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. Pou...

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...

This is a dish I invented for my dearest hubby. Easy and yummy, thats the keyword. The best part is that your workplace is not strewn with food. Arun loves taking this to office. He can gobble this up and run for meetings. The phrase "Grab lunch" goes perfectly with "Stuffed Chappathi"!! :D  Let me start with the prep for you! Ingredients Chappathi - 4 For the stuffing Cumin Seeds - 1/2 t Onion, chopped - 1 Potato, mashed - 3 Carrot, mashed - 1 Cabbage, chopped - 1 C Cauliflower (If you have) - a few florets Turmeric Powder - 1 t Red Chilli Powder - 1.5 t Coriander Powder - 1 t Mango/Amchur Powder - 1 t Salt - to taste Oil - 2 T Method Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds. Add onions and fry till they turn translucent Once the onions are cooked, add all the masala powders and keep stirring. Add rest of the vegetables and saute again. Add extra oil if you feel that the vegetables are sticking to the pan. Sim the heat and c...

The first time I heard about "Chipotle" was from Arun. Now I am an ardent fan of "Chipotle" too, like him. :D Chipotle Mexican Grill is a fast food restaurant chain. The name "Chipotle" means dried jalapeno chilli pepper in Spanish. For us vegetarians, this is a very relishing cum healthy fast food option. It is at "Chipotle" that I had "Gaucamole" for the first time. "Gaucamole" is a spanish dip and I have to say that it was awesome. It looked a lil' too green but it tasted too good and reminded me of "Mike Wazowski" (Monsters Inc.). :D Try this out folks. You will love it. Ingredients Avocados - 1 Jalapeno pepper/Green Chilli - 1/2/1 Red onion, chopped - 1/4 Cilantro, chopped - 2 T Lime juice - 1/2 t Salt - 1/4 t Method Shell out the avocado pulp into a bowl. Add rest of the ingredients into it and mash until it forms a smooth paste like consistency. Adjust lime juice & salt to taste. ...

I preferred making homemade Pav Bhaji Masala rather than using the store bought powder. And I can gurantee, this PBM powder is just awesome :) Seriously!! Try it out naah. :) Ingredients 1T or 2 T of all these: Cumin seeds Methi seeds Fennel seeds Coriander seeds Pepper Ajwain Chilli flakes Cloves - 4 Amchur powder Dry garlic Cinnamon - 1" pc Cardamon - 2 Method Roast the above spices in a pan for 10 mins. You will know when they are ready as a mouthwatering aroma spreads around the kitchen. :) Simply grind this in a mixer/blender. And there you go!! Fresh homemade PBM powder. Oyee!!! Chakh de phatte!!!! ;)