Cauliflower Subzi/ Sauteed Cauliflower

I learnt this recipe from my husband. One day I was very sick and I couldn't make anything for our dinner. He prepared this cauliflower subzi along with rasam rice and it was tasting very good. My husband is a good cook and he always says that this dish is his specialty ;-). I make this often as its our favorite subzi. Very simple dish but it tastes good for rotis, or even plain rice. 

Ingredients:

Caluliflower -1 cut into small florets

Onion - 1 medium size chopped medium size chunks

Oil - 2 tbsp

Salt - to taste 

Turmeric powder - 1 tsp

Red chilli powder - 1 tsp

Sambar powder - 1 tbsp or according to spice requirement

Musatard - 1 tsp

Urad Dhal - 1 tsp

Cumin Seeds - 1 tsp

Asafoetida - a pinch

Preparation:

Heat oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. when it splutters add urad dhal and jeera and asafoetida. When it turns brown add onion and saute well till it caramelizes.

Add cauliflower and saute for a min. Add turmeric, red chilli, sambar powder and mix well. Sprinkle water when ever necessary to cook the cauliflower. 

When it turns tender, add salt and keep frying till the water is well absorbed and the vegetable is well cooked. 

When it gets cooked remove from heat, garnish with fresh cilantro and serve with hot rotis. 

Take care and see you soon!

Vattayappam For ICC

This is the first month I am participating in SriValli's ICC. This month's recipe was Vattayappam from Shn's Blog.  The moment I saw this recipe, I was thinking if I would be able to succeed. But as and when I started the process, it was actually simple. Let me directly take you to the recipe without making you wait any further. 

Ingredients:

Raw Rice - 1 cup soaked overnight. 

Ground rice paste - 2 tbsp

Water - 1/3 cup

Coconut - 3/4 cup grated

Cooked rice - 2 tbsp

Sugar - 1/2 cup and 2 tsp for proofing yeast

Cardomom powder- 1/2 tsp ( I crushed it coarsely)

Raisens and cashews roasted in ghee  - 1 tbsp ( I just had cashews. But you can add raisins too)

Active dry Yeast - 1/2 tsp

Process:

First grind the soaked rice into a coarse paste with minimum water just sufficient to grind it to a paste. Do not add lot of water as there will be more to add at later stages. So just little to enable it to grind it to a coarse paste. Take 2 tbsp of this paste and set aside to make the thari kurukku / porridge. 

Now add coconut and grind it. Also, in the meantime proof yeast in 1/3 cup of warm water or even less water just enough to proof yeast and 2 tsp sugar ( My batter was in dosa consistency at the end but it should be like that of idly batter consistency).So make sure you add   water only when it is necessary. Let it aside for 15 mins. 

Now in a pan heat about 1/3 cup of water and add this 2 tbsp coarse paste and bring it to a boil stirring continuously until it turns out into a porridge. Let it cool. 

When the thari kurrku comes to room temparature, add it to the ground mixture and grind it again to a smooth batter. Finally add yeast and pulse once or twice for it to blend well. 

Pour the batter in a steel vessel which is big enough to hold double the quantity of the batter after it ferments. Let it ferment for about 4-6 hrs. If its warm place 4-6 hrs is more than sufficient. If you live in a cold climate,pre heat oven and when it starts to heat up and reaches 101 degree Fahrenheit, turn off and place this batter inside and leave it with just the light on for about 6 hrs.( This is what i did) 

When it ferments, you will clearly get the sharp fermented smell. Now add 1/2 cup sugar, mix well and let it ferment for another 1/12 to 2 hours. Mix the roasted nuts and raisins in the batter and it is ready to be steamed.

I steamed the batter using  a round steel vessel greased with ghee in my pressure cooker. I filled the pressure cooker with 1- 2 inches water and placed this vessel filled with batter inside the pressure cooker. I let it cook for about 10 mins till it is cooked well. 

Place a tooth pick inside the cake to see if it is cooked well. 

Serve warm !!! 

Maangai Sadham/ Raw Mango Rice

This being mango season, I wanted to make use of this opportunity and relish as much mangoes in all possible forms as possible. I bought raw mango from the Indian grocery store and was actually thinking of making some pickle with it. But I ended up making this rice. It came out really good. It had nice flavor and great taste. How I landed up with this recipe????? 2 weeks back, we had gone for dinner to our friend's house and there I tasted this rice. We really liked it and immediately what do you think a bloggers' mind would do???? ;-) Yes, made a note of the recipe and tried it out and posting it now. It is very simple and has little ingredients but tastes very good. Its a nice dish for potlucks rather than regular pulao and biryani varieties. Especially if you do not like too many spices added to the dish, this is very good. 

Ingredients:

Raw Mano - 1 peeled and grated

Basmati Rice - 1 cup

Yellow Onion - 1 medium

Oil -1 tbsp

Mustard - 1 tsp

Urad dhal - 1 tsp

Curry Leaves - 6 to 10

Turmeric - a pinch

Red Chilli Powder - 1/2 tbsp or to taste.

Salt - to taste

Asafoetida - a pinch

Preparation:

Soak basmati rice for about 10 mins and cook in 2 cups of water and keep aside. 

In a pan, Heat oil, add mustard seeds. When it splutters, add urad dhal, curry leaves, asafoetida. When It turns golden brown, add onions and saute very well till it caramelizes. 

Now add grated mango and keep frying till it becomes tender. Sprinkle water to help the mango cook faster. Add turmeric and red chilli powder and keep frying till all water is absorbed. Add salt and mix well. Remove from heat and keep aside. 

When the heat reduces, add cooked rice to it and mix well. 

Serve warm with chips or raitha. 

See you soon!!!

Curd Rice/ Yogurt Rice

Curd rice is my all time favorite. If I dont get anything to eat but just have rice and some yogurt I will be more than happy to eat. Just plain curd rice might is bland and boring sometimes if we don't have the right side dish. But adding some extra ingredients to the plain curd rice makes it  delicious and so filling. I am sure most of you would be aware of the steps and methods. I made this today and thought would share my dish with you all :-)

Ingredients:

Note: My cup is electric rice cooker's cup measure

Rice - 1 cup 

Yogurt - 1/2 cup

Milk - 1 cup

Oil - 1 tsp for seasoning

Pomegranate - 1/2 cup (Got this idea from my co sister )

Mustard - 1 tsp

Urad dhal - 1 tsp

Curry leaves - 4-5 

Cilantro - 2 tbsp finely chopped

Ginger - 1 tbsp finely chopped

Green Chili - 1 chopped (optional. I dint add green chili in this recipe)

Asafoetida - a pinch

Preparation:

Cook 1 cup rice in 3.5 cups water. When cooked allow it to cool. When it comes to room temp, mash rice with a spatula. 

Add milk and mix well so that no lumps are left. Mix yogurt, salt, ginger, cilantro.

In a pan heat oil and add mustard. When splutters add urad dhal. When it turns golden brown, add chili, curry leaves, asafoetida. Remove from heat and add it to the rice and mix well. 

Just before serving, add pomegranate pearls to rice. Wash the pomegranate pearls gently so that the color does not mix with rice. 

Serve it with any pickle. 

See you soon with more.. 

Tips: 

For yogurt rice, the rice must be mashed well. That adds to the taste of the rice. 

We like the yogurt rice little dilute. If you like it thick you can reduce the quantity of milk or curd. 

Mix rice with milk first. Only then the rice will stay loose. Mix yogurt later. If you mix yogurt first, the rice will remain sticky, thick and will consume more milk to loosen up. 

Mango Shake

Its summer almost everywhere. Time for more juices and shakes. So thought of starting with mangoes. We bought these yummy tasting mangoes from Artesia on Saturday. I have not tasted such sweet mangoes in US ever. This is the first time I happened to taste such sweet fruit. I made this milkshake today. So tasty and filling. Very simple milkshake which I am sure all of you would have made. 

Ingredients:

Ripe Mango - 1

Milk - 1 and 1/2 cup

Sugar 3 tbsp

You can substitute honey instead of sugar if you like. 

Preparation:

Peel the skin and cut mangoes into pieces.

Matching colors isn't it????? 

Blend with milk and sugar in a blender. 

Serve cold. 

Sending this to Siri's Healing Foods  - Mango event hosted by Kaarasaaram 

Corn Soup and Celebrating my 100th post!!!!

I am extremely happy to announce that this will be my 100th post. Finally I made it. I always thought if I would be able to post 100 recipes in my blog. And today, it has come true. This will be my 100th post. :-) Hope to keep posting more interesting recipes. :-) With that happy note, let me go to my post for today...

It was Sunday evening, my husband was taking a nap and I was browsing through my blog to see what new recipe came up. That time I got this update from Deb who hosts the event called Souper Sundays. I got this week's update and the first soup that I saw was this Asian Corn Soup. It was prepared by Deb for her event and I was so thrilled to see that it was all vegetarian. I was just then hunting for some soup recipes and when I found I had 99% of the ingredients at home, I tried it at once. It came out really well. 

The original recipe is here . I adjusted the measurement according to my requirement. The original recipe's yield was 6 servings. 

Ingredients:

Corn kernals - 2 cups (I had frozen corn. Original had fresh corn with cobs)

Yellow Onion - 1 small finely chopped

Ginger - about 1 tbsp chopped 

Garlic - 1 pod crushed

Salt - to taste

Lime Juice - 1 tbsp

Jalapenos - 1 

Lime slices and Jalapenos slices - to Garnish

Vegetable Broth - 1 cup

Water - 2 cups

Lemon Grass - 2 coarsely chopped

Cilantro - about 12 sprigs

Oil - 1 tbsp

Preparation:

Heat oil in a pan and add onions. Saute till it becomes translucent. 

Add water, vegetable broth, lemon grass, cilantro, ginger, jalapenos, garlic and bring it to boil. Let it simmer for about 30 mins. 

Strain the broth and discard the solid particles. 

Now add corn kernels, lime juice, salt and mix well. 

Again bring all these into the pan and bring it a boil for another 5 mins. 

I like the way she garnished it so I followed the exact same ingredients to garnish :-)

Really light yet healthy soup is ready. 

Sending this to US Masala's Bookmarked recipes hosted by Priya and to Deb's Souper Sunday's  and to Hearth and Soul Hop

CONGRATULATIONS TEAM INDIA!!!

I AM EXTREMELY HAPPY TO SHARE THIS WONDERFUL NEWS ABOUT INDIA'S GREAT WIN IN THE WORLD CUP CRICKET. WE ARE SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS FANTASTIC WIN. 

INDIA PLAYED AGAINST SRI LANKA THIS AFTERNOON (IST) AND THEY WON BY 6 WICKETS!!!!!

GREAT PLAY INDIA AND HAVE A GREAT DAY!!! MANY CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR TEAM :-) 

Fried Cauliflower with Italian touch

I have tried cauliflower fry before. This one is my new recipe with cauliflower. I bought fresh cauliflowers from the market on Saturday. Its been a while since I made cauliflower fry. So thought why not make it this time but in a different way. It tasted very good. I made cilantro mint rice the other day and this worked out as a great side dish to our lunch. Its very simple and dint require any major preparation. With ready made ingredients a nice snack/ appetizer/ side dish is ready . 

Ingredients:

Cauliflower - 1 small broken into florets

Bread crumbs (Italian Style - it includes necessary spices) - 1/2 cup 

Oil for deep frying

All purpose flour - 2 tbsp

Preparation: 

Mix all purpose flour in about 6 tbsp water and make it into thin paste. 

Take the florets, dip it in the flour paste and then dip it in bread crumbs. 

Deep fry them until they turn brown. 

Serve it with hot sauce.