Odisha Mo Odisha

 It's going VIRAL.... everywhere you see, you will find people making these... the catch phrase is that, it is a NO-KNEAD paratha.. meaning, you don't have to knead the dough (which is tough if you are a beginner or don't have a kitchen-aid stand mixer) and you don't have to roll the dough into the perfect paratha shape too. I stumbled across this recipe on one of the youtube channels that I regularly watch & follow and she made it look like it was easy to make. I am telling you YouTube influencers do not show the real hardship that goes into their channels & they make everything look so easy & inspire us all to try out new things. It's truly commendable.  Anyways, I saw the recipe & it seemed pretty straight forward so I set out to give it a go.  Half way through making the parathas my legs started to hurt & then my hands & then my back. This recipe TAKES TIME.  So spoiler alert... If you want to make this recipe, just make for yourself. Do ...

 I will go back to my favorite saying... "When the going gets tough, the tough gets going".  This is my mantra for my evening dinners these days. During the day, work (office, house & kids) keep me super busy & I totally forget to plan for dinners. So when the clock strikes 5pm, my mind always goes into the fridge & tries to figure out what to cook which will be easy & healthy and will be liked (and swallowed) by kids).  This twist on my all time favorite spinach Moong daal dosa, incorporates a variety of vegetables & makes a yummy uttapam for week night dinners.  What I used.. 2 cups skinless moong daal Small piece of ginger + 1 green chili 7 or 8 curry leaves - finely chopped 1 cup finely grated carrots (Use the good old chopper & the task will be SO easy) 1 cup finely grated cabbage 1 bunch green onions - very very finely chopped Salt & pepper to taste Garam masala (or skip if your family does not like it) Red chilli flakes (skip if you...

 Like always, I bought a lot of puff pastry to try my hands at some sweet & savory puff pastry recipes over the last holiday season. And like always, I landed up using lesser than expected.  So here I am with extra store bought puff pastry & in need of a good breakfast idea and staring inside the pantry when it hit me that I have never baked anything with the extra chocolate-hazelnut spread that I bough which no one likes in the house anymore since it is very very sweet. So here's a two-ingredient (literally) made with chocolate-hazelnut spread & store bough puff pastry that immediately became a family favorite for breakfast. It is the perfect combination of sweet & buttery pastry and gives a good start to the day when you don't have to think about breakfast. What I used Store bought frozen puff pastry sheets Chocolate Hazelnut spread (Nutella or any other brand) Process Defrost the puff pastry until they are softer & pliable  Cut each sheet into 3 len...

 Chicken & Veg puffs were the rich kids' samosas back in the day. Of course, now everyone can afford it. I remember when we settled for "singada" (samosas) & "bara" (Urad Wada) for our evening snacks, some of our (richer) friends would get puffs. These were buttery puffed pastry filled with spiced vegetables (mainly potatoes) and sometimes chicken. Of course, in Cuttack, chicken was not that popular with snacks. I am sure, later on everything became OK. So these puffs are actually a way to use up the left overs from a chicken keema biryani where as usual I made a lot of keema & did not soak as much enough rice. So I used up about 3/4th of the keema for the biryani & then the rest went into this buttery puffs.  These puffs are of course good for snacking but they are also a very good breakfast option. You can prep them ahead of time & then bake them while your guests have their drinks & they will serve as a very good appetizer for the dinn...

 Post-Holiday Breakfast can be a killer. After hours of slogging in the kitchen the night before, no one (I repeat, NO ONE) wants to slog again for breakfast the morning after. These spiced Apple muffins are designed to serve as the best breakfast. They are "make ahead" .. "store in an air-tight container for days"... "Can be consumed with milk or coffee & taste equally good" and last but not the least have the yummy flavor of spices & Apples which are so apt of the winters. I have used regular gala apples & I am sure the Granny smith kind will be good as well.  I have peeled the Apples however a lot of recipes ask to keep the skin intact.  I have used a mixture of Ground All-Spice  & Cinnamon for that kick of warm spices.  This recipe uses Eggs & regular AP flour.  What I used 2 cups Maida or AP flour 1.5 tsp Baking Powder 1/4 tsp Salt 2 tsp Ground All-Spice + 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon 2 medium Gala Apples Peeled Chopped into very small pi...

There is no story for this recipe. This recipe is what I call a "CRY FOR GREEN FOOD IN YOUR DIET". Yes, I have been trying to get as much greens into our diets since many months now. Especially because they are nutrition dense & when it comes to baby spinach, they are really tasty too. I am not a huge fan of the regular spinach and they can be bitter but the baby spinach is not.  But then, what can you make with baby spinach? I tried them in Soup & Pasta and then in Khichdi and everywhere they lost their authority & face. While their taste lingered, their color was gone.  So I thought if instead of pureeing them, I just chopped them fine & added them to the Flour and made a paratha dough, then it'd look nice & surely it did.  Here's what I used 2 cups of roughly chopped baby spinach 2 tbsp dried fenugreek (aka Kasuri Methi) 1 cup of whole wheat flour Salt + Turmeric + Red chilli powder + Garam masala powder (all to taste) 1/4 cup yoghurt 2 tbsp Bes...

 Let's start with the fact that I really do not like the "Prathamastami" as a festival. For whatever reason, the Odiya society decided to venerate & praise & give new clothes to the eldest child of the family along with a whole set of responsibilities & what-not. In my humble opinion, it should be a festival to celebrate all children of the family not just the eldest one.  Someone was even smarter to come up with something for the second child (in case they felt bad) called "Duhaan Podhuan" but then that was a weak attempt too because many (many) families have more than 2 children. What about the 3rd child now? What are we going to do about them? Aren't they humans? Don't they have hearts?  So anyways, in all I am not a huge fan of the festival in it's concept.  The food attached to it however.... YUMMM... The fragrant Enduri Pitha made inside of a pocket created with fresh turmeric leaves & steamed to perfection.. OMG..  Whether it i...

 Lately, I have been making my own dosa batter at home. It is easy since we are at home due to the pandemic & we have time & energy. Also, we are trying to use less store bought ready-made food items just for the heck of it.  This dosa batter is super simple & is what mother used to make at home (Odisha). The texture is a little bit grainy but you can go as gritty or as smooth as you'd like based on your taste buds. There are no such rules. Also, I do not ferment my dosa batter in an oven or Instant-Pot. It did not work for me & created a layer of batter on top which was yucky. So I don't use it but if you have seen other people use it successfully then please by all means.. go ahead & try that. The best part of this recipe is that even if the batter is not super fermented, you can still make a super yummy "Chakuli" (Chakuli : Crepes made out of batter usually similar to dosa batter made out of rice + urad dal mi...

This recipe was a desperate cry for finding something gluten free which is NOT rice or Poha. We have been trying to stay gluten free as it is helping me immensely with my migraines. Sometimes eating gluten free poses this challenge when you are trying to eat Indian. Usually when we think gluten free in Indian food we immediately think about Rice or Poha or Ragi but I was super tired of eating them. I wanted something with lentils & started to browse the good old YouTube. There were many videos on cheela or dosa made with Besan (Chickpea Flour) or Moong Dal but none of them had any green veggies in it. So I decided to mix it up a little bit. This recipe is super simple & can be made easily for breakfast or lunch or dinner. This turns into a dosa so obviously you can dress it up or down as you feel. Add onions. Add potato masala. Opportunities are endless.  What I used 1 cup split moong daal (washed & soaked in warm water for around 1 hour or so) 2 - 3 cups Baby spinach S...

  Every Saturday morning brings the same dreadful question - "What shall I make for breakfast?" Saturdays are special. Weekday breakfast ranges from toaster waffles to just buttered toast. Sometimes the kids settle with chocolate chip or Oreo cookies and milk. Yes, milk is a must but the sides keep changing. I do not actually make breakfast on weekdays other than may be eggs. Sunday is special too but by the time Sunday comes by, I am already sad that Monday will be here soon. So I don't so much on Sundays. Sunday is booked for sulking & being sad.  Saturday however is special. It brings the joy of the weekend. It has no meetings. It has no prior commitments. It is just "Saturday".  I try to cook a hot breakfast for every Saturday. Out of all our family favorites, the Vermicelli upma is the second best choice (Poha being the first one).  This upma is loaded with vegetables & aromatics like curry leaves & sometimes it has roasted groundnuts too. Overa...

"Chakuli" in Odisha comes in mainly three forms: Regular Chakuli - Made with Dosa batter (Rice + Urad Daal) -  Maida Chakuli - Made with Maida a.k.a Refined All-purpose flour And finally Atta chakuli - Made with "Atta" a.k.a Whole wheat flour Atta Chakuli is usually a form of sweet pancake in Odisha. It is a very good breakfast usually made on week days where making roti/paratha is either boring or time consuming. Growing up, I was not a fan of the dish though because it is sweet & as a kid I did not have a sweet tooth. I still don't & I think I am blessed because sugar kills (like literally).  This recipe was a result of three things... - I was sick of eating rice & poha (basically gluten-free) and wanted something different but should have tons of veggies 🍅 🌽 🌶  - I wanted something that is NOT sweet - I did not want to make roti (I am not very good at it & the Rotimatic is resting in the garage) Because of the above mentioned reasons, I sta...