Valentine's Day Recipes

It is the month of love and all of us are eager to try out new recipes for our loved ones.So here's a peek into some of my favorite recipes to try out this year,you can choose your favorite too!

This cake made me fall in love all over again,look how pretty it is!
Espresso Biscoff Heart Cake from Sprinkle Bakes

How cute are these Heart shaped cookies,looks too pretty to eat,don't you think?
Jeweled Heart Sugar cookies

You don't have a heart shaped pan to bake your loved ones a cake,worry not.Here's a tutorial on 'how to make a heart shaped cake' - 

Heart shaped cookies with messages-what more could you ask?
Chocolate Valentines

Or how about a heart inside your cake?Trust Amanda of iambaker to come up with beauties like that!
Chocolate Chocolate Raspberry Cake

If you are like me who love a brownie anyday over a cake,maybe you can try these heart shaped brownies-yes please!

How about surprising your valentine with a breakfast in bed-even better with heart shaped cinnamon rolls-I am definitely trying this one for sure!

Here are a few more recipes from Easycooking to pep up your Valentine's Day celebrations 

White Chocolate Valentine Gateau

Death by Chocolate Cake

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Bhende Phanna Upkari - Chilli Okra

I'd definitely count Lady's Fingers/Bhindi/Okra among the vegetables I can live without.Clearly Okra is not everyone's favorite vegetable,right?It is anyone's guess why-if not properly cooked Okra can get all slimy and mushy and clearly not appealing enough to eat.

The thumb rule while cooking okra is making sure the vegetable is chopped right and cooked in an open flame without adding an ounce of water.At home,my vanni made this dish within 15 minutes from start to finish.It pairs well with rice as well as rotis.If you love okra,you'll love this spicy and tasty phanna upkari.

Phanna upkari is a very spicy dish,typically made with seafood as the main ingredient.But it tastes great as a vegetarian version too.Like this Mushroom version or this Navy beans.

Bhenda Phanna Upkari

Ingredients

Lady's Finger/Okra - 15-17,sliced thinly 
Oil - 1 tbsp
Onion - 1,finely chopped
Tomato - 1,finely chopped
Salt to taste
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Red chilly powder - 1 tsp

Method

Wash the okra well and wipe dry.Snip off the ends and slice it into thin rounds.
 
In a kadai add oil and saute onions till they turn golden brown.Mix in the tomato and saute till the tomatoes turn soft.
 
Add salt to taste and coriander and red chilly powders.
 
Mix in the okra and stir well.Keep stirring till the okra becomes soft and cooked well.
Serve hot with rice,dal or roti.

Spicy Chilly Okra is off to one of my dearest blogging pal Bharathy(Spicy Chilly)who is hosting My Spicy Recipe event on her blog.There are some amazing prizes to be won with which you can shop from shopping sites like Flipkart-which happens to be my favorite hop for e-shopping.So go ahead and send in your entries too!

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Homemade Potato Chips | Easy Snacks Recipes

Long back,we had a newly-wed couple over for dinner and amma had made an elaborate meal for them.They arrived at tea-time so were treated with an array of snacks with tea which included Aloo bonda and homemade Banana chips.After having a bite,the husband asked his wife about her culinary skills and she was a bit amused and said,please don't expect me to cook 'that'looking at the chips.All of us had a hearty laugh.

Thinking back,I myself would not venture into making chips at home.Primarily because it is too much effort for something which is addictive and pretty much gets over sooner than the time it takes to make it and secondly because good quality chips are available in the market which we can buy when we fancy eating chips,which is very rarely.

But amma is amma and she will never settle for store-bought chips.So this time,she made some potato chips-just like that.I would have settled for Lays in the given time!All I had to do was to take pics as she peeled the potatoes,kept the oil for heating and got her 'chips machine' ready.Off it went straight into the hot oil and in less than 20 minutes,we had a batch of yummy homemade potato chips ready!

Homemade Jackfruit Chips | Homemade Banana Chips

Homemade Potato Chips

Ingredients

Potato - 1 kg
Oil - 1/2 ltr ( we used coconut oil )
Red chilly powder - 2 tbsp
Salt - 1 tbsp
Hing/Asafetida - 1 tsp

Method

Peel the potatoes.Wash and wipe them dry on a kitchen towel.
 
Make a dry mix of red chilly powder,salt and hing/asafetida.
 
In a kadai heat the oil to smoking point.
Using a chips machine slice the potatoes straight into the hot oil.Do not crowd the pan.
Stir lightly as the potatoes start to crisp up-will take anywhere between 5-7 minutes depending on the size of the pan and the temperature of the oil.
 
When the potatoes become golden brown and the edges become crisp remove the chips using a slotted spoon draining off as much oil as possible.
Immediately add a tsp or so of the dry mix spice powder and shake the chips.Repeat with rest of the potatoes.
Store in an airtight container.

 
Notes

• Maintain the temperature of the oil consistently for evenly fried chips.
• If you do not have a chips machine,slice the potatoes as thinly as possible and fry-it might take longer to fry if the chips are not thin.
• You can make a plain salted version too if you don't like adding chilly powder.

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