Apple crisps

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This is honestly the first time I've heard of this. Apple cake yes, apple scones yes, even apple chicken salad, but never slices of apple simply baked. These look just wonderful. Granny Greens are quite expensive here in India, so I think I'll stick with the crunchy red ones that are so popular here. This definitely goes on my to-do list for this weekend :)

Mini Pizzas

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I love the idea of mini pizzas - the downside is you just won't know how many you've downed. Replace the hard to find and not to mention slightly pricey pepperoni (in India) with thinly sliced flavoured chicken sausages. Don't hold back...go crazy!

Teriyaki Chicken wings

This is what cooked to perfection is called. When you can actually see the tenderness of the meat! Two thumbs up! The recipe is super simple too and it doesn't look like it would take you ours slaving over the stove to get this...

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Chicken Pineapple skewers

Pineapple is one of those fruits that makes everything better... Cakes, pizzas, dessert, breakfast. Everything tastes great with pineapple in it. Add it to chicken and voila! Flavour explosion. Check out this chicken pineapple skewer. It looks so good and I'm betting it tastes absolutely wonderful!

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Hawaiin BBQ Chicken

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This is my second post on a Hawaiin recipe (Check out the first one here) and I can't wait to try it... Simple ingredients, simple steps. What's not to love!?!

Fried Chicken that's NOT fried

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The heading says it all.., And the best part is, it calls for not more than 5-6 ingredients.. I like!

Rustic Herbed Skillet Chicken and Vegetables

I've been away for a while and now I'm back! It's raining cats and dogs in Mumbai and it's one of the not-so-clean times in the city. But it's the perfect weather for some wholesome food, so here goes... I found something I'd love to make for my lil hurricane and I thought i should share it here.

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Cheese rolls

My little one loves food. She's ever willing to try anything new and that's a mother's dream right?! But she hates milk and I try to get calcium into her whenever I can. She loves all milk products though, curd, cheese, butter, paneer... so I'm a happy momma.. :D... She loves opening her lunchbox to cheese sandwiches so I thought I'd try and give her something different... but essentially the same.

You'll need
2 slices of bread
2 cheese slices
1 tablespoon of butter

Cut off the sides of the bread. It helps if the bread is really fresh. Roll the bread to flatten it with a rolling pin. Put a slice of cheese on it and roll the bread into a tight scroll. Pinch the edges of the bread to make it stick. Repeat with the other slice. Heat the butter in a pan and place the rolled up bread in it. Keep moving it around to prevent one part of the bread from soaking up all the butter. Once the butter is evenly soaked up by the bread reduce the heat to a slow flame and toast the bread to a crisp. The slow flame will allow the cheese to melt wonderfully.
Done!

Cinnamon Sugar Popovers

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Cinnamon leaves that fresh taste in the mouth and is one of those tricky ingredients that if overused can ruin the dish but use it carefully and it takes the flavour to another level altogether. I love that this recipe doesn't call for yeast!! Take a look...

Apple scones

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What's not to love about this? Apple scones that are as easy as apple pie! :D I love the presentation as well... The white places with the design on the edges are just darling. Take a look at the recipe and you'll know what I mean when i say it's simple and easy 

Spicy Asian chicken wings

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We love our food spicy!! And Chinese is our go-to food. Every time. This chicken wing recipe looks super simple and easy to make. Check out the recipe...

Apple chicken salad

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Just look at that! Beautiful, light, fulfilling salad. I don't really like salads because I always feel a little empty after, like I haven't eaten enough. But this looks like it could pack a punch. I love that the vinaigrette is homemade!

Ladyfingers

Ladyfingers for us (Indians) means something else entirely. It means this. :)

So lovely, crumbly, sweet ladyfingers is what I think I need. 

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Check out this recipe...I love it because apparently I can use these in Tiramisu! Woweee!!

Nutella cookies

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Nutella always reminds me of my hostel days in college. A loaf of bread, a bottle of nutella and 4 friends. Great times. And the best part, we could eat as much as we liked and not gain an ounce! Now that's waht you call awesome right? Anyway, my little girl loves nutella as much as I did and I think this will be a nice change from nutella sandwiches. I like that it calls for very little ingredients and even less effort :)... Check out the recipe...

Almond cookies

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Almond cookies yummm... Minimal ingredients, maximum awesomeness... Beautiful!

Russian doughnuts

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These look absolutely yum! And to think it's made from good ol' paneer! Check out the recipe...

Rava Besan Sheera

Breakfast for us, as kids, wasn't usually heavy. We'd gulp down a glass of milk before running off to school and that was it. But my Little One doesn't drink milk! I know! I'm living every Indian mother's nightmare. She won't look at milk, no matter what I add to it. Even melted chocolate doesn't work :(. So I make sure she eats a hearty breakfast before she heads out for the day. She loves the staple fried egg and paratha. But sometimes I like giving her a little rava-besan sheera in the mornings. It's a breakfast of champions. Healthy, light and oh-so-yum.

So here goes:

2 tablespoons of rava (semolina)
2 heaped teaspoons of besan (chick pea flour)
3/4th cup of boiled water
2 tablespoons of sugar
4 Cashews chopped , a teaspoon of raisins and almond slivers
2 tablespoons of ghee


Heat the ghee in a pan. Add the rava and fry till slightly brown. Then add the besan and fry some more. The besan tends to lump so fry well till all the lumps have completely powdered. Add the sugar and fry till the heat dissolves the sugar and you can see just a few grains of it. Add the water and keep stirring. It'll tend to sizzle and sputter so be careful while stirring. Stir rapidly to prevent the besan from lumping. Just before it cooks to the consistency you want, add the dry fruits and stir some more to incorporate. Stir for 30 seconds and take it off the flame.

Done!

Tip: If you want the raisins to be nice and plump add it immediately after adding the water. :)

Aviyal/Avial

Aviyal is one of those dishes that look daunting to make but are surprisingly easy. I remember my great aunt making us a vessel full when my sister and I went visiting and a big "dabba" made it back home with us. I've never tried making it till this Sunday when I suddenly thought of her and decided my little girl needed to taste some of that goodness. Shopping for groceries is just a phone call away and one call, 20 minutes later I had all the things I needed. So here goes. Here's the aviyal I learnt to make from my great aunt, whose cooking and filter coffee stays with me till today.

Aviyal for 4

1 snake gourd
1 Madras cucumber
5 drumsticks
2 carrots
1 large potato
Half a coconut
100 gms of curd
2 tablespoons of tamarind paste
a teaspoon of cumin
3 dark green chillies
5-6 large curry leaves
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil


Cut the snake gourd, the cucumber and the potato into cubes. The drumsticks need to be at least 3 inches long after cutting and the carrots can be one inch strips.

Boil all the veggies in a big vessel with salt to taste. The vegetables have different cooking times with the drumsticks taking the longest. But boiling them together works well since the drumsticks have a nice crunch to them by the time the other veggies are cooked. Don't use too much water to boil the veggies since the aviyal will be a little watery and boiling it further to reduce the water will make the veggies a bit tasteless.
Once the veggies have cooked through grind the coconut, cumin and green chillies to a paste. Add it to the veggies, stir and cook for 5 minutes. Beat the curd in a bowl and keep ready. Switch off the gas and add the curd to the vessel.
Heat the oil in a tadka pan, add the curry leaves to it and once they start sputtering temper the veggies with it.

Done!

Serve with hot rice.

PS Make sure the veggies are cooked the way you want them before adding the curd. Avoid cooking further once you add the curd.

Sweet Hawaiian Buns

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Think Hawaii and you think fresh, green, sweet and for some weird reason pineapples! When it's the lovely Hula girls with their grass skirts and coconut bras or those beautiful cocktails all dressed up with vivid colours and toppings. Anyway, take a look at this recipe for sweet Hawaiian buns. I've never used juice in breads before. The recipe sounds super easy and the buns just look divine. 

Dark chocolate baked doughnuts

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Baked doughnuts. If you think it doesn't get better than this think dark chocolate baked doughnuts. Now that's something. Check out the uber-simple recipe and head to the kitchen!!

Chocolate pancakes

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Lovely golden pancakes make an awesome breakfast. Add chocolate to it and make it an even more delightful meal! Check out the super simple recipe. I love!

Chicken and pesto panini

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Paninis sound so posh... But boy, are they simple to make!Check out this simple panini recipe.... The basil recipe is just below or click here. 

Basil Pesto

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Basil Pesto is a staple sauce no matter which Italian restaurant you eat in. I love the mildness of the sauce and the lovely appetising green it has. This is something I'm definitely going to try my hand at.  

Black and White Banana Cake

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I have a few over ripe bananas sitting on my counter and I didn't want to end up making a simple banana bread. I've seen chocolate chip banana bread recipes, but this black and white one caught my eye. Take a look. 

Honey soy chicken thighs

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How delicious does this look? With surprisingly few ingredients and not so much effort this plate to juicy delight is ready to chow down on. Check out the recipe.

Creamy Pasta

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Oh 30-minute meals. I love you. Check out this easy-peasy pasta for when you just don't have the energy to cook a full meal. 

Breakfastish

Simple and nutritious

Bulgar wheat is one of those things that is found in most Indian kitchens. It's versatile and healthy and can be used in an array of dishes. The easiest of them all to make by far is sweet lapsi. Packed with nutrition, it's easy to make, elements can be adjusted easily without spoiling the taste and it makes a great breakfast!

You'll need
one cup bulgar wheat
3 cups of water
two tablespoons of ghee
and half a cup of jaggery (If you prefer using sugar use 1/4th cup to be on the safe side. You can always add more sugar if you feel it's not sweet enough)

Heat the ghee in a pan. Add the bulgar and fry on a low flame till you get a lovely delicious aroma. Maintain the low flame as the wheat can burn quite quickly. Once it's a nutty brown add the jaggery. and keep stirring to keep the jaggery from burning. Once the jaggery has completely dissolved, add water and bring to a boil while constantly stirring. The wheat absorbs the water and swells to twice its size. Once the water had dried up press a piece of the wheat to test if it's cooked through. If not, add some more water and continue cooking. Once it's cooked completely taste it to adjust the sweetness. Add more jaggery and stir if required.

If you want to improve the nutrition value of the lapsi, add chopped dry fruits (cashew, almonds and pistachios to it)

Done!

Grilled Chicken with Caramelized Lemon Vinaigrette

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There's very little that comes close to being as fulfilling as juicy grilled chicken. Check out this recipe for Grilled Chicken with Caramelized Lemon Vinaigrette. Just typing that out is making my mouth water. Simple ingredients, simple steps, awesome result.  

Roasted chickpea

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Chickpea is one of those ingredients that is found in every single Indian kitchen. We love our chanas... We like them boiled, powdered, roasted. They full of nutrition so they make a great healthy snack as well. Check out this tutorial to roast chickpeas at home. The store-bought ones sometimes taste a little off and are of course expensive. So take a look. 

Creole seasoning

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I've seen a lot of dishes require creole food seasoning. So here's a recipe it. I thought was an absolute no-nonsense straightforward one. Check it out. 

Potato Moussaka

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I first heard of moussaka in the movie "My big fat Greek wedding". I wondered what it was till now. I stumbled across this extremely easy-to-make recipe and surprisingly it's not very demanding when it comes to ingredients. You don't need to plan and make a grocery list to make this. Check out this recipe. I love it. Thank you kitchennostalgia.com.

Sesame seed crisps

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Sesame or til is a big part of our cooking and the laddoos made from it as absolutely divine. I'll leave the laddoos for another time because I've stumbled across something that's quite different. thewoksoflife.com (I love that name!) have posted a recipe for sesame biscuits/crisps/cookies. They look so good, I can only imagine how good they'd taste. I'm adding sesame seeds to my shopping list. Like right now! 

Lamington

I don't know what we did before Google came on the scene. We just did without knowing certain things I guess. The point is I went for my niece's birthday party on Saturday and the caterer had served up these little chocolate squares. I bit into one thinking it was a solid block of chocolate. But no! Hiding inside a layer of chocolate was a piece of chocolate sponge cake! The cake was completely enveloped by the chocolate and tasted absolutely yum. I got home and the googled "cake layered in chocolate" and boom... the result was picture upon picture of Lamingtons. I kept up the googling and found my mystery dessert. Lamington it was. Only traditional lamingtons call for a layer of coconut on the chocolate. I think you can skip it altogether and it will still be awesome. Take a look at this recipe I found that made me quite confident I could try my hand at this. Thank you mrs-delicious.com. :)

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Atta Halwa

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Atta or wheat flour is rich in iron and nutrients and anything made from it is bound to be nourishing. Especially if you add in jaggery which increases the iron content of the dish. Atta halwa is one such dish that's easy to make, makes a great wholesome breakfast and is packed with the goodness of wheat, ghee and jaggery. It's easy to get kids to eat it too too since it's sweet, soft and oh so yummy. Check out the super-simple recipe. 

Lemon Crinkle Cookies

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What a way to start the day! Lovely, light, buttery, crumbly cookies... And 30 minutes is all it takes. Check out the recipe and step-by-step at kitchennostalgia.

Chicken Sausage, Red Onion and Potato Fritatta

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The first time I heard about fritattas was on Everybody Loves Raymond and I thought it would be an exotic dish too tough and time-consuming to cook. But, when I looked it up it looks surprisingly easy.. Take a look. Thank you thisgalcooks.com for the great recipe!

Chicken Breasts with Mushrooms and Cream

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I love the "one-potness" of this... Is super easy to throw together, since it has most of the ingredients you would find at home even if you haven't had the chance to shop for grocery yet. So thank you kitchenjoyblog for this "one-pot" nugget of goodness. :)

Pineapple sheera

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I thought I'd start off this blog simple, nutritious and Indian! And I think this pineapple sheera (semolina pudding) is all that and more! The pineapple lends a lovely tanginess to the sweetness of the sheera. The addition of dry fruits makes for a nutritious, wholesome breakfast! Thank you palakkadcooking. :)