Sreelus Tasty Travels

Hot and Spicy Stuffed Peppers, perfect for Brrrrr weather

noreply@blogger.com (Sreelu) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:21:28 PST

Hot and Spicy Stuffed Peppers

If you are like me growing up food was always the center of activity at home, a herculean task that was performed by the ladies of the house without any hiccups. You see I lived in a joint family big one i.e. with great grand parents, grand parents, uncles, aunts and all my cousins, our house always had visitors and come Summer or vacations we had extended family join us it was non-stop fun. During peak summers sometimes our home housed more than twenty five people yet ladies of the house made it look so seamless and easy to feed the crowd weather it was making pooris or bajji or dosa's everything was done in a order. I wonder how much they used to plan, it was so easy to crib in spite of all their hard work, never realized nor respected for that matter what went into making these delicious meals until of course I had to feed a micro family of four. Most evening snacks made were always deep-fried, never had to watch calories or carbs. Of course, now with so much awareness about calories and healthy eating it makes you rethink before you deep-fry or get the oil going.
Today’s recipe is one such variation slightly healthy then deep frying with weather like today all you want to do is have a few of these catch a book and snuggle.
Ingredients
Feeds 6- 8
Peppers (20) (sweetish kind with fairly thin skin)
3 potatoes (boiled)
1 red onion cubed finely
1/2 cup feta cheese (substitute your favorite)
Shredded mozzarella for topping
Seasoning
1-2 tbsp of cumin powder
Salt according to taste
1/2 tsp red chili flakes
Process
1. Pre heat over to 350
2. Clean chilies and slit vertically in the middle
3. Deseed chilies by removing the pith and seeds
4. Take a pan add tbsp of oil and when hot add chili flakes and red onion.
5. Sauté till onions caramelize
6. Now add boiled potatoes, cumin and salt and mix well. When warm to touch add feta cheese and keep aside to cool
7. Now stuff the above on to the deseeded chilies and top off with shredded mozzarella
8. Line them on baking sheet and allow to bake for 8 minutes
9. Change the setting to broil and high and allow to broil for another 8 minutes.
10. Serve right out of the oven.
Result is hot and spicy stuffed chili and a bite into melted feta boy it feels heavenly and the sweetness of the chili flesh makes it a beautiful concoction. Low cal and low fat but high on taste a true crowd pleaser that your friends and guest alike will love.

Stay warm,
Sreelu

Diwali Greetings

noreply@blogger.com (Sreelu) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 15:02:33 PDT

Happy Diwali

Wishing all my family,friends, readers and my blog visitors a very happy and a prosperous Diwali. May the Diwali lights brighten your lives and fill you with peace and happiness.

Special wishes to my little brother who celebrates his birthday today.

With Love,

Sreelu

Soups on ..

noreply@blogger.com (Sreelu) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 16:00:36 PDT

Hearty Twelve Bean Vegetarian Chili/Soup

Have been absconding from my blog for a while, off late I am finding it extremely difficult to find time to blog, wish there were 48 hours a day. We in Bay area have been experiencing tipsy turvy weather, you have a Saturday with 80 degrees a park kind of day and a Sunday with 55 degrees super windy and cold, kinda a day to cozy up with your favorite book in your goose down and wish magically a cuppa of warm hearty soup appears.

Well a cup of warm chili with hearty vegetables is always a welcome in cold weather, usually chili is made with red or black beans these days you get such fancy combinations of beans that its very enticing recently picked up a combination of twelve beans . So here goes my version of chili or bean soup however you call it.

Ingredients

1 Cup of dried beans (Black, red or today's case 12 beans combination), soak overnight

1/2 cup celery

1 onion chopped finely

1/2 cup carrot

1/2 cup tomato

2-3 potatoes peeled and cubed

2tb sp Cumin powder

2 tbp Ginger garlic paste

2 tbsp Red chili flakes

Salt according to taste

Toppings

roasted corn

red onion

green chilies sliced very very fine

nacho's

cheese

Process

1. Soak beans overnight.

2. Pressure cook bean with salt

3. Add 2 tbsp oil to a pot, when oil is hot add chili flakes , ginger garlic paste and saute for 1 minute

4. Now add chopped onion and fry till they turn brown

5. Add celery, tomatoes, potatoes and mix well

6. Add boiled beans , save the water in which beans were boiled.

7. Mix all the ingredients and add water if it seems to thick.

8. Use hand blender and run the blender in the pot for few times to make mush some beans.

9. Adjust salt accordingly and allow to boil in simmer for 8-1o minutes.

Serve hot with your choice of toppings, roasted corn, red onion, green chilies sliced very very fine, nacho's crushed roughly, a slice of lemon and of course cheese.

Warm and hearty makes a complete and satisfying meal.
Enjoy your fall.
Love,
Sreelu

When Life Gives You Lemons --------

noreply@blogger.com (Sreelu) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:47:34 PDT

When life gives you Lemons... you make Lemon Pickled Carrots

So glad to be back to blogging, had a fantastic vacation going home, it was great meeting family, friends and huge extended family. It was continues food, parties, visitations and not to mention hectic travel. I usually get very very home sick once I get back and it happens every time though it’s been more than a decade since I started living in US, guess some things never change.

Back to scheduled chaos, summers come to an end, kids back to school and its almost fall, my favorite time of the year weather perfect not to hot and not to cold just right for a walk in the neighborhood.
This year we enjoyed having lemons in a yard, planted it almost nine years ago never has it borne so many lemons like it did this year. Having fresh lemons out in the yard reminded me of my grand mothers picked radishes this time on it’s substituted with carrots.

Ingredients
2-3 fresh and tender carrots, sliced thinly
½ cup fresh lemon juice
2 tb fresh ground pepper
1 thinly sliced green chili
Salt according to taste
Chat masala for additional flavoring (optional)

Process

1. Slice carrots finely, to sliced carrots add lemon juice, pepper, salt , green chilies and optionally chat masala.
2.Allow it to marinate for an hour or so.
3.Once marinated you can eat like a salad or use as side dish to compliment to roti’s/naan
Carrots can be substituted for Radishes and even raw mango.

Go check out some more drooling pickling recipes from Cynthia
Hope everyone had a great summer .

Love,
Sreelu

Ganapathi Bappa Mourya

noreply@blogger.com (Sreelu) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 10:47:23 PDT

Wishing my family,friends and all my readers a very Happy Ganesh Chaturdi.

May the lord shower his blessings to one and all and may there be peace and happiness .

Summer Series Garden Escapades

noreply@blogger.com (Sreelu) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 17:58:10 PDT

Anyone who has got a book collection and a garden wants for nothing.
Cicero

At the end of the day gardening for me is away to wind down. Gardening represents optimism for me and being a true optimist the amount of satisfaction I get nurturing saplings and see them fruit and flower is beyond words. Dairy of my garden from last year, this year with an up coming long trip did not plant much as I would hate for them die and wither away.

Summer for me arrives with Jasmine flowers, these tiny blooms so fragrant and sensual a true summer quintessential.

Indian Jasmine (Malle Puvvu)

A must have for any home vegetable garden are Tomatoes, thanks to the Californian summersthese grow plenty. Very hardy and easy to grow. Last year went to local gardening chapter and got plants/seeds of Heirloom variety, and true to the picture these were so sweet,It would be an insult to cook anything with them. All you have to do is wash and eat. Extremely delicious,meaty and sweet.

Heirloom Tomatoes are my entry for Click hosted by Bee& Jai of Jugalbandi, this months theme -Stacks.

We had a bounty last year and most of my friends got to taste them.
Summer vegetables we grew include corn, yellow squash and cucumber. Nothing beats the taste of freshly picked fruit /vegetables hands down.
Eggplant the hotter the weather the better the crop.
Lemon Cucumber or Indian cucumber (Dosakaya) excellent for Dals and pickles.

Uncontrollable mint, find it every where in my yard and the king of south Indian cooking Kadi Patta or Curry leaves, No dish is ever complete without curry leaves seasoning.

Indian Guava, these flower in summer and takes a while for the fruit to form usually in November, though they are very small in size they are big on flavor.

Pomegranate or Anar, this is the Kabuli Anar, so soft sweet and very fleshy. Get to enjoy them untill fall.

No yard is complete without fragrant flowers. Pink Calla Lilly and my favorite red rose.

Few other variety of roses.

Lovely Hydrangea,depending on the soil conditions one year its blue flowers and one year its pink and one year a combination of both a visual treat to my eyes.

Hope you have enjoyed a tour of my modest sub urban yard. I will be gone for few days hopefully I get to take pictures of places,people and food I see and eat. Have a happy summer everyone.

Hope to be back soon.

Love,

Sreelu

Summer Series : Jalapeño Guacamole

noreply@blogger.com (Sreelu) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:08:43 PDT

Summer Series : Jalapeño Guacamole

Friends are amazing and the way you meet and develop friendship is even more amazing,some friends are to die for and some are a social obligation and some in between.When I came to US about a decade ago ( boy makes me feel old) anyways back to point,I was a newly wed bride trying to figure out my way into this new and strange at times country, I started working for a very high energy start up in San Francisco, which meant I had a long commute from south bay where we lived. With no kids and no other obligations that long train ride to SFO was such a pleasure, it was my chance to catch with new paper and my favorite past time ever reading. Well during these commute day met a girl in a very similar state as me newly married immigrant figuring out things just like me, after some awkward initial hi and byes we realized we work very close to each other take the same trains slowly we became friends since both of us had quite a few common shared interest.Then one day lady Jane and her husband decided to move across the coast for a better opportunity,initially phone calls were regular then frequency changed to monthly then mostly for wishing each other on special occasions and then to none and eventually lost touch.Thanks to the era of social networking few weeks back out of the blue I get pinged by Lady JANE wow it felt nice to catch up.Met up with her for lunch at her home , you see we had seven years worth of catching up todo. She moved into this cute little home right out of some Jane Austin's novel. A huge fruit orchard and a nice vegetable patch, she had lilacs in her front yard and a gigantic Avocado tree.I have never see avocado tree before, so as you can imagine after a delicious lunch came home with a bag full of avocados.M this is for you and to many more lunches together.
For a person where guacamole was out of a jar most of the time eating a freshly made one was heavenly. Heard Avocado is high in anti oxidants and has good fat.Kicked it up a little by adding canned Jalapeños and boy o boy it tasted great.

Ingredients

Preparation time about 15 minutes

serves about 2 people

2 medium sized Avocadoes

1/2 firm ripe tomato cut into thin cubes

1 garlic pod minced very very fine

2 canned jalapeños, squeeze the water out of it and chop finely into pieces

few springs of Cilantro

fresh ground pepper

1 tbsp lemon juice

salt according to taste
Preparation

1. de shell avocado and cut into cubes, to this add tomatoes, minced garlic,chopped Jalapeños.

2.Mix with a fork trying to squish avocado, I like it chunky so I don't mush it much.

3.Add salt ,pepper and lemon juice and mix well

4.Add cilantro and mix well
Serve with Chips or on top it of on a cheesy quesadilla or eat just like that, either way I swear you will love the taste.

PS: During conversion with my friend she mentioned what a pain fruit and vegetable trees can be when they have abundant crop,ripe fruit fallen on the ground makes a mess.When you have bounty of fruits and vegetables that you can share please donate it to your local food bank or call organization like http://www.sfglean.org/ where volunteers will come collect your crop and god know if you get lucky a good voluteer might even prune your tree for free, its a win win situation your garden stays clean and a family in need is helped.

Stay cool this summer and have fun.

Love,
Sreelu

Summer Series : Garbanzo Picnic Salad

noreply@blogger.com (Sreelu) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 08:35:40 PDT

Summer Series Garbanzo/Chickpeas Salad

Yeah its summer, weather here in bay area has been so perfect that it seems like a crime to sit at home on the weekends. We had our first picnic of the season few weeks back with good friends and boy it was fun. Can't wait for our next one.Come summer with schools closed its time to take a chill pill and put the strict schedules of pick up and drop off,homework's,soccer practices and classes on shelf for some time. Looking forward to lots of picnics and tons of fun this summer.
Made this Garbanzo salad for the picnic, very simple and very filling best part it can be ahead of time and allow to chill or can be tossed right in the park for a crunchy texture.

Ingredients

1 cup chickpeas (soaked over night and pressure cooked with salt) or 1 canned garbanzo beans

1/2 cup very finely diced red onion

1/2 cup finely seed and diced cucumber

1/2 cup de seeded and finely diced tomatoes

1/2 cup peeled and finely diced raw mango

1/2 cup seeded and finely chopped red bell pepper ( you can use mixed colors here)

2-3 tbsp very very finely chopped chilies ( I use fresh red Thai chilies)

few sprigs of cilantro finely chopped

1-2 tbsp ginger very very finely chopped (optional)

For dressing

2 tbsp Chaat masala

2 tbsp fresh ground pepper ( adjust accordingly to choice)

1 tbsp amchur powder (dried mango powder)

1 tbsp rock salt/black salt
Juice of 1-2 lemons (depending on size of lemons)

salt according to taste

Process

1. Cut all the vegetables finely as mentioned (I usually like mine very finely chopped and of same size, it makes salad look very pretty)

2. add vegetable to boiled Garbanzo/chickpeas and toss well

3. mix all the dry ingredients and add to the the above and mix well

4. add lemon juice and salt and toss well.

Can be eaten at room temperature or cold,colorful ,healthy and very very filling.
Enjoy your summer everyone and have fun, don't forget your sunscreen .

This goes off to Susan's My Legume Love Affair, hosted this month by Annarasa and

Sunday Snacks-Spill the beans hosted by Priya of Akshayapaatram

Love,

Sreelu

MM Ravishing Rice- Rice Pilaf/Pulav

noreply@blogger.com (Sreelu) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 00:11:53 PDT

Rice Pilaf

Well technically I don't know what is the difference between pulav and Biryani is for most part I use the same ingredients and vegetables in both with the exception of baking one while cooking the other. I was always intimidated making pulav for it always sounded complex with lot of involved processes, but after trying couple of time I can vouch that its one of the most easiest rice dish to make only pre requisite being that you need to have a handful of spices at home.
Ever since we had a restaurant with Hyderabad Dum Biryani as its speciality open close to our home making pulav has become a rarity for me.

Ingredients used seem a little exhaustive but trust me its not hard as it seems
Ingredients

Serves 5-6 cooking time 15 min prep+cooking time for rice
Spices2-3 Bay leaves

1/2 tbsp Black Onion Seed/Kalonji Seed/Nigella Seed

few Mace or Javitri

pinch Saffron or Zafraan

1 Star Anise or Badayan

3-4 Cloves/Laung/Lavang

two 1 inch pieces of Cinnamon stick/Dalchini

check out images of the spices used here
Vegetables

1 red Red onion sliced thin vertically

2 cups mixed vegetables ( peas,carrot,beans)

3-4 Chilies ( I used red Chilies)

2 potatoes peeled and cubed

2 tbsp ginger garlic paste

1/2 cup store brought coconut milk

2tbsp of milk to soak saffron

1 Cup Basmati rice

2tb Ghee/clarified butter

2 tbsp oil for shallow frying spices
salt according taste

1 tbsp Turmeric
for garnish deep fried Onions,cashew nuts,cilantro

Process

1. Soak saffron in 2 tbsp warm milk and set aside.

2. wash basmati rice in warm water and keep aside.

3. Heat a pan add 2 tbsp oil, when oil gets warm ad all the above mentioned spices and fry till they emit a nice aroma.

4. Now add ginger garlic paste, sliced onions and chilies sauté them till onions turn brown.

5. Add all the vegetables and mix well, stir fry for about 1-2 minutes.

6. Add turmeric, salt and coconut milk and stir once again.

7. Now add soaked rice and saffron and stir till the rice is well coated.

8. Now transfer the rice into a rice cooker and add 2 cups of water, spray generously with PAM (Non-stick spray) mix well and allow to cook.

9. When cooked allow to cool a bit and then fluff the rice around for all the ingredients to mix.

10. Garnish with fried onion ,cashews and coriander leaves.
Serve hot,tastes best when accompanied with Raita or Kurma.This is my entry for Meeta's Monthly Mingle hosted by Nags - this months theme Ravishing Rice .

Love,

Sreelu

Easy Breezy Chocolate Dunked Strawberries

noreply@blogger.com (Sreelu) — Thu, 28 May 2009 12:39:38 PDT

Easy Breezy Chocolate Dunked Strawberries

Now how does a dessert that takes less then 10 minutes to make but wows everybody sound, well you are in for a treat.Chocolate covered strawberries seem so exotic and pricey in stores, but in reality its one of the easiest desserts to make and it works best when you have to entertain/wow huge number of people. Very less preparation time practically no clean up and so easy even a kid can make it.
Made this for a b'day party few weeks ago and boy they were delicious. With Strawberries in season now is the best time to make this, this processes can be extended for Cherries, short bread cookies,banana's well anything that gels with chocolate.

make approximately 30-40 Chocolate covered Strawberries
Ingredients
2 cups of Nestle Toll house chocolate chips ( I use semi sweet chocolate chips since strawberries in season are super sweet)
1 1/2 tbsp of Oil
1 tbsp of corn syrup (optional)
1/2 tbsp butter (optional)

Process
1. In a microwave safe bowl add chocolate chip and oil (Make sure the bowl is dry with no water, water and chocolate don't gel well)
2. Microwave of high for a minute
3. Remove from the microwave and mix well till chocolate chip turn into a smooth texture.
4. Butter and corn syrup can be added to give extra gloss to strawberries.
5. prewash and pat dry strawberries
6. Line a serving plate with wax paper, now dip the washed and dried strawberries in chocolate syrup and place it on the serving plate
7. Chill in the refrigerator for approx 30 minutes.
Tastes best when served at room temperature, you can double dip strawberries in chocolate again after chilling for a while to have a thicker and more richer chocolate covering.
This is my entry for Srivalli's Metai Mela, Happy 2nd birthday Mansi's SV and SHF June 2009

Love,
Sreelu

Chocolate Covered Strawberries - A Mothers Day Treat

noreply@blogger.com (Sreelu) — Sun, 10 May 2009 15:19:01 PDT

Happy Mothers Day!!!

Wishing all moms and moms-to-be a very happy mothers day and a special one to my mom and mom-in-law.
Home made extra dark chocolate covered strawberries to celebrate mom's day,You don't need a special day or time to tell mom how special she is,but never the heck a day dedicated makes it extra special.
Will blog recipe soon.

Love,
Sreelu

King Of Summer - Mango, Mango Coconut Chutney/Kobbari Mavidikaya Pachadi

noreply@blogger.com (Sreelu) — Thu, 07 May 2009 18:10:01 PDT

Mango Coconut Chutney /Mavidikaya Kobbari Pachadi
If there is a vegetable that's celebrated in Southern India in summer it has be Mango, be it in vegetable form orfruit, Mango is eaten and relished through out the season in various form dal,mango rice, famous mango pickles, mango rasam, mango everything.Its amazing how many varites are created without repeatation and trust me at the end of theseason you would still be hungry for more.

Raw Mangoes found in US do not have the same level of tartness as in India, they tend to be more on the sweeter side hence you don't get the same taste back home but with subtle modifications to orginal mom's recipe it comes close in taste.

Mango and coconut compliment each others flavors, Mango's tartness and coconut's sweetness balance each other and hence the end result is yummy concoction of flavors.
Simple yet delicious.

Ingredients

1 mango peeled and rougly chopped

1/2 a coconut grated

2-3 green chilles (adjust according to taste)

few springs of corriander cleaned and chopped

2-3 tbsp of lemon juice (depending on the sourness of the mango)

1-2 garlic cloves (optional)

1 tbsp Haldi/Turmeric

Salt according to taste

For Seasoning

1 tbsp Oil

1tspn Jeera

1tspn Urad Dal

1tspn Mustrad seeds

pinch on Hing

8-10 Curry leaves

2-3 red chilies

Process

1.Grind all the ingredients except lemon juice and seasonings into a fine paste.
2.Heat a tbsp of oil in a pan add all the ingredient and when mustard seed start to pop remove from heat and add to above paste.
3.mix well
stores well up to a week.
Serve hot with rice or can be eaten with roti.
while we are at Mangos, you might want to check out my previous entries

Mango Dal

Mango Cheese Cake

Love,

Sreelu

Neighborhood Farmers Market

noreply@blogger.com (Sreelu) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 09:23:07 PDT

Glad to be living in a cute neighborhood where we have Farmers Market every Wednesday and Sunday. With warmer days comes more varitey of flowers and vegetables. Got my self an Orchid plant, this is the first time ever trying to grow an Orchid. I hope to keep it alive.
Sunny mixed flowers is always a welcome , always make it a point to pick few.
Newest addition to my herb garden Sweet Basil, can't wait to make some yummy Italian dishes.
Have been playing around with few photo editing softwares. Do you guys like the pic ?
I would love to hear your feed back.

Sreelu

Red Bell Pepper & Tomato Chutney

noreply@blogger.com (Sreelu) — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:55:57 PDT

Red Bell Pepper & Tomato Chutney

Happy Earth day everyone,with all the awareness and alternatives around being green hope we make sound choices and help preserve our natural resources and be environmentally responsible.

Spring break just got over and boy it was beautiful weather in Bay area sunny and bright.Had a cousin of mine visiting from NJ,it was great catching up with her and her family after along time, enjoyed long chats and drives with her, as you can imagine the amount of topics and talking that went on was endless, there were quite a few recipe exchanges that took place and today's recipe is one of them though I kicked it up notch.

Ingredients
1 Large red bell pepper
2 medium size Tomatoes
2-3 cloves of garlic
1 small piece of ginger
1-2 Green chilies
cup of coriander ( adjust according to liking)
1tbsp of Tamarind paste
tbsp haldi
Salt according to taste
pinch of sugar/small piece of jaggery
Dry Ingredients to be ground into fine powder
1 tbsp Channa dal
1 tbsp urad dal
1 tbsp jeera
1 tbsp dhania
1 tbsp Sesame seeds ( White or Black)
1/2 tbsp methi seeds
1-2 red Chilies depending on spicy level
Process
1. pre heat oven to 425 degrees
2. Once oven is ready place red bell pepper and tomatoes on a baking sheet and broilfor 3- 40 minutes until skin turns to char. Alternatively you can roast it on the fire/grill.
3. Roast all the dry ingredients until they release their aroma.
4. grind the dry ingredients into a fine powder keep aside.
5. Remove charred skin from red Bell pepper and tomatoes.
6. grind grilled red pepper,tomatoes,garlic,ginger, green chilles,coriander,tamarind paste
7. To the ground paste add fried masala powder,salt and haldi and grind once again.

This simple yet delicious chutney compliments roti's ,rice and idli's.

Love,
Sreelu

Celebrating 35th Year Of Togetherness

noreply@blogger.com (Sreelu) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:42:46 PDT

For Amma & Dad

As you enter your 35th year of togetherness wanted to let you know that You are the root of my happiness and strength, May your love be stronger each day and may you celebrate many many more anniversaries.

Thanks for being the BEST parents ever !!
Love you and miss you a ton

Sreelu

Coconut Stew/Kobbari Pulusu

noreply@blogger.com (Sreelu) — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 17:10:41 PDT

Coconut Stew
Growing up as Southern Bella, coconut is something that is used on a daily basis, be it in chutneys,stews or rice items it's a qunitessencial ingriedent for daily cooking, the easy with which coconut meat is scrapped and how quickly it was turned into a mouth watering concostion is quite a wonderful thing.Well on the other side of the world where I currently live getting fresh coconut is a matter of luck.Groceries stores here carry coconuts that are like years old. With many coconuts gone bad learnt to use alernatvies like coconut cream,cocnut milk found in Asian/Chinese stores. Well must say it comes close to tasting like fresh coconut.

Today receipe is cocnut stew eaten with rice, quick and delicious to eat.
Ingredients
1 small coconut cream can or 1 cup of grated coconut
2 tb Sesame seeds
3-4 garlic pods
tamrind size of 2 quaters, add water and sqeeze the pulp to make it about 2 cups
a pinch Turmeric
1 tbsp sugar

For seasoning
1 tbsp Oil
1 tbsp Jeera
1 tbsp Mustard seeds
1 tbsp Urad Dal
3-4 Red Chilies
10 curry leaves
pinch of Hing

Process
1.Grind sesasme seeds into a fine powder,remove and keep a side
2. Grind coconut and garlic into a fine paste
3. Add sesame seeds powder to the above and grind once again into a fine paste
4. In a pan add a tbsp of oil and heat,when oil is hot add all the ingredinets of seasoning
5. Add tarmind juice,salt, tumeric and allow to boil
6. Once tamrind juice starts to boil, add coconut garlic paste and allow to boil on simmer for about 5-8 minutes
7. Add a table of sugar and adjust salt accordingly.

Remove for heat and serve hot with rice.

Happy Spring Everyone !!!

Sreelu

Spring is in the Air

noreply@blogger.com (Sreelu) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 11:27:05 PDT

A wise man once said "Spring is when life's alive in everything" how true, there is something in the spring air that makes you want to whistle and be a child. After a long cold dull winter,spring comes in with hope,life and color in full vigor.Changes like these make life beautiful and worth living for.

(Pics from my backyard)

A dear friend of mine is going through one such change, here is wishing that change be as beautiful as spring. Good Luck !!

Cabbage Paratha

noreply@blogger.com (Sreelu) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 21:35:06 PST

Cabbage Parata

Growing up I detested Cabbage for it had a weird smell, Cabbage bhaji at home and I knew I was in trouble at the dining table, well thank fully with age came tolerance to food and now with a 360 degree turn I constantly struggle to get my kids to eat Cabbage , life comes full round I guess. One way to get all the veggies packed I found was Parata’s, kids love it and you can cleverly camouflage veggies and thus it becomes their favorite parata ever, kids happy and mom super happy. Cabbage parata is very easy make and rolling them is quite simple as well, however it’s very important to grate cabbage earlier and let all the water drain else it will be an uphill task to work with mushy stuffing. Stuffing is very customizable add you favorite masala’s. Flax seed is used in all my cooking it has no distinct taste and gels well with dal’s, dry fry or any dishes.

Ingredients

1 Cabbage head grated finely (Use food processor or grate it finely with regular grater)

2 Potatoes boiled and mashed

Coriander ½ cups cut finely

2 cups of flour or Atta

Dry Masala

2 tbsp Dhania powder

2 tbsp Cumin powder

2 tbsp Chaat masala

2 tbsp Flax seed powder

1 tbsp Red Chili powder (adjust according to taste)

Process for Stuffing

Add salt to cabbage and leave it aside for 30 minutes, this will cause Cabbage to sweat, squeeze out all the water and add mashed potatoes.Add dried masala and mix well.

Process to make Paratha

1. Mix flour with water and salt add a little at a time and form soft dough. Try to make this at least 30 minutes before using.

2. Always keep dough covered with a moist cloth, and see that the cloth is kept moist

3. Roll a thick roti and place a small portion of the filling in the center

4. Bring all the edges of the roti together and make sure that the entire filling is covered and then roll into a nice round shape dusting with flour as required

5. Heat a griddle/tava and place Paratha

6. Let it cook on one side and then repeat on the other side

7. Add a tspn of oil to paratha and let it fry till it gets golden brown.

Serve hot with Raita

Previously blogged Paratha's
Aloo Paratha
Paneer Paratha
Gobi Paratha
Methi Paratha

Love,

Sreelu

Happy New Year 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Sreelu) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 21:13:08 PST

Happy New Year 2009

Wishing all my readers,friends and family a very Happy New Year !!

Love,

Sreelu

Curried Tofu Bhaji

noreply@blogger.com (Sreelu) — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 21:37:52 PST

Curried Tofu Bhaji
Life seems to going in full throttle for me seems like 24 hours a day just don't seem to cut it.Days,weeks and months seems to pass by so fast ,cannot believe its almost end of the year, memory of last year's new year bash still is so fresh. Glad the year is over and looking forward to yet another great year ahead. Well there are still few weeks left for new years resolution but few things that I would stick too would be to be a healthy and a very cautious eater, not only what I eat but giving enough importance to the source of the food, supporting local farmers and to eat organic.

I am super smell conscious person, I think abnormally conscious actually, I like or dislike people by the way they smell strange but true.There is nothing that turns me off like bad smell be it food or people :). Tofu initially fell in the I hate that smelly thing until few of my friends showed me how to camouflage the smell, once I have learnt how to cook and get rid of the smell its been a favorite at home and is cooked frequently.
Ingredients

1 firm tofu cube

1 red onion chopped

1 ripe tomato

1 green chili ( adjust according to taste)

1 tbsp Ginger garlic paste

1-2 tbsp roasted Jeera powder (Cumin powder)

1-2 tbsp Curry powder or any garam masala

Salt according to taste

1-2 tbsp Oil to saute

1/2 tbsp Haldi (Turmeric)

and corriander leaves to garnish.

Process

1.Heat a wok and add oil, when oil gets warm add green chiles, ginger garlic paste,Cumin powder, garam masala powder and turmeric fry till you get a spicy aroma.

2. to the above add finely chopped onion and saute till they turn brown.

3. Add tomatoes finely chopped

4. Add cubed tofu pieces and salt

5. Cook covered for 5 minutes stirring in between.

6. garnish with corriander leaves , lemon juice can be added for additional taste.

Serve hot with rice or roti's ,takes less then 5-10 minutes to make and is packed with protein and best of all it does not smell like tofu.

Hope you give it a try.

Happy Holidays every one !!

Sreelu

Dal Makhani -My Legume Love Affair - Fourth Helping

noreply@blogger.com (Sreelu) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 19:27:52 PST

Dal Makhani -My Legume Love Affair - Fourth Helping

When Sra announced that she was hosting My Legume Love Affair - Fourth Helping event, I knew I could participate without have to put an extra effort of a new ingredient or a process or a cuisine, little did I know that it would take more effort in posting then cooking, So missed the chance to send it to event never the less since I had this post in draft posting it.

Dal Makhani is Punjabi delicacy rich in protein and fiber.Major source of protein for vegetarian comes from legumes, I am huge fan of legumes/lentils and use it quite a bit in my cooking and thanks to the variety of recipes I never seem to get tired of legumes.

Learnt today's recipe from my Punjabi nanny, who was an amazing cook. Pretty simple yet very delicious and healthy recipe requires no soaking or prep time, gets cooked in less than 15 minutes.

Ingredients

1 Cup Lentils

1 big tomato

1 big onion chopped into slices

4 tbsp Ginger peeled and chopped

2 garlic cloves

Corriander for garnish

2 tbsp Garam masala

2 big tbsp Kasoori Methi leaves

1 tbs haldi

salt according to taste

1 tb chili powder (adjust according to taste)

Juice of 1/2 lemon (optional)

Butter or cream (optional)
Process

1.Add lentils, tomato,ginger,garlic,salt and haldi directly into a pressure cooked, add water till covered and pressure cook atleast till you get 8 whistles ( a little longer then usual).

2. In a separate pan add 2 tbsp oil, add kasoori methi, ginger garlic paste,haldi , garam masala saute for few minutes.

3. Add sliced onion and saute till onions turn translucent.

4. Add cooked lentils to the above and mix well , add salt and chili powder according to taste and allow to cook for few more minutes.

5. Add lemon juice and corriander and remove from heat, additionally you can add cream or butter to enhance the flavor.

Serve hot with roti or plain rice or basmathi rice. This dish makes a complete meal by itself and warms your body during this cold season.

Diwali Greetings

noreply@blogger.com (Sreelu) — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 12:27:42 PDT

Happy Diwali

Wishing all my readers,friends and my family a very happy and a prosperous Diwali, Hope the coming year brings in lots of happiness and peace. Growing up Diwali was my favorite festival, no other festival brings the kid in you more than Diwali, here is to celebrating the inner child in all of us.

Lot of Love,

Sreelu

Gongura Pachadi/ Sorrel Leaves Chutney

noreply@blogger.com (Sreelu) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 22:29:46 PDT

Gongura Pachadi
Gongura Pachadi or Sorrel leaves chutney is a traditional Andhra pickle, no marriage in Andhra happens without serving this pickle, its our favorite at home here and thanks to warm weather we in bay area are very lucky to enjoy this delicacies week after week.

Ingredients
1 bunch of Gongura/Sorrel Leaves
5-6 Garlic pods
1 red onion chopped into cubes
5-6 Green chillies
1 tbp Haldi/Turmeric
Salt according to taste
To Make in powder
3 tbsp Channa dal
3 tbsp Urad dal
8 red Chilies
1 tbsp Dhania
1 tbsp Methi

Process

1. fry all the dry ingredients until they release a aroma for few minutes
2. Grind all the ingredients and set aside .
3. In a pan add 2 tbsp oil and fry cut and cleaned Sorrel leaves along with red chilies, turmeric.
4. Grind the above paste along with tamarind and garlic into a paste.
5. Add the prepared masala and salt to the above paste and mix well.
6. Add red onions cubed to the above paste this is however optional but sure does add a flavor once the onions are soaked in the sorrel paste.
7. Serve hot with rice or roti's.

Also wanted to thank everyone who have left me comments and email asking how I was doing. I am doing fine its been crazy at work and home. Hope to keep blogging more frequently.

Dahi Bhindi

noreply@blogger.com (Sreelu) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 22:50:00 PDT

Dahi Bhindi
Hope everyone is having a great summer, its almost to an end and I have mixed feelings about it.Laid back days and long evening will end and pretty soon it would be home works and running around chauffeuring kids to classes.
I do have a post still in works with all the awards fellow bloggers have passed on, I feel honored and thank all of you for the awards, promise to post it soon.

Sanjeev Kapoor has always been a source of inspiration for me, a while ago I happened to win a prize for a years worth of subscription for Sanjeev Kapoor's website, few weeks back while browsing through his website found a great recipe for Bhinidi and boy oh boy it is a keeper.

Ingredients
Tender Bhindi's 1 pound
Green chilies 3-4
Ginger 1 inch
Peppercorns 1 tbsp (adjust according to taste)
Yogurt 1 1/2 cups
R.Chilies whole 2
Gram flour (Besan) 1 tbsp
Oil 1 1/2 tbsp
Cumin seeds 1 tbsp
Corriander powder 1 tbsp
turmeric powder 1/2 tspn
Salt according to taste

Process
1. Clean Bhindi(lady Fingers/Okra) and cut into 1 inch pieces
2. Grind Ginger and peppercorns into a fine paste
3.Whisk yogurt
4. Fry besan on low heat for a minute and allow to cool.
5. Heat 1tbsp oil in a pan, add whole red chillies,cumin seeds and fry for a minute
6.Add Okra and salt and cook over medium heat stirring frequently for about 4-5 minutes
7.Stir in ginger garlic paste,reduce heat and add yogurt mix well and cook covered for eight to ten minutes stirring occasionally till Okra is completely cooked.
Serve hot with roti's or rice.

Very Berry Smoothie

noreply@blogger.com (Sreelu) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:19:48 PST

Very Berry Smoothie
Nothing better to cool of California summer then Berry Smoothie. Simple recipe yet very refreshing and good source of anti oxidants.
Fresh from the market red raspberries, yellow raspberries and blackberries
Recipe
1/2 cup Red Raspberries
1/2 cup Yellow Raspberries
1/2 Black Berries
1/2 Strawberries
2 scoops of Vanilla ice cream (substitute with any berry flavored ice cream)
1 tbsp flax seed powder (optional)
1/2 cup milk
cup of crushed ice.
Process
1. Blend all the above ingredients
2. Depending on the fruit if required add a little bit of sugar
3. I pass the smoothie through sieve for its easy for my kids.
This goes to Sia for her very summer WBB.