Every February, across the country, candy, flowers, and gifts are exchanged between the loved ones in  memory of St. Valentine. There have been various stories about St. Valentine and how this tradition of valentine's day started. But we all know, Valentine's Day is a day to express your love, and to celebrate the spirit of love.  So let us savor this festival of love and romance with something scrumptious.

No need to go to a fancy restaurant. With this simple recipe, you can make a very elegant  Valentine's Day special dessert.  And I am sure you and your sweetheart are going to love this.


Ingredients for the cake:

• 1 box Ducan Hines Moist Deluxe Dark Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix


• 2 Cups Hunts Chocolate Pudding ( pack of 4 cups, use 2 of them)


• ½ Cup Dark Chocolate Chips


• ½ Chopped Strawberries

For Decoration:

• ½ cup Strawberry Puree (can be made of fresh/frozen strawberries)


• Thinly sliced Strawberries


• Powdered Sugar


• Kahlua Coffee Liqueur /  Baileys Irish Cream (Irish whiskey)

How to Make:

Prepare the cake as per the instructions on the box. Add two cups of Chocolate Pudding in the cake  mix. Sprinkle some All purpose Flour on chocolate chips and on Strawberries. Mix them in the cake mix. Bake the cake. Let it cool.

Place a piece of cake on a plate. Take Kahlua Coffee Liqueur /  Baileys Irish Cream in a bowl. Apply that on a cake with the help of Pastry brush. If you are in mood for a good kick, apply it generously. Dust the cake with powdered sugar. Decorate it with Strawberries, mint leaves, strawberry puree. You can also add  a dollop of whipped cream.

Enjoy this delectable cake with a nice cup of coffee.

Tips:

Not fond of dark chocolate, use other variety of chocolate cake mix and semi sweet chocolate chips.

Lord Shiva is famous for his Tandav Nritya (dance). It is believed that he performed his Dance on Mahashivratri.  Mahashivratri is a very auspicious day for all hindus. Devotees observe full day fast and do Shiv Lingam pooja and do jagaran chanting “Om Namah Shivaya.”

Whether for religious reasons or as a means to good health, fasting has been an inextricable part of our traditions.  But as a foodie, I can't resist the different varieties of food you can eat on the day of the fast. So why not indulge ourselves little with some tasty snack that is suitable for the day of fasting. This snack is very popular in Maharashtra but not very widely known in other parts of  India. Its called Sweet Kachori. I hope you all love this yummy and easy to make kachori.





Ingredients for the cover:

• 2 Medium Potatoes


• Salt to taste


• 3-4 Tablespoons  Sago Starch (Ararut–Sabudana pith)

Ingredients for Stuffing:

• 1 Cup  Fresh Grated Coconut


• 2 Teaspoon Sugar


• 3 Small Crushed Green Chillies


• ¼ Teaspoon Salt


• 2 Tablespoon Chopped Coriander Leaves


• ¼ Teaspoon Lemon Juice


• ¼ Grated Fresh Ginger


• 1½ Tablespoon Crushed Cashew Nuts


• 1 Tablespoon Golden Raisins

How to Make:

Boil the potatoes and mash it completely. Add salt and the sago Starch.

Mix all the ingredients of the stuffing.

Make small balls of potatoes. Take a small ball, make a small bowl shape and put the stuffing. Close the potato base and fry it in hot oil till it becomes golden brown. You can also flatten the stuffed potato ball and then fry. If you feel the potato cover is breaking in the oil, try with less stuffing. Or put little more sago starch in the mashed potato.

Serve it with Coconut-Coriander Chutney.

26th  January 1950 is one of the most important days in Indian history. It was on this day  our young  nation adopted its constitution and became a republic. Since then 26th Jan is celebrated as a national holiday in India. The whole country gets into festive mood. The atmosphere is filled with enthusiasm.

I have vivid memories of getting up early in the morning to watch live telecast of the celebrations at Red Fort, New Delhi. The unfurling of Tiranga (National Flag) and the Grand parade, the spectacular regional performances. No wonder, it felt like festival.  At my home too,  we used to cook good food. So keeping with the tradition... why not cook something simple and nice and colorful to remind of our tricolor.

It is a little twist from the normal tomato shorba. This warm, little spicy shorba will be a perfect compliment to the wintry chill too.

I hope you enjoy this tasty tomato shorba.

Ingredients :

• 8 Roma Tomatoes


• 6 nos. Bay leaves


• 8 nos. Cloves


• 8-10 nos. Pepper corn


• 2 inches of cinnamon stick


• 2 green chillies


• ½ teasspoon grated ginger

Ingredients for Thin White Sauce :

• ½ Tablespoon butter


• ½ Tablespoon All purpose Flour


• ½ cup Milk


• Ingredients for Tempering :


• ¾ tablespoon Ghee


• 1 teaspoon Cumin Seeds


• One pinch of Asafoetida Powder (Optional – as per your liking)


• 1/8 teaspoon Turmeric Powder

Toppings :

• ¼ Cup cubes of Paneer (very small, size of a pea)


• ¼ Cup Peas


• ½ Cup Cauliflower small Florets (blanched till its tender)


• 1-2 tablespoons finely chopped coriander leaves

How to make:

Wash and cut tomatoes into quarters. Cook tomatoes with 3 cups of water, bay leafs and the whole spices (Cloves, peppercorn and cinnamon stick). Bring to a boil and simmer for 12-13 minutes on a slow flame until tomatoes are cooked completely. Let it cool. Remove the bay leaves and the whole spices. Once cool blend it to a smooth paste using the remaining water in which tomatoes were boiled.

Melt butter in a large pot and whisk in flour and salt until smooth. Gradually stir in cold milk, cooking over direct heat and stirring constantly until sauce boils; reduce heat slightly and continue to stir until sauce becomes smooth and thick. Let it simmer for an additional 5 minutes over very low heat, stirring occasionally. Stir carefully to avoid lumps. If sauce becomes lumpy, use a stick blender or rotary beater to blend out lump. Remove from heat.

Slowly add tomato mixture to white sauce (not white sauce to tomatoes as it will curdle). Return to the heat. Add salt, black pepper (as per the tase), grated ginger and two green chillies (slit vertically into 2 pieces). Put the cauliflower and peas in shorba. Let Shorba boil nicely.

Heat ghee in a small sauce pan. Make a tempering (tadka) using cumin seeds. After it splutters, add asafoetida powder and turmeric powder. Pour it on tomato shorba. Now put the paneer pieces. Cook for few minutes. Sprinkle coriander leaves.

The piping hot tomato shorba is ready to be served.

Tips :

You can make it more spicy by adding more whole spices while boiling tomatoes.

You can serve it as a light appetizer or make a full meal by serving it with vegetable pulav.

Toss in some salad, Serve Tomato Shorba with salad and garlic bread.

• 3 cups grated Jaggery (prefer Indian Kolhapuri jaggery)


• 1 cup Sesame seed powder


• 1 cup roasted dry coconut(can use the shredded dry coconut)


• 1 cup besan


• 1/2 tea spoon cardamom powder (or as per your taste)


• 1/4 tea spoon nutmeg powder (or as per your taste)


• 3 Table spoon ghee to roast besan


• Ghee for serving

• 1 cup maida


• 1 cup wheat flour (atta)


• 1 tea-spoon oil

• Roast Sesame seed on a low gas. Let it cool completely and then  grind it into a powder. It should be a dry powder. (do not grind a lot as Sesame seed releases oil and powder will become sticky)


• Grate the jaggery. I generally use the big block of Kolhapuri jaggery and slice it with Chef's Knife. Slice it very thin and then crumble those slices. Try to avoid  lumps as the lumps tears the poli while rolling and the stuffing comes out. Cutting the Jaggery block is little difficult part. Get your hubbies involved here, they can be very helpful in this process.


• Roast the dry coconut till it becomes little pink.(I prefer to use the grated dry coconut available in the Indian grocery store. That works perfect.) Let it cool and crumble it with hands till it becomes powder.


• Roast the besan with 3 tablespoon ghee on a slow gas until it changes the color.


• Mix Sesame seed powder, jaggery, dry coconut powder, besan, cardamom powder and nutmeg powder properly. The stuffing is ready.


• Mix maida and atta,1 tablespoon oil,water and a pinch of salt and make a dough, knead the dough well.


• Then press  and keep the dough in a vessel. Slightly touch the dough with light oil. Keep aside for 2/3 hours.


• Take a small lime size dough. Make small circular chappati and put 1-1/2 tb. spoon stuffing on it. Close it from all sides so  that the stuffing is covered completely. roll out each poli like a chappati of 7-8 inches gently. Flour it with maida, while rolling it. Cook it on hot tava, on both sides, without ghee/oil.


• Serve it with ghee and Ground Nut/ Sesame seed Chutney (something spicy with sweet poli)