Rava-Besan Sheera

Source: www.creativesaga.com

Indian desserts are to die for and are nutritious too. I remember eating rava sheera and atta halwa for breakfast as a child. But, I've never tried rava-besan sheera before. Ever. Rava is semolina and besan is Chickpea flour and the combination sounds divine. Thank you creativesga. I know what LO will be getting for breakfast tomorrow!

Creamy Lemon Chicken

Source: themotherhuddle.com

Enough DIY! It's time for some food! Check out this awesome creamy chicken recipe for a quick dinner when you're wayyy too tired to make anything elaborate..Thank you motherhuddle.com!

Mango pickle

We love pickles. Indian meals just aren't complete without the customary mango/chilly/lime pickle. Lime an chilly pickles need a little time to mature but some mango pickles are ready to eat the second you're done making them. But these don't keep for very long so you might have to refrigerate them right after making. We make it every year a month before the mango season hits which is when the raw mangoes are at their tangiest best.

You'll need:

Half a kg of raw mangoes
Half a tablespoon Mustard seeds
Three tablespoons chilly powder
One tablespoon methi powder (powder of fenugreek seeds)
A heaped teaspoon of Salt
3/4 cup mustard oil

Chop the mangoes into tiny pieces
Place in a bowl

Combine the chilly powder, salt and methi powder in a separate bowl and put it in a little mound over the chopped mangoes
Heat most of the mustard oil in a small skillet.(Leave out about 3 tablespoons. We'll get to that later) When it starts a smoke very slightly, add the mustard seeds. As soon as the crackling subsides pour the hot oil over the spices.
Wait for 5 seconds for the spices to absorb the oil and then mix thoroughly.
Heat the remaining oil in the same skillet. As soon as it starts smoking take it off and pour it all over the chopped mangoes. (When you pour the oil on the mound of spices the first time you'll notice the hot oil rolling down the sides and not immediately getting soaked up by the spices. This ensures hot oil is totally infused in the pickle.)
Mix the pickle thoroughly to ensure the pieces are nicely coated with the spice and oil.

Let it cool down completely.
Transfer to a glass bottle and refrigerate.
Done!

If the level of the oil starts decreasing with use. heat up some oil and add it to the jar. This will keep the mangoes succulent.

Coloured Ice-cream squares

Source

The weather's kind of going crazy here in Bombay and we're a ways away from having ice cream but I don't think learning this awesome new technique will hurt! Ice-cream squares and dual-toned! wowzaa!!

chocolate crinkles

Allrecipes

30 g unsweetened cocoa powder
135 g white sugar
35 ml vegetable oil
1-1/4 eggs
3 ml vanilla extract (Optional. I don't use essence as it tends to give a slightly synthetic flavour)
85 g all-purpose flour (not self-raising flour)
3 g baking powder
a pinch of salt
20 g confectioners' sugar

In a medium bowl, mix together cocoa, white sugar, and vegetable oil. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; stir into the cocoa mixture. Cover dough, and chill for at least 4 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Roll dough into one inch balls. I like to use a number 50 size scoop. Coat each ball in confectioners' sugar before placing onto prepared cookie sheets.
Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes. Let stand on the cookie sheet for a minute before transferring to wire racks to cool.

Separating egg yolks with a bottle

How many times have you wanted to separate the yolk from the white and ended up breaking the yolk on the edge of the cracked egg? I've done it umpteen times. So, this is something I am definitely going to try!
And this is today's "new thing to learn". 

Simple Chicken salad

As a mum, I need simple, easy solutions and fast. So only the simplest and easiest will feature here.
Here's the first recipe changed up a bit .. Thank you repeatcrafterme.com

Ingredients:
- 3 chicken breasts
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 cup chopped cucumber
- 1/4 cup chopped spring onions with the green leaves
- 3/4 cup garlic mayo
- salt and pepper to taste
- 3-4 peppercorns
- 2-3 cloves

Cook chicken with the salt cloves and peppercorns in a pressure cooker till tender. Every pressure cooker has a different cooking time and you know yours best. I prefer cooking the chicken on a low flame. That keeps it tender and doesn't let it get stringy.
Once cooked completely, drain it, shred it, add the onions, mayo and cucumber and enjoy!!

(Don't throw away the water after you're done draining the chicken. You could always use that as stock. It's flavoured well with the salt, cloves and peppercorns.)