Whats Cooking!!!!

In a typical Oriya wedding feast there are always veg and non-veg menus, even though people focus a lot on what they are going to serve in the non-veg part of the menu, vegetarian is not neglected. Paneer is a popular part of the it, but depending on the season there is always a choice between Potala/Parwal Rasa and Gobi/Cauliflower rasedar.  I guess the last elaborate wedding feast I ate was my own. Of course there was my brother-in-laws wedding but as it was in Bangalore so the feast was more inclined towards south Indian menu. It's been 3 years to that and  I have been craving a feast for a long time, so prepared the one item I could pick from the feast, rasedar aloo gobi. Ingredients: Gobi: 1 large cut into florets Aloo: 1 large cut into 8 pieces Onion:1 medium finely chopped Ginger Garlic Paste: 2 tbsp Red Chilli Powder: 1 tbsp Turmeric Powder: 1/2tbsp Coriander Powder: 1 tbsp Garam Masala Powder: 1/2 tsp Tomato: 1 large Finely chopped Whipping Cream: 1/4 cup W

I was desperately looking for an easy and different vegetarian appetizer for the Christmas party when I saw the add for Pillsbury croissant rolls and different things you can prepare using the frozen rolls. So I decided to prepare the confetti pinwheels.  Ingredients: Pillsbury® refrigerated crescent dinner rolls: 1can (8 oz)    refrigerated seamless dough sheet Nacho cheese dip:  1/4 cup Finely chopped red bell pepper :  1/3 cup   Finely chopped green bell pepper :  1/3 cup   Chopped green onions:  1/3 cup   Procedure: Heat oven to 350°F. Unroll dough; separate into 4 rectangles and place it on a cold baking sheet. Firmly press perforations to seal.  As the heat from your fingers would start meting the butter in the dough, refrigerate it for easy handling. After 10 mins remove it from the refrigerator. Spread cheese dip over each rectangle to within 1/4 inch of edges. Sprinkle with bell peppers and onions. Starting with one short side, roll up each rectangle; pres

What is a holiday celebration without a beautiful cocktail. This is what I prepared for my annual Christmas party this year. It was a great hit with all my friends. Ingredients: Pomegranate Juice: 1 bottle POM Mint Leaves: handfull Sugar: 2 tbsp Club soda: As required Liquor : Tequila / Vodka as per your preference  Procedure: In a punch bowl mudle the mint leaves with 1 tbsp of sugar. Add the pomegranate juice to the bowl and cover and let it sit for couple of ours. You can adjust the amount of juice by the number of servings. Its 1/2 the number servings you are preparing. I used about 3 - 4 martini glasses of POM. When ready to serve add ice cubes to the punch bowl and stir well. Use rest of the sugar to coat the rim of the serving glass before serving. Add same amount of vodka or tequila to the punch bowl and mix well. Adjust the amount of alcohol as per your preference. Fill 3/4th  of the sugar rimed glass with the cocktail and fill it up w

Holidays are here and what tastes better than a warm chocolate chip cookie with a warm cup of hot coco. So here is my take on chocolate chip cookie. Ingredients: all-purpose flour:1/4 cups  baking soda:1 teaspoon  salt:1 teaspoon  butter, softened:1 cup (2 sticks)  granulated sugar:3/4 cup  packed brown sugar:3/4 cup  1 teaspoon vanilla extract eggs:2 large   NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels: 2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) Procedure: Preheat the oven to 375° F. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl.  Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.  Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely and enjoy. This can turn out to b

Sitting at home waiting for Tanmaya to get home I looked outside the window and it was so windy and cold. I thought why not prepare something warm and cozy for Tanamya when he comes back and what can be tastier than a warm bowl of atte ka halwa. Its sweet and warm and fits perfectly into the holiday season. Ingredients: Atta: 1 cup Milk: 2 cups Sugar: 1/2 cup Ghee: 3/4 cup Chopped Dry fruits: 1 tbsp Cardamon: Crushed 1 tsp Saffron: 1 pinch Procedure: In a pan melt ghee and add wheat flour and roast till nice aroma starts to release and ghee starts to release from flour. Add dry fruits and cook for another min or two. In the meanwhile, in a microwave safe bowl heat 2 cups of milk till its warm and add the saffron to the milk and mix well. This will turn the milk into a beautiful saffron color. Add the saffron milk little at a time and mixing continuously in order to avoid any lumps and all the milk cook till it gets absorbed with flour. Add sugar mix well and

Poee is a popular green relished in Orissa, also known as red spinach or malabar spinach. There are different ways to prepare  it. The most popular is cooking it with fish. I had a hard time finding it in the bay area, mostly because I didn't know its english name  and also like any other vegetable the variety found here is very different in appearance than compared to what we get back home. After a lot of research online and going through a loads of Asian cooking sites I came to know that It has always been there in all the South Asian grocery stores, I just didn't know :) So finally here I am with one of my favorite fish dishes. Ingredients: Maccha munda : 1  Fish : 2 pieces ( mostly tail is used, but other pieces are fine) Pumpkin : cut into cubes about 1/2 cup Eggplant: 1 medium cut into cubes  poee: 3-4 stems  Potato: 1 medium cut into cubes Tomato: 1 medium Ginger-garlic paste: 2 tbsp Onion: 1 medium finely chopped cinnamon stick: 1 inch cardamo