Recipes From My Kitchen

Spicy, full of flavors and hearty, Chicken Chettinadu is a delicious chicken curry from the Chettinadu region of South India. It can be made dry or with gravy. You will find this one on the menu of almost every South Indian restaurant. The ingredient that makes the onion tomato base of this dish different from others is the freshly grounded Chettinad masala, ginger garlic paste, curry leaves and green chillies. Chettinad masala gives it a hot and spicy flavor. It includes simple ingredients such as coriander seeds, cumin seeds, black peppercorns, and red dry chillies. Get the masala ready beforehand so that it takes less time to cook Chettinad Chicken. Serves - 4 Ingredients: 1/2 kg chicken, washed and drained, 1 medium onion, grated, 1 medium onion, finely chopped, 1 medium tomato, grated, 1 medium tomato, finely chopped, 2-3 tbsp curd, 1 tsp ginger garlic paste, 8-10 curry leaves, 2 whole red chillies, 2 whole green chillies, 1 + 1 t...

When talking about comfort food, how can one not mention "Kadhi". This buttermilk soup has been a part of various cultures. Be it a Gujarati Kadhi, or a Maharashtrian Kadhi, a Punjabi Kadhi, or a Mor Khozumbu down South, its pretty much the same ingredients but uniquely distinct flavours. But if one were to analyse Kadhi's importance in Indian cuisine, then the only logical answer one can think of is most Indian cuisines are hot and fiery and to counter that, buttermilk is used. Kadhi, hence, becomes an instant seller as its full of flavours, tangy, and most importantly a comfort food to most people. Gujarati Style Kadhi is a delicious curry-based gravy that is made with curd and gram flour and is sweet and sour in taste. This mixture is spiced with ginger and green chilies, to add more flavour to the kadhi. A little sugar is also added to add that slight hint of sweetness to it. The tempering is the game-changer in this recipe and adds so much flavor to this yogurt...

Lemon Sevai – vegan and gluten-free lemon flavoured rice vermicelli recipe with instant store-bought sevai . This recipe is perfect for those days when the time is pressing or when you want a light yet delicious breakfast. You can prepare this sevai for any meal, be it breakfast, lunch, evening tiffin or dinner even. Sevai and Idiappam are usually mistaken as same dish. Technically both are different. Sevai is made using Parboiled/Idli rice. Idiappam is made using raw rice. Also Idiappam is almost instant, we can use store bought rice flour and make Idiappam instantly, but on the other hand for Sevai is not instant. Though the time and effort for making sevai is more than Idiappam, still the taste of sevai is worth the effort. The lemon sevai recipe is straightforward. All you have to do is cook the sevai as per the package instructions and when done, do the tempering and add lemon juice. I always use coconut oil for lemon rice and sevai. It adds a unique flavor to this re...

In our quest for beautiful hair, we often do things that damage our hair. Damaged hair is fragile, so it tends to break. Hair breakage can leave us with frizzy, unhealthy-looking hair. If we continue to damage our hair, we may eventually see thinning hair or even bald spots. The good news is that simple changes can prevent further hair damage. On this page, you’ll find 10 common hair-care practices that can damage hair and dermatologists’ tips that can help you to stop damaging your hair. Rubbing Shampoo Into The Length Of The Hair Gently massage shampoo into your scalp. When you rinse the shampoo from your scalp, let it flow through the length of your hair and resist the temptation to rub it into your hair. If you have applied oil to the whole length of your hair, then just gently massage the length in soft strokes. Skipping The Conditioner Using a good quality conditioner after every shampoo is important. Conditioning the hair restores the oils in the hair and makes it soft and silky...

Hair fall is one of those things that you don’t pay attention to unless it’s happening to you. Losing your hair certainly feels awful. Due to the modern sedentary lifestyle, a lot of men and women now suffer from hair loss.  There are a number of reasons that lead to hair loss, such as age, environmental pollution, poor diet, stress or hormonal imbalance. You need to know that conditions which affect the body can also affect hair growth, since your hair health is a reflection of your overall health. Due to the lockdown, our average daily activity has reduced quite a bit which has lead to slow depletion of body immunity. One of the signs of immunity levels going down, is hair fall. Exercise boosts body health and promotes a strong hair growth cycle. It also increases the blood flow to scalp and promote circulation around the scalp, resulting in better hair growth. So make sure you put in atleast 45 mins of simple workout such as walking around your apartment/street, light jogging, c...

This is an insanely tasty tropical kale smoothie recipe. After all, what’s a green smoothie without a fresh bunch of kale?! Apart from it using the “leafy green king”, this smoothie is packed with fresh ingredients that’ll leave you feeling better than before. And if you make a green smoothie a daily habit, you can begin to look different than before too. This this smoothie is the BEST! Why Is Kale Good For You? Kale is one of those veggies that high in nutrients and low in calories, making it one of the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet. According to research, a single cup of raw kale actually contains more vitamin C than an orange. You can say a lot of good about kale, but prob the thing I love the most is the fiber. Kale is a great leafy green to blend into smoothies if you struggle with constipation or irregular bowel movements. Health Benefits Of Tropikale Sunshine Smoothie Plant-based ingredients: Using only plant-based ingredients in this smoothie recipe and avoiding dair...

One of the most popular Indian dishes is palak paneer – soft cottage cheese cubes in a mild spiced smooth spinach sauce. It is a smooth creamy dish made with fresh spinach leaves, paneer (cottage cheese), onions, herbs and spices. Palak paneer can be made vegan by substituting paneer with tofu and using cashew cream or coconut cream or skipping cream altogether. I always recommend blanching spinach before making any dish where the spinach leaves are used in large quantities and where a puree is made from the leaves. Blanching has many benefits and I have shared about these benefits in this post of Palak recipes. Palak Paneer Vs Saag Paneer Saag paneer and palak paneer are often considered to be the same. But palak paneer is not saag paneer. Both are different. Palak paneer is made only with spinach puree and saag is mixture or puree of various greens. In Punjabi or hindi language the word ‘saag’ means greens. Various leafy greens fall under this category of ‘saag’ – example amaranth le...

Lauki/ghia also known as bottle gourd or opo squash is used to make the fried dumplings and then added to a tangy tomato based gravy. The whole curry is mildly spiced and has a good flavour and slight tang due to tomatoes. The koftas along with the curry taste really yummy. This lauki ka kofta recipe requires you to do some prep work before hand like making the lauki koftas or pakoras. In this recipe I have made koftas. As a result, they don’t absorb much of the gravy. However if you make pakoras/fritters, they do absorb a lot of the gravy and swell up and can break also. So it's advisable to add them when you serve and not before. The difference between koftas and pakoras is the consistency of the mixture or batter. The kofta mixture is thicker. Whereas the pakora mixture has pouring consistency. You can choose whatever is easier for you to make. Pakoras will be much easier to make than shaping and making the koftas. You can make the kofta or pakoras beforehand and refrigerate. Th...

Microwave Eggless Chocolate Mug Cake is one of my new favourites. The beauty of this recipe is you will never have to worry that your sweet tooth will go unsatisfied again with a microwave cake you can make in minutes. This Microwave Eggless Chocolate Mug Cake could not be more authentic. Made from the usual suspects for a chocolate cake recipe — like flour, chocolate, butter, sugar etc — this decadent chocolate cake with that special soft texture is the perfect end to any day. Now instead of making a whole cake you can have just 1 serving in no time at all. And this cake batter can sit in its little mug in the fridge for up to 3 days, so you can enjoy a single-serving treat anytime! For this recipe, I have replaced the butter with olive oil and sugar with honey to make it a little guilt free. But feel free to retain it in its original form. Both ways it tastes awesome!  What is a mug cake? A cake that is made in a mug! It’s great because you don’t need to whip out a bunch o...

Mooli Ka Paratha is a popular Punjabi whole wheat flatbread stuffed with spiced grated radish. Mooli is the Hindi word for radish. To make punjabi style mooli ka paratha,  white radish is used. The radish should be fresh and tender. If the radish roots are hard and fibrous then it won’t be easy to grate them. The taste of the radish paratha made with fibrous and dense radish roots is not that great. Mooli paratha is another favourite paratha recipe from the land of Punjab. These delicious radish flatbread is usually served as breakfast in Punjabi homes. Even we have it for breakfast at home! There are two ways in which mooli ka paratha can be made. One is making it with a stuffing which is prepared and stuffed into the paratha. The important thing to note here is while making the paratha this way, we should remember to squeeze the extra juice from the grated mooli. Otherwise, the paratha might break. You can also use this mooli juice to knead the dough for making paratha. The rest...