Eggplant Parmigiana

 Last year, my daughter asked me to recreate olive garden’s eggplant parmigiana for her birthday. 

The recipe is not hard to guess, but I still googled to see if there is anything fancy. I found one in olive garden’s own website(I think) and it was just as easy as I thought it would be. I replaced their egg dip, with maida dip. And it turned out the same. But frying eggplant took forever! Then I found this recipe(link given below) for airfryer. Since I don’t own an airfryer, I did half frying on stove top and remaining in the oven. My friend Ashwini helped me by giving me tips on how to get the airfried effect from the conventional oven. 

If you own an airfryer, I think making this would be extremely easy. I am still debating if I should just buy one. I see all drool worthy recipes online, but don’t know how much it'll help with my style of cooking. Don’t want to use up my counter space unnecessarily. Anyways, for those who own one, this is the method mentioned in the blog - After the patties are coated well and ready to be fried, line them on the airfryer tray without crowding them and bake at 390 F for 10 min. Turn them mid point. Once done, put the toppings and bake them again until cheese melts. For more details you can follow the link below. 

Enjoy!  

Akki Rotti

 Akki rotti is one of the most popular breakfast items in a Kannadiga’s household. It is basically rotti(flatbread) made out of rice(flour). 

I like crunchy yet soft texture in akki rottis. Initially my akki rottis were turning out chewy rather than soft. Later in one of the recipes I found online for ragi rotti, I got to know about usage of avalakki(poha) which gave the desired results. Recipe for ragi rotti can be found here - ragi rotti. 

Enjoy these with some butter and coconut chutney!

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! 

Lauki Thepla/ Bottle gourd parata

Generally thepla recipes I see online have wheat flour and besan as main ingredients. This recipe uses bajra flour. I just loved the flavor of it. And bajra is healthy too. Lauki makes it more tasty and more healthy. Do try!

GasaGase Payasa/ Poppy seeds payasam

 Happy Ugadi! May all of you have a blessed year! 

We celebrate Souramana Ugadi and not Chandramana Ugadi. But in our house there is only one way of celebrating, so it doesn’t matter which one we celebrate..  because the only way we celebrate any Hindu festival is prepare special food and then eat. I keep it in front of God, light the lamp, prostrate, that much I do.. 🙏

Coming to the recipe, gasagase payasa is our family favorite. Grinding gasagase is little bit tricky, water should not be added all at once, but little by little for it to grind properly. This is my mother’s recipe, with tips and tricks as she taught me. Enjoy! 

Badam Katli in InstaPot

 Making Indian sweets/ barfis is always a daunting task for me. Bringing sakkare paaka(sugar syrup) to one string consistency is where I get stuck mostly. 

Thanks to my friend Anusha, I got this recipe which uses InstaPot to make sugar syrup. She shared it along with some yummy katlis, which gave me more confidence to try them myself. 

I remember my other friend’s words here that more the gadgets you use in the kitchen, less is the skill required :) 

Earlier cooking needed skill/ experience, now everything seems to happen at a touch of a button - electric rice cooker, InstaPot, Bread machine, Rotimatic.…  

I’m not complaining. This recipe is so easy and fool proof and it turned out extremely good. Make syrup in InstaPot, mix almond flour from Costco, let it cool and done!  

You can make this for any festival/potluck without breaking a sweat. 

Do try! 

Happy Holi! 

Oven Roasted Veggie Enchilada

 Want some simple, filling, tasty lunch/dinner for the weekend? Try these oven roasted veggie enchilada… 

The procedure looks lengthy, but it is not. You can either use store bought sauce or try this easy homemade Enchilada sauce(click for the recipe). Oven does the work of roasting veggies. I personally like refried beans in Mexican dishes, but you don’t have to add it if you don’t have it, or you can add some cooked black beans. Assemble and bake away!