Chocolate Frosting for Cakes

Now that I have made this cake quite a few times, I thought it needs some icing and frosting to make it look as good (if not better) as it tastes. I decided to try out my most favourite source: the internet. I really shouldn't have. They don't look so frightening when I am polishing off the cream from my birthday cake. They are all – sweet! What I didn't realise was, there were so many! With egg, without egg, with butter, without butter they're all out there and I was, of course, clueless what to choose to suit my needs. I chose the one with the butter, but without the eggs because mousse cakes already have a lot of eggs in them.

However, I was becoming braver and ... lazier! I thought about the Chocolate Mousse Cake recipe I had posted earlier. Before adding the eggs ... now that was a good start. Except of course, for the fact that whole thing was a little too runny to go as a cake icing. But I swear it tasted like heaven.

Easy to make Mayonnaise Dip

I was searching for a home made mayonnaise recipe for ages, because I sort of distaste the mayonnaise which is usually available in the markets. During the search I came across many recipes from different websites, magazines and blogs but those didn't really satisfy my expectation ! Mostly because those recipes contain one ingredient or other which is not available in the nearby market and supermarket. Finally after a long wait one day I accidentally found what I was actually looking for in my mom's recipe diary !! This recipe contains very easy to find ingredients and the method is also quite easy. And yes it tastes yummy too ! Hopefully it will be helpful for you as well. Now to cut the long story short , let's give you the recipe -

Shallow Fried Calamari Rings with a Twist

Squids or calamari is a widely popular seafood with a very rich flavour. These are cooked in a number of ways but the most popular variant, perhaps, is fried calamari rings. I found the recipe first in the BBC food blog. That recipe, in itself is quick and wonderful to taste. It has a simple yet rich sea flavour and is a wonderful hit among almost everyone. And if you are anything like my Dad, you are adverse to strong sea flavours. However if you are totally like my Dad and somewhat like my partner, you'll want a spicy twist on everything that comes within inches of your mouth (and/or nose).

Enter, my partner and his culinary experiments. He has an enviable spice cabinet, and an even more enviable sense of flavours and combination. I have given up counting how many times I have been sceptical about his experiments in the kitchen and then forgot about my health (diet) mission while tucking into it. But I think I am starting to trust his gut feelings. Also, we skipped the beaten eggs so that the rings do not get over-burdened. That's where I'll stop the trash-talking and take you to the calamari rings recipe with a spicy twist.

Reshmi Kabab

The name says it all. Reshmi kabab (kebab) is the ultimate delight in the kebab category due to its incredible melt-in-the-mouth softness (and hence the name reshmi). I came across the idea of making this through this website but I must admit it was a failure. I knew it would be disappointing because the recipe was something that reminded me strongly of Tandoori chicken, but the almonds kept me going because I really didn't want to believe that an about.com recipe would fail, but it did. It was far from the silken soft texture that this dish is all about. So I was looking up at other websites for a solution. I looked here and here and here and I knew one thing was common. It was the cream used instead of the yoghurt. I was not sure if the heavy cream would work so well. But then this wonderful thing happened. Also I played a little with the spices to get it accurate. I hope you'll enjoy it.

Non-vegetarian Momo with Chicken, Pork or Beef Filling

This is a Tibetan recipe as you most probably know and is taking the city by storm for a past few years; a fad so popular that it has replaced the age old favourites of noodles and rolls the city was so proud of! A health conscious yet fast food addict generation has switched to the wonderful, wonderful world of – momos!

I personally have been having momos before this momo addiction broke out, at a time when I would know the very few momo joints by heart and could tell from one shop to another just by taste. In fact, without sounding too conceited, I somewhat reckoned myself a Kolkata-momo connoisseur. Not for long though, as innumerable other joints cropped up and road-side vendors took it up, making it a household name. Everyone has their own secret recipe and eventually, ways to Indianising the dish, making it more fast food oriented, inevitably crept in.

Thai Soup with a Citric Flavour

I am a huge fan of Chinese recipes. Be it eating out or takeaways, I'm always in. I love how something so simple as the garlic and the spring onions work together to create something so delicious – albeit with a few little tweaks – creating hundreds of delicious and sumptuous dishes that always succeed to fail my health (read weight loss) mission. And along with it, I must mention two other similar genre: the  Thai and  the Tibetan recipes.

Today, I am going to share a recipe, very popular with the Chinese restaurants around Kolkata and a very dear favourite of mine. I have not accomplished the recipe perfectly but this is as close as I can get to it right now. If I revise it further, I'll be sure to update it. I highly doubt if this is an authentic Thai dish to start with. I personally believe the restaurants serve an Indianised twist on the original recipe and I have tried to follow what I had at a number of Chinese restaurants around the city.