Cooking Is Easy

Chicken tikka wrapped with homemade tandoori roti  is so easy to make and a whole meal in itself. Kids and adults will love this and I have to warn you these are so very addictive!!

Easy carrot halwa / gajar ka halwa with condensed milk, served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream...is total indulgence.

Keema Paratha a.k.a Minced Meat Stuffed Flatbread is a North Indian Meal where, roti/flatbread is stuffed with minced meat. It can be had on its own or with tomato sauce or yogurt/curd.

Kachil or Greater Yam is in season now. Kachil puzhungiyathu is boiled yam and is a popular traditional and healthy food which can be cooked without any oil, but sadly not so popular with the younger generation. I like to dig deep into and bring out traditional Kerala food which was very popular until some years ago.

Vattayappam is Kerala's own fermented Steamed   Rice Cake. One of the healthiest traditional tea time snack with almost no oil . It is popular in the Christian communities of Kerala, though not much popular in North Kerala/ Malabar.  "Vatta" means "round" ......vattayappam is basically rice and coconut grinded together and fermented with yeast....it is very soft and pillowy.....a slightly sweet snack......these days, it has found its place in bakeries especially in Kochi and Kottayam...and when I got a request from an anonymous reader asking for vattayappam recipe...I thought of sharing the recipe...as it is very easy to make...and does not take much time to make. I usually make it as an after school snack as it is very healthy and filling for kids.

Masala dosa recipe, how to make masala dosa with easy step by step pictures. Kerala Masala Dosa  is one of the healthiest breakfast from South India. Though some love to have masala dosa  for dinner or even lunch these days. Crispy flaky dosa is filled with mashed potatoes seasoned with spices and served with sambar or chutney.  Today, while going through my draft pictures I found this Masala Dosa pic which I had taken almost a year ago, I usually make them during weekends for dinner...and this pic was taken in the night...as I have mentioned earlier that I use point and shoot cam for all my pictures in the blog....it is difficult to take pictures during night...somehow, I got this click...which I guess is presentable :) and as I sat down today to write this post, I was surprised that I had completely forgotten about posting this easy, healthy, and filling meal, though I make it at least once a week. Its one of my favorite right from childhood. Masala dosa...

Strawberry Cake is  a simple cake studded with fresh strawberries. Strawberries are in season now though it is pretty expensive here in Kerala. I thoroughly enjoyed making this awesome cake and my kids devoured them, soon after I clicked the pictures.....they were so good! that I forgot my New Year resolution....yes, total...sin! sin! I love strawberries and was waiting for strawberries to hit the market to make this cake.  I did make slight changes and overall the cake came out perfect and flavorful. I love ruby red strawberries atop the cake....they looked so pretty....and I could hear them calling my name :) Oh BTW because I love berries so much,  I created a board " berrilicious " on my pinterest, do check it out for some of the best recipes and dont forget to follow me too.. I wanted to make this cake a bit thinner, but then I thought my 10-inch pan was way too big and I dint have a 9-inch pan....so I finally decided on my 8-inch pan....though it t...

Idli recipe, learn to make idli batter in mixie with step by step pictures. Idli batter can be made in a mixier grinder or blender and yes you get soft idlis too . Soft Kerala idli is one of the healthiest food in the planet. Idli is a  South-Indian traditional breakfast delicacy, which is made with raw rice and lentil and grinded and left to ferment, and steamed to cook. Read all about idli in Wikipedia. I do not own a stone grinder, simply because I have very limited space, so all my grinding are done in my blender jar of my Preethi Mixie.....like appams , dosa etc. Yes, you can make the soft...pillowy idlis with mixer-grinder....I have been making them for the past 18 plus years. I would advise you to study your mixie, like how many watts etc...mine is 700 watts and I know that it makes the mixie heaten up a bit and that speed up the fermentation process. My amma uses stone grinder and she uses the ratio 3:1 that is for three cups of rice, one cup of urad dal.......