Spice your Life

Punjabi Samosa | Samosa with Potato & Peas ~ Punjabi Style

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Thu, 23 May 2013 23:39:00 +0000

We are starting the final week of the BM # 28 and I will be doing my most favorite snack of all time. Samosas with different fillings. When I was thinking of this theme, I was planning to make with different filling with both savory and sweet. Finally decided that I might be the only one eating those sweet stuffing, so you will be seeing only the savory ones.

I waited till the end to make these, and managed with the most famous one, being the Punjabi Samosa. I have already posted four different ones, some over lapping with this recipe. However the taste and the crispiness of this made sure to be different from the rest.

Check out the rest as well

Onion mini Samosas
Dahi Samosa Chat
Ajwain Samosa
Potato Mini Samosa
Baked Samosa

Punjabi Samosa

Punjabi Samosa

Ingredients Needed

Potatoes - boiled, peeled and mashed roughly - 500 gm

For the dough:

All purpose flour / Maida - 1 cup
Ghee - 1 tsp
Ajwain - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Water to knead
Oil for deep frying the samosas

For tempering:

Ghee / Oil - 2 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder a pinch
Red chilli powder 1/4 tsp
Green chillies - 2-3
Ginger - 1"
Lemon juice - 1vtsp
Coriander leaves, chopped 1 tsbp
Salt to taste
Fresh Green peas - 1/3 cup
Chaat masala powder - 1 tsp
Fennel seeds - 1 tsp
Garam masala 1/2 tsp
Chopped cashew nuts 2 tbsp

How to make Punjabi Samosa

Chop the green chillies, ginger and the coriander leaves.

Mix all the ingredients for the dough except water and rub thoroughly.

Sprinkle water and make a hard dough. Set aside for about 10 minutes.

Divide the dough into round portions as per the size of the samosas required.

Heat the ghee and add cumin, when crackling add ginger and saute.

Add the rest of the ingredients one by one as listed, except lemon juice, sauté for five minutes.

Mix in the rest of the ingredients, including the potatoes and mix well.

For the outer layer:

Roll each ball to a disc, apply ghee and maida. Place each over the top, roll well, pinch into small balls and roll out again.

Roll each portion of dough into a thin oval shape cut into 2 semi-circles.

Take a semi-circle. place the filling in the middle and enclose on both sides. Repeat with rest

Deep fry in oil till golden brown and serve.

Enjoy!

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 28

Masala Koki, Sindi Aloo | Sindhi Style Onion Parathas, Aloo Roast

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Sun, 19 May 2013 01:00:00 +0000

When I was thinking what I should make for the final day, I suddenly remembered that I had copied some sindhi recipes from one of the earlier marathons. Manisha had blogged about sindhi dishes and I remember just copying the recipes, so I simply glanced through them and went ahead making it.

Infact this was not in the plan at all, as I thought I might simply post whatever I had already made. Everybody at home were indulging, with parents wanting me to make dinner for them. They were game for any new dish that I was planning. Nothing acts more as a push than willing folks to eat my food. So I just breezed into the kitchen, after noting what needs to be taken in. I even planned on a dessert to go with this delicious parathas.

Masala Koki, Sindhi Aloo

In all my haste, I failed to notice couple of things. First thing is, the rotis have to be really thick, which calls for the criss cross to be made on top. Next is, Manisha had referred Vaishali for both Masala Koki and Sindi Aloo recipes. I can point out whose recipe it is by simply looking at the recipe format. Somehow the story began with Manisha talking about her friends and it skipped my memory on what she said later. Only on the day I was checking again to read through it for links, did I notice that she was doing that week as BM paired and she did from Vaishali. Now that's a very close circle!

Anyway everybody loved koki and aloo. Infact koki if not for the size and anardana, is very similar to the onion roti that we make at home. And aloo had dry mango powder. so all in all it was a new taste of the old dishes. I was so glad we all had a delicious meal.

I went on to read more in Vaishali about Kokis and I see that there are two varieties. One with Pepper and another Masala. I ended up making Masala Koki.

Masala Koki

Ingredients Needed

Wheat flour - 1 cup
Oil/Ghee - 2 tsp
Onion, julienne 1/2 cup
Green chilli, finely chopped - 2 - 3 nos
Anardana /pomegranate seeds powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder a pinch
Coriander leaves
Mint leaves
Salt to taste

How to make the Kokis

Take the flour in a bowl. Add all the ingredients and mix everything. Now slowly add water and knead to a stiff dough.

Divide into balls, roll them out. Mark crisscross lines on top, making sure they are not deep.

Heat a tawa and cook on both sides with oil/ghee, making sure it gets cooked well.

Serve with aloo, curds and pickle
Notes

The criss cross is to ensure cooking deep inside as these are rolled thick.

Sindhi Alu

Ingredients

Potatoes - 5

Turmeric powder a pinch

Chilli powder 1 tsp

Amchoor powder/Dry mango powder 1/4 tsp

Corainder powder 1 tsp

oil for shallow frying

Salt to taste

How to make the aloo

MW the aloos with marks on the top for 5 mins. Soak and peel the skin.

Heat oil in a non stick pan, add potatoes, salt and turmeric powder. Saute well.

Then sprinkle all the other spice powders and continue cooking with lid covered for 5 mins.

Serve garnished with coriander leaves.

Notes:

Original recipe calls for potatoes to be added as such. Though I know the taste and look will vary if I add boiled potatoes, I had to do it for want of time. next time will surely do this way.

It was such a delicious dinner, I was so glad that Amma loved this so much. She said it was really such a long time since we made Onion parathas. So this reminded her of those days, when it used to be a weekly affair.

I hope you enjoyed the Sindhi Recipes as much as I enjoyed making them.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 28

Sindhi Guar Bhaji | Dry Cluster Beans Sindhi Style ~ Side Dish for Rotis

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Sat, 18 May 2013 01:00:00 +0000

For the second day of Sindhi dishes, I decided I had to make something with cluster beans, the sindhi way. As I had said my wish of putting my cookbooks to good usage went down the drain, I had to think of ways to make the best of what I had.

Though the perennial question "What to make for dinner" seems to plaque every household, somehow it is not so strong when I can discuss that with Athamma. Now hubby dear said he is dreading the moment I step in, as I ask him that right away! I also warned him that he has to play critic to the BM theme this month as I was planning on making regional specific. Which means he has no say in quoting the authenticity other than simply saying if it was good or not.

With the lack of time, I almost decided I should split the dal and aloo tuk to separate days, I knew it looked so simple to post separately. Luckily I have landed with enough dishes to do it together. However this gravy I did with cluster beans had to be a post on it's own. In fact when I googled for sindhi style Guaar dish, I couldn't find much. I had to settle down to one source and requested Vaishali to seal her approval. I couldn't do that as well. So in the end I have to share and hope this is sindhi.

We normally make cluster beans in two ways. One dry saute with spices and roasted peanut, another gravy as a side dish for either dosas or chapatis. This version ended up being a dry saute with more of spice than what we normally add. It went fine with chapatis.

Sindhi Guar Bhaji

Sindhi Guar Bhaji

Ingredients Needed

Cluster beans / Guaar, finely chopped - 250 gms
Tomatoes finely chopped - 2 medium
Ginger Garlic paste 1/2 tsp
Green chillies - 2 long
Red chilli powder - 3/4 tsp
Coriander powder - 3/4 tsp
Turmeric powder a pinch
Whole cumin seeds 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/ 2 tsp
Garam masala powder 1/2 tsp
Dry mango powder 1/4 tsp
Cooking oil - 1 tsp
Salt to taste

How to make Sindhi Guaar Bhaji:

Wash the chopped guaar 2-3 times in normal water. MW the beans in enough water for 10 mins, drain the beans and keep it aside.

In a non stick pan, heat oil, Add cumin and mustard seeds and allow to crackle.

Add green chillies and ginger-garlic paste, cook for 2 minutes on low flame.

Add chopped tomatoes, salt, red chilli powder, turmeric powder and mix well.

Cook for 3-4 minutes until nice color of tomatoes appear.

Add boiled beans and coriander powder, saute for 2 minutes.

Add 1/2 cup of water and garam masala powder, mix thoroughly. Simmer with lid covered so that the masalas are cooked and coats the vegetable.

Finally add the dry mango powder, combine everything, make sure the subji is dry.

Sindhi Guaar is a dry Subzi, so cook till all the water is evaporated.

Serve hot with chapati

Notes:

I was skeptical about adding both cumin seeds and mustard for tempering. By default other than our andhra dal, I never add this combination for gravies.

Come to think of it, other than dry mango powder, everything else is the same as how we make our kuras (gravies). So that goes to say that simple dishes across states are very much similar in their making.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 28

Sindhi Dal, Aloo Took ~ Sindhi Meal with Dal and Aloo Tuk

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Fri, 17 May 2013 07:27:00 +0000

We are starting the third week of Blogging Marathon Edition 28. I decided to take up Sindi dishes and thought long and hard on the dishes I should be making. I decided against the regular ones and wanted to try some really difficult ones. I also decided to refer my cookbooks rather than the online source. Guess what on both account I couldn't meet my own conditions. My books surprisingly vanished.

I knew I had but however much I search for those books, I couldn't find them. The problem is, I keep reading and browsing and keep them somewhere. Other times, my kids find it interesting to browse through the books and pick up to do and keep it somewhere beyond my reach. So I had to resort again to blogs. My one stop for Sindhi recipes can't be anything other than Vaishali's.

With just three of us at home, I decided I might as well make use of the time to cook new things for the dinner time. I was going through Vaishali's index and saw many interesting things. Unfortunately time was short and I had a meal to make. So finally settled down to make the Dal and Aloo Tuk.

Sindhi Dal. Aloo Took

I know Aloo Took met with lot of special Media attention what with the actor Amir Khan seen eating this. Don't ask me where I saw this, I just saw. Of course this is not the reason why I ended up making just that, it was Vaishali's picture that tempted me to indulge in this sin.

As true to my nature, I simply can't follow a recipe through. I ended up using Masoor dal instead of toor dal. I sincerely hope that Sindis use Masoor dal as well..:). Rest of the recipe is almost the same as what Vaishali has said. Well almost!

I suggest you refer Vaishali's post for authenticity, while I have my own take on a Sindhi Dal!

As with any cuisine, the dal is always serve with rice and taryal patata (fried potatoes) In this case the Aloo Took. Though Vaishali has changed over to healthier options, I remain true to the solid Indian fancy and serve Dal, chawal with Fried Potatoes.

Sindhi Dal

Toor Dal - 1 cup (I used Masoor dal)
Tomatoes - 2 medium
Curry leaves - 1 stem
Turmeric powder a pinch
Ghee - 1 tps

Wash the dal and in a pressure cooker, take the dal along with curry leaves, tomatoes, turmeric powder, ghee and salt. Pressure cook for couple of whistles.

Once the pressure falls down, using a churner, mash the dal.

Vaishali asks us to strain the dal to remove curry leaves and tomato skin. Being used to these, I skipped this part (I prefer to say this rather than accepting I didn't see this step)

For Tempering

Oil - 2 tsp
cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Fenugreek Seeds - 1/4 tsp
Hing a pinch
Ginger - 1/2 inch
Green chili - 4-5
Dry red chili - 2
Red chili powder - 1/4 tsp
Sambar powder - 1/4 tsp
Lemon juice - 1/4 tsp
small bunch of coriander leaves.

Once the dal is cooked and simmer, do the tempering in the order listed and once it's all fried, pour over the simmering dal. cook for 5 mins

The first time I saw these Aloo Took when Vaishali posted, I knew I had to make these. I am not really such a great fan of potatoes other than Potato chips. I didn't grow up eating aloo roast or any dry sautes with Aloo. Amma never makes Potato fries or the Aloo podimas or the many versions of fried potatoes. We took our weekly dose of potato as Masal for either Dosas, Pooris or even many times as Kurmas. With Amma never repeating a vegetable in a week, these fries never graced the dining table.

Only after Konda started school, I found aloo roast was the quickest dish I can make. Anyways after having made Aloo Took, I can understand the attachment one gets with this dish! Without further rambling, here's the tempting aloo tuk served with dal.

Aaloo took

Potatoes
Oil for deep frying

Masala to be sprinkled

Red chilli powder
Aamchoor powder / Dry Mango powder
Black pepper powder
Coriander powder
Roasted Cumin powder
Garam masala
Salt to taste

You can go free on the measurement of the spices

Peel potatoes. Cut into fat rounds.(a medium size potato has to be cut in two).

Sprinkle salt, leave it for about 5 mins.

Heat oil. Fry the potatoes on slow flame till cooked. Remove.

Cool. Press these with the help of your palm.

Fry the potatoes again to a crisp golden. Drain.

Sprinkle spices.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 28

Blogging Marathon # 29 - 3 Day Marathon for 4 weeks!

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Thu, 16 May 2013 11:10:00 +0000

Days surely fly, of course this is an oft quoted statement, nevertheless so true. I can't believe may has passed us half way through! And here I am with the themes for the next edition. Though the theme selection takes up my thought process for a longer time than I wish, some of the themes for this edition are suggested by Rajani. I simply made it a bit more complicated.

For those of you who are landing here for the first time, then please check out these posts on Blogging Marathon, you can read about all the history, the thought process that's gone in everything in one place in the BM#18 intro

For details on BM held every month, check out the Blogging Marathon page. Once I get all details I will be updating this page. Bloggers taking part in this marathon need to just link back to this page.

The entry is again by Sign ups and each theme will again have only 4 bloggers on first come first basis.

And because of the new rules I will not be able to accept late sign ups as it will become extremely hard for me to manage otherwise. If you feel you want to do it, please decide ahead, else you can join later.

Commenting on the week blogger's post is mandatory.

And subscription to the group will be monthly basis.

If you want to know how the Blogging Marathon started, read the first edition

So the 28th edition will

3, 4, 5 June

10, 11, 12 June

17, 18, 19 June

24, 25, 26 June

Please email me at spicingyourlife@gmail.com latest by 23rd May along with your theme.

FYI: Requests to join after 23rd May will not be accepted.

Mandatory rules for this Blogging Marathon are as below:

Should take up 2 weeks of BM without fail. It can be any two weeks.
Will have to post on all 3 days with 2 weeks without fail
Same theme can't be taken by one blogger.
Should follow the accepted theme all 3 days, meaning if you choose one topic like Rice, you should post all rice based recipes all 3 days.
Should link to the Blogging Marathon page.
Is expected to actively give feedback on others post.
Mandatory reading and commenting on fellow participating member.

Each theme can be selected by four bloggers on first come first bases.

Other rules will be mailed to the individuals.

Themes for BM # 28th will be the following:

Since having this theme is to make sure my Kid's Delight event gets good entries, I thought it makes sense to have two themes based on the hosting time.

Kid's Delight - Sweet Treats (3,4,5 and 10,11,12)

Kid's Delight - Finger food for Kids Party (17,18,19 and 24,25,26)

Please note Kid's delight posts be it for the BM theme or the event, needs to be kid approved. Which means you get your kid, your young relatives or neighbors approve what you have made. Would surely appreciate a note on who liked it and their age group. This way we can tag it properly.

Another thing can be that you as a kid liked the particular dish. Else it will not be eligible for both the events.

Kid's Delight - Sweet Treats (3,4,5 and 10,11,12)

Sowmya will be hosting the may edition. She is calling dishes that can be "Sweet Treats". It can be anything from Indian Sweets to International ones (including baked ones). Need to be vegetarian and Egg less.

So why wait, simply make those sweet treats and delight your kids.

Kid's Delight - Finger Food for Kids Party (17,18,19 and 24,25,26)

Kid's Delight Edition for June will be hosted by Kalyani.She is calling all moms to make Finger Food for Kids party. Finger Food as you know is anything that are individually served or handled by hand. So ideally all mini versions that will suit the little ones will be great. I guess you can make both sweet and savory!

Cooking from a book

Since everybody says they have so many cookbooks that they never refer, this is the right opportunity to pick up those books to refer! Online reference or blogs is not allowed. The recipe should come from a physical book

Please select any two of the ingredients listed below as your combination and prepare 3 dishes

Toor Dal
Channa Dal
Jaggary
Pumkin
Pear
Strawberry
Mangoes (can be unripe and ripe)
Bottle gourd
Greens
Milk
Paneer

All three dishes can have any combination from the list and need not be the same for all three days.

Other ingredients in the dish is your choice. But the recipe you are picking up from the book need to have two of the ingredients listed above.

Spice Powders for Cooking

Spice powders are so essential to many Indian cuisines. Especially South Indian cuisine thrives on these spice powders.

Single ingredient or just couple of ingredients like the red chili powder or coriander powder is not allowed.

The spice powder presented can be from any cuisine. Essentially it should aid the cooking.

And not those that we end up eating with tiffins or rice.

Cooking with colours

This is specific to ingredient colour and not the final dish.

Like you can select tomatoes/ Red capsicum for Red
Paneer for white
mango for yellow
Raw / Unripe mango, Green Capsicum for green
Masoor dal for Orange

The final dish can be of any colour as the cooked dish tends to change colour.

Each day has to be one colour.

Course wise meal from any state

Breakfast dishes
Lunch Recipes (Can be rice or gravy)
Sweets
Snacks

Under this, if you select the state to be gujarat, then for all three days you will have to make either only breakfast or only lunch or only sweets. All three days have to be from the same state and same course

Selection of the state is your choice.

The dishes have to fall under the given 4 categories. So if you are selecting Gujarat and breakfast, then you will be posting 3 breakfast dishes from gujarat.

Indian fusion with Chocolate Dishes

Well as the theme says bring on your chocolate dishes with a fusion mix on Indian take!

Food for the sick/elderly

The food under this category would include dishes that are healthy and suitable for those recuperating from some illness and elders who have diet restriction.

Special Theme - Do three weeks and for the 4th week you get to do the special theme.

Bookmarked Recipes: As the theme says you can simply post all those that you had bookmarked and tried. This again can be from any source.

This is accepted only for the 4th week (and should have done all three previous weeks).

********************************

Please spread the details if you want your friends to be part of this marathon.

Let's gear up for another non stop blogging!

Sannas ~ Mangalorean Idlis/Steamed Rice Cakes | Indian Cooking Challenge - April

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Tue, 14 May 2013 18:30:00 +0000

For the Indian Cooking Challenge in April, we travelled all the way to Mangalore to taste these delicious Sannas. If you are from Mangalorean or Goan, you must surely know about this. However for me, the first time I ever tasted or even knew this, was when we dined at the The Taj, Southern Spice. We went for the lunch thali and they served all exotic dishes famous from each of the four southern states. When they serve these spongy pillows, we were literally taken in.

I had to read on this right away when I came back and google god lead me to Shireen Sequeira's Ruchik Randhap. I guess she is the only person who has the recipe on Sannas in whole world wide web and I decided right on that I should make this recipe famous..

Sannas

So bookmarked the recipe and decided to do it for the Indian Cooking Challenge. However it was nearly many months later that I finally ended up challenging my group with this recipe. When I read Shireen's post, I knew right away that the recipe was such a straight one and not only that, she has explained so well and clear through her comments, that one wouldn't have any doubts.

Still I wrote to her asking couple of questions and she was so prompt and sweet in her response. I knew I was all equipped to try this for the month. I did this over this Sunday, we soaked the rice, dal at about 7 in the morning. We soaked for about 2 hrs, ground it fine and fermented it again for just 2 hrs. Since I couldn't make it right away, I had to refrigerate till dinner time. I took it out 4 pm and saw the batter flowing out almost!

Though Shireen advised against stirring the batter once it was fermented because we used yeast, I had to do it. Still I removed it about 2 hrs before the cooking time and left it out. It rose up a bit again. When I steamed it, the Sannas though got struck a bit to the katoris, came out beautifully!

I paired it with a creamy Veg Kurma and the combination was deadly. Though the yeast smell was too strong while it was getting steamed, it didn't smell of yeast once it was cooked. The Sannas need to be steamed in Sanna Katoris, if you don't have them, you can use any small katoris that you have with you.

Sannas

Yield: Approx 25-27 sannas when the batter is well fermented. For a heigher yield take a ratio of 3:1 (cups of boiled rice : raw rice)
Recipe Source: Shireen Sequeira's Mom

Ingredients Needed

Boiled rice (also called as Parboiled rice/Idli Rice) - 1-1/2 cups
Raw rice - 1/2 cup
Black Gram Dal / Urad Dal - 1 fistful (about 1/4 cup)
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Sugar - 2 tsp (if you want it sweet, I skipped this)

To prepare the Yeast solution

Yeast - 1 heaped tsp
Sugar - 1 tsp
Lukewarm water - 1/2 cup

How to make the Sannas

Wash and soak the two types of rice and Urad dal separately (in separate vessels) for at least 2 hours in plenty of water

First grind the Urad dal to a fine paste and remove it using very little water.

Next, grind both types of rice together to a fine thick batter. The consistency is more like dosa batter, so grind to a smooth paste

Transfer to a wide, deep pan large enough to accomodate batter that will double during fermentation.

Prepare the yeast solution by mixing the yeast and sugar in a bowl of lukewarm water. The sugar helps the yeast to dissolve faster. Allow to stand for 10 minutes, the yeast will ferment and turn frothy. Make sure the sugar and all yeast is dissolved.

To the idli batter, mix the yeast solution until completely incorporated.

Add sugar and salt to taste

Mix well and cover with a thin muslin cloth / plate and place it undisturbed in a warm place to ferment for about 2 hours (during really hot weather, the batter will ferment in just about 1-1/2 hours)

The batter would have doubled - for fluffy Sannas do not stir the batter or it will go flat.

I used the regular idli vessel and used small katoris that were greased and batter poured. Prepare the Idli steamer as you do regularly.

Place these katoris into the steamer, cover the lid and steam for 15 minutes. Once the Sannas are steamed, remove and tilt to remove the cooked sannas.

Serve with your gravy of choice.

Notes

You can increase the sugar added to the batter if you want it like sweet appams.

As I went on the Sanna steaming the timing was drastically reduced. These were cooked by 10 mins itself.

These are normally served with spicy non veg gravy, however with the kurma it was very delicious as well.

Navratna Dal, Moth Dal Tikkis aka Roti

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Sun, 12 May 2013 12:45:00 +0000

Athamma was intent on making some Tikkis and she even had some lentils soaked. We wanted to use up some moth beans and navratna dals that were leftover. Whenever some lentil is lying around for a while, the first thing that Athamma wants to make are tikkis. She is very fond of this somehow and always insists on making with whatever she finds.

On this occasion, she went ahead with soaking these and sprung on me quite unexpectedly. Since I had already planned on making something else for the dinner, I wasn't actually showing interest in that, however I was called in to check out the progress. She told that the tikkis were not holding its shape.

We had to resort to getting the recipe back to shape. We added some flour and patted it down as rotis and had them for dinner instead. The taste was awesome and making it thin as rotis, ensured it was crispy and more crunchy.

Navratna Dal and Moth Dal Rotis

Ingredients Needed

Navratna Dal - 1 cup
Moth Dal - 1/2 cup
Salt to taste
Green chilies - 2 long
Onions - 1 medium
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp

Bread Crumbs for the Tikkis

Wheat flour/ Ragi flour for the Rotis

How to make the rotis

Wash and soak the dals overnight. Drain and grind to a coarse paste with green chilies. Mix in onions and let it rest for 10 mins.

Ideally if you are planning to make the tikkis, you need to add in either corn flour or other binding ingredients like potatoes, bread. This was skipped in this recipe, which resulted in the mix not holding it's shape.

We were planning to make pan fried tikkis, even that needs some binding to hold it up. Besides for making the rotis we added some flours and patted it down before cooking it.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 28

Kodubale | Kodbale Recipe 2

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Fri, 10 May 2013 18:30:00 +0000

When I choose Kodubale for Indian Cooking Challenge, I had selected two versions. One from Suma and another from Lathamma. I tried both versions back to back and ended up with too much of Kodubale on hand, one because I almost tried using the same proportion and second one recipe failed on me. So had to improvise. Suma's recipe worked out correctly for us, however something went wrong when I was making Lathamma's recipe.

I am sure the recipe works out perfectly, something I did must have gone wrong. So I had to save the snack from going waste. The snack turned out soft and wasn't crunchy. So I had to resort to using other methods to make it crunchy. The taste was very good, only factor was that it wasn't crunchy. I ended up microwaving it for 10 mins and it ended up crunchy. I was very happy I was able to get the snack to munch.

Kodubale | Kodbale Recipe 2

Ingredients

Rice flour – 2 cups
Maida – 1/2 cup
Wheat flour – 1/2 cup
Pottukadalai / Fried Gram dal - 1/2 cup
Dessicated dry coconut / Kopra – 1/2 cup
Ghee – 1 table spoon
Hing – 1/4 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Chilli powder – 1 teaspoon
Oil – 2 cups for deep frying

How to make the kodubale

Grind the fried gram and kopra to a fine powder.

Lightly roast the wheat flour and maida together on a low flame till it turns light golden.

In a large bowl mix the rice flour, ground pottukadalai and the roasted flours.

Add ghee, salt, hing chilli powder and water and knead to a thick dough.

Heat oil in a kadai on a medium flame.

Take a little dough and shape into rings (Thickness of a pencil)

Fry a few rings at a time on low to medium flame, stirring occasionally.

When the sound subsides, drain and take out on a kitchen paper.

Store in air tight containers.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 28

Pancakes with Rose Cookie Batter with Chocolate Sauce

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Thu, 09 May 2013 18:30:00 +0000

I have always been proud of the fact that I never had a kitchen disaster in terms of recipe failing miserably that I had to dump the entire stuff in gutter. Of course there have been many instances when a recipe was not liked by all. In which case I would see if at least somebody liked it. I know I am not being very modest here, but then I think there is nothing wrong in knowing certain things about oneself. One main reason I would always attribute is the fact that I have a scientific approach to cooking. Understand the basic as to what happens when you mix a certain ingredients in certain way.

The problem mostly arises when you attempt a new cuisine and have no exposure or you haven't really understood the basic style. I heed to the principle that one should be scientifically artistic.

Now coming back to the failures in your kitchen, I have always felt proud of the fact that I haven't had a need to throw away something because the recipe failed. So when Nandini wrote to me saying she would love to have a topic on Setting right kitchen Disasters, meaning you have a failed recipe on hand and you device a new recipe out of it. Somehow I was wondering if I would ever face myself in this situation. Needless to say, I tempted fate!

Within few days of my interaction with her, I was attempting to make Rose Cookies. You can read about my adventure and how I finally arrived at the recipe and method that worked out. However the first batch I made, was with 2 cups of flour and I didn't have the heart to dump it down the drain! Since it had sugar, I couldn't make bajjis, so the next best shot was making pancakes. And finally drizzling with Chocolate Sauce.

I strongly believe chocolate can mask anything, so that's what I did!

I used the same recipe as I did again a week later. The trick was in seasoning and not a recipe fault.

I made the failed batter a little thinner by adding more water, heated a tawa and spread out really thin crapes. Once done, added chocolate sauce to the inner side, rolled up out.

Before handing it out, again drizzled sauce over it.

Konda loved it so much!

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 28

Coriander Adai | Kothamali Dosa ~ 101 Dosa Varieties!

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Sun, 05 May 2013 14:20:00 +0000

For the final day under Indian Breads, I asked everybody to make blended version. Under this your star ingredient has to be blended and made as an Indian Bread. When we talk about Indian Breads, many forget to list Dosas under this. And I wanted to take this opportunity to show how well we can get blended versions of Dosas that are so healthy and quick to make as well.

Even though I had planned this for a dinner, this makes a great breakfast item as it's got power packed lentils in it. However if you are tired and want a quick bite, you can still do as I did and have a quick meal on hand. As it was a Sunday evening, by the time I remembered it was quite late, so soaked it in hot water and it was all ready for grinding.

With house full of kids and not a single spot free, I know I haven't been able to write as much as I would normally wish. Lucky I had the dishes done during the weekend. Else you would seen me being even more hurried than before!

Before going further, this is the cake we had for Konda's birthday. She celebrated her 12th birthday and had great fun dancing with her cousins and brothers. More on later as I have just a short time on hand to do this post.

Being a Sunday, it's been a cooking day for me. So I enjoyed doing what I liked best! As one might assume, we are want of more folks to feed our daily dose, so it's good to have more people to enjoy your hard work. Hubby dear was going on asking if it was too much work, I said it wasn't, though I was sorely tempted to ask if I would've been excused from cooking if I said yes. Of course I won't dream of even asking or not preparing a feast for my sil and her family. I simply love the fact that I can try a variety with kids dishes with my nephew and niece, apart from the usual chocolate dishes.

I am only sad I couldn't make pizzas and burgers for them this time. It does feel nostalgic reading back that post, remembering that my twins were just 4 years. Now they act so grown up that I sometimes wonder if they were ever While I don't have the instant pizzas I made for them, I can surely offer you this instant dosa for a quick meal though.

Coriander Adai

Makes about 12 dosas

Ingredients Needed:

Raw Rice - 1 cop
Toor Dal - 1/4 cup
Navratna Dal - 1/4 cup
Chana dal / Bengal Gram - 1/4 cup
Urad Dal - 1/4 cup
Green Chilies - 2 long
Dry Red Chilies - 2 long
Ginger - 1"
Salt - 1 tsp
Coriander leaves - 1 cup tightly packed
Whole cumin Seeds - 1 tsp (to be added to the batter as whole)

How to make the Coriander Adai

Take all the lentil and rice, wash and soak for 2 hrs mim.

Drain the water and in a mixer/grinder add the chilies, ginger, salt and the lentils, rice. Add water as required to make a smooth batter.

When all the lentil and rice is ground, remove to a bowl.

Wash and chop the coriander leaves roughly. Take the leaves in a mixer and add 1 cup of batter to the leaves and grind again.

Add whole cumin seeds

Heat a tawa and grease well. As you do with regular dosa, spread a ladle full of batter and sprinkle oil over the top.

Flip on the both sides and cook

Serve with Chutney / Podi

Notes:

I soaked in covered hot water as I forgot to soak on time. So I managed with just about an hour or so.

Also you can mix the coriander mix with the amount of batter you need. So you can make this separately and mix as much as you want.

I served both coriander adai and plain as I didn't have much leaves left.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 28

Stuffed Onion Mint Parathas with Pomegranate Raita | Pyaz aur Pudine Ki Paratha, Anar Raitha

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Sat, 04 May 2013 13:03:00 +0000

For the second day of making Indian Breads, I made stuffed paratha with Onions, Mint leaves with masalas. I served this with Anar Raitha that I remembered eating at Vaishali's home. The combination was even wonderful as I had served it with a typical pickle that Vaishali had sent from Gujarat. It was a delicious meal and I really enjoyed.

Today's being Konda's birthday, I had taken the day off however with a full day power off, it was really a tough time to spend at home. Finally I went along to buy few appliances. I finally bought a waffle maker. I will now search from for waffle recipes.

My sil has come down with her family and it's been a fun filled week at home. With so many kids around, all of us going crazy not knowing who is where and what to make. Though I planned to bake the cake myself, I finally decided it was going to be too much. And anyway with the full day power off it would surely been impossible.

The parathas turned out so delicious as it even had besan mixed with the stuffing.

Stuffed Onion Mint Parathas | Pyaz aur Pudine Ki Paratha

Ingredients Needed

Wheat flour
Salt to taste
Oil - 1 tsp
Water for kneading

For the stuffing

Onions - 1 medium
Mint leaves - 1/2 cup
Besan / Gram flour - 2 tsp
Onion Seeds / Kalonji - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Green chilies 2 long
Roasted Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder a pinch

Oil for cooking

How to make the Stuffed Onion Mint Paratha

Knead the dough and cover it with wet muslin cloth until you are ready to make the parathas.

For the filling

In a non stick pan, heat oil, add onion juliennes mint leaves, salt, green chilies, kalonji, jeera powder. Quickly keep tossing so that the onions starts to sweat fast.

Simmer and add the besan. When the onions turn soft and the besan gets coated well, you can remove and let it cool.

Pinch out balls and start making the sides thinner so that you have a thick dough in the middle. Place the stuffing in the middle and bring all the sides towards the centre making sure you cover all the stuffing and seal it properly.

Heat the tawa and grease with oil

Cook on both sides and remove

Serve oil with Anar Raitha and pickle

Anar Raitha / Pomegranate Raitha

Thick curds - 1 cup
Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
Pomegranate Seeds - 1 cup
Red Chili powder - 1/2 tsp

Take the thick curds, mix it with cumin power, red chili powder, salt. Finally add the anar seeds and mix well.

Serve with Stuffed parathas.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 28

Matar Luchi, Badam Shrikhand | Peas Stuffed Maida Pooris with Almond Shrikhand

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Thu, 02 May 2013 18:30:00 +0000

I know we just finished a month long marathon. However it didn't feel so and I almost jumped back to making the next edition. I guess it all had to do with the fact that I choose to make Indian Breads. If there was one category that I really loved, it surely would be Indian Breads. Especially with the fact that I selected to make pooris for the first day.

For the next edition of BM# 28, I choose to make Indian Bread. This had a twist again, where I decided to ask everybody to make Indian Bread with a condition. Each day had to be one with Deep fried, a bread with stuffed and finally with something blended. I started with a fried bread and of course I love all my fried dishes. Unlike others, I never had qualms in feeding my kids fried dishes, especially pooris. Only my boys don't like pooris. I know it's hard to believe, but very true.

The only time I could get them eat pooris is on a Sunday, with pretext that there is Channa to accompany. Chinnu used to refer it as Chennai Poori. Seeing how much he liked this combination, I thought I could easily pack this for their lunch during school. Only I was surprised to hear him that he doesn't want Pooris for lunch as it's oily. Peddu anyway had a hard time eating on normal days. So I can make pooris only on Sunday and I knew they may not like Luchis.

Knowing I love pooris, it was a given fact that I love luchis. The first time I had luchis were when we had gone to visit parents in culcatta. We were invited for a feast by our parents neighbours and I will forever remember the matar luchis we were treated. I loved Bengali food. Period.

So when I decided to make deep fried Indian Bread, I knew I had to make this again. In fact I had earlier had made stuffed peas puris with a different stuffing and different method. Stuffed Peas seems to be a thing with me as I had made stuffed peas paratha, that had a different set of memories associated.

Now coming back to the luchis in hand, these were so delicious that you can hardly stop with just two!

I served with Almond Shrikhand and Pickle. It was really a breakfast fit for kings!

Matar Luchis

Matar Luchi | Luchis stuffed with Peas

Ingredients Needed

For the dough

All purpose flour / Maida - 2 cups
Salt to taste
Water to knead
Oil for deep-frying

For the Filling

Grind together
Fresh shelled peas, boiled - 1
Hing / Asofoetida a pinch
Roasted Cumin Powder - 1 tsp
Green chilies - 2 long
Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp (if required)
Salt to taste

How to make the Luchis

Knew the dough and keep it covered with wet muslin cloth.

For the dough,

Mw the peas for 5 mins, drain the water, add all the ingredients and grind to a smooth paste.

When you are ready to make the luchis, pinch out balls from the dough, flatten in middle, place the stuffing, cover on all sides and make sure you seal it well.

Heat a kadai with oil.

Dust the balls well and roll out gently making sure you don't press out the stuffing out.

Gently drop into hot oil and cook on both sides.

When the luchis turn golden, drain to a kitchen towel

Matar Luchis

Almond Shrikhand

Ingredients Needed

Hung Curds - 1 cup
Milk - 1/2 cup
Icing Sugar - 4- 5 tsp
Almonds - 12 whole

How to make the Shrikhand

Blanch the almonds in mw for 3 mins. Remove the skin.

Grind the almonds with milk to a smooth paste.

Add this paste to the hung curds. You can follow the process for making Shrikhand.

Blend the milk paste to the curds along with icing sugar and mix everything together.

Refrigerate until serving.

Serve with Luchis and Pickle.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 28

The Best Chocolate Sauce Recipe ~ Perfect for Frosting, Topping

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 08:30:00 +0000

We finally come to the last post of our month long Blogging Marathon. It's been a fantastic sharing of so many wonderful recipes, anecdotes and pictures. The efforts everybody took towards this was mind blowing. I must thank my dedicated group of bloggers, who never think I am crazy to come up with such themes and ideas. Of course most of ideas come from the group. Without their active participation, I wouldn't have done it.

The marathon was quite hard, if you consider that we made it hard by having theme specific weeks. However the way everybody has contributed, clearly showed they still have lots to share more. Which is why we have another month long Marathon to be scheduled during September. If you are interested, do drop in an email.

Now coming to the final post, I saved this up for the final day and what's without sweet to celebrate. This time it's the topping that's used a way to celebrate! In fact this is more apt because this was what my kids were licking off, long after the cake and ice cream got over. I made quite a big batch of this Sauce and wanted to use on different desserts. Somehow Konda convinced that she would prefer to eat it as such. So that's what I allowed her to do finally.

Once again I would thank to thank my BM members for a fantastic blogging.

This was used as topping for the Chocolate Ice Cream

Sending this to Pavani, who is hosting Kid's Delight, themed on "5 Ingredient Fix"

Chocolate Sauce for Frosting / Topping

Butter – 2 tsp.
Powdered sugar – 1/2 cup
Cooking chocolate – 2 -3 slab
Cocoa powder - 2 tsp.
Fresh cream – 2 - 3 tsp.

How to make the Sauce

Take a thick bottom pan, add all the ingredients except the cream. On a low flame, start melting the butter.

When the butter melts along with cooking chocolate, everything becomes liquid. When the liquid starts to become thick, remove from fire and add cream.

Whip well to a smooth paste.

Notes:

When this cools down, it becomes really thick. This is very much like the chocolate ganache

Can be used as topping for Ice creams, cakes etc.

When you increase the cream more and beat it further, on cooling it settles as thick layer of topping.

Logo courtesy : Preeti

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 27

Dabeli Masala | Homemade Dabeli Masala Powder

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 02:33:00 +0000

When I was making Dabeli, I was odd for posting the entire post without the chutney or the Dabeli Masala. The first time I ever heard about Dabeli was from a blog. And it was the Dabeli Masala powder. It was it was by Sia, not sure. However the pictures were so captivating that I had to research on the chaat item further.

Over the years I have read about many recipes, kutchi dabeli style recipes, bombay style and yes the recent Ahmedabad style as well. As I said I liked the Vada Pav better than Dabeli when I tasted for the first time in Ahmedabad. However when I made it myself, I loved my own version!

Check out the last but one in the one month long Blogging Marathon we have been doing!

Homemade Dabeli Masala

Whole dry Red chilli - 5- 6 long
Whole Kashmiri red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Whole Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp
Cinnamon - 1"
Cloves - 2
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

How to make the Dabeli Masala

In a dry non stick pan, toss the whole spices till the aroma starts leaving. Remove and cool. Take all the ingredients in a mixer and pulse to a smooth powder.

Store in an air tight container to be used for making Dabeli.

Dabeli Masala Powder

Notes:

The amount I got from the above measurement was enough for one time use. Increase if you want to make more and store.

Logo courtesy : Preeti

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 27

Garlic Chutney | Lahsun ki Chutney for Chats

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 01:00:00 +0000

Next in the chutney series, is a Garlic chutney that I made for Dabeli. It's really garlicky and spicy. When I started the series of Chat last month, everybody at home loved all of them. I am lucky in that Athamma always likes what I make. So even if hubby dear doesn't like something I can always be sure that I have at least one person who would willing try it out.

And of course Konda is such an age, where she likes whatever I make. Infact she saw the Tandoori Masala and was upset she wasn't given it. I said I had made an Aloo with it, which she might not eat. She said she would and wanted me to make it again. Of course I would make Paneer Tikka with that masala.

For now you can check out this Garlic Chutney, that not only made the Dabelis very delicious, these can be a great dish to spread over dosas and pancakes if you so wish!

Garlic Chutney / Lahsun ki chutney

Ingredients Needed

Garlic / Lahsun, peeled - 1/2 cup
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Dry chilis - 5 -6 nos
Lemon juice - 1/2 tsp
Salt to taste

How to make the chutney

Dry toss the chilies along with cumin seeds. Once cooled, take it along with peeled garlic and pulse it to a fine paste.

Add as little water as possible. Store in an air tight container

Notes:

This can easily stay good for couple of days when refrigerated because garlic is fresh. This can be used as spread over dosas as well.

Logo courtesy : Preeti

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 27

Homemade Tandoori Masala | How to make Tandoori Masala

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 02:30:00 +0000

Having homemade spice powders is always a boon. I normally never buy readymade powder other than Channa Masala and Pav Bhaji Masala. I have even tried my own Channa Masala, which is still setting idle, waiting for the book to be published. Apart from these two, I have always made sure I grind my own masala powder. One of the main spice powders have been the Biryani Masala Powder, which turns out so well. I have used that powder in different recipes and have always ended up with a delicious dish.

Everybody at home loves tandoor dishes. I looked up many recipes both from net and from the books. Each one has it's own story and different flavours. I finally adapted from Mallugirl, I had loved her grilling when she had done. So when it was finally my chance for me make these, I ended up making it first with Aloos and many more followed. Tandoori Aloo was the first dish I made with this powder. Tandoor Paneer Tikka was simply awesome with this masala.

Tandoori Masala

Ingredients Needed:

Cumin Seeds - 2 tbsp

Coriander Seeds - 2 tsp

Cinnamon Sticks - 1"

Cloves - 2 -3

Red Chilli Powder - 2 tsp

Kashmiri chili powder - 1 tsp

Ginger Powder - 1 tsp.

Turmeric Powder - 1/2 tsp

Garlic Powder - 1 tsp.

Mace Powder 1 tsp.

How to Make the Tandoori Masala

Dry roast all the whole spices until they smoke. Cool and take all the powders and whole spices and dry grind in a Mixer. Refrigerate in an air tight container. This can easily stay over a month.

Notes:

Since I had garlic powder, it became easy to add in this masala, else you can mw for few minutes and then dry it for 10 - 15 for it to be used before making the powder.

I stored this and used in different subjis as well.

Logo courtesy : Preeti

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 27

Green Chutney | Mint Coriander Chutney for Chats

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 10:03:00 +0000

Green Chutney or Mint Coriander Chutney is another one of those chutneys you surely would need when making chats. When I knew I have to make handful of chats, I made a huge batch of this chutney and refrigerated. Since we like our chats spicy, I was quite liberal with the chilies in this chutney, as the sweetness was taken care by the Dates Tamarind Chutney.

As with all chutneys, this too has come up the blog in different avatar. While I was contemplating if I need to post a simple chutney as this, I was hoping that there are folks out there who, like me, forget where to find it right away. Yes another version of Green chutney is hidden within some posts, that I can never find it when I want. With a Recipe Index that hardly gets updated, you can imagine my plight!

School closed today for the boys, and yes they managed to miss the entire week. They won't budge from their place, after being so used to sleep late. When we threatened them with dire consequences like a week more of school, Peddu stirred slightly saying he will go today. By then it was time for the bus and we said he anyway can't make it. We finally told them that they will be having an extra week of school. Not sure if they actually believed me, but they looked worried enough.

I was early to home today because of full day power shutdown. As always when I get home early, my only notion would be to complete my work early on. However as always the never ending phone calls and the kids hungama never lets me work in peace. I am glad that all I had to do is simply write, which I can do while talking to people as well.

Mint Coriander Chutney

Ingredients Needed

1 bunch fresh mint
1 bunch fresh coriander
Garlic - 5 -6 cloves
Ginger - 1"
Green chillies - 4
Sugar - 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp
Lime juice - 1 tsp

How to make the Green Chutney

Wash and trim the leaves. chop them roughly. take all the ingredients in a mixer and pulse it to get them evenly chopped. Then slowly add water and run for couple of times for the leaves to get ground to a smooth paste.

Adjust the spice and add more chilies if it's not spicy.

Notes:

Instead of cumin seeds you can add ajwain as well. If you want this to be a spread, you can mix in hung curds to make it more thick.

In season, you can add few slices of raw mango to get that tangy taste as well.

Logo courtesy : Preeti

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 27

Meetha Chutney | Sweet Dates and Tamarind Chutney | Khajur Imli Chutney for Chats

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:55:00 +0000

Meetha Chutney or Sweet Dates Tamarind Chutney is one of those mostly widely used chutneys in almost all chats. We can simply make a big box of this and use it on all or any chat and I am sure you will love it more. I made this chutney during the chat series and I was able to manage many of the chats that followed. The dabeli tasted awesome more because of this inclusion, not to mention the Burger Tikki Chat or the Vada Pav.

Apart from this recipe, I have couple of more variations, each one adding to it's unique taste. for Bhel I make two types of Imli Chutney, one Tamarind chutney that doesn't call for much of a chutney and the other with dates and Dry red chilies. For Samosas, the tamarind chutney that's made is again different as it has syrup sort of texture. That's for another day for sure.

When I had made these for the chats, Konda loved it. I am waiting for the time when the boys would like it as well. Talking of whom, they again bunked school today and tomorrow being the last working day, I am hoping they will go. Their class teacher said it's ok since they are so small. She promised to teach them once the school reopens. But I was getting worried not because they are missing out so many lessons, but missing time spent at school. I know there is still time to think about studying.

Come Monday we are not sure how to engage the boys. Lucky for me, I will be off to work! Only my ears might bloat when I return home, Athamma will make sure I hear everything of what they did and it will mostly be complaints, so I could miss it I feel. My sil are planning to visit us, so waiting for their visits so that kids can enjoy their stay. That reminds me, we are yet to plan for menus, I am sure hubby dear will decide as he does every year.

Well enough of my rambling, back to the Meetha Chutney which was sweet enough to make the Vada Pav more tasty!

Dates Tamarind Chutney | Khajur Imli Chutney

Ingredients Needed

Tamarind, seedless - 1 big lemon size
Dates, pitted - 1/2 cup (10 nos)
Jaggery, grated - 1/2 cup
Water - 2 cups
Fennel - 1 tsp
Roasted Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Kala Namak a pinch
Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp

How to make Khajur Imli Chutney

Wash the tamarind and keep it aside. In a pressure cooker, take the tamarind, dates, and jaggary, add water. Pressure cook for 2 -3 whistles. Once done, allow the pressure to fall down.

Then allow to cool, add more water and mix well. Strain it through a sieve to remove all the impurities if any

Dilute with more water and put it back to be cooked. Add the spices along with salt Bring to boil.

Simmer and continue cooking until you get a smooth paste.

Cool and store in an airtight container, use as required.

Notes:

Make sure you cook the chutney for while, so that all the water is evaporated and the chutney is thick.
This way on refrigeration, it stays over weeks nearly. It's been nearly a month since I made this, it's still fresh and good.

Logo courtesy : Preeti

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 27

Shengdaana Lehsun Chutney | Peanut Garlic Chutney for Vada Pav

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 17:14:00 +0000

We are entering into the last and the fourth week of the full month Blogging Marathon. We had decided on four different themes for each week, and somehow the fourth week ended up being Crafts and arts, mostly related to food is what we all assumed and presumed. Anyway all for the artist that I am, I can hardly get myself interested to certain things. Whether I can actually do it or not is the point, I don't have interest.

So when Rajani suggested for lesser mortals like us, we must take interest, meaning we can hardly pave our hands through a needle or in this matter waddle our way through food cravings. Of course Rajani was just being too modest and shy at not wanting too much attention to the finer things she is capable of. Well I wasn't worried that I might be cause for her readers to miss out some wonderful stuff from her, I was more worried about myself. So I jumped the gun and said we will do Misc. Now to my understanding I have always given Misc a very wide berth. If you must know more than what I can fit myself in..:)

Anyway that allowed me enough space to breathe and feel happy that I can actually plan something decant and not think I must throw up idea that a 4 year old might not want to even check out. In the process, I decided that the best I could do, given the situation, was a condiment theme. Now the bad rush was to take fancy pictures of all the condiment that I had to prepare in the process of making the previous posts.

Can you imagine the funny state, I shared the main recipe, left out all the chutneys and other sides. Imagine if at all somebody actually wanted to make the recipe, they must be wondering I am gone nuts! Anyway I would've been very happy had somebody actually asked me, well till now none did, so here I am finally presenting the sides that made those other dishes so complete and delicious.

So for the next seven days you will be reading about the condiments that I had prepared during the marathon.

First in the series is the Peanut Garlic Chutney that makes up the delicious Vada Pav. I will leave the marathi pronunciation to yourself. Please feel free to practise it as many times as you want. I have given up!

Shengdaana Lehsun Chutney

Ingredients Needed

Dry Coconut / Copra - 1 cup
Sesame seeds - 1/3 cup
Roasted Peanuts, coarsely ground - 1/2 cup
Garlic - 15-20 cloves
Dry red chillies - 2 long
Salt to taste

How to make the chutney

Roast the coconut on a low fire till it begins to turn golden.

Roast the sesame seeds in the same way.

Mix all the ingredients except the peanuts together and grind in a food processor.

When done add the peanuts and mix well. Season with salt.

Notes

This dry chutney can actually go very well with rice as well.

When I used in Vada Pav, I increased the spice level by add chili flakes directly on the tawa and roasted the buns as I saw the cooks doing it in Ahmadabad. It was so delicious in fact.

Logo courtesy : Preeti

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 27

Icecream Tiramisu | How to make Eggless Ice cream Tiramisu

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 11:47:00 +0000

For the finally day of Seasonal Cooking, I made Ice cream Tiramisu. The first time I came to know about this dessert was of course through blogs. Though I have been forever planning to make the cake or whatever that it is supposed to be, I finally ended up making this Icecream

Tiramisu is an Italian dessert. It is made of ladyfingers dipped in coffee, layered with a whipped mixture of egg yolks and mascarpone cheese, and flavored with Marsala wine and cocoa. The recipe has been adapted into many varieties of puddings, cakes and other desserts. This is just what the explanation for the name goes, whereas many seems to have adapted making Tiramisu by different ways. The way it is layered alternating with coffee soaked biscuits, surely makes a great dessert.

Ice cream Tiramisu

When I made the Vanilla and Chocolate Icecream, I decided to save some to make these for the final day. I was almost not sure if I would be able to make it. We went for a weekend wedding at Cochin and came back home with all the boys falling sick with fever. Since I had scheduled the Aam Panna, it was such a saver.

I took the day off for moral support, it turned out that kids were more engrossed in TV than wanting my support. It is only natural that I made the best use of the time I could get and made this right away. To make things worse we have a power fluctuation and the microwave would not function more than 30 secs. With much struggle, I finally baked two sets of Vanilla and Chocolate cakes for the individual serving. I was supposed to bake a bigger one and cut shapes. Well I felt it was much easier to bake in those cute little tupperware cups I have.

Vanilla Sponge Cake and Chocolate Cake in Microwave

All purpose flour - 1/2 cup
Icing Sugar - 3 tsp
Vanilla essence few drops
Baking powder - 1/4 tsp

For the chocolate cake

Cocoa - 2 tsp
Icing Sugar - 1 tsp

First blend the batter for the Vanilla Sponge Cake. Scoop out two ladles of batter and transfer to a 1/4 cup baking cup. Microwave for 2 mins. Allow to cool down.

To the remaining batter add the cocoa powder and a tsp of icing powder. Equally divide the batter inot the baking cups and again bake for 2 mins.

Icecream Tiramisu

To make 2 individual servings

Ingredients Needed

Chocolate Icecream - 2 - 3 scoops
Vanilla Icecream - 2 scoops
Instant Coffee powder - 1 tsp
Sugar - 1 tsp
Vanilla Sponge Cake
Chocolate Cake
Chocolate Syrup - 2 tsp
Drinking Chocolate - 1 tsp
Chocolate Chip

Boil 1/4 cup of water with sugar until it melts, dissolve the instant coffee in it and keep it aside.

To assemble the Tiramisu

In the serving bowl,
Pour the Chocolate Syrup.
Place the Vanilla icecream.
Next goes the Chocolate Sponge Cake
Second scoop of Vanilla Icecream
Second Vanilla Sponge Cake
Drizzle the coffee decoction
Chocolate Ice cream
Vanilla Ice cream
Drinking Chocolate powder
Chocolate chip

Once all this is done, freeze till firm and serve

From the beginning of this full month Marathon, I always knew what I was going to do for the first two weeks and the last. The Seasonal theme was the only one that really scared me. Unintentionally I ended up selecting Ice Creams and was able to make it, even with a faulty freezer.

I have always been making Ice creams, so this was nothing new for me. Except I went beyond my comfort zone of only chocolate flavour and used other flavours as well. I was glad that all the flavours turned out well and everybody at home loved it.

I am hoping to save up these two so that everybody can get to eat this.

Logo courtesy : Preeti

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 27

Aam Panna | How to make Aam Ka Panna | Raw Mango Juice

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 00:34:00 +0000

The first time I made Aam panna was for a crown of 100 and I was making it for the first time! The simple trust my colleagues had on me that I would surely know how to make, was quite enough to make it without hesitation. I wasn't sure if I had actually given proper attention to the recipe whenever it was that I read it, but I knew what goes in and got all the ingredients scaled up.

We had bought six kgs of raw mango, the best the city had to offer as they were really so plump and green! In the end we felt five kgs should have been suffice. And for a crowd that was also tasting it for the first time, it was a different experience. While folks from North went on to their third glass, down south folks came up to me and said I should have chosen ripe mangoes. I said then it wouldn't be called Aam Panna.

Anyway Panna was so delicious and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of making this for such large quantity.

Since we were making a large amount, I roasted the cumin separately and powdered it. The mint leaves were ground with pepper and salt. We adjusted after adding each one directly

Ingredients Needed

Raw Mangoes, green and unripe - 2 large sized
Sugar - 3/4 cup or increase if needed
Water
Crushed ice

To be ground together

Kala Namka / Black Salt as per taste
Roasted Cumin powder - 1 & 1/2 tsp
Black Pepper - 1/2 tsp
Fresh mint leaves - 1/2 tightly packed cup

How to make Aam Panna

Boil the two large raw mangoes in a pressure cooker. Cook for 3 whistles or 10 minutes. Let them cool.

Peel the skin and collect the flesh/pulp from the mangoes. Once cool, pulse it couple of times to get a smooth paste

Powder sugar to fine.

For the masala powder, grind together roasted cumin powder, pepper powder, kala namak and mint leaves in a mixer to a smooth paste.

Transfer the mango pulp to a bowl, add the ground masala powder to the pulp along with powdered sugar. Adjust the water according to taste.

Stir well. Add crushed ice and garnish with some fresh mint leaves.

Enjoy a glass of refreshingly cool Aam Panna and you will be hooked!

Logo courtesy : Preeti

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 27

Almond Ice Cream | How to make Badam Ice Cream

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 00:21:00 +0000

Next in the Ice cream series you have Almond Ice cream to please your senses. I had this recipe for Roasted Almond Ice cream. Some as I was making it completely got changed into something else. The reaction was that the kids were playing on the system and I couldn't check out what went in. And I didn't want to keep asking them to give me a moment.

I think that calls for the almonds to be roasted and adding as such. I thought adding Badam powder would be even better. I had the MRT Badam mix, which is a badam drink flavoured with Cardamom. So ended up adding that along with Condensed Milk and cream. You can imagine how creamy the entire mix was. I couldn't wait to freeze this! When I was about to click pictures, I simply garnished with almond slivers. Once the clicking was over, hubby dear was the first to taste and he wanted to complete the entire bowl. Boys were not interested as it wasn't chocolate, will have to convince them that its Vanilla and add chocolate sauce!

We are leaving for a weekend trip to attend a marriage, so this post is scheduled. Boys are so excited about the trip as they are travelling by train since school started. The previous occasion they were very small and didn't know much. I know we are going to have handful and quite some experience!

Will regale our tales once I am back, until then enjoy this Almond Ice cream

Sending this to Pavani, who is hosting Kid's Delight, themed on "5 Ingredient Fix"

You know the mix is ready when it completely coats the back like this

Almond Ice Cream

Ingredients Needed

Milk - 1/2 litre
Corn flour - 3 tsp
Badam Mix - 3 tsp
Condensed Milk - 1/2 cup

How to make the Almond Ice Cream

Boil half litre of milk, once it boils over simmer and remove a cup aside and allow it to cool.

To the cup, add corn flour and make a lumpless mix. Add this to the simmer milk. Next add the Badam Mix and condensed milk.

Continue stirring, making sure the flame is in low. After 5 mins you will see the liquid getting thick as corn flour solidifies. When the back of the ladle is completely covered when you stir in, you know the mix is done.

Switch off and cool. When it is cooled, freeze it to set. This takes about 6 hrs.

Once set, while serving garnish with Almond slivers and enjoy!

Notes:

Since you are adding corn flour, condensed milk, there is less chance for ice cystalization happening. Still you can whip it after one round of freezing.

Logo courtesy : Preeti

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 27

Chocolate Ice Cream with Ice cream Powder

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 06:00:00 +0000

While I was making the Vanilla Ice Cream from the ready made Ice cream powder, I knew my boys won't eat the white stuff, meaning nothing other than chocolate is what fancies them. They were happy when I told them that I am making Chocolate Ice cream as well. So I removed half of it and made chocolate ice cream. When I was doing this recipe, I had three other flavours ready.

However they were interested only in the chocolate, so I had whipped only this and when they came home, their ice cream was waiting. I had a similar feedback from them as well as what Konda said. So all my fear was misplaced. I am glad that this didn't turn into a flop story.

It's amazing that the fear that I had dreading the moment when I turn it down and still see the custard in place. Worse was imaging who will eat the whole lot if it turned out to be so. As such there is whole lot I could avoid, so I can't afford to have these slipping on to my waist! After clicking, when I offered this to Konda, she wanted me to taste. I refused saying I wasn't particularly interested. She said I must taste it, having taken so much efforts to prepare it. I said I was more than happy to see her reaction, than eating it and then regretting it. Not that I haven't tasted any of it.

Least did she know that my vote doesn't actually matter, as this is Kid's delight that I was making, it surely needed their approval. Once she was reading and asked what this was all about. I explained and said I was recording all her approved dishes and the dishes she likes. Which is in fact true, but having known about this, this surely got her elated and happy in being talked about. Couple of days following this conversation, she was trying very hard to please me with her food habits, hoping I would update that Konda was eating this and that. This incident happened more than couple of years, she is now an young lady with even more specific ideas and tastes. However it's taken a better turn, I can actually talk to her and convince her on somethng, which is still near impossible with the boys.

Whatever might the other dishes be, all three stand on same thought when it comes to Chocolate Ice cream!

Sending this to Pavani, who is hosting Kid's Delight, themed on "5 Ingredient Fix"

The second whisking continues from the Vanilla Ice cream. I used pictures before the first beat, and in this post pictures from the second beat.

Chocolate Ice cream from Ice cream powder - Ready made

Ingredients

Half of the Vanilla Ice cream
Cocoa powder - 3 tsp
Milk - 1 cup

How to make the chocolate ice cream

In a bowl, mix the cocoa powder and milk. to the removed bowl of vanilla ice cream, add the cocoa mix and let it cook.

Continue cooking till the mix reaches it's thickness.

Allow to cool, freeze it until done.

After 6 -7 hrs, remove, break into shall pices and using a blender, beat it fine.

Refrigerate it again until set.

Logo courtesy : Preeti

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 27

Vanilla Icecream With Ready made Ice Cream powder

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 18:30:00 +0000

After having always made the Ice cream base myself, when I saw these ready to make Ice cream mixture I was very tempted to try one during this week. I know I made a mistake with my freezer not working to it's full capacity and with so many ice cream flavours coming out, it's been so hard. I am hoping we would complete all the flavours by the time I make the next one.

When I started to make out the Vanilla Ice cream, the recipe called for 2 litres of milk. I simply went ahead with a litre and somehow sort of followed with the rest in the typical eyeball fashion. The day I follow a recipe to the T, would surely be a special day. Well coming back to my experience of making ice cream from ready made pack, the moment the mix was boiled, it simply looked like a custard base. I was so disappointed and upset! I concluded that I was taken for a royal ride.

Thinking that I might have to title this post as "Expected Vanilla Ice Cream turned out to be custard"! I was also thinking how smartly I might have to put across this recipe, given that fact that I don't have time, nor energy to make another dish. Plus the amount of milk and butter that has gone into this. Well the taste was very good, so if actually serve this dish saying it's a custard, you got your money back is what I decided. This was yesterday. Meaning I rushed in to make this before I left for work, came home at night to see the texture being still custard like. I was dishearten However with a trait that comes to food bloggers, I was hopeful I will make something of this dish and get my folks to eat and proclaim that this was the best custard they have had in their life!

A day later, thankfully, I need not resort to any of those tactics. When I took it out the ice cream bowl, it was thick and creamy. All I had to do was whip it again and put it back. I had given both Vanilla and chocolate that I made with this to Konda and she said wow it tastes like the shop one. I asked if the other flavours that she had been enjoying all these days, she very diplomatically said all those tasted great as well, however this tastes like a shop one. Kids know how to talk!

Sending this to Pavani, who is hosting Kid's Delight, themed on "5 Ingredient Fix"

Vanilla Ice cream with Ready made powder

Ingredients Needed:

Vanilla Ice cream ready-made powder - 100 ml

Milk - 1 litre

Sugar 1 & 1/2 cup

Unsweetened butter - 100 ml

How to make Vanilla Ice cream

In a bowl, empty the vanilla ice cream powder, add sugar, 50 gms butter, boiled milk. Cook over medium flame, till the liquid thickens.

When the consistency becomes thick, switch and allow to cool.

Freeze and let it set till firm. Remove and beat again.

Freeze again till it sets.

Once set, serve with chocolate ganache and chocolate chip!

Notes:

After 6 hrs of setting or immediately after being cooked, this will look more like a custard, you should freeze it further for it to set.

Logo courtesy : Preeti

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 27

Almond Pista Shrikhand | How to make Shirkhand with Almond Pistachio

noreply@blogger.com (Srivalli) — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 06:30:00 +0000

Being a food blogger surely rubs off your family as well. Even though there was a time when my need to click a picture before they could eat, used to irritate my folks, they have now advanced so much that they even ask me if I have clicked pictures before attacking the food. Not just that, they even suggest ideas and new ways to cook food. And not just that they even started talking about the cookery shows that are now such a common part of all the channels.

Yesterday it was a full fundo of such discussions among us, which started with hubby dear updating me on the wonderful recipe he was lucky to watch while eating his lunch. He even told me what exactly the cook did. She too strawberries, asked us to wash, chop, take milk, mixer. Add chopped berries, milk and sugar, run it for couple of minutes until smooth. Remove lid, taste, add more sugar if you want. Else remove to a long fancy glass, and your Strawberry Milkshake is ready! He said that was such a tough recipe that Athamma was watching with unabated breath and he was hoping the cook would come up with a last minute twist. But then she asked the host to drink and the dish was done.

This followed another discussion with kids during their bedtime. Hubby dear continued that after that tough strawberry recipe, he had stumbled upon another equally competing dish and went on to proceed. Hearing their father being so enthusiastic about making drinks, Peddu asked if I knew how to make Hot Chocolate. On hearing that we don't know, he said in steps how to do it! Take 1 tsp of drinking chocolate, 1 glass of hot milk and run the liquid between two glasses for everything to get mixed (of course he said that in telugu). Hearing his brother explain how hot chocolate is made, Chinnu didn't want to appear otherwise, so he asked us if we know how to make Bour vita drink. Unheeding our protests for not explaining, he happily explained. In the end, Hubby dear commented it was high time I created food blogs for Peddu and Chinnu.

Well with exactly these thoughts I had created a blog for Konda, which I hardly get time to update, at one point she wanted to make something and share on the blog. I said I have enough food blogs on hand to manage, I don't need another!

Now coming to the recipe for today, it's another delicious authentic dish from Gujarat and Rajasthan. Now I might never can say the exact origin of Shrikhand. I had made one version of Shrikhand earlier during Rajasthan RCI. And this is entirely another way of making it, though you surely end up with some delicious treat on hand. The last time I had made was with mangoes, and the Mango Shrikhand tastes yum as well! This one is inspired by the NDTV recipes and this is surely a keeper.

Sending this to Pavani, who is hosting Kid's Delight, themed on "5 Ingredient Fix"

Almond and Pista Shrikhand

Ingredients Needed

Milk - 1/2 liter

Saffron, a pinch

Hung curds - 500 gms

Castor sugar - 1/2 cup (increase based on how sour your curds is)

Pistas, finely chopped, 25 grams

Almonds, silvers - 25 grams

How to make Almond Pista Shrikhand

Hung curds overnight or for about 6 - 7 hours. Using a fork or a beater, beat the curds well.

Meanwhile in a pan, infuse saffron and milk. Boil them for 15 mins. Allow the milk to really cool down.

In a bowl, add hung curd, add caster sugar till the sweet is right.

Once the milk is cooled, slowly add it in small amount into the hung curds and blend well.

Continue till you complete all the milk, add chopped pistas and almonds, keep some for final garnish.

Set them in a bowl and garnish it with chopped pistas and almonds.

Keep it in the fridge for 4 - 5 hrs.

Serve chilled.

Notes:

While adding castor sugar, you can start from spoonfull and continue until you get a sweet curds. It almost took me 1/2 cups or little more.

This can be chilled in a big bowl and served in individual bowls later.

Logo courtesy : Preeti

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 27