Unveil the flavours

I have some baking skills too. This I discovered recently when I cooked some perfect short breads. Now let me tell you what you need to bake them are really simple ingredients from your pantry. 1. 3/4 Cup of All purpose flour[I used Maida ] 2. 3/4 Cup of vanilla custard powder [I used wheat flour] 3. 1/2 cup of Powdered sugar [You can adjust sweetness as per your taste. I loved the breads with just about 2 tsp of powdered sugar] 4. 1 tsp of baking powder 5. 1/4 tsp  elachi powder 6. 2 Tbsp milk 7. Saffron/Kesar - few strands 8.4 Tbsp curds 9. 4 Tsp butter 10. Red Cherries for garnishing                           Dip Saffron/Kesar in milk for about 5 minutes. Sieve the all purpose flour + wheat flour and baking powder together into a dry bowl. Beat butter, curds, powdered sugar and kesar milk until all come together in a separate bowl. Mix the dry ingredients with the wet ones to form a soft dough. ...

Kesaribath with a variation. Plain sooji with simple twist - the way all like it at home. Ingredients: 1. Ripe Banana - 1 or 2 2. Rava/Sooji  - 1 cup 3. Ghee - 2 tsp 4. Cashew and Raisins - 8 to 10 each 5. Sugar - 2 tsp Method: 1. Fry the cashew and raisins in a tsp of ghee. Remove them into a plate after 3 minutes. 2. In the same pan saute Rava for about 5 min. 3. Add a 2 cups of water and allow it to cook. 4. Cut the ripe banana into small cubes and add it to the boiling mix. 5. Add the sugar and cook on medium flame for about another 5 min. 6. Finally garnish with cashews and raisins.

KodubaLe is a tea - time snacking dish which is crispy fried and just right about the way one longs to munch along with a cup of hot coffee. Ingredients: 1. Grated Coconut - 1/2 cup 2. Chopped Coriander leaves - 1/4 cup 3. Chopped Curry leaves - 1/4 Cup 4. Rice Flour - 1.5 cup 5. Oil - to fry 6. Salt - to taste 7. Chilli powder - 2 tsp 8. Jeera - 1.5 tsp Method: 1. Mix all the ingredients[Except oil] into a dough similar to chapati/roti. 2. Make small balls of the dough and shape each one into a bangle. 3. Deep fry in oil to get yummy crispy KodubaLe to munch on. Above ingredients will make about 30 KodubaLe's of a size of 2 inches diametered bangles.

Navraatri calls for special cooking and here is what I cooked on the first day.- Kayi bella Barfi. Ingredients: 1. Fresh grated Coconut 1 cup 2. Jaggery 3/4th cup 3. Salt - a pinch 4. Elachi/Cardomom powder - 1/4 tsp 5. Ghee - 3 to 4 tsp Method 1. Place a pan on low flame. 2. Add 2 tsp of ghee. 3. Add the coconut and powdered jaggery into it. 4. Mix it well until it blends and entire mixture starts leaving the pan. 5. Add the Elachi powder and the remaining ghee for extra flavour and taste. 6. Pour the contents onto a plate greased with a drop of ghee. 7. Cut into square or diamond shaped pieces and allow it to cool. Note: For garnishing you can use raisins, cashews or any other nuts.

I will never go wrong with this burfi not only because its so easy but also for the fact that its yummy, delicious and a sweet with richness. Ingredients: 1. Unsalted Cashews - 400 grams 2. Sugar  - 200 grams 3. Strawberry - About 6 or 7 4. Badam milk powder - 2 tbsp Optional : Pistachios, Walnuts. Method. Grind the cashew into fine powder and pour it into a bowl. Cut strawberries and add 2 tbsp of sugar. Make a puree of it and keep it aside.[Do not add water to make the puree] Mix the remaining sugar to the powdered cashew. On a double boiler system place this bowl with the cashew sugar mixture. Slowly the sugar melts and mixes with the cashew making a fine paste. When the mixtures leaves the sides of the bowl thats when you make three equal portions of the mixture. For the first part of the mixture add the strawberry puree. Keep stirring till this gels well with the cashew-sugar dough. To another part add badam powder and a little of kesar color to make it attr...

A chocolate lover ME never get an aversion to chocolates. I love them in all forms. But yeah nothing can beat the Dairy milk versions in the market. Of late the silk with a touch of Orange --- Yummmyyyy!!! I had been planning to make some chocolates at home from a very very long time. Had surfed the net which resulted a lot of versions of making simple dark chocolate right from scratch. Of all the recepies I found, the simplest one below is what I chose to start my trial with. Ingredients: 1. Sugar - 1 Cup 2. Milk Powder - 1 Cup 3. Butter - 3/4 Cup 4. Cocoa Powder - 3/4 Cup Method: Firstly sieve the Cocoa Powder and Milk powder into a container/bowl in order to have a smooth textured chocolate finesse. Now make a sugar syrup - to a single string consistency. Make sure it is a strong string which does not break easily.[I used fine white sugar , maybe you could give a try with icing sugar.] Remove this syrup from the direct flame. Next on a double boiler system add b...

I love rotis and I love to experiment flavors for its complimenting side dish. In this trial I have found this simple dish prepared with easily available ingredients very tasty that goes perfect with Indian bread. Here is how I prepare my Paneer Curry. Ingredients: 1. Paneer - 75 grams 2. Red Chilli - 1 to 2 3. Jeera - 1 tsp 4. Mustard - 1/2 tsp 5. Tomato - 1 diced into small cubes 6. Onion - 1 chopped fine 7. Garlic - 6 to 7 cloves 8. Yogurt/Curd - 2 tsp 9. Tamarind powder - 1 tsp 10.Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp 11.Olive oil - 2 tbsp 12.Turmeric - a pinch 13.Salt - to taste 14.Jaggery - small piece 15.Carrot - 1 small  Method: 1. Boil the diced carrot with a pinch of salt. 2. In a kadai heat a tbsp of oil. 3. Add jeera/cumin seeds, methi(mustard), red chilli and garlic pods and fry until the flavours fill the room. 4. Add the chopped onions, garam masala, turmeric and tamarind powder and fry till onions turn transperant. 5. Add the diced tomato and cook for anothe...