Cooking&more

A picture is worth a thousand words they say..so for this post.. I have no   very few words...just a bunch of  pics and instructions. The perfect pictorial! Grate one large Mooli (horse radish) and two medium size carrots in a bowl  chop the leaves of the Radish finely and add them along with some chopped cilantro to the grated mixture  Eyeball the grated mixture and add an approximately equal amount of wheat flour to the bowl  Add salt, ajwain and pepper powder and keep covered for 15 minutes to allow the vegetables to release their moisture and then mix it together to form a dough  Roll out into Chappatis Fry on  a hot tava until brown flecks appear on both sides. serve hot garnished with ghee and accompanied by some mango pickle Get the ingredients wheat flour salt ajwain or oregano seeds pepper powder

My children are absolute fans of tomato ketchup, and I am a bigger fan than them. we love it with everything - French Fries, Toast, Paranthas, dosas, upma, poha. Everything in our home is jazzed up with a bit of tomato ketchup. Normally we buy our ketchup at the store, but I stumbled upon this recipe for tomato ketchup and decided to try it out. I stuck to the recipe mostly, but reduced the amount of red chillies and left out the sodium benzoate as I did not want to add any preservatives  to something I making at home. I do not have a blanket ban on all artificial food as in I do allow my kids to have sweets, candies, sodas, maggi within reason, but if I am taking the trouble of making something from scratch then I want to make something that is healthier for them. Ingredients 2.5 kg Tomatoes 12 cloves garlic 4 dry red chillies deseeded 1/2 cup vinegar 2 inch ginger 1 tbsp salt 6 tbsp sugar Dice tomatoes finely and add them to a heavy bottomed and

Some mornings are rushed and some are super-rushed! you know those mornings, when you miss hearing the alarm clock ring, and are already an hour behind in your day, and still feel like you need to sleep an hour more, but you drag yourself out of your bed like a zombie and head over into the kitchen to make your son's lunch box because his ride to school is going to be here in 15 minutes??? I am talking about bed-freshen up- head to kitchen mornings, Not the usual tea-yoga-pilates-meditation-kitchen mornings. so what do I do on such mornings? Being the self-proclaimed lazy innovator that I am, I came up with a salad that I can put together in 5 minutes flat. watch the video below for instructions Disclaimer : I cannot guarantee that this salad is original, it did come out of my extremely sleepy mind one rushed and stressful morning, but it's obviously based on scores of salads I have eaten at restaurants until now (sure tastes like one!). Also as great minds think a

sugar cookies The other day I decided to bake some cookies at home and my two sweet kids walked into the kitchen as I was getting out the flour and decided to join me. What happened next was an impromptu math lesson right there on the kitchen floor with my 9 year old son and me as the teachers and my 4 year old daughter as the student. She learned how to measure and level scoops of flour, got introduced to fractions as she measured 1/2 cup of sugar and got out her  shapes from the toy box to cut out numbers from the dough and reinforced the concept of big and small by baking two swans - 1 big and 1 small. Learning is not restricted to the classrooms or even a schoolroom at home. Learning can happen anywhere and anytime.  Sugar cookies recipe 1 cup all purpose flour 1/8th  teaspoon salt 1/4 cup powdered sugar 1/4 cup butter Water as needed A pinch of baking soda Combine flour, salt, baking soda and sugar and sieve them three times. Add butter and water to form a stif

Traditional south Indian breakfast in a hundred year old copper pot* This traditional south Indian dish of upma made from broken rice is a perfect breakfast for those sleepy and hurried mornings when you want to get the breakfast on the table quickly without having to spend too much thought on it. It's a tasty, comforting, mildly spicy food. The combination of green chillies and ginger gives the dish it's pep, and the semisoft texture of the cooked grains, makes every mouthful pure bliss especially when topped with a dollop of ghee.  The dish provides a perfect balance of carbs and proteins and is light and satisfying at the same time. The last time my in laws came to visit us, my MIL shared this recipe with me. ho Ingredients 1 tbsp. oil 1 tsp cumin seeds 1 tsp mustard seeds 3 red chillies slit lengthwise  3 green chillies slit lengthwise 1 sprig curry leaves 0.5 inch piece of ginger grated 6 pepper corns 1 cup rice rava (buy it

There is a lot of buzz going on nowadays about the harmful effects of gluten on our bodies. Study after study is demonstrating that gluten causes a range of lifestyle health ailments from digestive disorders to diabetes, not to mention a host of brain related problems like brain fogginess, lowered concentration, confusion and impaired memory. Me and my husband have consciously been avoiding gluten in our diets for the past four months now, and have seen noticeable changes in our moods and physical well being. Though we are convinced of the efficacy of following a gluten free diet, it hasn't been easy to pull the children on to the bandwagon especially in India. The kids, like kids anywhere else want bread sandwiches, pizzas, burgers, chocolate cookies and all kinds of gluten laden foods. We bought a few gluten free cookies online, but they were expensive and the taste didn't justify the cost. Also I was a bit apprehensive about all the other ingredients that were adde

little girl was down with a bad bout of  flu , she is recovering now, but is still out of school. We needed some quiet time activities to engage her without tiring her out. So on to pinterest for some ideas. Came across a couple of ideas to make play doh and decided to give it a try. Must say it came out pretty good. It has a lovely texture and is malleable just like the store bought play doh, and its also 100 percent non toxic. The original recipe called for cream of tartar, I substituted it with baking powder, and instead of food colors, I added turmeric to get the bright yellow color. Home made play doh Recipe source: familyeducation.com (makes 3 large tubs of standard play doh) 1 cup all purpose flour 1/2 cup salt 1/4 teaspoon baking powder 1/8 teaspoon turmeric (optional) 1 tablespoon oil 1 cup water (use as required) Put water to boil. Mix all dry ingredients together, make a well in the centre and add oil. Mix it together. Add boiling water slowly as required and mix