Friday Chat With Bloggers - Priya Anandakumar from Priyas Virundhu

Happy Friday Friends :)

My today’s guest is Priya Anandakumar from priyasvirundhu who started her blogging life few months back but in short time her blog filled with lots n lots of delicious recipes ( Real Virundhu like her blog title )… Very energetic blogger who posts nearly 50yummy recipes in a month... Amazing right :) Her blog looks very perfect, neat with step by step presentation and lovely tempting pics. Don’t miss her blog!! Happy to share my few favorites from her blog….

Here it is…

Pineapple Pancake

Rawa Sooji Puttu

Eral Thokku     

Guacamole Avocado Sauce

Sura Puttu

Besan flour dosa with Zucchini

This is not all…. Click HERE to enter into her lovely foodie blog to view all her delicious recipes…

Now over to Priya A….

First of all I would like to thank Mrs. Priya Satheesh for inviting me for the Friday chat. I did not even imagine she will invite me for the chat. Thank you very much Priya Satheesh , I am so overwhelmed with joy because this is my first guest post and a great encouragement for new bloggers like me.

Priya S : Love to hear few words about you n your blog and who is your greatest support?

Priya A : Hello everybody, happy to meet you all through Priya’s menu. I am Priya Anandakumar native of Chennai but currently residing in UK. I come from a big family of two brothers and a sister. I have a caring husband, two lovely and cute daughters 10 years and 4 years old.

I am forgetful by natureJ, so I always write down all my recipes in paper. Instead I thought I will have a digital copy ( blog) so I can refer it whenever needed and also share it with my friends. I have the step by step pictures to help viewers visualize the ingredients portion size and the texture of the food etc. When I saw the encouragement and acknowledgement from the visitors, I am now really motivated and working really hard to make it better every day.

My greatest support - First and foremost I would say is my loving husband and all my family members and friends.

Priya S : Your Favorite chef, favorite cookery show and favorite cookbook.

Priya A: My favorite chefs are Chef Dhamu, Mallika Badrinath. I don’t get to watch any cookery show, but used to watch Rachel Ray’s 30 min cooking, Master Chef when I was in USA. My favorite cook book is Chef Dhamu’s Asaiva samayal .

Priya S: Can you share us about your first cooking experience and the recipe which you tried first?

Priya A: My first cooking experience was very funny. My sister and I tried to make coconut burfi when I was in Class 7. We asked our mom how to do it and told her not to come into the kitchen. We both were really not sure about the recipe. The burfi was a total disaster; it turned out like a paper weight. We all just laughed it out…

Priya S: What comes to your mind when you hear the word “Sweet “.

Priya A: Sweet for me means – Ladoo, Jangiri, Gulab jamun, Kesari, Adyar Ananda Bhavan….

I love sweets more than anything in this world…

Priya S: What’s your family’s most favorite recipe which you cook? Pls share with the link if you had posted in blog.

Priya A: Chicken & mutton biryani, pepper chicken, tiramisu ,Kesari and many more.

http://priyas-virundhu.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/quick-pressure-cooker-chicken-biryani.html

http://priyas-virundhu.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/tiramisu-eggless-and-alcohol-free.html

http://priyas-virundhu.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/pepper-chicken.html

http://priyas-virundhu.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/ravasooji-kesari.html

Priya S: Please share some kitchen tips or secrets of yours…

Priya A: To bake potatoes quickly, place them in salt water for 15 min before baking.

Don’t store potatoes and onions together. Potatoes will rot quickly if stored with onions.

Wrap fruits and vegetables in newspaper before refrigerating to keep them fresh for long.

Before cleaning the banana flower (vaazhaipoo) apply generous amount of oil so your fingers won’t turn black. Similarly, when chopping Yam apply oil in your hand so that it won’t get itchy.

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

Priya A: The very first thing I like about your blog is the cute little cake that appears in the header. Your blog is very simple, nice and very well organized.

Most of all I love the way you try different combinations in your recipes, which is mind blowing. I love your chicken recipes a lot like the mint chicken curry, fried chicken and avocado dip etc.

You are great inspiration to new bloggers like me. Happy blogging and keep doing the great job.

Now coming to the guest post recipe….

I made Prawn 65, easy and simple starter or a side dish….

Prawn 65

I am so happy to share my first guest post with Priya’s Menu and I am very thank ful for that…

Here’s how to make prawn 65….

Ingredients

Prawns	500 gm
Corn flour	1 tbsp
All purpose flour	1 tbsp
Chilli powder	1 tsp
Turmeric powder	¾ tsp
Pepper powder	½ tsp
Ginger & garlic paste	1 tsp
Garam masala	½ tsp
Lemon juice	2 tsp
Yogurt/curd	1 tsp
Egg	1 beaten
Salt	As needed
Oil	For frying
Food color (optional)	One pinch

For garnishing

Curry leaves	10 – 15
Green chillies	2 finely chopped

Method:

• De-shell and de-vein the prawns. Wash them really good.

• Now add about ½ tsp of turmeric powder, some water and wash it thoroughly. This step is very important to get rid of the smell. Drain all the water completely.

• Now add all the ingredients mentioned above except the oil to the prawns and mix them well. Keep it in the refrigerator for about 2 – 3 hours.

• Heat the oil in the kadai, deep fry the prawns in medium flame and transfer it to a plate and keep it aside.

• In the same kadai, add 1 tbsp of oil (the same oil in which the prawns were fried) sauté the curry leaves and green chillies until they are crispy. 

• Garnish it over the fried prawns and serve them hot.

Very simple and delicious, Isn’t it??? Just give it a try and also give me your feedback.

Thank you so much Priya for spending your valuable time and its my pleasure to have your chat in my blog along with your lipsmacking recipe.

Happy weekend Friends… Stay tuned to meet another interesting blogger next week J

Salami Stuffed Cheesy Mirchi

Mirchi Bajji – a very famous street food which makes me very nostalgic! Only very few recipes bring back our lovely moments and makes us smile all alone. And these fried ones are in my nostalgic list! This is my most favorite one so I make sure that I do not miss them whenever we go to the beach.  Sitting in the beach sand facing a lovely sunset n waves with our favorite people around holding a plate full of Hot bajji’s with watery chutney which runs around the plate…. just chatting n munching… Really those are Lovely days with no tension…no fear about future. And those days will never come back and am sure that everyone had some nostalgic moments like me….especially beach bajji’sJ

I got a chance to taste the most yummy mirchi bajji’s with the perfect delicious chutney some months back in Kerala. It’s THE BEST in my terminology and that’s the best mirchi bajji that I ever tasted in my life… The chutney which they serve has lots of finely chopped garlic and ginger with the tangy spicy flavor. Mainly the chutney is thick and very very spicy. Imagine hot mirchi bajji with spicy chutney!!!! Tempting right…uff I have already started drooling… he he ;)

Missing all those spicy nostalgic moments!!!

And coming to my today’s recipe…. I tried this recipe couple of months back for a completion conducted by lekhafoods.com. I was shortlisted but was unlucky to get into the final list to win a Samsung phone. 

Stuffing cheese and olives in mirchi completely turned it to an Italian style… Fusion MirchiJ . And the taste was truly divine which made my hubby who is not fond of mirchi to gulp 3 stuffed mirchis ! Happy J

Served these fried ones with sweet chilli sauce to balance the taste.

Here is my style of fusion Bajji….

Serves – 4 people

Preparation Time – 15 Minutes

Cooking Time – 15 Minutes

Ingredients:

·        6 Mirchi ( Long mirchi which is used for preparing bajji 
·        Oil for frying

For Stuffing:

·        1 Cup Goat cheese, grated
·        10 Salami Slices, grated
·        ½ Tbsp Chilli flakes
·        6 Black Olives, chopped

For Outer batter:

·        2 Cups Besan Flour
·        1 Tsp Paprika
·        Salt to taste
·        ¼ Tsp Baking Soda

For Garnishing:

·        Onion Rings, sliced
·        5 Olives, sliced

Method:

·        Boil water in a bowl and add all the mirchi.

·        After adding, switch of the flame and let it cook on that heat for a minute.

·        Remove from the water and slightly slit them in the center to stuff.

·        Remove all the seeds inside mirchi and keep aside.

·        Take a bowl and add the grated salami followed by grated goat cheese, olives and chilli flakes.

·        Mix well and keep aside.

·        Now add besan flour in a separate bowl followed by paprika, salt and baking soda.

·        Add little water and mix well to avoid any lumps.

·        The batter should not be too thick or too thin. Add water little by little to get the correct consistency.

·        Heat oil in a pan and once it reaches the smoking point, reduce the flame to medium.

·        Now fill the mirchi’s with the salami cheese mixture and dip it in the batter.

·        Stuffed mirchi should be coated well with the batter to avoid breaking while frying.

·        Drop them slowly in a hot oil and deep fry till the color changes.

·        Once done, remove from the flame and drain the excess oil using kitchen towel.

·        Repeat the process for the remaining mirchis.

·        Garnish with the onions rings and olives.

·        Serve hot.

Serving Options :

·        Serve hot with Sweet chilli sauce or Tomato sauce.

  

Channa Masala - Try My Recipes

Channa Masala is a special dish which you will find in majority of hotels serving with poori and chapathi.

Personally I love the flavor of north Indian’s channa masala which has lots of aromatic flavor and equally tastes delicious. I got a lovely opportunity to try this masala from Meenu’s blog and the most speciality in this curry is it has no onions and tomatoes…. I was all amazed and confused while reading her recipe but trust me… the taste was awesome.  My new neighbor friend who was standing beside me while cooking was also surprised by the recipe procedure. And this is the first dish I shared with my neighbor and they really loved it... Thanks meenu dear :)

 I served this with breads so mashed little at the final stage and it tasted like pav bajji :)

Click HERE to get the original recipe and am sending this to her TRY MY RECIPES event.

Wanna try her recipes and participate in her event!!!!  Just click HERE...you will be redirected to her announcement page :)

Ingredients:

• 1 Cup Chickpeas
• 2 Potatoes
• 2 Green chillies, sliced
• 1 Tea Bag
• ½ Tbsp Ginger Garlic paste (Actual recipe calls for sliced Ginger)
• 1 Tbsp Gram Flour
• 1 Tsp Chilli powder
• ½ Tsp Turmeric powder
• 1 Tsp Cumin powder
• 1 Tsp Coriander powder
• Small piece of Tamarind
• A pinch of hing
• 2 Tbsp Oil
• Handful of Coriander leaves
• Salt to taste

Method:

• Soak the Chickpeas in water for overnight.
• Chop the potatoes and pressure cook it with the soaked  chickpeas along with the tea bag for 4-5 whistles.
• Remove the tea bag and retain the cooked chickpeas, potatoes and water.
• Soak the tamarind with little water before starting the cooking process.
• Heat oil in a pan and add the hing followed by the gram flour.
• Stir till color of the flour changes to light brown.
• Now add the chopped green chillies, ginger garlic paste, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, cumin powder and coriander powder.
• Extract the juice from the soaked tamarind and add it to the masala.
• Add the cooked chickpeas and potatoes along with the water.
• Add salt and cook the gravy for 15 minutes.
• Garnish with the chopped coriander leaves and serve hot.

Serving Options:

Serve hot with Roti, Poori, Rice and Bread.        

   

Linking this with Meenu's TRY MY RECIPES

Friday Chat With Bloggers - Lucky Winner Announcement

Let me start with a big “Thank you “to everyone for making this event successful till now with all your love, support and lovely comments...   I started this Event on January of this year and Divya Pramil from youtoocancook helped me in finalizing the event logo and banner. Big hug and thanks to u dear :)

After finalizing everything I requested viji from Virunthu unna vanga to start my event as my first guest and immediately she accepted and gave us a yummy sweet.

Later got lots of lovely response from blogger friends through mail... The entire recipe which was sent by our friends was awesome and delicious. The interesting part is to know more about their likes, favorites and their first experience in cooking. I really enjoyed all the chats and especially the tips that everyone shared with us was really very useful.

So far successfully completed 11 weeks and as I promised am going to select one lucky winner from the 10 Bloggers. Last week Friday blogger Sangeetha Nambi will be included in the next 10 bloggers.

Let’s see our first ten bloggers……

1 . Viji from Virunthu unna vaanga

Recipe Link – http://priyasmenu.blogspot.in/2013/01/friday-chat-with-bloggers-viji-from.html

2. Sharanya Palaniswami from Saras Tasty buds

Recipe Link – http://priyasmenu.blogspot.in/2013/01/friday-chat-with-bloggers-sharanya-from.html

3.  Preeti from

Recipe Link- http://priyasmenu.blogspot.in/2013/01/friday-chat-with-bloggers-preeti-from.html

4. Maha / Usha from Mahas Lovely home

Recipe Link – http://priyasmenu.blogspot.in/2013/02/friday-chat-with-bloggers-maha-from.html

5. Jillu Anand from Jiya’s delicacy

Recipe Link – http://priyasmenu.blogspot.in/2013/02/friday-chat-with-bloggers-jillu-anand.html

6. Sangeetha from

Recipe Link- http://priyasmenu.blogspot.in/2013/02/friday-chat-with-bloggers-sangeetha.html

7. Nabanitha from

Recipe Link – http://priyasmenu.blogspot.in/2013/02/friday-chat-with-bloggers-nabanitha.html

8. Kirthi from

Recipe Link – http://priyasmenu.blogspot.in/2013/03/friday-chat-with-bloggers-kirthi.html

9. Poorni from

Recipe Link – http://priyasmenu.blogspot.in/2013/03/friday-chat-with-bloggers-poorni-from.html

10. Archana from

Recipe Link – http://priyasmenu.blogspot.in/2013/04/friday-chat-with-bloggers-archana-from.html

So are you excited to know the gift???

Here it is…..

Hope you all like this :)

And the winner should have an Indian address; if not please send your relatives / Friends address who resides in India… so that it will be easy for me to courier. And the winner, please send your contact details in couple of days.

No more delay to know the lucky winner….

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

               VIJI from VIRUNTHU UNNA VAANGA

Congrats Viji :) Please mail me your contact details in couple of days…

Thank you so much everyone for accepting my request and participating in my event…  :)

Meet you all same day..next week with an another interesting blogger :)

If you are interested in my Friday Chat With Bloggers Event…Please do mail me at priyasmenu@gmail.com

Instant Bread Upma - Try My Recipes Event

Tried this delicious n quick bread upma from Meena’s blog.  I used to prepare bread upma but this is very different than mine.  Adding water and making it as a thick consistency was very new to me and I really enjoyed the taste. Definitely this is a MUST TRY recipe according to me and am planning to try again. Very simple and easy recipe to prepare in a short time. I loved it with onion raita and the taste was amazing along with it. 

Thank you so much Meenu ji for sharing this yummy yummy upmaJ

And this recipe goes to her TRY MY RECIPES event.

Are you interested to know more about this event… Just click HERE !!

Ingredients :

• 4 Bread Slices
• 1 Onion , Finely chopped
• 1 Tomato, Finely chopped
• Handful of Curry leaves
• 1 Green chilli, chopped
• 1 Tbsp Oil
• ½ Tsp Mustard seeds
• ¼ Tsp Turmeric powder
• ¼ Tsp Coriander powder
• ¼ Tsp Chilli powder
• Salt to taste
• Few coriander leaves and curry leaves for garnishing

Method :

• Heat oil in a pan and add the mustard seeds followed by curry leaves and green chilli.

• Add chopped onion and sauté for couple of minutes or till the color changes little pink.

• Now add chopped tomatoes and fry them together.

• Add salt, turmeric powder, coriander powder and chilli powder.

• Saute and add one cup water.

• Mix well and cook until the tomatoes turns soft and mushy.

• Mean while, cut the bread slices and add it to the cooking mixture.

• Mix well so that the bread pieces absorbs all the remaining water and stir till the thick consistency is obtained.

• Turn off the flame and garnish with curry leaves and Coriander leaves.

• Serve Hot.

Serving Options:

Serve with Onion Raita

Linking this with Meena’s Try my recipes event