Halwa Bobbatlu...

Got some time and interest to try out something new.
Its being a long time and sweet-tooth inside me started craving for something new.
Here I tried out halwa bobbatlu where I got this recipe from different sources of web.

Ingredients:
Sooji / Semolina 1 cup
Granulated Sugar 1 cup
Plain Milk 2 cups
Maida/All purpose Flour 1 cup
Salt a pinch
Ghee to taste

Preparation:
1.Knead plain flour and salt into soft dough using enough water.Pat some ghee on top of the dough and keep covered for at least half an hour.
2.Heat a tbsp of ghee in a pan on low flame, and add semolina to the same pan.Fry until semolina turns golden brown and remove from heat.
3.Bring milk to boil in a sauce pot, stir in fried semolina and sugar.Cook on medium flame until all the milk is absorbed or until semolina separates from the sides of pot.Make sure semolina is cooked and remove from heat.
4.Once cooled, make lemon sized balls out of the cooked semolina and keep aside.
5.Take lemon sized(half of the size of semolina ball) ball out of the prepared plain flour dough.
6.Stuff the prepared semolina ball into the dough and flatten it on a greased zipper bag.
Place the rolled out semolina puri for later use.
7.Repeat the same until all the semolina balls are finished.
8.Heat a flat pan on medium heat, place the rolled out puri.Fry on one side until golden brown, grease it with little ghee if you wish.Turn on other side and fry until golden brown.
9.Repeat the same with remaining puris.Garnish with fried cashews and rasins and serve hot or cold.

Marriage Anniversary!!

Wishing my parents Happy Anniversary,who are celebrating their Pearl Jubilee..(30 years).


Mom & Dad,
We both(sis &myself) are really proud to be your daughters...We express thanks for all things you did to us.
You taught us to love,to learn,to share,to stand on our very own strength, and to never give up..
You taught us to live.
We are blessed to be your kids.We love you mom & dad....forever...
Pray for you to have healthy and much more blissful life going forward!!


Wishing  my in-laws ,a very Happy Anniversary,who are celebrating their Coral Jubilee...(35 years)
We pray for you to have healthy,happy and lovely life ahead!
Thanks for all the advice and support providing....


We are grateful for letting us to know that we can count on you all!!!!

MysorePak

Finally got some time to try out a recipe.This time am back with a bang...our very old mysorepak.

Here's how to make it...

Ingredients:

1 cup besan/chickpea flour

2 cups sugar

2 cups oil

1/4 cup ghee 

Method :

1. Heat oil in a kadai and keep aside in another vessel.

2. Fry the besan for 5-10min adding some ghee and keep aside in a plate. Add besan in oil and mix it properly.

3. Add sugar in the same kadai and add 1/2 cup water.Bring sugar to boil then add the oil+besan mixture to it.Stir for few minutes ,around 10-12min.Add ghee while stirring.

4. Oil starts oozing out.Then pour this mix in the ghee covered plate and distribute all along and finally cut into pieces.

Tilapia fish fry

Tried fish for the first time.As experimenting,I started with fry rather than going for curry which I feel that it needs some guidance.But my first experiment was given thumps up by my family :)
Got Tilapia fish from the market and told that it is rich in proteins.
And we should be careful to pick up those only farmed at US.Avoid farmed fish at China or Taiwan ,where pollution and weak management are widespread problems.

Ingredients :
4 slices of Tilapia fish,washed and made 3 pieces of each slice
1 tsp of ginger garlic paste
2 tsp pf cornflour
1 tsp of rice flour
1 egg
2 tsp chillie powder
1 tsp cumin and coriander powder
pinch of turmeric
salt accordingly
6-7 chillies slices
bunch of curry leaves
cup of vegetable oil

Method:
1. Add ginger garlic paste,cornflour,rice flour,chillie powder,cumin&coriander powder,turmeric,salt ,egg and mix well.
2. Add the fish pieces and marinate them in the paste and keep it aside for 1 hour.
3. Bring heat oil in a kadai and deep fry the fish by flipping both sides until it becomes brown in color.

4. Remove fish from kadai and add chllies and curry leaves,Saute them for few seconds and garnish on the fried pieces.

Cashew Mango Mutton Curry

A special recipe for all of us,prepared around summer when raw cashews,mangoes comes into market.My maternal granny used to prepare this dish which used to take a very long procedure dealing with the cashews.

The rich sour taste of mangoes along with cashews makes this dish taste worthy.

Ingredients :

1.5 pounds mutton,finely chopped and cleaned

1 raw mango,finely chopped in 2" slices

bunch of cashews,soak in water for an hour

2 medium size onions,grounded to paste

2 tsp chillie powder

 1/2 tsp garam masala

1 tsp turmeric

salt accordingly

2 tsp vegetable oil

2 tsp ginger garlic paste

10-12 curry leaves

bunch of finely chopped coriander leaves

Method :

1. Check whether mutton is tender or not.If not,place in cooker adding 1 tsp ginger garlic paste,pinch of turmeric and water and cook for minimum3 whistles.(I cooked for 8 whistles)

2. Bring oil to heat in a kadai and add onion paste,ginger garlic paste,curry leaves and saute until raw smell of onion leaves off.(around 3-4 min in medium flame)

3. Add mutton pieces ,salt to it and mix well.Cook for 4-5 min by adding little bit of water in between.Make sure the pieces wont get burned.

4. Add garam masala and few coriander leaves and  cook for few minutes.Add chillie powder and saute for few seconds.

5. Now add soaked cashews just by spreading all over.Cook for 3min by checking in between.

6. Spread mango pieces around and add some water.Reduce the flame by low and cover it and let it cook for 4 min.Make sure to mix the curry in between for each  minute.

7. When you see the oil floating on the curry,off the stove and garnish with coriander leaves.Serve with  hot rice.

Busy and Tired Week!

My home have been filled with guests,relatives,friends.
Got busy all these week.No time to blog though have lot of things to share.
Celebrated my birthday..
Celebrated Easter...
Had a small get together kinda thing...
Did not dare to try a new recipe ;)
But tried one of my mom's recipe.
Will post it soon.

Hibiscus

My first flower at first spring for the first time :)
Got a Hibiscus plant from store .
Waiting for the bud to bloom from 3 days.
Finally....I woke up to see the flower.Am sooo happy.

Whenever am at my home,my mom who is a garden freak(as we all call her),always urge me to see her plants and flowers.I could not understand her urge.But now... I can..

Aloo 65

Inspired from chicken 65,tried with vegetable too.My most Favorited vegetable ,Potato.We usually call it as 'Aloo'

Ingredients :
2 semi boiled potatoes,cut in shape of small finger fries
6 tsp of all purpose flour\maida
3 tsp cornflour
1 tsp chillie powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
salt as required
2 tsp ginger garlic paste
pinch of food color
12 long slit chillies
some curry leaves
1/2cup of curd
 Finely chopped spring onions to garnish
Oil required for deep fry

Method:
1. Combine potatoes, cornflour,maida,gingergarlic paste ,chillie powder,salt ,garam masala and mix well  by slightly adding water.
Mix well and marinate them for 30 min.
2. Heat oil in a pan for deep fry.When oil is sufficiently hot,take small amounts of the marinated potato mix and deep fry them like pakoras.
3. Heat 2-3 tsp of oil in a pan and add chillies,curry leaves to it.Fry for few seconds.
4. Add the curd(better sour),red color,salt,pepper(1/2 tsp). Add the fried potatoes
Cook for 3 min in low flame.
garnish with spring onions and serve.

Dinner in Diner

Went to Diner for dinner.Had a great time.
Spent very leisurely,got warm welcome from the staff...enjoyed the food..love the place , decor and its ambience.
Ordered Italian dish ,Chicken marasala and chicken soup and italian salad.
My hubby ordered Veggie Omelette with bacon on it.
My bro ordered Chicken Parmigian with linguine and lentil soup and salad.
Couldn't take pics of all of the dish especially the omelette, as my hubby was fast enough to dive into it before I took camera.

Marasala with mushroom sauce

Chicken parmigian

Aloo Bread Bajji

Its being raining from the morning.And we all are having really a dull,boring day.Discovered that my pantry had some stale bread.Browsed some sites to use leftover bread.

Tried this recipe and it came out well making our day :)

Ingredients :

Bread slices - 4-6 slices

2 boiled and mashed potatoes

1/2 tsp chat masala 

3 chillies ,finely chopped

1tsp  finely chopped corinader

1/2 tsp finely chopped ginger

2 tsp lemon juice

1 cup besan/sengapindi / chickpea flour

1/2 tsp Rice flour (optional)

1/2 tsp Ajwain seeds/Vaamu

Salt as required

1 tsp chillie powder/pepper

Oil for deep fry

Method :

1. Combine potatoes,chillies,coriander,ginger,chat masala,bit salt and lemon juice and mix well.

2. Take a bread slice and spread the above mixture over it.Cover the mixture with another slice of bread making it like a sandwich.

3. Cut the sandwich in four equal parts and keep aside.

4. Combine both flours with salt,ajwain,salt,chillie powder.Add little water and mix well to form a thick smooth batter.Do not add too much water.

5. Heat enough oil in a deep frying vessel.Heat oil sufficiently.Dip each part of sandwich into the besan batter such that they are well coated and place it in the hot oil.Reduce heat to medium and deep fry them till they turn golden brown.Turn them both sides using a ladle to cook equally. 

6. Once they turn golden brown,remove from oil and place them in absorbent paper and serve with ketchup or chutney.

On Request

My mama wants to know about the plants we took.She want to have pictures of them.
Finally I got them.
Here mom & dad...I got a full grown rose stem,about to sprout.Picked yellow color.
Another red rose plant which I have been caring from Christmas period.
And two hanging corona dianthus plants...
Hope my garden blooms to the fullest.

First post after New year!

Before blogging,let me wish all of you Happy Ugadi!
Celebrated this telugu new year with varieties of dishes which I never tried before.
Got flowering plants for my li'l garden for the first time after my marriage.
Hope they flourish well.
Shall post pics of my plants as soon as they settle here :)

Chicken Vindaloo

Another recipe from sailus food blog.

Vindaloo is derived from the Portuguese,which is a dish of meat, with wine and garlic.It is modified in India by the substitution of vinegar for the wine and  addition of chillies.
This dish (from Goa )was prepared in our home for the first time.We all liked the delecable thick gravy.

Ingredients:
1 kg chicken, washed and cut into bite size pieces
3 onions, sliced, sauteed in a tbsp of oil till caramalized, cool and make paste
2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tbsp coriander powder
1/4 tsp turmeric pwd
4 tbsps vinegar
salt to taste
2 tbsps oil
Make a paste: add a few tbsps of water
3/4 tsp roasted methi seeds/fenugreek seeds/menthulu
1 tsp roasted cumin seeds/jeera
2 tsp pepper corns
6-7 dry red chillis, lightly roasted
1 1/2″ cinnamon/dalchini
3-4 elaichi/cardamom
Method:
1. Heat oil in a cooking vessel, add mustard seeds and as they sizzle, add ginger garlic paste and fry for 2 mts.
2. Add coriander pwd, turmeric pwd and salt. Combine. Add the chicken pieces and fry till they are slightly browned approx 8-9 mts. Remove the chicken pieces and keep aside.
3. In the same vessel, drizzle some more oil, if required, add the browned onion paste and ground masala paste and saute for 2 mts. Add the vinegar and combine.
4. Add 1 1/2 cups of water and the browned chicken pieces and cook till the chicken turns soft and it forms a thick gravy.
5. Serve hot with rice or rotis.

Chicken 65

Here comes one more recipe from Deepthi Pagadala.
This recipe makes a perfect appetizer when you are having guests.
Tried for the first time and its going to be a part of our routine lunch.
Ingredients :

1/2 kg of boneless chicken,cut into small pieces
6 tsp of all purpose flour\maida
6 tsp cornflour
1/2 tsp ajinomato
1 tsp chillie powder
eggs - 2
salt as required
2 tsp ginger garlic paste
pinch of food color
12 long slit chillies
some curry leaves
2 cups of curd
1/2 tsp garammasala
coriander leaves

Method:
1. Take a deep vessel and add cornflour,maida,ajinomato,gingergarlic ,chillie powder,salt,eggs and chicken.
Mix well and marinate them for 30 min.
2. Heat oil in a pan for deep fry.When oil is sufficiently hot,take small amounts of the marinated chicken and deep fry them like pakoras.
3. Once done,add curd,garam masala,salt,color in another bowl and keep aside.
4. Heat 2-3 tsp of oil in a pan and add chillies,curry leaves to it.Fry for few seconds.
5. Finally add the curd mixture to the pan ,mix well and add the fried chicken pieces.
Cook for 3 min in low flame.
Garnish with coriander leaves and serve them.

This time too shall pass...

One after the other,we are infected with cold and cough.
Almost a week,I have been hearing sneezes,coughs,snores...
Medicines,syrups,inhalers are crossing my way here and there.
Neither preparing any recipes nor enjoying my time.
Hope this too shall pass.

Rice Tikki

We had some leftover rice.Instead of finding place in the trash,it is placed as a tea snack with slight modifications.
Add salt,amchur powder and curry powder to 2 cups of leftover rice.
Then add chopped coriander,1 chopped chilli, pinch of pepper and 2 boiled,mashed potatoes.Mix well with the fingers.
Take a small portion and press it in between the palms until it forms a tikki shape.
Take a pan and sprinkle some oil and place the tikkis and shallow fry them till brown.

Serve with ketchup or green chutney.

Bread Pizza

Felt lazy in the morning to prepare breakfast.I just took some left over curry(prepared mushroom stir fry yesterday) and bake it with the bread.(Basic idea from sailusfood site)

Ingredients :
4 brown/white Bread slices
left over mushroom curry(any veggie curry or boiled 1/2 cup of corn,carrot,peas)
unsalted butter to spread over the slices
2 tsp tomato ketchup
parmesan cheese

Method:
Apply unsalted butter over the slices and then spread tomato ketchup.Spread the curry or the boiled vegetables,sprinkle some pepper(and salt ,if using boiled veggies).
Finally sprinkle some parmesan cheese or fat free cheese products.

Pre-heat oven and bake at 350 F/180 C or till the cheese melts.

For the First Time...

I saw a turkey roaming around our backyard.Tried to capture a snap but it ran away into the woods.I ran behind it.but came to know that a turkey is a fast runner...lol..:)

Spring is in the air,in the weeds, in the shrubs,trees..everywhere.
Posting some pictures  that were captured while running for the  turkey.


You can see some of weeds posts.One of them caught my attention while having a little walk.

These one bloomed with white pearl like flowers.

 You can see the sprouts coming out of the stems for the shrub that resides near our balcony.Haven't notices till today.
I thought this shrub was not going to survive for it withered away completely.
But look at them!!!
It turned green with life and also blooming out with leaves..

Another kind of weed flowers.I got tired running behind the turkey and was looking if I could get some interesting things to blip.Then suddenly I found them underneath.
These pretty flowers looked very humbled.Aren't they??



Can you see the squirrel eating the sprouts from the huge tree?Its a very tall one.But my camera managed to get it through :)





And finally the turkey :)
How lovely...I stared at him and got it finally.Hoping to meet him tomorrow again

visit : http://www.ndsu.edu

Methi Murg

It was again Groceries week.Bought methi leaves along with veggies.Tried methi murg for the first time and it came out really tasty.My husband has been admiring a lot for making dish which tasted different.I couldn't capture real good photos of this dish as my husband was eager to have it without leaving some time for me ;)
Again this dish was followed from sailusfood with a little bit of alteration.

Ingredients:
1 kg chicken, washed and cut into medium sized pieces
1 cup packed fresh methi leaves, add little salt+sugar+water, keep aside for 15 mts and squeeze out water
3 large onions, sliced, saute in a tbsp of oil till brown and cool
1 tsp green chilli paste (2-3 green chillis)
11/2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
2 tomatoes, pureed
1/4 cup yogurt
large pinch turmeric pwd
2 tsp red chilli pwd
1 tsp coriander pwd
1/2 tsp cumin pwd
pinch of garam masala pwd (2 cloves, 1″ cinnamon, 1 elaichi)
salt to taste
7-8 cashewnuts, soak in warm water and make paste
2+2 tbsps oil

Method:
- Make a paste of browned onions and curd. Keep aside.
- Heat 2 tsps oil in a cooking vessel, add the methi leaves and saute for 7-8 mts or till they turn crisp. Remove and keep aside.
- Heat the remaining oil in the same vessel, add ginger garlic paste and green chilli paste and saute for 3-4 mts. Add turmeric pwd, red chilli pwd, cumin pwd and coriander pwd and combine.
- Add the tomato puree and cook for 3 mts. Add the onion-curd paste and cook for another 3 mts.
- Add the chicken pieces ,add salt and combine well. Cook on medium high flame for 3-4 mts. Reduce flame, place lid and let the chicken cook till three fourth done.
- Add the cashewnut paste, garam masala pwd and sauteed methi leaves and combine well. Add few tbsps of water if necessary at this point of time. Cook till the chicken turns soft and you get the gravy consistency of your choice. It should be a thick creamy gravy.
- Turn off heat and serve hot with white rice or rotis.

After a long time...

.....I am adding a post.Before updating things..My heart is for all in Japan.We are with you all!
So!Finally I felt sun shining on me after lot of pouring.Captured some pics for the blip when it is raining.

Captured in rain

Feeling better!!

Dove @ balcony with a msg abt sunshine...lol:)

Idli Fry

As my idlis were not fluffy enough, more idlis were left over ;)

As I was thinking a plan for those left over ones, I recalled a recipe that my friends used to prepare a upma kind of dish from them as we cant have directly..lol!!

Changed ingredients according to my taste, and it came out as a good snack at chai time.

Ingredients:

7 idlis, crumble or cut into cubes as per the idea got from gayatrivantillu.com

1 chopped Onion 

Few Curry Leaves

1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder 

Pinch of hing /Asafoetida

Salt to Taste

2 long slit chillies, remove the seeds

1 1/2 tsp Urad dal

1 1/2 tsp chana dal

1/2 tsp mustard

1 tsp cashews

1 tsp kobbari kaaram

2 tsp oil

Method:

1. Bring oil to heat in a pan. Add the chana dal, urad dal and fry till it starts changing color to golden brown. Then add the mustard seeds and then cashews and fry till the seeds splutter. 

2. Add hing. Then add curry leaves. Fry for a minute and add the chopped onions. Sauté till transparent. 

3. Add the chillies, turmeric powder and salt. Mix well and add the cubed Idlis. Add the Kobbari kaaram and Mix well and cook covered for a minute or two in low flame.

Once you feel the idli got the taste of salt and spices, transfer the contents into a serving bowl.

If not then, sprinkle little bit of water and cook covered for another one minute.

Capsicum and Onion Masala

Today's recipe comes from one of my friends, Deepti Pagadala.

I never used capsicum as a curry dish.But finally gave it a try and it was simply a HIT!

Ingredients :
2 medium size capsicum,chopped in small pieces( Used red and green bell peppers)
2 tsp vegetable oil
salt , according to your taste
1 1/2 tsp turmeric
Grind the below ingredients :
1 onion
5 chillies
6 garlic cloves
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp poppy
1/2 cup roasted ground nuts


Method :
1. Grind onion,chillies,garlic,coriander,cummin,poppy and make a fine pasted.
2. Heat oil in a pan and add the paste.Cook for few minutes in low flame until the paste thickens.
3. Add salt & turmeric.Cover it and cook for few minutes.
4. Add capsicum pieces and adjust some salt if needed and sprinkle some water over the pieces.
Cover and cook for some more time in low flame until the capsicum is cooked properly.Stir the curry in between.
5. Finally garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rice and a dollop of ghee.

A day to count

A Merry journey from Feb to March.


Today is a day to count.

Firstly,  would like to wish my friends Tasneem and Madhuri,a very happy Birthday.

Happy Birthday Both of You!!

The former is my friend from my college days,we stayed together during job trials and worked almost from the same place,enjoyed a lot,shared a lot,trusted each other a lot.Thanks to you Dear friend for being with me in all my times..good & bad.I wish you a Happy Birthday and God Bless you!

The latter is the one whom I met here after my marriage.She made me  feel home with her hospitality when I was trying to fit here in US.She always took care of me in my loneliness and illness .I take this oppurtunity thanking her and wishing her a very beautiful life ahead!!

Btw,we had party bash at a mexican restaurant having tomtilla chicken and Jalepeno grilled salmon

tomtilla chicken

salmon

Secondly, I got a successful story to blog.Story about making idlis ;)

For the first time,the batter rose when kept undisturbed the whole night.Ofcourse the outcome of the idlis are good but not fluffy as my mom prepares.

Thirdly,its been a merry journey from Feb(month I started blog and blip) to March.Was nervous in the beginning if I could finish up writing at least one blog per day.But now I feel more confident and realize that I enjoy what I am doing.

You can take a look at http://www.blipfoto.com/malini ,where I blip photos daily and feel like that am making good use of camera.Thanks to my dear husband who has been helping me a lot in these things!!

Thanks a lot to my family who has been encouraging me in my endeavors.

Groceries week!!

Nothing left in my refrigerator from couple of days..And besides I was too tired to post a recipe.Even my husband is not feeling good as he caught cold and the city is wet through..phew..not a good weekend for me.
But finally we managed to drive to grocery market and got some.

Hope to post any recipe soon.

Goodies from India

The last two days went very busy for me from unpacking and packing things,helping my in-laws,food and journey to my sister-in-law's house.
Just came back and as promised am showing a pic of my list of goodies that I got from India.
My parents send me some dresses,sleep wear,tops,home made sweets , pickles and powders,story books that I love to read,some groceries,health care products and of course my most favorite chocolate Dairy Milk.

Happy Moments!!

After a prolong delay,my in-laws finally landed to America.Especially my father-in-law,this was his first visit.We were so excited to receive them.Prepared normal veg curries and stuck up myself cleaning and organizing things around.Got loads of goodies.Will get a picture tomorrow once settled down.