Chocolate Pastry Rolls

          Merry Christmas, I see a lot of posts of cakes and cookies in blogs, even I wanted to try some, but this time I couldn't make. I am yet to bake in my new built-in oven ( got a demo only a couple of days back, after calling the customer care more than 5 times) and then I am going on a trip tomorrow for 10 days. I made these Chocolate Pastry Rolls sometime back with the puff pastry that I had made for our Eggless Baking Challenges, I had stored the puff pastry in the freezer. This is so simple to make, especially if you have ready made puff pastry, it just needs under 30 minutes to make these. They came out really good, with a nice chocolaty taste and coffee flavor, perfect for parties, or as an evening snack along with your coffee or tea..

Spinach Curry

          I am really late at posting this month's challenge for the 'Shhhhh Cooking Secretly' event, I was paired with Amrita Iyer of The Food Samaritan. She had given me spinach and yogurt/curd as the two secret ingredients, there are number of dishes that we can make with this combo, but to do a dish, camouflaging these ingredients was a little tough, especially spinach. I tried something else with them, but then the dish didn't turn up to my satisfaction, so then I finally ended up with this curry. This is a simple, flavorful and delicious curry, I have cooked the spinach in an almond, poppy seeds and yogurt sauce, and it goes very well with rotis, naans and pilafs..

Mushroom And Peas Curry

          Today's dish is another curry, mushrooms and peas go very well together, I have already posted a kurma and a rice with this combination. In this curry, I have used a paste with fried tomatoes and onions, this gives the gravy for the dish and a nice flavor and color to the curry. It's a simple curry, other than the time taken to roast and grind the paste, it takes very less time as the mushrooms and peas get cooked fast and it goes very well with both rice and rotis..

Potato Stuffed Pavakkai ( Bitter Gourd, Karela )

          Not many people like bitter gourd, but I know people who really love it too, my family lies in between, as long as I make something with it which doesn't taste very bitter, they will have it. Today's dish is again my friend's recipe, I loved it, the first time I tasted it, before this dish, I've never seen baby bitter gourds which are slightly bigger ( the size of a lemon ), I have used only the very small ones ( you can check out the recipe here ). I think, this variety is available in Bangalore and cities in Tamilnadu that are closer to Bangalore. Anyway, coming to the recipe, we stuff the bitter gourds with a potato filling and deep fry them, of course, I agree this is not the healthy way of eating this vegetable, but you can make this as special dish for an occasion. They came out so crispy and delicious, would go very well with rice and dal or sambar saadam, but it tasted it so good, I can have this as an appetizer too..

Blueberry And Cream Cheese Muffins

          I can't believe, it's now 3 years since I started this blog, I just did it like that, though I was a regular visitor to many blogs, I never thought that I would start a blog some day. Now, this blog has become a part of my life, I am trying to be as regular as possible, in posting, visiting other blogs and also trying to present the dishes as best as I could. The comments and encouragement from my fellow bloggers and friends is my inspiration which drives me to keep doing this, I should thank you all for that. I would have loved to share a delicious multi-layered cake today, but I am a little lazy when it comes to frosting and cake decoration, so at least I thought, I shall do something sweet for today. These Blueberry And Cream Cheese Muffins are absolutely delicious, at the same time are very easy to make too and they are eggless and butterless, can have them for breakfast or as an evening snack along with your tea or coffee..

Potato Dishes

          The potato is a very versatile vegetable and is liked by most of us, be it kids or adults, very few people do not like this vegetable. Curries made out of it, either a dry, semi-dry or gravy go very well with both rice and rotis/flat breads, we can even use them in sandwiches, they are used as a stuffing for flat breads, along with other vegetables in rice varieties and also in desserts ( I have to still try them out in sweets ). I have a large collection of potato dishes, so thought of compiling them together and putting them under categories, so that it'll be easy to browse through them. In most of the dishes the potato is the main ingredient or it's used in combination with another vegetable..

Watermelon Curry

          I think, the first time I saw or heard about this Watermelon Curry was on a TV show, it was about Rajasthani food, till then, I never even thought that a curry can be made with this fruit. I knew that we can use the white part of the watermelon in cooking, but the most that I could think to do with the red part was in juices, sorbets or some desserts. The show didn't give the recipe, so I turned to the web and the couple of blogs that I saw used a recipe from the book by Camellia Panjabi, '50 Great Curries Of India'. The list of ingredients that I have used is the same but I made the curry in my own regular way. This curry has a sweetish taste, but it also has a little spice in too, since we add chilly powder to it. It would go very well with stuffed parathas, since it has the sweet and spicy taste like the Mango Chunda, that we serve with parathas, do give it a try the next time you buy watermelon..

Cream Of Broccoli Soup

          Cream Of Broccoli Soup, this has been on my do-list for a long time, now with the chilly weather outside, perfect one for a warm bowl of soup, I tried it out, some time last week. Though the name is Cream Of  Broccoli Soup, I have not used any cream in the soup, just some milk. The soup needs just a few commonly available ingredients and doesn't take much time to prepare too. It came out very well, creamy and delicious, just serve it with some bread and salad for a complete meal..

Raw (Baby) Jackfruit Curry, Palakkai Poriyal

          Raw Jackfruit or baby jackfruit/palakkai, I have never cooked this vegetable until now, and, of course when staying in the US, I could find only the canned version of this vegetable. My mother used to make a poriyal/curry with raw jackfruit and I had wanted to try it sometime, when I saw them here in Bangalore, I wanted to try it and my friend helped me to pick one and she also gave me this recipe. Initially I thought peeling and preparing the vegetable for cooking was a difficult task, but it's just peeling and dicing. This dish is very easy to make and tastes really good ( like a mix of potato and cabbage ) and goes very well with rice and dal/sambar..

Peanut Tomato Chutney, Verkadalai Thakkali Chutney

          It's almost every other day or at least 3 times a week that I make some kind of chutney at home, mostly to go with idlis, dosas and adais and sometimes, to be mixed with plain rice. Since the tomato onion chutney is the family's favorite, I make it more times than the other chutneys. Today's post is Peanut Tomato Chutney, already, I have a simple peanut chutney in my blog using just peanuts and a little tamarind, but this one, as the name itself says, has peanuts, tomatoes, onions and garlic. It's kind of a mixture of peanut and tomato chutney and it goes very well with all the South Indian tiffin varieties (idlis, dosas, adais, vadais)..

Sorakkai Dosai, Bottle Gourd ( Lauki ) Dosa

          Dosas are always welcome at home, any new variety, I am always ready to try it. When I first heard of this dosai from my friend, I thought, we would be just adding some grated bottle gourd/ sorakkai/lauki  to regular idli/dosa batter, but then the taste was different and awesome. Then I got the recipe from her, this dosa batter has only rice along with a little dal, the vegetable and some spices. I wanted to use millets, so I replaced half the quantity of rice with varagu arisi/kodo millet and made the dosa. It came out so good, very soft and crispy ( the perfect dosa texture ) with a nice unique flavor..

Kovakkai Kadala Curry, Ivy Gourd (Dondakaya) And Chickpeas Curry

          Kovakkai Kadala Curry or Kadle Manoli as known in Mangalore is another curry that I tried from the Mangalorian cuisine. As soon as I saw it here, I was very tempted with the coconut masala that was added to the curry and since everything was in hand, I tried out the recipe immediately and I was not disappointed. The curry tasted very delicious, we had it with rotis, but you can serve it as a side dish with rice and dal, very easy curry, just need to plan a little ahead as the chickpeas need to be soaked overnight or for about 8 to 10 hours, do try this curry when you cook kovakkai/ dondakaya/ tindora/ ivy gourd the next time..

Beetroot Rice

          What to pack for lunch tomorrow, this is always a big question for most of us, in my house it has to be either rotis or parathas with some curry or some mixed rice, that's the reason you can see a lot of curries and rice ( one pot meals ) in my blog. Today's dish is another simple rice using beets, I have used the simple basic South Indian seasoning of mustard seeds and urad dal and a coarse paste of coconut, chillies and ginger to give a nice flavor and taste to the rice. If you like beets, go ahead and make this delicious rice, it takes very less time and tastes great with some raitha or chips on the side..

Zucchini And Green Peas Curry

          Zucchini is another favorite vegetable at home, whenever I happen to see them fresh, I always pick them up. I usually add them to pasta or make a chutney, this time I had just one zucchini and I wanted to make a curry to go with rotis, since a curry with only one zucchini would be very less, I combined it with some green peas, green beans and potato along with a coconut and coriander paste. The curry turned out very delicious and tasted really good with the rotis, and I am sure that it would taste good with rice too..

Rice And Paneer Cutlets

          Today's post is once again for the ' Shhhhh Cooking Secretly ' event, I was supposed to cook and post it for last month, but then, since my kitchen was getting renovated, I couldn't do it till last week. I was paired with Shama of Easy2Cook Recipes and she had given me rice and paneer as the secret ingredients. I didn't think too much, the moment the ingredients were given, the first thing that came to my mind was these cutlets. I used leftover rice, paneer along with some capsicum and onion and spices and then shaped them into these cutlets. Since I wanted to keep it healthy, I shallow fried them, they turned out super delicious, it can be served with some green coriander chutney, but I served them with just some tomato sauce, perfect evening snack..

Stuffed Ridge Gourd (Peerkangai, Beerakaya,Turai)

          This month, for the ' Shhhhh Cooking Secretly Challenge ' event ( started by Priya ), I was paired up Sangee Vijay of Spicy Treats, and she had given me ridge gourd and cabbage as the two ingredients. I don't have to give an introduction for Sangee, she is well known in the blogger community and her blog has so many delicious recipes, and also, she is one of the first few people to comment and encourage me in my beginning days of blogging. Coming to the ingredients, I was slightly skeptical, both of them vegetables and I was not sure how I was going to combine them in a dish. Then the idea of stuffing the ridge gourd popped up, I have seen a lot of recipes, most of them used a peanut based stuffing, I thought I could use the cabbage as a stuffing. The dish turned out absolutely delicious, the cabbage stuffing tasted really good with the ridge gourd, we had it with rotis and dal but I am sure, it would go well with rice too..

Godhumai Roti, Wheat Flour Roti ( Adai )

          I have always made rotis, parathas, pooris and dosas using whole wheat flour, I have heard about this Godhumai Roti/Adai, but never gave it a try until a couple of weeks back. The roti/adai is very easy to make, I have added some sauteed onions, chopped coriander, coconut to the whole wheat flour to make a soft dough and made the rotis, even beginners who find it difficult to make soft chappathis can make this. They came out really soft and stayed that way even when cold, and tasted great with some tomato thokku or pickle, try these rotis/adais when you want a change from the regular chappathis..

Carrot Rice With Kuthiraivali (Barnyard Millet)

          My new kitchen is all done and I was slightly busy with arranging everything back, so I couldn't post for the last couple of days. Have to start cooking and clicking, it's been a long time now, almost more than a month. Coming to today's dish, I had made it, some time back, for lunch, a simple and healthy recipe with millets, I have used Kuthiraivali/Barnyard Millet and carrots, actually, while making it, I was not very sure and almost expected it to turn out mushy like carrot pongal, but it came out very good, the final dish had the perfect texture and taste..

Vada Curry, Lentil Fritters Curry

          As I had said in my set dosa post, here's the Vada Curry that goes extremely well with the dosas. This curry involves two parts, making the vadas and then the curry and then bringing them together to get the Vada Curry. Though, it might sound like a lengthy preparation, it's not very hard to make, and the little effort that goes into making it, is totally worth it. This curry goes well not only with the Set Dosas, it also tastes good with idlis, aappams and I think, next time I would also try it with mixed rice varieties, like lemon and tomato too..

Soft And Spongy Set Dosas ( Pancakes, Crepes )

          Set Dosas, these are not crispy and thin like the regular dosas/crepes, these are soft and spongy like pancakes, but unlike pancakes, these dosas are made with rice and urad dal batter. Also, I have used two varieties of rice, both raw and par boiled and rice flakes or aval along with the dal/lentils and fenugreek seeds. The dosas were super soft and really like a sponge, that makes it a perfect combination with vada curry ( my next post ), just soaks in the curry, but I am sure these dosas will taste equally good with chutneys and sambars too..

Kovakkai ( Tindora, Ivy-Gourd, Dondakaya ) And Carrot Curry

          As my kitchen is not completely ready and I haven't cooked anything interesting for the last couple of weeks, I am simply posting dishes that I had cooked and clicked some time back. Hopefully, my kitchen should be done soon, before I run out of posts. I had made this Kovakkai And Carrot curry, months back, as a side dish to go with moru kuzhambu and rice. Whenever I cooked kovakkai/tindora/dondakaya/ivy-gourd, I usually sauteed them well along with onions and spices, this time I had only about 20 small kovakkais, so I cooked them along with a couple of carrots and a spicy onion paste. This curry goes well with both rice and rotis, serve it along with a dal/lentils for a complete balanced meal..

Tomato Pickle, Thakkali Oorugai

          Happy Halloween ! this time of the year always makes me nostalgic, I had landed in the US (New York ), years ago, during this time, in the month of October. Driving from New York, after gaping at the multi-laned highways and reaching Philadelphia, the next thing to catch my eye was these skeletons and other scary stuff, outside people's homes. Well, at that time I didn't know anything about Halloween, and I couldn't understand, why people would want to decorate their homes with these scary and sometimes gory things. But then now, after so many years, after all those Halloween costumes my daughter had worn, starting from pre-school, now she's 14, she's going to celebrate Halloween with a couple of friends here in India, I think back about the time in the US ( missing it ), and those memories make my eyes water. Well, now, wiping those tears and coming back to today' dish, Tomato Pickle, the recipe has nothing to do with Halloween, I made this to go with the Paneer Parathas that I have already posted. I didn't want to have the regular pickle with it, made this thokku or pickle with tomatoes and I tweaked the seasoning a little so that it had a more North Indian flavor in it. The pickle came out very good and tasted excellent along with parathas, next time you make parathas, do try this simple and flavorful Tomato Pickle..

Paneer Parathas, Flat Breads Stuffed With Indian Cottage Cheese

          Parathas are an all time favorite in my house and especially when the filling is with paneer, then my daughter is even more happy. Though rolling out parathas might take a little more time than regular rotis, we need not make a separate curry to go with it, so the time is compensated and the parathas can be served just with some plain yogurt and pickle. I have already posted many Parathas and even one with paneer and spinach combo ( Spinach Paneer Paratha ), but for today's dish, the filling is only grated paneer/Indian cottage cheese flavored with some spices and chopped coriander. The parathas came out very well and we had it with some tomato pickle ( recipe coming next )..

Mampazha Rasam, Mango Rasam ( Soup )

          It's more than two weeks now, that I have cooked anything, hopefully, my kitchen will be ready by this weekend, till then I am posting dishes that I had made some time back. Today's post is going to be Mampazha Rasam/Mango Rasam, I had made this in the summer when mangoes were in season. After the Mango Moru Kuzhambu, I wanted to try something else with ripe mangoes, something that can be had with rice and then I decided to make a rasam with it. We make rasam with pineapples, so I thought that something like that with mangoes should also taste good. Just like I thought, the rasam turned out really good and went very well with rice, try this rasam if you like Pineapple Rasam, because both of them taste a little sweet because of the fruits..

Mangalore Cucumber ( Vellarikkai ) Curry

          After all the sweets, savories and heavy food for Diwali, today's dish is going to be a simple one, a curry to go with rice. I have been seeing this Mangalore cucumber, so many times, especially after moving to Bangalore, but I never bought it as I was not sure about what I was going to do with it. Then I saw this curry here and I wanted to try it, this is a Mangalorean dish, it has a perfect blend of spices and a good amount of coconut in it. I followed the recipe exactly, except for a few changes, I reduced the amount of coconut and spices to our taste and it tasted very good with plain rice..

Varagu Arisi Idlis, Kodo Millet Steamed Cakes

          Today's dish is going to be another idli/steamed cakes using millets, and this time it's going to be with Varagu Arisi/Kodo Millet. I have already posted an idli recipe with Kambu/Pearl Millets, there I have used parboiled rice along with the pearl millet to make the idlis, But for these Varagu Arisi Idlis, I have used only varagu arisi/kodo millet along with urad dal/black gram and fenugreek seeds. The idlis turned out soft and fluffy and they would go very well with both sambar or chutney, we had it with some peanut chutney. As idlis are a part of the traditional breakfast served on Diwali, might be, you can try out these Varagu Arisi Idlis for this Diwali..

Diwali Delights

 
          With Diwali around the corner, thought I'll post some sweets and savory recipes that are made during the festival. Only while compiling the recipes ( the collection is not that big  ), I found that I don't have that many savory dishes like murukkus and mixtures in my blog and I made a decision that, I should make more of these and other traditional Indian sweets at least by next Diwali, till then enjoy these..

Thenkuzhal Murukku, Savory Snack With Rice Flour

          Thenkuzhal Murukku, second savory snack that I made for this Diwali along with the Kara Boondi. This is another simple and easy one that even beginners can try out, just needs a few ingredients that are commonly available and of course a Murukku maker. The Murukku maker comes with about a dozen plates or blades for making different shapes of murukkus ( just like a cookie cutter ). The plate that we use for this, is the one with 3 holes, but I had misplaced it somewhere, so I used the one with 5 holes. The murukkus are not spicy but very flavorful from the cumin seeds and asafoetida, crunchy and delicious snack..

Thengai Burfi, Coconut Burfi

          Thengai Burfi/Coconut Burfi, this is the second sweet I made after the Rava Ladoo. I had thought that I would be making a couple more, but then, now since my kitchen renovation is going on, I might not be able to do. But, still I am having my microwave, if time permits, I am thinking of doing something, using the microwave. Coming to today's sweet, this is another easy one that anyone can make and it requires just 3 ingredients. Coconut and sugar, can anything go wrong with this combination, the only thing that we have to be careful is not cooking them together too long, then the burfis might turn into coconut and sugar crumbles, other than that, this is a simple, yet delicious sweet that can be done in no time..

Dal Tadka ( Lentils )

          Whenever we ordered naans at restaurants, we usually order some kind of dal and vegetable curry to go with it. When it comes to dal/lentils, my personal favorite is always dal tadka, I simply love the flavor of the tadka/seasoning, cumin and garlic seasoned in ghee gives an amzing flavor to this dish. I have used a combination of masoor dal/ red lentils and moong dal/husked green gram, again, masoor dal has a unique flavor, it's a very simple dish but extremely tasty with both rotis and rice..

Kara Boondi

          We are renovating our kitchen, started the work couple of months back, but it all seems to come together only now, just before Diwali. My kitchen is totally ripped out and I will not be able to cook anything for at least a week from now. I managed to make some goodies ( yeah, of course for my blog ) yesterday, one of them is this Kara Boondi, very easy and tasty savory snack made with besan flour/ chickpea flour..

Rava Ladoos, Semolina ( Sooji ) Ladoos

          Diwali is hardly two weeks away, people who celebrate this festival would be busy with shopping clothes, cleaning their homes and preparing goodies and gifts for friends and relatives. Growing up, Diwali for me was all about sweets and fireworks, every household makes at least 4 or 5 varieties of sweets and savouries to be distributed among friends and neighbors. So I am going to share a couple of sweets and savories here, today it's going to be Rava Ladoos/ Semolina ( Sooji ) Ladoos. This is one of the easiest sweets that we can make, needs very few ingredients and not very time consuming too..

Kothu Parotta

          Kothu Parotta, my husband's favorite dish, whenever we go to an Indian restaurant and if this dish is on the menu, he orders it for sure. On the other hand, I am not a big fan of this dish, especially in restaurants, it's too heavy for me and I feel full after taking a couple of spoons. But I like it when I make it at home, I add a lot of vegetables and it's not as heavy as it's in the restaurants. You can make the parottas from scratch ( will post recipe soon ) and use them, but for today's dish I have used the readymade ones. If we have the parottas ready, then this dish is very easy to make, serve it warm with some onion raitha/curd/yogurt on the side..

Zucchini And Mushroom Curry

          Hope everybody had a nice weekend, and some of you might be a little tired after Navratri celebrations. After seeing and eating lots of sundals and payasams for the past week , today it's going to be a simple curry using zucchini and mushrooms. This is the first time that I have tried this combination,  but, of course I have tasted them together in Thai curries. Since both the vegetables give out a lot of moisture while cooking, to have some gravy in the dish, I have used some curd. We had the curry with some rotis but it would go very well with rice or pilafs too..

Chilly Paneer ( Cottage Cheese )

          Chilly Paneer, it's a nice side dish to go with fried rice and noodles, an Indo-Chinese dish, Indian paneer ( cottage cheese ) cooked in Chinese style. It's a very easy dish, the paneer is shallow fried and added to sauteed bell peppers, spiced up with chilly and soy sauces and flavored with ginger, garlic and spring onions. I have given approximate measurements for the chilly and soy sauces and pepper, feel free to increase or decrease according to your taste..

Kulae Puttu, Steamed Cakes With Jackfruit And Rice Rava ( Idli Rava )

          Kulae Puttu, this is another Coorg recipe that I had tried out, after my trip to Coorg. The dish is made with jackfruit pulp and rice rava/ rice semolina, of course I made it a couple of months back, when jackfruit was still in season, somehow didn't get to post it till now. This is a healthy dessert, mildly sweet from the natural sweetness from the jackfruit and the jaggery added, but do try it, only if you like jackfruit. Since jackfruit is not in season now, you can try this with bananas too, serve it with a little ghee on top, very flavorful and delicious..

Payatham Paruppu Sundal, Moong Dal ( Green Gram ) Sundal

          Another Sundal for Navratri, Payatham Paruppu/Paasi Paruppu/Moong Dal/Husked Split Green Gram Sundal. This is very easy to make and tastes very good with the grated coconut added to it. Cooking the moong dal perfectly without making it mushy is the tricky part, other than that, it is so simple to make, very healthy and delicious snack..

Navratri Dishes

          Happy Navratri ! this festival goes on for nine nights and ten days, 'Nav' meaning nine and ' ratri ' meaning night, nine forms of Devi/Shakti are worshipped and the tenth day is celebrated as Vijayadashami  or Dusshara. Though we don't celebrate Navaratri or keep Golu ( toy exhibit ) at my place, I had always enjoyed going to Golu and of course eating the different types of sundals and other foods that are made on those days. Here are some sundals, payasams and pongals that we can make on those days, the dishes are onion and garlic free..

Rava Kesari, Sooji ( Semolina ) Kesari

          Rava Kesari is one of the few Indian sweets that my daughter likes, especially the one that my mother makes, in fact we all like it at home. We love it, when it's still warm ( chuda, chuda, before it thickens and solidifies ). It's a simple dessert, the only step where we have to be careful is when adding the roasted sooji/semolina/rava to the boiling water, have to keep stirring simultaneously, to get a smooth mixture without any lumps. The right amount of sweetness, generous amount of ghee and cardamom, gives a wonderful flavor to this dish. This post has been lying in draft for a long time, what better time to post than now, just before Navratri..

Radish Greens Curry, Mullangi Keerai Poriyal, Mooli Leaves Curry

          Though I buy radish/mullangi/mooli very often, and sometimes the greens also comes along with it, this is the first time I have cooked with them. Most of the times, the leaves that come with the radish are dry and not fresh, but this time, I got them very fresh, so decided to make a poriyal with it. Usually we add grated fresh coconut to the poriyal, this time I also added some roasted and coarsely pounded peanuts too. This gave a nice crunchy taste to the dish, can serve this curry with rice and sambar or with rotis and some dal, it goes very well with both..

Poha And Honey Dhoklas, Rice Flakes ( Aval ) Steamed Cakes

          This month, for the 'Shhhh Cooking Secretly' event, Lakshmi Vimala had given me poha/rice flakes and honey as the secret ingredients. There are a few dishes that we can do with these ingredients, but I wanted to do something wherein, I can conceal them as well, that's part of the fun in this event, looking at the pictures, one should not be able to tell the ingredients. I had something else in my mind, but this clicked out in the last moment. I just went ahead, with no idea how this would come out, whether the poha mixture will hold together after steaming and so on. The dish turned out really good, I have used red rice flakes and only honey along with a little dry fruits and coconut, an easy and healthy snack or breakfast dish..

Bharwan Bhindi, Stuffed Okra/Lady's Finger

          Okra, as I have said so many times, my family loves this vegetable, so I buy it very often. Apart from making the regular curry and sambar, I also like to try out new dishes with it. I have tasted Bharwan Bhindi, a couple of times in restaurants and this is the first time I have tried it at home, This is a simple and elegant dish, the okra/bhindi/lady's finger is stuffed with a mixture of spice powders and sauteed till crispy and golden brown. Serve it with rotis or rice along with a dal/lentils for a complete meal..

Vegetable Fried Rice

          Whenever we ordered Chinese Food, it's either some noodles or this Vegetable Fried Rice, being vegetarians, we didn't have many choices. It's been a very long time, that I made it at home, mostly because there'll be some ingredient missing or didn't want to eat Chinese. This time, I had everything in hand and was also at the same time in a mood to eat Chinese too. Chopping the vegetables into small pieces is the only major work here, otherwise it's a very simple dish and the other good thing being, we can make this from leftover rice too. Adding some tofu to the fried rice makes it a complete meal, we can have it as such, along with some chilly sauce on the side or make it even more interesting by serving it with some Cauliflower/Gobi Manchurian..

Naranga Curry, Kadarangai Oorugai, Wild Lemon Pickle

          Last weekend was Onam, though I couldn't prepare Onam Sadya, I wanted to make, at least a couple of dishes that are traditionally made on that day, next time I have promised myself that I'll make the complete meal with the 25 dishes. This year, I just made Parippu Pradhaman and then this Naranga Curry. Actually, while buying vegetables, my friend and I found this Kadarangai/Wild Lemon and we both sere getting it, when, another person in the shop mentioned to us that this curry is made as one of the Sadya dishes. So then, after coming home and going through a couple of recipes, I made it, Naranga Curry is nothing but an instant pickle made with wild lemon. It hardly takes 30 minutes to make, it has a nice sour and sweet taste and as all pickles goes very well thayir saadam/ curd rice, do try this if you can find this wild lemon..

Thakkali Kurma, Tomato Kurma

          Today's dish is going to be a simple and delicious Tomato Kurma, this comes in handy when you are running out of time or on those days you don't feel like chopping vegetables. The gravy is rich, flavorful and delicious from the coconut and cashew paste and goes well with rotis, idlis, dosas, as a side dish for pilafs and briyanis or even mixed with some plain white rice..

Cherupayar Parippu Pradhaman/ Kerala Style Moong Dal Payasam ( Kheer )

          Happy Onam ! This festival is celebrated in the state of Kerala in India, celebrating the homecoming of King Mahabali. It's celebrated for 4 days with many cultural events and of course the special Onam Sadya. This special meal includes a variety of dishes, different curries, payasams, pickles and the list goes on. Today's dish, Cherupayar Parippu Pradhaman, this a Kerala style payasam/kheer made with moong dal/ husked green gram. I got this recipe from a Malyalam Cookery show, it's a very easy dish and it tasted very delcious..

Karpuravalli/Doddapatre/Ajwain Leaves Thogayal ( Chutney )

          Ever since I made Tambli/ Raitha with Ajwain Leaves/Karpuravalli/Doddapatre, I wanted to try out something else with it, I made the Moru/Buttermilk with it, which was extremely refreshing and then I made this Thogayal/Chutney. I just added a few other ingredients that we usually add for making a chutney to the ajwain leaves, the thogayal turned out to be really good. The thogayal is not only very tasty but very healthy also ( I am not going to repeat the medicinal values of this herb, the web has more than enough information ). We had it, mixed with some white rice along with a teaspoon of sesame oil or ghee and it was very delicious..

Eggless Danish Pastry Envelopes, Blueberry Jam Envelopes

          After coming back to India from the US, one other thing that I missed is the Puff Pastry that we get back there. Till date, I am not able to get readymade puff pastry here, so I was thinking of doing it from scratch, but then, kept putting it off, thinking that it was a hard and tedious job. But I was proved wrong, thanks to Gayathri and the Eggless Baking Challenges that we take up every month. Yeah, for this month we had to try our hands at making Danish Pastry, which involves ' Laminating the Dough ' and the repeated rolling and folding process. The step by step pictures might make it look like a very lengthy procedure, but it's actually not that very hard, this is the first time that I made this and I am very satisfied with the end result, the Danish Pastries tasted absolutely delicious..

Ulundu Purana Kozhukattai, Urad Dal Kozhukattai

          Happy Ganesh Chathurthi ! I usually make Kadala Paruppu Sweet Kozhukattai and Chana Sundal on that day, but this time I am going to be at my mom's place, so before going there, I made two varieties of kozhukattais, one was the Aval Sweet Pidi Kozhukattai and then this Ulundu Purana Kozhukattai. Though I have tasted this many times at my friend's place, this is the first time I made it at home. I used organic Unpolished Arisi Maavu ( Rice Flour ) for the outer layer, the kozhukattais turned out very soft with a beautiful color and tasted very good with the savory filling..

Kovakkai ( Tindora/Dondakaya/Gherkins/Ivy Gourd ) And Peas Curry

          With Ganesh Chathurthi around the corner, I see a lot of kozhukattai and sundal recipes across blogs ( Indian food blogs ). Even my last post was a kozhukattai and I am planning to post another one too, but for today, it's going to be a curry, Kovakkai/Tindora/Dondakaya/Ivy Gourd/Gherkins curry along with fresh green peas. I love to try different combinations of vegetables and I made this curry to go with rotis/chappatis. It's not a dry curry but it doesn't have too much gravy either, and it tasted really good with the rotis..