Cooking Is Easy

Nutella ice cream  is a guilty indulgence; but sometimes little indulgence like chocolate blender ice cream or ice cream with nutella is needed to make me happy :) .. this no machine or "no cook" ice cream (there is no cooking involved and nor does you need an ice cream maker to make this ice cream) has the goodness of nutella, small bits of bittersweet chocolate, and cocoa powder along with the other ingredients....total yum! And the best part is, you just have to dunk all the ingredients into the blender and blend and pop in freezer and let the freezer do all the work! Easy, peasy! So, when Nidhi came last weekend for Id holidays; I surprised her with this ice cream; this one has that creamy and fudgy texture ...and not a hit of water crystals. I added bittersweet chocolate bits for that extra chocolate kick; but that is entirely optional. You can also add in some chopped cashewnuts or almonds or even walnuts if you like an extra nutty crunch. Full video for nut...

Basic rawa upma made with grated coconut and in coconut oil is one of the best breakfast recipes of Kerala. Kerala rawa upma is simple and healthy perfect to start the day with and is easy to make especially in the busy mornings. I grew up on this upma and I dont know from where amma got this recipe; but remember back in the 80s "dalda" ruled the kitchen and she used to make it with dalda only! As years passed, I started using coconut oil instead of dalda; but amma still makes it with dalda....and one more thing she does not use onions; she uses "cheriya ulli" or shallots. More Kerala Breakfast Recipes: Kadala Curry Recipe Kerala Beef Stew Kerala Appam Recipe Vattayappam Recipe Upma Recipe | How To Make Kerala Rawa Upma PREP TIME : 5 mins     |  COOK TIME : 10 mins     |  AUTHOR: : NISA HOMEY       INGREDIENTS Onion/shallots: 1 (small), finely chopped. Ginger: 1/4 inch Green chilies: 2 ...

Poori masala or puri masala with puffed up poori is total breakfast indulgence for most Indians. Poori was something as a child I used to devour on; but when age catched up; I had to keep the "in moderation" tag in mind. My kids love potato masala with poori  for breakfast and hence poori comes alive in my kitchen most mornings. Sometimes, my son will butter me up to make poori and potato masala for school lunch...yeah! kids knows ways to win your hearts, so today lets make poori masala. An aunt of mine once mentioned that adding a little vinegar to the poori masala makes it more tasty and I also felt the same, but if you do not want to add, you can omit the vinegar, but give it a try. Other Recipes: Methi Aloo Recipe Potato Brinjal Masala Poori Masala Recipe | Potato Masala For Poori PREP TIME : 5 mins     |  COOK TIME : 10 mins     |  AUTHOR: : NISA HOMEY       INGREDIENTS Onion: 1, ...

Chicken pulao  is something which can be done in under 30 minutes and its a one pot meal. Chicken is marinated with yogurt (which makes it super super tender) and rice is cooked with it. Chicken pulao or chicken pulav/pilaf is one of the easiest meal you will ever come across. Homey is away on work and with  Cheriyan and me at home alone (Nidhi is at hostel); I try to make one pot quick meals .... no elaborate meals when the man of the house is away! call me a lazy wife..... but one pot meals are in. I like to use basmati rice than the flavorful small grain Malabar kaima rice.....which is quite popular here in Calicut. Check out this pressure cooker chicken biriyani  and tomato raita recipe. Chicken Pulao Recipe | How To Make Chicken Pulao PREP TIME : 10 mins     |  COOK TIME : 25 mins     |  AUTHOR: : NISA HOMEY       INGREDIENTS Chicken : 250 gms Thick Curd/yogurt : 3 tbsp Tu...

How to make yellow cake with homemade cake mix  is what I am going to share today. This moist homemade yellow cake  will make your day special as it did mine. Baking cakes makes me happy, makes me smile, makes me sing!. Nidhi comes home from hostel most weekends and weekends are special times these days. Cakes does make my day more special. So, last weekend I made this moist yellow cake with my homemade cake mix recipe . After I brought the cake mix to room temperature everything was a breeze...and this beautiful cake was out of the oven in 30 mins. The crust is perfect and the cake is moist and yum (check video for that slice of yummines). I did not want my chocolate buttercream frosting (sigh!) to spoil my cake (ha!) and the result was this plain yellow but moist and yum cake. Now, you must be wondering how did this cake become moist?? Oil is the secret ingredient to make a cake moist and yum, so I added half stick of butter to the cake mix and added oil to...

Homemade yellow cake mix recipe; DIY cake mix is easy to make at home especially if you have a food processor or mixie.  Making your own cake mix saves a lot of money and if you have some in the freezer or fridge, baking cakes can never be more easy. Box cake mix (store bought cake mix) comes with extra junks, preservatives, high fructose corn syrup and there must be many more stuffs in it. Need any excuse to ditch the store bought cake mix and try my recipe for a change. This recipe has butter and like always, I used good old Amul salted butter and the butter is the reason why this mix should be stored in the fridge and not in pantry. You can also add in milk powder and skip the addition of milk when making the cake, but milk powder is not always available in my kitchen and I am sure its the same with you too ...but then whole milk is always available and mixing them in the batter is easy and less expensive. What I love about this homemade yellow cake is the c...

The best chocolate cake recipe,  I have posted countless cake recipes here in my blog and made tons of cakes in my 20 years of baking; but the crown for the best chocolate cake recipe is for this cake. One bite of this chocolate cake with its oh! so! perfect chocolate buttercream frosting is enough to say, yeah! this one is the best chocolate cake recipe - ever!! Let me think, 1, 2, 3 , 4 yeah! I made this cake 4 times last month. First for our 20th  wedding anniversary, then for Homey's birthday, exclusively for the kids,  and lastly when my brother and family visited us. I know that is quite a lot of chocolate indulgence in a month but let me tell you that you just can't resist this ONE! The great thing about this cake recipe is, its quite different from the other cakes. The butter, water, sugar, vanilla, and cocoa is heated up in a saucepan and allowed to come to room temp...then dunk in the rest of the ingredients and blend away...it couldn't be more eas...

Sweet diamond cuts are a traditional Kerala snack which can be stored for a few days. These diamond cuts are coated in sugar syrup and is a crispy and crunchy snack. In some places it is also known as maida biscuits and is available in most bakeries across Kerala. I do not know why these are called diamond cuts; but lets assume that it got its name from the diamond shape they are cut into. During my college and hostel days, amma used to make them for me to munch on and I guess its time to carry on the tradition with Nidhi. She comes home every weekend and goes back with "homemade goodies". There are many ways to make diamond cuts; some do not add egg, but I do as amma told me adding eggs gives a nice taste and flavor almost bakery like and that's what her mom told her too. So, I am also following that. Now, for those "egg haters" you can make them without it too. Some people like cardamon flavor and traditionally cardamon was the choice but since, I...