My Cooking Wonders

Life sometimes keep you crazily busy...I have been busy taking care of other stuff which kept me away from posting my recipes. Finally I am BACK!! It makes me feel better to be able to resume my blog YAYYYYY!!  Coming to my wonder today, people from south India need no introduction about this dish. This is most popular and traditional dish prepared during this time of the year in my place. This time of the year is called as 'Sravana Masam' and most people perform special rituals(known as Varalakshmi Vratham) during this time and Poornalu are prepared as the main offering to Goddess Lakshmi. Here is the recipe to make yummy Poornalu....... Ingredients For outer layer 1 cup Urad Dal 2 cups Rice pinch of baking soda couple of pinches of salt Inner stuffing 1 cup Chana Dal 2 cups Water 1 1/2 cup Jaggery 2 tbsp dry coconut powder(optional) Pinch of elaichi Powder Method Soak Urad Dal and Rice in water for 5 to 8 hours or overnight. Grind Dal and rice t...

It is my vegan day again and I have a potluck at work. It being the end of the week, my refrigerator is almost empty. All the vegetables I have left on hand are some potatoes. I usually have a pack of puff pastries and wonton wrappers in my freezer section. So I decided to make some turnovers with potatoes instead of good old mushrooms :) I have to say that they turned out well than I expected and this dish was an hit at the potluck. Ingredients 1 pack puff pastries(2 sheets) 2 cups cooked and coarsely mashed potatoes 1 cup chipotle salsa 1 tsp Curry powder 2 tbsp Cilantro leaves Water for sealing 1 egg (optional) Method Thaw the puff pastry per instructions. Cook the potatoes till fork tender. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Roll each of the puff pastry sheets little bit to be in the shape of a square. Dust the surface with all purpose flour before rolling. Cut each sheet into 6 squares. Coarsely mash the potatoes, salsa, curry powder and cilantro in a medium bowl. Ch...

With Valentine's day right around the corner I thought of posting something romantic…What is more romantic than Chocolate?? So I picked chocolate covered peanut butter balls. These balls costume little time and lots of patience but trust me you will be proud at the end(I do not about others but I am proud after I am done) …. Give it a try.. Good luck and Happy Valentines Day in advance!! Ingredients 2 cups creamy low sodium peanut butter 2 tbsp spiced rum(Strictly optional) 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 2 1/2 cups powdered or confectioners sugar 1/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature For Topping 16 ounces semi sweet chocolate 2 tbsp vegetable or canola oil 1/2 cup of roasted skinless peanuts Method Chop the butter into pea sized pieces. Take peanut butter and peanut butter in a microwave safe bowl and heat for a minute, stirring the mixture for every 20 seconds, till the mixture is soft and little bit runny. Now add vanilla extract and rum(if using) to the p...

Yet another Andhra delicacy from my kitchen to yours! Today I attempted to make the famous Kakinada Kaja which turned out really well and Yummy. For people from my place, this dish needs no introduction. But for people who does not know, these are layered sweet rolls made out of all purpose flour and dipped in sugar syrup with each layer filled with that finger licking sweet syrup with a hidden note of cardamom powder. These sweet rolls are an absolute feast for people with sweet tooth. Hope you guys will try this out and enjoy this dish!! Ingredients 2 cups All purpose flour(Maida Pindi) 4 tbsp rice flour(Biyyam Pindi) 2 tbsp + 4 tbsp melted butter(Neyyi) Pinch of baking soda Oil for deep frying For Sugar Syrup 5 cups Sugar 3 cups water couple of pinches of cardamom powder(Yalukkaya podi) Method In a large bowl mix all purpose flour, 4 tbsp melted butter and baking soda. Once the butter is well incorporated into the flour add little water and mix the flour and ...

When it comes to cooking, baking and that too making cakes is one thing that intimidates me a lot. I am a lot skeptical when I first thought of making a cheesecake. But I made it anyways. This is my first ever cheesecake and guess what it turned out awfully good :). I can tell that it tasted very well as my husband too this cake to work and he said it is all gone in the first hour itself!!! I am so happy and just wanted to share this sweet recipe with you all.. The only one thing I will warn you is to be patient while making the cake. Enjoy :) Ingredients For Crust 2 cups graham cracker crumbs 1/4 cup sugar 1/2 cup unsalted melted butter 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon For Filling 32 ounces cream cheese(preferably Philadelphia original cream cheese) 1 1/4 cup sugar 3 tbsp all purpose flour 5 large eggs 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream 1 tsp pure vanilla extract For Topping 1 cup sour cream 3 tbsp sugar 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract For Garnish 2 ...

Today I made a dish from my mom's diary - Kodi Pachadi/Chicken Pickle. My mom always used to have this on hand just because I am a picky eater growing up and if I did not like the curry she cooked that day, she would make sure that there is something for me to eat. Mom is mom always - Love u lots amma :).. I have tried lot of versions of this pickle but by far this is my favorite. This recipe does not use mustard seeds or does not call for tadka or talimpu. Preparing this dish needs little patience and time but at the end of the day all that work is worth it. Hope you guys will like it as much as I like it :) Ingredients 1 1/2 kg or 3.3 lb boneless Chicken cut into bite size pieces(Bone in chicken can also be used) 1/2 kg or 500 ml vegetable oil 3/8 cup(1/4 cup + 2 tbsp) salt 3/8 cup(1/4 cup + 2 tbsp) red chili powder 3/8 cup(1/4 cup + 2 tbsp) lemon juice For Paste 5 whole garlic(150 grams) 100 grams ginger(Allam) 50 grams (3/4 cup) coriander seeds(D...

This weekend I was organizing my freezer and saw a pack of wonton wrappers and the first thing that came to my mind was wonton soup. But I was not at all in a mood to have soup.. so thought of doing something different and finally made Onion Samosa . Onion samosas are crispy, sweet and savory tiny pockets packed with tons of taste. While I was a child, back in India, onion samosas are like pop corn to us whenever we go watch a movie.  The ones they used to sell at the movie theaters are bite size and I used to eat 10 of them easily at a stretch. Good old memories..... Here is a simple and easy recipe to make onion samosa with a very few ingredients on hand. Give it a try :) Ingredients Wonton sheets Oil for Deep Frying For Filling 1 cup sliced onion 3/4 cup pressed rice/Poha/Atukulu 2 green chillies minced handful of chopped coriander leaves/Cilantro 1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste 1 tsp red chili powder 1/2 tsp cumin powder 1/2 tsp chat Masala or 1/2 tsp lemon...