My dear mother visited me in the West. She had brought a lot of goodies for me. And one of which is black gram lentil from my hometown. All the time we were planning her trip and packing, she instilled this desire in me for this black gram sweet called "ulundhu kazhi". And finally, when she was here, she promised me that she would teach me how to do it.  And it never happened. We spent our precious days catching up and gossipping, that in the blink of an eye, she had to leave back. The black gram was just sitting there in my pantry untouched.  She described the dish over the phone in such a way, that it painted a complex process in my mind.  I was so shameless, that I asked a friend for the dish and she dearly made it for me twice. She was so nice that she offered to do it no matter how many times I ask.  But one fine day, I mustered the courage to try this dish and to my surprise, it was not complex. It was pretty simple to make and it was DELICIOUSNESS. I later...

It was raining cats and dogs here in CA for the past few days. It's been a long time, I went out to my patio or did any gardening. Yesterday, I went out to get some greens and noticed my strawberry plants coming back to life.  Watching those berry beauties instilled a craving for strawberries right away. You see, I am a very submissive person when it comes to this kind of cravings. You should totally listen to your body when it craves for something. I went straight to the shop, filled my cart with all types of berries. Fast forward to today; Made these pink strawberry smoothie and as if one is not enough, topped with more blueberries and nuttified it for that crunch. Here is the recipe. Ingredients : Banana -1  Strawberry - (7-10) Blueberries or any other toppings (few) Nuts - Almonds, cashew, raisin, walnut, etc of your choice.  Instructions : Blend the banana, and strawberry in a blender. You can add boiled/skimmed milk(which is totally optional). Howev...

The cold months are still not over. Since am from a tropical region, this weather is kinda rough for me. All I want is to stay warm indoors and praying for summer :) Am trying my best to eat and stay healthy especially in this season where flu is an invited guest to everyone's home. I want a hot and spicy, healthy soup for the soul. And mixed beans soup is like a one-stop-shop for all these needs. The recipe ??? Here you go! Ingredients : Mixed Beans - 1/2 cup Onion -1 small in size(1/2  cup approx.) Tomato  -1 medium (1/2 cup approx.) Ginger  /ground ginger (1/2 tsp) Garlic(4-5 pods )/Garlic powder(1/2 tsp) Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp (To aid digestion) Salt and Pepper as required Chilli flakes/Jalapeno Pepper & Cilantro (optional) - For garnish Instructions : Soak the mixed bean overnight or you can use pre-soaked canned beans too. Cut the onions, tomato, garlic, and ginger In the Instant pot vessel or in the pressure cooker, mix all ingredients(b...

Recently I and my dude went on a trip to an island. To our dismay, we could not locate a Starbucks nearby. For my dude, filter coffee is the thing. Next comes Starbucks cappuccino which is close enough to the south Indian coffee that we make and something we consider for survival. Deciding to travel light we did not take any coffee items when we flew there. There was some X, Y, Z coffee available in the suite we stayed in. But we cannot compromise our standards to X, Y, Z when it comes to coffee; Can we?  And we don't consider it as coffee if there is no milk.... The room had a coffee machine, naaah. The room had a microwave, Oh yes! We went to the Walmart/Safeway nearby, bought some milk, and searched for nestle instant coffee or any equivalents. We could only get a less intense local instant coffee brand. We came back to our room and as soon as we came back, heated the milk in the microwave, determined to make a coffee. Later we realized, we missed buying sugar; And the instant...

You must have heard of dosa. The indispensable south Indian breakfast.  Dosa is to a south Indian, the way pancakes are for the west. It is the Indian version of pancakes or a crepe. It is generally made with lentil and rice mix soaked overnight, grind to a batter, fermented naturally, and used.  Now the world is after fast food, dosa batter can be made instantly too.  This post is definitely not about the traditional dosa or the instant ones.  So last week, I went to my cousin's place here. She was making dosa for breakfast and intending to help I took over the dosa making job from her and mindlessly making it.  After making a couple of ones, I noticed the batter looked way different than what I used to make. She explained to me, it is a mix of rice and a mix of lentils like split pigeon peas, mung beans, etc. And that is her way of feeding nutrients to her little one who is always after dosa mum mum 3 times a day * 365.  Thanks to her for the ...