Weekend Mode. a.k.a Depeche Mode!

Was listening to one of my old cds by Depeche Mode hence the title!
As the regulars to this blog already know by now - weekend mode usually begins by Friday - which translates to eating out or getting imports, basically no cooking! This week it started on Thursday.
Today got food from mom's place - Kofta, Bhindi and Daal.

Daal, Bhindi and Kofta curry

My humble contribution to today's meal was the dessert - Cranberry Muffins.

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Cranberry Muffins

1 1/2 cups chopped frozen cranberries

1 1/4 cups sugar, divided

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup milk

1 cup chopped pecans

Rub the cranberries with the 1/4 cup of sugar and keep it aside.  In a mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and remaining 1 cup sugar. Add the butter and rub the dough till it resembles bread crumbs. Whisk the eggs with milk and then add it to the flour mixture and mix till they are well incorporated. Gently fold in nuts and cranberries. Fill muffin tins two thirds full. Bake at 400° for 20 to 25 minutes. 

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On that sweet note - Goodnight my sweets! See you all tomorrow!

Psuedo Travels!

Hi all! No travels today either! You know what that means don't you?! No cooking!
Mil had sent some food over so I am calling it travels to Andhra Pradesh today! :-) She had sent over some masala potatoes and mango pulihora.

Masala Potatoes and Mango Pulihora

So what's the hype about the Prince William and Kates wedding anyways?! Just two people getting hitched. So big deal! There are plenty all over the world doing it. What is the need to telecast it all over the place? Me. I am going to catch some movie on my mitashi!

See you all tomorrow.

No man's (state) land! and some random ramblings...

Today went out for a swim and lunch meet with the ladies and kiddies at the Novotel. The food was good as usual. But the weather... Wow! was it hot!! I wish there were more indoor pools in Hyderabad. It is sheer torture to be out in the sun! Me and my son came back looking like roasted (more like burnt!) chickens!!
So today's dinner was Paneer bhurji and cheese corn chapatis (that my mom had tried out today). Hence the title of today's blog. Today's dinner could belong to any state as I did not travel anywhere specific :)

Paneer bhurji and cheese corn chapatis

I watched a malayalam movie called "Kerala Cafe" yesterday. Very interesting movie - it is actually a collection of 10 short stories by 10 different directors. Very engaging, I must say.
Also watched "It's complicated" starring Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin. I like Meryl Streep - Baldwin I couldn't care less. But the movie was good. The best part about the movie was the house that Meryl's character lives in - to die for!! She owns a bakery of her own. She cooks like a pro and has this wonderful vegetable garden behind her house that she picks the fresh veggies to cook from.
Oohh! What I would do to live there! Just perfect!

Well, on that note, I am off to bed to dream about wonderful houses with vegetable gardens and flowers and swimming pools and warm scones and chocolate truffle cakes and.......

From Karnataka with love!

Today I sojourned into the Southern part of Karnataka and came up with Bisi Bele Bhath for dinner.  I did not make anything else as it is a complete meal by itself. It has carbohydrates, vegetables and proteins :) Accompanied by Lays potato chips, it has comfort food written all over it!!

Bisi bele bhath with potato chips

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Bisi Bele Bhaath

2 cups rice

1 cup tuvar daal
2 cups - Beans, carrots and potatoes chopped

1/2 cup green peas
1 Onion sliced thinly and fried till golden brown

3 tbsp tamarind paste or 1 cup of tamarind juice
1 tbsp of jaggery
salt to taste

For the bisi bele masala
4-5 dry red chillies
2 tbsp chana daal
1 tbsp urad daal

1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 cloves
1 cardamom

1 inch piece of cinnamon

1/2 cup grated coconut (or you could use the dessicated coconut like I did)

Roast all the above except the coconut in a little oil till they turn fragrant and turn color. Grind it with the coconut and water to make a smooth paste and reserve.

For the final tempering
1 tsp ghee or butter
1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp urad daal
1 tsp chana daal

a pinch of asafoetida

a handful of curry leaves
2 dry red chillies broken to pieces

Pressure cook the rice, vegetables and daal in a pressure cooker in separate vessels. Add a little salt and jaggery to the vegetables before you pressure cook them.

Meanwhile add 2 cups of water to the tamarind paste and let it come to a boil. When the water has reduced by half, add the reserved ground paste and cover and cook for 5 minutes. Then add the vegetables and the daal and rice. Adjust the salt and add more water to keep the consistency from getting too thick and cover and cook for a minute taking care to keep mixing it so that the bottom does not get burnt. 

In a separate pan, heat the ghee and add the mustard seeds. After they have crackled add the remaining tempering ingredients and fry till they have changed color. Pour this into the rice mixture along with the fried onions.

Mix well and serve.

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Yummy in the tummy!
See you all tomorrow!

A tale of two states!

Inspired by Chetan Bhagat's book and the more recent Dum Maro Dum (it is based in Goa) - dinner tonight was a fusion of Punjabi and Goan cuisines :)
Beetroot parathas with Goan Egg curry (fish curry with no fish but eggs instead!)

Beetroot parathas and Goan egg curry

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Beetroot Paratha

2 cups beetroots chopped

1 onion chopped

2-3 green chillies

1 inch piece of ginger

2-3 cloves of garlic

1 tsp garam masala

salt to taste

Grind all the above except the garam masala pd to a paste and reserve. Heat a pan and add a tblsp of oil. Saute the ground mixture on low heat till all the water evaporates. Add the garama masala and cook for a minute more. Cool and use this as a stuffing for your parathas. (Take a ball sized amount of stuffing and place it inside the chapati dough and shape in to balls. Roll it into parathas and cook on a griddle till lightly brown on both sides and then add a little oil or ghee and cook till they turn brown)

Goan Egg Curry

4 eggs boiled, peeled and cut in halves lengthwise

2 onions finely sliced

1/2 raw mango cut into chunks

Salt to taste

To be ground to a paste

4 Dry red chillies (use the Kashmiri chillies if you have them - they give a better color)
1/2 a coconut cut into small pieces
1/2 inch piece of ginger

3-4 flakes of garlic
5 - 6 peppercorns
1 tsp coriander seeds
4-5 methi seeds
marble sized ball of tamarind
1/2 tsp turmeric pd
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 green chilli
salt to taste

Grind all the above to a smooth paste and reserve.

Heat oil in a pan and then add the sliced onions and fry till they turn brown. Then add the ground mixture and fry for 4-5 minutes. Add water according to the desired consistency and the green mango chunks and salt and cover and cook till the mango chunks are well cooked.

Tastes great with rice!

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Sat Sri akal! Rati Boren Zavonn!

G.U.J.J.U.!

Today's culinary travels took me to Gujarat :) I am thinking it is not such a bad idea to do one state each day..
Today's meal was a Gujarati daal and Oondhiyu.

Oondhiyu and Gujarati Daal

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Oondhiyu

1 raw banana peeled and cut into small pieces
5-6 yam peeled and cut into small pieces

1 carrot and 1 potato peeled and chopped into pieces

1 cup green peas 

(the original oondhiyu recipe calls for the flat beans and brinjal. Did not have the flat beans and hate brinjals so omitted those and added the carrots, potatoes and peas instead!)
4-5 green chillies

1 inch piece of ginger 
2-3 cloves garlic
1 tbsp. coriander leaves 
1 tsp. wheat flour
1/4 tsp Asafoetida
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp ajwain 

Salt to taste
1/2 tbsp. sugar
lemon to taste 

Grind the chillies, ginger, garlic and coriander leaves coarsely to a paste. Marinate the vegetables with this mixture and 1 tbsp oil for about 30 mins.

For methi ghatta
1 cup methi leaves finely chopped
1/2 cup gram flour (besan)
1 tbsp. fresh ground coconut (could not be bothered to grate fresh coconut so used dessicated coconut!)
salt and chilli pd to taste

Mix the above with a little water to form small balls (the size of marbles) and then fry them till they are brown. Reserve

In the same pan add the marinated vegetables and cover and cook for about 5 mins. Then add the turmeric, flour, ajwain and salt. Mix well and then sprinkle some water to cook the vegetables through. cover and cook till the vegetables are all soft but not too mushy. Now add the ghattas, salt, sugar and lemon juice and stir well. 

Gujarati Daal

1 cup tuvar daal

1 drumstick

1/2 cup of peanuts

1 green chilli

1 large tomato finely chopped

Handful of curry leaves

A pinch of asafoetida pd

1 tsp ginger finely chopped

Salt and chilli pd to taste

1 tbsp jaggery

1/2 tsp cumin and mustard seeds

1/2 inch cinnamon stick

Pressure cook the daal with the drunmstick and the peanuts in the pressure cooker till the daal is mushy and well cooked. Mash it with the ladle after it has cooked and reserve.

Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds to splutter. Then add the cumin seeds and curry leaves and green chilli, cinnamon stick and ginger and let them cook for a minute. Then add tomatoes, turmeric pd, asafoetida, red chilli pd and saute until the tomatoes are soft and tender. Now add the cooked daal, jaggery and salt and 1/2 cup water and cover and simmer for 5 mins. The consistency of the daal should not be too thick. Serve it with rice or rotis.

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Ok then Sui Javo! Let us see which part of India tomorrow's culinary travels take us......

The Bong Connection!

Jodi Tor Dak Shune Keu Na Ashe Tobe Ekla Cholo Re.....
For some reason, was prompted to cook some Bengali recipes :-)
So today's dinner was Bandhakopir Dalna(Cabbage curry) and Kanchkolar Kofta (Plantain kofta)

Bandhakopir dalna and Kanchkolar kofta

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Bandhakopir Dalna

1 cabbage, sliced finely
2 potatoes, cut in small cubes
1 tbsp turmeric pd

Green chili paste to taste
1 tsp cumin pd
1 tsp coriander pd
1 inch Ginger, grated
2 bay Leaves
1/2 tsp garam masala pd
Salt to taste
Sugar to taste

Heat oil in a pan and fry the potato cubes till they are brown. Reserve. In the same oil add the cabbage and salt and cover and cook till the cabbage is tender. Add turmeric powder, chili paste, cumin, coriander and ginger to the cabbage. Stir and fry until the spices are well blended with the cabbage. Add a little water, the potatoes and salt and sugar and cover and cook till the potatoes are cooked and the water evaporates. In a separate pan add butter or little oil and fry the bay leaves and the garam masala and then pour over the cabbage. Mix well and serve.

Kanchkolar Kofta

For the koftas

Raw banana : 1

1 medium sized potato

1 onion - finely grated or ground to a paste
1" piece ginger finely chopped
2-3 cloves garlic finely chopped

2 green chillies finely chopped 

Fresh coriander leaves finely chopped

Gram flour or besan to bind the koftas
Salt to taste

Peel green banana, potato and boil them. When they have cooled squeeze out as much water as possible and then mash them well. Add onion paste, ginger-garlic paste, chopped green chilli or red chilli powder, salt and coriander leaves in mashed banana-potato mix. Add gram flour slowly in the mix until you can shape koftas from the plaintain-potato mix. Fry these in oil till golden brown and keep aside.

For the gravy

1 Bay leaf 

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1 tblsp ginger paste

4 tomatoes chopped finely

1 tsp turmeric pd
1 tsp cumin pd
1 tsp coriander pd
salt and chilli pd to taste
1 tsp Bengali Garam Masala powder- take 2-3 of cardamoms, cloves and 1 stick of cinnmon and grind it to a powder

Heat oil in a pan and add the bay leaf and cumin seeds to crackle. Then add the turmeric, cumin, chilli and coriander pd mixed in 2 tbsps of water and continuously stir to prevent them from burning. Add chopped tomatoes (I pureed mine and used that instead of chopped tomatoes) and cook til tomatoes turn mushy. Add 1 cup water and cook til the gravy thickens. Add the koftas just before the gravy starts to thicken. Sprinkle the bengali garam masala before you take it off the stove.

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.....Ekla cholo, ekla cholo, ekla cholo re.......

Jhatpat khana

The pain in the neck persists... So had to whip up something that wouldn't take too long. I have this Asian grill and stir fry seasoning that was begging to be used today so a quick stir fry rice dish it was for dinner today!

Quick Asian stir fry rice

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Quick Asian Stir Fry Rice

3 cups cooked rice 

2 cup of mixed veggies (carrots, sweet potatoes, beans all chopped lengthwise into 2 inch sticks)

1 cup of chopped paneer (you could use firm tofu if u have that)

1/2 cup of the Asian stir fry seasoning (for the ones who are curious about its ingredients; it contains the following - Salt, Dehydrated Garlic, Sugar, Sesame Seeds, Black Sesame Seeds, Dehydrated Red and Green Bell Peppers, Dehydrated Onion, Orange Peel, Soy Sauce, Spice)

4 dry red chillies chopped

4 cloves of garlic chopped

Heat oil and add the red chillies and garlic. Fry for about a minute. Then add the vegetables and saute till they are cooked and yet crunchy. Now add the seasoning and cook for a minute. Then add the rice and salt according to your taste. That's it!

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Wan an! that's good night in Chinese!

The day has been a pain in the neck!!

Literally! I have spondylitis and due to the pain cannot even turn my head around. Like a zombie I need to turn my whole body around if I need to turn to look at something!! It would be funny if weren't for the pain :-)
Anyway, made soy granules pulao and Paneer bharwan tamatar (recipe courtesy Good Housekeeping - April 2011)

Paneer bharwan tamatar and Soy pulao

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Paneer Bharwan Tamatar

For the stuffing

1/2 cup of grated paneer

1 small potato boiled and mashed

1 small onion finely diced

1 green chilli finely diced

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp coriander pd

1 tsp garam masala pd

1/2 tsp turmeric pd

Salt and chilli pd to taste

Heat oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds. After they have spluttered add the onions and the chilli and fry till the onion turns pink. Now add the salt and other spice powders and saute for a min. Now add the potato and paneer and mix well. Cook for a minute and set aside.

For the gravy

1 tbsp ginger garlic paste

2 big onions roughly chopped 

2 tomatoes roughly chopped (also add the scooped out insides of the prepared tomatoes)

Grind the above to a smooth paste. 

1 tsp garam masala pd

1 tsp kitchen king masala

Salt and chilli pd to taste

3 tbsp cream (optional. You could also add coconut milk, cashew paste or poppy seed paste instead)

Heat oil in a pan and add the paste and fry till the raw smell goes away. Add the spice powders and saute for some more time. Remove from flame and reserve.

For the tomatoes

5 tomatoes - They should be a good size and capable of standing straight on their own! Alternatively you could cut a slice off the bottom to make them stand upright (just need to be careful that you are not slicing it too deep so all the filling would leak out. 

Slice the top off the tomatoes and scoop out the insides. Use the insides in the gravy as mentioned above.

Assembling the dish

Fill the stuffing into the tomatoes pushing down till they are completely stuffed :) Place the tomatoes in a dish so that they are upright. Now pour the gravy gently taking care that the tomatoes do not topple and the gravy does not submerge them. Bake in the oven at 170 for about 20 mins till the tomatoes are a little cooked but do not turn mushy. Serve with rice or pulao.

Soy Pulao

Soy granules 1 cup pre-soaked in water. I used the small granules.

1 cup peas

1 tomato chopped

1 onion sliced

1 tsp garam masala pd

1 tsp coriander pd

salt and chilli pd to taste

Heal oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds to splutter. Add the garam masala and salt and saute for a sec. Now add the onions and fry till they turn brown. Add the tomatoes and soy granules and peas and saute for a few minutes. Add a little water to cook the peas. Then add the cooked rice and mix well.

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Okay then! see you all tomorrow. Hope the pain in the neck is no more!!

Roti Subzi with a twist!

I did not have the inclination to post the Friday's recipe so I am going to add it to today's. Friday I had made dum aloo.
Today's recipe was an 'I owe you" from one of the earlier posts. It is a 'recycle recipe' if you will! If you have leftover rotis sitting in your refrigerator this one is a good one to rustle up. It was the brain child of my mom :-)

Recycled rotis - R2

Dum aloo, Jaipuri bhindi and rotis

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Recycled Rotis

Rotis - chopped into inch sized squares

A cup of diced vegetables - you can use whatever u have; capsicum, carrots, potatoes, peas etc

2 onions diced

1 tomato diced

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp chilli sauce

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tbsp maggi sweet and hot sauce

Salt and chilli pd to taste

Heat oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds to splutter. Now add the onions and saute till they are golden brown. Then add the tomatoes and saute them for a minute. Add the vegetables (the ones that take the longest to cook go in first) and keep sauteing them. Add the soy, chilli and the maggi sauces and the sal and chilli pd and add a quarter cup water. Cover and cook till the vegetables are cooked but still crunchy. Then add the chapati pieces and stir until they are well coated. Saute for a minute more. 

Dum Aloo

4 Potatoes peeled and quartered (ideally you should use the baby potatoes about 10 - halve them if they are too big)

2 Onions + 3 tomatoes + 3 cloves of garlic ground to a paste

1 small bowl of curd well beaten

2-3 Cardamom pods

1/2 stick of cinnamon

2-3 cloves

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp coriander pd

1 tsp garam masala pd

1/2 tsp turmeric pd

salt and chilli pd to taste

Fry the potatoes with a little oil till they turn light golden brown. Do this on a slow flame and constantly keep moving the potatoes around (It would be easier to deep fry them like the original recipe calls for but trust me this is far healthier!). Keep them aside.

Heat oil in a pan and add cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom. When you smell the aroma, add the cumin seeds and let them splutter. Now add the ground onion tomato paste and fry till they lose their rawness. Now add the chilli pd, coriander pd, turmeric and salt and cook for a minute more. Remove the pan from the flame and let it cool down a little before adding the curd to it. Mix well and then return the pan to the stove top and cook for another 5 mins. Now add the potatoes and the garam masals pd and cover and cook for a few minutes till the potatoes are soft. Garnish with coriander and serve!

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Toodles! Till tomorrow then!

Putthandu Nal Vazhthukkal!!

For those who are wondering what the title means - Happy new year!
Today is celebrated as New year in some parts of India - Putthandu in Tamil Nadu, Vishu in Kerala and Baisakhi in Punjab.

Today the kitchen was not functional at my place :-) Lunch was outside at Golden Dragon at Taj Krishna - my favorite place for Chinese. Absolutely awesome. I have some leftovers that would be for lunch tomorrow as well :-)

Dinner came from my parents place. Mum's New year's special sambhar, rasam, avial and vadai.

Rice with sambhar, vadai and avial

I guess will give you the recipes some time later. Today just want to chill and watch some movie and have some popcorn!

So see you all tomorrow folks!

(Ch)Ole! (Cho)Ole!

Went to watch Rio today with my son (that is where the Ole came from in case u were wondering about the title of this post) - his first time at the movies and that too a 3D flick!! He did pretty well till the intermission. He was seated in his seat with the glasses and was enjoying the movie. But that intermission seemed to have broken the trance he was in! He was restless after that. Kept walking around and even had a brief crying spell :-( But all in all a good first time for a 2.6 yr old in my books :)

Today made chole for dinner.

Chole Masala

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Chole Masala 

2 cups Chole (Garbanzo Beans) - Soak them overnight and the boil them till they are soft

2 tomatoes (chopped)

1 cup Tomato Puree or Paste

3 medium onions finely chopped

2-5 cloves minced garlic

1 tbsp ginger past

2 green chilies chopped

1/4 tsp turmeric pd

1 tsp coriander pd 

1 tsp garam masala pd

1 tsp chana masala pd (if not available use the kitchen king masala)

1 tsp kasuri methi

1 tsp cumin seeds

Salt and chilli pd to taste

Heat a pan and add oil. Add the cumin seeds and let them splutter. Then add the garlic and ginger paste. Add chopped onions  and a pinch of salt and fry till they turn brown. Add coriander powder, turmeric pd, chili powder and salt to taste. Fry for a sec. Now add the garam masala and the chana masala and fry. Add the tomatoes and the puree and kasuri methi and fry till the oil leaves the sides (this almost never happens in my house since I put so little of it to begin with!!!) So fry till the tomatoes have turned into mush and the entire contents of the pan become one. Add the chole and a little water according to the desired consistency and cover and simmer. Garnish with coriander and fried onion slices (totally optional).

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Buenos Noches muchachos!!!

Spicy Chettinadu Curry

Wanted to eat rice today. And did not have any vegetables. Had shallots sitting in the shelf threatening to be infested with fungus! So decided to make Chettinadu Spicy Curry or "Karai Kozhumbu" as it is called by the locals. Turned out great if I might say so myself!! Absolutely lip smacking!! Do try it out. The accompaniment - yes, you guessed it right,  Appalam - Roasted not Fried!!!

Chettinadu kara kozhumbu

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Chettinadu Karai Kozhumbu

500 gms of shallots - skinned

2 large tomatoes chopped

15-20 cloves of garlic

1 tbsp ginger paste

1 tbsp sambhar masala

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp turmeric pd

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp mustard seeds

Handful of curry leaves

A pinch of asafoetida

Lemon sized ball of tamarind - soak it in hot water and extract the pulp

Salt and chilli pd to taste

To be ground to a paste

Coconut - half a coconut cut into small pieces

1 tbsp fennel seeds

1 tbsp poppy seeds

2 tbsp coriander powder

Heat oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds to splutter. Then add the cumin seeds, curry leaves and the asafoetida pd. Then add the garlic and shallots and ginger paste. Saute till the shallots turn pink and translucent. Now add the tomatoes and cook till they turn mushy.  Now add the sambhar pd, chilli pd, garam masala pd, salt and the tamarind paste. Add 2 cups of water and cover and cook till all the water reduces by more than half. Now add the ground paste and simmer for 5 mins. Serve with rice.

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See you all tomorrow!

Roti Subzi Daal with a twist!

Did not want to eat the roti, daal and subzi the same way.. So threw all together in a pot and improvised to come up with a "casserole"! It is not for the faint of heart! Truly to be tried out only if you are the experimenting kind... Funny how they taste so different when eaten all together like this :-)

Made cabbage and moong daal today but like I said did not want to eat it the regular way. So layered the chapatis (cut in strips), cabbage and daal with some pickle, roasted gram powder (coarsely powdered) and sprinkled some flax seeds on top. And then baked the whole thing for about 30 mins.
Made for a really interesting dinner!

Ta ta! See you on the other side of the night!!

Beat the heat!

I am not talking about taking a trip to someplace cool..Although that would be nice too! I am talking about cooking something that takes so little time that you do not realize that you have been in the kitchen cooking!!
I am talking about the versatile and quick "kalanda sadam" (mixed rice) as they call it in my tongue.
Lemon Rice and Coconut rice.
Usually weekends are reserved for eating out or ordering in. But I try to limit it to only one meal per day. But this weekend it went way overboard! Saturday lunch was a buffet at Indi Joe's at the Banjara Hills City Center mall. It was pretty good with a decent mix of international and Indian food. Then Saturday night again a buffet at the Westin. Talk about being stuffed!! The food at Westin was nothing to rave about - the usual mix of international and Indian (they had some Andhra recipes that were good). The item I loved the most was the Baba Ganoush and hummus that they had. I love Middle Eastern fare (vegetarian obviously!) and it was nice to see it on the menu. Would have loved it if they had falafel as well!!!
Well so since my tummy had been on an roller coaster ride the day before decided to cook something at home today for lunch. Dinner I cheated! Got food from Little Italy. Another of my favorite restaurants here in Hyderabad.

Lemon Rice

Coconut Rice

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Lemon Rice

1 cup ground nuts

2 tbsp chana daal

4 dry red chillies broken into pieces

Handful of curry leaves

3 cups rice

Juice of 2 big lemons

1 tsp of turmeric pd

A pinch of mustard and cumin seeds and asafoetida pd

Salt to taste

Heat oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds. After they have spluttered add the cumin seeds and then add the ground nuts. Fry till they turn brown. Add the chana daal, dry red chillies, curry leaves, asafoetida pd, turmeric pd and salt and fry till they are cooked. Take it off the flame. Then mix the rice and lemon juice.

Coconut Rice

1 cup of grated coconut (I took the easy way out - used dessicated coconut)

3 cups rice

2 tbsps urad daal

5-6 plain appalams (papads) broken into pieces

3 green chillies slit

handful of curry leaves

A pinch of mustard and cumin seeds and asafoetida pd

Salt to taste

Heat oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds. After they have spluttered add the cumin seeds and then add the appalam pieces and fry till the appalam pieces are almost fried. Add the urad daal, green chillies, curry leaves, asafoetida pd and salt and fry till they are cooked. Take it off the flame. Then mix the rice.

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Good night! Sleep tight! and Dream of bed bugs tonight!! (- Lion King, my son is a big fan!) :-)

Sawadee Ka (Swadisht kha!!)

The title should have given you an inkling of today's menu... if not it is Thai!! My favorite of all cuisines. I would have loved to ake a more authentic version of the Thai yellow curry but had to make do with what I had at home. You could add the essential ingredients that I left out and your curry will turn out even better!
I made burnt garlic fried rice and Thai yellow curry.

Burnt garlic fried rice and Thai yellow curry

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Burnt Garlic Fried Rice

10-15 cloves of garlic chopped

2 cups rice cooked

2 tbsps of soy sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in a wok and add the garlic. Saute till the garlic start turning light brown and emit a strong aroma. Now add the rice, soy sauce, salt and mix well and cook for 2 mins. Add pepper and mix well. That's all there is to it!

Thai Yellow Curry

1 cup capcium, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes each all chopped into 2 inch pieces

1/2 cup peas

1 small onion chopped finely

1 cup firm tofu chopped into same size as the veggies

1 cup thick coconut milk

1 tsp turmeric pd

Salt to taste

To be ground to a paste

Dry roasted - 3 tbsps whole coriander seeds and 2 tbsps cumin seeds

1 inch piece of ginger chopped (you could use the lemon ginger for more flavor)

4 red chillies soaked in hot water for a couple of hrs

Grind all this to a smooth paste and reserve

Heat a pan and add oil and saute the veggies - starting onions and then the ones that take longer to cook namely potatoes and carrots. Add the capsicum, peas and tomatoes and turmeric pd and salt and a cup of water and cover and cook till all the vegetables are cooked. Now add the ground paste and another 1/2 cup water and cover and simmer till the paste is well incorporated into the dish. Then add the coconut milk and adjust the salt if necessary. Cover and simmer for another 5 mins. Adjust the thickness of the gravy to your preference. If it is too thin you could add cornflour to thicken it. 

Also I did not have basil leaves and lemon grass. If you do have those please add it when you add water to cook the vegetables.

Easy breezy Thai curry is ready!!

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kŏr hâi jà-rern aa-hăan!
That means Bon appetit in Thai!! (I looked it up!)

It was a dry day!

Literally! Went to the pool today with my son and was totally dried out from staying out in the sun. The ad for Glucon-D wasn't kidding! I really felt the sun sucking out the fluids from my body with a straw!!

Continuing with the same theme made two dry curries today!

Dhondakai fry and Beans with gram flour

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Beans with Gram flour (besan)

2 cups chopped beans

1/2 cup gram flour

1 tsp chilli pd

1 tsp turmeric pd

Cumin seeds and a handful of curry leaves

A pinch of asafoetida pd

Salt to taste

Heat oil and add the asafoetida pd, cumin seeds and curry leaves and let them splutter for a sec. Then add the beans, turmeric, salt and half a up of water and cover and let the beans cook till they are soft. After the water is gone and the beans are cooked, add the gram flour and chilli pd and sprinkle a little water and let it cook on low heat till the raw smell of the gram flour is gone.

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Good night folks!

Happy Ugadi!

The kitchen was closed today! Well, save for my son's meals. My father took us out for Ugadi lunch at the ITC Kakatiya. They had a delectable spread. I have some pictures of the yummy food we had there.

Ginger water and special Ugadi drink

Fried vadaams, appalams and dry masala chillies

Starter plate of snacks

The main spread!

Needless to say I was stuffed! I enjoyed the ginger water or more authentically called "panagam".  I must have had some 4 glasses which is why I think I could digest so much food!! For those of you who did not know -  ginger aids in digestion :-)

Did not cook anything for dinner. If you remember I told you the kitchen was closed for today!!
My mother in law had sent some tamarind rice and baby potato fry. So that is what I had for dinner.

Tamarind rice and baby potato fry

So now I think it is time to let me and my stomach rest. We have had quite the adventure today - culinary that is!!

See you all tomorrow.

My day out!!

Watched Mamma Mia. Loved the movie! Lovely cast - Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan and Colin Firth. ABBA is great. All my favorite songs: Dancing Queen, Mamma Mia, SOS, Voulez vous, Winner takes it all, Take a chance on me, I have a dream.... Just wonderful!! They don't make music like that anymore....

Had a full day today. Met friends for lunch at the Marriott. Great food, even better ambiance. They had a huge spread - sushi, italian, indian, chinese. A separate chat counter, ice cream station (a la Creamstone).
So came back feeling like a stuffed turkey!! Gobble! Gobble!

Had pizza from dominos for dinner! Cheese overload with double cheese margherita on their cheese burst crust... Mmmmmm!!!

So all in all a very satisfying day.

Wish you all a very Happy Ugadi!

Cricket Mania

The only cricket I like watching is the nocturnal one with antennae!! Did you know that they are called "true crickets" :-). Not that I ave anything against the game but according to me it is a colossal waste of one's time to actually sit and watch it. If you are playing it then yes. But to just sit and watch it for hrs together... I don't get it. For me that time is better spent on a book or a movie!
And that is what I did. I went to the theater and watched the "game" (ironic isn't it?!). The new flick with Abhishek Bacchan. I feel sorry for that guy. It is like he is never going to get to see a hit in this decade! He has got a great personality and acts well too but something just never clicks for him. Anyway, the movie was good. I say good because it was a little out of the ordinary with minimal songs. But it had the potential of becoming an Agatha Christie or an Alfred Hitchcock whodunit but I felt that it was a little bit of a let down in the end.

Ordered out today. As we do most weekends. Tried out this new place called The Hub. It is a small take a way joint close to where we live. Food was decent. Nothing special. But will do as another option in my take away catalog (I maintain a folder with all the menus from the places that we can order out from!!)

Vegetable kofta and Paneer makhani

Ok then see you all tomorrow. Hope India wins! And if it doesn't I am not going to lose any sleep over it!!

Veggies any one?!

Watched the Toy Story 3 today. What a great movie! Reminds me of a time when there were no video games and Nintendos. Kids lived in their make believe world and made up these wonderful stories with their toys. My son does it! You should see him - he picks up all sorts of things - it could be the pot holder or the lemon juicer; they become crocodiles, he picks up the flash light and it turns into a lion, he picks up the stethoscope from his doctor's set and it becomes a fire breathing dragon!! His imagination is awesome! And the stories he makes up with these household things and his toys is just unbelievable!

So what's for dinner tonight you ask? Made a Vegetable Korma and Egg Fried Rice.

Vegetable korma and Egg fried rice

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Vegetable Korma

3 cups of mixed vegetables chopped (I had cauliflower, carrots, capsicum, potatoes, beans)

1 cup thick coconut milk

2 onions diced finely

3 tomatoes chopped finely

1 tsp ginger garlic paste

1 tsp of whole spices crushed (cinnamon, cardamom and cloves)

1 tsp Kitchen king masala

1 tsp jeera pd

1 tsp turmeric pd

1 tsp kasuri methi

1 tsp of shah jeera 

1 tsp of cumin seeds

1 cup of coriander and mint leaves chopped (optional)

Salt and chilli pd to taste

Heat oil in a pan and add the cumin and shah jeera seeds to splutter. Then add the onions and fry them till they turn brown. Add the ginger garlic paste and the tomatoes and cover and cook till the tomatoes turn mushy. Add the salt and the spice powders and cook for a second. Add the vegetables and 2 cups of water and cover and cook till the vegetables are all cooked and tender. Now add the kasuri methi and the coriander and mint leaves and the coconut milk and cover and simmer for another 2 minutes. You can add more water according to the desired consistency. You can serve this with plain rice or rotis.

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Toodles!! See you all tomorrow!!