Strawberry Pooris

       
          Whenever I get a box of strawberries, if it is sweet, it gets done in one or two days but if turns out sour, nobody wants it. Either I have to make milkshakes or mix it in a fruit salad or dip it in chocolate sauce. This time, when the berries turned out to be sour I didn't want to make any of the above. I just came up with this idea of making some pooris and rolling them with a strawberry filling. One thing led to the other, and finally I ended up in making mini pooris, topped with some strawberry filling. Believe me, the taste was so addictive, that I ended up gobbling a few of them before even I took the pictures..

Patra (Snack With Colocasia Leaves)

          Patra is a Gujarati snack made with Colocasia (Seppankizhangu, Taro) leaves, gram flour and other spices. I knew about this dish for a long time but got to taste it only a couple of months back at a party and I liked it very much. Initially I was going to get a pack from the frozen section of an Indian store, but after becoming a food blogger, could I do that. So I picked up some fresh leaves and made this from scratch, it was a fairly simple process, I followed a recipe from my collection over the years. It came out very good and I was very happy that I gave this a try..

Ridge Gourd Peel Chutney And Awards

          The first time, I tasted chutneys using vegetable peels was at my friend's place, she usually makes this thogayal with the chow-chow (chayote) peels and I liked it very much. But for some reason, have never tried to make it at home, this is the first time ever, I made a chutney using the peeled skins of a vegetable. I had made a pachadi using the ridge gourd and suddenly it struck me that I should do a chutney with the peels. I added some peanuts for taste, and voilà, it was one yummy thogayal that tasted very delicious with rice and some gingelly oil..

Lemon Custard Cakes

         Some time back, I had tasted custard cake, it was not homemade, but it tasted so delicious, soft and spongy and with custard in the centre, had me hooked. From then on I wanted to make it at home, I made some lemon custard and used the whoopie pie pan to make small cakes. Of course what I made was totally different from what I had tasted, but still it was very good in its own way. I will be trying till I can get the original taste, meanwhile enjoy these lovely cakes, they tasted divine with a nice citrus flavor..

Red Pepper And Potato Curry

          It was one of those days, when my daughter needed a bagged lunch, meaning either a sandwich or chappati rolls. I had run out of bread, that particular day and didn't feel like stepping out to get some, so I decided to make the rolls. I made this red pepper and potato curry, a dry one, which I spread on the cooked rotis and rolled them up. For a change, I made the curry a little different, adding some soy sauce..

Tomato And Onion Pinwheels

          Couple of weeks back, I had invited some friends for dinner, after deciding on the main dishes and dessert, I came to the appetizer part. I wanted to keep it pretty simple, and didn't want to do any deep frying. After going back and forth many times, I finally settled on this and had no regrets. I chose a simple and spicy filling and used store-bought puff pastry sheets. It saved me a lot of time, and it was a liked by everyone..

Jigarthanda

     
          Jigarthanda is a drink very popular in Madurai, a city in Southern India. When I was a school going kid I used to spend most of my summer holidays there and this used to be my favorite drink. Though now it is available in some shops in Chennai too, taste wise still it doesn't come close  to what you get in Madurai. The main ingredient in this drink is badam (almond) gum which you get in medical stores (naatu (country) marandu kadai) in India. Whenever I have this drink now, it brings back those childhood memories..

Pineapple And Tutti Frutti Cake

          Whenever I bake at home it's something that has cocoa  powder in it, like a brownie or a chocolate cake, as my daughter loves anything with chocolate. I had bought this tutti frutti on my last visit to the Indian store and was figuring out what to do with it, I had written down this recipe some time back and I made a few changes to make an eggless version. The cake turned out very moist and a little dense since I had replaced half the maida with whole wheat flour, but it was very good..

Chow-chow Chutney

          When I make idlis, dosas or adais, I serve it with sambar, kurma or some kind of a chutney. Most of the times, I make the tomato chutney, it being the family's favorite. But in between, to break the monotony, I do try other kind of chutneys, made with different vegetables, chow-chow being one of them. For a change, I also added some sesame seeds, which really gave a nice taste to the chutney, try for yourself..

Mushroom And Potato Curry

          Everyone at home likes mushrooms, so it makes an appearance on our menu at least once in two weeks. There are a variety of dishes that you can come up using them, pilafs, kurmas and curries. I had made this curry a couple of weeks back, it goes very well with rotis, naans and even rice. It's very simple, but, adding the grated ginger and chopped coriander at the end gives it a nice flavor, give it a shot..

Banana Flower (Vazhaipoo) Adai

          Adais are like pancakes or dosas, usually made with a mixture of dals and rice, a healthy and wholesome dish. When you add some vegetables to it, it becomes a complete meal. Vazhaipoo has a slightly bitter taste, usually it is cooked as a poriyal or kootu. At home, when I get this vegetable, I usually use half of it to make this adai, it blends nicely with the dal in the adai. To make the adai even more healthier I replace half the rice with ragi flour, it tastes great, try it out..

Pumpkin Pachadi

          I was putting together lunch on a weekend, I had only a few veggies in hand and I didn't want to get new ones before getting done with them, I had  made a sambar and a fry and I had some chopped pumpkin in my freezer which I wanted to finish up. Usually I make a sambar or a curry with it, which I didn't want to do that day, so I made this pachadi for the first time. It turned out to be very good, served it as a side dish, but even tasted great when mixed with some rice..

Strawberry Souffle

          Sweets, chocolates and gifts, open the flyers, switch on the television and even in so many blogs, it's all about love and Valentine's Day. I  didn't bake any goodies but had made this strawberry souffle a couple of days back, what better time to post it than now. The recipe is pretty simple, calls for very few ingredients and no baking involved, but the result was a very refreshing and light dessert..

Mango And Peas Rice And An Award

          Thengai, Mangai, Pattani Sundal ( meaning literally as coconut, mango and peas chat), a popular evening snack in our beaches, this was what, that was ringing in my ears, when I was thinking about doing something with the single mango sitting in my fridge, begging for my attention. I wanted to do a rice with it, instead of doing it plain, I thought of doing it like the sundal by adding some peas and coconut to it.  The end result was very good , the peas making the rice more colorful and more nutritious too..

Bitter Gourd Pitlai

          When I mention the vegetable bitter gourd (pavakkai, karela), I know there are quite a few people out there, like my husband and daughter who are going to turn off. As for me, I love this vegetable, especially the way my mom makes it (will do a post later ), but the only way the family will take it is in the form of a fry (where the vegetable is killed off it's valuable nutrients ) or this pitlai, I prefer the latter for known reasons. Adding tamarind and other spices brings down the bitterness, and it tastes delicious with rice and adding a little ghee makes it even more tastier, I know many of you will have your own versions, this is mine..

Coffee Glazed Brownies

          Last Saturday my daughter had a violin concert at school and I had signed up to send in some brownies. To make it slightly interesting, I added some coffee powder to the recipe. After sending her plain brownies, I did the coffee glaze on a small portion of it. The brownies were a real hit, with the glaze they looked all glossy and dressed up..

Zucchini Paniyarams

           Paniyarams are South Indian delicacies, there are both sweet and savory versions, of all, the sweet pal(milk) paniyarams of Chettinad is my favorite. Tradiontally they are made out of urad dal, but mostly we make the non-sweet ones from a couple of days old idli batter, adding some seasonings and onions to it. But for today's recipe, I didn't use both, I used a combination of wheat flour and all purpose flour and added grated zucchini to it, they turned out really good, try it out..

Okra And Baby Corn Curry

         Sometimes, cooking with the same vegetables repeatedly is a little boring, mixing it with another vegetable or dal gives it a different shade. Adding baby corn to the okra, gave a nice crunch to the otherwise slimy texture of okra. Adding lots of onion and tomatoes gave a nice taste to it..

Colacasia Cutlets

           It's raining outside, the temperature is neither too cold nor too warm, curled up on the couch with your favorite book, your mug of tea or coffee and some munchies, okay girls, this is not happening here right now but just to create the mood. For me, that's when I crave most for some hot vadas, bhajjis, pakoras or cutlets. Coming to today's vegetable colacasia or seppankizhangu or arbi I usually make a fry or some gravy with it, but then, I wanted to try this out, replacing the potatoes that is most commonly used in cutlets. They turned out very good and tasted a little different, give it a try..

Coriander And Ginger Thokku

          When I leave for vacation to India and the husband stays back, I make couple of thokkus, to make things a little easy for him while I am gone. Even, otherwise I like to have some kind of thokku in the refrigerator, be it the tomato thokku or this coriander thokku, serves as a spread on bread, rotis or can be mixed with rice. My daughter loves them, she can have them with almost anything. Adding ginger to coriander makes it even better..

Cauliflower And Capsicum Khichidi

          When it is cold outside, what is more inviting than a bowl of warm khichidi with some pickle on the side, very comforting indeed. I first tasted this at a Punjabi friend's place with some sliced onions on top, loved it. Usually it is made with rice and moong dal, slightly different from our pongal, but nowadays, I try to replace rice with something more healthy, so made it with cracked wheat. To make it a complete meal, I added some sauteed cauliflower and capsicum, try it, you'll like it, especially when you have the wonderful feeling that you have fed the family something healthy..

Ridgegourd And Potato Curry

          Ridge gourd, one of those vegetables that seems to be always in the background, before marriage I had tasted it only in kootus. Only later, I came to appreciate this vegetable, after tasting the chutneys and bajjis. Today's curry is a nice combination of this gourd with potato, flavored with garlic and goes well with rotis..