Wanderberry Tales

This Christmas season has been a busy one. Lots of baking , mall hopping to see the Christmas decor, karaoke singing of Christmas carols to watching Christmas movies - we have done it all. With my sister in town to celebrate Christmas with us we have had quite a spike in our December activities.So while I sit down to relax before beginning the Christmas eve preparations, thought of sharing a quick recipe for your Christmas breakfast table. Apple french toast is simply the addition of Green apples to your normal french toast and getting it baked. Scroll below to the recipe!! Meanwhile, Have a holly jolly Christmas this year!! A Joyous Christmas to all! Ingredients Green Apple – 1 big finely sliced Butter – 2 to 3 tbsp White bread – 10 pieces Milk – 400 ml Egg – 2 large Sugar – 2 to 3 tbsp Salt – ¼ tsp Cinnamon  powder – ¼ tsp Method Pre-heat the oven at 180 degree centigrade for 15 minutes Heat butter in a pan. Layer apples in the pan and...

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world,  and behold,  everything is softer and more beautiful.                                                                -Norman Vincent Peale Dump it all together - there you have a dessert on your table! Cranberry sauce, topped with cake mix and butter drizzled on top - that is the name of the dish deconstructed for you! This is my first guest post and I am happy I got to do it with thebigsweettooth  . Rafeeda of The Big Sweet Tooth is one of first bloggers I got introduced to through blogging. Her blog is a repository of recipes - a go to website for all your recipe needs. I am so glad I could add to her repository. Head over to her blog to check out my recipe for Cranberry Cobbler Dump Cake .

Christmas is a time that brings back so many memories. Some are funny as can be! Good food comes with any celebration and Good food comes after so many failed attempts too! Christmas is no less. Our first Christmas together was within a month of moving to Dubai. The cooking range oven and the griller were totally new to me. All that Shibin wanted for Christmas was 'Karangunna Chicken' - loosely translated rotating chicken. Don't whack your brains! He only meant to have those rotisserie grilled chicken :) I had my chicken marinated and for reason best known to no one I decided to place the marinated chicken in the freezer! We went out shopping got back a little late - just in time for dinner which was till in the freezer. I had no time to defrost. I placed it in the oven to melt the stubborn ice. After a while onto the rotisserie. The chicken was big and the marinade was all dripping down which is when I realised that I needed a dripping pan too. After all the trials...

Does the word Lovlolikka ring a bell? I am sure atleast a few malayalees have heard of those red cherries that grow abundantly in their backyard and that grand moms fondly fed you in pickles. Lovlolikka is mildly sour, tangy with a tinge of sweetness and may not be as popular for eating as is when compared to the pickles and jams that are dished out from these cherries. I did a hunt for the English name of this cherry and google threw up names like Indian sour cherry and Indian coffee plum. To keep things simple let's call it cherry:) My mom in law has a lot of these cherries peeping into her backyard from the neighbor's garden. The neighbors have graciously offered her all the cherries that grow on the branches hovering in her yard and trust me they are a basketful. So that is how Lovlolikka wine came into being for us. She did not use yeast for fermentation but the wine came just as good with a lovely color. Hardly a month for Christmas and if you start now, I bet y...

Another vacation has come and gone by. Every food restrictions you impose on yourself goes for a toss when at home in India. Initially I struggle and some how maintain a balance. After a point in time, all the determination fades and I end up eating without a second thought ( The angel in asks me to eat the food cooked with love by your family and the devil in me reminds me of the weighing scale. After conflict of interests, the devil surrenders to the angel) The first few days after the vacation is again a transition mode. Trying hard to suppress my cravings and get back into routine ( not to forget the yummy stuff you have tugged along all the way from India) One week into our return and I am still fighting off the eating frenzy. My series of Cooking with family took backseat for a while and now I am back with the 4th in the series. Recipe from my mother-in -law's kitchen. Her fish fry always tastes different from the normal ones I have had and here is the recipe for yo...

I am in India on vacation and I did crazily hope to see the rains. As luck would have it, rains were not so benevolent on me and decided to stay clear! The weather is definitely good but to witness rains would have simply been bliss. I still have time left and I hope to see the showers of blessings at some point. It is hard to be on vacation and stay off food!So I am busy eating, at the same time hoping that I do not add kilos on the scale! (All of us know how hard that is right!!) Anyways, here is a recipe to try. What makes it special is, as the name states the addition of ground peanuts!Try it to believe it! Ingredients Fish - 400 gms Onions - 3 finely chopped Garlic - 2 tbsp finely chopped Green chilly - 3 to 4 Pepper powder - 1/2 tsp Peanuts - a handful Soy Sauce -  2 tbsp Vinegar - 1 tbsp Salt to taste Vegetable oil To marinate Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp Pepper powder - 1 tsp Ginger- garlic paste - 1 tsp Soy Sauce- 1 tbsp Salt Method ...

I am a proud Indian. I do not live in India now but that does not make me any lesser an Indian. It hurts me to see Indians fighting in the name of religion, state, caste and anything you can possibly think of. How better a country we would be once we start appreciating the uniqueness of the country. Where else can you find a country so diverse - just imagine the number of dance forms even within a state! The state of Kerala for example boasts of Mohiniyattam, Kathakalli, Ottam thullal, oppana, Thiruvathira, Marghamkali and many more to go. If this is the story of one state in India, summing up that of all states together will have dance forms that is beyond math I can do now! The festivals , the religions, languages, food, culture also follow the same swing. India is a country that defines the spirit of UNITY IN DIVERSITY! Let that not go waste due to the selfish intents of a handful who stand to gain. I am proud I belong to a country like this and our heritage is something that need...