How many of you like Fruit & Nut chocolate bars? *Raises both hands*
I love the little surprises of raisin and nuts that intersperse the chocolate bar. Figured it is about time there are cookies that mimic this deliciousness right? But can they be taken up another notch?
When there are raisins in the mix, the other thing that pops into my head is ALWAYS rum! *hic* Rum and raisins are such a divine combo! My rum and raisin cake is clear testament to the fact.
Do you know I love hosting people at home? It’s one of my favourite things to do for people I am close to. It doesn’t need to be any specific occasion, just a normal weekend or even weekday dinner (if work isn’t too crazy). I love to cook a nice meal for them and we usually end up having a super time eating, drinking, playing games and generally chattering non stop. Best way to spend a evening or even a lazy afternoon, don’t you think?
For New Year’s Eve last year (welcoming 2018), I decided it will just be much easier to call people home and avoid the usually NYE madness. I invited around 15 people and after much research and debating (with myself), decided on serving a mediterranean menu. Being the uber enthu cutlet I am, I planned an extensive menu : hummus, souvlaki, falafel, meatballs, moussaka, chicken wings and cake. It was a lot of food! I cooked for 2 whole days, but loved every minute of it! While the savoury courses were relatively easy to finalize, I struggled for a long time to come up with the dessert. I didn’t want to do traditional sweets like baklava because they are super tough and I’ve never made them before. Cakes are my strength and I figured it would be easy to go that route, given I figure out flavours that work. Much research later, I landed on pistachio as my hero ingredient for the cake. And what a cake!
One of K’s favourite things to eat is Chole. The Tamilian boy has found at least one north indian dish he truly loves 🙂 We cook it at least twice a month and if I’m not at home, he has been known to either cook chole for himself or order in the dish. He can eat this pretty much everyday!
With something we eat so often, just one go-to recipe won’t work, right? So I have been trying different ways to cook chickpeas to give us some variety and to help me learn more. One such experiment led me to this dish – Khatte Chole. Sour, tangy, spicy and super delicious!
I’m not a big fan of plain vanilla cakes. While they can be delicious, I find them a wee bit plain. However, a lot of my friends and family love good ol’ vanilla cake. And since I’m nice I bake it for them 🙂 But every now and then, I try ways to modify it slightly so that while the overall goodness and simplicity of the vanilla is the hero, there is still a little something extra to the dessert (like the colourful muffins). Funfetti (or sprinkes) are another such way to amp up basic vanilla muffins. And so colourful too 🙂
I first discovered the joy of butter and garlic as a combo in Goa. With prawns. Such a simple but flavourful idea. The first vegetarian version I made of that was with mushrooms (will share that recipe soon). So buttery, meaty and delicious!
One day while making grilled chicken, I was thinking of what an easy side dish would be. Ran through going through my recipes my head and thought about using this flavour combo with the whole bunch of veggies I had at home. Such a simple idea. Why didn’t I think of this earlier?
My Tuck Box 