Viki's Kitchen.

Pistachio Kulfi ice cream

2012-02-01T07:58:00.000-08:00

Kulfi can be called the king of 'Indian ice creams'. There are many variations like mango kulfi, pista kulfi, almond kulfi, semiya kulfi etc. In India , Kulfi ice creams are mostly made in molds resembling Popsicle and sold in a hand pulled truck. The kulfi makers use special equipments to make it from scratch (whole milk). But it is very difficult to try that procedure at home (for my skill

Vengaya vadai

2012-01-26T11:13:00.000-08:00

Vadai - Deep fried Indian spicy doughnut; vengayam (Tamil) - onion. This is another version of masal vadai with more onion. It is a popular snack in the tea stalls of Tamilnadu and Kerala. Click to read and enjoy the old Tamil song behind:) Ingredients:Channa dhal / Bengal gram lentil - 3/4 cup Red onion - 3 (medium size) salt - to taste green chilies - 3 (chopped) fresh ginger - 1 inch

Its awards time!

2012-01-22T08:00:00.000-08:00

Sobha Shyam of Good food has passed me this cute award. Sobha, you have a wonderful blog and it's so sweet to get this award from you. Thanks dear. Teena Mary of Teenz' yummy delights has shared this beautiful award with me. I am honored. Thank you dear. Teena is hosting a lovely event for Valentine's day.. I am creating some romantic recipes for her event:) Don't miss it! I would like to

Brinjal kothsu

2012-01-20T15:57:00.000-08:00

Brinjal - eggplant; kothsu - a curry popular among Tamil Brahmins. I decided to prepare this kothsu, as soon as I saw this pretty big native brinjal in stop&shop. I know it would yield a lot of kothsu, so after broiling I reserved a portion for my eggplant raitha and the kothsu was handy for 3 days with my chapathi:) I prefer to make some eggplant sides while I do the beans like channa, as it is

Chayote (chowchow) kuruma

2012-01-17T07:49:00.000-08:00

Chayote potato spicy curry / Bangalore kathirikkai Urulaikilangu kuruma / aloo chowchow subji. Here is a kuruma for the dieters who long for the regular potato flavored kuruma. Ingredients:Chayote (chow chow) - 1 potato (aloo) - 2 (medium size) tomato - 2 channa dhal - 1/4 cup Red onion - 1 (medium size) coriander leaves - a handful. mint leaves - few curry leaves - few curd - 1/2 cup red

Pongal wishes,

2012-01-14T14:54:00.000-08:00

Happy Pongal to all my readers, friends and family , GoodLightscraps.com *** world4art.com - Orkut Pongal scraps, graphic and comments ! *** May this Pongal festival brings peace, good health, cheer, prosperity and every thing we wish for. Happy Pongal! Love, Viki

Pongal Puli curry

2012-01-13T09:43:00.000-08:00

Pongal - Indian Thanks giving festival or Farmer's festival ; Puli - Tamarind; curry - a side dish. Pongal is celebrated for 3 to 5 days in the middle of January by all people with agriculture background in India. Rice and banana are the major crops in my home town. So pongal is a big festival there. It is a season of happiness for the farmers as well as for every one who loves festivals like

Healthy Idly podi

2012-01-09T19:02:00.000-08:00

An alternative to the regular idly podi / chutney podi. Idly - Indian breakfast made of rice. Idly podi - a powdery side dish for idly and dosai. Ingredients:Bengal gram - 1/2 cup (channa dal / kadalai paruppu) Horse gram (kollu) - 1/4 cup flax seed - 2 tbsp Dry red chilly - approximately 15 numbers (Reduce chillies if you need a lesser spicy version) Curry leaf - 2 sprig Tamarind - 2

Vegetable salad

2012-01-06T17:06:00.000-08:00

This is a very simple salad I prepare. I like to prepare my own vinaigrette / dressing as it is more convincing for me to avoid wastage. I got the vinaigrette idea from a cook book 'Good food Gourmet', which I got from the local library. Here is a colorful vegetable salad with low calorie dressing from my kitchen to the bloggers:) Vegetables:Lettuce - 3 leaves purple / red cabbage - 3 leaves

Yard-long beans stir fry (Karamani poriyal)

2012-01-05T07:53:00.000-08:00

An Indian stir fry with 'yard-long beans' Other names for Yard-long beans : Karamani - Tamil, Chori - Hindi, Chinese long beans, asparagus beans. Though not a difficult recipe, I like this vegetable because of the delicious seeds inside. Many years ago some vegetables like karamani, kovakkai(Ivy gourd) were not popular in my native place, (as they used to sell only the locally grown fresh

Orange butter cookies

2012-01-03T18:57:00.000-08:00

I prepared these orange cookies for Christmas. I had some remainder raisin soaked orange juice while preparing the fruit cake and also some orange peels. I thought of bringing out a new kind of Christmasy cookie with my Shrewsbury butter biscuit recipe. I prepared it in round shape for Christmas. Then on Christmas morning I found this beautiful 101 cookie cutter set under our Christmas tree,

Semiya Kesari

2012-01-02T09:05:00.000-08:00

Kesari - an Indian fudge. Semiya / vermicelli - a kind of noodles / pasta. Kesari is a dessert prepared along with breakfast during Indian festivals. The most common kesari is sooji or rava kesari, while there are some variations too. Some years ago, while buying a vermicelli pack I got a complimentary booklet with numerous recipes using semiya. Though it is a very small pamphlet to promote

Happy New year,

2011-12-30T15:52:00.000-08:00

Lets welcome the New year with joy, with lots of prayers and well wishes, May every day be filled with happiness and peace, May every face on earth live happily forever, with all our needs satisfied, May every life lives peacefully with all our dreams come true, May every child gets love and care,along with all the toys they want:) May God shower His abundant love on all of us, Wishing you

Merry Christmas,

2011-12-24T17:21:00.000-08:00

Wishing all my friends and readers a Blessed Happy Christmas, May all our dreams come true. Nativity scene on Birth of Jesus Christ. Our Christmas tree. Christmas tradition: Cookies and snacks along with chocolate milk for Santa Clause. Cilantro for reindeer. Fruit cake for Baby Jesus's Birthday, the Christmas,

Mixed vegetable pakoda

2011-12-22T07:57:00.000-08:00

Pakoda / pakora / fritters. A pakoda is a deep fried spicy snack. In Tamilnadu it is common to see the vendors making these crispy pakoras in front of their stalls to attract the crowd in the evening / night. They prepare the pakora's base batter in a big lot and would make various pakoras by dipping and frying the relevant items as per order. There are many variations in making pakora and the

Inji mittai

2011-12-13T07:46:00.000-08:00

Inji - fresh ginger ; mittai - candy. This is a candy sold in almost all the bus stations in Tamilnadu. I have never seen any one preparing this at home, as it is easily available there. This inji mittai is helpful in digestion and boosts the energy level during travels. I couldn't get a recipe from anyone I know, so I formulated this recipe myself. I am not sure if this how they prepare the

Pepper chicken curry

2011-12-12T07:46:00.000-08:00

Kozhi milagu kulambu - A chicken curry prepared with vibrant Indian black pepper masala. Pepper based curries called as milagu kulambu in Tamil may be one of the traditional masalas used in India before the arrival of chillies. Interestingly enough chillies made their route to India through Spanish and colonization, just 500 years ago only. Before reading this history, I had a different

Simple Beans poriyal (stir fry)

2011-12-08T07:25:00.000-08:00

Flat beans is called as 'nattu beans' (Tamil) or 'country style beans' in India. It has more fiber than the French green beans (popularly known as 'Ooty beans'). The flavorful Flat beans are suitable for South Indian poriyals (stir fry) and easy to cook French beans for North Indian curries and baking. Here is the most common way to prepare an Indian stir fry. Almost any vegetable can be made

Kashmiri pulav (II)

2011-12-07T14:51:00.000-08:00

This is the pulav I prepared for the International festival celebrated in 'Our Lady of Fatima' Church. I prepared this Kashmiri pulav and chicken kabob along with other participants. It was a delightful experience to see the guests liking the Indian food. Here is the recipe for my friends! Kashmiri pulav. Cooking the rice: (for 2 or more people) Basmati rice - 1 cup Water - 3 cups butter - 1

Spinach scrambled egg

2011-12-07T10:52:00.000-08:00

Both of us love home made foods. So whenever we had to go for a grocery shopping or any other thing on a weekend, I finish my cooking duty before we start, so that we can have our meal as soon as we reach home. That particular Saturday we had to go out for a few hours and I wanted to make some rasam, rice and a side dish. When I checked the vegetable tray there was some spinach leaves which won't

Repost for event

2011-12-05T15:06:00.000-08:00

Priya of Priya's Easy N tasty recipes is hosting an event themed peas. I am sending my below entries for her fabulous events. 1.Green peas masala 2.Green peas pulav 3.Beach sundal 4.Urulaikilangu pattani curry 5.Pattani Kuruma 6.Paneer mattar masala 7.Moovarna poriyal 8. Masal vadai Happy hosting Priya!

Onion bonda

2011-12-03T18:21:00.000-08:00

Onion bonda / vengaya bonda is a spicy snack that can be seen in almost all the crowded tea shops in Southern Tamilnadu. I used to think if it is that strong flavored fried big onion balls were attracting all the passersby:) Whenever I eat some onion rings after coming here,that flavor brings me back those memories and I comfort myself saying that I will make my favorite onion bonda one day:)

Fruit salad ice cream

2011-12-01T12:22:00.000-08:00

I don't remember me craving for any kind of ice cream since my childhood except for this 'ice cream with fruit salad'. There is a bakery cum ice cream shop in my home town named Arasan ice cream parlor, which serves this fruit salad ice cream in tall glasses. They have their own versions like honey ice cream, fried nuts ice cream, ice cream cakes etc. It would be always crowded by people who want

Desserts for Thanks giving

2011-11-30T13:55:00.000-08:00

Before we enter into the next month, let me post the photos of the simple dessert table I kept for Thanks giving. It was not extremely formal but met my satisfaction to some level. Here is how I planned the lunch.... *I started planning 5 days ahead and kept a check list as usual. It included some main points like preparing home made yogurt with whole milk, buying the ingredients, preparing

Whole roasted chicken for Thanks giving

2011-11-29T10:03:00.000-08:00

Last week we celebrated Thanks giving day and we had a good time with our friends. I was not planning a whole roasted chicken until that Sunday. Because, few years back I baked a cornish hen for a Christmas, (but not in a formal way) and Hubby dear didn't like that version as it lacked the juicy finish, but anyhow I finished it off and didn't say a word to anyone about it:) After that I didn't