Simple Bruschetta - Game Day Special

We had a Potluck party last week at one of our friends place.My self and seema where wondering we need to prepare something different and simple too . This idea of making bruschetta came up in mind .It turned to be an excellent starter. So here it goes .

Raw Materials Required
Garlic Bread -1 Pkt Store bought
Tomato -1 chopped
Onion -1 chopped
Capsicum -1/2 chopped
Mexican (4 flavors blended together) -store bought
Salt
Pepper -Few for garnish and extra spice

Preparation Style

Cut the veggie together and add salt and keep them aside. Cut the frozen garlic bread into small slices .Place the veggie on top of the garlic bread and top it with cheese. Place the garlic bread in a tray and cook them in the oven as per the instruction in the packet .You can see the cheese to melt and then remove the tray from the oven. Place the bruschetta in the plate and add pepper to it and serve them hot.

This would be be my entry for the event organised by Mansi - Game Night Event .

Masala Vada -Game Night Party!!!!

I think there would be very few people who would not love to have hot hot vada's when watching TV.Especially when we have cricket matches going on , vada's are most common .I made few of them last week .Quite simple recipe ..Here it goes ....

Raw Materials Required

Channa Dhal -1 cup
Tuvar Dhal -1/2 cup
Urdh Dhal -1/4 cup
Red Chilli -3-4
Green Chilli -2-3
Coriander leaves
Hing a couple of pinches
Salt as per desired

Preaparation Style

Soak all the dhals, red chilli , green chilli in water for 2-3 hours.Drain them and set aside so that water would complete drain out. Grind coarsely the soaked ingredients and also add the coriander leaves by adding very very little water. Once done transfer them into a small bowl ,add hing and salt and mix them well. Make small lemon-sized balls and pat it lightly on your palm (mine never came to a perfect shape)and slide into hot oil and deep fry until golden brown. Serve them hot ..Enjoy the vada and also the game .

This would be my entry for the event organised by Mansi - Game Night Event .

Olan - Kerala Cuisine

Another favorite kerala dish of mine is olan.I think this would be the most easiest and the simple recipe for any kerala dish.Mom used to always prepare kalan and olan together .That would always be the combination.The only aroma and taste that lifts this dish is the coconut oil.

It taste awesome and i wanted to share this recipe with you.

Raw Materials Required


Red Chori Beans -1 cups
White pumpkin -1/2 cup
Yellow pumpkin -1/2 cup
Green chillies 2-3 slit in between
Coconut oil -4-5 tsp
Curry leaves (few)
Oil -1 tsp
Salt as per desired


Preparation Style

Wash and soak the beans overnight. Cut the white and yellow pumpkin and transfer them in a bowl.Add the beans along with the vegetables , slit the green chillies and pressure cook them together. Do not add more water ,just add enough for them to cook. Once the pressure calms down take the cooked veggie and keep it aside. On the other side in a small kadai add coconut oil and curry leaves and let the aroma come up and then add the cooked vegges , add salt and mix them well and let it be in the flame for a couple of minutes. Serve them hot with rice.

This would be my entry for Jyothsna's Event of Currybazaar who is hosting
RCI: Cuisine of Kerala.

Kala Channa and Lima Beans Curry

There are various ways to prepare the Kala /Brown channa /Black Chickpeas.Very healthy and quite nutritious too in nature.I used to prepare curry only with kala channa .But then to add more flavor i decided to add Lima beans to it and cook them in a normal channa style.The outcome was awesome ...Just wanted to share with all you friends.

Preparation Style

Kala Channa -2 Cups

Lima Beans -1 small Container (Store Bought)

Onion -1

Tomato -2

Green Chilli -3-4

Garlic -2-3 cloves

Haldi powder -1/2 tsp

Red chilli powder -1/2 tsp

Gram Masala powder -1/2 tsp

Oil -3-4 tsp

Jeera -1 tsp

Lemon Juice -5-6 tsp

Salt as per desired

Preparation Style

Soak the channa overnight and pressure cook with the Lima beans next day .Grind the onion, tomato,green chilli ,garlic together and keep the paste separately.Add sufficient water while grinding to make it a smooth paste. On the other side in a kadai add oil and jeera and allow it to crack . Then add the grinded gravy to it and keep it on low flame. Allow the gravy to change color and you can see it to come to a boil.Then add all the spices and mix them quite well. Once you start noticing that the aroma to come up then add the cooked beans .Stir them well and add salt and kotamali (Coriander) and serve them hot with chapati or rice.

Pineapple Pulissery -Kerala Cuisine

I hardly used to make Pulissery at home .Pulissery would always be my last option. Once i saw our friend's TBC-Pineapple Pulissery, I decided to make my version .It came out to be awesome one.Thanks to you TBC.

Back home mom used to always make Pulissery with "white pumpkin or bengarul katrithika" ..Once i saw pineapple this was something new to me .My mom's recipe is little bit different from tbc , but almost all in ingredients are the same ..So here it goes ...

Raw Materials Required
Curd -2 Cups
Rice -2 tsp
Kadla Parup -1 tsp (Channa Dhal)
Coconut -1 cup
Green Chilli- 4-5
Haldi - 1/2 tsp
Jeera -1 tsp
Mustard Seeds - 1 tsp
Methi Seeds -1/2 tsp
Red Chilli -2-3
Oil -3 tsp
Salt

Preparation Style
Beat the curd and add pineapple to it and set aside . Soak the rice and dhal for an hour before cooking. Grind the coconut ,green chilli and jeera together. Along with this paste grind the rice and dhal together and make a thick paste. Add little water while grinding and not too much.The paste must be semi thick . Mix the paste with the curd and add haldi to it.Keep the Pulissery in low flame and allow it to come to a boil.Add salt and let the flame be on low.On the other side take a small kadai add oil and mustard seeds .Allow it to crack and then add methi seeds and red chilli.Pour them on the Pulissery and mix them well and serve it hot with rice.

This would be my entry for Jyothsna's Event of Currybazaar who is hosting RCI: Cuisine of Kerala.

Happy Pongal

WISH YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY PONGAL !!!

Upma Kozhakattai with Kadala Parup Chutney

Any steamed tiffins are always good for health. And this one is always healthy and tasty. My grandma used to make it often .She used to serve it different chutney's and sambhar . That was really tasty.I also make it quite often and my husband loves them.Even my friends enjoyed it .Just wanted to share with all of you too.

Raw Materials Required

Rice -1 Cup

Tuvar Dhal -1/4 Cup

Coconut -1/4 Cup (grated)

Mustard Seeds -1 tsp

Urdh Dhal -1/2 tsp

Curry Leaves few

Red Chilli -4-5

Hing few pinch

Salt as per Taste

Preparation Style

Take the rice and dhal and make a fine powder in a blender and set it aside. In a kadia add oil and when it is hot add mustard's seeds , urdh dhal ,curry leaves and hing .When the mustard seeds starts to crack add red chilli and fry them. Once the urdh dhal is brown in color add water to it .Add salt and grated coconut .Let the water comes to a boil and then add the powdered mixture (rice and dhal) and stir it well. Once the water is evaporated and it becomes like a upma off the gas. Then make small upma balls and place them in a idle plate .Once all the upma balls are done ,place then in the idli plate and steam cook them as idlis are cooked. Once they are steamed cooked serve them hot with any chutney or sambhar.

I served them with my Kadala Parup Chutney .

Cabbage Rice

I had cabbage in my fridge .Always used to make a sabzi or dhal out it. But this time i decided to make something new which i have never made.I decided to make rice . This is my own version of a simple rice .

Raw Materials Required

Cabbage- finely chopped 1 1/2 cup

Carrot -chopped -1/4 cup
Peas -1/4 cup

Basmati rice -2 cups

Medium Onion -1/4 cup

Jeera -1 tsp

Chilli Powder -1 tsp

Dhanya Powder -1 tsp

Gram Masala -1tsp

Oil /Ghee -2 tsp

Salt as per Desired

Preparation Style :

In a kadia add oil and jeera seeds to it .Once it starts to crack add onions and fry them until they are brown.Then add all the masala's together and mix them well.Add all the vegetables together and rice also and transfer them to the rice cooker.Add salt and required water (i add 1.5 glass of water for 1 cup of basmati rice) and cook them through the rice cooker.Simple and easy cabbage rice ready.

Game Over ------மைசூர் பக் - Mysore Pak

The first post for my new year would being with a sweet/Dessert.It just seems y'day was the 2007 and today if i look its the 10 of Jan 2008 .Oh god days run so fast. 2007 went by so quick could not realise it .My brother was in town for few days.Meeting him after so many years was just wonderful.We had really great time . Eating ,Laughing and shopping that was all i was doing when he was around .Now that he is back to school in Texas, i am also back to my routine.I have to wait for few months to see him back. When he was here i made Mysore Pak. He loves them and my husband also.

Raw Materials Required

Besan- 1 Cup

Sugar -2 Cup

Ghee -2 Cup

Water -1/2 Cup

Preparation Style

In a big pot pour 1/2 cup of water and add to sugar to it .Allow it to boil until you reach one string consistency .See to that you keep the sugar syrup boiling for some time. Keep it in medium flame.Then slowly start adding the besan flour to the syrup .When you add the besan see to that your are simmering the gas a bit or else it would be difficult for you to stir .Once the besan is mixed with the sugar syrup then turn the gas on high and start stir it continuously .Start adding the ghee at regular intervals .You have to keep stirring it without leaving hand from the kadai.

Stir until you see to that the ghee starts to separate from the pan .You would see that the color of the besan changes and becomes porous .After the ghee starts to separate pour the Mysore pak into a greased try and spread them out.Dust sugar on top of it and cut it into diamond pieces. Try to cut the shape when it is hot and then take out the pieces when they cool.

Enjoy!!!!

Back with the Guessing Game!!!!!!

Friends guess what is this ...Results will be out by thrusdays