Homemade Ricotta Cheese

         Ricotta cheese is available in India, at least in the big cities, but somehow I didn't like the texture of it. Ricotta ( meaning recooked ) is actually made from the whey left from making cheese. But when we make it at home, the method is almost similar to how we make Paneer/Indian Cottage Cheese. The texture of homemade Ricotta was creamy and it tasted very good. We can have it in sandwiches, use it in baking or in pasta dishes, I used my batch of ricotta to make ravioli and some cookies, will be posting them soon..

Kuthiraivali Sorakkai Idli, Barnyard Millet Lauki ( Bottle Gourd ) Idli

          Millets, no longer we need to go into, how healthy they are, it's a known fact now. Now, in India we not only get whole millets and millet flour, we also get them now in rava ( semolina ) form and also as instant idiyappams ( noodles ). For today's idli I have used Kuthiraivali ( Barnyard Millet ) rava and sorakkai/bottle gourd. The idlis came out soft and delicious, the texture was like that of regular rava/semolina idlis. Try out this super healthy idlis, you can use varagu/kodo millet or saamai/little millet too, they go very well with peanut or coconut chutney..

Peanut Butter Banana Cake With Whole Wheat Flour ( Vegan )

          I love peanut butter and banana sandwiches and I wanted to try out this delicious combo in a cake and also, I got tired of making banana breads whenever I had overripe bananas (which was practically every time I bought bananas ), so last time I made this cake with them. I have followed this recipe from here, but made a few changes to make it eggless and also left out the chocolate chips. There's no butter or any other dairy products used in this cake, so it's vegan too. The cake came out super moist and tasted so good, do try this cake if you like peanut butter and bananas..

Paneer Shahi Kurma, Creamy Curry With Cottage Cheese

          Though the first choice in my house, when I make paneer is Palak Paneer, there are a couple of dishes that I want to try out with it, Paneer Shahi Kurma being one among them. After looking at a couple of recipes. I settled down with this one from here, of course with a few small changes. This is a creamy and rich curry, but I have not added any cream or butter here, the curry gets its richness from the nuts added. It goes very well with rotis, nans and pilafs, ideal for parties or for those special weekend lunch or dinner..

Thakkali Dosa - 2, Tomato Dosa - 2

         
          I have already posted one Thakkali Dosa in my blog, today's post is another one, unlike the first Thakkali Dosa, this one does not need fermentation. The rice is soaked, ground with tomatoes, flavored with some spices and made into dosas immediately. The dosa gets a nice color from the tomatoes, they come out very crispy and goes very well with sambar and coconut chutney..

Upma Kozhukattai ( With Broken Wheat, Godhumai Rava )

          Upma Kozhukattai, usually it's made with idli rava or broken rice ( semolina ), but we can do it with broken wheat ( godhumai rava or even with millet semolina too ). The first time I made it with broken wheat, I think I made it with a very coarse variety, so it was difficult to shape the kozhukattais. This is an easy recipe, we make the basic upma, then let it cool a little, shape the kozhukattais and steam them. The kozhukattais taste delicious by themselves or we can serve them with some coconut chutney or peanut chutney or even some pickle..

Banana Blueberry Oats Cakes ( Microwave Recipe )

          Couple of months back, my husband on his trip to the US, had bought me two big packets of dried blueberries. Now, I have to find ways of using the berries, apart from eating it alone or with cereal ( with a family that's not a big fan of cereals ). I was browsing the web for blueberry recipes, I also I had bananas with me that day, so I was looking for a recipe to use blueberries along with bananas, then I saw this here. An easy dish that takes just about 4 to 5 minutes in the microwave, great for breakfast or snack..

Jackfruit Seeds Curry, Palakottai Varuval

          This year's jackfruit season is over, as much as I miss the fruits, I miss the seeds too. In fact my daughter doesn't like the fruit at all, but she likes the seeds very much, especially in the sambar that I make with drumstick and the seeds. Usually I'll buy a dozen jackfruit bulbs or the edible part of the fruit and always used the seeds for making the sambar. Once, I got a large quantity of the seeds alone and I wanted to try out a varuval ( curry ) with it, I made it just like the way I make potato curry. It's an easy dish and it goes very well with rice and dal/sambar..

Mohanthal ( Besan Fudge )

          After making payasam I had some leftover condensed milk in the fridge and I wanted to try out something new with it. For quite some time now, I had wanted to try out a sweet using besan flour and condensed milk, then I saw this recipe here for Mohanthal. I had all the ingredients in hand, so just went ahead and made it today, the entire dish took about 30 minutes to cook and a little extra time to cool and slice the burfis. The sweet turned out really good, it had a fudgy texture unlike our Mysore Pak but it's much easier to make..

Mushroom And Basil Rice

          Mushroom And Basil Rice, this is another easy rice that can be put together in no time. The main and important ingredient here is the basil leaves, the leaves along with the chopped garlic gives all the flavor to this simple rice. I have just added a few sliced mushrooms to the rice, it goes well with the basil, just serve it with some chips and raitha for a delicious meal..