Gulab Jamun Dessert Parfait The Gulab Jamun Parfait can be made a day in advance and kept in the fridge. This Gulab Jamun Dessert Parfait is a Must for your celebrations & Recipe for Instant Gulab Jamun (INCLUDED) Hey Everyone, hope you had a great weekend and can you believe that we are just 2 weeks away from ‘Diwali’ – the Indian festival of lights & also one of the biggest Indian festival....

Mini, Three-Bite Pies Today’s recipe is the perfect way to use up fresh summer berries, hand-picked fall apples, or whatever frozen fruit you happen to have languishing in your freezer. With my buttery, flaky, completely from-scratch pie crust, I strongly feel that hand pies are even better than regular pie recipes thanks to their higher ratio of crust to filling. This recipe is quite similar to my apple turnovers and strawberry pop tarts, only differently shaped....

Inspiration for Boiled Peanut Salad: Beaches, B*tches! India is surrounded by the ocean and has GORGEOUS beaches. Unfortunately, a lot of these beaches aren’t fit for swimming in them. Don’t get me wrong, there are still beaches where you can swim in, so if you are looking for it, you will find it. In general, our beach culture growing up was visiting beaches with high currents, because it’s so fun to try and catch the waves and run away from them....

These cookies might have waited until next month to be posted. Valentine’s Day is nearly a month away, and these heart cookies would be completely appropriate as a gift for your sweetheart (or, just for yourself!). In fact, I have no less than three other blog posts that I have prepared for you, ones that aren’t pink and colorful and might be better suited as my first true post of 2017....

Homemade Peach Green Tea Come summers and all we want is lots n lots of chilled refreshing drinks and for those of us who love tea & fruit, this is the perfect season. There is an abundance of a different variety of fruits in the market and many of them when mixed with tea, results in great flavors. So, today, I’m sharing my recipe for a refreshing Homemade Peach Green Tea....

Perfect Peppermint Marshmallows Lighter than air, wonderfully squishy, melt-in-your mouth, and customizable in a million different ways, once you try homemade peppermint marshmallows you’ll never be satisfied with a store-bought marshmallow again. These are as tasty as they are delicious and would be perfect in a cup of hot chocolate or wrapped up in cellophane as a sweet Christmas gift! Peppermint marshmallows fall into my candy category, and as with most candy recipes you will need a thermometer....

As the before or after school snack of so many childhoods, pop tarts have a special place in our hearts. With an ever-changing variety of flavors, shiny foil wrappers, and quite possibly the easiest preparation ever, store-bought pop tarts might seem hard to beat–but today’s recipe proves otherwise! My homemade strawberry pop tarts have a delightfully flaky (not crumbly) golden brown crust, a bright strawberry jam filling, and a firm, tasty icing that is totally foolproof....

It is yet another two in one recipe. All you need is half cup of idly/dosa batter and coconut jaggery pooranam for the filling and of course oil for frying. I have written a separate post about this idly dosa batter so not going to talk about that again. But coming to the filling, you can try various combinations here – Coconut filling, Ellu/sesame seeds filling, coconut and channa dhal filling....

I love pickles, and this gooseberry pickle is one of my absolute favorites. I grew up eating both small star-shaped gooseberries (arai/ari/aru nellikai in Tamil) and big ones as well. When we were in Pannaipuram, we had a big star-shaped gooseberry tree in our quarters, and mom makes both sweet and spicy pickles with it. The sweet ones are the best. She simmers the whole gooseberry in the sugar syrup and let it rest....

How long it takes: 25 minutes Equipment you’ll need: Instant Pot Servings: about 4 Well, I come to you with good news. It is a success! (We tested it many times to get it JUST RIGHT.) Instant Pot farro turns out perfectly chewy, just like it should be! I am happy as a clam. You can use this Instant Pot farro in place of the stovetop method for my farro salad with butternut squash, bacon, and kale, or zucchini noodle mason jar salad with farro and mozzarella, or any other recipe that calls for cooked farro....

Theme: Cook from 1 European Cuisine – Italian Dish: Italian Piadina Sandwich For the filling, I used some roasted vegetables, chopped greens and a garlic, sun-dried tomato flavored cheese sauce (recipe from here). Piadadough can be refrigerated for couple of days and then they can be made fresh whenever you like. But if you are lazy to bring out the rolling pin every time, then make the piadas, let them cool, wrap tightly in foil and freeze for up to a month....

State: Jammu & Kashmir Dish: Palak Nadir Jammu & Kashmir is located in the Northern tip of India. It is mostly located in the Himalayan mountains and has international borders with China and Pakistan. Jammu & Kashmir consists of Jammu, Kashmir valley and Ladakh. Srinagar is the summer capital and Jammu is the winter capital. Kashmir valley is famous for its beautiful mountainous landscape and Jammu is famous for the numerous shrines that attracts Hindu pilgrims....

As I mentioned in the rose popsicle post, we all love popsicles. Nothing can beat the joy of slurping the ice pops on a hot summer day. The term kala khatta makes me nostalgic and brings back all my childhood summer memories. The taste of the tangy ice-golas that we get from the nearby shop still lingers in my mouth. When my friend R shared some kala khatta ice golas, my search for these delicious popsicles began again, and that’s how I ended with this semi-homemade kala khatta popsicle....

Kara Boondi Mixture The Diwali spree begins a little early at VVK, and I am starting with this savory Diwali snack mixture recipe because homemade snacks are the best! Check out the detailed video recipe, and why I think it is an easy-peasy recipe. We all like crunchy snacks with our tea and coffee and this kara boondi mixture is a perfect match for that tea/coffee time. I love kara boondi (updated the post with new pictures and video), and I make it often even when there isn’t any occasion....

I want to thank Valli for helping me with the Andhra Thali spread. We both went back and forth with the recipe picks, and she patiently answered all my questions; in fact, she sent me the assembling and serving details. I didn’t create an elaborate spread but tried my best to cover all the main recipes in the thali. :-) More information in the thali post, which is coming right next....

Week 2: Rajasthani Cuisine Day 11: K for Khoba Roti Recipe adapted from Nisha Madhulika, Tarla Dalal & Carve your Craving:

How to make Lahsun Chutney/Garlic Chutney This spicy and flavoured condiment made with fresh garlic pods, a tomato and a few spices comes together in 5 minutes. 2. Blend until smooth. 3. Heat some oil in a pan and add the chutney to this oil, then reduce the heat. Make sure the heat is low enough to prevent the chutney from splattering. 4. Cook until some of the rawness of the garlic is gone and is digestible to you....

In this recipe, bottle gourd is cooked in its own juices with minimum spices. Homemade or store bought lentil dumplings add both flavor and texture. A simple niramish or vegetarian curry that takes less than 30 minutes to make. About the recipe Bengali cuisine is one of my favorite Indian cuisines. I have quite a few Bengali recipes on the blog that I really love. Like this sweet and sour begun-er-tok or this bitter gourd curry or this amazing malpua....

We make this mango rice with grated raw mango and freshly ground coconut, fenugreek seeds, and red chilies. The sourness of mango and the bitterness of fenugreek seeds are well-balanced with coconut and red chilies. This mango rice is a complete meal on its own when served with vadagams or appalam. We call raw mango rice in Telugu as mamidikaya pulihora and in Kannada as mavinakayi chitranna. And I won’t call mine as the authentic Telugu or the Kannada version, but it’s a mix of both....

Masala Pasta Ingredients: The ingredients are super easy and most of them are always lying in our pantry/fridge: 2 Cups Cooked Pasta (use any form or variety of plain pasta you like) 1 Large Onion (thinly chopped) 1 Tbsp Grated Ginger + Garlic 1 Cup Peas (frozen or fresh) 3 Medium Tomatoes (grated) * check notes 4 Tbsp Spicy Tomato Ketchup (you can use ketchup + spicy sauce too) 1 Tbsp Garam Masala Salt + Chili Powder 1 Tsp Taco Seasoning (optional) 3 Tbsp Vegetable Oil (for cooking)...