Banana Walnut Muffins

Hello, my Foodie Friends...... I hope you all are doing fine and spending the lockdown period cooking and relaxing with your family members. During this lockdown phase, I have developed a habit of baking at least thrice a week. Though I love baking but not this time of the year when baking makes you sweat. 

As of now, you all might know I have a 3-year-old son. He loves to help me in the kitchen. So last week we decided to bake some Banana Walnut Muffins as he loves home-baked cakes and muffins. Luckily here in Kolkata, the weather is too good these days.

These Banana Walnut Muffins taste too yumm and can be made in a jiffy. Whenever I have some overripe Bananas this is the way I use them. So, without any further ado, let's begin with the recipe:

Egg Biryani

          

Hello, my foodie friends..........I hope you all are enjoying the holiday season and preparing and relishing the cakes, cookies, and a variety of desserts. What are your plans for the new year party? Do share them with me. If you ask me then ma and family like to enjoy the holiday season in a bit traditional way. Apart from indulging ourselves in cakes and desserts we also make some traditional Indian dishes. 

If you and your family are like us then we have got you sorted. If you have some guests coming your way then you can go completely traditional and some delectable Indian dishes. There are a number of such dishes up on the blog. You can check them here (click here).

Today in this blog post I'm sharing a Biryani recipe. This is I have prepared Biryani with Eggs. Biryani is a very popular Indian dish that is made or served on special occasions. Usually, Biryani is made from Chicken or Mutton but there are veg variations of Biryani too like Paneer Biryani, Veg Biryani, Soya Biryani. Today we're going to make Egg Biryani which is loved by the people who don't eat Chicken or Mutton.

So, let's begin with the recipe:

Eggless Bread Pudding/ Caramel Bread Pudding

            

Hello Peeps.... I hope you all are doing well this holiday season. What are your plans during this last week of the decade? Here, in Kolkata, the temperature is below average and that's the reason we're sitting at home and sipping piping hot soups and binging some of our favorite web series. That's how we like to spend our quality time when we're at home.

Christmas is just a few days away. If you're still planning on some holiday special desserts you can click here (click). I have some very delectable recipes available on the blog. Do try them and share how do you like it. 

In Kolkata, all the shops are filled with mini Christmas trees and Christmas decor items. You can see the bakery shops are filled with Christmas special cakes. Even the street side shops are selling different varieties of cakes. During this time of the year, everybody is joyful, delighted and full of life. When everything is happy and merry all around how can food be aloof from these festivities. Everything is looking festive and charismatic. 

This blog post is a little different as I'm sharing a recipe that is very close to my heart. Today I'm sharing the recipe of Eggless Bread Pudding. I still remember my mom use to make this Pudding around this of the year and we use to gulp it down immediately. I have already posted a variation of this recipe (here). 

So, let's begin with the recipe:

Vegetable Pulao in Rice Cooker

           

Hello my Foodie Friends.....Hope you'll are doing great. By the way how's summer treating you in your place? For us, it's still yet to come in full swing, so we kinda dwelling in between.

Coming on to today's post let me first ask you: are you a Roti/Paratha/Naan lover or a Rice lover? If you ask me hands down for Rice, anytime. I have shared quite a few rice recipes on the blog, you can check them out here (click here).

Today's recipe is Veg Pulao in a Rice Cooker. I have already shared the recipe of Bengali style Veg Pulao in a Pan. You can check it out here (click here). This time it is a bit hassle free way to cook Pulao. Pulao is a very popular main course dish in India and its subcontinents. We can also find this Pulao in many marriage ceremonies menu card too. 

This recipe is very easy to prepare and can be made by beginners and bachelors as well.  I have made this Pulao in Rice Cooker. You can make this in Pressure Cooker or Pan too.

Rice Cooker comes handy when you have some guests coming your way or you want to go out of the house. Just add in the rice and water, plug in the rice cooker and forget about it. Your rice will be ready within 30-40 mins depending upon the brand of Rice Cooker you're using. I use mine to cook from Steamed Plain Rice to Pulao and Biryani too. 

For this post I'm cooking Veg Pulao in which I'm using the vegetables which was available to me in my refrigerator but you can use any veggies of your choice. Moreover, I'm cooking this Pulao in Vegetable Oil but you can use Ghee (clarified butter) too or a mixture of both depending upon your preference.

So, without doing any further ado let's begin with the recipe:

Mini Cheesecakes (Cheesecakes with Strawberry)

             

Cheesecakes.......We all love Cheesecakes, isn’t it? We always enjoy the soft, creamy and melt in mouth texture of the Cheesecakes. But at the same time they add lot of calories to our body; this is the reason why many of us can't enjoy or even have a guilt factor back in our mind which restricts us from enjoying these beauties. 

So, I decided to cheat these Cheesecakes by removing "Cheese" from it. Yes, you heard it right: "A Cheesecake Without Cream Cheese". It not only helps you to get rid of that "guilt" but it does full justice to the taste of an original Cheesecake.

I have already shared the recipe of Skinny Mango Cheesecake. You can check out the recipe here (click here).

Try out this recipe and come back to thank me later on. I know you'll love this recipe. So, without wasting anymore time let's begin with the recipe.

Swiss Roll with Vanilla Cream Frosting

              

Sorry for the late post guys....This post was pending in my drafts folder for a very long time but due to some or the other reason I was not able to post this recipe. 

It's almost 3 months that Valentine's day has passed by but I strongly feel that love doesn't need any date and time to be expressed. You can always show your love for your loved ones by gifting them expensive and luxury items but what we do on day-to-day basis for our loved ones matters the most.

Love doesn't need any special occasion to be expressed. If you love somebody you can express it in number of ways. I strongly believe that Food is one thing which is the best  way to express your love and care for your loved ones. Treating your family members by making a sumptuous meal is an excellent way to express your TLC for someone.

So, to embark this festival of Love I thought of making Swiss Roll filled with vanilla cream frosting for my family. Swiss Roll also known as Jelly roll which is a sponge cake layered with jelly or cream, rolled up and served in cross sectional slices. It tastes delicious and divine.

Even if you don't get the swirls perfect or your cake gets cracked while rolling it's okay. You will still love the tasty and heavenly Swiss Roll.

Strawberry & Vanilla Pannacotta...........A perfect dessert for your holidays!!

             
              

Hello my Foodie Friends. Hope you all are enjoying the festive season and relishing upon the baked goodies. If you’re still finalizing the dessert for your Holiday party I have got a very crowd pleasing recipe for you and i.e. Strawberry & Vanilla Pannacotta. 

                  

Pannacotta is an Italian dessert which means cooked cream. Traditionally it is made from milk, cream, sugar and gelatin. It is generally served chilled and topped with chocolate, caramel sauce or fruits of your choice. You can enjoy this dessert as it is just spoon up and indulge yourself in it's silky smooth texture.

These days we can easily find gelatin in our local grocery stores unlike earlier; people would use egg-whites instead. So, if you are not in favor of using gelatin you can always replace gelatin with egg whites but in that case you need to bake it. Having gelatin in your pantry makes your life easy and you can make really gorgeous looking desserts instantly.

I used Strawberries but you can always use fruit of your choice or replace it with chocolate the options are endless! So let's begin with the recipe:

Gulab Jamun Cake......Let's celebrate New Year with some Fusion Food

Hello All, finally I'm back after an ultra long break and managed to get some time and jot down a recipe which is very close to my heart. I'm very fond of fusion dishes and I always find myself experimental with this type of cuisine. Fusion Cuisine doesn't fall under any particular cuisine style and has played a part in innovations of many contemporary restaurant cuisines since 1970's. 

It's really very innovative and at the same time challenging to fuse elements of different culinary traditions into one style of cooking. I usually try to experiment with some traditional dishes and give it a new look and feel. 

This time I tried to experiment with a basic Vanilla cake and Gulab Jamuns. When it comes to cakes you can have zillion of creative ideas. I did it with Gulab Jamuns this time. Yes, a Gulab Jamun Cake....it sounds so Royal, isn't it?

You can make this scrumptious cake with store bought cake and gulab jamuns but I like to do everything from scratch so I made a basic Vanilla cake, mini gulab jamuns, buttercream frosting and finally assembled them.

So, let's get started:

Fruit 'N' Nut Cake......Christmas Special

Hello dear foodies, I know I'm little bit late for posting this Christmas special recipe but I know there are some people like me who are still looking for those last minute ideas for making this Holiday Season special for their friends and families.

If you are a regular follower of my blog then you must have found many Holiday Special recipes here:

• Creme Caramel
• Cream Horns
• Vanilla Cupcakes
• Raspberry Pannacotta
• Strawberry Mousse Cake
• Strawberry Shortcake Shooters
• Strawberry Swiss Roll
• Skinny Mango Cheesecake
• Mango Custard
• Eggless Mango Mousse
• Palmiers......Heart Shape Cookies
• Nankhatai........Cardamom Flavored Cookies 
• Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Frosting

I am pleased to add one more recipe to this list i.e. Fruit 'N' Nut Cake. I know there are thousand of recipes available on the internet but my take on this Christmas Special Cake is very basic. As we both are non-alcoholic so I didn't add any rum or brandy flavor to this cake. If you want you may go ahead and add it.

So, without any further blabbering let's begin with the recipe:

Mango Custard

Hello all.....hope you are doing well. Few days back we arranged a small get together at our home. Get togethers are always full of fun and having it over a weekend is like "FUN-TASTIC". It's always good to have your friends and family around. Thanks to the weekend parties and potlucks; these are certainly very refreshing and a good way to rejuvenate yourself.

I planned an elaborate menu for the get-together which included:

Papdi Chaat 

Garlicky Egg Curry

Paneer Butter Masala

Chicken Biryani

Chicken Chaap

Mango Custard 

In case you are interested to know the recipes just click the names and you'll be redirected to that page. Although I don't have the recipe of Chicken Chaap but sooner or later I would like to share that delectable dish from Kolkata a niche in my blog. 

Coming back to today's recipe i.e. Mango Custard. We all love mangoes and you can find out my love for mangoes in my blog too. I have so many recipes made out of the "King of Fruits". Usually custard is a cooked mixture of milk/cream and egg yolk; it's consistency can vary from thin pouring sauce to a thick pastry cream. The cooking option also varies. But, the method I used is very hassle free and crowd pleasing too.

Personally, I think nothing can beat the flavor of Mangoes so I never do any tampering with it. I just used Mango puree to prepare this custard, if you want you may add fresh fruits of your choice too.

Let's begin with the recipe:

Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Frosting

Hello my foodie friends.......I was offline for quite a while and missing blogosphere reason being we moved to US again. Yes, it takes a lot of hard work and effort to move from one country to another and we did it twice within a gap of almost a year.

Wrapping up all the things and moving to another country, leaving our families & friends behind is a very difficult task and this time it was even more harder for us as we had settled up everything in our new home and got too much emotionally attached to it. 

Moving to a new city, settling down there and returning back to your scheduled routine takes time and that's what happened to me, I took almost 6 months to flip back. 

I would like to thank some of my blogger friends and followers who really care for me and my work. They were in constant touch with me and supported me during this phase of my life.

Anyway enough of this emotional dialogues I don't want to lose the excitement of writing a post after such a long time. This time I wanted to enjoy my come back with some dessert so what's better than baking. It gives me a sense of relief whenever I'm not feeling good about anything (I was missing my home very badly).

I baked a whole batch of Vanilla cupcakes and decided to do a little bit of frosting so what's better flavor than Strawberry? I used Whipped Topping that is available in the departmental stores which makes your job lot more easier, however, you may use Heavy Whipping Cream too. (whip it with an electric blender or whisk until soft peaks are formed). Meanwhile, I think my cupcake liners should get a special mention here as they are so cute that I couldn't resist baking.

So, let's start with the recipe:

Gulab Jamun....and some Diwali Celebrations

 Lately, I was so busy with my personal life that I had to give my blogging life a break for a while. I chose to enjoy this break with my friends and family. We celebrated so many festivals starting from Durga Puja, Lakhmi Puja, Halloween, Diwali, Kali Puja etc. Moreover, Thanksgiving is around the corner too. I was in a festive mood and did lot many things that I had planned for this festive season.

Last week India celebrated the festival of lights: "DIWALI". On this occasion we visited my parent's place in Nagpur to celebrate Diwali and Kali Puja. Yes, we have a small committee of Bengalis there who enthusiastically wait for this time of the year and celebrate Kali Puja for 3 days.

This time I prepared Gulab Jamuns to celebrate the occasion and managed to take few pics before they all were vanished. I have already posted the recipe for Langcha (Click Here for recipe). Both the recipes are almost similar except their shape and size. I'm glad to share few pics of Kali Puja and Diwali decor at my Mom's place. Hope you'll like it.

So, let's get started:

Rasmalai.....Bijoyar Mishti Mukh

Durga Pujo.....whenever we Bengalis hear this word the image of Maa Durga-the goddess of power and strength comes to our mind. According to mythological stories Maa Durga was created by the most powerful Gods: Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh in order to defeat the demon Mahishasur.

Durga Puja is the most popular and glamorous festival of Kolkata. It's not only a festival for us but it's a blessing for us. You can judge our madness for this festival by the fact that as soon as we get the new calendar the first thing we see is when is the Durga Puja? 

The city of joy-Kolkata get's decked up like a newly wedded bride. The whole city gets embellished with lights. You can find fairy lights on every nooks and corners of the streets, buildings and even on trees. Thousands and thousands of pandals and idols are prepared months before the celebration. Idols are mainly prepared in Kumortoli. 

This carnival of madness is the celebration of love, color, light, enthusiasm and most importantly Food. We Bengali's can't imagine any festival without impeccable food. 

People start their shopping months before the festival and make different plans what to wear, when to wear, how to deck up on different days of Puja, where to go for Pandal hopping, what to eat, where to eat and the list goes on and on and on.......

This year I got a chance to be a part of this carnival. Though I enjoyed the festivities in Nagpur, Maharashtra (I grew up there) but missed all the fun and frolic of Kolkata. We went for shopping, did lot of Pandal hopping with friends and family, enjoyed Bhog in our complex Puja, tasted different varieties of food starting from street side to fine dining restaurants and finally bid a tearful adieu to the goddess at my Uncle's residence Puja.

Due to this reason I took a break from the blogging world and enjoyed the largest and biggest festival of Bengali's. During the 5 days of Durga Pujo I prepared different varieties of food and for the climax i.e Dashmi I prepared a special dessert for my family: Rasmalai. 

Rasmalai are creamy cheese dumplings dipped in cardamom and saffron infused creamy milk. Firstly, cheese dumplings are prepared the same way you prepare Rasgulla (for the recipe of Rasgulla Click Here). Once they had soaked enough sugar syrup, press to release the syrup. Secondly, Rabri is prepared and flavored with cardamom powder and saffron (for the recipe of Rabri Click Here). Finally, the dumplings are dipped in this Rabri and garnished with chopped almonds and pistachios. 

So, let's begin with the recipe of Rasmalai:

Crème Caramel

Crème Caramel, Flan de Leche or Caramel Custard whatever you call, it won't change the deliciousness of this extremely melt in mouth dessert. Each country whether its America, Spain, France, India or any Asian has its own recipe for this caramel coated custard. 

The variation of names and recipes is self explanatory that how much this dessert is appreciated internationally. Whatever you call it or whichever recipe you follow the taste of this silky smooth custard always pleases your taste buds.

Crème Caramel is said to have a French connection which requires very few ingredients which is easily available in our pantry. It has two main steps:

• Making the Caramel
• Making the Custard

Once you master the first step then you'll always get your Crème Caramel perfect. It is a perfect dessert for any party. For parties we usually make multiple dishes in maincourse but when it comes to dessert we search for something quick and easy. This dessert is the answer to all your search queries.

So let's get started:

Raspberry Pannacotta......A perfect dessert for your Valentine

Love is in the air as Valentine's Day is here. We all know this day is celebrated as the day of love and romance all over the world. Being a foodie the best way to celebrate this special day is making something special for the love of my life. So, I decided to make one of my all time favorite desserts - "Raspberry Pannacotta".

Pannacotta is an Italian dessert which means cooked cream. Traditionally it is made from milk, cream, sugar and gelatin. It is generally served chilled and topped with chocolate, caramel sauce or fruits of your choice. You can enjoy this dessert as it is just spoon up and indulge yourself in it's silky smooth texture.

These days we can easily find gelatin in our local grocery stores unlike earlier; people would use egg-whites instead. So, if you are not in favor of using gelatin you can always replace gelatin with egg whites but in that case you need to bake it. Having gelatin in your pantry makes your life easy and you can make really gorgeous looking desserts instantly.

I used Raspberry but you can always use fruit of your choice or replace it with chocolate the options are endless! So let's begin with the recipe:

Palmiers.......Cute Little Hearts Cookies

Palmiers is a French Pastry which is also known as Elephant Ears or Angel Wings because of its shape. It is extremely light, flaky, caramely and buttery. Each time I bake Palmiers, I just fell amazed that how effortless and painless its recipe is. It's a perfect snack to munch on when you want something to eat during those odd hours of the day. 

These cookies are made up of puff pastry which is a dough wrapped around butter so the butter gets completely enclosed within the dough which is then rolled and folded over to double the number of layers and then the whole process is repeated. The number of times you repeat this process the more flaky your pastry will become. But making puff pastry at home is a very time consuming process and needs a lot of elbow greasing. Thanks to the frozen puff pastry sheets available at the supermarkets these days.

Making Palmiers at home becomes super easy if we have frozen puff pastry sheets in our freezer. You just need to thaw them, roll them, sprinkle granulated sugar and bake them. Ta-dah you're done! I know it's very difficult to resist until they cool down. I myself can't stay away from them for long. 

So let's get started:

Skinny Mango Cheesecake.........A Cheesecake Without Cheese

By now you all know that I have a ginormous sweet tooth. My dinner is not complete unless I have a bowl of anything sweet. But whenever I eat anything sweet I always get a guilt feeling that how much calories its been adding up! This feeling turns me upside down and muddle up the state of bliss.

There was a time when we would gobble up everything without even giving a second thought. That was the time we never thought how would we look like in our profile pic. Well, time changes so do our thoughts. 

I'm a huge fans of Cheesecakes, aren't you? But we all know that cheesecake adds a lot of calories in your waistline.......Sigh :(. So, I decided to cheat these "Caloricious Cheesecakes" without any "Cheese" content in it. Yes, you heard it right: "A Cheesecake Without Cream Cheese". It not only helps you to get rid of that "guilt" but it does full justice to the taste of an original Cheesecake. Isn't that great!

This recipe is very easy and requires very few ingredients. It is also a party pleaser which can be prepared in advance. So let's dig into this recipe of making my version of "Skinny Mango Cheesecakes":

Cream Horns

From past one and half month I'm just roaming around my oven. I know that but I'm so addicted to it that I become helpless when it comes to baking. The aroma of freshly baked cakes, cupcakes and cookies pulls me towards my oven. 

Whenever I go to my nearby grocery store I always get stick to the bakery section those cute little cupcakes, beautifully decorated cakes, freshly baked breads magnetize me. I can fell the magnetic properties of that section. My husband literally drags me out of there. Anyway enough of rambling lets come back to today's recipe.

Cream Horns or Kremrole is a pastry made with flaky or puff pastry and filled with flavored whipped cream. My husband love them but the saddest part is we don't get them in our local grocery store. We get them in an Asian Store tough. I'm not a big fan of these cute little pastries, last time when we bought it , they somehow invited me and compled me to try one; that day I decided to try them at home. But I was not having molds or funnels for making the cream horns then I "Googled" a little bit and got the idea to make these cutie pies without molds.

So let's start making these Cream Horns without molds:

Gajar Ka Halwa.......A quintessential dessert of Indian Winters

A very Happy New Year to all my readers. May this new year flourish with new discoveries, wonderful inspirations and happiness to fulfill all your desires. Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and enjoyed with your near and dear ones.

I know last week I was bit irregular in posting since there was so many things going on at my end. It was my husband's birthday so we hosted a small party at our home followed by a Christmas potluck, a dinner invitation at our friend's place, prepping for the new year celebrations and finally welcoming the new year.

There are few food items which are specially prepared in winters and without which the winters are incomplete; "Gajar Ka Halwa" is one of them. Back in India, marriages and parties during winter are incomplete without it. Such is the influence of this delectable dessert.

There are many variations of this recipe like microwave version, pressure cooker version, sugar free version blah...blah...blah but this tastes best when it's made in a traditional way, where grated carrot is slow cooked in milk and then a generous amount of ghee, khoa and dry fruits are added to it. This makes the recipe very rich in calories. I need to confess here that I'm not that much calorie conscious but yes, I do care about my waistline.

During winters those red, sweet and long carrots can be found copiously and my mind starts drifting shall I have them in salads or make some Gajar Ka Halwa out of those. After having a prolonged dilemma I manage to convince myself to indulge into this sinful bowl of Halwa. Whenever I have a bowl it makes me feel guilty :( So, I tried to keep this recipe low in calories as much as I can. 

So, let's relish this bowl of bliss: