Biscotti and Christmas memories!

How does your Christmas look like this year? Have you put up a tree and decorations? We did put up a tree late November. Even though its been days we have had the decorated tree in the living room, I still like to go sit by its side and admire each bell, balls etc. hanging on it.... with the Xmas songs in the background. Ahhh.... I have always loved this season.

As kids, my brother and me used to put up a Xmas crib and a tree. The planning and preparations start by beginning of December - growing wheat in small boxes, making of small huts, bullock carts, rocks for the waterfalls, collecting the dry hay from fruit vendors to make the manger, hunting for sand to make the roads in the crib, etc... These then formed the little details that go in to making a Xmas crib. In the middle of all these we would have to bare a test series in school ( I always though it to be killing the Xmas spirit for us kids :( ). But we would be done with it by the 22nd. Then we would have Xmas carols that go all through midnight....go help to put up the decorations at church... the midnight mass...It all gets nostalgic and these memories do come back to me every Xmas.

Challah ~ Six Strand Braided Bread

I have been seeing Challah bread in the blogosphere quite often these days, with the holidays on. That reminded me, I had still not given it another try after my failure with the six strand braiding. After multiple failures, braiding it with 6 strands, I unbraided it and finally went ahead with the normal 3 braids and baked it. I don't know what went wrong, whether it was me playing around with the dough for some time or the cold weather or may be just that particular day(sometimes I feel things turn out bad just because of a particular day as one is not in a mood to cook but still went ahead trying something new) - the bread was not airy and uncooked in the center but hard like rock on its outside. In short, it was a disaster.

I never gave it a try again. But these days when I saw Challah bread frequently in my blog feed, I pushed myself to make it again and I am happy I did. It smelled so good, tasted good, either with or even without butter/jam and it made up for a yummy french toast for the next day breakfast.

Kerala style Fish Molee/Moly

Someone asked me the other day if I live on Palaharam(snacks), since my blog had been filled with recipes for snacks but hardly any main/side dish. It then struck me, oh ya, I have been posting only about snacks, well....mostly. If you too have been meaning to ask me the same, the answer is No :).We do make Indian meals everyday at home, but somehow I have never posted any recipe here.

As a child I was a very picky eater. My mom had a hard time making me eat. But the evening snack time was my favorite and I would eat to compensate the main 3 meals of the day. So my mom made sure that she had something heavy for me then. May be that was my love for Palaharam(the evening snack) which is still on, that it didn't take me too long to decide my blog's name too :).

Chocolate chip cookies ~ Happy Thanksgiving !

Happy Thanksgiving everyone ! 

What are you doing this Thanksgiving? Well, we are taking it slow this year. Last year , was my first Thanksgiving in US and so my husband wanted me to experience the so called Thanksgiving shopping. We went all crazy planning and making strategies of how to go about it. We didn't have much to shop, but ya we stood in queue outside the stores in the cold weather(luckily it was not snowing), carried snacks along with us to munch about while we waited in queue(this was more exciting for me as I planned and prepared the snacks a day in advance, something that could be easy to have rather making a mess), etc.

Beauty of Bryce !

Semiya Payasam / Semiya Kheer / Vermicelli Pudding

I guess, this payasam does not need an introduction. Any one from India would have tasted it at some point of time. I have had this as a Naalu mani palaharam, as a dessert post lunch or dinner, to celebrate special occasions etc.

The nostalgic memories of this kheer hits me when the semiya gets roasted in ghee. I go back to those days when my mom use to make it for us. These days its me, who roasts it, smells it and has the kheer. Personally I feel, after having smelled the aroma and going through the feedback loop(tasting and adjusting the sugar) through out the entire cooking process, my stomach gets full that I end up having a little when its fresh. But when had later, the left overs taste good :). Do you feel the same?  Anyways, getting back to semiya payasam recipe; here it is.

Checkerboard cake for Palaharam that turned 1 !

It seems ages since I have blogged or been on the blogger, blog hopping. I had been missing it so badly and so wished to get back to it, as soon as I can. And yes, Palaharam turned one(a month back) and I still can't digest the fact that my blog survived one whole year :). I know its a bit too late for celebration of my blog anniversary, but better late than never, right? It had been a wonderful journey all throughout. I just can't thank enough the supporters of Palaharam and all the wonderful bloggers out there who eventually turned out to be my friends, for all the support and encouragement that you have been pouring over. Its needless to say that without you guys, my blog would not have survived.

Has it ever happened to you that you had taken a leave from the daily routine and when you are back to normal, the so called laziness hits you delaying the process of return to the normal life. Well, I had been hit by it badly. Every once in a while when I got to FB, there would be a message from my blogger friends, some enquiring where I had disappeared or some rechecking on my health. While I was sick, each message made me feel I was getting better and after I got well, these messages made me give up my laziness to come back quickly :). I just feel so lucky to have gained so many amazing friends through blogosphere.

Cherry Clafoutis

Two interesting weeks filled with fun, laughter and excitement have passed by. First, my cousin sister and her husband visited us. Too short a visit it was, but was all fun. And when they left, I was looking forward to my brother and sister-in-law's arrival a week later, for the long weekend. They too left and now we are back to routine , which I am not liking. Now that all of these fall into past and I have nothing to look forward to in the coming months, I am back to the blog, something that I have been ignoring of its existence for the last couple of weeks.

This post had been in the drafts for sometime now. I could go ahead making excuses of not publishing it before, but the truth would be 'procrastination'. I remember the first time we made these. Out of an impulse, I bought a huge amount of cherries. We started eating them raw and did drop a note to my CaL community friends to get some ideas to use these cherries. When Mona suggested Clafoutis, going by the fancy name and the fact that I had never tried them, I decided to make  it out of these cherries.

Cherry Cake for The Big Sweet Tooth !

Few weeks back when I saw a message from Rafeeda asking, if I would like to do a guest post for her, I didn't think 'No' as an answer. Well why would I , since this is my first guest post ever and all the more when it is being asked by a such a sweetheart like Rafeeda, you cannot deny it :). Thank you Rafeeda for this opportunity.

I have known Rafeeda through the blogging world. A person who is so active, friendly and an interactive blogger. I sometimes wonder how she finds time to manage a job and a blog along with her family of sweet little kids.

Beef Ularthiyathu (Beef Dry Fry) ~ Kottayam Style

Writing this post is going to be a difficult task. My mouth is watering and leaving me craving for these. I should have drafted this post much earlier when I had made it and still leftover. Well there was no such moment. It just vanished from our plates in no time.

I got to know that there are different ways of getting this dish done. But I am used to making it the Kottayam style. Even though I would so love to try out other versions, whenever I start making them, I end up making it this way, as it is very dear to our hearts.

Mirror Lake - It's so serene !

It's been slightly over an year now that we visited this beautiful place....

Ever since we have been thinking of visiting it again....But that never happened....

Achinga payar pattichu ularthiyathu / Long beans stir Fry (Kerala style)

The other day when I called home, my father said he did a round of cooking and said a list of things he made which included Achinga payar pattichu ularthiyathu.  My mom had been away for a couple of days and he was waiting for her return. And since the stocked up food in the fridge got over, he cooked up few curries. Oh, do not underestimate my father's cooking skills. Some of the curries that he cooks are delicious than what mummy makes :).

When I was in 10th standard, everyone kept telling the matra that 10th results decide our future. All scared of wasting any minute, I sacrificed my trip to Kerala to attend my uncle's wedding. So my mom went to Kerala to attend the wedding and I ended up staying with my father. Thats when I realized my father can cook. When mom was back she started enquiring about the food quality, I said "Papa makes awesome Aloo Bhajiya. Can you learn it from Papa and make it ?" Mom was all disappointed as she didn't see that coming. Instead, she might have expected me of giving a bad review and making fun of Papa's cooking :).

Palmiers / Elephant ears

I have always loved to have Little Heart biscuits. This is one thing that neither have I ever procrastinated my decision to buy and indulge in these crispy heart shaped cookies nor have they ever lasted to be stored to have later. Yes, I was addicted to them :).

Weekly grocery shopping calls in for a tour of the bakery section. All throughout the tour, my inner self would be yelling out to me - control Anupa, control ! But I have disobeyed many a times. One such time was when I fell for Palmiers. They reminded me of Little hearts (my weakness).

Fish Cutlet

Cutlets have been consistently on our menu for special occasions. Every Christmas and Easter also calls in for its preparation. This Easter we were in the middle of relocating and settling down that we hardly got a chance to cook at home - oh wait we didn't have an apartment then :). Well, since one chance of having cutlets had been dropped, we made it for tea yesterday.

These crispy little cutlets have always been a guest pleaser. Well, it has to be. Served with onion salad during meals or tomato sauce for snacks or as an appetizer these perfectly blend in and can be had any time of the day. Unlike meat cutlets, fish cutlet is easy to make, due to less cook time for fish. That is another reason why you should try it :).

Ice cream ~ Rich and creamy without using an Ice cream maker !

Happy Ice cream day everyone! Yes, its National Ice cream day. I too didn't know that untill yesterday. Apparently, it is celebrated on the 3rd Sunday of July. I had this post ready yesterday, but I delayed it for one more day to make it special :).

Ice cream - one such dessert that knows no age limit. I am not a very big fan of it but when I crave for it, the thought just does not leave me in peace untill I have it. I have tried to make these at home many a times, but it just does not get creamy and rich as the store bought ones. It remains as a huge ice cube that is flavoured - difficult to scoop out and nowhere close to what you get from the market. The thought of buying an ice cream maker that I may end up using for few months of summer, has always seemed to be unreasonable. Sheela from Korporate2Kitchen had shared her recipe sometime back and I was curious to try it. With the summer getting to its peak, we had all the more reason to give it a try. I tweaked the recipe slightly while I gave it a try to cut down few calories. Still it turned out to be perfect - just like the store bought ones and the highlight being that, no ice cream maker was required for it.

Cucumber Pachadi / Vellarikka pachadi

I love making and having cucumber pachadi. The reason being that, the return on investment is on a greater side. Yes they taste too good for the very little effort put in making them. Especially if it is summer and I wouldn't feel like staying in the kitchen for too long then I choose to make these.

Back in Bangalore, we used to make these quite often. After a hectic day at work, when I end up cooking dinner, they used to be a stress buster resulting in my chopping board having deeper cut marks. And this pachadi used to be such a life saver, since they were easy to make and had kind of a soothing effect that helped me keep my cool :). Anyways, we had missed making them since it was winter here and you would want to eat hot and spicy food during the cold months.

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

We had a small get together of college friends living in Phoenix, the other day. It was just three of us. All of us were not that close to each other, while in college. All of us had different gangs of friends and were used to having a hi-bye-hello relationship. But when we met, we hardly had our tongue resting for a while. We kept on chit chatting till it got dark and we had to return to our own homes. It was fun to have met them after so long and we hope to meet more often :).

While we planned to meet, I was wondering what to make, to serve something sweet. Has it happened to you that the days when your snack box is full, you end up having all of it by yourselves and when someone pays you an unplanned visit, you panic when you see the snack box empty and clueless what to serve them ? Happens with me quite frequently. Since this time we were just back from a trip, the snack box was empty and to add to it, the house was also in a mess.

Homemade Burger with Fish patty ~ 4th of July special !

It was holiday for us, for the 4th of July. We had a plan to go see the fireworks. We had already seen a firework couple of days back. It was more kind of walk-in to the firework venue. We were exactly on time when the firework started, which kind of lasted for say 15 minutes and we were done. But, having seen others who were there already, I got all nostalgic about the little picnics in parks that we used to have as kids. So Jacob offered a plan for the picnic on the 4th of July.

But this time we wanted to go prepared. May be pack up dinner and take it along with us and to be at the venue much before the fireworks start. We waited for the sun to go down but at the same time started earlier to be there much before the fireworks started. But seemed like many others had planned it better than us and were lucky to get a parking space, leaving us with none.

Iced Lemon Tea ~ A substitute for hot tea for this boiling summer !

The temperature hit 120 F over this weekend. Oh boy, it is so hot and they say the summer has just begun :(. I could literally feel being placed in an oven. Lots of buttermilk, cool drinks, chilled desserts is all what we want to have.

Evening tea time is never spared without a cup of hot coffee, at our home. But with the heat here, we loved sipping this iced tea. Every gulp of it felt heavenly :). Would you like to try some?

Storing Curry leaves

Curry leaves is one main ingredient in Indian cooking. If you have fresh curry leaves available to you at any point of time, I would consider you to be lucky. For us, we need to buy and store it whenever it is available at the grocery store for future use. So this is what I do to store it.

1. Wash the curry leaves thoroughly with water.
2. Pat it dry on a kitchen towel and line them on a plate.
3. Spray some cooking oil over them and spread it in a manner that all the leaves get coated with oil. Vegetable oil is preferable.
4. Seal them in a ziploc bag and freeze it. Use it whenever required.
5. It helps the curry leaves to stay almost fresh for months.

Biscuit ~ Quick and filling breakfast recipe !

The thought of making American Biscuits entered my mind while I was watching one of the episodes of Desperate Housewives, where Susan's MIL visits her and takes up the initiative to teach her cooking. Her MIL starts with American Biscuit because she thinks that it is one thing that cannot go wrong and is easy to start with. I wondered if it really was that easy to make.

Next thing I did was search for a recipe and decided to make it the next morning as Jacob would be working from home. That would give me ample time to work with a new recipe as I wouldn't have to pack up lunch while I make breakfast.

Kale Kootu ~ our favorite these days!

I always used to see these green leafy and lacy beauties, everytime we go grocery shopping. I just didn't know how it tasted. My uncertainty avoidance index has always been high, which totally explains why I never tried them before.

But one day, I just couldn't find anything interesting to go with rice. Same carrot, cabbage, beans everyday....I just wanted change. The first time I bought them, I tried a simple thoran. I could find its taste similar to Muringa ella (Drumstick leaves), which we like. So kale started accompanying us back home, after every grocery shopping.

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

My husband was the one who insisted on buying dark chocolate. The package had chocolates with 60%-72%-85% cocoa. We managed to finish all except the 85% ones. I knew it was gonna end up on my kitchen shelf taking up the space and left untouched. The other day when I passed by Edible Arrangements I knew exactly what should be done with those dark chocolates.

I had been attracted to strawberries recently. Well, I was attracted to them earlier too, but that was because of their colour and they looked so beautiful that you cannot let them go unnoticed. This time it was because of its nutritional values. I happened to read about them lately. Rich in Vitamin C these can be a great immunity booster. Also, these are helpful to beat cholesterol.

Chicken Curry ~ Perfect for both bread and rice

I still haven't forgotten how wonderful that Appam and Chicken curry tasted that I had from Kairali restaurant at Bangalore. It was on my first visit to that restaurant. I have been to the same place several times and have had different dishes from their menu, but Appam and chicken curry is the first thing that comes to my mind when I speak of Kairali.

I am so glad that I came across this recipe. Now I can make and have it whenever I feel like, rather than just drool over the thoughts of the chicken curry that I had years ago. So here is how you should go about making it if you feel like having a chicken curry with a thick and rich gravy with Appam, Puttu, Bread, Rice, Chapathi or Kerala Parotta.

Get away to the Fountain Hills!

With no tight schedules/agenda for the hot and sunny long weekend, our lazy souls made us stick around within the four walls of our house. When nature surprisingly brought in some clouds, giving us a better weather to enjoy outdoors, we couldn't let it go waste.

A drive to the Fountain Hills was nostalgic as it brought down memories of picnics that we used to have as kids by the lake side.

Strawberry Smoothie

It has been a long time since I posted something here. Not that I didn't want to, but was left with no choice. I got few warts removed from my fingers on my right hand. All I was left with was my little finger without bandages. Like how we say in malayalam Vellukan thechathe pande ayi - I now see that saying coming true. I shouldn't have messed with the painless/harmless warts, else it would have been so easy to type out this post using both hands. I did not think that through !

                            

Last week when I got so hungry and figured out that it is gonna take me a lot of time to serve and have food with my left hand, I chose to have this strawberry smoothie to calm down my hunger a little before I go for lunch. Surprisingly, these were so filling and refreshing that I was left with no room for lunch.

Homemade Puff Pastry and Chicken Puffs

During my hostel days, I remember that my parents/brother/uncle/aunt whoever visited me, a package from the bakery would come along with them. In that package, puffs would be one of the things. It used to be one thing that you take with you when you are visiting family members / having a tea party / having a bride viewing at home etc. etc.

I have noticed the current generation have a different trend these days. They would rather prefer fried chicken, burgers, hot dogs, pizza... Since the demand for puffs has gone down, the bakeries tend to make only a hand full of them and only the early birds get lucky. So, it had been a while that we had them. 

Fruit Salad ~ Beat the Heat !

When we moved from the freezing Salt Lake City to the oven roasted city of Phoenix, my friends(Pallavi and Gowri) here, had just one tip to share - stay cool. Esp. for us, since it was snowing while we left SLC and in an hour and half we were into this hot land. People say its the best weather here but oh boy, for us its super hot. I don't even wanna guess what we would go through during summer here.

Well, as per the tips shared we have been making a conscious attempt to keep ourselves cool and have been religiously feeding ourselves with fruit salads, shakes and vegetable salads - yeah, I know its kind of very unusual for pure non vegetarians like us. But I am loving it :) .

Ladoo

Ladoo - another Indian sweet, that is close to our hearts. May it be a festival, or any other happy occasion - personal or professional, ladoos are a must to be served to share the happiness. Its after having seen the English Vinglish movie that I got an idea to try these :).

                      

It was like turning my promise of making it, a reality. Yeah, I had been asking my husband, if he liked ladoo and everytime the answer would be a big YES. One day he asked me if I really had the intention of making it or was I just making him tempt for it. Now when you are questioned like that , would you give up? Well, in my case, the next day there were ladoos at home when he was back from work.

Pound Cake

Yesterday when I opened our snack box, it was almost empty. Cake was something that had not been at our home for some time now. So I revisited the bake section in my to-bake list. The pound cake - yes, it had been something that I wanted to try for a while, being the most simplest cake ever and our favourite too. These remind me of the tea cakes that we used to get at Tom & Jerry Bakery in Bangalore. Hmm...I loved it.

Traditionally pound cakes were named so, because most of the ingredients that go into it were measured in pounds. But these days people don't usually go by that measure as the cakes get heavier. To make it light and spongy, some alteration needs to be made in the proportion of ingredients.

Hot air balloons!

Look what I found - Hot air balloons right outside my window. I would love to have a ride on them but I am scared !

Neyyappam ~ Vishu special

Wishing you all a very Happy Vishu!

Vishu - Malayalis newyear - is here. What have you been up to? Did you put up a Vishukkani? Well, we made Neyyappam here and that was our Vishu special. I did try to hunt for Kanni konna but no luck. As a kid, the main attraction of Vishu used to be crackers, movie series in TV, get together of cousins and ofcourse payasam. This time we had to restrict it to Neyyappams..not bad ehh..

Do you like Neyyappams? I love them. After I had made the batter and let it sit for 2-3 hours, the smell of melted jaggery was so tempting that I wanted to make it as soon as possible. I can't blame myself because it had been sooo long since I had them. Well here is the recipe to it. Hope you like it and try it.

Parippuvada!!!

Its raining!

What best could one do on a rainy day? Hot parippuvada with a steaming cup of coffee/tea..hmm my mouth is getting watery with the very thought of it. Some people like having parippuvada as it is , but for me having it with bananas makes me feel content.

These remind me of the childhood days when we used to travel by train to kerala to spend our summer vacations. The train would reach Palakkad station and the noise of the chaiwala's would wake you up. The Parripuvadas and Pazham poris would be in the scene, offered with a small glass of chai.

My Tiramisu Charlotte Cake just turned lucky!

Yaay.... I am so excited to know that my recipe photo of Tiramisu Charlotte cake made it to the Huffington Post!!! Check it out here.

I consider it as my duty to share it with you all because I owe you. Yes, had it not been your support and encouragement, Palaharam would have been dead long back. No, I am not exaggerating, its true and straight from my heart. A BIG thanks to you all - You made Palaharam known :). Look, its on Huffington Post :).

Hot Jalebi for the festival of colours!

Happy Holi everyone !

Any festival is incomplete if you are not served with a sweet. On Holi, everyone looks forward to playing with colours. But at the same time, having sweets is yet another activity that has its own priority and can't be replaced. So how about having some Hot Jalebi's this year to make Holi special.

Hot Jalebi had been an obsession for myself and my brother since we were kids. I guess all kids like it- remember the Dhara ad, where the kid gave up the idea of leaving home just to have jalebi :). We looked forward for a holiday to enjoy having it. We would get it from a Halwai's shop on Sundays, the only day we didn't have to go to school. How much ever we got it, it wouldn't stay long.

Nostalgic!

You never realize what you've got until you have to part with it. Salt Lake City - I miss you already :( .

Namkeen

What do you like more - sweet or salty ? Well for me, I don't really have a sweet tooth and would prefer salty. On a lazy day, I was just looking in for some snack that I could make quickly. I had this namkeen in mind but was not sure if its called the same everywhere. I would definitely update the name, if I ever come across it, in the future. Having failed to figure out the recipe from the internet, I called up my mom to double check if the recipe that I had in mind was okay to continue with.



These namkeens are quick and easy to make. Well, I say that quite often about most of my recipes, don't I ? :). But trust me, with very few ingredients and minimal effort I could make a heap of namkeens :). So I love making these.

Spring is here !

Trick to get perfect Chocolate garnishing !

Chocolate garnishing isn't just about melting chocolate and piping it out in desired shapes. I learnt it the hard way, when the chocolate garnishing on a birthday cake just bent down in few minutes.

What is the secret behind doing it right and how to do it? Tempering is what needs to be done here. Tempering is a way of melting chocolate in a way that its molecules do not break up completely. So, when they are chilled, they get back together to give it a firm shape.

1. First, grate the chocolate. Do not touch the chocolate with your hand, else it would melt. Shave it with a sharp knife having held it with a kitchen towel. 
2. Place 2/3rd of shaved chocolate in the microwave for not more than 8 sec. Take it out and give it a mix with a spoon. If its not melted completely, place it again in the microwave for few seconds, just enough to melt it. 
3. Once done, add the rest of the chocolate shaving and mix it with a spoon. It would melt in it and leave a thick and sticky texture.
4. Pipe it out of a piping bag or ziploc bag into desired shapes to decorate cakes, desserts etc. 

Watch this video, where I learnt it from.

Verrine ~ A Blend of Cream and Chocolate

As a kid, I had a bad habit of wasting food. My mother would scare me saying if I waste food, satan is gonna come and grab my leg and take me off. The days I would waste food, I happen to meet satan (the one in Onida ad) in my dreams, who would drag me off, mercilessly.

But now, I do make a conscious effort to not waste food and to cook/eat that is enough for us. I had some mascarpone cheese and whipping cream left over after I made the Tiramisu and Black Forest Cake. While in a hunt to figure out how I could use them to make another variety dessert, before it hits the expiry date, I came across the French Dessert called Verrine. Verrines translate to glasses in french. Originally from France, these are made by forming layers of ingredients in a glass. Since these are made in transparent glass, the highlighted colors of the ingredients gives a tempting look. Moreover, we can customize a verrine with ones own recipe.

♪♪ Let it Snow...Let it Snow...Let it Snow ♫ ♫

End of February and I thought they were done with the snowing...but guess, I was wrong...

Uzhunnu Vada / Medhu Vada / Lentil Dumplings

Uzhunnu Vada - yet another favorite snack either during tea time or with idli/dosa in the morning. For a south indian, if you are out looking in for a restaurant for breakfast, what would be the item that you would have pre ordered in mind - Idli-vada. Yes, any restaurant that you get into would have it as the first item on their menu. And the server would also recite the menu starting with idli- vada, dosa-vada, masala dosa....

I have made these vadas a number of times.These are easy to make if you are not bothered about the hole that is supposed to be present in the center of these vadas. I never used to get the consistency of the batter right. Well, I should not call it a batter as, these get its shape only if, the mixture has the consistency between a dough and a batter. I still don't think I have gained that perfection, but atleast the hole is there,  is what I say to myself :).