Vazhai thandu Poriyal/Stir fried Banana Stem

Banana is a favorite among the south indians.We have banana is all its forms and also utilize every part of the humble banana plant.The banana vegetable is fried into yellow discs coated with salt and pepper, its also used in avials and poriyals, sambars(lentils and vegetable broth), the leaves are used to serve up traditional meals, also to steam foods and also as a take away wrapper.And the tender stem is used in vegetarian side dishes.

We make this the traditional way (for us) that is., stir fried and tossed with coconut and cumin seeds.

Check out the health benefits of the banana stem here.

You need
Banana stem chopped and cleaned 3 4 cups ( i used about palm's length of a stem, removed the outer layer and chopped it.You can leave the pieces in some whey water until you cook it.This is will prevent it from turning dark)
Salt to taste
Turmeric powder 1/4 tsp

To temper
Coconut oil 1 tablespoon
Channa Dal /Yellow split peas 1 tablespoon
Mustard seeds 1 tsp

Baby Onions 4 5 chopped finely
Curry leaves few
Dried red chillies 2


To grind to a smooth paste
Coconut scrapped 1 tablespoon
Cumin seeds 1/2 tsp
Garlic 2 pods
Green chillies 1

• In a heavy based vessel, add the chopped banana stem and add salt,turmeric and sufficient water to let it cook.This stem too has a lot of water content so just i added water as required.
• While the stem is cooking,  heat the oil in a pan and add the ingredients for the tempering in that order mentioned above one after the other.Keep it aside.
• Make the coconut paste and keep it aside.
• Mix the cooked stem with the coconut paste.
• Add the stem + coconut paste mixture to the tempering and heat it and stir it until all the moisture goes away.

• A flavorsome poriyal is ready to be served with steamed rice.

Vazhai thandu Poriyal/Stir fried Banana Stem

Banana is a favorite among the south indians.We have banana is all its forms and also utilize every part of the humble banana plant.The banana vegetable is fried into yellow discs coated with salt and pepper, its also used in avials and poriyals, sambars(lentils and vegetable broth), the leaves are used to serve up traditional meals, also to steam foods and also as a take away wrapper.And the tender stem is used in vegetarian side dishes.

Pasta in garlic and tomato sauce

I make pasta for lunch when i have nothing else in mind!Its just so easy and simple to make and tasty!You can make it as healthy(with vegetables) as you can or sinful(with the cheese and butter).i just made it simple as my LM doesn't like any foreign objects in her mouth but the pasta!

As much as i would have liked to spruce it up with some stir fried vegetables, i had to get some lunch into the lil one's tumtum!I had to pick out the tiny pieces of tomato and mint(yes..fussy eater :( )

Preparation Time:  30 mins
Feeds 2 (1 big and 1 small)

You need

Pasta 1 and half cup (any shape)
Tomatoes 1chopped finely
Mint leaves few chopped
Garlic 2 grated
Salt to taste
Pepper 1/4tsp
Olive oil 2 tablespoons

• Cook the pasta and retain some(half a cup) of the water you boiled the pasta in.
• In a pan,heat the olive oil, add the tomatoes and let it cook well.
• Next add the garlic and mint leaves.
• Add the pasta to this and cook until the sauces coat the pasta.
• Add salt to taste.And garnish (if u want) with cheese and mint leaves.

• Serve hot :) 

Sending this to 100-day global fest@Sizzling tastebuds.

Pasta in garlic and tomato sauce

I make pasta for lunch when i have nothing else in mind!Its just so easy and simple to make and tasty!You can make it as healthy(with vegetables) as you can or sinful(with the cheese and butter).i just made it simple as my LM doesn't like any foreign objects in her mouth but the pasta!

Sweetness in a Cup : B & W Wednesday

Jaggery/Gud is a traditional, wholesome form of sugar.It is widely used in many traditional sweet and savory dishes in India and Srilanka.I loved this picture the beautiful curls of jaggery so sweet and versatile!

Sweetness in a cup

I used this jaggery to make candied nuts...giving the already beautiful nuts a nice golden glaze!

Read more about jaggery here 

We use them in payasams, candies and most recently I have started taking a small piece of jaggery as its soothes the sore throat!

Sending this to BWW @ the well-seasoned cook

Sweetness in a Cup : B & W Wednesday

Jaggery/Gud is a traditional, wholesome form of sugar.It is widely used in many traditional sweet and savory dishes in India and Srilanka.I loved this picture the beautiful curls of jaggery so sweet and versatile!

Sweetness in a cup

I used this jaggery to make candied nuts...giving the already beautiful nuts a nice golden glaze!

Read more about jaggery here 

We use them in payasams, candies and most recently I have started taking a small piece of jaggery as its soothes the sore throat!

Sending this to BWW @ the well-seasoned cook

Diwali Wishes and a sweet dish to accompany-Bread Gulab Jamuns

May the festival of lights bring peace, joy and good health to one and all!Happy Diwali

Diwali means sweets,sweets and more sweets!Oh yea and some savory snacks too :)
I had a brain wave a few days ago to try bread gulab jamuns.When i looked on some blogs, there were ladies who've already tried this earlier.Tomorrow is Diwali and I'm in the festive mood.And the ever hot Chennai has finally cooled down with the gracious monsoons!

Preparation Time : 1 hour
Makes about 20 jamuns

To make this you need


Bread slices 6 (crust and all, you can remove the crust if you want)
Milk less than half a cup(boiled and cooled)
Sugar 1 cup
Water 1 and half cup
Cloves,cardamoms 2 each
Yellow food color/Saffron a pinch
Ghee to apply on the palms while rolling the balls
Almonds slivered 1 or 2
Oil to deep fry

• Tear the bread slices into bits and add just enough milk to make a nice smooth dough which you can roll into balls to make the jamuns.
• Make balls out of all the dough.
• Fry the balls and let it cool.

• Pour the sugar and water in a heavy bottom pan and heat it until you get a 1 string consistency.
• Add the cloves and cardamoms, yellow color/saffron now.
• Once the balls are cooled add them to the syrup.

• Garnish with slivered almonds and serve hot or cold.

Have a safe and happy Diwali :)

Sending this post to

Gayathri;s Only swets and desserts

Anu's healthy kitchen : Diwali Festival of lights event

Diwali Wishes and a sweet dish to accompany-Bread Gulab Jamuns

May the festival of lights bring peace, joy and good health to one and all!Happy Diwali

Colorful Mini Masala Papads/Poppadams

This is not a unique thing to many, just that when i made it i couldn't resist clicking away and so had to put it up here.We got these cute lil papads this time from a local shop, i quickly felt the need to have masala papads, this can be called "instant" (other than the frying time), i assembled the whole thing in about 10 minutes.As yummy a snack that they are, its visually-appetizing too!

If you don't have the mini papads, no worries at all, just use the normal sized pepper or masala papads, break them into quarters,fry and make the toppings!

Usually the urad dal/ black lentils papads are used as they can withstand the moisture from the salad!

You need

Pepper masala papads/ i used small mini papads 10 nos
Cucumber a small piece grated
Onion small chopped finely
Tomato small chopped
Cilantro chopped
Salt to taste
Lime juice 1 tsp
Pepper/Chilli powder to taste
Chaat masala to taste

• You need to make a salad with the vegetables and the masalas.Add the lime juice and mix well.Keep aside.
• Fry the papads. Add the topping on to the papads, a sprinkling of chaat masala and cilantro to finish it off.

• Just before you have to serve these, assemble the masala papads by adding a tiny spoonful of the salad onto the papad.

• Serve with a drink of your choice!

Tips:

- This topping is the most basic one, you can use any salsa recipe of your choice.

- Add a slice of cheese with the topping.

Just get your imagination going!

Colorful Mini Masala Papads/Poppadams

This is not a unique thing to many, just that when i made it i couldn't resist clicking away and so had to put it up here.We got these cute lil papads this time from a local shop, i quickly felt the need to have masala papads, this can be called "instant" (other than the frying time), i assembled the whole thing in about 10 minutes.As yummy a snack that they are, its visually-appetizing too!

Moong dal Murukku/Chakli

My mom used to tell me she makes this murukku often.Its a tradition to make sweets and snacks during the festivals.The saying goes - " enna pathiram vekanum " (means you have to keep an oil vessel ie., you have to make fried stuff during festivals) :)

I'm kind of jittery when it comes to making murukkus because it can either be really tasty or be ruined totally!This I found is a fool proof recipe for murukkus(thanks mom!).I was even able to shape them into circles! :) was i glad!

You need
All purpose flour/maida 5 cups
Moong dal 1 cup
Salt to taste
Ajwain/Carrom seeds 2 tsp
Chilli powder 1 tsp (optional)
Oil to deep fry
and the murukku press

• You need to do some prelim preps for this recipe.

1. Steam the moong dal with 1 and half cups of water in a pressure.The dal should be completely mashed.If u see lumps, blitz it in the mixer for a few seconds.
2. Put the maida in a cotton cloth and tie it tightly, you need to steam this parcel for about half hour.Once you steam this, the maida will be like a hard mass but you can break it with a rolling pin.This will be a lumpy mix, you can put this in the drier jar of a mixer and powder it fine.And sieve it to prevent any lumps.

• Once the above steps are done, we can mix up all this up with the rest of the ingredients.You can add a little more water if needed ( the water from the dal is sufficient).
• The murukku mix needs to be nice and soft else it would be difficult to press it out.(like a chapati dough).You can use any shape of mould to make the murukku.I used to shaped a 2 petal one and the star one.

• Heat the oil to deep fry.
• Apply oil on the inner sides of the murukku press and put the dough little by little and squeeze it out of the press.The long strands of the batter can be rolled into rings of murukku and dropped into the oil.
• Fry until brown.

• Yummy crispy murukkus are ready!Store in an airtight container!

Moong dal Murukku/Chakli

My mom used to tell me she makes this murukku often.Its a tradition to make sweets and snacks during the festivals.The saying goes - " enna pathiram vekanum " (means you have to keep an oil vessel ie., you have to make fried stuff during festivals) :)

Tea Buddies : B & W Wedneday

My coffee mug has become my quintessential companion for the day!And a beautiful guest joins us when i do some baking....the beautiful swirls on the marble cake!

Swirly and the Mug :)

Cake and tea are by far the best thing that can happen at 4 in the afternoon :)

 This is my entry to Black and white wednesday @ The Wednesday-seasoned Cook .

Tea Buddies : B & W Wedneday

My coffee mug has become my quintessential companion for the day!And a beautiful guest joins us when i do some baking....the beautiful swirls on the marble cake!

Swirly and the Mug :)

Samosas

Samosas are triangular stuffed savory snacks, they are popular everywhere in India and also in many other parts of the world, samosas are made with a variety of crusts(for instance i saw on tv they made the crust with tortilla wraps) and fillings(vegetables,meat, etc get imaginative)!I am a big fan of it.Since we moved here, I've started buying them rather often.And so my anxiety started to try it at home.I really need to get into the "mode" to do anything and everything!So i got down to do it one afternoon.And it wasn't all that bad!

To make about 10 small sized samosas,you need

For the outer crust:
All purpose flour/maida 1 cup
Water enough to make a smooth dough
Salt to taste
Oil 1 tablespoon to make the dough less sticky
Oil to deep fry the samosas

• Knead the dough well and leave it aside for 2 hrs.

For the stuffing no.1:

Potato 1 medium sized boiled and mashed
Capsicum 1 small cut into small bits
Salt to taste
Turmeric a pinch
Cilantro chopped 1 tablespoon
oil 1 tsp
Cumin seeds 1/2 tsp

For stuffing no.2
Paneer 2 tablespoons crumbled
Corn 2 tablespoons boiled and cooled
Salt to taste
Chilli powder if u like
Tomato sauce (optional)

• Heat the oil add the cumin seeds, let it pop, now add the capsicum and cook till soft.
• Next add the mashed potato and combine it all with the spices and cilantro.
• Let this mixture cool.

To make the samosa

- Make a paste of 1 tsp maida and water to use as a glue to paste the edges.

- To make the outer crust, roll the dough into a circle the size of a chapati.Cut this into half and take one      semicircle and fold the ends to form a cone shape.

- Make the stuffing with a teaspoon and seal the edges with the maida+water glue.

- Repeat the same for the remaining dough.And leave it in the fridge until you need to fry it.(this makes the crust crispier)

• Deep fry the samosas and serve hot with sauce/tamarind chutney :) and masala chai!

With the festival of lights just around the corner, this is an easy snack to make and impress our guests/friends, as you can make it all ahead of time and leave it in the refrigerator and fry it just in time!Happy Festivals!

Linking this to Torview's Food palette series

Samosas

Samosas are triangular stuffed savory snacks, they are popular everywhere in India and also in many other parts of the world, samosas are made with a variety of crusts(for instance i saw on tv they made the crust with tortilla wraps) and fillings(vegetables,meat, etc get imaginative)!I am a big fan of it.Since we moved here, I've started buying them rather often.And so my anxiety started to try it at home.I really need to get into the "mode" to do anything and everything!So i got down to do it one afternoon.And it wasn't all that bad!

Chicken Curry-Chettinad style

I was just looking through some blogs for some variation in my usual chicken curry and i realized that the one which i usually make(mom's style) is the Chettinad style one!Just that when we make it at home, there's no fancy names addressing it, its just Chicken curry!But in any case, its the taste that matters and not the name :D

You need
Chicken pieces 500 gms (washed and cleaned)
Oil 2 tablespoons
Onions 2 medium sized ones sliced finely
Tomatoes 2 medium diced
Potato 1 diced (optional)
Ginger garlic paste 1 tsp
Turmeric 1/4tsp
Curry leaves 2 sprigs
Green chillies 2
Cilantro chopped for garnish

Dry roast 

  Pepper corns 1/4 tsp (u can add less or more as per your spice levels)

  Fennel seeds/saunf/perum jeerakam 1 tsp

  Whole garam masala - cardamom,cloves- 4/5 of each, cinnamon- 3 small pieces

  Coconut scrapped 1 tablespoon

  Poppy seeds 1 tsp.

  Coriander powder 1 n half tsp (for a nice thick gravy or less)

  Red chilli powder 1/2 tsp

and grind to a smooth paste adding required water.Keep it aside.

• Heat oil in a vessel, add the garam masalas whole ones, let it pop.Then add the green chillies and onions and let it go translucent.Add the curry leaves too.
• Add the ginger garlic paste and fry it.
• Now add the chicken pieces and let it fry until the meat goes white.
• Add the tomatoes and potatoes let this all cook until the tomatoes mash and the potatoes cook by which time the chicken would be tender too.
• Add the ground masala paste few minutes after adding the potatoes.
• Add salt and check if the meat is tender and potatoes are done.

• Garnish with chopped cilantro and curry leaves.

• Serve with bread, chapatis, steamed rice or pulav.

Chicken Curry-Chettinad style

I was just looking through some blogs for some variation in my usual chicken curry and i realized that the one which i usually make(mom's style) is the Chettinad style one!Just that when we make it at home, there's no fancy names addressing it, its just Chicken curry!But in any case, its the taste that matters and not the name :D

Tomato Chutney

Spice up that plain dosa with this tangy spicy tomato chutney.It can add that zing to the bland wheat dosa/adais!

You need

Tomato 1 medium chopped
Onion 1 medium chopped
Curry leaves few
Cilantro few sprigs
Garlic 2
Ginger a small piece
Red Chilli powder 1/2 tsp(as much spice as you like)
Coconut scrapped 2 tablespoons
Salt to taste
Oil 1 tablespoon
Mustard seeds 1 tsp

• Heat oil in a pan, add the mustard seeds and let it pop, next add the curry leaves, then the onions, garlic, ginger.let it all fry until the raw onion taste goes away.
• Add the tomato and let it fry until soft.Next add the coconut, salt and red chilli powder.Fry for about 2 minutes.
• Set it aside on a plate to cool.Once it cools down, blend it into a smooth paste, add water if you need.
• Serve with hot dosas, adais.

Sending this to Kerala Kitchen @ A Girl's Diary

Tomato Chutney

Spice up that plain dosa with this tangy spicy tomato chutney.It can add that zing to the bland wheat dosa/adais!

Spices of India

I've taken to food photography ever since I started blogging and I'm so falling in love with my camera which used to see daylight only on special occasions and holidays, especially with the mobile phone camera  becoming a rival of the Canon! But now the Canon has regained it lost crown and its my full time blog buddy, I must say :) I'm coming to realize the complete capacity of the Canon IXUS 50!

Spices have a major contribution to Indian cooking or otherwise.Black pepper and cumin are widely used in the dishes we prepare in the south of India.These spices are ground to make an aromatic mix for the southern delicacy - Rasam!

I love this picture and its my first to B&W wednesday.

Spices of India

I've taken to food photography ever since I started blogging and I'm so falling in love with my camera which used to see daylight only on special occasions and holidays, especially with the mobile phone camera  becoming a rival of the Canon! But now the Canon has regained it lost crown and its my full time blog buddy, I must say :) I'm coming to realize the complete capacity of the Canon IXUS 50!

Wheat Adai/Dosas/Uthapams

I feel wheat dosas are much easier than making chapatis!But my dear hubby dear feels its too bland and all other adjectives!So I thought let me give this wheat dosa a make over and so came this beautiful uthapam or adai.Adai is the thicker version of our beloved dosas!Usually adai is made with a mixture of lentils and thus makes it a healthier version too!

wheat adais with tomato chutney

Preparation time 30 mins
Makes 10 adais

You need

Wheat flour 1 and half cups
Rawa 1/2 cup
Salt to taste
Water to make a runny batter

To do the tempering


Oil/Ghee 2 tablespoons (or more)
Onion 1 medium
Channa dal/Gram dal/kadala paruppu 1 tablespoon
Mustard seeds 1 tsp
Cumin seeds 1 tsp
Curry leaves chopped finely 2 tablespoons
Red chillies/green chillies chopped finely 1 tsp
Cilantro chopped 1 tablespoon

• Mix the flour and rawa in a bowl with the water.Mix it to make a lumpless batter.(leaving it in the water for about half hour will remove the lumps automatically :) )
• Heat the oil in a pan, add the mustard seeds and let it splutter then channa dal and cumin seeds, fry all channa dal until brown, add the onions and let it turn translucent.Now add the chillies.
• Add the curry leaves and let it fry until crisp.
• Throw the tempering into the flour + rawa mix and check for salt.
• Heat the tawa and make thick dosas/adais.Drizzle oil/ghee over the edge of the adai.(adais are made thick and so you would need to cook it on a lower flame so the center cooks well)
• Tasty spicy adais are ready to be served with tomato chutney :)

Sending this to Taste of pearl city's Anyone can cook series 36

Sending this to Hibernative foods@ticklingpalates.