ALOO PALAK RECIPE | ALOO PALAK GRAVY | SIDE DISH FOR ROTI

Aloo palak is an easy  and rich gravy made with palak ( Indian spinach) and potatoes. i have first tasted this in a restaurant but after that i forgot about that. Last year during my India trip, i noted down few recipes from a handwritten book of my mom. Few weeks back when i saw fresh  palak leaves in the market , without any second thought i bought those palak and tried this aloo palak following the same recipe in the book.
I loved this aloo palak with jeera rice .

 Check out my Palak Paneer and Dal palak 

MICROWAVE COOKING ,KITCHEN BASICS AND BACHELOR COOKING RECIPES | INDIAN COOKING BASICS

First of all i thank all my readers for your great support towards the COOKING FOR GUESTS series. After successfully doing this for almost 5 months i thought i will move on to other series which i feel will be more useful for beginners in cooking. I am getting mails asking to post microwave cooking recipes and i thought i will combine the series with Indian Kitchen basics , Indian microwave cooking, and bachelor recipes too. Recently i got a full time helper at home and she is a not an Indian nationality. So teaching her the kitchen basics and introduction to spices and telling her to cook rice is a great challenge for me.
Though i never allow her to do any cooking, but i still want her to learn the basics and i thought i will record the same here and it will help the newly married and the bachelors too.
   Twice i had been to India for a wedding leaving hubby and kids at home. During those times my friends would send food for them. But rice my hubby will keep at home. For that, i need to give training for him as it is totally new to him.So considering the men who are like him , i hope this series will be more useful and make them learn the basic cooking.
    I hope you enjoy this series and continue to give a great support to me as you give always.
For today to start with i made Microwave Semiya payasam. My mom is an expert in microwave cooking i say, as she makes  so many dishes on microwave if there is a need. Especially when they go for holiday, if there is a microwave i the resort room, she full do the entire cooking in Microwave. I tried the semiya payasam in microwave and it turned out very nice.
Here is the recipe of semiya Kheer in microwave. Check out my stove top Vermicelli payasam. 
Time varies from microwave to microwave. So i have given the time according to my oven.

MUSHROOM PEPPER FRY | MUSHROOM PEPPER MASALA |MUSHROOM RECIPES

Now-a-days we started including mushrooms twice a month , as they say it is very good source of protein. Generally i make Mushroom Masala or Kadai Mushroom . So i wanted to try something different this time and made this mushroom pepper fry. For a change i made a dry subzi in chettinad style with freshly ground spices. The pepper fry was very nice and it tasted well with rasam rice.

TANDOORI GOBI | CAULIFLOWER RECIPES | EASY STARTER RECIPES

 Baked and Tawa method

Tandoori Gobi is a very easy starter recipe which i recently saw in TV show, but i have never tasted this Tandoori Gobi. Last weekend, i ordered  this easy starter recipe in a restaurant . Though we all liked the taste it was very spicy. On the way back, i bought one pack of cauliflower to try this at home following the recipe. I tweaked the recipe slightly, according to my preference.

This tandoori gobi, turned out very well and we all happily enjoyed this vegetarian starter.

MAAVADU RECIPE | VADU MANGO PICKLE | PICKLE RECIPES

Vadu mangai or maavadu , generally we get in summer season and i remember accompanying my mom to the central market in my town, to buy the tender mangoes . We make pickle out this vadu mangai . My mom always buy this vadu manga in bulk (10 padi) and she makes pickle in big jars and share with my athais who are all big fan of vadu manga pickle. Though i am not a big fan of maavadu i enjoy seeing this procedure of making maavadu. I love the maavadu water very much, a perfect combo for Curd rice. Make this easy maavadu pickle this summer and enjoy them with curd rice.

COOKING FOR GUESTS SERIES #20 |CHAAT RECIPES | EVENING SNACK MENU

Posting chaat recipes in cooking for guests series is my daughter's idea. Actually i made this for my kids as a snack when they came back from school. I made in small quantities and they finished all of them in few minutes . Generally they take some tiffin or variety rice  for lunch box and after coming back from school, they usually have full meal with rice, dal, curry and yogurt. So this will be filling for them as most of the days they go for some classes in the evening. If they have some snacks , both of them will feel hungry around 6 pm. But this snack was very filling for them and your guests can sure be pleased with this chaat menu for snack. They can easily have a light dinner after this filling chaat.
By the time i finished making, the kids reached home and i took the pictures in hurry.

MANGO PUDDING RECIPE | EGGLESS MANGO PUDDING RECIPE| MANGO RECIPES

Mango season started in full swing. My first order from Ministry of Mangoz has arrived last week. the alphonso mangoes were very tasty and they are organic too. We are really enjoying the mangoes and side by side i am trying out some mango recipes too. Mango pudding i wanted to make last year itself but some how missed it out during the mango season. I made this 2 days back and we all really enjoyed this mango pudding. I made this with agar-agar as i wanted to make the  vegetarian version of mango pudding.

METHI KHAKHRA RECIPE | METHI KHAKRA RECIPE

Khakhra | khakra is a crispy flat bread , originally a Gujarathi savoury snack. Few years back, when we are travelling to Delhi from Chennai, in train, i saw few people eating this khakras for breakfast. That was the first time i was introduced to this snack. Later i tasted it few times but never attempted at home.
 Last week one of my friend posted a picture of khakra in facebook and i had a fresh bunch of methi leaves at home too. So i wanted to try out this khakras and clarified few doubts with my friend. It was so easy to make at home and quite healthy as it is made with Wheat flour. It is bit time consuming but very much worth the effort. Try out this super healthy and easy tea time snack - Methi Khakra. Even if you are travelling you can make this and take as this will stay good for a week.

KEERAI KOOTU RECIPE | KOOTU RECIPES

Any variety of kootu is loved by all of us at home. Evn my son who sometimes won't eat some veggies, if i make in the form of kootu, he will have it without any complaints. Keerai kootu i made it almost once or twice a week and among all kootu recipes, this one with keerai|spinach we like a lot. My mom makes this with manathakkali keerai , which we grow in our garden. I still love the freshness of the kootu she makes with home grown keerai. This kootu recipe is very easy to make and very healthy too. Check out my Keerai Masiyal and Keerai poriyal.

COOKING FOR GUESTS SERIES #19 |WEEKEND BRUNCH IDLI |SAMBAR AND MORE

Cooking for guests , for many episodes i made the food for my own family . As you all know practically it is not possible for me to call guests every week. This particular meal i made specially for my friend, who was moving out of Singapore . She is a North Indian and loves South Indian food. When i invited her for dinner, she strictly told "Jeyashri don't make north indian food , please make it south indian" . And also she  didn't give me much trouble in deciding on the menu and told me that she want idli and sambar in the menu and also avial. So my job is so easy is and i decided the menu in few minutes and noted it down in a paper, so that i will not forget !!. We had a lovely moment and the entire family loved the food. I made the meal for dinner and you can make this for a weekend brunch too.
Planning to come back with some other interesting series soon.