January 31, 2013

Friday Chat With Bloggers - Preeti From Indian Kitchen


Welcome you all to my third week of “ Friday Chat With Bloggers event “. Today we are going to meet a very special energetic blogger, who has lots of mouthwatering n drool-worthy recipes in her blog. Very creative too, her combination of veggies used in curries is really delicious n yummy… She is none other than PREETHI from Indian Kitchen….  Friends, do check her blog and enjoy all her mouthwatering recipes with clear explanation and lovely presentation!

Now let’s see what Preeti shares with us…


Priya : Love to hear few words about you.

Preeti : I'm Preeti Tamilarasan from “Indian Kitchen”. Basically a full time foodie who loves to eat spicy non-veg food :) The two things which I love the most next to my husband and family are food and travel. I want to see each and every corner of beautiful India.

Priya : Please share few words about your blog and who is your greatest support?

Preeti : My blog “Indian Kitchen” was started one year back with the intention of keeping a back up of my recipes. But slowly I started developing interest in food photography. I have a special interest in Indian spicy food which most of you would have already seen from my collection of recipes.
My two greatest supporter are my mom and hubby. They are my two pillars of support due to which my little blog has grown this much.

Priya : What is your most Favorite Veg and Non-veg recipe ?

Preeti : This is the most appropriate question which suits me :)
Among Veg, I like aloo gobi fry, baigan bharta and stuffed capsicums.
I have long list for non-veg recipes. But I will cut it short..
Mutton Biriyani, Chicken Tikka, Chicken & Curry Leaves Gravy, Egg Tava Fry, Nethili Fry, Mutton Kurma.. the list goes on..

Priya : Few words about your first cooking experience.

Preeti : My first cooking experience was a disaster. I tried to bake a mango cake when my mom wasn't home. The cake obviously didn't come out well and it was looking like sukka roti.. really horrible..
I started to cook myself during collage days, mostly on Sundays. But only after marriage, I cooked full time and slowly developed interest in cooking apart from eating alone :)

Priya : What quick recipe would you serve when house filled with sudden guests??

Preeti : Muttai Bread Upma and Apple Bhajji.

Priya : Please share your favourite restaurants and the food which you enjoyed the most…

Preeti : For past two years, I have visited numerous restaurants with my hubby on weekends. I shall name the best,
Hotel Junior Kupanna – All type of non-veg curries and Nei Parotta (I like everything here except that the quantity they give is less and charge more)
Thalapakatti – Karandi Muttai and Chicken Biriyani
Cascade – Sczhewan Fried Rice with Chicken Manchurian
Hotel Sangamam – Chicken Tikka
Nallas Aapakadai – Aapam with Mutton Curry Home Style

Priya : What is your favourite cookery show??

Preeti : I dont watch much cookery shows. But in recent time, I started watching “Turban Tadka” show aired in “Food Food Channel”. I like all the recipes of Chef Harpal Singh Sokhi. Since punjabi food is one of my fav, I love to watch his show.

Preeti : What do you like in my blog and please share your suggestions to improve mine.

Preeti : You are one of my good friend whom i met in this blogging platform. Your comments have always encouraged me. I like to visit your blog even if you don't post any recipes. I like the collection of your south indian recipes. So keep this good work and am expecting more number of unique recipes from you in future.

My mom prepares Ultham Paruppu Bonda often. We like it more than vadai. I have altered slightly by adding strawberry juice to it.


Strawberry Ultham Paruppu Bonda :

Ingredients :
  • 1 cup Ultham Paruppu (Black Gram)
  • ¼ cup finely chopped onion
  • 2 green chilies – finely chopped
  • ¼ cup strawberry juice
  • ½ tsp pepper powder
  • salt to taste
  • 2 tbsp chopped coriander

Method :
  • Soak ultham paruppu in water for 1 hour. Drain the water completely and grind it in a mixer or grinder. Add strawberry puree and 1 tsp water and grind to a smooth batter.
  • Transfer it to a bowl and combine all other ingredients with it. Mix well and keep aside for 10 mins.
  • Heat oil in a kadai. Wet your palms with water and make small balls of the batter and drop in oil.
  • Fry on low heat. Since we have added strawberry, the bonda changes its color soon but the inside of bonda doesn't get cooked.
  • Fry for a min on low heat and then remove from the heat. Proceed with the remaining. Serve hot with coconut chutney. 


Note :
Since we have added strawberry, the batter will be sticky and you cant get the correct shape of vadai. Add 1 tbsp rice flour to the batter, in case you want to prepare vadai. 



Wow, what a lovely innovative bonda…. Awesome and thanks a lot preeti J
Very happy to post your chat along with your delicious interesting recipe.. Am sure that everyone loves this !!!

Friends, Do check my previous Friday Chat With Bloggers and enjoy reading :) 

Stay tuned till next week to meet another interesting blogger !!!


Rajasthani Ghevar Topped With Kesar Rabdi - SNC Challenge 4

Hurray !! At last completed my Jan month SNC challenge today :) I was worried all these days that I might be unable to do this yummy sweet coz of relatives at home.. But some how managed to prepare this today. I have thank my mom, chithi and my periamma who helped a lot in preparing and tasting :) I must say that this sweet is JUST DIVINE !!! Every spoon n every bite made me feel like in heaven :) Special thanks to Manju, who introduced this finger licking delicious traditional sweet... I am really very happy that my family members and relatives enjoyed this sweet alot... In fact, they all noted down this recipe to try later :) Actual recipe calls for sugar syrup to soak the ghevar... I jus skipped this part for my family members..

SNC challenge is nothing but South - North Team Challenge. Every month one member from south team will challenge the North team and vice versa... This month North team ( Manju ) challenged us with this Rajasthani Ghevar and the south team ( Ramya ) challenged north team with Vadakari... Thanks to Divya Pramil, creative head and founder of SNC challenge :) Click HERE to get more details about this event.



Ingredients :

For Ghevar :

  • 5 Tbsp Maida
  • 3/4 Cup Water
  • 2 1/2 Tsp Ghee
  • 1 Tbsp Milk
  • Pinch of Saffron
  • Oil for frying


For Kesar Rabdi :

  • 500 ml Milk
  • 1/2 Cup Condensed Milk
  • 1 Elachi, crushed
  • Few Saffron Strands

For Garnishing :

  • 10 Badam, sliced
  • 10 Rasins


Method :

For Ghevar :

  • Sieve maida and mix it with the ghee in a separate bowl.
  • Soak the saffron strands in a milk.
  • Add water gradually to the maida mixture and mix well to avoid lumps.
  • Now add the saffron milk and mix well to form a thin batter.
  • Meanwhile, heat oil in a flat pan and slowly pour the batter in middle of the pan in a thin stream.
  • Adjust the flame to medium. While pouring batter, it starts scattering around the sides of pan.
  • Pour the batter until the correct thickness occurs. 
  • Fry them until it turns golden brown. 
  • Once done, slowly remove from the flame and keep aside.

For Kesar Rabdi :

  • Grease the pan with 1/2 tbsp ghee and add the milk.
  • Boil till it reduces half the quantity.
  • Add the condensed milk, crushed elachi and saffron. Boil them for few more minutes.
  • Stir the milk continuously.
  • Switch off the flame, once the rabdi or malai gets thick consistency.
  • Refrigerate them before serving.

Place the ghevar in a plate and garnish with the chopped nuts and raisins.
Pour the chilled rabdi over the ghevar. Garnish again with nuts n raisins.


Serve and enjoy !


Special Thanks to Manju n Divya :)













January 24, 2013

Friday Chat With Bloggers - Sharanya From Sara's Tasty Buds

Hi friends....

Hope you all enjoyed my last week’s Friday Chat with Viji from Virundhu Unna Vaanga.  Missed her interesting chat ?? don't worry! Just click HERE and enjoy reading with her yummy sweet recipe. Thanks a lot everyone for your lovely support and response  :)

And today we are going to meet an interesting blogger Sharanya Palanisshami from Sara's Tasty buds .She has a lovely space with lots of delicious and tasty recipes... Personally I love all her baking recipes and kongu recipes. Very young and energetic blogger. Do check her blog and participate in her first event....Don't miss it !!

So friends, get ready to know more about our lovely friend....

 Priya : Few words about you !

Sharan : I am sharanya from sara’s Tasty Buds. 
I am a physiotherapist by profession . Cooking was my passion from my childhood.

Priya : What inspires you to write a food blog  and when did you start ?

Sharan :  As I had already told , I had the passion for cooking from my childhood . I cooked my first recipe Thakali kulambu when I was studying fifth standard. I was a huge fan of all the cookery shows in television. I started this blog to have a online cookbook of my own. I started the blog in october 2008. I was blogging regularly for this past six months only.

Priya : what’s your favorite cookbook ?

Sharan : There was no specific book , I usually write down the recipes , these are the reference for my cooking. My chitti bought a tamil  cookbook for me , that was my first cookbook too.

Priya :  What is your favorite cookery show ?

Sharan : All the cookery shows are my favorite , out of all I like khana khazana of sanjeev kapoor.

Priya : Tell us about your first blog post...

Sharan : My first post was not a recipe post , it was a painting of a house . It was posted on October 2008. I was not regular in blogging because of my studies. Yes , I started this blog when I was studying in college. For the past six months only , I was active in posting.

Priya : Name any 3 dishes from your blog that you like to prepare freq. ( with links pls )

Sharan :  As  all the posts are my favorite , as you are asking for three , I had tried many new recipes for posting in blog.

Jangiri

Jujups

Mattar ki kachori


Priya : Can you share few kitchen tips of yours.....

Sharan :

 * soak the chopped  raw banana , valaipoo  , valaithandu and brinjal in buttermilk or tap water to prevent darkening.
* Turmeric is a good anti carcinogenic agent which prevents cancer , so include this in every cooking.
* Reduce the oil usage in every recipe , as it is good for our health.

Priya : What do you like in my blog and pls share your suggestion to improve mine.

Sharan : We become friends within this six months , but I feel it as a long lasting relationship. I used to wonder how priya akka will be posting besides looking after a small kid.
 I like all of your recipes  especially your innovation like  chow chow karapaniyaram , egg n panner idly upma and so on…………..

And my guest post recipe is...


Katharikai moochaikotai kulambu

This was my mom’s recipe , for everyone their first inspiration to cooking is their mom and I too follow her steps in cooking . she usually cooks brinjal with any beans. Mom’s always feed their kids with nutritious foods. This is simple and easy to make kulambu for rice.

Requirements :
  • Brinjal – ½ kg
  • Fieldbean – 1 cup
  • onions –  1
  • Oil – 1 tbs
  • Sambar powder – 2 tbs
  • Salt as required
  • Curry leaves
  • Turmeric powder – 1 tsp


To grind :
  • Grated coconut – 4 tbs
  • Cinnamon – 1 small stick
  • Cloves – 2
  • Aniseeds – ¼ tsp
  • Roasted channa dhal – 1 tbs
  • Tamarind – marble size


Method :
  • Cook the field beans separately.
  • Soak the tamarind in a cup of water and extract the tamarind juice.
  • Chop the onion and brinjals.
  • Heat oil in a kadai , add the mustard seeds and let it crackle.
  • Add the chopped onion and curry leaves , sauté well.

  • Add the chopped brinjals and sauté for a minute.

  • Add the turmeric powder and sambar powder , sauté till the raw smell leaves.


  • Add the tamarind extract and required salt and cook.

  • When the brinjal is cooked , add the cooked beans and mix well.

  • Now add the ground coconut paste, mix well and cook the kulambu for ten minutes in low fire.

  • Kathari moochaikotai kulambu is ready to serve.

  • Serve with hot steaming rice along with a spoon of ghee.



Thanks alot sharan for sharing your thoughts and recipe with us...

Hope you all enjoyed today's chat with Sharan with her mom's special recipe.. Personally this kuzhambu is my most fav one and love this with egg omlette ;) 

Don't miss the next friday chat.... Stay tuned !
If you are interested to participate in my Friday Chat With Bloggers....do mail me at priyasmenu@gmail.com








January 21, 2013

Plantain Corn Rice / Raw Banana Corn Rice / Lunch Box Recipes

Life has become very busy n hectic, starting from this year... Continuous travel and guests filled in our home one after the other for their holidays... Enjoying every minute but unhappy that I am not able to concentrate on blogging. Planning to manage time so that I will not miss my virtual friends:)
And coming to today's recipe...After a long time tried this innovative delicious lunch box variety today and served with onion raita and chips. Had one bowl of cooked basmati rice in my fridge, so used that flavorful rice to prepare this plantain corn rice. Instead the same can be tried with the boiled rice or raw rice. But adding basmati rice gives a yummy briyani flavor. Very simple recipe and perfect for kids.




Ingredients:
  • 1 Big Plantain / Raw Banana
  • 1 Onion, Finely chopped
  • 1/4 Cup Corn kernels, frozen
  • 2 Green chillies, sliced
  • 1 1/2 Cup Rice, cooked ( Basmati )
  • 2 Tbsp Oil or ( 1 Tbsp Oil and 1 Tbsp ghee )
  • 1 Bay leaf
  • 2 Star anise
  • 1/2 inch Cinnamon
  • A pinch of Turmeric powder
  • 1 Tsp Ginger - Garlic paste
  • Few Mint leaves
  • Salt to taste

Method :
  • Steam the raw banana and peel the skin.
  • Now grate the raw banana and keep aside.
  • Heat oil in a pan and add the bay leaf followed by the star anise and cinnamon.
  • Add the chopped onions and mint leaves.
  • Fry them for a minute and add the ginger-garlic paste.
  • Fry till the raw smell of ginger-garlic paste goes off and then add the green chillies.
  • Mix well and add the grated raw banana.
  • Add the corn, salt and turmeric powder.
  • Simmer the flame and cook for couple of minutes.
  • Now add the cooked rice and mix well.
  • Simmer for another couple of minutes and garnish with the mint leaves.
  • Remove from the flame and serve hot.



Serving Options :

Serve hot with Onion Raita n Chips.



Sending this recipe to "100 Kids Lunch Box Recipe Book" Event !



January 17, 2013

Friday Chat With Bloggers - Viji From VIRUNTHU UNNA VAANGA

Happy Friday Friends !!! 

Happy to start my first event today with a special sweet blogger Vijalakshmi Dharmaraj from Virunthu Unna Vaanga. I must also say that she is a big time sweet loving person :) Her speciality recipe is also sweet !! Do check her blog to find more sweet recipes and lots of yummy yummy vegetarian recipes.
I love all her recipes and the first recipe that I tried from her blog is "Custard powder cake". Very yummy n soft cake!! Later tried her wheat cookies for my kid and he just loved it :) Personally I love the way she explains the values n benefits of veggies clearly..
Thank you viji so much to be my first guest :)

Lets see what viji shares with us this week....

Hi friends, am very pleasure to be here as a blogger in Priya’s FOOD LOVERS. Yeah! I too love
her space… It’s a great surprise for me when Priya asked me to do a guest post on her space. I am
very proud to do my first guest post for her. She is one of my best blogger friend, we often chat in mail and I like the way, she is using good and rare combo of ingredients in her recipes. She is very humble, humor girl and active mom to her son…. I would like to thank Divya Pramil who is conducting the South Vs North Challenge, coz through this group only I got many lovable friends, in this group only I and priya got introduced by each other and now we are good friends.

Priya: Few words about you and your blog

I completed my master’s and philosophy in Biotechnology and currently at home with my parents. Basically I am a poor eater but I like to cook new recipes n love to have my favorites. I love sweets much better. VIRUNTHU UNNA VAANGA is the name of my blog; the  meaning is INVITING U ALL FOR A FEAST!!!...
You can see simply vegetarian recipes here though desserts and baking will be occupied more space… Yes! I love to cook desserts and baking more than any other recipes. I prepared various recipes on my own idea and it was great thump in my family and the blog as well…


Priya: When and why did u start blogging?

My blog is 9 months old… Actually I started the blogger account 2 years back but started giving life to my
VIRUNTHU UNNA VAANGA only from May’12… And I am not familiar with ABC's of cooking till I completed my studies, only after that I got trained little by little and at one point I was appreciated as a Good Cook by my parents and others. Nowadays my mom started asking me to prepare some special gravies, desserts and all... Earlier I used to surf in net for interesting n innovative recipes and visited many of the bloggers space and found out many innovative recipes and tried some recipes at my level best. At particular stage, I started making good delectable recipes and I tried some innovative recipes on my own for my family. Then my brainpower asked me, why can u initiate a food blog? So my mind insisted me to create this food blog and now I am here with some recipes and it’s very handy for myself too, So that I can refer my own recipes (  coz most of the times I won’t keep the measurement in mind J ).  Now I have adequate time to do blogging so am very blissful to be part of the blogging world… Now cooking and blogging turned into my passion… Nowadays cooking and blogging alone comes in my dreams too J. by the comments of friends; I wish to let it keep in future as well…


Priya: What is the first thing you learned after started cooking?

Mostly I was helping my mom in the kitchen to cut vegetables and seasoning the recipes… My mom is very smart to get work from me that’s the way she have been teaching me more recipes, cooking methods, tips and etc still. So first I learnt many fundamental cooking techniques like kneading dough, seasonings, boiling milk etc…

Priya: Tell us about your first cooking experience and your first recipe.

Without any help from my mom I cooked Vegetable biryani, which came out really very delicious and got lots of appreciatation from my family. But I have to say to u one tragedy, that was my first  rice cooking experience, I measured the rice, soaked and added in the pressure cooker with all the needs and kept it on the flame. After 10-15 minutes I felt the burnt smell from somewhere else n then I found out it was from the Pressure cooker so without delay I turn off the flame and open the hot pressure cooker with an alert, and I was stunned to see inside. Tapped on my head and was telling myself, “No one in the world such an idiotic fellow like u”…. coz I forgot to pour water in the rice cooker L. How idiotic thing I did!!!

Priya: Share some of your favorite recipes that you like to cook for your family or hubby.

I like all the traditional sweet recipes and by luck my family also sweet loving persons… So no worry to try sweet items and specially milk sweets… I love to cook traditional sweets like Poli, Kozhukattai, Sakkara Pongal etc…for my family.

Priya: Who is your favorite celebrity chef?

Mmm… my favorite celebrity chefs are Chef.Damodharan, Chef.Sanjeev Kapoor and Chef.Harpal Sokhi (Turban Tadka Chef from Food food Channel)… I well-liked their cooking method and more delicious recipes coz we can able to prepare their splendid recipes from our regular pantry stuffs…

Priya: Tell us about your favorite cookery book or magazine.

I love to read books or magazine at any time especially cookery books… But my bad luck still I don’t have any cookery books or magazine on my bookshelf...

Priya: What do you like in my blog and pls share your suggestions to improve mine.

I love the unusual combination of ingredients that you tried… All are very delicious and healthy recipes. According to me nothing to state improve dear, all is good, keep going on dear, God Bless U…

Now coming to the recipe for guest post, I would like to start Priya’s “Friday chat with bloggers” event with a sweet. I prepared special milk sweet which is a virtual feast for her and all my friends. I love paneer recipes too, and I tried this paneer payasam for the first time and it came out truly very delicious and the smoothness of the paneer with milk n the flavor of cardamom flavor enhanced the taste. You try this once and you will like it very much. The taste is similar to Rasmalai but rasmalai takes much time and this is easy to prepare in quick time and its all time favorite for kids and guests…





INGREDIENTS :
  • Homemade Paneer or Store bought Paneer – ½ Cup (60-70 grams) (I used Milky Mist Paneer)
  • Milk – 1 ½ Cup
  • Condensed Milk – 2 Tbsp
  • Cardamom seeds – ¼ Tsp
  • Sugar – 2 Tbsp or adjust according to your taste
  • Corn Flour - 2 Tsp dissolved in 2 Tbsp of water (Optional)
  • Badam nuts – 5-10 chopped
  • Pistachios – 5-10 chopped



METHOD :
  • First grate the paneer and keep it aside.
  • Boil milk in a wide pan and add condensed milk to it and stir well.
  • Now add cardamom seeds and let it boil till it reduces quarter quantity (cream float stage) from original.

  • Put in sugar to it and stir well and boil for 1 minute and then add grated paneer to it and allow cooking well for 15-20 minutes.
  • Pour corn flour solution to the paneer mixture stir once and let it cook for 1 minute and switchoff  the flame.
  • Garnish with badam and pistachios or your favorite nuts and keep it for refrigeration for  1hour and serve it cold.


NOTES :

1. If you are using homemade paneer just crumble it before preparing the payasam. Fresh made
paneer will provide extra delicious, I don’t have time to make paneer so I used store bought.
2. Full cream milk also can use to prepare the kheer it will give very rich and creamy texture to the
payasam.
3. If you are using normal milk do not add water to the milk to boiling, else the payasam will
become more watery.
4. Adjust milk level to getting the kheer consistency coz after it cools it will become bit thick.

5. You can add saffron strands by dissolved in milk instead of cardamom flavor.

6. Skip adding of corn flour solution if you are using full cream milk.

7. You can serve it hot but it will be more delicious when it is chilled.



Hope you all liked my recipe with the chat… Thanks for spending your precious time to hear my words and THANK U SO MUCH PRIYA FOR THIS AMAZING OPPORTUNITY WITH YOU AND ALL OUR FRIENDS!!!

Thank You viji... Really enjoyed your chat with your yummy delicious sweet... And am sure that our friends will love this :)

Hope you all enjoyed today's lovely chat with viji with her speciality sweet... Next week, same day....interesting chat n recipe is waiting from an amazing blogger.... Stay tuned :)


January 14, 2013

Event Announcement - Friday Chat With Bloggers !


Friday is the magical day of every week.... It puts a smile on most of our faces... 
Office-goers planning their weekend with kith & kin... kids on their games... movie-buffs on the Friday releases... the elderly would schedule some auspicious activity for the day and of course Us - foodies... On what to cook special for the weekend to our loved ones at home. 

Well... Now you all can add to this list another exciting activity - Am gonna celebrate every Friday with an interesting chat with lots of yum-yum drool-drool recipes as guest posts.. Interesting right :) Guests would be encouraged to share their speciality recipe for all our benefit... Now, know all your co-bloggers and know their specialities too!!!... 





So, Are you Ready for a Chat this Friday :) 

Don't Miss It !!!!


If you are interested in participating in my Friday Chat, pls do mail me at priyasmenu@gmail.com 
Will mail you the details individually..

Happy Pongal / Pongal Thirunal Vazhukal


இனிய பொà®™்கல் வாà®´்த்துகள் !!!



Wish you all a Happy Pongal Friends :)

January 10, 2013

My First Post Of This Year - 2013!!

Hi Friends,

First of all... A very happy new year to everyone... Sorry, I know its very late but I was busy in travelling for the past few days. Hope u all had a great new year parties around.
Entered into this blogging world in 2008 but due to personal reason not able to continue this amazing world frequently.  Had a lovely chance to continue my passion n dream last year because of my hubby's support and successfully running behind it with loads of happiness... I would like to take this privilege and thanks each one of you personally for supporting me by giving your valuable comments and suggestions.. Million Thanks Friends :)
I am very happy that I got lots of friends thro' this blogosphere... I Pray that our friendship continuous throughout years as always...
Thanks again for the lovely support and will be pleased and happy if you all continue this forever dears !!
 Am planning to conduct few interesting events this year. Will update the details soon and hope you all give me a great support.
Few things I missed out to publish last year.. Of course, its a happy news...

First happy news is that I received my Special  prize Awardee n Second Contributor Prize from Nithu's Kitchen. Everyone must be familiar with the event  " Try My Recipes " contest hosted by Nithu, couple of months back. Participated in her contest with 71 entries and had a lovely chance to try out her delicious recipes...  Won Tarla Dalal's Book " Healthy Starters ". Thanks alot Nithu:)




One of an amazing blogger from Love to Experiment shared a lovely Liebster Award last year... Very happy to receive that and thanks alot dear:) She owns a lovely blog with lots of delicious n mouthwatering recipes... Do check her blog and enjoi her experiments.


Happy to share my another Liebster award and Sunshine award, which I had received from a sweet blogger Yasho from Yashodha's Kitchen. Friends, do check her blog to get lots of yummy recipes.. Thanks Yasho:)




Thanks everyone for all your support and valuable comments. Will come up with yummy recipes from tomorrow ... Happy Blogging !!