Gobi "Cauliflower" Musallam

Ughhh... I hate chopping cauliflowers. Chopping cauliflowers involves a lot of work and cleaning after. The florets are so crumbly and messy, that you will end up having little white bits everywhere on your countertop. So when I saw this recipe, it was right up my alley as the head of cauliflower can be used as is.

Mughlai style, rich & creamy Gobi Musallam may look like a lot of work but the end result is SO worth it! Try this recipe once and I am sure that it will become your go-to dish for parties & get-together! You can serve this perfectly cooked cauliflower on a bed of hot rice or with roti/naan.

Lauki Ki Dal

Lauki, also known as bottle-gourd / opo-squash in English and sorakkai in Tamil is one of the most under-used (or should I say unused, mmm?!?!) vegetables, both in my parent's side and my in-law's side. Though no one could clearly explain the belief or custom behind not using this vegetable, it was strictly followed without any exceptions. Thus, lauki became one of my most loathed vegetables.

Every single time in grocery shop, I have walked past this vegetable with lot of arguments in my mind whether to buy it or not but never had the courage to give in. Recently, I had a friend visiting us and guess what, she had this recipe of lauki with bengal gram that she vouched for. I knew it was so long overdue for me to outgrow my dislike for this vegetable and decided to try it!

Aloo Gobi

Hi there... for those who are wondering where I had been all this time, I am still here.

I’ve been taking an online food photography course called "30 Days to Better Food Photos". Yea, you heard it right... 30 days in a row. With a super-busy life and a food blog to maintain, I wasn't even sure how a daily shooting session would work. But then, I decided to push myself farther and give it a go!

Whole Wheat Spinach/Palak Pizza - Indian Style

There is nothing Italian about the pizzas anymore. Today, pizza is more of an universal food. But, the most wonderful thing about pizza is that it is very accessible and can be easily customized to fit people's needs and taste. Infact, it makes me think that India has indirect roots to pizza through naan, as both share similar ingredients, prep and cooking methods. Again, the texture of all base sauces of Indian curries kind of resembles Italian pizza base sauces. So, what's wrong in tweaking an Italian pizza to suit Indian tastebuds?!

Well, this recipe is one such experiment of mine - "Whole Wheat pizza with Spinach/Palak sauce" loaded with onions, tomatoes, pineapple and jalapeños finished with cheese on top... YUM is the word!!

Aloo Palak

Aloo Palak is an extremely popular recipe in restaurants, parties and home too. Potatoes (Aloo) simmered in a spinach (Palak) based green gravy is truly delicious and also, very healthy!

Pindi Channa

Pindi channa, named after the place from where it is originated "Rawalpindi", is a dry chickpea curry that is unbelievably simple and very flavorful. This recipe uses just ginger and green chillies from the vegetable family and the flavor-part comes mostly from the fresh spice powder made with whole spices like dried pomegranate seeds, black cardamom, cloves, cinnamon etc. Apparently, this recipe gained its popularity during the Indo-Pakistan war times when there was limited access to vegetables. 

Raw Banana Subzi

Not all recipes that I see in a book/blog/TV show inspires me. But, this one surely caught my interest. I saw this recipe in a popular south-Indian TV cook show and fell instantly in love with this north-Indian recipe. 

Ofcourse, there are other reasons too. To my knowledge, raw bananas is a not-so-frequent vegetable in north Indian kitchen and so, I thought that this recipe was unique. I adore chef Mr. Venkatesh Bhat (who happens to be the host of that cook show) for his passion and interest in culinary field and that reason was more than convincing for me to try the recipe. Last but not the least, the recipe seemed to be simple, quick with minimal ingredients.

And, the good news is my instincts did not fail me...

Kala Channa Masala

Of late, I am focusing more on adding traffic to the blog. One such effort of mine is to get the blog "Yummly Certified". Yummly has a large user base and features some of the best food blogs from around the world. All I had to do was to write a guest-post for them with a new, simple recipe (that is not featured in my blog so far), with high resolution pics. If they approve of my recipe and the pictures, then the recipe is featured in their site while the blog also gets "Yummly Certified"! "Win-win"!!!

Ginger Cardamom Chai

Authentic Indian milk tea spiced up with ginger & cardamom. Hot & cozy chai is "the" perfect choice to warm up your cold mornings or to unwind after a long, stressful day. This recipe serves just ONE, but you can easily double (or) triple the recipe for more servings.

Paneer Bhurji

Paneer bhurji is the vegetarian version of egg bhurji (scrambled eggs saute'ed with onion, tomatoes, chillies and other spices). Paneer is an excellent replacement for eggs in this recipe. With minimal set of ingredients from your pantry, you can make one delectable paneer dish in less time, that pairs up so well with rice/roti!

Palak Paratha

A healthy paratha recipe that is loaded with "green-goodness".. need I say more!!

Paneer Tikka Kati Rolls

VJ doesn't prefer packed lunches. He loves hot & fresh food and so, comes home everyday (well, almost) for lunch. If for some reasons he couldn't make it to home, his next best place would be an Indian restaurant near his office and his default choice would be "kati rolls", for their kati rolls are big & filling, loaded with paneer & other veggies.

Dal Panchratan

Dal Panchratan, also called as Panchmel dal is a Rajasthani special. The word "Panch-ratan" means five gems as this recipe is made by combining five protein-rich lentils that is commonly available in any Indian kitchen. I used toor dal, moong dal, black whole urid dal, black chickpeas & whole masoor dal to make this supremely delicious & a filling dal!

Palak Paneer

Palak Paneer, a rich & spicy palak (spinach) based gravy with paneer and other Indian spices. This iron & protein rich gravy is one of the popular north-Indian curries all over, especially in Punjabi dhabas. Palak Paneer serves as a perfect side for rice/roti. I personally have seen a lot of desi folks and Westerner friends going crazy for palak paneer.

Gobi Matar Masala

This recipe of cauliflower & peas masala is very similar to my matar paneer gravy, but with one surprise ingredient. 

Kaju Katli

"Deepavali" (festival of lights), the biggest & the brightest of all Hindu festivals is just around the corner. And, here is the recipe for soft, chewy cashew fudge that you can share with your family & friends on the day of Deepavali! After all, Deepavali is all about celebration, fun, sharing & togetherness, isn 't it?! 

Capsicum-Paneer Paratha

I have this recipe bookmarked for quite sometime and just today, got the time to make it! 

Such simple yet wonderful flavors from capsicum & paneer mix. With a simple cucumber raita on the side, this recipe will work great for lunch-box. Seeing my family enjoy this delicious paratha, I am only glad that I tried it!

Gujarathi Kadhi

Creamy, smooth, spicy, delicious, refreshing, flavorful, comforting... this is what is "kadhi" for me! 

Though I was brought-up in a south-Indian family set-up with occasional home-made north-Indian recipes, kadhi always takes me back to my roots & is comforting in every possible way, for this is the north-Indian version of our very own "Morkuzhambu"!

This recipe is for making plain kadhi, but you can add deep-fried pakoras (made with besan flour / moong dal) and increase its nutritional value. Kadhi pairs up well with rice/ roti/ kichadi.

Matar Paneer (Gravy with heavy cream)

Undoubtedly, one of the mouth-watering & delicious gravies, that pairs up well with roti / rice varieties.

Sweet Potato Roti

The first thing that you'll notice about the sweet-potato roti is that they are super soft & chewy. And of-course, goes without saying, these rotis are slightly on the sweeter side due to the nature of the vegetable.