Chayote or Chowchow Curry

Are you in a hurry to make a curry!!!!! then here is the best choice. It hardly takes time to make it and you can count on the ingredients since they are simple everyday ones. :)

Ingredients:

Chow Chow - 2
Pepper powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Coconut scrapings - 1 tbsp
Salt - for taste




Method:

Peel the skin and dice the chow chow into small pieces. Cook it and keep it aside. Now in a pan, take a spoon of oil and crackle mustard seeds. Add the cooked vegetable to it and fry for a min till the excess water evaporates. Now add the pepper powder and salt and saute well. Finally put in the coconut scrapings and saute for another 2 min.

Chow chow curry is ready to eat. :)

Serve it with roti or curd rice. :) This is a very simple yet very tasty curry. Happy cooking :)



Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Food on Voyage!!!!

I am back! I am back... :)

I was on a trip to Simla, Kullu and Manali.. I could feel heaven under my foot. :) why wont it be! when the climate was so chill and could see nothing but greenery, all absolutely unlike chennai. ;) And yeah the first touch of snow brought a miraculous feeling in me. I am still not out of it. ;)

I am really proud to say that I am an Indian and India is lovely. Lot of difference in culture, dressing, climate, look and feel and last but not the least FOOD.

Saw a lot of interesting varieties and clicked a few of them.

Just thought of sharing the pics taken on the go :)

MOMO

Had these momos in simla. :) Momo is a Tibetan or Napalese dumpling made out of maida(all purpose flour) dough and is filled with lot of combinational food. It was available in both veg and non-veg make of it. They served it with white sauce and a green chutney. :)

I just loved it. :) I am sure I would try it out soon. :)

KURKEJ

This one was totally a new dish for me. Its kind-of vegetable Kebab-ish dish. It tasted a little similar to veg cutlets. But was really good too eat it hot with white sauce, green chutney and a red chutney. It best suits for a cold place like simla. ;)

GOL GAPPA (pani puri)

This can be called as the No. 1 street food of India. Visit any state or city in India, you would find a stall, shop or even just a pot covered with red cloth having this dish. :)

Gol gappa as it is called locally is one of the tastiest chat I ever cherish. Its a double purpose dish which would quench your thirst as well as satisfy your hunger. ;)

The puri is made of suji and wheat flour/maida. The filling depends on your taste. The pani is either sweet(meti) pani or hot(gharam) pani.

AALOO TIKKI

Aaloo tikki was available on the way to simla. This specific stall was in front of Pinjore garden. The lovely golden yellow color of it would challenge anyones resistance to oily food. Bet no one can eat just one. ;)

They serve this with tomato sauce and if you are a person who would like it hot, they add chilly powder to it too. :)

DHODA

Dhoda is a famous sweet of Northern India. This is a milk based sweet with some nuts and sometimes grated vegetables to it to give the different taste.

I visited Bikanervala a very famous sweet shop in Delhi. I could not resist at the mouth watering varieties of sweets and savories they had. Yummmm they looked and tasted too. Especially this one. :) I can serve you one if you come home right away.

ANAR BHOG

MALAI BIDA

GOLI SODA

Tanda mathlab Goli soda.. This should have been the quote those days.. :) This is a very old yet very interesting drink for the summer. It is simply soda water. If lemon is added to it, it is called lemon soda. If it has additional food color, then it is called color soda. :)

The bottle is designed to hold a goli(Glass marble) on its neck, very close to the place we sip it, which is an absolute attraction to it. ;)

Its simply a no Bandha drink that would quich the summer thirst. :)

BREAD BAJJI

Hot bread bajjis were sold in mall road - Manali.

Had a short walk on the mall road on a lovely cold evening. Its such a picture perfect situation that you can imagine. Wouldn't it be so blank to be empty handed for a hunger freak like me. Yeah.... so imagine a bread bajji on my hand that I would relish with some tomato sauce.. :) Now its a perfect snack too.

RAVA IDLY

I seriously got bored with 8 days of bread sandwitches in the morning. Badly wanted some change, so being a south Indian I wanted to have some dish of my kind. So had these yummy and fluffy rava idlis at Sagar Ratna hotel in Chandigarh. :)

ONION UTHAPPAM WITH TRI COLOR CHUTNEY

Ended up the tour at Delhi, with yet another south Indian delicacy. Onion uthappa was so soft and nice and went so well with all the three flavoured chutneys. :) I loved the green(Coriander) one the most. :)

The trip was a very memorable one with a lot of adventure, fun and food. :)

Will be back with a bang of dishes and recipes ASAP.

Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Pearl Millet (Kambu/Bajra) Koozh and an Award

Kambu Koozh is an extremely healthy dish famous in South India. Kambu is rich in Vitamin B6, folic acid, calcium, iron, potassium, magnesium and zinc. This koozh helps in reducing the body heat. When a simple dish can do it all, what more do we need for a healthy life??? :) Happy making :)

I will be on a vacation for the next 10 days :) But going to miss my blog and fellow bloggers a lot.. :(

Anyways will try to be back with a bang once I return. ;)

Ingredients:

Pearl Millet(Kambu) - 1 cup
Water - 3 cups
Butter Milk
Salt - for taste
Onion - 1




Method:

Wash and dry the peral millets for an hour. Now powder it coarsely in mixie. Dilute the powder in 1 1/2 cups of water. Boil the remaining water and add the diluted mixture to it mixing it well not allowing lumps to be formed. Now keep mixing it until it becomes thick. Now place this vessel in the cooker and cook it for 3 whistles. After it cools down add butter milk and salt to it.

Serve this with raw chopped onions. :) Its a very yummy drink.

You can have the cooked bajra rice with some sugar and ghee too. :)




Enjoy with this healthy drink this summer. :)

Now for the award

I should really thank Prathibha and Sailaja for their encouragement. :) This lovely award makes me feel so happy and proud. Will try my best to stand up to it always. :) Thanks again.

Now I would like to pass this to few people.

* Tina of Kaipunyam.com
* Swapna of My world of stitching



Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

The Secret Ingredient is.............

Watermelon... :)

The white portion alone is used for making More(Butter milk) kolambu. :)

Melon photo courtesy: http://www.auxiliary.com/AGF/farmmarket/products/nuts/images/Watermelon.jpg

Thanks to all of you who had made their guesses. :) Most of you guessed it as white pumpkin, cucumber, green mango etc.. But then you all missed to see the little red peaks of the pieces. ;)

Preethy Srinivasan was very close by guessing as a variety of melon(fruit). Congrats you were right. :)

So lets not waste the white portions of the melon, lets use it to make more kolambu from now on. ;)

More Kolambu - Guess the secret vegetable???

More(Butter milk) kolambu is a traditional dish which can be made with a lot of vegetable combinations. The fun starts when we try introducing different vegetables into it to make it more interesting and different. Here is one such more kolambu.

Take closer look at the pictures and........

Guess the secret vegetable used in this more kolambu?????

Make your guesses as comments for this post. Shall get back to you with the answer tommorrow. :)


Ingredients:

Secret vegetable(Watermelon - white portion) - 2 cups chopped
Curd - 1 cup
Coconut - 1 tbsp
Thoor dhall - 1 tbsp
Red chillies - 2
Green chilly -2
Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
Coriander seeds - 2 tsp
Asafoetida - a pinch
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt - for taste
Coriander leaves
Curry leaves




Method:

Cook the secret vegetable(watermelon white portion alone) and keep it aside. Soak thoor dhall in water for 2 hours. Now grind thoor dhall, coconut, red chillies, green chillies, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, asafoetida and turmeric together adding some water to it to make a paste. Now take the curd and churn it adding some water. Add the ground paste to the curd(butter milk) and put in the cooked secret vegetable too. Now boil the contents for a while adding curry leaves to it. Finally season with mustard and garnish with coriander leaves. More kolambu is ready to eat :)

Serve it with hot steamed rice and raw onions. I just love this combi. :) Happy eating :)



Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Vegetable Dosa Roll

Hot dosa is my favorite breakfast always. Soft dosa or paper roast, ghee dosa or uthappam, onion dosa or masala dosa whatever it is... I just love dosa. :)


Mom usually used to complain that I dont take much of vegetables and always fall for junk food. :( If you have such complaints at home or your kids are that way.. Then you should make this all vegetable nutritious dosa roll which no kid would deny. :)


Ingredients:

Carrot - 2
Onion - 2
Peas - 1/2 cup
Potato - 2
Garam Masala - 1 tsp
Chilly powder - 1 tsp
Salt - for taste





Method:

Chop all the vegetables. Now in a pan take a 2 spns of oil and fry the vegetables for a while and then add little water and close it wit a lid till it gets cooked. Finally add salt, chilly powder and garam masala to it and mix well. Make dosas and fill it with the vegetable masala and roll it. :) Vegetable dosa roll is ready to eat. :) This is a nice variation from normal masala dosai. Serve this hot with chutney, sambar or curd. :) Happy eating :)



Make it more interesting by adding all possible combi of vegetables and wrap it in anything and eat.. Enjoy cooking. :)


I am sending this simple breakfast to Divya's 'show me your breakfast event'. :)




Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Channa / Chickpeas Rasam

Rasam is a very vital dish in South Indian lunch menu. When it is so, don't you think its boring to have the same kind everyday??? So planned to make a lot of changes in it everyday. So far I have come up with 14 rasam recipes. Thirst for rasam never ends, fishing for more.. ;)

Channa is a very nutritions legume. It is a helpful source of zinc, folate, proteins and carbohydrates. So this is definitely going to be an amazing diet. ;)


Ingredients:

Channa - 1 cup
Cumin seeds(Jeera) - 1/2 tsp
Pepper - 2 tsp
Red Chillies - 4
Coriander seeds - 2 tsp
Small Onions - 3
Garlic - 3 pods
Coconut - 1 tbsp
White poppy seeds(gasa gasa) - 2 tsp
Tamarind - small lemon sized ball
Jaggery - for taste
Curry leaves
Coriander leaves
Salt - for taste




Method:

Soak channa over night. Then pressure cook the channa and keep it aside. Now in a pan add a spoon of oil and fry pepper, red chillies, coriander seeds and cumin seeds till it slightly turns brown. Now remove from flame and grind it into a fine puree along with poppy seeds(gasa gasa), 1/2 cup channa, coconut, onions and garlic adding little water to it.

Now take the puree in a vessel and add the remaining 1/2 cup of cooked channa, tamarind paste, jaggery, curry leaves and salt to it and let it boil for a while. Once done season it with mustard and garnish with coriander leaves.

Channa rasam is ready to eat. This rasam really has a spice and yummy taste. :) Its very healthy too. :)

Serve it with hot steamed rice and chips. :) Happy cooking. :)




Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Madras Mirchi

Madras is famous for beach.
Beach is famous for....................................... what else mirchi bajji. :)

Sometimes its fun when we avoid sofestication, forget about the hygene, Stop analysing things and just freakout and enjoy. The bajjis available in beach are the best of taste.

Yeah true it would be awesome to have such hot bajjis on a rainy day.. But what to do???? Chennai is void of rain the entire year.. :( Its okay anyday is a special day when my tongue demands for BAJJI.. :)




Ingredients:

Chilly - 5
Omam - 1 tsp
Roasted gram - 2 tbsp
Bengal gram flour - 5 tbsp
Rice flour - 1 tbsp
Cooking soda - 1/4 tsp
Salt - for taste

The one in the right is sad that his friend got roasted. :( :)

Method:

Grind omam, roasted gram and required salt into a fine powder and keep it aside. Now slit open the chillies and remove the seeds. Fill the above powder into the chillies.



Take a bowl and mix bengal gram flour, rice flour, cooking soda and salt along with a little water to make thick bajji batter.

Now dip the stuffed chillies in the bajji batter and deep fry it until it gets roast.

Madras mirchi bajji is ready to eat. :)


Sending my Madras Mirchi to the JFI: Chilly event. :)


Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Go Green Dosa!

I love colors in my food. It makes me eager to munch. :) If those colors are not just colors but nutritious ingredients!!, what else could be as interesting as this. :)


Ingredients:

Dosa batter - 1 cup
Drumstick greens(Murunga Keerai) - 1 cup
Green chillies - 3
Garlic - 6 pods
Salt - for taste


Method:

Grind drumstick leaves, green chillies and garlic together finely. Now mix this with the dosa batter and add a little salt to it. Now makes dosas as usual with this batter. Green dosa is ready to eat :)

This goes well with coconut chutney. Healthy eating :)



Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Iron Adai

Do you want Iron sakthi in your food??? Do you want to brush your tummy clean????

Here is a very healthy version of adai which does the above and is very tasty too. Come on lets graze a little. :) :) Eat healthy and live long :)

Ingredients:

Raw rice - 1 cup
Par boiles rice - 1 cup
Thoor dhall - 1 cup
Coconut - 2 tbsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Red chillies - 8
Drumstick greens (Murunga keerai) - As much as you want
Asafoetida - a pinch
Salt - for taste


Method:

Soak raw rice, par boiled rice and thoor dhall together in water for 2 hours. Grind it coarsely along with other ingredients except for the greens. Once the batter is ready add greens to it and mix well. Make adais in tawa, roasting it on both the sides. Greens adai is ready to eat.

It goes best with Avial or butter or onion pickle and also with curd. :) For kids sugar is the best option along with adai. :) Happy eating. :)




Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Sweet Mango Pickle

Pickle is one of the most interesting and famous dish in India. Thanks to all grannies who found it for us. :) There are a lot of yummy varieties in it. Curd rice with pickle is the most heavenly combination I cherish always.

Raw mango is the secret ingredient for lots of pickles. This is one of such amazingly interesting pickle and sure would kids love this because of its jammy consistency and sweetness.


Ingredients:

Raw Mango - 1
Jaggery - 2 tbsp
Chilly powder - 1 1/2 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Mustard
Curry leaves




Method:

Dice mango into medium sized pieces. In a pan take a spoon of oil and crackle mustard and curry leaves. Now put the mangoes into it and pour some water for it to get cooked. Close the pan with a lid and leave it alone for 5 min. Once the mango gets cooked, add chilly powder, jaggery and salt to it and mix well. Allow it to cook for another 5 min. Sweet and sour mango pickle is ready to eat. :) You can preserve this pickle in the refrigerator for a week.

This pickle goes well with roti and curd rice too. :)



Note: To make this pickle choose mangoes with thin outer skin so that its easy to bite and enjoy.


Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com

Kanjivallam (Rice porridge)

I always prefer light diet in the morning. If you are just like me, then this will be a lovely diet that can be made soon too.

Kanjivallam is a kerala dish which is also called as malabar kanji. I am really not sure if this is the perfect authentic way it is made, but this is the way I love it. :)


Kanjivallam

Ingredients:

Raw Rice - 1 cup
Moong Dhall - 1/3 cup
Coconut - 1 tbsp
Milk - 1/2 cup
Water - 5 cups
Salt - for taste



Method:

Cook rice and moong dhall together in cooker pouring 5 cups of water. Now smash the contents nicely. Add milk, salt and coconut to it and mix well. You can add more water if you want the porridge to be light. Finally heat this contents for 5 min and serve hot.

Kanjivallam is ready to eat. Serve it hot with urad dhall chutney or pickle. :)





Urad dhall chutney

Ingredients:

Urad dhall - 2 tbsp
Red chillies - 3
Coconut - 2 tbsp
Tamarind paste - 1 tsp
Asafoetida - a pinch
Salt - for taste

Method:

Fry urad dhall and red chillies in a pan adding a spoon of oil to it. Once the dhall turns golden brown remove it from flame and let it cool down. Now grind all the other ingredients together. Finally season it with mustard and curry leaves. Urad dhall chutney is ready to eat. :) Happy eating. :)



I am sending this dish as an entry for the 'Show me your Breakfast' event conducted by Divya.


Written by: Nithya
post your queries to fourthsensesamayal@gmail.com