made this dish for our dinner.  We had it with store bought naan (that was not a good idea though). It was little bit time consuming as I had to make few stuff all by myself like cashew paste, tomato puree etc.  But after tasting it, we thought that the time spent cooking this dish is all worth it.

Feb 28, 2014

Cheesy Pasta with Olives & Broccoli

Recently I have started making dishes which includes cheese or paneer. I have increased making dishes with these two ingredients to make my girls eat cheese.  My girls love Pasta. They used to eat it plain with out any sauce.

Feb 26, 2014

Homemade Nachos

As I have mentioned in my previous post, I have started making dishes in which I can add more cheese and veggies.  Recently my girls started liking Nachos and now I am experimenting nachos with different types of vegetables.  This is something I tried last week and it vanished within few minutes.  Here goes the recipe.


Feb 24, 2014

Homemade Salsa

My kids just love Nachos.  I recently found another way to make them eat cheese. I am making them eat extra servings of vegetables as well because of Nachos. Instead of buying salsa from store, I thought of making at home.  I made a whole big bowl of them yesterday for making Nachos.  Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:
  1. Tomato - 2 Nos (big)
  2. Onion - 1 (big- I used Pink Onion)
  3. Bell Pepper - 1
  4. Green Chilli - 1 (remove seeds from it)
  5. Coriander leaves - 1/4 cup
  6. Lemon Juice - 2 tbsp
  7. Salt to taste.
Salsa
Chop the vegetables into tiny small pieces.  Put everything in a bowl.  Chop coriander leaves finely and add it.  Add lemon juice and salt and mix everything well.  My friend also suggested that we can add a teaspoon of cumin powder to it.  I have not tried that yet personally.  This salsa tasted so refreshing and the good part is its home made.

Feb 18, 2014

Idly/Dosa Molagapodi

Even though I like to have molagapodi as side dish with almost all of my dishes (including thayir saadam), I didn't know how to make it until last week.  My MIL used to make it in large quantity and give it to us.  But this time while coming back from India, I forgot to ask her.  We ran out of molagapodi last week.  So I had to make it here.  I asked my MIL the recipe for making it and tried it here.  It came out pretty good.  I put little less chilli than her.  Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:
  1. Channa Dhall / Kadala paruppu - 1 cup
  2. Red Chillies - 3/4 cup (acc to taste)
  3. Salt to taste
  4. White Sesame Seeds -  1 tsp
  5. Sesame Oil - 1 tbsp
  6. jaggery/Vellam - 1 tsp
Molagapodi
Preheat oil in a kadai/pan.  Add the red chillies and fry it in low/medium flame until it becomes dark red color.  Don't burn the chillies.  Take the chillies out when it is done and keep it in a wide plate for cooling.  Now add channa dhall to the same kadai and fry it until it becomes golden brown.  A nice aroma will come when it is done.  Take it out of the flame and put it along with the chillies and let it cool.  Turn down the flame to low and put the sesame seeds in it and fry it until it becomes pink color.  Add it along with chilli and dhall.  Once it is cool, grind it coarsely adding salt and jaggery to it. Enjoy with Idly, dosa, adai etc

Feb 16, 2014

Banana Smoothie with girl scout Almond Bar !!

I got the recipe from a friend of mine. I tried it and it came out well. But my girls love to eat banana by itself, instead of drinking a smoothie. So I am not doing it anymore. Here is the recipe for my friends.

Ingredients:-
  1. Banana - 1 (freeze it for half an hour)
  2. Milk - 1 cup (skim milk)
  3. Girl Scout Almond chocolate bar - four small squares.

Blend the above said ingredients till it turns smooth and enjoy. In this recipe, adding sugar is optional. Because banana by itself is sweet and i added chocolate bar to make my girlies drink it.  Also we can replace chocolate with honey which is very good for health.

Jan 11, 2014

Bread Pizza

Happy New Year to all my readers!!


I finally managed to find time to write a blog post after almost six months.  This is a simple pizza made by my girls.  I helped them with baking it.  But they did all the assembly, spreading sauce, cutting bread edges etc.  Here goes the recipe...