Dahi Vada Recipe | Dahi Bhalla Chaat

When I have guests over for a meal, I plan our menu based on beverage - appetizer - main course - sides - dessert.   Usually with a roti-sabji or rice-curry combination, I keep a side of salad and/or a raita.  Raita is so simple and quick to make, great to have something cooling the system, and easily adds another item to the menu.  But these days, instead of making raita, I prefer making dahi vada.  It's a little more work, agreed, but sometimes totally worth having a dahi vada instead of a simple raita.

Carrot and Ginger Soup Recipe | Vegetarian Soup Recipe Ideas

I had come across a question some time back on how to thicken a soup.  One can add potato while boiling the vegetables then blend, so that the starchiness in potato can help thicken a soup.  But then you cannot add potato in just about any soup.  So another method is to add cornstarch paste (cornstarch mixed with some water) while boiling the strained puree make a soup thick.  But then, not everyone likes to add cornstarch to their soup.  You can also add heavy cream toward the end, while it cannot rescue a thinned down soup, heavy cream helps to make a soup creamier (and yummier).  But you know what my preferred method is?

Add lesser water when blending, to begin with.  That's how I make my soups, that's how I made this delicious carrot and ginger soup.

Basic Eggless Vanilla Cake Recipe | Egg-free Baking | Vanilla Cake without eggs

A basic vanilla cake is a canvas, to paint your imagination.  A basic vanilla cake is a like your marble stone, to carve and sculpt with your vision.  You can add different flavors to your vanilla cake batter, or divide batter to add different colors to each portion to bake into a colorful cake.  You can fill your basic vanilla cake layers with numerous kinds of fillings, and decorate it with various kinds of frostings.  There's so much you can do.

In this post, I will share with you one of the recipes to bake your own egg-free homemade vanilla cake from scratch along with an FAQ on possible mistakes, substitutions, and suggestions.