THE KITCHEN AFFAIRE

Its Christmas!!! Merry Christmas to all my dear friends and fellow bloggers :) And this is my 100th post. Whoppiieee.. Isn't that awesome? I know. I feel so great. And to celebrate, I baked these yummy Banana Choco - Chip muffins from my dearest friend Gaya3 's blog - My Pressure Cooker . Holidays are heaven. No doubt. We just got back from our lil' vacation to the picturesque ski resort of Santa Fe & Taos, New Mexico. It was amazing. Perfect place for the christmas holidays --- It was white Christmas.. The whole place was covered by a soft white blanket of snow. I know that a lot of you guys live in places where it snows during most of the year. But my friends, I come from Texas or going further down, I come from South India where you never see even a flake of snow. Here is a pic from the trip. :D  Ingredients Bowl 1 All-purpose flour - 1.5 C Sugar - 1/2 C Baking powder - 1 1/2 t Bowl 2 Ripe bananas (about 2 large - mashed) - 2 C Egg

The spirit of Christmas is everywhere. The twinkling lights on the Christmas trees, decorations on the mantles, angels and reindeer dancing in the front yard. Aww.. I love this season. Hubby and I enjoy driving by the beautifully decorated residential localities. Even the malls and streets have the holiday mood. And a lot of parties too ;) Its so much fun to meet all your friends and have a great time together. With so much holiday spirit around us how could I not bake anything!! And here I am baking or making the perfect Christmas treat "The Gingerbread Man". :) Aren't they cute? So here is a fresh batch of gingerbread cookies for all you folks out there. Lets welcome the holiday season :) Recipe : Simply Recipes Ingredients Unsalted butter, room temperature - 1 stick or 8 T Brown sugar/ Jaggery - 1/2 C Honey - 1/2 C All purpose flour/ Maida - 2 1/2 C Ginger powder - 1 T Cinnamon - 1/2 T Nutmeg powder - 1/2 t Black pepper powder - 1/4 t Baking po

Last day I was expecting a friend of mine for lunch. So I thought I need to make something special for her. She loves rice so I thought the best way to treat her would be by cooking a rice dish for her. When I thought of a rice dish, the first thing that came into my mind was the Vegetable Pilaf. Vegetable Pilaf is among the dishes that I keep experimenting with again and again and againg. :D Until now I did not feel that it was good enough to be showcased. :) This time it came out just the way I always hoped for. The aroma was awesome and so was the texture. We loved it. Here is the recipe for all you guys out there :) Ingredients Basmati Rice, Uncooked - 3 C Onion - 2 C Carrot - 1 C Green beans - 1 C Green peas - 1 C Ginger garlic paste - 1.5 T Green chillies - 3 Cumin seeds - 1 t Bay leaves - 2/3 Cloves - 4 Cardamom - 1" Star anise - 1 Mace - 1/2 t Turmeric powder - 1 t Red chilli powder - 1 t or as per taste Water - 3 C Salt - to tasste Oil/G

We love Mediterranean food. After Thai and Italian, Mediterranean wins our vote :) Well, I am not sure of this order though. :) Fadi's and Kasra are our current favorite Mediterranean eat outs. We are yet to try other new places. Nothing can beat the rich and creamy Hummus at Kasra. Nor can anyone beat the awesome Lentil Soup from Fadi's. But friends, if you think someone can, do let us know. We would loveee to try it out :)  So today, I was all determined to turn the first night of the long weekend into a Mediterranean night.  I was all pumped up to cook a perfect spread. ahem ahem. Or at least a near to perfect spread. hi hi. ;) Cmon guys, it did turn out good. :) In fact, I successfully made Pita Bread, Tahini paste and Hummus . Whistle whistle!!! :) And the yummy spread was celebrated with a second round of wine ;) Here is the recipe for you guys out there :) All thanks to this Mediterranean website - > DedeMed . Ingredients Flour - 3 C +

How can I even dream of having a Pita bread without this yummy creamy dip --> Hummus of course. :) Like many other cuisines, Mediterranean was also introduced to me by my hubby dear. He loves Hummus and now, me too :D And thats how I ended trying to make it at home. Ingredients Yogurt - 1/4 C Garbanzo Beans / Chick Peas - 2 C Tahini (Sesame Seed Paste) - 1/2 C Lemon Juice - 1/2 C Garlic cloves - 3 Salt - 1/2 t Citric acid - 1/4 t Water - 2 T Mint Leaves - a few For garnishing Parsley - 2 T Cayenne Pepper or Paprika - 1 t Olive Oil - 1/4 C Method   In a food processor, add the garbonzo beans, garlic, lemon juice and salt, blend until smooth.  Next add yogurt, tahini, water, citric acid and mint leaves. Spread the hummus in a plate and garnish with parsley, cayenne pepper and olive oil. Serve with pita bread.

I ate Adai a couple of months back at one of our Tamilian friends place. I was surprised that I had not eaten this before, in fact, I was not aware of this dish. mmm.. Well, as they say, better late than never.  :) But still, I did not try it soon enough. And last day, as I spoke with my mom, she said that she made Adai. I was like, " Oh mommy, I also wanted to make this.. ". Thanks to mum for reminding me :) Love her.. So there it goes. I tried the recipe today and Oh my, it turned out great. We loved it and had lots of them :) Here is the recipe for you friends..  Ingredients Step 1 Raw rice / Idli rice - 1/2 C Salt - to taste Oil - 1/2 C Boiled rice - 1/2 C Toor dal - 1/2 C Bengal gram / Chana dal - 1/4 C Urad dal - 1/4 C Green chilli -2 Red chilli -3 Step 2 Asafoetida -1/4 t Onion, finely chopped - 2  Coconut, grated - 2 T Curry leaves - a few Cilantro leaves - a few Ginger -1'' small bit Drumstick leaves - a handful (optional)

Gaya3 and my friendship clicked from the very first day. Dunno what it was but it always felt like writing to an ol' friend with whom I haven't spoken for some time. We have n number of similar likes and dislikes even. If I don't stop now, I never will. :) So, in short, this post is by guest  my bestest friends, Gaya3. Both of us are amateur cooks and have a lot of passion about cooking and baking. Ok enough of my yapping. You guys have to absolutely check out her blog here . :) Over to my gurl ----> Gaya3 Guest post? ME? Are you insane? You  must be  joking or mocking or definitely taunting me ! This was my first reaction when Gopika asked me to do a guest post for her blog-  THE KITCHEN AFFAIRE . I remember denying vigorously stating that I was way too an amateur blogger/ writer/cook to blog myself, let alone the idea of doing an entire guest post. But wasn’t my newest and one of my best friends in the virtual space persistent! And she

I just love bonda. Sometimes the word bonda sounds very funny. Does it to you guys too? hi hi..  Anyways, bonda is one of the popular snacks in Kerala (India). The first thing that comes into my mind when I think of them are of those little bakeries which display freshly made bonda's in glass cabinets right in front of the store. One look at those yummy ball like thing and you know you want it!! I remember dragging daddy to the bakery to buy me some :)  Nostalgia..  Here is the recipe for you guys.. Make em and I hope you enjoy them too! Ingredients For the filling Potato - 3 Onion, chopped - 1/2 Green chill - 2 Curry leaves - a few  Turmeric powder - 1 t Salt - to taste  Oil - 1 T For the batter Chickpea flour/Gram flour/Besan - 1 C Rice flour - 1 T Ginger, finely chopped - 1 t Red chilli powder - 1 t Asafoetida/Hing - 1/2 t Salt - to taste  Water - as needed Method For the filling  Peel the potatoes and cut into sm

I know.. I know.. You guys must be wondering, has Gopika turned into an occasional blogger from the regular blogger she used to be. Well, I have not friends. I am still the blogger who loves to blog regularly.. Yeah. And my love to cooking or blogging has not gone down a tiny weeny bit. In fact, I have been cooking a lot but did not take any pics. And this has kept me from posting the recipes.. :( Sometimes its so tough to manage everything. But see, I am back with a bang.. :)  Ingredients All Purpose Flour (Maida) – 1 C Butter, unsalted @ room temp – 1/2 C Sugar, powdered – 1/2 C Cardamom, powdered – 1/4 t Baking Powder – 1/4 t Salt – 1/8 t Method Preheat oven to 300 degrees F or 150 degress C. In a bowl, mix sugar and butter until they turn creamy. Add cardamom powder and stir well. In another bowl, mix the flour with baking powder and salt. Add the flour mixture slowly to the butter mixture and mix with your hands. You will get a soft dough. Wrap

One thing that I learnt living in different cities across India is that we celebrate our (native) regional festivals better there. Ya really!! Like when we (me and my parents) lived in Vijaywada (Andhra Pradesh) and we had month long Onam (Kerala's Rice Harvest festival) celebrations. Let me tell you how. Firstly there would be a Onam get-together with our family friends. Then there would be another get-together with the Kerala Association and so on. But of course, the kind of fun that you have, celebrating a festival, at your home - town is entirely different. :)  This year for Vijayadashami, my lovely neighbors invited me for the Vijayadashami pooja and I was running around to meet them. And gosh all of them made a lot of yummy goodies. I made this yummy Rava Laddu for my dear hubby and our friends. Thankfully they liked it  :)  It is so easy and simple to make. Try it out friends, you are gonna love this sweet.  Rava Laddu is a ball-shaped sweet, very popular i