My Baseball-Design Kolam :D Isn't that Innovative?

Recipe for my microwavable brownies :) [Courtesy: Sanjeev Kapoor's Microwave Cookbook]

Ingredients:
100 gm cooking chocolate
100 gm butter
1 cup maida [all purpose flour] + 1 tsp of baking powder. mix the maida+bkg powder and set aside.
1 cup castor sugar
2 eggs
1 small bowl of finely chopped nuts [i used almonds, u can use pecans or walnuts also]
Method:
Grease a microwave deep dish completely [including sides] and set aside. Melt the chocolate and the butter together in a microwavable glass bowl on HIGH for 2 mins. Whisk it together nicely with the castor sugar [the trick is to add the sugar in parts]. Break the eggs and whisk it into this mixture. Add the nuts at this stage.Now mix in the maida+baking powder which you have set aside. Combine it in parts and not put it all together. By now you probably have a gooey chocolatey mixture. Fold this into the greased microwave deep dish. Place a saucer [tea cup saucer] upside down on the microwave turn-table.
Place the deep dish over this and microwave on HIGH for 7 mins. The mixture will nicely rise and release the warm baking aromas :P
Remove and let it cool at room temperature for abt 10 mins. cut into squares and serve [preferably with vanilla icecream :P]

IMPORTANT: No matter what don't ever refrigerate the brownies as they'll turn stone hard and not soften even if you microwave them later.

Azhagaana Kolangal [meaning 'Beautiful Kolams' in my native Tamil]

My First Attempt at Noymbu Adais :)

உருகாத வெண்ணையும்... :) Super soft noymbu adais with just the right hints of jaggery... ummmmmmmmmmmm... delicious !!! :D

Floral Designs Rock !! :)

Kolam-O-Kolam

Would any one of you believe that 5 years ago, in the days preceding my wedding in May 2004; one afternoon all my young unmarried cousins plus well-meaning aunts were gathered around me and having a BIG laugh at my expense. Guess why? Well my octogenarian maternal grandmother decided that I need to be taught how to draw a kolam and proceeded with great gusto to do the same. She made me sit before a black marble square stone for the purpose and with the kolam-podi she was trying hard to make me draw a straight line. Result? NAAAAAAAAAAAH..

Try as I would, I couldn't draw a straight line, forget the complex interweaving of lines and designs. Mm Hmm... I can still never forget that afternoon.

Well, that was then and this is now. In 5 years I've drawn several kolams at the home of my inlaws and now at my own home here in Abu Dhabi; and learned to perfect the art of exact proportions. I won't say that it's perfect yet, but yes I'm getting there slowly and steadily.

My First Microwave Baking Experiment :)

Here're the brownies that I baked in my non-convection microwave; thanks to the wonderful recipe found in the cookbook by Sanjeev Kapoor. They look delectable, don't they?

A Simple Everyday Kolam

Proportionate kolams that take just a few seconds to create :) and look so gorgeous at the same time !!

Kolams done by me over the last 5 years : Revisited

All visitors to my blog:

Do also take a look at my aunt's blog which is http://indikitchen.blogspot.com

It's got some interesting recipes which are simple enuf too... :)

Lord Ganesha Visits Us !! :) :)

This cute ganesha was made by me using wheat dough and I decorated it with water colours and glitter - It did turn out nice, for a first-time effort !!

This is my favourite time of the year :) Lots of festivals and lots of opportunities to put kolams and exercise my payasam-making skills :P

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Just realized that I had not posted my efforts of last year. Here it is ;-)

Ganesha Idol made in 2009