Tamarind Sevai/Sevai Puliyodharai

Sevai is nothing its just rice vermicelli which is quite popular in Tamilnadu. Though this vermicelli can be prepared easily with rice flour at home, store bought sevai are easily available to dish out some fabulous easy breezy dishes with it. Store bought sevai are seriously very handy as you can prepare dishes either for your breakfast or your dinner. I have already cooked couple of dishes with different vegetables and ingredients. However i love both lemon sevai and tamarind sevai very much. They are just prefect to pack in anyone's lunch box especially in a kid's lunch box. Yes if you have homemade tamarind paste in in fridge or instant tamarind rice powder,  trust me this dish gets quickly than you can imagine..

Zucchini, Carrot & Tofu Paratha

Have you ever prepared paratha with tofu, if not you should give a try them. Tofu gives a fabulous softness to the paratha and its stays prefectly soft even to pack in a kid's lunch box. I have been cooking with tofu since a long. Earlier i was bit skeptical to use this soya cheese as its was quite an unknown ingredient for me. However i have learned myself to cook with this incredible tofu and now its quite our favourite cheese which i never fail to cook with. I can easily get this soya cheese as am living in China town. Obviously tofu have its own place in my weekly cooking. Tofu exists in three varieties, silken tofu is used often in vegan desserts, firm tofu and extra firm tofu for making dishes out of it.

Peppered Mushroom Rice

Preparing a lunch box everyday is definitely a tough task to every mom, thank god that i never had such hassles in my life till now. Apart from packing foods for my better half i never had a chance to pack foods for my kids. However i will be posting some easy breezy,lunch box friendly dishes for this week's blogging marathon. My theme for this week's blogging marathon is Kid's delight - Lunch box in 30 minutes. And all my three dishes for this week's theme are going to be some simple dishes you can pack very well in your kid's lunch box as well. And am kick starting this week's theme with an easy breezy pepper flavored mushroom rice which calls for simple ingredients.

Aloo Matar Besan Curry/Potato & Peas in Gramflour Curry

Indian cuisine is loaded with many delightful dishes and its one of the flavourful cuisine of the world. From easy to traditional, many varieties of curries and gravies do exists. Am running this week's blogging marathon with Easy Dinner Dishes as theme, and i have been sharing some easy Indian curries for the theme. My today's post is an easy curry which is very simple, quick and delicious to cook with pantry friendly ingredients. This besan curry is my mom's signature dish which she never fail to make whenever she makes pooris for our breakfast or dinner. One of the simplest side dish to prepare with less ingredients and spices.

Butternut Squash& Drumstick Leaves Dal Curry

Looking for a simple dal curry to serve with rice of rotis, then you have to check my today's recipe. Its definitely a simple, flavoursome rich and wonderful side dish or curry to have with anything for your dinner or for lunch. My today's recipe calls for both Butternut squash and drumstick leaves, and this is quite a unique combination to work with. Since i had some leftover butternut squash chunks after preparing a soup with, i couldnt stop myself to dish out this dal curry. This dish is simple, easy to make, definitely a flavourful rich side dish or curry to have with both rice and rotis. Butternut squash gives some mild sweetness but with our Indian spices, this dal curry came out extremely delicious.

Khara Paruppu Poli/Channadal Paruppu Poli

Puran Poli is well known as Obbattu or Holige, is quite a popular sweet flatbread which have their own place in every festivals. And this Poli is prepared with channadal, jaggery and coconut which is flavored with cardamom powder.However even toor dal is commonly used in the state of Karnataka,Gujarat and Tamil Nadu as well. But Moongdal is very much used in Andhra pradesh where this flatbread is called as bobbatlu or bakshalu. However savoury version of this fabulous sweetened flatbread do exists. And we call it fondly as Khara poli, which is definitely a tasty and dangerously delicious evening snack to enjoy with your favourite drink. Stuffed with spiced mashed channadal filling, this khara poli makes a filling snacks or starters depending upon how you serve this fantastic flatbread.

Cauliflower Whole Wheat Fritters/Gobi Atta Pakora

Winter evenings are so chilled here, obviously after a long day work, everyone at home love to have some crispy fritters. Fritters makes everyone happy, and needless to say kids love to munching hot pakoras for their snacks. Hence i prepared this cauliflower pakodas aka bajjis with a combination of wheat flour and gram flour. Adding wheat flour may sounds completely different from the usual way of dishing out these fritters. But trust me wheat flour works awesome for making puffy and dangerously delicious fritters as well.

Varagu Arisi Upma Kozhukattai/Kodomillet & Black-eyed Peas Steamed Dumplings

Upma Kozhukattai is a healthy, filling and satisfying South Indian breakfast, which is also enjoyed as a mid-day snacks, tiffin items to serve with some spicy coconut chutney. This steamed dumplings is prepared usually with rice rava or else with rice flour. And this steamed dish is also called as Kara pidikozhukattais as well. I love to replicate some traditional South Indian dishes with some healthy stuffs in it. Hence i opted for a millet dumplings aka gluten free upma kozhukattai. This is quite a healthy version of steamed dumplings which is seriously loaded with protein rich black-eyed peas beans. Obviously you cant miss this incredible protein rich to try if you are looking for a super healthy dinner or breakfast for week days.

Vegan Dark Chocolate & Almonds Truffles

Chocolate truffles are bite-sized chocolate confectionery made traditionally with chocolate and warm cream. Yes chocolate ganache coated with melted chocolate, cocoa powder or chopped toasted nuts are fondly called as chocolate truffles. Shaped usually as spherical, conical or curved shape, these chilled chocolate cream are just prefect to enjoy during Christmas. Not to forget that, truffles are must in our Christmas dinner table as these chocolate confectionery makes a fabulous dessert after a festive meal. Truffles, this chocolate treats got their name as they ressembles as much like the edible fungus which is called as truffles. Varieties of truffles do exists, my favourite is always French chocolate truffles which is made with fresh cream and chocolate, once chilled, they are rolled in cocoa or nut powder.

Old Fashioned Peanut Brittle

Brittle is a kind of confection made with broken pieces of hard sugar candy with nuts like pecans, almonds or peanuts. These brittles have their own place especially in Christmas friendly candies list. Varieties of brittles exists if you go through google. I seriously want to make some old fashioned style of Peanut brittles since a while. When i picked Christmas candies as theme for this week's blogging marathon, i gathered all the ingredients to give a try to some Old fashioned aka grandma's style peanut brittles. Usually prepared with a hard sugar candy, old fashioned brittle calls for baking soda to bring a nice honeycomb like texture to this candies. Its quite a real fun to see the way the sugar syrup gets changed in colour once the baking soda is added to them. I seriously enjoyed making this extremely delicious peanut brittle for this week's theme.

Zucchini Tikkis/Zucchini Cakes

Vegetables, whenever we feel like feeding our kids with veggies, most of the kids refuses to take them easily without any fuss. Fussy eaters are seriously very difficult to handle and everyday each mom struggles in their own way to feed their kiddos. Even i crossed all these situations,fortunately i always followed few tricks and tips to include veggies everyday in my kids diets. Now they are grown up, intaking veggies in their diet is quite a routine now. Most of my cooking involves vegetables though we are meatoholic. We get fresh vegetables every week from our farmer's markets without any fail. Some vegetables are seriously versatile and you can make some fabulous fusion dishes with them. My most favourite zero calorie vegetable is always Zucchini. Zucchini is quite an interesting vegetable to dish out any sort of dishes/bakes/cakes with them.

Leek Masal Vada/Leek Channadal Fritters/Leek Paruppu Vadai

Leek is one of the most fabulous vegetable which i never forget to grab whenever they shows their head in our farmer's market. Usually they can be found easily during fall and winter season. French people uses this vegetable for making some creamy or chunky soups out of them. But being an Indian, i do make some delicious Indian dishes out this vegetables. Leek belongs Onions, scallions, chives,garlic, shallots familly, their edible part is their leaves though people calls them as stalk or stem. I came to know about this vegetable once i came to France, seriously i love this vegetable, as they have a subtle flavor personally for me. Earlier my kids are not fans of this vegetables but now they are grown up hence they know very well the nutritional benefits of this vegetable and they just love their bowl of leek soup.

Dhingri Batata Vada/Mushroom Potato Fritter in Appe Pan

Mushrooms, though am a great fan of this edible fungus, my lil one is a complete hater. However i dont forget to feed him with this antioxidant rich mushrooms which is quite low in fat and calorie. I know adding those mushroom chunks with his favourite vegetable, he just cant discard them, hence i opted for our favourite batata vada. Batata vada is quite a popular street food which is quite known for their deep fried outer layer with a delicious potato masala inside. I have made my own twist by adding finely chopped mushrooms to the usual potato masala to dish out some ultimate Mushroom potato fritters. And i opted for Appe pan aka Paniyaram pan just to avoid deep frying.

Rajma Aloo Masaledaar/Kidney Beans & Potato Tomato Curry

Chickpeas and Kidney beans are our favourite legumes and i cant survive without these both beans. Obviously my pantry will always have these both dry beans while my freezer will always have already soaked and frozen beans. I have already shared about how to make frozen beans in few of my posts. And those frozen beans are really handy if you dont have enough time to soak your beans or if you have completely forgotten to soak your beans. Just pressure cook those frozen beans and your beans are ready to cook with. You doesnt even need to thaw those beans. How easy na, i have been following this method since a while and i dont regret for preparing these frozen beans whenever time permits.

Purple Cabbage Thoran/Kerala Style Red Cabbage Stir Fry

Purple cabbage is also known as Red cabbage is a variety of cabbage which is easily available in my nearby farmer's market than the usual green cabbages. You can make ultimate salads with this crunchy cabbage as they works and get mix prefectly to any sort of raw vegetables added to them. Purple cabbage is quite rich in vitamin C, A, potassium and fiber. Somehow i love to dish out our Indian style dals, gravies and stir fries with this cabbage. You can make delicious South Indian style kootu with purple cabbage and everyone at home just love it. Obviously i was lookingt for a chance to cook again with purple cabbage as a Kerala style thoran, and hubby got a purple cabbage head when he went to our favourite farmer's market last week.

Vegan Sun-dried Tomatoes & Cashew Dip

Did i told you that i have still some Italian sun-dried tomatoes i carried all the way from Sicile when went for our summer vacation a year back. Back home i have prepared an aromatic oil by heating olive oil along with sun-dried tomatoes and rosemary sprigs. After finishing the sun-dried tomatoes flavoured oil for flavouring pasta dishes and pizzas, those sun dried tomatoes were sitting sadly in the bottle to get finished. When i picked Dip for snacks as theme for this week's blogging marathon, i prepared everything to prepare some dip with those sun dried tomatoes along with a handful of cashews. For my surprise, this dip came out extremely delicious as much as like cashew butter flavored with tomatoes.

Curried Red Kidney Beans Dip/Curried Rajma Dip

You may wonder to read the name of my today's dish. Yes my today's post is Red kidney beans dip which makes an excellent,protein rich dip to serve with some store bought bread sticks or as a spread on grilled baguette slices. Very simple to make, this vegan and gluten free curried rajma dip calls for simple, easily available ingredients which makes an excellent nutritious dip. Rajma aka red kidney beans are tremendously healthy to add in our weekly diet atleast once a while. I do add them often in most of my dishes as this beans are my family favourite legumes as well. Am running this week's blogging marathon with Dips for snacks as theme, hence i dished out this simple, nutritious rajma dip for the theme.

Chilly Garlic Sauce/Chilli Garlic Chutney

Am sharing a simple, easy and definitely a flavourful sauce to serve along with some crispy fritters or chinese style rolls. If you are a spicy lover then trust me this absolutely mildly sweet, spicy and aromatic chutney aka sauce will definitely tickle your tastebuds. I have some hot sauce lovers at home, though myself and my younger one like to have some deep fried fritters with tomato ketchup, others at home just love chilly sauces to have with. I have been looking for a chance to make some garlic loaded chilly sauce just to please my spicy sauce lovers since a while. Finally when i picked Dips for snacks as theme for this week's blogging marathon, obviously i couldnt stop myself to gather all the ingredients to dish out some homemade chilly sauce.

Mini Vegetable Cheese Poppers

Kids are great fans of deep fried fritters, though being a health nut mom, am trying to keep ourselves away from deep frying. However deep fried fritters once a while, makes everyone happy at home. Though i usually goes for baked version, my younger one was asking for some cheesy balls since a while. Obviously i planned for a simple, yet dangerously addictive mixed vegetable and cheese poppers for our weekend snacks. These mini vegetables loaded cheese poppers are extremely addictive, easy to make and one of the best way to feed vegetables to the kids. I went for a lovely medley of grated vegetables, bread crumbs and mashed potato which i simply spiced with garam masala.

Vegan Pissaladière/Vegan French Onion Pizza

Pissaladière is a French style of pizza which have its origin from Nice in Southern France. The dough used usually for making this dish is a bread doughwhich is rolled bit thicker than the classic pizza Margherita. And the topping consists of caramelised onions, black olives and anchoives. It is served as an appetizer and its traditionally cooked and sold early each morning around Nice. Pissaladière is a French style Onion pizza which can be enjoyed as a main dish or an appetizer depending upon how they are served. The main ingredient for preparing this aromatic pissaladiére is slow cooked onions, gently fried until they are soft, sweet and caramelized. Traditional Niçoise Pissaladière calls for anchovies,and my today's post is a Vegan Pissaladière. Vegan Pissaladière is definitely a fabulous treat for vegan lovers.