mayurisjikoni

My dear husband loves any south indian dish. He was missing medu vadas and was wishing he could be in India to have them. He loves the medu vada at the famous Ram Krishna restaurant in Vile Parle (E) Mumbai. The two famous Indian restaurants in Mombasa, Bombay Bistro and Bollywood Bites serve idlis, dosas but no medu vadas. Nunu had bought a medu vada machine (by Anjali) years back from India. Its looks very much like a doughnut machine. She used it a lot but for the past 14 years it was just sitting pretty in my store cupboard. So last week, out came the machine and my hunt for a better medu vada recipe as Nunu's recipe made the vadas a bit too oily. Discovered that the trick was to not let the batter ferment after grinding it. The more it ferments, the more oily the vadas become. Also most of the medu vada recipes posted used spices and herbs in the batter. Borrowing ideas from various recipes I tried out my hand at vadas. Ajay was a happy man when he found home made medu vadas a...

happy 50th birthday to my dear brother My brother's 50th birthday and I am so far away. Feel a bit jealous as my sister is going to be with him today. Though everyone says that modern communication methods makes the distance smaller, but its not the same as physically being there. My dear brother is a simple, reliable, honest and lovable person. We do have our differences but at the end of the day, he is always there for me, come what may. He is a wonderful uncle to my kids, fun loving, caring and dependable. Nimesh, hope you have a wonderful day today. May God bless you with happiness, good health and may all you wishes come true. To celebrate your birthday, I have made a lovely orange cheesecake. Sending it to you virtually and will let you know how it was :)  After the scare of salmonella and e.coli in raw eggs, I am very skeptical about using them in the uncooked form. So I really do not make cheesecake with raw eggs. I love the way some food brands include a recipe on their pa...

feeling peckish?      Granola bars are good tummy fillers as the oats makes you feel full for long periods of time. As we all know dried fruits and nuts are good for health for various reasons right from providing us with essential vitamins and minerals to protein. Granola bars are great energy providers for kids after a long session of physical activity. I make my own granola bars to travel with or just as a in between meals snack. Ready made granola bars have too much sugar, less nuts and fruits and some are made using margarine and other not so healthy fats. With home made granola bars you can increase or decrease the main ingredients like nuts and fruits, add other cereals. Basically you can make them to suit your taste. Its an excellent option for breakfast when you are on the go.    NO BAKE GRANOLA BARS Makes 16 to 24 bars 2½ cups rolled quick oats 1½ cups chopped mixed nuts ¼ cup desiccated coconut ½ cup dried fruits (cranberries, blueberries, raisins, da...

A tribute to Dada It exactly one year since Dada, my father in law passed on. We miss him in every step of our lives but he has taught us quite a few lessons which helps us to walk through life. Dada's humble beginning as a farmers's son made him what he was, a humble, kind hearted and benevolent person. He always liked to help others be it through social clubs, the temples or friends. He was a simple man with simple needs and little jestures pleased him the most. He loved feeding the destitutes through food for life programs and the bramacharis of the ISKCON movement. A satiated look on the faces of the bramacharis or the less fortunate made him happy. As much as he loved feeding others, he loved food himself. Though he never learnt how to make a cup of tea or heat up some milk, he knew what would be missing from a cooked dish and loved a good balance of taste... a bit of salt, a wee bit more of chillis and generous amounts of sugar. For him that was a perfect balanced taste t...

remembering Mangalore A few days ago Beena a food blogger like me, posted vegetable cutlets and immediately it brought back some fond memories of Mangalore. Ajay went to Mangalore for his post grad course and I stayed back in Mombasa with my in laws. During my short visit to the coastal town, Ajay took me to all the famous food places that students frequent in Mangalore, dosa place, ice cream place and a small restaurant where they made the yummiest vegetable cutlets. Unfortunately, we both cannot remember the name of the place. So when I showed him Beena's post, he insisted I make some of the cutlets and with a coating of semolina instead of bread crumbs just like the restaurant. Beena thanks for the guideline and bringing back fond memories. I made a few changes to the recipe to suit our taste buds and I had some boiled beetroot ready in the fridge. The cutlets turned out good and it will be on my menu when I have guests over next time. As for those of you who love cooking non ...

Happy birthday tweenies My twins, Neel and Nami celebrated their birthday yesterday. All my 3 kids are growing up so fast. I remember the parties we use to hold at home and when they were a bit older they wanted parties at a restaurant. Usually we would celebrate their birthdays together, all 3 as the birthdays are  in the same month. Cost saving for me but they probably felt bad sharing the party. Nami and Neel had no choice, they are twins but am sure Niku would have loved a separate party. My tweenies as I call them are poles apart.... one is quiet the other talkative, one is serious, the other very friendly, one is happy with books and play station, the other loves having loads of friends. But what is common in both is that they both are caring, loving and considerate adults and I love them so much. Before Nami left for India, she left a little message for me on my phone, to call her everyday. A few days ago I found a little note from her in my diary stating "bake a cake for N...

Happy Easter Easter reminds me of so many things. I remember the time we all would want to go for midnight mass at the local church in Mt. Abu. It was not for any religious reason, but it gave us an opportunity to be out of school at midnight and that was a cool thing to do. Easter meant loads of craft things to make when I was teaching, Easter eggs, bunnies, flowers etc. It made the classroom very cheerful. Easter means egg hunting at school, fun and the best part was we got to eat what we found. Easter in UK means huge chocolate egg filled with more tiny chocolates. Easter meant the rains would arrive soon in Kenya and this year too it rained a lot in Mombasa during the night. Years back Easter meant the the Safari Rally, but unfortunately for the past many years it comes and goes without anyone actually realising it. Safari Rally during Easter meant that a lot of people could watch it because of the holidays. Since they changed it, (don't even know when its held!) hardly anyone ...