Basic Pancakes from scratch

Pancakes can be compared with our South Indian dosa. It looks similar to dosa but the main ingredient is All purpose flour instead of rice and urad dal. I always prepare pancakes for Sunday breakfast. This delicious fluffy pancakes can be prepared within 30 minutes. Serve the pancakes with Honey or maple syrup or Jam or Chocolate Syrup or salsa. Adapted the recipe from Martha Stewart Cook book. Please check below for step by step instructions and pictures for preparing Basic Pancakes from scratch.

Maida Burfi in 20 mins | Easy Diwali Recipe

Here is one more easy sweet for this year diwali festival. Maida Burfi is a fool proof recipe that can be prepared within 20 mins. This sweet is prepared with mainly 3 ingredients. Maida is roasted in ghee. Sugar syrup is prepared to one string consistency. Then maida is added to sugar syrup off the stove. Once the batter comes together, it is transferred to greased plate. Once cooled down, cut into desired shapes. Please Check below for step by step instructions and pictures for preparing Indian Sweet Maida Burfi | Maida Cake.

Garlic Naan | Oven Method

Naan is a thick Indian Flat bread prepared in oven or tandoor. It resembles pita bread and yeast is used in preparation of Naan. Butter Naan and Garlic Naan are the variations of basic Naan. All the three variations are explained below.  All purpose flour, salt, yeast, sugar, yogurt, milk and oil are used to prepare a smooth dough by kneading it for few minutes. Once the dough doubles in volume, it is divided into balls, flattened and cooked in oven. Please check below for step by step instructions and pictures for preparing Indian flat bread - Garlic Naan.

Vegetable Pakoda | South Indian Snacks

Vegetable pakoda is an instant easy snack prepared with easily available ingredients in home. This pakoda will be very crisp and can also be served as an appetizer | starter. All purpose flour can be replaced with wheat flour also. My mom prepares this pakoda using whole wheat flour. A perfect evening snacks to enjoy with hot tea. Please check below for step by step instructions and pictures for preparing South Indian snacks Vegetable Pakoda.

Badusha | Bhadushah Easy Diwali Sweet

Badusha, a sweet with slightly flaky texture  is one of a popular sweet in South India. After coming to USA, I prepare my favourite sweets in home. Home-made sweets and savories are always best. Badusha | Bhadushah is also known as Balushahi in North India. Bhadushah can be compared to doughnuts and prepared using All purpose flour. Small balls of dough are deep fried in oil and dipped in sugar syrup.  Please check below for step by step instructions and pictures for preparing South Indian Sweet Badusha Recipe.

Parotta - Tamil Nadu Style | Step by step pictures

Parotta is a very popular dish in Tamil Nadu.  It is a layered flat South Indian bread and is served with Kurma or Salna. I love parotta in any form and I have already  posted Vegetable Kothu parotta, Egg kothu parotta, Dry kothu parotta - Saravana Bhavan style. Parotta is time consuming and requires some practice especially to get the layers in parotta. It also needs lot of oil for preparation. Beginners can try with very less quantity. Please check below for step by step instructions and pictures for preparing Tamil Nadu Style Parotta recipe.  

Bagels Recipe | Step by step pictures

Bagel is a very popular recipe in USA.  They look similar to doughnuts and is prepared using all purpose flour / maida. Sesame seeds, onions and poppy seeds are used as toppings. The interior of bagels will be chewy and the exterior will be crispy. Adapted the recipe from The Bread Bible book . Please check below for step by step instructions and pictures for preparing Bagels Recipe.

Home-made White Bread

Fresh home-made bread always smells good and is hard to resist.  There is a huge choice of breads available in today's market right from nearby bakeries to supermarkets, but still the flavour and texture of soft crumb and crispiness of the crust of home-made bread is always undeniable.This bread recipe is a fool proof recipe and we can easily prepare it. our hand. Please check below for step by step instructions and pictures for preparing Bread using unbleached All purpose flour.

Coconut Cake

Coconut cake is a soft fluffy cake prepared by baking coconut milk and shredded coconut along with other ingredients. I used store bought coconut milk. This cake can be served as a tea cake also. Adapted this recipe from a Baking book written by Doris. For the first time, I have tried decorating cake using fondant. Fondant decoration was appealing to the eyes. Please check below for step by step instructions and pictures for preparing Coconut Cake.

Instant Onion Rava Dosa

Instant Rava dosa is a quick, easy South Indian breakfast prepared using semolina, rice flour and all purpose flour. This semolina crepe doesn't require grinding and fermenting. Enjoy the rava dosa with coconut chutney and sambar.This crispy Instant Rava Dosa comes to hand whenever there is no dosa batter in home. Please check below for step by step instructions and pictures for preparing South Indian Instant Onion Rava Dosa.

Eggless Strawberry Nutella Thumbprint Cookies

Strawberry and Nutella is my favourite combination. The best part of this cookie is using of fresh strawberries. Nutella can also be replaced by your favourite jam. Strawberry Nutella cookies is prepared as a part of Home Baker's challenge. This group is started by Ms Priya and this month challenge is hosted by Ms Vijayalakshmi. You can join this group to learn new baking recipes every month. Please check below for step by step instructions and pictures for preparing strawberry cookies with nutella filling.

Ripe Banana Paniyaram

Potassium in Banana protects cardiovascular system, guards against high blood pressure and stroke. Consumption of banana helps in digestion. My kid loves banana and it will be always in our grocery shopping list.  My little one won't eat banana, if the banana skin has black marks(too ripe). Once the banana becomes ripe, I either make this simple ripe banana paniyaram or Strawberry Banana Muffins or Banana Walnut Bread or Vegan Banana Chocolate chips Muffins. Please check below for step by step instuctions for preparing Ripe Banana Paniyaram.

Vegan Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Muffins are my kid's favourite. I love to play with different ingredients everytime I prepare muffins for my kid. I have already posted Chocolate Muffins, Strawberry Banana Muffins, Eggless Mango Chocochips Muffins and Vegan Choco Chip Muffins. This vegan banana chocolate chip muffins is adapted from library book. Please check below for step by step instructions and pictures for preparing egg-less, butter-less Banana chocolate chips muffins.

Eggless Mango Chocochip Muffins

Mango is national fruit of India. English word 'Mango' is derived from tamil word 'Mangai'. Mango along with jackfruit and banana is considered as Mukkani(Maa- Pala- Vazhai) in South India. These three fruits are offered to God for Tamil New Year. Mango also find a special place during telugu new year also. It is used for preparing Ugadi Pachadi.  Mangoes are rich in Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, folate and fibre. Salem in Tamil Nadu is very famous for Mangoes. During summer seasons, you can find a lot of shops selling fresh mangoes near highways in Salem, Dharmapuri district. Please check below for step by step instructions and pictures for preparing egg-less Mango chocolate chips muffins.

Strawberry Banana Muffins

Potassium in Banana protects cardiovascular system, guards against high blood pressure and stroke. Consumption of banana helps in digestion. Banana always have its own place in South Indian Lunch. Strawberries are good for bones. They are excellent source of manganese. Both banana and strawberry are my kid's favourite. Brown sugar is usually used for preparing banana strawberry muffin. As I was running out of brown sugar in my home, I baked this muffins with granulated sugar. Adapted the recipe from my library book. Please check below for step-wise instructions and pictures for preparing Strawberry Banana muffins.

Maida Diamond biscuits recipe

Diamond biscuit is a home made South Indian sweets snacks. This diamond biscuits has shelf life for 3-4 days. My mom prepares the diamond biscuits using atta / wheat flour.  She usually won't use maida in her cooking, as Maida doesn't have dietary fibres. For a change, I tried the recipe with Maida / All purpose flour. This mild sweet biscuits are usually served as a tea-time snacks. Please check below for step by step instructions and pictures for preparing South Indian Diamond biscuits.

Chocolate Maida Cake | Chocolate Maida Burfi

Indian sweet prepared with all purpose flour, sugar, cocoa powder and clarified butter. It is very common to find this sweet in Indian sweet stalls.This is my Kid's favourite sweet. An easy and quick dessert for chocolate lovers prepared with easily available ingredients. Please check below for step by step instructions and pictures for preparing Chocolate Maida Burfi - Chocolate Maida Cake.

Ragi Biscuits | Finger Millet cookies

Finger millet also known as ragi, kelvaragu. Finger millet is rich source of Iron, calcium, fibres, proteins and other essential minerals. Ragi is easy to digest and helps in losing weight. Ragi has more fibre content when compared to maida, so it is very healthy and digests easily.This Kelavaragu biscuit will be very crispy and goes well with evening tea. Please check below for step wise instructions and pictures for preparing Ragi biscuit | Finger Millet Cookies.

Marble Cake

How beautiful to see the swirls of vanilla and chocolate batter in a same cake ? This marble cake blends vanilla and chocolate flavour giving the beautiful marble effect. Marble cake is my kid's favourite cake. I believe most of the kids love this cake. Preparation method is very easy and one more baking recipe which never fails.  Adapted the recipe from Martha Stewart website. Please check below for step by step instructions and pictures for preparing Marble cake.

Homemade Bourbon Biscuits

This is my 200th Post. Dedicating this post to my brother Sundar.

Me and my brother are biggest fans of bourbon biscuit. We love to eat this biscuit at any time of the day. During my childhood days, when me and my brother goes to nearby bakery, the bakery owner immediately gives us a bourbon biscuit packet, then only asks what else we need. He knows this biscuit will be always in our shopping list.   Even my little one is no different. Every week, when we go to Indian grocery, the first item he picks is bourbon biscuit. Adapted the recipe from here. Please check below for step by step instructions and pictures for preparing bourbon biscuits.