Happy New Year !

Wish you and your family a very very happy and a successful new year ahead.


Happiness deep down within. Serenity with each sunrise.
Success in each facet of your life. Family beside you.
Close and caring friends. Health, inside you.
Love that never ends. Special memories of all the yesterdays.
A bright today with much to be thankful for. A path that leads to beautiful tomorrows.
Dreams that do their best to come true. Appreciation of all the wonderful things about you.

Thirattu Paal

Ingredients:-
Milk - 4 cups
Sugar - 3/4 - 1 cup



In a heavy bottomed pan, boil the milk on low-med flame until it reduces to 1/4 of its volume.
Add sugar, give a good mix until all the moisture evaporates. (Until you can see the bottom of the pan while mixing)
Set aside for 3-4 hours before serving.

Cashew Burfi / Kaju Katli

One of the simple but yummiest sweet. Always on demand.



Ingredients:-
Cashew Powder - 2 cups
Sugar - 1 cup
Water -1/2 cup
Ghee - 1-2 sp Optional


Warm up the cashews for a minute or so in a hot tava / or in the MW and grind to powder.
(Over powdering/over heating will bring out oil from cashew and it tends to form lumps)

In a tava, boil water and sugar, bring it to one string consistency.

Switch off the flame, swiftly add the cashew powder and give a good mix. Adding couple of spoons of ghee at this stage is optional. (If a piece of this is dropped in water, you should be able to make a soft ball)

Pour it into a greased plate. (Use the backside of the plate if u want to use the rolling pin)

Use a rolling pin / spatula to even out the surface and bring it to the required thickness.

Leave it for 5-7 mins, cut into pieces.

Besan Ladoo

Thanks my mother in law for this wonderful traditional recipe. The aroma of Besan and ghee filled my kitchen and its tasting awesome. The deep frying before Ladoos and the coarser texture (could have been finer if not for my US Blender) added a great deal of taste for this sweet.



Ingredients:
Besan Flour - 1 cup (To yeild about 2 cups of Besan Powder)
Sugar - 2 cups (Should be equal to the quantity of Besan powder)
Cardamom Powder - 1 sp
Nuts to garnish
Water - 1/2 cup
Ghee - 1-2 Tbsp
Oil - to fry
Water

Add water to Besan, sieve well and mix like Roti dough.
Divide the dough to portions and roll a small lemon sized dough between the palms to bring a finger like shape (or any shape will do) and deep fry them to a nice red color.
Grind the deepfried patties/fingers in mixie/blender to fine powder.
In a pan, mix water and sugar and let it boil till u can see thin threads on consistency test.
Remove from heat, add cardamom,add grounded besan powder and give a good mix.
(If required, put back on low flame till the mass thickens)
With a touch of ghee, make ladoo while its still warm.
Dip one side of Ladoos in ghee and press any nuts to it.

Thenkuzhal

My first attempt on Thenkuzhal, I am greatly satisfied with the results. Very crispy and very tasty. I followed chithra auntys recipe from here

Shape wise cannot do more justice as I do not have the Murukku Press, so just made a cone out of plastic wrap and used it.



Ingredients:-

Urad - 1 cup
Processed Rice flour - 6 cups
Butter - 1/2 cup
Salt
Cumin - 1 sp
Sesame - 1 sp

Pressurecook the urad dal wiht 4 cups of water 3 whistles.
Once cooled, add butter & hing to it and set aside for an hour.
Grind to paste, add salt,cumin/sesame,rice flour & deep fry on oil directly using the Thenkuzhal press.

Happy Deepavali

Wish you all a very happy safe and prosperous Deepavali.

Easy MW Milk/choco sweet

This cake or fudge or whatever we can name it as, is absolutely yummy and very quick and easy to make. I had about half a tin of condensed milk which I wanted to finish. This recipe came handy. I tried it with about 200 gms of condensed milk and it just took a flat 15 mins to make. Originally its the MW Chocolate fudge recipe from here. I made it on stove top, I wanted it more milky so I kind of omitted Cocoa powder in this, just sprinkled a little bit, for a touch of cocoa.



Ingredients:-
Butter - 100 grams
Sugar - 200 grams
Condensed milk - 400 grams
Cocoa powder - 1 Tbsp
Chopped Nuts - Per choice

Combine all ingredients in a vessel and stir without lumps.
Micro Hi uncovered for 9-10 mts (Time varies for each MW) stirring twice in between (or) cook on stove top on a medium flame till the mass thickens and leaves the sides and come out without sticking.
A little mixture dropped in water should be able to be rolled very well.
Remove , Set aside for half an hour stirring at intervals.
Empty it on a greased plate and cut into small squares.

Vegetable Biriyani

Have tried couple of versions and honestly I flunked in all, Below one seem to be better of all. Enjoyed a wholesome meal wlhich tasted really like Biriyani for the first time ;)





Ingredients:-
Basmati Rice - 2 cups
Chopped vegetables - 3 cups (Carrots,Beans,Broccoli,Babycorn,potatoes,peas etc)
Fried Nuts - Per choice
Mint leaves - A Handful
Biriyani Masala - 3 sp
Salt
Ghee / Oil
Curd - 1/2 cup
Grated Ginger - 1 sp
Grated Garlic - 1 sp
Fried onion / Chopped onion - 1 big
Saffron soaked in milk/water for 15-20 mins - a pinch (Opt)

Raw Masala:- (Can add your choice of masalas, I added the below ones)
Biriyani leaf - 3 + 3
Cloves - 3 + 3
Cinnamon stick - 1 + 1
Cardamom - 2 + 2

Wash well and soak the rice for 30 mins.
Shallow fry the onions in ghee/oil and set aside, or can deep fry or can use store bought fried onions.
In 6 cups of water, add half of the Raw Masalas, pinch of salt, Half of mint leaves, 2 spoons of ghee/oil.
Bring it to a nice boil. Add the rice, cover cook (Hardly 5-10 minutes) and immediately drain once rice is 85-90% cooked. Add saffron to it, if available. Set aside.

In 2-3 spoons of ghee/oil, saute the ginger, garlic, raw masalas, onions. Add the chopped vegetables. Once partly cooked, add remaining mint leaves. cover and cook till 75-80 % done.
Add required amount of salt, Biriyani masala. Finally add curd, and give a good mix.

In a wide baking dish, layer the vegetable masala,sprinkle the nuts and then a layer of cooked rice, one on top to form 2-3 layers of each. Cover with foil paper and bake at 350' for about 25-40 minutes.

Remove, give a good mix and serve with raitha.

Onion Samosa - Yummiest Snack

Signing in after pretty long time..Kitty and Pinky, Thanks for the awards ..You really made my day :)



Hot Hot samosas..Spicy and hot. Perfect tea time snack.

I followed the onion samosa recipe from here. It turned out excellent. Its a sure hit. It takes little time to make the outer cover, and making the shapes, but I made just a dozen of them so it was pretty fine and tasting absolutely awesome.

The only variation was that, I fried the onions a bit and added spice powders to it, saute for couple of mins and then used them as filling. I also tried the way given in the actual recipe, using raw onions. Both turned out yummy and delicious.

Baklava

Baklava - This awesome middle eastern pastry sweet was completely new to me when I tasted it for the first time a month ago. I was craving for some Indian sweets but ended up getting this, did not have much hopes on first look, but when I took a bite, it was yummmmmmm.

Recently got the recipe for this and tried at home, it was great. You need Fillo pastry sheets to do this.

Hunting for the Fillo / Phyllo dough was not difficult too. If you are not already aware, the Fillo sheets are very very very thin, that it needs a very gentle and careful treatment. I guess the Athens Fillo brand is the quite common one and I could easily spot it in the International shop, they say it is also available in Walmart and some other super markets in the frozen section.

As such the recipe is no big deal, Arrange the fillo sheets, butter them, stuff them with nuts, bake them. Make a simple syrup, pour it on top of Baklava and let it set. Process is simple but handling the Fillo sheets is the challenging part which might be difficult the first time, but result will be definitely worth it. And am sure when u repeat it, it becomes an easy job.

I think this is one super-duper sweet for Give-Away's or Pot Luck.

Things you need:-


Fillo Dough (Contains Thin sheets of Fillo Dough) - 1 Packet
Melted Unsalted Butter - 1 or 2 sticks depending on how much u make
Knife (A serrated edge, not the plain edged knife)
Pastry Brush (You really cant do without it)
Nuts (Pistas/Almonds/Cashew/Walnuts) - 1 cup
Sugar - 2 to 4 sp (per taste)
Cinnamon Powder - A pinch

For the Syrup:-
Honey - 2 Tbsp
Sugar - 2 cups
Water - 2 cups
Lime Juice - From half a lime




Preparation:-

1) Thaw the Fillo sheets per instruction given by the manufacturer

2) For stuffing, you can use any single or combination of nuts, I used cashews and walnuts. Take 1/2 cup of each, grind to coarse texture, add couple of spoons of sugar to taste, pinch of cinnamon. Mix well. Now stuffing is ready.

3) Keep ready the melted butter in a cup with pastry brush, Grease the baking pan with melted butter. And once all of those are ready, take the fillo sheets from the refrigerator, cut the sheets per pan size, place the remaining ones in box and put back in freezer. With the cut fillo sheets, place a plastic sheet on top of it and a damp towel on top of fillo sheet to avoid it from drying. Preheat oven to 350'

4) Carefully pull one sheet , place it on the greased pan, brush it thoroughly with butter using pastry brush, pull another sheet from the set and place it on top of first buttered sheet, brush it with butter, then one more on top and like this arrange about 8-10 sheets.
After 8-10 sheets are layered after buttering, spread half of the prepared nut mixture evenly on the sheet. Repeat placing the sheets on top of the nuts and butter each one for about 3-4 sheets. Again spsread the remaining nut mixture as even layer and cover it with 8-10 more sheets of buttered fillo as the top covering.
This process might take time, to carefully set them and butter them. It is NOT an issue if some sheets are getting torn, as with so many layers in the sweet, the wear and tear will be barely visible in the end result.

6) After arranging the layers, use a sharp serrated knife to cut them (till the bottom, taking care not to cut the pan) to squares of required sizes. This has to be done before baking, as after baking if u try to cut, it will splutter to pieces.

7) Bake this for about 20-30 mins or till top is golden brown. The time really changes with the number of layers and all, so best is to keep a watch for it to get a light brown color. In some of the pics, mine looks more golden due to lighting, ideally it will be a creamier brown.

8) For the Syrup: In 2 cups of water, add 2 cups of sugar, 2 tbsp of honey, a juice of half lime and bring it to nice boil. Lower the flame and boil till the syrup thickens little bit. Set this aside.

9) Once baking is done, let the baklava rest for about 30 mins, once its cool, pour the syrup all over the baklava such that it reaches every corners and sides. Let this set overnight (for best taste) and the next day can be refrigerated. This can be kept oustide for couple of days or refrigerated for a month or more. Make sure Baklava is cooled down when u add the medium hot syrup, else it becomes very soggy.



Notes:-
I love this recipe as its so versatile. The whole recipe can be modified to suit your taste, you can alter the number of layers, you can alter the nut mixture per your choice and also the syrup to suit ur taste by adding more sugar or less or no honey or more honey and lime etc. So play with it..

Alternative to the square ones, you can also take thin rectangles , 3-4 sheets, butter them, place 1 big spoon of nuts, towards the wider edge of rectangle and roll this tight like cigars. This will be like cigars/spring rolls. This could be further cut into bite sized pieces too. This will be much more easier to make.

But make sure different shapes are sitting in differnt pans as with the number of layers, the baking time differs.
Pastry brush is really really required to butter the thin fillo sheets. Its not quite expensive, a dollar fifty or max $2 in walmart. Get the one with soft bristles.

Thaw the Fillo as per instructions given in the box. Thawing in Refrigerator is better option. Usually an overnight thawing is required.

Remove the thawed fillo sheets from the box, carefully unroll them, they will be a set of 20-30 thin rectangular sheets . Place your baking pan on top of the sheet and cut the required size of the fillo sheet. Place the rest of the Fillo immediately inside the pack and freeze it back.

Always cover the fillo sheets with a plastic sheet and a damp towel. Once fillo gets dried up, it sticks.

Celery Chuney/Thogayal

This is the first time I am making Celery thogayal and I am satisfied that it is indeed a great way of taking celery. I experimented with this recipe, and it turned out to be good.


Ingredients:-
Chopped Celery - 1/2 cup
Chopped Coriander - 1/2 cup
Grated Coconut - 1/4 cup
Tamarind extract - 1 sp
Red chilli - 4-5
Methi powder - 1/4 sp (opt)
Salt

To temper:- Mustard - 1sp

Wash well and chop celery and coriander. In a spoon of oil, saute them for couple of minutes.
Take this in blender, add red chilli, coconut, tamarind pulp, and salt and grind fine.
Heat the pan, add tablespoon of oil, temper mustard, add the grounded paste and fry for about 10-12 minutes till the mass thickens and leaves the oil.
Serve hot with Rice and ghee.
It was tasting great with Rice, I guess it will go well with Idly/Dosas too.

Pori / Marmaralu / Puffed Rice Upma - A quick filling snack

Most of the times I'll have pori stocked at home. So when hunting for a quick snack, this recipe comes quite handy.
This may not be a substitute for tiffin, but it sure is a filling snack.



Ingredients:
Pori / Marmaralu (Puffed rice) - 2 cup
Onion - 1
Tomato - 1
Turmeric - a pinch
Red chilli powder
Salt
Tomato Ketchup

To temper :
Mustard
Cumin

Keep a bowl of clean water ready.
In little oil, temper mustard and cumin.
Fry the finely chopped onions till brown
Add chopped tomatoes, close and cook till they are done. Adding 1 sp of tomato ketchup at this stage is optional.
Immerse the pori in the bowl of water, squeeze to dry and add to tava.
Add turmeric, red chilli powder, salt
Simmer, Mix well, Switch off.
Serve it with tomato ketchup, it goes excellent with ketchup.

Baingan Bartha

Baingan Bartha is a spicy vegetarian curry made from Eggplant. Eggplant is baked/cooked on direct flame to impart a smoky flavour to it and the same is cooked with other spices and vegetables. It really is a great side dish to Rotis. I got this recipe from my friend Jahnavi.







Ingredients:-
Eggplant - 1
Tomato - 2
Onion - 2
Cumin/saunf - 1/2 sp each
Turmeric- pinch
Garam Masala - 1 sp
Cumin Coriander Powder - 1 sp
Red chilli powder - 1 sp
Salt
Curd - 1 Tbsp
Cilantro/Coriander - to garnish

Apply a spoon of olive oil on the egg plant all over, poke some holes using fork and bake it in 350' for about 30-40 minutes or till done. Peel the skin off from the eggplant.

Mash it or chop it coarse depending on how you want to feel the eggplant. Set aside.

In 2 spoons of ghee/oil, splutter cumin,saunf, add chopped onions and saute till pink. Add tomato and cook till done. Add tumeric , Garam masala powder, Cumin Coriander powder, Red chilli powder and salt, top it with a table spoon of curd and give a good mix.

Add mashed or coarsely chopped egg plant and cover cook for couple of minutes till the flavour blends.

Garnish with coriander/cilantro. A spoon of lime juice is optional.Serve hot with Rotis.

Gobi Manchurian

Reposting with pictures..


Gobi Manchurian - Who doesnt love it. I got this super good recipe from my friend Jahnavi. I do not have soy sauce with me. And I had this feeling, that without soy sauce, Gobi manchurian cannot be Gobi manchurian. But I was so wrong. I dare tried this recipe without soy sauce or chilli sauce or vinegar and such stuff. Believe me, no one ever found any difference. It was gobbled up in minutes.

Ingredients:


For the Gobi fry:
Cauliflower Florets - 1 cup
All purpose flour/Maida - 1 cup
Corn flour - 2 tbsp
Oil - to deep fry
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 sp
Turmeric - 1sp
Red Chilli powder - 1 sp
Salt



For the sauce:
Tomato Ketchup - 2 Tbsp
Onion - 1 small (Finely Chopped)
Garlic - 5-6 pods (Finely Chopped)
Green Chilli - 3 (Finely Chopped)
Ginger - 2 sp (Finely Chopped)
Corriander Leaves - Few (Finely Chopped)
Red Chilli powder - 1 sp
Salt
Corn Flour - 1 sp
Lime juice - 1 sp

Soak the florets for about 10 mins in hot water (With little salt added to it).
Mix all purpose flour, corn flour, ginger garlic paste, chilli powder, salt, turmeric and make a thick paste.
Dry the florets and add into the batter.
Deep fry them and set aside.

Mix 1 sp red chilli powder in little water. This is to avoid adding raw chilli powder to the sauce.
In a hot tava, add little oil, fry onions,garlic,ginger,green chilli well till onion appears nice brown and little crisp.
Add tomato ketchup, redchilli paste, salt.
Add corriander leaves and lime juice.
Let it simmer for few minutes.
If the sauce doesnt appear thick, add a spoon of corn flour mixed in cold water.
Once done, add the deep fried florets and mix well till they all get coated in sauce.
Let it boil on low flame to absorb the sauce. Switch off.

You might also have a look at Baked Gobi-Manchurian

Potato Halwa - Quick and unusual dessert

Yes ! It is potato, not sweet potato.

When I first saw about Potato Halwa I had my own apprehensions about it and never gave it a try, but few days back, I was talking with my cousin and she encouraged me to try it and said it will taste awesome. Thanks Brindha !

I was so surprised with the results, it was truly awesome. And a quick dish too. You will not feel the potato taste at all. I would have loved to add a bit of almond essence to it, as it was already fooling me for Badam Halwa. But I did not have it handy.



Ingredients:-
Mashed potato - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 cup
Clarified butter/Ghee - 4 Tbsp
Milk - 1/4 cup
Ghee roasted Cashew/Raisins - few

As I was in a hurry, I preferred Slightly Cooking, mashing the potatoes to Grating and Sauteing to cook directly, but would like to try that way once.
I pressure cooked 2 big potatoes for one whistle.
In a Low flame, add 1 Tbsp of Ghee, add mashed potatoes and fry well. Keep frying this very well for ten to fifteen minutes. More this is done, less the potato taste.
Keep adding Ghee little by little when the mass seems to stick to the bottom.
Add the milk and sugar, continue to saute.
In about 10-15 minutes, the whole mass will thicken to halwa consistency .
Top it with ghee roasted cashews,raisins. Let it set for a while.
Serve.

Back after Vacation

Was on a trip to Niagara falls, NY. Needless to say I was spellbound by the beauty of it..

Paneer - Indian Cheese - Home Made

Paneer, the most common Indian cheese is a protein rich food. It is made by curdling boiled milk by lemon juice and from there on, the making of paneer differs from state to state /for each variety of food.

The one I made is the common way of paneer-making, ideal for dishes like Paneer tikka, Kadai Paneer, Palak Paneer and Paneer Butter masala.

Fresh made paneer will sure give a great taste to the dish.



Ingredients:-
Whole Milk - 2 cups
Lemon Juice - 1 Tbsp
Muslin Cloth / Cheese Cloth

Heat the milk.
Once milk is boiled, set stove on low and add half Table spoon of lemon juice , stir.
If you dont see the milk seperating into solid lumps(cheese) and a thin greenish liquid (whey) , you can add some more lemon juice.
Wait till milk curdles, stir till the whole of the milk is sepearted into cheese and whey. This might take a couple of minutes.
Strain the cheese from the whey.
(Do not discard the whey, it helds the nutrient. Whey contains protein, this water could be used for cooking. )
Use a clean cloth / muslin cloth / cheese cloth, if nothing at all is available you can try using a thick paper tissue as well.
Hung the cheese tied in muslin cloth for about an hour.
(If paper tissue is used, Strain the liquid out of cheese and change the paper tissue couple of times to take out maximum moisture before it is set for an hour, else paper becomes very very soggy and sticks to paneer).
Wrap the paneer in clean cloth/tissue, carefully place a heavy weight on top of it. It can be a pan fully filled with water.
Set it for minimum 3-4 hours.
Once set, it could be cut into cubes or required shape and used. Else refrigerate.

H E L P !

Dear Blog pals,

Lend me a helping handddddd...I am relatively new to the blog world so need your help to crack down some things. Is there a problem in using customised templates? Somehow, the available templates in blog was not so much pleasing either I hated the colors or for their clumsiness so I went ahead and downloaded a better looking template.

My previous template was not working for some of the widgets. The html when added just dont work hence I switched over to the current one. This seems to have been working better but again when I try to add widgets like Link Within, it does not work.

I know issues are with the template because all of these things work fine with my other blog that is having a standard blogger template.

Hufff...I am tired of changing templates.. Have u faced similar troubles? Or is it best to switch back to Standard blogger template??

Chow Chow Kootu / Chayote in coconut gravy

Chayote also known as chow chow or Bangalore Kathirikkai is considered a squash variety. It will be light green in color and pear shaped. I generally peel the skin and use.

The cooked chayote will taste close to Bottle Guard.

I love chayote when its cooked soft and tender. It is a very comforting food. This kootu is mild and pleasing to our taste buds and very apt when you want to give spicy curries a rest. The combo of coconut+cumin+green chilli gives a wonderful taste. This goes as a perfect side dish for Rotis.



Many people cook this kootu with moong dal, But I had gotten used to cooking it as a plain gravy with the grounded spices.

Ingredients:-
Chayote - 1
Moong Dal (Opt) - 1 Tbsp
Grated Coconut - 1 Tbsp
Green Chilli - 3-4 depending on the hotness
Cumin - 1 sp
Roasted Gram - 1 sp

Rice flour - 1 or 2 sp (If required)

Wash, peel skin and chop chayote to small cubes.
Grind coconut, chilli, cumin and roasted gram with little water.
Pressure cook with little water. (Can cook it with moong dal).
Add ground paste with cooked chayote, add salt, cook for 5-6 minutes.
If it is not thick enough, add 1 sp of rice flour mixed in few tablespoons of water. Cook for few mins till done. Serve hot with Rotis.

Capsicum Subzi

Colorful subzi with Avocado Rotis..

Ingredients:-
Capsicum - 1 Big
Tomato - 2 (Med sized)
Onion - 2 (Med sized)
Green Peas - 1/2 cup
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 sp
Garam masala powder - 1 sp
Cumin Coriander powder - 2 sp
Red chilli powder - 1/2 sp
Salt
Coriander - few leaves
Butter/oil

In 1 Tbsp of butter/oil, saute the onions till translucent. Add ginger garlic paste and fry for a minute.
Add chopped tomatoes , saute for few minutes.
Add the spice powders, give a good mix and add capsicum and green peas.
(Add little water if required)
Cover and cook, add salt when vegetables are partly cooked.
Cook closed till done.
Garnish with coriander.
Serve hot with Rotis.

Avocado Chappathi

Avocados have the highest fiber content of any fruit - including 75% insoluble and 25% soluble fiber. And it possess richest nutrients, check out avocado nutrition value here

For quite some time I wanted to try Avocado chappathi, but was in a dilemma. Finally decided to try it when I saw it in some blog, forgot which one. So here it is, avocado chappathi full full of nutrients.

Ingredients:-
Ripe Avocado - 1
Wheat Flour
Salt
Water

Choose a ripe avocado, scoop and add to the wheat flour, add salt and water and make the chappathi dough the same way u do.
Make chappathis in the usual way.
Depending on the amount of avocado you add, the chappathis will have a mild green color and the avocado taste.

** To ripen the avocado, you can put it in a brown paper bag / wrap it in news paper and keep outside for a day or two. More better if an apple/tomato is kept along with it.

Oats Cutlet - Who doesnt love cutlets?

I was speaking with my cousin this morning and she passed on a recipe for Oats Cutlet, she tried it from here. I was excited and all set to try it today and it was amazing. I made it hot n spicy and it was over within minutes. Yummy it was ! Made very few variations.
Thank You Brindha for the recipe..We had a great snack today :)

Ingredients:-
Oats - 1/2 cup
Roasted gram Powdered - 1/4 cup
Chopped Onions and Boiled vegetables (Potato,carrot,beans etc) - 1/2 cup or more
Salt
Red Chilli powder - 1 sp
Cumin powder - 1 sp
Ginger garlic paste. - 1 sp
Chopped Green chillis - 1 or 2
Cilantro - few
Bread crumbs - To roll the cutlet.
(I did not have bread crumbs , I used a combination of corn flour+oats to roll the cutlet)
Oil - To shallow fry

Powder the roasted gram. (One can substitute gram flour, but it suits more for deep fry and in shallow frying it leaves a raw taste which many reduce the spicyness)
Saute onions slightly add to boiled veggies of your choice. (Potato very much helps the binding), Add all the other ingredients to thick dough. add minimum water if required.
Make patties, Roll in bread crumbs and shallow fry.
Serve hot with Ketchup.

New Template

Hiiiiii dear pals,

Had some issues with my previous template..Used to love it :( but consistently throwing some errors. So switched to yet another simple nice template.

Do share your comments/feedback about it.

Lovely Blog award

Hurrayyyyyyyyy ! I got an award.. This is my first award in the foodie world. :)

Nothing can make you more happy than a word of praise or genuine appreciation. Isnt it? Atleast for me, it is enough to boost me up :)


I am very happy to receive this lovely blog award from Pavithra, the one who is in the process of making Kitchen Revolutions ;) Or thats how I kid about her. Thank You Pavi.. Also like to extend my Congrats to Vrindha, Pooja, Kitty, Pinky for their awards..

They say it has to be passed on to another 10 bloggers who deserve..

I would like to share this with sowmya, Madhuram, Raaga, Cilantro, Meera,
Kalai, Varsha, Hari Chandana, Shilpa , Lata Raja Many of these bloggers are in the blog world for quite long and am sure they would have come across this award, still I would like to share it with them. Those are few of the blogs I really enjoy !

Bisibelabath - I love this dish..

Yet another One-Dish-Meal post for today.Weekend I was feeling too lazy to cook an elaborate lunch, Dal,Sambar,Curry so ended up doing this simple satisfying delicious Bisibela bath. It was ready in 30 mins, a whole some meal .


My aunt is the real bisibela bath queen, love the version she makes. Ever since we are very fond of this rice. Based on choice some people make it little grainy , I prefer it totally mushy like pongal ;) So its just your choice, do not get apprehended with the pics :)

This does not take more than 1 sp oil that is taken for grinding the masalas. Ghee is optional.

Ingredients :
Rice - 1 Cup
Tur Dal – 1/2 Cup (Half of Rice quantity)
Vegetables (Beans / carrot / Shallots or Onions / Drumstick ...) - 2 cups
Boiled Peanuts (Opt) - 1/2 cup (I love peanuts in this dish)
Tamarind - big lemon sized. Extract juice. (OR) Tamarind pulp - 1 sp
Salt
Ghee - 2 sp

To fry in 1 sp oil and Grind to paste:
Dhaniya – 3 Sp.
Channa dal – 1 1/2 Sp
Grated Cocunut - 3 Sp
Red chilli - 6-8 (Per choice)
Methi - 1 sp
Pepper - 1/2 sp
Curry Leaves - Few springs
Saunf,Cumin - 1/2 sp

-Wash well and cook Rice along with Dal and veggies/peanuts till mushy.
(Use minimum 1:5 Rice:water proportion. I used 1:6). Again as I mentioned, this could be made less mushy too. But I prefer it totally mushy.
When u see the cooked mixture too watery, let it not cheat you, it will solidify too fast on litte boiling or when it gets cold. So have no fear.

Fry in 1 sp oil and Grind the mentioned ingredients adding some water. I have added tamarind pulp while grinding hence the color, else will be quite lighter.


Once rice is cooked, add the ground mixture and Tamarind pulp (if not added already). Add salt.
Boil for 5-7 few minutes till they blend well.
Add ghee for extra flavour.
Serve hot with Bhoondi raitha.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You can also use coconut oil while frying the masala ingredients and then grind the mixture, that way giving some added coconut taste.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Potato Dry Subzi

I equally like both dry and gravy subzi made with Potato. Both are yummy...

Ingredients:-
Potato - 3
Tomato - 2
Onion - 2
Red chilli powder - 1 sp
Cumin Coriander - 1 sp
Salt
Oil

To Temper:-
Mustard - 1 sp
Cumin - 1 sp
Saunf (opt) - 1 sp

In little oil, temper the ingredients, add chopped onions and saute till translucent, add chopped tomatoes and close cook till done. (add little water if it sticks to bottom).
Add cubed tomatoes and cover cook till done.
Half way thru, add salt and other spices.
Cook till done.
Serve hot with Roti/Poori.

Easy Vegetable Rice - Quick Quick real Quick

This is a quick one dish meal recipe when I am not in mood to stretch efforts for a vegetable Biriyani .Also No grinding masalas as like Pulao and stuff. I say this is quick if you have frozen cut vegetables :) else cutting vegetables for veg rice is really time consuming task :)

(Now, am back again with utilising 'sambar powder' :) To retierate again it has the hidden but ever satisfying spices such as Dhaniya,Channa Dal,Methi in right proportions.. You can check the sambar powder recipe here ) Have no apprehensions about adding sambar powder in this rice, this will NOT taste just like sambar rice ;)


Ingredients :-
Normal Rice / Basmati Rice - 1 cup
Vegetables (Beans/Carrot/Onion/Peas/Corn) - 2 cups
Sambar powder - 2 full sp
Garam Masala powder - 1 sp
Cumin Coriander powder - 1 sp
Curd - 1 Tbsp
Salt
Oil/Butter/Ghee - 2-3 sp

In little butter/ghee/oil, saute the vegetables, add little water and cook closed.
Once they are partly done, add masala powders,curd,salt, give a good mix.
(Curd helps binding the masala together and boosts up the taste)
Add the whole mixture to rice, add enough water and cook till done.
Serve hot with Raitha.

Tomato Dosa

Tomato Dosa - Colorful and Flavourful..


I was instantly impressed when I first saw tomato dosa in Pavithras recipe. I tried it today and it was really refreshing to have a flavoured dosa :)

A big hug and thanks to the Dosa queen for sharing this recipe. :) I have made few variations to suit my taste..

You can serve it as CONE DOSA :)



Note:-
- This dosa is best eaten while hot as its made only with rice.
-Though ideally this dosa needs to be done from outer to inner, some tavas really dont suit this style. For instance the authentic iron tava that we get in India will be quite hollow towards centre with raised sides. These are ideal to make outer-inner dosas. But unusually my pan here is little raised in the centre and slanting bit down towards edges ;) so when I try outer-inner, all batter still goes towards edges leaving centre empty. So depending upon your pan, use a method that suits.

Ingredients:
Raw Rice - 1 Small cup
Medium sized tomatoes - 1 and half (can be more depending on taste preference)
Sour curd - 1 Tbsp (Opt, to give a sour taste)
Salt
Cumin - 1/2 sp
Red Chilli - 2 (This adds a bit of color to this dosa)
Green Chilli - 1 or 2
Chopped Ginger - 1 sp
Coriander/Curry leaves - few
Oil

Wash well soak raw rice for 3 - 4 hrs. As Pavithra has mentioned, it is advisable to soak in warm water.
Drain and grind along with Tomatoes, sour curd,red chilli,salt adding water as required.
Make a thin batter to get crisp dosas.
Add Cumin, chopped green chilli, coriander, curry leaves. Set aside for 20-30 mins. Add 1 sp of eno fruit salt just before making dosas.
Heat tava well, drizzle oil, pour the dosa from outer to inner , close cook for few seconds, flip and cook other side till crisp.

Serve hot. Spicy Onion chutney / peanut chutney. I love dosas best with sambar made in hotel style :)

You may also check out few dosa tips that I follow

Green soup :)

I really dont make soups often, but I love soups. Best advantage with it is, I can eat any sort of vegetable in soup form because I have the option of garnishing with so many herbs and spices and almost diminish the original taste of the vegetable still can intake the vegetable to 100% thereby getting all its nutrients ;)

So, sometimes when I try a whole new vegetable, safe way to go is soup and that's what I did when I got Broccoli for the first time :) Some Broccoli was left over and so combined it few others and made a greeny greeny soup ...


I used almost equal amount of each. Some florets of Broccoli, Few springs of cilantro , Few celery stalks, few spinach leaves slipped in boiling hot water with salt. Also added 4 pods of garlic and half an onion and an inch of ginger.


When they boiled enough, switch off and blend to purée. Garnish with dry herbs and pepper.
Drizzle a spoon of olive oil that gives a good glaze..Serve hot.

French Cut Beans fry

For very long time beans fry was alien to me. If I do something with beans, its either
Beans Paruppusili or Beans with coconut curry or simple tempering with half boiled beans.

But once I started making fry out of beans, I fell in love with it :) So if any of you are like me, you can give this a try once..

I really make it more spicy adding more chilli powder. It goes hand in hand with sambar.



Ingredients:-
French cut beans - 2 cups
Oil - 1 Tbsp
Red Chilli powder - 3/4 sp
Sambar powder - 3/4 sp
Salt

Take a wide tava, add beans, add 2 Tbsp of water and cook closed.
(If frozen, need not add water)
Once they are half cooked, add salt and add a spoon of oil and saute for couple of minutes. Leave tava open.
Fry till fully done, add oil as required, finally add chilli powder/sambar powder, saute for couple of minutes.
Serve hot with rice or as side dish.

2 Minute Mor Kuzhambu

Now, I cannot call this a super-duper dish, but I love it for its simplicity (making wise and taste wise) :) I end up doing this when I really need some gravy but cant spend time. All is done in less than 5 minutes and it definitely tastes spicy and good.
You shall refer to the original recipe of Mor Kuzhambu / Coriander Mor Kuzhambu :)



Ingredients:-
Sour Curd - 1 cup
Tamarind - 1/2 sp (If curd is not sour)
Turmeric- A pinch Salt

To Temper:-
Mustard - 1 sp
Red Chilli - 4-5
Cumin - 1 sp
Urad dal - 1/2 sp
Channa dal - 1/2 sp

Beat the curd well (add tamarind pulp if it isn't sour) , a pinch of turmeric and set aside.
In little oil temper the ingredients, add curd and bring it to boil. Will not take more than 2 mins.
Switch off, add salt and give a mix. Serve hot with Rice or even like a raitha with spicy dishes.

Onion Chutney - Lipsmacking :)

Not few, there are loooooot of fans for my mom's onion chutney :) Now I am posting this as my friend Madhavi requested the recipe. This is undoubtedly my favourite of all chutneys that mom makes. This can more so be called "Thokku" as its preparation resembles that of 'Thokku' and also this is more spicy unlike usual chutneys and it goes good with rice too.

Ingredients:-
Onion - 2 (Big size)
Red Chilli - 6
Red Chilli powder - 1/2 sp
Jaggery - a small gooseberry size.
Tomato (Opt) - 1/2
Mustard - 1/2 sp
Oil - 3 - 4 Tbsp
Salt

Chop onions (Need not be chopped fine as it is to be grounded anyway)
In little oil, fry the onions for about 5 minutes, add red chillies and fry couple of minutes.
Grind this finely adding salt .
(It is optional to use 1/2 a tomato too , saute slightly and grind along with onions, it adds a bit of tangy taste, but I personally do not like tomatoes interfering in this chutney)
In a hot tava, add 2 spoons of oil, temper mustard and add the grouded paste, red chilli powder and saute.
(Essentially bit of red chilli powder is added to give a good color)
The grounded mixture is to be sauted for about 15 mins minimum, trick and taste to this recipe is being linenant in oil and sauteing for long time, so dont be stingy if you need the taste, add some more oil and keep sauteing until the chutney turns bright brown in color.
Finally add little jaggery, saute couple of minutes, switch off.
This frying is what gives a great taste to the chutney.
Enjoy with any kind of tiffin or with hot rice.

Usili - Exotic Tiffin made with Rice and Lentils

I wonder how I forgot this simple yet deliciously different tiffin for so long. I am sure this is going to be regular at my home from now on ;)



Ingredients:-
Raw Rice - 1 cup
Moong Dal - 1/4 cup
Water - 4 cups
Salt

To Temper:-
Oil - 1 sp
Mustard - 1 sp
Hing - A pinch
Red Chilli - 3-4
Urad dal - 1 sp
Channa dal - 1 sp
Curry Leaves - few

Heat a tava. Once very hot, fry the raw rice couple of minutes till the color changes.
Switch off and just add the moong dal onto the rice. Set aside.
Boil 4 cups of water in a pan.
Temper the mentioned ingredients and add to boiling water.
Now add the Rice and dal to the boiling water, add salt, cook closed till done.
Serve hot with chutney.

Broccoli Soup - A no oil..no butter nutritional soup

This is an absolute healthy dish jam packed with nutrition :) with no oil no butter..
Check out the amazing nutrition facts for Broccoli



Ingredients:-
Broccoli florets - 1 cup
Onion - 1
Garlic pods - 3
Pepper
Salt
Herbs (Basil,Oregano)

Wash very well and cut broccoli to florets.
Boil enough water (to cook the broccoli) very well, adding a pinch of salt.
Add broccoli florets, chopped onion, chopped garlic and let the whole mixture boil.
Once broccoli is well cooked, add it to blender and blend it to fine paste.
Add a spoon of pepper, pinch of basil,oregano (or any herbs ) and serve hot.

** Can add a dash of butter/ghee to add flavour.