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I came across an an online food ordering website called Foodpanda. It is an up-and-coming website that operates by delivering food from a wide range of restaurants to homes and/or offices in 11 cities in India, namely Delhi, Gurgaon, Bangalore, Mumbai, Pune, etc. As an author of a food blog I can tell you blogs like mine mainly focus on cooking ideas and recipes. The whole idea intere
My sister Nags, of Edible Garden, needs no introduction. Seeing no regular updations in my space lately, sis offered to do a guest post for me during one of our chats past week. Since I don't have much fruit drinks to my credit, I wanted her to do one for me. She found just enough time to buy the fresh berries and do this post for me, inspite of her much busy weekend. She was a little worried
April is over within a week! " 'We Knead to Bake' something different, so we’re baking yeasted cookies", decides Aparna! Since this particular biscuit/cookies are yeasted and involve a bread-like dough, it qualified perfectly. So according to her, Torcettini are smaller versions of Torcetti (meaning small twists), and these pear/teardrop shaped twists are made of a dough of flour,
Coconuts are nature's IV bags! I vaguely remember reading somewhere about this. During World War II and the Vietnam War, hospitals used coconuts as IV drips to rehydrate sick and unconscious patients. The hospitals with limited supplies of medicines, particularly during the war, sometimes run short. At one time they saw a bunch of soldiers come in with partial bodily paralysis a
Almost two weeks have rushed past since the previous post. I moved back home from lovely Namakkal last week and had my hands full with bringing back the house to shape. The past 3-4 days were occupied with house visits and courtesy calls related to ceremonies and grievances I'd missed during my 4 month absence. I unbelievably miss Namakkal and my in-laws which accelerates the no-mood
According to Aparna, for the recipe choice towards We Knead to Bake #3, the Hokkaido Milk Bread is very easy to make.This bread with all the goodness of milk is unique not just for texture and height, but also of its slightly unusual method of making the dough. Also known for its soft cottony/pillowy texture, it’s a very popular bread in South Asian bakeries across the world. It i
If the success of a post lies in making a few nostalgic, a few excited, a few proud, a few encourage, a few comment, a few share, a few mail, a few call, a few obsessive and a few weep, the previous post was! Thanks for the overwhelming response and the pleasantest surprises I was offered by you! Feeling glad that the post is reaching and being received well, than I expected. Here li
I do not know how many of you had heard about this town, located in the valleys of the Kolli Hills but am sure you would fall in love with this place if you do not wish the buzz of cities and hesitate to step down, too rural. The charming town has the fresh atmosphere, affectionate inmates and everything about the goodness of a village parallely sophisticated for a town living person. I kn
Classic Croissants with Aparna is already a hit with the recipe choice of #2 We Knead to Bake for the month of February! Pain au chocolat is a continuation of the same. Now, pains au chocolat or chocolate croissants are nothing but puff pastries with rich creamy chocolate wrapped in, so that when you bite into it you have the buttery flaky outer layers giving way to the absolute
The initial decisions of picking out winners by 'draw' slowly got diluted due to the fabulous entries sent by the enthusiastic participants!. Let me thank, first of all, each and every one for the amazing entries! Criteria Now, I had to decide laying criteria for judging. All I could think primarily were, the recipe, presentation and photography. But then, I had a lovely bunch
There are a few dishes we normally ignore to blog just because we make it almost everyday thinking, "ah! who wants this recipe. I better not bring it to light" Thengai Chutney is one such recipe, I had never wanted to bring out. While we adapt stylishly, the westernised fruit shakes, cereals and sandwiches as food for the morning, I feel a South Indian does justice to his g
I read this somewhere, "You will never know when you eat a croissant, the hard work to create it, but only when you make your own!" I admit the fact, "making croissants is not very difficult", as Aparna had mentioned in her introductory part before opening her recipe choice of #2 We Knead to Bake at the start of the month! As she says, "it takes some time, a lot of attention to det
I love Namakkal, the town I currently live, for many reasons. One of them is the availability of fresh greens. You name it the town has it. In every nook and corner. At the ends of each street! My nearest vegetable shop is a 3 minute walk away where all kinds of greens are sold throughout the day! I found these onion greens and grabbed a bunch with primary thoughts of
I was over excited to receive a few sachets of my much awaited Mauripan yeast from this lovely girl, past week. My son, ( yes, we are staying together until his annual exams get over next month) had been pulling my leg, seeing my happy feet dance and smiling face. "Amma, I see you smiling wide like never before ever since you received the yeast packets". The yeast works like ch
Those days when I was a newly married girl in my in-laws' house, I had the luxury of in-house boys who mopped and cleaned the house. I had caretakers, in-house maids and cooks. Those were the days when Internet was barely getting popular or many years before blogger was born. I wish to go back to those days, again as a blogger to capture and learn the mesmerising array of varied cuisines
Before I go on with the recipe, I have a request to the bloggers, presumably the enthusiastic new bloggers. I try my best to visit you back from the comment section down, but lately I see lot of you linking your Google+ account with your names. I am not sure whether Google had made it default, but I would be grateful to you if you could link your name with your blogger profile page, inst
Have I ever mentioned that it is coconut, I love, after chillies and spices? Having grown in a state where coconut is abundant and introduced in almost all ways in the everyday life, my love for the nut had been undying all the years. I came to know about Aparna's ,"We Knead to Bake", only 3-4 days back. I instantly fell in love with the theme, the name and everything about it.
It is quite natural for a blogger to get inclined to food photos that are photogenic. Just like a painter picks up and blends colours from his palette and smudges on to the canvas, we bloggers love to blend colours, naturally with our ingredients and capture in our lenses. Colours fascinate us. Recipes become artful. I came across this cute recipe Geetha's blog recently an
I am excited to announce my very first event. Being into the world of blogging for the past 6 years I had not hosted an event until date. The reason is none other than apprehension! CupoNation, the renowned website which offers variety home and kitchen related discount coupons for a number of leading online retailers in India like flipkart, snapdeal etc, had shown gre
Well, I believe my space had never hosted a guest post all these days! So, I decided to come up with one from Tanya, my blogger friend, who works with ASDA grocery store. She had wanted to do a post here for sometime and both of us got a little occupied with our own ways with the start of the year! Better late than never and here she goes.... :) Hi, I'm Tanya and I work with ASDA not
The devil called 'anxiety' gets hold me all of a sudden. I hear the door knocking in the middle of the night. I lay sleepless all night. The next day doctor confirms I am hypertensive. Old advices. New course of drugs. In the morning I wake up to find there had been no water supply and the over head tank is already empty. To top up, the power shut down is extended. The kitchen door ge
Here is the dish I love the most! Having grown up in a lovely little town in Central Kerala, this has been my favourite ever since childhood days. Erachi ularthiyathu is a signature dish of Christians, (not sure whether this belongs to the Catholic/Syrian/Jacobite communtiy) neverthelessly every family make the similar way! They use beef commonly to make the dish and 'beef olathiyathu'
I have always thought of making fritters with cocoa! If we can combine flour, sugar and salt, whip into a batter, dunk ripe sliced bananas (as a true blue Malayalee loves to do) and fry in hot oil, why mind stirring in a heaped tablespoon of cocoa and forget the fruit slices? How would it taste? I wondered whether such a recipe existed! But I badly wanted to bite into the perfectly
Mother earth has outlived the Mayan prediction and saved its beloved beings once again! The human race, amidst dilemmas debates about the end of the world, celebrated Christmas with peace and joy as always and is looking forward to the birth of yet another hopeful year! For us, bloggers? Yes, another year to wrap up; to review, feel proud and to showcase the best posts of the year. In sp
After the over doze of Christmas cakes, cookies, puddings and everything sweet, this potato roast served as an accompaniment for our simple meal, today. This dish is something I make very frequently for children, particularly as a side dish for their pack away lunch. An absolute kid freindly accompaniment! Today we woke up to see the cloudy dull morning.With no vegetables in the cr
There are a few recipes you come across while surfing that develop an instant urge to try. It isn't the impatient need to savour but to t.r.y (and b.l.o.g right away if you are an obsessive blogger) Sometimes it's because of the simplicity of the recipe; at times being classic and mostly we get hooked because of its elegance and the way it is presented. Date & Cocoa Raw Truffles ar
My son loves anything jam-centred. He has them as a meal apart snacking them. Surprisingly he wanted cookies instead of cakes this Christmas and I found myself searching for a simple cookie recipe of his kind. "Thumbprint Cookies are a very popular holiday cookie. They are made with a shortbread-like dough that is formed into balls and then rolled in either finely chopped nuts or dr
Kothu Parotta is a famous street food in both Kerala and T.N. Astonishingly the ingredients and the method are the similar! Well, parottas are the favourite for both Malayalees and Tamils. Personally I love the kothu parotta version than the regular parathas with khurma. Undoubtedly parathas / parottas are gaining a parallel fame about how unhealthy the dish is. Inspite of the
Lime rice, lemon rice or elumichai sadam is one of the simplest variety rices in T.N. It's undoubtedly one of the easiest to make and a very common lunch in the state. Since the meal is flavourful and tasty by itself, no accompaniments are needed and hence this serves a regular pack away meal for the school / office goers. This had again perhaps been the first dish I learnt as a mar
Deepavali just got over and I can't believe the next festival is almost here! Thiru Karthikai ! Deepavali and Karthikai have way different stories of origin according to Hindu Mythology but both the festivals are similar in two main aspects. Festivals of lamps and light. Festivals of fresh sweets. Many sweets are associated with Karthikai, most of them being simple to make and
Finally, the festival is almost here! The festival of victory of good over evil, the festival of happiness, cheer, sharing and love! Here are a few easy to make Diwali recipes, posted earlier, which you may find interesting. Godhumai Jira / Instant Wheat flour Halwa
Rasmalai. The irresistible Indian sweet. I doubt if anyone would hate this divine dessert. The spongy and mildly sweet paneer balls dunked in the richness of milk, creaminess of nuts and mingled flavours of cardamom and saffron. Heaven! I had been making rasgullas for the past few years inspired by a video recipe and when I slowly mastered the art of making the perfect I was co
Diwali is round the corner. Busy streets, people carrying heavy shopping bags, buzzing happily, children laughing, crowded sweet shops and there is merriment everywhere. I decided to start with the easiest sweet to welcome the festival. Moong dal ladoos or Pasi paruppu urundai is one among the easiest to make in the list. This healthy sweet has a good shelf life and I am reserving f
caIn't believe the fact that it has been 3 weeks since I posted here. The reason is nothing else but holidaying/relaxing at mom's place. Brother and sister are here to add to the fun and time flies! Ignoring the heavy showers, sister and me strolled along the streets enjoying shopping. Under the same umbrella, literally drenched, we loved the feel of rain and buzz of the town after a lon
I came across this beautiful looking bread in Chinmayie's space. Ever since I had been dreaming baking this, taking pictures and savouring the heavenly stuff! The attractive part was that, the recipe of this bread seemed to be flexible and I loved the way she'd described.. "I woke up today wanting to bake. I was in a mood for a rustic loaf, nothing fancy, nothing time con
Rava Dosai served with 'Tiffin Sambhar' and 'Thengai Chutney' Rava Dosai or Rava Dosa is a Tiffin ( I love the way the Tamil name it ) which I hadn't mastered so far. I go 'bumper' every time I try. I come out with under cooked, torn, or rather overly done dosas and go bonkers. Ah! here? The perfect dosas! Who makes them? My ma in law's co-sis
I haven't tried shots of food someone holding for me, though I had been coming across lovely pictures of the same much around in blogosphere. Aparna's Photography lesson 5 finally inspired me to try the lovely theme of Adding some life to my Photograph! My daughter was home for a couple of days for Ganesh Chathurthi when I thought of making her pose for the shots. We could have done it
A blogger would know about the mid life bloggers' crisis. One of my buddy talks about having a bunch of exotic recipes drafted, but reluctant to push out to blog just because she loses words for the introductory part. Over the years we find ourselves improving in cooking skills, selection of recipes, photographic t
The past few days had been eventful. A visit to my husband's native place, sick son and a cradling ceremony. Now that he has recuperated well, we sent him back to his hostel. Every moment spent with my in-laws was special. It makes me feel I am back home after my mom's home stay! Too much love, too much care, too much food and too much comfort...my in-laws made me and my sick son feel so
Tastespotted and Foodgawked I admire her. So does she. I appreciate her talents and creativity. So does she. It's not that tendency of reciprocating, but genuinely mutual. We wanted to meet. And we finally did, after ages! The bubbly young girl with whom I went on and on with no clue of t
I am EXCITED! ...when I imagine the crispers and store rooms and pantries of every Malayalee around the globe, brimming with vegetables, fruits and groceries...children dressed in all colours flying kites and enjoying the newly tied swings... some of them still busy preparing for the Athappoo, the beautiful floral carpet... the last minute shopping... last minute garment alterations a
Homemade Butter. Doesn't that sound good? Honestly I am never prompted to buy the variety of butter they sell out there. I make it home once a month and use it for cookies and cakes, which you can probably see popping up in this space. Somehow I feel it's a much healthier option with that bursting natural flavour. Making butter from the scratch seems to be elabora
Well, after a break it requires a real lot of energy to get back to blogging for me. After loads of food; literally 'pigging out' breakfasts, lunches and dinners cooked by seasoned chefs around the world (did I tell you we were on a Royal Caribbean cruise in the Baltic for the final week of the holiday?) we realised the exquisiteness of the so called 'world cuisine'! French, Ital
I' ve heard my friends or people around me saying, "I have no time for that!", particularly to do something you had requested, wondering whether he or she shares the same interest as you do. I personally feel, it's really 'not' the lack of time as they mention, but the 'interest' and the way they 'prioritise' their things for the day. For example, a good friend of mine asked me how long I
Less is more, so lets keep it simple! says Aparna in her much inspiring series of food photography- lesson #2. Core Idea - Less props, making the food the hero, thereby allowing one's eye to concentrate on the main focal point of the composition without distractions. Well, I would like to talk less too so that the photography gets more attention :)
A curry with groundnuts as the main ingredient was something totally new to me as a newly wedded girl in my husband's home. Soon I realised that this side dish gained a unanimous support in the 10 member family! When the general lunch menu of the house called for dal, sambhar, rasam, poriyal and curd to finish off, this curry was a rescue for the lazy days. Kadalai Kathirikkai K
Bitter Sweet Dark Chocolate Cake with Oreo Cookie Frosting For the Cake: All purpose flour- 1 1/2 cups Granulated sugar- 1 cup Butter, softened- 1/2 cup (you may also use 1/4 cup butter + 1/4 cup oil) Eggs- 2 Salt- a pinch Baking powder- 1/4 tsp Baking soda- 1 tsp Vanilla essence- 1 tsp Boil
The basic recipe I follow for Green peas masala is just the same as for Mushroom masala. The onions, tomatoes and ginger- garlic all sautéed and ground for the gravy part into which the cooked peas is simmered. This recipe calls for an extra ingredient- coconut extract. And I should admit the fact that it the flavour is transformed to a huge extend by the addition of this single
My sudden cravings for fudgy chocolate cakes are giving way to Oreo cookies these days.It happens all of a sudden, I get dressed, walk steadily, barge in the nearest super market which is 8 mins away from home, grab a pack and munch on the way! Weird, but let me be honest about it. When I came across the fairy girl's space with a cake and frosting to compliment, with my weaknes
