Cake House

W ho doesn’t like to eat hot steaming vadas on cold wintery evenings? So in a cold evening I made these vadas as a snack, so that when my husband comes back from office enjoys eating this with a hot green tea. I learnt this snack recipe from my mom who is an expert in parippu vada. These can be made in different varieties and methods. The vadas which we get in Kerala hotels are much bigger and they taste yummy. You can also deep fry these vadas in coconut oil if you would like to enjoy the authentic Kerala taste.   Ingredients: Chana dal / Kadala Parippu- 1cup Dry red chillies- 2-3nos Ginger- 1tbsp Onions- 1no Curry leaves- few Salt- as per taste Oil- for deep frying Method:  Soak the chana dal nearly about 3-4hours. Drain well so that there is no water left. Grind chana dal and red chillies coarsely. Do not add water. Take this ground mixture in a bowl and add chopped onions, ginger curry leaves and salt and mix well. Wet your palms and take small amount of dal mixture and ma...

T here are hundreds of variations for Kerala fish curry, but this is the dish which is made more frequently in my family, using Kokum. Kodum puli or Kokum is a type of tamarind which is used in kerala fish curries. Traditional Kerala curries are made in mann chatty / earthen pot, I made this that way so that the authentic flavor will enhance. When my Mil prepares this curry we refer it as “idivettu” meen curry J , which means thunderous fish curry and it looks red hot, but it is not as spicy since we use kashmiri chilli powder.  Almost every NVG loving malayali would  like this simple fish curry recipe. Ingredients: Fish- ½ kg Shallots(sliced)- 10-11nos Ginger(minced)- 2tbsp Garlic(minced)- 2tbsp Green chillies- 3nos Curry leaves- few Red chilli powder- 2tbsp Coriander powder- 1tbsp Turmeric powder- ½ tsp Fenugreek powder- ¼ tsp Kudam puli / kokum- 2nos Oil 2tbsp Mustard seeds- 1tsp Fenugreek seeds-1/2tsp Method: Wash the fish neatly and drain it. Pour oil in an earthen ware a...

Y esterday was our wedding anniversary and I thought of making something sweet which I never tried before.  I didn’t want to bake a cake as always, so I thought of baking something different. The best part of baking is the aroma that fills in the house. I came across this recipe from one of my old collections, which I had written in my diary long time back. As I had all the ingredients handy, I thought of trying this out. I tasted the brownies when I went to a coffee shop. I generally love anything made with chocolates J After making these and taking some snaps of these brownies, I was transferring the pics to my comp. After returning, to my dismay, only 2 or 3 brownies were left. My little one and my Husband ate them all. However I was really happy that they liked it so much and wanted more of it. Ingredients: Chocolate -1/4 cup Butter -60gms All purpose floor –1 cup Baking powder - ½ cup Eggs -2nos Salt –a pinch Sugar – ¾ cup Vanilla -1tsp Almonds - ½ cup Method: Sift all purpose...

M akar Sankranthi is celebrated in India as a harvest festival. This festival is celebrated with great zest in all parts of India and each state has its own ways of celebration.                                             “  til gul ghya, god god bola” This is what my friend wished me on Sankranthi day, which means “eat sweet and speak sweet words”. The other day I asked her to send me the photos of the sweets which she made for Sankranthi, so that I could post them on my blog. It was so nice of her that she remembered to get me the photos in spite of the celebrations. The whole day before Sankranthi, she was busy making sweets and all the other festive treats. We also got to taste all these sweets right out of her kitchen and they tasted really yummy. I also found out that she has some great recipes in her collection and I would soon be posting them here J . Tilache l...

N ow you might be thinking, what is this “twist”? Its nothing but I have added egg in lemon rice.  Lemon rice is a very common dish in south Indian cuisine.  We eat lemon rice a lot and when my small one started eating rice she loved this rice. So sometimes I add egg while making this rice for her. If I make them separately like lemon rice and scrambled egg, she picks up only scrambled egg. So I combined both and she started liking this.  We once tasted her rice and it was so yummmmmmy!!! From then on whenever we pack rice for journey we make it like this and its delicious. I think many of you might have tried this also. Lemon rice can be made with left over rice. This can be made easily for lunch or dinner when you feel lazy to spend much time in kitchen. This rice can be eaten with pickle and pappads, no need of any curry.  Ingredients: Cooked rice- 2cups Eggs- 2nos Pepper powder- 1tsp Lemon- 1no Oil- 2tbsp Mustard seeds- ½ tsp Chana dal- 1tbsp Urad dal- 1tbsp Gree...

D o pyaza means “two onions” which indicates that onions are added 2 times. In this recipe chicken is cooked with lots of onions. This dish is very popular in mughal cuisine. This can be prepared with mutton, fish and also with paneer, ladies finger and so on. There are so many variations for this recipe. I learnt this recipe from a cookery show when I was studying in college. That was the first recipe which I tried and came out delicious. Ingredients: 1.        Chicken- ½ kg 2.       Onions- 4nos(2 sliced and 2 roughly chopped) 3.       Green chillies- 4nos 4.       Dry red chillies- 6nos 5.       Turmeric powder- 1tsp 6.       Garam masala powder- 2tsp 7.       Oil- 1tbsp 8.       Jeera- 1tsp 9.       Cashew paste- 2tbsp (optional) Method: 1.   ...

T horan is a typical kerala recipe. It is served as a side dish for rice. This same recipe can be made with different vegetables. This dish would taste great and more authentic if you use coconut oil. This dish is too easy to make and consumes very less time for preparation. Ingredients: Chopped beans- ½ kg Coconut- 1cup Green chillies- 3nos Small onions- 4nos Mustard seeds- 1tsp Oil- 1tbsp Salt- as per taste Curry leaves- few Turmeric powder- 1/2tsp Method: Grind coconut, onions, and green chillies coarsely. Pour oil and add mustard seeds. When it pops, add beans, curry leaves and salt and mix well. Pour little water so that the beans get cooked. When the water gets drained, add ground coconut mixture and turmeric powder and stir well. Close the lid and let it cook in a low flame for 5minutes. Serve hot with rice.

Q ubani ka meeta is a dessert, originally from Hyderabad, India. S umptuous feast in  Hyderabadi weddings is incomplete without this dessert. Qubani in Urdu means, Apricot. It is prepared with dry apricots. This can be served along with fresh cream or with vanilla ice cream. My s-i-l is a good cook. Once over phone, she mentioned about this dessert, which she cooked when my brother’s friends were coming home for lunch. She prepared this dessert for the first time and it came out well. So I thought of giving it a try myself.  We used to eat this very often during our stay in various parts of Andhra.  Ingredients: Dry apricots- 200gms Sugar- 60gms Water- to boil the apricots Fresh cream- 50ml Method: Boil the apricots in water till it turns soft and remove the seeds. Mash the apricots and pass the mixture through a strainer to remove fibre. Add sugar to the apricot pulp and cook till the mixture thickens and become bubbly. Allow the mixture to cool. Garnish with almonds and...

I ate this dish when we visited a friend’s place. Usually we end up eating dinner whenever we visit them. She is an excellent cook( though she won’t admit that J ). There is perfection in taste, texture, flavors, etc. in the simple dishes that she makes. I am a big fan of her cooking. I love this curry because of its tanginess. I have been trying to prepare this dish several times and always something or the other will go wrong. What all queries I have, she helps me out with patience. This time it came out perfect and I am dedicating this dish to my friend. I had never tasted Tamil Brahmin cuisine before and now I have become a big fan of those preparations. I will soon be posting more recipes from her collection J Ingredients: Small Onions/ shallots- 250gms Gingelly Oil- 1tbsp Mustard seeds- 1tsp Curry leaves- few Asafoetida- a pinch Chana Dal- 2tbsp Tamarind – lemon size Sambar powder- 2-3tbsp Method: Soak tamarind in warm water and extract about 2cups of juice. Heat oil in a kadai ...

T his one I learnt after I got married. In my in-laws house this dosa is made as evening time tiffin along with chutney. My FIL likes this dosa a lot, so is his son (my Husband). At my home this is made very rarely. Crispy wheat dosa with spicy onion chutney is a great combination. As this dosa doesn’t require the batter to be fermented or ground in a wet grinder, this can be made quickly at any time as breakfast or dinner. This dosa is really soft and melt in your mouth type. Nowadays whenever I feel lazy, I prepare this dosa for dinner instead of chapathis and we eat this with any curry made for rice. For Wheat Dosa Ingredients: Whole wheat flour- 2cups Salt- as per taste Water- to mix the flour Method: Mix the above wheat flour and salt along with water in a bowl. Use an electric blender to mix the batter for a smooth consistency. We can mix this with hand also. Make sure that the batter is lump free.   Water should be added enough to make a thin batter than a normal dosa batter...

B iryani is generally made on special occasions, so I thought of making a biryani for New Year. This was made by my husband’s aunt and I prepared it with a bit of improvisation. Biryani is garnished with fried onions, cashews and raisins and served with raita. Ingredients: Basmathi rice-4cups Onions (sliced)- 5nos Green chillies- 3nos Ginger- 2tbsp Garlic- 2tbsp Tomatoes- 2nos Curd- ½ cup Coriander leaves- handful Garam masala- 1tbsp Turmeric powder- 1tsp Method: Grind green chillies, ginger and garlic coarsely. Wash and drain  rice. Cook the rice and keep it aside. Fry onions in a pressure cooker and when it turns golden brown in colour, add the above ground mixture. Mix well. Now take out some fried onion mix in a bowl and to add later. Add chopped tomatos, curd and chopped coriander leaves and stir well till everything blends. Add the washed chicken pieces, garam masala, turmeric powder and salt. Pressure cook till the chicken is cooked. When the chicken is cooked, add the fried...

H ello everybody! Hope you had a great start in this year 2011 I thought of welcoming the new year by baking a cake. This is the first time I am making this cake and the frosting.   I searched in all the super markets here for the whipping powder and also the whipping cream, but I couldn’t get it. So I tried using amul cream and whipped it with icing sugar for 10-15 minutes and YIPPPPEEEEEE the whipping cream was ready. The whipping cream and the cake was a total surprise for my Husband  J My love for BF cake started when I was in college. There was a restaurant near my house called “black forest restaurant”, and my friends used to give birthday parties here. In this restaurant, they used to make different varieties of black forest treats. From then on, I started looking out for BFC whenever I used to go to pastry shops. So here I am, raising a toast to the   new year and a new decade with a Black Forest Cake. Ingredients: All purpose flour/Maida- 1 ¼ cup Cocoa Powder- 2 ...