COOK SPOT

After a Long Break

2011-06-03T15:42:00.000+05:30

Thank you all my fellow blogers and friends for your emails, comments. All is well from my side. Infact We have a new member in our family and due to which I had to stay away from blogging.

My son is 1.6 months as on June 10th and I must say that our life has changed so much after we had our bundle of joy and I never know how time flies with him. Initially i cudn't join back to work and took a break of a year and now I am back to work and left my son with my mom for the time being.

Paneer Kadai

2009-02-05T11:53:00.016+05:30

"I dont know what this girl is going to do once she is married...i pity the guy who marries her"
This is the usual dialouge my amma used to tell me or all my aunties and appa. I used to hate entering into kitchen and thought of preparing something for the entire family, then cleaning it up, Oh my God! " i would never be able to do it"

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My brother all the time used to say that no body will get anything if they come to my place. My bro and me were stayng together before my marriage and there also most of the time my bro who would cook for me :(

I always belived that the responsibilty and the situation makes a person to learn everthing under the sun.

Its been long time i didnt cook anything with Paneer. I found tomatoes, capsicum in the fridge. So prepared Paneer Kadai

Paneer Kadai

(Indian cottage cheese cooked with Tangy tomotes, onions & capsicum )

Preparation Time:10 min

Cooking Time:20min

Serves: 2

Ingredients

250gms paneer cut into chunks

2 medium capsicum

1 medium onion

2 medium tomatoes

1 tsp ginger garlic paste

1 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp redchilli powder/green chilli

salt to taste

1/4 tsp sugar

2 tsp oil

1 tsp butter

1 tsp jeera

corriander leaves for garnishing

Method

Cut the paneer into 1/2 to 1" chunks and take a kadai put the butter into into and fry the paneer till it turns into golden brown. Keep aside the paneer.

Take a pan add oil and jeers wait till jeera crackles. Add the onion and fry till transparent and add the GG paste fry for a minute. Add the chopped tomatoes to it fry till it leaves water. Add cut capsicum to it fry till tomotoes are cookes. Just sprinkle water. Add turmeric poweder, salt, sugar, turmeric powder, garam masala and mix properly and close the lid for 5 minutes

Once the masala is blended properly add the fried paneer let it cook for 5-10 min till the masalas are properly blended.

Garnish with corriander leaves. Serve hot

Ghee Rice with Nuts-Nutty Flavor

2009-01-29T17:26:00.010+05:30

I was a very food fussy when I was small and didn’t have a healthy food habit. My dad always hates people who had habit of munching snacks in between the meal time. Every time I sit for lunch/dinner my fussiness would increase by looking at the spread of healthy food cooked by momL . Literally my parents would stuff food in me by giving me assurances of all the other snacks/sweets which my mom will prepare for me.

I used to hate and continue to hate all the dry fruits (except salted pistachio and pea nuts) and ghee, butter, oil (directly for the food) and my bro’s used love me for this coz they do not have to share the nuts with me. My mom used to pour so much ghee for the dosas and chapati especially for my portion of food to make me eat little bit oil content. You wont believe my parents never allowed us to eat chocolate and it was never bought home L so I really didn’t have the idea of the variety of chocolates available in market till I reached college and I would love to thank my parents for this for not giving us.

The only bakery item allowed was biscuits which I love till date and all the junk snacks/sweets were home made by my mom. M was also bought up in the same manner so he has a very healthy habit of eating and he doesn’t allow me to eat anything in between which now has become a daily habit of our life. We both do love all the junk food, fried items, sweets which we will usually have during our lunch or dinner .We usually tried to avoid sweets at night but I have such a bad sweet tooth I usually end up eating themJ. M loves all the dry fruits. So I made this especially for him and he just loved it

Ghee Rice with Dry Fruits

(A rice delicacy prepared with ghee and dry fruits)

Preparation Time: 10 min
Cooking Time: 20 min
Serves:2

Ingredients

1 cup rice
3 tbsp ghee
Salt per taste
2 green chilies
1 medium onion sliced
Handful of cashews
Handful of kishmish/dried grapes
Handful of almonds

Method

Cook rice and keep it for cooling. You can cook rice previous night for easy. Take all the dry fruit and crush it little bit and then fry in ghee till golden brown and keep it aside.

Take pan and add ghee to it and fry onion till they become golden brown add the green chilies and fry for a minute. If you don’t want it to be spicy deseed the chilies and fry them just for the aroma. Once it’s done add rice and mix properly and add salt. Mix together the entire mixture properly till the rice becomes hot. At last garnish it with the fried nuts.

Serve hot. Tastes great. (I had mine without any nuts)

A Sweet Begining & A Milestone

2009-01-22T16:21:00.005+05:30

Too many projects in the hand short deadlines, reaching home late, starting early in the morning…………….this was days from last two months and we have been living in salads, fresh veggies, maggi noodles, ready made meals…. Both of us are running away from these.

My craving for the home made food has been increasing day by day and every time I call my mother this is the only topic with her and wish she was with me to cook for me those delicious recipes..

Well from today the work burden has come down and I have successfully finished my work! Hope they won’t come back with more queries

Now lets talk about the interesting stuff the “Food” and since both of us have sweet tooth I started with my much awaited “Carrot Halwa / Gajar Ka Halwa”.This is my 150th post.

Carrot Halwa/Gajar Ka Halwa
(A delicious sweet prepared with Carrots)

Preparation Time: 15 min
Cooking Time :20 min
Serves:4

Ingredients

500 gms carrot
200gms Khova
200gms sugar (according to your sweetness)
2 cups milk
2 cups water
2 tbsp ghee
Cashews, almonds, pistachios

Method

Be careful the carrot should not overcook. It should be little bit chewy consistency. Once the carrot is boiled add the khova and the sugar and keep stirring till everything is dissolved properly. Once the sugar is dissolved add the ghee and keep stirring.

Keep stirring till the mixture becomes a mass and ghee starting leaving the sides.

Serve hot.We had hot halwa with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream (Great combination)
Wash peel and grate the carrot. Mash the khova properly and keep it aside. Take a thick bottomed kadai and put in the grated carrot and put 2 cups of milk and two cups of water and let the carrot cook in the medium flame. Keep stirring it in between to avoid sticking to the pan.

New Year Wishes...

2008-12-31T20:46:00.005+05:30

its been such a long time I didnt open my blog and agree me its a "Forced Break" for me due to work pressure. So here am to wish everybody a very

HAPPY NEW YEAR

wishes from

Sushma & Mahesh

Methi Pulavo -With a Twist

2008-11-27T10:43:00.006+05:30

Weather is damn chill and to add to it it been drizzling whole night and day out so you can imagine the condition in Bangalore. I always loved the winter which allows you to cover your self with the cloth and a hot of coffee on the hand. Its been two years that I am staying in Bangalore and i never had this winter experience. I am pulling all my winter clothes out and I have become so lazy to get up early in the morning.

When coming to the cooking part M is a pulav fan i always try my tricks with this dish. This one I tried with Methi Leaves. This is my contribution for Srivalli's Rice Mela

Methi Pulav/Fenugreek Leaves Cooked with Rice and Spices

Preparation Time:10 min
Cooking Time:25 min
Source : Myself/Original

Ingredients

1 cup rice
1/4 cup coconut grated
2 cup methi leaves (tender)
1/2 cup green peas
1 stick cinnamon
2 cloves
1 tsp pepper powder
1 tsp GG paste
1 tsp green chili & coriander leaves paste
refiend oil
salt to taste

Method

Soak the rice in water. clean the methi leaves discarding the stem part. chop it nicely and put it in a frying fan with 1 tsp of butter and fry till the bitterness goes off.

Take all the masala ingredients as mentioned above, in a frying pan with 1tsp of oil and fry till the aroma comes out. Take the grated coconut together with fried masala ingredients and blend it into a fine paste without adding water.

Take pressure pan add the oil, and gg paste and fry for a minute/till the raw smell is gone. then add the green chili& coriander leave paste and fry for another minute. Then add the soaked rice and fry till rice leaves the aroma.

Add the methi leaves, coconut masala, green peas and salt and mix nicely. wait for 2 whistles and then its done.

Serve hot with your favorite raitha.

Shimsha-Weekend Travel

2008-11-24T14:41:00.010+05:30

Travel is something which I always missed in my entire life somehow i wasn't lucky enough to travel. So this weekend I badly wanted to go for a long drive with my family so the entire week i was searching for some nice place which is 100 to 150 kms from Bangalore. Ultimately we decided to go to Shivana Samudra which is 150kms from Bangalore.Shivana Samudra has two falls Gagana Chukki and Bare chukki falls which is in 13 km distance from each other. Here is the few glimpse of the falls.

Pls check out more photos at here

Directions by Road

We started in our car at 7'0 clock in the morning and we took kankapur road till we take turn to nice road and take the Mysore road (NICE road). On the way you get so many restaurants to finish your breakfast to name a few Kamath Upahar, Mc Donald's, Cafe Coffee Day, Barista(which now serves breakfast also) Indradanush etc. which serves good breakfast and reasonably priced.

Go till Maddur and take a left turn where there is clear directions to go to this falls its a straight road from there and road is not so smooth from there. Road construction is on and you get really big pot halls and worst is the trucks on the road which really scares hell out of us especially if you are in a small vehicle and two- wheeler. Do not open the car window if its a sunny day. When we went weather was very pleasant and we could enjoy nice view. You get to see lot of greenery on sides especially rice and sugar cane fields. If you are lucky go inside the villages of Malavalli and will get fresh home made jaggery :)

When you are close to falls you get to see a huge board which is Shivana Samudra Hydra Project do not go there its just a power plant. In fact we took a left turn and had a tough time wit the trucks. Keep going straight for about half hour then you get again in the left side the road to falls.its 3 km from that road inside. If you want to get into the top of that falls and play in the water then you should go 13km further to Barechukki . We didn't dare to go there since it was slightly drizzling and the weather was very windy.

There is a entry fee of nominal Rs. 30/- per vehicle. Then you enter a locality of falls one side is the Hydra project plant, reservoir and then you drive for 5 minutes then you get this amazing falls. When you see the falls you will forget all the difficulty in getting there.

You can stay there as there is a guest house with a restaurant with descent and very reasonably priced but purely South Indian delicacy's. Its always if you pack food and take it.

This place is good and i do not no whether the falls will be good in the summer.

Semolina Rotti

2008-11-20T14:44:00.006+05:30

Today my post is a very simple yet a delicious recipe i learnt from my mom.I am not able to view Taste of India its showing some internal error and some time there are no items to show. is the problem only with me or with everybody?

Sajjige/Semolina/Sooji Rotti /Indian flat bread prepared with Semolina

Preparation Time:10min
Cooking Time: 10 min
Serves:2

Ingredients

2 cups semolina
5-6 green chillies chopped
1/2 cup grated fresh coconut
5 strands of curry leaves chopped
2 medium onions chopped
salt per taste
ghee to roast

Method

Wash and soak the semolina in water for about 10 min. Meanwhile prepare all the ingredients ready.

Put all the chopped ingredients and semolina in a bowl and mix everything together and add salt. add very little water just to mix the dough.

heat the griddle and put 1.5 ladle of the dough and make small/medium thick rottis (tastes well if its thick ) and roast it with ghee till golden brown.

enjoy it with sambhar/chutney when hot.

Sauteed Garlic Mushrooms

2008-11-15T09:52:00.005+05:30

She is not a beauty and she stinks very badly when cooking but I still fall for her every time I see her..Mushrooms I just love and thank you for the person who introduced all the wonderful cusines out of it. M is also as crazy as I am. So we always include in our grocery list. So here is another venture with Mushrooms.

Sauteed Garlic Mushrooms

Preparation time:5 min
Cooking Time:10 min
Serves: 2

Ingredients

1 packet Button Mushrooms
1 medium onion sliced
2 floret of garlic minced
salt to taste
1 tsp pepper powder
2 tbsp butter/olive oil/refined oil
coriander leaves to garnish

Method

Take the butter in a frying pan and to it add the minced garlic and just when it changes it color add the sliced onion to and fry in a high flame for 5 min . Then add the Mushroom and fry it for 10 min ih high flame.

Add the salt and Pepper powder and give it a fry till the spices are nicely coated into mushrooms.

Garnish it with coriander leaves.

Serve hot and Njoy

Other Mushroom dishes in CookSpot

Mushroom Chili Pepper Dry

A Delight..

2008-11-13T12:31:00.005+05:30

Don't you ever crave for certain type of food for each day? I do feel it everyday basis. My craving start the moment I leave ofice. I know it may sound little weird and i guess the reason behind it is surfing too many food sites on daily basis and thinking too much about food ? I was worried about my feelings and asked M and he said its a very normal human nature to feel this way !

To add to this my colleagues in my office are also big time Foodies so no point in asking them .. sometimes i guess i am in a wrong industry i should have working in a Hotel as a "Chef". Well I did have a ambition of becoming a ice cream taster but could not.

I guess I have written enough rubbish and now coming back to food again, yesterday I had this crave for Chinese food . So prepared "Mushroom Fried Rice & Custard". This is my Contribution to Valli's Rice Mela

Mushroom Fried Rice with Custard

Preparation Time: 15 min
Cooking Time: 20 min
Serves:2-4

Ingredients

1 packet Mushroom cut into small chunks
1/2 cup carrot slices
5-6 baby corn cut into 1/2 inch
2 cup cooked long grain /your choice rice
3 tsp soy sauce
3 tsp tomato ketcup
2 tsp pepper sauce
salt per taste
2 tbsp refined oil
2 garlic clove minced

Method

Cook the rice before and let it cool completely. Wash all the vegetables and Mushroom( the best way to wash mushroom is add little nit all purpose flour to each Mushroom and then wash it ) and then cut it as mentioned above.

Take a frying pan add to this add minced garlic and fry till it just changes its color then add all the vegetables except Mushrooms fry in high flame and then at last add the Mushrooms and fry in high flame. fry all these for about 10 min.

Add all the sauce as mentioned above at the and fry another 5 minutes. Put the entire mixture in to the rice and mix well and heat till the rice becomes warm and then njoy.
Pls see the link below for the Custard Recipe

Cream of Spinach Soup..

2008-11-10T15:40:00.005+05:30

Winter has already stepped into my city and all warm clothes are coming out of wardrobe and I don't feel like getting up in the morning. This is when M and I will have fights to get up and switch of geaser. Yes that is our first work in the morning.

Yesterday when we were coming back from our usual evening walk both our eyes set on fresh and tender palak. Both our minds started running so fast thinking what we can prepare for dinner and M came up with idea of making soup. So here is Winter Warmer.

Cream of Spinach Soup

Preparation Time : 10 min
Cooking Time :20 min
Serves 2-4

Ingredients

1 big bunch of tender Palak/Spinach
4 medium tomatoes
4-5 garlic cloves
1 tsp red chilli flakes
salt to taste
2 cups of milk/cream
Corriander leaves for garnishing

Method

Clean the palak leaves thoughly and take only the tender leaves discarding the stem. Then take a microwave safe bowl and put liltle water and put all the leaves and blanch it for 6 min in HIGH.

Take the tomatoes and make small holes with the help of a fork and blanch it for 6 min in Microwave in HIGH.

Let the ingredients cool completely and put the blanched palak, tomatoes, red chilli flakes and garlic in the blender and blend it into a fine batter consistency by adding the same water which we used for blanching.

Once the blending is over pour the entire contents into a non stick pan and cook it medium flame and milk/cream and salt and let it simmer for about 10 min.

Serve hot and Njoy.

No Bake Cucumber Cake

2008-11-06T13:07:00.004+05:30

There are some delicacies from my native which are so authentic and if we cook in the modern way it doesn't bring that original flavor. I am posting one such dish . This is called "Kendatadye" in the local language called Tulu which is common language in Mangalore. literal meaning of the word is like this Kenda means Charcol and Adye means "dish". Its basically a dish cooked in Earth Oven.

Kendatadye/Cucumber Cake Cooked in Earth Oven
Preparation Time: 10 min
Cooking Time: 1 hr 30 min
Makes: 20 pieces
Recipe Source: amma

Ingredients

1 cup white rice soaked in water
1 big cucumber cut into chunks
1 cup coconut grated
2 cups grated jaggery
salt per taste
3 medium onions chopped
1/4 cup ghee

Method

Cut the cucumber into chunks into pieces and soak the rice in water for about 4 to 5 hrs.

Grind together the jaggery, coconut grated, rice and cucumber adding water. Put it in a vessel and keep it in a warm place for about two hours to set the batter.

There is special aluminum vessel for this particular dish. Grease properly the dish. The ghee should be floating lightly over the batter. Pour in the batter.

Keep the vessel covered in the earth oven and keep the top covered with charcoal as showed above.

Cut into small pieces and Noy it when hot.

Cabbage Masala Rotti..

2008-11-03T10:44:00.006+05:30

I was watching the new ad for Tata Sky wherein Amir Khan is doing all kitchen work and his wife is watching TV. So I told M that one day i just want to sleep and he make be breakfast bring do grocery shopping. To which he said yes I will do it one day.

So I am waiting for that day and lets see what he cooks for me and i will share with you guys..

M likes Rottis a lot so i made this for hime came out really nice..

Cabbage Rotti/Indian Bread made with Shreded Cabbage

preparation time:10 min
Cooking Time :15 min
Serves: 2-3

Ingredients

1 cup rice (soaked in water overnight)
1/2 cup coconut grated
salt to taste
1 medium cabbage grated/chopped finely
1 medium onion chopped finely

For the Masala

5-6 red chilies
2 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp jeera/cumin seeds
1/2 tsp methi/fenugreek seeds
2 tbsp tamarind water
1 tsp turmeric powder
a ping of asfotida/hing
1 tsp oil

Method

Soak the rice overnight and next day grind it coarsely.

Take all the masala ingredients ingredients except the hing, turmeric and tamarind. fry it till you get a nice aroma. (Pls note if you want to avoid this step simply add the sambhar masala to it.) Once done add the masala to the grated coconut and make a fine paste.

Mix the grinded coconut masala to the grinded rice and mix properly. Then add the grated /chopped cabbage & onion to it and once again mix it thoroughly till the masala is coated to cabbage.

Add salt and keep it aside. heat the griddle and put 1 ladle full of the mixture and slowly pat it till a round is formed. be careful since the dough is very soft. Close the lid and wait till one sided is cooked properly. Be careful when u flip it because rotti will be very smooth. Roast it till golden brown.

Serve hot this does not need any side dish.

Chitranna/Lemon Rice-Traditional Taste

2008-10-31T09:25:00.005+05:30

Till I married and came back Bangalore i never knew the other way of cooking chitranna. I loved the way they cooked chitranna in Bangalore rather than in my native.Its really long time i didnt prepare this so here is the dish..

Chitranna/Lemon Rice

Preparation Time:15min
Cooking Time: 1o min
Serves :2-4

Ingredients

2 cups cooked rice
salt per taste

For the Masala

4 red chillies(you can increase if u want it spicy)
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 cup coconut grated
lemon juice of (2 lemons)

For Tampering

4 tsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1tsp Urad dal
2 tsp chana dal
4 tbsp peanuts/groundnuts
3 strands curry leaves

Method

Cook the rice and keep it aside. Take all the masala ingredients except the lemon juice in a blender and make it a fine paste without adding water to it.

Put the masala powder in a big bowl and to it add the lemon juice and mix properly and let it sit for 10 minutes. After that add the rice and mix properly till the masala is blended with rice and let it sit for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile prepare the kadai for tampering putting all the ingredients expect the curry leaves. Once the mustard seeds crackle add curry leaves and fry for a minute then add the masala mixed rice to it and heat till the masala rice becomes warm.

Serve hot with coffee or tea.

Deewali Treat..

2008-10-29T13:34:00.004+05:30

Deepavali/Diwali is already here and as its called festival of lights. Everywhere we can just here the wonderful fireworks, people dressed in traditional attire. Today is the main festival for us, so back home all the cows are decorated with flowers and the first thing in the morning my dad performs pooja for them by offering them a "Prasadam" made out of rice, banana, coconut grated and jaggery which is a very yummy dish..

And evening my mom will keep diya to the Tulasi god, and again serving food for the cows (usually it will be steamed rice balls/kottige(a dish made out of cucumber/pumpkin and cooked in steam with banana leaf rapped around)

Wishing you all a Bright and Safe Diwali...

Paduru Peni/Peni/ Layed Sweet Dish made out of Maida & Masala Puffed Rice

Preparation Time: 20 min
Cooking time:10 min
Makes :12

Ingredients for Peni

2 cups All purpose flour (Maida)
2 tsp ghee/clarified butter
1/2 tsp salt
water to need
ghee to deep fry

For Topping

1 cup Castor sugar
2 green cardamom crushed

Method

Sieve all purpose flour and keep it aside . Add salt and ghee and mix properly with your finger tips making it look like crumbles. Add enough water to make it look like chapati dough and keep it aside for half hour.

Make small lemon sized balls and start rolling into thin chapatis and keep it aside. Make another small chapati of the same size, if you cant make it the equal size press a round plate and make it equal length. Apply ghee to the top of one chapati and keep the other on that. Repeat the same procedure till finish the dough (Pls apply ghee before keeping another chapati to avoid sticking to one another)

Now role the entire stack of chapati and cut it into 1" inch big piece and keep it aside. Roll it again into small round shape (do not make it thin).

Heat the ghee and fry each peni's till they become crisp and golden brown.

Meanwhile make castor sugar along with crushed cardamom.Roll over the penis in the castor sugar till a nice layer of it is formed.

Masala Puffed Rice

Ingredients

3 cups Puffed Rice
4 garlic crushed
4 tsp oil
6 tbsp peanuts/groundnuts
5-6 strands of chopped curry leaves
3 red chillies dried
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp red chili powder
salt to taste

Method

Take a kadai and add oil, garlic crushed and peanuts and keep it in a low flame. Once the garlic turns golden brown and ground nuts are done add the chopped curry leaves and fry for a minute. Add turmeric powder, redchilli powder and fry for a minute.

Add the Puffed rice and salt and fry in a low flame mixing everything together till crisp.

Store it in air tight jar for months. Njoy

Bread Dosa..

2008-10-23T15:31:00.005+05:30

I know the title of this dosa is deceiving and you will have so many questions regarding the ingredients of this Dosa. My collegue she is not basically found of Dosas and especially South Indian delicasy, when I told her the name of this dosa she was completely take aback and the first thing she told was "U guys will use evrythng in the earth to make dosas" and started laughing..

So just wait and see what is the ingredient of this dosa and then you can decide.

Bread Dosa /Indian Pancake prepared with Rice, Lentils & Curd

Preparation Time:15 min(except soaking&fermenting time)
Cooking Time:10 min
Serves:4-6

Ingredients

1 cup rice
2 tbsp urad dal
1/2 cup rice flakes (thin variety)
1tsp methi/fenugreek seeds(soaked in hot water)
salt per taste
4tbsp jaggery
1/2 cup sour curd
ghee to roast

Method

Soak the rice and dal together for 4-8 hrs and soak the methi seeds also in hot water and keep it aside.

Grind together rice dal, rice flakes(washed before putting into the blender) methi seeds by adding enough water do not add to much water. Grind the batter to a nice paste and once done pour into a vessel and keep. Then add the sour curd/butter milk keep the vessel in a warm place to ferment overnight. I always keep it above stabilizer.

Next day mix properly the fermented batter and put the salt and jaggery and add enough water to bring it to dosa water.

Heat the iron griddle and pour 1 to 1.5 ladle of batter and make a medium sized little thick dosas. Once cooked roast till golden brown with ghee.

Serve hot with chutney or sambhar of your choice.

Fried Gram Chutney

Preparation time:5 min
cooking time :10 min
serves :2-4

Ingredients

2 tbsp fried grams
2 green chilli
2 tsp tamarind water
1/2 cup coconut grated
salt to taste

For the tampering

2 tsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 red chillies dry
2 strings of curry leaves

Method

Take all the ingredients except the tampering ingredients in a blender and grind it into coarse paste. Add enough salt

Put the tampering and serve with the dosa.

Paneer Burji

2008-10-20T16:07:00.005+05:30

One of the easiest and tasty side dish for a Chapati.

Paneer Burji/ Indian Cheese cooked with Ground Spices

Preparation Time:10 min
Cooking Time:20-25 min
Serves:2-4

Ingredients

200 gms Paneer grated
2 medium tomatoes
1 medium Capsicum(optional)
1 medium onion

For the masala

2tbsp butter
1 tsp jeera/cumin seeds
1 tsp garam masala
salt to taste
1 tsp redchilli powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
corriander leaves to garnish

Method

Cut all the vegetables into small slices and grate the paneer and keep it aside.

Take a frying pan and to it add the jeera/cumin seeds and wait until the jeera seeds crackle. then add the onion and fry until the raw smell goes.

Add the tomatoes and capsicum and fry for a minute or two then sprinkle little water and let the tomato and capsicum cook.

When the vegetables are half cooked add the turmeric powder, garam masala, chilli powder, salt and mix properly and let it cook properly with the lid closed.

When the vegetables are cooked add the grated paneer and wait till the masala is completely blended into paneer and its hot. Garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve hot with Chapati. Njoy

A Grin...

2008-10-17T10:22:00.004+05:30

Everybody hates Fwd messages or chain messages which clog our mail boxes. Usually i don't have the habit of opening these mails at all. I just delete them with frustration. But today morning for my surprise, when I opened my Yahoo mail there was a message from my hubby who hardly sends any fwd messages. So out of curiosity I opened it and it is really an exception to the daily crap forward messages and it really reminded me of the olden days. So thought will share with all my blogger friends bring Grin on their face too :)

We some times do discuss in our office about the latest TV serials, Reality shows which does not have any quality thing in it.. serials always full of Saas-Bahu fights and simply dragging without any moral in it.. Then left is news channels movie channels so ultimately we are left with to watch Discovery, Animal Planet ...U wont belive my fav time pass is watching Cartoon Network and Pogo ;)

I had a grin right across my face…………..man, I wanna go home

Are you missing those days? Sometimes I do...................

Doordarshan Logo

Doordarshan' s Screensaver

Malgudi Days

Dekh Bhai Dekh

Ramayan

Mile Sur Mera Tumhara

Turning Point

Bharath Ek Khoj

Tehkikaat

Alif Laila
Byomkesh Bakshi

Salma Sultana DD News Reader
Vicco turmeric,
Nahin cosmetic
Vicco turmeric ayurvedic cream
Twaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiiiiiiiiiii iiiiiiinggggggg
Washin powder Nirma, Washing powder Nirma
Doodh si safedi, Nirma se aayi
Rangeen kapde bhi khil khil jaaye
I'm a Complan Boy (Shahid Kapoor) and I'm a Complan Girl (Ayesha Takia)
Surabhi: Renuka Sahane and Siddharth
Then were 'Mungerilal ke hasin sapane' and 'karamchand' ...'Vikram Betal', etc.

How did one survive growing up in the 80's and 90's?
We had no seatbelts, no airbags and sitting in the back of a truck was a treat…
Our baby prams had the most gorgeous lead based colours…
No such thing as tamper proof bottle tops…

Opening kitchen cupboards was a breeze… as safety locks were unheard off…
Cycling was like a breath of fresh air…
No safety helmets, knee pads or elbow pads, with plenty of cardboards between spokes to make it sound like a motorbike…

When thirsty we only drank tap water, bottled water was still a mystery…
We kept busy collecting bits & pieces so we could build all sort of things … and we were fearless on our bikes even when the brakes failed going downhill....

We were showing off how tough we are, by how high we could climb trees & then jumping down….It was great fun….

We could stay out to play for hours, as long as we got back before dark, in time for dinner…

We walked to school, or sometimes we even rode our bike.
We had no mobile phones, but we always managed to find each other…. How? No one knows…

We lost teeth, broke arms & legs, we got cuts and bruises and bloody noses…. nobody complained as we had so much fun, it wasn't anybody's fault, only ours
We ate everything in sight, cakes, bread, chocolate, ice-cream, sweet sugary drinks, yet, we stayed skinny by fooling around. We had freedom, success, disappointments and responsibilities. ..
Most of all, we learned to respect others…

Are YOU from that generation?? If that's the case, email this to all your friends from the same era…

Maybe this message will help them forget the stress that surrounds us these days….and just for a few moments puts a smile to their faces as they remember what life was really like in the good old days……
HAVE A SUPER DAY! with Golden Days Value!!!!!!! !!

Hope you all njoyed it.... I really miss those days even though we had a channel to watch but i used to wait for that Rangoli on Sunday morning and Chitrahaar on Wednesday and Friday . Truely miss those days...

ZatPat Pizza..

2008-10-15T15:17:00.007+05:30

I am back with memories I spent with my family last week. Its so hard to get over the fact that now only we both at home with our usual mechanic schedule during weekdays. The first thing that we both wanted to eat after coming here was pizza.. I thought i will get the base and then bake it with veggies but then the other thought why cant i prepare it at home? So here is what I prepared at home and it came out really well. So I am sharing this with you all

Classic Pizza

Preparation Time :20min (excluding the dough preparation)
Cooking Time :20-25min
Serves:2

Ingredients

For the Dough

2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sour curd/buttermilk
1 tsp yeast
salt a pinch

For the Topping

4 tbsp tomato ketchup
2 tsp Pepper sauce
1/2 cup sliced onion
1/2 cup sliced tomatoes
1/2 cup sliced capsicum
2 tsp butter
2 tsp oregano mix
2 tsp chili flakes
generous mascarpone cheese

Method

For the Dough

Sieve the all purpose flour and keep it in a mixing bowl. Put the yeast in the lukewarm water till becomes foamy.

Make a whole in the center of the dough and put in the butter milk and yeast and slowly start mixing it with your fingers. Then slowly add enough water to bring it into chapati dough consistency.

Cover it with a plastic or a muslin cloth and keep it in a warm place for about 5-6 hrs or till the dough doubles in the size. I kept the dough over the stabilizer.

Make equal portions the dough and roll it into pan pizza size .

For the Topping

Take a pan add the butter and to add the sliced onion and capsicum and saute it in a high flame for about minute or so to remove that raw smell. Add the spice mixture and fry for another minute. Take it out of the flame.

Take a pizza role and to it apply ketchup and pepper sauce and arrange the sliced vegetables.

Preheat the oven and grease the baking pan and place the pizza to bake in high stand in 200 degree C for 20 to 25 minutes depending on your oven.

Serve hot with Coke/Pepsi

Papaya Delicacy-Mom's Special

2008-09-30T10:54:00.005+05:30

Papaya is not everybody's favorite fruit. Back in my home town this is a very common fruit and it used to yield so much that half the fruit will go waste on the tree. Papaya is used as both a veggie and a fruit. I hardly used to eat it and used to get very pissed if mom uses it in anything. We had two varieties of Papayas. One was with yellow color flesh and small in size and the other one was hybrid variety with the flesh in red color and no seed also. I used to prefer hybrid ones to the local variety.

Since we used to avoid eating it Mom used make a fudge out of it. I never realised the amazing and yummy halwa was from the fruit which i hated a lot. Mom used to laugh so much on me and the saga of Papaya halwa started. So thought will share with you guys .

Guess what I am leaving to my home town tonite and will be back on 12th October and just waiting to see my parents, my house, garden, amma's cooking and lots more..

WISH YOU ALL HAPPY VIJAYADASHAMI AND AYUDHA POOJA WISHES

PAPAYA HALWA/FUDGE/A MOUTHWATERING DESSERT FROM PAPAYA

Preparation Time:10min
Cooking Time :20 min
Recipe Source: Amma

Ingredients

1.5 cup grated raw papaya
1 cup milk
1 cup grated kova (optional)
1 tsp cardamom
cashews
1.1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp ghee

Method

Take a Microwave safe bowl and put the grated papaya along with milk and keep it in HIGH for 10 minutes string in between. Add kova and keep it in for HIGH for 5 minutes. give a standing time of 3 minutes.

stir properly and add sugar and cardamom and keep again for HIGH for 8 minutes. string once in between. Give a standing time of 3 minutes. Add ghee and cashews and keep for HIGH for 2 minutes.

Serve hot. You can also it as a side dish for chapati(my personal favorite).

Back With A Bang..

2008-09-25T15:05:00.006+05:30

I cannot believe myself that i was away from my "Blog-o-World" for a month. Life becomes too difficult if you have too many things sitting in your mind, mail list, To Do list on the desktop or on the fridge door I really get confused as to which one to give priority. Well when you have somebody above you with whom you have turn around time then you don't have a choice left but to consider that and finish it..

So this is what happened to me from last one month.. even we colleges with whom we used to a rocking time didn't even have time to ask each other how you are doing? Well now that everything is eased out and we are back to normal life the first thing I am doing is posting something new on the blog..

Butter Naan with Navarathna Kurma/Indian Flat Bread with Mixed Vegetable curry with rich Cashew & Coconut Sauce

Preparation Time :20 min
Cooking Time:25-30 min
Serves:4-6

Ingredients for Butter Naan

2 cups of all purpose flour/maida
1 cup sour curd
1/2 cup milk
salt a pinch
1 tsp yeast (dissolved in lukewarm water)
2 tsp sesame seeds/till

Method

Sieve maida/all purpose flour into a mixing bowl and to this add salt and mix. Soak the yeast in the lukewarm water till becomes fluffy.

Then make a hole in the center of maida and the yeast and slowly add curd and start mixing the dough. The dough should be chapati dough consistency.

Close the bowl with a muslin cloth or a plastic and store it in a warm place for about an hour and half. Once the dough doubles in the size make lemon sized balls and keep.

Roll it into a naan shape. Add sesame seed to it and roast it with butter.

Serve hot .Njoy

Ingredients for Navarathna Kurma

1 cup each of chopped beans, carrot, cauliflower,
green peas, potato, paneer,capsicum
salt to taste

for Spice Masala

1 tsp pepper powder
1 strand of mint
1 strand of coriander leaves
1/2 cup each of grated coconut and soaked cashews
1 stick cinnamon
2 cloves

Method

Cook all the veggies with salt till done and keep it aside. Soak the cashews in the hot water for about 15 minutes.

Take the blender jar to this add all the spice mixture along with soaked cashews bring it into a nice paste.

Add the spice mixture to the boiled veggies and bring it to simmer for about 15 minutes.

Serve hot with the butter naan/chapati/rice.

Guess...........And Answer

2008-08-21T10:47:00.006+05:30

Our diet very much depends on the weather and Ayurveda..back home we always used to eat some veggies especially during a particular season of the year, for example we eat Colocasia leaves which is in the form of Patrode. like that there are so many dishes which is special and prepared only on that time. So Monsoon season has its own delicacy and this is one of my all time favorite. so nobody got the answer properly. One of the monsoon delicacy's of Mangalore is here.

Bamboo Shoot Palya/ Kanile Palya

preparation time : 10 min
Cooking Time:15-20 min
Serves 4-6

Ingredients

1 cup finely chopped bamboo shoot

2-3 green chilli slit

salt to taste

2 tsp jaggery

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

For the Masala

2 tsp oil

1 tsp musturd seeds

1 tsp urad dal

1 tsp chana dal

2 red chilli

2 strands of curry leaves

3-4 tbsp coconut grated

2 red chilli

1 tsp jeera/cumin seeds

Method

Bamboo shoot cannot be cooked as soon as it is bought from the market. You have to slice those bamboos into thin round slices and put in cold water for three days and keep changing the water everyday to remove those strong flavors of bamboo.

After the third day squeeze the entire water from it and store it in air tight plastic in the freezer for months.

Take a thick bottomed kadai and put the seasoning ingredients and wait till the mustard crackles. Then add the curry leaves to it and wait for a minute. Then add the finely chopped bamboo and mix properly and fry for two minutes.

Add 1.5 cups of water and close the lid till water starts boiling and then add the salt, jaggery and green chilli and mix well and close the lid let it cook in medium flame until soft and water is evaporated.

meanwhile take a mixi jar and add coconut, turmeric powder, jeera and redchii and with very liltle water make a fine paste out of it.

Add this masala mix once the bamboo is cooked and mix well and heat in low flame for 5 more minutes. Palya is ready.

Serve hot with plain rice and ghee..

Other Bamboo Shoot Recipes in CookSpot :

Bamboo Shoot Kottige Melara

( Bamboo Shoot Rolls Steam Cooked and served with White Coconut Sauce)

Pakodas..

2008-08-18T14:44:00.003+05:30

Last week my parents were in town on a very short visit so you can imagine i was obviously in cloud no 9 . I always miss my amma's cooking and i don't know i cant even compare my cooking to her.. I learnt from her how to cook but somehow i lack her perfection. She had got all the home grown veggies, greens and lot of sweets and mixture which i love to sit and munch. So this is what i learnt from her this time.

DoddaPatre Leaves / Sambrani Soppu Onion Pakoda
Preparation time:10 min
Cooking Time: 10-15 min
Serves 5-6

Ingredients

2 cups washed and chopped doddapatre/sambrani Leaves
1 cup chopped onion

1-2 tsp redchilli powder (according to your taste)

salt per taste

1/4 cup besan

hing a pinch dissolved in water

Method

Chop nicely both the onion and Doddapatre leaves and put it in a mixing bowl. Sieve besan and put it in the same mixing bowl together with salt, redhili powder and hing by adding little water . the batter should not be too watery. you should be able to make balls.

Heat the oil in a pan and deep fry the balls till golden brown.

Serve hot with a cup of coffee/tea

Other Pakoda Recipes in Cookspot

Onion & Potato Pakodas

Food For Comfort

2008-08-14T11:04:00.005+05:30

"Aye Mere Vatan Ke Logon 
Tum Khoob Laga Lo Naara 
Ye Shubh Din Hai Ham Sab Ka 
Lahara Lo Tiranga Pyaara 
Par Mat Bhoolo Seema Par 
Veeron Ne Hai Praan Ganvaaye 
Kuch Yaad Unhein Bhi Kar Lo 
Jo Laut Ke Ghar Na Aaye  
Aye Mere Vatan Ke Logon 
Zara Aankh Mein Bhar lo Paani 
Jo Shaheed Hue Hain Unki 
Zara Yaad Karo Qurbaani "

(Sung by Lata Mangeshkar)

Happy Independence Day

Whenever I hear this song tears just flow from my eyes and I become very emotional. Such a powerful song.Tomorrow is a very big day for all Indians, we will be celebrating our 60th Independence Day. I salute to all the Jawans and the Independence Heroes who made us to celebarate this Day. this is my contribution to Sunita's Think Spice-Think Favorite, who is celebrating her anniversary on this event. Congrats to her.

Mixed Vegetables Green Kichidi
Rice Dal & Green Cooked with Spices
Preparation Time: 10 min
Cooking Time :20 min
Serves :2-4

Ingredients

1 cup Rice

1/2 cup Thor Dal

1/2 cup french beans cubed

1/2 cup potato cubed

1/2 cup carrot cubed

1 bunch Palak chopped

1/2 cup green peas

1/2 cup sprouted moong

salt per taste

Spices For Masala

1.5 tsp pepper Powder

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

2-3 green chillies

2 cloves

1 tsp Jeera/cumin seeds

1 tsp Cardamom

2 tsp oil/ghee/clarified butter

coriander leaves for garnish

Method

Chop all the vegetables into cubes and keep it aside. Chop the palak roughly (you can even blanch it and then chop).

Take a pressure cooker and add oil and put jeera and wait till it crackles. Add all the spices fry for a minute then add rice and dal fry for a minute. Add the veggies and remaining ingredients except turmeric powder and fry for one more minute or so.

Then Add 5-6 cups of water and add green chili, salt, and turmeric powder mix well and close the lid and wait for 4 whistles.

Kichidi should be mashed then tastes good. you can make it little watery also.

Serve hot with raita.

I am very pleased to receive the following awards from Sangeeth of Art of Cooking Indian Food. Thank you so much Sangeeth.

I would like to pass it to all my fellow bloggers. Happy Independence Day to one and all once again.

SIMPLE YET DELICIOUS

2008-08-12T15:39:00.005+05:30

This is one of the Fwd mails which is my favorite so i thought i will share with you people.

To get the full effect, this should be read aloud.You will understand what 'tenjewberrymuds' means by the end of the conversation. This has been nominated for the best email of 2005.

The following is a telephone exchange between a hotel guest and room-service,at a hotel in Asia, which was recorded and published in the Far East economic review :

Room Service (RS): "Morrin. Roon sirbees."

Guest (G): "Sorry, I thought I dialed room-service."

RS: "Rye..Roon sirbees..morrin! Jewish to oddor sunteen?"

G: "Uh..yes..I'd like some bacon and eggs."

RS: "Ow July den?"

G: "What?"

RS: "Ow July den?...pryed, boyud, poochd?"

G : "Oh, the eggs! How do I like them? Sorry, scrambled please."

RS: "Ow July dee baykem? Crease?"

G: "Crisp will be fine."

RS : "Hokay. An Sahn toes?"

G: "What?"

RS:"An toes. July Sahn toes?"

G: "I don't think so."

RS: "No? Judo wan sahn toes??"

G: "I feel really bad about this, but I don't know what 'judo wan sahn toes' means."

RS: "Toes! toes!...Why jew don juan toes? Ow bow Anglish moppin we bodder?"

G: "English muffin!! I've got it! You were saying 'Toast.' Fine. Yes, an English muffin will be fine."

RS: "We bodder?"

G: "No...just put the bodder on the side."

RS: "Wad?"

G: "I mean butter...just put it on the side."

RS: "Copy?"

G: "Excuse me?"

RS: "Copy...tea...meel?"

G: "Yes. Coffee, please, and that's all."

RS: "One Minnie. Scramah egg, crease baykem, Anglish moppin we bodder on sigh and copy....rye??"

G: "Whatever you say."

RS: "Tenjewberrymuds."

G : "You're very welcome."

I hope you all enjoyed it. ....

I was in mood to cook very lengthy breakfast and was not ready to eat bread jam/ noodles. So prepared this which became so well.

Bread Upma/Bread Cooked With Ground Spices & Vegetables

Preparation Time: 5 min
Cooking Time :15 min
Serves:2

Ingredients

1 medium pack sweet bread
2 tomatoes ripped
1 medium onion slices
1/2 cup green piece
salt to taste

For Masala & Tampering

2 tsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
2 red chili
3 garlic cloves
Coriander leaves for garnish
1/2 turmeric powder
1/4 tsp sugar

Method

Cut bread into small chunks removing the crusts from the sides and keep it aside. Take a pan and put the tampering ingredients and wait till the mustard seeds crackle and then add the onion and fry till transparent.

Add tomatoes and peas and let the tomato along with turmeric powder cook in 1/4 cup of water. Add the chopped bread chunks to boiled tomato spice mixture. Sprinkle little water to it so that the entire masala blends nicely with bread and salt and sugar and cook till bread chunks become hot . Garnish with coriander leaves

Serve hot with a cup of coffee..