Caramel Cheese Cake ~ Chit Chat with Meena Kumar

When we meet lovely friends along with great food that's what I call bliss. Today I am so happy and honored to feature one of my good friend in blog world Meena Kumar who blogs at Elephants and the coconut trees. Meena is such a friendly, down to earth blogger to has many talents up her sleeve. Personally I am huge fan of Meena's blog, right from her recipes, writing, photography and food styling. Her blog has her individuality and you will find a touch of Meena in everything. There have been days I have gawked at her Lychee Pudding,  Whole chicken roast, Red wine, Cabbage stuffed with turkey to name a few. I am sure you would have hopped to her blog to virtually treat yourself with her eyecatching food. Over the years that I have blogged I have learnt that blogging itself is an art, apart from cooking, recipe developing, plating, styling, writng a post and so on. But I have found very few bloggers who score high in all aspects and Meena is one of them. Its a pleasure to know her and hop into her space. Today Meena shares with us a gorgeous dessert, and I have not words to express what I felt when I saw her post in my mail box :-). Thank you so much Meena for taking time off your hectic schedule and doing this lovely dessert and chit chat for me. I am so happy to share you and your dessert with all my readers.

Makkai Janjaria | Sweet Corn Halwa ~ A chit chat with Manjula Bharath from Desi Fiesta

I am back with a lovely friend post today with Manjula Bharath from Desi Fiesta, she is a well known blogger who became a sensation with her Ghevar recipe challenge in SNC. Manju as I call her is an awesome cook and a fun person to be around. Although we have never met in person, virtually we have talked, laughed and even pulled each other's leg. There are always many that we can talk with but only few friends who will make you laugh, to me Manju is one such friend with whom there is never a dull moment. She is a beautiful mom of a pretty little girl Ishika and a lovely home-maker purely qualified with a Home Science degree (her personality is bigger than her degree). She is a Rajestani and mind you she will speak better tamil than me :P, we both hail from same city and I think this is what clicked between us instantly. 

Besan Laddoo ~ A sweet guest post by Divya Prakash

Life is super interesting for me and I have been blessed with wonderful friends from the blog world. Today I am so happy to share this guest post by my dear friend and blogger Divya Prakash (Divya's Culinary Journey). A proud mom of 2 cute children (5 yr daughter& 15 mts old son), a ever smiling wife, an active blogger, amazing photographer and not to forget a super cook. Divya to me is a wonderful friend and we share more common interests leave alone the food part in life as well :-). I really wonder how Divya manages her time and gives such wonderful recipes to us and admire her creative touch to her blog and recipes. Recently she had posted in facebook about her successful 9 months of blogging and over 50,000 views. So if you are someone who has not visited her, take a peep here, but do come back :P for the laddoos and to know more about Divya.

Now I know you already saw the picture below well that was Divya's cute daughter handing over her mom's laddoos virtually to me, now I wish i had someone to pose for my recipes :-/.... although she has promised for more in person which I am sure she agrees :D Thanks to Divya for showering me with her sweet ladoos, and my friends enjoy this post

Over to my lovely friend's Guest post .I was so thrilled when Priya asked me to do a guest post. I instantly agreed to it. And also I was so excited because I am doing it for the first time. I love Priya's blog- the lay out, the design of it, the words, her recipes etc., are really good and it has attracted me a lot.  I came to know Priya personally after being part of Baking partners , a baking group in which she is also there and facebook is also another main reason.  She is a very bubbly person and she is sure to leave me smiling when we chat (we do that often).  I would take this opportunity to thank Priya for inviting me to her space to do a guest post. 

She also sent me a bunch of questions to answer. They were quite interesting which made me really think because I have never thought in that angle, may be.. I asked her if there is any choice like choose the best answer or select two and answer, she laughed it off saying that they are simple and answer in your own words.. ha.. ha.. ha..  So the questions and answers are here

5 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT DIVYA

1. 3 words that best describe you- Creative, Un-Predictable, Emotional

2. Best Foodie Moment- When I try a new dish and kids/hubby love it and appreciate it, that is the best moment for me. More than me what they love is important.Recently it is the besan ladoo.. My daughter just gobbled them up

3. Your Best Recipe, something that is your own,Eggless Apple muffins

4. Life as a blogger: Passionate,  Exciting, adventurous, Chaotic(because of time management issues), Satisfying

5. Something about you that we don't know: I am kind of nocturnal. Yes.I can stay up all night but very difficult to wake up early in the morning. Thats why I work on my blog posts in the night.

I think that is pretty much about me. Now we will come to the recipe, Besan Ladoo.Since this is my first guest post, I wanted to do something sweet. Though I was initially thinking about baking something, changed it in the last moment, thinking that festivals are to arrive one after the other now, so Indian dessert would be much appropriate.

For me, this is the first time trying it, so browsed and got it from Manjula's kitchen. It was so easy to make and was so skeptical at first, but it tasted awesome, with every bite, ladoo melted in mouth and there was toasted almonds that added crunch. I really scored with this ladoo at home and also it just disappeared so fast.

What are the ingredients needed?

Gram flour( Besan) , 1 1/2 cups

Unsalted Butter(melted), 1/2 cup

Ghee, as needed

Sugar, 3/4 cup

Almonds, 1/4 cup+ little extra for garnishing

Cardamom, 4-5 nos

How it is made?

1. Toast the almonds and chop them roughly.
2. Remove the cardamom seeds and powder the seeds along with sugar and set them aside.
3. Mix the melted butter and gram flour and roast them in low flame till they change colour and there is change in the texture, also at this point the aroma of roasting besan flour comes out.
4. Remove from flame. Let it cool lightly. 
5. When the mixture is  warm enough to handle, To this add the powdered sugar, toasted and chopped almonds and mix well.
6. Grease the palms with ghee, take 2 tablespoons of this mixture and with two palms press and roll them to get the desired ladoo shape. 
7. Then once all the ladoos are made,  dip them such that 1/4 of it is covered in melted ghee and press the chopped almonds/pistachios for decoration.
8. Leave them to cool down completely, before they are transferred to air tight container.

It resulted in around 20 ladoos. It depends on the size you make though.

Notes

• Instead of melted butter you can do it with melted ghee too.
• Also you can add sooji to this, to get a texture. 
• You can toast the almonds in the stove top or in the oven (Pre heat the oven to 350 F and toast the almonds for 6-7 minutes till the color changes and you get the aroma)
• Slice the almonds when it is still hot, so can slice them easily and beautifully, if you intend to use them for decoration. 

Dates Balls ~ A guest post by Reshmi

Today is a special day for Cook like Priya, this is the first guest post by my dear friend Reshmi Mahesh. A week back I happen to ask Reshmi to do a guest post to feed my blog as I would be busy with a house change and she immediately said yes and I was very excited.