23 Nov 2017

Lamingtons

Lamingtons are nothing but square vanilla sponge cake dipped in chocolate and rolled in dessicated coconut. These lamingtons originated in Australia. It is believed to be named after Lord Lamington who was the Governor of Queensland. 


Lamingtons

I have always wanted to make a lamington cake and I finally made it and it tasted absolutely delicious! Everybody who had it simply fell in love with the cake! The vanilla cake, chocolate frosting and the coconut was just perfect! You've got to taste it to believe how good this is!! My next agenda is to make Pink Lamingtons!! 


Lamingtons

Today marks the 4th anniversary of my blog! What better way to celebrate than with my favorite lamingtons! I thank God for helping me through and through and for blessing this blog and making it a blessing to many! A big thank you to all who read the blog and leave comments!

Here's what I posted on my previous blog anniversaries!
1st blog anniversary   - How to make a Doll Cake.
2nd blog anniversary - Strawberry Chocolate Chip Loaf.
3rd blog anniversary  - Neapolitan Cake.


Lamingtons

You can choose any vanilla cake for this recipe. Make sure you bake it in a square pan. I made these lamingtons with this Best Butter Cake recipe. Or you can chose from one of these vanilla cake recipes. You can make these lamingtons with an egg free vanilla cake as well. You can also fill this cake with cream or jam before covering it with chocolate.


Lamingtons


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22 Nov 2017

Mosambi Juice Recipe | Sweet Lime Juice

This is the most common juice I make for my husband at home. Out of all the juice recipes I have posted, this is his most favorite and I make it quite often. It is simple and easy to make, tastes great and it has a lot of health benefits. It is loaded with Vitamin C and helps increase immunity, promotes bone health, improves eye sight and many more!
When selecting the fruit, do not pick green ones with thick skin, choose the ones that are yellowish with thin skin, ripe but without any dark spots. 


Sweet Lime Juice


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21 Nov 2017

20 Nov 2017

Triple Chocolate Banana Bread

Chocolate and banana is a wonderful combination and one of my favorites and I can finish up the left over bananas and the enjoy the chocolate too! This cake is even better as it has double the amount of chocolate! I made this for our prayer group and it disappeared quickly!



Triple Chocolate Banana Bread

The cake tastes amazing, so rich, moist and chocolaty! You can't taste the banana as we are adding too much of chocolate, the chocolate masks the taste of the banana. If you like chocolate then you will love this cake.


Triple Chocolate Banana Bread


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19 Nov 2017

18 Nov 2017

Bhindi Rice | Okra Rice

My son has started full day school and he likes to take only variety rice in his lunch box. He does not like taking sambar, rasam. So I make different kinds of pulao, fried rice often. This time I decided to make this okra rice as I wanted to include okra in my kids diet.


Vendakka Sadam

Okra is a healthy veggie, rich in vitamins, folic acid and calcium. It is low in calories and high in dietary fibre. Growing up, I was not very fond of okra but now it's one of my top favorite veggie!

Okra is called as Bhindi in Hindi and Vendakkai in Tamil. Many people don't cook okra due to it's sticky nature but if done properly, there will be no stickiness and it's a breeze to cook okra. 


Vendakka Sadam


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17 Nov 2017

Paneer Baby Corn Kurma

Paneer and baby corn kurma is a tasty dish that you can have as a side dish for pulao or roti. It's easy to make and tastes delicious. Both paneer and baby corn is something that all kids love and this dish will also be relished by kids.
I usually make any kind of kurma recipes to go as a side dish for pulao

Paneer Baby Corn Kurma


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16 Nov 2017

Mixed Vegetable Pulao

I have already posted one version of mixed veg pulao where I have used the microwave to partially cook the veggies and then used an electric rice cooker to cook the pulao. You can check that recipe here. This recipe is an easy one pot recipe that is pretty simple to put together. 

Mixed Veg Pulao


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15 Nov 2017

Egg Gravy

This is a tasty and rich egg gravy which goes very well with pulao or with roti. It's easy and simple to make and loved by kids too! I made this gravy with a puree of onion and tomato as we were having some kids over for lunch. If you prefer to have a little texture in your gravy then you can finely chop the onions and tomatoes and add it in.


Egg Gravy


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14 Nov 2017

Vendakkai Sambar

Sambar is a staple of South India, we make sambar every week and sometimes many times a week! I usually make my sambar with toor dal, you can add some split moong dal as well. Sambar can be made with multiple veggies or with a single vegetable. This time I made it with okra. 


Vendakkai Sambar

Vendakkai sambar tastes really good, the only thing to note is to make sure the vendakkai does not become sticky. To avoid the stickiness, cut the okra into 1 inch pieces and saute the okra separately before adding it to the sambar. By cooking it this way, you can make a delicious non sticky okra sambar.


Vendakkai Sambar


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13 Nov 2017

Fudgy Eggless Brownies

I love fudgy chewy chocolaty brownies and I have plenty of recipes of such kind of brownies with eggs. I have posted 2 eggless brownies so far and both are fudgy and chocolaty, just the way I like it! This time I reworked my eggless brownie recipe and ended up with this super fudgy egg free brownie! I loved it! And most importantly my husband who is not fond of chocolates, loved it too!


Eggless Brownies

The most important thing with baking brownies, is when to switch off!! Brownies should never be baked through and through like cakes. It should always be removed when there are a few crumbs sticking to the skewer. I usually bake my brownies only for 25 minutes but for this brownie I had to bake for about 35 minutes. The only thing I would say about this recipe is, keep an eye on the baking time. Do not over bake.
Here are my other two eggfree brownies - eggless brownies, eggless brownie muffins.


Eggless Brownies


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Muttai Idli Upma

My husband made this dish one night, apparently he had seen this recipe in YouTube and he wanted to make it. I have only made plain idli upma, this seemed like a wonderful idea! You can have this as a breakfast or even as a snack. He made this with left over idlis from the morning. 


Mutta Idli Upma


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Kondakadalai Kuzhambu

My mum makes this kondakadalai kuzhambu and Mochai kottai kuzhambu very often. Rich in fibre and protein, chickpeas are very healthy. There are also many varieties of chickpeas but we mostly use these white ones and the brown/black ones. Since these are dry beans we need to soak them overnight and then cook it. These chickpeas are also called as garbanzo beans in English and Chana in Hindi. 


Kondakadalai Kuzhambu


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10 Nov 2017

9 Nov 2017

OPOS Tomato Coriander Thokku | Tomato Coriander Chutney

OPOS stands for One Pot One Shot, it's a new cooking technique pioneered by Mr. Ramakrishnan (founder of Pizza Republic and many other food joints in Chennai). It is the simplest form of cooking where all the cooking is done in One Pot and in One Shot, meaning there is no sauteing and no multiple steps involved. OPOS invloves layering the food methodically and cooking at high heat for a short time. There are many advantages of OPOSing but my favorite are the nutrition of the food remains intact and the taste is awesome.


OPOS Tomato Coriander Thokku

For more recipes and info, do check OPOS chef on YouTube.

This recipe was shared by one of the members of the OPOS facebook group - United by Food, unfortunately I forgot her name. I will update her name when I find it! The taste and flavor of this chutney is extraordinary! We simply love this and I make this often. You can make the same without the coriander leaves too but I like to add atleast a little bit of coriander as the taste is lovely with it.


OPOS Tomato Coriander Thokku


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8 Nov 2017

Sathumaavu Muttai Dosai

Sathumaavu is a powder made with lots of nuts and grains for young children. You can read all about it in this post on homemade sathumaavu powder.

I normally make sathumaavu kanji for them but they are not fond of eating it, I have to force feed the kanji. So I try to include the powder in other ways too. I make this sathumaavu dosa, which works out very well, I also make this egg dosa for my husband. This makes the breakfast very filling and healthy.


Sathumaavu Muttai Dosai


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6 Nov 2017

4 Nov 2017

How to thaw Fish quickly

It takes a long time to thaw fish taken from deep freeze. This method works well for me, it takes only about 15-20 minutes to thaw the fish as opposed to many hours of thawing. 

How to thaw Fish quickly


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Sathumaavu Kanji

Sathumaavu Kanji/porridge is an extremely healthy porridge you can make for your babies and children. The Sathumaavu powder is made with many healthy grains, millets, nuts, pulses which makes it very nutritional for young children. Even adults can have this porridge for breakfast, it makes a very filling breakfast. 
You can use homemade sathumaavu powder or store bought powder. I usually use my homemade sathumaavu powder but occasionally I buy from the store until my homemade powder gets ready. 
The amount of milk used depends on the consistency of the porridge you prefer so you can arrive at it only after some trial and error. I like a thick consistency hence use about 1/2 cup of milk. For a thinner consistency you will require more milk.


Sathumaavu Kanji


To watch this video in Tamil


To watch this video in English


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