Gulab Jamun - With Milk Powder

Today is a very special day and I will talk about it later. This post is also very special as the South Vs North Challenge I participate every month has completed a year. This challenge was started by Divya of You Too Can Cook and it is very interesting. The whole group is divided into North and South Teams. Every month north team member challenges the south team with an authentic north Indian recipe whereas a south team member challenges the North team with an authentic South Indian recipe. For the completion of a year this month members were asked to do a challenge which they missed out and I had three or four in my list. I missed last month's challenge but the other three were there before I joined the group. I chose Gulab Jamunas I haven't got this version right before. Last time I tried making jamuns with milk powder and it was an utter flop. So I always stay away from milk powder jamun recipe. This time I neede to do it right and I went through the posts of all the bloggers who took part in that challenge. All of them have got good results. So with fingers crossed, I tried them yesterday. Though little on the harder side, they tasted absolutely delicious and my hubby after returning from work devoured them. He even asked me why I made them so tasty that he couldn't stop eating. The recipe is from Pallavi of Though Shalt Cook.

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Eggless Pinacolada Cake

Pina Colada is the official beverage of Puerto Rico since 1978 according to WIKI. It is a drink made with pine apple juice and cream of coconut. There are so many variations of this drink and there are also so many cake and cupcake recipes based on this drink. I didn't know about the ingredients in Pina Colada until Meena suggested the Pinacolada cake for the monthly Baking Eggless challenge for this month. The recipe she suggested was in Polish and I translated it using Google Translate. The rewcipe had so many ingredients including cream of coconut which is not available at Madurai. So I googled Pina Colada cake and came upon so many variations. So I made my own version incorporating both pineapple and coconut which resulted in this rich cake. To my surprise this cake was liked by all the adult members of my family and kids didn't like it very much. Though Sruti ate a whole slice, she didn't come for a second serving. 

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Rice Sevai Upma

Can you believe that I am cooking with rice sevai for the first time? Rice sevai is readily available in market and all you need to do is boil it, strain it and prepare any dish you want with it. You can make lemon sevai, puli sevai, upma and so on. You can substitute vermicelli with this rice sevai in so many dishes. Today I made a simple breakfast using this rice sevai and believe me it is so easy and was completed within 30 minutes. The only point in making this rice sevai is that you need to boil it perfectly. If you over cook they will turn mushy and I think it will not be that great. It tastes just like idiyappam but it is slightly thicker. I used the MTR brand rice sevai for this upma. I served this upma with Rajasthani Malai Mirch (recipe later) and it was absolutely delicious...

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Paneer Burfi

How many of you have started your Diwali preparations? I started it yesterday with this delicious burfi. This is a cross between kalakand and milk burfi. I prepared paneer with 4 lts of milk yesterday with a plan to make kalakand. But after preparing kalakand so many times, I just wanted to make something different.

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Raj Kachori

It has been nearly a week since I last posted here. My daughter was on her vacation and I was feeling so lazy to do any cooking, clicking or posting. For this month's Indian Cooking Challenge, which was supposed to be posted on 15th, I am posting it a week later. But it is better late than never. Srivalli  chose the famous Rajasthani Raj Kachori for this month on Vaishali's suggestion. Before marriage, I used to make Raj Kachori frequently. Even my brother's friends would come home with family and we used to relish it a lot. But after marriage, it was a shock that PK was not a great fan of chaats ( I am talking about 9 years earlier, but now he is a great fan of the chaats I prepare at home). He hated pani puris and the only chaat he used to eat was the masala puri from a nearby vendor but it never tasted like masala puri. I was so sad that I even stopped eating chaat. But when I started blogging, the chaat fan in me came to life and I started preparing varieties at home. I was not worried that PK will not eat but atleast I could eat. The scene changed drastically and PK became a great fan of my home made chaats. And when Valli announce this month's ICC, I remembered the good old days. But what I used to prepare was a little different from Vaishali's recipe. As Vaishali is the queen of chaats in our group, I just followed her recipe without altering. Will be posting my version later. The chaat turned out delicious and we devoured it happily. Sruti even tasted it but with out any chutneys. I made it according to her wish. She chose the fillings and topping. Kids today know how to get mama to the job...

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Diwali Special Sweets and Snacks

Here is a compilation of some of the sweets and savouries you could make for this Diwali. Have a happy time going through all the dishes....
Click on the name of the dishes for the complete recipe and instructions...

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Eggless Butterless Pumpkin Bread

As I told you before, the blogs are full of pumpkin recipes for the Halloween. And in Baking Partners group challenges, it is a pumpkin recipe this month. Swathi had given two pumpin recipes as per Tamy's suggestions, one is this quick bread and the other an yeasted bread. As I wanted a quick recipe as I was pressed for time, I opted this. When first I started blogging, I used to be skeptical in using oil in cake and bread recipes. I thought only butter could give the required texture. But I was wrong. Oil makes the bread very moist and soft and the moistness is retained for 3 days without drying it out. And there will not be the taste of oil. I have done some recipes using oil and each and every recipe has turned out awesome. And making the cake is also easy as it doesn't require a lot of beating. So when I saw this recipe, I was very much pleased. And it turned out absolutely soft, moist and delicious. This cake was supposed to be vegan. But I didn't have an ingredient to veganize this bread. The recipe asked for pure maple syrup which is not available at my place. So I substituted it with honey so my bread turned out to be a non vegan bread. So if you want to try out the perfect vegan pumpkin bread, then use maple syrup instead of honey. The cake is very spicy with lots of spices added to it. Add or leave according to your wish. 

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Navrathri Day 6 - Nilakadalai Paruppu/ Peanuts Sundal

Though it is Navrathri's 8th day, I am posting the 6th day recipes. Morning I made Malai Laddu and Ven pongal and for evening, I made sundal with peanuts. Malai laddu is one of the sweets which gets so much praise in my home. Whoever I have served it with have liked it. My daughter is a great fan of malai laddu. I had lots of paneer at home, and when I was thinking about a sweet to prepare on Navrathri, I remembered this. I have made it with out the food colour so they turned out white in colour. I also shared it with our neighbour. Ven Pongal is also our family favourite. It is quite easy to make and makes a delicious breakfast. Add lots of cashewnuts for a finger licking experience...

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Eggless Spooky Witches' Fingers

When October arrives, Haloween craze sets among the bloggers around the world. There will be pumpkin recipes, spooky finger recipes, mummy cup cake recipes and so on going around the blogosphere. We are not different. In the Home Baker's Group started by Priya, this month's host Nalini suggested four Halloween recipes. One among those was this spooky witches' fingers. When I first saw the snaps of these cookies, I was so afraid to try. They were scary and really spooky. I have never tried these type of recipes. So I kept postponing the making of this recipe. One fine day gathering up my courage, I made these finger cookies. 

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Navrathri Day5 - Beetroot Halwa

The fifth day has arrived and only 4 more days to go. For the fifth day of Navrathri I made beetroot halwa, Lemon rice for morning neivedhyam and White channa sundal with sesame spice paste for the evening. Yesterday as I visited my sister, I came home very tired and couldn't make any sweet for the evening neivedhyam. So made only the sundal. Today fortunately there was no power shut down and I was happy as I could do pooja with the lights on. 

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Navrathri Day 4 - Sweet Idiyappam

Yesterday was the fourth day of Navrathri and from the 4th day till 6th day Goddess Lakshmi is worshiped. Fortunately I got a lotus yesterday and it made a nice decoration to the kolam I drew before the Kalasam. For the morning I made Rava Laddu and Mandakki Oggarane, leaving the onions in oggarane as it was for neivedhyam. Evening it rained heavily and there was a power shut down. So it was completely dark inside the house and I couldn't take the snaps of the evening neivedhyam. I used two lamps to take the shot but was not quite satisfied. And the kalasam looked beautiful in the glow of the lamps lit. As a photographer, I couldn't resist taking a snap in that settings. So Goddess came into the camera. See how divine this looks. And I also deleted my morning snaps by mistake. When the power returned, I took the snaps of the evening neivedhyam. Due to lack of natural light, it may not be up to the mark. But something is better than nothing, Right? For the morning dishes I used my old photos as I had already posted the recipes.

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Navrathri Day 3 - Semiya Payasam

It is the third day of Navrathri festival and Sakti is worshipped on this day. Tomorrow it will be Goddess Lakshmi. For the final day of Sakti worship I made 4 dishes, two in the morning and two in the evening. For the sweet I made Semiya Payasam and for the variety rice I made Carrot Saadam. During evening I made Nei puttu and Paasiparuppu sundal. When I started my blogging I started it with Navrathri racipes. Now when I revisit my posts of the earlier days, I have a feeling that my photos are looking very bad. So when ever I get an opportunity, I need to go back and change the snaps. Today I did it with one post, Paasiparuppu Sundal. Celebrating Navrathri and sharing my dishes with you readers has been an awesome experience so far. Hope I complete this series with out any hurdles.

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Navarathri- Day 2 With Sojjappam

For the second day of Navrathri, I prepared 4 dishes, 2 for the morning neivedhyam and 2 for the evening. For the morning offering, I made coconut rice and Sojjapppam and for the evening I made green gram sundal and Puttu cups. My days are growing hectic with Sruti on holidays and celebrating Navrathri at the same time. As it was Sunday yesterday, my nephews and BIL also visited us. Sruti enjoyed the day by playing with her cousins and she was extremely happy. 

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Puttarisi Puttu Urundai

Puttu urundai made with sivappu puttarisi are very nutritious. I have given the preparation of the flour in my basics blog. If you are keen on preparing this at home, please go through the step wise pictures there. Here is the link for the recipe. I made this yesterday for the day 1 of Navrathri as an offering to Goddess Sakti during evening. This is very easy to make and quite addictive. Here is the Navarathri Day 1 Post.

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Navarathri- Day 1 - White Channa Sundal and Puttu

Happy Navarathri To All My Readers

Yesterday was the start of the famous Indian festival navrathri. Navrathri means 9 nights and the festival is completed on the 10th day with Vijayadashami. I am not very good at telling stories but my mom used to tell us nice stories about navrathri. Goddess Sakti fights the evil rakshash Mahishasura for 9 days and victory comes on the 10th day. Durga is worshipped for the first three days, Lakshmi the next three and Saraswathi the final three. There is a tradition of keeping golu during the 9 days and I love to visit golu and see all the arrangements but personally I have never attempted at keeping golu. Every year I think of making golu but looking at all the wonderful golus around the city, I feel like I will not do justice. So every time I skip it and you can call me lazy.

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A-Z Blogging Marathon #32 - A short Recap

When Srivalli announced this A-Z themed Mega Marathon, we had 4 months to prepare for it. The surprising fact is that even I started preparing for BM #32 4 months before and completed nearly 16 recipes. Then due to some personal reasons I couldn't continue the preparations. And finally when the day arrived I was not at all sure whther I could do this BM. But I needed to do it as I was in need of divertion from my problems. So with a brave heart, I started posting. Last month has been hectic, as I had guests and a function at home. But still I managed to post all the 26 recipes along with the other challenge recipes last month. If you have missed out my blog last month, then this is the post for you. This is a short recap of all the recipes I posted for the A-Z Blogging Marathon. There were 4 themes provided by Valli and each theme must have 6 posts. And only one theme i.e., street food theme needed 8 posts. I hope I did justice to the selected themes and the blogging marathon. I would like to thank Valli for setting up the bar higher so that we BMers can improve our cooking and blogging skills. I am very proud to be part of this wonderful group and I promise you that I will give better posts in the future...

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Diwali Special Announcement and Mom's Special Winner

After Mom's Special as a tribute to my mom, I thought of doing another special event this month. Diwali falls on November 2nd and during the month of October, I will be busy making some sweets and snacks. As a blogger I know you will also be busy with preparations and main thing is that all your beautiful blogs will be full of Diwali special recipes. 

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Walk Through Memory lane- October Announcement and September Winner

Last month has been so hectic for me. As I started Blogging Marathon #32 A-Z theme, I never once imagined that I would complete it successfully. But by God's grace I completed it successfully along with some other challenges of that month. I skipped two challenges as I couldn't squeeze the posts in between. I am planning to do those challenges this month. And it is already first of October and it is time to announce the Walk Through Memory Lane host. This month Asiya of My Healthy Happy Kitchen is hosting the event at her space. And there is a give away this month too. I will select a lucky winner on November 1st and will be giving away a book by Sanjeev Kapoor - Every Day Cooking. As Diwali falls on November 2nd, the winner will be getting this book as her Diwali Gift from me. So what are you waiting for? Take a look at Asiya's page for the details of the event and please link up your lovely entries at her space. 

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