Love and Calories!!

I always used to wonder, how much ever variation you do with your chicken gravy, it never turns out to be like the one you get in a typical Kerala restaurant. I don't even get the colour matched with the restaurant chicken. My chicken & the gravy would be either brown or red. And then I started asking the chefs of some of the restaurants I visited, about the secret ingredient. All the chefs had the same answer. "We add peppercorns". Then I started using peppers in my chicken. The taste improved but something was missing. But the real secret ingredient was finally revealed when I was browsing through some Kerala Chicken Recipes in Youtube. I saw a cookery programme called "Taste of Kerala" & started viewing all the episodes. The host was very funny & I saw these videos just to see him talk. To my surprise, the dishes what he showed in the programme was mind blowing. And his show cleared all my doubts. "Green" Peppercorns is what you ...

Its been 4 years now since I left India & I have always made it a point to try to follow all the rituals & customs of my Native which will not make me miss India & also follow the traditions. Luckily, if you are a Malayalee, then no much customs are there to follow except for FOOD ;) There are 2 main festivals (Onam & Vishu) & 2 star birthdays (Arun's & Mine) which come in a year where I try to make the traditional Feast or a Sadya. I have made almost all the Sadya vattams, here at my home except for "Erissery". The reason is not because, I don't like it...it's because I never got good Yellow Pumpkins. All I used to get was those culinary Halloween Pumpkins which was not at all fit for cooking!! ;( Back home in India, I never used to even touch Erissery, because I was so fed up of eating it Day after Day. But when I came here & was aloof of all the tasty Veggie dishes of Kerala, the eagerness to make Erissery at Home & have it w...

It's Celebration time all the way!! Why? Because My FB fan page has just reached 150 "Likes" & am so thrilled. Also, the festivities will start from August in India. First coming up is "Raksha Bandhan", the festival which celebrates the relationship & bond of a Brother & Sister. So I thought of coming up with an easy to make Indian Sweet Dish, "Peda". A "Peda" is a North Indian Milk Sweet mainly consisting of Khoa (thickened whole milk), sugar & other Indian flavourings like saffron & cardamom seeds. Pedas are usually made during festivities or for offerings made in the temple for deities. This recipe is a simple process of the same "time consuming" Pedas where the Milk is kept on the heat for hours to make khoa & then goes to the next process. This is the first time for me as well & I have taken this recipe from "showmethecurry.com" the cookery website of Hetal & Anuja. And I must say...

My love towards Pasta continues & today I have brought to you the "4P's" for your Friday Supper. It is the Pasta, Peas, Prawns & Pancetta day, this "Fit & Fabulous Friday". And Co-incidentally, My Zumba DVD kit has also arrived and am super excited about it. Just praying to God to give me strong Will power to Survive on Salads , Walks & Zumba workout. I need to remove these lumps of FAT from my body by hook or crook. Its High Time!! This time I have used Tagliatelle Pasta, the thick flat noodle shaped like Pad Thai. Combined with pink Prawns & Pancetta, with some Green Peas, this dish will never go wrong. This is a Super Easy supper in which you have veggie, sea food & meat combined together to give that yummy flavour yet very healthy. So let's finish cooking quickly in just 20 minutes.!! Ingredients: 200 gm tagliatelle (or any other shape of pasta) 15-20 tiger prawns 65 gm pancetta cubes 1 cup fresh / frozen peas 2 big cloves o...

For the past one week, I was not interested in doing anything. No cooking, No blogging, No nothing. Mood swings in a lady can be better understood only by another lady, so am not going into detail. My mind and body went into stealth mode. Am slowly coming out of it. That is why I didn't explore any of my fellow bloggers recipes too, hence I apologize for not visiting your blogs & giving my valued comments .;) I am just putting up a basic version of Mashed potatoes, which I had made a couple of months ago, to have it with my Caribbean Chicken . Mostly every one knows how to make this simple Mash but this recipe is for those who are new to cooking and would want to know the basic recipes. Mashed Potatoes can be a great accompaniment with a good Roast Chicken. Its a delightful experience on its own. Ok, Am going back to my Stealth mode again.....Hope to be back pretty soon!!. Ingredients: 4-5 big floury potatoes (preferably maris piper) 125 ml milk 25 g butter salt & pepper t...

I realised that its been a long time since I made any good beverage. The summer is still soaring and will be at its peak for the next 2 more months over here. So I thought why not I make a drink which is chilled, tasty & healthy too at the same time. As am not a big fruit fan, I preferred using almonds for my drink. Badam Milk, was a popular choice at my College Canteen days. The chilled bottle of a Badam Milk made my whole day so good & refreshing. Hence I made this refreshing drink yesterday just to re live my College Canteen days with my friends. And its a "Fit & Fabulous Friday" too, and Almonds/Badam is super rich in vitamins & dietary fiber. The Vitamin E in it helps to improve the skin complexion, which I think all the ladies will be happy to know. In India, Almond drink is served in almost all the regions at different festive occasions because, Milk is considered to be very auspicious & with Almonds in it, makes the simple milk, "droolwo...

This recipe of "Minced Meat Pasta with Rum & Cheese" is brought to you by my very good friend Simran Wahan, who has tried & tasted herself at her home & recommended the same to be published on my blog. I was also super excited as this is the very first "Guest" Recipe & that too from a non blogger. So excuse the clarity of the photographs as she had no intention of sending this recipe to me but later changed her mind. Thank You Simran for your lovely recipe, and am sure your recipe will be seen world wide & will be tried out by some foodies at their respective kitchens, including me. ;) Ingredients: 200 gm pasta (Any of your choice) 500 gm minced meat 20 ml rum (Simran says, if you can handle it, add more ;) ) 200 gm sweet corn soup powder (any corn based soup) 5-6 cloves of garlic (crushed) 10 gm sugar loads of grated cheese (preferably mozzarella or cheddar) fresh sprig of thyme or dried thyme to sprinkle at the end salt & pepper to season M...