My little cupcake has started school and week days are so well packed for us, but it isn't worse though. Her first day of school gave such an excitement to the whole family ; we were enjoying each and every part of it. It reminded us of our school days. Everything was new, dress to bags to pencil boxes , mostly every single thing. back in India every tailoring shops would be super busy stitching uniforms , and every shop would be so crowded with kids and parents

Well, this Vegetable Rice has a special place in for me , one of my cousin sister , luckily she stayed so near by our home ; well  she isn't much into cooking but there are a few of her staple dishes that i love , and one of that being her super easy vegetable rice.  Its best to be had right out from the hot pot.

The recipe is simple as well as the ingredients , but the aroma of this rice is so good, that i just finish it off without any curry. I love you so much for all those hot steel dabbas filled with super yum rice.

Simple Vegetable Rice

Ingredients :

1.5 cup Basmati Rice ( washed and soaked for 15 - 20 mins )
1/2 cup diced / chopped  Carrots and Beans
1/4 Green Peas ( i used frozen )
2 tbsp Ghee

2 -3 Cardamom crushed
1 inch Cinnamon stick
2 -3 Cloves

Method:

Heat ghee / oil in a pressure cooker and add in the whole spices.
Add in the veggies and toss in for about 5min.
Drain rice and add in to the pressure cooker; mix well with the veggies and fry in for a min.
Pour in 2 cups of warm water and let the rice get boiled and about just cooked .
Close the cooker lid and reduce the heat to low - medium and cook for about 15 min.
Open once cooled and serve with any curry of your choice ,i served mine with  Kerala Nadan Chicken Curry , but i have a few more non - veg recipes which goes well with this rice.

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           Ethappazham / Ripe Plaintain are always something very nostalgic to me. As a kid i was seen as the thinnest girl , and each and every aunties who met my Amma would suggest her many a ways to make me get atleast eat something and gain weight. Its now that being a parent i realize how hard it was on her to get me to put a bit of flesh !!! But never did something like that happen then, but now its not at all that way any more. ;)

Well talking about this particular recipe , this was one of the method suggested to my mom to help me put on some weight , i loved eating it , but nothing magical happened with my weight number. So its kind of nostalgically connected with me ;) . Now even after years of gaining more weight , i still love to have this not with the mind set of  gaining anymore of the weight , but for the taste.
Even my little darling she is a huge fan of this Ethapazham Fry. 
I usually burn my bananas and so the Caramelized taste , and we all love it.


Caramelized Ripe Plaintain / Ethappazham Fry

Ingredients:

1 Ripe Plaintain / Ethappazham ( cut in rounds )
1 -2 tbsp of Ghee ( or even more during the frying )
Sugar to sprinkle

Method:

Heat ghee in a pan and fry the bananas on both the sides on medium to high heat.
 Until the bananas turn  golden brown or even darker,  ( i usually add in a extra spoon on ghee while frying for that extra taste ).
Once done, transfer on to a serving plate drizzle a tsp of ghee on top and sprinkle sugar while still hot, and serve.

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                   Its Holiday season again ;  so, how is your holiday going to be ?? Most of you must be busy planning into something or the other  , may be busy baking and evening preparing for your full fledged feast with friends right?  We are too in the process of planning but not yet got into a decision.

I wanted to share something which got to obtain a very special place at our dining table recently. I still buy bananas , and i do not wait until my bananas turn super ripe but , it just gets to be so. And as i do not usually waste the super ripe bananas, i search on different ways to include it in our food , without making anyone know that there is a overripe banana in what they eat.
This Egg less Banana Cake turns out to be so good and super soft , its so easy to prepare too. Now i really do wait for my bananas to turn over ripe soon. This cake turned out to be the favorite one for my friend's little boy who hates bananas :)

I do have another cake recipes baked with over ripe bananas Moist Chocolate Banana Cake  & Banana Walnut Cake


Eggless Banana Cake - Vegan

Ingredients:
3/4 cup All purpose flour / Maida
6 tbsp Sugar / Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp Baking powder
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/8 tsp Salt

3 Bananas pureed
1/4 cup Vegetable Oil
1/2 tsp Vanilla essence

Method:
Pre - heat oven to 350F and line your cup cake pan with liners , or use any round cake pan.
With a whisk mix the dry ingredients together until well combined.
In another bowl mix together all the wet ingredients.
Slowly add in the flour to the wet mixture and fold until the batter shows no trace of flour.
Do not over mix the batter.
Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan, and bake for 20 - 25 mins or till a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Let the cake cool and serve.


Recipe Source : Indian Cuisine

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             I have never had kulfi while back in India, well i was so picky then that i have not tasted so many dishes or desserts for that matter. But a few years back i got to know what i have been missing all these years just trying to be picky, but lucky me; i tasted a store bought one at my friends house, and then on i started loving it.  I found the ever perfect super easy recipe for a Kulfi. Summer is just brightening each and every day with an ice cream / a falooda and right now its a Kulfi at our home.

I adjusted a few things to make the Kulfi  the way we love it. I have been making this ever since i found this recipe at Show me the Curry, and more over so many friends of mine have tried it too.
And now, i thought i should be posting this on my blog, and what better time would it be , other than a Summer Season.

Right now , little cuppy cake and mommy is having a great ' daughter - mommy ' time just after our lunch , sitting on our couch enjoying our very own Super Easy Home - made  Kulfis !!

Kesar Mango Kulfi
Serves : 20 small plastic cups

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups Mango pulp ( i used the canned one )
14 oz can Sweetened Condensed Milk ( i just used 1/2 can )
12 oz can Evaporated Milk
Saffron 2 pinches
1/2 cup Pistachios ( soaked for 10 mins and skin removed )

8 oz Cool Whip Topping
1 1/2 cup Heavy Whipping Cream

Method:

In a blender, blend together Mango pulp + Condensed Milk + Evaporated Milk + Saffron + pistachios  until slight grainy.
Now mix it with whip topping + heavy whipping cream until well combined.
Pour it into plastic cups / moulds / i used dixie style plastic cups , cover the cup with an aluminium foil,  and insert a popsicle stick / wooden skewer in the middle and freeze it until well set.

Notes :  I used Fat Free condensed milk and Fat Free Evaporated Milk.

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     As kids my brother and myself loved having evening snacks and specially the Chicken Sandwich  from the then famous Bakery in our town , and they had this yummy tasting  sandwiches , cutlets , samosas and many more. As years passed more and more bakeries came and  many started having different kinds of sandwiches, but these remained our favorite.

While browsing i came across this recipe at A Tasty Challenge which exactly looked liked the ones we had as kids. I just didn't need to think twice for a trial, and now i am in love again. As my little one is a great Bread girl, she loved it , and so did her dad. My friends who were over also enjoyed our piece of childhood. It surely did remind my days loving less and fighting more with my brother, yes as any other sibling we too had our share of fights, but it was all solved and something to look back and laugh upon now.

Note: Here i didn't do much changes to the recipe other than adding curd, i really feel the taste of Mayo to be over powering every time i use it in my dishes, so please adjust according to your taste buds.


Chicken - Mayo Sandwich

Ingredients:
2 cups Chicken ( Roasted and Shredded )
1 1/2 cup Cabbage Shredded
1/4 cup Carrot Shredded
1/2 Tomato sliced (seeds removed )
1/3 - 1/2 cup Mayonnaise ( i just used 1/4 cup , adjust to your taste )
3 tbsp Thick Curd ( opt )
1/2  tsp Pepper powder
Salt
Hot Dog Buns as needed
Butter as needed

Method:

For Roasting the Chicken :

Rub 1 Chicken breast with salt , pepper and oil and roast in a pre- heated oven at 350F until done. Cool it and shred.
Mix together Chicken + Cabbage + Carrot + Tomato + mayo + curd + pepper and salt as needed.
Butter a hot dog carefully without splitting it open , stuff in with the filling .
Wrap it with parchment paper  and secure the paper with a toothpick ( i didn't have any ), and Serve.

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Back in Kerala, well i should say for most of the people everywhere, its kind of a ritual to have tea or coffee ( read most of the time tea at our home ) accompanied by a snack around 4 - 5 pm in the evening. But until i got married i was totally forced to have milk mostly, but at times Amma used to make a Simple Hot Complan / Horlicks drink ; she used to add one or two scoops of any flavoured drink mix to a cup of hot water adding a spoon of sugar  - stir well, your Simple Hot Drink is all ready. But apart from the drink  i always looked forward for the special snack Amma prepared, she never used to ask for our opinion, and i loved the surprise behind it. It used to vary every day, may be Stir Fried Lentils  or Poha or  Chicken Cutlets or may be these - fried Plaintain Fritters / Vazhaykka Appam / Pazham Pori. Amma mostly does her job all on her own, she is so unimaginably fast with her kitchen works, i rarely get to help her with the cooking & my work mostly was restricted to cleaning and washing the dishes.

These Plaintain Fritters are made with Plaintains / Kerala Banana the same which is used for making Kerala Banana Chips. A Deep fried Snack and is totally awesome when made with really ripe bananas.
My little one really goes crazy over these, but i rarely make it. So do try these you will love it, and yea Amma adds Jeera, which adds in a special flavour to this.

Plaintain Fritters / Vazhaykka appam

Ingredients :
1 Ripe Plaintain / Kerala Banana / Ethapazham
1 cup Maida / All Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tbsp Sugar ( adjust if the banana is too ripe )
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Jeera ( opt, i added it )
a pinch of Baking Soda
Oil

Method :

Mix all the dry ingredients and add in enough water little by little and make a semi- thick batter without no lumps.
Heat oil in a Kadai and deep fry the plaintains and fry until done or golden in colour.
Serve hot .

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        There are times when some desserts ask for more egg yolks than egg whites and we are left behind with so much egg whites; it keeps running in my mind that i need to make use of it some how and i know it makes most of  us atleast me feel very very bad to throw it away. This is what happened a couple of days ago, i made a dessert which asked for more egg yolks leaving me behind with so much egg whites, which i was not going to throw away at any cost and wanted to make use of it. .

I don't think much when i start searching for a recipe, i just look out for good pictures than the recipe method, and may be the title too, and and there... im so so happy with what i found at last. Just seeing the the word Espresso in the recipe made me tempt to make these lovely Meringues, you can see the original recipe here

ESPRESSO COFFEE MERINGUES
Yields: 30 nos

Ingredients:
4 Egg whites ( left at room temperature for 30 mins)
1/4 tsp Salt
1 1/2 tsp Instant Espresso Powder ( i used Nescafe )
3/4 cup Sugar
1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract ( opt ; but i used it )

Method:

• Adjust the oven rack to lower and middle postions; and pre-heat the oven to 275 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
• In a large clean bowl beat egg whites with salt until frothy. Add in espresso powder and sugar in a slow stream beating on medium until incorporated. Beat until glossy and stiff peaks form.
• Drop batter on prepared sheets using a rounded tablespoon. ( i used my ice cream scooper).
• Bake for about 2 hrs turning pans halfway through cooking, until the meringues are firm to touch.
• Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for 1 hour. Can be stored in a air tight container for upto 5 days.

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We have a very sweet yet very naughty little girl who's just turned two; and now she has started showing her part of personalities, i always get confused on her taste habit, very picky and at the sametime a total contrast, and i sometime find hard what to make her feed with, i just always keeps trying out something or the other from the usual food recipes, apart from the normal food we give for our little sweetheart. Its not that i give her a list of varieties, just wants a way to make her eat healthy food. That is how i tried giving some plain old normal idlis a makeover with some scrambled egg masala, and to my very surprise it was a great hit with my little love as well as hubby dear, and i was so much delighted to have come up with this.

STUFFED IDLY / MUTTA IDLY / EGG IDLY
Recipe Source: My Own

Ingredients:
4 cups Idly Batter
1 big bowl Egg Masala Filling ( recipe follows )
Salt to taste


Method:

• Prepare the Idly Cooker,by adding water to 2 inch  level  and oil the idly mould.
• Stir the idly batter well, and check for salt.
• Spoon in 1/2 tsp egg filling in each  mould, pour in a ladle of batter over the filling almost covering  it.
• Stack up the idly mould plates alternatively giving space for each idly to rise.
• Place the idly moulds inside the cooker and cook for about 15 - 20 mins.
• Scoop out  the idlis using a very cold spoon.
• Serve hot with Tomato Chutney

For the stuffing:

3 Eggs ( beaten )

1 big Onion ( finely chopped )

1 big Tomato ( chopped)

1tbsp Ginger ( chopped)

1tbsp Garlic  ( chopped )

2 Green Chili ( sliced )

1/2  tsp Red Chili Powder ( adjust accordingly )

1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder

1 tsp Mustard

Curry Leaves

Salt to taste

Oil

Method:

• Heat oil in a pan , pop mustard  and add curry leaves.
• Add in ginger, garlic ,green chili and onion, saute until translucent.
• Add red chili powder, turmeric and saute, add in tomatoes  salt and cook until mushy.
• Move the masala to the side of the kadai and add in the beaten eggs , salt , and scramble it.
• Mix everything well to get a scrambled egg masala. 

Notes : You can get pretty creative by making your own masala choice and making different versions of stuffed idly.

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