Hungarian Kipfels

          When Gayathri started this Eggless Baking Challenge, I immediately joined the group and I am happy that I did so. Otherwise, I don't think, I would have tried so many breads and cakes from around the world, and that too, without using eggs. For this month, the challenge was Hungarian Kipfels, these are jam filled cakes, and have yeast, butter, sour cream and eggs in the dough. They had used Lekvar ( prune jam  ) for the filling, and there was a link for making the same, I made the prune jam ( Lekvar ), will post it next. The cakes turned out good, it was a like a cookie on the outside and a cake on the inside. In this particular recipe, the jam filled dough is rolled in a walnut and sugar mixture and then baked, my husband didn't like the outer coating with the walnuts, so the next time I would roll the dough in just plain granulated sugar. My daughter and I didn't have a problem with the walnuts, so it's a personal preference to use it or not, do try out these cakes, they are easy to make and the prune jam filling gives a nice taste to it..

Gujarati Kadhi, Spicy Yogurt

          I have never been a big fan of kadhi, until I tasted it at my friend's place, in fact I have tasted some of the best Gujarati dishes at her place, best homemade dhoklas, kachoris, and other curries. I got this recipe from her only, we simply love this with the khichdi that I had posted earlier. It's a very simple recipe, calls for very few ingredients and can be done in minutes..

Simple Gujarati Khichdi

          Khichdi, a healthy and tasty dish with rice and lentils, it's an easy dish, that can be put together in no time. It's somewhat similar to the south Indian Pongal, and there are different versions to it, Bengali, Rajasthani, just the rice and lentils, or sometimes with vegetables. Today's version is the simple Gujarati Khichdi. My family loves this when served with some kadhi ( my next post ), serve some sauteed vegetables on the side for a complete and nutritious meal..

Ajwain Leaves ( Doddapatre ) Tambli (Tambuli), Karpuravalli Thayir Pachadi

          Until sometime back, I didn't know that we can make something other than a ' kashayam ' ( medicinal concoction ) with ajwain leaves/ karpuravalli/ doddapatre ( Coleus Aromaticus ). In our apartment, some members of the association grow fresh greens in small quantities, when I had gone to buy some, I found these ajwain leaves too. As a kid, I remember, that we were always asked to chew on a couple of these leaves ( most of the houses had this plant ) or drink the ' kashayam ' for its medicinal value. These leaves have a slightly peppery and spicy taste, so not many kids are happy eating this. So, when I saw them selling this also, I thought it was for that purpose only, but then, one of the ladies told me about this dish with it, named ' Tambli ' or ' Tambuli ' ( Udipi Cuisine ) and I also got the recipe for it. It's basically a raitha or thayir pachadi ( yogurt-coconut based dish ), very easy to prepare and tastes good when mixed with some rice. The best part is, you don't get the sharp spicy taste that you get when you chew the raw leaves..

Carrot And Onion Dosa, Crepes

          One dish that we never get tired of eating at home is dosas, be it the plain ones using the regular idli/ dosa batter or the others using different dals/ lentils and vegetables or instant dosas using different flours. For today's dosa I have used rice along with three different lentils and used some chopped onions and grated carrots for the topping. The dosas came out very crispy and tasted very delicious with the onions and carrots. The batter doesn't need fermentation, and since it has rice, lentils and veggies, it makes a complete meal..

Vazhaipoo ( Banana Flower ) Paruppu Usili

          Vazhaipoo, Banana Flower, as kids, most of us would have not liked this vegetable, because of it's slightly bitter taste, and now even my daughter never wants to have it. I usually add it while making adai ( vazhaipoo adai ), it tastes good in the adai. Very rarely I make a poriyal with it, I made this paruppu usili after a very long time. Again in this dish, since we are adding dal/ lentils along with the banana flower, it tastes really good. I have already posted a couple of usili recipes in my blog, Green Beans Paruppu Usili and Long Beans Masala Usili, there is a slight difference in the ingredients and also I had used the microwave in those recipes. For the vazhaipoo usili, I have done it in a pan on stove top, I feel this is the best way for this vegetable. A healthy and tasty side dish to go with rice and vatha kuzhambu, moru kuzhambu or poondu kuzhambu..

Corn Flakes Crusted Bananas

          Whenever I read a post talking about ' Blogging Marathon ', I am always in awe, how can someone cook, click and post dishes every single day, and these dishes were most of the time very innovative too and also something with a rare combination of ingredients. As for the lazy me, I take part in just two events, one is the ' Eggless Baking ' and the other one, that I have joined recently is the ' Shhhhh Cooking Secretly ' event. The former needs no explanation, the event name tells everything, coming to the second one, since it's a fairly new event, this is how it works, we're paired with a fellow participating blogger each month, each of us give the other a pair of secret ingredients, which we have to use ( either one or both ) and come up with a dish. The fun part is, we share the pictures in the face book group, a couple of days before the reveal date, giving a chance for the other group members to guess the secret ingredients. This month, I was paired with Padmajha Sureshbabu of Seduce Your Tastebuds, more popularly known as PJ among bloggers, she needs no introduction. My secret ingredients for this month were corn flakes and bananas. Since I had to do something with a fruit, I was thinking about some kind of a dessert. When I started doing this, since I had no clue about the taste, I did it with just one banana. But then, I was more than satisfied with the result, it was absolutely delicious, and the best part is, it's so easy to put together..

Khandvi, Healthy Gujarati Snack

          Khandvi, another healthy and tasty Gujarati snack, I had tasted this only a couple of times, once at my friend's, when I was in the US, and the second time at a restaurant in Chennai. Both my daughter and I love this, and I had this on my 'do list ' for a long time. Finally, I made it last month, on my daughter's birthday, just a small batch, it turned out really good. The ingredients are very simple, the procedure is not very complicated, but we have to be very swift only at the end, when we have to spread the batter, before it cools and lumps up. It's a healthy and delicious snack, rich in protein and low in fat, I would definitely be making it again and again..

Beetroot Podi Curry, Beetroot Curry With Peanut Powder

         Last time when I bought some beets, I wanted to try something other than the regular poriyal and kootu. I like podi curries, the ones we do with eggplants and potatoes, they are very flavorful as we add fresh spice powder, so I decided to do a podi curry with beets also. I used a little peanuts with coriander seeds and dried red chillies, the curry had a nice crunch and went well with both rice and rotis..

Tomato Chutney, Thakkali Chutney

          How many times have I made this tomato chutney, but it never got a chance to be posted here. I have mentioned it so many times, this is the favorite chutney at home, ask my daughter any day, she would say, idlis and tomato chutney is the best combination. Every time I made it, I would think, okay, the next time I would click pictures and post it and finally last week I did it. It's an easy and delicious chutney to go with idlis, dosas and adais..

Pusinikkai Thayir Pachadi, Ash Gourd, White Pumpkin Raitha

          Pusinikkai/ Ash Gourd/ White Pumpkin, most of the times I have made only kootu ( cooked with dal ) with this vegetable, or sometimes I have used it in sambar. Though I have heard of this thayir pachadi, I have never made it till now. It's a very easy recipe, very tasty and flavorful, we can have it as a side to some mixed rice or even mix it with rice ( like mor kuzhambu ) and have, a refreshing and healthy dish for the hot summer..

Radhaballabhi, Dal Stuffed Puris, Khachoris

          Radhaballabhi, the name sounds like somebody's name, well, at least for me, but then only a couple of weeks back, I saw this on a TV show, and then as I had already mentioned in my post on Aloor Dum, I made it the very next day. And now, not only me, but everybody at home knows about this popular Bengali breakfast and also like it very much. For those who are not familiar with it, it's basically pooris ( deep fried Indian bread ), stuffed with a urad dal ( husked black gram ) filling, we can also call them as Kachoris too, except they are shaped more like pooris. They are mostly served with a potato dish like Aloor Dum. The pooris are so flavorful from the asafoetida, cumin seeds and fennel seeds in the stuffing and are also very filling and tasty with the Aloor dum, perfect breakfast or evening snack..