Lakshmi's Cookbook

Mint orange mocktail! Who doesn’t like a chill afternoon drink with some ice cubes? There are so many market options available, but nothing tastes quite as good as a freshly squeezed lemonade! And when you add some tangy-sweet oranges and some fresh mint leaves to it, yummmm, such  a tasty mocktail! This drink is sweetened by brown sugar. It’s got some orange pieces too, making it so much yummier! Add some soda to and the perfect drink is ready! Ingredients: Orange juice- 2 cups (extract juice from 6 to 7 oranges) Lemon juice- 3 tblsp Soda- ½ cup Brown sugar- 2 tblsp Orange pieces- 6 (chop into small pieces) Mint leaves- a few Ice cubes-a few Method: 1.       Take two cups of orange juice in a vessel. 2.       Add lemon juice and sugar to it. Mix well. 3.       Take glasses and add chopped orange pieces. 4.       Add mint leaves and ice cubes to the glasse...

Hi guys !  Who doesn't like paneer? I absolutely love it! And so when I came across paneer Bhurji Uthappam Pizza on my friend Madhu's feed, who blogs at Kitchenmai ,I knew I was definitely gonna try that out! Not just the paneer, but the whole idea of making Uthappams with a twist was very interesting...They came out so cheesy and tasty with the awesome flavour of idly podi and crunchy toppings. It's a really hassle free dish which your family will surely love!   Preparation time: 10 minutes| Cooking time 20 to 30 minutes Course: Snack| Cuisine: Fusion Ingredients: For paneer bhurji: Paneer- 200 gms (grated)  Onion-2 Tomatoes- 2 Capsicum-1 Ginger garlic paste- 1 tblsp Chili powder- 2 tsp Coriander powder- 1 tblsp Garam masala- 1 tsp Turmeric powder- ½ tsp Salt- as needed Sugar- 1 tsp Oil- 1 tblsp Cumin seeds- ½ tsp For uthappam: Dosa batter Idly podi masala- 6 tblsp Oil- 4 tblsp Chili flakes- 4 tblsp Mozzarella cheese- as needed ...

Falooda! It’s summer and everybody is home. After a nice lunch, everyone craves something sweet… Buying something from outside is not the best option. So, a nice dessert like falooda is one of the sweetest treats you can all enjoy! This is one of the recipes I had written in tamil for Kumudam Snehidhi and here is the English version. This classical dessert has so many layers of fun in it- it’s got the most important rose syrup, cool and refreshing sabja seeds, some cooked vermicelli, chilled sweet milk, topped of with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and some chopped up almonds and pista! With every scoop and sip, you never know what is going to delight your taste buds! When you layer them all up in a tall glass, the light pink shade of the falooda will make you want to eat it right away!  So, make this with your family and enjoy a family dessert!   Preparation time: 30 minutes| Cooking time: 10 to 15 minutes Course: Dessert| Cuisine: Ingredients: Full cream milk- 500...

Bengaluru has just started scorching and I think now is the best time to post the recipe of this much needed chocolate cold coffee! How many coffee lovers out here? I personally do not consume tea or coffee. But this cold coffee managed to capture my attention too! Coffee and chocolate, this dessert manages to capture the best of both worlds. This also has ice cream in it, so you can imagine how creamy it is going to be! And honestly, it does not take much effort to make this- ready in no time with very few ingredients. Serve it cold, topped with Choco chips and enjoy some frothy chocolate cold coffee! Ingredients: Instant coffee powder- 2 tblsp Cocoa powder- 2 tblsp Warm water- 4 tblsp Milk- 2 cups Brown sugar-2 tblsp Vanilla Ice cream- 2 scoops Choco chips- 2 tblsp Method: 1.       Boil the milk and cool it to room temperature. Refrigerate till it becomes cold. 2.       Add the instant coffee powder and cocoa ...

Fish Fingers! One of our favourite non veg starters, who knew this awesome dish could be recreated with so less ingredients, super easily in our own kitchens? Crunchy outside and tender and juicy on the inside, this is the perfect snack or starter! Earlier, fish at our home would just mean curry or fry. But I think this snack is soon going to become a regular at our home! Not knowing what kind of fish meat is to be used always held me back from trying out this dish. But after some asking around, found that our very own fish seller sold fish cut into the very shape this recipe calls for 🤦‍♀️ So that was one big problem solved! The next step was just gathering all the easily found spices and cooking up this beauty in no time! Serve it up with some home-made French fries and ketchup, and your very own fish and chips ensemble is ready to devour! Preparation time: 20 to 25 minutes| Cooking time: 15 to 20 minutes Course: Starters| Cuisine: International  Ingredients: Seer ...

Peanut Butter Cups! Valentine’s day is around the corner and I have just reached 4000 followers on Instagram! So, for a small celebration, tried making these cute little peanut butter cups! Incidentally, they are also my husband’s favourite chocolate. I came across this recipe online and it seemed really very easy. I tried it, it came out pretty good, but the chocolate was stone hard. I tried again, with a variation in chocolate- still the same. So, I did some small research (googling, basically) and tried it for on last time- the results were just like I wanted it to be- softer chocolate! I have used cupcake moulds and hence the shape. Just love the ribbon of yellow round the corners! This peanut butter cup comes very close to the ones we get in stores- but tends to get a little melty when left out, which is perfectly fine as we have not added any additives. The taste was simply marvelous- salty peanut butter wedged between layers of chocolate. Bite into these cuties and fa...

Chicken burger! My kids always want have burger. Always. Not very healthy. So how to make it healthier? Just make it at home! I used to think that making the patty would be a tedious job. But surprisingly, it was pretty easy! When you make the patties, ninety percent of the work is done. And the rest, is just putting it together, and honestly, that is the best part! (apart from eating it 😉). The burger also contains the must have onions, tomatoes and lettuce, which give it the crunch factor. The custom-made sauce adds the zing factor. You can involve your kids while putting the burger together and have a family fun time. Make some fries, squeeze some lemon juice and you have an awesome meal!  Preparation time: 10 minutes| Cooking time: 20 to 30 minutes Course: Main| Cuisine: international Ingredients: Burger bun- 4 to 5 Onion-1 (cut into round slices) Tomato-1 (cut into round slices) Lettuce- 5 Mayonnaise- 3 tblsp Tomato sauce- 1 tblsp Pepper powd...