Coriander Chutney

This chutney is ammas special and we like it with dosas/ idlis and today I had it with rava idly should I have to tell the combo.........:) Its a simple recipe yet tastes soo gud.

Ingredients :

Tomato - 1 medium size

Small onions - 6

Curry leaves - few

Green chilli - 1

Coriander leaves - 1/2 bunch

Hing - 2 pinches

Mustard seeds - few

Salt to taste

Method:

1. Add oil, mustard seeds leave it to splutter

2.Add all the above ingredients except coriander and fry for few minutes till tomato turns soft and raw smell is slightly off. Add salt

3. Finally add coriander leaves and fry not more than 2 mins

4. Cool it and grind it with little water, ur chutney is ready!

Say NO to Plagiarisms

It was really annoying to read the plagiarisms among bloggers. I really dont understand how one can copy paste others creation and claim that its theirs. Lets try to prevent such people from doing it in future atleast.

Even disabling rightclick on the page will help only to a certain extent, still they can take a print screen and do the cropping so my suggested solution is watermarking. I searched the web and there were numerous watermarking methods, still confused whether this wud help us so enquired one of my designer collegue at office the right and easy way of watermarking images and got this method finally: Trust me its so easy if you can do it for the first time....

Open the image to be watermarked in photoshop (I use Photoshop CS3) but this can be done even in earlier versions too.

Easy way to watermark ur creations in 5 steps:

1.Now click 'T' from the tool bar on the leftside(which is hidden in the belw pic) and type the text on the image say for eg: "@Sharmis-Passions". And this text will be created in a new layer as shown in highlighted blue:

Position the text where ever u want it to be (preferably in the middle)

2.Right click on the text layer > then click blending options

NOTE : The effects can be changed according to each ones choice, I hve used Emboss effect,try experimenting with other effects too. Make the settings as shown below:

Click on Bevel & Emboss and change the style, leave others as default settings.

3. Then reduce the opacity to 56%(this can be + or - according to transparency level one needs)

4.Now holding shift and the 2 layers (1 is background layer where u have ur picture & 2 is the text layer). Right click and select merge layers. This merging layers prevents one from editing the image and changing it to their need so all is done.

5.Now both the layers are merged and as a result only 1 layer will be shown as below:



Tats it, ur creation is watermarked and cant be edited hereafter. Here is the final result!

Tired of doing these steps everytime for all ur images, you need not worry, have a solution for this repetition also...You can record the above actions and save it once, when played next time it will automatically do these steps for you...Isnt that cool? Absolutely yes for lazy creatures like me ;) Tat will be my next tutorial for u.

I was so much involved in this post yesterday that I missed Airtel Super Singer also(the only show I am addicted to currently) and by the time Amma enjoyed Kolangal(am sure for those who are in India knw abt this Kolangal fever) .

Hope this was atleast some use to you....Can I hear a yes?! :)

Melagu Poondu Kolambu (Pepper Garlic Kolambu)

Ingredients:

Black Pepper - 1/2 tbsp

Jeera - 1/2 tbsp

Garlic - 6-7 pods

Tamarind - Small lemon size

Sambar Powder - 1 tsp

Turmeric Powder - a pinch

Onion - 1 big size finely chopped

Curry Leaves - few

Oil - 2 tbsp

Mustard - 1/2 tsp

Salt - as per taste

Method:

1. Soak tamarind in water and extract the juice. Add sambar and turmeric powder to the tamarind water, stir well and keep it aside.

2. In a kadai put a tsp of oil and fry the pepper first. When it starts popping up, remove. Add jeera , leave it to splutter, remove and add garlic. Fry the garlic till it turns light brown. Remove and cool it.

3. Grind fried pepper, jeera and garlic together to a fine paste and add little water.

4. In a tawa, pour the remaining oil, add mustard. When it pops up, add chopped onion, curry leaves and fry just for second.

5. Then add tamarind water and stir well. Add salt and bring to boil. When it starts boiling, add the pepper paste and mix well.

6. Allow to boil just for 5-10 seconds.

This is best suited for cold, Its is a bit spicy and goes well with rice / idly.

Shahi Tukda / Shahi Tukra - A Bread Saffron pudding

This was a dessert they do occassionally in our office, and we used to ask for one more and once when I enquired the recipe it was so simple but believe me its soo tasty!

Ingredients :

• Milk - 2 cups
• Bread - 4 slices
• Saffron - 2 to 3 strands
• Sugar - 3 to 4 tbsp
• Water - 1/4 cup
• Ghee - to toast
• Nuts - 1 tbsp (Pista & Badams chopped finely)

Method:

1. Prepare sugar syrup by heating sugar and water in a pan until a syrup like consistency is formed.It should be slightly sticky thats all, dont need to check for string consistency etc.Keep aside

2. Boil the 2 cups of milk, crush saffron strands and add it to the milk. Simmer and thicken it , till it becomes 1 cup (like condensed milk consistency).The rabri is ready now.

3. Toast the bread in ghee in a tawa such that it becomes crisp . You can use ur oven or toaster too.It can deep fried in ghee too.

4. Cut the toasted bread into small triangles.Dip a slice in sugar syrup on both sides, then arrange it in a serving plate and pour the milk/rabri over it to soak well. Fry the chopped nuts in ghee and garnish it.

5.Refrigerate for 30mins and serve chilled!

My Notes:

• Either deep fry them in ghee or toast them. Dont deep fry/toast in oil as it will spoil the taste.
• The bread slices should be crispy else when soaked in milk it will become soggy.
• If you wish you can cut the sides of the bread. I didnt find any difference after soaking so usually I dont remove the sides of the bread.
• You can use either white or brown bread. I used white here.

For a recipe to attract you....

Have you ever thought of what 5 things that a recipe needs to attract you that you immediately want to try it out? Now its the time....think and write in ur comments....!

Let me start first....To me :
1. The click of the picture ofcourse comes first in place
2. Ingredients - It should be easy to get or already there in my kitchen and how healthy the ingredients are....
3. The labour and time needed to prepare the dish....but if the pic is too tempting I wudnt mind doing it even if its a lengthy process :)
4. Innovativeness - If I've not heard of the dish and its tempting then I wud go for it.
5. And finally the presentation and color of the dish.

Would luv to hear urs too...Come on, Pour in!

A Bday wish and my rasamalai experiment ;)

Hmm first I admit that this pista cke was from Mcrennet and not from my kitchen...I havent tried my hands yet in baking and stuff. When I was wondering what cake to order for hubbys bday.....I made up my mind not to stick with choc as I am bored of having choc cake everytime....also my cam wanted to click something other than brown......;) so opted for pista . I wasnt much satisfied with the write up on the cake...the girl was in such a hurry that she scribbled like this....forget it... but the taste was yum yum!

Yup....today is hubbys bday....Here is me wishing him a very happy bday and this post is esp for him! Have you ever wondered why we celebrate bdays??!! Does it mean only new dresses, gifts, partying with friends, chocs n cakes? I feel Birthdays remind us that the gift of life is the most precious and important one! And to me birthdays are more special than any other festival....its the special time to celebrate the gift of 'you' to the world.

Hmm...now coming to my rasamalai experiment....I was in a thought of making a sweet that I hvent tried yet so my choice was Rasamalai, went through 4-5 random recipes....mostly of them had the same method. So yesterday after a tiring day at office... came home and started to prepare this sweet. After the cottage cheese was ready I couldnt shape it into balls.....so where to flatten it....:( But followed the same steps and the result was like therati paal.....it was yummy though it didnt taste and look like rasamalai ha ha...So what to name my sweet, any suggestions?

But was pretty much pleased with this click of mine....As there was no enough light ,I had to use flash.....The sweet was cream color n so the flash was over harsh n the picture seemed to look washed out with white. And here is where the I used ISO setting and it worked out too...I used ISO 800 for this click though a lil grainy I cud see some blur at the back....heya I m atleast 25% achieved the blurring effect...!

NOTE:Check my photography basic elements post for more details.

Here is the method I followed:
1. To make cottage cheese - I boiled the milk, Added few drops of lemon juice till the milk curdled
2. Transfered the curdled milk into a muslin cloth to drain out the water. After sometime I tried to divide and shape into small balls........but here is where the pain started I cudnt roll it at all...:(
3. Made a thick sugar syrup , dropped the semi balls into the syrup and they started to seperate.....as the balls were not strong enough
4. Then added these scrambled rasamalai's to the thickened milk(done seperately)
5. Added cardamom powder and garnished with pistachios and almonds

Have any of you faced the same pblm? Do let me knw where I went wrong.....And I m sure to try it again with pleasure....:)

Photography - The Basic Elements, a deeper view....

When I first opted to learn online photography the often 3 words I read everywhere in basic elements were

• ISO,
  
• Aperture
  
• Shutter speed and I am adding one more to it
  
• Angles

Wait wait dont run away....... hearing these very technical terms, I swear I'l explain in my simplest terms. Even I was very much aversed hearing such terms for the 1st time but then learnt these are the most useful when professional photography is considered. Now first lets start with ISO...

ISO denotes how sensitive the image sensor is exposed to the amount of light present.

It is usually in numbers from lower say 100 - higher may be 2600(it depends on ur camera). This can be manually changed in settings.

Shooting at a lower ISO number requires more light - Refer 1st pic. So if you are at a place where light is less you can increase to higher ISO settings but remember higher the ISO the picture looks like washed off with sand or to be simple a grainy picture - Refer 2nd pic it automatically has given more light. I do cooking mostly during ngt times and there is no way other than to use flash till I learnt about ISO and now I can take pictures without flash by setting higher no ISO say 400 or 800.

ISO : 200 ISO: 1600

RULE :

Lower ISO number is used when there is more light

Higher ISO number is used when there is low light

Aperture

The aperture on a camera, which is measured in f-stops, controls the amount of light. Lower f-stop numbers (for e.g. in mine its 2.8) widens the aperture and allow more light to get in. The larger the hole the more light that gets in - the smaller the hole the less light. But only in some cameras you have control over to manually change the fstop settings , otherwise its automatic.

Note : This blur in 2nd pic was actually faked using photoshop ;) but to show how the blurring looks....I have used this pic...becos I have a a long way to go to learn blurring backgrounds using my digi cam....:) When we take living objects we usually get annoyed when our pictures blur....I was also with you till I discovered the beauty of blurring....I can say I am craving to take background blur pictures....Blur isn’t always a bad thing, especially when it captures the movement or the subject with a background.

Shutter speed

Shutter Speed is the amount of time that the shutters of the window are open. A fast shutter speed will freeze the subject and a slow shutter speed will make it look blurred as the subject moves. When we use flash option there is a fast shutter speed and thats the reason why we have less option for the images to shake. I usually use this in interiors where there is no enough light.

Freezing is if you check the 1st pic will u believe the fan was rotating while I clicked the pic....but yes tats the truth....It just freezes the moving objects when shutterspeed is fast.

RULE :

Fast Shutter speed - Freeze as in 1st pic

Slow shutter speed - Blur as in 2nd pic

Angles:

Till I started this space I was not aware that angles make so much of difference. In the 1st pic I took from top, so the lighting was not gud enough and pic seems to be dull too. The 2nd was taken from one side, see how much difference the lighting with angles has made and the pic looks more appealing. As I say always taking 4-5 pictures in different angles definitely makes a difference in your perspective to photography.

Having known the basics.....Lets get on to the next in my upcoming article but I'l make sure thats not boring as this :) So keep coming and do drop in ur comments !

Spicy chettinad egg gravy

I got this recipe from a site, and it came out exactly the same taste as in restaurants. It already has more pepper in the grinded paste, so the chilli powder could be reduced a bit, it can be adjusted according to ones taste. Here goes the gravy recipe and the blur effect that I tried from Nags tips. Though the picture was not a apt one for blur as it has more than 1 main subject for focus........the result is not that bad I guess...What say?

Ingredients:

Hard Boiled eggs(cut into halves)-3

Chili powder- 1/2 tsp

Small Onion- 10

Coriander leaves - few

Tomato- 1

Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp

Oil and Salt- as required

To be grinded:

Coriander seeds- 2 spoon

Red Chili- 2

Garlic- 2 cloves

Ginger- 1/2 inch

Curry leaves- few

Pepper corns- 1tsp

Fennel seeds(sombu)- 1/2 tsp

Cumin seeds(seeragam)- 1/4 tsp

Grated coconut- 4 spoon

Method:

1. In medium flame, add 1 tsp oil, fry all the ‘To be grinded’ ingredients for 2-3 mins till it turns brown.

2. Cool it and grind it into a fine paste with water.

3. Add little oil and fry small onions, till it turns light brown. Add tomatos and saute it, till it becomes mushy.

4. Then add chili powder, turmeric powder, grinded paste, salt and a 1/2 cup of water. Cook for 5 to 10 mins in medium flame.

5. Finally add the bolied eggs and cook for a min.

6. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with chapathis.

And I am sending this to Think Spice..Think Pepper.. hosted by Divya

Using Pepper is a great way to spice up the bland food as they add flavor, color and crunch to many dishes.

Popularly known for its digestive help, pepper has numerous other health benefits also.

Nokia 6610i Review and my bonding with it.... :o)

Looks like there are more of cooking post in 'my passions'......when friends who knw me well, check out this space they wud be surely puzzled (not only them me too) about the many posts by me tat too in cooking. I decided myself to write a post on mobiles....Hmm what shall I write??!! The first thing that my eye catches when I ask this question is my Nokia 6610i in my hand and so here u go with it...

With mobile craze increasing day by day and with all the offers we are seeing we get easily carried away. This is my mobile experience with my 2nd mobile buy(1st mobile was given for xchange while getting this one) . My first mobile was Nokia 3310(BnW screen),...It was the time mobile phones were getting popular and amma got it for me during my project time when I was in Chennai......first time I was in hostel far away from her......but ofcourse only physically..! It was all fun to own a first mobile........the ringtones, sms(how can I forget it ;), pic msgs and the tones that we composed even A.R.Rehman wouldnt have been so much excited after his hit composition but we did! Then came the entry of new sleek flashy mobiles with Camera, Polyphonic ringtones, color screen.....And I was also tempted to hve one n selected a model too tat was Nokia 6610i.......But was thinking too hard as it was 8K, I went to the shops many times but returned back in a 2nd thought...New things always had a craze and I was also no exception for it...At tat time a mobile for tat cost wasnt affordable by amma but still she didnt say NO as usual.....Finally got a N6610i for a exchange price of 7K. Will u believe?!! I didnt sleep the whole night....I was with the mobile as if it was the last day with it.....I luved it so much....did this and that in the name of exploring ;) even got a datacable for it.....I was sticking to it all the time. The panel in the pic is not orginal...the orginal came with blue / silver.

I was packing home from office n it was already late 8PM (ha late at work in my language) Hubby came to pick me up......We were nearing our house and only then I realised my mobile was not with me I was panic.....coudnt speak a word except said him to drive back office. He said y do u get tensed for such silly things after all its a mobile......But to me it wasnt just a phone...but the meaning of that....nothing can replace it! Rushed towards my place....my mobile wasnt there....I was totally shattered...what the hell of carelessness I said myself. Suddenly I remembered that I went to my friends place before leaving....And finally yes found my mobile there!! I took a deepbreath.....only after that! Things do have meaning for certain things are not just products.....Though I have afforded to have much more costlier mobiles now, I cant consider my N6610i as any other phone. Inspite of it having some minor defects(charging pblms n voice clarity pblms).........the bond that it has with me still says U r my BEST and u'l always stay soo!

And now for the review and specifications : Check out GSMArena for any mobile reviews and user opinions . For the specifications of N6610i : http://www.gsmarena.com/nokia_6610i-742.php
Looks - Lookswise the Nokia 6610i is cool and ofcourse very much handy

Usage - Being a Nokia mobile phone, the Nokia 6610i is a easy to use mobile phone and the 4-way navigation key makes it easier. Also, the keypad is just right and they are well spaced out leaving very little scope to press the keys wrongly. The keypads are soo soft to be pressed.

Sound quality - The ear volume is less when to compared to other phone.....like it is too low when used in traffic and other public places.

Ringtones - The Nokia 6610i, provides 8-chord polyphonic ringing tones. Also, some polyphonic ringtones are In-built as well provided by Nokia.

FM Radio - The Nokia 6610i, provides a FM Radio as well. Most of the stations can be tuned(which I dont get tuned in even in my trascend MP3 player)and the FM Radio signals come very clearly even when they are unclear in traditional radio sets n also MP3 players.. However, the FM Radio, cannot be listened simultaneously by both Headset and Loudspeaker.

Camera - As far as I remember The Nokia 6610i, is one of the 1st camera mobile phones created by Nokia. Being a entry-level camera phone, the picture quality of the Nokia 6610i is not too clear, but still the photos are viewable and the quality of the camera is average. But still one will surely get disappointed when got this mobile for camera .

Battery Life -The Battery life of the Nokia 6610i is good and on recharging to full battery, it works for almost 2-3 days if it is not used too much.

Tats all for now folks! Though this mobile was out of production soon after I got it....I just wanted to leave a note that there existed a mobile model like this in the instant changing mushroom business I mean the mobile world ;)

Carrot Halwa (Gajar ka halwa)

One of the recipes that comes out well every time I do! And thats the 9th wonder in my case....;) Here goes the recipe from my kitchen:

Ingredients:

• Carrot- grated - 2 cups
• Sugar - 1/2 cup
• Milk - 1 cup
• Broken cashews - 1 tbsp
• Cardamom powder - a pinch [optional]
• Ghee - 1 tbsp

Method:

1. Heat ghee in a pan and roast the cashews till golden brown and keep it aside. In the same pan, add grated carrot.


2. Saute it in medium flame till the carrots changes color and gets cooked and raw smell leaves.


3. This is the stage, then take 1 cup of boiled milk. Add this milk to the carrot and continue to cook carrots in milk.


4. When carrots start abosorbing milk, add sugar. Continue to cook until the halwa gets thick, the ghee gets seperated and will come out on the sides of the pan.


5. Add the cardamom powder, mix well, garnish with nuts and serve.

Tastes divine when had with a scoop of vanilla icecream. This dessert is yummy when served cold or hot. A simple yet rich dessert.

Veggie thenga paal kolambu

This dish is close to the veggie kurma we usually do, but the tamarind and coconut milk adds flavour to the gravy.

Ingredients:

Drumstick -1

Potato-1

Carrot-1

Peas/Beans -1

Small Onion-2

Garic - 7 cloves

Coconut milk - 1/2 cup thick

Tamarind juice extracted - 2 tbsp

Turmeric powder-1tsp

Garam masala - 1 tsp

Chilli powder-1 tsp

Coriander powder - 1 tsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

Cumin seeds - a pinch

Mustard seems - 1/2 ts

Curry leaves - 10

Coriander leaves to garnish

Salt to taste

Method

1.Heat oil, add mustard seens, leave it to splutter. Then add cumin seeds,curry leaves, onions , garlic and saute till its fried well

2.Add the veggies and fry for 3-5 mins. Add salt, turmeric powder,chilli and coriander powder. Add water let all the ingredients

combine and leave it till all the veggies get cooked

3.Now add extracted tamarind juice and allow it to boil well till raw smell of tamarind goes and veggies are softened

4.Add garam masala, coconut milk cook in low heat for 3-5mins.

NOTE : Dont overcook after the coconut milk is added

5.Garnish with Coriander leaves

There is no grinding needed for this gravy except for the coconut milk extracted. It goes well with idly/dosa.

Photography Tips - Index

Choosing the bgs, props and angles for your food pics

Basic Essentials

Elements - A Deeper view

Say No to Plagiarisms

Recording Actions in PS

Photography - The Essentials

What to photograph?? Scratching ur head of what to click?! Are you out of ideas....? There is nothing specific in the photograph world as a rule to be clicked. Break the rules!! ;)) Click this and that to explore more and you may not even know....and as a result .you might have clicked some exclamatory pictures.

Tats how I click : http://picasaweb.google.com/vsharmilee/MyClicksMacros#

The essentials :

More About Light: To take a great picture you need more than just the light from your camera's flash. It took several months to know that light plays a vital role in photography.To get it, go outside in the daytime. Sunny, cloudy, it doesn't matter. Indoor light is often insufficientfor good photography, so do yourself a huge favor and step outdoors. In my case our house is little darkened even in the daytime so I have to run to balcony each time when I make a dish. Click a picture with flash and the same picture with natural source of light - You will surely see the difference!

Composing And Clicking: Frame your shot , press the shutter halfway when a green lamp(in mine) is shown and then click it. Now you are a way closer to click wonderful pictures!
Tip: If possible take your picture in the early morning or the late afternoons. The light at these times makes for the best photography.I know we cant step out in places like Chennai where heat is scorching.

Conclusion: Now that you've done all the preparations, next is click several shots! Nobody is perfect, most of all have turned to professionals having been a amateur one day. Make sure you take more than 3-4 pictures in the same postures as a beginner to photography. But then if its a macro not a problem but living objects u need to get hold of them to stand and give the same pose for more pictures, thats the trick you should find out ;) Try clicking kids tats the most hardest I feel.....they dont stand still for a moment and tats a more challenging work! Happy Clicking! :)

Egg Fried Rice

Here is the reciepe I got it from a site...with my own modifications:

Ingredients:

Cooked Basmati rice - 2 cups

Chopped carrots - a handful

Chopped cabbage - a handful

Chopped Capsicum - a handful

Chopped Onions - 1/2 cup

Chopped beans - a handful

Eggs-2

Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp

Soya sauce - 1 tbsp

Pepper - 2-3 tsp

Oil - 2 tbsp

Salt - to taste

Method:

1.First boil the basmati rice such that it comes seperated, spread it in a plate and keep it aside

2. Heat the oil in a pan and saute the onions till it becomes translucent

3. Add the ginger garlic paste and fry till raw smell goes away

4. Now add all the veggies with capsicum and pepper, keep frying till the vegetables are half cooked and fried well till the raw smell goes

5. Increase the heat to maximum and pour the soya sauce in, stir continuously. Keep stirring for 10 seconds and then lower the heat.

6. Add the cooked rice with required salt and mix well.

7.Scramble the eggs in seperate kadai and then add it to rice

8.Let it fry for another 5mins and then remove.

9.Serve hot!