Cooking&more

like most moms of preschoolers, I have this constant niggling doubts about whether my son is eating enough? is he getting adequate nutrition? To my eyes he seems to be growing thinner and thinner, although his Docs assure me he is fine and that its just a phase Also, how do you coax a child who refuses to eat, Do you reward him for eating or threaten him with consequences? Do you divert him with TV  so you can feed him on the sly without him even noticing it? Do you force food into his mouth along with a barrage of  criticism about what a bad boy he is for not eating? To borrow from Shakespeare, “whether tis nobler to just put a plate in front of him at periodic intervals as most Doctors recommend or to run behind him with a plate in your hand as grandma recommends?  How exactly do you get a child to eat food that he should be eating, (About food that he should not be eating, it’s a different story altogether!!! no coaxing required there) I am at this phase where I pour through infor

After months of half hearted attempts to revive my blog, lets learn to cook, with little sucesss, I decided to overhaul the blog, give it a new name and a new ideology. After all old things must always give way to new. When I started my blog, I was just discovering what joy there can be in cooking and learning to cook. I wanted to carry my fellow readers with me as I went through the ABC's of cooking. But, now I feel the need to share much more than my experiences about learning to cook. Hence the change in name to 'The food tales' my blog is no longer about recipes, but about food and everything related to it. Watch this space for more

Here's one more recipe from my in laws kitchen...here we live in a place where the old world charm of doing things from scratch isn't forgotten..so no store bought flours and instant mixes, everything is homemade, just as grandma made it. Of course, its much more easier and faster to buy a pack of frozen food and reheat it, but the fun of cooking from scratch and the satisfaction of knowing exactly what goes into your plate far outweighs the effort. In most kitchens drumsticks are generally relegated to one of the ingredients in sambar or curry or dal, sort of like a side character in a multi starrer, but in this dish drumsticks are given a place of their own. Drumsticks are cooked in a rich creamy gravy of rice, sesame seeds and coriander with a hint of cumin. But I guess I better stop rhapsodizing and get on with the recipe 3 drumsticks 6 tbsp uncooked rice 4 tbsp sesame seeds 1 tbsp coriander seeds 1/2 tbsp cumin seeds 4 green chillies 3 cloves garlic salt to taste Oil for

Its been months since I posted here, well the truth is I am in India, and before coming here I had planned on making something new everyday and posting it here. I am learning a lot of new dishes at my in laws place, but somehow never got around to posting them. But today I saw my mother in law make a curry that was so easy to prepare and so tasty, that I couldnt help, but post it. The photo unfortunately is missing, as we polished it off before I could get hold of a camera and take a snap. 2 cups Okra cut in halves 2 cups ridge gourd peeled and cut in 1 inch chunks 2 tbsp jaggery grated extract of small lemon sized ball of tamarind 1 tsp urad dal 1 tsp mustard seeds 1 tsp cumin seeds 2-3 red chillies salt and chilli powder to taste oil for tempering Heat oil in a kadhai, add red chillies, urad dal, mustard seeds and cumin seeds, when seeds begin to splutter, add ridge gourd, okra, salt, chilli powder, tamarind extract and jaggery. cover and let it simmer until well cooked and all flavo

Its been ages since I posted anything here, A concatenation of circumstances, stopped me from updating the blog. I was generally too caught up in other stuff to try making something new, and when I did try new recipes, they didnt turn out 'blog worthy' and when they did, I couldnt manage a good enough pic, and when everything came together, I just was too fagged out at the end of a long day,running behind my two year old, to have any energy left to sit and compose articles for my blog. I would really love to hear from other moms of preschoolers who blog, how do they cope? I think I should have named this post travails of a blogging mom There now that I have let that out of my system, Im going ahead with the dish for today's post. Orange cheesecake. The recipe is one I got from various sources on the internet. Orange cheesecake zest of 2 large navel oranges for the cake zest of 2 large navel oranges for the glaze 8-10 digestive biscuits 1 cup yoghurt 2 tbsp all purpose flour

Whenever we eat anything outside, that catches my fancy, I immediately put it in my "to try" list. A few weekends ago we ate some really yummy broccoli soup at quiznos. I wanted to replicate the same in my kitchen, so I googled for the recipe, found this site added the ingredients to my shopping list, and concocted this very delicious soup. Although I made a few changes to the recipe, the taste was very close to the original Cream of Broccoli soup Ingredients 1 medium onion chopped 1 clove garlic pressed 1 bunch broccoli cut into florets 1 medium size carrot peeled and grated 2 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp whole wheat/all purpose flour 1/2 inch butter 2 cups milk 2 cups veg broth (To make veg broth, just simmer onions, carrots, cilantro, in water for about 40 min in very low heat. You can store this for 2-3 weeks in the refrigerator and 2-3 months in the freezer) Salt and pepper to taste 2 tbsp cheddar cheese Sauté onion in olive oil until golden (the original

Looking out of my window, last week I saw the most beautiful scene to eyes that had been deprieved of sunshine for three months of winter. The sun peeped out last week after months of hiding behind clouds. Trees began sprouting spring buds, myriad colored flowers began blooming on the wayside and the song of spring was in my heart. I wanted to make something special to celebrate the occasion. Quiche sounded so exotic and different so I decided to try my hand at eggless quiche with spinach and cilantro as an ode to the coming green months. The recipe I used is from all recipes Except for a few small changes. To start with I made the crust myself. Using a recipe for winter fruit pie with walnut crumb from epicurious iPhone app.  Additionally,  I found this site  very helpful for handy hints on baking the perfect pie    Also, I substituted cooked instant oats for tofu, and used low fat cheddar cheese. Both of which upped the health factor without hampering the taste or texture in anyway