Curry In Kadai ~ An Indian Cooking Blog: January 2011

Gobi Fry ~ Cauliflower Pepper Stir Fry ~ Kosu Puvvu Vepudu

5 COMMENTS Posted by KALVA at 2:47:00 PM

Whenever i feel lazy to cook up some dry curries along with rice and curry, my Cauliflower Stir Fry comes to my rescue. Its so simple yet very delicious and loaded with nutrients and the best part uses very little oil! Go ahead and try this curry when ever you are not in mood for deep fried veggies like potato, dondakaya, okra, aratikaya. I am sure you will not be disappointed!

I have been again contacted by CSN stores to review a product from their site and i am very excited about it. I know with the busy kids at home we would love to shop only online. I am an online geek and usually shop online, and CSN stores has recently become my favorite place to shop. CSN can even price match with any other online retailer( I love it ). They have everything from Kitchen Esentials to Electronics to Backyard Swing Sets. I would love to have one of their swing sets for my Baby soon..

Ingredients you need:

1 medium cauliflower
pepper to taste
salt to taste
oil as needed

Preparation:
Separate cauliflower into florets, rinse in warm water with salt and microwave for 2 mins
In a kadai or saute pan heat oil and then add cauliflower florets
Fry cauliflower until golden brown, and add ground black pepper and salt to taste.

Variations:

Instead of black pepper you can add any one of these following:

Garam Masala + Red chilli powder
Coriander Powder + Cumin powder + Red chilli powder
Red chilli powder

Chocolate Covered Strawberries from Our first Strawberry Picking ~ Perfect For Valentines Day Indulgence!!

14 COMMENTS Posted by KALVA at 6:39:00 AM

Hope this new year brings you loads of Happiness and Prosperity . We wish you all a very fabulous NEW YEAR ahead and Happy Valentines Day!!

I am so blessed to have a Strawberry patch open minutes from home. I have been waiting for Strawberry Picking for years and it finally happened and that too so close from my home.. just cant believe it. I know i sound so funny when i say that, yep i was that desperate. Not anymore, anytime i need some strawberries i just take my daughter along with me and then "Pick our own Strawberries".

I just cant explain how good i felt when i plucked the first strawberry fresh from the vine. Oh my baby, she just cant wait until the strawberries are cleaned. Also, we had hard time picking the right ripe ones as a lot of them were hiding. Oh my goodness, the strawberries were super sweet, juicy and succulent. And most of them ended as my daughter's dinner and brunch.

Anyhow i managed to save some and made these delicious chocolate covered strawberries for the very first time and to my surprise they turned out to be pretty cute and easy.

Ingredients:

32 ounces Semi sweet chocolate chips / Milk chocolate chips
4 - 5 tbsp Butter / Shortening
2 pounds fresh ripe firm Strawberries ( with stems if possible )
White Chocolate( Optional )
Crushed Almonds( Optional )
Chopped Chocolate( Optional )
Toothpicks( Optional )
Parchment Paper( Optional )
Styrofoam( Optional )

Preparation:

Wash the strawberries and dry them on paper towels and let them dry for 1- 2 hours. Make sure there's no water left on the strawberries, as we want the chocolate to sit nice on the strawberries.
Prick a toothpick on top of the strawberries and keep aside
You can let the chocolate either in a double boiler method / in microwave. Personally i felt melting in the double boiler to be easy.
For melting on the stove: Place a sauce pan filled 1/2 with water and heat under medium heat, let a glass mixing bowl sit on the sauce pan, add butter and once butter is melted, add chocolate chips and keep stirring continuously until melted and smooth.
For melting in microwave: Place the chocolate chips in microwave safe bowl, and heat them in an interval of 30 seconds, and keep stirring until all melted and smooth.
Dip the strawberries in chocolate and place them on parchment paper.

Note:

For perfect chocolate dipped strawberries, insert the dipped strawberries on styrofoam to let them dry

For fancier strawberries, dip the chocolate covered strawberries in chopped walnuts/almonds, sprinkles, chopped chocolate.

You can even drizzle some melted white chocolate over dried strawberries for that gourmet touch. I am going to do this for my next batch.

My delicious Strawberries are on their way to:

My Chocolate Covered Strawberries are on their way to 'Food Palette series - Brown'

P.S. Everyone has unique taste palette, so please adjust the ingredients according to your taste.

Ravva Kesari ~ Semolina Sweet ~ Happy Bhogi, Sankranthi and Kanuma!

4 COMMENTS Posted by KALVA at 11:53:00 PM

Wish you all a very happy Bhogi, Pongal, Sankranthi and Kanuma. On Bhogi we do Bhogi pallu ( blessing the kids with some flowers and fruits ). We used to have so much fun doing it. We did for our baby too, and she couldn't stop eating Borugulu( rice puffs ) from the Bhogi Pallu which she is not actually supposed to eat though.. Read more here on my last year post on Sankranthi. Most common sweets and savories on Pongal are Ariselu, Kesari, Bobbatlu, Poornalu, Gulab Jamun( from scratch ), Carrot Halwa, Vada, Pulihora etc., Ammamma used to make a lot these during pongal and we kids had so much fun relishing them!! Love you grandma!

Bhogi Kundalu ( Pongal Pots ) Rangoli with Rice Flour( Biyyam Pindi )

Bhogi Pallu For Blessing Kids On Bhogi

Here is the most popular and easiest of all sweets, Ravva Kesari. Semolina / Ravva / Sooji sweet made with raisins and nuts. A super simple sweet ready in minutes!!

Ingredients:

1 cup Semolina / Sooji / Bombay Ravva
2 cups water
1/2 stick butter or 1/4 cup butter or ghee
<3/4>
cardamom
raisins
cashewnuts
Saffron or food color

How To:

In a thick kadai, add ghee/ butter along with cashew nuts, once the cashews are browned add raisins and fry for few seconds, add sooji and keep stirring until it turns golden brown.
In the meanwhile boil the water in a separate vessel
Once the ravva/sooji is fried enough reduce the heat and add water stirring continuously just like you do for upma. Mix well and cover with lid and cook it under very low heat
Now measure sugar and add it to the mixture and keep stirring
Once the sugar is melted, remove from the stove and keep aside.
If you want you can either add some saffron soaked in milk or a pinch of food color in boiling water.
Tada, Ravva kesari is ready to be relished in minutes.

This ravva kesari does get crumbled once its stored in the refrigerator , don't worry heat it up in microwave in 30 second intervals and you are good to go!

Here are some popular sweets and savouries that are specially cooked on Pongal/Sankranthi or any Festivals in India.