Sesame Seeds Balls (Til Ke Laddoo/ Tilgul Laadoo /Yellina Unde /Ellu Urundai )

Sesame Seeds and jaggery balls are traditionally prepared in India during Makara Sankranti. Sankranthi, or Sankranti is a festival that signifies the beginning of the harvest season for the farmers of Indian Sub-Continent. This is a harvest festival celebrated not only all over India but other South East Asian Countries as well. In Maharashtra people exchange multi-colored tilguls made from til (sesame seeds) and sugar and til-laddus made from til and jaggery. While exchanging tilguls as tokens of goodwill people greet each other saying – ‘til-gul ghya, god god bola’ meaning ‘accept these tilguls and speak sweet words’. The under-lying…

Tried & Tasted: Rajma Curry

When Tried and Tasted event was declared this month with featured blog as Lisa’s Kitchen, I did not want to miss the opportunity of sending my entry. I have been following Lisa’s blog for a long time now and recipes that she features are the ones that are close to my heart. First of all she publishes only vegetarian recipes, second they are healthy and then her choice of pre-dominantly Indian flavor is few things I can relate to totally. Her choice of lentils, pulses, spices in her creations are something that I can use in my everyday cooking. Being…

Tomato Rice /Thakkali Sadham Recipe

On our last visit to India more than 2 months ago, my mother had prepared very delicious and fragrant Tomato Rice with mint. That along with a yogurt raita made a quick fix and light tasting dinner. Quite frankly I am not a huge fan of Tomato Rice and when she proceeded to make the Tomato Rice I was not pleased and had that smirk on my face. But she nudged along and asked me to try it as it was a new recipe and the others in the family just loved it. Quite grudgingly I tried it, but was…