Image Map

Kuzhi Paniyaram | Kara Paniyaram | How to make crisp paniyaram


South Indian's love their rice and we are no exception. And I must admit R & me also have chappati/ roti atleast thrice a week for lunch. So we do have a balance act that we do. I constantly get asked this question from readers as to what to do with left for dosa batter? how to make perfectly soft idlies? how to make crisp dosas? and so on. I have posted my no fail idly dosa batter recipe which you would want to check as its the same batter that I have used for this recipe too. Coming to today's recipe Kuzhi Paniyaram is a favourite and quick to do snack/ breakfast recipe in most South Indian homes. Today I will sharing a spiced version (kara paniyaram) recipe which is great to dip with any coconut based chutney.

One good tip to get crisp and perfect shaped paniyaram without sticking to the paniyaram mould is to grease it properly and add a bit of rice flour to the batter. And never use freshly ground dosa or idly batter use the last set of batter and make the mix (ingredients) atleast an hour before doing paniyaram. This helps in developing flavours and also just 10 minutes before making the paniyaram add the rice flour to get crisp and perfectly shaped kuzhi paniyaram.

Eggless Strawberry Pudding | Strawberry Condensed milk China Grass Pudding | Easy Eggless Dessert Recipe



I love fresh seasonal fruits, this year its been raining strawberries in the place I live. I love to source for ingredients that are readily available and try recipes to blog about them ;-) call me crazy that's understated. With a hectic weekend, Monday started off with all the agenda and to me cooking is therapeutic and with fruits I never say no. Today I wanted to kill time usefully hence churn'd out this simple dessert with pureed strawberries, condensed milk, milk and agar agar, the result was a simple delightful pudding that is free of eggs. If you are not sure what to make with strawberries this season, now you know :P. Its definitely a must try if you are a strawberry-holic or pink lover ;-).

Long ago I tried using gelatine and feel sick in my stomach. Later I gotto know that gelatine was made of animal bones and I was shocked. Never did I ever go near gelatine again. China grass (vegetarian counterpart to gelatine) is the new gelatine that is safe and accepts well with me, a great gelling agent in puddings or custards. From a personal experience I felt that china grass gives a more light feel to the dessert compared to gelatine. 

Vendakkai Kurma | Orka Coconut Curry | Bhindi Korma

Vendakkai Kurma
Vendakkai Kurma
R & I love Vendakkai/ Orka / Bhindi & recipes with this vegetable is a sure must once a week. I remember Amma stuffing me with this vegetable during exams since they are said to improve memory power. That almost everyday after exam there would be vendakkai and moor sadam (buttermilk rice) for lunch :-) and I never complained. This combo still remains as my favourite no matter how many years pass by. I still have a memory of me with my book enjoying this for lunch. 

When I was new to cooking I always felt vendakkai (ladies finger) were a challenge to cook since they are slimy and hard to manage although I loved the taste of it, I did dread cooking with them. But like all cooks I overcame the challenge with this vengetable and ever since I cook with this vegetable every week. Earlier I had posted Vendakkai/Orka Coconut milk curry and I did see many interesting comments in that post and today I am sharing a totally different method to this Coconut & yoghurt based Vendakkai Kurma/ Korma. Lets move on to the recipe

Gobi 65 | Cauliflower 65 | Restaurant style Cauliflower recipe

Gobi 65 recipe
Gobi 65 recipe
My husband generally loves vegetables and to continue the vegetarian diet through the weekend I made this easy to do Gobi 65/ Cauliflower 65. Instead of a snack we had this with our lunch along with sambar, rice and poriyal. This is a really quick snack/ side to do effortlessly. Cauliflowers contain vitamin B1, B2, B3, B4, B6 & B9, Omega 3, Vitamin K & Vitamin C. 

To make Gobi 65 a spiced batter is made and partially cooked cauliflower florets are dipped in the batter and fried in oil to cook further. The remain crunchy and succulent for a long time and taste great as a snack along with some fried curry leaves and ketchup or as a side to rice.

Red Velvet Jar cake recipe | Red velvet cake pudding recipe ~ Valentine's Day treat !


Red velvet jar cake
Red velvet jar cake
Love means different things to different people, each person differs in their expression of love. Today being Valentine's day everyone talks about love. But to me I came to know the true meaning of it through the Bible. It reads as this

"Love is patient, love is kind. 
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, 
it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, 
always perseveres. Love never fails".

Corinthians 13:4-8 (NIV)

What better way to express in words what love can be? One other quote that made perfect sense it 
" Love is a verb if not just a word" which is so true. This little jar cake is just my expression of love for my other half. Love you sweetheart. Happy Valentine's Day!

Naturally Colored Red Velvet Cupcakes (Eggless & Butterless) with Cream Cheese Frosting ~ Valentine's Day Special

Eggless Butterless red velvet cupcake
Eggless Butterless red velvet cupcake
Valentine's day is tomorrow and as always I was up to do something sweet for my sweetheart ;-). February has its own charm to us, not just for Valentine's but since its the month we both tied the knot. So to keep matters really sweet I tried my hands on a simple naturally coloured red velvet cupcakes using beets (beetroot puree). I have had a great experience with beets in baking with my Beetroot chocolate Cake and hence I had no qualms to make them. I was totally surprised and the perfect deep red hue in the cupcakes. These red velvet cupcakes are totally butter free and egg free, sounds great right? I love bakes that calls of lesser calories. Of course love the ones with eggs no doubt. I found these redvelvet cuppies super moist, dense and spongy. When paired with cream cheese you gotto love it don't you :-P. My husband loved them and I did make another dessert with the same combination which will be up soon. 


"You're the frosting to my cupcake."
~ Unknown Author

holds sweet for my dear husband :-) love you to bits


Egg Dum Biryani | Restaurant Egg Biryani Recipe | Hyderabad Egg Biryani


Egg Dum biryani
Egg Dum Biryani
Its Monday already, I am not sure how the weekend goes so quickly phew! Who ever said they need a holiday between Saturday and Sunday is so right. As always this weekend was super hectic for us but I had already planned what to cook for my hungry husband on friday. I made this Egg Dum Biryani and Pineapple kesari to celebrate 1 million pageviews hits of this humble blog Cook like Priya. I feel so happy and at the same time thankful to all my blog viewers for al the support and encouragement you pass on to me. I planned this small feast for my husband since he has been the one who pushed me to blogging and the gracious soul who tries all my cooking attempts and gives his honest feedback :-)

Egg Dum Biryani / Restaurant Style Egg Biryani is a fragrant and tasty biryani. I have used whole spices to give the full flavour to this biryani. A ground paste is used to lift flavours to this dum style biryani which I did using my pressure cooker (since its a heavy bottom vessel) and of course without the weight. This is similar to the famous kachi birayani of Hyderabadi style. Now lets move on to the recipe. 

Pineapple Kesari | How to make Pineapple Kesari | Celebrating a million hits!

Pineapple Kesari
Pineapple Kesari
A million pageviews hits and a million reasons to be happy. The first million is indeed special and I was super excited and wanted to pass a you all a big thank you by making this lovely Pineapple Kesari. Every special occasion calls for something sweet and today was no exception. I still remember the first 100 hits I reached, back then that was huge, now I find the first million huge :-) sure the future does look shiny and bright like this kesari. I would like to thank you all for all the support, love, care and concern that you have showed towards me and my blog. No words can describe how I feel today and I am really short for words, totally. 


Thank you!

Pineapple kesari is a definite sweet that you will find in South Indian/ Tamil marriage dinner table. This ghee sweet is totally easy and simple to make with fresh pineapple pieces with a distinct pineapple taste that make it so heavenly. I had earlier posted Anandha Bhavan style Rava Kesari, which is one of the popular posts in blog till now. This Pineapple Kesari cannot be compared to that as both recipes are unique and hold a special place in my heart and tummy ;-). Now lets move on the recipe.

Soya Kheema Masala | Meal Maker Kheema Curry | Soya Kheema Aloo Subzi


soya kheema masala
Soya Kheema Masala
Soya Kheema Masala / Meal maker kheema Subzi is a tasty side that will go with dosas or with chappati or rotis. As we all know soya is a way to add protein into our daily diet, especially if you are a pure vegetarian. I find myself cooking with soya whenever we go on a vegetarian diet. Like I mentioned in my earlier post husband and I are on a veg diet. I made this kheema masala to go with soft chappatis for our lunch. To give more flavour and filling I added cubed potatoes just as the way we add potatoes/ green peas to meat kheema masala. Its always great to enjoy what your cook and eat. I truly believe that I cannot eat something that is not tasty and definitely not something that I don'e enjoy cooking. I have couple of recipes with meal maker or soya which I have posted earlier in my blog. You can find them listed at the end of the post.

Eggless Butterless Orange Cake Recipe | Vegan Orange Cake Recipe


Vegan Orange snack cake
Vegan Orange Cake

Oranges are in full bloom this season. Every week I never fail to bring back home a dozen oranges and enjoy them daily. Every time I think of cooking/ baking with oranges and it never happens. The fruit craze that I am end up eating oranges instead. This time I saved up 2 oranges just to make this cake since I had bookmarked it for long. This recipe of Orange cake calls for no butter no eggs and no milk. Its a Vegan orange cake recipe that is so moist yet delicious with every bite. And you do not need an electric whisk/ have to keep the butter in room temperature none of it. Just a simple one bowl orange cake recipe. Isn't it too simple? I love snack cakes such as this. Now lets move on to the recipe.



Chettinad Pakkoda Kuzhambu | Chettinad Lentil Curry | Pakoda Kuzhambhu Recipe

Pakoda Curry Recipe
Chettinad Pakkoda Kuzhambhu

Husband and I are on a vegetarian diet and that's one reason why you would be not find non-vegetarian recipes off late. When we decided to go on this approach, my husband said no sambar and rasams try something different. Being a South Indian we almost live in our staples of sambar and rasam, we tend to cook them up atleast once a week. So I had to take this as a challenge and cook different vegeterian recipes to serve my picky eater. I had bookmarked this Chettinad Pakkoda Kuzhambhu for long and got to try this today. It turned out so good, by tasting it I can say it would go great with rice, dosa, idly or appam. The Curry is not spicy and mild in spice buy packed in flavour. Do give this a try if you want to try something different apart from the routine recipes.

Tofu Tawa Masala Recipe | Tofu Tikka Masala | Step by Step



Tofu Tawa Masala
Tofu Tawa Masala Recipe
I love paneer & I love tofu equally since the latter is more healthy I end up picking tofu often than paneer. You can use tofu to make curries skipping paneer if you are diet concious. Nevertheless they both taste amazing. Unlike me, my husband was never a paneer person and of all the changes marriage does bring, food is a key factor that has changed us a lot. Now he loves paneer so much that he is finding it hard to eat tofu. That said I tried this Tawa Malasa as a virtual treat recipe from my dear friend +nalini suresh blog (naliniscooking.com). I was sure that my picky husband would definitely love this curry without any fuss and I was right ;-). A group of us blogger friends planned to surprise our dear friend Nalini with a virtual birthday treat, by trying one of her recipes and posting it in our blogs. I was a little late in the celebration but glad I did this curry. Nalini we both totally enjoyed this Tawa tofu masala and hope you had a wonderful birthday.

Strawberry Milkshake Recipe | Easy Strawberry Drink Recipe

Strawberry drink recipe
Strawberry Milkshake Recipe
Can there be someone who does not love Strawberries??? I am no exception I love strawberries and for that matter any fruit. You can call me fruit-a-holic and it would be just perfect ;-). To the contrary my husband is not someone who loves fruits and it would be the last thing be would eat. So I made this delicious Strawberry milkshake and he just gulped it all without any fuss. Talking about Strawberry the one person who comes to my mind is +Vijayalakshmi Dharmaraj (who blogs at vijisvirunthu) she is an absolute Strawberry crazy girl. So when a group of friends planned to do a virtual treat for her I jumped in with the idea of making a recipe using her favorite fruit and sorry Viji about the delay in sharing your virtual treat. I hope you had a wonderful birthday :-), here's my simple treat for you.


Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...