LETZ COOK/CRAFT/MAKE

I know a lot of people, who don't like Pavakkai (karela) and even refuse to taste it. I was one among the lot till last month, but after much persuasion from my mom decided to give it a try for Tamil New Yr's. She said for first timers, frying the karela was a good choice. Now after tasting it I have to agree that its not bad at all. Honestly this would not be my favorite dish, but with all its health benefits I wouldn't mind having it once in a while. Ingredients: Pavakkai (Karela) (sliced) - 2 cups Chilli powder - 2 tsp (can be changed according to taste) Salt - as needed Turmeric - 1 tsp Oil - for frying Method: Discard the seeds and slice the pavakkai into thin rounds. Wash and let dry. Sprinkle all the powders on top. Add as less water as needed to coat the pavakkai slices with the powder. Let it marinate for 15-20 min and then deep fry in oil, till it turns crispy. Remove and strain on a kitchen towel. You can store this in an air tight container for up to 2 weeks. Se...

I was never a fan of eggplants back home but now I try to make it once in a while. When made well it tastes delicious. I usually make this podi fry with potatoes but tried it with brinjal for tamil new yr's and it came out pretty well. Ingredients: Brinjal (Eggplant) (sliced) - 2 cups Onions (thinly sliced) - 1 Salt - as needed Oil - 4 tbsp To Powder: Channal dal - 2 tbsp Thur dal - 2 tbsp Red chillies - 4 Dhania (coriander seeds) - 2 tbsp Methi (fenugreek seeds) - 1 tsp Jeera (cumin seeds) - 2 tbsp Method: Boil the brinjal slices in water with a pinch of turmeric for about 5min. This helps to cook it faster when mixed with the powder. Dry roast the "to powder" ingredients and grind into a coarse powder. Heat oil in a pan and add sliced onions. Once the onions turn golden brown add the ground powder, salt and boiled brinjal slices. Fry in low heat till the brinjal is cooked and absorbs the masala. Serve with rice and sambar. This can also be made without boiling the brinj...

I've noticed that most of my north Indian friends are not aware that rasam can be made with so many different ingredients - lemon rasam, dal rasam, pepper rasam, garlic rasam, tomato rasam, neem flower rasam etc etc. Each has its own predominant flavor. I like tomato rasam for its tanginess, that the tomatoes impart. Also for me rasam is a good time saver. It takes exactly 15 min to prepare from scratch. Its a good remedy for indigestion and cold. Ingredients: Thin tamarind water - 2 cups Pepper - 2 tsp (can be increased if needed) Jeera (cumin seeds) - 1 tbsp Garlic - 3 cloves Green chillies - 2 Turmeric powder - 1 tsp Rasam powder - 1 tsp (optional) Tomatoes - 2 (ripe and juicy ones) Coriander leaves (chopped) - 2 tbsp Seasoning Ingredients: Mustard seeds- 1 tsp Jeera (cumin seeds) - 1 tsp Red chillies - 2 Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp Methi (fenugreek seeds) - 1/2 tsp Oil - 1 tbsp Method: Grind pepper and jeera in a blender to a coarse powder. Add garlic cloves and green chillies and bl...

Banana flower has lots of nutrient value - Vitamin C, Vitamin A, Calcium and iron too. Cooked banana flower eaten with curd or boiled banana flower mixed with buttermilk is considered an effective medicine for menstrual disorders like painful menstruation and excessive bleeding. Banana flower helps increase progesterone hormone which reduces the bleeding in women. More medicinal info from the comments left by MenakaSury : banana flower has a medicinal value for a number of chronic ailments including dyspepsia,hook-worms in intestines, menorhoea. When taken with panan kalkandu, it is a definite cure for dysentry. Vazhaipoo combined with pasiparuppu and karunaikizhangu made into a vada (as described by you) cures peptic ulcers. But one must be careful to use the right oil for deep frying. I am not also exaggerating when I say that the plantain flower mixed with cow's milk and plantain fruit (taken once in a week) is a good antidote for obese women. When the flower is mixed with aama...

Last year when I first read about the Green Blog Project , I was very excited as we had so many veggies growing in our backyard and this was a good event to participate in. I was a month old in the food blogging world and it was one of the first few events that I participated in. I made vegetable fried rice from carrots and beans and tomato thokku from tomatoes grown in my backyard. After sending my entries I was eagerly waiting for the roundup and was amazed at all the other entries. I usually stick to traditional and easy growing veggies. But after looking at the roundup, I was surprised to see so many people growing traditional Indian veggies with such ease. This effort started by InjiPennu has encouraged a lot of food bloggers to grow their own vegetables either be it in small containers/pots or a big backyard. I had totally dismissed the idea of growing anything in winter. When Mandira of Ahaar hosted the GBP winter/spring 2007 event and gave us some very good tips on grow...

Even though I live miles away from home, I still try and celebrate most festivals, just to stay in touch with the tradition. So this time when I found banana leaves (vazhai elai) in a Korean store, I was excited like a kid in a candy store. I was so happy that I can serve my complete tamil meal on a banana leaf for the first time. Iniya Tamizh Puthandu NalVazhthukal Some info about tamil cuisine from the web: Tamil cuisine is known for its aromatic, flavourful and sometimes spicy food. Tamil cuisine is one of the oldest vegetarian culinary heritages in the world and on most auspicious days only vegetarian meals are prepared. Even among non-vegetarians, ceremonial feasts are always vegetarian. So for Tamil New years day, I stuck to a completely vegetarian menu. Though stainless steel cutlery and crockery are used in urban homes, food is still served, on ceremonial occasions, in the traditional way - on a banana leaf, "vazhaillai", a freshly cut plantain leaf. It is very hygien...

This winter we did not start any new plants as we had to go to India for about 5 weeks. We had a friend water our plants and I was worried about them. We were surprised to find all the plants hale and healthy when we got back and especially our curry leaf plant thrived well. When we bought the plant it was about 4 inches tall and now its more than a feet tall. We move it out in the summer and bring it back inside in the fall. So for the Green Blog Project - Winter/Spring 2007 hosted by Ahaar , I decided to make curry leaf powder, which when made right can be stored for a few weeks. If you keep it longer, it loses its aroma. Also this is different from the very famous curry powder. Curry powder is made by dry roasting and grinding a mixture of spices. Curry leaf powder can be had, mixed with rice and ghee. This will also be one of my entry's to the JFI-WBB: Green Leafy Vegetables event hosted by Indira . Some interesting facts about curry leaves from here . The curry leaf plant (o...

I used to love festivals back home as it meant having friends and relatives, wearing new clothes, eating good food and watching tv the whole day. Now that both my brother and I are miles away from home, my parents hardly celebrate it the way they used to. So I decided to carry on the tradition and invited friends over for dinner yesterday. The menu was vegetable biriyani, mutton biriyani, tandoori chicken, gobi 65, carrot-mint raitha and boiled egg. One of my friends made delicious vegetable kababs and another one got a yummy mocha cream cake. I got banana leaves from a korean store last week so served everything on plates covered with banana leaves just like the way back home. I am posting a few pictures from yesterday and will try to post recipes one by one as soon as possible. Clockwise from top: Carrot-Mint raitha, Gobi 65, Tandoori chicken, Mutton biriyani, Kathirikai (Eggplant/Brinjal) chutney, Pickle and Vegetable biriyani in the centre.

I don't use my electric grill often. So i searched online for some grilling recipes and found about the panini. It's basically a sandwich that's grilled. The sandwich can be made with any vegetable or meat of choice. I decided to make mine with grilled veggies and goat cheese. Ingredients: Bread slices - 8 Onion - 1 (sliced) Green bell pepper/Capsicum - 1 (sliced) Mint chutney - as needed Tomato ketchup - as needed Chilli sauce - as needed Cooking spray/oil for grilling (butter can also be used) Goat cheese - as needed Method: Heat the grill to a medium temperature. When hot, spray with cooking spray and grill the sliced veggies. Meanwhile spread mint chutney on one slice of bread and ketchup on another. Add goat cheese to the slice with mint chutney and place the grilled veggies on top. Sprinkle chilli sauce and cover with the slice with ketchup. Grill the sandwich till crispy and brown on both sides. If you have an open grill place a heavy vessel on top of the sandwich t...

Ever since my binge shopping at the Indian stores I have too many vegetables stored in the fridge. I decided to use the mint to make a chutney that can be used as a spread or with chat items. Ingredients: Mint - 1 bunch Coriander - 1 bunch Green chillies - 2 to 3 (as needed) Garlic cloves - 2 Salt - as needed Lime juice - 2 tbsp Method: Clean the leaves and grind everything to a smooth paste adding very little water. At times when I am in a hurry I clean the mint and coriander bunch and cut 1 inch in the bottom and add the whole bunch to the blender (leaves, stem and all). It isn't the ideal way to make chutney but mine tastes fine. The lime juice helps retain the color and this can be stored in the refrigerator for 1-2 weeks.

The thing that I like about idli batter is that, the same batter can be used to made different dishes. The first two days when the batter is fluffier, thick and creamier idlis and paniyarams can be made. Then the batter can be made a little runny by adding water and dosas can be made. Finally when the batter has fermented a lot oothappams can be made. Again variations to oothappams can be onion oothappam, tomato oothappam and a mixed vegetable oothappam. Also all of these dishes can be served for breakfast, lunch, dinner or as an evening snack too. This time I opted for mixed vegetable oothappam for dinner, a couple of days ago. Its simpler to chop all the vegetables finely and assemble them before beginning to make the oothappam. Ingredients: Idli/dosa batter - 2 cups Onion - 1/2 (chopped finely) Tomato - 1/2 (chopped finely) Green chillies - 2 (chopped finely) Carrot - 1 (grated finely) Coriander - 2 tbsp (chopped finely) Oil as needed Method: Heat dosa tava and drop a spoonful of...

Even though I know that making instant mixes, sauces, chutneys over the weekend saves time during the week I hardly ever do that. Two weekends ago I decided to make pulikachal for 2 reasons. One is, I could use it during one of my lazy weekdays and the other reason is a little long to explain. My brother came to the US on a project about 2 weeks ago and my mom had bought a bottle of pulikachal and pickle for him so that he can manage with it for a few days. Because of the reduced luggage restriction he couldn't bring both and that's been the only thing on her mind and she was worried about what he would do for food. So I decided to make some and send it to him and was a little worried about the bottle safely reaching him without breaking. It did and he actually made puliyodharai a couple of days ago and said it came out well. He cooks all the basic stuff pretty often so I thought this would help him out on his lazy weekdays. Ingredients: Tamarind water - 6 cups Mustard seeds - ...

I made this cake a while ago when one of my friends was visiting. He likes this cake a lot and I try to make it every time he comes over. The recipe is simple as it uses a ready made cake mix. I use the Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Pineapple Supreme cake mix but even a regular yellow cake mix should be enough. This is my entry to this month's AFAM-Pineapple event . Ingredients: Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Pineapple Supreme cake mix - 1 pk Water - 1 1/3 cups (Can be substituted with the juice from the pineapple can) Vegetable Oil - 1/3 cup Eggs - 3 Maida (All purpose flour) - 1/4 cup (only for high altitude baking) Butter - 1/2 cup Brown sugar - 1 cup (firmly packed) Pineapple slices - 1 can (20 oz) Red maraschino cherries - as needed (drained and halved) Method: Preheat oven to 350F. Place butter in ungreased 13x9 inch pan and keep inside warm over for about 2 min till the butter is completely melted. Sprinkle brown sugar evenly in pan to completely cover the pan. Arrange pineapple slic...

When it comes to roti or poori I always stick to the traditional methods. I am yet to explore different varieties of roti's and poori's. I have been growing methi in a pot and decided to make methi poori with it. I just searched on the net and came with a recipe that was a mix of a lot of recipes. It did come out well and I will be making this dish again but next time I am thinking of grinding the methi leaves and adding it to the flour mix to make the dough. Ingredients: Wheat flour - 2 cups Methi (chopped) - 1/2 cup Jeera (coarsely powdered) - 1 tbsp Chilli powder - 1 tbsp Garam masala - 1 tbsp Salt - as needed Oil - for deep frying Method: Mix all the above ingredients except oil with enough water to a chapathi dough consistency. Wrap with a wet towel and let it rest for 30min. Then make small balls out of it, roll it into 4-5 inch wide circles and deep fry in oil till it turns golden brown. Serve with channa masala or potato masala. It can also be served with yogurt and pic...

This is one of the recipes that I learnt during my trip to India. This recipe is from an aunt and I just followed it blindly. It turned out pretty yummy. The batter is a basic idli batter and you need a special paniyaram pan for it. You can buy one from here . It takes about 4 min for one batch (6) to get cooked and it's pretty filling. This could be made for breakfast or as an evening snack. Ingredients: Idli batter - 2 cups (makes about 12) Onions - 1/2 cup (chopped finely) Cilantro / Coriander leaves - 2 tbsp (chopped finely) Curry leaves - 1 sprig (chopped finely) Green chillies - 2 small (chopped finely) Mustard seeds - 1 tsp Jeera - 1 tsp Oil - 3 tbsp Method: Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan and add mustard and jeera. Once the mustard starts to splutter add chopped onions, green chillies, curry leaves and coriander leaves. Fry till onions turn golden brown and remove from heat. Add this to the idli batter and mix well. Heat the paniyaram pan and add few drops of oil into each hollow...

This is one recipe that I learnt recently and it goes well with Rice-dal or with roti. Its also an easy recipe and a good way to use a bunch of methi leaves. The aloo compliments the bitterness of the methi and the dish finally tastes very good. This will be my entry to this month's Jhiva for Potato event hosted by Happy Burp . Ingredients: Potato - 5 (boiled and cubed) Methi leaves (fenugreek leaves) - 1 cup Onion - 2 (chopped) Tomato - 2 (chopped) Coriander leaves - for garnishing Powder ingredients: Chilli powder - 1 tbsp Turmeric powder - a pinch Garam masala - 1/2 tsp Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp Salt - as needed For seasoning: Mustard - 1 tsp Split urad dal - 1 tsp Jeera - 1 tsp Methi seeds - 1 tsp Curry leaves - a sprig Dry red chillies - 2 Oil - 3 tbsp Method: Add oil in a pan and when hot add the seasoning ingredients. When the mustard starts to splutter add the onions and fry till it turns golden brown. Add tomatoes and once its cooked add the chopped potato cubes and the ...

I'm back after a long trip to India. All my India trips are memorable but this one was extra special since I got married. Coming back after so many ceremonies, so many people, so many activities, life here seems very plain and not so exciting enough. So I am trying to spice up my life with a few new recipes that I've learnt during this trip. As promised I am going to start with the black forest recipe. I've used a store bought chocolate cake mix for the base but if you have the time and energy its best to make your own cake from scratch. Ingredients: Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Devil's food cake (store bought) - 1 pk Water - 1 1/3 cups + 1 tbsp Oil - 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp Eggs - 3 All purpose flour - 2tbsp + extra for dusting the cake pan Butter - for smearing the cake pan Espresso/Indian filter coffee - 3 tbsp Rum/Brandy - as per taste Cherries - 1 cup Whipping cream - 500 ml (can be increased if needed) 8 inch cake pans - 2 Grated chocolate - for garnishing as needed Method:...

I meant to post this yesterday but was busy cooking from 11 in the morning, as I had friends coming home for dinner. It was a very white christmas in Denver and looked pretty. Few pics from the dinner. Clockwise from top: Tomato-mint raita, Curd rice, Vegetable kurma , Egg masala, Chicken fry, Vegetable biriyani, Chicken biriyani, Gobi 65 For desert it was Black Forest cake that I make every year for Christmas. I will try to post the recipe as soon as possible.

Having to stay indoors because of the snow, I decided to make more Christmas goodies today. Diamond cuts are a tradition back home and my mom would make kilos of these to distribute to our neighbors. Since I had taken out some oil to fry the diamond cuts, I decided to use the remaining oil to make ribbon pakoda. I had to call my aunt back home to get the recipe as I've never made these before. Both the treats came out well and I've already started distributing these to my friends. I will be baking my special black forest cake on Sunday and will try to post the recipe as soon as possible. Diamond cuts Ingredients: Wheat flour - 2 cups (all purpose flour can also be used or half of each can be used) Salt - 1 tsp Water - enough to make a dough Sugar (powdered) - enough to coat the fried diamond cuts Oil - for deep frying Method: Add the flour, salt and enough water to make a soft dough. Make small balls and roll out each ball into thin circles. Cut diamond shape by diagonally maki...

I've been in the US for about 6yrs now and have never seen so much snow. It started early yesterday morning and continued for more than a day. Everything is now covered with snow here, in Colorado. My car got stuck in the driveway yesterday and leaving it out was a big mistake. This morning I woke up to find my car completely buried in snow. It took about 4hrs of shoveling and finally my fiance and I managed to pull the car out and clear part of the driveway. As a result of the drifting snow we saw about 3 to 4 feet of snow in some places and it was very difficult clearing it. The amount of snow that most of Colorado received was about 25 inches and in some places, upto 50 inches. That is a lot of snow for one day. The Denver International Airport closed yesterday and will remain closed till about noon tomorrow. There are about 5000 people stuck at the airport and are waiting to reach their destination in time for Christmas. All news channels have been covering this and have also n...