mayurisjikoni

Mouthwatering and cooling       For the month of May members of Shhh Cooking Secretly decided to use mango as the main ingredient and their partners had to still give 2 secret ingredients that can be used along with mango. So far the photos I seen from fellow members vary from curry, ice cream to pickles. My partner for this month Sharanya Palanisshami of Sara's Tasty Buds  gave me coconut and agar agar as my other two ingredients. Check out her blog. She has a wide variety of recipes ranging from traditional to baked.      For a long time I had saved  the recipe Mango Coconut Jelly by Pailin of Hot Thai Kitchen . Finally I made it for this challenge. The jelly turned out well taste wise. It's a very refreshing and light dessert. However, Pailin's mango and coconut layers stayed together when she cut into squares, mine didn't.(notice the finger dents as I was trying to keep the coconut layer in place!) However, that does not deter me from sharing...

Doughnuts or Donuts?             Which of the above two spellings is correct? Doughnut appears as the official spelling in the dictionaries but donuts is the contracted word of the original mostly used by Americans.What is a doughnut? A doughnut is a small fried cake made from a sweet dough. Its either in the shape of a ball or a ring. The ball shaped doughnuts are usually filled with fresh cream, jam or custard. The ring ones are glazed with icing, chocolate or fresh cream. If they are not glazed then the warm doughnuts are coated with sugar and cinnamon or other flavourings or spices.            It is believed that during the mid 19th Century the Dutch were making olykoeks or oil cakes. These were fried in pork fat till they were golden brown. The Dutch settlers in America continued to make these oily cakes and since then have evolved into what we know as present day doughnuts. Whatever the history, it seems that many parts o...

Hot on the heels    My last post was a veggie pizza and this post is a pizza swirl bread. Now don't get me wrong, yes I do love pizzas but can't have it everyday. Pizza Swirl Bread was the May challenge for the We Knead to Bake set by fellow member Niv Mani of Panfusine . Niv wanted us to use the recipe for the dough and the filling and sauce was our choice. This time I managed to bake it a few weeks ahead but I was not happy with the result. It baked well but because of the twists, the bread was not slicing well. However, hubby really enjoyed the bread with an olive dip. Usually my bakes turn out good so it really bothered me that this loaf didn't turn out so nice. So the bread was still on my 'must do list'. I managed to bake it again yesterday and was happy with the end result. Nice crusty loaf and good slices. Though the baked loaf does not look pretty, the slices looked really good. Each slice has a different pattern. This bread can be served with a soup, a sal...

Sunday is Pizza Day      I've made pizzas when my kids were at home, when we've invited guests, to celebrate special occasions. Years back we didn't get frozen pizzas, or ready made pizza base. There were not many places making pizzas back then, so the only option was to make them at home.Made them quite often but never ever thought of posting my pizza recipe. Actually don't know why I haven't done so till now. Well, as they say its never too late. I must thank my #FoodieMonday #Bloghop friends for choosing the 41st theme as #Pizzamania.          Normally on a Sunday hubby and I go to our favourite restaurant IL Covo to have either a pizza or lasagna. We usually land up with a pizza as they are baked in a brick oven using wood. The pizzas are simply amazing. Homemade ones don't give the same result. However, pizzas whether home made or ready made are mostly everyone's favourite. I still have to come across someone who hates pizzas. When the grou...

a great treat    Sabudana vada has been on my 'to do list' for a very long time. These days I am trying to avoid fried foods if possible so that when we dine out, I can indulge in whatever I want. However this Ekadashi, I just decided to make a fried snack. I am so glad I made these so crunchy and delicious vadas. A Maharashtrian snack, which is commonly found as street food, its easy to prepare and crispy from the outside and soft inside. Its usually served with sweetened yogurt. I am not a big fan of sweetened yogurt so I decided to make a yogurt coconut chutney. Sabudana vadas are very often made during fasting time. I had these crunchy vadas for the first time at the Hare Krishna Temple in Juhu and simply loved them. I fried a few and also made a few in the appe pan (paniyaram pan, ebelskiver pan). The fried ones stayed a bit crunchy even after they cooled down. However the ones made in the appe pan, became soft. So, I guess its best to serve them as soon as they are prepa...