A 4 yr old Hand Paints a Mango

When I think Mangoes I can only remember the summers growing up. More than the ripe fruit I used to enjoy Avakai Pickle from Andhra, Manga Thokku, Vadu Manga that Amma used to make, Vellam Manga Pachadi prepared during celebrations and Mooku Manga from the cart man on the street. The guy who used to sell it to me used to cut it with style and add chilli and salt blended powder in between the cut wedges and wrap it in an old tamil newspaper like Malai Murasu or Dhinathandi and I used to carry it as if it was the most precious thing in my life. Just thinking of that makes my mouth water. It was such a perfect thing that made me so happy then. Little did I know that I would have such nostalgic memories a fruit so much.

As I was thinking of what to make for Indra's Mahanandi's Mango Manthram Event for the month of May, my 4 year daughter wanted to do some hand painting and said she will make it for me to post on the blog. This is her creation with hand paint.

10 minutes Maa Laado/Pottu Kadala/Roasted Channa Dal Ladoo

Maa Laado or Pottu Kadala Ladoo is very famous in the Thirunelveli district. It is a big ball that is prepared and given for all functions and celebrations. Though it seems simple to prepare, one can easily identify a good Maa Ladoo. This recipe was given to me by my aunt Padhu Chithi who lives in the district and is a pro in preparing this sweet. My photo entry to Jugalbandi's Click for the month of May on Beans and Lentils.

Gadgets:

Wok

Bowl

Mixing Spoon

Blender

Ingredients:

Roasated Channa Dal/Pottu Kadalai - 1 cup

Sugar - 1 cups as per original recipe but I used 3/4th cup

Elachi- 3 pods

Roasted Cashews - 1/4 cup

Melted Ghee/Clarified Butter - 1/2 cup

My additions - Saffron -1/8th tsp

Camphor - a tiny pinch

Preparation:

1. Roast the pottu kadalai or roasted channa dal in the wok on medium heat for a few minutes to remove the raw smell.

2. Allow it to cool. Apart from ghee add the rest of the ingredients and powder well.

3. Add ghee a little at a time and form balls.

Mango Trifle Pudding

Mango the king of fruits is one of my favorites. Raw or ripe, baby or matured, sour or sweet, raw or cooked mango can be eaten anyhow. To me mangoes are a summer delight. All the heat melts away when you eat mangoes everyday. Mango Trifle Pudding which I prepared for the weekend birthday breakfast/brunch is a wonderful desert that can be made healthy. This can be made with any fruit but I used mango as the main ingredient and is my entry to WBB: Mango hosted by Escapades for the month of may.

Gadgets:

Trifle pudding bowl
Saucepan
Mixing bowl
Cutting Board
Knife
Peeler



Ingredients:






Mangoes (ripe) - 4 cubed ( big chunks)
Banana - 2 sliced
Cake (white) cubed - 2 cups ( make from white cake mix, eggs, oil and water)
Cherries - 15
Custard - 4 cups (made out of custard powder, milk and sugar) or vanilla yogurt from the store
Apple Sauce - 1 bottle
Nuts- almond/walnuts 1 cup optional

Preparation:





1. Layer the cubed cake in the bottom of the pudding bowl.

2. Next add a thick coat of apple sauce followed by 2 cups of yogurt or custard.

4. Add mangoes and banana the next layer.

5. Add nuts if you want then follow the above steps again and finish it up with the mangoes on the top.





6. Decorate with cherries and keep it covered in the fridge for an hour at least before use.

Raspberry thokku/ Chutney

I was clearing my freezer and found a packet of frozen raspberry from Trader Joe's. As I was wondering what I could make of these frozen raspberries my husband suggested thokku. I got all excited about the idea and got down to preparing it.I was thinking that it would turn out ok because of the tartness in the berries. It was so delicious to me. I could taste the salt, sugar, spice from the chillis and tartness and this was a wonderful combo to have with anything. A pregnant woman would feast on this one for sure. I found this very interesting that this berry can take in a lot of spice and still be not as spicy.My entry to AMFM : Raspberry hosted by Ammalu's Kitchen for the month of May.

Gadgets:

Wok
Mixing Spoon.

Ingredients:

Frozen Raspberry - 1 packet
Fresh Raspberry - 1 box
Oil- 1 tbsp
Mustard Seeds- 1 tsp
Fenugreek Seeds - 1 tsp (dry roasted and powdered)
Red Dry Chillis - 5 whole
Chilli Powder - 5 tsp
Asafoedita - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
Salt
Brown Sugar or Jaggery - 1 tsp

Preparation:

1. Defrost the raspberries.

2. Heat the wok.Add Oil, mustard seeds, dry chillis, asafoedita and the frozen raspberries one after the other.

3. Cook the raspberries for some time until all the liquid disappears. Add chilli powder, jaggery or brown sugar, salt, turmeric and cook it for 2 more minutes.

4. Add the fresh raspberry into this mix and mush them and mix with the thokku/chutney above.

3. Allow it to cool and store it in the bottle.

Potato cups

This weekend I prepared a birthday brunch for my nephew who loves one thing the most , Potatoes. I saw this recipe in a cook book called Vegetarian some days ago and just improvised on it. The Potato Raja loved it and was a big hit with the kids and adults. These potato cups turned out very crunchy and tasty. We put candles on them instead of the cake and asked him to make his wish. Happy Birthday!!


My entry to Fortune Cooking Contest hosted by Spicy Tasty for the month of June. I worked with potato because I am an Aquarius.

Gadgets:



Sauce pan
Bowl
Wok
Mixing spoon
Box Grater
Fork
Cutting Board
Knife
Muffin Pans / Tortilla cups/ any container that you can bake with
Oven

Ingredients:



Red Potato - 10
Red Onion - 1/2 thinly slicked
Garlic - 3 cloves minced
Salt
Pepper
Oil - 1 tbsp
Butter- 1tbsp
Mozzarella Cheese - 1/2 cup
Water to cook potatoes in

Preparation:



1. Put the potatoes in the sauce pan and fill it with water and allow it to cook for 8 minutes.




2. Heat the wok and add butter and allow it to melt.Add garlic,onions pepper and salt and cook them well.




3. When the potatoes are cooked for 8 minutes drain the water and using a box grater, grate the potato's and mix them with the cooked onions and garlic mix. I recommend that mix one potato at a time so that the onions will gets evenly mixed.




4. Spray the muffin pan or any container with oil and then using a fork add the potato into the muffin pan and bake at 425 degrees for 30 minutes or until they are brown on the top.Add some cheese on top and put them back into the oven to bake for 15 more minutes and serve them hot.

Tomato Soup Revisited

It was a cold and chilly day here in San Diego and that made me just want to cuddle up with my blanket and read a book. This weather was so perfect for something warm and comforting to drink/eat. The most comforting soup for me is Tomato Soup and so I decided to make myself some. I remembered that Mythreyee of Paajaka had posted on Tomato Soup and I decided to adapt her recipe as it was so easy and simple to follow. I did make a few changes here and there but I think I still was able to make some comforting soup for me and my family to have for lunch. My entry to MBP: Soup & Salad an event started by Coffee of The Spice Cafe, but hosted by Raaga, The Singing Chef




Gadgets:

Pan

Mixing spoon

Blender

Seive

Bowl

Ingredients:




Wine Ripe Tomato - 6

Celery - 1 cup chopped (used this instead of carrot) Bell Pepper - 1 (used instead of carrot)

Garlic - 2 cloves

Onion - 1

Bay leaf - 1

Cumin - 1 tsp

All purpose flour - 1 tbsp (used instead of corn flour)

Butter - 2 tbsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

Milk - 1/2 cup

Water - 3/4 cup

Salt

Pepper

Sugar

Cilantro

Preparation:





1. Heat the open faced pan and add 1 tbsp of oil and then add garlic, bay leaf,cumin and onion with a some salt and cook until they become transparent.

2. Add celery, bell pepper and cook for 2 minutes. Then add the chopped tomatoes, pepper and cook with water for 5 minutes.

3. Turn off the stove and cool it. Transfer into the blender and blend well.

4. Pass through a filter/seive and keep the liquid in a bowl.

5. Heat the pan again and add 1 tbsp of butter and turn the flame to low and add APF and make a rue. Add milk and the liquid and allow it to cook on low flame for 5 minutes with constant mixing.

6. Add pepper and sugar and cook for a few more minutes.

5. Toast the bread until they are crunchy. Add 1 tbsp of butter and cut them into cubes .Garnish the soup with the bread and cilantro.




6. Serve hot with Bread Cups.

A Yum Blog ??? Whose?Mine? WOW!!!

The morning was wonderful, even the traffic was great that I could breeze through to my destination in a jiffy. Felt like life was smooth and easy for me all of a sudden. I turned on my computer and checked the mail . Then as usual visited Mythreyee's Paajaka and saw that she was given the YUM BLOG AWARD.

“Yummy blog award is the award given to the blog with most yummy recipes/photos”




I was very happy for her and I continued to read her post. It came to the part where she had picked blogs to pass on the award to. Skimming through the sites I continued to read the rest, where she talks about the rules for these yummy blog award. I went back and clicked on her picks without paying much attention to their names or blog. I kept clicking one after the other being preoccupied with things around me and my site showed up. I thought I opened my page by mistake and went back to Paajaka and there I saw my blog mentioned. It slowly dawned on me that Mythreyee has picked my blog for the award. I heard Illiyaraja music playing in the back ground"thum tha na num tha na" and felt so mighty pleased and happy for myself and I gave myself a big smile . I felt like a child who got a lolly pop when least expected. I am so grateful for the award that she has given me. My first in the blogging world. Thank you so much.

Now coming to the part where I need to talk about the yummy deserts that I have tasted and prepared, I like to mention a few that I love to taste at any given time and never get bored.

1. Rasgulla, Rasgulla, more Rasgulla...yes I am so crazy about that Bengali sweet that I can go through 20 or more in one shot.

2. Black Forest Cake that I made for my nephew's birthday party. It was something I enjoyed baking.

3. Pineapple Cake because I love pineapple anything.

4. Dulce de Leche Cake which I fell in love with once I tasted it.

5. Dry Fruit Cake which I can eat guilt free because I added no sugar to it.

6. Apart from the recipes I have posted I love Ahdirsum, sabudhana payasum and Kesari.


Rules for the ‘Yummy Blog’ award Receiver:

The person who receives the award should display the “Yummy Blog !” logo on their blog and also the meaning of the award which is “Yummy blog award is the award given to the blog with most yummy recipes/photos”.

The receiver should also quote their favorite yummy-licious dessert(s) that they have ever prepared/eaten and pass on this award to at least 4 blogs which the receiver considers yummy.

As per the rules of the award its now my pleasure to pick the next 4 blogs that I like to pass on the award to. I find the following blogs very interesting and like to thank them for sharing recipes through their blog.

1. A spoonful of Sugar Angela's blog.

2. Monsoon Spice Sai's Blog

3. A Mad Tea Party Anita's Blog

4. Pig In The Kitchen

5. As Dear As Salt Richa's Blog

15 Minute Italian Dinner Tonight

Tonight I was wondering what to make for dinner. Opened the fridge and decided that it was going to be all Italian. Pasta, Salad and Bread which was one healthy dinner because I used brown rice spaghetti pasta from Trader Joe's, Omega-3 multi grain bread and mixed Organic greens from Costco. It turned out better than I expected. Loved the pasta. It was so easy to make something delicious in 15 minutes. My entry to AWED hosted by Culinary Buzaar for the month of August.

Gadgets:

Salad Bowl
Salad Tossing Spoons
Cutting Board
Knife
Sauce Pan
Skillet
Mixing Spoons
Pasta Spoon
Toaster
Measuring cups and spoons

Ingredients:

For Salad:

• Mixed greens
• Cucumber - 1 cup
• Olives - 1 tin sliced
  
• Raisins - 1/2 cup
• Pickles - 5 slices chopped
• Garlic - 1 clove
• Grapes - 1 cup sliced
• Salt
• Pepper
• Walnut - 1 cup

For Bread:

• Omega 3 Rich Bread - 2
• Butter - 1tsp

For Pasta:

• Brown Rice Spaghetti Pasta - 1/2 packet
• Sun Dried Tomatoes in Olive Oil - 1/2 cup drained
• Garlic - 5 cloves chopped
• Pine Nut - 1/2 cup
• Salt
• Water for pasta
• Pepper fresh
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil - 3 tbsp

Preparation:

1. Boil water for the pasta according to the instructions on the back of the packet. It takes 8-10 minutes.

2. While the water is boiling start on the salad by washing the salad in water and then cutting the cucumber, grapes, olives,pickles and garlic. Add all this to the greens. Add the nuts, salt and pepper and toss it well. Set it aside.

3. By that time the water would have boiled.Add salt and then add the spaghetti and allow it to cook for 9 minutes.

4. With the pasta cooking place the skillet on the stove and heat it.Add 1tbsp oil and add in the 5 cloves of garlic that has been chopped and cook it for 45 seconds. Next add the pine nuts and allow it to toast a little and then add the sun dried tomatoes without the oil from the bottle.Mix well and turn off the stove.

5. Toast the bread and apply the butter on it as set aside.

6. When the pasta is cooked keep 1/2 water aside and drain the rest. Add the sun dried tomato mix and the 1/2 cup of the pasta water, pepper and toss it well and serve it on the plate with salad on the side and bread. Voila a quick dinner in 15 minutes.

Almond Short Bread

One author that ruled my childhood was Enid Blyton. I dreamt of going to boarding school, getting care packages, having midnight feasts with friends and learning french. Malory Towers and St.Clare's were so amazing and made my life so enjoyable as a kid. It exposed me to various kinds of food that existed in some part of the world and made me wish to taste them some day.

Thanks to it that my sister was a big Enid Blyton fan and we came up with the idea of having a candle light feast with out friend and neighbour Devi.We set our plan in motion and had our first feast at her balcony and ate idli's and tomato chutney with lemonade during the quarterly break and had vatha kohazmbu for the half yearly break at my place. For the annual candle light feast we made our sister cook peas masala, chapathi, custard and refrigerator cake and asked another friend to join us and had it in our balcony with candles. Sure its no match to the food in mid night feast but, we did create the effect by eating what we could find in our household and with candles.

Upper Fourth at Malory Towers, Chapter 11 : A Day Out, pg. 76,

"There were tongue sandwiches with lettuce, hard-boiled eggs to eat with bread and butter, great chunks of new-made cream cheese, potted meat, ripe tomatoes grown in Mrs. Lucy's brother's greenhouse, gingerbread cake fresh from the oven, shortbread, a great fruit cake with almonds crowning the top, biscuits of all kinds and six jam sandwiches!"

( Speacial thanks to Nethra Raman for helping me with the research on the material)

Bhag's blog " This book makes me cook" food event made me re live these wonderful memories and inspired me to make something that they had at the midnight feast. I decided on the shortbread and liked this recipe from Joy of Baking. It was perfect because I wanted to use up my almond meal that had been sitting in my pantry.

Please click on the link to get to the original recipe Almond Shortcake Cookie. I changed the ingredient proportions and made it into heart shaped cookies because I wanted to make them fast. The total time in the preparation of this cookie is 35 minutes from start to finish.

Gadgets:

Mixer
Bowl
Baking tray
Wax paper/parchment paper
Rolling pin
Heart shaped cookie cutter
Spatula
Mixing spoon

Ingredients:

Rice Flour - 2 Tbsp
Almond Meal - 1 1/2 cups
All Purpose Flour/Maida- 1/3 cup
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Butter - 1 stick/1/2 cup
Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
Granulated sugar - 1 Tbsp

Preparation:


1. In a bowl beat the butter and sugar until they are smooth and well blended about 2 minutes. Add Vanilla essence and blend that in.

2. Add APF, Almond Meal, Rice Flour and mix well.

3. Put the dough in a cling wrap and store it in the fridge to get the butter to cool for 15 mins.

4. Preheat the oven to 300 degree F.

5.Place a parchment paper and place the cooled dough. Cover the dough with another parchment paper on the top and with a rolling pin roll out the dough into the 1/4 inch thickness.

6.Using a heart shaped cookie cutter cut out hearts and place them on the baking tray lined with parchment paper.

7. Bake for 14 minutes.But like we do with all cookies bake the cookie for 7 minutes and turn the tray around so that the cookies in the front goes to the back and that way they would all bake evenly.

8. Enjoy this short bread with a warm cup of tea like I just did. Something healthy and I think if you have allergy problems you can prepare the same without any all purpose flour. I will do that the next time and report on it.

20 Minutes Veggie Bread Cups

It was from my sister's friend Sandhya that I first came to know of using the bread in the form of cups. It can be made both vegetarian and non-vegetarian, could be served as an appetizer, with soup as a sandwich, a quick snack for the kids in the evening, can convert it into desert, use as a salad bowl and the rest is for all of you to explore and make it into something more exotic. Its crunchy, healthy and a very creative recipe.My entry to Funnfud's MM:Appetizer's & Hors'Doeuvres for the month of June and to Anupama's Fun- n- More blog's " The Sandwich Festival 2008" event for the month of May.

Gadgets:

Muffin baking pan

Cutting board

Knife

Rolling pin

Wok

Oven

Mixing spoon

Measuring Spoon

Spoons

Ingredients:

Onions - 1

Garlic - 2 cloves

Ginger - 1 inch

French cut Beans - 1/2 cup

Peas - 1/2 cup

Carrot chopped - 3/4 cup

Cilantro - 2 Tbsps

Green Chillis - 2

Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp

Salt to taste

Cheese grated - 3/4 cup

Bread - 8 slices

Some oil spray Like Pam

Oil - 1tsp

Preparation:

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Cut the edges of the multi grain bread or any bread of your choice. Place it on the cutting board and cut off the edges then with a rolling pin roll over the bread so as to flatten it a little.

3. Spray the muffin pan and place each of these slices in the pan so as to form a cup. Either spray with any oil spray or brush the bread on the inside with some butter or oil.Place it in the oven and bake for 5 minutes. Remove and allow to cool. Note: This step can be made the previous day and stored.

4. While the bread is baking, heat the wok and add some oil add garlic, onions, split green chillis.When that is cooked add the remaining veggies, turmeric and cook them enough so that they still stay crunchy.Add salt and then cilantro to garnish. Mix a little amount of cheese into these veggies.

5. Take the above mixture and put it inside the bread cups. Add as much of cheese as you like on the top and broil it for 2 minutes and serve it hot with any chutney or sauce.




Note: This sandwich is wonderful to make for kids who are picky about eating veggies. Just take whatever vegetable that you have made for the day and convert it into something very appealing to them. It worked with my daughter.

Healthy Kadai Baingan (egg plant) Jaipuri

I was trying to come up with a Rajasthani dish for Spicyandhra's Flavours of the Desert, RCI-Rajasthan. I happened to watch Kadai Bindi Jaipuri by Vah chef and thought I could make it. Since I did not have any bindi in my fridge today, I decided to use baingan (egg plant) instead. Had a few constraints as to how the dish had to be prepared.No deep frying though the recipe recommends but has to still make it crunchy. It got me so excited.I used to make masala peanuts using the microwave and they turned out crunchy so I thought maybe I can use the microwave and try to make this one crunchy. There were some hurdles but in the end I was very happy with what I came up with. A good side dish for rice or roti. I am so happy that I sat down to blog this recipe and share it with you all.

Gadgets:

Microwave
Plates - 3
Bowl
Spoon
Hands
Wok or skillet
Cutting board
Knife
Measuring spoon


Ingredients:




Egg plant (small ones) - 10 cut into thin strips.
Onions- less that 1/4 of an onion julienned.
Cashew nuts - 1/4 cup
Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Jeera(Cumin)Powder - 1 tsp
Coriander Powder - 1ts
Amchur(Mango) Powder - 1tsp
Salt to taste
Asafoetida - a few shakes
whole dry chillis - a few
Cilantro - 2 table spoons chopped
Channa Flour/ Basen - 1/2 cup
Water - a few tsps
Rice Flour - 1 tbsp
Garlic - 2 cloves


Preparation:

1. Cut the egg plant lengthwise into strips apply 1/2 oil to coat, salt, asafoetida and chilli powder and microwave them in a plate for 5 minutes.

2. There would be some moisture when you take the plate out from the egg plant. Add channa flour, rice flour, amchur powder, jeera powder,coriander powder, chopped cashew nuts, a very little onion. Mix well and if you need more water to bring them to a pakoda mix form sprinkle some. Add 1 tsp of oil and coat the mix well.

3. Scatter this mix in the shape of pakodas but make them flat so that they can cook fast and get crunchy easily. Microwave the plate 6 pakodas at a time.

4. Microwave for 3 minutes removing it every one minute to flip the pakoda and wiping the extra moisture out.

5. At the end of 3 minutes heat the wok. Add the remaining oil, minced garlic and the remaining onions, dry red chilli a pinch of salt and cook it.

6. Add the pakodas and cook them so that they all incorporate well.

7. Serve them hot with roti or rice. It kind of reminds me of gobi munchurian.

Dal Makhani Burrito

Indians and Mexicans have a lot in common apart from the food. Just the other day I found out that they call their grandfather thatha as we do in Tamil.The marriage of Mexican and Indian flavors blends and creates some interesting and tasty food. During the football season my husband's friends always come over to watch the San diego Chargers play. I decided to offer them lunch instead of some snacks. This is how I came up with the burrito. I had some dal makhani from dinner and took it up another notch and used it instead of the refried beans to prepare a burrito.Next time you have some channa masala, dal makhani or any curry you can try to make it into a burrito. This main course is my entry to DK's Culinary Bazaar's A Worldly Epicurean’s Delight – In short A.W.E.D. event for the month of May.

Gadgets:

Plate

Knife

Cutting board
Spoons
Tava/griddle

Ingredients:

Tortilla - 1

Sour cream - 1 tbsp
Cilantro salsa - 2tbsp ( just any normal salsa will do but just add more cilantro )
Rice cooked - 1/2 cup ( I used basmati rice)
Avocado - 1/2
Dal Makhani - 1/4 cup
Roasted peppers - 1 small tin
Cilantro - 1tbsp
Tomatoes - 2
Oil - 1tsp
Chilli Powder - 1tsp
Salt to taste
Garlic - 2 cloves

Preparation:

1. Heat the wok.Add some oil and garlic. Add 2 chopped tomato and salt and cook for a few minutes. Add roasted jalapenos and chilli powder and cook for a few minutes.Allow it to cool.

2. Heat the Tava and warm up the tortilla.

4. Place the rice on the warm tortilla and then add dal makhani, salsa, sour cream, avocados, cilantro in such a way that when you fold the tortilla the rice is on the outside and the rest are engulfed inside the rice.




5. Serve with some chips and salsa and you are good to go.