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Friday, July 23, 2010

Bisi Bele Bath - Hot Lentil Rice


Bisi Bele Bath - A rice based dish unique to the the state of Karnataka, India - which translates to hot- lentil - rice in Kannada language. The traditional preparation of this dish is quite elaborate and involves the use of spicy masala, toor dhal ( a form of lentil) and vegetables. But now a days, we get good Bisi Bele Bath powders that solves the problem of grinding spices for this recipe. It can be served with papad, raitha, vadam or chips. Its a great dish when we have guests at home or for potlucks. Very easy and tastes great.

Ingredients:

Serves 2 people

Rice - 1/2 cup ( I used the rice cookers cup for all measurements)
Toor Dhal - 1/2 cup
Mixed Vegetables - 1 cup cut lenghtwise (carrot, beans, potato, peas)
Onion - 1 cut length wise
Salt - To taste
Bisi Bele Bath powder - 2 tbsp
Tamarind - 1 medium lemon size ( Soak in warm water and take out the juice - about 2 cups)

For Seasoning:

Ghee - 4 tsp
Mustard - 2 tsp
Cumin Seeds - 2 tsp
Curry Leaves - 5 to 8
Hing (asafoetida) - A dash

For Garnish:

Cashews - 8-10 broken
Ghee - 3 tsp
Corriander leaves - handful (chopped)

First cook rice and toor dhal together and keep it aside. Also boil vegetables. In a pan, add ghee and when ghee is hot add mustard. Once it starts to splutter, add cumin seeds, curry leaves and asafoetida. Now add onions and sautee till it becomes translucent. Meanwhile, take out pulp from tamarind. You can extract maximum juice out of tamarind. Add it to the onions and let boil for 3- 5 mins till the raw smell of the tamarind reduces. Now you can add the bisi bele bath powder, salt and let it boil for another 3 mins. Add the cooked rice and dhal along with the vegetables to this boiling mixture. Mix everything together and let it cook till everything sets well with vegetables and rice. If you feel it is too thick you can add water to loosen the consistency.  Let it cook in low to medium flame for about 10 mins.



 Once its cooked garnish with cashews fried in ghee. You can also add corriander leaves to it. I like to add corriander in most of my recipes as it has a good flavor, nice texture and of course good for health.


Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Blackberry / Mure Cobbler


Its Summer!!!! Lots of summer fruits to try and taste. But some of us have this inhibition to try new receipes. I wanted to break this and try this cobbler. It turned out really good. The story of this cobbler starts like this. When its grocery time its usually me that likes to pick more fruits. This time, i picked lots of summer fruits. 

 Along with many others i picked this Mure ( French name of Blackberry also called as the black rasberry). To my suprise this time, they tasted absolutely plain. I myself could'nt eat it then think about my husband. No way he is gonna touch it. Dint know what to do with it . Dint feel like throwing it into trash. So i was browsing the net and found this easy receipe for blackberries. It was really delicious and above all its very very easy to make.  My husband loved it. Its the great way to make our sweetheart eat the fruit. It actually looks like lot of work but its not. ( Dont tell such secrets to your husbands). Anyways let me give you the process.

Things you will need:

Blackberry - 1 cup (Chopped in halves or even smaller chunks as you like)
All purpose flour - 2/3rd cup
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Sugar - 2/3 cup
Baking Powder - 1 tsp
Melted Butter - 1/4 cup
Milk - 2/3 cup

Preparation time: 20 mins
Baking time: 45 - 50 mins




Mix the blackberries with sugar and set aside for about 15 mins so that the mixture blends well. Now in a bowl, mix flour, salt, baking powder, and milk. Blend the mixture well and add the melted butter to the mixture and give a stir untill all the ingredients are mixed well. Grease the baking pan ( 8*8 inch) and pour the mixture in the pan evenly. Now take the blackberry mixture and pour it on top of the base. Pre heat oven 375 degrees and then place this baking pan. Let it cook for about 45 mins. You can always check in the middle to see if its cooked to avoid burning as ovens vary. You can add some whipped creme on top of it once cooked to add more taste and for a rich look. Thats it!!!! Mure cobbler is ready to be attacked!!




Ice cream is the best combination and serve the cobbler warm. You can substitute any fruit instead of blackberry like, strawberry, rasberry, blueberry, or even apple and peach (cut them into smaller chunks). Its a great dessert in no time!! Cya soon with more!!!

Monday, July 19, 2010

Easy Homemade Face Scrub

Its been a while since I peeked into my blog. Had been really busy with life but realised that we are so caught up with our routine that we forget to enjoy the other part of our life. So I am back now on my schedule fully pepped up with lots of new and interesting topics.

Face looks dull? Dark circles? Lack of brightness? No problem. You will see instant results with this scrub.
All you will need is :

1 Small rose flower petals
4 Almonds
1 Tsp oats
4 drops Almond Oil (optional)
Milk - according to requirement

Grind the above ingredients into a coarse paste. Apply it on your face and let it stay for 10 mins. Use the same paste on the skin and scrub the face to remove the dead skin. Wash your face and pat dry. Apply mild moisturiser.

Your skin will feel so fresh and bright. You can see instant results. It gives great results if used on alternative days. We could store the paste for 2 days in the refrigirator. Very good face scrub, removes dark circles and face looks clean, bright and full of freshness.

More to come!!! Keep looking :-)