Welcome Back !

Welcome Back !

It is not time , it is not leisure that brought me back to my blog, I think it is something I wanted to do all by myself and realized that I really enjoy filling up the space here with few interesting and few findings.

 Every time I stop by I feel good to see the thought process and the things I appreciated over time.It has been a long time since 2014 and my routine and life changed by leaps and bounds. I am not the same person anymore it gives me chills when I think about that. Am I growing old or am I becoming wise. I don't know that for sure but I am changing for good is what I believe. With everything else my nest grew we have a new addition to the family my beautiful daughter Aanya. Her smile fills me up each day. My little Aayuv is not so little anymore , he is the mamma's boy I wanted him to be , his cute talk is like a therapy to me and Sandeep. Like someone somewhere said , babies are god's little Angels and they bring smiles to anyone's heart.

Kurma - Cooking with Siri

*Vegetable Biryani, Aloo Kurma, Tofu Kurma*

"She is an innovator, an experimenter, a missionary in bringing the gospel of good, healthy cooking to the home table..".. 

*She* is none other than my dearest Mom, who is an awesome cook, ..for her cooking is not a grueling task..She does that with such ease that amazes me everytime and mind you, all of her dishes turn out delectable and yummy . 
She, as a cook has a great fan following - me, my dad, all my uncles n aunts, her office colleagues, my dad's office colleagues, my friends.. Phew, the list goes on and on and on... 

One day, (...when I was missing my mom terribly,) I got reminded of her "Vegetable Biryani and Kurma" so badly, that I actually asked her to send me her recipe and also a photograph if possible....:DD

...U all know 'How sweet mothers are..!".. She made these and sent them the following day.. So, here I am presenting my mom's Vegetable Biryani and Aloo Kurma (drumroll please....)and this is my way to keep safe her recipe on my blog for ever. Love U Mom.. U Rock!

I still have to try this out in my kitchen, which I am planning to do this weekend.. (*fingers crossed*)...:)



Vegetable Biryani
-----------------------

Ingredients:

Basmati Rice 2 cups
Chopped Onion 1/2 cup
Mint leaves - few
Chopped Carrot, Beans, Green Peas 1 cup
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tbsp
Biryani Masala - 1 tbsp
Oil - 4/5 tbsp
Water - 3.5 cups

*Vegetable Biryani*

Preparation:

1. In a flat bottomed pressure pan, heat oil, add Onion, mint leaves, Ginger Garlic paste and fry these for 2 mins.
2. Now, add in biryani masala, vegetables; Cook these for 2 mins.
3. Season with salt, add rice and cook for a minute.
4. Finally add the water and cook until 3 whistles.
5. Serve hot with any spicy kurma and raita.

Now, coming to Kurma, my mum prepares a standard gravy for almost all Kurmas and adds in choice of vegetables like Potato (or) Brinjal (or) Cauliflower (or) Tofu.. etc etc.

Here is the recipe for the Gravy and then halved to make Aloo Kurma and Tofu Kurma as in the photograph!..:DD

Ingredients:

Fresh Coconut - 1 cup
Roasted Sesame seeds (Telugu: Nuvvulu) - 2 tbsp
Onions - 3 tbsp ( or 2 medium ones)
Peanuts - 1 tbsp
Roasted Yellow Bengal Gram (Telugu: Putnala Pappu) - 1 tbsp
Tamarind taste - 1 spoon
Oil - 2 tbsp
Garam Masala - 1 tbsp
Ginger Garlic paste - 3/4 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Red Chilli powder - 1 tbsp
Turmeric - 1/2 tbsp
Yogurt - 1 tbsp (optional)

Preparation:

1. Take a tbsp of oil in a pan, on a low flame add in sesame seeds, 3/4 of onions, peanuts, yellow bengal gram, ginger garlic paste and fry these for a 2 mins.
2. Then add tamarind water and finally coconut. cook for a minute.
3. Grind these to a fine paste and keep aside.
4. In a wok, take left over onion, add in the ground masala and cook for couple of minutes. When the oil starts to separate, season with salt, turmeric, red chilli powder and garam masala.
5. Finally, add some yogurt and stir well.
6. You can in your choice of vegetable in Step 4.
7. Goes well with any biryani, naan or roti.

*Aloo (Potato) Kurma*


*Tofu Kurma*

Off this Aloo kurma goes to Sia's "Ode to Potato" event and also to Dhivi's "The Potato Fe(a)st" (Thanks to Dhivi for accepting my late entry way after deadline!...cho chweet of u!).

Hope you all enjoied my mom ka khaana as much as I did (.....cherished!.. Miss u Mom!)...:DD

[UPDATED 8/12/2010] - I am sending this as an entry to Alka's LYRO:Potatoevent.  

- Siri

Eggless Date Cake

Eggless Date Cake

Pitted Dates ~ 18. She said I could use more, so I used 25.
Milk ~ 1 Cup

Soak dates in milk overnight. I did not have so much time so I soaked the dates in warm milk for 3 hours and then nuked it for a minute.

Preheat oven to 350F

In a blender add
dates + milk
3/4 cup Sugar
Since I had more dates, I reduced the sugar a wee bit.
Make a smooth mix.

Sift
1 Cup of AP Flour
1 tsp of baking Soda
*AP = All Purpose. Can be substituted with Maida

Measure out
1/2 cup of Oil

In a wide mouthed bowl add the
date+milk+sugar mix from the blender
Add
1/2 Cup of oil
Add the flour mix gradually, mixing as you go.
Add 1 tbsp of chopped cashews or walnuts.

Mix gently to make a smooth batter. My friend suggested the hand mixer but I just mixed with a spatula.

Now grease a bundt pan. Pour the batter in this pan and bake till a toothpick comes out clean. Mine was done in 32-35 minutes, but I had a silicone pan. You can also use a regular 8" cake pan instead of a bundt pan. Baking time may vary.

Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream as my friend does.

Similar Recipes:

Eggless Date Cake from Aayis Recipes

Vegan Date Cake from Madhuram

Courtesy: http://www.bongcookbook.com/2011/01/eggless-date-cake-goodness-does-not.html#recipe-start-datecake 

Potato Smileys

Courtesy: http://www.cookingwithsiri.com/2013/05/a-copy-cat-recipe-potato-smiles-potato.html

Potato Smiles

...the potato dough ready to be rolled out into smiles..

[A Copy-Cat Recipe] Potato Smiles | Potato Smileys

Makes about 2 dozen

Ingredients:

3 large potatoes
1/4 cup coriander leaves (or use any other finely chopped herbs/greens)
4 tbsp cornflour (or use all purpose flour)
1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste
1/2 tsp (or more) red chilli powder
1/2 tsp garam masala (optional)
1/4 tsp turmeric
salt - to taste
2 tsp lemon juice
oil, for frying

Preparation:

1. Wash potatoes, cube them with skin and boil for 2 whistles in pressure cooker (or) boil in water until fork tender. Once cool, peel.

2. Mash potatoes in a bowl and add coriander leaves, cornflour, ginger garlic paste, turmeric, chilli powder, garam masala, salt and lemon juice. If the dough is too sticky, add a little more flour. Refrigerate the dough for atleast 30 mins.

3. Make small lemon sized balls, flatten and shape into a circle. Using the backside of a (clean) pencil, make two eyes and a smile with a blunt knife. Continue to do the same with rest of the dough.

Note: These can be frozen for few weeks and ready for frying. Don't thaw.

...to make the eyes, I used the back of a pencil and a blunt knife to make the smile..

4. Heat oil. Once hot, reduce it to low and fry these potato smiles few at a time, until golden brown.

.....potato smileys ready to get fried..

5. Serve immediately with ketchup or any spicy condiment.

..these are the original potato smiles from the McCain packet..mine look pretty close to them. You agree?

Thotakura pulusu

Thotakura Ava Pulusu ~ Mustard flavored Amaranth leaves stew

1Thotakura Ava Pulusu Recipe
Prep & Cooking: 30 mts
Serves 4-5 persons
Cuisine: Andhra
.
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups finely chopped thotakura leaves and stalks (tightly packed)
1 big onion finely chopped
4 green chillis slit length wise
1/4 tsp turmeric pwd
small lemon sized tamarind (soak in a cup of warm water and extract)
1-2 tsps jaggery or sugar
1 tsp rice flour
3/4 tsp mustard seeds + 1 red chili, ground to a coarse pwd
salt to taste
For tempering/poppu/tadka:
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/4 tsp methi seeds
1 tsp split black gram dal (optional)
1-2 dry red chillis (tear into pieces)
5 garlic flakes crushed or large pinch asafoetida
10-12 curry leaves
1 Heat oil in a heavy bottomed vessel, add mustard seeds, let them pop, add the cumin seeds, methi seeds and let them turn slightly red. Add split gram dal and let it turn red. Add garlic, red chillis, curry leaves, chopped onions and green chillis and sauté till onions turn slightly pink (approx 3-4 mts).
2 Add the thotakura leaves and stir fry for 4 mts. Add the turmeric pwd and salt and mix. Cover with lid and cook till the greens cook (approx 7-8 mts).
3 Add the tamarind extract and jaggery and mix well. Add 1 1/2 cups of water and cook for another 9-10 mts or till the rawness of tamarind disappears. Sprinkle the rice flour and mix and you will find that the gravy thickens. Cook for a minute, add mustard pwd and mix. Turn off heat.
4 Serve with white rice.
Blanching of amaranth leaves Boil 2 cups water in a deep vessel. Add salt, pinch of turmeric pwd and chopped amaranth leaves and cook over medium flame for 5 mts. Strain and use left over water to prepare chapati dough and use the blanched leaves and stalks as called for in the recipe. For the above recipe the leaves were not blanched. If using blanched thotakura, reduce the cooking time before adding water.

Bellam Avakaya

Courtesy: Maa Inti Vanta - My Home Cooking (Visit website)

Mix avva (mustard powder),red chili powder, salt, fenugreek seeds and oil with mango pieces and keep aside for 4 - 5 days.Separate the mango pieces from the mixture and sun dry them separately till the mango pieces dry well.

Make jaggery syrup and bring to room temperature.

Mix the syrup with mixture.

Cut the mango pieces into small pieces.

Add the mango pieces with the base and mix well.

Mix thoroughly and let cool. Save in an air tight container.

Read more at http://en.petitchef.com/recipes/bellam-avakaye-photo-tutorial-fid-618903#o8R2IfBlVcH5quHZ.99 

Yummy... Mango Chutney

Mangai Thokku / Grated Mango Pickle

12/03/2012  UMA RAMANUJAM  19 COMMENTS

It is not a mango season. But when I saw fresh mangoes in market a week before, I felt like tasting it. So I bought a few mangoes. Then I decided to make mango thokku out of one. The one which I posted here is the recipe from my grandma. My mother-in-law used to prepare same kind of thokku for mixing it with rice and her version is different. I will be posting her recipe in summer during the mango season.

My grandma makes this recipe often during mango season and most of the time it lasts only for a week or two. When it is prepared at home, we use it not only with curd rice, but also with paratha, roti, hot steamed rice, idly, dosa, sandwich and sometimes we use it as a condiment for papad too. This thokku is very addictive than pickle. You can also prepare it instantly.

Basic Information:
Preparation Time: <10 minutes
Cooking Time: 15 minutes
Makes: 1 cup

Ingredients:

Raw mango - 1 no, Large size
Gingerly Oil - 3 tablespoons
Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoons
Asafoetida - a big pinch
Red chilli powder - 2 teaspoons (see notes)
Turmeric powder - 1/4 teaspoon
Salt - to taste
Jaggery - 1 teaspoon (Optional)
Roasted fenugreek powder - 1/4 teaspoon (Optional)

Method:

1) Peel the skin of the raw mango and grate it nicely.
2) Heat a non-stick pan/ kadai. Heat oil in it.
3) Add mustard seeds when the oil is hot and not smoking. Let it splutter.
4) Immediately add Asafoetida. Make sure not to burn it.

5) Add grated mango and give a quick stir.
6) Cover and cook for 5 minutes in low flame.
7) After 5 minutes, the grated mango reduces to half. Now add salt as per the mango quantity, turmeric powder and red chilli powder.

8) Saute it till the raw smell of red chilli powder goes off.
9) Add jaggery and roasted fenugreek powder if you are using(I didn't add both). Cover again and cook till the oil separates from the mango. It will again take 4-5 minutes. Make sure to keep it in low flame.
10) Switch it off and cool to room temperature. Store in dry, air tight container. It stays good for a month if stored in refrigerator.
11) Goes well with hot steamed rice, Curd rice, Idly, Dosa and any type of parathas.

Note:
1) I used home made red chilli powder and hence I used more to get correct spicy level. If you use store bought red chilli powder, use less or more according to its spicy level.
2) Taste a pinch of grated mango before preparing the thokku and check whether it is sour or not. If it is sour, add jaggery or you can skip it.
3) If you like, use roasted fenugreek powder to it.

Courtesy: Uma's Kitchen Experiments