Event Announcement "Only Original Recipes" and Giveaway :-)))

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

I am very happy. I am hosting the event after a long time. My happiwala thanks to  Pari of Foodelicious, who has started this unique event. And the theme I have got is also unique :-)

The theme is "ONLY ORIGINAL"  Yes, your recipe has to be original and creative. 

"A man without an imagination or creative is like a bird without wings" said by a great person.

This is a great opportunity to share your original recipes.

And you have two giveaways to win:

1.The first giveaway is from the CSN stores for US/Canada/Germany and UK readers.Check out Pari's space for more details of the give away.
2.The second giveaway is exclusive for Indian readers from the well known Indian cook book author Tarla Dalal's on Pizza and Pasta. Visit her website www. tarladalal.com. for her yummy, wonderful, easy, useful Vegetarian recipes.

The winner of the CSN stores giveaway will be chosen by Pari based on the links that readers leave in the giveaway page, 

Winner of the book from the partcipants in India, will be chosen by Me by random.org or any random method,. He/ she has to provide me with an address in India within two days of the winner declaration else a new winner will be chosen by me. 

Coming to the rules of the event:

• Prepare any dish which is your and ONLY YOUR innovation. It should not be copied from any book, blog or other source. The recipe you prepare should be  the brain child of ONLY you.

• It can be a simple tea with a twist or a baked cake with very different flavor or ingredients. Imagination knew no bounds!!

• Any number of fresh entries can be sent but only 2 entries from the archive will be accepted. 
• Prepare any original recipe and post from 1st March till 31 March.
• Archived entries to be reposted, else will not be accepted.
• Only vegetarian entries (egg allowed) will be accepted.
• Use of logo is mandatory as it helps spread the word.

The entry should be linked back to my event announcement page and Pari's event announcement page.

Format of entry (please stick to the format below, while sending the details)

name :

blog's name:

blog URL:

recipe name:

recipe link:

pic  resized to 300pixel:

Country:

(this is an important field to be filled, as it will be easy for Pari and me to know whether you are  from India or abroad, hence applicable for which gift)

Please send the details to "nivedita.mt@gmail.com" before March 31.

I will post the round up within 7 days of event completion unless there's an emergency. .

Non bloggers can also participate, send the entries to 

my email id: nivedita.mt@gmail.com

The participants from  US/Canada/Germany and UK: please leave the link in Pari's event announcement page in comments section so that you will not miss the chance to win.

Waiting for more number of entries with your great imagination and creativity and original recipes.

Keep Smiling,

Remixed and Reposted recipes for 2 events

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

 Am I a lazy person or  am I a last minute person? Depends :-). I keep on delaying the works till the deadline.

Then, just before 2 days of any project(let it be here in blogging or my school work or selecting a saree to wear for any function), I will start my work. This is what happened with me this month. But, I had genuine reasons to postpone the posting.

Here, now I am with many recipes under one post for different events. These are from my archived posts.

First one:

Sending

Ginger Pickle

Garlic Rice:
(original link here)

Left over rice - 1 cup

Onion - 1 small, finely chopped

Curry leaves - few

Garlic - 8 to 10 small cloves( 4 to 6 if taking big one)

Chilly powder - 1 tbsp

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Oil - 1 tbsp

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp

Cumin seeds -1 tsp

Salt taste

Sugar - 1 tsp

Fresh coriander - 1 tbsp, chopped to garnish

Heat oil in a kadai. When hot, add mustard seeds and wait till splutter. Add cumin seeds, curry leaves, onion and fry for few seconds.  Add crushed garlic and fry till brown. Add chilly powder, turmeric powder and salt. Mix well. Add the rice, mix well. Add sugar and fresh coriander. Cook for a minute. Cover and keep for few minutes for rice to get the garlic flavor. 

Enjoy hot garlic rice.

Single serve

for Sara's Healing Food - Ginger and Garlic Event Announcemen...

(the brainchild of  Siri)

Second One:

Sending

Mixed Fruit Curry

Bread and Fruit bars(M/W grilled)

Pineapple Chutney

For Smita's "Cooking with Fruits" Event

Keep Smiling,

Brown Rice Paddu(Gundpanglu)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

After the successful making of Brown rice dosa, I thought of giving a sequel to this and thought of making Paddu or Gundpanglu. 

The Paddu has very different name in each language. It is called Unniyappam in Malayalam, Paniyaram in Tamil, Ponganalu in Telugu. I know the name only in these languages.

Its a very common breakfast which is prepared at least once in a week in our house. 

Normally, we prepare it with normal rice, urad dal, chana dal and methi seeds.

But the other day I made it with brown rice. I was scared that I will get burnt ones. But the result was superb. I was very happy to eat soft, spongy, nice golden brown color paddu.

Ingredients:

Brown rice - 11/2 cup

Normal white rice : 1/2 cup

Urad dal - 1 cup

Chana cal - 1/2 cup

(Maintain 2:1:1/2 ratio for rice : urad dal : chana dal)

Methi seeds - 1 tbsp

Salt to taste

Oil to roast the paddu.

Method:

• Soak both the  rice and methi seeds in one vessel and Urad dal and chana dal in another vessel in the water for 4 to 6 hours.
• Grind the dals first into smooth paste first. Transfer into a big vessel.
• Next grind the rice into fine paste with little water. Mix it with the dal. Add salt and mix well.
• Keep in warm condition for 8 hours. 
• Make sure to keep the batter in a big vessel. Otherwise it will overflow.
• Heat the Gundpanglu tawa. Spray little oil. Put 1 tbsp or more (depending upon the size of the tawa) batter. Cover and cook on  medium flame. After 10 to 15 Seconds, turn on the other side. Cook for another minute or less.

Remove and serve with Coconut, Tomato or Onion chutney.

We always add either 

finely chopped onion, green chilly and curry leaves OR

dill leaves and green chilly.

Sending this to two events:

Food palette series brown from  Torviewtoronto 

Siri's

WWC - Brown Rice for Dinner: an event announcement... which is the brain child of  Sanjeeta.

Perfect for the quick dinner(if batter is ready and kept in the fridge). Paddu, Idly, dosa are my hubby's favorite which he loves to have during dinner time as he gets time to enjoy each bite with chutney and that too when I serve it hot hot :-)))

No time to try for 3rd sequel :-(

Keep Smiling,

Brown Rice and WaterMelon rind Dosa

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

After one week, I am here with the recipe. Its hectic now a days. My school, my kids studies, house work.. and what not!!

I will be so tired by the time I sit in front of the computer, my eyes won't listen to me.. Thats how my blog posting keeps on delaying. Today, I decided to sit and do it for at any cost, as I feel I have missed something in my life, if I do not blog regularly.

Here I am with the recipe which is very common breakfast of South India.(its world wide now)

But with little twist: I have added Water Melon rind(white part) and the brown rice. Its not the new recipe. But for me, I have tried it the first time.

My younger daughter loves Water Melon. Last week when I brought one from the market, she was very happy and dancing. But when I cut it,  it was not fully ripened(???? is it the right past tense for Ripe).

I thought of using it in some or the other recipe. Then I remembered that before marriage, I used to use the water melon rind in Dosa. But this time I thought of using brown rice with normal rice.

Here is the recipe,

Ingredients:
Normal rice - 1 cup
Brown rice - 1 cup
Urad dal - 1 tbsp
Methi seeds - 1 tbsp
Water melon rind - ONLY THE WHITE RIND - 2 1/2 cups, chopped finely
Salt to taste
Oil to roast each dosa.


Method:
Soak both the rice, urad dal, methi seeds and the watermelon rind for 4 to 5 hours.
Grind in to fine paste.
Transfer the batter to a big steel vessel. Add salt to taste. Mix well.
Keep in a warm place for 8 hours.
The batter will be almost double. If not also, do not worry. Its fine.
Check the batter consistency. It should not be very thick, nor very thin.
Heat tawa, sprinkle water to check how much hot the tawa is.
Take one big spoon of batter and spread it on the tawa slowly in a circle.
Roast it  covered on both the sides on medium flame.


Serve hot with your choice of sabji. We had it with (Onion Sabji)

Dosas came very crispy and thin. It was a surprise for me. Because when I used to make before, I never got the thin dosas. I was expecting the same but was very happy to get thin and crispy and brown dosa. I had to save the batter for my daughter's dinner. :-)

Sending this to two events:
Food palette series brown from  Torviewtoronto 

Siri's

WWC - Brown Rice for Dinner: an event announcement... which is the brain child of  Sanjeeta.

Keep Smiling,

Gujarati Dal from Sukham Ayu for ICC

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Dal is my all time favorite, let it be made from any dal, let it be spicy, sweet, with vegetables or without vegetables or just a simple dal. And I was very happy when I saw this month's Indian Cooking Challenge which Srivalli has chosen for this month. Its Gujarati Dal from Sukham Ayu. The original recipe is taken from  Sukham Ayu is very tasty and healthy. I loved this different taste and my daughter enjoyed it too.

Here is the recipe in my words:

I was planning to make this dal (toor dal, 1/2cup, soaked for half an hour)from the day the challenge was announced. But some or the other thing was not available.  First I searched for the drumstick(4to 5 pieces) and yam (3 to 4 pieces) and did not get. I thought of making the dal with potatoes.  Then the other day I got only the drumsticks.  I was happy. Then the problem was I forgot to bring dry dates. Day before yesterday I brought it thinking that I will make it on Sunday. But my Sunday went off. We had been to watch "Patiala House" After coming from the movie, my daughter's project work was pending. 

The other ingredients which I needed and had in the kitchen were groundnut(1 tsp), Green chillly(2 slit), Ginger(1/2", finely chopped), Jaggery(2tbsp), Kokam(4 to 5 pieces) or tamarind pulp(2 tbsp), Coriander powder(2 tsp), cumin powder(1tsp), rock salt to taste), Garam masala( a pinch) and haldi

And for tempering:

I had, Ghee(1tbsp), mustard seeds(1/2 tsp), Cumin seeds(1/2 tsp), Methi seeds(1/4 tsp),dry red chilly(2), Hing and curry leaves.

And, today was the last day for me to try. So I had to pull some time out from my schedule to make it. 

And I did it.

Pressure cook the toor dal with haldi with 2 cups of water till its soft. Remove cool and churn it. In a thick pan add this dal and all the ingredients except fresh coriander and garam masala. Cook it for another 15 minutes, by adding one more cup of water. Do not forget to stir it in between.

In another kadai, heat ghee. Add the ingredients for tempering. Add this to the boiling dal. Mix well. cook for few more minutes. Add garam masala and fresh coriander. Mix well. Dal is ready to eat.

And the dal I prepared was yummy... with all the tastes in the mouth. I had the taste of jaggery and very different taste from the dates. I had the taste of red and green chilly separately. It was just superb.

Thanks Valli, for giving this simple but still wonderful challenge for this month. Waiting for the next one.

I am always hungry when it comes to try any new food :-)

Sending this to

Indian Cooking Challenge

Keep Smiling,

Potato gravy(ಬಟಾಟೆ ರಸಪಲ್ಲ್ಯಾ)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

My mom's one of favorite food, which has helped her umpteen number of times when she was in a hurry, when she had unexpected guests or when we were hungry and wanted to have some fast gravy that goes well with chapati or puris.

Batati rasapalya or potato gravy which is watery but tasty.

Mom makes on stove and I tried it in microwave. The taste differs. But both tastes good.

Coming to the recipe,
Potato : 3 big, washed, peeled and cubed
Onion - 1 big, cleaned, chopped finely
Oil - 1/2 tbsp
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - few
Tamarind pulp or whole tamarind - 1 tsp
Red chilly powder - 2 tsp or 1 tbsp if you like it spicy
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder  a pinch
Sugar - 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Garlic crushed - 1 tsp(optional)

Method:

Take oil in a M/w safe dish.

Cook on HIGH for a minute.

Add mustard seeds and again cook for 30 seconds.

Now add onion, garlic, curry leaves. Mix well and cook on HIGH again for few minutes till you see the onion changing the color. 

Open, add the cubed potato and all other ingredients. Mix well. 

Cook on HIGH for a minute.

Open, add 2 big glasses of water, mix and cook it on HIGH for 10 minutes or till the potato is cooked and the masala is mixed well.

Season the taste and garnish with fresh coriander( optional)

Serve with hot chapati or Puris.

Sending this to Srivalli's 

Announcing Microwave Easy Cooking Event ~ Curries ...

Started by  herself

Keep Smiling,

Bhel or Girmitt

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Home made Bhel!! It is safe and tasty and you can have as much as want to. I love chaat but always get scared of eating outside as I am not sure about the water they use to make the chutneys, the oil to fry the puris, the vegetables used, whether properly cleaned or not!! With so many doubts, I can not enjoy my chaat plate!! Yes!! I will have if the shop looks clean, hygenic!

I was not like this during my college days or when I was working before the marriage. Twice a week I used to go with my friends and collegues to chaat corners on road side to enjoy each bite from all the varieties. Be it Pani Puri, Bhel Puri, Dahi Puri, Sev Puri.

But, it all changed after I went to UAE. After staying there for many years, I lost the touch with road side chaat and now I can not have it!!

Now a days, I prefer to prepare chaats at home. My daughter loves Pani puri and Bhel Puri. I get puri from one of my neighbor who makes these at home. And all other things I make at home. 

Today I am giving the recipe of Bhel Puri.

Ingredients we need :

Bhel or kurmura - 1 big bowl or 4 cups

Onion - 1 chopped finely

Tomato - 1 chopped finely

Cucumber - 1 cut into fine cubes

Carrot - 1 small, grated(optional)

Fresh coriander - handful, chopped finely

Salt to taste

Raw Mango - 1/4 cut into fine cubes(optional)

Ready Sev or mixture, thick one (you get it in sweet mart)

Fried peanuts - 2 tbsp (optional)

Tamarind chutney - 2 tbsp

Green chutney - 2 tbsp(Pudina, Fresh coriander, green chilly and salt)

Dalia powder - 1 tbsp for each plate.

If you don't have tamarind chutney and green chutney:

skip the tamarind chutney, soak tamarind in hot water for 15 minutes. Take out the pulp, boil it with little red chilly powder and salt. Use it as a Tamarind chutney.

Instead of Green chutney: take 2 green chilly,fresh coriander,  little salt and cumin seeds, make it into paste.

Method:

To make one plate :

1. Take a round deep vessel,
2. Go on adding one by one :
3. green chilly paste 1 tsp
4. Tamarind chutney 1 tsp
5. Dalia powder  1 tsp
6. Chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
7. Salt to taste 
8. Mix well.
9. Add 1 big cup of bhel, all other ingredients except fried peanuts and ready Sev. Mix well.
10. Add  the peanuts, Sev. 
11. Serve immediately .

Sending this to 

Srivalli's 

Announcing Kid's Delight - Street Food

and

Sending it to PJ's 

Announcing - 'Flavors Of Maharashtra' event

Keep Smiling,

Dill leaves Vada(ಸಬ್ಬಸಿಗೆ ವಡೆ)

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Winter is saying bye... but, some snacks are always welcome, in any season, at any time, with something or nothing. As a side dish in full meals or just as a whole snack with a cup of tea in the evening.

And this snack comes under the same category.  This  is prepared using dill leaves and is a deep fried snack.

The dill leaves gives unique taste. This is again my mom's favorite. She will be waiting for me to say yes to make this( I am very strict daughter, who never allows her to eat oily things).

There is a person who has small moving cart like vehicle, I am seeing him from many years making these in the evening. And always there is a huge rush for this. I too used to eat from his shop when I was in college, Now a days, these hygienic things in my mind won't allow me to eat roadside stuff!!! (very funny)

A very common deep fried snack and I have seen many friends have posted the recipe. That was the reason I was delaying to post it even though I clicked this many months ago. May be the procedure and the ingredients are different.

Here is my way:

Ingredients :

Dill leaves :- 1 small bunch

Chana - 1/2 cup

Green chilly - 3 to 4

Curry leaves few

Salt to taste

Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

Rice flour - 1 to 2 tbsp

Oil to fry

Method :

• Clean the dill leaves. Wash and chop finely
• Soak the Chana for 2 hours.
• Drain the water and grind it to very coarse paste with green chilly and cumin seeds. 
• Add the dill leaves, rice flour and salt to it. Mix well. Add water if needed to make very thick paste. It should not be watery. Just enough water to combine the ingredients.
• Heat oil in a kadai. When hot, take a small portion in your palm, give a flat round shape and put into oil to fry.
• Fry in batches. Fry till golden brown.
• Enjoy it the way want..

In my house, the plate never stays full. I should hide few for me before I call others to have it.

Sending this to 

Radhika's event

Announcing My First Event ~ Deep Fried Snacks

Keep Smiling,

Chocolate Kheer

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

I always get inspired to cook something new dishes when there is an event announcement. It forces me to use my brain to try something new.

This Kheer took birth because of the event only. There are four  reasons to prepare this kheer. 

Kheer is my mom's favorite, and we make milk kheer often.

I wanted to use the chocolates which mom brought from Egypt few months back

I wanted to use the left over milk.

And I wanted to cook something for chocolate event.

No ingredients or method separately written. Its all in the down paragraph. Please read the full post to get the recipe.(I have typed the ingredients bold and in different color)

When I entered the kitchen, I was not sure how I am going to prepare this as I did not browse any blogs or websites. I had kept the chocolates out from the fridge. Mom brought a big box of chocolates from Egypt and all remaining in the box, as the chocolates are bitter. 

I just kept the milk(1/4 litre) to boil on one side. Another side, Ajjiri was making hot chapatis. I was thinking how to melt the chocolates???? Tinggg :-)  when I saw ajjiri finishes making chapatis and the tawa was hot.

I took little milk in another steel vessel and put the chocolates. Kept that vessel on the tawa. Viola!! The chocolates got mix with the milk and got nice choco milk. I added 2 tbsp of sugar to the milk and allowed it to boil on a low flame for 10 minutes. Now was the time for Cinnamon and Cardamom powder (1/2 tsp) to go into the milk.

Boiled it for 2 more minutes. Added the choco milk to it.  Stirred and again kept it to boil till the milk became 1/2 the quantity and it got the kheer consistency.It took another 10 minutes. But be careful at the end otherwise your milk will get burnt at the bottom.

Yummmmmmmmmmm!!! The chocolate kheer tasted heaven.

I could feel the chocolate flavor and the bitterness was totally missing.

I had the thick curdled cream melting in my mouth........

You want any more sin than this!!!!!!

I loved to have it hot, and my daughter has kept it in the fridge to have it chilled for tomorrow. :-)

Sending it to 

 Jyoti's (The Veggie Hut )

Lets Celebrate Sweets - Chocolate! An Event Announ...
which is started by Me.

Keep Smiling,