Vellarikka Masala Bhath, Cucumber Masala Rice

          It has been a busy weekend, didn't have time to post or visit other blogs. Today also, I am posting very late, well, coming to the dish, Vellarikka Masala Bhath, I had noted the recipe long time back, did it a couple of times, then I thought, I lost the paper that I had noted it down. After so many years, recently, while checking some old notebooks, I came across this piece of paper. This is a very simple recipe, but the rice is so flavorful from the masala and the cucumber, it's not very spicy and it goes very well with tomato raitha or even with some plain curd/ yoghurt..

Homemade Candied Orange Peels

          For last month's Eggless Baking Challenge we had to do Norwegian Christmas Bread and I needed candied orange peels. I couldn't find them in the nearby stores, so finally made my own at home. Though it takes more than an hour to make this, the method is actually pretty simple. At the end, I had more than 2 cups of candied orange peels, it can be refrigerated and used in various breads and cakes..

Paruppu Dosai, Lentil Crepes

          Dosas, this is one tiffin that we have at least 2 or 3 times in the week, either for breakfast or dinner. Apart from the regular dosa made from a fermented rice and urad dal batter, we can make so many varieties, using other flours and lentils. Paruppu Dosai is made using rice and tuvar dal/ split pigeon peas, again the batter need not be fermented and you can make dosas with just the plain batter, or add some grated vegetables or chopped greens to it and make the dosas more healthier. I have added some chopped greens ( arai keerai ) to the batter, the dosas turned out really good, thin and crispy, you can serve it with any chutney of your choice..

Mango Stuffed Akki ( Rice ) Roti

          Priya of Priya's Versatile Recipes has started this new event called ' Shhh Cooking Secretly Challenge '. There's a facebook group and every month we're paired with a fellow blogger in the group. Each of the member has to suggest 2 ingredients to the other, and we have to cook something using both or one of the ingredients. Only the pairs know the secret ingredients and the rest of the group comes to know about it only on the revealing date. We had posted our dishes couple of days back, and had fun, guessing other's secret ingredients. For this month's challenge I was paired with Nayana Pikle of Nayana's Kitchen Kreations, and she had suggested mangos and rice flour. As we are still in the beginning of the mango season, I couldn't get really good ripe mangos. But last week, I picked up one, though it was not very sweet, it served the purpose. I made a filling with it and made stuffed rice rotis, thus using both the ingredients. They tasted really good, best when eaten warm and on the same day. If refrigerated, as is the case of rice flour, it tends to harden. The method was very simple and I should thank Nayana for choosing such beautiful ingredients..