Matar-Paneer Makhani/Butter Masala, Layered Wheat flour and Flax Seeds Powder Parathas, Multi Dal Masala Vada, Mango-Ricotta Kalakand

We had the hottest 2 days of Spring season last weekend, blazing Sun with 94F and humid. We spent time in the Mall most of the time and then went to grocery shopping at 8pm after it cooled down a bit, we have never done that before even in Summer! Then it rained a bit on Sunday night, temp went down and we are breathing easy this week with lower 80F. But I read that it reached 110F in India in some states, so what am I complaining about, right? Hope you guys are well hydrated there in India. I think Indian kids are back in school while our kids will start the Summer holidays this week, time for me to plan for vacation soon and to take a short Summer blog break too.
Yes! I deep fried again last week. Somebody STOP me!!! ;D
But I did make very small amount of everything deep fried these days unlike before which used to last for 2 days, so it's not that bad. Just few something crunchy to snack on in the evening once a week on the weekend is okay I think.

Matar-Paneer Makhani(Greenpeas and Cheese in Butter masala):
I had bought a pack of Paneer last month, here is the second dish I made with leftover Paneer after I used it to make Paneer Omelet last time. Since it is a Makhnai/with butter dish, you have to add some butter, can't skip that. Although I like frozen Greenpeas for convenience and add a cup to Pulav etc, I prefer dried green or Yellow Peas to make side dishes with gravy, soaked and pressure cooked lightly which gives a whole different taste and texture than frozen Greenpeas. Makhani tastes great served with Parathas, Kulchas or Pooris. Here are Dal Maharani and Dal Bhukhara dishes I have posted before, I have posted Paneer Makhani too with slightly different recipe. This recipe is influenced slightly by Nita Mehta's "Amritsari Khaana" book with my own changes. Enjoy.

Prepare these first:

1. Soak 1 1/2 cup of dry green or Yellow Greenpeas overnight, drain the water, add 2 cups water, 1/2 tsp salt, gently pressure cook until Peas are cooked but mashed. Keep aside. Slice Paneer into 1" cubes to fill 1 cup or more (I don't fry or saute Paneer in oil usually, just add directly to the gravy few minutes before I turn off the heat), set aside.
2. Grind 1 tbsp each of roasted and cooled Cashews, Walnuts and Almonds with some hot milk to smooth paste. Make this Garam Masala or roast and powder 1/2 Cardamom seeds, 1" Cinnamon, 3 Cloves, 2 tsp Cumin seeds and 1 tbsp Coriander seeds for a simple Garam masala mix you can use all of this for Makhani gravy.
To Make:
1. Heat 1 tbsp Butter+1 tbsp oil, add 1-2 Bay leaves, 2 tbsp Ginger-garlic paste, saute. Add 1 cup finely minced onions, 1/4 tsp Turmeric and 1/2 tsp Sharwood brand Tandoori spice masala if you have it (optional) saute until soft.
2. Add 1/2 cup Tomato sauce, salt, 1 tsp sugar and enough Paprika or Kashmiri chili powder, stir on medium heat until butter shows up on top. Turn down the heat, add few tbsp of cold water.
3. Add in 1 cup fat free Half and half, simmer gently. Add cooked Greenpeas with it's water, simmer again until it bubbles, adjust the salt and chilli pd.
4. Add the ground Nut paste, 1 cup Paneer cubes, 2 tsp crushed Kasoori Methi, and 2 tsp Garam masala, mix gently and heat thru' for few more mins. Take the dish off the heat.
5. Sprinkle Cilantro and 1 tbsp Butter, let it melt on top before serving, tastes better the next day. You can reheat Makhani in the microwave.

Paneer-Matar Makhani goes to Diana of "A little of Spain in Iowa" blog who is hosting "MLLA-24th helping" event this month which is started by Susan.
This dish also goes to Sara of "Sara's Corner" and Sunita's event "Think Spice...Think-Garam Masala". Thanks to all of you for taking time.

Layered whole Wheat flour and Flax seeds powder Parathas:
Here is another way to fold Parathas. I always keep looking for new ways to fold the layered Parathas because they make Parathas so soft and it's fun to make them as well. Last month I found a pack powdered Flax seeds at the store, so I keep adding about 2-3 tbsps to Whole wheat/atta to make Parathas or to bread, makes them healthy. I love Flax seeds chutney powder and Flax seeds Parathas made with it too.

To knead:

1. Take 2 cups of Whole Wheat flour, 2-3tbsps of Flax seeds powder, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tbsp oil in a bowl, mix well. Add warm water to knead and make a soft dough but not sticky dough.
2. Brush some oil on the dough, cover the bowl and let it rest for 2 hours. Make layered Parathas.
3. Heat a Tava/Griddle and bake Parathas. Brush some ghee on top when you take them out.

How to fold:
1. Divide the dough into 8-10 portions, make balls. Roll each one out to about 6-7" circles, brush with oil lightly, sprinkle some flour on top.
2. Follow the step by step pics to fold the parathas as shown in the collage to make them. Click on the photo to make it bigger. Roll out again to 6" circle and cook on Tava.
3. Enjoy them with any gravy dish.

Multi Dal Masala Vada:
Here they are, the dreaded(:D) deep fried multi-dal (ala Adai) masala vadas I loved! I used 4 kinds of dals together with other spices and used a American style food chopper grinder to make a very coarse paste like the size of Bulgar Wheat (did not use Indian grinder Sumeet this time which grinds to a very fine paste) to get a very crunchy texture and mixed the thick batter with some Besan later to hold them together into round shapes, something different than I usually make like this flat Chana dal-Dill vadas.

To make Multi-Dal Masala Vada:
1. Soak 2 tbsp each of Chana dal, Urad dal, Moong dal and Tuar dal for few hours, drain and add to the food processor, grind until you get a coarse textured mixture. Take out in a bowl.
2. Add 1/4 cup minced Onions, 2 tsp grated Ginger, 1/2 tsp dry red Chilli flakes, 2 green chillies minced, 1/4 tsp Ajwain, 1/2 tsp crushed Aniseeds, 2 tsp crushed Coriander seeds, minced Cilantro, minced curry leaves, 1tbsp or more if needed Besan/Gram flour just to bind them together, not too much, salt and few pinches of Baking soda and mix well.
3. Don't add water, dough should be thick enough to make balls. Heat oil to 375F, drop in medium sized balls of Vada dough and fry until golden and crunchy.
4. Serve with coconut chutney or just as they are with coffee.

Ricotta Mango Kalakand:
Looking at the (Indian) blogs these days with all those mango dishes they are posting making me feel like jumping on the plane and fly to India just to have few juicy Mangoes! Aroma of ripe Mangoes brings back lot of childhood memories for most of us who grew up in India.
But unfortunately Spanish Mangoes I get here are no match for what we are used to in India, best I can get close to that taste is canned Alphonso Mango Pulp.
I had made Mango Lassi weeks ago, had some Mango pulp leftover and when I saw the tub of Ricotta (bought it to make Rasmalai which never happened) in the fridge, I made this easy and delicious sweet called Kalakand which is made of thickened sweetened milk traditionally, a very popular dessert in North Karnataka but I used thick Ricotta cheese, added Mango pulp to it for easy Kalakand. My kids enjoyed these more since it involved Ricotta Cheese!! ;D

To make easy Ricotta-Mango Kalakand:
Get all these ingredients first and add to non-stick wide mouthed pan:
1. Place 2 tbsp ghee, 15oz tub of low fat Ricotta cheese, 1/4 cup or more Brown sugar as per your taste, 1 cup canned Alphonso Mango pulp, 1/2 tsp Powdered Cardamom, pinch of salt, Pinch of saffron threads, 2 tbsp slightly toasted, crushed Almond slivers or Pistachios.
2. Heat the mixture until bubbly, turn down the heat to medium low and keep on stirring until it's thick and creamy.
3. When it stars to leave the sides of the pan, add to a lightly buttered plate, let it cool and cut into pieces. Kalakand will be soft and moist, sometimes scoopable with a spoon if it's softer which is excellent to serve topped with a little whipped Cream. Enjoy.

Colorful Ricotta-Mango Kalakand goes to Srivalli of "Spice your life" blog's "Kid's delight-Natural colors" event.

Movies:
We watched an old movie called "Mackenna's Gold" again which I had watched as a teenager, loved it. I have been planning to watch one old movie as a family every Sunday evening, so my kids can remember these times when they are all grown and middle aged! Haha!! With most handsome Gregory Peck, Telly Savalas, Omar Sheriff, this movie was so good to watch on the new digitally remastered DVD. All of these actors have passed away now but they live forever in our hearts and memories! :)

Watched "Shutter Island" on DVD yesterday. Movie is based on a novel by Dennis Lehane who is also the author of "Mystic River", which was also made into movie directed by Clint Eastwood, won an Oscar for actor Sean Penn few years ago.
Shutter Island is not such a bad movie over all, visually good, little weird plotwise, didn't make much money when it was released but good acting by Ben Kingsley and Leo DiCaprio. Okay to watch once I guess.

Book:
I have been listening to Maya Angelou's CD books "Still I Rise" and "Celebrations: Rituals of Peace and Prayer". Her life, thoughts, poetry and her voice are all really inspiring.

Have a wonderful weekend my friends! :)

Mysore Masala Bonda with Dal Powder-Tomato Sambhar, Egg Theeyal Kootu, Spicy Masala Eggs

Hello everyone! It's that time of the week again and so soon too! I always think "once a week with multiple dishes" post is easy for me but every week I am huffing and puffing to catch up like a last person running in a Marathon! Haha!
Memorial weekend was so busy and fun too that I didn't have anything written for my post today. I just had these photos posted and haven't typed a word until yesterday afternoon! Anyway glad I caught up at last and here are some of the dishes I had cooked. Yes!! I deep fried again after those Baturas, enjoyed these Bondas after more than a year. That's some will power for a compulsive craver of savory snacks like me, let me tell ya ! ;D

Mysore Masala Bondas:
Most of you Indian foodies know about these Bondas of course. Some get confused between Mangalore Bondas/Bajjis (Goli Baje) which are made of Plain flour with these Mysore Bondas which are made with thick Urad dal batter. Mysore Bondas are the same as doughnut shaped Urad dal Vadas or Medhu vadas, only made of or rather batter dropped to oil in round balls without making the shapes, definitely much easier than making shaped ones if you ask me!
You can make these plain without adding any onion masala to the batter to make Mosaru Vade or Dahi Vadas soaked in spiced Yogurt or add masala to have them with spicy coconut chutney or dunked in spicy Sambhar.

Perfect timing to send some of these to two events which are just announced with Onions and Peppercorns too! I am sending Mysore Masala Bondas, Dal Sambhar and Egg Theeyal Kootu to Priya's and Siri's "Healing Foods-Onions" event and also to Padma who is hosting "Cooking with seeds-Peppercorns" which is started by Priya. Thanks to both of you! :)

To Make Mysore Bondas:

1. Soak 1 cup Urad dal in water for 4 hrs. Wash and drain water. Grind dal as thick as possible in a grinder to a smooth batter until fluffy (should float if a small amount dropped in water) with adding as less water as possible. Since we are dropping the batter in balls, it's okay if you have to make the batter little thinner than the Doughnut shaped Vadas but still keep the batter as thick as possible to make rounds.
Heat oil to 375F to deep fry. Get a big strainer, line it up with paper towels to place fried Bondas to keep them crisp draining as much oil as possible.
2. Take out the thick batter in a bowl, add the following masala to it, mix well.
Masala to add: 1/4 cup finely chopped Onions, 1 tsp Cumin seeds, 1 tsp grated Ginger, finely chopped 2 green chillies, 1 tsp crushed Peppercorns, chopped Cilantro, chopped Curry leaves, 2 tbsp Grated or slivers of fresh or dry Coconut, pinch of Hing,adding enough salt to taste and 1/4 tsp baking soda last, just before frying.

3. Drop round balls to hot oil, keep moving the Bondas in oil so they cook evenly until golden and crisp. Drain on paper towel and serve with chutney or dunk them in thin spicy Sambhar.

Dal Powder and Tomato Sambhar:
As some of you know, I have a gazillion cookbooks of all kinds in my collection and bought more Kannada cookbooks from Bangalore last year when I was there. I found this unique Sambhar recipe made of powdered Dals in one of the books, decided to try and LOVED it. Simple, spicy, thinner gravy than the usual Sambhar and delicious to serve with these Bondas or even with Dill Vadas or Chana Dal Masala Vadas.

To make, fry/Roast dals and spices first:
Dal Powder:
Heat 1 tsp in a pan on a medium heat. Add 1 tbsp each of Tuar dal, Channa dal and Moong dal together or separately and fry/roast these until they are reddish, raw smell of dals disappear and completely cooked from inside out. Do not burn the dals. Take your time with this frying/roasting process, otherwise Sambhar will smell like raw dals. Cool completely and powder finely. Mix well with 1/4 cup water to avoid lumps and keep aside.
Spice powder:
Heat a pan without oil, add 1 1/2 tbsp Coriander seeds, 1 tsp Peppercorns and 2 or more dry red chillies, cool and powder separately, keep aside.
To make Sambhar:
1. Heat 2 tsp oil and 1 tsp Ghee. Add 1 tsp mustard seeds, few curry leaves, 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds, pinch of Hing and 1 dry red chillies.
2. Add 1/2 cup finely chopped onions, 1/4 tsp Turmeric, pinch of salt, saute until soft. Add 1/4 cup Tomato sauce, boil and then turn the heat down to simmer until thick.
3. Add 3-4 cups water, 1 tsp sugar or Jaggery to reduce the acidity of Tomato, powdered spices, salt and simmer for 10mins.
4. Add dal powder mixed with water to the Sambhar, mix well, simmer for 2 mins. If Sambhar is too thick, add more water. But once you add dals, don't boil too much.
5. Garnish with 2 tbsp finely chopped Cilantro and serve. Tastes even better the next day.

Egg Theeyal Kootu:
As I have said before, first dish I make whenever we come home from vacation is some spicy Pearl Onion Theeyal! I get very desperate to have some of this after eating bland food for a week or so! :D
Well..this time I made the smooth onion Theeyal gravy/Kootu style and added few hard boiled Eggs, kids loved it. This recipe may not have authentic Theeyal ingredients but tastes great, I must have written down from a magazine some years ago, don't really remember. You have to serve this some plain white rice, some ghee and a yogurt cucumber raita on the side for a perfect meal!

To make:
Hard boil 6 Eggs, shell them and slit the Eggs half way but don't split them in half, keep them whole. Set aside.
Ground masala: Fry each of these separately in few tsps of oil, cool them and make a smooth paste of these:
1 cup of Shallots, 2-3 Garlic, 1" Ginger, 2 tbsp Coriander seeds, 2 cloves and 1" Cinnamon, 2-3 red chillies, 1/4 cup fresh coconut and 1/2 to 1 tsp Peppercorns.
To make Theeyal:
1. Heat 2 tsp ghee and 1 tsp oil. Add 1/2 tsp Mustard seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds, few curry leaves.
2. Turn down the heat, add ground coconut masala paste, 1/4 tsp Turmeric, 1/4 tsp thick Tamarind pulp, 1 cup or more water depending on the thickness you want, simmer gently for 10mins. Add chopped Cilantro.
3. Add Eggs. Tastes so much better the next day.

Spicy (Chana Masala) Eggs:
Want some yummy spicy Eggs to snack on, or to top a cool salad or for quick Sandwich stuffers for lunch? Here they are! I just hard boiled about 6-7 Eggs, shelled and cooled them, sliced each into half, and sauteed them with my own Chana masala powder I made last week, you can add any masala you have.

To make these:
1. Heat a wide mouthed non-stick pan, add 1 tbsp butter to coat the pan. Place halved Eggs in single layer, sprinkle salt, homemade Chana Masala or any masala powder you like, and fresh Pepper powder or red chilli powder.
2. Gently roast the Eggs on medium heat. Don't let the masala burn. When they are golden, flip them and sprinkle more masala and more Butter if you like until they are well roasted and coated with masala.
3. Serve on a salad or make Sandwiches or serve these just as snacks/appetizers. YUM!!

Movies:
We went to "Prince of Persia" on Memorial day Monday, loved it. This movie is based on a Video game, so I wasn't that thrilled to go but Jake Gyllenhaal is one of fave actor. He definitely didn't disappoint me, movie very well made and he is so charming just like a (a street urchin really!) Prince Dastan should be and a perfect looking Princess called Tamina to boot! Movie is very entertaining, non-stop action, visually beautiful. As bonus, got to see a super Obese (from Hindu Kush region, now Afghanistan) Maharaja riding an Elephant, munching on Walnuts and few giggling Indian Princesses too! :D

On DVD, kids and I watched "Alice in Wonderland", new one with Johnny Depp. Weirdly funny movie but again, it was supposed to be that way, different than normal, so it was enjoyable and entertaining, waited to see this movie on DVD though.
Another very talented actor, we love Johnny Depp's movies like "Sweeney Todd" and "Pirates of The Caribbean" movies, but not so much his kiddie movies like this one and as "Willie Wonka....". I bet younger kids will enjoy these kid movies in theaters better, of course Johnny Depp is always great in any movie, loved him as Sweeney Todd!

That's all for now, enjoy the short week and the weekend! :)

Sweet and Soft Dinner Rolls, Spicy Rolls/Khara buns, Light Southern Banana Pudding

Hope you all had a wonderful Mom's day last Sunday. After months and months of relentless heat, we have been having a cooler weather since Sunday, perfect mild weather for mom's day here. We still need some rain though, helps a lot to keep down Pollen but no such luck so far except few sprinkles now and then.
Well..I baked some sweet rolls and using almost the same dough recipe with some variations, I improvised adding some spices, Onion flakes, garlic powder etc to bake some spicy buns too. They came out well. You can keep them for 2-3 days outside the fridge and for a week in the fridge in an airtight bag. For dessert, I made some banana Pudding using just the Graham Cracker crumbs with it to make it light. Here they are, Enjoy.

Sweet and Soft Dinner Rolls:
Who wouldn't love the sweet and soft dinner rolls? But stopping yourself with just eating one or two would be a huge problem! Haha. I found this recipe in one of the Jewish Bread-making book borrowed from the library. Recipe sounded great to me when I read it although I made some adjustments ie adding a bit less sugar than recommended in the recipe.
If you don't want 15-18 rolls, cut the recipe into half to bake less than a dozen rolls. You can also make full recipe dough, cut the dough into half and freeze half the dough for later use. All you have to do is thaw the dough completely, knead a little, divide into rolls and let it rise until it doubles and bake.

For sweet rolls, you need:
1 tbsp active dry Yeast,
4 tbsp Sugar,
1 cup + 2 tbsp Warm Milk between 90F to 110F(2% milk will do nicely),
1 tsp Salt,
1 Egg to add to the dough (optional, skip it if you like but gives a nice color if you add it)
2 tbsp Butter,
3 1/2 to 4 cups Plain flour or mix Wheat and White flour,
1 egg beaten for glazing/brushing the rolls (Optional, but gives rolls a gorgeous reddish color if you Egg glaze) or you can use melted Butter or milk to brush. on top.

To bake these:
1. Mix the Yeast, 1 tsp Sugar (out of 4 tbsp sugar), 2 tbsp warm milk (90F to 110F), let it froth for 5-10min.
2. Heat 1 cup of milk, rest for the sugar with butter until butter melts in the milk and keep aside until it cools down just "warm to touch" temperature. Add 1 egg (optional) and beat well.
3. Sift 3 1/2 cups Plain flour with Salt. Make a well in the center, add Yeast mix, mix. Add the milk mixture, mix, knead it well until you get a soft dough, not sticky. Add more flour if you want if you find the dough sticky or use the mixer with kneader and adjust the flour.
4. Cover the dough and let it rise until double. Then transfer it to fridge. (This is optional if you have time. If short of time, just punch down the dough, add any dry fruit you like at this point, knead and proceeds to make balls, cover and keep them for second rising)
5. Keep the dough wrapped in the fridge to let it rest and relax for 1 hour. Take it out and divide the dough into 15 balls. Place them on a lightly oil or butter sprayed cookie sheet as shown, cover with a clean towel, let it double in size for 1-2hrs.
6. Preheat the oven at 425F. Uncover the rolls, brush it with beaten Egg glaze for the best dark reddish color or with melted butter if you want and then place the cookie sheet in the middle rack.
7. Bake for 12-16mins or until they are puffed up and baked, depending on your oven efficiency. Do not overbake, they are soft when they are a bit undercooked. Take them out quickly, cool them on a rack. Once cooled, you can store them in a huge Zip lock bag and enjoy them any time.

Ready for Jam or Jelly!!

Khara or spicy Buns:
I love these Buns, remind me of Indian Bakery goodies. They are not as good as Bangalore Bakery ones but not bad to bake them at home and enjoy. I don't have the choice of going to the bakery and pick them up anyway! :D
Only difference in the recipe from above are the amount of Sugar and salt (more salt and less sugar for spicy buns) and addition of spices and herbs.

Ingredients are the same as above for these spicy buns except add 2 tsp salt and just 1/2 tbsp of sugar and add 1/2 tbsp mixed spices, 1/4 cup grated Carrots and 1 tbsp herbs of your choice to the dough and knead before you refrigerate the dough.
Brush the Buns with butter or beaten Egg after they are plumped/raised, sprinkle some chilli powder/paprika on top to make them attractive.
Bake as above and cool them.

Serve these as they are or with cream cheese.

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My style "light" Southern Banana Pudding:
Well...my Banana pudding, (pudding also called custard in UK), is not exactly a traditional Banana Pudding as they make in Southern US. Look at the video and the site I have linked to see how the traditional banana pudding made. I love to eat Banana Pudding but I don't like too much sugar in it or all the egg whites whipping and baking etc, which absolutely tastes great of course, but I made a quick dessert my way. Only hard work here is making Vanilla Pudding on stove top. It has all the flavors, no baking but chilled in the fridge for few hrs or overnight but very easy to make and also you can adjust the sugar as per your taste. Hope you like my style "light" Banana pudding! :)

You need: (to make 4 servings)

4 Bananas, 2 cups sweet Graham cracker crumbs (available in stores which I used here) in a box or you can use (Nilla brand is the best, very traditional to use in this pudding) Vanilla Wafers or any sweet Biscuits like Marie in India or Oreo cookies too if you like Chocolate flavored dessert like my kids do and grind them to a very coarse textured crumbs. You need Four dessert serving bowls for individual servings or make in a big bowl and scoop to bowls.

For making Vanilla Pudding:
1. Mix 1/4 cup sugar (more or less, as you like), 3 tbsp plain flour and 1/8 tsp salt well, keep aside.
2. Whisk 2 cups of 2% milk, 1 tsp Vanilla essence, 2 Eggs very well. Add to flour mix above 1/2 cup at a time and beat everything very well until there are no lumps.
3. Now put a non-stick pan on medium low heat (very imp, do not let the pudding boil!), add 2tsp butter, melt. Add all the mixture to the pan, keep whisking or stir with a wooden spoon.

4. Let it come to simmer slowly and keep stirring. Takes time, have patience, do not keep the heat high. It will be a scrambled egg mess instead of smooth pudding if you do!
5. When it starts to thicken and coats the back of the spoon, take off the heat and let it cool.
If it's too thick, you can add some more milk and gently heat again.
To make Banana Pudding:
1. Divide Cracker crumbs into 8 portions (1/4 cup each), add 1 portion each into the bottom of the bowl, top with 1/2 of sliced Banana (cut into 1/8" rounds) on top of each bowl.
2. Add cooled pudding into all bowls equally divided. Add the rest of the Banana slices and rest of the Graham cracker crumbs.
3. Chill in the fridge for 4hrs or overnight and serve.

Here is the "back of the Nilla wafer's box recipe" original Banana Pudding.
Here is a video of how to make a traditional Southern Banana breading.

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Mother's day Sunday:
My son wrote me 3 Poems for me in a handmade Heart Origami and kept it on the oven top so I can find it first thing in the morning which reduced me to tears. So sweet of him! Daughter bought me a Nikon "point and shoot" camera which I really could use since my old one was all scratched up. We went out to lunch and then to "Iron man 2" movie. Movie was okay, not much story to remember forever but much more fun for kids than adults (or rather, not much fun for adults like me with different taste in movies!:D) and cool effects of all those Ironman's suits was remarkable. Liked Gwyneth Paltrow's character of "Pepper Potts" better than anybody else in the movie.
Book I am listening to:
I am currently listening to a CD book called "The Bluest Eyes" by Toni Morrison. Listening to Audio books are much easier than reading for me right now, saves me from lot of eye strain. I get some of the audio books from the library since CD books can be very expensive to buy and download to my iTunes to listen to whenever I have some free, quiet time, specially after 8pm.
Free Audio books to download and listen at your leisure:
If you are interested in MP3 or iTunes downloading the Audio books for free, here are few sites called "Librivox" and "Booksshouldbefree". You will have download a program called "winRAR.zip" and then add to iTunes or directly to iTunes to listen in iPod Itouch. My son (I am not Tech savvy at all!) installed Zip program which is also free on the web and showed me how to download the stories to iTunes and then to my iTouch. I love to listen to classic stories by Leo Tolstoy instead of reading the big books. Most readers at these sites are good, as these are Public domain books and different volunteers read the different books. Some are terrible readers, so listen to samples first to see if you like the reader's voice at "booksshouldbefree" site and then download the books. My faves are Thomas Hardy books, studied one of his books "Far from the Madding crowd" for PUC English long time ago, been a fan of his books since then! Ah....sweet memories! :)

Free books to read on the web!
If you want to read the short stories or classics on your PC or Laptop screen for free, here is a site called "Short Stories@Classic reader". Just login to become a member or click on the link to start reading the stories. Most of them are unabridged classic books ie full uncut stories for adult, kids and young adults. You are free to print them out to read them on the beach or lazy Summer evenings on the deck or porch as well. What a great service by these people! Have fun.

Have a wonderful week and weekend my friends! :)

Hearty Broccoli with Creamy Parmesan-Pepper sauce, Bhakri-Pithla, Chana Dalia Chaat, Superbowl platter.

Wish you a great Maha Shivaratri celebration on the Feb 12th & a very happy Valentine's Day on Feb 14th to all of you. Enjoy.

I had a very busy week and weekend last week, did not have enough time to read or watch movies like I usually do in a week. Superbowl was very exciting this year, we had a great time on Sunday, eating, rooting for the underdog team New Orleans Saints who proved themselves very well, loved watching them win and cry tears of joy. They deserve it all. So my dear folks, this week I won't be "talking" too much but I will give you quick recipes of what I cooked and more photos for you to enjoy. Have fun.

Hearty bowl of Broccoli topped with creamy Parmesan and Pepper Sauce:
Here is a simple, heart healthy with low fat cream but tasty Broccoli dish topped with creamy sauce to have on the side with a main side or it's yummy to eat as it is for a light lunch or brunch. Looks like a big box of Chocolate and Champagne is waiting for my Valentine...shhh...!!! :)

To make:

1. Put a 10oz bag of frozen Broccoli flowerettes in a bowl with little salt in the microwave, cover and cook for 4-5mins or you can steam the fresh ones too with few tbsps water and salt until soft, should be still whole but do not overcook. Let all the water drain if any left and cool the Broccoli. Add to a serving bowl.
For sauce:
1. Heat a pan, add 1 tbsp Butter, sprinkle 2 tbsp plain flour, stir for a minute until well mixed and raw smell of flour goes, don't let it brown.
2. Add 1 cup fat free cream or Half and half, 1/2 cup low fat milk or 1 1/2 cup of 2% milk will do too. Let it heat gently, add 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, salt, Pepper, 1/4 tsp grated Nutmeg, simmer until the sauce becomes little thick.
3. Pour this over Broccoli and serve hot.

Hearty Broccoli with Creamy Parmesan-Pepper sauce goes to Priya's "Hearts for St.Valentine's day" event. Thanks Priya.

A Rustic Maharashtrian Bajra/Bajri Bhakri and Pithla combo:

More heart heart healthy and hearty meal, a Indian farmer's favorite meal, specially around Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra and also some other states in India but now they are mine as well. Bajri/Pearl Millet/Sajje flour rotis make a great combo with another Maharashtrian Besan spicy side dish called Pithla (I love Junka with Bhakri too). Bajri has little gluten to bind properly, you can add 1/2 cup Atta/wheat flour if you like to make the rolling easier. Usually, Bhakri dough is mixed with salt and hot water, slapped with open hands on a flat surface to a circle and cooked.

To make Bhakri: (my way)

1. Take 2 cups of Bajri flour, mix some salt and add very hot water to the mix, gently mix with a wooden spoon. Do not add to much water, just enough to bind to a soft dough.
or you can add 1/4 to 1/2 cup whole wheat flour to 1 1/2 cups Bajri flour, mix and make dough as above. I made it without adding Atta, but did use oil spray to make it easy on me.
2. On a thick foil or plastic, I spray some no-stick oil and press the dough until I get a circle and cook on Tava. You can see the uneven edges which is quite okay.
Traditionally speaking, take the soft dough, slap it until you get a circle and cook. If you have added the atta flour, it will be easier to roll like Chapatis with a rolling pin.
3. Cook both sides until golden specks appear, no oil is added at all. Best served hot of the Tava.

Spicy Pithla:
Make sure you use fresh Besan/Gramflour/Chickpea flour to make this and make it spicy since Bhakris are pretty bland. Here is my version. Heat up the besan in the microwave for few seconds if it's little old sitting in the pantry for a while but if Besan is fresh, no need to heat it and fresh Besan tastes the best.

To make Pithla:
1. Take 2 cups of water and add 2-3tbsp fresh Besan flour, 1/2 tsp of salt, whisk it to avoid the lumps until smooth and keep aside.
2. Heat 1 tbsp oil (adding bit of ghee gives it a nice taste), add 1 tsp Mustard seeds, 1 tsp Cumin seeds, 1/4 cup finely onion, 2 finely chopped Garlic, 1/2" finely chopped or grated Ginger, 3-4 finely chopped green chilies, 2tbsp finely chopped Cilantro and saute until they are soft.
3. Add 1/4 tsp Turmeric, mix well. Add Besan and water mixture slowly on a low heat, keep stirring and simmering until it starts to thicken. Adjust the salt.
4. When it's thick with still pourable consistency but not very very thick and lumpy and the raw smell of Besan goes away, take off the heat and serve. You can squeeze some Lemon juice on top to taste as well.
My Bhakri and Pithla combo goes to Pari's delicious sounding "The combo event", can't wait to see the round up Pari, thanks.

Chana Dalia Chaat to munch:
Well...I am controlling myself from deep frying this Winter...God only knows how hard it is for me people! :D...so adding tangy Amchoor, white or red pepper pd, and Chaat masala to some puffy and crispy dal is the only salvation for me to munch on cold evenings, my dreaded time of 3-4pm. Amchoor/Amchur is dried and powdered green Mangoes available in the stores. It is tangy to taste, good for replacing any dry Tamarind powder or Citric acid in snacks. Here goes my Dalia Chaat (tangy spicy crispy dal snack), Indian streetcart "Chana Jor Garam" style.

To make:

1. Take 1 cup of whole Chana dalia/Chutney dal/ Putani/ Hurigadale, (not split kind), add 1 tbsp oil to coat, put them on a plate and heat it in the Microwave for 2-3 mins or until they are crispy. 2. Put the dalia in a wide mouthed bowl, add 1/4 tsp Turmeric, enough salt and coarse red chilli pd or white pepper pd, 1 tsp cumin seeds powder, 1/2 tsp Coriander seeds powder, 1/2 tsp or more Amchoor pd, 1/2 tsp Garlic powder, 1/2 tsp Chaat masala, pinch of Garam masala, mix well.
3. add more or reduce spices as you need to your taste and let it cool. Store in air tight jar to munch on later. You can reheat in the MW if you find it little soft to make it crispy again.

Chana Dalia Chaat goes to Sunita and Bhagyashri's "Think Spice...Think-Amchoor" event, thanks to both of you.

WHO DAT?! Saints, of course!! YAY!! Can you tell how happy I am to see New Orleans Saints win the Superbowl 44?!

As usual for every year's Superbowl, we lit up fireplace and baked store bought Taquitos, Tornados, (Baked Mexican snacks with meat and cheese wrapped in crisp flour Tortillas), Buffalo Chicken Wings, made some hot dipping sauce for them (2 tbsp Mayonnaise, 2 tbsp Ranch dressing and 1 tsp SriRacha hot sauce and pinch of salt), Chili cheese-Salsa-Cilantro-Jalapeno topped Doritos, sweet Corn and my special Avocado, sweet peppers and Corn Guacamole to scoop with Tortilla chips, served with soft drinks and cold Beers! It was a great game to watch too by the way! :D

Avocado, sweet peppers and Corn Guacamole:
Scoop 2 Avocados, place the pulp in a bowl. Mash with a fork until you get soft chunks, not too pasty. Add 1 tbsp or more lemon juice, salt, finely chopped 2-3 Jalapenos, 2 Garlic, grated, 1/2 onion, 4 tbsp Cilantro, 3-4 tbsp red and yellow sweet Peppers, 1 small can drained corn, 1/8tsp Mexican Cumin powder and mix everything well. Adjust the spices to yout taste and serve with Tortilla chips. You can sprinkle some hot sauce to mix too. If you are not serving the Guacamole immediately, don't add salt to this before but add salt just before serving.
My Avacado, sweet Peppers and Corn Guacamole goes to Siri's "Healing Foods-Avacado" event and also to PJ's "no Cook" event as well, thanks Siri and PJ.

Mysore veg and Flower market: (Click all the pics to enlarge them)
Sandeepa of "Bong mom's cookbook" shared her beautiful childhood memories of going to the local market with her dad in this post with photos and asked us to share our's too.
When I was in India last year, I went to see the Mysore vegetable market as it holds many memories of childhood strolls there with my parents and that little bakery where I used to savory snacks and that little bookstore I used to run to buy story books. It all came back to me when I was there , took these pics and here they are in collage. Flower Garlands, Mysore Mallige Hoovu (Jasmine), colorful glass Bangles, Fruit market, vegetable market, colorful Rangoli powders, Kunkuma(Sindhoor) powder, Coconut water (Elaneeru), Sugarcane juice (Kabbinahalu) and beautiful half-ripe Guavas, Star fruits etc. This relatively clean and great smelling veg and Fruit market in Mysore still as beautiful as ever as I remember visiting it after a gap of 18yrs!

Movie I watched:
After watching Bruce Lee's "Enter the Dragon" and Jackie Chan's hilarious "Drunken Master" recently, I got interested in Martial Art movies. One of the unique and wonderful movies I watched last week was from Thailand, Tony Jaa's "Ong Bak, Ong Bak 2". I LOVED both of them, set in gorgeous Thailand, a very different Martial Art style called Muay Thai than we usually see in Chinese movies. Beautiful movies, watch them if you get the chance. Here are few samples of the latest movie, Ong Bak 2.

"Amelia" is another biographical movie directed by Mira Nair, about the story of the first woman Aviation pioneer in US and author Amelia Earhart, whose plane mysteriously disappeared while on her flight over Pacific Ocean in 1937, later declared legally dead in 1939. Amelia is played by Hilary Swank (love her, great actress) and Richard Gere. Great movie to watch, she even stops at Dum Dum airport, Calcutta once flying on the way to Bankok and seen sipping a Chai from a earthen lota/cup in this movie! :)

That's it for this week, have a wonderful celebrations.

Welcoming 2010 with a Cypriot Olive, onion and herb bread and Sweet Potato baked "Fries" with spicy Mayonnaise dip

Hello everyone!!
Hope you all had a wonderful Shivaratri, Diwali, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, Eid and New Year celebrations. Yes I know, can't believe myself that I have been gone that long!!
Well... I am back to blogging in good spirits, new positivity and hope. I appreciate all your support during my long absence and thanks for all your emails, comments enquiring about my safety, well being, for missing me and asking me to return to blogging. Better late than never, so here I am.

Here is my belated new year toast to all of you. Have a very happy, prosperous and healthy 2010. Be positive, surround yourself with good things in life, keep all the toxic people out and smile more. Cherish your families and friends. Cheers!! :)

Here is a healthy tasty savory bread I baked to start the New Year after many many months of not baking anything at all and also for Thanksgiving, I had bought some Sweet Potatoes. I thought I would try baking some fries instead of deep frying to serve with a spicy hot sauce Mayo dip. They came very good, tasty sweetish fries with spicy dip for appetizer or just to snack on.

Cypriot Olive,onion and herb bread:
Source for this bread recipe is "100 Great Breads" by Paul Hollywood, with my own modifications since some ingredients are in grams in this book and he used 30gms of fresh yeast instead of dry Yeast. I had to make some adjustments in the recipe to suit me.

You need: (Makes 1 big loaf or two smaller loaves)
1 1/2 packages of dry active Yeast (or about 1 1/4 tbsp),
1 1/4 cup water, (you may or may not need all the water)
1 tsp sugar,

3 1/2 to 4 cups white bread flour,
(you can mix white and whole wheat bread flour),
1 tsp salt,
2 tbsp Olive oil,

1/2 to 3/4 cup drained well and pitted, roughly chopped black Greek Olives,
(Kalamata or any kind of Olives you like),
4 tbsp chopped white sweet onion,
2-3 tbsp fresh mixed herbs or 1 tsp crushed dry mixed herbs,
(Author used 4 tbsp chopped Cilantro but I used fresh Basil and Parsley from my herb pots).
Mix the Olives, onion and herbs and divide into two portions. Keep aside.

To bake this bread:
1. Add yeast to 1/4 cup of warm water with sugar and let it foam for 10mins in a stand mixer bowl or any big bowl you are using to knead the bread.
2. Sift 3 1/2 cups of flour, salt and add oil. Mix well. Add Yeast mixture to it and remaining 1 cup water gradually as needed and use the kneader hook for 4 mins to knead or knead the dough well by hand until soft and pliable.
3. Add 1/2 cup of remaining flour only if needed to make a soft dough. Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces, cover the bowl and leave it to rest for an hour in a warm place.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

4. Mix the herbs, Olives and onions, divide into 2 portions. Add each portion to each piece of dough and knead to mix well. Shape into rounds. I made one big oval shaped loaf instead of two. Place both pieces of round dough on the Parchment paper on the baking sheet.
5. Sprinkle the top lightly with some flour (optional) and cut a "X" on loaves to release the steam when baking or slash the bread across 1/4" deep as you see in the picture. Cover with a clean cloth and leave to rise again for 45 mins.

Preheat the Oven to 400F.

6. Bake the loaves for 30 to 40 mins or until baked golden and sounds hollow when tapped the bottom of the bread. Don't bake too long.
7. Let it cool completely on a rack before you store in a plastic bag like Gallon size Zip-lock bag.

Serve the toasted slices with soup or with cream cheese or with hummus. You can also serve the slices with grilled meats, Greek style Yogurt salad like Tzatziki. Enjoy.

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Baked sweet Potato fries with spicy Mayo dip:
I baked these for Thanksgiving day. Deep frying the sweet Potatoes probably make them tastier, crispier and yummy I am sure. But I baked this time. Sweetish salty fries with spicy and tangy Mayonnaise dip go very well together. Enjoy.

You need:
2 Sweet potatoes, narrow and oval shaped would be good to make finger chips,
Enough salt to sprinkle. Coarse black pepper powder (optional).

To bake:

Preheat the oven to 400F

1. Wash the sweet Potatoes and dry them. No need to peel the skin unless you want to. Cut into 3 to 4" finger chips, about 1/2 " to 1" thick. Better to make them same length and thickness to bake them uniformly.
2. Layer them on a thick non-stick baking sheet, spray little Canola oil on top or mix the finger chips or fries with oil in a bowl and then layer on the sheet.
3. Bake in the oven for 30 to 40 mins or until fries are golden, cooked thoroughly and crispy. Oven time differs, so use your judgment to cook them.
4. When they are done, spread them on a cooling rack to cool them a little and sprinkle with salt and pepper to your taste.
5. Serve with spicy Mayo dip while they are still warm.

Spicy and Tangy Mayo:
1. Take 3/4 cup Hellman's Mayonnaise (light Mayo is okay too but I prefer the regular Mayo) in a bowl, add 2 tsp Sour cream, 1 tsp or more of Sri Racha hot sauce or any hot sauce you like.
2. Sprinkle 1-2 tsp of any fresh herbs you like or 1/2 tsp of Italian dry herbs, salt and pepper as need it. Some minced white sweet onion can be added too for crunch but optional. Mix well and serve as a dip with baked fries.

That's it! Beautiful to look at and very tasty appetizer or snack to serve.

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My thanks to my dearest friends!!
Sometimes life kicks you from your peaceful, happy slumber to wake you up to smell the "coffee" as they say. After you deal with the reality, in most situations, these experiences will help you change your life hopefully for the better, to make you appreciate more of what you have, realize who your true friends and well wishers really are and to find yourself again in the process even though I do not wish to repeat the last six months of 2009 ever again. Life will never be the same as before for me but I am sure it will be different in a good way. I hope, pray and wish that 2010 will be fabulous for all of us!

Here is a quote I like the most:

"A woman is like a tea bag- you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water" by Eleanor Roosevelt. Here are more of them from this lady.

I had few rough months last year since July (personal, nothing to do with blogging or any blogger), took me a while to deal with all that and recover in one piece. Some of my blogger friends (you know who you all are, I am not listing your names here for privacy reasons), my dearest friends from India, my family helped me a lot during this tough time with their advice and absolute support without judgment. I really do appreciate everything you did for me and a HUGE thank you from me to all of you. I feel privileged to have you as friends in my life.

Blogging/Blog surfing:
Since I am cooking just for two most of the time these days, I won't be cooking specially for any blog events except for very few ie only if I already have any dish to post for my blogs suitable your events. Event hosts, don't take it personally please. I don't feel like cooking just for events or even blogging that much anymore, trying to cut down cooking a lot these days too.
I am also not going to blog surf a lot everyday and will not publish any negative, rude comments either, will try to keep blogs clean and positive. I will come and say hello to you whenever I see your names/blog profiles here in my blogs. I don't think I can handle surfing 200+ blogs I have listed in my reader on a daily basis, best to avoid myself getting a "carpal tunnel syndrome", seriously!! :D

I recommend these movies I loved:
"Julie and Julia", Walt Disney's "Up", "Avatar", "Sherlock Holmes" and "Nine". I liked "Nine" specially.

Have a great day, see you all next week. I still have to post my 2009 Summer garden pics!

Clicking Cookies, Strawberry Spring Cake, Carrot-Bell Pepper Rice and Summery Mosaru Vade.

Happy Mother's Day to all you sweet mommies, enjoy your Sunday! :)

Well....last week I told you I am planning for something special. Here it is! I know for most of you it may not sound THAT exciting, but for the first time in almost 18yrs after my kids were born and never leaving the husband for not more than a 5-6 days at a stretch in 20yrs, I am going away to have few weeks for myself alone, will tell you where I was when I come back!! Can you believe that? Great Mother's day gift for me for me from my family, can't beat it! YAY! See you in June! :)

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Christmas cookies:
I made these a year ago for Christmas, click on the title to get the recipe. Dough is the similar to sugar cookies but lighter with added red and green colors and sprinkled with color sugar to make them Christmassy. This is my entry to Bee's "CLICK-Cookies"(Links and logos are below).
Camera used is Sony Cyber-Shot 8-1 mega Pixels.

Strawberry Spring Cake:
I am bringing this Spring cake to Meeta's Monthly Mingle! I used a recipe for a regular white or yellow cake and added fresh Strawberries blended to smooth puree instead of milk. Strawberry puree gives a very beautiful pinkish color to the cake and flavor is wonderful. I didn't feel like eating too much sugar, so instead of icing I just sprinkled some powdered sugar on top. You can't believe the aroma of this cake! Spring is here alright! :)

You need:
1/2 cup ( 1 stick) softened butter, 2 eggs, 1 cup regular white sugar, 1 tsp vanilla essence,
1 3/4 cups plain flour, 1/8 tsp salt, 2 tsp baking powder, 2/3 cup fresh red ripened Strawberries pureed.
Few sliced Strawberries to garnish which I forgot to save to decorate the cake! :D
You can also sprinkle 1/2 cup sweetened coconut flakes on top on the cake before baking but optional.

How to bake:
Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a Bundt cake pan or any 9" cake round or square pan with no-stick oil or butter well and keep aside.

1. In a mixer bowl, beat the sugar and butter first until fluffy. Add in the eggs,mix. Then add in the vanilla.
2. Sift flour and baking powder, add to the creamed butter mixture and mix again gently on low speed until everything comes together.
3. Now, stir in the strawberry puree, beat until batter is well mixed and evenly pink. Pour into the prepared pan, tap on the kitchen counter to top get the bubbles out.
4. Bake for about 35 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven or until golden and skewer comes out clean form the center. Take it out of the oven, let it sit for 5mins.
5. Invert gently on the cooling rack. When cool, sprinkle powdered sugar on top to serve or you can use Vanilla icing.

Carrot and Bell Pepper Rice:
Here is a quick version of Tomato Bhath I make with added red bell pepper and Orange Carrots, which gives it a sweet and spicy taste. I usually buy baby carrots in a pack for using them quickly in Sambhar or Pulao without too much work of cutting etc. This time I found a few regular size organic Orangey Carrots, I peeled them slightly and sliced into 1/4" rounds to use them in this dish. It's quick to make, sauce can be made in the MW to mix with rice too if you have any leftover rice already. Here is my elaborate Tomato Bhaat!

To make spicy Veg rice:
Cook 1 1/2 cups of long grain rice with 1 tsp butter and water as usual, spread it on the wide plate and let it cool to separate the grains.

Microwave 2 Carrots, cut into round 1/4" thick pieces with 1/4 cup water and pinch of salt, 1 small Potato, peeled and cubed, covered in a bowl for 5 mins or until almost cooked and but not mashed, drain if you have any water left. Keep it aside.

Make the sauce:
1. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a non-stick pan, add 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tsp cumin seeds, let them splutter.
2. Add finely chopped onion, saute. Add 1-2 minced garlic and 1" grated ginger, 1/2 an Jalapeno, sliced, stir fry for 2 mins, and then add cubed 1 large red or any color bell pepper, 1/4 tsp salt. Fry for 2 mins or until they are soft a little, not too soft to keep the crunch.
3. Add 1/2 cup Tomato sauce, 1 tbsp Coriander seeds powder, 1/4 tsp or more chilli pd, 1 tsp MTR Rasam or Vangi bhath powder (optional) and 1 tsp Garam masala, mix and cook well.
4. Add Carrots and stir fry gently until sauce becomes thick, leaves the sides of the pan with oil shows up on top.

Mix with cooled rice:
5. When the sauce is ready, mix with rice, adjusting the salt. Serve with slices of Lemon, Potato crisps and a salad.
Tastes better after few hours when the spices get a chance to mingle.

Karnataka style, cooling Summer snack Mosaru Vade/South Indian style Dahi Vada:
Mosaru Vade is a Karnataka style Summer snack which literally means vadas soaked in yogurt in Kannada, one of my favorite snack to make and chill to have on Summer days. It's basically fried and cooled vadas soaked in Spiced Yogurt. It can be chilled to serve or served at room temperature.
I make it once or twice in Summer every year. Since it involves deep frying don't feel like making it often although I would love to eat Mosaru Vade. Sometimes I freeze some vadas for later use. When thawed and warmed in the Microwave, it's ready to go into the spiced Yogurt.

Make plain Urad dal vadas first without adding any onion, herbs etc. Recipe for vadas are here and here. Cool them before you add to the spiced yogurt. Here is the Rasa vada if you would like to try. You can make vadas in any shape like round vadas, vadas with a hole in the middle to make this Mosasru vade. Since they are soaked in the yogurt sauce, shape doesn't matter. If they are too big to soak in the yogurt, tear them into big pieces. To grind without adding much water, you can use either Sumeet mixer or ULTRA grinder or any grinder which is tough enough to make fluffy thick Urad dal batter. Some add hot vadas to a bowl of water, let it soak for few seconds and squeeze out the water to make it soft and then add to the yogurt. I don't do this, I just add to the yogurt and chill for few hrs.

Spiced Yogurt:

1. You need 6-8 Vadas for 4 people. Add whole vadas or tear them in to big pieces if vadas are large.
2. Take a wide mouthed deep bowl, add 2 cups of plain Yogurt (I use Dannon) and 1/4 cup water, beat well until it's smooth with no lumps. Add enough salt to taste.
3. Take 1/2" fresh ginger and 1 large garlic, pound in a mortar Pestle with pich of salt and 1-2 tbsp of water, squeeze only the juice to add to yogurt, mix.
4. Add seasoning and 2 tbsp finely chopped Cilantro. Mix well. Add Vadas, make sure they are immersed in Yogurt. Top the vadas often with yogurt to soak them well. Chill in the fridge as an option, delicious to dig into a cold snack on a warm evening sitting on the deck! :)
Season:
Heat 1tsp of oil in a pan, add 1/2 tsp Mustard seeds, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, 1-2 sliced Green chillies or 1/4 tsp red chilli flakes, few curry leaves. Fry until they splutter, cool before adding to the yogurt, mix well. Adjust the salt and heat and thinness too, can add more yogurt if it's very thick.
When Mosaru Vades are soft and plump, serve scooped in a bowl with some of the Yogurt sauce on top.

Logos of all the events and link to event hosts, enjoy hosting girls! :)

X Mas cookies, goes to Bee's "CLICK-Cookies" event.
Strawberry Spring Cake, goes to Meeta's "Monthly Mingle #32-Spring cakes" event.
Bell Pepper-Carrot Rice, goes to Sanghi's "FIL-Carrots" event.
Mosaru Vade, goes to Priti's "Festive Food-Summer Treats" event and to Sweatha's "FIC-Favorite color" event which is started by Harini.
I am also sending Bell Pepper and Carrot rice, to EC for her "WYF-Quick meals" event.

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Tried and tasted from other blogs. My thanks to all of you ladies for posting all these delicious dishes, we all enjoyed them! (Click to enlarge both the collages)

Pesarattu, from Vaishali.
Spicy dal-Potato fry, from Subhie Arun.
Doi Dim, from Sandeepa.
Capsicum Peanut curry, from Supriya.
Egg curry in Milk sauce, from Aquadaze.
Potato Curry with Podi, from Cham.

A and N jodi of "Delectably your's" blog sent me a pack of their homemade spicy Rasam powder last week. It was very flavorful, lovely red color and aromatic. I made some Rasam for Idlis using this Rasam pd, it was super delicious. Thank you so much to both of you to take time to send it to me. Hope I didn't bully you into sending me some too N! Hugs to you! ;D

Movie I watched:

"Last chance Harvey"

Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson, both are excellent actors as you know, play the lead roles in this movie. Both are tired, hopeless and middle aged (old?), doing mundane jobs and caught up in routine lives in their own countries meet in London accidentally as strangers in a bar when Harvey lands there to attend his estranged daughter's wedding.
His daughter prefers her step father to give her away rather than him which makes him feel left out, skips the wedding, tries to leave London but had to stay back when he misses his flight and gets fired from his job in US as well, decides to make amends as his last chance after his daughter gets married by attending her reception instead. He asks Emma Thomson to be his date on a whim to attend the wedding reception and what goes on after that is the story you have to watch. All goes well in the end, no tragedy here, so great movie to watch if you like the actors! :)

Guitar concert links:
Here is a photo and the video of Tushar's wonderful 8th grader Guitar concert with his classmates and his Technology teacher Mr.P who sang on that evening of April 28th, 2009. This is the last concert for all of them before they move on to High school this Fall. Videos are 3 1/2 mins long, had to cut it short to 1 1/2 mins upload there. It sounded much better in the auditorium than you see here in the video with my shaking hand holding little Sony camera and all! :P
8th graders did better than High school Guitar major students! Here is the video of the second song. Well...my son is the tallest at almost 5'10" and "super model skinny" 14 year old kid there, sitting second from left! He saw Hugh Jackman the other day in the movie. Now he wants to go the Gym this Summer to train with wts etc to have muscles like a mini "Wolverine!! :D

Sayonara for a while!
Here are each and every post from "Foodie's Hope" blog and all posts of "Aroma" blog from my recipe Index if you want to browse. I have updated few current events on the sidebar and will not be updating the rest until June 3rd. I will be not able to answer your question or email you back as PC is not available to me while I am away, Trisha will just publish the comments if any. If you do have any question, hold on to them until I come back please.

See you all later then, be good. Bye! :)