Pepper On Pizza

This post is a detailed guide on how to soak fruits for Christmas Fruit cake. (I had first published it last year and am republishing with updated inputs.) The choice of fruits and the proportions in the recipe below are similar for soaking in alcohol or in an non alcoholic liquid, and I have given the steps for both types (the timelines for a non-alcoholic liquid are given at the end of the write up to the post). The timelines do differ, as well as how to preserve the fruits for the cake till it is baked.

If you do not want to soak the fruits ahead of time, I have given a short-cut method in the recipe for baking a Christmas Fruit cake.

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You are going to love this chutney! Everyone at home did! Tomato Peanut Orange Peel Chutney Andhra Style – you can imagine the flavours and texture from each of the ingredients! Large yellow and red tomatoes from Lakshmi’s vegetable plot, bright fragrant orange peel, peanuts, chillies and spices and turmeric coming together with an incredible taste. Make sure you use juicy tomatoes for the chutney so that you do not need to add water during the process and dilute the flavours.  (more…)

It is customary to offer Navaratri Naivedyam to the Mother Goddess on each of the 9 days of Navaratri, and for the Pooja to be carried out twice a day, i.e. in the morning and evening. This post brings you Navaratri Naivedyam and Sundal Recipes that you can easily make.  The rice based dishes or variety rice can do double duty as both naiveydam and as lunch or for tiffin boxes, after you have first lit the lamp and offered it to the Goddess. Sundal Naivedyam is usually prepared in the evenings and is the prasadam for visitors for the kolu.   (more…)

The popular Indian festival of Navaratri (or Navarathri/Navratri) is about to begin and I am listing out some of the traditions and significances along with useful and interesting recipes, in a new series on my Blog, on “Navaratri: Fasting and Feasting And Everything In-between”. The first part of the series is on Navaratri Golu and How To Keep It. I hope it will be useful to those keeping golu for the first time, or having practiced Bomma Kolu (or Golu) for Navarathri for a few years are interested in knowing more about the significance and how to arrange the dolls as per traditional customs.   (more…)

Continuing the series of recipes that I started earlier this year when cooking tasty and nutritious food for my daughter after child birth, this is an easy and tasty Dal or lentil stew. As I have said in the post on Cooking for the New Mom on this blog, Tur dal (Towaram paruppu in Tamil) or pigeon pea lentils are to be avoided during the post partum period as they can be difficult to digest as well as can be gassy for the baby. This nourishing Masoor Dal for the New Mom, on the other hand is one of the best foods you can give the nursing mother. Masoor dal is easy to digest and is said to stimulate/ improve lactation, and is rich in iron and protein.  (more…)

This savoury wholewheat Herbed Patty Pan Squash Tomato Tart was made almost by chance. The secret ingredients from my partner Shobha Keshwani for the Facebook group Shhhhh Cooking Secretly Challenge for the August ‘baked dish’ theme were flour and pumpkin or squash and I had planned to bake pumpkin muffins with chocolate chips.  (more…)

I fell in foodie love with these pretty pale green Patty Pan Squash when I visited the Union Square Greenmarket in New York City last week.  I paired them with green capsicum in a Patty Pan Squash Mint Soup, and added mint and fresh orange juice for flavour and cumin and pepper powder for a touch of spice. Lovely purple edible hyacinth flowers again from the Greenmarket made a colourful garnish.   (more…)

You just have to try this one! Homemade Pita bread (recipe coming up sooon!) with a finger lickin’ simple fresh Lemon Mint Basil Hummus Dip. Its easy to make once you have the chickpeas soaked and boiled, and if you can get hold of pre-cooked chickpeas in a can, then its easy peasy. Soaking and boiling the chickpeas takes time but is not difficult to do, so I would classify the recipe under ‘easy’. The timings given below for this recipe are for making hummus with pre-cooked or canned chickpeas.   (more…)

This recipe for Uppu seedai from store bought flour is quite simple, if one follows the instructions meticulously. This is the first Krishna Jayanthi that I am spending with my daughter, son in law and granddaughter whom I am visiting in the USA.  I am not good at making sweets, let me confess. Perhaps because I haven’t tried them out much.   (more…)

This recipe has appeared first on the blog Tangy Tales when fellow Food Blogger Aparna Parinam asked if I would do a Guest Post on her blog. I had been experimenting with different rasams, all using my homemade rasam powder, and looking at the fresh sliced pineapples on sale at my local grocers, I thought it high time I made the Festive Pineapple Rasam.  (more…)