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A to Z Challenge Day #19 – S for Shepherd’s Pie

Hello there, how are you guys doing? We are almost at the last leg of the challenge on the 19thday and it is S today. I have one of my comfort foods today for S. I love it because of its simplicity and warmth and a million thanks to the person who invented it. It is Shepherd’s Pie!! It is quick, simple, easy and so no nonsense kind of food.  I love it in the winters and the times when I don’t want to do something elaborate!

It’s a meat pie from the British Cuisine and I love old fashioned British food because ethey are really simple yet so yummy. I am such a Jamie Oliver follower – this one is not his recipe though. I don’t remember when and where I had it first but I remember making it for a long time.

It is one of those pies where you don’t need a short crust or you don’t need any flour at all. It’s gluten free!

There is also something called a cottage pie and that’s almost similar only it’s done with ground beef where as this is done with ground lamb. In case you are a white meat lover you can use this same recipe and replace lamb with minced chicken.

Now let’s get into making it.



All that you need

This recipe is for two people
  1. Ground lamb – 250 gms
  2. Onion – 1 chopped
  3. Carrots – 1 chopped
  4. Garlic – 4-5 cloves – minced
  5. Potato – 4 large boiled potato
  6. Olive oil – 2 tablespoon
  7. Salt & pepper to taste
  8. Smoked Paprika – 2 teaspoon
  9. Butter – 2 teaspoon
  10. Cheese – grated cheddar – 2 tablespoon

Let’s get started

In a skillet heat olive oil

Add garlic and sauté in the oil

Add onions and fry till translucent

Add carrots and fry for 2 minutes

Add ground meat and fry for 5-6 minutes till you see oil oozing out from sides

Add seasoning and smoked paprika. (I have added little coriander seed powder for that extra zing)

Cook till meat is tender. It should take about 4 more minutes

In a mixing bowl mash the boiled and peeled potatoes.

Add little butter and salt while making this mashed potato

Arranging the Pie

In a pie dish put the meat mixture and top it off with a layer of mashed potato

Sprinkle some shredded cheese on top

Bake it in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees for 30 minutes or till the top layers turns golden.

Now wasn’t that a really easy rustic recipe. You can improvise on a lot of things. You can use a piping bag to pour the mashed potato and make some designs, you can make some designs with the form as well – I have done that but not quite visible here. 

Anyways enjoy and let me know if its HOT or NOT

Leave a comment below if you liked the recipe and you want me to share some more

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Linking this post to A to Z Challenge 2014 for Day #19 – post starting with S. 
Visit A to Z and read awesome posts by bloggers. 
I am also participating in this challenge from my writing blog and I’m writing fiction this time. Visit The Sunny Side of Life and show some love.
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A to Z Challenge Day #18 – R for Red Velvet Cup Cakes

Hello there… how is Monday treating you? Are you having the Monday Morning Blues? If yes I have the perfect trick to vanish that blue and get in some red! Yes I have my favourite cup cake today for my R post. It’s the Red Velvet Cup Cakes. I so love cup cakes and they are so easy to bake. I tend to avoid a lot of frosting in my cup cakes and like a rustic basic cup cake. But somehow I love the red velvet cup cakes because of its distinct flavor and color of course.
  
In my recipe I have kept it very easy and basic and have done 3 with a cream cheese frosting and left the rest without frosting.

This recipe makes 6 cup cakes.

 All that you need


For the Cup cake

  1. All purpose flour – 21/2  cups
  2. Confectioners’ Sugar – 1 cup
  3. Coco powder – ½ cup
  4. Salt – ½ teaspoon
  5. Butter – 1 cup
  6. Vegetable oil – 2 tablespoon
  7. Egg – 2 whole
  8. Baking powder – 1 teaspoon
  9. Vanilla essence – 1 tablespoon
  10. Butter milk – ½ cup
  11. Red Food coloring – 2 tablespoon [I used a powdered food grade color called Orange Red, if you get a color paste try to use that, it brings out amazing color, but a powder or liquid color is not that bad also.]


For the Frosting

I did very little frosting for photo’s sake so my proportions will vary. I’ll somehow will give a recipe for frosting if you want to do it for all six cup cakes

  1. Cream cheese – 6 tablespoon (in room temperature)
  2. Butter – 4 tablespoon
  3. Confectioners’ Sugar – 1/2 cup
  4. Lemon juice – 1 teaspoon


Let’s get started

For the Cup cake

Its super easy actually you need to mix all dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately and then mix them together.

In a mixing bowl sift flour, baking powder and mix cocoa powder, confectioners’ sugar and salt

In another bowl mix butter, eggs, oil, butter milk, vanilla essence and food coloring.

Now pour the wet mixture in the dry ingredients and mix into a smooth batter

You will find it has a bright red color. It will deepen further as you bake them.

Now line a muffin tray with muffin liners (no need to grease tray)

Pour in the batter with ice cream scoops.

Now bake in a preheated  oven at 180 degrees C or 356 degrees F for 15 minutes or till a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.



Tip: How Will you know your cup cake is baked?

When you place your finger on top it should be like spring action and your finger shouldn’t sink in or you shouldn’t get batter on your finger. It means it still requires little more baking time.

For the Cream Cheese Frosting

Take butter and cream cheese in room temperature in a mixing bowl and mix together with a spatula.

Add confectioners’ sugar and mix

Add lemon juice and mix (it will give a nice kick)

How to do the frosting?

Don’t start frosting on cupcakes which are just out from the oven, the cheese will melt.

Let the cupcakes cool down on a wire rack for 15 minutes.

You can pour the frosting in a piping bag and then swirl over the cup cakes, or use the back of a spoon or a butter knife.


I did it with a spoon because I made very little frosting and I was too lazy. I made it last evening for dinner, and we almost had the desserts first and then our dinner! 


So there you go your Red Velvet Cup Cakes are ready.

The last two pictures are clicked under light so you can see the bright red color better.

Leave a comment below if you liked the recipe and you want me to share some more
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Linking this post to A to Z Challenge 2014 for Day #18 – post starting with R. 
Visit A to Z and read awesome posts by bloggers. 
I am also participating in this challenge from my writing blog and I’m writing fiction this time. Visit The Sunny Side of Life and show some love.
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A to Z Challenge Day #16 – P for Pizza

Hi guys, today is P and I have one of my faourites here today… It’s P for Pizza…. I so love them specially when you get to load it up with all the favorite meat and super cheese. This one is a David Rocco inspired recipe. I was watching his Dolce Vita and he was baking these super pizzas in his wood fire oven and I sooooo wanted them – thin crust hand stretched… ohh so yum. But I didn’t like the potato and egg plant or brinjal topping.. I mean really egg plant in pizza.. not my type!

So the next weekend I baked three pizzas – pepperoni and cheese (you don’t need anything else if you are using pepperoni!), a veg delight with bell peppers, baby corns, onions and olives, and a three cheese margheritta!   

Now I’ll tell you the recipe of the pizza base, pizza sauce and the three pizzas that I mentioned here. But you can carry on with any topping that you want to and any cheese that you want to.



All that you need

For Pizza Base

  1. All purpose flour – 4 cups
  2. Salt – 1 teaspoon
  3. Dry yeast – 2 teaspoon
  4. Warm water – 1&1/2 cup
  5. Castor Sugar – ¼ teaspoon
  6. Un-salted Butter – ¼ cup melted [you can use olive oil also instead]

For the Pizza Sauce
  1. Red onion – 1 chopped
  2. Garlic – 4-5 cloves minced
  3. Tomato – 4 large peeled and chopped
  4. Salt – to taste
  5. Pepper – to taste
  6. Basil leaves – 3 -4
  7. Dried Oregano – 1 tablespoon
  8. Olive oil – 2 tablespoon
  9. Sugar – 1 pinch

For the toppings

For the pepperoni Pizza
Pepperoni – 15-16 pepperoni salamis (or whatever quantity you want)
Mozzarella Cheese – 1 hand full shredded
Seasoning – to taste

For the Veg Delight Pizza
Onion, bellpepper, tomato, baby corn, green/black olive – chopped
Seasoning – to taste

For the Three Cheese Pizza
Mozzarella– 1 tablespoon shredded
Cheddar – 1 tablespoon shredded
Parmesan – 1 tablespoon shredded

Let’s Get started

Making the Pizza Dough and Base

Mix water, yeast, sugar in a bowl and keep aside for 5 minutes. This will activate the yeast.
Combine salt and flour in a mixing bowl and make a well in the centre
Pour the yeast water in this well and combine the flour together
Lightly flour the counter and transfer the dough there and knead nicely. The more you stretch the better.
Pour butter in the bowl and put the dough in there to coat it from all sides.
Cover with a cling film and leave it in a warm place for 30 minutes.
You will find the dough has doubled – because of the yeast.

Making the Pizza Sauce
In a skillet heat oil and fry onions and garlic
Add the chopped tomatoes till they are really tender
Mash them with the spatula
Add seasoning.
Cover and cook for 15 minutes and stir occasionally
Add basil and oregano and a pinch of sugar to reduce the acidity of the tomatoes.
Your basic pizza sauce is ready.
If you want to improvise you can use some canned tomatoes, some  


Combining pizzas
Make three large balls from the pizza dough (the pizza dough can make 3 medium sized pizza)
Roll them on a floured counter.
[You can roll them a little and then hand stretch them. Don’t worry if its not round. My three cheese pizza is completely hand stretched and not round at all! But it was still amazing.]
Transfer in your baking tray – be care full here because the elasticity is good and the shape may go here and there.
Add a dash of olive oil.
Make several marks with a fork on the dough
Spread the pizza sauce and arrange toppings according to your taste.
Add seasoning
And bake them in a pre heated oven at 200 degrees for about 12-15 minutes.


SO how is it? Hot or Not? Let me know

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Linking this post to A to Z Challenge 2014 for Day #16 – post starting with P. 
Visit A to Z and read awesome posts by bloggers. 
I am also participating in this challenge from my writing blog and I’m writing fiction this time. Visit The Sunny Side of Life and show some love.

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Leave a comment below if you liked the recipe.


A to Z Challenge Day #15 – O for Oreo Frappe

Hello people, is it summers in your country? Well it is here and it’s getting hotter by the day and forcing us to consume as much of liquid possible. Normally Bangalore is never hot like these but it has gone up to 36 degrees some days and it’s only mid April. Okay today I have an indulgent frappe O for Oreo frappe.

Things with frappes are so nice you can keep adding just about anything that you like and it will still be delicious. I am doing a trimmer version. This recipe will make 2 tumblers



All that you need

  1. Milk – 2 cups
  2. Sugar – 4 table spoon
  3. Drinking Chocolate powder – 6 tablespoon
  4. Instant coffee – 2 teaspoon
  5. Oreo cookies – 7-8

Let’s get started

It’s a pretty easy recipe where you need to mix ingredients an blend. But I do 1 trick step and I’ll write about that.

Mix drinking chocolate powder, instant coffee and sugar in a mixing bowl

Pour milk in this and whish so that there are no lumps

Now freeze this in the freezer for 15-20 minutes

[ I don’t add ace ice cube because it tends to make the frappe watery, I instead freeze this so that whne the ice melts it’s still creamy and not watery!]

Take out from freezer after 20 minutes and transfer in a blender.

Add Oreo cookies and blend



If it’s little chunky it’s more than good.

Now you can go ahead and add ice-cream, whipped cream, chocolate chips, chocolate sauce what ever you wish to there’s no end to it.

Pour it in tumblers and serve with some more Oreo.

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Linking this post to A to Z Challenge 2014 for Day #15 – post starting with O. 
Visit A to Z and read awesome posts by bloggers. 
I am also participating in this challenge from my writing blog and I’m writing fiction this time. Visit The Sunny Side of Life and show some love.

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Leave a comment below if you liked the recipe.

A to Z Challenge Day #14 – N for Nawabi Biriyani

Hello guys how is the mid week treating you? Yesterday I told you today I’ll share a super indulgent meat recipe today. And here I am today with the recipe of Nawabi Biriyani. India and Indian cuisine is famous for Biriyanis. You get a Mughlai Biriyani which is essentially a Mughal style of cooking, you get a Hyderabadi Biriyani which is a Nizami style of cooking, there is a special Kolkata style Biriyani which always contains a whole or halved potato, [This has a history, I’ll share that with the Kolkata Biriyani some other day]. And the fourth style is the Nawabi style or the Lucknowi Biriyani.

In case you are wondering what Biriyani is – it is a rice based preparation made with spices and meat or chicken. It originated in Persia and it came to India with the Mughals and it is still a hot favourite with almost every Indian.

Now this one is quite an elaborate recipe and you have many steps and quite a lot of ingredients, so read carefully. There are many ways of cooking biriyanis, some people cook meat and rice separately and then mix it, I do the way my mum does. We will cook both together.



All that you need

Meat & its marinade

  1. Meat – ½ kg [I am using goat meat, you can use lamb]
  2. Lemon juice – 1 tablespoon
  3. Salt – 1 teaspoon
  4. Turmeric powder – 1 teaspoon
  5. Chili powder – teaspoon
  6. Cumin powder – 1 teaspoon
  7. Coriander powder – 1 teaspoon
  8. Plain yogurt – 3 tablespoon
  9. Ginger Garlic paste – 1 tablespoon


For cooking the meat

  1. Ghee/Clarified butter – 1 tablespoon
  2. Vegetable oil – 2 tablespoon
  3. Whole Spices – 1 bay leaf, 1 cinnamon, 2 green cardamom, 1 black cardamom, 1 mace, 1 star anise
  4. Onion – 1 chopped
  5. Tomato – 1 chopped
  6. Salt – to taste

For the rice

  1. Basmati or long grain rice – 1 1/2 cup
  2. Ghee or clarified butter – 1 tablespoon
  3. Milk – 1 and ¼ cup
  4. Warm water – 1 and ¼ cup
  5. Salt – to taste
  6. Biriyani Masala – 1 tablespoon
  7. Rose water & Kewra water – 1 tablespoon each (for fragrance)
  8. Caramelised onions

Ok now let’s get started:

Marinate the Meat
Marinate the meat with the ingredients and keep in the refrigerator for 1 hr.
Cooking the Meat
Heat oil and ghee in a skillet
Add the whole spices when oil is hot
When they start to sputter add chopped onion and fry till translucent
Add ginger garlic paste and fry for 2 minutes
Add the marinated meat and fry
Add seasoning to taste
Cover and cook till water evaporates
You can pressure cook this from here else cook for 40 minutes with cover till meat is tender
Preparing the rice
 Wash rice and put it on a paper towel and let it dry
 When dry add ghee/clarified butter in a pan and fry the rice
 In a separate bowl mix water, milk, rose water, kewra water, salt, and biriyani powder
Cooking Biriyani
Now we will bring together the biriyani
In a heavy bottom pan pour little gravy from the meat – (this will prevent the rice from burning in any situation)
Put a layer of ghee mixed rice
In a second layer put meat
Continue this process for few more layers
On top put the caramelized onion slices
Pour in the milk and water mixture
Cover and cook in low flame for 20 minutes
Turn off gad and keep the cover on for 5 more minutes
And your Nawabi Biriyani is done
Serve with raita or salad.

Tip: the proportion of rice and liquid is very important to get the biriyani correct. If you increase the liquid quantity biriyani will become soggy. Liquid should be 1.5 times of rice. So if I am taking 1.5 cups of rice liquid should be 1.5 * 1.5 = 2.25 cups. Now divide it equally between water and milk so you get 1.12 cup of each. You can take about 1 n ¼ cup. 

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Linking this post to A to Z Challenge 2014 for Day #14 – post starting with N. 
Visit A to Z and read awesome posts by bloggers. 
I am also participating in this challenge from my writing blog and I’m writing fiction this time. Visit The Sunny Side of Life and show some love.

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Leave a comment below if you liked the recipe and want me to share some more. Watch out for a cooler in tomorrows post

A to Z Challenge Day #13 – M for Meat Balls in Cream Sauce

Hello people after Lamb Kebabs I have some more super awesome lamb recipe to share today. It’s easy, it’s indulgent and it’s yummy. Today it’s Meatballs in cream sauce for M. And if you are looking for even more indulgent stuff – wait for tomorrow.

Okay now come back to today’s recipe. It’s super easy because you need to make meat balls and sauce and you are done. So let’s get into making it. Ohh, this is how it looks…


Yummy no?

There are various ways of using ground meat – I am actually sharing 3 -4 ground meat recipes this month. So you don’t always have to make a curry out of it you can created absolutely anything with them.  

I have used ground goat meat – you can use ground lamb meat or even pork.

All that You Need

  1. Ground Meat – ½ kg
  2. Onion – 1 minced
  3. Ginger Garlic paste – 1 tablespoon
  4. Cooked rice – ½ cup
  5. Egg – 1 whole
  6. Salt & Pepper to taste
  7. Cumin powder, turmeric powder (a pinch), Coriander powder, smoked paprika – a teaspoon each except for turmeric
  8. Oil – 2 table spoons
  9. Cherry tomatoes – 6 -8 halved
  10. Spring onions -1 finely chopped
  11. Cream – ¼ cup
  12. Milk – 1/2 cup
  13. All purpose flour – 1 tablespoon

Let’s get started

Mix ground meat, minced onion, ginger garlic paste, rice, spices, egg and seasoning in a bowl.

Make small balls out of it and keep aside.

Heat 2 tablespoon oil in a skillet and fry the meat balls.

[you don’t need too much oil as  meat will release oil]

Fry them for 6-7 minutes and keep turning the sides. Cover and fry.

Take off the meat balls and keep them on a tissue.

Now we’ll do the cream sauce.

In the same oil fry the flour.

Add milk and keep stirring. When you find it’s becoming like white sauce add cherry tomatoes, spring onion and seasoning.

Cook for 4-5 minutes.

Add cream to this sauce and cook for 1 minutes on low heat.

Add all the meat balls in this sauce and let it rest for 2 minutes.

Serve hot with bread.
Now do let me know if you found it Hot or Not. And when you try it, drop by and let me know how you enjoyed it.

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Linking this post to A to Z Challenge 2014 for Day #13 – post starting with M. 
Visit A to Z and read awesome posts by bloggers. 
I am also participating in this challenge from my writing blog and I’m writing fiction this time. Visit The Sunny Side of Life and show some love.

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Leave a comment below if you liked this recipe and you want me to share some more. 




A to Z Challenge Day #12 – L for Lamb Kebab

Hi guys, hope you are doing good.. I am just about okay with my eyes in bad shape! On top of that I got the shock of my life when I was not getting the photos of this recipe. I was searching in both my laptops, all memory cards, in external HDD but didn’t get anywhere. I had almost made my mind to post a recipe without photos. Then I remembered I had some photos in the dropbox which were clicked on phone. And I got them from the drop box. So these aren’t the photos that I had clicked for blog but general photos, but since I am not getting the ones that I needed I am going forward with them.

So today L is for Lamb Kebabs. These are minced Lamb Kebab, a middle eastern popular recipe.



All that you need

  1. Minced Lamb – ½ kg
  2. Garlic – 4- 5 cloves chopped
  3. Onion – 1 chopped
  4. Green Chillies – 1 chopped (I like the flavor)
  5. Salt & pepper to taste
  6. Smoked Paprika – 1 teaspoon
  7. Cumin powder – 1 teaspoon
  8. Coriander powder – 1 teaspoon
  9. Vegetable Oil – 1 tablespoon
  10. Egg – 1 whole

Let’s get started

In a mixing bowl mix together all the ingredients and mix well. Mix them with hands.


Leave it for 15 – 20 minutes

Make small elongated kebab shapes like this.



In a skillet heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil (you can also use olive oil) and fry the kebabs.

Fry for 5 minutes each side.

You will see the meat leaving lot of oil, so you don’t need to add more oil.



Cover and fry so you will cook both the sides evenly.

And you are done when you get a lovely brownish color.

Serve with salads and bread.

That was super easy, super tasty and super indulgent.
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Linking this post to A to Z Challenge 2014 for Day #12 – post starting with L. 
Visit A to Z and read awesome posts by bloggers. 
I am also participating in this challenge from my writing blog and I’m writing fiction this time. Visit The Sunny Side of Life and show some love.

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Leave a comment below if you liked the recipe

A to Z Challenge Day #11 – K for Korma

I am going to share a super cool mughlai recipe today. What is Mughlai? It’s the cuisine believed to have descended from the Mughal Dynasty. It’s quite popular here in India and also in Pakistan. It’s more meat based and are super rich. That’s why it is included in my indulgent list.

Ohh.. I am sharing the recipe of Korma.

I caught this pink eye from somewhere and really hurts to be in front of the laptop… so I’ll keep this one tiny.



All that you need.

  1. Lamb cubes – ½ kg (with bones)
  2. Clarified butter – 1 tablespoon
  3. White Oil – 2 tablespoon
  4. Onion – 1 finely chopped
  5. Tomato – 1 diced
  6. Yogurt (unsweetened/ unflavored) – ½ cup
  7. Mace, Cinnamon, black cardamom – 1 each
  8. Ginger Garlic paste – 2 tablespoon
  9. Cumin seeds – 1 teaspoon
  10. Bay leaf – 1
  11. Dried red chili – 1
  12. Salt – to taste
  13. Red chili, turmeric, cumin and coriander powder – a teaspoon each.


I have also used potato halves here (because I love them) you can skip that if u want.

Let’s get started

In a mixing bowl take the lamb cubes and marinate them with yogurt and salt. 

Keep it covered or in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.



Heat clarified  butter and oil in a skillet on medium heat.

Add the whole spices – mace, cinnamon stick, cardamom, red chili, bay leaf and cumin seeds when oil’s hot.

 Add onions when the spices splutter. Fry onions till translucent.

Add ginger garlic paste and fry.

Add tomato and fry for another 5 minutes.

Add the dry spices – turmeric, cumin, chili, coriander powder and fry till you see oil on the sides

Add the marinated meat and fry for 3-4 minutes.

Tip: You will see a lot of water coming out – that’s coming from the meat and yogurt. Keep stirring occasionally till the water evaporates.

Add salt.

[If you were using potato, then fry the halves first in oil, take them off heat and add the fried potatoes after adding the meat.]

When water evaporates, cover and cook.

Keep stirring occasionally to prevent the spices from burning.

You do not need to add any water because yogurt will give the moisture. But if you find it extremely dry for any reason add ½ cup of warm water.

Cover and cook for 45 minutes, alternatively you can pressure cook to reduce the time. You would want to keep a thick gravy and so do not add extra water.

Cook till meat is tender and serve it with hot roti / naan / kulcha or even with rice like me!
Hope you will enjoy it. 



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Linking this post to A to Z Challenge 2014 for Day #11 – post starting with K. 
Visit A to Z and read awesome posts by bloggers. 
I am also participating in this challenge from my writing blog and I’m writing fiction this time. Visit The Sunny Side of Life and show some love.

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A to Z Challenge Day #10 – J Jam Filled Cookies

People its time for J today and I have something really special today. I used to love them as a kid – but they were like these imported Danish cookies, now you get a lot of these in the Indian market but last weekend I made my own.  
And presenting to you my Jam filled cookies… Ta da ….


I have made a combo of spiced cookie filled with blueberry jam. You can actually use any jam/fruit preserve for this one. While baking them I was thinking if I’ll do a good job but when I tasted I was quite happy with myself. 

There are many photos in this post and they are lil big, so might take few secs to load depending on your net speed.

So without much Ado lets get into it.…

All that you need


  1. All purpose Flour – 2 cups
  2. Icing Sugar – 1 cup
  3. Un- salted Butter – 1 cup
  4. Salt – 1 teaspoon
  5. Egg – 2  (yolks)
  6. Grated Cinnamon – 1 teaspoon
  7. Grated Nut Meg – 1 teaspoon
  8. Jam – for each cookie (you can use your favorite jam)


Let’s get the cookie Crumbling

1. In a mixing bowl cream together butter and sugar.

2. Add the egg yolks and mix. It will not be runny.

3. In a separate bowl mix all the dry ingredients – flour, spices and salt.

4. Now incorporate the dry ingredients with the wet one.

It will be like a pie dough. Do not knead the dough, we don’t want gluten here.


5. Rest this dough in the freezer for 15 – 20 mins.

6. Roll out the dough on your counter or on a baking paper and use cookie cutters for your desired shape.
I am using the heart shape cookie cutter from this bunch. You can use any shape that you like.



7. First cut out the full hearts and then cut out a smaller heart from half of them.
That is the pocket in which we’ll put our jam.



8. Bake in a preheated oven for 15 – 18 minutes at 180 degrees C.

Rest the cookies for few minutes when out from the oven.
Arrange the cookies in a plate and layer jam on the full hearts.
Put the hearts with the cut out on top and add some more jam. Dust some icing sugar on the cookies for the added glamour!



And you are good to enjoy them now.

Wasn’t that really easy and awesome?

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Linking this post to A to Z Challenge 2014 for Day #10 – post starting with J. 
Visit A to Z and read awesome posts by bloggers. 
I am also participating in this challenge from my writing blog and I’m writing fiction this time. Visit The Sunny Side of Life and show some love.

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Leave a comment below if you liked my cookies and want me to share some more recipes.



A to Z Challenge Day #9 – I for Indian Semolina Pudding

What do we have today for I?? It is the Indian version of the semolina pudding… or how we call it ‘Soojir Payesh’. Sooji is semolina and Payesh is the pudding. This is a milk based dessert recipe and is super easy and super indulgent.

We specially do this preparation for almost all pujas and festivals as offerings for the Goddess.  The photos you’ll see here are of two festivals when I had made this pudding as an offering to the Goddess – so you’ll get to see many stuffs around and is not a very stylized photo!.



All that you need

  1. Milk – 2 ½ cups
  2. Semolina – 4 tablespoons
  3. Condensed Milk – 5 tablespoon
  4. Sugar – 3 tablespoons
  5. Ghee / Clarified Butter – 2 tablespoons
  6. Cashew – 2 tablespoon
  7. Raisins – ½ cup (because I simply love raisins)
  8. Green Cardamom – 2


Let’s Get Started

1. Take the semolina in a dry skillet and dry roast it over medium heat for 5 minutes. You’ll see them turning light goldenish. Take off heat and keep the semolina aside.

2. Heat Ghee/clarified butter in the skillet and saute the cashews for 3 minutes and keep them aside.

3. In the same skillet boil milk for 5-6 minutes. Add Green Cardamom.

4. Once boiled add the roasted semolina in the milk and cook. Keep stirring occasionally.

Tip: When you add the semolina it will sink in and you will feel it’s too less. Don’t add extra semolina because once cooked it will expand.

5. When semolina is cooked and turns creamy, add sugar and mix. cook for another 5 minutes.

6. Add cashew and raisins.

7. Add condensed milk at the end. 

You are done now. Let it cool for 10 minutes and then you can serve.

Wasn’t that easy peasy??

Tip: 1. If you are a Bengali and know ‘batasha’ you can add ‘batasha’ instead of condensed milk.

2. There is no hard and fast rule of only cashew and raisins – you can add just about any dry fruit that you want – you can add almonds, pistachio, or even walnuts. 

Now you see flower petals in here is because it was offered for a puja. And ofcourse you have it after removing them from the top.

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Linking this post to A to Z Challenge 2014 for Day #9 – post starting with I. 
Visit A to Z and read awesome posts by bloggers. 
I am also participating in this challenge from my writing blog and I’m writing fiction this time. Visit The Sunny Side of Life and show some love.

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Leave a comment below if you liked the recipe. I love your comments.