Mutton Sukka Recipe | Mutton Chukka Varuval | Spicy Mutton Masala Fry Recipe

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas celebration and enjoying your holidays. We too had a good one. V is off this week, so its going to be a busy week, elaborate cooking, shopping and outing. Now coming to the recipe, Mutton Chukka Varuval/Mutton Fry, after a very long time I cooked mutton few weeks back. This is again my mom's recipe, very simple and easy to cook mutton recipe. Here I used little coconut paste for the varuval but you can skip coconut if you don't like but I recommend adding coconut paste, sure it give rich flavor and unique taste to the fry. Mom makes similar fry with chicken also.  Mutton Chukka is a spicy and delicious side dish that goes well with Biryani, plain rice and rasam and even with soft dosa. We had it with Chicken Biryani and raita. It was a filling and delicious weekend meal.

Julekake Recipe(Norwegian Cardamom Scented Christmas Bread) | Eggless Julekake Recipe | Norwegian Christmas Bread

I am wishing you all the blessings of a wonderful Christmastime & Happy Holidays. Enjoy the holidays with your family and friends. Now coming to today's recipe, For this Month's We Knead to Bake we are baking Julekake / Norwegian Cardamom Scented Christmas Bread. Julekake (or Julekaka/ Julekaga) is a rich bread flavoured with cardamom, and is traditionally served at Christmas in many Scandinavian countries. It is particularly popular in Norway and Denmark. This bread is more cake-like in texture, very soft rich and delicious bread. The bread is baked plain or is glazed with icing. Traditionally the plain bread is served warm at breakfast with butter or a Norwegian caramelised brown goat milk cheese called Gjeitost/ Brunost.

As the bread is rich and contains dry fruits I did not glaze them. Traditionally the bread is prepared with Citrus peel and flavored with Cardamom. But you can also use any dry fruits, raisins or red/green colored cherries to reflect the festive mood. Here, I used Dried cranberry and tutti frutti, but added in less amount. I prepared both Egg and Eggless Julekake version. For Eggless Julekake, I simply followed the same recipe and skipped Egg. The pictured ones are Eggless Julekake.
Both turned out soft and delicious, the Eggless Julekake was light compared to the egg version and tasted similar to the Honeycomb Buns/Khaliat Nahalwhich we baked last year.

Eggless Tutti Frutti Muffins Recipe | Easy Christmas Fruit Cake | Eggless Dry Fruit & Nuts Muffins

Here's another colorful and delicious sweet treat to try this Christmas, Eggless Tutti Frutti Muffins /Eggless Dry Fruit Muffins. I saw this soft, buttery and delicious Best Ever Tutti Frutti Muffins on Prema's Blog and tried it.  Muffins turned out super soft, flavorful and delicious. As we love tutti frutti a lot, this muffins are a treat for us. And also the addition of tutti frutti makes it more colorful, attractive and delicious. My kids loved this muffins a lot and half of them vanished in no time.
These tutti frutti muffins are one of the easiest and best edible gifts to share with your friends and family this Christmas. If you don't have tutti frutti, no worries just add any desired or available fry
fruits like apricots, cranberry, berry mix, candied orange peel or mixed nuts. These eggless muffins are loaded with richness of butter and perfect Christmas treat.

Shortbread Bites | Eggless Christmas Cookies | Easy Christmas Cookies Recipe

Today I am here with an easy Christmas special recipe, Shortbread Bites / Christmas Shortbread Cookies. Shortbread are kind of biscuits with mild sugar and rich buttery cookies. No eggs needed and just 3 basic ingredients is needed for a plain Shortbread cookies. Shortbreads are easy and simple to make, just mix butter, sugar and flour freeze the dough, cut out and bake. And are eggless and no fancy ingredients needed. If you are looking for some quick and simple Christmas Cookies recipe?! Then this Shortbread bites are one such simple cookie recipe that you can easily make it in big batch to share with your friends and family.

This Shortbread bites tastes similar to the Bakery style Venna Biscuits(white colored bite size biscuits). But shortbreads are mild sweet compared to that white venna biscuits. My kids loved it to the core. You can make it as a plain shortbread bites but the colorful sprinkles makes it more attractive and the red and green colors are perfect for the festive season. Now off to the recipe...

Chocolate Orange Shortbreads | Chocolate Shortbreads Recipe | Easy Christmas Cookie Recipe

Today's recipe is an easy and yummy chocolaty cookies with Orange punch. Orange & Chocolate is one of my favorite combo and love to bake anything in this combo. This Chocolate Orange Shortbread Cookies is one of my bookmarked recipes for this Christmas Baking. When Poornima of Poornima's Cookbook given me, Citrus Fruit and Chocolate as secret Ingredients for this Month's Shh Secretly Cooking Event by Priya, instantly this recipe came to my mind and tried it. As she gave me any citrus fruit option, I used Orange and cocoa powder for chocolate. The original recipe was Dark Chocolate Orange Shortbread but we don't like bitter or 90% cocoa, so reduced the cocoa powder to half and it was perfectly chocolate cookie.

Shortbread are kind of biscuits with mild sugar and rich buttery cookies. No eggs needed and just 3 basic ingredients is needed for a plain Shortbread cookies. Addition of cocoa and orange juice & Zest took this simple shortbread to an exotic bake and loved the aroma while baking. These Chocolate Orange Shortbread makes a perfect Edible gifts to Share with your friends and families this Christmas. You can cut it to your desired shapes, you can even use cutters/holiday themed cookie cutters.

Quinoa Black Bean Salad Recipe | Quinoa Black Bean Salad With Cilantro Lime Dressing

I am eagerly waiting for the Kids Winter Break that is starting from this Friday. I have scheduled each day an assignment with my kids along with their reading and kumon work. Wanted to enjoy this winter break usefully and creatively with my kids. Both my boys are also waiting for the school break, they wanna bake and cook with me. Little one has bookmarked few cookies from the Taste of Home cookies book and wanted to bake it for Christmas. Also, I bought some surprise toys (board games) and gifts for them. Hope everything will go as our plan.

Now coming to the recipe, Quinoa Black Bean Salad / Quinoa Salad. This is a salad cum meal recipe. You can have this salad alone for lunch or dinner meal, since it is loaded with beans, carrot, onions, spices, lime dressing and almonds for crunch. What else you need for a healthy, filling and delicious meal more than this. You can also make this Salad as a side along with grilled chicken breast or fish. A wholesome dish to enjoy anytime of the day. If you are a fan for Chipotle's Cilantro Lime Rice Bowl, then you will love this salad too. Here, I used Quinoa but you can use any millet, Brown Rice, Whole grain Pasta for a carb susbtitute in the salad.

Aloo Bhujia Recipe | Minty Aloo Bhujia Recipe | Easy Potato Sev Snack Recipe

Cold and Chill Winter Evening definitely needs some savory snack and hot beverages. At home every one likes savory snack for tea time. That too V likes deep fried snacks like Pakora, Bhaji, Vadai more than other snacks and now the kids also joined him, always wanted me to make some Deep Fried Snacks. Once in a while I do like to have some deep fried snacks but will limit with two or three. Today's recipe is my kids' favorite savory snack, Aloo Bhujia. I made this Aloo Bhujia for Diwali but I missed to post. This Aloo Bhujia is very simple and easy to make snack similar to Sev. It is prepared using Mashed Potato, Mint, green chili, lemon juice and spices. Also aloo bhujia does not take much time to cook and can be made in a jiffy if you have some boiled and mashed potato in hand.

Andhra Chicken Curry | Andhra Style Chicken Curry Recipe | Spicy Chicken Curry Recipe

Hope You had a fabulous weekend, mine too went well and looking forward to a pleasant and calm week ahead. Today's recipe is a spicy, flavorful and mouth watering Andhra chicken curry/Andhra Style Chicken Curry recipe. Andhra Cuisine is well known for its hot and spicy dishes and this Chicken Curry is one such recipe. This is a rich curry with coconut and poppy seeds and flavored with good amount of spices. I wanted to try Andhra style Non-veg recipes for long time and finally it happened 2 weeks back. On a cold winter evening prepared this Andhra Chicken Curry and served along with rotis for dinner. This chicken curry is sure a treat for spicy food lovers like us.

I made it little more spicy but, have given the recipe-measurement for medium hot chicken curry. Also you can adjust the green chilli and chili powder to your desired spice level. I referred a you tube video for this chicken curry recipe and it turned out awesome, sure a keeper recipe. So, for a change from your regular style of chicken curry try this Andhra style spicy Chicken Curry recipe, definitely you will love it. Don't panic on seeing the big ingredients list, just for easy understanding I divided it to different headings. This is absolutely an easy to make chicken curry. This spicy chicken curry suits well with Rotis/Phulka/Parotta/Dosa and even with rice & Biryani also. Now off to the recipe..

Strawberry Spinach Salad Recipe | Strawberry Spinach Salad With Poppy seed Vinaigrette

Thanks to all my blogger friends who stop by my space and leave your valuable comments, your few words are really encouraging and means a lot to me. At the same time I am sorry that I couldn't do a courtesy visit back to your space, hopefully by next week will do it. Thank you for your support. Today's recipe is a simple, colorful and refreshing salad with greens and a fruit combo. This is kinda summer salad with summer special fruit strawberries but here strawberries are available throughout the year so can enjoy this salad anytime.
Only thing the taste of berries may not that sweet now, so I added some brown sugar to the dressing and the best part of this salad is the dressing. Mild tangy, sweet dressing with poppy seeds
was awesome and refreshing with spinach and strawberries. First time i tried dressing with poppy seeds, instead of black one I used white poppy seeds and i loved it. Overall the salad was delicious and filling.

Hotel Style Mushroom Kurma Recipe | Mushroom Vellai Kurma Recipe | Mushroom Kurma Recipe

Hotel style Vellai Kurma/Mushroom Kurma Recipe with Step By Step Photos. I am slowly recovering from my sickness and now a days lost the blogging enthu due to one or the other things happening around. On seeing my fellow bloggers' updates on facebook sometimes motivates me to be active here.

Mughlai Chicken Biryani Recipe | Mughlai Biryani Recipe

Biryani itself a treat and if it is Hyderabadi or Mughlai Biryani then it is a double treat with double richness, double flavor and double taste. When it comes to Non-Vegetarian recipes I also wanted to try different recipes and cuisine. For the first time tried Mughlai Cusine and loved this Mughlai Chicken Biryani. The tastes of Mughlai cuisine vary from extremely mild to spicy, and is often associated with a distinctive aroma and the taste of ground and whole spices.

Mughlai Chicken Biryani is an Exotic Biryani with the richness of nuts, butter and unique aroma of freshly ground spices. This is a layered Biryani type that, is chicken gravy and rice is cooked separately and then both combined as layers in a pot and cooked in low heat by Dhum method. I referred an easy recipe from a youtube video and slightly tweaked to my taste. Most of the recipe uses food color to differentiate the layers but, i used saffron milk that, added nice aroma and yellow color to the rice. Do not worry about the color, Biryani tasted awesome. For a change, to impress your family just give it a try and share your feedback. The list and preparation may look bit lengthy and confusing but it is simple and easy to follow with the step wise pictures.

Quinoa Pulao Recipe | Quinoa Capsicum Pulao | Quinoa Pilaf Recipe

Today's recipe is a healthy, delicious and Vegan One Pot meal with Quinoa and vegetables - Quinoa Capsicum Pulao. More than Millet I love Quinoa and including it in my diet regularly. This time experimented the Indian way as One Pot Meal and it turned out so good. When Hema of Aromatic Cooking, gave me the two secret Ingredients,Capsicum  and Cashew nuts for Shh Cooking Secretly Challenge Event, an event by Priya, I wanted to make some rich cashew tomato curry sauce with Mushrooms but then decided to go with simple cooking and prepared this Quinoa Pulao with both the Ingredients in it.

Beetroot Poriyal Recipe | Beets Stir Fry(With Coconut)

Poriyal is nothing but an Indian style stir fried vegetables with spices, dal and sometimes coconut. Each State of South India has different names to it, Tamil Nadu it is mentioned as Poriyal, Keralites make similar stir fry with coconut and it is Thoran. Andhra and Kanadigas call it as Vepudu and Palya (sorry if I am wrong). Whatever the names are, the dish is prepared more or less the same way and it is equally tasty and served as a side dish with Rice Meal. I love all varieties of poriyal and it is must at our home. Beet Root/Beets Poriyal is my favorite side dish with Curd Rice/Thayir Sadham and Sambar Sadham.

Spinach Orange Salad Recipe | Spinach Salad With Orange and Pomegranate

If you are looking for some colorful, healthy, delicious and vegan Salad for meal then this Spinach Orange Pomegranate Salad is perfect. Now-a-days i prefer only salads for lunch and fruits for dinner. This is working out for me and I am feeling fresh and healthy. Half cooked or raw salads or just mixed fruits alone makes my meal more satisfying. We love eating raw salads and i always prefer a light dressing than the creamy or yogurt based ones. I slightly modified this Salad recipe from Two Peas & their Pod. Here, I used fresh Pomegrante and orange juice for dressing. The salad turned out awesome with both sweet and tangy taste.

Masal Vadai Recipe | Masala Vada | Paruppu Vadai Recipe

Masal Vadai or Masala Vada is a popular south Indian snack that is prepared using Channa dal or yellow split peas. I can proudly say that this Masal Vadai is my signature recipe, I never ever failed with this recipe and even made big batch of Vadas for Birthday Party/Get together events.  I am a big fan for tea kadai Masal vadai more than the Medhu vada. I love this masal vada for snack or as a side dish with Meals & Variety rices too.

BARLEY IDLI RECIPE | BROWN RICE BARLEY IDLI | HOW TO MAKE IDLI BATTER WITH BARLEY

After a small pause today I am here with a Healthy Breakfast Recipe, Barley Idli / Brown Rice Barley Idli. Most of the weekends breakfast/brunch will be Indian food that too the typical South Indian Breakfast ~ Idli / Dosa or Pongal / Upma. There's never a problem with my kids they love all Indian Breakfast only the problematic person is V. He likes only Idli/Dosa and once in a while Pongal is ok but Upma no way. So mainly for him I prefer to make Idlis on Weekends and this time it is Barley Idli. I have tried idlis with Brown Rice and Ragi and now trying with Millets and other grains. This Barley idli turned out so soft and tasty than the miller Idlis. That too the Dosa with Barley Idli Batter was so crispy, flavorful and yummy. I have tried this Barley idli and dosa few times and everytime it turned out good. Only the color of the idli was slightly pale and muddy, the idlis were so soft and delicious and none can say it is made out of Barley. I used poha in this recipe and that is the reason for super soft idlis and crispy dosa. If interested check out my Barley Adai Recipe here.

Palak Paneer Recipe | Indian Cottage Cheese In Spinach Gravy | Paneer Spinach Curry

Palak Paneer or Indian Cottage Cheese/Paneer in Spinach Gravy is a North Indian Side dish that is loved by most of the people around the world. It is also one of the most Popular Vegetarian Restaurant Menu. I have tried few varieties of spinach gravy with Potato(Aloo Palak), cauliflower(Gobi Palak), channa(channa Palak), Tofu(Tofu Palak) and Paneer. Of all the recipes I loved this Palak/Spinach curry a lot. This is a very mild palak/spinach gravy without any fancy masala and more ingredients. I got this recipe from my Neighbor Aunt. I have tried this recipe a couple of times and everytime it turned out awesome. This Palak Paneer can be made in a jiffy, this is a must try recipe for those whole love spinach and paneer.

Rasmalai Recipe / Homemade RasMalai Recipe

Wishing all my readers, blogger friends and everyone a Happy, Joyful and Fun filled Diwali with this Elegant and Delicious Bengali Dessert, Rasmalai. Rasmalai is a rich dessert consist of soft and spongy paneer/chenna dunked in rich saffron flavored Rabdi/Milk syrup. Rasmalai is my most favorite dessert, I was introduced to this dessert by my neighbor friend on a special occasion, from that time I started loving this dessert. In salem(my hometown), Bharathy Sweets were the first sweets shop who sold good and delicious Rasmalai. From my home it was 18-20 km but I visit the shop at least once in a month mainly to buy Rasmalai.

Bengali Rasgulla | Sponge Rasgulla Recipe | Rasgulla Recipe Using Pressure Cooker Method

Two more days for Diwali and know Everyone is gearing up for Diwali. We too started ours and did cleaning and other things Yesterday and today started making sweets and savories. Few more sweets to be prepared and will finish it by tomorrow. Both my boys had given me a list of their favorite sweets and savories that they wanted for Diwali. Hope I could make at least half of list. Coming to the recipe, Rasgulla / Bengali Rasgulla using Pressure cooker method, The traditional way of making Rasgulla is different and a time consuming process but this pressure cooker method is so easy and no fail recipe and also yields super soft and spongy Rasgullas.

I have tried both the stove top method and pressure cooker method and felt more comfortable with the later method. The only thing you need to note, use full fat milk and have to knead the paneer well. After tasting my Rasgulla, my neighbor Auntie told that she never made such soft and spongy rasgulla in her life, She also mentioned that the softness is fully based on kneading the Paneer and I did that job very well. I was so happy and felt proud to get such nice appreciation from her. So if you haven't tried making Rasgulla in pressure cooker, just give it a try and you will be surprised with the result and make sure you knead the Paneer well.

Sweet Somas Recipe | Somas Recipe - Diwali Sweet Recipes!

Diwali is around the corner and everyone is busy with Diwali purchase and other preparation. Even though for us its a working day we love to celebrate this wonderful festival and I planned to finish my sweets and savories by tomorrow. Coming to today's recipe, Sweet Somas is one of my most favorite childhood sweet. Sweet Somas is nothing but a crispy and flaky outer layer stuffed with simple coconut sweet stuffing. This Somas recipe is one of the Traditional Tamil Nadu recipe and is different from the Karanji / Gujiya which has rich stuffing with khoya.

But the simple filling for Somas is my favorite and I love to have it as such for snack. I wanted to try this Somas recipe for long time, every year Amma wanted me try Somas and Adhirasam but I was not confident to try it so far. But last week decided to give my hands and first tried Somas. I couldn't believe myself that it turned out so perfect at the first try, I shared it with my neighbor friends and they loved it and appreciated me. Aunty noted my recipe and said that she going to prepare it for Diwali. What else I want, Happy me :)

Diwali Sweets and Snacks Recipe Ideas | 65 plus Diwali Snacks & Sweets Recipes | Indian Sweets & Snacks Recipes For Diwali

Hope Everyone is getting ready for the Diwali Celebration. I am yet to start mine and hopefully by Monday will start. Today's post is a small compilation of Diwali Recipes that includes Diwali Sweet Recipes, Diwali Snacks & few other sweets and savory ideas. Hope this Compilation will help for the last minute Preparation. Checkout the compilation for some easy and Instant sweets like Doodh Peda, Coconut Peda, Paneer Burfi, Besan Ladoo, Coconut Mawa Ladoo and more recipes. Wish all my readers, friends a Advance Diwali Wishes!!

Oats Murukku Recipe | Oats Pottukadalai Murukku

After a Burfi and Ladoo sweet recipes, here's a savory snack Oats Murukku /Oats Pottukadalai Murukku to try this Diwali. Can't Imagine Diwali Celebration without nice and crunchy murukku. Both My Mom and Grand mom are best in making murukku and their signature recipe is Thenkuzhal. I still remember the flavor, taste of Thenkuzhal prepared by my Grandma. Not only for Diwali Celebration, whenever we visit her place she makes Thenkuzhal, Somas and Adhirasam for us in big buckets. We happily munch those yummy throughout our vacation, really my kids miss her and at least I am good at making those traditional snacks and savories for them. Though I am not perfect like Her but still I am happy that I could make some for my kids and they love it too.

Coconut Peda | Coconut Mawa Peda | Coconut Mawa Ladoo Recipe - Easy Diwali Sweets

Today I am here with another easy and instant sweet recipes, Coconut Peda and Coconut Mawa Ladoo. Both the peda and Ladoos are delicious and instant sweets that can be made in a jiffy. This is my own recipe, Yesterday while preparing Coconut Condensed Milk Ladoo(coming up next) I tried the same with Milk-Mawa Powder and that turned into this beautiful and delicious Coconut Peda and Coconut Mawa Ladoo. I planned to make Coconut Mawa Ladoo and proceeded with my recipe but at the end when I tasted the Ladoo it tastes like Palkova with coconut flavor. Hence, I named as Coconut Peda and shaped into Pedas and some like Coconut Mawa Ladoo.

Peanut Burfi Recipe | Easy Burfi Recipe | Easy Diwali Sweets Under 15 Minutes

Last Friday I was preparing the list of the recipes that I wanted to cook and post before this Diwali. For each recipe I lack one or more ingredients and was upset and wondering what I can make with the available ingredients at home. Luckily, on that day V was at home and he suggested this Peanut Burfi that requires only 2 key ingredients. He also told that my Mil makes best peanut burfi and peanut ladoos with jaggery. Since i don't have jaggery that time I took the burfi idea and prepared this Peanut Burfi instantly. These Peanut burfis are very simple, quick and very delicious and addictive too. I added little milk, since i did not have the patience to wait till the sugar melts. Milk did the job easier and faster and also burfis were rich and delicious. This burfi needs only 15 minutes or less time and can be made instantly, so why are you waiting for? go ahead and make this peanut burfi for this diwali and share with your family and friends. Now off to the recipe..

Omapodi Recipe | Moongdal Omapodi | Pasiparuppu Omapodi

Moongdal Omapodi is one of my favorite savory snack. This Moongdal Omapodi is must in our Diwali Savory Snack along with Thenkuzhal Murukku, Ribbon Pakoda and Mullu Murukku. My Mom makes the best Omapodi, very yummy, crispy, crunchy omapodi. This tiny and thin Omapodi is quite addictive and you can't stop munching until it is over. This Moongdal Omapodi is entirely different from the Besan flour Omapodi which I posted long back. Moongdal Omapodi was in my to do list for a long time, Every year I kept postponing it and finally tried this year. I was so happy to see the outcome as it is my first try. My kids loved it a lot and named it as "Spaghetti Murukku". For this Omapodi you need fresh roasted and ground yellow moondgal flour and now with my new Indian Mixer it is easy to prepare homemade flour at home. Just to share here tried a small batch and planning to make a big batch for diwali.

Besan Ladoo Recipe | Besan Mawa Ladoo | Besan Ladoo With Milk Mawa

Besan Ladoo is one of the Popular North Indian Sweet that can be made easily, instanly without much effort. The Traditional Besan Ladoo is loaded with ghee, so rich and delicious sweet. But this Besan Ladoo recipe uses less ghee and I got this recipe from my neighbor Aunt. She actually suggested to make Besan ladoo with Sashini/Sugar syrup. Auntie told that she prepares Besan Ladoo with sashini/sugar syrup. But i was not confident with the sugar syrup method so I used powdered sugar instead.

Stir Fried Spaghetti Recipe | Stir fried Pasta with Tri-colored Pepper

Looking for something spicy, vegan, simple and quick meal, then you should try this Stir Fried Spaghetti. I like Pasta / Spaghetti a lot. More than the sauce based pasta, i love this kind of stir fried Pasta. It is simple without much spices, sauce and also i used whole grain spaghetti so tasty and equally healthy too. I also cook stir fried pasta with some Indian spices too.
On a lazy afternoon, i was craving for some savory dish, at the same was not in a mood to cook one pot meal as its only for me. Then after a long pause I decided to cook spicy Pasta for me. Then i remember about the colored pepper in the fridge and used it in my pasta. To the same recipe, you can also add some thinly stripped carrots, cabbage and any desired vegetable. But this simple garlic and pepper flavored shpagetti with tri colored pepper turned out so flavorful, yummy and satisfying.

Paneer Burfi Recipe | Paneer Burfi Using Mawa Powder | Quick Diwali Sweet Recipe

If you are looking for a quick, easy and rich sweet, then this Paneer Burfi is one such recipe. This Paneer Burfi needs only few ingredients and can be made in a jiffy. With fresh paneer burfi tastes great but you can also use Store bought Paneer. Paneer is an Easy and Instant sweet to try this Diwali. I have tried with both fresh and store bought paneer. Yesterday tried this burfi with my new Indian Mixie that arrived late afternoon. I made Carrot juice with the juicer and powdered paneer, mawa and sugar with it ;) Finally bought Indian Mixie(Preethi Blue Leaf) and now i can try all spice powders, flours at home. Now off to the recipe...

DIY Slivered Almonds | How To Make Slivered Almonds | How To Make Almonds For Desserts & Baking | How To Make Blanched Almonds

I wanted to post this How To make blanched Almonds, Slivered Almonds and Sliced Almonds technique for long time. And finally decided to share it now since the festival season is ahead and the use of blanched Almonds & Slivered Almonds is must in Indian Sweets, Baking & for Desserts. These almonds gives nice crunch and taste to the dish and also makes the dish more attractive and pleasing. Not only for desserts & sweets general in take of almonds is good for health.
Almonds are packed with vitamins, minerals, protein and fiber, and are associated with a number of health benefits. Just a handful of almonds, approximately one ounce, contains one-eighth of our necessary daily protein. Almonds can be eaten raw, toasted, caramelized and are availbale in many form like sliced, slivered, almond flour, butter, almond milk. The good protein content of almonds aids in lowering cholestrol and reducing the risk of cancer and heart disease.

Butter Murukku Recipe | Easy Diwali Murukku Recipe | Mini Butter Murukku

Festival season started and it's only 2 weeks for Diwali. I planned to share few Diwali recipes this year also, so keep watching for more interesting and easy diwali recipes this year. Today I am sharing Butter Murukku recipe, this butter murukku is more or less similar to Rice Murukku/Mullu Murukku with added butter flavor and melt in mouth texture. I do not make this murukku often, only two or three times so far since hubby dear doesn't like butter/ghee taste or flavor. I often make Garlic Murukku for our snack. But this time for blog sake made this butter murukku and My kids loved it a lot and half of the murukku gone in no time.
My neighbor maami makes this murukku as a mini mullu murukku that looks cute and tempting, I too tried the same way and you can see those tiny, cute, crispy butter murukku, tempting isn't it?! without any further delay will get into the recipe..

Vegetarian Mexican Pizza / Mexican Pizza Recipe / Homemade Mexican Black Bean Pizza

For September Month's We Knead to Bake, we were given the choice to bake Pizza but different from the usual one. I usually bake Veggie Pizza at home or sometimes Pizza with spicy Indian style toppings. This time I decided to try Vegetarian Mexican Pizza. A simple and healthy version of Mexican Pizza with Curried Black beans, Medium spicy Salsa, Colored Peppers, onion, tomato & cilantro topping.
Pizza with curried black beans topping turned out so good and filling. My kids loved it too and I was happy that they had some curried beans in pizza form. After referring more recipes on net, I customized the topping to my taste. I used this recipe for the pizza base and this time made center portion as thin and the edges thick crust.

Aloo Baingan Recipe / Punjabi Aloo Baingan / Potato Eggplant Curry

Today's recipe is a simple, flavorful and delicious side dish, Aloo Baingan / Potato Eggplant Curry. Again this is another recipe shared by my neighbor Aunt from whom i learnt making Punjabi Kadi Pakora and Punjabi Garam Masala Recipes. But this time, this Aloo Baingan is prepared by me, where as the Kadhi & Garam Masala are prepared by Auntie and I took pictures alone.

One fine day on a casual talk with her, she said the gonna prepare Aloo Baingan and Rotis for dinner. At first on hearing Aloo Baingan, i Thought that it as Baingan Bharta with some mashed potato and was curious to know the exact method of Aloo Baingan. But than she told me that Baingan Bharta is different and Aloo Baingan is different and also the recipe for the later one. I was impressed with the recipe and the very next day i prepared it at home and shared with her. After tasting it, she said that it is little spicy than her version and perfectly cooked masala and yummy too. Whatelse i want, she never fails to appreciate me after tasting my recipes, Aunt and the whole family loves my cooking and Bhaiya always suggest me to open an Indian Restaurant ;) Yeah, that's my dream too and hope it happens one day !! Now off to the recipe...

Carrot Oatmeal Cookies / Eggless Carrot Oatmeal Cookies / Oatmeal Cookies Recipe

Oatmeal Cookies, one of my favorite cookies and i have baked them many times but never get chance to share here. I have tried both Egg and Eggless Oatmeal Cookies. Last week when my lil' one was asked for some cookies I baked this Carrot Oatmeal Cookies without egg. Though i followed a Oatmeal Raisin Cookies recipe i skipped raisins as my kids do not like raisins in cakes & cookies and instead i added shredded carrot. I have tried the same cookies with grated Apple too. Both Apple and Carrot tastes great and its nice to include some healthy stuff in cookies or cake.

Pasta In white Sauce / Veggie Pasta In White Sauce / White Sauce Pasta Recipe

Pasta in white sauce/Veggie Pasta in White sauce recipe is my kids recent favorite. My kids love any kind of paste or pasta in any form, not only mine most of the kids' favorite meal will be Pasta or Noodles. Since my kids love pasta recipes a lot, Once in ten days I make pasta for them and this time its White Sauce Pasta. I use regular pasta, whole wheat pasta or mung bean pasta alternatively. Though the taste vary with mung bean and whole grain pasta they are healthy and fiber rich.
Long back i tried White sauce but it did not come out well so after that I did not want to try it. Then last week tried white sauce from Sharmi's blog and it turned out so good, my kids loved it a lot. I was excited to see the perfect creamy white sauce, thanks to Sharmi for this easy and no fail recipe.

Chettinad Chicken Biryani / Seeraga Samba Chicken Biryani / Chettinad Style Chicken Biryani

When My BIL visited us on this May, he brought me a Cook Book, Veetu Samayal by Chef Damu which he bought long back in Chennai Book Fair.  It is My very first cook book that too one of my favorite Chef, Damu's. I have tried so many recipes of him which I watched in his TV shows and this is the first time I cooked a recipe from his book. This Cookbook contains more than 150+ recipes from simple daily cooking recipes to biryani/pulao and also some popular North Indian recipes. Very simple book without pictures with easy instructions. Its a vegetarian book, and I tried the Chettinad Saiva biryani recipe with chicken and it turned out so flavorful, spicy and delicious. Also i used Seeraga Samba rice which i bought from Patel Brothers in Devon Avenue last month. Its been more than 6 years i tasted Seera Samba Biryani and finally happy to see the 2 kg rice bag in Patel Brothers. Without a second thought, bought the packet and tried this Chicken Biryani, Kuska/Plain Biryani, Ambur Biryani recipes. I prepared this biryani in a hurry with guests at home, so did not take step wise pictures will update it later. Don't scared about the long list, its all spices only, the method is simple with great authentic taste and flavor. Now off to the recipe...

Cherry Tomato Lettuce Salad / Cherry Tomato Salad With Simple Vinaigrette Dressing !

Salad is a simple dish that contains fresh vegetable, fruits or with cooked meat/chicken, even eggs. We love salads with fresh veggies and fruits than the meat salad.The most favorite part of any salad is its dressing or salad sauce. It may be a simple vinaigrette or creamy ranch. I mostly prefer tangy and sweet kind of salad dressing where as my kids prefer the creamy sauce dressing with ranch, honey mustard, sour cream or yogurt.
This Cherry tomato Lettuce salad is a refreshing and simple salad with basic vinaigrette dressing with honey touch. This can be either served as an appetizer salad or as a dessert salad after a meal.
I got some fresh cherry tomato from my friend Gaury's Garden. These tomatoes were literally sweet and perfect for this salad. Use cherry tomato or grape tomato or pear tomato for this salad.

Millet Yogurt Bhath / Thinai Arisi Thayir Sadham

Today's recipe is simple and comfort meal with Millet/Thinai Arisi and Curd, thinai arisi thayir sadham. I like millet substitute for rice than oats and brown rice. Millets get cooked fast and also tastes great than brown rice. So alternative days i cook millet for me as plain and have it with any side dish. Sometimes i like to make masala bhath, sambar sadham and this curd bhath. This thinai arisi thayir sadham is one quick one pot meal, healthy and filling too. Here i used fox tail millet but you can try the same recipe with other millets like little millet/kodo millet/barnyard millet.

Chocolate Coconut Cake / Eggless Chocolate Coconut Cake / Chocolate Cake with Lindt Dark!

Early this month weather was too cold only 40 F or less but from this week weather is good and its Fall now here. The leaves turning golden yellow to orange red and in some plants i could able to see nice pink tinges. Its less colorful compared to Wisconsin but still looks pretty and pleasing. After a long time i turned on my oven this week and baked cakes and cookies for my family. Fall and winter are the right time to bake more, so that our house gets warm and also we could enjoy the yummy goodies at home.

For this month's Shh Secretly Cooking Challenge i was paired with Veena of Great secret of Life and she gave me Chocolate and Coconut as my secret ingredients. Both are my favorite ingredients and i couldn't prevent myself from baking. After a long thought i decided to bake a cake with the given ingredients. I already have baked a Vegan Muffins with this chocolate and coconut combo, Chocolate Coconut Muffins. This time baked a rich buttery and chocolatey cake. I slightly tweaked this recipe, also i used lindt 90% cocoa Dark Chocolate and the cake was so flavorful and mild sweet. The chocolate dominated more and there was no coconut flavor but I could taste the coconut in every bite. This chocolate coconut cake is perfect tea time or snack cake, the mild sweet and
rich chocolaty cake pairs well with a cup of coffee or milk.

Chicken Cutlets / Chicken Tikkis / Chicken Cutlets Recipe

Cutlets are a deep fried patties that can be made with veggies, meat, fish, paneer, tofu, beans and more. I often make patties/tikkis with veggies and legumes for my kids snack. They love to eat tikkis more than other snacks and these tikkis/cutlets are one easiest way to feed veggies to my kids. This time for a change tried with chicken, unlike other chicken recipes, chicken cutlets are easy to make if you have cooked potatoes and chicken in hand. You can also use any left over chicken from curries, chicken fry. I used the pressure cooked chicken which i made Chicken dry Curry recipe. Since i spiced the chicken already, i did not add much spices to my chicken-potato mixture. If you are using just boiled chicken adjust spices to desired taste and spiciness. I referred vahchef's chicken cutlets video and tweaked it to my taste. Here you go.,

Restaurant Style Channa Masala / Channa Masala Recipe

Chickpeas/Channa is my only favorite legume and i love this chickpeas in any form, that too Channa Masala is my most favorite side dish recipe. I learned this Restaurant Style Channa Masala from my Neighbor, who was a catering student. Not only channa she also shared me the recipes for basic onion tomato gravy for any side dish recipes, Chinese Hakka Noodles, Biryanis and few more. This Channa Masala recipe tastes exactly like the one served in Saravana Grandstyle Restaurant in my home town. This Channa Masala recipe is recipe is very special to me and there's also a short story behind it. 

Homemade Paneer / How To Make Paneer (Cottage Cheese)

Again I am here with an another Indian Basics,Homemade Paneer Recipe. Paneer/Cottage cheese is loved by both Vegetarians and Non-Vegetarians, especially kids love it a lot. Inspite of its high fat content, paneer are a good source of protein too. Anything with paneer is sure a hit and we can make tons of dished with this versatile paneer from Paneer Kheer, Paneer Jalebi, Paneer Curry, Paneer Paratha. I have some handful of Paneer Recipes in my space and now its time for to share How to make Paneer at home. Planning to post few more Indian Basics here and like all the Homemade version, this Homemade Paneer also tastes and smells so good.

Homemade Garam Masala Recipe / Punjabi Garam Masala Recipe

Generally i do not make spice powders like Garam Masala Powder, Sambar Masala, Rasam Powder at home and rely on store bought ones since its easy and handy. But nothing can beat the freshness, flavor and taste of Homemade spice powders. I make paruppu podi and idli podi every week or once in 10 days but other spice powders are rarely. This Punjabi Garam Masala powder was prepared
by my neighbor aunt and I simply clicked the pictures and noted the measurements. Being a Punjabi, she prepares all the authentic punjabi dishes at home. I even asked her for Sarson Ka Saag recipe, the most traditional punjabi dish.

Millet Patties / Millet Rajma Patties / Millet Bean Patties

Just playing with the only available millet/Foxtail millet. One or the other day I cook Millet/Foxtail Millet in any form. This time its Millet Patties / Millet Patties with Rajma or kidney beans. These millet patties are so easy to make, healthy, gluten free, vegan and perfect for a guilt free low calorie snack. These vegetarian Millet Bean Patties makes a perfect after school snack for kids. My kidoo loved these patties with his favorite Garlic Ranch.

Quinoa Adai / Quinoa Brown Rice Adai - Easy Quinoa Indian Recipes!

Quinoa Adai / Quinoa Brown Rice Adai is the first Quinoa recipe in my blog. I wanted to try this healthy grain recipes for long time. After moving to Aurora, The Whole Foods Market is only few miles from my house where i can get all Organic Produce from fresh fruits, veggies, all grains, flours, millets and everything organic for an affordable price. I bought Organic Quinoa, Millets, Oats and few other stuffs there and have been using it in my daily cooking.

Quinoa Adai, South Indian Adai is one of the healthiest protein rich meal which is best for breakfast or dinner.

Chicken Dry Curry Recipe / Spicy Chicken Dry Curry

Chicken Dry Curry / Indian Style Dry chicken curry is a spicy and flavorful side dish to go with rice and rasam or even with phulka rotis. This dry chicken curry is prepared with freshly ground spices with simple and easy preparation.
As I am getting request to post more chicken & fish recipes from my readers, I wanted to try some new chicken recipes so that i can share for my readers. So, this time i tried this simple and spicy chicken dry curry recipe. Actually i started to try chettinad or Andhra style chicken dry curry. But most of the recipe calls for dry roast, grind and multiple preparation. So i tried it in my own way with simple recipe. Instead of roasting I ground the spices as such and used it for tadka. This way the chicken curry absorbed all the flavors from the ground spice mix and turned out so flavorful and spicy also. We had it for our lunch along with plain rice and rasam, a satisfying weekend meal!

Mint Rice / Pudina Sadham / Mint Rice With Capsicum - Easy Lunch Box Recipe

If you are looking for a quick, simple and easy to make lunch box rice recipe? Then this Mint Rice is one such recipe that you can make it in a jiffy. If you have Fresh Mint Leaves in abundant, then this mint rice is a must try recipe. There's a small garden in my neighbor gaury's house. They planted tomato, bell pepper, watermelon, mint leaves, tulsi, methi and few more greens. Mint had grown abundantly in their garden so every week i get fresh mint leaves from their garden. Auntie gave me a huge bunch every time, i enjoyed making my favorite Mint Chutney for idlis, Aloo Mint Raita, Mint Thogayal, Green Chaat Chutney.

Broccoli Stuffed Mini Pepper Bajji / Broccoli Stuffed Capsicum Bajji

Today's post is a yummy, tempting and all time favorite stuffed bajji - Broccoli Stuffed Mini Pepper Bajji. For May month's Shh secretly Cooking Challenge, an interesting event by Priya in which every month the group members were paired with a partner and the partners exchange 2 ingredients secretly and should try a recipe with those two or at least one ingredient from it. My may month's partner was Viji of Virunthu Unna Vaanga. She gave me Broccoli and Pepper/Capsicum as secret ingredients and in turn i gave her corn starch and Foxtail Millet. Viji tried a wonderful and healthy cake with my ingredients and i tried this yummy Broccoli Stuffed Capsicum Bajji.

Thinai Paruppu Payasam / Thinai Payasam Recipe / Foxtail Millet Kheer Recipe

After a month break I am happy to be back with a healthy and delicious Payasam/Kheer recipe using Thinai / Foxtail millet. Due to some personal commitments i am unable to look after my blog baby for long time. And now i decided to spare some time for my blog too.
I prepared this Thinai Paruppu Payasam for Varalakshmi Pooja. Thinai / Foxtail Millet is one of my recent favorite millet and i have been trying more recipes with it. Instead of plain Millet payasam i added few moongdal/yellow lentils for extra richness and taste to the kheer.

Gibassier Bread(A French Anise & Orange Flavored Bread) / Eggless Gibassier

For this Month's We Knead to Bake, we are baking Gibassier / A French Anise & Orange flavored bread. Gibassier is a French Breakfast bread that is flavored with Candied Orange, Orange blossom water and Aniseed. This is one of the popular French Bread that is baked during Christmas Occasion.

These Gibassier are pretty shaped bread looks like a oval shaped leaves. Again this is also a new bread to me and baked it for the first time.