Onion Coriander Mini Muffins and some Gratitude

Food. It has never ceased to amaze me. The flavours, the combinations. The traditional, the fusion foods. Everything about it seems wonderful. I'd be lying if I said I was always interested in cooking. I have been doing it for a long time. I started out of sheer necessity. Baking was a different journey altogether. There was no "need" to bake. There was just a book lying on Amma's bookshelf that intrigued me. After years of sticking to recipes, I have finally started experimenting.

For the first party we threw in a long time, I was sure I didn't want to make any deep fried starters. I made some oven baked aloo tikkis, savoury cookies, and spicy crackers. Somehow, I got the feeling that these may not be enough. So, at the last minute, I decided to make some savoury muffins. I served with these with salsa. They were simply superb.

1/4 cup Oil
1/2 cup Wheat Flour
1 cup Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
2 tbsp Sugar
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Chilli Powder

1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup Milk
1/4 cup Coriander Leaves, chopped

1/2 tsp Green Chilli Paste

1 Onion, chopped
50g Cheese, diced

Preheat the oven to 190 C (375 F). Grease a 24 - mini muffin pan.

Sift the dry ingredients and keep aside. Whisk the eggs, milk and oil. Add the chilli paste, coriander, cheese and onion. Slowly add the dry ingredients and stir gently. Place a spoonful of batter in each cup.


Bake for 25 minutes. Serve warm with some salsa on the side. (I served it with Karen Anand's Mexican Salsa.) Wait for the compliments to pour in.



When I look back, I think of the many opportunities I missed. The many times I could have asked someone how they made a certain dish and written it down, but didn't. The many times I could have come back home and tried to recreate a dish I'd just tasted at a restaurant, only to have forgotten about it over time.

I don't know how many times I bought new notebooks and wrote "Cookbook" on the first page only to forget after the initial enthusiasm faded away. I've lost count of the photocopies I've taken of other peoples' recipe books, only to misplace them during shifting and then forget about them altogether. I've stopped collecting the envelopes on which I've quickly noted down Amma's recipes over long distance calls. I guess that's because I finally got organized when it came to keeping my recipes in tact. Through this blog.

That's all this blog was intended to be. My answer to all those forgotten notebooks, lost photocopies and envelopes thrown in the bin accidentally. My attempt to take down a recipe from Amma or my aunts just once and save them for posterity. It's funny how popular this blog actually turned out to be. I remember telling Nandita in my very first post that I didn't plan on uploading any pictures. Egged on by all the wonderful blogs and the even the more wonderful bloggers, I took pictures, learnt how to make them better, and above all else continually got the energy to keep this blog going. I don't know how to say thanks.

I was never lucky in any sort of "lucky draw". But through the food blogging experience, I won a lovely book from Sig last year. My last minute entry to the AFAM Cherry won me this wonderful handmade gift from Rachel. Thank you for the lovely kitchen set Rachel.

This past year, this blog, and through it, I, have featured in leading newspapers and magazines. The Hindu featured this blog in their Food Bytes section. The Telegraph ran this story in their Sunday edition. In March this year, Ritu interviewed me for this story in Live IT. A couple of glimpses:

A closer look:

You never know where an initiative can take you. From my first newspaper mention for this blog to my first sale of a banana nut loaf, this year has been eventful. Thank you to each and everyone of you for helping me reach 450 posts in 731 days. If it wasn't for each of you, I doubt I'd be saying, "Happy 2nd Birthday, The Singing Chef!"