Cooking from Other Blogs # 3

I managed to try a few of the dishes that I had bookmarked from other beautiful blogs and wanted to list them here...

Viji's Oats Upma - I prefer savoury preparations to sweet ones so this was just perfect as breakfast and was loaded with vegetables.

Viji's Gulab Jamun - This was very soft and delicious but I still have to perfect the frying method though. I didn't prepare the stuffing however, just made them plain.

Paati's Carrot Kurma - We enjoyed this with Chapathis

Jugalbandi's Theeyati Chaaru - though I was skeptical about adding jaggery to the rasam, i didn't regret it one bit after tasting it. I used tamarind paste instead so didn't get the beautiful yellow rasam that Bee had.. I also blended in about half a tomato and added to the rasam. My daughter loved this as well, she drank bowlfuls of it and clamored for more. Perfect rasam to drink...

Bindiya's Butter Cake - The recipe looked a lot like the Chocolate chip muffin recipe I normally use so gave this a try without a second thought but without nuts. The quantity ensured that we didn't overindulge and it resulted in 4 mini cakes. This was also super quick to make.

Asha's Coleslaw - this was so easy to make and tasted wonderful.. crunchy and creamy (Sorry but I didn't manage to get a picture of this).

Sharmi's Sorakkai Paal Kootu - we loved this delicate curry

After making Salara and sending off the Amish Friendship Starter onto 2 other bloggers, I still had a pack on hand so decided to keep it and try baking some other tempting creations that I had come across. This time however, I added only a third of a cup of flour, milk and sugar on the 6th and 10th days and the result was 2 cups of starter using which I made:

1) Nupur's Chocolate Bread - but used walnuts and chocolate chips instead of pecans. My daughter, who recently got hooked on chocolate, liked these and my husband who doesn't usually like very chocolatey cakes actually loved these much to my surprise and delight. I think the starter lent it a different taste and texture that normal chocolate cakes lack...

2) Jugalbandi's Chelsea Buns - I halved the recipe and doubled on the black raisins since I didn't have any golden ones on hand. These were wonderful, especially the next day after warming them in the microwave.

I would like to thank each and everyone of you for inspiring me to try these wonderful recipes. I still have many more that on my list of "To Cook" - will keep updating my space...