Shubha's Kitchen - Chutki Bhar Pyar

Like Lasagna or Rice Lasagna?? Inspirations from Aditi

2011-05-23T13:00:00.000-07:00

Okie this casserole is inspired from my friend Aditi's recipe for leftover rice. This has been lying in my drafts for like 3 yrs now.... I know... I know this is the limit hmm. Anyways, I loved it so much that I made some changes and made it like a rice lasagna casserole dish. Hope you all enjoy the recipe. Do post ur valuable comments..:D

Ingredients :

Leftover rice - 2 cup (cooked..preferably basmat)
Onion - 1 medium chopped
Red Bell pepper - 1/4 cup chopped
Green bell Pepper - 1/4 cup chopped
Pasta sauce / marinara sauce - 1 medium can
Mushrooms - 1/3 cup chopped
Garlic - 2tsp finely chopped
Fresh/dried Oregano or mixed italian spice - 1tbsp
Salt to taste
Black pepper - 1 tsp
Potato - 2 medium (thinly sliced)
Black Olives - 1 cup (sliced)
Mozzarella Cheese - 3/4 cup
Red Chilli flakes - 1 tbsp
Butter - 2 tbsp

Method :

In a pan take some oil/butter and when heated add garlic. Add half the chilli flakes and stir fry for a min. Add the onion. Cook till it is slightly cooked. Add the pepper, mushroom and stir fry. Add the oregano, salt, pepper and marinara sauce and mix well. Get the sauce to a boil. Mix well and keep aside. The sauce should be slightly thick...dont add too much water.

Keep the sliced potato in water so that it doesnt become black. Sprinkle some salt on the plain rice and mis well...just for added flavour.

Preheat the oven to 325 degree F.

Grease a pie pan or casserole dish with butter. Put a thick layer of the rice covering almost 1/3 of the pan. Now pour half of the marinara mix on top of the rice. Now place the sliced of shopped potato on it. cover the whole pan with a layer of sliced potatoes, little cheese (1/4 cup) and few sliced olives.

Now repeat this process once more. On the top layer place the sliced potatoes, olives and the rest of cheese. Also sprinkle some crushed red pepper if u like.

Place the pan in the preheated oven and cook for 20 minutes. Please note that the timing given here is according to my oven... please keep checking on the lasagna in between. I additionally broiled it for 2 mins to give it a nice brown colour. Yumm!

Serve hot as ur evening dinner. This dish needs no accompaniment.Enjoy :) and do give me ur suggestion and views..:).

Instant Oats Dosai

2011-05-20T16:58:00.001-07:00

Oats Dosai, originally uploaded by gems7882.

After the fried stuff something guilt free and healthy...:D I made this for our evening tiffin yday and DH loved it so much that it ended up being our dinner...:P

I have tried Oats adai earlier but this was my first time making Oats Dosai and I was pleasantly surprised. I saw this recipe in some blog....(i dont remember which one now... will update once I get the blog name) long time ago.... it was very simple recipe and something i thought can be esily altered to our taste. I have tried this recipe only from my memory of wtever I remember.....so suggestions are welcome.

Here goes the recipe

Ingredients :

Rolled oats - 2 cups
buttermilk - 1/2 cup
Onion - 1 small finely chopped (optional)
water - 3/4 cup
Rice - 2 tbsp
Ragi flour - 4tbsp
Green chillies - 2
Cilantro - 1/2 cup chopped
Hing /asafoetida - 1/2 tsp
Black pepper - 1/4 tsp
salt to taste
jeera - 1 tsp

Method :

Soak the oats and rice along with the water and buttermilk and leave for 20 minutes. Please note that the water/buttermilk mix covers the oast completely.

Blend this oats mix in a mixer along with the ragi after 20 mins. Blend it into a fine batter.

Now add chopped green chillies, cilantro, jeera, hing, salt, onions(optional) and mix well.

Heat a tava/ griddle and make pancakes / dosai. Serve it hot with chutney. I did with lime pickle..Yumm!

Basil Corn Pakodi

2011-05-20T16:36:00.001-07:00

Basil corn pakodi, originally uploaded by gems7882.

Rain pouring outside ur window.... you sitting near the big window and enjoying the rains with a cup of coffee some hot pakodis and with sweetheart. what else do u need? hmmm. I enjoying spending such romantic evening with my DH. I remeber how we used to enjoy evening like this when we were newly married. Somehow as time passes we start skipping and then missing these little moments of together.

The weather in LA has become weird these days. It is sunny n hot one day and the next days its complete opposite - cold and chilly... brrr.... I wish I get back the pleasant and sunny LA weather..:(. But until then we r enjoying this weather too...:) with hot hot pakodis..:P

This pakodi actually started with sweet corn vada recipe which my Mom-in-law had shared with me. I wanted to try it as I had some fresh corn on cob. But as I was making this batter for the vada I came across some fresh basil in the fridge which was almost on its death bed.. hmmm so in an attempt to use it I decided to make a pakodi instead of vada and add basil to it. The pakoda turned out so good.... tasty. My DH simply loved it...its a keeper in my recipe book... Yumm!

here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:

Fresh corn on Cob - 2
Green chilli - 2
Ginger - 1 inch piece
Cilantro - 1/2 cup chopped
Frozen corn kernel - 1/4 cup (optional but preffered)
Onion - 1/2 cup chopped
Fresh basil - 1/2 cup chopped
rice flour - 1/4 cup
Cumin seeds - 1/3 tsp
saunf (fennel seeds) - 1/4 tsp (optional)
salt to taste

Method :

Cut the fresh corn kernels off the cob. You can check how to do it here. Tip - Well instead of a bundt pan u can use a big bowl and place a very small inverted bowl inside it..:) thats how I did it.

In a blender add the fresh corn and all the other ingredients except the frozen corn kernels and onions.The batter should be thick. Dont add more than a tbsp of water (only if needed). If u mixture becomes too liquidy u can add some cornflour or rice flour.

Now to the blended mixture add the frozen corn kernels and onion and mix well.

Heat oil on a medium heat. Put small nuggets of the batter. Fry till they r crisp and golden in colour. Your tasty basil corn Pakodi is ready ! Enjoy with a dash of tomato ketchup...:)

CousCous Halwa & Maitri - the Friendship Chain

2011-05-02T13:40:00.001-07:00

Yoo-hoo I am part of the Maitri team!! The MAITRI Friendship chain is a network of cooks from USA and Canada.

Every blogger who joins the chain is linked with another blogger. Every blogger sends a mystery food item to 2 other bloggers....who in turn try a recipe with the ingredient and later blog about it. The chain continues this way. You can read more about it here.

Anyways my blogger mate was Nancy of Kitchen Gypsies....who was very very sweet to send me this cute little palm pet..:) Thank u so much Nancy We are loving it..:) and a packet of the mystery ingredient which I recognised immidiately to be "Couscous". Thank u Nancy.

I am so sorry I couldn't write this post earlier as I was away for a tiny weeny vacation. Now that I am back to routine and re-freshed, the best way of getting back is by a sweet treat. Yumm!

When I got my packet of couscous... I did some research on it. Couscous is a North African dish and actually is semolina (which I didnt know until now :O). The name is derived from Berber seksu[2] (meaning well rolled, well formed, rounded). You can check Wiki if u want to know more about it.

The recipe that came in my mind was "Couscous Salad" or something like vegetable Upma. I was discussing the same with my friend Lavi of Displaced housewife....who pointed out that there are many very few sweet dishes ever made with couscous. Hmmmm! Interesting...So that how I came up with this Couscous Halwa. And I am so glad I tried this sweet. It was delicious and so so tasty.

Here goes the recipe.

Ingredients :

Couscous - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1/2 cup (we dont like it too sweet. You can add more if u like)
Cardamom Powder - 2 tsp
Ghee roasted Cashews & Almonds - 2 tbsp (small pieces)
ghee - 1 1/2 tbsp
Milk - 1/4 cup
Water - 3/4 cup (u may not need all of it)

Method :

In a saucepan add ghee and roast the couscous in it for 7-8 mins on medium heat or until its golden brown in color.

Add cardamom powder, sugar to the couscous and mix well. Add milk+water mix and stir well. Cover and cook until the couscous becomes dry yet binded together (halwa consistency). Off the gas and serve hot or cold. The yummy couscous Halwa is ready to be devoured.:)

Try it and enjoy it....!

If u find this post and this MAITRI chain interesting....why not join us. ...:) More the foodies more the fun...:)

How to......?

2011-04-01T16:08:00.000-07:00

Have u ever wondered how people create such beautiful and neat fondant work and decoration items on their cakes? I have always. I love making cakes and decorating them...... my sole help is the online sites and videos...this site www.cakejournal.com was one of them..:) I had subscribed to this site a long long time back... but never actual checked it out fully... and Now when I did.. I feel I am was so stupid for not doing so. This site is amazing. I love all her cakes and how professional n neat they look. Wish I can make something like that someday...:) Anyways, the owner of this beautiful site Louise is helping bakers and decorators like me by giving out some of her tricks and ideas..:) she has so many tutorials in her site...and now she is sending across the tutorials in PDF for free... which u can keep on ur counter for reference, when making these sweet delicacies..:D There r toturials to make fondant bows, trains, using paper cones, and so many other pretty things..:) Do check it out!

Dum Aloo

2011-03-09T18:40:00.000-08:00

I love potatoes in all form. Fried, mashed, roasted, boiled, baked anyway u give it to me and I will eat it. I guess this is same with many people...now who doesnt love potatoes. It a boon veggie for moms. I dont know a single kid who hates potato. But beware it id not good for health when fried and roasted in oil. It is a starch and full of carbs so having too much of it is not advisable for ur tummies.

I always used to love the roasted Baby potatoes (Asokan as named by and dad and uncles) my granny used to make. She always used to make it along with Arachuvitta vengaya sambar (onion sambar). Yumm! what an terrific combination it used to be. Or the Aloo saag and mixed veggie curry my mom used to make to go along with phulkas. These were the main curry forms of potato I was accustomed to at home. So when it came to making Dum aloo It was a new dish for me as I have never tasted this before (even in restaurants or at home) never seen anyone make it too..although I have heard the name several times. One solace was that it was made of roasted mini potatoes (just like the Asokan my granny used to make.) and hence I jumped into trying this recipe for the first time. I followed this recipe....mainly coz it didnt ask me to deep fry the potatoes unlike many. I made few changes but nothing major. So here goes..:)

Ingredients :

Small red potatoes / baby potatoes - 5 to 6

Oil - 1 tbsp + 1tbsp

Curd or yogurt - 4 tbsp

Kasuri methi - 1 tsp crushed

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Kitchen king Masala - 1 1/2 tsp

Garam Masala powder - 1 tsp

Coriander-cumin powder - 2 tsp

Fresh coriander leaves for garnish

Tomato puree / canned tomato sauce - 1 small can

Ground Masala paste ( of 1 medium onion, ginger- 1" piece, garlic - 4 pods, Green chilli - 1 ground without adding water)

Method :

Preheat the oven to 350 degree F.

Boil the mini potatoes and peel them. Now poke holes in it using a fork. Now spread the potato on a baking tray and coat them with some oil. Place the potatoes in the preheated oven and let it roast for 20 minutes until the skin becomes lightly crispy.

For the gravy take the rest of the oil in a non stick pan and add the ground masala and saute well until the raw smell of onion goes off. Add the tomato puree and cook well till the tomato puree cooks well and the sauce reduces a bit. Add water if the gravy is too thick. Add the masalas (garam masala, KK masala, CC powder and salt and mix well. Let it simmer for 30 minutes or so.

Add the baked potatoes to the gravy and coat it well with the tomato gravy.

Beat the curd well in a small bowl and pour it on the potato and mix well. Make the gas flame low and let it cook on simmer. I added dum by cover the top with a tight lids and sealing it with maida dough on the rim....for the dum effect. U can skip this too. I cooked the curry on dum for 30 mins on the lowest heat. Remove it from heat and set aside for 5 to 10 mins. remove the seal and garnish with fresh coriander.

This was amazingly tasty. I am glad I tried Dum aloo....do try it and leave me ur comments and experience.

Colorful "No cheese" Pasta Salad

2011-03-09T17:30:00.000-08:00

How can anyone say no to something which looks awesomely delicious and so colorful. I can't. I love food thats colourful....maybe coz I am a fine artist.....color really attracts me even in food. So this was something we had for a dinner last week...along with a bowl of warming low fat tomato basil soup and some garlic bread. Here I am just sharing the recipe for the pasta salad.... will share the soup recipe later.

Ingredients :

Multi grain rotini pasta - 2 cups
Green bell pepper - 1
Red bell pepper - 1
Red onion - 1
Fresh Basil - 3 sprigs
Garlic - 4 cloves
Red chilli flakes - 2tsp
Black pepper - 1 tsp
Olives sliced - 1/2 cup (optional)
salt to taste
lemon juice - 1 tsp
Olive oil - 1 tsp

Method :

In a big pot keep water to boil. Add salt and little olive oil to it and keep it boiling.

Now, In a skillet take some oil and heat it well.Add the red chilli flakes and garlic and suate for few minutes. Add the veggies and stir fry on high flame. See that the veggies get cooked yet remain crisp. As these veggies can even be eaten raw u dont actually need to cook them but stir fry them well so that the flavour of the oil, garlic and chilli coats them well. Off the heat and add the basil leaves roughly torn by hand.

Simulataneously, Add the Pasta to the boiling water and cook till al dente. Drain the pasta and without rinsing transfer the hot pasta into a salad bowl. Add the cooked veggies into the pasta along with some salt , pepper and chopped olives. Mix well. Add some lemon juice on top if needed. My hubby loves lemon in everything so I added some lemon juice and some lemon rind to this... tasted awesome. Do try this Pasta Salad and let me know how it worked for u.

I opted to roast the veggies on stove top, but U can even pop them in the oven and 350 degress for 10 to 15 minutes and add this to the pasta...:)

Enjoy this wholesome goodness..:)

Chana Jor Garam

2011-02-22T14:30:00.000-08:00

"Chana Jor garam..... Chana Jor garam babu main laya mazedaar Chana Jor garam..." Thats the song from the movie kranti... I know its not such a famous song but I remember it because its about my favourite munchy snack "Chana Jor Garam". If u have not seen the movie Kranti I would reccomend u to see it..not for the snack...:P. It is a good Desh bhakti movie with veteran actors and good acting..:)

Here is the song from Kranti for all to enjoy. The funny thing is I found another old song by Shamshad Begum and Kishore kumar...:) It was somewhat same lyrics as the newer one..:P Here is the old song.

In the newer song u can see Shatrughan Sinha and Hema Malini carrying small box kinda thing around there neck.... well thats how the chana vendors in Nagpur used to get it for selling Chana Jor Garam. He will call out loudly " Chana Jor Garam" in a very distinct tone. Ohh how I used to wait for him.... I don't remember if I ever even waited for "R" that way.... hehehe :P. Hope he is not seeing this..:P. My oly memory of having this was when I was in Nagpur. It seems, this street side snack is famous in Mumbai too but sadly I never went past the Bhelpuri n pani poori all the time I was in Mumbai :(

The street version of the chana Jor is deep fried and is very difficult to make.The chana has to be soaked, then dried, then fried and then later flattened into these mini discs. I went for the healthier and easier option "Haldiram's Chana Jor". It is ready made hence easy and baked hence healthy..:)

If any of u ever tried making this chana Jor at home do let me know how u managed doing it. Maybe seeing you I can give it a try. Anyways Once the Haldiram's packet it opened... this recipe is a child'd play.

Ingredients :

(recipe serves 4 or 2 very hungry people like us :d)

Haldiram's Chana Jor Garam - 1 packet
Onion - 1 small chopped

Tomato - 1 chopped

Juice of lemon - 2 tsp

Salt to taste (I used rock salt)

Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp

Cilantro - 2 tbsp (finely chopped)

Raw Mango - 1/3 cup chopped (optional)

Method :

1) Take the chana chor in a microwave safe plate and MW for 45 seconds. I like the chanas to be a bit warm...:) This process is completely optional and doesnt make any difference to the taste of the chana. In a big mixing bowl combine all the ingredients (except salt n chili powder) and mix with a gently hand.

2) Taste the mixture for seasoning and add the salt and chilli powder accordingly.

3) The Haldiram chana chor has added salt in it... so its advisable to taste it before adding any salt. Serve in a Paper cone as I did....and relive the taste and streets of Mumbai / Nagpur :D

Milagu Kozhambu

2011-02-22T13:30:00.000-08:00

The weather has been so bad for past 3 weeks here in Los Angeles. We r getting this unexpected rains and the temperature is dropping down day by day. As a result of all this me and "R" fell ill with cold, cough and congestion. I hate having cough. I can manage even fever and running nose.... but cough is something I cannot manage.

A sweet friend and Neighbour got me this Milagu kozhambu...(pepper gravy) which helped me to ease out and soothe my throat....and the taste was terrific..:). This was the only thing I had for 3 days in a row until my cough and cold was almost gone..(poor "R"..:P). Black pepper has very good medicinal values and is considered to be the best medicine for cold and flu. I followed the recipe from the Indian Vegetarian Kitchen blog. I just altered the pepper a bit (read increased First batch 2 tsp then second batch 1 1/2 tsp) as I felt like having more pepper. And the result was I literallly cried out all my mucous hehehhe...The second batch was better...:P. But I feel for "normal people" unlike me... the quantity given in the IVK blog is perfect...:).

Anyways here goes the recipe.

a) Ingredients :

Tamarind concentrate /pulp - 2 tsp mixed with 1/2 cup water
Sambar powder - 1/2 tsp (rasam powder will also do ;)..)
Asafoetida - a heavy pinch
Riceflour - 1 tsp
Powder jaggery - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Curry leaves - few
Olive Oil - 1 tsp

b) For roasting and grinding :

Urad dhal - 2 tsp
Chana dhal - 2 tsp
Red chillies - 2
Whole black pepper - 1 tsp ( I added 1 1/2 as said earlier..)
Curry leaves - few leaves

Method :

1) Dry roast the above ingredients (b), cool and grind with little water to form a paste. Keep aside.
2) In a vessel add the prepared tamarind water along with salt, sambar powder, hing and 1 cup of water and bring it to a boil for 15 mins.
3) Now add the ground masala to this and mix well. Continue to boil for another 10 mins so that kozhambu becomes a bit thick. If not, add rice flour (mixed in 2 tsp water) to the mix to thicken it.
4) Mix in the jaggery and stir well to dissolve it. Let it boil for few more mins.
5) In another small pan add oil. when hot add the mustard seeds and curry leaves. Once the mustard seeds finish crackling add this tempering to the mixture and mix well.

Serve hot with steamed white rice and ghee. Delicious and heavenly when ur having a bad cold..:) Enjoy and take care :D

I am sending this recipe to the Boommarked recipe- Every Tuesday event for Aipi and Priya..:) sorry cudnt add the logo due to blooger glitch...:)

Tofu in Chilli garlic Sauce

2011-02-18T11:49:00.000-08:00

I got this recipe from a friend in a common orkut community. I had to try this immidiately. Lucky for me I had all the ingredients needed for making this curry. So here it goes. Thanks Meena for sharing this super easy recipe with me..:)

Ingredients :

Firm Tofu - 1 pack
Baby corn - 1 can
Broccolli florets - 1 cup
Red onion - 1/2 cup sliced
Garlic - 12 pods (finely chopped)
Sesame oil /Olive oil - 1 tbsp
Red Chilli paste - 2 tbsp (I used Sambal Oelek)
Tomato Ketchup - 4 Tbsp
Vinegar - 1/2 tsp
Sugar - 1/2 tsp
Celery - 1 stick (finely sliced)
Green Capsicum - 1 (chopped in chunks)
Ching's all-in-one sauce - 1 Tbspn ( I used simple Soya Sauce)
Salt to taste
Cornflour - 1 tspn

Method :

1) Drain and wash tofu and cut into cubes. 2) Heat oil in a wok and stir fry the garlic for a minute or so. 3) Add celery, onion and spring onion and stir fry for 2 mins. 4) Add the Broccoli, capsicum and baby corn and stir fry well for another 3 mins.

5) Mix Cornflour in 1/2 cup of cold water and keep aside. 6) Mix salt, sugar, vinegar, Tomato ketchup, red chilli paste and ching's All-in-one in a cup and mix well for a minute.

7) Add tofu to the stir fried garlic and mix gently. 8) Add the conflour and spice mixture to the tofu along with a cup of water and stir. 9) Let it boil for 5 to 7 minutes and bring it down to a boil.

Serve along side fried rice or noodles and enjoy :)

Microwave Paal Gova

2011-02-18T09:30:00.000-08:00

I used to love this sweet as a kid. It was my only favorite sweet. My mom used to make this often especially on diwalis. I used to enjoy eating cup full of these those days but now I can't afford it right? The only thing that comes to my mind is sugar, fat and calories hehehe. How people change as they grow. But still this is my favorite sweet and given a chance I can still eat cup fulls on this..:P yummm!

I remember my mama used to get this for me from the chennai Aavin counter in the station just before our train was ready to leave. I used to enjoy it all the way back to Nagpur. Yum!

Here is the easy to make recipe. Traditionally making this sweet takes lots of patience.When my mom used to make this earlier she used to take so much time making this. Taking milk in a kadhai and then cooking it in high flame until it reduces. Yumm! but so streneous. Thanks to the technology and new inventions:d

Ingredients :

Sweetened Condensed Milk - 1 tin
Yogurt - 1 tbsp
Ghee - 2 tsp

Method :

1) In a deep Microwave safe bowl add the ghee and melt it for 20 secs. 2) Now add the Condensed milk and yogurt and mix well and Microwave at high for 5 minutes. 3) Keep stirring every 1 minute until the condensed milk thickens but not dries up. 4) Alter the timing depending on the power of your microwave. Your delicious sweet is ready..:)

** U can use evaporated milk instead of condensed milk to alter the sugar that goes into ur sweet. look for unsweetened condensed milk if u can get it..:)

Enjoy this lovely piece of heaven...:)

Ammani Kozhakattai

2011-02-16T16:47:00.000-08:00

This is one of my favorite evening snack. I used to love this as a kid. Every Pillayar Chaturthi I used to wait for the poojas to get over so that I can enjoy these amazing Kozhakattais....:)

So here come the recipe for the heavenly kozhakattais..:)

Ingredients :

Rice flour - 1 cup

Red chilli powder - 3 tsp

Hing - 1/4 tsp

Salt to taste

Oil - 1 tbsp + 1 tsp

Warm water - 1/2 cup

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - few

Red chilli - 3

Method :

In a bowl mix all the ingredients together into a soft pliable dough. make small marble size balls of the dough. Steam the balls in a pressure cooker.

In another small pan take some oil and heat it well. Add the mustard seeds, curry leaves and the red chiili. Let it brown a bit and then add it to the steamed kozhakattai.

Enjoy this easy to make simple snack...:)

Khatta Meetha Stuffed Karela

2011-02-10T12:10:00.000-08:00

I hate Karelas..... yes literally hate. But this one recipe was something which I love....inspite of it being made with karela.... The best part is... u cannot taste the bitterness atall..:)

I got this Idea from a college friend who used to get these in her dabba. I never bothered to taste it then because it was karela, but now when I think and see how much nutrients r there in karela.. we (me n R) r trying to get it into our food list..:) As we both hate it, I had to try some recipe which will make it easier for us to try it..:P

Hence came this recipe of Khatta meetha Karela...:)

Ingredients :

Karela / bitter gourd - 6 (ends cut , slit length wise and scooped out )
Onion - 1/2 cup finely chopped
Tomato - 1 1/2 cup finely choped
Ginger n garlic - 1 tsp finely chopped
Potato - 4 big boiled
Tamarind pulp - 1 bsp
Jaggery - 1 lemon size piece or 2 to 3 tbsp (depending on how sweet the jaggery is )
Salt to taste
Chaat masala - 1 tsp
Red chilli powder- 1tsp
Garama Masala - 1/2 tsp
Amchoor powder - 2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Cumin coriander powder - 1 tsp
Oil - few tsps

Method :

1) Clean the karela and wash it under running water. Sprinkle about 1 to 1 1/2 tsp salt on the karelas and keep aside for 2-3 hrs. The karela will leave water.
2) Drain that water and rinse each karela well under running water. I dont like the bitter taste at all in the karela....atleast for my first try with it. This process will remove most of the bitterness from the karela..:) U can skip this if ur okie with the bitterness :d

3) Now for the filling. In a pan take some oil and add the ginger garlic paste. fry for 2 minutes and add the chopped onions.
4) When the onions r tender n pink add the tomato along with the red chilli powder, garam masala, turmeric powder, chaat masala and coriander cumin powder. Mix well and let the tomato cook well and become pasty.

5) Now add the mashed potato and mix well. Let all the spices mix well into the Potato. Add salt to taste and amchoor powder. Remember u have salt in the karelas too so be careful not to over salt ur filling.

6) Add 1/4 cup of water to the tamrind pulp and mix well. Dissolve the jaggery in the tamarind juice and mix well. I used powdered jaggery which was easy to dissolve..:)
7) pour this mixture over ur filling and give a final stir. Mix well and ur filling is ready now..:)
taste it and add more amchoor or red chilli powder as needed.

8) Now comes the assembly and cooking. Stuff this filling inside the slit karelas. If ur karelas r sleek they will hold the filling well. Mine weren't holding the filling so I tied it with a thin thread. This helped the filling from not coming out when cooking.

9) Now u can either steam this in a pressure cooker or shallow fry it in a pan or Tava. I went for the option 2. Fry the karela till its crisp and dark brown spot appear on it..:) Your Khattha Meetha Karela is ready to be savoured..:D

10) If u have any leftover filling add it to a pan and pour 1/3 cup of water to it. make it like a gravy and add the fried karelas to it. It will become Bharva karela curry :D.

Enjoy it the way u want..:d. We loved it :)

Matar Salad

2011-02-08T17:05:00.000-08:00

This is a tasty, refreshing and amazing Salad. Simple to make and healthy to eat :) Me n "R" both like to have lotsa veggies in our diet. I am practically crazy about raw veggies... I can enjoy a salad anytime of the day.... provided someone makes it for me.:P Did i mention I am very very lazy? ;).

Well this recipe was invented a fine day when I was out of salad (remember the big bag of salad u get in costco?). So i decided I will make a salad with some beans...checked the pantry and see my luck I was out of all beans too... no garbanzo cans, red beans or even black beans..:( I looked into the freezer and saw some green peas and voila... a recipe was born :)

Ingredients :

Frozen peas - 1 cup
Carrot - 1/3 cup (finely chopped or grated)
Onion - 1/2 cup (finely chopped)
Tomato - 1/2 cup (optional I didnt have it)
Lemon juice - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Black pepper - 1/2 tsp
Fresh coriander - 1/3 cup (finely chopped)

Method :

1) In a microwave bowl take the frozen peas and microwave for 5 to 6 minutes. 2) Let it cook well but not too mushy. 3) add the chopped carrots, onions, tomato and mix well. 4) Add salt, black pepper and the fresh coriander and mix well. 5) U can add some chopped lettuce if u like..:)

Enjoy this fresh Salad :)

Kala Chana Chaat

2011-02-08T10:37:00.000-08:00

Lelo...Lelo....Chana chaat lelo...:) Yummm! I love Chaats. They are tangy, spicy, sweet and so so yumm....and I thank god Radha is one too. I often make this for evening snacks.

The recipe is really simple and easy to make... does need some preparations like soaking the kala Chana over night...:)

Ingredients :

Kala Chana - 1 cup (Soaked overnight and cooked in the pressure cooker for 4 whistles)
Onion - 1 (finely chopped)
Tomato - 1 large (finely chopped)
Potato - 1 big (boiled and diced)
Salt to taste
Lemon juice - 1 tsp
Red Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Tamarind chutney - 1/4 cup (optional... but if u have it its better)
Pepper - 1/4 tsp (optional)
Fresh Coriander leaves - few sprigs (finely chopped)
Green chillies - 1 (finely chopped)
Sev - 1/2 cup (for garnishing)

Method :

1) Take the cooked Kala chana in a bowl. 2) Add the chopped Tomatoes, Green chillies, onions and potato in the bowl along with the chana and mix well. Add the salt, red chilli, pepper and mix well again. 3) Mix in the lemon juice , tamarind chutney and fresh coriander leaves. Garnish with some sev and serve.

Your tangy, tasty evening snack is ready. Yum Yum yum !...:) Enjoy this awesome chaat n do remember me when u do ;)

Roasted Batata Vada

2011-02-05T19:25:00.000-08:00

Yes.... I am thinking fried n oily food today. First I posted an Onion Pakoda recipe and then a batata Vada post..... but thank god this one is not deep fried... compared to its original version..:d This is a roasted Vada paav. I want to thank my friend Pooja from college to pass this idea to me of making a guilt free batata vada...:P Thank u Pooja :) I owe u one :D

I made these vadas for our evening snack yday. When I first told "R" I am making Batata vada his first reaction was "nooooo" ...hehhe yeah. We both r having cold and the idea of heating oil, the smoke and the greasy batata vada is the last thing we want now..:P Inspite of the great love we have for the vada we just can't bear the heated oil smoke in our home. When I told him I am roasting it...He was excited to try it :). really the vadas turned out so good....I didnt miss the oil at all...:) It was yum yum !

Ingredients:

Potatoes : 4 big russets (boiled and lightly mashed)
Garlic - 8 pods (the more u have the tastier it tastes)
Ginger - 1" piece finely chopped
Curry leaves - 10 to 12 leaves
Green chilli - 2 finely chopped
Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup finely chopped
Oil - 2 tsp + 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Jeera (cumin) - 1/3 tsp
Besan - 1/2 cup
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp + 1 tsp
A paniyaram pan.

Method :

1) In a saute pan add 2 tsp of oil. To it add the chopped garlic, ginger and green chilli. After its sauted a bit... add the curry leaves and turmeric powder.
2) Add the mashed potato and salt and mix well. Heat it the spices mix well with the potato. Add the fresh chopped coriander and mix well. Ur potato filling is ready. 3) Make small marble size balls of the mixture and keep aside.

4) In another bowl, mix in the besan, salt, red chilli powder and turmeric powder with some water. Mix well into a nice batter somewhat like a dosa batter consistency.
5) Heat the paniyaram pan (preferably a nonstick...as it takes less oil..) and put a drop of oil in each of the pans. Dip the balls in the batter and fry them. Turn it after it cooks on one side. Cook both the sides. Remove from the pan and eat it with some garlic chutney or Tomato ketchup.

U can also stuff this vada into a bun or paav and enjoy delicious vada paav :)

Onion Pakoda

2011-02-05T12:44:00.000-08:00

Rainy, cold evening, steaming cup of coffee.... someone to talk sweet nothings and crispy hot onion pakodas... hmmm wtelse can u ask for?

Last month Los angeles witnessed some very bad rain.....now dont give me stares...but it was really bad compared to what we get normally. I have never seen so much rain in the past 4 years that I have been here. First 2 days were like "wow its raining".

Next few days were like "again....? good we need water to remove the scarcity" .

After those early few days....it was like " what the hell its raining again....I hate it :P"

Now I know that an overdose of anything can make u hate it :P

Anyways whats best than hot crispy pakodas for a rainy evening..:)

Ingredients :

Onion - 2 (Any type will do...I used red)

Besan (gram flour) - 1 3/4 cup

Rice flour - 1 tbsp

Salt to taste

Red chilli powder - 2 tsp

Green chilli - 1 finely chopped (optional)

Fresh coriander - few sprigs (for additional flavour...but is completely optional)

Oil for deep frying

Method :

1) Heat the oil in a kadai on medium heat and then clean and chop the onions into thin slices...such that u can seperate each layer. Add salt, red chilli powder and keep aside covered for 10 to 15 minutes. 2) The onions will leave water.

3) Add the gram flour and rice flour to the onions and mix well. 4)Mix the besan and rice flour together. Add the flour little by little to the onions.... U may sometimes not even need the whole 1 3/4 cup of flour depending on the amount of water the onions leave. Add green chillies, coriander leaves and mix well. The batter shouldn't be running. 5) It should be thick and sticky. Dont add water to this. If u feel u added more flour, just let the batter sit for 10 minutes or more and then mix it well... it should become fine.

6) Now check if the oil is hot. The oil should be moderately hot so that the pakodas rise as soon as u put them in oil. 7) Fry the pakodas until golden and remove on a kitchen towel (paper napkin ) to drain the excess oil.

Serve with hot filter coffee on a rainy evening... or even otherwise..:) enjoy!

New Mehendi Designs

2011-02-04T13:02:00.001-08:00

The new mehendi design...:) do comment plz :)

Doodh Peda

2011-02-04T11:59:00.001-08:00

Deliciouso ! I love milk sweets. Anything made out of milk (except payasams) I simply love them especially the bengali sweets. Somehow I can't stop myself from have seconds n thirds and fourths.... well u know what i mean ;)

I saw this Microwave doosh peda recipe in spme blog.. I dont remember where... and bookmarked it (I lost the link when I formatted my pc ). It was the most simple recipe and the pedas where awesome... as if I entered a sweet shop in India..:) yumm! I did find a scribble on my recipe book for the peda....which i had written for a friend. (thank godd!!!! :P) So happy to see the recipe... I decided to try these again...:) its a fool proof recipe. I will share the original recipe when I get it through my innumerous seraches. I do remember the picture for the original peda.... but forgot the link... hmm so stupid right?

Anyways this what I had scribbled on my notebook...:)

Ingredients :

Low fat Milk powder - 1 3/4 cups
Condensed Milk - 1 can (14 oz)
Butter / Ghee (room temperature) - 4tbsp (1/2 stick)
Cardamom powder - 1/4 tsp
Crushed pistachio - for garnishing
Saffron - few strands (optional - i didn't use it )

Method :

1) In a microwave safe deep bowl add the butter, condensed milk, milk powder and cardamom powder. Mix well.
2) Microwave for 3-4 minutes. Remember all microwaves differ so keep checking. Remove and microwave the mixture every 1 minute.
3) Take a small portion and try to roll it between ur fingers. If it retains the shape and doesn't stick, that means its done.
4) When it cools, take small lemon size pieces and roll into a ball. Gently press in the centre forming into a disc.Put some coarse pitachio powder in the centre of the peda and press well.

your lovely pedas r ready to be enjoyed. It was yumm!

Tandoori Veggies

2011-02-02T11:03:00.001-08:00

Well as a lovely friend said....looks like I am on a streak...:) I am posting almost everyday from the past 4 days....which beleive me is a lot according to my earlier posting schedule :P. Hope I keep the good work on.

Anyways coming to the recipe....its a vegetarian tandoori dish using tofu and other vegetables. Many friends who saw this pic first thought I have become a non vegetarian and started cooking mutton or chicken....hmmm maybe they thought so because of the colour. But I guarantee this is pure pure vegetarian dish :P

It easy to make and goes good as an evening snack or serve it on a platter of pulav n raita..:)

Ingedients :

Firm Tofu - 1 cup (chopped in big cubes)
Green bell pepper - 1 cup (chopped in big chunks)
Cherry tomato - 1 small box
Button Mushrooms - 1 small box
Chinese eggplant - 1 (chopped in thick slices)
Zuchini - 1 big (chopped in thick slices)
Onion - 1 medium (cut in big chunks keeping the layers intact)
Garlic - 3 cloves (minced)
(you can use other veggies like squash, potato etc)

For the Marinade :

Salt to taste
Hung curd - 1 cup
Tandoori Masala - 2 tsp
Chaat masala - 1 tsp
Kitchen king masala - 1/2 tsp
Pepper - 1/2 tsp
Ginger paste - 1 tsp
Coriander cumin powder - 2 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Lemon juice - 2 tsp
Olive oil - 1/2 tbsp
Red food color - 2 pinches (optional)

Method :

1) Preheat the oven at 350 F.Mix all the marinade ingredients in a bowl (except oil). Beat it well into a smooth paste. Do a taste check and adjust the seasoning.. the marinade should be nice n thick...not runny. see that ur hung curd has no water in it at all..:)
2) Put all ur chopped vegetables in a big bowl. Add the marinade to this and mix gently. Dont mush or break the vegetables. U can use ur hand to toss it gently.....so that the marinate coats all the vegetables well.I do that :) Cover and leave it here for atleast an hour.
3) After an hour thread in the vegetables in any order u want into a wooden skewer. Wet the skewers before threading the veggies so that they dont burn in the heat from the oven. U can even skip the sweker and actually roast these of stove top using a hot hot pan / tava :)
4) Anyways once u have threaded the veggies place them in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. keep turning it in between and keep and eye on the oven all the time. U dont want ur veggies to be burnt...:). Additionally u can run the oven at "broil" for 2 mins maybe to give it a charged look...:)

Ur Tandoori veggies r ready. Remove it from the skewers and serve it along with some yogurt dip or simply serve it on ur vegetable pulav. Enjoy !

Eggless Triple Chocolate Cake

2011-02-01T19:00:00.000-08:00

It looks yummy right? It tasted yummier...trust me. I made this cake for this new year of 2011 with some help from "R" who actually offered to help me out with baking this cake. He was surprised on how simple it is to bake...."provided you follow the measurements" :) This is very simple cake and it is eggless. I got the Idea of making this from Anu's blog Mriganayani .
Her chocoholics cake was awesome n looked so tempting... that I had to try it out :)

I call it Triple chocolate coz its a dark chocolate cake with chocolate icing and dark chocolate ganache. Three delicious layers of chocolate...:) I made few changes to the recipe... but the idea is fully from Anu's blog.

Ingredients for the cake :
yields one 8-9" cake

All purpose flour - 1 and 1/2 cup
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Baking soda - 1 tsp
Unsweetened Cocoa Powder - 1/2 cup
Vanilla extract /essence - 1 1/2 tsp
Canola oil - 1/3 cup
White Distilled Vinegar - 1 tbsp
Cold water - 1 cup

Ingredients for Chocolate Icing :
( to cover two 9" cake with the filling of icing in between)

Butter - 1cup (2 stick)
Unsweetened Cocoa - 1 cup
Powdered Sugar - 1 1/4 cup
Milk - 2/3 cup
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp

Ingredients for the Chocolate Ganache :

Dark Chocolate chips : 1 cup
Whipping cream - 3/4 cup
Corn Syrup - 1 tsp (optional)

Method :
1) Preheat the oven to 350 F. Firstly bake the cake. From the ingredients given for the chocolate cake mix all the dry ingredients (except salt n sugar) and sift it atleast two times. 2) In another bowl wisk together all the wet ingredients with salt and sugar. Wisk well to dissolve the sugar and salt in the vinegar, oil n water mixture. 3) Slowly keep adding the dry mixture into the wet ones. Mixing with a hand blender so that the batter becomes aereated and has no lumps in it. 4) Once the batter is smooth, pour it into two 8-9" greased cake pan and bake in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Keep checking inbetween.5) Mine were done in 22 minutes, so please keep checking and do a toothpick test before removing the cake out of the oven. 6) Take it out and invert it on a cooling rack for cooling down. Once cooled wrap it in a plastic wrap and keep it in the freezer or fridge for cooling. It helps best if the cake is cool before u start icing.

7) For the icing, beat room temperature butter in a deep bowl. Add powdered sugar little by little and beat until the icing is fluffy n smooth. Add cocoa powder, vanilla essence and beat again until smooth n creamy. 8) If u want to do a crumb coating ur icing should be of a spreadable consistency. So add milk to the icing little by little to make is thinner and easily spreadable. 9) If u want to use ur icing for decorating keep the icing thick. Piping designs hold better when the icing is thick. Keep icing aside.

10) Prepare the ganache by boiling cream in a pot. 11) Take the chocolate chips in a bowl and when the cream is in a rolling boil pour it on the chocolate chips. 12) Let it stay for 2 minutes and then stir well using a wisk until the chocolate blend in with the cream. Let it form a smooth creamy chocolate sauce. Add corn syrup to the sauce to add that shine to the chocolate sauce. Keep aside in room temperature or in a warm place. Remember it should be cool or room temperature when ur r pouring it on the cake.

Assembly of the cake :

1) Keep on cake on the cut cardboard on which u will serve ur cake. Place small plastic sheet/ parchement or foil sheets below the cake and over the board... so that the icing and ganache when put on the cake dont spoil ur cake board.Cut the rough or hard edges of the cakes well and remove the crumbs if any. 2) Put about a big spoonful of icing on one cake (this form the lower layer of ur 2 layered cake). Spread it on the cake to form a thick layer of the icing. 3) Place the second cake on it and spread another big spoonful of icing on it. Cover even the sides of the cake in a thin layer of icing. This is called the crumb coat.
4) Keep the iced cake in the freezer for 30 minutes or so... for the crumb coating to become hard. 5) Remove and spread another thick layer of the icing on the top and sides of the cake. Smooth it well. 6) Now u can either decorate it with the remaining icing and piping bags...or use the ganache as i did...:) This cake will take awesome even without the ganache..:)
7) Keep the cake on a clean serving. Spread some plastic sheets to collect the falling ganache. 8) Now pour the cooled ganache on the cake... let it overflow and drip from the edge. 8)I used a serving spoon and kinda splashed it on the sides to cover the cake completely. Let this cake stay in the until the ganache solidifies a bit. Remove the plastic pieces kept for protection... Ur cake is ready to be served n enjoyed..:)

Hope ur enjoyed this recipe...:) Do give me ur valuable opinion on the same. Love u guys.. and have a great year ahead :)

Vegetable Sheperd's pie

2011-02-01T12:46:00.001-08:00

Vegetable Sheperd's pie. This is something i tried long ago... took pics and never bothered to post. This savoury pie is very simple to make and filling..:) A nice way to include all the veggies u family normally tries to avoid..:) Kids love this pie too. U can either bake it in a big casserole or make individual portions of the pie in Ramekins..:) A Sheperd's pie normally is a supposed to be "no extravagant dinner". It was something the sheperd's wife used to make with leftovers available and vegetables. U can even add chicken or any other meat to this recipe. Mine is a vegetarian version. I dunno much about the origin of this recipe but know that it is something I am gonna make often..:)

Ingredients :
Filling :

Fresh or frozen Vegetables (blanched,steamed or microwaved except mushrooms) - 3 cups (I used mushrooms, cauliflower, green beans, carrots, celery, corn, spinach, peas & Bell peppers)
Onion minced - 1 cup
Tomato finely chopped - 1 cup
Cooked garbanzo beans - 1 small can
Cilantro or parsley - few sprigs
Italian seasoning (oregano will do too ) - 2tbsp
Salt to taste
Olive oil - 2 tbsp
Chopped Garlic - 4 cloves
Vegetable stock or water - 1 cup
Red chilli powder or hot sauce - 2 tsp
Black pepper - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Cover :

Russet potato - 3 large (boiled and mashed)
Cream or heavy cream - 1/4 cup
salt to taste
Black pepper - 1 tsp
minced garlic - 1 clove

Method :
1) Heat oil in a deep bottom pan and add chopped garlic, onion and stir fry for few minutes. 2) Once the onion is slightly browned add the chopped tomato and saute well for few minutes. 3) Add all the steamed vegetables and garbanzo to the saute pan and mix well. 4) Add salt, pepper, red chilli powder, italian seasoning, mushroom and parsley and cook till the vegetables r coated with the spices and completely cooked. See that its not mushy. 5) Check the seasoning and add more if needed..:)

6) Preheat the oven to 350 F and Prepare the covering by adding cream , salt, garlic and pepper to the mashed potato. Mix well seeing that there are no lumps. 7) Now for the assembly, put the vegetable filling in a oven proof greased pie pan. 8) Level the vegetable filling on the pan and spread little bit of the potato cover mixture on the filling evenly. 9) Put rest of the potato mixture in an icing bag with a large star tip. Pipe out potato stars on the evened out potato. Cover the whole area. 10) Place the pie pan in a preheated oven and bake until bubbly for about 30 minutes. I even broiled it for a minute or 2... for the nice golden brown crust...:). Enjoy this awesome and yummy Sheperd's pie to your heart's content. It is a very filling meal to be enjoyed in a winter evening.

Hope u liked this recipe. Do leave ur valuable comments..:)

Vietnamese Banh mi Chay and an Award. Yaaay !

2011-02-01T08:30:00.000-08:00

This Sandwich is currently my favourite sandwich. I saw the recipe for this sandwich on Delhi belle's blog and I was instantly tempted to try this out.

I was curious about this particular bahn mi from the time i saw the food network show "The great food truck race" or something and they had this truck called "Nom Nom truck" which sold these sandwiches. It was a hot cake and that truck always came first in the truck to the do the most bussiness... hmm. I was very curious to see how a simple sandwich can beat grilled burger and cheese sandwich and other yummy trucks... hmm.. Btw they didn't win the tv show... they were runner ups though..:). The truck runs in LA and sells awesome veg n non-veg sandwiches. My recipe here is a Vegetarian one..:)

Anyway coming back to the recipe. When I saw this on Delhi belle's blog I had to try it immidiately. Me n R being sandwich lovers it wasnt difficult to convince him about having this for dinner..:)

Here is the original recipe. I will be anyways putting up the recipe again here.I didnt make much changes other than the tofu marinate as I didnt have lemongrass at hand.Also I want to thank Priya of Mharo rajasthan for motivating me to post this recipe with her awesome event "Bookmarked recipes - Every Tuesdays" . I am sending this recipe to that event..:)

Ingredients for sweet n sour pickle :

Carrot julliened - 1 cup
Daikon radish (mooli) julliened - 1 cup
Vinegar - 1/4 cup
Sugar - 1 tbsp
Salt - 1 1/2 tsp
water - 2 cups

Marinated & flavoured tofu :

Firm tofu - 100 gms (8 slices 1 cm thick)
Mexican season powder (spicy fruit salt) - 2 tbsp (if u dont have this u can mix salt,sugar & red chilli powder )
Lemon juice - 2 tsp
Olive oil - 1 tsp
chopped Garlic / paste - 2 tsp
Soy sauce - 2 tsp (optional)
Black Pepper powder - 1 tsp

Other Ingredients :

French (wheat) Baguette - 1
Mayonaise / Veganaise*- 1 cup
Cilantro - 1 bunch
Shallot / red onion - 1/2 cup
Pickled Red chilli - 1/4 cup (u can make this at home like the sweet & sour pickle)
Ching's Mushroom sauce - 2 tbsp (optional)

*Veganaise is a vegan mayonaise...and its eggfree :)

Method :

The sweet n sour Pickle : 1) Mix the Julliened carrot and daikon in a boil. 2) In another bowl add the vinegar, salt, sugar and water and mix well until the sugar and salt dissolves well. 3) Pour the mixture on the daikon n carrot and mix well. 4) Keep this aside for an hour for the daikon n carrot to marinate.After using in the sandwich u can store the rest in a glass jar for later use. It stays good for atleast a month. 5) Do the same with the red chilli and store in a glass jar. Stays well atleast for a month.

Marinated and flavoured tofu : 1) Place the sliced tofu on a plate. 2) Sprinkle the fruit salt (or the red chilli, salt, sugar mix ), soy sauce, Lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and pepper on the tofu and rub it gently on the tofu. 3) See the the tofu doesnt break or get mashed up. 4) Allow it to marinate for an hour. 4) After an hour heat a griddle / tawa and roast the tofu on it. U can even bake it if u want...:)

***Cheater tip ;) - U dont actually need to marinate the tofu for 1 whole hour.:p. I just marinated it for just 15 minutes and it was perfect... but yeah 1 hour would be the best maybe :D

Assembly of the sandwich : 1) Cut the baguette in half and then slit it lengthwise. Toast it on a tawa for few minutes. The sandwich tastes crisper and nice when its warm :). 2) Spread a generous amount of the mayonaise on the bread. 3) Now drain a couple of spoonful of the sweet n sour pickle from its brine and add it to the sandwich. 4) Now, arrange some onion, the baked tofu and some sprigs of fresh cilantro on the sandwich. Keep the stems intact in the cilantro... it adds to the taste. 5) Add few drops of the mushoom sauce if u r using it.

Ur Yummy Vietnamese Banh Mi Chay sandwich is ready. Enjoy it and do leave me ur valuable comments n suggestions..:) Once again I thank Delhi Belle for this lovely recipe..:)

Now for some award time...:) I want to thank my new blogger friend Harika of Harika's blog for this awesome award. Thank u so much for tagging my blog as a Stylish blog :)

Isn't this pretty?? Yeah I know it is..:)

So to recieve this award I have some rules to follow. As we all know blogging is about knowing and sharing with others...so to accept this award there r certain criterias to be fulfilled.

1) Thank and link back to the blogger who awarded you with this award.

2) Share 7 things about you.

3) Award 15 recently discovered bloggers.

4) Contact the blogger and Inform them of the award.

So to start with I did the first part of thanking dear Harika. The second will be 7 things about me. Hmmm so here it goes..:)

- I love being a homemaker

- I love living in LA.

- I love crafting and also like to learn new art and craft forms..:). I love painting and cake decorating of them all..:)

- I am very very lazy....specially when it comes to blogging :D

- I am super talkative.

- I am super sensitive and very possesive :P

- I love India and want to someday go back and settle there..:)

Now comes the third part... Share it with 15 new bloggers... hmm. As I have not been very active for past few months/ years I think this is the most difficult job I have..:P

Anyways, here it goes

- Harika of Harika's kitchen ( just came to know her through this award..:)

- Sheela of Delectable-Victuals

- Veena of Veena's Veg Nation

- Pinki of Desi Fusion corner

- Madhuri of Ma recipes

- Mahima of Indian Vegetarian Kitchen

- Vegan Dad

- Ranjani of Wake up and smell the Masala

- Meena of Meena's corner

- Kitchen Flavours

- Richa of As dear as Salt

- Sowmya of Creative Saga

- Yasmeen of Health Nut

- Annapoorna of Kadchhi ke Kamal

- Jyotsana of the Cook's Cottage

Wow these r some awesome blogs. I hope u all love these blogs as much I do...:) U all guys r doing a great job and I hope u love this award and accept it :)

Now the last part... well I will do that..:)

Love ya guys... see ya again later with a delicious post..:)

Vegetable American Chopsuey Yummy!

2011-01-26T16:50:00.001-08:00

American-Chopsuey, originally uploaded by gems7882.

Super yummy...

I love Indo Chinese.As I mentioned earlier...Its our favourite. And American chopsuey is the most favourite of them all. And being here in US it is very difficult to find authentic Indo chinese. I love this restaurant in Artesia named Tangy Tomato. Its the best Indo chinese food I had after coming to US.And their American chopsuey is just yum!. So here I am trying to re create the Tangy Magic.

Ingredients for noodles:

Ramen noodles : 2 packets

For the sauce :

Garlic - 8 cloves minced
Tomato sauce / Ketchup - 1 cup
Soya sauce - 1 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Sugar - 1 1/2 tbsp
Oil - 1 tsp
Cornstarch / Cornflour - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

For the Vegetables :

Onion - 1 sliced
Green Bell Pepper - 1 (sliced thin)
Cauliflower - 1/2 cup (chopped)
Carrots - 2 (sliced like matchsticks)
Green beans - 7 to 8 French cut
Soya suace - 1 tbsp
Crushed black pepper - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
Salt to taste

Garnish :

Green Onions - 2 to 3 stalks

Method : Preheat the oven to 400 degree F.Break the 2 packets of noodles into small pieces and spread it on a cookie sheet. Spray some cooking oil on the noodles and place them inside the oven for 10 minutes. Take care not to burn the noodles.Keep moving the noodles every 3-4 minutes to avoid them from getting burnt.

For the sauce : Heat the oil in a pan and fry the garlic for a minute.Add the tomato sauce, red chilli powder, salt, soya sauce and sugar. Add 1 1/2 cups of water. Mix well and let the whole thing come to a boil.Mix the conflour with a tbsp of cold water and pour it in the sauce while stirring.Cook for another minute or so on low flame. The sauce should be thick and shiny now.keep aside.

For the vegatables :I use a wok for this process as I need to stirfry the veggies and not cook them completely. The veggies should be crunchy.First microwave or blanch the cauliflower /brocolli n and keep aside.See that u dont overcook it. Now in a wok take some oil and heat it up well. Add the onions and stirfry for a minute. Now add in the bell pepper, carrots, Green beans, cauliflower and stirfry again. The veggies should be cooked yet crunchy.Now add Salt, pepper and soya sauce. Toss well. Remove from heat.

Assembly : When ur ready to serve, In a dish place the toasted noodles. Top that with the veggies and the sauce. Garnish with chopped green onions and serve hot. This is yummy with fried rice, roti or even as it is..:)

Vegetable Sushi Rolls

2011-01-21T15:24:00.000-08:00

Yum Yum! I am kind of in love with this japanese delicacy. Its so simple and tasty, yet so flavourful and very easy to make.And surprisingly DH "R" is also liking it. He is not a great fan of the seaweed or the smeel or Rice vinegar yet.. he gulped down a good amount of these little cuties (sushis).

Firstly I wanna appologise to all my dear readers for dissappearing from the blogosphere without any warning sign or post. There were so many things going on in my life that my little blog took the back seat in my journey through life. Now that things seem better I am back again to cook and blog about it. In this gap that I had.. I cooked many delicious recipes....some my own creation and some from fellow bloggers. I even took loads of snap... but just couldnt blog about it. Hopefully I can share with u all the lovely trial, failures and learning experience I had in my cooking world.

Anyways coming back to my sushi recipe. I have been wanting to try this (eating as well as making) from the time I saw this in a local food store about 3.5 yrs back, but never could as I wanst sure if they r pure vegetarian. Few years back I had seen this recipe of the vegetarian Sushi somewhere on youtube and was eager to try it out. It turned out pretty good and it was so easy to make as well..(provided u watch some youtube videos which will teach u how to roll the sushis well :) Like i did )

Source : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgw0ODfWSOs

I made changes according to my taste.

Ingredients for rice:
Sushi rice : 1 cup
Sugar - 1 tbsp
Rice vine vinegar - 2 tbsp
Salt - 1/2 tsp

Method : Making this rice properly is the most important part of sushi making. Clean the rice well under cold tap water until water runs clear. Dont over rinse the rice.Spread the rice on the sieve or colander and leave it there for 30 mins until dry.

Place the rice and 1.5 cups of water in a rice cooker and cook well.

While the rice is cooking mix the vinegar, salt and sugar together and heat in the microwave for 25 sec or less. See that the mixture should boil or overflow.Set aside and alow to cool.

Once the rice is cooked. Remove it to a big bowl (wide one preferably) Spread the rice gently in the bowl. Dont throw ur rice cooker insert in the sink yet... its work is not over yet. Dont over mix or break the grain or even mash the rice. "Be gentle" is the key. Drizzle the dressing on te rice and slash the rice with the edge of ur laddle...(sort of like cutting the rice) mix well so that rice is coated well with the dressing and has a gloss.

put ur rice back into ur rice cooker and keep it on warm...until ur ready to roll ur sushi.

Ingredients for the sushi :

Roasted Nori sheets - 1 pack (mine had 10 sheets. If u don't get roasted one, u can always buy a regular one and then roast it on a griddle or on direct flame.)
Avacado - 1 sliced
cucumber - 1 small julliened*
carrot - 1 small julliened*
Wasabi - 2 tsp (or any other condiments - horseradish, pickled ginger etc)
1/4 cup Rice Vinegar

(* Julliened - cut into think long strips)

Tools :

" Bamboo sushi mat " this is an essetial tool for making sushi. This makes it easy to roll the sushi into those beautiful tight rolls.This is very inexpensive and easily available in asian store. I got mine from Ikea.

"Sushi rolling video" How much ever I explain to u how to roll it, it will be advisable to watch a sushi rolling video for better understanding.

Method :

Cut ur Vegetables in strips and keep this covered in the refrigerator.

Place ur sushi mat on a flat work surface. Your dining table will do. Place the nori sheet -shiny side down on the mat with the lines on the nori aligned with that on the bamboo mat.

Dip ur fingertip in the bowl of rice vinegar and then take around a handful of sushi rice and place it on the lower end of the nori sheet(closest to u). spread it evenly on the lower half of the nori sheet, leaving a margin of an inch on the top.Using ur hand. lightly press it to stick the rice to the nori. Dont put too much pressure.

Spread a small strip of wasabi to the centre of the rice. Place the veggies on the rice as shown in the video above. You can use any combination of veggies u like. Tofu, red pepper, tempeh, mushroom anything u like.

Now roll the Nori sheet to form a cylindrical roll (refer the video for the technique).
Cut the roll into slices and serve along with soy sauce or tamari sauce.

This awesome delicacy is ready to be relished with ur family. Enjoy !

Fresh Corn Upma.

2010-09-23T11:47:00.003-07:00

Corn-Uma-2, originally uploaded by gems7882.

Hello Hello Hello....:) Guess today I am too excited about updating my almost dead blog...:P Its been like 2 months I have not updated my blog or added any new recipe. So Lets make this a fresh start hoping I will continue adding new recipes to my space. This recipe which I am going to post now is called fresh corn upma and its my favourite. I ate this first at a gujrati friends place...when I was in Mumbai...around 10 yrs back. It was so creamy n yummy. I always wanted to try making this dish... but simply forgot about it as time went buy.

One day my DH got some fresh corn from the grocery stores...which were directly dumped in the fridge...for later use. Few days back when I was cleaning my fridge i found these poor ignored things.... I was wondering maybe I can make a soup.... hmm but soup with 3 corn on cob will be too much for 3 people.... so Soup wont do.
Whatelse can I make with this? That when I remember this yummy recipe for Corn upma. I have tried to remeber a 10 yr old recipe and tried it. It turned out pretty good. If u have any suggestion of additions I can make to this recipe... Please do suggest...:)

Ingredients :

Fresh corn peeled n cleaned and Grated - 3
Onion - 1/2 chopped
Carrot - 1/2 cup grated or finely chopped
Mustard seeds
Garlic - 1 tsp (optional)
green chillies - 2 to 3 chopped
Ginger - 1 tsp chopped
Potato - 2 small grated
Milk - 1/2 cup
Oil
Salt to taste
Turmeric powder - 1/s tsp
Sev and Fresh coriander leaves to garnish
Lemon juice or wedge.

Method :

Heat a pan and oil to it. Add the mustard seed at let it crackle. Add the Onion, carrots and potato and stir cook for few minutes. Add the ginger, garlic and green chillies and stir. Cover and cook for few minute until the potato cooks a bit. Add corn, salt, turmeric powder, milk. Mix well. Cover and cook for 12 minutes stirring in between.Add little water if u feel the the mixture is too dry. Heat until the corn cooks up and gets thick like Rava upma.

Remove from flame. Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with lemon wedges, Sev and Coriander leaves.

Serve as a filling and yummy evening snack. Enjoy

Mushroom Masala

2010-09-23T11:13:00.003-07:00

Mushroom-Masala2, originally uploaded by gems7882.

I made this for lunch yesterday and it turned out so well, I couldnt stop myself from blogging (read bragging) about this. It was just like the mushroom masala we get in Indian restaurants and It was literally onion free ( U dont count 2 green onions :P) Here is the recipe for the same.

Ingredients :

Mushroom - 1 big box.
Ginger - 2 tsp
Garlic 1 tsp
Tomato paste / puree - 1 small can
Bellpepper and onion - 1/4 cup each (optional)
Salt to taste.
Turmeric pwdr - 1/2 tsp
Red chilli pwdr - 2 tsp (we like it spicy) u can substitute with green chillies if u wish.
Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
Whole spices (cardamom -1, cinamon- small piece, Star anise- 1 leaf, Bay leaf - 1, cloves 2)
Milk - 3/4 cup
Constarch - 2 tsp
Fresh coriander garnish

Method :

Method : Take oil..add the whole spices to it...add garlic and ginger saute for a minute... then add the bell pepper and onion and saute. Add salt, turmeric, garam maslaa and the mix well.

Add the tomato paste and above a cup water and let ...it boil well...so that the tomato cooks. once the tomato cooks and the gravy thickens a bit....add the milk mixed with constarch to the gravy. mix well and let it cook. Add some crushed methi leaves for the lovely smell. Let it thicken and gel well.

In another saute pan add the chopped mushroom and sprinkle some salt and pepper. cook on high flame and stir for 2-3 minutes. off the gas and keep it aside. Let it leave some water... then drain the water and add the mushroom to the gravy. Take care about the salt u add to the gravy as u will be adding salt seperately for the mushrooms.

Add mushrooms to gravy.. mix ad cook for 5-6 minutes. Off the gas and garnish with coriander leaves.

Your Mushroom Masala restaurant style is ready to be eaten with, naan, phulkas or parathas.

Enjoy!

Vankaya Kothimira Karam

2010-07-19T10:00:00.000-07:00

This Curry was taught to me by my Jyothi Akka. It tastes awesome and is a delish side for Chapati, roti or just with plain steamed rice. I make this anytime I have an excess of Coriander leaves in my refrigerator. I have tried this curry with Okra, Potatoes and even raw banana... and it always tastes so good.

Here goes the Recipe

Ingredients:

Small Indian Brinjal/ Eggplant : 6
Green chillies : 2-3 (depending on the spiciness of the chillies)
Ginger : small piece
Coriander leaves : 1 medium bunch
Jeera : 1 tsp
turmeric pwd : 1 tsp
Salt to taste

For tempering

Mustard seeds :2tsp
Urad dhal : 1 tsp
Oil
Dried whole red chilli : 2

Method :

Clean and roughly chop the coriander leaves. Add it to a blender and blend into a paste along with ginger, green chillies and jeera and little salt. Keep aside.

Clean and cut the eggplant lenghtwise. In a deep bottomed pan add oil. Put the jeera and urad dal and wait till the jeera crackles. Now add the mustard seeds and allow it to splutter. Add the cut eggplant. Add salt and turmeric and cooked covered till the eggplant becomes tender ad cooks well. Dont worry if the eggplant becomes mushy.thats Okay. if u dont like it mushy... cook the eggplant without covering and keep stirring..:)

Once the eggplant is cooked, add the coriander paste to it and mix well. Allow it to cook for 8 mins more and turn off the heat. Cover and leave until ur ready to serve.

This is an awesome curry and the best part about it this is... its naturally favoured. The smell is so tantalising.... just yummy....:D do try it and give me ur review on it...:D

Pani Poori - for the Indian Cooking Challenge

2010-06-14T16:40:00.000-07:00

Hello friends...here I am after a long long back.... and with my second recipe in this year and also as a fresh new member of the ICC - Indian Cooking challenge. This is my first participation in the ICC... and I just loved this experience. This months topic was Pani poori (an indian snack) my favorite street food. Loved making it...:) Here is the recipe for the pani poori.

Ingredients :

For the Pooris (altered recipe by me..)

Sooji (Semolina) - 3/4
All purpose flour - 1/4 tsp (APF)
Cooking soda - 1tsp (optional - skipped it)
little water for kneading the dough. -1/4 cup approx
Salt to taste
Oil for Frying

The method is so simple.. I never thought it cud be so easy to make these pooris. It does need some work...like rolling out the dough into small pooris and then fryin it on medium high...maybe 3 or 4 at a time... hmm.. it did take me a lot of time....hence I made it a day before. These can be easily stored in a nice air tight container...and will stay fresh for weeks...:) Please note that u allow the poori to cool down completely before u put them in a container. For the method : Mix the sooji, salt, APF into a tight dough. it should be pliable yet firm... cover with a damp cloth and keep it aside for 10 mins.

Arrange for 2 damp clothes. One to put the rolled Pooris on and other to cover them. After 10 mins... roll the pooris out. Once u have rolled them all... now fry them.

** Tricks I learnt.... Instead of rolling individual small pooris.. u can roll a big sheet and using the lid of any bottle or cookie cutter... u can cut out the round shapes. Please keep in mind that the poori have to me medium size. Something u can put in ur mouth whole.

Dont keep flipping the poori when fry. Put the poori in... let it be there for 5 secs... flip it.. and then gently press it with ur laddle... ur pooris will puff up well that way...:) It did for me..:D

I tried this poori twice..once with soda and once without it. I liked it better without the soda. As i felt it puffed better... and I also increased the proportion of maida to sooji... in the second trial... and wow! my poori were more lighter and puffy :) I will share both the pics with u... so u can see the difference..:d

pic one and two r the trials with less maida and soda. Pic three is with more maida and no soda.

For the Spicy Pani

Mint Leaves - 1 1/2 cups chopped well
Coriander Leaves - 1/2 cup
Tamarind concentrate - 1 1/2 tbsp
Green Chillies - 3
Ginger - 1 " piece
Black salt - 1 tsp
8 to 9 cups of water
Pani puri Masala - 2 tbsp (optional)

The actual recipe called for roasted cumin... I skipped it and yet it was just awesome...:)

Method : Blend the green chillies, coriander, mint and ginger, tamarind... into a fine paste using little water. Add this mixture to the water. Add salt and ur pani is ready. (alter the salt according to ur taste...)

I added some pani poori masal also to it... just coz I am habituated too...:P But i guess it will taste good... even without it..:D

I made 2 different types of fillings...

1. The Potato filling : mix together mashed potato, salt, red chilli powder. Mix well and ur filling is ready.

2. Chana filling : Soak and pressure cook Chana / Garbanzo (u can even use canned). Put the chana in a pot and cook it with a little water. Add salt, turmeric and chilli powder, Garam masala to it. Cook well till the masala smell goes off. Ur filling is ready ..:)

Tamarind Chutney

Take 3 tbsp tamarind concentrate and mix it with around 3/4 cup of water. Add sugar/jaggery, a pinch of red chilli powder. Boil it well so that it reduces to almost half. Ur chutney it ready too...

And so r u I guess to indulge in this super famous ...real tangy and yummy snack... yumm!

Hope u liked the recipe.. will post more soon..:d

Baigan mirchi ka salan

2010-02-21T22:57:00.000-08:00

Baigan ka salan is a very famous Hyderabadi dish which is eaten along side biryani. I wanted to try this from a long time but just now got the time. When I saw searching for this authentic recipe I came across this site. Got this awesome recipe and I had to try it. I made this salan as a side for phulkas. The main recipe calls only for baigans (eggplants) but I also went ahead and added some green chillies for the perfect combination of Mirchi (chillies) & Baigan (eggplant) Salan...:)

Ingredients :

Indian Small Eggplant - 10
California chillies - 2 or 3 (or u may use any less spicy chilli)
Oil - 2 tbsp
Onion -1 chopped and blended into paste
Ginger Garlic Paste- 1 tbsp
Salt
Tamarind - Soaked and strained
Tomato Puree -1/2 cup (try to use fresh tomatos for puree..)
Masala / Roasted Peanuts -Fistful
KhusKhus -1 tbsp
Jeera or Cummin seeds-1/2 tbsp
Methi seeds or Fenugreek seeds-1/2 tsp
Dry coconut - 2 tbsp
Dry Whole red chilli - 2
Dhaniya or Coriander seeds -1/2 tbsp
Seseme seeds - 1 tbsp

Method :

Prepare by washing the eggplants and green chillies well. Do not cut the stem off from eggplants. Make 4 slits on the sides of the eggplant but do see that u dont cut them off there stem. The Eggplant should remain in one piece after slicing in 4 parts. Slit the green chillies in the centre and remove the seeds if u wish. Cut the chillies into half and keep aside.

Heat the oil in a flat pan and once the oil is hot add the cut egglpants and cover with a lid. Let the eggplants cook on medium heat or till they become tender and somewhat brown in colour.Keep aside. Do the same for the green chillies and keep aside.
Now for making the masala we have to grind few ingredients.If using unroasted peanuts see that u dry roast them well. (I used roasted ones for ease) Dry roast the khus khus and sesame seeds. Dry Roast Fenugreek and cummin seeds together. Add coriander seeds after the two are half roasted. Once you start smelling cummin seeds, turn off the stove and add dry coconut. Let everything cool down completely. Now, make a paste of this and keep aside.

In a heavy bottomed pan heat some oil. When the oil is hot enough, add the onion paste. Saute it for few minutes and then add the ginger garlic paste. Mix well until it starts browning. Now add the tomato puree and fry until the raw smell of tomato goes away.

Now go ahead and add the ground masala. Mix well and cover the pan. Let it cook for few minutes and add salt and red chilli powder. Stir for 1 minute or so and add the fried eggplants and green chillies. Mix well. See that ur gentle and u dont mash or break the eggplants off their stems. Add the tamarind and let it simmer a little while.Check for salt, chilli powder and tamarind and add it according to your taste. The masala can be made and frozen for future use and it will taste equally good as the freshly ground. Ur Baigan Mirchi ka salan is ready to be relished..:)

Enjoy with hot phulkas, parathas, rice or biryani.

Masala Utthappam

2009-08-16T18:00:00.000-07:00

You all must have eaten masala dosa...but have u ever tired masala uttappam? I ate this first time in a restaurant near my place back in Thane. It was so tasty and yummy. So anytime u have the masala filling and dosa batter why not try this than the conventional Masala dosa..:)

Ingredients :

Dosa batter
Oil for cooking
Onion - 1 finely chopped
Chaat Masala - 2 tsp

For Spicy masala

Potaoes - 5 boiled and mashed
tomato - 1 chopped
Green chillies - 3 finely chopped
Ginger - 2 tsp
Garlic - 1 tsp (optional)
Fresh corinader leaves
Mustard seeds
oil
Salt to taste
Kitchen king masala - 1tsp (optional)

Method :

Firstly we will make the masala. Now this masal is similar to the masala dosa masala preparation. U can even use the leftover masala from masala dosa to make this. Anyways, In a kadhai take some oil and put in the mustard seeds. Let it splutter and add the green chillies, garlic and ginger. Go ahead and put in the chopped tomatoes along with all the powders. Mix well. Cook till the tomato is tender and the masala is cooked. Add in the boiled mashed potatoes and add to it a cup of water. Mix well and let it cool well. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves. Now ur spicy masala is ready.

Assembling the Masala utthappam. Pour a big laddle full of batter on the pan and spread it to make a nice thick dosa. Sprinkle the chaat masala and chopped onions. Let it cook for 1 minute and scoop in a spoonful masala on the utthappam and flatten it. Pour oil on the sides on the dosa. Let one side cook completely well and then flip it over to cook the other side. Pour oil to the other sides too and cook well. Ur masala Utthappam is ready now to relish.

Enjoy ! Have fun.

Sev Batata Puri

2009-08-12T14:00:00.000-07:00

I am from Mumbai the chaat paradise of India. I love chaat items and I am lucky that my hubby enjoys it too....actually he is good at making these chaat items too. Will surely share few of his chaat Speciality with u guys later. So As we both like Chaat we often make it and sometime its our dinner...:) Unlimited chaat hehehe :P.

Sev batata poori is something i dont make that often mainly coz i dont get those flat pooris here that easily. And If I spot them in any shop... I stock my pantry with atleast 3 packs of these pooris hehehe :P. Sev is the thin noodles kind of snack made with gram flour. U can easily get it in any India store. Batata means Potato in Mumbai local language and Poori are normally small puffed hard shells but in this case....they r flat discs like canapes.

Anyways here goes the Sev batata poori recipe.

Ingredients :

Sev batata puris (flat ones) - 1 pack

Potato boiled and mashed -2

Garbanzo beans cooked and lightly mashed - 1/3 cup (optional)

Tomato finely diced - 1 cup

Red Onions finely chopped - 1 cup

Chaat masala - 2 tbsp

Salt to taste

Spicy Green chutney - 1/2 cup (optional) / u can even use red chilly powder :)

Sweet tamarind Chutney - 1/2 cup

Fine Sev - 1 1/2 cup

Fresh coriander leaves - 1 cup finely chopped

Method :

For Spicy green Chutney - Grind coriander leaves, green chillies and mint leaves together. Dont put too much water. Adjust the chillies according to ur spice intake. Ur green chutney is ready.

For Sweet tamarind chutney. Take tamarind water or tamarind concentrate mixed in water and boil it. Add jaggery and boil for 20 minutes.. once the chutney becomes a bit thick ur tamarind chutney is ready.

For the potato filling - Mash the boiled potatoes and the garbanzo beans together. Add salt, red chilli powder and little chat masala and mix well. Keep aside.

Making sev puri. In a serving plate arrange the pooris. Put a spoonful of the potato filling on the puri. Top the masala with a tsp of green chutney and a tsp of sweet chutney. Sprinkle onions, tomato, fresh sev and some chat masala on each poori. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and Serve.

Ur simple and easy Chat is ready...:)

Vegan Chocolate Cake

2009-08-11T18:01:00.000-07:00

Vegan chocolate cake for a dear friend. My dear childhood friend Krithika visited me here in US for the first time and that too with her new born baby girl. The day she was going to come to my house was her birthday..:) I wanted to make something special for her....and wts better than a sweet treat. As she was coming with her mom, and granny I wanted to make something eggless.

I found this awesome Vegan chocolate cake recipe in Madhuram's blog and I was so glad. This recipe is so simple to make and can be made with the ingredients readily available at home. Cool isnt it? Here is the actual recipe. I will list down the recipe and the small changes I made in it. The icing is not vegan. I used ready made buttercream frosting and I didnt have much time I just sprinkled some colourful ice cream sprinkles on it...:P easy way to decorate :)

Ingredients :

All purpose flour - 1 1/2 cups

Sugar - 1 cup

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Baking Soda - 1 tsp

Unsweetened Cocoa powder - 1/4 cup

Vanila extract - 2 tsp

Canola Oil - 1/3 cup

Distilled Vinegar - 1 tbsp

Cold water - 1 cup

Method :

Preheat the oven at 375 degree F.

In a bowl mix all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and cocoa powder) together. Keep aside.

In another bowl take the water and mix in all the wet ingredients to it (oil, vinegar, vanila extract). Whisk well. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well using a hand blender. Blend till a nice smooth batter is formed.

Grease a cake pan with some butter (I used wiltons cake release. Its very very good, and the cake out out so well.) Pour in this mixture into the pan and even it out. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until a tooth pick outs out clean. Off the oven and leave the cake in for 5 more minutes. Dont try to remove the cake from the pan now. The cake will break / crack. Let the cake cool well in the room temperature. Leave it for an hour or so.

Run a knife along the edge of the cake to remove it from pan. turn it upside down on a plate of serving tray and pat the bottom of the pan to loosen the cake.

Now u can serve the cake hot as it is with tea or coffee.

To frost the cake, let the cake cool completely. I left it out for another hour and Sliced it into 2 layers, then wrapped it with a plastic wrap and kept it in the freezer for 1 hour. Keeping it in the freezer helps the frosting to stay on the cake well. U can slice the cake into 2 layers if u want to frost in the centre.

Once the cake is cool. I frosted it with store bought buttercream icing and decorated with ice cream sprinkles..:) My friend loved it and I was so happy to see the smile on her face.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KRITHIKA :)

Eggplant Roll-ups

2009-08-11T15:59:00.001-07:00

This is one amazing Appeatiser that I have made till date. Its so simple to make and so tasty.
I wanted to make something simple and light for my dad. He is visiting us from india. I am so excited about his visit and I want him to enjoy this stay...:) I just started this and went of building this recipe according to my taste and it turned out so nice...:) I am glad I tried to experiment..:)

Anyways getting back to my eggplant...here is the recipe for the same. I have made a chinese style filling u can alter the filling according to ur taste.

Ingredients:

Italian / Chinese eggplants - 3
Low fat Cheddar Cheese - 1 cup
Pam spray

For the stuffing:

Onion / Green onions finely chopped - 1/2 cup
Bean sprouts chopped - 1/2 cup
Carrot julliened - 1/2 cup
Green Bell Pepper finely chopped - 1/2 cup (optional)*
Soya sauce - 1 1/2 tbsp
Red Chili garlic paste - 3 tbsp (reduce it if its too spicy)
Ginger - 2 tsp
Tomato Ketchup - 2 tbsp
Sugar -1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Red chilli flakes (optional)*
Sesame oil - 1tsp

Method :

Clean and make thin slices of the eggplant lenghtwise. U will get long strips of the eggplant. Rub light salt on both the sides of the eggplant slices. Heat a Tava / Pan and roast the eggplant slices. Roast to an extend that the slices r slightly soft and cooked. This step is important to make the slices tender and easy to roll. Spray pam on it if u desire. Keep them aside.

Preheat the oven to 375 Degree F.Prepare the filling.

In a Deep bottom pan heat oil. Add the ginger, chili garlic paste and suate for a min. Add the onions and saute well. Add the sugar and mix well so that the onions r slightly caramalised. Now add soya sauce and the tomato ketchup and mix well till the sauce is nice and hot. Add all the vegetables one by one and mix well. Cover and cook for some time till the veggies are tender. Add salt and chilli flakes according to taste. Once the filling is ready keep aside.

Arrange the eggplant slices one by one of a working surface. Add layer of cheese on the effplant. Spread a spoonful of filling on the Slices evenly, Leaving an inch of the slice on one side. Roll the slices into a swirl roll and put a toothpick to make the rolls stand. Make rolls out of all the slices. Spray pam on a cookie sheet and arrange all the rolls on it. Top each roll lightly with cheese and bake for 10-15 minutes in a preheated oven. Serve hot with Tomato Ketchup.

Serve Hot. Enjoy and Relish with tomato ketchup....:)

Tofu Tikka Masala

2009-07-22T10:45:00.000-07:00

It was a lousy spring evening and I was feeling so lazy. I didnt even wanna get up from the couch to open the door. Hmm somedays I do get this attck of laziness but then as we have to eat and cook I have to push myself to go to the itchen and start working...phew!.

That particular day hubby was graceful enough to offer to make some snacks for us...:DAnd he came up with this. I personally dont like frying much, but when ur getting things done for u without doing anything... the best thing is to keep quiet and enjoy hehehhe:P I am a devil na? hehehe

Anyways going to this recipe, it turned out so nice and tasty, a very good Appeatiser.

Ingredients :

Firm Tofu - 1 pack
Corn flour - 1 tbsp
All purpose four - 2 tbsp
Red chilli powder - 2tsp
Salt to taste
Pepper - 1 tsp
Kitchen king Masala - 1 tsp (optional)
Oil for frying

For Garnish:
Chaat powder
Onion slices

Method :

Open up a Tofu packet and drain out the water. Squeeze the water out of the Tofu. Wipe it with a kitchen towel to remove any excess water. Cut the Tofu in cubes and keep aside.

In a big bowl add the AP flour, corn flour, Red chilli powder, salt, pepper and kitchen king masala. U can Also add a tinge of soya sauce to it if u desire. Add very little water and make into a smooth paste. see that its not tooo watery.

Add the tofu cubes to this mix and coat all the tofu cubes with the batter. Leave aside for 5- 10 minutes.

Heat oil in a kadhai. Add the tofus to the oil and deep fry. See that the tofu doesnt stick to each other while frying. Once golden brown in colour, remove from out and drain out on kitchen towel so that all the excess oil is removed.

Now for serving. You can serve this anyway u want. I put these on a toothpick along with a piece of onion and sprinkled some chaat powder on it. Serve it hot along with some Tomato Ketchup.

U can even make chili tofu out of these or even tofu manchurian. We made chilli tofu with the leftover tofu but forgot to take any snaps :P hehhee. Enjoy this dish and have fun!

Yummy Tofu Tikka masala :D enjoy!

Jalapeno Pretzels - Baked

2009-07-21T12:41:00.000-07:00

Who doesnt love pretzels and specially if its an Jalapeno Pretzels.... hehhe I can see all the spicy food eaters shaking their heads along with me. I was first introduced to this pizza with handle at Wetzel's Pretzel here in Los angeles. I normally cant eat jalapenos much, but when it comes to this I can keep hogging with tears running down my cheeks yet wont stop :P...hehhee. I instantly fell in love with it. From then, whenever I go for shopping I make a point to grab one of these. Its so filling and tastes so good.

I found out recently that not just Wetzel's Pretzels but almost all the pretzel centres in USA have these Jalapeno pretzels. I recently had one in Aunt Annie's. It was not as good as Wetzel's but yeah, it was Jalapenos okie :P

Did u know that soft baked pretzels r very very famous in Pennsylvania. U can find it in almost all stores and mall there? Well I didnt know but I remember seeing that in some show. Anyways now u wants to know about the origin right? Lets talk about this recipe... I combined the procedure and ingredients from 2-3 sites to get my own pretzel recipe. I got a bit confused with the yeast quantity..( I didnt see the amount of water I have to use to mix the yeast....hmmm :( and ended up with a watery dough... and then again ended up adding more flour and yeast hehhe) hence I didnt get the perfect knot on the pretzel and it looks all merged up :P

Well did u know that the calorie content in an Aunt Annie's pretzel is 310 and its very high in sodium? Thats coz they r normally fried. Hmmm yeah seeing that I felt y not trying making our favourite at home, thats way I know what I am putting into it... good or bad ;) So here is my recipe. I have used All purpose flour for this recipe... But u can make it even with wheat flour for making it more healthy...:D

Wooo can u see the baked Jalapenos on that one.... I am sure that will make u drool over this one :) Isnt it??

I somehow dont like plain pretzels. I need the cheese and the butter grease on it for me to appreciate its genuine quality... hehehhe:P Anyways here goes my recipe. I took some tips from Divya's Dil-se blog too. Thanks Divya.

Ingredients :

Active dry Yeast - 2 1/4 tsp
All pupose flour - 3 cups
(If using Wheat flour - 4 cups )
Sugar - 1 tsp +1 tsp = 2 tsp
Luke warm water (for yeast) - 1/2 cup
Salt - 1 tsp
Olive oil - 1 tbsp
Baking Soda - 1 tsp

Options for caramalising the pretzel..

Milk - 1/2 cup
or
Baking soda - 2 1/3 tsp &
Hot water - 1 1/2 cup
0r
Eggyolk - 1
and 1 tbsp of water
Or
Maybe some sugar solution (check the video to understand about these toppings :D)

Other toppings:

Butter - 1 tbsp
Cheddar cheese - 1 cup
Jalapeno thinly sliced - 1/2 cup
Garlic powder (optionla)
Kosher salt

Method :

In a measuring cup take 1/2 cup like warm water and add 1 tsp sugar and yeast to it and mix well. Keep aside till the yeast froths well.

In another bowl add all the dry ingredients like the flour, salt, sugar and mix well. Slowly add the yeast mixture and knead the dough for 8-9 minutes. The dough will be elastic which is okie...:) Mix well until smooth :). Add a tsp of olive oil on the dough and mix well so that the oil coats the dough well and that the dough doesnt stick to the bowl. U can even use a fresh greased bowl instead...Cover with a cling wrap and keep aside for 1 hour or so.

Preheat the oven at 450 degree F.

After 1 hour u can see that ur dough has doubled in size. Now make small tennis ball size rounds and keep aside. It will make around 11 balls. Take each ball and roll it into a long medium thickness thread and twist to form the famous pretzel shape. You can either form a knot or else u can place the ends across on each side...:) You can refer to this site for tricks for this step. You can check this video to know more about shaping the pretzels and making the colour nice and golden brown :D

Now that ur pretzels r shaped now comes the turn for the topping. Before we start with the topping we have to think how we r going to make out topping stay on oyr pretzels and also how to get that caramalised brown colour on our pretzels.

Commercially they use a product called lye which is very corrusive and as we r trying to making something healthy (before than store bought stuff) we dont wanna handle anything that damages our tissues right? So what else can we use. I have given different options in the ingredients and also the video that I shared tells u in detail what all can u use. For this recipe I have used Baking soda alone. we can combine it wil Egg yolks to make it more golden. I skipped it...:)

In a bowl take nice hot boiling water. Add baking soda to it and mix well with a spoon. Add the shaped pretzel in the water and leave it for like 30-40 seconds. Leaving it for this much time is important orelse ur pretzels wont get that golden colour...:) Take it out and place it on a lined cookie tray. Use lined tray to make it low cal... greasing is no way better right?

Now garnish ur pretzels with some kosher salt, sliced jalapenos and top it with some cheddar cheese as garnish. U can add garlic powder if u wish. Now ur pretzels r ready to be baked. Put them in the oven for 8-10 minutes. Once the pretzels become golden on top u can take them out and serve hot...:)

Hope u enjoy these pretzels.

I have tried to share as much information possible so that u can enjoy these lovely pizza with handles at home...:) Do leave ur comments and suggestions :D

Enjoy!

Tomato Rice by Hubby :D

2009-07-20T11:33:00.000-07:00

Ohh.... I did I forget about this one. I had posted a very touching post about how my hubby had cooked for me when I was sick and promised that I will post the recipe soon and conviniently forgot about it.... hehehe:P here is the link to that post...

Well thanks to my lovely friend Meenakshi, who reminded me about this and asked me to post the recipe, I am going to complete this ode to my sweet hubby....) who took such good care of me... when I needed him the most...:) Love u Sweetheart !

So here goes the recipe.

Ingredients :

Basmati Rice - 2 cups
Tomato Puree - 1 can or Fresh tomatoes - 5 medium finely chopped
Roasted salted Peanuts - 1/2 cup
Onions fiely chopped - 1
Jeera - 1 tsp
Ginger, finely chopped - 2 tsp
Green chillies - 5 slit lenghtwise
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 2 tsp
Garam masala - 2 tsp
Fresh corinader leaves
Asafoetida - a pinch
Salt and Pepper to taste
Lemon juice
Oil - 3 tsp

Method :

In a kadhai take oil. Once the oil is hot add the jeera, once that splutters add the green chillies, ginger, curry leaves and peanuts. Stir for a minute and add the onions and turmeric powder. Stir fry till the onions r transparent. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook till they r tender. Add the garam masala and coriander powder and stir fry. At this time u can go ahead and add the asafoetida, salt and pepper. Stir fry till all the water is almost gone.

Add the rice to this mixture and stir fry for sometime. If u feel the mixture is too tight add a spoonful of oil and mix again. see that the rice is roasted a bit..:) Keep stirring so that the rice doesnt burn. Now u can put 2 cups of water to this and close with a lid and let it cook on medium low flame orelse u can just empty all this into a rice cooker (if putting in the rice cooker add a tsp of lemon juice to this. The lemon juice helps the rice to remian seperate) and let it look. Hubby did the later as its much easier. U can do either.... both the ways it will taste good..:)

Once the rice is cook but yet not mashed up, remove from flame. garnish with fresh corinader leaves and lemon juice. Mix well and serve hot with raita.:)

ENJOY!

Vegetable Lasagna rolls

2009-07-13T17:32:00.000-07:00

We both love lasagna but I somehow never attemped to make it at home, maybe coz I somehow cant just have lasagna for my meal. hehehh Yeah I know its funny but thats the main reason. I have seen that lasagna is easy to make but yields a large quantity at a time. As I didnt wanna have just lasgna for dinner I was thinking how I can minimize the bulk quntity that a original lasagna recipe produces...:P. And Tada...! I landed up with this recipe...:D

I remember seeing some recipe like this in the new menu of Olive garden.We were almost tempted to order it and then we realised it has beef in it and stopped ourselves...:P It happens so often with vegetarians that u love the picture on the menu and r so tempted to try and then all ur desires r dampened by the waiter who informs u that all this time u were actually drolling or a chicken/ deef or any other meat dish... hmmmm. Thats what literally happened with us that day....:(

I thought y not try it out at home in our own vegetable version...:D So here we present to u - Vegetable Lasagna Rolls :P - Nothing non-veggie about it ;) hehehe ) . Hope u try it ad enjoy it as much we did....:) This makes a very very good appeatiser too and yet is so filling :D

Ingredients :

Lasagna sheets - 15
Spinach frozen - 2 cup (thawed and water squeezed out)
Shredded parmesan Cheese - 2 tbsp
Sweet corn kernels - 1 tbsp
Olive oil - 3 tbsp
Garlic cloves - 4 finely chopped
Ricotta Cheese - 3/4 cup
Chopped mushroom - 1 cup
Dried / fresh oregano - 3 tsp
Dried / fresh Basil - 2 tsp
Mozerella cheese shredded or sheets - 1 cup
Salt & Pepper - according to taste
Store bought Prego sauce / marinara sauce - 4 cups

Method :

Preheat the oven to 450 degree F.

Boil the water in a big vessel. Add salt and oil to the water. Now add the lasgna sheets. See that u use fresh and good quality lasagna sheet as old sheets will break into pieces when ur trying to roll it.

Firstly make the filling as u have to work fast once the noodles is done. Orelse u can work simultaneously when the noodle is cooking.
In a big bowl add the ricotta cheese and cream it well. Add the thawed spinach, garlic,mushrooms, oregano, basil, salt, pepper and mix well. Finally add the parmesan cheese and corn kernels and mix well. Keep aside.

Cook the Noodles until its tender enough to roll yet firm to bite. Drain the water and arrange the noodles seperately on a foil sheet, so that it doesnt stick together.

Grease a 13X9 inch glass baking dish with olive oil. U can use any glass baking dish..but I prefer this one..:). Pour 1 cup of prego sauce and spread it evenly on the baking dish.

Work on 4 noodles at a time on a flat surface. Spread 3 tablespoon full of the cheese and spinach filling evenly on each lasagna sheet. Starting at one end roll each noodle like a jelly roll. Now lay the roll on the Baking dish, seam side down. Roll all the noodles this way and arrnage them in the baking dish. See that the rolls dont touch each other. Pour 2 cups of prego sauce evely on top of the rolls. Garnish with pepper, mozerella sauce and some oregano which is optional. Cover the dish tightly with an aluminium foil and bake for about 20 minutes until the sauce bubbles a bit.

Uncover the baking dish and bake again for 15 minutes or till the cheese on top becomes golden brown in colour. Off the oven and let the lasagna stay in for 10 minutes. Serve hot with the left over prego / marinara sauce.

Variation : I didnt use the mozarella cheese for the topping / garnish as I was trying to reduce the intake of cheese. Instead I topped each roll with a blob of feta cheese... which was okay in taste.:)

Hope u enjoy making these lasagna rolls as much as I did...:) Its a real confort food and I no more get overwhelmed buy this Lasagna...:P

ENJOY!!

Vermicelli Pasta or Semiya Upma

2009-07-13T13:00:00.000-07:00

Vermicelli originates from Italy and means "Little worms" by literal meaning...:) It is a type of pasta...just like spaghetti but is much thinner than Spaghetti. This type of pasta was introduced in italian cooking in the 14th - Century.Thats the history of Vermicelli.

Its a long journey from Italy to India. In India vermicelli is known as Semiya or Sevaiya. Onother big difference in thos vermicelli pasta and the semiya that we get in india is the flour it is made of. Vermicelli pasta is made of durum wheat whereas Semiya is made of semolina.

Anyways the other day I get to our local grocery shop and got this weird looking string kinda thing...which did look like semiya but was in a coil shaped compared to the normal broken form of the semiya we get back in india. But anyways I bought it, and ended up making this pasta upma.....for this u need....

Ingredients:

Vermicelli Pasta - 1 pack

Onions - 1 finely chopped

Green chillies - 3 slit lenghtwise

Curry leaves - 2 twigs

Jeera - 1 tsp

Peanuts - 1 cup

Salt to taste

Oil

Ghee - 1 tsp

Lemon juice

Coriander leaves for Garnish

Method:

Cook the vermicelli pasta as directed in the package. drain and keep aside.

In a kadhai or a thick bottomed vessel add the oil and heat it. Now add the Jeera seeds and allow it to splutter. Add the green chillies, curry leaves and onions and saute well. Once the onions r transparent, add the peanuts and sauter for 5 mins.

Finally add the cooked vermicelli and mix well. Add salt and toss it once more.Remove from flame and garnish with coriander leaves and lemon juice. Top it with a spoon of ghee for the ultimate taste. mix and serve hot :) If u wish u can skip the ghee too..:)

It makes a great brunch meal or evening tiffin...:) Its our lunch time favourite...:D

Enjoy!!

Herb Potato

2009-07-10T11:17:00.000-07:00

Nowadays I have become very fond of these red potatoes.... I used to use golden or russet potatoes but now I like these red potatoes for my dailiy cooking. I got to know few facts about these red potatoes and I would be glad to share it with u all...:)

How do u select a good quality red Potato? : Good-quality red potatoes will be firm, smooth skinned and have a bright red color to it. They should have few eyes, and those few eyes should be shallow. I also found a nutrition chart for a Red potato. 1 medium sized potato has around 120 calories. It is fat free , Very low in Sodium, Cholestrol-free, Source of Fibre and High in Vitamin C.

This recipe is something I make whenever I have some fresh herb at home and I need to finish it off. I make a large quantity of these as both me and my husband love it. So here goes the recipe...

Ingredients :

Red Potato - 6 medium

Fresh herbs - whatever u have.... how much ever u have (I used thyme, rosemary, sage and majoram)

Dried basil - 2 tsp (optional)

salt to taste

Fresh mint / corinader - 2 tbsp

Pepper - 2 tsp

Lemon juice - 1 tbsp

Olive oil - 2 tsp

Method :

Par boil the red potatoes. See that u dont make them muchy. They should be cooked yet a bit crisp. let the potatoes cool.

Clean and finely chop all the fresh herb.

Prepare the dressing. In a big bowl add the lemon juice, salt, olive oil, black pepper and mix well. Add the chopped herbs to this and mix well. Keep aside.

Chop the potatoes in quarters and put them In an big serving bowl.

Add the dressing to it and toss well so that all the potatoes r coated with the dressing...:) . garnish with chopped mint or coriander. Serve cold...:)

Enjoy as a side salad....:)

Dahi Wale Aloo

2009-04-30T11:25:00.000-07:00

I am a potato fan... whenever I am bored or stuck on what to make to go along with chapati the only vegetable (root) I can think of is Potato. Mainly coz its always there at home (I always keep it handy. Its like tissue rolls, refill as soon as its over..:P) and secondly coz anything u make with potato kind of tastes awesome and yet so simple to make...:)

Dahi wale aloo is a very simple and creamy potato gravy curry and it goes so well with phulkas..:) I make it very often at home.It can be made with just the potatoes... I have added tomato to the dish to make it more tangy but if u dont have tomato u can always skip it..:) So here goes the recipe...:)

Ingredients:

Potato - 3 (parboiled and cubed )

Tomato - 1 Chopped (optional)

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Dhania - Jeera Powder - 2 tsp

Garam Masala - 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Red Chilli powder - 1 tsp

Jeera (Cumin seeds) - 1 tsp

Hing (Asafoetida) - 1 or 2 pinches

Ginger - 2 tsp

Mint leaves - 3 tsp finely chopped (optional)

Green chillies - 1 tsp

Yogurt - 1 cup

Oil or Ghee - 2 tsp

Coriander leaves for Garnish

Method :

Firstly heat the ghee and when it gets hot enough, add the cumin seeds and a pinch of hing and let it splutter. Once the cumin is done add the finely chopped ginger and green chillies and saute it till it browns up a bit.

Now, reduce the flame and add the yogurt at intervals (divinde the yoghurt in 3 parts) and stir it well so that the yoghurt blends with the masala. See that there are no lunps. Stirring fast avoids lumps so do it..:)

Add all the other ingredients including the boiled potato and mix well. (dont add the mint and coriander leaves now...:)..keep it aside for garnish )

Stir well to see that everything is blended well nicely. Cook the potaoes on high heat until it fries a bit. Pour Aproximately1 cup water if u think the curry is too dry and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Add the fresh mint leaves and cover with a lid so that the mint leaves wilt in the heat of the curry. Mix well and garnsih with coriander leaves. Serve hot along side of pickle and chapatis.

Serve hot with phulkas. Enjoy with awesome gravy bhaji.

I love your blog Award...:)

2009-04-22T16:52:00.001-07:00

Just 2 days back one of my sweet blogger friend and alos a dear friend in orkut awarded me with this cute little award. I am just ovwerwhelmed to see it. Its been a long time I have posted any awards in my blog...Thanks Kavya for adding this to my shining award list...:) It really feels so nice when someone says they Love u right? And I know how my blog feels now...:D

As we do with all the awards I wud love to pass it to 5 bloggers whose blog I Love....

Cham of Spice -Club

Madhavi of Vegetarian Medley (glad I got a chance to taste her cooking in person...)

Ramya Bala of Ramya Cooks

Suma Rajesh of Suma's Cuisine

Uma of Essence of Andhra

Congrats Girls and I just simply love ur blogs... Keep cooking and keep sharing...:)

Nutty Banana Bread

2009-04-22T15:43:00.000-07:00

Yummy yummy yummy... This is the first time I ever tried making banana bread and I am just loving it. One of my friends in orkut shared this amazing recipe with me...And as I had so many overripened bananas wts better than baking a banana bread? So here it goes.

I made this recipe using all purpose flour but i wud suggest u to use wheat flour as it enhances the taste.:)

Ingredients:

1 cup White Sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter (U can even use oil instead of butter)

2 Eggs

11/2 cup All Purpose Flour (or wheat flour)

1 tsp. Vanilla Extract

4tbsp Buttermilk

1tsp Baking Soda

3 Mashed Bananas

1 cup Chopped Nuts (walnut) U can add any other nuts u want...(I added prunes and chocolate chips to the bread batter)

1 pinch Salt

I made changes in this recipe when i made my next bread well anyways that a different recipe all together...:P

Method :

Pre-heat oven at 350 degree Fahrenheit (175 degree Celsius).

Take a nice metal bread loaf pan...or u can even use the foil loaf pans that u get in market.

Grease and flour the cake pan. How to do this? Well just apply cold butter to the insides of ur pan. Put 1 tbsp of flour inside the pan. Now cover the pan with a cling wrap and then shake it well so that the flour coats on all sides of the pan. This is an easy and mess free way to do this.

Next, In small bowl sift together flour, baking soda and salt.

Separate the egg whites and the yolks and keep aside.

Mash the bananas in a seperate bowl.Keep aside.

In a big mixing bowl cream butter and sugar together. Now add the egg yolks and vanilla extract and beat well.

Now mix in the mashed bananas. next add the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk to the creamed mixture. Mix with light hand only to combine, and not too much. Stir in the nuts.( In my case the assorted nuts and the chocolate chips...:)...)

In another bowl beat the egg whites until stiff. See that u dont beat too.Fold the egg whites in the batter and mix well with light hands. Pour the batter into the greased pans. Decorate with banana slices or nuts...:)

Bake at 350-degree Fahrenheit for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool it. Cut into slices and serve hot along with ur coffee and tea.

Amazing Isnt it?? Do try this recipe and let me know ur views...:D

Red Velvet cake - Happy Baby shower..!

2009-04-08T17:47:00.000-07:00

Babies......Babies.......Babies Galore!

Booties and rattle, diapers and swing.....

"Here comes the Baby!" comeon lets Sing!...

Wow I just now discovered I am a poet hehhe... wrote that rhyme in a click. Hmm anyways babies r something that inspire u to do so many things...write poetrys, be responsible and even change ur whole lifestyle.

One of my good friends here in Los Angeles is pregnant and I am so so happy for her. She is the first friend I made in US... and its a friendship to cherish. Seeing her I can understand that babies r such a big big commitment. All the things they had to prepare for the arrival of the little one. Buying the stroller, car seat, crib and then other small small stuff and then setting it up too. It was such a wonder to see them being so passionate about these things...:) I guess the babies make us grow up,........... grow up from our young happy go lucky age to become more resposible and mature...:). This somehow reminds me how we used to set up the whole house and the aasan for lord Ganesha's arrival...? this is somewhat the same isnt it?? hehehe...Now as the time is near and the wait is almost over... we all wish she has a safe and easy delivery. She has already passed her due date and the baby is expected anytime...:) Friends do pray for my lovely friends. It is their first baby. Pray she has a safe delivery and the baby and mom both be healthy..:)

This cake is something I made for both of them. For wishing them luck..:) They had a baby shower at their place which was completely arranged by both of them with rituals and all.It was amazing and sooo beautiful arranged...:) As it was her baby shower and they both were the ones who were running around planning things.... I wanted to make something special for them and wish them luck for the arrival of the little on...

So here it is my first special cake from scratch...:) and this is also my almost first experience with icing and fondant...:) but I enjoyed it sooooo much and I am sure I will be doing it again. ofcourse my friend Hetal (Isha of Isha's kitchen ) did help me making this one...and also making the fondant deco... even thought being her first time even seeing fondant...:) Thank u Hetal... we do make a great pair...:D

Cute isnt it? My experience with fondant was good..:) I was kind of blank first about how to design the top of the cake... I have never done icing before this...(using the tip and buttercream and all....never done that) I have worked with fondant earlier....(Once I made a bow on top of the cake using fondant...:) and this is the second time I am working with it... It was so nice.. specially making the baby and the baby stuff...:) it felt so nice and so cute. I am sure u will agree with that Hetal...:) isnt it?

Making the baby was the most fun... the hair and the pacifier of the baby was fun too.. though I wasnt sure that looks like a pacifier hehhe. My DH helps me and guided me on the shapes of the baby stuff.Over all it was a great experience and I am sure I am gonna try this fondant work again.:)

Anyways now going to the recipe of this cake. I ate this cake once in CPK when we went for Valentine's day and wanted to try it. So when I saw this recipe in Joy of baking site... I jumped and wanted to try it immidiately. So here goes the recipe of this yummy delicious soft and creamy cake....I am sure you will love this one.. as much as we all do..:D To make this cake you need...

Ingredients :

2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp Dutch-processed cocoa powder (I used hershey's)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups Granulated Sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp pure Vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
2 tbsp liquid red food coloring ( I also used the indian powdered food colour...:) alongside)
1 tsp white distilled vinegar
1 tsp baking soda

For the Cream Cheese Frosting: (this frosting is what give major flavour to this cake.)

1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
8 oz cream cheese, room temperature (1 packs philadelphia creamcheese will do)
8 oz tub of Mascarpone cheese, room temperature (As i didnt get mascarpone cheese, I used Cream cheese here too..)
3/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup confectioners' (icing or powdered) sugar
2 cups dessicated sweetened coconut for garnishing

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350 degree F.

Grease two 9" round cake pan. I used the Witon Cake release and it worked like magic for me.You can even line them with parchment sheet for easy or no clean work. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl sift together cake flour, salt and cocoa powder. Set aside.

In a bowl beat the butter, using a hand mixer till smooth for about 1-2 minutes. Add the sugar and beat again until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one by one, beating in between. Scrape the sides of the bowl and then go ahead and add the vanilla essence. Beat well until everything combines well.

In a measuring cup whisk together the buttermilk and the red food colour. Adding buttemilk to the cake gives it a moist and tender crumb. Buttermilk has a nice thick creamy texture with a rich tangy buttery taste that makes baked goods tender and soft. While keeping the mixer on a low speed alternately keep adding the flour and the buttermilk mixture in 3 additions, begining and ending with the flour. Mix well.

In a small cup mix the baking soda with the vinegar. Allow the mixture to fizz and bit and then quickly fold it into the cake batter and mix well.

Now u have to be quick and divide the batter into the two greased pans. Smooth the tops of the batter with a spatula or spoon. Bake in the preheated oven for Aprroximately 25-30 minutes or until the toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean..( mine cooked in approx 25 minutes.) See that u dont over cook the cake orelse the sides will burn and become hard. Once the cake is nicely baked...take it out of the oven and let it cool in the pan on the cake / wire rack for 10 minutes. Invert the cake on the cake rack and let it cool till room temperature. Once its a bit cool place it in the freezer for atleast an hour or so (this is done to make filling and frosting the cakes easier.)

In the meantime prepare your cream cheese frosting for the cake. In a bowl, using a hand mixer process the cream cheese and the mascarpone cheese ( I used cream cheese instead and its didnt make any difference to the taste..) until smooth. Add the Vanilla extract and confectioner's sugar and beat well. (Be sure u use confectioner's sugar...I used granulated sugar by mistake and my frosting ended up being a bit drippy...:P I did manage to correct it... but please dont do that mistake and be careful..what sugar ur adding..)

In another bowl take some whipping cream and beat it well till stiff peaks are formed.Now quickly but gently fold in some of the whipped cream into the cream cheese to make it light.Beat gently.You can actually feel the cream cheese frosting becoming light and fluffy. Add the remaining whipped cream in 2 seperate additions ,beaten well in between. If the frosting is not thick enough to spread, cover it and place it in the freezer for an hour or until it is thick enough to spread.

Now moving to the assembly of the cake...

To assemble cut each layer of the cake horizontally with the serrated knife. I used the levelling tool from wilton.Did made my job so much easier. Check their Cake levelling tutorial here.

You will now have 4 cake layers, top of the cake facing down on ur serving plate or cake circle.

Spread the bottom most layer with some frosting.Cover it completely. Place another layer of the cake on top of the frosting and continue covering it with more frosting. Do the same with the rest of the cake layers. Once all the layers r done. Frost the top and sides of the cake with the frosting. Once u have put one coat of the frosting, keep the cake in the freezer again for 1/2 and hour. Now, take the cake out and frost it again with the left over frosting and then top it with some dessicated sweetened coconut. See that the coconut covers the top as well the sides of the cake. Now ur cake is ready to be eaten..:)

Or u can just go ahead and decorate it using fondant or icing...:) for a special occassion like the one I made this cake for...:)

Our dear and lovely friends...:)

When my friend saw this cake she was surprised and the look on her face was enough. it paid off all the effort we took to make this cake. Love u neha... hope u have a safe and easy delivery. just want to let u know that we all r eagerly waiting for the little one...:) as much u both are..:D god bless you.! Hope u all wish her the same...:)

God bless the mommy and Daddy-to-be...:)

Baked Bean Crisps

2009-03-29T10:05:00.000-07:00

I had deep fried French beans crisps at P.F Chang restaurant a few months back. I really liked it so much that I wanted to try it at home. Just made some modifications. I baked these crisps instead of deep frying them. It makes a great evening snacks...:) Hope u enjoy eating this as much we did. What great way to eat the healthy beans? the healthy way ofcourse...:) and this is it.....:P

Ingredients:

French beans - 1/2 pound

Thick Yoghurt - 1 1/4 cups

Sour cream - 1/3 cup (optional)

Salt to taste

Cheddar cheese - 1/2 cup (optional)

Pepper - 1 tsp (add to taste)

Lemon extract - 2 tsp

Cayenne pepper / Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp

Dried Oregano - 2 tsp

Bread crumbs - 4 cups

Oil spray

Method:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Clean and cut the ends of the french beans. Steam the beans in a cooker or in the microwave till tender and well cooked. Keep aside to cool.

In a big mixing bowl add the Yoghurt and beat it well, until smooth and creamy. Mix in the sourcream. This just adds the tartness to the batter. You can skip it too and instead add some extra lemon extract..but caution! this will make the batter very watery....:)

Now add the grated cheddar cheese and mix well. Add all the other spices (except bred crumbs ) and mix it well until smooth and thick. (this mixture tastes great as a dip too...:P yummmmm!)

In a plate spread the bread crumbs.

Coat the steamed beans with the yoghurt mix and then roll in the bread crumbs. Place them in a cookie tray (baking tray) one by one. Spray the oil spray over the beans and bake them in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 mins or until the beans becomes lightly brown on top..

Your Bean Crisps are ready to be served...:) Serve hot with tomato ketchup.

Red onion n Peanut chutney in Thai Style with Idlis

2009-03-28T23:30:00.000-07:00

I have always loved the smell of freshly made chutney to go with the steaming hot idlis. Its so delicious, that I dont have words to explain it. I remember my mom making this awesome coconut onion chutney for me for my lunch box. And I also remember the way my friends used to dig on the chutney and idli.I rarely used to get more that 2 idlis and used to end up buying something from the canteen hehehhe. Later,I used always carry a big tiffin box if I took idlis and that onion chutney for lunch, I dont wanna go hungry u see? hehehe.

Anyways after 2 years of being in US i finally got my 7ltr pressure cooker and steel idlis plates when I went for a 3 months trip to india. I am so glad I got it.... Now I can have hot idlis whenever I want to.... I missed it so much these 2 years... Just cant explain how much I missed them...:) Anyways, so finally my cooker and idli stand is here and I decided to try it out with some regular idlis. Nothing fancy here....:)

When it came to making the chutney I decided to give it a twist and thought of making a red onion chutney.... the way my "Amma" used to make. But then as I had very little coconut left in the freezer, I decided to twist it with some roasted peanuts instead and thats when this thai twist chutney was invented...:) Anyways so here is the recipe for my red onion and peanut chutney and to make it you need....

Ingredients:

red onion - 1 chopped in big chunks
Grated coconut - 1 or 2 tbsp
Red chillies - 2 to 3
Ginger - 2 tsp
Roasted peanuts - 3/4 cup
salt to taste
Sugar -1 tsp
Basil dried or fresh - 1 tbsp

Method:

Put all the above ingredients in a blender and blend into a smooth paste. Add some water and blend again to get a nice and creamy consistency.You chutney is ready.

If u dont like the taste of raw onion, just saute it in little oil for few minutes before blending it with other ingredients.

Enjoy ur chutney with steaming hot Idlis or crispy dosas..:)

Minestrone Soup

2009-03-28T21:19:00.000-07:00

This is a very very easy soup and whenever I remember this soup, I remember Olive Garden. Yeah I am sure many of ur feel the same. I think we get the best minestrone soup in Olive garden...atleast from the places I have tried...:)

I was just sitting on the couch and thinking of what to make for dinner. Something light and nice and easy to digest. What better than this simple and flavourful soup, which can be made with veggies and spices that r easily available at home. This simple dinner along with bread toast was ready in just 30 minutes...:). Yumicilious.....:) So here goes the recipe. Hope u enjoy this simple soup...:)

Ingredients :

Carrots - 1/2 sliced

Onions - 1 finely chopped

Celery - 1 cup finely chopped

Diced Tomato - 1 can medium size (u can use 4-5 fresh or combine both can and fresh ones for more flavour)

Peas - 1/4 cup (optional)

Shell pasta /Elbow pasta - 1/2 cup (uncooked)

Zucchini - 1 sliced

Garlic pods - 7 finely chopped

Vegetable stock / Water - 5 cups

Garbanzo beans - 1 cup

Oregano - 4 tsp (fresh or dried)

Basil - 2 tbsp (fresh or dried)

Pepper - 2-3 tsp

salt to taste

Olive oil

Italian parsley for garnish

Method :

In a big pan add some oil and heat it well. When hot enough add the garlic and saute for few minutes. Now add the onions and saute well till the onions are transparent.

Now add the stock / water and bring to a boil. Add all the chopped vegetables and mix well. Add the spices, salt ( be careful while adding salt if ur using vegetable stock, as the stock may contain some salt in it as preservatives) and let it boil for like 10 minutes, until the veggies cook a bit. Now add the garbanzo beans and cook covered on medium flame for 25 minutes.

Now after 25 minutes stir the soup well. If u think the soup looks too thick or too chunky add some water to it. Let it boil a bit and then go ahead and mix in the pasta. Stir well and cook it covered for another 10 to 12 mins. By now u can smell the minestrone soup. I felt as if I was in Olive garden...:) Well once the pasta is cooked u soup is ready for serving...:)

Garnish with some fresh parsley leaves and serve hot with some ciabata or fresh bread...:) It makes an awesome dinner...:D specially in winters...:) Have fun

For variation: You can add more vegetables in this soup, like potatoes or corn kernels..:)

Enjoy making this awesome soup...:)

Lobiya Masala & my 150th Post

2009-03-25T19:34:00.000-07:00

Yipeeeeee....! I am 150 posts old...:D Cooooool.... and its time to have a mini celebration...:d Thank u all my friends and other bloggers who helped me thru all my troubles...with ur lovely words and comforting support. Love u all...:) Thank u once again !

I am not a big fan of Lobiya (arabic) known as black eyed beans and also known as Chavali in hindi. But i do like the fresh black eyed peas which I made a bhaji out of to eat along with chapati.

Some facts about Lobiya: "Originally native to Africa, but widely grown in many countries in Asia, the black-eyed pea was introduced into the West Indies and from there to the Southern United States as early as the 1600s in Virginia. Most of the black-eye pea cultivation in the region, however, took firmer hold in Florida and the Carolinas during the 1700s, reaching Virginia in full force following the American Revolution. [1] The crop would also eventually prove popular in Texas. Throughout the South, the black-eyed pea is still a widely used ingredient in soul food and various types of Southern U.S. cuisine. The planting of crops of black-eyed peas was promoted by George Washington Carver because, as a legume, it adds nitrogen to the soil and has high nutritional value. Black-eyed peas are an excellent source of calcium (211mg in a 1 cup serving), folate (209mcg), and vitamin A (1,305 IU) among other nutrients"

Traditionally lobiya is supposed to be eaten for goodluck on the "New Year's Eve" in the southern American region. The same is the custom in many other countries. Actually I remember my mom making sweets using lobiya known as "karamani or payar" in tamil. So this is also a tradition in southern part of india I guess... hehhe..:) Nice discovery right?Anyways enough of the history of this bean. Well I came to make this recipe coz I had lot of frozen lobiya in my freezer. So here goes the recipe....

Ingredients :

Frozen Lobiya - 2 cups (thawed at room temperature)
Onion - 1 finely chopped
Tomatoes - 2 finey chopped
Green chillies - 2 slit lenghtwise
Minced Ginger - 1 tbsp
Garam Masala - 2 tsp
Salt to taste
sugar - 1/4 tsp
Green corinader leaves for garnish
oil
Jeera - 1tsp

Method :

Thaw the lobiya and steam it in a microwave for 4 minutes (high).

In a kadhai heat the oil and add the jeera. Allow to splutter and then add the ginger and green chillies. Saute for few minutes. Now add the onions and mix well. Cook till the onions r transparent. Add the tomatoes and cook till the tomatoes r tender. Add the salt, sugar and garam masala. Mix well. Add the lobiya mix well. Add 1/2 a glass or water and cook it covered for 5 minutes on medium heat. Stir in between. Cook till the water reduces a bit and the bhaji is no more liquidy.

Garnish with corinader leaves.

Serve with hot phukas or chapathis...:) Enjoy

Yummy Homemade Donuts

2009-03-25T14:20:00.000-07:00

This yummy sugar dipped ring just takes my heart away, everytime I sink my teeth into it. I love donuts. Yeah I can eat donuts anytime well its the different story that my hubby never allows me to go over indulging on them hehhe. He loves me so much that he watches how many I eat at a time hehhee:P

I had the ultimate Krispy kreme donuts when I went to Detroit in Jan.KK donuts are just awesome. It simply melts in ur mouth. And its such a treat watching the KK belt, where u can see the donuts being fried and then tossed and coated with the smooth sugar glaze.... and then the attendent picks up one hot donut and hands it over to u for tasting..... ummmmm...:P wtelse can u ask for?? right? Anyways I never thought I cud ever make these at home, until I found Rashmi's recipe. I saw these donut pictures in her album and when I saw the recipe... I wanted to try it as soon as possible because it is soooooooooooo easy to make. Here is the actual recipe. I will post the recipe again. So to make these delicious donuts you need....

Ingredients for donuts:

Pancake mix (I used buttermilk complete from Aunt Jemina) - 2 cup
Milk - 1/2 tbsp
oil - 1 tsp
water - 1/2 tbsp
Oil for deep frying

Fo glaze :

Confectioner's sugar - 1 cup
hot water - 11/2 tbsp
hershey's Chocolate syrup

For decoration:

Sprinkle - multi colour and chocolate

Method :

Heat the oil in a deep bottom pan (kadhai) at medium high.

Mix the milk and water. Take the pancake mix in a bowl and add the milk and water mixture to it slowly while lightly mixing with hand.add the oil.See that u dont knead it too hard. Use light hands....no pressure. See that u dont make it very watery...the dough shud be like the roti dough.once the dough comes into a nice ball keep it aside for 4-5 minutes.

In the meantime prepare the sugar glaze by mixing water in the confectioner's sugar.Be careful while adding water so that u dont make it very watery. the galze shud be smooth and a bit thick...:)

Now take small balls of the dough and press it using ur palm. Make into small circle using ur hand. Now using a bottle cap ( I used an oil bottle cap) and cut out the hole in the centre. Make few donuts this way and fry them out.

Arrange the donuts in a plate and pour or brush the sugar glaze of top of the donuts. See that the sugar glaze goes till the bottom of the donuts...to make it evenly sweet..:). To decorate put the sprinkle on the donuts before the sugar glaze dries out. For a chocolate glaze, take the choclate syrup in a small plate and dip one side of the donut in the syrup and then add sprinkle to it. Your donuts r ready to be served...:)

Your yummy donuts are ready.....enjoy them hot for the delicious flavour...:D

New Mehendi Designs

2009-03-23T10:51:00.000-07:00

Do not Copy these designs... they r Copyright Protected.

My recent mehendi designs...now copyright protected. I recently had an incident wherein someone copied my designs and even showed and attitude about it. Well I cant avoid these things.. But atleast I can put a copyright watermark on it... right?? So here r few of my recent designs...:D Do leave a comment on them.

Thats the mehendi design i did during my trip to india. its my bhabhi's hand...:)

Thats for a dearest friend krithika's baby shower...:) the colour turned out soooo good..:). She recently gave birth to a sweet little baby girl..:D

Another view of krithika's hand...:)

Another one here....:D Nice isnt it??

Bhabhi's hand... back side...:)

My mom- in -laws hand..... she was so busy when i was doing this... hehhe. Glad she agreed for this small design atleast hehe:)

Trial with a loose mehendi... I had this cone at home which was very very thick and hard...was not able to make designs out of it... so i took out all the contents and put it in a cup and added a spoon of fine sugar( sugar they say has the ability to dilute the mehendi a bit and also add elasticity to the mehendi.... which way it doesnt powder out when dried....) well well some experiments...:P So when I added and left it for 30 minutes, the mehendi became very very loose and watery... hehhe hence my mehendi is glitering and almost flowing...:P

I just sat and scribbled some design that came into my mind and to my astonishment it turned out into a good design.... hmm wish i had a very good cone.. instead of this watery one..:P

My hand..... i put this design while in india.. its my own creation (my design)...:D Isnt it good..??:P

Some old designs now...Which I did earlier...:D

My new Mehendi designs I made yesterday. do comment. I even made the mehendi paste and cone at home.The paste became a bit dry but otherwise the colour cam out good. will take the picture of the mehendi stained hands. I kept it just for 1/2 hr. due to work at home.

A close up of the design...:)

Design on the back of the palm..... design in progress...

Do leave ur comments on my new designs. Please dont copy or Use these design without permission. If u want something... Ask for it.

Easy Black Forest Cake

2009-03-12T17:38:00.000-07:00

Yum yum Black Forest cake. This cake has always been my favourite. I remember eating in monginis...with every extra Rs. 10 that we used to save. This pastry has always been my fav and the same with my hubby. So what better ocassion to make this than for our anniversary..:D I made this one for our 2nd wedding anniversary which was on 8th of december (sorry for posting it sooo late..:d)

I wanted to make it special and had no idea what shud I make. So I took the help of my dessert Queen friend Jeana and ask her to help me out with any of her good recipes. She told me about this one as said that it will be easy too as its made using a mix. The minute I saw the cake I knew I had to try it out. And here I am with the outcome. The beautiful, soft and creamy Black forest cake. Yummm!

You can find Jeana's recipe here. I will anyways write down the recipe and procedure again here.

For making this awesomely easy and tasty cake u need....

Ingredients:

Devil's food cake mix (any brand) - 1 pack
Below ingredients as given on the cake mix...
Eggs - 3 (I used 2 and came out good)
vegetable oil - as on package
Water - as on package

Lite cherry pie filling - 1 can (I used normal cherry pie filling)
Whipped cream - 1 tub (u can find this in the frozen section)
Maraschino Cherries with stem - 7-8
Grated Chocolate -for garnishing

Method :

Preheat the oven to the required temperature to bake the cake. See the temperature Instructions on the cake pack. Mix the ingredients of the cake as given on the package.

Grease a cake pan well (or u can even line in with a parchment sheet.) The Divided the cake batter into two 8' round pans and baked it for 50 minutes. The time may vary from oven to oven so do check ur cake by inserting a toothpick into the centre of the cake. If it comes out clean, ur cake is cooked well. You can even bake the whole cake in one deep 8' pan and then cut it into 2 layers.

Let the cake cool well on a cake rack. Cut the done and the hard sides of the cake and keep it aside.

Open the can of the cherry pie filling and reserve the juice. Sprinkle some cherry reserve juice on both the cakes. Leave it aside for 15 minutes or so. See that u dont make the cake too soggy.

On a cake board, or cake circles (u can get these in Micheals..:D) take one layer of the cake and pipe a dam of whipped cream around the rim of the cake layer so that the filling does on escape to the outer surface.Now scoop out and spread the cherry pie filling in the centre of the cream dam. Spread well and evenly.

Now, place the second cake layer on top of the cream filling. Frost the sides and top of the cake with the whipped cream. Smooth it as fine and smooth as possible. Now remeber the cake dome and side scrapping of the cake...? Crumble that with ur hand and then stick them to the sides of the cake. Try to stick them to the sides as evenly as possible.

Now comes decorating the cake... You can do it anyways u want... play with the placement of the cream swirls and the cherries. I followed what Jeana had done with her cake. Playing safe..:P
Using the whipped cream in piping bags, make 7 swirls at equal intervals on the top of the cake.
Top the swirls with the stemed cherry, one on each swirl. Decorate the centre with grated chocolate.

*****One small tip. Dont use the canned cream or reddiwhip to make the swirls. They dont last long. I made the swirls on this cake, placed the cherries on top and went for a romantic dinner with hubby and when I came back I cudnt see the swirl anymore just cherry which where actually slipping down the cake. Hmmm thought it was a disaster but somehow managed to tidy it up a bit and get it back. So avoid the canned ones...used whipped cream from the tub.. they stay good..:) Enjoy making this Cake as much as I did..:D

This was our lovely anniversary evening cake. I had fun making this as it didnt eat up my time...:) I am glad i made this sweettreat and I am sure I will be making it again too.:)

Kothu Barota / Parotha

2009-03-10T10:38:00.000-07:00

Kottu Barota / Parotha comes from Tamil Nadu, guess from a city called Trichy or Tiruchirapalli. Some say it has originated from Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu. I dunno much about its history and origin except that whoever invented this dish was a genuis. The literal translation of "kottu parotha" is Minced Paratha (indian flatbread) and that is how it is made, by shredding the parathas and adding it to some stir fried veggies...yummm! And for other who r wondering what is "Barota or Parotha..." thats how u call parathas down in chennai... heheh:P

I am a vegetarian hence showing the vegetarian version, but normally its made using egg and is called "Mutta kotthu paratha ". Muttai means egg in "Tamil". U can also add shredded chicken to this dish I guess. Just keep experimenting.

Anyways its very very easy and simple to make and I am sure you will love this one. My hubby had never eaten this before and when he did he simply fell in love with this.

I used to have something similar when I was in school. My friend used to get this in dabba....Her mom used to make it with leftover phulkas(rotis) dont remember what she used to call it in marathi...hmmm old days r so good isn't it?

Anyways here goes the recipe and the list of ingredients.

Ingredients:

Store bought frozen parathas : 3 (I used malabar paratha)

Onion : 1 finely chopped

Tomato : 2 medium finely chopped

Green chillies : 2 slit lenghtwise

Ginger : 1 inch minced

Cumin seeds (Jeera) : 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Dhania-Jeera powder : 1 tsp

Garam Masala powder : 1 tsp

Red chilli powder (optional)

Oil : 2 tsp

Fresh coriander leaves : 1 whole bunch finely chopped

Method :

Thaw the parathas slightly and roast them on the tava accroding to the paskage instruction. Shred them into small pieces with ur hand or using a knife and keep it aside.

In a kadhai take some oil and add the Jeera. Let it crackle. Now add the chopped ginger and mix well. Toss in the onions and saute till transparent and follow with the chopped tomatoes and cook till nice and tender. Add the garam masala, red chilli powder and dhania - jeera powder.Let hte masalas cook well. Once the water evaporates from the tomato onion mix, add the salt and toss in the shreded parathas and mix well on medium high heat. turn off the gas and leave it for 2 minutes. Now garnish with coriander leaves and lemon juice. Mix well and serve hot.:)

I am sure u all will enjoy this. My hubby topped it with some fresh chopped onions and some sev. It tasted delicious...:)

Hope u enjoy this traditional south indian delicacy as much we did.... Yumm is the word for this one !

Vegetable Chinese Fried Rice

2009-03-09T22:49:00.000-07:00

I love chinese.... Specially the indo chinese we used to get in the thelas of india. Yumm yummm! How I miss eating all that... Now, I dunno after staying in US what happened to my Immune system.... I ate chinese in india this time and fell sick... hmm. Anyways... those were the days... we used to eat the yummy indo chinese in the road side shops near Vt station... it used to be awesome...:) Anyways here goes the recipe...:)

Ingredients :

Basmati rice : 2 cup (cooked and cooled)

Ginger - 2 tsp finely chopped

Garlic - 2 tsp finely chopped

Carrot - 1 thinly sliced in juliens

Cabbage - 2 cup thinly shredded

Onion - 1 thinly sliced

Bean sprouts (optional) - 1 cup

Soya sauce - 3tbsp

Vinegar - 2 tsp

Sesame oil

Tomato sauce - 1/2 tbsp

Green chilli sauce - 1 tbsp

Salt and pepper to taste

Green chillies - 2 cut lengthwise

french style beans - 1 cup

Spring onions - 2 sprigs finely chopped

Method :

Cook the Basmati rice on a stove top with lots of water and then drain the water once done. Pour cold water over the rice to stop it from cooking. The rice shouldnt become mushy or overcooked. each grains of the rice should be seperate.

Heat some sesame oil in a wok / kadhai. Heat the oil till its nicely heated.Stir fry the garlic and ginger. Then add the vegetables (except the sppring onions and 1/2 of the bean sprouts) and stir fry well for 3-4 minutes. Dont overcook the vegetables. The vegetable should cook and yet be crisp.

Mix the salt and pepper to taste. Add the soya sauce, vinegar and tomato ketchup and mix well. cook for 2- 3 minutes.

Now add the rice and mix well. Cook for 3-4 minutes on high medium flame. Remove the rice onto a serving bowl and garnish it with Bean sprouts and spring onions.

Enjoy hot with some schezuan sauce or some delicious machurian. Have fun making it..:)

Khaman Dhokla

2009-03-09T21:56:00.000-07:00

So soft and so spongy. Isnt it? I remember my dad used to get them for us.. almost all weekend...from the famous haldiram's when we were in nagpur... that is when I started liking this comfort snack. They used to serve this with fried and salted green chillies.... yumm believe me my mouth is watering now..:P I am drooling hehehe:P

Anyways there also another way of serving this delicious dhokla. I had this at a friends place when I was doing my degree. You need to crumple the dhoklas (once cold ) with ur hands . Be gently when ur doing this. Dont mash the dhokla..:) put the crumples on ur serving plate. Drizzle tamarind chutney and garnish with sev and coriander leaves. Nice isnt it? Adding onions will add to the taste here...:P

Anyways.. going back to the recipe..

Ingredients:

Gram flour (Besan) : 1 cup

Yoghurt : 1 cup

Semolina : 2 tbsp

Warm water : 1/4 cup

Green chillies : 1 finely chopped

Fresh corinader leaves : 3 tbsp

Salt to taste

Turmeric powder : 1 tsp

Lemon juice : 3 tsp

Eno's fruit salt : 1 tsp

For tadka (tempering)

Oil : 1 tbsp

Mustard seeds : 1 tsp

Asafoetida (hing) - 1 tsp

Sesame seeds (optional) - 1/2 tsp

Green chillies - 1 chopped

Method :

In a bowl take the gram flour and semolina. Put in the yoghurt, salt, cilantro, lemon juice and green chillies into the flour and mix well to form a smooth batter. Add water if u feel the batter is too thick. See that the batter is nice and smooth and no lumps r formed. The batter should be of a pouring consistency.

Keep the batter aside and let it rest for an hour.

Now in a deep bottomed saucepan or pressure cooker... take some water and heat it at medium high. Place the cake rake into it. You can do this in a cooker too.

After the water starts to boil, turn down the heat to medium.

Add Eno to the batter and mix well. the batter will foam up. Now, quickly pour the batter into the greased cake pan.

Place the cake pan inside the saucepan/cooker on the cake rack. Cover the saucepan /cooker and steam for 10- 15 minutes on medium heat.

Test the dhokla with a knife. If the knife comes out clean, your dhokla is done. Off the heat and remove the cake pan out. let it cool to room temperature. Cut it into pieces.

In another vessel heat some oil and put all the ingredients of the tempering into the oil once the oil is hot enough. Pour the seasoning over the dhoklas and serve along with chutney.

I garnished it with some coriander leaves and sev too...Tasted good.:)

(Now some words about how to steam this dhokla. There are two ways to do it.

- One u can steam it easily in a pressure cooker, using a greased steel round pan (cake pan), pour the batter in it and steam for 10-15 minutes...or

- by steaming it in a deep bottomed vessel filling it with water (water level just enough to touch the base of the greased cake pan. Remember to keep a cake rack below the cake pan so that u dont burn the base of the dhoklas..) and covering with a lid. U can grease a cake pan, pour the batter and place it in this boiling water to steam. )

Your yum and fluffy dhokla is ready. Serve it with some tamarind or green chutney. Or crumble it and serve like an upma..:) Enjoy it. !

Hot 'n' Sour peanut noodles.

2009-03-05T13:59:00.000-08:00

Something hot and Something sour...I wanted to try something new with noodles and also peanuts...as my hubby loves peanuts in noodles and pasta (the thai peanut liguini pasta is his favourite...) as I didnt have spices for a thai pasta... thought will do a fusion between Indo-chinese and thai...:) Cool isnt it?

This also reminds me of the Street Indo-chinese that we used to get in india...:) Miss thems ooo badly... anyways here goes this lip smacking yumm recipe..:D

Ingredients:

Hakka noodles or Chowmein noodle (egg noodles) - 1 pack

Rice wine vinegar - 3/4 cup

Lite soya sauce - 1/3 cup

Honey or sugar - 1/3 cup ( i dont like the smell of honey so used sugar...u can use honey thats wt the actual recipe calls for.)

Fresh chopped Ginger - 3 tablespoon

Chopped garlic - 3 pods

Asian Chilli garlic sauce -1 tbsp

Dark Sesame oil - 2 Tbsp

Chopped green onions - 1/2 bunch

Onion - 1/2 cup ( sliced in big pieces))

Green bell pepper - 1/2 cup ( sliced in big pieces)

Baby corn - 1 can (optional)

Roasted and salted peanuts - 1 cup

Salt & pepper to taste

Method :

Whisk together Rice white vinegar, Lite Soya Sauce,Sugar, Asian Chilli garlic sauce & Dark sesame oil in a medium bowl; set aside

Cook the noodles seperately according to the package instruction and Keep aside.

In a wok add some sesame oil and the chopped garlic. Stir for some time. Add the onions, green bell pepper and the baby corn. Stir fry in a medium high flame for 10 minutes until the veggies cook well but yet is crisp. Add salt and pepper.

Now add the cooked noodles...:) And stir fry well till the veggies r cooked well. Add the vinegar & sauce mixture and stir fry.Toss well to combine.

Garnish with Green onions, peanuts and Tossed sesame seeds (optional)

Serve hot or cold. Tastes awesome either way. You dont need any sides with this. Enjoy!

Spinach Artichoke Dip

2009-03-05T10:19:00.000-08:00

The most sinful dip I have ever tasted. I just love it.. the melted cheese with the taste of the artichoke and nicely baked spinach..... yummmm! I first ate this in Maggianos Resaturant and just fell in love with it. My hubby doesnt allow me to order this often as he says its very cheesy and not good for health in excess...:) He is my personal dietician hehehe..:P

Anyways I just got few artichokes as I wanted to experiment with fresh food. So what better than making a Spinach artichoke dip right?? So here goes the recipe..:D

Ingredients:

Artichoke Hearts - Fresh (2) or u can even use Canned artichoke hearts

Spinach - 2 cups

Shreded Mozarella cheese & Parmesan cheese - 1/4 cup each

Cream Cheese - 2 cups

Yoghurt - 1/4 cup

Garlic - 3 pods cleans and minced

Fresh or dried basil - 1/2 tsp

Salt and pepper to taste

Garlic salt - 1/2 tsp (optional)

Method :

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a small baking dish and place inside the oven.

Chop the artichoke heart and spinach well. I used frozen spinach which I thawed well before using

In a medium bowl mix the Yoghurt, basil, cream chese, garlic, salt, 1/2 of the Mozarella cheese and parmesan cheese,pepper and garlic salt. Slowly now stir in the Spinach and the chopped artichoke hearts. Mix well.

Now tarnsfer this mixture into the preheated baking dish and top with the leftover Mozzarella cheese and bake for 25 minutes until its bubbly and lightly brown on top.

Variation** I added some chopped red pepper to this recipe.. just for the colour..:)

Serve hot with ur favourite nacho chips or Pita bread..:) Enjoy!

Garbanzo salad / Sundal

2009-03-05T09:44:00.000-08:00

This reminds me of Navarathri days in India. As a kid I used to go and see all the gollus(aarangement of dolls)...sing songs and come back with a packet of these lovely little darlings. Yummmm! How I used to love this as a kid, well I love it even now...:D This is like a salad...and is called as Sundal in Tamil....:)

Okie now we come to the recipe

Ingredients :

Garbanzo Beans /Kabuli chana - 1 Big Can
(if ur using dried ones...soak it overnight and then steam it in the cooker a bit)

Grated coconut - 3/4 cup

Mustard seeds - 2 tsp

Curry leaves - 2 twigs

Asafoetida - 2 pinch

Salt to taste

Oil - 1 tbsp

Green chillies - 2 slit lenghtwise

For garnish - Coriander leaves and grated Coconut

Method : Empty the can of garbanzo in a microwave safe bowl and wash the beans well in running water. Now Steam the beans in a microwave for 2 mins on high.

(I used the can hence this step.. if ur using dried beans and soaking it, Just steam it in a cooker and ur all set to make the sundal)

In a deep bottom pan take some oil and put mustard seeds and let it splutter. Then add green chillies and curry leaves. Add asafoetida and leave it on for few minutes. Add the coconut and stir fry for 5 minutes, until the coconut roasts a bit and gives out a nice aroma. Now add the Garbanzo beans and mix well. See that u do this gently u dont want to mash the Garbanzos...:) Add salt and mix well. Let the Garbanzo roast for sometime. Garnish with some more coconut and coriander leaves.

Serve hot with a bowl. Can be enjoyed as an evening snack!

Back With a Spicy bang! - Mirpakaya Bajji

2008-12-02T17:43:00.000-08:00

Its has been such a roller coster ride. This whole year was so for me.... and know what the year isnt over yet. I had cousins over at my place, then I had been to a cousins place... and some family functions and birthdays and the big huge india trip......and so many other things...... phew...life sometimes gets so hectic.

Now, for my post after a long long time...:) Due to all these things that were happeneing with me I never got enough time to cook much. Just few days back the temptation of eating hot, spicy, yumm mirpakaya bajji...Ohh how I miss eating them. I remember I used to go out with my Vadina (my co sister) and relish on those yummy bajjis from street side thelas...Ohh how I miss India.(I just came back from india......:(... miss those glorious days spent there..)

Hmm anyways coming back to my bajji.... Do u know the best combination for these bajjis are murmura upma? Yeah, they taste yumm together...:) My Vadina taught me how to make this upma. Well anyways, this post is dedicated to the mirpakaya bajji so I will post about the Upma later.

Me and my hubby can live on it totally. Thats the love we have for these slender beauties. Anyways so here goes the recipe for these amazingly tasty bajjis.

Ingredients :

Big chillies - 8 (less spicy ones)

Gram flour - 2 cups

Ajwain - 1 tsp

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Rice flour - 1 tbsp

Oil for frying

For the Filling :

Amchur powder - 2 tsp

Salt to taste

Coriander and Jeera Powder - 2 tsp

For serving :

Chopped Onions - 1 cup

Lemon juice - 2 tbsp

Chaat Masala - 3 tsp

Method :

Wash and slit the chillies lengthwise. Remove the seeds. If you are a spicy eater you may keep the seeds as it is.

In a seperate plate or bowl add the Amchur powder, salt and coriander& jeera powder, mix well. Stuff this filling inside the slit green chillies and keep it aside. This will reduce the heat from the chillies and make it tangy to taste....:)

In a bowl add the gramflour , turmeric, salt, ajwain, rice flour and some water and mix well. The consistency should semi liquid. not too thick not to watery. Your batter is ready for dipping...:)

Heat the oil in a Kadhai.

Dip the green chillies in the batter and fry in the heated oil till golden brown in colour. For a better texture I normally double fry these chillies. This is how u can double fry.....Once u fry the chillies by dipping in the batter and are out, again dip them in the batter and fry it again. This gives a thicker coating to the chillies and enhances the taste.....:) Your bajjis are ready to be served. Enjoy !

Serve the Mirpakaya Bajji in the hyderabadi style. Cut the Mirpakaya bajjis and stuff it with some chopped onions, chaat powder and lemon juice. Thats the hyderabadi style mirpakaya bajji.

Serve this bajji with Murmura Upma. This is the typical way of eating it.

Back with a Healthy Bang! - Apple Pecan Salad

2008-12-02T16:10:00.000-08:00

Hello friends.......

yeah yeah I know... Its been a long long time. I was completely tied up in so many things that I didnt have any time to blog or say a simple Hi to all my lovely blogger friends. To firstly I would like to enquire about all my pretty friends out there. Hope u all r doing good. My regards to all of u.

Coming to me, I had been to india and came back on friday 28th Nov. Enjoyed my trip. Had loads of fun and roamed and shopped a lot. Enjoyed eating the chatpata road side food. Yummm! India has not changed a bit when it comes to food. They say people in india have become very conscious about their health and about status and this and that blah blah.... but u can still see the roadside stalls surrounded with so many foodies..some stopping by in their posh cars....ahem ahem....thats the power of tasty food. Isn't it guys?

Coming to the Plagarism of my site, things r cool now. I dunno how but that site has been stopped and I am happy and bless the person who made it happen. So after all the munching and jumping around in India, I decided that I go on strict diet when I come back. So here I am with a healthy Salad recipe which I enjoyed making as well eating.

Apple Pecan Salad. If u dont like pecan u can substitute it with Walnuts or toasted almonds.:)

Ingredients :

Spring mix salad leaves - 1 pack

Chinese cabbage - 1 cup (optional) you can even use regular cabbage.

Red apple - 1

Toasted pecans - 1/2 cup

Lemon juice - 2 tsp

Olive oil - 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Toasted sesame - 1 tsp (optional)

Pepper - a pinch

Method :

In a big salad bowl put in the salad spring mix. You can even add romaine lettuce, iceberg lettuce and other salad leaves to this individualy . I prefer to buy this shredded mix pack.

Add the toasted and halved pecans to this and mix well. Chop the apples into small cubes. Toss the apples too into the bowl Toss well, wrap with a cling wrap and refridgerate.

In a seperate small bowl add the the lemon juice, olive oil, toasted sesame, salt and pepper and mix well. Ur dressing is ready. When ur ready to serve, pour this dressing over ur salad and mix gently. Your salad is ready to be eaten. Sweet and tangy, healthy salad.

Enjoy as a side to your lunch.

I am so Sorry guys

2008-07-01T11:39:00.000-07:00

I have not been able to post anything or even reply to any of ur comments because I was on a break. I have guests (cousins) at my place and we r on a road trip. This has really cheered me up a bit. I have mailed google and I am doing the needful towards the guy. I havent got any reply from him yet. Through some friends I got an email address (guess it is his email..) and phone number.I have not yet contacted him... I will be doing that after this weekend, when I am back from my road trip. At present I am in grand canyon and its raining. I will be updating you with more progress on this.

Thank u all for ur support. I guess I needed this break from all that is happening and also from the blogging. I am happy to be with family and enjoy. Atleast for sometime I tension and depression is gone.

Thank u and see you all soon.

I am devastated... Someone please help and guide me.!

2008-06-23T09:58:00.000-07:00

I have been hearing about this plagarism for quite some time now. I think now its my turn.
God know from how long this guy is using my content. But he is having everything in his blog... including my first post.

Some person has made a blog with all my content. Everything including my post,labels and pictures and user comments are there in that site...

He made a site just like how I have at blogger.com..... chutkibharpyar(dot)mobiforumz(dot)com

(Thanx priya for the advice u gave me about not putting the hyperlink of the copied blog.)

and it says all this is posted by someone named Hidayath.

I was just talking about all this plagarism to my husband and I un intentionally searched for "chutki bhar pyar" on google search. The first few pages that poped up where familiar to me or were from my site.The seventh link that came up really shocked me. I was wondering what is this new thing. I never registered here? And it says guide to cooking mehandi and wo? I just click on it to see what is this thing all about. I really didnt remember registering in anything like this. When I opened the page I was devastated. It is a word by word copy of my blog. Including the comment u all left.

I dunno how he cud do this. But he even has my labels. Its my site there... with the same title... just that he changed the subtitle... cooking with love to something else...hmm

I am all confused how he cud do this. He even has my introduction post that I posted in july 2007.He has copied my site word by word.I have left a message to him asking him to remove my content. But its still under moderation and he hasnt accepted it yet. In the site I couldnt find anyway I can contact him. Can anyone guide me what I can do about this? Please help me out. He has put ads by google on my content. I really dont approve to that. I dont want anyone using my content new or old.

He has stated that this is an example page. But, I was never contacted or asked permision to use my page as an example....worst when he is earning with that page. How can he just post all my content and put it up there to promote his product? I guess till this time he was even getting all my updates as soon as I used to post it. It used to come on his site too. I am just so confused and I dunno how to stop this or confront this person.

Can google do something about this?.. Someone please help me.

Waiting for ur advice and guidance.

Papad Roti

2008-06-20T17:05:00.000-07:00

I found this unique recipe on the net...dunno exactly where. But as always I had jotted in down in my recipe book and stumbled upon it just a few days back. What better ocassion to try a roti recipe than now... when u have the mega Roti mela going on.......:D So here goes one more entry and say last entry from me for the roti mela....:) ( today is the last day..:(.... hmmm time runs so fast...)

My other entries to the Roti mela are

Roti ki Tokeri : which contains 6 different types of Rotis. ( Butter Paratha, Chow -chow roti, Stuffed rice paratha, Raw Banana Roti, Gobi - broccoli Paratha, Masala Aloo rotti )

Sago Rotti , Cilantro Stem Roti & Masala Oats Rotti hmmmm :)

So here goes my entry. This roti tastes very nice and tasty. I thought the filling would be crispy...but my hubby said it didnt taste like it had a papad filling...hmmm.But who cares.....it did taste very very yummy...! And I am surely gonna make it again..:D. I used a plain papad to make this and added masalas to it. If ur using a spicy masala papad... becareful of the extra spice that u add.. u dont want to ur tongue to be on fire right?

You need :

Wheat flour dough

For the filling:

Plain Papad - 4 (roasted on a gas or microwave)
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Amchur powder - 1 tsp
Green chillies - 1 finely chopped (optional)
Fresh mint leaves - 2 tsp
Chaat masala - 1 tsp
Ghee - 1 tsp
salt to taste

The papad mixture for the filling

Method :

Another stuffed paratha from me. I love having stuffed paratha and this one is pretty easy stuffing to make.

Take a big bowl and crush the papads and put it in the bowl. Add all the other ingredients in the bowl and mix it well. Now ur filling is ready.

Take the ball of the dough and roll it out into a small circle.Brush some oil on one side of the circle. Now, place some filling on the oiled side...in the centre of the small circle. Overlap the edges of the circle...packing the filling inside. Roll it out into a bigger circle and roast it on a griddle...pouring oil around it. Cook till brown spots appear on both sides.

****Variation :

As I said earlier... my hubby said that it didnt taste cruchy like the papad. I did figure out a solution for that which I will be doing next time I make this Roti.

- firstly dont completely crumble the papads and make them powdery. Keep some big pieces on.
- Take the dough and make a big roti. Keep it aside. Take some more dough and make one more big roti... somewhat the same size as the earlier one. Now spread the filling in the centre of the second roti...leaving a gap of 1 cm around the circumference, So that the filling doesnt spill out.
Place the other roti on top of it and press around the edges to bind it well.

Now, u can cook the roti on a griddle as above......:)

Enjoy this roti...:)

Sabudana Thalipeeth/ Sago rotti and Tamarind relish ! - T&T, YRR,JFI,RM

2008-06-20T14:40:00.000-07:00

When Zlamushka of Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen announced the blog for this month's Tried & Tasted... I was so sure I am gonna participate in this one. This month it was cooking from Nupur's One Hot stove. I Also sending this to the Your Recipe Rocks event...started by Madhuram of eggless cooking.

I have always loved Nupur's site and her lovely recipes. When I saw the recipe of Sabudana Thanlipeeth in her site I was so sure I am gonna try it out.:) So here is the Sabudana Thalipeeth and Tamarind relish from Nupur's blog.

I am also sending the Sabudana Thalipeeth also known as Sago Rotti recipe to the Roti mela hosted by Srivalli..:)

Thie Sabudana Thalipeeth is a maharashtrian "Upvas" (Fast) recipe. So here goes the recipe. I haven't made any changes to the recipe given by Nupur. U can see her original recipe here. Anyways I am posting the recipe here.:)

For making this lovely recipe

You need :

Sabudana / Indian pearl Sago - 1 cup
Potatoes - 2 medium (boiled and mashed)
Roasted crushed peanuts - 1/2 cup
Cumin seeds - 1 1/2 tsp
Green chillies - 2 finely chopped
Fresh cilantro - 1/2 cup finely chopped
Sugar - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil

Method :

Wash the sago well in some luke warm water. Drain all the water and add about 1/4 cup of water to it and leave it overnight or about 5 hours. Your sago will swell well and becoming a bit rubbery and soft. Keep it aside.

In a bowl put in the sago and all the other ingredients excluding the oil. Mix it all well in a nice soft dough. Now ur all ready to make ur thalipeeth.

Firstly take a square thick platic sheet. Brush the plastic sheet with some oil. Oil ur palms or u can even wet it with water....and take a ball of the sabudana dough and place it on the plastic sheet.

Press the dough in the centre with ur palm and make into a flat circle. Keep pressing and expanding the circle. See that u dont break it. Keep the rotti a bit think say about 2 cm in thickness.

Transfer it to a hot griddle, pour a tsp of oil around it and cook it until nice and crisp on both sides.Serve it with Sweetened curd/yoghurt or Tamarind relish....:)

Fast or no fast we can always enjoy this as a lovely evening time snack. My hubby loved it.. Enjoy!

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Tamarind Relish

Another recipe that I found and loved in Nupur's blog was Cynthia's Tamarind relish that she served with her Thalipeeth.......Yumm is the word for it...:D

As soon I read this recipe I knew it is gonna rock at my place. My hubby loves anything that is tangy. He is a big tomato and lemon fan hehhee...:P yup... Lemon rice and tomato rice and ofcourse puliyogare is his favourite. So when I saw this recipe I wanted to make this tangy treat for him. So here goes the recipe. I got it from Nupur's blog. Here is the original recipe.

You need:

Tamarind Concentrate - 2 tbsp

Onions - 1/2 finely chopped

Ginger - 1 " piece finely chopped

Garlic - 3 pods peeled and minced

Red Chilli flakes - 1/2 tsp

Cumin /coriander powder - 1 tsp

Jaggery - 2 tbsp

Salt - 1 tsp

Method :

Mix the tamarind concentrate in a bowl with 1 cup of water. Dissolve the tamarind well. If u dont have concentrate u can use the tamarind pulp. Soak it in 1 cup hot water for 20-30 minutes and later press out all the pulp and squeeze out all the seeds and fiber. You will have ur tamarind pulp and water ready.

In a small pan, heat some oil and put in the ginger, garlic and onions and saute and cook until soft and light pink in colour.

Now add the tamarind pulp and the other ingredients and boil until a bit thick or have a jam thickness. Adjust the amount or salt and other spices according to ur taste. You can store this in an air tight container and refrigerate.

I am sending this recipe to the JFI : Tamarind hosted by my Sig of live to eat.

Enjoy!!

Re-Posting..an old favourite...Masala Oats Roti

2008-06-20T14:15:00.000-07:00

I am Re-posting this Oats Roti..which is our family favourite. I love this roti...specially because it very healthy and it very tasty too. I am reposting it and sending it to the Roti mela hosted by Srivalli.

We love it... hope u love it too... So here goes the Masala Rotti post. :)

A healthy and tasty oats snack. Oats, like any other varieties of grains, belong to the Graminae family (grasses)'s called 'Jai' in Hindi. Oats are excellent source of soluble dietary fibre. They are derived from natural whole grain. Oats'quality is enhanced further, by mixing it with Oat Bran.

Some Facts..:

BENEFITS OF SOLUBLE FIBRE : Soluble fibre and blood pressure - high fibre white oats helps to fight against excess blood cholesterol. Results of many medical studies showed that Gel formation by soluble fibre interferes directly with transport and absorption of liquids (fats) in the small intestine. Dietary fibre binds and absorbs bile acids and transports it into the calon for excretion,thereby responsible for increasing degradation of chloesterol to replace the bile salts, thus lowering the blood cholesterol level.

SOLUBLE FIBRE AND DIABETES: Soluble fibre like the type present in hi-fibre white oats are beneficial for diabetics too. Eating any normal diet controlling carbohydrate, can lead to a rise in blood sugar level in diabetics, whereas food rich in dietary fibre produces an opposite effect i.e. lowers the blood sugar level and thus, reduces the need of insulin to stabilize the blood sugar level.

SOLUBLE FIBRE AND OBESITY: Soluble fibre like the type found in hi-fibre white oats can help in weight control as it can replace high fat and calorie in food and can lead to reduction in total calorie intake.

SOLUBLE FIBRE AND IT'S OTHER BENEFITS: Soluble fibre can also prevent constipation, gastro-intestinal disorders, colon cancer, piles and varicos vein.

This is a lovely and tasty recipe which can be easily made and be given to children who as such wouldnt like to eat the bland white oats as it is.This is a very tasty recipe and I am sure u will love it.

You need :

White Oats : 1 cup

Rava - 1/2 cup

Sour buttermilk - 1 cup

Tomatoes - 1 large

Onion - 1

Green chillies - 3

Ginger - 1" piece

Salt to taste

Oil

Fresh Coriander leaves

Method :

In a big bowl put the oats, rava, sour butter milk. mix well. Now add in the chopped tomatoes, green chillies, coriander leaves, ginger and the salt.Mix in a bit of water if needed and make a semi liquid batter in such a consistency that it can be held in hand.

Now heat a non stick tawa. Pour some oil on it. Take the batter in one hand and place it in centre of the tawa like a lump. Now using ur palm, gently spread the batter on tawa. This is look like a thick dosa/ Roti.

Let the roti cook well. Add oil to it and roast it on either side by flipping in between.Cook till golden brown.

Serve hot with pickle and Raita.

Cilantro stem Paratha.. just yummy !

2008-06-18T10:05:00.000-07:00

I love the smell and taste of Cilantro leaves /Coriander leaves. I like to put a lot of it in my curries, raitas and daals. All that is routine when it comes to cilantro...I wanted to try something new with it... So I ended up making this roti... with cilantro stems.

I always collect the stems of the cilantro leaves. As I said I love the smell of the fresh cilantro... The thing is, the stems of the cilantro are as fresh, flavourful and aromatic as the leaves.Then y throw them rt?... So I stock them up, wash them well... lightly dry it and then chop them into fine pieces and then put them in my tamarind, and store. This tamarind I use specially when I am making Rasam / Chaaru. It gives such a nice flavour and Aroma to the rasam. Do try it next time u make ur rasam. Yummmmm!

I am sending this Cilantro stem paratha recipe to Srivalli's Roti mela event. Check out my previous entries to the roti mela here.

You need :

Cilantro stems - 2 cups finely chopped
Fresh coriander leaves - handful finely chopped
Gram flour /Besan - 3/4 cup
Wheat flour - 1 1/2 cup
Ajwain - 2 tsp
Jeera /cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Green chillies - 2 finely chopped
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp (optional)
Coriander / cumin powder - 2 tsp
Asafoetida / Hing - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 1 tbsp

Method :

Put all the above ingredients in a bowl and mix it up into a dough using some warm water.
Make this dough soft and pliable.

My lovely lunch platter! Lobia bhaji, yoghurt, pickle, onions and my lovely cilantro stem parathas:D

Heat the griddle on medium heat.Take a small ball of dough and roll it into a circle. This circle is called as a roti. Now put it on the hot tava. Drizzle oil on the side and let it roast. flip it on to the other side and again drizle some more oil. Cook until brown spots appear on both sides.

Ur roti is ready. Enjoy hot...as it is.. or with some garlic chutney...or yoghurt and pickle.

Enjoy!

Khiar Be Laban For Awed...Now to Frozen Yoghurt and Herb mania.

2008-06-18T09:32:00.000-07:00

I am sending this recipe for the Herb Mania-Fresh mint Event hosted by Dee of Ammulu' s Kitchen.Thanks Dee for the lovely topic.:)

I am also sending this Khiar be laban for the Frozen Yoghurt event hosted by Siri of Siri's corner. I love yoghurt... Thank u Siri for this lovely event.
I am reposting this post for the yoghurt and herb mania event. As usual I have been absent minded and didnt check these event details earlier. So, here goes my entry..:)

Phew! so many events and the same due dates... It becoming madenning. There are sooooooooo many event going on in the food blogsphere. Each and every event is unique and I have the itch of participating in every event. But then it becomes so difficult to cope up with so many of them.... Phew! phew!... So today is the due date for 2 big events.. the RCI and the AWED. I was keen on taking part in both the events. Just few minutes back I posted my entry for the RCI and now come my entry to the AWED.

Since childhood I have the habit of keeping things till the last minute. And I have successfully continued it till now... keeping things for last minute... hmmm.....So here goes my entry...:)

Khair be laban.....Cucumber in Minted yoghurt. I found this recipe is Meedo and zainab's blog, Arabic Bites.This is a lebaneese recipe and is very easy to make and so delicious. This is somewhat similar to the cucumber raita that we make. It is made of different ways in different regions of Lebanon, some add onions, other herbs or raisins. In the Lebanese cuisine, dairy products are of great importance, particularly yoghurt which is one of the bases of food.

In summer, it is often served in the mezzé. It is such a simple recipe and its so good for these hot summers... Yummm! You can find the original recipe here.

You need :

Cucumber : 1 peeled and shredded
Salt to taste
Mint - 1/2 cup finely chopped
fresh corinader leaves - 2 tbsp finely chopped
Yoghurt - 2 cups
buttermilk - 1 cup (optional)

Method :

Peel the cucumber and grate it. Sometimes the cucumbers are bitter...so to remove the bitterness u can cut the top of the cucumber and rub it on the cut part in a circular motion. It gives out a white foamy substance... Do this for around 5 minutes and ur cucumbers r ready for shredding....:)

When I was making this.... I had the slightest doubt that my cucumber would be bitter. So I happily went on to grate it and later discovered it was very very bitter. Thank god I got it before I added yoghurt to the cucumber. Add salt to the grated cucumber and leave it for 5 minutes. Squeeze out the grated cucumber into a bowl. Done all the biiterness is gone..:)

Now to the grated cucumber add all the given ingredients and mix well. Your Khiar be laban is ready.....:) U can add the buttermilk and mail ur Khiar be laban a bit wattery or skip the buttermilk and make it nice and thick.

Serve as a dip or as a side to any pulao

This is my entry to the AWED - Middle eastern cuisine hosted by Siri of Siri's corner. One more event.. finely accomplished. Soooooooooooooooooooooooooo many more to gooo :( phew!

One completed sketch and some more awards...!

2008-06-17T17:31:00.000-07:00

The Bride sketch finally Complete..:) Have a look and do leave ur message and comments. It matters a lot to me.

Another look...:) Isn't she beautiful? Well I took total 3 months to complete this one. Thats not coz it takes that much time... but because I was lazy to complete the painting.... I have used a 6 B pencil for the sketching and shading.

I am so lucky to be showered with so many awards. I had a load full last week and I am so happy to show off 2 more for this week. My dear friend Sireesha of Mom's recipe passed me with the Rocking girl blogger award. Thank u so much Sireesha for this award. It matters a lot to me..:)

I would like to pass on ths award to 4 of my fellow blogger friends.

Rachel of Tangerine's Kitchen

Kalva of curry in Kadhai

Jeena of Jeena's kitchen

And my friend Shanti from My kitchen hobbies.

Something so amusing happened last week. The thing is Shanti's hubby and my hubby work in the same office and we met through a common friend. I didnt know that its the same Shanti. Later yesterday when I was talking to her I asked her for her blog address (when we met for the first time she reffered to me that she has a blog.) When I saw her blog I was so shocked...happily shocked. I have visited this blog so many times but never knew it was her blog hehehe... It is funny. Well I am happy that I met such a nice cook like her and the best thing is we stay nearby...:D

She is such a sweet girl and so down to earth. This is for u Shanti.....U simply rock girl.

Another award that I got this week is from another sweet friend... Hetal of Isha's Kitchen. She passed me on with the Inspirational award. It feels so good when someone calls u their inspiration. It puts u on the cloud 9. I am at presently sitting there and blogging. Thank u Hetal for making a day so special with this award.

As its the rule that we have to list 4 things that Inspire us.I already got this award earlier and I have listed down my inspiration here.

This award was conceptualised by Jamie of the Flavour Pantry. Jamie tells the following,“This is given to bloggers whose stories and recipes inspire us. Whether it’s to eat healthier, dive back into our past to conjure up something we ate as children, or just make the light bulbs in our brains go on with a new idea for a recipe. As recipients of this award, please share with us what inspires you and then pass on the Inspiration Award to 4 other deserving bloggers. Please let them know what the award means and what to do with it.”

As per the terms of the award, I have to pass this award to four other bloggers. I wish I can pass it on to all of my blogger friends but as I have to stick to the rules.. Firstly I would love to thank you all for ur encouraging comments always.The blogger who inspire me are...

Swati of chatkhor
Divya of Dil-se
Cynthia of Tastes like Home
Meedo & Zainab Of Arabic bites

Keep inspiring me this way. Congratulations. Enjoy ur awards.:)

Vegan Masala Scrambled Tofu

2008-06-17T11:17:00.000-07:00

I am not a vegan but I love tofu.... Actually me and my hubby...we both love tofu. He is the one who introduced me to tofu.. and I am so glad he did. We love scrambled egg but as we r trying to cut eating egg now....atleast buying them... other than for cakes..(sudden cultural awekening..:P..u see?)So we r trying other options to have the same crumbly texture and taste.

I happen to eat this at a cousins place for breakfast and we instantly fell in love with it. So I tried my hand at it and I can say I was successful..:) I am sending this recipe to the Eat healthy event- Protein Rich hosted and started by Sangeeth.

You need:

Extra Firm Tofu : 1 packet
Green chillies - 3 finely chopped
Ginger-garlic paste - 2tsp
Fresh coriander leaves - 1 cup finely chopped
Onions - 1/2 cup finely chopped
Green bell pepper - 1/2 cup finely chopped
Salt to taste
Corinader -cumin Powder - 1 tsp
Garam Masala - 1 tsp
Lemon juice - 2 tsp (optional)
Oil - 3 tsp

Method :

Drain water from the packet of tofu. Remove the tofu out and pat it dry with a kitchen towel or paper napkin.Wrap it in a paper napkin and keep it aside.

In a nonstick pan, take some oil and add the green chillies and ginger garlic paste. Saute till the ginger garlic turns light brown. Add onions and saute for 5 mins. Add the spices and the salt. Saute well.
Lastly add the green bell pepper and saute well for 10 mins or until the pepper is cooked well.

In the meantime. Remove the tofu from the napkin and put it in a bowl and mash it with hand. You may even make small cubes of the tofu, lightly mash it with a laddle and add it to the cooked vegetables.Stir fry for 6-7 minutes

Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and lemon juice. Serve along with a slice of garlic bread.

Serve hot as a Breakfast or as a lunch side dish.

Plagarism....Oh my God..!

2008-06-16T10:17:00.000-07:00

I came across this blogpost in Indira's blog about Inji pennu and the plagarism of her blog post, poems and pictures by some website named Kerals.com(supposed to be a very very huge name in malayalam websites...) OMG... its so scary. The first thing that came to my mind is...?? Can this Happen to me? Can this happen to anyone including me?......Ohh my god.. we should Fight against this plagarism...Join this protest list and let us all support inji pennu. You can read about the whole issue here.

Something Hot and something Sweet !

2008-06-15T15:00:00.000-07:00

Well its been a wild wild search for me and overall a hectic month. The search for a nice recipe for the RCI : North east India hosted by bhags of Crazy curry . RCI was started by lakshmi of Veggie cuisine. So, the work and other family commitments that kept me occupied for the whole month. After all the search, I did come up with a list of vegetarian preparations. But due to the time constrain (the due date is 2morrow...) I have post something I tried ealier last month... as soon as bhags announced about the RCI.

I didnt want to post it as it was something very common... anyways... something better than nothing. So, here goes my Momos and Koat pitha. Momo's come from the land of the rising sun....Arunachal Pradesh.

For momos you need :

For the dough:

All purpose flour - 2 cups

salt to taste

Warm water

For the filling :

Cabbage - 1 cup finely chopped

Onions - 1/2 cup finely chopped

Mushrooms - 1/2 cup

Carrot - 1 finely chopped

Salt to taste

Garam masala - 1 tsp

green chillies - 1 finely chopped ( u can reduce this according to ur taste..)

Garlic pods - 1 finely chopped

Ginger - 1 tsp finely chopped

Tabasco sauce - 1 tsp ( u can add chili sauce)

Oil - 2 tsp

Method :

Firstly we will make the dough. Take the flour in a bowl and salt and water to it. Knead it into a nice smooth dough. Keep aside.

Now we can make the filling. For the filling shred the cabbage, chop the onions, mushroom and carrot finely.

In a pan take some oil and add the chopped garlic and ginger to it. saute for 1 min and then add the chopped onions. Add the green chillies and the garam masala and saute once again.

Now, add the chopped vegetables to it along with salt and the tonasco sauce and mix well. Cook for 2 minutes and ur filling is ready. U dont need to cook the vegetable too much.

Take a small amount if the dough , roll it into a small circle of 4 inch diameter and place a spoon ful of the filling in the centre of the cirle. Get all the sides of the circle to the centre and pack the filling. Do the same with the whole dough. Steam of the dumplings until they are cooked well.

Serve hot with Tomato ketchup, schezwuan sauce or the traditional Tomato Oambal.. Enjoy!

Koat Pitha

This is Something we both loved. I made it in the last minute... yeah yesterday evening... heheh.. I didnt want to miss on this lovely event. :P... Koat Pitha is a sweet savoury dish from the state of Mizoram and I am sending this to the RCI - North east india too.:)

Here goes the recipe :

Ripe banana - 1 chopped in pieces and mashed

Rice flour - 1 cup

Powdered Jaggery - 1 1/2 tbsp

Oil for frying

Method :

Mashed the chopped banana pices. Melt the jaggery with some water. Add the melted jaggery paste to the banana and mix well.

Slowly fold in the rice flour into the banana jaggery mixture. If u like it very sweet add some more jaggery. Mix into a nice smooth paste.

Heat oil in a kadhai. When the oil is hot, drop a spoonful of the batter into the oil and cook until brown on both the side. Drain on a kitchen napkin.

Sprinkle some powdered sugar on top and serve hot. We had it with some vanilla ice cream..tastes too good.

It tasted just like the traditional appa that we make...:) Too good a recipe and I am so sure I will be making this often..whenever I am ready to fry again..:D

So here are my 2 entries to the event.:)

Varitions : for the momos I tried another variation of filling but I wasnt very happy with it. It tasted very bland and hmmm different. The original required the momos to be served with a soup.. but we ate it as it is..as I was in no mood to make a soup now... and I got a yuck from my hubby for that filling hehehe...:P. Maybe it would have tasted good with the soup.Well its all a part of the learning process. If u wanna check out the recipe of the yuck momos I tried... check it here and make it at ur own risk. Enjoy!

Creamy bites..come take a bite.

2008-06-13T17:20:00.000-07:00

I love to treat myself with this...when I am bored and just wanna grab some snack. I normally make some snack in the evening for my tired and starving hubby...when he returns from work...he has to have something to eat some snack or something crunchy and light. We love these creamy bites. And its so eay to make.

You need :

Triscuit roasted garlic biscuits (or any crackers) - 12
Low fat Sour cream - 1/2 cup
Onion - 1/2 finely chopped
Salt to taste
Tomatoes - 1 finely chopped (u can skip this now.. due to the recent tomato problem..)
Fresh coriander leaves - finely chopped
Green chillies - 2 finely chopped
A ziploc sandwich bag

Method :

Arrange the Triscuit Garlic biscuits on a plate. Take the sandwich bag and pour the sour cream into it and seal it. Cut one corner of the bag and press the cream towards that corner. Use this as a cone to put the cream on the biscuits.

Put small swirls of the cream on each biscuit. garnish with some onions, tomatoes, green chillies and fresh cornader leaves. Sprinkle a pinch of salt on it. Dont put too much of salt as the Triscuit biscuits have salt in it.

Serve it as a nice evening snack..:)

Enjoy !

Looks too good isn't it?? Well I got one lone biscuit left... we ate off the rest...:D Anyone want it??

Pampered with awards!!!! Love u darlings :D

2008-06-13T15:30:00.000-07:00

This month and may... has been amazing for me. I had been extrememly busy with my laziness... hehe yeah and some household work...:P, managed to write few posts for the month, got lotsa awards and I made lotsa new friends.Thanx to blogger, and GCC...:) I got to meet so many new foodie friends and I am so glad I did..:)..

These awards make me feel so nice....It makes me feel wanted and loved and also pampered..:)

Thank u so much my dear friends for these awards I am so so so happy....:D

My dear friend Suma passed me the Yummy blog award. I am so happy to recieve this award from Suma who is a great cook and has an amazing blog.Thank u Suma for thinking of me for this wonderful award. Here I am showing it off..:D

This award is started by Roopa and I am so glad she did...Whats a better award for a cook than the word "yummy"?. Happy to get it so many times...:) This is my 7 th time..and I am really really glad.. I have no more words to express my happiness and emotions on all the awards and appreciation I have been showered with. Thank u so much Roopa for making such a nice award concept.

"Yummy blog award is the award given to the blog with most yummyrecipes/photos".

As per rules I have to write down 4 of my favourite desserts. Most of my sweet choices r same... just with some small changes though...:D

Twix chocolate bar

Gulab jamun with ice cream

Kaju katli

And chocolate cake :D

Yummmmm!

And again as per the rule I would like to pass this award to 4 other fellow bloggers. They are...

JZ@ Tasty Treats

Meera of Enjoy Indian Food

Sireesha of Mom's recipes

Ranji of Ranji's Kitchen Corner

Another award is from a sweet fellow blogger friend. JZ of Tasty treats. I got to know her better just few weeks back and she is such a sweet heart. She is dessert queen and all her recipes simply rock.She was so sweet to encourage me by passing 2 lovely awards..:) Thank u so much JZ..:) U rock girl!

The first one is the Inspiration Award. Gee thanks JZ.. I am so surprised and so much excited to get this award... It means a lot to me and specially getting it from JZ.. who is an amazing cool and I simply love her desserts and cakes...U al always an inspiration to me JZ... yumm yummmmm! Thank u soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much JZ...:) Yuhooo!

This award was conceptualised by Jamie of the Flavour Pantry. Jamie tells the following,
“This is given to bloggers whose stories and recipes inspire us. Whether it’s to eat healthier, dive back into our past to conjure up something we ate as children, or just make the light bulbs in our brains go on with a new idea for a recipe. As recipients of this award, please share with us what inspires you and then pass on the Inspiration Award to 4 other deserving bloggers. Please let them know what the award means and what to do with it.”

I am supposed to write about things that inspire me. I am inspired by

1. ..............the lovely comments, encouraging words and amazing awards like these. It really inspires me to do more and to stay this way always.Thank u to all my fellow bloggers to keep inspiring me.

2. .............My family.... specially my hubby... who keep encouraging me to make new things. Sometimes even helps me when I try something new and mess up the kitchen...:) He is a true inspiration to me. Coz I love to see him happy..and as he is complete foodie.. I love cooking for him and see him happy enjoying his favourite food. Isn't that inspiration enough?

3. .............Food network..... hehhe yeah food network... infact any cookery show inspires me. When I see young cooks make creative things..it really encourages me to see them cook. I also get encouraged by Tarla dalal and Paula deen cook shows..... Isnt these 2 exactly show that the saying old id gold is true...:D

4. ..............Natue and weather inspires me. I love cooking when its raining heavily...The smell of the first rain inspires me to make a nice hot soup or maybe some nice spicy pakodas.. yummmm! It is also a very nice inspiration for me for my painting...I love painting the scenery of the rain drenched trees and rivers.hmmm

As per the terms of the award, I have to pass this award to four other bloggers. I wish I can pass it on to all of my blogger friends but as I have to stick to the rules.. Firstly I would love to thank you all for ur encouraging comments always. I know I can pass this award to just 4 people.But I would like to pass it to one extra person...my Dad..:) Thank u Appa.. Ur a great inspiration to me. and wtever I am today is all coz of u.. Thank u so much for being mom and dad... both for us.Missing u so much here..:(

I am passing this Inspiration award on to:

Uma of Essence of Andhra

Asha of Foodie's Hope

Cham of Spice-club

Bee and Jay of Jugalbandi

Congrats and keep inspiring me always.

Another award from my lovely friend JZ. thank u so much dear... u rock!

She is so sweet to pass the Rocking girl Blogger award to me. I wanna pass it on to all my fellow blogger friends but then as per rules I am passing it to few friends...:) Here they are :

Jyothsna of Curry Bazaar

Sowmya fo Creative Saga

Vaidehi of Chakli

Sunita of Sunita's World

You girls rock....!

Congratulations on ur awards and hope u have a lovely lovely weekend...:)

Tomatillo and Corn Soup

2008-06-12T19:00:00.000-07:00

I love mexican food. When I saw tomatillos in the market last week... I just remembered Salsa verde... yummmm.... and I ended up buying a pound of these lovely things. But as always I rarely stick to the recipe I bought a vegetable or ingrdient for hehehe... So the tomatillos landed in a soup into of the verde. A very tasty soup... yumm yummm, tangy and spicy..:D

I got the basic idea to make this soup from my Roasted tomato and bell pepper soup. I have used similar method to make this soup too... check out the recipe now.

You need :

Tomatillos - 5 chopped in wedges

Green bell pepper - 1/2 cup

Green chillies - 2 to 3 finely chopped

Onions - 1 cup cut in wedges

Green peas - 1 cup boiled

Fresh coriander leaves - 1/2 cup

Garlic - 2 big pods finely chopped

Frozen Corn kernels - 1/2 cup

ginger - 1 tsp finely chopped

Salt to taste

Black pepper - to taste

Fresh Coriander leaves - finely chopped

Sour cream to garnish (optional)

Corn Tortilla chips - for garnish (optional)

Method :

Preheat the oven to 400 degree F.

Put the cut tomatillos, onions, bell pepper and garlic in a roasting pan and put into the oven for around 30 minutes. Let the vegetables roast well. Let it cool.

In a pan take the corn and peas and roast it lightly, until light brown spots appear on the corn kernels.

Now, put3/4 of the corn-peas, the whole tomatillo and bell pepper roast in a blender, add ginger, coriander leaves, salt and blend into a nice and smooth paste.

Put the whole mixture in a big pan and add around 1 cup of water to it and bring it to a boil. Once the soup id boiled add the corn kernels to the soup and let it boil for 10 more minutes. Do taste the soup here and alter ur spices according to ur taste.I always do that :P... hehehehe....

Put the soup in a bowl and garnish with fresh coriander leaves and fresh sour cream. You may also add some crushed corn chips on top before serving. It immensely adds to the taste. But again it optional. Add pepper if needed...:)

Serve it hot or cold... Taste good either way... yumm yumm yummmmy!

Mumbai Chutney Sandwich and 2 TAGs!

2008-06-10T09:21:00.000-07:00

Mumbai has so many variety of street food... and I can say that I am a street food expert.... well not in judging the street food, but in eating them...hehhe! I love all the junk food. Yeah I do try to make them healthy by substituting some healthy ingredients to a very non healthy and buttery recipe. But, to get the authentic street flavour, sometimes u need to give up the health issue and just enjoy!!!

Have u ever wondered who created Sandwich? I have many a times..when I am bored to cook or busy doing something...to take a plate and have my lunch. In those situations I opt for this comfort food. Just stuff any leftover in between 2 slices of bread... and Tadda! u have a lovely lunch ready for u.

"A sandwich is a food item made of two or more slices of leavened bread with one or more layers of filling, typically meat or cheese, with the addition of vegetables or salad. The bread can be used as is, or it can be coated with butter, oil, mustard or other condiments to enhance flavor and texture. In North American usage, sandwich may also refer to what is more commonly referred to in the rest of the world as a hamburger."

"Sandwich is actually the last name of the person who invented this dish....The word sandwich that we use today was born in London during the very late hours one night in 1762 when an English nobleman, John Montague, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich (1718-1792), was too busy gambling to stop for a meal even though he was hungry for some food. The legend goes that he ordered a waiter to bring him roast-beef between two slices of bread. The Earl was able to continue his gambling while eating his snack; and from that incident, we have inherited that quick-food product that we now know as the sandwich. He apparently had the meat put on slices of bread so he wouldn’t get his fingers greasy while he was playing cards."

You can read more about it here and here.

Okay now coming back to the famous chutney sandwich. Hmmm how I loved this sandwich when I was in college. We used to often go to the Mangal Das Market street near Crawford market and enjoy these amazing sandwich from a small roadside stall opposite the mosque.... OH it used to be yumm... and sometimes we used to club it with a cold lemon juice ( Nimbu panni - Rs. 3 per glass..) from the adjacent stall. Whats better than a nice hot grilled sandwich, a glass of nimbu paani and some shopping?... Hehe we used to go to college for this I guess...hehhe:P. Just miss those days so badly... Miss all my lovely friends... most of them now married like me and some due for marriage... hmmm... time runs so fast. Wish I could go back to that stall and enjoy few more sandwiches with my friends..hmm

Anyways, I did have fun having this with my sweet and darling hubby. I re-created the chutney sandwich magic... and it worked out too well. We simply loved it.. Hope u enjoy having this too. To make this....( I have made some healthy substitutions...:D)

You need : makes 3 sandwiches

Brown bread - 6 slices
Tomato - 1 big sliced
Onions - 1 sliced
Cucumber - 1/2 sliced
Potatoes - 2 boiled, cooled and sliced in thick slices
Capsicum / red bell pepper - sliced (optional)
Chaat Masala - 1 tbsp
Salt - 1/2 tbsp
butter - 1 tbsp
Tomato ketchup - 3 tbsp
Nylon sev - 3 tbsp (optional)
Coriander leaves for garnish

Ingredients for Green chutney :

Mint leaves - 1 bunch
Coriander leaves / Indian Parsley - 2 bunches
Green chillies - 2
Salt to taste

Method :

First we will start with the green chutney. Clean and wash the coriander and the mint leaves and allow to dry on a towel, so that all the water dries off. Once lightly dried,put it in a blender along with the green chillies and salt and make into a nice smooth paste. Your green chutney is ready. This is essential to make this street style sandwich. You can store this in a bottle and keep in the fridge for 2 weeks. This can also be used as accompaniment for varies chaat items.

Now take 2 slices of bread. Apply light butter on one side and toast them on a tava. You may toast both the sides if u desire. Remove from tava and apply butter on ( insides) both the slices of bread. On one side, apply some green chutney. Be liberal with this chutney.

Now on the slice on which u have applied chutney start assembling the vegetables. Start with cucumber slices, and go in this order....tomatoes, potatoes and onions. Sprinkle and bit of Chaat masala and salt... according to your taste. Now cover it with the other slice and press it slightly with u hands.... just to bind them. Now u can keep it in a Panini maker or a grill for some extra crunchiness... or serve directly as we have already toasted our bread.

I have used a big sandwich bread so I cut it in six pieces so get bite size pieces of the sandwich. It is always advisable to cut the sandwich in bite size pieces.. beacuse, if the piece is too big to eat there are changes that all your stuffing will fall apart and destroy the sandwich.

So, I cut my sandwich in desirable size pieces and then smeared tomato ketchup of it and garnished with nylon sev and fresh chopped coriander. Yumm yumm...!

Enjoy ur Mumbai Ishtyle Chutney Sandwich and do let me know how it turned out..! I was encouraged and reminded to make this... from the recent theme of MBP - Street food. I this is my own concoction... I cannot send it to this event :(....

Enjoy your sandwich..!

I am Tagged!

Today two of my fellow blogger friends... Sireesha and Hetal have tagged me for a MEME.

Thank you so much for thinking of me...It really makes me feel so nice.:)

As I have already done this tag earlier.... you can find the link here. You can read that and know more about me.It was real fun reading both your MEME...:) Keep rocking girls and always.

Mini bites! Season 2 - an ultimate Re-Run...

2008-06-09T09:49:00.000-07:00

No no.. I am not talking about any television programs or daily soaps... I am talking about my very own Mini bites. I dunno how many of u have seen this recipe of mine..... But its my favourite. I love this coz its small and so tasty. Its worth a Re-run.... these sweet little darlings. I am sending this recipe to the Monthly mingle- Appetisers which is hosted by mansi of fun n food.Monthly mingle was started by Meeta of What's for lunch honey? Check out more about monthly mingle here.

Okie now coming back to my Mini bites as soon as Mansi announced about the topic for this month's Monthly Mingle, I knew I was going to send my Mini bites recipe which is a perfect appetiser. It is a kid friendly recipe and kids simply love to munch on it. Its wuite easy to make and is a good option when u have to make a large quantity...:) As I have posted this recipe earlier in my blog...you can check the recipe and the actual post here.

I have Jalapenos in the actual recipe... U can use bell peppers instead. I am this will be a hit for ur next putluck or family get together...

Thanks Manasi for the lovely topic for this months Monthly mingle... I enjoyed participating... Now waiting eagerly for the roundup...:)

Awards Galore...!

2008-06-07T10:43:00.000-07:00

Awards... How I love them.... It feels so good to know that someone really likes u and appreciates ur efforts... Hmm.... I simply love awards... and I am so thankful to everyone who passed on their awards to me.

This post was pending from a long time... I really deserve the lazy blogger award.... coz I have nearly 17 recipes with snaps...which I havent yet posted....hmmmm. Ask me y???... and I will say its bore to write down recipes....hmmmm. Me and my laziness..... yawwwnn. But, today I took out some time from my lazy schedule to post a simple thanks to all my fellow blogger friends... who appreciate me... advice me and energise me.. with their lovely comments. :)

Last week I got 3 awards... from three of my lovely fellow bloggers... Hetal, Meeso and Skribbles.
Thank u so much gals.... Really u gals made my day... and I feel I am getting my blogging energy back in me...which had kind of down from past 2 weeks... (laziness u see...:P)

Meeso - Rocking girl blogger : Meeso is a complete sweetheart. I got to know her just around 2 months back.... and I was taking away by her lovely gestures, amazing recipes and sincere comments. Thank u Meeso for sharing this award with me... You rock girl...!

In return... I would like to pass on this award too...4 rocking bloggers.... some of them i just met few weeks ago.. and I am glad I did...:)

Skribbles of Food with a pinch of love (she is my sis when it comes to blog name... right skribbles? hehe)

Hetal of Isha's Kitchen ( My dear friend..)

JZ of Tasty treats ( She is dessert pro.... still waiting for my Black forest cake...:P)

Ivy of Kopiaste (whom I met thanx to GCC)

Hope u keep rocking as u always do....:) ! Congrats

Hetal - Good chat, Nice matters : Hetal passed me with 2 awards.... A good chat award....( hehe.. I know I am a chatter box..) and a Nice matters award. Thank u so much Hetal for these lovely awards. Really appreciate it.

I would like to pass the good chat award to the people who always make my day with there lovely messages and chat...:) I wont call them chatterbox...though... hehe:P

JZ of Tasty treats

Madhuram of Eggless cooking

Meeso of My Humble Kitchen

Cham of spice-club ( ohh she is real chatterbox like me... hehehe kidding... she is the one who always messages me... even on my simplest post... thanx girl for ur lovely words... always..)

Now, for the Nice Matters Award... One more friend has forwarded this award to me..

Skribbles - Nice matters Award : Skribbles is my new friend... I met her in GCC and got to know her better... ( I am still continuing to know her more...). She is anice female and her blog is lovely with some amazing recipes. You rock girl! and I thank you so much for passing it to me...:)

As I got this award twice... I take the priviledge to pass it to 8 people.... hmmm( is it allowed... can i do it?? naaah.. its my award... I will do what i want... hehehhee..) So, I wanna pass it to....

Kevin of Closet cooking

Cham of Spice-club

Lakshmi of Taste of mysore / Cooking station

Sireesha of Mom's recipes

Happy cook of My Kitchen Treasures

Sashree of Foodie Freaks

Trupti of Recipe centre for all

Vani of Mysoorean

You all really deserve this award. Congrats and enjoy!

Hara bhara Kabab

2008-06-07T09:20:00.000-07:00

I have sweet memories with this dish....I love this Kabab... the Harabhara Kabab for its genuine and natural taste. Its so simple to make and tastes to nice....All natural flavours from the ginger and other simple spices.... No heavy masalas... yummm..

I remember my first introduction to this dish... well it wasnt exactly a proper introduction... as I never exactly got to eat it... hehe....

It happened so that when I was in 2nd year of my college... me and my friends (8 girls) went to matheran...( a hill station near mumbai...) for a girls outing. By the time we reached the hotel we were dead hungry and it was raining very badly. So as the buffet (which was in our package) was over we had to order from the menu. And my friend suggested me our this dish called "hara bhara kabab. So we all went with our friend's choice and ordered that dish. As the order was taking its own time to arrive one of my other friend asked me if I cud accompany her to the reception as she wanted to make a call back home. Hmmmm... I was so hungry I didnt wanna move... but then who will say no to a friend... so I accompanied her. As we were going towards the reception... I saw the waiter taking the plate of green/brown crisp looking patties...to our room... I was craving to pick one and eat.... ohh I was so hungry... but then I thought we can have it when we come back. So after a 30 mins talk to her parents then calling my parents... when we headed back to the room... hmmm we saw 2 empty plates.... hehe I still can't beleive they ate off all the kababs...:P... We literally fought with them hehhe and then we called back for some move kababs... and my luck, the kitchen had closed and we had to manage with some french fries hehhee.... ohhh I craved so much for those kababs from that day.... hehhee

I did get a chance to have them later... but I can never forget this incident...my first introduction to these delicious Kabas. Here goes the recipe... which is simple and fibre rich..

You need :

Potatoes - 3 medium boiled and mashed
Geen peas - 1 cup
Spinach leaves - 1/2 cup finely chopped
Fresh coriander leaves - 1/2 cup finely chopped
Ginger - 1 tbsp
Green chillies - 1 tbsp
Chat masala - 1 tbsp
Amchoor powder - 3/4 tbsp
Salt to taste
Corn starch - 2-3 tsp
oil to shallow fry

Method :

In a big bowl put the mashed potatoes.

Cook the green peas and the spinach in seperate bowls in the microwave for 5 minutes each. Cook until they r tender.I used frozen so this was enough... If ur using fresh increase the time accordingly. Once they r cooked keep it aside to cool. When cool squeeze out the excess water as much possible and add to the bowl of potatoes. See that u remove the excess water orelse ur tikki will we soggy and may break when frying.

Now, add rest of the ingredients to the bowl...excluding the oil, and mix well. I suggest u too add some constarch to make the kababs nicely binded and crisp.You may reduce the amount according to ur requirement. Once ur potao mixture is ready.And you have a skewer.... you can wrap them as small balls around a lightly greased skewer and cook them... But as i did have a skewer I made them as normal tikkis..

Shallow fry these tikkis on a tava. Put these tikkis on a griddle or tava and fry pouring some oil around it... turn it around once u feel the base and become brown...let the tiiki and and become brown from both the sides... Your tikkis/ kababs are ready.

Serve hot with green chutney or tomato Ketchup. These are amazing evening snack or startes. They r very healthy and light, and very eay to make. You can alter the masala according to your taste. We like tanginess a lot to I have added lot of amchoor... other than the chat masala... u may reduce the amount according to ur liking. Another healthy option would be baking this... But I would advice u not to do it. I tried it and It made the tikkis very rubbery and hard even after putting in so much oil on it before baking. I didnt use that much oil even for shallow frying... hehehhe.... You can use a non stick pan to shallow fry these... that way u will end up using very little oil and ur tikkis will also be nice and crisp... So if u want to enjoy these kababs... please dont bake them....

I am sending this as an entry to the Eat healthy - Fibre Rich hosted by Sangeeth.

I am also sending this entry to the Monthly Mingle - appetizer and Hors'D Oeuvres hosted by Mansi. The monthly mingle was started by Meeta of whats for lunch honey?

Lima bean stir fry

2008-06-05T15:58:00.000-07:00

This is an amazingly easy recipe. Crunchy, tasty and so nutritious. We love this. I make it with any kind of gravy dish as a side. I had no idea what is Lima beans until I came to USA. We do get this in India ( I got know from my mom in law who told me these are the beans from avaraka ( Chikuduka..) and are available in India.) only that I didnt know about them.. until I came to USA. So here I experiment with the lima beans in a simple recipe and from then on there was no looking back for me. For making this....

You need :

Lima beans frozen/fresh - 3 cups

Red chilli powder - 2 tsp

Lemon extract - 1 to 2 tsp

Salt to taste

Oil - 1/2 tsp

Green onions - 3 stalks finely chopped

Method :

In a Pan take some oil and add the lima beans to it.. Stir fry for 10-12 minutes... until the the lima beans are cooked and brown spots atrt to apear on them. Add the red chilli powder and salt and mix well. Leave it on for 6-7 minutes until nicely roasted and fried. Add the chopped green onions on top...stir fry for another 3 minutes and Remove from flame. Your Lima bean stir fry is ready... and it just tastes yumm believe me...:) You can eat it as it is... as an evening snack...:) Enjoy!

Doesn,t it look awesome? Try, enjoy and do send me ur reviews about it....:)