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.