The Mad Scientist's Kitchen!!

Peas Payasa / Kheer

2012-01-30T22:48:00.002+05:30

Like I said in my last post here I will try Payasa/Kheer made out of peas.

Since it was Pappa’s birthday yesterday i.e. the 29^th Jan this virtual Payasa/Kheer is for him.

I am sure I will hear complaints that it is not sufficient but then Pappa you have to come down to Goa for this or make it yourself. Here is the recipe for you!!

Ingredients:

1 cup green peas (I used fresh)

3 cups milk

¼ cup sugar (adjust as per taste)

2-3 green cardamom, ground

Implements:

Sieve

A thick bottomed kadhai/wok

A spoon to stir (Amitabh Bachhan is fine)

Your blender or mixer

Method:

1. Wash the green peas and drain them in a sieve.

2. Put the milk in a thick bottomed kadhai/wok and put it on the gas on low flame. Stir occasionally bring down to ½ the original quantity.

3. Now add the sugar and peas and let it boil till the peas are well cooked.

4. Now let the whole thing cool fully. (This is important).

5. Transfer the contents to the mixer in case your hand held one is not working and grind the peas to your satisfaction.

6. Boil it for a few minutes after transferring it back to the kadhai/wok and add the cardamom powder.

7. Serve chilled.

P.S. I felt it will be easier if you ground the peas first. Fine will be better you will not have the peels in your mouth. Otherwise yummy.

Happy Birthday Pappa!!

Linking this to Taste of Pearl City's Anyone Can Cook Series 40

Archana

Soothing Dalia Soup

2012-01-26T09:47:00.003+05:30

I had then chosen to make Godi Kuttid Payasa for Blog Hop. Yummy and creamy and in short delicious! Living in a family of sweet haters or rather choosy sweet eaters (for there are few sweets that are eaten) I have forgotten about payasa or kheer.

In my mother’s place breakfast menu was fixed jowar roti and bhaji, chutney and curds or chapatti, bhaji and payasa. Amma used to make many kinds of payasa moong daal, seviya, carrots, bottle gourd, sweet potato she was not as adventurous to make out of peas but I am sure that will taste good too. They will have to be boiled and then crushed so that the kheer looks lovely green and yummy. Hmmm...! I will make some for myself tomorrow and let you know.

Anyway where was I……? Godi Kuttid payasa or Dalia… when I made this kheer slurp… I had quite forgotten that Dalia increases in volume when cooked! So after I got over my shock I stored quite a bit of cooked Dalia in my freezer! Thank God for such handy gadgets.

After some days I forgot about it... (nothing new here). Then I had a monster of a cold. It was so bad that I had to miss work for two days and I was craving for a warm soothing drink, soup. Being Thursday the local takeaway was closed and anyway I did not want anything that had oil or fat of any sort in it. This is when I remembered this cooked Dalia.

Do you know it is believed in Goa that drinking suji or rava reduces the cold clears the mucus. At least in case of kids, but I was desperate, willing to grab any straws and so I made this brew that looked like a witches broth but was nevertheless something that I loved. I finished all of it all by myself. Kids & hubby dear looked at it and told me that he is having soup that was fetched from the restaurant in the marketJ!!

Ingredients:

1 ½ litres water

1-2 lemon grass leaf, tied

Some stalks of coriander
1/4 tsp turmeric

15-20 tulsi leaves, coarsely chopped

5-6 pudina/mint leaves, torn (optional)

½ lemon

1 cup (approx) cooked dalia

Few moong sprouted (optional)

Salt

Pepper powder

Coriander leaves

Method:

1. Boil the water. Switch off the gas.

2. Add the lemon grass, coriander stalks.

3. Let it stand for at least 10 minutes. Then strain the water.

4. Discard the coriander stalks (you can chop the stalks fine and use them I did not have the patience) and lemon grass.

5. Return the water to the flame add the dalia, moong, turmeric,salt, pepper and bring to boil. Say 5-10 minutes.

6. Switch off the gas add all the greens, lemon juice.

7. Drink up hot.

Notes; You can add garlic if you want I dont think I did.

Linking to
Kirthi’s WWC Couscous/Broken Wheat

Priya’s Healthy Diet Event~Warm Soups

Vardhini’s New "U"

Archana

Chocolate Strawberry(Ban)offee Pie~A Sweet Punch

2012-01-23T23:31:00.000+05:30

There are times when I could tear my hair when it comes to my family’s tastes in food!

Why?Here is the story….

When Sweet Punch announced banoffee pie from Swapana's place as the chosen one I was sure I will sit it out.

I was sure that no one will eat banana in a pie and that since Dulce de Leche is too sweet for my family's tastes. I do not mind it told myself and was quite relaxed about it.

But then I generally do not give so easily and the idea germinated in my very fertile mind I started unconsciously thinking of the substitutes for bananas and zeroed on to strawberries.

Then I thought of using little Dulce de Leche and chocolate since Kid no. 1 Apeksha keeps telling me to make strawberries and chocolate.

So with this idea I started searching the net and found this (link) for Chocolate banoffe pie. This strengthened my conviction that it is possible to make this pie with chocolate.

I made dulce first for this I followed Priya's method of steaming the milkmaid in the cooker for 45 minutes. Since I wanted to use the stuff cold I prepared it the earlier day, the same day as I prepared the base for the pastry.

Oh! One more thing I used the weighing scale pretty rare for me. :)

I also apologise for the pics but there is only so much you can do when you are being asked to hurry up and finish, let us eat in peace etc. Next time i make it will post better pics and update.

Ingredients:

125grms Marie biscuits

40 grms butter (unsalted)

50 grms salted butter

1 tblspn cocoa powder

1/4 cup brown sugar

195 grms of dulce

40grms dark chocolate, melted

1/2 tbs golden syrup

150ml thickened cream

250 grms strawberries (can use more), sliced

Method:

1. Crush the biscuits to fine crumb with the cocoa.

2. Melt 40 grms butter and add to the crumbs. Mix well or run the mixer press in the tart tin. Since I have I tart tin of about 10 cms I used that.

3. Chill the recipe says 20 minutes but I let it stay overnight.

4. Arrange the strawberry slices on the pie. (I found that 250 grms are too less. I should have used at least 400-500 grms).

5. Place sugar and remaining butter in a pan over low heat, stirring, until butter has melted.

6. Add dulce and stir over low heat for 3-4 minutes.

7. Remove from heat, and then add chocolate and golden syrup, stirring to combine.

8. Fill tart shells with mixture, smoothing tops with a palette knife. Chill for at least 1 hour to set.

9. Whip cream until soft peaks form.

10. When ready to serve, place tarts on plates, top with whipped cream, then dust with chocolate spaghetti.

After eating sorry demolishing this they tell me they would have not minded eating the pie with bananas or apples but with chocolate! Grrrrrrrr…!

Notes

Mistake one I put the whipped cream on the pie and then set it so it did not set as well.
Next time before all this exercise DISCUSS THE RECIPE. You may get away with what has been told!!

Sending this to

Annz Valentine Special

Kavi's Kids delight

Ramya's ABC Desserts

Amy's Midweek Feista

- Srivalli's Chocolate Mela

Teenz' Valentine's Day event

Srav's Chocolate Fest

Archana

Kadli/Harbara Chat

2012-01-20T22:47:00.001+05:30

We had been on a vacation to Mahableshwar and Pachgani. On our way back much to the girl’s irritation I brought what in Marathi is called “Harbara” in Kannada called “Kadli Gida”. They are lucky I did not buy red chillies that were on sale in a local market. Can you imagine the state the car would have been? As it is with the sugar cane we had picked there was no place!

We followed the Kolhapur –Amboli Highway to come back to Goa. On the way in Amboli Akanksha wanted to see the waterfalls. So we stoped blissfully forgetting all about open windows, monkeys and this treat stored in the back.

So Akanksha had a visitor who thankfully jumped right out with his booty. Here he is.

After that we rolled up the windows and came down promptly. No more stops!! Never have we covered the distance so fast. Next time I will specifically carry some offering for the monkeys!!

Okay anyway the left over got a makeover something I had eaten during my school days in Indore I think, I remember very vaguely there were vendors who went around with these beautiful green tender chickpeas and in an iron kadhai/wok roasting these . It was served with a garnish of lime juice, chat masala and chilli powder. Yummy!!

Of course I had to try it.

Here are the pics. Only addition I have made is chopped onion.

These go directly to the pan and are roasted till they wilt a bit or you cannot stand the lovely aroma.

Add salt,rock salt, chilli powder, amchur and since I could not find chaat masala I added pani puri masala.

Just as you are removing from the pan add the lime juice.( remember heat destroys Vit C.)

No proportions adjust to suit your taste.

Serve hot.

Wish I can have some more now.

Sending this to

Sukanys's @Saffron Streakscooking with seeds Chick peas started by Priya

Vardhini’sHealthy U

Anusha’sStreet food

Gayathri'sDoem the Memory Lane

Fast Food not Fat Food by Priya Sreeram started by Priya Mahadevan

Archana

Yorkshire Parkin(?)/Cake

2012-01-17T21:56:00.000+05:30

Why the question mark after the Parkin you may ask?

Well I did not know what Parkin is till this moment and what I have baked is definitely not parkin. Parkins are North English form of ginger bread. I left out the most important ingredient ginger not because I don’t have it my people do not like ginger much. So it is more of a cake than a parkin.

The whole story began When Susan of a The Well-Seasoned Cook put up this beautiful picture of Yorkshire Parkin I flipped.

I had to make it!

I did not see the name of the post I just straight away bookmarked it. Then the print out was hanging as a notice on fridge just waiting for me to just make it.

Finally on Sunday I made it. And was it yummy.

Of course I made changes here is the original yummy recipe.

It was so yummy before I could make the topping it was over. So next time I will make 2 of this so that I can peacefully try the icing.

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ tsp cinnamon powder (next time I will use 1 tsp)

2 tsp red chilli powder ( next time will use about 3 tsp)+ 1 tsp for dusting on top (optional)
1 cup quick-cooking oats (also known as thin oats)
1 cup milk + 1 cup more (if needed)
4 tablespoons butter (or margarine)
½ cup golden syrup
½ cup honey

1/3 cup of chocolate chips (as baking is never done without chocolate in my place)

Method:

1. In a bowl soak oats in milk for one hour.

2. Preheat oven to 180ºC.

3. Grease a 9”by 7” tray.

4. In a large bowl, mix flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon powder and chilli powder.

5. Melt butter and add to the oats along with golden syrup, honey.

6. Mix well then add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and chocolate chips.

7. Beat with a wire whisk till well blended. Since my batter was very thick I added a little milk.

8. Pour in the greased tray. Dust the chilli powder on top and bake for 30 minutes. You may bake it till the cake is slightly brown or the knife comes out clean.

Priya and Aipi's Bookmarked recipes

Annz Valentine Special

Kavi's Kids delight

Ramya's ABC Desserts

Bake fest @The Pumpkin Farm started by Vardhini

Amy's Midweek Feista
- Srivalli's Chocolate Mela

Archana

Cornflakes Chocolate Truffles

2012-01-16T20:40:00.000+05:30

My elder daughter had asked me to buy corn flakes, Kellogg’s honey flavoured.

Generally I buy the sachets but since honey flavoured ones in sachets and packs were not available I brought the plain ones. She did eat them but did not enjoy them. Thankfully I had brought only a dozen so the last one was lying around hoping that someone does take pity in it.

Then I remembered the cornflakes chocolate truffles I had read in Good Housekeeping.

My younger kid loved it so much that she wrote down all the ingredients and the measures. Thanks baby love you.

The pictures are not too good these are the best photoscape could do. Will update some other

Here is the recipe directly

200 g dark chocolate

60 g butter

Zest of 1 lemon

60 g cornflakes

Paper cups or tissue paper

Method:

1. Melt chocolate in a double boiler.

2. Remove from heat.

3. Add butter and mix well till butter dissolves add the zest and mix well.

4. Lastly add cornflakes and mix.

5. Spoon in paper cups or tissue paper.

6. Cool in the fridge for 10 minutes (if your little helper lets it stand that is) and serve.

Sending this Sravs Culinary Concepts

Archana

Sabudana Thalippeth

2012-01-14T23:48:00.000+05:30

I would first like to thank all of you my friends for the lovely messages, prayers and thought that you have sent when I was feeling depressed.

I do realize that I am just a small pawn in God's master plan and he will give me strength in the form of you guys.

From now on I will take care of my health and blogging also for both are food for my life. They uplift me. I realize I cannot function without the other.

Long ago I had posted the recipe of sabudana khichidi you can find the recipes here,here and here but I had also mentioned that you can make sabudana thalipeeth. Here is what you will need.

Ingredients:

3 cups sabudana/sago, wash & soak overnight with a little water

¼ cup groundnuts roasted, peeled & ground (you can use ½ cup or more if you want but I avoid as we get acidity also I do not peel the groundnuts)

2-3 green chillies (adjust as per taste), chopped fine

Juice of ½ lemon or 1/2 cup curd

½ tsp Sugar

2 tblspn coconut

1 tsp jeera seeds

3-4 tblspn milk

2-3 potatoes boiled and grated

Salt as per taste

Coriander, chopped fine

Ghee as needed

Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients except the ghee to soft dough.

2. On a non stick tava take a tennis ball of the dough and flatten.

3. Make a hole in the centre and add 2-3 tsp of ghee and fry on low heat covered till one side is done.

4. Turn over and fry the other side.

5. Serve hot.

6. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Since the tava will be hot pat the ball on a foil, my SIL does it on a plastic and transfers it to the tava. Since I am not comfortable with either methods I use 2 tavas alternately, waiting for them to cool down.

Sending this Valli's Kids delight

Archana

Potato Fry~A Blog Hop

2012-01-11T09:12:00.000+05:30

For the last few months I have not been able to read, comment or post maybe it’s a writer’s block or because I have not been too well.

I had a scare that I will be getting carpel tunnel syndrome added to it was tremendous weight gain, general aches and pains that keep me away from the computer. Compounding my heartache was that one of my friend’s is suffering from cancer and another friend’s 5 year old is also down to the dreaded disease. Both have to undergo chemo and radiation therapy. This is enough to depress me!!

So I have been living commitments to commitments. Of which Blog Hop happens to be one!

At the cost of repeating myself again I have to say that I am enjoying myself. For where else are you going to meet new friends, and read through the blog in detail to search for a dish that you can make to suit your needs?

For the new version of blog hop Radhika has paired me with Anusha Parveen of Tomato Blues. Anusha has got some lovely recipes out there (I have copied and printed some of them to try out slowly in a bid to make my bookmarked list smaller. Now my daughter is telling me I am not environment friendlyL). Also Anusha has announced an event called Street Food at her place. Do send in your entries. I will certainly send in mine only need to get myself in action. This is the kid’s favourite foods so I will have plenty of suggestions.

Coming to today’s entry for the blog hop this is an evergreen veggie that I chose Baby Potato fry.

Anusha has used baby potatoes to make her veggie but I decided not to wait for the baby potato to visit us. You see I needed a veggie for our meal. There were no vegetables that were purchased from the market except the 4 potatoes that had escaped my fry pan just before our vacations so here it is the delicious fry from Anusha’s place Tomato Blues.

I have for once followed Anush’a recipe but the major change was that I used regular potatoes that I boiled (in the cooker), peeled and cubed.

Also I wanted them fried crisp I did not have the patience as I very bad bad cold so this ended up in the bowl faster than what I had visualised but was never the less tasty.

Thanks Anusha for a jiffy vegetable that was satisfying and specially that does not need much of a preparation.I served it garnished with chillies lovely pungent ones. Try it especially when you have a cold!

Linking to Blog Hop Wednesday

Archana

Mixed Pulao

2012-01-04T22:32:00.001+05:30

First let me wish all my friends “A Very Happy New Year”! Sorry I have arrived in my usual susegad manner but better late than never!!

For the New Year as it is our practice I ran away from Panaji, Goa. This time we friends met at Pachgani.

We had a fabulous time first visiting the Raigad fort, where we met a guide who was obsessed with toilets!! He showed us the attached toilets that Chatrapati Shivaji’s six wives who stayed on the fort had. Can you imagine the toilet seat is still intact and you can see how well it was designed for all the exits! His ministers who ran all the 8 forts that Chatrapati Shivaji reigned over had attached toilets too! Hmmm I am also talking about toilets now!

Chatrapati Shivaji had a big bath tub in his quarters!

But jokes apart the king was a visionary where else will you have a fort built, the stone quarried from the site itself so that there is a lake formed and you are self sufficient in water. For the coronation you need to have an elephant ride after the ceremony but since you cannot get an elephant to come up on the mountain he bought an elephant calf and groomed it. The climb to the fort is steep about 1500 steps and they are ‘deed pauli’ that is 1 ½ step each.

I refused to use the stairs imagine using about 1500 steps! Whew the thought was enough to break me in cold sweat. I told my friends that I was using the ropeway and will go down with all their bags.

Then from there we had a gala time in Pachgani thanks to Anju and her family.

But more about it later when I compile all the pics and make a write up on our trip.

Coming to today’s recipe that I made some time ago…

My elder daughter had her college picnic and I was instructed, yes instructed that she wanted just pulao.

My instructions did not end there I was told that it should be mildly spiced and should not be 'pachak' which is her way of saying she wants it a bit of red chili powder in it.

Now since I had made peas & tofu pulao just for the night before I really had a problem. How do I make something that does not taste like last night’s dinner?

Not left with much choice I decided to use cooked rice this time. As I did not have shahi biryani masala I decided to innovate and was amazed when we all liked the taste.

This is just to list out what I did so that I can use it as needed.

Ingredients:

2 cups basmati rice cooked

2 tblspn ghee

1 tsp jeera

1/2 tsp coriander seed

1/4 tsp sauf

3 cloves

4 pepper

1 stick cinnamon

1 elichi

1/2 tsp shahi jeera

1/2 tsp mace

1tsp chili powder

2 tsp ginger garlic paste

2 onions, chopped fine

2 cups peas

1/2 cup cauliflower

1 capsicum,sliced

1/2 cup carrots (I did not use)

Salt

Coriander to garnish

Method:

1. The earlier night I cooked the rice in the cooker 1 whistle

2. Dry roast shahi jeera, coriander seeds, cloves, pepper, cinnamon, elichi & sauf, mace till you get a nice aroma. (Next time try roasting them individually). The yield is about 2 tblspn.

3. In the morning heat ghee in a pan add all the jeera, till it changes colour now add the ground masala about 1 tsp.

4. Add the onions and fry till translucent, fry the ginger garlic paste.

5. Add the vegetables and sauté them with a little salt and chili powder. Cover and cook till the vegetables are tender. I added the capsicum just before the rice.

6. Add the cooked and fluffed rice. Mix well.

7. Switch off the gas. Keep the pan covered.

8. Garnish with coriander.

Sending to

Radhika's Cooking with Rice

HLI-Peas hosted by Veena started by Kalyani

Archana

Cup Cakes~A Blog Hop

2011-12-28T00:01:00.035+05:30

Blog hop this time Radhika has paired me with Priya of Now Serving!

If you know not Priya then you are missing deliciously simple recipes conceived out of a Mother’s love to nourish. Do visit her. She is a multifaceted personality always helping others. She was one of the many who guided me when I started out from anonymous blogger to the present day avatar.

Now choosing from Priya’s place is difficult for I was like a kid in the sweet shop. But my niece had come over with her mom for just 2 days.

I wanted to make all her favourite things. So we had Kadhai Paneer, Pulao, Bhajias and Cupcakes. (All these recipes except pulao all are what I have made from different blogs. Even the pulao is something that has registered over a period of time from reading all your blogs).

But Cupcakes were adapted from Priya’s blog and are named Rose Cupcakes. Here is Priya’s recipe.

Now I must confess I have made this cake 8 times for the season. Sorry no pictures I was too tired and distributed them almost immediately. Twice without eggs and 6 times with eggs.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter

2/3 cup sugar

3 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla essence

Zest of 1 lemon (I also used 1tbspn sweet lime and orange zest after I ran out of lemons)

1 ½ cup Maida

1 ½ tsp baking powder

¼ cup milk

1/3 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Method:

1. Grease the cupcake moulds or line them with cupcake liners.

2. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

3. Sift the Maida and baking powder else run a dry whisk in the bowl containing them.

4. Beat the sugar and butter till light and fluffy.

5. Add the lemon zest, vanilla and the eggs one at a time. Run the whisk through the mix till the eggs are well incorporated.

6. Add the chocolate chips and mix lightly.

7. Now alternate the flour and the milk and fold the mix with a spatula. Do not overfold.

8. Transfer to the greased moulds and bake for 12 minutes or till the knife inserted comes out clean.

9. Transfer to a wire rack and let them stand in the moulds for 10 minutes then turn them over and they slide out.

10. If the kids have patience for you to finish you can ice them like Priya has.

As the kids were eating some of the cakes I went about trying my hand at a simple icing.

I have here mixed powdered sugar with little water; just enough to get thick runny syrup mix in any colour you want. With a teaspoon drop it on the cake so that it coats the entire surface now sprinkle some colourful balls on them. Please remember the sprinkle have to go on the cake immediately else they do not stick.

When I made these cakes again I added orange colour in the cake batter with the zest. These too were a big hit I topped it with cut cherries that you get at the bakers. Though the cakes were well appreciated I was asked to keep the cherries out of the cakes.

Now the eggless version: All the ingredients are the same only substitute for each egg.

¼ cup buttermilk

¼ cup milk +1tbspl vinegar

¼ cup curd

In the second version I forgot all about the eggs till the cake went in the oven but since the cake batter was did not appear normal, yes normal I added juice of 2 sweet limes (about ¼ cup) and ½ cup milk.

Thanks Priya for this wonderful recipe. My friends have enjoyed the cakes I sent for Christmas.

Also thanks Radhika for you idea of baking in a foil I did not have to think as to how to distribute the cake, What mould to use more importantly, ho dear, wash the mould after every cake. Whew that was a relief! This recipe you can bake 1 cake (foil size I am told is 1 kg) and 2 muffins. Next time I will use two moulds of ½ kg.

Linking this to Blog Hop

Lets cook#10 Baked Goodies

Bake Fest #2 started by Vardhini hosted by Sangeeta of Spicy Treats

Srav's Culinary Concept's Holiday Baking

Kavi' Jingle all the way

Sending this to Julie's Christmas Delicacy

Pranati's Yummy Desserts for New Year

Archana

Peas and Tofu Pulao

2011-12-26T09:16:00.000+05:30

Winter heralds fresh vegetables, cauliflower, carrots, spinach and the freshest of peas.

Pretty and green all in a row!!

We all love peas especially if it means you get to eat them straight from the pods.

Generally we buy peas just for eating. So the tender ones get eaten and I am left with the others not so tender. This is especially true if Akanksha and her father sit to do the job.

I love peas to make the delicious peas pulao. I start out to make to pulao I want it restaurant style, rice white and the peas the only colour, but every time I make it I use coriander in my ginger garlic paste and end up with a greenish pulao which though I love is not what I am aiming at. Let me stress that no one complains in fact we all enjoy it but I am dissatisfied.

Last time when I made the same error I had a long talk with myself where after a lot of talking I have decided that though I love the herb to distraction even that needs some space.

Ingredients:

2 cups basmati rice

2 tblspn ghee

1 tsp jeera

3 cloves

4 pepper

1 stick cinnamon

2 tsp ginger garlic paste

2 onions, chopped fine

2 cups peas

100 grms tofu (plain not the silken one)

Salt

Coriander to garnish

Method:
1. Wash and drain the rice completely.
2. Cut the tofu in cubes and on a non-stick tava fry them golden.

3. Since I generally grind coriander and garlic to make my weekly/fortnightly paste this time I ground 1/2 an onion (so that the mixer has no problem) with the 1/2 " ginger 8 cloves garlic.

4. Heat a pan add all the jeera, cloves, pepper, cinnamon and dry roast till you get a nice aroma.

5. Now add the ghee and let the spices sizzle a bit. Fry the onions till translucent.

6. Add the drained rice and fry in the pan till again you get an aroma.

7. Add 4 cups water or use my 'gauthi' method of checking the water as the level of water should be a bit above your first knuckle when the fingers are resting on the rice.

8. Add the salt and cook on low flame on gas.

9. When the water level comes down to about the level of the rice add the peas& tofu and mix with a fork carefully. ((This I do because we do not like our veggies cooked fully. You could add them with the rice if you prefer). Cover and let cook for about 4 minutes max.

10. Switch off the gas. Keep the pan covered. Do not open the cover for about 10 minutes. After 10 minutes remove the cover and fluff the rice with a fork.

11. Garnish with coriander. Serve hot with Tomato Saar.

Sending to Priya's Cooking with Seeds-Peas

Notes: Next time marinate the tofu in garlic, ginger & salt.

Try using ½ coconut milk and ½ water.
Make a pungent chutney may be coriander and pudina one to go with this.

Archana

2011-12-25T16:22:00.003+05:30

Merry Christmas

Seasons Greetings!!!

Egg less Apple sauce Chocolate Cake

2011-12-23T18:27:00.001+05:30

What is left of the cake

There were 2 things that came into play when I baked this cake.

When my friend Vidya told me there was a sponge cake competition in the local mall. I was eager to join it for I would meet a lot of other better bakers.

There were apples that were about to say bye bye to this world if not attended too. So I made apple sauce from here.

The problem was I did not have the Cameo apples as needed and I had just discovered that the apples lying around are gala apples. But I made the sauce anyway using the apples I had and the sauce was delicious.

The yield was 1 ½ cup.

The cake just out of the oven the night before

To make apple sauce:

1. Peel and core 3 apples.

2. Keep them soaked in water else they turn black.

3. In a pan add ½ cup water and ¼ cup sugar and 1’stick of cinnamon.

4. Heat the mixture till the apples are cooked.

5. Discard the cinnamon and grind with apples to a smooth sauce. Cool and use.

Now that I had this sauce I had to make a cake using this sauce. Okay not had to but my fingers were itching to do so.

Where do you look for the cake my options were few as I had very little time but finally I made the first cake I saw at Champa’s place…

Next time I am following Champa’s instructions and using ½ cup sugar instead of the ¼ I used. Also replace 1 tsp of soda with 1 tsp of Eno’s fruit salt. Also for beat the apple sauce mix in the mixer jar for the judge was of the opinion that I should have beaten the mix a bit more.

O! Yes I should mention here that my kids were grumbling when I started baking the cake but once the cake was baked and they saw it, I was suitably warned not to distribute the cake after the competition but bring it straight home!!

Champa I have won the biggest competition!

This was worth all the prizes and more. Thanks a million Champa as my kids are not easily won over! it is hence a star cake.

The star cake

Ingredient:

2 ¼ cup Maida

3 tblspn cocoa

¼ tsp salt

2 tsp soda

¼ cup sugar

1/3 cup oil

1 ½ cup apple sauce

½ cup chocolate chips

1 tsp vanilla essence

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180ºC.

2. Whisk/sieve flour, salt, cocoa & soda.

3. Beat apple sauce, oil, and sugar till well mixed.

4. Stir in vanilla essence.

5. Add the dry ingredients & mix gently.

6. Stir in the chocolate chips. Take care not to over fold.

7. This cake is sticky do not worry. Bake for 35 minutes or till the knife comes out clean.

PS. Smoothen the top of the cake next time.

Sending this to Julie's Christmas Delicacy

Kavi's JATW

Pranati's Yummy Desserts for New Year

Radhik's Let Bake and be Merry

Sangees Bake Fest

Sravs CC Holiday Baking

Archana

Nachni-che-Satv or Ragi Pudding

2011-12-22T09:32:00.015+05:30

Staying in Goa from the time I got married 23 years to be exact has exposed me to quite a few wonderful dishes in this cuisine.

There is a preconceived notion that there are no vegetarian dishes in this cuisine. I remember when I was to be married all my neighbours and friends kept on telling me that I will have nothing but “Samudra chawlikai” that is cluster beans from the sea. Of course fish is the staple food here in Goa, but a Goan does “go veg” at least 2 times in a week and on all kinds of festivals, panchmi, chathurtis etc.

Any celebration and you have “mangane” a kind of kheer and of course “Nachni-che-satv”.

Nachini or ragi is a very nutritious. It is good for infants and old and the in-betweens also. Its calcium and iron is easily assimilated by the body. Try this wonderful grain in sweets and savoury food stuff alike.Read more about it here.

Today I will share with you the making of nachni-che-satv. I wish I had had the patience to click pictures of the stepwise making. Maybe I will next time.

Traditionally the nachni is soaked overnight then ground in the grinding stone and strained through the “banshire”.

“Banshire” is the fine cloth that is used to drain rice. In Goa many people prefer boiled rice. The water is boiled in a handi and when it boils the washed and drained rice is added. When it is almost done a fine cloth called banshire is tied over the mouth of the handi and the rice is drained. The water that is drained is generally collected and called “nival”.

Nival has a high carbohydrate content is generally fed to babies, convalescents and the old alike. Soup made out of out of nival is delicious and is called “payz”, it is considered good for upset tummy, cold & fever.

Sorry I am digressing from the main topic. Coming back to satv….

Traditionally the nachni is soaked overnight & ground with water.

If you have read me correctly you will know I must have made some changes. Yes I have. I used the flour yes the ragi flour. Yes the store brought atta.

To make nachni-che-satv you will need:

¼ cup nachni atta

½ a coconut freshly grated

Water

½ cup jaggery (adjust as per taste)

A pinch of salt

Cashew nuts pieces

Method:

1. Soak the ragi or nachni flour in water (about 1 cup) for about 1 hour. The skin of the ragi will float on top. Decant it.

2. Now add some more water (about 1 cup), stir it and let it stand overnight. Next day decant it. Add some water and let it stand for say another hour.

3. Now strain it through a fine muslin cloth till there are no more black flecks in the cloth using water to dilute the mixture. I used a strainer, this is a tedious process and after 4-5 times I got bored and decided to include the flecks as much need fibre in my diet. Maybe the cloth would have given me a much better result.

4. Now measure your strained ragi. Mine was about a cup.

5. Now put the strained ragi in a kadhai/wok, thick bottomed please and keep aside.

6. Grease a small plate with ghee.

7. Measure out equal amount of water using the same cup you used to measure the satv and add to the mixer also add the coconut and grind the coconut to a fine paste.

8. Strain the coconut and collect the liquid. This is coconut milk.

9. Add it to the kadhai/wok. Add the some jaggery, salt & cashew nut pieces also.

10. Transfer to low flame and heat the contents. Taste the contents and add more jaggery if you need.

11. Stir(generally I prefer the perforated spoon to do this) occasionally at first but when it starts coming together stir continuously and starts forming a lump transfer it to the greased plate..

12. Let the contents cool completely before you cut them into squares or diamonds.

I made this when my SIL came down for a day. I knew she had not eaten this in ages and I had company to eat this. Thanks Smita.

Notes:

Please feel free to increase the amount of coconut used you will get a thicker milk and the contents will be richer.
You can also make the satv soaking and grinding the nachni.
As a baby my younger daughter used to drink this as her last feed. I used to always add cooked carrots, mango, pumpkin puree or if she had a cold turmeric.

Sending this to Raksha’s Desserts with Coconuts organised by Raven. Raksha has posted the more traditional way of making this satv. Do check her out.

Julies Christmas Delicacy

and Kavi's Jingle All The Way

Delicious recipes 4m Pranatis 'Kitchen

Archana

Round up of Veggie of the Month-Raw Banana/Plantian

2011-12-21T18:12:00.000+05:30

First I would like thank all of you for your wonderful entries for the event that I hosted in the month of November'11!

I am terribly sorry for being so late in posting my round up there are few problems that ate up all my time. Hopefully I will be a better blogger now.

Frankly I never expected much of a response for the theme. Raw banana in my honest opinion never went beyond chips, and a odd vegetable. But I was wrong there are many different way of cooking this amazing vegetable. These amazing dishes dished out by my friends are mind boggling at least to me for I never would have thought of these. Do have a look.

But before that please all, namely Priya, Akheela,Nisha,Rudra,Mythreyi,Dee, Kaveri, Malathi, Nandini, Amy and Pranati , accept my thanks for joining me in this event. Please accept this small token of appreciation and display it in your place. Now in case I have missed anyone Please let me know as I had a problem and I have lost some mails. You may have to mail your entry again to me but I will surely rectify the error.

Also I would like to thank Priya for giving me a chance to host this event. Had she not made me think of different vegetable this would have been a mushroom or potato event. Not that I have anything against the veggies I had to think, think and think both to choose my veggie and the end results too! and that is what a foodie does does she not?

Let begin with the amazing Priya of Priya's Easy n Tasty Recipes. One of my first friends from the time I stopped being an anonymous blogger . Amazing lady keeps dishing out delicious dishes with amazing ease sent in this Pepper Raw Banana Podimas.

Next presenting is Akheela of Torview Toronto , in case you have not seen her place yet please do so. She has amazing pictures and dishes. Do have a look at her other blog also Create with Mom for amazing ideas for fun ideas to create with your children. But for now she has sent this Green Plantain Curry using Pandan leaf. Wow!

What do I cook for lunch? Question troubling you? Try Nisha's Kerala Style Raw Banana and Potato Curry cooked with pearl onions( which I always assumed was to be dumped only in sambhar thanks Nisha for one more option) a lovely flavourful curry. Tastes good with roti and rice.

Who does not like fried stuff? Simple but delicious. Try these Plantain Chips from Rudra of Mom's Corner and enjoy the delight on your kids faces when you pack their tiffin boxes or just for after school snack. See if you can stop popping a few in.

Want some Yum! Yum! Yum! snack? Don't want to fry ? In a mood to bake but don't want to bake cakes or brownies? Try these Potato Wedges that my good friend Mythreyi has sent just baked. Just for you. Who can resist these beauties?

The goodness of dates we all know, even the children know but when it comes to eating them if you have reluctant eaters like mine try these Chatpati Dates Tikki from Dee's Kitchen. Very fine blend of flavours and very innovative. Watch the Tikki disappear with amazing speed.

It is only recently that I have met Kaveri but when I want the authentic taste of Palakkad I make it a point to visit her. Try her space at Palakkad Chamayal. here is one sample of what delicious stuff Kaveri makes.Delicious Spicy Vazhakkai Curry it goes well with anything rice or roti.

Kids back from school? Serve them these yummy Raw Banana Patties. Tasty &healthy . Do check out Malathi wher she has not only listed the benefits of raw bananas but also on how to choose one. I remember not too long ago coming home with one that was ripe.

You could also check out her veggie Grated Raw Banana Palya/Subzi to go with your dinner. Malathi has learnt it from her Mom. Tastes yummy as Mom's know the best.

Like I said Raw Banana is quite like a potato so it can be used in place of potatoes. So just try this Vazhakka(i) Thoran that Nandini of Nandini's food has sent. Looks so delicious does it not? I am sure it tastes yummy too!

Now I really need to thank my next friend Pranati Nath of Delicious Recipes 4m Pranati's Kitchen. Pranati has sent in 3 awesome recipes. Thanks Pranati Here they are: First one is Raw Banana Chips don't they look store brought?

Next she has this awesome Dahi Banana. I for one never had thought of adding raw bananas and dahi this is really looking yummy dear.

Who does not like South Indian Food? Here is Pranati again with a delicious coconut based gravy Raw Banana in Coconut gravy (South Indian Style). Yummy Yummy. I am drooling dear. Thanks for all the entries.

Now how can I forget my good friend Amy. The delicious SriLankan dishes that she puts up so artistically. Here is her entry Ash Plantain Fry. do vist Amy at the Food Corner and drool at all the delicious dishes she churns out.

Now here are my entries.
Raw Banana Paratha

Raw Banana Palya

Raw Banana/plantain Curry

Sabudana Khichidi Again

Please let me know if I have missed anyone out. Thanks a lot.

Archana

Micro wave Orange Cake~A Blog Hop

2011-12-14T07:00:00.060+05:30

Since my husband & I have our birthdays just 4 days off one another we celebrate together. But this time I wanted to surprise him with a cake on his birthday.

Surprise has to be surprise does it not? So what better than a cake that cooks in the microwave and in 12 minutes when he is at walk, best time his evening walk?

So I baked this cake for him from Mom’s Corner by Rudra my partner for Blog Hop for this fortnight.In case you have not checked her corner till now do so now.Thanks to Radhika who is the brains behind the entire operation! You can join the gang subscriptions to the new version are open till the 15th Dec.

What I love about this cake was the colour. Generally micro waved cakes look unappetising and you need to add some chocolate or some agent that colours your cake. Here the cake picked up the flavour and colour of the orange. Loved it naturally!

I realised this truth the next day when I baked the same cake with sweet lime. The cake looked soooo bad that it was buried under the cream and strawberry. Unsung hero and unphotographed but not unremembered R.I.P. Dear Sweet lime cake. I will never again try to fiddle with you in as my microwave cake!!

Ingredients for the recipe are:

1 ½ cup Maida

½ tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

½ cup oil (I used olive oil)

¾ cup Sugar

¼ cup curds

¾ fresh Orange juice

2 tsp Zest of orange

Method:

1. Grease a microwave proof bowl. Mine is 6 “wide but very tall.

2. Sift the Maida, baking powder & baking soda.

3. In a bowl mix oil, sugar and yogurt. Rudra has asked to cream the mixture but since my beater turned his nose up at the quantity I added the juice too and ran the beater till the sugar dissolved.

4. Add the orange zest and the flour and milk. Fold the mixture.

5. Microwave for 12 minutes. Adjust the timings to suit your oven.

6. Let it stand in the pan for 10 minutes then cool it on a wire rack.

7. I dusted some icing sugar on top.

Was my husband surprised? Of course! He loved the cake.

Note:

1. Use about ½ tsp Eno’s fruit salt next time the cake will be softer.

2. Soak the cake with some sugar syrup (200 grms sugar to 1 litre water).

Sending this to Blog Hop Wednesday

Baked Goodies

Bake Fest #2 started by Vardhini hosted by Sangeeta of Spicy Treats

Srav's Culinary Concept's Holiday Baking

Kavi' Jingle all the way

Microwave easy cooking by Kavi

Delicious recipes 4m Pranatis 'Kitchen

Archana

Egg-less Buttery Cookies~ A Sweet Punch

2011-12-08T21:53:00.000+05:30

When Priya posted her egg less buttery almond cookies I could not resist them. I had such a craving for them that I baked them immediately.

Me and follow recipes? Surprised are you not?

Well there are times when I do follow recipes, but you are correct I did not follow it to the T made a few changes to suit our tastes and my pantry contents. I baked them 3 times now.

Here is Priya’s recipe. Thanks Priya.

Here are the changes

Ingredients:

½ cup oats, powdered

½ cup besan/kadli hit/chana daal atta

½ tsp baking powder

½ cup cashew nut powder

1 tbsp rava, roasted

½ cup sugar

1 tbsp cocoa powder

½ cup butter, softened(I used Amul),

¼ tsp salt (use only if you are using unsalted butter)

½ cup chocolate chips

½ tsp vanilla essence

Milk as needed

Method:

1. Mix all the dry ingredients well.

2. Add the melted butter and use milk to make soft dough.

3. After I mix my cookies dough I prefer to put it in the fridge for say ½ hour. (Some tips I picked up from I think Rachel Allen).

4. After ½ an hour make a roll of the dough and cut out cookies or make small balls and flatten them a bit. Make 20 balls (It was only after I started baking them I remembered that once Priya had used the prong of a fort to give it nice design. Next time).

5. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for 14 minutes or till golden brown. mine takes 14 minutes in the auto mode please check you oven settings.

6. Wait for them to cool down before you bit into these beautiful aromatic cookies else learn the hard way as I did with a burnt palate.

7. If there are any left over after the kids are through wit them store in an air tight container.

Sending this to December Sweet Punch where it was any bake this moth. Baked quite a few recipes but I choose to post these.

Archana

Black and White Wednesday Godi Kutid Payasa~ A Blog Hop

2011-11-30T05:30:00.056+05:30

Blog Hop one schedule that I thoroughly enjoy.

Though I am taking care not to tax my fingers a lot this one piece is typed out in bits and pieces and over a long period. Hopefully by the end of the next month my fingers will be better. Okay enough of this Old Woman cry baby story let’s get down to today’s post.

I was eager to try out some payasa/payasam/kheer dishes as I had performed the “Vaibhav Laxmi Varat” and the last day I was to invite some friends over and the nevidya was payasa. To add to the pleasure of cooking some sweet, that I love, was the fact that my father had come for his health check up and was given a clean chit. So this was celebration all the way!!J

This week I was paired with Kaveri of Palakkad Chamayal and was so thrilled to see all the delicious payasa dishes she has listed out. I was at a loss choosing my recipe. Finally I settled for Godi Kutid payasa, which in Kannada translated as broken wheat payasa, it was not easy though Nei Payasam raised a lot of objections.

Do visit her not only for sweet dishes but other Palakkad delicacies.

Had I decided before Pappa came down from Dharwad he would have brought the authentic broken wheat. For those of you who are not aware, most of these delicacies that our mothers, grand mothers used to make at home are now sold in outlets all over Dharwad. Generally I make it a point to pick up my “Kai sandgi” etc from there. They taste the way Ajji and Amma made them!

Okay girls do check out Kaveri's recipe here. I have made this out of dalia like Kaveri has suggested.

One word of caution though this payasa is terribly addictive and delicious. I am sorry I have posted so many pictures please bear with me but the whole thing was so delicious that I could not help my self. And yes please do remember to make more than what you need on day one as it tastes better the next day!!C

Thanks Kaveri for this recipe and of courseRadhika for without her I would have never discovered so many new friends and recipes.

Yes let me also tell you that the volume of the dalia doubles after cooking as I discovered to my horror L. Blame it on my inexperience or whatever.

Ingredients:

500 g dalia

4 tblspn ghee (homemade is better)

2 litres milk (high fat)

1 tin of milkmaid

¼ cup sugar

Cashew nuts

Raisins

1 carrot grated fine (optional)

Method:

1. In a microwave proof bowl add the dalia and ghee mix well and microwave on high for 2-3 minutes. Stirring after every 1 minute. (This is for my micro but if the auto timing of your micro is 30 secs please stir after every 30 secs). As always please remember your nose is the best guide. When you get a lovely aroma of roasted dalia it is done.

2. Transfer the dalia to a cooker add equal amount of water now pressure cook for 2 whistles. Since I was using Futura I cooked for 3 minutes on low flame after the steam came out of the vent continuously.

3. Wait for the pressure to ease up naturally and open the cooker. This is where I got a shock of my life. The dalia was twice the quantity that went it. I was really freaked out as the milk I had was only 2 litres and the milk centre does not re open till 5 pm. More importantly where do I store the payasa was the question. Then I calmed down and reduced the cooked dalia (450 grms). Sometimes simple things are a bit late in coming to mind.J

4. To this cooked dalia in the same cooker add the 2 litres of milk, 1 tin milk maid, sugar, raisins and fried cashew nuts ( I did not add now please see the post script below) and bring to a boil. Just stir occasionally.

5. If you feel that you need more sugar please add more you can also add jaggery.

6. Remove from heat and mix the shredded carrots.

P. S.

I had run out of cashew nuts did not have time to pick up more hence I have used salted cashew nuts after the payasa cooled down a bit. They did not taste bad in fact no one knew that I had used salted ones. Next time I should try the peppered and chilly ones what say?!

Sending this to Susan's Black and White Wednesday.

Archana

Cookies that went wrong

2011-11-28T22:49:00.000+05:30

I would like to thank all of you when you responded to my pleas here asking for help to save my soulless (SOS) cookies!

I am seriously thinking about making atleast 2 batches to put into practice all the suggestions.

Any way here is what I made of the hapless cookies finally. Like it?

Make batch of sugarless cookies first.

Here is howto repair them.

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups of cookie crumbs

5o grms butter chilled

400 g of Tropolite (dairy free whip topping), I think it is cream that is vegan

½ cup icing sugar

½ tsp essence of your choice and colour (I used raspberry and red)

Method:

1. Put your beater blades and a dry bowl that you will use to beat the cream in the fridge.

2. Line an aluminium ice cream tray with foil. Butter it keep aside.

3. In the mixer make coarse crumbs of the cookie.

4. Cut up the butter in cubes and mix in the crumbs. It should look like coarse dough.

5. Spread it in the prepared tin to form a uniform slab. Something like how you will line a tart base. Chill for ½ an hour.

6. Now take out the Tropolite shake well and pour in the dry chilled bowl.

7. Beat at low speed till it forms soft peaks then add the icing sugar 1 tablspn at a time and whip.

8. Lastly add the essence and colour and whip well.

9. Spoon on the base and set to chill. Here please note that since I was not sure about the whipped cream I put it in the freezer, hence the base was very hard but otherwise it was very yummy.

The girls enjoyed it after their lunch of lasagne all in all we had a yummy Sunday.

Archana

Shahi Ande

2011-11-27T19:37:00.003+05:30

From the time Radhika announced her Mughlai Event I know that there is one cuisine that I have not posted as yet the Mughlai cusine. In fact from the time I have become conscious of the middle age spread I have stopped making Mughlai cusine for the food is rich. But there are exceptions and here is one of them.

Respecting my FIL’s sentiments I generally do not cook eggs. But when he is out of station we eat live and drink eggs.

I love egg curry but the others are not too enthusiastic, but for once they agreed to egg curry. Keeping in mind their lack of zeal I made Shahi Ande and not only did we eat it in the evening but also had the bowlful of leftovers the next day for dinner.

Actually you can use the Shahi gravy to make any of the following or all of them paneer, mushrooms or cauliflower by themselves or a combo of these.

Ingredients:

9 hard boiled eggs

4-5 onion cut in slices

20 cashew nuts (about ½ cup)

½ cup curds

½ cup cream

1 tsp ginger paste

10-15 garlic paste

¼ tsp white pepper powder

Whole garam masala (1” piece of cinnamon, 1 green cardamom,3 cloves, a few strands of mace/javitri/ jaipatri)

1 tsp jeera/cumin seeds/jeerigi,

½ tsp coriander powder

½ cup butter

Method:

1. In a kadhai/wok put the onion slices add ¼ cup water cover it and boil for 4-5 minutes. Cool and strain. Reserve the water

2. Heat butter. Fry the whole garam masala lightly. Add the jeera and switch off the flame and add the coriander powder.

3. Transfer all the masala and grind with the onion.

4. Add to the kadhai the ginger garlic paste, onion paste & sauté for 5 minutes.

5. As the masala is being fried grind the cashew nuts with a little water. Add to the onion mixture.

6. Bring it to boil, check seasoning.

7. Add the hard boiled eggs cut in two pieces.

8. Cook for about 15 minutes finish it with cream. Remove from heat. Serve hot with naan or roti.

Sending this to Lets cook Mughali Cuisine, Winter Carnival, Only Curries by Pari hosted by Janaki

Reminder for self:

In case you want to store the gravy only then spread butter on top of the gravy to avoid formation of skin. Mix the cauliflower etc afterwards (Please remember this is a rich dish). Also to steam the veggie before mixing.

Help Please- Mayday Mayday

2011-11-25T22:27:00.000+05:30

I have baked cookies but in my desire to get out of the kitchen forgotten to add sugar to it.

Now they are neither sweet nor savoury. I want to make some change so was thing of adding sugar syrup and soaking them. Or making something like gatte ki bhaji .

Cookies are enough for both.

What do you think?

Will this work?

Please help me I do not want to throw them out.

Cauliflower Curry

2011-11-24T21:40:00.001+05:30

These days I am not blogging too much or even visiting my friends a lot.

Not because I don’t want to but because I have to go for an evening walk (Doctors orders) and by the time I come back the kids are on the net and unless there is something urgent I don’t want to chase them away.

Also since I am a “two finger typer” and I use the same to fingers for the mouse handling both home and at work the fingers have started protesting and I have been warned by our programmer that I am heading towards Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and to take care, I am scared. I take breaks and give up computers in the evening.

Coming to today’s post..

Has it happened to you that you have only 2 cups of cauliflower, 2 tomatoes and 7 small onions ½ a cup green chutney,1 capsicum and you need a vegetable dish with gravy? This is exactly what happened to me a few days ago and here is what I managed to get out of my meagre pantry.

Ingredients:

2 cups cauliflower cut in florets

1 capsicum cut in big pieces

10-13 cashew nuts

6-7 onions

10 cloves garlic (I know its tooo much please reduce it to suit your tastes)

2 tsp ginger

Ghee

Jeera/cumin seeds/jeerigi

1 inch cinnamon

3 cloves

1 green cardamom

½ cup green chutney

2 tomatoes

1 tsp kasuri methi/fenugreek

Haldi

½ tsp meat masala

3 tblspn tomato ketchup (optional)

½ cup curd

1 tblspn cream

Salt

Method:

1. Steam the washed cauliflower florets in very little water till you get the aroma of cooked cauliflower, Switch off the gas. Do not throw away the water.

2. Grind to paste the cashew nuts, onion, garlic and ginger.

3. Heat ghee in a kadhai/ wok. Add the jeera, when it splutters add the cinnamon, cloves and cardamom. Sauté till you get a nice aroma.

4. Add the onion paste to the kadhai and stir fry till the paste dries up a bit.

5. Meanwhile grind the tomato. Add to the kadhai the green chutney, tomato and haldi. Stir fry till this too dries up a bit.

6. Add the meat masala, tomato ketchup (if using) and the cauliflower with the water , salt. Mix well. Cover and cook for about 5 minutes.

7. Beat the curd and cream together. Add to the cooked vegetable add the capsicum and stir well. Let it bubble for about 2 minutes and then cover and keep off the gas.

Remember your vessel is hot and the vegetable will continue to cook.

Also since my family does not like their capsicum cooked in this kind of vegetable I mix it in the end you can mix it up earlier with the cauliflower.

Sending this to Pari’s Curries only.

Hosting an event which I am calling Back to our Roots Also hosting for Nov’11 Veggie Food for the Month_Raw Banana. Please do send me your entries.

Archana

Water Melon Rind Preserve

2011-11-23T14:13:00.002+05:30

Every Sunday hubby and I make a trip to the local market.

It’s become a ritual. But this Sunday he went alone as I had a meeting to attend and he came back with a watermelon which he cut immediately. The red fruit went in the bowl and the white and the green skin in a plate ready to be thrown out.

Just as he was about to throw out the rind I told him that I would like to try out a preserve with them. Since I was visibly tired he asked me not make anything but since I insisted he kept a few of them.

I needed just 2 quarter rinds to make my delicious preserve the quantity I got is this bowl. To make the preserve remove the green skin and all the pink and red parts of the watermelon. Yes you need only the white of the watermelon.

The original recipe is here.

Ingredients:

1 cup diced watermelon rind (the whites only)

1/8 cup lemon juice (could have used a little lesser)

2 tsp lemon zest

1/8 cup water

¼ cup +1/3 cup sugar

1 small bottle

Method:

1. Combine the diced water melon rind, lemon juice, lemon zest, water and ¼ cup sugar in thick bottomed kadhai/wok and boil over high.

2. Stir till the sugar dissolves.

3. Once the sugar dissolves reduce the heat & simmer covered on low heat till the melon is half cooked.

4. Add the rest of the sugar and cook uncovered till the melon is translucent. I did this because I checked the syrup out and it tasted sweet also I wanted a bit more syrup. You could avoid this step.

5. Store in a washed and sun dried bottle. (Mine did not reach the bottle). J

Here I would like to thank Digamber and Prashant for trusting me and eating the preserve. They tried to guess what it was made of but did not succeed. Better luck next time boys.

Now I am thinking of making the preserve in red chili powder. Maybe next time we buy watermelon. Any suggestions about how to go about it?

Sending this to Vatsala's Pot luck party

Hosting an event which I am calling Back to our Roots Also hosting for Nov’11 Veggie Food for the Month_Raw Banana. Please do send me your entries.

Archana

Sabubana Khichidi Again!!

2011-11-20T18:08:00.013+05:30

My younger kiddo carries her breakfast to school everyday.

I don’t know about you but everyday it is a regular feature in my place I make something I make sure she will love and it has just landed on her hate list! So everyday we have a 15-20 minutes session where I am trying to induce her to carry what is made and she is trying to tell me why she cannot.

Finally my husband has asked her to make a list of thinks that she will like to carry as breakfast and I try to fit our breakfast in the schedule. So right now iddlis and dosas are off the list and we are into poha and sabudana khichidi.

So sabudana or sago has appeared in 2 different recipes.

One is a thalipeth(recipe follows) and another is khichidi.

Khichidi! What different is it from the one that I have already posted here and here or here?

Today I have used raw banana or plantain to make the khichidi.

The ingredients are the same only here I have grated the raw banana after peeling them. (Store the gratings under water else they turn black) you will want to use a few more chillies than what you use with potato.

Ingredients:

3 cups sabudana/sago, wash & soak overnight with a little water

1 cup groundnuts roasted, peeled &coarsely ground

2-3 green chillis slit

Juice of ½ lemon

½ tsp Sugar

2 tblspn coconut

2 tsp cumin seeds

2-3 tblspn ghee

3-4 tblspn milk

1 raw banana peeled and grated

Salt as per taste

Method:

1. In the sabudana add groundnut powder, lemon, sugar, 1 ½ tblspn coconut and salt add milk mix well.

2. Heat the ghee and add cumin seeds till they change colour. Add the green chilli sauté.

3. Squeeze the raw banana that you have stored underwater and add to the ghee and jeera with a little salt, mix, cover and cook till cooked.

4. Now add the sabudana mixture and stir till well mixed.

5. Cover and cook for about 5 minutes or the sabudana is well cooked.

6. Remove from the flame cover and keep aside till serving time.
Garnish with coconut and coriander.

Sending this to Veggiefruit of the month Raw Banana Priya’ brain childand hosted by me.

Also to Back to Roots.

Archana

Dates Ladoo ~A Blog Hop & An Award

2011-11-16T07:00:00.076+05:30

Variety is the spice of life and Blog Hop adds to it.

As this is where you try out dishes from your partner’s blog to suit your palate the idea is Radhika’s brain child.

How does Blog Hop add to variety? Well I go through my partner’s posts in greater detail so in this sense I am coming to know newer likeminded people. All of us are connected through our love for food and serve a better variety with love.

This week I am partnered with Hirini of Tamalpaku and since I very rarely make Indian sweets I wanted to try my hands out at a ladoo. I had bookmarked this recipe of sugarless ladoos long ago.

In case you have not checked this wonderful space do so now.

Here is the original recipe I have not changed it except for adding pistachios. (Because I love them would have added more but did not want test fates. Next time will replace cashew nuts with them.)

Ingredients:

12 Fresh Dates

18 Almonds

22 Cashews

10 pistachios (optional)

3tblsp +1 tblspn) Dry Coconut grated

4 Cardamoms

Method:

1. Dry Roast Almonds, Cashews and pistachios and let them cool.

2. Switch of the gas and dry roast 4 Tbsp of grated coconut.

3. Chop the fresh dates for easy grinding.

4. Grind the almonds, cashews, pistachios, cardamoms and 3 tblspn coconut grated.

5. Add the chopped dates to it and grind it further until thick dough is formed.

6. Remove the dough from the mixer and knead for a minute or two to make it a little pliable. The amount of oils that oozes out is amazing. My hands were like I have dipped them in oil.

7. Make ladoos out of the dough and roll each of them on the remaining coconut.

Linking this to HCC by Kavi started by Smitha

Now for the Award!!

Jay of Tasty Appetites has passed this award to me.

The Liebster blog award is supposed to give visibility to worthy blogs, so many gracious thanks to you dear for honouring me..:)

The word ‘ Liebster “ is a German word, that essentially means ‘ dear ‘and is derived from the verb ‘ lieber ‘ which means “ to love “.

Upon receipt of the Liebster Award, there are a very simple rules:

1. Thank the giver who gave the award and link back to his / her blog.
2. Choose 5 blogs whom you would like to give this award and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
4. Hope that your followers will spread the love to other bloggers as well.
5. Thank all who read your blog and wish to follow you and of course - have fun!

I would love to share this award with these wonderful blogger friends of mine . Please have a look at their sites.

Hosting an event which I am calling Back to our Roots

Also hosting for Nov’11

Veggie Food for the Month_Raw Banana. Please do send me your entries.

Archana