Tindora/Tendli/Dondakaya Ivy Gourd Rice

I remember what my mother would say about cooking: “thinking is the hard part, while the actual cooking and cleaning is the easy part”. I did not think of it much then, but now that I shoulder the responsibility of cooking I totally understand what that means. First of all coming up with a menu that satisfies everybody’s taste is challenging, and then factoring in conditions like, “will the menu item 1 go well with menu item 2, will the kid eat it, will it be time consuming etc” Phew! Then it is totally going in circles.  As a result…

Mango Ras malai: Fusion of RasMalai and Aamras

  Instant RasMalai using Ricotta Cheese and Vegetable Puffs using the Pastry sheets were some the new shortcut/fusion things I was introduced to when I was newly married here in the United States. Being a novice cook, never in a million years would I have imagined making either of these from scratch the traditional, laborious way. However using ready ingredients like ricotta cheese, puff pastry sheets and following some easy steps, making those treats seemed like a total no-brainer to me.  Anyway, 387.415 preparations later ((don’t ask about the decimal placesJ)) suffice to say that I have stopped making them…

Kids Dosas / Mini Dosas

Food is such a sore subject while dealing with our 2.4 year old. First of all nothing seems to appeal him and then trying new foods is out of question. Two things happen when I take food to him one is the utterance of “Nooooooo” and then making a face and tilting of his head away from the food. I know, I know all you Moms out there are experiencing the same predicament and cannot wait for the kids to grow up. **Sigh**  Moving on to some cheery and brighter topic, here are some of our toddler’s anecdotes:  He would…