Senaikkizhangu Karumadhu (Yam Saute)

I've talked often about how I eat everything, all fruits and vegetables and all kinds of foods without exception. There are some things I know I like and there are some things I like simply because my dear brother, H, couldn't stand them. The opposite of this also held true for quite a while. I didn't "like" lady's finger simply because he loved it. Yam was (and still is) the one vegetable he absolutely hated. I liked it as a child, but I continue to relish it as an adult as well. I made this saute, a staple at my parents' home, recently. And then I made it again.

Here's the recipe, handed down from mother to daughter and then from daughter to the world!

2 cups Yam, peeled and diced

3-4 Red Chillies

1/4 tsp Turmeric (optional)

1 tbsp Tamarind Paste

1 tsp Oil

Salt to taste

For the tempering:

1 tbsp Oil

1/2 tsp Mustard Seeds

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

7-8 Curry Leaves

Pressure cook the yam with the tamarind paste, turmeric (if using), salt, chillies and a teaspoon of oil with 3 cups of water. Drain the water.

In a kadhai, heat the tablespoon of oil. Add the mustard seeds and asafoetida. When the mustard splutters, add the curry leaves and the drained yam.

Saute for a minute, cover and cook for 4-5 minutes. Remove the lid and allow the pieces to crispen. Serve hot with some rice and sambar, your meal is complete!

Please also remember that the Tried and Tasted (Sunshine Mom's Blog) is on at The Singing Chef. Do send in your entries.

Maida Polo (Dosa)

It is a known fact that I love upma for breakfast. What I really love about upma is the ease with which the dish is ready. My real favourite has to be the Indian pancake variety: Dosa, Uttapam, Pole, Doddak, etc. When we visited Bombay last month, I woke up early by force of habit (even though I was on vacation). That gave me some time in the kitchen with my aunt. This aunt has been the inspiration for many recipes that I use today and the all time favourite recipe of hers for me would have to be Garlic Baby Potatoes. This time I watched her make these dosas. They're incredibly simple to make. They can be really soft or very thin and crisp (whichever way you like them). They need no fermentation. Could you ask for more?

1/4 cup Udad, soaked overnight

1/2 cup Flour

Salt to taste

Oil for frying

Wash the udad. Wash well and grind using a little water. Fold in the flour. Add salt and water to dilute it as required. (Don't add too much water as the dosas will not turn out well.)

To make the dosas, heat a tawa and smear a little oil on it. Simmer the flame and pour a ladleful of the batter in the centre of the tawa. Quickly spread the batter while forming concentric circles. Turn the flame back to high. Add a little oil on the sides and centre. Usually not more than 1 small spoonful per dosa. When crisp, carefully turn the dosa over and allow the other side to cook a little. Repeat for the other dosas.

Serve with chutney or molaga podi or pitti chitni. (If you're willing to wait that long, that is!)

Pumpkin and Tomato Soup

When I started blogging, I don't think I had even tasted Pumpkin Soup. Pumpkin was best used in sambar or vathal kuzhambu. I didn't think very much of this vegetable. Amma used to make a typical upkari with finely chopped pumpkin, but I didn't miss it if she didn't make it for a decade. I loved making (and eating) Pumpkin Pie. In the past couple of years, I have used this vegetable extensively in soups, side dishes and even used it in a cake. And I've been expermenting quite a bit.

The latest experiment was with a soup. I started out making the traditional tomato soup, but decided to use of the bag of cubed pumpkin that was stashed away in the freezer. I quite enjoyed the soup. It was rather filling and all I needed to go with it was a couple of cream crackers.

1 cup Pumpkin, cubed

4 Tomatoes, diced
1 Onion, diced
2 pods Garlic
Salt and Pepper to taste

Pressure cook the vegetables and the garlic with 2cups of water. When cool, blend in a liquidizer and strain. Bring the liquid to a boil. Season with salt and pepper. Serve hot.

If you're like me, there, dinner's on the table!

Baked Stuffed Chillies

I have always avoided buying chillies. But I usually end up with a bag of the "bajji" variety chillies in the hope of making mirchi bajji. I have made that once (but sadly, the post languishes in my drafts) and the other times that I bought the chillies, I saved the bag from going into the trash by making this once and this the other time.

Today was a little different. I was quite determined to use up the chillies in a different manner before they turned into something unrecognizable. I had some aloo paratha stuffing left over and I modified it to stuff these chillies.

6 large Chillies, slit and deseeded

2 Potatoes, cooked and mashed

1 Onion, chopped finely

2 tbsp Coriander Leaves, chopped

1/2 tsp Garam Masala

1 tsp Chilli Paste

Salt to taste

To be ground:

1/4 cup Roasted Peanuts

1/2 tsp Amchur

1/2 tsp Coriander Powder

1 tsp Cumin Seeds

1 tsp Chilli Powder

1 tbsp Oil

Mix the potato, onion, coriander, garam masala, salt and chilli paste. Add the ground mixture and mix well.

Preheat the oven to 250 C. Use a little oil to grease a baking tray. Stuff the potato-peanut mixture into the chillies and arrange them on the tray. Brush the chillies with the remaining oil. Bake for 15 minutes, turning once in between.

This makes a wonderful side dish with some rice and dal, but as we discovered this afternoon, it is a finger licking good accompaniment to beer.

Announcing Tried & Tasted November 2009

After a really long hiatus, I am finally back. Thanks again to all of you who've stopped by to ask how I've been doing. I do need to get back into the groove of blogging and blog hopping. So, what better way to do this than to host an event. Zlamushka's Tried and Tasted train now halts for the month of November at my station, The Singing Chef. And this month, we celebrate the very versatile blog of Harini, better known to everyone as Sunshinemom.

1. Cook any recipe(s) from Sunshinemom's Tongue Ticklers(http://tumyumtreats.blogspot.com/) and post about it. Stay as true to the original recipe(s) as possible. Therefore, there is no need for re-posting it, simply link to the original post :-)
2. Link your post to the originator of the event Zlamushka at www.burntmouth.com (feel free to use the logo - thanks to Ksenia (http://talesofaspoon.blogspot.com/) for designing this logo) and to the post with the original recipe. Please always link to both sites, so both blogs are given credit and you are avoiding copyright fuss.
3. Send me an e-mail (onlineraga@gmail.com) with your name, your post URL as well as the original URL and a picture (300px by height, please).
4. Deadline is the November 30th 2009 and the round up will be posted within a week.
5. Non-bloggers are more than welcome to participate Simply e-mail me (onlineraga@gmail.com) with your experience of what you cooked and please include a picture.

The round up will be posted during the first week in December, where I will also announce the Blogger of the Month for March 2010.

Get ready to cook up a storm in your kitchens. And don't forget to tell me all about it.

Cinnamon Sugar Muffins

My new found love seems to be experimenting with flavours. I seem to enjoy giving a little twist to seemingly old tales. I made these cinnamon sugar muffins after fantasizing about cinnamon doughnuts one morning. These aren't quite like the doughnuts, but could come a very close second.

2 cups Flour

3 tsp Baking Powder

1 1/4 cups Sugar

1 tsp Salt

1/2 cup Oil

2 eggs

1 cup Milk

1 tsp Vanilla

1/2 cup Brown Sugar

1 tsp Cinnamon Powder

Preheat the oven to 350F. Prepare the muffin pans by lining them with paper muffin cases. Mix the cinnamon powder and the brown sugar together and keep aside.

Sift all the dry ingredients for the cake together into a food processor jar with the dough blade. Blend for a minute.

Pour in all the liquid ingredients and run the processor until the dry ingredients are moistened. Pour a spoonful the batter into the prepared muffin cases. Sprinkle a little cinnamon-sugar mixture. Top with another spoonful of the batter and sprinkle some more of the cinnamon-sugar mixture on top.

Bake for 15-20 minutes. Enjoy warm.

Soon after a blogging milestone and a wedding anniversary, these little beauties come your way as part of the party fare on my birthday. So, just come over with your birthday hats and get ready to sing: Happy Birthday!

Eggless Triple Chocolate Muffins

I've been rather silent here. A lot of you asked me if everything is OK. Thanks and I was glad to be missed. Since my 500th post on my anniversary, lots of things have happened. My parents came to Gurgaon, we shifted residence, I accompanied Amma on a yatra to Kashi and Prayag, returned in time for Deepavali, only to fall ill the day before my favourite festival.

On the whole, while we did celebrate the festival the traditional way with an oil bath and new clothes, all was silent on the kitchen front. We're yet to fully settle down in the new house and I (mostly Amma though) just about manage to make some basic meals.

Here are some eggless triple chocolate muffins to celebrate the festival:

1 1/2 cups Flour
1/3 cup Cocoa Powder
3 tsp Baking Powder
1 cup Sugar
a Pinch Salt
1/2 cup Oil
2 tsp Egg Replacer (dissolved in 2 tbsp of water OR 2 Eggs)
1 cup Milk
1 tsp Vanilla
½ cup White Chocolate Chips
½ cup Milk Chocolate Chips

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

Preheat the oven to 350F. Prepare the muffin pans by lining them with paper muffin cases.

Stir the chocolate chips into the batter and pour into the prepared muffin cases. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Happy Deepavali Everyone (even though belated)!