Eggless Chocolate Cupcakes

When I came across this tried and tested cupcake recipe by Pavithra at Dishesfrommykitchen, I got this urge to bake them instantly. The recipe not only called for common simple ingredients that most of us would keep stocked in fridge and kitchen, but the process of blending these ingredients also was very simple. Inspite of super-busy schedule on the day before the travel - office, packing, cooking, Christmas activities at school for kids...  I decided to bake these mini cupcakes with a plan to carry them as energy boosting food for kids during our travel [hence exclusion of coffee]. Replaced white sugar with brown sugar as I wanted these mini treats to be a little healthier. The cakes turned out perfect and tasted delicious!



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Tomato Kadhi

Sometimes some very easy recipes just go out of mind, due to the number of new recipes that we keep experimenting in our kitchen. When my friend SR shared her recipe for tomato kadhi on a food group, I remembered the one I used to prepare with a little variation than hers. Thanks SR for reminding me of this. The kadhi is prepared with tomatoes as main ingredient and it goes really well with rice and papad.



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Eggless Peanut Butter Cookies

Christmas is barely few days away and baking being synonymous with this festive season its commonly done in most of the houses, be it a cake or cookies. I was no exception to this and chose to prepare some cookies. The first batch was prepared by exactly following the recipe from here. The cookies turned out yummy and we all enjoyed this special treat. 

Since we are travelling to India during this short Christmas break, I decided I will pack and carry some home made goodies to share with my family members/ friends back in India. Peanut butter cookies is what my hubby suggested and I went ahead to make them in batches. I slightly adapted the original recipe to suite my family tastes [who prefer less sweet] by reducing the quantity of castor sugar. Hope they enjoy this special treat :)



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Pav Bhaaji Cutlets

Surprise your family members and guests with this interesting and innovative cutlet recipe made from pav bhaji. Yes, pav bhaaji!  The dish is prepared with a little twist to the traditionally served pav bhaaji. 

It was one of the times when I had prepared pav bhaji and my elder one wished to take it in his lunchbox. Usually I avoid packing foods that may be messy to eat in school and hence didn't prefer to send the bhaaji in its original form. But then an idea hit me, why not make cutlets and send it with him as most of the cutlets are pototo based and contains different mix of vegetables. I googled to find if anybody else has tried this and yes there was a member at Tarla Dalal's site mentioning about her experimentI went ahead to make them with already prepared bhaaji, stuffed it between pav and this served as a great grab and go, non-messy, wholesome and filling snack for the tiffin. Next time, I prepared the bhaaji with sole intention of making these yummy cutlets. Shallow frying made it much more healthy and I served them as tea time snack. Was happy to see everyone at home had polished off their plates in no time. 

Do try the below recipe and share your experience! You can follow your own recipe for bhaaji, just avoid adding water to it and make these cutlets as mentioned below.



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Lauki Yakhni/ Bottlegourd Stew

I have started loving the flavor of fennel seeds and the aroma they impart to any dish from the time I attempted Bhasbhatta (a variety rice from State of Kashmir). While reading through other recipes from this state, I came across yet another dish "Lauki Yakhni" which had these seeds in its recipe. According to Kaushi Bhatia, the author of the book "Favourite dishes of India", incorporation of curd in this yakhni dish works wonder and the dish subtly spiced with fennel and dry ginger powder tastes so delicious that the taste lingers. While reading the description of the dish itself, my senses got stirred. I remembered the presence of lauki/bottle gourd in the fridge and rushed to kitchen to try it right away. (Have adapted the recipe from the book as per the ingredients availability hence it may not be the authentic recipe for this dish).




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Eggless Chocolate Cake With Chocolate Ganache Frosting

Kids eagerly wait for weekends as they look forward to enjoy the activities planned for them. One being "Family movie night" scheduled by dear hubby. Post dinner we sit down to watch a kid friendly movie which helps them to relax and enjoy after studies and other school activities. Personally, I see this activity as an opportunity to enhance our family bonding. 

Now the activity I m interested in is baking! Hubby takes care to engage kids in extra curricular activities and, I prefer to enter the kitchen to start my baking with a relaxed mind and extra time on hands. This is usually done on a day before the Family movie night:). Baking kind of unwinds me from my daily mechanical routine and I am sure it has the same effect on all of you who love doing it. Being alone in the kitchen with my baking equipments, I am able to enjoy the whole process, right from assembling, mixing the ingredients to preparing the final product. 

Today, I am posting a recipe of chocolate cake that I finished baking last weekend. This recipe is eggless bookmarked from Joy of BakingReading through it, I got to know that the cake was named as "Wacky" or a "Crazy" Cake. So if you are crazy about chocolates this cake is perfect for you !

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Badam Burfi

We do get Indian sweets like Kaju Katli, Motichur Laddoos, Jalebis in the mithai shops here, but I haven't seen badam burfi in any of these shops. Badam burfi is a famous Indian sweet. I came across many recipes for it on different blogs and food groups, but when my friend "J" posted her recipe and photos, they looked perfect and tempting as always. I wanted to grab them straight from the computer screen itself. [How I wish that "grab from screen technology" was invented by this time,,, do u also wish the same ?]




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Ratalyache kees

"Ratale" is a marathi name for sweet potato. This ingredient is best known for its use on fasting/ Vrat days in Maharashtrian house. "Kees" means grated or shredded and the dish prepared from this grated sweet potato [sometimes prepared from potatoes too] by Maharashtrians is a simple stir fry served as fasting food with Sabudana Khichadi. This can also be served as breakfast dish on other non-fasting days.



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