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.

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! :)

Puducherry Indo-French Butternut Squash and Potato Bisque, State Fair Funnel Cake, Ajji's Halli Mane Huruli Kattu and Hurulikalu Usli

This week at FH, we are going to visit Pondicherry/Puducherry in Tamil Nadu to have a Indo-French vegetarian Butternut and Potato Bisque, then we will taste the most popular American State Fair dessert "Funnel Cake" and then we visit my paternal grandmother's halli mane for some authentic Karnataka farm food, Huruli Kattu and Usli. Are you ready? ;D

About Puducherry:

Formerly known as Pondicherry/Pondichéry (in French), Puducherry (means new Village) which is located in Tamil Nadu, was renamed in 2006, is a "Union Territory of India" . It is a former French colony, consisting of four non-contiguous districts, two in Tamil Nadu, one in Andhra and one in Kerala and it's named after the largest district, Puducherry. Because of it's beautiful coastal/beach location, a very popular resort area, it is also known as The French Riviera of the East.

The 4 official languages of Puducherry are Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and French, with English as the connecting language of 4 districts. As a result, cuisine of Puducherry is influenced by French, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam cooking. Indo-French is a one of the popular cuisines. Here is the photo of beautiful house in Puducherry and these infos are from here and WIKIPEDIA.

Indo-French Butternut Squash and Potato Bisque:
I made the vegetarian Bisque with Indian touch using Butternut Squash and Potato with lots of fresh herbs form my pots. It smelled so good and was very tasty. Usually, Bisque is made of Heavy cream which I am sure tastes creamy and delicious. But I used some Buttermilk for tanginess and fat free Half and half to make the sauce in this recipe to cut down the calories.

To make veg Bisque:
1. Heat 1 tbsp butter and 1 tsp Canola oil in a deep pan. Add the "French Trinity" or "Mirepoix" as it is called; 1 medium, onion, 1 Celery and 1 Carrot, all chopped, along with 2-3 minced garlic, saute until just soft.
2. Add 2 cups peeled and cubed Butternut Squash and one large Potato (red or Russet will do), peeled and cubed, stir for 3 mins.
3. Add 3 cups of vegetable stock or just water, 2 tbsp of fresh mixed Herbs, pinch of salt, 1 tsp Cumin seeds pd and 1/4 tsp dry red chilli flakes (Indian touch!). Cover and let it cook.
4. Add Herbs of your choice or Herbes de Provence, simmer on low heat. Add 1/4 cup Buttermilk, 1/2 cup Half and Half or heavy cream, mix well and simmer gently, never let it boil.
5. Once cooked, use a hand blender stick to smoothen the sauce to creamy or pour the sauce into a blender carefully and blend until smooth. Pour back into the pan, simmer for 2 mins.
(If you are adding small cleaned Shrimps (1 cup), add them now and simmer the Bisque for 5-7mins, until the Shrimps turn pink.)
6. Serve with fresh Chives, parsley sprinkled on it and with a few seasoned Croutons.
Enjoy! :)

Herbes de Provence:
2 tsp fresh Thyme, 2 tsp fresh Marjoram, 2 tsp fresh Summer savory, 1 tsp fresh Rosemary, 1 tsp fresh Tarragon.
(I used 2 tbsp fresh mixed Herbs from my herb pots, like Pineapple Sage, Thyme, Tarragon, Balm Lemon, Rosemary, Chives and Parsley. Bisque smelled and tasted wonderful!)

State Fair and Carnival Funnel Cake sprinkled with sugar pd and served with fruity low sugar Strawberry jam on the side:
Gigantic American style Indian Jalebi anyone? Hahaha. Funnel cakes are exactly that, without dunked in Safforny sugar syrup but sprinkled generously with Confectioner's sugar/powdered Sugar. Every State Fair and Carnival in USA has these Funnel cakes, freshly fried and loaded with sugar, huge enough for 4-6 people to eat. Even (Dolly Parton's) Dollywood Theme park in Tennessee has these cakes sold there, my kids love to eat these loaded with sugar pd!
They say that Funnel cake batter is made of "pâte à choux" pastry batter but I made this the easy way, adding egg is optional. It's crispy on the edges and soft in the middle. For pouring the batter, you can use Plastic Mustard or Ketchup bottle with a 1/4" small hole in the lid or pour the batter thru' a small funnel, basically anything with narrow spout atleast 1/4" to 1/2" opening. Batter should be thick but pourable like Jalebi batter. Watch the video I have linked below.

Here is how you make it: (makes 2 or 3 Funnel cakes)
1. Whisk 1 Egg (optional, makes it fluffy if you add Egg), 1/2 to 3/4 cup milk, 2 tbsp Sugar, pinch of salt, 1/2 tsp Baking powder and then add 1 1/4 cup plain flour, mix well until you don't see the lumps and batter is thick but pourable consistency.
2. Heat oil to 365F in a deep bottomed Kadai or small deep fryer to get a perfectly round cakes. Pour the batter into a Ketchup or Mustard jar, squeeze the batter into the oil quickly, first in 3-4 circles and then crisscross over the circles to make a big lacy circle.
3. Let it get golden on one side, flip gently and cook the other side. Drain, cool it and serve generously sprinkled with powdered sugar.
You can pile up the fresh fruit or whipped cream or drizzle with chocolate Ganache on top of the Funnel cake to serve. Enjoy.

Watch this video to see how to make these Funnel cakes. Here is a site where you can buy all those gadgets like plastic Funnel and ring you may need to make these yummy Funnel cakes, these are not necessary things as I made without them but good to have options! :)
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Shama wanted us to talk about our traditional village food and say something about the village. Well...I was born and raised in the cities around Karnataka, only visited my grandparents' once a year during Summer holidays, mostly visited my maternal grandparents near Belur almost every year, but I am most influenced by my parental grandparents who own and live in a coconut, sugarcane (made golden colored Jaggery in the farm too), Mango grove and Paddy farm few miles away from Mysore. My father moved away from his birthplace as a teenager for schooling, graduated from Law college, practiced Law and became a Judge eventually. So we always lived in the cities, visited the farm once a year.

Although I don't want to reveal the name (with what else but a very Lingayat name of course! :D) of the farm here for their privacy, our visits to them were not more than 2 days in a year. My thatha was a "Gowda", a Panchayat chief of 8 villages (a 5 men elected for a small scale village court), a loud mouth with a big heart, also was a much feared man in his community too! Somebody has to take care of the stuff before it hits the fan (or the city court), right? Can't blame him! ;P

I loved that simple, rustic, uncomplicated, non-pretentious and peaceful life of my paternal grandparents' place, learned a lot about unselfish, unconditional, pure love (to them, love is also to make you drink freshly "squeezed/milked" warm frothy cow's milk loaded with homemade Jaggery! That's whole another story about "feeding" the loved ones in the villages! OYYY!:D) from my Thatha, ajji, aunts and Uncles. As a result, most of my traditional Karnataka cooking is influenced by my Mysore ajji, from whom my mother learnt basic cooking as a very new young teenage daughter in law!

I have copied most of the recipes of my ajji from my mother's old notebook and now I am writing down one of them, which is authentic and very rustic recipe made from the reduced stock of Horse gram or Hurulikalu water reduced to paste with spices and eaten with homemade Ghee and rice.

What can I say about the village/farm itself? Well..my paternal family own most of the village since all of my grandfather's brothers, sisters, their kids and grand kids lived there for years! They all own their own piece of property with their homes built inside their farms and they literally live few yards from each other. So once we visit the village, it's like visiting the half of the family in one place and we are constantly fed by each one of those families, mostly coconut filled sweets and more coconutty savory dishes for breakfast, lunch and dinner with loads of fresh of the tree coconut water to sip!
I still remember the sweet aroma of Sugarcane juice bubbling in the gigantic Cauldron until it turns into dark thick molasses first and then turn into golden (my thatha had his "secret" recipe! :D) square Jaggery cooling in the wooden moulds.Whole village would be filled with sweet smell of Bella/Jaggery!
I remember my mother being petrified every time we kids ran off to the farm which has a huge uncovered irrigation well, a pump house and deep water tank always filled with water. She always was afraid of us drowning in one of these since we loved to get in the tank and sit there neck deep in the water for hrs in the hot afternoons. Great memories! :D

Halli mane Oota; Anna, Tuppa, Huruli Kattu, Hurulikalu Usli, Happala. Slurp!!
Phew! That's some family revelation! Okay.. Here is my Hallimane oota aka"village food", a wonderful thick and spicy sauce which is delicious and can be kept bottled up in the fridge for few weeks. You need dry Hurulikalu/Horsegram/Kulith/Kollu and a pressure cooker to make this. Don't know whether we can use any other beans, may be Avarekalu/Field beans/Lilva but this Huruli Kattu always made with Hurulikalu by my ajji. Kattu literally means "reduced sauce" in Kannada, a loooong process, cooking and boiling down the beans stock for days in my Ajji's kitchen but why bother with all that when we have Microwave? ;D


Anna/Rice, Tuppa/Ghee with thick and spicy Huruli Kattu/sauce:

Cook the beans first to get the stock:
1. Take 2-3 cups of dry Horse gram beans, make sure you clean to carefully pick the stones off of the dry beans. Most of the time if you bought the pack from Indian store, you do find tiny stones which look exactly like the beans but will cost you a tooth or a root canal if you don't take them out.
Spread a handful of beans at a time on a wide plate, look for stones, tedious job but necessary!
2. Soak overnight in lots of water in a big pot. Next day, wash the beans and drain all the water.
3. Add about 10 cups or more water to the soaked beans, 2 tsp salt and pressure cook the beans on a medium heat for about 15mins. Beans must be soft cooked but not mushy. These beans are tough to cook, so you need longer time on medium heat.
3. Once the pressure is out, open the lid and pour in to a colander to drain all beans stock into another bowl, let the beans sit until all the water is drained. Keep the dry beans separately to make Usli (seasoned beans) later. If you have too much Beans for your family, you can freeze some in individual zip lock bags for later use or make Huruli chutney, Rasam, Saaru, side dishes etc with the beans. Idea here to get the as much stock as you can out of the beans, use the cooked and drained beans for seasoned side dish. We will use the stock to reduce with spices until you get a thick sauce.

Huruli Kattu/thick sauce made of Horse Gram stock and spices:
Serve hot cooked rice with a dollop of home made ghee on top and a tbsp of Huruli kattu on the side or on top, a crunchy papad and Hurulikalu Usli on the side. To eat, mix rice with ghee and Kattu to a thick sauce coated bite sized rice morsel and chomp away!:D

Dry roast and powder these first to use as much as you need in the sauce:

Roast 4 tsp cumin seeds, 6 tsp Corinader seeds, 1 tsp Mustard seeds, 3 tbsp rice grains, 3 tbsp Tuar dal, 2 tsp Pepper corns, 2-3 dry red chillies, 1 tsp Fenugreek seeds, bunch curry leaves, 1/2 onion, 3 garlic and 6tbsp dry coconut until golden. Cool the spices and grind to a powder and use it as needed. Don't need to add the whole amount to the Kattu but just enough to your taste.

To make thick and spicy Huruli Kattu:
Add salt and masala pd only after the sauce is reduced to 1/3rd, adding before might make it too salty when concentrated to thick sauce.

1. Instead of cooking for hours on end on the stove top (you can do that too if you like), take all the reserved stock water from the cooked gram in a big deep enough dish, add 1 tsp oil to prevent spilling over and put it in the Microwaveand cook on high 100% for 20 mins, uncovered.
2. Keep repeating the cooking time in the MW until the stock is reduced to 1/3rd. Add salt, 1 tsp or to your taste thick Tamarind paste from the jar and 2 tbsp ground masala powder, mix well.
3. Once you add the masala pd, be careful not to burn the sauce in the MW, cook 2 mins at a time and less until you get a thick pouring consistancy like you see in the photo. Add 1 tbsp Ghee, mix well. (You see some Horse gram Beans in my sauce above which is okay, adds to the texture but should use only the stock/water from the cooked beans to make the traditional Huruli Kattu)
4. Adjust the salt, chilli and masala taste by adding more powder if you like. Heat one more minute after adding powder, cool completely and store in the glass jar. (sometimes, my mother used to add 2 tomatoes too when reducing this sauce, but always optional)

To make Hurulikalu Usli/seasoned Horsegram/Kulith:

1. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a non-stick pan, add 1 tsp mustard seeds, few curry leaves, 3 slit green chillies, fry until they sizzle and pop.
2. Add 1-2 onions, chopped fine and fry until they golden brown on the edges, add 1/4 tsp salt, mix.
3. Add 4 tbsp chopped Cilantro, mix. Add 2-3 cups of cooked Beans now, stir fry well for 1 minute until heated thru'.
4. Take off the heat, let it cool. Adjust the salt. Cover and keep it aside to serve with Kattu , ghee and rice or you can serve this Usli with any other Sambhar and rice on the side.
5. This Usli is also a favorite to serve with Ragi Mudde and Uppusaaru (I will post that recipe some other time)

Logos and event list, my thanks to all of you ladies, enjoy! :)

Butternut Squash and Potato Bisque, goes to Lavi's "RCI-Pondicherry", an event started by Lakshmi.
Funnel Cake, goes to Srivalli's "Mithai Mela" event.
Huruli Kattu and Usli, goes to Shama's "Village special dishes" event.
I am sending Huruli Kattu recipe to Deesha for her to try if she wishes as a part of her "South Indies" , a fun concept to try south Indian dishes and post.

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Movies I watched:
"Maine Gandhi ko nahin Maara!"
I watched this movie thinking that it's about the Gandhi's assassination but movie is about a retired man who is suffering from Dementia and haunted by a childhood memory/abuse and keeps saying that he didn't mean to kill Gandhi when he shot at him with a toy gun. He was dragged into court on suspicion of participation in the killing although he was little boy at that time. Well acted by Anupam Kher as usaul and Urmila Matondkar is great too for a change!

"Mistress of Spices"
Voodoo spice queen, Aishwarya! :D
Story is little weird as the book is but I like that spunky, beautiful Ash girl, so I watched and liked it. Just glad that at least one actress from Bollywood has the guts to deal with different subjects however foreign it feels and do well at that instead of wear short shorts and run around the trees singing in Hinglish!

"The Wrestler"
Mickey Rourke's come back film after many years, who plays middle aged down on luck pro wrestler. He was Oscar nominated for best actor. Movie gets you very emotional to see his struggle with his career and with his daughter and great movie to watch (very very bloody, violent and gory tho'). Rourke is excellent in it, movie is specially great for people who love Wrestling, but personally I just couldn't get past how he looks in this movie. It's very weird to see him, felt like I am watching a wax robot walking around because of his botched cosmetic surgery on his face. I think guys surely will enjoy this movie than us girls, but good movie to watch at least once! I love Marisa Tomei in any film! :)

I watched many many Horror movies but nothing worth mentioning except may be SAW V, so I am not listing any here! :D

Book I am currently reading:

"Dreams from my father" by Barack Obama.

Just started reading this book. Very interesting and articulately written by our Prez when he was still a law student. I read in a magazine that he wears a Hanuman charm on his bracelet he wears, it always puzzled me. Not anymore!! As he says in the book, a 6' Hanuman statue was the first thing his stepfather (Lolo, who was a Indonesian) showed him when he first moved from US to Indonesia with his mother after she married her second husband and he was told that Hanuman is a great warrior Monkey God and has the strength of hundred men, nobody defeats him! :D
Obama seems to have a great time in Indonesia playing with kids there as he grew up, talks about having eaten dog meat, Snake meat etc and having lot of exotic pets like an Ape to play with too and later moving to Hawaii to be with his grand parents when his mom divorced her second husband too. We can read about him meeting his father's family in Kenya, college in New York (when he hears that his dad in Kenya died in an car accident) and then career move to Chicago and meeting the Mrs etc., rest is history!!
Barack Obama talks about his Kenyan Father as a charming guy and a scholar student who attracted everybody's attention when he talked but Obama never really knew him as a young child. He seems to have a very confused and emotionally insecure childhood, not knowing where he belonged. I heard him once call himself a "Mutt" on CNN, comparing himself to the Animal shelter dogs when they were talking about adopting a dog for his kids!
Well..I am still reading the rest, intriguing book to read which lets you take a peek of his past and present life, his life experiences, why he is so charming and readily accepting of all the other cultures and religions. A global President, thanks God for that! Isn't that cool? Let's see how well he manages and where he takes us from here! :)

Thanks to all the bloggers who awarded me last week. Hugs to all of you, I have added your names on the side bar. Thanks again, mush appreciated by me.

Okay, enjoy the Earth day today and let me sign off quickly before all Y'all good people hit me for writing the longest post! Have a wonderful fun week and weekend. Our weekend will be hot, almost 89F as they tell us! :)

THUKPA with TS-JA, ADAS BIS SILQ with KHOUBIZ!

HUH? WHAT?! That's what you are thinking, I know! It was all "Greek" to me too until I tried these tasty dishes from Arunchal Pradesh and Lebanon! :D

(Some of you are waiting for a particular post, check out the links way below!)
Well..today I am taking you all to a culinary tour of Arunachal Pradesh as a part of RCI-North East of India, one of the lesser known states in North-east region of India, to have a delicious Noodle soup and salt Tea.
After we are done touring North-east of India, I thought I would fly you to Middle East and visit Lebanon to taste one of their soup and bread too! How does that sound? Pack your hungry tummies and let's go buddies!

Arunachal Pradesh, North East India:
North East India covers these states: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.
Arunachal Pradesh in one of the states in North east of India I am choosing to explore and cook from. The name Arunachal Pradesh means "land of the dawn lit mountains" in Sanskrit. It is also known as "land of the rising sun" because of it's location in the easternmost state of India.
YAKS!!
Have you ever seen one before? There are plenty in Arunachal Pradesh and the local population uses it's sweetish milk for making Tea, cheese, Butter, Yogurt etc. Aren't they beautiful?

Most of the people living in Arunachal Pradesh are either of Tibetan-Burman origin or indigenous tribal origin, speak Tibeto-Burman languages and their cuisine is very much influenced by these cultures as well as China which borders the state. Most Arunachalis belong to 19 major tribes and 85 tribes, who has a tradition which is diverse and of rich culture, language and beliefs, including immigrant Bengali, Bodo, Hajong and Chakma and immigrants from neighboring Assam, Nagaland and other parts of India. The most major tribes include the Adi, Galo, Nishi, Khamti, Monpa and Apatani. Most popular festivals are Sangken,Solung,Nyokum,Longteyalu,Khan, Dree Etc which they celebrate with dance, song and food.
OPO, a fermented rice beer is made everyday in most homes and very much enjoyed by the people of Arunachal Pradesh!
The earliest references to Arunachal are found in the era of Mahabharata, Ramayana and other Vedic legends. Several characters, such as Princess Rukmini, King Bhismaka and Lord Parashurama, were referred to as people from this region in the Mahabharata. (Info from WIKIPEDIA.)


Thukpa with Ts-Ja are my two dishes for "Regional Cuisine of India", a event started by Lakshmi from "veggie cuisine" and Bhags from "Crazy Curry" blog is hosting RCI event this month choosing the beautiful region of North-East India. I am choosing Arunachal Pradesh to show case.Thanks for hosting Bhags!:)


Thukpa/Gya-Thuk with Ts-Ja!
These recipes (with my own few additions) come from "The essential North-East cookbook" by the author Hoihnu Hauzel and book is available at www.indiaclub.com.
Thukpa is a popular noodle-based soup with vegetables (or meat) in this region. The Buddhist Monpa and Sherdukpa tribes are more inclined to Burmese or Chinese influenced food and their popular dishes are Momos, Chowmein and Thupka. Oil and spices are sparingly used, chillies and ginger and sometimes fermented Bamboo shoots and fish are used for flavoring the soup.
This lightly flavored Thukpa was very tasty. Even my kids liked it, similar to American Chicken Noodle soup with loads of veggies. YES! You need a fork too for the Noodles!:D

Ts-Ja is a tea made of Yak's milk or it's butter, tea leaves and salt is added instead of sugar!! DO NOT ask me how to to pronounce Ts-Ja and DO NOT ask me whether I used Yak's milk and drank this salted Tea! Ain't tellin' ya! ;P
I am just giving you the recipe exactly as the book says they make this tea in AP! Have fun making it if you can find Yak's milk! :D

To make these:

To make 2 cups of Ts-Ja:
1. Boil 2 cups of water, add 1 cup Yak's milk or 1 tsp unsalted Yak's butter and 1/2 tsp salt.
2. Bring to boil again with 2 tsp tea leaves. Take the pan off of the heat.
3. Cover the pan and let it sit for 5 mins. Strain the Tea and serve. Enjoy!:)

Delicious Thukpa:
1. Cook 1 fistful of dry Egg noodles or Spaghetti pasta in boiling water with salt and bit of oil until cooked, strain, cover and keep aside.
2. Boil 5 cups of vegetable stock or chicken stock or water, add 2 cups of mixed vegetables of your choice, 1 garlic (my addition), 1 green chilly sliced and boil for 5 mins.
(I used 1 carrot, chopped, 1/2 cup Green beans chopped, 1 can sliced Bamboo shoots, few baby Spinach, 1 small Potato cubed, 3 tbsp Green onions,1 small tomato,chopped.)
3. When veggies are almost cooked, add 1 breast of chicken, chopped (optional), cook for 2-3 mins untilcooked. Take the pan off the heat.
4. Add 1 tsp grated ginger, 1 tbsp Cilantro and pepper pd, cover and let it sit for a minute. Stir the soup, add cooked Noodles and enough salt if needed and garnish with chopped green scallions. Serve hot.


I am also sending Thupka since it's a one dish meal to Archana of "Archana's Kitchen", for her event called "One D", which is one dish meal event. Enjoy hosting Archana!:)
That's it from me for Arunachal Pradesh cuisine! :)

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Adas Bis Silq with Khoubiz from Lebanon are my contribution to "A.W.E.D.-Middle East" event which is launched by DK of "Culinary Bazaar" blog and being hosted by Siri of "Siri's corner" this month. We are visiting Middle East!! Thanks for hosting Siri, enjoy!:)


Lebanon:
Lebanon is a religiously diverse, mountainous country in the Middle East. Before the civil war, Lebanon was considered the banking capital of the Levant and was widely known as the "Switzerland of the East" due to its financial power. Lebanon also attracted large numbers of tourists to the point that the capital Beirut became widely referred to as the "Paris of Western Asia".
Gibran Khalil Gibran is known to be one of the world's famous writers, particularly known for his book "The Prophet", which has been translated into more than twenty different languages is from Lebanon.
The Lebanese Cuisine is considered to be a Mediterranean, basically Levantine Arabic delicacy consisting of a variety of fresh vegetarian recipes, salads and stews all seasoned with a flavorsome combination of herbs and spices, is considered to be a very balanced, healthy diet. "Mezze", which are appetizers and also a Lebanese parsley salad known as Tabbouleh are the most popular. (Info from WIKIPEDIA)

Adas Bis Silq with Khoubiz:
These recipes come from the author Tess mallos, with my slight changes or additions. Her comprehensive cookbook is called "The complete Middle East cookbook".
Adas Bis Silq is basically a vegetarian lentil soup with Sliverbeets or red chard greens as we call it in US and flavored with light spices, makes a delicious soup full of protein and fiber. I added some cumin pd for taste and used a bunch of my first ever yield of baby red chards from my own veggie patch. YAY! :)
Khoubiz is a soft Lebanese flat bread similar to Italian Focaccia or a thick Naan if you make them smaller, baked plain or with spices sprinkled on it, great for dipping or mop up the Lentil soup.

To bake spiced Khoubiz:



First, let's make the Lentil soup:
1. Soak 1 cup brown lentils or whole red lentils(whole Masoor) or Egyptian lentils as they are sometimes, in water for 2 hrs, then wash and drain it.
2. Add 2 1/2 cups of water or stock or veg broth to lentils and Microwave for 10-12 mins on high or until soft but not to a mushy mess.
3. Heat 2 tsp olive oil in a pan, add 1 shallot,chopped, 1 garlic chopped,fry until softened.
4. Add 1 cup of washed and chopped red chard leaves, 1 tsp Cumin powder, salt, pepper, 2 tbsp cilantro leaves, cover and boil for 3 mins.
5. Take the pan out of the heat and add 2 tsp lemon juice, mix. Serve with a slice of Khoubiz and lemon slices.



Now the Bread!
I have the cut the original recipe into half since we didn't need too many Khoubiz. Mine is almost like rustic deep dish Pizza crust with spices on it! You can sprinkle cheese on top too and eat like a snack, great for kids to munch on or with any soup.

To bake one big or 4 small round Khoubiz, you need:
3 cups flour, more or less,
1 1/4 tsp or half packet of dry active yeast,
1 cup water,
3/4 tsp salt,
1/2 tsp sugar,
1 tbsp oil.
Spice mix: if you like it spiced, sprinkle chilli flakes, Garlic pd, Sesame seeds, Onion seeds, mixed herbs etc or Zatar mix.
How to bake:
1. Mix yeast, 1/4 cup warm water(110F), sugar and let it foam for 5 mins.
2. Add yeast mix to a mixer bowl with 3 cups of flour mixed with salt gradually , 3/4 cup water, oil. Mix and knead well for 4 mins until you get a smooth dough. Add more or less flour as you need.
3. Brush oil on the dough, cover and let it rise for an hour or until doubled.
Preheat the oven for 500F.
4. Punch down the dough. You can divide this into 4 smaller round breads or roll into one flat round about 1/2" thick like Focaccia, make dents with your fingers on top of the bread. Place them on the oiled baking pan, cover and let it rise a bit for about 10mins.
5. Sprinkle the spices if you are using. Bake in the oven for about 10 to 15 mins or until golden on the bottom and slightly golden on top. Use your judgment for exact timing but don't let it bake too long.
6. Take out and cool on the rack. Slice into wedges to serve.

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Book and Movie?
I just started to read a book called "Tamarind Woman" by Anita Rau Badami and watched "Dances with Wolves" again last Sunday.
I was too busy to finish the book, what with all the kids' last 10 days of school activities, field day, field trip, pep rally, Trisha's NHS Induction ceremony, Tushar's Guitar concert etc. School ends on the 11th. YAY!!
More work for me cooking lunch for 3 people everyday during the summer break and all but still YAY! :D

Dishes I tried last week:

Bhinda Ni Kadhi from Coffee's blog.
Dabeli Masala from Trupti's blog.
Dabeli from Rricha's blog.
Phulko Luchi ar Aloor Dom from Sandeepa's blog.
Cheesy Dal bread from Sunita's blog. Used this (spicy Butternut squash stir-fry instead of dal)
Methi Shag Bhaja from Jayashree of "spice and curry" blog.
Thank you Prajusha, Sireesha, Jayashree and JZ for your awards. I always appreciate it! Remind me if I have forgotten to mention any of you! :)
A big hug to Anamika for passing on a very beautiful 'Arte y Pico' award (photo on the sidebar)! What a beauty!! Thank you Anamika.
I am passing this beauty to "Bee", "Happy Cook" and "Sig", my dear blog buddies. Enjoy!:)



Have a great rest of the week, see you all later!:)

Mango-Coconut Pound Cake with Mango Cream sauce, Bell Pepper-Carrot soup

First let me say how sorry I am for all the lives lost in recent Jaipur, Rajasthan bombings. My heartfelt condolences to all the victims' families.
We all did wonderful posts on Rajasthan this month, appreciating their culture and the cuisine. It is really sad that some people are so evil, they just don't care about human lives, beautiful palaces and the rich history of that state. But Indians are very resilient, I am sure they will be up again soon and survive like we always do and don't ever let the evil win.
On the homefront here, we almost got hit by a Tornado last Friday. It came rushing, missed our town by few miles and hit the next city in the North, caused lot of property damage, power outages and moved away. Fortunately, nobody was fatally injured around here. I have never been in any natural disaster of any kind so far, I was a bit concerned watching minute by minute forecast. Glad we survived that thing!
Okay, on a frivolous note, here is how I enjoyed Mother's day. We went out for lunch and Dinner, kids gave me a gift card from Blockbuster video store so I can watch more scary movies! :D
Menu today:
I made a Pound Cake on Saturday, day before Mother's day, since I was forbidden to cook at all on Sunday. We had a slice of cake with Mango cream sauce on Sunday morning for breakfast to begin the "special" day! Pound cake was delcious and moist, thought I will post this for you. Hope you like it too, give it try for any special celebratory breakfast or just for a yummy dessert!:)

Vanilla-Coconut Pound cake with Mango sauce:
The basic recipe for this Pound Cake comes from one of the Betty Crocker's Baking book. I gave this Pound cake a slight Mango twist, added lot less sugar (original recipe says to add 2 3/4 cup of sugar!) and sweetened coconut flakes, added just 2 tbsp of Mango pulp to the batter which made it moist and fragrant and topped with some more tangy, creamy Mango sauce. Enjoy!:)




My Pound Cake with Mango Cream sauce goes to Arundati of "Escapades" blog, who is guest hosting WBB#22 ie "Weekend Breakfast Blogging", an event initiated by Nandita of Saffron trail. Arundati has chosen Mangoes which is in season now for her breakfast. Here is mine for you, thanks for hosting A!:)



Pound cake with a coconut-Mango twist!


For the Pound cake:
You need:
Dry ingredients;
3 cups all purpose flour or Cake flour, 1 tsp Baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt.
Wet ingredients;
1 3/4 cups of Sugar, 1 1/4 cup Butter,softened, 1 tsp Vanilla essence, 2 tbsp sweet Mango pulp, 4 Eggs.
Lastly add;
1 cup fat-free Evaporated milk, 1 cup Sweetened coconut.
How to bake:
First;
Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray a large Bundt cake or tube pan with no-stick oil or butter and flour it. Set aside.
Then;
1. Mix dry ingredients well. In a mixer, add all the wet ingredients, beat well for 5 minutes until light in color and fluffy.
2. On low speed, add flour and milk 1/3rd at a time alternately until well mixed.
3. Scrape well, add coconut and mix well. Pour into the prepared cake pan, tap gently to release the bubbles in the cak batter.
4. Bake in the oven for 50-60 mins or until the skewer inserted in the middle comes clean. Cool in the cake pan for 10 mins and gently loosen the edges of the cake around the tube with a knife.
5. Shake the pan to loosen the bottom of the cake. Invert on the cooling rack and cool. Store in a air tight box or glass cake dome. Serve a thick slice with Mango cream sauce on top and hot Coffee!

Mango Cream Sauce:
Here is a simple but delicious Mango Cream sauce which is great to eat as it is or to top on any dessert or fruits. It's slightly tangy with added lemon juice and naturally sweet when you use Alfonso canned Mango puree you get in Indian stores, try it!:)

How to make it:
1. Take 1 cup of sweet Mango pulp or puree the Mango pulp if you are using fresh Mangoes in a blender until no solid pieces left. Take out in a bowl.
2. Whisk the pulp with 2 tbsp/more or less powdered sugar depending on the sweet or tanginess of the pulp, 1 tsp lemon juice, 3 tbsp fat-free Heavy cream,a pinch of salt until you get a smooth sauce.
3. If it's too thick, add more cream or milk to thin out to desired consistency. Pour it in a sauce boat and serve chilled.

That's it, have a luxurious and exotic breakfast on a very special day! :)

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Mr and Mrs Pepper soup!
I made a refreshing Summery soup yesterday with all the fresh ingredients, absolutely no cooking involved at all. Doesn't that sound good? All you have to do get some fresh veggies and blend them and serve with some garnish!


Bell Pepper and Carrot soup goes to Pooja from "My creative Ideas" blog for her two in one VOW-JFI event. Pooja is guest hosting JFI this month with her choice of Bell Peppers. JFI event is created by Indira of Mahanandi. Thanks for taking up both of them Pooja, enjoy!:)


Bell Peppers: Brightly colored green, red, Orange, yellow bell peppers are rich sources of some of the best nutrients available. Bell peppers are naturally sweet, excellent sources of vitamin C and vitamin A, which are very helpful when you have cold or Flu and are a natural pain killers! Here is soup which packs all the goodness of peppers, Tomatoes, Orange and Carrots with a kick of a Jalapeño!

To make the soup:
1. Wash and chop 1 Orange, 1 red and 1 yellow bell peppers, 1 large cleaned Carrot, 2 red ripe tomatoes, 1/4 of a Jalapeño, 1/4" fresh ginger, a small piece of sweet onion (optional), 1 garlic, half peeled and seeded cucumber, few mint leaves finely and add to a blender.
2. Add 1/2 cup Orange juice, 1-2 tsp sugar, 1/4 tsp salt, 1 tbsp tangy bottled hot dog relish (Optional) to the blender and blend it all until smooth.
3. Adjust the seasoning, it should sweet, tangy and little spicy. Chill in the fridge.
4. Serve in a bowl, garnished with fresh mint. Excellent for lunch on a very hot day.!:)

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Daughters of Kerala:
This book is translated from Malayalam to English by Achamma Chandersekaran, her first solo book so far. She has co-translated 3 Malayalam books to English before this along with Dr.R.E.Asher. She is also a political activist for Indo-Asian American community in US and worked for the establishment of "Mahatma Gandhi Memorial" in Washington, D.C.
I took a long time to read these 25 beautiful short stories of Kerala, originally written in Malayalam by award winning Kerala authors mainly about womenfolk of Kerala and their diverse lives lead in the span of 70 yrs, beautifully captured in words by early writers who were born in 1920s to modern day English lecturer like Asha Krishnan!
For me who is not very familiar with Kerala culture (other than their yummy food!:D), this book was a fascinating read, took me to this World of Appachan, Chechi, Kochamma, Sanjayanam, Manakkal, Ikka, Kuttan, Kutty, Thampuran, Achayan, Ovara, Muthachhan, Cheriamma, Namputhiri, Illam, Apfan, Oathuchollal, Kudummy, Kunjathal, Devaswam, Umma, Kafir, Iblis, Badarulmunir, Malaks etc. (Click on the title link above to see the book)
The extent of abuse and suppression of women in some stories shocks me and some stories have women characters with such a strong and independent streak, it reminds me of some of our own Kerala bloggers! :)
I think every Keralite should have this book in their collection. I am really impressed by one particular author called "Gracy", who writes VERY VERY short stories which are literally just one page from beginning to the end and the endings scares the pants out of ME and let me tell ya, that's not an easy task to do for a woman who LOVES scary movies like "SAW"! Hahaha!
I salute each one you "daughters of Kerala!" :)

Dishes I tried from other blogs last week:


Vegetable dal curry from Prajusha's blog.
Chicken Chalna from Kamala's blog.
Temple style Pulihora from Sagari's blog.
Paratha stuffed with spicy rice flour from Anjali's blog.
Beetroot Dosai from Indo's blog.
Oil free chicken from Sunita's blog.
Sev and Tomato Shaak from Saju's blog.
Dinner Rolls from Dhivya's blog.
Andhra chicken curry from Sri's blog.

Last but not least;

Thank you Deeba , Purnima, Swati , EC, Cham, Sukanya, Trupti for your sweetest "You make my day" award. I appreciate it! :)
I would like pass this on to:
Bee, Richa, Dhivya Vikram, Maya, Meera to mention a few! Frankly you all 100+ bloggers make my day everyday, so each one of you deserve this award. Thanks to all of you, have a great weekend!:)