* Spiced for life *

Tahu Telur(ette)

2008-04-28T22:53:00.006-04:00

When you are in the mood for something little exotic for breakfast! - Tahu Telur

Fried soft tofu with eggs topped with a sweet soya sauce and freshly grated carrots and cucumber.

Recipe coming soon!

Happy Deepavali

2007-11-07T08:46:00.000-05:00

दीपावली की हारधिक शुभकामनायें!!
அனைவருக்கும் எங்கள் மனம் கனிந்த தித்திக்கும் தீபாவளி நல்வாழ்துக்கள்!!
Wish you all a very joyous and prosperous Deepavali. On this Deepavali day, lets make a resolution to add a sparkle to someone's life...everyday!

With love...to my brother(s)!

2007-08-27T15:04:00.002-04:00

Happy Raksha Bandhan to Naveen and all my cousins - Sandy, Siddhu, Ashwin, Avinash, Balki and Santu!!!

N, i'm not embarassing you....no senti stuff here... Just that you've been the best pest to grow up with!

*Blast from the past* - Naveen n me!

Good times are here

2007-08-27T07:00:00.000-04:00

I've fallen back on updating the blog the past couple of weeks...so much has happened in the meantime! Of the good stuff, the blog celebrated its first birthday, I did varalakshmi pooja on Friday, we celebrated Onam yesterday, and also got our car!!

Well of course.....all good things come to people to wait...so let me just leave you with a sweet thought......I'd rather call it..the secret of happiness. Although I have always followed it.....recently an old friend of mine sent me this..and the timing couldn't be more appropriate!!

Every bad situation will have something positive. Even a stopped clock shows correct time twice a day.

I know its true...hope you do too!! Happy Onam....and let the good times roll!!

Celebrating Summer with Verry Berry Tarts

2007-07-17T22:45:00.000-04:00

Vazhapoo Paruppu Usili

2007-06-25T22:57:00.000-04:00

My laziness has crept in again! I've not been blogging for almost a month now...apologies to those who've visited the blog hoping to see more
photos and recipes. Hoping to catch up in the following week or so!

Twinberry Almond Ricotta Cupcakes

2007-06-10T09:32:00.000-04:00

*Retro cupcakes*
Sometime last week, a good friend/colleague of mine was going on maternity leave, and we decided to have a little going away party for her. Rather than using a store bought cake, I decided to bake something cute. My quest for 'something cute' led me to Chockylit's cupcake blog. The minute I laid eyes on these almond ricotta cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, I had made up my mind, it had to be made the very same day.

I do not bake (from scratch) regularly, but her instructions were simple and the cupcakes came out looking beautiful, and needless to say everyone enjoyed it. Since my friend's having a boy, I made a batch of blueberry onese with blue frosting. Couldn't take a picture of those cos they got snapped up pretty quickly. So I baked a second batch with blueberries and raspberries. I made some slight alterations to her recipe, using less sugar and low fat alternatives. She had remarked in her post that she thought the original recipe was not as almondy as she would have liked, so I added a handful of slivered almonds to the batter, to give it that extra bite. The end result was awesome...everyone loved it!

Pizza Margherita

2007-05-31T22:08:00.000-04:00

THE JOURNEY...as is

From kitchen counter....to oven

From oven to..where else? Our tummies :D

Vegetarian Laksa Lemak

2007-05-22T22:32:00.001-04:00

In my opinion, if there's one thing that anyone who's lived in Singapore misses once they leave the place, its the food. Although there are some pretty good Thai and Malaysian restaurants in Atlanta, getting authentic Singapore fare is almost impossible.

Some of the best food in Singapore is not available in restaurants, but in hawker centers or food courts. For those unfamiliar with the concept, these are open air complexes, with numerous varieties of food stalls by independent vendors. Here is a picture of Newton Hawker Center in Singapore at 2am! Yes, that's another speciality of Singapore....the city never sleeps and people never stop feeling hungry.

Back when we were undergrads cramming the last week before our exams, we'd just walk down to Fong Seng, a popular NUS hangout on Pasir Panjang Road sometime around 2 or 3 am. Here's a pic of the place I found!! The place gets crowded only wayyy after midnight with everyone turning up for their supper. *Sigh* the good 'ol days!!!

Sorry for the digression, and back to my story. When I started working, I frequented this excellent vegetarian stall in Alexandra village. Every Thursday, the guy sold Laksa - not just any laksa, but one of the best I've had ever (the other was in Orchard Emerald, but sadly its closed down!). Traditionally Laksa Lemak or Curry Laksa contains shrimp, fish ball and chicken (among other things non-vegetarian), but the vendor used to substitute it with mock meat (not just the seitan kind) of everything.

Ever since I've come to Atlanta, I've looked hard for some quality mock meat, but only had moderate success at the Chamblee Farmers Market. Recently we went to this veg restaurant on Monroe called Green Sprouts and I mustered up courage to ask the guy where they got their mock meat from! Yea ...I do things like this and sometimes embarass K...but hey...it was definitely worth it! We found all that we wanted and could ask for at Ranch Market on Buford Highway (there...the secret is out!). K also got a stone mortar and pestle that he's been eyeing for a long time!! Well...the bargain was, he'd make Laksa for me...he kept his side of the bargain and that too very well! Here's K's own creation... Laksa Lemak!

Ingredients

Rempah (for the recipe...click here)
Sambal bajak to taste
3 cups veg stock
3 cups coconut milk (use a combi of normal and lite)
Mock chicken, fishballs and prawns
Deep fried tofu (cut in half to absorb the sauce…yum!)
Hard-boiled eggs - 2
Laksa leaves (aka Vietnamese mint – very important and crucial otherwise you don't get the flavor!)
Rice noodles
Bean spouts (not in the pic)
Salt and sugar to taste

Method

In some oil, fry the rempah paste until fragrant, oil separates and color deepens.
Add stock and bring to boil
Add coconut milk and simmer (The longer the better! )
Now add the mock chicken, fishballs, shrimp, fried tofu puffs, salt and sugar.
Bean sprouts should be put in 1 min before serving.
In a separate saucepan, bring water to boil and blanch the rice noodles until cooked and serve in serving bowl with a bit of sambal bajak. (if you cut the noodles into small spoon-able pieces, its called Katong Laksa)
Pour the laksa lemak over the noodles.
Garnish with finely chopped laksa leaves and halved boiled egg.
There you go....sedap di makan! (good to eat)

Appa's Mixture Bhel

2007-05-16T22:31:00.000-04:00

A twist to appa's original recipe!

My dad prides himself on being a very 'unconventional cook'. At least thats what he calls himself when he makes beetroot sambhar, choco panchamrutham, and the best of them all - mixture bhel!

Bhel puri as it is called, is typical Bombay or Mumbai street snack. It mainly consists of puffed rice, sev, papdi (fried little puris), tomatoes, onions, boiled potatoes, chilies and some sweet (date) and sour (tamarind) sauces.

This recipe of appa's contains the south indian mixture as the base for the bhel. The mixture contains sev(called omapodi), boondhi, peanuts, ribbon pakoda (flat papdi-like muruku) and puffed rice crispies all tossed together with some salt, chilli powder and lots of asafoetida (which is what gives it the distinct south indian flavor). The base is more or less the same as bhel, but the flavor is uniquely south indian. My take on how appa came up with this is that getting Bhel ingredients was not all that easy in Trivandrum in the early ninties and since we all loved bhel, appa came up with the next best. Surprisingly, I love this version much more than the actual bombay bhel itself!

True to being an appa-ponnu I try to recreate the easy mixture bhel snack as often as possible. K too is hooked on to it these days. So....without further ado...here it goes!

What you need:
1 cup of madras mixture (available at indian stores)
½ cup of chopped red onions
1 tbsp boiled lightly mashed potatoes (optional)
1½ tsp chilli sauce (hot and sweet is good)
½ tsp lemon juice
½ tsp sugar
1 tbsp finely chopped cilantro
1 tbsp chopped raw mango

Add all the ingredients to a big bowl, and mix just before serving! A piping hot masala chai or filter coffee makes a perfect complement to this tasty snack!

Sweet beginnings - Ada Pradhaman

2007-04-15T01:37:00.000-04:00

அனைவருக்கும் என் மனம்கனிந்த தமிழ்ப்புத்தாண்டு நல்வாழ்த்துக்கள்.

നവ വര്ഷ ആശംസഗള്

Hearty Tamil New Year and Vishu wishes to all of you

Tamil and Malayalam New Year was celebrated over the weekend. Most people mistake me for being from Palakkad (a city bordering Kerala and Tamil Nadu) - let me clear that misconception right away. I was born in Chennai, but grew up in Trivandrum, so in that sense I'm what people would call - a 'pseudo-mallu'. My love for all things Mallu and Kerala include but are not limited to - the land, the people, the language, the music, movies and the aviyal :P

On Saturday, a few of the Malayalee students at Tech got together for a Vishu celebration - with an elaborate sadhya (special meal) and an adipoli movie. Here's what was on the menu - parippu, sambhar, aviyal, erisheri, pulisheri, kootukari, kichadi, 2 types of thoran, 4 types of payasams (paal payasam, parippu payasam, semiya payasam and ada pradhaman), complete with boiled rosematta rice (kuthari), pappadam, upperi and pazham! You can imagine what a heavy meal it must've been. The only thing missing was the banana leaf!

I generally do not cook much of the typical mallu fare at home, with the exception of aviyal (I could just eat bowls of aviyal by itself for all meals of the day all week....u get the point!!). So for a potluck, the safe bet would have to be a payasam - yet I wanted to try something different. Hence the highhhhh calorie ada pradhaman (you can make exceptions on festive occassions)

Here's how I prepared the exotic, yet simple Ada Pradhaman (to serve 20 ppl)

Make a trip to the nearest mallu grocery - India Bazaar some 14 miles away to get ada (not all indian groceries carry the ready to cook ada), 750 gm of jaggery and a couple of cans of coconut milk - thick milk and light.
Get ready other ingredients - broken cashews (20 pcs), small bite size chunks of coconut, ghee, powdered cardamom, 2 tsp of rice flour.
Cook the ada in a pot of boiling water for about 20 minutes. Be sure to stir, so that the ada do not stick to each other. The ada is nothing but dried thick rice sheets cut into small squares. There are recipes online explaining the process of making ada from scratch, but if available, the ready to cook ones make life much easier.
Once cooked, drain the ada and run under cold water, to prevent sticking together.
In a separate saucepan, melt the jaggery under low heat by adding a tablespoon of water. Once melted, take care to leave the heavy residue from the jaggery behind or strain it before adding it to a heavy bottom pan with the cooked ada. Stir till well combined.
Now add ½tsp of cardamom powder to the mixture, followed by a can of thick coconut milk.
Add rice flour to the can of light coconut milk till well combined. This is the thickening agent for the pradhaman. Add this mixture 5 minutes after adding the thick coconut milk.
Now garnish with cashews and small coconut chunks fried in ghee. Be liberal with the ghee ;o) and add it to the payasam after using it to fry.
The payasam should be a semi-liquid consistency and ready to be devoured! *slurp

Oh yes... when the ada is cooking, make a quick call to amma to double confirm the recipe and get some lifesaver tips - like adding the rice flour to the coconut milk and adding coconut chunks! The payasam was pretty good and I was left with just a cupful for the blog photos. Every single dish that afternoon was perfect - maybe I should've taken some pictures. Oh well....there's always Onam!

Stir-fried Bok Choy with Cashews

2007-04-09T20:36:00.000-04:00

There's a reason I've not been posting much over the past few months - I've hardly been cooking. K's not in town, and I don't really enjoy cooking for one! I've been surviving on quick sandwiches, veggie burgers and even cereal quite a few evenings :P
K on the other hand has been cooking a lot where he is, and even claims he's become the stir-fry expert - thanks to some good training from his new friend Hon.

Here's one stir-fry trick we've learnt from Hon - to add the flavoring sauces when the oil is hot before adding the veggies - your dish gets as close to the chinese takeouts as possible without the gazillion calories* (Read this CNN article if you haven't seen it already!)

Here's an easy recipe I created for a perfect one person meal. This is my entry for 'Jihva for Ingredients'' - JFI-WBB: Greens hosted by Indira of Mahanandi.

STIR FRIED BOK CHOY WITH CASHEWS

Ingredients:

Bok Choy - 3-4 stems
Button Mushroom - 2 sliced
Onion - ¼ sliced
Garlic - 2 pods chopped
Cashews - 10 pieces
Soya sauce - 1-2 tsp
Oyster flavored sauce*/hoisin sauce - 1 tsp
Red Chili paste/ Sambal Bajak
Sugar - ½ tsp
Sesame oil 1½ tsp
Sesame seeds for garnishing
Corn starch - ½-¾ tsp

*Made from oyster mushrooms

Method:
1) Seperate the leaflets of the Bok Choy and wash thoroughly.
2) Add sesame oil to a hot wok and once it starts smoking, add the garlic and the onions
3) Now add the soya sauce, oyster flavored sauce and the chili paste.
Add sugar to this and let it caramelize the onions
4) Add the bok choy and sliced mushrooms and stir-fry to coat and cook down
5) Now add the cashews and sprinkle ¼ of water mixed with corn starch to get the glazed consistency.
6) Garnish with sesame seeds and enjoy with steamed white rice!

Bok choy stir-fry served with white rice

Spring's here - so am I

2007-04-03T22:24:00.000-04:00

After what seems like an eternally long winter, finally its spring time. After almost 2 months of hibernation, I'm back! Thanks to all of you who've continued to visit the site and give me your feeback and support.

* I LOVE SPRING*

To some of my friends who ask me - what seasons do you have in Singapore - I often reply we have two seasons - HOT and humid and very hot and very humid! Naturally the change of seasons is something that I find very festive. Like most people, spring's got to be my most favorite of the seasons. I'm facinated by the way everything and everyone comes alive during spring. The chirping of the birds, the droplets of dew floating on the fresh green leaves early in the morning, the cool spring breeze, the longer daytime...I could go on! In short, I'm just visibly happier in Spring What do you like most about spring? - I'd love to hear from you guys.

Atlanta's at its prettiest in Spring followed closely by Fall. A few photographs of the Gatech campus in early spring. Enjoy~

Try a new vegetable - Kai-lan (Chinese Broccoli)

2007-01-18T18:56:00.000-05:00

Greens are good for you! Just google 'benefits of eating greens' and you'll have numerous sites listing everything from reducing risk of heart diseases, stroke, some cancers, ..... to its antioxidant properties.

Kai-lan stir-fried in an mushroom flavored sauce.

Stir-fried Kai-lan, Achar and Tofu Sambal with Rice - A wholesome meal!

Happy Pongal / Sankranthi

2007-01-15T15:10:00.000-05:00

Warmest Pongal and Sankranthi wishes to all of you!!

இந்த இனிய தைத் திருநாள் அன்று உங்கள் இல்லங்களில் பால் பொங்குவது போலவே உங்கள் உள்ளங்களிலும் எல்லா செல்வங்களும் சந்தோஷங்களும் பொங்கி வழியட்டும்!!!

(On this auspicious day of Thai month, as the milk spills over, may you be blessed with all prosperity and happiness bounty)

Guess what's cooking - Karela/Bittergourd chips

2007-01-10T00:22:00.000-05:00

Inspired by mydhaba, I'm posting a couple of simple guess whats...
The first one might be relatively easy!

Thanks to all for your interesting and some amusing guesses! Annu and Archana turned out to be right - I am frying bittergourd or karela for chips.

Back in our Trivandrum days, our neighbor aunty used to make awesome 'pavaikka' chips and would send some over every time she made it, cos she knew Naveen loved it! Till date, we always remember Prasanna aunty, everytime amma or I make these chips. Although I never liked bittergourd pitlai or any other bittergourd dish, this one was always an exception.
I remember the first time I mentioned pavakka chips to Kartik, he was quite eager to try out, and understandably he's been hooked to it ever since he took his first bite!

Since food in the past two weeks has been predominantly - Naveen's favorites, this HAD to be in the menu. Even if you don't like bittergourd, try it with the less intense variety(the chinese bittergourd) and I'll assure you, its a great way to get acquainted with a very interesting vegetable.

Ingredients

Bittergourd, salt, turmeric, red chili powder

Method:

Marinate for 20-30 mts

Deep fry in hot oil, until dark brown.

Corn and Red pepper curry

2007-01-09T16:38:00.000-05:00

My trip to the grocery store has been a couple of days overdue. I've depleted almost everything in the fridge except carrots, a ½ used red pepper, cilantro and green chilies. Made egg curry last night for dinner, and thats when I cleaned out the tomatoes! Since Naveen left last night, and I've been down with a cold/cough for a couple of days now, I'm in no mood to go grocery shopping.

I usually stock some vegetables in the freezer but this time around, even these didn't come to my rescue!! How on earth did I get the fridge so 'dry'??? :S

After rummaging through the coffee beans, and the cartloads of sambhar powder that my mum gave me almost 3 years back, I finally spotted a lonely packet of corn staring me in the eye from the back of the freezer. Ah....one battle won...another begins??

Now, how do you combine corn, red bell pepper, cilantro and green chilies in the same recipe and that too within ½hr ??(K decided to join me for lunch today!! ) Here's my concoction - with some basic help from various corn recipes obtained from the internet. Presenting *drumroll......*

CORN AND RED BELL PEPPER IN A GREEN CURRY....

Ingredients:
Corn - 1½ cups
Red pepper (diced) - ½ cup
Onion powder - 2 tbsp (if using fresh onions, chop and grind ½ a big onion with paste ingredients)
Cinnamon - 1 inch piece
Cloves - 2
Green Cardamom - 2
Kashmiri red chili powder- ½ tsp
Lite coconut milk - ½ can
Salt - ¾-1 tsp flat
Oil/ Ghee - 2 tsp

To make paste:
Garlic - 3-4 pods
Ginger - ½ inch
Green chilies - 4
Cilantro/coriander leaves - a fistful
Coconut - 1 tbsp grated
Khus khus or poppy seeds - 2 tsp
Cashews (optional) - 3-4 pieces

Method:

Heat some oil/ghee in a pan and add cinnamon, cardamom and cloves.

Add onion powder (if available). Let it cook for a minute.

Add the green spice paste now and cook till the oil separates.

Now add the corn (yellow preferably - for the aesthetic aspect) and red bell pepper.

Add salt and cook covered for 4-5 minutes and add the kashmiri chili powder and a tsp of garam masala if needed.

Now add the coconut milk and let it cook on low flame for another 5 minutes.

Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve with hot chapatis, parathas or rice.

Myriad of colors - yellow corn and red pepper in a green curry

Happy New Year

2007-01-01T18:47:00.000-05:00

As you usher in the New Year 2007, we wish you and everyone in your family a year full of great health, happiness and celebrations!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2007!!!!

Goreng Pisang - Baby banana fritters

2006-12-28T22:16:00.000-05:00

Recipe Source: http://www.makantime.com/pisang.htm

Ode to Ammas (Part 2) - Dudhi Koftas in a tomato gravy

2006-12-27T16:55:00.000-05:00

Ode to Ammas (Part 1) - Mint and Paneer pulav

2006-12-26T14:01:00.000-05:00

December's here

2006-12-07T16:04:00.000-05:00

December is FINALLY here, well its been 7 days, but to me, the only 2 days that count are - 12th when exams end, and 23rd when my brother Naveen's coming over! Its been almost a year and a half since I saw him, and its his first trip here, so we're all pretty excited! Being a single student away from home and amma's yummy cooking, N's been missing southie food in the UK. Added to this, I've been tempting him with the spread on the blog. So for the 2 weeks that he's gonna be here, I'm bound to be slaving in the kitchen - so why not take a break now??
Exams are also less than a week away, so I'd better blog and orkut less and study more (easier said than done!) Wish me luck for my exams!! :D

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

2006-11-23T21:01:00.000-05:00

Singaporeanizing Thanksgiving! - from Murali's kitchen

Happy Thanksgiving EVERYONE!!

Eating green - Pesto ravioli with toasted pinenuts

2006-11-20T19:25:00.000-05:00

Basil Pesto:

2 cups fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup (about) extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup grated Parmesan

In a blender, pulse the basil, pine nuts, garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper until finely chopped. With the blender still running, gradually add enough oil to form a smooth and thick consistency. Transfer the pesto to a medium bowl and stir in 1/2 cup of cheese. Season the pesto with more salt and pepper, to taste. (The pesto can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

A memory from Paris - Chocolate Croissants!

2006-11-20T19:20:00.000-05:00

When K and I were visiting Europe last summer, being a tight-budget backpacking trip, we weren't really particular about the accomodation. We stayed mostly in budget hotels and hostels. But Paris...we were not ready for a compromise. We picked a decent hotel in the Montparnasse area -just off Pasteur metro- with a neat parisian view! Across from the Hotel was this quaint little bakery that had the most amazing fresh breads and pastries. Every morning for those few days that we stayed at Paris, we'd get so tempted by the sheer variety of pastries, we'd stuff ourselves so much and top it off with a cappucino that we'd hardly any appetite at lunch.

Back home, K attempted to re-create the choco-wrapped in pastry, with more than decent success. It tasted pretty good and was layered well, but we should have used store-bought pastry sheets to get the flaky texture. Since K is not very fond of shortcuts in cooking, he found the recipe on food network, and made if from scratch.

Pain au chocolat

Cappucino to go with that.........anyone??

Tamarind treat - Puliyodharai/ Pulihora

2006-11-20T19:17:00.000-05:00

Ingredients:

Rice - 1½ cups
Tamarind paste - 2½ tsp
Asafoetida - 1 pinch
Green chili - 4
Red chili (dried) - 4
Turmeric - ½ tsp
Salt - 1½- 2 tsp
Oil - 3 tbs
Toasted peanuts- 2 tbsp

For spice powder:
Red chilies (dry) - 8
Coriander seeds - 1½ tsp
Split urad dhal - ¾ tsp
Split chana dhal - 1 tsp
Pepper corns - ½ tsp
Fenugreek - ½ tsp
Sesame seeds - 1 tbsp

For seasoning:
Mustard seeds - ½ tsp
Split urad dhal - 1 tsp
Split chana dhal - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - per taste

Method:

Cook rice seperately with enough water. Once cooked, seperate grains by adding 1 tbsp of sesame oil. Add ¼ tsp of turmeric powder to the rice and let it cool
Roast all ingredients except sesame seeds for the spice powder in ½ tsp of oil, toast(without oil) the sesame seeds seperately and grind everything together into a fine powder.
In a tsp of oil, add the 4 red chilies and asafoetida, and let it roast till the chilies become dark brown. Now add the tamarind paste mixed in a cup of water.
Add chopped green chilies, salt and curry leaves and let the mixture boil until the tamarind extract cooks and reduces to about half.

Add toasted peanuts and the seasoning ingredients (roasted in ½ tsp of oil) to the rice.
Finally add the tamarind pulp to the rice and mix well.
Serve with plain yoghurt or sour cream.

Something for the sweet tooth- Moong dal kheer

2006-11-10T11:44:00.000-05:00

This is very simple and healthy recipe from my sister Annu. Moong dal is an excellent source of protein and this kheer/ payasam is sure to satiate any sweet craving! This kheer is mildly sweet, so feel free to add more jaggery if you like it sweeter.

Ingredients (to serve 4)

1 cups moong dal (split green gram)
1 tbsp ghee
3 cups water
1/2 cup jaggery (or brown sugar)
cardamom powder for flavor
10 pcs cashews n kishmish(raisins) roasted in 1 tsp ghee
1/2 cup coconut milk (tinned)

Lightly roast the moong dal in 1 tbsp of ghee for about 10 mins.
Add 3 cups of water and cook the dal for about 20 mins.
Melt jaggery in a teaspoon of water and add cardamom powder with fried cashews and raisins.
Stir in the jaggery mixture to the cooked moong dal.
Simmer for 5minutes and turn off the heat.
Stir in the coconut milk to moong dal mixture.
Serve warm.

Vote now!!

2006-11-02T15:04:00.000-05:00

VKN of My Dhaba is graciously hosting a virtual cooking contest at mydhaba.blogspot.com. I've submitted three entries - V66 (Jap Chae), V86 (Pineapple and Berry tarts) and V106 (Tricolor Agar Agar).

There are loads of lovely recipes. Everyone's allowed to vote once, so please go ahead and cast your precious votes to decide the winner of the contest!

Nonya Pineapple and Berry tarts

2006-10-30T01:16:00.000-05:00

We celebrated our first Diwali at the new apartment with good friends and great food. Here's what I made for this year's Diwali.
I'm sending this as one of my entries for the festive food competition hosted by VKN of My dhaba [Tagged with: VCC: VCC Q3 2006].

Pineapple tarts - speciality of Singapore/Malaysia
Berry tarts- my adaptation for those friends who didn't like pineapples.

Ingredients:

For the pineapple and berry jams:

Crushed pineapple in heavy syrup – 2 cans

Sugar - ¼ - ½ cup
Cinnamon ( 1tsp) or nutmeg powder (a pinch)

For the berry jam click here

For the tart base:

3 ½ sticks butter

½ cup icing sugar

2/3 cup (heaped) milk powder

2 eggs (1 of them used for egg-wash)

4 cups flour

2 tbsp vanilla jello pudding powder

Method:

Drain canned pineapple and cook with sugar for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add Cinnamon or nutmeg powder.
For the berry jam, cut all berries finely and cook with sugar (no need for cinnamon or nutmeg)
Cook until the jams start to leave the sides of the pot. Remove from stove and set aside to cool. If the jam is still chunky, just pulse it for 10 seconds on the food processor.
For the tart base, first combine butter at room temperature and 1 egg and beat well.
Combine the dry ingredients (sugar, milk powder, flour and pudding powder)
Add the dry ingredients slowly into the egg-butter mixture and fold until it forms a smooth, firm dough.
Roll out the dough to ½ an inch thickness and with a floral cookie cutter, cut out the pastry dough.
Press the middle of the flour with the top of a small bottle cap (to make a slight dent to keep the jam in place)
Beat the other egg and add 1 tablespoon on milk or water to prepare the egg wash.
Place the cookies on a greased, lined cookie sheet and brush them with egg wash.
Bake in a 350°preheated oven 5-7 minutes.
Now scoop some of the cooled jam onto the cookie and bake it for 7-10 more minutes.
Pineapple and berry tarts are ready!

Up close...

Pineapple and berry tarts

Jam making's over-rated!!

2006-10-26T11:37:00.000-04:00

Did you know how easy it is to make jam?? I just found out recently when I was making jam for the pineapple and strawberry tarts. I've always thought it was a very laborious process, but it is as simple as cutting the fruits finely, adding sugar and lemon juice and cooking for a while. Wham Bam...its done!
If you're planning on using it within the next month, you don't need all the extensive bottling tools.
Without even an iota of knowledge about jam making, I set out to make the fruit filling for the tarts. Lo and behold...I'd made Jam!! (As you can see, I'm pretty excited about this!)

Mixed berry jam

Ingredients for Berry Jam

Strawberries - 1 box
Raspberries - ½ small box
Blue berries - ½ small box
Sugar - ¼ cup
Lemon Juice - 1-2 tsp (depending on the level of tartness you like!)

Method:

Cut all the berries and add the lemon juice to them.
Add sugar, and cook over medium heat till it reaches the jam consistency!
If using pineapples, you could grate the pineapples or use canned pineapples (in juice) and then pulse them in the food processor before bottling.
If you love the jelly-like consistency, just add 2 tsp of jello powder in the beginning.
Allow to cool and store in a airtight bottle in the refrigerator.
Its that simple!

HAPPY DIWALI!!

2006-10-21T01:37:00.000-04:00

Wish you all a very happy and prosperous diwali!!!

Storebought sweets -Jangiri, Navratan Katli, Methi thattai

Will post pics of homemade sweets later!! - I made Pineapple & berry tarts + Ribbon pakoda...also made Choco jamuns.

For the recipe and pics of pineapple tarts, click here

Sorry guys...no pics of the jamuns and ribbon pakoda. Pakodas got snapped up pretty quickly (will make more soon!). Will make them again and post pics.

My first Korean - Jap Chae

2006-10-19T21:53:00.000-04:00

I've always imagined Korean food to be a lot like chinese food, only more beefier! Maybe it was due to my sheer ignorance or due the scores of Korean BBQ restaurants lining Buford Highway with neon lights flashing the word beef, that I was under this impression. Come to think of it , its strange how I never had Korean food even once in Singapore!! (hmmm....). It wasn't until recently when my advisor thought that since we have a relatively multicultural research group, we should try out restaurants authentic to each person's hometown/country, that I discovered Korean food.

One of the first things that made me happy was...this restaurant we went to, had more than one vegetarian entree. I didnt really believe Yijin when she said that Koreans ate spicy food...until I tried it myself. It was great..just the right amount of spice I liked (I like spicy food!!!). When my order came to the table...it looked very colorful and I felt like I was being served a Korean Thali! There were at least 5-6 sides along with white rice, and I thoroughly enjoyed the flavor of the food. Yijin, my Korean friend then told me, that almost all Korean food can be made vegetarian (yay! more reason to celebrate...)

Anyway, we've been making these plans to teach each other to cook Korean and her favorite palak paneer for a while. Finally last week after one of our classes, we decided to skip the next class (who attends regression course anyway!!) and head to the asian market (H-mart) to gather the necessary ingredients for a Korean meal. She was gonna teach me to make Jap Chae, stir fried vermicelli with mixed vegetables.

Jap Chae (stir fried vermicelli with mixed vegetables)

It turns out, that a lot of dishes can be made if you have 3 specific sauces - chilli sauce, pepper sauce and soya sauce. Here's a picture of the dish-specific ingredients I bought. In addition to these, I also got a variety of oriental mushrooms to make the Jap Chae. Make sure you get the right noodles to get the perfect taste.

Sweet Potato noodles, Soya Sauce, Sesame Oil, Red Chili paste

Clockwise - Enoki mushroom (white, long, slender), King Oyster/Trumpet mushroom (a first in my kitchen), and Shiitake mushrooms

I'm told that Jap Chae literally translates to 'various vegetables' and it is a festive dish. Maybe I will submit this as part of the 'Festival foods' virtual food competition. [Tagged with: VCC: VCC Q3 2006].

***Special thanks to Yijin for translating an authentic Jap-chae recipe (her mum's) from Korean to English, just for me. Thanks Gal! ☺

Ingredients:

Sweet Potato noodles - 300 g
Onion - 1 (100g)
Carrot - ¼- ½
Chives (oriental) or spinach - 100 g
Mushrooms - 200 g
Eggs - 2

For the Jap-Chae sauce:

Minced green onion (scallion) - 2 tsp
Ground garlic - 1 tsp
Soy Sauce - 7 tsp
Sugar - 4 tsp
Sesame oil - 1 tsp
Sesame seeds (white) - 1 tsp
Pepper
Salt

For the marinade for vegetables or meat:

Salt
Pepper
Soya sauce - 1 tbsp
Sugar - 1 tsp
Sesame oil - 1 tsp
Cooking oil - 2 tsp

Method:

Medley of cooked ingredients

Boil plenty of water and cook the noodles in it. When the noodles turn transparent, remove from the water and run under cold water. Drain the water thoroughly using a sieve.
In a skillet, put the vegetable oil , stir fry the drained noodles and set aside.
Wash chives( or spinach) thoroughly and parboil with a pinch of salt for 2 minutes. Once cooked, wash with cold water and drain.
Mix the drained chives with a pinch of salt and sesame oil and set aside.
Slice onion and stir fry with oil, salt and pepper.
Julienne the carrot and stir fry them with oil, salt and pepper.
Cut all the mushrooms, marinate them with the mushroom sauce for abt 20 mts and stir fry them.

(By now you must've used up half the utensils in the kitchen!! ) - I did!!

Beat eggs, with salt and make an omelette, cooking both sides. Once it cools, cut the omlette into strips.
In a big bowl, put together all ingredients except the eggs and mix it with jap-chae sauce.
Top it off with sliced eggs and ENJOY with a side of the red-chilli paste!!

Jap-chae served

※ Tip:

You can use any vegetable, meat, chicken or seafood for this dish. Just pre-cook separately with salt and pepper before mixing together with other ingredients.

Tofu Sambal

2006-10-17T23:10:00.000-04:00

Siam's (pronounced Shyam) mum makes the world's best Tofu Sambal. She also makes the best mock mutton! Siam is my very close friend from Singapore...way back from good ol' junior college days. Aunty's made tofu sambal specially for me on countless occassions and this recipe is from the pro herself. Tofu sambal is an exceptionally easy, yet yummy dish that's perfect with white rice, by itself or with a rasam. Here's how its made. Special thanks to Siam for reminding me the recipe again!!

Tofu Sambal

Ingredients:

Firm or Extra firm Tofu - 1 pkt
Red onion - 1 medium
Tomato - 1
Tomato paste (optional) - ½ tsp
Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tsp
Chili powder - 1 tsp
Salt (per taste)
Oil for shallow frying the tofu cubes
Soya sauce (optional) - 1tsp
Sugar - ½ tsp

Method:

Cut the tofu to small cubes and shallow fry them till they become crispy outside. Keep aside.
In a pan add 1tsp oil and add the sliced onions
Now add ginger garlic paste and fry till onions cook.
Add salt, soya sauce and chili powder and cook till raw smell goes.
Add the chopped tomatoes and cook them for 2-3 minutes. You can also add peas if you like to make the dish more colorful
Finally add the fried tofu puffs and the sugar and let the onion-tomato mixture coat the tofu thoroughly. Add a quarter cup of water if needed and let the tofu cook in the mixture for the next 5 minutes, in the covered pan.
Garnish with cilantro or start devouring asap!!!

Nasi Lemak with Sayur Lodeh - coconuts galore!

2006-10-17T16:37:00.000-04:00

My next post is of dishes from Malaysia and Indonesia. Usually South East Asian cooking is seldom vegetarian, but Sayur Lodeh is an exception. A colorful medly of vegetables are simmered in a light coconut gravy. It is usually taken with steamed rice, but just to give it a twist, we made Nasi Lemak (Malay for rice in fat), or rice cooked in coconut milk. Well, the rice is not wholly cooked in coconut milk, but the milk merely gives a sweet aroma to the rice. A spicy tofu sambal (click here for recipe) will make the perfect complement to this South East Asian delicacy.

Nasi Lemak

The Malays eat Nasi Lemak for breakfast - yes..rice early in the morning. Not just rice, but it is accompanied by boiled eggs, a drumstick of chicken, dried anchovies and peanuts, and cucumber slices. Quite similar to the street food of Mumbai, Nasi Lemak is available in most Malay hawker stalls throughout Singapore and Malaysia during breakfast time. My recipe is predominantly only for the preparation of the rice itself.

Ingredients:

Long grain rice - 1½ cups
Coconut milk - ¾ cup
Cooking oil - 2 tsp (to prevent the rice from sticking together)
Water - 2 cups
Pandan Leaf - 2
Salt - 1- 1½ tsp flat

Method:

Wash rice in cold water and drain. Soak in coconut milk for 10 minutes.
Pour 2 tsp of oil in the rice cooker, add the rice and let the oil coat the rice. Now add the water.
Clean pandan leaf, tie to a knot and throw this into the cooker with the rice.
The fruity essence of the pandan and the nutty flavor of the coconut milk will infuse into the rice.
Make sure you switch the rice-cooker to the cook mode (I can't tell you how many times I've forgotten to do this and waited hours for my food to be ready! ) and cook till done!
Serve hot with Sayur Lodeh or even Thai Green/Red/Yellow curries.

Sayur Lodeh:

Sayur Lodeh - Simmering

The most important ingredients to this sauce/gravy are coconut milk and the rempah or bumbu spice paste (click here for bumbu recipe). Once you have these and the vegetables cut into 1- inch pieces, the rest is a breeze!!! For the vegetables, feel free to add anything including but not limited to Tofu, beansprouts, bamboo shoots etc.

Ingredients

Potato - 1 medium
Carrot - 1
Green/Red bell pepper - 1
French beans - 5-6
Cabbage - 2-3 layers
Red/yellow onion - 1 medium sliced
Bumbu paste - 2 spoons (add 1 spoon and then add more depending on the level of spice)
Lite coconut milk - 2 cups
Salt - 1-1½ tsp
Oil - 1 tsp
Water - as needed
Thai basil or cilantro for garnishing

Method:

Wash all vegetables and cut into 1-inch pieces. Slice the onions.
In a fry pan, add oil and when hot, add the onions and the spice paste.
Fry till oil separates. Add all the vegetables from hard to soft and fry them in the spice paste.
Now add salt and the lite coconut milk. Reduce the heat to a simmer and let it cook for 5-10 minutes. Add water as needed. If adding bean sprouts, put them in now.
Finally add thai basil or cilantro to garnish.
Serve hot with white rice or nasi lemak.

Try a serving of....

Nasi Lemak with Sayur Lodeh

Rempah - building block of South East Asian Cooking

2006-10-15T16:20:00.000-04:00

The main ingredient to many South East Asian dishes is a spice paste called rempah or bumbu. We don't get ready-made rempah paste in Atlanta, but we are lucky to find the ingredients that make this flavor-packed paste. We generally make the paste from all fresh ingredients, but you can substitute it with dried powders too. All ingredients should be easily available in your local asian market. Galangal is a rhizome that looks like ginger but has a more distinct woody flavor to it. Traditionally rempah also contains shrimp paste, but its been avoided here for obvious reasons! : )

Ingredients:

Shallots -10
6 red chilis (3 fresh, 3 dried)
Lemon Grass powder (available in Asian store) - 1.5 tsp
Galangal - 1 inch piece
Turmeric - 1 tsp flat
Coriander powder - ¾ tsp
Candlenut* or macadamia - 5
Optional (2 tbsp shrimp paste)

* I've read somewhere that candlenuts should not be consumed raw and can upset the stomach. So make sure you add the candlenuts only after all testing/tasting of the paste is done!

Method:

Soak the dried red chilies in warm water for a few minutes and grind all the ingredients to a fine paste with some oil and store upto 6 months in the freezer.

Choc-chip Pancakes for Saturday Brunch!

2006-10-15T11:00:00.000-04:00

Saturday's the only time K and I have no morning agendas..and can sleep in late. Invariably, we wake up too late for a breakfast, so end up having a nice heavy brunch. (Of course its a different story that everytime, K starts to get hungry around 2pm and we have a so-called mini-lunch!). Btw, I believe, these 2pm hunger pangs are highly psychological...
Anyway, getting back to the breakfast, K's been asking for pancakes for a while now and I've been making excuses like we don't have pancake mix at home..I'm too lazy...blah blah blah. Last week when we went grocery shopping, he asked me to pick up a packet of pancake mix, which I conveniently forgot. Back home, I tried saving my ass by saying that we could make it from scratch and that'd be a lot more healthy.
Come Saturday morning, surprise surprise...what else would he crave for, but pancakes. Since we didn't have the usual berries to go with the pancakes, we decided on choco-chip pancakes (don't ask me if this is healthy...I don't have an answer!). There are other ingredients we didn't have, but could do without - buttermilk (substituted 2% milk), and baking soda (to make it fluffy).
The end product was yummy, but I don't have any classic pics of stacked pancakes drizzled with maple syrup and topped with a blob of butter...because 'somebody' couldn't wait till one was done to start popping into his mouth! Here's the recipe I got for making 'instant' pancake mix from food network's Alton Brown (yea occassionally he has good recipes!).

Ingredients

6 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3 teaspoons baking powder (add them to make pancakes fluffy!)
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons sugar

Combine all of the ingredients in a lidded container. Shake to mix and use within 3 months.

For the pancakes: (makes about 5)

1 egg, separated
1 cup 2% milk
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 cup "Instant" Pancake Mix, recipe above
1 tsp butter or pan spray, for greasing the pan
20 chocolate chips

Heat a frying pan (till water droplets you put on in start dancing the moment they touch the pan). I personally LOVE a cast-iron skillet.
Whisk together the egg whites and the milk in a small bowl. In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the melted butter.
Combine the buttermilk mixture with the egg yolk mixture in a large mixing bowl and whisk together until thoroughly combined. Pour the liquid ingredients on top of the pancake mix. Using a whisk, mix the batter just enough to bring it together. Don't try to work all the lumps out.
Lightly butter the griddle. Wipe off thoroughly with a paper towel. (No butter should be visible.)
Gently ladle the pancake batter onto the griddle and sprinkle on chocolate chips. When bubbles begin to set around the edges of the pancake and the griddle-side of the cake is golden, gently flip the pancakes. Continue to cook 2 to 3 minutes or until the pancake is set.
Serve hot, stacked and drizzled with maple or chocolate syrup.

Chocoate chip pancake

Paav Bhaji - Mumbai Magic

2006-10-01T21:14:00.000-04:00

He're a classic dish from Bombay. Aamchi Mumbai is famous for its bhel, pani puri, shev puri, dahi puri, ragda patties and other chat varieties. My personal favorites have always been paav bhaji from this particular hotel Jayprakash (if I remember the name right) at Chembur, and vada paav from Kunj Vihar in Thane (this one I cannot forget the name!). I'll make an entirely different post dedicated to vada paav, but this one's for paav bhaji.

How do I know so much about Mumbai and Mumbaikaars you ask me? I've spent almost a month every year at Bombay, till I came to the U.S. (I've all my paternal cousins and uncles and aunties in Bombay) . Countless plates of chat and mumbai street food have been consumed at every occassion and its a sheer pleasure to watch the street vendors prepare the bhel or pav bhaji in a jiffy!

In Marathi pav means bread and bhaji means a curry and vegetable mix. The pav is roasted with an ample amount of butter and masala until golden brown, and garnished with diced onion and a slice of lemon and served with the bhaji. The pav bhaji available on hand carts popularly known as Pav bhaji ki Gaadi, on the streets of Mumbai/Pune tastes even better than some of the sit-down restaurants. If you are visiting my site, its highly likely that you've had pav bhaji before, if not you've gotta try this recipe. Its a light meal that's good either as a lunch or a light dinner. This recipe is from a book of fast foods that I have.

Paav Bhaji with traditional sides - Nimbu (lemon) and Kaandha (onion)

Ingredients
Boiled potatoes - 2big
Boiled mixed vegetables ( I usually prefer just carrots and peas). - 1/2cup
Boil and mash the vegetables coarsely and keep aside.
Tomato Puree - 2 cups
Red Onion chopped very fine - 1 cup
Green chillies - 2-3
Garlic paste - 2tsp
Salt
Pav bhaji masala ( Everest or Badshah) - 2tbsp
Amchur powder 1/2 tsp or lemon juice - 1tsp
Butter 2tsp ( can use salted or unsalted)
oil 2tsp

Dinner rolls (the ones from Publix are good)

For the garnish

butter 2tsp
chopped onions-2tsp
chopped corriander 1/2cup
lemon wedges

Method

Heat a kadai,add butter & oil
Next add the chopped onions, green chillies, garlic and fry well, till the onions are translucent.
Next add the 1/2 of pav bhaji masala and salt and saute for a minute before adding tomatoes.
Cook for 2 mins and next stir in the remaining vegetables.
Now add 3/4cup of water (I like my bhaji not too thin hence less water. Feel free to add upto half a cup more water) and cook the bhaji until the vegetables are smooth and well cooked .
Add the remaining pav bhaji masala, more salt if needed and amchur powder (you could also use lemon juice). Cook for just a minute more.
Remove from flame, add the coriander leaves and serve with the garnishes on the side. You can add some more butter if needed.
Serve with nice dinner rolls or buns toasted lightly with some butter.

Perfect snack for rainy afternoon

2006-09-24T22:38:00.000-04:00

Its been raining all day...thankfully its a sunday and THE perfect weather to sleep in. Here's a perfect snack to make the perfect sunday even better...

Perfect snack for a rainy Sunday afternoon - Red Onion, Bell pepper (Capsicum), Jalapeño pakoras with piping hot ginger tea! Yummmm

Ingredients

For the batter:
Besan or chikpea flour - 1 cup
Rice flour - ½ cup
Salt - 1½tsp
Chilli powder - ¾-1 tsp
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Asafoetida - a pinch
Baking soda - ¼ tsp
Ajwain seeds - ½ tsp (optional)
Coriander leaves - ¼ cup (finely chopped) (optional)
Enough water to make the batter a syrupy consistency.

For the filling: one or more of the following
Red onion (Cut in circles)
Hungarian banana peppers (make a slit and de-seed and de-vein after cooking in boiling water with salt for a minute) You could fill it with shredded mexican cheese for a 'stuffed jalapeños' taste.
Bell pepper (Cut in bite size squares)
Jalapeños
Potatoes (sliced thin)
Raw Plantains (cut in half across and sliced thin)
Paneer (cubed)
Tofu (cubed)
You get the idea...

Method:

Make the batter with all ingredients and let it sit for about 5-10 mts
Get the filling ready in the meanwhile
Dip the vegetables in the batter and fry in hot oil
If batter is too thin (watery), dip the fried pakoras in the batter again and refry them.
Enjoy with a good mint or chilli sauce with hot tea or coffee!

Ready to Salsa?

2006-09-24T22:36:00.000-04:00

Salsa

Tortilla cups filled with salsa, topped with a dollop of sour cream

Ingredients

2 cups seeded, chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
6 cloves fresh chopped garlic
1/2 an onion chopped
1 tbsp jalapenos de-veined, finely chopped
2 tsp lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt

Method:

Mix all ingredients until well incorporated.
Lightly mash with back of fork for about 10 seconds to help release juices.
Refrigerate or serve fresh with tortilla chips or nachos.

Enchiladas Moghulai

2006-09-23T00:05:00.000-04:00

KS aka paneer king has been MIA for the past two weeks burying himself in some grant work. So when he was finally free..he dropped by on Friday evening. While I was all game to eat out, the guys had a different idea. What was to be a simple dinner by da boys, became an elaborate mexican menu plan in no time.

We had Salsa and tortilla chips to tide us over till dinner got ready at about 10pm. Salsa recipe has also been posted.

Enchiladas Moghulai... Proof that you can put paneer in just about any dish!

Enchiladas with Paneer and bell pepper filling

Ingredients (Makes about 9 Enchiladas for 4-5 people)

Paneer: 450 Grams

Green Bell Pepper: ½

Red Bell Pepper: ½

Yellow Bell Pepper: ½

Red Onions: 3

Roma Tomatoes: 5

Garlic: 4 cloves

Cilantro: ½ bunch

Shredded Jack, Shredded Mozarella (mix): 3 cups

Enchilada Spice Mix: 1 pack

Garam Masala: 3 tsp

Red Chilli Powder: 3 tsp

Turmeric: 1 tsp

Tawa Fry Masala: 1 tsp

Flour/Corn Tortillas: 9

Sour Cream: As per taste

Cumins: 3 teaspoons

Tomato Sauce: 4 tsp

Instructions (For the sauce)

Chop 2 onions very fine
Chop all the tomatoes very fine
Chop the garlic very fine
Heat oil in a pan, and add cuins
Wait till it gets heated and add the onions and brown it
Add turmeric, red chilli powder, 2 Garam Masala, 1 tsp Tawa Fry, and 1 pack Enchilada Sauce
Add the tomatoes and 3 teaspoons of Tomato Sauce
Add a cup of water and let cook for 10 minutes
Blend the sauce until smooth

Instructions (For the filling)

Slice the onion, garlic, bell peppers, and the paneer
Heat oil in a pan, and add the sliced veggies
Add 1 teaspoon tomato sauce, garam masala, red chilli powder, and turmeric
Sautee the veggies for about 5 minutes
Add the paneer and sautee for another 15 minutes on high stirring frequently
Add Cilantro for garnishing

Instructions (For Baking)

Warm the tortillas
Put a thin layer of the sauce on the surface of the tortilla and add cheese, the filling, some raw onions and wrap the tortilla up
Take a baking sheet and spray some oil on it
Lay the wrapped tortillas next to each other
Put sauce, cheese, and onions on top of the tortillas and bake at 350 degrees for about 20-25 minutes until the cheese melts
Add a dollop of sour cream on top before eating and ENJOY!!!!

Low fat spinach artichoke dip

2006-09-09T22:17:00.001-04:00

Popcorn, Potato chips.... move aside. Give way to.. Tortilla chips and spinach artichoke dip.

Here's a recipe for the perfect snack for a movie marathon...

Spinach artichoke dip wrapped in a spinach tortilla, topped with salsa.

Ingredients:

2 cups (8 oz.) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
1/2 cup fat-free sour cream
1/4 cup (1 oz.) grated fresh Parmesan cheese, divided
1/4 tsp. black pepper
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 (14 oz.) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 (8 oz.) block 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
1 (8 oz.) block fat-free cream cheese, softened
1/2 (10 oz.) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained and squeezed dry
1 (13.5 oz.) package baked tortilla chips (about 16 cups)

Method:

Spinach artichoke dip

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine 1-1/2 cups mozzarella, sour cream, 2 tablespoons Parmesan, and next six ingredients (2 tablespoons Parmesan through spinach) in a large bowl. Stir until well-blended.

Spoon mixture into a 1-1/2 quart baking dish. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup mozzarella and 2 tablespoons Parmesan. Bake for 30 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown. Serve with tortilla chips.

Makes 5-½ cups

Shrooms Spaghetti

2006-09-09T11:44:00.000-04:00

In continuation with the recent trend of quick-dinner recipes, spicedforlife now presents.....Spaghetti with mushrooms.

Spaghetti with mushrooms in a marinara sauce

What you need:

All ingredients to make the sauce- storebought marinara sauce, mushrooms (not in pic) heavy cream (optional), Red onion, Few pods of garlic, Red chili flakes and dried parsley and of course...olive oil.

Method:

Slice mushrooms, onion and chop garlic and keep aside.
In a separate container, cook the spaghetti with lots of water (Add 1 tsp of salt to the water before adding the spaghetti)
In a hot pan with 2 tsp of olive oil, add the chopped garlic followed by the sliced onion and the mushrooms. Add enough salt for the vegetables only (approx ½ tsp)
Now add ¼-½ tsp of red chili flakes and cook for 2 mins

Add the marinara sauce or you can make it at home with crushed tomatoes.
Let the sauce simmer for a few minutes.
Now add 2 tbsp of heavy cream and ¼ tsp of sugar to the sauce and garnish with dried parsley flakes

In the meanwhile, your spaghetti would have cooked al dante (firm to bite) . Mix the cooked spaghetti with the sauce and serve.

Aval (Poha) Upma

2006-09-08T12:03:00.000-04:00

I often tell K....if I were a single grad student living in the US, I'd probably never cook at all...be happy with just cereal for b'fast lunch and dinner. In fact, when he goes out of town, thats what I do most of the time. Its too boring to cook for just one person...even more so if that one person is yourself. Here's an Indian meal you can whip up in less than 15 mts. It will be a welcome break from the junk food most single students eat. Navs...this one's for you.

Aval Upma

Aval upma

Ingredients - serves 2

Aval Upma - Made with flattened rice and tamarind

Aval or flattened rice (approx 2 to 3 cups)
½ red onion
1 green chili
½ tsp tamarind paste
1½ tsp coriander seeds
2 red chillies
1 tsp urad dhal
1 tsp chana dhal
½ tsp mustard seeds
¼ tsp turmeric powder
Asafoetida a pinch
Curry leaves for garnishing
Salt to taste
Cooking oil

Optional (roast in a tsp of oil and grind to a coarse powder)
½ tsp urad dhal
1 tsp chana dhal
1 red chili
1 tsp coriander seeds

Method:

Take a flat, large bowl and wash the poha or aval in water. Do not allow the water to stay and drain immediately without any traces of water.
Grind to a coarse powder, the coriander seeds, red chilies, urad dhal, and chana dhal after frying them in a tsp of cooking oil.
Then take a large pan and pour some cooking oil and add the mustard seeds and allow them to splutter. Then add the cut green chili.
Then add urad and chana dhal, dried red chili followed by onion, curry leaves and turmeric powder. Season with asafoetida. Cook until the onions are cooked.
Now add the aval or poha. Mix the tamarind in ¼ cup of water and pour the liquid in.
When the tamarind has been absorbed, add the ground masala to the aval along with salt. Stir the mixture well till the aval is coated with the masala powder.
Keep the pan covered for about 2-3 minutes and garnish with coriander leaves just before serving.
And the delicious upma is ready....Enjoy
Aval upma with a dollop of sour cream and avakaai pickle

Kadai Paneer - Annu's pride

2006-09-08T11:31:00.000-04:00

Its been a while since I've posted anything. Semester has begun and I've been burdened with loads of assignments. Anyway..since today is Friday, I'm in a good mood, and I've decided to post quite a few entries that I've been working on. Starting off the list is a guest post from my sis Annu. She lives in Germany and she's the one who got me attracted to food blogs. Constantly supplying me with tried and tested recipes...an excellent sis, wife, mom and not to forget a great cook! Thats Annu for you..
Some patience she has with cooking, she actually made the paneer from scratch. Enjoy this recipe...it sure looks yumm...

Kadai Paneer

Kadai Paneer (serves 2-3)

Ingredients:

2 cups green capsicum (sliced thin)

1 cup paneer (cut in 1 inch cube)

3 tbsp tomato paste

For masala

pich of turmeric

5 red dry chillies

1 tsp dhania (roasted)

1 tbsp ginger garlic paste

salt as per taste

1 big pinch of kasuri methi

For garnish -
finely chopped cilantro

Method

Wash and slice capsicum in thin strips. Par cook them in microwave for abt 4 mins with little salt water.
Marinate the paneer cubes with little salt and chilli powder.
Roast the dry chillies and dhania and grind them to a powder, mix this powder with half a cup of water.
Take 2 tbsp of oil in a kadai, add the ginger garlic paste and saute for abt 5 mins, once its cooked, add the ground powder paste and cook in slow flame till oil seperates from the masala.
Stir in the tomato paste and cook for 2 mins.
Toss the capsicum pcs till well coated and cook on high flame for 7 mins.
Add the marinated paneer and salt to taste.
Toss everything till well coated.
Goes well with all rotis and even rice accompanied by a plain dal.

Kozhukattai (Modak) and Sundal

2006-08-28T09:03:00.000-04:00

Ganpati Bappa Moriya

On Sunday, we celebrated Ganesha Chathurthi -observed as the birthday of Ganesha - the elephant god. Ganesha or ganpati loves coconuts and modakam - a sweet dumpling made of coconuts and jaggery, so its customary to make modakam on this festive occassion. There are different methods of preparation - some dip the coconut-jaggery nougat in a paste of self-raising flour (maida) and fry it, others make a wrap out of rice flour and steam the dumplings.

The recipe below was taught by my mom. In my opinion, the most difficult part of this recipe is the assembly process - making the cuplike shape. I have helped amma flatten the dough to create the cup on many occassions, but from the looks of it...I still have a long way to go before I can master the shape (afterall this is only my 2nd solo attempt!).

Kozhukattai (Modakam)

Kozhukattai or Modakam - A must on Ganesh Chathurthi

Ingredients (to make 24 medium size modakams)

For the outer covering (Choppu)
Raw rice -1¼ cups
Seasame Oil - 2 tbsp
Salt - 1¼ tsp flat

For the filling (Poornam)
Grated coconut - 1½ cups
Jaggery - 1½ cups
Cardamom powder - ¼ tsp
Nutmeg powder - a pinch

Method:

For the choppu,

Wash and soak raw rice in the ratio (1:2 water) for a couple of hours. Drain the water and keep aside. Grind the raw rice to a smooth batter using this water.
Heat the remaining water over a medium flame, in a kadai (a shallow thick bottom vessel). Add salt and a teaspoon of seasame oil.
To the boiling water, add the batter and stir continuously without allowing any lumps to form.
When the mixture has formed into a smooth thick dough, remove from the fire.
Wrap this dough in a wet cotton cloth and steam it well for 15 minutes.

For the filling,

Melt the jaggery in a saucepan over a medium low heat. (Add a tsp of water to the jaggery to facilitate the melting)
Once melted, the jaggery will start slowly bubbling and form a 'pouring' consistency. Add the grated coconut to a pan and pour the jaggery over it.

Slowly incorporate the jaggery into the coconut, over the stove, and stir continously to ensure it doesn't burn.
Flavor the filling with powdered cardamom and nutmeg.

The assembly...

Smear your hands with a little sesame oil.
Smoothen the prepared rice flour dough with your hands.
Make small balls (the size of a lemon).
Press in palm of hand and slowly flatten the edges with thumbs to get a cup-like shape.

The kozhukattais are not big...my idli plate is small (:P

Fill these cups with the prepared coconut-jaggery filling.
Close the cups by making small pleats of the wrap covering the filling.
Put these filled up cups on an idli-plate and steam them for another 5-10 mts.
Modakams ready for feasting.

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Quick Chickpea (Garbanzo bean) Sundal

Sundal has to be the easiest yet most loved festive dish thats made in Indian kitchens. Sundal can be made with a variety of dried beans soaked and pressure cooked before garnishing almost the same way. Traditionally, a different variety of sundal is made every day of the navarathri (9 days). Amma makes chickpea sundal on ganesh chathurthi along with modakams, hence I've followed the tradition. Since I'm a lot lazier, and because I forgot to soak the dried chickpeas the night before, I used canned (look out for the low sodium cans) garbanzo beans for the exact same taste. Here is the simple recipe.

Ingredients:

Chickpeas - 2 cans
Grated coconut - 2 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Urad dal - ½ tsp
Dried red chillies - 2
Curry leaves - a few
Asafetida - a pinch
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Salt - ½ - 1 tsp

Method:

Heat 2 tsp of oil in a kadai and add ingredients 3-7 to the hot oil.
Add two cans of washed, drained garbanzo beans, salt and turmeric powder
Add the grated coconut and saute for a minute more before serving hot.

Nasi Goreng...one more from Singapore

2006-08-26T20:57:00.000-04:00

Whenever K and I feel homesick....we cook Singaporean fare. The following recipe is a simple, yet one of our most favorite Singapore dish - Nasi Goreng.

Nasi Goreng literally means fried rice. This method of preparation is common in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Every hawker center in Singapore has at least one Indian Muslim Stall that definitely sells mee goreng (fried noodles) and nasi goreng. Its usually prepared with minced mutton, but you can always get a vegetarian version.

Singapore's Newton Hawker Center at 2am!

Nasi Goreng

Nasi Goreng topped with 'bulls-eye' egg and ketchup

Ingredients

Rice - 2 cups (cook)
Chopped green chillies - 2 -3
Freshly ground red chili paste or 'sambal olek' sauce - 2 tbsp
Tomato sauce
Smart ground original veggie protein crumbles - 1/2 cup (in place of minced mutton)
Quartered tomatoes - 2
Boiled and diced potatoes - 2
Sliced onion - 1
Bean sprouts - 1/4 cup
Finely sliced cabbage - a few pieces
Eggs - 2 - 3
Msg (optional)
Palm sugar - 1 - 2 tsp
Turmeric powder - a pinch
Salt - to taste

Method:

Heat 2 tbsp oil and fry the onions till golden brown

Add the red chili paste and the turmeric powder

Throw in the protein crumbles, tomatoes, cabbage, potatoes and stirfry on high heat

Add salt and sugar

Next add the cooked rice, green chili, beans sprouts and let it cook on medium heat for 5 mins

In the center of your tava/wok, add 1 tsp oil, break the eggs, scramble and mix with rice thoroughly

Serve with sliced cucumber and tomato ketchup

Best eaten with teh-ccino

From the Hyderabadi kitchen

2006-08-24T08:28:00.000-04:00

All dishes in this post are courtesy Murali's kitchen. The first guest post of this blog!
Mu recently shifted his abode...so we had a housewarming dinner on Monday night..Can't believe he cooked all this in 2 hours! Thanks Mu...for the awesome food and the recipes!

On the Menu....

Vegetable Manchurian

Vegetable Manchurian - one more from the fusion genre

Ingredients

1 cup - Cabbage
1 cup - Onion
1 Cup - carrot
1 Cup - Maida
1/2 cup - Corn flour
5 Green Chillies
1/4 cup Coriander leaves

For Frying:
4 tsp Garlic(Cut in to small pieces)
4 tsp Ginger(Cut in to small pieces)
1 small onion(Cut in to small pieces)
2 green chillies(Cut in to small pieces)
2 tbs Soya sauce
1/4 tsp Ajinomoto salt (can be omitted)
Salt to taste
Oil to fry

Process

Slice/Chop cabbage ,onion, carrot and cilantro in to very small pieces. Finely chop green
chillies.
In a bowl, mix maida, cornflour, cabbage, green chillies, onion, carrot, salt and coriander leaves.. Heat oil in a pan. Now take small amounts of the mixture, make into small balls and fry in oil until they become golden brown.
After frying heat 2tbs of oil in a kadai, add ginger, garlic, onion and green chilli when they are fried add ajinomoto salt, soya sauce and 1/4 cup of water.
When the sauce begins to boil, add the small balls(manchuria) and fry until the water evaporates.
Veg-Manchuria are done... Serve hot with tomato ketchup...
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Guthi Vankaya Koora

Guthi Vankaya Koora - stuffed indian eggplant in a tangy sauce

Ingredients

6 medium size brinjals (leave the stem on)
2 big onions
1 tbsp spoon garlic paste
3 tbsp spoons sesame seeds
4 tbsp spoons cococnut powder
1 handful groundnuts
1 handful cashewnuts
paprika powder
turmeric
salt to taste

Process

Dry roast the sesame seeds and the coconut powder seperately(without oil) in a saucepan just for 2 to three minutes in low flame then fry the cashewnuts and groundnuts seperately in oil for two minutes. Grind all the above into a coarse powder.

Now make a smooth paste of onions and garlic, with salt, paprika and a pinch of turmeric.
Add the above ground powder to this paste.

Take the brinjals, invert them and at the base make 4 slits on each side, leading 3/4 way towards the stem(leave the stem on).

Now stuff them with the masala mixture and saute them in the oil along with the remaining masala and some water, until they are cooked soft.

Serve hot with rice
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And for dessert... sinfully delicious Double ka Meeta

Double ka Meeta - not for the calorie conscious!!!

1 Loaf of Bread
1 litre Milk
500gms Sugar
250gms Double Cream
250gms Pure Ghee
100gms Chopped and Roasted Cashew Nuts
100gms Almonds (soaked and chopped)
10gm Saffron
5 Cardamom powdered

Method

Cut each bread slice into four pieces. Fry them in clarified butter till golden brown and crisp (you can substitute this with oil flavored with butter)

Make a sugar syrup by adding half a litre of water to the sugar and boil it for 15 minutes. Add the powdered cardamom and the saffron dissolved in milk to the sugar syrup.

Boil milk until it is thick.

Arrange the fried bread pieces on a flat tray and sprinkle the chopped nuts on
them.

Pour the sugar syrup, double cream and milk alternately over the bread pieces while they are still hot.

Refrigerate and serve as dessert.

Pizza Maharaja - Paneer tikka pizza

2006-08-22T09:48:00.000-04:00

In line with our theme of fusion-weekend, we made paneer tikka pizza for Sunday lunch. Yummy paneer tikka masala over a store-bought pizza dough...all topped with cheese...and pronto...the Pizza Maharaja was ready!

Paneer tikka pizza

Ingredients :

Pillsbury Ready Crust Pizza - 1
Paneer - ½ slab (cubed)
A good paneer tikka masala recipe (make sure the masala is not watery and in a spreadable consistency)
Grated mozzarella
Parmesan cheese
Chilli/Red pepper flakes
Coriander leaves for garnishing

Method

Make your paneer tikka masala/paneer butter masala as required (use tomato paste instead of chopped tomatoes)
Preheat the oven to 400º F
Assemble your pizza thus - Lay out the base, spread the paneer tikka masala, sprinkle dried parsley flakes and top it off with mozzarella cheese

Under construction....

Bake in oven at 400ºF for 12-15 mts
Remove from oven and top with red pepper flakes and coriander leaves
Sprinkle some parmesan if required
Enjoy!

Close up...of final product

Pan Fried Chilli Paneer

2006-08-21T14:42:00.000-04:00

It was fusion weekend at our kitchen! After a blissful saturday nap, as I made chai, K started craving for the Pan fried chilli paneer at Bamboo Garden. The restaurant has an Indo-Chinese or Indianized-Chinese menu. I'm not too sure of the origins of this cuisine, but my first encounter with this was at Bombay when I was a kid visiting cousins. The street vendors/ hawkers made such delicious hakka/ schezuan noodles and gobi manchurian. As someone put it..it's a perfect blend of noodles from China and spices from India.

OK...Coming back to my story, once K mentioned Pan fried chilli paneer...I HAD to have it then and there. Simply because I just LOVEEE this appetizer item on the menu and have created a loyal fan following for the same. This evening, we tried to recreate that magical taste, altho we were missing green bell pepper, an essential ingredient (substituting with yellow was not a bad idea).
We started off with no recipe to refer to, but our memory of the taste. The end product was very very close to the original, and I'm sure we'll perfect it at the next attempt.

Pan-fried Chilli Paneer

Ingredients

Paneer (indian cottage cheese) - ½ slab
Onion - ½ sliced
Garlic - 4 pods chopped finely
Ginger - 1 inch piece julienned
Red and Green Chilli - 4 nos chopped
Green bell pepper - ½ sliced
Corn Starch - 2 tbsp
Ground Black Pepper - ¼ tsp
Soya Sauce - 2 tsp
Salt
Sugar - a pinch
Oil for shallow frying - 2-3 tbsp
Chopped Spring Onions for garnishing

Method

Cut Paneer into rectangles.
Prepare a light cornstarch mixture by adding water and a pinch of salt.
Drench the paneer rectangles in the cornstarch mixture and shallow fry them in a pan until golden brown. Set aside.

Add a tsp of oil to a hot wok, and throw in the onions, ginger, garlic and red and green chillies.
Add salt and soya sauce.
Once the veges start sizzling, add the green bell pepper and cook for half a min
Add a tsp of the remaining cornstarch and a pinch of sugar
Add the fried paneer cubes and let it sit for half a min more.
Garnish with chopped spring onions and serve hot.

Mirchi Ka Salan and a Movie

2006-08-21T12:52:00.000-04:00

The start to the weekend was almost perfect. Started early with a fabulous potluck dinner at KS and Sumi's place. The paneer king (aka KS) had prepared a vegetable biryani..hyderabadi style. Guess who gave him the recipe K...haha (you must have seen the proud look K had when on fone with him!) It was a vegetarian version of K's egg biryani (will make the post the next time he makes it!). We made mirchi ka salan in true hyderabadi fashion. Thanks Mu for introducing us to the nawabi khana.

Mirchi Ka Salan - Blanched green chillies in a spicy/tangy sauce
goes very well with Rotis and Biryani's alike
Recipe from Saroj's Cookbook of Bawarchi

Dessert was a marble-slab style mix of pineapple-coconut and chocolate-chocolate chip on a wafer cone... truly yumm... (will post pics)

Friday night Mu dragged us to a Telugu movie without subtitles..Bommarillu. Suprisingly I followed almost 70% of the movie (maybe cos the lead actor was a tam speaking telugu -Siddharth)....anyway all 3 of us loved the movie. It was clean entertainer...with simple story line. What a contrast to the over hyped and torturous Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna. No I didn't make the mistake of watching the movie. I merely heard a horrifying account of my friend's experience watching the movie and my faith in Karan Johar's incapability as a director is reaffirmed. As I told my friend, I realized that my dislike for Karan Johar, Shah Rukh and Preity Zinta put together is many more times than my liking for Abhishek and Rani. Sorry guys....but who asked you to act under his direction??

Tricolor Agar Agar

2006-08-16T18:12:00.000-04:00

Two days back, India celebrated its 59th Independence day. What better way to celebrate, than with something sweet! I made a tricolor agar agar.

Agar-agar is Malay for jelly. The thickening agent used here is a powder, derived from seaweed. Agar as it is called, is a vegetarian substitute for gelatin. When dissolved in hot water and cooled, agar becomes gelatinous.

It is available as a powder, as a stick (kanten in Japanese), and also as fine, crinkly strands (somewhat like seaweed for sushi, but only colorless and translucent). We got this powder from our local asian store.

I'm sending this recipes as part of the festive cuisine virtual competition hosted by My dhaba.
[Tagged with: VCC: VCC Q3 2006]

Ingredients

Essence removed from pandan leaves for the green color.
Orange food coloring or orange agar agar powder and orange juice.
Lite Coconut milk
Sugar

Method of preparation

Add pandan essence, lite coconut milk (¼ cup) and 2 tbsp of sugar (or substitute) to 350 ml of water and bring to slight boil. Add 1½ tsp of agar-agar powder and stir until it dissolves.
Pour the liquid into the mould and leave in the refrigerator for ½ hr to set.
Repeat the process with other 2 layers with different colors.

* Traditionally agar agar tastes good when coconut milk is added.

Our teatime snack - agar agar and soya milk

Spaghetti squash with oven roasted tomatoes

2006-08-14T16:32:00.000-04:00

K and I do our weekly grocery shopping from the Farmers Market at Dekalb. The produce section of the market offers hundreds of varieties of vegetables from around the world.
Recently, we decided to buy one never-before-tried vegetable every trip we make to the market.
We've started with Spaghetti squash. We had no clue how to cook it or for that matter what it looked like even! I must admit, the final product was just too awesome. And if you didn't know (like us), you don't need spaghetti to cook this pasta. The fruit is unique..once cooked, it can be seperated into spaghetti-like strands with a fork.

For more about the vegetable, click here.

Spaghetti squash

Spaghetti squash with oven roasted tomatoes

Cut the squash and remove the seeds (The fruit is very hard and woody when raw, so be sure to get a sharp knife!)
Slice the Roma tomatoes
Hit the squash and tomatoes with olive oil, salt, pepper and italian spices (dried parsley, thyme, oregano)
Preheat the oven to 375ºF and bake the squash (facing down) and tomatoes for 40-50 mts (I did it for 50 mts and the sides were slightly burnt but with no damage to the taste). You could remove the tomatoes slighly earlier.

In a seperate pan, add olive oil, minced garlic, and some red pepper flakes
Once cooked, add the oven roasted tomatoes, add salt and sauté.
Remove spaghetti-like squash strands with a fork and add it to the pan.

Toss the strands with the tomatoes and add a chiffonnade of basil (you can add a spoon of basil pesto too!)
Savor the sweet taste of the squash with the concentrated flavor of tomatoes. Will truly make for an interesting and easy meal!

Spaghetti squash with oven roasted tomatoes.

Thé-cino - Tea with a twist

2006-08-13T20:10:00.000-04:00

Thé (teh) in Malay means tea. K has been excited about his newly acquired baby - an espresso maker. Countless espressos have been made and consumed over the past few days...all in the name of getting that perfect crema. I'm not really a coffee person (with the exception of mocha frap), so this evening we decided to have tea - not usual Indian tea....but tea with a twist. Of course K insisted on using the milk steamer/frother feature of the espresso maker!!
We made teh-cino - sweet tea topped with steamed milk and froth, flavored with a dash of cinnamon!

Teh-cino

This is how we made it...

Reminded us of the teh-cinos we used to have at Jln Kayu (Singapore) roti prata stalls. A perfect end to a meal of roti pratas and curry (Sigh!)

Vathakuzhambu / Vatralkuzhambu

2006-08-11T21:59:00.000-04:00

Onion Vathakuzambu with potato kari (somewhere between sautéed and shallowfried) has to be at the top of my comfort foods list of all times. The sweetness of the red onion (big one!) complements the sour taste of the tamarind and the spice of the sambhar powder. Vathakuzhambu is also a perfect substitute for pickle. I remember when I was little, my grandmom used to thumb a little hole in the middle of one scoop of yoghurt rice and fill it with a dollop of vathakuzhambu. We cousins would try to imitate her way of eating, and giggle away.

Vathakuzhambu

Can be prepared with one of the following vegetables.
Garlic, Onion, Okra (Ladies finger), Cluster beans (Kothavaranga), Avaraikai, Sunberry (Manathakali), Drumstick, White Radish, pumpkin and even fried Appalam.

Other ingredients

Sambhar powder* - 2tsp. heaped (recipe below)
Tamarind paste - 1 tsp flat
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp.
Fenugreek seeds - ¼ tsp.
Tuar dal - ½ tsp.
Oil (sesame) - 2 tbsp.
Curry leaves and Asafoetida for garnishing.
Jaggery (optional)
Salt to taste

Add the tamarind paste to 1 cup of warm water and set aside.
Heat oil and add mustard seeds. Once they splutter, add fenugreek seeds and tuar dal.
Add curry leaves and asafoetida (hing).

Now add the vegetable (cut bite sized or cubed) and once sautéed add the sambhar powder and fry.
Simmer and add the tamarind pulp, salt and let it boil.

Let it boil until it cooks. If using appalam, add it when curry is ¾ done.
Add 1/2 tsp of jaggery if using any vegetable other than red onion or pumpkin.
When the oil separates on top, and the gravy reaches a syrup-like consistency the vathakuzhambu is ready!

Sambhar Powder recipe*
Coriander seeds - 250 gm
Dried Red Chilli - 200 gm
Peppercorn - 100 gm
Tuar dal - 100 gm
Chana dal - 100 gm
Fenugreek seeds- 50 gm
Turmeric - 2 tblsp

Dry roast all above separately and grind to a fine powder. For long term storage, refrigerate.

Humble beginnings

2006-08-11T11:15:00.000-04:00

Hey there...welcome to Spiced for life. . This is mostly a food blog inspired by fellow foodies on the net, the likes of Mahanandi and Salt and Pepper.

My husband Kartik and I are both steadfast foodies and as luck would have it..we are surrounded by fellow food lovers. We love experimenting different cuisines and typically our repetoire consists of South/North Indian, Chinese, Italian, Thai, Malaysian and Singaporean fares...but we're trying to expand our horizons (within limits of vegetarianism of course!). Hope you enjoy reading our escapades with food!

South Indian Cooking 101

2006-08-11T08:48:00.000-04:00

After wondering a while on a good starting point, I have decided to start close to my heart. Home cooked South Indian meals..more specifically mouth watering tamil vegetarian fare that amma makes. Sambhar, rasam, vathakuzhambu, morekuzhambu, porichakuzhambu , porichakootu (aka milagootal by the palakkad-influenced!), kari...the list is endless. Each of these items has at least 2-3 ways of preparing them and the permutations and combinations lead to endless possibilities. For instance, sambhar can be prepared normally with tuar dhal (thuvaram paruppu), or by adding masoor dhal (the orange variety of dhal). You can have an araichuvitta (with coconut) sambhar or a varutharaicha (powdered roasted spices added) sambhar. Then there is sambhar thats prepared as an accompaniment to idly, vadai , dosai and the likes.

For those who are not very familiar with South Indian food, at home, a weekend lunch would consist of white rice with sambhar or some kuzhambu (gravy), along with one kari (sautéed vegetables) and one kootu (veges in a semi-gravy) followed by rasam with white rice and finally rice plain yoghurt with a side of some pickle. Deep fried appalaam (or pappad) was served with sambhar. On festive occassions, a dessert (payasam or kheer) would be served.

Eating south indian food is as much a science as cooking it. The perfect combinations of kuzhambus and karis enhance one's dining experience. For instance, vathakuzhambus taste better with karis of certain vegetables - potato, okra(ladies finger), french beans, but not as good with Cabbage or Eggplant. However, cabbage prepared in a semi-gravy form (kootu) tastes good with vathakuzhambu. Confusing?? well, you'll get the hang of it in no time!

Spices and Dals (Paruppus) used in everyday cooking

* pics dedicated to Siam... i know its kinda late..but i've kept my promise of making u a scrapbook of spices...albeit online!