Playful Cooking

It was absolutely delicious, soft and covered with flavorful pesto sauce! After that day, I prepared gnocchi several times for dinner but always using the store bought frozen ones. As delicious and easy it was, I couldn’t stop myself from getting my hands dirty with the homemade version. It did sound intimidating at first, but surprisingly it was not that hard at all. Definitely time taking but truly simple. And nothing can beat freshly made gnocchi....

It was not an easy year for us. There were a lot of frustrating days, but others were filled with bliss and fun. A mixed bag it was. I have no clue what’s in store for this year and I stopped making resolutions long back. Planning to just go with the flow and try to make the best out of it. I do know that with my boys next to me, any day is a happy day for me....

You may wonder if you should make these spices if you don’t cook Bengali food. Well, I say you should try, because all these three spices are earthy, aromatic and works amazing on curries. I have mentioned below how you can use each of these spices in Bengali cooking and non-bengali cooking. Bengali Spice Mixes - Paanch Phoron (Indian Five Spice) Paanch Phoron (Indian Five Spice) is the most popular Bengali spice mix....

Also, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like egg curry. So, whether you are celebrating or not, this curry could be your any day feast. What is Dimer Kalia ? It’s a rich Bengali curry prepared with hard-boiled eggs. It’s aromatic with whole spices and the gravy is flavored with ground spices, lots of onion, ginger and garlic. All the richness and spices are balanced with a hint of sweetness from nuts....

Ingredients for the Gingerbread Chocolate Mini Cupcake ? The batter of this insanely easy gingerbread chocolate mini cupcake consist of few basic ingredients that includes butter, flour, sugar and egg along with cocoa powder. The spices are are what makes it so good - cinnamon powder, ginger powder and all spice powder. The batter includes cocoa powder so you got to add little hot water to the batter to get the perfect crumbs....

Jalebi is one of the most popular Indian sweets, and it is impossible to not like it. Every celebratory occasion in North of India calls for a box of Jalebi. It is fairly easy to make and yes shaping those spirals for the first time might be difficult, but then it doesn’t have to be perfect. What matters is the texture! Why this recipe will work It’s instant - Most Jalebi recipe will call for overnight fermentation of the batter....

Kadhi Pakoda is a very popular North Indian curry. It is a yogurt and chickpea flour gravy with either fried onion or chickpea dumplings. It is best served with rice. There are quite a few forms based on which region of North India you belong to. After a few failures, I got quite intimated with the idea of making Kadhi. But then, once I learnt the right technique from my mother-in-law, I got much better at it....

Most people make multiple batches of jam in summer and preserve it to enjoy in winter. And here I am, posting a recipe of mixed berry jam on a cold winter evening. Anybody in my club on this? I doubt! All jams begin with delicious fruits and my plan was to wait for summer to make a fresh batch until my eyes fell on these gorgeous looking berries. I know it’s not the right season but they were so pretty, juicy and very sweet....

I feel this year has been frequently about dealing with one illness after another. Everyone told that this is common with all kids in their first year of school. No matter how much we prepare ourselves, when the sickness strikes, the days just get extremely stressful. I guess that’s the contract we signed when we decided to become parents. Dealing with phases after phases. When one of those chapter hits, I go back to one of my favorite ingredients to cook with - Paneer!...

I was craving for Egg Bowl once again but then, I wanted to try something different and thought of making something on the similar lines. Made a Spinach Omelette 🙂 Spinach is one of my favorite greens just like Popeye 😛 .. “I’m Popeye the Sailor Man. I’m strong to the finish, Cause I eats me spinach. I’m Popeye the Sailor Man” .. do you guys remember that. I miss that show at times!...

Growing up my Mom made custard very often. And while she would make everything from scratch, custard always happened from the store bought custard powder. I still love the instant custard powder bright color custard loaded with fruits but homemade custard is much smoother in texture and sublime! Custard is not a traditional Holi dish but you add thandai powder to it, and it turns into a fun Holi dessert, that everyone will love....

What is Kulcha? Kulcha is a variety of Indian bread. It is typically made with all-purpose flour and leavened with yeast or yogurt with baking powder. You can make the dough with water or milk. This Indian flatbread, Kulcha can ke kept plain with no stuffing, but most often in restaurants you will find it is stuffed with potatoes or onion or some fresh greens. My favorite has always been garlic kulcha but during winter months, I love making the combination of potatoes (“aloo”) and fresh fenugreek leaves (“methi”) stuffed in Kulcha....

For people who are unaware, Chaat is not one single dish but a type of street food snack that is very famous in India. It is a mishmash of several things that have the ability to hit the entire flavor note, sweet, salty, sour and savory. It has the texture, the crunch, a combination of chutney and sour yogurt to cool off the heat. It’s moreish and uplifting every single time....

Tilapia is one of my go-to seafood for busy weeknights. Tilapia En Papillote makes a fantastic date night meal. Fish En Papillote is yet another favorite of ours, where I make it three different ways with different kind of sauce. We paired the Baked Tilapia in Tomato Sauce with artisan bread, but it is amazing with rice, noodles and even pasta. The fish was baked to the perfect flaky texture and the sauce had a beautiful balance of sweet and sour taste....

What is Chanar Payesh Chana (in Bengali) or Chenna (in Hindi) is fresh cheese prepared by curdling milk. In Bengali cuisine, a lot of dessert is prepared using Chana/Chenna. Payesh is the Bengali term for North Indian Kheer. It is similar to creamy, rich milk based pudding. There are various different versions of Bengali payesh and I have already shared with you the most popular Bengali Payesh. You must try this Khejur Gurer Payesh So to break down the word, Chanar Payesh is fresh cheese milk pudding....

What is Gajar Halwa ? Sprinkled with raisins and cashews, infused with the aroma of cardamom and ghee, Gajar Halwa is one of the most popular Indian sweets. Gajar meaning carrot and Halwa meaning pudding is also a winter welcoming delicacy. Gajar Halwa must be prepared with whole-milk. The shortcut version is by adding condensed milk and for a much richer taste, people add mawa/ khowa at the end....

Keeping in mind the color of love, I have this sexy red, flavorful hibiscus syrup for you. Drizzle a little on fruit or salad vinaigrette, swirl it on ice cream or yogurt and on a special evening, stir it with your choice of alcohol and get a little tipsy. Our Valentine’s Day was like any other busy weekday except with more yumminess involved. There was a grown up version of mac and cheese for lunch, a citrusy cocktail and gnocchi with basil pesto for dinner followed by late night chocolate fudge cake....

At first, I was not sure if the idea would work. There was sufficient palak paneer, all I had to do was knead some dough for chapatti and dinner would be ready. But I desired to eat something different. It’s not the husband who fusses about left overs as much as I do. So, I chatted the idea with Arvind, who thought it might work even on stovetop. His advice was to add some cheese just so it feels like calzone....

Last month, in one of the posts, I mentioned about our visit to Foodhall, the gourmet store that has an abundance of multi cuisine products. Different kind of cheeses, grains, pastas and sauces that are otherwise not easily available out here! It was my happy place and we came back with boatload of stuff. Every month, the store follows a theme where they place a demo counter with theme related food and you can sample away several things as you fill your shopping bags from aisle to aisle....

Different states in India have their own take on this dish. Some go pure veg without onion or garlic. Some regions don’t eat potatoes, so they add boiled green plantain instead. My Mom never made this dish at home and growing up in Shillong, I never even came across Pav Bhaji in any street. I learned to make Pav Bhaji several years back from a friend and have stuck to this recipe since then....