Love and Calories!!

I was never a fan of oranges until I recently visited Seville. One of the specialties in Seville are their Oranges. You love it or hate it, but you just can't ignore those orange trees in Seville. I was completely enthralled when I saw hundreds of oranges hanging from trees, many sploshed on roads and nobody even cared or dared to pluck / pick them. Later on, I came to know that the Seville oranges have a bitter taste to them and having very few seeds , these oranges make the perfect base for marmalade. Their aroma is similar to that of other oranges, but they have a more potent “orange” flavor. There are thousands of orange trees lined the streets of Seville and when these trees are flowering, the tree lets out a citrusy fresh aroma and the fragrance linger for a long time throughout the city. This orange-y punch made me drink freshly squeezed orange juice three times a day during my 2 weeks stay in Spain. :)  My love for oranges still continues an...

Sometimes you don't have to  cook really fancy. You just have to meddle with few fresh ingredients and boom...you get a masterpiece. This is one such dish which I make for my mid week supper and it takes no more than 30 minutes to prepare. Salmon is something that I stock up in my fridge all the time and the fish being so versatile, I  often try different marinade to get a different dish each time. Today I am sharing  an Asian inspired dressing for your lovely pink salmon and to go as accompaniment, what better than mashed spuds. Wasabi lovers out there...add a teeny weeny amount to your mashed potatoes and see that instant kick that you will get. ;)  Asian style Salmon Ingredients: 2 boneless salmon fillet 1 tbsp soy sauce 1 tsp honey 1 tbsp sesame oil 1/2 inch ginger (grated) 2-3 cloves of garlic (grated) 1 tbsp sesame seeds pepper to season Method: Preheat the oven to 200 degree Celsius. For the marinade, Combine the soy sauce, hone...

Happy New year everyone!! Yes I am alive. Fat and fine as usual and am extremely ashamed of not posting a single recipe in 2014 and I blame it solely on me. Sloth is one deadly sin and I confess that I was fully drowned in one. However I have buried my lazy past in the past and here I am starting my 2015 with a bang. I have dusted the cobwebs from my blog and it’s now up and running. The love and calories is here with double the love and may be fewer calories. My first post of this year is “breaking the fast Muffins”. Since it’s got some dried fruits, seeds and carrots in it, you can very well call it a “Healthy” muffin. I had these lovelies last weekend for my breakfast accompanied by some freshly squeezed orange juice prepared by hubby dear. It was indeed a good start of the day. :P Ingredients: · 300g of plain flour · 50g of oats · 50g of caster sugar · 3 tsp of baking powder · Handful of sunflower and pumpkin seeds · Two handfuls of any chop...

When I go for my weekly shopping at the Tescos or Waitrose, I spend atleast 4-5 minutes in the Cereal aisle. I love to see and read those different varieties and colourful packages of corn flakes, bran flakes, weetabix, cheerios, different flavoured oats, muesli etc. Out of these, Granola always stood out. This luxury cereal always grabbed my attention. By the look of those golden honey roasted oats, mixed with nuts and berries of different combination, my mind imagines a bowl, spoon and a dollop of greek yoghurt and me having Granola in some island in Greece. (the luxury advertisements influence my thoughts)!! :P So the love for granola made me look for a homemade version of it and 'BBC food' helped me come out with this one. The entire process of mixing the rolled oats in maple syrup and honey and later roasting it with the mixed nuts and berries was indeed therapeutic. I have made a tin full of granola and safely stored in an air-tight container. It should suffice for ...

So winter is finally here and you got to do something to beat the hell out of it....And let me tell you how I do it... Simple! I cook up some hot fried Desi (Indian) appetizers to warm myself. So, it was the turn of making some Punjabi Samosas this weekend and I made the "world famous"(Yeah..That's how we Indians boast which is praise-worthy)Punjabi Samosa!! These delicious stuffed triangles are the true identity of any Indian. Your celebrations are incomplete if you don't include samosas in your menu. C'mon! Tuhanno Samosa ni pasand? ;). This is the perfect dish which can be served full of love stuffed into those pastries and a bit of calories too. I know many of you are really health conscious but I would suggest making these once in a while, to satisfy your guilty pleasures!! Ting!! Ingredients: 2 cups of plain flour (maida) 1 tsp ajwain (carom seeds) 1 tbsp ghee (clarified butter) 4-5  big potatoes 1 cup of boiled peas 2 inch ginger (finely chopp...

As soon as I got up from my bed after that extra hour of sleep (thanks to the end of the day light saving), I wanted to have a nice cup of hot English tea with some cookies. My biscuit tin was as usual empty so I quickly browsed through my baking bible and found this quick and instant recipe. As my hubby waited for his breakfast, I gave priority to my biscuits first...  :P Scottish Shortbread...mmmm...those buttery goodness that is baked to perfection and when put in mouth melts instantly. And it is so so easy to bake. You just need those three basic baking ingredients to get going...Flour, Butter and sugar. I just added some orange juice for that slight variation!! Ingredients: 175 g plain flour 100 g butter 50 g caster sugar zest and juice of 1 orange Method:   Heat oven to 180 degree Celsius. Line a couple of baking sheets with baking parchment. I normally use a non stick baking tray so I avoid the sheets. Sift the flour into a bowl and rub in the bu...

Fish make a quick, easy yet delectable dish with the ingredients readily available in your pantry. Haddock fillets came to my rescue on a Saturday night when I was tired of the general weekend routine. The dinner was done and dusted within twenty minutes and it looked like a Michelin  star restaurant dish. Arun was ready with two glasses of wine while I served him a great looking and delicious dinner!! Saturday was well spent at home. Ingredients: 2 fresh haddock fillets  handful of cherry tomatoes (I used the normal ones as I didn't have cherry tomatoes) 2 tbsp mayonnaise 2 cloves of garlic (peeled and grated) 1 cup of breadcrumbs (I used Japanese penko crumbs, you can use the normal ones too) juice of 1/2 lemon handful of fresh parsley or 1 tbsp of dried parsley 1 tbsp olive oil salt and pepper to season Method:  Preheat the oven to 220 degree Celsius. Lightly oil a large baking tray, then lay the haddock and tomatoes alongside each other. In a s...