Cake House

                                                                     Eid Mubarak We celebrated Eid at our Uncle’s place this time. So I didn’t prepare anything special.This time it was ghee rice, Mutton curry, raita and sevaiyaan, all made by aunt :-). The day went on very well with eid prayers, wishing everyone, having a wonderful lunch and so on. Today’s post is about a vegetable fried rice and chilly chicken which I made a few days ago, and is a perfect combination which can be made on any occasion or even without one :-). This one I made during iftar time. The crispness of vegetables along with the juicy chicken makes...

Crisp some Spanish ham in a dry pan. Boil a few green beans. Shred a leftover chicken breast. Whisk a Dyon mustard dressing. Mix beans, rucola, chicken, halved cherry tomatoes, red onion and ham. Done!

I've always been fascinated by gourmet food stores and loved when I first visited Foodhall last year. The range of product available in this store is remarkable and you can find all things gourmet under one roof.  Be it the variety of cheeses or various type of pastry sheets, fruits that are otherwise not available anywhere else or the spice mixes you have been looking for all around, Foodhall have them all.  Foodhall, a unit of Future Group is premier lifestyle food destination with stores in Bangalore, NCR, Mumbai and Pune. Having traveled through the continents, I could easily relate to the stuff they sell in their aisles appealing to international cuisine lovers as well as Indian foodies. Foodhall is an absolute delight to visit and a must do for every food lover. So when I got a bag full of goodies from Foodhall, I was quite excited and to add to the excitements, the goodies were perfect to create a fabulous Thai Meal for two of us.  I treated my family with a Thai r...

What to do with a leftover beetroot? Mix with some red onion, feta, oregano and a dressing of balsamic, olive oil, salt and pepper. We served it with a slice of quiche.

Start by putting a red bell pepper under the hot grill, till blackened. Take of the skin, then cut into strips. Prepare a dressing from Dyon mustard, walnut oil, - vinegar, running honey, salt, pepper and then olive oil. Toast the bread. Divide a soft goat cheese over the bread, drip some honey over it and put under the grill. In the meantime toast pine nuts in a dry pan. Peel a Granny Smith. Serve as shown.

Hello friends, I am back from my Goa trip and have started the reverse counting for the Indian food Bloggers meet . I am so looking forward to meet the fellow bloggers and appreciate the effort and time taken by the organizing committee to make this meet happen. Apart from meeting the bloggers who I knew only virtually, this meet also offers some exciting contests and surprises, one of which is the Urban Dazzle Cocktail and Mocktail contest. Urban Dazzle is India's leading Home Shopping Website with a wide range of products to choose from at a very competitive price. As a food blogger who loves to buy Props which are unique and different and do not burn a hole in my pocket, Urban Dazzle is my destination and so far I have liked the service and quality they offer. From bakeware to serving platters to drinkware, they have it all.  Keeping up with the Indian theme as required for this contest, I have come up with this Ginger and Curry Leaves Martini. I had recently bought the Marti...

The smartphones have become the life line in current times, the penetration of these phones is growing rapidly. Just the other day I was watching a you tube video where a toddler girl was trying to pinch a nice photo on the cover of a fashion magazine to zoom it, this clearly shows how much even kids love the phones and the apps and are moving away from the print media. More often than not I use my phone to Google loads of stuff, find restaurants, ingredients for my cooking, find services for my home, find deals to buy and the list goes on. I've been thinking what it would be to get an app that could do this all for you, and  Getit Infoservices Pvt. Ltd. have done just that. They have released an app called ASKME which is really "The BAAP of all apps". The moment you install the app, it would become an integral part of your android device. The app gives you deals, searches anything that you may need from places to services, gives an option to post an ad, post a deal or sh...

For Simon Hopkinson's recipe, go to: www.simonhopkinson.tv

Start with the dressing. Mix walnut oil, - vinager, mustard, cherry jam, salt and pepper, then add olive oil. Roast some pine nuts in a dry pan. Mix salad leaves, green beans, black tomatoes. Add duck slices , soft goat cheese and warm pine nuts

Life is super busy at the moment and this is what I always wanted. Learning and exploring new things each day, coming up with wild ideas and executing them and most of all enjoy what I am doing and I am glad this is exactly what I got into through the medium of blogging. This chicken pulav happened in one of these busy days when I wanted to make something very quick and interesting and this recipe is just the one. Unlike a Biryani, where a lot of preparation is required, this chicken Pulav is pretty simple to make and hits just the right spot on the palate. Here is the recipe to make it. All you need is Long grain basmati rice - 2 cups Chicken - 1 kg Oil - 4 tbsp Cloves - 2-3 Black peppercorns - 5-6 Cinnamon - 1 inch stick Onion - 2 cups ( thinly sliced ) Ginger garlic paste - 2 tsp Tomato - 1 cup ( chopped ) Coriander powder - 1 tsp Turmeric powder - 1\2 tsp Red chili powder - 1 tsp Garam masala powder - 1\2 tsp Lemon juice - 2 tbsp Water - 4 cups Salt to taste Fresh coriander and fri...

E veryone in my house are big fans of this banana cake. Whenever there are ripe bananas in my kitchen, I try to make these easy, yummy, fabulous and flavor-filled banana cakes. This is a no-fail recipe and you can play around with the ingredients without affecting the results. Sweet, ripe bananas are the key to making great banana bread. In this recipe I have added a tsp of cinnamon powder i.e to enhance the taste and flavor of the bread. The end result will be a soft, moist, melt-in-the-mouth banana bread within minutes. This can be served with some whipped cream or frost the bread with buttercream icing. Ingredients: Banana- 1 nos Maida- 1 Cup Baking Powder- 1 tsp Eggs- 2 nos Vanilla Essence- 1 tsp Butter- ¼ Cup Sugar- ¾ Cup Cinnamon Powder- 1 tsp Pistachios- ½ Cup Method: Mash the banana and keep this aside. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Beat the eggs and vanilla essence till it becomes fluffy. Cream the butter and sugar till they turn light and creamy. In this butter sugar mix...

Sago pudding is a favorite in my house and since it is a breeze to whip up this pudding, it's one of the dessert of choice to make when I have sudden guests at home. Kitchen Aid India has announced a contest at IFBM, a first of it's kind, bloggers meet in India and they are giving away a kitchen Aid Chopper to the winner. One of the condition to participate in the contest is to cook with plums. Keeping the theme in mind, I came up with this combination of our favorite dessert topped with a sweet and tangy Plum and Vanilla compote and it came out a real winner. Here is the simple recipe to make this delicious dessert. All you need is For the pudding Sago pearls \ Saboodana - 1 cup Full cream milk - 1 liter Coconut powder - 1\4 cup Sugar - 1\2 cup ( you can adjust according to your taste ) Cardamom powder - 1\2 tsp For the compote Plums - 8-10 ( de seeded and chopped ) Castor sugar - 1\4 cup Vanilla bean - 1 ( you can use vanilla extract if vanilla bean is not available ) Method ...

Start early with a red and a yellow bell pepper. Put them under a hot grill till their skin turns black. Remove the skin, then put each paprika in a blender with some oil to make a coulis. Then use some puff pastry and cut out discs, about 8 cm diameter. Grate Parmesan cheese and cover  the discs, put them in a 200C oven for about 10 mins. In the meantime slice some ripe tomatoes finely and mix them with shallot to make a concise. Put the mullet fillets in a plastic bag with some flour, shake the bag till the fish is just covered. Fry the fish, skin side down for 3 mins, then turn over for another minute or two. Put the puff pastry rounds on the plates, heap on some tomato concassé, then the fish on top. Add some rucola and drops of bell pepper mouse. Enjoy!

With the onset of Monsoon, the weather has become a little cold and there is a slight nip in the air. This is the time to sip on some thing warm and soothing and that's exactly what I did for today's dinner. A bowl of this hearty plum and chicken soup with a crunch from fried garlic in every bite and a few slices of Herb and Garlic bread to dunk in the soup is just what I needed to enjoy the weather. This combination of Plums and chicken is sure to impress your taste buds. Here is the recipe to make this Plum and Chicken Soup with Crispy Fried Garlic. This recipe also goes to the Kitchen Aid Contest held by IFBM, a food bloggers meet that is happening in Bangalore. All you need is Olive oil - 2 tbsp Garlic - 8-10 cloves ( chopped ) Onion - 1\2 cup ( sliced ) Celery - 1\4 cup ( chopped ) Plums - 5-6 ( de seeded and chopped ) Chicken breast - 1 ( cut into pieces ) Bay leaf - 1 Chicken stock - 4 cups Butter - 1 tbsp All purpose flour - 2 tbsp Freshly ground black pepper - 1\2 tsp ...

You all are well aware of my love for the stone fruits and how I am desperately trying to make the most of them while they last. After I posted the Spiced Peach and Rum Galette on my other Blog Whisk Affair, I was well convinced that it is my last post on stone fruits for this season. But then this twist in the plans came up when IFBM, the first ever Blogger's meet in India which is happening in Bangalore announced the Kitchen Aid Contest  . The winner of the contest wins a Kitchen Aid Chopper, so there is no way I was going to miss it. I am a big fan of Kitchen Aid Gadgets and very proudly owns a Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer and a Meat Mince Attachment and will not leave any opportunity to have that gorgeous Chopper in my Kitchen.  So I have come with this Dessert Dip recipe using Plum as the main ingredient. You can serve this dip with apple wedges, marsh mellows, crackers, strawberries and pretzels and a healthy yet delicious dessert option is ready in no time. Here is the recip...