The A to Z of Soups and Salads

The Monthly Blog Patrol did quite well this hot summer month. I received 26 entries. That's why I decided to call this the A to Z. I added my own and it became 27, but I didn't email my entry to myself, so it doesn't count! In keeping with the A to Z, the entries in alphabetical order. (This round up also starts with an A to Z salad and ends with A to Z soup. Read on to find out how!)

Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen sent me the A to Z Pasta Salad from Susan's Fat Free Vegan Kitchen.

Arul of FoodNTaste dished out this lovely Carrot - Tomato Soup from Vineela's Cooking.

Arundathi of My Food Blog made this really pretty and refreshing Watermelon Gazpacho. She hunted and hunted and found a recipe at Married With Dinner.

Asha sent me this entire meal of Kanji with Cherupayar Mezhukkupuratti very early on this month. Her inspiration was this dish from Shn's Kitchen Mishmash.

Bhags of Crazy Curry sent me Sorisha's version of Tomato Shorba.

When Richa posted this soup, I was fairly certain someone would make it. Cham of Spice Club proved me right with this Carrot Orange Soup.

My dear friend Chitra who is another HUGE inspiration for recipes on my blog made this Penne And Fusilli Salad from my Macaroni Salad. She doesn't have a blog yet, but this is the picture she took of the salad.

Dee of Ammalu's Kitchen made a Spicy Bean Salad and Cucumber Soup from Ashwini's Bean Salad and Cucumber Soup recipes.

Divya Vikram of Dil Se was inspired by this creamy soup from Pearls of East. Her Asparagus Soup looks very hearty to me.

Easy Crafts of Simple Indian Food made this very Indian salad, my favourite Carrot Kosumbari, from Suma's Veggie Platter.

JZ of Tasty Treats made this lovely Hot 'n' Sour Soup from a recipe at Mansi's FunnFud. (It started raining in Gurgaon just now and I would love to have a bowl of this soup.)

Meera of Enjoy Indian Food made this Kosambari from Archy's recipe. Perfect with a simple Indian meal.

Namratha of Finger Licking Food made this wholesome Minestrone Soup from Sia's Monsoon Spice.

Nandita of Saffron Trail went on a junk food trail and then made this Green Bean and Tomato Salad from Smitten Kitchen to aid her rehab efforts.

Rajitha of Hunger Pangs sent in one of my favourite soups, Mushroom Soup, from a blog whose recipes fill my bookmarks: Cookery Corner.

Ranjani of Wake Up And Smell The Masala made this Greek Salad from Janet's recipe.

Revathi, my friend from school, sent in this Pineapple Rasam which has me confused. She has linked it to my recipe but says she made it from the recipe of another friend. (Since I am hosting this event, I have to allow this, haven't I? I mean, the guy who owns the cricket bat doesn't ever get out, does he?)

Shubha of Chuki Bhar Pyar made this very pretty Roasted Tomato and Red Pepper Soup from this recipe at Vegetarian Medley.

Sig of Live to Eat made this Salad Lyonnaise from Elise's blog which called for poached eggs. Sig cheated a wee bit (with the event's support and permission) and made her Fried Egg version.

Siri of Siri's made this (and forgot to send it to me). I remembered just now that someone had an MBP entry in their Recipe Marathon entries and tracked this down. Cucumber Kosambari from Asha's Foodie's Hope.

Srimathi of Few Minute Wonders revisits the old favourite, Tomato Soup, after inspiration from Mythreyee's recipe.

Sujatha of Spicy Khazana makes this 13 Bean Soup from the "first couple" in the Food Blogosphere, Jugalbandi.

Swetha of Our Cherished World made this light and flavourful Onion & Coriander Soup from Shilpa's blog.

TBC a.k.a. The Budding Cook sends in her "bursting with colour" Pinto Bean Salad adapted from Kalyn's Kitchen.

Trupti of Recipe Center sent me this Healthy Mix Vegetable Soup which she made from Mansi's recipe.

Vandy of Vandy's Culinary Adventures was inspired by the Recipe Factory to make this Moth beans /Matki Salad.

Last on this list is my entry, Tomato Red Pepper Saar, a tasty, flavourful, almost Konkani Saar with a twist. I'd been eyeing this recipe at Nupur's blog ever since she posted the round up titled T is for Tomato Red Pepper Saar as part of her A-Z of Indian Vegetables.

If I have missed out any entries, please do drop me a line. I am sorry I have been unable to visit your blogs and leave comments on your entry posts. I have to thank each of you for sending across your entries. This round up will be referred to very often by me in the coming months. Thanks Coffee, for giving me this opportunity to host one of my favourite events. Over now to dear Sia of Monsoon Spice for her edition of MBP: Street Foods.

Raspberry Raisin Ring

In my endeavour to participate in this month’s AFAM, I entertained many thoughts in my head. The simplest was to make a Raspberry trifle as the first time I’d ever tasted Raspberry was in the custard-jelly combination. I checked my pantry and I had all flavours of custard and jelly… except Raspberry. Then I thought of using raspberry jam, but then I’d have to go buy a bottle of jam for this (and these raspberry jams cost a bomb!! And we don’t even eat jam much.). All this while, I forgot that S had brought me a bag of 7-fruit blend which had dried raspberries. I realized only when I made this cake and put it in the oven. Anyway, I did find something raspberry in my pantry and I’m totally amazed at how well it blended with this cake. Nandita had sent me an assortment of flavoured teas and one of them was Raspberry, Cranberry and Elderflower. That’s the raspberry that went into this cake. This was an experiment from start to finish and while the cake didn’t turn out the way I thought it would (the batter was runnier than I expected). But on the whole, it was a yummy cake and we took some of it a dinner party that evening because I knew kids would be around (and most kids I know love jam!). The rest of the cake we took to our offices where it was gone in no time.

1/2 cup Yogurt
6 tbsp Oil
2 eggs, beaten
1 tbsp Jam
1 cup Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
Pinch of salt
7 tbsp Sugar
1 Raspberry Tea Bag
2 tbsp Raisins

Whisk the yogurt with the eggs, sugar and oil. Sift together the flours, baking soda and salt.


Place the tea bag in 1/4 cup of hot water with the raisins and leave it for 2-3 minutes. Remove the tea bag and take out the raisins. Blend the tea decoction with the jam and heat it in the microwave for 1 minute.


Mix the wet and dry ingredients and the raisins and pour into a greased ring cake tin. Pour the jam into the batter and bake at 375F for 35-40 minutes.


Given the runny batter that I had, the jam and the raisins reached the bottom of the cake tin and formed a “frosting” of sorts. This was a very moist, but dense, cake. I am sending this over to Dee on the last day of this month’s AFAM: Raspberry.

Spaghetti in Bechamel Sauce

I love pasta in any form and shape and can eat it any number of times. I have some folks at work who believe that eating pasta is a sign that you are snooty and, hence, look down on rotis and rice. I am sick and tired of explaining to people that I like variety. I am even sicker of explaining to folks that I grew up eating the stuff. Somehow, people are totally unable to believe that my mother made these part of our every day meals. Long before pizza sauces and bases made their appearance in supermarkets, she dished out pizzas from scratch as Monday night dinners. And I don’t count pizza and pasta in my list of junk food. These are full meals and can be as nutritious as you want them to be.

I’ve had some spaghetti lying in the cupboard for months now and somehow never got around to making it. I love spaghetti with tomato sauce and S loves his spaghetti carbonara. In fact, he’d try and order it at every Italian restaurant. I had a lot of milk in the fridge waiting to be used up and dished this out a couple of weeks ago. I loved this dish especially for the colours. (I really wanted to add corn for the yellow, but S didn’t want corn in his spaghetti!)

150g Spaghetti
1 tsp Olive Oil
1/2 cup, Broccoli, steamed
1/4 cup Mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup, Red Capsicum, sliced
1 tbsp Butter/Olive Oil
1 tbsp Flour
1 cup Milk
1/2 tsp Parsley
1/2 tsp Basil
1 tsp Chilli flakes
1/2 tsp Garlic Paste
Salt and Pepper to Taste
1 slice Low Fat Cheese (optional)

Heat the butter in a saucepan. Add the capsicum and fry for a minute. Add the garlic paste, parsley, basil and chilli flakes and fry for another minute. Add the flour and fry without browning the flour. Add the mushrooms and fry for about 30 seconds. (Do not fry the mushrooms for too long as the water in them gets released.) Add the milk and bring the mixture to a boil while stirring continuously. If adding cheese, add it at this point and stir the sauce well. As the sauce thickens, add the salt and pepper. Add the broccoli and cook for a minute.

Boil 2 litres of water with a little salt and 1 tsp oil. Add the spaghetti to the boiling water and cook for 10 minutes.

Serve some spaghetti on a plate. Pour the sauce over it. Dig in.

Peerkangai Thuvayal

I found a bag of Ridge Gourd while I was shopping for groceries at the upscale GK I market. (Don't ask why I do my grocery shopping there!) I have not seen it in Delhi/Gurgaon before. I have only seen the smoother version (tori) in markets here. It is not as though I love Ridge Gourd, but when I see vegetables I don't usually, I am tempted to buy them. I made the Ridge Gourd version of Lauki Moong Dal and had some left over. I tried this thuvayal sometime back. I was so thrilled with the outcome that I know I'll make this more often.

4 medium Ridge Gourds, roughly peeled and chopped

4 Red Chillies

1 tsp Mustard

3 tsp Urad Dal

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

3 tsp Oil

1 tbsp Tamarind Paste

Salt to taste

Place the ridge gourd pieces in a microwave safe bowl. Add 2 tbsp of water and cook on high for 2 minutes. Squeeze out the water when cool.

Heat the oil and fry the red chillies, mustard, asafoetida and urad dal for a couple of minutes. Grind the chillies along with the tamarind paste and salt. Add the ridge gourd pieces and grind again. Finally, add the fried mustard and urad dal and grind lightly.

Serve this with rice and a little ghee and some papads or vadams on the side.

Potato Mushroom Cakes

I am more an "offline" person than an "online" person. I can't read e-books for the life in me. I don't think I can snuggle in bed with a laptop. A book is so much easier. That would probably explain why, despite the existence of so many food blogs, I continue to buy cookbooks with amazing regularity. There are old favourites and then there are new discoveries. While I continue to add to my collection, I fear that some of my books will wear out sooner than the others. One such book is "Favorite Vegetarian Dishes". It was a gift from my boss in the US. It is so full of recipes that call out to me. I have made several dishes after adapting the recipes to my taste from this book. Some of them are Grilled Garlic Potato Wedges, Garlic And Sage Bread, Pumpkin Soup, Middle Eastern Salad and Punjabi Kadhi Pakoda.

I made this on a winter weekend afternoon and they were gone in no time at all. I had originally intended to send this to the Potato events that were doing the rounds, but this just sat languishing in my drafts. Sia said we could post recipes throughout the year as an Ode to Potato, so I am doing just that.

2 cups Potatoes, boiled and mashed

2 tbsp Butter

2 cups Mixed Mushrooms (I used Button, Shitake and Oyster)

1 Egg, beaten

2 cloves Garlic, chopped

1 tbsp Mixed Fresh Herbs

¼ cup Bread Crumbs

2 tbsp Flour

Salt and Pepper to taste

Oil for frying

Melt the butter in a pan and add the mushrooms and garlic. Cook for about 4-5 minutes, stirring constantly. Drain any excess liquid. Stir this mixture into the potatoes and add the beaten egg and herbs. Shape the mixture into small balls and flatten each.

Meanwhile, mix the flour with a little water to make a batter. Place the bread crumbs on a plate. Heat the oil for frying. Coat each cake with the flour batter and then roll in the bread crumbs until evenly covered. Slide each cake into the hot oil and fry on each side until slightly dark brown. Drain on absorbent paper. Serve with tomato ketchup. Alternatively, you could shallow fry these cakes in a skillet. In that case, you could omit the bread crumbs and roll the cakes in plain flour (not flour batter).

These are like the western cousins of AlooTikkis and make for a great snack. I'm sending these to Mansi over at Fun and Food for Meeta's Monthly Mingle, the theme of which is Appetizers & Hors'Doeuvres.

Spinach in Coconut Milk Gravy

Necessity is the mother of invention, they say. That is how this dish was born. I started to make Palak Paneer, but I didn't have the patience to allow the spinach to cool and then puree it. Since it was necessary to make something, I made this gravy while the spinach was getting steamed and I just threw it right in. I didn't expect the dish to taste as good as it did because I didn't put in any effort at all (and it was my own invention!). But the end result was simply great. I think this will go very well with steaming hot rice as well.

Ingredients:

2 cups Spinach, steamed and chopped

200 ml Coconut Milk

1 Onion

1-2 Green

pods of Garlic

1” piece of Ginger

1 tsp Oil

1 tsp Cumin Seeds

¼ tsp Asafoetida

Salt to taste

Grind the onion, green chillies, ginger and garlic together to a paste.

Heat oil, add the cumin seeds and the asafoetida. When the cumin seeds crackle, add the onion paste and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the coconut milk and salt and bring to a boil. Add the spinach and cook for a couple of minutes. Serve hot with rotis.

I know I'll make this every once in a while when spinach is in season. Since we've almost stopped taking rice in our lunch boxes and have left pasta for weeknight dinners, rotis with a side dish seem to be a permanent fixture on our weekday lunch menu. And I don't like spending too much time in the kitchen. So these recipes come to my rescue very often.

Ullipaya Pachadi (Onion Chutney)

I have never been a “meals” person. S is an out and out meals person. Usually when we go out, he ends up ordering a “Thali” and I order a la carte. Some south Indian restaurants here serve a “South Indian” thali, but the rice they use in Basmati. I have never been able to come to terms with that. Somehow, I cannot associate my sambar saadam and tayir saadam with basmati rice. So, of late, I have started making full meals on weekends. Every Saturday or Sunday, I cook up a storm. (I know this meal is normal everyday food for most of you, but I am Ms. Lazy!) There’s rice, sambar, rasam, a vegetable, a salad, and curds. Pickles and papads are almost always there at home. But, you see, this is my perception of a meal. Coming from Andhra Pradesh, a meal for S always includes a podi or a chutney.


In order to try and incorporate more Telugu food in my everyday cooking, I ordered “Cooking at Home with Pedatha” a few months ago. I have not learnt much from my mother-in-law. I tried, but didn’t succeed. (I won’t get into details here.) I wanted a good English book with simple everyday Andhra recipes and found this. I have made a few things from this book and am quite happy. S is happier than I. That matters more than anything else.


I made this Onion Chutney from the book, but adapted it to suit my taste. (Being married to a Telugu does nothing to my tongue or system!) I also made a few additions.

3 Onions, chopped
1 tsp Ginger Paste
2 tbsp Tamarind Paste
1 tbsp Urad Dal
2 tsp Mustard Seeds
¼ tsp Fenugreek Seeds
3-4 Red Chillies
2 Green Chillies, slit
½ cup Coriander Leaves
7-8 Curry Leaves
1 tsp Asafoetida
1 tsp Oil
Salt to Taste


For the tempering:
1 tsp Oil
¼ tsp Urad Dal
¼ tsp Mustard Seeds


Heat the oil in a pan. Add the urad dal. When it starts to brown, add the mustard and the fenugreek seeds. When the mustard splutters, add the red chillies and fry for a minute. Stir in the green chillies, coriander leaves, and asafoetida. Add the onions and ginger paste and fry for a few minutes. Grind to a coarse paste along with the tamarind paste and salt.

For the tempering, heat the oil in a frying ladle. Add the urad dal and mustard seeds. When the mustard splutters, pour the mixture on to the pachadi.

We had this as a first course in our “saapadu” by mixing this with rice and some ghee. Perfect food for licking your fingers!

Tomato Red Pepper Saar

Soups and I have had a long lasting affair. So, it is really no wonder that I picked Soups and Salads as a theme for this month's MBP. Given that summer was upon us, I thought I'd pick a cold soup or a salad as spending even a few minutes over a pot of soup didn't seem very exciting. It was something I could have done without. But then the weather changed. All of a sudden, it was a pleasure to slave in front of the stove. The storm that we've been having for this past week has given us a wonderful respite from the heat. And so, all I wanted was to get my hands around a bowl of soup and feel warm. Since S was out most of the week before last and I was out on a camping trip later, we were out of vegetables. I had just what it took to dish out Nupur's Tomato Red Pepper Saar. I know for a fact that this will be made often. The addition of onions and red pepper to my ordinary Tomato Saar took it to a different level.

I modified Nupur's recipe a wee bit and we had it with some Pulao and Egg Curry.

4 Tomatoes, chopped

1 Onion, diced

1 Red Pepper, diced

1 tsp Oil

3 pods Garlic, chopped

2 Green Chillies, sliced

100 ml Coconut Milk (about 2/3 cup)

1 tbsp Jaggery

Salt to Taste

Heat the oil and fry the onion, garlic, chillies and red pepper. After 3-4 minutes, add the tomatoes along with 1/2 a cup of water. Cook until soft. (Alternatively, you could do this in a pressure pan and pressure cook for 1 whistle.) When cool, blend in a liquidizer and strain. Add the coconut milk, jaggery and salt and bring to a boil.

I skipped the seasoning that evening, but will make it as a traditional saar the next time. Thanks Nupur for a simple and fantastic recipe.

Today is the last day for this month's MBP: Soups and Salads. If you haven't already sent in your entries, now is the time to do so.

Methi Mutter Malai

Everyone who has been following this blog with any regularity would know by now that I have a weakness for colourful things. I like my dishes to look like they were inspired by a rainbow. And if I can’t manage them in one dish, then I try to get my plate to look multi-coloured by making dishes in contrasting colours. This craze extends beyond food. (No, I don’t dress like a rainbow everyday.) I just love shopping for vegetables in winter when every fruit and vegetable shop in sight is bursting with colour. I think I end up buying more fruits and vegetables just because they appeal to me visually.



I bought a lot of greens last winter and tried to use them in a variety of ways. I spent many weekends cleaning mounds of fenugreek and spinach. One day, I cleaned two bunches of fenugreek and then attacked the bag of peas. I was wondering how to pair the two and I remembered the Methi Mutter Malai that I’d eaten in Hyderabad. I decided to make it the very next day. The other dish that I regularly ordered there was methi Chaman Hariyali. I hope to find the recipe for that someday.


This dish turned out to be very good and I can’t wait for the leafy greens to come back into season.


2 cups Fenugreek Leaves, washed and chopped
½ tsp Cumin Seeds
½ cup Green Peas, cooked/boiled
½ cup Milk
2 tbsp Cream
¼ tsp Sugar (optional)
1 tbsp Oil
Salt to taste


To be ground to a paste:


1 Onion
2 Green Chillies
½” piece Ginger
2 cloves Garlic
2 tbsp Cashews
1 tsp Poppy Seeds



Heat the oil in a pan and add the cumin seeds. When they crackle, add the fenugreek leaves and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the paste and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the milk, cream, sugar, salt and green peas. Cook for 3-4 minutes. Serve with rotis.

No one's taking any rest on the 7th day and the Recipe Marathon is going strong:

Lakshmi: Mint Rice

Srivalli: Lunch Box Series

Arundathi: wontons

Dhivya: Beet Hummus

Ranji: Papdi Pizza

Siri: Egg Puffs

Swati: Dimsums

Divya Vikram: Reva Kesari

Vegetable Focaccia

My father-in-law gifted me a book called "Everyday Light Meals". I have no idea why he picked out a book that has less than 10% devoted to meatless meals. It has 4 main sections: Poultry Meals, Beef Meals, Pork Meals and Seafood Meals. The section on Meatless Meals is almost an afterthought. But it is a gift and while I may never have picked such a book up for myself, it is not like I am going to return it. I might as well make good use of what I can.

I leaf through the Meatless Meals section quite often and one night I decided to make this Vegetable Focaccia. We wanted pizza but didn't have any cheese at home. This seemed like a great way to have pizza with no cheese. I modified the recipe as I didn't have all the ingredients on hand that night.

1 cup Flour

1 cup Wheat Flour

1 tbsp Fresh Yeast

1 tsp Salt

1 cup Water, warm

1 tbsp Olive Oil

For the topping:

3 Tomatoes, chopped

1/4 cup Mushrooms, sliced

1/4 cup Capsicum, chopped

1/4 cup Olives, sliced

1/4 cup Onion, chopped

3 tbsp Olive Oil

2 tsp Red Wine Vinegar

3/4 tsp Salt

1 tsp Garlic Paste

1/4 tsp Oregano

2 tsp Cornmeal

1/4 tsp Pepper

For the dough:

Take a huge mixing bowl and place the oil and salt in it. Add the water and mix well. Add the yeast and mix well. Add the flours and knead into a dough. Place the dough in a greased vessel and cover it with a damp muslin cloth. Set aside for 15-20 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine all the ingredients for the topping and keep aside.

To Proceed:

Grease a pizza plate. Spread the dough over the plate and prick all over with a fork. Bake at 475F for 5 minutes (or until browned). Top with the vegetable mixture and bake for another 10 minutes.

We had this with some red wine and were very satisfied with our "guilt free" pizza dinner. This vegetable focaccia is also off to Anupama's Sandwich festival.

Running strong on Day 6 is the Recipe Marathon. The recipes for today are:

Arundathi: Raspberry and Blueberry
Srivalli: Onion chapathis Lakshmi: Kashayam
Divya: Cauliflower-Peas Poriyal
Ranji: Simple Jhovan
Swati: Mint Coriander Chutney
Bhags: Baked Chapathi
Dhivs: Vegetable Chips
Siri: Tomato Coconut Chutney

Pizza Style Sandwich

Thank God I overcame my fear of yeast last year. I have been baking bread, pizza and rolls regularly since then. Each time I make a yeast bread, I wonder why I hadn't started earlier. Pizzas have become weeknight regulars at our place. The weather ensures that my dough rises to the occasion. I baked a pizza a couple of weeks ago and had some sauce leftover. (Lightning does not strike liars, does it?) No, I didn't have sauce leftover. I kept aside some sauce so I could make sandwiches for breakfast later on.

4 slices Brown Bread

1 tbsp Butter(optional)

2 slices Low Fat Cheese

For the sauce:

1 Onion, sliced

2 medium Tomatoes, chopped finely

1 Capsicum, sliced (I used small portions of green, red and yellow capsicum)

2 tsp Chilli Flakes

1/8 cup Sweet Corn

1/8 cup Paneer, cubed

3 pods Garlic, finely chopped

1 tbsp Tomato Ketchup

1 tsp Sugar

1 tsp Oregano

1 tsp Fresh Parsley, finely chopped

1 tsp Fresh Basil, finely chopped

1/2 tsp Pepper

1/2 tsp Olive Oil

Salt to Taste

For the sauce:

In a pan, heat the oil and add the garlic and onions. Fry for a minute or two. Add the capsicum, paneer, and corn and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the parsley, basil, oregano, chilli flakes, salt, sugar and pepper and fry for another minute. Add the tomatoes and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the ketchup and cook the mixture for a couple of minutes.

To proceed:

Place a slice of cheese on a slice of bread. Place 2-3 tbsp of the sauce over it. Cover this with another bread slice. Repeat with the other 2 bread slices as well. If using butter, apply some butter to both sides of the sandwich (outer sides) and grill in a sandwich maker.

This is great at breakfast time as long as you are able to eat pizza in the morning. (My brother and I can eat pizza at any meal and as many times.) Else, you can have it as a snack or a light meal.

This is off to Anupama's Sandwich festival.

This is Day 5 of the Recipe Marathon and my fellow bloggers have posted:

Siri: Hash Brown Melts
Lakshmi: Mango Fool

Arundathi: Bell Peppery curry

Srivalli: Andhra Mutton Pepper Fry

Dhivs: Fried Herb Mozarella

Swati: Aloo n Gobhi

Divya: Carrot rice

Ranji: Banana Chips

Bhags: triangularly yours

Vegetable Dosa

I have been advised by many people to keep dosa batter ready at all times. I try to do this every once in a while, but I'm not sure I'm anywhere close to having it in there all the time. And I don't ferment my dosa batter because I love the taste of dosas made out of freshly ground batter. (I am told I am breaking a cardinal rule here, but then that's just me!)

Sometimes the batter lying in the fridge does get sour. And by day 4 or 5, it is ready for uttapam style dosas. I add vegetables to the batter to make this a meal by itself (OK, almost!)

1 cup Dosa batter

1 Carrot, grated

1/4 cup Beans, finely chopped

1 Onion, finely chopped

1 tsp Ginger Paste

1 tsp Chilli Paste

2 tbsp Coriander Leaves, chopped

Salt to taste

Steam the beans and carrots or cook in a microwave for 2 mins with a little water. Add this mixture to the dosa batter. Add the onions, chilli paste, ginger paste, coriander leaves and a little salt. Mix well.

Heat a griddle (tawa) and smear a little oil on it. Simmer the flame and pour a ladleful of the batter in the centre of the tawa and spread it a little to form a circle. Add a little oil on the sides and centre, usually not more than 1 small spoonful per dosa. After a couple of minutes, carefully turn the dosa over and allow the other side to cook a little. Serve hot with some chutney or molagapodi.

I'd made this for Srivalli's Dosa Mela, but couldn't post it then thanks to some constraints. Since it has been in my drafts forever, I decided now might be a good time to share this easy recipe with all of you.

Day 4 of the Recipe Marathon saw the following posts:

Srivalli: Kasara Kaya Vepudu

Lakshmi: How to set Curd.

Dhivs: aromatic bread

Arundathi: two lovely dipping sauces
Swati: Neelam ji ki Teekhi aur Meethi Methi wali Kaddu ki Sabzi

Divya: Moong Dal Sundal

Ranji: Methi Dosa

Bhags: comfort food with 'seven' veggies

Siri: Moroccan Spaghetti

Raw Jackfruit Curry

I have always liked raw jackfruit a lot more than the ripe one. So when someone goes gaga over ripe jackfruit, as they did at the JFI last May, I cannot relate to that feeling at all. I also prefer breadfruit to jackfruit. Both were not easily available when I was growing up. Yet, I managed to rank them in my order of preferences. It was not like there was ever a situation when I had to pick one over the other. No, I’ve never been asked, “Would you like this or that?” Outside of the fritters, that always manage to make me go weak in my knees, I have not attempted making anything with jackfruit or breadfruit. I have eaten sukke, an amchi dish, but that’s it. I remember having eaten other dishes, but I am unable to recall them. Chips made out of raw jackfruit, I eat regularly. My colleague recently brought back a big bag from Kerala and we devoured them.

I have this lady in my team: D. She HATES cooking and on days when her cook doesn’t turn up, she’s really one big mess. But I find her lunch the best on days when her cook doesn’t turn up. That’s because D is a wonderful cook. I always tell her, “If this is how you cook when you HATE cooking, I wonder how you’d cook if you actually loved it.” She brought this dish in her lunch box a couple of times last month and I was tempted to try. Since raw jackfruit is sold precut, she finds it easy to prepare. I took the ease to a different level altogether by making it in a pressure cooker. I also added asafoetida to the preparation because I didn’t want to fly back to Gurgaon after work on my own. I’m not too sure of my landing skills yet.


250g Raw Jackfruit pieces
2 Onions, sliced
1 Tomato, chopped
¼ tsp Ginger Paste
¼ tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tsp Chilli Powder
1 tsp Coriander Powder
1 tsp Garam Masala
1 tbsp Oil
¼ tsp Asafoetida
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
Salt to taste



Heat oil in a pressure pan and add the cumin seeds. When they crackle, add the asafoetida and the onions and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander powder and ginger paste. Fry the entire mixture for 2-3 minutes. Add the raw jackfruit pieces and the salt and fry for another 2-3 minutes. Add a little water and pressure cook for 1 whistle. When done, add the garam masala and cook for a minute before serving.



This pairs very well with rotis and I know I’m going to make this very often. One more of the tasty and quick recipes, so hard to resist. And with this post, I have reached a mini milestone on this blog. This is my 250th post.

On Day 3 of the Recipe Marathon, these recipes have been put up:

Srivalli: Majjiga Mirapakaya/Dahi Mirchi

Ranji: A Blueberry Muffin

Lakshmi: Onion Kulchas

Dhivya: Spicy Rotis

Arundathi: Grape Jam

Swati: stuffed bell pepper with makhani gravy

Divya: Sour Cream Corn Cranberry Muffins

Bhags: Vegetable stock

Siri: Middle Eastern Appetizer

Chickpeas Sundal

Memories of sundal usually involve Navaratri or the beach. Earlier I never made festival food at any time outside of that festival, but now I make it whenever I wish. With a little planning, this requires almost no effort and is a great dish to make when you’re rushed. Makes for a great breakfast or lunch by itself, though it can also be served as a side dish.


1 cup Chick Peas, soaked overnight

1 tsp Oil
7-8 Curry Leaves

1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds

1/4 tsp Urad Dal

1/4 tsp Chana Dal

1 tsp Green Chilli Paste

1/4 tsp Ginger Paste

1 Red Chilli

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

1 tsp Dry Mango Powder (Amchur) or 2 tbsp Chopped Raw Mango

1 tbsp Coconut, scraped

Salt to taste

Pressure cook the soaked chickpeas with salt for 4-5 whistles. Drain when done.

In a kadhai, heat oil. Add the urad and chana dals, mustard seeds and asafoetida. When the mustard splutters, add the curry leaves, ginger and chilli pastes, and the red chilli. Fry for a minute. Add the cooked chickpeas, dry mango powder or raw mango bits, and a little salt. Cover and cook 4-5 minutes. Garnish with the scraped coconut and enjoy.


Arundati of Escapades, is hosting this month's Weekend Breakfast Blogging # 22, the theme of which is Mango Madness. WBB is the brainchild of Nandita of Saffron Trail and since I make sundal for breakfast, this is off to Arundati this month.

My friends in the recipe marathon have posted for Day 2:

Lakshmi: Coconut Dosa

Srivalli: Sambhar Powder

Dhivya: Peas Pulao

Swati:Bread Upma

Bhags: Coffee Cake

Arundathi: Pierogies

Divya Vikram: Vegetable Puffs

Siri: Kosambari

Masala Lauki Chana Dal

I have stopped counting the number of people who tell me they can’t stand Lauki/Ghia/Bottle Gourd/Sorekkai. I really don’t know why. It is not even like bitter gourd that has such a distinct bitter taste. I’ve always found that Bottle Gourd has almost no distinct taste of its own and, as a result, blends in beautifully with just about anything. I experimented with this last week and was so pleased with the results. I am going to be making this more often this summer. It is quick, it is tasty, it is healthy. Do you need any more reasons to try this recipe?

One of the reasons I was able to make this in a jiffy was the inclusion of Aashirwad Multipurpose Cooking Paste. I discovered it many years ago in Hyderabad and rediscovered it a couple of months ago. According to ITC, “The Multi-Purpose Cooking paste is the latest offering from the ‘Aashirvaad’ brand. The ‘Aashirvaad’ Multi-Purpose cooking paste is positioned as a kitchen aide. The product, ‘Bhuna hua taiyaar masala’, is a fried paste of onions, tomatoes, ginger and garlic shallow fried in refined sunflower oil. It is a basic paste used for most north Indian dishes. It is suitable for all tomato-based dishes.” At just Rs. 10 per packet, it is a big hit in my kitchen.

2 cups Bottle Gourd, peeled and cubed
1 Packet (100g) Aashirwad Multipurpose Cooking Paste
¼ cup Chana Dal, washed
1 tsp Chilli Powder
¼ tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tsp Pav Bhaji Masala
1 tsp Oil
¼ tsp Cumin Seeds
Salt to taste


Heat the oil in a pressure pan and add the cumin seeds. When they crackle, add the cooking paste and fry for a minute. Add the chilli powder, turmeric powder and pav bhaji masala and fry for another minute. Add the bottle gourd pieces, chana dal, salt and a little water. Pressure cook for 2-3 whistles.

That’s all it takes to get a mouthwatering side dish ready. It feels like zero effort, but tastes quite the opposite. Try it and let me know if you like it. If there are any bottle gourd haters out there, let me know if this doesn't change your opinion of the vegetable and I shall do some more R&D.

This recipe is part of a recipe marathon and my fellow runners have come up with these dishes for Day 1:

Bhags: Tomato Shorba.

Dhivs: Bhindi Jaipuri

Swati: Dum Ka Murg Zafrani

Divya Vikram: Peas Kurma

Srivalli: Chicken Semi Gravy.

Lakshmi: Sour Cream Cake

Arundathi: Kuwaiti Tea

Siri: Baked Cauliflower

Cucumber Kosumbari

Simple recipes are keepers. Much as I can bring myself to cook elaborate meals every once in a while (read once in a blue moon), I prefer keeping things simple. A few days ago, I decided to make a simple Iyengar meal of Ash Gourd Sambar, rice and Seppankizhangu Karumadhu. I wanted to make Vellarikkai Pachadi, but decided to make this instead. Simple and devoid of fuss.


Ingredients:
2 medium Cucumbers, grated or cubed

1/4 cup Moong Dal, washed

2 tbsp scraped Coconut

1 tsp Green Chilli-Ginger paste

Salt to Taste

Coriander leaves for garnish

For the tempering:

1 tsp Oil or Ghee

1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

7-8 Curry Leaves

Place the washed moong dal in a large bowl. Add the chilli-ginger paste, cucumber, salt, and scraped coconut and mix well. In a small kadhai, heat the oil or ghee, add the mustard seeds and asafoetida, and when the mustard splutters, add the curry leaves. Add this to the cucumber mixture.

While you read this, I’m away in the Himalayas again, but blogger will keep you updated even when I’m climbing a rock or kayaking in the waters. So, don’t forget to send in your entries for this month’s MBP. The theme is Soups and Salads.

Kairi Panha

This is a summer drink that I have come to love. I must admit that when Amma first made this, I thought she was crazy to go to class(canning and preservation class) and learn how to make weird drinks. I must have been all of 6 at the time. Like beer, I’d call this an acquired taste. This drink would, however, win hands down as a summer drink when compared to beer. After all, while both are summer drinks and both are acquired tastes, this is a delicious drink. (You can rest assured I’d almost never use that adjective with beer.)


I tried this sometime ago using the microwave and I was very happy with the result.

1 cup Raw Mango, peeled and diced
1 tbsp Roasted Cumin Powder
1 tsp Rock Salt, powdered
½ tsp Black Pepper Powder
2-4 tbsp Sugar

Place all the ingredients in a microwave safe bowl with a little water and microwave on high for 3 minutes. Allow to cool and then blend to a paste. Mix this with two glasses of chilled water and serve.

This is traditionally served as a breakfast drink in Rajasthan and goes by the name of Kairi ka Pani. So, this is off to Padmaja at Spicy Andhra as my fifth entry to the RCI Rajasthan - Flavours of the Desert event. Since this is a breakfast number featuring mangoes, I am sending this to Arundati of Escapades, who is hosting this month's Weekend Breakfast Blogging # 22, the theme of which is Mango Madness.

Chocolate Cake with Butterscotch Icing

I’m wishing you another year

Of laughter, joy and fun

Surprises, love and happiness,

And when your birthday’s done,
I hope you feel deep in your heart,

As your birthdays come and go,

How very much you mean to me,

More than you can know.

I came across this wonderful poem on a site called www.poemsource.com. This site is a wonderful resource for poems and these are wishes I am sending my brother’s way. Fifteen years ago, I baked a Black Forest Cake from scratch for his birthday and today I’ve arranged for a Black Forest cake to be delivered to him.

Fan and critic rolled into one, he’s the “guy” I always wanted to be. There was a phase in my life when I wanted to be just like him. I wanted to wear shorts (and use the washroom without having to sit down). I wanted my “curfew time” to be the same as his. Never mind that he was almost 5 years older. I always made it look like he’s being allowed whatever because he’s a boy and not because he was much older. (Something which irritated my parents no end.) Then came a phase when I wanted to be nothing like him. I was becoming my own person, with my own likes and dislikes. Though, in retrospect, I realize that even when I didn’t want to be like him, my likes and dislikes were governed by his. Just that, now, his likes became my dislikes. So, I really don’t know if I hate hard rock and lady’s finger that much any more.

When it comes to food, I’ve made him the guinea pig for loads of stuff that I cooked. He had, and continues to have, a keen eye for detail and a fantastic sense of good food. Some of our food related conversations that stand out are:


While making potato curry:

H: Now put the mustard.
Me: OK
H: Wait till it splutters.
Me: No, let’s put the potato.
H: No, Amma always waits till the mustard splutters.
Me: But that’s only to check if the oil’s hot. We know it’s hot.


All this when I was 6 and he 10 and my mother was working late.

Later, when I was 13 and he 17 or 18, my parents were away in Holland and I was cooking for the two of us.

H: I’m going A’s house.
Me: I’ll come along. Drop me at S’s place please.
H: No way. I’m going alone.
Me: OK, you eat bread till Amma gets back.

It was pure blackmail. I knew he’d succumb and he did. The way to any man’s heart is really through his stomach. So what if he’s your brother?

Today, he still relishes stuff that I make, but we haven’t really lived under the same roof for 16 years now so the occasions are few and far between. He’s also a lot more conscious about what he eats and so, in a way, I figure I can’t blackmail him with food anymore. He does return the favour by making me dosas when I visit. He makes better dosas than even Amma. When I took S home for the first time to meet my family, H very lovingly made dosas for his “Alludu” as well.

We don’t fight as much anymore. In fact, I’d say we don’t fight at all anymore. He does tease me the same way he used to when I was 3 and my reaction is almost, “Amma, to makka chidaytasa. (Amma, he’s teasing me.)” And then I have to stop myself and deal with it differently. The 4 ½ year gap seems a lot less in our thirties than it did in our twenties and teens. Despite everything we’ve gone through in life, and despite anything that will come our way, I know we’ll be there for each other.

Here’s a small chocolate cake to celebrate H’s birthday.

1 1/2 cups Flour
1/3 cup Cocoa Powder
4 tsp Baking Powder (Or 3 tsp Baking Powder and 1 tsp Baking Soda)
1 1/4 cups Sugar (Indian sugar is sweeter, so 1 cup will do)
a Pinch Salt
1/2 cup Oil
2 eggs
1 cup Milk
1 tsp Vanilla

Butter and flour for dusting

For the icing:

6 tablespoons butter, softened
1 1/2 cups Icing sugar
3 tbsp Butterscotch Syrup
1/3 cup Milk
1 teaspoon Vanilla

Sprinkles for decoration

Sift all the dry ingredients for the cake together into a food processor jar with the dough blade. Pour in all the liquid ingredients and run the processor for 2 minutes.

Prepare two 8 inch round cake tins by first smearing a little butter all over the tin and then dusting it with flour.

Divide the batter equally between the pans and bake for 30 minutes at 350 F. The cakes are done when a knife or skewer inserted into them comes out clean. Remove the cakes to a cake rack and cool completely.

Cut the tops of the cakes to make them even.


For the icing:Beat butter in a mixer jar. Add powdered sugar and butterscotch syrup alternately with milk; beat to spreading consistency (additional milk may be needed). Stir in the vanilla essence.

Place one cake and spread the icing over it. Place the second cake over this and cover with icing. (I found the icing a little too sweet even though I cut down the sugar content from the original recipe.) Decorate with the sprinkles.


This is one horrible attempt at frosting a cake! But it is still made with a lot of love and sent his way. H, here’s wishing you every happiness. You deserve it! Happy Birthday!

Mango Muffins (Rasayan inspired)

Indian sweets and I share a very vague relationship. You can’t even call it love-hate. There are a few sweets that I absolutely love (kaju kathli, gulab jamun, rasmalai, badam kheer, sheera, kulfi) and there are those that I really wouldn’t care to look at (rice kheer/pal payasam, falooda, jangiri, rajbhog...). There is one part of me that is, without doubt, Mangalorean. Much as I love my Paruppu Urundai and Milagu Kuzhambu, I love the sweet-sour-hot combination of Saraswat cooking.



I love mangoes and can eat them everyday for every meal (yes, regardless of the eruptions on every inch of my anatomy) and I have been doing just that. Instead of cooking for just one person when I have to, I sit down with a large bowl of cut mangoes and enjoy every piece.


Rasayan is a 5 minute dessert/sweet dish that I absolutely love and it is the dish that I sent to WBB – Summer Fruits last year. That was my first WBB entry. And this year’s entry to WBB is inspired by that very recipe. I saw blueberry cinnamon muffins in some book and thought, “Mangoes and cardamom make a good pair… why not I try?” So with a few substitutions here and there, I came up with my own version of Rasayan inspired Mango Muffins.


3/4 cup Coconut Milk
1/2 cup Vegetable oil
1 cup Mango, chopped into fine pieces
1 cup Flour
1 cup Whole Wheat Flour
½ to ¾ cup Jaggery
1 tbsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Cardamom Powder or Essence
1 Egg
1/4 tsp Salt



Grease 12-muffin pan or line with paper cases. Preheat oven to 400 F.

Place all the ingredients except the mango pieces in a food processor jar fitted with the dough blade. Run the food processor for 2 minutes until the ingredients form a batter.

Blend the mango pieces into the batter and pour spoonfuls of the batter into the muffin moulds. Bake for 20 minutes.

Muffins are a great breakfast on the go and going the whole wheat way is a healthy option too. Mangoes take them to a very different level. My namesake, Arundati of Escapades, is hosting this month's Weekend Breakfast Blogging # 22, the theme of which is Mango Madness. WBB is the brainchild of Nandita of Saffron Trail and I am happy to send these muffins to her.

Masala Tinda

I've gone on tirelessly about how I eat all vegetables and how I am not a fussy eater and all that. And I feel sorry for all of you for having believed me all this while. There is one vegetable that I actually "hate". No, it isn't bitter gourd. But it is a gourd nonetheless: the round gourd. This is more popularly known as Tinda. I ate this once some 9 years ago at someone's house in Bangalore. Everyone at the lunch table seemed so excited that Tinda was on the menu. I hadn't eaten Tinda before and I really did eat everything at the time. And so I did. I hated it. Good upbringing made me finish everything that was on my plate and I politely declined further helpings. A few months later, I moved to Gurgaon. Tinda featured in every menu during the summer that followed. Since I "had" to eat vegetables (I've always preferred eating vegetables and dal to rice), I would end up with Tinda on my plate. And when I moved back south, I was happy to get rid of this vegetable.

Now that I am back in Gurgaon, I have let one entire summer go by without as much as even looking at Tinda. But my colleagues kept telling me that it is really a tasty vegetable when made well. So, despite my hatred for this vegetable, I bought some and made this dish last week. It wasn't intended as an entry to any event, but merely as a means of trying out a new vegetable. But since I found this recipe in Rajasthani Cooking by Tarla Dalal and adapted it, this is off to Padmaja at Spicy Andhra as my fourth entry to the RCI Rajasthan - Flavours of the Desert event.

2 cups Tinda, sliced

1/4 tsp Asafoetida
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tsp Chilli Powder
1 tsp Coriander Powder
1 tsp Dry Mango Powder
2 tbsp Oil
Salt to Taste

Heat the oil and add the cumin seeds. When they crackle, add the asafoetida and the Tinda slices. Add the turmeric powder along with a little water. Cover and cook for a few minutes until the vegetable is cooked.

Add the spices and the salt and mix well. Cover and cook again for a few minutes.


Have my feelings towards this vegetable changed since? Not really. But I know it is tolerable now and with time and a few more experiments, I will be able to incorporate this otherwise sorry vegetable into my regular menu.

P.S. Tinda lovers: Please do not take offence. I am looking for ways to relish the vegetable. So, please help.

Aloo Ki Subji

My cookbooks form a big part of what I'd consider my most prized possessions. And I have talked earlier about the lady I think of as my foster mother. My interest in cooking was shaped almost as much by her as it was by my own mother. Today, her cookbooks are far easier to use and the recipes seem uncomplicated. I don't know if the books have changed or I have.

When a recipe appears to be simple, I am tempted to try it. I also like using a variety of ingredients in my cooking so that the taste seems different each time. While earlier, I'd cook a certain vegetable a certain way, now I am more than willing to check out new methods. Potatoes are not a regular feature in my kitchen. Incidentally, the day we happen to make potatoes is the day my mother in law will specifically ask S what we ate. As soon he tells her, I'll get a lecture on how we should cut down on potatoes. To her, it is almost as though we eat only potatoes everyday. Irony!

I made this dish a few weeks ago. It is adapted from Tarla Dalal's Rajasthani Cookbook. I sometimes wonder if I might actually buy a book on Saraswat Cooking if she authored it. There is a certain amount of faith I place in her recipes and that faith has been built over years. Again, I modified the recipe to suit my bland palate and I was not disappointed. The dish turned out to be so like the one in the picture that I couldn't resist clicking the two together.

4 Potatoes, boiled, peeled and cut into wedges

1 cup Curds, beaten

1 tsp Bengal Gram Flour

1/2 tsp Mustard Seeds

1 tsp Cumin Seeds

1 tsp Fennel Seeds

1/2 tsp Nigella Seeds

1 Bay Leaf

2 Cloves

2" Stick Cinnamon

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

1 tsp Cumin Powder

1 tsp Coriander Powder

1 tsp Chilli Powder

1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder

1 tbsp Oil

Salt to taste

Coriander Leaves for garnish

Whisk the curds with the gram flour, chilli powder, turmeric powder, cumin powder and coriander powder.

Heat the oil and add the mustard, cumin, fennel and nigella seeds along with the asafoetida. When the mustard seeds crackle, add the bay leaf, cloves and cinnamon and fry for a minute. Add the curd mixture and bring to a boil over a low flame. Add the potatoes and salt. Bring the entire mixture to a boil. Garnish with coriander leaves.

This wonderful recipe adapted from my "foster mother's" cookbook on Mother's day is off to Padmaja at Spicy Andhra as my third entry to the RCI Rajasthan - Flavours of the Desert event. Paddu, I hope there are no limits to the number of entries. Happy Mother's Day All.

Passion Cake, Page Ten and Cloud Nine

Of late, I have been having a lot of conversations with friends about food and cooking. I really love cooking, but more than that, I love good food. So much so, that I'm not even particular about eating it. I can read cookbooks to pass time. (We all read each other's blogs, don't we?) I think about meals (though I don't really plan ahead) and food combinations a great deal. I also wonder about food habits and how they come to be what they are. The other thing I wonder about is the "I'm a working girl and so I can't cook" syndrome. Now, I don't believe that cooking is a woman's job. But I also don't believe that a woman who goes to work cannot manage the kitchen. Maybe it was because of what I saw growing up. Amma had a full time job and yet she managed to cook breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday. Back then, "home delivery" and "take away" weren't exactly commonplace. And even if they were elsewhere in the city, the IIT campus allowed us no such luxury.

Life has fallen into a routine for most of us. And I am no exception. Cooking our meals is a part of that routine in my case. It irks me no end when I see young colleagues run into the office huffing and panting from barely 2 km away because they "had" to make lunch. I asked one such what the big deal was and she said, "I don't know how you manage to cook and reach in time. But I can't. I don't know why I am expected to. At my mother's place, education was given importance, not cooking." That usually does it. End of conversation. Because in a way, it is as though in my house, I was made to cook instead of study.

I think there are several issues here:

• The feeling that girls "have" to do the cooking
• The myth that education and cooking run as two parallel lines
• The bigger myth that a working girl cannot run a home
• The biggest myth that cooking is laborious, boring and time consuming

I hear things like, "Oh, we never cook in a pressure cooker. My mother is very particular about cooking things the right way." Excuse me! Who decides the right and wrong ways? I am also told, "You can get away with pasta and all that, my husband has to have rotis, rice, dal, vegetables and salad at every meal." I have not been able to understand how "I get away with pasta". But more importantly, even that entire meal is ready in less than 30 minutes in my kitchen. With some prior planning of course. I have been baking for 22 years and cooking for about 19 years now. Did it interfere with my education? Maybe it did. But it didn't stop me from being a gold medalist at University. Does it interfere now with my career? Maybe it does. But it hasn't stopped me from enjoying what I do for a living or giving it my very best. I have never thought of these as chores. On days when I really don't feel like cooking (and S is also knackered!!), we eat out. I don't fuss over our food or our mealtimes. I merely enjoy them. And there's every attempt to eat right. (Mangoes and icecream do make a meal, don't they?)

I baked a little cake today. I'm on cloud nine. Why, you ask? For a multitude of reasons. I got a raise and I got a bonus at work. But why would I talk about that here? This has to be about food, right? Yes, you're right. This is not only about food. This is about this very food blog. The Singing Chef was featured on Page 10 of this morning's Metro Plus, a supplement of The Hindu under

Food Bytes. I have not yet read the newspaper clipping, but my dear friend, Aarti, told me about it in the morning. Appa has kept aside a clipping and will show it to me when I meet him in May. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the internet edition. So, I made this fat free Passion Cake because I firmly believe that the proof of the passion is in the cake!

1 cup Carrots, grated

1 cut Zucchini, grated

3 Eggs, separated

2 tbsp Almonds, ground

1/2 cup Brown Sugar

1 cup Whole Wheat Flour

2 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Cinnamon Powder

Zest of 1 Orange

1 tbsp Icing Sugar (for dusting)

Preheat the oven to 180 C. Grease and line a square baking tin.

Sift the wheat flour along with the baking powder and cinnamon.

Beat the egg whites until stiff.

In a separate bowl, whisk the yolks along with the brown sugar, orange zest and almond powder. Fold in the flour mixture and the grated vegetables alternately. Fold in the egg whites carefully. Spoon the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 40-50 minutes. When done, sprinkle icing sugar through a sieve over the cake.

Cooking and baking aren't as tough as they're made out to be. I've said this before and I'll say it again. I'm about the laziest person you'll ever meet. So, if I'm saying these aren't tough, then you have no choice but to take my word for it. In the words of Peter Pan, "All you need is faith and trust... and a little bit of pixie dust!"

Cashew Vermicelli Kheer

I’ve talked earlier about my general dislike for payasam/kheer. Madgane, Badam Kheer and Rava Payasam are the few varieties I enjoy. But coconut milk kheers do not feature in Tamil festival menus (at least not in my house). So, if it isn’t badam kheer, then it has to be Semia (Vermicelli) Payasam. While I really like this payasam, S really loves it. I made it recently after a gap of some 18 months. The last time I made it was when we completed a month of marriage. We were not living together at the time as our jobs were in different cities and I happened to be in Gurgaon around then for some interviews.


I remember that day because it was terrible. I had specifically told the consultant that I wanted a job with normal working hours and that the worst case scenario would be one where I finish work by 9 p.m. The job I’d taken up in Bangalore required me to work at a different time each day of the week and since I had a personal compulsion to move to Bangalore, I accepted the job with every condition the company laid. I did not want to just accept any job that came my way in Gurgaon. I wanted a job with timings that would more or less coincide with S’s work timings. The two hour interview ended with a, “So, I am told you’re open to working till 1 a.m. twice or thrice a week.” I was seething inside. I spent my hard earned money to get on that flight and come to Gurgaon. I spent more money hiring a cab to ferry me to and from that interview. And I felt as though all of that was a total waste. I needed to do something to shake myself out of that lousy mood. So I made semia payasam. The only sweet dish I could make on a hot plate (we had no fridge, gas stove or microwave then). And the look of utter delight on S's face when he saw the payasam was enough to get me out of that lousy mood.

I will blog about the original recipe sometime later. The one all of us know and love. This payasam has a little twist in the tale. I did not add cashews and raisins fried in ghee to the dish. Instead, I added ground cashews to the dish.


1/4 cup Roasted Vermicelli

2 tbsp Cashews, ground

1/2 can Sweetened Condensed Milk (Milkmaid/Mithai Mate)

4-5 cups Milk (I used a litre)

½ tbsp Clarified Butter (Ghee)

½ tsp Cardamom Powder


Heat the ghee and roast the vermicelli for a couple of minutes. Add the milk to it and bring to a boil. Add the condensed milk to this. Keep stirring until the mixture is even (else you'll have burnt condensed milk). Add the ground cashews and the cardamom powder and simmer the mixture for about 10-15 minutes. It will begin to thicken nicely.

Serve hot or cold. This tastes heavenly either way. (The picture does it no justice!)

This is off to Easy Crafts for the Think Spice… Think Cardamom event.

Potato Capsicum Curry

This is a very simple side dish that pairs equally well with rice – dal and rotis. It is one of those “curry in a hurry” type of dishes. The addition of capsicum to this plain jane potato dish takes it to a whole new level. It is a different matter that I love my plain jane potato dish just as much.

2 large potatoes, washed and scrubbed

2 large Capsicum, roughly chopped
1 tbsp Oil
1 tsp Cumin Seeds
1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds
1/4 tsp Asafoetida
1 tsp Chilli Powder
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tsp Cumin-Coriander Powder
Salt to taste

Cut each potato (with the skin on) in two. Cut each half lengthwise in 2 and then cut finely width wise. You will have quarter circles (kind of triangular) pieces.

Heat the oil, add the mustard, asafoetida and cumin seeds. When the mustard splutters, add the chopped capsicum and fry for a minute or two. Add the potatoes, salt, chilli, turmeric and cumin-coriander powders. Cover and cook for 4-5 minutes. When the potatoes are cooked, remove the lid and allow the potato pieces to crispen to a nice brown.

Sometimes, I mix this with hot rice and eat it as it is. At times, it goes in our lunch box with rotis. At others, it is a side dish with dali saar and rice or sambar and rice. I'd been meaning to post this during the Potato festivals, but it looks like it will now make its way to this month's JFI.

Arbi Ka Saag

For a long time, I knew of 3 ways in which I could make Arbi (Colocasia). I could make Seppankizhangu Fry (Deep Fried), Seppankizhangu Karumadhu, and Seppankizhangu Mor Koottu. All Tamil dishes. So, I'd buy the vegetable only if I knew I was going to make Sambar sometime soon. I never thought I could make a side dish to go with rotis.

When I came across this recipe, I was a bit skeptical about how well it would pair with rotis given how dry it looked. I was pleasantly surprised when not only did I think my lunch was great, my colleagues kept picking pieces off my plate, and S called from work to say, "You should make this more often!"

As with most Rajasthani recipes here, this is also adapted from the Rajasthani Cookbook by Tarla Dalal.

250 g Colocasia (Arbi/ Seppankizhangu), boiled, peeled and quartered

1/4 tsp Carom Seeds

1/4 tsp Mustard

1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder

1 tsp Chilli Powder

1/2 tsp Coriander Powder

Juice of 1 Lime

1 tsp Oil

Salt to taste

Oil for deep/shallow frying

Shallow fry or deep fry the arbi pieces and keep aside.

Heat the teaspoon of oil. Add the carom and mustard seeds. When the mustard splutters, add the fried arbi pieces, turmeric, chilli and coriander powders, salt and lime juice. Mix well.

Serve hot with rotis.

I deep fried as I made it in the morning when I was short of time. I didn't want to shallow fry then as it really is time consuming. This is off to Padmaja at Spicy Andhra as my second entry to the RCI Rajasthan - Flavours of the Desert event.

Banana Nut Loaf and a Personal Note of Thanks

I was always told that the journey was more enjoyable than the destination, that that was the way with life. When I embarked on this journey, I had no destination in mind. I was sitting at home in the middle of the week as I got the day off for Buddha Poornima. Barely two days after starting a new job. I quit the one I had even though the commute was a mere 3.5 km and chose this one 27 km away. As most people who have interacted with me through this medium would know by now, I love my job. Anyway, I had absolutely nothing to do and, as always, I was blog hopping. Then I did it. It was one of those “spur-of-the-moment” decisions. I didn’t give the URL or the blog name much thought. I didn’t give anything much thought that afternoon. The only thing I thought about was the background colour. It had to be green as this was going to be a vegetarian blog. Cliché!


Why am I thinking of that afternoon today? All that was a year ago. That, my dear friends, is the whole point of this post. The Singing Chef is a year old today. The last 366 days were eventful, to say the least. I shared, I explored, I laughed, I cried. And it wasn’t just about food. Food, at times, seems incidental. But I’m amazed at the friends I’ve made across the globe. People I have never met (except one), but people that I can call, email, chat with. And all the while get the feeling that these are people I have always known.


The journey was initially slow, with a little skepticism here. Then suddenly went into the 5th gear with one Saturday seeing 17 posts on my blog. Participation in events added to the enthusiasm and then it was confirmed. I was thoroughly addicted. The month of July 2007 saw 53 posts while this year’s YTD count is a mere 50. Thank heavens for work. Else, I would have run out of ideas months ago and this would have become one more of those “also ran” blogs. I got well meaning advice from some friends and with time, I have settled on between 10 and 15 posts in a month.


Events in the food blogging arena are really something else. From sending my very first entry to WBB, I have come a very long way and I’m actually guest hosting it next month. I have been a regular with several events: WBB, RCI, JFI, AFAM, TST, MBP, A-Z and I try to participate in as many as I can. At one point, I’d fret over trying to make something to fit in. Now, I’m wiser. I’ve even reached a point where I have loads of dishes in drafts and I just match them to events. But at the end of the day, if I can’t participate, I know that it is not the end of the world. I know that my fellow bloggers won’t be mad at me. I know I won’t be shunned by the blogging community.

The love I’ve received won’t be forgotten in a hurry. The acceptance, the appreciation, the adulation is what I’m thrilled to get. The love and the friendship is what I’m grateful to have. The gifts I’ve received will be cherished forever. It has been a great year, and it couldn’t have been even a tenth as great had it not been for all of you. I cook more, share more, and learn more with each passing day. Thank you all.

Here’s a simple, healthy cake to celebrate this big milestone.

1 cup Flour
¾ cup Wheat Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
¼ tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
¾ cup Jaggery, grated
2/3 cup Toasted Walnuts, chopped
3-4 Bananas (overripe), peeled1/3 cup Oil
2 Eggs

Oil and flour for lining and dusting


Heat the oven to 350F. Grease and dust a loaf tin.

Sift the dry ingredients together.

Combine the bananas, eggs, oil and jaggery in a bowl. Using an electric mixer, blend all these to a rough paste. Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients and add the toasted walnuts. Mix well and pour into the prepared cake tin.

You can omit the egg and use 2-3 tsp sour curds and 1/2 tsp baking soda.

Bake for 35-40 minutes (or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean). Cool on a rack for a few minutes.

Cut into slices and share with all your blogging friends. (Also send it to Not Quite Nigella's Banana Bread Bake-off.) My lactose intolerant friends can have a big slice of this lactose free cake.

Happy Birthday Singing Chef. I am, both, proud of and grateful for, what you have come to mean to me.

Macaroni Salad and Anouncing MBP - May

The heat is killing. Much as I love cooking, it is the last thing I feel like doing these days. I don’t even mind cooking in the morning, but when I get back in the evening, the mere thought of entering the kitchen to dish up a meal is enough to kill any remnants of an appetite.

Monthly Blog Patrol or MBP an event started by Coffee of The Spice Cafe, is an event I participated in totally by chance. That too, because I happened to make something from her blog which fit very well into that month’s theme. After that, I have tried to be a regular. I know I've missed one or two, and then I missed the event itself for a good 6 months or so. I am guest hosting this event this month. And what I am looking for is a host of stuff that I cam make through summer without having to really toil over the hot stove. The theme for this month is Soups and Salads.

A few simple rules to enlist yourself in the patrol:

1. Make a Soup or Salad from fellow bloggers posted recipes, not food sites.

2. Post a picture of the final recipe on your blog linking it to the blogger, whose recipe you made. You can either post the recipe, or just the picture. Any variations to the original recipe will make interesting reading. One final picture and a link to the original recipe is a must.

3. Don’t forget your hosts! Please add a link back to this event announcement and/or the logo below, and to Coffee’s MBP page.

4. Email the following details to onlineraga@gmail.com with MBP – Soups and Salads in the subject line.

• Your name
• Your blog name
• Name of the Soup or Salad
• Permalink to your post
• Permalink to the original recipe
• A photograph of the final dish.
  

5. You may send as many entries as you like.

6. The deadline for this event is May 24th.

I will post the round up before the end of May (but forgive me if I am delayed as I am planning a trip to Madras around then!)


Here’s a simple salad to get you all in the mood.

1 cup Macaroni, boiled
1 Onion, chopped
1 Tomato, chopped
1 Green Capsicum, chopped
1 Carrot, finely chopped
1 tsp Olive Oil
1 tsp Mixed Herbs
1 tsp Chilli Flakes
Salt and Pepper to taste
Lime Juice, optional


Add the herbs and chilli flakes to the olive oil and set aside for 10-30 minutes.

Combine the macaroni with the chopped vegetables. Pour the herb infused olive oil over this. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add a little lime juice if you like. Toss together and enjoy your meal.