Sauteed Corn and Avocado Salad!

With fall just behind us and winter fast approaching, the weather has been such that we mostly tend to spend the evenings getting cozy and comfortable on our couch. Getting cozy on the couch often gets associated with a hot cup of tea and something to snack on. This warm corn salad is another one of my mom's recipes that makes me nostalgic during those fall-winter evenings. Of course the avocado was my touch to it to add another texture dimension to it (and not to mention for my avocado crazy hubs). The sweetness of the corn together with the kick from the spices and the creaminess from the avocado chunk creates an interesting play of taste and texture on your palate. Not to mention the occasional peanut to add that nutty flavor and a crunch.

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Easy-Cheesy Garlic Bread

here are four things right about this recipe - toasted bread, garlic, butter and of course can't go wrong with melted cheese. Those are reasons enough for me to snack on this delight every so often. The very first time that I made it though, the reason was a little different. Every time hubby would cross the frozen foods aisle in our local grocery store he would point to one of the freezers and say 'hey why don't we get that garlic bread, they are really easy to make and are a great snack'. I would always cast him off as 'you always like to buy this junk from the stores, I will make you these at home some day'. Not sure what went through his mind but poor guy never said anything. A few moons ago, that one day finally arrived and when I made these I was totally hooked myself. He said it was way better than the ones in the store and I am not the one to complain when I get a compliment like that. Yes we have passed that freezer several times since and he has never brought it up again. 

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Pizza Buns

ast night I was officially declared food crazy by hubby. We had dinner, tucked our little one into bed, watched some TV and then as we were getting ready to call it a night, this crazy idea struck me. God help me, it was almost close to midnight but I had to make these buns that would be stuffed with pizza sauce and pizza toppings. I call them pizza buns not sure if such a thing even exist. With much excitement I explained the recipe to poor hubby who listened to me with his jaw dropped to the floor. I could see him calling me crazy in the back of his head - not that I cared at the time - I just had to make it. I am sure some of my readers will identify with me (please say yes, its very important for the self-affirmation of my sanity :)
Anyway, believe it or not, the project took a little over an hour and by some insanely ungodly hour we were standing in the middle of the kitchen enjoying the pizza buns. I was so tired I don't even remember what they tasted like but hubby tells me they were awesome as he ate a couple (and he never eats anything that late).
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Strawberry Ice-Cream

uscious plump strawberries so aptly represent the spring and summer in my opinion. Nature at its prime, vibrant and full while the strawberries are gorgeously plump, red, sweet and juicy, a delightful treat for the eyes and taste buds alike. The bright sunshine, the blooms and the flowers make you feel good and admire nature and so is the sight of the red strawberries which are to be seen everywhere. My shopping baskets get filled with the bright reds every time I visit the stores – they are irresistible (and also very cheap lol:)) And so as you have guessed I have been making a lot of things with these beauties lately and this is the first in the series - a stunning pink and delightfully yummy strawberry ice-cream.
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Paneer Pav Bhaji with homemade Pav Buns

umbai is famous around the world as the center of Indian cinema "Bollywood", what some do not know that it is also famous for its array of mouth watering street foods especially the chaats available at every street corner. Juhu beach, especially is the most famous hub - a very crowded place where you often find yourself wading through a sea of people with the sound of the waves crashing in the background often looking for the next yummy food stall that gets your attention among the numerous street food vendors lined up. No trip to this beach is complete without having those delectable chaats they serve there and possibly a healthy dose of pani poories, vada pav, batata, bhel. Watching the vendors mix up the ingredients and cook up your snack to order with sheer abandon - without a care in the world, while keeping a keen eye for anyone who needs that extra little chutney, is a pleasure by itself. These street foods have crossed boundries of the city (and even the country) and are found practically everywhere there is Indian food sold.
Pav Bhaji is another such road-side delicacy. It is a very easy and a kind of street food that is a wholesome meal in itself and relatively healthier (if you minus all the amul butter of course). It is basically kind of a stew a mix of different vegetables in a spicy tomato gravy with loads of butter and eaten with butter soaked pav bread which is used scoop up the bhaji--yum :) This is even served at fancy restaurants and even top chefs boast of having this in their repertoire. A great one pot meal especially with the overload of vegetables in it. Fussy eaters like it and eat up all the veggies mixed in the yummy bhaji.
Usually paneer is not used as an ingredient in the bhaji. I decided to try it out with it. After-all if you saw my Paneer Tawa Masala, when you can mix pav bhaji masala in paneer, why not mix paneer in pav bhaji - makes sense, right? It did to me and it made an already awesome dish abso'freaking'lutely fanstastic. If it was any proof for me, hubby said this is how pav bhaji was gonna be made in this household henceforth, with paneer!

Here's the recipe for my homemade Pav buns.The traditional pav bread as it is called ladi pav in India is a yeasty crusty bread with a soft texture inside. You can use the store bought dinner rolls but I prefer this homemade one.

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Spinach Mushroom Cutlets

hat to make for our daily evening snack always gets me thinking. I try to go for something quick, nutritious as well as fun. The 'fun' part is especially important to get my little princess excited to try it out and obviously I care about the nutritious aspect. In short that is the basis on which I came up with this cutlet. It turned out to be a good way to get spinach into my little one. Hubby was sure enough onboard as he mostly is with anything fried :) You can dip them in your favorite sauce or chutney and eat them as is or stick them inside a bun and enjoy as a sandwich.

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Mango-Saffron Kulfi for the Men in Blue

s I write this and get ready to publish, I cannot but help mentioning the victory of the Indian cricket team in the Cricket World Cup. Hip Hip Hooray! Three cheers for the Men in Blue. It feels great to be on top of the world and in such style. Go India! So this post is dedicated to the victory.
As the mercury climbs and the sun becomes more relentless, it is beginning to remind me of summers in India. The carefree school days, long summer holidays, visiting grandpa's place- I am sure each one of us must have some fond memories of summer like these. Summer also reminds us of our favorite food ice-cream :).The popular variation of which in India is called Kulfi. I have some fond memories of those summer evenings. I remember whenever we used to go out to eat chaat and panipuri (which was very often) we had to have kulfi otherwise the whole outing used to be incomplete. 

Kulfi is an Indian version of ice-cream... often flavored with cardamom, saffron and nuts and has a very unique flavor. It has similarities with ice-cream in terms of texture, taste and of course the fact that it is frozen milk! But unlike western ice creams, kulfi is not whipped, resulting in a solid, dense frozen dessert. Where I come from, it is often served with falooda noodles (kind of like vermicelli). During the summers in india, there is no dessert more popular than kulfi.

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Methi-Matar/Fenugreek-Peas Stuffed Paratha with Grape Walnut Raita

tuffed parathas are really popular in India. They can be found on the menus of high-end restaurants as well are made fresh to order in road side dhabas. They come in different types obviously varying by their filling. I have yet to meet a person who does not like them, yes regardless of their filling. There is just something about them.

A stuffed paratha is basically an unleavened and pan fried flat bread stuffed with variety of fillings like spicy potatoes, peas, cauliflower, paneer and even with chicken. You can even find them with sweet fillings too. They are generally served simply with pickle, yogurt or just a little pat of butter... mmmm! It is a staple dish in almost all Indian households with minor variation in the recipe here and there. I remember mom often used to make these for breakfast and also sometimes for dinner with tomato chutney during winter times and it was always soul satisfying.

Hubby loves aloo paratha and my favorite is the one with stuffed peas. In this recipe I added some of the leftover methi leaves to my regular recipe of matar parathas and the result was fabulous. The sweetness of the peas with the flavor of methi and all the spices tucked inside the crispy yet soft bread was a total winner.

I chose to accompany my parathas with some raita. The raita below is one of my mom's famous raita recipe. The sweet tiny mini grapes with the fresh creamy yogurt and nuts is a the perfect side with these or any kind of stuffed parathas.

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Gujiya - Holi hai!

ujiya is a traditional indian sweet dish made typically during the festival of Holi. The sweet delicious filling inside the crunchy flaky pastry covering tastes out of this world and makes you want to grab some again and again. Gujias slightly vary from region to region. In the Northern parts of India, the filling is made with sweetened khoya and dry fruits and nuts while in South Western States, it consists of shredded coconut, nuts and jaggery or sugar. I of course like this the way my mom makes them.

Where I come from, we call it Pedukiya. These are made in most households during the festivities of Holi like it was in ours. They always take me back in time to those days when on the morning of the festival, you would wake up and go out on the streets armed with all your paints, colors and gulal. Any person you find young or old, whether you know them or not, you make sure you get them painted beyond recognition. Of course you get the brunt of it too so much so you would not recognize if you saw yourself in the mirror... lol. While you did all that, you would sneak an occasional peak in the house and pick a taste of all the goodies mom was busy cooking up. I remember how my mother and aunts used to make it and how all of us children would huddle up in the kitchen and be curious and all excited, waiting for the treat. The sweet aroma of festivity, sounds of laughter, the deep frying, chit-chat, gossip... I miss them all... here in my kitchen when alone I cook something like this there is not someone always to taste as it comes hot off the frying pan, the chit-chat... but the aroma of cooking the warmth of festivity makes me feel at home again. I have the sweetest and the most caring man in the whole world who is my sous chef my taster my food critic, my everything. With him and my our little bundle of joy everyday feels like a festival and keep me going!

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Mushroom Corn Pulao

y kid doesn't eat very well! The universal problem which has been troubling every parent since eternity (except the few lucky ones... touchwood :) is going on with me too. My    little one is a picky eater and I mean REALLY picky. Since she was little tiny baby I had problem feeding her which used to be like 45 min to an hour in one sitting. She is almost four now but that still continues. The few things she likes are to eat are mushrooms, nutella, olives, paneer, pineapple and rotini pasta. She doesn't like sweets of any kind except chocolate and nutella (for that I don't blame her... she took after me after all :). She even eats the spicy mushroom curry without complaining. In fact she doesn't like being treated like a baby when it comes to food (or anything else). Believe it or not she does not like even the classic kids stuff like fries, nuggets and the like. Three going on thirteen if you know what I mean. Yup we have a drama queen in our house... lol. I keep on experimenting with the things she likes. Yesterday was no exception. I was thinking what to give her for dinner and I came up with this and bingo it was well liked by kiddo and papa alike :) And I got one more recipe to please the taste buds of my little princess and a perfect one pot meal for those lazy days.

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Vegetable Seekh Kebab with Green Chutney

he word "Kebab" has always fascinated me. I don't know... just the sound of it is so sophisticated and exotic that whether you have ever even seen it or not, you want to try it when you hear it... and believe me you will love it when you do :) But sadly for me they have always been synonymous with meat based preparations and being a vegetarian I just never could have any. Lately I came to know about veggie kebabs. I was elated by the thought that I could now eat kebabs and tried to recreate these beauties and it was exactly as I though it would be... exotic, elegant and heavenly tasting. These are perfect appetizers for get-togethers and pot lucks. Super easy to make and your guests will definitely go WOW when you serve these. 
You may find several recipes for kebabs if you look around but in my opinion this is an easy and no-fuss version that you will want to make over and over. Also, traditionally they are made in a tandoor or deep fried but I just shallow fry or broil them in the oven so they are very healthy too... lots of veggies and very little oil. As everything that goes in it is already cooked so very little oil is needed.
If you are making a large batch of the kebabs say for a big gathering, you can also bake them on a baking sheet. Just spray the sheet with cooking oil and broil them on high in your oven for 5-6 minutes on each side.
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Crêpe with Strawberry compote and Pistachios

hen hubby introduced me to crêpes a couple of years ago, he called them the 'American Dosa'! These were the times when it had only been a short few weeks after I had arrived to the US after getting married and hubby was getting me acquainted with the local cuisine. There was this crêpe place near work that made the most amazing savory mushroom crêpes, he claimed. I totally loved them too. The sauteed mushrooms in a thick creamy gravy wrapped in a crispy yet soft crêpe. We went there several times. This was what seems like an age ago. Since then the place closed down and the exotic taste of the mushroom crêpe became a distant memory. Until one evening recently we drove down to a mall that is kinda far but we've always wanted to go there. We spotted a crêpe store in one of those food courts. This rekindled the memories of all the sweet and savory goodness of this great French dish.  We enjoyed all different kinds and now that I was a food blogger, I decided to make it for myself :)

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Pasta with sun dried tomato pesto zucchini and mushroom

hen it comes to eating her dinner, there is only a very few combinations that my 3 year old princess will eat without any fuss. Among those few, the combination of pasta, mushrooms and ketchup tops her charts. She will eat this without having to remind her over and over to pick up the fork. Let me also tell you that she has a very sophisticated palate :) and doesn't like anything that is make 'kids style'. Believe me or not, she prefers the spicy Haldiram bhujia over MacDonald's fries (yes that's right)... her pasta needs to have spices and veggies... you get the idea. Here's a recipe for a pasta dish that I had made once when I had guests over. The guests loved it and to our pleasant surprise, our little one gobbled the leftovers up.
So without any further ado, especially for all you moms out there, here is the recipe.

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