Nargis mandakki

 My husband and daughter love snacks like chivda and mandakki. So I always have either of them handy in the house for healthy snacking. Perfect with evening coffee. These are so easy to make and yield big batches with minimal effort - totally my kinda snack :)  However in my house, how much ever I make, they somehow manage to finish it up in 1-2 days, that’s a different story!!

Anyways, this particular mandakki recipe I tried is called nargis mandakki(video link given below). Apparently famous in Davangere region of Karnataka. You basically make dry green chutney, fry and mix with mandakki.  

The sweet added was little too sweet for me, but I haven’t eaten this before so I don’t know how exactly it should taste. But overall a very tasty snack. 

Do try! 

Ragi(Finger Millet) Mug Cake

 If you are craving for some cake and want it instantly, and don’t want to get into the hassle of baking a whole cake + wait for an hour or so for it to bake +  then clean up after it’s done, then you should try mug cakes. These are so easy and they get done in 3-5 min max, then all you have to clean up is just 1 coffee mug!!! 

 

Mug cakes recipes have been circulating around in the net for many years now. For those who don’t know what it is - it is basically a single portion cake that you cook(bake) in the microwave in a coffee mug! 

But what’s special about this particular mug cake recipe is that it uses ragi.. RAGI! 

My kid who doesn’t like anything made out of ragi, loved this. 

This cake doesn’t taste like regular cake, you CAN taste ragi in it. This tastes like some exotic version of dark chocolate cake. If you are a dark chocolate lover like my kid, you will definitely love this. 

Do try this for Mother’s day this weekend and enjoy it guilt free! 

Happy Mother’s day! 

Baked Squash Chips

 I hardly experiment with things I know, leave alone stuff in completely unknown territory… 

When my cousin gave me squash from her kitchen garden, I was completely clueless what to do with it. Upon talking with friends and googling, I found this extremely easy, hard to resist recipe. You just cut squash in slices and bake with some cheese. 

Tada! 

It turned out very flavorful, and the whole batch got over in no time. 

An easy appetizer to go with pasta. 

My daughter was very eager to cook something in the kitchen, so I let her do this completely by herself. 

Eggless Tutti Frutti Cake

 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! 

Pizza

 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!!

Paneer Tikka Sandwich

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! 

Bread masala

So one day, casually browsing I came across bread masala video on Hebbar’s Kitchen and my daughter who was close by saw it and insisted that I make it for her. It looked easy.. so I gave it a try.. It tasted soo good! Generally making pav bhaji is easy, but this is easier than that. This is perfect for lunch box for kids. You can make masala previous day and add bread pieces in the morning, mix and give it for lunch box. 

Do try!  

Matar Paneer

Just like chole, matar paneer is another popular north Indian curry which is loved by everybody. I followed Vah chef’s recipe for this as all his north Indian curries come close to restaurant taste. This curry can be had with both chapathi/poori and fried rice. 

Do try! 

Quesadilla - easy lunch box recipe

Quesadilla makes for a perfect lunch box item, especially for kids. Adults can equally enjoy it too. Easy peasy, and can be made in a jiffy(less than 10 min) for busy weekday mornings. I’m sure every house has their own recipe for this. Here’s mine.. 

I generally make stuffing before hand and use organic whole wheat frozen tortillas(from costco, with just 5 ingredients, no preservative).

Do try!

Vegetable Spring roll

I was planning on making some special Indian sweet or savory snack for Deepavali. Since Deepavali is already here, I’ll go with whatever I have on hand :) 

I had tried this recipe sometime back and it turned out to be very tasty. The procedure is fairly easy and although tedious, makes a great appetizer for a dinner party/potluck. Rolling takes a lot of time, and if you have some help in that area, making this is very easy. You can also roll this and freeze before hand, frying just before serving. 

Do try!

Happy Deepavali!!

Sweet Potato Fries

Another easy and healthy snack which “hides” the real vegetable under the disguise of fries. It’s so tasty and easy, you can make it in no time. 

In my native place, whenever any of us kids said we are bored or don’t know what to do,  the elders would say “genegu beyisu hogu”, meaning - go cook sweet potato. I have no idea why that is linked with boredom.. should ask somebody the logic behind that phrase.. 

Coming back to the recipe. You cut sweet potatoes into thin strips. Put some spices and bake - it’s as simple as that. Kids will love it for sure..  

Do try!

Corn Capsicum Curry

Life’s become busy... doing what? can’t tell for sure :) There is nothing in particular I can account for, just busy running errands, daily chores, being a soccer mom, setting up a routine for daughter’s homework and MAKING SURE SHE FOLLOWS IT!!  

A spring break thrown in the middle didn’t help much either. It’s funny how children when home = all your free time spent on them. Blogging has taken a back seat. I am not trying out many new recipes lately. Whatever little I try, I am not finding the time nor energy to set up and wait for the pictures to be taken by hubby. Anyways break is over and we are slowly crawling back to our routine.

I was digging out my drafts to see if I can post some of the old dishes I tried. I found this capsicum corn masala. Even though the masala used is pretty common among many north indian curries, addition of corn makes it taste slightly different. And corn makes it likable by kids too. It goes really well with Chapathis and fried rice. Do try!

Easy Mango Custard

Aah.. Welcome Spring! Days are longer, weather is warming up, summer is almost right around the corner, mangoes are going to be there.. :) Not that this recipe needs any fresh mangoes, canned mangoes does the job and it is available all year round. But yeah, fresh mango pulp will definitely make a difference.

This is a super easy recipe, which tastes really good. Perfect for dinner parties and potlucks. Make this for your next party and impress your friends and family. Don’t count the calories :)

Do try!

Enchilada

Tried this Enchilada recipe(with minor modifications) sometime back. It came out really good. Capsicum-red kidney beans-corn-cheese filling, rolled in whole wheat tortillas, topped with cheese and baked to perfection... every bite bursts with flavor and makes you want for more..

It is very filling. Perfect for potlucks and a total crowd pleaser. Do try!

Eggless Blueberry muffin

After success of using flax meal as an egg substitute in Chocolate cake, I’ve been following more of regular baking recipes(with eggs) and replacing eggs with flax meal, instead of searching for eggless version. I’ve grown out of baking powder+baking soda, which most of the eggless versions have as an egg substitute, as it leaves an after taste in your mouth. Flax meal doesn’t do that. 

I had a box of blueberries from Costco, which nobody wanted to eat. Hence I decided to bake this blueberry muffin to use it up. The muffin rose beautifully as seen in the picture. 

The recipe is fairly easy. This also makes a good item for your kid’s lunch box or snack. Make mini muffins and you can easily fit them in their tiny lunch boxes, or take them for a kid’s potluck. 

Do try!

Jamun from Jamun Mix

I was thinking long and hard as to what to put for Deepavali. Then I remembered the most popular, delectable Indian sweet, our very own Jamun. And it is not from scratch my friends, nuh-uh, it is from MTR Jamun mix. 

My husband was asking ‘Shouldn’t you at least make it from scratch to put in your blog. From a Mix seems too easy’. 

Yes, he was right. Jamun is a staple in many Indian households during festivals, and everybody knows how to make them from a mix. But let the truth be told my friends, I didn’t know!! I had a VERY hard time getting it right all these years.

Jamun is mine and my kiddo’s super favorite sweet. So I would always attempt to make it. But it flopped all the time!! It would pain me like anything when my daughter slurped on my really bad jamuns and said she loved them! Poor girl had no idea how a real jamun tasted like! Then finally one day, by God’s grace it “clicked”. 

My husband had put a picture of my Jamuns on Facebook some time back, and one of my friends told me that it looked as though it had been made by a halvaayi(professional sweet maker). Thanks Indu, aren’t you a sweetheart!! 

From what I called Jamun, which was nothing but a mass of fried jamun dough disintegrated into pieces in not so sweet water, which I called sugar syrup; or a lumpy hard ball refusing to soak in any syrup; or the jamuns  getting stuck in crystallized syrup(which I was selling as dry jamuns btw); to the professional looking ones below, I’ve seen them all, made them all!! :)

So without further ado, here I present, “How to make Jamun from Jamun mix”, with all tips and tricks that I’ve learnt from this video(Oggarane Dabbi series, made by “Maiya’s” chef). 

This post is dedicated to all those who have a really hard time making jamuns! Follow these steps and you’ll make good jamuns in no time. 

Happy Deepavali!!

Mango CheeseCake

Sometime back I saw this video on Euphoric Delights(a FB group) about this easy dessert made for a potluck. The picture and presentation was so enticing that I couldn’t wait to have one for myself. Then I started looking out for the ‘setting’ ingredient agar agar(as a substitute for Gelatin) in local stores, only to realize that it’s not easily available. After months of searching, I found one in an Indian store and finally got to making it..

This recipe is very easy once you get the hang of it. It is also a good potluck item. It looks very fancy and classy served in individual portions, in clear shot glasses. 

Do try!

Eggless Fruit Cake

It’s impressive how our elders insist on fresh food all the time, even on bakery items, which have pretty good shelf life. I remember, whenever we craved for some bakery food in the evenings, my mom would send my brother to get some freshly made stuff from the bakery. Fruit cake was always on my list. My mom would specifically instruct my brother to ask for fresh loaf of bread or any stuff; if it were an old batch he may not buy it. Packaged food was never appreciated. After coming to US, of course, all my “fresh food” privileges got hit. The packaged fruit cake available here in Indian stores doesn’t even come close to the fresh ones I used to gobble up back home. They were/are so bad that one would just give up the idea of eating it, than getting used to the taste of it. Few years back, when I came across this fruit cake recipe, I was more than eager to try it out. Who knows, if it clicks then I don’t have to wait to go to India to eat it again. And it did click! Actually it came out better than my expectations. Since it is eggless, many of those who don’t prefer a strong egg smell(particularly in fruit cakes) can also enjoy it. 

Only after coming to US did I realize that this cake is associated with Christmas. 

Make one right now and enjoy your holidays! 

Merry Christmas!!!

Vanilla - Chocolate Barfi

Check out these Vanilla-Chocolate Barfis! pretty fancy, eh?

I tried them for the first time and they came out pretty good. 

I saw this recipe online in one of my favorite blogs. I followed the recipe verbatim. This blogger always puts step by step recipes with pictures. It’s really hard to mess it up.

These barfis are not only awesome looking, they are awesome tasting too.. and they are pretty easy to make with just a few ingredients.

Enjoy Diwali with these homemade barfis. Happy Deepavali!!

Easy Coconut Laddoos

Okay.. again a long, unintended break! 

I wanted to try some “bookmarked” sweets for the upcoming festival season. But never got to them. Hence the delay. But then, couple of weeks back, while helping a friend make some sweets, I remembered I hadn’t put this super-easy, super-awesome sweet that I used to make and devour regularly long time ago. 

This would make a really quick sweet if you have all the ingredients on hand. Also it is great for potlucks!

Just 2 ingredients - coconut and condensed milk - mixed together, whats not to like?! 

They can make your heart melt, as they are melting in your mouth. Try it and float in dessert heaven!

My cousin Chethana gave me this recipe when I was still a newbie to cooking world :) It made me look like a pro!