MINT PEAS PULAV | PUDHINA SADHAM

This is a very simple and yet flavorful and aromatic rice.My sister gave me the recipe for mint rice almost a year back. Since we do not get fresh mint leaves here, I almost forgot about the recipe.Recently I saw a similar recipe here. Fortunately I was able to get mint leaves during my last visit to vegetable market and I immediately made this rice with some slight modifications. It was very very simple to prepare this rice.Tastes great with just onion raita and ideal for lunch box too.

HOTEL SAMBAR

This recipe has an interesting background.Those were the days when I was a college pass out and joined Cognizant as Entry Level Trainee.There were not much responsibilities and I had lot of free time in my hand. I used to read several magazines and note down the recipes in a diary.This is one such recipe.My mom was out of town and my uncle paid sudden visit to our house. My mom had already prepared idli batter. So I made this sambar before they arrived and served with dosa for breakfast.After that I left for office and my uncle had his lunch in a nearby hotel (Our house was at walkable distance from a famous hotel at Adyar).He had come to a conclusion that I had bought the sambar from this hotel.Though I was upset to know that he could not believe that I can cook, in a way I was happy that my sambar was close to the sambar of a popular hotel. After all it is the recipe for Hotel Sambar! 

PAVAKKAI THOKKU | BITTER GOURD THOKKU

I was searching for some bittergourd recipes and came across this TV show.This is different from the other thokku varieties we make. It also has the subtle bitterness along with being sweet, sour and hot. I felt that the thokku tastes even more better when consumed the second day.We loved it with curd rice.It is a healthier alternative to pickles

DORA CAKE TUTORIAL | FROZEN BUTTERCREAM TRANSFER

Two years back I knew nothing about neither baking nor cake decorations.It all started on  my daughter's second birthday when I baked my first cake ever (Princess cake).It is hard to get egg less cakes here with so many design specifications. One of my college friends suggested me to bake a cake on my own and also gave me a basic recipe. She encouraged me to decorate as I used to do lot of paintings during my college days.After that there was no looking back. For every occasion I take orders(??) from my kids with exact specifications. Usually we celebrate our kid's birthday only with family and close friends and have never thrown a party.So I normally tend to pay attention to their cake and food menu needs. For this year my daughter's specifications were

1) Dora cake but no boots or swiper along with her.

2) Dora should wear her red or purple fiesta dress

3) No fondant. Only lots of butter cream icing

4) Chocolate flavor

The idea of using icing for Dora dreaded me. Though I can do some decent pencil sketches, I could not think of it with icing.Luckily I came across this wonderful tutorial for icing the cake when I was searching for Dora cakes over the net.I gained some confidence and I started to do the Dora icing on her birthday (As a plan B I had a small Dora figurine to fix on the cake!).I followed the instructions as per the tutorial except that I did not use a glass as mentioned in the post.I just stapled a print out of Dora with wax paper and I was able to manage When I peeled the wax paper, the beautiful Dora amazed us.Yes it really worked. Now on to the tutorial

BADAM CAKE | ALMOND MAIDA BURFI

I simply love burfis of any kind. When I saw my cousin posted her picture of Badam Burfi in FB I immediately asked her for the recipe. She promptly replied back with detailed steps.When I made this burfi last week the entire batch was finished the same day. I warn these burfis are highly addictive.It almosts melts in the mouth.The recipe is ridiculously simple and I have written in her own words.

BASIC EGGLESS PANCAKES

I used to make the breakfast recipes really simple for the week days.Mostly it used to be  sandwiches,pancakes or just cereal.Out of all these my daughter loves only pancakes.I have tried lots of variation of eggless pancake recipes and finally settled for this one.I use only whole wheat pastry flour and each time the pancakes turns out to be soft and fluffy.

Recipe adapted from here

TOMATO ONION GRAVY | THAKKALI VENGAYAM

This is a simple and easiest gravy that we make at home for chappathis. Whenever we we go for any long trips my mom used to make chappathis and tomato onion gravy. This gravy stays fresh for long.It is so easy to make with readily available ingredients.There is no definite proportion for onion/tomatoes. Increase or decrease the quantity based on personal preference.

RAVA IDLI WITH ENO SALT

I love to make Rava Idlies for two reasons.One being the batter can be prepared almost instantly and no advance planning is required.Secondly soft and fluffy idlies are always guaranteed unlike the regular idlies which largely depends on fermentation, weather etc.

The below recipes yields around 9-10 medium sized idlies. The rava can also be roasted and stored in air tight container so that it comes handy for preparing a quick breakfast.