Nivedita's Kitchen

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Moong Salad (Reposted)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi all,

Here is my favorite food. I am ready to eat this any time, any day! I can stay with this for more than week, just changing few ingredients and small portion of chapati.

The grains used here can be either partially cooked or even raw. Raw will taste better. But if you are not used to raw food, it is good to cook it in a microwave for one minute and use it.

The recipe is here,

Green moong -1 cup

Yellow moong(Whole moth bean, madaki kalu in Kannada) - 1 cup

Fenugreek seeds(Methi seeds) - 2 tbsp

Cucumber - 1 small (chopped into very small pieces)

Carrot - 1 small (grated)

Fresh coconut(grated) - 1/4 cup or less

Salt to taste

Green chilly - 1 chopped(skip this if you are giving it to kids)

Lime juice - 1 tbsp

Soak both the moong and fenugreek seeds in water overnight. Remove the water. Keep them tied in the muslin cloth for a day to sprout the moongs(or if you know any other way to sprout it , follow it!)

Wash the beans(moong) with fresh water.

Keep it in microwave for 2 to 3 minutes or till the beans are 3/4th cooked. (Skip this step if you want to have it raw!!)

Take it out in a bowl. Add all other ingredients. Mix it properly. Adjust the seasoning.

Salad is ready to serve.

Click Moong Salad for my older post.

Sending this to Divya's Show Me Your Salad! event!

(What a lovely logo for the event! Thanks Divya)

Keep smiling,

Monday, February 15, 2010

Forgotten Indian games!! (Edited and re written), Event Announcement!!

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,
Hurray!!! I am here with my first event!!

I took a long time to re write this! My older post(Fogotten Indian games!!!!!!!!) got very supportive responses. But I was lazy to take it in to action. And I was not confident enough to held an event all by myself. But the support I am getting from you all has given me that courage and confidence to do this! I am really very much excited and feeling like as if my first movie is going to release!!! Now I can empathize what actors go through before their movies releases!!!

My first event is going to be on blog! I hope you all will support me and participate , which is totally away from cooking. So, relax and take some time. This is all about the games, we used to play during our child hood. I want all of you to relive your child hood by remembering the olden games and playing with your kids.

In the child hood, we used to stay in a chawl. (Many houses together in a big compound, or one big lane having houses built either side of the road.) I had many friends and there was no one to stop us playing the whole day during summer vacations. We used to play many games, which are totally disappeared now a days. Lagori, Halpi, Vattappa, sarbadgi, muttata, hide and seek(stop), kabaddi, gilli dandu, aali guli mani, kuntata, bali churu(broken banlgles), Chakka vacchi, playing house house game with kitchen set and dolls, kalla police(thief and police), dum sharara, goli, writing our own script and playing the dramas.(I do not know the English names for the games, sorry!! These all are Kannada names!) I still do not remember many games.

That included, stealing pickles from the kitchen and then sharing and eating.

Collecting the ingredients for making Chigali(made up of fresh tamarind, jaggery, chilly powder, lime leaves, salt and few more!!). Then making small balls of chigali, sharing and enjoying the spicy, tangy, lemony and salty taste.

Preparing mehandi at home and applying in the evenings.

And not to forget, educational games, like writing names of four things from same alphabet, memory game, Antakshari!!!

Just a thought came in my mind!! Why we can not post all old games one by one, trying to explain it with photo(if possible) !!!
(image from here)

Simple rules to participate in the event,

1. Post any forgotten,old Indian game (If possible with photo). Explain the game and try to share maximum information you have.

2. I will appreciate if you can place the logo in your blog.

3. Send me an email to nivedita(DOT)mt(AT)gmail(DOT)com,(nivedita.mt@gmail.com), "Forgotten Indian games" as a subject, by March 31, 2010 with the following details,

Name :

Your Blog Name :

Name of the game :

url of your post :

Picture(if any) :

4. You could send any number of entries.

5. If any archived posts are there, please update and repost it to link back to my post.

6. Please link back to my announcement.

7. Non bloggers can send the details to my mail.

From My side,

As this is my first event, I will try to finish up the work and come up with event round up by April 15th or before.

Start Playing!!!

(I hope you all will not disappoint me!)

( I have read more than 50 times in a preview before going to publish it!)

Keep Smiling,

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Brown rice,green veg curry and brinjal fry!

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Brown rice and green veg curry is nothing but Bhooga Chaawar aur Sai bhaji. A traditional Sindhi dish. A wonderful combo for a hungry stomach.

Brown Rice(Bhooga chawar) :

Long grain rice : 200 gm

Onion - 2 big, long, thin slices

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Cloves - 3

Bay leaf - 1

Red chilly powder - 2 tbsp

Sugar - 1 tsp

Salt to taste

Oil - 1 to 2 tbsp

Warm water to cook the rice.

Wash the rice and keep aside to remove all the water from it.

Heat oil in a cooker, add bay leaf, cumin seeds and cloves. Then put onions and fry for a minute. Add sugar and keep on frying till the onions turn dark brown but not burnt. Now add Chilly powder and salt with rice. Fry for a minute so that all gets mixed well. Now add warm water till the rice is just covered. Close the lid and give 2 whistles.

Brown rice is ready. Garnish with Fried onions(optional).

Coming to Sai bhaji, click here for old post., Still giving the details again as this post is going for an event.

Green Veg Curry(Sai Bhaji) :

Palak(Spinach) - 1 bunch
Methi leaves(Fenugreek leaves) - 1/2 bunchSabbasgi (Dill leaves) - 1/4 bunch(Optional)

(While making for this post, I did not had dill leaves and brinjal, so you can not see in the photo)
Brinjal - 1 medium (cut into cubes), its optional.
Potato - 1 medium(cut into cubes)
Tomato - 2 big(cut in to cubes)
Carrot - 1 medium(cut into cubes)
Channa dal - 1/2 cup (Soaked in water at least for an hour)
Salt to taste
Chilly powder - 1 tbsp
Haldi - 1/2 tsp
For tempering,
Oil - 1 tbsp(Ghee will taste better)
Mustard seeds - 1tsp
Ginger Crushed - 1tsp
Mix all the ingredients for bhaji in a cooker and make 4 whistles. When cooker is cool, remove the lid, churn it with churner or with blender. Adjust the taste for salt.Give bhagar with mustard seeds and crushed ginger in a oil.Sai Bhaji is ready to serve.
(You will enjoy the same in Alka's Sindhi Traditional Food also. (Being Sindhi, our preparations are almost the same!) This is just for your information. I am not in to any copy cat thing!! I am a regular follower of her blog, as I love to learn more of Sindhi Cuisine. She got a lovely blog about All Sindhi Recipes.)
Next is
Brinjal fry :
Brinjal - 1 big, cut in to round, medium thin slices.
Salt to taste
Red chilly powder - 1 tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1 tsp
Curry powder - 1 tsp
Oil to shallow fry
Mix the powders with salt. Rub this powder to all the brinjal slices. Keep it for 5 minutes.
Heat tawa or frying pan. Put the slices on the pan and shallow fry by turning the slices often for 10 minutes.
Brinjal fry is also ready to serve.
Arrange every thing in the plate and enjoy with your family on Sunday afternoon.

Sending this to Pari's THE COMBO EVENT

Keep Smiling,

An Award from Nithu!

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Award from Nithu Bala of Nithu's Kitchen. She has a lovely blog which I follow regularly.

Thank you so much Nithu. I am honored to receive the award.

This award also comes with two rules, they are,

1. Thank the person who sent you the award.

2. Pass the award to your blogger friends.
As this award has been already passed to many of my friends, I would love to pass this award to