One Day At A Time

Some weekdays are so busy, I hardly find time to cook. Preparing pasta is the easiest thing to do. I know its high in carbohydrates, but I think its fine once a week. To complete our menu, I cook some veggies like zucchini, brussel sprouts, broccoli in the oven. Today's Italian delight is a creamy sun-dried tomato sauce to go with vegetables enriched rotini pasta.

In Indian cuisine, Khoya and Paneer are the most commonly used cheeses. Khoya, also called as Mawa is used for making Mithai (desserts). Frankly, I haven't cooked with khoya yet. But, Paneer (Indian Cottage Cheese) is something I am quite familiar with. Like any other cheese, Paneer is made by curdling milk. It is used for both sweet and savory dishes. Well, I make Paneer at home. But, on busy days, I prefer store bought Italian Ricotta Cheese as an alternative for Indian Mithai. Trust me, Ricotta cheese works perfectly fine for sweets. Here are all the Indian recipes with Ricotta Cheese as the star ingredient. I loved making Ricotta Cheese Koftas too. Ricotta Cheese Gulab Jamun Ricotta Cheese Pedha Ricotta Cheese Rasmalai (Baked) Microwave Mango Kalakand Microwave Ricotta Cheese Kalakand Oven Baked Ricotta Kalakand Microwave Badam (Almond) Burfi Microwave Ricotta Cheese Sandesh/Sondesh Ricotta Cheese Malai Kofta Curry

Happy Krishna Jayanti to all! Hope you all are celebrating with your loved ones. For this year, I made a 5 minutes Condensed Milk Coconut Ladoo . Yes, cooking time for this dessert is just 5 minutes in a microwave. Ingredients: Sweetened Condensed Milk - 14 oz (396 gm) Desiccated (Dry) Coconut - 1 1/2 cups + 1/4 cup Green Cardamom/Elaichi - 4 pods Ghee/Clarified Butter - 2 tsp Roasted Cashews - about 12 How to cook Condensed Milk Coconut Ladoo in a microwave: Crush the cardamom seeds in a mortar pestle to a fine powder. Wipe a microwave safe bowl dry. Grease the bowl with 1 tsp ghee. Add condensed milk and 1 1/2 cups desiccated coconut. Mix well. Microwave this milk and coconut mix for 3 minutes. Stop the microwave after every minute and stir. This will avoid burning. Next, add cardamom powder to the bowl and mix again. Microwave for 1 more minute.  Take a small portion of the cooked ladoo mixture and check if you can make a small round ball of it. If so, your ladoo mix...

I am a person who likes to wander in a supermarket. That gives me a chance to try out new ingredients. This week, I picked buttermilk in the dairy isle for making Rava Dhokla . Up until now, I used to make Dhokla with yogurt. But, dhokla with buttermilk turned out even better. Buttermilk is comparatively sour than yogurt, which makes instant dhokla soft and fluffy. The best part is the health benefit, buttermilk has far less fat content than yogurt. 

No one likes to spend too much time cooking in this hot weather. Generally, salads are my go to meal. But then, whole wheat vegetable hummus sandwich tastes so much better. So, a little bit of cooking for a wholesome sandwich with pinto beans, veggies and cheese is not bad. Does that sound good to you? Pinto Bean Hummus: Dry Pinto Beans - 1/2 cup White Sesame Seeds/Til or Tahini Paste - 1 tbsp Garlic - 1 big clove Lemon/Lime Juice - 1/4 cup Olive Oil - 2 tbsp Paprika - 1/4 tsp Black Pepper Powder - 1/2 tsp Salt Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich: Bread Slices Romaine Lettuce Leaves Red Onion Cucumber Tomato Feta Cheese How to make Pinto Bean Hummus Veggie Sandwich: Traditionally, Mediterranean hummus is made with chickpeas, also called as garbanzo beans or kabuli chana. Canned beans work just fine. But, dry beans are better if you are looking for a low sodium option. Soak dry pinto beans or any other beans in plenty of water overnight. Wash the beans well. Cook th...

My new favorite ingredient is feta cheese. There are so many cheeses in the market, but some you like and some you don't. Goat cheese is not my kind of cheese. Well, you all have read about cream cheese and ricotta cheese recipes. Now is the time for a refreshing summer salad with olives and feta cheese.

Hindu holy month of Shraavan marks the beginning of festivities. As a child, I used to see my Mom perform a special Choodi Pooja on Fridays and Sundays of Shraavan. Even now, I call Mom asking how this is done, how do I do that and stuff. Such family traditions and rituals make me feel myself closer to my roots. For such saatvik celebrations, I cook my Mom's Upavas recipes. Hope you guys will like them too.