Manipuri cuisine is quite a unique cuisine in its own way. Its quite interesting to get to know about this cuisine which is bit unknown for me. Though i have a cooked a simple rice kheer from this dish, this cuisine is very interesting to explore.This month's  Shh Cooking Secretly, a monthly event started by me, which is now hosted by Mayuri Patel, took us to Manipur. If you would have went through my previous posts of this cooking event, you might have noticed that we are exploring each regions of India. We, the fellow bloggers shares secretly our ingredients to cook a dish which will be mysterious ingredients for others and the best part is to guess the ingredients. Every month we are having loads of fun to guess other's secret ingredients,dont forget to ping me if you want to join this group.

I have never cooked sago aka tapioca pearls with a dal. When i picked Sweet of similar kind as theme for this week's blogging marathon, i seriously want to give a try to a sweet dish with sago and dal. Hence i opted for Kheer, after two delicious and whole grain based Indian style kheer, my today's post is an another interesting kheer. Am trying to add less refined ingredients like maida, white sugar in my cooking nowadays. Obviously this kheer is prepared completely with palm jaggery syrup. Hence this kheer looks bit dull in colour. Also the palm jaggery i used in this dish was very much dull in colour which i grabbed during my India trip.

Quinoa is an excellent versatile grain to cook anything with. Quinoa have its important place in my cooking since a while. After oats, quinoa have its own place in my pantry. Though i have prepared many sorts of sweets with this incredible tiny grains, i love to cook this wholegrains as Indian style of pudding. Am running this week's theme with Sweets of similar kind as theme, and i opted for Pudding/Kheer as my choice of sweet. If you are looking for a healthy and droolworthy Indian sweet dish for your festive meal or to celebrate an event, dont forget to give a try to this gluten free Quinoa kheer with goji berries. Why gojiberries in a kheer, i always want to mix few interesting ingredients to make some unique dishes out of the ingredients available in my pantry.

Indian festivals are incomplete without sweet dishes. Obviously Indians makes varieties of sweet dishes. If you are not an Indian, just google for the varieties of sweets exists in Indian cuisine seriously you will be amazed to see the list of sweets. Some of the Indian sweets are quite easy to dish out while certain sweets have their own long cooking process which is definitely a traditional way of making sweets in India. Paal payasam which is known as Kheer aka Indian pudding is one of the easiest and most known Indian sweets. This sweets is often prepared in every Indian household to celebrate a special day or festival or else simply a pradasam to God for any special occasion. And this sweets can be prepared with immense mix and match of ingredients from vegetables to fruits, nuts to grains etc.

One of my favourite Indian festival is obviously deepavali, but i have so many fond memories about Pongal which is also known as Festival of harvest, dedicated to Sun God. Every year, Pongal falls on mid january and this festival is celebrated according to Tamil calender. This festival is celebrated for 4 days, obviously most of the Tamilians make a trip to their native village to enjoy this traditional festival with their family. Though its been many years i have celebrated this Festival of harvest in India, i plan myself to celebrate this festival here in Paris without any fail. Coming to this Quinoa Sweet pongal, this dish is definitely a delicious and ultimate Sweet dish to prepare without any fail for this festival.

                                      Happy New Year Wishes to You All

Am kick starting this year with a sweet note, and this healthy and delicious pudding is from Armenia which is also known as Armenian Christmas Pudding aka Anoush Abour/Anooshaboor. Anoushabour means Sweet soup in Armenian. This dish is a must in every new year's and christmas tables in Armenia for many centuries. This Armenian pudding is a delightful pudding which calls for pearled wheat berries or pearled barley. However if you dont get pearled wheat berries you can replace them very well with white wheat berries and pearled barley. Traditionally a couple of dry fruits like apricots,raisins and almonds are usually used for making this pudding more fruity and nutty. And not to forget that this pudding is flavored with cinnamon powder and sweetened with honey.

French desserts/pastries are quite popular around the world and their pastries are seriously a must try if you have a chance to visit this beautiful country. I must say that am lucky enough to live in this country since 23 years. Obviously French desserts are my favourite. Now i try to replicate them at home whenever i get a chance to dish them out by myself. Though some of the French pastries are seriously hard to learn and cook at home, few pastries are quite easy to prepare. I have been dishing out some of the easiest French pastries since a long, and thank god till now everyone at home approved that my French Pastries are best and tastes very much like the store bought ones. Whatelse we need, however  i learned baking myself and am proud to say that all my French pastries never went wrong.

Who will say no to Semolina ladoos aka rava laddus, definitely not me, everyone at home enjoy this incredible Indian sweets. One of the most popular Indian sweets is rava laddoos. Yes we, Indians usually prepare this easy breezy sweets quite quickly with simple preparation. Usually with just three ingredients, one can make these dangerously sweets with less efforts. Even in my Diwali sweets list, rava laddoos have their own place.However my today's post is definitely a must to try, if you want make these tremendous laddoos with an healthy twist. Adding millets to the usual rava laddoos makes them more interesting, healthy and nutritious as well. Kids enjoy these cute laddoos, as the addition of millets makes its more aromatic and dangerously delicious.Apart from adding barnyard millet aka thinai in this sweets, i didnt make any changes.

Halubai or Halubai, this sweet is quite popular in Udupi,Mangalore and Malnad regions of Karnataka for festivals or celebrations. Often made with rice, jaggery and coconut, this sweet can be prepared well with Semolina aka Rava and Fingermillet aka Ragi. I have already tried making this Halubai with Semolina and you can find here for an another event. And my today's post is going to an another version of Halubai cooked with a millet which is quite interesting and healthy to add in our diet. I have been cooking with ragi flour aka fingermillet flour for a while. I do add them in my parathas, in most of my bakes and not to forget that this millets have their own place in my pantry. Healthy and definitely a nutritious millet to add often in our weekly diet, this millets are one of my favourite. However this millets are used for making many traditional village style sweet dishes like ragi jaggery adai, simli etc.. Coming to my today's Halubai, its a must to try as this sweet is definitely a delicious one.

Mawa Jalebi, is one of the delectable Indian sweets which is prepared with homemade mawa aka popular milk solids. Milk solids/khoya/mawa, whatever you name them is one of most interesting ingredient which is quite often used in Indian cuisine especially for making some delightful milk based sweets. Traditionally milk solids are prepared by boiling full fat milk for hours to yield nice quality of mawa. However nowadays short cut version or cheat versions of Mawa do exists. Yes cheat version of mawa calls for full fat milk powder and cream. Both once mixed and cooked until they turns thick makes some quick version of mawa. Coming to my today's post, this is definitely a must try sweet dish from Madhya Pradesh, yes Mawa Jalebi is one of the most known sweets from this region. Traditionally this sweet is prepared during Raksha bandhan, diwlali etc. Mawa Jalebi is definitely a fabulous sweet dish to prepare at home to share with your family and loved ones for special occasions.

Burfi is definitely a tasty Indian sweet recipe which is very much often cooked during many festivals and occasions. Though burfi can be prepared with different combination of flours or ingredients, its quite an easy sweet dish which can be prepared with an ease. Mawa or khoya which is a popular milk solids quite often used in many Indian sweets. Mawa is easily available in India though its quite an hard task for me to get them fresh as much as like we get in India. Obviously i will prepare mawa at home with full fat milk or else an another popular cheat version prepared with full fat milk powder and heavy cream. Trust me, this full fat homemade mawa works amazingly awesome for many delicious milk based sweets at home easily and quickly.

Halbai or Halubai is a sweet dish from Karnataka which is literally known as rice halwa or rice cake as this dish is usually prepared with rice, jaggery and coconut with ghee. This sweet is prepared during Nagara panchami festival and its quite a healthy sweet to indulge without any fuss. Halbai is  often made in Udupi, Mangalore and Malnad region of Karnataka for a festival or celebration. Halbai is quite a delicious sweet which ressembles quite like burfi which is dangerously addictive. Though Halbai is traditionally made with rice, even rice flour, ragi and semolina can be used to give an another variation to this ultimate sweet. Since fresh coconut and jaggery is used in this sweet, trust me you cant just stop with a slice of this ultimate sweet. As i told earlier, traditionally this dish is prepared with a grounded rice-coconut paste and jaggery syrup, once cooked until they turns thick, this sweet is poured on a grease plate. Later, slice the halbai and serve. But my today's post is completely prepared with chiroti rava, yes its quite an easy and tasty version of halbai.

If you are looking for an extremely easy sweets to dish out for some special occasions or else for a festival, dont forget to check this incredible Nariyal Khoya Laddoo. With just easily available ingredients and less than 5 ingredients you can roll out these incredibly delicious sweet balls in an ease. I carried unsweetened Khoya all the way from India and i have freezed them as small portions for further use. And i have been cooking with those frozen khoya portions for a while, trust me even after few months they are still prefect to dish some ultimate sweets or dishes out of them. You may wonder why i have carried those unsweetened khoya all the way from India, all because of their excellent quality. I have a friend who have her own dairy farm and she got a big packet of unsweetened khoya specially for me, how can i refuse her kind gesture. Obviously i brought them to Paris and those milk solids are ultimate to cook with.

A packet of whole multigrains aka Sathumaavu cereals were sitting in my pantry since a while. Though i grabbed this packet of mixed whole multigrains for making the usual traditional porridge with it, i changed my mind to dish out some dangerously laddoos with them. Its quite an authentic sweet balls, which is quite often prepared in many South Indian households just to feed everyone at home with these healthy and nutritious grains. Am running this week's blogging marathon with Make one type of Sweets, though Indians have many delightful sweets, i opted for laddoos. Hence am posting three different laddoos for this week's theme. Yesterday, i posted an interesting puffed lotus seeds and edible gum laddoos which is obviously a delicious sweets to give a try at home, and my today's post is this extremely delicious saathumaavu nei urundai, trust me these balls are dangerously addictive.

Phool Makhana aka puffed lotus seeds, its looks like popcorn is a good source of protein, carbohydrates, fibre, magnesium, potassium, iron and zinc. High in fibre and low in calories, its enables weight loss. Makhana seeds can be eaten raw, roasted  or ground. The puffed seeds are also used in some Indian sweets liks kheer, puddings and dry roasted snacks. Makhana Phool is also known as foxnut, makhana or gorgon plant. Basically phool makhana belongs to a family called ‘lilly’. Lillly is a flowering plant, that produces starchy white seeds and those seeds are purely edible. This plant is generally cultivated in low land areas of Indian, china and Japan.These countries have been cultivating this plant since many years to get the seeds. This plant is very well ready in its locations with dry and hot summers and even in cold winters. These seeds can be eaten raw, boiled or cooked in Indian cuisine.Seeds are collected in late summers and before autumn. These seeds are commonly used as fried or roasted, they get popped up like popcorn. Am running this week's blogging marathon with Make an Indian Sweet as theme, hence i picked to dish out some laddoos.

If you are looking for a healthy and droolworthy Indian sweet dish for your festive meal or to celebrate an event, dont forget to give a try to this gluten free Quinoa coconut milk payasam. Actually South Indians makes ultimate coconut based kheer with freshly squeezed coconut milk along with rice. Obviously i cant stop myself to dish out the same kheer aka payasam with protein rich quinoa. Am running this week's blogging marathon with Protein rich ingredient as theme for this week. After a tangy and fingerlicking quinoa vatha kuzhambu, am posting an another delightful and super delicious kheer prepared with less efforts. Quinoa is definitely a versatile grain and you can cook many ultimate dishes out of this Protein rich grain. I have been cooking with these grains since a while and this grain is one of my favourite grain after Oats. If you want to give a try to this grain, give a try with a sweet dish with this ultimate grains.

You might heard or had Churma, one of the popular sweet dish prepared either with crushed baatis or rotis with ghee and jaggery but about Churmo? you may wonder na. Even when i crossed this dish while googling i was very much surprised to see this Goan sweet. Obviously i was very curious to try this dish at home. And bookmarked immediately from Pooja's Space. Pooja shares many delicious Goan delicacies with catchy clicks. Whenever i feel like cooking a different Goan or Konkani style of dish, i cant think more than going through her space. And this churmo is also from her space. She says that Goan Hindus have a tradition to send a sweet baskets to their married daughters during festivals like Diwali and Ganesh chathurthi. And this Sweet baskets have varieties of laddoos,pedhas, karanjis and chivdas etc. One among those sweets, a mildy spicy Churmo also have its own place.

Though am running a month of blogging marathon, i couldnt stop myself to dish out some super duper healthy Alsi ki Pinni for this month's Shhhh cooking secretly event. This month's Shhh Cooking Secretly, a monthly event started by me, which is now hosted by Mayuri Patel is taking you all to Haryanvi Cuisine. You might have noticed that since few months, we are cooking from different Regional cuisines of India. After dishing out some delightful dishes from Gujarati cuisine, this month's event is all about Haryana. Alsi ki pinni is a very popular sweet in Haryana which is prepared with Alsi aka flax seeds, whole wheat flour, ghee, edible gum/gond, jaggery and cardamom powder.Pinni are prepared during winter as they gives lot of warm and energy to the body. Alsi aka lin seeds are extremely healthy and quite beneficial for cold and cough, as they gives strength. Lin seeds contains many nutritional properties, which control the cholesterol level of your body.