Indianhomefood

It's summer vacation time here and each year I go to visit my sister at Seattle, or Pacific Northwest . Let me tell you, this area is Nature's paradise 💖... surrounded by Mountain, huge Lakes, ocean..lush green forest, Waterfall. And amazing trees and flowers. My sister's neighborhood is like walking through a botanical garden 💖. I am totally in love with the Natural beauty of this area💖. And yes, not to forget sweet and juicy Washington Cherry 🍒 and Berries 🍓🫐😁.....
Since I am in vacation wanted to share with you all beautiful Nature pics 💓 ...more coming soon 😊

Inside out Chilla 😂. This is like a protein packed crepe , the batter is full of nutrition 👍🏽. So how do we prepare this batter and why it's healthy !!!!
First soaked yellow and green moong bean over night. Blended with ginger, green chilli and cumin seeds . Batter shouldn't be thin like a crepe or thick like pancake, medium pouring consistency, that's all.
Next , when you are just about to cook them, you can add chopped cilantro 🌿, 🧅 and green chilli , cumin seeds to the batter, also adjust salt and just pour and spread like a Dosa or crepe ...I add the onion, chilli mix just after spreading, also you can add shredded cheese for kids and soft paneer crumbles ..
For kids you can make a roll stuffed with scrambled eggs 😀👍🏽... My son loves cheese so he gets that topping and that's why I keep the batter simple and toppings as people want ..
This is a very simple lunch and doesn't take too long but delicious and healthy too 👍🏽😍...
And yeyyy It's almost weekend 😍

Spinach and Onion fritters or Indian pakoras in lunch today 🤤. Today it was cloudy and it's raining since yesterday, so our mind says ' Pakoraaa' 😍....couldn't resist the temptation 😊
Batter is prepared with chickpea flour or Besan, ajwain, grated ginger, chopped cilantro 🌿 and green chilli, salt, turmeric, chilli powder, a little Chaat masala and pinch of garam masala... All the water is from spinach and onion only after adding all spices, didn't have to add any water for batter preparation .
They came out so crispy 👍🏽😊...my son just had this fritter plate today for lunch 😀..

Today's lunch was like a special treat , as it was a busy Tuesday morning 🥺...and I was thinking 🤔 what to cook ...may be something quick fix 🤔!!! And ended up cooking Bengali Palak or spinach curry with radish, little potatoes 🥔 cooked with five spices 🤤. We love the flavor of our five spices or ,' paanch phoron' , which is a mix of mastard, nigella, fennel, cumin and fenugreek seeds 😊. Mostly, in this curry we use pumpkin and eggplant 🍆, I didn't have those but still curry came out delicious 🤤, even my son said 'mom it's so good' ❤️!!
I give him a rice bowl just like this , but a big papad on a separate plate , as he loves papad 😊.
This is such a simple curry , just saute all the whole spices along with a dry red chilli in mastard oil, next add chopped 🧄, and next cubed potatoes and then I added radish, u can add cubed eggplant too at this point, keep frying under cover , also add salt and turmeric. When veggies are cooked , add chopped spinach, cook for few mins, add chopped green chilli and fried lentil dumplings ... Your curry is ready 😄...
No garam masala or tons of other masala or oil as well, a simple , nutritious and delicious curry 😊...my friends love my simple recipes 😊🙏🏽...
This red lentil daal is very simple tool, just fry onion, green chilli and 🧄 (optional) , u can add tomato 🍅 too, add daal , salt and turmeric , water , cover and daal will be ready in mins 😁...

We, Indians love our traditional homemade sweets , and we do miss those sweets 😔, those which are prepared during festivals with so much love and shared with all our neighbors and friends 😊!.. Here, I prepare our traditional sweets sometimes at home . Today I had the craving , so prepared Coconut 🥥 laddus with jaggery 😋...for all Indian sweets , we need patience to cook, so I cook only when I have time 😊.
These laddus came out so 🤤 yummy😌!!!😍

While most people love to enjoy exotic dishes on weekends, we choose mostly something traditional , home cooked basic food 😊 for lunch. So here is our simple but soul food for Saturday lunch , simple quinoa rice , with whole green moong beans daal , Bengali sweet tomato chutney and a little papad on the side 🤤.
You can add shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes 🍅, cucumber 🥒, onion, celantro...boiled or fried egg 🥚, and make a nutritious ...healthy, protein packed and yummy lunch bowl 🍜🤤😍....or grilled chicken pieces too ...I have 3 types of moong beans in my pantry. One is broken with husky that I use only for khichri, and yellow moong daal and green one we use for daal and Chilla( savory lentil pancake)...Also I make sweet halva with yellow moong daal. You can cook fritters too ! This lentil can be cooked in so many different way 😊, very good for vegan and vegetarian people 👍🏽!!!
What do you cook on weekends at home!!

I just wanted something different from rice or wheat, and we choose to cook bajra or pearl millet 👍🏽. Mostly it's a winter meal in India . But here its not that hot and it rained so thought of cooking bajra and moong daal khichdi with vegetables. I added carrot 🥕 and green peas. Also , I soaked bajra whole night and just cooked like normal khichri. Added a fresh tempering with cumin and hing in ghee. Also hubby cooked a little kadhi, Gujarati style 😊 to go with khichri 👌🏽, such a comfort food 😊😍.

After a long time I cooked my own favorite dish today 😀. Yes, sometimes I do cook something that I only love , and Salmon cooked in a Mastard paste , in Bangali style, is my favorite 😊. Hubby is vegetarian 🙄, I can't cook this fish recipe too often as the house smells of fish 🐟..as we coat the fish nicely with turmeric, salt and then sallow fry a little in mastard oil.
But I definitely open window , even a door for sometime and there won't be any smell inside 👍🏽.
Recipe is so simple , I make the mastard paste and keep it aside. Fry black cumin in mastard oil just after I removed the fish after frying, add green chilli and a little chopped tomatoes, add salt and turmeric, cook until 🍅 is softened , add mastard paste mixed with water, cover and boil , adjust salt and spice and add the fried fish .
Add chopped cilantro 🌿 and I like to add one fresh green Thai or Indian chilli . Serve with warm rice and enjoy 😍

Idli any time 😋🤤❤️, my family can eat idli at Breakfast , lunch or dinner 😃...
A simple idli lunch for a not so busy summer day 😌...summer days are really long 🙄. Kids are at home and so they r hungry multiple times ...and all the time need to think 🤔 what can I give him so that he doesn't keep snacking all junk food😒 and I have to keep him engaged in different things at home so that he doesn't say' I am bored ' 😬
Are you all going through same phase now, what do you do keep kids engaged or motivated at home ,🤔

Looking for a simple weekday recipe which tastes like a take out 😁!!!! If you have any frozen chicken bites , we can cook something interesting in a short time. A quick fix lunch or dinner. 👍🏽😍...so, I had these chicken bites from and , I had few varieties of stir fry sauce, chilli garlic sauce , sweet chilli sauce at refrigerator. So I quickly Prepared a sauce mix with chilli garlic and stir fry sauce , added little brown sugar and that's all. Prepared chicken in air fryer. Mean while sauted garlic 🧄 and mini bell peppers , when they r done added the crispy chicken pieces and the sauce mix , mixed them well. And enjoyed with some white 🍚😊😋...
Easy but really delicious 🤤. I give these to my son on one condition that he needs to eat the bell peppers 😊...
We enjoyed our lunch 😊!!

Do you love Mexican flavors 🤤😊, well we do 😁, mostly my son loves Mexican food ! So, today here's our dinner 🍽️. Fusion Taco paneer 🥪. I sauted, few mini bell peppers with onions, 🧅, green chilli, celantro and taco seasoning 😊. Added cheese and put all together on my iron 🍳.
Came out nice and crispy outside and cheesy and crunchy inside 🤤❤️...
** I put butter on the outer side of the bread too and just toasted on the pan until they r crispy.

Our Sunday lunch special Thali at Home 😊❤️... Yes , home cooked simple meal , but all unique dishes not the regular dishes that we taste here. Here in Austin in most restaurants, all menu items look same and yes we are bored with paneer 65 and chicken 555 😑😒...
I miss the variety of Kolkata food so much 😢, and also Jaipur Chaat and sweets 🤤😋....
Well, I don't mind putting some effort to enjoy a good meal 😎, I love to cook for friends and family 😍...
Also, it doesn't take too much effort to prepare a delicious meal , if we make few preparations ahead and I ask my husband to chop onion or tomato 🫣🍅...
So, I cooked moong daal with cumin , bay leaf, salt, and turmeric , and crushed ginger ..only spices nothing else...cooked in ghee ...added few pieces of paneer , your wish , you can add fried cashew nuts too 🤤..
And cauliflower sauted with cumin seeds , green chilli, added few green peas too.. but the flavor is chopped green onion or scallions, have you tried this recipe! Even my son loves this 😊, who eats burger and chicken strips 🤪

Do you love Mexican flavors 🤤😊, well we do 😁, mostly my son loves Mexican food ! So, today here's our dinner 🍽️. Taco paneer sandwich. I sauted, few mini bell peppers with onions, 🧅, green chilli, celantro and taco seasoning 😊. Added cheese and put all together on my iron 🍳.
Came out nice and crispy outside and cheesy and crunchy inside 🤤❤️...
** I put butter on the outer side of the bread too and just toasted on the pan until they r crispy.

We love Mexican food and I always try yre recreate the recipes that I loved in different restaurants with my own tweaks and twists 😁. Tried roasted poblano peppers at home today. So easy to cook , and came out so delicious 🤤. I roasted them in air fryer , stuffed them with cheese and put again for few mins until cheese is melted and a little charred . Couldn't get a good pic as all were hungry 🙂...
Meanwhile cooked easy Mexican rice , also had beans on the side 🤤. We enjoyed our Mexican inspired dinner today 💖😊...

When it's hot outside , we enjoy simple daal roti, a little mango 🥭 is our dessert these days.
I love fresh fruit like watermelon, papaya mostly mango as dessert in 🌞 summer days.

It's very hot in Texas , we are eating simple, ready to digest food cooked without less spices , mostly avoiding garam masala. Also chaas is another thing that we love to eat during these days.

While cooking and crafting new recipes is my passion, gardening is my another passion 💖😊, today sharing few pics of my little garden inside and outside 😁, we planted everything and we do everything for our garden 🏡...
Vegetable garden will come later 😊

Do you know if you have Greek pita bread at home, you can prepare a different quick weekday dinner or after school meals for the kids 😊. I keep these pita breads that I get from and it's the best price at and they are so soft 🙌🏽 and they stay so good for such a long time too👍🏽...
1. We eat pita with hummus or just use them as a wrap 🌯.
2. I warm up on the flame and smear garlic butter on top and eat them like garlic naan bread with curry 🤤
3. And I prepare everyone 's favorite personal pizzas 🍕😁...with these pita breads 😄

This week I made a cheesy olive 🫒 pizza for my son who loves 🤩 olives ...
I used the canned olives this time. First I heat up my cast iron flat pan then put the pita bread until the bottom layer is crispy.. meanwhile I drizzle the top with olive oil, add pizza sauce, veggies, chopped garlic, mozzarella and chopped fresh basil , I love to use fresh herbs , they add so much flavor !
After putting all toppings, when the bottom layer of the bread is crispy, I put in air fryer just for few mins until cheese is nicely melted . And homemade pizza is ready in just few mins 😁🙌🏽... I use so many different toppings , will post more ideas as I cook 😊.
My favorite is cheesy pesto pizza 😋.. what's yours favorite toppings!!!

Simple but delicious quesadilla for Friday lunch. Today is last day of school at Texas 😊. Kids were so excited today ❤️. Cam back home and prepared something healthy and tasty 😋🤤...

I sauted onion, orange 🧡 Bell peppers, added corn, chopped jalapeno , Cajun seasoning and little salsa . We don't like too dry stuffing and I don't use too much cheese as we eat cheese with bagel, pizza...pasta in so many dishes 😳. So, I try to avoid too much cheese.
But, I added chopped cilantro, fresh lime juice and also chicken to the stuffing. I added few pieces on avocado as well , for kids I skipped that. It came out delicious 🤤.
My son loved his quesadilla, it has so much flavors with fresh herbs, 🌿 and seasonings.

A quick lunch for Monday 🤤😋...did half preparation yesterday to make this green egg curry , cooked with fresh palak or spinach .
Kept boiled eggs , just fried today. Ate with fresh homemade paratha 😊
Came out so well 😋🤤, family enjoyed their meal 😂, so this momma is happy 😁 ..
Nothing beats home cooked fresh food 💖

A simple lentil or Dahl can be so delicious , just with few different spices 😊. Don't you agree!!!

Here is yellow moong daal curry 😋 cooked with cauliflower and green peas. You can add roasted cashews ,few resins and paneer too 😊
Dry roasting the moong daal before washing adds extra flavor to this dish 😊.

This is a Bengali dish and cooked at our house with few variations. I always add a fresh ' tarka' in this dish, heat up ghee add jeera , grated ginger, red chilli and add to the daal just before serving . My mom didn't do this step . And yes it's a pure veg, with no onions and garlic, yet so delicious 🤤...it's so delicious you can eat with paratha, phulka, chapati or with simple rice 🍚 🌾.

Did you eat this Dahl ...would love to know how do you cook at your house 😊.

We all love breakfast potatoes 😍. We also love breakfast tacos 😋🌮. But we are not very big fan of simple smashed potatoes as we love spices and flavor and a dash of paprika 😋...
So thought of this new my own breakfast potato Quesadilla 😁. I didn't add too much cheese, but still it was a hit 😋👍🏽. Both father and son loved it ,😍.
It was a vegetarian day , that's why I didn't add any meat, but I am sure , turkey sausage pieces will go very well in this recipe 👍🏽...
Recipe time:
Shallow Fry parboiled potato and Onion with Cajun seasoning, and a little paprika 😊. If you like celantro , go ahead and add chopped cilantro 🌿.
That's all , just put together with cheese 🧀 and also I did put some salsa on the tortilla. You can skip that too. I did both and both were delicious 🤤
It's an easy weeknight dinner 🍽️

Stir fry Tofu and veggies with jasmine rice 🍚🌾🤤😋...
This is our favorite home cooked Tofu rice dish 😊.
Takes a little time but the outcome is delicious 😋...
I used firm Tofu. Also I love Hmart Tofu👍🏽, if you have a Hmart ,you can try their tofu , nott too much water , so takes very less time to drain the liquid.
I marinated tofu with all purpose flour, salt, dash of sugar , pepper powder, and little soya sauce. And swallow fried.
On the same fan fried red pepper , broccoli with garlic. Next, prepared a mix with chilli garlic paste, soya sauce and sweet chilli sauce , with little brown sugar.
While many people add honey, I read honey is not good in high heat , so I started avoiding 🍯.
Studying ayurveda these days 🧐for well being ❤️...
Added the sauce mix in the center of the pan, move the veggies aside, when sauce starts boiling, add the tofu and veggies mix well, add green onion and add the rice . Mix well and enjoy 😊🤤

It's raining a lot in Austin for last few days... actually weeks. It's really a blessing as all the trees are full of lush green leaves , fruits started coming and flowers are blooming 🙏🏽💖...
So , here is rainy day special Bengay platter that I cooked.
Moong daal khichdi, sweet tomato chutney and 'Beguni' or Eggplant 🍆 fritters.
These fritters are our house favorite and my husband never had an eggplant fritter before she met me 😁....
These homemade crispy Baigan pakoras are easy to make but not very common to find in restaurants here .
Enjoy weekend with a delicious homemade meal 😍

Crispy Potato Fritters, or 'Aloo ke Pakore ' 😊🤤...
Who can say no to these hot, crispy , a little spicy Potato Fritters 😁
Lunch was Khichri with pakore on the side 🤤
Tune to get ready for the week friends 😊, have a great week ahead 😊🙏🏽

I ate Chili paneer in many restaurants at US, nothing can satisfy my taste buds, as I keep comparing with the chilli paneer I grew up eating at Kolkata park Street.
They don't eat too many sauce or spices , but more fresh ingredients that makes it them so delicious 😋🤤...
Same with the Indo Chinese fried rice...here they are spicy and so many sauce😳...
So these dishes I cook at home only. And my family enjoys a lot 😄😋... actually I took them to Kolkata once to taste what I call good food 😄...
Enjoy rest of Sunday 🙏🏽💖

After an entire week eating out or eating idli, dosa, poori..😁I settled for a totally B**g dish 😊 today.
Being a Bengali, my taste buds sometimes crave for just a simple homemade Bengali dish 😊. So today I cooked onions cooked in poppy seed paste (পেঁয়াজ পোস্ত) and topped with fried ' lentil dumplings,' ( ডালের বড়ি)..
This is so simple recipe but so delicious 🤤 with steamed rice bowl 👌🏽
Recipeপেঁয়াজ পোস্ত!
Fry onions in mastard oil preferably, until reddish, you can add red chilli , I added green chilli this time. Meanwhile make a paste with poppy seeds and add to the fried onions, add salt , adjust water and cook until everything is well cooked . Fry some lentil dumplings and add to the cooked curry ( optional) but we love these 😁. Serve with fresh steamed rice 🍚💓

Simple Lemon rice with a twist 😁🫰🏽..used the big limes those are highly available in Texas ....and yes they are bursting with flavors 👌🏽...
I topped with fresh chopped Serrano chilli for extra flavor 😁... This version has so much flavor from all natural ingredients 😊👌🏽..
We totally enjoyed 💖

While we love to eat all kind of cuisine and all varieties of our own desi food, nothing makes me more happier than this simple ' Thali '.
Rice , toor daal Tadka , papad and Bengali sweet and spicy chutney 😊.
Sometimes I just chop the tomatoes and add on top , just like we eat Rice brown in Chipotle 😋.
Also , you can add shredded lettuce , cucumber 🥒 too and a little chopped jalapeno and skip papad or chutney and just have a healthy and tasty quick meal 🤤. Tastes so good 😋 with simple daal and rice...
People ask me for suggestions for quick recipes 😊... We eat different versions of simple daal rice 😊 🍚 ...will share more recipes soon 👍🏽

Our very own squash or bottle gourd curry 🍛 with steamed rice 🍚😊.
Very simple recipe, but every time I cooked for my guests, all loved it 💖.
It's cooked in mastard paste, and not any other ground spices. Only green chilli and cilantro 🌿 add the fresh flavors. Also topped with fried lentil dumplings for little crunch 😊. My son loves to eat these .
Will upload a video soon with all steps ☺️
Happy Saturday 😌