cookbypassion

Kothimbir vadi is a very popular snack from Maharashtra. Kothimbir means coriander leaves in Marathi. Fresh coriander leaves are added to chick pea flour along with some spices to make a smooth batter then it is steamed or cooked on tawa to make thick dough. Once cooled it cut in to pieces and deep fried till crisp. It is a very tasty and delicious snack which can be served as evening snack or as an appetizer for any party. You can click here to see my other  variation of Kothimbir vadi which I made few years ago. This recipe from Maharashtra goes to day 22 of Mega Marathon theme " Sweets and Snacks ". Ingredients: Besan / Gram flour 1 cup Chopped fresh cilantro / Coriander leaves 1 1/2 cup Roasted peanut powder 1 tbsp Sesame seeds 1 tbsp Garam masala 1/2 tsp Chili powder 1/4 tsp Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp Grated ginger 1/2 tsp Green chili paste 1/2 tsp Hing / Asafoetida 1/4 tsp Baking soda 1/4 tsp Sugar 1/2 tsp Salt to taste Oil for deep frying + 2 tbsp Preparation: In a mixin...

Potato stuffed Jalapeno peppers are a spicy and cheesy appetizer dish for any party. Can be made ahead of time and just heat or bake the peppers just before the party starts. I have added grated Parmesan cheese along with mashed potato, you can even add Cheddar cheese or mozzarella cheese or any kind of these you like to. Potato can also be replaces with sweet potato, any veggie or minced meat of your choice.  This recipe goes to Week 4,  day 2 of Blogging Marathon 100 under the theme " Stuffed Dishes". Ingredients: Boiled & Mashed Potato 1/2 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese 1/4 cup Red chili flakes 1/2 tsp Salt to taste Chopped cilantro 1 tbsp Oil 1 tbsp Preparation: In a mixing bowl combine together  mashed potato, Parmesan cheese. chili flakes, salt and chopped cilantro. Wash the Jalapeno's thoroughly and cut them to make equal halves.  De seed the pepper and stuff the potato & cheese mixture. I have used air fryer here,  so just add very little oil on top ...

Broccoli is an excellent source of  Vitamin K , C, E and B 6. It is a very good source of dietary fiber, magnesium, protein, calcium, omega 3 fatty acids and iron. On the other hand Potato is also rich in Vitamin B 6 and C.  My family loves potato and  broccoli has been in our diet since few years now. My daughter who is a picky eater removes broccoli aside from the dish. I started adding some grated broccoli in potato paratha. For some extent I was successful in feeding her broccoli. Yesterday I had some potato and broccoli paratha stuffing left out. Instead of making parathas again, I have added some bread crumbs to it and make tikkis / cutlets with them. Believe me my kids didn't even know there was broccoli in it. It would make a great after school snack for kids.  This recipe goes to week 3, day 1 of Blogging Marathon 98 under the theme " Kids Delight - School Closure - Snacks / Bites". Here goes the recipe.......... Ingredients: Boiled potatoes 3 Broccoli Flore...

Janmashtami or Krishna Ashtami is a annual Hindu festival that celebrates the birth of Lord Krishna. It is a very important festival specially to the Vaishnavism tradition of Hinduism. Devotional singing through the midnight,when krishna is believed to have been born , fasting, a night vigil and a festival on the following day are a part of the celebration. It is celebrated particularly in Mathura and Vrindavan, along with other states of India. On this auspicious day the devotees of Lord Krishna observe fast and offer prayers in their own unique ways. 2 types of fast are observed on this day, Nirjal fast and Phalahar fast. Nirjal fast is who observe fast even without taking single drop of water. Phalahar fast is allowing devotees to consume water and fruits. During fast only certain kind of grains and flours are used. Sabudana kheer, dal  vada, ladoo, vrat ka halwa, are few dishes prepared on this day. Today we are starting with 2nd week of Blogging Marathon 78. My theme for the w...

 Holi is a Hindu  spring festival in India and Nepal. Holi Festival of colors and festival if sharing love. It  is the time for celebration and relishing yummy food. People make variety of snacks and sweets  on this day.   I used to love this festival as a kid. But in South India, there is no tradition of making special dishes on this day. But couple of my North Indian friends used to say that they cook variety of food on this day. Gujiya, Dahi Vade, Bhang pakoda, Dal kachori, thandai and many more. Holi is still few weeks away, but my bloggers friends are celebrating bit early with these delicious dishes. Today on the 3rd day, week 3 of BM 73, I am here with Holi special dish Dal Kachori, under the theme " Valentines Special / Holi Special". Dal Kachori is a delicacy of North India, these are spicy puffed pastry. I have used yellow pigeon peas here for the stuffing but you can use any kind of dal like, udad dal, moong dal etc....Here goes the recipe..... Ingred...

Spring rolls are a large variety of filled  and rolled appetizers found in East Asian and Southeast Asian Cuisine. The name is a translation of the Chinese Chun Juan which means spring rolls. The kind of wrappers / sheets , filling and cooking technique used  or the name vary depending on the regions culture. It is believed that spring rolls originated from China. It was a seasonal food consumed during Spring, started as a pancake  filled with the new season's spring vegetables, a welcome change from the preserved food of the long winter months. The Chinese spring rolls ate savory rolls filled  with cabbage and other vegetables, wrapped cylinder shaped thin pastry. They are usually eaten during the Spring festival in China. Meat is also added according to the preferences. For day 2 under the theme " Chinese dishes you can make at home", am here with crispy and tasty Vegetable spring rolls. Here goes the recipe..... Ingredients: Spring roll or Egg roll sheets 10 Mince...

Hara Bhara Kabab is one of the  healthy and  delicious Indian Vegetarian snack. It is made with peas and spinach, to give a nice binding to it I added boiled and mashed potato. Perfect for school lunch boxes and after school snack.  Great way to feed kids who are  picky eaters like mine. Today we are starting with 2nd week of 70th edition of Blogging Marathon. For this week am here with 3 dishes which are made on Tawa / Skillet.  You might have already understood that today recipes is about Hara Bhara Kabab. A healthy and delicious snack for kids and grown ups. Here goes the recipe......... Ingredients: Spinach 2 cups Frozen / fresh peas 1 cup Potatoes 2 medium Chat  Masala 1 spoon Salt to taste Green chili and ginger paste  1 1/2 spoon Oil for shallow frying Plain Bread crumbs 4 spoons Preparation: Blanch spinach and squeeze the excess water. Presser cook peas and potato. Drain the water and mash them together. Add chopped spinach to mashed potatoes a...

Bought these colorful sweet chilies from a store and didn't know how to use them. Used half of the chilies in Hyderabad Special dish Mirchi Ka Salan  and  it tasted delicious. As the gravy was spicy didn't feel like the chilies were sweeter.   I had guests in the weekend and wanted to make some simple appetizer which doesn't take much time. Also didn't want something which is deep fried. So made a simple mashed potato curry which we usually make for masala dosa. And stuffed this curry in the chilies and baked them. They turned  out super tasty and my guests loved them.  If you want to serve to kids you can add some grated cheese in the curry before stuffing or you can even dip these stuffed chilies in cheese instead of bread crumbs. But  remember to serve these stuffed chilies hot  as they  taste best when they are hot. This recipe goes to Week 1, Day 3  of BM 69 under the theme " Small Bites".   Here goes the recipe.......   ...

This is one of the recipe which I was planning to make since very long time. Had  these cute little smileys made by my sister in my last India trip. Kids loved them so much that I had to try them at home. These simple, crisp and yummy smiles goes to the 2nd day of BM 69 under the theme " Small Bites". Ingredients: Boiled potatoes 4 Grated Parmesan cheese 2 spoons Italian Seasoning 1 spoon Salt to taste Corn flour 3 spoons Oil for deep frying Ketchup to serve Preparation: Remove the skin of boiled potatoes and mash it thoroughly. Add grated cheese, Italian seasoning, chili powder and salt to taste. Also add 3 spoons corn flour and make it into a nice dough. Cover and refrigerate for 30 to 45 minutes. Remove and knead the dough once again. Roll the dough using rolling pin, cut it into cute and small rounds. Remove the circles aside and give them eyes shape with straw and smiley mouth shape  using a spoon. Heat oil for deep frying. Drop few smileys at a time to fry. Fry till nic...

Hello friends ! Feels so good to be back, blogging after almost 2 months break. Was in India ( Hyderabad) to attend my sister's wedding, met all my relatives and friends. Feels so good to see all of them at one place  after so many years. Unfortunately couldn't meet any of the food bloggers :( Will plan to meet in the next visit for sure. Coming to blogging, today we are starting with 69th Edition of BM. My theme for this week is " Small Bites". Serving anything in a mini version / bite size. For day 1, am here with nice and crunchy Bread Vada. I must say this is healthy too as am adding lot of greens and carrots to this, specially cilantro, mint and spinach. Great snack for any party, or as a snack for lunch boxes. Here goes the recipe..... Ingredients: Bread slices 4 Chopped onions 3 spoons Chopped cilantro 2 spoons Chopped mint leaves 2 spoons Chopped Spinach 3 - 4 spoons Grated carrot 3 spoons Salt to taste Corn flour / Rice flour 3 spoons Chili powder 1/2 spoon Y...

Crunchy and crispy snacks are always welcome in my home.  Today's recipe is also one  such kind of snacks, which is yummy and  healthy. These thin and crispy wheat  crackers  are made of whole wheat flour and simple Indians spices which are easily available at home. The process is little lengthy but believe me,  they are super delicious to munch on with your evening tea / coffee. This recipe goes to the 2nd day of Week 2, BM 64. Here goes the recipe...... Ingredients: Wheat flour 1 cup Sesame seeds  1 spoon Carom seeds / Ajwai 3/4 spoon Curry leaves 4 Salt to taste Turmeric powder 1/2 spoon Chili powder 1 spoon Water to make dough Oil for deep frying Preparation: Chop curry leaves into very small pieces. In a mixing bowl add all the ingredients except water and oil. Mix together well and 3 spoons oil. Mix well. Now add water little at a time to make  a stuff dough. Cover and let it rest for 1 hour. Remove and knead the dough once ag...

Wheat flour appam are very easy to make.  These soft and spongy appam can be made within no time. These can be made with all purpose flour too, but to make it healthy dish I have used whole wheat flour. It make it even more healthier I have added ripe banana puree too. Just mix all the ingredients and fry them. Here I have deep fried the appam's. You can even use the Appe pan to make these delicious appam.  This recipe goes to the  week 2 and  1st day of BM 64 under the theme Wheat recipes....  Here goes the recipe.... Ingredients: Wheat flour 1 cup Rice flour 1/3 cup Ripe banana 2 Jaggery 1/2 cup Sugar 3 spoons Soda bi Carbonate 1  pinch Salt 1 pinch Elachi powder 1/2 spoon (optional) Dry coconut small pieces 2 spoons ( optional) Water  Oil for deep frying Preparation: Add 1/4 cup water to sugar and jaggery in sauce pan. Cook on medium flame so that sugar and jaggery melts. Set aside to cool down. In a mixing bowl add banana and mash thoroughly. Add w...

Fried Aubergine is one of the simplest snack I have made so far.  Fried Aubergine is also known as Badhinjan Magli  in Arabic. I tried to google for this recipe and found many variation for this particular recipe. At last decided to make the one from this page, which looks simple and easy for me. Made this yummy and crispy fried Aubergine on a cold and rainy day. Kids loved it and of course we grown ups too. This post goes to the 3rd day of BM 57 under the theme "Cooking with Eggplants." Here goes the recipe..... Ingredients: Aubergine / Eggplant 1 large Plain flour 1 cup Toasted sesame seeds 1 spoon Chopped Fresh Mint leaves 2 spoons Salt to taste Olive oil for deep frying Water to mix the batter Baking soda 1/2 spoon Preparation: Cut eggplant into thick slices. Add salt mix and leave the pieces in colander for 20 to 30 minutes. Pat the eggplant pieces with dry paper towel and keep aside. In a bowl add flour and  salt to taste. Add little water at a time to  make a ...

Today we are going to the land of  Indonesia. In this country assorted fritters are called Gorengan. Many kinds of fritters are made with various kinds of ingredients which are battered and deep fried. Bakwan usually refers to vegetable fritter commonly sold by street vendors in Indonesia. Because of its similarity Bakwan is often interchangeable with " perkedel" . For example Indonesian corn fritters are often called either 'perkedel jagung' or ' Bakwan jagung' . Today for day 2 under the theme " bring on fritters" I have made a yummy fritter/ cake from Indonesia. These corn cakes are sweet and savory.  My son specially loved these corn cakes. These are fried and served with palm sugar syrup which is added on top just before serving. Found this interesting recipe on You tube. Click here for the original recipe. Here goes the recipe...... Ingredients: Corn Kernels  1 1/2 cup Shallots 4 Garlic 2 cloves Ginger 1 inch thick piece Black pepper powder 1...