Recipe submitted by Sangeetha Jagan This recipe makes 6 polis. Ingredients: For outer covering: 1/2 Cup All purpose flour 1/4 Cup Dry Ground almond powder pinch of Salt 3 Tbsp Oil 1 Tsp Ghee pinch of Lemon yellow food color (optional) 1/8 Cup Water For walnut khoya filling: 2 Cups Milk ( I used low [...]

Appalu are one Authentic dish in Andhra Cuisine which are famous for their soft texture and color and of course not overly sweet. This is an item the whole family can relish and forces you to make again… I bet!.

Apple custard is a nice desert with the red strawberry sauce to give a holiday touch. The uncooked apples and roasted almonds give it a nice texture.

This Bean Sprouts Salad Spring Roll recipe is Vietnamese cuisine inspired salad. I give credit to my very dear friend Anaya for this recipe and she in turn gives credit to her friend and food network. No matter what changes we make, this spring roll is tasty, healthy, very filling, very colorful, and easy to make. It has always been a very big hit whenever I have taken to potluck. Hope you all enjoy it. This versatile spring roll can be eaten with mint sauce or cilantro. I have used mint dressing in this recipe. I especially like this since it is not fried, tasty and a healthy salad which I like to skip a meal and eat this instead.

Back home in India, we used to relish the pickled chilies or mirchi ka achar, where good quality of mirchi or chilies are chosen with great care, and then stuffed with pickle spices , drenched in hot mustard oil and infused with the flavor of fennel, cumin, mustard etc. The other way to enjoy it as an appetizer, where the jalapeno or korean chilies are coated with seasoned chickpeas flour and then deep-fried in hot oil, and on an overcast monsoon day you can relish these hot mirchi bhajjis with a cup of coffee…some of the simple pleasures in life. No discussion of chilies can be ever completed without mentioning the celebrated mirchi ka salan from the cuisines of Hyderabad. The lip smacking dish successfully wins every heart whether you love or hate the chilies.

Recipe submitted by Nithu Bala Ingredients: 1 Cup All Purpose Flour 1/4 Cup Butter 1/2 Cup Sugar 1/2 tsp Instant Coffee Powder (Optional) 1/2 tsp Baking Soda 1/2 tsp Baking Powder 1 tbsp Cocoa 3/4 tsp Vanilla Essence 1 1/2 tsp Honey 3-4 tbsp Milk For the Filling : 1/4cup Butter 1/3 cup Icing Sugar [...]

Butternut Squash & Almond Baked Crumble is a comforting, warming supper and stands well on its own, without the need for any side dish. It is rich and creamy tasting and is full of goodness.

This is one the simple and yummy halwa that is easy to make and tastes great. The richness of the halwa comes from the almonds added to it. Also this halwa is almost healthy as it inculdes a large amount of veggie in it. It has less fat than the traditional badam halwa but tastes almost similar to it.

Butternut Squash Gnocchi in Coconut Curry Sauce is an Indian-Italian inspired fusion recipe. Italian cuisine is my favorite and this is an Indian twist to a classic Italian soft dumpling – gnocchi. Hope you enjoy!

Butternut Squash Risotto is simple, delicious and easy to prepare recipe that can be served at any time. It can be served with any side of green vegetables.

I love phirnis, but this time I wanted to make them with a twist using fresh pineapple chunks. I had some leftover fresh pineapple chunks and also home made caramel syrup, so I decided to combine both together to create this beautiful looking phirni, which is a rich and wonderful dessert. If you are a bit lazy or don’t prefer to make your own caramel syrup, you can definitely get a store bought one. This fruity rice phirni tastes amazing when they served chilled, but you can also enjoy them warm. Adding cream is completely optional.

Appetizers are typically finger foods that are easy to pick up and eat while waiting for the main course. So I decided to come up with an appetizer that has all the flavors of a traditional chaat and at the same time has the convenience of being able to be made ahead of time and is also a finger food. After some thinking, I came up with these yummy Chaat Bites – a crowd pleaser for sure!

Cheese is produced and consumed throughout the world in various forms. Shakkar para or Namak para are very popular snacks served in India during Diwali season. Combing cheese with Namak Para has resulted into what I call “Cheese Para”. The cheese adds a little zing to the Namak Para taking it to a whole new level.

This Sweet Spicy Soup is a perfect accompaniment for a garden party starter or a refreshing drink on a summer day.

This is a completely innovative Fusion Burger dish with a blend of Indian and eastern flavors.

Recipe submitted by Priya Ravi This recipe is a delicious chocolate flavored coconut ice cream with crunchy toppings. I made this for my daughter who actually doesnt like coconut milk because she hates the strong aroma from the milk. I used coco powder to bring chocolate flavor and it truly did wonders. Though she recognized [...]

My recipe is Chocolate Squares which is inspired by a recipe from the book Baker’s Fiesta by Sangeeta Khanna. I saw this recipe a long time ago and decided it would be perfect for this month’s contest. I hope you will like it too.

This is one of my Mom’s recipes. This is a very easy recipe to make. My brothers and I used to make this when we were little elementary schoolers. If I were to rename this cookie I would call it a quick cookie or something like that. It would take around 3 minutes to prepare this and 15 minutes to bake. And another nice thing about this cookie is that its an egg-less cookie. This cookie is for those of you who wants something quick & egg-less.

This Recipe is a delicious fried cauliflower appetizer with a pastel green dipping sauce.

Recipe submitted by Priya Ramakrishnan Macaroons are special soft cookies usually made with egg whites, sugar and coconut. Here is an eggless version, made with few ingredients and very easy to put together. Perfect for the holidays. (Yields 25 cookies) Ingredients: 2 1/2 cup sweet grated coconut (One 7 oz. bag) 1/3 cup all purpose [...]

Recipe submitted by Dipti Joshi This colorful veggie wrap is my favorite lunch box item. One bite of it and your kids will crave for more. It tastes the same whether it’s served hot or cold. It does not contain any chilies. The tomato sauce used in this recipe may be replaced by pudina (mint) [...]

Crispy Veggie Balls with Cilantro Dipping Sauce is a delicious appetizer to entertain guests throughout the years. It has been highly appreciated by all my guests who have tried it. Whenever I invite people for dinner, they ask if I will be serving crispy veggie balls! Hope this recipe pleases your crowd as well!

My recipe for this month’s contest is Crunchy Bean salad with beetroot and fruits. It is a fresh and healthy salad, and also very easy to prepare. The fruit give this salad a sweet taste.

This cucumber honeydew cooler with blueberry ice is a refreshing sweet and tart drink with a hint of lime and blueberry.

These bread swirls are a healthy delightful appetizer. In most of my parties when kids are invited they need something that is easy to hold and filling too. Kids don’t like to carry their food on plate so I got this idea for them but it became a party hit with adults too!

Potato is a versatile veggie that can be eaten in different forms. These bread swirls are crispy on the outside with a soft and cheesy potato stuffing.

Apple coconut and Pineapple Burfi is a simple and yummy fruity burfi with no fat and also looks great with two different colored layers. Ingredients: for Apple Coconut layer 2 Red Apples (Roughly grated) 1/4 Cup Grated Coconut (Packed) drop of Coconut extract (Optional) pinch of Red food color (Optional) 1/2 Cup Sugar for Pineapple layer Crushed Pineapple [...]

I was inspired by the ingredient: Bell Pepper and Eggplant. Red Bell Peppers are so delicious and sweet and roasting them brings out even more flavor and sweetness. Adding Sun Dried Tomatoes adds even more intense flavor. I’m trying to get my husband to stop eating meat, so I have to cook things with a lot of flavor and meaty textures. This chutney has very bold and robust flavor, the eggplant and mushrooms provide the meaty consistency, while the crumbled paneer adds protein.

I am fond of Mediterranean food, so I decided to make my own version of wrap inspired by Mediterranean flavors. I used big sized roti/chapati for the wrap, eggplant pakoras/fritters along with home-made hummus and mint chutney.

I bought a new small Indoor Electric grill (George Foreman grill) this summer and have tried several grilling recipes – the most hit was the Pineapple grilled with Honey sauce – which was actually my own accidental invention. So I have used it for the eggplant-tomato-green peppers filling. The dressing is the sauce filtered out from the grill machine spread over the tortilla before putting the filling! The wrap is filled with fresh romaine lettuce and pepper jack cheese! Hope you will like it.

This Hot and Cold Bean Salad in Lettuce Cups with Tomato Lime Dressing recipe is full of color and bursting with flavors and textures. The best way to serve this salad is both hot and cold at the same time…. Confused!? Well, don’t be…. One ingredient is warm and the rest of them are cold. The best thing is that the cup in which it is served can also be eaten (so minimal washing after). That is a well deserved bonus for all the busy bees out there.