Samosa Chole Chaat, ShivaRatri Thali, Bitter Gourd Gojju, Dosa with Okra Gojju, Tomato-Masoor Dal Rasam/Broth

I bet you all had a wonderful Valentine's day!
More than gifts and outings, hope you spent quality time with your loved ones, that's what we had this year. Snowy and cold weather in several states here is more conducive to quiet time at home than the usual weekend driving around the town is a blessing in disguise! :)
Well......nothing much to write really, so let's have some Samosa Chole Chaat and other goodies, shall we? Hey, I watched an interesting movie this weekend btw!

Samosa Chole Chaat:
No, I didn't make and fry these Samosas. We went to a Indian store last weekend and I saw these frozen pack of mini Punjabi spicy Potato filled Samosas which I picked up. I baked them at home and made some spicy tangy Chole (Chickpeas gravy), topped with Tomatoes, green chutney, sweet chutney, onions and Cilantro, made a mini meal out of it. Of course, there was a hilarious movie to watch while having a bowl of this too. Curiouser and curiouser? :D

Store bought mini cocktail "baked" Samosa:
Bake these right out of the frozen state as instructed until crisp and let them cool a bit. Place 6 Samosas on a plate, add a cup hot Chole on top of Samosas. Top with chopped Videlia sweet onions, chopped Cilantro and chopped Tomatoes. Drizzle hot green chutney made of mint, green chillies and Cilantro or use from store bought jar and sweet and tangy chutney which is made of dates and Tamarind juice, salt. Sprinkle Chaat masala, chilli powder, Amchoor or whatever you have on hand and serve immediately. YUM!
Colorful Samosa Chole Chaat is going to Asankhana's "Let's play with colors-Holi" event. Thanks girl, enjoy mine too! :) Here are few other snacks and appetizers I have posted before in my blogs.

Chole/Chickpeas Gravy:
I used 2 canned Organic Chickpeas which are smaller in size, less gassy (:P) and tastier than regular canned Chickpeas. Drain all the water out of the can thoroughly, rinse the beans before using. Here is the quick version of Chole I made for Samosa Chaat.

To make Chole:
1. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a non-stick pan, add 2 tbsp grated or ground ginger (fresh ginger is better, not ready made from the jar), saute. Add 1 medium onion, finely chopped, 1/2 tsp sugar, pinch of salt, saute until slightly reddish.
2. Add 1 tbsp Coriander powder, 2 tsp Cumin powder, enough chilli powder and salt, 1 cup Tomato sauce, mix and simmer until Tomato sauce is thick and shiny.
3. Add 1 cup water, 2 cans of rinsed Chickpeas, 1 tsp Pomegranate powder or Amchoor to taste, mix.
4. Simmer until sauce is thickish, adjust the spices. Add 1 tsp of good quality Garam masala, chopped Cilantro, mix and serve hot.

Here is the link to other side dishes I have posted already.

SihvaRatri Thali:
I know! ShivaRatri is supposed to be celebrated in fasting and praying but we, as usual, EAT to celebrate and pray a little too!!:D I made Whole Wheat flour Obbattu with Coconut-Jaggary-Cardamom filling, served with Chana dal/Kadalebele Payasa/Porridge, which is kids fave dessert to have, Carrot and Drumsticks Saaru, Dill Rice and Okra Gojju on the ShivaRatri day, a simple but traditional meal compared to this I made in 2007 and in 2009! Here are the rest of Festival/holiday posts. Here are some Indian desserts/sweets.
My Family's favorite thali is going Shama's "Family's Favorite Food" event, Enjoy! :)

Obbattu/Holige/Poli with Atta flour with Kayi Hoorana(sweet Coconut filling):
Method to make this Obbattu is same as here but I made them with 1 cup Whole Wheat flour instead of plain flour, 2 tbsp of sugar powder and 1 tbsp ghee this time, stuffed with the coconut filling. Kneaded the dough with lot less oil than usual, made them just like stuffed Parathas.
Filling: Mix 2 cups grated fresh coconut, enough fine brown sugar or powdered Jaggery, 1tsp Cardamom powder, 2 tbsp Mava/Khoa if you have it (optional), heat in the microwave until melted and thick, cool, make balls and stuff in the rolled dough like Parathas and cook. Serve with any Payasa.
Chana Dal Payasa/Porridge:
1. Take a glass bowl, add 1/2 cup Chana dal, 1 cups water, cook until soft and almost mashed.
2. Add 1/4 cup Jaggary or more to taste, 1 tsp Cardamom powder, 1 cup or more of milk, pinch of Saffron for color, mix. If you want smooth textured Payasa, run it thru' in the mixie for few seconds. You can thin it with more milk.
3. Heat again until Payasa is thickish, pourable consistency. Serve with Obbattu.
Dill Rice:
This is a super easy rice to cook. When you are cooking 2 cups of rice with water, add 1 cup of chopped Dill leaves, 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp ghee and cook as usual, mix well when done.
Carrot-Drumsticks Saaru:
I added Carrots and Drumsticks to this Sambhar I have posted before. Here is my grandmother's recipe for Mysore style freshly ground coconut masala saaru, she always used fresh grated coconut, dry coconut will do too. Here are more Sambhar/dal recipes.

Bendekai/Okra Gojju with Uddinabele/Urad dose:
I had leftover Okra Gojju next day, so I served the healthy Gojju with nutritious fermented Urad dal-brown rice Dosas. Loved it with dosas too, make it spicy if you are making this for dosas. Gojju is any veg. side dish with little spicy and tangy gravy in Karnataka similar to subzi/Bhaji in the North.
Here are more Dosa and Idli dishes I have posted before.

Okra Gojju:

1. I used frozen Okra. I thaw them overnight and next day, I saute them in a wide mouthed non-stick Wok with 1 tbsp oil, 1 tsp salt until they shrink and reddish with all the gooey things gone. Cool.
2. Heat 1 tbsp oil, add 1 tsp each Mustard seeds, cumin seeds, few curry leaves, pinch of hing. Add 1 onion, finely chopped, 2 garlic chopped, 1/4 tsp Turmeric, saute until reddish.
3. Add 1 cup water, 1/4 tsp Tamarind paste, salt and ground masala powder. Simmer and add sauteed Okra, cook and adjust the spices, add 1 tsp ghee and garnish with Cilantro.
Roast and powder these:
2 tbsp Coriander seeds, 1 tsp Urad dal, 1/2 tsp Fenugreek seeds, 1 tbsp Chana dal, 2-3 dry red chillies, 2 tsp raw Rice grains, 1 tbsp Poppy seeds, 3 tbsp dry Coconut, 1" Cinnamon, 2 cloves.
Okra Gojju with Urad dal Dosas goes to Sudeshna and Radhika's "Food for 7 stages of life-Tiffin box (35-55yrs)" event, enjoy mine as well!

Haagalkayi/Bitter Gourd Gojju:
I bought 2 Bitter gourds last weekend. Usually, I do the same stir fry every time I have these but this time I decided to experiment a little and added some Besan flour to it. It tasted delicious.

To make Haagalkai Gojju:
1. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a non-stick, add peeled, seeds scooped, finely chopped Bitter gourd pieces (if it's too bitter, soak the chopped pieces in salted water for an hour and squeeze out the water, let it dry) with pinch of salt and fry until they are reddish. Keep aside.
2. Heat 1 tbsp oil again, add 1/2 tsp Mustard seeds, few curry leaves, 3 tbsp chopped onion, 1 tbsp ginger-Garlic paste, stir for a while. Add 1 tbsp Besan/Chickpea flour, 1/4 tsp chilli powder, salt, stir.
3. Add 1/4 cup Tomato sauce, 2 tsp each of Dhania-Jeera powder, 1 tbsp or less Jaggary powder to balance the bitterness, simmer until thick and shiny, add fried Bitter Gourd pieces.
4. Mix well and cook on low heat until oil shows up on top, garnish with Cilantro.
This Bitter Gourd Gojju is going to Yasmeen's "Bitter Better Health" event. Have fun with mine too, Yasmeen! :)

Tomato-Masoor Dal Rasam/Broth/Soup:
After reading the hilarious saga of Charu by sra's this post, I couldn't resist making some tasty, healthy and low calorie Rasam or Masoor Dal and Tomato soup. Nothing like sipping a cup of thin, hot, spicy broth on a cold, cloudy and snowy day. I made this delicious soup in the Microwave too! Here are more Microwave dishes I have posted.

To make this:

1. Take a deep glass bowl, add 1/4 cup Masoor dal, 1/4 tsp Turmeric, 2 cups of water, 1 tsp ghee and microwave this for 15 to 25mins at 100% power or until dal is cooked and completely mashed. Keep checking every 10mins.
2. Add 1/2 cup Tomato sauce, 2-3 tsp Rasam powder, salt, 1 tbsp dry grated Coconut, 1 tbsp chopped Cilantro, mix it and heat again for 4-6mins or until raw smell of Tomato sauce is gone, soup smells good. Take the bowl out and adjust the spices. Heat again if needed.
3. In a separate bowl, add 1 tbsp oil, heat in the microwave for 2-3 mins or until very hot. Add 1/2 tsp Mustard seeds, few chopped curry leaves, 1 dry red chilly, heat again for 2 mins or until seasonings are crisp.
4. Take the bowl out, add a pinch of Hing (optional) to the cooked Rasam and mix.
Rasam powder: You can use ready made MTR Rasam pd which has the best taste without being too spicy or you can use any Homemade Rasam pd.
Tips:
If Masoor dal is soaked for 2 hrs before cooking, they cook faster in the microwave.
You can use Chana dal, or Moong dal as well instead of Masoor dal. Tuar dal is harder to cook in MW but doable if you soak Tuar dal first, cook it for a long time with lots of water.
You can also add few chopped Spinach leaves to the soup while cooking to make it even healthier.

Tomato-Dal Rasam goes to Usha's "Healthy inspirations-Soups" event and since I made this in the Microwave, it's also going to Srivalli and Sara's "MEC-Soups" event as well. Thanks to all of you.

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Movies I watched:

"Coco Before Chanel" or "Coco Avant Chanel" :
A beautiful French movie with English subtitles. It's about the life of Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel (Yes, that Coco Chanel, a name famous for fashion and perfume empire), who was abandoned as a child by her father in an orphanage, grew up in struggle as a mistress to a rich man but never married until she died and built up a huge fashion empire, with a sweet love story thrown in there too. I love Audrey Tautou, beautiful and very talented actress! Watch it if you can. Here are some quotes by Coco Chanel.

"3 Idiots!".
Surprise!!! I watched the latest Bollywood sensation. It was more of a pleasant "Chamatkar" than a "Balatkar" to watch this movie! Hahaha!!
It's a hilarious movie with a good message but with little "making fun of a NRIs (Non-Resident Indians) or making them look and act silly" bit thrown in there! I am taking about Kareena's fiance and his tantrums about $200 watch and the other guy showing off his good looking wife, million dollar house and his Lamborghini car after living few years in US! :P Why..oh..Why? Must they show us, ie NRIs, like we are all some kinda ridiculously retarded snobs but ultra rich people with wads of money in our pockets and with just air in our heads?! Most of us are not like that at all, we do work very hard to earn our dollars. May be very few are braggers like those caharacters in the movie but not all of us behave like that!

Anyway, I will take all that with a pinch of salt. Other than that, this movie really has some good teaching moments to young Indian kids/students/generation and their parents. It tells you to be proud of who you are, think for yourself and asks parents to let kids grow up and become what they want to do or like to do and not hang on to the old convictions like "you must do what I say" and "you go where I ask you to go" etc. A great movie to watch with good message for future and past generations in a fun way and with beautiful songs too! I wish they won't show "getting drunk silly" is a fun thing to do in the movies, sends a wrong message to young people. But ALL IZ WELL that ends well! ;D

Last Saturday, we decided to visit our daughter in college and had lunch with her in a newly opened "Royal Dhaba" restaurant nearby. After a lovely Makki da roti and sarson da saag lunch, we stopped by a Indian store to buy some Indian veggies and groceries. After I paid for it, she says "you can pick up 2 DVDs over there at the video store for free". I thought they probably give me some old movies, went there anyway. They had copies of "3 Idiots" and "Paa" (yet to watch) and I did a "Yippee!!" and got both of them! :D

V Day:
We had a few Chocolate Truffles, glass of Champagne on Sunday evening for V day with a bunch of beautiful Roses sitting pretty on the coffee table and watched "3 Idiots" together (yes, that's a miracle! :D), loved it. That's what I call "quality time" and cherish it!
That was my weekend, see you all next week.

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! :)

Iranian Baghali Polou with Borani-Ye Esfenaj, Moong-Coconut milk Soup, MW Almond Rabri

Did I ask for Sunny days? :D I asked and I got them!! Man! It's so hot here, had a headache running around the town doing chores but my plants are growing fast and furious, it's a joy to watch. All the herbs and Curry leaf plant are on the deck and loving the heat. One drawback of hot and sunny days is you don't feel like standing in front of hot stove now and cook which was a comfort in Winter but have to do at least 3 meals a day anyway! Tushar had his Guitar concert last night, his last concert in middle school, enjoyed that too! :)

You must be wondering why am I so busy these days that I am even missing few posts to comment because of lack of time! Well..I will tell you next Wednesday! :)

I made some slightly familiar sounding Iranian dishes last week, loved the taste of the rice and cooling Spinach salad, mainly influenced by the book "Rosewater and Soda bread" by Marsha Mehran, which is second book. I loved her first book "Pomegranate Soup", so read her second one too curious to know what happened to 3 Iranian sisters who escaped form Iran to Ireland. Moong gravy was yummy and dessert with bread slice made it so easy to thicken faster in the MW. Enjoy the feast!

Iranian Baghali Polou with Borani-Ye Esfenaj, spicy Moong and coconut milk gravy and Almond Rabri for dessert on a platter:
Baghali Polou/Polow/Polo and Borani recipes are mostly adapted from a Iranian cookbook by Najmieh K. Batmanglij with my slight changes, who is also the author of "Silk Road Cooking-A vegetarian Journey". Fava beans are added to this rice dish usually but I didn't find those. I replaced it with green and white baby Lima beans. Moong dish is from Lisa's kitchen and Rabri of course is an easy traditional Indian dessert, I made it easier using Microwave and improvised the recipe too. Enjoy making them, always good to try new tastes! :)

Moong and coconut milk soup from "Lisa's Kitchen":
I know most Indians love green Moong and make various tasty dishes with it for rice dishes or Parathas on the side. I chose this recipe from Lisa's kitchen for "T and T"event which looked so delcious, added 1/4 cup thick coconut milk and some Yogurt but mostly followed the rest of the recipe as same as the original. Soup or bhaji as we say is delicious and spicy. It tasted great with the less spicy Dill and Lima beans rice and very nutritious too and also tastes good with Pooris. Here is the original recipe for Moong soup from Lisa's Kitchen.

Iranian Baghali Polou/Dill, Lima beans (could also use Fava beans) and saffron rice:
Here is a very simple and very flavorful with Polou/Pulao Iranian style. With added Dill and Lima beans (Fava beans) and hardly any strong spices, it makes a wonderful accompaniment for any spicy dal or meat gravies along with a salad. You can also add Gosht/Lamb into it to make a non-veg Polou. Usually, all the the ingrdients are added to a dish, covered and cooked in enough water just like Biryani/Pulao to serve.
But I cooked rice separately and then mixed with seasoned Dill and Lima beans which retains the brilliant color of Dill and beans and they don't get too mushy. I reserved some rice and mixed with saffron and salt to serve on top of Dill rice to make this dish attractive as they do in the restaurants. You can mix all this up with Saffron milk and cook for convenience.

You Need:

2 cups Basmati or long grain rice, 1 tsp butter, salt, Pepper, Pinch of Saffron soaked in 1 tbsp hot milk. 1 Cup frozen Lima beans covered and cooked in the Microwave for 5 mins with 1 tbsp water.

Season:
1 tbsp butter, 1 small onion, finely chopped, 2 garlic, minced, 1/4 red chilli flakes, 2 cups chopped Dill leaves, cooked Lima beans, salt and pepper.
Here is how I made it:
1. Cook 2 cups Basmati or long grain rice with 3 1/2 cups of water or cook as usual you do for yourself with 1 tsp butter and 1/4 tsp salt added. When cooked, take out 1 cup of rice, add a pinch of saffron mixed with 1 tbsp of warm milk and mix well. Let it cool.

2. Heat 1 tbsp butter, saute 1 small onion finely chopped, 2 garlic chopped fine, 1/4 tsp red Chilli flakes for a minute. Add cups of fresh Dill leaves with a pinch of salt, saute.
3. Add cooked Lima beans and enough pepper to taste.
4. Add this to cooked white rice and mix well, adjust the salt and pepper. To serve, spoon the Dill rice first and then top with Saffron rice or you can mix both these and serve with spicy gravy and cool Spinach-Yogurt salad.

Iranian Borani-Ye Esfenaj/Spinach, onion and Yogurt salad:
A popular Spinach and Yogurt salad from Iran, this is served with Baghali Polou on the side. Borani is salad and Esfenaj means Spinach. Very simple and quick salad to make, tastes great with any knid of Indian Pulavs too.

You Need:
1 cup thick plain Yogurt, salt and pepper to taste, 1/4 tsp Cumin pd (my addition),
For seasoning:
1 tsp oil, 1/3 cup well packed chopped Spinach, fresh or frozen (sqeeze it dry and chop finely), 4 tbsp finely chopped onion, 1 plump Garlic, finely chopped.
To make the salad:
1. Beat Yogurt, salt, Pepper, and Cumin powder well and keep aside.
2. Heat oil, add onion and garlic, saute for 1 minute until soft. Add the chopped Spinach, pinch of salt and stir fry for 2 mins. Take off the heat and cool this down.
3. Add cooled Spinach to Yogurt. Mix well and serve.

Moong and Coconut milk Bhaji:
Same as the above Moong recipe but I made it thicker than the soup consistency and added 3 tbsp thick plain Yogurt at the end of cooking to give it a little tang instead of adding lemon juice and simmered it down on low heat until the sauce is thick. Other than that, I followed the same recipe as it is at Lisa's Kitchen.

Microwaved Almond Rabri:
Rabri or Rabdi, traditionally is a thick concentrated milk with sugar, Cardamom and nuts added. I made an unusual and non-traditional Rabri in the Microwave with fat free Evaporated milk, Almonds, lot less sugar (you can add as much as you want) and a surprise ingredient!! Enjoy.

You need:

1 1/2 cup or 12oz canned Fat-free Evaporated Milk, 1/2 cup Almond, skinless and chopped, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 slice crustless bread (I added a slice of Cinnamon and Raisin bread, didn't add Cardamom pd in this Rabri), 1/2 tsp ghee, few strands of saffron and 1/2 tsp Cardamom powder.
To make it:
1. Grind Almonds, sugar and bread slice with 1/2 cup of Evaporated milk until smooth, add rest of the milk and process until mixed.
2. Add this to a deep tall microwavable bowl or glass bowl along with ghee and Saffron, heat for 5 mins making sure it's not spilling over. Stir and heat again for 2 more minutes.
3. It thicken faster because of the Almonds and bread, so be careful not to cook it for too long. Add Cardamom pd and mix well.
4. Exactly how mins to cook depends on your Microwave. Just MW until you get the thick sauce of Rabri. Adjust sugar as well to your taste.
Serve Rabri garnished with Almonds or Pistachios if you like. You can serve this warm or chilled.

Logos, Hosts and events, my thanks to all of you guest hosts and hosts, enjoy! :)

Iranian Baghali Polou, goes to Smitha's "Colors of Taste-Flavored Rice(World)" event.
Almond Rabri, goes to Mythreyee who is guest hosting "MEC-Nuts", an event stated by Srivalli.
Moong in coconut milk soup, chosen from "Lisa's Kitchen", goes to Aparna who is guest hosting "T and T-Lisa's Kitchen", an event initiated by Zlamushka.
Borani-Ye Esfenaj, goes to Mahimaa's "15 minute cooking" event.

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My own tried and tasted recipes from other blogs. Thanks to all of you for posting these delicious dishes, loved them! :)

Vangya cha Rassa, from Anjali.
Spicy Carrot Chutney, from Arch.
Varutharacha Sambhar, from Divya Kudua.
Peanut Chutney, from Sowjanya.

Movies I watched:

Frost/Nixon!
YAY! I was waiting to get my hands on this movie for a week now, I got it y'day at last! :)

You will love this movie if you are into politics, know about Watergate and 37th president Richard Nixon scandal, only president who resigned from "office" in his second term in the history of USA. It's amazing how a president can be so blatant, in denial, arrogant (drunk too sometimes but doesn't remember what he said next day!) and shameless, NEVER really apologized to people for his involvement at all when he resigned but reluctantly admits guilt only when cornered by David Frost at the end of this interview after rambling about everything else for hrs and hrs, even blaming others for all that too! Well... reminds me of another "somebody" we all know who didn't resign from the office or apologized for his mistakes!!:P

Nixon gets paid $600000 in 1977 for this now widely watched interview, which made British journalist David Frost a household name, who is also the only journalist who has interviewed many leaders of the World including Shah of Iran. It makes you angry when Nixon says to David Frost "when the President does it, it's not illegal!" regarding the cover up etc., in this interview.

Very well acted by Frank Langella and Michael Sheen in the lead roles, Kevin Bacon is great as usual. Fascinating movie to watch, I can imagine how stressful it must have been to both Frost and Nixon to get thru' this one at that time! You also feel sorry for Nixon when he says to Frost when they meet privately, "I am just not suited to be liked, I don't have that kind of charm. Do you know how fortunate you are?". Ex President Richard Nixon died in 1994.

Bride Wars
One of those Chick flicks which I usually don't like to watch but watched this one for kookie Kate Hudson and my new fave actress Anne Hathaway. It's very funny and entertaining movie!
Two "best friends" who dream about their "perfect weddings" since they were little girls, grow up, fall in love and get engaged. When they hire a wedding planner for their "perfect" weddings, she accidentally books the same date for both weddings! Best friends then get competitive "best enemies", even try to destroy eachother's wedding plans, not willing to give up on anything which is hilarious to watch. Now it's war, girly style!! After all that drama, what happens in the end is for you to watch, I don't want to spoil the fun!! :D

Have a great weekend, see you all later! :)

Banana-Chocolate Muffin half loaf, Oatmeal-Raisin-Walnut-White Chocolate Chewy Cookies, Ugadi Pachadi/Bevu Bella and Thali!

Well....last weekend was very rainy, relatively warm but fun too. We did some usual shopping, cleaned up my veggie patch in the backyard and watched few movies. We are expecting 70F+ this weekend, might even scatter some veg seeds on the ground, it's not too early I hope!

Menu this week: I had baked a eggless Banana Chocolate Muffin loaf and few of my favorite eggless Oatmeal Raisin chewy cookies last week for this post before Ugadi last Friday. So here they are along with my addition of Ugadi festival thali (scroll down to see thali and recipes) since I had made those too! :D

Now, let's do some baking first!!

A slice of Banana-Chocolate Muffin Half loaf served with creamy butter for you:
Banana and Chocolate chips makes a great combination and very moist Muffins to have as a snack or for breakfast. I added 1/3rd cup sugar as I don't like vary sweet Muffins but you can use 1/2 cup sugar if you like as the recipe form a Betty Crocker book says. My kids ate the whole loaf within 2 days! :P

Banana Chocolate Muffin Half Loaf:
You must be wondering what the heck is Half loaf! I did too until I found the Half loaf pan in Amazon. It's a round loaf but half the size of a full loaf pan, as small as a smaller rectagular 8" pan. It makes a beautiful half round design on top of the cake or Muffin when inverted.

To bake the Muffin loaf:
You can see the Half loaf pan here. It's cute, something diffeent than usual. You can use 12 cup Muffin pan or smaller Loaf pan if you like, doesn't make any difference in taste and texture.

You need:
3/4 cup Milk,
1/4 cup Vegetable oil,
2 tbsp Yogurt instead of 1 Egg,
2 cups Plain flour (can use Wheat flour instead too),
1/3 or 1/2 cup sugar (depends on how sweet you want),
2 tsp Baking pd,
1/2 tsp Salt.
1 cup mashed Banana or use 2 large banana to mash coarsely,
1/4 cup semi-sweet Dark Chocolate chips.

To bake Muffin:

Heat oven to 400F. Grease or spray no-stick on a Muffin pan or a half loaf pan or a regular smaller loaf pan, keep it ready.

1. Beat Milk, Yogurt (or Egg) and oil by a whisk or in a mixer with beater attachment.
2. Stir in Flour, sugar, baking pd, Chocolate Chips and salt together and add all at once to the mixer, mix gently without beating too much, just until mixed. A bit lumpy batter is okay too, never beat too much until gooey.
3. Fold in coarsely mashed Banana to it and mix gently again, do not beat too much.
4. Pour into the Half loaf pan or small loaf pan or divide equally betn 12 muffin cups. Tap the pan gently to release the bubbles.
5. Bake for 20-25mins or until the top s golden brown and the center is baked well. Since Banana makes the loaf moist, it takes a bit than usual Muffins, test with a skewer in the center until it comes out clean.
6. Cool on the cooling rack, invert the Muffins and cool thoroughly to store in airtight conatiner or Ziplock bag.

Another look:

Oatmeal-Raisin-Walnuts-White Chocolate Chewy Cookies:
If you know me by now, you know I don't like desserts or sweets much. I would rather sit and munch on savory snacks than cookies or cakes any day. But if I had to choose one cookie to have, I would love this Oatmeal Raisin chewy (not crispy and crunchy cookies) cookies, which I adapted from a "Taste of Home" magazine recipe called "Grandma's Chewy Oatmeal Raisin cookies".
I love these with lots of Raisins and Walnuts personally but added White Chocolate chips for kids so they can eat them too, worked out well. I made huge cookies but you can scoop smaller portions to bake plumper and smaller cookies.

You need:
1 cup dark Raisins soaked in 1/3 cup warm water to soften them and then crush them gently.
1/2 cup vegetable butter flavored (optional) shortening, 1 egg, 1 cup dark Brown sugar, 1/2 cup white sugar, 1 1/2 tsp Vanilla essence. (adding 2 tbsp sweetened coconut will add texture too but optional)
2 cups Plain flour,1 1/4 cup regular rolled Oats, 3/4 tsp Cinnamon pd, 2 tsp Baking soda, 1 tsp salt, 3 tbsp Walnuts and 1/4 cup White semi sweet Chocolate chips or slightly crushed Chocolate squares.

To bake Cookies:

Preheat the oven at 350F.

1. Beat veg shortening, egg, brown sugar, white sugar, and vanilla, until creamy.
2. Add Plain flour, baking soda, oats, Cinnamon and salt. Mix well gently and add soaked Raisins with it's water, fold in until you get a big sticky lumpy dough.
3. Divide into equal portions as big as you want, roll gently to balls and flatten the top. Place them on a cookie sheet 3" apart and bake for about 18-20 mins. Do not over bake to make them too crispy. If the middle is a bit soft after about 20 mins, it's okay. They do cook a bit even after you take them out of the oven and becomes chewy when cooled.
Note: You can skip the Egg in the recipe, expect the cookies to be flatter without the addition of Egg like mine looks. I ran out of Eggs for the first time in my life, can you believe it? I always add 1 egg to this Oatmeal cookie recipe! :P
Yummy chewy cookies are now ready to eat!

Logos and events list:

Banana-Chocolate Muffin Half Loaf, goes to Madhuram's "Egg substitute-Yogurt" event.
Oatmeal Chocolate Chewy cookies, goes to Srilekha's "EFM-Cookies" event.
I am also sending these Chewy white chocolate cookies to Poornima Nair's "For the love of Chocolate" event.
Hulianna, goes to Smitha's "Colors of taste-Flavored Rice" event.
I am sending yummy Mixed dal Ambodes to LG's "Meals on Wheels" event as my second entry as well.

Thanks to all of you ladies, enjoy hosting! :)

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About Ugadi/Hindu New Year festival:
As most of you know, we had our Hindu New Year last week. "Uga" means "era" and "adi" means "beginning", in Sanskrit. More info about Ugadi is here in detail. I usually don't cook anything special for Ugadi, but my grandparents grandly celebrate this day in India but this year thought I would add one more to our Shivaratri and Deepavali festival list. I even found a frozen pack of green (well..they were half ripe!) Mango slices to make Ugadi Pachadi. Kids got to learn about Hindu new Year and liked it, so it's all good! :D

A peek at our Ugadi habbada oota/thali we had last Friday:
Here is the menu; Ugadi Pachadi or Bevu Bella, Karnataka style Hulianna, Carrot and Moong dal/Hesarubele Kosumbari, Mixed dal Ambode, plain Yogurt and Sabbakki Payasa/Sago Kheer/Tapioca Saffron Pudding for dessert. You can see all the recipes below.

Ugadi Pachadi or Bevu Bella (Bevu for Neem/bitter and Bella is Jaggary/sweet) in Kannada:
Ugadi Pachadi or Bevu Bella is traditionally served on Ugadi or New year's to start the day. It has mixed six flavors and tastes like mixed with Tamarind water and chopped green Mango for sour and tangy taste, Jaggary or sugar for sweet, Neem flowers or leaves for bitter, Green chillies or chilli pd for spicy and salt to represent life with it's various stages of joys and sorrows!

To make Pachadi/Bevu Bella:
Take a cup of Tamarind water mixed with 2 tsp thick Tamarind paste in a bowl, add enough salt, Jaggary or sugar, 1/4 of a Jalapeno sliced, Neem flowers or leaves if you have it (I added 1/2 tsp Kasoori Methi for bitterness, didn't have Neem), thinly sliced green Mangoes with skin. (I used frozen green Mangoes, doesn't have the greatest taste, fresh green mangoes are always better!) Mix and chill to serve.

Ugadi Thali recipes:

Karnataka style Hulianna/Tamarind rice:

1. Cook 2 cups of rice with 1/4 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp oil and enough water, spread it on a pan and cool.
2. Add 1/4 cup oil in a deep pan, add 1 tsp Mustard seeds, 2 tsp each Chana dal and Urad dal, few curry leaves, 2 red dry chillies and 1/4 cup Peanuts. Roast it until they are reddish. Now add 1tbsp white Sesame seeds and 3 tbsp dry dessicated coconut, stir for 1 mins.
(Traditionally these two, Sesame and coconut, are roasted separately and pounded together coarsely to add to the rice at the end when we are mixing Tamarind paste and rice but I make it the easy way)
2. Add 1 cup of Tamarind water mixed with 1 tbsp of thick tamarind paste, salt and 1 tsp Jaggary. Let it boil until it reduces to half, oil floats on top.
3. Add powdered masala to it, mix well and let it cook on low heat for a while. Now, Huli is ready.
4. Mix rice and enough huli until it's evenly coated, adjust the salt and serve. Serve plain yogurt on the side along with some Papad or crunchy Boondi or Sev snacks.

To make Hulianna masala powder:

Dry roast 2 tbsp Coriander seeds,1 tbsp Cumin seeds, few dry red chillies, 2 tsp Peppercorns, 1 tsp Mustard seeds, and few curry leaves until reddish, cool all of them, add 1/4 tsp Hing/Asafoetida and powder it until fine powder. Use it as much as you like to add to Tamarind paste to make Hulianna paste.

Kesari Sabbakki Payasa/Sago Kesar Kheer/Tapioca Pearl Saffron Pudding:

1. Add 2 tbsp ghee to a deep pan, fry 1/2 cup Sago until they pop like popcorn. Add 1 tbsp Raisins and 1 tbsp slivered skinless Almonds, stir until golden and raisins are puffed up.
2. Add 3 cups pf milk (2% is okay) and simmer this for 30-40 mins until milk is reduced to half.
3. Add enough Jaggary or sugar to your taste, 1/4 tsp Saffron strands and simmer again for 10 mins.
4. When Sago is cooked soft and milk is like thickish, add 1/2 tsp Cardamon powder, mix and take off the heat.
5. Serve chilled or warm. Adjust the thickness of the sauce, should be like pudding or very thin.

Mixed dal Ambode:

1. Soak 4 tbsp Tuar dal, 4 tbsp Chana dal, 2 tbsp Moong dal, 2 tbsp Masoor dal, 2 tbsp Urad dal and 1 tbsp raw rice overnight, drain the water next day, add to a blender.

2. Grind this coarsely, place the thick dough in a bowl. Add 1/4 cup finely chopped onion, 1"chopped ginger, chilli flakes or green chillies, salt, Cilantro, Curry leaves, few crushed coriander seeds, fennel seeds, Ajwain, Cumin seeds and mix everything well. Adjust the salt.
3. Heat oil to 375F or hot, take a small lump of dough in your hands, flatten and drop it in the oil.Repeat with others and fry until golden and cisp both sides. Drain on the paper Towel and serve.

Carrot-Hesarubele/Moong dal Kosumbari:

1. Soak 2 tbsp Moong dal for 2 hrs and drain the water. Grate 3 carrots to a bowl. Add 1 tbsp Lemon juice, salt, Moong dal, chopped Cilantro.
2. Mix well and adjust the salt. You can add finely chopped red onion to this but I didn't add this time.
3. Heat 2 tsp oil in a pan, add 1/2 tsp Mustard seeds, 1 sliced green chillies, curry leaves. When they pop, add to the bowl with carrot.
4. Mix well and serve.

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Lastly, Movies I watched last week:

Goya's Ghosts:
Most beautiful film to watch, saddens you but keeps you glued to the movie. It involves Roman Catholics, Spanish and French revolution. Francisco Goya, who was a painter for Royal family witnesses the life of a young Catholic (whose ancestors were Jewish) girl who was arrested for being a "Judaising" because she doesn't eat Pork. Tortured, manipulated and raped by a Spanish priest Lorenzo in prison for years, Goya and her family tries to rescue her but fail. What happens after that very interesting and tragic. Click on the link for the full story. Beautifully acted by Javier Bardem and Natalie Portman, a must see film if you can get it on DVD.
In Bruges:
Colin Farrell won the "Golden Globe" best actor award for this movie. It's about 2 hitmen who are hiding in Bruges after a killing. While killing a priest as his "Hit", Ray kills a little boy as well who was praying in the church, so he flees the country to Bruges. But the death of that child haunts him and tries to kill himself. In the end, when his own people want him dead, he wants live desperately! Anyway, he does get shot in the end and survives! JOY! :P

Two more additions!
Kids didn't have school on last Monday, so they went to "Monsters VS Aliens 3D" . It was good, as my kids said and they told me that in one the scenes in the movie, they say "We need our best scientific minds NOW, somebody please call India!" :D
I went to "Knowing" (Thanks for suggesting SJ!) in the same movie theater. Knowing was a surprisingly good movie, riveting and non-stop action/thriller. Gets a little silly in the end with Aliens and their "Akasha Vahana" (:D) ie aircraft sucking up 2 kids along with 2 Bunnies to "restart" the World but overall very entertaining movie to watch, loved it.

A very funny thing happened last Sunday, one of the joys of raising mixed culture kids in good old US of A with some Indian "Hinglish movie" culture thrown in!! :D
Trisha and I were relaxing on the sofa watching TV. I switched to Zee Cinema channel and they were showing "God Tussi Great Ho" (copy of "Bruce Almighty!") movie with Salman Khan, AB etc. Trisha suddenly says, "Mom, I can't believe they are calling GOD a great HO!!" and I just fell off the couch laughing. I never saw that coming and she was staring at me like I am a crazy woman!! ;D
(Indians living in USA know what she meant! Okay, I will tell you...."Ho" is an American slang for "Whore" here! She didn't know what "tussi" meant but read everything else in English and then to top it all, she asks me "is that the "Salmon" guy? He looks weird!" too!! I will surely miss her when she leaves for college in August! :P)

That's all this week, see you all later!

Haryanvi Cuisine: Pakodi di Kadhi, Jeera Chawal, Mooli de Paranthe, Gajar da Achar, Aloo Raita, Besan Pinni and Chhas!

Look who is wandering into the wonderful state of Haryana today!
Yes! It's that time for my favorite RCI event again and this month we are going to tour and taste Haryana, which geographically surrounds Delhi (India's Capital) on three sides, forming the northern, western and southern borders. I am not from Haryana and what I gather from reading about this state from various online websites is that it's cuisine and culture are similar to Punjab. So I am trying to do my best here to bring you few dishes from that region, so bear with me if you think they are not very authentic Haryanvi! :)

Here is what WIKIPEDIA says about Haryana:
"The name Haryana means "The Abode of God" from Sanskrit. Hari (the Hindu God Vishnu) and ayana (home), although it may also refer to the lush green landscape of the state (from Sanskrit harit meaning green).
Chandigarh is the capital of Haryana and the state of Punjab as well. Haryana was the cradle of Indus Valley and Vedic Civilizations, both flourishing on the banks of the now lost Saraswati river. Haryana contributed heavily to the Green Revolution that made India self-sufficient in food production in the 1960s. The state of Haryana has the 3rd highest Per Capita income in the country. It is one of the leading industrialized states of India and is considered to be the current major hub for the information technology and automobile industries."

About Haryanvi cuisine:
"Haryanvi cuisine is like the people of Haryana, simple, robust. The 'Land of Rotis' is an apt title for Haryana as people are fond of eating different kinds of rotis. Haryana is well known for it's agriculture and cattle wealth, so there is a abundance of milk, butter, ghee, Lassi, Thandai, Buttermilk and vegetables, which are similar to Punjab." These infos are from a Haryana tourism website. Here is my RCI Punjab post.

Regional Cuisine of India aka RCI event is started by LakshmiK and this month EC of "Simple Indian Food" is guest hosting and she has chosen Haryana (vegetarian dishes) as the state for February. Thanks for hosting EC. With all those wonderful information about Haryana, let's celebrate and cook something Haryanvi, shall we? :)


Haryanvi Thali:
(I had to get my "big gun" thali for this Haryanvi cuisine menu, smaller thali won't do! :D)
Besan (chickpea flour) Kadhi with Pakodi, Jeera (Cumin flavored) rice, Mooli (Radish) Paratha, Potato Raita, Carrot-ginger-garlic pickle, Besan Pinni and Chhas (a lightly spiced Buttermilk). Some salt sits in the middle of the thali and lemon slices and a green chilly just in case if you feel the urge to take a bite! :D


Let me type in how I made these first:
You see Kadhi Pakodi, Jeera Rice and Carrot pickle below, you enlarge this by clicking on the collage. Recipes follows.
Pakodi di Kadhi:
For making Kadhi:
1. Beat 1 cup fat free or light Sour cream with 3 cups of water and add 4 tbsp Besan (Chickpeas flour) with a whisk to avoid lumps. Add 1-2 sliced green chillies, 1 tsp or more salt, 1/4 tsp turmeric, 1/2 tsp chilli pd, 1/2 tsp garam masala, 1 tsp each of cumin seeds pd and Coriander seeds pd, 2 tsp ground ginger and keep stirring often, simmer gently until it bubbles and thickens slightly, may be for 1/2 to 1 hour. Do not heat on medium heat, sour cream might separate.
2. Add Besan pakodis, let them soak and simmer for a while and turn off the heat.
To make Besan Pakodis:
1. Mix 1 cup Besan, 1/2 cup minced onion, 1 potato peeled and chopped fine, 1/2" ginger grated, 1/2 tsp dry chilli flakes, salt, 1/2 tsp garam masala, 1/4 tsp of baking pd, 1/4 tsp ajwain and add enough water to make a thick batter.
2. Deep fry small balls of these batter until golden and add to the above Kadhi.
Seasoning for Kadhi:
Heat 2 tsp ghee+1 tsp oil, add 1 tsp cumin seeds and 2 dry chillies. When they splutter, add to the Kadhi and mix.

Jeera Chawal:
This is an easy ghee and cumin flavored rice to make for Kadhi, of course you can also serve Kadhi with plain rice.
1. Cook 2 cups of Basmati or long grain rice with 3 1/2 cups water, 1 tsp oil or ghee and pinch of salt or as you cook rice usually. Cool the rice a bit.
2. Heat 1-2 tbsp ghee, add 1 bay leaf and 1 tsp cumin seeds. When they are slightly golden, add to the cooked rice and mix well.

Gajar Achar:
Freshly made Carrot pickle lasts in the fridge about a week. You can also add pickle masala like SWAD brand if you have it or you can add freshly ground spices. I added some garlic and ginger slices to this too, tastes great with Mooli parathas.
Here it is:
1. Dry fry 2 tbsp reddish Mustard seeds, 1 tbsp (or 1/2 tbsp, if you don't like it too bitter) Fenugreek seeds and 2-4 (or more for spicy) dry red chillies and pound these coarsely. Keep aside.
2. Take 1 large Carrot, wash, dry, cut into 2" sticks, 1 tsp paprika for color, slice 3 garlic and 2" ginger, mix with 2-4 tbsp Lemon juice and enough salt.
3. Add ground pickle masala to Carrot etc and mix well. Tempering the pickle is optional, I didn't do it. Adjust the spices and salt, keep it in the fridge. You can use it immediately.

Alrighty, second batch now!
This part has Aloo raita, Mooli (Radish stuffed ) Paratha, Besan Pinni (a delicious dessert like Burfi) and Chhas, a lightly spiced Buttermilk to wash it all down, Haryanvi style! :)

Mooli de Paranthe:
Mooli stuffing:
1. Thickly grate Daikon or white Radish until you get about 2 cups or so, sprinkle some salt and let it rest for a while to draw out the water. Squeeze out the water to get dry Radish.
2. Mix with a bit of chilli pd or minced green chilles, tsp of grated ginger, few pinches of turmeric, 1/2 tsp cumin pd, enough salt, little Amchoor (Mango pd), 1 tsp besan or cornstarch to make it all come together.Divide into equal sized portions.
Paratha: Mix 2 cups wheat flour (Atta), salt, 2 tbsp oil or veg shortening, 1/2 tsp of baking powder(optional but makes it very flaky) and enough water to make a firm dough, make into equal sized balls and let it rest for an hour or so.
To make Mooli stuffed Parathas;
Roll out dough to 4" circle, place a Mooli stuffing, cover and carefully roll out to 5-6" circles and roast on Tava with a bit of oil until both sides are golden. Check this "Aloo parathas" post to see step by step photos of stuffing.

Aloo Raita:
1. Boil 1 or 2 Potatoes, peel and cube them, keep aside to cool them.
2. Beat 1 cup of plain thick yogurt, add salt, pepper, cumin seeds powder, pinch of Kala Namak, pinches of Chaat masala and few chopped mint and coriander leaves. Add Potato cubes and mix to chiil and serve.

Besan Pinni:
A typical Haryanvi dessert, we loved these. Tastes like Besan Laddoos we always make at home but better with Pistachios and easy to make too. They say that Pinni is the way they make these sweets squeezed in the fist of your palm. I made few of both shapes.
Here is how:
1. Sift 1/2 cup Besan well to avoid lumps.
2. Heat a non-stick pan with 2 tbsp ghee and add besan to it on low heat and keep stirring until it's roasted or until you smell the aroma. Do not burn it.
3. Add 1/2 cup powdered Sugar,1/4 tsp Saffron, 1 tsp ground cardamom, 1 tbsp toasted chopped Pistachios, mix everything very well and cook for 2 mins or until sugar is incorporated.
4. Take off the heat, add 1 or 2 tbsp of milk to it just until it's little wet but liquidy. Just enough milk so you should be able to pick up the dough and make shapes with your hand.
5. Traditionally, you take a lump of Besan mix, squeeze it gently to make a fist in your plam to get the finger prints on it like Gujarati Muthias. I made some of those until my palms started to get red and then put some in a small cup and inverted them to make the other shape.
6. Cover to keep. This recipe makes about 7-8 small pieces which is enough for us.

Finally, a Chhas:
A simple but tasty Buttermilk drink to accompany these thali dishes, somewhat like south Indian spiced buttermilk but lot less spicy! Here is my very tasty Karnataka style Majjige!
To make Chhas:
1. Beat 2-3 cups of thin Buttermilk with salt, taosted and ground cumin seeds powder, coarse pepper pd well until frothy. Few chopped mint and Cilantro on top to garnish and flavor would complete the picture! Serve with Lemon slices.
One more look without the Chhas there. This thali was delicious!! Enjoy and have a great weekend!!!


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Tried and tasted dishes from other blogs:
Thanks to all of you for posting these yummy dishes! :)

Potato Muruku, from Vijaya.
Zucchini chutney, from Laavanya. (Added 1" ginger and 1 garlic to grind and tempered with mustard seeds)
Crowder peas Usal, from Meera. (Made this with some gravy to go with soft Idlis!)
Kollu Pongal, from Jayasree.

Thank you Yasmeen for "You are a sweetheart" award, photo is in the side bar. I think you are the SWEETEST gal! :)

Book I am currently reading is:
"Q and A" by Vikas swarup, which is available at Amazon. He is a Indian diplomat serving in South Africa, the book says. This is also his first novel which is converted in to 34 languages so far! This is THE book which inspired the movie "Slumdog Millionaire".
The main character here in this book is a waiter in Mumbai who won a billion rupees in a contest and his name is Ram Mohammad Thomas!! When they arrest him, police mocks him "What kind of name is that? Your mother couldn't decide who your father is?"
Intriguing enough for ya? I am still reading it, has 12 chapters which takes to every question of that contest and his life experiences in every stage and it's very enjoyable, much more interesting than the movie! :))

Have a wonderful Shivaratri celebration on the 23rd, see you all next week with what I made for Shivaratri, a smaller thali than this for sure! No fasting in my house for any reason! ;D