Dry Jamun/Dry Jamoon

Diwali, the festival of lights without jamun is definitely uncomplete, though you can get many brands of gulab jamun readymade mix, nothing can beat the homemade jamun mix prepared simply with khoya.Since ever i tried gulab jamun with khoya, i do make my khoya at home. Making khoya at home is definitely a time consuming work, but its quite worth to try. The time you spend to make khoya will gives an immense pleasure when the sweets or dishes you dish out with this homemade khoya turns absolutely delicious and prefect in texture with a rich look. Obviously nowadays i dont bother to stand for a while to make my small batch of khoya at home. If you are living in India, you can easily get them from Dairy stores, both sweetened and unsweetened khoya do exists and they are seriously very handy. Living in abroad have many disadvantages, however we always find a solution to overcome this.

My Guest Posts to Kalyani & Divya

I have been writing guest posts to my fellow bloggers frequently, recently two of my blogger buddies revealed in their respective blogs about my guest posts which i prepared with loads of love specially for them. Kalyani of Sizzling Tastebuds and Divya of Divya's Culinary Journey asked me to make a guest post in their blogs and i immediately accepted this wonderful opportunity. My guest posts are up in their blog.

Do check my puff pastry rolls at Kalyani's Space

Rendez Vous With A Foodie - Savitha Ramesh of Savitha's Kitchen

Life is becoming a roller coaster for me, three months stay in hometown changed my life style a lot. Dont talk about the jetlag,am suffering very much with it. Am sleeping and eating as per Indian time, early wakeup is just killing me.Hope within a week, everything will be alrite. Without any delay let me start with an another guest post by a wonderful blogger. Yea its 20th February and am here with my monthly event called Rendez Vous with a Foodie, an event i have started a year back. If you are my follower,you might have noticed that every 7th and 20th of the month i'll be introducing a newbie blogger to this immense virtual world.I know that my co-bloggers aka my virtual sisters will definitely join their hands to make this event a big success and trust me they proved that,yes this event is a big hit. I have to say big thanks to each and everyone for giving me this immense support since a year.Next month is going to be the first anniversary of this event,happy to say that 22 bloggers have already written a guest post specially for me,obviously i feel honoured and blessed.

My today's guest is one of my favourite blogger Savitha Ramesh of Savitha's Kitchen, she blogs since 2010,she shares many authentic dishes from Tamil Nadu and from many more cuisines. Dont ask me about her baking skills, she was just amazing and one of her post French Yule Log Cake will speaks a lot about this. If you are her friend in FB, you might have crossed many beautiful cake she prepared for many special occasions like Valentine's day; birthdays etc, seriously i wish to have some patience as much as Savitha especially when its come from cake decorating. Actually i crossed Savitha through this immense world before two years and immediately i started following here,since ever i have became an ardent fan of her space.

Have you ever seen her detailed post about Kumbakonam Degree Coffee aka Filter Coffee, if not seriously your are missing something. If you are a coffee lover like me, you cant stop yourself drooling over her fabulous post about our morning raaga aka filter coffee. I can talk for hours about Savitha's space without any break,dont forget to go through her space if you are in search for Authentic South Indian dishes that too she shares her posts with stepwise pictures. Obviously,am sure that whoever started cooking recently wont go wrong after going through her stepwise pictures. 

Prawn Pepper Kuzhambu - A Guest Post by Menaga of Sashiga

Writing a guest post or getting back a guest post is quite common in this immense virtual world, but getting a guest post from a close friend is more than that. Actually Menaga of Sashiga is one of my best buddy i got through this blog world, we get connected through our passion for foods and later i came to know that she is also from Pondicherry my native and for my surprise she lives also near Paris,how wonderful na. Then one fine day, i asked her fone number and started talking with her through fone. From that onwards, the bond between us is just growing on day by day. She never failed to call me and as usual we talk for hours, even everyone at home pulls me for our long conversation we have mutually with each other.

Few days back, i asked Menaga to write a guest post for me, she immediately asked me whether i need anything special, i simply replied to send me a dish that suits prefectly to showcase our native Pondicherry. She said ok and send me within a day her inlaws signature dish.

Coming to to Prawn pepper kuzhambu, we make prawn kuzhambu at home often as we are the great fans of sea foods, but Menaga's prawn pepper kuzhambu was completely different from mine. Seriously cant wait to make this fingerlicking kuzhambu at home. Actually this gravy goes for the famous South Indian tempering spice called vadagam, which is prepared yearly once with a variety of spices with onions. This sun dried tempering spices gives a wonderful flavour to any tamarind based gravy makes them more flavourful, obviously we used to carry them from India everytime during our visit to India. If you want to make a new variety of kuzhambu, you should give a try to this delicious Menaga's Prawn pepper kuzhambu.

Eggless Butterfree Avocado Chocolate Chips Muffins - A Guest Post to Savitha

Life is bit lazy nowadays may be coz of the weather, its raining nonstop or else its too chilled to go for a walk, all i want id to sit at home next to a heater. Coming to today's guest post, this cute looking avocado muffins with chocolate chips goes to Savitha's space. Savitha, we chitchat rarely but she is a wonderful person who never failed to make me smile. She is so friendly, very jovial and one more down to earth person i crossed in this immense virtual world. Thanks to this bloggy world,i have wonderful peoples around me.Savitha asked me to write a guest post for her,before am leaving to India.She didnt asked me any specific category and when i asked whether she want stepwise pictures, she was kind enough and said to stick with my style of clicking.Without any hesitation, i went for a baking that too with my favourite Avocado.

Avocado works wonder in bakes, i have already tried making a brioche with it. Apart from making shakes and salads, you can use avocado very well in your cakes. Avocado puree replaces very well the fat content in bakes like butter,oil or shortening. As usual since i dont want to run behind the eggs,i prepared this fabulous looking muffins as eggless and butterfree.

Want to bake this cuties, dont forget to check at Savitha's Space..

Few of My Guest Posts

Writing a guest post to a fellow blogger, is definitely a proud moment for a blogger like me. I never said no if any of my co bloggers asks me to write a guest post. I did quite often, and most of the time i forget to write a special post regarding my guest post in my space. Sorry dears, actually let me say all coz of the lack of time or my laziness. Never mind let me catch up with those guest posts i have done specially for few bloggers before few days or may be a month back.

Eggless Coconut Custard Buns (Tangzhong Method):

First i want to write about the guest post i did for Avika's A day through my life, sorry Avika am super late in writing about the guest post. Avika Nair asked me to write a guest post just to keep her blog alive during her trip to India and she kindly asked me to bake something for her. How can i say no to a darling sister, that too she asked me to bake. Obviously i said immediately Yes and baked a Eggless coconut custard buns specially for her. She have posted this buns at her space on 30th september,see how late am writing about this guest post.But trust me, its not too late to visit and enjoy this eggless custard buns with tangzhong method.Do check Avika's space for this guest post..

Avika write about many traditional dishes at her space, especially Kerala dishes. Whenever i go through her space, she never failed to tempt me with her beautiful clicks. I have bookmarked few of her dishes, dunno when am gonna make them,God only knows. Avika,keep on going sis.

Paneer Bhurji Swirl Rolls:

Second comes this beautiful swirl rolls i prepared for Shazzy's Seasoned With Shazzy few days back. Shazzy pinged me few days back asking me to write a guest post for her, i immediately said yes and prepared her these swirl rolls with the famous paneer bhurji.

I crossed Shazzy's blog through Home baker's challenge and started visiting her space. She shares different and delicious dishes in her space and you will definitely drool on seeing her posts.Check out my Paneer swirl rolls at Shazzy Space here.

Dates & Chocolate Brownies:

Coming to this Dates & chocolate brownies, this post is somehow special coz i prepared specially to a good friend of mine. Yes Menaga of Sashiga is a wonderful friend, who never fails to call me through fone whenever she feel like talking with me. We are from same city and living in same country, how fantastic na. Not only she is my friend, she is more than that. She was very supportive when i crossed a difficult moment in my life, i never forget those days how wonderfully she consoled me. She call me without any fail to wish for me on every special days of my life. I know she will be there for me whenever i want her. We speaks for hours and we are not only friends, i can say that we are more than that.

Menaga writes her blog in my mother tongue Tamil. She shares many traditional,nutritious and very healthy dishes in her space. Not only Indian dishes, but she also share many International dishes there. Am a great fan of her healthy dishes, everytime i go to her space she never failed to surprise me with her own way of cooking with different ingredients. Keep on rocking Menaga, i love ur space very much and obviously i dont need to say how i treasure our friendship.

Check Menaga's space to know how i baked this ultimate Brownies..

Hope you all enjoyed my guest posts i have prepared and written specially for them with stepwise pictures in their space.

Please do go through and leave your encouraging words.

No Bake Eggless Créme Caramel - My guest post for Nalini

Writing a guest post to a co blogger, any blogger can dream about it, thank god its happens quite often to me and am loving it. Recently Nalini of Nalini's Kitchen asked me to write a guest post for her, as she is celebrating her second blog anniversary. How can i miss a chance, i immediately said yes and i did this wonderful dessert for her.

Actually i know Nalini through blogging marathon before few years back,i'll never forget to visit her space and she shares mouthwatering recipes with breath taking pictures. Beware dont go to her space while you are hungry,yes each and every pictures of her food will tempt you definitely and you will go crazy. If you are searching authentic dishes, just check her space and you will definitely fallen in love with her post.

When she asked me for the guest post, she wants me to make a French bakes,but sorry Nalini i couldnt keep my words, i prepared a no bake French dessert specially for you.

Crème caramel or caramel custard is a custard dessert with a layer of soft caramel on top, as opposed to crème brûlée, which is custard with a hard caramel top. The dish is eaten throughout the world eventhough is dessert is from French Cuisine.

Crème caramel goes for a plain custard where sugar syrup cooked to caramel stage is poured into the mold before adding the custard base. It is usually cooked in a bain-marie on a stove top or in the oven in a water bath. It is turned and served with the caramel sauce on top, hence the alternate French name crème caramel renversée.

But my version of No Bake Eggless Créme caramel doesnt need a oven and its completely egg free, this dessert goes for custard flour, Full fat milk, sugar and agar agar. Just with 4 ingredients you can make an incredible french dessert even if dont have oven at home. Have you noticed that this dessert is also gelatin free, i used china grass aka agar agar in this créme caramel, if you want to make with gelatin feel free to use it.

Check Nalini's space for my guest post..

Rendez Vous With A Foodie - Sharanya Palanisshami of Sara's Tasty Buds

Most of my followers knows very well about my new event where am introducing upcoming new budding bloggers twice a month.As i told earlier, the main motto of this event is to showcase the new food bloggers,their passions and their respective blogs.Obviously every 7th and 20th of the month, a newbie blogger will post their guest post in my space and am very happy to introduce them eventhough some of them may be very much familiar to you. However am proud and happy to invite them to my space to post their guest post and i got immense responses from each and every newbies when i send a message through a social network.Thanks guys, am really honoured and blessed to get you all around me.

Today am introducing an another incredible,young blogger who blog's at Sara's Tasty Buds,its none other than Sharanya Palanisshami,a young chef who was quite busy with her studies but still she blogs almost everyday with many different dishes. She bakes,cooks,blogs,participates in many food events and leave comments to her co-bloggers, omg dunno how she manage to do all these things.I know Sharanya since a year, but honestly she is one among the budding bloggers i love to visit often and seriously love her cooking and baking skills. Hope a day we will meet personally and get know more about her.

Shall we go to meet my today's guest Sharanya Palanisshami of Sara's Tasty Buds....

    Hi friends, I am happy to write a guest post for priya akka of priya’s versatile recipes. I was a follower of her blog for a long time before I know her. We became friends from May 2012. I will be eagerly waiting to see her delicious post daily. She was excellent blogger who blogs daily with new innovative recipes. We didn’t met in person , will happen in future. When priya akka announced about the Rendez Vous With a Foodie , I immediately asked her to give a date for me and it was today…….

 These are the questionnaire from priya akka to me………

Before and after blogging, tell us wat blogging changed your life?
 Blogging had made many changes , I  came to know about many friends , different cuisines , different cooking methods and so on..

When and what motivated you to blog about food?
Cooking was my passion from childhood. I used to collect lot of recipes. I came to know about the blogging  by October of 2009 . I thought why can’t I have a digitalized version of my recipe collection  and my blog baby was born.

There are tons of blogs/pages on food these days what according to you is the speciality of your blog and the food that you cook?
Yes , there are tons of blog , each will be unique. I usually blog about the day- to - day recipes which we cook in our home. I mostly post a recipe which requires the ingredients which are easily available. I also blog about traditional , Indian , International and eggless baking recipes.

Every newbie blogger faces tons of challenges when it comes to blogging,tell me about one of the challenges you faced and how did you overcome it? Please specify with facts and details.
The biggest problem for me is to gain more visitors . I didn’t realize this problem for a long time. To bring more visitors to my blog I participated in events and challenges.

What is your best recipe and your favourite recipes you have blogged till now?
I think my best recipe was my Red Velvet Cake.My favorite recipes I had posted still are Sandhavai,Pain Ulundhi Vadai and Kongu Special,Cold Pasta Salad,Dates Roll and Jangiri.

Few tips about food photography?
I was not an expert in the photography. I will be sharing few tips ……..
Always take photographs in natural light .
Use the props contrast to the food.

What is your budget for the props,do you have any or else do you manage with your household stuffs?
I mostly use the household utensils as props. I bought few which are below 100 rupees not more than that.

How do you plan your blogposts? Do you post rarely,regularly or once a week?
I post regularly for the past year. I want to post daily if time permits.

Do you have any other passions apart from food blogging or blogs you own?
I love to do hand embroidering and other handworks . I have a blog for that but I didn’t post regularly. The blog name is Saranya's Handworks.

 Being from kongu region , I want to post recipes from our kongu region. Hope some know about the region and their cuisine. For those who don’t know about the cuisine , I am giving a short introduction.

 Kongunadu cuisine is the cuisine of the kongu region of the Tamil nadu. Kongu region covers salem , nammakal , erode , Coimbatore , Tiruppur, pollachi and 30 more places of Tamilnadu.

In olden days , most of the people of the region are farmers . Nowadays , they are into starting many industries , textile mills , poultry , automobile industries , educational institutiona and so on.

 Regarding the cuisine of the region , it is different from other regions and uses their farming products usually.

 The kongu nadu cuisine is a collection of exotic recipes of the people . there are so many traditional recipes we are still following. There are many legumes and pulses are used in our daily cooking. The few recipes which I name can be arisiumparuppu sadham , opputu ( poli ) , sandhavai ( Idhiyappam ) , chola paniyaram and so on.

I am going to share three of our kongu recipes today………
Kachayam / sweet Fritters
Pachai payarru sadham / Green lentil rice
Ragi vadai / pakoda

We will start with a sweet recipe……….

 Today I am sharing the recipe of the favorite sweet / snack . I won’t  count how many I had eaten . everyone will like this simple sweet delicious snack.

Kachayam/Sweet Fritters:
 Kachayam as we call is sweet fritters made using maida , sugar , banana and cardamom. It was a usual sweet dish made immediately when the guest arrives. As this kachayam can be made easily, in our home we makes this often when we are having more  fully ripen bananas.

 This is a traditional recipe of the kongunadu cuisine. Many of the people of this region makes this delicious sweet fritters.

Ingredients:
Maida / All purpose flour – 2 cup
Sugar – 1 cup
Banana – 2
Baking soda – ¼ tsp ( optional )
Cardamom powder – ½ tsp
Water
Salt – a pinch
Oil for frying

Mix the flour , salt , sugar , cardamom powder and baking soda together.

Mash the banana well and add to the flour.

Add in half cup of water and make into smooth batter.

Heat oil in a kadai , pour spoonful of batter into the hot oil and deep fry till golden brown on both sides.

Serve hot crispy kachayams.

Kachayam are ready to serve.

It  tastes better next day but will be chewy  .

Passipayarru Sadhdam/Green Lentils Rice:

  Passipayarru sadham as we call is the rice cooked with freshly grounded masala and whole green gram lentil . This rice is unique to kongu region . Some people call this as Arisumparuppu , but we won’t call so . For us Arisumparuppu is the lentil rice – rice cooked with tuvar dhal  ( Red gram dhal ). Well , this is also dhal cooked with rice.

 This tastes different from the arisumparuppu , as the freshly grounded masala is added to this rice , which gives a unique flavor to it.

This was a easy to make one pot meal which can be taken in lunchbox too.

Ingredients:
Rice – 2 cup
Green gram dhal – 1 cup
Sesame oil – 1 tbs
Curry leaves – 1 sprig
Shallots – 10
Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp
Red chilli – 2
Asafoetida / Hing – a pinch
Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
Salt as required

To grind:
Cumin – 1 tsp
Pepper corns – 10
Ginger –  2 ” piece
Khuskhus / Poppy seeds – ½ tsp
Shallots – 4
Curry leaves - few
Garlic – 10 cloves
Red chilli – 4
Cinnamon – I small stick
Cloves – 2
Aniseeds / Fennel – 1 tsp

I used whole moong dhal to make this rice , split green gram can be used but make sure it has its skin intact.

Wash and soak the rice and dhal together for 20 minutes.

Grind the list of to grind ingredients to a fine paste.

Chop the shallots into small pieces.

Heat oil in a pressure cooker , add the hing and mustard seeds , let it crackle.

Add in the chopped shallots , split red chillies and sauté till onion becomes transparent.

Now , Add the grounded paste and fry it for two minutes.

Add the curry leaves , turmeric powder  and soaked rice and dhal , stir well.

Add about 4 ½ cup of water and required salt, mix well.

Cover the lid and cook for two whistles.

Let the pressure subsides. Open the lid and stir gently.

Pasipayarru sadham is ready to serve.

Serve  along with ghee / sesame oil  or curd.

Ragi Pakoda/Finger Millet Fritters:

  Ragi pakoda is one of the common snack of the kongu region. The speciality of this pakoda is we add murungaikeerai / drumstick leaves to this pakoda in our region.i like this snack a lot , It was healthy as both ragi and drumstick leaves are rich in Iron.

Ingredients:
Ragi flour – 2 cup
Onion – 1
Green chilli – 4
Drumstick leaves – a handful
Salt as required
Curry leaves
Water
Oil for frying

Chop the onion and green chillies to fine pieces.

In a bowl , add the flour , onion , green chillies , curry leaves , drumstick leaves , salt and mix well.

Sprinkle little water and mix well to make a smooth tight batter.

Heat oil in a kadai , add the small pieces of the dough and deep fry till crisp.

As the color of the ragi is brown , we can’t able to check from its color.  Cook in medium flame for 10 minutes is enough.

Ragi pakodas are ready to serve.

Tastes best when warm.

 Hope everyone like my simple easy to make kongu recipes...

Thank you priya akka for giving me opportunity to write on your space.

Rendez Vous With A Foodie - Sireesha of Siris Food

Every 7th and 20th of the month i'll be introducing newly budding kids of this virtual blogworld.Previously two foodie bloggers have shown us two beautiful bakes and for today's guest post, am introducing one of the bubbly,very lively and sweet blogger, she is none other than Sireesha of Siris Food. If god comes in front of me and ask me 'tell me watever you want', i'll definitely ask good health for my family and will definitely ask for a whole year meet with all my fellow bloggers all around the world.Eventhough this huge virtual world is quite dangerous, i always amazed to see foodie bloggers i crossed during this  4 years of blogging are quite honest,caring and friendly till now.

Actually i met Sireesha during my last trip to London, she was one of the buddies i met in Food bloggers buzz held during the last week of the February. The instant we saw, we felt so close and started chitchatting immediately.Trust me, Siri looks like a schooling gal and you know wat she is working and blogging alternatively. Am amazed to see the way she manage both her pesronal life and blogger life. She was an another wonderful,caring,very bubbly,lively,honest,down to earth sister of mine, yep i can proudly say this bloggy world gave me a decent number of lovable sisters, each and everyone is special for me, they are very caring,honest,down to earth persons. Am thanking God everyday for giving me a chance to meet them all through this virtual world.

Lets meet my guest Sireesha of Siris Food...

Frankly, If there is any blogger that I would want to meet desperately she was none other than Priya Akka..I had spent hours and hours in the lazy afternoons browsing through her immense list of recipes. A kind of emotional feeling developed in me thinking how a lady with three grown up kids can do all this. Am not telling that blogging is one rocket science and difficult to achieve but for a lady with huge responsibilities it’s definitely a difficult job I believe.

 There are few persons from whom you get your daily dose of inspiration even though if they are not with you. One such kind of blogging inspiration in disguise is Priya Akka for me..I am a great fan of her writing style for not she uses a great vocabulary. But the way she starts up her posts is very pleasing and crisp. You can see a young lady in all her posts. It was proved 100% true when I met this super enthusiastic and energetic young girl..(Yes she is!!)..Such a humble and easy to go person.

 Never in my dreams I thought of meeting her in person but..Bloggers Buzz had given me that great opportunity to meet my biggest blogging inspiration –Priya Akka..I often get mesmerized to see the frequency at which she posts in her blog. Amazing is not a sufficient word to describe I would say..  She is my Baking Guru I would say. There are so many days where I used to go mad reading all her baking recipes thinking when I would bake one..Priya Akka..You are simply superb!!And appearing on your space is like an honour to me...Thanks a lot for being my inspiration and thanks again for giving me this good opportunity.

Tell us about your blog and you?

Am Sireesha Puppala a South Indian girl form Andhra Pradesh.. fondly called as Siri by my pals..I am full time software professional in London and happily living with my husband and dearest brother. I always want to be simple, enthusiastic, and upbeat. Give less preference to materialist things and enjoy each and every second of my life..SIRISFOOD.COM is my first baby I should say. It is a collection of good to eat simple recipes explained with neat step by step pictures. Rest you can find out from my blog.

Before and after blogging, tell us wat blogging changed your life?

Blogging has brought in more determination in me..The zeal to post more recipes and the dedication to present good photographs has made me a decent individual. But sometimes I will be very in- disciplinary spending more than required amount of time..

When and wat motivated you to blog about food?
I was jobless for few months when I moved to London. Was keep on browsing for recipes to please my husband..and thought to start my own blog to spend some quality time.

There are tons of blogs/pages on food these days,wat according to you is the speciality of your blog and the food that you cook?

If I want to find out any recipe I will refer 2-3 websites and choose the best among them..like good explanation,appealing pictures etc.So according to me, I find my blog helpful with neat step by step pictures so that readers can check how their dish looks like while cooking. Frankly,I cook food for my family and present them to my readers. But I need to improve my writing skills to make it even interesting. My motto is to make the reader to try my dish..

When its comes to cooking, who is your inspiration?

If I leave blogging world, there is no one..

Every newbie blogger faces tons of challenges when it comes to blogging,tell me about one of the challenges you face and how did you overcome it?? please specify with facts and details.

Frankly, the biggest challenge is to come out of the thought of copying recipes from others. In the initial days of my blogging (for two posts which I have deleted after started enjoying the real joy of blogging). I cooked few dishes but copied the recipe as it is from the original author. I agree making bread toast is almost similar with everyone but write the recipe in your own words..

What is your best recipe and your favourite recipes you have blogged till now?

Each and every recipe is special for me and a great chance to improve further. Few of my heart throbs are Green Peas Kachori,Kolhapuri Chicken,Valentine Vanilla Cookies,Tandoori Baby Potato and Andhra Chepala Pulusu.

 Few tips about food photography?

Am learning it..and few of my learning’s are
Visualise how your picture want to look like rather than randomly clicking
Make natural back grounds like fresh veggies, spices and use less props
Present in eye catchy tableware(doesn’t need to be expensive and gaudy)
Check yourself whether the picture is appealing for you or not.

What is your budget for the props, do you have any or else manage with household stuffs?

Recently I have seen a change in my shopping experience. I directly go to the home section rather than stopping at clothing. I will not spend more than 3£ per item. Most of my props are less than a pound (£) which I will pick up at charity shops or local markets.

How do you plan your blogposts? Do you post rarely,regularly or once a week?

It depends on my workload at office. But I plan to post at least once a week.

Do you have any other passions apart from food blogging?

I am also passionate about blogging on general topics those touch my heart, singing, reading books and recently photography. I have a photo blog Siris Clicks wherein I record all my learning. Am also a forum moderator at famous Indian women website indusladies.com for Fashion and Jewellery section but I had to move out of that role very recently due to heavy workload at my work place and home. Wish to re-join the team soon. You can find my blogs at Indus Ladies.


Being a native of Andhra Pradesh(located in South India),I couldn’t resist myself in presenting some simple and core Telugu dishes. Hope you will enjoy this simple meal as much as we did..This simple Andhra meal consists of one  pachadi made wih fresh roasted vegetbles,a simple and comforting rasam and one mouth-watering side dish..So you ready to dig in???Common with me..to enjoy this special Andhra meal..

Bendakaya Pesara Chaaru-A simple rasam made with lady’s finger and cooked moon dal water.The speciality in this rasam is we are not using any tamarind and also one other interesting thing is we are going to use the water that is left after over while cooking the dal. The left over water when tempered and boiled gives excellent taste. Try it out and you will agree with me..

No..This is not Lady’s finger Sambar..:)

Bendakaya -Lady's Finger

Pesara-Moongdal

Chaaru - Rasam

Ingredients:

Okra or Lady’s Finger – 5(cut into 1 inch pieces)

Moon Dal /Pesara Pappu – 5 tbsp

Green Chilly slit – 4

Tomato chopped – 1

Curry Leaves – 1 spring

Crushed garlic – 3 pods

Mustard – ½ tbsp.

Split Bengal Gram – ½ tbsp

Cumin seeds – ½ tbsp.

Dried Red Chillies -2

Coriander Leaves- 1 spring

Coarsely grounded pepper and coriander seeds – 1 ½ tbsp.

Salt to tastes

Oil/ghee – 2 tbsp

Method:

Pressure cook the moong dal with 5 cups of water (yes you read it right) until three whistles come. Allow it to cool down or until the pressure goes off. Then you will get the  water that is infused with nice aroma of moon dal.We are going to use this water for making rasam.

You can discard the dal if there is anything settled down at the bottom. Please use the water only to get that taste.

 Heat oil or ghee in a heavy bottomed vessel. Crackle mustard, cumin and Bengal gram and curry leaves. Add slit green chillies and garlic pods and dried red chillies.

 Fry for 30 secs and then add in the okra. Sauté for 10 min until they turn little tender yet firm. They should be crunchy enough. 

Then add in the chopped tomatoes and cook for another 5 min.Pour in the moong dal cooked water and mix enough salt. 

Boil on medium flame for 15 min.Add in the coarsely grounded pepper and coriander seeds and then boil again for 10 min or until nice froth forms on the top. Garnish with fresh coriander.

When the rasam is a bit cooled squeeze in half a lemon to get the tanginess to the chaaru aka rasam..

Simple comforting healthy Bendakaya Pesara Chaaru is ready now!!

Now let us taste a typical Andhra Sorakaya Tomato Pachadi aka Bottlegourd Tomato Chutney.Telugu people will not complete their meal without a freshly prepared chutney..Also these chutneys are very healthy way of consuming fresh vegetables with less oil.

Chutney with bottle gourd and tomato..I have already discussed the health benefits of consuming bottle gourd in my posts..I reiterate now. It is a very healthy water vegetable!

Sorakaya-Bottlegourd

Tomato - Tomato

Pachadi - Chutney

Ingredients:

Bottle Gourd – ½

Tomato – 1 big

Tamarind – ½ lemon size

Cumin seeds – 1 tbsp

Coriander leaves – 2 springs

Green chillies – 3

Oil – 2tbsp

Garlic pods – 3

Salt 

For tempering:

Oil – 1 tbsp

Mustard-1/2 tbsp

Garlic pods crushed – 2

Curry Leaves – 1 spring

Dried red chilli -1

Hinge – ½ tbsp

Peel the bottle gourd and grate it finely. You could also cut it into small pieces.

Heat oil in a kadai and add tamarind and green chillies. Sauté them for a min and add the bottle gourd. Fry it until the raw smell goes off. Add a pinch a salt and turmeric and add tomatoes.

Cook until the tomatoes and bottle gourd leave their raw smell. Allow it to cool down. Take it into a blender and add in cumin seeds, salt and coriander leaves. 

Grind it to coarse chutney. It is very important not to make the chutney into a fine paste.It is should be very corase.Also you should not add any water else the taste will go off. If required add very few drops of water.

Heat another tbsp of oil and crackle cumin, mustard and Bengal gram. Add in curry leaves and garlic pods, fry for a min and sprinkle hinge which will give a nice aroma to the chutney. 

Pour this hot tempering over the chutney and serve it with hot white rice and a dollop of ghee.

Tasty Sorakaya Tomato Pachadi is now ready!!

So there should be some tempting side dish to accompany with this chutney and rasam..Isn’t it??Andhra homes are very famous for their spicy cuisine. I am going to introduce one spicy and rich side dish called Dondakaya Ullikaram aka Spicy whole Ivy Gourd with stuffed onion masala..It is a perfect side dish with rasam and rice..Are you ready??

Dondakaya - Tindora/Whole Ivy Gourd

Ullikaram - Onion masala

Ingredients:

Tindoora – ½ kg

Onion big -2

Dried red chillies – 10

Coriander chopped – 3 tbsp

Green chillies slit -3

Garlic chopped – 5 pods

Curry Leaves – 2 springs

Mustard and Bengal gram – 1 tbsp

Oil – 5 tbsp

Salt to taste

Water and turmeric for boiling ivy gourd

Wash the vegetables thoroughly and dry them with a paper towel. Make a fine slit in the tindoora by making sure not to cut them into half.

The slit should go till the ¾ length of the vegetable and then stop. Boil water in a vessel and add salt, turmeric.

Add in the tindoora and cook them till they turn little tender and make sure not to over boil else they will break into pieces. Keep them aside.

Chop onion into small pieces. Combine coriander leaves and dried red chillies.

Grind into fine paste by adding little water. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan and cook the paste till the raw smell goes off. 

No need to any water as the onion paste will release some water. Keep it aside and we are going to stuff into Ivy gourd.

Carefully stuff thepaste into each ivy gourd without breaking them.

Heat oil in a wide non-stick kadai and crackle mustard,Bengal gram and curry leaves.Add in the garlic pieces and fry for few seconds and carefully drop in the ivy gourds.

Cook them covered on a low flame for 20 min by turning them in between.

The onion paste will get roasted nicely so as the tindoora.

Andhra famous Dondakaya Ullikaram is now ready !!

Thanks a ton Priya akka for making my presence possible in your lovely space!!

Stay tuned for the next guest post on 20th April friends..

Vanilla-Choco Swirl Brioche~~My Guest Post for Saranya

Guest posting, love the bond behind this. Actually its been a while i havent written any guest post and am here again with an another interesting guest post i created myself to one of my new blogger buddy. Blogging is a virtual world and we cross a daily a number of virtual friends, but some have their important place in our life. Even its a virtual world, some of my blogger buddies proved that this virtual friendship may create a wonderful bond beyond blogging.

Saranya of Sarani's Kitchen, is one among those buddies aka my sister who is a wonderful person,very calm and charming gal i met personally in my life. Before few months, we dont know each other. The bridge between us is Priya of Cook Like Priya, she introduced me Saranya and met her during my weekend trip to London. We spend together a whole day at Blogger's Buzz Meet and am very happy to met her and had loads of fun with them.Saranya's blog is a beautiful place where she shares our traditional foods,beautiful bakes and many more interesting foods. Trust me,she is a wonderful baker too, you will be surprised to see her anniversary cake she baked for her marriage anniversary.It was a mindblowing black forest cake and she simply rocked.

 Am proud to do this guest post for a down to earth and affectionate blogger. I know when saranya asked me a guest post, i really want to make her a beautiful bread, brioche is one of our family favourite bread, before i'll get them often from stores. Now i competely avoiding and bake myself, so that i can mix and match the shape and flavour of the brioche as my mind goes for. This is how i prepared this double colour swirl brioche with vanilla flavoured dough and chocolate flavoured dough.Hope you all will enjoy this amazing and very attractive bread.

3cups Bread flour or all purpose flour

1tsp Active dry yeast

1/2cup Milk (luke warm)

1no Egg yolk

1/4cup Sugar +1tsp Sugar

1tsp Vanilla extract

1tsp Salt

100grms Butter

1no egg yolk+1tsp Milk (for brushing)

2tbsp Dutch processed cocao powder

Few sugar pearls

Mix the yeast,a teaspoon of sugar and salt to the luke warm milk, keep aside until the yeast turns foamy.

Meanwhile take the flour,egg yolks,sugar in a large bowl, add gradually the foamy yeast,vanilla extract and turn everything as a soft dough, now add the butter and knead everything for 10minutes.

Divide the dough as a two equal balls. Take a ball, add the cocao powder and knead well until the cocao powder gets well mixed.

Arrange the doughs in a two bowls covered with a towel,keep aside for atleast for 2hours until they double their volume.

Knead the dough again for few minutes.

Roll the balls are two rectangles, place the cocao dough over the vanilla dough.

Roll them tightly as a log, slice the logs are 10-11medium slices and arrange them in the greased round pan.

Keep the moulds in warm place for half an hour. 

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Mix the egg yolk with milk for brushing together, now brush the uncooked brioche generously,springle the sugar pearls on the top of the brioche. 

Bake them for 25-30minutes until the crust turns golden brown.

Cool it completely on a wire rack. 

Enjoy!

Soccor Ball Cake Pops - A Guest Post

If you are planning to make a snack that can delight your taste buds then try this cake pop. Being first timer on this blog , I am grateful to the blog owner for allowing me to share a guest blog. I would also like to introduce to the new cake pop site “How to make cake pops”. You can also find other interesting design of cake pops and other helpful steps to create a tasty cake pops by visiting this beautiful cake pop site.

INGREDIENTS

For Making Sponge cake

• White  flour (all purpose flour) - 3/4 cup
• baking soda - 1/4 tsp
• baking powder - 3/4 tsp
• vanilla essence –  1 tsp
• sour cream  - 1/2 cup
• salt - 1/8 tsp
• sugar (extra, if needed) - 1/2 cup
• oil - ¼ cup

For Decoration

• Candy wafers - white
• Lollipop sticks
• Black edible gel pen to draw hexagon shapes

Making process

1. Strain and combine purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into one bowl  and keep it aside.
2. Then mix yogurt sugar, oil and vanilla essence  into another bowl. Whisk till you get smooth and creamy mixture.
3. Then mix in flour mixture into wet ingredients and Mix well. Remember not to over mix the flour into wet ingredients, if you want the best cake.
4. Switch the oven to 375 F. Bake the cake for 25 minutes or until done.
5. Allow the cake to cool down .Once the cakes cool down, divide the cake into small pieces and scrambled it completely.
6. Add in vanilla frosting into crumbled cake. Knead well and make cake balls .

7. Place all cake balls into freezer for 10 to 15  minutes.
8. Melt the candy chocolate( vanilla) into microwave for 40 seconds.
9. Remove the cake balls out from freezer and dip lollipop stick into melted chocolate and pop in  the stick through the chilled cake balls.
10. Dip the cake pop into meted chocolate and take out any excess chocolate to drip off before you invert the pops in the foam. Allow the cake pops to dry.
11. Then mark the hexagon shapes on the white coated pops and fill it using black gel writer
12. Soccer ball cake pops are ready

About the Author: Pranjali Naik is a food blogger and owner of foodydelight.

Vegan Christmas Fruit Cake - My Guest Post for Arthy

Cooking specially and doing a guest post for a co-blogger is definitely an interesting part of this virtual world, few days back i got a message from Arthy of Sumanarthy's Kitchen asking whether i can do a guest post for her. Her message made me happy and immediately i said ok for making a guest post for her.I visit her space almost everyday since few months and love her variety of droolworthy foods particularly her malay foods, i have bookmarked few to try especially her prawn sambal, as i love sea foods very much.

Coming to the guest post,she said she want something prefect for this festive season,i know i'll be making a fruit cake for her and finally decided to make a vegan version.Thanks to Arthy for giving me a wonderful chance to make this guest post.This vegan cake goes for both whole wheat flour and all purpose flour with loads of nuts and dry fruits with avocado puree and flaxseed powder as egg subsitute, for my surprise this cake was extremely moist,spongy and definitely healthy. Definitely this cake will satisfy anyone's tastebuds and none will miss the eggs in this cake.

2cups All purpose flour
1cup Whole wheat flour
1cup Avocado Puree
1cup Oil
1+1/2cups Packed brown sugar
1tbsp Flaxseed powder
1tsp Baking powder
1tsp Baking soda + 1/2tsp for cooking fruits
1/2tsp Cinnamon powder
1/4tsp Clove powder
1/4tsp Ginger powder
1/4tsp Nutmeg powder
3tbsp Honey
1tsp Vanilla essence
1/2cup Water
2cups Dry fruits (chopped finely,i used dates,black & golden raisins,apricots,pineapples,prunes and tutti frutti)
1/2cup Nuts (chopped finely)
2tbsp Orange zest

Grease a round cake pan with oil and line a baking sheet.

Sieve the flours with baking powder and baking soda and keep aside.

Mix the flaxseed powder in  three tablespoons of warm water and keep aside.

In a pan, heat the dry fruits,sugar,honey,water in low flame until the sugar gets dissolves, then put the flame in high and bring it to boil.

Put the flame again in low and cook for half an hour,so that the dry fruits will gets well cooked, put off the stove and add the 1/2tsp of baking soda,mix it and keep it aside.

Preheat the oven to 300F.

In a bowl, take together the avocado puree,oil,flaxseed mixture,vanilla essence and spice powders and mix, now add the cooked fruit mixture,orange zest and nuts,mix everything well.

Add the flours to this mixture and mix gently with a spatula.


Transfer this cake batter to the already prepared cake pan and bake cake for an hour or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Let the cake gets cool completely .

Dust with confectioner's sugar and enjoy.

Baath Cake - Goan Semolina & Coconut Cake~~My Guest Post for Priya

Guest posting, love the friendship behind this. This baath cake is my 8th guest post i prepared specially for one of my blogger buddy aka one of my virtual sister Priya of  Cook Like Priya.

Christmas is one of the festival we never failed to celebrate here, the chilled weather of december gives a wonderful festive mood and every year we wait eagerly for this festival.

When Priya asked me something christmassy, initially i want to make a christmas special bread from Europe. Finally after many hesitation,i went for an Indian christmas cake.I usually bake the famous plum cake,somehow i dont want to reproduce the same for this guest post. I know Goan makes many traditional christmas special bakes every year and Baath cake is among them.

Coming to this Baath cake,this cake is prepared with freshly grated coconut and semolina, with less butter this cake goes for an easy breezy preparation. With a wonderful texture,this cake tastes fabulous and melt in mouth.Goans prepared this cake traditionally in clay oven for every christmas and definitely this cake have its own place in every home during christmas.

Even blogging is a virtual world, am blessed to get a decent number of wonderful friends.I can say that Priya R of Cook Like Priya is one among them, she is a very friendly food blogger, fabulous photographer. I started chitchatting with her after we joined a monthly baking event.She shares wonderful traditional dishes to mindblowing bakes with her own touch,eventhough i have numerous favourites in her space my recent favourite post of her is this Choco Beet Cake.


3 nos Eggs
1 cup Semolina (fine quality)
2 cups Grated fresh coconut
1+1/2 cups Sugar
3 tbsp All purpose flour
1 tbsp Corn flour
1/2 tsp Salt
2 tsp Baking powder
3 tbsp Butter (room temperature)
1 tbsp Vanilla essence
1/2 cup Warm water
Few dry fruits

Beat the eggs till they turns fluffy and add the butter to it,beat again for few minutes.

Grind the grated coconut with warm water to make a thick coarse paste.

In an another bowl, take the semolina,all purpose flour,baking powder,cornflour,salt and sugar and mix well.

Now add the grounded coarse coconut paste,beaten eggs gradually to the dry ingredients.Mix everything well with a spatula.

Cover it and keep the above mixture for 8 hours in room temperature (if the climate is chilled) or over night for best results.

If the climate is hot, cover this cake batter and keep in fridge for 8 hours or overnight, remove an hour earlier to bring it at room temperature before baking. Finally add the vanilla essence and give a stir.

Preheat the oven to 170C. Transfer the cake batter to a well greased round or square mold. Top it with dry fruits. Bake for 30-35 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Your Baath Cake is ready.


Check Priya's space for my guest post

If you want something different for your christmas celebration this year, dont hesitate a second to give a try to this fabulous cake.

Pumpkin & Red Rice Flakes Kheer~~My Guest Post For Aparna

                                           Happy Saraswathi Pooja to everyone friends.

Well, i think this is my seventh guest post for my blogger buddies, i prepared this super delicious kheer with pumpkin and red rice flakes for Aparna of Aps Kitchen. Few days she pinged me in FB and asked whether i could make a guest post for her, i accepted it immediately.We are friends since a long  through this virtual world and i love her Konkani cuisine very much. I know i'll be making something sweet for a sweet friend, since i prepared pumpkin puree for a bake and as there were some leftover i turned those leftover pumpkin puree as this wonderful kheer with red rice flakes.

Recently i bought this red rice flakes for making upmas and personally i got hooked with this healthy flakes than the usual white ones, i couldnt stop myself adding them in most of my dishes nowadays. Coming to this kheer, you will definitely love the addition of pumpkin puree in this kheer, both rice flakes and pumpkin puree works out wonder together.  Check out my guest post for Aparna here.

1cup Pumpkin puree
1/2cup Red rice flakes
2cups Milk
1/4cup Sweetened condensed milk
1/4cup Sugar
Few pistachio nuts
1tbsp Cardamom powder
2tsp Ghee

Bring boil both milk and sugar together cook until the milk get half reduced in low flame.

Meanwhile heat the ghee in a kadai and roast the red rice flakes and keep aside.

Now add the pumpkin puree, condensed milk to th boiled milk and bring again to boil, put the flame in simmer  and cook them for few minutes.

Add the roasted red rice flakes, keep the flame in medium high, cook until they gets cooked.

Finally add the cardamom powder to the kheer, stir them well before  and switch off the stove.

Serve warm topped with chopped pistachio nuts.

Couscous Upma & My Guest Post For Siri

We start again a week of blogging marathon, for this second week of blogging marathon i choosed upmas as theme, so for the next two days i'll be posting variety upmas. For the frist day of blogging marathon, am posting a quick,easy,healthy and super filling upma with couscous. I simply used onions and usual spices to make this upma,you can very well go for mixed veggies while making this upma.

Coming to this couscous upma, even a bachelor can make this quick upma very much easily and definitely everyone at home will enjoy thoroughly this upma, i served this upma with a dash of chaat masala and we just loved it.Check out the other marathoners running this 21st edition here.

2cups Couscous
1no Onion (big n sliced finely)
2nos Green chillies (slit opened)
1tsp Ginger (minced)
1tsp Mustard seeds+urad dal
1/2tsp Channadal
3nos Dry red chillies
1/4tsp Asafoetida powder
Few Curry leaves
Oil
Salt

Soak couscous for half an hour in 4 cups of water,drain the excess of water and keep aside.

Heat enough oil, let splutters the mustard seeds, urad dal,channadal,dry red chillies,fry until they turns brown.

Add now the sliced onions,grated ginger,curry leaves,salt and slit opened green chillies,saute until the onions turns transculent..

Add now the soaked couscous to the cooking veggies, stir continously until the couscous gets well cooked,put off the stove.

Serve topped with a dash of chaat masala and enjoy.

Do check out my guest post Oats & Badam Halwa Poli at Siri's Food Flavours.

Spicy Herbed Breadsticks~My Guestpost for Sangeetha

Doing guest post to a co-blogger is quite interesting, recently i got a message from Sangeetha of Recipe Excavator asking whether i can do a guest post for her. Who will say no to this great opportunity, immediately we chitchat through mail and she kindly asked me to make something baked for her with stepwise pictures. She was asking me from a long why am not posting stepwise pictures, as most of you know i have almost more than 2000posts in my space, coz of this space contraint i couldnt post stepwise pictures.

I truly used this opportunity to make a stepwise pictures of my guest post for Sangeetha. Initially i want to make some cake but finally i decided to make this excellent,super delicious spicy herbed breadsticks,they came out prefect. She was quite happy for getting her requested stepwise pictures from me and this breadsticks i prepared for specially for her.

2cups All purpose flour
1cup Whole wheat flour
1tbsp Active dry yeast
1tsp Sugar
1tsp Salt
1/2cup Luke warm milk
2tbsp Olive oil
2tbsp Coriander leaves (chopped)
1tsp Red chillyflakes
1/2tsp Dry Oregano
1/2tsp Dry Thymn leaves
1tbsp Butter (room temperature)

Add the yeast,sugar and salt to the luke warm water and keep aside until the yeast turns foamy.

Take the flours in a bowl with chopped coriander leaves,red chilly flakes,dry oregano and dry thymn leaves,add gradually the foamy yeast,olive oil and water.

Knead as a soft and smooth dough,cover the bowl and keep the dough in a warm place for two hours..

Once they doubled their size,punch down the dough,dust the dough with flour and roll them as a medium size long rope like strips.

Arrange the rolled breadsticks over a baking sheet lined over the baking tray.

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Arrange the baking pan in middle rack of the oven and bake for 25-30minutes until the crust of the bread stick turns golden brown.

Brush immediately the bread sticks with the butter.

Serve warm with a bowl of soup.

Eggless Walnut Muffins - My Guest Post For Archana

Love the concept behind guest posting, this walnut muffins are my second guest post am doing for my blogger friends. Archana of The Mad Scientist's Kitchen asked me to prepare a guest post specially for her few days back, i dont want to miss this opportunity at any cost, immediately i said ok and prepared an eggless muffins with my most favourite walnuts. Do check her space for my guest post, simply loved the way she wrote the introduction about me. Thanks Archana,  thanks a lot for asking me to do this guest post. Enjoyed thoroughly too..

2cups All purpose flour
1/2cup Sugar
1/4cup Butter
1/4cup Oil (sunflower or canola)
1cup Buttermilk
1/4cup Walnuts (grounded as fine powder)
1tsp Baking powder
1/2tsp Baking soda
1tsp Vanilla extract
2tbsp Chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350F..Sieve the flour with baking soda and baking powder,add the walnut powder,mix and keep aside.

Beat the sugar,butter and oil until the sugar gets well dissolved, immediately add the buttermilk, and vanilla extract, whisk everything well..

Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mix it well with a spatula,batter will be quite thick but dont overmix the batter,else ur muffins will turn hard.

Drop enough batter to the silicon muffin tray and bake for 20-25minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean..

Enjoy with a cup of tea..

Mango Rasgullas ~~ My Guest Post For Jagruti

When Jagruti of Jagruti's Cooking Odyssey asked to me for a guest post, i immediately said ok.Seriously i wanted to make something specially for her. As i know she loves very much mangoes i combined my favourite famous Bengali sweets rasgullas with her favourite fruit mango, both together makes a wonderful exotic and super delicious spongy juicy rasgullas.Am so happy that Jags loved my guest post and she just posted this guest post in her space today.Do check out here.

Coming to this rasgullas, i used thick mango pulp while preparing the sugar syrup and this mango rasgullas were quite addictive,extremely delicious. My lil one who rarely love mango based desserts simply enjoyed having this super juicy rasgullas.

2litres Full fat milk
3tbsp Lemon juice
1+1/2cups Sugar
1cup Thick Mango pulp
3cups Water
1/2tsp Cardamom powder

Take the milk in a heavy bottomed vessel,bring boil and keep stirring to avoid burning of milk..

Once the milk comes to boil, start adding the lemon juice and keep stirring,put the flame in simmer and cook for few seconds until the milk solids gets separates from the whey.Switch off the heat.

Pour this curdled milk to the already lined muslin cloth over a strainer,squeeze out all the whey water and rinse the milk solids/paneer under water and squeeze out the water as much as possible.Place a heavy weight over the drained milk solids/paneer to squeeze out the water completely.

Take the paneer in a vessel,mash it well and knead for few minutes until they turns soft...make medium sized balls from the smooth dough, take care not to have any crack on the ball.

Boil the water in a pressure cooker,add the sugar,cardamom powder and mango pulp to the water,bring to boil.

Add the already prepared paneer balls to the cooking syrup. Put the lid and cook till 3 hisses.

Once the pressure gets released,open the lid and transfer the mango rasgullas to the bowl and let them cool completely.

Arrange in fridge for an hour before serving topped with sliced almonds.