Idli, Soup and Sweet from Veg Inspirations for T&T

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

The blog selected  for this month's Tried & Tasted event is one of those blogs, where you get everything which you can follow blindly and get the good food at home. I am doing the same. Usha of  Veg Inspirations  has huge number of recipes in each category. Most of the times I will be browsing for some recipe and I end up in visiting her blog.

This happened when I got the recipe for making Microwave milk pedha. I got recipe to make it, and that recipe was inspired by Usha's pedhas!!

I have tried many recipes before also, but have not clicked any photos. But, now for the event, I have clicked the photos. 

First one I tried last month is, 

Barley Pinto Bean Soup : I followed the exact recipe except olive oil as It was out of stock and the Celery, which we do not get here. The taste was very good. Its healthy. I loved it, my daughter had it but was not much happy with the taste as she is not used to barley taste.

The second one was 

Quick & Simple Milk Fudge ( Microwave Doodh pedha ...) I followed it except the kesar or saffron and Pista for garnishing. I do not know why the color of pedhas are different from her photo.

The third one was 

Instant Oats Idli : I copied it exactly!! These softest and just melt in mouth idlis are really good breakfast or evening snack for everyone. I have kept full box of prepared oats and semolina powder to make idlis again.

Sending these three to the event Announcing Tried & Tasted for July 2010 by saveur of the taste space – steam, bake, boil, shake! 

and linking it to the original creator  Zlamushka.

Keep Smiling,

Nivedita

My first bake - Chocolate Cookies

Tried and tasted by Nivedita 

Hi All,

At last, today was the day for my OTG to put into the test. I was searching for the easiest recipe, which my kids also should enjoy.  

As on my friends voting for Cookies I thought of trying these cookies. Here is my tale of baking the cookies.

I decided to follow the simple recipe which was given in the book with my OTG. But I got a very good and easy recipe from HERE.  Thanks to Deepa for sharing so easy recipe.

I am giving the recipe too, as I reduced the quantity to half.

All Purpose Flour - 1 cup

Sugar - 1/2 cup

Unsalted butter -  1/4 cup

Coco powder - 1/6 cup

egg- 1/2

White chocolate or milk chocolate -1, cut into small pieces

Baking Powder - 1/2 tsp

Salt - 1/4 tsp

Milk -  2 tbsp

(I skipped the black coffee as I did not had it)

The cups and spoons I used to measure

Grease the baking tray. 

I did not preheat the oven as I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT MEANS AND HOW TO PREHEAT WITH WHAT OPTIONS ON.

Sieve the APF, Coco powder, baking power and salt in a big vessel.

Beat the egg, butter and sugar till creamy and fluffy. 

Add the sieved flour to this and mix well.

Add milk and knead like a soft dough.

Divide the dough in to lemon size balls. Press the balls to make round cookies shape.

Spread the cookies on baking tray.

Keep it in the middle rack.

Bake it on 180 degree C(350 degrees F) for 10 minutes.

First batch, I kept for 20 minutes (as it was written in the book) 

But When I saw the cookies were getting burnt, I was helpless. I was not sure whether to take the timer knob to zero or not.

These are my burnt cookies. The upper part was too good and was crispy. I GRATED THE BURNT SIDE TO REMOVE THE BLACK PART. 

I could not count how many I made as my daughters went on eating!!

I am happy that I started baking and succeeded in it.

PLEASE GUIDE ME FOR GOOD BAKING,

What is Preheating means? What is the temperature, how much time to keep.

Can I off the OTG in the middle?

Can I bring the timer knob to zero If the food is getting burnt?

I hope to get more answers from you all!

Hey, I am the proud owner of this new OTG and promise to maintain it for many years.

Keep Smiling,

Tawa Fried Paneer Tikka

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Scroll down to laugh or say Ohhh!Very funny incident happened while making this one.  I wanted to make 100% microwave cooking with paneer. I got a recipe from LG microwave cooking book(I got it when I brought my microwave, 3 years back). The recipe was Hariyali Paneer Tikka.I kept in my draft and was planning to go to the shop to get Paneer. The same day I saw this  recipe!  It tempted me to prepare it the same day. But it was oven grilled dish. I thought let me use the ingredients at least.

Immediately I went to the shop and brought paneer.

Read the ingredients, the steps and the procedure:

Paneer - 500 gm (cut into big cubes)

Capsicum - 1 big, diced 

Tomato - 1 big, cubed

Onion - 1 big, cubed

For Marination

Hung curd - 1 cup( I used normal curds)

Ground mint leaves - 1 tbsp

Fresh Coriander leaves (ground) - 1 tbsp

Green chillies -1, finely chopped (I reduced it to one, in LG Book, they have given 4)

Red chilly powder - 1 tsp(my addition, it was not there in LG recipe)

Garlic paste - 1 tsp

Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp(I used MTR)

Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp

Salt to taste

Oil - 1 tbsp

Lemon Juice - 1 tbsp

Gram flour - 1 tbsp (My addition)

Procedure

Mix all the ingredients for Marinade in a Microwave safe big and wide bowl. (I had the plastic one which was given by LG People with the M/W.)

Marinate it for 2 hours at least. 

                                    

Now the real fun started.

(As per the LG recipe, we need to place the marinated cubes and vegetables in a M/W safe dish  on the high rack and grill for 15 - 20 minutes, till golder brown all the sides)

I transfered the marinated cubes and vegetables in to another safe bowl and kept it on high rack  and chose " Grill" and kept  for 15 minutes. Nothing happened. So I thought I will try with "combo grill". I pressed the option and kept for 15 minutes.

Aftet 5 minutes, what I can see!! The bowl is melting!!! I offed the M/W immediately and took the bowl out. I burnt my finger without realizing it was hot. I transfered the ingredients in to another bowl.

See in the photo what happened to my bowl, in which I used make many things :-(

                               

My dosa pan came to my rescue.  I arranged the cubes in to wooden skewers and kept ready.

I made the pan very hot, brushed some oil on it, and kept the skewers. After few minutes I brushed the cubes with oil and turned upside down. Repeated the process till they were golden brown all the sides.

Paneer tikka was ready to eat.My daughter who does not like paneer so much, she asked me to make again for the dinner :-)

Very easy and yummy tikka without oven, without grill and without without tandoor!!!

Sending this to 

Umm's (of Taste of Pearl City)'s 

Iftar Moments Hijri 1431Event Announcement

This is going to 

Jay's Letz Relishh…!!! Event Announcement & Paneer C...

Keep Smiling,

Milk Pedha and Choco Pedha

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,

Dharwad (my home town) which is in Karnataka, is famous for Pedhas. Dharwad Thakhur pedhas are world famous and no pedha can beat the taste. I have been brought up with pedhas. And I always loved Thakhur pedhas. I will try to give the link about that pedha, as the recipe for that pedha is a secret and is not revealed any where.(if any of you know the recipe, please let me know!)

When I was a kid, I loved pedhas a lot. My grandfather always used to bring a piece of pedha for me. I used to keep it for a long time in my hand and I used to eat it the way one eats ice cream. I was scared that it will finish soon!

Now coming to my recipe over here, I love these white pedhas or doodh pedhas. I would have never dared to make these pedhas at home till I really wanted to try something new(for me) for Jagruti's event. I browsed many blogs and sites to get the recipe. And I was surprised to know that the recipe is so simple. So I thought of trying two pedhas at a time(no patience to wait for next day)

When I browsed for pedha, I got many links. I was searching for quick recipe, and came through THIS one. I was happy with the procedure and when I scrolled down to check the recipe, even this was inspired by Usha of Veg Inspirations and even she followed some other blog with little variation!! 

Now I am  here with my recipe  with not much modification :

First is for Milk Pedha :( I used cup for measurement)

Sweetened condensed Milk - 1 cup

Milk powder - 3/4 cup

Cardamom powder - 1 tsp

Ghee - 1 tbsp

Add the sweetened condensed milk and the milk powder in a deep and big M/W safe dish. Mix well. Add cardamom powder and mix well.

Keep the dish in microwave on HIGH for a minute. 

Remove, mix well and repeat the step till done. 

The mix will be a soft dough.

Add ghee and mix well.

Remove in a plate. Allow it to cool for some time.

Moist your hand with milk to make pedhas.

You can store it in a fridge for a week. 

I could prepare around 15 pedhas out of this.

THANKS EVERYONE, WHO HAS SHARED THIS RECIPE IN THEIR BLOGS. I followed Usha's recipe.

Recipe for Chocolate Pedhas :

I got the recipe from HERE. This is also a quick but tasty pedhas.

My daughter loved this chocolate pedhas so much that she kept all for her self.

I followed the exact recipe.

Sweetened condensed milk - 1 1/2 cup

Curd/ thick yogurt - half cup

Milk - half cup

Coco powder - half cup

Ghee - 2 to 3 tablespoons

Warm the milk in microwave in Microwave safe dish.

Mix the yogurt and coco powder and whisk it till no lumps.

Add this coco milk to the condensed milk and mix well.

Microwave on HIGH for 3 minutes. Open and mix well. Repeat the step till you get the thick paste like above in the photo. Add the ghee and mix well. Microwave on HIGH for 30 seconds.

Keep it for 15 to 20 minutes.

Make pedhas of desired shapes. 
Sending these pedhas to two events :

Jagruti (of Joy of Cooking) 

Announcing an Event ~ Celebrate Sweets-Pedha  

 AND

Umm's (of Taste of Pearl City)'s 

Iftar Moments Hijri 1431Event Announcement

Keep Smiling,

Event Round Up : CELEBRATE SWEETS~HALWA

Tried and tasted by Nivedita

Hi All,
I am very happy to do this round up as I got 65 wonderful (including mine)  Halwa recipes for this event. 

I want to thank all my blogger friends for their loving support and encouragement. You all did it. 
Please correct me if I am wrong anywhere as, it is my first event.
Before going to check all the entries, please accept the PARTICIPATION CERTIFICATE:

Please feel free to post my certificate in your blog and make me happy.

I am posting the entries as I received in my inbox. Please check your entries. If it is missing, let me know. I will add it(I have tried to follow all the recipes and put them in).

First entry is from Padma of Padma's Recipes. She has sent the healthy  Ragi Halwa which is prepared with ragi or Nachni and she says the texture of the halwa is so soft that it melts in your mouth. And I think it is the best for toddlers and kids.

Swarna of  What's cooking today? has sent this very easy  Microwave Bread Halwa Recipe. She says its a real treat for unexpected guests.This is first time she is sending any entry for a event and she is more enthusiastic to participate in more events. Wishing her all the best and looking forward for more recipes from her.

  

Jagruti of  Joy of Cooking has sent two entries 

First one is Pistacho Halwa  which is a real treat for a person having sweet tooth.

Second one is Chocolate Halwa with which her travelling experience is connected.

Muskan of  A 2 Z Vegetarian Cuisine   has sent 3 entries :

Carrot Halwa / Pudding is prepared on HOli with colors of love and piece. The photo speaks so much love.

Sooji Halwa / Nuts & Semolina Pudding  : She has written that its one of the handy, super easy and quick to make semolina pudding for any occasion in my house and is liked by everyone and she loves the holy taste of this super delicious halwa.

Beetroot & Oats Halwa / Pudding : she says " it ecxatly taste like carrot halwa, with just a twist of adding oats to give nice chewy, sticky texture to it with the benefits of having oats in a different way...."

Mina of Authentic Vegetarian Recipes has sent this step by step recipe for Semolina Halwa or Seero(made-desi-style)

And One more from her blog is,

 CARROT HALWA OR GAJAR HALWA : which she prepared using the carrot pulp after she finished making Carrot juice. She is happy to use the pulp to make such a delicious halwa.

N S of My Experiments With Food has sent this recipe Oats~Strawberry Halwa : N S  says that she tried this oats halwa when she wanted to have something sweet immediately and she thought to use oats instead of sooji and made this delicious oats strawberry halwa and believe me, my better half didn't even notice that he was eating oats.

Next is from Srivalli's of Cooking 4 all Seasons, 
Pineapple Halwa: being Valli's favorite fruit, she enjoys this beautiful golden sweet. She says she enjoys cutting Pineapple(that shows about her patience and she has more than that!). She enjoyed this halwa prepared by her Athamma. 

And one more from her blog, Sooji ka Halwa prepared in Microwave and you will enjoy the step by step photo learning. 

The third entry is Carrot Halwa ~ A First Love | How to make Carrot ...  She tried this in Microwave and you will enjoy the steps in photos.

She has colorful and wonderful 15 halwa recipes. Visit her for more food and her intelligent and wonderful posts on other issues also.

Kiran of SUMADHURA has sent this different Apple-Pineapple-Ginger Halwa Balls from Juicer Pulp where she has used to fruit pulp after preparing the juice. And I am sure that you will enjoy the ginger taste in this halwa. And even she has step by step photos to make this halwa.

One more from her blog is Water melon juice halwa : She is happy that she tried to make halwas now.

Priya of priyaeasyntastyrecipes has sent Wheat Flour Halwa where she writes "I loved this delicious halwa and the whole cooking process take less than an hour and tastewise we guys loved it and enjoyed each and every bite of this halwa... "

Shama of EASY2COOK RECIPES has come with three halwa recipes :

BOTTLEGOURD HALWA : A healthy halwas, which she prepared it on her husband's birthday.

The second one is APPLE MILK HALWA , adding turmeric powder to Halwa is new to me, but I think it gives different taste.

The third one is the rich CASHEW BADAM HALWA  

Sangeetha of   Sangi's Food World has come out with this 3 combi halwa with her hubby's new idea to add carrot and they enjoyed this halwa which has the natural yellow and orange color.

Priya  Mitharwal from Mharo Rajasthan's Recipes has sent the whole set of halwa recipes which has brought more color to my event :
Gajar Aur Mawa Ka Halwa : This is not for weight watchers, but they will really miss the royal taste of this halwa!!

This Bread Ka Halwa is inspired by  Ash's as it was very tempting. But Priya has reduced the quantity as for her requirement.

 

Ananas Kesari : One of my favorite desert too. She tasted it first time in Bombay and now she learned to prepare at home.

Aate Ka Halwa : Priya prepared this on Valentines day, as it is their favorite sweet  and can be prepared in 5 minutes.

Sooji Ka Halwa: She prepared it on 9th day of Navarathri for prasad.

 

      
Aate aur Seb Ka Halwa :  The healhy desert for kids as it has wheat and apple in it! 

 Reshmi of Rasoi has sent 2 healthy halwas :
Dudhi Halwa (Bottle Gourd/Calabash halwa) : She prepared this halwa when she was in mood of having something sweet  but light! She says its refreshing and very yummy.

Apple Halwa : She prepared this halwa and surprised her unexpected guests with its super taste.

Vidhya of Sweet Karam Kapi :) has sent this very different  Kasi Halwa which is usually prepared on auspicious functions. 

Deepti from A Hint of Spice has sent the prasad which is served in Gurudware and is famous as Gurudwarewala prashad. She has few tips also with this.

From PJ of   Seduce Your Tastebuds is Banana Halwa : Bananas disappear from her dining table within no time. But this time she managed to make this yummy halwa.

Namitha of COLLABORATIVE CURRY is here with Carrot Halwa after she is back from her vacation.

Ashalatha from  "ASRA"...ASHAON KA has sent BREAD HALWA (Bread Pudding)!!!!! : She has sweet memories with this Halwa, where she tried it first time and an incident with her mother and her new sister in law! 

And here,  Nithu from Nithu's Kitchen is with 6 recipes for Halwa.

Rice Halwa : her mother's recipe which is quick and easy

Beetroot Halwa : Favorite desert of her father and father in law.

 Mixed Fruits and Bread Halwa : She has used whole wheat bread and assures you of the great taste.

Carrot and Bread Halwa : She prepared it on Tamil New year day. The carrot gives different taste to the normal bread halwa.

 Tapioca/Cassava Halwa : She tried this halwa with hesitation about the taste but it turned out great it seems. 

Asoka Halwa: A famous halwa from Tanjore district and is famous as "Thiruvaiyar Halwa"  and  is  a definite desert in the marriages.

Sooji Halwa : This was her 100th post  and her first event announcement. Her mother calls it "Ukkarai".

Sanyukta of Creative Sanyukta has sent 2 entries 

Carrot Halwa : You will love the details about carrot and cardamom with this delicious halwa she has given.

Suji ka Halwa : A very simple and tastiest halwa. Again You will know about semolina. She got patience to search it. 

Srividhya of vidhu's kitchen is with 4 Halwa recipes:

Microwave 5 in 1 Halwa : She tried this halwa first time and she enjoyed the amazing taste.

Wheat Halwa : Looks different and it is with less ghee but I think the taste is  yummy.

 Papaya Halwa : Very easy and tasty Halwa when papaya is around you.

Bread Halwa : One more recipe for Bread Halwa but with a different ingredient used in this. She has used green camphor or Pachai Karporam!

Neethu of  Kitchen Express has sent three lovely recipes,

BEETROOT HALWA : lovely color of this halwa will tempt any person who does not like to eat beetroot.

GAJAR KA HALWA : She prepared with her friend for their friend's marriage anniversary and were happy that her friend was surprised!

OATS HALWA :A very healthy halwa and easy to make too.

Swathi of Zesty South Indian Kitchen has sent Nenthrapazham halwa/Plantain Fudge : After trying to make maida halwa, she prepared this guilt free halwa  which got over immediately. You will love the step by step photos.

Charitha of womens Era2008 has sent Bread halwa/Doble ka meeta : She is participating first time in any event. This Halwa can be stored in refrigerator for few days.

                                                      

Umm Mymoonah from  Taste Of Pearl City has sent  Black Jaggery Halwa which is new to me!  I must try it for its new taste. She has two reasons to make this. Visit her to read about it.

One more from her blog is,

Rich Badam Halwa  which is really rich in taste and economically too, she did not wanted waste the skin which is rich antioxidant. 

Lata from Flavours and Tastes has sent this sweet and tangy Amla Halwa. I think everyone must try this unique halwa to have a real taste.

Satya from Super Yummy Recipes has sent again a different halwa(at least for me!) This is her 50th post.It is from her mom's kitchen and she has childhood memories with it. I love the color.

Next is Veena from veg junction with  DOODHI KA HALWA just for me : Check the letter on it!! It was her daughter's idea!

Priti of Indian Khana has sent 3 recipes for halwa:

 Ashok Halwa: First time,she prepared this Halwa with a thought that its tough to make. But she was happy its quite easy and tastes delicious.

Broken Wheat Halwa with Jaggery :  She prepared it on 2nd year blog anniversary. 

Third one is : Cashew & Banana Halwa which was an accidental desert. She started making something else and ended up with this delicious halwa.

                                                      

Denny from Oh Taste n See   has sent these two recipes Bread Badam Halwa : which is quick, tasty and flovorful and was prepared for the pot luck party. 

Pineapple Kesari :  With less ghee she prepared it for her special friends.

Rachana from Sizzle N Spice  sent her  Kelyacha Halwa/ Banana Halwa  is a traditional Maharashtrian/ Goan recipe. This is typically made from special bananas called rajali keli/ bananas. But she couldn’t find these in any Indian grocery stores near her house. So  She Prepared it with regular ripe yellow bananas and she was happy that  it came out super delicious. 

Shabitha from  My Home Kitchen has sent the recipe for  Apple Banana Halwa : She tried this as she wanted to cook entire food in Microwave and she wanted to something interesting. 

Next is Jay from Tasty Appetite who has sent two lovely entries :

Gajar Ka Halwa : She has prepared this Halwa to celebrate her 200th post. 

Beetroot Halwa  : She prepared this lovely recipe to celebrate her first award she received.

The last but not the least entry is from Remya of Yummy Tastebuds. Lets welcome her with sweet smile as she is new to the blogging world. Her Rava Kesari (Kesari Bath) which she tried it first time. It was very good and everyone in the family enjoyed it. 

(I thought for a minute, whether to accept her entry as the end date for the event was over! As even this is my first event, I do not really know to strictly follow the rules or not! Then I thought, its time to celebrate the sweets and lets celebrate together.)

The below are my entries for the event :

 Banana Peel Halwa

Ginna (First Milk Halwa)

Carrot and Orange Halwa

Sending my Heart to My Valentine!!!

Polished wheet halwa (ಗೋಧಿ ಹುಗ್ಗಿ ) for new year!

Instant coconut halwa

Carrot burfi

Now, its time for me to return what I got! I am thankful to all my friends here for such a lovely support and  encouragement. And I got two friends who pushed me to take this event in my hand and go ahead. 
I still remember the last day of my last event! I was depressed so much and it was Srivalli who supported me with her kind words and made me feel better. She offered me to go ahead with Microwave event also, but I was not ready at that moment.
When the idea of holding this event came in my mind, I was hesitating to conduct it, just to avoid the failure. Then came Jagruti, who encouraged me to go ahead and she went on mailing me about my progress. She dedicated her first event to me! That was a surprise for me and I was really touched. 
SO this special Thank you card to both of them and dedicating the event to them(its my turn now!)

Its time to celebrate again. This time it is Jagruti who is CELEBRATING PEDA
Please visit her blog and again start celebrating the sweets.
And
Wait for my next new event announcement, this weekend. 


Once again with lot of love and thanks,
Keep Smiling,