Malai Kofta Curry

Malai Kofta is a rich curry and is my restaurant favourite.This is the way I make malai kofta..Though it takes a bit of time, it tastes wonderful.This is my entry for the JFI 'potato' hosted by Vaishali of Happyburp

Ingredients for koftas

Potatoes- 4 medium
peas- 1/4 cup
paneer(grated)-1/2 cup
chilli powder- 3/4 tsp
garam masala- 1/4 tsp
gram flour- 2 tsp
maida/all purpose flour- 1 tsp
cornstarch- 1/2 tsp
coriander leaves- a few chopped finely
salt to taste
oil for deep frying
For the gravy
Onions- 2 medium chopped into cubes
Tomatoes- 2 or 3 medium chopped into cubes
ginger- 1" piece chopped roughly
garlic - 4 cloves
cinnamon-small piece,cloves- 2, saunf-1/4 tsp
poppy seeds- 1/4 tsp
cashews- 6 to 8
coconut -2 tsp
chilli powder- 1 tsp
coriander powder- 2 tsp
jeera powder- 1/4 tsp
kasoori methi - a few
garam masala/kitchen king masala- 1/4 tsp
Fresh cream- 2 tsp
milk- 1/2 cup
Oil + ghee/butter- 6 tsp
salt to taste

Method

Boil the peas and potatoes together. Remove the skin of the potatoes , add all the other ingredients except oil and mash it . Do not add water. Make small balls and deep fry it in hot oil.
keep it aside.
Heat 2 tsp of oil in a pressure pan and add cinnamon, cloves and saunf. Then add onions, ginger and garlic pieces. When the onions become transparent add the tomatoes, cashews and poppy seeds. Fry till the tomatoes are mushy.
Now add the chilli powder, coriander powder,jeera powder and garam masala powder. Add little water to this and pressure cook this for 5 mins or till one whistle.
When cooled grind it to a fine paste. Heat a pan and add the remaining oil+ghee. Pour the masala paste , kasoori methi and milk.When it boils add the koftas and remove from heat. Garnish with coriander leaves and fresh cream on top. Serve hot with chappathis /rotis/phulkas.

Note

U can add chopped cashews to the gravy too.
U can check out Vineela's version of Malai kofta here and Asha's Version here

Vegetable Cutlets

Blogger Friends Recipe(BFR#3)
This is my 2nd entry for coffee's MBP Finger foods and starters. Cutlets and Samosas are my favourite and I made this from Priya's kitchen, for my Inlaws who have come to visit us. Vegetable cutlets turned out pretty well and we all loved it. Check out the recipe here

Dosa, Sambar and Strawberry Cheese Cups

These are my entries for this month's AFAM(strawberry cheese cups) by Maheshwari and Pooja's valentine's special. You may wonder what Dosa and Sambar has to do with Strawberry cheese cups...Yes this is what I made specially for my husband. Dosa and sambar is my husband's all time favourite. He can have it without any complaints for breakfast,dinner and even lunch. He doesn't like many desserts... doesn't eat icecream ,almost all sweets ... I had made these strawberry cheese cups before and he liked it . As I wanted to make a really nice dessert for him, I chose this one. Though the menu sounds extreme, I wanted to make only this because this is SPECIALLY FOR HIM!!!!!

Dosa

Ingredients
Idly rice- 4 cups
Urad dal- 1 cup
Methi seeds- 1/2 tsp
salt to taste
Method
Wash and soak rice and Dal+methi seeds seperately. soak for atleast 4 hours. Grind dal in to a fine past by adding water little by little . Then grind rice into a fine paste and mix it with dal .Add salt to taste and ferment it for abt 8 hours or overnight.(It may take a longer time in winter)
Sambar


Ingredients
For sambar powder
Red chillies- 2 to 2 1/2 cups
Coriander seeds- 2 cups
Bengal gram dal- 1/4 cup
Thoor dal- 1/4 cup
Pepper- 3 tsp
Fenugreek- 2 tsp
Jeera- 3 tsp
Curry leaves- a few
Dry roast all these seperately and powder.
Thoor dal- 1 cup
green chillies- 5 sliced
garlic- 5 cloves
tomato- 1 chopped
pearl onions- a few( u can use one chopped big onion too)
methi seeds- 1/4 tsp
turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
Hing- little
Tamarind juice- from small lime sized ball
Veggies of ur choice- (carrots, brinjal, drumsticks... etc)1/2 cup
For Seasoning
Mustard seeds- 1/4 tsp
red chillies-1
hing- little
jeera-1/4 tsp
pepper- 4 to 5
methi seeds- less than 1/4 tsp
curry leaves- a few
coriander leaves- a few
Oil - 3 tsp
salt to taste
Method
Wash 1 cup of dal and add greenchillies, garlic,turmeric powder, hing, methi seeds, tomatoes in one bowl and the veggies in another bowl and pressure cook this .
Heat oil in a pan add mustard seeds , when it splutters add the other ingredients for seasoning and then the onions . Saute till the onions are transparent . Add the tamarind juice and 1 to 2 tsp of sambar powder. now add the cooked dal (mash it well with a ladle) and the cooked vegetables. Add enough water and salt to it.simmer it and close it with a lid for 10 mins. garnish with chopped coriander leaves. Sambar is ready. Serve hot with dosa,idly or rice.

note

Sometimes when I grind sambar powder I was not able to get good colour cos of the red chillies. so I reduced the amt of chillies (10 ) and prepare powder. Then when making sambar I add 1 tsp of readymade sambar powder(i use shakti masala) and 1 tsp of the sambar powder which I made.By this way I get good colour for sambar.

Strawberry cheese cups

Actually I found this recipe for the cups, in the Pepperidgefarm puff,pastry sheet packet . They had printed a recipe for choc peanut butter cups and I replaced it with creamcheese filling.. Crispy puff and creamcheese was real Yumm!!
Ingredients
pepperidge farm's puff pastry sheets
cream cheese-1/2 cup
powdered sugar-1/4 cup or to taste
heavy cream- 2 tbsp
strawberries- a few(slitted half)
Method
Thaw the pastry sheet at room temperature 40 min. Preheat the oven to 400F.Unfold the pastry on the lightly floured surface , roll it and cut into 4" squares approx.Press the squares in the muffin pans. Bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown.
Mix sugar, creamcheese and cream together and beat well till u get a smooth texture.
Place the cream in the puff cups and then a piece of strawberry on top.

About Valentines day... Though we knew what is valentine's day in our schooldays we didn't celebrate it or bother about it much.There was an 'Archie's gallery' opposite to my college and it used to sell wonderful valentine cards. That's how I got a better picture of valentine's day . Me and my husband had exchanged valentine cards only in the first year of marriage as feb 14 was only one week after our wedding. After that we don't care much for V'day because I feel that if u want to epress ur love to someone u can do it anytime, not only on v' day.

And now about my Husband.. His Name is Sundar.. He is a person who doesn't talk much while on the other hand I talk a lot...(I think in these 7 yrs it has reduced a bit ). He is a very patient guy while Iam not.Though we are chalk and cheese in some aspects there are a lot of other aspects where we have similar tastes too, and all these makes life interesting... He has stood beside me during some of the hard times in my life and I can never forget that. In short, He is a real gem of a person(My Husband who sitting near me ,reading this gave a big,broad smile )Happy Valentine's day!!!

Pedas

Today is our 7th Wedding Aniversary and I thought I would begin the day with sweets. So yesterday I made these lovely pedas. They are very easy and quick to make.My 5 year old little daughter helped me and we had fun making this..

This is my entry for Trupti's ' Little Chefs in the kitchen' Event and Meeta's 'Monthly Mingle- Sweet love'. Though it may be a bit late for the Sweet love event,but I thought will be nice to post this on my Wedding day which would surely be the best day to show the love I have for my Better half. Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Ingredients

Sweetened condensed milk(whole milk)- 1 tin

milk powder- 2 cups

butter-4 tbsp(room temp)

crushed pistas and almonds- a few

food colour(optional)- any colour u like

saffron-(optional)- a few

silver warq- optional

cardomom powder- a pinch

Method

In a microwave bowl add the butter and heat it for 2 mins or till it is melted.

Add the milk powder and condensed milk, mix it well and microwave it for 2 minutes.

Add the cardomom powder,saffron and food colour at this stage and microwave for 4 minutes , taking out and stirring after 2 minutes.

Cool it completely and make pedas of ur desired shape.

Add crushed nuts on the top of the pedas and press it. Apply the silver warq.

note

For shaping the pedas take a lid from a small bottle, keep a few nuts inside and place a ball of pedas on it. press well and invert it. U will get lovely round pedas.

Cheese sticks

I made these cheese sticks while we were watching superbowl last sunday. My Daughter loves these cheese sticks and I always buy it from the frozen section. She was asking for cheese sticks last weekend and I didn't have it in the freezer.... So I thought 'Let me check out for the ingredients and if I have them at home I can do it '. I googled for cheese sticks and got many recipes for that.. I will give u the method by which I made. This is my entry for coffee's MBP.

Ingredients

mozarella cheese- 1 pk
Pancake mix-1/2 cup
cornstarch- 1 tsp
paprika- 1/2 tsp
bread crumbs/ flavoured bread crumbs- 1cup
salt to taste
oil for deep frying

Method

Slice the cheese to thick fingers(if u slice it thin it will melt fast)
Mix pancake mix, cornstarch, paprika and salt together in a bowl and add milk/water to form a thick paste.
Dip the cheese in the pancake batter , roll in the breadcrumbs and then again in the batter and finally in the crumbs again and deep fry in hot oil.(u have to do it twice so that the coating is strong)
Fry for one or two mins till both sides turn golden brown and serve hot with tomato sauce.

Note
The original recipe had eggs in it ..I did not use it but I strongly feel that if u dip the cheese in eggs , the coating will be more strong.If using eggs beat an egg or two in a seperate bowl, dip first in the batter, then egg and finally the bread crumbs.
The recipe said to use flavoured breadcrumbs.. I had some flavoured croutons and I just grinded it and used.. It was good.
U can substitute the pancakemix with flour and cornmeal.

Rasmalai

Spongy Rasmalai is one of my favourite desert. There are many ways of making rasmalai and lots of my fellow bloggers have blogged rasmalai. This is my way of doing it. I use readymade rasagullas for making rasmalai as this is an easy way to do it.

Ingredients

Full cream milk- 1.5 ltrs

Sugar-150 gms

Haldirams Rasagullas- 1 tin

pistachios- a few crushed

yellow food colour(optional)

saffron- a few strands

Method

Boil the milk in a thick bottomed pan or kadai. when the milk is hot ,take a tbsp of it and soak the saffron strands in it. Add the crushed pistachios to it.

Reduce the flame and stir in between till the amount of the milk reduces to half.

Squeeze out the juice from all the rasagullas and flatten it with ur hands.

Add the sugar ,food colour, stir it and add the rasagullas and saffron soaked milk. Remove from heat after 2 minutes. Refeigerate and serve chilled

Check out more versions of Rasmalai below

shammi's

Priya's

Manisha's

Mandira's

Pin wheel sandwiches

Happy Republic day!!...
I got this recipe from a book called 'Pulsuvai Malar'. I wanted to try these for a long time ... and when i saw the theme for this week in Pooja's blog I thought this would be the perfect time to try this out. This is my submission to pooja's Republic Day Event.
Ingredients
White sandwich Bread -1/2 pack
butter spread
green chutney
Tomato chutney or tomato sauce

Method
Take three slices of bread , trim the edges and flatten it with the help of a rolling pin. Apply tomato chutney or tomato sauce to one slice , apply green chutney to another and apply butter to the third slice.

Place the green slice on the bottom,then place the buttered slice on top of it and finally the red one.Very slightly wet the bottom slice with little water and fold it twice(like u are rolling a paper).

Then cut it into rounds. u will get lovely , colourful pin wheel sandwiches.
Note
If u have unsliced bread it will be more easy to make these sandwiches.
For the green chutney - add 3 tsp of oil in a pan and add mustard seeds,uraddal, curry leaves, 3 green chilli slits, 1"piece of chopped ginger, 1 clove garlic chopped, 1"piece of tamarind and cleaned and chopped 1 bunch coriander leaves. saute for some time and then grind to a fine paste with salt. u can use 1/2 bunch of corianderleaves and 1/2 bunch of mint leaves too.

Iam back!!!!!

Hi All,
Iam back from India..It was a long vacation and I enjoyed it. I have been visiting ur blogs whenever I can .. and its really nice to see lots of new bloggers. Will soon start to post recipes..

New year wishes

WISH U ALL A VERY HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR

Milagai Kuzhambu

This is a very spicy dish. Usually we prepare this as a side dish for curd rice, just like pickle. So try this only with curd rice.. For spice lovers who love very hot and spicy food can have with plain rice,idli,dosa or with anything u like. It is a simple recipe and very easy to prepare.I had no idea about this dish before marriage, as my mom doesn’t prepae this.According to me the best combination for curd rice is mango pickle. But after tasting this, I liked to have this with curd rice too. I learnt this recipe from my Mother in law and would like to share this with u all. Try it out and u will love it…

Ingredients

Green chillies(small in size)-12 to 15 chopped into thin rounds
Onions- 3 large or 4 medium , chopped finely
U can use pearl onions too for this .
Tamarind- big gooseberry sized
Mustard seeds- ¼ tsp
Methi seeds- ¼ tsp
Oil- 4 tsp
Salt to taste



Method

Soak the tamarind in water and take out the juice from it. Keep aside.
Heat oil in a pressure pan or cooker and add mustard seeds. When it splutters add methi seeds and before it starts to brown add onions and green chillies. Fry for 10 minutes in a medium flame. Add the tamarind juice and salt to it. No need to add water to this. close the cooker and pressure cook this till one whistle.
U can store this in the refrigerator for 15 days.
Serve with curd rice.

note: You can always reduce the chillies as per ur taste or use 1/2 part of capsicum and 1/2 part of green chillies too.

check out shankari's version

Memes

Hi all, Iam leaving to India tonight. I will try my best to post atleast one recipe a week. So do keep visiting me and I will be visiting you all too.
Before I leave, I thought I will finish a couple of memes that I had been tagged for … Rashmi of ‘ Websamayal’ had tagged me for ‘ Good/Bad experiences with food’ and jayashree of ‘Luvgoodfood’ had tagged me for a butterfly effect meme.

Butterfly effect Meme

This is a foodie meme which asks you to talk about stuff that has had a profound influence on your foodie life(in the words of http://www.saltshaker.net/20060630/the-butterfly-effect who started this meme). Well, not just any kind of stuff...but specifically an ingredient, a dish/recipe, a meal, a cookbook/other written work, a food personality, and another person in your life.Before I get down to the meme, here's some info:A meme is an Internet phenomenon (sometimes called an Internet meme)which occurs when something relatively unknown becomes hugely popular, often quite suddenly, through the mass propagation of media content made feasible by the Internet.(source: wikipedia)
I just copied down the above intro from Jayashree…

An Ingredient- It is always chicken . I love chicken cooked in any form. Chicken curries, drumsticks,kfc’s chickenpieces, chicken burger or anything with chicken but ofcouse my favourite is my mom’s chicken curry.
A Recipe- Biryani. Veg or non veg I would like to have it any time. There a different ways people make biryanis and however it is made, I like it.
A meal- Usually Iam not a person who orders a meal with rice , sambar and veggies, when we go to a restaurant. This is what we have in our house regularly. So when I go to a restaurant I go for something which we don’t cook in our house more often. But whenever I come across this word ‘ meal’ I remember the days in Singapore. I was pregnant that time and was craving for food and hungry most of the time.I was not so very good in cooking at that time too. So whenever I go to the “komala’s”restaurant , I used to order only meals. It is a regular vegetarian meal which consists of rice, sambar, dal, 2 vegetables, curd , raitha and papad. Believe me I would finish it in minutes and would feel really full and contented ..
A cookbook- My mom used to have a book called ‘ palsuvai malar’ by the ladies club of Tuticorin. I started to cook a few recipes seeing this book as this was the only cookbook my mother had. I have this book now also and it has wonderful recipes. Later on I had bought some books of ‘Mallika Badrinath’ too.
A food personality- My Favourite is Sanjeev Kapoor. I used to watch his cookery shows regularly in TV before marriage. I learnt the basics of north Indian cooking from his khana Khazana.
Another person- Everyone would learn to cook from their mothers. For me too it is my mom .. and then my Mother in law .. she too has influenced me with her cooking.
I will post a few of their recipes when Iam in India.
I wish to Tag Indira of Mahanandi for the butterfly effect meme.

Good/Bad experiences with food.

This experience happened to me sometime before. All my husand’s collegues planned for a party in a restaurant. They had planned it suddenly and had selected some Italian restaurant too. It was fifteen of us and we went there around 7 pm. As the women were busy with their kids , Men ordered and it took almost 1 hour to come. The presentation and the look of the foods were very attractive, but once we tasted it everybody’s face changed as it was very very bland. There was one fish dish which looked so attractive but they had just cooked it only with salt.. I had tasted Italian foods before.. they will be a bit bland but surely not like this. I don’t know , may be the dishes we had selected might have been more bland. And then finally the bill came and everybody was shocked .. because nobody expected a very high bill as they did not see the price before ordering. We paid so much for the food we did not enjoy and most of all wasted a lot of food. This is definitely the cause of improper planning and ordering.
Learnt a lesson from this and so now whenever I go to a restaurant , I really do plan a bit.
I wish to tag Vani of ‘Mysoorean’ for this meme.

Kadai Paneer with Bean Sprouts

Bean sprouts are rich in vitamins with low carbohydrates. They are healthy and are used much in chinese cooking. These sprouts have been gaining popularity in recent times .
I wanted to use these in our cooking for a long time and when I saw Nanditha’s ‘twist in a plate’, I thought I could use them.
Everyone would be familiar with kadai paneer. I just love them. This is the usual kadai paneer recipe and I just added bean sprouts for a different taste. It turned out good with soft paneer and crunchy bean sprouts.
This is my entry to Saffron Trail’s WBB#6 ‘Twist in a Plate’.

Ingredients

Paneer- 250 grams
Capsicum- 2 small
Tomatoes-red and ripe ones- 3 large chopped finely
Onions- 1 large choppe finely
Bean sprouts(mung)- ½ cup
Coriander seeds- 3 tsp
Red chilli- 1
Chilli powder-1 tsp
Garam masala- ½ tsp
Kasoori methi- ½ tsp
Green chilli-1 chopped finely
Ginger- 2” piece chopped finely
Coriander leaves- 2 tsp chopped finely
Oil+ghee- 5 tsp
Cuminseeds- ¼ tsp
Cinnamon- 1” piece
Cloves-4
Cardomom- 1
Bay leaves- 2



Method

Cut the paneer and capsicum lengthwise. Grind the coriander seeds and red chilli to a coarse powder.
Heat oil+ghee in a kadai and add cinnamon, cloves ,cardomom, bay leaves and cumin. Add onion, green chilli, ginger and bean sprouts and fry for some time. When the onions turn transparent add the tomatoes , salt and chilli powder. Simmer the flame and cover with a lid and cook for 10 minutes or till the tomatoes become mushy and well cooked . At this stage add the coriander+ redchilli powder and capsicum pieces. Close with a lid and cook for 5 minutes . Finally add the paneer pieces,kassori methi and garam masala powder. Cook for a few more minutes and garnish with coriander leaves .
Serve hot with roti/naan.

Aval Payasam

Blogger friends recipe (BFR)#2

Aval payasam


A few months in blogging, I have learnt a lot in cooking from my blogger friends. I have tried a few recipes from them and feel really happy to say that almost all of them were succesful. Here is one such recipe ... .I wanted to make Aval payasam for a long time and when I saw this recipe in My dhaba ,I decided to try it out for Saraswathi Pooja. This is the first time Iam making Aval Payasam , and believe me it tasted divine...Thanks VK Narayan for the lovely recipe.
Click for the recipe Here...
I made this by following the exact recipe of My dhaba's... But as i did not have saffron with me I just added a pinch of yellow food colour.. This is a great recipe and You will surely love it.

Aloo Curry

This is the usual aloo curry. Most of you all will be familiar with this. I love this dish very much as it is simple to make and tastes great..
This goes well with vegetable biriyani ,Rice and sambar, rasam , dhal etc…here goes the recipe



Ingredients

Potatoes- 5
Onions - 1 large chopped finely
Garlic- 5 cloves or garlic paste- 1 ½ tsp
Chilli powder- 1tsp
Turmeric powder- ¼ tsp
Garam masala -½ tsp
Mustard seeds- ¼ tsp
Curry leaves- 1 sprig
Coriander leaves- 2 tsp finely chopped
Oil - 4 tsp
Salt to taste



Method

Grind garlic to a paste. Pressure cook potatoes , peel the skin and cut them into cubes.
Heat oil in a pan add mustard seeds. When it splutters add the curryleaves and garlic paste. Fry till the raw smell of the garlic disappears and add onions . fry for some time and add chilli, turmeric ,garam masala powders along with salt. Then add the potatoes. Mix well, Simmer the flame , close with a lid and cook for 10 to 15 mins. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.

Butter Shortbread

I always love the shortbreads and wanted to prepare this sometime. So I thought I will prepare this for cooking medley’s JFI event in which the main ingredient is Ghee and Butter. I think my entry is a bit late and I hope she will accept it.
I searched for this recipe in the net and found lots.. This is the one I picked and tried and it came out really well. My daughter loved it because I had used different shapes.

Ingredients

Butter- 1 cup(room temperature)
All purpose flour- 2 cups
Sugar- ½ cup(powdered)
Cornstarch- 1 tsp
Salt- 1 pinch

Method

Mix butter and sugar and beat it for 5 minutes till they are well mixed and the mixture is creamy.
Mix and seive flour, salt and cornstarch.
Add the flour mixture to the the butter. Fold in gently to make a dough.
Refrigerate for 15 minutes to make the dough a bit firm.
Roll out the dough into ¼ inch thick. Cut into round or whichever shape u want using a cookie cutter.

place them in the cookie sheets lined with parchment paper(I used foil because I was out of stock). Bake in a preheated oven for 12-15 minutes at 300 degrees F.Cool this and store in a airtight jar.

Note: Please Use only butter for this recipe. Do not use margarine or anything else in substitution for butter.

Vendakkai/Okra Fry

We usually make vendakkai masala or curry . My Mother used to make vendakkai fry sometimes. This recipe is quite different from the usual ones we make and I love to have it with Rice and sambar. Try it folks and I bet you will love this too..

Ingredients

Vendakkai/okra- 300 gms(see to that they are yound and tender)
Onion- 1 sliced thinly
Chilli powder- 1 tsp or acc to taste
Turmeric powder- ¼ tsp
Curry leaves- 1 or 2 sprigs
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

Method

Wash and dry the okra in paper towels(make sure it is dried well). Cut into medium rounds.
Heat oil in a pan and deep fry till they are brown. Finally when you are done frying the okra pieces fry the onions till dark brown. Off the stove and fry the curry leaves. Add the fried onions and curryleaves to the fried okra. Add salt, turmeric powder and chilli powder and toss well so that it is well mixed. It can be called as okra chips too.
Serve with rice and Sambar or Tomato rasam.

Bisibelebath

Bisibelebath/ Sambar sadham requires lot of patience.. .Though I like this a lot, I feel lazy to do this often, as it needs chopping, roasting , grinding and lots of work.The only relief is you dont need to prepare any vegetable curry with this .. It goes well with raitha and chips. Last week when I saw bisibelehuli anna in Nanditha's blog, I wanted to make it and so here is what I made..

Ingredients

Raw Rice- 2 cups
Thoor dal- 1 cup
Turmeric powder- ¼ tsp
Asafoetida- ¼ tsp
Peas- ½ cup
Shallots- ½ cup
Tomatoes-2 cut finely
Carrot -1 chopped into small pieces
Beans- 10 chopped finely
Potatoes-1 chopped into small pieces
Drumsticks- 1 cut into 3” pieces
Brinjal – 1 cut into cubes.
Chowchow- ¼ cup cut into cubes
Garlic- 6 cloves
Green chillies- 3
These are the main veggies. U can add any vegetable u want to this except beets and bittergourd.The more the vegetables the better the taste. I added bottlegourd too with this.
Sambar powder- 1 tsp(optional. As I use very little red chilies ,I add this for better colour.I use sakthi masala)
Tamarind – 1 small lemon sized.
Salt to taste
Ghee- 5 tsp
Coriander leaves- 3 tsp chopped

To roast and grind

Channa dal- 2 tsp
Thoor Dal – 1 tsp
Urad dal- 1 tsp
Coriander seeds- 3 tsp
Jeera- 1 ½ tsp
Pepper- ½ tsp
Fenugreek seeds- ½ tsp
Saunf/Aniseeds- ½ tsp
Curry leaves- a few
Red chillies- 3( the one I have is very spicy so I add little) or acc to taste
Cinnamon- 2 one inch pieces
Cloves- 5
Coconut- 3 to 4 tsp

Heat 1 tsp of oil in a pan and add all the spices except coconut and fry for 2 minutes. Then add coconut finally and fry for a minute. Cool it and grind it to a fine paste by adding water.

For seasoning

Oil- 3 tsp
Mustard seeds- ½ tps
Broken urad dal- ¼ tsp
Fenugreek seeds- ¼ tsp
Curry leaves- a few

Method

Pressure cook the dal with turmeric powder and asafetida and set aside. Soak the tamarind in water and squeeze the juice.
In a cooker or big vessel, add 10 cups of water(1:5 ratio) . when it boils add the rice and the vegetables(from peas to green chillies). When the rice is ¾ th cooked. Add the dal and salt.mix properly and add the ground paste , tamarind juice, sambarpowder and ghee. Partly Cover and cook for a few minutes in reduced flame.Heat oil in another pan and add the seasonings one by one. Now add this to the rice. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot with raita and papad/chips and ghee on top.
This bisi bela bhath should be in a slightly semisolid consistency than the normal rice.

check out Shynee's, Deepz's and Sangeetha's and sudhav 's Bisibelabath.

Tomato Rasam

This is a very simple , and easy to make rasam.Sometimes when I feel lazy I prepare this Rasam. I read this recipe somewhere in the internet, a couple of months before, and tried it . We loved it so much that it has become one of our regular menu now.
Try this out and you will love this too …



Ingredients

Tomatoes-( red ripe ) 4 medium sized
Coriander leaves- 3 tsp finely chopped
Sambar powder- ¾ tsp or acc to ur taste.( I use sakthi masala)
Tamarind juice- 3 tsp
Pepper powder- ¼ tsp
Jeera powder- ¼ tsp
Garlic- 4 cloves mashed.
Turmeric powder- a pinch
Salt to taste

For seasoning

Mustard seeds- few
Jeera- ¼ tsp
Red chilli- 1
Asafoetida- a pinch
Curry leaves- a few
Oil – 2tsp

Method

In a pan add the tomatoes and fry for sometime till they turn mushy add the coriander leaves , sambar powder, salt, pepper, jeera ,turmeric powders and garlic.Fry for a minute and add a cup of water( I make this medium thick and if you want thin, you can add a 1/2 cup more water too, according to your taste.) to this and let it boil. Now add the tamarind juice to it. Heat oil in another pan and add the seasonings one by one. Add this to the rasam. Serve hot with rice.

There are lots of varieties rasam. Shaheen of Malabar spices had asked me to link the different varieties of rasam.. Check out these interesting rasams..

melting pot Rasam by Saffron Hut
Menu today has posted 4 to 5 varieties of rasam recipes in her Index.
Pomegranate rasam by Saffrontrail
Mysore Rasam by Mika
Black eyed beans Rasam by Chandrika
Kollu Rasam by Indosungod
Pepper Rasam by Priya Bhaskaran
Tomato Rasam by Sumitha
Paruppu Urundai Rasam by Krithika

Kovakkai/Tindora masala

I had never tasted kovakkai before marriage. After marriage I found many of my friends cook this vegetable and when I happen to taste it I liked it too. Once when we went to a friend's house for dinner , she had cooked this curry.It was different with peanuts and I couldn't find out it was kovakkai. I got the recipe from her and whenever I buy this vegetable I cook this way.. ..


Ingredients

Kovakkai- 3 cups (cut lengthwise )
Onions- 1 large chopped finely
Green chilli-1 chopped finely
Ginger garlic paste- 2 tsp
Coriander powder- 2 tsp
Chilli powder – 1 tsp or acc to taste
Turmeric powder- ¼ tsp
Cloves- 3 or 4
Salt to taste
Oil- 4 to 5 tsp
Coriander leaves- 2 tsp chopped finely
For seasoning
Mustard seeds- ¼ tsp
Jeera- ¼ tsp
Curry leaves - few
Peanuts- 3 tsp



Method

Heat oil in a pan add the seasoning items. Add the chopped onion and green chilli and fry till the onions become transparent. Then add the ginger garlic paste and fry till the raw smell disappears. Now add the kovakkai pieces and fry for some time. Add the turmeric, coriander and chilli powders. Crush or powder the cloves and add it to the masala. Add little water , simmer the flame and close it with a lid. Cook till the vegetable becomes tender and oil seperates. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rice.

Check out sudha's version of tindora Here.

Five things to eat before you die!

I have been tagged again and this time it was Asha’s turn to tag me.Thanks Asha. This is the Five things you've eaten and think that everyone should eat at least once before they die meme started by Traveller’s lunch box.
Though I have a long list of favourites , I will just give 5 of them and here’s it…

Shree Mithai’s Boondhi ladoo- Shree Mithai is a famous mithai shop in Chennai. Their sweets are so divine and I just love most of them (kaju rolls and moti pak are my other favourites). Whenever anyone of u gets a chance to visit Chennai do visit this shop..
http://www.shreemithai.com/

My Mom's chicken curry-- This is one of my favourite from my mom's cooking. It is a very simple recipe but a very tasty one. I will post this sometime later and Iam waiting to taste this again next month when I visit my mom.

Sugarcane juice and grilled corn in marina beach- Iam basically from chennai and we used to go to marina beach frequently. I just love the sugarcane juice and i never forget to have it whenever i go to the beach. U can see many corn vendors roasting the corn- on- the cob, in the beach. walking along the shore with a corn in ur hand is sure a pleasant experience.

Chicken lettuce wraps- P.F. Chang's China Bistro is a wonderfully casual restaurant with great food and excellent service. The Chang's Chicken in Soothing Lettuce Wraps (quickly cooked spiced chicken with cool lettuce cups) is a signature dish, which is served with a very tasty sauce. This lettuce wraps are so tasty that I feel like having it whenever we pass that way.
http://www.pfchangs.com/

Cheese cakes- These cheese cakes are yummmmmmy and beyond delicious. I had tasted this cheese cake after coming to NJ and had become an instant fan of this.

I wish to tag Sudha of My Samayal and Karthi kannan of Kitchenmate..