Gajar/Carrot Halwa

You need -

6-7 medium sized carrots

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp powdered cardamom

10-12 cashew nuts

5 tsps ghee

What you have to do -

- Grate the carrots and set aside

- On low flame, in a pan, crush and roast the cashew nuts

- Take the nuts out once they're golden brown and then add the carrots (add more ghee if you want it richer)

- Cook carrots until the raw smell goes away

- Once they're soft, add the sugar, powdered cardamom and the milk

- Cook for another 10 minutes and take it down from the flame

- Garnish with the roast cashew nuts

Serve hot with ice cream!

Aloo Jeera

Serves two.

I love the flavor of ginger and coriander. Typically, you wouldn't make this side dish with these ingredients. But, I do. Feel free to make without.

You need -

4 small-medium sized potatoes

Some red chili powder, garam masala, asafoetida, salt to taste

Cumin seeds for garnishing

Freshly chopped ginger and coriander

What you have to do -

- Pressure cook/Microwave the potatoes until they're soft enough to be eaten directly

- In a kadai, heat some oil and add the cumin seeds, asafoetida and chopped ginger

- Once it turns dark brown, add the chopped pieces of soft potatoes

- Allow the oil to coat each piece gently - do not add more than a total of 2 tsps of oil unless you want it crunchy

- Mix the salt, garam masala and chili powder in a spoon of water and then sprinkle on to the potatoes

- Mix it up well and cook for another 3-4 minutes while ensuring that no one side burns

- Garnish with freshly chopped coriander for an interesting flavor

Serve with -

- Rotis & dal

- Rasam & rice

Coconut Laddu

Makes 12 balls.

I had some left over coconut after I was done making Kozhakattais. So. I decided to quickly try my hand at coconut barfi. That didn't work out very well, so I was left with coconut balls. Trust me, they taste as good - just look different!

You need -

1 large cup of shaved coconut

3 tb spoons milk

2 spoons sugar (more if you want it sweeter)

6 pieces of ground cardamom

Some ghee

What you have to do -

- Fry the shaved coconut in one spoon of ghee until it gets crispy

- In a kadai, boil the milk along with the sugar, a spoon of ghee and the ground cardamom

- Add the fried coconut shavings and sautee until it's hard

- Make small balls and put away in the fridge until you have to serve it

Dry Capsicum Masala

Serves two.

This is amongst the easiest veggies to make - it takes me less than 7 minutes and goes very well with rasam, rice and papad.

You need -

1 large capsicum

1 teaspoon oil

Some salt, garam masala, cumin seeds

What you have to do -

- Heat the oil with cumin seeds

- Add large chopped pieces of capsicum

- Sautee for 2 mins and add salt and garam masala

- After another 3-4 minutes, take it off the stove

Bread Upma

This has got to be my favorite Saturday morning breakfast. When you wake up late on weekends, and live with girls who are too lazy to buy real vegetables to cook with, this comes as a savior. It's easy to make and the ingredients are usually available in the kitchen.

Naagu posted about this once, after we spend a lovely Christmas day together, way back when she still lived in Hyderabad. Click here for what happened that day and how you can make the upma.