Have an Environmentally friendly Happy Holi The Shhh Cooking Secretly group decided on either fusion or multi-coloured Holi recipes as their February theme. My partner Janani Krishnakumaar gave the ingredients rice and vegetables.Janani is a blogger at Red Chilly Curry.A vegetarian blog, she has many South Indian recipes, Christmas goodies, festival dishes and much more.Check her blog out. After a series of sweet dishes one after the other (entertaining guests) I didn’t want to make any sweet dish or something unhealthy. Since I’ve bought the paddu or paniyaram pan(chatli), I’ve always tried out various types of paddus and other bhajia mixtures with much success. The only thing I still haven’t made was the original paddu or kuzhi paniyaram, using the actual idli/dosa batter. …
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Continue ReadingBlank mind Today is one of those days when I have no idea what I want to write about. Usually before I go into the recipe, I have something to write about, family events, news, thoughts etc. There is a lot happening in this world but I have no inclination to write about it. So today I’ll just straight go to the recipe. #FoodieMonday #Bloghop team decided on a hot or cold rice recipe as our 81st theme. Taking rice as the main ingredient, we were suppose to make a piping hot dish or a cold dish. I didn’t want to make anything piping hot as its just too hot here in Mombasa. So for cold I had options of kheer, phirni,…
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Continue ReadingHappy Diwali Wishing all my friends and family a very Happy Diwali. Time is just flying by so fast. Its already Diwali but this time round my kitchen is not busy. You all may wonder why? A food blogger and her kitchen is quiet during the festivities. Well, it happens sometimes. I fell sick during my recent visit to Mumbai and its taking me a while to recover and gain enough energy to toil over a stove. Luckily, I had prepared my October shhhh cooking secretly challenge before I left for Delhi and Mumbai. My partner for the October “Diwali theme” was Avin Kohli of The Yellow Daal and she challenged me to make a Diwali treat using condensed milk and gulkand. Do take time to…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: FOODIEMONDAY/BLOGHOP THEME: #44 INDIAN SPICES SORTED Badshahi Khichdi is a humble khichdi that is turned into a more satisfying and delicious dish that is fit for a king. Not that the simple khichdi is not tasty. Basically this khichdi is made using split pigeon pea (toor, tuvar dal) and rice. The khichdi has some added vegetables mainly potatoes and brinjals(eggplants) and is tempered using onion, garlic, ginger, chillis and spices. However, I made this khichdi my way. I have tried to give it a more ‘royal’ appeal by stuffing the potatoes and brinjals with spices, chickpea flour and peanuts. This khichdi is usually served with spiced up yogurt, but since my preparation already has quite a few spices, I decided to serve it with…
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Continue ReadingThe week passed by so fast, its already FoodieMonday Bloghop day. Our 33rd theme is #rice. When the theme was decided, I bought the ingredients to make a coconut rice pudding. But during the course of the week the rice was not used for the pudding but for vadas. When family visits, its food, food and more food. Its been really nice to have my dad, kaka, kaki and foi here. In between going out and having long chatting sessions, I try to cook something. I decided to make vadas as I wanted to make a quick but satisfying snack. Accompanied with a coconut chutney, this snack is perfect to take the edge off the nail biting Twenty 20 cricket matches that are going on…
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Continue ReadingSave our Planet My hubby dear has his breakfast pretty early but I prefer to have it after I have bathed and done my pooja. While having breakfast I usually watch the news channels, catch up with the whatsapp messages and also make phone calls that I have to for the day… call for the gas cylinder, social calls, whatever needs attention for that day. Anyway what really caught my attention was the news that in some Scottish stores the use of plastic bags has dropped by 90% since they introduced the 5p charge for bags. 500 billion to a trillion bags are used every year by the world. Without thinking we gather several bags when we go shopping and usually just throw them away…
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Continue ReadingFESTIVAL: DIWALI RECIPE: FRUIT & NUT RICE KHEER What is Kheer? Kheer is a type of pudding from the Indian Sub Continent which is traditionally made from rice, milk, sugar and spices like cardamom, nutmeg, saffron and nuts. Adding spices depends from family to family or region to region. It is served for any festival, event, occasion, celebration. I’ve yet to come across anyone who doesn’t like kheer. Serve it hot or chilled. Depending on regions, kheer is known by different names payasa, payasam, phirni. How is Fruit & Nut Rice Kheer Different? Fruit and Nut Rice Kheer is not too different from the normal rice kheer. This kheer allows me to add loads of nuts and different fruits before serving it as a dessert.…
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Continue ReadingUpdated Post Re-doing Moong Dal Dhokla but the recipe still remains the same. I’ve updated the write up as I get people asking me the difference between dhokla and khaman. Also, being my favorite snack, I was totally appalled at the first photos I’d taken! What is Dhokla? Dhokla, Dhokra is a famous snack from the state of Gujarat. Usually a flavored batter of rice and chickpea lentils (chana dal) is fermented and them steamed. Commonly served as a snack on its own as a part of breakfast or tea time meal, it also is served as a part of the Thali meal which includes shaaks (vegetables side dishes), curry (khadi, dal, moong, etc), flatbreads (poori, rotli, rotla), rice, farsan (that’s what snacks are called…
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Continue ReadingEVENT: FOODIES_ REDOING OLD POSTS #23 For this event, Foodies_Redoing Old Posts my 23rd recipe is an easy Summer Style Pomelo Avocado Salad. What is the group Foodies _Redoing Old Posts all about? Updating posts with better photos or better write up or both is what the group Foodies_Redoing Old Posts started by Renu allows us to do. The advantage of rewriting the post in a better manner makes it more SEO friendly and good photos is what attracts your fans to check out the recipe. What Is A Salad? Salad is a mixture of vegetables, fruits, sometimes meat, fish, cheese, grains, lentils, beans, etc which is usually in in small pieces. Usually served as a starter, a side dish or as a light meal,…
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Continue Readingrefreshingly lemony The first appealing thing about lemon rice is the lovely fresh yellow colour and secondly it definitely the taste. Eat it alone, hot or cold, have it with sambhar or yogurt it tastes yum. A good way to create a new dish with leftover rice. Simple ingredients make it tasty. However, I cooked the rice specially for this dish. A few days ago I had guests over for dinner. I made idli sambhar and wanted something simple to accompany it just in case someone felt unsatisfied with just idlis. I usually find that any type of rice dish acts as a filler when in doubt. Not only did they like the idli sambhar but also loved the rice. LEMON RICE Serves…
