Vineela's Cuisine

Halloween 2011

2011-10-31T14:26:00.001-07:00

Deepavali 2011

2011-10-26T10:20:00.001-07:00

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-20T09:44:00.000-07:00

Foggy day

2011-10-12T17:50:00.000-07:00

Bommala Koluvu 2011

2011-10-02T10:15:00.000-07:00

Vinayaka Chavithi 2011

2011-09-01T18:47:00.000-07:00

Evening Walk" Quack ..Quack..."

2011-05-06T18:11:00.000-07:00

Bird's Nest Cookies - Easter Party

2011-04-14T14:23:00.000-07:00

Spring Bloom

2011-04-08T22:35:00.000-07:00

Ugadi Subhakanshalu 2011

2011-04-03T19:57:00.001-07:00

Ratha Saptami

2011-02-10T14:21:00.000-08:00

Diwali

2010-11-04T23:24:00.001-07:00

Bommala Koluvu 2010

2010-10-17T08:32:00.001-07:00

Happy Krishna Jayanthi

2010-09-02T09:51:00.000-07:00

Krishnastami

Adai

2010-06-25T11:13:00.000-07:00

Chana dal - ¾cup
Toor dal - ½ cup
Urad dal - ½ cup
Moong dal - ¼ cup
Redchilles - 10 no
Ginger - 2" piece
Idly Rice - 2 cups
Chopped Onions - ½ cup
Seasoning Ingredients: Musatard seeds,Red chilles,Urad dal,Curry leaves,chopped Onions
Coriander - chopped ¼ cup

Soak the rice and all dals separately in two different vessels for 5 hours.Soak the redchillies also.
Grind redchilles,ginger along with dals and rice into a coarse paste.It should be thick than the dosa batter.Add sufficient water to change the consistency. Add Seasoning (mustard seeds,urad dal ,Red chilles,curry leaves,chopped onions) ,salt ,chopped coriander leaves stir well into the batter.Start making adais after 1 hr .Since the seasoning is soaked in the batter it gives more taste.
Heat non stick pan and add a little bit oil to the pan.
Pour a laddle full of batter and spread in a circular motion from inside to outside.Drizzle little bit oil on both sides and roast for golden brown color.
Serve hot with any chutney.

Surprise Birthday party and Debut Carnatic Music performance

2010-02-22T13:53:00.000-08:00

February has given me two most important and rememberable memories of my life - astonishing birthday party and first time Carnatic music performance before 200+ audience. Among those audience, most important of them were my kid and my husband. Now let me share with you this story.

Birthday -

Everything was normal on the day of my Birthday. My husband went to office as usual but was working from home the previous day unusually. My friends had not turned up 3 continuous days. I was thinking my day was just another day, until before I opened my house door after returning from temple at 7.30 pm. The lights were off and I need to get ready to restaurant for dinner with my husband and kid. Suddenly 6 of my friends and their family rushed towards me to wish me from the pitch dark room when i opened door.I was surpised and so do my kid. But the man next to me was joyously singing with them. Gopi has planned the whole event with the help of my friends. What a pleasant suprise that was!!!

After coming out of the shock, I was thinking how to feed my friends and their families, almost 20 of them. At one point I was thinking about the nearby pizza place. Then came the lovely cake and very delicious restuarant ordered food. Some of my friends brought Onion pakora ,Veggie fried rice ,raita and my favorite Gulabjamuns.The party was very well planned and executed. Had one of my good friends told me secret, the surprise could have been affected. Kudos to them, I really liked it. We spent the whole night talking and playing Bingo and so on. Akshay has not shown any sign of tiredness during the whole event. At one point before cutting the cake, Askshay rushed to blow the candle off thinking it is his Birthday...how innocent he is :-)

More to mention, I got a very valuable gift from my husband as birthday present but surprising me added more fun.

Thanks to friends Padmini, Sashi, Niharitha, Geetha, Likitha and Soumiya and their families for stopping by, on my Birthday.

Debut performance -

Yesterday (2/21/2010), I got a chance to sing Carnatic music before a huge audience. I am learning Carnatic Classical music these days and a chance like this is what I dont want to slip through. I sang slokams and keerthanams and per the feedback from my near and dear, everything went very well. I was learning Carnatic music from my childhood but could not take the interest further. My grandma and my parents always wanted me to learn Carnatic Music and perform. Good God, my interest and ambition turned into reality yesterday.

Thanks to my Music Guru Smt.Vydehi Sudharshan for giving me an opportunity to sing. Thanks to Akshay for not being so mischevious during the 4 hour program. He suddenly started running towards the stage to reach me by saying Amma, Amma :-) Again his innocence was exposed.I really enjoyed singing carnatic music.

Thank you,Gopi for your wonderful support.

Do you have anything interesting things that happened in your life? Share in your blog . This kind of memories need to be recorded for us to read again and again. Good luck everyone.

Happy Valentines Day

2010-02-14T23:30:00.001-08:00

Happy Valentines Day.
My friend has arranged a small get together at her house.
we enjoyed a lot having a talent rounds like singing,dancing,expressing love .
I baked and frosted these yummy brownies for the evening.We had chapathi,aloo kurma,veggie biryani,chole sundal,gunthaponganalu,lemon rice,fruit salad.Enjoyed the evening with lot of fun filled with healthy environment along with lovable kids.

Chocolate Brownies for a Christmas Party

2009-12-23T10:19:00.000-08:00

My neighbour has invited us(mom and kids) for lunch at her house on the eve of christmas.Akshay,my toddler is so excited to meet all his friends.
Brownies are perfect for this occasion so went ahead to make nutty chewy brownies for the group .

Ingredients:
Barefoot Contessa Outrageous Brownie Mix - 1 pack/20.8 oz fast and easy when you have mix in hand.
Chopped walnuts - ½ cup
Chopped dried cranberries - ¼ cup
Vegetable oil - ¾ cup
Water - 1 ½ cup
Eggs - 2 no

Making:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray the pan with (Pam)cooking spray.Dust the pan with flour and coat evenly.Place wax paper and keep it aside.

Whisk all the wet ingredients in a large bowl.
Add the brownie mix and beat for 1 to 2 minutes in low speed until well combined.
Add chopped nuts and dried cranberries and fold the batter 2 to 3 times with spatula.
Pour the batter in a lined baking pan evenly.
Sprinkle with Cake Mate Nonpareil Decors and bake 30 to 35 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean.
Remove the pan from the oven and allow it to cool completely.
Cut the brownies and serve.
Simple and yummy brownies are ready for the party.

Horsegram Powder/Ulava Podi /ఉలవ పొడి

2009-12-08T14:21:00.000-08:00

Ingredients:
Horsegram - 1 cup
Urad dal - 1 cup
Vamu ginjalu /Ajwain - 3 tspn
Dry ginger powder /sonti/సొంఠి - ½ tspn
Dried Red chillies 11 to 13 no
Salt to taste

Making:
Dry roast the urad dal until dal changes to light brown color.Roast horsegram in low flame until it becomes slightly change in color and add vamu ,dry ginger powder and asafoetida and trasfer to the plate.Roast red chillies and allow to cool the above ingredients.
Grind to a coarse powder by adding salt according to your taste.
Once cool store in an airtight container.
Mix horsegram powder with steamed rice along with a dollop of homemade ghee.

ఉలవ పొడితో అమ్మమ్మ ముద్ద

½ Marathon and sweet treat Sandesh

2009-10-06T09:56:00.000-07:00

Gopi ran the Sanjose
Rock'n'Roll ½ marathon in 2hr 11mins on Sunday October4th ,2009.

Happy Independenance Day

2009-08-15T22:10:00.000-07:00

COURTESY:Youtube

Chow Chow Chickpeas Curry

2009-08-11T14:48:00.000-07:00

Chow Chow - 2 no
Onion - ½ no
Green chillies - 2 no
Grated fresh coconut - 3 tbspn
Oil - 1 tspn
Brown chickpeas - 2 cups ,soaked overnight
turmeric - a pinch
Coriander pwd - 2 tspn
Chilli pwd - ½ tspn
Salt to taste
Cury leaves,Mustard seeds for seasoning
fresh coriander leaves for garnishing
Wash and Peel Chow Chow and chop into small pieces.Add oil to kadai and add the seasoning stuff, chopped onions and green chillies.Fry onions for a while and add the chopped chow chow ,turmeric fry for 3 minutes.Add salt ,coriander pwd,chilli pwd according to taste.Add Brown chickpeas ,water and pressure cook until you get 3 whistles.Sprinkle grated coconut and add chopped coriander leaves.
Serve with steamed rice or chapathis.

~~~~ My afternoon meal today simple and healthy ~~~~~

Idly and Sambar

2009-06-22T11:54:00.000-07:00

Idly:
Wash and Soak 3 cups of rice and 1 cup of urad dal in two seperate bowls.
After 5 to 6 hrs grind into a fine paste and transfer to steel vessel.
Keep oven in warm for 10 minutes and switch off the oven.
Close the vessel with lid and place the vessel in oven and leave to ferment for 8hrs.
Stir in sufficient salt and now the batter is ready for dosa or idly.
Apply oil to the idly plates and pour the batter.Stack the idly plates in pressure cooker and steam for 10 minutes.

Sambar:
Vegetables - 1 cup(Cho cho,sunburst pattypan squash)
green chilli - 1no
Tomato - ½ no
Tamarind paste - 1 tspn
Boiled toor dal - 2 cups
Curry leaves - 4 or 5 leaves
Oil for seasoning.
Water for cooking.
Salt to taste
Cho Cho and Sunburstpattypan Squash Sambar:
Put oil in a pressure cooker and add mustard seeds,red chillies,curryleaves,asafoetida for seasoning.
Add chopped onions,green chillies and fry for a while.Add chopped tomato pieces and chopped vegetables .
Stir for a while and add sambar powder,turmeric,tamarind paste ,salt according to taste.Pour water and close the lid.When steam starts coming add boiled toor dal to the mixture and close the lid and put the pressure.
Switch off the stove after 3 whistles.
Allow to cool the cooker and add coriander leaves to the sambar and serve in a bowl.
Look here for one more idly recipe:
Idly with Vadaicurry
This recipe goes to EFM Theme - Breakfast Series hosted by hostess Sri of Me and My kitchen .

Strawberry Icecream(Eggless)

2009-06-05T12:18:00.002-07:00

Ingredients:
Strawberries - 2 lbs
Whole milk - 6 cups
Sugar - ¼ cup
Cinnamon pwd - ½ tspn
Vanilla essence - 1tspn
Whipped topping - 8oz container
chopped strawberries - ½ cup

Making:
Boil whole milk ,Vanilla essence ,cinnamon pwd,sugar and keep stirring continuously in medium flame until it reduces to 4 cups.
Remove from fire and leave the vessel to cool.Meanwhile ,Puree the strawberries.
Pour the chilled milk into the strawberry puree and mix well.Fold whipped topping into the strawberry puree,chopped strawberries.Transfer to the container with a lid and freeze for 3 to 4 hours .

This icecream goes to Happycook who is hosting an event called "Strawberry Feast".

Strawberry and Cherry Picking

2009-06-03T09:15:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we planned to visit farms near to our place along with our friends and their kids.We reached the farms after 1½ hours.

My kid was happy to see lot of strawberries at one place.He enjoyed running in and around fields.Strawberries are so juicy and sweet.While picking I can't resist myself tasting tiny red strawberries.Wow enjoyed the taste and picking too.
We did our lunch at near by park and again started ahead to pick cherries.
Here are the pictures of Strawberry Farms:

~~~~~ Strawberry plants ~~~~~

~~~~~ Strawberry flowers ~~~~~

~~~~~ Blackberrys{Red berries are unripe ,when they turn Black its time to pick } ~~~~~

Brentwood Region,Contra Coasta county,California :
Chan's Fruit stand Strawberries,Blackberries
2500b Walnut Blvd. Brentwood, CA 94513 (Corner of Walnut and Payne).
925-325-0640
Per pound - 1$
Maggiore Cherry Ranch
Walnut Blvd., 1/2 mile south of Balfour Road, Brentwood
925-634-4176
Picked & U-Pick Cherries: Bing, Brooks & Corral Champagne.
Per pound - 2.50 $