Drumstick is a very healthy vegetable. It adds great flavor to anything that you use them in. At the local Indian store I was very happy to find some tender drumsticks.This was because the tender kind is hard to find in the stores. So, I bought some with the intention of making porucha kozhambu. Porucha kozhambu is very popular in Tamil cuisine. It is basically cooking the veggies in a coconut lentil sauce without the addition of tamarind. This is very comforting, flavorful and delicious over a bowl of cooked rice. If you have some left over toor dal in the fridge, then it is a perfect kozhambu to make with ease. It goes perfectly well with sautéed veggies and lentil papad. For dinner, I served murungakka porucha kozhambu over rice, with (sautéed) beans curry, cucumber pachadi (south Indian Cucumber Raita) and oman appalam (Ajwan Papad).
Drumstick is a very healthy vegetable. It adds great flavor to anything that you use them in. At the local Indian store I was very happ...
Murungakka Porucha Kozhambu / Drumstick In Lentil Coconut Sauce
Drumstick is a very healthy vegetable. It adds great flavor to anything that you use them in. At the local Indian store I was very happy to find some tender drumsticks.This was because the tender kind is hard to find in the stores. So, I bought some with the intention of making porucha kozhambu. Porucha kozhambu is very popular in Tamil cuisine. It is basically cooking the veggies in a coconut lentil sauce without the addition of tamarind. This is very comforting, flavorful and delicious over a bowl of cooked rice. If you have some left over toor dal in the fridge, then it is a perfect kozhambu to make with ease. It goes perfectly well with sautéed veggies and lentil papad. For dinner, I served murungakka porucha kozhambu over rice, with (sautéed) beans curry, cucumber pachadi (south Indian Cucumber Raita) and oman appalam (Ajwan Papad).
A few months ago I heard about chia seeds from my sister. I tried chia seeds with hot milk and cereal for breakfast. I love their popp...
Using Chia Seeds As A Substitute For Eggs In Strawberry Ice Cream
1 tbsp chai seeds + 1/4 cup liquid(water, milk) soaked for 5 plus minutes = 1 Egg
Now, if you are wondering how the ice cream turned out, it tasted great, had a nutty texture because of the chia seeds. The ice cream texture was very interesting to me. It was like a soft serve kind, it did set well as you can see in the pictures.
Gadgets:
Blender
Ice Cream Maker
Measuring Cups and Spoons
A container to store
Spatula
Sauce Pan
Ingredients:
2 % Milk - 1 1/2 cups
Fresh Cream - 3/4 cup
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Chia seeds - 3 tbsp
Water - 10 tbsp
Strawberries - 1 cup hulled
Preparation:
1. Soak the chia seeds in water. Allow it to set for 30 minutes.
2. Heat the saucepan with milk, sugar and cream and allow for the sugar to dissolve and bring the milk to a boil making sure to mix them often or use a milk cooker. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
3. Add them to a blender and blend until the little black seeds are finely ground and you get a grayish gooey texture.
4. Add strawberries to this mixture and blend them well. Note: you can also leave a few strawberries behind and throw them in later to get chucks of strawberries in the ice cream.
5. Add the cooled milk mixture and puree it well and turn on the ice cream maker before pour this liquid in. Allow it to churn until the ice cream comes together. I removed them when it was thick enough and allowed for the ice cream to set in the fridge.
My entry to
I was looking through my blog post for marmalade and I saw this comment today. I do not know how I let a comment like that slip me, but...
Paneer Soda: A Recipe From A Follower G.S.K
I was looking through my blog post for marmalade and I saw this comment today. I do not know how I let a comment like that slip me, but I am glad that I noticed it now. In 2009, I got a comment from Mr. G.S.K and he had given me this paneer soda recipe then. Felt really bad that I had not posted his recipe earlier. Thank you Mr. G.S.K for this recipe, we enjoyed the paneer soda because it was very refreshing. It has the flavor of rose milk, but it is very light and has a very fresh taste. If you like and enjoy the rose essence flavor this one might just be the drink that you might want to try.
Gadgets:
Glass
Measuring Cups and Spoons
These photos are being sent to Black and White Wednesdays hosted by Sra
Ingredients:
Rose Essence - a few drops ( Rose Water - 1 tsp, which also works)
Sugar - 3 tbsp
Ice Cubes - as required
Soda - 1 cup
Preparation:
1. Add some soda, sugar and essence and allow for the sugar to dissolve.
2. Add the ice cubes and the remaining soda and serve.
A few weeks ago I had borrowed books by Mario Batali and Mark Ladner's Molto Gusto's" Easy Italian Cooking" from...
Swiss Chard Ragu With Penne Pasta : Learning From Mario Batali
Gadgets:
Cutting Board
Knife
Colander
Stock pot to make pasta
Frying Pan
Spatula
Laddle
Ingredients:
Serves 6
Onion - 1 big sliced
Swiss Chard - 1 bunch chopped
Cold Butter - 4 tbsp
Salt
Pepper
Penne pasta - 1 packet
Garlic Pods - 5
Olive Oil - 3 tbsp
Pasta Water - 1 cup plus more if you are reheating the pasta for later
Italian Seasoning - as per spice levels
Bread Crumbs/ Croutons/ Rusk grated - 1/2 cup
Preparation:
1. Start to prepare pasta as per the instructions on the packet.
2. Heat a heavy pan with olive oil, when it warms up add sliced garlic, thinly sliced onions and cook them a little before adding the swiss chard. Add some salt, cover and let them cook until tender for 7 minutes.
3. Add pepper, butter and allow it to cook for a few minutes.
4. When the pasta is done drain and keep aside the pasta water. Pour 1/4 cup at a time to the swiss chard mix to create a sauce.
5. Toss in the pasta and 3/4 cup pasta water. Allow it to cook a little to blend in all the flavors.
6. Add Italian seasoning on top as per taste and garnish with grated croutons or toasted bread crumbs and serve hot.
Farmer's market looks so colorful with the fresh fruits and vegetables that are in abundance during this time of the year. Strawber...
Fruit Salads: Topped With Creme Fraiche or In Fresh Cream
Farmer's market looks so colorful with the fresh fruits and vegetables that are in abundance during this time of the year. Strawberries,blueberries,apricots,cherries,oranges,raspberries,nectarines, peaches are so fresh and cry out to be picked and tasted. It is difficult sometimes to make a decision.I go overboard and come home with a large selection. With all the fruits we prepared a simple fruit salad and served it with creme fraiche. We enjoyed this with our friends who come over for a visit.
Add bananas to the bowl first and then add the rest of the fruits. This helps the fruit stay fresh longer. Chill all the fruits in the fridge for 30 minutes, give it a toss and transfer them into individual bowls. Serve with a dollop of creme fresh. Yum-O!
Fruit Salad Topped In Fresh Cream:
Salted peanuts are awesome as a snack. In India, the peanuts are roasted in sand and sold as street snack. It will be warm rolled in n...
Salted Peanuts/ Salted Kadalai: Make Them In Under 5 Minutes
With school year almost coming to an end, less homework and more fun times have started to set in. Two days ago, my daughter wanted to h...
Chewy Coco-Walnut Bars
During Christmas vacation, my sister and I tried to bake vadai's with the electric donut maker. We just used the regular vadai batte...
Baked Savory Lentil Donuts In Chilled Yogurt Sauce/ Low Fat Thair Vadai / Low Fat Dhai Vadai
Gadgets:
Food Processor
Bowls
Measuring Cups and Spoons
Donut Baking Tray
Ingredients:
For Baked Vadai:
Udad Dal - 1 cup
Rice Flour - 3 tbsp
Baking Powder - 1 tsp
Baking Soda - 1/2 tsp
Oil - 4 tbsp
Salt
Green Chillies - 2
Asafoetida Powder - 1/8 tsp
Ginger - 1 inch
For Yogurt Sauce:
Curry Leaves - a few
Mustard Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Red Chillies - 2
Asafoetida - a few shakes of the powder
Salt
Coconut - 1/2 cup
Grated Fresh Ginger - 2 tsp
Hot Water - a bowl
Preparation:
1. Soak the udad dhal for 5 hours. Using a food processor, grind the vadai with green chillies, salt, asafetida, curry leaves with very little water. Keep sprinkling some water when needed.
Note: 1 cup of udad dhal = 4 cups of vadai batter.
6. In a blender add coconut, and some yogurt, curry leaves, salt and blend. Mix it with the remaining yogurt.
7. Place the seasoning wok on medium high add 1 tsp oil. Add asafetida, mustard seeds, dry red chillies and curry leaves. Allow for the mustard to pop. Add this to the yogurt and mix well.
8. Dunk the vadai's in a bowl of hot water for a few seconds. Remove and squeeze excess water and place in a tray.
9. Pour the yogurt mix on top of the vadai's in the tray. Allow to soak for sometime in the fridge and serve them chilled.
Happy Mother's Day to everyone. Along with the mother's day I wanted to celebrate my Amma's birthday which was last week, b...
Besan Fudge : Celebrating Mother's Day
Happy Mother's Day to everyone. Along with the mother's day I wanted to celebrate my Amma's birthday which was last week, by making her recipe that she is very proud of. My Amma is not too fond of cooking compared to her sisters. It is not that Amma does not know how to cook, its just something she was not interested in. But, she does have a few tricks up her sleeve. Mysore pak is her favorite sweet and she always makes this cheat version of it. She is very proud of this recipe because it got her sisters approval which was very important to her. She wanted to share this recipe with me and I loved it. The fudge was not gooey, but was firm and soft. It tasted awesome hot off the stove and took me less than 15 minutes to prepare.
Cardamom - 3 pods powdered
Saffron- a pinch
Preparation:
1. Heat the pan with 2 tbsp ghee on a little over medium heat. Add besan and roast it until the raw smell disappears. ( about 4 minutes).
2. Add milk, sugar and 1 tbsp of ghee and mix well. Keep mixing until you get the mixture to leave the sides of the pan and form a ball. Add 1 tsp of ghee, add cardamom, chopped cashew nut pieces and remove from heat.
3. Allow it to rest for a few minutes. Make small ball ( approximately 1tbps) and flatten with your palm and shape to form a square. ( At this point I used the curly knife and cut the edges to make it look pretty, you can skip that step.)
4. Store them in a air tight container. They will not harden but will have a chewy and soft texture.
My entry to Mom's Recipes Event and Family recipe challenge.
I generally do not buy a lot of frozen food, but I do stock on patra. Patra is popular side dish from Gujarat, made with the leaf of ta...
Patra Sandwich In Under 10 Minutes
I generally do not buy a lot of frozen food, but I do stock on patra. Patra is popular side dish from Gujarat, made with the leaf of taro root rolled with besan flour and spices. These rolled logs are steamed, then sliced into discs and seasoned. I have not tried making them so I enjoy deep brand's frozen patra. They are perfect for a late night snack on weekends. A month ago, I had to make lunch, but was not in the mood to cook. I suggest sandwiches and everyone agreed. I was out of veggie patties but found a packet of patra in my freezer. As they say, "necessity is the mother of invention", I used patra to make the sandwiches. It was such a hit and now I make it often. The coconut seasoning along with the sweet salt and spicy taste from the warm patra along with fresh veggies is a big winner for me.
Gadgets:
Bowl
Cutting Board
Knife
Ingredients:
Bread - 2 slices or 1 roll sandwich bread
Patra - I box of deep patra
Tomato - 1 thinly sliced
Onion - a few slices
Ranch Dressing any kind or Sweet and Mint Chutney - 1 tbsp
Preparation:
1. Toast the bread, heat up the patra in a microwave safe bowl.
2. Place the patra on the bread, add the dressing or the chutneys. Top it with tomatoes and onions. cover with another bread slice and serve them warm with a smoothie or cool drink in summer and chai in winter.
For a while I have been looking at this recipe that a friend shared with me, and finally I got down to preparing it. Prepare mint past...
Mint Quinoa: Prepared with Freezable Mint Sauce
Mint Quinoa:
The first time I tasted boba with pineapple strawberry smoothie, I loved it. Boba is a black pearl like tapioca that is used i...
Boba / Tapioca Black Pearls: Learning To Prepare Boba
The first time I tasted boba with pineapple strawberry smoothie, I loved it. Boba is a black pearl like tapioca that is used in cold beverages. They have an awesome chewy texture and I love having them with fruit based drinks or smoothies. Every time we have our famous family get togethers, my daughter, sisters, nieces and nephews and I never fail to visit the mall. Once inside, we look forward to Surf City Squeeze's boba smoothies. The minute we reach their counter, we act like kids at the candy store. There is a great sense of insecurity about the availability of boba for the whole gang that, we have to quickly find out if they have enough stock of boba. It then determines if all of us get one or two shot of boba in our smoothies.
A few days ago, I googled on boba and found that it was something simple to prepare at home, so I decided to give it a try. So, today at Ranch 99 Market, I found an overwhelming amount of packaged boba and I decided to try the instant kind. The label said that it takes 5 minutes to cook, which would be good for a starter ( please refer to the photo above. If you do not have access to a Asian store you can buy them on line at amazon.com.
The cooked boba looked so beautiful like black pearls and I could not but wonder how a string of them would look. My daughter thought that it was funny and made her flower necklace and I stuck to the sting of black pearls.
For after school snack, we had our blended berry and banana boba smoothie. We were so excited to have our own stock of boba in the fridge for use at any time.
Note: If anyone reading the post thinks that I must use some other kind of boba please do drop me a comment and I will learn to do it right.
17 Comments: