Rosemary & Parmesan Madelines with rosemary & tomato soup

I bought this herb "rosemary" fresh for the very first time. I have used the dried version that comes in plastic bottles. The green leaves are so fragrant. Google came to my help again and so did my friends. They gave me lovely suggestions. I picked up an unusual recipe to try. Usually, when you think of Madelines, you think of a light buttery soft cake-like french cookies made by beating a lot of eggs and lot of butter. This recipe is very light and doesn't use regular fat like butter/oil. Instead low-fat yogurt is used and I was surprised to know that it works to make this savory version light and airy. Got this recipe here. The blog writer suggested that these madelines will go well with a lobster bisque :) Well, I din't have any ingredients for the bisque, so I made a rosemary flavored tomato soup to go with it.

Chocolate tart (Egg-less recipe)

I had made a short crust pastry tart base long time back..and had kept it in an airtight container in the freezer.....but never got around to make a tart out of it......till yesterday. So I made it the quick-fix way. I made ganache and filled the tart shell and froze it...it din't freeze well , the filling was sticky...and gooey..and yet so delicious. I will make the whole thing again and update this post in future. 

Baked Chicken and spinach roll-ups

This recipe was made by my facebook friend Priyanka a few days ago...., so when my son asked me to make a different kind of chicken than what I usually make I thought of making this recipe. I never even thought it would be any good, as I just remembered seeing the picture and I din't know how to make it. So I googled with the keywords "chicken and spinach baked rolls" and out of 100's of results, I liked this recipe. 
Initially, I din't think I will write a post about it..., :) but I started clicking pictures halfway through the recipe and I am glad I did. It is one of the simplest yet very delicious recipe, and healthy too !

Guacamole

Made with Avocados .. this recipe is so simple and made in minutes. 

Paneer Tikka with Methi roti/paratha

There is a place in Singapore, called Little India. If you walk through it, it resembles any shopping market area from India. When I visited it for the first time, I took a lot of pictures and I was so excited to find typical Indian spices and ingredients. I loved the flower garland shops, saree shops and fresh produce shops. After years of not having easy access to Indian stuff, I went on a shopping spree and like many Indians in Singapore,now I visit this place once in 20 days or a month to re-stock. 

Look at the "flower garlands", or the man with the "newspapers and magazines".....it feels like any busy market place in India.

Well, I bought fresh paneer and fresh methi leaves(fenugreek) from one of the stalls here. I haven't seen fresh methi in years :)  I made two popular Indian recipes --> Paneer tikka masala and Methi paratha (fenugreek flat-bread)... :)

Fresh Methi leaves.... aren't they beautiful.... !

Pla Naeng Ma-Nau (Steamed sea bass)

Haha..the title of this post sounds so exotic ......but it is just a "Steamed fish". You wouldn't think that a steamed fish is anything extra-ordinary ...right ?...but it is .............and you might feel like a gourmet chef...or feel like you are eating gourmet meal after eating this ... :)  I feel so.. The recipe is so simple.......yet so flavorful..... !! But, thai recipes usually are so delicious. My friend Lopa, suggested that I should try this recipe and she is right..I am totally in love with this one... !! 

Green Mango Salad

Thai food is my most favorite next to Indian. However, I do not know how to cook it well.  Learning about it slowly. Singapore is a good place to learn how to make good thai food, as you get all the ingredients fresh and cheap. Green mango salad(or green papaya salad) is a very refreshing and unique flavored recipe. 

Fettuccine with creamy roasted red pepper and feta sauce / Roasted bell pepper soup

Google is amazing.... you can find anything ...well, almost anything on it.... One day, I just had just 3 red bell peppers in my refrigerator. I googled "recipe with red bell peppers" and I got 100's of recipes as a result. I chose a easy one from food network and it has been my family favorite for a long time. 

Add a few more ingredients, minus the pasta and you will get a tasty and filling soup. It goes well with Garlic bread and some fresh salad. 

Cheesy Cauliflower Kofta curry

This recipe was a total experimental recipe. I tried the cauliflower kofta for the very first time and I tried to make a low cal. version by avoiding to deep-fry. Well, I did succeed in a way...but boy..it took such a lot of time to cook the koftas. I saw this recipe at  my favorite blogger Raji's site. I went through the recipe once...oohed and aaahed on the pictures and decided to make it. My biggest mistake was that- I din't read the recipe thoroughly and I just saw a big instruction at the bottom, to make the low cal. version use the "paniyaram pan" ...:) I had never seen or used this pan before I borrowed it from my friend Lakshmi, but it was a pan with circular molds, "how difficult would it be right" or so I thought....... Well, the procedure is simple enough, you make balls and put the balls inside the circular molds and cook them, turning them so that they are cooked from all sides. I din't realize that it would take so long....and I realized what was my mistake when i started to write this post.....:)

More on that later, but the cauliflower koftas very super delicious. A big thank you to rakskitchen for such a lovely recipe ! 

Chocolate cupcakes for Valentine's Day

Chocolate and roses are the two symbols of Valentines day.
Today's recipe combines both ... "chocolate" and "roses"... chocolate-rose cupcakes.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY ....EVERYONE.....!!

I made these cupcakes for a dear friend's baby shower. I hope she and her guests enjoyed them. Most of the baking recipes I know or have tried successfully with little or no modifications come from Stephanie Jaworski's very popular website (www.joyofbaking.com). I owe almost all of my knowledge of baking to extensive reading and a lot of trials and errors from this website and many more. Chocolate cupcakes are one of the easier recipes.

Cabbage Parathas (Cabbage Stuffed flat-bread)

I posted this picture of the cabbage on my facebook page asking my friends what could be made with the cabbage as I don't like it very much. I got so many ideas from the page, that I would never think of it as another boring vegetable. I would love to try each and every suggestion given. Thank you, all !! :) 

I chose to do a simple and "filling" recipe from the suggestions. The "Cabbage-Paratha" or "Cabbage Stuffed flat-bread". This is how I made it !!

Garam garam chapati aour.....???

..... CHOLE... !!!
Punjabi chole (garbanzo bean/chickpea curry) is a very common Indian curry popular in India and abroad too. There are as many recipes for chole as there are cooks...! All of them use basic ingredients like ginger, garlic, chillies, onions and tomatoes, spices and boiled and salted chickpeas, some more ...some less... !!
Here is my version.... !!!

Roasted Vegetables and pasta salad

I had seen a recipe of roasted vegetable pasta on my friend Gayatri's blog here and wished to make it. I usually like to make my meals which are kid friendly, yet full of vegetables. So pasta is liked by all and this recipe is a winner with the kids and the adults. I have used colourful pasta spirals, but any  pasta can be used like penne, fusilli, rotelle or shell shaped ones.

Meghas Chocolate Cake

 Megha's Chocolate Cake... :) what an odd  name for a cake....but i always refer to the cake made by this recipe, as megha's chocolate cake instead of just a chocolate cake. This was the first cake, I learnt to bake without burning. As it is named, it was taught to me by my friend Megha who learnt it from some Japanese cook book from the library. It is not very difficult, if it is followed exactly. I had a "written recipe", which was missing  and luckily which I found in one of my old suitcases. I was so happy to get it and it makes a perfect "1st dessert recipe post".   Let me begin this post with a picture of the cake, which I clicked just before my kids attacked it. They were patient for 10-15 minutes, while I plated it..and clicked a few pics...!! It's light, fluffy and rich.

Bread-maki

"Makizushi" is a type of sushi. Japanese cuisine is one of my favorite cuisines after Indian. Japanese cuisine is very attractive visually.  Maki is a roll made with  bunch of fillings over rice, which is stuck over sea-weed rolled with the help of a bamboo mat called "makisu". More about sushi and maki roll here.

This post is about a snack item inspired from the Japanese Maki roll, I make for my kids for their school lunch boxes or evening snacks. Very easy to prepare and quick. All you need is some bread slices, some raw vegetables, some cheese, etc...any filling of your choice.

Grilled Tandoori Potatoes with Mint Chutney

Blogging is interesting. I planned to make mint chutney today. Due to this new blogging hobby, i thought, i will make a post about it... :)  Mint chutney goes well with so many things, especially Indian street food..."the chaats". However, chaats require a lot of ingredients which i din't have. I had baby potatoes and fresh mint and coriander. One of my friend's, Hemali had posted a super delicious picture of Alu Chaat, I wanted something like that.... !!

 Here is how i made it....!!

Chicken and Vegetable Stir Fry

A simple everyday recipe. I had a few vegetables and a pack of chicken which needed to be used and not a lot of time, before my kids came home hungry for lunch. This is my quick-fix recipe, when I am short of time and need hot food in a hurry. I washed and cleaned the rice and put it in a microwave-safe bowl and set it to a 22 minute timer and started chopping the ingredients. This recipe was done just after the rice was done... so give or take 30 minutes from start to finish. It can be made faster, if u chop the ingredients in a food processor....