Thursday, August 27, 2009

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Awards,Tag and extending my break.....

Hi folks,
Its been 3 weeks that I am away from blogging but seeing the number of entries posted by our fellow bloggers I feel like I am away from so many decades.:)I really missed reading all your entries girls,but slowly I will try catching them up.I am really touched when some of you even enquired about my sudden disappearance,thank you girls for your concern.
I had been to my home town(namma bengalooru) for the Ganesh chaturthi festival and naamakaran function of my niece and had a very nice time with my parents,bro,sil and my sweet niece.Time really flies away when we are with our dearest buddies,isn't it?,those 2 1/2 weeks were just like 2 seconds for me.I thoroughly enjoyed being pampered by my parents,naughtiness of my 9 month's old niece,eating outside food @ my favorite joints atleast once a day,getting dressed up for a couple of functions,shopping and what not??I enjoyed each and every second there.
This weekend we are shifting to another house here in mumbai,So I might not be able to blog for another couple of weeks until I settle down there.If I get time in between I will try visiting all your blogs though I cannot comment.I will miss you guys and will try to catch up soon.

Raaji,Ann,Sunanda,sushma,parita,Shri,PJ have showered me with these awards and they have even linked me with a tag which most of you have already been tagged.I thank you all for passing those lovely awards to me,you people made my day.

1. Kreative Blog Award
2. One Lovely Blog Award

3. I love your blog Award





Simran has passed on the Scrumptious Blog award to me:



Thanks a lot, simran for this lovely award.

Coming to the TAG...

1. What is your current obsession?

To construct my own house with my requirements

2. What are you wearing today?

Kurta, pyjama

3. What’s for dinner?

jeera rice and kaala channa with raita,papad and pickle

4. What’s the last thing you bought?

Some clothes in bangalore and few vegetables here.:)

5. What are you listening to right now?

Nothing.other than traffic sounds

6. What do you think about the person who tagged you?

ohh..so many ppl have tagged me..But one common thing among us is our LOVE for cooking and blogging.

7. If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you like it to be?

A Bungalow in south bombay(which I dream of now).

8. What are your must-have's for summer?

Air conditioned rooms, cotton clothes,AC car, Umbrella/Hat

9. If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?

Switzerland

10. Which language do you want to learn?

Chinese(Mandarin),it is really a tough language.

11. What’s your favourite dish?

Pani poori,Shastralu,bilavalige and many more traditional items from our home.

12. Who do you want to meet right now?

My mom and dad.

13. What is your favourite colour?

Black & white

14. What is your favourite piece of clothing in your own closet?

Track pant and T-shirt.

15. What is your dream job?

To own a restaurant in Bangalore.

16. What’s your favourite magazine?

Women's Era

17. If you had $100 now, what would you spend it on?

crockery for my kitchen

18. What do you consider a fashion faux pas?

Not being confident about what you wear

19. Who are your style icons?

Aishwarya rai

20. Describe your personal style.?

Simple

21. What are you going to do after this?

Go and have a cup of tea.

22. What are your favourite movies?

Many to name...Padamati sandhya ragam(Telugu),Kill Bill(English)

24. What are three cosmetic/makeup/perfume products that you can't live without?

Lipgloss,Kajal,eye liner

23. What inspires you?

Pleasant Music and neat surroundings

24. Give us three styling tips that always work for you:

Good matching Earrings/Footwear, Kajal and Lipgloss...

25. What do you do when you “have nothing to wear” (even though your closet’s packed)?

nothing..wear what ever that comes in hand.

26. Coffee or tea?

both..I prefer coffee in the mornings and Tea in the evening

27. What do you do when you are feeling low or terribly depressed?

Call mom and speak for hours together

28. What is the meaning of your name?

Talent

29. Which other blogs you love visiting?

I Love visiting all the blogs.

30. Favorite Dessert/Sweet?

Bengali sweets and traditional home made sweets

31. Favorite Season ?

winter

As most of you have got all these awards and tag ,I am not passing it to anyone in particular.If anyone did not get they can take it from my blog. I am so happy and honoured for being tagged and awarded. Thanks so much for everyone.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Soya - Aval Biriyani

I have adapted this recipe from her cookbook.As I was bored of eating my regular stuff and I wanted to try something new and hence one day I went through all the cookbooks I had.This recipe caught my attention because of the different medley of ingredients used in the recipe and hence gave a trial immediately for the dinner on the same day.It was nice to have that just for the variation from the regular stuff and infact its a healthy one.Though it is not the stuff which can be prepared for parties ,its worth trying once at home for our regular breakfast/lunch/dinner.I am just reproducing the recipe as it is mentioned by her.

Ingredients:

2 cups Thin rice flakes
1tsp Ginger-Garlic paste
1/4 cup mini soya flakes
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup finely chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup finely chopped capsicum
1/2 cup finely chopped carrot
1/2 cup finely chopped cabbage
2 cardamoms
2 cloves
1" cinnamon
1 star anise
1 bayleaf
salt to taste
oil,ghee as required

To grind:
1/2 bunch coriander leaves
6 cashewnuts
5 shit green chillies,fried

Method:
  • Rinse rice flakes in water until clean.Squeeze and keep it aside.
  • Grind all the ingredients under grind section to a fine paste.
  • Boil water in a pressure pan,add soya flakes and cook for 1 whistle.
  • Drain it,and add cold water and squeeze it.
  • Heat oil,ghee in a broad pan.Add bayleaf, masala ingredients and then saute onion.
  • Add ginger-garlic paste,squeezed soya and stir fry.
  • Mix capsicum,carrot,cabbage and stir fry in high flame.
  • Add chopped tomatoes,ground paste and saute for few minutes.Add squeezed rice flakes,salt and stir fry.
Serve hot with desired raitha and chips/fryums.

Monday, August 3, 2009

North Indian Green Chilli Achaar(Pickle)


When I posted
this post, most of you have liked this chilli pickle along with the paratha I posted and some of you have even requested for the recipe.Actually this pickle is not prepared by me and this is prepared by my MIL. Do I need to say anything about Andhra people's love for Pickles?As she has spent most of her life in Delhi(almost more than 30 yrs) she has expertise even in North Indian pickles .Every year she will prepare a big batch of pickles for us which includes atleast 8-10 different varieties of pickles.This is one of the pickles which I brought back during my last visit to hyderabad.I have asked myMIL for the recipe and have noted it in my notebook to share the treasure with you guys. Even though hubby is not a big fan of Andhra pickles he likes all these North Indian Achaar's as they are less spicy, more tangy and the special flavor induced by mustard oil.It makes a good accompaniment for roti's,paratha's and sometimes we like to eat it even with simple curd rice.

Ingredients:

1/2 Kg big Green chillies
1 Cup Mustard powder(raw)
100 gms Fennel seeds(Saunf)
3 tsp Fenugreek seeds(Methi)
1 tsp Turmeric powder
2 tbsp Amchur powder
1 Cup(spooned and leveled) regular salt
5-6 tsp of vinegar
Mustard Oil as required


Method:
  • Wash the green chillies neatly and pat dry them completely.Make a slit in the centre lengthwise to all the green chillies.
  • Dry roast saunf and methi separately until slight aroma starts.Do not over roast it.Cool them and grind it to a fine powder.
  • In a wide bottomed vessel mix mustard powder,turmeric,amchur,salt to the above mixture and mix everything well until all the masala's are evenly incorporated.
  • Now add mustard oil to the above mixture by mixing it constantly until the complete mixture is properly wet(do no add more oil now).
  • Stuff the mixture into the slit green chillies and keep aside.Mix the remaining mixture into the green chillies and add mustard oil slightly more than the level of green chillies and keep it in air-tight containers or the traditional glass/porcelain jars.
  • Add vinegar to it and mix properly.
  • Keep the jars(covered with lid) in sun for 2-3 days.
Serve it with Roti's/Paratha's and Biriyani's as a accompaniment along with raitha.

Check out other North Indian style pickles recipes in my blog here:
 
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