Baking frenzy about to begin!!!

My house has a new member.. He's tall, dark and extremely handsome. Oh, he's gorgeous, shiny and so dreamy.
He makes S jealous because of all the attention I'm giving him.

Yes, he's my new black Kitchen Aid stand mixer!!
Last weekend, as I was watching a kitchen aid advertisement on TV (open-mouthed), my sweet hubby was busy plotting elsewhere. He ordered it over the phone and smiled his casual smile when he saw me jumping all over the place.
He later confessed that he couldn't stand all the salivating on the rug!
So that is the story of  How I Met My Mixer. I have so many ideas and I'm excited to try so many things.
Plans to attempt the Macaroni Grill's Rosemary Bread have been drawn up. Should happen soon, will update my efforts and of course, the results!
Till then I'm just going to ogle at it at sigh in content :)

What is your favorite kitchen appliance?

Visitors, furniture shopping, Sunday laziness..

It's been looong since the first post, and so much has happened since. My uncle was in Jersey on business, and I was so happy when he stayed with us for a couple of days. It felt wonderful to have family over, some one from home. As expected, a lot of food, drink and late nights happened :)
He is into healthy, low carb, high fiber, high protein foods. After racking my head over what to make for dinner, I came up with Lobia (black eyed beans) Dal, Vegetable Saagu and a lettuce salad menu. Well, the lettuce salad was shelved aside, as he'd been having that throughout the week apparently and was just craving for some spicy Indian food!
He loved them both, and I couldn't have been more thrilled.


For the Dal, I followed Manjula's Kitchen recipe with a few changes


Lobia Dal
1 cup lobia (black eyed beans)
2 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds 
Pinch of asafoetida
1 tablespoon coriander powder 
1 tablespoon ginger paste
1/2 teaspoon red chilly powder
¼ teaspoon turmeric 
½ teaspoon dry mango powder
¼ teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon salt
2.5 cups water
1 big tomato, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves for garnish


I washed and soaked the beans for about 2 hours.


In a small bowl, I mixed the ginger paste, red chilly powder, coriander powder, turmeric, and 2 tablespoons of water to make a paste.


I heated the oil in pressure cooker on medium heat. When it was hot enough, I added the cumin seeds, the asafoetida and the spice paste, and stirred for a while.


I added the beans, salt and water, covered the pressure cooker, and let it cook till 6 whistles, turned it to low and cooked till another whistle.


I turned it off, and waited for it to cool. On opening the lid, I saw that it was cooked but it was too watery, because the original recipe said 3 cups of water, and no matter how much i mashed the beans, it just wasn't thickening. Then I just added 3 teaspoons of besan flour paste to the dal, cooked for some time and it seemed ok.


The beans were soft and tender, I mashed some to thicken it, turned off the heat. 


I added the dry mango powder, the garam masala, and the chopped tomatoes. I covered the cooker and let the tomatoes semi-cook in the steam.
I din't bother with the chilly garnish that was recommended, and garnished with chopped coriander leaves, instead.


Sandeep and I ate it with rice, while Jija, as we fondly call my uncle, made it a complete meal by itself.
Super hit with everybody, it tasted great, but it's too bad i din't take any pictures. 
Well, I'm only starting out now, so it'll be some time before I do it all :)


In other news, we're moving next weekend to Eatontown, closer to hubby's new office. 6 miles to the beach!!! Yay!!
Major furniture (window) shopping happening! Busy week ahead, what with packing and all.


I'm blogging on a Sunday afternoon, so of course, as you guessed, Sandeep is enjoying his afternoon siesta, and I'm bored to death :)


What's your favorite way to spend a Sunday afternoon? Do tell..

New Beginnings

             I am Deepika Ravikumar. I just got married and moved to a new city, in a whole new continent! It's a new place, a new home, new people, a whole new adventure, and a wonderful man I'm sharing it all with. I love to cook and bake and I'm just so excited to do it for the man I love! :)
This blog has been a dream for some time now. Writing has always been a passion, and combining it with my love for food, well, it just doesn't get any better than this!
Coming from a family of great cooks, I've always felt the pressure to be one as well. And being married to one, phew, takes the pressure to a whole new level :)
I've always believed that some TLC in cooking, and one can never go wrong. So here's to new relationships, new cooking, new blogging... New beginnings!