HAPPY NEW YEAR !!

pic courtesy Google

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JFI:Coconut, contd. : Rice Payasam and Curried Cauliflower

How can I just sit back with my Mom's contribution to JFI???!!! I wanted to get in something of my own too.. just that blogger has been giving unexpected trouble for a day or two now... has anyone else also faced this?

Anyway.... back to JFI... when I first saw the ingredient.. I thought clever choice! The second thought was... M is not going to like this ~giggle~! My husband is 'psychologically allergic' to coconut! And these recipes I had contained Coconut Milk by the tin! Well... trusting the old adage.... Ignorance is bliss... for the time being, atleast, I went ahead with making these. So here is my contribution to JFI.

RICE PAYASAM

Now, for the rice pudding, the recipe source is a bit obscure, I mean I got it from my Mom, who said she had this cutting from some Marathi news paper.. or a magazine? .. something like that she said.. "you have to try this, it is wonderful!", ok, Mother is right!"
This is a hassle free recipe and quick too if u have a can of coconut milk at hand.

What you need is :
4 tbsp Basmati Rice
2 cups Boiled milk ( I took only 1 1/2 cup milk)
1 tin Coconut milk
1 cup Jaggery
2 spoons Ghee
Almonds, Pistachios,Saffron, Cardamom powder to garnish.

Put 2 spoons of ghee in a microwave safe pot heat it for 30 seconds. Add almonds...etc. and heat it again for 1 minute. Wash rice and add 2 cups of water and cook for 5 minutes in the microwave oven(check your microwave power). When the rice is soft add coconut milk and jaggery and cook for 3 minutes. Stir well and add boiled milk and cook for 4 minutes . When it cools down add cardamom powder and serve.

CURRIED CAULIFLOWER :

The recipe source was the cook book I refered to when I made the Layered Lentil Rice
This was a simple recipe and not too spicy.. plus the cauliflower and coconut milk was adifferent combo I wanted to try!

1 tbsp. Gram Flour (besan)
1/2 cup water
1 tsp. Chilli pwd ( I reduced this, but I shouldn't have [:( ] )
1 tsp. ground cumin pwd.
1 tsp. ground corriander pwd.
1 tsp. mustard pwd.
1 tsp. turmeric
Salt to taste
4 tsp. Oil
6-7 curry leaves
1 cauliflower (broken into florets)
3/4 cup coconut milk
Juice of 2 lemons


Mix the gram flour with a little water to make a paste. Add chilli, corriander, cumin, mustard, turmeric and salt. Add the remaining water and keep mixing to blend all ingredients well.
Heat oil in a frying psn, add curry leaves and cumin seeds, add spice paste and simmer for about 5 mins. . If the sauce is too thick, add a little hot water.
Add the cauliflowerand coconut milk. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover and cook until cauliflower is tender but crunchy (cook longer if you wish). Add lemon juice, mix and serve hot.




The verdict: Both the dishes passed M's test ! He loved the payasam! In both the dishes coconut milk adds its flavour and the subtle taste blends well with rice as well as the cauliflower. Pin It

Layered Lentil Rice with Curry

I found this wonderful cook book in the public library 'Indian, delicious authentic dishes'. The authors are Shehzad Hussain & Rafi Fernandez. This book has a large variety of dishes (Indian & Pakistani) with good illustrations.
After going thru (read, drooling over) all the vegetarian recipes, I finally picked one to make for dinner. I had all the ingredients on hand and time as well .... you see I drooled over the recipes all afternoon, so by early evening, I was all set to make this dish!
Firstly, making this dish does take up a bit of time, but the end result is the hubby rubbing his tummy and declaring it as"FANTASTICALLY YUMMY !"

Second... it cleared up a misconception I had. Now all these years I was under the impression that Bohri cuisine is 'only' non-veg. I had heard some of my friends wax eloquent on this particular cuisine, but being a vegetarian, it was all lost on me.Thirdly, I am firmly convinced, boy, these people can really cook!

I am reproducing the recipe as I got it, infact, quoting from the book ......
"Bohri Muslims in India have their own special style of cooking and have adapted many of the traditional dishes from other Indian communities.This rice and lentil dish is served with a gourd curry (Dudhi/ Lauki), which is prominently flavoured with Fenugreek and soured with dried mangosteen (kokum), lemon juice however, will provide the same effect."

2/3 cup Channa Daal (Bengal gram)
2 1/2 cups Water
1/2 tsp Turmeric
50 gm. Deep fried onion crushed
3 tbsp. green masala paste (few fresh mint leaves & cilantro leaves chooped & salt to taste)
I left the mint out entirely, I somehow dislike it (mint is toothpaste!! )
1 3/4 cups Basmati rice cooked
2 tbsp. ghee
A little water

FOR THE CURRY
4 tbsp oil
1/4 tsp. Fenugreek (methi dana) seeds
1/2 oz Dried Fenugreek leaves
2 cloves Garlic crushed
1tsp. ground cilantro
1tsp chili pwd. (less for those who prefer it mild)
1lb. Bottle gourd or zucchini, peeled, pith and seed removed, cut in bite size pieces
3/4 cup Tomato juice
6 dried mangosteen or juice of 2 lemons
4 tsp. Besan dissolved in 4-5 tsp water
Salt to taste

Cook rice and keep aside. Boil the bengal gram daal with water until the grains are tender, but not mushy. Drain and reserve the water for the curry. Toss the cooked daal with deep fried onions, green masala paste, chopped mint(opt.), cilantro leaves and salt.
Grease a heavy pan and place a layer of rice at the bottom. Add the daal mixture. Layer with the remaining rice. Place small cubes of butter/ ghee on top, sprinkle with a little water and gently heat until steam gathers in the pan.

To make the Curry:
Heat oil in a pan. Fry the Fenugreek seeds and leaves and garlic , until garlic turns golden brown.
Mix the ground cumin, cilantro and chilli powder with a little water. Add to the pan and simmer until all the water evaporates.
Add all the remaining ingredients and cook until the gourd is soft and transparent. Serve hot with the rice.

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JFI - Coconut : NARAL WADI

Now for those who are new to the blogger world, or let's say new to my blog (or any food blog for that matter) there is this monthly event called JFI. Whassat you say? oh okay! Read all about it here !! So now you can well imagine how all, we food / cooking lovers ,wait to cook something for this event every month! The best part is when someone else ( a non-blogger) gets interested in it and decides to participate!

This month, Ashwini of Food for Thought is the hostess and her ingredient is Coconut (Cocos nucifera). You see what a devilishly clever choice this is? That's right, used in sweets, savoury items, as garnish... Coconut water, remember all those hot summer days, when this has quenched your thirst? Or those strolls on sandy beaches, hand in hand, 'ek narial, do straw dena bhaiya'( one coconut with 2 straws), watching the blazing sun sink under the waves.....

OR, Think of all those times when your teacher or parent murmured " Oh God, your head is like a coconut! impossible to get anything into it!"

Or, zip back to an old, old television ad jingle.... "ek narial ped se tuta, gir ke hi woh beech se toota.....sek tap se use pakaya, khub kurkura use banaya, Brittania Coconut Crunchy"..

Right, you get the idea!! Hmmm, cut to my statement.... when non bloggers take an interest...so far my parents have only been reading my posts, giving me their opinion. But this time my Mother has gone that 'one' step further and made something for JFI!! I am to post it ofcourse, but the recipe, procedure and photography is all her work!
Here is what she has to say about making 'Naral Wadi'

1 measure shredded coconut
1 measure milk or half measure condensed milk (I have used plain milk)
1 1/4 measure sugar ( if you are using condensed milk use less sugar)
Cardamom powder,
Saffron srtands ,
1/2 spoon ghee

Add coconut, milk, saffron (optional) and sugar in a thick bottom kadhai and cook it on medium heat. Stir it continously and also cover the sides of the utensil to avoid burning. Stir it till it forms a lump and slightly dry from the sides. The consistency is imporatnt. Remove from fire. Add cardamom powder. Apply ghee to a plate. Pour the coconut fudge on the plate and flatten the surface with wet hand or a rolling pin (Apply ghee to the rolling pin).Make diamond shape wadis when it is hot. Let it cool down.It will come out unstuck from the plate easily when cooled down.

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A good marriage is like a casserole, only those responsible for it really know what goes in it.

The Sweet year that was !!!

I celebrated my first wedding anniversary a few days ago..... The first thought I had in the morning was; this time last year, I was, at 6:00 am, having a 'last' look at my 'maika'.. oh no! no waterworks for me please!
Since then one full year has gone by, in the wink of an eye! Seems like yesterday that my mother was at her wits end trying to convince me to choose a guy to get married to.. all those endless lectures... my frivolous retorts...pooh poohing the proposals....

And then one fine day...it happened! The wild, carefree (and careless), don't-care colt was tamed.....

Today when I look back, I feel very happy about my decision, very content with the life I lead (but that in no way assuages my desire to shop- my one undying passion!) and proud of my husband and thankful to God for giving me such a loving, caring family. (Touch wood!)

Now I wanted to make a spread to mark this wonderful day, but M had other plans... the sly devil! he never told me... but what a glorious dinner plan he had made!! But I insisted on making the sweet of the day! Well, that too had to be a shortcut he said.

Ok, as you wish! so I whipped out a ready mix pack of Gulab Jamun and made them as per the instructions on the pack. No, I won't put up a recipe for the little effort that went into making this delectable sweet, just the pic to show how well they turned out, but yes, one of these days, I am going to make gulab jamuns from scratch and proudly post them here!

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Indian 'Burger' !! Garma garam batata wada !!!

When my friend S said she wanted to eat Batata Wada... the popular Mumbai street food snack.. I was more than happy to make it! I was loathe to make it for myself (the guilt is overwhelming!).
Having spent all my teenage years and a large part of my BSchool days 'surviving' on Wada Pav and cutting chai... I miss eating this item and that too on the streets!
Almost every street in Mumbai has a 'thela'(cart) which sells wada-pav. But there are some vendors who are particularly famous! I remember particularly one which is very famous, one the way from Mumbai to Pune, via train, there is a station Karjat, which has 'the best' wada pav ! That was one reason why I liked travelling to Pune in a train (which is otherwise accessible by road and a faster route!) ! The other I particularly recall is during my first year at college, my friends and I had travelled to an area in Mumbai, Lalbagh, where there was a guy who called himself 'Graduate Wada pav walla'... when there was a dearth of jobs, he decided to sell wadapav to make his living and was he GOOD at it!
Going back to B School days.... my best friend and I would sit for hours in the college canteen and our breakfast, lunch & tea would be the wada pav and cutting chai served by Mama (the canteen owner). We were like permanent fixtures there and after a few days there was no need to go and place an order... upon sighting us, he would automatically call for 'garam wada ani cutting' aahhhh.. how I miss those days!



For the Wadas you need:

4 Boiled Potatoes
1 tbsp. Oil for tempering
1/2 spn. Mustard seeds
4 Green chilies chopped ( +/ - according to individual taste)
A few curry leaves
1/2 spn. Turmeric
3 cloves garlic finely chopped
1/2/ spn. ginger grated
Salte to taste
1-2 spns. finely chopped Cilantro
ForCovering :
Besan
2 Pinch Turmeric
1/2 spn. red chilly pwd.
Salt (only so much that the covering does not taste bland)
1/4 spn baking soda
water to make a batter

Mash the boiled potatoes.. or chop them..your wish.
In a kadhai, heat oil, add mustard seeds,after they sputter, add green chilies and curry leaves, ginger-garlic, turmeric. Saute a while. Add mashed potatoes, salt. Add chopped cilantro.

To make the batter for covering, mix all ingredients listed above. Mix well to ensure that there are no lumps. Careful with the water, the batter mustn't be too runny nor too thick. Like pancake batter.

Heat oil in a kadhai. Make balls of the potato vege. Dip the ball in the batter and deep fry in oil till it turns a nice golden brown. Drain on a tissue.
Serve hot with garlic chutney, fries green chilly and Pav.

*P.S : try drinking hot tea with this... woohaahhhaaaaa.... :D

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Mast Dosa.. learning from my Blogger Friends!!

I like to give M some variety in his lunch box..... so I prowled around for recipes that were easy and quick to make. And where else can I find a large variety than my Blogger Friends!! So after looking at a few quick recipes (which I have bookmarked to make later) I finally settled for Masti Dosa from Shilpa's Blog.

I made the dosa as per her recipe ( so if you want to make it, click on the link above for the ingredients), the only tweaking I did was, I spread MTR Chutney powder on the inside of the dosa, and for some, I made masala (potato vege. typically filled in a masala dosa).

This Dosa was a hit! It is very easy to make, and turns out very crispy. I was not very happy with the Chutney powder I got, but somehow it tasted real good spread inside this dosa! Next time I will make green (cilantro) chutney and see how that tastes!!

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Sabudana Wada (and Mango smoothie)

What tastes good on a winter afternoon? (Ok, so it is not 'so ' cold here)... but late afternoons can turn real cosy if you have a plate of hot sabudana wadas and friends to share them with!

Typically eaten when fasting, this snack is otherwise also widely popular.But then, most deep fried snacks are! Practically everything tastes good when deep fried! It's just the calories that one thinks of ... later (or atleast in my case)!!!

Lately, I and my friends have formed this habit of ganging up at one apartment and spending time .. talking... gossiping, exchanging views about our whimsical partners!.. it starts with one topic and goes in all possible directions till one common topic, snacks , unites us again.
Now, my dear friend S, mentioned one afternoon how much she liked Sabudana Wada... and ofcourse I wanted to make some for her... this snack being my fav too. So yesterday afternoon I made wadas... This one is for you, S!!

Once again I have approximates... 'nazar ka andaaz'.... no fixed measurements... I made around 15 wadas (patty sized)

Sabudana / Sago soaked overnight^*(water level about 1 centimeter above the sago)
Powdered roasted Peanuts
1 Large Boiled Potato
Salt to taste
Sugar (about 1 1/2 spn.)
1/2 spn. Jeera / Cumin seeds
2-3 finely chopped green chilies ( more or less to your taste)
Chopped cilantro
Oil for deep frying
Yogurt

*soaking the sago overnight ensures that it is completely soft and also not sticky. other option is to soak it for a good 5 + hrs.

Mash the boiled potato. Mix together all the ingredients EXCEPT the yogurt.
Make a homogenous mixture and form medium sized patties.
Heat oil in a kadhai. Deep fry the wadas till golden brown on a Med- High flame, this makes them very crisp. Drain on tissue before serving.
Beat the yogurt lightly, add a couple of pinches of salt and sugar, mix well. sprinkle a pinch of cumin powder on top and serve with sabudana wadas.



I made Mango Smoothie to go with the Wadas.... I had a can of mango pulp handy)

For 1 glass :
1/4 glass Mango pulp (or 1 mango diced if you have the fruit)
Milk
2 spoons PlainYogurt
Sugar (optional)

Blend all the above and serve chilled.

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Gajar ka Halwa !!

What is it that first comes to your mind when you think of gajar ka halwa? Sweet? Calorie rich? Wonderful dessert? YUmmmmmm.... ? Can do with another helping! ?
What comes to my mind is a scene from a long ago movie.. I cannot recollect the name ... however, it went like this, the hero (yesteryear actor Biswajeet) comes home after a long time, after his return and ' Maa ki aakon mein khushi ke aansu'(tears of joy in the Mother's eyes) she tells him to go freshen up as she has made gajar ka halwa for the special ocassion, and he says, " Ma, tumhe kaise pata, mujhe gajar ka halwa pasand hai?"(Mom, how do you know I like gajar ka halwa?) Hello.... she is your Mother, she raised you remember!! Anyway, this sweet has long been the favourite of all heros in movies... and is vastly popular among the rest (the normal guy, who has never fought off a gang of 20 villans single handedly, has never had a bevy of beatuies swarming around him, who does not sing songs in the rain, running around trees...)..the calorie conscious female lead takes a back seat here, but hey, I'm far from that, which means I can i-n-d-u-l-g-e in this sweet!
More importantly, the carrots were lying in the fridge for a week now, and I would catch it if M laid his eyes on them lying untouched ! So I finally rolled my sleeves in the afternoon and got down to grating the carrots .. quite a workout I tell you !
Now, grating carrots can become such a task - after the first 2 carrots, that I don't know how many I used (seemed like 100's!) I even contempleted putting them thru the blender, but then rejected the idea thinking that it may not look and taste as good....

So roughly I took

2 1/2 katori (cup) grated carrots

3 tbsp ghee

2 katori milk

1/2 katori sugar (take a couple of tbsp. off the top)

A few strands saffron

Nuts to garnish

Cardamom powder

In a heavy bottom pan, heat the ghee, add the grated carrot and cook till tender. If u feel the carrot is sticking to the bottom, add a bit of water. Once the carrot is tender, add in the milk, stir well and cook on a med-high flame. Stir ocassionally otherwise the halwa gets stuck to the bottom and burns. Have patience... slowly the milk will thicken, add the saffron ( I just popped it in the milk). Once the mix looks solid enough, add the sugar. Mix it well and cook.
Once done, add the cardamom powder and garnish with nuts.

* Adding milk and cooking the carrot in it makes the halwa a bit sludgy, but tastes very nice. If you prefer the dryish kind of halwa, khoya needs to be used.

This is my entry for 'Festive food fair' event at Anna's morsels and musings .

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Viva Las Vegas!

A shopoholic like me ditched what should have been an evening.... night.... dawn to remember.. trading it for our ThanksGiving Weekend was just fabulous.... we took a small holiday to Las Vegas , the Grand Canyon and Lake Havasu City....
Special Thank You to M, for making this happen!
Just uploading a few snaps to share with you all.....

Stratosphere.... hotel, casino and has the world’s most insane thrill rides at 1,149-feet above ground! The most I could dare, was the Big Shot... The Big Shot thrill ride catapults 16 riders from the 921-foot high platform up the Tower's mast to a height of 1,081 feet. Traveling at 45 miles per hour (though it feels a LOT more than that) !!

See what I mean? I took this shot when I was back on Terra Firma ... still a bit wobbly at the knees!!!

Bally's Jubilee show has the "Best Showgirls" and a show worth watching, though at first you may cringe at the thought of going to a topless show .. but believe me, the show has such stunning sets and costumes, you will be lost in appreciating that! .......And also the total grandeur of the lighting,the 'chakpak' everywhere ... dazzling!!

The GRAND CANYON

....Breath taking, awesome, huge (such a small word to describe it!!) all of 12,000 years of beauty that time cannot fade! The immense expanse making us realise how tiny we are ! The peace that we feel... take a moment to feel the tranquility, far away from our hectic lives!

Hold hands and watch the shadows lengthen over a stunning sunset.... feel the cold wind on your face... Nature is B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L!!

Lake Havasu

Lake Havasu city is famous for it's 'London Bridge'! Yes, the very same bridge of ' London bridge is falling down, falling down..' When this bridge was sinking , R.P McCulloh bought it, had it broken down, shipped it to Arizona and rebuilt it in it's original glory.
Surrounding this bridge one gets a feel of being in a English village !

A WONDERFUL WEEKEND... PERFECT IN EVERY WAY!!!

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An afternoon to remember....

A wonderful potluck lunch!!

I knew that being a house wife is double the work.. but it was not until we came to CA, and plunging 100% in to managing home, did I realise what a big deal this is! And by that I mean, doing the dishes thrice a day(and laundry, ironing, cleaning..etc..whew!!)... our apartment owners do not feel the need to provide us with a dish-washer... and the initial grumbling amounted to even considering that the 'curse of the Bai' is on our heads! I mean, think of all those times , when back in India, when the maid even washed your cup of tea... the mountain of utensils... oh yes!
But despite all this, one thing that is real fun is teaming up with all the 'house wives' ( read 'All house wives, who have applied for employment authorisation and are waiting... waiting.....) to arrange a pot luck lunch. Also, one of our group is also going to India, so this was like a small farewell for her.
This was (surprisingly) my first potluck party.. and I had a great time (to say the least) making new friends and also sampling their cooking!
Here is our spread !

Top row: Gajar Halwa (hehehehe... Starting off with the sweet first!), a Tomato- date chutney (Bengali/ Oriya recipe), Paneer - Mutter
Middle row: Moong daal kachumbar/ koshimbir, Alu Flower, Bread
Last row : Pulav , Choley, and Pav Bhaji (my contribution).

What an afternoon! Making new friends, finding so many common things amongst ourselves, though many of us hail from different corners of India.... friendly laughter, good food!

It's all about feeling good!!

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Kanchipuram Idli

I found this bit of history about Idli in Wikipedia.

The word idli originates from the two Tamil words - "Ittu" and "Avi" (To lay and steam). Although the precise history of the modern idli is unknown, it is a very old food in southern Indian cuisine. The first mention of it in writings occurs circa 920 A.D., and it seems to have started as a dish made only of fermented black lentil. One description circa 1025 A.D. says the lentils were first soaked in buttermilk, and after grinding, seasoned with pepper, coriander, cumin and asafoetida. The king and scholar Someshwara III, reigning in the area now called Karnataka, included an idli recipe in his encyclopedia, the Manasollasa, written in Sanskrit ca. 1130 A.D. There is no known record of rice being added until some time in the 17th century. It may have been found that the rice helped speed the fermentation process. Although the idli changed in ingredients, the preparation process and the name remained the same.

Well, so much for the history part, but idli is a favorite on the breakfast table or even in a lunch box. Needs a little preparation.. or if you do not have the time, just get a ready mix (depends on how desperate you get!)

1 cup urad daal
1 1/2 cup Idli Rava
7-8 Methi seeds
2 tbsp. Poha
For Tempering - 'TADKA':
1 tbsp. soaked Channa daal
1 inch ginger
5-6 chilies (vary according to taste)ground
1 tbsp. each:
Fresh cilantro -chopped
Fresh Grated coconut
1 tbsp. cury leaves
1-2 dry red chilies


Soak the Urad daal, methi, poha for 6 hours. Grind and add the idli rava, leave it overnight to ferment. In the morning add salt, and season the batter with the TADKA.Make idlis as per normal procedure of steaming.
Serve hot with a pat of butter, Sambar and chutney.
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Winter and Honeydew Melon juice!!

It is winter, the wind blows thru the tall trees making them sway gracefully to its tune and rustle their boughs! The clouds float by gently, persuaded by the naughty west wind and the moon makes an early appearance now, peeping here and there from behind the clouded veil to look at the wonderful hues of the setting sun, spreading it's final warmth for the day with bright reds, oranges and purples! Nature weaves its wondrous magic in the evenings which is most delightful over a steaming hot cup of coffee..... want to join me for one? we can sit in the patio... shivering ever so slightly and holding a mug with both hands to warm them!

Sounds good , right?! but here in California the temperatures still soar during the day! Why, just last week, it went up to a good 90 deg. F ! Winter ! Pshaw! Just when you are thinking of making warm soup......
So this week at the market, I spied this inviting looking Honey Dew melon. What better than a cooling melon juice for a hot Californian afternoon?!
Eat it as it is, cool n' cubed (in M's lunch box)..... or blend it into a soothing juice. My parents on their visit here, gifted me a cute li'll blender and chopper! It's perfect for the 2 of us, also when I have guests over for my li'll tea parties, dinners.....

Back to the juice...

Honey dew melon cubes

1 Tbsp. Sugar (optional)

1/4 cup Chilled Water / 1 ice cube

2 Tbsp. strawberry syrup

Blend all the above. Pour in a glass, put your feet up and siiiiiippppp!!!

* Honey dew melon juice on its own is very refreshing, but a bit of strawberry syrup adds to the taste, and the colour itself is so cool!

You can add a few drops of vanilla essence as a substitute to strawberry...

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The Vegetarian Omelet :Tomato Omelet

Chickpea, or besan flour is a very handy and versatile flour to have in the kitchen. It can be used in curries, making pakoras, ladoos......

Though primarily used in the kitchen, it has other uses too. It finds itself in the list of 'solah singaar', besan is also considered as a good exfoliant when used in a face pack. In India, besan mixed with a bit of milk and turmeric is used instead of soap to bathe infants.

In the kitchen , you all have used it for various cooking purposes, and I am sure one of them is this omelet! The vegetarian omelet! Quick to make and tastes good too.
All you need is :

1 cup besan
1/2 onion finely chopped
1 med. size tomato chopped
2 spns. peas
1 spn. chopped cilantro
2-3 green chilies finely chopped
Salt to taste

Water to make batter
OilMix all the above ingredients and make a batter of dropping consistency.
Heat a skillet. Apply / spray some oil and pour a ladle of the batter.

Cook till brown on both sides.
Serve with bread and tomato ketchup.
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Gharge (JFI - Jagery)

It is the time to binge (on oily stuff)... I shall (happily) do away with all the 'low fat', zero oil food, sit back, and eat all the deep fried snacks with nothing to mar my conscience! Ok, so I shall go on a diet after ALL the sweets are exhausted....
Everywhere that one goes , pumpkins meet the eye.. Halloween time! To me it means making Gharge, pumpkin puri. This is a deep fried Indian flat bread which has for it's main ingredient- pumpkin.
I got some nice pumpkin at the Farmers Market.. it was so bright and colorful, I was almost sorry to have cut it up to grate it for making Gharge!But it was great work out for the arms!
Take :
2 cups Grated pumpkin
1.5 cup grated jaggery (this makes it mildly sweet, the original taste)
1/2 cup Farina (rawa/ sooji)
1/2 cup rice flour
Pinch salt
Wheat Flour
1/4 tsp. Cardamom powder
1 tsp ghee
Oil for deep frying

Grate the pumpkin

Grate the jaggery
In a heavy bottomed wok or saucepan, add the ghee, pumpkin and cook it, when it is almost done, add the jaggery. The mixture will look like so...

Cook the above mixture well and once the jaggery melts , switch off the heat. Add about a tsp. of oil, add in the Farina and rice flour , mix well , cover and keep for around 2 - 3 hrs.
Add wheat flour, Now add as much as you can to make a nice chapatti like dough.
Take a small ping pong size ball, but instead of using a rolling pin, use a plastic cover, keep the dough ball in between and flatten it with your palm.
Deep fry till a lovey golden color. Drain on a tissue.

This is also my entry for JFI hosted by Kay (Towards a Better Tomorrow)

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