EVENT:FOODIEMONDAY/BLOGHOP THEME:#190 MINICAKES RECIPE: THANDAI MUFFINS Thandai Muffins baked with thandai spice mixture make a delicious treat for the Holi Party. Both kids and adults love them along with chilled thandai drink. Eggless, these muffins come together in no time. Bake them a day ahead, they stay fresh for a couple of days. Just before Holi, I had baked some thandai muffins to share with my neighbors. The recipe did not make it to the blog on time for Holi. I kept it in the draft file thinking that I’ll use it next year. Yeah, I know its a long time to keep it, but I’m quite good at storing stuff 🙂 FoodieMonday/Bloghop Theme When Preethi suggested a few themes for the #190, I opted…
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Continue ReadingRecipe: Rajgira Thalipeeth | Amaranth Flatbread | Farali Thalipeeth Rajgira Thalipeeth is a delish gluten free, vegan and healthy flatbread made from amaranth flour, potato and spices. In fact, as no grain flour, onion, garlic is used, this an ideal flatbread to enjoy during Navaratri or Ekadashi Fasting. As a matter of fact, growing up I had known only one Navratri – the one that falls around the months of September/October. That is when we put on our chaniya cholis or saris and spent hours dancing. Mostly, the Gujarati style garba and dandiya. Apparently, it is when I entered the blogging world that I learned that there are four different Navratris observed and celebrated in India. Event: Faral At Desi Bloggers Connect In brief, Few…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: SHHH COOKING SECRETLY THEME: MIZO CUISINE The Seven Sister States have been a challenge where the cuisine is concerned. All these states depend on locally grown vegetables, fruits and herbs. So far we cooked from the states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya and now its Mizoram. Still got two more to go Nagaland and Tripura. The states we have covered so far tend to use quite a bit of meat for their everyday meals. Mizoram is no exception. Mizo Vawksa made from pork, Misa Mach Poora, made from shrimps, Paanch Phoron Torkari is a veg and non veg dish, Bai a dish whereby pork and veggies are mixed, Swahchiar a rice dish cooked with meat, fish or chicken. Koat pitha is popular in…
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Continue ReadingEVENT:FOODIEMONDAY/BLOGHOP THEME:#187 DESI TWIST When this interesting theme was announced by Kalyani who blogs at Sizzling Tastebuds, I was a little confused. Do we cook a western dish with some desi twist to it or cook a desi (Indian) dish and give it a western twist. Fortunately she explained what she wanted us to do, give the Indian dish a western twist. Confused still?? I’m still frowning and thinking. However the recipe below will explain how I understood the theme. Coming to Kalyani’s blog, its worth a visit as she has many healthy and vegan recipes. Find some interesting egg free bakes too. When I had to decide what to make, my choice was limited to the ingredients present in my kitchen as soon I’ll…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: SHHH COOKING SECRETLY THEME: MEGHALAYA CUISINE Megha means clouds and thus this North Eastern State is known as the ‘Abode of the Clouds’. True to its name, its receives plenty of rainfall. The state comprises of Garo, Khasi and Jaintia Hills. Majority of the population are Christians. The neighbors are Assam to the north and Bangladesh to the south. The Nohkalikai falls near Cherrapunji is the highest plunge waterfall in India, 1115 feet. Till 1972 Meghalaya was a part of Assam. The hills have many caves which fast is making Meghalaya a famous destination for cave exploration activities. Meghalaya has many living bridges, roots that are old span waterbodies to form suspension like bridges. Coming to the cuisine of Meghalaya, the staple diet consists…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: RECIPE SWAP CHALLENGE THEME:RECIPE SWAP 5 Today’s recipe is for the Recipe Swap Challenge Group. What is this group all about? Initiated by Jolly Makkar and Vidya Narayan, every alternate month the participants are paired up. We choose a recipe to cook from our partner’s blog. The recipe can be cooked as it is or make slight changes. This is a great group as it allows me to prepare recipes that I’ve bookmarked or saved from fellow bloggers. My partner for this month is Sujata Roy, who blogs at Batter Up With Sujata. I’ve known Sujata now for quite a few years as we first met virtually through the FoodieMonday group. Since then we are members of other common groups and therefore get…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: FOOD BLOGGERS RECIPE SWAP THEME: JANUARY 2019 SWAP RECIPE: INSTANT SEMOLINA IDLI/ RAVA IDLI Instant Semolina Idli/ Rava Idli is a soft, fluffy and moist steamed breakfast or snack option. Healthy, filling and nutritious, it is so easy to make semolina, rava or sooji idli. Add vegetables of your choice. Can also add a bit of turmeric powder to make yellow idlis. Have a sudden craving for idli and cannot wait for the batter to ferment. Then the best option is to try out this instant semolina idli/ rava idli. Food Bloggers Recipe Swap Group After a long lull, the gentle storm has come back. Food Bloggers Recipe Swap has been revived by fellow blogger Mireille who blogs at The Schizo Chef. Her…
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Continue ReadingEvent: FoodieMonday/Bloghop Theme: 178- Harvest Harmony Recipe: Til Gud Ke Ladoo Til Gud Ke Ladoo is an easy recipe whereby roasted sesame seeds are mixed with powdered jaggery, peanuts, coconut, spices and ghee and rolled into balls. Perfect recipe for the harvest season or Makar Sankranti. The best part of this recipe is that you don’t need to make the jaggery syrup. Making jaggery syrup perfectly can be a challenge. Festivals In India Festivals are always a memorable part of my travels to India. Last year we missed celebrating Makar Sankranti, Lohri and Pongal in India as we left before the 14th of January. However, what I remember is that whichever market area we passed by in Mumbai, the whole scene was a feast…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: A- Z CHALLENGE THEME : A DISH BEGINNING WITH THE LETTER E What is the A- Z Challenge? Well, we’re a Facebook group and every alternate month the participants make a dish with the relevant letter. The group was started in May 2018 by Jolly Makkar and Vidya Narayan. For January we have to post a recipe using an ingredient that begins with E. I decided to use eggplants. I could have used other ingredients like eggs, elephant yam but stuck with eggplants for one main reason. I make baigan bharta often as my hubby loves it. I serve it either with rotis or bajra rotla. When I had to decide a dish for this challenge I made up my mind that this time my…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: SHHH COOKING SECRETLY THEME: MAHARASHTRA CUISINE If you’ve ever been to Mumbai then you’ve definitely been to the State of Maharashtra and sampled a bit of the local cuisine, from seafood to street food. Vada Pav, Pav Bhaji, Tawa Pulao, Misal Pav, Ragda Pattis are the more famous street food options but Maharashtra has much more to offer. Many vegetarian dishes are similar to Gujarati dishes but they all have their distinctive differences. Wheat, millet, sorghum, lentils, vegetables, fruits, peanuts, cashew nuts are some of the basic staples in any Maharashtrian dish. A basic diet is usually consists of bhakri made from jowar, millet or wheat flour, a dal and bhaji. Here the reference to bhaji is vegetables. I personally love thalipeeth, sabudana khichdi,…
