THE KITCHEN AFFAIRE

Samosa!!! Ahaaa.. One of our favorites for sure! :) Samosa is a very popular South Asian snack. Its a type of stuffed pastry. Samosas' are mostly triangular in shape. They go well with Tamarind or Cilantro chutney, even Tomato Ketchup too. I have made Samosa's before too. But none of them looked or tasted like the Samosa I had had long time back. When I saw the awesome pictures of Samosas' in Prerna's blog ( Indian Simmer  ), I knew it was Jackpot!! And Voila! It was true, the recipe was perfect. Ohh.. Thank you so much Prerna (Indian Simmer). You have shared the perfect Samosa recipe of all times. Hey folks!! Try it out for sure. :) Ingredients For the Pastry All purpose flour/Maida - 1.5 C Semolina - 2 T Oil - 2 T Salt - to taste Ajwain Seeds - 1/2 t Water - 2/3 C For the Filling Potato, mashed - 2 Sweet green peas - 1/2 C Onions, sliced - 1 C Cumin Seeds - 1 t Green chilli, minced - 2 Coriander Powder - 1.5 t Method For t

oIt was our first visit to "Phoenicia" yesterday. Phoenicia? Yes. It is a modern mediterranean deli. They serve a lot of specialities, the top among them being Shawarma Sandwiches and Baklava!! As we roamed around the place, our eyes caught sight of different varieties of Baklava kept on the counter. And could not resist tasting at least of them! Awww.. I have to tell you guys, it was the best Baklava I ever had. They also had all kinds of dry fruits and nuts on sale. We also saw a lot of pickled vegetables, wine, chocolates, pastries and a lot more. I felt I had to write about this trip! Must be the charisma of the place or the cozy atmosphere, made us feel great. Guys, if there is one near you, do visit. I am sure, you will find something to your liking.

We love eggs :D  Its easy to know if I have been having a lot of eggs recently, just look into my face. Pimples!!! :p Gosh! Still, its irresistible!! I am yet to try Poached eggs! Will do that soon and post it here ok? :) Mutta means Egg in malayalam. The recipe is very simple and does not require a lot of time too. Goes well with Appam, Chappathi and even Poori. Ingredients Eggs, boiled - 3 Onion, sliced - 1.5 Tomato, chopped - 1 Ginger - garlic paste - 1.5 T Mustard Seeds - 1 t Cumin Seeds - 1 t Turmeric Powder - 1 t Red chilli Powder - 1.5 t Coriander Powder - 1.5 t Black Pepper Powder - 1/2 t Cream of milk - 1/2 C (Milk would do) Water - 1.5 C Oil - To fry Salt - to taste Method Heat oil in a pan. When hot, add mustard and cumin seeds. As they splutter, add sliced onions and stir well. Cook till the onions soften. Add ginger garlic paste and stir again. Take a small bowl with 4 T water and mix all spices into it. Pour this sp

Writing this post from Ammu's (sis n law) place @ San Antonio. I made these brownies for her. :) Ammu is an awesome cook and has a lot of specialty dishes on her plate. My personal favorite is "Mambazha Kootan" or "Ripe Mango Curry". Every time she prepares "Mambazha Kootan", I make sure that nothing is left out! :D This time I wanted to make a sweet dish. And decided on brownies. As I was hopping from one blog to another, I came across Deb's Smitten Kitchen. Deb has an awesome collection of brownies, cakes and lot more. I wanted a simple brownie and  hence made a few changes to the ingredient list. Moreover, I had to make this quick. That means less time to play around with new techniques! :(  Next time. :) Thank you, Deb. Ingredients All purpose flour - 1 1/4 C Baking Powder - 3/4 t Cocoa Powder - 1 C Vanilla Extract - 1 T Butter, room temp - 1.5 sticks Sugar - 2 1/4 C Eggs - 4 Method Start off by heating the ov