AU NATUREL-Pomo's Get Clicked!! APRIL THEME!

Fiery Poms

Is my entry for next month's CLICK - JB's photo event -April 08!

Had to begin someplace, after my hibernation though winter has disappeared, pleasant climate is in!! Can easily sip juices at room temperatures!

There is only a line of recipe here - Peel, Take the seeds, Squeeze- Drink!!!!

Peel the pomogranates ( I prefer Anaar-Hindi over Pom- o- grrrrrrrrrr..anate..) skin, reserve skin for sun-bath if you make recipes like kadhis which are good for stomach ailments!
Gather the juicy seeds in a bowl, keep a strainer ready on a jar, squeeze a fistful at a time with hands atop strainer! Discard the squeezed seeds (or if you have a recipe for that too, use it!)
Take the juice..speak to it as to how your fingers ached, and hope to have them naturally sweet. Mix with other juices or drink as is with chunk of ice-sweetened or natural!






CHEERSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!







.

Tahiri Pulao, Mozarella Cheese Parathas, Puran Poli, Dates Cake! (Phew!!)

That PHEW was for typing out title!! I prepare dishes from other bloggers which truly suit my taste, my pantry and my tiny tots! These were prepared over a weeks time, not at one go!!



Meera of Enjoy Indian Food, dared to make it in Microwave, I couldn't! So my good old stove top did make a nice fare of it!
All at home loved this simple yet flavourful pulao from UP --

VEGETABLE TAHIRI

Meers thanks so much for sharing this!!

Musical's Kitchen is truly a parantha freak! Just like I have a tendency to turn all food into a dosa she turns all into tasteful paranthas! The above one is from her idea of using cheese, where I used mozarella, sprinkled a little bit of dried coriander leaves, chaat masala, pepper powder a pinch into the cheese, dumped it into a parantha, family loved it! THANKS MK!
Also the tip of boiling a potato in MW is a huge success!! Scrub a potato, clean it completely, dump in MW on high power for 4 mins n voila, we have a lovely boiled potato! Can u beat it???? Thanks a ton dear MK! Hv u ladies tried it out, its swell of a time saver!!
My elder one is allergic to milk n milk product so her parantha had goat cheese and jaatar!

CLICK! The awesome couple on the block- oops! BLOG! :D JB!
Bee posted a beautiful post on making of Puran Poli, didn't need much for me to get going..
This was heavenly to taste when hot and poured on with ghee (yes..its scoop of ghee- no less)
which beautifully melted down the edges and made it much more flavorful!!

Thanks B!




















My dear little girl, SHILPA who introduced me through her 'Pacchi's' Global Hit/Contagious recipe, Eggless-Butterfree Dates Cake, which I tried umpteenth times and hit with success, which my family cleans off before it cools!!!!
This time round, it was for 2nd bday of a tiny tot, for whom I used buttercream icing and garnished with M&M's so the overall looks department matched the taste too!
Shilpa , can I ever thank you enough for being around!!!!! HUGS to you!


Lastly two Kuwait-famous Mid-eastern dishes, store brought, though just to share how they look!

1. Haish Kuboos

Haish is the term to define this beautiful blend of spinach and other greens with mix of pulses like kabooli chana, white beans and also whole lentil like whole masoor cooked with split lentil, is bland and flavoured with browned onions, dash of lime and fresh pepper this is one dish which is nutritious and outlandish at taste!!

Kuboos is whole wheat flour flatbreads passed through tandoor, similar to those we call Tandoori Roti..its very tasty when hot!
Kids finish off one on our way back home!! :)




2. Falafel Mushakkel


Falafel here is deep fried in olive oil and tastes good for breakfast or even as a snack its filling! I used to call it Kuwaiti Vada! (as in Mumbai's Vadapav)









Pita bread is split and the center is stuffed with two falafels, some baked/grilled veggies, french fries and few sauces and gets its name as Mushakkel!

This serves as a good meal as its filling!!






Have a Happy Holi and enjoy your holidays!!

.

Rachael Ray and A Lemon-Shortbread-Tart

I had no clue who Rachael Ray is [being non-US-ite ;-) ]when I read Sig's meeting post, Mythili's face morphed with another photo, comment coloumn fellow blogger acknowledged it as RR's face. Then came Deeba's post for a Yellow event! The link that I followed from hers' had hit straight in the face of the *Amature* baker in me, wanting to try this out soon! Thanks Deeba-for the exposure!

I simply tried this - url below :
http://www.rachaelraymag.com/recipes/dessert-recipes/raspberry-lemon-shortbread-tart/article.html



It called for raspberries, since I had none on me, I tried with what I had, i.e 2 cups of chopped fresh strawberries + 1 cup of frozen blue berries, followed her simplest instructions and obtained a yum dessert!!

Attempting to post stepwise photos, which seem self explanatory, worth a try for all those who love lemony flavour, fruits and over all the base-its something to relish on!! I have plenty of ideas swimming in my head with the keeper base!!!

Here goes, firstly her original title changes with change in fruits!

STRAWBERRIES-BLUEBERRIES-LEMON SHORTBREAD TART

1 stick+6 tbspn cold unsalted butter, 1 1/2C flour + 1/2 C sugar
combined to coarse crumbs texture, pressed down and baked.
The crisp golden base baked @200C /20 mins.









The berries, 3 cups of them, chopped n added on baked base.









Custard prepared with 3 eggs,3/4 cup sugar,2 lemon zest + 1/4 lemon juice....whisked n thick n ready to dive on berries.










There all of them together , a meeting prior to baking!










Baked at 150C/30 mins, custard set, left to cool...then let to cool and set again in a refrigerator, around 2 hours.








Flan ring opened, sugar powder dusted, all being absorbed by almost macerating berries... sliced to wedges with pizza cutter or sharp knife.






EAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTT all that you can. Its heavyyyyyyyyyy!!!!

.

Simplest Poha (Beaten Rice) Dosa/Aval Dosa And MORE!

Food memories are uplifted by some Posts, mine surely takes a somersault coming up not only with the dish but the lovely memories attached. A long forgotten dosa, made deliciously tasty by amma, popped to life on the sight of it at Seema's Everyday Cooking - HERE.
Seema's recipes are exact or near to the ones prepared at my maika!
Thanks Seema, for sharing the recipe, bringing back that tasteful memory and though this post comes pretty late, the dosa was tried promptly after setting my eyes on it! I served with runny tomato chutney which is not much blogworthy, proportion of water being bit more than needed!
Hence kindly focus on dosa only :)

Ingredients :
1 cup Sona mussorie rice
1/3rd cup urad daal
1 cup poha (thick variety)
Salt

Method :
Wash rice and daal together, soak for 3 hours. Just before grinding, wash the poha and leave in colander to drain, it will drain and fluff a bit in 5 mins flat! Grind the rice-urad to batter, then add the poha and grind again, check consistency, should be of dosa batter. Add salt, pulse it a bit and transfer to another vessel. TADaaaaaa...no fermenting needed!!!
Grease a hot non-stick tava, pour a ladle - full, spread, cover cook on one side for a minute or two, serve on dish alongside chutney of your choice!
*************************************************************************************

Here are few Dishes from Shilpa's Aayi's Recipes -
SHE's a lovely person and full of patience and perseverance and My TOP FAVE Blogger!




Coorg Chicken Curry- Was absolute tasteful! We had with chapatis and rice!









Chicken Vindaloo
A delicious chicken curry which goes well with chapatis, I need to fry onions a little less, next time I make it! Easy to prepare!








All time fave Naan-katayis - 25 del.cookies of the measure
This time I pressed a piece of pistachio in each.
Wd reduce the baking soda to 3/4th tsp next to avoid salt taste
Added 1/2 cup flour in addition for correct consistency.




Not to forget, Shilpa, I have tried many more dishes from AR without photos, all were liked by family! Happy Spring holidays and vacation to you!

**********************************************************************************
Meera of Enjoy Indian Food is a bubbly and enthu-cook! Two *healthy* posts worth making daily!!! This dish below is a sweet dish of corn, from Tarala Dalal, I made this especially to celebrate her 200th post! Thanks Meera, for being such a sweetheart.

This is called Makai Jajaria , a Udaipur speciality, where fresh corn is grated (I had used frozen sweet corn of US) which worked fine for this sweet. In the pic, I have used one ear of thawed frozen corn, due to lack of time, I didn't grate, but scraped the corn off kernel with a serrated knife.
URL : http://www.tarladalal.com/recipe.asp?id=3918
or click on Tarala Dalal above.



I have tried out many of Meera's recipes too, would come up with them in other post.
They too get THUMBS UP sign!! THANKS MEERA!!


Meera, may you eat healthy innovative food from all regions and share them with your simplicity on your blog! With best compliments.

***********************************************************************************

Spicy Sour Dosa (Uppu Huli Dose-Ramya)

Do you love - Neer Dosa (Kannada) or Pannpolo (Konkani) ? Then this spicy sour version is just right for you! Going through her blog, I came across the sweet tit-bits between her in-laws and thought that she is as blessed as me in respect of in-laws, Ramya, came up with this delicious post HERE at Mane Adige. Beautifuuuuul blog with Manglore/Banglore dishes!!

I had to prepare this ASAP, took snaps, but later saw a RED disclaimer,I promptly checked with her and she gladly permitted me to blog over it! THANKS RAMYA.




The recipe is a sure keeper with the measure below the yield was 17 delcious dosas,hubs raised eyebrows in appreciation..mmmmm and kids went aaa aaa..gimme more!!! I loved it absolutely!





Ingredients :
2 cups raw rice*
3 red chillies **
1/2 cup coconut grated (i used dessicated)
tamarind (marble sized)
2 tsp coriander seeds
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbspn grated ginger
Salt


Method :
Soak rice for 4-5 hours in normal water (use warm water for less soaking time).
Lightly toast the red chillies,cumin,coriander in few drops of oil. Grind the rice and coconut to a fine paste, then add the tamarind, toasted spices and grind till combined well. Add salt and pulse for a minute.


Take the batter in a big vessel, add water to make the consistency similar to milk.






Heat tava, brush a few drops of oil and on a medium flame, pour the batter and holding the tava with a handle and move in circular motion till the batter spreads evenly, cover and cook for a minute or two, uncover the lid, fold first to a semi-circle and fold further to a conical look or halve the fold again!

You are done, serve as is, as the spicy-sour dosa can be eaten by itself or serve with chutney of your choice.

* The rice has to be non-basmati, non-dosa rice. My mom soaks for one hour for pan-polo, hence here I soaked rice for 1 hour in warm water. I have used Ponni rice.
**Use more red chillies for more spice level, I keep it low for my two kids.




I served these beautiful peach laces, crisp at centre and silky on the edges with my mom's style peach colored coconut chutney! Chutney :
Ingredients :
1/2 cup coconut , 2-3 byadgi chillies, 1 tbpsn dalia/ chana daal, pinch hing, salt, seasoning - rai, curry leaves, cooking oil

Method :
In a few drops of oil, toast - chana daal, till light brown and aromatic, add the chillies till glossy, lastly put off the low flame and add the hing, let cool.
Grind the coconut, chana daal-red chillies to a chutney consistency, add salt.
Season with a tsp of cooking oil-splutter rai, put off flame add curry leaves, pour on the chutney. Serve with dosas!!

Mmmmmm...its great combo,filling breakfast!! Try it to know it!!

Rava Idli /Fine Semolina Idli

These beauties are a result of trying out something different in field of Idli! I happened to see Sailu's simple yet nutritious Rava Idli , prior to which I used to make Rava Idlis from GITS ready to make packs. Her RECIPE HERE.

I made it with a slight twist in Ingredients to suit my pantry and to suit our family.

Ingredients :
1 cup fine rava(semolina)
1 1/2 - 2 cups water
1 big red carrot -grated
6-7 stalks of fresh coriander-finely chopped
1 tsp rai
2 tsp urad daal
2 green chillies - chopped
2 tsp grated ginger
3 tsp cooking oil
3 tsp sugar (optional)
Salt

Method :
In a pan heat oil, splutter rai, fry urad daal till golden brown, add the green chillies, ginger, saute for some time. Add the fine semolina, fry stirring continously till aromatic, transfer to a mixing bowl. Add water and mix well, add salt, sugar, grated carrots and coriander leaves to it, check the consistency should be thick, not watery. ( You can add 1 cup water and half cup beaten curds. Also substitute ghee for oil, would make idli more flavourful) Let it sit for 30 minutes. (mine was kept overnight)

Grease the idli moulds, fill this batter upto 3/4th of each dent. Steam for 10 minutes, remove from the steamer, let it cool for 7-10 mins before taking off from moulds.
Output : 14 moist idlis, they stay moist till evening!! (had last 2 leftover till evening!! )

**I use a pressure cooker without weight/whistle . I kept the flame high till steam was released on high, then on low flame, cooked for 10 minutes. Standing time for idlis on mould was 10 mins.
** Use toasted cashews in each mould prior to pouring batter, for some more taste.

Serve with chutney or tomato sauce. We had with idli podi(powder).

CLICK!

This would be first entry into Jai& Bee's photography event!

Miraculous Metal

Love blogging and bringing the aroma to my kitchen, new-found passion-baking!
With plethora of baked goodies to choose from, I have selected these bake wares and asst. bake wares :D for my very first entry to enigmatic couple who never cease to put us bloggers in awe with their charismatic blog, Jugalbandi.

Baking to me is an art, a way to relax and the watch the end product vanish!! Hence have chosen the muffin tray, whisk,beater,spring-form which reflects my passion, if it were not for these Miraculous Metals, there would not have been the yummy goodies!!! I am in love with these, totally!

Camera : JVC mini DV, model GR-D270AS.

Toast Sandwiches(Potato Filling)

Toast Sandwiches are greatly demanded as my Mil makes them super-tasty!
Simple aloo filling, toasting them and smearing with butter, dipped in tomato sauce = yummmm!
It goes as a brunch, being very filling and tasty!

Ingredients :
12 slices (normal toast) bread
4 boiled medium potatoes
1 medium tomato
2 cloves big garlic minced
1/2 tsp rai (mustard seeds)
1/2 tsp jeera(cumin seeds)
1/2 tsp haldi (Turmeric pwdr)
1 tsp red chili powder
salt to taste
Butter (salted - 1/4 tsp each slice)-OPTIONAL
Tomato ketchup/sauce

Method :

For filling :
In a big bowl, mash the potatoes add haldi, mirchi powder and salt. In a kadhai, heat a tsp of cooking oil, splutter rai, crackle mustard, add the minced garlic, saute till light brown, add the tomatoes, cook for upto 3 minutes. Add the mashed potatoes to it, mix well for around 2 minutes, put off the flame cover the lid.

Prepare for toasting :
Put on the electric toaster. Take a slice of bread, spread the filling evenly place another slice. Prepare such two pieces, place on toaster, before closing the toaster lid, spread little softened salted butter(skip butter-it would still taste as delicious! ) Close the toaster, once the green light flashes, open, and serve hot with sauce. Repeat the process till you are full! :D


I have no photos of the filling.

This post is being ushered by me to my very very first event, being hosted at Sia's - "Ode to Potatoes"

Finally after contemplating, I could make it to an event, before the deadline!!!!! I looooooveeee anything with POTATOES!

Udid-Maidya Polo / Dosa with Maida N Udad Batter

I have always liked it when Amma made this lovely dosa. It involves two main ingredients, Maida (all purpose flour) and Udad (black gram -split). I had totally forgotten about this, till I saw lovely Seema's post on it, memories flooded back! Me and my brother used to hold competition in having more, poor amma used to just pace from kitchen to living room balancing the hot dosas, the coconut chutney she made was out of this world.
Also when amma used to ask us of our choice for breakfast, I would always ask for this polo!!

Thankyou Seema, for posting this dosa.

These dosas need 5 hours soaking time, no fermentation and is cooked on one side only.


Ingredients :
1 cup udad daal
3 cups maida
Salt
Water
Oil

Method :
Soak udad daal for 3 hours and grind to a paste, the consistency should be that of thick sauce.

In a big bowl, whisk 3 cups maida with double quantity of water till its lump-free, refrigerate for 4 hours. The water will stand clear on top of settled maida post 4 hours.

Discard the water carefully, add to it, the udad daal paste till uniformly combined. Add salt, check if it has dosa consistency. Add water, only if needed.

Heat a non-stick tava, spread a ladle full of batter, cover and cook on a medium flame.
Needs to be cooked one side. ( In the abv pic, by default, I cooked on other side too! )

Raw Mango Chutney :
1 small raw mango-deseeded,skinned n chopped to small pcs- equal or more coconut,two green chillies, 1/2 inch ginger, salt-ground together with half qty water..season wt rai,curry leaves in coconut oil preferably!!
(To turn it to curry, take the ground mango,add double the volume of beaten curds, then season, add a red chili or two in seasoning, this goes with rice! -its simply called maanga-moru kutaan)


Serve it with chutney of your choice. ( I served with mango chutney and sambhaar).


A tasty breakfast indeed!!!

Dry Fruits Bars & Amazing Info on Fruits/Veggies !

Crisp on outside n Semi-moist inside !!!
Deeba's post here - Bar Cookie with the statement 'snack box for kids' had me get-set-go on this, the moment I read it! I prepared this beauty, going per her directions, except the crasins were missing, I went ahead with artificially sweetened cherries which worked fine with these dry fruits!

My plans to pass couple of these to few friends flopped! Why...as hubby was gobbling down in dozens and kids too went fast on it!! A keeper recipe! Thanks Deeba for going through 'The Colossal Cookie Cookbook' and sharing with all of us, they're over!!

Ingredients :
100 gms / 1 stick softened butter
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup maida/ all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
1/4 cup almond powder
1/2 cup pistachios chopped
1/2 cup raisins golden
1/2 cup craisins ( I used-artificially sweetened cherry)
1 tbspn powdered sugar for dusting

Method :

Preheat oven to 180 C. Line a 8 x 8 " pan with 2" depth and allow the parchment to hang out.
(A rectangular swiss roll tin works fine, the extra sheet is left so that post baking its picked out holding this and passed on to a wire rack for cooling)

Sift maida, baking powder,salt and keep aside. Beat butter and sugar till it forms a fluffy mixture.

Add eggs one by one allow to combine with the mixture. Add the vanilla essence.

Fold in very gently with spatula, the flour and last 4 ingredients - ie almond powder,pistachios, golden raisins and craisins.

Pour this sticky mixture into the prepared tin, with a flat spatula even it out. (The leveling is done to ensure unform baking and gives out neat pieces once cooled)

Bake from 20 - 25 mins till the surface is golden brown, prick a pick and check for doneness inside, it has to come out clean. ( Mine took 21 minutes @ 180 C )

Take the tin out of oven, leave for 10 minutes, then hold the lining paper, lift it out of the tin, cool on rack.

Once completely cooled :
1. Upturn it carefully and take off the parchment paper, place on a flat surface or work area.
2. Use a serrated knife and slowly -carefully cut to desired shape (square/rectangle etc )
3. Dust powdered sugar on the top of the cut bars with strainer or sieve.





Store ( in airtight cookie jars -yup one and half jar get filled up), if nobody is around...if people are around , don't bother with storage! :D






I recieved this lovely mail from a dear friend, thought of sharing it here!! Please go through it carefully...its amazingly informative!!!

*****************************************************************************************************************

God is so creative even when it comes to food!

Just in case you did not know this… this is absolutely amazing for sure.. and makes a lot of sense when you think about it…

This starts out not sounding interesting but read past the first paragraph and you will be amazed!

You are what you eat, so eat well.

A stupendous insight of civilizations past has now been confirmed by today's investigative, nutritional sciences. They have shown that what was once called 'The Doctrine of Signatures' was astoundingly correct. It now contends that every whole food has a pattern that resembles a body organ or physiological function and that this pattern acts as a signal or sign as to the benefit the food provides the eater.

Here is just a short list of examples of Whole Food Signatures.

A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye...and science shows that carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and funct ion of the eyes.





A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart is red and has four chambers. All of the research shows tomatoes are indeed pure heart and blood food.




Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows that grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.






A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds are on the nut just like the neo-cortex. We now know that walnuts help develop over 3 dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.



Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exac tly like the human kidneys.





Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet the body pulls it from the bones, making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.




Eggplant, Avocadoes and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today's research shows that when a woman eats 1 avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? .... It takes exactly 9 months to grow an avocado fro m blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).





Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the motility of male sperm and increase the numbers of sperm as well to overcome male sterility.




Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics.






Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries.



Grapefruits, Oranges , and other citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.





Onions look like body cells. Today's research shows that onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes.



'The news isn't that fruits and vegetables are good for you, it's that they are so good for you, they can save your life.'

(PS : I have no proof of authenticity of the info, its a forward which was interesting hence I shared it here)
************************************************************************************************