Brown Sugar Substitute We’ve all been there. In the midst of making a recipe (maybe chocolate chip cookies?) only to reach for the bag of brown sugar and find out you’re completely out. While you might be tempted to substitute granulated sugar, it’s just not quite the same. You won’t get precisely the same depth of flavor and your recipe will lose some moisture. So what do you do? Well, if you happen to have regular (granulated) sugar and molasses on hand, you’re in luck....

Indian Apple Ginger Chutney |Spiced Apple Chutney | Apple Ginger Chutney Indian Apple Ginger Chutney and a slice of toasted bread are what I call Perfect Autumn Bliss!! The warming spices in this chutney, tease your taste buds enough to leave you wanting more and more of this delight. Chutney/Jams/Pickles are one of the ‘Must Have’ in any Indian household whether you go to any part of the world. The funny thing is that we cannot differentiate between that love as we love all three of them equal....

Festival means food. :-) Deepavali/Diwali, the festival of lights, is right around the corner, and this year, I plan to make some fusion desserts and a few traditional ones as well. Typically my mom makes gulab jamun, kaara boondi mixture, mysore pak, or seven-cup cakes along with the Deepavali legiyam and vellai appam. But there aren’t any set recipes for Deepavali, and you can make sweets and savories of your choice....

Theme: Cooking with Capsicum/ Peppers Dish: Stuffed Peppers with Potato Curry After a spicy pickle and a creamy pesto recipe with peppers, I have one of my favorite childhood stuffed bell pepper dish. My mom used to make it years ago and I loved the little capsicum boats stuffed with yummy potato curry. So for this week’s ‘Cooking with Capsicum/ Bell Pepper’ theme, even though I had another dish in mind I ended up making this stuffed capsicum curry....

The sauce for this honey Sriracha chicken is so, so good. It’s garlicky, sweet, salty, tangy with lots of warm heat from Sriracha sauce. How long it takes: 30 minutes Equipment you’ll need: pressure cooker/Instant Pot Servings: 6 If you’re not familiar with Sriracha, it’s a popular red chili pepper sauce, moderately spicy, produced in California. Have you ever had Sriracha mayonnaise on a burger or as a dip for sweet potato fries?...

About this kale salad with pomegranate I made kale salad with pomegranate, oranges and pine nuts. It’s a perfect winter salad and won’t leave you looking for your chunky sweater to hide in. It’s filling and flavorful. And it has toasted pine nuts which I would eat by the handful if I had an unlimited budget. More Kale Salads Farro Salad with Butternut Squash, Kale, Bacon and Feta Quinoa and Wheat Berry Salad Kale Salad with Cranberries and Poppy Seed Dressing Kale Salad with Avocado and Cumin Lime Dressing Kale Sweet Potato Salad with Quinoa and Creamy Chile Lime Dressing...

Our Chennai trip is incomplete without relishing Retna aunts (our family friend and neighbor) puttu – kadalai curry and appam – thengai paal. We ( M, SIL n I) like this combo so she always serves this way. (PS: I learned a fair share of Kerala delicacies from aunty and her family. You can find a few on my blog too. ) This time aunty served appam with thengai paal and this dry coconut chutney aka podi chammanthi aka thogayal thoran....

Holiday brunches are filled with so much happiness, love, and excitement and hence this refreshing Kids Christmas Punch – Non-Alcoholic Christmas Drink. So that the host (You) can have an equally fun holiday moment. This drink is super easy to make and will definitely make anyone in your party feel special. Also, did I mention it only takes 10 minutes to make, Now that my friend is an absolute Win-Win recipe for me as I’m up for anything that is easy to make and tastes delicious !...

After posting back to back for a month, I took a small break, and now I am back with my new post. I believe it’s hard for me to stay away from blogging. If you are curious to know about all the thalis – check out this Thali round-up post. I am sure you will love it. Ok, now back to maa vilakku. I will be sharing a couple of Navratri special recipes before getting into fall-special recipes....

These delicate cookies are shockingly easy to make considering how hard this recipe was for me to crack! Also known as French butter cakes, madeleines are well-known, easily-recognizable, sophisticated little cakes. They have a reputation for being fussy, and what they’re really known for is their scalloped shell-shape and their characteristic bump. It took weeks upon weeks to finally get this recipe perfected, but it was definitely worth it. If you’ve made madeleines before, you’ll notice that my recipe is fairly different from many traditional recipes....

It’s the mango season, and who could say no to this delicious and healthy fruit. According to Healthline, mango is a good source of folate, several B vitamins, and vitamins A, C, K, and E — all of which help boost immunity. No wonder it is known as the king of fruits. When you crave a dessert or sugary treat, instead of grabbing junk food, try to relish a mango or any seasonal fruits....

I make this recipe in the instant pot but you can also make it on the stove top. Instructions for both are in this post. Other protein like tofu or paneer are also great in this dish. Serve it with raita or curry for a complete meal. About the Recipe Methi aka fenugreek leaves are delicious Indian greens. They have an earthy and slightly bitter taste. They are great to use in different recipes like this potato paneer methi curry or this comforting methi moong dal rasam....

Summer has officially started here and you’re going to see a lot of healthy summer drinks/popsicles. Fruity recipes like my ‘Peaches and Cream Yogurt Popsicles (Without Molds)’ that are super creamy and super easy to make. I’m one of that person, who can literally live on cold/frozen but fresh delicacies all summer long. Be it salads, drinks, desserts or even regular food but I eat them cold….yep, that’s just me....

I’m always happy when I see a platter of pickle roll-ups or tortilla pinwheels at parties. Pinwheels are the perfect bite-sized appetizer: you can make them ahead, they are easy to transport, look kind of cool, and taste great. Plus I love that you can personalize them in so many ways. Tortilla pinwheels pretty much appeal to anyone. How long it takes: 15 minutes to prep, a couple of hours to chill Equipment you’ll need: plastic wrap, sharp knife Servings: Makes 40 pinwheels (depending on how large you slice them) I recently brought a platter of pickle roll ups to a birthday party for my father-in-law....

Why You NEED to Make This Pie Crust Recipe This Year It’s easy. No heavy lifting with this recipe as a food processor makes quick work of the dough, no pastry cutter needed (and I’ve include notes in case you don’t have a pastry cutter). It’s flavorful. And flaky, and buttery, and I could go on…. My secret ingredient (sour cream, trust me on this) adds beautiful depth of flavor to the pie, without revealing its origin to the taster....

LUNCH TIME. It’s really not my favorite. You know, it’s WAY too easy to order Jimmy John’s delivery…why do they have to make it so easy with the delivery?! And it really is freaky fast. That beach club unwich with sprouts and bbq chips is at my door in about 10 minutes flat. I can barely make lunch in ten minutes. But – you could make this in nearly ten minutes....

The Perfect Fall Bake Every now and then I re-visit an old recipe to the blog to make sure it’s still up to my baking standards. I’ve learned a lot in the 7 years that I’ve been developing recipes professionally, so occasionally I just take a peek back at something I haven’t baked in a while and see if I can improve upon it. This pumpkin coffee cake was my most recent re-test, published 5 years ago, and much to my relief, I found that my efforts were completely in vain....

These rawa dosa are one of my favorite to order at Indian restaurants. But they are very easy to make right at home. All you need is a handful of ingredients and a good tawa or griddle to enjoy these crispy dosa. About the Recipe Rava dosa aka sooji dosa is probably one of the most loved South Indian breakfast item. They are crispy, lacy and absolutely delicious. The best part of this recipe is that these are instant rava dosa....

Festivals and special occasions always call for a dessert, and this easy-to-make rava payasam is perfect during festivals, special occasions or as a dessert for a traditional South Indian meal. Now that Navratri and Deepavali festivals are all lining up, this rava payasam will come in handy for the sweet offering, and it’s a great crowd-pleaser recipe, too. You can also enjoy this South Indian delicacy whenever you crave a sweet treat!...

We love vegetable-based chutneys, and this ridge gourd or the peerkangai chutney is yet another favorite chutney of ours. Ok, this doesn’t mean that we don’t like our paruppu thogayal (Toor dal chutney) and thengai thogayal (coconut urad dal chutney). Ok, we love our chutneys, Period. :-) When I can’t make elaborate meals, I opt for vegetable-based chutney and serve it with plain steamed rice with a dollop of gingelly oil or ghee and papad....