My kitchen treats

Knock knock:)

2011-08-22T21:24:00.003-04:00

Dear readers !

Hope you all had a fun Gokulashtami :) We, definitely had especially since this was out first one with our lil bundle of joy.....!! Yes you read that right :) , ...me and V are proud parents of our 4 month old baby boy Gautham. He is a sweetheart ! And I am enjoying every minute of being a full time mom to him. He was born on April 20th this year. And that's the reason I mentioned in my last post that I would be taking a break the rest of the year :) ....Though it's been 4 months , I am still learning new things about motherhood everyday. In terms of cooking I am beginning or at least trying to learn how to cook (or for that matter do anything and everything) with one hand , LOL ! G is very interested in knowing everything I do when he is in my arm, he doesn't want to miss a thing ! :)) hence I have now slowly developed this habit of talking to him about whatever I am doing when 'we' do the chores. Even while shopping I do that, thankfully he keenly listens :))

Here is a pic of our cherub :)

My mother had come over few months back and I enjoyed every minute of it (as usual I was in tears when she was leaving , and so did she as G is her first grandchild and he used to be all cozy in her lap when she used to make him sleep)...... no price for guessing what I enjoyed the best when she was here.....my mom's cooking !! Mmmmmm.... the memories of amma's handmade comfort food is still fresh in my mind.... I learned so many things about cooking while she was here... And I plan to share those here as time permits, ....for now my hands are full :) but soon I plan to click an share some nutritious and healthy recipes from my mom :) Till then
hope you would not forget this space :)

take care
luv
Roopa and G ( yeah he is right here on my lap doing zzzzz) and Iam typing this from my iPod touch) ;)

Whole Wheat Nankhatai (Eggless whole wheat cookies) and some miscellaneous photos

2011-03-02T16:19:00.003-05:00

Hello dear readers :) (I hope I have few left at least ??? .....) I have been so inconsistent with my postings and I owe you readers an apology for that, ....that being said, I would be doing yet another post after this and then planning to take a break the rest of the year due to personal reasons. I would resume blogging starting 2012. Since this blog has been nothing less than a 'baby' to me :) , I will never stop blogging for sure :) though at present things are a bit unsettled until next year.

Coming back to this post, I have been trying my hand at 'Nankhatai' after a long time after my last attempt to make these. Though last time gave results, it wasn't something I would brag about as it didn't actually get the desired shape I wanted (I can be a perfectionist sometimes, especially when it comes to cooking ;-)) ....hence keeping the 'shape' factor of the nankhatai's in mind I decided to try my hand again, but this time using a recipe from 'Showmethecurry'' , a website whose recipes have never failed in my kitchen whenever I tried. I made a slight modification though, as I used Whole Wheat Flour (Golden Temple Durum Whole wheat flour brand) instead of All purpose flour (or maida) as they have mentioned. The results was so delightfully surprising, that I could not believe I too could bake a cookie which would not fall flat. They had the most perfect dome shape among the cooking I ever baked in my kitchen (I used to fret and feel disappointed whenever my cookies used to fall flat, in fact I had given up on ever baking a cookie that would hold its shape). So you can imagine how excited I was /is while typing this.

Here is the recipe:

Whole Wheat Flour (I used Golden Temple brand Durum Whole Wheat Flour) – 1 cup

Unsalted Butter – 1 stick (1/2 cup, 4 oz) at room temperature (I used salted butter, hence I skipped the additional salt which is asked for in the recipe)
Powdered Sugar – 1/2 cup (Use only powdered sugar that you get from stores (also known as Icing sugar/Confectioners sugar) as it has some cornstarch in it which affects the texture of the nankhatai (tip given at the above website))(*Do not manually powder the sugar you have at home and use instead of this)
Nutmeg Powder – 1/4 tsp
Cardamom Powder – 1/4 tsp
Baking Powder – 1/4 tsp
Salt – 1/8 tsp (If using salted butter, skip the salt )

Here is how I made it:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F or 150 degrees C. Sift the Whole Wheat flour along with Baking powder in a bowl.
In a bowl, combine the powdered sugar in small quantities along with butter until it is smooth, light, and creamy
Then add Nutmeg and Cardamom powder, followed by the sifted flour little by little until a smooth dough is formed
Wrap the dough in a plastic wrap and let it rest for 15-20 minutes
Knead dough once again and divide into 12 equal parts
Roll each portion into smooth balls taking care there is no crack at all and place these in a baking sheet lined with wax/parchment paper which has been lightly floured and greased
Leave space between cookies to allow room to expand (all cookies expand a little at least)
Bake on middle rack for 22-25 minutes while keeping an eye on the color of the cookies as they should brown just a tad on the bottom corners.
Remove the cookies from oven and let it rest for 5 minutes before transferring them to cooling rack
Let the cookies cool completely before you eat them as they might seem soft when they are still warm.
Store in an air tight container at room temperature

Here are some photos I took recently when I made one of the most loved Konkani delicacy about which I have previously posted on this blog, but just didn't have good pictures, yes friends its none other than 'Pathrodo' and this time I have the pictures where I made the Pathrodo with the traditional Pathra leaves (Colocasia leaves) and not the Collard green leaves which I usually use when I don't have Pathra leaves. Enjoy this photo filled post :)

Pathra leaves from my garden and also from a dear friend/neighbour . The pic on the right shows two leaves, one with veins intact and the other with veins removed from the lighter color side of the leaf (the wrong side of the leaf). The veins from all the leaves must be removed at this point.

The leaves are soaked in water mixed with turmeric and tamarind solution to take away the itchiness which the leaves are notoriously famous for.
The pic on the right is the batter for coating the leaves. Its a ground batter of White Rice (Idli rice) + Coconut + Tamarind pulp + Turmeric + Salt + Asafoetida (Hing) + Jeera +Red Chilly

I used a cut grocery plastic cover to cover my working area while I spread the batter on the leaves as this process would otherwise make the working area messy and this trick avoids a mess and is eas to clean up ;-)

How the leaves are arranged: two leaves arranged as shown with removed vein side up overlapping a bit on the edges.

The batter is spread generously on this side. Then a single leaf is kept on the joint of these two leaves. The batter is spread on this leaf (the pic of applying batter is not shown)

pathrodo) I didn't have that many....hence had to satisfy with the leaves I had.

After all leaves are stacked and battered , fold the edges lengthwise as shown on the right pic.

Batter the folded edges.

Keeping the battered edges intact fold the stack from bottom just like you would fold a burrito. And apply the batter to all the non-battered areas you see while the folding takes place.Requires some patience to get a good looking loaf of leaves :))

The battered loaf of leaves looks like this : pic on right and below.

Apply batter on the bottom and edges of the loaf at the end too so that no area is left without a generous coating of the batter. The batter is important taste wise as well as to prevent any itchiness after the Pathrodo is cooked.

Boil water in a steamer.

Place the loaf in the steamer.

Cook for 45 minutes. By then the whole house was having the aroma of Pathrodo :)

Cooked Pathrodo

Check whether the insides are properly cooked or whether the batter is still uncooked? Cook further if necessary.

Slice and serve with coconut oil for best taste.

mmmmm, yummmm :) cant wait to make again....that is when I have the leaves during summer :-)

Luv,

Roopa

Raffle results : Congrats to the winner !

2010-09-20T11:46:00.000-04:00

Hello friends, a big thank you to those who took part in the raffle by posting comments about their favorite recipe on 'My Kitchen Treats'. I had a fun time hosting this and I am planning to host more of these raffles at 'My Kitchen Treats'

The winner of the Raffle is Bini ! Congrats Bini !! You will be receiving an e-mail from me asking for further contacts regarding your address.

I used Random.org to generate the lucky number denoting the winner.

The numbers were the collection of eligible comments that answered the question I had asked for the raffle.

The lucky number was then correlated to the name in my Notepad where I had jotted down the names of the people who participated. And Bini's number was 5. Hence she is the winner.

Loot from Goya and a Raffle

2010-09-15T17:21:00.002-04:00

Hello readers,
As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received this loot of Goya products about which I was absolutely thrilled. Though Foodbuzz Tastemaker Programs always creates an atmosphere similar to opening a Christmas gift each time the loot arrives , this time, it created an extra happiness because it was Goya. Me and V have already been using Goya products for long time, Goya canned chickpeas, Goya olives, lentils have already been a part of our lives from the time we were in US. Hence I thought this was a right occasion time to write about it.

They even send two recipe books of Mexico and Caribbean dishes which can be made with Goya products and I loved the colorful and perfect photographs of the pictures in it. I am planning to try out some of the dishes in each book.

As part of the program, I also received raffle coupons for Goya products, which I am supposed to share with my blog readers :) So here is something for you too. (PS: Contest valid for US residents only. ) I will be posting a question here and you, readers are required to post a comment as an answer to my question along with your e-mail address (don't worry, I promise to never spam your e-mail address, unless its for the purpose of letting you know if you are the winner). I will draw a winner on Sunday, the 15th of September at 12 pm EST, and post the result on the same day. I will be shipping these raffle coupons (5 booklets with 6 coupons in each book....see the pic below, where the raffle coupons are marked with arrows) to the winner.

Here is the question:
Which recipe did you like best at 'My Kitchen Treats' ? Answer to this question should only be posted as a comment. Answers in the form of e-mails send to my e-mail address will not be considered as valid.

Hope you would enjoy answering this question as much as I enjoyed hosting this raffle !!

Luv
Roopa

Moong Dal Payasam (Moong dal pudding)

2010-09-03T18:31:00.001-04:00

(pic courtesy: Sri Krishna )
Happy Krishna Janmashtami to all my readers :) So how did you celebrate darling Sri Krishna's Birthday ?
Though I didn't have plans to make this dessert, by evening, my mind changed and I decided to go for it. I was surprised, at how easily it could be made and how easily it got over too :)) .......I am planning to make again sometime. I am not a big fan of payasam, so rarely make it, but after this attempt, I am motivated to make more varieties, especially because I found they are more nutritious and healthier than cakes/cookies. And I was craving for something sweet which doesn't have gluten or dairy predominantly as its ingredients as I have developed a slight intolerance towards these from past few months. I didn't use sugar in this dessert, instead I used Jaggery. I used coconut milk instead of regular milk. Since Jaggery available in the Indian stores here are cleaner than most of the ones in India, the task to skim away the dirt while melting the Jaggery can be omitted. The cooking time mainly was that of the Moong dal which fairly cooks fast, maybe 30-40 minutes or less (didn't note the time accurately). The rest of the process can be completed in less than 20 minutes. So here goes the recipe:

Ingredients: 2 cups

Yellow Moong Dal : 1 cup
Water to cook dal : 2.5 cups - 3 cups
Jaggery (I used the light brown color jaggery that comes in cubes) : around 4 to 5 cubes
Water to melt jaggery : 1/2 cup
Coconut milk (I used the canned coconut milk) : 1 - 1.5 cups
Raisins lightly blanched in 1 tablespoon butter/ghee (just melt butter/ghee in a saute pan and add the raisins and in low fire, just keep stirring with a spoon until all the raisins have plumped up) : 1/2 cup
Garnish : powdered cardomom, grated nutmeg : 1/2 teaspoon each

Method:

Cook the Moong dal in water until it reaches a very mashable state (if you like the pudding to have some moong dal bits to bite, then dont cook until its totally in the pureed stage. I like them very much cooked and mashable)
Melt the jaggery in the water and add it to the Moong dal which is on medium low fire, keep stirring until everything is well combined.
Now add the coconut milk and reduce fire to low and keep stirring.
Add raisins, and the garnish. Stir to combine.
Serve hot/chilled

PS: I had mine with pappad (popadum) as that's one traditional way of having payasam which is called 'Payasam Pappadam' :)

Happy Labor Day weekend !

Luv
Roopa

Instant Spinach Idli and Oven Roasted Pathra (Pathrodo)

2010-08-22T17:04:00.003-04:00

Happy Onam to all my readers ! :) I was kinda busy past few days, I know, I know, it being Onam, this is not the kind of post I should be blogging about, but something is better than nothing at all right?. Moreover, today we Konkanis celebrate 'Sutthaamppunnavu', (You may refer here for the history/explanation of the same) where the men of the family who wear the sacred thread, change it for a new one and its an auspicious day for us. Its so amazing that this day falls on the Onam day, that's what I like about India, goes to show that, everybody irrespective of their origin in India, have some occasion like this which falls close together in the calender :) The women prepare 'Hittu' (which is almost same as Idli with regard to the batter, but differs the way in which they are steamed. The 'Hittu' is steamed in Jackfruit leaves folded in a special way and bind together using toothpicks/or traditionally the thin stick like thing you obtain from the fresh leaves of a coconut tree, so that the batter which is poured in it doesn't leak out. You may refer my cousin Ranji's blog for step by step pics of the same, http://rbcuisines.blogspot.com/2008/04/hittu-ugadi-special.html . I wanted to make something similar, but not exactly Hittu, as I am in the diet mode to include more spinach/greens and and was also craving for Pathrodo which is yet another Konkani delicasy. Seeing a lot of versions of Palak pathrodo in the blogging world, I was indeed tempted to try, but didnt have whole palak with me. I decided to go with what I had in my fridge, and that is frozen chopped spinach which was hiding in the freezer for a long time. I decided to use a combination of spinach and pathrodo batter (recipe follows) to make Spinach Idlis and , boy oh boy, it indeed became a super hit with not just my hubby, but a lot of guests too. Actually I made this Spinach Idli extra tasty by adding some other flavor enhancers too :) Read the recipe to know the rest of the details :)

Ingredients:

Note:(though the name of the recipe is Instant, there is a bit of soaking involved (maybe for 2-3 hours)

Any type of Spinach (chopped finely /frozen cut spinach also does the job) : 2 cups
Flavor enhancers : 1 cup whole mint leaves, 3-4 shallots (See , its as simple as that :)
Spices : 1 tsp Turmeric powder, 1/2 teaspoon Asafoetida (hing), 1 teaspoon Cumin seeds
White Rice/Brown Rice (or a mix of both) : 1.5 cups
6-8 dry Red Chillies
Left over cooked Rice : 1 cup
Grated Coconut : 1 cup (available in Indian grocery stores)
4 tablespoons Tamarind pulp or 1/2 teaspoon citric acid crystal or 2 teaspoons lemon extract
Salt
Water to soak rice

Method:

Soak the White/Brown rice along with Red Chillies in water until everything is properly soaked (2-3 hours)
Drain the water and grind this soaked rice with all the rest of the ingredients, except for Spinach and Mint, to a smooth batter by adding little water so that the batter is not too runny, but just thick enough like Idli batter.

Now add the Spinach and mint and mix well. Check for salt.

If you want the Idlis to turn super soft, allow the batter to sit for atleast an hour (overnight is much better, but it would not become 'Instant' then right :)
Drop small amount of these in oiled Idli moulds and steam the batter in a Idli steamer until the steam flows freely through the vent. Now reduce the heat to lowest setting and let it steam for 15 minutes.
Take the moulds out of the steamer and check if its cooked by inserting a toothpick /knife into one of the idlis, just like you do a test for checking cakes.
Let the moulds cool lightly, before removing the idlis from the moulds.
Enjoy these healthy snacks with a cup of tea/ or even as a morning breakfast !

**********************
For the Oven Roasted Pathrodo: Inspired by Ranji's version of Roasted Pathrodo, I made this oven Roasted Pathrodo.

Ingredients:

Collard Green leaves without the stem/Any long leaf Spinach large enough to form a loaf when stacked and rolled with the thicker stem like portion of the leaf cut off very carefully without tearing the leaf
Batter Ingredients : Same as the Batter mentioned above , except for the Spinach and Mint leaves (not that it would matter if the Spinach/Mint leaves are present, the more greens, the merrier your health :)I haven't tried it that way, as I just thought about it while I was drafting this.
A sharp knife

Method:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees, grill mode.
Spread a plastic cover, cut on the sides to expand. This is to prevent the staining of your counter top with the turmeric that goes into the batter :) ....that's a tip from my amma :) Start with two of the largest leaves,spread the leaves side by side with the sides generously overlapping each other, on the plastic cover apply batter on the leaf with your hands (you may wear a plastic cover around your hand and hold it in place by tying a rubber band/use a glove).

Spread another leaf of similar/slightly smaller than the first leaf on top of these two leaves, spread the batter and then place two more leaves on top of this leaf, with their sides overlapping and repeat this until you feel that the stacked leaves would turn to a nice thick loaf if folded and rolled.
Tuck the sides of the stacked leaves together inside and fold from bottom, just like you make a burrito :) and remember to apply, batter each time you tuck and roll as the entire loaf has to contain a generous application of the batter which gives it the taste.

Cut the loaf from the circular end, so that each cut is not too thin or too thick.

Spread them on a well greased baking pan (preferably non-stick) and roast them for 10 minutes. Turn them over and roast for another 5 minutes.

Enjoy as a tea time snack :)

Love
Roopa :)

Tomato- Basil soup

2010-08-04T00:53:00.000-04:00

I could never get enough of Tomato soup, or for that matter any soup. How about you? Soups are known for their healing goodness, and I for that matter never leave a chance when I get to have some soup :) ....I recently had Tomato Basil soup which V had bought from Shaw's when I was not in good health. We both relished it as it was freshly made. Since then I was planning to make it once my homegrown tomatoes ripened. It was just last week that they entered my soup pot. I decided to add Basil flower/stalks/leaves from my garden. It was indeed a proud moment for me to make something like this using produce from my garden :) I am sure all gardening enthusiasts would agree with me on that one.

Recently V decided to grill some chicken, as the weather was perfect. He did a great job at it , and I am proud to show off his grilling skills :) Here are some of the photos that were taken:

Coming to the recipe, its very simple and easy to make. I haven't strained any of the contents I added to the soup as I didn't want to lose any goodness that I added to it. If you have a kitchen gadget that can puree the contents of the soup, it makes it even more easy. I used a hand blender which I use a lot to puree cooked food in some dishes. Here goes the recipe:

Makes 2 full bowls (cereal bowls ) of soup :)
Ingredients:

Tomatoes sliced in quarters : 3 medium tomatoes
Onion finely chopped : 1 medium
Garlic minced : 4 cloves
Ginger minced : 1/2 teaspoon
Basil leaves chopped : 1/2 cup
Green Chilly minced : 1 long or 2 medium ones
Milk : 1/4 cup
Water: 1 cup
Butter : 2 tablespoons
Cornflour/Cornstarch mixed with tap water : 1 tablespoon Cornstarch mixed with 3 tablespoons of water
Salt and Pepper
Grated Cheese and Basil flower stalk for garnish

Method:

In a deep vessel on medium high heat, add butter. When butter melts, add the Green Chilly and stir fast
Add the Garlic and Ginger , give it a good stir , and follow it with adding Onion. Reduce fire to medium and stir until the Onion turns pale and very lightly brown, don't allow it to caramelize :)
Now add the Tomatoes and stir well for a minute. Add the Basil Leaves. Add some salt , give it another stir and turn heat to medium low, cover the vessel and let it cook for two minutes or until everything in it turns mushy.
Allow the contents to cool. Puree the contents. Then transfer them back to the vessel on medium low fire, when bubbles start appearing, add 1 cup water and give it a stir, cover the vessel and let it come to a boil.
Reduce the fire to the lowest setting, and check for salt.Stir after checking for salt
Now add Milk and stir for a minute. Then switch off the fire. Add the Basil flower stalk and cover the pot/vessel. Leave like this for a minute so that flavors mix.
Serve with some grated cheese on top along with crackers or a grilled sandwich :) yummmm :)
Done :)

Luv,
Roopa :)

Vegetable Hakka Noodles with Tandoori Chicken Broiled/Baked in Oven

2010-07-23T07:59:00.000-04:00

On our recent visit to the Asian grocery store, we purchased authentic Chinese noodles which is inexpensive and worth buying as you get a lot for $1. Me and V love Maggi noodles, but compared to these Chinese noodles, they turn out to be more costly. We had purchased these before too, and I had found out a very tasty way to utilize these noodles, ie, by making Vegetable Hakka Noodles. The Hakka noodles I am referring to here is Indo-Chinese. I like Indo-Chinese food and my favorites are Gobi Manchurian, and Sweet Corn soup.

The Veg Hakka Noodles I am going to write here about is a very simple recipe, and can be made fast. I hope you try it sometime :) I have eyeballed the serving of ingredients, hence I haven't mentioned the same.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

Noodles
Water to cook the noodles
Onion chopped finely
Vegetables : Thinly sliced cabbage, carrot, green beans, corn, peas. You may partially cook them and set aside to reduce the cooking time later.
Green chilly slit and cut into julienne
Ginger-Garlic paste/crushed
Sauces : Tomato ketchup, Soy sauce/Worcestershire sauce, Green chilly sauce (available in Indian grocery store), Fish sauce (optional, I use it when I want a Thai flavor, but it can be completely omitted)
Spices : Red chilly powder, White/Black Pepper powder
Lemon juice/Citric acid crystals
Salt
Oil ( I used sesame oil)

Method:

Lightly crush the noodles if you are like me and V whole like the noodles slightly crushed in dishes. Else don't bother
Cook the noodles in boiling water with a teaspoon of oil, as per the instruction on the packet or until it is soft to touch. Strain the noodles and keep them aside

Keep a frying pan on medium high heat and add 3 tablespoons of oil.
When the oil is hot, add Green Chilly and Ginger-Garlic Paste and saute for a minute.
Add Onion, and the rest of the vegetables. Add some salt. Increase the heat to high
Stir well and stir quiet fast, until the veggies are almost cooked, but still crunchy.
Add the spices and again stir well to combine.
Reduce the heat to medium. Add the drained noodles, Sauces, and Lemon juice/citric acid crystals in the same order.
Turn up the heat to medium high and stir well, and fast to combine everything for about two minutes.
Check for salt.
Serve with tomato ketchup/tandoori chicken baked in oven (recipe follows) ;-)

Tandoori Chicken made in oven
We sometimes buy Halal Chicken during our grocery shopping. It has been a while since I posted about any non-vegetarian dish. I thought this was a good opportunity to post about it. Though I didn't have the Tandoori masala, I made my own by combining whatever spices I had in my pantry. We both thoroughly enjoyed the outcome of this dish. Here goes the recipe which I partially referred from here :

Note: It is best if you have enough time (at least 3 hours, to make it easier,you may marinate it overnight if you wish to prepare it ahead of time) to make this because here the marination of chicken is very important to get the full flavor.

Ingredients:

1 whole Chicken cut into small pieces (we had bought Halal chicken which we told the butcher to cut into small pieces). Making big slits in bigger pieces helps set the marinade inside.
Baking tray coated with oil (best to use a non-stick baking tray instead of lining the tray with foil as the chicken would stick to the foil and make a mess while trying to turn over
Marinade :

Yoghurt : 1/2 cup
Tandoori Masala powder: 1 tspn each of red chilly powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder, amchoor powder (dry mango powder (optional))
Finely chopped Mint leaves

Salt

Method:

Marinate the Chicken in the above Marinade along with salt for atleast 3 hours or even overnight
Preheat oven to 450 degree F and set your oven to the Bake mode (my toaster oven has a Bake mode, Broil mode, Toast mode, and a Keep warm mode).
Once preheated, transfer the marinated Chicken pieces to the oiled Baking tray and keep it in the oven.
Close the door of the oven and let it initially bake for 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes, turn to the Broil mode and Broil for 10 minutes.
After this, take out the baking tray out of the oven, and drain any oil/liquid that oozed out of the Chicken on to the tray.
Turn over the Chicken pieces to cook the other side
Turn the oven to Bake mode and bake for 10 minutes.
After that, turn oven to broil mode and broil for 5 minutes.
By now the Chicken pieces would have changed to a nice tandoori color. To make it further brighten, take the tray out and drain any liquid/oil from the tray and turn over the chicken pieces.
Transfer back to the oven and broil for another 5 minutes.
Tandoori Chicken baked/broiled in oven is now ready to be served.

Lemon Balm Tea along with Aloo Poha

2010-07-21T11:21:00.000-04:00

We had an excess of potatoes after buying a bag of them without knowing there was stock in our pantry. I wanted to finish off the old stock of potatoes. One other reason was on our recent visit to the Indian store we bought Sago (Tapioca, Sabudana) and Beaten rice (Flattened rice, Poha). I was looking forward to make a Sabudana Khichdi or Aloo Poha, both requiring use of Potatoes. I made Aloo Poha first and then the Khichdi on two separate days. To go along with Aloo Poha I made Lemon Balm Tea with my homegrown Lemon Balm. I referred Padma's blog to get the basic idea of using Poha in recipes like Aloo Poha. I had only used Poha in dishes like Phovu Kalleylolo which I posted long time back. I had some idea that a basic potato curry goes into making Aloo Poha, but didnt know how to include the Poha. Padma has written in easy to understand words that the Poha must be soaked in water and immediately drained and kept aside until they look plump enough. That worked for me. So here goes the recipe:

Serves 4 :

Ingredients for Aloo Poha:

Potato (cooked or raw) cut in small cubes: 1 big
Onion chopped: 1 big
Poha (Flattened Rice, Beaten Rice) available in Indian grocery shops : 2 cups

Seasoning: 2 tspns oil, 1 tspn mustard seeds,1 tspn cumin seed, 1 tspn red chilly powder, 1/2 tspn turmeric powder, 1 tspn dry mango powder (Amchur powder), 1 slit green chilly (optional), 1 tspn Urad dal , 1/2 -1 tspn Hing (Asafoetida), 1 tspn cumin powder, 1 tspn coriander powder

Salt to taste
Grated coconut (fresh/frozen): 1/2 cup (Indian grocery store)

How to make Aloo Poha:

Add the two cups of Poha in a big strainer or a colander with tiny holes so that it doesn't drain the Poha out when it is washed in water. Run water for 30 seconds on the Poha while mixing it with your hands so that the water wets the Poha evenly. Set aside the strainer or colander with the Poha so that all the water is drained off and the Poha gets time to become a little plump.

Meanwhile heat a skillet on medium fire and add the oil. Add to it all the seasoning, stir well while after each addition. Add onion and saute until it turns translucent.

Reduce fire to medium low and add the Potato cubes and stir well to coat the seasoning on all the pieces. Add salt and cover the skillet and wait until the Potatoes are cooked well.

After the potatoes are cooked :

I like my potatoes slightly roasted :)

Once the Potatoes are cooked, add the Poha and Coconut and roasted Peanuts to the skillet and mix it well with the rest of the mixture in the skillet. Check for salt once the Poha warms up.

Best served when its hot/warm. Can be eaten for breakfast/snack with tea/coffee.

Now coming to the Lemon Balm Tea, I suddenly remembered that I never mentioned about my happiest gardening days of this year :) ....yes I have to say this time I am kind of very excited and satisfied with the gardening I did. Most of the seeds sprouted and even yielded their fruits/leaves/flowers :) ...what more could a novice gardener like me ask for ?
In the beginning of February, I got ready with my plans for gardening this spring/summer. I planned much ahead as to what I would grow this year : 1 vegetable, 1 flower, 3 herbs. What I didn't realize was like always during the excitement of seeing the seed packets at Home Depot/Lowes/Shaws/Sears I ended up planting an additional vegetable and herb. The additional herb is the Lemon Balm. I should say now that I don't regret my splurge :) .....The Lemon Balm is growing happily :) . I never thought it had so many good properties which I found in this website.

Let me give you a glimpse of the seeds I planted this summer. Yes, I like to grow my plants from seeds, at least I try that first rather than going for the cutting straight away. This didn't work for me in the case of the Indian type mint plant , where I had to grow it from cuttings, which a generous friend offered to me. Thank you Sapna :) . Thanks to you, they are growing well.

The herbs : Mint , Basil, Lemon Balm,Lavender :

The vegetables : Tomato, Cherry tomato, Green Chilly, Taro Leaves:

The flower plant: Impatiens

Coming back to the Lemon Balm Tea, I got inspiration to make it after me and V recently bought mugs just for the two of us :) . The mug you see here is mine. I never drank tea/coffee from such a big cup before :-D , it feels nice, kind of cozy and comfy :) I am sipping tea from it as I write this post :) you get the pic ;-)

Okay, back to the topic, I decided to add some leaves from the Lemon Balm plant as my Lemongrass stalk got over. I found the tea refreshing. You may prepare it without milk and sugar, but I have not tried it that way. Hence this recipe includes with milk and sugar and ginger :) :

Ingredients to make Lemon Balm Tea: Serves 1

Lemon Balm leaves : 2-3 leaves
Milk : 1/2 cup
Water: 1/2 cup
Indian black tea leaves (Orange pekoe grading) of any brand (available at Indian grocery stores) : 1 tspn
Sugar : 1 tspn
Crushed Ginger : 1 tspn
Tea masala (available at Indian grocery stores or make your own) : 1/2 tspn (optional)

How to make Lemon Balm Tea:

In a vessel on medium high heat, add milk and water. Add all the other ingredients, except sugar. Stir once in a while
When the mixture comes to a rolling boil, lower the fire to low and give it a good stir. Keep a close eye on the tea and wait until the color from the tea develops (darkens) to your desire. Do not keep like this for too long (more than 2 minutes) as it tends to make the tea taste bitter.
Switch off the heat. Add the sugar to the tea cup. Strain the tea into the cup. Give it a good stir with a spoon.
Enjoy with the above spicy Aloo Poha :)

Pineapple Coconut Loaf cake

2010-07-18T18:34:00.000-04:00

Its been a while since I baked a cake in our toaster oven. I mean, from the scratch. I wanted to make a cake which had coconut flavor in too. Searching through numerous recipes online I came across Martha Stewart's website where she bakes this cake in an interesting way. She covers the cake midway with foil to avoid the toasted coconut from over-browning. Since this was a loaf cake and I had never made a loaf cake in the oven, I decided to go for this recipe by following some of the recipe suggestions given by the reviewers who made this cake. Moreover it had a good rating.

I love Martha's website, it has lots of interesting exciting ideas related to not just food, but crafts, gardening, decorating etc which has been presented to viewers in a very nice way.

Here is the recipe:

Tools needed:
1 Loaf pan
Silicon Spatula/ Any type of Spatula
Measuring cups

Ingredients:

1.5 cups (1 1/2 cups) sweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1.5 cups (1 1/2 cups) all purpose flour (make sure you use a spoon to add flour to the measuring cup rather than just scooping it with the measuring cup as it tends to prevent addition of excess flour and thereby also helps to fold in more air).
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 can (20 ounces) pineapple chunks in juice, drained very well
1 teaspoon almond/vanilla extract (optional)

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Spread the coconut on a parchment paper/wax paper lined rimmed baking sheet
Toast the coconut for 6-10 min until lightly browned, stirring occasionally. Set aside
Butter a 9 by 5 inch (8 cups) loaf pan. Flour lightly (if needed you line it with wax paper and do the same ). Set aside
Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one by one, folding each egg before adding the next egg. Add the Almond/vanilla essence
Sift the all purpose flour. Fold it in three parts, along with two parts of sour cream to the egg mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture.
Using the spatula, fold pineapple and half the toasted coconut into the batter
Smooth and even the top. Sprinkle the remaining coconut on the top of the batter.
Bake for 1 hour 20 minutes (cover the pan foil halfway through)
Do a toothpick test to confirm whether the cake is done

This cake can be stored at room temperature covered in plastic for 2 days. It refrigerates well too.

Homemade seasoned Paneer

2010-07-08T15:49:00.001-04:00

The sun has been blazing hot for the past couple of weeks here. There is no sign anywhere, be it weather channel or on Internet about any cool breeze coming to MA anytime soon....With temperatures as high as >90 degree F, the Air Conditioner is merrily working for longer hour these days....We are almost sure that this month's electricity bill is going to amaze us :-p.......Well to look towards the positive side, let me just say that, at least the equipment started working without making us pay in $$$$ to get it repaired when it refused to cool the house for a few weeks in May when I was fretting. Hence I am not gonna complain about the bill, that's up to us anyways !

How have you been dealing with the summer? ........Hope all of you had a great Father's day !....I wish I could say that loud, my father passed away three years back , but he still lives in my heart, hence I quietly wished him that day.

I don't know when I started craving for Paneer this summer, but it was worth it, because I learned to make the Paneer which by itself is bland when added to curries/grilled as the flavor does not get into the cheese much, even if they are marinated. I at least wanted it to have a salt taste if not anything else. I came upon the video of Hetal and Anuja of Show Me The Curry fame, when I was just browsing their website. They have indeed done a good job about showing how to make Paneer more tasty. I experimented their method of making spiced Paneer with 1/2 gallon whole milk (8 cups of milk) and 1/4 cup lemon juice and it turned out very good. I didn't have my camera handy then, so could not click any pictures. Yesterday I bought one gallon Whole Milk and made paneer with it and I went one step ahead and grilled it for better storage and also got pretty grill marks on most of the paneer cubes :) . So let me tell you how I made it exactly:

Recipe for Homemade Spiced Paneer
--------------------------------------------

Ingredients:

Whole Milk : 1 gallon (around 16 cups of milk)
Lemon (Lime) juice (concentrate) : 2/3 cup
Salt: 1/2 teaspoon

Equipments/Accessories needed:

- Cheese cloth for sieving/straining the paneer from the whey
- 2 deep wide and deep bottom vessel which can hold more than 16 cups of milk (one for boiling milk and the other for collecting the whey)

Method:

Bring the milk to boil in a deep wide vessel (preferably non stick) while continuing to stir the milk

Add the Lemon juice and stir while adding it. Lower the fire once completely added.

Add more lemon juice if the milk has not curdled well. You can verify this when you see the light greenish color water well separated from the curdled milk solids.
Switch off the fire and let it sit for a few minutes (3-4 minutes)
Meanwhile prepare the cheesecloth on the second deep and wide vessel for straining the milk solids from the whey. The whey is a multipurpose stock which can be used in gravies, and soups. Its not compulsory to collect the whey, its up to you. I tied a rubber band around the cheesecloth binding it around the collecting vessel so that the cheesecloth doesn't collapse inside the vessel when we pour the mixture to be strained. I forgot to click that picture. I am sorry I missed it.

After all the contents in the first vessel is completely poured in the cheesecloth, gather the ends of the cheesecloth and hold them above the vessel which has the whey and squeeze to drain out the excess whey.

Now tie the ends or wrap the ends of the cheesecloth holding the curdled milk solids around the tap of your kitchen sink. The aim is to drain the whey using gravity of the solids on the cheesecloth when its suspended from a fixed source (in technical terms :-DD ). You may use any similar set up for straining. Leave on this way for 45 minutes.

Now unwrap the cheesecloth. You should get a beautiful ball of paneer which has to undergo one more step, well, can be two more if you want spiced paneer. At this point , transfer the paneer to a dry bowl. Crumble the paneer using your hand. It need not be crumbled too much, just enough to evenly spread the seasoning: that is salt. You may add other seasoning such as cumin seeds. Add the seasoning, and knead well to get a smooth dough. (Hetal gives a tip that, at this point, along with salt if 1 tablespoon All purpose flour or Maida is added to the Paneer and kneaded, the resulting paneer would have a firmer texture and will not crumble when added to curries or grilled using skewers. I forgot to add the All purpose flour, but you may try it using this method).

Tran fer the ball to the cheesecloth and wrap the cheesecloth with nice clean folding steps (so as to prevent the paneer from getting wrinkle marks from the cheesecloth wraps). Place some type of weight on the paneer and keep this for 2 hours.

After two hours, you may cut the paneer into desired shapes and freeze it if you are not going to use it for next few days. You may also refrigerate it , if you are planning to use it in next few days. But to refrigerate, Anuja explains that paneer has to be stored the same way Tofu is stored, that is in water and changing water everyday. This did not work well for me in the refrigerator as the paneer started crumbling. Hence this time I decided to grill it and store it without water in the refrigerator.

To grill Paneer:
--------------

Tips: Do not use a aluminium foil while trying to grill in Toaster oven. I learned the hard way that, even though the foil was well greased, the paneer stuck to it in no time during the few minutes it was inside the oven. I ended up removing portions of whole paneer cubes as they were sticking.

The one fool proof way to grill paneer is to use a non-stick grill . I didn't have to keep brushing oil every time.

And with the grill I used (George Foreman lean mean grilling machine which is an Indoor grill) the paneer never stuck. And they got beautiful grill marks too (I grilled for 2-3 minutes max. Yayy :) You may store these in a air tight container in the refrigerator or freeze it. These can be used this way in curries.

I hope you would all try this.

Love
Roopa

Steamed Cabbage dumplings (Cabbagyaache undi)

2010-06-12T01:18:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I was searching through my kitchen pantry and found that I was overstocked with items which were occupying valuable pantry space. Some of them include barley, different types of lentils, pudding mixes, etc etc. I felt guilty that inspite of having so many things, when it comes to preparing something to eat for breakfast, lunch or dinner, I have to go into deep thinking mode. I don't spare my fridge too, though the condition inside the fridge or for that matter even the condition of the freezer is far better than the pantry. Now that's because V and me have this rule that whenever the fridge/freezer starts getting crowded, we would not do grocery shopping until the fridge/freezer gets almost empty. Now I know that might seem quiet impractical for people with kid(s), but me and V are content with this rule as its working for us till now.

Oh, in the midst of all this pantry talk, I almost forgot to mention that I had my special birthday last month and V had his birthday last weekend. Both of us gave each other a surprise birthday party for our birthdays. Out of the two surprise parties, I should say, V was the one who was surprised from the start to end. He had no idea I would be inviting our friends for a surprise breakfast party. Since we moved to our own house last year, it was quiet a challenge for me to give V a surprise party by gathering our friends with whom we were staying in the same apartment complex before we shifted. Few instances favored me such as :

1. French Open tennis (if not for that sports event, V would have gone cycling or swimming during the time I planned the party...phew)
2. The birthday fell on a Saturday

Here are few pics from the party:

Our friends who were kind enough to suggest and offer to make this party a potluck party, made delicious Pongal and Idlis, while I made Sambar and Coconut chutney and of course baked a Carrot cake. I intentionally uploaded the picture of the covered cake on the pedestal as the icing project on the cake went bad :-( ...One of the letters in V's name , started becoming broad and long soon after I finished icing. I then decided next time, I would just stick a color paper cutting with the name rather than write it in frosting ;-) Well its the love which went into making it that matters right? :) hence I wasn't too worried about it as the cake turned out so tasty , even the 11-month old baby of our friend loved it so much that if he was old enough to talk, I think he might have asked for second helping. Thanks to the Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Decadent Carrot Cake Mix which came with dehydrated carrots and raisins in a separate packet along with the cake mix.Though its a Cake mix, I spent considerable amount of time assembling, mixing, baking, layering, frosting, and icing. By the way the cake pedestal was a wonderful gift from cousin Ranji when we shifted to our new home last year . This was the first time I was using it.

Now coming to the Steamed Cabbage dumpling, this is typically a Konkani snack. Though I had not had these, much in my childhood, this time during our India visit, my mother made this with drumstick leaves and , it tasted heavenly :) . The closest I could get here with respect to drumstick leaves would be Fenugreek (methi) leaves. Or maybe I can do it with spinach (as per, today's morning chat with my mother, she tells I can try it with any leafy veggies). Yesterday I didn't think about using spinach as I was concentrated on the almost full head of the partially cut cabbage, whose outer leaves were seen wilting in my fridge . I decided then and there, today's dinner special : Cabbagyaache undi :) . My ever supportive partner V nodded his head in agreement. Now I needed the recipe, and I was browsing Divya's Easycooking blog yesterday and found this recipe for the Undi which suited to my needs as I had to empty the Idli Rava in the pantry and also use up most of the cabbage. I followed her recipe to the 'T' and it came out perfect. The only change I would make is to use less red chillies next time as it was a bit too much for V, though I enjoyed the spicy taste. Here is the recipe for your reference:

Ingredients:

1 cup Idli rava
1 cup fresh/frozen grated coconut
7-8 (can be more or less) dry red chillies
Hing (to taste, usually 1 teaspoon)
Turmeric
Salt
Cabbage chopped finely: 1/2 a cabbage of medium size
Water to make a very thick batter

Method

Soak Idli rava with water just covering the top level of rava in the container for 15 minutes
Grind Coconut, Red Chillies, Turmeric to a very fine paste with very little water.
Add hing, and the soaked Idli rava (which would have by now absorbed most of the water) and grind it with the coconut paste with very little water to form a very thick batter.
Add salt, and chopped cabbage and mix well.
Grease the idli plates or vessel that is used inside a steamer. Make small round balls (size of table tennis ball), and keep them on the greased plates. Steam them in a steamer until the steam is free flowing at high fire and then lower the fire to minimum and steam for 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the dumplings come out clean.
Smear some coconut oil/gingelly oil on the dumplings. Serve it with coconut chutney or as is as a snack, dinner, or for breakfast.

This goes for Nupur's event 'BB4: What's lurking in the kitchen'

Eggplant/Brinjal raita

2010-06-03T13:20:00.001-04:00

These days the weather in MA is turning from warm to hot to hot and humid...well whatever be the degree of heat, I am not a big fan of summer....yes have to say that because each time I hear people around me, especially people whose origin is same as mine praising this climate/season, when they used to dislike the same hot climate back in their native country ! ...I am consistent with my opinion in that matter, I don't like the hot weather anywhere.....

On the other hand I love rains....mmm the sweet smell of grass, and earth ...that's indeed intoxicating.

Amidst this hot unbearable weather, I was searching for innovative ways to cool our stomachs. Rather than heating up the house by doing heavy stir fries, steaming, ...I decided to 'go yogurt (curd)' literally....meaning I am now adding yogurt to whatever dish I make....starting with stir fries.

Just months before my marriage to V, when I was still a novice when it came to cooking, like any other bride-to-be, I decided to buy myself a cookbook with basic recipes to help me not to starve both of us after marriage :D

I bought two books written by the author Mallika Badrinath. One which contains Vegetarian Lunch recipes and the other, 'Tiffin' (breakfast) recipes. Months passed, years passed, and now when our fifth marriage anniversary is nearing, I chanced upon these books which I had fondly treasured along with my mom's handwritten recipe diaries :) ....I showed the two books to V and he was impressed and was gleaming when I told him I bought these books to cook for him. He then told me to cook something from the book for him. That was a moment I liked a lot :) I got all excited and made this Eggplant Raita for him. He loves yogurt with everything and I wanted something to ward away the heat, hence this recipe was perfect. Here is how I made it from the book with tiny bit of modifications from my end:

Ingredients:

Eggplant /Brinjal : 1 medium sized
To coarsely crush together: 2 tablespoons fresh grated coconut and 1 thinly sliced green chilly
Tampering : 1 tablespoon oil, 1 tablespoon each of mustard seeds, urad Dal, cumin seeds and 3 broken dry red chilly, a pinch of hing (asafoetida)
Well beaten yogurt (curd) : 1 cup
Salt to taste

Method:

Roast the whole eggplant in the oven, or over a flame (stick a fork in the eggplant and show over the flame) until the skin gets black. The inside of the eggplant turns mushy and mash-able when this happens.
After removing the skin, mash the eggplant (I used a hand blender for this purpose).
Heat oil in a skillet, add tampering, and when the tampering splutter, lower the heat to medium, add the mashed eggplant and saute for 2 minutes. Add salt to taste
Add the coarsely crushed coconut and green chilly to the eggplant and stir well.
Switch off the flame. Add the well beaten yogurt (curd) to the eggplant mixture and stir until the dish turns a bit watery due to the heat of the pan.
Serve hot or chilled

Variation: Vegetables that can be used: Cluster beans (kothamara, govar beans), Okra (ladies finger or bhindi), carrot (grated or thinly sliced), tomato.
Note: While making raita with the above veggies, cook them with no water (except in the case of Okra, where you may make them crisp by stir frying them) with the tampering (same tampering as in the above recipe), and when they are cooked well and follow the same procedure of adding yogurt towards the end.

Source: 200 South Indian Vegetarian Classic Lunch recipes by Mallika Badrinath

Hope you enjoyed my post as much as I enjoyed sharing it with you :)

Roopa

Oven baked Idli fry and Moru Kachiyathu (Curry made with well beaten yoghurt (curd))

2010-05-14T14:11:00.001-04:00

Recently I had some left over Idlis that had become hard as stone after a day in the fridge :D .... What I often do is I roast them on the stove by applying few strokes of oil using a brush (I found this method of using a brush to apply oil better than spoon). This time I wanted to use these idlis in a different way. Hence I thought of baking these Idlis in a way similar to making Oven Baked French fries. The result surprised me as the look made it hard to differentiate it from French fries , and the texture was crisp and maybe even better than oven baked potato fries! If you add some seasonings before baking these, the bland taste of idli will be improved :) Here is how I made it:

Ingredients:

Left over Idli (cut into long pieces like in French fries)
Oil (you may use spray can oil , so that less oil is used )
Seasonings and salt to taste

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 deg F.
Spray the Idlis with the oil and combine the Idlis with seasoning and salt
Arrange these on a oven proof tray laid with Aluminium foil
Bake in the preheated oven upto 30 minutes (depends on the oven) while turning the tray during half time
Serve along with ketchup or as is :) Done !

Moru Kachiyathu
-------------------------------

Unlike my V, I was never a fan of curd when it come to having it as is along with rice. But Moru Kachiyathu always tempted me to try curd. So when I felt like having it one of these days, I searched the Internet and found this simple recipe b Annita of My Treasures and My Pleasures who made it even more tempting by saying that this goes well with not just rice but various other dishes that accompany rice.

The only change I made to her recipe was the tampering ingredients where I added Okra (Ladies Finger, Bhindi) along with the tampering in the hot oil and fried until everything turned brown (tip from fil ;-)

Tomato chutney and 4 years of completion !!

2010-05-03T13:08:00.003-04:00

Well, first of all I would like to announce that 'My Kitchen Treats': my 'baby' has turned 4 years old !! :)..... I wanted to mention this milestone atleast this time as I have not acknowledged this occasion in the previous years. This blog has been a source of personal encouragement and motivation during innumerable occasions in my life. I would like to quote something here from the movie 'Julie and Julia' where Julie says (I don't remember the exact phrase, but the meaning can be summed upclose to this): "When things don't always turn out as expected in your daily life, ......there is always something you know for sure when you enter your kitchen, and that is, nothing can go wrong when you use the right ingredients in the right way to make a dish". I am sure at least some of you bloggers might agree to this. (Not that I have any plans to follow her path ;-) , just that I could relate very well to what she was telling). Iliked the movie and I had seen it just recently, hence remembered this sentence today....
Its not complete until I acknowledge, You, my readers , who have been always a source of great joy and encouragement until this milestone. It has been a wonderful journey, which I hope to continue with your support.

The picture below is from our Vishu day Vishukkani :) Thought this was a good occassion to display dear Krishna's photo here.

Coming to this recipe of Tomato Pickle, I would like to say that this was something I started to relish from my college days. The college hostel cafeteria served tomato pickles (don't know the brand as the same bottles were being re-filled over and over again). These tasted great with the afternoon meal or as a dip with Idli-Dosa or snack.

(pic below)A view of my indoor gardening experiments :) The biggest among them is the tomato plant. I am hoping to get at least one tomato this time. I have never been successful in the past. Hence this time I am giving my tomato plant special attention ;-)

The pic below shows my tomato plant in the background (the tomatoes are yet to come)

One of these past days, we bought Ginger Pickle 'Priya' brand and we both love every bit of it. I was inspired to make a similar pickle and read the ingredients. I didn't have enough ginger, hence settled for a similar pickle with tomato.

I used the same ingredients the pickle had, except that instead of tamarind I used a lot of tomatoes to make a Tomato pickle . Hence this chutney came into existence.

My hubby loves this chutney with Idli/Dosa. The version of tomato chutney I usually make has a lighter taste as it has fewer ingredients than this one. Here is how the recipe goes:

Ingredients:

Tomato : 3 medium sized ones
Onion: 1 small sliced into thick slices
Garlic: 1-2 cloves
Ginger : small piece
Jaggery : 1/4 cup
Fenugreek seeds
Mustard seeds : 2 teaspoons
Hing : 1/2 teaspoon
Dry red chilli : 5-8 medium sized
Salt to taste

Method:

Fry all the ingredients except salt and jaggery, in the order of fenugreek,mustard seeds, red chilli, garlic, ginger, hing, onion,and tomato until the tomato becomes mushy and onion is cooked well.
Then add jaggery and stir well to combine. Switch off fire.
Allow mixture to cool
Grind it to paste in mixie without adding any water.
Add water towards the end while emptying the paste out of the mixie.
Add salt to taste. Done :)

Bittergourd Potato dry curry (in konkani: Karathe ukkeri, in malayalam: Pavakka Mezhukkupuratti)

2010-04-05T10:44:00.001-04:00

Basically this dish is made only with Bittergourd. But if you want a richer taste to go along with the bittergourd, potato can be added. I always add potato to this curry because its become a hit with my husband. He loves the caramelized well done flavor of potato and bittergourd combo in this curry. Water is a strict no-no in such curries as it can make the curry mushy.

I make this to go with hot rice, dal, rice soup (the water in which the rice is cooked), and some homemade crisps (these are called vattal in malayalam , mostly the ones I eat are made by my mom, she makes these from so many varieties of veggies, such as okra, cluster beans, etc..)...it tastes heavenly and the term Comfort Food stands out in such dishes :)

Ingredients:

Bittergourd - 2
Potato - 2
Green chilli slit - 3
Salt
Oil - 1 teaspoon
Mustard seeds - 1 - 2 teaspoon

Method

Slice the bitter gourd into small long thin slices, each slice about a little smaller than your tiny finger
Slice the potato the same way
In a hot pan, add oil, reduce heat and add mustard seeds and green chilli, saute until the green chillies get small white patches (meaniing they are fried a little), then add the bittergourd and potato.
Turn up the heat to medium and give everything a stir.
Add a little salt (not the amount you require at this point as its sometimes better in such cases to add the salt towards the end of the curry), so that it helps the water in the vegetables to ooze out and help the cooking process without any additional water. Give it a stir.
Then keeping the fire at medium-low cover the pan and let it cook until the vegetables are almost cooked (especially the potato). In between the cooking time, stir the pan one or two times to avoid any food to stick to the bottom of the pan, also check for salt, when the veggies are getting to almost cooked stage, this helps adding the right amount of salt.
When the veggies are cooked, turn the heat to medium-high and give it a stir. After a minute, stir again and if you find that the potatoes are a bit caramelized (some of the bittergourds also will be caramelized), switch off the heat, give a final stir to the veggies and put back the lid.
This is best served hot as a side dish.

Beijinho ('Little Kiss' in Portuguese) (Sweet from Brazil)

2010-03-12T16:59:00.004-05:00

The town close to us (Framingham) has a lot of Brazilian residents and the down town has quiet a lot of Brazilian shops. Both V and myself love to try various cuisines. Though we have been staying here for a while, we never thought about visiting the Brazilian restaurants here. It was late last year that we got the idea to visit one of these restaurants when we had started on our weekend venture to try a different cuisine. It was an unforgettable experience when we visited this restaurant called Terra Brasilis (which is become our go-to restaurant when we are not-sooo-hungry but hungry enough to feel like eating out ;-) ...that's the exact way we describe it to our friends here whenever we talk about this restaurant. There is a reason behind it :) . And that's what made it an unforgettable experience the first time.

We entered the restaurant and the manager/employee told us that we could sit anywhere, there wasn't anybody else eating there at the time we went. We let him know that this was our first time eating at a Brazilian restaurant (thank god we did that...because....that's when this gets interesting)... The food was like a buffet, and we went to the meat section which was a grill section serving different types of grilled meats. Since I had the option for just chicken sausage, I took that while V was piling up with his favourites, then something unusual happened , they told us that we need to weigh our plates before returning to our table. The plates were weighed and a receipt was given about the amount charged for the meat served. Instead of returning to our tables, we then moved towards the rest of the buffet section , after all just eating meat was not our idea of a buffet. Like at any other restaurant buffet we went to, we piled up our plates with a lot of food from the rest of the buffet section that had various foods , some looked familiar, while others were typical Brazilian food. I was glad to pile up the plate thinking, yay ..so we need to pay just for the meat and rest of it is all-you-can-eat....while V thought, maybe we need to pay a standard buffet rate at the end.

What both of us didn't realize until we saw more people coming into the restaurant, started taking food from the usual buffet side and moving towards the grilled meat section and weighing the total plate ! When we finished our first course of food and wanted to go for a second helping (as is normally done at the buffets we have been to in the past), we realized we didn't weigh our plates completely the first time for the food we ate. Realizing our mistake, we felt embarrassed and we apologized to the manager who realized what happened (remember we told him this was our first time !) was amused and cheerfully told us not to worry as this was our first time, it was a funny as well as embarrassing moment for us ...We then did the right thing for our second helping ,(didn't pile up our plates though ;-) .....that's why we call it 'the to-go restaurant for the not-sooo hungry , but hungry to feel like eating out' days ;-) ...you pay for exactly how much you eat ! The food was really good and we became their loyal customers from then on :) We left the the restaurant that day with a discount coupon which we got from the manager that we still use when we go there every month.

It was at this restaurant that we tried this Brazilian sweet made of condensed milk , and shredded coconut coated with powdered sugar and unsweetened powdered coconut. We relished it so much that I wanted to re-create it in my kitchen. Upon researching on internet, I found this was the simplest sweet that could be made by even children (with adult supervision of course) !

It looked and tasted exactly the same way as in the restaurant and is my husband's favorite as its a coconut based sweet.

Ingredients:

Sweetened Condensed milk : 1 can

Sweetened coconut flakes or Shredded coconut : 3/4 cup

1 tablespoon butter

Dry unsweetened coconut : for coating each ball of the sweet
Granulated sugar : for coating each ball of sweet

Method:

On medium heat, combine Sweetenend Condensed milk and butter in a deep bottom vessel.
Stir until the mixture starts reducing and leaves the sides of the vessel while stirring.
Take off the heat and add Sweetened coconut and stir until well combined.
Transfer to a bowl, let it cool. Keep it in refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
Then take out and the mixture should have hardened. Now using a spoon or melon scoop, form even size balls, and coat each ball with a combination of unsweetened coconut and granulated sugar. Arrange it on a plate.
As a serving suggestion , you may insert a clove on the top of each ball (that's how it was served in that restaurant :) ...just remember to take out the clove before eating the sweet.
Cool it in the refrigerator for few more hours for the coating to harden a bit. Beijinhos taste better the next day when a slight flavour of the cloves penetrate the sweets. .....Love this sweet and will make again :)

Note:
The left-over cloves can be used as a spice while making tea ;-)

Cashew Biscotti with chocolate glaze

2010-03-05T10:36:00.001-05:00

This is going to be my first homemade Biscotti. Biscotti is an all time favorite at our house. I have been meaning to make this from a long long time. The time was just right few days back, when I had all ingredients and the memory that I had to make this :) I got the recipe from 'Joy of Baking' and was surprised to know it didn't require butter or oil. Just flour, sugar, eggs and the rest of the usual baking ingredients.

Ingredients:

1 cup (145 grams) unsalted cashews, toasted and chopped coarsely
1 teaspoon (5 grams)baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated white sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/ 2 teaspoon orange extract

Method:

Preheat oven to 300 F(150 C)
Line baking sheet with parchment paper
In a small bowl, beat the eggs and extracts together
In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients (except the nuts) for 30 seconds
Then gradually add the egg mixture along with the cashews
Mix until the dough comes together (It will be probably a gooey sticky dough)
Transfer the dough directly to the baking pan (the dough can be too gooey sticky to roll it on a separate surface and then transfer, hence its better to do the flattening or rolling on the prepared baking pan.
Roll the dough about 14 inches (35 cm) long and 3-4 inches (8-10 cm) wide and and bake for 30-40 minutes until firm to touch (Log will spread during baking)
Cool it on a wire rack about 10 minutes.
Transfer log to a cutting board and using a serrated knife, cut it into 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) thick on the diagonal.
Arrange the slices on the baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Flip over and bake for another 10 minutes.
Cool on wired rack

Once cooled prepare the chocolate glaze:

Ingredients:

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon butter

Method:

Melt both the ingredients over a pot of simmering water (double boiler method). Dip the biscotti on one side in the glaze and keep the glazed side facing up on a baking sheet. Repeat the step for all biscotti. Transfer to refrigerator to firm up the chocolate glaze. Enjoy !

Raw plantain coconut dry curry (Ethakka thoran)

2010-03-04T12:37:00.005-05:00

I don't remember when was the first time I ate this dish. But sure enough it captured its place in my mind. After marriage, until now, I always used to either fry the chips of Raw plantain or make a simple curry with just salt and little water. I wanted to make something else with it and hence remembered the coconut version of this curry. In malayalam, when grated coconut is added to any vegetable to make a dry curry, it is either called mezhukkupuratty (മെഴുക്കുപുരട്ടി ) or thoran (തോരന്‍), mostly thoran.

Thoran is a versatile dish as it can be altered to use a variety of vegetables, like cabbage, spinach, carrot, beans, or combination of vegetables. The main ingredient common to all thoran is grated coconut.

Here is the recipe:

Raw plantain cut into small thin square slices. (Before you cut a raw plantain, scrub the outside skin lightly for removing dirt, make sure you have a big bowl of water to put the slices in. ) : 1 medium sized plantain
Grated coconut : 3/4 cup
Turmeric : a pinch
Red chilli powder : 1 teaspoon
Garlic minced : 2 cloves
Tampering: 1 teaspoon each of mustard seeds, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, urad lentil
Pinch of asafoetida
Salt
Water : just enough to cover the plantain slices while being cooked

Method:

Usually with other vegetables used in thoran, water is not used , and most of the times, all the ingredients (except the tampering) is pre-mixed and cooked together. But since raw plantain requires a longer cooking time, it is cooked until tender with a pinch of salt and very little water.

Cook the plantain in very little water (just enough to cover the slices) until soft and tender.
Wait until the water is all absorbed (the heat can be stepped up a notch , to quicken the process, but keep an eye to prevent any burning of the plantain)
Now mix the plantain with coconut, garlic, turmeric, red chilli powder, and salt . Combine everything well with hands, taking care not to mush the plantain slices.
Now add a teapoon of oil to a hot pan, lower the heat, add the tampering and asafoetida. Saute for 5 seconds. Then add the plantain coconut mixture.
Stir well to combine everything.
Close the pan with a lid, keep fire on medium. Wait for everything to be cooked and allow the flavors to combine.
After 2 minutes, open the lid and combine everything again, at this point check for salt. Close the lid, increase heat to medium -high for 30 seconds. This is to get a nice light caramalized coating on the thoran. Switch off the heat, Open the lid, give everything a final stir , put the lid back on. Best served when hot.

Spiced Indian Tea

2010-03-04T11:49:00.001-05:00

One of the favorite morning routines for me the past few months is to try various ways of spicing up the morning cup of tea. I prefer tea to coffee. I was drawn to the idea of spicing up the tea when one morning we were out of milk (I always love my tea with milk and sugar ('Equal' sweetener to be precise) , or maybe milk and honey), I decided to satisfy myself with the Chamomile flavoured Green Tea (I love to have these herbal teas without milk and sugar though) and V was more than willing to have his favourite cup of coffee :D . Why I wrote the phrase 'more than willing' is because, he prefers coffee to tea , but joins the tea session with me during morning time, for company sake ;)

I then remembered that I had those 'Indian Chai flavour' herbal tea bags. They smelled so nice. Checking the ingredients didn't help much as the trade secret word 'and various other spices' wasn't clear. It was then that I decided to try making my own fresh tea masala. On our next Indian grocery shopping, I purchased whatever spice I knew (cardomom, star anise, dry ginger root, ajwain, aniseed). The only other ingredient that I forgot from the to-buy list was Lemongrass. It was at one of our cousin's place that I had this Lemongrass flavoured tea which our cousin bought it from Mumbai, India. I could never get that delicate flavor of lemongrass infused tea out of my mind since then. Lemongrass has this delicate gingery smell, almost like fresh cut ginger.The dry stalks you get in the grocery shops such as 'Stop and Shop', Shaws etc.. are extremely high : $6.00 for 2 dry stalks, the size of my small finger ! I was almost about to order it online, but it almost came up to the same price. Then one day when we went to this Chinese grocery shop, I luckily remembered about Lemongrass and promptly asked the owner, and there she got me, two long fresh stalks of Lemongrass just for $1.50 . I was thrilled ! From that day onwards my teas always spoke a different story ;)

Let me share how I spice up my tea:

Makes 2 cups of tea

Ingredients:

Lemongrass minced : Any part of the lemon grass is edible, so dont throw away the outer leavy covering. I cut a small disc from the top of the stalk. Thats more than enough to spice up two cups of tea.
Fresh ginger minced : 1/2 teaspoon
Star anise or fennel seed (optional): 1/2 teaspoon
Cardomom : 1 whole
Tea leaf powder (Tea bag) : 3 teaspoons (vary according to your taste) I use the Red Label (Orange Pekoe) brand.
Water : 1 cup
Milk : 1 cup
Sugar : 2 teaspoons or 2 packets 'Equal'

Method:

In a vessel, boil 1 cup of water and add Lemongrass, Ginger, Star anise or fennel seeds, and Cardomom and reduce the heat to low. Close it with a lid. Let this mixture simmer for 15 seconds
Then add the tea leaf powder (bags) and out the lid back. Let it simmer for 20 seconds.
Now add the milk and let it sit for 10 seconds without the lid on low fire. After 10 seconds, turn up the heat to high and wait until the milk starts boiling, then lower heat to medium until the milk is just on the verge of boiling, but doesn't boil over. Wait for 3 seconds, this gives it the strong color to the tea.
Switch off the heat, add sugar and pour it into cups. Enjoy !

Simple Vanilla Cupcake

2010-03-03T14:33:00.000-05:00

Its been a while since I baked a cake in the oven. In fact I never baked one in our brand new toaster oven. So I decided to venture into the world of baking cakes in an oven once again after a gap of almost one year. I wanted to start on a healthy note, and I was in a dilemma to choose from the various recipes that use healthy substitutions when it comes to the ingredients that go into the cake batter. Finally I decided on a recipe from Joy Of Baking where I substituted a portion of the All Purpose Flour (Maida) for White whole wheat flour and I skipped the frosting part as both me and V dont enjoy eating frosting, maybe just enjoy viewing it ;-). I did not want to risk this attempt and disappoint myself my ruining the whole batter because of a lot of substitutions. Hence starting with a small attempt of the same for baking healthy. I also wanted to start with something small so that the left-over or wastage remains minimal. Cupcakes suited my needs, hence here I am with the Simple Vanilla Cupcake.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup (130 grams) granulated white sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Orange extract or zest of 1 large lemon (optional)
1 cup of all purpose flour + 1/2 cup of white whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt (if using salted butter, skip this)
1/4 cup (60 ml) milk

Puffing...Puffing...

Trrrringgg....(the sound of the timer on the toaster oven) indicating...its Done :)

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 Degrees C)
Line a 12 cup muffin pan (I had to use a 6 cup muffin pan two times due to the space constraints in my toaster oven)
Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy
Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and orange extract/lemon zest
In a separate bowl whisk together the flours, baking powder and salt
Add the flour and milk in alternate steps to the egg mixture in a way that it begins and ends with flour. While mixing the batter, use a floding action to combine all ingredients. If using a mixer, use it at low speed and scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed
Evenly fill the muffin cups (each cup can be upto half full because if you overfill the batter in the muffin cup, the cupcake will have a alien spaceship like appearance ;-) and there are chances that you will have to clean up a gooey mess later)
Keep in the preheated oven and bake for 18-20 minutes

Enjoy :)

Green Apple Chutney

2010-02-03T16:03:00.005-05:00

I followed this recipe from Suma's blog and I should say, I enjoyed it most with hot pej (rice soup) and some pickle and pappad. Perfect for a cold day.

Ingredients:

Green Apple grated: 1
Grated coconut: 1/4 cup
Pearl Onions: 5
1 tsp oil
3 Dry Red Chilly (adjust to suit your spice level)

Method:

Grind all the ingredients and drizzle the oil. Serve with hot pej (kanji, കഞ്ഞി ).

Spinach Cheese Swirls

2010-02-03T11:55:00.003-05:00

A very belated Happy New Year to all my blog readers ! I am very glad to say V gifted me with a brand new Black and Decker Toaster Oven from BJ's store recently. It costs around $65. Now I can make and bake to my hearts content :) . Since the Super Bowl season is nearing, I thought, why not make something for that occasion. I have often noticed the Spinach-Cheese Swirls recipe on the Pepperidge Puff Pastry sheet box and always forgotten to make them though they always looked delicious. I decided today to make them for the first time in my toaster oven. And I should say they came out very well and tasted awesome ! That was a new kind of lunch I packed for V today. I made a second batch after he left for office today and enjoyed them with a hot cup of tea while watching my favorite show - NCIS ;) . It was then that I realized, this can be a good Super Bowl snack. Here is the recipe :

Spinach -Cheese Swirls

Ingredients:

Spinach (frozen, thawed, and drained well) - 1 cup
Puff Pastry sheet : 1 fold, thawed according to instructions on it's cover
Any type of shredded cheese - 1/2 cup
Parmesan cheese powder - 1/4 cup
Onion chopped finely - 1
Garlic minced / powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Pepper and Salt to taste
1 egg beaten lightly with 1 tablespoon of water in small bowl

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degree F
Line a baking tray with parchment paper and grease it lightly
Combine the cheeses, onion , garlic with a fork in a medium bowl.
Apply the egg wash on the puff pastry sheet
Spread this mixture and the spinach on the pastry sheet. Salt and Pepper the filling
Starting with the shortest side facing you, start rolling the pastry while applying the egg wash on each rolling side thus ensuring that both sides have the egg wash
Cut the roll into 1/2" thickness
Arrange them on the baking sheet and bake it for 15 minutes. Enjoy !

Microwave Pineapple Upside down cake

2009-12-21T15:34:00.006-05:00

When Cham announced the MEC event , I thought, Wow she announced it at the right time. I am indeed trying to make better use of my Microwave than just to reheat food. As I wrote in my previous post this month, most of the Microwave recipes I saw online was chocolate based and I didn't want to make one. I recently purchased a book called "Microwave Cookbook The Complete Guide" by Pat Jester which I got for unbelievably low price from a library book sale near our place. There are lots of good recipes and tips in it and the author writes tips where she admits that Microwave cannot be used for making all things which can be made in an oven or stove top and lists the consequences too. That's what I like about this book. Honest facts !

I wanted to make something in the microwave which would not waste the resources used, hence further researched about the wattage of the microwave I use. We got this microwave from a friend of ours when we bought our house. It didn't come with a user manual, so had to call up the manufacturer to get the wattage info. I saw this website online which has very good information about the different wattage of microwaves available and how to convert the time needed for cooking in a 600-700 watts (most microwave recipes that's available online are for 600-700 watts microwave) to suit the wattage of your microwave. I never expected my microwave to be 1100 watts as I thought since its quiet an old one and small size without any grill feature, it should be less than 600-700 watts, but was truly surprised to find that it was more than that. So I recommend that you check the wattage with your microwave manufacturer before proceeding with baking or heavy duty cooking in it. So after much research I decided to bake a Pineapple upside down cake.

Here goes the recipe (which is suited for a 1100 watts microwave, hence if your microwave has a different wattage, you can use the website I listed above in hyperlink to convert the cooking time. The recipe remains same, just the cooking time varies). The original recipe (refer hyperlink at the end of this post) was for 600-700 watts (the cooking time being 9 minutes) and I converted the cooking time to suit a 1100 microwave.:

Ingredients:

Topping

1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
6 pineapple slices
cherries/raisins

Cake

1.5 cups cake flour
2 tspns baking powder
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
1 tbspn warm milk

Method:

Melt butter in a 9 inch bundt/flute pan
Arrange pineapple slices, raisins evenly at the bottom of the pan
Sprinkle the brown sugar on the fruits
Sift flour and baking powder
Beat butter and sugar until fluffy
Beat the eggs one by one into the butter/sugar mixture
Fold in the flour mixture alternatively with vanilla and warm milk
Pour the batter into the pan so that the batter is spread evenly
Microwave for 5 minutes 44 seconds.

Note: The cake might seem to look uncooked on the top but let it sometime inside the oven. If the cake doesnt get cooked on the watery surface, add 1 minute more.
Verdict: The cake was moist and soft. Its best served when it cools down.

I am sending this to the MEC Festive Food event organized by Cham and started by Srivalli

Recipe source: Microwave recipes

Steamed Vanilla cake

2009-12-16T13:41:00.000-05:00

I was/is on a mission searching for alternate ways to satisfy my craving for baking something as my oven gave up. I searched a lot for alternative ways to bake a cake without using the oven. I got a lot of microwave based recipes, but I read that most of the cakes baked in microwave use cocoa/chocolate chip a lot and V doesn't like chocolate cake so much, in fact he would take just a bite so that I don't feel bad after I all the effort I put into making one :D ...the rest of the recipes that doesn't use cocoa/chocolate were the ones which wasnt rated or reviewed , and i didn't want to ruin my day with such a recipe as this would be the first time I would be baking something without an oven. I then came upon this recipe on allrecipes.com about a steamed Chinese cake. It had good ratings and I followed some advice from some reviewers about substitutions. I 'baked' (steamed) this cake in a vegetable steamer, and the outcome was surprisingly the softest sponge cake I ever had :) It was moist, sweet, and held its shape well. I initially thought that a steamed cake would be like a dumpling or something, but this turned out to surprise me a lot. When I felt the cake first with the knife, I thought the texture resembled the outcome of Idli ;) , but when the cake was cool, it hardened a bit more on the base and formed some crumbs too. I was more than satisfied with the outcome, and hence have bookmarked it. Here is the recipe I found with my substitutions:

Ingredients:

4 eggs
1 cups white sugar
3 tablespoons orange juice
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 tsp vanilla extract and 1/2 tsp almond extract
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar for dusting

Method:

Keep a vegetable steamer or Bamboo steamer over simmering
water. Make sure it is large enough to hold the baking pan. I used a loaf pan. But the recipe calls for a 9 inch square pan. Line it with wax paper.

Separate the eggs. Beat the yolks along with the juice and sugar with an electric mixer on medium speed until the mixture has increased about three times in volume. Sift together the flour and the baking powder. Sift it again over the egg mixture, and fold in gently. Blend in the vanilla and almond extracts.

Whip the egg whites in a clean bowl to stiff, not dry, peaks. Fold into yolk
mixture. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and smooth out the edges. Tap the
pan gently on the counter to get rid of large air bubbles.

Place the pan into the steamer. Cover the top of the steamer with a kitchen
towel/parchment paper (parchment paper causes bubbles as I experienced it in my attempt), and place the lid on top; the towel will absorb any steam that collects
on top from dripping onto the cake.

Steam for about 20 minutes, or until a
toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Dust
with confectioner's sugar. Tada...your steamed cake is ready !

Thai Basil Chicken

2009-11-18T22:17:00.007-05:00

Hi everyone !!

I am back after quiet a long gap. We went to India for a while and was busy this whole year with our new house. I wasn't attempting any new ventures in my kitchen all this while. But now when the holiday season is coming near, I am slowly getting into the mood :) .

Now before I get into the details of this dish, I want to tell about when I had my first experience with Thai cuisine. When we were on the lookout for houses, we came across an ad on Internet and went to see a place. It was late in the evening, and was dark, and hence we couldn't see the neighbourhood very well, what we did see was this very convenient strip mall right across the neighbourhood, and a Thai restaurant in the same mall !! I had heard that Thai cuisine is similar in taste to Indian cuisine as they use coconut a lot. I wanted to have food there so badly after seeing the restaurant and I told V that I never tasted Thai before. That day, though we were not sure about the neighbourhood or the house we came to see , we both dined at the Thai restaurant and it was like getting a taste of the neighbourhood :) It was the best ! 1 month and few weeks later we signed the papers and moved into the same neighbourhood . Though the restaurant is still there, we don't always go there , as it turns out to be a bit expensive. Its a once in a while treat when friends come home. Whomever we took to the restaurant , enjoyed the food. As for me, I have a special affection for the Thai Basil Chicken Fried Rice. Even before the waiter asks for the spice level, I tell " 5 chillies or more " :) . They make it perfectly with the authentic Thai holy Basil that the owner gets from Quincy, Boston.

So when I saw the recipe posted on Suma's blog, I was thrilled. There is something else too, I got my treats from the Asian Food Grocer Tastemaker program through Foodbuzz. The Asian Food Grocer have a wonderful website with lots of interesting items used in the Asian kitchen. The ease of using it , was one thing which I liked. I had never shopped online, and I should say Asian Food Grocer became my first time and I felt a sense of accomplishment after that :D .

My V is so fond of chopsticks, that when I got the opportunity to use the gift certificate, that's what I ordered (3 pairs), along with other goodies : 2 rice bowls, 1 tea cup, 2 soup spoons, 1 box of Korean ginseng tea, 1 bottle Dashi, 1 bottle fish sauce. I have tried to capture all of them in these pictures.

I love the fish sauce, ask me why? Because it matches with the saying "You don't know what you have been missing until it arrives" and that's what I felt after I used it in Asian stir fries. I am not familiar with Dashi, I ordered it because I saw that its used in authentic soups. And I am a fan of soups. I would be glad to have someone who have used it/or know about Dashi, enlighten me about it.

After I ordered all the stuff, the total came to $31 and I used my debit card to complete the check out. I got an e-mail from them that I would be receiving it in the next 5-6 business days. I eagerly waited for my package to arrive by Fed Ex. The day it arrived, it was V who collected it and surprised me after I woke up from a short nap. The packing was neat. I especially liked the box that contained the Korean Ginseng Tea bags. Perfect for display !

The fish sauce will last a long time for me :) I never thought I would get such a generous amount :) . I recommend this website to all my readers who are interested to try some authentic Asian grocery. I thank Foodbuzz and the Asian Food Grocer for this opportunity to try something new in my kitchen.

So lets come to the dish. As I wrote above, I saw it on Suma's blog. I tried the same way she did, except use grated peel of lemon instead of Kaffir Lime leaves as I didn't have it. Suma, thanks for the wonderful recipe. I am posting it again here for my future reference :)

Ingredients:

1 lb minced chicken
4-5 basil leaves , chopped
10 garlic pods
Kaffir lime leaves/ Grated Lemon peel - 2 leaves or 1/2 teaspoon peel
1 Onion
1 teaspoon soy sauce
2 Tablespoons Fish Sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 tablespoons oil
5-6 Slit Green Chillies
2 Capsicums (Bell Pepper) cut into strip lengthwise

Method:

Heat a pan with oil. Add garlic, onion, Bell Pepper and stir fry for a minute. Add a pinch of salt (not too much as fish sauce and soy sauce will compensate for the saltiness later during the preparation) . The bell pepper should remain crunchy in this dish, so don't cook it all the way through (I have not mastered this art, hence if you are a pro at it, please share that with me too :) .
Add the chicken and green chillies and stir fry until chicken is cooked and turns light brown.
Now add the soy sauce and fish sauce and stir well so that the entire dish is coated with the sauces. Now add some pepper and the chopped basil leaves and stir until leaves are wilted. Turn off the fire and close the dish. Serve hot with rice /noodles/roti.

Verdict : The pungent aroma of basil leaves infused with the fish sauce and the chicken makes one want to savour the dish immediately.

Lauki (Bottlegourd), Breadfruit (Sheema chakka or Kadachakka) Erisseri

2009-07-27T12:04:00.005-04:00

I had recently purchased Lauki (Bottlegourd) for the first time. I had seen a lot of blogs posting recipes with this wonder vegetable, so I wanted to try it too. Recently I got a nice piece of Breadfruit from my cousin's place. So I wanted to make something special. Hence this Erissery came up in my mind. Here goes the recipe:

Ingredients:

Lauki and Breadfruit cut into cubes - 2 cups
Canned Beans (or pressure cooked beans) any variety, I used Pink Beans - 1 can/1 cup after cooking: reserve 1/4 cup to be used for grinding (as told below)
To grind to a paste:

Grated coconut: 1 cup (save some for garnishing at the end)
Garlic and Ginger
1/4 cup of canned Beans (any variety can be used, I used Pink Beans)
Dry roasted Cumin powder (1tspn), Coriander powder (1tspn), 5-6 Dry red chilli

4. For tampering:

1 tablespoon methi seeds
1 tspn mustard seeds
Hing (Asafoetida) : a pinch

5. For the tangy flavor: Make a thick paste (approximately 1/4cup) of tamarind soaked in hot water.
6. Salt to taste and water as needed for gravy

How to make:

In a deep bottom vessel, on high heat, add 1 tablespoon oil. When the oil heats up, lower fire to medium and add all the tampering, then add the vegetables and fry them until they are a bit soft on the outer. then add sufficient water to cook , wait for the water to come to a boil and then close the vessel and let it cook. Add salt when they are almost cooked, that way you don't add more salt. When the vegetables are completely cooked, and there is just the right amount of water for gravy, add the ground paste, remaining canned beans and stir well. Then cook for 2 more minutes. Now add the tamarind pulp and stir again. Check for salt again. Cover cook for another minute and then switch off fire. Sprinkle the remaining grated coconut. Serve hot with Rose Matta rise like I did :) or with any other variety of rice.

Microwave Milk Peda

2009-07-14T11:21:00.006-04:00

Well, I guess I am just disappearing too often from blogging world. I don't know the real reason behind it. But there is something called 'external factors', which , for me (and I am sure for all other bloggers), simple things like a proper table to sit and type , the tidiness in the room, and light, affects my mood to blog and hence, if this maybe considered an excuse, well, so be it, because, now with a brand new computer table which has lots of space to arrange files and other paperwork and a high end memory (thanks to V) upgraded computer, I am all set to blog again. Last weekend me and V assembled our computer table, took an hour. I love it when we both work together to assemble things like this, its always lots of fun :) . We almost ended up fixing the wrong wooden plank on one side of the table, then had to unscrew the whole thing and start over :D. I like the way the system works here, especially the do-it-yourself projects. It always helps to learn new things. And especially after buying a house, these projects are very handy.

Well, coming to the sweet , I made this on our 4th wedding anniversary on July 3rd. It was a quick fix , but the taste was too good. I always bake cakes on our wedding anniversary, but this time I had to settle for this sweet as our oven has quit its job :(. It smokes all the time when we switch it on . Hence I am on an adventure, I must say, to try making some satisfying sweets/snacks using my other working appliances :) You will be surprised to know some of the things I tried.

I found the recipe for Microwave Milk Peda in Sify. There are other blogs too out there which have made these sweets, and I liked each one of them. This sweet is a favorite of V. And I was happy to make it on our special day.

Ingredients:

1 can condensed milk
3 cups milk powder
1 stick butter (8 tablespoons)
Cardamom powder - a pinch

Method:

Melt butter in a microwave safe plate
Add all the rest of the ingredients and stir well
Microwave for 2 minutes. Remove, and stir
Repeat the above step for every 2 minutes until it turns from yellow to light brown
It takes approximately 6 minutes for making pedas this way
Make balls out of the pedas and shape as desired

Hey I have one good news to share with you. I was lucky to be the 'The Foodie Blogroll - Stir, Laugh, Repeat Cookbook Cookbook Giveaway : Winner for June, 26 2009' . I got the Stir, Laugh , Repeat cookbook written by Martha Cleves (shown in the picture above). It has a lot of recipes which is written in a simple, and fun to way. I loved all the little anecdotes which she has shared under each recipe. There are also some interesting tips which can be used to make life easier. Being the first time I won any lucky draw contest, I was so happy, that I felt a bit emotional when I got this book by mail, signed by the Author herself :) Thank you Martha, and Thank you Queen of Foodie Blogroll for hosting such an event !

Microwave Besan Laddoo

2009-05-28T08:50:00.007-04:00

Hello dear readers,

I am back after a long break. We were busy shifting to our new home here. Yes, we bought a townhouse here in Ashland. It was a moment of great joy the day the papers were signed. I was busy for the last two months trying to arrange and decorate our nest :) .
Many friends kept asking me whether I stopped blogging altogether :) . I found that I was giving excuse after excuse, and yesterday night I decided, enough was enough, I am going to blog, because deep inside I was missing my blogging buddies a lot ! So here I am with a sweet start :D

Sweet start with Besan Laddoo. Did you know that this sweet can be made with ease in a microwave in few minutes? I was surprised too when I found this recipe at the following blogs:

Saffron Trail
Bhaatukli

I instantly fell in love with the mouth watering pictures of these laddoos on their blogs. I tried the recipe at Saffron Trail as she tells it takes 5 minutes only, and yes indeed it took only so much time when I prepared the laddoos. I also liked the tip given at 'Bhaatukli' by Tee, where she tells that 'the powder should not be too dry , else it will not hold shape'. Thanks Tee, it really helped.

Now let me share the recipe I used: I used butter instead of ghee as we don't use ghee in our house, but it didn't make a significant difference to us, as me and V enjoyed the delicate taste of melted butter and roasted Besan in the laddoo. You may use ghee as that's what the original recipe calls for in Saffron Trail's blog. I also added a little bit of Nutmeg powder to get an added flavor.

Ingredients:

1 cup Besan
1 stick butter (1/2 cup butter, or 8 tablespoons butter)
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon powdered cardamom
1/4 teaspoon powdered nutmeg

Method:

Mix besan and butter (cut in cubes if there are straight from the fridge) in a microwaveable safe flat dish. If you have a dish where the food doesn't stick to the plate after microwaving , it would serve the purpose much better. For eg: I used my silicon baking pan (its freezer safe, and microwave safe too). It made the in between stirring easier.
Microwave for 5 minutes , stirring the mixture a little after every minute. As suggested at Saffron Trail, you may increase your time to additional 2 minutes if your microwave power is low.
At the end of 5 minutes, take the pan out of the microwave and wait until it cools down (it should be cool, not cold, so don't rush and keep it in the fridge ;) ]. It should take half hour to cool down.
Add powdered sugar, cardamom and nutmeg to the mixture and stir well and then make round laddoos ( don't worry the first time if you don't get it right, it takes a little practice, that's all. my laddoos didn't turn out the perfect round when I initially tried it).
I stored these laddoos in the fridge after there were formed for around 1 hour. This helps in setting the laddoo.
Store laddoos in the fridge if you are serving them at a later time.
Enjoy :)

Hope you too will like these when you make them !

Low calorie Banana (Plantain) Chips and Potato Chips (can be Oil-free , Salt free ) using Microwave

2009-03-09T14:31:00.006-04:00

I love my Microwave (not exactly mine, but our apartment's) ! and the person who invented it too ! That's what I can say after I made these easy, low-calorie munchies last week. I was surprised to find that the crispiness was no different than when fried in oil. You can even use a low calorie oil spray and a wee bit of salt to enhance the flavor. After making these I swore, I would never deep fry Banana or Potato Chips in oil in my kitchen. Let me share my excitement with you now:

Here is how I made it: Its easy, breezy tasty :)

Gadgets needed:

A microwave
A mandolin slicer (in India its called 'Chips maker' in some places, popular brands include 'Anjaly'). You can get a Mandolin slicer in US too, I got these from a Calphalone store, but we just bought it as a side purchase after buying a gorgeous Calphalone Infused Anodised Stir Fry Pan. The Mandolin cost just $10, but its worth buying as its a great addition to your kitchen gadgets. This one even had a handle to hold the food while slicing, thus giving extra safety.

If you don't have a 'Chips maker' , no worries, you have your knife to your aid. Cut slices as thinly as possible , make sure they are of equal length as it helps providing uniform heat in the microwave while 'they turn to' Chips ;)

Plantain chips

Seasoning:

Oil just a pinch or can be totally avoided
Salt, a very tiny pinch, or can be totally avoided.
Chilly powder, Asafoetida - a pinch

Note: I have used very little seasoning, as while using Microwave , you should be very careful while seasoning, if you are doing it before Microwaving it, as a pinch of seasoning has very very potent flavor while cooking in Microwave. Its best to add these after the Chips are done and when they are just out of the Microwave.

Vegetables that can be used : Potatoes (Preferably Potatoes good for frying purpose, else they may lose color and turn brown, but taste is intact though), Raw Banana (Plantain), Taro, Bitter gourd.

Potato Chips (don't mind the color as I used a Red Potato variety which I didn't find quiet good for frying because of the color they turn into, but taste was equally good)

Method:

Slice the vegetable into very thin uniform slices. Spread the slices on a Microwave safe flat bottom vessel, (I used my Silicon Baking Pan which is also Microwave safe). Arrange in such a way that no two slices overlap each other . A little overlapping here and there is alright if space is a constraint.

Microwave under high power for 4 minutes if you have filled the plate with the slices in every nook and corner , or 2-3 minutes if less slices are used. Keep checking in between. This can give you an approximate time for cooking these.
Tadaa ! Your chips are ready to savor !

This way of making chips has more of advantages than disadvantages I feel:

Advantages:

Control over the amount of oil, salt, or other seasoning
Less power , as I read somewhere that Microwave consumes less energy than other electric appliance.
Less fume and hence less cooling of the kitchen needed when compared to deep frying on a cooking range.
Less cleanup, and nil wastage of oil
No guilt feeling of storing the same oil for frying the next time, as no oil / very negligible amount of oil was used in microwave

The only thing I noticed was, if you have a small microwave/ small microwave vessel, then you can 'fry' only so much chips at a time. But then I don't think it matters so much.

Hope you all will like these.

I am sending these and one of my previous entries (look below this sentence) to (Microwave Easy Cooking)MEC-Savoury Snacks (started by Srivally of Cooking for all seasons) and hosted this time at Priya's Easy and Tasty Recipes.

My previous entry participating in this event are:

Bittergourd Fritters

I am planning to post a Cake recipe next time, so wait and watch dear readers :) Till then, wave a 'bye bye' to the Winter (today it snowed here in Framingham, I think this might be the last snow of this winter) and welcome crisp Spring !

Love
RV

V day with a Chinese touch - Sweet Corn Chicken soup, Chicken Chopsuey

2009-02-20T15:13:00.016-05:00

This time for Valentine's day I decided to go Chinese. We have this Chinese restaurant called Eonoodles near our place. Both me and V do take-outs or have lunch occasionally and whenever we go there, we love to have the Chicken Chopsuey dish. The way they make it has never failed to amaze me. I always wanted to ask the restaurant owner about the secret recipe, but never did as I was too embarassed to ask. Have you people asked a restaurant chef for your favorite dish he/she makes?

I then started to analyze the ingredients visually and nasally ;). I found in Internet that the word Chopsuey in Chicken Chopsuey meant the veggies added to the dish along with Chicken. I kept up my determination to recreate it in my kitchen. It didn't satisfy my expectations the first time I made.

I realized it was mainly because of the substitute ingredients I used. In addition to Chicken Chopsuey, I decided to make Sweet Corn Chicken Soup for appetizer and Pumpkin Pie for dessert. Being Valentine's day I decided to use the exact ingredients. I made a quick stop at the nearest Stop n Shop and made the necessary purchases. This is how I made it:

For Sweet Corn Chicken Soup:

Ingredients:

Skinless Boneless Chicken breasts sliced and diced into very small cubes : 1 cup
Sweet Corn Cream Style: 1 can
Corn: 1/2 cup
Chicken Broth: 1 can
Whole Mushroom stem and top (I purchased the canned version found in the Asian isle): 1/2 can
Minced Ginger and Garlic: 2 teaspoons
Olive oil: 2 tablespoons
Soy Sauce: 2 tablespoons

Method:

In a wide bottom vessel, on medium high heat, add olive oil. When it heats up add the Chicken pieces. Saute it with minced ginger and garlic , 2 tablespoons of Soy Sauce , until chicken is cooked evenly.
Transfer the chicken to a separate plate.
Add Sweet Corn Cream Style Corn and Corn to the same vessel in which the Chicken was sauteed. When the contents are cooked, add the chicken-ginger-garlic to the corn mixture and mix well. Add the Chicken Stock and let the soup come to a boil, and then let it simmer for 10 minutes.
If the soup is too watery to your taste: Mix one tablespoon of cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of water and add to the soup and lower the heat to minimum. Stir until the soup gets the desired thickness.
Add salt and pepper as desired. Serve hot.

*******

For Chicken Chopsuey:

Ingredients:

Boneless skinless Chicken breasts cut in thin bite size slices: 1 cup
Julienne sliced Onion: 1 small
Canned/Fresh Water Chestnuts: 1 can
Whole Mushroom with stem and top: 1/2 can
Bamboo Shoots: 1/2 can
Sliced Carrots: 1/4 cup
Bean Sprouts: 1/2 cup
Sliced Garlic: 1 clove
Chicken Broth: 1 can
Salt and Pepper
Soy Sauce: 3 tablespoons
Olive oil: 2 tablespoons

Method:

Follow the steps from 1 and 2 as in Sweet Corn Chicken Soup, excluding the part of adding Ginger.
Add the veggies onto the same vessel in which the chicken was sauteed. Saute them until the veggies are soft and almost cooked on medium fire.
Add the chicken to the veggies, add the chicken broth and bring the mixture to a rolling boil. Then let it simmer. Thicken the mixture by using cornstarch as I wrote in the Sweet Corn Chicken Soup above.
Add salt and Pepper as desired.
Serve hot with rice or noodles.

For Pumpkin Pie:

I followed the recipe on the back of a Canned Pumpkin puree. I also used a pre-baked Pie crust. The Pie turned out great. Here is Libby's Famous Pumpkin Pie recipe:

Ingredients:

1 can (15 oz.) LIBBY'S 100% pure Pumpkin
1 can (12 fl.oz) CARNATION Evaporated Milk
1 unbaked 9-inch (4-cup volume) deep dish pie shell
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
2 large eggs

How I made:

Mix sugar, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves in small bowl. Beat eggs in large bowl. Stir in pumpkin and sugar-spice mixture. Gradually stir evaporated milk.
Pour into pie shell
Bake in preheated 425 degree F oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degree F, bake 40-50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. Serve immediately or refrigerate.

*******

Sandya of http://www.third--eye.blogspot.com/ has tagged me for "25 random things about you".

The rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to link the person who tagged you.

Favorite movies: "Father of the Bride", "The Odd Couple", "Bend it like Beckham", "Big"
Favorite TV channels: Food network, HGTV, DIYnetwork, LMN,CBS,USA
What I do during my free time: Go window shopping, browse diynetwork.com to see interesting projects such as clutter management, storage ideas.
I love spicy hot food, and this has caused me troubles sometimes. I recently swallowed a hot steaming piece of potato while trying to see if its cooked. As a result I have a small lump. I am hoping it would go in another two weeks.
I love gardening, I have just started with container gardening and looking forward to growing a wonderful vegetable garden someday.
I used collect all things that smelled good as a child, such as bathing soap cover, incense stick cover, and store it in a box, so that I could smell them time to time.
Diary writing was an amusing play time for me as I used to quote so many amusing facts and incidents from my personal life. My brother used to have a fun time teasing me when I used to proudly show him my stories. I still write diaries.
I always used to have this thing for collecting names, girl name and boy names. Each year, I updated the list too. I don't know why I did this, but it was fun. Its like a database or something .
Owning an aquarium or a bird as pet is what I am hoping in the future. We both love to have these, hence we always keep visiting Pet stores, just to gaze at the products and accessories available. We will soon own one as we are in the process of a major shifting process.
Favourite kitchen gadgets: Sandwich maker, Mandolin slicer, Preethi Mixie, Microwave,Hand blender, Rose shaped Silicone Baking pan,Salt and Pepper grinder.
My challenge: Control my appetite for unhealthy spicy snacks, Too much worrying
I dream of living in a farm house with a spacious kitchen , with lot of fresh air, and quiet atmosphere, and a market at walking distance.
I would love to travel to Japan, China, and Thailand sometime as I love their cuisines.
I talk loud, especially when I talk on phone or to someone I am close with. I have often found myself getting embarrassed when I talk over the phone in public, its as if I am talking to the entire world, and not just to the person on phone.
Snack I always crave: Vegetable Cutlet
I strongly believe that God does all in his/her power to help us and we should be thankful for even the shortest time of peace, relief , and happiness.
I don't like the smell of butter, ghee, or cheese, yogurt. I eat them when they are not served directly, such as in cakes, or sweets, shakes. I don't like the tangy flavour in food either.
I was born left-handed,its strange that my mother and my late father were not lefties. My dad didn't want me to be different , hence changed me to do some things with right. He did it so well without any scolding that I never remember regretting it or complaining about it. Hence I only write, eat, and, brush my teeth with my right hand. And rest of the things with my left hand. I wonder how my kids would be, but one thing for sure is I would not change them as I realize there are some serious risks involved which my dad didn't know about. And moreover its cool to be a leftie too :)

cant think of anymore...

Ok, now I would like to tag these people for the "25 random things about you":

Ranji of Ranji's Kitchen Corner
Cham of Spice Club
Sudha of Bombay Bistro
Teena of Kaipunyam.com
Easycrafts
Varsha of Will-O'- the Wisp
Seena of Simple and Delicious
Divya of Easy Cooking
Priya
Ashwini
Yasmeen

Eggless Peanut - Coconut cookies

2009-02-05T13:57:00.012-05:00

Since Valentine's Day is nearing, I decided to warm up my oven for making goodies. There are a lot of cookies baking these days in blogging world. I was drooling on all the yummy cookies which participated in JZ's event. I have not been much successful in baking cookies. If you see my past posts, you would realize that I have posted just one cookie recipe which is Nankhatai. When I bake cookies, it always expands/burns/too crispy. However, I did not feel like totally giving up on baking cookies as the pictures in other blogs have always tempted me. I decided to try one of the Eggless cookie from Prav's blog. I did not have Almonds, hence I used Peanuts. The taste and texture came out good. I was glad that I could finally make a proper cookie.

Source: Pravs's Coconut-Almond Cookie

Ingredients:
------------

1 cup Maida/All Purpose flour
3/4 cup Peanuts (I used the roasted unsalted Peanuts)
1/2 cup Butter at room temperature
1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 cup grated Coconut

How to make:
---------------

Preheat oven to 350 F/170 C
Crush Peanuts to a coarse texture. Tip: Put Peanuts in a Zip-lock bag and crush them coarsely by using a rolling pin.
Mix Butter and Sugar until it is well combined
Add Peanuts, grated Coconut, and All Purpose flour to the Butter and Sugar mixture
Chill the dough for 15 minutes or make sure the dough is in a cool place and nowhere near the oven as the butter in the dough would start melting and cause the cookie to spread before you shape them and bake.
Make small balls out of the dough and flatten them a little. Press a half Peanut into each cookie. Again while making the balls, do not keep them between your palms for long time, as cookie dough needs to be cool when they go in the oven.
Arrange these balls with one long finger space between each cookie , on a parchment paper on a cookie sheet/tray
Bake them in the preheated oven for 12-13 minutes or until the bottom of the cookie becomes light brown.
Transfer the tray to a cool place for the cookies to cool. The cookies would not be done immediately out of the oven. But they harden and become crunchy when cooled.

Proud to display my cookie jar on my kitchen shelf ;)

Hope you enjoy these cookies the same way I did :)

Similar recipes from other blogs:

Divya's Almond Coconut cookies
Madhuram's Eggless Butter Pecan Cookies
Renuka's Eggless chocolate cookies/biscuits

Friends , my dear friend Varsha Vipin of Will-O'-the-Wisp passed me this lovely Butterfly award :) Thank you so much Varsha !

I am passing it on to these dear friends in blogging world:

Cham of Spice Club
Ranji of Ranji's Kitchen Corner
Teena of Kaipunyam.com

Pasta - Potato Salad

2009-01-20T03:06:00.001-05:00

We had recently been to one of our favourite restaurants in Framingham, Ruby Tuesday. Both of us love the salad bar in Ruby Tuesday. That alone is enough to fill your stomach halfway before your main course arrives. You can have unlimited amount of salad from the salad bar and hence I always make sure to make frequent trips towards the salad bar :) . I love the pine nuts, and the pasta salad, and potato salad.

Salads have been my favourite since my childhood, I used to love having raw cabbage leaf, carrot, tomato, onion and green chilli combo along with curd. Also I was the only one in my house who used to love having raw sprouted green moong. My mother was happy as well as quiet amused and surprised to see me hogging those sprouted green moong which she used to sometimes purposely make just for me :) After few years she used to make a simple salad with sprouted green moong, minced onion, tomatoes, green chilli, coriander and bit of salt and lemon juice. I loved it.

Coming to Potato salad, I don't remember where I first had it, but I remember where I first saw it. It was in my office cafeteria in India. I am proud to say that our office cafeteria was one of the best. They had a very good menu. I had seen egg salad, potato salad, pancakes, everything for the first time over there. I was not so fond of Mayo that time . I didn't like it that time. Things change when you come to US though :) . I was determined to make this at home as I had tasted this in several restaurants (especially Ruby Tuesday) and had become a great fan. I wanted to keep it light and towards the healthier side. Hence this is what I did:

Ingredients:

Pasta (whole wheat variety)- 2 cups of pasta cooked according to package instructions. I used the Rottini variety.

Potatoes (I used the red skin variety) : 2 medium sized, boiled until just done so that it doesn't lose shape while slicing into medium segments.

Frozen spinach : 1 cup, which is to be thawed before using

Frozen green peas (optional): 1/2 cup, thawed before using

Canned Tuna in water (optional) : 1 can

Minced Garlic: 2 tablespoons

Low-fat seasoned Mayonnaise: Refer my post for the recipe

Soy Sauce - 1 teaspoon or as per your taste

Seasoning:

Dry Basil Leaves
Oregano powder
Minced Coriander leaves
Lots of freshly cracked pepper

Method:

In a deep bottom vessel on medium high heat, add thawed spinach, canned tuna (along with the water), and garlic. Saute them on medium-low fire until everything is cooked. There is no need to add any oil for sauteing the above spinach and tuna mixture as the water from the tuna helps the cooking process. [as far as the Tuna goes, Chunk light tuna in water is one of the lightest canned variety fish]

Season the already sliced potatoes with a little pinch of salt and lots of freshly cracked pepper, dry basil leaves, and a little oregano. Add these seasoned potato, pasta and mix well until everything is well combined. Switch off the fire and transfer to a serving dish. Add the Mayonnaise combine well again. Add a generous amount of seasoning ( I add lots of cracked pepper as there is no other source of heat in this salad and I like my salad a little spicy. Freshly cracked pepper gives a whole lot of flavour to this salad. ) Serve it immediately or refrigerate it and serve cold along with low-calorie saltines/crackers and some vegetable sticks.

Low-fat seasoned Mayonnaise

2009-01-19T23:19:00.005-05:00

As I wrote in my previous post, I am trying to follow a low-fat cooking diet. I have this book I got recently from library called Low-Fat Cooking for good health by Gloria Rose which I follow for some of her low-fat recipes. One such recipe I made from the book was Low-Fat Mayonnaise, which is referred to as "Our" Mayonnaise in this book :) Its really easy and I used it as a dressing in other recipes. Here is the recipe which I modified by omitting certain ingredients and adding different herbs and seasoning.

This recipe calls for refrigerating overnight, hence this is a make ahead recipe.

Ingredients:

---------------

4 tablespoons low-fat Cottage Cheese
1 egg white (preferably use fresh eggs)
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon Dijon-style mustard
3/4 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon minced garlic
Bit of coriander leaves
Dry Basil powder (optional)

Method:

1. Place all ingredients in a blender/food processor and process until smooth, and creamy.
2. Transfer contents to a glass bowl and refrigerate overnight.
3. Can be used as a salad dressing or as a dip.
Lasts for 2-3 days.

luv
Roopa

Stir fry mixed vegetable peanut noodles

2009-01-16T21:44:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year to everybody !! I know I am a bit late , but better late than never. This year I made a resolution to eat healthy (as most of the people I see on weight loss ads on TV) :)) . Let me see how much I can control my cravings. I followed one diet, learned few good things and few not so good things about that diet. I have a book purchased on low-fat cooking andthat's something I look forward to everyday these days.

Recently we bought some Imitation Egg Noodles for the first time. Both me and V are great fans of Maggi Noodles, and every time we do our Indian grocery , V makes sure he buys at least 3 Maggi packets. This time we did our Indian grocery in a Chinese store (have to say, they sell it much cheaper than the Indian stores). They had all sorts of Asian spices and condiments. In the Thailand Isle (yes they had Korean, Thai, Philippines, Japanese, and Indian (have to say most of their customers were Indian ;-) ] we found this imitation Egg noodles for just 99 cents. We thought of trying this out.

I am very fond of Chinese food (not like a daily basis), especially their delicious Soup and spicy dishes like Kung Pao , and Lo Mein. I love Kung Pao mainly because of the spicy and tasty peanuts they put. It adds a nice crunch to the whole dish. Lo Mein is another of my favorite dish. I decided to make a vegetarian version of Lo Mein (Indian style). I sliced and diced one Red Bell Pepper , Onion, Carrots, Mushroom, a little tofu. Slit 5-6 green chillies, mashed some garlic and grated fresh ginger.

Cooked the noodles in lots of water with a 2 tablespoons olive oil and a little salt, until soft and done and drained. Then I added 3-4 tablespoons olive oil to a hot wok, spread the oil to coat the entire wok. Added the peanuts, green chillies , garlic, and ginger, reduced flame to medium, stir fried until chillies become a bit pale. Then I added the rest of the vegetables, diced tomatoes, and salt and stir fried until everything cooked, added tofu , spices (1/2 teaspoon of coriander powder, chilly powder), 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1/4 teaspoon sugar. Stir fried and mixed everything until cooked. Lowered the fire to medium-low. Added the noodles, mixed well with the rest of the ingredients. Stir fried Noodles ready.

Red Velvet Fruit Cake

2008-12-11T14:09:00.007-05:00

The fiery red color of this cake was the reason I got fixated on making it from the time I saw it on one of the websites where it was made for Daring Baker's Challenge. I do not remember the website. I then saw it on TV , where it was made by Paula Deen. It was a long time back. But every time, I would forget or keep it for a later time. This time I saw this recipe on Joyofbaking which is my favourite site when it comes to Baking. The author at Joyofbaking explains why this cake is also called Devil's Food cake : "A Red Velvet Cake is really a Devil's Food Cake that has red food coloring added to it. John Mariani tells us in his book "The Dictionary of American Food and Drink" that the name 'Devil's Food Cake' is so called "because it is supposedly so rich and delicious that it must, to a moralist, be somewhat sinful."

I made up my mind and decided that its high time I made this cake. I followed the exact recipe, except for the addition of fruit peel mix to the cake batter and a different recipe for the Frosting. The color of the cake amazed me and the final appearance of the cake , especially after cutting the slice was even more amazing! Of course, my tiny bottle of red color got over after I opened it for the first time after I purchased it, as the recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of red color. I used the "safe to use color" brand of food color.

The completed cake was moist. Since I added the rum soaked fruits, the cake was tasting better the next day and the next. If you plan to frost and decorate, the cake needs to be consumed within 2 -3 days of preparing. If you are planning to just make a bright red fruit cake :) , you might want to leave the cake covered in plastic on your kitchen counter top for 5 days, as the taste will increase day by day :)
The amount of cake was a lot, so I found it the perfect time to share it with my neighbours in the apartment :) . You may visit Joyofbaking website for the original recipe

Here goes my version of the recipe:

Ingredients:
----------------------

For the Red Velvet Fruit Cake:

2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour (If you don't have cake flour, follow this link which gives an easy way for substituting cake flour )

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons Cocoa powder

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar

Rum soaked fruit peels (the original recipe doesn't call for Fruit peels, but I had a lot of these fruit peels left, hence I decided to use it up. Its optional though)

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk

2 tablespoons liquid red food coloring

1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar

1 teaspoon baking soda

Sweetened dessicated Coconut for topping

For the Coconut- Cream Cheese frosting:

1 packet (8 oz) (227 grams) (1-8 ounce) Cream cheese at room temperature

1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter at room temperature

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup sweetened dessicated coconut

Method:

For the Red Velvet Fruit Cake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Butter and flour two same size round cake pans (I used the aluminium foil pie pans (Hefty brand) and line the bottoms of the pans with parchment paper (grease the parchment paper too). Set aside.

In a mixing bowl sift together flour (half of the flour), baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder. Set aside.

Beat the butter until soft (about 1-2 minutes)(I used my hand, you may use a electric mixer, hand mixer). Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

Mix the buttermilk with the red food coloring. Using your hand, or with the mixer on low speed, Alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour.

Combine the rest half of the flour with the fruit peels, toss them lightly until well coated (This helps the even distribution of the fruit peels in the cake batter) and mix it with the cake batter.

The next 2 steps requires some fastness:

1) In a small cup combine the vinegar and baking soda. Allow the mixture to fizz and then quickly fold into the cake batter.

2) Working quickly, divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans and smooth the tops with the back of a spoon.

Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 25 - 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean.

Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Then invert the cake and place each cake in a different plate and cover the cake with plastic and refrigerate at least for 2 hours. This is to help frost the cake layers better when it is cool. I frosted the cakes the next day.

For the Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting:

Beat the butter and Cream Cheese until well combines and soft. Then add the sugar and combine well until fluffy. Add the coconut. Mix well.

Assembling the cake:

First cut each cake layer further into two horizontally, with a knife. Now you will have 4 cake layers.

In a serving plate, place parchment paper to cover the top of the plate. This is to ensure a clean appearance of the cake in the serving plate without the mess of the frosting as the parchment paper can be removed once the cake is frosted and decorated.

Then place one cake of the cake layer, top of the cake facing down, on the serving plate. Frost the cake's top surface with the frosting. Then add another cake layer in the same way on top of frosted cake and continue frosting this cake (meanwhile lightly frost the sides of the cake too with the excess frosting on the top)

Repeat the above process for the rest of the layers until all the layers are frosted and stacked. Frost the sides of the cake if they are not properly frosted.

Cover the cake with sweetened coconut.

This makes a 4 layer cake.

Slice and serve.
Wish you all a Merry Christmas in advance and Happy holidays !!

I am sending this to:

JZ's Santa's Holiday Challenge Event

My Kitchen Treasures's Homemade Christmas Gift Event

Purva Daawat's Christmas Feast Event

Maninas's Eating with the seasons: December event

I am also sending this to (Food In Color)FIC-WHITE event started by Sunshinemom of ToungueTicklers and hosted by Yummy Food .

Naan

2008-12-09T12:03:00.004-05:00

Before going into the details of this post, let me proudly display my Trophy from Recipe Marathon :) hosted by the wonderful DK of Culinary Bazaar. She went ahead and made a nice video called: An Ode to RM # 2 Runners

It was a wonderful event with so many Runners and as a result a big collection of recipes :) We all had a lot of fun running together and I look forward to do it again sometime.

Back to the recipe, I decided to finally try my hand at this famous Indian bread. I followed the recipe of Petrina Varma Sarkar's in About.com and I must say it turned out pretty well :) I served it with Mushroom masala. I am quoting her recipe here:

Ingredients:
---------------------

1 1/2 teaspoons dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt (to taste)
6 tablespoons ghee (clarified butter)
3 tablespoons yoghurt
3 teaspoons onion seeds (optional)

Method:
------------

Add the dry yeast and sugar to the warm water and stir till the yeast is dissolved. Cover and leave aside for 10 minutes or until the mixture begins to froth. Keep it aside. Mix the flour and salt to taste and sift through a very fine sieve. Put it into a large mixing bowl and now add the yeast mixture, 3 tablespoons of ghee and all the yoghurt.

Mix all this into a soft dough. Once mixed, flour a clean, flat surface and knead the dough till it is smooth and stretchy (elastic). Grease a large bowl with a few drops of cooking oil and put the dough in it. Cover and allow to rest for about 90 minutes or till the dough doubles in volume.
Punch the dough down and knead again for 10 minutes. Equally divide the dough and roll to form 8 round balls. Lightly flour the same surface on which you kneaded the dough and roll out each ball until you have a circle, 7-8 inches in diameter (1/2 "thick).

Gently pull on one edge of the circle to form the Naan into a tear-drop shape ( I did not get this step right, mine was amoebic in shape :) . Do not pull too hard or you may tear the Naan. Instead of rolling the dough out (with a rolling pin) you can also pat it into a circle with your hands (I was doing this too). Preheat your oven 200 C/ 400 F or Gas Mark 6.

Lay a piece of aluminium foil in an oven tray (to cover) and grease it lightly with a few drops of cooking oil. Place as many Naans as will fit without touching each other, on the tray. Brush each Naan with some ghee and sprinkle a pinch of onion seeds all over its surface. Put the tray into the oven and cook till the Naan begins to puff out and get lightly brown. Flip the Naan and repeat. Remove from oven and serve hot .

Pyaaz bhari Kachori (Kachori with Onion filling)

2008-12-06T07:08:00.034-05:00

This is my entry for Lakshmi of Veggie Cuisine's :

RCI-Awadhi Cuisine event of December month hosted by Siri of Siri's Corner

When Kachori comes to my mind, I will always remember the first and last time I had this snack. It was in my college hostel. I remember that this snack was served as a tea-time snack when we hungrily gobbled whatever was served. The tastedidn't matter at all especially after a tiring day in college. The first time I got to have kachori, I thought it would taste like samosa with a potato filling, until I tasted the filling. It was a different filling with moong dal and other spices which I don't remember now. But what would always remain in my memories would be the distinctive taste of the Fennel seed/powder which I felt was dominating the other flavors. When Siri announced the Awadhi cuisine event, I went through the links she gave in her blog. I was surprised to see so many dishes, which I had already cooked in the past, never realizing that itsAwadhi :) Maybe its because India is a country where you have such a lot of variety of cuisines , where each one is influenced one way or other by another cuisine. I got this recipe from Manjula's Kitchen (which I slightly modified by adding some extra ingredients to the filling)

Here is how I made Pyaaz bhari Kachori (Kachori with Onion filling):

Ingredients:

For the filling
---------------
Onion: 2 medium
Green chillies minced: 3-4 nos
Curry leaves: 4-5 sprigs of leaves chopped fine
1/4 cup : Yellow moong dal
1 teaspoon: Ground fennel seeds
1 teaspoon : Ground coriander seeds
1 teaspoon : Red chilly powder/flakes
1/4 teaspoon : Ginger powder
1/2 teaspoon: Mango powder
Pinch of asafoetida (hing)
1/2 teaspoon salt /to taste
21 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons water

Oil for deep frying

For the dough
----------------------
1 cup All Purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons oil
1/2 cup chilled water

Method:

To make dough:

Mix all the ingredients for the dough and make a nice smooth dough. Cover with a wet paper towel and set aside.

To make filling:

Chop the onions finely. Make a fine powder of the moong dal. In a pan, add 2 tablespoons of oil and all the ingredients for the filling except water. Roast them on a medium flame until all raw smell goes off. Then switch off the flame and add 2 tablespoons water. Mix it well and set aside.
Wait for the mixture to cool .

To make Kachoris:
-----------------------
Meanwhile heat oil for deep frying in a deep bottom vessel like a Kadhai. Make small balls out the dough, and flatten each ball with the palm of your hand as you would to make stuffed parathas (leaving the center thicker than the edges). Then add a ball of the filling to the center of the dough, gather all the ends of the dough to the top and seal the ends by pinching the gathered ends together.

Similarly prepare all the balls. Then flatten each ball with the seam side up.

Make sure the filling doesn't come out (I was not very successful at this step, but will improve the next time I make these :) . Also make sure to distribute the filing evenly. Flatten the balls 3 inches circle .

Place about 3-4 of these in the hot oil. It will take some time for the Kachoris to come to the surface and puff up a little. Turn them over and fry both sides.

The Kachoris are done when they are a light brown color. Serve them with Tamarind chutney. An instant , most simple Tamarind chutney which I made in a hurry was to mix thick tamarind pulp with honey.

Hope you too will enjoy these when you make it :-)

RM2-Day 30- Maida Halwa

2008-11-30T21:51:00.004-05:00

This is a recipe I got from Easycrafts's Simple Indian Food- An Easy Cooking Blog.

It was so easy and it came out good. This being the last post for Recipe Marathon, I am thrilled I made it till here (yeah I missed a day, but I guess, 29 days of posting is not bad huh :)
It was a fun adventurous ride and I enjoyed the part of cooking and posting everyday :) I am motivated to keep blogging frequently because of this event , I must say :). It doesn't seem that tough to keep up with the Marathon , now that I look at it. I am glad I made a whole lot of new blog buddies too , yes that's one of the exciting part of running a Recipe Marathon :) . I am sure I would love to take part in another Marathon, not immediately though :)

Congrats to all of you fellow Marathoners in completing this race :) I thoroughly enjoyed running along with you people , it was fun to see so many recipes everyday !

Last Day Recipe Marathon 2 - Day30:

RM2-Day29-Vegetable Omelette

2008-11-29T17:16:00.006-05:00

I made this as I was lazy to make anything else today after a tiring Black Friday :) . I had a good time yesterday , though I was mostly window shopping. Today we had a late Breakfast.
We had a lot of eggs in the refrigerator. I decided to make a frittata, but then decided to make a simple vegetable omelet. What simpler way of having breakfast on a lazy weekend. I read in some blog that back in Kerala, fast food stalls make omelet with sunny side up.
I remember having those a long time back when I was a kid. But I don't quiet remember whether it was sunny side up (as a kid, who cares as long as you get to eat it :) . I decided to try it today and it was so tasty. I cut up mushrooms, shallots, green chillies.
Sauteed them in a well greased pan (if you using non-stick, much better) , on high flame. Then I beat 4 eggs. I added 3 teaspoons all purpose flour, 1/4 cup milk, and a little salt n pepper and beat again. Poured it on the pan on medium-low flame. Spread some freshly grated cheese and allowed it to cook in this flame until eggs stop flowing. Then carefully transfer the Omelet to a serving plate. There, you have it, vegetable omelet.

I am curious to know whats cooking in other marathoners blog:

1)DK 2) Srivalli 3) Ranji 4)PJ 5)Medha 6)Priya 7)Bhawna 8)Raaji 9)Ruchii 10)Anu 11)Kamala 12)Curry Leaves13)Divya Kudua 14)Rekha 15)Divya M 16)Lakshmi 17)Raaga 18)LakshmiVenkatesh 19) Sripriya 20)Viji 21)Ka malika 22)Pavani 23)Karuna 24)Roochi

RM2-Day 28- Egg Biriyani

2008-11-28T02:00:00.002-05:00

I made this for Thanksgiving. I am in a bit of hurry , hence I am just posting a condensed recipe here. I will post the detailed recipe very soon. So for now I am posting the photos along with a brief recipe. Here goes the recipe:

I used 1 cup of rice (I used the Himalayan Basmati rice from BJ's) for two people. I boiled two eggs. I sauteed, various spices in 3 tablespoons olive oil. I added various veggies, including capsicum, mushrooms, onions, garlic, ginger, coriander leaves, mint leaves, and curry leaves (yes i added these leaves together with these veggies whilesauteing).
Then I checked for salt and added the rice and the boiled eggs too. I added enough water (2.5 cups) and kept it on a high flame. When the water boils, I lowered the flame to low and allowed to cook for 20 minutes or until all water is absorbed. Then I added caramelised onions as a garnish and served it with Roasted Chicken.
This is also my entry for Rice Mela hosted by Srivalli

RM2- Day 28: mmmm, I can smell something yummy cooking in my fellow Marathoner's blog :

1) Siri, 2) Srivalli, 3) Ranji, 4)PJ, 5) Curry Leaf, 6) Medha,
7) Priya, 8) Bhawna, 9) Raaji, 10) Ruchii, 11) Anu, 12) Kamala,
13)DK, 14) Divya Kudua, 15) Rekha, 16) Divya M, 17)Lakshmi,
18)Raaga , 19) Lakshmi Venkatesh , 20) Sripriya, 21) Viji,
22) Kamalika, 23)Pavani,>,24)Karuna,25)Roochi

RM2- Day 27- Thanksgiving Roasted Chicken

2008-11-27T20:26:00.008-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all my dear Readers and Friends ! On this occassion I would like to thank each and everyone of my readers who kept up my spirits with their inspirational comments. I would also take this opportunity to thank my Family, especially my husband Vijay who has been a constant source of encouragement. My late father and God for everything.
This is mine and V's first time trying to roast a whole chicken. I was actually inspired by Ina Garten who demonstrated how to roast a whole chicken. Her show has always fascinated me. We decided to choose chicken as it was just the two of us at home and Turkey would have been too much on the table :) And this being our first time celebrating Thanksgiving, we decided to keep it simple :) .
Roasting a whole chicken was not as difficult as I imagined. We had purchased 2 whole chickens from BJ's. Today morning, V kept it in the refrigerator for thawing. I was in full enthusiasm in the morning to start the Thanksgiving cooking:) . After a cup of refreshing coffee made by V, I entered my Kitchen :) .
The chicken was taking a long time to thaw, hence I put the plastic covered chicken in a vessel with warm water. After it was completly thawed, I removed it from the cover and washed it in cold water. I cleaned it completly and wiped it dry. Then I generously marinated it outside and inside with salt , pepper and any other spices I could find in the kitchen. I cut the butter in small cubes (around 2 tablespoons) and put it inside the chicken. Then I rubbed the chicken with olive oil outside and inside. Its important to generously season and grease inside and outside the chicken if you need a good flavor.
I cut small slits in some parts of the chicken. Then I also seasoned it with the Tandoori paste. I stuffed a variety of vegetables (shallots, green chilli, lemon juice (or cut lemon), mushroom, coriander leaves, curry leaves, sliced onion) inside the chicken. Tied the legs of the chicken as shown in the picture with a thin piece of cloth (usually a twine is used for this purpose, but we didnt have any, hence it was V's idea :) and it worked very well).
Placed the chicken, breast side up, inside the oven , 375 degrees F. Roasted it for 1 hour, 10 minutes. To check the chicken for doneness, cut the hardest muscle part of the chicken (mainly around the thighs). If the juices flow clear, it means the chicken is ready.
For extra safety, I decided to broil the chicken for 10 minutes. For that, I removed the cloth tying the legs, and kept it in the oven, which I turned to broil setting.

The color of the chicken was too good. Me and V were so excited. V carved the chicken after it was done. I had made Egg Biriyani and we had a nice heavy lunch :) I must say it was quiet tiring, but, its a nice way to celebrate the essence of Thanksgiving:) I look forward to doing it every year :)

RM2-Day 27- I cant wait to see what my fellow marathoners have made :

1) Siri, 2) Srivalli, 3) Ranji, 4)PJ, 5) Curry Leaf, 6) Medha,
7) Priya, 8) Bhawna, 9) Raaji, 10) Ruchii, 11) Anu, 12) Kamala,
13)DK, 14) Divya Kudua, 15) Rekha, 16) Divya M, 17)Lakshmi,
18)Raaga , 19) Lakshmi Venkatesh , 20) Sripriya, 21) Viji,
22) Kamalika, 23)Pavani,>,24)Karuna,25)Roochi

RM2- Day 26- Pink Rava Laddoo

2008-11-26T21:38:00.006-05:00

I was in the mood to make some sweet today as V was working from home and he has a sweet tooth :) . I found this a good chance to try out one of the easiest Indian sweets: Rava Laddoo. Its a very common festive sweet in India. I had tried it a very long time back (maybe when we were just married and I remember that the shape didn't hold well that time.
Hence I decided to improve that part. I also wanted a different color for the Laddoo than the authentic white. Hence I added a pinch of color.
I did not have any raisins or cashews, so I decided to add chopped candied cherries which are now available in the markets due to the approaching holiday season. The taste was really good.
I had also used melted butter instead of ghee as I didn't have ghee. I followed Srivalli 's recipe for making Rava Laddoo. I forgot to add grated coconut and I guess that's why, while making balls for the Laddoo, I had to sprinkle a little bit water to hold the shape.

V and me and enjoyed it lots and I will be making this often when it comes to sweets:)

RM2: Day 26...Still rocking and running with full swing :) ...Check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked:

1) Siri, 2) Srivalli, 3) Ranji, 4)PJ, 5) Curry Leaf, 6) Medha,
7) Priya, 8) Bhawna, 9) Raaji, 10) Ruchii, 11) Anu, 12) Kamala,
13)DK, 14) Divya Kudua, 15) Rekha, 16) Divya M, 17)Lakshmi,
18)Raaga , 19) Lakshmi Venkatesh , 20) Sripriya, 21) Viji,
22) Kamalika, 23)Pavani,>,24)Karuna,25)Roochi

RM2- Day 25- Kuch Khatta Kuch Meetta Malai Kofta :)

2008-11-25T20:26:00.008-05:00

I was tempted to try making Malai Kofta after a recent Potluck at a friend's place. I was impressed with the Malai Kofta made by one of the ladies. Malai Koftas are deep fried or baked Vegetable /Meat dumplings in a thick creamy sauce. Its the first time I tried Malai Kofta today and I am glad to say it came out really good :) I didn't have the usual Cream, so I decided to substitute it with Cream of Coconut (I named it Cream of Coconut because it looked like cream when the Canned Coconut milk solidified when I refrigerated it.
Khatta means "Tangy" and Meetta means "Sweet" , and the ingredients I used for giving it these tastes are a combination of Tomato paste and diced Pineapple. I was anxious initially if the taste of coconut milk would be appropriate forMalai Kofta, but I was craving for this dish and hence decided to go along with the ingredients I had. I didn't want to use just plain milk. This is how I made it:

Ingredients:

For the Kofta
============

2 cups mixed vegetables: I used peas, carrots, beans, cauliflower, spinach
1 medium potato cooked and mashed
Ginger garlic paste- 1 T
Minced green chillies
2 T Besan (Chickpea flour)
Bread crumbs: 1/2 cup
1/2 cup grated Cheese (I used Gouda Cheese, as that's what I had as cheese in my refrigerator)
Salt and Pepper
Oil for deep frying

For the gravy
===========

1 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup diced pineapple
1/2 cup tomato puree
Onion powder (you may use sliced onions and caramelise it before adding the tomato puree to the pan)
Mashed Garlic and minced ginger-1/4 cup together
Fennel seed powder : 1/2 teaspoon
Asafoetida: a pinch
Coriander powder, Cumin powder: 1/ 2 tspn each
Green chilly slit in middle: 4 nos
Garam masala, Coriander leaves (chopped), Pudina leaves (chopped): for garnish
Water: 1 cup
Curry leaves - 3-4

Method:

For making Kofta
=============
Cook the vegetables partially. Drain the water and wipe them dry as much as you can. Chop them very finely (I used my chopper). Add all the other ingredients and mix them well. Form small balls (size of key lime) and deep fry them in oil and drain them on paper towels.

Note: Koftas are added to the gravy only just before serving as they tend to break if soaked early.

For making Gravy:
============
In a flat pan on high heat, add 3 tablespoons oil and when its hot, reduce to medium and add all the spice powder (except Garam Masala). Add the green chillies, Curry leaves, Ginger, Garlic and saute until the raw smell goes off. Add the thickly diluted tomato puree and increase the flame and wait until the mixture starts to boil. Add the Lima beans (optional). Reduce the flame to medium and add little water, just enough to cover the Lima beans. Let the Beans cook. After it is cooked, reduce flame to medium-low and add thickly diluted coconut milk. Stir and add salt. Then increase flame a little and let the mixture heat up and then lower it . Then add Pineapple pieces and stir well. Add little water if the gravy becomes too thick. Keep flame at medium-low and cover the pan . Let the mixture cook for 3-4 minutes (lower the flame if the gravy reduces.Switch off flame and spread the garnishes.

Add the Koftas and serve immediately with Roti, Naan, or even plain rice. I served mine with Lemon Rice :) . It had the subtle taste of Coconut milk accompanied by a tangy taste of Tomato and sweetness of Pineapple. The Koftas when mixed with gravy gave a richness to the dish.

RM2- Day 25 - Check what my buddies are up to in their kitchen:

1) Siri, 2) Srivalli, 3) Ranji, 4)PJ, 5) Curry Leaf, 6) Medha,
7) Priya, 8) Bhawna, 9) Raaji, 10) Ruchii, 11) Anu, 12) Kamala,
13)DK, 14) Divya Kudua, 15) Rekha, 16) Divya M, 17)Lakshmi,
18)Raaga , 19) Lakshmi Venkatesh , 20) Sripriya, 21) Viji,
22) Kamalika, 23)Pavani,>,24)Karuna,25)Roochi

RM2 -Day 24 - Spiced Tomato-Spinach Dosa

2008-11-24T20:05:00.007-05:00

I love dosas and I have been looking forward to making different dosas. RM2 gave me an opportunity for that I can say :) My mom used to make dosas by adding Drumstick leaves (in Konkani we call this as "Mishinga Paththiye Polo" where Drumstick leaves are called "Mishinga Paththi" and "Polo" means Dosa)
I never found this leaf in the Indian store near our place or in any US food market. So I decided to find a nice substitute, considering the fact that I had a lot of leftover spinach. From the name of this dosa, you might have already guessed the ingredients and the way to make it. What I am about to share is the situation behind why I made this dosa. It came out of necessity.

To start with I was trying to use Urad flour and Rice flour to make the batter in the ratio (1 cup urad dal:2 cups Rice flour). I even added a very little pinch of yeast and a teaspoon of powdered fenugreek seeds (methi seeds) . The batter did not rise even a bit and I guess its because I failed to add enough water. So I added little more water and a little bit more yeast and kept it for fermentation another 3 hours. So total hours of fermentation = 12 hours + 3 hours = 18 hours. Still I couldn't see even a faint rise in the level of batter. I had enough of this and I was anxious that the whole batter would get spoiled if I kept it out any longer, so I took the batter out of the oven and transferred to the refrigerator. Today I added a little more water to the batter and a little more salt and did a quick taste testing, mmphh, no sour taste, just bland and nothing special like a dosa batter :( ....Thats when I decided to spice it up with my spices and Spinach and for that sourness a bit of tomato paste and a yet another piece of taste maker , the ginger. I minced it fine and added it to the batter and made crisp dosas. mmmm it tasted good at last :)

Note:
Methi leaves are also tasty leaves to add while making dosa. I had tried it and it had also tasted equally good.

RM2- Day 24- Check what my other friend's have prepared:
1) Siri, 2) Srivalli, 3) Ranji, 4)PJ, 5) Curry Leaf, 6) Medha,
7) Priya, 8) Bhawna, 9) Raaji, 10) Ruchii, 11) Anu, 12) Kamala,
13)DK, 14) Divya Kudua, 15) Rekha, 16) Divya M, 17)Lakshmi,
18)Raaga , 19) Lakshmi Venkatesh , 20) Sripriya, 21) Viji,
22) Kamalika, 23)Pavani,>,24)Karuna,25)Roochi

RM2- Day23- Roasted Bell Pepper and Garlic Sandwich

2008-11-23T07:00:00.001-05:00

I am on a mission to use my broiler to its maximum benefits:) I used it to make a lot of recipes in RM2 especially :) You may view them under the label "Broil" in my blog. So thanks to DK for hosting this event, hence I have been making good use of my broiler :-) . I made this easy sandwich which is healthy and equally tasty.
I seasoned the bell pepper with salt, pepper, olive oil, Italian seasoning, and onion powder. Meanwhile I microwaved few garlic cloves with the skin for 20 seconds , so that garlic is partially cooked. Then I slit the garlic and applied the same spices and oil to the garlic as I did for the bell pepper. I kept the garlic inside the Bell Pepper and broiled until the colour changed to a beautiful charred colour.
I then sandwiched them along with various cheese and also added some tomato flavoured roasted Potato (You may refer this link for the recipe of Broiled Potatoes , there is a variation I did this time and that was to add tomato paste as a flavour to the potatoes before broiling)between 2 Pumpernickel Bread slices . Then I added few drops of hot sauce to give it a hot shot :)

I sprayed some olive oil on both sides of the bread which was exposed and broiled until the bread became crispy. The bread was crunchy and tender every bite :) I would make this again as I now have another way to use up my bell Peppers. I would also caramelize onion the next time I make this sandwich :)

Check what's happening in my fellow buddies's blog:)

Here are their links:
1) Siri, 2) Srivalli, 3) Ranji, 4)PJ, 5) Curry Leaf, 6) Medha,
7) Priya, 8) Bhawna, 9) Raaji, 10) Ruchii, 11) Anu, 12) Kamala,
13)DK, 14) Divya Kudua, 15) Rekha, 16) Divya M, 17)Lakshmi,
18)Raaga , 19) Lakshmi Venkatesh , 20) Sripriya, 21) Viji,
22) Kamalika, 23)Pavani,>,24)Karuna,25)Roochi

RM2- Day 22- Edamame, Spinach gravy

2008-11-22T07:00:00.000-05:00

I had written about Edamame in one of my previous posts. One of my readers asked me how it would taste if used in curries. I prepared a gravy using Edamame and Spinach. Edamame was very buttery and soft on the bite side and has a delicate flavor. I loved the combination with spinach. It gave a rich texture. Here is the gravy I made the base for which is the ingredients I made for the spicy Potato gravy which you may refer here. Just add Edamame and Spinach to it and you can have it with plain rice .

Day 22 RM2: Check what my buddies have prepared :

1) Siri, 2) Srivalli, 3) Ranji, 4)PJ, 5) Curry Leaf, 6) Medha,
7) Priya, 8) Bhawna, 9) Raaji, 10) Ruchii, 11) Anu, 12) Kamala,
13)DK, 14) Divya Kudua, 15) Rekha, 16) Divya M, 17)Lakshmi,
18)Raaga , 19) Lakshmi Venkatesh , 20) Sripriya, 21) Viji,
22) Kamalika, 23)Pavani,>,24)Karuna,25)Roochi

RM2- Day 21- Broiled Cheesy Garlic Pumpernickel Bread

2008-11-21T10:00:00.016-05:00

Don't let the words Pumpernickel scare you off :) Its just a mildly flavoured bread. The flavour includes the caraway seeds, rye, and other ingredients. We buy the dark version of Pumpernickel bread. If you want to know more refer here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pumpernickel

I loved the unique taste of this bread and its deep color. I decided to make Garlic bread out of it, but then I remembered that we had recently purchased a cheese named : Gouda , and Swiss cheese ,and I wanted to try it. So I decided to make Cheese Garlic bread in my broiler. I referred the Internet to know how garlic breads are usually prepared, and I decided to make my version with different spices.
The Swiss cheese

Gouda cheese
Pumpernickel bread

This is how I made it:

Ingredients:

Pumpernickel bread (you may use any other loaf bread or the traditional French or Italian bread used for Garlic bread): 2 slices
Butter: 1/4 cup
Olive Oil : 1 tablespoon
Mashed garlic (Microwave garlic with their skin for 15 seconds) : 5 cloves
Pepper
Salt
Onion powder
Italian seasoning
Cheese slice (I used Swiss cheese): 2 nos
Grated cheese (I used Gouda cheese)
Method:

Mix butter along with salt, pepper, garlic, onion powder, Italian seasoning, olive oil and form a thick spreadable paste. Apply it on all sides of the bread slices. Add grated cheese on any top of the bread slices. I placed these slices on a aluminium foil leaving space between each slice so as to broil them individually. I broiled them until all the cheese melted. Then I sandwiched one slice of cheese between the bread slices and the other on the top the sandwich slice and broiled until the cheese melted and forms a light brown coating on the cheese.

This can be served as such or dunk into a hot bowl of soup such as Sweet Corn Edamame Soup :-)

Dont you want to know what else is cooking? Check my buddies's blog, you will be delighted:

1) Siri, 2) Srivalli, 3) Ranji, 4)PJ, 5) Curry Leaf, 6) Medha,
7) Priya, 8) Bhawna, 9) Raaji, 10) Ruchii, 11) Anu, 12) Kamala,
13)DK, 14) Divya Kudua, 15) Rekha, 16) Divya M, 17)Lakshmi,
18)Raaga , 19) Lakshmi Venkatesh , 20) Sripriya, 21) Viji,
22) Kamalika, 23)Pavani,>,24)Karuna,25)Roochi

RM2- Day 20 - Sweet corn Edamame soup

2008-11-20T10:00:00.010-05:00

We had purchased frozen Edamame during our grocery shopping last weekend. I was looking forward to incorporate it in our food for health benefits. Edamame is a Japanese preparation of baby soybean in the pods, for further information please refer : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edamame

I was inspired to buy Edamame after seeing one of Alton Brown's show on Food Network on Edamame. I decided to make mine and V's all time favorite soup : Sweet Corn soup with Edamame as addition. To make Sweet corn soup, I prefer to buy the canned version of sweet corn cream style, add a little water , some veggies like cabbage, green chilli, and ofcourse Edamame.

I added 50:50 portions of the cream style corn and water along with the veggies, salt and pepper, 1 tablespoon of vinegar, simmered it , and under low fire, for 20 minutes. Served it with Broiled Cheesy Garlic Bread, the recipe for which will be posted in the next few days :)

I cant wait to know what my buddies have prepared in their kitchen:

1) Siri, 2) Srivalli, 3) Ranji, 4)PJ, 5) Curry Leaf, 6) Medha,
7) Priya, 8) Bhawna, 9) Raaji, 10) Ruchii, 11) Anu, 12) Kamala,
13)DK, 14) Divya Kudua, 15) Rekha, 16) Divya M, 17)Lakshmi,
18)Raaga , 19) Lakshmi Venkatesh , 20) Sripriya, 21) Viji,
22) Kamalika, 23)Pavani,>,24)Karuna,25)Roochi

RM2 - Day 19 - Impossible Buttermilk Pie

2008-11-19T15:23:00.008-05:00

Yesterday I happened to watch Robin Miller's show on Food Network. I did not watch the entire show as I was tempted to try the dessert she prepared on that show.
Robin tells that this dessert was inspired from her friend Anita. And its called Impossible Buttermilk Pie, since its Impossible to spoil this dessert recipe, (she means its fool-proof I guess).
I realized the meaning when I saw how quickly she prepared the dessert. She just blended all the ingredients in the blender and poured it into a pie pan and baked it for 30-40 minutes. The pie needs to cool down a lot before you cut it . I am telling this because , yesterday when I prepared it, I didn't allow it to cool enough and because of that the middle portion of the Pie did not set.

The Buttermilk pie does not need a prepared crust, as it forms a crust while baking. The final dessert looks like a lightly hardened Custard which you can have with fresh fruits, berries or with a dollop of whipped topping :) You may refer the recipe here for the ingredients.

Wanna know whats cooking in my buddies's kitchen? Here are the links to their blog:
1) Siri, 2) Srivalli, 3) Ranji, 4)PJ, 5) Curry Leaf, 6) Medha,

7) Priya, 8) Bhawna, 9) Raaji, 10) Ruchii, 11) Anu, 12) Kamala,

13)DK, 14) Divya Kudua, 15) Rekha, 16) Divya M, 17)Lakshmi,

18)Raaga , 19) Lakshmi Venkatesh , 20) Sripriya, 21) Viji,

22) Kamalika, 23)Pavani,>,24)Karuna,25)Roochi

RM2 - Day 18 - Coriander Dosa

2008-11-18T13:40:00.014-05:00

My Amma makes delightful variations to the ordinary dishes, turning them into healthier, tastier versions. Her suggestions have always turned out perfect, such as adding sprouted lentils to idlis, dosas, or curries, adding a different spice to a dish which otherwise we dont think about. I must say my taste in food is/was inspired a lot from my mother. We both like spicy food, and garlic, share the same passion for tea, and have a great addiction to watch Food related programs on TV or articles on newspapers, she has a nice collection of recipes , some she wrote from the TV programs, some paper clippings, ...there is a sweet memory whenever I remember about her recipe collection, and that is, she never leaves even the simplest of recipes (the ones which come while they show the advertisement for a Pickle Masala brand) which she jots on whatever piece of paper she finds and writes with even the smallest pencil she could find when the narrator tells the recipes on TV.

One another amusing thing I remember is , how my brother comments on m mother's dedication to jotting down recipes, but never actually preparing anything from her collection of books :-) ... Actually I was the one who once referred her collection and made Pressure cooked Caramel Custard and my mom was so happy and overjoyed that she made me do this every time I used to come home for vacation from college. She used to tell that , Caramel Custard is your dish and your brother eats it only when you prepare (she never tried preparing it though ;-)

.....We still share recipes over phone and she is always very curious as to what all I make for V here :) I miss the fact that I was never able to cook anything properly before marriage, and I haven't yet got a chance to display my cooking abilities to her now after marriage because the only time I could spend with her , she wanted to cook something for me ....I am hoping I could make up for that sometime soon......

Let me share the recipe with you, this is also a great recipe to use up any left over Idli/Dosa batter: The batter for this dosa is the same as that for Adai dosa. I also had some left over plain dosa batter. The only addition I have made is to add lots of coriander and a bunch of Curry leaves and Onion powder, ginger powder (you may add minced ginger, it gives a real nice taste when you bite ginger in the dosa) to give a different taste. V loves it with a very simple Potato gravy I prepare .

I was drooling at what my Marathon buddies have cooked in their blog, am gonna check them again :) Here are their links:

1) Siri, 2) Srivalli, 3) Ranji, 4)PJ, 5) Curry Leaf, 6) Medha,

7) Priya, 8) Bhawna, 9) Raaji, 10) Ruchii, 11) Anu, 12) Kamala,

13)DK, 14) Divya Kudua, 15) Rekha, 16) Divya M, 17)Lakshmi,

18)Raaga , 19) Lakshmi Venkatesh , 20) Sripriya, 21) Viji,

22) Kamalika, 23)Pavani,>,24)Karuna,25)Roochi

RM2- Day 17- Unniyappam (Godda Appo in Konkani meaning "Pancake Puffs made with Jaggery")

2008-11-17T20:53:00.010-05:00

This is one of the favorite sweets of my husband. I too like it especially when its not overly sweet, just a delicate flavor of banana and jaggery. When my in-law visited us, this was one the things I learned to make. Its easy, and quick. Though some people use rice flour to make it, I decided to go with soaking the rice method. It came out quiet well for a first timer like me. This was a good idea to use up over ripe bananas (the green skin variety, or the small yellow ones). This is my version of Unniyappam (I didnt have certain ingredients used to make traditional unniyappams such as toasted coconut bits). As you can see , my Unniyappams did not puff much and that is because I accidentally added too much water. But I hope you people will surely make much better ones than these :)

Ingredients:

White rice - 3/4 cup
**Jaggery grated - 3/4 cup (The jaggery we get in the Indian store near to our place is good, no impurities found till now :) , but for safety sake, you may melt jaggery and strain it through a sieve to remove impurities.
Very ripe bananas : 2 nos
Baking powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Cardamom powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Nutmeg powder - a pinch
Salt - a pinch

Method:

Soak the white rice in water for at least 5 hours. Grind it with very little water to form a little thick batter. Add the Jaggery, ripe bananas, and the rest of the ingredients and blend again to form a semi thick batter. The batter should have consistency of Idli batter.

In a Pancake Puff pan on medium heat, add 1/4 teaspoon oil to each mold. When the oil is a little hot, add the Unniyappam batter into each mould upto 3/4th full . Cover the pan and let it cook until the Unniyappams are almost cooked on the top. Turn them over and lower heat to medium low and wait until they cook and then tranfer them to a serving plate.

Note:

** I found an easy way to grate Jaggery this time. I used my grater to do it. I felt relieved using that as my hands were paining grating the Jaggery using a knife every time I wanted to make something with it.

** If you find that the Unniyappam batter is not sweet enough, add honey and mix well. I tried this as my batter was not sweet enough the first time, so I added honey and the next batch was sweet enough :)

I am curious to know what my other Marathon buddies are cooking, what about you?

1) Siri, 2) Srivalli, 3) Ranji, 4)PJ, 5) Curry Leaf, 6) Medha,

7) Priya, 8) Bhawna, 9) Raaji, 10) Ruchii, 11) Anu, 12) Kamala,

13)DK, 14) Divya Kudua, 15) Rekha, 16) Divya M, 17)Lakshmi,

18)Raaga , 19) Lakshmi Venkatesh , 20) Sripriya, 21) Viji,

22) Kamalika, 23)Pavani,>,24)Karuna,25)Roochi

RM2- Day 16 - Rice Kheer

2008-11-16T20:07:00.009-05:00

This is my post for Day 16- RM2 . This was a post I missed to post quiet a while back this year. Had prepared it for our marriage anniversary.

Ingredients:

White Rice - 1 cup
Sugar - 1 cup
Cardomom powder - a pinch
Nutmeg powder - a pinch
Cashew nuts - fried until light brown in ghee
Saffron - 3-4 strands
Milk - 3 cups
water - 1 cup

Method:

I prepare this the pressure cooked method which is easy and fast. Cook rice in milk and water and sugar in pressure cooker for 2 whistles. When steam is completly gone from the pressure cooker, open the lid and on medium flame, cook the kheer, add the cardomom powder, nutg, and cashew nuts and saffron for 2 - 3 minutes until the kheer becomes thick or desired consistensy. Serve hot.

My marathon buddies have been cooking yumm food in their kitchen. Don't you wanna know what all they have prepared? Check these links out:

1) Siri, 2) Srivalli, 3) Ranji, 4)PJ, 5) Curry Leaf, 6) Medha,

7) Priya, 8) Bhawna, 9) Raaji, 10) Ruchii, 11) Anu, 12) Kamala,

13)DK, 14) Divya Kudua, 15) Rekha, 16) Divya M, 17)Lakshmi,

18)Raaga , 19) Lakshmi Venkatesh , 20) Sripriya, 21) Viji,

22) Kamalika, 23)Pavani,>,24)Karuna,25)Roochi

RM2- Day 14- Spinach Sambar

2008-11-14T16:03:00.001-05:00

I made this today in order to use up my left - over spinach. Added it to sambar and it gave a nice taste. Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

Cooked and mashed thuvar dal - 1/2 cup

Vegetables:
Okra
Green beans
Spinach
Carrot
Potato
Shallots

Spices:

Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric- a pinch
Asafoetida - a pinch
Tamarind paste - 1 teaspoon
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Onion powder - 1 teaspoon

Tampering:
Oil- 1teaspoon
Mustard seeds: 1 teaspoon
Cumin seeds - 1 teaspoon
Curry leaves - a few

Garnish: Coriander leaves chopped

Method:

In a vessel on medium heat, pour 1 cup water and when it starts boiling, add all the veggies. If needed add more water. Add turmeric powder, chilli powder, salt, cumin powder, onion powder and stir to combine and then close the vessel. Then when the raw smell of the spices are gone, and the vegetables are almost cooked, add the tamarind paste and stir well. Then add the mashed thuvar dal and again close the vessel and let it simmer to cook all the flavors. Add the tampering and the garnish and sprinkle asafoetida and give it a little stir.

Check what my other buddies have prepared:

1) Siri, 2) Srivalli, 3) Ranji, 4)PJ, 5) Curry Leaf, 6) Medha,

7) Priya, 8) Bhawna, 9) Raaji, 10) Ruchii, 11) Anu, 12) Kamala,

13)DK, 14) Divya Kudua, 15) Rekha, 16) Divya M, 17)Lakshmi,

18)Raaga , 19) Lakshmi Venkatesh , 20) Sripriya, 21) Viji,

22) Kamalika, 23)Pavani,>,24)Karuna,25)Roochi

RM2-Day13-Puran Poli

2008-11-13T17:42:00.008-05:00

This is my post for RM2-Day13. Puran Poli is known as 'Purna Poli' in konkani, just a rearrangement of letters :) . Its a sweet made for special occasions. I was meaning to prepare this sweet from a long time. I was keeping it for a later time thinking its quiet a cumbersome process to prepare. But after I saw this posted on some of my favorite blogs like Suma's blog and a video on vahrehvah, it inspired me to make it. I decided to give it a try and I can gladly tell that it came out tasting quiet good, (the shape didn't turn out round and uniform though ) for a first timer like me :) . I am planning to make this again some other day and I promise you that time the pics will be much better. But for now, these are the ones I made :)

Ingredients:

Dough:
----------
Maida - 1 cup
salt- a pinch
Melted butter- 2 tablespoons
Water- to make a soft dough

Filling:
----------

Channa Dal - 1/2 cup
Powdered Jaggery - 1/2 cup
Melted butter - 1 tablespoon
(Cardamom powder + Granulated sugar) powdered together - 1/4 cup

Method:

Soak the channa dal for 8 hours. Cook them until they are just tender and mashes when you press them with our finger. Drain them and spread them on a paper towel to absorb most of the moisture. Then slightly powder them using blender or mixie. Do not liquefy. Then in a shallow pan, under medium -low flame, mix mashed channa dal and jaggery and melted butter until all jaggery is melted and it forms a semi - liquid mixture. Then flavor the mixture with powdered mixture of (Cardamom powder + Granulated sugar). Mix well under low flame to uniformly incorporate everything. Switch off the flame and allow to cool.

Make the dough using the dough mixture. Take a small ball from the dough, and an equal size of the filling. Flatten the dough a little and place the filling in the middle of the flattened dough. Gather all the sides of the dough to the top to enclose the filling with the dough. Then using your fingers try to spread the filling inside the dough uniformly. Then roll the dough as you would for stuffed parathas, and make it as thin as possible. Place it on a hot tawa on high flame and watch the Puran poli puff up. Brush both sides of the poli with melted butter or ghee and transfer it to a serving plate.

Check what my other marathon buddies are doing in their kitchen :
1) Siri, 2) Srivalli, 3) Ranji, 4)PJ, 5) Curry Leaf, 6) Medha,

7) Priya, 8) Bhawna, 9) Raaji, 10) Ruchii, 11) Anu, 12) Kamala,

13)DK, 14) Divya Kudua, 15) Rekha, 16) Divya M, 17)Lakshmi,

18)Raaga , 19) Lakshmi Venkatesh , 20) Sripriya, 21) Viji,

22) Kamalika, 23)Pavani,>,24)Karuna,25)Roochi

RM2-Day 12- Pancake-Besan (Chickpea flour) dosa

2008-11-12T18:01:00.019-05:00

This is my post for RM2-Day12. I was experimenting in my kitchen to make variety of instant dosas. I had never made dosas with Besan mainly because I didn't like the texture. So I decided to mix some pancake mix along with some Besan flour and added some garnish to make these dosas. They came out very nice. And like most of the dosas, they are best served hot. You may refer my RM2-Day 11 for the garnish ingredients. The only difference here is I am using Besan (Chickpea flour) instead of Wheat flour. I used 50:50 ratio of Besan flour and Pancake mix (I used the Buttermilk Pancake mix, but you may use any Pancake mix ). Added enough water to form a lump free batter. Tip: For a less messy batter, add the flours in a blender along with enough water for the blender to run properly. Do not add too much water though, just enough for the blender to cooperate. Run the blender in short breaks, to form a nice smooth semi thick batter. Tranfer it to a different vessel, and then see if the batter is free flowing (the batter should flow smoothly, instead of falling like a lump) using a laddle. If the batter is not free flowing, keep adding water little by little, until the batter is free flowing. This is the correct consistency of the batter to make dosas.

Check out what my other buddies are up to:

1) Siri, 2) Srivalli, 3) Ranji, 4)PJ, 5) Curry Leaf, 6) Medha,

7) Priya, 8) Bhawna, 9) Raaji, 10) Ruchii, 11) Anu, 12) Kamala,

13) DK, 14) Divya Kudua, 15) Rekha, 16) Divya M, 17)Lakshmi,

18)Raaga , 19) Lakshmi Venkatesh , 20) Sripriya, 21) Viji,

22) Kamalika, 23)Pavani

RM2- Day 11- Pancake-Wheat dosa

2008-11-11T16:08:00.009-05:00

This is my post for RM2-Day 11. What happens when there is a little wheat (not sufficient for making roti nor for making 3 rounds of dosa) and that unused packet of Pancake mix in the pantry and you crave for a nice crispy dosa for breakfast? That's what happened to me one of these days, and I ended mixing the wheat and pancake mix batter in the 50:50 ratio and made crispy dosas. The dosas were surprisingly tasty. Here is what I did:

Ingredients:

Wheat flour - 1 cup
Pancake mix (I used the buttermilk pancake mix) - 1 cup
Water - to make a smooth lump-free , batter which should just be free flowing, not runny
Minced green chillies- 2-3
Coriander leaves, curry leaves chopped finely - a few
Onion powder (Optional) - 1 teaspoon
Salt- to taste (be careful as the pancake mix already has a little bit of salt)

Method:

Mix everything and make dosas :) I served it with sambar.

Check out what my other buddies are up to:

1) Siri, 2) Srivalli, 3) Ranji, 4)PJ, 5) Curry Leaf, 6) Medha,

7) Priya, 8) Bhawna, 9) Raaji, 10) Ruchii, 11) Anu, 12) Kamala,

13) DK, 14) Divya Kudua, 15) Rekha, 16) Divya M, 17)Lakshmi,

18)Raaga , 19) Lakshmi Venkatesh , 20) Sripriya, 21) Viji,

22) Kamalika, 23)Pavani

RM2- Day 10- Baingan Bartha (Mashed Eggplant curry)

2008-11-10T21:20:00.010-05:00

This is my post for RM2-Day 10. I made this today after three times of previously failed attempts.I have never had a good cooking experience with Eggplant (Brinjal/Bhaingan) as most of the times I have had improperly cooked version of the vegetable in all the dishes I made, except Sambar. Especially Baingan Bartha was always a mess. Recently I was experimenting with my oven broiler and making Baingan Bartha was never a problem after that.I had a perfectly charred Eggplant cooked evenly inside. I enjoyed mashing it with my electric masher. I also experimented mashing (10 sec microwaved) garlic, using a lemon squeezer. That was another trick I found useful :)

Let me share the recipe now:

Ingredients:

Brinjal cooked as whole with skin - 1 medium size
Onion sliced thin- 1 medium
Curry leaves- 2-3 leaves
Fennel powder- 1/2 teaspoon
Green chilli- 2 slit in middle
Green peas, carrots- 1/2 cup together
Garlic mashed - 3 medium cloves
Ginger powder - 1/2 teaspoon
Coriander powder, Red chilli powder- 1/2 teaspoon each
Tomato paste mixed with a little water to form a little thinner than the paste - 1 teaspoon
Asafoetida- pinch
Salt
Oil- 2 tablespoons
Garam masala - 1/2 teaspoon
Pepper powder- 1/2 teaspoon
Mint, coriander leaves chopped finely- for garnish

Method:

Peel the Eggplant after it is cooked. Mash it thoroughly with a masher.
In a frying pan on medium heat, add oil and splutter green chillies, curry leaves, and add asafoetida, fennel powder, and Onion and saute for 2 minutes, make sure the mixture doesn't go dry. Adjust the flame accordingly. Then add the mashed garlic and mix again. Lower the fire and add coriander powder, red chilli powder and a little bit of salt. Mix well, then add the green peas and carrots and mix well. Raise flame a little more than low flame. Cover the vessel and let the ingredients cook for 2 minutes. Then add tomato paste that is prepared as I told in the ingredient section. Mix well. Then add the mashed Eggplant and mix it well with the rest of the mixture, Adjust fire accordingly so that the mixturedoesn't dry up too much. Cover and let the Bartha cook for 2 minutes. Check for salt. Sprinkle Garam Masala, freshly ground pepper, finely chopped mint, and coriander leaves. Switch off flame, give a light stir and cover for a minute before serving. This can be served as a side dish with roti, naan, chapathi, and poori

My marathon buddies have cooked yum dishes in their blog too, so check their blogs :

1) Siri, 2) Srivalli, 3) Ranji, 4)PJ, 5) Curry Leaf, 6) Medha,

7) Priya, 8) Bhawna, 9) Raaji, 10) Ruchii, 11) Anu, 12) Kamala,

13) DK, 14) Divya Kudua, 15) Rekha, 16) Divya M, 17)Lakshmi,

18)Raaga , 19) Lakshmi Venkatesh , 20) Sripriya, 21) Viji,

22) Kamalika, 23)Pavani

RM2-Day 9-Spicy Potato Gravy (Thiksaniche Kukka Hummaan in Konkani)

2008-11-09T22:16:00.007-05:00

This is my post for RM2-Day 9.

Ingredients:

Potato: 2 medium sized, cut as long, medium thickness pieces
Tomato paste: 1/2 tablespoon
Salt
Asafoetida
Eastern sambar powder (optional) - 1 whole teaspoon
Red Chilli powder - 1/2 teaspoon if you are adding Eastern Sambar powder, else, 1 teaspoon
Onion powder- 1 teaspoon
Water- 4 cups

Tampering:
Mustard seeds- 1 teaspoon
Cumin seeds- 1 teaspoon
Curry leaves- a few
Oil- 1 tablespoon

Method:

Add water to a deep bottom vessel and place it on high flame. Add the potatoes when the water starts boiling, lower the fire to medium. Cover it. Add salt when potatoes are half done. Dilute the tomato paste in a little water from the bowl before adding it to the potato, to avoid lumps while adding it to the potatoes. Close the lid. Turn flame to high. When the potatoes are done, add the Eastern Sambar powder and onion powder and mix well and close the lid. Reduce fire to medium low, mash most of the potatoes to create a richness to the gravy and close the lid and let the gravy simmer. Meanwhile prepare the tampering by adding mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves to the heated oil . Add this tampering to the gravy and switch off the flame. Add asafoetida and stir well. Serve it as a side dish with Dosa, Idli, Upma.

See what my other marathon buddies are doing in their kitchen :
1) Siri

2) Srivalli

3) Ranji

4)PJ

5)Curry Leaf

6)Medha

7)Priya

8)Bhawna

9)Raaji

10)Ruchii

11)Anu

12)Kamala

13)DK

14)Divya Kudua

15)Rekha

16)Divya M

17)Lakshmi

18)Raaga

19)Lakshmi Venkatesh

20)Sripriya

21)Viji

22)Kamalika

23)Pavani

RM2-Day8- Rose Cake

2008-11-08T10:57:00.008-05:00

This is my post for RM2-Day 8. V had gifted me with a rose shaped bundt pan and we were so excited to see the outcome of the cake when it was baked in it. It looked perfectly like a rose :) Hence I decided to name it as Rose Cake :) I can't wait to surprise him with this bundt pan on Valentine's day :) and you folks can surely expect a special recipe I would bake that day:) . Anyways I followed a simple cake recipe for this cake. It was not the recipe , but the cake's shape which we were more excited about. But when the cake was done, did we realize that not only did the cake pan do a good job about the shape of the cake, it did an even amazing job about cooking the cake evenly. I loved the texture of the cake and so for the next batch I added some rum soaked fruit peels (some call it tutty - fruity). So here is the recipe:

Note:
Its always best to have butter and eggs at room temperature. It makes a significant change while we try to mix the batter as well as to the texture of the cake.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter (softened)
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups flour divided
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup rum soaked candied fruits

Method:

Preheat oven to 325 degree F

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy

Separate egg yolks and whites and add the egg yolks one at a time to the butter-sugar mixture and beat until light and fluffy. (Do not beat the egg whites yet) Add vanilla essence and mix well to incorporate.

Sift 2 cups flour, salt, and powder together. Add these dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in small batches and incorporate it well. You might start noticing that the batter becomes thicker and thicker. But don't worry as it will not affect the texture of the cake. So do not add any liquids even if you are tempted to do so. It might be a little to mix the batter, but don't give up :)

Add the fruit peels to the remaining flour and just give it a light shake to coat the fruit peels. Then gently fold them to the cake batter. Grease and dust the cake pan with oil and flour and pour batter into it. Spread it evenly. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until knife comes out clean.

My marathon buddies have been cooking up a delicious lot , so check their blog:

1) Siri

2) Srivalli

3) Ranji

4)PJ

5)Curry Leaf

6)Medha

7)Priya

8)Bhawna

9)Raaji

10)Ruchii

11)Anu

12)Kamala

13)DK

14)Divya Kudua

15)Rekha

16)Divya M

17)Lakshmi

18)Raaga

19)Lakshmi Venkatesh

20)Sripriya

21)Viji

22)Kamalika

23)Pavani