The Pink Café

All Salad lovers out there; if you want to put together a very simple salad which has the goodness of all that macros, this is the one to go for. This is highly protein packed because of the prawns addition, and my addiction to Prawns helps me to have protein this way easily :P Oh my philosophy is going overboard sometimes right :P Ok then, not going to much into philosophy and making you bored, coz I dont want you guys to stop reading this post now and miss such an awesome lunch or dinner idea, which is healthy wholesome, lovely...oh no again ;) Ingredients: Brown rice cooked Prawns  salad : Prawns cleaned and deveined- 200 gms  Chilly powder - 1 tsp Pink salt to taste  Onion powder 1 tsp  Garlic powder 1 tsp Pepper powder 1/2 tsp Garlic chopped 2 tbsp Ginger chopped 1 tbsp Beans cut lengthwise 1 cup Green peas -1/4cup Egg plant diced - 1/4 cup Cherry tomatoes  🍒 7 to 8 Basil 🌿 Method: Pour a little coconut oi...

Again another healthy sweet of this Diwali. Dry fruit burfi. I was so glad to see it coming out just like store brought one, but taste much better, because I used a lot of exotic dry fruits and nuts to make it an ultimate one. You can see from recipe, that there is no sweetness added too. So what more healthy than this sweet right :) Try it out and enjoy. This is the best way to make sure your kids who doesn't like dry fruits and nuts will get all the goodness and they will enjoy this to core. Ingredients: Dates - 2 cups Prunes - 1 cup Figs - 1/2 cup Raisins (white and black) - 1/4 cup Nuts - Cashews, Pistachios, Peanuts, Almonds (1/2 cup each. Peanuts 1/4 cups) Ghee - 1/2 cup Cardamom powder - 1 tsp Khus Khus or poppy seeds - 1/4 cup Method: Roast poppy seeds and keep it aside.  Now blend the dates, prunes, figs and raisins in a mixer into coarse paste.  Chop all nuts and ghee roast it for few minutes. Make sure it doe...

Yet another sweet prepared for Diwali. Health Tagline in mind, so again Oats, Ragi and Jaggery :) This is such a wonderful ladoo, that you cannot stop in one, and guilt free because of its ingredients.  Try out and see yourself ! Ingredients: Oats - 2 cups Ragi flour - 1 cup Peanuts - 1/2 cup Cashews  - 1/4 cup Clove powder - 1 tsp Cloves - 8 to 10 Raisins - 1/4 cup Jaggery or brown sugar - 1 cup Ghee - 1/2 cup Method: Dry roast oats and make a powder out of it. Dry roast ragi flour as well. Now roast peanuts and grind it also into a powder. A little bit of chunks is fine. In a pan pour ghee and add all these powders. Add clove powder as well. Add jaggery powder or brown sugar and cook till it is melted and combined with the flours.  Now add roasted or plain cashews and raisins and cloves. Sprinkle little water to make balls out of it. Try to roll when it is still hot. If it gets cooled down, the powders won't stick to...

This time christmas was light for us, as I was just back from a 1 month world roaming and was very tired. But Christmas has to be celebrated as well, and I figured out lazy cozy dishes which looks really gorgeous but easy to put together. One among our Christmas lunch spread was this cute, lovely chicken pot pie. I remember my Hubby asking me last year, "Do you know how to make Chicken pie? " and Swathy doesn't have a no for anything, Of course darling. Chicken Pot pie is here for you :) The passionate cook in me took that as a challenge and when I was planning Christmas 2018 spread this came to my mind, coz I knew it is easy to put together, as I have experience in berry and chocolate pie making and also a one pot dish which looks complicated and elite. I made a simple design as well, which looks like rose buds on top of pie dome, with a cross to get the heat inside to flow. When it came out of oven it resembled a Christmas wreath though. Coincidence, isn't i...

So this was yet another participant of my Diwali event, Pancharatna Dal. This is a north Indian delicacy, of course Dal is something Northies will die for. I have a small North Indian inclination which I figured out lately. Its to their cuisine, the dressing and my love for hindi even though my hindi sometimes kills the language :P lol My North Indian friends will raise the flag saying, Swathy, lets talk in English please. But as you know nothing can stop me, I will still go on with the horrifying hindi that finally makes them run away :D So as the name itself, Panchratna, means 5 stars. I should say, what all mother nature gave us are real stars, of which the legumes and grams, oh my god how versatile they are and how well they get along with any other partners of them. Dals are always made as accompaniment to main dishes like rice, parathas, phulkas and rotis. This Diwali my pancharatna dal was backing my ghee paratha, which is yet another super hit recipe of mine...

Diwali hai, tho bahana sweets ka, but not in expense of health and all the hardships in gym I thought. 2018 Diwali was celebrated with all the arrangements for Diwali including diyas, crackers, lights and a whole lot of sweets and exotic dinner. Of course Diwali is most popular in Northern India, so my spread was also North aligned. But being a Malayali you know, we have a little bit strange custom for Diwali, that we will cook non veg food that day. So I have to say, the entire North influence with a small touch of Malayali custom. Again the chicken was North influenced Dhaniya chicken. I guess this one is the first among  the ones prepared on 2018 Diwali, I am posting and hence the story telling of Diwali. I was attired in a choli which my Hubby gifted me on our last wedding anniversary. I should say I love it so much so was waiting for an occasion to put it again. So a bit of details on this recipe. As I mentioned, I wanted a healthy Diwali and hence m...