Rasmalai - Diwali recipes

    I made rasgullas a couple of years back. It was okay for a first timer , but I wanted to try it again. The day never came and then I have always been wanting to try this gorgeous ramalais. Finally, I decided to make them yesterday. The procedure below may seen lengthy and difficult, but believe me, its really not that hard and you will probably not go wrong with rasmalais.
    They were really soft and tasted great. When a few(4 to be precise out of 16) of my rasgullas crumbled while cooking , I was really tensed that they have got overcooked, but after dunking them in the milk syrup it absorbed the milk beautifully and were very soft and delicious. I never expected them to be so good. I am sure going to make this again and do let me know if you want me to add the step by step pictures the next time I make them. I hope you try them for this diwali.

Walnut brownies - easy and quick recipe

      We had a small get together last week and decided to have a potluck. I was asked to bake a cake. I wanted to make it chocolate as most of the kids are fond of it.I settled down on baking brownies as I had never made them for parties and I had baked chocolate cake many times and I thought this will be different.
       I am so glad everyone liked it a lot and actually fell short of it and I wished I had baked some more of them. The recipe is quite easy and quick to make too. They had a perfect crust and very soft and chewy in the inside. Its a perfect dessert for parties and you could serve them with vanilla, chocolate or coffee flavoured icecream too!!

Aval(poha) payasam(kheer) recipe

Happy Vijaydashmi to all the readers of Creative Saga!!
    Hope you all had a grand navaratri!!
    Aval payasam is a easy and delicious dessert for the festival days. I made it and tasted this for the first time. Infact its so easy and quick , I am sure to make this again especially during our religious get togethers.

Pachai payaru/green moong sweet chundal-navaratri recipe

    I made this last week and have been waiting to post this delicious chundal recipes as all my friends liked it.But the navarati keeps me quite busy with the haldi kumkums,Lalitha sahasranaama ,get togethers etc apart from managing the toddlers.Though I am managing to make chundal and other prasadams each day, clicking pictures has been difficult.
     This sweet version is really easy to make, coconut gives a nice crunchy taste while the ghee gives a nice flavour making the chundal really delicious!!!

Spicy karam karamani sundal-navaratri recipe

      Thats how this chundal was referred to by my son when he tasted this one. I hope all of you are enjoying the navaratri now.I do plan to make different chundals for the next nine days. I made with karamani or black eyed beans yesterday which happens to be hubby's favourite. I made it a tad spicier as the beans are really bland and has to be flavoured up with spices to make it tasty. It was quite delicious and enjoyed by all with some delicious semiya payasam.
       For different navaratri prasadams and chundals refer this post. I shall be posting the chundal recipes which I have not posted already and also updating some old pictures.
       Also refer whole masoor dal chundal recipe here.

Arachu kalaki - side dish for poricha kuzhumbu

      Arachu kalaki is a very popular dish from kerala. As I belong to Tirunelveli in tamil nadu, we have some dishes from kerala in our staple diet like Olan which I had posted ages ago.
     This is made from small(really small) raw mangoes which is mixed with rock salt and chilly powder in a barani( container for pickles especially). As it ages, the salt brings out the water, the raw mango shrinks, softens,  absorbs the flavours making it suitable for consumption. I will try to post the recipe for this pickle sometime in future.
     So then  whenever poricha kuzhumbu (my hubby calls it poricha kootu, I think natives from Tanjore call it that way) is made, arachu kalaki is a surely prepared along with it.We used to love it when mom made this when we were kids. When I got a bottle of maavadu /vadu maangai from our relatives sometime ago, I make it a point to make this along with poricha kuzhumbu( have made it several times by now actually). And I was quite excited when I made this for the first time.
      It is really delicious and makes a excellent side dish.

Murungakkai/ drumstick poricha kuzhumbu recipe

       A couple of  years back , I had some guests from Chennai. That was the first time, I cooked elaborate south indian meals everyday as they were not accustomed to rice, dal/rasam, curry/subji, chapatis etc which I cook on a everyday basis. I do make a complete tamil lunch twice or thrice a week. So that time , I used to be in a real confusion on what to cook everyday. But they were kind enough to suggest me menus, teach me new recipes or even cook some authentic dish. So murungakkai /drumstick poricha kuzhumbu was one of them. I used to make poricha kuzhumbu with  a mixture of vegetables.But with drumsticks-this was new to me. After a long time now, when I could lay my hands on really fresh and good drumsticks, I made this for our weekend lunch.It was really good and I think I should make this kind of dishes quite often as everyone enjoyed it.

Chocolate cupcakes/muffins recipe from Joy of baking

       I made this muffins for the children's day celeberation in my son's school last week. As he loves chocolate cakes, making muffins with chocolate was the only option for me though I wanted to try many other flavours which I have bookmarked since a long time. But thats really okay. Chocolate cakes are always delicious and even I cant resist eating them and they are gone before you know!!
For more muffin recipes click here.

Whole masoor dal chundal recipe- Navaratri recipes

     Navaratri is around the corner and am sure you all have started the preperations on the menu, golu decoration ,dandia etc. I have also compiled a post on navaratri recipes which you can find it  here
     Coming to today's post, chundal is made with lentils especially during navaratri in Tamilnadu.
I often use whole masoor dal in my cooking. It is very healthy and is a rich source of iron. I made a chundal with it recently and decided to blog it now as people make it a point to make various chundal on each day for nine days of navaratri. I hope you do try it this time.

Hyderabadi dahi bhindi masala recipe

    Most of the time I make a dry curry with bhindi which goes well with some rice preperation or sometimes with rotis as well. It is a rare occasion I try to do something different with bhindi like this one.
    When I wanted a bhindi side dish for my chapatis for dinner , I decided to make a gravy. With a quick search ,I found the recipe in Sia's space. I loved this one as it had the north Indian flavours with a south Indian touch. It was really delicious and the recipe is quite simple too. I am surely going to make this again.

Vegetarian tomato omelette recipe

      This was one easy,quick and tasty recipe  when I was just learning to cook after my marriage.It was so easy to put together and was always tasty in contrast to the other dishes I made at that time. This along with some toasted bread dabbed with some salted butter made a perfect breakfast or brunch for us. But then I never made this almost for the last couple of years until I was suddenly reminded of it one fine evening when I was in no mood to cook. I made this and we really enjoyed it for our dinner.