Garam Masala Tuesdays: Bonda Soup

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In our small mining town, we are a total of eight people from India; three couples and two bachelors, one of whom is actually a forced bachelor, since his wife is in California doing a one year course.

Its nice to have people from your country in the same city, especially in a place like this. And more so when it means you get to eat home cooked Indian food that is not cooked by your own hands. So every time we get a dinner invitation from our Indian friends I get super excited. And the joy is double since both the couples belong to states in the south of India, and since I am a complete novice with cooking south Indian food, I revel in their dosa, biryani, sambhar, and curd rice.

Its not that I have not tried my hand at South Indian cooking. During the first few months of our marriage, I tried making dosa, but it was a complete disaster that ended with me throwing the dosa batter away. After that misadventure, I have kept my distance from cooking anything that is south Indian totally relying on my South Indian friends here to satisfy my idli-dosa cravings. And it doesn’t hurt that my friend makes amazing food.

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Few recipes revisited

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While experimenting with new recipes, I am also going through my old recipes, updating them, if necessary, including a print recipe option and updating photographs as well along the way.

Though I share the updated recipes on facebook and sometimes on twitter (I am still getting used to tweeting, so am not that regular with twitter updates), I realised people who have subscribed to the blog via email, do not get notified of the updates.

So this post if for you guys. Also, a big thanks to all of  you for still sticking it out with me!

For the recipe, either click on the picture or on the link given in the description under the picture.

black forest cake

 If you are fan of black forest cake, then this is the recipe for you.

Moist chocolate genoise cake, with whipped cream and brandied cherries in between the chocolate layers!

Delish!!

bread

 This is an adaption of Heidi Swanson’s whole wheat bread recipe, and it is great.

I made it for the first time right after I got messages from people who saw my pictures on Facebook and congratulated me on getting pregnant (when I clearly was NOT!).

This bread is packed with whole wheat, wheat germ, flax seeds and thus great for you if you are on a diet.

Find the recipe here.

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 The last revisited recipe I am sharing today is a favorite of many: Pav Bhaji.

It is a popular Indian street side food with a thick potato based curry served with buttered, toasted bread.

Mom’s Homemade stuffed buns

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Mom's Homemade Stuffed buns with mushroom filling

Its only befitting to follow the last post that was on Mother’s Day with a recipe from my mom’s repertoire. In my last post, I did not mention how great a cook she is. I did not forget, but for once I did not want it to be about her cooking. But there is no doubt that she is an amazing cook.

My mom never cooked before marriage, and all that she learnt was after marriage. With a foodie for a husband and a few trusted Indian Tarla Dala books, and a willingness to always experiment new dishes, she became famous for her cooking. As a result my dad grew a truck tyre for a stomach and her children became gourmands (or well more aptly gluttons).

I have in the past shared her famous date cake recipe. Believe me when I say, this is one recipe you should always have with you. My sister-in-law made it recently for her friends and she said out of all the things she made, the date cake was the star. And she and I both get that every time we make it.

My mom’s homemade chocolate balls that she sent to my hostel are the reason why I was always in the good books of my hostel seniors. It’s only half true when they say a way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. I think it holds for everyone.

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