Nithya's Corner

Welcome To Nithya’s Corner!

I am happy to share simple and delicious Indian and International recipes with you. I am a food loving person and love experimenting with different flavors and spices. The recipes are from my personal experience - the food I have tasted, what I have seen and learned, and of course, my family's favorite dishes. I sincerely hope you will enjoy cooking these dishes and may also be inspired to create some of your own. Thanks for visiting my blog.

Happy Cooking!

-Nithya Govindarajan-

Eggless Tutti Frutti Cookies | Eggless Fruit Cookies | Christmas Cookies

April 16, 2014

by Nithya

Preparation Time. 10 minutes
Freezing Time. 40 minutes
Baking Time. 10 to 15 minutes
Serves. 20 to 24 cookies
Recipe Category. Snack

Most often, I bake cupcakes for my elder daughter Sanvi. She loves Banana Muffin and Carrot Cupcake. I have not experimented much with cookies. My husband loves Tutti Frutti and cherries. Whenever he goes to buy grocery, he will come home with cherries and tutti frutti. Sometimes, I have them in abundance. Four days back, I wanted to use tutti frutti in cakes or cookies. Then I came up with this recipe which I had written long back in my recipe book. I can never forget how I made this cookie. I surprised Sanvi and my hubby with this cookie. They fell in love with it. Now my hubby says that whenever he buys tutti frutti, I have to make this cookie for him. Hmmm…I will never get bored baking this cookie.

Ingredients

All purpose flour - 1 cup
Powdered sugar/icing sugar - 1/2 cup
Softened unsalted butter - 6 tablespoon
Tutti frutti - 4 tablespoon
Milk - 2 tablespoon
Vanilla extract - 1/4 teaspoon

Note. The ingredients shown will vary with the original quantity.

Preparation

1. In a mixing bowl, combine softened butter and powdered sugar. Beat it until light and fluffy.

2. Add vanilla essence and all purpose flour. Stir well.

3. Now add tutti frutti and milk. Knead well to form a smooth and soft dough.

4. The dough should be soft and little sticky. The dough should be able to hold shape. Now shape it as a log, wrap it up using a plastic wrap and freeze it for 40 minutes.

5. After 40 minutes, preheat oven to 320 F. Take the log out from the freezer and keep it outside for 10 minutes. Unwrap the dough and cut into 5mm to 6mm slices. Arrange the slices on a parchment paper with enough spaces between the slices. Bake for 10 – 15 minutes until you get an aroma of the cookies and also till the edges of the cookies turn light brown. Now remove the cookies from the oven, transfer them to a wire rack, and let the cookies cool down completely. The cookies initially would be soft but when it cools down, the cookies will become firm. Store the cookies in an airtight container.

Now Tutti Frutti Cookies are ready!

Notes.

You can add roasted nuts/ chocolate chips/ dry fruits or even candied cherries instead of Tutti Frutti.
If the dough is very sticky, you can add some flour to it.
Use a sharp and plain knife to cut the cookies or else the cookies will crumble and will not be soft.
Do not cut the log into very thin slices as it may crumble and get overcooked.
The cookies would cook even more faster if you are using silver foil instead of parchment paper.

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Cabbage Poriyal | Cabbage Curry Recipe | Cabbage Stir Fry | Easy Cabbage Recipes

April 13, 2014

by Nithya

Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cook time: 15 mins
Serves: 2
Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Recipe Category: Side Dish

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Mango Pachadi Recipe | Maangai Pachadi (With Sugar) | Tamil New Year Recipes

April 9, 2014

by Nithya

Preparation Time. Under 10 minutes
Cook Time. Under 15 minutes
Serves. 4
Recipe Category. Lunch
Recipe Cuisine. Indian

When I buy Mangoes, the first thing I would do is to make this Mango Pachadi. My hubby loves it too. Sometimes, I make using jaggery, and if I do not have jaggery at home, I make using sugar. Yes, while making this recipe I did not have jaggery so I made using sugar.The pachadi with jaggery will be little dark in color. I will post the jaggery version soon. I still have one mango left in the refrigerator. I eat this with Sambar, Rasam, Mor Kuzhambu and sometimes even with Curd Rice. I usually like to eat it with sambar. During the season of mangoes, I prefer to eat this dish rather than drinking mango juice.

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Black Chickpeas Sundal | Kondakadalai Sundal | Karuppu Mookadalai Sundal

April 5, 2014

by Nithya

Preparation Time. 5 minutes
Soak Time. 8 hours
Cook Time. Less than 20 minutes
Serves. 2
Recipe Category. Main course
Recipe Reference. Maalai Malar

I make sundal often at home mostly as a tea time snack. With black chickpeas, I make a Black chickpeas curry and sundal. Though I prefer white chickpeas, I still make it often as it is very healthy. I make this sundal once in two weeks. I’ve seen my friends serving this Sundal as an accompaniment to Rice. My mom and mother-in-law make this sundal during festive seasons and we have it along with payasam (Pacha Payir Payasam and Javvarisi Semiya Payasam). You know how I eat this sundal, picking and eating it one by one. Till date, my hubby asks me how do I have so much patience to eat like this. My hubby finishes it off in 5 minutes, whereas myself, will eat it forever. During my childhood days, I used to eat this sundal at my own style and my brother Vignesh would grab my Sundal and finish it off. He would simply say, “if you eat it slowly, then I have to finish it off.” Then we would start fighting. Whenever I eat this Sundal, I will cherish those nice memories.

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Fish Kuzhambu | Meen Kuzhambu Recipe | Fish Curry Recipes

April 2, 2014

by Nithya

Preparation Time. 10 minutes
Cook Time. 20 minutes
Serves. 3 nos.
Recipe Cuisine. Indian
Recipe Category. Main Course

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Potato and Egg Poriyal | Potato and Egg Stir-Fry | Potato Egg Fry

March 31, 2014

by Nithya

Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cook time: 15 mins
Serves: 2
Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Recipe Category: Side Dish

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Pineapple Salad | Pineapple Raita | Pineapple Pachadi | Easy Salad Recipes

March 30, 2014

by Nithya

Preparation Time. 10 minutes
Cook Time. 5 minutes
Serves. 1 no.

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Rice and Dal Adai (Arisi Paruppu Adai)

March 27, 2014

by Nithya

Preparation Time: 1 and 1/2 hours Soaking and 10 mins for grinding (Mixie)
Cooking Time: Under 10 minutes
Makes: 2 persons
Recipe Category: Breakfast
Recipe Cuisine: Indian

Fast and easy to make!

When I do not find time to make dosa and Idly batter, I make this adai and have it along with sambar and chutney. I will have two adai, and my stomach becomes full. Usually, people say do not eat adai for dinner as it takes time to digest. Then, why not have it in the morning? Have two to three adai and you are all set for next 3-4 hours.

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Goreng Pisang | Indonesian/Malaysian Banana Fritters

March 26, 2014

by Nithya

Preparation Time. 7 minutes
Cook Time. 10 minutes
Serves. 4
Recipe Cuisine. Indonesian/Malaysian
Recipe Category. Snack

I love this Goreng Pisang so much and my mom makes it often. When it comes to food, I used to be very fussy during my childhood days. I would eat very few dishes, and this dish is one among them. My mom makes it for me when she feels that she had to appreciate me for something I did or when it rains heavily in Pondicherry. Nowadays, I have it along with a cup of masala tea. Goreng Pisang brings nostalgic memories to my mom who had settled down in India. She often tells me that her mom, my grandmother, makes it often for her when my mom comes home from school. All my uncles and aunts used to chat and eat Goreng Pisang together it seems. My mom said that many small scale restaurants have this in their menu card in Johor Bahru. My mom and myself just adore this dish so much. Who is going to join us very soon?

Ingredients

Ripe bananas – 4 nos. (peeled and cut into halves)
All purpose flour (maida) – 4 tablespoon
Rice flour (arisi mavu) - 3 tablespoon
Sugar – 1/2 cup
Baking powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Saffron color – a pinch (optional)
Water – just enough to make the batter
Salt – a pinch
Oil – for deep-frying

Note. The ingredients shown will vary with the original quantity.

Preparation

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients except bananas and water. Now add water little by little and make a smooth and lump-free batter. Stir well so that the sugar blends well.

2. The consistency of the batter should be quite thick as shown in the pictures below.

3. Heat oil for deep frying the bananas. Dip the banana pieces into the batter till evenly coated and deep-fry it in batches of 5 to 6.

4. Fry the bananas until golden brown on all sides and drain on paper towels.

Now, Goreng Pisang is ready!

Serve. You can eat it as such or with Vanilla Icecream. Serve immediately.

Notes.

Bananas should be ripe but not too soft.
You can also sprinkle powdered sugar on top.

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Godhumai Vegetable Adai | Wheat Vegetable Adai | Wheat Indian Recipes

March 24, 2014

by Nithya

Preparation Time: Under 10 minutes
Cooking Time: Under 10 minutes
Makes: 2 persons
Recipe Category: Breakfast
Recipe Cuisine: Indian

If you don’t like Godhumai Adai, think again????

I had this recipe in my collection of recipes. I am not a big fan of wheat. If I make anything using wheat flour like godhumai dosa, godhumai adai etc. the side dish has to be really tasty. If not, it would be a big NO NO from me. Though I don’t like wheat dosa, I make it a point to make at least once in two weeks for my hubby. My hubby loves healthy food. I was very hesitant to try out this adai but then made up my mind and made it two days back. I should say I just loved it. Though it is quite heavy because of the veggies, I like it very much. I usually have it with Coconut chutney, Thogayal, Sambar, Tomato Mint Chutney and Til chutney.

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