Second cake

My first cake

This is the first cake I have iced, preparing the cake and frosting from scratch.

Pineapple Squash

Daddy, This very much tasted like the Kissan Pineapple fruit squash which we have at home in summer though I made this from scratch (fresh pineapple)

In bloom

Here are a couple of pictures of a couple of plants in bloom...

Herb pot....
Sprouting methi...

ras malai

Here goes the recipe.

1. Stir fine powdered sugar in ricotta cheese. Scoop into a muffin pan upto 1 inch height. Cover the pan with aluminium foil. Bake at 350 * for 45 mins.

2. Bring evaporated milk + regular milk ( 2:1 ratio) to boil. add sugar, powdered cardamom,slivered almonds and saffron strands. stir them in good. let it cool a little.

3. remove from muffin pan from the oven. let it cool. remove the aluminium foil.

4. carefully remove the cheese discs from the pan and slide them into the sweet milk sauce. refrigerate.

coconut perugu pachadi

chocolate cup cakes

Decadent chocolate cupcakes with a dollop of whipped cream.....

Vegetable Pulao

mint pulao with chole

mint pulao:
saute chopped onions, diced potatoes, spices. grind mint,green chillies, ginger and garlic. add paste and salt. saute. add soaked rice. add water. steam.

chole:
saute onions,tomatoes,green chillies. add turmeric,salt, chole masala. add water and diced potatoes and ground chole(few chickpeas). boil for some time. add remaining chick peas. steam.

gongura pulusu

rava dosa

To note:

sooji, maida and rice flour in 2:1:1 ratio. mix these in yogurt and water. ferment overnight. add salt.

mokka jonna

badam kheer

pulihara

Stuffed Kakarkai

Here goes the recipe:
1. soak moongdal for 2 hrs. grind moongdal+onion+red chillies+cumin+salt.
2. slit kakarkai and stuff with the ground stuff.
3. fry in oil on low heat.

Idli

Today for breakfast we had Idli with sambhar, chutney and sugar :)

Dondakai koora

Panasa Pottu koora

I always thought preparing 'Panasa Pottu Koora' was very tedious since it meant that the unripe jackfruit has to be peeled, the tender flesh removed and chopped carefully. Thanks to the canned green jackfruit, it is just another simple recipe.

To Note:
1. Shred the tender jackfruit. Boil in salted turmeric water. Drain water.
2. Add the shredded jackfruit to popu. Add tamarind, salt and fried vadiyams.

Pics of Mirchi bajji

Today we had mirchi bajji again. They were yumm !!

Simple Pound Cake

Today I baked a pound cake. We had it with pineapple for dessert.

Beans Pulao and Rajma

It was a nice simple meal. French beans pulao with rajma on the side. And for dessert we had coconut sweet.


To Note:
1. Stir in grated fresh coconut into boiling jaggery syrup. Add some elaichi pods.

Mirchi bajji

Alas, couldn't take pictures of 'em. May be next time.

To note:
1. Boil and soak the slit and deseeded mirchi in salt water for 15 mins.
2. Stuff. ( Peanut+ Sesame+Tamarind+Ajwain + Salt)
3. Dip and redip in batter and fry.

Hmm....my blog looks kinda empty without a picture! Here is a picture of the Easter Lily plant I bought recently.

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Chocolates!

These look like indian sweets but are actually belgian chocolates. White Chocolate, Marzipan( Almond 'n Sugar) and Pistachio based chocolates.

Dum Aloo

Today we had Dum Aloo with organic flour tortillas.

To Note:
1. Roast the aloo in little oil with salt and turmeric.Keep aside.
2. Grind onion, g. chilli, ginger, coriander seeds, clove. Fry. Add tomato puree, salt, cream.
3. Add aloo. Put on lid. Steam.
4. Keep on eye while steaming, and add water if necessary.

Spicy Rice

This is what we had today for an early dinner. Can't exactly call it pulao. Its spicy rice with vegetables :) Fried all veggies one after the other. Ground some ginger and coriander with some standard spices. Mixed all veggies, spices, rice and water in a pan( and salt too...ofcourse!). After 10~15 mins it was spicy rice ! Nevertheless it was good with raitha.

Gummadikai Vadiyalu (Ash Pumpkin/Winter Melon Fritters)

We were pleasantly surprised to find 'Ash Pumpkin' being sold at our Indian store and the thought of having fresh 'vadiyalu' made us happy :) Soon there was a phone call home (MIL) and I learn one more recipe !
The Ingredients:Firstly, I cut the gummadikai , salted it and hung the pieces in a cheesecloth overnight. (Like for paneer). Also soaked urad dal separately. The next day into the blender go soaked urad dal,green chilli, hing and salt. After it gets to the consistency of idli batter I transfer it into a bowl, mix the drained gummadikai pieces.
Both of us like to eat the batter mixed with hot rice and ghee. So kept some aside and the made the rest into vadiyams. :) I'll fry these in the evening for dinner.
To Note :
1. Wash the pumpkin thoroughly, esp the skin.
2. Deseed the pumpkin.
3. Little urad dal goes a long way, since the batter is fluffy.
4. The batter made into lumps and spread on a wet cloth.
5. Fry the vadiyams in oil the same day .

First post...continued !

Mango Pickle
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It took some effort for the transfer of technology. I was getting instructions online in realtime from my grandmom, mom and dad. But the result was great. Here is the first Mango Pickle I ever made. Both of us were craving for fresh mango pickle, hence it din't even last for 2 days. ( I used only 1/2 of a raw mango, with the other half I made Mango Dal...Yumm Yumm !)

Apple Payasam
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Both of us prefer pears to apples. There were a couple of apples which were being neglected for almost a week. Hence I made apple paysam. It was like vermicelli payasam but a little crunchier.

To note:
1. Use condensed milk along with regular milk.
2. Garnish with almonds and not raisins.

Chole
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This chole was good. I used soaked whole chana instead of canned garbanzo beans.

To note:
1. Grinding some chana with spices to form gravy...crucial.
2. Adding yogurt and pinch of sugar.

Stuffed Vankai Koora
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The stuff in the picture along with some oil and salt are the ingredients I used to make stuffed brinjal. Though it din't exactly turn out to be 'stuffed' it was quite good. Here is the picture...

My first post

Just thought it would be a good idea to maintain a chronicle of what I cook and how(if?) we liked it.I have no idea as to how the format of the blog should be ...but I guess it will evolve along with my cooking skills (hopefully !).

I have been taking pictures of the food I have been cooking and sending it to my parents ( My mom is very skeptical of my skills in the kitchen). Let me start by posting those pictures!

Tomato Dal
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Beans Koora
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Bread Bonda
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Hot Pongal
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Vada with Ginger Chutney
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Bell Pepper Chutney
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