Bombay Toast

My earliest memories of cooking at home will be that of my mom baking cakes at home. Our home will be fragrant with such a divine smell when she bakes :) I used to love watching her beat eggs and see them fluff up with delight. After a while her oven broke down and that was the end of it. She didnt bake much again for us. Recently after hearing about both mine and my sister's baking tales, she tried making a cake again. but this time with pressure cooker. My mom cooks the way typically any working woman cooks. Hurriedly and Very Quickly. I love her cooking. Its not perfect. In fact I have tasted better cooking. My dad cannot stand too much salt and too much spiciness. And all the dishes are cooked according to his taste. When my uncles and aunties come home for break fast/ lunch / dinner, they scold my mom for cooking with less salt and less spiciness. How ever I have grown used to her cooking and adore them. There are some dishes of hers that I would love to have any day any time than from any restaurant. One is her Meen Curry and the other is Bombay Toast. 

Walking through the memory lane - WTML for August with a giveway

Hi guys, I am very happy and excited to announce the first event I am hosting at my blog space. Its none other than Gayathri's "Walking through the memory lane" event (WTML). And  whats more the event comes with a giveway too... Most of you may be familiar with Gayathri, a versatile blogger of Gayathri's Cook Spot. Most of her recipes comes with a step by step tutorial that is helpful to one and all. An amazing blogger, Gayathri has recently started her own eggless baking venture in Madurai. To know more about her baking venture, do click here.

Almond Chocolate Fudge balls

Its summer in US. Hot bright sun and a cloudless sky and longer daylight time with the sun setting at 8 pm !! Absolutely love it.. Enjoying long walks in the bright summer and slight chilly evenings !! Mean time my parents tell me that its raining cats and dogs in Kerala. Just hearing about the rain makes my heart flutter and yearn for the heavy rains... Huge dark clouds all around the sky and heavy downpour of rains continuously ... Fresh smell of rains hitting the first time on the ground, pools and pools of water all around, making boats and trying to sail them on the muddy water.. those are my good memories of the rains in Kerala. Also in Kerala, it means greenery all around. Ah.. bliss.. 
[In between the long ramblings, a sneak peak of today's recipe.. Oh Yes, this is going to be one of my long posts again!!. Feel free to skip directly to the recipe!! )

Green Gram Curry or Payaru Curry

Hello friends, How are you all?  It has been a week and more since I posted any new recipes. Life has been too hectic for me since last week. My daily routine was turned upside down and am still trying to settle down properly. Sigh! Involvement in too many activities make me feel like 24 hrs is not enough for me :( But thank you very much, I am enjoying thoroughly and doing good. Its just that I need to find sometime for myself, sit quietly, check on my priorities, rearrange them and settle down to a new routine. 
Its already Friday afternoon and I am not sure how time flew this week. Kitchen floor and fridge needs cleaning and I have been purposefully ignoring them just to avoid cleaning the whole week... How ever its friday and I really need to clean up before hubby comes from office. Actually thinking of it, most Fridays are my cleaning days. How about you guys? Have you kept aside any special day in a week for cleaning ? Previously when I was working, used to await week ends with great enthusiasm. Fridays used to be casual wear days at office. Longer breaks from work on Fridays, going home early or ordering pizza to office and sleeping late through Saturday - Sundays and experiencing Monday morning blues :) Now I do detest week ends as my hubby turns on his cleaning freak syndrome on week ends !!! Ha !! So I try to do my part in cleaning the house as much as possible on Fridays. And on week ends? I sit on my bed/ sofa sipping green tea or juice, munching on some delicacy, reading my favorite book and watching my hubby run around the whole house :)  
Today we have a moody gloomy climate here and I feel like resorting to a microwave chocolate cake for cheering up. But instead decided to prepare one of my comforting food - Payaru Curry or Green gram curry, a delicious gravy that go with both Rice and Rotis. 

Date Balls or Date Roll

Actually I am not sure what name should I give to today's recipe. Hmm...I think I would like to go for Dates Balls or Dates Roll ... But whats in a name... For food, taste is the one that matters. Recently my doctor told me I was a bit anemic and my hubby took it upon himself to feed me food with as much as iron as possible. So I am mostly trying to eat dates and spinach. By the way, did you know that eating a date is really good for your health and you will be getting all the minerals and vitamins that you need for your daily consumption from dates? Yes, I usually eat one or two dates daily now and after a while, I started getting a bit tired of it. So I thought to make some food stuff with dates instead of having them just plain and what I really wanted to make was date cake. But had only very few dates with me. Thats when I remembered watching a cookery show on TV  and got the idea to make date balls. Here goes the recipe. Its very easy to make and needs hardly few minutes to assemble together. Do check it out. 

Vegetable Fried Rice

I love fried rice. Any Kind - Vegetable, Chicken and Egg. My mom used to make delicious vegetable fried rice frequently on Sundays and the whole house will be filled with the fragrance of freshly made ginger garlic paste and ghee. Yes, She used to  fry the rice in ghee and it was just yummy !!! I used to hang around the kitchen from the time I come to know that she is preparing fried rice (through the fragrance from the kitchen ofcourse ) in the hope that it will get over soon and then I will bring my plate forward and grab a share :) My mom serves it along with Raita. Finish off the fried rice and then everyone will go off and take a long Sunday nap :) 

Carrot Beans Thoran

Today is the first Thursday of July and its time for my Vegan Thursday. As mentioned in earlier blog posts, Vegan Thursday is a group started by Priya Suresh of Priya's Versatile Recipes. First and Last Thursday of every month, we post vegan recipes. If any one is interested in joining the group, please contact Priya suresh. I am posting the recipe of Carrot Beans Thoran for the Vegan Thursday. 

Bread Upma

What kind of break fast do you have usually? I used to live on Idli, Dosa, Appam, Idiyappam for so long in my life that when I started staying alone with my friends, I started preferring Cornflakes and oats. But now I have come a full circle again and gone back to my Idlis and Dosas for health reasons. My room mates who were from Andhra and Karnataka had taught me some delicious break fast items like the recipe I am going to share today - Bread Upma. Very unique for me who at that point of time imagined bread to be used only with Jam and Butter :)

Kerala Style Egg curry or Mutta Curry

As mentioned in other blog posts, since the climate is quite hot, one hardly feels like cooking these days. I have quite a bit of free time in the afternoons now, as my dearest neighbour has gone to India for vacation. Otherwise most of my time would have been spent walking with her and her lovely one year old son. He has captured almost every one's heart in the apartment. Every one knows him and smiles at him. People bring their pets in front of his home just to see him squeal with joy. Every time I hear him say BAA, I run to my window to see a glimpse of him. My dearest neighbour has been my tester for many of my recipes. She herself, a wonderful cook has taught me many recipes. Unfortunately coming to think of it, all of them are in my drafts. When they were here, I would play with him as much as we can in the afternoon, then hurry to home and prepare some snack and rush thru pics and then hurry back again to his home for evening walks. Well, now that they are on vacation and I have sufficient time for cooking some delicacy, I still laze around, lying on bed, watching some movie or listening some songs or catching up with every one in the blogging world. Gosh ! I think I can spent whole day browsing and drooling at all the recipes!!! Even though I would love to bake a lot, I find myself hesitating due to health concerns. I love preparing lavish gravies and veg curries and stir fries the most. Love sweets but they have taken a back seat for now. I am trying to learn some authentic Kerala dishes now and hopefully they will make their way in the blog very soon. Today's recipe is one such authentic Kerala dish - Mutta Curry or Kerala style Egg curry. Of late, it has become one of the regulars in our weekly menu. I have done much research on the dish and prepared it atleast 5 times to get the authentic taste. Finally I am happy with the result and the recipe is making its way into my blog for reference.

Mango Shrikhand

Its hot, hot and hot :( Temperatures are soaring here and the last week end, the temperature reached the 40 C mark. Did I mention humid ? I feel like I am back in my home town sweating in the humid weather. We didnt venture out much on the week end. I would have loved to go to some local farm and pick some berries. But because of the hot and humidity, I cancelled the plan. Sitting inside home has become difficult without AC. If it had been Kerala, I would have sat outside in the steps with my mother, reading or talking, swinging the hand fan very fast, waiting for a breeze to come. Would have gone to the Shankumugam beach in the evening. Or spent in our terrace with lovely breeze all around. Cant imagine AC at home. Here in US, not a single leaf moves right now and the only sound that I can hear is that of the ac's from different apartment. No birds or squirrels can be seen anywhere. So when temperature is this high, we obviously turn to some food to help cool us down. Previously my hubby would have loved to enjoy ice creams after every meal. But after several fights about health concern, he has shifted to frozen yoghurt. I dont prefer that as well due to their additional sugar content. And the low fat or fat less versions arent much better. Thats when I thought of Shrikhand which is hung curd whipped to cream like consistency. And I had half a can of Alphonso Mango and added that to make a yummy Mango Shrikhand.