Tried and Tasted :)

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!

TC

Naboborsho Celebration and a Birthday!

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

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

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....

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

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........

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.