Love and Calories!!

"Sambar" is the most popular dish of South India which actually helped the South Indian cuisine gain its recognition & popularity within the North Indian belt. Sambar is a vegetarian chowder, cooked almost daily in every household of South India. A great accompaniment to have with rice, idlis, dosas, vadas and other South Indian tiffin items. The main ingredients of Sambar are the lentil & vegetables. Carrots, potato, shallots, okras, drumsticks are used with different combinations. I however like Sambar with shallots & okras. This vegetable-lentil chowder can be made with or without coconut. I being a Keralite, use & prefer coconut in it. And it's tasty too. :) Ingredients: 1 cup toor dal (red lentils / pigeon pea) 10 shallots (halved) or 1 medium onion (roughly diced) 1 medium tomato (roughly diced) 200 gm okra/lady finger (cut into 1 inch slices) 3 tbsp shredded coconut 3 tbsp sambar powder 1/2 tsp red chilli powder 1/2 tsp turmeric powder 1/2 tsp heeng...

Today I bring to your dining table, the taste of The United States of America. Its a common breakfast dish served in the States. Nope...its not pancakes. They do have some other amazing stuffs too other than pancakes and maple syrup. :) Its "Sweet Corn Fritters"!! This cooked breakfast is a taste of America - a delicious, different way to start the day. Just try it if you want a little change from your usual omelette. :) Ingredients: 4 eggs (beaten) 1/2 medium red onion (finely chopped) 1/2 tsp dijon mustard (optional) 200 gm sweetcorn (I use the tinned one) 2 tbsp chopped parsley (can use coriander leaves) 2 tomatoes (thick round slices) salt & pepper for seasoning cooking oil to drizzle Method: Heat your omelette pan & drizzle some oil into it. Let it become medium hot. Using a fork, combine all the ingredients mentioned above except tomato slices in a large mixing bowl. Season well with salt & pepper. Create a small or big fritter by putting 2 generous la...

Let me spread my wings a bit more and explore my blind area in cooking. i.e BAKING. I so love to bake but I feel a certain fear inside me when ever I think to bake some mouth watering stuffs. Maybe I should blame it on my oven. My oven has its own mood swings!! So I always am careful before baking something. Today I conquered the oven and made some delicious Ginger breads! Gingerbreads became popular from the medieval times & were baked for all occasions. The very first Gingerbread MAN was made in the royal kitchens of Queen Elizabeth I, where she presented the Gingerbread MAN to each of her dignitaries for their own likeness. GREAT!! Before sharing the recipe,let me share a funny scene between the Villain and the Gingerbread Man from the movie SHREK. I love it!! (The Villain has captured the Gingerbread Man & is torturing him) VILLAIN: 'Run, run, run, as fast as you can. You can't catch me. I'm the Gingerbread Man!' GINGERBREAD MAN: You're a monster. VILLA...

MMM....(M)outh-Watering (M)onth of (M)ay it is, and like the previous months, this month too will be as delicious as ever. Ah! Can't imagine that I have come this far. Blogging was just a dream 2 years back and finally I have started it and What a start this is. Am fully into it now. Cooking, experimenting stuffs and trying to bring you only the best recipes of the World. And Thank you all for viewing my Food Blog. The Blog has got great number of hits than ever I imagined in just 3 months.WOW!! Ok now then, without wasting your time and mine, Lets Get Cooking with some Love and some Calories. :) A veggie delight by request, its a mouthwatering "Paneer Kofta" dish. "Paneer" compensates the absence of meat in any dish and is a pure delicacy for the vegetarians. The word "Kofta" has come from the Middle Eastern part of the World, meaning meat dumplings or meatballs. These Koftas slowly started becoming popular in India due to the influence of Mughlai cu...

A dish has to come from Goa, the smallest, coolest & most happening state of India. I don't have to give an introduction of Goa as the whole world knows about it. It is the tourists HOT SPOT. So let me just move on to its FOOD. The long period of Portuguese rule has left a major influence on the original style of Goan cooking & this resulted in an exotic variation of tasty and spicy cuisine . I still remember my Goan trip during college days. Enjoying in Baga Beach with friends, relishing some amazing prawn curry and next day morning, had a cup of coffee to remove the hangover of the Cashew Fenny. (Well, That I just added up....I just had two sips and I puked). :) "Prawn Balchao" is a favourite Goan dish which can be preserved for a couple of days. In fact, its tangy taste is at its best after a day or so. It can be stored as a pickle for longer, if preservatives are added. But in my house, there's no need to add preservatives as it gets over the moment ...

This savoury breakfast dish is an origin of Maharashtra, a West Indian State, also the Land of the Great Marathas. The world-known India's metropolitan city "Bombay" is the capital of Maharashtra. Out of all the places I resided, Bombay remains the most loved city still. "Kanda Poha" a popular savoury snack also known as Avil Upma in other parts of India is super delicious and easy to cook quick nutritious snack. "Kanda" in Marathi means onion and "Poha" is a dehusked rice which is beaten or flattened into dry flakes. I was first introduced to this dish by my Aunt Asha Ammai(Chachi)when I was in Bombay (I still like to call Mumbai as Bombay) and was about 7 yrs old. She was newly married at that time and she had to show case her culinary skills to my grandma, grandpa and my parents. As she was born and brought up in Bombay, she used to cook all the Maharashtrian dishes. My taste buds for the first time was exposed to new kinds of flavour...

First of all let me thank my dear friend Maria Ferreto (Italian by birth), who cooked for us (Arun and myself) a sumptuous dinner two weeks back. I am a great fan of Italian Cuisine and when I got a perfectly home cooked authentic Italian, I was blown away. From starters to the main course, it was just too delicious. And she ended the dinner with a Bang by serving us the most lip - smacking dish (Tiramisu) of the day which will not be forgotten for a long long time. For your Information Maria..I have stopped buying the Frozen Tiramisu from the Tesco. ;) But today, I will be sharing the recipe of Maria's Main Course, "Chicken Fricassee"! Tiramisu will be coming soon to the blog. ;) A "Fricassee" is a dish mainly prepared with any poultry or mushrooms served in a white sauce or a stew. Mainly Fricassees are prepared at European homes and very rarely seen in the restaurant menus. The meat is first lightly browned and then stewed in a broth for around an hour s...