My love for strawberries started when i was in mumbai and the mahabaleshwar strawberries were easily available, raw, shake, ice cream, anything is always a delight. How many of you are a fan of Mc Donalds Strawberry shake, well iam, and please if anybody knows the exact recipe to replicate it at home, please let me know.
I love to have strawberry lassi or shake once in a while. So heres a simple strawberry shake I make.
Method:
Blend 4-5 strawberries cut into peices, 1 tsp icing sugar(depending how sweet your strawberries are), 1 tbsp of whipped cream, and 1 scoop of strawberry ice cream, 1/2 cup milk, and blend till your strawberries are well blended.
Now add a cup of milk and blend for another 30 secs.
Serve with some strawberry and vanilla ice cream and garnish with a strawberry.
Perfect for a lazy weekend breakfast.
Read more...
Saturday, July 5, 2008
How do you like your STRAWBERRIES ?
Friday, July 4, 2008
BIHARI PALAK KHICHDI aur uske chaar yaar : The Indian Comfort Food.
For me khichdi has been my savious in many lazy but craving days when i want to have something good and interesting but in no mood of outside food and elaborate preparations. There are times when iam super lazy i go for my simple moong dal khichdi, otherwise when theres still some love for veggies left i go for a veggie style khichdi, the bihari style with a combination of 2 dals and some veggies. As i had mentioned in this post the moong dal khichdi was taught to me by prachi which was never made at our house, as we southies were used to the traditional venpongal, with the yellow moong, ever since i have discovered this kind of khichdi once a staple diet in college, explored more, experimented more, and this has been an all time favorite comfort food for me.There were days when i would tell prachi .. aaj kuch halka khane ka mann kar raha hai prachi ... and she would instantly respond.. seedhe bol na .. khichdi khani hai ... and how can i forget her most
interesting tadka, well i guess this is enough motivation for all you guys who havent had the different types of khichdi to go fetch your cooker and stir up some delcious khichdi for youself.
This one is a nice blend of lentils, veggies, soy granules, and some spices, go ahead and try it if you havent had it this way.
This hardly take 15-20 mins to prepare apart from the pressure cooking time. And serves 2-3.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup Masoor dal
1/2 cup Moong dal(split green lentil),
1 cup Basmati or ,any long grained rice.
1 cup finey chopped vegetables of your choice(i used onions, palak and capsicum, s that was all i had)
1 cup cooked soy granules
1 Cardamom, seeded
2 cloves
1 Black Cardamom seeded
1" Cinnamon stick
1 tsp chilli pwd
1 tsp Cumin seeds,
1 tsp cumin wd
2 tsp Coriander pwd
1 tsp garam masala,
1/2 tsp turmeric
Method:
Heat some ghee(clarified butter) in a pressure cooker, and fry the spices, like cardamom, cinnamon, cloves
for 1 or two minutes, now add the cumin seeds and let it splutter. Add the onions and saute for another minute to let it turl golden
brown, now add all the veggies and the pwder spices and fry it or another minute, add the soy granules, the lentils and the rice, fry it for another minute and
then add 4 cups of water.when the pressure releases, open and add the tadka
if you like.
Serve with the chaar yaars. i didnt have papad, but its a perfect pairing for a khichdi. And i served it with carrot onion raita, ghee and achar.
Disclaimer: Thid is an extension to the traditional bihari khichdi, to make it more veggie oriented and more healthy.
Recipe Flash:
Srivalli has the gala roti mela roundup ready, go check it out.
This goes as my entry to Archanas One Dish Meal EventRead more...
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Chatakdaar Chutney STUFFED TINDORAS/ Stuffed Kundroo for JFI
Tindora or dondakaya or ivy gourd is one of my favorite veggies since childhood, its stir fry by amma was one of my favorites with dal and rice, oh what days it were, amma would add a pinch of sugar to my dal that day and would ask me to guess whats special in the meal today, and i would be all happy because i would know it is the sugar she is asking about, hehe, dont know if such simple and beautiful days would ever return.
Now my tragedy, i made this especially for JFI, clicked so called cool pictures, of the stuffing chutney etc etc and i dont know where they are, and am in no mood of doing it all over again, so please bear with me, sig please haan. Infact i thought i would not participate coz i didnt have pics of the chutney seperately, but when i saw you extending the deadline wohoo, i could not resist. But believe me guys, this is one tangy side dish everybody would relish.
Ingredients:
250-500 gm ivy gourd
2 medium onions, sliced
1 tsp urad dal
2 dry red chilli
1 green chilli
1 tsp fresh ginger-garlic paste
1 tbsp coriander powder
2 tbsp dessicated coconut(may use fresh grated coconut as well)
1 tbsp grated jaggery
1 cinnamon stick
1 cloves
1 lemon sized tamarind
salt to taste
1/2 tsp chat masala
2-3 tbsp oil
Method:
1. Heat a tsp of oil in a frying pan and add the coriander pwd, cloves, cinnamon and fry on medium heat without burning the coriander powder, do this till you get a nice aroma and let it cool. Similarly fry the urad dal and keep separately
2. Now add a tbsp of oil and add the onions, one red chillies, green chillis, and ginger garlic paste and saute for 4-5 mts. Please adjust the green and red chillies according to your taste. Finally add the dry coconut and stir for a few seconds. Remove from heat and let it cool.
3. Now make a paste of the above spices and urad dal along with ginger-garlic paste, jaggery, tamarind juice, sauted onions and salt.
This chutney can be had with dosa idli etc, we have had it and i keep making it now and then. This is one tangy one, Uma i keep remembering you whenever i make some chutneys.
4. Slit the kundroos by maknig a plus sign on one side of it so that you can stuff it. Take a tbsp of this chutney and stuff each of the slit kundroos.
5. Heat the remaining oil in a pan and add some curry leaves, dry red chillis and stir fry for 5-6 seconds. To this add halk a finely slit onion and saute for a minute, also add to it if some of the chutney is remaining.Place the stuffed tindoras in the pan and let it cook covered on medium heat.
6. Keep turning the pieces now and then so that they cook all over.
7. Cover and cook on low heat till the tindoras are cooked well and become soft.
Perfect with chapatis or rice.
Recipe Flash:
Bhags has a sultry blueberry yogurth ice cream, you have got to check out.
If you want to try out some tortilla chips, divya has them made at home.
Read more...
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Beat The Heat with CUCUMBER CHAAS/ Cucumber Cooler
Chaas or buttermilk or 'mor' whatever you call it, iam sure many of you would be a fan of this drink which is like a life saver in the summers. And when i saw Sailus post on her article being published at Marie Claire, wow, this lady is something, you have to have a look at those 6 coolers, each onw is a sure hit, and the pics, the setting for each pic is so creative and beautiful, you just cannot take your eye off that. I have tried almost each one of them, a few being common in southi indian households, but this one was new to me and a mega hit with me and Garg, we even prepared this one for our favorite uncle when he visited us :)
Ingredients:
1 large tender cucumber, skinned and cut into small peices
½ lt cold buttermilk (i used amul chaas and a little nestle yogurth)
1 inch cube ginger grated
1 pinch black pepper powder
1/2 tsp roasted jeera powder
2 tbsp chopped coriander leaves
1/2 tsp chat masala
1 pinch black salt(optional)
few ice cubes
Method:
1. Whip the above ingredients well till the cucumber is crushed well.
2. Serve in glassed topped with ice cubes and coriander leaves.
Sailu suggests using some curry leaves for garnishing as it enhances the flavor, i didnt coz i didnt have it then.
Off this goes to Siri deary for her Yogurt event
Hope you have plans to vote for you favorite in Open Sesame 2, can have a look at my Tomato Shorba, The last date is 5th July. Register with Dining Hall if you haven't yet.
Recipes Flash:
All you baniya people, the yummy baniyon wala aloo there for you by the Pukka baniyani DelhiBelle:), see i did a ailaan.
How many of you wanted to try eggplant with pasta or spaghetti, well i did, and divya has one spaghetti with eggplant to offer.
Bhags made my fav fav fav Dal Palak and has a very interesting post to which most of us can relate to.
Read more...
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Happy B'day to 2 Beautiful Ladies of my life with Lisa's NO BAKE PEANUT BUTTER (marie) CHOCOLATE SQUARES
Another quick note, the voting for Open Sesame 2 starts today, please vote for my Tomato Shorba, that is in case you liked it :) even otherwise you can vote if you wish, hehe.You have to be registered at the Dining Hall for that.
Now a very happy birthday to my Periamma, yesterday the 30th(ok people dont open ur mouth wide and go hooo if i tell you that i call all my aunts by their names, so she is Yasho to me)
Yasho is my mothers elder sister and the gaurdian angel of the family. One lady who has selflessly lived some 55 years of her life only and only for her family, at first i was wondering should i mention about her handicap or not, but i think its worth the mention, she is one lady who has surpassed all her disabilities and proved that theres nothing called IMPOSSIBLE. Apart from her calipers that she wears we have nothing to prove that to the world she is handicapped. The vigour with which she does her work and taking care of a big house is commendable. You will never see her cry for herself, she can cook amazing elaborate tamil cuisines for 10s of people without a hush, and not a sign of thakaan or disinterest in her face, kudos to you yasho. OK she is the one who would keep reminding me o the upcoming festivals in d tamizh calender which otherwise i would never know.
She can be her age when it comes to taknig care of my granny (patti) and be the naughtiest kiddo with the kids of our family, believe me my 7 year old cousin is d chirpiest when he is with her and loves her d most other than her parents. OK her aura doesnt end in the family, she works full time in a school and is the all-in-all in the functioning there, the staff loves, hates, cannot do without her. She actively sends entries to tamizh magazines, kumudam, kalaki, mangayi malar etc, and has won quite a few prizes there for her recipes. And she even shares a nice rapport with the editors of these magazines, and all this when she is sitting far away from channai, in jamshedpur. And hey the wet grinder that i use nowadays for my idli dosa batter was something she won in one of those magazines. Not to end she even made us all proudy proudy by having our family photo in womens era twice or thrice. hehe... she is one enthu lady. She would solve crosswords in magazines and send entries etc etc etc... Need some time management classes, yah shes the right one to catch up on. Guess this is where i should stop.
Wish you a very very happy birthday Yasho, You are the shining star of the family. I wish we are 1/2 as active as you and amma at your age.
It is ammas birthday today, for amma i have already spoken a lot in my other post, love you amma you are the most beautiful women i have ever seen, you know something, one thing that comes to my mind is, you used to proudly say that 'main kabhi budhi nai hongi' and yeah not for a split second i can imagine old age on you, and yes you image will remain so forever, for generations to come, and thats one thing i can feel good about. Happy Birthday Amma.
These peanut butter squares were something Arundathi had suggested me coz these dont require baking, and thanks so much anu, it was loved by one and all. Well it is Lisa's creation and she's to be thanked for this one too. Lisa has a few more No Bake delights in the same post, you got to check them out, a similar one is there in pearlsofeast's blog, that is another date delight i really need to try, so good for diabetics.
The only changes i did were:
I used Vita Marie Gold biscuits instead of the crackers(again an idea by Anu and DK)
I was ok with 1 cup of icing sugar instead of 1 3/4 may coz the vita biscuits are a little sweet in itself.
And i used 95gm, cadbury's dairy milk, 45 gms cadburys roasted almond(i seperated the almonds and crushed them in a pestle and mortar) and 30 gms or vouchelle dark chocolate. Lisa suggests an equal quantity of milk and dark chocolate.
This is one thing i would like to make pretty often, you can store it in your frigde, its heavy so it cannot be finished at one go , hehe, and when served to people its a delight.
Thank you Lisa and Anu once again.
Read more...
Monday, June 30, 2008
Open Sesame 2 : TOMATO SHORBA & How do you peel your tomato?
Hello people, am back after another lazy break. I dont know when will i get better, i get all charged up on the last day of any event or when the deadline is near, but thank god i participate in these otherwise i really dont think the lazy me would have posted even once in a month.
Open Sesame was one event of its kind which the rocking duo DK and Siri started. Three cheers for them people coz i have seen the most unique events coming from this duo. They know how to keep us on our toes. So as most of us know, Open sesame 2 also had 4 boxes, and we had to choose one, we get a riddle and we need to crack it, and then from that ingredient we need to cook up something and post. So i missed Open Sesame 1, the day these guys announced Open Sesame 2 i was supposedly the first person to ask for my riddle, had a guess on that very moment and never took d pains to think further, on 24th, the last day to crack the riddle i remember this, and go ahead with my first guess, Chilli Pepper, dont ask me why, jsut the envy and anger drew me to it.This was my puzzle..
I think I am a pleased woman since I blush so much
I am so soft and shiny to your delicate touch
But look what I have for relatives, so different with no common string
one used for smoking, one for hotness, one used to refer idler and one referred as veggie's King
I am not what you refer to me most often
I am 'fruit' of labour but never called one so
I am neither a wolf nor a peach in the scale of one to ten
but then why do you think I am called one as so?
I can go green with envy, or completely red with anger
A little crown on my head makes my walk look like a swagger
You cant do without me in your day to day cooking
Tell me what veggie I am without too much thinking.
The creator of this puzzle is none other than Dhivya-The DK. Salute to you lady, you actually come up with amazing poetic and interesting riddles. My first guess was Chilli Pepper and Voila!! i lose those 25 points. I get my 1st hint, and yeah i get it right here, and settle with a Booooh! face with my 20 points. Me and Ms. Tomato have a very weird kinda rapo since childhood. May be that is why i could have never thought of it for the last two lines of the riddle :D. My periamma is way tooo fond of tomatoes and me and amma were never too fond of it, we will use it but in the minimalistic ways, and more so for the color it gives.
But lately when i read somewhere that the peel of tomato is not good for health, and u should peel it out everytime u use it, i started doing it religiously and even asked my near ones to do it. And i have realized that the peel was what i used to dislike in tomatoes, and i love tomatoes nowadays, not that i use it a lot but yess i cannot do without it a single day(lately). So how do you peel your tomatoes, some boil it once, some roast it, some just pel it off, and some heat it on the gas burner. I do the last, and hey got to mention that its my Mummas superb idea, peeling tomatoes was never this easy.
Now coming to my recipe, tell me frankly frens, how many of u think that i do more of bakwaas than some quality writing.
So i wanted to prepare something that has only tomatoes highlighted, as the main ingredient, otherwise i would have never bothered to make something with only tomatoes. Thanks DK n Siri. The king of soups, the Cream of tomato was my first option. But again i make that very often, the maggi or knorr wala :P and i love it, so it had to be somethnig different. I remember the first time i had had tomato shorba i thought the rest guys are trying to fool us, ajeeb sa kuch banakar shorba naam de diya, but later i realized that if it is made properly, it is way better than the classic cream of tomato also. I didnt get the perfect color, but no regrets. It tasted heavenly.
I took Bhags's shorba as my base recipe and the rest you know, there had to be some substitutions from my side.
Ingredients:
2 large tomatoes peeled and diced into slices
few sprigs of mint leaves
few sprigs of coriander leaves, chopped
1 bay leaf
1 clove
2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 inch ginger minced
1 tsp gram flour
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 green chilly chopped
1/4 tbs cumin seeds
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp butter
few drops of olive oil
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp lemon juice(optional)
Coriander sprigs for garnishing
Method:
Heat a cup of water in a pan. Add the diced tomatoes, bay leaves, cloves, garlic, ginger, coriander and mint leaves.
Simmer till tomatoes become soft, and start giving out the catchy aroma.
Strain this to remove the seeds and pulp, and get as much juice as possible. You may, at the end run it in a blender to extract the last bits of juice.
Dissolve the gram flour in the coconut milk and make sure u avoid lumps.
Heat some drops of olive oil, and then add the butter(this is to avoid the instant burning of the butter, nice trick na)Add cumin seeds and green chilies and curry leaves and let it splutter.
Pour in the tomato mixture along with the coconut milk mixture. Also add the lemon juice. Let the mixture boil for a minute or two.
Add salt and pepper. Garnish with coriander.
Bon Appetite!!
Read more...
Monday, June 23, 2008
Taste N Create : Spaghetti with Meatballs oops, Bean Balls
Another late entry, on the last minute. Yes I have lived up to my expectations and iam here with another entry on the last minute. But this ones special, its my first ever entry into Taste & Create, i really appreciate this event which pairs two bloggers browse each other's blog to cook up the recipe of their choice from the partner's blog. Thanks a ton Nicole of For The Love Of Food. for formulating such a wonderful event and taking all the pains to pair up people and manage the whole thing.
My partner is Jescel of Spice of Life (love her tagline, eat drink and be merry) from Pampanga, Philipines, yeah yeah, and when i visited her blog for the first time i got a bit frightened, that ok , this lady just bakes or cooks non vegetarian stuff :), if not that the few vegetarian stuffs that she has posted consists of half such ingredients which i guess i will not be able to find in india. But the next minute the thought that came to my mind was that ok, i might not get the right stuff, but think of her plight, poor lady might not even understand what have i written, my posts are mostly in hin-glish, and mostly indian, but such a lively gurl she is that we interected a number of times and she was all set to post the dum ka murgh zafrani, i wonder how she was not afraid of the name. You can find her post here. Thanks again nicole for partnering me with another great baker, otherwise i would have missed some yummilicious recipes, i browsedbrowsed and this is what i cooked from her blog. Thanks jescel, its been a fun trip through your blog. You know what i searched for a whole afternoon for wonton wrappers to try ur wontons but all in vain i just couldn't find them here in bangalore.
Spaghetti with Meatballs. Just that i made bean balls instead of the meatballs, but i promise jescel, the next time i am going to make the meatballs. The beanballs idea was from DK, from her Spaghetti with Bean balls , thanks DK, what a substitute for the veggie me.
My variations from Jescels and DKs recipes:
- I followed Jescels way for the sauce, the marinara sauce, well that was another thing not available in stored here so i prepared one myself, well i prepare something similar for my pasta, but never knew its called a marinara sauce. My learnt the recipe for marinara sauce from here. My variation, i added puree of one more tomato, and 2 tsps of chilli flakes to suit our palletes. I even added one tbsp of store bought Tify's Pasta Sauce to add that extra zing. And yeah 2-3 tbsps of white wine just zings it up completely. Hope Jescel is not after me for spoiling her recipe. I also added some cooked red kidney beans inspired by Jescels hubby , Jos's Spanish style rice.
- Now for the bean balls, i followed DKs recipe, i just added some grated carrot, finely chopped spinach and some paneer to the mixture, believe me it was one delight. I did not have italian bread crumbs, so what i did was added some oregano instead, dont know if u would believe me, but i had half of the breadcrumbs just like that. And i dipped the balls in this marinara sauce instead, and even had some of them just like that as in the picture.
I hope Jescel that i did justice to the recipe and i will not stop my search for the wonton wrappers, and the day i get them, i will prepare your Chocolate Ravioli Wontons coz iam one big fan of nutella.
And all those folks can die for droolworthy non veggie recipes and baking escapades, please please visit her, it will be worth every minute.
OK people, if some of you did not find the lively me in this post, accept my apologies for that, iam kind of caught with certain things for a few days and didn't have the time to add on my regular masalas :)
Read more...
Friday, June 20, 2008
Awards Gallore .. Beri Happy in my heart ... Dil Dance Maare re....
Oh bery… oh bery…Oh bery happy in my heart..Dil dance maare re!!
Yeah cant help it.. when its raining awards... thats how i feel... well bhartis dessert title did remind me of this fav song of mine.. which i had forgotten for may be an hour or two :D
First of all hearty thanks and very very very sorry to my frens who bestowed on me some beautiful awards and i wasnt being able to post them, i wanted to do it but somehow it got stuck, thanks a ton frens... you make my day with these...
OK OK , another thing i havent yet flaunted my gold medal for completing the marathon...Thanks Dhivya and Siri.. for starting such a lovely event and it blessed me with wonderful frens...
Sowmya and JZ passed the Rocking Blog Award
Medhaa and Shubha passed the Good Chat Blog, aah i so very love this award.
Sailaja Yummy Blog Award and Nice Matter Awards
Sukanya Ramkumar You make my day
Rocking Blog Award to:
Bharti of Veggie Foodist, a blogger i found just yesterday and got glued to her page, good talkitive posts.. with lots of ramblings to enjoy.. way to go gurl
Sukanya Ramkumar of Hot n Sweet Bowl ,another one with perfect pics and tempting recipes, and yeah my favorite black template, and a lively presence felt whenever she visits my page. thanks buddy.
Rachel of tangerine's kitchenI havent know her much but yeah shes also one show stealer, with innovative recipes. Would like to know you more buddy.
Good chat Blog Award:
Sandeepa of BongCookBook
Rock .. the famous bong mom... love all her posts and tales .. and she reminds me of many old recipes from my jamshedpur days.. thanks buddy..
JZ of Tasty Treats shes actually a dessert pro and love love love her pics... each one so tempting that u feel like virtually digging into her page and pick that dish up to ur delight...
Meeso of MyHumbleKitchen. .. one person with lots of zeal.... i lvoe the way she blends cuisines... have lately started visiting her and its a pleasure.
Yummy Blog Award:
TBC of the budding cook, perfect pics, innovative recipes and my fav black template, such a delight to visit your page.
Vandana of Cooking up Something Nice , another vibrant blog.... love to visit it, check out the soft n cool puran polis she has now.
Nice Matters Award:
Purnima of Fantasy Cooking
nice .. my dear pur , known for posting n recipes in one post :) she is good with that , makes my days with long and masst comments on mostly every post of mine. thanks pur thanks...
Sireesha Mom's Recipes
make comes up with the best recipes... i love her creations..
You Make My Day:
Rashmi of Delhi Belle , my best fren thru blogging, few comments which were very apna types, a few mails exchanged, and a phone call, things look good with her, and i feel very comfortable, thanks for encouraging me and tolerating my tantrums, folks shes one of the few to whom i show my tantrums..luv u ...
Simran the Bombay Foodie, the punjabi kudi has always made my day with her charming words, if u love mumbaiiii ... go get glued to get blog...
Madhavi (u know why this ones imp to me right.. u were d one who gave me my first award...), Shubha and Divya passed on the Inspiration Award
'Inspiration award ' started by Jamie of Flavor Pantry.Whether it’s to eat healthier, dive back into our past to conjure up something we ate as children, or just make the light bulbs in our brains go on with a new idea for a recipe.As recipients of this award, please share with us what inspires you and then pass on the Inspiration Award to other deserving bloggers. Please let them know what the award means and what to do with it.
I am inspired by
1. My amma, my periamma Yasho and now my more than a mother, my mother in-law, these ladies have been selflessly serving their loved ones... if i can become even 10 % of them i will b d best lady my family can wish for.
2. Hubby dear, who is so full of energy and insight, knows what he wants from life and knows how to keep his loved ones happy, and knows how to balance work n life, he is d idol guy everybody would like, he can code the most difficult stuff one min and d next min b the best hubby and d best son, i can keep learning from him till eternity.
4. Asha Di, Srivalli, and so so many of my blogger frens... they are so dedicated and superb bloggers, want to learn a lot from them.
I now pass this award to the following friends
Srivalli of Cooking 4 All Seasons, share a nice relation with her in a small span of time, she knows how to get those mails for her roti mela entries from me hehee, right sri, being the lazy bum that iam , i admire this lady thoroughly, and wish can follow her even for 10-15%, you r too good sri.
you are one among the firsts, with whom i have been connected till now, i really appreciate your multitasking skills lady.... thanks for supporting me in ur small ways and ur smiling countenance of course.
Laks and Lathamma of the yum blog , theres was another such blog which really captured me for a while, so simple but so good, it was like lathamma is somebody i know for ages, funny but true, and one good fren in laks, what else can one ask for, believe me u inspire me till date that live life to d fullest and try to do as many things as possible, thanks.
Suganya Tasty Palletes, one of the most neat n beautiful blogs i visit, u really inspire me buddy to write more professionally and make my blog look better.
Arundathi of MyFoodBlog one bundle of energy.... gawd how much i want to be like her, enjoy life, balance work n life, be crzy at the same time, u really inspire me to live life to d fullest buddy... and all ur culinary experiments... i get some guts to try them...
Cham of Spice-Club, one loyal visitor i have :) love u cham , i find ur comments so genuine and FOR ME types, you inspire me to do well and more. You r like a lucky charm.
Ranji, she is rocking, energetic and chirpy, everytime, her innovations take a new swift turn , and love d way she bakes, shes promised me that shes gonna help me with it so this ones a bribe ;).
Sia of Monsoon Spice , another one with lovely pics, amazing write up, i idolize her, now dont give me that grin babes, but seriuosly u do.
DK and Siri , yeah u inspire me to do whatever i do with full zeal and in d bestest way ... hail ni.. frens... :)
Mansi of FunNFood , one lady who inspired me from day one.. u know that na mansi, i admire one thing in you, u keep health in mind, dont know when will i learn but time would come.
Ranji passed me on the "Blogging with Purpose" award ... wohooo i love this, yeah coz somebody sees the purpose behind my nonsense, well thanks for recognizing the not spoken about and hidden purpose my friend, love ya.
I pass it on to my dear dear dear frens Divya, Bhags, Shubha, Rashmi and Sangeeth and Madhavi.
DONE..... u guys dont know how guilty i was of not posting this one.....
ok enjoy the song and get hooked to it.... thanks bharti . ... i hym this one day n nite but u made me go looking for the video.... here it is
A quick news briefing:
Siri's Frozen Yogurth : Check it out quick. Whip ur curd and give yourself a treat.
A.W.E.D Chinese by DK : yeah yeah the the huan yin lady :) . Stir up some yummilicious chinese for yourself.
Want a look at some perfect looking Kerela Parottas and Gobi manchurian... its divine.. go check
Heard of famous chatpata street food, calcutta style Rashmi's Jhal Muri, go go check it out.
Did you check out Shubha madams latest Sketch, thats one masterpeice.
Anu madam created her Spaetzles. Go create your own
Lakshmi has her own Mini Roti Mela , it too good u got to check it out.
Check out d smallest possible shrimps with Bhags.
Divya baked some really scrumptious choco chip cookies folks.. you got to have a look at those divine creations.
Just keep checking on Srivalli for the mega , mega mega roti mela...
Have a great Weekend!!
Read more...
Monday, June 16, 2008
Parathas with LEFT OVERS (I) : Dal Parathas : Lasooni Dal Palak and Urad Dal Paratha
I have a self proclaimed fame to be the Leftover cooking Queen of my two member family :D
Ok that was no PJ, i love making parathas, be it stuffed or plain, with leftover dry veggies or some dal, its fun, easy and super delicious. You must have heard of dal parathas, where one kneads the flour with a dal and no water. Yes one more form of missi roti apart from the my previous one from scratch. Iam a fan of this kind of parathas, swati ka dal wala paratha series is what anna calls it, and yeah i can make parathas like this anytime, and i love them, they are so soft and so tasty.
In this line i have some really funny story to share with you, yeah where i unintentionally fooled my frens, just two months after my marriage i had a few frens from college at my place, and i had prepared dal parathas, my frens were super impressed, and they assumed that i have made this paratha from scratch, and were all praises about me, yes i was the great creator of that tasty dal ;) but the paratha was not that innovative as they were going gaga about it, :) but i was enjoying it, and i kind of gave them the recipe as if from scratch, i hope one day i tell them the trick behind it.
I love it when i without any extra efforts inculcate punjabi cuisine and start loving it too, so here we go with my dal paratha.. made by kneading my LASOONI DAL PALAK into the flour to form the dough for the paratha.
A similar worthy dal paratha is by kneading the toote hue urad ki dal wale parathe.. believe me its another delight.
Ingredients:
Whole Wheat flour (Atta) as per Consumption
Leftover Dal (cooked)
1 small Onion finely chopped(optional if your dal already has lots of onions)
2 Green chilies, finely chopped
Coriander leaves, finely chopped
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
Salt to taste
1 tsp red chili powder
1/2 tsp turmeric pwd
1 -2 tsp coriander pwd
Butter / Oil for cooking the paratha
Method:
1.Mix all the ingredients. Add enough dal to make a dough of rolling consistency(remember we dont use water here, if you think your dal wasnt dilute enough, use some milk, i havent used it ever). Cover it and keep aside for 15 minutes.
2.Then make small balls and roll them like parathas, Check out the six way to roll the parathas here
3.Put the paratha on the tava and cook applying ghee until done.
4. Serve with curd and chutney of your choice. Our all time favorite, the dhaniya pudine ki chutney
The uraddal parathe look like this:
Thanks frens for reminding me... This again goes to Srivalli, the Mela Queen's Roti Mela.
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Six Styles of Making Parathas with Ajwain Wale Parathe
I love parathas but i need something different in plain parathas too everytime. So my plain parathas will not be all that plain, i love ajwain ka parathas, it keeps it plain and simple but still makes it special. Iam sure most of you make these parathas, all you need to do is add some salt, ajwain(carom seeds) and some chat masala while kneading the dough.
OK a disclaimer, i know this might not make much sense to you but i had to keep a note of the various styles of making parathas and here they are:
1. The simple round paratha:
Heat tava (or cast-iron skillet) to medium high heat.
Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces. Form each piece into a ball. Place the dough balls a little apart on the corner of the board and cover with a damp cloth.
Roll a ball out into a disc about 2 inches radius. Brush some ghee on it, gather the corners and seal in the middle as shown in the picture.
Roll out the paratha to the size possible and place it on the tawa.
Turn the paratha after it puffs up and has brown spot on the bottom . Smear some ghee on this side and continue cooking until the second side has some spots on it. Turn it again and smear some ghee on this side too, and cook till the paratha is cooked completely.
2. The tikona (triangular) paratha:
Roll a ball out into a disc about 2 inches radius. Brush some ghee on it, fold it into a semi circle, smear some ghee on it again and fild it again.
Roll out the paratha to the size possible, as a triangle and place it on the tawa.
Now cook the paratha as mentioned above.
3. The Chauras (square) paratha:
Yet another interesting shape. Just follow the steps as shown in the pictures, remember to smear some ghee before folding it so that the paratha puffs.
4. Flaked Paratha:
Smear some ghee to the small round, fold it into a semi circle and then roll it into a cone as show in the picture.
Invert this cone inside out so that it takes the form as shown in the other pictures, the front and the back pictures are shown.
Roll it out to a circle and cook it up.
5. Lachcha Paratha:
Another form of flakes paratha, slit through a radius . Now fold it thro other quarters to form a cone. And invert it inside out, it takes the form as shown in the next picture.
You would love the crispy layers in this believe me.
6. Lachcha Parathas 2 -
Roll it on like a cigar, now roll this to form a bundle as you would do to a rope.
Now flatten it like shown in the picture. Roll it on to a paratha and cook it.
Thanks frens for reminding me... This again goes toSrivalli, the Mela Queen's Roti Mela.
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