Rose Lassi

          Today before going into the recipe, I want to share something with my fellow blogger friends. On Tuesday, I was not able to see my blog, an error message kept popping up, saying that the blog has been removed, I got really worried, very close to tears. After checking on google, I left a query in the google help forum, I didn't get any reply, but finally my blog appeared after nearly 15 hours. I was truly vexed during that time, from what I understood, there is an automated procedure which identifies blogs as spam blogs, and as with all systems, there is a chance of a false positive. I am sharing this here, because this could happen to any of you guys, in that case, don't lose heart, post your question in the google help forum, if it's a false alarm, everything will be back to normal within some time. If any of you out there has experienced something similar to this, do share it, so that we'll all know that we are not alone. 

          Now coming to today's dish, I shouldn't be really calling it so, it's so simple, technically it's just mixing and serving. After coming to India, the daughter and I have become big fans of rose milk, mainly because of the heat, I give her this when she comes back from school. The other day, I made it with curd instead of milk and we both loved it..

Rasagullas

          Growing up in Pondicherry, where there are a lot of Bengalis thanks to the Aurobindo Ashram, I've had my fair share of Rasagullas, Rasamalais and other Bengali sweets. I''ve wanted to make them from scratch for a long time now (I think I've tried it once several years back), it finally materialized only now. I had to make it twice ( I made some mistakes the first time), before I got it close to perfect, it's not as complicated as it appears, in fact I would classify it as an easy one, compared to the other Indian halwas and burfis which needs a lot of stirring, try it out if you like milk sweets..

Bottle Gourd Dal

         After coming to India, I have slowed down, I am hardly posting twice in a week, is it due to more work here or because of the internet connection here, I don't know. Everytime I think, I should do better the next week, but end up doing the same, hopefully I'll be much more organised in the future. Well, today's dal is a very easy and tasty recipe which I had learnt from a Punjabi friend, in fact till sometime back, I had been using bottle gourd to make this dal only, never tried out even a sambar with it. I have used chana dal (skinned split black chickpeas) for making it, you can use the whole chickpeas, except that you have to soak it before cooking. This goes well both with rotis and any kind of rice or pulav, a mild yet flavorful dal..

Minty Quinoa

           I have been neglecting my blog for more than a week now, my parents and sisters had come over, lots of cooking but couldn't find time to check on my blog. Well, today's recipe is yet another simple and healthy preparation with quinoa (I have a packet with me that I had brought with me from the US). But for those who can't find quinoa, you can do the same with couscous too, also the other day I found a packet of quinoa (of course imported one ) at Nilgiris in Chennai. Now coming back to the dish, it gets its flavor from the mint leaves and tastes great with any raitha or plain yogurt too..

Spinach Saute

          Since spinach or any green leafy vegetable is a favorite at my home, we have it at least a couple of times in a week, and now after coming to India, we get so many varieties too. Today's dish is a simple saute, though I have called it 'Spinach Saute', I have used Amaranth leaves (Mulai Keerai in Tamil) that you can also get in the US. It's a nice side dish with rice or rotis, not very spicy and needs very few ingredients..

Pasta Briyani

         Though I do pasta at least once a week for my daughter, it's mostly with pesto or the pasta sauce, this is the first time I tried something Indian with it. I used fusili pasta, made a briyani with it, lightly flavored with the garam masala, it tasted very good. It was a nice variation to the regular pasta, with all the vegetables in it, a filling one pot meal..

Beetroot Parathas

          As I have already said, parathas are not an everyday thing in my house, I mostly do them for weekend  brunch or lunch. We can come up with so many varieties of parathas by being a little creative with the filling. I usually make beet parathas by adding them to the flour along with other spices, but for today's paratha I tried a slightly different version. I made a paruppu usili ( lentil curry) with the beets and then used that as a filling, in the process, making the parathas a little more nutritious with protein, thereby making it a complete meal with some curds or raitha..

Chayote Raitha

          Chayote, also known as chow-chow or vegetable pear, belongs to the gourd family. It's used widely in Indian cooking, cooked either with lentils (dal or kootu) or as a curry or even in salads and raithas. Usually when I make parathas, I serve it with some raitha ( a vegetable and yogurt preparation) and some spicy pickle. Last week when I made beet-root parathas (recipe coming soon), I made this raitha with chayote,  it tasted delicious, a very simple dish that anybody can do..

Potato Capsicum Curry

         Most of us like potatoes, especially the potato fry, very few kids (adults too) can stay away from French Fries. It is a very versatile vegetable that can be used in many kinds of dishes, be it a dry curry, a kurma or fritters and also combines well with other vegetables. For today's curry I have combined potatoes with capsicum or green bell peppers, once again a very yummy combo, goes well as a side with rice and dal or also with rotis..

Eggless Chocolate Lamingtons

          Lamingtons - Australian dessert, this was the challenge chosen for the Eggless Baking Group, this month. It could either be the chocolate version or the lemon version, as my daughter loves chocolate, I chose the former. After coming to India, I 've started using the convection oven for baking, still in the process of learning, in fact this is my first proper bake. And about these lamingtons, they came out absolutely gorgeous, thanks Gayathri for choosing it, this is my version, if you love chocolate (if not too, my niece who is not a big fan of chocolate desserts liked this), then this is for you..