Monday, October 30, 2017

Thukpa/Vegetarian Noodle Soup

Arunachal Pradesh is in Northeastern part of India and its known for its tribal community. Obviously their food consists mainly of non vegetarian foods. However my today's post is a vegetable soup which is called Thukpa, actually Thukpa is a Tibetan noodle soup which have its origins in eastern part of Tibet . But this dish is quite popular in Nepal, Bhutan and in states like Sikkim, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh in Northeast India. Usually prepared with meats, you can still prepare this quite filling soup as vegetarian version just by skipping the meat part. Loaded with various vegetables and noodles, one can finish their lunch or dinner happily with a bowl of thukpa. And this post goes to this month's Shhh Cooking Secretly event started by me, which is now hosted by Mayuri Patel.

Thukpa, Noodle Soup

Thursday, October 26, 2017

Trinidad Aloo Pie/Trini Potato Pie

When i was searching something new to cook from Caribbean cuisine, i landed to this blog and i got hooked to this fantastic potato pie. Though Doubles, an another Trini dish prepared with spiced chickpeas and flatbread as sandwiches are well known as street foods in Trinidad, these potato pies are also sold as another popular street food. Sold as street snack food, these potato pie have their own place in street vendors cart. Stuffed with boiled potatoes flavored with culantro leaves, cumin, chopped onions, these aloo pie are ready to munch with your favourite drink. One can finish even their lunch or dinner with two aloo pie, yes they are quite filling and delicious as well. In most of the restaurants in Trinidad, this aloo pie is filled with spiced chickpeas as per your request or else served along with mango or tamarind chutney.

Trini Aloo pie, Potato Pie

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Le Bokit/Guadeloupean Fried Bread Sandwich/Bokit

Wikipedia says that 'Bokit is a Guadeloupean sandwich fried in a saucepan with hot sunflower oil'. It is essentially composed of flour, water, salt and bicarbonate or yeast.This typical Guadeloupean food started to develop in the mid-19th century after the abolition of slavery. At this time, the poorest workers could not even buy some of the basic products such as bread. As they were good observers, they had the idea to adapt and produce a bread by themselves, without yeast at this time, and cooked in a saucepan with hot oil that they used to call "kettle bread" because of the vapor going out of it. Bokit was inspired by the "johnny cake" which is a kind of fried bread that the New England colonies may have borrowed from the Indians. Over the exchanges between the Caribbean colonies during the 18th century, this fried bread became the djoncake in Dominica and Barbados. People on French island heard djonkit or dannkit, it has been given the final name of "Bokit" in Guadeloupe, and has become a typical Guadeloupean speciality.

Bokit, Fried Bread

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Aruban Pan Bati

Aruba is one of the Lesser Antilles islands located in the Southern Caribbean Sea. The island is located miles off the coast of Venezuela and on clear days it is possible to see Venezuela from the south-eastern side of the island.The Lesser Antilles are several islands extending in an arc from Puerto Rico to the north-eastern coast of South America. Some of the islands that are part of the Lesser Antilles are the Virgin Islands, Saint Martin, Guadeloupe, Grenada, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Curacao and Bonaire. You may wonder why am talking about this Antilles islands, yes we are going to surf through Caribbean cuisine. Am running this week's blogging marathon with this interesting theme. Today am taking you all virtually to Aruba with this Pan Bati.

Aruban Pan Bati, Pan Bati from Aruba

Thursday, October 19, 2017

Mushroom & Spinach Lasagna

After two no pasta/noodle free Lasagna , i couldnt resist to prepare my kids favourite lasagna with lasagna pasta. Actually am running this week's blogging marathon with Lasagna for Veggie lover, obviously vegetarians will enjoy thoroughly this vegetarian version of lasagna. My today's post is loaded with mushroom and spinach. I used buttom mushrooms and fresh spinach for the filling with white sauce  and cheese. Easy to make, this lasagna makes an excellent meal as this ultimate dish is definitely a satisfying dish for anyone. Whoever like Lasagna will definitely enjoy this mushroom and spinach loaded lasagna.

Mushroom & Spinach Lasagna

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Pasta Free & Gluten Free Potato Lasagna

Potatoes, mash them, fry them, make them as chips, or else drop them in gravies or curries, we can have it as much as can. Potatoes and chocolates are our family favourite, obviously when i picked Lasagna for veggie lovers as theme for this week's blogging marathon, i planned immediately a gluten free potato lasagna for this week's theme. Potato lovers will definitely go crazy if they see this ultimate pasta free potato lasagna. An excellent meal to enjoy for your lunch as well as for your dinner. Though potatoes are easy to cook with, this lasagna takes very less time as well than you can imagine. Coming to this potato lasagna, i went for white sauce aka bechamel sauce, ricotta cheese with Swiss cheese and parmesan cheese for making this ultimate dish.

Potato Lasagna, gluten free potato lasagna

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Gluten Free Eggplant Lasagna with Minced Soya/Aubergine Lasagna

My today's post calls for an easy version of Eggplant Lasagna which is completely gluten free but not vegan as i cant imagine Lasagna without cheese. Am happy to say that i prepared this fantastic Eggplant Lasagna with an interesting filling with minced soya and tomato sauce. You may wonder why am talking about Lasagna, yes my theme for this week's blogging marathon is Lasagna for Veggie Lover. Obviously my today's post is definitely a no noodle lasagna and trust me this lasagna is very flavourful and a prefect dish to whip up if you are following a gluten free diet or a low carb diet. You dont even miss the noodles here and this gluten free eggplant lasagna will definitely please anyone's hungry tummy. A prefect dish to relish either for your dinner or for your lunch with your favourite meat or salad.

Eggplant Lasagna with Minced Soya filling

Monday, October 16, 2017

Palak Chakli/Spinach Murukku/Keerai Murukku

Deepavali/Diwali is around the corner, obviously am sure you guys will be busy in preparing or listing for Diwali sweets or savouries. Have you ever tried murukkus aka this deep fried Diwali savouries with Palak aka spinach greens. Adding greens to the usual murukku will definitely make the simple murukku as a greenish murukku. Kids will enjoy munching this greenish murukku and i must say honestly that they were attracted by the colour of this chakli. And needless to say that this murukkus aka green deep fried beauties are loaded with spinach, obviously eventhough they are deepfried they are still healthy for kids.

Palak chakli, Spinach Murukku

30 Diwali Sweets and Snacks

Diwali is around the corner, i couldnt resist to share 30 Sweets and Savouries you should prepare at home. Get ready and cook your favourite sweets and savouries for Diwali from my collection of Diwali special dishes..Some are my own creations while some are from traditional dishes.



Thursday, October 12, 2017

Barnyard Millet Ribbon Pakoda/Kuthiravali Ola Pakoda

Barnyard millet, is definitely a super versatile grain you can cook up many delicious dishes from breakfast to snack foods. I have been cooking with millets often as i love to feed my family members with healthy grains in their diet. Millets replace very well rice or other grains in your diet. And when its comes to cook some savouries with those incredible millets, i dont hesitate a second to dish some interesting snack foods aka savouries with them. Not to forget that millets works awesome to make sweets as well. Hope you guys are busy in searching for some interesting sweets and savouries for Diwali, just 9 more days to go and once again i miss celebrating this fantastic festival of lights at my hometown. However its again a working day for us, seriously we are going to miss the fun here.

Barnyard Millet Ribbon Murukku,Kuthiravali Ribbon Pakoda

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Mewa Burfi/Mixed Nuts Burfi/Meva Barfi

If you are bored of preparing badam halwa, kaju katli or else coconut burfi for the upcoming Diwali festival, check my today's post. Mewa burfi is prepared with a combination of different nuts and coconut flakes. Mewa means Mixed nuts in Hindi and not to get confused with Mawa or Khoya the popular dairy product used in making many delicious Indian sweets. I crossed this Ultimate Mewa burfi while googling for a different Diwali special sweets. And the best part of this burfi is you can use any sort of nuts you have on your hand. Ricotta cheese plays an important role to whisk up this sweet quickly. Obviously if you want to prepare this nuts burfi with unsweetened khoya, just go on. And trust me, this burfi is definitely an easy breezy sweet to prepare especially for festivals or for a special occasion.

Mixed Nuts Burfi, Mewa Halwa

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Red Rice Flakes Murukku/Sivappu Aval Murukku

Have you ever tried making out Chaklis aka some crispy murukkus with rice flakes, if not you should try atleast once as they are extremely crispy and dangerously addictive. Red rice flakes when grounded as fine powder and sieved, they are just ready to prepare your murukku dough with other ingrédients like gram flour, butter, sesame seeds and asafoetida powder. Grounded and sieved red rice flakes once mixed with other ingrédients makes this incredible crispy munchies. Actually red rice flakes grounded as flour replace very well the humble rice flour we usually use for making the murukku dough.

Sivappu Aval Murukku, Red Rice Flakes Murukku

Thursday, October 5, 2017

Eggless Pistachio Butter Cookies

Today's cookies are melt in mouth cookies which are quite hard to resist. These ultimate cookies are extremely buttery and easy to make. With easy ingredients, these cookies are slice and bake cookies which is simply prepared with small bites of pistachios in it. Obviously you can prepare this fantastic slice and bake cookie dough earlier a day, and they are just ready to slice and bake as much as you want or whenever you feel like baking. Needless to say that this sort of slice and bake cookies are very convenient to bake and super tasty to munch with your favourite drinks. The cookies are fabulous and very tender, with a nice crispness to them. If you prefer your cookies a little crunchier, you can simply leave them in the oven for a few extra minutes.

Pistachios Cookies, Eggless Pistachio Cookies

Wednesday, October 4, 2017

Eggless Oatmeal & Chocolate Chips Cookies

Cookies, these baked beauties makes an excellent munchies if you are craving for some sweets. If a cookie is baked with healthy ingredients in it, needless to say you can enjoy them thoroughly without any fuss. My today's post is an extremely healthy and dangerously addictive cookies prepared with the humble healthy ingredient aka Oatmeal with chocolate chips. Though initially i want to bake this cookies with cranberries or raisins, my lil one asked me to bake with chocolate chips. Obviously i cant say no hence chocolate chips in this cookies. However if you want to bake this same cookies with your favourite fruits or nuts, just go on. Am sure adding nuts will turn this cookies more healthier.

Eggless Oats Cookies

Tuesday, October 3, 2017

Eggless Cardamom Flavored Nuts Cookies

Looking for a cardamom flavored munchies, then check this different nuts loaded cookies. An extremely delicious and dangerously addictive snack box friendly cookies to munch with your different drinks. I have already tried couple of cookies with nuts as butter cookies. Since i want to make some cookies with a mix of nuts, i tried my hands in baking these cuties. I prepared myself a mixture of grounded nuts meal with Cashewnuts, Almonds, Walnuts. And this mixture of nuts gives a super nutty texture to this easy buttery cookies. Obviously you can still add many nuts like pistachios,pecans etc. Trust me, this buttery nutty cookies will definitely become anyone's favourite. Excellent cookies to pack in anyone's snackbox as well.

Eggless Nuts Butter Cookies

Monday, October 2, 2017

Recap - 26 Days of Protein Rich Dishes

We,  Blogging Marathoners run a month of blogging twice a year and it happens during the month of April and September. This whole month of blogging have specific theme and this time's theme was 'Protein Rich Dishes' for 26 days with sundays off. A month of blogging needs some pre planning, but this time with a trip to India and new Academic year's preparation i was running like headless chicken. Initially i want to skip this month's blogging marathon, but blogger in me didnt want to give up the mega marathon. Obviously,once i came back from India i started cooking up like a storm for this Mega marathon.