FOOD FASCINATION

Mixed Vegetable Vaag

2011-06-02T11:00:00.001+05:30

Mixed Vegetable VAAG

Ingredients:

Potato ......................... 2 no., peeled, cubed,cooked

Brown Chana............... ½ cup, soaked overnight, cooked

Capsicum green...........1 no., chopped length wise, cooked

Tomato........................1 no, roughly chopped

Salt .............................to taste.

For the Masala:

Coriander seeds............1 tsp

Fenugreek seeds..........4-6 seeds

Red chillies...................5-6

Oil.................................1/4^th tsp

Grated coconut...........1/4^th cup

For the Seasoning:

Curry leaves..............1 sprig

Mustard seeds...........1 tsp

Oil..............................1 tsp

Method:

In a skillet heat about 1/4 tsp oil and fry the coriander seeds, methi and red chillies till they give out aroma.

Grind all the fried ingredients along with enough water and grated coconut. Make it into a fine paste. Set it aside.

Heat about 1 tsp oil in a kadhai and put in the mustard seeds and curry leaves, when they begin to splutter add the ground paste and fry for sometime.

Throw in the chopped tomatoes and fry for till it turns mushy.

Add the cooked vegetables ,brown chana, salt mix well and cool till it starts to boil.

Turn off the flame. Serve it with rice or roti.

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Award!!!

Chandrani of Cuisine Delights has generously passed on a lovely award to me.Thanks a lot dear it really is a great encouraging gesture :P

As it's hard to choose just a few names I'd like to pass on the award to every foodie friend of mine who drops by to read this post :P Please feel free to collect the award and display it in your blog. Cheers!!!!!!

Broken Wheat Khichdi

2011-05-28T16:24:00.002+05:30

Ingredients:

Broken wheat/lapsi.......... 1 cup, stone picked, wash it thoroughly, drain the water, set it aside

Cabbage........................... 100 gms, roughly chopped

Yellow pumpkin............... 1 cup, chopped into bite size

Potato............................. 1, chopped into bite sized pieces

Carrot............................. 2, chopped into bite sized pieces

Onion.............................. 1, chopped roughly

Turmeric powder............ 1/2 tsp

Cumin powder................ 1 tsp

Coriander powder.......... 1 tsp

Ginger.............................1/2” piece, finely chopped

Ghee............................... 1-2 table spoons

Salt ................................ to taste

Method:

      Heat ghee in a pressure cooker, add ginger and fry for a few seconds.

   Add all the vegetables and spice powders, salt, broken wheat and mix

   Add 3 cups of water and mix well again.

   Pressure cook it for 3 whistles.

   Once the pressure cooker cools,empty the khichdi into another vessel.

   Serve it hot with a drizzle of ghee, pickle and raita.

Lauki (Bottle Gourd) Kofta Curry

2011-05-23T18:41:00.002+05:30


Lauki Kofta Curry

Ingredients:

Recipe Source: Googled

For the Koftas:

Bottle gourd/Lauki - 1. Number

Besan/ gram flour – 1 cup

Onion – 1

Potato - 1

Green chilli – 2

Ginger – ½ “ piece

Turmeric – ¼ tsp

Curry leaves – 1 tbsp

Coriander leaves – 1 tbsp

Red chilli powder – 1/2 tsp

Cooking soda – a pinch

Salt - to taste

Oil – for frying

Ingredients :

For the Gravy:

Onion – 3

Tomato – 2

Garlic cloves – 5

Ginger – ½ “ piece

Turmeric - ¼ tsp

Red chilli powder - ½ tsp

Coriander powder – 2 tbsp

Cumin powder , roasted – ¼ tsp

Garam masala – ½ tsp

Coriander leaves – 1 tsp

Cumin seeds – ½ tsp

Salt – to taste

Oil – 1 tbsp

Method:

For the Koftas:

·         Boil potato, peel, mash
·         Chop onion, green chilli, ginger, curry leaves, coriander leaves
·         Peel, grate the bottle gourd, squeeze excess juice and keep it aside for the curry.
·         Take the gram flour in a wide mouthed vessel, to it add onion, ginger, curry leaves, coriander leaves, turmeric powder, red chilli powder, salt, mashed potato mix all these and make it into a dough.
·         Make it into small balls and deep fry in oil and set it aside.

For the Gravy:

· Chop 1 onion, 2 green chillies

· Grind ginger, garlic, 2 onions, 1 green chilli coarsely, set it aside.

· Grind tomato, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, garam masala powder and set it aside.

· Heat oil in a sauce pan, add the chopped onion and green chillies and fry till onion is soft

· Next, add the ground ginger-garlic-onion-green chilli paste and fry for a few seconds

· Now, add the tomato and spice powder ground paste and mix well.

· Cook for 4 – 5 minutes till the rawness of the masala goes off and oil starts seperating at the edges.

· Add a little milk/ beaten curd /water to get the desired consistency.

· Add a little sugar to enhance the taste.

· Drop the koftas into the gravy and gently mix well to coat it with the gravy. Simmer for a couple of seconds and turn off the flame.

· Garnish with chopped coriander and serve hot.

Khaman Dhokla, Simple Chickpea Curry and a T & T

2011-05-15T09:05:00.003+05:30

The combination of dhokla and chickpea curry sounds really weird...I HAD to post these two recipes as they were snoring off in the draft for a very long time :P

Aha!Now for news from my kitchen, I can crown myself a bread baker now :P yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!! I've got it right after umpteen number of efforts. It's an achievement in itself and gives a beaming sense of satisfaction. Am sure many of you will agree to this :P

Thanks to prathibha of The Chef and Her Kitchen,She had posted khara bread recipe for which I fell for :P, As I wanted to get the plain bread right first,didn't add the masala part. But nevertheless, the recipe is a keeper!!

Plain Bread

Today's Recipes

Khaman Dhokla

Recipe source: An old Googled one

Ingredients:
1 cup - Bengal gram ( besan)
2 tbsp - Rawa
3 tsp - Sugar
1 tsp - Green chilli- ginger paste
1 and 1/2 tsp - Eno's fruit salt
1-2 cups - Buttermilk

Tempering:
1/4th tsp - Mustard seeds
1/2 tsp - Sesame seeds ( til)
2 no. - Green chillies, chopped
Hing - A pinch (asefoetida)
1 Sprig - Curry leaves
1 tsp - oil
Garnish - chopped coriander leaves and Grated coconut

Method:

Mix together all the ingredients except eno, with enough buttermilk to make a thick batter.
Add eno, sprinkle little water over it and mix well
When the mixture rises, pour it intoa greased tin and steam for about 10 - 15 minutes.
Once done, take it out of the steaming utensil and set it aside.
In a small saucepan, heat oil add mustard seeds, green chillies, curry leaves, hing and fry till seeds crackle.
Garnish with coconut and coriander leaves.
Cut into desired shape.
Take half a cup of hot water and add 1/4th tsp of sugar and stir well, sprinle this on the dhoklas just before serving to keep it soft and moist.

Simple Chickpea Curry

Ingredients:
1 and 1/2 cups - Cooked chickpeas ( kabuli chana)
1 tsp - Cumin seeds
1 medium sized - Onion, finely sliced
1 medium sized tomato - Finely chopped
1 tsp - Ginger garlic paste
1 - Green chilli, finely chopped
1 tsp - Cumin powder
1 tsp - Coriander powder
1/2 tsp - Garam masala powder
1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder
1/2 tsp - Aamchur powder ( dry mango powder)
Salt - To taste
1- 2 tbsp - Chopped coriander leaves
2 -3 tbsp - oil

Method:

In a kadhai heat oil, add cumin seeds and fry for a couple of seconds.
Add sliced onions and fry till translucent.
Next, add the chopped tomatoes, chillies, ginger garlic paste and fry till the tomatoes are mushy
Add all the spice powders - cumin powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder, turmeric powder, aamchur powder, salt and very little water.
Give this content of the kadhai a nice stir and let it cook till the rawness of the spice powders dissappear.
To this add the cooked chickpeas and mix so that they are well coated with the spice blend.
Add little water and simmer for a couple of minutes and turn off the flame.
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves, chickpea curry is ready to serve.

Paneer Zaikedar and Jackfruit Dessert------- 100th Post

2011-05-10T11:21:00.007+05:30

Hi pals, It's my 100th post! actually it's quite unbelievable to reach such a big number with my snail pace :P First of all I'd like to start off with thanking all my blogger friends for dropping by and leaving such encouraging lines and also, the awards shower from time to time. Secondly, this whole food blogging concept is so enlightening. Before I move further I'd like to thank Shobhaji of Food Mazaa for the wonderful award she generously offered me.

Over the years, visiting numerous food blogs has left me more knowledgeable about food, cooking methods, kitchen tips and many more things. It's an a on going process for life...as they say learning never ceases.....

Today being a celebration post, I've chosen what seems to be the favourite of most of the foodies and undoubtedly the most versatile ingredient to work with...yes, indeed it's paneer. I've selected one of Nita Mehta's paneer recipes and for dessert I've experimented and dished out a simple humble dessert using jackfruit. Without much ado, let me present to you the recipes....

Jack fruit Dessert

Ingredients:

Jack fruit ------------------ 8 - 9 segments, chopped
Coconut grated ------------- 1/3rd cup
Green cardamom ----------- 2
Crushed Jaggery ----------- -2 tbsp ( more or less, depends of your sweet tooth ;P)
Water -----------------------1 cup
Thick coconut Milk ---------- 1/2 cup

Method:

In a sauce pan cook the chopped jackfruit pieces with 1 cup of water.

Meanwhile, grind to a fine paste the grated coconut, cardamom, crushed jaggery with just enough water.

Once the jackfruit pieces are soft and cooked, add the ground paste, coconut milk and give it a nice stir.

Let it boil for a few seconds and turn off the flame.

Serve it hot or chilled, both taste awesome

Note: I've not added any thickening agent as I wanted it runny

Garnishing tips : top the dessert with fresh cream or crushed nuts or just anything out of your creativity :P

Paneer Zayekedar

Recipe Source: Nita Mehta's book - More Paneer

Ingredients:

vegetables:

Onions ------------------- 2 , sliced
French beans ------------- 10-12
Carrots ------------------- 2
Paneer ------------------- 200 gms, 1/2" cubes
Cooking oil --------------- 4-5 tbsp
Bay leaf ------------------ 1
Lime juice ---------------- juice of 1/2 a lime

Paste:

Garlic flakes (Opt) -------------- 6-7
Ginger -------------------------- 1" piece
Saunf ( aniseeds) ---------------- 1 tsp
Jeera ( cumin seeds) ------------ 1 tsp
Dry red chillies ------------------ 3
Dhania powder ------------------ 1 tsp
Cinnamon ----------------------- 1 stick
Cloves --------------------------- 3 - 4
Pepper corns -------------------- 3 -4
Brown cardamom ---------------- seeds of 2 no.

Method:

Grind all the ingredients of the paste column together with little water.

Chop the beans and carrots into tiny pieces and cook them in water with a little salt. once cooked drain the water and set it aside.

Heat oil. Add sliced onions. Cook till golden brown

Add the boiled vegetables and stir-fry for 3-4 minutes.

Add the ground paste and bay leaf. cook for 1-2 minutes.

Add 1/4 cup of water or milk. Boil.

Add salt to taste and paneer cubes. Mix well. Sprinkle lime juice. Mix and serve garnished with chopped coriander leaves.

Mango Chitranna - Tangy seasoned mango flavoured rice

2011-05-07T10:20:00.016+05:30

Mango Chitranna

Ingredients:
1 -Raw mango, peeled, grated
1 cup -Cooked rice
3/4th cup - Grated coconut
1/2 tsp - Turmeric powder
1 tsp -Mustard seeds
1-2 no. -Green chillies
1-2 -Strands of coriander leaves
Salt -To taste

Tempering:
2 tsp -Oil
1tsp -Mustard seeds
1 tsp -Udad dal
1 tsp -Chana dal
1 sprig -Curry leaves

Method:

Grind into a coarse paste the grated mango, coconut, green chilli, mustard seeds, turmeric powder, coriander leaves ,salt with very little water. Set it aside.

Heat oil in a kadhai and add chana dal, udad dal, mustard seeds, curry leaves and fry till it splutters.

Next, add the ground paste to the kadhai and fry for a couple of seconds.

To this paste that is getting fried add the cooked rice and mix well so that the rice blends in with the paste.(Add salt if necessary)

Take it off the flame, garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve with accompaniment of your choice.

Musk Melon (cantaloupe) Smoothie

2011-05-04T16:01:00.007+05:30

Musk Melon Smoothie

Ingredients:
1 ---------------small Musk Melon, peeled, seeds removed and cubed
1--------------- cup Yogurt
1/2-------------cup Water
1----------------tbsp Honey (opt)
1----------------Pinch cardamom powder
5-6--------------Ice cubes

Method:

Blend all the ingredients till smooth, add water/honey to suit your taste and consistency of the smoothie. Serve fresh.

Check out this site for health benefits of "cantaloupe", After going through the health and nutritional value of this fruit, am sure people who don't like it ( your's truly too doesn't like it :P) will blindly start liking it :P

Main Course Rice Accompaniment:Cabbage Parpu

2011-04-26T17:13:00.009+05:30

Cabbage Parpu

Ingredients:
Medium Size Cabbage....... Roughly chopped
Chana dal .............................. 1/2 cup

To Grind:
Grated coconut ............................. 3/4th cup
Cumin seeds .................................. 1 tsp
Green chillies ................................. 1- 2
Tamarind ....................................... small piece
Turmeric......................................... 1/2 tsp
Salt .................................................. to taste

Tempering:
Mustard seeds................................. 1 tsp
Curry leaves..................................... 1 sprig
Oil....................................................... 2 tsp

Method:

Clean, wash and pressure cook the chana dal and chopped cabbage separately and set it aside
Grind to a fine paste the coconut, cumin seeds, green chillies, tamarind, turmeric and salt with enough water, set it aside
Pour the cooked dal in a vessel and mash it a little bit, add the cooked cabbage and a little water and mix well
Simmer this mixture till it starts to boil, lower the flame
In a skillet, heat 1 tsp oil, add mustard seeds and curry leaves, once it starts to splutter, take it off the flame and pour it over the simmering cabbage - dal mixture and mix well
Let this mixture boil for couple of seconds and take it off the flame
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves
Cabbage parpu is ready to serve. Goes well with rice, chapati, rotis

Mallige Idli - Super soft and spongy

2011-04-22T15:57:00.007+05:30

MALLIGE IDLI

Mallige in kannada means the Jasmine flower.The name mallige idli is so apt for these idlis as they are as white and soft as the jasmine flower, yes it spongy too ( wonder what the jasmine thinks of the idlis about this aspect ;)

I normally make idlis from udad dal and idli rava (shall blog it too), my Amma makes varieties of idlis, and this one tops the list in my favorite breakfast eats. As it's quite a lot of work to make separate batters for these idlis, mix them and all that ( am a lazy frog ;) ) I used to bring the batter from Amma's place and make it at home. So, I decided that it's time I get out of my "froggyness";P and put some hard work and get good results on my plate :) got the recipe from Amma and made it all by myself. It's the same feeling as Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.... from the Coke ad! lol
....read on for the recipe

Ingredients:

Dosa rice 2 cups
Udad dal 1 cup
Thick poha (beaten rice) 2 handful
Methi seeds ( fenugreek seeds) 1/4 tsp

Method:

1. Soak rice, udad dal- methi seeds separately for atleast 5-6 hours.

2. Just before grinding - wash and clean the poha and soak it in water and set it aside.

3. First grind the rice into a paste using enough water (not too fine nor too coarse) empty it in a clean vessel and set it aside.

4. Next, grind the udad dal-methi, and poha ( drain the water from the soaked poha) into and medium coarse-fine paste.

5. Add this batter to the rice batter. Add salt as per your taste and mix well.

6. Cover the vessel and keep it in a cool ,dry place to ferment over night.

To prepare Idlis:

1. The next morning, carefully stir the batter as it would've risen due to fermentation.

2. Transfer as much batter you need for the idli preparation into a smaller vessel and refrigerate the rest of the batter. This way the batter will last for a couple of days, without getting sour.
you can use it as and when you need it.

3. Grease the idli stand groves with little oil and spoon enough batter to cover the groves. I steam idlis in greased steel bowls. Place them in the steaming utensil and steam for 30- 35 minutes or until done.

4. Once the idlis are done, open the lid of the steamer and remove the idlis from it and let it cool for a couple of minutes in the idli stand/bowls .

5. Dish out the idlis using a knife or a butter knife, run it in circular motion around edges of the idlis.

6. Serve the Idlis with any chutney of your choice.

7. Udad dal chutney tastes brilliant with idlis, the recipe for which follows in my next post :P

This recipe goes to Srivalli's Breakfast Mela

Konkani Cuisine- Sweet and Savory Appe (Paniyaram)

2011-04-21T21:16:00.009+05:30

Savory Appe

Ingredients:

Dosa rice- 2 cups
Udad dal - 1 cup
Thick Poha (beaten rice)- 2 fistful
Methi seeds - 1/4 th tsp

Method:

1. Wash and clean the rice and udad dal with water atleast 2-3 times, drain the water.

2. Soak the rice, udad dal and methi seeds in clean water for 4-5 hours.

3. Just before grinding, clean and soak the thick poha in water for a 5 minutes.

4. Drain the water and add the poha to the rest of the ingredients and grind it into a fine paste with enough water.

The dough should not be too runny nor too thick.

After grinding empty the dough into a clean vessel add salt as per your taste, cover and keep it over night and let it ferment.

Preparation:

1.Mix the dough well as it would've risen due to over night fermentation.

2. Spoon as much dough u require into a smaller vessel.

3. Now to the dough that you've taken into a smaller vessel add 1 finely chopped onion, 1 sprig finely chopped curry leaves, 2 springs of finely chopped coriander leaves, 1 finely chopped green chilli .Mix well.

4. Heat the appe/paniyaram kadhai drizzle little oil in each groves and spoon the prepared batter into the grove, about 3/4th of each grove is to be filled.

5. Drizzle a little oil on each of the dough filled groves, cover and cook it on medium -high flame, keep checking occasionally.

6. Once the lower side of the doughs are golden brown, carefully turn it over to the other side and cook till done.

7. Serve hot with chutney of your choice.

Sweet Appe

Ingredients:

Dosa rice- 2 cups
Thick Poha (beaten rice)- 1 handful
Cardamom- 2
Crushed Jaggery- 3/4th cup
Salt to taste

Method:

1. Soak the rice for 4-5 hours

2. Just before grinding, wash and soak the poha in water for 5 minutes.

3. Grind the rice with the rest of the ingredients and poha using enough water into a dough that is not too fine nor coarse

4. Empty the dough into a clean vessel and cover it and let it ferment for at least 5 hours.

Preparation:

Follow the same method as done for the savory appes, the exception here is that u can directly spoon the batter into the appe kadhai as it is already sweetened.

This recipe goes to Srivalli's Breakfast Mela

Decadent Chocolate Cake

2011-04-16T18:59:00.004+05:30

Decadent Chocolate Cake

Chocolate cakes are our all time favourite dessert. I love trying out various recipes of the same, be it with or without eggs. What fascinates me is that each recipe has its own unique result. Recently came across a recipe of a gorgeous looking chocolate cake in Good House Keeping Magazine. I fell for the photographs of the cake that accompanied the recipe, so baked it yesterday. Though it didnt turn out as good as I expected it to be, it was good. mmmm... may be because I was a little too anxious to be done with it and also the power was off twice while the baking was in process :(

For the cake:

2 cups flour

1 cup cocoa

1&1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup butter, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup sugar, (I omitted brown sugar)

3 eggs

2 tsp vanilla essence

1 &1/2 cup buttermilk

For Frosting:

1/3 cup cocoa

1/2 cup boiling water

1 cup butter, softened

2 tbsp icing sugar

350 gms dark chocolate, melted and cooled

To Garnish:

1/2 cup crushed almonds, cashewnuts, almonds

Method:

1. For the cake ; preheat the oven to 170*C. Grease 2 round cake pans. line the bottom of the pan with butter paper;grease and lightly dust the pans with flour.

2. Sieve the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Keep aside.

3. In a large bowl, with a hand beater at low speed, beat the butter and both sugars until well blended.

4. Increase the speed to high; beat for 5 minutes or until pale and fluffy, scraping the bowl with spatula occasionally.

5. Reduce the speed to medium-low;add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

6. Add vanilla essence and beat well until well blended.

7. Add a little flourmixture alternately with a little buttermilk, begining and ending with flour. Beat until the batter is smooth, occasionally, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula.

Spoon the batterevenly among the two prepared pans. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

8. Cool the cakes in their pans atleast for 10 minutes.

9. With a small knife loosen the cakes from the sides of the pans, invert it and remove it on a wire rack, peel off the butter paper and cool the cakes for about 45 minutes.

To Prepare the Frosting:

1. In a bowl, combine the cocoa and boiling water, stirring until smooth. Keep aside.

2. In a bowl, with a mixer at medium-high speed, beat the butter and icing sugar for five minutes or until fluffy.

3. Reduce the speed to medium-low add the melted chocolate. Mix well.

4. Then add the cocoa mixture ,beat until the batter is smooth, ocassionally scraping the bowl with a spatula.

To assemble the cake:

1. Place one cake layer, bottom side up, on a cake plate and spread some of the frosting over evenly.

2. Sprinkle some of the crushed nuts over the icing.

3. Top with the second cake, bottom side up. Spread the remaining frosting over the sides and the top of the cake. Carefully cover the sides of the cake with the remaining nuts.

Back with Bisibele Bhath!

2011-04-12T18:16:00.006+05:30

Hi all,

Sorry for such long absence. I must admit I've been having a sneek peep at most of the blogs every now and then :) Now on, I shall try and be as regular as possible in updating my recipes and also visiting your blogs. Happy Ramanavami and God bless!

Today's recipe is a treasured one. I've been preparing bisibele bhath with MTR ready mix for the past 3 years. My land lady Mrs. M is an excellent cook. She had invited S and me for lunch one day, the menu was a great spread with a traditional vermicelli payasam for dessert. The show stealer in the menu was Bisibele bhath for me without doubt. I took down the recipe for the powder and made it at home. Undoubtedly, it was awesome. Since then it's been one of my favourite recipes. Read on....

Ingredients:

For the powder:

Oil- 2 tsp

Red chillies (byadgi)- 5-6

Chana dal- 3 tsp

Udad dal- 1tsp

Coriander seeds- 1/2 tsp

Cloves- 2

Cinnamon-1" piece

Green cardamom- 1-2

Methi seeds- 4-5 seeds

Maratha Moggu- 1

Dagda phool- little

Copra (grated)- 1/4 cup

Khus khus (poppy seeds)- 1 tsp

Curry leaves- 1 sprig

Method:

In a Kadhai / Tawa heat the oil and dry fry each ingredients on a medium flame, till it gives out aroma. Cool it and powder it. Store it in an air tight container.

To prepare Bisibele Bhath:

Ingredients:

Rice- 2 cups

Toor dal- 1 cup or (Toordal 1 cup and rice 1/2 cup)

Mixed vegetables- beans, potato, peas, cauliflower, carrot, onion ( cut the veggies into bite size pieces, onion quartered)

Bisibele bhath powder- 2-3 tbsp ( according to your taste)

Coconut grated-1/2 cup (optional)

Tamarind paste- 1-2 tbsp

Jaggery crushed- 1 tbsp

Ghee- 1-2 tbsp

Salt- as per taste

Tempering:

Ghee/oil- 2 tsp

Mustard seeds- 1 tsp

Urad dal- 1 tsp

Chana dal- 1 tsp

Red chillie- 1-2, broken into halves

Note: You can temper it with fried cashews in ghee, after the above mentioned basic tempering

Method:

Cook the dal and rice with enough water and 1/4th tsp turmeric powder. Once cooked mix it well with a ladel so that both dal and rice combine well.

Cook the vegetables seperately.

Take a kadhai/wok place it on medium flame and put tamarind paste and boil for about a minute.

Add cooked vegetables, dal and rice mix, bisibelebhath powder, salt, jaggery. Add some water if necessary.Mix the contents well.

Boil for 5 minutes

Tempering:

In a Tempering utensil, heat oil/ghee and add chana dal, udad dal fry till it browns a bit.

Throw in the red chillies, mustard seeds and curry leaves let it splutter for a couple of seconds.

Pour the tempering ingredients over the simmering bisibele bhath. Mix well.

Sprinkle the grated coconut over the bisibele bhath and it's ready to serve.

Best accompaniment : salted/ spiced potato chips (waffers) or onion raita.

DIWALI GREETINGS!

2010-11-04T18:22:00.002+05:30

Wishing You and your loved ones a Beautiful and Bright Diwali !
May the Goddess shower upon you the choicest of wishes!
Praying for the best of Health, Happiness, Wealth and Wisdom !
Let the Goodness within you illuminate as the thousands of lamps lit on this auspicious day!

Whole Wheat Dosa, Coconut - Jaggery Laddoo

2010-11-03T11:08:00.005+05:30

A Big Happy Hello! Great to be back to blogging after a long and fulfilling break. The days that went by kept me occupied by yet another relocation. Shifting has always petrified me and will continue to ... :P
Now that we are settled in our new home and life has come to normalcy, I decided to get back to what I missed the most.
In the last couple of days there were invitees over for lunches, dinners and tea. I used my best known culinary skills to impress the aunts, uncles and cousins, hopefully succeded to a good extend. I'd rather not discuss the menu in this post as my camera was not put to use for what it was meant for :)
Today's post would include two simple recipes that I make more than often, one is a breafast quickie and the other a sweet meat. Read on...

Whole wheat dosa:

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups water
1 sprig curry leaves, chopped
1/2 a handful, chopped coriander leaves
1-2 green chillies, finely chopped
1" ginger grated
sugar 1/4 tsp
salt to tasted
oil/ghee for cooking

Method:
1. Mix the whole wheat flour and water in a wide mouthed vessel and stir/whisk it well to make it lump free.
2. To this dough add curry leaves, coriander leaves, green chillies, ginger, salt, sugar and mix well to combine all the ingredients evenly. The batter is runny compared to the regular dosa batter.
3. Heat a tava on medium flame and pour a ladel of dosa batter on it and spread it in circular motion.
4. Sprinkle a little ghee/oil on the dosa and on the edges as well. close and allow to cook till done and flip the dosa on to the other side and cook till some brown spots and seen here and there.
5. Continue the same process with the remaining dosa batter.
6. Serve the dosas hot with chutney or sauce.

Coconut-Jaggery Laddoo:

Ingredients:
2 cups freshly grated coconut
2 cups grated jaggery
1 tsp and a little more ghee ( clarified butter)
1/2 tsp cardamom powder

Method:
1. In a wide mouthed vessel mix the grated coconut and jaggery using a ladel
2. Put this mixture in a kadhai and place in on a medium flame and keep stirring.
3. The coconut and jaggery will give out some amount of oil and water respectively. Keep stirring.
4. Gradually the mixture begins to tighten as the water evaporates, add a teaspoon of ghee and the cardamom powder and mix well and take it off the flame. Let it cool a bit.
5. When the laddoo mixture is hand managable, apply ghee on ur palms, take enough mixture and make them into perfect rounds.
6. Place the ready to serve laddoos on a greased plate.
7. If u prefer it harder than the regular consistency chill it in the refrigerator.

Thanks for having me in your thoughts, and leaving words of concern in my blog.
wishing you wellness and joy!
TC

Bhenda Ghashi / Okra tempered with garlic

2010-04-13T10:13:00.007+05:30

Bhenda Ghashi / Okra tempered with Garlic

okra gravy and mix well. Simmer for a couple of seconds and turn off the flame.
Serves: 2
Refrigerated: stays up to 2 days

Ingredients:

10 Small okras / lady’s finger
3 Dry red chillies
A fist full fresh coconut pieces/ grated coconut
½ tbsp Tamarind paste
¼ tsp Turmeric powder
4-5 Fenugreek seeds
½ tsp Coriander seeds
Salt to taste
1 tsp oil

Tempering:

2 tsp oil
7-8 Garlic cloves, unpeeled

Method:

In a small skillet put a few drops of oil and roast the red chillies, fenugreek seeds, coriander seeds for a few seconds, do not let it burn. Once roasted let it cool.

Meanwhile, slice the wash the okras, wipe them dry, trims the ends and cut them into one inch pieces.

In a Kadhai/vessel heat 1 tsp oil and fry the okra pieces till they are slightly blackened and there is no trace of stickiness. In the same vessel pour water enough to dunk the okra pieces adding a little salt cook them till fork tender. Once done drain the water and the pieces aside.

Next grind the roasted spices along with coconut, tamarind paste, haldi add a little water and make it into a fine paste.

Transfer the ground mixture into the cooking vessel add salt to taste, water to get the gravy as per the consistency you require (don’t make it too watery). Add the cooked okra slices in it and simmer to a boil and then immediately lower the flame.

Prepare the tempering:

In a tempering pan heat about 2 tsps of oil and throw in the garlic cloves and keep frying it till it turns brownish black ( do not over burn them) once this is done pour it over the simmering
Serve the Okra gravy/ghashi with steaming hot rice.

Raw Mango chutney - meal side dish

2010-04-09T10:13:00.005+05:30

QUICK RAW MANGO CHUTNEY

This recipe is a quick creation of S. There are times when u just feel like having a truly simple meal with just dal, rice and pickle, but S just cant have a meal without a dry sabzi or somekind of a side dish. Here's the story how the raw mango chutney was put together in a jiffy by S :)

The last weekend was hectic as we did our provision shopping and came home late, exhausted and famished. The best sought food at such times are dal- chaawal. I was all set to prepare it and hog like a hippo ;) S wanted some side dish with dal and rice, but I wouldnt agree to make anything more than dal-rice( really cruel na?) so he told me he'd make some interesting dish for meal accompaniment..... and within minutes he prepared an amazing chutney which we polished off with so much devotion during and after the meal ...lol

here's the recipe for the CHATAKDAR RAW MANGO CHUTNEY:

Ingredients:

1 medium sized Raw Mango, washed, peeled, cut into small pieces

1- 2 tsp Mustard oil

1-2 Green chillies

salt and sugar to taste

Method:

Grind to a coarse paste the Raw mango pieces along with green chillies with very little water,

(DO NOT GRIND IT INTO A SMOOTH PASTE)

Once it's ground, empty the coarse mango-chilli paste into a container, add mustard oil, salt, sugar to it and mix well.

The chutney is ready to be served.

My take on S's preparation:

This chutney tastes brilliant with plain white rice, I feel this would be the best combination to get the individual taste of each ingredient of the chutney :)

That's all for this week,

Have a great weekend!

Be Good , Be Happy

A Generous Shower of Awards....

2010-04-05T11:48:00.005+05:30

Indrani of APPYAYAN and Sashi of Sashi's tasty bites have shared this bunch of awards as an encouranging gesture, Thanks a lot dearies :)

THE SUNSHINE AWARD..............

Ammu of Nature Kitchen

Indrani of APPYAYAN have shared the "Sunshine" award and made my blog a lot more brighter :)

Thanks a lot friends...

I would like to pass on these awards to all of you for being so encouraging, generous and spreading happiness through your visits, comments and sharing your wonderful recipes...

Thanks for accepting :)

Be Good, Be Happy.

Have a Happy Week ahead!

Penne with Creamy Peas and Tomato

2010-04-05T10:50:00.003+05:30

Recipe adapted from Tarla Dalal's book - Pizzas & Pasta

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked penne

2 tsp chopped garlic

3/4 cup cooked green peas

1 large tomato, finely chopped

1/2 cup fresh cream

1 cup milk

2 tbsp maida ( plain flour), make a dilute paste of maida by mixing it in few tsps of milk.

2-3 tbsp butter

salt and pepper to taste

Method:

STEP 1 :

How to cook Pasta: Source Tarla Dalal's book : Pizzas & Pasta

1. Use ample water. Always cook pasta in a large pan of boiling water with 1 tbsp of oil.

2. Add the pasta to the boiling water by adding a few at a time.

3. Cook uncovered , stirring occassionlly and gently until the pasta is tender.

4. Cooked pasta should be 'al dente' or firm to bite.

5. Once cooked, immediately drain it in a sieve or a colander. Transfer to a bowl of cold water to

refresh it. Drain again and keep it aside.

6. If the pasta is not used immediately, add 1 tbsp of oil to it and toss it and set it aside.

NOTE: 2 cups of dried pasta will yield 3 cups of cooked pasta. The quantity is suffient for 4 persons.

Step 2:

1.Heat the butter in a large sauce pan, add garlic and stir fry for sometime.

2. Add the tomato and stir further more till the tomatoes become soft, now add the diluted maida and keep stirring so that lumps are not formed.

3. Add milk gradually and mix well, bring to a boil.

4. Add the fresh cream, salt, pepper mix well. Keep it aside.

Step 3.

1. Just before serving , heat the sauce , adding a little milk /water if required ...as the sauce tends to thicken. Toss the pasta in it, garnish it with oregano and serve immediately.

Mascarpone Magic!

2010-03-24T09:54:00.008+05:30

Vanilla sponge cakes dressed in pinaeapple mascarpone icing and coffee mascarpone icing

Hello foodies :) the long awaited home- made mascarpone cheese is atlast histroy in my kitchen :) yes!! this was the one thing I'd been eyeing for a very long time...but was'nt sure "to make or not to make" Then Parita's post came as a tempter which I couldnt resist ;) and I had to be done with it ..so made it the very next day.

The crazy bug that I am...I started jumping with joy at the last stage of the cheese making process...lol, and after refrigerating it ...I used to peep into the container every 30mts .. that says it all isnt it!!! The final product was kinda thrilling...lol(Coz I was reeeeeeeeeeeeally ealted, thrilled and what not!)

When in Chennai, I had to shell a bombarding price for a tin of mascarpone ...which I had bought to make Tiramisu :) The experience of making mascarpone cheese at home is simply superb and super easy..and all thanks to Parita !!! Thanks sweetie :) for that little encouraging push! :)

here's the recipe for mascarpone cheese from her blog

I was in an experimentation mode so made 2 eggless vanilla sponge cakes :), not the same day though ;) baked one cake in a round tin and another in a loaf tin...

The recipe for the cake is as follows:

Eggless Vanilla Sponge Cake:

Recipe adapted from: one of the bakes from collaborative curry , Thanks dearies :)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup oil

1 & 1/2 tsp vanilla essence

1 cup cold water

How to get started:

1. pre-heat the oven to 180*C , grease a baking tin and set it aside

2. Sieve the flour, sugar , baking powder and salt a couple of times and ensure it's lump free

3. Add the vanilla essence, oil and gently stir once, then slowly add water and keep stirring gently till the cake batter consistency is reached.

4. Pour the batter in the greased tin and bake for 25-30 mts, or till a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

5. Remove from the oven and cool completely before decorating/icing.

* Note: Both the icing called for Whipping cream, I omitted it...the final result was still mmmmmmmmmmmmm :)

Coffee Mascarpone Icing:

Ingredients:

4 &1/2 tsp instant coffee powder

1 tbsp hot water

1 cup chilled whipping cream ( I didnt use it )

1/2 cup mascarpone cheese

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

1/4 tsp cinnamon powder

pinch of salt

How to proceed:

Stir coffee powder and water in a bowl till disolved set it aside.
sieve sugar and make it lump free, set it aside.
Add mascarpone, (whipped cream), vanilla essence, salt, coffee mixture in a wide mouthed vessel and beat until thick and smooth, to form firm peaks * dont over beat for it may curdle.
The coffee mascaropne icing is ready to adorn ur cake :)

Pineapple Mascarpone Icing:

Ingredients:

1 cup mascarpone cheese

3/4th cup powdered sugar

1&1/2 tsp pineapple essence

1-2 tsp cold milk

How to proceed:

sieve the powdered sugar to make it lump free
In a wide mouthed bowl add the mascarpone cheese, powdered sugar, pineapple essence and beat till thick and smooth, you may add a spoon or tow of cold milk to get the desired consistency. dont over beat as it may tend to curdle
The Pineapple mascarpone icing is ready to dress the cake :)

Have a great week ahead!

Take care! Be Good ! Be Happy!!

Whole Green Moong Stir Fry

2010-03-12T10:22:00.005+05:30

Hi dearies!! It's been a long week and the group of words"THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY" seems to be the line for me :) This week was busy as I had to complete all the pending work that I had piled for 'later'( am sure many of us do that) It's not only the work but my new interest in Warli painting that has kept me busy...believe me it's addictive and interesting.

Here take a look :)

After all that ranting let's get to business :) Whole Moong green is one of my favourites not only for health reasons but also it's pleasure to work with...it easily takes in any kind of experiment that one would want to try...and the combination of spices and vegetables that one can use with it is infinite :) Today's recipe is whole moong stir fry..... simple and delicious...here's the recipe:

Whole Green Moong Stir Fry:

Ingredients:
1 and 1/2 cups: Whole green moong, pre-cooked
1 onion: finely chopped
1 tomato: finely chopped
1 tsp: cumin seeds
1 tsp: mustard seeds
1 sprig: curry leaves
2 -3 tsp: oil
1/2 tsp: saunf
1 tsp: haldi powder
1 tsp: jeera powder
1 tsp:coriander powder
1 tsp: aamchur powder
1 tsp: kitchen king masala/sambar powder (optional)
1 tsp: ginger garlic paste
salt to taste
coriander leaves: finely chopped for garnishing

Method:

Heat oil in a kadhai, add cumin seeds, saunf, mustard seeds, curry leaves once it splutters throw in the onions and ladel it till it becomes slightly golden brown
Add tomatoes, ginger garlic paste , haldi powder, coriander powder, jeera powder, kitchen king masala, aamchur powder, salt and fry till the oil is seen around the edges of this mixture, if necessary add/sprinkle some water if it is too dry.
Once the masala is done add the pre-cooked whole green moong and mix well so as to coat the moong with the masala .
cover and cook for some time and take it off the flame .
Garnish with coriander and serve hot.

Happy Weekend!

Cauliflower Kofta Curry

2010-03-08T08:59:00.006+05:30

India is famous for it's spiced curries, the list of curries is just endless ..the diversity of the nation plays a major role in this I guess :) The vegetarians here dont have to miss out on the taste and flavours as much as the non-vegetarians relish their meat dishes...koftas are a fine example for this. There are umpteen number of vegetables to choose from, for koftas , these vegetables are minced and mixed with spices and deep fried and dunked in rich gravies...These dishes have a Mughlai richness to them. It's said that Punjabi's rule the roost in this case:) Their love for rich food spices have given the world some great dishes to savour and treasure. Cauliflower kofta curry is one such recipe that is relished world over..here's the recipe ...

Ingredients:

For the koftas:

1/2 kilo cauliflower, grated
4 tbsps. gramflour (besan)
1/2. tsp cumin seeds,
1/2. tsp ginger garlic paste
1.tbsp crushed mint leaves
Handful of chopped coriander leaves
2-3 green chillies, minced
salt to taste

For the Curry:

250 gms grated tomates
250 gms green peas, boiled
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ginger strips
1 tbsp dhania-jeera powder
4 green chillies, slit
4 tblspns. milk/yogurt
1/4 tsp. turmeric powder
salt and red chilli powder to taste

Preparation:

Mix all the kofta ingredients together.Form the mixture into small balls and deep fry them to a golden colour. Heat 4 thlspns. of ghee/oil, add cumin seeds, when they start popping, add tomatoes, ginger, spices, salt and chillies. Cook the contents till the oil starts to be seen at the edges. Now stir in the peas and 2 cups of water. Boil for 10 minutes.Mix in milk/yogurt and gently stir bring the gravy to a little thicker consistency, *if desired u may mix 1-2 tsp cornflour with a little water and add this to thicken the gravy*, pour this mixture over the koftas. Decorate with coriander leaves.

Recipe adapted from "101 ways to prepare Curries", author : Aroona Reejhsinghani

Brownies

2010-03-02T11:14:00.004+05:30

Hi all !! :) Belated Holi greetings to all of you! It's been a great week with the festival of colours as it's yet another reason to visit friends, family eat drink and make merry :)!

Let's talk about brownies today...Ever since I've tasted these yummy brown beauties, I just cant have enough of it :) the combinations with it like vanilla ice-cream, chocolate sauce, nuts or just caramel syrup drizzled brownies are so irresistible!

Everyone has their own recipe for brownies...so when I thought of baking them tried quite a few recipes from blogs, books, magazines. Though I was happy with the result of recipes, I stick to the one recipe which got me the maximum praize from S ;) so here's my favourite recipe!!!

If you have already posted brownie recipe in ur blog feel free to leave the link in the comment column :) I'll def.visit and try ur version too!

One last question before the recipe...would u like to share ur fav. combo with the brownies...I'd love to read about it!

Brownie Recipe:

Ingredients:

3/4th cup Unsalted Butter

1 cup Sugar

2 tsp vanilla essence

3 eggs

1 cup Maida

1/2 cup Cocoa powder

1 tsp Baking Powder

Salt- a pinch

100gms- Nuts, chopped roughly

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180* C.

2. Grease the tin with butter.

3. Beat eggs with Sugar, beat till he sugar melts.

4. To the eggs-sugar mixture add vanilla essence.

5. Sift the maida, baking powder and cocoa.

6. Add the dry ingredients to the egg-sugar mixture, melted butter and salt.

7. Finally add the chopped nuts (set some aside) and mix all the ingredients to make it a smooth

lump free batter.

8. Pour the batter in the greased tin and sprinkle the top layer with nuts.

9. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 20-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean in the

centre.

10. Cool it on the wire rack, slice/cut and serve.

Strawberry Bread

2010-02-23T16:57:00.002+05:30

Baking breads is an absolute pleasure :)I enjoy it thoroughly, so after baking a whole lot of banana breads and also trying out some combinations in banana breads... thought it's time I give some other add ons to the famous quick breakfast breads.

Strawberries are getting noticed just about everywhere, so zeroed in on strawberry bread... Here's a keeper recipe from Joy of baking

Some changes I made to the original recipe:
1. Replaced all- purpose flour with whole wheat flour.

2. Used 2 large eggs instead of 3 eggs as mentioned in the recipe.

3. Added a few spoons of cold milk to the batter to get the required consistency.

4. As the recipe had an option between sour cream and plain yogurt, I chose the later.

5. My oven took an extra 20 minutes to bake the cake to perfection.

How We liked the bread:

The bread was super moist. Cinnamon combined with strawberry takes the taste altogether to another plane :) just heavenly!

It could be a great dessert if had with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream drizzled with chocolate sauce or even better as a filling breakfast with a tall glass of milk :)

I would definitely add this recipe to my list of favourites :)

Spring Onions stir fry

2010-02-23T09:39:00.005+05:30

Spring onion stir fry:

Ingredients:

Spring onions - 1 bunch

Saunf -1 tsp

Jeera- 1 tsp

Mustard- 1 tsp

Amchoor powder- 1/2 tsp

Sambar powder- 1 and 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves- 1 sprig

oil- 1 and 1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

Method:
1. Wash the spring onions, finely chop(I pressure cooked them before hand) and set it aside.

2. In a kadhai/wok heat oil and splutter jeera, saunf, mustard and curry leaves.

3. Add the chopped spring onions, sambar powder, amchoor powder, salt and gently mix all the ingredients together.

4. cover and cook for a few minutes and turn off the flame.

5. Spring onion stir fry is ready to serve and tastes good with rice/roti/bread :)

Awards Shower!

2010-02-22T12:58:00.014+05:30

Over a couple of months and till the recent times many of my lovely blogger friends Asha, Sushma Mallya , Babli, Indrani, Aruna Manikandan have showered me with beautiful inspiring awards. Thanks dearies and sorry I'd not been able to post it from a very very long time for some reason or the other. Now ends the wait ") and ya as it feels great to share and double the happiness ...please feel free to grab these beauties.

Bye and Take Good Care of yourselves :)

Achaari Paneer

2010-02-15T17:04:00.007+05:30

Hello dear friends am glad to be back after a long break :) Thanks for all the good wishes you've sent my way. I missed blogging and blog hopping though I would peep into some blogs here and there. Even in obvious absence many blogger friends have graciously passed on many beautiful awards to me for which I am greatful and humbled :) I'll soon dedicate a post to flaunt the awards :)!!

The past few days were rather tough for me as I was down with renal stone, it was a painful period in which I had to frequent the doctor almost every second day :( Had to undergo series of tests and was on strong doses of medicines. Though I was on a normal diet, didn't have the appetite to eat even simple food. I was off to Amma's place for rest and came home recently.

Now that alls well and happy I've started making dishes from blogger friends recipes and my recipe books.

Today's recipe is " Achaari Paneer" which I picked from Nita Mehta's book 'More Paneer'

This one of the easiest and quickest recipes one could ever prepare with paneer.

This dish tastes typically like that of North Indian pickle :) so all the pickle and paneer lovers here's a real treat! Enjoy!!

Ingredients:

300 gms- paneer

2tsp- saunf (aniseeds)

1 tsp- mustard seeds

a pinch of fenugreek seeds( methi)

1/2 tsp- kalonji (onion seeds)

1 tsp- jeera ( cumin seeds)

5-6 flakes of crushed garlic (opt)

1" piece ginger-crushed

1/2 cup curd/milk

4 tbsp-oil

3 onions- finely chopped

3-4 green chillies- chopped

1 tsp- haldi

1& 1/2 tsp- amchoor ( dry mango powder)

2-3 slit green chillies

salt to taste

Method:

1. Cut paneer into rectangular pieces

2. In a vessel warm some water and add a pinch of haldi and mix well, dunk the cut paneer pieces in it till it is required in cooking.

3.Collect all the seeds in a bowl- saunf, jeera, mustard, methi, kalonji.

4. Heat oil in a kadhai/wok and add the collected seeds to it. Let them crackle for about a minute.

5. Add onions and chopped green chillies. Cook till onions turn golden brown.

Add haldi and crushed ginger and garlic. Cook for half a minute

6. Beat curd (if using milk instead of curd pour directly) till smooth. Add to the kadhai and keep stirring.

7. Add amchoor and salt as per taste. Cook till the gravy thickens( dries up a bit)

8.Add paneer cubes and slit green chillies mix well. stir for 1-2 minutes on low flame.

Serve hot.

Peas Paratha

2009-11-20T15:32:00.005+05:30

Peas Paratha:

Ingredients:

For the peas stuffing:
Peas - 1 cup
Green chillies- 3
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Salt to taste

Paratha Dough:
2 cups whole wheat flour (atta)
salt to taste
water to knead.

Get Started:
Put the whole wheat flour,salt in a wide mouthed vessel and knead it into a soft and managable dough (Use luke warm water for good results).Set it aside.

For the Peas filling:

1. Blend peas with ginger garlic paste,green chillies into a coarse paste without adding water.

2. Heat 2-1/2 tsps oil in a kadhai/wok add jeera after it splutters add the ground ppeas paste and saute well till it looses its rawness. Add salt, hing, and mix well. Keep sauteing till well roasted.

3. Take it off the flame and let it cool.

To Make Peas Paratha:

1. Make equal portions of the dough and make them into balls.

2. Take one portion and roll it into a small circle ( palm sized) and spoon 2 tbsps of the peas filling. Fold the sides towards the top and seal the edges.

3. Flatten the dough ball and dip it in the flour on either sides and roll it gently to get parathas of desired thickness.

4.Cook it on medium-low flame , dotting the edgesand surface with 1 tsp oil, keep pressing the edges and the centre and flip it on to the other side put some oil cook the same way till done.

5. Repeat the same with the remaing dough and filling.

6. Serve the peas parathas with pickle, curd or chutney.

Recipe courtesy: Googled and made some changes to the couple of recipes ref.

Masala Dosa, Mixed Vegetable Bhaji and a T n T

2009-11-06T12:13:00.012+05:30

Update: I Tried , tasted and loved Praline vanilla sponge Gateau from Ria's blog, it tastes heavenly! the cake turned out pretty good. Thanks a ton Ria, ur recipes are damn precise :)

Masala Dosa:

Masala dosas have been a favourtie with S and me. Even though it's made at home though not so often, it's the first sought whenever we go out for breakfast :) I like my Masala Dosa crispy, So did quite a research to find the perfect recipe. I went through many blogs and sites and ...yo! I got the perfect recipe and here it is...( sorry for being a nut ;) in my excitement I didnt note down the site where I got the recipe from)

Ingredients for the Masala Dosa:

Raw rice - 1 and 1/2 cups

Udad dal - 3/4 cup

Toor dal - 1/4 cup

Chana dal - 1/4 cup

Fenu greek seeds - 2 tsp

Beaten Rice (thin poha) - fistful ( I put 2 fistful)

Sugar to taste

Salt to taste

Method:

1. Soak raw rice, fenugreek, all dals for atleast 4 hours.

2. Drain the water, grind all the soaked ingredients with washed beaten rice (poha). Make a smooth batter.

3. Use water as per requirement, dont make the batter too runny.

4. Pour the batter in a big vessel and allow it to ferment overnight.

5. Next morning the dough would have fermented, Take as much dough required for the breakfast requirement and keep the rest unsalted batter in the fridge. This can last for 3 days.

6. Now, add salt and sugar to the batter u have set aside for the day's breakfas, stir it well.

7. The batter is ready for making yummy Masala dosas :)

Mixed vegetable quick bhaji:

Ingredients:

1 potato - peeled, cut into bite sized pieces

2 onions - sliced

1 carrot - peeled, cut into bite sized pieces

2 fistful - green peas

1 tomato - roughly chopped

2 fistful broad beans - ends trimmed, cut into bite sized pieces

1 tsp - cumin seeds

1 tsp - mustard seeds

1/2tsp- turmeric powder

1 tsp - amchur powder

1 .1/2 tsp - sambar powder

2 tsp - oil

salt to taste.

Method:

1. Pressure cook all the chopped vegetables except onion, tomato. Set it aside.

2. In a kadhai/wok, heat oil splutter cumin and mustard seeds

3. Throw in the onions and fry till translucent.

4. Add the cooked vegetables, spice powders, salt and give it a nice stir.

5. Add some water if u require gravy. Cook uncovered for sometime with occassional stirring.

6. Turn off the flame. The vegetable bhaji is ready to serve.

***********************************************************************************

Sankashti Pooja: Yesterday was Sankashti . I did a simple pooja and for naivedhyam I made Hayagreeva, recipe courtesy LG's blog - Taste of Mysore , Thanks Lakshmi :) it tasted heavenly.

Pooja prasadam: Hayagreeva

Brahmi Chutney

2009-11-02T20:19:00.011+05:30

Brahmi Chutney and Pesarattu

Ingredients for Brahmi chutney:

1 cup packed fresh brahmi leaves (ondelga in kannada, ekpaani in konkani)

Grated coconut - about 2 fistful

tamarind - small piece

Green chillies - 2

salt to taste

Method:

Grind together all the above ingredients with just enough water to get the desired consistency of the chutney. Serve it with piping hot dosa.

**********************************************************************************

I made this chutney to go with moong dosa (pesarattu) I followed Indira's recipe from her blog Mahanandi. This is the 3rd time I'm making pesarattu, it's a hit recipe at home :) Thanks Indira.

*************************************************************************************

An Award:

Sushma Mallya of Authentic food delights has passed on a beautiful award..psssssssssst verrrrry long back, Sorry for putting it up late dear :) Thanks a ton ...it feels great to be appreciated:)

*************************************************************************************

Tulsi puja at our new home:

Have a great week ahead!

Updated: For more info on brahmi click here

Baby Brinjal Masala

2009-10-29T19:11:00.005+05:30

Hello friends, Let's talk about brinjals today. Brinjal is such an under-estimated vegetable both taste and nutrition value wise :( But somehow I love them in any form from bhartha to simple stir fry, sambar to yengai. Given an opportunity I would've crowned it the king of vegetables ...gee :) ya one of the obvious reasons being its born with a crown :) anyways...lets come to the recipe of the day, it's one of my Amma's best recipes and today I'd like to share it with you all... so here goes...

Here's the step by step pictorial and then follows the recipe in detail :)

1. stir fry the onions till lt. brow in oil seasoned with mustard and cumin

2. throw in the brinjals and cook for sometime.

3. Put the grated coconut and mix the contents.

4. Add all the spice powders 5. Add water and mix the contents well, cover and cook till done 6. Baby brinjal masala is ready to be served.

Ingredients:

Baby brinjals 6-7 nos.( each cut into 4 pieces length wish,keep them dunked in turmeric water till you them in the kadhai)

1/2 of a coconut - grated

Onions - finely chopped

Mustard seeds - 1tsp

Cumin - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Dry mango powder ( aamchur) - 1 tsp

Sambar powder - 3 tsps

Garam masala powder - 1 tsp

Sugar - 1/2 tsp

salt to taste

Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp

Oil - 4 tsp

Method:

Heat oil in a kadhai and splutter mustard and cumin seeds

Add the chopped onions and fry till slightly brown.

Add the sliced brinjals( squeeze the water before you throw it into the kadhai) and fry for sometime.

Add the grated coconut and mix the contents in the kadhai well.

Cook for a few seconds.

Add salt, turmeric powder, aamchur powder, sambar powder, sugar, garam masala powder and again mix well.

Next add about 1 bowl of water, mix the contents well so that the brinjals are well coated with the powders and coconut.

Cover and cook till done with occassional stirring inbetween. ( when the brinjal masala is near to done check the spices and adjust accordingly).

Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with roti/rice.

Babycorn Paneer Jalfrazie

2009-10-26T11:15:00.005+05:30

Hello dearies! it's feels really good to be back to the blogsphere. I missed bloggig a lot and all your yummy recipe posts too! Now that I'm back I'll try and be regular to all your blogs as much as possible. Talking about the relocating part, We have settled down well in the new house and have started inviting friends, relatives over for get togethers. It feels great to be back to where one belongs :) and I am enjoying it through and through.

This one being the first Diwali in our new house, we used it as an opportunity to meet up with the neighbours and introducing ourselves. All the neighbourhood families gave us a warm welcome and spent good amount of time with us. This Diwali was really a memorable one as we'd lit up the inside as well as the outside of the house with diyas. We had friends and realtives over during the evenings for tea and sweets. We had loads of fun bursting crackers too!

So, that was how I spent the last couple of weeks. Now coming to the recipe of the day- I made Babycorn Paneer Jalfrazie for dinner last night. This one had been in my "to do" list from a very long time. Here's the recipe read on.......

Dish: Babycorn Paneer Jalfrazie

Recipe courtesy: Tarla Dalal's book - Curries and Kadhis

Ingredients:

6 nos, babycorn, cut into 4 lengthwise

1 cup paneer

1/4 cup sliced spring onion whites

1/4 cup sliced green capsicum

1/4 cup sliced red capsicum

1/4 cup sliced green capsicum

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 tsp chilli powder

1/2 tsp coriander-cumin powder

1/2 cup sliced tomatoes

2 tbsp tomato puree

2 tbsp tomato-ketchup

1/4 cup chopped spring onion greens

2 tsp vinegar

1/2 tsp garam masala

1/4 tsp sugar

2 tbsp chopped coriander

2 tbsp oil

salt to taste
Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan and add spring onion whites and capsicums and saute for 2-3 minutes.

2. Add the baby corn, chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander-cumin powder, tomatoes,

tomato puree, tomato ketchup, salt and saute on slow flame till the baby corn gets cooked.

3. Add the paneer, spring onion greens, vinegar, garam masala, sugar and toss lightly.

4. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

I WILL BE BACK IN JUST A WHILE

2009-10-21T07:28:00.004+05:30

Hello Dear Friends,

Wish you a very happy Deepawali. I know am a bit late. Actually we were in the middle of shifting back to Bangalore from Chennai. I am at the moment busy setting up the new house and figuring life around. We are finding it difficult to get a broadband connection in this area. Looks like it will take another week or so. What a pity! I can't wait to get back to full-time blogging. A big thank you to all of you for stopping by and dropping your valuable comments. Keep them coming. And I will be back in just a while!

Coconut Treat :)

2009-09-11T11:46:00.008+05:30

South Indian Kitchens are incomplete without coconut making it's presence felt in some form or the other. I am one pakka South Indian who loves to relish coconut in the innumereable dishes be it savoury or sweet. Oh yeah..there was a phase when I was petrified by the huge "give up eating coconut or else you'll land up being obese, develop high cholestrol or heart problems" and eating coconut based dishes seemed no less than paticipating in 'Fear Factor':(

As you all know that when one is afraid of something..that is the time when you see more of it around u...lol, so rightly there were articles in newspapers, health shows with doctors and dieticians blowing it out of proportion. I gave up eating coconut almost completely :)

I got over this phase gradually for the museum piece that I am ;), moral of the story Moderation is the key! Eating what you like is fine but knowing what quantity is right for you works like the magic words ABRACADABRA!!!

Chalo now let's get back to the purpose of this post :)Today's recipes are:

1. Coconut chutney - Recipe from my Amma.

2. Coconut Kadhi- Recipe by Tarla Dalal, book: Curries and Kadhis

Recipe for Coconut chutney:

Ingredients:
1 tbsp- Udad dal

1 small bowl- Grated coconut

1 pinch- Hing

2-Red chillies

1 small piece- Tamarind

Salt to taste

Tempering:

1tsp- Mustard seeds

5-6 Curry leaves

1tsp oil

Method:

1. Dry fry the udad dal, red chillies till it gives out nice aroma. Put the flame off and add hing.

2. Once the ingredients cool, grind it along with coconut, tamarind and salt adding water to get desired consitency.

3. Transfer it to a serving bowl.

4. Heat oil in a tempering pan add mustard seeds and curry leaves, when they begin to pop put off the flame, and pour it over the chutney and mix well.

5. The tasty coconut-udad dal chutney is ready to be served.

Coconut Kadhi:

Ingredients:

1 and 1/2 cups coconut milk

2 tbsp besan (Bengal gram flour)

3/4 cup fresh curds

2 cardamoms

2 cloves

1" stick cinnamon

1 bay leaf

6 curry leaves

1 tsp grated ginger

1/2 tsp chopped green chillies

1/2 tsp red chilli powder ( my addition)

1tsp sugar ( my addition)

salt to taste

Method:
1. Add the besan to the curds beat well and set it aside.

2. Heat the oil in a pan and add the cardamom, cloves, bay leaf and curry leaves.

3. When the curry leaves splutter, add the ginger and green chilli and stir for a few seconds.

4. Add the coconut milk and 1 cup of water and bring it to boil, while stirring continuously.

5. Add the besan -curd mixture , salt and mix well. Simmer on a low flame till the kadhi thickens while stirring continuoulsy.

6. Serve hot garnished with coriander leaves.

Time to be Honest! :)

2009-09-09T10:58:00.007+05:30

Hi Lovely Ladies, all of you have been so kind and encouraging to me in my journey of blogging. I fall short of words to thanks each of one you to have been there and as a moral support and praying for me and my family. There's a good news that I would like to share with you all. S has got a Promotion n transfer to Bangalore :) and I am so glad that I'll be back to where I belong.

We have to relocate within a very short period of time. I am very nervous, there's so much to do in so less time.

I would take some time off sometime towards the end of this month and will keep you informed about it. I will def. keep posting recipes in the meantime.Please stay in touch and do forgive me for my vanishing acts ...lol I feel like am advertising for some vanishing cream :)

Let's talk of awards now:

1. Pavithra Kodical has shared Kreative blogger award with me, big hug and heart felt thanks dear. (I've done the meme for the same in my ealier post)
2. Sushma Mallya has generously passed on The honest scrap award and the Scrumptious blog award Thanks a ton dear am so humbled :)
3. Lata Raja, Shri,Parita sweet heart of friends too have shared the honest scrap award with me. Thanks a lot dearies.

THE SCRUMPTIOUS BLOG AWARD...

It is the Scrumptious Blog Award -a blog award given to sites who:
Inspire you Encourage You
May give Fabulous information
A great read
Has Scrumptious recipes
Any other reasons you can think of that make them Scrumptious!

Thanks again Sushma, you are a sweetheart :) I would love to share this award with all my blogger friends who have been so warm and encouraging! Please feel free to pick it up ladies, I get my inspiration from you all and each one of you deserves it ....:)

The Honest Scrap Award:

This award comes with the following rules:

I must thank the person who gave me the award and list their blog and link it

I must list 10 honest things about myself

I must put a copy of The Honest Scrap Logo on my blog.

I must select at least 7 other worthy bloggers and list their links

I must notify the bloggers of the award and hopefully they will follow the above three requirements also.

Here are 10 honest things about me..

1. I connect well with kids, I am good at teaching little kids. Thanks to my elder sister for recognising this ability in me, she says am very creative in teaching the little ones :)

2. I apply God's Kumkum everynight, if I happen to forget I'm sure to get a scary dream and wake up screaming ;)

3. I am a very spiritual person and have conversations with God, I strongly believe that he listens and answers in his own way :)

4. I've recently given up non-vegetarian food.

5. I dont like deep fried eats :) :) No, not for diet purpose and stuff! from my childhood I dont like things like chips, bhajjis, bondas, samosas :) I dont like them just like that ;)

6. I am a very patriotic person. I love my country and get tears in my eyes when I watch any programmes about soldiers and their bravery , like Lata Raja I too get very emotional each time the national anthem is sung.

7. I truly believe in conserving water, electricity and recycling.

8. I enjoy anything connected to art from music, dance, painting, theatre ...

9. I love to cook. Simple food pleases me the most

10. I wouldnt have tried my hands in baking if I had'nt been doing my rounds in the blogsphere.

It would be extemely difficult to name just a few of them for this award. Please feel free to pick your awards lovely ladies. Sparing a few minutes to read the posts in the blogsphere and leaving a line or two in the food blog itself show how honestly you all ...rather we all have become a close knit group or rather like a family. Do take your award and write 10 things about yourselves.

Thanks

Keep the inspiration on!

Red Pumpkin Bajji/Kattu , Capsicum Potato Masala/Sukke

2009-09-04T14:10:00.004+05:30

Most of us must have been fussy eaters during our school and college days. I was one of a kind a museum piece;) I was a fussy eater plus a very poor eater also. I never ever bothered to taste and relish the authentic delicacies that my Amma used to prepare, on the contrary I used to live on bread-jam and biscuits. It’s only after getting married and moving away from my parents did I realise the value of the authentic food and crave to have Amma’s home made dishes. Nevertheless, she’s a darling and keeps me updated with all her recipes as she’s just a call away :)

Today’s recipes are:
Red Pumpkin Kattu
Capsicum and Potato Masala/ Sukke

Pumpkin Bajji/ Kattu

Ingredients:
¼ kg Pumpkin- washed, peeled, cubed, cooked
1 small bowl of grated coconut
2-3 Red chillies- Roasted
A small piece of tamarind
1 tsp oil
Salt to taste

Method:
Grind the grated coconut, roasted red chillies, tamarind into a fine masala paste using little water.

Next add the cooked pumpkin cubes to the masala and grind together to make a blended paste of the coconut masala and pumpkin.

Empty the pumpkin –coconut paste into a vessel. Add salt, and mix well.

In a tempering pan heat a teaspoon of oil, add mustard seeds, when it begins to pop add curry leaves leave it for a few seconds and take it off the flame and pour it over the pumpkin-coconut paste and mix well.

The Red pumpkin bajji/kattu is ready to be served with rice or roti

Capsicum and Potato Sukke/Dry Sabzi

Ingredients
1 large Capsicum, deseeded and chopped into bite sized piceces
2-3 Medium potatoes, washed, peeled, cubed
1 tsp Mustard seeds
1 Sprig curry leaves
Salt to taste
1 tsp oil

For The Masala:
1 small bowl grated coconut
A small piece of tamarind
2 red chillies
¼ tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp Urad dal
1 tsp Coriander seeds

Method:

Pressure cook the capsicum and potatoes and set it aside.

Heat a little oil and roast the red chillies, urad dal, coriander seeds. Take it off the flame and let it cool.

Coarsely grind the coconut, tamarind, red chillies, urad dal, coriander seeds, and turmeric powder with a little water.

In a wide mouthed vessel mix the masala and the cooked vegetables add little water, sugar, salt and give it a nice stir.

Cook it on medium flame and bring it to a boil, once it comes to a boil switch the flame off and temper it mustard and curry leaves.

Mix it well and the Capsicum and potato sabzi/ sukke is ready to be served.

Hello! I'm Back

2009-09-01T14:39:00.003+05:30

Hi Friends,
Thank you all so much for your prayers and good wishes. Things are brightening up at the home front :) My brother is feeling much much better and is on the road to recovery. After taking a second and third opinion from doctors, my brother N was advised complete bed rest and was on medication and strict diet as he had to loose some weight.
N seems to have been very strictly following the doctors advice, he's feeling better. At the moment he doesnt require surgery, doc says that after another 15 days of rest and medication he'll decide what has to be done next. We at home feel that he's getting and looking better :) and hoping that the surgery will be ruled out:)
I must say a million thanks to all of you to have given the moral support and good wishes :) am greatful to you all.
I promise to come up with a post very soon :) I love you all and thanks again :) :)
God Bless
Rgds
Suparna :)

Taking Some Time Off ....

2009-08-11T14:47:00.002+05:30

Dear Friends,
Sorry for announcing a break again, but I would'nt be blogging/ visiting your blogs for the next few days.As my brother who had been suffering from a severe back pack pain from the past few days has been advised to undergo a surgery :( we are yet to take a second and third opinion on this. I just am not able to concentrate on anything let alone cooking or blogging :( so friends I'll see you all when things are better.
I love you all and will miss you very dearly.
Take good care of yourselves,
God Bless

Aloo Posto and Moong Dal ki dal

2009-08-06T13:21:00.006+05:30

Aloo Posto

Moong Dal ki Dal

Dals are so easy to work with, the variety of dals like moong, masoor, toor …are so easy on receiving the experiment that is done with it. It blends in any spices and masala you put into them. I am sure all of you would’ve experienced the same.

When bored of making the same tadka ( tempering) dal, we ladies put on our enthusiasm caps and are all ready to mix and match the spices and various things that can go into the dal. Oh ya, I know we are not limited to mix n match our dresses alone ;) Now coming to today’s recipe of dal. There was a stock of Moong dal crying for attention from several days!! (God How can I be so bad!!) so I thought to shower some attention on the poor sidelined Moong dal :)

This recipe just happened… it wasnt pre-planned, I pressure cooked the moong dal , glanced at my spice rack and just got started. S these days wants rice almost for both meals and I love my rotis :) So wanted something to go well with both…here ‘s what I cooked:

Ingredients for Moong Dal ki dal:

Moong dal- 1 cup, pressure cooked with just enough water, mashed and set aside
Onion- 1 medium, finely chopped
Tomato- 1 medium, finely chopped
Green chilies- 1 finely chopped or 1 tsp red chili powder
Coriander leaves- 2 tbsp, finely chopped
Cumin seeds- 1 tsp
Ginger-garlic paste- 1 tsp
Turmeric- ½ tsp
Cumin powder- 1 tsp
Coriander powder- 1 tsp
Garam Masala – ½ tsp
Salt to taste
Oil- 2 tsp

Method:

Heat oil in a vessel, put cumin seeds and wait till it splutters.

Throw in the onions and fry till translucent. Now put the green chilies and ginger garlic paste and fry for sometime.

Next add tomatoes and sauté for a few minutes until the tomatoes turn mushy...

Spoon in turmeric power, cumin powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder, salt mix well so that the spice powders coat the mushy mixture. Add a few spoons of water if it gets too dry.

Fry for sometime until the rawness of the spices fade away.

Add the mashed dal and mix well. Taste and adjust accordingly.

Add some water to the dal and mix well again and bring it to boil.

The dal is ready to be served hot garnished with coriander leaves.

Note: If you prefer your dal thick add less water, and if you like it the regular runny way add water accordingly.

Aloo Posto:

This dish is one of the simplest ones to prepare and the taste definitely makes one over eat ;) The first time I tasted aloo posto , I found it strangely nice :)
The posto(poppy ) paste has a strange rawness to it inspite of cooking, which is very close to the taste of peanuts.

Aloo posto is nothing but potatoes cooked in poppy paste. The minimal use of ingredients throws the limelight completely on to poppy seeds.

I’ve made posto several times and in 1 or 2 different ways, referring to many blogs and magazines. The difference is negligible though :) Today I made the posto referring to this blog. It has some authentic Bengali recipes do check it out.

The aloo post was too good, hearty thanks to Sudeshna :) I blindly …err…with my eyes wide open(LOL) followed her recipe and instructions. So here goes….

Ingredients for Aloo Posto:

Moong dal- 1 cup, pressure cooked with just enough water, mashed and set aside
Onion- 1 medium, finely chopped
Potato: 4 medium sized
Poppy seeds: 3 tablespoons ( I roasted them)
Nigella seeds: 1 teaspoon
Green chili: 3, finely chopped
Turmeric powder: ½ teaspoon
Mustard oil: 1 tablespoon
Salt to taste

Method:

Make a soft fine paste of the poppy seeds and set it

Cut the potatoes into small cubes

Heat oil in a wok over low flame, add the nigella seeds

Throw in the potatoes along with the turmeric powder, green chilies and salt

Pour in about a cup of water and let the potatoes get half cooked

Add the poppy seed paste and cook till the potatoes are well cooked

Pour in water if necessary

TC and Happy week ahead!

3 Awards and a Tag :)

2009-08-05T12:40:00.014+05:30

Hari Chandana has passed on 3 wonderful awards which comes with a tag. It's a great feeling to be awarded, I appreciate the encouraging gesture Hari :) . Tags (meme) was something which I used to enjoy reading in others blogs...now that I've done it myself , it seems fun :) Thanks so much Hari. I've tagged 13 (sorry rules are made to break aren't they? :)) friends and request them to accept the awards :) and also request them to tag 8-10 (feel free to pass on the encouragement) people and keep the chain going :)

The meme for Kreativ blogger is here. The other two wonderful awards has a tag attached :) so here I go.....sorry abt the alignment :(

What is your current obsession?
Eating Healthy
What are you wearing today?
T-shirt and trousers

What's for dinner?
Roti, double beans sabzi.

What’s the last thing you bought?
Flowers

What are you listening to right now?
Kailash Kher's song - Saiyyan

What do you think about the person who tagged you?
Hari Chandana is one of the youngest food bloggers I’ve known. She’s very enthusiastic and has shared some authentic recipes. She’s an amazing artist too. As a person she seems to have an aura of happiness :)

If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you like it to be?
Dehradun/Shimla

What are your must-have pieces for summer?
Cotton Tees, Jeans, cotton chudidars, facial wet tissues, hankies

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
Dehradun/ Mussorie/Darjeeling/ Mount.Abu/Shimla….. Himalayas

Which language do you want to learn?
Would sound weird ;) I have this fascination to communicate with animals and birds :)

What’s your favourite quote?
I’m not sure if it’s a quote ….these are the magical lines which keeps me going :)
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cant change;
The courage to change the things I can…And
The Wisdom to know the difference.

Who do you want to meet right now?
Guruji Shri Shri Ravi Shankar

What is your favourite colour?
BLUE, pink, yellow, maroon.

What is your favourite piece of clothing in your own closet?
Jeans, all T-shirts

What is your dream job?
Would like to render service to an animal rescue centre and old age home

What’s your favourite magazine?
Good Housekeeping, Prevention, Femina

If you had $100 now, what would you spend it on?
At the moment nothing ;)

What do you consider a fashion faux pas? (Faux pas mean error in etiquette.. )
Bindi with jeans/trousers
Not being comfortable in what u r wearing

Who are your style icons?
None

Describe your personal style?
Simple

What are your favourite movies?
Jab We Met, Life is Beautiful, Sound of Music, Jungle book, Sherk

What are three cosmetic/makeup/perfume products that you can't live without?
Kajal/Perfumes/chap stick

What inspires you?
Compassion, Prayers.

What do you try to cook when you have cooking blues (When you feel real lazy to cook some thing)?
I prepare vegetable khichdi :) It’s as simple as fill it (cooker), shut it forget it ;)

Give us three styling tips that always work for you:
Keep it Simple
Mix and Match
On a ‘Bad hair day’ lightly oil your hair or apply combing serum and tie it up

What do you do when you “have nothing to wear” (even though your closet’s packed)?
Never faced this situation ;)

Coffee or tea?
I love tea at any given time of the day. I dont mind coffee too.

What do you do when you are feeling low or terribly depressed?
Read, Listen to music, watch cartoon shows :), call up family/friends

What is the meaning of your name?
Suparna is another name of Goddess Parvati. It is also the name of Lord Vishnu himself. It is one of the many names given to Lord Vishnu’s divine Vehicle Garuda, the eagle. Suparna also means leaf.

Which other blogs you love visiting?
I love visiting all the blogs

Favorite Dessert/Sweet?
Rasagulla.

Favorite Season ?
Rainy season.

Respond and rework – answer the questions on your own blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your own invention, and add one more question of your own. Then tag eight or ten other people.

I am replacing the "Tea or Coffee?" to "What Kitchen gadget would you like to own? Which is the one gadget/utentsil without which you just can’t work?

I would like pass on the awards and tag to:
Sushma Mallya
K
Usha
Varunavi
Rajeshwari
Nithya Praveen
Viki
Smitha
Chitra
Vani
Parita
Srilakshmi
Shri

Please accept these awards ladies :) and keep the chain going :)

A wonderful Award :)

2009-08-02T20:27:00.004+05:30

Hema, Smitha, Ammu, Sushma Mallya, Srilakshmi, Shri and Chitra have generously passed on the award ‘Kreativ Blogger’ to me. I whole heartedly thank you for considering me for this award. It’s a huge encouragement …and it’s fulfilling feeling to share and encourage.

This award comes with the following rules:

1. You must thank the person who has given you the award.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link to the person who has nominated you for the award.
4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.
5. Nominate 7 other Kreativ Bloggers (it’s tough as all are creative in their own way :))
6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on which of the blogs to let them know they have been nominated

Now coming to the 7 things about me…
1.Lizards scare me to death :) If I happen to see lizards I get nightmares and wake up screaming for days….
2.I love kids and their innocent questions :) so I chose to be a Montessorian
3.I am a big movie buff :), I love music and listen to it even when cooking (I feel I cook better that way).
4.I love to read short stories by Indian authors. The simplicity of language and expression is unmatched. I love reading childrens’ books like comics, chandamama, folkstories, Amar Chitra Katha, Tinkle, etc.
5.I am a religious person. I start my day with an elaborate puja including chanting several mantras.
6.I am a good mimic but my performances are reserved for my husband alone.
7.I love donkeys :)….LOL ya that’s true, they are such lovely creatures, always underestimated for their work :(. On the way to my weekly temple visit is a washer men’s colony. They tie their donkeys outside their houses. Their innocent looks and beautiful eyes are so cute. I love to click their pictures :)

I would love to pass it on to many more than just 7 friends including the ones who have passed on the award to me :) but as they have already been nominated I’d like to pass it on to some more of my lovely Kreativ friends. Instead of 7 nominations I would like to make it 10 so here they are:

1. Aquadaze
2. Ann
3. Sadhana and Muskan
4. Priya
5. Sangeeta
6. LG
7. Gita
8. Deesha
9. Sushma
10. Priti

Tomato Santosh, Roasted Curry Leaves Spice Blend

2009-07-31T00:16:00.007+05:30

TOMATO SANTOSH Roasted Curry Leaves Spice Blend

Tomato Santosh is a superb side dish which makes an equally good accompaniment with both rice and rotis. It could be had with bread too. This is one of the few dishes which I had learnt from my Amma after marriage. It’s very simple to make and can be stored refrigerated in air tight containers for a couple of days. The name is quite interesting isn’t it?! Wonder why it is called Santosh(happiness)! any guesses?

Recipe for Tomato Santosh:
7-8 tomatoes, roughly chopped
½ tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp sambar powder or red chilli powder
1 fistful peanuts, roasted, skinned, coarsely ground
8-10 curry leaves
2-3 tbsp coriander leaves, finely chopped
Salt to taste
Sugar/crushed jaggery to taste ( I used 1-2 tbsp)
2-3 tsp oil

Tempering:
1 tsp Mustard seeds
1 tsp Cumin seeds

Method:

In a Heavy bottomed vessel/Kadhai heat oil and put mustard and cumin seeds. Once it begins to crackle add the tomatoes and sauté for a few seconds, then add turmeric powder, Sambar /chilli powder, peanut powder, salt, sugar/jaggery mix well and let it cook for a minute or two.
Next add the curry leaves, and coriander leaves mix all the ingredients gently. Check for the spice balance, add and adjust (if) as required.
Cover and simmer with occasional stirring till done (i.e. till water evaporates)
*you can add ½ tsp amchur powder if the tomatoes are’nt tart enough.

Roasted Curry Leaves Spice Blend

This spice powder recipe is from one my treasured cook books “660 Curries” by Raghavan Iyer. Recently I made – Dahi Elaichi Rajmah from the same book (will post it soon), this dish calls for a roasted curry leaf spice blend. This spice powder is very flavourful and aromatic; it can be used in many bhajis and stiry fries and many more recipes that ur creative mind can churn out :) . But It’s sure worth having it handy on the kitchen shelf. Here's the recipe

Ingredients:
2 tbsp toor dal
2 tbsp urad dal
1 tsp oil
½ cup firmly packed fresh curry leaves
6-8 dry red chillies
¼ tsp turmeric powder
¼ tsp asafoetida powder

Method: Heat a teaspoon of oil in a small skillet and roast all the ingredients except turmeric powder and asafoetida. Stir fry until the leaves feel dry and crinkly, the dals turn golden brown; the chillies blacken slightly and smell pungent. This takes about 2 minutes.
Transfer the ingredients into a plate and allow it to cool. Once it is cooled completely grind it into a fine powder. Add the turmeric and asafoetida and mix well.
The ground blend will be yellow-brown with specks of green and the aroma will be sweet and complex very different from the ground whole spices.
Store in air- tight containers.

Shelf life: Up to 2 months.
NOTE: If you don’t allow the spices to cool, the ground blend will acquire unwanted moisture and make the final powder ‘cakey’

*** Many of my blogger buddies have passed on a wonderful encouraging award to me, Thanks friends I feel humbled and honoured. I'll be posting it very soon.. :)

Happy Weekend! Enjoy! Take Care :)

Broad Beans and Carrot Dry Fry

2009-07-23T12:23:00.005+05:30

Ingredients:

250 gms broad beans, cut length wise,

1 carrot, cut length wise

1 onion, finely chopped

1-2 tsp oil

For the coconut masala:

1/4the cup fresh grated coconut

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 green chilli

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

*Grind these ingredients with very little water.

For the spice flavours:
1 tsp sambar powder or kitchen king masala
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp amchoor powder
salt to taste
Some corianderleaves finely chopped for garnishing.

Tempering:
1 tsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 sprig curry leaves

Method:

Pressure cook the cut broad beans and carrot, once cooked set it aside.

In a kadhai/wok heat oil add mustard seeds and curry leaves once they begin to pop add chopped onion and fry till translucent.

Next add the ground coconut paste, On a medium flame fry this masala for sometime.

Put the dry spice powders.. Sambar powder/kitchen king powder, coriander powder, amchoor powder, salt and mix well stir fry for sometime.

Finally add the cooked broadbeans and carrot to the kadhai and mix well so that the vegetables are well coated with the spice masala base.

Cook without covering for sometime and switch off the flame.

Garnish with chopped coriander and serve hot with rice or rotis.

Happy Weekend !! Enjoy! TC

Paneer Manpasand

2009-07-18T10:53:00.006+05:30

Ingredients:

250gms Paneer, cubed

Make a smooth paste of the following ingredients

2 medium sized onions

1 inch ginger

5 cloves of garlic

For the flavour:

1tsp of cumin seeds

Salt as per taste

½ tsp of sugar

1tsp of turmeric powder

1 tsp of red chilli powder

1tsp cumin powder

1tsp coriander powder

5 cloves

1 cinnamon stick (finger length ) broken into pieces

1 tomato, chopped finely

3-4 tbs of mustard oil

Make a smooth paste of (Coconut based):

Fresh coconut ¼ cup

Peanuts ¼ cup

1 onion

2 green chilies

Salt as per taste

1tsp of mustard oil

Method:
.Heat mustard oil in a pan add cumin seeds, sugar, cloves and cinnamon

.Add the smooth paste of onion, ginger, garlic . Sauté for 2 minutes on high flame

.Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, garam masala powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, salt, the coconut based masala paste, and chopped tomato and sauté for 5minutes on high flame. Stir continuously so that the masala does'nt get burnt.

.Now add water and let it simmer for 5 minutes or till the gravy becomes dry and the oil seperates from the masala paste.

.Add approximately 2 cups of water(adjust more or less accordingly), Add cubed paneer pieces and cook covered for 5-8 minutes .

.Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with rotis.

Recipe source:http://paneerrecipe.in/paneer-manpasand-recipe/

some changes have been made in the original recipe to suit our taste buds :)

Gojju Avalakki/ Hot-Sweet-Sour spiced Poha

2009-07-14T12:12:00.010+05:30

Gojju avalakki/Hot -sweet n sour spiced poha has remained one of my favourite poha preparation ever since I had tasted it at my best friend S's place during my childhood days. I used to think this dish is really difficult to put together, coz it has all the flavours so well balanced, and the poha has just enough amount of moistness to it ;) This heavenly taste was long forgotten until recently I stumbled upon the same dish/recipe at Ramya's blog http://maneadige.blogspot.com/ My joys knew no bound, without wasting much time I just jotted down the recipe and prepared it the very next day for breakfast. S liked it a lot too :) it goes without saying that this recipe will be a treasured one for me :)

Thanks to Ramya.

here's the recipe link from Ramya's blog:

http://maneadige.blogspot.com/2008/06/gojjavalakki-huli-avalakki-crushed-and.html

Here is the recipe for reference:

Gojju Alavakki/ Hot-Sweet-Sour spiced Poha

Ingredients:

Thick quality beaten rice (Aval/Poha)- 2 cups

Peanuts- fistful

Coconut grated- 2-3 tbsp

Rasam powder- 2-3 tsp (I used MTR)

Tamarind pulp-1-2 tsp( you could add more or less to suit your taste)

Crushed Jaggery- 1-2 tbsp

Fenugreek seeds- 1/2 tsp

Black/White sesame seeds- 2 tsp

Curry leaves- 1 sprig

Mustard seeds-3/4 tsp

Chana dal- 1 tsp

Urad dal- 1 tsp

Red chillies- 2, halved

Oil- 2 tbsp

Asofetida-1/4 tsp

Method-
1.Take small amounts of beaten rice and coarsely powder it by pulsing the mixie a couple of times, Make sure you don't powder it finely.

2. Wash the coarse powder once or twice in running water,drain the excess water and keep it aside for a few minutes and allow it to soften.

3.For the Hot-Sour-Sweet tasting Water or Gojju in Kannada:

In a vessel take about a cup of water add rasam powder, Jaggery, salt, asfetida, turmeric powder. Check for the balance of taste. Now this is ready.

4. Put the washed Aval/beaten rice in a wide mouthed vessel and pour in the prepared hot-sour-sweet tasting waster little by little to it. STOP WHEN NECESSARY, DO NOT MAKE THE MIXTURE TOO SOGY. Mix well and allow it to set for sometime.

5.Meanwhile, dry roast the fenugreek seeds and sesame seeds till it gives out nice aroma. cool it well and powder it and set it aside.

6. Make tempering: In a kadhai/wok heat oil and add mustard seeds, chanadal, urad dal,curry leaves, hing, red chillies and peanuts once its done pour it over the poha. Add the fenugreek-sesame powder to the seasoned poha and mix well.

7.Garnish with grated coconut and coriander leaves.

Chocolate Pudding with Banana and Crackers

2009-07-10T10:31:00.013+05:30

Chocolate is one of S's and my favourite indulgences. The July edition of "Prevention' magazine had a very easy chocolate pudding. The picture on the recipe page was so attractive that I had to make it that very day! so here goes the recipe....

CHOCOLATE PUDDING WITH BANANA AND CRACKERS:

Ingredients

3 Marie/digestive biscuits crushed

1 ripe banana, sliced

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

3 tbsp cornstarch

1/8 tsp salt

3 cups skimmed milk

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

1&1/2 cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips( I used crushed bitter chocolate bits)

Method

1. Crush the biscuits and divide the biscuit crumbs evenly among 6 custard cups. Press into bottom. Top with banana slices and press again gently. Reserve a few banana slices for garnish.

2. Mix sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, and salt in a large saucepan. Stir in milk little by little and whisk over medium flame until pudding thickens and comes to a boil.

3. Cook one minute longer. Remove from heat an stir in vanilla essence.

Pour into the prepared custard cups. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for atleast 2 hours. Top each serving with some chocolate chips and garnish the reserved banana slices.

Batate Song/ Potatoes cooked in spicy and tangy sauce

2009-07-03T12:28:00.009+05:30

Hellllllllo Gals, Good to see you all and ur wonderful recipes. I am so glad many of u wrote that I'll be missed dearly :) :) Thanks dearies.

Now lets get to foodie-business ;) Today's recipe is a spicy tangy potato curry(I made it yesterday for lunch ). It's called 'song' ...LOL yes u read it right. In Konkani it's called Batate(potato) Song. It's one of the most loved dishes in the Konkani household after/along with the Dali Thoy. My hubby dear is a bong ...he loves the Konkani cuisine but finds the names of the dishes very amusing/funny :)

I'd like to share a funny incident that occured about 2 years back. My parents had invited both of us for lunch. Among the variety of dishes Amma had made, the batate song impressed S, Amma saw that S had polished off the song within minutes of serving...she told me to serve some more song to him. S was a little surprised and whispered to me..."is Amma asking me to sing a song or something?!" ....I couldn't hold myself and burst into laughter :) :) everybody was curious to know the reason...when I told them about the 'sing a song ?' thingie, all had a hearty laugh...

even to this day whenever I make batate song, we exchange a nostalgic cute little smile :)

So here's the recipe that could make u sing a .......batate- SONG!!

Ingredients:

* 4 medium sized potatoes, cooked, peeled, cubed.

* 1 large onion, finely chopped.

* 1 1/4tsp chilli powder ( use more or less to suit ur taste).

* 1 small lemon sized tamarind ball soaked in a bowl of water, after it softens squeeze the tamarind to get a thin consistency tamarind water/pulp.

*2-3 tbsp oil

*salt to taste

Method:

1. Heat oil in a kadhai or any cooking vessel, add onions and fry till slightly

golden brown.

2. Turn off the gas and add the tamarind pulp, chilli powder, salt, potato cubes and mix well.

3. Turn on the flame and simmer for sometime, taste and adjust the salt and chilli powder if necessary.

4. Add a little water if you want more gravy, cover and simmer for sometime, stir occassionally.

5. The song is ready to be served with rice/roti

Break!!

2009-06-11T11:15:00.006+05:30

Hi Friends,
I'm taking a break for a couple of weeks . All's fine donworry :) it's just that there are lot of eventful things happening in the coming weeks(read family functions and relatives visiting) so I wont be able to do justice to blogging half heartedly so the break :P.Though I wouldn't be able to visit your blogs as regularly as I used to , I'll try to give an occassional sneak peek :)
Hope u miss me ;) I'll definitely miss u all :P

Happy Blogging! Take good care of yourselves and stay happy!!!

Until we meet next time...
bye!! :)

Chow Chow bajji and Simple Dal

2009-06-08T18:50:00.009+05:30

Chow chow or chayote bajji is a simple dish which can be had as a side dish or eaten with rice alone.

Ingredients

2 small chow chow/chayote, peeled, cubed and pressure cooked
2 green chillies
1/2 cup grated coconut
small piece of tamarind
1 tsp jeera
salt to taste

For tempering

1tsp oil
4-5 curry leaves
1 tsp mustard
A pinch of asafoetida

Method:

Grind the cooked chow chow pieces with grated coconut, green chilies, cumin seeds, salt, tamarind with very little water.
Once it's ground to a fine paste transfer it to the serving bowl and set it aside.
Heat a 1 tsp oil in a tempering pan add mustard seeds, curry leaves as it begins to pop throw in the asafoetida, then immediately pour it over the ground paste and mix well. Taste and adjust the salt if necessary.
Serve with rice/roti.

Simple Dal: Dali Thoy -version 2

This is one of the simplest versions of dal that I've come across. The Konkani households make their dal in two versions, the difference is only in the tempering. In one version tempering is done with garlic and red chilies, and the other is with mustard seeds, asafoetida and curry leaves.

I've posted the garlic and red chilies tempered dal sometime back. Let's see the other one.

Ingredients:

1 cup Toor dal
½ tsp Turmeric
Salt to taste

For the tempering:

5-6 curry leaves
2-3 dry red chilies, halved
A pinch of asafoetida

Method:

Wash and clean the toor dal and drain the water
Pour 2 cups of clean water into the dal
Add turmeric powder and stir
Pressure cook it for 2-3 whistles
Now mash the pressure cooked dal using a whisker
Add salt to it and heat it on a low flame, stir occasionally
While the dal is heating prepare for the tempering.

Tempering:

Heat oil in a skillet, add mustard seeds and curry leaves wait till it begins to pop
Now add the red chillies and fry for 2-3 seconds, add asafoetida
Take it off the flame and pour it on the dal.
Stir well, switch off the flame when the dal comes to a boil. Serve it hot with rice.

Tiramisu...a delightful dessert

2009-06-02T13:53:00.008+05:30

Tiramisu is one of S's favourite desserts and something that I had been wanting to prepare at home from a very long time. Upon googling I found this detailed and easy to follow recipe(I'm making it for the first time :)) It turned out pretty good. *Special thanks to Manju of blog mirchmasala for the inspiration :)

Ingredients:

4 tbsp sugar

1/2 cup water

4 eggs yolks

4 ounces cream cheese

6 ounces mascarpone cheese

1 tbsp marsala/port wine (I used vanilla essence)

8 ounces heavy whipping cream

2 cups of expresso or strong coffee( I also added 1 tsp sugar )

1 ounce dark rum (I skipped this)

2 tbsp sugar

24 lady fingers

2 tbsp cocoa powder

2 tbsp grated semi sweet chocolate grated

Preparation:

Cook sugar and water together till it all the sugar dissolves well. set it aside to cool.

Prepare egg mixture by whipping the egg yolks on high speed until pale yellow and thick, then slowly pour the sugar syrup while mixing on high until the mixture is light and fluffy.

Add cream cheese and and whip on medium speed until smooth.

Add mascarpone cheese and marsala wine (I used vanilla essence) mix until incorporated . Fold in whipped cream . Refrigerate.

Assembling the Tiramisu:

Dip the lady fingers in the coffee decocotion and place a layer on the bottom of a serving platter.

Top with one layer of chilled cream mixture. Repeat it with the rest of the lady fingers and

cream alternatingly. The top layer should be that of cream.

Sift cocoa over the top layer and refrigerate atleat for 5-6 hours.

Sprinkle with grated chocolate and serve.

Two for a Company with Bitter gourd and Okra

2009-05-29T12:39:00.004+05:30

Bittergourd and okra have been two of my favourite vegetables over the couple of years and greens of course or else they’d feel left out ;) . There are a few typical of dishes/recipes which come to mind when we think of karela and bhindi. Looking for different recipes apart from the usual ones has become a habit now. So that’s what I did….before I begin here’s something I’d like to tell all of u… I am bit by the blog bug too!! ;) I read many posts from my fellow foodie friends saying that blogging has become an obsession. Recipe inventions while travelling and thinking spice round the clock…actually even in dreams :) has become “normal” I thank God for this as am not alone :)
In this context, while hunting for something which hasn’t been made in my kitchen I found 2 recipes which fitted the tag of zara hatke :). Not only did I love the way these two very different dishes tasted but also admired the way it looked resting in the serving bowls. Without much ado, let me proceed to the recipes ….Read on

Sliced Okra Bathed in Buttermilk/Bhindi Kadi
Recipe source: 660 curries

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh okra, rinsed, dried, ends trimmed and cut into 1” length
4 cups buttermilk
2 tbsp chickpea flour/besan
2 tbsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp red chilli powder
¼ tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp fenugreek seeds/methi
2 tbsp ghee/melted butter/oil
1 tbsp ginger-chilli paste ( I added this to balance the dominant sweet taste)
2 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves with tender stems
10-12 fresh curry leaves

Method:

Whisk the buttermilk, chickpea flour, sugar, salt, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, and ginger-green chilli paste together in a medium sized bowl avoiding any lumps. Stir in coriander leaves and curry leaves.

Heat ghee/butter/oil in a large saucepan over medium- high heat. Sprinkle the cumin and fenugreek seeds into the pan and cook until they sizzle and turn reddish brown and fragrant.

Immediately add okra/bhendi and stir fry till they acquire light brown colouration and their ridged sides, 8-10 minutes

Pour in spiced buttermilk mixture and stir once or twice to deglaze the pan. Lower the heat to medium and simmer uncovered, until the okras are fork- tender and the curry has thickened slightly. 10-12 minutes.
The colour transforms from a pale cream coloured curry to a robust sun-yellow. This is the sign of doneness. Switch off the flame and serve hot with rice/ roti.

Gujarathi Karela Sabji
Source: googled and arrived at http://simplysensationalfood.blogspot.com/

Ingredients :
3 medium Bitter gourds, peeled and cut into 3 pieces each
1 small onion, sliced
1 tomato, diced
½ tsp coriander leaves to garnish

For the stuffing:
½ tsp salt
½ tsp red chilli powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
½ tsp turmeric powder
1 tbsp chickpea flour/besan
1 tbsp crushed jaggery
1 tbsp oil
½ tsp coriander leaves, chopped

For the gravy:
1 tsp oil
½ tsp garlic paste
½ tsp salt
½ tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp red chilli powder
½ tsp jaggery
½ tsp mustard seeds

Method:
Cut a slit into each bitter gourd piece and remove the seeds

Mix the stuffing ingredients with a little water and make a thick paste

Stuff each bitter gourd piece with this paste and steam it for about 20 minutes or till cooked and tender.

Heat oil in a shallow frying pan add mustard seeds, once it starts to pop add garlic paste, onions and fry till translucent.

Add the tomatoes, spices for the gravy. Cook till tomatoes soften and thicken the gravy.

Add the steamed bitter gourd and toss gently to bind in with the gravy.Cover and cook for another 5 minutes. Once done, take it off the flame garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rice/roti

Methi chana

2009-05-26T10:13:00.005+05:30

Having a bunch of methi (fenu greek) leaves to finish, I made a simple side dish which turned out very flavourful and tasty. The Balchao masala ( red chili -vinegar paste)) made the taste of the dish turn around :) and added the rocking spice factor. Salt and aamchur powder in the right quantiy brought the perfectness to the taste. Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

1 cup Black chickpeas (kala chana), soaked overnight and pressure cooked, drained, the water conserved for cooking.

1-2 Potatoes, cooked, peeled, cubed

1 bunch Methi leaves, cleaned , chopped, open-cooked in water till cooked(colour changed to dark green),drain the water and set aside the cooked methi leaves.

1 tsp cumin seeds.

1 onion, finely chopped.

1 tomato, finely chopped.

salt to taste.

2 tbsp oil

For the masala paste:

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp coriander powder

1/4 tsp balchao masala, here's the link from Lisa's blog

http://foodandspice.blogspot.com/2009/04/red-chili-and-vinegar-paste.html

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1/2 tsp aamchur powder (dry mango powder)

*Mix all the masala paste ingredients with 2-3 tsps of water in a bowl and set it aside.

Method:

1. Heat oil in a kadhai/wok and add cumin seeds. Once they begin to pop add the onions and fry till translucent.

2. Add the tomatoes and fry till they become soft.

3. Now add the masala paste, salt , potatoes, chana and fry for sometime.

4. Add the methi leaves, conserved water obtained from cooking chana( u can add a little more water if u want) mix thoroughly.

5. Taste and adjust the salt and aamchur powder if necessary.

6. Cook till the gravy thickens depending on the desired consitency.

7. Serve hot with roti/puri/rice.

Sweet and Tangy Tomato Kadhi

2009-05-21T14:54:00.005+05:30

This is a tomato based curry with a lovely balanced tangy- sweet combination. This is a recipe by Tarla Dalal from my recipe collection .

When we need a change from the regular sambars and rasams, Tomato kadhi is a welcome change in taste. Here’s the recipe.

Ingredients:

4 large tomatoes
½ tsp mustard seeds
½ tsp cumin seeds
1 chopped green chilli
5 to 6 curry leaves
2 cloves
2 tbsp chickpea flour (besan), make it into a paste by adding a couple of tsps of water
¼ tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp red chilli powder
½ tsp aamchur powder (dry mango powder)
A pinch of asafoetida
2 tsp grated jaggery
2 tbsp chopped coriander
2 tbsp oil
Salt to taste Method:

Roughly chop the tomatoes and cook them with ½ cup of water for about 10 to 15 minutes.

Cool and blend in a mixer to get a smooth puree. Keep aside

Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds. When they pop, add the green chillies, curry leaves, cloves and chickpea flour (besan) paste and cook for 2 to 3 minutes.

Add the turmeric, red chilli powder, asafoetida, aamchur powder and pureed tomatoes with 2 cups of water and cook on a medium flame and keep stirring continuously.

When the kadhi comes to a boil, add the jaggery and salt and simmer for another 5 minutes.

Remove from the flame.

Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rice/rotis.

Tried, Tasted and Treasured

2009-05-20T22:56:00.007+05:30

The Tried Tasted and Treasured Recipes for this month:

Thanks pals for sharing such wonderful and mouthwatering recipes :)

Scrambled chickpea flour from Lisa's Kitchen, we had it with rotis and also with toasted bread it tasted really nice. Here's the link:
http://foodandspice.blogspot.com/2009/04/scrambled-chickpea-flour-with-fiery-red.html
Yet another one from Lisa's Kitchen is the beet root rasam, the minute I saw the pictures and read the ingedients of this stunning dish at her blog,I knew this would be a heart stealer,
and yes it's truly a winner all the way. It tastes awesome. Here's the link
http://foodandspice.blogspot.com/2009/04/beetroot-rasam.html

Being a huge oats fan, how could I miss this gorgeous looking and lovely tasting mango and oats kheer/pudding from Supriya's blog Red Chillies. Here's the link

http://redchillies.us/2009/04/20/oat-mango-kheer-pudding/

I love Benagali cuisine, and when it comes to sweets nothing to beat Bengal ;) Pati shapta is one such sweet that I'd tasted during Durga Pooja and was awed by the simplicity and delicious taste of this dish. I was elated when I found the recipe at Sandeepa's awsome blog Bong Mom's Cook Book, Here's the link to the recipe:

http://www.bongcookbook.com/2007/01/poush-parbon-er-pati-shapta.html

Lovely Jackfruit payasam/kheer from Manju's blog Mirch Masala, this dessert has a wonderful strong jackfruit flavour that leaves you wanting for more. Here's the link:

http://superchef-mirchmasala.blogspot.com/2009/04/celebrating-vishu-kerala-new-year-with.html

Awsome Dark chocolate and Oatmeal Breakfast Bread From Priya's blog Easy and Tasty Recipes, this one tasted simply out of the world :) here's the link

http://priyaeasyntastyrecipes.blogspot.com/2009/03/dark-chocolate-n-oatmeal-breakfast.html

I tried a couple of recipes more but unfortunately I haven't clicked snaps of the dishes sorry for that but I would like to make a special mention about these recipes coz they overpowered the photgrapher in me and awakened the glutton ;) I also tried tasted and loved ....

Ramya VijayKumar's Mango Kulfi, here's the link: http://memoryarchieved.blogspot.com/2009/04/aam-kulfi.html

Ridgegourd chutney(I made the chutney with peel of Ridgegourd :)) from Sushma's blog,here's the link:http://nsushma.blogspot.com/2009/01/heerekayi-chutney-ridged-gourd-chutney.html

Slow cooked Barley and Bean soup from Manju's blog Mirch Masala, here's the link: http://superchef-mirchmasala.blogspot.com/2009/03/whole-grains-slow-cooked-barley-and.html

Vegetarian Chili and herbed croutons from Indhu's blog Thayirsaadam, here's the link: http://www.thayirsaadham.com/?p=312

Thanks once again dear foodie friends for invoking the happy spirit of cooking in me :)

Cheers to the sharing spirit in each one of you!

God Bless!

Chickpeas and Whole Yellow Peas Masala

2009-05-19T12:32:00.008+05:30

It’s no secret that mothers are the best cooks. What ever dish prepared by them is finger licking good… it’s the universal truth ! isn't it? Recently we’d visited my parents, and you know how parents are :) we got pampered big time. Mom had made so many dishes for lunch and dinner. OOOOO everything was so tasty….but the one thing which made me say YUM YUM YUM YUM……many times was the chana(chickpeas) and Whole yellow peas (white vatana) masala. I took down the recipe from her and made it today. I called and told her that chana masala turned out superb but not as good as she had made it! You know it happens….:)many of you agree with me on this I guess?!... neways here’s the recipe…

Ingredients:

¼ cup Chickpeas (Kabuli chana)
¼ cup whole yellow peas (white vatana)

*Soak the chickpeas in water and leave it overnight
Next morning drain the water and clean the peas in fresh water and pressure cook the peas with enough water until tender,
Drain the water and conserve it for cooking, set the peas aside

1 large potato, boiled, peeled, cubed
1 Onion, finely chopped 1 tsp Cumin seeds
½ tsp dry mango powder (aamchur powder)
2-3 tbsp Coriander leaves, finely chopped
Salt and sugar to taste
2 tbsp oil

For the Masala:

1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds

½ tsp turmeric powder
1 big tomato, quartered
1 big onion, quartered
1-2 green chillies
2-3 garlic pearls
1” piece of ginger

Method:

Step 1:
Dry roast coriander seeds, cumin seeds and let it cool. After sometime grind it along with the other masala ingredients with just enough water, don’t make it runny.
Step 2:
In a Kadhai/wok heat oil and add cumin seeds, once it begins to pop add the chopped onions and sauté till translucent.
Step 3:
Put the masala paste into the Kadhai/wok and fry till the rawness of the masala fades off.
Step 4:
Add the conserved water (obtained from cooking the peas) salt, sugar, dry mango powder and mix well. Now add the cooked chickpeas, whole yellow peas, cubed potatoes.
Step 5:
Mix well, adjust salt and sugar if required and cook on medium-low flame till you get the desired consistency of the masala.
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with roti/rice.

Healthy Almond Blondies and Chocolate Pudding

2009-05-17T21:48:00.005+05:30

These days I am shying away from sweets and oily stuffs.Though this phase is only temporary;) it’s a punishment for S in the real sense…coz he has a huge craving for sweets and has the habit of eating a dessert or a piece of mithai (Indian sweet) after every meal not that I don't but am learning the to tame my craving big time :) I have been bad enough to deprive him from eating sweets for quite sometime now….the last I made dessert was about a fortnight back :( I made aamras but then not with puris …we had it with chapattis ;D I’d made mango kulfi too but most of it was over since we had friends visiting …lol.. It was getting a bit too much so I thought I’ll make something really nice for S to make him happy and satisfy his sweet tooth (actually mine too ;))

I had come across some recipes with fewer calories and less sat-fat in one of the magazines. So this was the right time to put them to use. I made Rich chocolate pudding and Almond blondies….these turned out really good. S was a happy guy with the tasty treats, I was really glad about the good health factor and pleasing the taste buds too .

Almond Blondies
Ingredients:

½ cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
¼ cup butter
¾ cup dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1 ¼ tsp vanilla extract
½ cup silvered almonds, divided ( I used toasted almonds cut into thin strips)

Method:

Heat oven to 350* F Coat a baking pan with cooking medium and line the bottom with foil.

Put oats in a food processor and pulse until finely ground.

Whisk together oats, flours, sugar, salt, baking powder in a bowl and set it aside.

Melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat, stir in sugar and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat and stir until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Pour into a large bowl
Add vanilla extract and reserved dry ingredients and mix well.

Fold in ¼ cup of the almonds.

Pour batter into prepared pan/tin and spread evenly, and top with remaining almonds.

Bake until a knife inserted comes out with a few crumbs. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until done.

Cool it thoroughly. Lift out the foil and cool completely on the wire rack.

Cut into bars and store in air tight containers.

Rich chocolate Pudding

Ingredients

1/3 cup packed brown sugar
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp instant coffee powder
1/8 tsp cinnamon powder
Pinch of salt
2 cups milk
1 egg
1/3 cup bittersweet chocolate bits
1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

Method:

Whisk sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, instant coffee powder, ½ cup of the milk in a medium sauce pan and whisk well.

Pour 1 cup of milk into sugar mixture while whisking. Bring it to a simmer over medium-low heat. Simmer whisking constantly, until slightly thickened, about 2 to 3 minutes.

Beat egg lightly in a small bowl. Pour 1 cup of hot milk mixture from the sauce pan into the bowl while whisking the egg. Pour egg mixture back into the pan.

Cook over medium-low heat, stirring for about 2 minutes.

Remove pan from heat. Add chocolate. Whisk until mixture is smooth. Stir in vanilla extract.

Pour mixture into 4 serving dishes. Chill for 2 hours or over night, covered.

Zero Oil Series- Onion Paratha

2009-05-14T11:18:00.012+05:30

Ingredients:

1 and 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (atta)

1 cup heaped finely chopped onion

1 tsp Kasoori Methi

1 tsp Mixed herbs (dried)

1/4th Cup finely chopped coriander leaves

1 Green chillie, finely chopped

Salt to taste

Sugar to taste

Warm water for kneading

Method:

In a large mixing bowl put all the ingredients.Knead it into a soft dough with just sufficient water.

Divide the dough into equal portions.

Roll each portions into circles of desired thickness.

Dust off the extra flour on both the sides of the parathas with a clean kitchen cloth.

Cook the parathas on a non-stick pan, until both the sides are golden brown.

Enjoy the parathas with pickle/curd/side dish of your choice.

P.S: Another alternative to prepare this is you could mix the stuffing separately and prepare a regular dough separately. Roll out small circles of the dough and spoon the onion filling in the centre and fold the edges and seal it then roll out the parathas of desired thickness.

Ivy Gourd cooked in Sweet and Spicy Masala

Ingredients:

10-12 Ivy Gourds,Cut into thick circles

2 tbsp Coriander seeds

1tsp Urad dal

2-3 Red chillies

1/4th tsp Fenugreek seeds (methi)

1/2 cup Coconut, grated

1 Onion, finely chopped

1/2-1/4 tsp Turmeric powder

1/2 tsp Thick tamarind pulp

Oil

Salt to taste

Sugar to taste

Method:

In a kadhai/wok heat 2 tbsp of oil throw in onions and fry till they are slightly golden brown.

Add the chopped ivy gourds and fry throughlyon medium -low flame. While this is getting cooked prepare for the masala.

In a small skillet heat a little oil and put in the coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds, red chillies, urad dal and fry till it changes colour slightly and it gives out a nice roasted smell.Take it off the flame and cool it thoroughly.

Grind it into a coarse paste by adding very little water.Set it aside.

When the onions and ivy gourds are nearing doneness add the ground masala paste andmix thoroughly.

Let it cook till the rawness of the masala fades off and oil starts appearing on the edges of the masala paste.

Add salt, sugar, tamarind pulp and sprinkle little water and stir thoroughly once.

Cover and cook till done.

Tofu Paratha -Zero oil series

2009-05-11T14:14:00.005+05:30

Ingredients

Tofu filling:
2 cups Tofu, crumbled
1/4th cup coriander leaves, finely chopped
1 green chilli, finely chopped
½ tsp Kasoori methi
1tsp ginger- garlic paste
½ tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp coriander powder

1/2 tsp kitchen king masala
½ tsp cumin powder
1 tsp dry mango powder/ lemon juice
Salt to taste

Dough:
2 cups whole wheat flour (Atta)
Salt to taste (optional)

Water to knead

Step 1:
Put the wheat flour and salt in a wide mouthed vessel and add just enough water and knead it into soft and manageable dough. Set it aside

Step 2: Tofu filling
Take all the ingredients mentioned for the tofu filling in a bowl/plate and mix thoroughly and set it aside.

Step 3: Making Parathas Make equal portions of the dough

Take one portion and roll it into a small disk like circle and spoon about 2-3 tbsp of the tofu filling and fold the sides and bring them together and seal it lightly.

Flatten the dough ball and dip it in dry flour on either sides and roll it gently into a medium sized paratha.

Cook it on a medium-low flame by pressing gently on the edges and centre, flip it and cook on the other side in the same manner.

Place it on a plate and dust off the extra flour from the parathas (it's essential to to this as we do not use oil in cooking/frying the parathas, so they tend hold flour on it's surface, and look extra fair ;))

Repeat the same method with the remaining dough.

Serve the parathas hot with pickle, curd, raita or sabzi of your choice.

P.S: Another alternative for tofu parathas is that you could mix the tofu filling ingredients with the wheat flour and knead it into a soft dough using just enough water. And roll them like regular chapattis.

Paratha Series

2009-05-08T23:46:00.005+05:30

Paratha’s are a wonder food. They not only filling but also flavourful and a convenient way of consuming nutritional veggies and protein rich dals. 2 weeks back I was in a paratha crazy phase. It happens so many a times …I get over obsessed with something and go on and on with it till I've had had enough of it. During this paratha obsession I went through many sites, blogs and dug into my recipe collection. I mixed and matched many recipes and made changes to suit my taste.

Paratha’s are actually a sinful indulgence, if it’s over eaten, it leaves you feeling guity. The main reason behind the guilt is the oil/ghee which is used quite generously to fry the paratha’s . We had a family friend who visited us a few days back. I had made aloo paratha and some side dish for him . A told me that he was dieting and so had cut down oil to the maximum. He told me to make parathas without oil; I looked heavenwards for help, as I hadn’t tried zero oil parathas :( I offered a liitle prayer and got started…lol They turned out just brilliant. I am so glad I tried it. It was a total hit with S. After that I made a series of zero oil parathas and had it with zero guilt :)

Today’s post is dedicated to A coz if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t have dared to try oil free parathas. My blah blah….is becoming a bit too lengthy, cutting it short and moving on to the recipe of the day. I came across this recipe in on of the Tarala Dalal’s Cook book. As mentioned earlier, there are slight changes done to the basic recipe. Read on...

OATS AND SPRING ONION PARATHA
don't go by the way it looks :) it tastes amazing

For the Dough:
1 cup whole wheat flour (atta)
¼ cup quick cooking rolledoats
2 tbsp low fat curds
Salt to taste

Spring Onion Filling:
½ cup spring onion whites, chopped finely
½ cup greens of the spring onions, finely chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
1 tsp ginger- green chilli, minced
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
½ tsp oil
Salt to taste

Method:

Dough
Combine the ingredients for the dough and knead it with sufficient water to get a soft and hand friendly dough :)
Divide the dough into equal portions and set it aside.

Filling:
Heat oil in a pan, add cumin seeds after it crackles add the whites of the spring onion, ginger-chilli mince, ginger garlic paste and cook it till translucent.
Next add greens of the spring onion, salt cover and cook till all the water evaporates. Remove from the heat and cool completely.

Making Parathas:

Roll one portion of the dough into a small circle
Spoon some spring onion mixture in the centre of the dough circle.
Fold together all the sides and converge to one point and seal it.
Flatten and roll gently into a circle considerably thick, dip in flour while rolling if necessary.
Dust off extra flour from the paratha.
Cook the paratha on a non-stick pan, use a clean folded kitchen cloth to press the edges and centre of the paratha to get it well cooked inside out, flip over to the other side and cook till done
Serve hot.

Pages From My Travel Book and a Summer Cooler

2009-05-07T12:41:00.014+05:30

Hi all of you am back after a short break! We had been to Shirdi last week, it was a long pending visit that we had to do from our side. We had planned a 3 days trip in all plus 2 days to spent with my parents :)

About Shirdi:

Shirdi town is situated in Ahmednagar District of Maharashtra State (India)

The temple premises of Shri Saibaba is situated in the heart of Shirdi village and is a major center of pilgrimage for people from all over the world. It is estimated that around 20,000 devotees visit Shirdi on a daily basis.

The temple premises is a small town in itself, it consists of residence (small home) of baba's devotees who had served him during his time,museum which showcases articles used by Saibaba, It also houses samadhis of close followers of baba. A few steps away is the mosque 'Dwaarkamaai' where Saibaba spent most of his time, the mosque also has a 'Akhandjyothi' (fire lit by Baba, which is kept burning till date) from which the udi (vibhooti) is distributed to the devotees.There are plenty of flower stalls and sweet stalls around this area.

Further there is Samadhi mandir and Gurusthan where Baba's mortal remains rest. There is a divine looking marble statue of Baba close to that. Different kinds of pooja's are performed at different times of the day. There is a queue system to reach the samadhi mandir, it took us 2 and 1/2 hours for darshan , but it was worth the wait :)

Cameras were prohibited in the temple premises, so couldn't click snaps of Shirdi.

Since we had time we went site seeing to many temples around Shirdi and also to the world heritage site Ellora which is in Aurangabaad, famous for it's single rock cut caves and gigantic sculptures, Replica of Taj Mahal which is called the Taj of Deccan, this is the tomb of Mughal Emperor Aurangazeb's wife, it was built by the prince in the memory of his mother . Here are some snaps.

Recipe for the day is Melon Smoothie :) I came across this superb tasting under 4 minutes recipe in the latest edition of Prevention Magazine. I've changed the recipe slightly.

The combination of milk with melon gives a different taste to the smoothie altogether, the cardamom powder has a major roll in enhancing the flavour of the drink. Am sure You'll love it here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

2 cups Watermelon

1/2 cup Fat-free milk

1/2 tsp Cardamom powder

1-2 tsp sugar/honey (optinal)

1 cup crushed ice

Method:

Combine Watermelon, milk, cardamom powder, sugar in a blender and blend until smooth.

Put the crushed ice into a tall glass and pour the blended melon smoothied over it. Enjoy the smoothie at any time of the day :) Cheers!

Cardamom Flavoured Shreekhand with Mango bites

2009-04-28T22:32:00.005+05:30

S had a craving for shreekhand, upon his request I was all set to make the good old shreekhand, the way my mom makes it. I was a bit tempted to make aamkhand but stuck to usual plain shreekhand but added a zing to it by serving it with ripe mango chopped finely.

Ingredients:

1 litre milk
1-2 tsp curd/buttermilk/juice of half a lemon
4-5 tbsp sugar

3/4th tsp cardamom powder
1 small ripe mango, peeled and finely chopped
A generous pinch of saffron soaked in 1-2 tbsp milk
2-3 tbsp chopped nuts ( I used almonds)

Method:
Boil the milk and set it aside to cool.
Add 1-2 tsp curd/buttermilk/lemon juice to the milk when it is tepid, stir gently cover and leave it for 5-6 hours undisturbed.
After the milk has curdled, pour it on to a muslin cloth, tie it up and hang it for 6-7 hours. By doing this all the whey from the curdled milk drips down and you are left with thick cheesy residue.
Transfer the cheesy curd to a bowl add sugar, saffron infused milk, cardamom powder, and mix thoroughly (you could use a hand blender) to get a smooth texture.
Check for the sweetness and adjust the sugar according to your taste.
If the shreekhand is very thick add a spoon or two of cold milk mix well.
Refrigerate and serve chilled garnished with nuts and mango pieces.

P.S: Friends I’m taking a short break of about a week. Wouldn’t be able to visit your blogs and leave a comment during the break. I will surely try to catch up with all the lovely recipe posts that I’ve missed. Enjoy and Happy Blogging :)

Doi Potol and something to share...

2009-04-27T13:08:00.012+05:30

Bengali’s love potol, English name for which is Pointed gourd. Since the potol aloo combination is a common sight in most of the Bengali households, I guess Bengali’s favourite side dish is aloo potoler tarkari ;)(potato and pointed gourd stir fry) Being a non-Bengali I wasn’t knowing about the existence of this adorable vegetable, I was familiarized with this member of the gourd family by S.
Last evening I picked up a packet of fresh Potol and wanted to make something different from the usual. Upon googling I came across this fantastic webpage created by Sutupa Ray, All Bengali’s and non-Bengali would love this :) coz it’s an ocean of Bengali recipes and much more. A big hug and even bigger Thanks to Sutapa for this wonderful one stop web page. Here’s the link check it out.

http://sutapa.com/

I got the recipe for Doi Potol from one of the sited blogs at Sutapa’s page. I have made very negligible changes in the original recipe. The original recipe calls for ground ginger, I used ginger garlic paste and the powders and spices a wee..bit more than the actual measures.
Next the peeling method, it calls for fully peeled Potols with a slit on either edge. Instead I peeled each potol half inch apart and then slit the edges. I came across this peeling tip at Indranis blog Appayan, to get a clear picture here’s the link
http://indranid.blogspot.com/2009/04/aloo-potoler-tarkaripotato-parwal-curry.html
Thanks for the tip Indrani I was dying to try it out :)
Now for the recipe:

Ingredients: 250 Gms Potol/ Pointed gourd
¾ cup curd, whisked
½ tsp red chilli powder (I used Kashmiri mirch powder)
½ tsp turmeric powder
3 tsp ginger garlic paste
2 bay leaves
1 tsp cumin leaves
Salt and sugar to taste
Pinch of asafoetida
2 tbsp ghee (I skipped this one)
4 tbsp oil

Dry Grinding:
4 green cardamoms
4 sticks of cinnamon
*Grind these two ingredients to a fine powder and set it aside

Method:
Wash and clean the potol
Peel it and make ½” slit at both ends (do not cut them into halves).
Rinse them in running water and drain.
Heat 2and ½ tbsp oil in a Kadhai and fry the potol one by one and set it aside. (DO NOT USE THE SAME OIL) discard the used oil; wipe the Kadhai with a kitchen towel/tissue.
Heat 1 and 1/2 tbsp oil in the Kadhai add 1 tbsp ghee (I gave it a miss) bay leaf, asafoetida, cumin seeds sauté for a minute.
Add ginger garlic paste, turmeric powder, salt, chilli powder. Fry the spices.
Keeping the flame low add curd,potol, sugar and sprinkle some water cook uncovered for 5-6 minutes stirring occasionally.
Taste and adjust the salt and sugar accordingly.
Add ghee(I gave it a miss) and ground dry garam masala, mix so that the masala coats the vegetable evenly.
Cook till done.
Serve hot with rice or roti.

P.S: This dish comes very close to Doi Mach (fish in yogurt gravy) in taste, so I loved every bite and morsel of it :)

Wheat Flour Veggie Dosa

2009-04-26T20:39:00.005+05:30

Wheatflour dosas usually have a mix of one or two other kinds of flours which goes in to make the batter. Here is the recipe with a difference. This dosa is made with just plain wheat flour (atta) and some veggies thrown in here and there. I was a bit doubtful, whether the batter would be too thin and would get stuck to the tava/ dosa pan. It worked out just perfect. S and I loved the taste of it. One thing that has to be taken care while pouring the batter on to the tava is DO NOT Spread the batter like the regular dosas, instead pour it like u do the pan cake batter, and spread it just a little ..
Here’s the recipe for Wheat dosa.

Ingredients:

1 cup Whole Wheat flour
1 medium carrot, grated
2-3 tbsp spinach, finely chopped
1 medium tomato, deseeded, finely chopped
1 green chilli, minced
½” piece ginger, grated
2 tbsp coriander leaves, finely chopped
Salt to taste

pinch of sugar (optional)
Oil for frying

Method:

In a mixing bowl mix all the ingredients with just enough water to make the batter a little more liquidy (thinner) than the normal dosa batter.

Heat a tava/dosa pan preferably non-stick pan, using your finger tips sprinkle some water on it, once the water begins to evaporate pour a ladle of batter and slightly and lightly spread in circular motion in the centre of the poured batter.

Dot the dosa with oil around its rim close and cook it for a few minutes. Check for the doneness by lifting the dosa slightly with the spatula.

Once it is nicely browned, flip it over to the other side and cook it in the same manner.
Repeat the same method for the remaining batter.
Serve the wheat flour dosa with chutney,pickle or side dish of your choice. It tastes brilliant with plain curd too :)

Banana Pancakes and an Award

2009-04-20T17:48:00.010+05:30

Banana is such a wonderful tasting fruit and I love it's flavour in desserts and cakes. I had come across the recipe of Banana pancakes in one of the issues of Good House Keeping, I had it earmarked that moment itself and have made it a couple of times. But with oats coming into picture the pancakes and other breakfast dishes were totally sidelined :)

The other day I was looking for a particular recipe in my book shelf ...I restumbled into the Banana pancake recipe. And Lo! like an old craving which sets in I was longing to have them right away. That's when I decided to make it for breakfast on Sunday. I made it for breakfast yesterday and yum yum......should I say more :) here's the recipe.

Ingredients

1 cup flour

3-4 tbsp caster sugar/sugar powder

1 cup milk

1/2 cup yogurt/sour cream

2 eggs

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 tsp grated lemon zest

1-2 large bananas , pureed

50 g unsalted butter

salt to taste

Method:

1. Sift together flour,sugar, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

2. Whisk together milk, yogurt, eggs, vanilla essence,banana and lemon zest. Add wet ingedients to dry ones. Mixing only until just combined. Don't over do it.

3. In a large non-stick frying pan, melt 1 tbsp butter on medium-low flame heat until it bubbles.

4. Pour about 1/4 cup of pancake batter . cook 2-3 minutes until bubbles appear on top and underside is nicely browned. Flip and cook on the other side until golden brown.

5. Wipe pan with paper towel/tissue, add more butter to the pan and continue cooking pancakes until all batter is used up.

6. If you are feeling more indulgent serve with extra slices of bananas and a drizzle of honey/maple syrup/dates syrup.

7. to Keep the pancakes warm while you serve, heat it for a few seconds in the microwave .

LOVE YOUR BLOG AWARD :)

Varunavi of 'My Kitchen's Aroma' has shared a lovely award with me, this one comes with a set of rules. here it is

The rules:

1) Add the logo of the award to your blog.

2) Add a link to the person who awarded it to you.

3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs (Only if you like)

4) Add links to those blogs on your blog.

5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blog.

As they say rules are meant to be broken :)I'd like to share it with all my foodie blogger friends, It's extremely difficult to choose only 7, I love all the blogs I visit :) . So friends please feel free to carry it along with you! I'd be more than glad if you do :)

Tried and Tasted :)

2009-04-17T18:02:00.017+05:30

Hello everyone, Thanks so much for ur warm B'day and New Year wishes in my previous post. It was really overwhelming!:) In the last 2-3 weeks I've been trying out some more of the recipes that I'd bookmarked. I loved the outcome of my trials and I've decided to have a post dedicated to 'Tried and Tasted' recipes :) atleast once in a fortnight or month. I am learning so many things with regard to cooking as well as cooking tips, not only that it's much beyond the kitchen....it has improved so much of my general information about food, places and so much more and thanks to you all.

Enough of the chat getting back to my tried and tasted recipes...here take a look!

Deepa Hari's: Mushroom pepper fry, S doesn't like mushrooms as much as I do...but I was dying to try this one...made the ditto dish with yam...it was yummmmmmmmmmy, thanks deepa.

here's the recipe link

http://deepaskitchen.blogspot.com/2009/03/mushroom-pepper-fry.html

Lisa's: Red chilli and vinegar paste, I made very less quantity ... this one is simply superb in curries, here's the recipe link:

http://foodandspice.blogspot.com/2009/04/red-chili-and-vinegar-paste.html

2. Black and yellow chickpeas in sweet and spicy sauce: yet another killer from Lisa's Kitchen. This one was a grand hit at home. Here's the recipe link

http://foodandspice.blogspot.com/2008/11/black-and-yellow-chickpeas-in-sweet-and.html

Thanks for the wonderful recipes Lisa:)

Soma's Saffron Yogurt Mousse with rose-petal-honey: I was floored by the look of it in her blog and started the procees of making it that very day, though I made a very small quantity, S loved it so much that he has asked me to make it once again...all thanks to Soma, here's the recipe link

http://www.ecurry.com/blog/desserts/saffron-yogurt-mousse-with-rose-petal-honey/

Here's another look :)
Shoba's Healthy bitter gourd fry: believe me it was yummy...am planning to make it more often :) Thanks shoba for the lovely healthy recipe.Here's the link

http://anubhavati.wordpress.com/2009/04/16/healthy-pavakkai-fry-healthy-bittergourd-fry/#comment-520

I even tried Asha's: Carrot pickle.....I goofed up big time :( (I'll try again to get it right and post it next time(have some funny doubts to ask her :))

Last but not the least a special mention to Varunavi, who's passed on a cutie putie award to me..she's also generoulsly shared it with all her blogger buddies, Thanks dearie. I'll metion in detail about it in my next post :) as it comes with a set of rules. This post is as it is getting lengthy enough.... I think it's time I pull my brakes...lol see you all soon There's more to come!

Have a great weekend!

Naboborsho Celebration and a Birthday!

2009-04-16T12:53:00.007+05:30

New Year Greetings to all of you! wow! Celebration is in the air! Along with Poila Boishak celebration it was birthday time at my place! Yup ….your’s truly celebrated a quite b’day with S at home. We did a simple pooja, went to the temple and then S was off to work, promising to come home early. Mean while I made a simple menu comprising of milk kheer, baby brinjal curry, Raita, olkopir (knolkol) dalna, rice .While I was cooking I got loads of phone calls n messages to convey both B'day and New Year wishes...wow! it was such a happy day!

We had a great lunch in the afternoon and chatted about a lot of things from the past. S told me about the Bengali cuisine and new year celebration back at his native, the dishes made for this day and the get togethers they had on this day and we chatted for about half an hour and he had to rush back to work. S told me that he’d cook fish for dinner specially for the B’day girl ! that was really sweet of him!

S kept his promise came home early and I assisted him in cooking. He made my favourite Doi Maach (fish in yogurt gravy) it was sssssssssssssuperb! B’day cake was store brought (yes we had cake cutting and all ….) S suddenly sprang up with the idea of having a candle light dinner, I was game with him…so we both arranged a cute candle light spread …hmmmm something was missing! S ran to the store for coke…lol it was like rush hour! At last all was set and it was dinner time. Both of us were so so hungry after all the work…that we could wait no more. It was a great feeling to have candle light dinner at home…with home cooked food. We ate till we could eat no more….here I just echo Varsha,it's so true after having heavy food…u feel so sedated, lazy and just want to crash down and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…tha’s what we did watched news for a while and had a good night sleep! It will be a celebration to remember. Here are the recipes of the dishes prepared for the celebration….Read on

Baby Brinjal Curry

Ingredients:

5-6 Baby Brinjals
2-3 tbsp oil
1 tsp panch phoron (a proportionate mixture of whole spices like fennel, cumin, fenugreek, onion seeds, and black mustard)
¾ cup chopped onion
2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1 tbsp coriander powder (dhania)
1 tbsp cumin powder (jeera)
1 tsp red chilli powder
½ tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
2-3 tbsp tamarind paste/pulp
1 tsp sugar
Salt to taste
1 1/2 cups water
Method

Cut the baby brinjals lengthwise up to the stem (keep the stem intact)

Sprinkle some salt and set it aside.

Heat oil in a Kadhai, add panch phoron and when the seeds begin to crackle, add onions, ginger garlic paste, fry till the oil separates.

Meanwhile, mix coriander powder, cumin powder, turmeric powder, chilli powder, tamarind paste, sugar, salt in 1 ½ cups of water and mix well.

Add this to the Kadhai and cook for about 2 minutes till a good flavour emits from the masala.

Add the baby brinjals and cook till they are done.

Recipe for Doi Mach Ingredients:

500 gms Carp or similar fish, cleaned
100 gms mustard oil or any other cooking oil
4 cloves
4 green cardamoms
2” piece of cinnamon
2 bay leaves
1” piece ginger
1 small bulb of garlic
2 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
1 tsp red chilli powder
100 gms yogurt/sour curds
2 green chillies slit
Salt and sugar to taste

Method:

Smear 1 tsp turmeric powder and salt to the fish pieces and set it aside.

Grind ginger, garlic, onion into a fine paste, set it aside.

Beat yogurt with half a cup of water till smooth and set it aside.

Heat oil in a Kadhai/wok and lightly fry the fish pieces and set it aside.

In the same heated oil add cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and the ground onion paste.
Fry lightly till slightly brown.

Mix the remaining turmeric powder, red chilli powder in 2-3 tbsp of water and add this to the Kadhai/wok. Sauté, see to that the paste doesn’t stick to the pan.

Now add the yogurt and stir, add one more cup of water.

Add salt and sugar to taste and adjust according to ur taste.
Add the green chillies and cook till excess water evaporates and the gravy begins to boil.

Finally add the fish pieces one by one gently into the gravy and cook on high flame till the oil begins to float on top.

Take it off the flame and serve it hot.

Olkopir Dalna from Sandeepa's blog here's the link for the recipe
http://www.bongcookbook.com/2007/02/olkopir-dalna.html
I had made it once earlier S liked it very much so I made it again on the Bong New year :)

Thanks Sandeepa for the wonderful recipe.

The Milk kheer I made was the same I had posted in one of my earlier posts here's the link for the recipe.http://therecipehunter.blogspot.com/search/label/Milk%20Kheer

Mixed Vegetables cooked in Coconut gravy

2009-04-13T12:05:00.003+05:30

Coconut based gravies are richly flavoured and aromatic. I’ve been a huge fan of Kerala cuisine ever since I’ve tasted puttu, avial, and crab delicacies actually the list is endless ;). I have tried some coconut based recipes at home and some are made pretty often, one such dish is vegetables in coconut gravy from Tarla Dala’s cook book, this dish is very simple and heavenly in taste. I have made some changes to the basic recipe. Here’s the recipe

Ingredients:
2 cups boiled mixed vegetables (French beans, carrots, potatoes, peas)
1 cup thick (coconut milk diluted with 1 cup water)
2 sprigs curry leaves
1 cup chopped onions
½ tsp turmeric powder
½ cup chopped tomatoes
11 tsp lime juice
Salt to taste
2-3 tbsp oil For the masala:
½ cup grated coconut
1 sprig curry leaves
1 tbsp cooked rice
1 tsp chopped green chillies
4 garlic cloves
1 stick cinnamon
1 -2 cloves
2-3 whole black peppercorns
1 whole dry red chilli, broken into pieces

Method:
For the masala, dry roast the coconut, curry leaves, rice on the tava on a low flame stir continuously, until it turns light pink.

Add the green chillies, garlic, cinnamon, cloves, peppercorns, and red chilli stir for 2-3 seconds and remove from the flame and cool.

Remove from the flame, cool and blend to a fine paste using little water. Set it aside.

In a Kadhai/wok heat oil and add onions and sauté till translucent then add the tomatoes, curry leaves turmeric powder, salt and stir till tomatoes are mushy.

Add the masala paste and cook on a low flame till the rawness fades off. Next add coconut milk, vegetables and stir well. Add a bowl of water if you want more gravy.

Check for salt and adjust if required. Cook it on low flame till it comes to a boil. Switch off the flame. The mixed vegetables cooked in coconut gravy is ready to be served.

Spicy Tomato Chutney

2009-04-09T07:41:00.008+05:30

Ingredients:

8 Medium sized tomatoes (cooked and cooled)
4-5 Green chillies
4-5 Garlic cloves (peeled)
A marble sized ball of Tamarind
½ tsp Turmeric powder
1 tsp Sambaar/Rasam Powder
A pinch of Asafoetida/Hing
1 tsp Mustard
5-6 curry leaves
2 tsp oil
Salt to taste

Method:

STEP 1
Grind the tomatoes, chillies, garlic cloves, and tamarind into a fine paste without adding water.

STEP 2
In a heavy bottomed vessel heat oil, add mustard seeds when it starts to splutter add the curry leaves when it begins to pop add the asafoetida (hing)

STEP 3
Pour in the ground tomato paste into the tempering containing vessel and mix so that the tempering blends well with the tomato paste. Cover and cook on medium flame for 2-3 minutes stir occasionally .

STEP 4
Finally add Sambaar/Rasam powder, turmeric powder, salt and stir to blend all the contents well. Cover and cook till the water content from the chutney evaporates.
Once the water evaporates the chutney thickens and changes colour to reddish-brown.
Take it off the flame.

STEP 5
The spicy tomato chutney is ready to serve. Tastes good both with roti/rice.
p.s: deleted the joke as most of them weren't understanding.

Accidental Discovery....

2009-04-08T12:26:00.006+05:30

Hi All, I cooked up a new simple recipe, I've called it Soothing Salad :) and am excited about sharing the recipe in my post. It happened to be an accidental discovery. There was a lone Beet snoring in my fridge from quite some time, and that was irritating me coz I didn't want to make the same old Kosambari or stir fry and that sort of dishes :-/ I just did something randomly without thinking much about the end result...at the most what would happen...S would push his share towards me....saying from me to you with lots of love ;) and I would end up eating what I prepared! like the Kannada saying goes 'Maddidunno Maharaaya'...lol which means one should face the consequences of what he/she does....lol God! am crazy to the core sometimes.

Talking about discovery....imagine we ladies feel so good about the accidental discoveries of new dishes we do in our kitchens,how would successful scientists feel?! hmmm... did u know that many useful things were actually accidently discoverd by scientists...hmmm the super-glue was an accidental discovery,the tale behind this is....once when a researcher wanted to stick two prisms for an experiment, the substance he had made to stick two prisms temporarily got stuck permanently! and here we have today in markets the super selling Super-glue which can stick just about ANYTHING! You too could share what you know on this topic :)

Let's leave it at that and move on to what I made today :) here's the recipe, it's simple but I can vouch on the deliciousness ;) and health benifit of this salad so read on....

Ingredients for the Soothing Salad:

1 Beetroot (cooked,peeled, grated)

1 Carrot ( peeled and grated)

3 lettuce (washed, roughly chopped)

4-5 whole pepper corns ( coarsely ground)

1 tsp Italian seasoning

2 tsp grated cheese (opt)

1 tsp chilli flakes

1 tbsp Olive oil

1 handful peanuts (roasted, crushed)

1 cup yogurt (whisked)

2 tsp coriander leaves (finely chopped)

1 tsp lime juice

salt to taste

Method:

Take a large bowl put all the ingredients and mix well. Refrigerate for atleast for 30 minutes before serving.

Notes:

1. You can change the quantity of the salt and spices to suit your taste.

2. Dress the salad with a little grated cheese or any other dressing of your choice and enjoy the salad.

3. You could also add some spring onions to the salad.

Raw Mango -Flavoured Rice

2009-04-07T13:00:00.006+05:30

Mango rice is a great transformation of plain rice into tangy- spicy flavourful dish. There are many variations to this dish. This is one of the simplest method am posting and it truly tastes awesome when had with chutney, pickle or any preserve. It tastes good as it is but you know they say ‘Two is a company’ ;) it’s always better to have an accompaniment.
Before giving out the recipe here’s an awesome joke, got it this morning from my cousin brother, I almost fell off the chair laughing…read on

Santa singh went to a Phone booth and slapped the operator twice!
Guess why?....
Because it was written on a board: ‘Dial karne se pehle krupeya do lagaiye! :)

Recipe for Mango Rice:

Ingredients:
1 cup grated raw mango (peeled)
2 cups Rice, cooked and cooled
5-6 Curry leaves
½ tsp Turmeric powder
A pinch of Asafoetida/hing
1 tsp Urad dal
1tsp Chana dal
1 tsp Mustard seeds
2-3 Green chillies slit
Salt to taste
2-3 tsp oil

To Garnish:
2-3 tbsp Coriander finely chopped
2-3 tbsp thinly chopped coconut pieces

Method:

1. Heat oil in a heavy bottomed vessel.

2. Add urad dal, chana dal when it starts browning add mustard seeds and curry
leaves.
3. When they start to pop add slit green chillies, asafoetida,
salt, turmeric powder and sauté for just a few seconds.
4. Next to the tempering add the grated raw mango and mix well so all the
seasoning blends well with it. Sauté for sometime, add the cooked rice to it and
mix well for the rice to mix evenly with the other ingredients.
5. Check and adjust the salt if necessary.
Take it off the flame and garnish with
coconut pieces and coriander leaves
6.Serve hot with accompaniment of your choice

Note: 1. you could use coconut oil for tempering the dish tastes even better.
2. You can also add roasted and crushed peanuts .

Chana Dal Kheer and more........

2009-04-06T07:25:00.014+05:30

Chana daal kheer or 'Madgane' is a Konkani delicacy made on special occassions and festivals like Ugadi and Ganesh Chathurti. This Kheer tastes good in all possible ways :), eat it piping hot... or chilled... the taste gets better and leaves you wanting for more.

We all know that there are a few dishes which taste better the next day of preparation, as the ingredients release their flavour and aroma better sitting for a day after it's made. This kheer also falls in that bracket :) it tastes yummmm... I think that's enough temptation for you all to try it out and go mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....with it's rich taste.

Well, before that here's something I did in the last week,There are so many recipes that I want to try out. I managed to make some out of my long 'to do' list. so here they are:

p.s: please feel free to rotate ur neck to view the snaps properly ;) blogger picture uploading has become really cranky so couldn't do justice to rotate some pictures

1. Strawberry Yogurt from here http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2006/04/may_day_market.html

The original recipe called for vodka or kirsch, instead I used a teaspoon of vanilla extract, the taste was great. We loved it :)

2.Sushma's recipe of Cucumber in yogurt gravy/Majjige Huli (I used white pumpkin) , here's the link for the recipe.

http://nsushma.blogspot.com/2009/03/southekayi-majjige-huli-cucumber-yogurt.html

Sushma's version had ginger and fenugreek,which I hadn't used in my version. I tried it out and the result was superb :) Thanks Sushma.

3. French Apple and Yogurt Cake from Akkal's Saapadu, here's the link

http://www.saappadu.com/2009/03/gateau-au-yaourt-et-aux-pommes-french.html

The cake was just tooooooooooooooo good! Thanks V for the wonderful recipe :)

4. Ridge Gourd Curry from Deepa's blog. Here's the link

http://deepaskitchen.blogspot.com/2009/03/ridge-gourd-and-broadbeans-curry.html

The original recipe called for broadbeans but I used frozen green peas. It tasted really nice both with rice and roti :) Thanks Deepa.

Now finally here's the recipe for the chana dal kheer.

Chana Daal Kheer:

Ingredients

1 cup Chana Dal (boiled)

1/2 cup Jaggery (crushed/powdered)

2 tbsp cashew nuts (fried in a little oil)

To Grind:

3/4 cup Coconut (grated)

2-3 Cardamoms

2-3 tsps rice flour

Method:

STEP 1.

In a heavy bottomed vessel put the cooked chana dal and powdered jaggery and cook it on low flame stirring often, so that the jaggery melts and blends well with the chana daal.

STEP 2.

Meanwhile Grind the coconut, cardamoms, rice flour with some water and make it into a fine paste .

STEP 3.

Add the ground paste to the simmering chana daal and jaggery mixture and mix well.

STEP 4.

Keep stirring continulously till it begins to thicken, and begins to boil.

Add the fried cashew to the kheer and mix well.

Turn off the flame. Serve it hot or chilled .

Note: 1.If the kheer becomes too thick add a bowl of water and stir it to get the desired consistency.

2. you could soak 2-3 tsps rice in warm water for about 15 minutes and use it for grinding, if you don't have rice flour handy.

3. *My Amma sometimes avoids frying the cashews to avoid oil, if u prefer to skip the frying part you could add the plain cashews at step 3.

Paneer Burji in Cashew and Tomato Gravy

2009-04-03T11:18:00.003+05:30

Ingredients:
1 cup Paneer cubed
1 cup Paneer mashed/crumbled
4 Small Tomatoes ( quartered)
2 Small Onions (finely chopped)
2 tbsp Ghee/oil
2 Bay leaves
2 Red chillies
3 Green cardamoms
2 Whole black Pepper corns
¾ cup Ginger garlic paste
2 tsp Cumin seeds
1 Green chilli (minced)
½ cup Cashew paste
1 tsp Red chilli powder
1 tsp Jeera powder
2 tsp lime juice
½ tsp Kasoori methi
Salt to taste

Marinade:

1 tsp Red chilli powder
3 tbsp Ginger garlic paste

Note*: To keep the paneer soft in gravy items. Heat about 1 cup fo water , when it almost starts to boil put the flame off. Add ½ tsp of turmeric powder to the water. Drop the paneer cubes in the hot water and keep it covered for about 5-10 minutes. Then drain the water and use the paneer in your cooking. Method:

STEP 1:
Marinate the paneer cubes with chilli powder and ginger-garlic paste and set it aside.

STEP 2:
Heat ghee/oil in a Kadhai and add bay leaves, whole red chillies, cardamoms, 1 tsp ginger-garlic paste and sauté , when it starts browning add the tomatoes, salt and cook on low flame till the tomatoes become mushy.

STEP 3:
Blend in the cashew paste and little water stir once and cook on low flame for sometime. Now add the mashed/crumbled paneer mix well. Cover the lid and cook on low flame and stir in between.

STEP 4:
Meanwhile, take another pan and heat ghee/oil in it and add cumin seeds, minced green chillies, 1 tsp ginger-garlic paste ands sauté for sometime.
When it starts to change colour add onions and sauté till it turns golden brown. Add red chilli powder, cumin powder, salt, lime juice (add a little water if u want more gravy) and sauté for a few seconds till the rawness fades off.
Put off the flame.

STEP 5:
Add this onion masala to the simmering tomato-cashew mixture and mix well.
Finally add the paneer cubes and mix gently for the masala mixture to evenly coat on to the paneer cubes. Close and cook till done. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with roti/rice.

Simple Potato Tomato Curry

2009-04-01T21:45:00.009+05:30

There are times when you are tired after a hard days work and wish to finish cooking in a second. This recipe is the best bet for those days. This is one of S's bachelor-days inventions. He revealed this secret to me on a day when I was too tired to go to the kitchen. You can have it either with rice or rotis. Here it's for you.Ingredients

2 finely chopped onions
1 finely chopped tomato
1 green chilli cut into 4 pieces
4 boiled potatoes cut into small cubes
1/2 tsp jeera
1 tsp garam masala/MDH Kitchen King powder
1/2 tsp dry mango powder (aamchoor powder)
2 tbsp oil
1 cup water
Salt to taste

Method

Heat oil in a kadhai and add jeera
Once jeera starts fluttering, put onions and saute till golden brown
Then add tomato and saute till it becomes tender
Now add the garam masala/MDH Kitchen King powder and mix well
Then add water, green chilli and dry mango powder and bring it to a boil. You can decrease the quantity of water if you want to serve it with rotis
Now add the potato cubes and salt
Cover the lid and cook till done

It doesn't take any time to make and tastes great.

Raw Papaya and Coconut Stir Fry

2009-03-31T14:42:00.007+05:30

Papaya is a wholesome fruit. It's rich vitamin C, protien certain enzyme content is beneficial for many internal disorders of the human body.This fruit consumed raw or ripe aids digestion and is a boon for having a glowing flawless skin.It's an excellent source of energy too.

I was looking for a raw papaya recipe which is different from the usual simple stir fry, I stumbled upon this one in one of the matrimonial sites :) yes! u read that right ;) It grabbed my attention for 2 reasons, it's unusual placement in a matrimonial site, second it read Raw papaya with coconut! I didn't think much and tried it out, the result was good. Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:
2 cups Raw Papaya (peeled and grated)
½ cup Coconut (grated) ½ cup
2 Potatoes medium (diced)
2 Green chillies (slit)
2 Bay leaves
2 Dry red chillies
1 tsp Methi seeds (fenugreek)
1 tsp Jeera powder (cumin)
1 tsp Garam masala powder
1 tsp Turmeric powder
1 tsp ghee
Salt to taste
Sugar to taste
Oil

Method:

Deep fry the potatoes and set it aside.
Heat oil in a pan and add red chillies and methi seeds, sauté till the methi seeds turn brownish black.
Next add grated coconut to it and sauté it turns yellowish/golden.
Add the grated papaya and sauté for 5-6 minutes.
Now add the fried potatoes, turmeric, jeera, and red chilli powders along with salt and stir well.
Cover and cook it on medium flame for about 8-10 minutes, stir at regular intervals.
Next add the garam masala, sugar, ghee and mix well.
Cook on low flame till it is done.
Serve hot with rice or roti.

Recipe by: Sunanada Sinha Roy

P.S: Congratulations to all the winners of the MCC contest organised by Gayathri. She's been very kind to give all the participants a nice 'hats off' card as a token of appreciation for participating, I've displayed it on my side bar :) Thanks a lot Gayathri

Home- made Sambar Powder

2009-03-30T14:04:00.004+05:30

Hello friends! Belated Ugadi greetings to all of you! I wasn’t able to post anything for the last few days as S was down with bacterial infection in the stomach. He preferred to eat only plain curd and rice with grated raw veggies n salads. After a course of antibiotics, he is feeling fine now. The doctor has asked him to get back to normal food. I started cooking normal 2 course meal only from yesterday.

The last whole week was really terrible :( lots of lab tests were done to see if all the organ functioning was normal. I was scared to death. S was feeling low, he was a bit too scared of getting endoscopy done, as v had heard that it’s really painful, but I must say that he was brave and got it done quietly with tearful eyes as the tube went down his throat. The biggest relief was the endoscopy result which showed a normal stomach functioning :)

The Doctor said that it was nothing to be worried about and he would be fine in a day or two after two shots of intra-venous injection. S is back to normal, happy –active and pain free now. We couldn't celebrate Ugadi as S needed rest after so much running around, V just did a simple pooja and had beevu-bella (neem-jaggery).

During the last couple of days my only solace was food blogs. Blog hopping and reading through so many recipes and seeing wonderful food snaps kept me diverted and inspired me to think positive( I used to bookmark recipes to make after S gets well) I love you all friends, thanks for the support and keep blogging your wonderful recipes :) God Bless.

S wished to have sambar and rice today, I usually use MTR sambar powder but today I called Amma asked the recipe for Sambar powder and made it at home. The sambar was truned out tasty, pleasant (not so spicy) S enjoyed the sambar rice :) Here’s the recipe..

For the sambar powder you’ll need:

Mustard seeds 1 tsp
Fenugreek seeds (methi) 1 tsp
Whole black pepper ½ tsp
Urad dal 2 tbsp
Chana dal 2 tbsp
Curry leaves 1 sprig
Hing (asafoetida) a little more than a pinch
Coriander seeds 2 tbsp
Dry copra 1/3 cup
Cumin seeds (jeera) 1 tsp
Dry red chillies 10
Turmeric powder ½ tsp

Method:

Dry roast each ingredient individually except asafoetida and turmeric powder. Set it aside and let it cool thoroughly.
Now add the asafoetida, turmeric powder to the roasted ingredients and powder it finely in a mixer. Store the powder in an air tight container.

BUTTERMILK CHILLER

2009-03-20T13:19:00.007+05:30

Summer is in and so are the coolers. Here I am sharing my way of making the easiest and the most common one of them all, Buttermilk. Actually it is also one of the healthiest of all coolers. Just imagine going out in the Indian summer and coming back home to a chilled glass of buttermilk. Seems like a boon.

Ingredients:

1 cup yogurt
2 cups chilled water
1 tsp ginger (grated)
5-6 curry leaves
1 dry red chili (broken into 3 pices)
1 tsp mustard seeds
A pinch of asafoetida (hing)
Salt to taste
2 tbsp coriander leaves – 2 tbsp to garnish

Method:

Whisk the Yogurt add water to it and stir.
Add ginger, salt and set it aside
Tempering: Heat oil in a skillet add mustard, curry leaves and red chillies once they begin to splutter add asafoetida/hing .
Pour the tempering into the buttermilk mixture and stir well.
Garnish with coriander leaves and serve chilled.

There are a lot more variations you can try in flavouring the buttermilk. Here's another one which I like;

Grind coriander leaves, green chillies, ginger, garlic into a fine paste and add it to the buttermilk. The tempering remains the same excluding the red chillies, as we are using green chillies in the ground paste. Add salt to taste, stir well and Masala Buttermilk is ready to be served. Feel free to share your ideas too!

A Healthy Lunch Menu

2009-03-18T19:11:00.011+05:30

My refrigerator was getting filled up with left over vegetables; a raw banana here, a beetroot there and lots others in little quantities. As you see, these veggies weren’t suited for a mixed vegetable curry or sambhar. So I decided to make separate dishes of out each for lunch. And I ended up dishing out the following spread.

Dali Thoy
Raw Banana Mashed

Beetroot n Carrot Salad

Dali Thoy
Ingredients:

1 cup Toor dal
½ tsp Turmeric
Salt to taste
For the tempering: 6-7 Garlic cloves (crushed), 2-3 Dry red chillies (broken into halves) and 2 tsp oil

Method:

Wash and clean the toor dal and drain the water.
Pour 2 cups of clean water into the dal.
Add turmeric powder and stir.
Pressure cook it for 2-3 whistles
Now mash the pressure cooked dal using a whisker; but remember that the mashed dal should not be not too thick or too watery
Add salt to it and heat it on a low flame, stir occasionally
While the dal is heating prepare for the tempering.

Tempering

Heat oil in a skillet, add garlic cloves and fry them till they turn slightly brown.
Now add the red chillies and fry for sometime
Take it off the flame and pour it on the dal.
Stir well, switch off the flame when the dal comes to a boil. Serve it hot with rice.

Raw Banana Mashed
Ingredients:

1 Raw Banana, peeled, cooked and mashed
1 Onion (medium sized), chopped roughly/finely
1 tsp mustard oil
Salt to taste

Method:

Put all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well using your hand. Proper mixing is essential for the salt and the oil to blend evenly.

Beetroot and Carrot Salad:
Ingredients:

1 Beetroot - cooked, peeled, grated
1 Carrot- peeled, grated
1 cup- Yogurt, whisked
½ cup- grated coconut
1 handful of roasted and crushed peanuts (tip borrowed from Maya of Konkan
World)
Salt to taste
For the tempering: 1 tsp Chana dal, 1 tsp Urad dal, 1 Dry red chilli (broken into halves), 1tsp Mustard seeds and 5-6 Curry leaves

Method:

In a large bowl, put Grated beetroot, carrot, yogurt, peanuts, salt and set it aside
Heat oil in a skillet add chana dal, urad dal fry till it becomes light brown
Add mustard, red chilli, curry leaves to it and wait till it sputters.
Take it off the flame and pour it over the salad mixture.
Put in the grated coconut and mix well and the salad is ready to be served.

Subzi Makhani - Mixed vegetables cooked in rich gravy

2009-03-16T12:02:00.009+05:30

Cooking mixed vegetable dishes give a great sense of pride, especially if they have a heavy duty name ;) on every restaurant visits I remember ordering dishes which sound really royal ;) Malai murg, Murg Akbari, vegetable Jalfarezi….oooo don’t they sound great? And we know for sure they taste sooo..good.

They say what’s in a name? but I say It’s all in the name!...lol We ladies have a very special talent of turning some boring vegetable dishes into an interesting one. What more? Such innovations christened with Ola! An Eyebrow raising name…. can make any poor simple vegetable dish a show stealer! Hmmm…I can’t be wrong here?!

Without dwelling more on this topic, let me quickly come back to the recipe of the day, ‘Subzi Makhni’. I got this recipe from my good friend R, who is a great cook. R had invited our group of friends over for lunch. I completely loved the array of dishes she had prepared for us. However, I was bowled over by the look and taste of subzi makhani for which, I was quick enough to ask and note down the recipe from her.

I made this dish a couple of times at home. Thanks to R the dish turned out as good as it sounds :) It’s one of my fav. roti accompaniments ,but can't afford to make it very often ....and I think you can guess why? ;0 The recipe for the same follows.

For Subzi Makhni you’ll need:

2 cups mixed vegetables, ( carrot, potato, cauliflower, beans)

2-3 tbsp butter

½ cup green peas

2 tsp cream

¼ tsp garam masala

2 tbsp coriander leaves, finely chopped

1 medium onion, sliced

1 tsp ginger, finely chopped

1tsp garlic, finely chopped

1 tsp red chilli powder

1 tsp green chillies, finely chopped

2 cloves

½” cinnamon

elaichi 3

2-3 tsp cashew nuts

1 tsp poppy seeds

2-3 tbsp oil

Preparation:

STEP 1.

1. A. Brown the onions with a little oil, keep it aside for it to cool

B. Fry separately ginger, garlic, chillies, cinnamon, cashew nuts, poppy seeds in a little oil till it emanates aroma, set it aside and let it cool.

C. Grind it into fine past using little water.

STEP 2.

A. In a Kadhai/wok melt butter.

B. Add the vegetables (including peas) fry for about 2-3 minutes.

C. Now, add cream and masala paste and fry for another 2-3 minutes.

D. Add water (as per your desired consistency of the subzi), salt, garam masala.

E. Stir gently so that all the vegetables get evenly coated with the masala.

F. Cook it covered on a low flame till done, stir occasionally in between.

G. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

Tried and tasted Recipe of the week:

Stuffed n roasted Idlis

Yesterday being Sunday, I decided to make Idli's , Wanting to give a break to the same old white beauties I decided to make something different with them. I'd seen the make over that Madhuram of http://egglesscooking.com/ had given to the Idlis in one of her recent posts.

I Made the stuffed n roasted idlis and vola! they tasted really, really good! praise worthy innovation to happen to a simple humble dish like Idli Loved it till the last bite. Thanks Madhuram :)
click on the link for the recipe http://www.egglesscooking.com/2009/03/09/stuffed-roast-idli/

Papaya Smoothie

2009-03-14T12:14:00.007+05:30

Come summer we look forward to feast on chilled nutritious and delicious juices and smoothies (are ice-cream healthy? ;)) My fellow foodie blogger friends have already flagged off the smoothie indulgence season. So I too put my blender to work as well. The March issue of Prevention had some super cool smoothie recipes. I asked S to take his pick and he chose the Papaya Smoothie. Great! I made a few minor changes to the recipe. I replaced pineapple with banana as S is allergic to pineapple. Papaya smoothie minus the pineapple tasted awesome and was reeeeeeeeeea…..lly filling.

Here's the Smoothie Recipe:

Ingredients:

1 cup papaya chunks
½ cup pineapple chunks ( I didn’t use it)
1 cup plain yogurt
½ cup banana, sliced (replacement for pineapple)
½ cup crushed ice
½ tsp vanilla essence (opt)
1 tsp flax seeds powder
Honey, as per taste
1 tsp dates syrup for garnish (opt)

Method:

Put papaya, banana, yogurt, crushed ice, flax seed powder, honey, vanilla essence in a blender. Blend until smooth. Garnish with dates syrup and serve chilled immediately.

Enjoy your Weekend! TC

Low Fat - Yogurt Cake

2009-03-13T23:28:00.009+05:30

Over the last two months I'm enjoying my cooking time even more :) as I'm quite thrilled with the baking experiences I've had so far. This time I wanted to bake something which was quick and easy. So while going through my recipe collection I came across this one. It read low fat- yogurt cake, and that got me interested! I was a bit doubtful how it would turn out. It came out really well and the best part was that S and I didn’t feel guilty gorging on it.

Smitha of http://saffronapron.blogspot.com/ has been very generous to pass me the 'friends' award. It's my second time..yippeeeee! Thanks for the award Smitha :) I would like all my foodie blogger friends to take this award (from MY AWARDS section), as each one of you are special and I love you all for being extremely warm and supportive.

Here’s the recipe for the cake.

Ingredients:

1 cup yogurt (dahi)
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar (I used 1 cup)
1 1/3 cups maida
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
5 tbsp oil
1 tbsp vanilla essence
a pinch of nutmeg (opt)

Method:

STEP- 1

Sift the flour and baking powderBeat the eggs, oil, vanilla essence in a separate bowl, set it aside. Beat the sugar with yogurt in another bowl.

STEP -2

Add the egg mixture to the flour and beat well. Next pour the sugar and yogurt mixture into it and beat well till smooth and well blended. Pour the mixture into a greased cake tin. Bake for 35- 45 minutes (or till done) in a preheated oven at 180*C/350* F. Once the cake is done, cool it completely and cut into desired shape and serve with a drizzle of honey.

Recipe courtesy: Nita Mehta's Oven Recipes.

Before I sign off I'd like to make a special mention of the Tomato Kurma I made yesterday following the recipe from Asha’s blog. Click on the link for the recipe - http://foodieshope.blogspot.com/2009/03/tomato-kurma-dill-dabeli-masala.html

It tasted fantastic. Thanks Asha :)