Lemon Sevai - Lemon Rice Noodles

Lemon Sevai is an easy and delicious dish to prepare. It is so versatile you could even eat it for breakfast, lunch ,dinner or just as a snack. It could be served with coconut chutney. We prefer it with Sambar or tomato rasam if its for lunch/dinner. Here in the US, Sevai could be bought at any Indian grocery store. My hubby loves to cook as well and this is his recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 packet of dry Rice Sevai/Idiappam/Rice Sticks (250 gms/approx 10 oz)
• 1/4 cup Peanuts
• handful of Cashews
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• pinch of asofoetida
• 1 tsp channa dal
• 1 tsp Urad dal
• 4-5 Curry leaves
• 1 inch piece of ginger finely chopped
• 2-3 green chillies slit lenghtwise
• 1 dry red chilli
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• salt to taste
• 2 -3 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp oil

Preparation :

1. In a big pot, bring enough water to a boil and cook the Sevai until cooked (for about 5 minutes). It should be fully cooked and not Al Dente.
2. Drain the Sevai and keep it aside.
3. Heat oil in a pan and add channa dal and urad dal. Fry them for a minute and add peanuts and cashews. Fry them till they are roasted. Add cumin seeds, let them splutter. Next add ginger. Fry for a moment and then add asofoetida,curry leaves,red chilli, green chillies,turmeric powder. Keep it on low flame and add the cooked Sevai and mix it well.
   Adjust the salt (sevai does have salt in it). Then add the lemon juice and keep it on low flame for 2-3 minutes.
4. Ready to serve. We had this for dinner with hot and Spicy Rasam. This recipe serves 4.

Now Its Award Time. My Dear blogpal , Anncoo has been kind enough to shower me with this precious gift, I love your Blog Award. She's one awesome baker and chef. Her passion shows in her beautiful and wonderful creations- her cakes, cheese cakes, cup cakes, her themed birthday cakes to name a few..are to die for. As they say seeing is believing. Do check out her blog Anncoo's hobby and you'll be in love with her space..just like Moi...

Aloo Baingan Ki Subzi - Potato and Eggplant in Tomato gravy

Potato and Eggplant/Aubergine/Brinjal is an easy dish to prepare and goes well with any Indian Bread. Now Eggplant is one vegetable which I find where either people love it or just can't stand it. I belong to the category of people who can't have enough of it. How can you not fall in love with the beautiful purple color. Also I love colors and love to be surrounded by them , so you guessed it right , I'll always have Eggplants at home..though I'm the only one who eats them...sad. But I do keep on trying new recipes so my kids and my husband can eat a little more of this beautiful vegetable. So far the only recipe they love is Baingan ka Bharta..(because you really do not see any baingan..its all mashed up..poor Baingan, lost its identity by the time its on the table.) I'll soon post that recipe when I make Baingan Bharta, till then enjoy this Aloo Baingan Ki Subzi.

Ingredients:

• 6-8 small eggplants unpeeled and cubed
• 2 medium size potatoes peeled and cubed
• 1 tomato chopped
• 1 red onion finely chopped
• 2-3 green chillies slit lengthwise
• 2-3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• 1 tsp cumin-cilantro powder
• salt to taste
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Preparation:

1. Heat oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds, when they splutter add the chopped onions and garlic. Saute till they are golden brown.
2. Add the tomatoes and slit green chillies. Fry for about 3 minutes.
3. Add the turmeric powder, red chilli powder, cumin-cilantro powder and salt. Add the diced potatoes and eggplant. Mix it well.
4. Cook covered on medium heat until the vegetables are almost cooked. (You could add a little water about 1/4 cup , many a times it will cook in the tomato gravy itself).
5. Now cook uncovered till fully cooked.
6. Ready to serve. Garnish with fresh Cilantro.

Chocolate Chip Brownies - Whole Wheat Brownies and Award

This is my 50th post. I was thinking of a recipe which would be appropriate to celebrate this small milestone and decided to bake Brownies. They are a quick and easy dessert or snack. I tried to make it healthy (I know it does have lotz of sugar and butter - but I tried to make it a bit healthier) by adding Whole wheat flour and was pleasantly surprised by the results. Recipe is adapted from here .

Ingredients :

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp baking powder
  1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preparation :

1. Preheat oven to 350F and grease a 9 inch square cake pan.
2. In a large bowl mix together whole wheat Flour,baking powder,salt and sugar.
3. In another bowl Blend melted butter and cocoa.
4. Add butter/cocoa mixture to the large bowl with the dry ingredients. Add the eggs. Mix well.
5. Add the Chocolate chips and buttermilk . Mix until all ingredients are blended.Pour into the prepared cake pan.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes, or until brownies begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. Let brownies cool, then cut into squares.

-----------------------And now its award time ------------------------

What perfect timing, My 50th post and an award. It make se so happy and its an humbling feeling that some of you out there read my recipes and love my blog. I am excited to receive this award from my blogpal , Faiza Ali of Faiza Ali's Kitchen who has passed this awesome 'beautiful blogger' award. Thank you so much for the generosity . She has a beautiful blog with a wonderful collection of recipes. Do check it out.

Now I would love to share this Beautiful Blogger award with all my wonderful blogpals who have motivated me with their feedback and kind words and helped me to go on. It would make me even more happy if each one of you could collect this award and display it on your beautiful blog as a thank you for being so supportive and help me celebrate my small little achievement.

Escarole and bean Soup

Winter always inspires me to try out new Soups . The wintry cold, the snow and the shorter days just makes me a couch potato, enjoying the fireplace and watching movies or reading. So Soups are really your best choice, as they are quick, easy, healthy and one pot meals. What more can one ask for. So for those lazy days, this is a good recipe.

Also when I go grocery shopping and if I see a new vegetable or fruit. I'm always excited to try it out. So this escarole was bought by the intention of making soup out of it. It was sitting there in my fridge for couple days feeling sad, and I was feeling guilty that I did not use it sooner. So today was the day since it snowed this morning, and this is the soup we had for lunch.

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch Escarole chopped
• 2 cups red kidney beans cooked
• 1/2 red onion chopped
• 3-4 cloves of garlic finely sliced
• 1 cup tomatoes chopped
• 4 cups vegetable stock
• 2 cups water
• 1 tsp crushed red chilli flakes
• 2 tbsp Olive oil
• salt to taste

Preparation :

1. Heat oil in a thick-bottomed pan and saute onions and garlic, until you no longer get the raw smell of onion/garlic.
2. Add the tomatoes and fry for about 2 minutes.
3. Add the chopped Escarole and fry until they reduce in size and wilt.

4. Add the precooked red kidney beans and season it with salt and red chilli flakes. Add the vegetable stock and water and bring it to a boil. Let it simmer on medium heat for 4-5 minutes. Soup is ready to serve . Serve with garlic bread or any Italian Bread.

Award time- Kreativ Blogger Award.

My dear blogger friend, Mausi from 7th Kitchen ~ Everyday Food Blog awarded me this Kreative Blogger Award. Thank you so much for this 1st award of 2010. I'm really honoured and humbled by this award.

So here is how it works.

Rules for accepting this award:
1) Thank the person giving the award
2) Copy the award to your blog
3) Place a link to their blog
4) Name 7 things people don't know about you
5) Nominate 7 bloggers
6) Place a link to those bloggers
7) Leave a comment letting those bloggers know about the award

7 things people don't know about me.

1. I believe in Karma, What goes around comes around.
2. My Blood group is b+ and so is my Motto in Life ,"BE POSITIVE".

3. I'm a bathroom Singer (since I'm not blessed with a singing voice.)
4. I love to watch comedy shows and funny movies and love having people around me who can make me laugh.

5. I'm a daydreamer.
6. I talk a lot and speak super fast.

7. I love hiking and camping.

I have to pass this award to my 7 favorite blogs :

Believe me this was the most difficult part. Its hard to choose from such a vast array of blogs with such beautiful and wonderful recipes. Every one has its own identity, its own fingerprint If I may say. So how could I select just 7 blogs. They are all my favorites. I came up with a foolproof way of picking. I did not want anybody to feel bad, so I had my 2 yr old son pick up names from a bowl full of all the names of my very supportive followers.

Here are the 7 favorite blogs picked... Drum rolls please...

And the Kreativ Blogger Award goes to..... (This feels like I'm at the Oscars...)

1. Sarah Naveen at Vazhayila
2. Shanthi at Shanthi Krishnakumar's Cook Book
3. Vinolia at Akal's Saappadu
4. Alicia at Vegan Epicurean
5. Shahana Baker at Me N My Apron
6. Priya at Priyas Recipes
7. Padhu at Welcome to Padhu's kitchen

The others are not going empty handed, a very special award coming to you soon..... (I'm curious to design my own award I could hand it out to my fellow bloggers. So shd hopefully be here in a day or two.)

Cranberry Ginger Pilaf

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Basmati Rice
• 1 cup fresh Cranberries
• 1/4 cup fresh ginger cut into julienne
• 3 green chillies slit and cut lengthwise
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp ground red chilli
• 1 tsp ground cumin-coriander powder
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 6-7 peppercorns
• 1 -2 bay leaf
• 1-2 sticks of cinnamon
• 1 black cardamom(badi elaichi)
• salt to taste
• 2 tbsp Olive oil
• 4 cups water

***You could adjust the quantity of ginger depending on your taste. Personally, I feel the flavors of cranberrries and ginger go very well together. Also you could tell, my love for ginger.

Preparation :

1. Wash and Soak 2 cups of rice in 4 cups of water. You will not need to add anymore water to make the pilaf. Just use this rice with the water. Keep this aside for around 15-20 minutes
2. Now heat some oil in a pan . Now once the oil has warmed up add Cumin seeds. When they splutter, add peppercorns, bay leaf, Cardamom and cinnamon sticks.
3. Add the freshly chopped ginger. Fry for about a minute.
4. Keep the heat on low flame and add the green chillies and the cranberries. The cranberries will begin to pop, so be careful. After about half a minute, add turmeric, salt, red chilli, cumin/coriander powder. Then add the rice with the water which we had kept aside earlier.
5. Let this cook uncovered on medium flame. Now when you see that most of the water has dried up (like 85-90%) set the stove to the lowest flame and cover the pan with a lid and cook for about 5 minutes
6. Its ready to serve. You could Serve this Cranberry Pilaf with Pineapple Raita.(The Tartness of the Cranberries could be reduced by the sweetness of the Pineapple Raita .)

Cornmeal Strawberry Pancake

Cornmeal Strawberry pancake

This is my kids favorite breakfast. Since its so easy to make, its become my favorite too. Also you could use any fruits in this recipe. Great way to make our kids eat fruits.

According to our good friend Wikipedia, A pancake is a thin, flat cake prepared from a batter and cooked on a hot griddle or frying pan. Read more about pancake here.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup yellow corn meal
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon Sugar
• 1 egg , lightly beaten
• 2 tbsp melted butter
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup diced strawberries
• 4-5 Sliced Strawberries for Garnishing
  

Preparation :

1. Combine all the dry ingredients(1st 5 ingredients) in a bowl.
2. Add the beaten egg and butter and mix well, followed by milk. Stir till smooth.
3. Gently fold in the diced strawberries.
4. Pour about 1/4 cup pancake batter onto a hot nonstick skillet. Soon when you see bubbles on the top and the edges look cooked, turn the pancake. Let it cook for about a minute or so until its cooked. (Since I have used cornmeal in this recipe. I let it cook a little more so its cooked properly).
5. Serve with Maple syrup and butter with Sliced Strawberries on the side.
6. This recipe makes 4-5 pancakes.