THE KITCHEN AFFAIRE

When the first ever comment hit my blog, I was so excited and happy. I still remember running over to my hubby, showing and telling him "Cccccc I got a comment too!!" hi hi.. Seriously, it felt so nice. And that sweet comment came from none other than Priya of Mharo Rajasthan's Recipes . Since that day, Priya has been a regular visitor to this little space of mine. When I thought of inviting a guest to my blog, I did not have to think twice- It had to be Priya :) And here she goes ----> When Gopika requested me to be her guest blogger, I was elated, excited and felt honored and of course felt those butterflies which usually you feel when trying to do something important. First of all, my hearty congratulations to her on turning one. I enjoy her blog thoroughly, includes everything about it. Her writing style and narration of posts or recipes are superb. I like how she neatly organizes her recipes. And looking at her pictures make me want more and sh

Cabbage Thoran is an all-time favorite to us.  The best part to it is the easiness of preparing it. And it gets ready in a jiffy :D Yum yumm.. I am hungry already.  :) Ingredients Cabbage, shredded - 1  Small onion/Kunjulli, chopped - 3 Coconut, grated - 1/4 C Ginger, chopped - 1/2 t Green chiles, chopped - 3 Turmeric powder - 1/4 t Mustard seeds - 1 t Curry leaves - a few Salt to taste Oil - 1 T Method In a bowl, mix together the cabbage, coconut, ginger, green chiles , turmeric powder and salt. Combine them slowly with you hands (do not be too harsh on them). Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds, once they pop, add curry leaves and small onion. Saute till the onions turn light brown. To this, add the cabbage-coconut mix and stir well.  Cook it covered on a low flame for max 10  minutes or until the cabbage is well-cooked. Before removing from fire, saute for a minute or two. Yummy cabbage thoran is ready to be served.

Here is another one of our favorite Onam Sadya dishes. "A" was not a huge fan of Pumpkin but he loved it when I made this Mathanga Vanpayar Erisseri. :) I am glad he loves this Pumpkin based dishe now. :D Here is the recipe. :) This is a very authentic Kerala dish and is prepared with small changes across the state.  Ingredients Cumin Seeds - 1/4 t Mustard Seeds - 1/4 t Pumpkin/Mathanga, diced – 1 1/2 C Red chori /Vanpayar/Azuki bean – 1/2 C Green  Chilli – 3 Coconut, grated – 1 C Garlic pods– 2 Turmeric powder – 1/2 t Black pepper powder – 1/2 t Chilli powder – 1/4 t Dry red chillies – 4-5 Curry leaves – 2 sprig Salt  - to taste Oil - 1 t Method Pressure cook the vanpayar/azuki beans (3-4 whistles) and keep aside. Simultaneously, cook the pumpkin adding salt, turmeric, chilli powder, green chillies and salt in another vessel. Cook it in water which stays an inch above this pumpkin mix.   While the pumpkin mix cooks, grind coconut,

You just mention sweets and I will be on it :D Thats how much I love em! I always looked upon baking as an amazing work of art. I still do :) Its really amazing to see how much talent and interest people have towards baking. One such lovely group of people are the "Sweet Punch" team. :) When I got the invite from the Sweet Punch team ( Divya ,  Ria  and  Maria ) , I was delighted. An invitation to bake!! Wohooo :) So here I was, all set for this experience. And I was even more delighted to see that the September Punch was my fav "Almond Biscotti". I love the store bought biscotti and this was a chance to stock up my fav biscotti :D And I sure did. The recipe was perfectly layed out in Joy Of Baking . I just had to follow suite. And here it was - Yummy and crunchy almond biscotti. I have written down the recipe here for your convenience and mine (easier access :D).  Ingredients Whole almonds - blanched, toasted and chopped coarsely - 3/4 C Sug