Loved it ,Lived it - Year 2010

To go ahead with this post I need a warm cup of coffee , I need to go back to the cold winter evening of  January in Delhi  and come back to tropical  December  of Singapore .Year 2010 is special one for me reason being first half I spent in India and the other half in Singapore.,
Year 2008 - shared some regional meals of India
Year 2009 - shared some favourite posts from the archieve
Year 2010 - Its gonna be best post of each month
January  Nimona - Green pea curry  moms recipe ;-)
Febuary Palak Papdi Chaat my favourite street food
March Street food of my hometown
April   Iced Cupcakes first experience
May  Fresh fruits in Cherry sauce perfect for Delhi summer
June Blueberry crisp with icecream 
July  Dosti roti with butter chicken Nehas recipe
August Eggless Blueberry Muffin Finally jinx ends
September Nectarine Coconut Pound Cake Cake was ,...
October Raspberry Buttermilk Cake Ode to food bloggers
November Where is the Food from Food fiction
December Chocolate cupcakes with Raspberry Jam
Thats all friends linking this post to Best of Year 2010 event hosted by Srivalli of Cooking for all Seasons.
Wish all the readers of Asan Khana Happy New Year 2011,..;-)
heres a glimpse of whats coming next ,..

take care ,see you all soon :-)
happy blogging,..

Chocolate Sugar Cookies

Last year my kitchen smelt of fresh baked bread in december
this year kitchen smelt of cookies ;-)

Baked Chocolate Sugar Cookies Inspired from here

Sprinkled sugar on them before baking

baked some plain ones too...

Advay with decked up christmas tree.
Linking  this post to Its time to Jingle again
                              Bake Off event hosted by Champa of Versatile Kitchen
                              Bookmark recipe Volume 22 hosted by Priya of Mharo Rajasthan
Thats all friends, see you all soon,..:-) happy blogging

Turning 30,...;-)

Year 2008 i celebrated with my family
Year 2009 was with family again
This year it was just three of us but it was fun

evening spent at beach

simple celebration at home

Thats it guys,wish all the readers of Asan Khana Merry Christmas,
will see you all soon,..:-)

Kerala egg curry with Aloo palak paratha

Thanks to the Blogosphere,whenever i am out of recipe or want to try something new i know what to google so today my google search landed me on these two awesome blogs , I tried
Kerala Egg Curry from Arundathi My Food Blog &
Aloo Palak Paratha from Shvetas Cooking Blog

this platter is joining Blog Bites 9 -Holiday Buffet hosted by Nupur of One Hot Stove.
Thats all friends,enjoy the week ahead,see you all soon.

Christmas Celebration at Peters Home

Mary counted the coins she had got in her coin box,she had counted twice ,this was the third  time she was counting,she had some nine dollars and fifty cents in her coin box thats it,tonight  being christmas eve she had managed to sell almost all of Santa hat and Chirstmas decorations ,but still money was not enough to get the  rest of the ingredients  for the  cake,which she had promised she would bake for her son .She knew at home her son must be waiting anxiously for her to come and bake the cake.Since past few weeks she had been collecting money to bake cake,she had got half ingredients but still she needed so many other things for the Christmas cake.Mary clutched her battered coat together to feel warm and walked slowly towards her house.
As soon as Mary left for her shop in the noon, Peter Mary's 12 year old son,took out the tiny bit of paper which he had kept in his notebook.He had asked his teacher for simple cookie recipe which he wanted to bake for his mother.He knew how hard his mother was working for him ,to take care of him .Morning she was working in  flower shop  and evening   in another  gift shop.He wanted to do something special for her,something which would make this Christmas eve  special for her.Since his fathers death his mother was everything for him.His teacher had explained him the recipe,with his small fingers he mixed everything in a bowl ,kneaded soft dough  and kept the dough  in the fridge to chill.He knew his mother wont be back till evening.Patiently he waited for an hour,then he preheated the oven his father had gifted his mother on her birthday,and with small cookie cutter which he had got from the near by shop shaped the cookies,it was not easy for him but he didnt give up,once done he kept the cookies for baking.

Peter cleaned the small table they had in their kitchen ,took out white bedsheet to spread,kept some old christmas ornaments  and burnt some candles to make the place look warm and cosy.He also prepared his mothers favourite coffee
When Mary reached home all she could see was some candles through the window,thinking she must have forgotten to pay the bill,she slowly knocked the door.Peter tells her about some wire break and guides her in with candle in his hand.
Peter : "Mamma u got the cake ingredients , but now we wont be able to bake."
Merry: " no son all the shops were closed,dont worry i will get the rest of the ingredients tomorrow."
Peter slowly takes the veil of from the table

Mary sees platter of cookies with warm mug of coffee
Peter:"Mamma I asked you to bake cake for me ,as i wanted to bake cookies with the ingredients which you had got ,wish you Merry Christmas Mamma."
Mary : "I was so upset thanks for making my day son,wish you Merry Christmas  too."

Christmas Sugar Cookies recipe adapted from here
Baking temperature 100 degree centigrade
baking time 3 to 4 mins
Linking this post to Of Chalks and Chopsticks 6th edition hosted this month by Jaya of Spice and Curry event started by Aqua of Served with Love .
Its time to Jingle again Christmas event
Bake Off event hosted by Versatile Kitchen
Thats all friends,see you all soon,;-)

Simple platter of Vankaya Vepudu with Ajwain Paratha

Tried this simple brinjal stir fry from Cooking with Pedatha

Paired the brinjal roast ( Vankaya Vepudu ) with Ajwain Paratha

Recipe of Ajwain Paratha can be found here
Linking this post to show me your cook book hosted by Divya of Dilse
Ajwain paratha joins the event cooking with seeds Ajwain hosted by Seasoned and Dressed event started by Priya of Easy and Tasty Recipes.
Thanks a ton Pallavi for this book,this book was on my wish list since a long time...:-)
Thats all friends ,see you all soon,haapy week ahead

Mini Chocolate cupcakes with Raspberry Jam

With a three and half year old at home 24hrs a day ,
i have to think of ideas to keep him busy whole day,
thats the reason why i am not so frequent with my posts these days
as i am dead tired by the end of the day.
Last week thought of engaging Advay while baking chocolate cupcakes,he was by my side whole time when i mixed ,poured and baked the cupcakes.Ya he had to wait to taste the cupcakes as i had to take pics,
thanks Advay for the patience i know it was  hard for you but still you beared with me,..;-)

Recipe Name Chocolate Cupcakes
Recipe source Cupcake book
Preparation time15 mins
Baking time 5 mins
Baking temperature 100 degree centigrade
Ingredient
All purpose flour half cup
Cocoa powder two tbsp
Sugar halp cup
Oil one fourth cup
Baking soda half tsp
Egg one
Vanilla essence half tsp
water one fourth cup

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 100 degree centigrade
line a cupcake tray with paper liner keep aside
Procedure
In a mixing bowl mix all the ingredients listed above and mix till smooth.
spoon the mixture into cupcake tray ,tap and check they should be half filled.
Place in the preheated oven and bake for 5 mins.
Transfer on cooling rack to cool completely
Chocolate and  Raspberry Jam Cupcake

Ingredient
Chocolate cupcake
Raspberry Jam
Icing sugar
Edible silver ball
Procedure
with help of melon baler remove a circle from the top of cooled cupcake
spoon half tsp of jam into the sccoped out space
replace the cupcake top
sprinkle edible silver balls and icing sugar.
other cupcake recipe blogged at Asankhana
Iced Cupcakes here and here

the chocolate cupcakes are off for
Its time to Jingle again event
Kids Delight Holiday Special hosted by Srivalli
December Carnival - Christmas Decor and Delights hosted by The Key bunch team

and to Bake Off event hosted by Versatile Kitchen
Thats all friends,see you all soon :-)
 Sharing with you all Christmas tree pic , thats Advay in red,..:-)

Feel good food - platter of Murgh Badami with Bidari Paratha

Sometimes we have to prepare something just to feel good ,or you guys can say sometimes we accidently prepare soemthing which is so good that it has to be published and shared with everyone this one is something very similar, prepared this simple chicken curry with bidari parathas combo was yum,..

Recipe name Murgh Badami
Recipe source kitchen experiment
Preparation time 10 mins
Cooking time 20 mins
Ingredinet
chicken drumsticks six
onion two chopped
green chili two
garlic clove tw\
chicken masala
curd one cup
salt as per taste
oil to cook
soaked almond seven
pistachio to garnish
Preparation
prepare paste of almond and keep aside
sprinkle half tsp of chicken masala and two tbsp of curd on chicken and mix keep aside
Procedure
heat one tsp of oil in non stick wok
add chopped onion followed by green chili and ginger
keep stirring till onions start changing colour
add marinated chicken and keep stirring
once it starts sticking add the leftover curd,chicken masala,salt
give a good stir and add almond paste ,cover and cook
let it simmer for few minutes ,
serve warm garnished with pistachio.

For Bidari Paratha recipe click here
linking bidari paratha to Bookmark Recipe event Volume 17th

 hosted by Priya of Mharo Rajasthan
Special thanks to Nachiketa of The Variable - Crazy over desserts  for the Complimentary Vouchers of Choko La

Thats all friends,see you all soon Advays term break has started so this whole month i gonna be very busy ,happy blogging wish you all happy week ahead,..

Perfect for winters - chicken in spicy spinach sauce

Most of the time when hubby is on call,it rains here and i am clueless  about what to prepare for dinner as its just me and Advay, if alone i would have been happy with a bowl of warm soup,but then Advay he wont drink soup and sleep so i guess i will prepare lemon rice or coconut rice or maybe some stuffed  paratha,..lets see,..:-)
Coming back to todays post sharing with you all bowl of chicken which i prepared few days back  when unlike today all three of us were there, i have seen this in many blog ,this is what i prepared with the ingredients around,this tastes better the next day as the flavours become more intense

Recipe name chicken in spicy spinach sauce
Recipe source kitchen experiment
Preparation time 20 mins
Cooking time 30 mins
Ingredient chicken 400gm
onion three
tomato one'
green chili two
garlic clove two
ginger half inch
baby spinach leaves  one cup
salt as per taste
oil to cook
half tsp turmeric powder
half tsp coriander powder
clove four
cinnamon crushed half inch
cumin one tsp
corianer seeds half tsp
black cardamom two
dried red chili two crushed
bay leaves crushed three
kabab chini four
green cardamom two
preparation
make paste of ginger garlic and green chili keep aside
make paste of two onion and keep aside
chop one onion coarsely and keep aside
make paste of tomato and keep aside
chop spinach leaves,boil in water for few mins
strain , make smooth paste and keep aside.
Procedure
In a non stick wok add one tbsp of oil
lower the flame and add ginger garlic and green chili paste
keep stirring add onion paste ,chopped onionand stir further for few minutes
now add tomato paste,salt ,turmeric power and coriander powder
followed by dried red chili,bay leaves,cumin seed,coriander seed,
clove,black pepper,black cardamom,cinnamon and kabab chini.
keep stirring till oil is seen along the sides,
now add spinach paste ,mix everything together
and let it simmer for few minutes.
remove from flame and keep aside.
In another non stick heat half tsp of ghee/oil
once hot lower the flame and add crushed green cardamom
followed by chicken pieces
fry for few minutes till slightly brown from both sides.
mix the fried chicken pieces with the spinach mixture
and pressure cook for one to two whistle.
serve warm with rice or chapati.
thats all friends ,yesterday we decked up the christmas tree

Advay asked me where are the presents,i told him there is still time for that,..:-),dont forget to join the Christmas event friends,take care ,see you all soon,..;-)