I like to feed Nehal healthy desserts made from nutrition rich ingredients than a fat-rich cake or mithai. Sesame seeds Laddu falls under the category of healthy dessert. Nuvvula Unda or Nuvvula Laddu is a classic Andhra style sweet prepared for festivals like Nagula Chavati. At home, we make this calcium rich sweet often.

Little pearl onions aka shallots have an intense flavor and give curries and intense flavor, be it vegetarian or meat based. I use them a lot in my regular cooking and today’s recipe has shallots as the star ingredient.

We Andhras love our Pachadis (chutney/condiment) and in our home pachadis are revered. Seriously. Mom makes the BEST pachadis you can ever imagine. The aromas that fill the kitchen during the preparatory process is something that has to be experienced. For instance, take today’s pachadi which calls for green chilies. The aroma of green chilies roasting is simply intoxicating while the sizzle of tempered spices hold promise of an eternally pleasing meal to come.

Its time to announce the winners of the Apron Giveaway. A whopping 1100 readers participated in the giveaway. I wish I could give each of the 1100 readers, a Kalamkari Apron. I really wish I could.

Mocha brownies are to die for. With deep notes of expresso, fudge like texture, mocha brownies have decadence written all over them. A great way to end a meal is with chocolate, serve it as a party dessert and you will wow your guests who are sure to ask you for the recipe.

I haven’t posted any Indian Chinese recipes in a while and was going through the archives when I realized that I had not blogged a popular Indian Chinese appetizer, Vegetable Manchurian. Its prepared almost on the same lines as Gobi Manchurian except that we use finely chopped mixed vegetables instead of Gobi (Cauliflower).

Truffles make for a perfect gift and are super easy to make with just two ingredients ~ chocolate and heavy cream. There are numerous ways by which you can flavor the truffles, alchohol, orange zest/citrus peel, cayenne chili, cinnamon and expresso being some of them. This is a basic chocolate truffles recipe and one cannot go wrong with it.

Sailu’s Kitchen is 6 years old and I am celebrating my blog anniversary with a giveaway. I am giving away 4 Handmade Kalamkari aprons designed by me to 4 lucky winners. This giveaway is open to all readers till 15th November, 2011 (midnight India time). Good Luck and have fun!

I always have left over Idlis when I prepare Idlis for breakfast or dinner. When I am in need of a quick snack, all I do is saute the crumbled cold refrigerated idlis with a spiced base of onions and lots of fresh coriander leaves. I tend to play with the spices each time I go the crumbled idli upma way.

Raw Plantains are a low glycemic source of carbohydrate and full of nutrition. Aratikaya as its called in our part of the world is a regular every day vegetable in South Indian vegetarian cuisine. The key is to use fresh and firm green plantains before they ripen to a yellow shade. Today’s stir fry recipe is perfect side dish with rice, sambar, papad and a bowl of yogurt.