Growing up in the United States, my family didn’t follow all of the customs surrounding the festival, but we definitely ate the food associated with the holiday. Here is a list of recipes often eaten during pongal so you can get inspiration for your menu this year. Ven Pongal Ven pongal, also known as khara pongal, is a decadent lentil and rice porridge that is customary to eat on the second day of the festival....

If you like this rhubarb syrup, you will adore Rhubarb Curd! Pancakes in any form – crêpes, blini or American-style – are usually left to weekends. But they shouldn’t. Pancakes are too good to be relegated to Saturdays and Sundays, and way too versatile to be left to breakfast! I grew up making crêpes on a regular basis, although we called them blini. My mother’s signature recipe used kefir as the base, and to this day I have never tasted better....

This delicious spring side dish will go beautifully with Honey Glazed Ham, don’t you think? When asparagus is in season, my fridge is always stocked with these vibrant green bundles. It is so incredibly versatile I never seem to get tired of it. I serve it as a side dish, add it to risottos, curries, you name it! The other day I ordered sushi from my local restaurant and what do I find inside the rolls?...

What You Need to Make This Recipe Butter — keep the butter cold for this recipe as warm butter will be worked into the flour, leaving you with a less flaky dough. Also, be sure to use unsalted butter as there is already salt added elsewhere in the recipe. Cream cheese — be sure to use full-fat cream cheese for these rugelach cookies and not the spreadable type in a tub....

Loving this cake recipe? For another classic Russian cake try my Apple Cake Sharlotka. Honey Cake The Russian name for this incredible cake is Medovik or Tort Medovik. And the first time I made it I was 13 or 14 when this cake was the “it cake” in Russia and all across the former Soviet Union. The recipe was being passed on from one household to another although, of course there wasn’t one ‘master recipe”....

When planning to make a Turkish recipe for the theme, I was very specific that I would only be making savory dishes. I had a lovely dinner recipe planned out, but things did not work out quite as well at home and I had to skip making it. Being a dessert-loving family, one could not stay away from Turkish sweet recipes for too long and I had to give up on my initial planning and made this delicious Sekerpare....

This is the last week of BM 25 and for the second day with the theme of cooking from a cookbook, I have chosen to work with a cookbook called Fabulous Flavors (vegetarian). A little intro about the book; this cookbook was put together by a committee as a fundraising project for EASA’s (External Affairs ministry’s spouses Association) charitable trust. This cookbook has a collection of recipes that have been developed by generations of EASA’s members....

The perfectly tender fettuccine noodles are tossed in a rich Alfredo sauce and topped with plump shrimp, making for an irresistible meal you can make with simple everyday ingredients. The best thing to serve alongside this pasta is my garlic bread recipe, dinner rolls recipe, or breadsticks recipe. Trust me, you’ll want to soak up every single drop of this rich and flavorful sauce in the shrimp Alfredo pasta. What You Need to Make This Recipe Pasta — I use fettuccine, but you can use any pasta you have on hand, such as linguine, penne, fusilli, or bow-tie pasta....

published Dec 02, 2022, updated May 31, 2023 As the days get shorter and the weather gets colder, it’s time to bring some of my favorite soup recipes back into rotation. We have Greek Chicken Orzo Soup, Moroccan Harira (Lentil Soup), and Matzo Ball Soup (Jewish Penicillin) — just to name a few. Every culture has its take on this soul-warming and nourishing dish. Today’s recipe is a traditional Chinese soup that is easy to make and sure to impress....

Super Thick and Chewy Potato Noodles with Chili Oil If you’ve ever tried gnocchi (or German Schupfnudeln), you’ve already ventured into the potato-based pasta/noodles world. However, don’t be tricked into thinking these Chinese potato noodles are simply long gnocchi. Their extra thick noodle size means they’re bouncy and chewy (and lightly slippery) – you’ll love them, especially when turned into this spicy potato noodles recipe. Spicy potato noodles are made by combining super thick homemade potato noodles with fragrant, spicy, tangy, somewhat sweet chili oil....

published Jul 10, 2023, updated Aug 14, 2024 Stuffed Caprese chicken is one of those awesome meals that is fancy enough for any occasion and yet easy enough to make for a weeknight dinner. Maybe it is the sumptuous lure of melted cheese, or maybe it is the sheer joy of a meal with hidden gems baked inside. Either way, this dish is divinely decadent and incredibly satisfying. Make this caprese chicken recipe anytime you want to impress your dinner guests without needing to put in hours of work....

If you are a fan of pork recipes cooked in Asian style, take a look at my zesty and flavourful Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Carrot, Zucchini and Radish Slaw. It’s fun to reinvent recipes and I feel like this particular one for pork chops in sweet and sour sauce has been a great success! This recipe carries the classic flavours of Chinese sweet and sour pork but is served in a tangy sauce enriched with a bit of cream similar to French sauces....

The Best Thai Coconut Soup Do you love spicy soup or do you prefer a creamy chowder? This vegan Thai coconut curry soup is actually a combination of both because it’s a little spicy, yet the coconut milk adds some sweetness and creaminess. Maybe you have visited Thailand in the past and tried a Tom Kha Gai soup before. My Thai coconut soup version isn’t really the same, however, it’s slightly similar....

For the second week of blogging marathon, I chose to work with combo dishes. Valli had given us a list of combo dishes to choose from and for the first day, I chose to make the thavala vadai with coconut chutney. When I asked my mother for the recipe, she said that she was aware of the thavala adai but not thavala vadai. The recipe I have below is from Meenakshi Ammal’s Cook and See....

Last weekend was spent tirelessly walking the gorgeous streets of Bath. I’ve always wanted to visit the city. Ever since a friend, who grew up in England, told me about its incredibly beauty and fascinating history I made a mental note to check it out. Brad and I had a weekend away planned for a while. We were given the gift of time without children by our generous and loving friend so the only question was where....

Vegan cheesecake tarts recipe The crust of these vegan cheesecake tarts contains dates, sunflower seed butter, flax seeds, a little bit raw agave syrup, and vanilla extract. You can, of course, use nuts instead of flax seeds, however, I love that flax seeds contain lots of healthy omega-3 fatty acids. That’s why I often include flax meal in my recipes, for example in these vegan no-bake brownies. The cheesecake cream contains mainly silken tofu which I currently love using in my dessert....

Mushroom Stroganoff was my absolute favorite dish when I was a child. I was a picky eater back then and I almost never finished a meal. However, when my mom made this dish I licked out the entire plate! I am not kidding! I wasn’t vegan as a kid, I was vegetarian though. However, it’s not difficult to make this Mushroom Stroganoff vegan. Did you know that back in the late 1800’s in Russia, they held cooking contests?...

Easter is around the corner and of course, I had to make a delicious cake! Since I already have a Carrot Cake on my blog, I thought it would be a great idea to make a vegan chocolate cake with a peanut butter frosting and decorate it with cute chocolate bunnies and eggs. This chocolate cake is super rich, chocolaty, fudgy, and creamy even though it’s vegan and gluten-free! The cake is similar to my Chocolate Zucchini Cake, which is one of the most popular recipes on my blog....

Easy Watermelon Feta Salad Watermelon is one of my favorite parts of summertime. It’s cold, juicy, refreshing, and sweet — perfect for hot weather! At first, this salad might seem like a weird combo. (Watermelon and feta? Really?) But trust me; these two go together perfectly. The tangy, salty feta and sweet, juicy watermelon are a match made in heaven! I love the added crunch the fresh cucumber gives and the sliced red onion gives the salad a nice bite....

Watermelon is in season and they are everywhere. We picked a whole watermelon during our weekly grocery trip and the kids are enjoying the juicy watermelon. I wanted to make some cute shapes for the watermelon bites but realized that all my cookie cutters are much large than I wanted That is when I found my Linzer cookie cutter that I had bought long back and never even opened. I used the tiny stamps from that kit and they looked really cute....