Media feature and Navratri Sundal recipe.

First up, I would like to share that I was featured in NDTV Hindu where there was an interview of mine regarding blogging and how regional blogs have been gaining momentum. I do not know how to get hold of the video. But it was a different feeling seeing myself on TV.

Secondly I was featured in Indian Express. Please check the link Vegetarian Food options for a change. 

Thirdly my blog was featured in Prismma, an online digital decor magazine.Shalini@Sanctified Spaces.

This festive season has been so kind to me. Thank you to the azure blue! 

The goddess beautifully adorned

I did make Sundal during Navratri. Do check the recipe here.

Ingredients

Sprouted Green Gram-1/4 kg

Grated Coconut-2 or 3 tablespoons

Turmeric a pinch 

Salt to taste

For tempering

Oil-1 tsp

Mustard-1 tsp

Urad Dal-1/2 a tsp

Hing-a pinch

Red Chilly-2 or 3

Curry Leaves-a sprig

Method- Boil green gram with enough water, salt and turmeric. Cook well till done. But this should not turn too mushy. Now temper the ingredients given above and add it to the green gram. Take this mixture off the pot and add grated coconut. The content of folic acid increases when green gram is germinated and this is a good source of protein too. This is nutritious and simple to make. One can incorporate this sundal in their meal everyday. This tastes great too.

 

 

 

 

I simply love this havan spoon. Gorgeous right. Sending this to a bit of India in every home  @The key bunch; Liven things up and Colours Dekor

Scrambled Cottage Cheese Sandwich

We are in the fifth week of Blog hop Wednesday, enjoying the ride. This week I have cooked from Ramya's Recipe, the ever so popular Paneer Burji. I used the same ingredients just slathered the bread with mint  chutney and it was a perfect breakfast.Check out the ingredients.

Paneer-1 cup

Oil-1 tbsp

Jeera-1/2 tsp

Onion-1

Ginger paste-1 tsp

Turmeric-a pinch

Chilly powder-3/4-1tsp

Tomato-1

Salt-to taste

Garam masala-1/2 tsp

Coriander Leaves -For garnish

Bread slices

Mint chutney

Mint leaves- 1 cup

Coriander leaves-1 cup

Green Chilly-1

A small piece of ginger

Sugar- a pinch

Salt according to taste

Lemon juice- 1 tsp

Grind all these ingredients for an aromatic chutney. Spread this on the sandwich and top with filling of choice.

Method-Soak the paneer cubes in hot water for ten minutes. This will make it soft. Take a pan, add oil,and then the jeera, let it splutter.Add in the onions wait till it turns transparent.Next to go is the ginger paste. I have omitted garlic paste.Now add the spice powders turmeric and chilly powder and salt. Add tomato and saute it well. Now crumble the paneer with your fingers Finally add garam masala powder and cook well for five minutes. Add corainder leaves for garnish. use this as a filling for breads and rotis.

This dish is so versatile. You can try your own combinations, in the evening I cut up a raw onion finely and added chat masala to further perk this recipe up.This dish is so easy make and tastes so good. You can have it for breakfast as an evening snack or pack it up for a picnic.

Wood apple sweet pachadi

Wood apple makes its appearance felt only during Ganesh festival. Apart from Kozhukattai's this is my favourite pachadi. I really look forward to eating this fruit. I love the tart and sweet taste of this pachadi. A ripe fruit can be cracked open by another fruit. The one which is ripe will break open first. So check the recipe here.

Ingredients

Wood apple-1

Jaggery-1 large piece

Cardamom-1or 2 pods 

Take a mortar and a pestle. Pound the jaggery, cardamom pods and wood apple into single mass. Scoop it out and enjoy. On this note, I would like to wish my readers a Happy Ganesh Chaturthi.Enjoy this traditional beauty. Sending this to Flavors of South India   

Buttermilk spiked with spices

 

Blog hopping is in its third week. Have I got to know my co bloggers better? the answer is a big yes thank you Rads for this fun opportunity. This week my partner happens to be Divya. I have had the privilege of meeting her once, she is really a sweet person do check her space for a nice array of recipes. I chose to make masala buttermilk from her space. And surely this is for keeps. Its healthy and tasty and can be made in a jiffy. So check out the ingredients used and fix yourself a drink.

Ingredients
1 cup-curd

1/2 cup water

Jeera-1/4 tsp

Pepper corns-2(increase according to taste)

Fenugreek powder- 1/4 tsp( roasted and powdered)

Chilli-1

Curry and coriander leaves

Salt to taste

Take a mortar and pestle and pound the spices and the leaves into a fine paste. Add the paste to a blender along with curd and water and whip well. Add salt to taste. Let the spices and curd mingle when it sits in the fridge. You can strain and serve or drink it directly. I have made this for a single serving. The Fenugreek  powder makes this drink so aromatic. This drink is surely a match made in heaven.

Yam Curry

Ingredients:

Yam-500 gms

Oil-3 teaspoons

Mustard seeds-half tsp

Jeera-half tsp

Curry leaves-A sprig

Asafoetida- a pinch

Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp

Sambar powder-2 tsp

Salt to taste

Cube yams and boil in water till soft. Discard the water. In a kadai pour a little oil then add mustard, jeera and curry leaves. When this splutters add a  pinch of asafoetida and add the boiled and cubed yam. Now add turmeric powder,sambar powder and salt to taste. Keep the fire in sim and keep stirring till yam gets roasted properly. Remove from fire and transfer in serving bowl. This goes well with rasam rice. Sending this to Vrat ka khana.

Chocolate Yogurt Banana Smoothie

Radhika's Blog hop Wednesday is on for the second week. I have been paired with Priya Sreeram another friendly blogger, with awesome recipes. I would love to meet her someday. Check out her gorgeous Patiala di lassi . While I was checking out the ingredients I noticed that I have banana and chocolate syrup in the fridge. So I thought why not make a chocolate yogurt smoothie. So do check this recipe.

Ingredients

1-Frozen banana

3/4 -milk

1/2 cup yogurt or vanilla yogurt

Hershey's Syrup-4 tbsp

Peel banana skin and freeze banana in a zip lock. Mash the banana add milk yogurt and the syrup. Blitz this in a blender ensure that everything is smooth and mixed well. And your done. You can also use vanilla yogurt instead of plain yogurt.  This is an ideal breakfast drink.

Sending this also to Radhika's Scrumptious Breakfasts .

and..Any one can cook :Series 31 , " Kids Delight - no fire cooking" Event. started by Srivalli.


and Jam hands

Biscuit custard pudding with a hint of coffee

Recently we had this pot luck blog party. We had oodles of good home made food. I happened to taste a delicious pudding made by Srividhya Balaji. I was hooked. She used biscuits and sponge cake to make the pudding. I kept craving for the pudding and finally decided to make biscuit and coffee pudding. The recipe reference was from here and here

This is such a tasty and simple recipe and a no bake one at that. The taste is universal in its appeal and one can fix it in a short period of time.

Layered custard delight

with a hint of coffee..

 Ingredients

Vanilla Custard powder-3 tablespoons

Krackjack biscuits

Milk-1/2 litre

Sugar-3 tablespoons

Coffee decoction to dip biscuits half a cup

Method. Prepare custard according to the instructions on the pack. Take 1/4 cup milk from 1/2 litre milk add 3 tablespoons of custard powder and mix well. Boil remaining milk with 3 tablespoons of sugar. Remove from flame, add the custard powder and cook again stirring continuously. Ensure that the custard does not get charred. Stir till it becomes thick and coats the back of the spoon.  Set aside till warm

Now get down to making layers for the pudding. Take a biscuit and dip in coffee decoction and line your bowl. Next take a generous amount of custard and spread it on top of the biscuit. I built three layers good enough for the shape to be retained. I topped the layer with Hershey's chocolate syrup. And your done. Refrigerate for three to four hours. This is an egg-less and  hassle free recipe and tastes divine. 

Bisibele Bath

Radhika of Tickling Palates has announced a fun way to link up with bloggers with an event called the "Blog hop Wednesday". The aim is to make a lot friends who come with a recipe in tow. Sounds like fun right. I have been paired up this week with Sangeetha from Typical Indian cooking. She has a lot of recipes on the blog and a friendly person too. I chose to make bisibele bath from her blog. This is my husbands favorite recipe. I have made my version of the classic Karnataka special. So do check out the recipe.

 

Bisibele Bath

Ingredients

Rice-1 cup

Toor Dal-1/2 cup

Mixed vegetables- I used 1 carrot,2 brinjals,4-5 strings of beans)

Lemon sized tamarind-Soaked

Turmeric-1/4 tsp

Salt to taste

Baby onions-10 nos

Sambar powder-1tsp

oil-for frying onions

Ghee-1 spoon

Coriander leaves for garnish

For the powder to be fried  and powdered

1-cardamom

1-clove

1-cinnamon stick

Coriander seeds-1tbsp

Bengal gram dal-1 tbsp

Red chillies-2

1-Star anise-optional

This method of mine is very simple. I pressure cook the vegetables,rice and dal with salt and turmeric powder. I use six glasses of water to be put in the cooker's container. Once this is done. I take a vessel,extract the tamarind juice,put the spice  powder and sambar powder,add the rice and other ingredients to this and let this mixture cook well. Once well done add the pearl onions(which is fried in oil) to this mixture. Garnish with coriander leaves. Add a dollop of ghee while serving. I have not used coconut, if you wish to you can use 1/2 cup grated coconut. Serve this with a raita of your choice.

Wheat Halwa

This is a typical Diwali treat at my place and my mom- in- law's signature dish. Just tried this out today. I like this home made version better than store bought ones. Its incredibly tasty and a melt in your mouth treat. It requires a bit of work but worth the effort. So do check out the recipe.

Ingredients

Samba Wheat grains -1 glass( 250 gms approximately)

Sugar-2 1/4 cup ( u can increase if you want it sweeter)

Cardamom pods -10 which were powdered

Cashews-A handful broken

Ghee-10 tablespoons(150 ml approximately)

Soak wheat grains overnight. I added 3 glasses of water to immerse the wheat grains.

Put the wheat grains in a mixer and grind . To extract the milk grind the wheat with one glass of water and extract the milk. The first extract will be thick, the last extract will be watery. I did this procedure thrice. Discard the glutinous mass of wheat. Use a sieve to filter the milk.

The filtered wheat milk will look like this.  If you keep this aside, the milk will remain at the bottom and the water will remain on top. I did not discard the water because the wheat milk will coagulate fast and might get charred if not careful.

Now prepare the sugar syrup. Take sugar in a pan add 3/4 cup of water to the sugar. Start stirring it. Take a little bit of milk and add it to the sugar syrup to remove the scum. You can see the scum in the picture above.

Stir this mixture till it attains a single string consistency. You can check the consistency with your finger.

 The wheat milk has been added to the sugar syrup. Stir this well till it forms a mass. 

Take a little bit of color and add this to the mixture. After this you will have to add cardamom and cashew nuts. You have to keep stirring the mixture well and cannot leave it unattended. You have to keep adding ghee, as you are stirring in stages as it forms a mass.

You can see the I have added the cardamom powder,cashew nuts and ghee and the mixture is forming into mass. The main difficulty in making this sweet is stirring. I had to stir this for 45 minutes.Its better to stir this on a low flame to prevent it from getting charred. This is important if you want to make pieces.

Please check this consistency,  the whole mixture has formed a ball.

Grease a plate with ghee. Put the whole mixture on to a plate. Let it cool. Cut into desired shapes.

Cut into desired shapes. I cut them up into a diamond shape. This was not cloyingly sweet but just right. If you like it sweeter please add more sugar. I got 40 pieces for one glass of wheat.

Sending this to Diwali Special Sweets & Savories 

&

Global Food Festival by Kalyani

Jamun Raita

There is a legend associated with Jamun fruit and it begins with these lines , "Sutta Pazham Vendumaa Sudaatha Pazham Vendumaa". These are the immortal lines uttered by Skanda disguised as a child to Avaiyyar an ascetic and a poetess of the Sangam period. She was such a realized soul and yet she thought she was hitting a plateau in her learning curve and was thinking of retirement. Lord Muruga seized this opportune moment and let her know that learning is a lifelong process and ego is an obstruction to it, through these innocent words. I have explained the same below. 

Avvaiyar a travelling minstrel got tired one day and decided to take rest under the shadow of a Jamun tree. She was hugry and thirsty. Skanda disguised as a shepherd on the tree,  asked Avvai whether she wanted roasted fruit or unroasted fruit . Avvai answered that she wanted roasted fruit without thinking too much. Lord Muruga scattered some Jamun fruit to the ground. Avvaiyar started picking up the fruit and blowing the sand that was stuck to it. The fruit had become warm because of the hot sand. At that time the little boy asked her whether the fruits were warm. Being a highly evolved person she understood that this was divine play because it is not possible to have roasted fruit from the tree and yet there she was blowing on the fruit as if to cool. She was amazed by this analogy and was curious to find out the identity of the boy. Upon enquiry she found out that the little boy was none other than Lord Muruga. This legend is associated with a place called Pazhamudircholai in Madurai. This is the story behind the simple Jamun fruit and now I'm heading to the recipe.

I have made a raita out of this fruit. This is also known as Java plum. 

Ingredients

Jamun fruit-1 cup

Curd-1 cup

Salt to taste

To temper

Oil-1 tsp

Mustard-1 tsp

Urad dal-1 tsp

Asafoetida-a pinch

Red chili- 1 or 2

Curry leaves-a sprig

                

Method- This is incredibly easy to make. Take a cup add add the cut pulp of the Jamun fruit, salt and curd and mix well. Add the tempered ingredients. And your done! This tastes awesome sweet and slightly tart. I made this pachadi as a side dish to bisi bele bath. The seeds of this fruit is dried and powdered and is used to treat diabetes.  I loved every mouthful of this raita, leaving behind its unique taste and stories of a bygone era.

Green coconut chutney

I always land up making tomato chutney. And this coconut chutney with coriander and curry leaves truly tastes refreshing. Idlis and dosas taste so much better with this chutney. This is the procedure that I followed to make this chutney. 

Ingredients

Grated coconut-I used half of the coconut

Fried gram-2 fistfuls

Coriander leaves-2 fistfuls

Curry leaves-2 fistfuls

Green chillies-2

Salt to taste

For tempering

Oil-1/2 teaspoon

Mustard-1 teaspoon

Asafoetida-a pinch

Method: Grate coconut and keep aside. Take a mixer add coriander and curry leaves and blend well with a little water. Now add the grated coconut ,fried gram,green chillies and salt to taste. Blend well till done. Now temper with the ingredients provided above. It was a welcome break to savor this chutney after a long time.  

Greens Mash

This post went missing after blogger maintenance.Re-posting it.

This mash of greens and lentils tasted awesome.One of the main reasons being it was grown at home in the pot with out any pesticide.The greens were so fresh, it went straight from the pot to the pan with only cutting time to be accounted for!If you get a hold of this keerai,do grow it at home.Its worth the effort.I have used Indian Spinach and Dwarf Copper leaf.Check out the colour of the leaves bursting with good health.Indian Spinach is a good source of iron and calcium and the Dwarf Copper Leaf is a good source of anti oxidants.It also has the ability to scavenge free radicals.Do get your fix of antioxidants with this mash.While eating greens it is advisable to drink lemon juice to aid the absorption of iron from greens.

Ingredients

Indian spinach(pasalai keerai)-1 cup

Dwarf Copperleaf foreign species-1/2 cup(Semmai Ponnanganni)

Toor Dal -half cup

Small Onion-5-6 finely chopped

Green chilly-1

Red chilly-2

Mustard-1/4 tsp

Jeera-3/4 tsp

Asafoetida-2 pinches

Tomato-1

Turmeric-2 pinches

Oil for tempering-1/2 tsp

Salt to taste

Method-First wash and clean the greens,changing the water several times.Cut the greens into bits.Take a vessel add the greens with little bit of water.To this add green chilly ,tomato, finely chopped onions turmeric,asafoetida and salt.Cook till well done.Mash the greens with a spatula.Now add the cooked dal and mash well.Temper with mustard,jeera and red chilly.You can add a little bit of ghee to rice to enhance the flavour.This is going to Priya's Veggie/Fruit of May 2011 is SPINACH ,guest hosted by Reshmi of Rasoi

Banana Stem Raita-A summer cooler

Banana Stem raita is an ideal summer raita.This aids in cooling the body and with weight loss because of the fibre content.Its such a simple raita to make with so many benefits.

Ingredients
Banana Stem-1

Thin buttermilk water
Curd-1 cup
Salt to taste

To temper

Oil-1 tsp

Mustard-1/4 tsp
Urad dal-optional

Asafoetida-a pinch

Red Chillies-2

Coriander leaves-a sprig

Method: Use the inner pith of the stem.Discard the fibre.Cut this into small bits.Put this in a vessel with thin buttermilk water and salt.(You can add one or two spoons of curd to water,to make a thin buttermilk).This is done to prevent discoloration.I cooked this in a cooker.Cool this mixture.Take the plantain stem and add to yogurt.To this mixture splutter the ingredients to be tempered.Add salt to taste.I ran out of coriander leaves.You can certainly use it as a garnish.I just can't do with out this raita in the scorching summer sun of Chennai.Go ahead indulge.

This is going to Krithi's Kitchen who is guest hosting Healing Foods-Banana started by Siri of Cooking with Siri

Coriander Rolls For ICC

I really liked this months Indian Cooking Challenge.We were asked to try out Maharashtrian coriander rolls from Archana's Tried and Tested.When I read the recipe, it sounded delectable.Aromatic coriander stuffed in a dough and deep fried.Heaven indeed.Here goes my version of the recipe.

Ingredients:

For the covering

Besan-3/4th cup

Wheat Flour-3/4th cup

Chilli powder-1/2 tsp

Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp

Salt to taste

Oil-3 Tbsp(heated oil)

For the stuffing

Coriander Leaves-2 cups

Grated Coconut -2 Tbsp

Poppy seeds-1 Tbsp

Sesame seeds-1Tbsp

Oil-1Tbsp

Ginger,green chilli paste-1 tsp

Garlic-3 cloves

Onion-1

Lemon juice-2 Tbsp

Sugar-3/4th tsp 

Red chilli powder-1/2tsp

Salt to taste

For Tamarind Paste

2tsp oil+1 tsp garam masala+2tsp tamarind paste

Oil for deep frying

Method-Mix the dough with ingredients mentioned in the covering section.Make a stiff dough.Set aside for 30 minutes.Chop the coriander leaves and make sure you use a paper napkin to remove the moisture.Dry roast grated coconut,poppy seeds and sesame seeds individually.Blend into a course powder.Take oil in a pan roast the ginger green chilli paste,onion and garlic till well done.Let this cool.Now to this add chopped coriander leaves and the course powder.Add in the red chilli powder,sugar and lemon juice.Add salt to taste.This mixture tasted great by itself.This could be used as a filling for sandwiches.I felt like spooning off the stuffing all by myself.Now roll out the dough like a puri.Spread the tamarind paste.Place ample amount of stuffing.Make a roll and seal the edges.Take oil in a pan and deep fry till well done.I had these lovely rolls with tomato sauce.The Pudachi Wadi's tasted awesome.A keeper for sure. 

Yam Squares

This is one of the best ways to consume yams marinated and shallow fried.And what a treat it is to the palate.Now for the recipe.

Ingredients:

Yam-500 gms

Turmeric-3 pinches

Red chilly powder-3/4 tsp

Coriander powder 1 1/2 tsp

Tamarind paste-2 tbsp

oil to fry 

Salt to taste

Method: Cut yam into squares with medium thickness.Immerse them in a cup of water and cook till done.Drain the water once cooked.Mix the red chilly powder,coriander powder,turmeric and salt in the tamarind paste.Coat the cooked yam squares with this paste.Leave this aside for 15 mins.Shallow fry these on a tava with required oil.To be well done, this will require at least 15 mins when cooked on slow flame.I can eat them straight from the skillet with zero waiting time.

Instant ragi dosa with drumstick leaves

Instant Ragi Dosa with drumstick leaves

There were sudden showers in Chennai this morning.It was a pleasant surprise.I enjoyed the pleasant showers with instant ragi dosas.Finger millet is a good source of calcium,top this with a handful of  Moringa leaves and your good to go.Check the recipe below.

To temper

Urad dal-1/2 tsp

Chana dal-1/2 tsp

Curry leaves-a sprig

Onion-1

Chillies-1or 2

To mix in the flour

1 cup-Finger millet

Water

Jeera-1-tsp

Drumstick leaves-a handful

Salt to taste

Rice flour for binding-2tbsp

Method: Mix the ragi flour with water and make a watery batter.Mix in the salt,jeera,drumstick leaves and rice flour.Set it aside.Take oil in a pan and temper the ingredients as mentioned above.Saute onions well.Add this to the batter and keep aside for 10 minutes.Take a dosa pan and pour this batter to make thin dosas.Flip it when done and enjoy this healthy breakfast.Serve them hot with a spicy chutney.Sending this to Dr Sameena's event.