THE KITCHEN AFFAIRE

Today is " Attham " - the first day of the 10 day long festival of Onam . Atham is regarded holy and auspicious by the people of Kerala. Onam is a festival which is celebrated in a large scale in Kerala apart from Christmas, Easter and Vishu.  Onam falls in the month of " Chingam " (Malayalam calendar) and marks the homecoming of the legendary King Maveli. It is said that during his rule all people were considered equal and there was no caste based distinction. This folk song about Maveli tells us the same " Maveli nadu vaneedum kalam, manushyarellarum onnu pole". Today is even more special for me as it is my dearest Mummy's birthday :-) Happy birthday my dear "Mum". I love you so much and I miss you so much. I am sure Mum is going to have a blast there with her friends and of course with Daddy. :-) On this special day of "Attham" - Mum's birthday, I decided to post something that my mom l...

I just love all kinds of fried snacks. :-) Well, I love everything about food. So here I was blog hopping and I came across this lovely blog of Arundhuti called My Saffron Kitchen . And I found what I was looking for, the ultimate recipe for Dahi Vada. Thanks a ton dear :-D Dahi Vada is one of the most popular varieties of Indian Chaat. A yummy snack that everybody loves to relish, especially during a hot summer day. Dahi Vada is made in different ways across different parts of India. South Indians make it without adding Tamarind Sauce and call it "Thairu Vada". I love both the styles. :) Whats not to love? Yesterday, heat was at a record high of 101 F!!! Can you imagine that? I shouldn't be complaining a lot as I have lived in cities (in India) where it was more hot and humid. Those were my high school days. A time when heat or no heat, life was all about fun, friends and food :D  Dahi Vada is a combination of lentil dumpling and yogurt to...

Finally my one week long celebration is coming to a close :-) And the lucky winner of my giveaway is....  Sangee Vijay of Typical Indian Cooking   Congrats Sangee :-)  And thank you so much to rest of my dear friends for all your heart-felt wishes and comments. You guys made my celebration a huge success.  Thank you so much once again all of you :-)

The afternoon breeze and the sound of rustling leaves is so soothing. So here I sit, enjoying this change of weather, to pen memories of last year. Gosh!! I cant believe that - The Kitchen Affaire; is turning "One". :) Time does fly. Last year has been very eventful. An year that changed my title from: a carefree mommy's gal to an "adorable" ("A" would not agree with this!! hi hi) wife; an IT engineer to a house-wife;  and a huge move from my home in Kerala (India) to a new home in Houston (U.S.A). It feels like all of this happened in a blink of an eye. All this change wouldn't have sunk in so easily if not for my hubby dear. :)   Starting this blog was not impromptu. I used to blog during my college days. But this time I wanted a blog meant only for my cooking experiments or challenges. After settling down in our lovely apartment, I slowly started my cooking experiments. Initially I would jot all of it in a notebook. Then I decided not to a...

Gosh.. I would have told this like 100s of times - "I love paneer" :D  So as always I am on the look out for new varieties of paneer recipes. Lucky me. Aipi of USMasala also loves paneer. And she has a bunch of paneer varieties. :D This one had caught my eye some time back but I got a chance to try it out just today. Well, better late than never. Right? :D While cooking, I made a few minor changes (according to our taste) from the original recipe. For instance, I did not add "bell pepper", which is one main ingredient in jalfrezi, as "A" does not like em. :) Still, it tasted just awesome. "Mere haathon ka jade" ;) Just kidding!!  Ingredients Paneer - 2 C Cumin seeds - 1/2 t Carom seeds - 1/2 t Whole red chilli - 1 Onion, chopped - 2 Tomato, chopped - 1 Ginger - garlic paste - 1 1/2 T Tomato ketchup - 2 T Bell pepper, sliced - 1  Whole coriander seeds, roasted and ground - 1 T Garam masala - 1/2 t Red chilli powder - 1...

As I write this post I am reminded of my dear friend  Gaya3 's ( My Pressure Cooker ) comment about going "Baking-crazy". Looks like I am going "Bread making-crazy". :D Both me and hubby love Croissants. Croissants and scrambled eggs are one of our favorite breakfast items. I have wanted to make croissants from the time I saw this movie of Meryl Streep - "Its Complicated". I love her acting and poise. I think she looks classy. :) Especially in "Devil Wears Prada". :) The croissants that I have made are not the authentic soft ones. These are a bit more crunch-ier, but they taste as awesome as the regular croissants and can be made quickly too :) I was concerned about the amount of butter used in making the regular croissants. But this recipe is perfect as it uses just minimal butter and still gives us the yummy croissants we like. Ingredients Water - 1/2 C Evaporated milk - 1/3 C Butter, room temperature - 3 T Egg - 2 Salt - 1 1...

Khaman is a very popular delicacy from Gujarat. Like the many other snacks that "Gujjus" (Gujaratis generally refered to as) are popular for, Khaman is such another one. Khaman is always confused with Dhokla. I have to pen down the difference for you guys and for myself :) What is the difference major between  Khaman  and  Dhokla ? Khaman majorly comprises of chickpeas flour whereas Dhokla comprises of rice grain. P.S. Do correct me if I am wrong :) I remember eating the authentic khaman, at a friends place, when we where at Raipur, M.P. (Now the capital of Chhattisgarh - North India). Time flies so fast. I was a little kid then. Recently, I tasted one from one of my Gujju friend here. And it was awesome. I did not wait for a second thought and jumped to make it the following day. Thanks to my dear "A", he is always supportive about trying new stuff and happily eating them :) He loved it. And I did too :) Wont ask for more! Ingredients Besan / Chi...

Looks like I am making lot of bread these days! :) This time I tried the wheat bread (no all-purpose flour). This was in my "to do" list since long. Finally, I did it! :D What composes the whole wheat bread varies from person to person. I wanted to make one without all-purpose flour. It came out to be a little moist, but the taste was just awesome.. :) Am I boasting or what? ;) You have to try it out folks. Its healthy and the measurements can be adjusted as you like. I reduced the quantity of sugar to 1/2 t. Honey does the work of sweetening the bread. And then you have chocolate too :D Ingredients Whole wheat flour - 2 C Bananas, mashed - 1 1/2C Unsalted Butter - 1/2 C Honey - 1/4 C Cinnamon, ground - 1/2 t Chocolate powder - 1/2 t Vanilla extract - 1 t Brown sugar - 2 T Egg - 2 Baking soda - 3/4 t Hot water - 1/4 C Walnuts, chopped - 1/2 C Salt - 1/2 t Method In a large mixing bowl, beat butter, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and...

Bread has always been a favorite to my dad. :)  Mom sometimes goes mad when she sees daddy eating bread, while she has prepared a 3 course meal. he he :D I have seen a couple of different kindsa breads back home (India). But not as many as I see here. Well, I guess the main reason behind this is that bread is an integral part of the everyday meal here (U.S.A). Just recently as I blog hopped, I noticed a lot of information and recipes on braided breads. I also noticed that a lot of the braided breads had a non-veg filling. :( So I thought that Ill try my hands on creating a vegetarian - filling braided bread. :D And here is what I got! Ingredients For the filling Cumin seeds - 1 t Green Chilly - 2 Ginger, chopped - 1' pc Garlic pods, chopped - 3 Onion, chopped - 2 Egg - 4 Turmeric Powder - 1/2 t Chilly Powder - 1/2 t Coriander Powder - 1 t Garam Masala Powder - 1.5 T Cilantro, chopped - 5 T Oil - ...