OK, ANOTHER AWARD , ...

Well, another award for my blog.


Kurinji of Kurinji Kathambam has passed on "One Lovely Blog Award" to me. Thank you very much Kurinji, for a lovely award.

Kurinji had beautiful blog, which is an assortment of yummy recipes as well as some craft,art, entertainment ideas. I especially like her Rangoli collection. Please take time to visit her.

Since she has requested me to pass on the award to the 12 bloggers of my choice, i am passing it to the following bloggers.


1.Gayatri Kumar of Gayathri's Cook Spot
2.Chitra Hegde of Chitranna
3.Aipi of U.S.Masala
4.Pratibha of The Chef and her Kitchen
5.Divya of Easy Cooking
6.Sharmi of Sharmis passions
7.Padmajha SureshbabuSeduce Your Tastebud
8.Gayatri Bharadwaj of AmmanAdge
9.Panch Pakwan
10.Nirupama Sriram of Its life
11.Hari Chandana of Indian Cuisine
12.Lakshmi of Taste of Mysore

Congratulations to all of you.



Priya Sreeram of BON APPETIT has also shared the "One lovely blog" award with me.

Priya has a collection of mouth watering recpies at BON APPETIT. Check out her place for the step-by-step guide to all the recipes.

Thank you very much Priya for sharing the award.

Porato

Eggplant(aubergine) or brinjal is one of my most favorite veggie. I know, i know.. many of you won't agree with me. I know there are many people out there who don't even consider it edible. Am i not surrounded with such people!!

Mu hubby's family has an unofficial brinjal hater's club! My Sis-In-Law even goes to the extent of announcing it totally devoid of

An AWARD,

and my first one too.

I am really very happy about this.

Chitra Hegde from Chitranna has passed on "Nice bloggers award",  for my blog.



Thank you Chitra for a nice,cute award. It is quite motivating.

STEAMED RICE BALLS

I was just browsing the fellow food blogger's blogs when i came across this recipe. These stemed rice balls look damn cute to resist.

When i read the recipe i realized the method to

CHEESE DOSA

Last month i went to this restaurant were they serve awesome dosa and idli. My hubby is a big fan of their chocolate dosa, which i am planning to reproduce very shortly.

Anyway i tried this cheese dosa and it was very nice. So i wanted to try it at home. Advantage is you can have it any time u want!! ;) The cheese dosa turned out very nice. Pity my hubby is not into cheese.

SHAHI TUKDA / DOUBLE KA MEETA

Double ka meeta is one of the special delicacy of hyderabad. First time when i had this dish in a restaurant i was really impressed with the taste. Next thing i know, i am trying to make it at home.

I found the shahi tukda recipe in many places which is very similar to the double ka meeta. I think the only difference is that the double ka meeta is served with bread slices crumbled and shahi tukda has a definite shape.

Whatever the differences it definitely is very tasty. so this time i prepared this for my birthday. A little treat for myself ;)

PULIOGARE

I had a friend  whose mother used to make this yummy puliogare. When i was having them in their place it was just nice puliogare. But after few years when i started cooking, it was a different story altogether. i wish i still had contact with my this friend, at least for the sake of recipe :).

In these 5 years of my cooking experience i have tried and tasted many puliogare. Of course tried less, tasted (other's cooking) more. But it never came to that standard. So finally i decided to find a recipe which might work.

RASAM

When we were in school i think in gadag we used to frequent a restaurant. It was not a fancy one but a basic restaurant, which was quite famous in the locality.

If i remember one dish from that place it is Rasam. It would be very spicy but very tasty. We just used to enjoy it in spite of it being quite spicy and we only kids.

My parents somehow developed friendship with the restauret people enough to ask them for the recipe. But trust them for never sharing!! Finally we managed to sneak out some Rasam powder from the place everytime we visited. :)

I still feel i have never had that kind of rasam again in my life. The opinion may be biased, but i am still looking out for the perfect recipe.

RASAM POWDER

My not so perfect rasam powder. :)

BREADIZZA

Ok, i am feeling like eating pizza and hubby is not coming home. So time to order a pizza. Ok, now you are thinking 'oh , she is ordering pizza behind her husband's back !! hmmm.. ' . To clarify it, he has strange aversion to the pizza and all the cheese in general, it is out of question whether he likes it or not. Of course he hates it.!!!  IMAGINE!!..

Anyway so when he is not coming for lunch it's my pizza time. So i call up pizza hut.
The person says "I am sorry ma'am. we don't deliver it to your area."
I say "since when?"

MIRCHI BAJJI

Green chili (big ones) -- 10
Tamarind pulp -- 2-3 teaspoons
Salt -- 1/4 teaspoon

Chickpea flour (besan) -- 1 cup
Rice flour -- 1/4 cup
Turmeric powder -- 1/4 teaspoon
Lemon juice -- 1 tablespoon
Salt to taste

Oil for deep frying


Wash and slit chilies lengthwise from the tip towards the stalk, without slitting into two pieces. Keep the top portion intact.

Mic a cup of water with the tamarind pulp and salt and soak the chilies in this water for 10 minutes. (If you cannot take the heat of the chili better make it minimum half a hour :))

Sieve both flours together in a mixing bowl. Add salt, turmeric powder and lemon juice. Slowly add water and make a thick batter.

Heat oil in a frying pan. Takeout the chilies from the tamarind water and remove excess water carefully. (need not dry it completely but the excess water, if present will make the nbatter watery when you put them in.)

Dip the chilies in the batter to form a thick coat and drop it in hot oil. Fry both sides until light golden brown, on medium flame.

Serve hot with tomato ketchup or chutney.

CHOCOLATE

This is the simplest chocolate recipe. It turns out quite good.
But i really don't know how to make it creamy, which just melts in your mouth, like the ones you get ready made.

Please let me have the recipe if any one of you know.

CURRY LEAVES CHUTNEY

We have had a neighbor who used to make delicious curry leaves chutney. It would be very oily but very tasty and aromatic.
Finally i got the recipe from her and noted it down. That was almost three years back. The other day i found the recipe in my collection and decided to try it out.
Turned out quite good.

JALEBI

photo by Rohit Matto on flicker

CELEBRATING DIWALI WITH SWEETS




             

When we were kids my grandmother used make lovely jalebi's. We always used to help her out making them. Of course we used to get only one task! Dipping the jalebi's in the sugar syrup :)

I distinctly remember the festive mood there used to be when preparing for the jalebi. The batter was always prepared the previous evening.

KESARI BATH (SAFFRON RICE)

photo by Rohit Matto on flicker

CELEBRATING DIWALI WITH SWEETS

Kesari bath, as the name suggests is saffron rice and is a very popular sweet dish in my native place. In olden days it was kind of  a royal dish, which only the rich could afford to prepare in some social/cultural function.Well, i could say now it is not so royal as everyone makes it quite often.


I have often come across this dish prepared in restaurants, with semolina, in many places in southern part of india, but yet to come across the rice dish which comes from the western ghats region of karanataka (especially north canara dist.).

For this dish i have used a rice variety which is known as jeera rice. It is an aromatic rice very similar to basmati but relatively short grained.
If you are unable to locate this variety, basmati can be used instead.

HAPPY DIWALI TO ALL OF YOU

                                                                                                                  photo by Rohit Matto on flicker

May the festival of lights bring happiness and prosperity to everyone.

                   by 123 greetings.com

CHILI BABY CORN

Babycorn -- 10-15

for marinade
------------
Garlic -- 2-3
Ginger -- 1 cm piece
Pepper powder -- 1/4 teaspoon
Cornflour -- 2 heaped teaspoons
salt 1/4 teaspoon

for seasoning
-------------
Oil -- 4-5 tablespoons
Garlic -- 3-4 (chopped finely)
Ginger -- 1/2 inch piece (chopped finely)
Spring onion -- 2-3 (chopped)

Vinegar -- 1 teaspoon
Soy sauce -- 1/2 teaspoon
Tomato sauce -- 2-3 teaspoons
Green chilly paste (or sauce) -- 3 teaspoons
salt to taste


Slit the baby corns lengthwise and cut it into 1 1/2 inch pieces. Keep aside.

Crush garlic and ginger and make a paste. You can also use ginger garlic paste. Add pepper salt and cornflour and make a watery paste with 3-4 tablespoon of water.

Add the baby corns to the marinade and toss it lightly to coat well. Leave it for half an hour.

Heat a griddle (tawa) and pour a couple of tablespoons of oil on it. Lay the baby corns side by side and roast it on both sides until brown spots appear.

Heat rest of the oil in a wok and add the chopped ginger and garlic. Once it is cooked add the spring onions. (reserve some of the spring onion greens for garnish)
Saute for a minute on high flame.

Add the sauces, vinegar and salt to the wok and saute for another minute. Add the leftover marinade to this seasoning and lower the heat for a minute.(This step is optional.)

Finally add the browned baby corns and toss for a minute or two to coat the corns with the seasoning.

Garnish with chopped spring onion greens and serve hot with tomato sauce.

SWEET CORN VEGETABLE SOUP

Sweet corn (cream style) -- 1 tin

Mixed chopped vegetables -- 1 cup (beans,carrot,baby corn,cabbage,spring onion whites etc.)
Vegetable stock /or/ water -- 2-3 cups

Salt -- to taste
Pepper powder -- to taste
Vinegar(white) -- 1-2 teaspoon
Corn flour -- 1 teaspoon (optional)
Spring onion -- to garnish (chopped)

Heat vegetable stock in a pan. Add the chopped vegetables and bring it to a boil. Simmer it for a couple of minutes.

Add the sweet corn (cream style) to the soup and simmer it for another 8-19 minutes or until all the vegetables are cooked.

Mix cornflour with a little water and add it to the soup to thicken the consistency.

Add salt,pepper and vinegar according to your taste. Garnish with the spring onion greens and serve hot.

PANEER TIKKA (ON TAWA)

Paneer -- 350 gms
Onoin -- 2 (medium)
Capsicum -- 1
Tomato -- 2


for marinade
------------
Curd -- 3-4 tablespoons
Garlic -- 4-5 cloves
Ginger -- 1/2 inch piece
Chilly powder -- 3-4 teaspoons
Garam masala powder -- 1/2 teaspoon
Cumin powder -- 1/2 teaspoon
Salt to taste
Oil -- 1 teaspoon


Cube paneer and all the vegetables into equal sized cubes.

Crush garlic and gingerand make a paste. Take curd in a bowl. Add all the ingredients for marinade to the curd along with the ginger garlic paste. Mix it nicely.

Add the paneer cubes to the marinade and cover and keep it in the fridge for an hour. Remove it after an hour and take out the panerr cubes.

Add the cubed vegetables to the leftover madrinade. Coat the veggies with the mixture and take it out.

Heat tawa and roast the paneer and all the vegetables on the tawa until they are browned.

Serve hot with a lemon and any chutney of your choice.

AKKI SHAVIGE -KAY HALU

RICE SEMIA(noodles) WITH COCONUT MILK

Freshly prepared rice noodle is a specialty of my native , which is a small town in 'Malenadu' region of karnataka. Malenadu loosely translated means the hilly region.

Rice is the main staple in these regions, but it is typical in south india i guess. But in our native almost all kind of dishes, from starters to deserts, are prepared with the rice.

This dish particularly is a breakfast item and also