Soulful Creations

I love Thai sticky rice with mangoes and I make sure I order it every time I am in one of the Thai restaurants. Finally I decided to make it my way and the inspiration or I guess the impetus was finally removed by the IAVW: Thai event hosted by Priya of Akshayapatram. The "Its a vegan world" was introduced by Vaishali of Holy Cow (love her blog!). Here is my contribution to this event Ingredients 1 mango, sweet not too fibrous preferably! 1 cup sticky rice (I used unsweetened sushi rice) 1 1/2 cups water 1/2 cup unrefined sugar, reserve 2 tbsp 3 tbsp molasses 2 cardomom pods, crushed 1 cup coconut milk, reserve about 2 tbsp for garnish 1 tsp vanilla extract Whipped cream and toasted seasame seeds for garnish Method I took a lazy approach 1. Soak the rice in cooking water for about 10 min. To the rice add the cardomom, sugar and molasses. Cook the rice in a pressure cooker (If you don't have one, you can cook the rice in a cooking pot with a tight fitting lid), l...

Here is my newest creation. I really love the bold glass pendant. I usually don't make ones with big pendants.

It seems like it is finally spring here in the Boston area- at least in the next few days temperatures are lingering the upper 60's (I sound like a weather girl!). Anyway, I decided to welcome the 80's this weekend by making something delicious (Mind you, I did not know that it was going to turn out to be delicious). I made Fresh Pineapple-Zucchini bread, the basic recipe comes from here , but of course I had to experiment! Ingredient 2 eggs 3/4 cup white sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 cup vegetable oil 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1/4 teaspoon clove powder 1 cup grated zucchini 1 1/3 cup fresh pineapple, pureed 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 3/4 teaspoon baking soda 3/4 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 cup chopped pineapple Method Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In another bowl, mix oil, eggs, vanilla, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Blend in pineapple and zucchini. Stir flour mixture into zucchini mixture. Pour batt...

Yesterday, I came across this recipe here and decided to make it since simple is all I wanted yesterday. I have made an Asian style pasta before but the sauce I made for that was different than this. This pasta was super easy to make, I doubled all the amounts so that both of us could pack it for lunch. I followed most of the recipe except a few things a. I added store-bought chilli garlic sauce (quite a few dashes, since I was craving spicy food) b. I omitted the broccoli and added sugar snap peas (what better than a handful to these beauties!) c. I added so y sauce instead of teriyaki sauce and omitted the sugar called for in the original recipe. d. I added nearly a third of a cup of lime juice and even topped it with more lime juice before serving. e. I also added nearly 2 tbsp of chopped ginger. I am sending this to Presto pasta nights hosted by Hillary of Chew on that blog Judgement day: While the flavor was great, the pasta was a bit dry. I think I would add more of the broth...

For a long time I have wanted to give these pancake mixes a try (don't ask me why because they are quite easy to make from scratch also!). Anyway, I bought this beautiful buckwheat pancake mix- all it had was the stone ground buckwheat and some levening agents (can't remember which brand). I did not the follow the package instructions word for word. I added more milk than it required and some spices too. I also added some diced mangoes (about 3/4th of a cup). The pancakes were then topped with some powdered sugar, homemade chocolate whipped cream and syrup. The result was beautiful and as usual I made too little of it- left us hungry even after about 3 pancakes each.

Hi folks தமிழ் புத்தாண்டு வாழ்த்துக்கள்! Well albeit belated- it was on the 14th of this month. The spread I made was not as elaborate even though I spent about 90 minutes of non-stop cooking. This is what I made for வருஷபிறப்பு- Lemon rice, Coconut rice, beans poriyal, aval payasam, papad. I also simply cut the mangoes and served them instead of the classic மங்கா பச்சடி (mango chutney).

I love the color on this one- makes me cheery everytime I look at it. I made this a while ago and am still proud of it!

Earth Hour is the brain child of WWF and Sydney Morning Herald. It was first held in 2007. For two years now- last Saturday of March, people have been urged to turn their lights switch off to save energy. We did what we could- turned the lights and TV off. We avoided using the microwave a nd opening the refrigerator. We ate in the living room feebly lit by candles. This brought back some of the best memories of home- I used to love when there were power cuts especially at nights, the city would seem to fall into this unrealistic calm. Anyway, I am almost sure we did not make even a tiny bit of difference but at least we made it a point to do our part. But we enjoyed the earth hour with some good food- ready made parattas (kotthu parota macchi!) and great kurma that my friend made. The guys however were too drunk (homemade margaritas and guinness beer) to care...Just kidding guys!!! Check here for how the rest of the world does it, I like the Eiffel tower and the parliament bldg in Lo...