Whew! What a year it has been! What a contrast between beginning of the year to end of the year! Who knew at this time and age a small virus can still have a potential to disrupt the whole world. One can only pray. Stay safe everybody!
Coming to the recipe, presenting a delicious and cool looking cake - Marble cake. Something to cheer up holiday season. I loved the simplicity of this recipe.
Do try!
Happy New Year!!
Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas!!
Enjoy this holiday season with freshly baked Tutti frutti cake.
The cake turned out super moist and tasty despite no egg. Very easy to make. Enjoy!
I used to bake before, but there was always some reservation and I would refer to couple of videos before baking anything, even for the ones I had baked before. All the videos I referred always stressed on getting everything right to get the results right, making me more anxious.
But then cooking goddess Ashwini entered my life 😄 She has practically tried cooking every cuisine in her kitchen, and knows all the dos and don’ts. And more importantly she has the knack to explain things in simplest of the simplest way possible.
When I told her that I plan to make pizza sometime and I need to prepare myself for that, she was like “adrallenide.. heege maaDu.. haage maaDu.. ashte!”(what’s the big deal, do this, do that, done!)
And that’s exactly what I did. Result was perfect! And now I don't fear baking! Thank you Ashwini! I really wish you start making cooking videos :)
Happy Thanksgiving!!
Happy Deepavali!!
Presenting an easy peasy barfi recipe which can be done in no time and tastes like store bought ones. I clearly need to work more on how they look :)
It doesn’t need any major prep work other than buying ingredients and it must’ve taken me like 15 min from start to finish.
I saw this recipe on Oggarane dabbi cooking show long time back. It needs 3 main ingredients - Khoa, Sugar and Gulkand. The original recipe uses sweetened khoa, but since it was not available here, I added powdered sugar.
Do try! Happy Deepavali once again!
I always look for new ways of cooking Sorekayi(bottle gourd). Sorekayi sambar is something I don’t want to make. I don’t like the bland taste of it. So this recipe I tried is from a blog I follow on FB(link given below). The uniqueness of this recipe is bottle gourd is marinated before cooking. This gives bottle gourd so much flavor.
This curry tasted and looked more like Andhra/ Tamil Nadu cuisine, then there’s garam masala too. It has a strong coriander flavor. I added more tomatoes to the curry which complimented the flavors very nicely. It is similar to dal-less gojjus from Karnataka. And most important thing - this gets done in less than 30 min. Do try!
Don’t throw away peels and pulp. Make sorekayi chutney with it(link below).
Some other ways of cooking sorekayi -
Presenting another flavorful rice bath made with methi leaves - methi pulav. Very easy, very tasty and very healthy. This can be made in 1 pot too. Here’s another recipe for methi leaves rice bath.
Enjoy!
Capsicum curry - another dhaba style curry that everybody simply loved in my family. I added potato extra which was not in the original recipe. Here is the link for Dhaba style bhindi masala.
Looks like dhaba style curries use gram flour to get the thickness. I personally liked this feature of adding gram flour as it doesn’t affect the taste of the curry while giving it the creamy texture, secondly you get quite an amount of curry for couple of tbsp of flour. Do try!
Presenting another extremely flavorful sabji/ curry made from bottle gourd. Everyone in my family just loved this. It goes really well with chapathi. Cooking procedure is similar to baingan barta. And it gets done quickly too.
I got this recipe from a blog I follow on FB named Yum(link given below). Do try!
Generally when you make North Indian dals or curries like chana/ rajma, you need a vegetable accompaniment to make it a complete meal. South Indian style sabzis(palyas) don’t go well with this theme, you need north Indian style sabzis. Aloo-gajar-matar fits the bill perfectly. My cousin Archana suggested me to try this particular recipe for its simple taste and easy execution. There is actually no masala in this except for tadka + ginger + green chilies, but this is sufficient to bring out all the vegetable flavors in the dish. My daughter just loved this and kept asking for more and more.
Do try!
I grew up eating only Mangalore/Udupi style sambar/rasam/tambli/saasime. Hence I love Bangalore/Mysore based curries. Especially their kootus and sambars served in weddings.
When I was looking for recipes for Sweet pumpkin(cheenikaayi) I came across this recipe from my favorite blog “Swayampaaka”(link given below). The blogger mentioned that this is served in weddings as well.
Very tasty. Do try!
Happy Ganesha Chaturthi!!
Godhi nucchina payasa - a sweet dish made with broken wheat and jaggery. My family is a big fan of these kind of payasas. This can be made with other pulses and grains in a similar fashion. Ideal for functions and festivals. Enjoy!
Tried this bhindi masala from a new blog that I browse these days[link given below]. Curry came out to be extremely tasty and creamy. Goes well with both rice and chapathi. This apparently is made in dhaba style.
Do try!
I’ve already posted a recipe for mavinkayi chitranna(raw mango) which can be found here. Mavinkayi chitranna and lemon rice are very similar, one uses raw mango for sourness and other uses lemon.
I came across another unique way of making mavinkayi chitranna(link given below). A special blend of spices is roasted and ground and added along with mavinkayi. It tasted more like a mix between puliyogare and chitranna. Very tasty. Do try!
I love trying all kinds of sandwiches. I loved this idea of using paneer tikka masala as filling, and the end product was very tasty and filling. My daughter just loved this. Best recipe to make kids excited about lunch/snack/dinner.
This recipe uses artificially induced smoked paneer tikka masala as sandwich filling. The smokey part is induced by placing a small pot with burning charcoal (+ oil) inside the container and closing lid for some time. I skipped this part. Sandwich tasted yummy nevertheless.
Do try!
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This is a very simple rice bath with simple flavors and can be made in no time. Cabbage is generally not liked by kids. But sneak it in a rice bath, they’ll not mind, hopefully :)
Along with cabbage, I added capsicum and chick peas for extra flavor. Do try!
I love love love Andhra food. I was exposed to Andhra food much later in life in my early 20s. I loved going to this one Andhra restaurant in BengaLuru which served vegetarian lunch menu on a banana leaf. Their pickles, chutneys and pappus were out of this world. I was frequenting that restaurant quite often. After a while my body just couldn’t handle the heat and I had to forcefully stop myself from going there. Once in a while I crave that kind of food, but how much ever I try I can’t bring myself to make it that spicy at home.
Coming to the recipe, Drumstick leaves(moringa leaves) is considered super potent and healthy. I find separating leaves from the stalks painful, but I still get it for its health benefits. This dal is very flavorful and made in Andra style. Do try!
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