Garam Masala Tuesdays: Vegetarian Kebabs

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Vegetarian Kebabs | The Novice Housewife

Vegetarian Kebabs | The Novice Housewife

When I was in Allahabad during my last trip to India, the cook at my parents place would make these vegetarian kebabs for us to snack on with drinks. Good times, I tell ya! Since I could not get the cook back with me to the US of A, I asked my parents’ cook to give me the recipe.

Now most of us don’t measure when we cook, so the cook gave me an approximation of the recipe. First time I tried it, I had to make quite a few changes to the recipe to get the right consistency to be able to stick together. I made them for the new year’s party at our house and they were a big hit. Luckily I had noted the changes, so it was perfect the next time I made them.

You could deep fry these, like I chose to for the party, or you could bake them basted with a little oil as well. Of course the deep fried version are always tastier, but the baked version is almost equally good as well.

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GMT : Pyaaz ki Kachori (Pastry stuffed with spicy onion filling)

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Pyaaz ki kachori (Deep fried Pastry stuffed with spicy onion filling)If you have been following my blog since I started it then either you are one of my friends B, the Pious Hippie or G, or my mother or V.

My point- I have posted this recipe for Pyaaz ki kachori before. Way before. Three and a half years back. Just a few days after I started this blog.

Kachoris are flaky, crispy deep fried pastries that are filled with different savory fillings and served as a snack in India. Pyaaz is the hindi word for onions, and pyaaz kachoris are very popular in the western Indian state of Rajasthan.

Since it has been such a long time and since most of you hadn’t even heard of my blog then, I decided to repost the recipe with a little update about it, instead of just updating that recipe with new pictures and a print friendly recipe. If you would like to check out the original recipe, pictures and what I was up to on August 3rd, 2010 you can check the original post here. Else continue to read on here.

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Garam Masala Tuesdays (kind of): Eggless Coconut Cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

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Eggless coconut cupcakes with cream cheese frosting | The Novice HousewifeSo I am aware that I am kind of cheating by sharing this recipe for eggless coconut cupcakes under Garam Masala Tuesdays.  “Kind of” because I have a reason why I am sharing the recipe today so it is not entirely cheating. But cheating nonetheless because we all know that cupcakes are anything but Indian.

Yes, you might have Indian spices inspired cupcakes- but cupcakes in general are not Indian and they can not be categorized as Indian.

Which actually led me to think- are there any traditional Indian desserts that are baked? I had a hard time coming up with any that is baked and maybe I am overlooking something obvious, but would the Indian readers of this blog let me know of traditional Indian baked goods if they think of any. The ones that I can think of are either fried or cooked. The closest I can think of a baked dessert is shahi tukda, where you fry bread (which has obviously been baked before) and serve it with flavored thickened milk. Other than that I draw a blank. What about you?

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