COLOURS OF NOMADIC LIFE

Stir Fried Hakka Noodles

2012-01-25T23:14:00.000-08:00

I have always wanted to get Hakka noodles right and Tarla Dalal's recipe came just to my aid this time. I did make a few changes like adding pepper powder instead of red chillies. It turned out a great dish. Here is the recipe for you.

STIR FRIED HAKKA NOODLES

Ingredients

2 tbsp oil
3 tsp chopped garlic pods
2 carrot finely chopped
1 1/2 cups shredded cabbage
1 cup finely sliced capsicum
1/2 cup chopped spring onions whites
1/2 cup peas and corn kernels
3 cups boiled Hakka noodles
2 tsp soy sauce
Pepper powder to taste
salt to taste

To Garnish
1/4 cup shredded cabbage or
1/4 cup chopped spring onion greens

Method

Boil 6 cups of water with a dash of oil and salt .When the water is boiling add a pack of Hakka noodles , turn the heat off after a minute or so.. close the pan and let the noodles cook .Then drain the water and keep the boiled noodles aside.

Heat the oil in a wok or frying pan over a high flame.
Add the garlic and stir-fry for a few seconds.
Add the cabbage, capsicum ,carrot and spring onion whites and stir-fry over a high flame for a few minutes.

Add peas and corn kernels, add salt and let the vegetables cook.
Add the noodles, soy sauce ,pepper and salt. Mix well and stir-fry for 2 minute.
Serve hot , garnished with spring onion greens.

Tomato Jam

2012-01-17T06:08:00.000-08:00

Tomatoes are in bounty in my city this season. It is a colour feast to see the carts in the lovely red. I have tried Jam yesterday , will try sauce , ketchup and chutneys soon.Depending on the success i have with them I will update the recipes too.

Here is the easy recipe of Tomato Jam

Ingredients :
To make about 400 grams of Jam

Tomatoes - Finely chopped 6 cups

Sugar - 2 cups

Apple - 1

Ginger freshly grated - 1 tsp

optional additions can be :

cinnamon powder - 1/2 tsp

Cloves ground - 1/2 tsp

Method

Peel and remove the seeds in the apple. Chop into small pieces and blend it along with the tomatoes to a puree. You Can blanch if you prefer..Just wash the tomatoes and drop them into boiling water for 15 to 30 seconds. Put them into cold water again to stop the cooking .the skin will peel off very easily . Lo tomatoes are blanched. I prefer to eat with the skin on .. The chunky bits in the jam are tasty.

Add the puree and and add one and half cups of sugar in a deep and thick bottom pan and place it on the stove on high heat.

When it melts check for the sweetness and add if necessary. Continue cooking till the puree is reduced to one quarter till the required consistency .

Add lime juice and reduce the heat. Add grated ginger and the optional powder (to taste).

Let the puree cook until to a consistency of sauce. Then turn the heat off and let it cool. The jam will thicken when it cools. Fill in your jars when its completely cool.

Store in refrigerators as no preservative is added.

Enjoy with Bread or Chapatis.

Rice and Coconut Milk Payasam

2012-01-16T00:27:00.000-08:00

Makara Sankranti is celebrated in most parts of Southern India. We usually make Sihipongal , Khara Pongal, and distribute Ellu and bella. This time with Ellu Bella, I made one simple payasam with coconut milk. It was very easy to make and excellent in taste.

Ingredients:

Cooked rice - One cup

Jaggery - 3/4 cup ( more if its your taste)

Coconut milk - 2 cartons of 200 ml each ( 400 ml)

Cardomom powder - 1 tsp

Ghee 1 tsp

Dry Fruits - Cashew, Almonds, Pistachio and Raisans.

Method

Cook the rice in a pressure cooker with a little coconut milk for flavour.

Melt the jaggery in a deep bottom pan by adding very little water.

When it melts, add the cooked rice and mix well. Add kesar and cardamom powder.

When the mixture starts boiling add 200 ml of coconut milk and a little water.

Mix well and let it come to a boil. Add the rest of the coconut milk and reduce the heat.

Turn the heat off and garnish with dry fruits of your choice roasted in Ghee.

Serve hot or chilled. Either ways it is as tasty. Best part of this is you can turn a leftover rice portion into yummy payasa within minutes.

Ciao..

Beet and Babycorn Cutlets

2012-01-08T20:30:00.000-08:00

I made a few changes to the original cutlet recipe , this seems to be the best way to get my girls to eat beetroot without wincing about the colour of it.

It is a simple and easy to make recipe. Great for a rainy or cool day.

Beet and Baby corn Cutlets:

Ingredients:
Potatoes - 2 medium sized.
Baby corn - 8 - 12 cobs
Beetroot - 3 (medium sized)
Ginger garlic paste - 1tsp
Red chilli powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Garam masala powder - 3/4 tsp
Salt - to taste
Green chillies - 1 or 2 (minced and to taste)
Cumin/Jeera powder - 1/2 tsp
Dry mango powder - 1/2 tsp
Fine bread crumbs - 1/2 cup (dry)
Oil for shallow frying.

Method:

Pressure cook potatoes and peeled beetroot. Peel and mash potatoes, grate the beetroots. Dice and clean baby corn.
After cooking grate beetroots. Clean and dice the baby corn cobs.
Heat oil in a deep pan. Add ginger garlic paste, minced chillies.Fry for a few minutes and then add Jeera powder , garam masala and red chilli powder.Add the baby corn pieces and fry for a few more minutes till it is cooked.
Add the graded beetroot and salt. Let the moisture evaporate then add the mashed potato and mix well. Fry for few more minutes, add amchur and more salt if required. Allow to cool down . Mix bread crumbs and made even sized balls. Pat it to flat and dust it with more bread crumbs. Shallow fry to golden brown and serve with Green Chutney.

AvarekaLu (flat bean/surti lilva) Saagu and Akki Rotti (Rice flour Chapati)

2011-11-17T23:03:00.000-08:00

AvareKaLina Saagu (Surti lilva/ Flatbean Curry)
This simple tasty gravy is the hot favourite during winters. Saagu an usual accompaniment with regular chapatis, pooris this particular saagu goes very well with Rice flour rotis.

Ingredients:

Avarekalu or Surti lilva/flat bean seeds - about 1/4kg (Boiled with a pinch of salt and turmeric.
1 potato- Finely chopped (just to add to consistency, can be omitted)
1 tsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp Jeera /cumin seeds
salt to taste
Curry leaves - a sprig
1tst fresh cream (variation)

For grinding:
Green chillies - 2 (according to your taste)
Jeera/cumin seeds - 1tsp
Pinch of asafoetida
Grated coconut-11/2 cup
Onions- 2 large onions
Garlic pods - 6
Coriander leaves - 2 spoonful (chopped)
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Grind all the above ingredients into a fine paste and keep aside.

Method:
Take a quarter of the boiled AvarekaLu (surti lilva papdi) and grind it to a coarse paste.

Heat the oil in a thick bottomed pan. Add the mustard when it splutters add the cumin seeds and curry leaves . Add the cut potatoes and let it rest for a minute. Then add the ground paste and let it cook till the raw smell of garlic , ginger and onions leave the paste. There is a delicous aroma just when the gravy starts to cook, then add a little water and salt to taste.Add the ground AvarekaLu paste and the rest of the AvarekaLu and let it boil. Add some fresh cream (variation only).

Serve with roti, rice, chapati anything.
This AvarekaLu gravy is excellent with rice flour rotis.

Akki Roti /Rice Flour Rotis

Having had this rotis innumerable times at my good friends place I finally decided to start making it right at my kitchen. This morning I browsed for it and found the perfect recipe here. Mine turned out great. The pictures in that site are best teachers..I write the recipe here too.
Ingredients:

Fine rice Atta – 1 cup

Water or milk – 1 cup

Cooking oil – 2 Teaspoons

Salt – to taste

METHOD

Sieve rice atta in the atta siever with salt.

Place a wide bottomed bowl or a non-stick Kadai on the flame with 1 glass of water and add 2 teaspoons fresh cooking oil to it. When it starts boiling simmer the flame and add Rice atta slowly to it and keep stirring till it turns to the consistency of chapathi atta.

Switch off the flame and keep it closed for about 5 minutes so that the vapors fall into the cooked atta and turns easier to knead and roll.

After a while pinch out the required quantity of atta, dust it in rice atta itself and roll it on a thick plastic sheet to the required thickness

Place a flat roti tawa on the flame and when heated place the roti on it.

Just when when heated it looks a bit cooked flip it and just dry roast the other side as well.

Flip it the other side and press it with the the edges of the spatuls and it starts puffing.

Transfer it into a serving plate and enjoy with any chutney, specially Avarekalu saagu in the season.

Onion chutney goes great with this roti.

ciao for now.

Have a great weekend.

Eggless Sponge Cake

2011-11-11T02:05:00.000-08:00

Got a chance to try something new after a long long time. Painting has taken a lot of time and trying something new in the kitchen took a back seat. My sister is here and she made this egg less sponge cake (using thick yogurt/curd) . Amazing part is that there is no trace or smell of the yogurt in it and it is as spongy as any cake. Please see the recipe here too. This is where we got it from it was Nita Mehtas which the blogger used too.

I somehow cannot still take the smell of raw egg kindly so the search for eggless recipes. Not that the end product will be exactly as the same as its counterpart with eggs in it. But they are different in their own way and tasty too.

This simple cake is great in taste and simple in method and can be made with the ingredients available in the house.

Ingredients:

Maida/All purpose flour – 1and half tea cup
Curd /thick plain yogurt – 1 cup
Baking soda – 1/2 tsp
Sugar 3/4 cup
Baking powder – 1 1/4 tsp
Cooking oil – 1/2 cup
Vanilla essence – 1 1/2 tsp

Method:

Preheat the oven at 200 C for 10 minutes. Dissolve the Sugar in the curd completely. When it is completely done whisk it well with the baking powder and baking soda and let it froth a bit for a just about 5 minutes. Mix well till it gets frothy . Add cooking oil, vanilla essence and mix well again. Add the maida/all purpose flour slowly while whisking and blending it with the mixture to form a thick creamy batter.

Grease a baking pan and dust the pan with a spoonful of dry flour, tap and turn the flour in the pan, so as to coat the pan with flour and pour the batter evenly.

Bake in preheated oven at 200 degree C for 10 minutes, then reduce temperature to 180 deg C and bake it for another 20 minutes

Check by pricking the toothpick in the center.If it comes out clean the cake is done. Let it cool for about 20 to 25 minutes. Delicious Vanilla cake is ready.

Enjoy this simple yet delicious cake with your tea or as dessert or just as cake...
Ciao and thanks to prabha for this recipe.

Simple Guacamole..

2011-08-24T05:07:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking of doing a series with alphabetical order... I do keep seeing them in so many other cooking blogs... and decided to join the bandwagon .So here it begins with A

A for Avocados

I used to see them in the market, but didn't know it was so good and tasty .A friend of mine brought me lovely Avocados, I had heard of guacamole and loved the taste ,but I tried it for the first time .It turned out really yum and girls loved it with almost everything crackers, tortilla chips and toasted bread.

Here is the recipe I came up with after browsing lots of recipes , I did not have Jalapenos so used chilly flakes instead , got the review that this tasted much better..

Guacamole Recipe

This is a simple dip, which does not have any cooking process in it..

Ingredients:
1 ripe Avocado (test that it is soft in and the tip comes off easily)
2 white onions (spring onions or shallots also serve just fine)
one spoon of dry chilli flakes or Indian green chilli or a chopped jalapenos
One small firm tomato, chopped fine
Juice of half a limeChopped fresh coriander leaves Salt and pepper to taste.

Method

Cut the lime and squeeze the juice into a bowl

Chop the onions/shallots and add them to the lemon juice , add some salt and let it rest.

Chop the tomato and add to the above mixture.

Cut the Avocados with a knife all around the seed... It will split into half when you gently twist the knife (cut length-wise). Remove seed, scoop out the green/pale yellow flesh with a spoon and place in a bowl. Mash well with a spoon or a fork.

Mix with onion /tomato mixture and salt and pepper. Add lime juice if necessary

Serve with tortilla chips, toasted bread pieces or a chapati....

Isnt that easy way to make a dip so yummy.... Ciao.

Baby Corn N Aloo Tikkis/ baby corn and potato cutlets

2011-07-06T00:02:00.000-07:00

This is a quick snack recipe. The ingredients and method are extremely simple and it is best served hot on a rainy day with a big cup of Elachi Chai (tea)

BABY CORN N ALOO TIKKIS:
This recipe is to make about 10 to 15 tikkis depending on the size of the tikkis.

Ingredients:
8 medium sized potatoes
10 baby corn cobs
salt to taste
red chilli powder to taste
jeera/cumin powder 1 tsp
garam masala - 1 or 2 tsps
dhaniya /corianer powder - 1tsp
butter/olive oil to shallow fry the tikkis.
Cheese slices , Boondi and Tomato sauce for garnishing.

Method:
Wash and boil the potatoes in a pressure cooker . They should be cooked really well.
Chop the baby corn cobs .
Peel the potatoes mash them to a paste.
Add the chopped corn cobs and all the above mentioned ingredients excep the butter.
Mix well and make round but flat tikkis.

Tikkis ready to be served

Cook them well on both side on a flat girdle/or tawa with little butter or oil . Turn each on the other side when one side turns golden brown.
Serve hot after garnishing with tomato sauce, cheese slice and Boondi.
Green/Mint chutney acts as a great companion to this.

English Trifle

2011-07-05T23:47:00.000-07:00

Trifle is a dessert dish made from thick (or often solidified) custard, fruit, sponge cake, fruit juice or gelatin, and whipped cream. These ingredients are usually arranged in layers with fruit and sponge on the bottom, and custard and cream on top. This is exact copy from wikipedia . Well cannot write any other ways either it is exactly so. Best part about this dessert is it have have anything as a layer and taste good always. I made this yesterday for my older one's birthday and most kids asked me if I could make it for their Birthdays as well. I take it that it was a big hit with kids.

Basically Trifle is all about layering all the tasty stuff together.

Sponge Cake : Bake simple vanilla sponge cake or buy about 250 gms.

Jelly : I used WEIKFIELD Jelly Mix. Banana and Strawberry flavours. This pack has two pouches. Mix them in dry bowl and add half litre of boiling water . Mix well till the crystals dissolve and then let it to set.

Custard : I used Brown and Polson. Dissolve about 4 heaps of custard powder in cold water make a paste without lumps. Boil a Litre of milk with three spoons of sugar and add this paste and cook for about five minutes. Let it set into a thick paste.

Cream: The best way is to used whipped cream. Since i didn't have it I just replaced it with vanilla ice cream which i whipped with spoon. It just looked (tasted as well) fine.

Fruits : Usual English trifle has Raspberries or Strawberries . I used some tutti frutti, cherries, apples and grapes for decoration.
You can use the Can of preserved fruits instead. Pineapple is great with the sponge cake.

Method:
The layers begin with Sponge cake.

1.Cut the sponge cake into one inch thick slices.
arrange them as the base layer of the trifle.

2.Prepare the jelly. Pour the hot jelly on the sponge cakes and let it set for some time.

3. Prepare the custard and let it set. Meanwhile cut the fruits to decorate ( or to add as a layer in between the cream and custard)

4. Once the Spongecake soaks up the jelly and it is set the next layer can be place. By now the custard also would be ready to be poured as a layer.

5. Now you can either add a fruit layer or a layer of crumbled biscuits according to your taste or a layer of jelly if you are very fond of jelly.

6. The final layer is the thick whipped cream

7. Decorate your Trifle with fruits of your choice and the set jelly. Add a dash of strawberry syrup if you like

8. Let it set well in the refrigerator for a couple of hours and serve chilled.

Aloo Parathas - Potato filling in Flat bread

2011-06-10T20:26:00.000-07:00

Cooking new dishes and updating the blog has taken a backseat with painting coming in between .I will for s more time I think it will be quick recipe updates till I get into the mood of trying again.

Aloo Paratha is a family favourite and thanks to a friend of who gave me the perfect way to make it. Being the easiest to make without too much of prior preparation this is a great breakfast/lunch or dinner dish. Best part is it tastes as great with simple curd and pickle as it does with Palak Paneer.

Here is the recipe of my method of Aloo paratha.
Ingredients for the Dough:

3 cups of Whole wheat flour
2 spoons of oil
salt to taste
1/2 cup milk
and enough water to mix the dough.
Mix all the above ingredients and make a tight dough and keep it aside for about 30 minutes . Meanwhile prepare the stuffing.Knead the dough well so that it is soft and spread easily.

Ingredients for the stuffing:

6-8 medium sized potatoes
salt to taste
1 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp dry mango powder (amchur)
1 tsp red chilli powder /garam masala powder
1 spoon butter

Boil the potaoes in a pressure cooker . Peel and mash to a fine paste mix all the above ingredients and keep aside covered.

Method:

Take the dough and divide into tiny lemon sized balls of the. Take two of them and roll them out to the size of the palm. Smear some oil on of these tiny rotis and spread the filling evenly with the help of spoon .Place the other on top and lock the edges with your fingers.(will post some pictures soon).
Now use some dry flour for dusting and roll this roti out to a bigger paratha.
Heat the flat girdle (tava) and cook the paratha on both sides with butter/ghee to a golden colour
I am sure you will like the taste . Try and let me know.

Few pictures of my glass paintings:

Warli on Glass

KATHA KALI

Acrylic paints on Glass

Reverse Glass painting.

Mysore Set Dosa

2011-04-24T23:57:00.000-07:00

I havent been regular in updating the blog these days. I do not have any excuse but my love has been glass painting . Cooking to a back seat till my friend took me to this small clean place where they made only Dosas.. The most amazing of all was the Mysore Set dosa... A set has 3 fluffy yummy dosas with kurma and chutney. I had to find a good recipe and after a lot of trial , My husband's Aunt had the perfect recipe. This was our breakfast today morning, incomplete without the kurma, but my Jhatphat Sambar was good enough.
MYSORE SET DOSE/DOSA
These dosas are not crisp like masala dosas, They are ideal for kids and people who enjoy soft dosas.
Ingredients:
1 Cup Rice
1/2 Cup Urad Dal/Black Gram split
1/2tbsp Methi/Fenugreek seeds
1/2tbsp Bengal Gram
1/2Cup Avalakki/Flattened Rice
1/2 Cup Cooked Rice
1tsp sugar
Oil for roasting
Salt to taste

Set dosa

Method:
Soak one cup of dosa rice, Urad Dal, Methi and Bengal Gram for 4 to 6 hours
Soak Avalakki just for about 5 to 10 before grinding. Grind Rice, Urad Dal, Methi( fenugreek), Avalakki (poha/rice flakes), Cooked Rice and Bengal Gram to a fine batter. Use little water.Let this batter overnight to ferment. Add Sugar and Salt to the batter and mix well. Heat the tava and pour a ladleful of batter thickly in a circular shape . It is a bit fluffy so not really to worry about the thickness. pour little oil around the dosa and cover for a minute. Turn over and cook for another half a minute.

serve with coconut/coriander/mint chuntey and Kurma/Jhatphat sambar.

Coriander - Mint chutney..
This basic chutney is perfect as a sauce for samosas or spread of a sandwich. But it acts pretty good for dosas too with a little change.

Ingredients:
1 bunch fresh mint
2 small bunches of coriander
1 clove of garlic (optional)
1" piece of ginger
2 green chillies
1 tsp sugar (optional)
2 tsp of scraped coconut
1 tsp Jeera (cumin seeds)
salt to taste.

Method:
Wash the leaves of mint and coriander thoroughly and discard the thick stalks. chop finely
peel the garlic and cut ginger wash these too.
Grind them with all the above ingredients to a coarse or smooth paste as per taste.
Serve with set dosa.

Let me know when you try it out.
Ciao.

Surialachi Wadi / Khandvi

2011-01-06T03:29:00.000-08:00

It was a busy December and before I realised it was the new year. Wishing you all a very happy 2011.

A few of us had a breakfast together this morning and one lady had made what she called Surliachi wadi..It was delicious and I indulged with more than 3 pieces of it. it was yummy and after some browsing on the net got the recipe and the Gujarati name Khandvi.

I was always under the impression ( by seeing) that khandvi was a very difficult dish to make, but I got it right the first attempt. I do not claim it as the best tasting but I am sure I will master it with more tries.

here is the recipe for you.(how I made) . Then I realised I had missed the buttermilk. But I don't think it made any change to the dish .Girls loved it, so it is going to be a regular affair at my place now.

Ingredients:

for the sheets:

One cup Besan /Chick pea flour

2 cups of water/buttermilk

a pinch of turmeric

salt to taste.

for the filling:

grated coconut

chopped coriander

2tsp oil

a pinch of asafoetida/hing

one spoon finely chopped green chillies (optional)

1 tsp mustard seeds

few curry leaves

Method:

In a bowl sieve and mix the besan,salt and turmeric. Add half a glass of water and form a batter without lumps.

In a kadai, add the one and half cup of water some salt and turmeric for colour and let it come to a boil. then add the besan paste and keep stirring till the raw smell and taste are gone.

Take ladle ful of the cooked batter and spread thin layers on plates. Spread on as many as you can.

Let it cool for about 10 minutes.

To make the tempering heat oil in a pan,when it is hot splutter the mustard seeds, add green chillies (optional),curry leaves and asafoetida.mix this with the grated coconut and coriander. Spread on the sheets which are cold now and then cut into thin strips.

Slowly roll the strips and place them on the plate to be served.

The tempering is usually done later but I felt it gave a better taste to mix with the coconut.

Serve with Tomato Sauce or Mint Chutney. It is tasty even without the chutneys.

Points to note:

The layers can be very thin, they taste better when thin.

The filling can be avoided if you do not like coconut just add the tadka(tempering) of mustard and asafoetida.
Make this dish when you have time , the besan needs constant stirring and can get burnt in the bottom.

Caio till next time.

Eggless Choco soft cake

2010-11-22T02:42:00.000-08:00

It has been a very busy month with festive season and celebrations all around me. I tried out lots of recipes and this particular recipe from khana khazana , turned out the best. It is very simple and easy to make , though I would not put it as the best tasting one it is quite tasty with some chocolate syrup on it. The ingredients are easy to find and very few too.

Eggless Choco soft cake:
Here is the recipe without much of a prologue.

Ingredients :

Parle-G biscuits : 4 packs
Sugar (powdered) 15 tsp
Cocoa Powder - 6 tsp
Eno (fruit salt)- 1 tsp
baking soda 1/2 tsp
Lukewarm milk - 3 cups
oil /butter for greasing
Chocolate syrup for the topping

Method:

Make a fine powder of the Parle-G biscuits, Sugar and Cocoa powder without lumps. Then add Eno (fruit salt ) and baking soda. Add the lukewarm milk little by little and mix it only towards one side.
Grease the microwavable tray with butter or oil.pour the mixture into it and microwave for 5 minutes at high.
It will be done by then. check with a knife or a skewer. Let it cool for a few minutes and add the chocolate syrup on the top.

I am having problems with uploading the pictures today. I will load them some other time.

Ciao.

Methi Theplas - Roti (flatbread) with Fenugreek Leaves

2010-09-28T20:48:00.000-07:00

Gujarati Thali is the one I have been searching for in Mysore in a long time. Even though there was a mention here and there the only time I had it was one Navratri Dandiya time few years ago. I searched for Theplas ( after girls saw three idiots , they do know names of a few Gujarati dishes now I guess I will have to make them!!!) I came across Roma Sharma's Blog. This theplas turned out very tasty. The measurements were so great that doubling up too yields perfect results. Thanks Roma.

Theplas are basically spiced parathas. They are excellent for travelling as they are not spoilt for more than a week.This variety is great either as a meal, with tea or just a snack in the kids lunch box.

Here's the recipe friends

Methi Thepla

Ingredients :
1 cup Wheat flour /Atta
1 tablespoon Besan /kadalehittu/gram flour
1 tablespoon Oil
Pinch of Haldi powder /turmeric
1/2 teaspoon Mirchi powder /red chilli powder
1 teaspoon Dhania powder /coriander powder
1/2 teaspoon Jeera powder /roasted cumin powder
5 pods of Garlic, finely chopped
1 cup of Methi (Fenugreek ) leaves, fine chopped
1/4 cup Curds /Sour Yogurt
1/2 teaspoon Jeera/Cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon Til/Sesame seeds
Pinch of Hing (Asafoetida)
Salt (to taste)
Sugar (to taste) (optional)
Oil to roast.

Method

Mix all the above ingredients with just about half a cup of water to a dough. Knead it till it is soft. Allow it for about 5 to 10 minutes . With a little dry flour roll out rotis.. small circular ones. Cook on both sides with a little oil on a hot flat pan or tawa...
Enjoy hot thelpas with set curds .They are great with masala tea too.

Scottish Shortbread

2010-09-28T07:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday tried some Scottish Shortbread. Thanks to Malini for the recipe, indeed it is easy and kids can make it too. It took exactly 10 minutes for the preparation and about 20 minutes baking time. Girls absolutely loved it and I am sure it is going to be a regular snack at my place now on..
Here is the recipe for those who want to try. I have changed it to cups to make the measurement easier. I made them the first time, may be next time there will be some improvement in shape and will have the courage to add chocolate or poppy seeds etc.I will add photos and changes as and when I make them again.

SCOTTISH SHORTBREAD

Ingredients

All purpose flour /maida - 1 cup

Unsalted butter (melted)- 1/2 cup

Granulated sugar - 1/2 cup

Salt - a bit

Method:

Preheat the oven for 15 minutes at 170 C

Meanwhile prepare the dough.
Sieve the flour with a bit of salt, knead the flour with the melted butter

roll it with the pin for 2" thickness and spread around cut it with shaped biscuit cutters

I made shapes like fingers, but you can just spread them on to a greased tray with two cms thickness.

place the greased tray in the oven for 25 minutes.

If you have spread the dough as whole cut into squares when warm and allow to cool for 10 minutes.
The short breads are ready to have with a hot cup of tea.

Mosaravalakki

2010-09-02T09:41:00.000-07:00

Krishnashtami at my place is a matter of delight for kids, Only snack day . The typical dish of the day is Mosru Avalakki (beaten rice with yogurt and seasoning). Avalakki being the favourite snack of Lord Krishna they say. A Sketch of Balgopal by my girl.. adorned the pooja room with my other pictures this time. I told this story to my girls as a part of the festive day.. This is what I found perfect to write in Indokidz... you can find more stories here.
The story of Sudhama is described in the Bhagwat Purana, an ancient scripture of the Hindus.
Sudhama was a poor brahmin boy who became a close friend of Krishna in sage Sandipani's hermitage. Krishna learnt to chant from Sudhama.
Once, Sandipani's wife asked Sudhama and Krishna to get some wood from the forest. While they were collecting the wood, a storm came and they got lost. Sudhama was scared. Krishna held his arms and assured his safety. When the storm was over, they found their way to the hermitage. Sudhama was relieved. Sandipani blessed them with a long life and happiness.
After completing their studies, Sudhama and Krishna went their own ways. Krishna became the king of Dwarka and married princess Rukmini, the goddess of prosperity. Sudhama, on the other hand, married a simple brahmin girl and began to lead the life of a devotee, reading scriptures, praying, forsaking worldly pleasures. Everyone loved Sudhama. His family was quite happy.
Then Sudhama's wife gave birth to two children. Because of Sudhama's austere life style, the family began to face difficult days, with little food to eat and no clothes to wear. Sudhama's wife was extremely devoted to her husband but when her children began to suffer, she was concerned.
Finally on a cold night, when her children were without blanket, she approached Sudhama and humbly said, "Aren't you and Krishna, the lord of Dwaraka, friends? And, Krishna married to the goddess of prosperity, Rukmini?"
Sudhama replied, "Yes."
Sudhama's wife dreamed of seeing an improvement in her family's poor condition. She earnestly said, "Go my lord, I beseech you, for the sake of our dear children, meet Krishna."

The very prospect of meeting Krishna, his old friend, made Sudhama happy. "I will go and see him, but I will not ask him for anything." Sudhama's wife could hardly conceal her joy. She happily said, "Even a visit to Krishna will bless our family. Do not ask anything from him. I will be content my lord."
Just before his departure for Dwaraka, Sudhama came to his wife. Both had the same thought. "What will I give to Krishna when I see him after such a long time?"
Sudhama's wife suddenly remembered, "My lord you used to tell me that Krishna immensely loved Poha, the flattened rice!" Sudhama too remembered Krishna's great liking for Poha . Sudhama's wife ran to her neighbor's house and they happily gave her the gift of Powa in a small bundle. Sudhama then set out on his long journey to Dwaraka.
When Sudama came to the palace, surprisingly enough, no one stopped him.
He looked through various rooms and finally located Krishna and Rukmini. When Krishna saw Sudama he ran to embrace him. Then Krishna sat down and washed Sudama's tired feet with warm water and put sandalwood paste on them.
After the royal meal, they all settled down to chat. Krishna and Sudama exchanged the happenings of their lives since they departed from Sandipani's hermitage. Suddenly Krishna noticed a small bundle on Sudama's waist. He remarked, "Ah! You have brought a present for me!"
Sudama hesitated, "How do I give a king, a poor man's Powa?" When Krishna noticed that Sudama was ashamed to give him the bundle, he remarked, "Sudama, the poorest gifts given to me with love is dearer to me than the richest of gifts given without love." Krishna was thoughtful, "He has not come to ask anything for himself. He came out of love for his wife and me." Then he quickly snatched off the bundle and opened it. There it was, his favorite Powa! He tossed some in his mouth with great satisfaction. Then they talked and talked, as old friends, to their heart's content. Sudama could not ask anything from Krishna.
Next morning Sudama bid Krishna and Rukmini farewell. The long road back home did not seem to be that hard as he thought of Krishna. When he reached home, he was amazed to see that a huge mansion was standing in place of his poor hut. His wife and children, wearing new clothes, came to receive him. He could hardly recognize them. Sudama felt the touch of the all-knowing Krishna who had rewarded Sudama for his gift of love.
Sudama continued to lead the life of a hermit while his family enjoyed the generous gifts of wealth from Krishna.

So during the Janmasthami festivities we do make a lot of snacks which have avalakki/poha /beaten rice as a main ingredients.

This snack plate shows KAYIBELLA AVALAKKI, GOJJAVALAKKI AND

MOSARAVALAKKI.

We do make Bisibele avalakki too .

Today I am sharing the recipe of

Mosaravalakki , will post Bisibele avalakki and Kaibella avalakki soon.

MOSARAVALAKKI (BEATEN RICE WITH YOGURT):

This is a very tasty and easy to make snack. Filling and healthy too..

Tasty Mosaru avalakki

Ingredients:
2 cups thick – Thick Avalakki

2 cups of yogurt – Mosaru

1/2 cup freshly grated coconut.

1 or 2 green chillies very finely chopped

few coriander leaves finely chopped

a sprig of curry 1 cup milk,( optional)

the usual seasoning ingredients.(cumin, mustard, chana dal, urad dal and 1tsp oil)

Method:
Wash the avalakki, beaten in water twice and then let it soak for about 15 minutes.Then add the yogurt, salt to taste , grated coconut and coriander leaves.In a small pan, heat oil. Add all the seasonings add the dals after the mustard splutters then add green chillies and curry leaves. Mix this seasoning with the above avalakki mixture. If the yogurt is thick or sour, add milk .
Enjoy the Mosru avalakki.

Have a happy Janmashtami. Jai shri Krishna.

Nucchinunde and Majjige huLi ( steamed lentil dumplings)

2010-08-24T09:18:00.000-07:00

Nagarapanchami is a festival dedicated to God Ananta ( the snake god). It is celebrated on the fifth day of the Shravana month people worship snakes , usually now -a- days a serpent made of silver is worshipped at home. Then, all the ladies will wait for their brothers to visit them. Once brothers are home the sisters wash their brother's back with milk..(bennu toleyuvudu) a little mud is rubbed on the wet back with the idea that the sisters pray to Nagaraja to keep their brothers cool in temper and with abundance and with peace of mind like the cold milk,and the mud from the mound asking Nagaraja to protect their brothers from all harm and providing complete protection.
After this little ritual, the sisters give brothers a gift of cash or kind, usually clothes.This is followed by a sumptuous lunch. The festive meal of this particular day does not have any fried dish. So most of the dishes are steamed...( so healthy ).

The festive spread generally has two salads (kosambari), to vegetable dry curry ( palya), a sweet dish (payasa) and many others to fill the leaf and tummy.

NUCCINUNDE /NUCCHINA UNDE : Steamed Lentil Dumplings:

my sister in law made Nucchinunde (tuvar dal steamed dumplings) which I had not had in a while. She gave me the right proportions and today I did make them successfully. Here's the recipe for you..Ingredients
1 cup of Tuvar dal/Yellow Lentils (Togri Bele)

1/2 cup of Chana dal/Bengal gram

½ cup Freshly grated coconut

two tbsp of chopped Coriander leaves (Cilantro)

4 Dry Red Chilies (or to taste)

2 green chillies

a pinch of Asafoetida (Hing/Ingu)

1/4 cup finely chopped dill leaves (optional Sabbasige soppu)

Salt to taste

Method:
Wash tuvar dal and chana dal 3 to 5 times and soak for 5 to 6 hours.Add the dry red chillies to the water and let it soak.Drain the soaked dal and grind 3/4ths of it coarsely without adding water . Grind the rest of the dal into a paste with coconut, red chillies,green chillies ( ginger can be added for a different taste). In a bowl add the paste and other ingredients . Mix well. Make egg shaped balls with your fingers and steam for about 15 to 20 minutes.
Eat them sizzling hot with ghee, coconut chutney and Majjige huli ( a delicacy with butter milk).

Majjige huLi:This is a delicacy made out of simple butter milk.Literally meaning a gravy with butter milk this is a treat with hot steamed rice and of course with Nucchinude it makes a super hit combination.Made out of almost all vegetables of the gourd family , usually cucumber, ash gourd, snake gourd,chow chow this dish is as tasty with Okra, Eggplant , peas and fresh greens.simple to make this is an excellent dish for a rainy day.

Ingredients:
1 cup of chopped vegetables

2 cups of butter milk

2 spoons of Ghee or oil

1 spoon mustard seeds

curry leaves a sprig...

two dry red chillies
Ground paste of :

2 tbsp of fresly grated coconut,

2 tsp of soaked chanda dal or 2 tsp of Besan ( Kadle hittu)

2 green chillies

spoon cumin seeds

1/4 spoon of mustard seeds

a pinch of Asafoetida( hing)

1/4 spoon of turmeric powder (haldi)

few strands of coriander leaves

Salt to taste.

Method:

In a wide pan boil the cut vegetables with turmeric powder, salt and water till they are firm but cooked. Add the ground paste to the cooked vegetables and boil with some more minutes adding little water. Add the butter milk, mix well and let it get to one more boil.In a small pan heat oil, add mustard seeds when they splutter add curry leaves and dry red chilies..
serve with the above Nucchinunde or hot steamed rice.

Baked Veg Spring Rolls.

2010-07-09T03:14:00.000-07:00

We were discussing healthy recipes in a forum and I looked into some cooking blogs for a healthy recipe. This was something which I found very interesting and I did change a few ingredients to suit my needs and taste buds. It is quite tasty to eat and healthy too as the spring rolls are not deep fried.
here is the recipe

Baked Veg Spring Rolls:
Ingredients
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon grated peeled ginger root
1 minced garlic clove
salt to taste
Pepper to taste
1/3 cup cooked rice noodles
spring onion shredded
1 carrot, finely grated
1 red bell pepper, seeded and julienned
1/2 green or yellow bell pepper, seeded and julienned
1/4 cup finely shredded or julienned cabbage ( I used Knol Knol instead)
1 cup trimmed snow pea pods
1 cup bean sprouts
4 7-inch square Springroll wrappers
(If you can't get egg roll wrappers, you can also use phyllo sheets. )
2 teaspoons olive or vegetable oil or melted butter
1 teaspoon Chinese noodles masala.

METHOD
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.
In a large thick bottom pan. Heat oil and add ginger, salt, and minced garlic. Add the rice noodles, green onion, carrot, bell peppers, cabbage, , bean sprouts, toss well for the vegetables to mix. Add the soy sauce, salt and pepper and the Chinese noodles masala.
Place the phyllo wrappers on a clean dry work surface.
Divide the mixture evenly among the wrappers; fold in the ends and roll up jelly roll fashion. Combine the olive or vegetable oil and sesame oil ( I used melted butter ) slightly brush each spring roll with oil mixture and place on the prepared baking sheet.
Bake at 200 degrees C until the spring rolls are crisp for about 10 minutes;then turn and bake until crisp all over, about 7 to 10 more minutes.
Serve with Red chilli sauce with some Radish and Beetroot sticks.

Vegetable Lasagne

2010-07-06T08:16:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone. Finally I get back to what I like doing the most, writing about what I like and what I like to eat. June was moving time , I have now settled well in the new house and trying to make it home..

It was my elder daughter's birthday yesterday She had invited a few friends for lunch so the menu was set as Lasagna, Apple truffle and Banana cake. I was apprehensive about try Lasagna earlier . But we had had awesome lasagna at a friends place so I tried it again with renewed enthusiasm and with Shobha's recipe which seemed very simple. So the lunch yesterday was Vegetable lasagna and Apple truffle (if it can be called so).Lasagna it was yummy ,thanks again to Shobha .The only piece I had was the spoon I had before serving (for taste)it to the girls .The empty bowl was evidence enough that it was finger licking good in their words.

Apple Truffle needs more improvement , though girls thought it was good. I might make it again before posting the recipe.

Banana cake was made by another friend of mine ,Thanks Sheetal it was great and I will post the recipe soon.

VEGETABLE LASAGNA

Lasagna is a classic Italian dish with alternate layers of pasta , cheese, sauce and other ingredients... like vegetables or meat. Lasagna are the sheets of pasta used in the dish known as Lasagne in UK.

I won't say mine is the best recipe but this is one of the simplest and easy to make recipe.
This is how I prepared it . I am writing the ingredients with the method so that it is easy to follow.
Method

This dish is basically made of layers and then baked in the oven.
The Vegetable Sauce
2 tbsp of olive oil

2 small cans of tomato puree

1 small bottle of tomato sauce

4 finely chopped tomatoes

4 cloves of garlic - minced

2 cups of assorted diced vegetables ( corn, baby corn carrots, broccoli,cauliflower,capsicum/bell peppers,mushrooms are the ones I used)

1/2 cup melted butter

1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese
2 cups of water

In a deep bottom pan or skillet add two spoons of olive oil. when it is hot add the onions and capsicum/bell peppers.Saute for several minutes and add the rest of the vegetables.Add the other vegetables and let them cook with little salt and pepper. When the vegetables are done add chopped tomatoes with two spoons of butter. The tomatoes grow soft very quickly then add the tomato sauce and tomato puree with half a cup of butter and half cup of cheese. Bring the sauce to a boil and add two cups of water.
Gently stir the following into the sauce:

1 spoon white sugar

1/2 spoon of fennel seeds/saunf

1 spoon chopped basil leaves

2 spoons of Italian seasoning

Salt to taste and

Crushed pepper to taste

Reduce the heat and let the sauce simmer and adjust the seasonings while you prepare the pasta for layering.

The layers:

You will need2 cups of grated cheese

8 Lasagna sheets

1/2 cup diced olives (green) and Vegetable Sauce

I have used the the very thin Agnesi Lasagna sheets so there is no need to boil or soak them in hot water.
Take a oven proof pan ( I used a 6 x 9) Borosil pan.Smear a little of butter all over the pan. Spread one cup of sauce as the first layer.Lay 4 pasta sheets on the layer of sauce. Spread a layer of grated cheese.Now pour another layer of Sauce, place 4 sheets of pasta on the sauce and spread the cheese. Pour the remaining sauce on top . sprinkle the remaining cheese and olives on the top. Cover the bowl with foil.Allow some space between foil and layers for the boiling sauce. (this can be frozen and baked another day too) .
Bake in a preheated for 25 minutes at 180 C .Remove the foil and bake uncovered for another 10 minutes.
Remove from oven and allow to cool .Serve hot.

Let me know how yours was if and when you try this out.

AvarekaLu Bhath (revisited) and Sabsige Palya

2010-05-05T00:53:00.000-07:00

Summer holidays is on and so is the Mango season. We are enjoying a few variteties at the minute.I enjoy all the seasonal fruits and vegetables but I was surprised to see that these days AvrekaLu has no season these days. I found them yesterday in the market and so todays menu at my place was AvrekaLu bhath and Sabsige palya (Sauteed Dill leaves). With girls being home it is a not easy to have a traditional menu of this sort.

Sabbasige or Dill leaves is a herb which has a typical aroma. The is used in cooking for aroma and taste. I use it with rice flour... for Akkirotti, in Dal.. with Moong or Arhar dal. These leaves add a lot of taste to Ambode (dal vada or lentil dumplings).

This is known for Anti -Gas property and so used as a mouth freshener and digestive ,It is also known to enhance lactation in mothers.. so given to mothers as post natal diet.

Avarekalu Bhath is quite simple .

Please do find the recipe in here .

Sabbasige palya (Sauteed Dill leaves with Onions)

This particular palya is a simple one with just two main ingredients... Onions and Dill leaves .

Ingredients:

2 fresh bunches of abbasige soppu (dill leaves)

1 Onion (finely chopped)

dry red chillies - 2
jeera/cumin seeds -one spoon
sasive/mustard seeds - 1 spoon
Ingu/asafoetida - one pinch
turmeric powder - one pinch
curry leaves - a sprig
oil to saute
and salt to taste.

Method:
Wash and chop the dill leaves very fine, strain and keep aside. In a pan, heat the oil and add mustard seeds. When they sputter add jeera, red chillies, asafoetida, turmeric powder and curry leaves. Add the chopped onions and saute for a few minutes. Then add the chopped Dill leaves , saute for a few minutes. Add salt to taste and mix properly.
Add a dash of lemon to enhance the taste. Serve with Rotis or Rice. Goes well with both.
I am sure you will like it too.

Yugadi - HOSA VARSHADA SIHI - HOLIGE ( Puranpoli)

2010-03-16T08:46:00.000-07:00

ಯುಗಾದಿ - Yugadi (also known as Ugadi) is the first day of the of the first month, the Chaitra, according to the Hindu (Lunar) calender.
In Karnataka and Andhra, the tender flowers of neem mixed with jaggery and mango slices are distributed on the occasion। The neem , extremely bitter in taste, and jaggery which is sweet and delicious, gives the different aspects of human life... joy and sorrow.... This is a message to accept both and try to overcome the difficulties of life with a positive not. It is exchanged among friends and relatives after a small pooja at home.I make it more tasty by adding some cashew nuts and raisins , kids like it better.

ಬೇವು ಬೆಲ್ಲ

According the Hindu calendar, we are now in the 5101st year of the KALIYUGA and the year 1922 of the SHALIVAHANA SHAKA.On this 16th of March, 2010, we have entered the first month of CHAITRA. This will be followed by VAISHAKA, JYESHTA, AASHADA, SHRAVANA, BHAADRAPADA, ASHWAYUJA, KARTHIKA, MARGASHIRA, PUSHYA, MAAGHA and PHALGUNA.

The typical Menu of Yugadi Festive meal in our house is Holige, Mavinkayi Chitranna, Ambode , Payasa and Kosambari. On seeing the ingredients in all these I am seeing that all these are made of the ingredients which are available in this season.. mango , the Dals (lentil season) etc.

This year I tried Holige... Thanks to a dear friend Sharadha who taught me with patience and answered all my silly questions and made it possible. it was easy to make and tasty as expected.

TOGRIBELE HOLIGE/ Arhar daal puranpoli...

Here is the recipe...Straight from her.

Ingredients: I was clean bowled with her puran polis and understood that it was not difficult to make but had certain tips to be followed to make it tasty. The consistency of the dough used for covering and the stuffing is extremely important. With a little practice I am sure we can get it right.

For the Stuffing:

6 cups of water

1 cup Arhar dal ( Tuvar dal, Split pigeon peas)

1 cup Sugar or Jaggery

Elaichi/Cardamom powder to taste

Freshly grated coconut ( optional and to taste)

For the covering:

1 cup all purpose flour.

1 pinch turmeric powder

1 cup oil.

Method:

Covering:Mix one cup of all purpose flour ( Maida) with a pinch of turmeric with a little water. The mixing is a bit tricky . Keep adding water little by little till the dough gets pliant. Cover and let it soak for about 2 to 3 hours. Then add two spoons of oil and make it more pliant to hold the stuffing and roll.

The stuffing (hoorana) : Boil 6 cups of water in a wide mouthed and heavy bottom vessel. Add a pinch of turmeric for the yellow colour. Add one cup of Dal in this boiling water and let it cook well ( but do not let it get soft. it such be cooked but a bit firm). Drain the water out and let the dal /lentil cool a bit and add the sugar or jaggery , whichever you wish, both have their own special taste. Add cardamom/Elaichi powder to taste and grind in a mixer to a paste consistency. This paste is lighter in colour.

Making the hoLige:

Take a small ball of the dough meant for covering and mould it in the shape of cup. Make a tiny ball of the hoorana (stuffing) and cover it well with the dough. Place this on a oil smeared thick plastic cover or butter paper add enough oil to roll them into thin rotis and roast on hot tawa adding as much oil required.

My grandmother would always make saaru out of the left over hoorana (stuffing) . Will post that recipe soon. Today the blogger isn't in a very amicable mood took me more than 5 hours to load these pictures .

Wishing you all a very happy new year...

Kachori and Imli Chutney

2010-02-14T02:23:00.001-08:00

Hello everybody. I hope all of you are enjoying the month with so many festivals and celebrations. My Shivaratri festival was quite successful with only fruits and one major snack . We kept away from rice but missed out on all the goodies like Usli and Guggari too this year. It was only fruits but I did make some Kachoris (for the first time they weren't bad at all) which girls liked a lot but I think I have to make it again to get them perfectly well. In the meantime, I am sharing the recipe may be you will get it perfectly in the first time...I did use Wheat flour instead of the all purpose flour.

KACHORI:

Ingredients:

For the covering:

All purpose flour (maida) - 2 cups

salt to taste

soda bi carb a pinch

ghee - 1 table spoon

For the filling
split black gram... urad dal - 1 cup(wash and soak for two hours and drained)
cumin seeds (jeera) - 1 spoon

asafoetida a pinch

dhania powder(dry coriander powder) 2 tsp

red chilli powder

salt to taste

oil for frying....

Method:
Sieve the flour, salt and soda. Rub in ghee and knead the flour with water (just enough) to make a hard dough. Keep aside for 30 minutes. For the filling grind all the ingredients coarsely without much rather any water. Saute the ground filling in a tbsp of oil and keep aside.
Divide the dough into lemons sized balls...

shape each dough ball into a small cup.

fill 1tbsp of the filling to the hollow in the cup.

seal and pat into rounds. Flatten a bit to Puri shapes
Heat the oil in a kadai..roll out the fried balls into a little flat puris (not too thin) and fry till it is golden and crisp.

Remove and drain the excess oil, and serve with Aloo sabji or Imli chutney... or both....

Imli ki chutney (tamarind chutney):
This sweet and sour chutney is tasty with almost any savoury snack.. specially with samosas and kachoris. Simple to make this chutney has a greater shelf life like the ketchups.

Ingredients:
1/4 kgs Tamarind (Imli)
2 cups GratedJaggery (Gur)
2 tsp Roasted cumin (Jeera) Powder
2 tsp Red chili powder
Salt To Taste
1 tsp Black salt
1 tsp Garam masala

Method
Add 3 cups of water to tamarind and bring to the flame and cook for 15 - 20 minutes.

Take out the pulp from the tamarind mixture.

Strain it and add the jaggery or sugar, cumin powder ,chilli powder, salt, garam masala and mix well.
Cook again on medium flame till jaggery completely dissolves and the chutney gets to a thick liquid consistency. Add water to keep it in a liquid state
This Chutney thickens more on cooling so check for consistency when using the water.

Hoping to get a feedback about this when you try.
Ciao.

HAPPY SANKRANTHI 2010

2010-01-12T21:05:00.000-08:00

Sankranti festival is as enjoyable as every year but this time my girls are bigger and am sure will enjoy it with me. They are all very excited to go to houses in the neighbourhood and all relatives. This festival is celebrated for various reasons. I did write a couple of years ago about it here. I enjoy the social networking with this festival , where we visit people with the Yellu - Bella ( mix of sesame and jaggery) and Sakkare Acchu (sugar moulds)

This season has been special as I have learnt to make the sakkare acchu finally, thanks to Aunt L and enjoyed a lot of unripe chickpea, known as soppina kadle kayi in kannada which is very delicious when tender (of course developed taste). I have made sure girls love it as much as I do. The menu on this festive day will be the traditional meal of sihi pongal and I will be making Soppin kadale kayi pulav, which I had tried a few day ago.

These beautiful and delicate Sakkare Acchu, literally meaning sugar moulds are typical of this festival and specially in Mysore during Sankranti festival.

Making the sugar moulds SAKKARE ACCHU is very easy, of course can master this art with a bit of practice.

Ingredients :

3 cups of sugar

1/2 cup of milk

1/2 cup yogurt

a lemon

food colours of your choice and

traditional moulds or candy moulds.

Method:

Soak the sugar overnight ( to get the proper white colour or two or three hours to get a decent colouring).In a thick-bottomed pan add sugar and water and let the sugar melt. Continue to cook until it starts to boils to a and forms froth.Now add a spoon of milk and one spoon of yogurt (mosru) strain the syrup into another thick bottom pan . This removes the first round of dirt. Sieve the syrup and pour the syrup back into the pan and boil again. The syrup will start to froth with this boiling now. Add a spoon of yogurt again and repeat the process. Put to boil the strained syrup . This time add the remaining Milk and stir and sieve again.

Mean while the moulds should be prepared. the wood moulds need to be soaked in water an hour before they are ready to be used.

Pour the syrup back in the pan and continue to boil until the mixture to a consistency called MUTTU PAKA in Kannada , muttu meaning a pearl. The syrup at this time will be thick and a droplet of it will stay put at one place when dropped and doesn't flow.

Take the syrup in a smaller bowl and knead till it gets a slight whitish colour ( the syrup thickens ) then pour quickly into the moulds. Just before adding add a drop or two of lemon juice.

This kneading leaves the syrup very soft and pliant.Using a knife trim the extra sugar over the mold.

Leave it aside for 5 to 10 minutes and remove the moulds gently.Use a needle to move the delicate ends and open up with a knife.

Add the required food colour and

make these lovely , delicate colourful moulds.

If you do not have the traditional moulds, the candy moulds serve the purpose.

Lo , the Sakkare acchus are ready to be distributed.

YELLU - BELLA:

2 meaures of roasted peanuts: Select only the fine, nice rounded white ones

2 measures of fried gram dhal(puthani/hurigadle): select the round ones

2 measures of the moulded sugar blocks( / Bella (jaggery) : sugar syrup is poured in plates and cut into small equal pieces ( coloured ones add a lot of colour)] or Jaggery.

2 measures of dried and cut copra (dried coconut) - the copra is peeled and cut into fine small equal sized pieces.

1 measure of fried white sesame (Nylon biLi yeLLu) - Fry the sesame (on low heat) take care it doesn't burn and get the black colour ,but gets fried enough to lose the raw taste.

Mix all these together and prepare the tasty Yellu Bella.

YELLU BELLA TINDU OLLE MATADI. Do speak sweet and good after eating this mixture of sesame and jaggery mix.

WISHING YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY SANKRANTI.

JHATPHAT SAMBAR

2009-12-14T20:54:00.000-08:00

December has crept in and already second week is on. It has been a bit busy month with lots of travelling , loads of dishes to try and taste.

Idli ,usually is served with traditional sambar, one or two chutneys. I like it with Onion chutney.

A quick recipe of sambar which I had heard from a friend long back helped me today as I didn't have coconut to make the usual combo of idlis.

Jhat phat sambar as I call it is quick to make and perfect accompaniment for Idlis, specially when there is a constraint of time and resources.

Jhat pat Sambar :

Ingredients:
1 cup masoor dal

2 spoonful tamarind juice

2 tomatoes finely chopped

1 spoon grated coconut

two onions finely chopped ( one cup full peeled sambar onions (shallots))

sambar powder to taste ( I used MTR)

salt to taste

Oil - 1 tsp

mustard 1/2 tsp

cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

one or two dry red chillies

curry leaves - a sprig

a pinch of asafoetida

coriander leaves for garnishing.

Method:

Make a coarse powder of the masoor dal in the mixer- grinder. Add grated coconut,tamarind juice or paste, sambar powder and some water to make a fine paste and keep aside .
In a deep pan add the oil, let it heat and then add mustard let it splutter add the cumin seeds ( jeera ) curry leaves , dry red chillies and asafoetida. Then add the cut onions and tomatoes . Add desired vegetables which cook quickly like brinjal and carrot, but they should be sliced thin to cook quickly.When the vegetables are sauteed well add the ground paste and salt and let it boil. Add water for the required consistency . Yummy Sambar is ready in minutes , garnish with the coriander leaves and a dash of ghee.
Enjoy this dish with Hot Idlis and filter coffee.

Enjoy the Christmas season and have a wonderful New year 2010.

Waiting for the New year which I hope will bring prosperity to all of us.

Congress Kadlekai beeja

2009-11-06T18:38:00.000-08:00

October passed by without notice. I haven't had much time this month . My big achievement this month was to baptise my girls to the CHAT of Mysore Churmuri. This is something unique of this place and for reasons unknown has not been popular anywhere other than Mysore. It is really strange that I did not found the taste being the same even in Bangalore .The only thing my girls did not like was the masala peanuts in it,which I love. This week I tried making them at home and Lo here it is in my bowl. All set and yes this they did like and eat.

This is a very simple procedure and can be stored for days provided it is done in less oil.

CONGRESS KADLEKAI BEEJA/MASALA PEANUTS.

Roasted Peanuts - 3 cups

Red chilly powder- to taste

Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Turmeric - 1 1/2 tsp

Hing/Asafoetida - 1/4 tsp ( can add more tastes better)

Black pepper powder- 1 tsp ( taste better with more)

Oil- half to one tsp

Salt to taste

METHOD

Roast peanuts till they are blackish on the skin. In a large plate or pan just rub them gently the skin peels off. Clean and spilt them into half. Heat the oil, add curry leaves, hing and turmeric powder. Add the roasted peanuts and turn the heat off. Mix well while adding pepper , chilli powder and salt.

Very simple isn't it.

Ciao. Hoping to update a few more recipes soon.

APPEAL - HELP AS MUCH AS YOU CAN

2009-10-04T00:47:00.000-07:00

APPEAL

Dear Friends,

All of you must be aware and must have seen the havoc being created by the floods in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. The temple town of Mantralaya has been totally submerged and vast stretches upto Kurnool has been inundated. Nandyal is on the way too.

As a pay back to the society to which we come from we thought of appealing to all of you to contribute what you can so that we can relieve the misery of our fellow citizens to the extent we can.

We can only assure that the end use of the funds will be 100% for the need and we will see that every penny of your gesture will be used. Once the work is completed you will recieve details of the usage of money.

We urge all of you to contribute your might to this cause.

Remember that it is more blessed to give than to receive.

The bank account to which the remittance can be sent is given below:

Benefeciary: Vishwabharathi Kalaniketan & Education Society

Name of the Bank: Indian Bank

Bank Account No: 509383166

IFSC Code: IDIB000B015

In case you want to send across a cheque please send it to the following address :

K.Pavan Kumar,

VISHWA BHARATHI KALANIKETHAN & EDUCATION SOCIETY

No.123,VEERANNA GOWDA COLONY,

NEAR KUMARASWAMY TEMPLE,CLUB ROAD,

BELLARY - 583104

KARNATAKA
Ph No 09980823248

Looking forward to your valued contribution.Please circulate this among your friends to make it a success.

Shashikanth & Shubha .

P.S. We have used an existing Trust account for this purpose as it was taking too long to get an approval for a new one.

Ragi dose with vegetable ishtew

2009-09-15T21:57:00.000-07:00

My girls like dose's at any time of the day. They loved the Ragi dose aunt L made a month ago. They named it brown dose and said that would be once a week from then on , provided I make it the same way. Not that I had any choice left but to get the recipe and make it as she did. But then I did not want to give the same chutney and thought will make it with something else and then the time came only today morning . I made kaikari ishtew (vegetable stew) as the side dish and it went very well with Ragi dose as it did with Neer dose ( I learnt that too... yummmm will update as soon as I get it right. )
Ragi Dose :
In Karnataka it is not Dosa,, it is DosE . It is true that I alsos got used to the word Dosa, and use that as others do not understand it. But I prefer to call it DosE instead of Dosa. Ragi is grown mostly in Africa and Asia.In India, finger millet (locally called ragi) is mostly grown and consumed in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra extensively. In Karnataka, ragi flour is generally consumed in the form of ragi balls (ರಾಗಿ ಮುದ್ದೆ ragi mudde in Kannada). The mudde which is prepared by cooking the Ragi flour with water to achieve a dough like consistency. Which is then rolled into 'balls' of desired size and consumed. Ghee with Huli,Saaru,sambar or another other curry is generally served along with these balls. The malt, made of malted Ragi is used as Ragi Malt is mixed with milk. The ragi powder is used for Rotti (Ragi Rotti) and Ragi Dose. Thi s one of the most nutritious cereal mankind has known. It is very rich in fibre and has about 328 k cal of energy.Today breakfast at my place looked like below pic...

RAGI DOSE WITH VEGETABLE STEW

Ingredients:

3 small cups Ragi flour

1 small cup Urad dal (Black gram dal)

1/2 tsp Fenugreek (Methi Seeds) (optional)

Salt to taste.

Oil to smear.

1 spoon yogurt /curds (optional)

Method:

Soak the urad dal and methi seeds for about 6 to 8 hours. Grind to a fine paste using as little water as possible. Mix the three parts of Ragi flour to the ground paste, add salt and the spoon of curds if the weather is cold. Mix thoroughly and allow to ferment for 12 to 14 hours.
The batter is ready to use.Add water if you feel the batter is very thick and spread on a hot tawa as usual dosas. Adding oil around the dosas to make it crisp is your decision. It is not necessary if you are using a nonstick pan.
Variation :Add finely chopped onion, green chillies, coriander and jeera .This adds a different flavour and is quite tasty.Enjoy with Vegetable Ishtew.

Vegetable Ishtew:
There are loads of authentic recipes of this Kaikari ishtew, a Keralite dish, Delicious with Appam. I had to change a little to suit our needs and taste. This is the modifed recipe I use regularly now. Today it is bit little colourless , as I ran out of Carrots which gives a lovely colour.
Ingredients:
2 carrots
Half of a small cauliflower
1/2 cup french beans
2 potatoes
1/2 cup green peas
2 medium onions
2 green chillies
1 inch ginger
A sprig of curry leaves
1 cup thick coconut milk ( I use dabur HOMMADE ready coocnut milk )
2 tblsp coconut oil
1 bay leaf
1 spoon cumin seeds (jeera)
2 cloves
1 star anise
one inch stick cinnamonsalt to taste.
Method:
Wash, peel and cut carrot, beans and potatoes into equal sized small cubes. Cut cauliflower into small florets and soak in salted warm water. Peel and slice the onion and wash and slit the green chillies. Peel the ginger and cut to fine pieces or to a smooth paste. Wash the curry leaves.
To make coconut milk (Soak about 4 cups of scraped coconut in 2 cups of warm water, grind and squeeze out thick milk. Repeat this process two more times but with only one cup water to get totally three extracts of varying density. ) Or easy to use the ready coconut milk.
Par boil the vegetables one by one, drain and keep aside.
Heat 2 tbsp of oil add the bay leaf, star anise, cloves and cinnamon and fry till there is a pleasant aroma. Add the cumin seeds ,onion, curry leaves and green chillies. Keep sauteing till the onion just starts becoming light brown, then add the par boiled vegetables with the salt to taste and saute for a couple of minutes.Pour half the coconut milk, add little water and boil . When well cooked add the remaining coconut milk and turn the heat off. Season with hot oil and curry leaves, and serve hot with Appam or Neer dose or Ragi dose.
Bye for now.Let me know if you have liked it. With Dasara coming in, Mysore is getting decorated in every nook and corner, we are also carried away by the enthusiasm. Have a great festival.

Pasta with White Sauce

2009-07-20T09:53:00.000-07:00

The subject of our talk during the evening walk today was near by places for a weekend trip from MYSORE.Today paper says Jog is wonderful to visit this season and it is on the list for next weekend said a friend of mine.
Jog falls is in Shimoga district of Karnataka. Not very far from mysore and so ideal for a weekend trip.
I was told by my family that this Joga Jalapata ( Jog falls, is fromed by River Sharavati, and falls from a height of some 830 feet, which is about 253 meters andso is the highest plunge water fall in India.

Wikipedia says:
There are many waterfalls in Asia - and also in India - which drop from a higher altitude. But, unlike those falls, Jog Falls is untiered, i.e., it drops directly and does not stream on to rocks. Thus, it can be described as the highest untiered waterfalls in India.River Sharavathi splits up into four different tracks which are named in accordance with their perceived trajectories[3]. Going from left to right respectively in the picture, the names and the reasons for naming are:
Raja (King): Named so because of its apparently 'dignified' and 'serene' fall.
Roarer: This stream appears out of a mass of rocks, making a tremendous amount of noise.
Rocket: Consists of a large volume of water streaming out of a small opening at a very high speed.
Rani (Queen), also called Lady: The stream has a winding, twisting trajectory, said to resemble the movements of a female dancer.
The world famous Jog falls has begun wearing a new look.
The splendorous falls provides an enchanting view as it falls from a height of nearly 890 feet. The falls, which is usually crystal clear, has turned red with the release of nearly 60,000 cusecs of muddy water from the Linganamakki Reservoir. The reservoir is said to be receiving nearly 1 lakh cusecs of water following incessant rains in its catchment area. The flood situation in parts of Honnavar in Uttara Kannada district in the downstream may worsen if the discharge from the reservoir exceeds 2 lakh cusecs of water. However, for the Jog Falls will make for a scintillating sight.

As it usually does our talk then drifted to what was on the menu for dinner at each ones place. As one said she would prepare pasta ,I was reminded of Pasta with white sauce and vegetables that I had not cooked in a long time. With all ingredients it can be cooked in a jiffy. It did taste good I should say.

PASTA WITH WHITE SAUCE

INGREDIENTS:

2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp. flour (maida)
2 cups of milk
Cheese ( two spoons grated
Pasta ( any type)
(chop all the vegetables very fine)
Carrot
Beans
Peas
Cauliflower
Onions
Capsicum
2 garlic cloves
Salt to taste
Black pepper powder
Pasta seasoning.
Method:
This tasty dish can be cooked in few simple steps.
1. Cook pasta and keep aside.
2.Steam all the vegetables other than onion, capsicum and garlic
3.In a small pan , stir fry garlic , onion and capsicum in a little butter
4.In another deep bottom pan, melt the butter, stir in the flour... when it is slightly done add the cheese ,stir fried vegetables, salt and pepper to taste.
5. Add the steamed vegetables.
6. Cook well adding milk all at one and cooking over medium heat until it thickens.
7.Mix with the cooked pasta and serve hot.
In a small melt butter. Stir in flour.

Ciao for now.

E FOR EMBARRASSMENT

2009-06-26T19:11:00.001-07:00

God knows that it took me one month to do a market research on smaller cars, preferably a hatch-back and friends and relatives stopped talking to me because I would only speak about cars and cars.After loads of test drive. I decided i would go in for the Maruti Brand , because of their customer service. Fell for the Black coloured Zen Estilo. Ever since in love with my Black Beauty.

All this was way back in October. Then began the series of calls which come in for the first three free services...

The first one went off without a hitch. For the second one, the I spy you began..They call and I am not in town, I call they don't have a vacant spot to take up the service. Finally we decided the 12th of June. They sent a driver for the pick up (Exclusive service for their lady customers, I was told!!). He checkup what all he could and then took it after announcing that he thinks the vehicle is fine but they will call up if there are any charges.

Friday evening my vehicle arrived back, no problems what so ever. I was delighted to see the dues written zero,signed the received letter and thanked him.

After half hour when I decided to take the girls on a drive notice that the car wasn't responding the the remote signal of the key.

I was perplexed.Nothing could go wrong.. It was fine when he brought it. No !!I hadn't checked that .. Did I? Well I opened the car manually and kept wondering.. My face seemed so puzzled a friend who was quite acquainted with cars and its mechanism.... said " don't worry.. usually they turn off the central remote control button when they are washing cars!!!!!!!!!" OH what a relief.. I was a bit glad.With a smile on my face that things , we parked at a library and i was again wondering aloud . Two men around who tried to help me out said madam you cannot do all this.. go to the service station .This seems to be a major problem not some button off on issue!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Service centre gene call maadi!! (call the service centre).

Uff , my smile was off now. Thank god the number of the person who did the servicing was on the tag... Called him Poor man, he seemed as perplexed and offered to send someone first thing next day. I kept wondering all night,, in the process got worked up.

Next day I expected him to what he promised. Be at my place at 10 sort out the issue.Obviously he has better job!!As usual I was expecting too much when I believed serviceman I thought. He was supposed to arrive at 10, and I had to attend a course at 11 so , I called him and said I will come to the service station. On the way, I got worked up all the more . But when I met Ms.S who was quite nice to me all through the purchase of the vehicle and been my point of contact ever since.I burst out loud..."What is this S??? Don't you think it is easier if you sorted out everything when you take the car for a service. I thought your customer service was too good!!! But then see I cant even close my car from a distance (so what don't i have hands to go near and lock it manually , my previous car did not have a remote sensing key... , well anyway will behave as though I grew up with this luxury) Don't you think it is bad that I have to rush here first thing in the morning?

She was calm and composed,and said with a smile "please leave the car here madam I will see to it it is done ".

NO S i have to go out and be at a place by 11 I need to get it done now..

I was being stubborn. I have every reason to be. I am the customer, they cannot afford to displease me!!!

she tried frantically to get hold of the person who did the servicing of my car, he was late that day.. with no other engineer around she was also wondering what to answer when a Breakdown service personnel ( his badge said so) walked in.

Seeing the both of us in that mood and mode he offered to help.

What happened next was the reason of the title, an anticlimax for the scene I created!!!

He took the key saw that it was fine... he checked all the doors.

The door of the Boot , the fifth door (dikki) was not closed. That was the only reason the central locking wouldn't recognise.. I went red and stayed red all day with Embarrassment , can't write any more lest the words turn red.

Have you ever been in such a situation? I hope not.

The only saving grace of the day was the course I went to. Here are some pictures of my work I learnt during the 10 days..

Roshi with Seeni Sambol

2009-05-24T08:57:00.000-07:00

I was not really cooking much these days with the wedding season around here. I really got to eat delicious stuff day in and day out.As a result the blog was not updated But now after almost a month of this festive food I was really ready to try something new and have a change to my palate...
Coming to my rescue is my Maldivian friend N.I glad I came to know her wonderful person that she is she says she isn't a great cook but her mom certainly is. I had a chance to eat their bread/roti Roshi ( roti's made of maida)with a spinach salad called kuhlha filafiath. Since I cannot pronounce it right I will prefer to stick to call it Spinach salad.
That was a delicious combo and I had to try it for dinner. Since I didn't have the ingredients for the spinach salad... she suggested a Srilankan seeni sambol dish as accompaniment. Both are so simple to make and delicious to eat.

Here is a picture of my plate.
Roshi with Seeni Sambol

This is a staple dish, most people eat Roshi for breakfast and dinner . This was a super hit on my dinner table. This Roshi looks more like our own Roomali roti but I guess easier to make.This goes with any kind of dal or curry, dry or gravy ones.This can be a easy substitute to the tortillas to make delicious wraps.
Ingredients
1 cup plain all purpose flour (Maida)

3 small spoons of sunflower oil

salt to taste

and boiling hot water ( about 1/3 cup).

METHOD:

Take the clean sifted flour into a large bowl, add a pinch of salt (to taste).Make a mixture of it by adding oil. The make a large hollow in the centre Add boiling hot water , little at a time mixing with a metal spoon. Once there are clumps stop adding water and let it cool a bit , not to hurt your fingers. Then knead the dough well as soon as it is cool enough .Work around till you get a nice pliable dough, which is not sticky yet is soft.Make this dough into equal sized balls.
Roll out each ball into a round , thin flat roti, dusting it a little with flour to avoid sticking.
Meanwhile heat a flat pan or tava and cook them like normal chapatis or roti's but without any oil.Flip on both sides till both are cooked evenly and serve hot with any side dish of your choice.

It is through practice I think we get the perfect thin and round roti's. Mine were decent enough to get her nod!!! even though one went in the shape of my country showing my patriotism.

SEENI SAMBOL:

A traditional caramelised onion relish from Srilanka,, which she said I could make without one of the ingredients (Maldive fish) in it to suit my veggie needs. This is a typical combination of sweet and hot condiments, a traditional accompaniment to this is a thin flat bread called Roti,but can be served with any kind of bread actually. The name coming from Seeni as in sugar and Sambol a combination of spices. I here give N's recipe.

Sliced Onions - 4

Ground dry Red Chilly - 1 tbsp

Coconut Milk - 5 spoons

Sugar - 2 Tbsp

Cinnamon powder ( can use the bark if powder is not at home, remove the bark after cooking)

cardamom beans (few from one pod is enough)

Salt oil to saute

sprig of curry leaves
(Maldive fish ( for the non vegetarian variety))
In a heavy skillet add two to three spoons of oil. Saute the curry leaves and sprig of curry leaves. then add the onion and salt to taste. Let the onions saute and then add sugar, red chilli powder cardamom beans and cinnamon powder. Let the onions caramelised without getting burnt. The trick is to keep it a bit moist all along.

Then this dish is ready to be served..

( Mine wasn't as caramelised because I did not add a lot of sugar.I preferred it spicier to sweeter, and I used dry red chillies instead of the powder).

I am sure this will be a tasty variant for you all to try out and give me a feed back which will encourage me to try out more of her recipes.

Thalipettu

2009-04-15T09:56:00.000-07:00

This is one of the best breakfast I can ever think of. Extremely nutritious and filling. My grandmother used to make it a lot.She mentioned a bhajnee (typically roasted mixture made specially for thalipeet, as it is known in Maharashtra).Guess the literal meaning would be patting on a plate!!! I could really use with some help with the meaning. When I started cooking I forgot about this and made a lot of the akki rotti...(just of rice flour).Recently remembered this Thalipettu ,It was an instant hit in my house. This easy to digest, nutritious stuff makes a great snack in the evenings as well.I have prepared with the flours I had at home. Adding some soya flour and Ragi flour should add to its nutritional value.This is great on its own. But JHUNKA would be excellent to go with it.

TASTY THALIPETTU /THALIPEET

Ingredients:
1 cup of wheat flour
1 cup of Jowar flour ( Sorghum)
1 cup of rice flour
4 tbsp of Besan (gram flour)
3 Green chillies chopped
1Grated cucumber grated
1 Carrot Grated
1 Turnip Grated
Finely chopped radish leaves or palak/spinach (optional)
Cumin seeds
2 tbsp of chopped coriander leaves
a pinch of hing/asafoetida
salt to taste and
2 spoons of oil
Onion or freshly grated coconut are optional.
Method:
Mix all the grated vegetables with cumin seeds, hing and salt with little bit of oil. On this add the above mentioned flours, mix well to a pliable dough .The grated vegetables will have enough water to make the dough, but if necessary add water to make the dough.Take an Orange sized ball and spread slowly on the tawa or pan. Pat them with fingers to spread them evenly. Make a hole in the centre and add a drop of oil to help the cooking faster and even.cover it with a lid and allow to roast on slow fire for about 10 minutes... then turn over and cook for 2 more minutes.
Serve with chutney pudi and dahi..

Ciao... I enjoyed hope you will too..

DOZZA AND NUMBER DOSA, kids menu

2009-04-12T04:26:00.000-07:00

Today it was again a Dosa breakfast day at my place. As usual I had to do something for the girls to keep their interest in the food .Their Lunch box favourite is always NUMBER DOSAS with different numbers to keep their tummy full. Though dosas are not ideal lunch box stuff as they get a bit sticky in the lunch box. I found in these two types of the smaller dosas I make.. they don't stick much and kids are happy too.

The basic ingredient in both the below recipe is dosa batter which is easy to make and store.
Ingredients:
3 cups of Rice
1 cup of urad dal ( uddina bele,split black gram)
1 spoon Methi ( mentye , fenugreek seeds)
4 spoons of Tuvar dal ( togari bele, yellow lentils)
1 spoon of riceflakes ( avalakki)
Method:
Soak the rice separately and the rest of the ingredients with the urad dal for about 6 to 8 hours..Grind them separately and mix them with salt to taste and leave it to ferment in a warm place about 10 to 12 hours.The batter is ready to be used after it is fermented well.

NUMBER DOSA:

This is normal dosa batter just forming different numbers and shapes. My girls always enjoyed these as toddlers while learning numbers and did addition on it as well... which added up to their ages...

I hope your kids will enjoy this too...

To make Number dosa:
Just take the batter and pour on the tawa in the desired shape . Make them smaller in size to fit the lunch box. These can be served with honey or onion chutney/coconut chutney.

DOSA OR PIZZA? They call this DOZZA:
This version of Dosa is a real favourite these days. They love this DOZZA ,which is a dosa looking like a pizza,, dont you think so too?Ingredients:
Dosabatter
Few pieces of chopped capsicum
1 grated carrot
few pieces of chopped tomato
few pieces of spring onions.
two spoons of oil.
METHOD:
Pour the batter on the tawa in small rounds (about 6 on one medium tawa).Arrange the vegetable pieces as per your liking. Sprinkle oil and close the dosa for a minute or two.
Then let it cook a bit before packing off in the lunch box with some tomato sauce.
I am sending these recipes to Srivalli s MM - kids lunch event. This is the first ever I am participating. Thanks to Meeta for the lovely monthly mingle. Helping poeple like me to participate.

Tomato Bhath

2009-04-07T08:30:00.001-07:00

There is a lot of confusion if this is a fruit or a vegetable. These Red Juicy Tomatoes have all the characteristics of Fruit but used as vegetable.
Solanum lycopersicum as it is known.. our lovely tomato is a real life saver.the close cousins of this cute little fruit are harmless potato , brinjal and has a few unusual cousins like tobacco and the poisonous Belladona....This tomato which is often taken for granted has a lot to offer.they are rich in Vitamin C and A along with folate,fibre, potassium and proteins. They are important source of antioxidants which play role in preventing diseases.
Flavonoids present in tomatoes have antioxidant , anti-viral and anti - inflammatory properties...Drinking tomato juice regularly can keep the bacterias and viruses away from the body... more vitamin c means protection against cold and flu.
They have cosmetic value as well.. they have a nourish effect on skin and act as natural sunscreen.
Tomatoes also have cardio vascular benefits... and wonderful anti-aging qualities... Lycopene and beta carotene present in the ma re anti aging components.Goodness of tomato can be understood by the above link. But then everything has to be in a limit isn't it?
Tomatoes consumed in excess can develop gall stones and Kidney stones (Oxalate Stones) I have read.But these are usually dissolved by drinking a lot of water. So eat healthy... of course be in limits and stay happy.
We can include tomato in various ways in our diet.Tomatoes are high in the antioxidant vitamins beta-carotene, vitamin C and vitamin E, as well as the carotenoid lycopene. This means that tomatoes are helpful in preventing heart disease and cancers. Tomatoes are also high in potassium but very low in sodium which means they help combat high blood pressure and fluid retention.
Unlike some other canned foods, canned tomatoes retain most of their nutrients. In fact, cooked or canned tomatoes contain more lycopene than raw tomatoes. If buying canned tomatoes choose varieties without added sodium.
Calories in Tomatoes:4 oz/100g = 17 calories

Salads,Rice, Sandwich ,Tomato soups ,chutneys ,and our usual Saaru (Rasam) .Today I made Tomato Bhath, a pretty tasty and filling rice dish. This takes hardly 15 minutes to prepare.

TOMATO BHATH

INGREDIENTS:

3 ripe tomatoes (chopped fine)

2 onions (chopped longitudinally)

1 green chilli (split long)

2 cups of rice

2 spoons of MTR Vangi bhath powder

2 spoons of cumin seeds/jeera

1 pinch of turmeric powder1pinch of asafoetida

salt to taste

two spoons of oil curry leaves and coriander leaves for decoration .

Method of Preparation:

In a pressure cooker pour two spoons of oil.Add jeera and turmeric powder. When the jeera starts turning brown add chopped onions and green chillies (add more if you like spicy taste) and saute them.When they get tender add asafoetida, salt and vangi bhath powder. You can add some tamarind juice if you feel the tomatoes aren't sour enough. Then add rice and saute for a few minutes. Add two cups of water (ratio of rice is 1 rice : 2 Water). Close the cooker and let the cooker blow the whistle twice . Turn the heat off and let the cooker cool down before you open.

Serve hot with Onion rings or Raita or Papad.

Bye for now.

Onion Chutney

2009-03-24T06:01:00.000-07:00

I have not been able to update since a long time.Well better late than never... I thought of doing a series on the vegetables, which we use in our everyday lives.We know their common names but not their binomial or medicinal properties (other than nutritional value )of the vegetable as well. With election fever going on in India. thought I might as well get some poll opinion if I should continue this series. Please do vote in the poll created.
First of the series...Allium cepa

Allium Cepa... when I say this I guess half the people will keep wondering what this alien vegetable might be... Well this is the Binomial name of our very own .. ONION.. which makes me CRY when I have it ( the or i don't have!!!!!!!!!!!!!!( I cant cook many dishes without onions)Onions, one of the oldest vegetables known to humankind, are found in a large number of recipes and preparations spanning almost the totality of the world's cultures. They are nowadays available in fresh, frozen, canned, pickled, powdered, chopped, and dehydrated forms. Onions can be used, usually chopped or sliced, in almost every type of food including cooked foods and fresh salads and as a spicy garnish. They are rarely eaten on their own but usually act as accompaniment to the main course. Depending on the variety, an onion can be sharp, spicy, tangy and pungent or mild and sweet says wikipedia.
Medicinal uses of the onion can be found here
Other uses:
Onion can be a sting soother... just cut it in half and rub on sting. Helps a lot.
Mosquitoes do not like the taste of onion... if you have enough place in the window sill place a few onion plants and see that mosquitoes will not be around your house...
Onion cleans the tawa very well right after the masala dosa... the oil gets cleared and smears to the onion.. chop the onion to half and stick it to the end of a fork and use happily.
Onion Chutney:
Today visited my aunt L's place.Amazing cook that she is... today she served me with fantastic fresh onion chutney, had not had anything like that in a long time,recipe will follow before that it was amazing to see the amount of fresh onions....she got them from a friend who said this particular variety tasted better raw than cooked.I was transported back to Galati (Romania).Again I was where I saw onions arranged like plaits and hung to a nail or hook.Every kitchen has a bunch of well stacked onion and garlic bunches. Lovely sight they made.Today when i saw so many we sat together to make a bunch of our own and wow it looked great....here is the picture . This way the onions have a longer life. They need to be away from water and kept in a place with air circulation.

Onion chutney:
this is very simple chutney and can be a excellent accompaniment for bhakri/ jowar rotis. It tastes as good with chaptis ,rotis / rice.
Ingredients:
4/5 small onions
2/3spoons of fried gram dal (phutana)
salt and red chilli powder to taste
very little tamarind
and 3 spoons of freshly scraped coconut (optional).
Method:
Chop the onions .Grind all the above ingredients together to a coarse paste. yummy chutney is ready in a jiffy.
If you feel the onions are very pungent saute them a little in the oil before grinding. Coconut is optional. It is to our taste.

This has to be consumed fast or refrigerated.stays for two to three days. If you want it to last longer the just heat two spoons of oil in the Kadai. Add one spoon of mustard and a pinch of hing. Saute the above chutney for some time till the raw smell vanishes. Now , the chutney is ready to be bottled for a week or two.
The other raw onion chutney I make is great for fried items like samosas,pav bhaji and pakodas. A great accompaniment along with mint chutney.

Ingredients:
3 onions, chopped
1 tbsp lime juice(freshly squeezed)
2 tsp red chilli powder
Salt to taste
Method
Mix the red chilli powder and salt with the lime juice.Add this to the chopped onions and mix well.This chutney does not keep well for long. It's best when eaten fresh.

TRIVIA:we cry when we slice an onion isn't it.. . due to some chemical action of the enzymes which escape when the onion is chopped... , amino acid sulfoxides form sulfenic acids which quickly turns into volatile gas.

The gas reaches your eyes and reacts with the water that keeps them moist. This changes the chemical's form again, producing, among other things, a mild sulfuric acid, which irritates the eyes. The brain reacts quickly to dilute and the lachrymal glands are activated producing tears..
Oddly enough, this volatile compound is also responsible for a lot of the great taste in onions, as well as the pleasant aroma when you cook the vegetable.

Ciao,, will wait for the poll results to continue the series.Yugadi festival is round the corner.. Can have some good recipes with Mango then.

Ciorba de Legume.. Veg clear soup for this Martisor.

2009-03-01T00:58:00.000-08:00

MARTISOR REVISITED
March 1st is here again .Spring officially begins in most of Europe. For me it is the time to remember all my good friends back in Romania and to try out one more easy and tasty Romanian dish for this day. To know more about martisor visit this link ..MARTISOR AND MAMMALIGA...
This time over it is simple ciorba.. pronounced shorba. It is very filling simple soup. Made usually with meat But I learnt it from my dearest Jenica that it can be as tasty with only vegetables. It is the favourite soup of mine till date. Simple to make , very filling and tasty soup.
here it is for you all .

CIORBA DE LEGUME (Veg soup)
Ingredients:
For 10 portions of soup
2 lts of water
3 to 4 carrots
3 to 4 potatoes
1 turnip
a bunch of parsley
one big capsicum
a cup of peas
a cup of boiled beans
1/4 kg of cabbage
4 to 5 tomatoes
Any other vegetable to your taste (celery, spring onions , turnips etc)
2 spoons of fresh cream (optional)
4 to 5 grams of lemon salt.
oil two spoons
salt to taste
corn flour - 1 spoon
aji no moto for taste.

TASTY CIORBA

Method of preparation:
Chop all the vegetables in cubes,cut the greens very fine. Boil french beans with some salt and drain the water and wash through a jet of cold water through a colander and keep aside.wash the tomatoes and cut into smaller cubes. Take a thick bottom vessel and get the 2 lts water to boil. Add the oil and let it boil for 15 minutes. Now add all the vegetables to the boiling water and greens (except beans and tomato) Continue boiling till the vegetables are almost cooked then add tomatoes and green beans. Now beat the fresh cream with the corn flour and add it for added taste continue boiling for another 5-10 minutes.
Turn the heat off and add salt and lemon salt to suit your taste.
Enjoy with freshly baked Buns.

IYENGAR'S BAKERY OPEN SANDWICH

2009-02-26T19:33:00.000-08:00

Bakery style Open Sandwich...

Mysore Iyengar's bakery are famous for its tasty veg puffs, open sandwiches, dil pasand... the list goes on and on. I just tried making the open sandwich for the girls.I am sure many of us have tasted it in our times.

The recipe seemed simple. I just had to bake the bread for about 15 minutes after placing the masala curry on it (that is what the bakery owner told me!!).
Delighted I walked home to give a treat to my girls.After all the preparation to my horror found the oven cannot work... NO POWER FOR 9 HOURS THIS DAY!!! said the paper.Why did not have the sense to read MORNING PAPER in the morning...
Well now that I had stuff ready.. I used the Tava (flat girdle to get the desired effect.) It did turn out nice... But the next time I will surely make good use of paper like Radio for weather forecast.
Ingredients:
One loaf of sandwich bread

One cup Carrot - Grated

One cup potato - Grated

1 or 2 green chillies (to taste) - chopped finely

1 inch ginger - grated

One cup -chopped finely

small piece of Cabbage - Grated or chopped finely

Capsicum - chopped finely

Turmeric a pinch for the colour

Noodles masala or garam masala

oil for seasoning

butter to spread

jeera/cumin seeds (half a spoon)

salt to taste
Method
In a kadai or deep bottom pan add one spoon of oil.When the oil is hot add cumin seeds, turmeric for colour and curry leaves.Then add green chillies,ginger, onion,capsicum and saute them till the onion turns red. When onion is done add the rest of the grated vegetables (carrot,potato and cabbage).Add a little water to cook them well. According to your taste add the masala.. either noodles masala or garam masala and Salt. Cook till the potatoes are cooked and soft. Keep the spread aside.
Take the bread slices, smear the butter and the masala spread evenly. Place in the OTG for about 15 minutes at high. Serve Hot.
Since I had no power. I placed them with a little oil on a Flat girdle.. covered it up with a deep bottom pan... giving the desired effect. It turned out as delicious.
Try this and let me know...
Ciao.

Valentine special, VEG CUTLET

2009-02-13T19:38:00.000-08:00

Valentine day fever is around everywhere... Never heard of it as a child or growing up years... but now a days it is more popular than Shivaratri festival which is just around the corner. Well personally I would not celebrate it but then I don't think I would give anyone the right to tell us what to celebrate and what not. I live by my choice not in the fear of others. My way of protest to the outfits which are not allowing may not be going around with hand in hand with my valentine but then showing them the only way I do... cooking.

The other day I made vegetable cutlets, the restaurant way... dark brown in colour. always crispy. My aunt L gave me the recipe and here it is for you valentine special veg cutlets to try... the secret ingredient for the colour was a beetroot giving it the brownish rather reddish colour...
Veg Cutlets

Valentine spl veg cutlet

Ingredients

6 medium potatoes
1 cup grated beetroot
1 cup peas
1/2 cup finely chopped beans
1/2 cup finely chopped carrots
1/2 cup finely chopped capsicum
garam masala to taste
amchur powder to taste
salt to taste
Ginger-Garlic paste 1 spoon.
oil to shallow fry
breadcrumbs - two cups

Method of preparation:
Boil the potatoes and grated beetroot.Keep them aside.Boil the peas,beans and carrots separately with a pinch of salt.
In a kadai add two spoons of oil. When hot add ginger- garlic paste. let the paste turn brown and add capsicum,saute for a few minutes and add the garam masala powder.

Meanwhile mash the potatoes and mix with the beetroot well.
Add the boiled peas, carrots and beans. let it cook in the masala for a while. Now add the potato - beetroot mix. Add salt and amchoor powder to taste. Mix well with the other vegetables and let it cook for a while.Make sure the mixture is thick enough to make patties of desired shape. If you feel the mixture is a tad too soft. You can add some breadcrumbs and mix well while making the patties.
Make round patties and dab them generously with the breadcrumbs and shallow fry on a flat girdle/tava. Add butter/ghee/oil minimum quantity to cook it to brown colour. Alternatively they can be baked in a oven.
Enjoy with Green chutney....

Green chutney...
We did not have coriander when in Romania. It made rare appearance in the market and so we were reluctant to use it lavishly. We had to think of new ways to make do with other stuff.Even though i get lot of coriander now I am stuck with the older recipe with less coriander.. it definitely tastes good if not the same as the mint-coriander chutney usually served with snacks in the hotel..Mrs.N. cook par excellence... was a person who would not share her recipes.. but this one I was lucky she did. Thanks to her, my chutney is finger licking good.

Ingredients
one small bunch of mint.
half a bunch of coriander
one bunch of spring onions
4 to 5 green chillies
One tomato
One whole lemon.. peeled
.one inch ginger
2 cloves of garlic
chat masala - 1 spoon
cumin powder - 1 spoon
(1 capsicum and 1 kiwi fruit options if you have no coriander/mint at all it helps to give the green colour)
salt to taste

Method

Grind all of them together to a smooth paste and enjoy with anything.

Ciao,,, keep me posted how the dishes turn out. I know many of them are usual and simple but if you have a varition I could try them out and enjoy the difference!!!!

AVAREKALU BHATH

2009-02-07T08:12:00.000-08:00

January/February is a season of pods in India... specially this year I am in Mysore and it is lovely time for the beans like AvarekaLu, Soppina kadalekai,Tograri kaLu.
It is almost next to impossible to avoid avarekaLu.. it is almost used in every dish... akkirotti,usli, bhath, uppittu (upma), avrekaLu saaru and of course the delicious avarekaLu sambar. This beans known as navy/flat/hyacinth beans in English has a unique fragrance and taste. here is one tasty recipe.
AVAREKALU BHATH
This is a variation of the famous Vangibhath. Bhath being rice gets the name of the vegetable used in it gets the name... methi bhath, capsicum bhath, vegetable bhath and what not....As mentioned earlier.. this season AvarekaLu is used in everything and so bhath isn't any different.

Ingredients:
One cup - Surti lilva papdi /avrekaLu (cooked)(known as Hyacinth beans or navy beans )

One large capsicum diced

two cups of rice

One lemon sized tamarind

MTR Vangibhath powder

1tbsp turmeric powder

one-two pinches of asafoetida-hing

three or four spoons of freshly grated coconut
2 tbsp oil

1 tbsp Mustard

1 tbsp cumin ( jeera)

1 tbsp Urad dal (black gram )

1 tbsp Chana dal (Bengal gram)

Few of Curry leaves

1-2 Dry red chillies

Salt to taste

Method:

Cook rice and let it cool.

Take 2 tbsps of oil in a pan,when hot add mustard seeds .

when they splutter add cumin, turmeric powder, chana dal, urad dal, curry leaves and asafoetida. red chillies Saute them till urad dal turns golden brown and then add the diced capsicum. Add some salt to taste and two to three spoons of vangi bhath powder.When the capsicum is done add tamarind water , grated coconut and the cooked AvarekaLu or beans (can be substituted peas).
Add cooked rice and mix them well till there is a lovely aroma.Taste for salt... Serve with fryums (sandige or happaLa )or raita.
Serve hot with raita or fryums.

MTR Vangibhath powder is one of the best powders which can be used for the bhath varieties.. however you can make the powder yourself with the following recipe I found good enough.

Vangi bath powder ingredients:
2 tbsp chana dal(Bengal Gram)

2 tbsp urad dal (Black Gram )

¼ tsp fenugreek (methi seeds)

1 tbsp dry coconut (copra)

6 red chillies or to taste

½ tbsp coriander seeds

½ tbsp cumin seeds

2 cloves

1 cardamom

1” Cinnamon stick

1/2 tbsp of oil

Vangi bath powder preparation:
Roast all the ingredients until they turn into light golden brown colour. Remove from flame and allow it to cool for sometime. Then grind it to a coarse powder. Allow it to cool, then store in an air tight container. Use as required. This will keep fresh for months in an air tight container.

CORN CAPSICUM PULAV and RAITA

2009-01-21T01:47:00.000-08:00

I found this one of the easiest and tastiest to make. My girls love it.. In continuation with my earlier post I am writing down recipes of three more dishes .

CORN CAPSICUM PULAV
Ingredients
1 cup frozen or canned corn kernels
2 tbsp of Biryani or pulav masala( I used Badshah... shahi biryani powder)
1 capsicum sliced
1 sliced onion
2 cups Basmati rice, (washed and drained)
1 tbsp oil/ghee
2 tsp Jeera(cumin)
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves for seasoning.

Method
Defrost/wash corn kernels . In a deep bottom pan or cooker eat the oil.Add the Cumin seeds. Saute the cut onions and then add sliced capsicum when they are slightly cooked add the corn kernels. Stir well together. Add rice and stir- fry for a few minutes.Add salt to taste and Biriyani masala according to your liking. Add 2 cups water. Cover and cook on a medium heat or if you are cooking in a pressure cooker switch off after one whistle.
Serve hot after garnishing with coriander leaves.

JEERA ALOO
A lovely accompaniment made of potatoes , it is delicious with rice, roti or puri. It is very simple yet very tasty.. here is the recipe.

Ingredients
5 large size aloo/potatoes (Boil them in pressure cooker with salt and turmeric powder,cut them in one inch cubes)
4Tbsp oil
3 tsp jeera/ cumin seeds
1 tsp red chili powder
1Tbsp Coriander seeds
2 Tbsp jeera powder/roasted cumin powder
1/2 tsp dry mango powder (Amchur powder)
2 Tbsp fresh coriander leaves chopped
salt to taste
METHOD
Heat oil, add jeera in oil. Let it crackle. Then add salt / red chili powder /crushed jeera and coriander seeds / dry mango powder every thing in the oil. Stir for a second.
Then lastly add the cut potatoes and mix well. Add fresh coriander leaves.
Mix well. The dry masala will coat the potatoes well.

Cucumber Raita
This is an Indian side dish, Cucumber raita is a delicious accompaniment to any roast or grilled food.. particularly with Pulavs and spicy rice preparations. It's the ideal vegetable to serve on hot summer days, as it is cool and refreshing.
ingredients
1 large cucumber, peeled, grated.
salt to taste
Jeera powder(roasted cumin powder)
2 cups of natural yogurt
2 tbsp freshly chopped mint and coriander leaves
Freshly ground black pepper.
method.
Put the grated cucumber in a bowl .In another bowl stir the yogurt with a little water to make a homogeneous mixture. Mix the cucumber and yogurt together with half the mint/coriander and plenty of pepper and cumin powder Chill in the refrigerator until serving time. Add salt just before serving to avoid the raita getting all watery. I do give it a seasoning of mustard and red chilies when I serve it with South Indian rice preparations. but for the above pulav I preferred it without mustard.

Ciao for now..

Matar Masala.../ Peas in spicy gravy

2009-01-07T20:40:00.000-08:00

Many wishes for a prosperous and happy New year.Of all ... I was busy for the past one month with kids at home. Just a simple update with the Matar masala I made with puris for the New years day lunch... will update the other dishes slowly..
With friends over for lunch , we had been partying on the 31st night and had no vegetables other than cucumber, couple of onions, tomatoes and potatoes.But then within minutes I had a menu with only these few things....... I didn't dare to cook south Indian food... the lady of the family we had invited was a proficient in south Indian dishes... so had to cook something in north Indian style so that even if it went wrong they wouldn't notice much....(thank god everything went well).
Puri with Jeera aloo and Matar Masala
Corn and Capsicum Pulav with papad
Cucumber Raita
Rice and Rasam
Curd Rice
Kesar and Badam Lassi which was delicious even in a super shortcut method.
so for first of the series....Here is the recipe for
MATAR MASALA
Ingredients
Dry peas... 1/4 kilo
3 tomatoes
2 onions
2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
oil - 2 tbsp
cumin seeds
turmeric powder
salt
jeera powder
dhania powder
garam masala powder.

Tasty Peas; MATAR MASALA

Method:
Soak the peas overnight. Boil them with a pinch of salt and turmeric powder and keep aside. Make a paste of the onions and tomatoes.In a deep frying pan, heat two spoons of oil.Add cumin seeds turmeric, then add two spoons of ginger garlic paste and saute it for a minute or two... then add the tomato onion paste. let it cook till the tomato and onions cook well, change in colour to golden brown with aroma... add salt (to taste), the masala powders .Add some water.. you can add cream to make it tastier. then add the peas and let it cook in the masala for about 10 minutes... close the pan while cooking..
Serve with a dash of lemon and garnish with coriander.

Hope you will try this and let me know how you like it.... or if you have made any changes to make it tastier would love to hear from you.....

Christmas frenzy

2008-12-23T23:08:00.000-08:00

Christmas time again and fun time for the girls. I wasn't surprised to a list of presents in their Santa's letters, but then what surprised me was the way the letter was written..Every year I want to speak them out of this Santa Claus thing but ,, somehow feel, let them enjoy the few more years left ,and then anyway they will find out.
just posting pictures of their letters and the way they decorated the house. We do plan to bake a egg less chocolate cake. will post the recipe with the pictures tomorrow. Today the letter has to reach Santa.. or else they might not get their presents in spite of being nice all year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Her letter was simple and to the point... here is what it says!!!!

Dear Santa,

I am so glad that Christmas is here once more. It will be very fun since dad is here too.Santa, did you know that plum cake has no plum in it at all? I saw the ingredients in the supermarket...Funny, isn't it? How is Mrs. Claus and how are the elves? Here is my list

1.happy family

2, Roller skates

3.A set of nice party clothes,

4.A 3.D board game , scooby doo one!!!

That's all ,I want for this Christmas.I am really sorry the letter came late , were were busy .I also have a C.D of harry potter now so i did not ask for it . Thanks in advance..Bye

!!!

Cheers!!!!

P.S. My thumb is better now.

It isn't any piece of art but seeing their interest in making the card, collage etc.... I decided to make it the topic of my blog..

The little one's letter much sweeter .....

She says...

Dear Santa Claus

How are you?Is it really cold up there in north pole?I feel really bad for the polar bears u there , they are losing they're homes because of Global warming!!! Please say hi from me to the elves, they must be working very hard every year.What do u reward them with? How is Mrs. Claus... sending my regards to her too!!! I heard she makes delicious cookies. is that true?

I have tried to be a good girl this year. I have got very good compliments in my report card and outstanding marks in all my tests.. Here are the things I want for this Christmas.

M.A.D art kit

Instrument (anything other than guitar) with its lessons please

A happy family - A Sasha Bratz doll

Roller skates

P.S. Sorry for writing the letter so late..and also I am trying to stop global warming!!!

Love you..... very much.Hopeing you will be here on the 24th midnight...

Aren't the letters cute???? I wish I could belive in Santa as ardently as they do!!!

Hope Santa will visit all who asked for him to visit.....

Saaru, Palya.. a simple filling meal.

2008-12-09T09:34:00.001-08:00

A simple meal after a long journey is something i would die for. after a Long flight... and having the privilege of hearing,..sorry we don't have a veg meal left.. i was dying to have a most simple filling meal , Hot rice, ,saaru ( lentil soup )and one sabzi... Palya as it is known very simple , just slightly steamed of cooked vegetables with some salt and garnished freshly grated coconut.
Nothing can match the hot rice, ghee, tomato Saaru and Palya combination for me.
Simple to make and nutritious as well.It is a well balance meal, with carbohydrates, fibre, proteins and fats all in it. Here is the recipe for the most simple palya (sabzi) and Saaru..
Tomato Saaru:

Tomato Saaru:
Ingredients:
Tuvar Dal - 1 cup,
tomatoes 2 - 3 (medium),
Saarina pudi / Rasam powder - 2 tablespoons,
salt to taste,
tamarind juice - one small bowl
and turmeric - ¼ tea spoon
For seasoning:
Ghee - 2 teaspoons,
mustard seeds ½ teaspoon,
hing/asafoetida- ¼ teaspoon,
curry leaves few springs
and chopped coriander leaves for garnishing
Method:
Pressure cook Tuvar dal .cook tomatoes in water.squeeze the tomato pulp and separate out the skin.To this tomato puree, add turmeric, salt, rasam power tamarind paste and cook till aroma is all over the house!!!.Add the cooked tuvar dal and boil for another five minutes with some more water.
In a small kadai heat the ghee .(pure ghee is always a tasty option. Oil can be used but then the aroma is definitely better with ghee., so is the taste). Add the mustard seeds, curry leaves, hing and season the cooked saaru. Add chopped coriander leaves and serve hot. It can be served as appetizer as well. Tastes as good to sip as it is to eat with hot rice.

chapparada avrekayi palya (Broadbeans Palya/sabzi)

Ingredients
Broad beans/Chapparada Avrekayi: 1/4 kilogram

Green chillies - 1 or 2

Freshly grated coconut:1/4 cup

oil - two tea spoons

Mustard seeds - a spoon

Jeera/Cumin seeds - a spoon

turmeric power - a pinch

salt to taste

method:
Wash and chop the broad beans.. In a deep bottomed vessels or kadai.. heat the oil. Add mustard seeds when it splutters add jeera , turmeric, and slit the green chilly.Add the cut broad beans and saute a little. Add half a cup of water and salt. Let it cook till the beans cook thoroughly.. and water is drained completely. Garnish with freshly grated coconut.simple isn't it?

Enjoy this these two simple dishes with plain hot rice...a wholesome meal.

Ciao....

Smiley in the Sky

2008-12-02T00:41:00.000-08:00

SMILEY IN THE SKY

as on December first 2008,18:23 PM

It was a fascinating view. Last evening when I was having my usual walk.. my friend said.. "hey ladies look at the moon today.. it looks like a smiley." Wow what a view it was!!!!!!!!!!!! I just cannot stop smiling remembering even after three hours....two small stars and the moon like a smile... a proper smiley.I just managed to take some pictures... None of which do the justice to such a beautiful sky...It was a visual feast.
After a few pictures one of the Friends said they were no mere stars they were Jupiter and Venus.. and this was one of the rare events of the decade.Jupiter, Venus, and a sliver of a crescent moon formed a spectacular, tight triangle in the evening sky, near the horizon. They were so tightly packed that I was able to cover them with my thumb at arms length..
Venus is the most impressive.On the right in the pictures, it was brighter. Although it’s 93 million miles from Earth about now, it shines with a brilliance.
View the moon with a slightly averted glance and you’re likely to pick up the dull but noticeable glow of Earth light reflecting off the darkened lunar surface.
the small dot on the left is Jupiter. Jupiter’s brightness isn't great, as we have to remember it some slack. Despite it’s enormous size, it’s currently about 472 million miles away.It is likely to be there for another 44 hours I was told.

After coming home and googling
this was what I found... on the net about yesterday's event
[b]“Look towards the southwest and you will see something very pretty - Venus and Jupiter beaming together through the twilight. The two closely-spaced planets are about to be joined by the slender crescent Moon for a spectacular three-way conjunction,” Nehru Planetarium director N. Rathnashree told IANS.
The three brightest objects in the night sky will be gathered so tightly together that you can hide them all behind your thumb held at arm’s length.
The Nehru Planetarium will put out telescopes at Old Fort in the capital.
“Although clear to the naked eye, a small telescope will make the evening even more enjoyable. We will be putting up some telescopes at Old Fort in the evening for people to have a clearer look of the celestial triangle,” Rathnashree said.
“It is a rare activity. The winter sky is very clear and you can have a spectacular look of the celestial activity,” said Ajay Talwar, a member of the Amateur Astronomer Association.
The celestial triangle will be visible from all parts of the world, even from lightly polluted cities.[/b]

I was fortunate enough to witness. A moment of the lifetime , may be it isn't as rare a phenomenon as I think, but I have not seen anything like this... so I feel..blessed really!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have managed to load some pictures for memory and for those who have not been able to witness.

Have a great week ahead..

CAULIFLOWER ROAST

2008-11-23T02:46:00.002-08:00

I haven't been able to update my blog off late... reason being I am travelling a lot and cooking has taken a backseat...
Long time ago when we visited a small shanty hotel in DOWN METTUR as it was known... I did not expect to eat one Dosa which would make an impression all my life. This place was not too clean but was really crowded. The owner made us comfortable by giving us the best table and best waiter???
What do you have we asked... his answer was--- Plain Roast, Onion Roast,Cauliflower Roast, Neyyi Roast (ghee is Neyyi)... Utappam,Idli , Vada.... set dosai... Boori , Barrotta.....

Taken to the word Roast i was quite inquisitive what it would be ,. my husband played it safe by ordering set dosai,, which of course arrived in minutes. My order was delayed and when asked why got the answer lots of people were ahead of me for this Cauliflower Roast. I was impressed that I had chosen a nice dish prefered by so many people...

It was brought finally... I was too shocked , much to the amusement of all others on my table.. it was a dosa stuffed with Cauliflower curry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nevertheless it was one of the tastiest dosas. After that a long time I was devoted to the Cauliflower roast till we left that place, but slowly it faded from memory.

Recently I thought of pictures and one was in this Ananda Bhavan, triggering off the Roast button in my brain.. I tried it at home.. and Lo was quite delicious... not exactly like that place , but still....
Here is the recipe for you which is very easy and is a litle different from the usual dosa we eat..

CAULIFLOWER ROASTDosa Batter
3 cups of Rice
1 cup of urad dal ( uddina bele,split black gram)
1 spoon Methi ( mentye , fenugreek seeds)
4 spoons of Tuvar dal ( togari bele, yellow lentils)
1 spoon of riceflakes ( avalakki)
Soak the rice separately and the rest of the ingredients with the urad dal for about 6 to 8 hours..Grind them separately and mix them with salt to taste and leave it to ferment in a warm place about 10 to 12 hours..Next day the batter is ready to make crispy dosas... the variations can be done by using more of riceflakes and eliminating tuvar dal to give a soft texture...:
For the Topping
1 cup Cauliflower ( chopped into fine florets )
1/2 cup Onions (finely chopped)
1 tomato (chopped)
Peas(optional)

Colourful Cauliflower Roast
In a small pan , use a spoon of oil, saute the onion, cauliflower and peas. Add a pinch of salt , garam masala and turmeric powder. Add tomatoes once the cauliflower is done. Keep aside.
On a Non stick pan spread a ladle full of Dosa Batter ( slightly thicker than plain dosa) . Immediately spread the spoon full of the prepared masala . Sprinkle a spoon of ghee around the spread batter and cover.

Let the dosa cook for a few minutes. If you feel it needs to be done.. carefully turn it to the other side.
Serve hot with Chutney or Butter!!!!
Hope to update regularly from now on with loads of Traditional dishes....

2008-10-02T03:12:00.000-07:00

My Friend Himani makes yummiest Biriyani I have ever had... Inspite of taking the recipe from her and trying many a time, mine never turns out as tasty as hers or I feel so. This Saturday with minimum of the available stuff in this here and some modification to the recipe. I made again and Lo.. it turned out really yummylicious...

Here is the Recipe with my changes in it.
VEGETABLE LAYERED BIRIYANI:

Ingredients
half a cup each of potatoes, green beans, carrots and green peas
1 cup cauliflower florets
Finely chopped Capsicum and
Fried onions and fried cashew nuts. (Cut very fine thin slice of onions longitunidally and deepfry till they are crisp)
Grind together
2-3 cloves of Garlic, one inch ginger, One cup chopped onions and two green chillies,few mintleaves and little coriander.
Ground powder
of
3 cloves
1 inch stick of cinnamon
2 teaspoon fennel seeds
2 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 teaspoon coriander seeds
1 teaspoon of freshly peeled cardamom
1 teaspoon of turmeric powder
2 teaspoons of red chilli powder (or 3-4 whole red chillies)
Basmati rice 2 cups
½ cup yogurt
a small stick of cinnamon
3-4 bay leaves
a pinch of saffron
two spoons of tomato puree
Salt to taste
Sunflower Oil/Vegetable oil

Method
Wash the rice and drain the water.Cook the rice in two batches one plain and another in saffron colour ( which will turn out slightly yellowish)
Keep them covered and hot.
In a Kadai ... add two spoons of oil/ghee,a little turmeric powder, add bayleaves, cinnamon and the ground paste. When the paste turns reddish/brown add the dry ground powder (the masala).add the vegetables (they can be parboiled before hand)
Now add the tomato puree,saffron, yogurt, and salt.Cook till it gives out an aroma.
Now both the masala and rice are ready to be layered. I prefer them layered.. If not you can put the basmati rice into this mixture and cook till the rice is done say for about 15 minutes.

Layering.

In a Deep bottem vessel ( I used the glass one as I heated the Biryani just before dinner in a Oven)Apply some Oil, and spread a layer of coloured rice,then the layer of Masala with vegerables and another layer of rice on top of it.The layering can go on .
Leave it in the preheated oven till the dinner is ready to be served.

Garnish with fresh mintleaves, coraiander leaves , fried onions and Cashewnuts.
While serving.. cut the rice longitunaly and place so that the layers are visible on the plate,

Can be served with Fresh salad or Onion and tomato Raita... or papad and pickle.

I am at loss for good pictures. Please do bear with me...
Enjoy the Biriyani and let me know how yours turned out. Would love to hear from you if you there is any other ingredient which can be added.

TIP: I used the Bombay Biriyani powder instead of the ground powder mentioned above this time , it turned out as good.

The MTR biriyani paste available in India is excellent too.. to my taste it has a too strong garlic smell and that can be overcome by frying it in ghee a bit more.

Gowri Ganesha..... and memories of 'GANPATI KOODSIDDIRA?"

2008-09-04T01:24:00.000-07:00

Hello Everybody,,,, It has been a long absence , and I have started missing my blogging a bit too much. I am not able to do it partly because my camera is in trouble and mostly because I am not cooking much at all. Will start my experiments with food soon, I hope.

Hope all of you had a very lovely Ganesh Chaturthi...I have been travelling down the memory since the preparations begun for this festival in my house here in Mysore... (this time fortunately I was in town for the festive season). This particular festival brings the sleepy town of Mysore to life just before the major Attraction the Dasara Mahotsava.I was a bit disappointed to see much was not happening .. Everybody were mostly to their own . But come evening on Wednesday... I was really happy to see many people visitng and we were invited too. Atleast felt it was really the FESTIVE SEASON.

For us Gowri and Ganesh festivals was all about socialising , visiting other peoples houses...
The preparations would begin 15 to 20 days before,..The Ganesh Chaturthi is donned in Mysore by the 'MYSORE SILK GOWRI GANESHA SALE". As far as I remember my mother and aunts would wait for this notice and this marked the beginning of Festive season for me!!!!!!

Then begins the collecting money procedure.Each locality having its own Ganesh murthy... collections would be used to buy the idol, prepare the prasad... BLaring soundsystem which would make lives of many senior citizens miserable... yet was fun!!!! the whole morning it would be devotional songs and come evening.. the place would be full of movie songs the next day.This celebration is lost unfortunately, not to be seen except for in one or two places. ...seems like people int he locality barely know each other.The best thing I noticed was that many people had gone in for the eco friendly GAnesh Moorty made of only Clay.

Going back to my times, the pooja in the house would be finished with sumptuous lunch the list is really tempting..Just close your eyes for a moment and imagine a bustling house.. tempting lunch served on the banana leaves including the wonderful dishes like Karigadubu,Kai Holige , Obbattu and Modaka Not to mention the palya, payasa and chitraanna. After such a lunch... the kids of the street would gather at four in the evening .... on Ganesh chaturthi.. in our best (ofcourse new and usually the Zari langa and blouse) attire..with a huge bowl of Akshate (It is rice coloured red or yellow).
This custom of visiting houses asking "Ganpati koodsiddira??? (Have you had Ganpati in your house ? is the vague translation) and would get Charpu (yummy goodies of different sorts) is really amazing. The children would go to each and every house in almost the whole locality and end up with a bagful of goodies.. mainly of chaklis, sweet dishes and fruits... The idea behind this is to see 101 idols of lord Ganesha and as well as making aquintances. My grandmother always used to say that people would be busy in a normal and this was one way of visiting thier houses and get to know them..I miss those days!!I miss the stressfree and happy childhood. The festive atmosphere and comradiere was not there anymore I felt... very few kids, count of fingers came home... but the spirit remains. I was very happy when my daughters said they would love to do it.I hope the next year they have the same enthusiasm.

Here is the recipe for Karigadubu, I hope to put in the picture as soon as my camera is done with its treatment.. Till then probably it will be only recipes...

KARIGADUBU

INGREDIENTS:
For the outer covering.

1 cup Fine Rava ( fine semolina)

1/4 cup All purpose flour (Maida)

2 spoons of Ghee (clarified butter)

Water enough to mix

Oil for Deep Frying

For the filling

Half a cup of Sugar Powdered

Half a cup Dessicated Coconut or shredded Copra

1 tsp Powdered Elaichi/Cardamom

Dryfruits can be added for extra taste. (Almonds, Cashewnuts and raisans and be finely chopped and roasted in very little ghee)

Method:

Mix all the ingredients for the covering just adding enough water to make a stiff dough; The dough should not be too think and a bit thick. Knead well and let it aside for about 15 mintues.Keep it covered.

In a bowl, mix the ingredients for the filling , add sugar according to the taste...it is optional to mix the dry fruits mixture.

Take the dough meant for covering . Take small balls enough to roll out into one reasonable sized pooris. Place the filling in the middle of poori in a straight line.
Now the tricky part.The sealing of the puris to give the the typical shape.
Seal them with some milk... and twist a bit so that the filling doesnt come out into the oil while deep frying.

Deep fry the karigadubu in hot oil at medium heat till they are golden brown in colour.Do not fry on high heat.It spoils the taste.
Let the kadubus dry and then store them in air tight container... Enjoy with lunch or just as a evening snack..

Jai Ganesh deva...
ciao from me now... hopeful of a picture soon.

Mandalu Oggarane/ Puffed rice Upma...

2008-06-13T10:57:00.000-07:00

BYE FOR A FEW WEEKS FRIENDS

My stay in this place coming to an end.. a new place to visit , new people to meet and new life to build. It is not easy but is quite exciting.Every town has its own flavour to offer and who knows what new colour is waiting to be added to my nomadic life ,, which is already as coloured as a rainbow.
I am off for more than 8 weeks ,, so adieu till i settle again and get time to try more food and update the block.. till then enjoy this time tested and tasty recipe.

Mandalu oggarane/Uggani/puffed rice

A few day sago while browsing i came across the name murmure ki biryani.. tempted by the name i read the recipe which was nothing other than what my mother and grandmother made very regularly as breakfast known as Mandalu Oggarani.. dae out of normal puffed rice and definitely tasty and light . In my town ,Yemmiganur,a small town in Kurnool district this is a truly poor man's biriyani.
The dish is easy to make and quite low in fat. This is made a little different in Rayala seema side of Andhra pradesh.. which is served with mirchi bhajji...That is so yummy .. I always make it a point to get some for one of the roadside joints.. it has a unique taste.

Mandalu oggarane

I tried it once or twice but it wasn't the same taste , husband and kids were not delighted.. Last week I tried it out again by asking her again for the recipe ... luckily for me it was great and girls absolutely loved it...
so here's the recipe for you all...

Oggarane/soosala

Ingredients:

Puffed rice (Murmure)- about a cup per person.

One big onion - finely chopped

green chillies - finely chopped

1 tsp of salt

two tsps of oil

Pinch of turmeric

1/2 tsp of jeera(cumin)

1/2 tsp of rai ( mustard seeds)

1 spoon of urad dal (black gram dhal)

1 spoon of chana dal (bengal gram dhal)

A sprig of fresh curry leaves

finely chopped coriander leaves

1 tablespoon of roasted gram dal powder (putani pudi /phutana powder)

two spoons of lemon juice.

freshly grated coconut or desiccated coconut (optional, for the variation)

Method:

Soak the Puffed rice in a large pan of water for not more than 6 to 8 minutes. Squeeze and let it stay in a colander.

In the mean time, heat two spoons of oil in a kadai , add rai, cumin, urad dal, chana dal, turmeric powder,curry leaves, green chillies and onions.When the onions are cooked and get soft,add the squeezed puffed rice mix thoroughly. Add the phutana powder, salt and mix well.

Turn the heat off and add lemon juice and garnish with fresh coriander leaves.Serve and eat hot.

It is very tasty with some fresh plain yogurt too.

Variations..

My grandmother was not keen on using onions in this dish she just used freshly grated coconut in the end.. it would turn out as delicious.
I add potaoes and capsicum both finely chopped and peas to the above recipe. It tasts amazing and visually the green peas adds a lot of colour to the dish.

Well hoping to be back in action as soon as possible...

Pofta buna

Baby corn Pakodas ( babycorn fritters)

2008-05-14T12:19:00.000-07:00

The best part of summer in England is that we get to see Sun for at least few days a week. This weekend was one of the hottest we had this season.. with temperatures 26 it was an ideal day to enjoy at the beach..

Bournemouth is one the cleanest beaches in England. Our drive was more than 2 hrs but was worth it ,, it was like almost half of England has come to sunbathe. Kids enjoyed in the sand , which was so fine . Fun time.

The best parts of my trip are

Floating in the air in a Helium balloon to about 500 feet in the sky and have a complete birds eye view of the town from the balloon. It is my desire to ride a hot air balloon too.

Seeing the smiles on the faces of all the children enjoying the waves,building sand castles just to break them....

While we were returning my younger daughter suddenly remembered baby corn... she wanted me to make baby corn Manchurian again. Not that it needed a lot of work and since we had just returned I was not really in a mood to make that effort too.. But she made a pout so had to give in and managed to make another dish Baby corn Pakodas. They turned out really delicious and crispy.Now I am sure it will be a regular dish at my house.

Crispy Baby Corn Pakoras

Ingredients:

12 - 15 baby corn cobs

2 spoons of Rice flour

2 spoons of Gram flour

1 spoon of all purpose flour

1 spoon of cumin seeds

salt to taste

1 spoon of Red chilli powder ( rasam powder is tastier)

1/4 spoon baking soda

Oil to fry.

(optional - use any food colour to enhance the presentation)

Method

Cut the baby corn cobs longitudinally. If you are using frozen , thaw them and then use slit them longitudinally.

Add all the other ingredients other than oil and mix on the baby corn pieces till all the pieces are smeared with the flour. Do not add water. Sprinkle if necessary.

Heat the oil in a kadai/ pan. Deep fry the corn cobs till they are crispy. Serve hot with tomato sauce or mint chutney.

One of the easiest dishes to make and tasty too.

I am off for a few weeks now.. will not be updating for those days.. hopefully will keep things ready and keep adding as and when possible in the next few months.

Bye for a few weeks friends...

SABOODANA KHICDI

2008-05-07T13:38:00.000-07:00

Tapioca is essentially a flavorless starchy ingredient, or fecula produced from treated and dried cassava (manioc) root and used in cooking.

Saboodana is made of this Tapioca and is used extensively in the food cooked during Fast ( like Ekadashi etc) . Making the saboodana khichdi is very tricky exercise. I lingered on to the taste from my childhood. My grandmother made most amazing khichdi and she called it sabbakki Khees (Saboodana khichdi..).

I got this recipe from a friend who made this exceptionally tasty... here it is for you all.

SABOODANA KHICHADI (SABAKKI KHEES)

Ingredients

One cup (Saboodana) sago dry
One cup Roasted Peanuts powdered
1/4 cup coconut scraped/dessicated
3 green chillies chopped
One boiled potatoes and chopped
2 tbsp coriander chopped
1/2 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
1/4 tsp mustard
1/4 tsp Chana dal (bengal gram dal)
1/4 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp lime juice
1 tbsp ghee
A sprig of curry leaves

METHOD

Wash the saboodana thoroughly but gently. Drain the excess water and leave the sago on the drain.. Keep aside for about two to four hours. Mix the crushed peanut powder and leave it for half an hour.Heat oil in a non-stick saucepan add mustard, cumin, curry leaves , chana dal , green chillies ,potatoes and stir fry till tender. Add coconut and stir. Sprinkle water and close the Pan for a few minutes.When the sago grains become transparent and soft, add coriander.Add the ghee and lemon juice.Serve hot.

Alasande Vade ( Pakoras made of Black eyed beans)

2008-04-30T14:41:00.000-07:00

Alasande vade has been a favourite snack ever since my dad introduced its taste to me when I was 10 yrs old.One day when it rained like nobody's business... Soaked black eyed beans came in handy.

This week girls wanted to do a writeup instead of me.. so I thought I will let them do it.They took the whole of yesterday on the computer and I was wondering what they were up to. Did not realise that they had actually made it so well I had no heart to change anything.It was too good to make any changes. I am quite amazed at their computing skills.

Ingredients

1 cup Alasandi beans (Black eyed beans)

1 tbsp cumin seeds (jeera)

2/3 green chillies

1 inch Ginger finely chopped

1 onion finely chopped

salt to taste

oil to fry.

Method

Soak the black eyed beans over night. Drain and grind with ginger,green chillies, cumin and salt. Mix the chopped onions and salt.Use little water while grinding the batter should be thick like urad vada paste.

Heat the oil in a pan. Make small balls of the batter and deep fry till golden brown.

Serve hot with sauce/green chutney.

Enjoy the rest of the week.Will update with another simple but tasty recipe.

KHAMAN DHOKLA

2008-04-23T13:19:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to make Dhoklas for god knows how many years... There was one Mrs. Baliga who made most yummy I have ever had in my life. A famous and delicious Gujarati snack.. I did tr many times .After several failed attempts I resorted to Gits, and Aashirwad's instant packets of Khaman dhoklas which did give a rather nice snacks . Enjoyed them , but the bug of making from scratch bit me again a few months ago and I got lucky this time... after a few disastrous efforts.

Most lovely dhoklas I had made were from this recipe I found after a lot of browsing and have been using ever since.

Tried watermarking my pictures... it wasnt succesful so forgive the quality of pics...

KHAMAN DHOKLA

Ingredients
1 cup Besan (Gram flour)

2 tbsp Rava (Sooji)1/2 tsp

Citric acid crystals or use Eno Fruit salt

1 tbsp Ginger and green chilli paste

Salt - to taste

2 tbsp Sugar

2 tsp Baking soda

To Garnish:

2 tbsp Oil
2 tsp Mustard seeds
A pinch of Hing (asafoetida)
2 to 3 green chillies finely chopped
3 tbsp Coriander - chopped
2 tbsp Grated coconut (fresh preferred)

Method

Mix all the ingredients except the baking soda. Add about 3/4 cup of water. The batter should be about the consistency of dosa batter. Add little more water if you feel the consistency is thick.
Apply some oil to a deep, flat bottomed stainless steel vessel (like a cake pan) that fits into your pressure cooker. Pour some water into the cooker and let it boil up. Once the water boils, add the baking soda to the batter and whip it up. Please not that the the batter should froth up.
Pour it into the prepared vessel to half the height, leaving enough space for the Dhokla to rise up and expand.

Place it into the cooker and let it steam for about 10 minutes. (steam like idlis, not to be pressure cooked)

You can even do the above process in a microwave, but Dhokla usually tends to become too dry and rubbery if you keep it out for even an hour or so. So this method should be used only if you want to eat it up as soon as you prepare it.

Use a microwave-safe container with a lid, grease it with oil, add the baking soda to the batter and half-fill the container. Microwave for 4-5 minutes with the lid on. Remove and sprinkle some water on the khaman to make it soft.
After the cooking is done , insert a knife or toothpick in the center and make sure it comes out clean. Let it cool down and then transfer it to a plate and cut it into squares or diamonds.

To garnish:
heat up some oil , add mustard seeds, when they splutter, add hing and chillies and then pour it over the prepared khaman dhokla. Garnish it with coriander leaves and grated coconut and serve hot with Green chutney /Tamarind Chutney or both.....enjoy and keep me posted if you like it or not.

MAVINAKAYI CHITRANNA (MANGO RICE)

2008-04-18T02:05:00.001-07:00

First of all I have to apologise for not being prompt in updating... I hope you all did miss me. Well even thinking that it is optimism. I would be happy if you all actually did visit to see if there were any updates.

I had to make a short trip to India.The journey was hectic but well rewarded by the mangoes and Sapotas (Chikkoo) Season. Enjoyed everyday on them.Though it was early in the seaoson and the best were yet to come I feasted on the raw mangoes.They are as delicious as fruits.

Mouthwatering Mango

Mangoes are originally from Southeast Asia, where they have grown for over 4000-6000 years. In India, mangoes are considered sacred and India is the world's largest producer of mangoes. Scientifically known as Mangifera Indica, these are part of the sumac family, and related to the cashew.There are thousands of varieties of mangoes which are available in a variety of shapes and sizes.Being season and delicious they are termed King of fruits.

We lived in Mettur Dam ( Tamilnadu, Salem District)for a few years literally in a Mango grove. Each house had the bliss of one or two mango trees. The one in our house would produce on an average of 1000 to 3000 every season. It had become like a ritual to have mangoes everyday as a dish,and finally would be tired of eating it in others house too.

Now, I am delighted at the sight of one mango and keep wondering looking at it, how could anyone get tired of such a sweet and amazing fruit. I did not long ago!!!!!!!!!

This trip I brought back with me a few raw mangoes ..They were from the backyard of an acquaintance of ours.It was the fresh smell.. Cut one to find it was almost sweet.. nevertheless enjoyed it with some salt.The other one was sour as mango should be fit for Mavinkayi Chitranna, a typical dish of Yugadi ( New year according to Hindu Lunar calender ) festival in Karnataka. Everyone would relish this dish I can claim!!!

Mavinakayi Chitranna

( can be said RICE WITH MANGO FLAVOUR, or Mango rice to make it simpler)

Ingredients:

1 medium sized raw mango

1/2 cup grated coconut

4 dry red chillies

1 tsp jeera

1tsp coriander leaves

pinch of hing (asafoetida)

1 tsp turmeric

1 cup rice

salt to taste

1 tsp ghee

For the seasoning

mustard seeds

cumin seeds

chana dal (bengal gram dhal)

urad dal (black gram dhal

sprig of curry leaves

2 tsps of peanuts (cashew nut can be added for richer taste)

Method:

Cook the rice and spread it on a plate and allow to cool. add a spoon of ghee.The rice should be cooked well but the grains should be separated not sticky ( Khila Khila chawal).Keep aside.

Grate the raw mango. Grind together with Coconut, jeera, dry red chillies, salt, turmeric . The paste or chutney is the base.

In a kadai, add the oil , when hot add the ingredients of seasoning.,. when the peanuts are reddish add the above ground masala and saute for a minute and put the heat off.

Mix the above masala to the rice well . Garnish with some coriander leaves and freshly grated mango shreds.

The delicious chitranna is ready to devour... serve with some papad, ( Happala/ Sandige ) .It is tasty on its own.

Try , enjoy and let me know ....

Aloo Bonda (Spicy Potato Fritters)

2008-04-01T10:56:00.000-07:00

Easter holidays seems like never ending story this time.They have been home for almost two weeks now and all of us are getting tired of it. With me and them looking forward for the reopening of school the only other option was to attend a few workshops around the museums there.That is the reason I have not been able to make good dishes and update.They had easter card competition , I enjoyed making these cards with them.

They enjoyed two workshops around this week making collages..I always wonder why we are so academically oriented ??? I want them to do everything I could not do in life.. but then at the end of the day I worry what if they do not succeed academically????? Is it enough to be bright , smart and confident, or is it necessary for it to translate into mark sheet to be successful in life?

The weather wasn't really great to keep spirits high.English weather is usually grey , but this time it was unusually depressing and grey for a few days at a stretch. So all these thoughts and homesickness too were making the mood really low.

Well all these thoughts keep going on in mind . It doesn't mean i have to give up my foodie nature for that reason. I had made poori and potato sabzi the other day, and was left with lots of aloo sabzi. Did not have any batter for Dosas so masala dosa was out of question.Did not want to waste food this way. Like people who have sweet tooth , I should say i have a snack tooth... cannot just resist deep fried stuff like bonda, bajjis or pakoras.... Yummy.. without delay as soon as the thought struck with some Gram flour I could turn out some delicious aloo bondas which really lifted our spirits up with its excellent taste..

Aloo Bonda ( Spicy Potato Balls in Gramflour dough)

Ingredients

3 large boiled and mashed potatoes

1 cup - Gram flour (besan)

2 spoons - Rice flour

cooking soda (optional)

1 cup - Chopped onions

chopped ginger (1 inch)

Chopped green chilli (two to three)

1 tsp Red chilli powder

1/4 tsp. Turmeric powder

Vegetable/sunflower oil for deep frying

Mustard and cumin seeds for seasoning

few curry leaves

chopped Coriander

amchur or lemon juice

Salt to taste.

Method

In a deep pan add a spoon of oil, when it gets hot add mustard seeds.When it splutters add cumin ,haldi/turmeric powder, green chillies, chopped onion , chopped ginger and few curry leaves.Add a spoon or two of water to cook the onions , this gives a good taste.Then add the mashed potatoes, salt and if any other masala desired. Fresh coconut can be used instead of Onions....Mix the potatoes thoroughly , adding some amchur of lemon juice for added taste.

Make small sized balls and keep aside.

In a large bowl sieve one cup of Gram flour, and two spoons of Rice flour. Mix it well using water sparingly, without lump adding redchilli powder, salt and a pinch of Cooking soda .Cooking soda can be avoided. Take care that the batter is neither runny nor thick. It should be just right to flow around the potato balls made earlier .

Now in a large pan , heat oil . Take each potato ball and dip it in the Gram flour batter and deep fry till golden brown . Keep the oil on medium flame to cook well. it does take a little more time than usual pakodas. Serve hot with Mint and Tamarind Chutney.

This is a lovely snack to be served hot and not bad when cold either.. with two slices of salted buns it turns into the delicious Vada PAV,... hoping to make that dish too properly,,, by the recipe.

Hopeful to be more regular in updating...Bye for now.

BABY CORN - PANEER MANCHURIAN

2008-03-25T12:01:00.000-07:00

Yummy dish

When in Mysore I was really surprised to see the advent of Gobi Manchurian in a big way .. churumuri and Panipuri have been actually marginalised by noodles and Gobi carts.Even though I love churumuri I indulged myself to a treat of delicious Gobi Manchurian on the Gaadis.. They are simply delicious and absolutely impossible to resist when you see a gadi.. there is a pull towards it.Indo chinese has actually changed the way of food at my house too.. I love a lot of dishes but can cook few with expertise.

On Friday I was telling about my school days to children.. the churumuri and now how Gobi Manchurian has taken over the city. They had tasted once when i made Gobi Manchurian and now wanted me to make it. I had no Cauliflower in the house and was thinking what to do.. My younger one remembered eating Baby corn Manchurian at a restaurant during our last visit.

I opened my freezer only to see that they were too little.. so added some paneer (cottage cheese) also to make it a mixture of paneer -baby corn Manchurian.I was wondering how the outcome would be... Well I needn't have worried it was extremely tasty...

It was a delight both to eyes and palate

BABYCORN-PANEER MANCHURIAN

Ingredients required:

15 baby corncobs,

100 grams of paneer ( or a slab of cottage cheese)

4 table spoons of corn flour,

2 table spoon of maida (all purpose flour)

1 table spoon rice flour

oil ( vegetable oil ),

1 spoon ginger garlic paste

Tomato sauce,

2 spoons of tomato puree

soy sauce

1 pinch aji-no-moto

Chopped capsicum half a cup

Onions finely chopped half a cup

5 garlic cloves finely chopped

3 green chillies slit longitudinally,

1 inch garlic finely chopped,

coriander leaves,

1 spoon kashmiri chilli powder

and salt to taste

Method

Wash the baby corn thoroughly and cut into small pieces( I used frozen , if you are using fresh, cook the baby corn cobs in some hot water for a couple of minutes.It helps it too cook when you deep fry). cut paneer too into similar sized cubes.

In a bowl add two spoons of cornflour, two spoons maida and one spoon of rice flour , salt, kashmiri chilli powder, one spoon ginger garlic paste and mix with little water making it a light batter

Dip the baby corn and paneer pieces in this batter and deep fry till golden brown.The Kashmiri chilli powder gives it a good colour ( you can use red food colour if you have no reservations of using food colour).Keep aside.

Gravy

In a pan ,,, add two spoons of oil. when the oil is hot add the cut green chillies, garlic, ginger... onions and capsicum.When they are half cooked add some salt, aji no moto and cover.When these are cooked , add two spoons of cornflour mixed in a cup of cold water.It thickens very soon giving a lovely aroma,then add tomato puree, tomato sauce and two spoons of soy sauce.. Turn the gas off.Take care you don't use too much soy sauce.. it can give a very sour taste

While serving, Take a small kadai. heat the gravy , add the baby corn and paneer pieces and let it soak in the gravy for a minute of two.. then transfer on to a plate and garnish with Coriander leaves. Serve hot.. It is tastier when hot..

Try this dish , let me know if you enjoyed it as much as I did.

LAUKI KE KOFTE/Bottlegourd dumplings in spicy gravy

2008-03-17T03:51:00.000-07:00

I was not aware of Doodi / lauki /Bottle Gourd/ Sorekayi { in Kannada} for long time as it was not used in the house at all..It was kind of not bought/brought home I am not sure why??? It seemed so delicious a dish when I first ate it.Well.. it was my good friend Sunitha who made me lick my fingers whenever she made lauki ke kofte... got hooked to it when she was around..I never tried it though.
Soon forgot all about it , was happy trying out new things.This week when i spotted Lauki in the Indian store, all memories rushed back and I ended up making Kofte with what I remembered she had told me about the procedure and ingredients..

We enjoyed it with some Takda dal and Coriander Naan ( I bought them) , made some Matar pulav too.

Lauki Ke Kofte ( dumplings in spicy tomato gravy)

Ingredients

To make Koftas
Half a kilo (500 gms) lauki peeled and grated

2 table spoons besan / gram flour

2-3 green chillies

grated ginger

Salt to taste
1 tea spoon red chilli powder
Finely chopped few coriander leaves

Ingredients for gravy

2 medium sized onions

3 medium sized tomatoes grated / puree
2 green chillies

1 inch ginger

2-3 flakes garlic
Few chopped coriander leaves

salt to taste

1 tsp red chilli powder

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

2 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp jeera powder

1 inch dalchini / cinnamon

1-2 bay leaves / tej patta

1 big cardamom / badi elaichi
3-4 cloves/laung

oil for frying

Juice that is extracted from lauki and kept aside

and water if required.

Method

Grate the lauki,sprinkle some salt and allow to stand for 10 minutes. Now squeeze out water from it completely. Store the extracted water/juice in a bowl separately.
To this grated lauki add grated ginger, chopped green chillies, chopped coriander leaves, salt, red chilli powder and mix well. Add besan/gramflour to bind it well into round or oval balls..
heat the Oil in a Kadi or Deep pan. Deep fry these koftas simultaneously to golden brown colours. Keep the flame medium as the koftas get cooked outer side very fast and the centre will remain uncooked...Store the deep fried koftas on to a tissue paper..

To make Gravy:

Heat 2 table spoons of oil in a kadai or heavy bottom pan. Grind Onions, ginger, garlic together to a fine paste...
Put dalchini, crushed elaichi, tej patta, cloves let it splutter in oil then add green chillies, garlic, ginger, onions and cover the pan for few minutes on medium flame, Now add the ground paste and let it cook till the raw smell of garlic is gone and onions turns to a pinkish colour. Now add tomatoes or tomato puree salt and turmeric, red chilli, jeera, coriander powders and mix well.

Keep stirring for sometime and check if the gravy is even and well blended add the extracted water from lauki now. Let the gravy boil for about 5 to 8 minutes...
Sprinkle garam masala.
The gravy should neither be too thick nor too thin but medium.
At the time of serving heat the gravy, transfer in serving dish add the koftas now and garnish with coriander leaves.

This gravy dish goes very well with Rotis ....

Have a great week ahead...

Mysore Masala Puri

2008-03-10T03:06:00.000-07:00

My school days remain the happiest and memorable days of my life till date.Apart from commuting in a crowded citybus.. sitting on a wooden bench with three more girls, silly fights, assembly songs... walking home if we wanted too ( no fear of any sort).Life was fantastic. School days were more enjoyabel with the eatables available just outside the school gates.Those who have been in Mysore can vouch that schooling was synonymous with Churumuri , pani puri, masalapuri... soutekayi (cucumber )and tomato puri........ all available very near to my school in Ballal Circle...
When at school I used get a 25 or 50 Paisa allowance to eat out every Saturday... which was more than enough for a pack of churumuri ( the cone made of paper)(now it is 5 Rs., yummy all the same).The soutekayi ( A longitudinal layer of cucumber layered with lots of garnishing and chutneys).Once you get the hang of churumuri it is almost very difficult to get rid of that that love from your mind.It stays and grows with you. I make it quite often ,but it is never exactly the same.

The masalapuri on the other hand was a bit expensive for me and had to save about three weeks of this money to get one plate... so it was a treat sometimes by my Ajji (grandmother) after she would be pestered by me for it endlessly for the whole week.It was a whooping 1.25 paise...but worth the money.I can feel the taste lingering even now after many many years.Even to date.. my loyalty for this particular churumuri and masalapuri fellows haven't changed. It is not available anywhere else ( may be in Bangalore..I haven't had it there ) with the same taste..specially the masalapuri has a very distinct taste.But I always maintained that the Gadiwala added a secret ingredient to make it so tasty which we cud never get hold off.. which many elders in my family.. felt and feel was his sweat and dirty hands and of all dirty plates... But nothing they say, said detered me frome ating at those chat (carts) places... masalpuri gadis (the cart with all this stuff )or will stop me.. I am immune to all the bugs which can be speread thru these lovely dishes...What is life without them is my argument!!! I am sure many of u there support me.

My Masalpuri:

After many failed attempts to make it at home with the same ingredients.. finally there was a ray of hope,.when my sister passed on a recipe, she got from our cousin. She had tried and said it did taste well.. with the hope this would be good I tried out this Friday and it was a Smash Hit.. BANG!! right the Gadi (cart) taste... now am sure no special ingredients other than using the RIGHT ingredients in Right quantities... and to our taste...The peas masala is the most important ingredient... It is easy to make and tasty too.. Our friends whe where here said it was exactly like the Gadiwala, what better award could i get than that.

(Mysore) MASALAPURI

Ingredients:
Small Crispy Puris (which are available in the market .. these are known as Gol guppa too)
Peas Masala
Grated Carrot
Lemon juice (optional)
Finely chopped Onions
Boiled and mashed Potatoes
Finely chopped Coriander
Chopped Tomatoes
Chat Masala
Garam Masala
Tamarind Chutney
Green Chutney
SEV ( plain thin) or any spicy mixture

Method:

The few of the ingredients to be cooked with some effort is Peas Masala .Easy that it is need a bit of planning..
Dry peas (Batani/vatana) - 1/2 kg
Green chillies - 4
Coriander - chopped half a cup
Ginger - Garlic paste - 2 spoons
One onion - chopped
Garam masala - 4 spoons
Pepper corns
amchur powder - 1 sp
salt to taste
oil - 1 tbsp

Method:
Soak the Dry Peas overnight... cook them with salt and turmeric powder in a pressure cooker.

Grind onion, Ginger garlic paste, one spoon of garam masala, 3/4 green chillies,4 /5 pepper corns, coriander, and one big cup of the boiled peas to a fine paste.
In a big pan heat some oil...and saute the taste for a few minutes till the paste gives out a nice aroma. then add the rest of the boiled peas, with some salt , amchur powder and 3 spoons of garam masala.. let it boil till the paste gets to a thick gravy consistency...One of the secret of the chatwallah is the constant boiling of this masala....so if you prepare it earlier in the day.. start the boiling the peas masala at least 15 minutes before you start serving the dish.

Now for the layering part.this can be done according to our taste .. so the measurements can vary to each plate to the individual's taste.

1.Take 5 to 6 Puris and crush them lightly on a shallow plate.. Add some mashed potatoes as a second layer.

2.Pour the hot peas masala in generous quantity over the potaotes covering the potates and the PURIs

3.Sprinkle chopped tomatoes and Onions on top of the gravy.Place a few cucumber slices to soothe the tongue in case the masala is too spicy .

4. Add some green chutney and tamarind chutney according to the taste and sprinkle a layer of carrots and Sev.. on the top.
Just add a dash of lemon juice if needed.

5. A dash of coriander (which was a bit too much in this plate , but i love it this way),Just sprinkle some Chat Masala and the dish is ready to be served immediately.

This is really yummy .The peas masala is holds the key to this dish... I will await responses..

Bye for today... Have a great week ahead

Sunset at a lake near by

2008-03-04T03:05:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, on a saturday we drove to a lake near by... We did not expect this wonderful view though.The lake is next to a leisure centre so can imagine the crowd that would be there, but amazingly it was quite clean and the ducks and swans swimming around made my day.
The weather here is so unpredictable it is wise to make use of little sun we see. I tried capturing the view in my camera but not sure how succesful I was.I have posted a few I thought were goood...Well!!! let me know what you think

Lovely peek through the trees... It was an amazing sight

Just about to drown,, leaving the waters golden

We love this place.... can we stay here amma????

Lonely even in a crowd.... swan that I am in a group of ducks!!!!!!!

Feeding Frenzy

Going to be back tomorrow

No words to explain the feeling I had at that point of time... may be just to sing

Abhi na jaao chodkar ke dil abhi bhara nahi!!!!!!!

MARTISOR and MAMMALIGA

2008-03-01T01:22:00.000-08:00

First Day of March,, brings in a lot of fond memories from the days I lived in Romania. this particular is celebrated as Martisor , (literally meaning little march).I was surprised the first year seeing all girls wearing red and white threads with some amulets on their wrists.

By the second year of our stay there I had enough friends to tell me what that festival was all about and by the help of my girls who learnt about it in schools and came home with loads of Martisor, some of them I have till date and will cherish them all my life .It reminds me the warmth and love i got from Romania. ..

Martisor is a traditional Romanian celebration of the coming of spring. It is celebrated on the March 1st of every year.Women are given flowers, particularly GHIOCEL, a beautiful white flower which as though on cue just sprouts all over the place out of the snow by 1st of March.

A Ghiocel

Romanians have a beautiful ancient tradition on the first day of March : Martisor (The Amulet). Its name is a diminutive from the name of Martie - the Romanian word for March. There is a similarity between Martie and the ancient Roman God "Mars" or "Martie" in Latin language.In ancient Rome this God was a symbol of revival, green fields, flocks and love. They used to celebrate their God on the first day of spring.

MARTISOR is also the name of a trinket, amulet kind object consisting of a small decoration tied to a white and red string, symbolizing the coming of spring.

Nowadays "Martisor" is present in all Romanian regions . In Romania this Amulet is a symbol of coming spring and joy. Exchanging them is a gesture of love, friendship, respect and appreciation. You can buy silky red-white threads (tied into a bow) and small plastic objects : flowers, horse shoes, leaves, bumblebees, animals, birds, tiny suns or stars, red hearts, and many others. People wear it in the left side on their chests, traditionally these amulets are worn during nine days, starting from March 1st, of course. But it has predominantly taken the role of showing love.My girls were so pleased to get and it became actually a competion who had more of these Martisor than the other....Traditions sadly fading away off...

The Martisor was also worn by young men and adults. Moreover, the braid which announced the spring was tied on the horns of the cows or on the gate of the stable, in order to protect the household from the evil. In older times, March 1st was the beginning of a new year,even now it is mostly welcomed with the same warmth and spirit, and it is seen as a moment in which people needed to protect themselves from the evil spirits.

The Martisor is worn until the roses or the cherries bloom. Then, the braid is tied on one of the branches of that tree. In other regions, the Martisor is worn during the old women's days (March 1st to March 9th), after this being tied on a tree. It is believed that, if the tree gives fruits, the man who has worn the Martisor will be lucky. If the Martisor is thrown after a bird, the man will be as easy as that bird.

As any traditional festive can have this Martisor also has its share of legends and history of origin.. here they go you can see them in this link...

(http://www.folkromania.com/cms/articles/traditional_celebrations/march)

I had tried a dish called Mamaliga on a Martisor celebration ,taste of which I will never forget.. though it is an acquired taste I am so sure many of you will like this dish made out of corn.What better way to celebrate this in my own way by cooking a dish and reliving the lovely days.

Mamaliga is basically cornmeal mush.. fairly simple to prepare it is delicious with butter, sour cream and some fried onions. As my memory is tingled with this traditional dish, I am sharing this recipe...mostly out of love to my friends in Romania...

Mamaliga with butter and fried onions

Ingredients:

1 cup cornmeal (known widely as polenta/corn grits)

4 cups of water

salt to taste

To garnish

Fried onions

Sauteed beans

Method

Mix one cup of corn meal with one and half cups of cold water and set aside for 10 minutes . Take care while mixing that it does not form lumps.

In a large pan heat 3 cups of water till it comes to a hard boil. Now slowly add the soaked softened corn meal while stirring the water.take care that it doesn't form lumps here either. Keep stirring till the corn meal gets thicker and thicker.

The consistency can be to our liking ( I like it a little soggy ).cover the dish and let it cook for 5 more minutes.

Traditionally it is served with sourcream and friedonions. since it did not suit my palate I use butter and some fried onions and sauteed frenchbeans...

In a pan heat some oil and fry onions(chopped length wise)

Serve hot with butter/sour cream and fried onions. I served with some sauteed beans and sometimes with a bowl of french fries...

Hoping you liked this too...

Ciao

SPAGHETTI AND VEG BALLS WITH SAUCE

2008-02-25T00:55:00.000-08:00

This time when I travelled home , we forgot to book a vegetarian meal on the flight.As a result I had a faint idea that I would be actually fasting for the whole of 9 hours of that flight, my daughters did find something to eat ,but were quite intrigued by the meat balls and spaghetti served to them.In spite of me telling them to eat were not ready to eat it.Anyways when I got back it was at the back of in my mind how to make this stuff at home.I could not use meat balls but I am sure veg balls too would actually make taste as good.

Pasta has been elusive dish in our house ( I do not enjoy it as much as the others so do not make it often ).When I started looking for some pasta came across that there were Long and short Pasta types.. Long ones like,Fettuccine,noodles - Tagliatelle, linguini - linguine, Spaghetti, Spaghettini and many others I am struggling to pronounce.Short pasta types can have a variety of shapes and are easier to eat than long pasta.butterflies - farfalle ,conchiglie - shells ,elbow shell- Pipe rigate, penne - pen points, pennete and mezze penne..... helix - fusilli orecchiete

Chinese noodles are a better option for me... easy to cook and no fuss of sauce and stuff... .The Lasagna is all time favourite but then I don't get it right at all... stopped making it... Spaghetti is one thing which i can really do well, but when I got the sauce part... usually used the ready made pasta sauces.... This time seeing the meatballs triggered off to make vegetarian balls so that I can make it look more tempting to the eyes and tasty on the tongue too....
The Search Engine brought up so many recipes that I just could not think of any one suitable one.There were so many different ways of making the Veg balls. I actually did not have many ingredients at home .. But had to make them at that moment , lest I lost the mood to cook them at all.With the few ingredients I had i tried and really turned out tasty..... sharing that recipe with you... which you might really like and try out....

SPAGHETTI AND VEGGIE BALLS WITH SAUCE

INGREDIENTS

250 gms of Spaghetti
For the Sauce:

Tomatoes/tomato puree (I used canned tomatoes) – ½ kg
Garlic – 3-4 cloves, finely chopped.
Spring Onions - Half a bunch chopped fine.
Chilli powder – ½ tsp
Vegeta Powder - 1 tsp...( had mentioned about it earlier.It adds taste not a main ingredient)
Freshly crushed black pepper – 1 tsp
Olive Oil – 1 tbsp
Corn flour - 1/2 tbsp
Salt to taste

For the VEG Balls:
Grated cabbage– 1 cup
Grated Potatoes - 1 cup
Grated carrots - half cup
crushed Tofu or paneer -half a cup
Rice flour - 1 tbsp
wheat flour/all purpose flour – 1 tbsp
Bread crumbs – ¼ cup
Salt to taste
Oregano – 1 tsp
Cooking soda 1/2 tbsp
Pepper powder – 1 tsp
Oil – to deep fry

METHOD:

To make the sauce:

Wash tomatoes, blanch with just enough water . Remove, dunk into cold water and peel.Blend them in a blender/mixer to make a puree , alternatively can use canned tomatoes or tomato puree to make it easier...

Heat olive oil in a pan and add garlic to it saute for a minute and then add spring onions, sauté for a minute and then add the tomatoes to the garlic, sauté for 6 to 8 minutes.

Add chilli powder, vegeta powder and salt, let it cook covered for about 15 minutes, adding a splash of water in between if needed.

In half a cup of cold water dissolve the corn flour and add it to the sauce and let it cook.

It should cook to a thick sauce consistency.It thickens quite quickly.

Add the crushed pepper just before taking off the flame.

2.Making the spaghetti:

While making the sauce , cook the spaghetti with a dash of olive oil in more than enough water.Drain the extra water when the spaghetti is done... You will know that is done by breaking g one strand.cover the spaghetti pan with a lid to avoid it drying and keep it warm.

(All the spaghetti packs found in stores have directions to cook them. Cook as per directions )

3.Making the balls:

In a deep pan or Kadai,,, heat the oil.... mix all the above ingredients(expect the oil ) for the Veg balls in a bowl.
Mix them well using only enough flour and bread crumbs to bind all the vegetables . Deep fry these balls and place them in a shallow bowl. Add the sauce on the balls and let the balls soak up sauce.

4. To Serve
To serve place a layer of cooked spaghetti in a shallow bowl.Add the balls and top them up with the sauce .

Add some crushed pepper and some shredded cheese.. to garnish it... Yummy

I am sure you will enjoy this recipe too...I had a great weekend... Wishing you all a lovely week ahead too...Do say hi and leave a few words, makes me happy to see people taking time to write comments.

My French toast

2008-02-19T11:59:00.000-08:00

Not eating eggs puts us in some disadvantage of making delicious cakes and some dishes which apparently are very tasty , to name some , Anda burji, French toast and omlette…It is only that I never gave a chance to egg to enter my kitchen.. though I might as well try to make these dishes using my own veggie ingredients..Well in a way of vegetarinising the dishes , I did make do with Paneer Burji and Sooji ka chilla , but always the French toast remained quite elusive.

A search on the internet on French toast gave me good info about how the toast originated. It says “French toast originated as a way to use day-old or stale bread (some breads and especially French bread become stale after one day). Whereas a stale, crunchy bread might seem unappetizing, soaking the bread in eggs and frying it solved that problem”.In medieval Europe it is supposed to be have known as pain perdu. Germany: armer Ritter (literally, "poor knight") Interestingly, it is also said it was known as german toast (used ina few countries even now) then changed to French toast during world war I given the anit –german sentiment.. well whatever it is called. I could not eat it given that egg had to be used.

When I lived in Romania ,I did learn a few excellent typical romanian dishes like Sarmale, gogosi and mammaliga. A friend of mine ( Romanian ) said she made frigãnele as it is known there without egg using cornflour and salt as crust during their lent period. Tried that, Alas it didn’t turn out real good on the palate it was good but not good enough… my woes continued with trial and error with quite a few recipes till I finally got the things right way of making the toast.What would I have done without so many lovely food blogs!!!!!!

MY FRENCH TOAST

Ingredients
Few slices of sandwich bread
1 cup Fine semolina (rava)
2 cups of water
1 Onion(finely chopped)
2 Carrots (grated)
2 Green chillies (finely chopped) (optional)
coriander leaves (shredded)
cinnamon powder
pepper powder
salt to taste
oil/butter to roast.

Method:
Mix Semolina, Chopped onions, grated carrots, chillies coriander leaves ,cinnamon powder and salt.I did read in a recipe that butter milk enhances the taste I did not have so I used normal water.Just about to the consistency of slightly thick batter..
Cut the Bread slices into two ( shape is left to your creative skills).
Dip the cut bread in the above mixture and roast on a a hot skillet .
Add butter or ghee to enhance the taste of the toast. I used oil for ours and butter on the kids toast.
Sprinkle the pepper according to the taste and serve hot with ketchup or mint/chilli chutney.

It was amazingly tasty.. was a bit hit as well with my children..
There goes another one for you to try, if you have not known about it till now..
Ciao…

EGGLESS CHOCOLATE CAKE

2008-02-16T04:24:00.000-08:00

Having the girls home for the Half term holidays was welcome. It meant I could actually give them some good healthy traditional Indian breakfast, time and attention. But that also meant that I should keep them busy to be away from the Idiot Box all day long. I seriously believe that more than one hour of screen time really makes children sluggish.It is not easy to keep them occupied for 12 hours a day inside the four walls, the weather does not allow much to play outside but still walking and skating did take up sometime of the day,but still they had to be kept occupied. As a process of this week long engagment I browsed to get some baking recipes where a found a fairly simple EGGLESS CHOCOLATE CAKE recipe...I am mighty delighted as a vegetarian I am not too fond of using Eggs..., but I do eat cakes which contain egg, as long as I dont see them being used (hypocritical mind).

Well, I gave them the ingredients and with very little help of mine they baked this lovely cake.. two little sweet chefs who managed to make and gobble it up for lunch... Thanks to the digi cam I could take pictures for keep sakes and some software touch made them a photo dairies too.. The recipe was fairly simple but I did try to make a few changes in them to suit my taste.I am quite pleased with the outcome enough to post it here with my girls photosession....they need a boost too !!!!!!!

It is a fairly simple process making this cake, with few ingredients and fewer
steps to follow the happiness on their faces made the whole effort (of cleaning up the mess later) worth while.
Some pictures here with details I added at their behest...

EGGLESS CHOCO CAKE

Ingredients
3 cups self raising flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 cup cold milk
1/4 cup butter /margarine
2 cups sugar
1 bar of chocolate to break and add as bits.
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup cold water(as and when required

METHOD

Preheat the oven for 15 minutes

Mix 1/2 cup cocoa with 3 cups of self raising flour in a small bowl,
(add bits of chocolate for a rich and crunchy taste )

In a jug, dissolve two tsp of baking soda in a cup of cold milk

In a large bowl cream two cups of sugar with 1/4 cup butter or maragarine. Add milk and flour alternately to the creamed mixture and whisk until thick.. add cold water to get intended consistency.

Pour the batter in a greased cake tin or pan and cook at 200 degrees for 15 minutes.

Allow the cake tin to cool and with a knife smoothly loosen the sides...

Serve warm with some cold coffee. Yummy!!!! who can resist this?????

MEAN BEAN WRAP

2008-02-12T10:02:00.000-08:00

I had not tasted a Wrap till a friend of mine made yummilicious tikka wraps, they were paneer tikka wraps,Iloved the idea of wraps .But then I am not too fond of paneer either, so did not bother to ask the recipe either... after coming here my girls fell in love with a wrap made in Gregg’s, who dutifully stopped a few months ago.. That was the only veg wrap which is available around here.....

While walking in the market over the weekend, was wondering what they could eat out other than the usual Pizzas or the bean burger... so decided to make some Wraps myself remembering the filling which was there in Gregg’s one... to my astonishment it did turn out really tasty and was very filling as a dinner ...though my elder girl doesn’t like to eat Rajma... calling it a red mean bean did the trick. So we came up with the MEANY RED BEANY WRAP...
It is a very tricky nice way of making kids have thier veggie intake without a fuss....

MEAN BEAN WRAP

Ingredients:

Tortilla wraps (available in all stores)

Tomato Ketchup

optional:
Green chutney to taste
(I used Natco Bombay sandwich Spread It is quite spicy and tasty, giving me the Indian taste i like in my food)

Filling:

For 8 wraps
1 onion (sliced elongated)
2 carrots (grated thick)
1 capsicum (thin and sliced elongated)
1 Potato (grated thick)
Half cup of sliced cabbage
Few cobs of baby corn... cut into slices
1 can of Red kidney beans or 1 cup of Boiled Red kidney beans (rajma)
fresh cucumbers sliced or Pickled cucumbers (Gherkins)

Spices or Masala used:
Pepper and
Vegeta powder
(I use the VEGETA veg stock powder... it has lovely aroma and helps to hold the mixture...)

I used this powder often in many other dishes too. I got hooked to it while in Romania.... easily found in the Asian stores...If you want then have a look at it in this website.

http://www.vegeta.com.au/

METHOD

In a pan, add a spoon of oil when hot add the half the cut onions and capsicum. When they are sautéed, add cabbages, grated carrot and grated potatoes, baby corn. Add a spoon of the Vegeta powder and close the pan with a lid,after a few minutes add The kidney beans and let it cook for some time'. Turn the heat off after 5 minutes and leave the lid on for the steam to cook the vegetables...

(Cottage cheese pieces can be added as a variation.. my girls like shredded cheese slices also in it)
How to Wrap

On a hot flat girdle (tawa), heat the Tortilla wraps to a reasonable warm heat...

1. place the hot wrap on a serving place and add the sauces and chutneys intended... arrange a layer of above filling in a line in the centre of the wrap... and add the fresh vegetables, gherkin slices and cheese slices.

2.fold both the ends of the wrap so that the filling is secured...

3.roll the wraps from opposite sides overlapping and forming a pocket.

4. Place the rolled on the hot girdle for a few minutes

5.Serve hot as whole or cut into two...

It turns out really tasty, I do make wraps with different vegetables but this was the first I used kidney beans... my sisters keeps saying she fills with some nice Mexican rice... and they are as yummy as burritos,, need to try it out too.....waiting for your comments and feedback...

Enjoy your day friends....