Black eyed Peas Curry for New Years

In Southern United States, eating Black eyed peas on New Years day is considered to bring luck & prosperity. I knew this bit of information for years but come New Years day I would some how forget it. So this year I made sure to follow it through by eating black eyed peas on new years day. Though the dish is made in Indian style, I'm sure it's going to bring us luck & prosperity because it's healthy and health beats wealth in my book.
I love black eyed peas because they don't need pre-soaking and cook really fast. I always make sure that I have a bag of these in my pantry for quick meal solutions. They can be used to make curries or rice dishes and make great addition to salads and burgers as well.

As I was looking for recipes to make with black eyed peas, I found this flavorful curry recipe in 660 Curries cookbook by Raghavan Iyer. Here black eyed peas are flavored with ground coconut, onions and green chilies. Very simple preparation, yet very delicious.

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Linzer Cookies (Eggless Recipe)

Blogging Marathon# 36: Week 1/ Day 3
Theme: Cookies
Dish: Linzer Cookies

For the 3rd day of the Cookie marathon, I made Linzer cookies. Not sure why I always thought making linzer cookies was difficult, may be because the name is so fancy!! But come to find out that they are nothing but almond or hazelnut cookies sandwiched together with a jam or chocolate spread in the middle.

Couple of weeks ago I was looking for something in a closet and to my surprise I found Linzer cookie cutter set that I had bought (who knows when) hiding in the back of the closet. So that started my search of Linzer cookie recipes and I found one on King Arthur Flour site.

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Custard Cookies (Eggless recipe)

Blogging Marathon# 36: Week 1/ Day 2
Theme: Cookies
Dish: Custard Cookies

For Day 2 of marathon, I have these super simple to make Custard cookies. These are basically cookies flavored with custard powder and hence the name, custard cookies. Not sure what made me look for custard cookies, but I googled for them and found this recipe on BBC Good food site. I recently bought some caster sugar (super fine sugar) and used it in this recipe.

These cookies are easy to make, no freezing or refrigeration of the dough required. Just mix all the ingredients and form into little cookies and bake. I added some mini chocolate chips to half of the dough, so that my choco-loving son will have a share too. With or without chocolate chips, these cookies are great -- they just melt in your mouth.

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Fruit & Nut Cookies (Pistachio-Cranberry Shortbread Cookies)

Blogging Marathon# 36: Week 1/ Day 1
Theme: Cookies
Dish: Fruit & Nut Cookies (Pistachio-Cranberry Cookies)

Here's Wishing everyone a very Happy, healthy & prosperous New Year 2014.
Our blogging marathon group is back again in the new year with BM# 36. To start the new year on a sweet note, I'm making some cookies for the first week of the marathon. I wanted to post a savory cookie too, but posted this baked mathri last week/ year itself.

I made 3 types of cookies and this eggless fruit cake to give as edible gifts this Christmas season. Last few years the cookies I made for Christmas had eggs in them and it didn't bother me. But this year I was baking for family who don't eat eggs and I had to find eggless cookie recipes or at least recipes that had only 1~2 eggs, so I can easily replace them egg replacer.

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