Cooking Is Easy

I had a great holiday and a wonderful Christmas with my family......wishing a very happy new year to all my wonderful blogger friends. This was my late grandmothers favorite wine....she used to make this for Christmas.... got the recipe from Vanitha... this wine always brings back fond memories of her. I always make pineapple jam , pineapple preserve , and pineapple squash before Christmas and make this wine with the skin of the pineapple....yes you guessed right I am a pineappleholic..... The best thing about making this wine is that you do not have to stir it every day...once it is all tied up you have to open it and strain it after 10 days and bottle it and keep for another 21 days and it is ready to use.....this wine is a huge hit with all my friends....especially their hubbies :) Ingredients: Pineapple skin: 1 medium pineapple.(I also added the middle stem and 1 or 2 slices for extra flavor). Sugar: 1 3/4 cup. Water: 1 1/2 cup. Beaten egg white: 1 Dr...

My kids wanted cakes, homemade chocolate s , and cookies for the Christmas celebration at their school. I came across a lemon cake recipe in Vanitha magazine....they just used lemon rind and not lime juice...since I wanted the lemony flavor I altered the recipe to suit my taste.....Nidhi wanted cup cakes....so I just spooned them into my muffin tray without the paper cups.....also made some chocolate chip cookies . .... and my homemade chocolates . ...kids wrapped them .....and even took some pics for me which I have included in this post....coming to the lemon cake....it has no vanilla flavor....yes.....it is all lemony...I just sprinkled some chocolate chips on top before baking them.....after making the other goodies I ran short of butter....so I used vanaspati instead for the cake and it came out soft and spongy....you can also bake them in a cake tin...this measure yielded about 15 cup cakes.....also wishing Merry Christmas to all my friends.... I wont be blogging for a ...

Indian coffee house brings back fond memories of my Law college days....we used to wind up in the coffee house to have masala dosa.....the coffee house masala dosa is a bit different from other masala dosa....it is because they add beetroot to the masala.....frequent visits to the coffee house resulted in getting this recipe......after boiling potatoes, carrots and beetroot.....grate one beetroot to the masala while sauting as this gives the rich red colour......a bit more of Indian Coffee House.....it is a restaurant chain in India...there are nearly 400 coffee houses in India and Kerala has around 51 coffee houses. This recipe has been lying in my old recipe book and a recent visit to an Indian Coffee House here in Calicut brought back all the memories.... Make dosa batter and keep aside. Ingredients:  Potatoes: 5. Carrots: 2. Beetroot: 2. (1 for boiling and 1 for grating). For seasoning: Oil: 1 tsp. Mustard seeds: 1/2 tsp. Urad dal: 1/2 tsp. Onion: 1 Gre...

Diamond cuts recipe, these eggless diamond cuts  brings back memories of my late grandmother, when my cousins, brothers, and myself wanted to munch something during our Christmas vacations she used to give us diamond cuts and every time I make this ....it takes me back to those good old days.....Usually eggs are added to the flour and this is without eggs......no messy sugar syrup......just toss in powdered sugar and it is done......that easy!!! Enjoy!! Diamond Cuts Recipe - Eggless Diamond Cuts Recipe PREP TIME : 10 Mins     |  COOK TIME : 20 Mins     |  AUTHOR: : NISA HOMEY       INGREDIENTS Maida/flour: 1 cup Butter/vanaspati: 2 tsp Salt: 1/4 tsp Baking powder: A fat pinch Cardamom powdered: 1/2 tsp Powdered sugar: 1/4 to 1/2 cup Water for kneading Oil for frying   METHOD: In a bowel put maida, butter, salt, baking powder, cardamom powder an...

This is another easy Kerala snack with ripe banana and the most easiest one....no mixing of batter....just peel bananas.....slice them....drop them gently into hot oil....Amma used to make this when unexpected guests arrive or  when she was too lazy to make ethakka appam :). How to make : Ripe but firm bananas: 2. Oil for frying. Sugar for sprinkling. Method: 1. Wash and deskin bananas. 2. Slice them and drop them gently into hot oil and fry them on both sides and strain on a paper napkin. 3. Sprinkle sugar on top and serve.

Mappas is a traditional Syrian Christian curry cooked entirely in coconut milk.... fish mappas, vegetable mappas, vendakka (okra) mappas, egg mappas, mutton mappas, duck mappas.....every thing has the same basic ingredients except in fish mappas where gram masala and potatoes are not added. Fish mappas and pottu is one of my favorite combination...the flavor and taste of this curry depend entirely on fresh coconut milk ....I have also made with coconut milk mix.....still I favor the former. Vinegar is also very important in this curry....so do not omit that. This curry is a must during Christmas and Easter celebration and at weddings. Everyone has different tastes, some prepare  mappas without the red chilly powder, they add more of green chilies, but I like the red chilly version.....and if you are in a place where you dont get any kind of coconut milk mix or coconuts then dont lose heart substitute with milk....pure whole milk. While adding tomato it need not be fried...

Kallappam is another traditional breakfast of my hometown, Kottayam. "Kallu" (a kind of liquor obtained from coconut tree) means Toddy in Malayalam and it is also used to ferment appams..... of course the next best thing is our very own yeast. Kallu was not available so I prepared this with yeast. Kallappam is very much different from palappam in taste and in texture though the ingredients are almost similar. For kallappam the batter need not be grinded finely ....there should be some "thari" and it is a thick batter like idily batter. There is jeera, shallots, and a dash of garlic which give its unique flavor and taste. I used instant yeast while making and it saved me from fermenting it separately. I just added yeast along with the ingredients while grinding. The combination is always palappam and stew and kallappam and mappas ....it is a coconut milk based thick curry with chicken , mutton, eggs, or vegetables. If you are using toddy....it should be fr...