Homemade Bialys Recipe (topped with Caramelized Onions)

The first time I saw Bialys was in a picture of a New york bakery shop (I believe it is Kossar's) neatly arranged inside a rack. They looked like mini Pizzas to me only to learn that they were not when I read the recipe for this month’s we knead to bake group. A Bialy is a round shaped bread with a depressed middle but not a hole like in doughnuts, and typically filled with cooked onions and sometimes poppy seeds. Bialys is considered to be a close cousin of the Bagels. The difference is while a Bialy is baked, a Bagel is boiled and then baked. The pronunciation of  bialys goes like bee-AH-lee.  

Cantaloupe Slush Recipe

A few days ago both myself and my friend went on a shopping spree and the day we chose happened to be the most hottest day on record of this year’s Summer. More than the shopping we did, we stopped at several shops selling fruit juices as the heat was just unbearable. I was so glad that we both left our kids at home. Even imagining, handling both the kids and the baggages in that unbearable hot weather makes me feel faint.

Of all the things we both gulped down on that day, the Slush was my most favorite. It was so soothing and I really kept craving for it. Finally made it last week and still the craving continues not only for me but for my kids as well as they both fell in love with this Cantaloupe Slush. I have been begged and threatened to make it on all the days for the rest of their summer holidays.

You can enjoy it either as a mid day frozen treat or as a healthy after meal dessert as either way it would make an ideal treat on a hot summer day.

Date Tamarind Chutney Recipe | Sweet Chutney for Chaat Recipes

A chaat is so incomplete without the dates and tamarind to spruce it up. This chutney is a very healthy one considering the ingredients that goes into it. This chutney is also known Khajur(Dates) Imli (Tamarind) ki Chutney. Though it is available at big supermarkets in bottled form, I prefer making it at home as it takes very less ingredients and also it is much more economical, super easy and without any added preservatives. My kids love this chutney so much that they can eat it almost with everything and anything.

Thenga Manga Pattani Sundal Recipe / Beach Sundal | Navaratri Sundal Recipes

The Summer in Chennai is synonymous to Marina Beach, Molaga bajji, the crowd, balloons, fans and mask sellers, panju mittai (cotton candy), cone ice cream carts with bells and above all the sundal sold at the beach. There is immense pleasure in munching on them while enjoying the gentle chill breeze, listening to the waves lapping at the shore. This beach sundal recipe is an authentic one and I got it from a person who used to sell it on the beach as a kid.

In fact I grew up eating this year after year not at the beach but in a church in our neighborhood where we used to attend VBS class as kids and this person was the caretaker there. All the kids who attend the class will be given some healthy snacks during the break time and this sundal will be served on most days to us in paper cones just like in the beach to cheer us all.

Butterscotch Blondies Recipe

I’m a Lacto Vegetarian. Before you start thinking out loud, a lacto vegetarian diet includes all sorts of dairy products like milk, yogurt, butter, cheese, cream but excludes eggs. My Doc has been after me for a long time to include eggs in my diet, but for which I have yet to develop an appetite for. Recently I have started to eat eggs in the form of baked goodies and yes earlier I used to enjoy only the eggless bakes.  I had always thought that both brownies and blondies are one and the same with some differences of which I never showed an interest to find out. I was not entirely wrong also. while the brownies get the intense flavor from the chocolate used in them, the blondies get their flavor from the brown sugar that is used in them to bake.