Archives for “Recipes”

Garelu (Spicy Lentil Donuts)

 Garelu or vada are one of those dishes that are a family favourite, but I have always found it to be an extremely time consuming process, until recently when an Aunt of mine suggested using the Urad dal flour instead. Though I love too cook from scratch, there are some dishes I’d rather take shortcuts [...]


Tomato Khichidi

This is a quick week night meal. I have it scheduled on my menu plan for Thursday, but cooked it tonight. Tastes good as is or served with yoghurt and pickle. Ingredients: 1 can chopped tomatoes 2 cups rice 1 cup toor dal (lentils) 1 cup onion chopped 1 cup lima beans 1 medium potato [...]


Savory French Toast

This is a very simple french toast style recipe. Ingredients 3 eggs 1/4 cup milk 4 slices bread salt to taste Method Combine the eggs and milk in a wide shallow dish. Dip a slice of bread in the egg and milk mixture, making sure it is coated evenly on both sides. Cook in a [...]


Suji Halwa

This is a very easy dessert to whip up.I call it Suji Halwa and DH calls it Kesari.  Basically it is Halwa in the Northern India and Kesari in Southern India. A few strands of saffron (kesar) are also added in the south for color and flavor.  I prefer to make it with fine suji [...]


Ulava Charu

It has been ages since I did a post and about time I got back to blogging. Well I have also started writing for Suite101, so do go and check out my recipe for Ulava Charu at their Site. I have also added a little description of how it is made traditionally. I love exploring the origins [...]


Zucchini Cutlets

I am always on the lookout for tasty and healthy vegetarian recipes. I love to entertain and as most of my friends are vegetarians, I try to find vegetarian dishes which will be universally liked. Recently I stumbled across a blog called The Raw and The Cooked. Opal has some really yummy looking recipes and [...]


Easy French Toast

This is a childhood favorite of mine. I made it for Aditya and he loved it. I served it with strawberries and syrup. He could hardly wait for me to finish taking the picture before he dug in. Ingredients 2 slices bread 1 egg 2 tbsp half and half or milk 1/4 tsp salt 1 [...]


Pulihora ( Tamrind Rice )

  Pulihora is the Andhra name for this South Indian Dish. It is also known as Puilogare in Kannada and Puli Satham in Tamil.  The basic concept of the dish is the same even though it migh have minor variations in the recipe.


Cabbage and Lima Beans Curry

This dish got reasonably good reviews and I actually managed to make S like a cabbage curry for once. Ingredients 1 small cabbage, chopped fine 1 medium onion, chopped fine 1 pkt frozen Baby Lima Beans 1 dry red chilli 1 tsp jeera ( cumin seeds) 1 tsp rai ( mustard seeds) 1 sprig curry [...]


Homemade Rice a Roni

Wednesday night dinner plan was creamy orzo with mustard chicken and steamed veggies. I could not resist deviating a bit. The main ingredients were the same but final results were something totally new. I served homemade rice a roni with foil packet veggie and chicken bake. Ingredients 1 cup – rice 1 cup – orzo [...]


Easy Potato Soup

Here is a recipe for an easy potato soup made by using the Instant Potato Soup Mix. Ingredients 1 medium potato, diced 2 tbsp TVP bacon bits 4 cups water 1/2 cup Instant Potato Soup Mix 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese, optional oil for cooking Method Heat oil in a pan and add the bacon [...]


Breakfast Hoagie

Today morning I was contemplating making savory pancakes, but on taking inventory of my pantry I found a few leftover hot dog buns. As today is Friday I knew we wouldn’t be touching them until next Monday. It was time to put them to good use, but how was the question? Again as I mentioned [...]


Instant Potato Soup

This is a very standard recipe, which you can find almost all over the web. I omitted two ingredients as I did not have one and just forgot about the other. Any way here is my version of the recipe. Ingredients 1 3/4 Cups Instant Mashed Potatoes 1 1/2 Cups Dry Milk 2 Tablespoons Instant [...]


Chicken and Veggie Hash

This is a very versatile dish and can be adapted to suit ones personal tastes. If you want a vegetarian version you can omit the chicken or substitute TVP instead. Also instead of the Chicken Enchilada sauce you could add 2 Tbsp of flour and a little water to provide the required wet consistency. Ingredients [...]


Ok this is really a jazzed up omelet according to me. It makes for a meal unto itself. As a kid my first cooking experiment was making an omelet. And it had been a fiasco. Well not really, after the initial hitch things went pretty well actually. I had wanted to go about making it [...]


Tomato Garbanzo Soup

This soup was inspired from My Friend Bharathi and Soup Plantation. Bharathi made a soup with Garbanzo in it and we loved it. Later we also had a Cheesy Tomato soup at Soup Plantation. So mine is a combination of the two. Cheese and Garbanzo in a Tomato Soup can really jazz up the soup. [...]


Ingredients 2 large – beerakai ( ridge gourd ) 2 medium – onions, chopped ½ tsp – mustard seeds ( aawalu ) ½ tsp – cumin seeds ( jeelakara ) 1 tsp – coriander seed powder ( dhanialu podi ) 1 – dry red chilli 1 clove – garlic, lightly crushed 1 pinch – turmeric [...]


Making ghee at home is very easy and after tasting the one made at home you will never again buy any from the store. Initially when I came to the US I used to try collecting the cream from the milk as we did in India to make ghee. After a while I gave up [...]


Easy Fruit Punch

This is a very simple punch I serve on quick fix occasions. One can easily substitute the flavors and juices to meet their own requirements, based on what’s available. Ingredients  1 bottle – sparkling blueberry juice 1 bottle – sparkling lemonade 1 bottle – sparkling orangeade 1 carton – guava juice ice orange and lemon [...]


Chow Mein

Ingredients 2 packets – noodles 1 cup – carrot juliennes 1 cup – beans, French cut 1 cup – cabbage, thinly sliced 1 cup – mung bean sprouts4 – Scallions, chopped 4 tbsp – soy sauce 4 tbsp – vinegar 2 – eggs Method Cook the noodles according to directions. I usually use the pre [...]


Jeera Chicken

This is a simple chicken dish with very few ingredients. Ingredients 1 lb – chicken 2 medium – onions, sliced 3 nos – green chilies, sliced 1 tsp – red chili powder 3 tbsp – jeera powder 1 tbsp – ginger garlic paste ¼ tsp – turmeric powder juice of 2 lemons salt to taste [...]


This is one of the simplest dishes to make. It is usually served with rice, ghee and pickle. The Avakaya Pachhadi (spicy mango pickle) is usually the favorite with this dish. It is also one of the first foods given to children in Andhra.  Soft cooked rice and sudda pappu with a generous helping of  [...]


This is another quick dinner dish which can be put on the table pretty fast. Some fresh and warm garlic bread on the side makes a great accompaniment. Ingredients 1 cup – Cooked Chicken ½ cup – chopped frozen Spinach 2 tbsp – Carnea Asada Marinade 1 can – tomato soup ½ tsp – sweet [...]


Panini Sandwich

Making a Panini Sandwich at home is not too difficult. I love hot sandwiches especially in winters.  A hot sandwich and soup on a cold winter day is a very satisfying meal. Ingredients 2 slices – Sourdough Bread 1 slice – cheese (your favorite variety) 2 slices – deli meat chicken 2 slices – tomatoes [...]


Mongolian Noodles

This has been one of my experiments during my lack of posts vacation. I love this dish for its simplicity and the fact that it is a one dish meal. This is again one of my favorite dinner in a hurry meal. The best part about it is that even chopping the veggies for this [...]




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