Soya Chunks Kurma

Heard from many of them that soya is rich in proteins and here is my first try.

Ingredients:
Soya chunks - 20-25 balls

Ginger garlic paste - 2tsp

Onion - 2 (finely chopped)

Oil - as required
Salt - to taste
Chili powder - 2 tsp / add as per taste
Garam masala powder - 1 tsp

Grind and make a paste of:
Tomato - 3 (finely chopped)
Coconut - 1 cup
Coriander seeds- 1tsp
Fennel seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Peppercorns - 1/2 tsp
Cinnamon - 1 stick
Cardamom - 2
Cloves - 1

Method:
1.Soak Soya chunks in hot water for 30 minutes, then wash it in cold water 3-4 times each time draining the water from the soya to get rid of the smell. Heat oil in a pan. Saute the soya for 3mins and keep it aside.
2.Add onion, ginger garlic paste and saute till golden brown and add the sauted soya.
3.Add the grinded paste, add a cup of water if its too thick. Add chilli powder, salt and garam masala.
4.Cook till oil seperates and switch it off. Serve hot with rotis!

I have read that soya doesnt digest faster. So if u r planning to make it for dinner, make sure u hve a long gap after dinner before going to bed.

Eggless Melting Moments - Choco Cookies!

Since long I wanted to try a cookie and the top in my list was Mahi's oats cookies but then when I saw these brownies I cudnt resist myself......Did I mention, I just luv brown!! This is my first cookie baking experience.....and thank god it didnt turn out messy, It was quite decent except for the pics.....:( I nagged Nags ;) for the cup measurements and she was kind enough to reply so quicky. Finally yesterday I took up courage to bake these lovely melting moments. Here are the measurements that I used:

Ingredients:
Butter - 3/4 cup + 1tbsp
Cornflour - 1/2 cup
Maida - 1 cup
Coco powder - 1 and 3/4 tbsp
Powdered sugar - 3/4 cup

With this I got 13 cookies medium sized ones!

Method:
1.Beat butter and sugar until smooth and creamy.

2.Mix maida, cornflour and coco together in a seperate bowl until all 3 are well combined.

3.Add the flour mixture little at a time to the butter mixture and mix until its combined well.
NOTE : The dough should be moist enough to roll them into balls. When I combined the mixture I found them very dry that I cudnt roll it so I added 1more tbsp of butter to make it greasy and roll it easily.

4.Make small balls with the dough and press to small round shapes. Arrange them in the oven with 2 inches apart. The cookies spread generously while baking hence the spacing. As Nags said the the cookies didn't stick to the tray at all.

5.Bake in a preheated oven at 180 C[I use a stove top oven which has no settings so am giving u'll Nags readings].

It took me exactly 25mins, But its better to check after 20mins tats what I did tats when u can smell the aroma of the cookies....
Leave it to cool for 10mins and ur crispy melting moments are ready!!

It can be stored upto 4 days...but I bet it'll all be finished by that time! :)

Mushroom Gravy

I just love mushrooms in any form, either its manchurian or biriyani or even a simple gravy. Most of all, I like cleaning the mushrooms and chopping it......:) I googled for some random gravies, referred 2-3 sites combined them and came out with this gravy.....It was yummy that the chapathis went inside soo fast :D

Ingredients:

Chopped Mushroom- 1 packet

Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp

Red chili powder- 1 tsp

Oil and Salt- as required

Ginger garlic paste - 3 tsp

To grind :

Onion - 1

Tomatos - 2

Cinnamon - 1 inch

Shredded coconut - 2 tbsp

Cardamom - 1

Cloves- 2

Cumin seeds- 1 tsp

Fennel seeds- 2 pinch

Coriander leaves- 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Heat pan with oil. Add all the 'to grind' ingredients and fry for few minutes. Tomato should turn mushy and onions to be blended well.

2. Grind the above fried items, allow it to cool and keep it aside.

3. Heat oil in a pan, Add ginger garlic paste, add the mushroom and saute for few mins.

4. Add grinded paste, salt , turmeric powder and red chili powder, leave it to boil. Add 1/2 cup water if gravy is very thick.

5. Allow it to boil for 5mins and serve hot with chapathis.

Eggless French Toast (Savoury version)

Coming to the recipe today....I tried eggless french toast from Mahimas blog sometime back and it turned out to be a very good snack for a sunday evening! Check out my eggless french toast sweet version here.

Before I give the recipe....want to share with u all that here is my first award and I m excited in receiving this. Thank you so much Priya, U made my day!

Ingredients:

• Bread - 4 slices
• Rava - 1/2 cup
• Yogurt - 1/2 cup
• Big Onions chopped - 1/2
• Red chilli powder
• Coriander leaves chopped - 1 tbsp
• Salt
• Turmeric powder - a pinch
• Ghee to toast

Method:

1. Mix the above ingredients except bread and make a thick batter

2. Dip each bread slice in the batter and coat both the sides well with the batter.

3. Heat a tawa. Add 1/2 tsp ghee, flip and toast the bread slices till its golden brown on both the sides.

4. Serve with tomato sauce.

And I am sending this to : Priyas Sunday Snacks Event - Snacks with Bread

This award comes with the following rules:

1) Add the logo of the award to your blog - Added

2) Add a link to the person who awarded it to you - Linked

3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs (Only if you like) - This is my 1st time so will follow the rules aptly & will nominate only 7 though my fav list exceeds that...

4) Add links to those blogs on your blog - Done

5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blog - Done

And I am passing this to :

Mahima

Nags

Ramya of Ramya Cooks

Ashwini

SJ

Varsha

N33ma

Oh I m already done with 7 :)

Have a great week!

My search for Nokia 1600!

Oflate almost when this model got out of production, my eyes turned towards it though I had a liking from the very beginning of the models introduction when the ad said "Vilithidu India vilithidu" as it had a talking alarm. It was the same case with all of my mobiles.....Either I like the model late or tend to buy it once the production gets down. But the other 3 mobiles I own didnt give such a tough time....we found it after searching in 5-6 shops.

And as always the poor victim is my hubby who accompanies me for the search. We had almost searched this model in all the mobile outlets and the only answer was this model is gone and u'll not find it anywhere. Hubby also suggested to go in for a 2nd hand seeing my craze for it....But then I didnt want to, as I was not used to this 2nd hand stuff for any products that I buy esp mobiles. My craving for this model grew day by day esp when I knew its not available :)

This time I almost gave up...and said lets leave it after having a tiring search. But hubby didnt want to.... so searched in few online sites and most of them didnt show it even in the search resuls. To our surprise ebay had one in stock...we booked it at once, the next day there was a msg from ebay saying that one piece that is in stock is damaged so asked us to select someother model, they also convinced us saying that they wud give a higher model for the same cost. We replied back saying to refund the money as we were specific abt the model. Few days later there was a msg saying we have shipped the same model u had asked for. When I saw this mail.....I was skeptical whether I wud get the model I asked for or some other!? I was waiting for the home delivery and 2 days later amma called up saying it has come....gone I cudnt concentrate anything @ off so applied an hrs permission and left home. Oh my god only when I opened the parcel and saw the set I was totally relaxed and happy. The color was white....but I didnt bother abt it as I had this habit of changing the panel. Cant express the feeling of getting a thing u longed/searched for sooo long!

Now coming to its features.....I understand this was the same question many of my friends asked : Wat was soo special abt it? I had no apt answer to them except tat I liked it which itself is special ;) Search in so many shops, many confused faces at the shops seeing me, an hrs permission at office all for a model which didnt have any fancy features - yes it was a basic color model with a talking alarm tats it. I luved the buttons...so glossy and attractive! Also the receivers voice needs a special mention...Its so clear even in Chennai traffic!

Though I've tried few other brands also....I am a huge fan of Nokia products and tats the reason why all of my mobiles in my museum ;) are nokia except for 1 which is Sony. I havent found any flaws with my N1600 till now....I usually find some fault within a weeks time of buy which can be a minor one to others but matters to me the most :( But this time its been close to a yr & no disappointments with N1600 and Nokia rocks!!

Through the years I havent been that lucky enough to get what I wanted(right from my career till the simplest things like these) at that instant....but I get it after a struggle n delay but something best & worth the delay and I am really very happy with it!! :)

Gobi Manchurian (Cauliflower Manchurian)

Gobi Manchurian is one of the very few chinese dishes that I luv to eat! Have made it several times and finally got the exact taste, so updated the recipe and the pic :)

Ingredients:

1 Medium Cauliflower-cut into florets

For the batter :

• 1/2 cup Cornflour
• 1/4 cup Maida
• 2 tsps of ginger garlic paste
• 1tsp - Red chilly powder
• Salt-to taste
• Oil- to deep fry
• Orange color - optional

Method:

1. Boil water and add cauliflower florets, salt and turmeric powder. Cook only till half boiled, drain water and keep aside.


2. Mix all the above ingredients with water to form a thick batter. Dip the boiled cauliflower florets in the batter, mix well and leave it for 10mins. Then deep fry them till golden brown or until crispy. [I usually toast them in dosa tawa or grill them in oven]

For the manchurian:

• 1 tbsp - Oil
• 1 tbsp of garlic sliced thin
• 1 Capsicum - cut into ½ inch squares
• 1 Big Onion - cut into small pieces
• 1.5 tbsp - Soya sauce
• 3 tbsp - Tomato sauce
• 1 tsp red chilly powder
• Salt - to taste
• Spring onions - recommended but I didnt have so skipped it
• Cornflour - 1 tbsp mixed with 3 tbsp water

Method:

1. Heat oil and add sliced garlic, saute for 2mins then add onion, capsicum and saute them for 3 mins. Let the onions and capsicum retain its crispiness and do not let them turn brown.


2. Then add spring onions if you are using it and saute well.Now add the red chilly powder and salt [Remember boiled cauliflower already has salt in it]


3. Keep in high flame and add soya sauce, mix continuously for few seconds.Simmer and add tomato sauce, mix well.


4. Then add cornflour water mixture, mix well and continue to cook till it becomes thick. Now add toasted/grilled gobis.


5. Mix well again for 3-4 minutes for the flavours to get blended well with the gobis. The gobi pieces should be a little crisp and not soggy at this stage. Garnish with spring onions and Serve hot!

Recording Actions in Photoshop

This is the continuation of my previous post 'Watermarking Images'. Whatever action you perform, photoshop records it and does it for you next time - yes this post is for it! But here I have given the steps for automating watermark but this technique can be done even for borders , headings or anything you feel you are doing repeatedly. Here you go.....

Automated watermarking steps:

1.Go to Window > Actions or (Alt+f9 in win PC). You will be shown a popup having all default actions.

2.Now click on 'create new action' icon, a popup asks for the name for the action, here I call it as 'SharmisWatermark'.

Here is where the magic starts : Click on record in the same popup

3. Now follow the same 4 steps given above for watermarking a image(or even some other actions for testing). After you are done with the steps click on stop. All ur steps will be recorded now.

4.To check whether this has been recorded properly, open another new image and press alt+f9. Ur action named 'SharmisWatermark' will be shown along with the default actions.Click on the actionname, then click play and see what happens.

5.The image that you have opened will have the watermark applied automatically or the actions performed by you while recording is ON.Isnt that cool?

I thoroughly enjoyed doing it.....it was fun. Try it and let me know!

Dum Aloo / Aloo Dum

I was in search for a quick side dish when googled found this and have updated the recipe here. Baby potatoes are recommeded to be used. I just loved the aroma of curd in the gravy which gave a different taste.

Ingredients:

• Baby potatoes - 10
• Onion - 1/2
• Bay leaf - a small piece
• Cloves - 2
• Cinnamom - 1/4 inch piece
• Oil - 1 tbsp
• Jeera - 1 tsp
• Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
• Curd - 1/2 cup
• Coriander leaves - to garnish
• Kasuri methi - a pinch (this gives added flavour)
• Turmeric powder - a pinch
• Fennel powder (Sombu podi) - 1 tsp
• Garam masala powder -1/2 tsp
• Coriander powder - 2 tsp
• Red chilli powder - 1.5 tsp
• Tomato puree - from 2 tomatoes

Method:

1. Boil potatoes to 2 whistles, peel of the skin. Prick holes with a fork, fry in a tsp of oil until slightly browned and keep aside.

2. Heat oil in a pan. Add jeera, allow it to crackle. Add ginger-garlic paste and onion and saute till raw smell leaves and onions turn light brown.

3. Then add tomato puree, spice powders(turmeric, coriander, fennel, chilli and garam masala powder) and salt. Saute until raw smell of tomatoes leave.Add little water and allow it to boil.

4. Close with a lid and simmer it. I left it for around 5-7mins, sauting now and then.Add, potatoes and cook for 5 more minutes till the gravy blends with the potatoes and the gravy is thick. Add curd and cook not more than 5mins else it will curdle.Mix well.

5. Garnish with coriander leaves, kasuri methi. Serve with Chapathis/Rotis.