This picture has been downloaded from the internet.


A question I am asked fairly frequently, is 'How do you cook your pasta???' - because I do make pasta once a week. Mostly I use the very easy macaroni . But I do not use any precise measures for the pasta or the water. This is what I do..

Boil water with about a 1/2 tsp of salt in it.

Once boiled, add the pasta. The level of the pasta should be an inch at least, below the water level.

As soon as the water with the pasta STARTS to boil, I switch off the stove, add a 5 -6 drops of Olive oil and give it a good stir.

Then I put a lid on, and wait 5 minutes.

By now most of the small macaroni is cooked . Sometimes the shell type macaroni takes a about 2 - 3 more minutes.

The macaroni would slightly increase in size, would look mostly opaque, while a bit in the middle may still be translucent.

As soon as the pasta is cooked to my liking, I drain the water by pouring the entire thing through a big strainer and hold the pasta under running water to stop it cooking more. I pour 1 tsp (or more) of  olive oil over the pasta slowly, while tossing, to coat it evenly in the oil.

Pasta is ready !!

Chicken Lasagna

I made this for dinner yesterday. It was the first time I tried making it, thought it has been on my mind for quite some time... I had stocked the pasta sheets a while back and was reading a few recipes.. And as I mostly do, I did not follow any specific one, just made the mince and added things as I would want ..I would have loved some mushrooms, but we could not find any ...

For the mince-
Minced Chicken - freshly minced, 200 gms
Onion - 2 medium (diced)
Garlic - 4 to 5 cloves (chopped) [u can add ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp - or even both]
Paprika or red chilly powder - 1 tsp
Tomatoes - 5 fairly large ones (finely dice 3 of them and reserve 2 - or blanch 3, peel and then dice.)
Capsicum - 1 medium sized (diced)
Mushrooms - 1 cup chopped into bite sized pieces (optional)
Vinegar - 1 tsp
Tomato ketchup - 1 tbsp
Green peas - 1/2 cup frozen peas, lightly blanched
Dried oregano - 1/4 tsp or more
Freshly ground pepper - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Cheese - 1/4 cup (i used a mix of cheddar and mozzarella)
Olive oil


In a thick bottomed vessel, heat the oilve oil, add the chopped onions, once they sweat, add the garlic and/ or ginger garlic paste and cook till the raw smell goes.

Add the minced chicken and the paprika or chilli powder and fry till the colour changes. Now add the 3 diced tomatoes, cover with a lid and cook till the tomatoes are soft and mushy.

 Add the mushrooms, the vinegar and tomato ketchup and salt to taste. Add the dried oregano and freshly ground pepper. The green peas added at last .

Finally, turn off the stove, add the grated cheese and stir through to mix everything evenly. The consistency should be such that it should be easy to spread , but not runny.

I chopped up the remaining 2 tomatoes and added it to this to add additional freshness. You can opt to slice the tomatoes thinly and wait till layering the pasta.

The white sauce
Flour - 3 tbsp
Olive oil - 1 tbsp
Butter - 1 tsp
Milk - 3 tp 4 tbs
salt, pepper and a hint of nutmeg to taste.

Heat a pan, add teh oil and butter, cook the flour till blonde, then slowly add the milk , STIRRING all teh while and the sauce coats the spoon, there are no lumps and is smooth, but not runny. add the salt , pepper and nutmeg powder. Do not add more than a tiny pinch of nutmeg.


Keep a 1/2 cup of grated cheese for topping the layers

Layering the pasta
Grease a baking dish, spoon in a layer of mince, add a layer of thinly sliced tomatoes and then the pasta sheet on top. add a layer of white sauce. Then some grated cheese. keep adding  layers till the last layer is white sauce and lots of grated cheese.

Cover the dish with aluminium foil.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes , at 180 degree C .Remove the foil, Insert a skewer and the pasta sheets should be cooked through. Now bake for 5 more minutes to brown the top layer.

Lasagna is ready to serve....!!

Triangle clay pendant with mirrors

This is a custom piece I made for my friend. She asked me to make something that resemble the piece I had made and gifted my sister. For a change,I curved the edges slightly , added three sheesha or embroidery mirrors and gave some ethnic looking colours with a final dust of bronze. I also made the hook out of thin copper wire and wrapped it in a fan shape.

the necklace was make with blue-green seed beads and mauve and pink colour crystals. 

Winner of the Earring giveaway...

The lucky winner of the earring Giveaway  for SWARDAA, is Shwetha Shenoy. Our daughter picked the winner.

Shwetha has a blog with lots of lovely recipes.. It is called Dashami's collection. I have linked it here.

Handmade pendant and Monalisa beads

This is one of the first pendants I made , as a trial, for my Jewelry collection. This is made from Air-dry clay and hand moulded and coloured.

I first had the beads I intended to make the necklace ready ,and then went on to make the pendant. For a touch of colourm I added the deep-pink flower. The rest of the triangle-shaped pendant complemets the colours of the beads. Shades of green and bronze.

These are the beads ...


And the final set, with the matching earrings, which I gifted to my little sister - Suni..

Introducing ....."SWARDAA", and a Free Giveaway

I have just started a Page on Facebook, called Swardaa... which means 'Gifting Heaven' in Sanskrit. Coincidentally, it also has a similarity to my name, includes my husband's and our daughter's first letters too... So I am totally happy about that choice.

This is a dream come true... and I need all your best wishes to go forward with it...

I have just started with jewelry, and mean to expand into some crafts, collectibles and also art work that I plan to sell. Hopefully I will have an online shop soon..
Right now, I am having a FREE GIVEAWAY on my Facebook page and all of you,who are interested may try your luck. The winner will be declared on 24th September and I will courier the earrings ASAP...!!

This beautiful logo has been designed by my cousin Vimal, and apart from being a great designer, he is a superb photographer as well.. You can have a look at his page HERE...

So a quick peek at the earrings for the giveaway,

There are just three simple rules.. SO please go for it... Good luck ...!!

Mathanga (pumpkin) and Vanpayar (red cow peas) erissery

Our first Onam in our newly renovated home. This is one of the dishes that I had not made before , though it is definitely a part of any Onasadya in our homes in Kerala. I was never a fan of pumpkin until I started cooking myself. 

I am going to put up the easiest version. Exactly as I made the dish. With the help of a pressure cooker. 

Pumpkin - 400 gms (peeled , deseeded and cut into cubes)

Vanpayar (red cow peas) - 1 cup or more 

Grated coconut - 1/2 cup

Green chillies - 2 nos

Cumin seeds - 1/4 tsp 

Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder - a pinch

Salt to taste

Curry leaves - 1 stem or more

Coconut oil - 1 tsp 

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

dried red chilly - 2 nos

Soak the peas for 30 minutes and then add about 1 and 1/2 cups water, and pressure cook till three whistles. Once the steam escapes, add the pumpkin cubes, chilli and turmeric powder and cook on a medium flame till the pumpkin turns soft enough to mash. (Leave a few lumps of pumpkin for texture.)

 Do not add any water if possible. Avoid pressure cooking again because the pumkin may be overcooked.

Grind the grated coconut, green chillies and cumin seeds to a fine paste. Add this to the cooker. Once the errisery starts to bubble, turn it off. It should not have too much water or too little. 

In a hot kadai, heat the coconut oil, splutter mustar seeds, curry leaves and the dry red chillies. Add it to the cooker  and stir twice. 

Delicately flavored and great with rice. I think it would make a good curry for chappatis too..

And given below - my husband  and our daughter with our Pookkalam (flower arrangement) -  another tradition of Onam.