shanta

my little one's daycare lady makes a green smoothie for the kids with spinach, carrots, banana, berries, sometimes she adds fresh apricots from her backyard - the little ones love it! i tried it once, it was okay but not sweet, i like my smoothies a bit sweeter. maybe adding some honey will do the magic. she also makes a fruit smoothie for her own kids with costco's frozen mixed berries - i've tasted this, it's sweet and yummy!

looks like guava.

Ummm! Parle Gs! That's my breakfast with a cup of instant coffee! I love dipping'em in my coffee and manage to get them out whole! We recently bought a whole box(around 200 packets) so that we don't have to go buy them often! Great blog, Monica, loving it!! Do we get to see a picture of the little monkey?

Great blog, Tammy! I'm looking forward to all those baby food recipes, please do post some pictures of Liam's meals! My almost-14-month-old is such a picky eater, am always looking for new ways to get her interested in eating.

Shanta, Thanks for paving the way, I'm going to try that also. ← Just a word of caution: These baked ones seemed to be HOTTER than their deep-fried version. Hubby has the habit of munching on these before dinner, he had one last nite and it was so hot, he felt it burn all the way down to his stomach and we had to call urgent care! I'll have one with curd rice for lunch today.

FaustianBargain, I tried baking instead of deep frying and it was great! Got the dark/black color too :)

Yup! I made some recently in my oven! ← get outta here!!! you baked it instead of frying it??? how do you get that dark black colour? ← Ummm! Lemme get this straight - 'more milagai' are those green chillies soaked and dried in the sun, right? If so, instead of drying'em in the sun, I dry'em in a warm oven for a few days until all the moisture is gone. They still need to be deep fried, though.

Yup! I made some recently in my oven!

fish-kalakukko! No idea what that is, though! [ that's the name of the image ]

Whippy, You can buy Rasachandrika from Popular Prakashan, they do ship outside US, shipping charge may be more than the book's price(around US$7 total for this book and shipping cost to US, but in USD it's still cheaper than at Amazon ;) Here's the link: http://www.popularprakashan.com/showbook.asp?bookid=211

It's one of my favorite fruits, too! It's called Sitaphal India, been years since I had one, now I'm craving!Are these available in US? If so, where?

kheema in ghee sauce?

Falooda!

percyn, looks delicious! do you have any recipes?

Basmati rice is not starchy and has a nutty flavor while sona masoori is a bit starchy and needs to be rinsed a few times until the water runs clear to remove starch before cooking. I use basmati rice only in pulaos, fried rice and to serve with any non-vegetarian dishes. For daily use, to serve with dhals and sabjis, I prefer sona masoori which turns out quite fluffy and not too starchy for my taste. I use 1 cup uncooked sona masoori rice to 2.5 cups water - you can increase or decrease the water if you like harder or softer cooked rice.