Love and Calories!!

"Deepak ki roshni, Patako ki awaz, Suraj ki kirane, Khushiyon ki bauchaar, Chandan ki khusboo, Apno ka pyar, Mubarak ho apko.... Diwali ka tyohar" (The Bright lights emitted from the oil lit lamps,  Those fiery sounds of the fire crackers, rays of sunshine which showers happiness throughout, the fragrance of sandalwood & the love of our dear ones....I Wish you all these and much more on this joyous occasion called DIWALI! Wish you all a very Happy & safe Diwali. Eat, Drink & Be Merry!! The festive season is here again and am so fortunate to experience the whole Diwali atmosphere all around me. London, like Mumbai embraces all the cultures of the world & celebrating Diwali is no exception here. The whole Desi Community are busy buying new clothes, Diyas, fire crackers & Mithais. I make it a point to go to these Desi inhabited towns regularly, to experience the hustle bustle during the Indian festive season. I do not miss anything here, except for my ...

Now this is one dish which was in a queue for a long long time to be posted in my blog. I absolutely forgot about it and it was shelved away for almost a year. Until recently, one of our friends asked about an Indian minced lamb recipe, I recollected that I have the recipe with me with all the photos taken stage by stage. My, My...How did I forget to share  this wonderful recipe with all of you.  Minced lamb has quite a strong flavour of its own and it has to be well camouflaged with some other good ingredients which will balance everything, only to give a fantastic dish in the end. What better than Indian spices. A good balance of these spices when combined with meat and cooked well, will give you a classy Meat dish.  Ingredients: 500 gms minced meat (lamb or mutton) 1 cup of fresh/frozen peas (boil and keep aside) 2 large onion (finely chopped) 4 large tomatoes (blend to make puree) 1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste 1 tbsp coriander powder 2 tsp cumin p...

In this fast paced life of ours, how many of us really wished for a good quality time to be spent with  our spouses and family?? Aren't you all not bored of the same routine day in day out? We slog the whole week at work and wait for the weekend to arrive only to go out shopping at some money fleecing mall monsters, get tired, eat a quick meal from there, if time permits go for a movie and come home tired and later go off to sleep. There goes your weekend and the next morning, the same old rat race begins. That special moment with your spouse or children never happened. My friend had asked me once, whether my husband and I talk over coffee when we go out. As a diplomat I am, said to her, we don't make eye contact when there is any kind of food kept in front of us. We give our full attention to it. We laughed it off, but she really wanted to know that, are they the only odd ones out here. No, they are not!!  Last Friday, I decided to be at home (our usual friday dining ou...

Cupcakes - those little sweet treats are everybody's favourite and have usually seen them so beautifully displayed for almost all occasions. Every one's reaction when they hear or see Cupcake is... "Yummmm"! But is not the case with me. I have never fancied cupcakes in my life. You must be thinking, "C'mon now...Don't like cupcakes?? you must be kidding!!  but the truth is, I never was a fan of these little cute things. But I just love the look of it. Those different creative frostings  on top makes it so special and good looking. And the effort made by the bakers are seen just by looking at the creative topping. For the love of baking alone, I tried to bake some easy cupcakes to start off.  This recipe will be very useful for those who have never tried to bake cupcakes before (just like me) and are now interested to try their luck in baking some. I prefer chocolate to sugary icing and that is the reason why I baked some Devil's food Cupcakes....

 Andhraites (People of Andhra Pradesh, South India) love their eggplants/brinjals so much that I have seen all my Telugu friends make something or the other with these lovely violet vegetable. Stuffed, steamed, fried, sauted, chutney, gravy, they will have atleast one of these things done with their eggplants. One such recipe is this one which I got from one of my Telugu friends. I got this recipe about 4 years ago but never tried until recently. Not a good looking dish, I must admit but it tastes absolutely delicious. And it is healthy too as the baby eggplants are steamed all the way.  Ingredients: 10-12 baby eggplants For Stuffing: 1/4 cup chana dal (kadala paruppu/bengal gram) 1/4 cup whole coriander seeds  4-5 dry red chillies 1 tsp cumin seeds 1/2 tsp fennel seeds  8-10 curry leaves 1 tsp oil  Heat oil in a frying pan and roast the above "stuffing" ingredients for 2 minutes until they release their flavour. Remove from hea...

The thing I most miss in the UK is the sound of "Taka Tak" made by the street food vendors on their tava while making pav bhaji, aloo tikki, patties etc. Aah! Especially after living so many years in the hub of street food (Delhi & Mumbai), I seriously get disappointed when I am unable to go out after 6 pm. You have only two options, either go sit in a pub or have a proper dinner at some expensive restaurants. There is no in between thing. And I have started hating the American fast food joints like KFCs, McDs & pizza outlets. My stomach gets bloated and   I gain 2 kilos just by the look of it. That's when I miss my Indian Street food. Its not just about the food, its the whole idea behind it. Go with your family and friends, get your hands dirty, eat while standing and haggle with the vendor saying..."Bhayya ..Aur Theeka karo na", Bhayya, ek aur papdi"!! :)  Thanks to London, I have already discovered some Vada Pav shops & Chat restaurant...

Its already September and the evenings here are turning chillier & chillier. That's when you think of making a  Chicken Pie, the most comforting English food I have ever tasted.. When you crush those  golden crispy puffed pastry top  with your spoon  to get that delicious mouthful of piping  hot  creamy chicken on a chilly night, you know you are going to settle down in your couch for the next couple of hours.  Last Wednesday, I enjoyed my "Pie night" alone as Arun had a party to attend that night. I cooked up my pie in a jiffy, brought my throw from the bedroom, switched on the TV and relaxed on the couch until the door bell rang at 11. I really really enjoyed some "Me" time that night!! :) So you try making this chicken pie & see how comforting it is to sit back, relax and have a pot pie once in a while. And don't worry about the pastry, I used the frozen sheets to make my pie. You can cheat sometimes, you know!! Ingredients: 50 gm...

So I decided to bake something to check out how my new oven works. (Oh! Did I not mention that we shifted to  another location a month back??). Thanks to hubby dear's job, I get a new kitchen every couple of years. And to get used to the new location, new home and most importantly new kitchen, takes time. But am not complaining this time as I got my favourite gas burner (how I used to curse the hot plates before) to cook all my Indian stuff. :) I planned to bake a bread this time and  it took an entire half day to bake one. I struggled so hard with my yeast to foam up and later knew that the yeast had already gone dead. So I quickly decided to go to a superstore to buy some yeast before I changed my mind to not to "Bake a Bread". But patience paid off as soon as I saw the result (the pic below). And I can't even explain what it feels like when you bake something and it comes out just perfect!!  "Focaccia"  is an Italian flat bread which resembl...

I came up with the name "Phulka Pudine Ka" after wasting a lot of time thinking, than just calling it "Pudina Roti" or "Pudina Parantha". "Phulka Pudine ka" was so rhyming and funny at the same time that I thought let me name it the same. It is an easy peasy recipe if you regularly make rotis at home.  I just made it yesterday with a little sprinkle of mint-chat masala spice mix. It only gave the rotis that extra zing. For those who are unfamiliar with the word "Phulka", is nothing but rotis cooked on an open flame for it to puff up like a balloon with the help of steam. This method is the most healthiest way of making a roti/chapathi as it uses no oil, is perfectly light and brings that smoky flavour to the rotis.  In this recipe, the rotis won't puff up because there's mint leaves inside the dough which restricts the dough to swell, but the smokiness will release the flavour of the mint leaves inside each chapathi...