Whats Cooking!!!!

 I finally gave in to the craze of instant pot and honestly it has been a life saver. I am not saying its going to replace all of the cooking utensils that you have collected over the years or the food taste much better when cooked in this. But what I can say is its a life saver for all you crazy busy people who would prefer to have a home cooked meal without having to baby sit the pan or even a traditional pressure cooker. That said, I have been experimenting a lot with some amazing successes and some not so amazing ones :)  There are so many versions of Instant pot and each one has its own set of buttons and settings.  What I have ?  I have  Instant Pot 6qt Duo Gourmet Multi-Use Pressure Cooker.  I am far from mastering all the tips and tricks of cooking in it but decided to share the success with you. Ingredients:  Olive oil : 2 to 3 tablespoons( you can choose to use coconut oil for more flavor) Yellow onion :  1 medium,  diced small Boneless skinless chicken breast:  1 pound ,  di

With holidays around the corner lets prepare some cocktails :)  Ingredients Hendrick's Gin : 2 oz  ruby red grapefruit juice: 1 oz  lemon juice: 1 oz  rose simple syrup: 1/2 oz  Peychaud's Bitters: 2 dashes  cardamom pod: 1 (if you want to intensify the flavor, toast in a dry pan for a couple of minutes) Instructions Put the cardamom pod in a cocktail shaker and gently muddle, or crush, it.  Give it just enough pressure to crack the pod and a few of the inner seeds. Add the rest of the ingredients and then shake well with ice. Strain over ice into an old fashioned glass and garnish with a rose petal. Substitutes: I could not find rose simple syrup so I used rose water and grenadine syrup mixed together. Try experimenting with other alcohols like Tequila / Vodka. I have tried Tequila and it was good. Give it a try and do let me know. Till then happy blogging  Rakhee 

Patra Poda is a very traditional Odiya recipe. It cooked with minimal oil, using the steam. The food is delicious and healthy. People use banana leaf or pumpkin leaf for the preparation . I didn't have either so I user zucchini leaf. Ingredients: Shrimp : 10-12  deveined  Baby potatoes: sliced into medium slices. Mustard Paste: 2tbsp ( grind, 2 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds and 5-6 cloves of garlic pod) Red Chili Powder: 1 tbsp Turmeric Powder: 1 tsp Green Chili: 2 -3 slit length wise Salt: to taste Mustard oil: 1 tsp Zucchini Leafs: 4-5 large  Procedure: In a bowl mix the Mustard paste, red chili powder, turmeric powder, salt and oil to make a smooth paster. Marinate the shrimp, potato, & Green chili in the masala and let it sit for about 30 mins. The zucchini & pumpkin leaf are generally stiff and might break while wrapping so first massage the leafs nicely to soften them a little. Now spread little oil over the leaf. Put the prawn’s mixture over it and fold the le

Hi All, here's another one in the list of refreshing drinks. Super easy, quick and refreshing. Give the summer we are having we need that refreshing drink for sure :) Ingredients:  Coconut water: 1cup Orange Juice: 1 cup  Fresh Mint : Few springs  Simple syrup  Process: Muddle the mint leafs Add the muddled mint leaves to your container  Add Coconut water, orange juice and simple syrup to the container Strip well and chill it for few hours  Serving: This drink can be served both vigin and spiked :)  For kids and adults who prefer non-alcoholic version : Pour ice in a glass Pour in the juice  add about same amount of club soda/ fizzy water for bubbles add some fresh berries for decorations and serve For the spiked version ( my kind ): Cover the rim of the glass with sugar and lemon juice  Pour ice in a glass Pour in the juice  add about 2OZ of vodka add some fresh berries for decorations and serve While  I sip my spiked refresher go ahead and give it a try. Till then happy blogging.

It has been a really hot summer and one being locked at home on thing I really miss is getting my colorful cold beverages :)  Now I can go out and get a Starbucks but that is nothing compared to sitting in a restaurant and drinking a colorful drink. Few weeks back a friend of ours invited us home for BBQ and she served the most refreshing drink ,I had in a long time. She said she winged it and and didn't have a specific recipe for me. So I decided to try it too and dare I say it turned out pretty awesome. Ingredients : Coconut water : 2  Blueberry : 1/2 cup and some extra for garnish  Mint: handful  Lemon: 1 large juiced  Sugar Syrup: 1/4 cup (adjust as per taste)  Steps: Muddle the blueberries and add to the pitcher. Muddle the mint leaves and add to the pitcher. Pour coconut water, lemon juice and syrup. stir all together and store in the freeze for few hours before serving. Serving : In a glass pour ice cubes. Stir in the mix and pour into the glass.   Add few blueberries for ga

Cherry picking season is almost over and this year because of COVID situation didn't get to make our yearly trip to cherry picking at Brentwood which takes atleast 1:30 hrs. But decided to go to the local farms here in Gilroy and this is what I say its the best example of blessing in disguise. The cherries were delicious, the place was not crowded, we did have to drive for more than 15 mins and were back way before lunch. "Eat local grown food" lesson learned :) Fresh Cherries Now we have all these fresh cherries what to do.... bake a cake , that's what you do. So here is a very easy simple recipe for cherry loaf cake. Ingredients : unsalted butter, at room temperature : 2/3 cup  granulated sugar : ¾ cup  eggs : 3 large Greek yogurt : 2/3 cup  All-purpose flour :  2 cups + 2 tablespoons  Baking powder : 2 teaspoons cherries :  1 1/3 cups  2 tablespoons brown sugar Process: Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius/ 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Butter a loaf pan of about 30x

Pheww writing  down a recipe to share after a really long time feels unreal :). But had to get back to this at some point rt. What better time than now. So here is a very easy chicken recipe that even your not so awesome, never been in kitchen family member can also make and enjoy. Its best served as an appetizer and will be enjoyed by all. Ingredients for Marination: 10-12 chicken wings  2 tbsp ginger garlic paste 1 tsp turmeric 1 tbsp red chili powder ( adjust to your taste) 1 tbsp Kashmiri chilli powered ( this is mostly for the beautiful red color) 2 tbsp roaster cumin powder 1tbsp garam masala powder  2 tbsp mustard oil Salt to taste Ingredients for gravy: 1 medium onion thinly sliced 2 tbsp mustard oil 1 small tomato chopped  2 Green chili chopped ( optional and adjust to taste) few spring for coriander  Steps: In a mixing bowl mix all the ingredients for the marination. Let the chicken  marinate for at least 2 hrs, the longer it marinate the more