Happy Pongal everyone!! Hope you guys are busy preparing yummy goodies for the festival. First thing that comes to my mind when i think about Sankranthi are the Rangolis( muggulu ). Just after finishing our Half Early exams at school we get 10 holidays and those days were a great fun start in the new year. The very last day of our exams, we pack our luggage and head to grandma's house. I remember the house would be swamped with people( pinni, babai, atha, mama etc., ) uncles, aunts and cousins. During those ten days we make rangolis( muggulu ) everyday, dress pretty and eat good homemade festive food. Grandma used to make a lot of yummy sweets and savouries, like Ariselu( Sweet rice cakes ), Bobbatlu( Sweet lentil Breads ), KajjiKayalu( Fried Sweet with jaggery and lentils ), Paalakayalu( Crispy spicy small rounds ), Pappu Billalu( Crispy rice fritters ), Vada( crispy lentil fritters ), and of course Pongal along with special curries and rice dishes.

Here's a very well known protein packed festive savoury, Dal Vada with Spinach and Cilantro( Lentil Fritters With Spinach and Cilantro) Palakura Kothimeera Minapa Garelu.


You need:

• 1 cup Urad Dal( Minappappu /Black Gram )
• 1 cup tightly packed chopped spinach
• 1 inch ginger root
• Green chillies
• Cilantro
• Cumin seeds
• Oil for frying

• Soak Urad dal for about 4 hours in water
• Once soaked grind the batter to a paste( need not be very smooth, and do not add too much water, just add enough to grind )
• Heat oil for deep frying.
• To the urad dal batter( lentil batter ) add cumin seeds, chopped ginger, chopped spinach, chopped onions, cilantro and salt to taste.
• Drop into oil with a spoon or to make traditional vada( vadai ), use your palms this way. Take a small amount of batter in a ball shape, flatten lightly with fingers and drop it very gently into oil from the edges of the pan.
• My ammamma makes them in a very perfect shape and she dips her hands into water before making each vadai, and this needs of course some experience. Don't panic if you cant get vadas perfectly, its hard for me too to get them in perfect shape and size.
• Fry these vadas on both sides and drain on to paper napkins to remove any excess oil.

• MLLA - 19th Helping event hosted by EC
• CFK - Cooking For Kids hosted by Sara
  
• Food For Seven Stages Of Life 

Kanaka Durgamma( Goddess Durga ) in Vijayawada,
Courtesy, Kanaka durga tenple

• Jaggery/Bellam/Gur
• Whole wheat flour / Atta / Goduma pindi
• Ghee / Neyyi (Nei)/ Clarified butter for frying
• Whole Cardamom or Elaichi
• Water

• Grate gur/bellam or just shave using a knife and then add it to say a glass of water.
• Gur should completely dissolve into water, to speed up the process you can even boil the mixture until the gur is completely dissolved
• Heat ghee in kadai under medium flame
• Once dissolved add crushed cardamom/elaichi and then mix in atta/whole wheat flour. The batter should be thicker than pancake batter.
• Once the ghee is heated enough, with a spoon drop in the batter, and once they are golden brown remove from the pan, and dry them on paper towels.

My whole wheat butter and jageery fritters / appams are on its way to:

• Dussehra, Dhanteras and Deepavali by Shanti
• Festive treat event
• Cooking For Kids event started by Sharmi
• CFK:Wheat hosted by Sireesha

The other day i was introduced to Persimmon fruit by Indira in her post Pecan Persimmon Cake and fallen in love instantly. To quench the Jihva to try it, i rushed to Fresh Farmers Market and bought some. Yes, the fresh fruits were resting there and i couldnt stop myself staring and taking them home. The bright orange color was so appetizing to the eyes and my journey cooking the persimmon started there.


I wanted to do something with Persimmon, and Indiras recipe came to my rescue, and i made this persimmon and dates cake tweaking her recipe a bit. I added Dates and Walnuts instead of Pecans, and everything else i blindly followed her recipe.


What you need:

• 1 cup Pancake mix ( i used whole wheat pancake flour which doesn't require eggs)
• 1 Small Persimmon fruit chopped
• 1/3 cup Walnuts
• 1/4 cup Dates
• 1/4 cup Maple
  
• ghee or butter 1/8 cup
• a pinch of baking powder

• In a mixing bowl whisk flour and baking powder
• Add melted ghee(butter), maple syrup and mix in about 1/2 cup water
• Toss the chopped up fruit, walnuts and dates
• Grease cake pan and fill in the cake batter
• Cook in the preheated oven at 350F for about 15-20 mins until the toothpick comes out clean.

Here i am with my Sweet Luscious Mango, Nectarine and Strawberry Milk Shake.. Its all about summer with this healthy fresh fruits drink.. The strong flavor of Mango and Strawberry compliments well with the subtle flavors of Nectarine. This milkshake is definitely a refreshing and cool thirst quencher during these hot summers with added bonus of Minerals and Vitamins. You could make this irresistible milk shake a little ahead and wow your guests asking for more!!! An easy breezy delicious smoothie is just a Whip away!!! The farmers market was bursting with local grown fresh Mangoes, Nectarines and Strawberries, and i am sure i couldn't get any fresher than there.




Mangoes.., we miss Indian Mangoes so much after coming here,, my uncle( mama ) used to bring a whole basket( Mamidikaya Buttalu ) of tree ripened Banginapalli mangoes from Ulavapadu and my Moms sister( Pinni ) used to send us sweet and juicy Mangoes from Vijayawada( Rasalu )... Hmmm we miss all that luxury here.... Luckily one day i was able to find mangoes that were a little bit similar to those Banginapalli mangoes with very less pulp in the farmers market . We relished some fresh chopped mango after our dinner one day and the other day used the rest for this smoothie.. That was the only first and last time i could find those delicious mangoes , all others were either not sweet or with lots of pulp... Somehow i like Nectarines far better than Peach, so whenever i could find firm and fresh nectarines i couldn't stop myself grabbing some home. I found this Fresh Fruit Smoothie a wonderful way of having whole fruits with added calcium from Milk...


You need:

• 1/2 cup of fresh sweet ripened mango( less pulp ones ) cut into chunks( even Alphonso Mango pulp would taste really good )
• 3 fresh ripened strawberries quartered
• 1/2 peach chopped into cubes
• 2 cups milk( any milk would work but i use 2% reduced fat milk )
• Sugar to taste
• 4-5 ice cubes
  

• Blend mango cubes( or Mango pulp/juice ) , strawberries, Nectarine and sugar along with half of the milk for 10-15 seconds
• Now add the remaining milk and ice and blend it well until its frothy..
  

• MM - Mango Mania hosted by Meeta
• Sweet Series - Cool Desserts hosted by Mythreyee
• Eating with the Seasons hosted by Maninas
• WYV - Juices & Ice Creams hosted by Easy Crafts
• WBB - Summer Feast hosted by Sia
• Summer Splash hosted by Aartee

No more excuses for skipping breakfast!!!. Here's how to whip up a fresh, natural and healthy nutritious smoothie perfect fit for a beautiful sunny day in less than 15 minutes.. My Strawberry and Kiwi luscious smoothie is sweetened with honey and fresh home made yogurt. The regular smoothies at the stores are brimmed with ice cream, which i would like to replace in the early mornings with some good old plain yogurt. I have made Strawberry smoothie for my husband, and for myself a Kiwi-Strawberry smoothie.

Simple Strawberry and Yogurt Smoothie...

Chopped fresh juicy strawberries and ripe kiwis

• 1 cup fresh plain low fat yogurt(store bought low fat Dannon or homemade curd)
• Milk ( optional, add if the yogurt or curd is too sour )
• 5 fresh ripened Strawberries
• 1 ripened kiwi ( you can core it if you want )
• Honey according to your taste
• Ice
  

Getting ready be churned

• Clean and chop strawberries
• Peel Kiwi fruit and you can remove the core if you don't like any seeds
• In a blender( I use Braun Hand Blender, so easy to whip up any smoothie in no time ), add strawberries and Kiwi.
• Once pureed, add ice, honey and yogurt and blend it until frothy.
• And the toppings could be endless from fresh fruit to cereals like granola, raisin bran or your favorite cereal , now that's a complete nutritious breakfast!!!
  

Healthy Strawberry and Kiwi Honey Yogurt Smoothie

• Fresh Produce Of The Month : Strawberries hosted by Marta -- Yep these are fresh from my favorite "Marias Market" a local Farmers Market.
  
• Healthy Cooking hosted by Mansi -- Mansi i skipped ice cream and used honey instead of sugar...
• Express Breakfasts hosted by Raaga -- Yep done in 15 min or less
• Summer Splash hosted by Arthee -- This strawberry and kiwi honey smoothie is indeed a refreshing drink in these hot summers
  
• WYF - Juices and Ice cream event hosted by EC of Simple Indian Food
  

Parathas hot and fresh from the griddle are always sumptuous and mouth watering. My husband is the first person to be so much content and satisfied when i serve parathas( particularly his favorite aloo parathas ) with some regular plain old home made yogurt, he wouldn't ask for any more, and that makes my job... even easier !

Ingredients:
1/2 bunch of mint leaves ( Pudina )
1/4 cup kasuri methi ( Dried fenugreek leaves )
2 cups whole wheat flour ( Goduma Pindi / Atta )
1/2 cup yogurt / fresh homemade curds ( Perugu )
1/4 cup coriander ( Kothimeera )
1 clove of garlic ( Thella gadda )
1 inch ginger ( Allam )
1 tbsp white sesame seeds ( Nuvvulu )
2-4 green chillies ( Pachi mirapakayalu )
1 tsp sugar ( Chakkara )
a pinch of turmeric ( Pasupu )
2 tbsp oil ( Noone )

For potato filling:
1 large red potato ( Bangala dumpa )
2 tsp chilli powder ( Mirapa podi )
1 tsp cumin seeds ( Jeela karra )
1 tsp coriander powder ( Dhaniyala podi )
1/2 juice of 1 lime / small lemon ( Nimma kaya )
salt to taste ( Uppu )

How to:
Puree green chillies, ginger, garlic, mint leaves, cilantro, salt to a fine paste.
In a mixing bowl combine yogurt, sesame seeds, the above spice paste, kasuri methi , sugar and salt
Mix in the wheat flour with the yogurt mixture only.., if its too try you can add some water Knead it into a soft dough and coat it with oil and keep it aside covered for one hour
Microwave potatoes peel and mash them, add chiili powder, salt, dhaniya powder and lime juice. Mix together and keep aside.

Plain Mint and Kasuri Methi Parathas hot from the griddle

Preparing the plain Mint and Methi Parathas:
Roll out the dough as regular rotis and cook them over the griddle / tawa both sides with either a butter stick, ghee or oil.
These have a long shelf life and i usually wrap them in a foil, store in a freezer and heat on both the sides when needed.

Preparing the Mint and Methi Aloo Parathas:
Divide both dough and potato stuffing into equal portions, stuffing should be smaller in size than the dough balls. ( follow the above picture )
Roll out the dough into palm size, place the potato filling, bring the edges together and wrap the dough over the potato stuffing
Now roll out the potato filled dough like a regular roti upto required thickness


Heat these parathas on both sides over the griddle along with some oil , butter stick or ghee..
Unlike the Mint parathas these doesnt have long shelf life because of the potato filling..
I had the plain methi and mint parathas and my husband had the potato stufffed parathas.. For freezing instructions of parathas click here.

Mint and Febugreek paraths stuffed with spiced potato filling

Note:
You can add some water to mix the dough if the yogurt isnt enough to bind together
Please adjust the green chillies according to your taste
Make sure you bring the yogurt to room temperature before mixing the dough
Always rest the dough covered for atleast half an hour to one hour
Once the parathas are cooked cover them with a lid, this way they stay moist longer
Try to dust less flour while rolling out the paratha

These delicious Aloo Mint and Methi Parathas are on its way to

• Roti Mela hosted by Srivalli
• Monthly Mingle event hosted by Mansi of Fun Food
• Herb Mania hosted by Dee of Ammalus Kitchen
  

Tags: Rotis, Breads, Whole Wheat Stuffed Bread, Potatoes, Herbs, Mint, Cilantro, Kasuri Methi, Yogurt

This is an appeal on behalf of a group of food bloggers who are friends of Briana Brownlow @ Figs With Bri. Bri was diagnosed with breast cancer two and half years ago. A mastectomy, chemotherapy and two years of relatively good health later, the cancer is back. It has metastasized to other parts of her body. At the age of 15, Bri lost her 41-year old mother to the disease. Now, she’s waging her own war against breast cancer. More about it here.
She is going through intensive chemo and other treatments and needs to focus single-mindedly on healing and finding what treatment works best for her. Her health insurance, unfortunately, does not cover holistic alternatives which she would like to try. Bri and her husband Marc have enough on their plates right now in addition to worrying about her medical bills.
The team organising the JUNE edition of CLICK at Jugalbandi has organised a fundraiser to help Bri and her family meet her out-of-pocket medical costs for ONE YEAR. CLICK is a monthly theme-based photography contest hosted by Jugalbandi. This month’s theme is: YELLOW for Bri .. Yellow is the colour of hope. Through the work of the LiveStrong Foundation, it has also come to signify the fight against cancer. The entries can be viewed HERE. The deadline for entries is June 30, 2008. The fundraiser will extend until July 15, 2008.
The target amount is 12,000 U.S. dollars. We appeal to our fellow bloggers and readers to help us achieve this. Bri deserves a chance to explore all options, even if her insurance company thinks otherwise. There’s a raffle with exciting prizes on offer. After viewing the list, you may make your donation HERE or at the Chip-In button on any participating site. Your donation can be made securely through credit card or Pay Pal and goes directly to Bri’s account. This month’s photo contest also has some prizes. Details HERE. You can support this campaign by donating to the fundraiser, by participating in CLICK: the photo event, and by publicising this campaign.

My Sour and spicy Buttermilk and Rice Flour soup is on its way to CLICK

• 3-4 cups sour light buttermilk / Churned thin yogurt
• 1 cup sifted rice flour
• 4-6 green chillies cut lengthwise( please adjust the spice )
• 6 - 10 curry leaves chopped coriander( cilantro/kothimeera )
• 2 tsp urad dal
• 2 tsp chana dal
• 1 tsp mustard seeds( aavalu )
• 1 tsp cumin seeds ( jeera )
• a pinch of turmeric
• 2 tbsp oil salt to taste
  

• Sift the rice flour and churn the buttermilk well( it shouldn't be thick ), and mix in rice flour with buttermilk and make sure no lumps are formed.
• Add salt to the mixture and set aside
• In a kadai or thick bottomed saucepan, do the tadka with oil, mustard seeds, cumin, urad dal and chana dal, once they start to dance around, add curry leaves, green chillies and turmeric
• Stop the flame and add the rice flour butter milk mixture stirring slowly .
• Now put on the flame and bring this mixture to boil stirring continuously, when it gets together check for if its done remove from flame
• Adjust salt to your taste and add chopped coriander.
  

Guys, i added less buttermilk( approx 2 - 2.5 cups ) for a thicker soup, should have added 3 - 3.5 cups. Please do adjust the quantity of buttermilk since i have churned homemade yogurt into buttermilk!!

My favorite way of preparing this dish is making sambar just with this vegetable with toor dal, tamarind and green chillies, which tastes as simple as it sounds. Another simple authentic andhra dish is to make poriyal or stir fry with tadka or talimpu and adding lots of coconut at the end.. This way of cooking chayote squash makes the dish so mild you can just finish the whole bowl without any rice. And another classic recipe is Seemavankaya Noonevankaya Kura( Chayote squash with tamarind and spices ) which is a simple curry cooked with the guthi vankaya( stuffed eggplant / brinjal ) masala and tastes spicy and tangy.

• 1 tsp cumin seeds( jeelakarra)
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
  
• 1 tsp urad dal( optional)
• 1 -2 tbsp oil pinch of turmeric
• 5-6 curry leaves ( optional - i didn't have them on hand )

How to prepare seema vankaya kura:

• FYI you can follow the above pictures for step by step procedure
• Peel the squash and chop into 1 inch pieces( you can use the seed i.e pappu too )
• Wash them and keep aside
• Chop each tomato into four pieces and slice green chillies length wise( or chop them )
• In a kadai, heat oil and add the seasonings,once they start to splutter add curry leaves, green chillies and chopped chayote squash
• Stir in some salt and cook it cooked under medium flame
• Keep stirring and at about 5 min check if the squash is cooked yet firm and holding it shape( not mushy ). At this point add tomatoes and cook under high flame for 2-3 mins( tomatoes should not be cooked completely )
• Stir in coriander powder and fry for 1 more min.
• Add chopped cilantro and adjust salt to taste
• Tada your simple spicy chayote squash curry is ready to relish.

Tags: Seema vankaya kura, Bengaluru vankaya tomato kura, Seema vankaya talimpu

Simplicity at its best, peas and raisins did wonders to this rice pilaf! This simple peas and raisins rice dish largely depends on petite peas, raisins, cinnamon, ginger and garlic to deliver that big flavor! This rice pilaf is a perfect display for simple yet flavorful Indian Cooking. Raisins and Cashewnuts paired nicely with this spiced rice pilaf, which added to the surprise sweet bites balancing the spices.




I made this for the first time when i had a pot luck at my work place, i remember last year i made our regular vegetable biriyani with the store bought biriyani masala and i swear everyone where literally asking ' How do you people eat this spciy food everyday?', and you know what i really didnt add any green chillies and added very less masala than usual. But this time my peas and rice pilaf dish is a winner at my work, 99% of them being non indians, i wanted to keep it low on spicyness, yet wanted them to learn that Indian cooking is not just spicy, its packed with flavor from the spices like cumin, coriander, cinnamon, clove, cardamom , ginger, garlic, cilantro, mint etc,,

• 1 cup basmati rice ( i use royal basamati rice from costco or sams, tastes better than tilda basmati rice)
• 1 cup green peas( petite peas are the best for this pulao ) -- There is no need to thaw the frozen peas, as they have enough time to cook along with the rice
• 1 large onion
• 4 tbsp ginger garlic paste
• 4-5 green chillies( optional )
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 4-5 cloves
• 2 cardamom pods
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/4 - 1/3 cup golden raisins( golden raisins taste better in this pulao )
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup cashew nuts
• 4-5 tbsp oil
• 1 tbsp butter
  

• Soak the rice for 30 min( optional for better results ) and drain in a colander
• In kadai or pan addbutter or ghee and fry the rice until the rice turns into opaque, keep it aside.
• Heat both butter and oil in the same pan and add cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and bay leaf.
• Once they start to release the aroma add ginger garlic paste, fry the paste until the raw smell disappears.
• Add chopped onions and green chillies along with salt
• Once the onions turn into golden hue add the peas and cook for 5 min
• Add the fried raw rice and let the peas masala coat the rice thoroughly

• Cooking with rice cooker:Butter the rice cooker pan or use ghee for it, for doing this In an electric cooker add 1 1/2 cups of water and the peas and rice mixture, it will be done in less than 15 min. Keep it under warm for 5 min and then switch off.Mix the rice pilaf( sometimes it might get burnt at the botttom, just discard )

• Cooking on the stove top: Add 2 cups of water and the fried raw rice to the peas masala bring it to boil and reduce the flame and let the water evaporate, close with teh lid and cook under very low heat for 3-5 more min and check for doneness. Once done, gently fluff the rice and mix bring everything together.
• In a seperate pan add butter cashewnuts and raisins, once the raisins are plump and cashewnuts(kaju) changed to golden brown remove from heat and add to the cooked pilaf.
  
• Add mint and cilantro at the end.

This rice and peas dish is a refreshing change from regular mixed vegetable biryani. I made very
mild channa masala (Spiced chick peas curry ) and raitha( yogurt with onions, cucumber, tomatoes
and cilantro ) to serve along with the peas rice for my coworkers.


This peas and rice pilaf spiced with cinnamon and sweetened with raisins is on its way to Think Spice - Think Cinammon event hosted by Sunitha. Also this will be my entry for AFAM - Dry Fruits hosted by Latha Namrasimham.

Note: Add more green chillies if you can handle the heat, otherwise this dish is perfect with any vegetable curries on the side.

Tags: Pachi batani pulao, Peas, Raisins, Rice pulao, SweeT and spicy pulao