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Mochakottai Sundal/Butter Beans Tempered With Grated Coconut
2007-12-10 07:00:00
Mochakottai is one of my dad's favourite additions to any gravy or 'pulusu' that we make at home. I was home on vacation last week and mom had made 'mochakottai kozhambu' with it. There was some left over, so the next day evening, our maid, Mary made this simple, yet extremely popular, tamil preparation with the beans. Was a nice evening snack with some hot tea.Mochakottai SundalYou Will Need:Mochakottai/Butter Beans - 100gmGrated coconut - 1/2 cupRed chillies - 5Urad dal - 1 tspMustard - 1/2 tspCurry leaves - 1 strandOil - 1.5 tbspSalt - to tasteHow Its Made:1. Pressure cook the beans till its soft.2. Heat oil, add mustard seeds and let them cackle. Add the urad dal, red chillies and curry leaves and fry for a min.3. Add the cooked butter beans, coconut and required salt. Stir well and cook for another 2 mins.Serve warm with a hot cup of tea/coffee.Sundal is also prepared as a festive dish in tamil festivals and is more commonly prepared with chickpeas.
More About: Coconut , Temp

Stir Fried Chilly Noodles
2007-12-06 15:51:00
I belong to the class of people who believe that Maggi Noodles is one of the best of human creations. During many weeknights I have found solace in that one bowl of quick-fix dinner, often reminding myself of how my mom would disapprove of the preserves and other stuff added in their masala. Recently, I found plain noodles in the stores, called Chinese Egg Hakka Noodles. I bought two packets and made quick and light noodles for dinner one night. Came out so well that I photographed it immediately :DStir Fried Chilly NoodlesWhat I Used:Plain noodles - 1 packetCrushed garlic - 4 clovesCoarsely ground red chillies - 4Garam Masala - 1.5 tspTurmeric - one pinchCoriander leaves - for garnishingSalt - to tasteHow I Made It:1. Cook the noodles in sufficient water with added salt. Adding a little oil to this makes the noodles not stick together. One done, drain the water and keep aside.2. Heat 1 tbsp oil. Lightly fry the garlic, chilly, masala and turmeric and then add the noodles. Adjust oi...
More About: Pasta

Potato-Cabbage 'Grindless' Gravy
2007-12-05 04:41:00
I don't know how many of you have actually been over to Sra's blog to check out her unique event Grindless Gravies. I read through her instructions with great interest till I reached the line where it said 'It can't be all lentils or all curds...' Now that makes it really tough. So I put on my thinking cap.It was a weekend and I had nothing to do except cook. Opened the fridge and saw an entire cabbage sitting there. Its very difficult to cook for one and I really hate that. This cabbage made me feel lonely because whatever I make, its going to be extra, and eventually will go to waste. I sighed and took it out, and then rummaged through my potato-onion-garlic basket kept in the kitchen. Most of the potatoes had small shoots coming out of it, a sign that it has spent one too may days in the kitchen, waiting to be cooked. Without thinking much, I chopped up the cabbage, peeled and halved the potatoes and dunked both into my pressure cooker.Thus was born the idea behind this lip-...
More About: Potato , Cabbage , Gravy

Dates-Biscuit Pudding
2007-12-02 10:55:00
This month I was determined to do a fairly good job with all the events. I mean, in terms of participation, of course. One of my favourites is AFAM but unfortunately I wasn't able to participate in the last one because of the unavilability of peaches in the near vicinity of my home.This month's fuit, dates, is a real delight because it is so readily available and in so many different varieties and prices. I bought a tub of lion dates from Food Bazar yesterday. I am going home in vacation for 10 days and may not be able to cook with dates at home, so was determined to come up with something simple for this month's AFAM, hosted by Chandrika of Akshayapatra.I love puddings with biscuits in it. Soggy, crunchy, however they may taste. I especially love Marie biscuits for its subtle crunchiness and added flavour. So this is a humble attempt from me to make something nice with biscuits and dates.Dates -Biscuit Pudding What I Used:Dates - 10, choppedMarie biscuits - 8, crushed coarselyButt...

Ginger Tea - Let's Get It Started!
2007-11-25 16:58:00
Tea is my morning drink. I know most people get started on coffee but it has always been tea for me. And if its with a tinge of ginger - nothing like it! I regularly add ginger to hide the raw smell of tea leaves in my drink.When Sunita announced her Think Spice Event this month and when I saw it was ginger this time, quite a few recipes went through my mind. But the honest truth is, I can't stand the smell of raw ginger. Its ironic, cuz I do like ginger chicken and stuff, but if you tell me that the antidote for nausea is chewing a piece of ginger, then I beg to differ! Raw ginger causes nausea in me. But I love ginger-flavoured tea. Yeah, I know, its tough to 'digest' this weird like-dislike circle of mine.This is not much of a recipe, just a habit of mine that I wanted to share and hopefully, Sunita would accept this as an entry to her event.This is my cup of Ginger Tea that gets me started every day morning. Just add a few pieces of shredded fresh ginger into your tea while i...

Chicken Drumsticks - Easiest Chicken Dish In The World!
2007-11-23 07:38:00
This used to be a favourite dish during my childhood days, when we go out for dinner. Chicken legs used to fascinate me and I used to fight for it from my mom's chicken curry, with cousins my age. All the more reason why chicken drumsticks were good, cuz no fighting necessary. It meant an entire plate full of them, arranged florally, with tomato and green chutney in the centre.Chicken DrumsticksWhat I Used:Chicken legs - 4Curd - 5 tbspGinger garlic paste - 1.5 tbspChilly powder - 2 tspJeera powder - 2 tspPepper powder - 2 tspLemon juice - 2 tspSalt - 2 tspHow I Made It:Mix all the ingredients and marinate the chicken legs in it for 2 hours.Shallow fry in little oil and serve hot with rice or roti with chopped onions and tomato/green chutney.By the way, I received mostly positive feedback about the new template but I agree with those few who said it looks childish and less like a food blog template. So till I get a better one, I am going to go with this. Probably for new years, I wi...
More About: World , The World , Dish , Tick

Bihari Subzi - Shahi Paneer
2007-11-21 07:25:00
I always dream of making an entire thali for Regional Cuisine of India (RCI). Managed somewhere close for Odiyan Cuisine but sadly failed this month. The best I could do last weekend was this typical Bihari dish - Shahi Paneer . I am a paneer lover and like it in almost any dish. This is my first attempt at Bihari Cuisine and I must say I am a fan now.Shahi PaneerWhat I Used:Paneer - 200gm, defrozen and cubedOnions - 3 mediumTomatoes - 2 largeCapsicum - 1 smallGinger garlic paste - 1 tbspGaram masala - 2 tspCoriander powder - 1/2 tspCashew nuts - 10Oil - 2 tbspSalt - to tasteHow I Made It:1. Fry cubed paneer lightly in little oil and keep aside.2. Saute onions in oil till golden brown. Add masala, ginger-garlic paste and coriander powder and fry for 2 mins.3. Add cashew nuts and chopped tomatoes and fry for another minute. Remove from fire, let it cool and grind with very little water.4. Heat the kadai, add this ground mixture and bring to boil. Slowly tip in the paneer pieces and c...

Quick Tamil Vegan Lunch
2007-11-18 16:26:00
I was shamelessly out of touch with the food blogosphere all of last month. Had major plans to send in entries to most of the events in November, but again, am alarmingly behind schedule. Was out over most of the weekends and that's when I actually cook!Got some time this Sunday and made a simple lunch of Karakozhambu and Parippu Usili. As I was making them and trying to figure out which bowl to photograph them in (I have limited bowls and crockery so didn't take long to decide that), I suddenly recalled Suganya's Vegan Ventures event and what an apt entry mine I was. I didn't realise that most of my cooking was anyway Vegan.So here we are!Kara KozhambuWhat I Used:Onions - 2 medium, chopped fineTamarind paste - 2 tbspGingelly oil - 4 tbspChilli Powder - 2 tspCoriander Powder - 1 tspTurmeric Powder - 1/2 tspFenugreek seeds - 1/2 tspPepper powder - 2 tspCurry leaves - one strandSalt - to tasteHow I Made It: 1) Fry onions in oil till golden brown and then fry the fenugreek seeds.2)...
More About: Lunch , Quick , Tamil

Parippu Rasam/Rasam with Daal
2007-11-06 06:38:00
I feel that lunch is incomplete with some 'ozhichu koottan' (gravy, for lack of a better word) to go with it. The most common ones I make are sambhar, rasam and dal. It was gettng quite boring so this weekend, I decided to mix-n-match and make parippu rasam. I made the consistency slightly thicker than normal, the way I like it.What I Used:Toor dal/tuvar dal - 1/4 cupTamarind paste - 2 tbspRasam Powder - 2 tspRed chillies - 4Turmeric - 1/2 tspCrushed garlic - 8 clovesWater - 1 1/2 cupsHow I Made It:1. Pressure cook the dal well with turmeric. Once done, mash it well and keep aside.2. In a little oil, cackle the mustard seeds, add the red chillies and garlic and fry for a minute. Then add the rasam powder and fry for another minute.3. Mix the dal and add the tamarind paste with the water. Adjust the water at this stage to have the consistency you desire.4. Bring water to boil, add required salt and remove from fire.5. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves.Serve hot with steamed rice....
More About: Daal

The Theme For WBB #17 is...
2007-11-04 08:07:00
Weekend Breakfast Blogging, more popularly known as WBB is the brainchild of Nandita of Saffrontrail. In her words, it is an event "where all our fellow bloggers can tell us what they have been cooking over their weekend mornings".The event has seen different hosts in the past and it is my honour to be hosting WBB #17 in November 2007.I tried to think hard for a theme, and finally settled on using the first thing that comes to our minds when we say breakfast. Yes, its cornflakes!!The idea for corn flakes began by accident when Dr. Kellogg and his brother, Will Keith Kellog, left some cooked wheat to sit, while they attended to some pressing matters at the sanitarium. When they returned, they found that the wheat had gone stale, but being on a strict budget, they decided to continue to process it by forcing it through rollers, hoping to obtain long sheets of the dough. To their surprise, what they got instead was flakes!source: answers.comSo lets put on our thinking caps and conjure ...
More About: Theme

My Pizza Omelette!
2007-11-03 13:01:00
I love eggs and one of the easiest and most convenient thing to cook with eggs would be - omelettes! So this is my special 'pizza' omelette that's colourful and probably something most of you cook at your homes too :)What I Used:Eggs - 2Green chillies - 1Tomatoes, diced - 1/2Salt - 1/2 tspPepper - 1 tspCheese cubes - 1How I Made It:1. Whisk the eggs with salt and pour on a girdle with little oil.2. Sprinkle the chillies and tomatoes and cook for 2 mins, closed.3. Topple over, and remove in about 10 seconds.4. Sprinkle better powder and diced cheese pieces. Let the cheese pieces melt a little.Pizza omelette with bread toastTip* Adding some oregano gives this a nice pizza flavour :)This goes over to Kanchana for her WBB event of October where the theme is omelettes.I am hosting WBB #17, so stay tuned for the theme of this month!!
More About: Mele

Gobi Peas Masala
2007-10-27 14:22:00
Its been a while since I cooked. Also have been feeling extremely guilty for not participating in any event this month. Atleast wanted to be a part of Jugalbandi's Click Event and Kanchana's WBB. The former is done and I am waiting for the results. Latter, is just three days away from ending. And one would think its easy to just make an omelette and send it over (that's the theme this month for WBB)Anyway, I am trying revive myself out of the hiatus with this quickie dish.Gobi Peas MasalaWhat I Used:Cauliflower - one medium, chopped into fine piecesPeas - 1/2 cupOnions - 2 largeTomatoes - 2Ginger garlic paste - 2 tbspGreen chillies - 4Chicken masala - 2 tbspChilly powder - 2 tspTurmeric - 1/4 tspOil - 3 tbspSalt - to tasteHow I Made It:1. Saute the onions in the oil, with some added salt, till golden brown.2. Add the ginger garlic paste and the masala, along with green chillies. Fry well for 3-4 mins.3. Next, add the cauliflower, peas and tomatoes and mix well. I like the gobi in...
More About: Vegetarian Recipes

Easy Tomato Pasta
2007-10-18 15:23:00
I know I have been away for way too long. I do have a reason (aka excuse), of course. Err.. Work! Anyway, I am back with yet another dish which I have been wanting to make for a long time. Pasta !! I think this can pass off as one of the easiest things I made and came out great though it was a first attempt.What I Used:Pasta (boiled with little salt) - 1 cupTomato es - 2 mediumOnions - 1, finely dicedCrushed garlic - 6 clovesCrushed red chillies - 3Pepper powder - 1 tspCapsicum - halfOil - 1 tbspHow I Made It:1. Saute onions and garlic in oil till golden brown.2. Add pepper and crushed chillies and fry for a min.3. Make a puree out of the tomatoes and add to the above mixture, along with the capsicum. Boil for 3 mins.4. Add the boiled pasta and keep on fire for another 2-3 mins. Add salt to taste.It was slightly bland, but it was great for dinner. If you have any suggestions in making pasta dishes more flavourful, do let me know. Adding cheese would be a last option, since its not too...
More About: Easy

I Baked Bread!!
2007-10-10 09:38:00
For so so so long I have been wanting to bake a loaf (or even a chunk is good enough) myself. I went around in search of yeast and even lamented in a post that good quality yeast is difficult to come by in Hyderabad. The next day after that post, Bhags from Crazy Curry emailed me with the sweetest offer I have received in my life. An extract from her email (hope she doesn't mind) "I just read in your blog that you are looking for yeast in Hyderabad. I got some yeast packets from USA, when I used to live there. So if you think it is ok with you, I can mail you some of them. This is not going to be any botheration to me, so please dont hesitate. I will be more than just happy to mail them. The packets are small sachet size, so they can easily be mailed in an enevelope."I received the envelope last week and I wanted this post to be a surprise for her.This post is dedicated to one of the sweetest people I have come across in my life, Bhags :)I have taken inspiration from Raaga's and ...
More About: Recipes , Baked , Others , Bread

Simple Vegetable Rice
2007-10-07 15:10:00
I don't know what to call this - pulao or fried rice. So decided to call it simple vegetable rice, cuz.. well.. that's what it is - simple rice dish with veggies.It was Saturday, a break after a hectic week. I had carrots and beans in the fridge, and a packet of frozen peas. Was too tired to go grocery shopping so decided to make do with rice with vegetables in it. Simple and nutritious lunch. What I Used: Basmati Rice - 1 cupCarrots - 2Beans - 8-10Peas - 1/4 cupOnion - 1 mediumGinger garlic paste - 1 tbspChicken masala (werid, I know, but quite flavourful!) - 1 tspJeera powder - 1/2 tspPepper powder - 1tbspSalt - to tasteHow I Made It: 1. Wash and drain the rice and soak in water for 30 mins.2. Fry chopped onions and ginger garlic paste in oil, in the pressure cooker pan. 3. When onions turn transparent, add the chicken masala and jeera powder. Fry for another minute. 4. Add the vegetables and mix well. Then add the rice, salt and fry for 2 mins. 5. Add 1 cup water, wait for a w...
More About: Vegetarian Recipes , Vegetable