Inspired cooking

Rasmalai with ricotta cheese

2009-10-20T11:32:00.000-07:00

Making Rasmalai the traditional way is a time-consuming process and you should get each step right (paneer, rasgulla) for your rasmalai to taste yum. There's this short cut way of preparing this dessert by using Ricotta cheese. Actually, kudos to the brilliant mind who came up with the idea of making an Indian sweet with cheese. Got the recipe from my cousin. Her recipe with my modifications is what I made for Diwali and it tasted so good. Couldn't resist eating them all myself.

Ingredients:

Ricotta cheese - 15oz tub
Sugar - 1/3-1/2 cup for making the patties; about 2-3 spoons for the milk syrup
2% milk - 2 cups
Half-and-half milk - 1 cup
Elachi pods - about 7,8
Pista and badam - handful
Saffron strands - a pinch

Method:

Boil the 2% milk in a non-stick pan on a low flame with 2 spoons sugar added. Make sure you stir the milk now and then in between so that it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan and burn.
Warm a spoon full of milk and soak the saffron strands in it. Slightly twist the strands with your fingers so that milk gets the saffron flavor and color.
Mix the ricotta cheese and sugar (1/3rd - 1/2 cup) in a bowl by constantly whipping with a spoon until a smooth mixture is formed.
Take a muffin pan and spoon the cheese mix into the cups. 15oz ricotta makes about 12 rasmalai patties. So, evenly distribute the cheese into 12 parts.
Cook on 350F for atleast 20 minutes in the oven. After 20min, keep pricking the pattie every 5 minutes with a toothpick until its done.
Using a spoon carefully remove the patties from the pan. They'll be quite soft, so handle them carefully lest they should break.
After the milk has thickened in consistency, pour in the half and half milk. Now, half and half is already enough thick. So add it towards the end of the boiling process, otherwise it would taste buttery when boiled for a long time.
Take some pista, badam and grind them along with elachi/cardamom to a somewhat fine powder. Add this to the boiling milk. Doing so, imparts a rich badam-milk kind of flavour to the milk. Use just a few elachi pods, rasmalai has a very subtle flavour of elachi unlike kesari or kheer.
Continue boiling the milk for about 5-10 minutes after adding the half and half. Remove from gas and let it cool. Add more sugar if needed. Add the milk containing saffron to this and stir.
Arrange the patties in a tray and pour the milk.
Sliver the remaining nuts and garnish over rasmalai.
Refrigerate for atleast 6 hours before serving so that the pattie absorbs the milk.

Of late, most of my posts have been centered around sweets. Now that Diwali, the last festival of this year is over, no more sweets for me until the New Year. But you know what, while making rasmalai I figured out something interesting. The pattie soon after baking tasted so much like the milk-sweet Kalakand. On the next occasion to prepare a dessert, I'll try to make Kalakand with ricotta. Till then, adios to sweets!

Pineapple Sheera

2009-10-09T14:27:00.000-07:00

A typical Maharastrian sweet served for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Until I started working in Pune, I did not know that sweet can be had at breakfast time too. Back in the lunch room at our office, the caterer would make pineapple sheera for breakfast. I loved it so much that I would usually skip lunch that day by eating 3-4 rounds of this sweet alone.

Actually, making this at home is pretty simple. No different from the traditional rava kesari excepting for the pineapple part. For the recipe, I followed veggiescookbook.blogspot.com. The blog, however, has been removed recently. For the recipe, I'd say keep the ingredients for rava kesari ready, along with fresh pineapple chunks and a pinch of saffron.

Fry the rava
Boil the pineapple chunks either on stove-top or in microwave. Dont let them get mushy.
Take the leftover water from boiling the pineapple and bring it to a boil on the stove-top.
Add rava while stirring constantly. Cook on low flame, adding more water as required.
Add ghee, and continue stirring until the rava gets cooked. Add required quantity of sugar after this. For a cup rava, I add a cup sugar.
Take the boiled pineapple chunks, cardamom powder, ghee roasted nuts, saffron soaked in milk and ass them all to the kesari.

Few things to note are:

Don't even try to make this with canned pineapple. Its going to suck! I trashed away the entire pot full of kesari I once made with canned pineapple chunks. That was 1/2 hour of effort... Sigh!
Use fresh pineapple that's really sweet. Otherwise, unless you tell people its "Pineapple Kesari", it would easily pass for the plain old rava kesari.
If you take x cups of rava/sooji, take 2x cups of the pineapple chunks.
And finally, the typical kesari tip. Be cautious with the amount of water you add, otherwise it'll turn watery. For fine rava, I use like 2.5-3 cups water for a cup of rava. Cooking with lid on low flame ensures that the rava gets cooked without requiring too much water.

Chandrakanthalu

2009-10-07T16:15:00.000-07:00

Vijaya Dasami - Dasara - Dussehra: However you call it, its a festival that marks the victory of Good over Evil. A very special festival for the Hindus in India. Dasara and Deepavali are usually spaced 3 weeks apart with Ramzan somewhere in between, before or after. So, all in all, 3 festivals to be celebrated in a short period of 1-1.5 months. The retail stores cash in on this, and put up lighting, sales banners, what not, to attract customers. Ah! Love the festive look on the market streets back in my hometown. Visakhapatnam.

While living in India, I used to look forward to these festivals since mom would feed us all those yummy delicacies. Sadly here, I got away with the Dasara celebration making just one sweet - Chandrakanthalu. Its a sweet popular in the north coastal regions of Andhra Pradesh. Kind of tastes like burelu without the crust. Looks something like this:

Oh! no.. they are not meat balls :) Made it for the first time, wasn't as good as what my aunt (who's an expert at this sweet) makes looks-wise, but taste-wise they were okay.

Ingredients:

Moong dal - x units
Sugar - x units
Elachi/cardamom - as required
Fresh Coconut - like 2 spoons for 1 cup dal
Oil for deep frying

Method:

Soak the moong dal for atleast 3 hours
Remove all the water and grind the dal to a coarse paste in a mixer. Add water in small quantities while grinding. You don't really need a smooth paste. The mistake I did was adding lot of water while grinding.
Take a thick bottom vessel and add the required quantity of sugar. Pour just sufficient water so as to cover the sugar and boil to make a sugar syrup. Again, be careful with the amount of water used in this step too.
Once the sugar has all melted, add the moong dal paste and cook on low flame with constant stirring. Essentially, moong dal should cook in the sugar syrup. even if you stop stirring for a moment, the dal would burn. Takes about 5 minutes for 1 cup dal to cook completely. Since its already crushed into smaller particles, the dal shouldn't take long to cook.
Once cooked, add grated coconut and elachi powder.
Assuming all went well, that is, you got the amount of water right, the cooked dal should have a halwa-like consistency. Pour it on a greased flat plate and cut it into small squares just like you cut mysore pak or other such sweets. The squares shouldn't be thicker than half-an-inch else when you fry, the interiors would remain raw.
Give it some time to cool.
Meanwhile heat sufficient oil in a kadai. Take out each square that you just cut and drop it in the oil. Fry until it turns golden brown and flip sides. They can burn quite quickly, so remove as and when they turn golden-to-deep brown.
Serve hot and crispy chandrakanthalu! This sweet is a perfect example for "no one can eat just one". Try it yourself, and you'll have to agree with me.

Because my moong dal paste was slightly watery, I could not cut out the cakes. So took spoonfuls of the paste and fried.

After snacking endlessly on chandrakanthalu, we decided to visit the temple. And guess what, there was this amazing "bommala koluvu" put up for public viewing. I always loved the idea of kolu but never saw one directly, since none of my friends and relatives follow this tradition. And here, in a land far far away, I got a chance to appreciate an Indian tradition. Strange, huh? Actually, even in India, if bommala koluvu is kept in temples like here, more and more people will be able to look at it. I just couldn't take my eyes off all those little dolls, they were all so cute and pretty. Mostly the kondapalli wooden toys sold in Handicrafts showrooms like Lepakshi in Andhra Pradesh. Some pictures from the Shiva-Vishnu temple, San Diego:

Signing off, looking forward to Diwali!

Vegetable Omlette

2009-10-04T11:14:00.000-07:00

I know there isn't much to write about the making of an omlette, one of the several quick eats that can be had at home. But then, a couple of tips that would result in a really fluffy omlette are what I wanted to share.

When I first started to make an omlette, they would end up looking like a dosa while tasting like an omlette. I mean, they were so flat unlike the ones we have at these good breakfast places like IHOP. I was told that the only way to really puff up your omlette is to add lot of oil or butter. The calorie freak that I am, I would prefer a dosa-like omlette to a pancake-like high calorie omlette any day. But now, after lots of Googling, I figured out the way to make really fluffy omlettes.

Here are the tips:

The secret zero calorie additive that makes a soft and fluffy omlette is water. Yes, you read it right - water! Beat the egg, add 1-2 spoons water per egg and whip the mixture really well. The color should change from deep yellow to lemony yellow with lots of froth.You don't really need an electric blender for this, a simple whip will do.
If you plan to add veggies like onion, tomato, chillies, do not add them to the egg mixture. Add some salt and pepper to the whipped egg and pour it on a slightly greased pan. After a minute or so, add the veggies. Earlier for my convenience, I would add the veggies after whisking the egg and pour them all at once. But no, don't do that. Give the basic egg mix a little time to cook, before adding the toppings.

This one right here should give you an idea of the thickness of the omlette. Used just one egg for this.

Pudina Pulao with Mix Vegetable Curry

2009-09-25T16:32:00.000-07:00

Looks like a time-taking recipe, but trust me, the combo can be cooked in just about half hour.

Pudina/mint pulao's been inspired from Mahanandi.

Coming to veggy curry, I got a chance to taste this at a friend's house. She's this terrific cook and a sweet talker who I'm sure would rock the food-blog-world if she starts blogging on a serious note.

The curry just takes 15min to be ready, seriously.. :) All you need is to have a tin of Trader Joes "masala simmer sauce" in your pantry. Its this tomato based sauce with all the Indian kurma spices included in it.

Here's the curry recipe:

Ingredients:

Trader Joes "Masala Simmer Sauce" - 1/3 tin
Potato - 1 medium size
1 cup Frozen veggies (carrot, beans, corn and peas) or fresh veggies - your choice
Cashewnuts - 4
Khus-khus/poppy seeds - 1 tsp
Shredded coconut - 1/2 tsp

Method:

Break the whole cashew into small chunks and soak them along with khus-khus and coconut in a small amount of milk. I suggest you do this atleast 2 hours in advance, so that the poppy seeds can be easily blended in the mixer.
Cube the potato and microwave until they are 75% cooked.
Heat a spoonful of oil (not much reqd since the sauce already has enough oil) and toss the boiled potato and the mixed vegetables. Add some salt (just sufficient for the vegetables, sauce contains salt too)
Cook on low flame with lid covered until the veggies turn tender
Add the sauce and may be half cup water to the vegetables.
Simmer for about 5min.
Grind the cashew-poppy-coconut mix to a not-so-smooth-not-so-coarse paste. Its okay if the poppy seeds aren't crushed completely.
Add this paste to the gravy, stir the contents and serve hot with yummy yummy pudina pulao and curd.

Pizza

2009-08-28T15:00:00.000-07:00

A decade ago, when I was first introduced to the pizza, my first impression was that its one complicated thing with so many ingredients and could never be made at home. Also, who wants to take the trouble making it, when its just a phone call away. With so many pizza stores mushrooming everywhere making fancy claims like: "Delivery in 30 min or money-back", flooding our mailboxes with all those coupons, etc etc, it never once occured to my mind to actually try to make a "home-made pizza" until I saw the nutrition guide on pizzahut.com. 800+ calories in one single meal???? Got the shock of my life and started trashing away all those coupons in the bin right next to the mailbox, even without bothering to look at what they've got to offer new.

The hunt for recipes started then. Realized it isn't as difficult as I once thought. The main ingredient is the pizza dough. You can either choose to make it at home, or buy a readymade dough. I baked like 3 pizzas till now, and never once kneaded the dough myself. Trader Joes carries a wonderful pizza dough in the cheese section. It comes in three flavours/types - plain dough, wheat dough, garlic & herbs. Having tried them all, plain dough has emerged a winner in my home. :)

If you use all store-bought ingredients like I did, pizza can be made in as less as 30min. For the sauce, I use Prego "traditional" sauce. If you like herbs, you could use Oregano, Basil, and other Italian seasonings.

I'll now descibe the pizza-making process picture-by-picture:

Let the dough sit for about 15 min on a slightly flour-ed surface. In the meantime, get ready with your toppings. For a veggie pizza, I use onion, green capsicum, tomato, jalepenos, black olives and pineapple chunks.

Slightly grease a baking pan/pizza stone and spread out the dough evenly. This is the hardest part of pizza-making. You could use a rolling pin, if it helps.

If you choose to add herbs, do it now. I dusted some garlic powder too.

Generously spread the pizza sauce leaving an outer border of about 1 cm on all four sides. Prior to adding the sauce, you could add some olive oil if you wish.

Now comes the fun-nest step. Decorate the pizza with your choice of toppings.

Cheese. IMO, Mozarella is the one for pizza. Don't be too stingy with the cheese, while at the same time, don't add too much either.

I usually sprinkle a spoonful of pizza/pasta sauce along with some more herbs on the cheese layer.

Bake at 450F for 10min. You'll know when its ready. The smell that gets filled up in the room.. Ahhh! If only smell could be digitized, I could have sent it to my mom back in India to tell her that the smell that emanates from the oven is more filling that the pizza itself. :)

Oh! So restaurant-y

I know its hard to resist temptation, but its important that you leave it to cool for 10min and then run a pizza cutter/knife through.

After looking at the nutrition labels of all the ingredients (using cheese made from 2% milk), I came up with the magic number 300. That's the maximum number of calories in a pizza made with half pound dough. Now, this is what I call guilt-free indulgence.

Medu vada/garelu

2009-08-14T16:19:00.000-07:00

Vada/vadai/garelu (in telugu) has been my favourite breakfast item since childhood. As I already mentioned earlier, while at home, I never ever bothered to look how something is made. Mom feeds, I eat, that's it :) Its only after I began to cook that I realized making garelu isn't my cup of tea. But my craving for vadas doesn't end even though I can't make them. And talking about Indian restaurants in San Diego, sheaaaa!! I am a much better cook than any chef at these places.

The solution to my problem was to make "hole-less" vadas.. :D I know its funny, but I just don't get the vada-with-a-hole ever right. So both of us kind of compromised on the shape of the vada. After all, who cares about the shape when they do taste good. This was until my ma-in-law came and made garelu, the way they were meant to be made. Maannnn! They were so crispy, so light, evenly cooked, what not. But I was scared to drop the vadas in hot oil like she did. More days pass by, she goes back to India, and I get back to my spherical vadas, and then this friend drops by, I offer her my vada, she laughs at it lacking a hole, though she says it tastes good. A day later, she emails me that there is indeed a gadget for vada-craver-no-maker like me. :) Had it not been for her, I would have spent all my life making golu-golu vadai, and may be even telling my children-to-be that this is what a vada looks like. :)

And then, I share this exciting news of vada maker with my mom who's already packaging a bunch of things for me. In goes the vada maker, and here it comes travelling across oceans to give me the boundless satisfaction of making the "holed" vada.

That's the story part.. Recipe, a very popular one, can be found on vahrevah.com. Even if you know the recipe, I suggest you take a look at the video. His aeration technique helped me make softer and lighter garelu.

Now this vada maker thingy did a mind-blowing job for the first batch of say 10 vadai. After that, the batter stuck to the bottom of the tool and didn't fall out of it as freely as it did for the initial round of garelu. Probably it needs to be cleaned after every batch. I had the bestest vadas in round 1 and because I felt lazy to clean the gadget, my batch 2 vadas ended up looking like shrimp and crabs. :)

Here are the clicks:

The vada-maker:

Batch 1:

Batch 2:

And once upon a time,

FYI, some of the objects arranged in a circular fashion above are garelu, the rest being burelu. Hardly distinguishable, ain't they? :) I had to weigh each piece to determine which is which. The heavier ones are sweet and the lighter ones vadai. Hahhahhaaa.. I have come a long way from Pic#4 to Pic#2, haven't I?

IMO, vada-maker is the most innovative kitchen tool ever invented. If you're like me too, scared of dropping the vada-with-hole batter into oil, this will amaze you.

All's good about the vada maker except for the cleaning part. Its sort of complicated on the inside, the design, and hence cleaning becomes tougher. With all that sheet metal, I even got my fingers pricked. :( So, be careful while cleaning.

On a concluding note, thank you dear S. I'll forever be grateful to you.. :)

Vanilla cupcakes

2009-07-08T16:29:00.000-07:00

A simple cake was all I wanted to bake for a long time. The one I remember eating from my Mom's kitchen long long ago. Neither she remembers what the cake is called nor does she remember the recipe. So, I gave up all hope of baking the simplest of simple cakes. This was until Lakshmi blogged her plain cake recipe. So, this was it. "Plain cake" - so simple a name, yet I never knew about it. A zillion thanks to dear Lakshmi. Both me & my husband love it.

Recipe is exactly as shown in the blog referred to. However when you're making cupcakes out of this batter, make sure you only fill the cup until half-full. This is very very important. For all other muffins that I make from instant cake-mixes, I generally fill-up the cup until 75% full and they always come out neat and nice. But with the "plain cake" batter, I had a terrible experience the very first time I tried the much awaited recipe. As usual, the cup was filled upto 75%. Within 10 minutes, I smell something really yummy. Quickly rush to the oven to see the status. My!! the batter puffed up and the cake looked pretty and almost done. It rose to almost 1.5 inches above the level of the cup. Whenever something interesting happens in my kitchen, I scream out for my dear husband (if he's at home). It took him about a minute to come, and you won't believe what I saw. The cupcake was oozing out the batter from the center just like a volcanic mountain oozes out lava. Damn! Should have taken a picture. But, all my hopes and dreams of having a simple cake were shattered at that very moment. Quickly had to turn off the oven and empty the extra batter from each cupcake by inverting it vertically. There was batter all over the place, yucky.. Finally, the cakes were done, and they were yum.

The next time when I baked "plain" cupcakes, I filled up only till 50%. They were neater this time.

Also, one more caveat. Whenever you bake, make sure you keep checking your oven now and then and don't just go by the baking time shown in the recipe. Had I not smelt the cake, and left it for 30min, I can't imagine how my cakes might have ended up.

I also added some raisins and walnut pieces to the batter. But since the batter was quite thin, all the dry fruits settled down at the bottom of the cake. Got to fix them next time. For blending the ingredients, I used a stand mixer from India and not a hand-mixer. It did a good job, and I didn't need to buy one more gadget.

Now, the shots:

First time (that lava time):

Second time:

The other day, I baked a round pound-cake for a change. Here it is..
That's the simplest cake decoration I could think of - whipping cream with candy dots.

Chama dumpa (taro root) fry

2009-07-07T20:51:00.000-07:00

Calling this a fry is not right, because I've only used about 2 tbsp oil (yes!!) for 2 pounds taro. Baking does the trick. Earlier, I blogged about (baked) fried potato curry. Making chama dumpa vepudu (fry) is exactly same as the other recipe with potatoes, with the following differences:

Taro is cooked prior to baking
No onions

So, here's the recipe phat-a-phat:

(A)

Steam the taro in a pressure cooker until 4 whistles.
Leave the taro root to cool and then peel it. Washing the cooked taro in a running drain of cold/tap water will help remove all the heat.
Once peeled, wash and cut the taro into medium size pieces. Typically, an average sized chama dumpa sold in US can be pieced into about 10-12parts. Don't cut them too small. Also, steamed taro can be extremely slippery on the hands - so be careful not to let your fingers come in the way of the knife.

or (B):

Start with step 3 above and microwave the taro till they are 80% cooked. If you have a microwave, I suggest you follow method (B). Cooking time is greatly reduced and cutting the taro also becomes easier as its un-cooked and hence not slippery.

After (A) or (B),

Bake the taro pieces at about 350F. Don't bake for too long. Only bake until a thin crust forms on the pieces. When left in the oven for a long time, taro becomes dry and hard. Important thing is, you should bake until the sliminess goes away, so that taro becomes easier to work with in the cooking pan. In the traditional way of frying in a pool of oil, taro is fried in batches so that they don't stick to each other. We're skipping this step by baking and then doing a stir fry.
Oil + jeera + curry leaves; baked taro+ salt + turmeric; cook with lid covered for 5min; add chilli powder.

To note:

If you're a two-time mealmaker like I am, *DO NOT* fry the baked taro all at once. Doing so makes them absolutely dry for the 2nd time meal and no amount of microwaving can fix it. What I do is, fry half the baked stuff and store the rest in a sealed container. Just before the 2nd meal, I fry them.

Carrot halwa

2009-06-25T16:21:00.000-07:00

This is one sweet that I never get bored of eating. Gajar ka halwa with vanilla icecream is the coolest combo ever.

Recipe is pretty simple, but the method of preparation can either be effortless or painful depending on how you choose to grate the carrots. Doing it manually does impart additional taste to the dish but trust me, it isn't really worth the effort. The first time when I made this halwa, I grated the carrots manually and ended up with swollen hands. The next time, I chopped the carrot into inch long pieces and fed them into the mixer. The end result wasn't much different from the mechanical version. However, when you use the mixer, be careful not to over grind the carrots. Remember, you want halwa, not carrot juice.

Ingredients:

Carrots - 1lb
Sugar - slightly less that half cup
Ghee - 4 tbsp
Milk - about 3/4th cup
Cardamom powder
Nuts and raisins to garnish

Method:

Keep the grated carrot ready - either using a mixer or the hand tool
Heat 3 tbsp ghee in a wide bottomed pan
Add the grated carrot and fry till the carrot turns from bright orange to paler yellowish orange
Now add the milk and cook covered on low flame for about 10min. Keep checking in between so as to avoid burning the carrots. Add little more milk if necessary. Again, its carrot halwa that you want to make, not carrot payasam. So, don't add too much milk. Just sufficient to cook the carrots.
Once the carrots look cooked, remove the lid and leave the flame on until all the milk gets absorbed by the carrots. If you end up with a pool of milk in step 4, don't you worry. Carrot payasam tastes as good as the halwa.
Whether you choose to have payasam or halwa, you need to add the sugar and cardamom powder now. Mix well until the sugar dissolves.
Ghee roast the nuts (cashew pieces and almond slices) with raisins and garnish the halwa. Carrot halwa tastes yummy whether served hot or cold or at room temperature.

Menthikaya pachadi (Sweet and Spicy Mango Pickle)

2009-06-05T15:47:00.000-07:00

Surfing the Internet you accidentally land on a page that tells you that you can fly to India for under 1000$ - what's the first thought that pops up in your mind? Parents, Home-Sweet-Home, Family, Weddings, so on & so forth.. An avid Mango lover that I am, the first motivation to grab the ticket and fly home was M.A.N.G.O!!! Oh my!! God only knows how much I miss them here in US. Gone are the days I used to snack on two juicy mangoes everyday, all I can do now is lick the packaged mango pulp from the can. If fruity mangoes are my first love (in May), mango pickles are the second. Avakaya is the famous mango pickle made in the state of Andhra Pradesh. There are several variants of this pickle and each one has its own charm. There's this dialogue from some Telugu movie: "Amma, Avakaya eppudu bore kottaru" which precisely means "You can never get bored of your Mom and also Avakaya".

This year, I'm really lucky to get some freshly prepared Avakaya pickle from India. Last year when I missed the taste of mango pickle in Summer, I asked my mom for the recipe so that I could try it here. "Menthikaya" is a sweeter version of Avakaya which is easier to prepare and also it doesn't require the mango to be too sour. Its a blend of several different tastes just like the Ugadi pachadi (Sour/Mango, Sweet/jaggery, Bitter/Fenugreek powder, Spice and salty) Can be made in less than half an hour and goes well with steamed rice as well as tiffins.

Ingredients:

Raw mango (should be sour, okay even if it's moderately sour) - 1
Sesame/Gingelly oil - 1/2 cup
Jaggery powder- 2 tbsp
Chilli powder - atleast 2 tbsp
Fenugreek seeds - 1/2 tbsp
Salt, Turmeric, Mustard seeds and Heeng

Method:

Peel the mango. Make sure its completely dry (no water/moisture).
Cut the mango into small pieces (see pic below). Trash the seed portion.
Add sufficient salt and a pinch of turmeric powder to the pieces and mix them all. Allow the mango pieces to marinate for about 20 min.
Dry roast the fenugreek seeds and powder them in a mixer.
Take about 1/3 cup oil and heat it in a kadai. Add the powdered jaggery powder and stir continously. Leave it on the flame till the jaggery starts to melt. Leaving it for too long causes the molten jaggery to become hard.
Now add the heated jaggery along with the oil to the mango pieces. While its hot, add chilli powder.
Fenugreek powder - add little by little, because adding in excess would result in a bitter tasting pickle. To start with just add a pinch.
Using the remaining oil, do the tadka with mustard seeds (about a tbsp) and lots of heeng (unlike regular curry tadka).
Time-to-taste: Mix all the ingredients really well and taste the syrup. It should be a little bitter, mostly sweet and spicy. Adjust fenugreek/chilli powder/jaggery/salt. I'm sorry about the measurements. Next time, I'll take a note of how much of each ingredient went into the making of the pickle.

Cover the pickle and leave it undisturbed for about half day so that the sourness of the mango pieces seeps into the syrup.

Few clicks:

Ingredients-

After marinating-

End result :)

Samosa

2009-05-29T12:44:00.000-07:00

Samosa sure qualifies as the most popular and most likeable Indian snack item. Garam garam samosas on a cool wintry afternoon is the best treat you can give yourself. Again, I'm posting this now (after weeks of clicking the pic) since I so much want to eat it right away (its 15degrees where I stay), but laziness is what is holding me back from cooking. Bah! Its too cold outside, who'll go and cook. So, satisfying my appetite by drooling at this picture below:

Now, don't laugh looking at the shape of the samosa :) My Second attempt, I think I did a decent job.

Recipe is from Sanjay Tumma @ vahrevah.com. He's right about adding oil while kneading the dough. Samosas were lot crispier than what I made earlier.

Vegetable pulao

2009-05-26T16:11:00.000-07:00

I prefer calling this pulao, and not biryani. For biryani is a very divine dish, with lots of hardwork involved. What I'm blogging here can be made real quick.

Version 1 - Healthy and tasty

Ingredients:

Pictorial version first. :)

Basmati rice - 1.5 cups
Vegetables - carrot, potato, beans, green peas, etc etc
Onion - 1 medium size
Green chillies - 3,4 (depends on the heat of the chillies)
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Whole garam masala (cardamom #3, cloves #3, bay leaves #3, cinnamon 1 inch stick)
Biryani masala (any brand) - 2 tbsp

Method:

Wash and soak the rice for 20 minutes
Cut the veggies into inch long pieces. Heard that adding potato causes the pulao/biryani to become sticky/mushy when you finally mix the biryani before serving. But still, I can't do without aloo.
Onion needs to cut into thin and long pieces
Slit the green chillies vertically
Heat a tbsp oil and fry the whole garam masala. Don't add too much oil in this step as the GG paste (added next) takes up all the oil that you add.
Fry the GG paste in oil, followed by onions and chillies
Add some ghee, little more oil and fry the veggies. Cover the pan and let the veggies cook on medium flame for 5min
For 1.5 cups rice, add 1 tbsp salt and biryani masala
Drain the water from rice and add it to the veggies. Stir fry everything for another 5 min
Pan to cooker plus water (as reqd)

Serve hot with yummy raitha (curd+onions+cucumber+salt).

Version 2 - Less healthy but more tasty

Drop all the masalas above (ginger garlic, whole masala and the garam masala powder) and use Parampara Biryani Mix instead. This is a semi-solid paste made with a whole bunch of spices and is sold in most Indian grocery stores.

For making "parampara" biryani, fry the onions - then the paste (half packet for 1.5 cups rice) - & then the veggies followed by rice - add salt (a little less 'coz the paste already has salt), water & cook.

Since the paste is oily, and has been made long before we use it, I call this a "less healthier" version of the veggie pulao recipe I wrote above. But, taste-wise, I have to admit, it's amazingly delicious!!! Almost like the one served at Hyderabad House. If you want to prepare authentic hyderabadi biryani without much effort, Parampara comes to your rescue!

Jeera rice

2009-05-22T18:13:00.000-07:00

Been a while since I blogged. Was pre-occupied with a million other things over the last 2.5 weeks. Finally, I'm back to blogger!

As an employee, I used to wait for the work-week to end, so that I'll have two days all for myself. Each Friday morning, I'd say "TGI (Thank God It's) Friday" when I wake up :) Even though I'm not working anymore, I still love Fridays. At home, I welcome the weekend with a nice yummy dinner on Friday nights. On a Friday, I'm posting what I made on another TGIF. Bah! Too many Fridays in one paragraph.

As promised earlier, here comes my post on Jeera Rice. Very easy to make, and quite healthy too.

Ingredients:

Basmati Rice - 1.5 cup
Jeera/cumin seeds - 3 tbsp
Whole garam masala (Cloves #3, Cardamom #3, Cinnamon 1 inch, Bay leaves #3)
Onion - 1
Cashewnuts - to your heart's content :)

Method:

Wash and soak the rice for about 20minutes
Cut the onion into thin, inch long pieces
Add a tbsp of oil + a tbsp of ghee to a saucepan and heat it
In go the jeera, whole garam masala and the cashewnuts
Fry the onions next
Drain the rice and add it to the pan. Toss the contents and fry for 2-3 minutes
Add sufficient salt and empty the pan into a rice cooker
Adding the required amount of water, cook till the rice is done

Here's what we had - Jeera rice with Rajma, Masala buttermilk on the side in a perfect dinner setting on a perfect day :)

Punjabi khana from an Andhra Kitchen. Howz that?

Rajma masala

2009-05-05T14:44:00.000-07:00

A great side dish for roti as well as rice. Method of preparation is very much similar to chole masala.

Ingredients:

Rajma beans (washed & soaked for atleast 8hrs) - 1 cup
Tomatoes (pureed) - 3 medium sized ones
Onion (chopped into small pieces) - 1 large
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Dhania jeera powder - 1 tbsp
Garam masala - 1 tbsp
Amchur powder or lemon juice - 1 tbsp
Chopped coriander leaves

Method:

Pressure cook the beans with salt until soft.
Fry a tbsp of oil, and add the GG paste.
Once the paste is fried, add some more oil & fry the onions.
Tomato puree goes in next along with a pinch of salt.
Once the raw smell of the tomato disappears, add the cooked rajma (along with the water used for cooking the beans).
One by one, add dhania-jeera powder, garam masala, chilli powder, turmeric powder, and a spoonful of sugar.
If I have rajma curry with chapathi, I like it lemon-y. With rice, rajma made with amchur powder tastes better. If you're using amchur powder, add it now.
Stir the contents of the pan and let it cook (with the lid on) on low flame for about 10min.
Adjust salt, masalas as desired. Can add lemon juice now (optional).
Garnish with cilantro leaves.

In my next post, I'll share my Jeera rice recipe. Till then, bybye!

Experiments from Lakshmi's Kitchen

2009-05-01T10:24:00.000-07:00

Lakshmi is the first "new friend" I made in the USA. A nice girl who's really good at cooking, and the one who kind of got me into food blogging. She blogs at: Lakshmi's Kitchen

This post is dedicated to Lakshmi. Couple of recipes I tried from her blog would be presented here.

To start with, the mouth-watering Gobi Manchurian

My changes:

Added tomato ketchup along with other sauces

Vegetable Frittata - Not much of an omlette lover, but enjoyed eating this one. May be because of the veggies.

Many more to try....

French Toast

2009-04-24T15:30:00.000-07:00

Never made it before, Couldn't be happier having made it :)

Ingredients:

Eggs - 2
Bread slices - 3 (Use bread that is thick & not too soft)
Maida/all purpose flour - 3 tblspoons
Sugar - 3 tblspoons
Milk - 1/3 cup
Vanilla sugar/powder - 2 tblspoons

Method:

Whisk the eggs and add all the ingredients (#3-#6) along with a pinch of salt to the eggs
Blend the egg mixture in an electric mixer to get a frothy batter. Smell it now, your stomach would be half-filled with the aroma of vanilla :)
Cut the bread slice diagonally to break into two triangular pieces
Heat a griddle on low flame
Dip each bread slice in the batter, coat it entirely, gently squeeze out the excess dripping batter and fry with a little butter on low flame. French toast can quickly burn, so better to cook slowly on low flame until the bread gets browned

Done! Now, that I got my French Toast right, very soon, I'll try to make my favourite "Strawberry Banana French Toast" in IHOP style :)

Entry to: Event for eggs

Bisibela bath

2009-04-21T12:20:00.000-07:00

An authentic Karnataka dish, also called Sambar rice in other parts of the country. A single pot meal that gives the benefit of eating dal, rice and vegetables all in one go!

Besides dal, rice and vegetables, the important ingredient that goes into the making of Bisibela bath is the spice powder. Most people make it at home, however, MTR bisibela bath masala is good enough for lazy people like me.

Ingredients:

Toor dal - 1/2 cup
Rice - 1/2 cup
Vegetables - carrot, beans, potato
Onion - 1 medium size
Bisibela bath powder - 2,3 spoons
Tamarind juice - 2 tbl spoons
Popu/Tadka - mustard, jeera, curry leaves and heeng
Cashewnuts - as you wish :)

Method:

Pressure cook dal & rice together with 2 cups water
Chop the vegetables into inch long pieces and (steam/microwave) cook them too
Cut the onion into thin inch long pieces (as long as the veggies)
Fry a spoonful of ghee & oil and do the tadka
Once the mustard seeds start to pop, add the onions
Next add the cooked vegetables and fry
Add the dal-rice mixture to the fried vegetables. At this stage, add salt and a pinch of turmeric powder
Toss in the bisibela bath masala and tamarind juice
Adding a little water, bring all the ingredients together. Skip this step if you like your bisibela bath to be grainy and not one mashed lump of rice
Adjust salt, spice powder, tamarind juice as required. You could also add some chilli powder if you like it hot
Garnish with ghee roasted cashewnuts and serve hot

When I cook something from an online recipe, I end up running several times back & forth between the stove & the computer. So as to check if I'm on track :) If you're also like me and if you're going to make bisibela bath using MTR powder, you could avoid running this time - bcoz the recipe above is what is written on the back of the MTR packet. :D

Entry to events:

Single Serving Recipes event.

Cooking for kids: Rice event.

Spicy Thai Noodles

2009-04-16T11:09:00.000-07:00

Given a choice of cuisine while deciding on where to have lunch/dinner, Thai would be the first thing that pops up in my husband's mind. I'm not as big a fan as him, but Thai is something I do enjoy eating. Noodles cooked in a sweet-spicy-sour sauce with Tofu - vahrevah!!

After looking around for Thai recipes, I landed up on this and that. A fusion of both is how I cooked and needless to say (bragging :) ), IT WAS AWESOME !!!

Ingredients:

Thai Rice noodles (Got Rice sticks from Trader Joes) - 1/2 packet (serves two)
Extra Firm Tofu
Green and Red capsicums - 1 each
Basil leaves - a bunch
Carrot - 1
Onion - 1
Peanuts - a cup
Jaggery - 2 tblspoons
Chilli sauce
Soy sauce
Garlic powder - 2 spoons
Lemon - few drops
Coriander leaves for garnishing

Thai restaurants add what is called "fish sauce" to most of their entrees. When I order, I remember to tell the waiter not to add any egg in my noodles. We tried a different Thai cafe recently, and when I told about my "no egg" thing, the waiter was smart enough to guess that I might be a vegan. He promptly asked if fish sauce was okay. That came as a surprise to me, & for one moment, I cursed myself for eating fish all the while :( So, if you are also a vegetarian, let them know that you don't want fish sauce.

Method:

Drain excess water from Tofu and cut into into 1x0.5 inch rectangles.
Spread a drop of oil on a pan and fry the Tofu pieces till they turn golden brown on all sides.
If you are using Rice sticks from TJs, cut them such that each stick breaks into 4 equal pieces. Soak them all in luke warm water for about 20minutes till they get moderately soft.
Cut capsicums, onion and carrot into inch-long pieces.
Wash the basil leaves. Basil is the Star ingredient of this dish. Can't get Basil? - don't even think of making these noodles. If you can't get fresh basil leaves, you could substitute with dried basil.
Prepare the peanut sauce by dry roasting the peanuts and grinding them with jaggery and salt. Add water to the ground mixture so as to make a semi-thick sauce.
Heat two tblspoons of oil and fry all the vegetables with some salt. Cook till tender, not to overcook.
Add Tofu, chilli sauce & soy sauce.
Now add 75% of the peanut sauce and garlic powder and then mix all the contents of the pan.
Taste the curry above, and check the following:
1. Sweet? - no: add sugar dissolved in water
2. Spicy? - no: more chilli sauce
3. Salty? - less: little more salt
Time to go back to the noodles. If they are soft enough, you could stir fry them. Or else, boil them along with the water used for soaking for few minutes till they get soft. Adding noodles to boiling water (like the way we make Maggi) would result in a soggy mess. So, add noodles and water at the same time and heat them just until the noodles are soft enough to bite. They needn't be too soft.
Once the noodles are ready, add the remaining peanut sauce. This step is important, as the noodles would taste bland otherwise.
Mix the curry and noodles along with few drops of lemon juice and coriander leaves. Don't add too much lemon, it should just be a little sour, not too sour.

That's it! Enjoy your meal.... "home-made" with "restaurant-taste"

Entry to events:

I do see a lot of green & red in the noodles, so posting this recipe to the Red & Green food event, with a link back to this.
It's a vegan world: Thai

Sambar with Toor Dal

2009-04-14T15:41:00.000-07:00

Sambar is such a popular South Indian dish that people from the rest of India tag southies as Sambarwalas. No offense meant, had their elders fed them Sambar right from childhood, I'm sure they'd grow up loving Sambar as much as we do. Such a healthy & finger-licking dish!

At home, I make Sambar with Toor dal as well as Moong dal. For now, as I only have the former's click - posting Toor dal Sambar for now. Though I didn't cook Sambar this Morning, I somehow felt a sudden craving for it while working on a cold afternoon - it's 58F outside. As I'm in no mood to cook now, thought I'd satisfy my cravings by just looking at a picture of it that I have. If you have seen the Telugu movie "Ahanaa Pellanta', you'd already know that you can satisfy your tummy by merely looking at a mouth-watering dish. :)

No more chit-chat. Heading straight to the recipe.

Ingredients:

Toor dal - 1cup
Onion - 1 medium sized
Tomato - 1 med. sized
Boiler onions (optional) - a handful
Sambar Powder - my vote goes to MTR & MDH brands
Jaggery (optional) - spoonful
Tamarind juice - spoonful
Coconut powder (preferably fresh, dessicated is okay too) - spoonful
Coriander/cilantro for garnishing
Popu/Tadka - Fenugreek seeds, mustard, jeera, curry leaves & heeng

Method:

Pressure cook the dal with 2 cups water
Take a thick bottomed vessel (so that dal doesn't burn) and add a cup of water. Don't add a lot of water. After adding all the ingredients in Steps 3-5 below, this is how the contents should appear.

Water should just be sufficient to submerge all the ingredients. Not more.
Add about 1.5 spoonfuls of Sambar powder, tamarind juice, salt, pinch of turmeric powder, half teaspoon chilli powder, and jaggery.
Cut the onions into inch-sized pieces. Also chop the tomato and add them both to the vessel above
Peel the boiler onions and add them too
Now bring the vessel to a boil. Once water starts boiling, let it continue boiling for 10minutes or so.
Now add the cooked dal and stir all the contents. At this stage, you can taste it & adjust any of the ingredients in Step 3. Particulary salt, tamarind, sambar powder. If you find the sambar too thick, add little more water.
Once the sambar starts boiling again, add coconut powder and let it boil for another 5-10 minutes. Stir in between, or else the dal could stick to the bottom and eventually burn.
Turn off the gas, and add the popu/tadka
Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with Rice or Idly.

If the tamarind juice and Sambar powder are added in the right amounts, the end result would turn yummy. You could also add some vegetables like drumsticks, carrot, potato, okra in Step 4.

Curd rice

2009-04-11T20:02:00.000-07:00

I generally cook only in the morning and we eat whatever is leftover for dinner. When there isn't much left for the evening, I end up making a bowl of curd rice. We love it so much that we can have plate-fulls of just curd rice. Very soothing on the taste buds, very cool on the stomach, and very very easy to prepare.

Learnt the recipe from my Mom. Here it is:

Ingredients:

Rice - cooked
Curd (I prefer the home-made curd to store-bought yougurt for this recipe)
Grated coconut (fresh/dessicated)
Ginger - finely chopped
Green chillies - slit length-wise
Popu/tadka - urad dal, mustard, jeera, curry leaves, red chillies & heeng
Grated carrot & coriander leaves for garnishing

Method:

Add salt and some sugar to curd
Allow the rice to cool & add it to the curd
Fry the popu/tadka along with ginger and green chillies and add it to curd rice prepared above
Add a spoonful of coconut powder
Adjust salt as required
Garnish with carrot & cilantro
Refrigerate before serving

Since curd rice can be served to a single person as a single-course meal, this recipe goes to the Single serving recipes event.

Also goes to: Cooking for kids: Rice event.

Fried potato curry

2009-04-09T15:41:00.001-07:00

After cooking for close to 3 years, Today is the day I had my "Aha" moment with Potato. There are hazaar ways of making potato curries, & the deep fry is the one that requires max amount of oil. I, hence, make it as an occasional treat once a month. But today, with the procedure I followed, I could get the same taste with just 2 teaspoons of oil! The trick is to oven-bake the potatoes before frying. Takes time, but you would feel guilt-free after your meal.

Ingredients:

Potatoes - washed & cubed
Onions - cut into small pieces
Jeera
Curry leaves

Method:

Spread a drop of oil on a baking dish and place the cubed potatoes
Bake on 400F for about 10minutes
Toss the potato pieces and bake for another 5-10minutes. Once done, they should look like this:

If you actually bite a piece, you'll see that it tastes like those French fries. See, they're already fried & your oil pot isn't empty yet!
Add one tea spn of oil and fry jeera with curry leaves. I add lots of jeera in this step unlike other tadkas I make. You could also call this curry Aloo-jeera.
Fry the onions till they turn translucent
Add another tea spn of oil & drop the baked potato pieces ( I always add oil in installments otherwise the onions take up all the oil)
Salt, chilli powder and turmeric go in next
Cook covered for about 5minutes
Adjust salt & chilli powder as required

Simple dish, can't really go wrong. An amazing combo for steamed rice.

I actually made Taro root (Chaama dumpa) fry with the same recipe a week ago, & it was as tasty as it could be with so less oil. Shall blog it later. So, girls, start putting your oven to good use! I was always under an impression that oven is only for cake-making, but now, I'm even forcing my mother into buying an oven so as to cut down on the oil intake.

Sending this to the Side dish event

Spinach (palakoora) Dal (pappu)

2009-04-09T15:20:00.000-07:00

Here I begin my Dal series...

Since we are vegetarians, dal is our main source of protein. So I make sure I include something made of dal in my cooking everyday. My mom used to make a different dal with each green. But here in the city where I live, we don't have the previlige of getting all those. So, I end up making either tomato dal or spinach dal every week, besides lemon dal and sambar. I don't like my dal to taste masala-y or too spicy, prefer the milder ones. In Telugu, we call it "kammati" pappu.

There isn't much that goes into the making of Spinach Dal.

Ingredients:

Spinach leaves - washed & chopped
Toor dal - cooked
Popu/Tadka - urad dal, mustard, jeera, curry leaves, heeng
Lemon

Method:

Heat a teaspoon of ghee and fry the tadka (I always do ghee-popu for my dals)
Fry the chopped spinach leaves till they wilt.

This is something I learnt from my M-I-L. It helps to retain the nutrients of Spinach. Earlier, I used to pressure cook dal with spinach leaves and then add the popu in the end.
Add the cooked dal, salt and chilli powder
Few drops of lemon juice and the dal is ready!

An excellent side-dish for both Chapathi & Rice.

Vegetable puffs

2009-04-07T14:29:00.000-07:00

Veg puffs are sold in most Indian bakeries. A very popular snack liked by both young & old. This is called "veggie pattie" in some of the Northern & Western states of India. It hardly takes 10 minutes to prepare them, provided you have all the ingredients. All you need is a pack of puff-pastry sheets (you'll find them in the frozen section of most grocery stores) and mixed vegetables (I use the frozen ones).

During one of those weekend get-togethers, a friend of mine made vegetable puffs. Even in my wildest dreams, I never imagined that veg puffs could be made at home. Though its been like 9 months since I had them at her place, I didn't get the enthu to make them until I started to food-blog.

I generally don't browse cooking videos for recipes, unless I have a gut feeling that the recipe calls for some level of manual dexterity which can only be learnt when watched. The recipe I followed is the one by Vah chef, Sanjay. If you stock up the puff-pastry sheets and cut vegetables, you can prepare the puffs in less than 10 minutes. But it could take upto an hour starting from the the point when you pull out the ingredients from the fridge to the point when you take out the baked puffs from the oven. That's bcoz the pastry sheets should be thawed for atleast 20minutes.

Look at how I made them:

Using Pepperidge farm pastry sheets, I could make 9 large puffs using one sheet. The unbaked puffs can be kept frozen for - .... I don't know how many days :) I prepared the filling for 9 puffs and sealed the puffs ready to bake, and then felt we couldn't eat them all at once. So, I placed 4 of them in a Ziploc bag and kept them in the freezer. Unable to resist the temptation, I baked them the very next day :) They tasted just as good as they did on Day 1.

I've had the experience of having microwave-fresh puffs at the bakeries in India, but never had oven-fresh ones. Can't wait to make them for my sister who loves them!

Pav bhaji

2009-04-05T17:09:00.000-07:00

I'm going to start my "Street food" series with this. This is a copy-pasted recipe from Nupur's kitchen to mine :)

The recipe

The shot:

Extremely authentic, Superly delicious!

She is absolutely right about adding onions in the end, and not while cooking. After making in both the styles (fry onion in the beginning, add onions just in the end), I could only wonder how much one small change could alter the taste of the dish. Since I couldn't find pav bread here in San Diego, I ate my bhaji with ghee-roasted white bread slices. :) Wasn't much different from the taste of pav.

Feel like sipping something? Me too :)

How about a glass of Strawberry banana milkshake on the side?

Drinks - Juices, Milkshakes, etc

2009-04-05T16:20:00.001-07:00

Would anyone have a chilled milkshake in Winter? I will! :) & so would my husband. We looove looove the drinks made from fruits. Weekdays, we get our daily dose of milk from the cereals we eat for breakfast. But on weekends, I make south Indian tiffins for b/fast. In the afternoons, I make milkshakes so that we get to have milk in some form during weekends too. They are quite refreshing and at the same time, healthy.

If you have a blender/mixer, you are good to go. Blend any fruit (like strawberry, mango, banana, chikkoo - only used these so far) or a fruit-combo with sugar, milk, ice and vanilla sugar (optional). From my experience, I learnt that banana-based shakes should be consumed immediately. Since we don't get ripe mangoes and chikkoo here, I use store bought mango pulp and frozen chikkoo.

Few pictures of the shakes I make:

Strawberry banana m/s

Chikkoo (sapota) m/s

There's this small chaat place in San Diego called Surati Farsan Mart where you get chikkoo shake. Until few weeks ago, we used to visit this place almost every week to have this milk shake. Fellow used to charge 3$ per serving. I always used to crib that I can get a whole week's supply of milk for the same amount. But because I couldn't get chikkoo anywhere, we had to go to this place to have it. I tried really hard in all the Asian and American grocery stores for something even remotely belonging to the sapota/chikkoo family, but in vain. Then one afternoon, I sat and started thinking, if that Surati fellow can get his supply of chikkoo, why am I not getting? It then struck to my mind that probably he could be using frozen chikkoo from India. I never peep inside the frozen foods section of the desi stores. But when I did, the last time I went, I found a bag of "frozen chikkoo". Hurray!! I proudly showed it to my husband as though that was a trophy/award I achieved :) From then on, we started having home-made chikkoo shake. Very fresh, with a very heavenly taste. This is one truly "dil maange more" drink. All for under 1$.

Coming to juices, the only fruit juices that I make are with watermelon and pineapple. Reason- I don't like to eat the melon directly & my husband doesn't like to eat pineapples directly :)

Fruit + sugar + ice + water = one "aha moment" after a day's work :)

Pineapple juice

Watermelon juice

Masala buttermilk

My grandma first made this after seeing us purchase packets & packets of masala buttermilk from Visakha Dairy. These elderly people tend to favour "at-home" cooking a little too much. "Why waste money, when you can have something more healthier and fresh at home" is what they say. I'm so glad my grandma made this, for now, even in the US, I can have masala majjiga whenever I feel like.

For the recipe, churn the curd with water (manually/mixer) and add salt, lemon juice. Grind ginger, green chilli, jeera, curry leaves in a mixer and add to the buttermilk. Serve chilled.

Caramel apples

2009-04-03T14:11:00.000-07:00

During my visit to the Seaport Village, San Diego I bought & ate a "caramel apple". Having never seen such a thing before, I innocently asked the cashier if there's really an apple inside that peanut coated spherical object? :) (They call something "Mysore bajji", when there's no Mysore inside the bajji - I know, a really poor PJ :) ) Thankfully, she didn't put any crazy look and answered "yes, there is" with a smile. This is basically an apple coated with caramel and topped with crushed peanuts. Whosoever came up with this idea, What an innovative thought! There were a line of apples coated with chocolate, caramel, cream, etc etc. A real treat to watch them. I don't usually take snaps inside stores/restaurants. I so wish I did.

This is what it looked like:

Yummy, it tasted! The apple was a little sour though. Had that been a really good one, I can't imagine how much more taste it would have added. Can be made at home too, all you need is a sweet apple, some caramel and anything else to decorate it - put on your creative hat! Stick around, I'll post another picture when I make one in my kitchen.

Happy Fools' day!

2009-04-01T10:08:00.000-07:00

How many of you have been fooled today? Feeling sad that you could be fooled so easily? Don't you worry. There's somebody out there who was fooled consistently by a huuuuge number of people for the last two years. Not by 10, not by 100, but atleast by 8,500 people who fooled it into believing that they have a job, when they actually don't! Who else do you think I'm talking about besides the United States Citizenship & Immigration Services, the USCIS, in short. Here's why...

Each year the USCIS accepts petitions for the much coveted ***H1B*** visa. This is perhaps the World's most sought after visa, as it gives a ticket to making $$$. :) For those IT professionals with Dollar dreams, there's one additional season besides Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter - & that is the "Filing" season. This season begins on the 1st of April every year. And for the last two years, this has been the shortest season of the year. Started on April 1st, and ended on the same day. Huh-oh!

A citizen of India, with a very good job back in Pune, I never dreamt of landing in the US. So, I didn't care about all these work visas. But after coming here, I was like Sheaaa!!! Is this the way the country, the World looks up to, issues work permits? To get a job here, you need a work authorization; and to get the work authorization, you need a job. Do you see the cyclic dependency? Sadly, our friend, the USCIS doesn't.

For the US-graduated students, they have the previlige of getting a short-term work permit that allows them to work for atleast 1year. So, it becomes easier for them to get a job, start working using the Student work authorization, and eventually get the employer file the H1B. But for the people on dependent visas, and for all those in India, there's a slim chance of finding an employer who is willing to file your H1B and is ready to wait till October 1st for you to join work. As a result, most of these people approach the DCCs (Desi Consulting Companies). Most of them are shady guys with a one room office, and with 100's of employees on the payroll. All they do is, take money from the candidate, offer him a "dummy" job and go ahead with the H1 application. Once the candidate gets the visa, and lands up a job, he becomes the hen that lays the golden eggs. The owner of the DCC can happily vacation in Hawaii, while his employees fill up his bank account. In the eyes of the USCIS, he is a legitimate employer. But hey, there was no real job offer while filing the H1 petition. How could the USCIS miss that?

Last year, I went the right way & got a "real" full-time job, and got my H1B filed without paying a penny. But since the USCIS is not smart enough to sift the "real" jobs from the total pool, I missed the lottery. This year, when I gave up (bad market-no one knows whether he'll be in business on Oct 1st) and started enquiring around for a DCC, there's this guy who offered to file my H1. Not too surprising, this is what he said: "I charge 4000$ for processing your app. I strongly recommend you to put atleast 5 other apps (What???). The more tickets you buy, the better the chances of winning the lottery. Right? Any amount you *invest* in H1B is priceless". My greatest regret is that his name somehow slipped off my mind. Had I remembered, I would have posted this in some legal forums.

Because of these DCCs, the applications out number the quota, thereby resulting in a lottery. All the while, I've been believing that your education, personality, experience, anything that is either a natural trait or one thats acquired with lots of hardwork, earns you a career. Funny thing is, in the US, its a lottery that decides whether or not you can work. Hows that??

Atleast 10% of the 85,000 visas are grabbed by the DCCs. If somebody fools you today, you realize it latest by the end of day. But it could take the USCIS anywhere up to an year to realize it was fooled by a DCC. It just rubs it off the shoulder, perhaps denies the visa at the Consullate, and gets ready to invite another set of applications. The System can't be more screwed up. Since its not possible to filter out the DCCs, some radical changes should be introduced in the way the work permits are issued.

That said, I'm asking again: Do you consider yourself the greatest fool? Think again!

In order to adhere to the Terms & Conditions (written by me :) ), I have to write something about a click or the kitchen. This being one of my Cloudy days, I'm posting my worst recipe ever. What's the point? Well, you'll know what not to cook :)

Remember the curry powder thingy I told you about? Cooking Capsicum with that is an awful recipe. Since I'm never going to cook it again, I don't have a suitable click. But, look at what I have for you :)

Beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel:

H1B Cap not reached in the first 5 days

Aloo paratha

2009-03-30T17:46:00.000-07:00

Aloo (potato) paratha - this item brings back some fond memories and a smile on my face. Without any doubt, it was a must order item whenever we dined out at any restaurant in India. Though we are Andhraites, me and my dad love this one. What I love most about it is, the idea of having aloo stuffed inside the roti. :) I tried making it a number of times, but was never successful until few months ago. After reading the recipe, on a number of blogs, I kind of picked the best steps from each blogger and came out with an awesome recipe. We generally have it for dinner at home; just two 6 inch diameter parathas, with a glass of lassi is enough to fill up your stomach.

I knead and set aside the dough atleast an hour before preparing the parathas. Doing so imparts a soft texture to the dough. For the paratha dough,

Ingredients:

Wheat/Chapathi flour
Salt
Milk

Method:

Add sufficient salt to the atta (wheat flour).
Using a little amount of milk and water, knead the atta to a fine dough. There should not be any lumps, and the dough should not be hard. The softer it is, the softer your parathas. It should be soft *not* sticky, so don't add too much of milk/water.
Keep the dough in an air-tight container.

For the aloo/potato filling, there are two ways you can do this. The uncooked filling and cooked filling. Having tried them both, I prefer the cooked filling.

Ingredients:

Potatoes
Onions
Green chillies
Cilantro
Dhania-jeera powder
Garam masala
Ginger garlic paste

Method:

Pressure cook the potatoes without removing the skin.
Once they are cooked, peel them and mash them really soft. Leaving behind some bigger pieces of potato would cause your paratha to break while rolling it. Also note that the filling shouldn't be wet.
Finely chop the onions, green chillies and cilantro. Like in Step 2, you should not have any big pieces.
Heat a little bit of oil in a pan, and fry the onions and chillies.
Add ginger-garlic paste to the contents of the pan and fry till the raw smell goes away.
Turn off the gas, and add the masala powders.
Add the fried stuff to the mashed potatoes, along with some salt and the chopped cilantro.
Mix them all really well, and bring them together to form a fine lump of curry.
Taste the stuffing, and add more salt/chilli powder, if required. Allow it to cool.

Now, with the dough and filling ready, let's get to the exciting part of making the parathas.

If you want to make 'n' parathas, divide the dough and the filling into 'n' equal parts.
Roll out each chapathi with thicker centre and thinner edges. That is because the curry is placed in the centre and the edges are folded so as to seal the filling. Thinner edges make the folding easier.
Fill the curry as shown below, and seal it by bringing together all the edges and give a slight twist at the end so as to make it really tight Lets call this a ball :)
Do Step 3 for all the 'n' parathas and let them sit for about 5 minutes.
Now, to roll the parathas, dust some loose flour on the ball and place it on a smooth surface. Gently press the ball without causing it to break open. If you notice any air bubbles, prick them with a fork or a tooth pick.
Once you roll the paratha to a certain thickness, use a rolling pin to level it. As in, when you press using your hand, the finger impressions on the paratha cause hills and valleys :). Level them all by rolling the pin. I like my parathas thick, so I make sure I roll them to the right thickness, too thick- doesn't cook in the middle, too thin-I don't like :)
Heat a tawa on high flame till it gets really hot.
Fry the paratha, just like you fry a chapathi. You can either apply a little butter or oil on either side of the paratha, to give it a lovely golden look.
Serve hot with curd, pickle, or ketchup. Can even be had as is. There's roti, aloo curry, why do you need something else? :)

Yes! I made it just in time :) Not for my hubby, but for the JFI event. :) I was seriously going through some Search Engine Optimization videos when all of a sudden, I wanted to browse for the upcoming food events in the blogging community. Landed up on Mahanandi, and came to know about the JFI:Wheat event.

And guess what, the deadline for submissions is Tomorrow. :( I usually cook two time khaana in the morning, so that I get all the time in the afternoon for myself. But today is one of those special days, when I cooked in the evening too. That too at jet speed :) Realised there's this event at 5:30, prepared the dough and put the potatoes to cook while I write the post. FYI, I'm a multi-tasking expert :) That's it, I'm done writing. Few clicks as I cook and my post would be ready to be published.

Hmmm.... Back to my desk with the awesome feeling of having aloo parathas with a glass of Mango lassi.

My first ever entry to a cooking event. Hope the judges like it.

Gutti vankaya curry

2009-03-28T22:41:00.000-07:00

Ask any Andhraite what his/her favourite vegetarian curry is. With 80% probability, "Gutti vankaya" would be the answer. Its a stuffed brinjal curry with/without gravy. We love the brinjal/eggplant so much that there's even a film song from a 90's Telugu movie dedicated to it. I feel honored to post the first stanza of this song, with the English translation verbatim :)

Aaha emi ruchi

Aaha, what a taste

Anaraa maimarachi

Come on say it, mesmerized (by the taste)

Rojuu tinnaa mari

Even when eaten everyday

Moze teeranidi

The craving doesn't quench

Taaja kooralalo

Among fresh vegetables

Raja evarandi

Which is the king?

Inkaa cheppaala

Need I say more?

Vankaye nandi

It is Brinjal.

Hows that? 2 more stanzas to the song, but I'm not going to post them here.

As a publicity stunt, the film-makers launched a state-wide cooking competition, and all the Andhra women went on a brinjal marathon, dishing out several recipes with the vegetable :)

The method of preparation of the curry varies from kitchen to kitchen. In my family, it is cooked without the gravy. I prepare it in my mom's style, but use my ma-in-law's curry powder for stuffing the brinjal. I call this the "Universal curry powder" and its a must have in my pantry. Here's how its made.

Curry powder-Ingredients:

Channa dal (senaga pappu) - x units
Dhania - x/2 units
Urad dal (mina pappu) - x/2
Peanuts - proportional to the quantity of channa dal
Red chillies

Heat a little amount of oil and roast all the ingredients. Add some salt and grind the mixture to a fine powder, when cooled.

If you have this powder ready, you can add it to most vegetables to make a delicious curry. Goes well with Cabbage, Beans, Carrot, Potato, and not to forget, the Brinjal. Just fry the veggies with some onions and tadka, and add the curry powder in the end.

With the curry powder ready, I'll go ahead with the actual Brinjal recipe. For my method of preparation, its best to use baby brinjals, as they cook faster.

Ingredients:

Baby brinjals
Salt
Chilli powder
Heeng/asafoetida

Method:

Add sufficient salt to the curry powder, since it can't be added later.
Also add some chilli powder and heeng and mix them all with a small amount of oil.
Remove the stalk and wash the brinjals.
Carefully slit the brinjal as shown below. One cut on the bottom at the centre and two or more grooves on either sides on the top. The brinjal should not get sliced. The cut should almost go till the other edge, but it should not touch it. Slits are made where the fingers are positioned in the picture.
Stuff the curry powder in each slit made to the brinjal.
Heat sufficient oil (be a little generous, I'm sure you won't regret) and gently drop each brinjal.
See that each brinjal is coated with oil on all sides.
Cover and cook on low flame for about 20 minutes, tossing the brinjals in between. High flame could burn the vegetable. So be patient, and let them cook till tender. *Do not add water* while they cook. Its going to ruin the taste.
Once done, add the leftover curry powder to the pan and gently transfer the contents to a different dish so as not to break the brinjals.

If someone can make this curry every day, I'll be more than happy to eat it. Hope you like it as much as I do.

Sending this entry to the WYF: Side dish Event.

Happy Ugadi!!!

2009-03-27T10:56:00.000-07:00

Dear visitors,

Wish you all a very Happy Ugadi !!!

Its a brand new year again, with an old name though - "virodhi" (meaning- enemy). Each telugu calendar year has a separate name. There are 60 such names, and the cycle of names repeats every 60 years. May "Virodhi" year bring good health and prosperity to all of us, and may this year ward off all our enemies :) By enemy, I'm not just referring to a goon with a machine gun, an enemy could be as simple as a flu virus :)

The Indian festival Ugadi is celebrated in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra. For more info on Ugadi, there's wiki.

We, Andhraites, prepare a special chutney on Ugadi day. "Ugadi patchadi" is what its known as. A blend of 6 different tastes (sweet, sour, bitter, salty, spicy and tangy) symbolizing that life is a mixture of sweet and sad times, and one must accept them alike. As a child, I used to love this chutney that my mom made. Me and my sister would wait for the puja to get over so as to have spoonfuls of the pachadi. Its been 5 years since I last had it from amma's hands. Two years in hostel, then an year at work followed by two years in US. Though this isn't my first Ugadi after marriage, its the first time for me to celebrate it. The first year of marriage, I was a lazy little girl, who didn't know much about pujas et all :) But today, I feel so happy and satisfied after offering my prayers to God, and showing the live telecast to my folks back home in India :)

My camera has moved from the kitchen to the puja area, look at this "puja-click":

The actual ingredients that go into the making of Ugadi pachadi are:

Neem flowers - for the bitter taste
Tamarind pulp - sour
Jaggery - sweet
Chillis/chilli powder - spice
Raw mango - tangy
Salt

Since I couldn't get (1) and (5), I substituted (1) by Fenugreek powder and (5) by few drops of lemon. FYI, I'm overly flexible with what I substitute in my cooking :) Actually, I wanted to make an all jaggery pachadi, so that we won't have any bitter/sour/spice/salt/tangy experiences this year. :) But then, I thought, probably this pachadi will give us the strength to handle them all :)

The pachadi was a little too sour, otherwise okay. For the naivedyam, I made tamarind pulihora and Chakkerapongali. This particular sweet is my super-favourite since it is easy to cook, and tastes good. Posting its recipe here.

Ingredients:

Rice - x units
Moong dal - x units
Sugar - x units
Grated coconut - x/2 units
Cardamom powder
Ghee

Procedure:

Roast rice and dal separately in a small amount of ghee.
Pressure cook the roasted ingredients with 4x water.
When the cooked mixture is hot, add sugar, coconut and cardamom powder.
Can add some ghee-roasted cashew and raisins too.

The smell of ghee and cardamom filled my stomach even before offering it to God. :)

A collage I made:

Once again, wish you a Happy Ugadi !

New year, new beginnings!! May God bless us all.

Cream of tomato soup

2009-03-23T10:28:00.000-07:00

"Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge" on a pleasant Sunday evening over a bowl of tomato soup. Could you ask for more? Me neither.

The first weekend of Spring was a little wintry, and there were lots of ripe tomatoes in my fridge. Question is: what is the best recipe that's quick to prepare while clearing the whole bag of tomatoes so as to make space for other groceries? "Tomato soup" what else?

Both me and my husband are avid soup lovers. Our all-time favourite is the tomato soup served at Panera Bread. That's the tastiest I ever had. I tend to evaluate all other soups, setting Panera as the benchmark. I usually make the Knorr family of soups at home, never tried to make it from scratch. This time, since I had most of the ingredients at home, I wanted to give it a shot. Googled for tomato soup and found it listed in lots n lots of online cookbooks. After searching really hard, I landed up on Sia's website. I did try one of her other recipes too and was satisfied. So, Sia it is! After reading the recipe, I was surprised. Never did I expect onions and carrots in a tomato soup. Anyways, let me try, I thought. I should say, I was shocked after tasting it. The question that came up in my mind was: Is this Panera's secret recipe?? For me, it tasted exactly like Panera. Oh God, I was sooo happy. God bless you, Sia. I'll keep making this again and again and again.

That is the recipe, and this is the picture:

Trust me, I haven't added anything to get the bright orange color.
The only changes were:

No sugar, no butter
Fried a small garlic clove along with the veggies
Added some dried basil & oregano while boiling the pureed mixture
A little cream just before serving

Its quite filling I should say. I never quite understood why soup is called an appetizer. For me, two bowls of soup and that's it, no more room for the main course. Just had salad and soup for dinner and signed off the day with the satisfaction of watching DDLJ over a light and healthy dinner.

Table linen

2009-03-23T10:06:00.000-07:00

I always wanted to buy a nice lace table cloth for my dining table. The ones that Walmart, Target keep are the bland, plain colored ones. So, began searching online for a lace cloth. Here's what I bought from Anna's Linens:

Looks pretty, ain't it?
But I'm not 100% satisifed with it. It looks pretty, no doubt. But it would have been better had the lace been non-porous (like the ones we get in India). I'll probably buy one simple cloth from Target and put the lace cloth over it, so that the food particles don't seep to the table surface.

Chole chaat

2009-03-22T10:09:00.000-07:00

Blogging would be the last thing on my mind on a Sunday morning. Why then am I posting something now? Well, I'm actually waiting for several things ...

for the tomato pulp to cool, so that I can grind it
for the chutney (1) so that I can have my breakfast
for my husband, so that I can go out shopping
for my sister, who gave me an appointment at 10:30 to call her

Now that I have nothing else to do, I decided to post my first recipe. Something I made yesterday for evening snacks. Chaat with Badam milkshake.

Call it channa masala, chole chaat, whatever, its essentially a delicious curry made with chickpeas/garbanzo beans. We either have it with chapathis or just as a light snack. This is one "fast to cook, good to eat" dish. When I made it the first time using my mom's recipe, I was like "Is that all?". Very very simple recipe, yet very very tasty.

Ingredients:

Chickpeas/garbanzo beans
Tomatoes
Green chillies
Onions
Dhania-jeera powder
Channa masala
Lemon juice
Coriander leaves

Procedure:

Soak chickpeas for atleast 8 hours and boil them with a little salt. If you use the canned beans, you can skip this step.
Puree tomatoes (quantity depends on the amount of chickpeas) and keep it ready.
Heat a little oil (I just use 1 tbsp for a cup of chickpeas) in a pan and fry the tadka (mustard and jeera).
Add little turmeric to the oil and fry green chillis.
Add the chopped onions to the pan and saute them.
Tomato puree to be added next along with some salt.
Add the boiled/canned chickpeas to the puree and some dhania-jeera powder, little sugar, any store-bought chole masala.
Cover the pan and let the contents cook for about 10 minutes. If the gravy is too thick, add some water.
Add some lemon juice and garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves and onions.

That's all it takes for a bowl of chatpata chaat to land on your table.

I've got something to say about dhania-jeera powder. Store-bought powder neither has the taste nor the aroma of home-made powder. I use it in most of the curries, particularly the ones with gravy. Once in a while, when I'm really jobless, I grind equal quantities of coriander seeds (dhania) and jeera along with few red chillies to a fine powder. This stays fresh for about two weeks when stored in an air-tight tin.

Along with chaat, we also had a glass of chilled badam milk. For the recipe, well, buy a packet of MTR badam feast and DAD (do-as-directed) :). Blend milk and the MTR powder along with an ice cube or two and savour the drink.

Double ka meetha

2009-03-19T16:58:00.000-07:00

Guests for dinner - what's the dessert? Custard? Carrot halwa? ... ??? nah-nah-nah. I wanted to try something different this time. May be because, I was in this food blogging activity all week. Out of nowhere, I got this idea of making "Double ka meetha". My mom has never made it, I've tasted it just once at a friend's place some two years ago and I don't even remember how it tasted. So, whats it that has driven me into choosing DKM of all other sweets? Guess what? The kitchen-clicks of a blogger. Look at this. This picture didn't just say a thousand words, but also brought a million "waahhh"'s out of my vocal chords. I even sent this link to my mom, asking her why didn't she ever make this sweet? I felt bad thinking, my taste buds had to wait for 25 years to taste this visual delicacy. :)

That said, I went ahead and got the stuff as per the recipe. Since I couldn't find evaporated milk and saffron, I chose to follow Siri's recipe.

No "sontha-talent" (Tenglish word for own talent/ideas) here, as I didn't want to make any mistake and ruin the whole desire of having DKM.

Followed Siri's recipe without missing a word, and this is how it turned out:

Made it, looked yummy, tasted good too. But wasn't as great as expected. That's probably because the bar was set way too high. My guests loved it. So did my husband. All of them are Hyderabadis, so they might have inherited the Nawabi taste buds :). Me, being a Vizagite, I would always choose Rasmalai/Kalakand over this one. Its good, but not great. When I told my Mom that I was disappointed, here's what she said: "I know dear, its not a very delicious sweet. That's why I never made it". What a smart reply, I thought :) Anyways, I'm not going to make it again, unless my husband asks for it.

Pasta

2009-03-19T16:33:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't like Italian food, even though its a little cheesy? Surprisingly, some of the Italian dishes are easy to cook. My first experiment with Italian cuisine was Pasta. Wanted to make it in an authentic way. I got the enthu on a Friday evening, and forced my poor husband to take me to the grocery store, after a tiring day at work. Got Penne pasta, shredded Parmesan cheese and Prego tomato-basil sauce. It was my first visit to the Pasta aisle at the grocery store, and my! I was amazed at the countless varieties of pasta sauce.

Here's the recipe, and this is how it looked in my kitchen!

Variations:

1. Added onions and broccoli to eggplant

2. Substituted tomato paste and fresh basil with store-bought Prego sauce

3. Added garlic powder

It hardly took me 15 minutes for pasta to be served on my plate. At restaurant speed huh. :)

Now a days, I stopped purchasing the pasta sauce. Buying plain tomato sauce (is usually kept in the same aisle as other pasta ingredients) instead. Below is another pasta recipe that I invented.

Slice an onion into inch long pieces and fry in olive oil
Chop spinach and fresh basil and add them to the fried onions. A little salt is added
Dust some dried garlic powder and any dry herbs you like. I use Oregano, Basil, and some Italian seasoning
Empty the tomato sauce can into the pan. Add some water so as to thin the sauce and let it cook on low flame for 5min
Add cheese and the boiled and drained pasta to the sauce
Done!

When I first made pasta, I boiled the entire contents of the packet as I'm always a bad judge of quantity. The left over pasta was refrigerated in a ziploc bag. I didn't really want to make the same recipe again. Then, came the day, when I wanted to eat Palak paneer. Have you seen its click? As usual, there was some left over PP too, and a new idea in my mind. How about having palak pasta? That's PP again :) Next day's lunch was cooked at rocket speed. 3-2-1, and its ready!

1. fry onions,
2. add prego sauce, palak paneer, salt and cheese.
3. microwave the left over pasta and add it to the sauce mixture.

Five minutes of preparation time, and it was the most delicious pasta I ever had.

Your turn to drool over it now...

Palak Paneer

2009-03-19T15:44:00.001-07:00

Summer is in, and so is my first post. How did I find out its summer? Here's my story. Every day I light diyas using oil when I pray to God. For the last three months or so, each time I reach out for my coconut oil tin, I find the oil has solidified and the tin is hard as rock. I end up microwaving the oil, before lighting the lamps. And today, to my surprise, the oil was shaking in the tin. I was soo excited to welcome summer. Living in "Sun" Diego, I have no right to complain about winters. But, come to think of all those woollens, ahhh.. hate it. Sooo happy that its time for my pretty salwars and sandals again. :)

Before posting here, I just wrote a review about an Internet phone here. If you are an NRI, with parents in India, you might check it out.

Hmm... Palak paneer.. The awesome aroma of the gravy while its cooking, makes me crave for Palak paneer atleast once a week.

"This is how I did it" :)

The recipe is loosely based on Indira's post.

Changes I made were:

1. I fried onions before sauting the Spinach leaves in the same skillet, and blended the onion-chilli-spinach mixture together.

2. Used tomato puree.

3. Added garam masala and some kasuri methi while cooking the gravy, and few drops of lemon juice at the end.

4. No cashews, replaced paneer with Tofu so as to keep a tab on my lbs.

Yet another Image. Added some whipping cream at the end this time.

About this blog

2009-03-18T16:46:00.000-07:00

Welcome!!!

Looks like the blogging fever is not going to leave me anytime soon. When I first wanted to start a blog, an year ago, I just pushed off an idea of a food blog. Me and food blog - pleaaassseeee.. So, back then, I started to post some piano notations for hindi songs. About 1600 unique visitors have visited that blog in an year's time. Overwhelmed by the response it got, I went on to pursue other ventures online. Sometime in between, while watching a Cirque Du Soleil show in Las Vegas, I got this idea of starting another blog where I get to review stuff. Hmm.. I have to admit, I haven't scribbled much there, so its visitors can hardly be counted on fingers.

Today, while exchanging a couple of emails with a friend who just entered the blogosphere, this idea flashed in my mind. Why not I write a food blog?? My friends from college, and other relatives of mine, if by chance they hear this, I'm sure they'll "Roll on the floor laughing out loud".. Whoa.. That's one long emotion - ROTFLOL!!!

I know, I know, it's funny. Me posting a cookbook online, when I myself cook based on what I see on other blogs. But hey, its not always that I do as directed by other cooks. I have my variations too, which I pen down in my mail drafts along with links to recipes. Decided to make those private "drafts" public "posts". So, here's what you can expect to see at kitchen-clicks. A picture of what I cook, a link to the recipe I followed, and the changes I made. Sounds good?

Going forward, I might start posting some of the recipes I learnt from my mom too. I guess I should start with how to make a glass of Complan. Here's a little background about my culinary skills. Trust me, even at the age of 20, I didn't know how to prepare a cup of milk for myself. My mom was behind my life to teach me cooking during summer holidays, but all I kept telling her was "There's time for everything". "Jab jab jo jo hona hai, Tab tab so so hota hai" is what I firmly believe in. :) The time finally came when I started working in Pune. My roomates in Pune might still remember how excited I used to be, while preparing the simplest of simplest recipes.

Talking about "kitchen-clicks", I'm not just going to upload pictures of my cooking. I might add a newly bought table-cloth (which fedex delivered as I write this), fridge magnets from a sight-seeing trip, anything that deserves a click.

So, have fun! Bon appetite! Let me know when you try out some of the recipes on this site (with my variations).

Finally,, may God bless all the food bloggers who inspired me to cook!