Nutmeg

A childhood hot favorite! A coveted 'naalu mani palaharam' - vatteppam. My grandmother made awesome vatteppams and my Mummy (mother in law) makes even better ones. This is her recipe and it comes out awesome every time! So here goes....                         Vattayappam  Raw rice (pachari) - 2cups Grated coconut    - half a coconut       Yeast              - 1/2 tsp Cardamom       - 4, big (seeds, crushed)  Sugar                - to taste Salt                   - a pinch Soak the rice in boiling hot water, for 4 hours. Grind the rice with coconut with cardamom   adding water or milk. When it reaches a semolina consistency (Rava thari paruvam), take 4 tbsp out, into a pot. Grind the rest to very smooth. Into the half ground mix,...

          CHOCOLATE  FUDGE BROWNIES  What can drive the blues away? Chocolate. Ice cream. Both. So then how about some brownies and ice cream?! 😋 These are very simple but yummy brownies that do not require melted chocolate as an ingredient, so yay! 😊 They are fudge brownies, so gooey at the centre and not firm/crunchy. So here goes... .            FUDGE BROWNIES . Cake flour - 3/4 cups  Cocoa. - 1/4 cup  Sugar. - 1 1/8 cups  Eggs - 2 Unsalted Butter. - 1/2cup(melted, still hot)  Oil. - 1tbsp  Vanilla. - 1tbsp  Salt. - a pinch. . . Beat the hot melted butter, oil and sugar till really combined, maybe for a minute. Add in the eggs and the vanilla.  Sift flour, Cocoa and salt together, onto the mix. Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet mix. Do not over mix. Lightly grease and line an 8inch × 8inch baking pan. And pour the brownie batter into it. Bake at 170 degrees for...

One thing that's always there in my pantry is canned tuna. Flavorful, versatile tuna! Making cutlets is what they are mostly used for, here. Hoping you have some in your pantry too, coz this recipe is a keeper. 😊 .           TUNA CUTLETS/CAKES . . Canned tuna - 1 Potato. - 2 medium/ large.  Onion. - 1cup, finely chopped.  Ginger - 1 tsp, chopped finely Garlic. - 1tsp, chopped finely Green chilly- 2, finely chopped Turmeric pow- 1/2 tsp Chilli pow. - 1/2 tsp Pepper pow -  1/2 tsp Garam masala - 1/2 tsp Lemon juice - 1tsp (or to taste) Egg - 1, lightly beaten Dhania leaves-a handful,chopped.  Bread crumbs - 1.5 cups Salt Oil. . . Boil and mash the potatoes. In a pan , heat oil, add and saute the onions, ginger, garlic and green chillies. Once slightly browned, add all the masala powders and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the drained tuna and fry will it is all heated through (a minute or so) Add the mashed potatoes, season with s...

These cookies are a hot favorite in my family. My daughter (1st born) is the one who makes it, which makes me doubly happy ❤️❤️ She says it's a tik-tok recipe and takes just 5 ingredients. I'm always happy when the recipe is simple and the outcome, impressive 😊 So here goes : PEANUT BUTTER CHOC-CHIP COOKIES  Peanut butter - 1cup Brown sugar   - 1cup Egg (large)      - 1 Baking soda   - 1tsp Choc chips     - 1/2 cup  Preheat oven to 180 degrees  In a bowl, mix together all the ingredients except chocolate chips. Mix well till its uniform.  Fold in the choc-chips.  Divide into 12 equal sized balls.  Place on a baking tray, lined with baking parchment, leave space for them to expand.  Bake for 8-10 minutes.  The cookies will be softish when you take them out but will firm up as they cool. But then, like all choc chip cookies, they are not supposed to be brittle, just firm with...

I never quite got the point of why, "when life throws you lemons..." was supposed to have negative connotation. I mean, I LOVE lemons! 😍 Love lemon flavored anything ❤️ Even cleaning supplies in my house are always lemon scented. It's the cleanest, freshest most droolworthy flavor and scent, no arguments! 😊 We have a Kaffir Lime tree in our garden which is now laden with lemons. May I just say, I'm not quite clear on the lime- lemon difference. I thought the small ones are called lime and the biggies, lemons. But now I hear what I have in my garden is 'kaffir LIME', the leaves of which are used in Thai cooking. So yeah, I love both, so I'm good. This is my absolute favorite lemon cake 😊 Even though I'm a big fan of butter cakes, this lemon - yoghurt cake uses oil and is delish! ❤️ And it's soaked in a lemon glaze coz like coffee flavour, lemon is not easily diffused into a cake batter, so you need to add a glaze or a syrup.  So here ...

The versatile pita bread ❤️ It's the normal, basic bread in the Middle East. They use it in many many ways. Like cut into pieces, with a dip of hummus or Tahini, Served alongside kebabs, hummus etc, or cut into two, opened up into a pocket and filled with fillings of meat, veggies, hummus, tzatziki etc. Left over pita can be cut into small pieces and baked to a crisp texture and can be had like nachos. My favorite is the pita pocket with meat/falafel and veg inside -just don't forget my hummus ❤️ I always thought pita required some serious specialized ovens etc to make, but as it turns out, you can quite easily make it at home. 😊 I tried it and my family lovvved it! We filled it with falafel.  So here we go :                      HOME MADE PITA All purpose flour - 3 cups (or bread flour)  Warm water         - 1cup Honey       ...

We used to live in Dubai before we moved to South Africa. Dubai--the land of shawarmas, khuboos, kabaabs, Al Faham, hummus, mandhi, kabsa and my abssssolute favorite, sulaimani (black tea with spices, and lemon) ! ❤️ ❤️ I think my best memories of our Dubai days are the walks along the creek-side and on the beach with  my brand-new husband (😍) and there would be sulaimani vendors on bicycles. During winter, the feel of those walks and the bliss of the Sulaimani - ahhh! ❤️ ❤️  Not sure how I got writing about sulaimani, but today's post is on falafel and hummus. 😊 Different countries have different ways of making these, just like most popular foods. My version is a close approximation to the Israeli version I beleive but I do add chaat masala coz it's the magic spice!  So chickpeas is the basic ingredient. If using dry chickpeas, soak them overnight in water and pressure cook till fully cooked. If using canned, strain and rinse the chickpeas (re...