MBP- LESS IS MORE !!

More than 6 weeks have rolled by and I haven't posted anything! Life has been hectic, no doubt, but I am enjoying every bit of it! The sleepless nights... okay, so it's waking up just once in the middle of the night..., the diaper changes, the baby talk and the coos and gurgles in response with an occasional smile as a reward! Though I have peeped in at other blogs, I haven't done much.... no cooking, but it's time to go back to that! My parents have gone back to India and now M and I are on our own with Little S!
So while my baby is amusing himself on his play mat and conversing with the ceiling (his favourite activity) I am scribbling away at my blog!

Nupur's theme forMBP has come at the right time! Now that time is a constraint, I will have this wonderful collection of super recipes all in one place!

Before going back, Mom wanted to make sure I have some snacks at hand when hunger pangs strike me and I may not have time to make anything when tending to the baby. And since she was also handling EVERYTHING (read cooking, cleaning, all chores around the house, handling the baby and me in my hysterical moments when I'd sob when the baby cried ) else around my home, it was only fair that she save time and energy somewhere!

Among other things that she made, she was very keen on trying out Microwave Besan Ladoo, which are our favourites.

Tee's recipe is a HIT!! Mom saved a huge amount of time and also energy and arm exercise! Within no time we had the ladoos ready!

We followed the recipe with only one change, no raisins! As it is, I am not a big fan of raisins and MBP calls for 5 ingredients or less!

Thank You Tee for the wonderful recipe and Nupur for this wonderful theme!!

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MBP- BREAD: Cheese Parathas.

I'm LATE... so what's new, huh? But I couldn't miss MBP!!! The darned right thumb delayed me! Anyway, now that we are firmly ensconced in our new apartment, which to my delight has a regular gas (like India) and NO Coil stove, I couldn't be happier! Food tastes better and cooks faster than the dreadful coil (M claims it is all my fancy... Men! I tell ya, they are weird!)

For MBP- BREAD I found so many varieties of Breads in our blogosphere, but I finally decided in favour of Cheese Parathas

Like Musical, parathas have always been my favourite type of bread too! Parathas hold a special place in my heart! They are a constant reminder to me of my BEST Friend who is from Delhi and the YUM! parathas I have eaten at home!

In fact, I still vividly recall my first instruction in making a paratha.. (it was not the stuffed variety) and inexperienced as I was in making Parathas, I rolled one all nice and round and .... thin! like a Fulka!! Oh boy!! did I feel like an ostrich? I sure did!!! Just wanted to bury my head in some soil and hang in there till eternity!

Around that time, I also learned that parathas need not be round (or as thin as fulkas!!) and when I found Musical's Recipe, after chuckling awhile, decided 'this' is it!

I followed her recipe, copy pasted in here for convenience, with a couple of variations...

Thanx Musical! Loved the parathas!!

MUSICAL'S RECIPE :

We need:

Whole wheat flour, water, a pinch of salt, ajwain and grated cheese of your favorite variety (i used five cheese Italian blend).Sift the flour, add salt, ajwain, knead into a smooth dough with water. The essence of any good Indian bread is a good dough, so knead, knead, knead :). The dough should be flexible. Set aside for a few minutes. Heat the tava/griddle and roll a nice chapati as shown in the picture. Heap some grated cheese and fold into a square (or a triangle if you like). Dust with some flour and roll this square. Fry it with lil' oil/ghee on the tava-the cheese melts and makes this ordinary bread into something extraordinary :).

Variations I made :

Used Mozzarella Cheese

Added 1/2 very finely chopped onion

Used Olive oil spray

..... My favourite smells in the kitchen....

- Daal (Varan) and Basmati Rice and the lingering smell of an incense stick ( something one encounters in a typical Maharashtrian Brahmin kitchen!!)!!

- Tadkas (tempering) (with or without ginger-garlic paste)!!

-Cake baking in the oven!! ( I am going to try my hand at baking proper bread soon, so I'm sure that will be another to this list!

Thank You , Coffee, for this wonderful theme and Okaying my late entry!!

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MBP-Preserves

Pickles, chutney podi's.. masalas!!!! Somebody stop me!!!
I swear, I had never taken any interest in anything that required preserving food... oh yes!! I participated WHOLE-HEARTED-LY in eating , but never a help where the process was concerned. My very first attempt at making any preserves was this and then, I made THIS both which proved that I could manage it! And now.. since it is also the theme for MBP.. I jumped to the chance of making.. not one, but 3 different things!

Where as I have provided links for the original recipes, so you can check out the recipes I have tried, and other awesome recipes as well , I am also copy-pasting the recipe for a quick reference

For inspiration .. my first stop was Sailu's for this awesome Podi!!! I was thrilled that it came out so well!! and the best part is, my 'coconut hating Hubby' liked it a LOT!!! Now, that!!, is saying something! we ate this Podi with Idli, then with Appey, and finally with plain rice and surprisingly (because I was not too sure if this can be substituted for a rice-podi mix!) , the podi went very well with rice too! A 100 % hit and a keeper!!!

Endu Kobbari Podi

Ingredients:
1 tsp oil/ghee for roasting the dals and coconut
1/2 cup black gram dal (minappapu)
1/2 cup bengal gram dal (senaga pappu)
8-10 dried red chillies, tear into two and de-seed (adjust to suit your spice level)
Half a coconut, dried, grated or finely sliced
8-10 garlic cloves
Salt to taste

1 Grate the dried coconut or slice it into thin pieces as shown in the picture.
2 Heat a tsp of oil in a heavy bottomed vessel and roast the dals and dry red chillis in a pan on low heat till light brown and the dals release their flavor. Remove and cool.
3 In the same vessel add the grated or sliced coconut pieces and roast on low heat for 3-4 minutes. Dont add any more oil to roast the coconut pieces.
4 Once the dals, red chillis and coconut pieces are cool, place them along with garlic cloves and salt in a blender and grind to make a powder of a crumbly consistency.
5 Store in an air tight container.
6 Serve with South Indian tiffins like dosas and idlis with a generous helping of ghee or oil.

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Hmmm... I was in 2 minds of showcasing this... reason? well, Everyone seems to have made it!!! So no prizes for guessing that this recipe was taken from Manisha's : Indian Food Rocks !!!! Another reason is that it is still not ready. It should have been... especially in the HOT California sunshine...except that M, was worried that the bottle, kept on the ledge (SAFE ledge) might topple off, or worse still, some raven might want to peck at it... and so, he carefully kept the bottle 'safe, inside the apartment'!!!! I will give it another week of sunshine before I can go ahead and devour it.

No Oil Lime Pickle

Wash and dry 6 lemons thoroughly. (12 lemons if you are in India as they are much smaller than the lemons in the US.) There should be no water on the lemons or in your jar. This is very important.

Slice off the stalk. Cut the lemon into quarters and then cut each quarter into a half along the length. Then cut each resulting piece into quarters or thirds.

Fill the glass jar as you go along. Your jar will soon look like it will overflow. Don't worry. Everything will settle down and there will be tons of space in the jar.

Add 1/2 cup salt. Add 1/4 cup chilli powder. Add 1/2 cup sugar. Add 3 tsp of turmeric powder and shake the jar about to help the powders get to as many lemons as possible.

Next you need 1 tsp methi seeds. And 1 tsp black mustard seeds And 1/4 tsp asafoetida or hing powder. Roast these three ingredients on medium flame for about 4-5 minutes till there is a mouth-watering aroma in your kitchen and the methi seeds look a little tanned. They should not look sun-burnt, just nicely tanned.

Grind these in your coffee grinder. What? You think your coffee will smell of methi and hing from here onwards? Tch! Tch! You mean you actually grind coffee beans in your coffee grinder? Never do that. Repeat after me: Coffee grinders are for grinding spices! Well done! Now add this powdered mix to the jar. The lemons should have started oozing juice already.

Add the juice of 1 lemon. If necessary, use a dry palette knife or a dry table knife to stir the contents of the jar. See how the lemons have become limp and there is so much space in the jar?

The jar must be placed in the sun to cook slowly in its warmth.
Give it a good shake as you put it out and bring it in each day. Your pickle should be ready in about 2 months when the peel has softened and is no longer crisp.

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And my final stop was at Indira's , where I got this Sambar Powder Recipe. The reason I made this was ..M... who is a South Indian Food Addict! He can live on Sambar -Rice! And for some reason, we both were getting a bit tired of MTR Sambar Masala. Apart from the fact that I now have a coffee Spice Grinder which I use at every given opportunity!

Sambar Powder

Sambhar powder Preparation: 1 teaspoon each of cumin, coriander, fenugreek seeds, chana dal, urad dal and dry coconut- all roasted and powdered.

Can u believe how simple it is!!!! My variation to this was adding ~4 dry red chillies.

Thank U Coffee ... as usual , wonderful theme!! looking forward to the next one!!!

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MBP- June GOING LITE WITH KURMURA CHIWDA

ATTACK OF THE MUNCHIES!!! here I go again... at regular intervals I get this terrible urge to munch.. munch... munch... especially after work! When Coffee announced this month's theme of going 'light' after feasting on sweets.. I browsed around till I came to this recipe from Kitchen Aromas and Roopa's version of this chiwda was just what I was looking for!

It also brought back days of childhood, when I'd come back after school, fling my satchel, pluck shoes and socks (eewww!!) chuck them into some corner and head straight to the kitchen (so who washes their hands!!!) and raid the shelves for whatever I could lay my hands on. With no parental control (both parents were working) I would eat anything and everything that was there.. Thus satiated, I would kick up a fuss at dinnertime, making sick faces at the vegetables and roti.

Fed up with my behaviour, Mom brought fruit , made some item like poha/ upma for me and kept it ready for me for after school, but that did not help, I would still climb up on the chair, reach out to the shelves and pig out!

My father used to get every 2nd. and 4th. Saturday off, from work and so on one such Saturday, he made Kurmura chiwda for me.. this was something after my heart!! My Dad is a fairly good cook and I enjoyed watching him pottering about the kitchen. So on that Saturday he plonked me on one end of the cooking platform, 'ota' as it is called in Marathi and got together all the stuff he needed and within minutes my 'khau' was ready!

I made some changes to Roopa's recipe and modelled it as per my Dad's version

1 packet Kurmura/ Mamri

1/2 cup raw Peanuts

1/4 cup Dalia / DaLa (Marathi word)

6 Green Chillies ( +/- to taste)

3 Dry Red chillies

1 tsp each, mustard and cumin seeds

~20 Curry Leaves

1/2 tsp asafetida/ hing

Turmeric ( I did not measure this, so approx. 1 tsp)

2 tbsp. Oil

Salt & sugar to taste

Assemble all the ingredients. Chop the green chillies, wash and pat dry the curry leaves. Break the red chilly into two.

Heat oil in a kadhai/ wok. Add the raw peanuts and dalia, once they turn light golden brown, add mustard seeds and jeera/ cumin seeds. Add the asafetida. Pitch in the green chilly, red chilly and curry leaves. Saute them till they look crunchy. Add Turmeric. Add the kurmura, mix thoroughly. Add salt and sugar. Mix. At this point switch off the stove. let the chiwda cool, store in an airtight container. Munch when u feel like it!!

A variation to this can be... add some farsan, finey chopped onion and tomato, squeeze lemon juice ( and small bits of raw mango, when in season) Garnish with cilantro... u have 'sukha bhel' ready!!! Pin It

Monthly Blog Patrol....For SWEETS!!!!!!!!

Coffee!!! I love u Gal... no matter what anyone says!! You picked a theme real close to my heart...
I know all about expanding waistlines ... nevertheless, hope springs eternal in my heart, that one day, if I keep wishing hard, I will get my wish of becoming slim-n-trim, being able to east whatever I please and not gain an ounce!!! Till such time... eat, drink and be merry... for tomorrow we may diet!

Well, it's today now and right now... I have sweets on mind , for Coffee's MBP..
Patrolling Blogs gave me tioo many options, ALL of which I obviously wanted to try, but limited myself to the ones I am blogging about now (reason, M was going bonkers!! and I largely relied on the ingredients I had at home)

I tried Yummmmmmmmmmm Ali... I mean Umm Ali!!! from Aroma.. Asha sure whipped up a *wicked* dessert!!!! I tried it with Phyllo dough, but maybe puff pastry will be a better choice, for next time!! I forgot to take a nice picture of it in a decorative plate.. too eager to eat!!!

BTW,Asha, if you are reading this.... just a query, why did my Umm Ali turn a tad soggy? Phyllo, do u suppose?
And I made Banana Nut cake Adapting it from Swapna of Swad of India

Both these recipes were AWESOME!!! I know I am going to gain weight... but that is for later, as of now.... I'm Lovin' it!!!

Thank U Coffee for this sweet choice! What's next?

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MBP March-Rolling!! Gobi Parathas..

pic: Google search

Hey, that's not me!! This is the Theme for this month's MBP!!! And my prowling around took me here ! First off, I must admit, I am a huge fan of One Hot Stove! Apart from the wonderful dishes she makes, her ideas are also awesome and *must try this* variety!

Coming to rolling.... I love parathas.. in fact I like all Indian breads and like to include rotis in my everyday meals. M however, is not too fond of rotis (etc.) and proudly says that before we got married, he had successfully avoided eating any for many years! Not anymore... and twists his face into a comic-tragic look ... how cute!! But seriously, making parathas is not that easy... I mean, one can make parathas out of any stuffing, but the skill lies in the 'rolling' part! I still have trouble at times... rolling the dough (with the filling) into a round shape and uniform all over without the stuffing poking out!Whew!!

My addiction (yes, I will call it that) for Parathas started when I started visiting my best friend L in Delhi. Her Mom made the bestest (?!?!) parathas! Aaaah, I can still taste those awesome breakfasts!!! Served with a dollop of butter, yogurt and pickle.. it's a complete meal!
Soon enough, I too started making parathas, after seeing Auntie make them and also with the aid of a cookery class I attended. My parents also liked this variation from the daily roti- subzi, which is a staple in most Maharashtrian-Kanadiga homes.

I tweaked the recipe a bit... the original recipe is:

1. Make the dough: Mix 2 cups atta (see recipe introduction), 1/2 tsp salt and 1 tbsp olive oil. Add enough water to make a soft dough and knead it for 10 minutes until it is smooth and elastic. Cover with a damp towel and set aside in a covered bowl for 30 minutes.
2. Make the filling: This is easily done while the dough is resting. You need 2 cups of finely minced or grated cauliflower, one minced fresh green chili and 1 tsp minced fresh ginger. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a skillet. Add 1 tsp cumin seeds, chili and ginger and stir until fragrant (few seconds). Add the grated cauliflower, 1/2 tsp turmeric, 1/2 tsp ajwain seeds (carom seeds, optional), salt and pepper to taste and stir well. Cook on low heat, uncovered, until the cauliflower is tender. You want the mixture to be very dry.
3. To make the parathas, knead the dough again for two minutes and then divide it into five portions.
In the skillet, divide the filling roughly into five portions too.
Take a portion of the dough and roll it out into a fat circle (try and make the edges of the circle thinner than the center). Place one portion of the stuffing in the middle and pull up the edges to cover the filling. Press down flat and roll it out gently into a flat evenly-thick circle. Fry the paratha in a hot griddle, using a few drops of olive oil to fry each side until it is golden and well-cooked.

My variation :To the dough I added 1/2 spoon of Ajwain.
Instead of Olive oil, I used Canola, which I had,for the dough and making the stuffing.
In the filling, I added a bit of dhania & jeera (coriander and cumin) powder.
And finally, I shallow fried these in butter not olive oil

End Result: The Parathas were awesome!! I had a bit of a problem with the stuffing, which was dry, but still managed to poke out of the dough cover! I served these with thick creamy yogurt and 'Shan' Mixed Hyderabadi Pickle.. I mention this particular brand and variety because it is tooooo good! The pickle contains Fennel (Saunf) and Ajwain which go very well with the paratha (and with everything else too!!)
Rooma, many thanks for hosting this event!

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MBP @ Coffee's with Finger Food!

I bet you all, there are going to be a lot of entries for MBP a culinary event started by our very own Rooma! The theme for this month was Finger Food, which instantly made me think of ALL the street food in India.... The chaat stalls where one stands by the roadside and eats Pani Puri , bhel, a bhutta (corn on the cob, Mumbai ishtyle!!!), Wada Pav.... God, I need a break here.... I'm drooling all over this keyboard! 'scuse me.....

I'm back... one thing that we Indians really enjoy is eating our food with our fingers, not that we do not use spoons and forks, oh yes! we do, when we go to fancy restaurants! but there is something so very satisfying about eating the way we do, with our fingers! In fact eating with your fingers is a cultural experience (for those visiting India). And those who frown upon this practice for hygine.. well, this is one chance you get to wash your hands thoroughlybefore you eat! so there!
Now, moving on to my entry for MBP... yes, I wanted to make the 'Alu Samosa' that we eat so often... But I had to kinda delay that a bit, this weekend we are entertaining a small group of friends and I want to make samosas then, and having these deep fried goodies twice in the same week would have been a bit too much!
So hunting across blogs got me to here...and my search ended! I was waiting to try out puff pastry for a while and here was this chance of doing just that!


The only variation I made was I skipped the Peas.... I am not a fan of peas... un-hunh! I served these with Maggi Hot and Sweet sauce! Yummy and perfect for an evening snack!!

Thank you Rooma for hosting this wonderful event & Priya, for the recipe!!

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MBP @ Coffee's !

Rooma here's my entry for the MBP... sorry I am a bit late... I had made this dish when I first saw the event on your blog.... but I guess that's just me.... I make dishes, click snaps... then make drafts with the snaps and .... then.... well, they stay that way.......
So any way..... I checked out a few blogs, bookmarked a lot of recipes but finally settled on Pasta, and the recipe was from Priya
The only addition I made was adding onion to the dish (but in a small quantity)
So without further ado, here is my contribution :

• Penne Pasta - 1/2 pound
• Ripe Roma Tomatoes - 1 cup, finely chopped ( Or 10 oz crushed tomatoes - canned )
• Tomato paste - 1 tbsp
• Garlic - 2 cloves, medium size, finely chopped
• Red chili flakes - 1/2 to 1 tsp
• Dried Oregano - 1/2 tsp
• Fresh Parsley - 1 tbsp, finely chopped
• 1 small onion (finely chopped)
  
• Olive Oil - 2 tbsp
• Salt to taste
• Freshly grated parmesan cheese

Method

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta al dente according to package instructions.
Meanwhile, heat oil in a deep skillet or pot. Add chopped garlic and saute` until fragrant.
Next add red chili flakes, dried oregano and chili flakes, saute` for 5 to 10 seconds and then add onion, crushed/chopped tomatoes, tomato paste, salt to taste and mix well.
Simmer over low-medium heat for about 5 to 8 minutes or until the tomato sauce has reduced a little bit.
Add cooked pasta, chopped parsley and toss until mixed well.
Serve hot with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Lesson Learnt : I did not have Roma Tomatoes, so I substituted with the normal onesand therefore used less than the prescribed amount .... Will use more tomatoes next time..... and get Roma ones.

VERDICT: This pasta tastes wonderful! The chili flakes give it a zing and Indians who like pasta (with a 'bit' of extra spice) will love it! A wonderful one dish meal... and you may be sure that this will make it's appearance frequently at the dinner table!!!!

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