A Chef's Melody

Ingredients: 1 cup All purpose flour 3/4 cup sugar 1 cup yogurt (low fat) 2 tbsp unsalted butter (at room temperature) 1/2 tsp baking soda 1 tsp vanilla Here's what you need to do Preheat the oven to 350 Deg F.Grease the baking dish with olive oil or butter. Sieve the Flour and baking soda thrice. Cream the butter and sugar till light and fluffy.Add Vanilla and mix. Beat the yogurt and add it to the sugar butter mixture. Add the flour a few tbsp at a time and fold it gently in the wet mixture. Pour in the greased dish and bake for 40 mins or until the toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center of the cake. Cool and slice it.Enjoy with a cup of coffee. Note: If the consistency of the yogurt is very thick the batter will be thick and the cake will be dense. Add 2 tbsp of water to the batter in this case. For variation:  You could add nuts and/or tutti frutti to this cake. Reduce the yogurt to 3/4 cup and add 1/4 cup lemon ...

Ingredients:  2 packets Parle-G glucose biscuits (total 30 biscuits )   1 tbsp coco powder.   4-5 tbsp sugar. (Adjust according to your taste)  1 tsp baking powder.  1 cup milk (at room temp)  1 tsp vanilla  2 tbsp unsalted butter or  clarified butter. Here's  what you need to do Grind glucose biscuits into a fine powder. Mix coco powder, baking powder and the biscuit powder. Sieve the above mixture thrice. Cream the butter and sugar well.Add Vanilla and mix. Mix the dry ingredients the sugar butter mixture. Slowly incorporate the milk to form a smooth batter. Grease a microwave safe bowl and pour the above mixture and microwave the above mixture for 5 mins on full power.Let it stand for another 2 mins in the microwave. When it cools down slice it in pieces and enjoy. Note: You can use 15 Parle-G biscuit and 15 any brand chocolate biscuits like Hide and seek,Oreo,Bourbon and skip the cocoa powder.

Here's what you need 1 cup frozen peas, thawed 1 large potato,cubed 1 cup fried onions (Store bought-almost all Indian store carry them) 1 tbsp garlic paste 1 tbsp ginger paste 8 whole cashews, halved 2 tbsp plain yogurt,preferably at room temperature 1/4 cup store bought tomato sauce (substitute:1/2 cup homemade tomato puree) 1 tsp chili powder 1 tbsp coriander powder 1 tsp cumin powder 1 1/2 tsp sugar 1 tbsp kasuri methi,crushed 1 tsp Kitchen King Masala (substitute :garam masala) 1 tbsp lemon juice 2 tbsp cilantro, finely chopped 1 tsp ghee (optional) 1 tbsp oil salt to taste Let's start cooking Blend fried onions,cashews,yogurt to a smooth paste.Use a few tablespoons of warm water if necessary. In a kadhai ,heat a tsp of oil fry the onion paste on medium high heat,stirring continuously until oil separates, approx. 4-5 mins.Remember we are using fried onions,so don't be surprised to see a considerable amount of oil oozing out.It is necessary tha...

Here's what you need 1 large potato peeled and cubed 2 capsicum/green pepper cut into big chunks 1 medium onion sliced lengthwise 1/2 tsp red chili powder 1/2 tsp turmeric powder 1/2 tsp dhania-jeera powder 1/2 tsp pav bhaji masala 2 tbsp cilantro finely chopped 3 tbsp oil salt to taste Let's start cooking In a glass bowl,add all the above ingredients,mix well. Cover will a microwave safe plastic wrap.Punch 5-6 hole on the wrap to allow steam to escape. Cook on full power in microwave for 20 minutes. Serve hot with rotis or rice. Note: Add a tbsp of lemon juice to enhance the flavor after you remove it from the microwave .

Here's what you need: 1 bunch spinach Trim and wash the spinach leaves and drop them in boiling water and let them boil for couple of minutes.Fish the leaves out and drop them in ice cold water.Let them rest for 5 mins.Later make a puree of the leaves. 1 cup masoor   soaked overnite and cooked just until done but not mushy. 1 medium red onion chopped 2 green chillis slit 1 medium tomato chopped 7 cloves of garlic minced 4 tbsp dessicated coconut Dry roasted till light golden. 1 tbsp coriander powder 1 tsp cumin powder 1/2 tsp red chilli powder 1/2 tsp garam masala powder 2 tbsp oil salt to taste Let's start cooking Heat a fry pan ,add a tbsp of oil when hot drop in  garlic and saute for a couple of mins till light brown. Add the onion and fry till transparent,about 4 mins. Add green chilis,tomato,coriander powder,cumin powder,red chili powder and fry till oil separates,about 5 mins.Remember we have used very less oil so you won't see a...

Our family is vegetarian so we have very few option to explore.My husband's current project is in Dallas and a Mediterranean  lunch buffet place called "Galilee Grill" in downtown dallas attracts him a lot. This place has a wonderful buffet under $10 and you will be amazed to see how crowed it is during the weekdays lunch hours.I too love middle eastern food as it is quite spicy. As my DH and son are a fan of falafel there are times when I cooked it very often.Just to make it  healthy I  add either mix vegetables or spinach or soya chunks to these and believe me the addition of these ingredients made them more tasty. Originally falafel was made of fava beans but later as it migrated outside Egypt fava beans were replaced  by chickpeas.Falafel grew to become a common form of street food or fast food in the Middle East. During Ramadan, falafel balls are sometimes eaten as part of the iftar, the meal that breaks the daily fast after sunset Falafel became s...

Here's what you will need 1 cup Sabudana/sago 1/4 cup peanut butter (smooth, unsalted and no sugar added.) 1/2 cup sugar,powdered 1/2 tsp cardamom powder 1/8 cup cashew nut powder(optional) ( You could use cashews for garnishing instead) ghee as required The Cooking Process Dry roast the sabudana till they are light golden and grind it to a fine powder. In a large bowl beat the peanut butter till it is light and fluffy.Now add the sugar,sabudana powder,cashew nut powder and cardamom powder and mix the ingredients well. Grease your palms with ghee and make small lime size balls.If you find it hard to shape you could add 1-2 tbsp of melted ghee to the mixture. These ladoos can be served as snack. Variation: Replace peanut butter with 2 tbsp fine peanut powder and 1/4 cup ghee. Makes :20 ladoos