NANNA ADIGE

Blogging Break...

2009-07-19T17:22:00.002-05:00

Ya..I know...again I am taking a long break. I thought last break was long but this will be even longer. Sorry to dissapoint all of you. This is a sudden trip to India due to some personal reasons. So see you all in mid of October. Till then enjoy rest of summer and happy blogging.

I am back...with Eggless Snow Capped Cookies

2009-07-07T15:41:00.006-05:00

Hello Everybody, hope everyone are enjoying and having great time in this summer. I know, I took a long break from blogging, but I am back now and hopefully will not take such long breaks again.

The reason for such a long break is that, we bought a new house last month and all the process of packing and unpacking all the stuff took this long. Still there are few more boxes to unpack, will do that slowly. When we moved last month we just did pooja and milk boiling. Then later that week on a Poornima day we did Satyanarayana Pooja. We missed our family during this celebration.

While packing all the stuff, I was getting frustrated, as it was never ending. At that point, I realized that I had accumulated so many things. It has been a month since we have moved, I am still excited to unpack things, don't know why...

The first thing that I unpacked was the kitchen stuff. Although I prepared sweet on the first day, with all the excitement forgot to click any photos. So, I baked these cookies in my new kitchen. I often make these cookies for my daughter, as it has chocolate and also it is very soft and nutty. This is a recipe given to me by one of our family friend few years back. I have been making them ever since. It is very simple with less sugar, light and delicious. It is nice to have these snow cookies in this summer.

Ingredients:

Plain Flour - 1 3/4 cups

Pecans (chopped) - 1 cup

Butter (softened) - 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup)

Powdered sugar - 1/2 cup

Water - 2 tsp

Vanilla - 1/2 tsp

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Bakers Semi-sweet chocolate - 3 squares

Bakers White chocolate (coarsely grated) - 2 squares

Method:

Heat oven to 350 deg.
Combine flour and pecans and set aside.
Mix butter and sugar until well blended.
Add water, vanilla, salt and mix well.
Gradually add flour mixture, stirring until well blended after each addition.
Shape into 1" balls; place on ungreased baking sheets.
Bake for 20 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.
Cool on wire racks.
Melt semi- sweet chocolate in a bowl kept on boiling hot water.(see directions on package)
Dip each cookie halfway into melted chocolate, then sprinkle or press top lightly into grated white chocolate to create snowy appearance.
Let stand until set.

PS:

You can use wheat flour instead of plain flour.
I have added less sugar, you can add more according to your sweetness.
Walnuts can also be used instead of pecans.
Grate white chocolate and refrigerate immediately, until ready to use.
This proportion gave me 36 cookies.
In this heat to avoid melting of chocolate you have to refrigerate them, otherwise you can store them outside.

Murgh Kaju / Cashew Chicken

2009-05-12T14:46:00.010-05:00

I know, I am taking long breaks now a days. It has been 2 weeks again since I have blogged. Though I am not posting often, I am trying to visit all your blogs and your yummy recipe. So, now am back with this simple and spicy Kaju Chicken.

Ingredients: Chicken - 2 Lb

Coconut grated – ½ cup

Garlic Cloves - 8

Ginger – 1 ½ Tb spoon

Coriander seeds – 3 Tb spoon

Cumin seeds – 2 tsp

Red chillis – 6

Cloves – 5

Cinnamon stick – 1 inch

Cashew – ¾ cup

Onions – 1 cup (chopped)

Pepper corns – 1 tsp

Butter – 2 Tb spoon Method:

Soak red chilies in hot water for 10 minutes.
Roast separately coconut, garlic, ginger, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, peppercorns, cloves and cinnamon over low heat until it leaves a nice aroma.
Add cashew and onions and roast altogether for 10 min.
Turn off the heat and let it cool.
Grind all the above ingredients.
Heat butter in a pan, add ground spice and fry for 10 min.
Add chicken pieces, salt and little water and cook until tender.
Serve with rice, roti / chapathi or poori.

Yummy and spicy Kaju Chicken goes to "Potluck - Chicken" hosted by Vicky.

PS: Adjust the spices according to your spice level. You can add water according to the thickness needed.

Have a nice week ahead.

Eggless Apple - Banana Muffins

2009-04-27T20:30:00.010-05:00

Hello Everybody ! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Last week we were feeling like summer has started as it was burning with 95 deg temp already. Weekend was cloudy and cool, today we had thunderstorm warning. The weather is crazy, can't predict or plan anything. We did not send our daughter to school today as it was raining very heavily, she enjoyed her long weekend and by evening, she wanted to go to school :-).

Last weekend, one of our friends planned a picnic to a park so that everybody can meet and kids also can have fun together. We were not sure about the weather, as it was raining in the morning and by afternoon it was hot and very humid. We decided by afternoon to meet around 4:00 pm. So, we all decided to make something light and healthy snacks/dinner. I made this egg less muffins as a dessert. Kids enjoyed playing, all men enjoyed talking about their usual stuff and also looking after the kids, we (ladies) walked a small trail talking when the trail will end :-). Totally, everybody had a great time with nice dinner.

So, coming to the muffin, it is quick and easy to make in short amount of time. I made two batches, one with chocolate chips for the kids and the other without them for adults.

Ingredients:

Apple finely chopped - 1

Big ripe banana - 1

Raisins - 1/2 cup

Pecans - 1/2 cup (toasted and chopped roughly)

Flax seed powder - 1 Tb spoon (optional)

Plain flour - 1 cup

Wheat flour - 1 cup

Sugar - 1 - 1 1/4 cup (I have added 1 cup)

Baking powder - 3/4 tsp

Baking soda - 1/2 tsp

Cinnamon powder -1/4 tsp

Milk - 1 cup

Butter - 3/4 cup

Lemon juice - 1/2 Tb spoon

Chocolate chips – 1 cup (Optional)

Method:

Toast pecans at 350 deg for few min, then cool and chop roughly.
Sieve dry ingredients together 2-3 times.
Melt butter in large bowl, add milk and gently fold in dry ingredients.
Smash banana, and sprinkle lemon juice over it to avoid it from turning black.
Peel the skin of apple and chop to very small pieces and sprinkle lemon juice.
Add raisins, banana and apples, mix very lightly.
Mix in chopped pecans and chocolate chips.
Keep mixture a bit lumpy, and do not mix too much.
A lumpy batter makes better muffins.
Pour spoonfuls of mixture greased in muffin trays, or in small cups.
Bake in preheated oven at 350 deg C for 20 minutes or till done.
Serve hot or cold. Makes: 18-20 cup sized muffins.

Thanks to all the bloggers, who love my blog and have passed on cute award. I love all of your blogs too. I am very honoured to receive it from you all. I have added it in my side bar along with the names. Thank You once again.

Bye Everybody

Have a great week !!

Egg less Chocolate – Praline Buttons

2009-04-18T08:59:00.007-05:00

Eggless Chocolate - Praline Buttons, goes to Madhuram's "Egg substitute-Yogurt" event.

It also goes to Srilekha's "EFM-Cookies" event and also to Poornima Nair's "For the love of Chocolate" event. Thank You for hosting the events.

Ingredients: Pecans – ½ cup Unsalted Butter – ½ cup(1 stick) Sugar – ¾ cup Vanilla Extract – 1 tsp Milk – 1 Tb spoon Yogurt - ¼ cup (Egg Substitute) (Or Egg – 1)

Flax Seed powder - 1 Tb spoon (Optional) Flour – 1 ¼ cup Unsweetened cocoa powder – ¼ cup Salt – ¼ tsp Baking powder – ¼ cup Semisweet chocolate chips – 1 cup Pecans for decorating – ½ cup

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 deg F.
Spread ½ cup pecans evenly on a baking sheet .
Bake, stirring once or twice, until lightly browned and fragrant, 5 – 10 min.
Remove from oven and let cool. Chop coarsely.
In a large bowl, cream butter until light and fluffy.
Gradually add sugar, eating until light.
Add yogurt (Egg substitute), vanilla, and milk; beat thoroughly.
In a small bowl, blend flour, cocoa, salt and baking powder.
Add to the butter mixture and stir well to combine.
Stir in chocolate chips and toasted pecans.
Drop in teaspoons or table spoons (or a small ice cream scoop) onto a parchment sheet.(Don't worry about the shape, natural is just fine)
Top with pecans halves.
Bake for 8 – 10 min or until done. Let cool on a wire rack.
Enjoy soft and yummy cookies.

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Sprouted Pulses Rotti

2009-04-15T15:52:00.004-05:00

I just realized that, it has been long since I have posted anything. So, am back with a simple and healthy rotti. All Kannadigas know about rotti usally made from rice flour. This is done without any flour in it. When I was speaking with my MIL, she told me that she had added pulses for the rotti. So, thought of trying it with my own twist to it. I just soaked all the pulses that I had, sprouted it and made rotti with it without adding any flour. Just added all the ingredients that you add for the plain rotti. You can also make dosa instead of rotti. I could not believe that it would taste that good. It is a must try...

Ingredients:

Hesarukalu / Green Moong dhal – 1 cup Bili Halasandi /Black Eyed peas – ½ cup Kadalekalu /Brown Channa Dal – ½ cup Red Kidney Beans – ¼ cup Onion – 1 big (Chopped finely) Green chili – 2 -3 (adjust according to your spice) Ginger – 1 tsp (grated) Cumin / Jeera – 1 tsp Dill leaves – ½ cup (chopped finely) (optional) Coriander leaves – 1/4 cup (chopped finely) Curry leaves – 2 Tb spoon Salt Method :

Soak all the pulses overnight with enough water.
Next day remove all the water and allow it to get sprouted for 1-2 days.
Grind all sprouted pulses with as little water as possible.
Add the chili too while grinding.
Mix onion, dill, coriander leaves, curry leaves, cumin, salt and ginger.
On a plastic paper apply little oil, then take a ball size of the dough, spread it evenly with hand till it is thin and the size of a chapati.

Keep dipping your hands in water while spreading to avoid any sticking.
Fry on a hot tava on both sides until brown.
Serve hot with any chutney or plain yogurt with pickle or just by itself.

Sprouted Pulses Rotti, goes to Cococooks who is guest hosting "MLLA-10th helping", an event which is started by Susan. PS:

You can add any pulses you have.
If it becomes too watery, don't worry. mix little rice flour to it or you can convert it to dosa.
You can either grind chillis along with piulses or you can just chop it up later.
You can add any veggies along with it.

Ugadi Feast

2009-04-02T20:02:00.015-05:00

Finally, I found some time to post the recipes of Ugadi platter. These were the items my Mom used to prepare, so tried my best to do everything. Items are from left..Salt, Kossambhari(moong dhal salad), Hullikayi Palya (Beans fry). Thondekayi Palya, Aloo Fry, Halasandi Vade(Black Eyed Peas),Mosaru Pachadi(Raita), Payasa, Burfi, Obbattu(Puran Poli), Mavinakayi Chitaranna (Raw Mango rice), Rice and Obbattu Saru.

Kossambhari:

Ingredients: Moong dhal – 2 Tb sp Carrot – ¼ cup (grated) (optional) Cucumber – ¼ cup (chopped to small pieces) Chili – 1 Hing – 1 pinch Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp Coconut – 1 Tb spoon(optional) Coriader leaves Curry leaves Lemon juice – 1 tsp Oil Salt

Method:

Wash moong dhal and soak in water for 2-3 hours.
Then drain all the water, add grated carrot and cucumber.
Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, hing and chillies.
Fry for a minute and add to moong dhal.
Mix in coriander leaves, coconut and lemon juice.
Add salt just before serving. If you add before, it will become watery.

Thodekayi Palya: You can find the recipe for this here.

Hullikayi Palya:

Ingredients: Beans – 1 lb (chopped very small) Channa dhal – 1 tsp Urad dhal – 1 tsp Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp Onion – 1 medium (chopped finely) Coconut – Optional Sambar powder / Vangibath powder – 1tsp (adjust accordingly) Coriander leaves Salt Oil Method:

Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds; when it splutters, add channa dhal, urad dhal.
When it turns to golden brown, add onion and curry leaf and fry till golden brown.
Then add beans, add sambar powder and salt.
Mix well, cover and allow it to cook on low flame.(do not add water)
Stir occationally.
When fully cooked, add coconut and sprinkle coriander leaves.
Serve hot or at room temperature.

Aloo Fry:

Ingredients: Potato – 2 big Onions – 1 big (chopped) Chilli powder – ½ - 1 tsp Coriander powder – 1tsp Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp Cumin powder – ¼ tsp Ginger paste – 1 tsp Garlic paste – 1tsp Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp Coriander leaves Oil Salt Method:

Cut potatoes into half, add little salt and boil it.
After it has boiled cut into medium pieces and keep aside.
Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds. When it splutters, add onions and fry till till golden brown.
Add ginger and garlic paste and fry for a minute.
In a small bowl, add all the powders, salt and mix with 3 Tb spoon water.
Add the powder water to the onions and fry for a min on low flame (Do not fry till dry).
Then add the cubed potatoes and mix well with the masala.
When it has mixed thoroughly, sprinkle coriander leaves and serve.

Mosaru Pachadi /Raita:

Ingredients:

Red onion – 1 small (chopped length wise) Tomato – 1 small (chopped to small pieces) Coriander leaves Yogurt – ½ cup (beaten by adding 2 Tb spoon water) Salt

Method:

Mix all the above ingredients and serve.

Halasandi Vade / Black Eyed Peas Vada:

Ingredients: White Halasandhi / Black Eyed Peas – 1 cup Onion – 1 medium (chopped finely) Dill – ¼ cup (finely chopped) Ginger – ½ inch Garlic – 4 -5 cloves Chilies – 2-3 (according to spice) Cloves – 2 Cinnamon – ½ inch Cumin seeds – 1 tsp Coriander leaves Salt Oil Method:

Soak Peas in water overnight.
Drain the water and grind peas along with ginger, garlic, chilies, cloves, cinnamon and cumin.
Do not add too much water.
After grinding, add dill, coriander, onions and salt to it and mix well.
Heat oil, take a little dough in your hands, flatten and drop in oil.
Fry till golden brown both sides.
After frying drain on paper towel and serve.

Semiya Payasa:

Ingredients:

Semiya – ½ cup Milk Sugar Cashew Raisins Cardamom -1 Ghee Saffron

Method:

Fry Vermicelli in ghee until it is golden brown.
Add milk and allow it to boil.
When it has boiled, add sugar, powdered cardamom and saffron.
Then heat ghee in a pan, fry cashew and raisin till brown and add it to semiya.
Serve hot or chilled.

PS: I have not used any measurements. You can adjust according to your taste. Adjust the milk and sugar accordingly.

Mavinakayi Chitaranna /Raw Mango Rice:

Ingredients: Rice – 2 cups (sona masuri - cooked) Raw Mango - 1 medium sized (grated) Green chilies - 3-4: For Tampering: Oil - 3 Tb spoon Mustard Seeds – 1 tsp Urad dhal – 1 Tb spoon Channa Dhal / Chickpeas – 1 tsp Ground Nuts - 1 Tb spoon Turmeric – ¼ tsp (accordingly) Asafetida - 1 pinch Curry leaves - 1 strand Gtampering:rated coconut - 1/4 cup (optional) Coriander Leaves / Cilantro Cashew – 1 Tb spoon Method:

Spread cooked rice and let it cool. This is very important as hot rice will break easily while mixing.
Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds.
When it splutters, add ground nuts, cashews, urad dhal, channa dhal & fry till golden brown.
Then add green chillies, curry leaves & sauté for few minutes.
Add the grated mango & sauté it for 20secs. (do not fry for too long).
Then add turmeric and asafetida.
Pour this tempering on the rice; add salt, grated coconut & coriander leaves.
Mix them thoroughly & gently. Ensure that there are no lumps.
Serve hot or at room temperature.

PS:

Make sure that the rice is not mushy.
Raw mangoes, which we find in India, are very sour, but the one which we find here are not too sour. So, this chitranna tastes good if mango is little sour.
If the mango is not too sour, either add little lemon juice or add one more grated mango.

Burfi:

You can find the recipe for this 'here'.

Obbattu / Puran Poli:

You can find the recipe for this 'here'.

Obbattu Saru:

This is a rasam made from the filtered water of dhal used for puran poli. It tastes delicious as the days goes by..

Ingredients:

Jeera / Cumin – 1 sp Methi seeds– ¼ tsp Pepper – ½ tsp Red chillis – 4-5 (according to your spice) Garlic – 7-8 Dry coconut – ¼ cup Curry leaves – 2 strands Mustard seeds – ½ tsp Coriander leaves Tamarind – lemon size Asafetida - pinch Ghee

Method:

After draining all the water of the boiled dhal for puran poli, add 2 strands of curry leaves to the water and allow it to boil on low flame.
Soak tamarind in hot water.
Fry jeera, pepper, garlic and methi separately by adding a little ghee till you can smell the aroma of each while frying.
Fry red chilies, then off the stove and then fry coconut just with the heat of the pan.
Then grind all the fried items.
Add the paste to the dhal water, then add tamarind water and add water according to the thickness.
Add a little hoorana to it; add salt and allow it to boil.
Heat ghee in a pan; add mustard seeds, when it splutters, add asafetida and 2 byadige chilies.
Mix the tampering to the liquid and boil.
The more you boil, more flavor it releases.
Serve with rice, ghee and vada.(this is my fav combination).
It tastes better everytime you boil for the next 2-3 days.

PS: Adjust the spices according to your taste and quantity.

Thondekayi Palya and Halasandi Vade goes to Cococooks who is guest hosting "MLLA-10th helping", an event which is started by Susan.

Mavinakayi Chitranna, goes to Smitha's "Colors of taste-Flavored Rice" event.

Thondekayi Palya, Hulli kayi Palya, Aloo Fry goes to "WYF-side dish" event hosted by EasyCrafts.

HAPPY SHREE RAM NAVAMI TO ALL OF YOU!!

Have a happy and healthy weekend..

Artichoke Jalapeno Potato Pancakes and Click

2009-03-30T13:51:00.006-05:00

Ingredients: Potatoes – 2 cups (Boiled and mashed ) Artichoke Jalapeno Dip – ½ cup Parmesan Cheese (grated) – ¼ cup (optional) Red bell pepper (finely chopped) – ¼ cup Zucchini (grated) – ½ cup Spring onions (finely chopped) – ¼ cup Coriander leaves / cilantro – 2 Tb spoon (finely chopped) Plain dry bread crumbs – 1 cup Oil / butter Method:

In a medium bowl, mix mashed potatoes, dip, parmesan, bell pepper, zucchini, spring onions and cilantro together until blended.
Shape into round (size - slightly bigger than lemon), coat in bread crumbs, set on wax paper and pat till the size of poori.

Heat a heavy skillet on medium- low, and add oil or butter.
When oil is hot add cakes and cook both sides until brown.
Serve hot with sour cream or just by itself.

Potato Pancakes is my contribution to the event "Cooking for kids- Potato" hosted by Deepa, authored by Sharmi.

PS:

You can use ready made mashed potato too.
You can add any veggies to it of your choice.
I have not added the cheese to it. The dip is little tangy. So you may adjust accordingly.

Now coming to the click..It is the last day today for the click, din't want to miss, so thought of participating. This is my entry for Click: wood event hosted by Jugalbandi.

Ugadi Wishes with Ugadi Feast..

2009-03-27T17:06:00.014-05:00

Wish You all a very Happy Ugadi. Hope this year brings you in good Health, Peace and Prosperity.

Ugadi marks the beginning of a new Hindu lunar calendar with a change in the moon's orbit. It is a season for raw mangoes spreading its aroma in the air and the fully blossomed neem tree that makes the air healthy. Also, jaggery made with fresh crop of sugarcane adds a renewed flavor to the typical dishes associated with Ugadi

Preparations for the festival begin a week ahead. Houses are given a thorough wash. Shopping for new clothes and buying other items that go with the requirements of the festival are done with a lot of excitement.

On Ugadi day, people wake up before the break of dawn and take a head bath after which they decorate the entrance of their houses with fresh mango leaves. The significance of tying mango leaves relates to a legend. It is said that Kartik (or Subramanya or Kumara Swamy) and Ganesha, the two sons of Lord Siva and Parvathi were very fond of mangoes. As the legend goes Kartik exhorted people to tie green mango leaves to the doorway signifying a good crop and general well-being.

After doing prayers, we serve jaggery mixed with neem leaves. The bitter taste of neem leaves and the sweet of jaggery symbolize joy and sorrow in life. Here we just had jaggery as we din't get neem flowers:-).

This festival brings back lots of memories. It is mainly of the food we used to have. We used to help our mom prepare the feast. After doing the pooja we used to sit down and eat on banana leaves. This time, I found banana leaves in a mexican store and was very exited. I have tried my best to do all the dishes my mom used to make for this festival. So here is the feast on a banana leaf..

The dishes are from left ..Salt, Kossambari (salad), Hullikayi Palya( Green beans fry), Thondekayi Palya( Tindora fry), Aloogadde Fry (Aloo Fry), Mosaru Pachadi( Raita), Mavinakayi Chitaranna (Mango Rice), Halasandi vade (Black eyed peas vada), Shavige Payasa (Payasam), Burfi, Obattu (Puran poli), Rice and Obattu Saru ( Rasam).

Will post the recipes soon.. Happy Ugadi..

Tomato Gojju (Gravy) And Simple Cucumber Salad

2009-03-24T13:53:00.013-05:00

This is a simple gojju (gravy) which can be made when you are out of veggies or when you want to make something simple and fast. My mom used to make this along with chapati and we used to crib all the time for eating. I had a big list of only "I don't like this vegetable or pulses". After coming here, I don't say no to any thing :-). This gojju was on my don't like list, but now I make this very often. Ingredients:

ಟೊಮೇಟೊ /Tomato – 4 Big (chopped) ಈರುಳ್ಳಿ / Onion – 1 big (chopped) ಹಸಿಮೆಣಸಿನಕಾಯಿ /Chilies – 3-4 (chopped) ಮೆಂತ್ಯ ಸೊಪ್ಪು /Methi leaves – ¼ cup (optional) ಕಡಲೆ ಬೇಳೆ /Channa Dhal – ½ tsp ಉದ್ದಿನ ಬೇಳೆ /Urad dhal – 1 tsp ಸಾಸಿವೆ /Mustard Seeds – ½ tsp ಕರಿಬೇವು /Curry leaves ಕೊತ್ತಂಬರಿ ಸೊಪ್ಪು /Coriander leaves – 2 Tb spoon ಧನಿಯ ಪುಡಿ /Dhaniya / Coriander powder – ½ tsp ಅರಿಶಿನ ಪುಡಿ /Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp ಎಣ್ಣೆ /Oil – 2 Tb spoon ಉಪ್ಪು /Salt Method:

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan, add mustard seeds and after it splutters add channa dhal and urad dhal.
After it is lightly brown add onions and fry till golden brown.
Then add methi leaves, fry for a minute, then add tomatoes, chilies and curry leaves.
Add Coriander powder, turmeric powder, and salt and mix all together.
Cover and allow it to cook .If you want little gravy (add little water).
If the tomatoes are juicy, no need to add water.
When all the tomatoes has become mushy and nicely blended, remove from stove and sprinkle coriander leaves.
Serve with chapatti or rice.

PS:

Methi leaves are optional. I just added this as I had it.
You can adjust the spice accordingly.
You can also add veggies to this.

Cucumber Salad:

Ingredients:

Cucumber – 1

Onion – 1 Tb spoon (finely chopped) Fresh Coconut – 1 Tb spoon (optional) Pepper – 1/4 tsp Salt Spring Onion or Coriander Leaves – 1 Tb spoon

Lemon Juice - 1 tsp Method:

Chop cucumber to small pieces.
Mix all the above ingredients together.
Serve either cold or fresh.
You can add yogurt too if you want.

Cucumber Salad, goes to Neha of "Tasty recipes" who is guest hosting "AFAM-Cucumber", an event started by Maheswari.

Salad goes to Sunita's Think Spice, Think...Pepper.. being hosted this month by Divya of Dil Se….

My tomato gojju goes to Sanghi's Fall in Love(FIL) - Tomato Event.

Mexican Rice with Refried Beans

2009-03-22T20:30:00.010-05:00

Mexican cuisine is known for its varied hot and tangy flavors, colorful decoration, and variety of spices and ingredients added in each meal, many of which are native to the country. The food is rich in proteins and minerals. In our house, all three of us love Mexican food. I always used to wonder how they get the color for the rice with all the flavour. Then when I saw it was tomato, I was surprised. I found the perfect opportunity to make it. I surprised both of them with this simple rice with re fried beans.

Rice:

Ingredients:

Chopped Onion - 1/2 cup Chopped Green Bell pepper - 1/4 cup Garlic, minced - 1 large clove Long-Grain Rice - 1 cup Tomatoes - 3 medium (chopped) Carrot - 1 medium(chopped) Chili - 1 (chopped) (optional) Chili powder - 1 tsp Ground cumin - 1/4 tsp Vegetable Broth - 1 1/2 - 2 cups Oil - 2 Tb spoon Salt Method:

In a heavy skillet, heat oil, saute onion, green bell pepper, carrot and garlic until onion is softened.
Add rice to skillet and fry over medium-high heat until rice has browned.
Grind the tomatoes and keep aside. Don't add water.
Add chili powder, salt, vegetable broth and also the tomato puree.
Bring to a boil; cover, lower heat, and simmer until liquid has been absorbed, about 20 minutes.
Taste and add more salt if needed.

PS: I have used fresh tomatoes, you can also use 1 can (15 oz) tomatoes.

Adjust the spice according to your taste. If you don't have vegetable broth, you can just add water. Don't add too much water, as the rice should not be mushy.

Refried Beans:

Ingredients:

Pinto beans - cups

Fresh Garlic - 1 Tb spoon

Cumin powder - 1-2 tsp

Chili powder - 1/2 tsp

Pepper powder - 1/4 tsp(optional)

Bay Leaf - 1

Onion - 1/4 cup(finely chopped)

Butter - 1-2 Tb spoons

oil

Salt

Method:

Rinse the beans and let the beans soak in a large pot overnight. Use plenty of water since the beans expand quite a bit.
Add Cumin powder, Garlic paste, Bay leaf, Chili powder, pepper powder, salt and boil them for about an hour or so… basically until they are soft (make sure to keep on adding water).
You want the beans so soft that they are falling apart (it makes it easier to mash them later on).
After the boiling is complete, you need to empty out a lot of the water… but not too much or else the beans get really dry.
For starters try emptying out the water so that only the bottom half of the beans are in water.
Then mash the beans using potato masher.
The consistency of the beans should not be uniform.
In a large pan, heat 2 Tbs of olive oil and saute onions.
Reduce to a low heat. Add the beans to the sauteed onions. Mix in 1-2 Tbs of butter.
Now the re-frying begins. Don’t re-fry for too long; it tends to dry out the beans. And don’t let them burn.
If the beans get too dry, add the bean water which was emptied out.
Serve with Rice and sauteed corn.

Mexican Rice and Refried Beans goes to "It's a Vegan World-Mexican" hosted by Vaishali of "It's a Vegan World"

Mexican Rice goes to Sanghi of "Sanghi's Tasty Bites" blogs new event "Fall in Love-Tomato".

Mexican rice with refried beans is off to " WYF- Cuisine" hosted by EC of "Simple Indian Food- An Easy Cooking Blog "

Oatmeal, Date and Pecan Squares.

2009-03-16T18:08:00.009-05:00

First of all, I am very exited and honoured to receive this beautiful Mammoth Pecans as a gift from the Pecan Company. Last month, when I had posted my Egg less Sweet and Savory Pecan cookies, Jessica dropped by and mentioned about a contest in her company and asked me to send this recipe over. I just sent it over and they told that they will prepare, taste and then select recipes that will be published on their website. The recipes which got selected received this beautiful 1 Lb packet of Pecans. All thanks goes to Jessica who mentioned about this contest. I am really very honoured and also exited on receiving this, as I have not won anything before. It really makes you happy and also motivates you, when you receive such gifts. Hurray!!

So, coming to the recipe, this is a easy and healthy bars. Very soft and has crunchy bite to it while eating.

Ingredients: Pitted dates(coarsely Chopped) – 8 oz or 1 cup Orange juice – 1 ½ cup All purpose flour – 2 ½ cups Brown sugar ( firmly packed) – 1 ½ cup Salt – ½ tsp (optional) Margarine or butter – ¾ pound (3 sticks cut into pieces) Quaker Oats (Quick or Old fashioned, uncooked) – 2 cups Unsweetened shredded coconut – 1 ½ cup Pecans – 1 cup Method:

Preheat oven to 350 deg.
In a medium saucepan, combine dates and orange juice, bring to boil.
Reduce heat and simmer for 15 – 20 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally.
Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar and salt.
Mix the butter pieces to this and combine till they are crumbly.
Stir in oats, 1 cup coconut and nuts.
Remove 4 cups oat mixture for topping.
Press remaining oat mixture evenly onto bottom of an ungreased 13 by 9 inch baking pan.
Spread date mixture over crust to within1/4 inch of edges.
Sprinkle with remaining oat mixture. Then sprinkle with remaining ½ cup coconut, patting gently.
Bake for 35-40 minutes or until light golden brown.
Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.
Cut into squares.

My Oatmeal, Date Pecan Squares are off to "Sunday Snacks - Grab n Go" hosted by Pallavi.

Strawberry - Banana Smoothie and Awards

2009-03-11T20:27:00.004-05:00

At last Spring is here, can see colorful Tulips all over. We had a wonderful weather with 80 deg from past three days. It was very humid, felt as if it was summer already. Scared already how hot it will get this summer...Thought of having a something cool and which is also nutritious too for this humid weather... So prepared this smoothie yesterday, today already there was a sudden drop in temperature and is raining heavily. We were just talking yesterday to keep aside all winter clothing and remove our summer wear. Also were talking about drinking more liquids to beat the body heat and suddenly today we are all wearing all socks and sweaters. Just can't say anything.

Ingredients: Nonfat Plain Yogurt – 2 cups Medium Size Ripe Banana – 1 Sugar – 2 Tb spoon (optional, I have not used) Lemon Juice – 2 Tb spoon Frozen or Fresh Strawberries – 3 cups Flax Seed Powder – 2 Tb spoon Honey - 1 Tb spoon (optional) Method:

Combine yogurt, banana, honey, lemon juice and flax seed powder in a blender.
With the blender running, add strawberries.
Process until smooth.
Pour into glasses and serve.
This makes 4 servings.

My Strawberry -Banana Smoothie, goes to Priya of "Priya's easy and tasty recipes" who is guest hosting "Food in Color-Pink", an event started by Harini.

Now coming to Awards, Trupti and Vibaas have showered me with these cute awards. Thank you both of you.

Vibaas has passed me "Circle Of Friends" and "You are a Super Duper Chef" award along with these cute awards.

I am really honoured and happy to receive these awards.Thank you. I would like to pass all these awards to each one of you. Please fell free to pick it up.

Dhal Idlis And Awards

2009-03-06T10:02:00.013-06:00

This idly is something which is very healthy and can make it instantly..not that instant as the dhal's take time to soak..Only thing is you can prepare this as soon as you grind the Dhal's . No fermenting needed. No rice or urad dhal required for this idly. You can add any veggies to this. Great for kids and for us too.

Ingredients:

ಕಡಲೆ ಬೇಳೆ /Bengal gram dhal - 1 cup

ತೊಗರಿ ಬೇಳೆ /Thoor Dhal - 1/2 cup

ಹೆಸರು ಬೇಳೆ /Moong Dhal - 1/2 cup

ಸೊಪ್ಪು /Green leaves / Dill - 1 cup

ಈರುಳ್ಳಿ /Onion - 1 medium (chopped finely)

ಹಸಿಮೆಣಸಿನಕಾಯಿ /Green chilly - 4 nos.

ಶುಂಠಿ /Ginger - small quantity

ಬೆಳ್ಳುಳ್ಳಿ /Garlic - 3-4 flakes

ಕೆಂಪು ಮೆಣಸಿನಕಾಯಿ /Red chilly - 4 nos.

ಜೀರಿಗೆ /Cumin seeds - 1 Tb spoon

ಕರಿಬೇವು /Curry leaves - small quantity

ಉಪ್ಪು /Salt to taste

ಎಣ್ಣೆ /Oil

Method:

Wash and soak all three Dal's in water for 2-3 hours along with cumin seeds and red chillies.
Grind them to a smooth paste along with ginger-garlic, green chillies and curry leaves (Do not add too much water)
Add chopped onions , dill (or any greens) and salt to the paste. Mix well.
Grease idly plates, pour this batter and steam for 5 min.

Dal idly is healthy and ready to be served.
Serve it with any of the chutneys or kurma or sambar or you can eat by itself.
I have served mine with simple kurma.

My Dhal Idli goes to Lentils Mela hosted by Ashwini..

I'm also sending this recipe to Laurie's "My Legume Love Affair" started by Susan of The Well-Seasoned Cook.

PS:

You can add and greens like Methi, spinach, coriander leaves..
You can also add any veggies to it.
Adjust the spice accordingly.
You can add any other dhal to this.

Now, its time for Awards.. Nithya Praveen has passed me these beautiful awards. I am very humbled to receive them. Thank You so much.

I would like to pass them to all the blogger's who take time and visit my blog. Please feel free to take them.

Deepa has passed me this beautiful and lovely award..Thank You dear..

The award states that:

"These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement (? big word, lol). Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

Its really hard to choose just eight. There are many bloggers who deserve it. But since i have to do, i would love to pass this award to:

Dilled Salmon Cakes

2009-03-02T20:33:00.006-06:00

There are so many wonderful things about salmon that it’s hard to know where to start. It’s a fish which, even people who don’t like fish can enjoy. It’s firm enough to grill, can be cooked in many different ways, and does not dry out as easily as many other fish.. Wild salmon can be eaten without fear of excess contaminants or mercury, and it has a very high nutrient profile, including the highly-prized omega-3 fatty acids. What’s not to like? Salmon is a highly nutritious food. Of course, it is high in protein, and the “good fats." But did you know that a 4 oz serving of wild salmon provides a full day’s requirement of vitamin D? It is one of the few foods that can make that claim. That same piece of fish contains over half of the necessary B12, niacin, and selenium, and is an excellent source of B6 and magnesium. We’ve all heard a lot about the heart-healthy benefits of salmon lately. Countless books by well-known doctors tell us that eating salmon two or three times a week will keep our hearts, brains and joints sound, and even erase our wrinkles and crow’s feet.

Though with all good nutritional value...I don't bring Salmon often, as my daughter does not like them. She likes other fishes except Salmon. So, thought of making something light and which tempts her to eat...We gave her saying it was Vada(she loves them), and she liked it :-). It worked this time..will see the next time.

Ingredients:

Dilled Salmon Cakes Pink Salmon (boneless) – 1 Lb Quaker Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked) – ¾ cup Far free milk – ¼ cup Egg whites – 2 (lightly beaten) Onion (finely chopped) – ¼ cup Fresh dill (chopped) - ½ cup Cumin powder – ¼ tsp Coriander powder – ½ tsp Chili powder – 1 tsp (according to your spice) Salt Method:

With a fork just scrape the salmon to pieces or you can finely grind in a mixer.
Combine all the above ingredients together and allow it to sit for 5 min.
Shape into patties about 1 inch thick.
Lightly spray a non stick skillet with cooking spray.
Cook Salmon cakes over medium heat for 3- 4 min on each side or until golden brown and heated through.

PS: You can use canned salmon instead of fresh one. Use one 14 oz can.

I have just scraped the fish with fork, got uneven small pieces. You can also grind it in a mixer.

I have added the spices according to my taste..You can add your own spices.

You can add chili paste or chili pieces instead of chili powder.

You can replace dill weed instead of fresh dill.. You can also make patties and bake it in oven.

Dates and Grapes Covered With Cheese (Cheese Balls)

2009-02-26T18:08:00.008-06:00

This is a simple snack for the evening, of course if you like cheese... You can use any cheese of your liking.

Ingredients:

Olive Oil – ¼ tsp Seedless grapes Ground black pepper Medjool dates, pitted Goat cheese – 2 ounces Salted pistachios, roasted and chopped – 2 ounces Method:

Pour olive oil onto a plate. Add grapes and roll to coat.
Grind pepper onto grapes.
Slice open dates, flatten between hands and set aside.
Divide goat cheese into 4 pieces. Place each piece in your hand and flatten with the heel of your hand.
To assemble, place each grape on a flattened date and set in the center of the flattened goat cheese.
Form the cheese around the date-grape, covering completely.
Roll in chopped pistachios

This is my contribution to the Click Event -Cheese/Tofu hosted by BEE & JAI of Jugalbandhi.

I would like to thank Vidhas, Trupti for passing on the "Super - Duper Chef " award. I am very humbled to receive it.

I would also like to thank Archy for including me in her "Circle of Friends". Thank you Archy..Very glad to be one of your friend. Cute award..

PS: You can use any cheese of your choice. I had Goat cheese, so used that..It is little bland for this..You can use any shape cheese with little spice in it.

You can use any filling inside the cheese.

You can also use any nuts like walnut, pecans, peanuts etc..Instead of nuts you can also roll on fresh herbs of your choice.

You can also make savory cheese balls.

Green Papaya Subzi (Palya)

2009-02-21T20:15:00.007-06:00

This is a simple subzi made from Green Papaya. Other than eating the ripe papaya, I did not know that you can do variety of dishes using the unripe green papaya. I came to know about this thru my hubby's friend. He used to cook everything possible from dosas, varieties of chutneys, desserts etc..This is one of the dishes..When I got this recipe, I immediately tried this subzi and the taste was amazing...It is very simple and healthy too. I served this with instant dosa.

Ingredients: Green Papaya - 1 Urad Dhal - 1 tsp Mustard Seeds – ¼ tsp Cumin Seeds – ½ tsp Red Chilies – 2 Curry Leaves Chili Powder – 1 tsp Turmeric Powder – ¼ tsp Jaggery - 1 tsp Coriander Leaves – 1 Tb spoon Oil – 1 – 2 Tb spoon Salt Method:

Remove the outer skin and cut papaya into small squares.
Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, jeera. When it splutters, add urad dhal, split red chilies and curry leaves.
When urad dhal has turned brown, add papaya pieces.
Add red chili powder, turmeric, jaggery and salt to it.
Mix well, cover and allow it to cook on low flame without adding water.
Cook until done.

Serve hot with Chapati or as a side with hot rice and dhal.

I would like to send my Green Papaya Subzi to FIC - Orange hosted by Aparna started by Harini.

PS: People who are trying to conceive or who are in their first tri-semesters, please avoid eating papaya, as they say it heats your body and plays a big hand in abortion. Avoid both raw and ripe papaya.

Awards

2009-02-19T10:18:00.005-06:00

Thank You Adlak for passing on this wonderful award..I will always wear it and cook :-)..Very thrilled and humbled to have it.

Thank You Adlak, Malar and Trupti for thinking of me and passing this sweet award..Humbled and honoured to receive this sweet award..

Thank You Trupti for this cute Chat Blog award..Exited and humbled to have this award from a sweet Chat friend..

All these awards goes to all my fellow bloggers. You guys are the best I could ever wish for .. extraordinary friends, my big supporters, who always are there..

This is the world within the world, friends without faces, but certainly not without hearts. It is the beauty of your hearts, that is shining here above all. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart.

Rava Omlet / Dosa with Chutney And a Sweet Award

2009-02-17T11:14:00.019-06:00

Almost every Sunday, bread omelet used to be our breakfast most of the times in our house. My mom is a pure vegetarian, she does not take egg or cake or biscuits which has egg. But poor thing she used to prepare bread omelets for us almost every Sunday. She used to make this dosa with rava or carrot sandwich for herself. She used to add different flours every time and make this dosa and she used to call this as omelet and the dish got its name as Rava omelet :-). We used to like this more than the bread omelet. I remembered this on Sunday and made this for breakfast.

I would also like to thank Yasmeen of Health Nut for adding me in her list and giving this sweet award which is created by her. I am very humbled and honoured to receive this. Thanks a lot Yasmeen. You too are a sweet heart..

Ingredients: Fine Rava / Semolina – 2 cups Rice flour – ¼ cup Maida / All purpose flour – ¼ cup Curds – ½ cup Onion (chopped finely) – 1 big Chilies – 6-7 (chopped finely) Cilantro /Coriander leaves (chopped finely) – ¼ cup Curry leaves (chopped finely) – 1 Tb spoon Ginger grated / paste – ½ tsp Cumin – 1 tsp Soda – ¼ tsp Salt Tomato (chopped finely) – 1 big Carrot (grated) – 1 Spring onion (chopped finely) – 1/4 cup Method:

Mix rava, rice flour and maida with curds and keep aside for 30 minutes.
Then add all the ingredients except tomato, carrot and spring onions.
Mix them all by adding water to form a batter with a consistency of not too thick or not too watery.
In a bowl mix tomato, carrot and spring onion and keep aside.
On a hot tawa pour one big spoon of batter and spread like any other dosa, then add tomato, carrot and spring onion on top.

Apply oil and cook till brown on both sides. CHUTNEY Ingredients:

Coconut – ½ cup Groundnut – ¼ cup Green chilies – 4 -5 Coriander leaves – ¼ cup (chopped finely) Curry leaves – 4-5 leaves Garlic – 1 piece Ginger – ½ inch Salt Lemon juice – 1Tb spoon For Tampering: Oil / ghee – 1 tsp Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp Urad dhal – ½ tsp Curry leaves – 3-4 leaves (tear them to pieces in hands) Red chilies – 2-3 Method:

First fry the groundnuts until brown.
Then add all the above ingredients and grind them in a mixer till it forms a smooth paste.
Then heat oil in a small pan, add mustard seeds.
When it splutters, add urad dhal, red chillies, and curry leaves.
When urad dhal becomes brown, mix this mixture with the prepared chutney.
Serve with hot rava omelet / dosa.

PS : You can mix tomato + carrot + spring onions to the batter itself. If you leave the batter mix for 1 or hours then you will get nice colour . You can also make this as rotti by making it dough instead of batter. For the chutney you can add tamarind instead of lemon juice. You can omit the addition of garlic if you do not like the taste of it.

Five Minute Nutty Fudge

2009-02-13T21:49:00.011-06:00

“Come ..Fall in Love”…it is so true..I am talking about most watched and my all time favorite movie DDLJ( Brave – Hearted Will Take the Bride). I really fell in love with that movie... I don’t remember how many times I must have seen this movie…still, I will watch it as if I am seeing it for the first time. All the dialogues are so heart touching…my fav is “Hum to Apne Desh ko Hamare Dil Mai Rakthe Hai” and I also love this line…"Aise Bade Bade Deshome Aisi Choti Choti Bathe Hothi Rehthi Hai"… I have seen it so many times that I remember every dialogue and scenes by heart. Oh God.. My daughter is a very big fan of SRK like mom. She watched this movie too with us without blinking her eye. At the end, when she saw SRK being slapped, she din’t want to see that part and asked us to fast forward it. So cute... Nice way to start a Valentine weekend. Valentine's Day without a sweet(chocolate) ..no way. Thought of making this simple fudge, which is chocolaty, nutty and a little kick to it for my two Valentines in the house:-). I have added few pinches of chili powder for just a kick when you swallow. Ya, as mentioned it only takes five minutes to make this but you have to refrigerate for 2 hours.

Ingredients:

Semi – sweet chocolate – 1 bar Condensed milk – 1 can Vanilla Extract – 2 spoons / 2 tsp Chili Powder – 2- 3 pinches (optional) Pecans & Walnuts (chopped) – 1 handful each (1/2 cup combined)

Method:

In a bowl, put chocolate pieces and one can of condensed milk.

Microwave it for 2- 3 minutes on high heat.
When the chocolate has melted, add vanilla extract, chili powder, nuts and combine together.
Cover a foil over a 9 inch square pan, so that it will be easy to remove the fudge from.
Pour the fudge mixture in it and refrigerate for 2 hours or more or until it becomes solid.

Then remove the foil and cut the fudge to required shape and size.

My Nutty five minute Fudge goes to "Lets Go Nuts" hosted by Aquadaze with my choice of both Walnuts and Pecans.

It is also off to Recipes for the rest of us - Dessert hosted by Varsha and also Ramki of One Page Cookbook.

It is also off to EFM - Microwave Oven Series hosted by Srilekha.

It also goes to' Just For You ' Event hosted by Alka.

Brinjal - Zucchini Subzi with Dill Chapathi

2009-02-11T16:10:00.009-06:00

I was wondering whether it is a Brinjal /Eggplant week or is there something about eggplant or may be just a coincidence that everybody thought of making eggplant this week...as I am seeing so many brinjal varieties ..

Seeing all brinjal yummy dishes, I too made brinjal subzi but included zucchini to it and made dill chapati for the subzi.

Ingredients:

Brinjal / Eggplant (cut to medium cubes) – 1 big Zucchini – 1 medium Onion (chopped) – 1 big Tomato (chopped) – 1 medium Ginger paste – 1 ½ tsp Garlic paste – 1 ½ tsp Garam masala - ½ tsp Chili powder – 1 tsp Dhaniya powder – ½ tsp Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp Cumin seeds – ½ tsp Coriander leaves – 2 Tb spoon Oil – 2 Tb spoon Lemon juice(optional) – 1 Tb spoon Salt Method:

Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds. When it splutters, add cumin.
Then add onions and fry till golden brown.
Add chopped tomato along with ginger and garlic paste. Fry till oil leaves.
Add all the powders (adjust them according to your spice level) and fry for few minutes.
Then add chopped brinjal and zucchini, add salt, give it a stir, cover and allow it to cook on low flame for few minutes.
Do not add water, as it will leave water on their own.
When it is cooked sprinkle coriander leaves on top along with some lemon juice and serve with chapati or rice or Nan.

I have served mine with Dill Chapati. As I had freshly bought dill and had this recipe in mind for a while..so gave it a try with few additions to it. The original recipe is from Maya of Konkan World. You can find the original recipe here. I have made a few variations to the original recipe.

Dill Chapati

Ingredients:

Wheat flour – 2 cups Soya flour – 2 Tb spoon Dill (chopped finely) – 1 cup Ajwain – 1 Tb spoon Turmeric – ¼ tsp Milk – ¼ cup Salt Oil

Method:

Mix all the above ingredients except oil, add water and knead to form smooth dough.
I have just chopped Dill and added it without and frying or boiling.
Keep aside for 30 minutes.
Then make chapatis.

Serve hot with subzi and salad.

My Brinjal/Eggplant - Zucchini Subzi with Dill Chapati goes to 'Made For Each Other' event hosted by Asvadha .

PS:

For the subzi, you can make only brinjal without the zucchini.
Yellow squash and also Calabaza could be added to it.
You can add vangibath powder to it instead of garam masala and chili powder.
I have added milk, more ajwain,turmeric and soya flour to make chapati.
Soya flour makes the chapati soft and is healthy too.

Eggless Pecan Cookies - Sweet and Savory

2009-02-09T10:39:00.013-06:00

Seeing all the egg less cookies, drove to bake some cookies too. I came across this egg less cookie with less sugar and pecans. I had to give it a try...

Pecans has got so many nutritional values such as adding just a handful of pecans to your diet each day may help inhibit unwanted oxidation of blood lipids, thus helping prevent coronary heart disease. It also plays a role in lowering cholesterol, aids in weight loss and maintenance. The review cited studies indicating that nut consumption may increase metabolic rates and enhance satiety Nearly 60 percent of the fats in pecans are monounsaturated and another 30 percent are polyunsaturated, leaving very little saturated fat in pecans. In addition, pecans contain no trans fat. Pecans contain more than 19 vitamins and minerals – including vitamin A, vitamin E, folic acid, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, several B vitamins and zinc.

Ingredients:

Softened Butter – 1 cup Sugar – ½ - ¾ cup Vanilla Extract – 1tsp All Purpose flour – 2 cups Pecans (Finely chopped) – 1 cup Confectionery sugar Method:

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy.
Gradually add flour and then stir in pecans.
Shape rounded teaspoonful of dough into 2 ½ inch logs and shape into crescents.
Place one inch apart on ungreased baking sheets.

Bake at 325 deg for 20 – 25 minutes or until set and bottoms are lightly browned.

Let stand for 2-3 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
Dust with confectioner’s sugar before serving

Savory Pecan Cookies:

When I baked the sweet cookies, my husband started pestering me to make something savory to munch..So, in the evening, I made this cookie and added the nutrient pecans too to it. This recipe is something similar to the khara biscuits (Savory) you get in the bakery in India.

Ingredients:

Softened Butter – ¼ cup All Purpose flour – 1 cup Pecans (Finely chopped) – ¼ cup Onion (Finely chopped) – 1 medium Chilies (Chopped) – 5 – 6 Cumin / Jeera / - 2 tsp Chilli powder (optional) – 1/2 tsp (according to your spice) Salt Soda (optional) – 2 pinch Coriander leaves - 2 Tb spoon(finely chopped)

Method:

Fry chopped onions till light brown.
Mix all the above ingredients till it forms nice smooth dough.
If it is too dry, add a little water while mixing.
Shape rounded teaspoonful of dough into 2 ½ inch log and shape into crescents.
Place one inch apart on ungreased baking sheets.

Bake at 325 deg for 20 – 25 minutes or until brown in color.
Let it cool on a wire rack.

My Eggless Pecan Cookies - Sweet and Savory goes to Aqua Daze of "Served with Love" blog's event "Let's go Nuts: Walnuts or Pecans" with my choice of Pecans.

PS:

You can use also use walnuts to it.
You can increase the sugar quantity for the sweet cookies according to your taste buds.
If you cant make the crescent shape, you can make your own shape.
You can store both in an air tight container.
For the savory cookies, you can add chillies according to your taste. You can use either only chillies or chilli powder or both according to your spice.
You can adjust the butter to according to your taste.

Bruschetta

2009-02-06T12:13:00.006-06:00

Ingredients: Red seedless grapes – 1 cup Green seedless grapes – 1 cup Cinnamon – ¼ tsp Nutmeg – 1/8 tsp Dash of ground cloves Almond extract – 1/8 tsp (optional) Part – skim Ricotta cheese – 1 cup Candied ginger (minced) – 1 Tb spoon Walnuts (chopped) – 1 Tb spoon Baguette – 1 (cut into 16 slices) Fresh mint leaves for garnish Method:

Pulse grapes in a food processor 3- 4 times, just until chopped. Drain thoroughly.
Transfer grapes to a bowl and sprinkle with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and almond extract.
Stir to blend.
Place ricotta, ginger and walnuts in another bowl and stir to blend.
Toast bread slices.
Spread 1 Tb spoon of the ricotta mixture on each bread slices. Top with a spoonful of the grape mixture.
Garnish with mint or halved grapes, if desired. This makes 4- 6 servings.

PS:

Thin – slices biscotti, toasted mini bagels or English muffins can be substituted for the baguette.
If you like the flavour of cinnamon with cheese , then this is a perfect snack.
This can be served as breakfast or as a snack in the evening.
Original recipe is from Amy Muzyka - dietition/certified culinary professional.

Refreshing Vegetable Salad

2009-02-05T12:12:00.010-06:00

Ah! yet another warm day today. The temperature is around 70 degrees today and happy to have warm weather instead of the cold freezing weather. It has been a pretty warm all this week. So, for a change made this colourful and crisp medely of summer veggies, bursting with flavor. Between impromptu games of tag and catch, everyone can help lay out the refreshing salad. Enjoy!!

Ingredients: Zucchini – 2 medium (chopped) Asparagus – 10 Red bell pepper – 1 (chopped) Yellow bell pepper – 1(chopped) Orange bell pepper – 1 (chopped) Green bell pepper – 1 (chopped) Red onion – 1 medium (chopped to bite size pieces) Tomato – 1 big (chopped to small pieces) Corn – ½ cup Blue cheese – 2 Tb spoon (optional) Dressing: Red wine vinegar – 2 Tb spoon Olive oil – 1 Tb spoon Salt Pepper

Garlic -2 (finely grated) Cilantro – 2 Tb spoon Basil leaves – 1 Tb spoon

Method:

Heat a pan and add chopped zucchini and fry for few seconds on high heat.
Fry asparagus too and then cut them to one inch pieces.
Fry corn too in a similar manner.
Mix all the veggies in a bowl.
In a bowl, mix red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt, pepper, cilantro and basil leaves together.
Add the dressing to the veggie bowl.
Give a stir and serve at room temperature with a little cheese on top.

This simple salad on its way to SWC- Salad under 15 minutes at Cooking Station hosted by Lakshmi . PS: Another way of trying this salad:

Chop zucchini to very small pieces.
Add all chopped veggies to it and mix the dressing.
Keep it refrigerated for 1 -2 hours and serve chilled with cheese on top.

I have not added the green pepper and cheese as I dint have them. I don’t like the raw taste of zucchini, so I have fried them. You can add any vegetables you like. When you are frying the veggies you can add salt and pepper to them individually. Do not over fry the veggies and make them mushy and soft. Just fry for few seconds on high heat so that they are still crunchy.

Click - Red

2009-01-30T13:46:00.004-06:00

This is my entry for Click - Red hosted by Jai and Bee.

Seeing all the fruits in the house, thought of taking photos of them for Click - Red. After taking couple of photos, finally decided to go with this photo.

Beet Root - Corn Upma

2009-01-29T10:13:00.006-06:00

Upma is somewhat a life saver in my house. I make this for breakfast as well as for dinner sometimes. Last weekend we dint step out of the house as it was very cold and had not gone for grocery shopping. I was out of all the vegetables. When I opened my fridge I saw only beets left and thought will make chapati and beets curry. Then I heard my 3 year old calling me "mommy I want upittu". As soon as she saw beets in my hand, she forgot what she was saying and she wanted them to eat. I cut and gave them to her a piece and asked for more and she had half of one beet. Then it occurred to me why not do beetroot upma. Along with that I added her favourite corn too. She enjoyed eating the upma and she was like "Thank You Mommy". So sweet... This was our dinner..

Ingredients:

TheUpma Rava - 2 cup Onion – 1 small Beetroot – 1 medium (diced to small pieces) Corn – ¼ cup Chilies – 4 (split to halves) Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp Channa Dhal – ½ tsp Urad dhal – ½ tsp Curry Leaves Coriander leaves Oil – 2 Tb spoon Salt Water – 4 cups Method:

Fry rava with little oil until you get the aroma. Then keep aside.
Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds. When it splutters, add channa dhal and urad dhal.
When it gets little brown add chopped onions and chilies and fry till onions are golden brown.
Then add dices beetroot and corn and allow it to cook by adding a little salt.
Break the curry leaves with hands and add to it.
Cover and allow it to cook for few minutes.
Then add water and allow it to boil.
When the water starts boiling, add rava slowly. Keep stirring while adding rava.
Cover the lid and allow the rava to cook for few minutes on low heat.
Then add coriander leaves on top and stir and serve hot.

Lentil - Wild Rice Salad

2009-01-27T17:02:00.006-06:00

Every time I make rice (especially Basmati Rice) in a rice cooker, it sticks to the bottom and I have to scrape it out. So, due to all the scratches at the bottom, I bought a new rice cooker. I got a receipe book along with it.. This receipe caught my eye, as it said salad with rice and lentil ..Hmm..When I went through the ingredients..it looked simple and healthy too.. When I made and served it to my hubby, he din't believe that it is a salad.. It tasted Yumm..

Ingredients for Salad Wild Rice – 1 cup Brown Lentils – ½ cup Green Onions (chopped) – 3 Celery stalk (diced) – 1 Red bell Pepper (diced) – 1 Water – 4 cups Salt Dressing: Extra- Virgin Olive oil – 1/3 cup Red Wine Vinegar – 2 Tb spoon Dijon Mustard – 2 tsp Ground black pepper – ¼ tsp Fresh Italian parsley – 1 Tb spoon (I used Cilantro / coriander leaves) Fresh Lemon thyme (minced) – 2 tsp Sweet marjoram (minced) – 2tsp ( I have not used this) Method:

Place the wild rice, lentils and water in the rice cooker.
Cook for one hour.
Then add green onions, celery and red bell pepper.
Close the lid and continue cooking until rice is tender for about 15 minutes.
Remove the salad and place in a serving bowl. Cool to room temperature.
In a small bowl, whisk together oil, vinegar, mustard, black pepper and fresh herbs.
Drizzle the dressing over the rice and lentil salad and toss well.
Serve at room temperature or chill for up to 4 hours before serving.

I would like to send my Lentil - Wild Rice Salad to MLLA hosted by Srivalli. My Legume Love Affair was originally started by Susan of The Well Seasoned Cook.

PS: I have used Uncle Bens Wild rice. I did not use the seasoning that came along with it. Uncle Ben rice is a mixture of wild rice and long grain rice.

Fusion Lunch (Thai and Indian combo)

2009-01-25T20:16:00.009-06:00

Happy Republic Day to all of You

After a lovely warm week, we had a sudden temperature drop and a cold weekend. So, din't step out of the house on Saturday. On sunday we had planned to have a Republic Day potluck. So, on saturday I wanted to try Thai food as we had planned to stay at home. Had all time for trying this dish. We had a fusion lunch that day, Thai and Indian combination... Now a days my daughter is having crazy cravings at crazy times. Suddenly she got up and she wanted to eat sweet Pongal. When I had made it for Sankranthi, she had loved it..and I think she remembered it all of a sudden and asked for it...So, made Pongal for her along with Thai food.

I wanted to try a Thai dish without any coconut milk in it...(watching weight). Thanks to Google..can find anything.

Ingredients:

Extra-firm Tofu, cut into 1/2-inch cubes - 1 package (8 ounces) Soy sauce – 1Tb spoon Lime juice – 1/2 Tb spoon Yellow onion, chopped - 1 medium Red bell pepper, diced - 1 Green bell pepper, diced -1 Garlic, finely chopped - 1/2 teaspoon Flour - 1 Tb spoon Vegetable broth - 3 cups Nori flakes (or other crushed seaweed) - 1 teaspoon Crushed pineapple, with juice - 1/4 cup Vegan Thai red curry paste - 1-2 Tb spoons Zucchini, diced – 1 medium Mung bean or soy sprouts - 1 cup Method:

Marinate the tofu cubes in the soy sauce and lemon for at least half an hour.
Stir or shake often to cover all the pieces.
Heat a large, non-stick wok or sauce pan over medium-high heat, and add the onion, peppers, and garlic.
Cook, stirring, until onions are becoming tender for about 8 minutes.
Add the flour, stirring constantly, and cook, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan, for about 2 more minutes, until the flour begins to brown.
Continue to stir as you add the vegetable broth, nori flakes, crushed pineapple, and curry paste.
Turn down the heat to low and simmer until it's thickened, about 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, add the tofu and its marinade to a hot, non-stick skillet.
Cook, stirring gently, until all the liquid has evaporated.
Continue to cook without stirring until the tofu is browned on one side; then turn it over to brown on all sides. Add it to the curry mixture.

Return the skillet to the heat and sauté the diced zucchini until it is tender but still crisp.
Add it to the curry mixture.
Cook the curry for about 5 more minutes. Serve over rice, sprinkled with bean sprouts and topped, if you like, with chutney.

PS: I have used Thai Kitchen Red curry paste . Other brands contain shrimp paste in it. You can add any other veggies too along with this. I have used sea weed instead of nori flakes. Thai Red Curry goes to A.W.E.D Thai Cuisine hosted by DK .

Now coming to Pongal, it is a must sweet made during Makara Sankranthi. I have made this twice in a span of 10 days..:-)Trying to cut dowm the sweet consumption, but not able to... This sweet goes to my daughter on her request...

Ingredients: Moong Dhal - 1 cup Rice – 2 cups Dry coconut – ¼ cup Jaggery – 2 cups Elaichi / Cardamom – 2 Ghee – ¼ - ½ cup Milk – ½ cup Raisins – 1 Tb spoon Cashews – 1 Tb spoon Method:

Fry moong dhal with little ghee till golden brown.
Add water and boil for 10 minutes.
When it is half boiled, add rice to it. Add enough water for it to boil.
Keep adding ghee to it while it is cooking.
When the rice has cooked, add coconut elaichi powder and jaggery and stir well.
Keep adding ghee. Add milk to it and stir it all.
Then fry raisins and cashews in ghee and add to the pongal.
Serve hot with more ghee on top.

Sweet Pongal goes to Just For You hosted by Sindhi Rasoi.

Sweet Pongal also goes to “Harvest: The Festival of Rice”, hosted by Here I Cook and also to Festive Food hosted by Indian Khanna.

Dill - Capsicum Lemon Rice with Usli

2009-01-23T14:11:00.010-06:00

Back home in Bangalore, lemon rice is usually made for breakfast and also during festival days. Staying here, having heavy breakfasts is a big no-no especially at my place.. other than the weekends of course. Whenever I call home, my Dad always asks whether I cook anything at all for breakfasts:-) ..Usually I make rice items for lunch or for dinner... Hearing the same answers every time they have stopped asking about it :-).

When I called home yesterday, my mom had made lemon rice..So, today I made lemon rice with dill - capsicum and channa usli along with the rice...

Ingredients: For Lemon Rice

Rice – 2 cups Dill – 1 cup Capsicum – 1 big Onion – 1 small Channa Dhal – 1 tsp Urad dhal – 1 tsp Mustard seeds – ¼ tsp Ground nuts – 1 Tb spoon (optional) Turmeric – ¼ tsp Chilies – 5-7 Peas – ¼ cup Curry Leaves Coriander leaves Oil – 3 -4 Tb spoon Lemon Juice – 2 Tb spoon Salt

Method:

Cook rice and keep aside.
Wash dill and chop them finely.
Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and allow it to splutter.
Then add ground nuts, channa dhal, urad dhal and allow it to turns little brown.
Add onion, chilies and curry leaves and fry till onion turns golden brown.
Add dill and fry for 2 minutes. Then add capsicum ( chop them to cubes) and peas to it.
Sprinkle salt on it, stir and allow them to cook until soft.
Then add turmeric powder and stir it well.
Mix the gojju with rice, add lemon juice and coriander leaves on top and mix it all together.
Serve hot.

Dill - Capsicum Lemon Rice goes to FIC - Yellow hosted by Harini.

To Make Channa Usli:

Usually in my place they make usli either with brown, or Kabul channa. I thought if combining both and make Usli..

Ingredients: Brown Channa - 1/2 cup Garbonzo / Kabul Channa - 1/2 cup Onion - 1 Chillis - 4 -5 Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp Curry leaves Coriander Leaves Lemon Juice - 1 Tb spoon Coconut - 2 Tb spoon (optional) Oil - 1 Tb spoon Salt Method:

Soak both Channa's in water overnight.
Pressure cook the channa for 2 whistles.
Strain the channa and keep aside.
Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds.
After it splutters, add onions and chillis, fry till golden brown.
Then add boiled channa to it, add salt and mix well.
Then combine coriander leaves, coconut and lemon juice to it.

Channa Usli goes to MLLA Hosted by Srivalli and also to JFI - ChickPeas hosted by MS. My Legume Love Affair was originally started by Susan of The Well Seasoned Cook.

PS:

I have not added the coconut to it.
You can add salt to the channa while pressure cooking them.
I boiled the channa directly on the stove and added little salt during the process.

Lemon - Coconut Burfi

2009-01-22T09:45:00.011-06:00

This was a long awaiting sweet to make. I had this recipe written down a while ago and at last today the time came to try it out.. There is one more reason to make this sweet.. I was passed on a Lemonade Award by LG from Taste of Mysore.. Thank You Lakshmi for passing me this award. I am very humbled and exited by the award as it is my first award. Thought it would be a perfect sweet made with lemon..:-) It turned out yummy, both my husband and my daughter loved it.

I would like to pass this award to Vanamala, Maya and Ujwal. Ingredients: For the Crust: All-purpose flour - 1 cup Granulated Sugar - 1/4 cup Salt - 1/4 tsp Butter Chilled -6 Tb spoon Coconut Flakes - 3/4 cup (toasted) For the Filling: Granulated Sugar - 3/4 cup Eggs - 2 Fresh Lemon Juice - 3 Tb spoon Lemon zest - 1 Tb spoon Baking Powder - 1/2 tsp Salt - pinch Confectioner sugar for dusting Method: To make the crust:

In a food processor, combine flour, sugar, and salt. Process briefly until well mixed.
Add the butter and coconut and process until the mixture resembles a fine Meal.
Transfer to the prepared pan and press into the bottom to form a crust.
Bake until light brown around the edges, about 25 min.

For the filling:

Combine the sugar, eggs, lemon juice and zest, baking powder and salt in a blender or in a food processor.
Process until smooth.
When the crust is ready, pout the filling into the hot crust.
Continue to bake until the filling begins to brown around the edges and is just springy to touch, about 30 minutes.
Let it cool in the pan on a wire rack.
Cut into squares, dust the confectioners evenly.
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 5 days.

This Lemon - Coconut Burfi is off to FIC - Yellow hosted by Harini's ToungueTicklers.

Simple Chicken Gravy

2009-01-19T14:34:00.005-06:00

This is something I make when I have to it very quick and in short amount of time. Most of the time I do pooris for this gravy as everybody likes it with this. This is the recipe.. Ingredients: Chicken – 1 pound Onion - 1 big Tomato – 2 big Ginger paste – 1 Tb spoon Garlic paste – 1 Tb spoon Yogurt – ¼ cup Chili Powder - 1 Tb spoon Coriander Powder – 1 tsp Garam masala powder - 1/2 tsp Chicken Masala Powder – 1 tsp Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp Dry methi leaves – 1 Tb spoon Cinnamon stick – ½ inch Coriander leaves – 2 Tb spoon

Oil – 2 Tb spoon Salt Method:

In a hot pan, add oil and fry the onions until golden brown.
Chop the tomatoes into small pieces and fry them with onions till they become soft.
Add the ginger and garlic paste to it and fry till oil leaves.
Add the dry methi leaves, and all the powders to it and fry for a minute.
Then add the chicken and add salt to it and mix everything together and let it cook of low flame for 5 minutes.
Then add yogurt to it and allow it to cook till the chicken is tender.
Sprinkle coriander leaves on top and serve it with chapatti or poori or rice.

Happy Sankranti / Pongal

2009-01-14T12:00:00.011-06:00

Wish you all a very Happy Makar Sankranti / Pongal

Here is the Till mixture from our house to yours.

In Karnataka, the festival is called 'Sankranti'. Special prayers are offered in the temples and houses. After the pujas, white sesame (ellu) mixed with pieces of jaggery, peanuts, dry coconut and sugar blocks (shakkare achchu) are exchanged. The significance of this exchange is that sweetness should prevail in all the dealings.

All cows and bullocks are bathed, their horns polished and painted in bright colors, and garlands of flowers placed around their necks. The Pongal that has been offered to the Gods is then given to cattle and birds to eat. In the evening, the cattle are led out in procession to the beat of drums and music. In the night a bonfire is lit and the animals are made to jump over the fire. Nowadays all these are done in Villages. When we were kids, they used to do this in Malleshwaram. People used to gather to watch this.

At Gavi Gangadhareshwara (Siva) temple in Bangalore's Gavipuram, a rare phenomenon is witnessed in the evening. The Sun's rays pass through the horns of the Nandi briefly to fall on the Lingam in the sanctum. It is an architectural marvel. The temple will be crowded during this time.

We used to enjoy doing every bit of the preparation for this festival. My mom, my sister and myself used to sit and do the sakkare achchu together but for the ellu preparation, my mom used to do it alone as it was only cutting the jaggery and coconut. In the evening we used to go to distribute(ellu beerodu) to all the houses in our colony. I am really grateful to my mom for teaching us all these cultures and traditions.. I would like to teach all these to my daughter. So, hoping she will learn all these things and have fun..

I used to do only the till mixture as I did not have the mould for the achchu. When I went to India, I got one mould from my mom. So, have prepared the till (ellu) mixture and also sakkare achchu (sugar blocks) .

Till Mixture:

ಎಳ್ಳು / Till - 1/2 cup

ಬೆಲ್ಲ / Jaggery - 2 cups

ಒಣಕೊಬ್ಬರಿ / Dry coconut - 1 cup

ಕಡಲೆಕಾಯಿ ಬೀಜ / Ground nut- 1 cup

ಕಡಲೆ ಪಪ್ಪು /Dhalia - 3/4 cup

Method:

Dry jaggery and coconut in sun so that it will be easier to cut them later.
When it has dried, cut them to small pieces.
Grate the skin of the coconut and then cut them to small pieces.
Fry ground nuts on medium heat till brown.
Then remove the skin and split them to half.
Keep dhalia also in sun till they become crisp.
Fry Till also till they are brown.
Then mix all of them together.

In the evening, myself and my daughter will go to friends house to distribute the till mixture(ellu beerodu). She is exited about it...So, once again wish you all Happy Sankranti and enjoy the till mixture..

I would like to send this to Festive Food hosted by Indian Khanna Thank you Preethi for hosting the event.

Egg Puffs

2009-01-10T14:00:00.014-06:00

Puffs is one of the favourite evening snack for every body. I remember, whenever we felt like eating one, our dad used to bring us hot puffs from a local bakery. I miss that especially during winter season.. So, whenever we crave for them I make veggie puffs, using different vegetables all the time. My hubby dear was having a flash back of old days... He was remembering how he and his friend, on their pay day, after finishing work, both used to have hot egg puffs near Domlur bus stand and then part their ways to their homes. This was the reason for making the egg puffs. I have included methi leaves and green pepper to it. It came out wonderful and hubby loved it told me that it tasted like the one he used to eat. Nothing is better than hot puffs for winter..

Egg Puffs are off to the Bookmarked Recipe Event hosted by Ruth. This tempting snack is also off to Winter Treat Event hosted by Trupti.

Ingredients: Puff Pastry Eggs - 2 Onions - 1 Tomato - 1 Ginger Paste - 1/2 tsp Garlic Paste - 1/2 tsp Methi Leaves - 1/4 cup (Optional) Green Bell Pepper - 1 Chili Powder - 1/2 tsp Coriander Powder - 1/4 tsp Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp Salt Oil - 1 Tb spoon Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degree.
Boil eggs, cut them into halves and keep aside.
Heat oil in a non stick pan, add onions and fry till golden brown.
Then add methi leaves, fry for a min and then add tomatoes pieces.
Add ginger and garlic paste and fry till oil leaves.
Then add all powders to it and at last add green pepper, salt and fry till soft.
Add egg halves into the masala and cover the eggs with it so that the eggs will soak the masala.
Allow the masala to cool.
Take one pastry sheet and cut them into 4 equal parts.
Take one part of pastry sheet, put one spoon of the masala at the bottom and then place one half of the egg along with some masala on top.
Then apply water on four sides of the pastry sheet so that it will hold together.
Fold all four corners together as shown below.

Repeat the procedures for the other halves of the eggs.
Bake them in the oven for 20 minutes or till golden brown.

Serve hot along with a cup of hot tea.

PS: Methi and green pepper is optional for this egg puff. If you are doing a veggi puff, you can follow the same procedure, just add vegetables of your choice.

Masala Sandwich

2009-01-07T09:52:00.010-06:00

After two long weeks of vacation, our daughter went to school this week. When she is at home, the house will be full of life and chaotic. She wont stop talking, pulling, jumping, running around and making a mess of the house. When she went to school, the house was so silent and it felt like I was all alone in the whole world..Sometimes I feel it is good as I can get my work done but sometimes I get bored.

So, when she went to school on first day, I was not feeling like cooking, but you can't tell that to the stomach right.. My husband teases me saying that it is just a reason for not cooking:-).

I wanted to make something quick as it was already lunch time and saw all the veggies. Added soy for proteins.. My husband liked it a lot as it was a simple, light and healthy lunch..

Ingredients:

Onion -1 Tomato – 1

Zuchini – 1

Green pepper – 1 Red Pepper – 1

Turnip - 1 Soy chunks – ½ cup Ginger paste – ½ tsp Garlic Paste – ½ tsp Chili powder – ½ tsp Garam masala powder – ½ tsp Turmeric – ¼ tsp Oil – 1 Tb spoon Fresh Basil Leaves – 1 Tb spoon Salt

Method:

In a pan, add oil and fry onions till golden brown.
Add tomatoes and ginger and garlic paste and fry till they soften.
Then add chili powder, garam masala and turmeric powder and fry till oil leaves on top.
Add all the veggies and salt and cook on medium heat until all veggies are soft (Do not add water).
Take the hot dog bun and stuff the veggies and sprinkle fresh basil on top.
Serve with little salad and some hot peppers.

PS: For the Soy, I first soaked them for few minutes till they are soft, then squeezed all the water out of it and added them directly to the veggies and cooked on low flame. You can use the masala as a side dish for chapati or rice. You can use any veggies that you have. If you are a non-veg lover, you can add chicken or fish also to it.

7 Cup Sweet / Chick Pea Burfi

2009-01-06T10:34:00.009-06:00

Already a week has gone by in New Year.. It feels like yesterday with all the turmoils happening around the world . Time flies by very fast and we will never know..

We had potluck for New Year, all of us enjoyed by eating and playing all night.. Kids also enjoyed each others company. Overall we had a great time..Hope everybody had a great New Year celebration with what ever you did...Wish You All once again a very Happy New Year...

So, thought to start blogging this year with a sweet. To make this sweet all you need is 7 cups of different ingredients. It is easy and very tasty too.. I have used nuts and raisins as one ingredient. You can make it plain without the nuts or you can add anything else of your choice.

Whenever I make this sweet, my husband always tells it tastes like Mysore Pak and won't stop eating..:-). It is a big hit in my house...

Ingredients:

ಕಡಲೆ ಹಿಟ್ಟು / Besan / Gram flour - 1 cup ಹಾಲು / Milk - 1 cup ತುಪ್ಪ / Ghee - 1 cup ಒಣಗಿದ ಕೊಬ್ಬರಿ / Dry coconut - 1 cup ಸಕ್ಕರೆ / Sugar - 2 - 3 cups Raisins/Cashew/Almonds - 1 cup (all combined)

Method:

Take a heavy bottomed non stick pan and add all the above ingredients.
Keep stirring all together on medium heat.

Everything will come together and will start leaving the pan.
Add the batter to a greased pan and allow it to cool for few min.
Then cut them to required shape, before they dry completely.

I am sending this entry to JFI ChickPea event hosted by MS. Thank You for hosting the event.

PS: You can use the sugar quantity according to your taste. You can use any dry fruits you like eg. tutti fruity, cranberry, or dry pineapple. I like the crunchiness of the nuts, so I use nuts.

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T17:42:00.006-06:00

Wishing you all a very "HAPPY NEW YEAR"

Dawning of a New Year...new hopes, new joys, new beginnings ..

Here's wishing each new day brings for you...

Happiness, Prosperity and Continued Success..

Kallepuri Avalakki / Puffed Rice Poha

2008-12-29T18:46:00.007-06:00

This is something you can eat as breakfast or as a snack in the evening. Usually in Bangalore, most of them make this as a snack without the veggies. I just added the veggies and made it as a breakfast.

Ingredients: Puffed rice - 6 cups Onion - 1 Potato - 1 small Chillies - 5 Curry Leaves Coriander Leaves - 2 Tb spoon Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp Ground nuts - 2 Tb spoon Channa Dhal - 1/2 tsp Urad dhal - 1/2 tsp Peas - 2 Tb spoon Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp Salt Oil - 2 Tb spoon

Method:

Soak the puffed rice in water for 1 minute.
Press the puffed rice and remove all the water and keep it aside.
In a pan, add oil and then mustard seeds.
When the mustard splutters, add ground nuts, channa dhal and Urad dhal.
After it is golden brown, add onions, chillies and curry leaves. Fry till the onion is golden brown.
Then add the veggies, add salt and turmeric powder and fry till they are soft.
Then add the puffed rice and mix well . Sprinkle coriander leaves on top.
Serve hot with some lemon juice on top.

Avocado Akki Rotti / Rice Flour Roti

2008-12-18T10:20:00.017-06:00

This is one of the favourite breakfast for Bangaloreans. Surprisingly this is not the common menu item in most of the restaurants I have a favourite place in Bangalore called "AraliMane" in Malleshwaram. They make very nice big rotti along with different chutneys.

You can prepare this rotti by adding any vegetables or greens or just plain. This is the season for Avarekayi in Bangalore. Averekalu rotti is famous during this season.

As I had an avocado, thought of adding and trying it out. I did not find any difference in taste. But the rotti was very buttery and soft. So enjoy....

Ingredients:

ಅಕ್ಕಿ ಹಿಟ್ಟು / Rice flour - 2 cups ಅವಕಾದೋ / Avocado -1 ಈರುಳ್ಳಿ / Onion - 1 ಶುಂಠಿ / Ginger - 1 tsp ಜೀರಿಗೆ / Jeera - 1 tsp ಹಸಿಮೆಣಸಿನಕಾಯಿ / Chillies - 5 ಈರುಳ್ಳಿ ಹೂವ್ವ್ / Spring Onion - 1 Packet ಕೊತ್ತಂಬರಿ ಸೊಪ್ಪು/ Coriander leaves - 1/4 cup ಕರಿಬೇವಿನ ಸೊಪ್ಪು / Curry Leaves ಉಪ್ಪು / Salt Method:

Mix all the above ingredients together in a large bowl.
Add little warm water to the mixture and mix until the consistency of a dough.
On a plastic paper apply little oil, then take a ball size of the dough, spread it evenly with hand till it is thin and the size of a chapati.
Keep dipping your hands in water while spreading to avoid any sticking.
Fry on a hot tava on both side until brown.

Serve hot with ghee or coconut chutney or any gravy of your choice or you can serve it by itself.

Bendekayi Fry / Okra Fry

2008-12-16T17:28:00.017-06:00

Today is one of those days, when I am feeling very lazy to spend too much time in kitchen making tedious curries or side dishes. Seeing the okra, I wanted to make something very simple without any masala, just wanted to put the ready powders which are available.

So, I came up with this and tried it out.. It really gave the crunch and also the spice for this cold weather. You can just eat it as a snack or as a side dish..

Ingredients:

ಬೆಂಡೆಕಾಯಿ /Bindi / Okra - 1 Lb(25- 30 Pieces)

ಕಾರದ ಪುಡಿ / Chili Powder - 1 Tb spoon

ಧನಿಯ ಪುಡಿ / Coriander Powder - 1.5 tsp

ಜೀರಿಗೆ ಪುಡಿ /Jeera Powder - 1 tsp

ಅರಿಶಿನ ಪುಡಿ /Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp

ಉಪ್ಪು / Salt - 1 tsp

ಎಣ್ಣೆ / Oil - 1 Tb spoon

Method:

Cut Bindi and mix all the above powders along with salt as shown below.
Cover it and set it aside for half an hour.

In a non stick pan, add oil, then add bindi and fry till it is done.
Serve hot with any main dish.

PS: If you want it crunchy, just fry without adding water. If you want it soft, you can add little water.

Madhur Vada

2008-12-09T15:17:00.011-06:00

In Karnataka, there is a small town by name "Madhur" between Bangalore and Mysore. This is the place where these vadas are very famous and you will see them being sold in all restaurants, railway stations and bus stops. If you are travelling via Madhur, you cannot resist the smell, crispiness, taste and the size of this vada. So, it has got its name too as Madhur Vada.

I make these very often, as everybody loves this and is also very easy to make if you have all the ingredients.

I would also like to post this as my savoury for the Event for the month hosted by Srilekha.

This is the recipe..

Ingredients: ಅಕ್ಕಿ ಹಿಟ್ಟು / Rice Flour - 1 cup ಮೈದಾ ಹಿಟ್ಟು / Maida Flour - 1/2 cup ಚಿರೋಟಿ ರವೆ / Fine sooji - 1/2 cup ಈರುಳ್ಳಿ / Onions - 2 ಕೊತ್ತಂಬರಿ ಸೊಪ್ಪು / Coriander Leaves - 1 cup ಕರಿಬೇವಿನ ಸೊಪ್ಪು /Curry Leaves - 1/4 cup ಎಳ್ಳು / Till - 2 Tb spoons(Optional) ಜೀರಿಗೆ /Jeera / Cumin - 2 Tb spoons ಎಣ್ಣೆ / Oil ಉಪ್ಪು/ Salt Method:

Mix all the above ingredients except oil.
Heat half cup oil, then add the hot oil to the above mixture and mix well.
Add water accordingly till you get the consistency of a chapati dough.
Cover it and leave it for 1 hour.
Take a lemon sized dough and press it with hand (or on cover) to the required size and deep fry them till brown.
Drain it on paper towel.
Serve it with coconut chutney or just like that.

PS: You can also add grated ginger too. It can be kept for 2-3 days.

Tiramisu

2008-11-30T20:04:00.012-06:00

Last week was my husband's birthday, so wanted to make something different at home other than the usual stuff. Then thought of making 'Tiramisu' which he loves... so I surprised him with it & he loved it.

When I googled for the recipe, there were many ways of making this dessert. I found this recipe which was very easy & quick to make.

'Tiramisu' means 'Pick-me-up' in Italian. It is a cool, very light refreshing Italian dessert that once tasted, leaves an indelible impression on you. With all different flavours , textures & the lightness you can really say "Heaven in your mouth". So give it a try...

Ingredients:

Mascarpone cheese or cream cheese, softened - 1 package (8 ounces) Powdered sugar - 1/2 cup Light rum - 2 Tb spoon or Rum extract - 1/2 tea spoon Whipping (heavy) cream - 1 cup Ladyfingers- 3 packages (3o pieces) Cold prepared espresso or strong coffee -1/2 cup Baking cocoa - 2 teaspoons

Method:

Beat mascarpone cheese /cream cheese and powdered sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Beat in rum on low speed, set aside.
Beat whipping cream in chilled small bowl on high speed until stiff peaks form. Fold into cream cheese mixture.
Arrange half of the ladyfingers, on bottom of ungreased square pan, 8x8x2 inches.
Drizzle 1/4 cup of the espresso over ladyfingers. Spread half of the cream cheese mixture over ladyfingers.
Arrange remaining ladyfingers on cream cheese mixture.
Drizzle the remaining 1/4 cup espresso on the lady fingers.
Spread the remaining cream cheese mixture on top of the ladyfingers.
Sift or sprinkle cocoa over top.
Cover and refrigerate about 4 hours or until filling is firm.

PS: You can use Rum or brandy or coffee liquor or just rum extract. You can make as many layers as you wish.

Soppina Saru / Greens Curry

2008-11-04T13:28:00.013-06:00

In Kannada "Soppu" means greens. You can use any greens which is available .. This is one of the famous & favourite curry made in our Gowda caste. It is mostly famous along with Ragi ball.

My mom makes this almost once a week with different greens every time. This is very nutritious & also healthy which is a good combination. As we don't get so many varieties of greens, I try to make this with Palak very often.. I am not sure why this was one of hated saru while growing up. These days it makes its appearance very frequently at my home :-) . The recipe is as follows..

Ingredients:

ಪಾಲಕ್ ಸೊಪ್ಪು / Palak leaves – 2 bunches ತೊಗರಿ ಬೇಳೆ / Thoor dhal – ¼ cup ಈರುಳ್ಳಿ / Onions - 2medium ಟೊಮೇಟೊ / Tomato - 2 ಬೆಳ್ಳುಳ್ಳಿ / Garlic – 1 whole ಹಸಿ ಮೆಣಸಿನಕಾಯಿ / Chilies - 6-7 ಜೀರಿಗೆ /Jeera/cumin - 1tsp ತೆಂಗಿನಕಾಯಿ ತುರಿ / Coconut- 1/4 cup ಸಾಸಿವೆ / Mustard seeds- ¼ tsp ಕರಿಬೇವು /Curry leaves ತುಪ್ಪ / Ghee/Oil – ½ tsp ಉಪ್ಪು / Salt Method:

In a pressure cooker, add the thoor dhal, whole onions(if too big then cut it to half ), whole tomatoes, whole garlic, chillies & palak.
On top of palak put the jeera and pressure cook for one whistle.
After the cooker has cooled down, remove the boiled palak, jeera, onions, tomatoes, garlic and chillies.
Grind the above along with coconut.
Then add the paste to the boiled thoor dhal water. Add water according to your consistency.
Add salt and allow it to boil for few minutes.
Heat ghee/oil in a small pan, add mustard seeds & curry leaves.
Add this to the curry and serve it with hot rice or Ragi ball.

PS: This is the full meals of our Gowda family. Personally, bajji's or pakodas will be very nice along with this gravy..

ಅವಲಕ್ಕಿ / Avalakki / Poha

2008-10-14T10:38:00.014-05:00

This is one of my favourite breakfast menu with veggies and is also easy to make too :-)

Ingredients: ಅವಲಕ್ಕಿ / Poha - 2 cups(thick)

ಈರುಳ್ಳಿ /Onion - 1 medium

ಹಸಿಮೆಣಸಿನಕಾಯಿ / Green chillies - 6

ಆಲೂಗಡ್ಡೆ / Aloo - 1 small(cut to small pieces)

ಕ್ಯಾರೆಟ್ / Carrot - 1 (grated)

ಬಟಾಣಿ /Peas - 2 Tb spoon

ಕಡಲೆ ಬೇಳೆ / Channa dhal - 1 tsp

ಉದ್ದಿನ ಬೇಳೆ / Urad dhal - 1 tsp

ಸಾಸಿವೆ / Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp

ಕರಿಬೇವು / Curry Leaves

ಕೊತಂಬರಿ ಸೊಪ್ಪು / Coriander Leaves

ನಿಂಬೆ ಹಣ್ಣು ರಸ / Lemon Juice - 1 Tb spoon

ತೆಂಗಿನಕಾಯಿ / Coconut - 2 Tb spoon (optional)

ಎಣ್ಣೆ /Oil - 2 Tb spoon

Method:

Wash poha and drain water. Keep it aside.
Heat oil and add mustard. When they start popping, ground nuts, channa dhal, urad dhal . Fry for sometime till light brown.
Add onion & chillies & fry till they turn golden brown.
Now add potato pieces , carrots & peas. Add little salt, cover and cook till potatoes become soft.
Roughly break the curry leaves with hands and add to it along with turmeric powder.
Now add poha. Mix well. Fry for 1-2 mins on a medium flame.
Add coconut and coriander leaves. Mix well and remove from flame.
Serve with lemon or squeeze lemon juice before serving.

PS: You can use any veggies you like. It all tastes good.

ಮಸಾಲ ಉಪಿಟ್ಟು/ Masala Upma

2008-09-13T15:44:00.036-05:00

I wanted to make something very fast & which is easy and also healthy. So thought about this & tried with coarsely broken wheat. . Ingredients: ಗೋಧಿ ರವೆ / Broken wheat - 2 cups ಈರುಳ್ಳಿ / Onions - 1/2 small ಟೊಮೇಟೊ / Tomato - 1 medium ಶುಂಠಿ ಪೇಸ್ಟ್ /Ginger Paste - 1/2 tsp ಬೆಲ್ಲುಲಿ ಪೇಸ್ಟ್ /Garlic Paste- 1/2 tsp ಉಳ್ಲಿಕಾಯಿ / Beans -1/4 cup ಕ್ಯಾರೆಟ್ /Carrot - 1/4 cup

ದೊನ್ನ್ಮೆನಸಿನಕಾಯಿ / Green Bell pepper -1/4 cup ಬಟಾಣಿ / Peas -1/4 cup ಉದ್ದಿನ ಬೇಳೆ /Urad dhal - 1 tsp ಕಡಲೆ ಬೇಳೆ / Channa dhal - 1 tsp ಕಾರದ ಪುಡಿ / Chili powder - 1tsp ಸಾಸಿವೆ /Mustard seeds - 1/4 tsp ಧನಿಯ ಪುಡಿ / Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp ಅರಿಶಿನ / Turmeric powder -1/4 tsp ಕೊತ್ತಂಬರಿ ಸೊಪ್ಪು /Coriander leaves - 1/4 cup ಕರಿಬೇವು / Curry leaves ಗೋಡಂಬಿ /Cashews - 1 Tb spoon (optional) ತುಪ್ಪ / Ghee - 1 Tb spoon (optional) ಉಪ್ಪು/ Salt ಎಣ್ಣೆ / Oil - 2 Tb spoon ನಿಂಬೆ ಹಣ್ಣು ರಸ / Lemon Juice - 1 tsp Method:

Fry the coarse wheat till golden brown by adding a little oil to it.
Then put the remaining oil in the pan and put mustard seeds, channa dhal & urad dhal and curry leaves.
When they turn to light brown, add the onions and fry them till golden brown.
Add tomato, ginger & garlic paste and fry for a minute.
Then add all the powders and fry till oil leaves on top.
Then add the all the veggies, add little salt & allow them to soften a bit by closing the lid.
After the veggies are boiled, add 4-5 cups of water.
When the water starts boiling add the rava and cover it for few minutes till the wheat is cooked.
Then add coriander leaves & lemon juice.
Fry the cashew in ghee & add it to the upma.
Serve hot.

ಕಡಬು / Kadabu

2008-09-13T15:21:00.025-05:00

Though I am not a sweet person, this sweet is my favourite. I made this sweet on the Ganesha Chathurthi day. This is entirely different from modak which usually many people make. This usually takes little time to make but is really worth every second. This can be eaten either by itself or along with plain payasam & ghee.

As both me & my husband likes to eat it like that , I did not prepare payasam.

The inside filling is called Gun powder. I have no idea why they call that, may be it looks like that:-). It taste yummy though..

First to make Gun Powder:

Ingredients:

ಕಲ್ಲೇ ಪಪ್ಪು / Kalle Pappu /- 1 cup

ಬೆಲ್ಲ / Jaggery - 1 cup

ಅಕ್ಕಿ ಅಕ್ಕಿ ಅಕ್ಕಿ /Till - 1Tb spoon

gasagase /ಉಪ್ಪು ಉಪ್ಪು ಸಾಲ್ಟ್

Method:

Grind dhaliya along with elaichi to a fine powder.
Fry Till & poppy seeds seperately till golden brown & then grind to fine powder.
Mix the grind ingredients along with dry coconut & jaggery.
Mix until there is no lumps of jaggery.

For the outer covering:

Ingredients:

ಅಕ್ಕಿ ಹಿಟ್ಟು /Rice flour - 1 cup

ಉಪ್ಪು /Salt - 1/2 tsp

ನೀರು /Water - 1 cup

ತುಪ್ಪ / Ghee - 1/2 cup

Kadabu mould

Method:

In a pan allow water to boil, then add little salt & rice flour.
Cover the lid and let it boil for 5-10 minutes on low flame.
Mix nicely with a wooden spatula until they all come together.
Again cover for few minutes until the rice flour is fully cooked.
Sprinkle the wooden cutting board with little water.
Remove the rice flour ball & put it on the wooden board.
Then by dipping your hands in water nicely kneed the ball by removing any lumps available.
Make a smooth ball after kneeding the rice ball.

Now the filling part:

Take a hand full of the rice ball.
Apply little ghee on a board/counter. Place the rice ball & make rounds of poori shape.
Apply ghee on the Kadabu mould too & place the small rice poori & fill it with a spoon full of Gun Powder.
Close the mould & press it little bit & remove the extra rice dough that comes out of the mould.
Open the mould & remove the kadabu.
Keep applying ghee to the mould, roller & the board so that the rice dough does not stick.
Yummy Kadabu is ready.

PS: You can steam all the kadabu's in a pressure cooker. But if you have cooked the rice flour properly then there is no need of steaming.

After few hours of making the Kadabu, the gun powder inside becomes like paste. It tastes very nice.Sorry, forgot to take pictures of the Gun Powder. You can preserve the Gun powder and can prepare when ever you want or you can just eat it by itself :-). It is very tempting to eat it like that.

Happy Gowri & Ganesh Chathurthi

2008-09-07T21:38:00.026-05:00

Vakratunda Mahaakaaya,

Suuryakoti Samaprabha..

Nirvighnam Kurume Deva,

Shubha Kaaryeshhu Sarvadaa.

Wish You all a very happy Gowri & Ganesha Chathurthi.

As you celebrate Ganesh Chathurthi, may Lord Ganesha shower his choicest blessings on you & your family.

Ganesha Chaturthi or Ganesha Festival is a day on which Lord Ganesha, the son of Shiva and Parvati, resurrected to life on earth with the head of elephant. It is celebrated as it is the birthday of Lord Ganesha.. It is also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi or Vinayaka Chavithi in Sanskrit, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu, Chavath in Konkani. Typically, the day falls sometime between August and September . The festival lasts for 10 days, ending on Ananta Chaturdashi.

This festival are widely popular, with local communities (mandalas) vying with each other to put up the biggest statue & the best pandal. The festival is also the time for cultural activities like songs, dramas and orchestra.

We just celebrate the festival for two days. The first day is Gowri pooja & the next day is the Ganesha Chathurthi. We dont have the custom of keeping the idol, we just make sweets on both days & do pooja.

The sweet below is called Sajjige. Mom makes this very often as everyone likes it a lot. It is similar to Kesari bath. I thought of making this sweet on the Gowri festival day as it is very easy & fast to make.

Ingredients:

ಸಣ್ಣ ರವೆ / Fine Rava-1 cup

ಬೆಲ್ಲ / Jaggery - 1 cup

ತುಪ್ಪ/Ghee- 1/4 cup

ಏಲಕ್ಕಿ / Cardamom - 2

ದ್ರಾಕ್ಷಿ / Raisins - 1Tb spoon

ಗೋಡಂಬಿ / Cashews - 1 Tb spoon

ಹಾಲು / Milk- 1 cup

ನೀರು / Water - 1 cup

Method:

Fry rava with little ghee until golden brown.
In a non stick pan add milk & water & allow it to boil.
Then add jaggery & cardamom powder.
After the jaggery has melted, add the rava & add the ghee & give it a stir.
Close the lid & allow it boil on low heat.
Fry raisins & cashews in ghee & add to the above.
More ghee you add, the more it tastes good.

Thondekayi Palya / Thindoora Sabzi

2008-09-06T21:37:00.022-05:00

This is one of my favourite side dish. It is healthy as it has got chick peas and is also easy to prepare. This is how it is done:

Ingredients: ಕಡಲೆ ಕಾಳು / Kabul Channa - 1/4 cup

ತೊಂಡೆಕಾಯಿ / Thindora - 1 cup

ಸಾಂಬಾರ್ ಪುಡಿ /Sambar Powder - 1 tsp

ಉದ್ದಿನ ಬೆಳೆ / Urad dhal - 1tsp(optional)

Coriander leaves - 1 Tb spoon

ಉಪ್ಪು / Salt

Oil - 1 tsp

Method:

Soak kabul Channa for overnight.
Pressure cook them for one whistle with little salt.
In a heavy pan, add oil, then add urad dhal.
When the urad dhal is golden brown add the thindoora & fry little.
Then add the channa, sambar powder & salt together.
Mix all together, close the lid of the pan & allow it to boil on low heat.
Give occasional stirs to it until cooked.
At last sprinkle the chopped coriander leaves on top. Serve with hot chapathi or with rice & sambar.

ಒಳಿಗೆ / Olige / Puran Poli

2008-09-02T23:10:00.026-05:00

Olige, also known as Obattu, is the sweet we make for Varamahalaksmi festival. This is the main item for this festival. It is a very long & time consuming procedure but it is worth the effort. My husband loves all the sweets but this is one sweet he likes a lot. All of his relatives remember him whenever they make this sweet. Our daughter too is following his footsteps :-). So I try to prepare once in a while.

Ingredients:

ತೊಗರಿ ಬೆಳೆ /Thoor Dhal - 2 cups

ಕಡಲೆ ಬೆಳೆ /Channa Dhal -1/4 cup

ಬೆಲ್ಲ / Jaggery - 2 cups

ತೆಂಗಿನಕಾಯಿ ತುರಿ/ Fresh grated coconut - 1/4 cup

ಏಲಕ್ಕಿ / Elichi / Cardamom - 2

ಮೈದಾ /Maida /All purpose flour - 2 cups

ಚಿರೋಟಿ ರವೆ / Fine sooji - 1/2 cup

ಅರಿಶಿನ / Turmeric - 1/2 tsp

ಎಣ್ಣೆ / Oil - 1/2 cup

Method:

First for the outer covering:

It is called Kanaka in Kannada.

Mix the all purpose flour & fine sooji together.
Add little salt & turmeric powder & mix with water till you form a dough.
Then add oil & start kneading nicely. As you knead it will soak up all the oil. You can add more oil accordingly.
Cover it with a cloth or plate & keep it aside for minimum of 2 hours.

For the inner filling:

This is called Hoorana in Kannada

Keep both thoor dhal and channa dhal together for boiling.
After it has fully boiled drain the water to another container & keep aside.
In a heavy pan, add jaggery & allow it to melt.
When the jaggery has melted, add the dhals & boil altogether.
Then add the grated coconut & elaichi powder to it.
After the consistency has become thick you can off the stove.
Then grind all to smooth mixture.
Take a ball of dough and spread with hand with little oil to your hands.
Keep a ball of the above mixture and cover with the dough and seal the ends.
Apply oil to a plastic paper, keep the ready ball on it and roll it like chapati (The plastic and oil prevents it from sticking).
Fry on hot tava till it gets golden brown color.
Serve hot/cold with ghee.
You can also mix this in warm milk & eat. It tastes delicious.
PS : This can be preserved for ten days outside or in fridge.

Varamahalakshmi Festival

2008-09-02T17:52:00.023-05:00

I wanted to start my blog on an auspicious day, so I decided to do so on the Varamahalakshmi Festival day.

In Bangalore this is one of the biggest festivals and is the beginning of festival season. This festival brings back lots of memories. The festive atmosphere starts almost a week in advance. You can see the markets filled with different varieties of flowers, fruits, pooja items etc. We took our daughter to one of the markets in Bangalore during this festival time. She was very exited seeing everything on the road & she wanted to touch everything.

The atmosphere starts a week before in our house too. Cleaning the whole house, buying a kanchivaram saree for the God :-), polishing all the siver items etc.. We used to be so exited when this festival comes. I used to do all the arrangements in the pooja room & my mom & sister used to do all the cooking in the kitchen. After the pooja we used to have lunch & then again get ready for the evening as all neighbours used to come for kumkum. It used to be really fun.

Myself & my daughter were in India but were returning 3 days before this festival. As this festival can be done on any fridays of that month, my mother-in-law wanted to do it on first friday. My daughter was very excited and had lots of fun. On returning to US, we celebrated this festival again.

As always cleaned & decorated the house, decided the menu previous day & we had few friends on the evening of the festival day. These are the few items which I prepared on that day.

Welcome

2008-09-02T13:50:00.008-05:00

Welcome to my blog of cooking.

I am Ashwini, living in US for the past 6 years with my husband & our sweet daughter. I am originally from the Garden city, Bangalore.

I am a stay at home mom. I got the inspiration to start this blog by seeing all of your blogs and an interest to cook and try out new delicacies.

In my regional language Kannada, "Nanna Adige" means "My Dish". In this blog, most of the dishes posted will be authentic food from Bangalore which I have learnt from my mom. The other posts will be the dishes which I prepare from experimenting or learnt from other sources.

Please have a look at my blog & wish me luck to keep going.