Cheddar Cheese Sandwiches

          As I had mentioned in my earlier post, I had bought this very good quality cheddar cheese from the mall here. I had used it in a few dishes, these sandwiches being one of them. This is a very simple recipe, I have used just some spring onions and tomatoes along with the cheese. The sandwiches tasted too good, they are very filling too and we loved the cheddar cheese, tomato and spring onion combo..

Cabbage Akki Roti, Cabbage Rice Roti

          Akki Rotis are simple and delicious rotis made using rice flour ( akki meaning rice in Kannada ), very popular dish in Karnataka and they make many varieties, plain ones and then so many versions using different vegetables. The first few times that I made them, I usually make a dough just like we make it for rotis, later I learnt that it should be slightly wet dough, this gives you much softer and delicious rotis. I adapted the recipe from here, and I have added finely chopped cabbage to the dough. The rotis came out too good and we loved it with peanut chutney..

Poricha Rasam

          I make rasam only once or twice a week, because it's only during the weekends, we have a full course meal for lunch, the other days I pack lunch, it's either rotis or some rice and most of the days and I make only the simple tomato and garlic rasam, once in a while I make a different one. Coming to today's Poricha Rasam, we use two varieties of dal/lentils, tuvar and moong dal and a ground paste of coconut and other spices. This rasam is slightly thicker and the flavor from the ground paste is awesome and usually I make this rasam on days that I don't make sambar. When mixed with rice, it tastes divine with some pappads or potato curry on the side..

Jackfruit Seeds Cutlet, Kathal Bij-Er Chop, Palakottai Cutlets

          The next dish that I had tried this Jackfruit season are these Cutlets With Jackfruit Seeds, Palakottai Cutlets. It's actually a Bengali dish, called as Kathal Bij-Er Chop, we use mashed jackfruit seeds and potatoes along with other spices and crushed peanuts, shape them into cutlets and deep fry them, but I have shallow fried them to keep it a little healthy. These cutlets can be served as a snack along with some tomato sauce, but I am telling you, they tasted so good that we didn't need anything to go with it. You can also serve them as a side to go with any meal, do try this before the jackfruit season ends..

Olive Focaccia Bread

          Focaccia Bread has been on my to-bake list for a long time, finally I made it when a can of black olives that I had was getting close to the expiry date. It's actually a very simple recipe, even beginners can do it, if you have good quality yeast and follow the steps carefully, the bread will turn out really good. There are different varieties of Focaccia, depending upon the added ingredients, I have added some black olives to make Olive Focaccia Bread, we can add sun dried tomatoes, different herbs or even without of any of these, just simple plain Focaccia Bread. The bread has a crispy crust and a soft interior and is very flavorful from the olive oil and other herbs added to it..

Cauliflower Posto, Cauliflower In Poppy Seed-Mustard Gravy

          Both the daughter and I like Bengali food, we love their dum aloo, kachoris and their vegetable curries in mustard gravies. Previously I used to use regular vegetable or sunflower oil instead of mustard oil, but recently I had bought a bottle of mustard oil and I am using it to make these Bengali style curries. Now, not everybody would love mustard oil, even my husband is not a big fan of it, sometimes I mix regular oil and mustard oil, so as to keep down the flavor a little. Now, coming to today's curry, we cook the cauliflower in a mustard-poppy seeds and cashew paste and milk. The curry tastes delicious with both rice and rotis, do give it a shot if you want to try out some Bengali food at home..

Thayir Vadai, South Indian Dahi Vada, Curd Vada

          Thayir Vadai/Lentil Fritters In Curd. every state in India might have it's own version of this, with a few differences in the spices and ingredients added to the curd/yogurt. This is such a refreshing and delicious snack or accompaniment to a meal, especially during the hot summer days. I love all the different versions of this dish, but the most favorite one will always be this South Indian version. The coconut and spice paste mixed with the curd gives it a wonderful taste and when made perfectly, the soaked vadas/fritters will be so soft and delicious..

Palakottai Mangai Curry, Jackfruit Seeds And Mango Curry

          The next dish that I tried this time with the bag of Palakottai/Jackfruit Seeds that I bought was this  Palakottai Mangai Curry/ Jackfruit Seeds And Raw Mango Curry. Both mangoes and jackfruits are in season around the same time and this is a very tasty dish to try out with it. The coconut paste and the coconut oil used in the curry gives a wonderful flavor to the curry and it goes very well with rice along with some spicy vegetable curry..

Cheddar Cheese Pancakes

          Being in Bangalore has many advantages, at least in the food blogger's point of view, because of the big expat crowd here, it's easy to find and buy cooking ingredients used in other cuisines. On one of my visits to a mall here, I bought this very good quality Cheddar Cheese. Usually I don't buy Cheddar cheese, that day after tasting a bit of the cheese, I ended up buying, not 1 pack but 2 packs of it, it was so good. I have used the cheese in a couple of dishes, one of them being these Cheddar Cheese Pancakes. I had added some scallions for flavor, and the pancakes came out so good and they tasted very good along with some spicy tomato sauce..

Palakottai Vadai, Jackfruit Seeds Vada ( Fritters )

          Every year, during the jackfruit season, more than the fruit, I always make it point to buy the seeds, mainly because my daughter loves the seeds but she doesn't like the fruit and I usually add it to sambar and curries. This year, I got a whole bag of seeds and after using it in sambar, I was looking for some other recipes to make with it and then I came upon this Jackfruit Vadai ( Fritters ). It's basically the masala vadai/ chana dal vada with the addition of some mashed jackfruit seeds. These vadas can be served as a part of a South Indian lunch along with rice, sambar and curries or eaten as snack. We had it both ways and my family loved it..

Eggless Basil Pesto And Cheese Rolls

          Basil is one of my favorite herbs, everybody at home loves the flavor, we love it in the classic Basil Pesto, in our pasta, sandwiches, risotto or in even a simple fried rice. I have been thinking of baking with it too, especially these rolls and braided bread with Basil Pesto had been on my list for a long time now. Most of the time, I'll be able to get only a small packet of basil which would not be enough for making the rolls, and even if I have more of it in hand, it usually ends up in a pasta or risotto. This time, I bought them specifically for these rolls, made the pesto and finally made them. I am not going to say how delicious and flavorful these rolls were, anybody who knows and likes basil will surely love this. I have used homemade Basil Pesto, but you can make your own or buy the Pesto. So the next time you buy Basil or Pesto, do try these rolls and for those ( in India ) who are not able to find basil, don't lose heart, you can try the rolls with coriander chutney, of course the flavor will be different but it'll still taste delicious..