Cucumber mint cooler & Awards

The summer is fast approaching and anything cool would do good to our thirsty souls.

I watched this on tv, nothing great I thought until i had it myself.The mint and cucumber impart a soothing flavour to the water rather than just having it by itself.Adding a little salt and lemon juice takes it a notch higher!

You need

Water as required
Mint leaves as required
Coriander leaves/cilantro as needed
Cucumber slices few
Lime juice of one lime
Salt to taste
Chaat masala as required

• Pound or chop the leaves and drop in a glass or jug.Add a few slices of cucumber.Top it lime juice,salt and chaat masala.
• Add enough water.
• Have this cool drink as it is or chilled and rejuvenate yourself!

Sending this to EP series-Cilantro-cumin @ErivumPuliyum



I would like to thank Hema of Aromatic Cooking and Julie of Erivum Puliyum for giving me thie 'Versatile Blogger" Award.She has been generous with her encouraging words to my blog.

The rules for accepting this award are:
1. Add the Versatile Blogger Award.
2. Thank the blogger who nominated you in a post with a link back to their blog.
3. Share 7 completely random pieces of information about yourself.
4. Include this set of rules.
5. Forward this award to 15 fellow bloggers, and inform them with a comment on each of their blogs.


So coming to the 7 random tidbits about me:
-  I started to cook after my graduation and it was always sambar and tri-color sabji during those starting days.
- When it comes to making special meals for special people i can spend hours in the kitchen.
- I feel planning what to cook for a meal is more tedious than the actual cooking bit.
- I love baking especially cupcakes.
- I would love to master bread making with yeast-the monster!
- I love to crochet :)
- I can't stay away from the blog even for a day...i'm addicted to it :)


I would love to pass this award onto a few of my good blogger friends who continue to amaze me with their kitchen experiments!
1.Surabhi Nayak @ My cook Book
2.Usha Rani @ Maha's Lovely Home
3.Simran @ LAzy Cook's kitchen
4.Vimitha Anand @ My culinary Trial room
5.Faseela @ Good Food ends with good talk
6.Julie @ Erivum Puliyum
7.Anisha @ Flavours for u
8. Sobha @ Good Food
9.Kavitha @ Edible Entertainment
10.Rasi @ Vegetarian food & Me
11.Poonam Borkar @ Kande Pohe
12.Asiya@Samaythu Asathalam
13.Vidya@Cook Like Zany
14.Sonali@Only Fish recipes
15.Sangee Vijay@SpicyTreats

Cucumber mint cooler & Awards

The summer is fast approaching and anything cool would do good to our thirsty souls.

Fish cutlets

These I can say, are my mom's signature dish.Any party/getogether she'd be requested for these. Mom makes them well even people who detest fish will just gobble down a few and won't believe its got fish in them.

I started making it some time ago i thought it was way too much work, i used to help my mother roll the cutlets and bread them but now the basic process.Anyway I was allergic to cleaning meats and fish before my marriage and after marriage i have no choice do I!

I wasn't too fond of fish until i returned from London.There somehow we never cooked fish and chicken was the only non veg we had.I used to buy frozen shrimps.The day i came back i asked my mom to make fish curry for breakfast that's how badly i missed the fish!!

This is not complicated and you can make it ahead of time and refrigerate it,and fry it when you have to serve it.

You need to do this in 3 steps :

Step 1:cooking the fish


King fish 5 slices/pieces (you can use any fleshy fish)
Cinnamon stick 1 inch
CLoves,cardamom 3 each
Turmeric powder/haldi 1 tsp
Salt 1 tsp

- Pour some water enough to submerge the fish and drop the spices and fish into the water and cook until the fish is soft and tender.
- Once its cooked, remove the fish and pour the water away, peel the skin of the fish and remove any bones.Shred the fish with your fingers or a fork into tiny bits.

Step 2:Preparing the cutlet mix

You need
Onions 1 large chopped finely
Tomato 1 small
Ginger garlic paste 2 teaspoon
Garam masala 1 tsp
Green chillies finely chopped
Coriander leaves/cilantro chopped finely
Potato 1 large boiled and mashed
Salt to taste
Cloves 3,cinnamon an inch long piece,cardomom 3,peppercorns 1tsp,fennel seeds 1tsp (roasted and powdered)1 tsp (you can store this in the refrigerator and use later)
Oil 2-3 tablespoons

- heat oil in a pan, add the onions,green chillies and fry until onions are translucent and soft.
- Next add the ginger garlic paste to this,add the tomato and let it mash well.
- Add the garam masala and let it fry well until the raw smell goes away.
- Add the mashed potatoes and shredded fish.Check for salt.Add the roasted and powdered whole spice powder.Turn off the heat.
- Add the chopped cilantro.Let this cool.
- Once cooled you can shape the cutlets into any desired shape and let it rest.

Step 3:Breading the cutlets

You need
Egg 1 beaten well with salt and pepper
Bread crumbs
Oil to deep fry

- Take each rolled cutlet and dip it into the egg mix and then into the bread crumbs.leave it on a plate until you repeat for the remaining cutlets.
- If you are going to freeze it at this stage store in a airtight container and stash in the freezer.Before you fry it leave it at room temperature for some time.

ready to be frozen!

-Fry them in hot oil and drain the excess oil on kitchen towels.

- serve crunchy fishy cutlets hot with tomato sauce.

Sending this to HOLI hai@MyCookbook,Midweek Fiesta@Food Corner

Kabab mela @ Cooking $ all seasons

Fish cutlets

These I can say, are my mom's signature dish.Any party/getogether she'd be requested for these. Mom makes them well even people who detest fish will just gobble down a few and won't believe its got fish in them.

Falafels and wraps~Guest post for Edible Entertainment

I was super thrilled when Kavitha@Edible entertainment asked me to make a post for her 'Cooking with Kin ' series! Its always special to do something for friends.

Thanks Kavitha for giving me my first guest post :) Kavitha has a gallery of interesting and healthy dishes.I loved her recent post on chocolate-really informative.

Falafels have been my childhood favourite.Being brought up in the middle east, shawarmas are an all time favourite.Falafels are deep fried patties/balls made of chick-peas and served with pita bread,salads and tahini based sauces.Read more about falafels here.

healthy wraps with falafels

Check out the step by step recipe posted here at Kavitha's space.

Sending this over to Cooking with Kin@Edible Entertainment,WTML@Gayathri's Cook Spot,CC@Srav's Culinary Concepts,Holi Hai@My Cook Book,Cooking with spices-Coriander seeds-hosted by Sizzling tastebuds and started by Anu, Kabab mela@Cooking 4 all seasons

Falafels and wraps~Guest post for Edible Entertainment

I was super thrilled when Kavitha@Edible entertainment asked me to make a post for her 'Cooking with Kin ' series! Its always special to do something for friends.

Thanks Kavitha for giving me my first guest post :) Kavitha has a gallery of interesting and healthy dishes.I loved her recent post on chocolate-really informative.

Falafels have been my childhood favourite.Being brought up in the middle east, shawarmas are an all time favourite.Falafels are deep fried patties/balls made of chick-peas and served with pita bread,salads and tahini based sauces.Read more about falafels here.

Healthy Veggie muffins for breakfast

Radhika of Tickling palates has once again come up with a bright idea 'I love baking'.I wanted to make some muffins but the sweet somethings are getting a bit too much these days, so while i was thinking of what to bake, i started looking online for savoury muffins.I'm a little dreaded with the yeast monster these days since it ditched me so no breads!

I whipped these muffins in about 10 minutes and they were on the way to the oven.They are eggless, healthy and as easy as a cupcake!You have to believe me this is one super duper breakfast in a cup!These are eggless so it was all the more easier to mix up and bake too!I tried a small quantity and didn't bother to use my muffin tray, i just greased some metal bowls and baked them.

Preparation Time:10 mins (mixing time) + 25 mins (baking time)
Makes 10 mini muffins

You need
All purpose flour 1cup
Oats+wheat flour 1/2 cup(i used a handful of each)
Curd/yogurt 1cup
Vegetable oil 1/3 cup
Baking powder 1tsp
Baking soda 1/2 tsp
Finely chopped vegetables (onions,tomatoes,capsicum) 1/2cup or more
Chopped cilantro 2 tablespoons
Salt to taste

• Preheat oven to 250C and grease or line muffin tins and keep aside.
• In a bowl, mix the dry ingredients and set aside.In another bowl, mix the yogurt and oil until well combined.
• Add the vegetables to the yogurt and oil mix and stir well.
• Combine the dry ingredients with the wet vegetable+curd mix.Mix well until the flour is well combined with the curd oil mixture.
• Fill the greased/lined tin until 3/4th full.
• Bake for about 45 minutes until the skewer comes out clean.

• Soft and fluffy veggie muffins are ready for a healthy breakfast.

• These muffins store well for 2 days refrigerated.Reheat before serving.

Sending this to
Healthy-diet-event-baked-goodies@Vegetarian tastebuds

Healthy-hearty-event@Pages

Comfort-food @ Daily Cuppa

I love baking series @tickling palates

Healthy Veggie muffins for breakfast

Radhika of Tickling palates has once again come up with a bright idea 'I love baking'.I wanted to make some muffins but the sweet somethings are getting a bit too much these days, so while i was thinking of what to bake, i started looking online for savoury muffins.I'm a little dreaded with the yeast monster these days since it ditched me so no breads!

Masala Eggs

I just realised while making this dish that i haven;t a single egg recipe post on the blog yet!!!Surprising!Eggs come to my rescue when I haven't chopped any vegetables for lunch and I hate chopping first thing in the morning.They are really versatile and yea everyone knows how delicious and proteinous they are and ofcourse bakers know what magic eggs can create!!

My mil usually makes this recipe a quick toss to the hard boiled eggs.I feel eggs are already yummy why give them a make-over?I knew the answer to that when i made them last weekend :)

Preparation time : 5 mins+ eggs cooking time

Serves 2

You need

Hard boiled eggs 2 sliced in quarters

Oil 2 tsp

Mustard seeds 1 tsp

Curry leaves a few 

Red chilli powder 1 tsp

Turmeric/haldi powder 1/4 tsp

Rice flour 2 tsp

Water 2 tablespoons

Lime juice few drops

• Peel and cut the eggs into wedges.Now add the masala powders - haldi, red chilli powder, and rice flour with salt and lemon juice - mix well.Add a little water if needed so the masala coats the eggs.
• Heat oil in a pan, add the mustard,curryleaves and let it pop.Add the eggs and a little water so the pan heat reduces a bit.

• Toss the eggs until the water is completely gone and the spices nicely coat the eggs.
• Serve hot as it is or with steamed rice and curry or any variety rices like here and here.

ABC series-Egg@Ramya's recipe



Just 4 fun@Sobha's GoodFood



Show me HITS @Spicy Treats

Masala Eggs

I just realised while making this dish that i haven;t a single egg recipe post on the blog yet!!!Surprising!Eggs come to my rescue when I haven't chopped any vegetables for lunch and I hate chopping first thing in the morning.They are really versatile and yea everyone knows how delicious and proteinous they are and ofcourse bakers know what magic eggs can create!!

Snickers' Muffins

I'm reposting this as i loved this recipe and i'm planning to remake it with some more addition :) Hopefully i end up making it unless the lazy bug bites me :)

Its the last day of the term and LM has her first of her quarterly holidays :) She loves muffins so I got this idea after a lot of thought about what muffin to make.I found this recipe at Sweetpeas'. I didn't to the filling part and also the frosting even though it looks oh so tempting!

To make 12 mini muffins :
Cocoa powder 1/4 cup
Hot water 1/4 cup
All purpose flour 1cup
Baking Soda 1/2 tsp
Baking powder 1/2 tsp
Course Salt a pinch
Unsalted butter 8 tablespoons
Sugar 3/4 cup
Egg 1 (at room temp)
Vanilla extract 1 tsp
Yogurt 1 tablespoon
Vanilla 1 tsp
Snickers' bars regular size 1 n half chopped

• Preheat the oven to 250C ( thats the highest on my oven, the original one calls for 350C).Line the muffin tray or i just greased the tray.
• Mix Cocoa powder 1/4 cup & Hot water 1/4 cup into a smooth paste in a cup.
• In a mixing bowl, whisk the flour,baking soda,baking powder, salt and set aside.
• In a saucepan, heat the butter and add sugar mixing and stirring occasionally(this forms lumps of caramel don't worry tastes fine.i was worried i ruined the mix!).Let it rest for a while.
• Beat the egg and vanilla extract with yogurt and vinegar until all is mixed well.
• Add the cocoa + water mixture to this egg mixture, mix well.
• Add the butter+sugar mixture to the flour and mix well.Next add the eggy wet mixture into the flour mix and mix well until all the flour is mixed in well.
• Once the flour is all mixed well, just before spooning into the muffin tray, add the chopped snickers' and mix well.
• Fill 3/4the the cup and let it bake for 16 minutes( since mine is a mini muffin tray, the original recipe asked for 18-20 mins in a regular oven and regular sized muffins)

• Let the muffins cool and serve with chocolate sauce!

I loved them so much so i went crazy taking photographs!

Snickers in the muffins are a great idea!

Have fun with the muffins!

Reposting and sending this for Holi Hai@My cookbook and lets cook for valentines@SImply.food,Bon Vivant Moments@Sumee's Culinary Bites,Chocolate mela@Cooking4allseasons, Love n Chocolate Fest@MCTR