South American Cachapas

Do we all love recipes that are too simple, but looks exceptional??? Yeah... I am all for it.. You guessed it right, Today's recipe which I got from here is a very simple and elegant breakfast which is super quick to do... With just a few readily available ingredients, today we will relish a delicious pancake called cachapas from Venezuela. They are traditionally eaten with Queso de Mano (hand made cheese – soft one like mozzarella), but I used the cheese that I got locally here.

Mysore pak - Indian Sweets

Here comes a very authentic and traditional sweet that is prepared in our houses almost in all festive occassions.. It is said to have originated in Mysore (Karnataka), it is a very popular sweet and is made in many functions.. We make mysore pak also for parupu thengai. Parupu thengai is a cone shaped presentation of sweets prepared during marriages and authentic occassions. From wiki – “Mysore pak was first prepared in the kitchens of the Mysore Palace by a palace cook named Kakaasura Madappa”. Make sure you have everything ready before you start the process as you will have very little luxury time. Also keep a close watch when the color changes as you skip the time, then your mysore pak will not come correctly.. Next time I make this sweet I will try to take step wise clicks..

Dal Bhat w Rice

Today we are travelling to our neighboring country - Nepal to relish their National food - Dal Bhat with Rice.. When I was searching for the combos this was one of the first ones I had selected but could do it only yesterday!!! I made this for lunch and it was a very comforting and satisfying meal.. The best part is that you felt like eating home food but it is an International one!!! Serve this hot with steaming hot rice!!

Spicy Potato Kari and Kaara Kuzhambu - Combo

Welcome friends to another month long marathon – “Buffet on the Table”.. Today we are starting another month long marathon – Buffet on the table with 5 categories and the week 1 is going to be "Combo from Countries". and I am starting with a delicious combo in our house.. Spicy Potato Kari and Kaara Kuzhambu. When you talk about Combos, lot of dishes come to my mind other than the Indian ones.. In our house, it is always combo dishes and rarely do we do an one dish meal.. There are lot of combos that are quite popular like – Pita Bread and Hummus, Brownie and Vanilla Ice Cream, Burger and Fries, Mor Kuzhambu and Parupu Usli, Roti and Paneer Butter Masala, Channa Masala and Batura, Fish and Chips, Fries and Sauce, Ghevar and Rabri etc…

Kaara Kuzhambu

Kaara kuzhambu stands up to its name – Kaara means – very spicy and kuzhambu is a thicker gravy and this dish is sure to make your eyes water along with your tongue.. It is super tasty and tongue tickling.. I served this along with the all time favorite – Spicy Potato Fry

Kaikuththal Aval Upuma / Brown Aval Upuma / Unpolished Poha Upuma

Talk about healthy ingredients and unpolished ingredients is on the top of it.. Today's recipe is using the very healthy aval (poha) to make upuma.. This poha is unpolished and is very healthy.. Great thig about poha is that it needs no cooking or minimal cooking only... This makes a great breakfast or a quick dinner... It takes about 15 minutes and tastes best when serve hot!! You can also garnish with some freshly grated coconut if desired.

Aloo Bonda

Today’s recipe is a snack that is commonly served when relatives and friends visit us.. Talk about evening tiffin or snack, bajji and bonda always comes in the list.. Much before the baked goodies came in to our kitchen, it was the bajji, bonda and other snacks that were prepared for snacks..

Carrot Almond Laddu–Diwali Sweets

Laddu - this word makes a lot of people drool... For my daughter it relates to strength and power.. All thanks to the Chhota Bheem cartoon she loves where laddu is a symbol for strength.. And traditionally laddu is made by frying gram flour and dipping them in sugar syrup.. Today we are going to see a laddu, a recipe I got from Priya’s space which requires no frying..

Moong Dal Fry–Microwave Method–Guilt free Snacks

Want a healthy snack that you can munch guilt free??? So in perfect for holidays or for watching TV.. Moong dal / Paasi Parupu is a healthy dal which is easy to digest but loaded with proteins.. Ask a person with fever or stomach flu or people who have just delivered, paasi parupu (moong dal) will be part of their diet as it is easy to digest, loaded with proteins and so healthy. I have heard that it also helps in healing the wounds.. There are so many items that we make with this dal. Some are -. This is a different one with it being a snack which is so similar to the fried one. I have the Moong Dal Fry recipe here which is a very famous snack. I got the idea from here to make the similar moong dal fry without actually frying it.

Eggless Chocolate Chip Cookies–Eggless Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies are one of the most favorite and also popular variety of cookie. What is the difference between a biscuit and a cookie? You ask this question and you get different answers from different people. To me, cookie is more softer and chewier but a biscuit (that we get in India) is more harder and crispier. My daughter loves to read Dora stories and one of the stories have Dora's  mom making her Chocolate Chip Cookies and sending it with Dora when she goes to meet a friend. Now my daughter wanted me to make the chocolate chip cookie. So that was when I made my first try on these delicious, mouth melting and soft chewy cookies. I picked up this recipe and did make a few changes. My daughter was very happy with the cookies, so I have made this a few times now and it goes off in minutes before I could take as many pictures as I want!!!

Nutella Milkshake - Nutella Recipes - Summer Drinks

Starting this week’s BM with Summer Special. Here comes a way to deliciously chill your summer… What is your favorite milk shake? Mine is chocolate.. I saw the recipe here and wanted to try it immediately.. All of us loved it.. It makes a refreshing drink in a jiffy with the ingredients at home..

Potato Chips

If there is one type of food which is enjoyed in many parts of the world, then it has to be chips.. Ranking top on junk food, these are irresistible and a lot of times you cannot stop with one.. There are many branded chips available, but make them at home and make it even more irresistible. I have tried the baked version here, but this one is the sinfully delicious fried one. You can add any seasoning powders of choice, but I kept it simple this with just salt and chili powder.

Nutella Truffles - Nutella Recipes

For this week BM we are going to be seeing desserts in different forms and the first one I have chosen is Truffles. Truffles - the word makes us drool.. Truffles are traditionally made with chocolate ganache and rolled in sugar or cocoa powder or nuts. I started with this recipe, but made some changes. Check out my regular Chocolate Truffles here. Today for a change I am using Nutella and also adding corn flakes and nuts.

Kambu Semiya Upuma – Millet Recipes

With the New Year brings New Year resolutions and a lot of people have “Eating healthy” or “Weight Management” as part of their resolution. Here I am with a recipe to help….I love visiting shops that healthy items like millets, many types of rice, many types of flour etc.. We learn so much about the ingredients available for us. But a lot of ingredients are new and unidentifible. I remember seeing black rice for the first time and did not even recognize it, but I was surely fascinated by it. Recently I saw various types semiya made with millets like semiya made with Kambu, Ragi, Whole Wheat. I once saw a TV show where they did upuma with Kollu Semiya. It was very similar to how I do with Ragi Semiya. Now I have tried Ragi semiya and it was delicious. Today I tried Kambu Semiya and it was even more tastier. Cut the vegetables and you have the delicious upuma ready in no time... This will serve 3 - 4. Kambu is Bajra in Hindi, Pearl Millet in English, Sajjalu in Telugu. Try this for a healthy breakfast or evening tiffin and you will be happy you did!!

Lemon Grass Basil Pine Pesto Pasta

Pasta is an Italian dish made with a combination of cooked pasta and a sauce. There are many types of pasta like Penne, Fettuccine, Farfalle, Spaghetti etc. Pesto is a type of a paste made with specific ingredients.. Most of the time it is uncooked.. So it has bursting flavor of fresh ingredients.. This is not a traditional pesto, but a pesto made with the ingredients I had on hand and it was flavorful and everybody in my house loved it!!! Some more types of Pastas from my blog – Pesto Ala Trapenese, Spicy Indian Style Pasta, Basil Penne, Pesto Di Noci, 

Kezhvaragu Dosai / Fingermillet Dosai

Kezhvaragu or raagi dosa is a type of dosa made with Finger millet flour (raagi flour). Finger millet flour is healthy flour and eating it in a dosa form makes it tasty. Health meets taste in this recipe. This dosa will be chocolate brown in color. It is very quick to do and no soaking required. It tastes best when serve hot with tomato pickle. It can also be accompanied by Curd or Sugar.

Veg Patty Chaat

Talk about inventions and this is my invention to a quick evening snack. This is a chat item which is very spicy and tangy. All the spices used in this dish are personal to choice, availability and preference. We bought the boca patty from the freezer section. This can also be served as a light dinner.

Pachai Milagu Kaara Kuzhambu / Fresh Green Peppercorn Gravy

Pachai Milagu (Green Pepper) is something that I got introduced recently (in the last one year)... Amazing aroma and taste.. It also has a signature flavor that one cannot forget.. I made a kaara kuzhambu with it.. As usual, I did a lot of internet search for recipes and referred to Valli's site and a few more and made mine with a few changes.. Some sites tell you to grind the masala along with the peppercorns, but since I was using it for the first time, I wanted to use them whole. Every peppercorn when you bite brings a zinggggg!!! This goes best with hot steaming rice!!

Lemon Rice

There are so many variety rice that we enjoy.. It makes a great travel dish and also for lunchboxes.. I know many of you would have relished this lemon rice in your child hood and your kids are now enjoying this.. Lemon rice is both kid and mom friendly where the kid gets the refreshing lemon flavor with lentils, cashew and ginger and for the mom - it is a too easy to make.. So here is a great lunchbox recipe for self or for kids..

Hmarcha Rawt - Mizoram

Today we are visiting the another North Eastern State – Mizoram. Mizoram means – the land of hill people. From Mapsofindia – “ The Mizoram cuisine offers mainly non-vegetarian delicacies. The people who belong to this place do eat vegetables, but they prefer to add some non-vegetarian ingredients to each and every dish they prepare. The staple food of these people is primarily rice. One of the most popular non-vegetarian items of the people of the state is fish. The most commonly used medium of cooking is mustard oil. The Mizos do not like to eat oily food and they prefer to cook most of the dishes with little oil.” With that being said that each and every meal has meat in it, it was a big challenge to land on a vegetarian meat free dish.. I got this recipe from here and made few changes..In South we make what is called as pachai milagai thuvayal, meaning Green Chili thuvayal. This is so similar to that. I have added tamarind and asafetida and the original recipe does not have that.. I have used half of green chili and half of red chili.. Choice is yours, you could either one only and both in different quantity. After roasting the red chili, it needs to be soaked in water for 10 minutes as it does not have water content like the green chili. A very spicy chutney..

 

Vangi bath / Brinjal Rice - Karnataka

Cuisine of Karnataka has a lot of influence from Tamil Nadu, Andhra and Maharashtra. There are lot of bath here - Bisi Bela bath, Vangi Bath, Bagala Bath, Kesari Bath etc.. Bath mentioned here is for the rice. Some sweets are very popular here like the Pedha from Dharward, Mysore Pak and the very famous Maddur Vada from the city of Maddur and the list goes on.. Today we are enjoying Vangi bath which is a rice variety made with Brinjal / Eggplant. It can be accompanied by curd, appalam or vadam. Vangi Bath is best when had hot, but also makes a great travel food and lunchbox dish. This is also a great way to sneak in some brinjals for folks who do not like it…