Another year has passed us........!

Another year passed......!! 2009 has been a happening year for me.......One of the most memorable enjoyable moment was when me and mittu saw each other......she was a dream come true! She was born on June 19th Friday, it fortunately happened to be my appas bday......Isnt that a true blessing!? After that it has been a total enjoyable roller coaster ride for me .

Next is my blogs addi(c)tion........I started this blog in Feb 2009 and its not even a year still I am very close to it. Only after the birth of the kiddo I started taking this blog even more serious and worked on it inspite of all the sleepless nights and tight schedules...it was challenging actually ;) Now I am soo so addicted that I cant stay away from it even for a day. I thoroughlly enjoy clicking the colors of food......Here are some of my fav clicks:

Corn in Onion sauce

Bread Besan Toast

Nutty Marie Biscuit Dessert

Peanut Ladoos

Choco Cornflakes Pudding

Pottukadalai Poondu Podi

Wishing you all a very happy and prosperous new year!!

Vazhaipoo Vadai

My first attempt of making these vadais was successful!! :) These are my favorite anytime either as a sidedish for lunch or just having it as a tea time snack.

Vazhaipoo Vadai Recipe

Roughly makes 15 to 20 vadais

Ingredients :

• Vazhaipoo/Plantain-Flower - 1 medium sized
• Potukadalai powdered - 4 tbsp
• Turmeric powder - 1tsp
• Finely chopped Onion - 1 big sized
• Chopped coriander leaves - a handful
• Rice flour - 1 tbsp (optional)
• Salt - to taste
• Oil - for deep frying

For grinding:

• Channa Dhal - 2 to 3 tbsp tbsp
• Garlic - 4 pearls
• Ginger - a small piece
• Sombu(fennel seeds) - 2 tsp

Method:

Clean vazhaipoo and pressure cook for 1 whistle with a cup of water and turmeric powder. Allow it to cool down then grind it to a semi coarse paste. Soak channa dhal for 30mins then grind it with ginger, garlic and fennel seeds to a smooth paste. Spinkle just few drops of water only if needed.

Now in a bowl add chopped onions, coriander leaves, potukadalai powder, rice flour(if you are using, I didnt use it this time but this adds a nice crispness to the vadais) and both the grinded paste as above.Do not add water. Mix well and make small patties / vadai shaped and keep aside.

You can also refrigerate the patties for 10mins to avoid the vadais drinking much oil. Then heat oil in a kadai and deep fry them to golden brown.

My Notes:

• You can use the same ingredients and method for senaikelangu/yam vadai(only difference is you dont need to pressure cook it, instead you have to saute it before grinding to a paste) to avoid itching.

• Make sure that the mix is not too dry then your vadais would be hard. Do not add more potukadalai and rice flour than the above mentioned quantity.

Eggless Marie Biscuit Chocolate Rolls!

Christmas is round the corner and the blogging world is full of lovely cakes and cookies . I dont have a proper oven to bake something.....so here I am with these eggless chocolate rolls which I tried from Mane Adige's sometime back. Before I go to the recipe, Wishing everyone a merry christmas!

Ingredients:
Marie Biscuit - 5 [I used Arrowroot which is quite similar to marie]
Cocoa powder - 2 tbsp
Butter - 1 tbsp
Milk - to knead the dough
Grated Coconut - 2 tbsp
Sugar - as per taste level

Method:
1.Powder the Marie biscuits, Add cocoa powder, milk and knead it to a smooth dough like chapathi dough. Keep aside.

2.Mix coconut , butter and sugar in a seperate bowl, the mixture should be sticky. Roll the coco dough to form small chapathis.

3.Now spread the coconut mixture over the chapathis and gently roll them to form cylinders and keep aside.

4.Refrigerate the rolls for about 30mins; Remove and cut them width wise . Serve it immediately as the rolls butter part tend to melt down.

And I am sending this to Mahimas event

Pasi Paruppu / Moong Dhal Kurma

This easy moong dhal(paasi parupu)kurma recipe is from my aunt. There is no grinding part at all, its so easy and simple still its lemony flavour adds to the taste.

Ingredients:

Cinnamom - 1/2 inch piece

Cardomom - 1

Cloves - 2

Moong Dhal - 1 cup

Onion - 1 medium size

Tomato - 1

Green Chilli - 1

Turmeric powder - a pinch

Chilli powder - 2 tsp

Garlic - 3 to 4 chopped

Lemon - 1 medium size

Oil - 3 tsp

Method :

1. Dry roast moong dhal for few mins till nice aroma comes. Pressure cook it with 1/4 cup of water till mashy and keep aside.

2. In a kadai, heat oil, add cinnamom, cloves and cardomom and saute well.Add chilli, garlic and onion and keep sauting till onions are fried well.

3.Now add tomato and fry for 2mins, add turmeric and chilli powder.

4.Add mashed moong dhal and 1/2 cup water. Leave it to boil for 5mins.

5.Switch off and squeeze lemon while serving!

It goes well with dosas, idlis and even chapathis. This is going to be my keeper hereafter when there is lil time in hand to cook a side dish!

Nutty Marie Biscuit Dessert - The quickest one!

I tried Nags Mom's delight yesterday with my so called oven and to my surprise it came out perfect, who cares about the look when it tastes yum yum :)

Ingredients:

Powdered Marie Biscuits - from 5 biscuits

Sweetened Condensed Milk / I used thickened milk- 4 tbsp

Coco powder - 2 tbsp

Chopped Cashewnuts - 5

Butter - 1 tsp just to grease

Method:

1. Grease the container with butter.

2. Layer the powdered marie biscuits into the container and press it till it is even. It will be 1 inch in thickness if you are using 5 biscuits.

3.Pour the condensed milk covering the powdered biscuits. I didnt have condensed milk and that didnt stop me from trying it....so what I did was I thickened the milk with 1tsp of sugar added and used it, no compromise in taste.

4.Next layer is the coco powder. Sprinkle it until the condensed milk layer is totally covered. Then lay the chopped cashewnuts on the top of the coco powder layer.

5.Bake it for 10mins at 180deg C. It came out just fine in my oven itself...so am sure it would come out well in any oven ;) Cool it and serve.

I refrigerated it for 10mins as I like it chilled. Now what are you waiting for, just scoop out and enjoy......Isnt that a quick dessert?!

And I am sending this to In love with Delectable Desserts Pastries and Ice Creams and Sudeshna’s Cook like a bong

Beans Poriyal / Beans Stir Fry

To load this in reader I'm struggling from morning, friends let me know if you are facing the same issue with blogger, ie...when you give a new post and it doesnt update in reader? Any solution for this? please let me know!

Ingredients:

Beans - 15 apprx [Sliced thin]

Grated coconut - 3 tbsp

Chopped Onions - 1

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Oil - 1/2 tbsp

Urad Dal/Ulutham paruppu -1/2 tsp

Hing / perungayam - a pinch (optional)

Curry leaves - 2 to 3

Salt - to taste

Green Chillies - 1 chopped finely

Method:

1.Heat oil in a pan, add mustard seeds, let it splutter.... now add urad dhal, curry leaves and hing.Add onions and saute till it turns slighly browned. Add green chillies and saute.

2.Add the sliced beans, coconut and saute for 5mins. Now sprinkle water and allow it to cook. Keep closed on medium flame until beans becomes soft, now add salt to taste.

3. Keep in low flame to avoid burning, mix well until the water leaves the beans. Leave it for 5mins and switch off!

Veg Burger - Its Burger Time!

Everytime when I order for burger I usually had to dig in the burger to pull out those lettuce and cabbages...I just hate them in my burger(But I added cabbages here as hubby likes it).So sat out to think why not try burger at home?! And here is my first try and it came out pretty decent. When I served it for hubby there was a big smile in his face and said its soo yummy and very much like in MB - thats the highest form of appreciation I've ever got I wud say!

This yields 2 burgers:

Ingredients:

Bun - 2

Chopped cabbage - 3 tsp

Tomato sliced - 2

Onions sliced - 3 to 3

Tomato sauce - 2 tbsp

Cheese - 2 slices or shredded cheese

For the patty:

Veggies - 1.5 cups (I used 2 big sized carrots,5-6 beans and 2 potatoes)

Aniseed powdered - 2 tsp

Finely chopped onion - 1/2 small sized

Ginger garlic paste - 3 tsp

Chilli powder - 3tsp

Method:

1.Boil the veggies till mashy. Drizzle oil in a wide bottomed pan, add aniseed powder,immediately add chopped onion. Then add boiled carrots and beans, saute them for 3mins.

2.Add ginger garlic paste,fry well.Add chilli powder and salt.

3.Now add this to mashed potatoes and bind them well.

4.Flatten them into patties and toast it in dosa pan. You can deep fry them if you arent guilty :)

NOTE : For the above mentioned quantity it will yield 2 big sized patties.

This is before assembling the burger , just to show you how my pattie looked!

5.Assemble the burger in the following order / any order of your choice:

Keep one half of the bun first, then the pattie, cheese slice, chopped cabbage, a slice of onion, tomato sauce then tomato slice and the other half of the bun. Your veg burger is ready! Isnt that quick n easy?!

Onion Mint Sandwich

I was happily napping one fine afternoon (which is rare these days with a 5.5months old hyperactive baby :)), my tummy started kicking me. Opened the fridge no veggies except for 1 not so fresh beetroot and half a packet of bread. I remembered the left over puthina chutney which I had for idly that morning, so made this quick sandwich.

So what are u waiting for.....no veggies in stock try this sandwich with the ingredients that are sure to be in your pantry!

Ingredients:

Bread - 4 slices (I usually use wheat bread)

Urad dhal - 2tsp

Mint(puthina) leaves - 3 tbsp

Finely chopped onion -1

Salt to taste

Turmeric powder

Chilli powder - a pinch

Sambar powder - 2tsp (optional)

Ghee - to toast

Method:

1.In 1 tsp of oil, add urad dhal, let it temper then add mint leaves and saute well till the leaves are crushed, add few drops of water and grind it to a fine paste. Keep it aside.

[Though this is not the orginal recipe for puthina chutney this goes well for sandwiches]

2.Drizzle oil, add onion, turmeric powder, chilli powder, sambar powder and saute till onions turn light brown.

3.Take 2 bread slices and apply the mint paste on both the slices.

4.Add the onion filling in between the 2 slices and press it.

5.Toast it with ghee in a toaster/dosa pan.

You can substitute mint leaves with coriander leaves.....It tastes gud too!'Just not any other dish'

Masala Kuzhi Paniyaram

I've been eyeing this masala kuzhipaniyarams since I saw it in Nags space, made it for breakfast last weekend and it turned out very tasty. I didnt know that the paniyarams with dosa batter wud taste soo gud!

I replaced coconut with carrot and sauted all the ingredients before I added them to the batter.

Ingredients:

Dosa/Idly batter - 2 cups

Mustard seeds - 2tsp

Turmeric powder - 1tsp

Finely chopped Onion - 1

Finely chopped Green chillies - 1

Red chilli powder - 1 pinch

Hing - a pinch

Grated Carrot - 1 big size

Curry leaves - few

Salt - to taste

Oil

Method:

1.Drizzle oil, allow mustard seeds to splutter.

2.Add onions, chillies, carrot and curry leaves and saute for 5mins till onions turn light brown.

3.Add turmeric powder, hing, chilli powder and salt. Now add above to the dosa batter and mix well.

4.Heat the paniyaram pan add a drop of oil in each hole, fill in each hole with the batter, but not more than 3/4th full as the paniyarams will raise a little . Let it cook on the other side until its crisp.

5.Turn over and cook the other side. Serve hot with chutney!

The spices were well blended that it needed no sidedish but we had it with leftover coriander chutney...:)

Creamy Curd Semiya

Curd Semiya is best suited for ending guest dinners and parties, a different alternative to curd rice!

Ingredients:

Vermicelli Semiya - 1.cup

Onion -1 medium sized

Oil -1 tbsp

Chilled curd - 1/2 cup

Salt to taste

Grated Carrot - 1 small size

To temper :

Mustard seeds - 1tsp

Urad Dal - 1 tsp

Finely chopped green chillies - 1

Ginger - 1/2 inch piece

Method:

1.Roast vermicelli in 1/2 tsp oil for 2mins and keep seperately. [NOTE : Roasting vermicelli in oil keeps the semiya seperated]

2.Drizzle oil, temper mustard, urad dhal, green chillies and ginger.Add onions, saute till it becomes transparent.

3.Now add 1.5 cups of water and bring it it to boil, add salt to taste. Add roasted vermicelli semiya to boiling water and keep closed for 3mins.

4.Open and turn to other side, check if its cooked else sprinkle lil more water.

5.Leave it to cool then add curd, carrot and mix well. It tastes gud when it is served chilled!

Poha(Aval) Upma - A quick evening snack!

This is one of the easiest yet filling snack which can be done in a jiffy!

Ingredients :
Poha/Aval (thick or thin) - 1cup
Onion - 1
Curry leaves - 3 to 4
Finely chopped Green chillies - 1
Mustard seeds - 2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 2 tsp
Grated Coconut - 1 tbsp

Method:
1. Soak poha in water for 5mins (I used thin if its thick it will take some more time). Then sqeeze water and keep the poha aside for 5mins.

2. In a kadai : Drizzle oil, add mustard seeds then add onions, curry leaves, green chillies and turmeric powder.

3. Saute till onions are fried well. Add grated coconut which is purely optional, but it adds to the taste.

4. Add the poha to the above and mix well. Add salt to taste.

5. Poha upma is ready to be served!

Dates Cornflakes Smoothie

I often find myself getting confused with a smoothie and a milk shake so tried googling today. Some facts about smoothie from wikipedia :

A smoothie is a blended, chilled, sweet beverage made from fresh fruit or vegetables.In addition to fruit, many smoothies include crushed ice, frozen/.dry fruit, honey or frozen yogurt. They have a milkshake-like consistency but much more thicker. Unlike milkshakes, they usually don't contain ice cream, but contain milk.

A smoothie is very refreshing for a morning breakfast. This dates smoothie is not only filling its healthy too! The flavour when cornflakes,dates and honey are blended tastes so gud!

Ingredients:

Milk - 1 cup

Yogurt - 1tbsp (optional)

Dates - 5 to 6

Cornflakes - 1tbsp

Honey - 2tsp

Crushed ice- from a cube

Method:

1.Blend everything together to form a smooth mixture

[No sugar needed]

2.Serve chilled

I am planning to post here every tues/wed so watch out this space every week!

Ragi Kozhukattai/Steamed Fingermillet Dumplings

Heya am back from my inlaws place just today morning.....Cudnt say how much I missed home n this blogging world. So the first thing I did when I entered was to check my mails and dashboard :) Have loads of work before I join back work on Monday...Its a kind of mixed feelings I wud say. I really am wondering how quick this 5 months flew away.....I should definitely say this blogging has been a part of my daily routine and all ur encouragements has made me find the cook in me and learn so much about food photography. But I had loads of fun, spent quality time with mittu ,that I am really feeling it hard to leave her and go back to work now, Wish I get used to the routine sooner.

This is one from my drafts....I tried Ragi kozhukattai from Madhuram's blog. It turned out to be a very simple and healthy evening snack, Do try this out! The addition of mung daal gave a nice twist to this kozhukattai.

Ingredients:

Finger Millet Flour (Ragi flour) – 1 cup

Mung Daal – a handful

Grated coconut – 1/4 cup

Powdered Jaggery – 3/4 cup

Cardamom powder – 1 tsp

Method:

1.Dry roast mung daal for 3 mins and pressure cook for 3 whistles witha cup of water. Drain ater and keep seperately,the daal shoudnt be mashy.

2.Dry roast ragi for 2mins and keep aside. Add 1/2 cup water to jaggery, heat it till the jaggery dissolves and filter the impurities.

3.Now combine roasted ragi flour,mung daal,coconut, jaggery water, cardamom powder and knead it to a dough, sprinkle water if needed.

4.Roll them into balls/cylinders and press it with ur palm. Steam in idli plates for 10-13mins and Serve hot!

I received the kreative award from Renu , Thanks a lot Renu!

And I am sending my Ragi Kozhukatati to JFI- Ragi

Peanut Ladoos & a short break!

How many of you like peanuts? Count me in first, but I dont prefer roasted instead like the boiled ones. I have seen these ladoos in many blogs n finally here I am with it. As its diwali time thought of posting a quick and easy ladoo....!

Now coming to the break : I m leaving to my inlaws place this weekend and will be on a break from blogging for 15 days.......Dont knw how I m going to manage as these days I m kind of addicted to my blog.....Meanwhile dont forget me and I am assuming that u will keep visiting my space even in my absence :) Once I return....have to join back work so am sure its gona be pretty hectic. Ok now to the recipe :

Ingredients:

Raw Peanuts - 1 cup

Jaggery - 1/2 cup

Method:

1. Dry roast peanuts in a tawa until they turn light brown. There will be nice aroma and the skin will start splitting up thats the stage you should remove from flame.

2. Remove the skin. Blend the peanuts for few seconds to form a coarse powder then add jaggery and grind it again for 5seconds till both peanuts and jaggery are well blended.

3. Set it in a plate and make small sized balls. You need no ghee for it as the oil the peanut leaves is just enough to roll them into balls.

4. Store it in a air tight container.

Happy and Safe Diwali wishes to all my fellow blogger friends! Seeya sometime sooner..!!

Kadai Bhindi Masala

I tried Kadai Bhindi from RaksKitchen with some minor modifications to suit my taste. By the time I post this recipe I've made it 2-3 times, this one is from my drafts :) Trust me, the procedure looks like a lengthy process but its quite simple and easy once u try it out!

Ingredients:

• Bhindi/Ladies finger - 12
• Onion - 1 medium sized,finely chopped
• Tomato puree - from 1 tomato
• Tomato - 1 big sized, finely chopped
• Capsicum - 1 big sized,cubed
• Ginger garlic paste - 2 tsp
• Turmeric - 2 pinches
• Dhaniya powder - 2 tsp
• Red chilli powder - 1 tsp ( according to taste)
• Green chilies - 1 finely chopped
• Cashewnut- 5 ground to fine paste with little water
• Salt as needed

To Temper:

• Jeera - 2 tsp
• Oil - 1 tsp

Method:

1.Cut bhindis into medium size pieces as in the pic. Saute them well in oil till the stickiness goes off and is slightly soft. [I didnt deep fry them, you can do that if you wish]

2.Temper jeera in a wide pan with oil. Immediately add the onions and fry till its transparent. Add ginger garlic paste and fry till raw smell goes.

3.Add the tomatoes and tomato puree,with little salt and mix well till it becomes soft and mushy.Fry till the raw smell completely leaves. Now add turmeric, red chili, coriander powders and mix well.

5.After the masalas are well blended with tomatoes add cashew nut paste and fry for a min till oil separates.Add the capsicum and fry in medium flame for a minute.

6. Now add the sauted bhindis, Adjust spice levels and salt at this stage. Sprinkle water for bhindis to get cooked well. Keep covered for 2mins and switch off! Serve hot with rotis/pulao!

My Notes : Adjust water according to the consistency of the gravy you need