Welcome to Vividha Ruchulu...

zucchini patties

2009-06-01T10:48:00.000-07:00

We can make these patties in many ways.This is one of the quick n tasty way way to make .. This you can eat as a evening time snack.These patties are very tasty with less oil.They are really appetizing :)

Ingredients:

Rice Flour-1 1/2 cups

green chilli-5(finely chopped)

zucchini grated -1 cup

grated Ginger-1 tsp

salt to taste

cilatro -1 bunch(finely chopped)

water-little if required

Preparation:

1.Mix all the above ingredients except water and make a dough like consisitency.

2.Take a small size dough and press in b/w your palms and keep it aside.Do the same for atleast 6 to 8 or untill you think those are sufficient for a single time fry on tawa.

3.Take a dosa pan and heat it ,pour 1/2 tsp of oil on it and place the above zucchini vadas in the pan and shallow fry it on a low flame untill the patties becomes golden brown.

4.Enjoy the tasty patties with ketchup.

Bing.........Microsoft new search tool

2009-05-29T19:32:00.000-07:00

Hi friends..

how are you all?I missed all your wonderful dishes from the past 2 weeks..i am sorry friends :( I just came from long vacation..i will update my blog with new dishes soon :)

I came here with one good news today..Microsoft introduced a new search tool in competition with google.It's really cool ..just now my husband told me abt this..i just searched for the shopping mall ,gas prices,weather etc..bing is recognizing our loacation and showing the the search results near to our location..check it.

http://www.bing.com/ (Microsoft search engine)

MSN/Live search is changed into bing with new features i guess :)

Try it and Let me know your comments friends..

Lemon squares

2009-05-14T16:37:00.000-07:00

A recipe for lemon squares, a popular dessert made with a cookie/buttery short bread crust with tangy lemony topping. I hope everyone loves to eat Lemon bars. When making these bars we have to pre-bake the shortbread crust and pour the lemony filling on the crust and bake it untill it sets. check the video how to make lemon squares/bars from food networks.

This is my 50th post,i am celebrating this happiest moment with this mouthwatering dessert :)

Ingredients:

For Crust:

unsalted butter-11/2 sticks,
sugar-1/4 th cup
all purpose flour-1 cup
pinch of salt

For Filling:

sugar- 2 cups
eggs-2 to 4
fresh lemon juice-1 cup
grated lemon zest -2 tsp
All purpose flour -1/2 cup

For Topping/Garnishing:

Powdered sugar

Lemon zest

Preparaation:

1.FOR CRUST: Using mixer,cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the flour and salt and mix until the it forms a dough.

2.Pour above mixture into a greased pan ,Press into the bottom of your pan and bake/chill for about 20 minutes, or bake until lightly browned. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool while you make the filling.

3. FOR FILLING: In your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the sugar and eggs until nice and smooth. Add the lemon juice and zest and stir to combine.

4.Add the flour and mix well. Pour this mixture/filling over the freezed/baked crust and again bake for about 20 minutes, or until the filling is set. Remove from oven and allow it to cool.

5.Cut into squares or your desired shape and dust with powdered sugar.

Note:

Follow the recipe given by food networks..the recipe i had given is different in proportions..i have altered the proportions in my desired way..

Plantain fry

2009-05-04T16:14:00.000-07:00

I hope many of you knew the health benifits of plantain....so use plantain in your meals :))

Here is the recipe for plantain fry..

Ingredients:

plantain -2 small
onion -1 big (finely chopped)
pinch of turmuric
salt to taste
lemon juice-3 tsp
oil-2 tsp
seasoning ingredients
shredded/grated coconut -2 tsp
garlic cloves-4
coriander powder-1 tsp
red chilli powder-1/2 tsp

Preparation:

1.Heat oil in a pan add all seasoning ingredients (chanadal,uruddal,cumin seeds , musturd seeds ,dry red chillis,curry leaves) and fry few min and then add onions fry till onion becomes transparent.

2.Now add plantain pieces , turmuric and salt , mix everything , cover and cook on a low flame until plantain pieces become soft.

3.Finally add red chilli powder,coriander powder,coconut ,garlic( mash it n add it) ,mix well and fry for few min.Atlast add lemon juice and mix well and switch off the stove.

4.serve hot .Its good with rice along with rasam/sambhar.

I am sending this to "15 Minute Cooking" hosted by mahimaa's kitcen hosting by Mahima..

Mango icecream

2009-05-04T15:19:00.000-07:00

Mangoes have been one of the very favorite fruits in the Indian sub-continent...called the "King Of Fruits".I am carving for the mango icecream from many days..I made tongue licking mango icream today becoz i have purchased a new icecream maker last weekend.

Mango tins can be found in many Indian Grocery Stores. You canalso use the mango pulp too in the recipe.Here is the recipe..

Ingredients:

ripe mangoes-1 to 1 1/3 pound (2-3 mangoes)
sugar-¾ cup
whip cream-½ cup
curd-2 tsp
vanilla extract-¼ tsp
freshly squeezed lemon juice-1 tsp

Preparation:

1.Peel the mangoes, slice them into quarters, stir them in the sugar, then blend it using blender,add mango puree with the whip cream, curd, vanilla and lemon juice and blend until smooth.

2.Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator abt an hour, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

3.Mango icecream is ready !!

I am sending this to following event:

Announcing : MY FAVOURITE THINGS EVENT - Frozen Desserts hosting by aquadaze and is conceived byBindiya

Samiya pulihora

2009-05-01T08:45:00.000-07:00

I tried this recipe from mahimaas kitchen.This came out very well..It really tastes like pulihora only.Thanks alot mahimaa..we had wonderful light dinner yesterday with this..

You can eat this as breakfast,Brunch,lazy/quick/light Meal too :)

The basic recipe is same..mine is a bit variation in quantity of ingredients or its my refined version of recipe :) .Anyway i am giving the recipe here..you can check original recipe here

Ingredients:

Vermicelli-1 cup

water-1.5 cups

greenchilli-2(slit)

peanuts-1/2 cup

tamarind-3/4 th of small lemon

seasoning ingredients(cumin,urud dal,chana dal,mustard seeds,red chillies)

curry leaves

salt to taste

turmeric powder-1/8 th tsp or a pinch

oil-3 tsp

Preparation:

1.First soak the tamarind in little amt of water and keep it aside.

2.take a pan ,heat 1 tsp od ol and roast samiya till golden brown and transfer that to another bowl/plate and keep that aside.

3.In the same pan,add remaining oil & add all seasoning ingredients along with peanuts and green chilli and fry till peanuts become golden brown.

4.Now squeeze water from tamarind (this should adjust according to your samiya quantity for 1 cup of samiya ,tamarind water around 1.5 cups),add this to the tadka/seasoning and increase the heat to med-high and let it heat untill the water is boiled.

5.Add salt,turmeric and mix well.Now add samiya and mix well.Keep the heat in med-high till the all the water evoparated from the samiya in b/w mix the samiya,and then reduce the heat to low and continue to cook till samiya becomes dry..

6.Samiya pulihora ready..serve hot..

Note:1.If you feel tamarind is not healthy..add shredded/grated unripe mango in the tadka fry for some time and add normal water.

2.You can also use dry mango powder and use normal water instead of tamarind water.

3.If at all you have a doubt in your mind,how it will tastes..just use lemon juice in samiya upma..:) then next time go for this!!

4.Be cautious while adding water to samiya...if you add more..samiya becomes mushy!!

Kottimeera/Cilatro chutney

2009-04-29T13:57:00.000-07:00

The leaves of the Coriander plant are referred as coriander leaves, cilantro .fresh leaves and the dried seeds are the most commonly used in cooking.The fresh leaves are an essential ingredient in many South Asian foods (particularly chutneys), in Chinese dishes and in Mexican cuisines. Chopped coriander leaves are also used as a garnish on cooked dishes such as dal and many curries. As heat diminishes their flavour quickly, coriander leaves are often used raw or added to the dish right before serving. In some Indian and Central Asian recipes, coriander leaves are used in large amounts and cooked until the flavour diminishes.The leaves also spoil quickly when removed from the plant, and lose their aroma when dried or frozen.The dry fruits are known as coriander seeds or coriandi seeds.(source :google)

check health benifits of cilantro here ..

I make this cilantro chutney in 2 ways.one is first fry the cilantro and grind this fried cilantro with all other ingredients like tamarind,salt n jaggery and do tadaka at last onther one is just blend raw cilanto and fry the paste in tadaka.Here is the recipe for second one....

Ingredients:

cilantro-2 bunches
tamrind paste-small lemon size or 2 to 3 tsp thick paste
chilli powder- 3/4 th tsp
salt to taste
sugar /jaggary-1 tsp
seasoning ingredients:urud dal,chan dal, cumin and musturd seeds,dry red chillis,curry leaves
oil-2 tsp

Preparation:

1.Cook tamarind paste on a low flame until it becomes thick like paste or till its raw smell is gone.

2.Take a mixi bowl,add cilantro leaves,cooked tamarind paste ,salt, chilli powder and jaggary grind to a smooth paste along with few table spoons of water.

3.Heat oil in a pan add all seasoning ingredients ,fry till golden brown and then add cilantro paste and fry till raw smell of cilantro gone .

4.Serve with Rice,dosa,chapathi etc.

This is my entry for JFI - JHIVA FOR CILANTRO @ Cilantro and the event started by Indira of Mahanandi

Note:Check Good info on cilantro Here

Tulip Festival Skagit Valley

2009-04-28T22:08:00.000-07:00

Tulips are in full bloom. It was a great treat for eyes compared to previous week.We started early in the morning thinking if we get bored, we can move on to San Juan Islands.But when we reached Rozen Garden, we were mesmerized by the beauty of colorful tulips. what a god creation... It was so so gorgeous, we ended up spending time going around the fields like kids. we canceled the San Juan Islands trip and we roamed around skagit valley. We really enjoyed watching the full bloomed tulips. It was awesome trip we had till now. My husband bought a new lens and he took hundred of snaps. he was so happy that he get a good place to test his new lens. I love tulips!! I missed this last year because i was sick that time...now i really enjoyed with lovely tulips :))

My hubby got a nice snap of red rebel tulip among yellow ones..

Other clicks..Vista background image...he got a similar one as vista background image.

Here is one wall poster ...

you can check the photos here for Beautiful tulips

Aratikaya/Plantain perugu pachadi & Tulip Pics

2009-04-23T16:56:00.000-07:00

This is very tasty and takes very less time too...you can make this chutney within 15 minutes itself.

Check our tulip photos @ Skagit valley

Ingredients:

Plantain-1 medium size
salt to taste
green chilli-4
turmeric powder-1/8 th tsp
curd-2 cups
Talimpu/seasoning ingredients
Cilantro leaves

Preparation:

1.wash n cut the pantain with outer cover.Cut each plantain into 3 or 4 parts.Boil these pantain pieces in a microwavable bowl in microwave for about 10 min.Dont overcook them.

2.Meanwhile you just take a pan and do tadaka ,once it is completed,keep a lid on the pan,after 10 min Peel the outer layer of cooked plantain pieces and keep it aside.

3.Take a mixi bowl add salt,turmeric,green chilli and grind it into a paste,then add palntain pieces and grind well and then add curd into it and just blend it for 1 min.Take whole mixture into a bowl.

4.pour tadaka into perugu pachadi and mix well....that set..aratikaya perugu pachadi is ready !!

I am sending this to "WYF- Side dish" hosted by Easy crafts and "15 Minute Cooking" hosted by Mahimaa @ Mahimaa's kitchen

Pound cake

2009-04-20T16:52:00.000-07:00

A traditional Pound Cake recipe would specify one pound each of the following ingredients. These quantities are too great for most modern families, but an excellent cake can be made with half quantities. It is usual to weigh the eggs first and then use the same weights of the other ingredients,with a traditional pair of kitchen scales, the eggs are simply used instead of weights.(source:google)

But i have changed these proportions, but it is still tastes awesome with a lovely golden brown color.

Ingredients:

All purpose flour-1 cup (200 gms)
unsalted butter, room temperature or ghee-1 cup (2 sticks)
sugar-1 cup (200 grams)
eggs-4
vanilla extract-2 tsp
baking powder-2tsp
pinch of salt
Zest of a lemon or orange (optional)

Preparation:

1.In a large bowl, mix all purpose flour(sifted), baking powder, and salt.

2.using mixer,first grind sugar finely ,add ghee/butter to it and blend/grind again.Later add eggs and mix well. Add the vanilla and lemon zest beat/mix untill all are mixed properly.

3.Add the flour mixture and mix well. Pour the batter into the loaf pan.I have used this loaf pan..size as shown in fig..i have changed my photo back ground color ..is it good??

4.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, and place the loaf pan in the oven.Bake for about 60 minutes or until the cake is golden brown or untill a toothpick is inserted in the center ,which comes out clean.

5.Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool for about 10 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan and cool completely and cut according to your choice.

This is really very tasty ..i made this cake today..its already completed :)

I am sending this cake to Mithai Mela Cooking 4 all Seasons's @ Cooking 4 all Seasons's

My blogging friends Pooja ,varunavi,priya sreeram,phanitha shared this award with me...i would like to share this award with all my blogging friends.Feel free to pick up your award friends :)

Yesterday we went to tulips festival near to seattle,we enjoyed alot n had great time there with beuatiful tulips n daffodils.I will give you a photos link in the next post :)

Strawberry icecream without icecream maker

2009-04-12T14:45:00.000-07:00

My husband loves icecreams.We always buy strwberry icecream from stores.I guess this is strawberries season,I found many stores full of strawberries, I had stock of strwaberrys in my fridge,so i thought of making something with it,so why not stawberry icecream??even through i dont have icecream maker,i tried searching for this recipe.I found this recipe from the fellow blogger @http://passionateaboutbaking.blogspot.com/,I was excited to try this and i tried it! Its very easy to prepare with very few ingredients!!I am thankful to her ..check her blog..its very wonderful!!

This method of making ice cream requires quite a lot of time, effort and patience but for those who don't have an ice cream maker it means you can still enjoy our ice cream recipes.

I am happy with the results. It's Creamy, and full of strwberry flavour.I had taken same measurements and i followed the same procedure too!!

Ingredients:

palin/valila whole milk yogurt/hung curd -1 cup (240g)
strawberries, rinsed and hulled-1 pound (450g)
sugar-2/3 cup (130g)
fresh lime juice-1 teaspoon

Preparation:

1.Tie the yoghurt in a cheesecloth and let it sit in a strainer in a bowl overnight or for atleast 2 hours. This will help drain off all the whey and result in a very creamy frozen yoghurt dessert.

2.Cut the strawberries and toss it in the sugar until it begins to dissolve.

3.Blend it together until it forms a consistent puree.

4.Next, blend in the yoghurt and lime juice until the mixture is smooth.

5.Freeze the mixture in a wide dish or plastic container (larger the surface area, quicker the freezing – since we have to pulse this mixture a couple of times).Make sure you have a bowl that’s quite wide to use for the churning/freezing process .

6.Keep checking on the mixture every 30 minutes or so and use the stick blender to break the icicles. I did it 6 to 8 times.

I am soo happy with the results,it is really wonderful!!This is my entry for My Favourite Things - Frozen Desserts that is hosting by Aquadaze of Served with Love, and is conceived by Bindiya.

Mutton curry

2009-04-10T23:55:00.000-07:00

I love mutton compared to chicken n fish.I was tempted by the many fellow bloggers who made mutton dishes recently..i did this today..it came out very well.Sorry i didn't take good pictures :(

Ingredients:

Mutton-1/2 kg or 500ms
Ginger& Garlic Paste -3 tbsp
cumin seeds/jeera-1 tsp
green chilli-2 slit
Turmeric Powder- 1/2tsp
garam masala powder-11/2 tsp
red chilli powder-1/2 to 1 tap varies with your spice level
Curry leaves

salt to taste
curd-3 tsp

Oil -4 bsp

Optional ingredients:

Cinnamon stick -4 small ones
Cloves -3
Bay leaves -2
cilantro and mint leaves

Make paste: use below ingredients and make paste using mixer/food processor.

onions-11/2 big
tomotoes-2 medium

Preparation:

1.Marinate mutton with turmeric powder ,salt ,red chilli powder,ginger-garlic paste and curd and keep it aside for abt 15 min.Heat oil in a pressure cooker add cumin seeds and curyy leaves and green chilli.Add onions paste ,fry till onion paste becomes light brown .

2.Add tomatoe puree and fry the mixture till the raw smell of tomotoes goes off.

3.Add the marianted mutton pieces and mix it all well. Fry the mutton with the masala in medium flame till the oil seperates from the muton .Add garam masala and fry for couple of min.

4.Now add one cup of water into it. Stir it well so that all of the ingredients mix together and close the lid of the pressure cooker.

5.Pressure cook it until the 4 or 5 whistle goes off. After that remove from heat and keep it aside.

6.If you feel the gravy looking liquidish,again cook in the same pressure cooker or transfer it into a seperate pan and boil for few more min or till all water evoparated from the curry.

7.Garnish it with coriander leaves.This is good to eat with rice or chapathi n parathas n pooris too :)

scrambled egg/egg burji with bottle gourd

2009-04-08T13:47:00.000-07:00

Scrambled eggs is a dish made from beaten whites and yolks of eggs .Beaten eggs are put into a hot greased pan and stirred frequently, forming curds as they coagulate.Scrambled eggs are made special with chopped veggies and green onions.You can mix any vegetables..here i have mixed bottle gourd.You can also mix tomoto,cabbage,cauliflower etc.

The main adavantage of mixing other veggies is ,if you are health concious,dont want to eat many eggs in a single day and also you need the quantity of curry should be more especially if you have invited your guests to dinner/lunch..this curry will be easy to make and no need to use many eggs in the curry just add other veggies inorder to gain the curry quantity :)

Even if you added bottle gourd,the taste doesn't change..it tastes more with bottle gourd rather than single egg!!

Ingredients:

Organic/normal Eggs-3
Onions-1 small
bottle gourd-1/2 small one
green chilli-2(slit)
salt to taste
red chilli powder-1/2 tsp
turmeric powder-1/4 th tsp
garam masala powder-1/4 th tsp
cilantro and green onions for garnishing -optional

Preparation:

1.cut onions finely,peel the skin of bottle gourd and shred the gourd using food processor.

2.Heat enough oil in the pan,add all seasoning ingredients and fry till golden brown and then add onions and green chillies, fry untill onion becomes transparent.

3.Now add shredded bottle gourd to it and fry till all the moisture evoparates in it.Add turmeric and salt and mix well.

4.Move the above whole mixture to the sides of the pan and break the egg and pour egg yolk and whites in the middle of the pan.

5.If you want bigger curds,dont mix freequently..otherwise mix freequently and fry till all the egg mixture is fried/cooked properly.

6.Add red chilli powder,garam masala powder to it and mix well and let it fry for 2 min and then remove from the heat.

7.This is good to eat with rice/chapathi's.

Vangi bath

2009-04-03T22:51:00.001-07:00

Vangi bath is a Karnataka specialty that you can eat as a brunch/full meal.Other typical karnataka dishes include Bisi bele bath, Jola Rotti, Chapathi, Ragi rotti, Akki rotti, Saaru, Huli, Khara Bath, Kesari Bath, Davanagere Benne Dosa, Ragi mudde, and Uppittu. The famous Masala Dosa traces its origin to Udupi cuisine.Plain and Rave Idli, Mysore, Masala Dosa and Maddur Vade are popular in South Karnataka.

When i was working in bangalore,i always used to eat vangi bath in my off cafeteria,there catering people always make set/masala dosa or idli for breakfast and afternoon lunch includes either bisi bele bath or vanghi bath along with other karnataka dishes.Becoz of that i didn't like set dosa n vangi bath,after many days ..again i did vangi bath today in my kitchen ..now it is awesome :))

Ingredients:

raw Basmathi/long grain rice -1 cup
Italian eggplant/indian brinjals-1 big size/7-8 brinjals
potato-1 big size -optional
peas-1/2 cup
MTR Vangi bath powder-2 tsp
seasoning ingredients
curry leaves
roasted peanuts-1/2 cup
mixed nuts/Cashews-1/2 cup-(dry roast/roast them in ghee)-optional
dry roasted chana dal and urad dal powder-3 tsp(optional)

Ingredients needed for making paste :

green chillies-6
coriander-1 small bunch
ghee/oil-4 tablespoons
shredded coconut powder-1/4th cup(optional)

Preparation:

1. Cook the rice with a pinch of turmeric once rice is done,Let it cool for some time and seperate each grain of rice.

2. Dry roast the shredded coconut and grind this with green chillies and coriander leaves to make a paste using Food processor/mixer.

3. Dry roast the chana dal and urad dal and grind to a powder using mixer.

4.Cut the brinjal length wise and keep it in salt water,cut onions finely.Peel the potato and cut into medium size cubes.In a large pan, heat oil/ghee and do tadaka/seasoning by adding chana dal, urad dal, mustard seeds,cumin seeds, red chillies, curry leaves and fry for few min till all seasoning ingredients become golden brown.

5. Add the finely chopped onions and fry till onions become transparent.Add potatoes, brinjal pieces and fry until all veggies are cooked.Atlast add peas ,cook for few more min and mix gently without breaking them.

6. Add above grinded paste , vangi bath powder along with ghee, salt to the rice and mix well.

7. Add cooked brinjal mixture to the rice , mix well.Atlast add roasted peanuts and nuts to vangi bath and serve hot with raita or any chutney .

Note:If you already added salt in the brinjal mixture..don't add salt again to rice..add either to rice or brinjal mixture.

I am sending this recipe to Announcing Cooking For Kids Rice Event hosting by trupti and is started by Sharmi of Neivedyam Sharmi of Neivedyam

white brinjal with green peas/vankaya bataani fry

2009-04-02T15:53:00.000-07:00

Vankaya Bataani fry is one of Andhra Style vegetable dry curry. It is very good in taste and here we are including legumes in simple vegetable curries making it highly nutritious.In andhra,this cuury usually serves in marriage functions.

Usually with white/green brinjals,chutney will be good but you can also make this dry version of curry.You can serve this as a side dish and it is good to eat with either rice or chapthi's.

Health benifits of brinjal:

1. It is believed to be a cholesterol regulator, and it is anti diabetic.

2.It is rich in Vitamin A and B and it is low in calorie content.

3.It can block the formation of free radicals, help control cholesterol levels and is also a source of folic acid and potassium.

4. In South East Asia, it is used to treat stomach cancers and measles.

Ingredients:

white/green brinjals-1/2 kg
Frozen/dried peas-1 cup
onion-1 big(lenghtwise/finely chopped)
seasoning ingredients
curry leaves
ginger-garlic paste- 1 tsp
green chilli-2 slit
red chilli powder-1/4 th tsp
turmeric powder-1/4 th tsp
salt to taste
garam masala powder-1/4 th tsp
oil-3 tsp
cilantro for garnishing-optional

Preparation:

1.If the peas are dried ones,soak them in water for 6 hours or overnight.Later,you can cook it in the pressure cooker up to one whistle or you can cook outside on the stove and par boil it(inside should be slightly soft and firm on the outside).I used frozen peas.

2.chop onions lengthwise or finely and cut the brinjals lengthwise (it should be of length atleast half of your finger size)and place it in salt water untill you put these into the pan.

3.Heat oil in pan,add all seasoning ingredients(cumin seeds/jeera,mustard,chana dal,uruddal, and curry leaves.) and fry these for a min and then add onions and green chilies fry untill onion become translucent.Add ginger-garlic paste,turmeric powder and fry for few min.

4.Now add brinjal pieces , keep frying till brinjal gets softened,if you want you can keep the lid on the pan for some time but not whole cooking time. Now add red chili power, garam masala powder and salt and mix well. Cook for another 5 minutes over low flame till the oil separates. At this stage add the frozen/cooked green peas (draining all water) and toss gently without breaking them. Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves and serve as a sidedish for rice.

This is my entry to the WYF : side dish event at Simple Indian Food

Plantain chips

2009-03-31T19:29:00.000-07:00

Hi friends..

I made plantain chips today..becoz everyday my husband asks some snacks once he returned from work ..now a days i am not making much..but he is always eating chips which are brought from the stores.Today i decided to make some quick snack replacing his store brought chips :) so i found this recipe from other blogger friend.After seeing her blog n seeing her recipe pics..i couldn't stand without making any of her recipes.Atlast i have decided to make these quick chips.

You can deep fry these chips or you can also bake in oven @ 350 F about 25 to 30 min untill chips becomes light golden brown,in between turn once.Next time i will try baking..

I sliced these chips using food processor..It just takes 2 min for slicing!!

You can check her recipe here..Plantain Chips @ http://www.tastypalettes.com/2007/05/plantain-chips.html ..sorry my links are not working..

I am sending this to SWC-Meals on Wheels event hosting by lakshmi

Tomoto with taro root curry

2009-03-31T13:27:00.000-07:00

This is another way to use taro root other than stew and fry.This tastes to good with rice or chapathis.

Ingredients:

Tomotoes-5
taro root/chamadumpa-4
green chilli-1 (slit)
onion-1 (medium size) finely chopped
seasoning/talimpu ingredients
turmeric powder-1/4 th tsp
salt to taste
red chilli powder-1/4th -1/2 tsp
garam masala powder-1/4th -1/2 tsp
cilantro for garnishing
Oil

Preparation:

1.First wash taro root and peel the outer layer and cut into cubes (or) boil taro root for abt 15 to 20 min and then remove the skin and cut the boiled taro into medium size cubes.

2.Take a pan ,heat enough oil,Shallow/deep fry the taro root pieces under medium heat and keep that fried taro root pieces on a paper towel in a seperate bowl.

3.In the same pan ,keep only 2 tsp of oil and remove remaining oil.Add seasong ingredients and fry for a minute and then add onions and fry till onions become transparent.In the mean time cut tomotoes finely.

4.Add tomotoes ,turmeric powder,salt and mix well ,fry till tomotoes cooked completely.Now Add fried taro root pieces and mix well and let it cook for few more min.

5.Atlast add garam masala powder and mix well.Add cilantro for garnishing.

Varsha Vipins and Priya passed me this award..i am honoured to recieve this award from you friends..Thanks varsha n priya!!

I am sending this recipe to Sanghi's tasty bites,'Tomato Event'

I am dedicating this recipe to my friend sunanda..becoz i dont know this vesion of using taro root before..i have learnt this recipe from her..so i am dedicating this to my friend sunanda...Thank alot sunanda!!

Sorry friends links are not working..i am editing all these through html mode..i dont know why still the links are not working..

My Specials for Ugadi ..

2009-03-26T14:14:00.000-07:00

Today we are celebrating Ugadi(yuga-means era or year+adi-means start/new) ,the Telugu New Year Day, which is the first festival of our Telugu calendar and it is a special festival for all Indians especially for Andhra,Maharastra,karnataka people.Our Andhra festival is known by different names in different states of India like “Gudi Padwa” in Maharastra and “Ugadi” in Andhra Pradesh and "yugadi" in Karnataka.It invites the dawn of Vasanth Rutu (Spring Season),which is considered the first season of the year (Chaitra Maasam) .

This day is considered very auspicious to start new ventures.It is generally held that Brahma created the world on this day. Also Lord Vishnu is said to incarnate himself, as Matsya. Brahma is the chief deity worshipped this day. On Ugadi the predictions are made for the New Year among abt our health,politics,buisness etc. With the coming of Ugadi, mango season is in full swing with fresh green mangoes .People also decorate the entrance of their houses with fresh mango leaves which signifies prosperity and general well-being and draw colorful floral designs in front of the houses. The women prepares special dishes to mark the occasion.I have taken all these info from net.

Ugadi pachadi/pickle:significant tradition of Ugadi is beginning the new year with the preparation of savoring a unique flavored pachadi (chutney),this pachadi is a kind of a drink with all flavours explains the essense of our beautiful life.This drink is the mix of sweetness,sournes,bitterness,spicyness,pungent and last saltyness(shadhruchulu/ six tastes).This chutney is a symbolic reminder of the myriad facets of life both joy and sorrow and prepares one to face both good and bad in the year to come or in a sense prepares us for the year ahead. We should take both happyness and sorrow equally in our life and take it as in the part of life and should enjoy every part of it..... ofcourse telling is easy..but its very hard to follow ..i knew it..:)

Ugadi Pachadi is a special preparation prepared in every Andhra home on Telugu New Year’s day.Its made with fresh tamarind,jaggery(bellam),fresh mangoes and neem flowers (vepa poota).One can add coconut and bananas n other fruits also.The sweetness of jaggery,the sourness of tamarind,the bitterness of neemflower and the pungent flavor of the green mango skin,spice of the chilli powder ,and lastly salt form the shadhruchulu or six tastes of the ugadi chutney.

I made today the special pachadi,mango pulihora with the use of raw mango along with other special foods Poornam/sweet balls and moong dal vada.

Ugaadi pachadi/Ugadi pickle:

Ingredients:

raw fresh mango (cut into small pieces along with skin)-1 cup
margosa flowers (neem tree flowers)-1 tbsp
grated jaggery-1/4th cup
tamarind -small lemon size
red chilli powder-1/4 th tsp
salt to taste

Preparation:

1.Wash the tamarind and soak it in water for abt 10 min and squueze the juice from it.

2.Mix all the above ingredients to tamarind juice to form sauce like appearence.Add little water if required.

3.You can also add small pieces of ripe banana,pomogranite seeds,grapes,oranges along with the above ingredients.But i dont like them to add.

Today i dont have neem buds/flowers..so i have addded bitter gourd pieces.

Elders will say that,Ugadi Pachadi is a healthy where the Neem flowers , new tamarind, jaggery and fresh raw mangoes contain nutrients that cleanse our body and it prevents any illness.
Mango pulihora:

Ingredients:

rice(raw)-1 cup
grated green mango -1 to 2 cups(It may vary with the sourness of the mango)
green chillies - 4 pieces( slit lengthwise)
peanuts -1/4th cup
chana dal-1 tsp
urud dal-1 tsp
cumin seeds-1/2-1tsp
mustard seeds-1/2-1 tsp
curry leaves-10
dried red chilli-4
turmeric powder-1/2 tsp
Salt to taste
oil-3 tsp

Preparation:

1.Peel the skin of mango and grate the mango using grater. usually for 1 cup of rice it takes 1/2 cup of tangy grated mango..sometimes the mango may not be that sour..so adjust the grated mango to your taste depends on sourness of mango.

2.Cook the rice seperately in electric cooker or outside.The rice should be dry and grains should be seperate n it shouldn't be mushy.

3.Take a pan, heat oil in it. Add all seasoning ingredients along with peanuts and fry all ingredients until light golden brown color.(first add cuminseeds,urud dal,chana dal,green chillies,peanuts,dry red chillies and curry leaves) and switch off the stove.

4.Take hot cooked rice in a big bowl,add some curry leaves to this hot rice..so that it smells good then add grated mango to hot rice ,and cover the grated mango with hot rice.Once the rice is cooled little bit,take little oil in your hand and mix turmeric to oil in your hand and add that to your rice and keep it aside.Becoz of adding this grated mango and turmeric to hot rice,the raw taste of mango and turmeric will be gone.

5.Once the rice is cooled,and all the above fried ingredients to it and add salt to it and mix well.

6.serve hot.This is very easy to prepare and tastes very good.

Sweet Balls (Poornam) Recipe:

Ingredients :

rice - 1/2 kg
white lentils/black gram dhal/urud dal - 1/4 kg
chana dal/bengal gram dhal - 150 gms
jaggery - 150 gms
cardamom - 10
salt - 1 tsp
oil for deep frying

Preparation:

1.First soak the rice and black gram dhal for five to six hours or one day before you want to make.

2.Wash and soak chana dal in water and Boil the chana dhal in water in pressure cooker and keep it for 4 to 5 whistles.

3.Grind the rice and black gram dhal like a paste and add salt to it and take the batter into a seperate bowl.

4.Mash the boiled chana dal/bengal gram dhal and add jaggery and elaichi(powder the seeds ) and cook it till dry. Dont add water here ,we have to cook till all the water in the mixture is evoparated and when you think the mixture is too thick ,then you can able to make the balls with it,switch off the stove.

5.After cooling the above dal mixture,divide the dal mixture into even sized portions.Shape each portion like a ball (size as you like,usually lemon size balls).

6.Take the oil in frying pan once the oil is heated enough,take the dal ball and dip it in the batter and take that covered batter ball and slide it into the oil,fry the covered dal ball till light golden brown color.

Moong dal Vada/pesara garelu recipe is already there in my prev posts..

Today most of the dishes ..my husband helped me..especially he made mango pulihora..without applying turmeric all over the rice ..anyway taste is good:)

Once again..I wish you and your family a very happy & prosperous Ugadi friends ...

Taro root stew/chamadumpa pulusu with chips

2009-03-25T14:50:00.000-07:00

People use Taro roots all over the east and south asia,so you can find them in south asian,chinese,korean groceries.Taro is also known as Yam in most parts of the asia , so dont confuse it with the american yam,which is often mistaken as sweet potato.Taro is an intresting tuber,which has mild distinctive taste and mimics as a starchy potato.This root is most well known as the ingredient of the hawaiian dish poi or mashed taro root.

Taro root,It's hairy outer coating looks like coconut.The hairy outer layer is always removed with caution since skin irritation can arise by the juice secreted by the taro root.Taro root is toxic in it's raw form,so cook it before eating. These tubers take on a nut like flavor when cooked.Select the taro root that are straight,firm with no wrinkling.

My husband loves all kind of stews/pulusulu...sometimes i feel angry..becoz he will eat anything with sour taste to be dominant along with more salt and spicy.I used to make these kind of stews atleast twice a week.But now a days i am not doing these much..somehow i skipped it :)

After many days,i did this stew/pulusu today..it tastes too good with any fry.I am posting all the pics at the same place becoz today something is happened to my blog,i am unable to edit my content:(

Ingredients for pulusu:

Taro roots/arbi/chamadumpa-6 (medium size)
green chilli-2 split
salt to taste
red chilli powder-1/4 th tsp
turmeric powder-1/8 th tsp
tamarind-lemon size
ginger-garlic paste-1/2 tsp-optional
garam masala-1 tsp-optional
onions-1big finely chopped
cumin seeds-1 tsp
oil-2 tsp, sugar-1tsp
cilantro for garnishing

Preparation:

1.Wash the tamarind and soak the tamarind in water.Boil the taro root in pressure cooker similar to potatoes .In the mean time,take a deep pan, heat oil ,add cumin seeds and fry for a min and then add green chilli and chopped onions and fry it till the onion becomes transparent.

2.Squeeze the tamarind with water,pour that tamarind juice into the pan.Add water if required,the consistency of the stew/pulusu should be thin at the starting.Add turmeric powder and red chilli powder and salt to it and mix well.

3.Reduce the heat to medium and keep the lid on the pan and continue to cook for abt 15-20 min or till the stew/pulusu beccomes little thick.

4.After boiling the taro root in pressure cooker (i mean after 2 or 3 whistles),remove the taro root from the cooker and keep it under cold water and remove the skin of taro root similar to the potato( peel the skin with hand after cooking).After Peeling, cut the taro into medium/big size pieces/rounds.

5.Add these cooked taro root pieces to the stew and let it boil for few more min.Add sugar at the end and mix well.Atlast, add cilantro leaves.

6.This is good to eat with rice along wiht some fried chips.

I made chamadumpa fry/chips along with this stew today.I had already written the recipe for this fry/chips.Check my prev posts becoz i am not able to copy and paste that link here today..some problem today in my blog ( I have used type 1 in my recipe for making this chamadumpa fry).

Hot and Sour soup

2009-03-22T21:24:00.000-07:00

This soup is really hot..my husband likes it!!This is one of the famous soup other than tomoto soup.This soup is really good for cold.This recipe serves for two to three people.

Ingredients:

water-4cups( cup means 100 ml quantity)
chillisauce-1 1/2 tsp
soya sauce-1 1/2 tsp

black pepper-1 tsp

Grated ginger-1 tsp
cabbage-1/4 th cup shredded
corn-1/4 th cup
carrot-1/8 th cup shredded
peas-1/8th cup
sugar-1/2 tsp
Lemon juice-1 tsp

salt to taste
tomotosauce-2 tsp or tomoto-1/2 medim finely chopped/grinded
corn flour/corn starch-21/2 tsp
Green onions for garnishing optional
Preparation:

1.First take a bowl and heat 4 cups of water in it.After 2 min ,add chili sauce,soya sauce,black pepper,salt,sugar,tomoto sauce and mix well. Later add grated ginger to it.

2.once the above mixture comes to boil,add all the finely choped/shredded veggies into it along with corn and peas.

3.Continue to heat the soup for couple of min till all the veggies are cooked and then mix cornflour in very small amt of water and add that mixture to soup for thickening.Add lemon juice to it and mix well.

4.continue to stir the mixture/soup till you feel the right consistency for soup and garnish the soup with green onions and serve hot.

Note:you can add your veggies whatever you like to soup..and reduce the spices quantity ,if you are used to less spice.

kulcha or Naan ???

2009-03-20T12:49:00.000-07:00

kulcha is basically a punjabi recipe,baked flat bread made with all-purpose flour(Maida).kulcha can be plain or stuffed ,both tastes too good.This is good to eat with chana masala(chole),paneer butter masala any non veg/veg gravy curries.

Actually i thought of making kulcha from many days..i searched in the internet..and took the recipe (fusioned it from many sites )and prepared it but finally this has turned out ..... i don't know what to call..but i am describing this as kulcha only :)

I dont know the exact difference betweeen naan and kulcha except one(kulchass can be stuffed with any vegetables like paratha's but not naan's)

This is my first time making , reviving my college days.During my college days i used to eat naans and kulchaas on every weekend.We had lot of dhabas near by my college,and usually we don't have dinner on every sunday,they will just give evening snacks on that day.We people every weekend ,used to go to dhabas and eat these along with non veg curries.I am a big fan of kulcha....Finally i did it today but end up in a confusion what it is finally turned out :)

Suggest me any changes that i have to make for the preparatin of kulcha and naan and tell me the difference b/w naan and kulchaa friends.. ,so that i will make next time with your changes without any fusion confusion!!

Ingredients:

Maida (All Purpose Flour)- 3 Cups

Salt- 1 tsp

Baking Powder- 1 tsp

Dry yeast- 1 tsp

Warm water- 1/4 Cup

curd/ Yogurt - 4 tsp

Sugar- 1 tsp

oil-few tsp

Ghee - 1/8th cup

Milk /water to make dough

Maida for dusting and rolling dough

Preparation:

1.Mix dry yeast in luke warm water and keep it aside for 5 to 10 min or till foam comes on top of water.

2. sift Maida and add salt, sugar,and baking powder to this flour.

3. Make a well in the middle of the flour and add dissolved dry yeast with water , Yogurt ,oil and knead it.

4. Mix evenely with your hand and if needed add water/milk to make soft dough. Knead the dough for 5to 10 minutes.

5. Gather the dough to form a ball. Lightly apply oil on the ball. Cover with damp kitchen towel or a plastic film wrap. Let it rest about 2 -4 hours at room temperature.

6.After the rest time,Knead the dough for about five minutes. Divide dough in to 8 equal small balls. One dough ball will make one Kulcha.

7. Preheat oven to 450º F.

8. Lightly dust the rolling surface with Maida. Put a Dough ball. Flatten the dough with hand. Roll the dough out to form a round, or oval shape about the 1/4 inch thickness.

9. Brush the Kulcha with Ghee. Put the Kulcha on a greased Baking sheet. Bake about 3 to 5 minutes.

10.Instead of using oven you can also use flat pan .I have used flat pan for frying the kulcha.Heat the pan and put kulcha on it,when you see bubbles on it turn the other side apply ghee on it.fry it till golden spots observed on both the sides of the kulcha.

11.Serve kulcha with chana masala/chole.

plain Dosa/Rice pancake

2009-03-18T17:17:00.000-07:00

I guess everyone knows this ..but still i am posting becoz i just want to include some basic recipes too in my blog :)

I will post Instant/different types of dosa's in my future postings!!

Ingredients:

Rice-3 cups
Uruddal/black gram -1 cup
salt

oil

Preparation:

1.wash and soak both dal and rice seperately .soak it 6 to 8 hrs before you want to make.

2.Grind seperately both dal and rice using little water.Mix both grinded rice and dal mixture.Add salt to the batter atlast and keep it outside for atleast 12 hrs,so ferementation occurs and dosa tastes more after fermentation.

3.take tawa,heat it and add one tsp of oil ,pour the batter on to the tawa and spread it and fry it on both sides till golden brown.

4.Enjoy dosa with peanut chutney/any chtney!!

I am sending this to Announcing: My Legume Love Affair: Ninth Helping(MLLA9) hosting by Laurie Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska and the creator of MLLA is Susan The Well-Seasoned Cook

vegetable cutlet with bambino samiya

2009-03-17T16:45:00.000-07:00

These cutlets are very tasty and we can eat this as a snack.Vegetable cutlet can be made in different varieties,this is one of those varities.If you want you can also add other veggies like cabbage,beans etc.

Ingredients:

Bambino samiya packet-150 gms
breadpowder-3 cups
potatoes-2
all purpose flour/maida-1 cup
carrot-2
frozen peas-1/2 cup
cilantro-1 bunch
mint leaves
lemon-1
oil
turmeric powder
salt to taste
red chlilli powder

Preparation:

1.cut all the vegetables ,and cook all the vegetables using pressure cooker and take cooked veggies(drain water if required) into a bowl and add salt ,chilli powder,turmeric powder,lemon juice, and mix well.

2.chop finely both cilantro and mint.Add cilantro,mint to the above mixture.

3.Mix all purpose flour with water and make it thin batter and keep it aside.pour bread powder onto a plate and keep it aside.

4.Boil water in a large bowl,put samiya in the boiling water and let it cook for few min and then drain the water from samiya and add this drained samiya to the veggie mixture.

5.Using this veggie mixture with samiyaa,make vadas and keep it aside.

6.Take any flat pan,heat it , and pour 1 tsp oil on it.Now take above vadas and dip the whole vada in the maida batter and remove the vada from the batter and slide the vada in the bread powder till both sides of the vada covered with bread powder.

7.put that vada/cutlet in the pan and fry both the sides of cutlet till golden brown.

8.on a single pan, you can put 6 to 8 cutlets depending on the size and fry it.Serve these cutlets with any chutney/chilli-garlic sauce.

I am sending this to Announcing Cooking for Kids Event- Potato hosting by Deepa Hari

Note:check this for easy/handy making bread powder/bread crumbs:How to Make Breadcrumbs: Tips : bonappetit.com

Cabbage pakoda

2009-03-15T21:27:00.001-07:00

Cabbage pakoda is a very good appetizer/snack.I had already written this recipe but i haven't included the pic yet.Now i am updating with pic and posting it again friends!!

Ingredients:

chopped cabbage 3 cups
Besan powder 1 cup
rice flour 1/4 cup
chopped onions sleekely and long length 2 cups
chopped green chilles 10
chopped coriander and curry leaves(optional)
water necessary
salt to taste
oil

Preparation:

1. First take a large bowl and mix all the above ingredients except water and oil .

2.Be careful while adding water,add very less amt of water( Add required water )inorder to make the batter tight but not loose ..

3.Take a pan and put on medium heat and once the moisture is gone in the pan add oil for frying till 1/2 to 3/4 th of the pan.

4.once the oil gets heated ..take a spoon and drop the batter in the form of a small dough (size of tea spoon) into the oil till the pan is filled with pakodas.

5.once bubbling around the pakoda is stopped turn the pakoda onto other side and do the same and make sure that every pakoda is fried.

6.Remove fried pakodas from the pan and place it on a paper towel.

7.Serve hot cabbage pakodas to your guests/loved ones.

Note:If the batter is tight , pakoda takes less oil for frying and it will be crispy too!!

Mushroom curry and awards

2009-03-13T18:36:00.000-07:00

This curry made similar to the chicken curry.This tastes like chicken too!!The only addition is methi leaves during tadaka/talimpu becoz my mother told me that it will taste more with addition of methi leaves.You can add fenugreek/methi leaves in tadaka in any curry ,it tastes too god.Fenugreek leaves are very good for health check Fenugreek (methi) for health and beauty.Once you studied these benifits i am sure you will definetely use fenugreek in your daily curries.The curry will be good with either rice or chapathi's.

Ingredients:

Mushrooms-300 gm
onion-1 big(finely chopped)
tomoto -1 big(finely chopped)
ginger-garlic paste-1 tsp
turmeric powder-1/4 th tsp
red chilli powder-1/2 tsp
methi leaves-1 bunch
salt to taste
curry leaves
cumin seeds-1 tsp
curd-3 tsp
oil-3 tsp
garam masala- 1/2 tsp
cilantro for garnishing

Preparation:

1.First wash the mushrooms and cut into two or 4 pieces.

2.Marinate the mushrooms by mixing with salt and turmeric powder,ginger-garlic paste and redchilli powder.If you want you can also add curd and mix well and keep it aside for 15 min.

3.Heat the pan,put oil,when heated add cuminseeds,curry leaves and saute for a min and then add onions fry untill onions beecomes trasnsluscent .Later add methi leaves and saute for a min and then add tomoto and fry for few more min.

4.Add marinated mushroom to it and keep a lid on the pan and cook it untill mushrooms are cooked properly.

5.Atlast add garam masala powder and cilantro mix well,and sreve .

Here is my awards..Vibaas Vibaas passed me the circle of friends award..Thanks alot dear..I am happy to be in your friends circle :))

Priya Priya Sriram passed me this cute friends awrds with love ..I am fortunate to have a friend like you..Thank you dear!!

This award sent along with these words:"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."

I would like to pass these onto the following 8 friends:

Smitha, Pooja, Mahimaa's kitchen, Varunavi, Ann , Madhu's cooking gallery, Suma Rajesh, Ranjani...some of you might already got these awrds..plz come and take your awards friends!!

Chepala pulusu/fish curry

2009-03-11T21:34:00.000-07:00

This is a traditional andhra tangy recipe made of onions and tamarind.This tastes more if you left this curry for one day and eat it on next day.Most of the telugu non-veg people will have fish or chicken or mutton on sundays.

Enjoy this andhra fish curry/chepala pulusu with rice.. I hope everyone knows about health benifits of fish..take fish atleat once in a week :)

Ingredients:

Fish- 500g cut into medium size pieces
Tamarind -lemon size (squueze the pulp from it)
ginger-garlic paste-1 tsp
Turmeric powder- 1/4 spoon
Coriander powder-2 tsp-optional
Red chili powder-1 tsp
Garam Masala-1 tsp
Onion-1 big- finely chopped
Tomato- 1 finely chopped-optional
Green chilli-2(slitted)
Cuminseeds/jeera- 1 tsp (optional)
curry leaves-1spring
Oil -4 tsp
Coriander leaves-1 bunch

Preparation:

1.Wash all the fish pieces thoroughly with salt and turmeric powder.Marinate it with a pinch of turmeric, chilli powder,and salt and ginger-garlic paste and keep it aside for 15-30 min.

2.Heat oil in a large bottomed vessel.Add cumin and curry leaves.Once they are fried,add onions and green chillies,Saute them till onions becomes trasnsluscent add ginger-garlic paste and fry it for a couple of minutes.

3.Add fish pieces to it and fry for 7 to 8 min and then add the tamarind pulp or paste.(Add water if required).Add salt and red chilli powder, if required.But remember one thing dont mix the curry with the spoon just move the pan in such a way that all the pieces have mixed well.Cook till the fish pieces become soft and well cooked on medium flame.

4.Finally add garam masala and coriander leaves , mix well.Enjoy with rice/roti/parathas.

Pumpkin curry

2009-03-10T00:43:00.000-07:00

You can also call this as Pumpkin Masala.Pumpkins are part of the same plant family that includes squash and cucumbers and can be found in an array of shapes and sizes. Make use of the seeds from your pumpkin by roasting them for a snack.I love pumpkin especially if i do this kind of masala!! I hope everyone likes this..

Health benifits of pumpkin:

1.Pumpkin is really low in calorie . The perfect vegetable for persons who watch their weight.

2.Vitamin C and potassium are also an added health benefit, as well as fiber. The bright orange flesh of pumpkin is loaded with bta-carotene.This vitamin is an important antioxidant that helps us fight free radicals.( which have great anti-cancer properties.)

3.Pumpkin seeds can also be eaten dried.They are actually very healthy and are used in the treatment of many illnesses .Pumpkin seeds are high in protein, potassium, magnesium, zinc, iron, copper and essential fatty acids.

4.Pumpkinseed oil contains good fats, which have been linked to healthier skin, an increase in energy, and improved mental function. Be sure to roast your seeds at 300 degrees or less to protect the inherent good fats.

Ingredients:

Onion -1 big( chopped finely/grinded)

Ginger-garlic paste-1

turmeric powder-¼ tsp

tomatoes-2(finely chopped/grinded puree)

green chilli-1 split

garam masala-1 tsp

Salt to taste

red chilli powder-1/4 th tbs

chopped fresh coriander for garnishing

pumpkins-1/4 th piece of medium sizeed pumpkin

oil-4 tsp

Preparation:

1.First peel the pumpkin skin,cut pumpkin into medium sized cubes.Grind onions and tomotoes seperately.Usually if we buy the pumpkin in indian groceries they won't have seeds.

2.Heat the oil in a pan and, when heated, add the onion paste .Once the onion paste is fried add tomoto puree and fry for 5 min and then add ginger- garlic paste and fry until very lightly golden.(if you want you can also put all seasoning ingredients)

3.Lower the heat and add the turmeric, green chilli and saute for a min.Add a splash of water to prevent the mixture becoming too dry.Stir well and add the garam masala, salt, red chilli powder too.

4.Once the mixture has become shiny and the oil has begun to separate (add splashes of water if necessary), add the pumpkin pieces and stir well to coat thoroughly with the mixture.

5.Turn up the heat and stir-fry for about five minutes. Add 1/2 cup water, reduce to a medium heat, cover and cook gently for 10-15 minutes until the pumpkin pieces are soft.Don't cook over time,it will become mushy.Just check and see ,if at all if you feel pieces are not cooked add little water and cook for few more min.

6.Carefully stir occasionally to check it is not sticking to the bottom.Turn the heat off and Garnish with chopped coriander.

7.Serve and enjoy with your rice or chapathi's.

Radish fry with moong dal

2009-03-07T21:39:00.000-08:00

Radish fry with moong dal is very tasty and you can serve this as a side dish.Radishes are delicious as taste in salads or even by themselves. After reading this, you may have found a new reason to consider adding radishes to your diet.

Health Benefits of Radishes :

1.Radishes are rich in ascorbic acid,folic acid and potassium. They are a good source of VitaminB6, riboflavin,magnesium,copper and calcium.

2.Ideal for dieters:radishes are very low in calories,they are also very low in fat.

3.High in Vitamin C

4.Regulates Digestion.

5.It prevents cancer due to the high amount of antioxidants that they contain.

Ingredients:

Radish/Mullangi-1/2 kg

Moong dal-1/8 kg

green chilli-4

dry red chilli-4

oil-6 tsp

shredded coocnut-2 tsp

curry leaves

garlic-4 pods

sugar-1 tsp

salt to taste

turmeric powder

Coriander leaves for garnishing-optional,seasoning ingredients(talimpu)

Procedure:

1.Soak moong dal in water abt 1/2 hr.In the mean time Wash the radish/mullangi thoroughly and peel it if you feel they are dirty.Grate the radish using grater and take this grated radish into a bowl.

2.Grind green chilies in to a corase paste and keep it aside.

3.Once the dal is soaked ,add this dal to the grated radish and add salt and turmeric powder too and keep it aside for half an hour.I have added very less turmeric powder but you can add more so that the dish looks colorful.

4.Take a pan,heat oil and add al tadaka/talimpu/seasonig ingredients and fry for a 2 min and then squeeze the water from grated radish and put that dry mixture into the pan.

5.Fry it on low flame and dont forget to put the lid on pan.Once the whole mixture is cooked,At last add shredded coconut and green chilli paste and fry for 2 min then switch off the stove.

6.Garnish with coriander leaves.This you can eat with either chapathi or rice.

Bottle gourd patties/sorakaya appalu

2009-03-03T16:48:00.001-08:00

Bottle gourd patties are one of the tastiest Andhra snack/breakfast!!Before my marriage my mother used to make these patties,i like these patties very much .This is one of my favourite sanck ,but i ate these patties approximately 3 to 4 yrs back.This is my first time making after my marriage and reviving my memories.For this snack,I got compliments from my husband too :)

I am sure everyone likes to eat these patties!!

Bottle Gourd is very beneficial for health, especially for heart, and you can have a glass full of its juice if you are on a weight loss program too.

Ingredients:

Bottle gourd/ Sorakaya - 1 big
green chilies - 8 (3 tbsp paste ) or more depending on your taste
ginger-half inch piece
curry leaves-2 springs
chana dal-4 tsp- optional
Sesame seeds/ nuvvulu - 2 tbsp optional
peanuts-5 tsp -optional
Rice flour-required according to the moisture contained in the bottle gourd
Oil for deep frying
mint and coriander leaves-1 bunch of each

Preparation:

1.Wash the green chilies(remove stems) and ginger ( and peel the skin of ginger) , put it in the blender , make a coarse paste.

2.wash the bottle gourd and Grate the gourd, no need to peel the skin. To the grated gourd add green chili-ginger paste, salt, curry leaves ,coriander leaves ,now mix well.

3.To this mixture add rice flour as much as the mixture takes until you are able to make nice dough out of it, do not add any water . The amount of rice flour adding to the grated mixture depends on the moisture in the bottle gourd.The mixture sholdn't be too hard or too loose.

4.Once the dough is made,taste it and if you want add more chili paste or salt .Make small ball (the size of a golf ball), apply some oil to one side of a ziploc bag. Now using your fingers press it into a nice even round shape or you can use a poori press using two ziploc bags on each side of the press.

5.Take a deep pan and heat enough oil, slowly take the appam from the cover and slide it in the oil fry it until the edges are little brown.

6.If you are health concious ,just fry it like chapathi on the flat pan. Enjoy the patties!!

This is my entry to the WYF : Cuisine event at Simple Indian Food.

Note:1. you can eat these patties without any chutney or with any chutney.In both the ways it tastes too good!!

2.You can make this appam soft or crispy depending on your taste. To make soft ones, dough should not be too hard and do not fry it for too long. And vice versa for the crispy ones.

3.If you feel the gourd contains more moisture ,just remove some water (after grating) out of it otherwise you have to add more rice flour and it will take more time to fry all patties and you may feel tired and sometimes the quantity of flour is more than the quantity of grated gourd and it may not taste that good.

Masala vada

2009-03-02T11:04:00.000-08:00

Masala vada made of urud dal.This tastes very good and you can eat this as a breakfast/snack.

Health benifits of Urad daal :They look like slightly dusty, black beads. Black gram is popular in the Indian Continent.These black beans with a white center are sold as urad in many Indian groceries. As halved beans, they are called urad dal. Urad dal is available unhusked with its black seedcoat and husked.A one-cup of urad dal serving contains 189 calories, 13 grams of protein, 12 grams of fiber (about half a day's worth) and one gram of fat. They're very popular and are eaten throughout India, from Kashmir to Tamilnadu in the south. Most popular South Indian dishes contain urad, e.g., Idli, Dosa, Utappam, Vada etc.

Ingredients :

Urud dal-2 cups

green chilies-6

Onion-1 big

Curry leaves

Cilantro/coriander leaves-1 bunch
Mint leaves -optional
ginger -small piece(grated)
Oil for frying

jeera/cuminseeds-2 tsp

Salt to taste

Procedure:

1.Soak urad dal for 2 hours in water. Drain the water and grind smoothly without adding water.If required, add very less mount of water.

2.Grind ginger and green chillies,chopped onions,cumin seeds,add that mixture to batter.Add salt, curry leaves, chopped cilantro to the batter.

3.Take small amount of batter (golf ball size), make a ball first , keep it on a plastic sheet(ziplock cover) then make it flat and make a hole in the middle. It will look like a small sized donut.

4.Heat oil in a pan and deep fry the vada , flip it on the other side until it becomes golden brown on both the sides.

5.Serve with mint chutney, or you can also put these vadas in curd and soak it for an hour and eat this as a snack/breakfast.

I am sending this snack item to the 'Lentils Mela' event hosting by Ashwini .

Pumpkin curry

2009-02-28T19:29:00.000-08:00

Health benifits of pumpkin:

Pumpkin is really low in calorie . The perfect vegetable for persons who watch their weight.

Vitamin C and potassium are also an added health benefit, as well as fiber

The bright orange flesh of pumpkin is loaded with bta-carotene.This vitamin is an important antioxidant that helps us fight free radicals.( which have great anti-cancer properties.)

Pumpkin seeds can also be eaten dried.They are actually very healthy and are used in the treatment of many illnesses .Pumpkin seeds are high in protein, potassium, magnesium, zinc, iron, copper and essential fatty acids.

Pumpkinseed oil contains good fats, which have been linked to healthier skin, an increase in energy, and improved mental function. Be sure to roast your seeds at 300 degrees or less to protect the inherent good fats.

Ingredients:

Onion -1 big( chopped finely

Ginger-garlic paste-1

turmeric powder-¼ tsp

tomatoes-2(finely chopped

green chilli-1 split

garam masala-1 tsp

Salt to taste

red chilli powder-1/4 th tbs

chopped fresh coriander for garnishing

pumpkins-1/4 th piece of medium sizeed pumpkin

Preparation:

1.Heat the two tablespoons of oil in a pan and, when heated, add the onion paste .Once the onion paste is fried add tomoto puree and fry for 5 min and then add ginger- garlic paste and fry until very lightly golden.

2.Lower the heat and add the turmeric, green chilli and saute for a min.Add a splash of water to prevent the mixture becoming too dry.Stir well and add the garam masala, salt, Stir well.

3.Once the mixture has become shiny and the oil has begun to separate (add splashes of water if necessary), add the pumpkin pieces and stir well to coat thoroughly with the mixture.

4.Turn up the heat and stir-fry for about five minutes. Add 1/2 cup water, reduce to a medium heat, cover and cook gently for 10-15 minutes until the pumpkin pieces are soft.Don't cook more time,it will become mushy.

5.Carefully stir occasionally to check it is not sticking to the bottom.9. Turn the heat off and Garnish with chopped coriander.

6.Serve and enjoy with your rice or chapathi's.

My first precious awards :)

2009-02-26T21:48:00.000-08:00

Hi friends,

One of my friend Priya Priya Sriram passed these awards to me.She is the one who encouraged me to start a blog and introduced me to blogging world!! I am very thankful to her.

Thank you for the awards priya..I dont know whether i am eligible for these awards or not..but i am sure i will improve myself :)

I would like to pass this award to my blogging friends phanitha Phanitha's Kitchenette & sowmya sowmya ,mahimaa Mahimaa's kitchen,usha Usha I hope they are more eligible than me and they might got these awards from their friends but still i am passing this award to them!!

2)

I would like to pass this award to my mother Padmavathi and sister Naipunya ..they are always giving some innovative ideas and helping me to do some healthy recipes!!

I would also like to pass this award to my blogging friends kiraAj Blogs from a home sick aussie!- and varsha bhojanamu- they also recently started blogging like me..I am sure they will also rock in this blogging world!!

3)
I would like to pass this award to my friend lalitha..she is the one who started following my blog from the day one and start trying my recipes on her hubby and encouraging me everyday with her comments!!

I would also like to pass this award to my friend Aiswarya .She is the one trying my recipes and writing encouraging comments on my blog!

I am also passing this award to my friends Rani and sunanda..

Rani:she is very busy with her work and kids ..eventhough she is following my blog and start experimenting some..thank you Rani!!

Sunanda:I have learnt many recipes from sunanda..she is a very good cook...i am thinking if she opens a blog ..I am sure she will be on the top!!I will post her recipes ( i mean what i have learned from her)in future..

peanut with Almond balls/laddu

2009-02-26T16:58:00.000-08:00

In India , now a days many tv programs are coming about health and food habits. My parents follow one of the program in maa tv named "yoga and natural life style programmes" by Manthena Satyanarayana Raju. My mother told me this peanut balls without sugar/jagery after watching one of the episode, but initially i thought this may not come good or it may not be sweet and i didnt try.One of my friend ,she tried it and told me they tastes good. After that I tried and surprisingly they came good.

This snack is very healthy as we are not using any ghee,oil,sugar etc.

I hope everybody knows the health benifits of almonds and pea nuts and dates.

check health benifits of peanuts: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=101#healthbenefits

Check health benifits of almonds :
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=20

Health benifits of daetes here http://www.hilalplaza.com/Advantages_Dates.html

Ingredients:

Peanuts-1 cup dry roasted(lightly grinded)
Almonds-1 cup unsalted and cut into halves (dry roasted optional)
california dates (without seeds)-11/2 cup

Preparation:

1.If the dates are dried ,just keep it in the water (otherwise no need) for 15-30 min and then drain the water from dates and grind it into a fine paste using mixer/mortar and pestle.If the dates are fresh just mash with your hand and make paste.

2.lightly grind peanuts and almonds .I like them as whole nuts so i didn't grind it .For kids,it is better to grind it so that they are easy to eat .Take the dates paste in to a bowl add grinded peanuts and almonds to it and make round balls of your required size.

3.If you feel they are wetty ,keep those balls for sometime in the refrigerator and remove it out and store it in a airtight container.

4.Eat these balls as a snack at any time.This is very easy to preapre.. isn't it ?

I am sending this snack item to following events.
Sunday Snacks: Grab n Go - March 29th
Healthy Bite: Feb 28th

Zucchini chutney

2009-02-24T13:27:00.000-08:00

The zucchini can be yellow, green or light green, and generally has a similar shape to a ridged cucumber.This can also be round or bottle-shaped fruit/vegetable.It does go well with cakes,bread,pizza,pasta and use with other vegetables like tomato too.Zucchini looks like a cucumber, but doesn't taste like cucumber.Mild in taste and texture, the uses are endless, from eating fresh to grilling to grating and baking in breads.

The zucchini vegetable is low in calories and contains useful amounts of folate,potassium,and vitamin A, recommended amount of manganese.

Check the other health benifits of zucchni here.. http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/benefits-of-zucchini-1313.html

Ingredients:

Zucchini-1(medium size)
green chillies-4
cuminseeds-1 tsp
garlic -4 cloves
tamarind -lemon size

Turmeric powder-1/8th spoon
salt to taste
oil-2 tsp
seasoning/talimpu ingredients

Preparation:

Wash zucchini and cut the zucchini into medium size cubes and soak tamarind in water.
Take a pan ,heat oil and put whole gren chillies and fry for 2 min and remove chillies from the pan and then add zucchini pieces into it and fry the pieces till they are completely cooked, in between add turmeric powder too(Usually no need to put a lid on pan becoz the zucchini itself oozes lots of water,if you wish you can keep the lid for sometime) but don't cook it too much becoz it will become mushy.
In the mean time cut garlic into small pieces and take a mixie jar and put cumin seeds, chopped garlic,fried green chilles and just tamarind( without adding water) and grind all these for a min then add cooked zucchini pieces to it and grind it for 1 or 2 min.Take this chutney into a bowl.
Do talimpu/tadaka and pour that into chutney.You can also put cilantro/coriander leaves for garnishing.Enjoy the chutney with rice /chapathi's.

Note:1. Because of the high water content of zucchini, be cautious when adding extra liquids to any recipe.

2. Test a zucchini before use by tasting a small bite. If it is bitter, do not use.

3.The smaller and younger fruits (1”-8”) offer a truer zucchini taste experience. Larger squash acquire a bitter taste along with tough seeds that should be scooped out.

Moong dal Vada/pesara garelu

2009-02-22T11:59:00.000-08:00

Moong dal vada is very famous in south india.We used to do either urud dal or moong dal vada for every festival in india especially in A.p.I like moong dal vada compared with urud dal vada .This you can eat is as a snack/breakfast.

Ingreidents:

Moong Dal/pesara pappu-250 gms
Green Chilly-8-10

Ginger -mediem sizepiece as shown in below image
onions-1 big (finely chopped)

Salt to taste
curry leaves-optional
Coriander leaves (chopped)-1 cup

Oil for frying -2to 3 cups

Preparation:

1.Soak moong-dal abt 3-4 hours.After this,wash and drain the dal (by placing dal in in a strainer).Let it drain for 1 -2 hrs.

2.jsut keep 3/4 th cup of drained dal aside,Grind remaining dal without water along with green chilies and ginger using mixer.

3.Then add ungrinded dal to this grinded dal mixture and all the remaining ingredients (except oil). Mix well.

4.Heat about 2 to 3 cups of oil on medium-high flame. When the oil is hot enough,grease the plastic ziplock bag and flatten a lemon size batter either on a plastic Ziploc bag or on a wet cloth, slowly slide the batter into the hot oil. Fry the vadas on medium flame on both sides, till slightly golden brown.Remove it and put it in paper towel.

5.Serve hot with any chutney or sauce.

I am sending this snack item to the 'Lentils Mela' event hosting by Ashwini .

Lemon cucumber/dosakaya ooragaya chutney

2009-02-20T11:04:00.001-08:00

This vegetable is called lemon cucumber(in English)/dosakaya(in Telugu).This is also belongs to cucumber/keera family but it is hard and sour in taste.

chutney made with lemon cucumber is called dosakaya ooragaya chutney.This chutney is my favourite and this is very good in taste.It tastes like mango pickle!! I have learn't this pickle from my mother. Usually everybody brings cucumber to put it in dal or just make curry alone or combine with other vegetables like tomato or alu.Sometimes cucumber can be bitter becoz of cucumber seeds are bitter or it might be cucumber(it's muscle) itself is bitter.In the later case, we can't do this chutney.This is usually done when cucumber seeds are bitter or cucumber is not at all bitter.

Ingredients:

Medium size lemon cucumber (dosakaya)-1
chilli powder-4tsp
Garlic cloves-10(slightly mash them using mortar and pestle)
fenugreek seeds /Methi powder -1/4thspoon
Mustard powder-2tsp
oil -half of small glass(50 ml)
salt to taste
Turmeric powder -1/2 tsp

Preparation:

1.Wash the cucumber and wipe it with kitchen towel (shouldn't be a drop of water on it) and cut a small portion of it and taste to see whether it is bitter or not.

2.If the cucucmber seeds are bitter first cut the cucumber into half & remove the seeds out of it and slice the cucumber (without peel cucumber) into small cubes/long slices .Add salt and turmeric powder to these pieces and mix well and let it for 5 to 10 min and then squeeze all the pieces with salt and turmeric powder to remove bitterness(bitterness becoz of attached seeds to the cucumber) .Take squeezed cucumber pieces into another bowl and all other ingredients except oil & mix well.

3.If the cucumber is not bitter the squuezing is not required as in step 2,just cut it into small cubes/long pieces(dont peel the skin and remove seeds) and take those cucumber pieces into a bowl and add turmeric,chilli powder, mustard powder, methi powder, salt, garlic cloves (slightly mash them) and mix them nicely.

4.Take a small pan and heat oil and add all seasoning/tadaka/talimpu ingredients .Add this seasoning mixture to the above cucumber pieces. Mix all the ingredients properly and keep in a dry jar and rest it for a day. It stays for 2 weeks . Tastes good with upma, rice, chapathi, dosa etc.

Note:You can also add raw oil directly to the pieces like in mango pickle or just add heated oil without talimpu/seasoning.

Mushroom biryani

2009-02-18T13:31:00.000-08:00

Do this biryani..if you are looking for making some spicy mouth watering dish or if you feel bored of making always veg/non veg biryani's .As i said before ,mushroom is a vitamin rich and high protein food and thus an important dietary supplement and healthy food. Though there are wide varieties of mushroom available, the most commonly available in US Grocery market is the white button mushroom.

The usual procedure is to cook the mushrooms curry and rice separately, then finally add alternate layers of rice and mushrooms curry. Instead of that(if you feel lazy just want to make a quick meal..)even i feel lazy, I did the biryani using electric cooker. Even that tastes good, becoz the rice is cooked in mushroom curry from the beginning on a low flame.

Ingredients:

Mushrooms -450gms

Onions (thinly sliced)-1

Basmati Rice-2 cups

Lemon -1(squueze juice)

Oil/ghee-4 spoons

Soya Sauce - 1 tsp

ginger-garlic paste -11/2 tsp

Green chillies-2(slit)

gharam masala powder-1/2 tsp

Cinnamon -2

Cardamoms -2

Cloves -2

Tomatoes (chopped into medium cubes) -2(medium size)

red Chilly Powder -1/2 tsp

Coriander Powder -1 tsp

Mint leaves,cilantro leaves for garnishing

Salt to taste

Preparation:

1.Take a bowl,wash and soak the rice for 1/2 hour in enough water.After due time, drain the water from bowl.

2.Cut green chillies and onions and tomatoes.Trim mushrooms into big pieces and keep it aside.(trim mushrooms by taking off the stem and cut each mushroom into 2-4 parts)

3.Heat ghee in a pressure /electric cooker and saute cinnamon,cloves and cardamoms for a minute and then add onions and fry untill onions becomes golden brown.

4.Add ginger-garlic paste and ghram masala powder and fry till you get a nice aroma of ginger-garlic then add tomato pieces and fry till tomatoes become smooth and then add chopped mushrooms & add all other ingredients and stir mushrooms for 10 min.

5.Add 3 cups of water and let it boil, add the soaked rice and stir till the rice level and the water level equals, if it is a pressure cooker , cook in low flame for 15 minutes.

6.If you use electric cooker it automatically goes to warm, once the biryani is completed.

7.Garnish with mint & cilanthro and serve hot with raitha.

Note:1.mushrooms cleaning:Don't soak mushrooms in water,it will absorb water into it .So just rinse under running water/clean with wet tissue.

2.Add always dried mushrooms to the dish.

3.If you don't have lemon in handy add curd -2 tsp as a substitute.

Poori

2009-02-16T17:22:00.000-08:00

poori/puri can be good with any veg/non-veg curry/any pickle and this can be eat as a breakfast,snack,or light meal!!

Ingredients:

wheat flour-2 cups
Water & milk to make dough
Salt to taste
oil for deep frying

Preparation:

1.Put the flour in a large mixing bowl and add salt to taste and mix well.

2.Now add a little water at a time and start to mix the flour to form a dough. We need the dough to be medium-soft/firm dough so, first go slow with the water - add it only as needed, as you go along. Instead of water, you can also use milk.milk makes really soft Pooris.I added both water and milk in my recipe.

3.The real secret of soft Pooris lies in the kneading! The dough must be smooth and just the right softeness - medium. Add water/ milk as required and continue to knead till you get the right consistency.

4.Once you've got the dough to the right consistency, add 2 tbsps of oil and continue to knead. The dough will become smooth in texture! Cover with a damp cloth now and keep aside for 20 minutes.

5.Mean time you can also prepare curry for poori.I have made alu curry with besan powder especially for poori's.My mother used to make this curry..i love this curry!!you can make any curry you want for poori's.

6.Now divide the dough into golf ball-sized/small ball portions add little oil to these balls so that they will not stick themselves . Roll these balls using a poori press/roti maker/rolling board till they are smooth and without cracks.

7. For convenience, roll out as many Pooris as you like, stacking them,then go for frying.

8.Take a pan,Heat the oil for deep frying on a medium flame. Deep fry the Pooris one at a time, pressing very gently on each side with a slotted spoon. This will help the Poori to puff up! Fry one the first side till golden then turn over and fry the same way on the other side. Drain on paper towels and serve hot.

Serve this crispy, golden bread with any dish - vegetarian/Non-veg or with your favorite pickle. The perfect Poori is pale golden in color and puffed up almost like a ball!

Hi Everybody..

2009-02-14T11:22:00.001-08:00

gobi masala/gobi fry/cauliflower masala

2009-02-13T12:39:00.000-08:00

This is good to eat with chapathi/Rice.I think everybody knows this recipe but still i am posting this to the people who doesn't know!!

Ingredients:

Cauliflower -1

Onion-1 big(finely chopped)

green chilli-2(each esplit into two)

ginger-garlic paste-2 spoons

salt to taste

red chilli powder -3/4 th tsp

turmeric powder

garam masala-1/2 spoon

oil-4 tsp

coriander leaves

warm water reqd

Preparation:

1.Cut he flower into small florets and keep it in the warm water abt 10 min.In the mean time cut chilli and onions.

2.Take pan and put oil then add green chilli and onion and fry untill onion becomes golden brown then add ginger-garlic paste and saute for few min.

3.Drain water from the florets and put florets in the pan and mix well.Stir for evry 5 min in between add salt and chilli powder and gharam masala and cook untill the whole florets are fried properly.

4.Add coriander/cilanrto leaves and serve hot.

I am sending this to JFI Cauliflower hosted by Mythreyee. JFI was originally started by Indira (Mahanandi)

Spicy Mushroom masala

2009-02-11T12:36:00.000-08:00

Spicy mushroom masala is very good in taste and is good to eat with chapathi,naan,paratha,rice.Always take fresh mushrooms in every day meal.

Health Benefits of White button Mushrooms:

1.Mushrooms provide a wealth of protein, fiber, B vitamins, and vitamin C, as well as calcium and very good source of copper, selenium, riboflavin, niacin and a good source of potassium.Mushrooms are in fact one of the highest antioxidant vegetables in the world, in the same league as the red pepper and spinach.

2.Because of high levels of antioxidant compounds that may help prevent some cancers.

Ingredients:

white button Mushrooms-6 to 8 (big/medium)
onion-1 Big
ginger garlic paste-1 tsp

tomatoes-2(medium size)

red chilli powder-1 tsp

garam masala powder -1/2 tsp

cumin seeds -1/2 tsp

oil -2 tbsp

Salt to taste

milk -1/2 cup- optional

coriander/cilantro leaves for garnishing

preparation:

1.Clean and cut the mushrooms. (To clean mushrooms, either brush them thoroughly with a wet kitchen towel or rinse them briefly, under cool running water).Always add dry mushrooms to cooking.For White button mushrooms or cremini, we need to cut the dry end of their stems before cooking.cut each mushroom into 4-6 parts.

2.Fry onion and ginger garlic paste and make a thick paste without adding water. Make a paste of tomatoes and keep it aside.

3.Heat oil in a pan and add cumin seeds. When they crackle, add onion paste and fry till golden brown. Now add the tomato paste and stir for a while. Add chilli powder, garam masala powder and mix until all is blended.keep a lid untill the whole mixture is properly cooked.

4.Add mushrooms and salt and mix well. Cover and cook on a low flame till mushrooms are done. No need to add water as mushrooms leave a good amount of water when they are cooked.

5.If you want gravy in your curry then add milk to the curry at the end and stir it for couple of minutes.In my recipe, I added milk to my curry. Finally garnish with cilantro.Serve hot.

Note:Always take fresh mushrooms and from a good known source!!

Blueberry oat cake

2009-02-10T13:06:00.000-08:00

Blurberry oat cake will be good with a scoop of whip cream/vanilla ice cream, I would like to eat it as cold.you can also try making this cake with other berries and fruits. You can also use frozen blueberries in this cake if you don't have fresh.

Coming to blueberries they are very good in taste. If taste isn't enough to get you to eat these berries, their health benefits will,they are rich in antioxidants, fiber, potassium, and low in sodium.

Ingredients:

fresh blueberries -1 cup
all-purpose flour/maida-1 1/2 cups
ghee-3/4 cup
rolled oats-1/2 cup
baking powder-2tsp
cinnamon powder -1/2tsp
granulated sugar -1 cup
lemon juice -1 tsp
milk -1/4th cup
large eggs -2
cinnamon- sugar mixture for topping-optional

Preparation:

1.Take a big bowl and combine the blueberries with flour, oats, baking powder, cinnamon, and granulated sugar(dry ingredients) .

2.In another bowl, whisk eggs with the milk and lemon juice and ghee . Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until blended or use the blender/mixer to blend all ingrdients except blueberries.Add Blueberries to the final batter.

3.Heat oven to 350°F.Apply ghee all over the baking pan. pour whole mixture/batter into the baking pan. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted .

4.Bluberry cake is ready!!serve this cake as a dessert / evening time with your tea/coffee.

Note:sprinkle with cinnamon- sugar mixture (about 3 teaspoons sugar to 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon) or you can also put sliced apples /plums/pears on the top of the batter for topping.

Stuffed bitter gourd/karela/kakarakaya fry

2009-02-08T20:41:00.000-08:00

karela,also known as Bitter gourd or kakarakaya. I hope people who hate karela(becoz of bitterness) can try this receipe.This curry will be good with white rice and it is very good as a side dish .I hope you will enjoy the recipe!!

Ingredients:

Bitter gourds-5(use small 3inch size karela-if you feel gourds are big cut into two pieces )
Dry mango powder/amchur powder-1tbsp
besan/bengal gram powder-2or 3 tbsp
red Chilli powder-1/2 tsp
Onions-1medium size(finely chopped)
cuury leaves-1 springs(optional)
coriander leaves/cilantro for garnishing
cumin seeds/jeera-1tsp
ginger garlic paste-1tbsp
oil- 8to10 tbsp(total)
Salt to taste
sugar or jaggery/bellam -11/2 tsp
Turmeric powder-1/4 th spoon

Preparation:

1. First prepare the masala for stuffing gourds :scrape the rough edges so that bitter gourd surface looks uniform and it will help in uniform frying of bitter gourd .

2.slit Bitter gourds from one side along length wise(longitudinal direction) as shown in the picture and remove seeds inside the bitter gourd and chop the seeds into very small size.If you feel chopping seeds is a heavy work just grind it coarsely using a mixi/Mortars and Pestles .

3.Take small pan,add 3 tsp of oil in a pan , add cumin seeds and add onions fry till golden brown,then add turmeric powder and besan flour. cook/fry the mixture , till you get a nice aroma of roasted besan.

4.Add ginger garlic paste and stir for a minute and add chilli powder and add chopped bitter gourd seeds.cook the whole mixture till nicely roasted,then add amchur powder , fry in low heat , add salt,coriander leaves and little sugar or jaggery.This whole masala preparation takes 10 -15 min.Now spicy masala is ready!!

5.stuffing :stuff the bitter melon with the cooked masala either using your hand or spoon. optional -tie the karela with small thread so the mixture is intact inside while cooking.

6.Take another pan add 6 tsp oil ,shallow fry in medium/low heat and cover with a lid on the pan .check freequently to prevent burning of gourds.

7.changing the sides of gourd in between ,till whole bitter gourd is well fried/cooked .If you feel the slit is too wide/large ,turn the gourd carefully in the pan or dont turn the gourd with stuffing down .

8.If you want the gourds to be crispy,once the bitter gourds are cooked, remove the lid and fry on low flame till crisp. You will find brown spots on the bitter gourds when they are fried.

9.Light sour,spicy stuffed bitter gourds are ready to eat with rice!!

Note: If you dont have amchur powder in handy you can also use other ingedients as a substitute i.e lemon juice along with corainder powder or any chat masala powder.

Vegetable pulao

2009-02-08T10:48:00.000-08:00

Vegetable pulao is a mix of vegetables with rice. This is a great dish for lunch. If you feel lazy to preapre rice and curries (routine big meal) use vegetable pulao as a one-dish meal. Serve with yogurt,any gravy curry, pickle and with chicken too!!

Ingredients:

basmati or long grain rice -1 cup(washed & drained)
water-11/2 cups
bay leaves -2
salt to taste
oil -2 tsp
cumin seeds (jeera) -1tsp
green chilies-3(each one split into two)
potato-1 medium sized chopped into 1/2″ cubes
carrot-2(grated or chopped )
cauliflower-1cup cut into medium size florets
green peas-1 cup
red bell pepper-1/2 chopped (optional)
green peppers-2 long sliced
grated ginger -1 tsp
garam masala -1/2tsp
lemon juice -1tsp optional
cilantro for garnishing optional

Preparation:

1.Heat the oil in a electric cooker. Test the oil by adding one cumin seed, if seed cracks right away oil is ready.

2.Add cumin seeds after cumin seeds crack add bay leaves ,cloves,cinnamon stir for a min and then add green chillies, ginger stir-fry for 2 min and then add all chopped vegetables along with peas,fry it for 2 min.

3.Add rice, fry for a minute. Add water and salt and mix well & close the cooker .

4.After completion of your rice, cookerwill automaticaly goes to warm.you just check the rice,still if you feel any moisture you can keep that in warm itself otherwise take off the plug.

5.Atlast add garam masala and cilantro mix once.Serve hot pulao into a plate with raita/any curry.

Brinjal curry/vankaya curry

2009-02-07T22:22:00.000-08:00

Brinjal curry will be good with either chapathi's or rice.

Ingredients:

Brinjal(tall ones) – 4
Onion 1 – finely chopped(large one)
Chilli powder – 1 tsp or to taste
Coriander powder – 1 tsp
Turmeric powder – ¼ tsp
Ginger-garlic paste -1/2 tsp
Curry leaves – 1 spring
oil – 2 tbsp
Salt – to taste
seasoning/talimpu/tadaka ingredients(urud dal,chana dal,mustard seeds,cumin seeds)

Preparation:

1.First cut onions into fine pieces and brinjal into long pieces and put brinjal pieces into salt water.

2.Take a pan and heat with oil.Add all seasoning ingredients when they start to crackle add chopped onions and curry leaves and fry on medium flame until they turn into golden yellow colour.

3.Add chopped brinjal and salt.Fry until the oil separates from the mixture.Now add chilli powder, coriander powder and turmeric powder.Fry for few seconds.Close with a lid and cook on low flame till the brinjal become soft or your desired consistancy.

4.Egg plant/brinjal curry is ready.Serve with plain white rice and papad.

Sambhar

2009-02-07T19:13:00.000-08:00

sambhar/sambar is a dish common in south India,and is made of toor dal. Sambar is often accompanied with idli and dosa & with white rice. Sambhar is easy to cook and its combination with lot of vegetables & pulses makes it nutritious enough. Sambar 's special exciting spicy aroma which make it more special ...

Ingredients :

Bottle gourd (Sorakaya) -1/2 fresh
carrots-2(peeled and sliced into your selected shape)
Winter Radish/mullangi-1(chopped into round shaped pieces)
Drum Sticks - 3( in my recipie i haven't used Drumsticks becoz i dont want to use frozen ones!!)
Ladies finger - 2 to 4
Green chilies-2(split into two)
onions - 2(medium size cut into larger pieces) if u have a smaller one just make it into 2 or 4 parts.
Ginger-Garlic paste-1 tsp
toor dal -1 cup
Curry leaves
turmeric powder
Water- 3 -5 cups
Tamarind -Size of a lemon(squeeze tamarind juice with 2-3 cups of water).
Red chilli powder -1/2 tsp
oil -2tsp
cumin seeds/zeera-1 tsp
MTR sambar powder/home made sambar powder-11/2tsp
Salt to taste
cilantro for garnishing

Preparation:

1.clean all the vegetables and slice into long/round pieces and soak tamarind in 1/2 cup of water.

2.Wash the dal.cook the dal in 2 cups of water(means for one cup of dal we need to use 2 cups of water) and cook dal in it using a pressure cooker. In pressure cooker you can keep the vegetable pieces(except ladies finger) and dal at the same time in different bowls or you can do it outside using stove/microwave seperately.

3.put the pan on heat and add oil.Once oil gets heated add cumin seeds and then onions and stir it for 5 min and then add ladies finger pieces ,stir it for 1 more min & then add ginger -garlic paste and stir it for 2 more min and then add the tamarind water(wash the tamarind & Boil the tamarind in little amount of water(say 1/2 cup) in microwave abt 2 min (if you forgot soak it before)and then squeeze the tamrind for tamrind juice)and increase the heat to med-high.

4.When tamarind water boils, add dal(make cooked dal into a fine paste by just pressing the dal with the spoon).once the whole liquid starts boiling reduce the flame to medium/medium-low.

5. Add the remaining cooked vegetables ,redchilli powder ,salt. Cook till done(4-5 min) and add sambar powder into it.

6.wait for 5 min after adding sambar powder ,then remove sambar from fire and Sprinkle the Sambar with chopped coriander/cilantro leaves.

Note: you can also add brinjal, tomato etc to the sambar.

Pepper Chicken fry

2009-02-07T17:10:00.000-08:00

This is basically a roasting of chicken without adding a drop of water.This looks awesome and tastes really good!!

Ingredients :

Chicken Breast pieces without skin - 1/2 kg
Black Pepper powder -11/2 tbs
Coriander powder- 1 tsp
Cumin (Jeera) seeds - 1 tsp
Cloves - 5
Cinnamon sticks - 3 medium sized
If you don't have any of above masalas use chicken masala powder - 2tsp (this is better to add even if you have this has all ingredients like armchur )
Ginger Garlic paste - 1 tsp
red chilli powder -1 tsp
Tomato - 1 big size
Onions - 1 big size (finely chopped)
Yogurt - 1/4th cup
oil/Butter - 4 tbs
salt to taste
turmeric powder
cilantro for garnishing

Preparation:

1.Wash & cut chicken breast into small pieces/cubes.

2. Marinade chicken pieces with salt ,redchilli powder,turmeric powder and ginger -garlic paste & yogurt abt 15 min and keep a lid over the chicken so that gignger-garlic smell preserves with chicken.Mean while cut onions into very fine pieces.Grind tomatoes and make it fine paste using mixer.

3. put a pan on heat,once the pan gets heated add oil .once the oil gets heated add cuminseeds .when cuminseeds are stats spluttering/popping up add cinnamon and cloves & later add onions and stir it for 5-10 min till onions becomes transparent.

4. Add tomato paste and Stir & cover with lid,after 5 min add marinated chicken. Don't place the lid.Once the chicken is started to oozing out all of the mixtures (means all juices/water content starts to accumilate at the ends) stir the whole mixture once and then add coriander powder and black pepper,chicken masala powder and reduce heat to low.

5. Mix well,If you wish to have a little gravy,kee the lid for some time otherwise no need.We have to roast our chicken on low flame.

6. Remove after chicken is thoroughly cooked. If your chicken has moisture (if at all if you keep the lid for some time)remove lid & keep frying chicken until all the water has evaporated & chicken gets roasted well. (Approx 10 minutes after chicken is thoroughly cooked).

7.Garnish with cilantro...Serve Hot.

Vermicelli upma/samiya upma

2009-02-07T09:38:00.000-08:00

Vermicelli upma is very good to eat as a breakfast especially in week ends :)
The below recipie serves for 2 people.

Ingredients:

MTR vermicelli - 2 Cups
Onions - 1 big (cut into small pieces)
Green Chillies - 4 (cut into small pieces)
Chana dal - 2 tbs
urud daal -2 tbs
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tbs
Curry leaves
mustard seeds -1/2 tbs
Potato - 1 small(peel it and cut into small pieces)
ratio b/w vermicelli and water is 1:11/2(means 1 cup of vermicelli ----->11/2 cup of water)
Coriander leaves for garnishing optional

Preparation:

1.Take a pan and heat it.Add vermicelli and fry it till light brown.

2.Take off the vermicelli from the pan into a bowl and add 3 tbs oil. once the oil gets heated add cumin seeds,urud daal,mustard seeds and curry leaves and chana daal .When all these are fried add potato pieces and fry for 4 min and then add onions and green chilli pieces. stir it for another 5 min.

3.Add 3 cups of water and place a lid on the pan and increas the heat to med- high ,add salt as per taste. After 5-8 minutes when the water starts boiling , add fried vermicelli and mix well and remember to reduce the heat to low and Leave it with lid for 5-8 minutes untill all moisture in the upma gone .Add coriander leaves and stir well for 1-2 minutes.

4.Wow!!!..mouth watering samiya upma is ready to eat.

French/Green Beans Fry

2009-02-06T16:45:00.000-08:00

Green beans (American English), French beans or runner beans (British English), also called squeaky beans.Use more green beans in your daily food becoz Green beans are high in fiber and water, they are low in calories with one-half cup serving furnishing only 22 calories. Green beans are naturally low in sodium.

Ingredients:

Green beans 1/2 kg
onion 1 (finely chopped)
turmeric powder 1/8 th spoon
red chilli powder or vellli karam 1/2 to 3/4 th spoon
shredded coconut 2 tablespoons
olive oil 3 tablespoons
salt to taste
seasoning (talimpu/tadaka) ingredients
curry leaves and coriander leaves optional
green chillies optional

How to make vellulli karam

1/4 cup red chilli powder 2 garlic pods

In a blender crush the garlic and add above quantity chili powder & run untill everything is belended well. Remove and store in an airtight container.

Preparation:

1. First wash the beans and cut the outer edges and make it finely chopped.

2.Take a pan and put on med- high heat till all moisture in the pan is gone,then add oil ..once the oil gets heated add all sesoning ingredients one by one and stir for 2 min.

3.Then add finely chopped onions and stir it untill onion becomes Transluscent/transparent and then add finely chopped beans to it .

4.Add salt and turmeric and fry it for 5 to 10 min till beans are fried properly.

5.Now add red chilli powder/vellulli karam and shredded coconut to it and fry it for two more min .

6.Serve the green bean fry into a bowl and enjoy with your rice/chapathi.

Chamadumpa chips/fry

2009-02-06T00:01:00.001-08:00

Chamadumpa fry is very tasty ..you can use this as a sidedish with any gravy curries or you can eat like an appetizer..This can be made in different types.

Type 1: just fry it but not boiling

Ingredients:

Chaamadumpalu/arbi/Taro roots 6

red chilli powder 1 spoon

turmeric powder 1/8 table spoon

oil 5 tablespoons

salt 11/2 tablespoon(vary acc to your taste)

Preparation:

1. first peel chamadumpalu using a peeler and cut the peeled roots into small cubes.

2. Take a pan and put it on medium heat ,once the pan gets heated pour the oil into the pan.

3.Once the oil gets heated put chaamadumpa pieces into oil and reduce the heat to low and let it fry for 15 to 20 min.In between stir the pieces.

4.once the chaamadumpa pieces turned into golden brown color remove the fried chaamadumpa pieces from the pan and place it on a paper towel(tissue).

5.Eat it with any gravy(liquid) curry/eat as an appetizer.

Type 2 : boil arbi with little fry

Ingredients:

arbi/chaamadumpa - 250 gms

green chillies - 4to5
coriander leaves - 1 small bunch
oil
salt to taste
turmeric powder

Preparation:

boil chaamadumpa and peel them make into pieces,take oil in pan add these chaamadumpa pieces along with salt and turmeric. Meanwhile chop coriander leaves and green chillies in a chopper and add this to chaamadumpa pieces and fry them nicely .It will be good with any gravy curries.

Type 3: Baking dumpaas/arbi using oven

These oven baked chaama dumpa vepudu/fry can served with rice and dal/sambar/rasam or yogurt combination.

Ingredients:

Chaamadumpass 6
chill-garlic powder 1 spoon
turmeric powder 1/8th spoon
salt to taste

preparation:

1.Boil chaamadumpa in water until they become tender. Overboiling makes them mushy so keep checking and remove them before they turn to soft. When they are cooled enough to touch, peel the skins. Cut each, round shaped pieces of quarter inch thickness.

2.In a vessel, one spoon of oil. Add salt, red chilli-garlic powder and turmeric to taste and mix it . Add and toss the cut chaamadumpa pieces.

3.Spread them in rows neatly on a foil covered baking tray and bake them at 350 F for about 10 minutes. Also broil each side for about 2 to 5 minutes, until they are golden-brown.

4. Remove the baking tray from the oven and serve hot.

While boiling and baking, pay attention to the time and the cooking process. Overcooking in water or overbaking may result in mushy or blackened chaamadumpa chips instead of golden, crispy color.

Tomato with bottle gourd/tomato with beerakaya chutney

2009-02-05T21:16:00.000-08:00

This chutney is too gud with the rotis/white rice..

Ingredients :

tomato 1/4 kg
bottle gourd ---->small one or beerakaya 1
whole greenchillies 6
chopped garlic cloves -4
turmeric powder 1/4 spoon
jeera 1 spoon

Talimpu ingredients :

Jeera 1/2 spoon
Urud dal 1 spoon
chana dal 1 spoon
mustard seeds 1/2 spon
curry leaves & coriander leaves
salt
oil

Preparation:

1.first peel the bottle gourd(sorakaya) or beerakaya and cut into small cubes.

2.cut the tomatoes into medium size

3.Take a pan and put that pan on medium heat and pour 1 spoon of oil.once the oil gets heated put greenchillies(whole chillies)and fry till those are done.Remove those fried green chillies into a seperate bowl.

4.Later add one more spoon of oil and add bottle gourd piece to the pan and cover the pan with lid and let it fry till all the bottle gourd pieces are cooked.

5.stir the pieces after every 4 to 5 minutes.

6.once the bottle gourd cooking is done..just take the pieces into a previously taken bowl.

7.Then add tomato pieces and fry it by keeping the lid on the pan..if necessary add oil otherwise no need becoz tomato had lot of moisture and if you want you can add salt for easy cooking.During this fring/cooking add turmeric powder.

8.once all frying is over..take a mixi jar add jeera/cumin seeds and garlic and greenchillies first and let it gring for 1/2 min and then add bottle gourd pieces to it and grind it for another 1 min then add atlast salt & tomato pieces and grind it for one more min.

9.Take that whole mixture/chutney into a bowl.

10.Atlast do talimpu( I assume that evrybody knows talimpu) and pour that talimpu onto the chutney.

tomato with bottle gourd chutney is ready to serve..

Saggubiyyam(sabudana) bondaa's

2009-02-05T15:21:00.000-08:00

saggubiyyam bonda is a very good in tastewise that you can eat as a breakfast /evening time snack.I am sure everyone loves to eat this bonda..

Ingredients:

sabudana(saggubiyyam)/Cassava pearls 150 gm
Sour curd 2 cups
Rice flour 2 cups
chopped green chilli 12 (depends on your spice level)
finely chopped onions 1-2 cups chopped cilantro 1 bunch salt 21/2 table spoons(depends on your taste)
water 1/2 cup Baking powder 1 spoon
oil

Procedure for making sabudana bondaas:

1. First soak sabudana in sour curd about 4 to 6 hrs before you want to make,if required you can also use little water(if you have less curd) .

2.once the soaked sabudana becomes soft that means you can start the recepie .

3.Add rice flour to that sabudana and little water make it little tight and then add chopped green chillies and chopped onions & salt and cilantro,baking powder and make sure that mixture of all these shoudn't be too loose .

4.Take a pan and pour oil and put that on medium heat .Once the oil becomes heated you just make little dough with your hands and drop it onto your oil.Repeat the same procedure till the pan filled with your bondaas.

5.Once the oil stops bubbling around your bondaa that means that frying is complete for that bondaa..and let it turn on other side and let it fry for few more minutes ..so remove all fried bondaas from the pan and place on to a paper towel.

6. simple..your crispy sabudana bondaa's are ready.. Serve hot bondaas to your guests..