Pumpkin Halwa/ Kaddu ka halwa | The Novice Housewife Kaddu ka halwa or Pumpkin halwa is a sweet Indian pudding made by cooking pumpkin in milk and ghee. In previous posts, I have posted recipes for Carrot/gaajar ka Halwa, Atte ka halwa (whole wheat flour halwa) and semolina/suji ka halwa. This recipe is similar to the carrot halwa. Traditionally halwa uses khoya and that’s what I have used in this recipe. While people are wary of using store bought khoya because of adulteration, at my parents’ home the local milk man gives us homemade Khoya.  Khoya is made with milk that is cooked down so that most of the moisture is evaporated, lending dishes that use khoya an added texture and richness. If you do not have access to khoya, just increase the amount of milk used. In my carrot halwa recipe, there is no khoya and you can get almost similar results without khoya. The cooking time does increase though. I have also seen people use almond meal instead of Khoya, which helps thickening the halwa, and giving it an added richness. Read More →

Chicken Wonton Soup | The Novice HousewifeMost days I cook because we need food on the table, but some days I cook to forget everything else. Today was one such day.

I have mentioned before (and even though I run a food blog) cooking is not my first love. Baking is. But today was just the kind of day when I wanted to be in the kitchen. The kitchen- its my me place. Where I can just let go. So I baked and cooked and cooked some more.

This chicken wonton soup was a result of that.

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Eggless Apple Tart The Novice Housewife

Oh blog, how I missed you!

I really loved every part of my cake decorating course except for the traveling (that was the worst part- 2 hours bus ride one way was just way too much for me). But now I cant wait to get back home, which I’ll be in another three days *doing a happy dance*. And to be very honest I missed blogging, (the whole setting up and photographing for the blog included) and the blogging world in general with all its talented people. I missed it all! I missed you all!

Besides the traveling (which, as mentioned before, I hated), the course was all that I hoped it to be. I am still not perfect but I learnt a lot in the past two months and met a bunch of gifted people and am so glad I finally decided to do this course. I had mentioned in my previous post that I was intimidated by my classmates but as someone pointed out in one of the comments on that post that its a blessing since I get to learn not only from the teachers but from my course mates as well, that’s exactly how it turned out to be. I am so blown away with the talent that my friends from class have and its great that I got to be in the company of such brilliantly talented people.

I will be sharing pictures of what I did in my course and then some of my stay in Canada soon, but today I wanted to share the recipe of this eggless apple tart that I made yesterday. Just because its that good. And good things should be shared ASAP.

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