Cooking Learning 04

Homemade hand pressed rice noodles that requires just 4 ingredients. Perfect for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Psst, this one is vegan and gluten-free too. Breakfast is undoubtedly the MOST important meal of the day. On weekdays it is generally a quick affair, juggling between poha, upma, egg preparations and some pancakes. However, on weekends I like to make something more interesting and filling.  For weekends I try out some recipes from cuisines that I am not very familiar with. It is not only fun but also gives me time to make something else for lunch if I mess up the new recipe! A few weekends ago I made these string hoppers, back in 2016. But it is only now that I am finally drafting this recipe while I am visiting Boston with my husband for his business trip. I am lazing round in the hotel and eating out EVERYDAY. Amidst all that, I am really craving this yummy breakfast today. And when I think of the warm  Kerala style   Vegetable Stew  that I made wi...

How about some cookies made with Almond Butter and M&M. After all, Chocolate and Almonds is a combination made in heaven, right? It has been so long since I made some cookies. A couple of weeks back I found some packets of Holiday special M&M and Crunch pieces while shopping at a local store. They looked so cute and inviting, I HAD to get them home.  So I did and started thinking of how to make them into cookies.  Plus, I had a jar of Almond Butter from a promotion I did not long ago. Combining chocolate and almond has been a winning combination since Hershey introduced their Nuggets with Almonds or maybe even before that. So I knew I had everything I needed to make some yummy cookies.  Super excited, I got working with all the basic cookie ingredients together and started off. I mixed everything together and got the cookies going. The mixture was so delicious that as I was tasting for sugar, I ended up eating a whole spoon of it, just like that!! It was too good ...

Blogging Marathon #72 Week 2 Day 3 Theme:  Dips, Chutneys and Spreads Dish: Sweet Chilli Sauce A versatile sauce that is perfect as a base for Asian dishes and a dipping sauce for some yummy appetizers. Psst, it has all the ingredients that you will have in your pantry! Today is the final day of the Blogging Marathon for this week and my theme continues to be dips, chutneys and spreads. Over the last two days I posted a chutney and a raita.  For the final day is a sauce that works as a sweet and spicy chutney, as a dip for most Asian appetizers and a sauce in making some Asian dishes. When I was in India I used to buy bottles of sweet chilli sauce and use that as a dipping sauce for spring rolls and dumplings. Plus, it made the perfect sauce to make some yummy American Chopsuey and sweet and sour vegetables. We loved it so much that I started making the sauce at home. Then I moved to US and the sauce was somehow forgotten. I chanced on this recipe  on Foodgawker. I w...

Blogging Marathon #72 Week 2 Day 2 Theme:  Dips, Chutneys and Spreads Dish: Strawberry Raita A perfect blend of sweet and spicy, this Strawberry and Greek Yogurt raita is a super versatile dip. From rotis and parathas to rice dishes and from waffles to toast, this one is superb for all these dishes.  Raita is a combination of yogurt and spices with something like vegetables, sev, boondi or fruits. For the most time I have had vegetable raitas and posted them on the blog. From Beetroot Raita to Vegetable Raita, these are perfect with  Vegetable Pulao  or  Biryani .  A few months ago I saw a restaurant menu featuring fruit raitas. They had Pineapple, apple, mixed fruit and strawberry raita. I was tempted to try these and we called for the strawberry and pineapple raitas. The taste was awesome and the fresh flavor still lingers in my mind! This week when the theme for the Blogging Marathon is dips, chutneys and spreads, I decided to try out the strawberry rait...

Blogging Marathon #72 Week 3 Day 1 Theme:  Dips, Chutneys and Spreads Dish: Red Pepper Chutney A delicious blend of red peppers, tomatoes and spices. This sweet sour chutney is perfect for idlis, paniyarams and dosas! Today is the first day of this week's Blogging marathon and my theme for this week is  Dips, Chutneys and Spreads. These spreadable delights are perfect to spice up any dish.  First up is a great accompaniment for South Indian dishes like dosa, vada, idli and paniyaram. Also a perfect topping for pongal and rice.  For the longest time I have been making this Tomato Chutney . But ever since I tried this chutney with red bell pepper, I kind of moved away from tomato chutney to this one.  This Vegan combination of peppers, tomatoes, ginger, garlic and spices is super tasty. Ready in under 10 minutes, this dip is really easy to make. I saw a lot of blogs that make this chutney is different ways. Some add roasted chana dal, some add urad dal and so...

Roasted Butternut Squash adds flavor, color and amazing taste to the ordinary 7-ingredient hummus! This recipe is part of Bonelli's Fine Foods' bloggers contest. By posting this content I have been entered in their contest. I have not been compensated for this content, however received free product samples. All opinions are my own. The days are getting super cold and dull and I am hating all the monochrome around me. To make things a little better, I am making colorful dishes. They not only brighten up things around me, they are perfect in following a diet inspired by the rainbow! Latest in my kitchen is this Butternut squash hummus. I was sent three jars of Simply Sesame spreads to use in any recipe. So for this recipe I decided to try out the creamy roasted sesame paste instead of sesame seeds and tahini. The result was a delicious and creamy hummus that was so easy to make. For the longest time I have been making tahini to use in hummus. However, after using this ready paste...

Blogging Marathon #72 Week 2 Day 3 Theme: Festival Special Dish: Til Chikki An irresistible brittle made from sesame seeds. With just three ingredients and ready in under 15 minutes, this one's a keeper!  Sankranti is just a few days away. For the past two days I have been posting recipes related to this festival. First I posted a  Bhuni Khichdi  that is famous in Punjab and yesterday I posted a famous dish from Gujarat,  Ponk Vada . Today, I am posting a famous dish from the state of Maharashtra and Gujarat, Til Gud.  Coming to the chikki, this one is made from jaggery and sesame seeds. People from the state of Maharashtra exchange pieces of this chikki a nd tell each other: 'Til gud Ghya ani god god bola' which means eat these sweets and start talking sweet things.  The reasoning behind this sweet is simple; to enjoy freshly harvested sesame seeds along with jaggery, which is great for winter. This chikki is super easy to make, needing just three ingred...