Why Mediterranean Olive Pasta Salad Recipe: After all the Diwali (Indian Festival of Lights) sugary treats and loads of Indian comfort food, we were craving a simple, healthy, quick recipe, and what better than this 15-minute easy refreshing Meditteranean olive pasta salad! It literally transports you to the luscious Mediterranean flavors and is packed with wholesome ingredients, including pasta, olives, feta cheese, fresh herbs, and a delicious dressing. It’s perfect as a quick meal/salad or as a side dish for any meal and we love it cause:...

Earlier I had shared avocado roti, and how can I miss sharing a perfect side dish for the roti? While there are so many sides for roti, kurma and paneer-based curries are our all-time favorites. Today I will share one of my favorite paneer curries – paneer do pyaza. Being a food blogger, as much as you share new recipes, you will also learn new recipes, and this paneer do pyaza is one such recipe that I started making after entering the world of food blogging....

‘Panjiri or Panjeeri’ is the perfect prasad or Indian sweet, for Janmashthmi which is right around the corner. It’s an Indian festival of Lord Krishna, celebrated all over India and abroad by his followers on Aug 30th by fasting, singing his favorite songs, dance and above all making his favorite food as offerings. And this is one of the most important prasad among all the others. Made using 5 different nuts (whichever you please) and the addition of Tulsi leaves (holy basil leaves) is a must....

This post contains helpful notes and tips to help you make the perfect dish. However, if you are in a rush, please use the “Jump to Recipe” link above or the “Jump to” links below to get to the section you want. I had a clear idea of what flavor profile I wanted for these savory vegetable muffins, so that part was not too hard. The tricky part was to get the texture right: fluffy and moist - which can be challenging when you are not using regular ingredients like whole wheat flour / all purpose flour and eggs....

Disclaimer – Like the postpartum diet, every family has their own set of the lunch menu for these festivals. I am sharing what we do in our household. Also, depending upon the time situation, especially if it falls on weekdays, I try to modify the menu and plan them. Even in this one, I have skipped kozhukattai. :-) Our habbada menu & what I do- “Habba” is a kannada word meaning festival....

Firecracker Tofu – crispy tofu glazed in a sweet-spicy sauce that will leave you wanting more. A super easy and delicious recipe that’s perfect for lunch/brunch or dinner. Serve with rice/ steamed veggies or even a bowl of pasta. Ingredients for Firecracker Tofu: 1 Package Extra Firm Tofu – I’m using 14 oz package 1/4 Cup Cornstarch 1/4 Cup Sesame Oil – use any light oil For the Sweet-Spicy Sauce: 2 Tbsp Karo Syrup – you can use a regular or light version 2 Tbsp Soy Sauce 1/2 Cup Hot Sauce – you can use any hot sauce of choice 1 tbsp White Vinegar 4 Tbsp Water 1/4 Tsp Garlic Powder 1 Tsp Red Pepper Flakes 1/8 Tsp Black Pepper 1/4 Tsp Salt Topping (optional): 1 Tsp Sesame Seeds – I’m using a mix of black and white....

How long it takes: just under an hour (includes cooling time) Equipment you’ll need: mixing bowl, baking sheet Servings: makes 20 cookies I confess, I always start out thinking I’m just going to have just half a cookie. I don’t have a huge sweet tooth and these cookies are almost like a candy bar. But you guessed it, I always end up eating the other half of the cookie, too....

A Sweet Treat Remember how I told you a few weeks ago that my grandmother let me raid her recipe collection? I’ve already shared plenty of her recipes here, (Black Bottom Cupcakes, Gobs, and my current favorite: Cream Puffs) and here is another winner from her collection: Frosted Animal Cookies I may be just slightly obsessed with these fun, colorful, and super cute frosted animal cookies. Lions, elephants, zebras, and giraffes all covered with pretty pink and white frosting… what’s not to love?...

Why You Should Try These Cookies Their nostalgic taste will bring you right back to your childhood! We really nailed the brown sugar cinnamon pop tart flavor and look here, right down to the shiny glaze (it’s the same one I use in my homemade brown sugar pop tarts). While the glaze dries nice and firm, the cookies are irresistibly tender, thanks to cake flour. Cake flour also makes for a thicker dough, which helps hold in the brown sugar cinnamon filling....

Gulabi Kalakand made in 30 Minutes Gulabi Kalakand – Rose Water Flavored Ricotta Dessert What can be better than a super quick, moist and yet delicious dessert on a cold damp winter day ? I guess some hot cuppa tea/coffee to go along with it 🙂 ‘Kalakand’ is a popular Indian Sweet and is made using milk, sugar and nuts. It can be called a soft fudge too. The traditional recipe calls for full-fat milk that’s slowly boiled to a thick consistency (almost half the quantity of the initial size)....

You will find several popular food combos in Indian cuisine, including kadhi and chawal. Kadhi is the yogurt and chickpea flour curry, and chawal is the rice. You can make this kadhi and chawal rice quickly with minimal effort and the Instant Pot, and that’s what I am sharing today. My version of kadhi Kadhi pakora(vegetable fritters) is quite popular in Punjabi cuisine. My version of kadhi is different from the authentic Punjabi recipe, and I am not using the pakora but mixed vegetables making it a tad bit healthy as there is no deep frying....

Every home baker should know how to make a soft, fluffy loaf of homemade bread. Especially during times like this when you can’t always guarantee that you’ll be able to find one in the grocery store. Today I’m sharing a very simple bread recipe. It uses only a handful of ingredients (and I’ve included lots of possible substitutions below), can be made with no mixer or bread machine, and yields the softest, best-tasting bread of your life....

Oh My Gosh, We have been noshing on my Homemade Chicken Curry Pizza Recipe for last 2 days and still can’t get enough of it. Seriously words can’t describe HOW AHHHHMAZING it is !!! I was recently sent these yummy flatbreads from Flatout Bread which are low in carbs and high in protein. One of them was these ready to use Thin Pizza Crust and the first thing that came to my mind was Curry Pizza....

A Quick & Easy Asparagus Recipe When I’m looking for a quick and easy veggie side dish, I always reach for the asparagus (and a skillet). My version is faster than roasting, super flavorful, and so fresh tasting. I’ve prepared asparagus many ways over the years, and this one always is the one I turn back to (it’s Zach’s favorite, too). What’s to love about this recipe: Perfect tender-crisp texture. There is absolutely no soggy, mushy asparagus in my household!...

Instructions Now I will show you how to make ginger puree in a blender - it takes just 5 minutes! While I enjoy using this versatile ginger garlic paste in classic Indian recipes like bhindi masala and global dishes like this spicy couscous and teriyaki noodles, this ginger puree is perfect for days when I prefer an allium-free meal. Once you learn how to make ginger paste at home, you won’t look back!...

I love exploring new cuisines and in that quest I have tried some amazing dishes from the Southern Hemisphere. This Uruguayan bean salad and Mauritian dholl puri are some of my favorite recipes from this region. So today I have a hearty and comforting dish from Brazil, which is mostly in the Southern Hemisphere. Feijoada is a very rich black bean stew and is a beloved dish in Brazil. The name ‘feijoada’ comes from Portuguese word feijao, which means beans....

The Easiest Way to Improve Your Baked Goods Somehow we’re already right in the midst of baking season. If you’re looking to up your baking game this year and make perfect cakes, cookies, and pies every time, one of the best suggestions I can give you is to start using a kitchen scale. I’ve mentioned this before in my post on how to measure flour, but this was the biggest game-changer for me in my own kitchen (not to mention it’s critical when you’re developing your own recipes like I do)....

When you have Idli batter, but not enough to prepare idli or dosas for all you can make these yummy pakoras out of them. The sourness of the batter gets compensated when combined with onion and rava. Ravai/Sooji and Rice flour adds more crispiness to these pakoras. Ingredients: Leftover sour idli batter – 2 cups Rava / Sooji – ½ cup Onion – 1 Pepper – 1 tbsp Salt – 2 tsp (adjust according to your taste) Baking soda – ¼ tsp Green chillies – 2 Rice flour – 1 tbsp Water – 1 cup Oil – for frying Method:...

(To make Glutenfree Dhokla, you can replace Sooji with 1/2 tsp baking powder + 1/2 tsp baking soda). It’s steamed and hence has alight and airy texture. Because it’s steamed it makes for a perfect light snack or even in diet. It’s a combination of sweet, spicy and savory flavors and is perfect for tea time snacks, parties, weddings or even festivals. Whenever we think of “Instant Snack” something extremely oily/sugary/salty/fried comes to our mind....

I am going to share the last dal recipe from the North-Eastern states. It is the daineiiong from Meghalaya. It is pronounced as Dai-Nei-Iong, and it is one of the staple foods of Meghalaya’s Khasi tribe. So what is Daineiiong? It’s the Meghalaya style dal prepared with lentils and black sesame seeds. It was quite hard to find a dal recipe from Meghalaya. During my search, I landed upon this recipe....