Masala Paal / Masala Milk

I have had this masala paal/milk in many hotels and the one served in Vasantha bhavan is my fav! Hubby likes it so wanted to give a try at home and shud I mention abt the taste?!, simple n flavourful!

Before I go to the recipe want to thank Ambika for passing me this award :

Ingredients:

Milk - 1.5 cups

Sugar - as per taste

Turmeric powder - a pinch

Cloves -2

Cinnamon - 1/2 inch stick

Cardamom - powdered from 2

Almonds - powdered not too fine

Saffron - 2 to 3 strands

Method:

1.Bring milk to boil, add turmeric powder, cinnamon and cloves. Stir and leave it for 2mins till the aroma of spices are well mixed with the mik.

2.Filter the milk and add powdered almonds, cardamom and saffron strands.Serve hot!

Corn in Onion Sauce

Either its sweet corn or normal corn, amma likes it soo much and that was the main reason for me to try Nags recipe soo soon. Another reason being coincidentally 2 corn cobs were lying on the table that caught my sight soon after reading her recipe.

It was 4PM and here goes the conversation between amma & me:

Amma - [Just got up from a small nap] You said u'l make something with corn and give me, you even showed me the pic yest?!

Me - Yes ofcourse!

Amma - So when are u planning to make it?

Me - Its already done!

Amma - What?! So why didnt you give me, I m waiting for it....

Me - Wait ma, I am waiting for the sun to shine bright meanwhile am arranging things for clicking the pics. I've to do it before mittu wakes up no?

Amma - Hayoo u'l do all gymnastics, jump here and there to click the pics and that will take another 30mins or even more...?

Me - Dont worry I'l finish it up fast for ur sake.

Amma - Hmm lets see.....

At 4:45PM : Me - Here you have the corn onion sauce , handing over the plate to her.

Amma - Worth the wait......supera iruku but the quantity is very less.

Me - **Beaming with pride and smile** Next time I'll make in a large quantity ok?

Amma - Okay :)

I've impressed amma with many dishes but am very happy to have cooked her most fav corn today & having got her appreciation for it!!

I have tried so many times to blur the background using the camera itself but it was not upto the mark, so end up in blurring using photoshop. Finally 2day the blur came out so well(hope so....) guess now I learnt the technique of blurring using camera itself though not intentional ;)

Now coming to the recipe:

Ingredients:

Corn cobs - 1

Onion - 1 medium sized

Ginger garlic paste - 2 tsp

Curry leaves - 3 to 4

Jaggery Syrup - 2 tsp or as per taste[Dissolve jaggery in water to form a thick syrup]

Turmeric powder - a pinch

Chilli powder - 2 tsp

Jeera - 1/2 tsp

Yogurt/Curd - 3 tbsp

Oil - 3tsp

Salt to taste

Method:

1.Boil the corn for 5 vessles in cooker - I did this as I didnt want to deep fry them. I usually feel very guilty to pour more oil for frying.......exception for vadais and few other items :)

2.Slice the corn into 1 inch pieces. I used normal corn, not sweet corn so it was a very tough time to cut them so I cut only 1 slice for pic sake others I shaved them into pieces like below:

3. Grind onions to a fine paste. Now add ginger garlic paste, turmeric, chilli powder, jeera, curry leaves and jaggery syrup to the onion paste. Mix well and keep aside.

4.Saute the corn in 1.5 tsp oil for 5mins and keep aside.

5.Now add the remaining oil and fry onion paste mixture till oil seperates, it may take some 10 mins.

6.Lower heat and add curd/yogurt. Simmer only for 2-3 mins to avoid curd from curdling. Add salt and remove from fire.

The hot and sweet juicy corns were soo tasty and different! Even we had it as such :)

I usually click so many pics when I make a dish but end up picking up only 1 or 2 to post it here. But this time I liked many of my clicks than usual but restricted myself & posted only 4 of them .... So that means I've finally started liking my clicks! :)

And I'm linking this to :

Kaima Idli - Saravana Bhavan special!

I havent even heard about this kaima idli till I saw it in Lavis blog. So wanted to give a try, I followed the recipe with no major change, hmm I just omitted deep frying.

Ingredients:

Left Over Idli's: 3

Onion - 1

Tomato - 1/2

Garlic - 3 pods

Green Chilies - 1

Green Capsicum - 1/2

Curry Leaves - 5 to 6

CorrianderLeaves - 2tsp

[Dont search in mine, my stock got over so didnt use it ;)]

Oil - 2 tbsp

Chilly Powder - 1/2 tsp [Adjust according to your spice level]

Salt to taste

Lemon juice - 1 tbsp

Finely chop onion, tomato, garlic, capsicum, greenchillies and coriander leaves.

Method:

1.Cut the idli's into small cubes and saute them in oil till it becomes light brown and keep it aside. You can also deep fry the idlies which is what the orginal recipe says.

2.Drizzle oil in a pan, add mustard and allow it to splutter. Add onions,then garlic, curry leaves and saute well.

3.Add tomatoes and saute it well, so that its mashy with onions, add salt, turmeric powder and mix well.Now add capsicum, saute them well and add chilli powder. Keep stirring continuosly till its combined well.

4.Add the idlies, mix well till it combines well with all masalas.Garnish with corriander leaves, sprinkle lemon juice over the kaima idli's.

5.Serve these spicy kaima idlis with onion patchadi.

I did reserve only 3 idlis this time and the kaima idlis finished off in no time!

Valakkai Podimas

Vazhakai can be made in several ways....this podimas/puttu is a simple yet flavourful sidedish! I like this more than the usual fry. Dont mind on the spelling mistake in the pic, so lazy to work around again ;)

Ingredients:

Raw Banana -1

Onion - 1

Grated coconut - 3tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1tsp

Urad dal - 1tsp

Green chilli -1

Oil - 2tsp

Garlic cloves- 2

Turmeric powder - a pinch

Salt to taste

Method:

1. Boil the banana for 2 vessels, spread it out and keep aside

2. Drizzle oil, add mustard seends allow it to tamper. Add urad dal, green chili,garlic then onions, saute well , sprinkle turmeric powder.

3. Add coconut and saute till it turns light brown.

4. Now add the shredded vazhakai and saute well. Add salt to taste.

Bread Besan Toast

Bored of normal bread toast? then this is for you! I tried Mahimas Bread besan toast which turned out to be a great evening snack!

Ingredients:

Bread - 3

For the batter:

Besan flour - 1/2 cup

Finley chopped onions - 1/2

Chopped coriander leaves - 1/2 tbsp

Chopped green chilli - 1

Salt to taste

Water

Oil/Ghee to toast

I just ignored tomatoes and adjusted the quantity.

Method:

1. Mix all the above ingredients except bread to form a thin batter.

2. Dip each bread piece in the batter.

3. Heat the tawa, drizzle oil and toast both sides till light brown.While toasting press the bread slices so that all sides are cooked properly.

4. Cut each bread pieces into half diagonally.

5. Serve hot with tomato sauce!

Have I told you before?! I just like bread soo much...You give me bread anytime or even daily be it toast, upma or with omlette or even just like that....I can have it :) This besan toast takes hardly 10-15mins, hope you all try this toast too!!

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

Methi Gajar Matar / Methi Carrot Peas Milk gravy

I had been waiting to try this for long from Nags blog.

Ingredients:
Carrots - 4 big ones, chopped lengthwise.
Peas - 1/2 cup
Onion - 1 big sized finely chopped
Milk - 1/2 cup
Jeera- 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 2 tsp
Chilli powder - 3 tsp
Garam Masala - 2 tsp (optional)
Oil
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves - to garnish

Methi leaves - few

Method:
1.Half boil the carrots and peas in cooker, which is what I did. Omit this if u want to cook the veggies in milk gravy itself (it will take time but will surely taste even more better)

2. Heat oil, add the jeera, let them splutter, add the onions, fry a bit.

3. Add the peas to the onion mixture and fry them for 5 mins. Add the cooked carrots and stir.
NOTE: If you are using uncooked carrots , make sure to cook them in a little water and add milk after the carrots are semi cooked.

4. Add garam masala, turmeric powder,chilli powder then add milk
NOTE: [Add chilli powder generously as carrot + peas + milk gravy gives a sweet taste so check and add it.]

5. Close and let it cook for 5-7 mins. Keep stirring once in a while to avoid burning of milk and the carrots. Once the curry looks creamy add coriander, methi leaves and mix well!

Once u add milk the gravy gets thickened very soon so dont over cook after milk is added.

Switch off and garnish. This goes well with chapathis!

Rosemilk - Pretty in Pink!

The first time I tasted Rosemilk was in Sree Annapoorna - Coimbatore. From the day I was a great fan of rosemilks. I wonder how the rosemilk they serve alone had the rose essence at the bottom and I used to stir it with the straw. As a kid I was very excited to see the pink color getting beautifully mixed with milk.

Its been so long since I drank rosemilk, should say I totally forgot it when I started drinking my fav chocolate milkshake. Last week when I went for monthly grocery shopping saw this rose essence in Foodworld. With no hestitation I took it and by now I have made it so many times :)

Should I have to give you the recipe for this?! ;)

Chilled Milk + Sugar + Rose Essence = Yummy Rosemilk!

My bday month seems to be too much fun and lucky even before my day has approached. Awards, tags and what not ! It added on when........Couple of days back, opened my inbox to see a new message from Nags with the subject "You won the book". I first cudnt believe it, as luck is very far from me :)

Anyways luck has breezed my way this time...... I m happy to tell you that I won the book in this giveaway. I have just started reading the book and I am really thankful to Nags for such a nice book. It surely has changed my perception about diets and you knw the lazy me has started exercising already!

Coming to the award, I feel very much excited and honoured in receiving the honest scrap award. Thank you so much Renu!

Requirements:

I must thank the person who gave me the award and list their blog and link it.

I must list 10 honest things about myself.

I must put a copy of The Honest Scrap Logo on my blog.

I must select at least 7 other worthy bloggers & list their links.

I must notify the bloggers of the award and hopefully they will follow the above three requirements also.

Here are my 10 honest confessions:

1.I feel each day is a little life n I luv it :)

2.I completely enjoy being a mother

3.I go crazy after mobiles and bags

4.If I like a movie, I prefer watching it many times instead of a new one

5.I love watching the rain

6.I am addicted to my system

7.I am a planned person and struggle to take things at the last minute

8.I adore friendship

9.I cook to click :)

10.I love longdrives in car with music turned on

And I am passing this to my honest scrappers:

Smitha , Nags , Lavi , Varsha , SJ , Mahima , Lubna

Only 7?! Hmm have to stop here then.....You all deserve the award too, Do pick it up! I am tired of writing a long post so let me have my rosemilk :)