Suji Halwa for this Festive Season

When I think of festivals in India, sweets and sweets and more sweets.. thats what I visualize. Being a big foody its hard for me to resist sweets. Sometimes even a basic dish like 'Suji Halwa' which we normally prepare for our puja or offerings is so tempting to me that I can afford to run 5km just to afford eating that :)

Well the Navratri started and I got an excuse to eat it again. But till now I haven't  tried my hands on it, so this time I asked my wife to prepare it in front of me, so that I can add it to my cooking blog. So here it goes:

Ingredients :

1 Cup Suji
1/3 cup Besan (Gram flour)
3/4 cup Ghee (you can change as per your choice)
1 cup sugar
3 cup Milk
1/4  teaspoon cardamom powder
Chopped Almonds, and cashew nuts
1 spoon Raisins


Cooking Method:

Mix Suji and Besan evenly together. In a non-stick pan, pour ghee and heat it on a medium flame. Once ghee is hot enough, add the suji and besan mix and roast it on a low flame till it turns into golden brown color. Add milk to it and stir continuously to avoid the lump formation. Once the milk is absorbed, add chopped almonds, cashews, raisins and then add sugar to it. Keep on cooking on a low flame until the ghee is separated.

Try-it out and don't forget to leave your comments and suggestion.

Have a Happy festive time !!

Simply Pasta

Pasta is something which is really quick to prepare and healthy if you top up with loads of vegetables.
Sometimes when I am not in mood to cook anything time consuming, pasta is that something which I always love to experiment with. So here is the description of last pasta dish I try.

1. Pasta(mix of fussili and penne)
2. Cut vegetables ( 2 cup carrots cut in small cubes, 1/2 cup green peas, 1 cup mushrooms cut in medium pieces, 1 cup chopped tomato, 1 red onion sliced, 4 cloves of garlic minced, chopped salad leaves(Ruccola)
3. 1 cup spinach (frozen or fresh chopped)
4. 1/2 cup cream
5. 1/2 cup tomato sauce
6. 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, 4-5 black pepper, 1 stick cinnamon
7. 3 spoon vinegar
8. chilly flakes, oregano, black pepper powder and salt as per taste
9. Olive oil for cooking and dressing


Boil the pasta in a pan adding 1 spoon oil and little salt and cook till its soft. Once done then drain the hot water and put the pasta in hot water. This will prevent pasta to become sticky.

In a pan put some olive oil and heat it. Add cinnamon stick, black pepper, and cumin seeds and let it clicker. Add sliced onions and minced garlic to it, add salt as per taste and cook untill the onions are golden brown. Adding salt will makes onions to cook faster.
Add cut vegetables except the tomatoes to the pan and add 3 spoon vinegar to it. vinegar helps in tenderizing the vegetables and add a distinct taste to it.

cook for 15 mins and then add chilly flakes, 1 spoon oregano and chopped salad leaves to it and cook for another 2 minutes. Add chopped tomatoes and cook for another 5 minutes. Now add tomato sauce and mix well and finally add the cream to it(if dont want the fat from cream then add one cup milk). Now add the boil pasta to this and stir it properly so that the sauce get evenly mixed in the boiled pasta. cook it for 2 minutes and then dress it with olive oil and serve hot with Garlic bread.


Vegetables like Cauliflower, broccoli, red and green pepper will add more texture and color to it.

Note: You can prepare the pasta vegetable sauce and can refrigerate it. Then its simply adding it to boil pasta and prepare instant healthy pasta in minutes.