Friday, December 31, 2010

Maadli or Maaldi(Powdered Chapati and Jaggery)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita
Hi All,
A very different sweet to make and the taste is very good. Basically it is a North Karnataka dish. I am not sure if it is prepared in some other states and with different name.
I do not know the origin of the name of this sweet. Sorry, I can not explain the word Maadli or Maaldi. 

It is usually prepared during marriages. It can be prepared and stored for a month and it will be handy for a family to share the sweet for the occasion. 
Do I need to say I love it.... :-))))))
There is actually a very traditional way to make it.(I have striked the traditional way because it takes long time and not possible in metro cities or abroad where you do not get flour mills for making flour.)
I will explain both the ways.
Traditional way:
Wheat - 1/2 kilo
Chana dal - 1/4 cup
Clean the wheat and chana dal. Mix it and take it to the flour mill. Make it little coarse flour(not very fine).
Modern way:
Wheat flour - 1/2 kilo
Gram flour - 1/8 cup
Knead the flour with very little water and 1 tsp of salt.. Keep it for some time.
Make thick and big chapatis and roast them with  out oil.
Let the chapatis be cool.
Put them in a big mortal and pestle( traditional and very big one, made with stone or iron). Crush the chapatis into coarse powder.
Modern way:
Cut the chapatis in to small pieces. 
Grind in a dry grinder till coarse powder.
Take
Crushed or powdered Jaggery - 1/2 kilo or according the the sweetness of jaggery
Cardamom powder - 1 tbsp
Nutmeg powder - 1 tsp
Grated dry coconut - 1/4 cup
Salt - 1 tsp
Daliya split - 1/2 cup
Mix all the above ingredients with powdered chapati.
Eat with lot of ghee and hot milk. 
You can it it dry too.
Store in a airtight jar for a month. This quantity is enough for 10 to 12 people.
Sending this sweet to two events.

Sara's ongoing event 
which is started by me.



and
Sujana's

Keep Smiling,

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Best of 2010

Tried and tasted by Nivedita
Hi All,
Its always good to keep a track of our past. You can learn not to repeat the mistakes. You will know how to improve yourself. Sometimes you will feel proud with your work. Sometimes, it makes you laugh. Many times your past brings lot of memories, good and bad.
But this post is only for my cooking skills and my experiences in the kitchen. Its about my best recipe, my worst experiment  food...
I want to thank Valli for hosting this event as it allows us to look back in to the last year happenings and the best part is here we are the Judge for our work.
Here comes my list:
First I would like to judge my best 5 recipes of the year.
Ohh, its really difficult to judge myself. I have selected the best 5 recipes from my (All) BEST recipes:
  1. A queen of blood meets rice and white milk!! accid...Feb 03
  2. Complan Pedha and Horlicks (or Boost) Pedha in Mic...  Aug 23
  3. Biscuit Poli for Holi  March 5
  4. Tomato Rasam Cubes July 22
  5. Tawa Fried Paneer Tikka Aug 4

First time tried in my kitchen:
My first bake - Chocolate Cookies Aug 5: Yes!! I started baking at last. It was my dream to start baking and I did it.
Carrot and Orange Halwa  June 21 : It was the first time, I took risk to do something which I never did before.

Pineapple Chutney in M/W Sept 16: It was just delicious and I was happy to get the taste what I had guessed it before making it.
Tomato Rasam Cubes July 22 : This is my baby, which proved that I have a creativity in me.

Biscuit Poli for Holi  March 5 : This again is my experiment, which made my kids to enjoy the traditional food in a new way.
Apple Rasam! March 15: I never thought I will cook this some day.

Two best meals of the year:

Recipes with different names: Some times I become poetic and get some funny or different names for my recipe. Below are the recipes with some funny names:(But the taste is not funny..)

 Best dish(es) of the year
Tomato Rasam Cubes : This dish was selected for "Best 30 recipes of the year 2010" :-)
Falafel Sandwich (Indianised) : This got second prize in a blog for sandwich contest :-)

One more best thing happened in this year was, I wrote two stories! I always knew I can do it as I have already written many poems, but never thought of finishing a story. This year, it happened. 
The boy who never listened!: I tell this story to my daughter to keep her away from dangerous things.
Urad Dal Vada, Repentance :This is the first story I wrote and I sat in the night till 3 to finish and I did not feel tired at all! :-)


Now, coming to my favorite one: Preparing food from other blogs. I really enjoy a lot to follow the recipe from other blogs as it brings us close. I got many food remakes, and each recipe was followed to the max. accuracy. But I am giving only few links here:
and the list continues.., 
In my blog click "Food remake" and you will get all the recipes tried from other blogs.
 Coming to the best clicks of the year : I am not a professional photographer, neither I have a good camera. Reasons apart, I love to click the photos of my recipes and these are my favorite ones:













































There were some failures too, I hosted 2 events which were flop.
There were hits, where I hosted many events with lot of entries. 
I think I should stop here or else I will write of the whole blog in one post :-)
As per me, I never believe in making resolutions on new year. But I remember about last year that I would wish to learn baking this year and I did it.
Click  Best of year 2009 for the  best of last year 2009.
This time I am thinking of trying Continental, International food. Wish me luck. 
I will be here with more experiments in 2011.
Sending this to 

 Valli's Best of Year 2010 event. 



Keep Smiling,

Sunday, December 26, 2010

I am tagged :-)

 Tried and tasted by Nivedita 
 Hi All,
Its nice to be tagged. I am thankful to Preethi of Preethi's Culinary for Tagging me and giving me a chance to think few things about me and answer the questions which really made me to think before I answer those.



Here are the questions and my answers:

1. Are you a vegetarian, or have you thought about being one?
I am an Omnivores :-) :-), I love to have non veg but once in a while. My favorite food is Vegetarian and raw food makes me more hungry.

2. Who inspired you to cook or bake?
During childhood, cooking was my necessity. Now, there are many people who really inspires me to try cooking new food. My daughter, my blogging friends, great chefs from all over the world are few among them.

3. How do you celebrate Christmas?...or a favorite holiday of your choice?
I would love to celebrate a festival with my family and still waiting for my all alone favorite holiday..


4. Do you prefer to celebrate New Year's Eve with friends and/or family, or prefer to ring in the New Year quietly, and privately, at home?

I love to celebrate New Year's Eve with friends or family, basically, I can not stay alone at home on that evening. I feel lost and I feel lonely if I am alone that eve.

5. If someone were to ask you to bring dessert to a party, what would you bring? Store bought, or homemade, and if you were to make homemade, what would you make?
I would love to make home made dessert and that will be a cake(new passion). Otherwise, gulab jamoon are the best.

6. How will you celebrate your next birthday?
I really do not know and don't want to plan it now only.

7. Do you have a New Year's resolution-and will you be sticking to it?
I do not believe in New Year's resolution. I make resolutions according to my necessity and If I do, I stick to it.

8. Do you time your breakfast,lunch & dinner or eat when you are hungry ?
I maintain regular time for breakfast and dinner. Lunch time varies.

9. What inspired you to write a food blog ?
Ohh, there are many reasons which inspired me to write a food blog. First was, I wanted to prove myself as a good writer and a good cook. Second is, I love to meet or make new friends of my interest. Third is, it really makes me happy.

10. You try a new recipe and it does not turn out good,what will you do ?
I immediately try it in a week or two. If I get success, it will be in my regular menu or if its a disaster, I will try it again after a month or two. But I try till I get that recipe right.

11. Name three ingredients you consciously avoid or eliminate even when the recipe calls for it ?
Ajinomoto, more oil and more masala


12. Name three things you have to use in most recipes ?

Salt, ginger and vegetables :-)

13. How important is eating meals together as a family to you?
 I really enjoy having food with my family and its very very important for me to have meals together.

I have answered very honestly and enjoyed doing the same. 

I'm happy to tag these questions to:
 Smitha 
 Priya 
and
Please continue the tagging by passing it to your friends.

Keep Smiling,

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