Odisha Mo Odisha

Lately, the internet is flooded with InstantPot recipes that are easy to make & are crowd pleasers.  In search of such recipes, I had joined a Facebook group called " Instant Pot for Indian Food ". Users from all over the world share amazing & easy Indian recipes they have cooked in their Instant Pots at home.  It is so refreshing to see that this pandemic has encouraged us all to cook at home & eat with family members. It has also taught us to go back to our roots & use minimal ingredients and yet create tasty & family friendly recipes. Browsing through Facebook & seeing so many posts & videos on home cooked meals is the best part of my every day social media time. It's amazing. Try it if you have not already. Join the group & you will see.  This 3-ingredients mango cheesecake is an inspiration from this Facebook group. It just so happened that with Summer's onset, folks started creating mango based dishes - starting with drinks & ...

My son is a paneer lover. Since the time he could eat, our nanny made sure that he eats paneer. Our (then) nanny is from Delhi & is a family friend right now but back then she was very particular about my son getting all his nutrients from home cooked food. She made a lot of types of paneer - starting with pakodas & ending with gravies. Her cooking was too good & I can in no imaginable way compete with that. But after my son grew up & started going to elementary, we had to stop using my nanny's services. That's when my interest in paneer making deepened. My son is a huge fan of paneer butter masala like any American Born Indian kid. So this is my take on the world wide accepted & famous Paneer Butter Masala. This recipe typically calls for chilli powder & kashmiri chili etc which I have not use as this is for the kids & I really like it when they eat stuff rather than just spit it out saying that it's too spicy. Also, I have kept th...

When I think of upma, I automatically think of Suji Upma (Suji : Rava or Semolina). There are a lot of varieties of Upma like Vermicelli Upma, Chuda Upma etc.. but the master of all (IMHO) is Suji Upma.  In Cuttack, Upma + Tarkaari is a great breakfast item which is available at most homes as well as small cafe/canteens/takeout food places. It's rich in essential nutrients, is a good combination of carbs + veggies + fat & gives a good start to the day.Some canteens/food places give chutney also with Upma which goes well too. Some serve it with Sambar (Odiya style south-indian sambar - More about that some other time).  These days, since we are at home, we are trying to get some hot breakfast for ourselves & suji upma comes in really handy. In fact it's one of the go-to recipes after Chuda Upma (a.k.a Poha or Flattened Rice Upma) & egg omelette.  Ironically, growing up, neither I nor my sister were big fans of Suji Upma. It used to be a frequent (not too freque...