Cooking Learning 04

We are officially at the close of the month and well, almost at the end of the year! Two months, and we shall be in 2017! The year has been so great so far, hoping the final two months are even better. This blog that started off as a hobby, has finally taken the form that is far more professional than I had ever imagined. Most of the good things happened in this year and I cannot wait to take the blog to the next level.  Today is Halloween in most parts of the world including US. It is also the New Year for Indians, the first day of the Hindu calendar. And guess what, I am posting a recipe that has nothing to do with either of them. This dish has no pumpkin, no Indian spice, not an Indian sweet and not a dish that is made during either of the festivals! This is a post for a spiralizer that I was sent recently for review. And we are almost about to take-off for a vacation back home. before I leave, I wanted to finish most of my commitments and so here is a post!   Though this r...

October is coming to an end and it has been a SUPER busy month. Starting off with my birthday, then the Indian festival of Navratri, preparing for Diwali, Halloween and finally coming up is my husband's birthday! We are in the middle of Diwali and I have been making, eating and posting TONS of sweets and savories on my IG feed . Are you following me there?  While dealing with all the festive madness, we sometimes start to crave for some of our favorites from the streets of Mumbai, India. While the Pav Bhaji, Misal Pav and Vada Pav have been on every corner of the city since forever, the latest dish to add to street food is momos/dumplings/dimsums! A chain of dumpling carts have come up in the city at most shopping malls and theatres! They have steamed dumplings full of different combinations.  While I have never had dumplings with cheese and schezwan sauce, they serve that and are a rage too!! So after a lot of deliberation, I decided to make them at home. And boy, I must say ...

We are ten days away from Halloween, the day we celebrate everything spooky! For the first time, I am posting recipes related to the theme. I posted fake edible blood a couple of days back, and now using that you can make these spooky Red Velvet Cupcakes. Since a long time I have been wanting to make red velvet cakes. But I was always skeptical about using so much color in my food. Finally I got over that and decided to  make a batch. The result was spectacular and the very next day I made a big red velvet cake and decorated it in a non spooky way! That recipe will come up on the blog soon.  For those not familar to the red velvet craze, here is a small introduction to it.  A once classic red cake interleaved with cream cheese filling has spread its color and name to everything: cupcakes, cookies, protein powder, breads, waffles, lattes, teas and every dessert. What's more interesting is the red velvet air freshener and body wash and salt! Yes, we are offi...

Blogging Marathon #69 Week 3 Day 1 Theme: Indian or American Sweets Dish:  Gujarati  Magaj / Magaz Today is the last day of the Blogging Marathon for this week. My theme for the week is Indian sweets and today I bring THE family favorite recipe. Magaj, a sweet made from coarse chickpea flour is our family's weak spot! Everybody in the family relishes it and my mother in law is the expert who makes truck loads of this each time we go India.  On her last visit here, I made sure I get the magaj flour and keep ready. The Indian stores generally carry it but if you cannot find it, regular besan works well too. I got the packet and she helped me make it myself for the first time! Ever since, I have gained the confidence to make it by myself. While the ingredients remain the same, the taste is different when I make it and when she does. Over time my husband is learning to like my version too!!   Magaj is a recipe that needs just a few ingredients; flour, ghee and sugar bein...

Blogging Marathon #69 Week 3 Day 2 Theme: Indian or American Sweets Dish: Dudhi (Lauki) Barfi Lauki barfi, a delicious Indian sweet made with just a few ingredients. Who knew fudge from bottle gourd and milk solids would be so good? Yesterday I posted a traditional Gujarati sweet, Sweet Saatha . Today, for the second day of this week's Blogging Marathon I am adding a new recipe. Made from Bottle gourd, this barfi is really easy to make and tastes amazing! The more traditional dessert is lauki ka halwa, this one takes it one step further and makes cubes of the halwa to facilitate serving and add some portion control! Whenever my grandmother made dudhi halwa back home, I would devour it one bowl after another. While I never had the gourd in any of its form, it was hard to resist this dish. Now that I am making the sweets myself, I eat quite a bit while making it itself. So I do need some portion control now more than ever! My mother suggested I make the barfi out of halwa. You can ea...