Oriya Food

Spicy Mexican soup

2012-01-25T18:53:00.000-08:00

It was yet another cold chilly evening. I came back from work with my mind set on this soup! Don't ask me how or why. I wanted to have a spicy soup. I searched on the web for a spicy soup and this soup is a combination of several recipes I saw. I went to the grocery store and bought the canned stuff and the tortilla chips! I felt the chips would add a nice crunch to the spiciness of the soup. Unfortunately my son took a fancy to the chips and finished them all! Hey add the chips if you have them, the soup is great even without it.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large onion diced
2-3 large green/yellow/orange peppers
3 cloves garlic, minced
2- chopped jalapenos
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes with chipotle peppers
1 whole corn cob boiled and then its kernels removed from the cob
salt and pepper to taste
handful of coriander leaves

tortilla chips - as much needed (optional)
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (optional)
dollop of sour cream (optional)

How To

Turn on the broiler. Cut the green/yellow peppers and sprinkle oil and char in the broiler for 10 min. Let it cool and cut into small pieces (remove the black pieces if any on the peppers).
Heat about 1 table spoon oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in the onion and minced garlic and cook for 5 minutes, until onion is translucent. Add the charred peppers and the ground cumin.
Mix in the tomatoes with the chipotle from the can. Add the chopped jalapenos. Pour in about 2-3 cups of water, and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer 30 minutes.
Mix the corn into the soup, and continue cooking 5 minutes.

Serve in bowls and add coriander leaves and tortilla chips (if you have any). Top with cheese (if desired) or sour cream.

While you enjoy this spicy soup, I would like to thank Viki for sending over these lovely awards... Thanks Viki! Hop over to her blog to see the yummy treats she creates and shares...

See you again soon!

Happy New Year 2012

2012-01-01T19:53:00.000-08:00

Here is wishing everyone a lovely New Year ahead! Also my toddling blog turns 3 today. I know I haven't been a regular here, but have to celebrate this blogging birthday with a cake today. I love mangoes and when I saw this cake at Evolving Tastes I knew I had to make it once. I love the taste of this cake, but it reminds me more of a rava mango halwa, than a mango cake... Hey but if you like sweets and like mangoes, you will enjoy it, after all whats in a name!

Ingredients

2 and 1/2 cup suji/rava
3 cups Mango pulp ( I used store bought Kesar Mango pulp)
1/2 cup Butter (melted)
1/2 cup sugar
2 and 1/2 tea spoon baking powder
1 tea spoon ground cardamom
handful of raisins and cashew nut (optional)

How To
This is a super easy recipe. Mix the dry ingredients separately from the wet ones initially. You don't need a mixie or a beater.
Then combine all the ingredients together and set aside for 10-15 min.
Pre heat oven to 375 F.
Pour the batter into a baking pan and bake the cake for 25-30 min.

Note
This measurement made 1 big cake and 6 cup cakes.
As suggested by Evolving Tastes in the comments below, please use fine suji for a cake like texture.
My cake was over-baked and less sweet. So keep an eye on the cake, once done remove from the oven. It should be a nice golden yellow color cake.
My cake was slightly less sweet, so I sprinkled some powdered sugar. You can add an orange glaze.
I also tried mine with hazel nut spread! I found it divine - you tell me how you enjoyed it ?

My cup cake with icing sugar dusting and hazel nut spread

100th Post : Happy Diwali with sooji nadiya ladoos

2011-10-25T19:20:00.000-07:00

Happy Diwali everyone. Hope you have a great and lovely year ahead, filled with health, wealth and happiness. I know I disappeared since months, but didn't want to not post for diwali! And yes it is double celebration time - my 100th post! Its nearly 3 years since I started and I am very happy to have reached this milestone. I couldn't do it without your support! Enjoy these simple and easy sooji-naadia ladoos or rawa-naariyal laddoos.

Ingredients

1/2 cup lightly roasted rawa or sooji
2 1/2 cups of fresh coconut
1 can of condensed milk (400 gm)
1/2 tea spoon of cardamom powder
handful of raisins

How To

Take a non stick pan and dry roast the sooji for 2-3 minutes on low fire, until it starts changing color. Take out of pan and keep aside.
Take the fresh grated coconut and again dry roast for 5-7 minutes on low heat. Once the wetness of the coconut reduces, remove about 1/2 cup of coconut and keep aside.
Add the condensed milk and keep mixing well to the rest of the coconut in the pan on low fire.
The misture forms a lump in 4-5 min. Add cardamom powder and raisins and remove from heat.
Make balls while still warm, roll in coconut flakes and keep aside. Keep in the refrigerator and enjoy for a week.

HAPPY DIWALI Everyone!

Dahi Baingan

2011-02-08T15:38:00.000-08:00

Well I saw all these New Year resolutions posted I thought to myself - no resolutions, just good intentions - I will post regularly (at least 2 times a month). How difficult can that be ? Hmmm Couldn't even post twice in the 1st month! Well the intentions are still good - so lets see...

Here is one of my favorite comfort food! I can eat Dahi Baingan anytime. The one here is the pure sinful one - deep fried version. I will post a guilt free version, later. While this dish is prepared in most states of India, the Oriya preparation is the one I make. It is very simple and amazingly forgiving - an additional pinch of this or that doesn't affect the overall taste of this dish!

Happy Saraswati Puja everyone!

Ingredients
1 Eggplant
1 cup yogurt - well beaten

1 tea spoon Chili powder
1 tea spoon turmeric powder
1-2 tea spoon of Besan or Maida
1 tea spoon fried Jeera Powder
pinch of black salt (optional)
Salt to taste
1/2 inch grated ginger
1 tea spoon of mustard seeds
2-3 green chillies
sprig of curry leaves

How To
Cut the eggplant into thin long pieces. Sprinkle turmeric powder, chili powder, salt and Besan or Maida. (this prevents the eggplant from being too mushy when fried). Keep aside for 15 minutes.
Heat oil in a frying pan and fry the eggplant pieces to a golden brown color and drain onto a paper towel.
Pour the yogurt into a serving dish and add salt , black salt and fried Jeera powder and mix well. Add water based on the consistency you like. I like mine a little watery...
Heat little oil in a pan and splutter mustard seeds. Add green chillies and grated ginger and curry leaves.
Pour the above fried contents into the yogurt mixture. Add the eggplants to the yogurt mixture. Sprinkle some fried Jeera powder and red chili powder on top and enjoy!

My Baby turns 2

2011-01-01T20:29:00.000-08:00

Yes, can't believe it that my baby (my blog) is growing up! Yes my blog turns 2 today! Happy Birthday - my toddling blog! And Happy New Year everyone. Hoping you had a great New Year bash and wishing everyone a lovely year ahead...

This dish is dedicated to one of my mausi... She makes these awesome chena tarkari, aka Paneer Curry. She makes it so well even without adding ginger and garlic to the curry; and her paneer balls are as smooth as silk. This version I present here is my adaption of her chena tarkari... Hope you enjoy these as much as I do...

Ingredients

For the Paneer balls
1/2 gallon of whole milk (yields about 12-14 paneer balls)
1 lemon or 1/4 cup vinegar to curdle milk
1/4 cup maida
Salt to taste
a pinch of Garam masala
1 cup of oil for deep frying the balls

For the curry
1 big onion chopped finely
1 tea spoon of ginger garlic paste
2 tomatoes - chopped finely or mixed once in the mixie
1/2 tea spoon garam masala
1/2 tea spoon Turmeric powder
1/2 tea spoon Chili powder
1-2 bay leaves
1-2 green chillies (optional)
Salt to taste
1-2 table spoon oil

How To

Make Paneer balls
Boil the milk in a large container. Keep stirring so that it doesn't burn.
Once it boils, add the lemon or vinegar to curdle the milk.
Strain the paneer and remove as much whey as you can from the paneer.
Mix well with maida, salt and garam masala.
Make small balls, flatten against your palm and keep aside.
Deep fry the balls in oil, in small batches until golden brown and keep aside.

Make curry
Put the oil in a large vessel and heat.
Once the oil is hot, add the bay leaves and green chillies. Let it sputter for a minute.
Add onions and fry on low heat until the onions turn golden brown.
At this point, I took the onions out, let it cooled for a few minutes and mixed it well in a food processor to get a smooth paste.
Put the onion paste back into the hot vessel, add the ginger garlic paste and let it cook for a few minutes
Add the turmeric powder and chili powder now and mix well. Add the tomato puree or chopped tomatoes and cook until the oil starts to come out of the sides.
Add the garam masala and a cup of water and let the curry look nice and rich.
Turn off the heat and add the paneer balls.

Tastes awesome with plain rice or Jeera rice. This curry tastes even better the next day!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

2010-12-27T11:56:00.000-08:00

I have been swamped at work and home. Loads of new projects at work and have been busy entertaining friends and family for the last 2 month, every weekend. So there is rarely anytime to take a picture or post something. Even visiting blogs of other friends has been irregular. Here is wishing everyone a great Christmas and a lovely holidays season. I will be back soon and until then, stay warm and enjoy!

Here is a view of the snow covered tree outside our house. We have been covered in snow since yesterday and all traffic in and around has stopped. The 1st snow of the season and we are enjoying it with hot cup of chocolate and garam garam bhajis. How are you enjoying your holidays season ?

Here is also a picture of the ginger-bread house my kids put together. Oh the fun they had and the mess they created!

Also I have been passed on several awards in the last few months. Indrani and Satarupa had passed on the sunshine award. Thanks Indrani and Satarupa! You both are amazing people with such yummy blogs and thanks for thinking of me!

Also tagged by Sayantani. She has an amazing blog and check out the flurry of baking going on her site in the last few weeks. She is in the right Christmas spirit!

Another person who has just had her blog's anniversary and tagged me was Pre. I can spend hours on her blog and facebook page looking through the pictures. Have you seen how she celebrated the blog's 1st birthday ? Now even I wouldn't mind such a celebration!

So every enjoy and see you back soon!

Habisa Dalma

2010-11-21T17:08:00.000-08:00

Today is Kartika Purnima - one of the holiest days of the year, and culminates a whole month of puja in the month of Kartika masa. Lots of Oriya women (not sure if men do it - I have seen grandma, mom and aunts celebrate this month) do not eat non vegetarian for the whole month. Usually they eat once during the day and one of the key item for the meal is Habisa Dalma. Here is my Aunt's version of the habisa dalama that I love. Tomorrow is Chada Khai, the day everyone feasts on non vegetarian food. I have heard the price of mutton goes up 2-3 times for the day - talk about Supply and Demand!

Ingredients
1 cup Mung Dal
1 tin of Jackfruit (non-ripe version)
2 raw bananas - chopped into small pieces
2 Saru or Arbi - peeled and chopped into small pieces
1 table spoon ghee
1 tea spoon cumin seeds
2 red chillies
2 green chillies
2 inch ginger - grated
1 tea spoon of dry cumin seeds roasted and powdered
handful of fresh grated coconut (frozen ones, thawed work fine too)
2-3 bay leaves
Salt to taste

How to
Take a pan and heat it. Add the mung dal and dry roast it until it starts changing color (at very low heat). It takes about 10-12 min.
Remove from heat and soak the dal for 1 hr.
Take a pan, add the dal and salt and 3 times the water and let it boil for 15 min.
If the dal looks a little bit cooked, add the saru and let it cook for a few minutes.
Then add the chopped raw bananas and the cut raw jack-fruit pieces.
Once everything is cooked, adjust salt to taste. (No Tumeric is added to this dal)

Take another pan, add the ghee and let it get hot.
Add the chillies and the cumin seeds, bay leaves and the grated ginger and pour the mixture on the dal.
Add some dry roasted and powdered cumin seeds and fresh grated coconut and mix well in the dal.

Eat fresh or the next day. Add some lemon to enhance the taste of the dalma! As Satarupa says, enjoy this dalma with Arua Bhata (white rice), Aloo Bharta (Mashed potatoes), Saga and khata.

Happy Diwali with Besan Coconut Burfi

2010-11-05T17:09:00.000-07:00

Hello All! A very Happy Diwali! Here is again something sweet and easy to prepare. If you have 1/2hr and want to make a home made sweet for Diwali puja or any puja - this is the sweet for you... It is so easy that I made it for my home science class in 9th grade. I hope you all are having a lovely Diwali with friends and family...

Ingredients

1 cup fresh coconut (or the frozen coconut thawed in microwave for 1 minute)
1 cup Besan
1 cup ghee (you can use oil)
3/4 cup sugar
freshly ground cardamom (3-4 of them)

How to

Mix all the ingredients well, other than the cardamom powder. Once mixed well it will be like a soft dough.
Heat a pan and put the mixture in the pan at low heat and keep mixing well. Once the mixture warms up, loads of ghee will ooze out.
Keep stirring for 8-10 min at low heat, until there is a nice aroma of the besan and it starts changing color.
Add the cardamom powder, mix well and remove from heat onto a well greezed tray. Do not throw out the extra ghee. Cut the mixture into diamond shapes and let it cool. The mixture hardens in 5-8 minutes and all the additional ghee is absorbed and your burfi is ready!

Enjoy it whenever you please!

Easy Breezy Egg-less White Cup Cakes

2010-10-28T19:35:00.000-07:00

Every-time I am off from work, everyone last a list of tasks for me. Hubby wants me to run some chores, my daughter wants me to plan a play-date with one of her friends and my son wants me to cook something special for him (Didn't I tell you - he is a big foodie ?), while I want to laze around all day. Usually my daughter wins and I end up doing something fun for her. This time my son put his foot down, he needed "White cup cakes"! Usually we bake chocolate cup cakes, but some how he is bored of them and I had to make something "special" for him.

So I took the easy way out, took my usual chocolate cup cake recipe and skipped the chocolate and add a little bit extra milk and I was done. Also I used the self rising flour and so the cake fluffed up with barely any work on anyone's side! Isn't that a nice project to be done with a young one ? And you should have seen his smile when he saw the puffed up cup cakes in the oven - surely worth the effort (and more) !
Also we tried chocolate chip cookies with this self rising flour and it was a disaster! I guess the lesson is, stick to cakes and cup cakes while using self rising flour!

Ingredients
3 cups of Self rising flour
1/2 cup butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cups milk
2 tea spoon of vanilla extract
pinch of salt
some chopped nuts or chocolate chip cookies to decorate (optional - my kids didn't allow me to add it)

How To
Pre-heat the oven to 350*F
Mix the dry ingredients (flour and salt) well.
In a bowl, mix the butter and sugar until the mixture changes color. Add the milk and flour alternately to the sugar-butter mixture. Beat well after each addition. Once everything is added, add the vanilla extract and mix well.
Pour into paper lined cup-cake tins and bake for 20-25 min until the tooth-pick inserted comes out clean.
Let it cool a little but, before you dig in!

Enjoy it warm off the oven! If you have any left over for the next day, warm it for 10 seconds in the microwave and Enjoy!

Dahi Bara and Aloo dum and Ghuguni

2010-10-12T19:51:00.000-07:00

You talk to any Cuttacki (Cuttack is the place where I grew up in Orissa) and they will swear by their dahi bara, aloo dum and ghughuni chat! Ofcourse each local region will have its own favorite. Some will swear by Eshwara's dahi bara, aloo dum and ghughuni chat, while other's will only touch Raghu's dahi bara and Aloo dum and others are purists who love their chandi chowk's dahi bara!

Durga Puja times brings nostalgia and somehow food figures high on my list of happy times during puja. While I cannot claim this dahi bara, aloo dum or ghughuni is authetic, it does get me to a happy mood! My cousin E and her hubby were coming over for lunch and we enjoyed this cuttacki feast! The yummy Aloo dum was made my little sister - and it was real yum.

Pree - this post was inspired by your event Beyond Five Days of Durga Puja.

For the ghughuni recipe, you can look at my mom's here, or just make your own! While I am not sure of the details on how my sister made the Aloo Dum, you can try a simpler version here.

Ingredients
For the Bara
Urad Dal - 1 cup soaked overnight
fist ful of chana dal soaked overnight with the urad dal
2 -3 green chillies
bunch of coriander leaves
1 inch of ginger - cut into thin slices
Salt to taste
Oil for frying

For the Dahi (Yogurt mixture)
Yogurt - 1 cup
Water - 1 cup (adjust consistency based on taste).
2 table spoon Grated Ginger
1-2 Green chillies cut into thin slices
Black Salt to taste
Sat to taste
Fried and ground cumin seeds
Oil for seasoning
Curry leaves
1 teaspoon of Mustard seeds
pinch of hing

How To make the Dahi Bara
Soak the urad Dal and chana dal over night.
Grind to a rough paste along with the ginger slices, chillies and coriander leaves.
Mix Salt and leave aside in a warm place for 6-8 hrs. (Tip : If in India don't mix salt and leave aside , it is too warm and the Bara becomes too sour. Add salt only before deep frying)

Just before deep frying, get the dahi mixture ready. It is simple, beat the yogurt with salt and black salt.
Once it is a smooth paste, add water and cumin powder and grated ginger and chillies. Taste at this point and adjust any of the above as per your liking.

Season the dahi mixture. Take a small pot, and heat oil in it. Add mustard seeds and hing and curry leaves and pour into the dahi mixture...

Now before you fry the baras, you need to follow one more step. Get a big bowl, fill with warm water and add a pinch of salt and sugar and lemon juice to it.

Once your fry your baras, dung them in this warm water for a few minutes before transferring them to the dahi mixture. This steps keeps the bara's soft and drains out some of the excess oil.

Now the fun starts with dahi baras, eat them as is or make a chat with adding some cuttacki bara maja (mixture - haldiram's will do, if you can't lay your hands on the original ones), and onions and imli chutney. Look at mine above!

Or eat it as chat with Aloo Dum and Ghughuni. I love my Dahi Bara with Aloo Duma and Ghuguni with chopped onions! How do you like yours ?

Paneer Mattar Masala

2010-09-28T18:17:00.000-07:00

This month has been a busy month. We have had friends and cousins from India every weekend. This weekend I had my husband's Uncle and Aunt from India. His Aunt is an expert cook and I had to make something special. So I tried this paneer mattar masala from another expert's blog - Rak's blog. The paneer turned out creamy and yummy and we all enjoyed it immensely.

The recipe I followed was quite close to what was on Rak's blog. I just skipped the yogurt and lemon bit! Also the step by step pictures, helped me not burn the onions - key to a yummy gravy!

Sending this recipe off to Priya's every tuesday book-marked event.

Ingredients
1 packet of Paneer - defrosted

1/2 cup of Frozen Peas
2 Tomatoes - diced
3 Green chillies
1 tea spoon of Ginger garlic paste
1/2 tea spoon of Red chili powder
1 tea spoon of Dhaniya powder
1/2 tea spoon of Turmeric powder
pinch of Garam masala powder
Coriander leaves for garnishing
Salt to taste
2 tablespoon of oil

To Fry and grind to a paste
2 Onion - sliced
1 small Cinnamon
2 Elachi/cardamom
2 cloves
4-5 Pepper
1 tea spoon of oil or ghee

How To

Heat a pan with oil and add the cinnamon, elachi, cloves and pepper.
The add onion and fry till golden brown. Ensure it doesn't burn. (Look at the pictures on her site to know when to stop frying the onions). Cool and grind into a smooth paste.
Shallow fry the frozen paneer with a little bit of oil until it turns golden brown. Remove and keep aside.
Heat a pan, add oil. Once the oil is hot, add green chilies and then ginger garlic paste. Fry for 2 minutes and then add the onion paste from above and let it simmer at low heat for 10-12 min. Keep stirring the paste every few minutes. Keep doing this until oil comes out from the mixture.
Add the salt and red chili powder and dhaniya powder and mix well.

After this add the diced tomatoes and cook well. Add garam masala. Cook until the tomatoes are mushy.
Add the frozen peas and the paneer cook for a few minutes.
Adjust spice level and garnish with coriander leaves. Add some water if you like gravy in your paneer curry.
I love my paneer curry, the next day. You can enjoy it same day or warmed the next day!

Panasa (Jackfruit) cutlets

2010-09-12T20:10:00.000-07:00

Here is panasa cutlet that was made by Sasu (who I would say is the queen of cutlets- she makes them all and makes them awesome). See my earlier post on Soya cutlet and Fish cutlet, to see what I mean.

Most of the cutlets are similar, but each tastes unique.. This made from fresh jack fruit, tastes just as good as mutton cutlets. No fresh jackfruit, no worries, use the canned ones - they state yummy too!

My in-laws had a huge jackfruit tree in their backyard. So summer months, they had load of panasa delicacies. So while both the sons (my husband and his younger brother) sat reminiscing their childhood days with mom, they remembered this cutlet. My Sasu made this as a farewell dinner for her sons, as she left for India yesterday.

Ingredients

1 can of raw Jackfruit (or panasa in Oriya)

4 small potatoes (peeled)

2-3 green chillies chopped

1 large Onion finely chopped

2 tea spoon of ginger-garlic paste

handful of peanuts (optional)

1 tea spoon of garam masala

1 spring of coriander leaves cut finely (optional)

Salt to taste

Bread Crumbs - as needed

1 cup of Besan

Oil for deep frying

How To

Boil the jackfruit with potatoes and salt until they turn mushy. Once the mixtures cools down, mash the 2 together.

In a nonstick pan fry Onion and ginger-garlic for 2 minutes. Add the peanut and fry well.

Then add the mashed jackfruit and potatoes mashed mixture and fry for 1-2 minutes.

Add the garam masala and salt if needed. Mix well and let it cool.

Add the coriander leaves and green chillies and mix well.

In a separate bowl, take the besan, a pinch of salt and pinch of garam masala and mix well.

Add water to make a thick batter and mix well to ensure there are no lumps.

After the jacfruit and potatoes mixture cools, take small portions and shape into oval cutlets.

Dip them in besan batter then roll them in bread crumbs and keep aside.

Fry them and eat them hot off the plate. Enjoy with mint chutney!

Summer fun with orange (color)

2010-09-01T18:37:00.000-07:00

Its end of summer and wow what a fun filled time it was. Evenings were fun and sunny and warm and spent in the parks or beach. The kids got a restful summer doing nothing and it is all coming to an end. Summer here reminds me of grilled corn and lemonade (kids love making it)... Of course cannot imagine summer without mangoes. So here is my ode to summer color - orange!

The orange juice is freshly squeezed by my kids. Add a pinch of salt to enhance the flavor of the juice. And if the orange is too sour - add a spoonful of sugar and mix well and serve!

The mango ice-cream was made for family friends who have a sweet tooth and are borderline diabetics. So certainly not a very healthy choice but they really enjoyed it. The ice-cream I initially served to them was not really sweet, so I had to add some honey to it while I ate it. I have added some sugar to the recipe here (adjust to taste - since I am putting approximate amounts here). I also made mango milk shake with dollops of the mango ice-cream and it was heavenly...

Ingredients for the mango ice-cream

1 can of unsweetened condensed milk
1 can of mango slices (you can use the sugar syrup if you want, I didn't)
1/2 can of evaporated milk
1/4 cup sugar (optional - use any sweetener of your choice)
1/4 cup of fresh mango sliced into small pieces

How To

Mix the condensed milk, mango slices, evaporated milk, sugar using a blender. Do it in batches if needed.
Put in a container and freeze for 2 hours. Take it out, break the ice crystals and re-freeze. Take it out after an hour, break the mixture again, add the mango slices and put it back to freeze. Let it freeze for 2-4 hrs (depending on the size of the container). Serve chilled!

Enjoy as ice-cream or mix well with milk and enjoy as a mango milkshake!

International Ghanta

2010-08-15T07:29:00.000-07:00

Don't ask me why the name of the dish! This is what we kids used to call this at home - 'International Ghanta'. Maybe it was all the vegetables that was put in it.

Growing up, I used to hate this being made or served at home. Now I think it is a delicacy and prepare for special occasions. As I was talking earlier, my Sasu had gone to visit relatives. The day she came back, I had made this ghanta and tomato khata and dalma, another typical oriya meal. We all had a nice meal together. And yes one of the few meals that I have cooked in the last few months. I have been enjoying the summer and spending time with the kids after work, no major cooking for me! And yes summer is going to end soon and my sasu will be leaving soon too! Sigh!

This is very similar to another ghanta post, I have. Infact the ingredient list is very similar. The only difference is that this was made with Onion garlic and the taste of the dishes (with or without onion garlic) is way different from the earlier ghanta!

Also sending this ghanta to Priya's event 'Lets sprout' . And a very Happy Independence day! Don't the colors of the veggies remind you of the Indian flag ?

Ingredients

1/2 cup of thinly chopped onions

1/2 cup of diced Potatoes

1 cup of diced Yellow Pumpkin

1/2 cup of Eggplant cut into large chunks

1/4 cup Yam (or saru)

1/3 cup Green beans (use string beans if you have them)

1/2 cup of diced Carrots

1/2 cup of diced Radish

1/2 cup of cut green papaya

few dried mango pieces (ambula)

1 handful of yellow peas soaked in water (2-3 hours)

2 hand full of chick peas (soak and keep for sprouting the day before)

1 handful of Desi Channa (soak and keep for sprouting the day before)

1 handful of green mung Dal (soak and keep for sprouting the day before)

1 tsp of punch puran seeds

1 table spoon of ginger garlic paste

2-3 tablespoon of fried Cumin powder (if freshly roasted and ground then better)

Fresh Coriander leaves

4-5 Red Chillies

4-5 bay leaves

Turmeric powder to taste

Salt to taste

Oil for cooking (you can use ghee if you want too)

Coconut pieces or shredded coconut (optional) - about handful

Ghee - 2 tea spoon (optional)

How to

Put 2-3 table spoon of oil in a frying pan and put the panch phuran seeds and let them splutter.

Add the bay leaves and the red chillies and fry for 1/2 min. Add the onion and fry until it starts changing color.

Add the vegetables that take time to cook (like papaya and radish first). Also add the sprouts and green and yellow peas. And salt and turmeric powder. Cover and cook for 5 min.

Add the ginger-garlic paste and all all other vegetables (other than eggplant and ambula).

Cover and cook in slow fire for about 45-50 min (depending on the quantity of vegetables). Keep mixing and checking every 3-4 minutes.

When all the vegetables are nearly cooked, add eggplant and cook for a few minutes. Add the ambula and ghee and fried cumin powder and cover after turning off the stove.

Garnish with cut corainder leaves and fresh grated coconut (both are optional) and serve.

Summer feast with Pakhala Bhata

2010-07-31T20:20:00.000-07:00

Sorry guys for disappearing for ages... As everyone would have figured out, I am not the most organized person here. So though I love challenges, and new stories/opportunities, they do throw my schedule completely haywire. Suddenly got an opportunity to go Japan for work. Didn't think before saying yes... Of course craziness started after that. All the preparation at work for the trip was keeping me tied up and then home front was busier. Leaving the 2 kids home with MIL was a challenge. I was leaving home without the kids for the 1st time in 9 yrs and it was very different routine for everyone. I think it was toughest on my older one, my little one was happy with extra TV time and pizza for any meals he chose!

After coming back, there have been other challenges. My MIL had to go meet some relatives and in the mean while, nanny decided to quit. It was craziness at it peak. Finally last Sunday, after we found a nanny and MIL came back, she prepared this pakhala feast for me. This meal was the perfect meal to ground me and bring me back home. A meal to be enjoyed over good conversation at leisure. Pakhala bhata is a day old rice soaked in water with some water, yogurt, salt and green chilies. If you don't have yogurt, substitute with lemon or use both lemon and yogurt. It is favored by everyone in Orissa, especially in Summer.

So here is my pakhala bhata with a whole plate full of side dishes. This is how pakhala is enjoyed with several side dishes like Badi chura, Bhaja Santula, Pickles, Aloo Bharta. Make sure crush the green chilies in the rice and water and enjoy! Only thing missing was the fish fry, which usually accompanies a bowl of pakhala. And after eating such a meal, you need a sound round of siesta! So enjoy this feast and see you back soon!

And enjoy some pictures from Tokyo.....

Happy Raja with Stuffed Idlis

2010-06-14T18:01:00.000-07:00

Today is the start of Raja festival for Oriyas. It is a special occasion for girls. Girls get to wear new clothes and spend time with friends - dancing, singing and swinging. Lots of adhoc swings (ropes hung out from tall trees) come up during this time. There is a lot of pithas (Oriya sweets) made during these 3 days of Raja celebration. This is my simple recipe to celebrate this great festival.

Ingredients
Urad Dal - 1 cup
Idli Rice - 1 cup
Salt to taste

For the filling
2 tablespoon of paneer (fresh, home made paneer)
2 tablespoon of gur/brown sugar (sugar will work too)
1 tablespoon of shredded coconut
1 pod of elaichi

How To
Soak the Ural dal and Idli rice overnight. Grind it and leave it for few hours for it to ferment.

Mix the paneer, brown sugar, shredded coconut and elaichi well. You can cook on the stove top for a few minutes. I just microwaved it for 2 minutes.

Pour the batter into the mold. Add the filling on the top and steam the idlis as required for regular idlis.

Serve fresh. It tastes great with warm milk too.

Saaga of saga or spinach

2010-06-03T18:05:00.000-07:00

When I was a youngster, we used to live in government quarters with a huge garden. Dad was in the Orissa government service and while I guess we never had a lot of money, we did have load of fresh vegetables from the garden. And I hated all veggies other than a chosen few. When we visited friends or relatives, my mom would pack 1 or 2 huge bags (depending on the size of the visiting family) of fresh vegetables for them. While others would get sweets or fruits as gifts, ours was always these fresh vegetables and don't ask me how embarrassed I was! I couldn't imagine then why my mom would carry such gifts (Of course it was economical for my mom and tasty for the visiting family - but it was well beyond my comprehension!). When we moved out of the big house with the garden to a small house with no garden, thats when I saw the the anguish of my mom when she bought dried, not fresh vegetables at atrocious prices.

Here is a quick saga (any green leafy vegetable - my mother in law has used spinach here) with additional vegetables that is made commonly in Oriya household. The choice of vegetables is up to what is available, but these are the ones usually used. Sending this to Preeti's green gourmet event, though there is nothing gourmet about it!

Ingredients
Green leafy vegetable like spinach - a whole big bunch washed and cleaned and cut
1 small eggplant cut into small pieces
1/2 cup of pumpkin cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon of panch phutan
2 red chillies
2 tablespoon of oil/ghee
handful of badis (optional)
Salt to taste

How To
Take a pan and fry the badis in hot oil. Move the hot badis into a paper towel to drain the oil.
Take a bigger pan and add the oil. Once the oil is hot add the panch phutan and red chillies.
Add the pumpkin and salt and fry for few minutes. Then add the eggplant and cool on high heat for 2 minutes.
Then add the spinach leaves and let the spinach wilt and let the vegetables get cooked.
Once everything is cooked, adjust the salt and add the fried badis an serve.

Tips:

The Badis need to be added just before serving. It is optional and can be left out if you don't have it.

You can make this with ghee too, it tastes even better.

Mandira Randha Ghee Anna or Ghee Rice

2010-05-20T17:53:00.000-07:00

Here I present Ghee rice (Mandira means temple and randha is cooked) as cooked in Orissa temples. Rice served in temples is usually called Ghee Anna. When I was in Orissa this time, we had several trips to temples and ate lunches at those temples. The simplicity of this satvik food - rice, daal and mixed vegetable is awesome. We had some friends over last weekend at very short notice. Since my mother in law doesn't eat onions, garlic on Sundays, she prepared this simple prasad food. Unfortunately everything else got over, so I couldn't take pictures, so here I present the Ghee rice.

Ingredients
2 cups of cooked Rice
2-3 Bay leaves
handful of cashew nuts and raisins
1 tablespoon of ghee
1 tea spoon of Jeera or Cumin Seeds
1 tea spoon of lemon juice
Salt to taste (optional)

How To
Cook Rice with a little bit of salt (Salt is optional). Make sure the rice is not over done.
Heat a pan. Add ghee and bay leaves and the nuts and the cumin seeds.
Once the seeds splutter, add the raisins and take off the heat.
Add the lemon juice to the rice and add the seasoning from above and mix well and serve fresh.

The food from the temples comes in clay pots and hence the inspiration to serve in this coconut shaped serving dish...

Badi Chura

2010-05-04T07:41:00.000-07:00

I know the Oriya food veterans will laugh at this post. Anyone and everyone can make this badi chura. It is a constant fixture in Oriya meals, especially with pakhala (rice with water combination - about which I have to post one day).
Badi is dried lentils and is usually made in fall and stored away for the year. It comes in handy as a quick side dish when you have to put a meal together in a jiffy. Here is a link to Sharmila's site on what Badi's look like and how they can be made in an oven.

Ingredients
Few Badis
1 small onion chopped
few green chillies chopped
a couple of crushed garlic
salt
1 tea spoon Oil for frying the badis

How To
Heat the oil in a pan and shallow fry the badis and keep aside.
Just before serving, mix the rest of the ingredients and serve.
The crunch of the badi with the smell of garlic and onions is therapeutic.

Yummy Soy Cutlets

2010-04-17T06:51:00.000-07:00

Sorry for disappearing since such a long time. I had some major work that was supposed to finish mid March but it continued for ever...In the meanwhile my mother in law is here and as I have said earlier she is the queen of cutlets. So to introduce her arrival, here is one of the cutlets that she makes. It is healthy if you bake it or shallow fry it - the ones here has been deep fried! Enjoy!

Ingredients
2 cups of soy chunks
1/4 cup milk for soaking the soy chunks

1 tea spoon of Chili powder
4 large Potato boiled and skin peeled off and mashed
1 large Onion finely chopped
2 tea spoon of ginger-garlic paste
1 tea spoon of garam masala
1 spring of coriander leaves cut finely (optional)
Salt to taste

Bread Crumbs - as needed
1 cup of Besan
Oil for deep frying

How To
Soak the soy chunks in water and milk for few hours. After that squueze the water out and grind in a food processor to get minced soy. Now if you have minced soy, you don't have to do any grinding and the cutlets turn out much crisper!

In a nonstick pan fry Onion and ginger-garlic for 2 minutes.
Then add the minced soy and fry on slow fire for 8-10 minutes. At this point, you will see the minced soy turning slighly brown. (Dont burn it though!)
Add the garam masala and chili powder and mashed potatoes and salt to taste.
At the end add the coriander leaves and mix well and take off the stove and let it cool.

In a separate bowl, take the besan, a pinch of salt and pinch of garam masala and mix well.
Add water to make a thick batter and mix well to ensure there are no lumps.
After the soy and potatoes mixture cools, take small portions and shape into oval cutlets.
Dip them in besan batter then roll them in bread crumbs and keep aside.

I usually keep the cutlets in the refrigerator and deep fry as many as you need just before serving them. The cutlets stay fresh in the refrigerator for about 4-5 days before deep frying or baking.

If you make them, get your friends to guess the ingredients. It will be a fun game. If you love mutton cutlets, these soy cutlets remind you of them! If you are vegetarian, you will still enjoy them and get some healthy soy in too....

Coconut Chutney

2010-03-01T05:31:00.000-08:00

I know everyone knows how to make coconut chutney, but then every-time I eat it at someone's house it tastes different. I love the subtle difference that everyone's cooking has that makes this experience so unique and yummy. This is my Mom's time tested method of making chutney. Sometimes when I am health conscious, I skip the coconut from the chutney. Though it still tastes good, its heavenly with the coconut only.

Though I love this chutney, it is made sparingly in my place. Do you see the picture in the side, well look at the proportion of the chutney to the upma.The whole bowl was cleaned out by my hubby and me in one sitting. So I prefer to make the coconut chutney only when we have guests over.

And Happy Holi everyone!

Ingredients

1 cup frozen coconut flakes
2 small green chillies - chopped
1 teaspoon ginger - grated
1/4 cup channa dal
salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon channa dal
1-2 green chillies
2 to 3 curry leaves
1 teaspoon oil

How To

Roast the channa dal in a dry pan on slow fire until it turns slightly brown.
Soak the dal in water for 2 hrs.
Put the coconut, green chillies, ginger, roasted channa dal and salt in a blender with a little water and grind to make a coarse paste. Keep aside.
Take a pan and heat the oil.
Add the mustard seeds, channa dal, green chili and curry leaves and stir until the mustard seeds splutter. Pour this tempering over the chutney and enjoy.

Sprouted Fenugreek seeds curry

2010-02-22T07:18:00.000-08:00

Haven't you heard it all the time time - 'All Good things must come to an end'. Well thats my feeling now. My awesome Nanny who makes these Sprouted Methi seeds and other stuff is leaving. She has some personal reasons and will quit next month. Well - what do I say? I am still in shock. After getting pampered to good food and awesome care of my little one, she is moving on. Soon my search for another nanny will start and I don't know what/who I will meet. I hope it is someone who is as patient as this Nanny with my kids.So here is a curry that she makes
with Sprouted Methi seeds. She adds a lot of tomatoes and chili powder to balance the bitterness of the fenugreek. My husband really enjoys this curry!

Sending this sprouted methi seeds curry also to SE's cooking with seeds event

Ingredients
1 cup Sprouted Methi seeds - see how to here
1 big onion - chopped
1 tea spoon of ginger garlic paste
1 large boiled potato- cubed
1 large onion - diced
1 table spoon oil
Salt to taste
1 tea spoon Turmeric powder
1-2 tea spoon Chili powder

How To
Wash the sprouted methi seeds well and let the water drain.
Put some oil in a pan. Once it is hot, add diced onions and fry.
Once the onion changes color, add the ginger garlic paste and the turmeric and chili powder.
Mix well and fry until the oil leaves the sides.
Add the tomatoes and the boiled potatoes and salt and cook for a few minutes.
Add the sprouted methi seeds and cook for a few minutes, until it softens and serve hot.
You can add some garam masala, but she doesn't like adding it to this curry.

Enjoy and wish me luck with the Nanny search!

Happy Valentine's day

2010-02-14T17:05:00.000-08:00

Hope you all had a lovely time celebrating this Valentine's day. My husband doesn't believe in such celebrations and over time I have also given up. But now the kids make projects from school and want to do something special. So we end up baking cookies or doing something together, mom and kids. So we made these chocolate cup cakes and chewy chocolatey cookies, but the cookies didn't look so good. They tasted good, but I had to think of something else to post for the V Day.

So here is a quick project that my 3 year old son and I put together. We had great fun putting it together and the kids had fun eating off the toothpicks, but no one touched the yummy gooey chocolate. So I took a spoon and finished it off later!

Have a fun time with friends, family and your love!

Ingredients
Fruits of your choice
toothpicks
some chocolate melted (optional)
loads of love

How to
Wash the fruits, cut and string on a toothpick. Dip in melted chocolate (optional) or eat directly off the toothpick! Enjoy!

Sprouted Fenugreek seeds

2010-02-08T18:17:00.000-08:00

I know I haven't been regular here. Its the usual excuses, too much work and stress and work and and so on and on. When I saw the event on fenugreek seeds, I knew I had to come out of hibernation and post. My Nanny makes these sprouted methi seeds every other week. She sprouts the fenugreek seeds and then makes Salad or curry or rice. She loves it and enjoys trying different dishes with it. I rarely eat it since it is too bitter for my taste. But my husband also enjoys the taste. Of course it very good for health too.

Sending this sprouted methi seeds to SE's cooking with seeds event

Ingredients
Water
Fenugreek seeds - 1 handful
Loads of patience

How to
Wash the methi seeds in warm water a couple of times and drain the water.
Put the wet seeds in a glass bowl and cover with a wet paper towel and keep in a warm place.
After 12 hrs, wash the seeds and repeat steps 1 and 2 again.
Wait for 2 to 3 days and your patience will pay off and you will see the nice long sprouts.

These sprouts should be consumed within 1 or 2 days, else they might rot. If you cook them and put in a pulao or curry, they last a week.

Mooli daal

2010-01-13T18:50:00.000-08:00

When I was growing up, I hated veggies. Well who didn't ? Sometimes when my mom would get exasperated, she would try tricks to get me eat my veggies. This one was a favorite of hers - mask the vegetables in dal or rice or mix it with something that I like in small quanties.

This Dal trick is something that I use on my kids too. Basically cut the radish really small (basically grated) and add to nearly cooked arhar dal towards the end. One thing that gives this trick away is the strong smell of the boiled radish. So if you really plan to trick your kid to try it, make sure you boil the Dal and radish long before the kids come back from school. Also my usual dal tadkas do not have any ghee it, but this needs a generous amount of ghee.

Here is a copy of the recipe as written out by her in my recipe book.in the background of the picture....

Ingredients
1 small cup of Arhar/Toor Dal washed and soaked for a couple of hours
1 to 1-1/2 cup of grated Radish or mooli (I cut it larger for the picture here, it shouldn't be so large)
2 tea spoon ghee
2 tea spoon whole cumin seeds
pinch of hing
3-4 green chilies
handful of coriander leaves
Salt to taste

How To
Boil the arhar dal with salt and water. When it is nearly cooked, add grated radish and cook until both are cooked and mixed well.
Take a small separate pan, heat it and add ghee to it.
Once it is hot, add green chilies, cumin seeds and Hing. Pour on the dal.
Garnish with coriander leaves.

Enjoy with rice or roti and feel gleeful if your kid slurps it up and asks for me. If your kid doesn't like it, there is always a next time!

Dahi Bhindi (Okra in yogurt sauce)

2010-01-08T18:41:00.000-08:00

My brother in law was over here for the Christmas holidays. Since he is a bachelor and has to cook and feed himself, he really looks forward to good home cooked food. While I am no match to my mother in law's skills, I do try to make him few things that he enjoys and are easy to make. While the kids get spoilt by Uncle, he relishes some of the typical Oriya dishes. Dahi Bhindi is an all time favorite of mine.

But I don't usually prepare Dahi Bhindi at home, since hubby is not that fond of it. But everyone enjoyed this this fried Okra in spicy yogurt sauce.

Ingredients

Okra with both ends chopped off - about 2 cups
1 cup of yogurt
1 tea spoon of mustard seeds
2-3 green chilies
handful of curry leaves
2-3 big garlic cloves grated/chopped
1-2 tea spoon of fried cumin seeds powder
pinch of black salt
salt to taste
1 tea spoon of oil

How To

Take a pan and heat oil in it. Once the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds, green chilies, grated/chopped garlic and the curry leaves.
Mix well and add the Okra and salt and cover and cook for 7-8 minutes until the Okra is soft.
Add the chopped/grated garlic and curry leaves and cook for 1 minute.
You can add some red chili powder now.
Take the yogurt, beat it well and add to the okra (after the okra has become colder).
Sprinkle dry roasted cumin powder (freshly ground) and black salt and serve.

Celebration with fruit cake

2010-01-01T19:07:00.000-08:00

New Years time always puts me in a nostalgic frame of mind. I somehow always remember the good old days when I was young - really young. My dad was a fun loving person. He loved movies, Hindi movies. I have been watching Hindi movies since I was a year old I guess. Every Wednesday (or at least most Wednesdays) we would go to see a Hindi movie in the evening. Those were the days when there was no TV at home and so it used to be an evening to look forward to. During the intermission of the movie, papa would get a cold drink for me. After the movie, sometimes we went to eat chat! Life was so simple and blissful.

So here is to a simple and blissful fruit cake. Enjoy it when you want. It is easy to make though takes long to bake. And this fruit cake celebrates my 1st anniversary in the blog sphere. Again I feel blogging is a simple pleasure of my life and I am glad to be doing it, very therapeutic after a stressful day job. Thanks to everyone who listens to my ramblings here and also provides their thoughts comments. Your words and advise keeps me going.

Here is to sweet and lovely New Year - 2010.

Ingredients

1 cup butter

1 1/2 cups sugar

4 eggs separated

2 cups of candied fruit (tuti frutti)

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup cashews

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

2 tea spoon of baking powder

1 tea spoon vanilla essence (optional)

1/2 cup orange juice

How To
Soak the candied fruit in orange juice overnight.

Preheat oven to 275 degrees F. Place a small pan of water in the oven.
Line one loaf pan and 1 small cake pan with aluminium foil. Grease it well.

Mix the flour with baking powder. (this is my 3 yr son's favorite job. I start with more than 2 cups of flour and end up with about 2 cups after he is done mixing/playing/throwing...).

Break the cashews into smaller pieces (this is also a job my son loves, wonder how much of it eats while breaking them)

In a large bowl, mix butter and sugar. (it doesn't have to beaten in a food processor as shown on food TV. Mix well with hand for 5 min).

But the egg whites have to be beaten well as shown on food TV. [This is where you get your family members to help - if you don't have an electric beater. You make it a family project. I do - since I don't have the electric beater and I think we all have loads of fun doing it]

Stir in beaten egg yolks and the soaked fruits and cashew and vanilla essence.

Fold in the flour into the batter. Add the additional juice left over from the soaked fruits, if needed.

Pout the batter into the pans and fill them 2/3 full.

Bake for 1 hr and then cover the cake with aluminum foil and bake for 1 more hours until golden brown.

Check if the cake is done by using the toothpick inserted in the center to check if it comes out clean.

Once baked, let the cake cool for 5 minutes, before diving in...

Sweet memories and savory baby corn snack

2009-12-30T06:05:00.000-08:00

If I said I had fun on my India tip it would be an understatement. I didn't realize when the 2 weeks flew by. Adding to the short trip was a wedding to attend. We had loads of fun at the wedding. My cousin who was getting married had arranged for several fun evenings. Every evening was a party and the day times were endless trips to the temples or peoples houses. My daughter who was attending a wedding for the 1st time had a whale of a time. Here is a picture of her colorful mehndi hand.

Ofcourse I found time to read some of the latest (maybe not so latest anymore) - Chetan Bhagat books. The '2 States' was hilarious though slightly predictible.

After coming back, I have been so swamped that there is no time to click, post or blog hop. Ofcourse cooking/eating and surviving is still happening. Chinese baby corn is a quick recipe and goes well as a snack or a side dish. Enjoy this and have a safe and Happy New Year!

Ingredients

Baby corn - 1 packet

2-3 Green chili (optional)
4-5 grated garlic (or chopped into small pieces)

Salt to taste

1 table spoon of Oil
1 table spoon vinegar

1 table spoon soy sauce

1 table spoon chili sauce

How to

In a large bowl, mix the mushrooms, salt, corn starch, besan and ginger garlic paste and leave aside for 1/2 hr.

In a separate bowl, heat oil and deep fry the above mushrooms in slow fire and then keep aside.

In a pan, put oil and add the green chili and then the baby corn. Fry for about 10 min on low fire, until the baby corn is cooked through but still crunchy (taste it - that's the best way to figure out whether it is cooked enough or not). Add the garlic, sauces and salt and take off the stove.

Serve hot with chinese fried rice or noodles.

Vanishing act with the Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (Eggless)

2009-11-19T03:42:00.000-08:00

All, thanks for the support for my disastrous day last week. Well my Nanny is back and life is back to normal. I am posting this sweet post to announce my short trip home. I am so excited - 2 weeks in India after full 2 years. I also have a cousin's marriage to attend too, so it is a super duper exciting time for me. This will be the 1st Indian marriage my daughter will attend and she is so excited, all plans being made about Mehndi and jewelery and dresses and lehngas. I wonder what all I have to worry about when it is her turn!

So to celebrate my shorting vanishing act from this blogoshere, here are these yummy vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. You can find the original recipe here. I got the recipe from the lid of the Oatmeal box and I have tried it several times. The key change to the original recipe is that I didn't use eggs and instead some milk and it still turned out yum. It was my son's idea to add the M&Ms. My son eats it hot off the oven. My daughter who neither likes the raisins nor the oatmeal loves this cookie too...

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter at room temperature
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour (atta)
2 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
2 cups old fashioned Oats
1 cup of raisins
few M&Ms
1/2 cup milk

How To

Heat oven to 350°F.
In large bowl, mix butter and sugars well until creamy.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt; mix well.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Add oats and raisins; mix well.
If the mixture is too stiff, add milk. I added about 1/2 cup milk.
Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake 10 - 12 minutes or until light golden brown.
Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; add the M&Ms if you want and bake for 1 extra minute.
Remove from oven and cool completely.

Enjoy the cookies hot off the oven with a nice cup of tea!

Comfort Food - Aloo Bharta with Curd Rice

2009-11-16T15:04:00.000-08:00

It was one of the days when you feel you have woken up on the wrong side of the bed. I was already late to drop my daughter to school, when my Nanny said she was feeling really unwell and needed to take off. I called the backup care and there was no slot available. And of course I had back to back calls from 9 AM. Hubby had already left for work and was 2 hrs away, so there was no point asking him to come back. Frantically called back the daycare and pleaded and called the boss left him a message, then daycare guys call back and agree to take him in in. I quickly get my son ready and the nanny ready and drop them all off and attend few meetings, when I get a call from the daycare. They had beef in the menu, and so I had to get him something else for lunch. So I picked him, fed him lunch and when I was dropping him off again, he throws up - on me! I guess you get the thread of the story - yes it pretty much was a stressful day for me. Finally at 3, I have to leave to get home in time to pick up my daughter from school.

While kids played, the focus shifted to food and I needed some comfort food. I had food in the refrigerator from the weekend, but no that wouldn't work. I needed something different. So thats when I made this ultimate comfort food, Curd rice and Aloo Bharta (Mashed potatoes - I guess!)
You must be thinking that she is crazy to have clicked pictures when the day was so crazy. The pictures were taken earlier, when the day was not so crazy but the food was the same.

So enjoy the food and wish that I remember to get off the bed on the correct side next time...

There is not much to these recipes, they are more of comfort food. Make sure you add enough salt and don't burn the seasonings and it tastes good...

Ingredients for the Aloo Bharta (Mashed potatoes)
2-3 large potatoes boiled with the skin
2-3 green chillies chopped finely
1 large onion chopped
spoonful of punch phutan
1 tea spoon of mustard oil
Salt to taste

How To
Peel the skin of the potatoes and mash well.
Take the oil in a pan and heat well. (use regular oil if you like. I like mine in mustard oil)
Add the panch phutan and chillies and onions. Mix well.
Add the potatoes and the salt and mix well.

Serve hot with cold yogurt rice - yum!

Ingredients for the curd rice
1 cup of Cooked rice
1/2 cup yogurt
1/4 inch of ginger - grated
few green chilies
1 tea spoon of oil
handful of curry leaves
1 tea spoon of mustard seeds
Salt to taste

How To
Beat the yogurt with salt and then mix well with rice.
Take a small pan. Heat oil in it. Add mustard seed, curry leaves, green chillies and grated ginger.

Pour on the rice and serve!

Enjoy my comfort food and tell me about yours....

Lau Pachadi

2009-11-11T12:54:00.000-08:00

When I was growing up, there were quite a few vegetables that I ran from. Lau (or Bottle Gourd) was on the top of the list. Then I had radish and green papaya and plantain and bitter gourd. Over the years I have developed a taste for most of the vegetables. But I still can't eat Lau or karela (bitter gourd). Of course my mom has ways of sneaking in these vegetables into my mouth and this preperation is one of them. She made this when she was here and I ate it heartily until she said it was made of Lau... Too late I had already said it was yummy!

And while I dislike Lau, my husband loves it. So we have quite a few preparations of Lau at home. This lau pachadi is a quick win for both of us.

Ingredients
Lau peeled and then grated - about 2 cups
1 cup of yogurt
1 tea spoon of mustard seeds
2-3 green chilies
handful of curry leaves
1 inch of ginger grated
salt to taste
1 tea spoon of oil

How To
Take the bottle gourd peel the skin and grate it to get about 2 cups.
Take a pan and heat oil in it. Once the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds, green chilies, grated ginger and the curry leaves.
Mix well and add the bottle gourd and salt and cover and cook for 7-8 minutes until the water from the lau evaporates.
Take off the heat, add the yogurt and some water and serve.

This goes well with rice and lasts well in the refrigerator.

Kancha Kadali bhaja or plantain fry

2009-11-07T19:40:00.000-08:00

Plantain Fry or Kancha (unripe) Kadali bhaja in Oriya is one more in the back to basics series like the 'Muga Lau Dalma'. Again it is super easy to prepare and can be done very easily within 1/2 hr and with very less ingredients. The key here is not too over cook the plantain, else you have a nice mashed plantain dish.

Plantain is a dish that you need to develop taste for. As a kid I ate it in disguised forms like in cutlets. But slowly over time I have started enjoying it.

Ingredients
2-3 Green Plantain cut into round slices
Red chillies
Punch Phutan
Salt to taste
1 tea spoon of Turmeric powder
1 table spoon of Oil

How To
Boil the plantain in a water and salt and turmeric powder for 10 minutes. Keep an eye, so that plantain is nearly cooked through. This process helps make the cooking faster and allows the dish to use less oil.
Throw the extra water out or use in curries, it has loads of vitamins.
Take another pan. Heat oil in it. Once the oil is hot, add red chillies and punch phutan and the plantains.
Fry for 2-3 minutes to brown the edges and you are done!

Isn't this a life saver in terms of time ? If you don't like plantain, you can cook potatoes in the same way too - uses much less oil.

On another note, the picture in the background is a Patachitra painting from Orissa. These painting are done on special cloth called "Pata" and usually depict Krishna leelas and other folk stories.

Mung Lau Dalma

2009-10-29T18:03:00.000-07:00

After Mom is gone, I am cooking the basics over the weekend and eating through the week. This Mund Daal Dalma is my husband's favorite Dalma. He takes this for lunch atleast once on most weeks. I am not a big fan of Mung Daal or Lau or Lauki... But fried Mung dal changes the flavor of mung and becomes palatable for me too...

Sending this to Think Spice : Think Coriander seeds event , hosted this time at Priya’s easy N tasty recipes, originated at Sunita’s World!

Ingredients
1 cup Mung Daal
1/2 of a lau - chopped into small pieces (about 2 cups)
Salt to taste
1 table spoon of Oil for tempering
1 tea spoon of cumin seeds

2 tablespoon of coriander powder

2-3 red chillies

1 tea spoon of Turmeric powder

How To

Dry roast the Mung Dal in a pan until it changes color to light orange (and gives a nice aroma). Makes sure it doesn't turn completely orange or brown, else you have to start again.

Clean the Mung daal and soak the Dal for few hours (2 should do) in water.

Take a large pan and add oil. Once it gets hot, add red chillies and coriander seeds.

Once the seeds splutter, add the daal and chopped lauki and add the double the quantity of water.

Add salt and turmeric powder and any chili powder that you need, mix well and let it cook for 25-30 min.

After that open the cover, add coriander powder and cook on high heat for about 10-15 min until the water evaporates and the daal thickens.

Usually it takes 40 minutes to get this done and then eat it fresh with rice or pack in your lunch box for next day.

Simple salad with kidney beans

2009-10-23T04:27:00.000-07:00

I hope you all had a happy diwali... We had a great time and made full use of it being on the weekend. In the evening, while I was blog hopping in my Happy Diwali mood, I had a dhamaka of a different kind. I got some spyware on my laptop, inspite of having Mcafee as the anti-virus software. I have tried quite a few things, but now the laptop is unusable. So before I can restage the laptop, my blog hopping will be minimal. Anyone has any tips on how to prevent such spyware attacks in the future? Did you face such problems earlier? What did you do? Please give any suggestions....

Now coming to my salad, this is inspired by our chef in the cafeteria. He served this salad on flat bread and a bed of mixed greens. It was amazingly good... Though I do have the recipe of the flat, I am still to try it out. So this is my version of his salad. You have to like either red kidney beans or goat cheese or both to like this salad. I am not a big fan of red kidney beans, but I still loved the salad enough to try it at home and my husband loves it now...

This chili is for Divya who is hosting JFI-Rajma, event created By Mahanandi.

Ingredients

1 can of Red Kidney Beans - drained and washed several times in cold water
2-3 handful of goat cheese crumbled
1 handful of basil leaves (I used cilantro at home)
10-12 red cherry tomatoes - chopped
few olives chopped (I had none at home)
salt to taste
peper to taste

How To
Warm the red kidney beans in the microwave for 1 or 2 minutes to get it slightly warm. (The cafeteria chef put this salad on the flat bread and baked it for 5 minutes).
Add the goat cheese, basil leaves and cherry tomatoes and olives and toss well.
Serve with salt and pepper sprinkled on the top...

Happy Diwali with Magaja Ladoo

2009-10-17T11:29:00.000-07:00

Happy Diwali and have a great year ahead.

Magaja Ladoo is one super duper easy sweet. It is loaded with calories and the goodnedd of wheat. This is also offered in the Jaganath temple, Puri as a bhog.

I have very sweet memories of making this with my grandma. She makes it really well and would packs loads of it for my hostel days. I used to try making it with her and most of it would break and I would happily eat the crumbs.

When I called Mom last week at home, she gave me a list of sweets that she had already made. When she mentioned Magaja Ladoo, I quickly took down the recipe and here it goes...

These magaja ladoos go to to CFK-Wheat guest hosted by Sireesha, event started by Sharmi , Sanghi's FIL-Ghee and Sireesha's Sweet Series and to Purva's Diwali Dhamaka

Ingredients

1 cup wheat flour (atta)

1/2 cup ghee

1/2 cup sugar

2 cardamom ground

4 cloves ground

How To

Take a big pan and heat it. Add the atta and keep frying at low fire for about 10 minutes. Once the atta starts changing color and starts smelling wonderful, add the ghee and mix well. Then add the sugar and mix well and put the stove off. Add the cardamom and cloves mixture and let it cool.

Before the mixture is completely cooled down, makes round balls and store in an air-tight container. I made about 15 small balls with these measurements.

Can't get the balls to form, just scoop in a spoon and eat. It tastes wonderful, but then with so much of ghee and sugar what's not to like about it....

Awards Time and Meme tag

2009-10-13T20:15:00.000-07:00

I am thrilled to receive this beautiful award from my blogger friends Sushma, Prasu, Shubha , Aysha, VS. Friends check out their blogs, amazing recipes and clicks...
Sushma, Prasu, Shubha, VS - Thank you so much for passing on this award. This award goes with a fun meme, which has to be passed on to 6 of your favourite blogs and which has to be answered with only one word.

Here is the meme part:
1. Where is your cell phone: in my purse
2. Your hair: Black
3. Your mother: U
4. Your father: D
5. Your favorite food: Goat Biryani
6. Your dream last night: Can't remember, its time for todays' dreams...
7. Your favorite drink: Hot chocolate
8. Your dream/goal: Retire at 40!
9. What room are you in: Bedroom
10. Your hobby: blogging, reading
11. Your fear: cats
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years: India
13. Where were you last night: Home
14. Something you aren’t: Punctual
15. Muffins: Eggless ones baked at home are my favorite
16. Wish list item: trip on Palace on Wheels
17. Where did you grow up: Orissa
18. Last thing you did: Put my little one to sleep
19. What are you wearing: Pj's
20. Your TV: Off
21. Your pets: None, but would love to get a dog
22. Your friends:Many
23. Your life: Hectic/Chaotic
24. Your mood: Blissful
25. Missing someone: Mom
26. Vehicle: Maxima
27. Something you’re not wearing: Makeup
28. Your favorite store: Kohls
29. Your favorite color: Blue
30. When was the last time you laughed: just hours ago.
31. Last time you cried: Wasnt this week
32. Your best friend: N
33. One place that I go over and over: grocery store
34. One person who emails me regularly: My cousins
35. Favorite place to eat: Mings at Edison, NJ

And the award goes to all my talented blogger friends.

Also I received the following awards from Raje:

Thanks Raje....

And the following awards come from Indrani and Babli:

Thanks to you all for thinking of me and showering me with awards. You are the inspiration for this blog and these mid night posts... I would like to share all these awards with all my blogger friends

See you all soon.

Besara

2009-10-08T17:05:00.000-07:00

My mom left for India last week. Usually she cooks a whole refrigerator full of food before she leaves. But this time, 4 days before she left, the refrigerator stopped cooling. So most things she cooked had to be finished off the same day. The only dish she happily made in a large quantity was this Besara. She was sure that it wouldn't go bad that easily and it did last us 4 days inspite of the refrigerator not really working for most of those days. Besara is another typical oriya dish made with mustard paste. You can make different kids of besara and I love the one with fish too which I will post some other time. This one is the typical veggie besara. Besara has the mild mustard flavor and a little tanginess from the dried mangoes and the heat from the green chillies...

Ushnish this post is made especially on your request!

Ingredients

Vegetables for boiling

1 cup of cleaned/peeled red potatoes - diced
1/4 cup beans cut into small pieces
1/2 cup plantain - cut into long pieces
1/4 cup raddish cut into long pieces
1 cup of Eggplant - cut into small pieces
few florets of cauliflower
1-2 large tomatoes cut into long slices

Salt to taste
1 tea spoon turmeric powder
1-2 green chillies
1 table spoon of Mustard Oil for tempering
1 tea spoon of mustard seeds
handful curry leaves
1-2 Dried Mango pieces (Ambula) [Optional]
sprig of coriander leaves [optional]
handful of Badi [Optional]

For the mustard paste

1 tea spoon Mustard seeds
1/4 tea spoon Cummin seeds
1-2 green chillies (to taste)
2-3 cloves of garlic

How To

Soak the mustard seeds, cummin seeds in water for 1/2 hour. Grind the mustard seeds, cummin seeds with the green chillies and garlic. Add 2-3 table spoon of water and leave it aside for 1/2 hr or you keep it in the refrigerator and you can use for about a week. Some of my friends have tried this with store bought mustard paste and swear it tastes as good. I have never tried it, but you could try it...

Soak the dried mangoes in a little cup of water for 1 hour.

Boil all the vegetables with salt, turmeric powder and little water.

Heat a pan. Ad the mustard oil. Once the oil is hot, add green chillies and curry leaves and add the vegetables and the mustard paste. Add some water and dried mangoes and let the curry boil for few minutes.

Adjust salt and garnish with coriander leaves if you like...

Serve with Fried crushed Badi at the time of serving....

Some other mustard based recipes are : Mushroom Rayee and Vegetable Patua

Kumar Purnima festival

2009-10-03T20:05:00.000-07:00

The Kumar Purnima festival of Orissa is celebrated on the full moon day in the month of Aswina.

In some parts of the state, girls fast all day and eat after doing puja to the Moon. The custom says that praying to the Moon gets you as handsome a husband as the Moon. Most girls wait for an early glimpse of the moon and the earlier you do the puja the younger and handsomer the husband.

My mother-in-law reminds me every year to do this puja for my daughter. While my Mom was not so stringent about it and I didn't really do it most years (well it helped to be away in hostel too), I try doing it for my daughter. So no fasting for her, just the puja.... Hmmm I didn't even get to do it early enough - but atleast these are my attempts at teaching her some of our customs.

The bhoga is usually done with Paneer and banana mashed together and made into balls. I added some honey and crushed cardamom powder...

Happy Purnima everyone!

Macha Ghanta and Happy Dusshera

2009-09-26T17:23:00.000-07:00

In Orissa, we celebrate Dusshera with a lot of fan fare. There are lots of pandals setup with Durga mata in different poses and each pandal tries to outdo the other one in size and grandeur. In most households, the celebrations starts from the 6th or 7th day of Navratri and ends with a big feast on Dusshera day. In my grandma's house everyone fasts on Asthami day and then has a grand feast in the evening after puja. Fish is offered as offering and is a must on that day.

Macha Ghanta is a typical Oriya dish again. While I don't think it is a main dish for asthami, it is one of the fish dishes made on that day. Ghanta in oriya means 'mixed' and each specific ghanta has a typical set of vegetables to be added. Macha ghanta has the additional fish pieces in it. In Orissa mom makes it with the head of the fish - oh it is delicious...

Ingredients
Fried fish - few pieces
1 large onion - thinly sliced
1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste
1-2 pieces - bay leaves
1-2 cardamom
1 big cinamon stick
2-3 tablespoon of Oil
Salt to taste
1 tea spoon of turmeric powder
1 tea spoon of chili powder
1 tea spoon of garam masala
1 handful of channa dal (washed and soaked for 4-5 hours)

Vegetables of your choice (what works well is mentioned below)
1 large potato diced
few string beans - cut into small pieces
1/4th of a large white radish
1 egg plant - diced
1-2 tomatoes (optional)
few pieces of red pumpkin or white pumpkin

How To
Heat Oil in a Pan and add a large Bay Leaf, cardamom, cinnamon stick.

Add the thinly sliced onions and fry till the onion turns golden brown. Add ginger-garlic paste and turmeric powder and chili powder and mix well for 2-3 minutes and then add the vegetables and the Dal. In this process you don't have to cook the ginger-garlic paste through completely, since it gets cooked with the vegetables.

Cover and cook the vegetables until cooked through. Add any tomatoes if you like and the garam masala and then the fried fish. Mix well. Adjust seasoning and serve hot with rice and salad.

Also if you want, you can make the vegetarian version where you don't add the fish. That's the version my Mom had. Since you add fried fish at the end, you can easily make both the vegetarian and non-vegetarian version at the same time...

In Orissa it is usually made with fried head of the fish and tastes awesome. It is a regular in Oriya weddings too...

Happy Dusshera everyone.

Yin and Yang kadhi

2009-09-19T08:09:00.000-07:00

Well, no I didn't make a special Chinese version of the kadhi. But we make 2 versions of the kadhis at home, especially if my mom or MIL is around. I like mine with vegetables, is that the Oriya version (?) - not sure, while my hubby likes the ones with the pakoras. The kids love the pakoras version too. So usually if I am cooking, I go with the majority vote. Knowing my love for the vegetable version, my mom made both versions.

The yin is the healthy version and the yang is the not-so healthy version of dahi kadhi. Both are alike, mine has boiled vegetables added to the sour yogurt curry, while the other favorite has deep fried pakoras added to it. So if you want to choose the healthy one - you know what to try!

Ingredients

For the gravy

Yogurt - 1 cup

2 cups water

Besan - 1 tablespoon

Turmeric powder - pinch

Chili powder - 1 tea spoon

Salt to taste

For seasoning

Oil - 1 tea spoon

Panch Phutan - 1 table spoon

Curry leaves - 1 sprig

Couple of whole red chilies

Garam Masala - 1/2 tea spoon (optional)

For Pakoras
Besan - 1/2 cup
Baking powder - 1 big pinch
Chili powder - 1 tea spoon
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

For Boiled vegetables
1 small egg plant sliced lengthwise
few small pearl onions
few Okras
Add any other vegetables you fancy (these are what I like in my kadhi)
Salt to taste

How To

Take the curd and beat well.

Add water and salt and besan and turmeric powder and chili powder. Mix well until there are no lumps left.

Take a pan and add oil for seasonings.

Once the oil gets hot, add the punch phutan and the curry leaves and whole red chilies. Add the seasonings to the curd gravy above. Add some garam masala if you want and mix well and keep aside. Also boil the gravy if you want a thicker consistency.

Take a pan; boil the vegetables with salt and turmeric powder. Keep an eye on it, that it doesn't get overcooked. Usually we add the okra 1/2 way through when the vegetables are cooked. Add the vegetables to 1/2 the yogurt mixture and boil again with the yogurt gravy.

For the pakoras, mix the besan and baking powder and chili powder and salt with water. Make sure the consistency of the besan paste is thick.

Heat oil, add these pakoras and deep fry them.

Add the pakoras to the yogurt mixture just before serving, no boiling here...

Serve the kadhi warm or cold.

Fleeting summer fruits - Watermelon

2009-09-10T19:19:00.000-07:00

I love summer - especially here in US where it is a mere 2 months with bursts of rain in between. It also reminds me of the summer vacations in India. Growing up I loved the long summer vacations lazing around at my grandma's house. She had huge mangoes, custard apple, lichi and guava trees and we cousins would have a feast on different fruits everyday. Oh I wish for those days... Mango was a high-light of the season. Well mangoes are gone here... But we still do get watermelon. Between cousins, a huge water melon would vanish in seconds...

Now a days when I get watermelon, sometimes it goes bad and gets thrown out. I love eating it, but there is barely any time to enjoy this simple delight. Also I feel its fun to have it with friends/family, with the juice rolling down ones hand.... My kids are not big watermelon fans, but I religiously bring it and try it on them every year... I am sure they will develop some taste for it sometime.

This watermelon juice was a favorite in summer for the adults. While we chomped on the full melon, the elders sipped elegantly on this simple juice.

Both these simple juice and sorbet are going to " Soup N Juice "event hosted by Sreesha of Mom's Recipes.

How To

There is not much to the recipe, cut some water melon flesh, add some sugar or honey and a little salt and lemon juice and there you have it. Serve cold with crushed ice...

Watermelon Sorbet

This sorbet is nothing but frozen watermelon balls. This reminds me of those hot summer days when we used to quietly eat ice cubes while our moms were napping or busy chatting...

How To

Take some water melon pulp, sugar and freeze for an hour. Break it up with your fork and refreeze for an hour again. Scoop out with your ice cream scooper and serve in a tall glass or in a plate (as I did...) It tastes yum either way! Slurp it down before it melts and drink it if it does....

Awards time

2009-09-09T08:58:00.000-07:00

I have recieved few awards from friends.

The 1st one is the participation award from Shanthi for participating in her State's Special event. Thanks a lot Shanthi. It means a lot to me. It was a nice event to participate in and showcase different cusines from different states.

Hema has showered me with the following awards. Thanks a lot for thinking of me. The lovely awards and the encouraging comments keep me going. So here is the list of awards

Scrumptious Blog Award

Yum Yum Blog Award

One Lovely Blog Award

Beautiful Site Award

Inspiration Award

Brilliante Weblog Award

A Giant Bear Hug Award

Best Blog Darts Award

I would like to pass these awards to all my blogger friends. You all have been true inspiration to me....

I am happy to receive the Honest Scrap award from Padma. Thank you so much for your encouragement.

1. I love to sleep.
2. I work diligently, given any task I take it seriously.
3. I love good food decorated nicely. I will try anything well presented.
4. I love shopping, window shopping more so...
5. I love chatpata food...
6. I love fresh herbs - mint, cilantro...
7. I love the food channel.
8. I love get togethers, I just sit and watch the fun around me.
9. I am a very quiet person and it takes me a long time to open up and make friends
10. I am trying to teach honesty to my 8 year old daughter. Any help/tips on that will be a life saver.

I would like to pass this award to all my blogger friends.

Eggless Blueberry muffins

2009-09-03T04:18:00.000-07:00

Parita this muffin is inspired by your blueberry muffins! When I saw her muffins, I knew I had to try it. What attracted me to the recipe was the egg less, low fat healthy version of this muffin. Mine is not low fat really, since I can't seem to enjoy muffins made in Oil. So I replaced the Oil with butter and made some minor tweaks to her recipe... The muffins came out really well. They were a little dense, but still much better than the blueberry muffins from the store. My kids had fun time packing in the blueberries into the batter and we ended up putting more blueberries than intended into the batter. That made the muffins even more flavorful... Its a simple one and takes about 20 minutes to put together, including the time for a 3 year old trying to help...

Ingredients
1 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup of oats
1/2 cut of whole wheat flour
pinch of salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1/2 cup of butter (melted to room temperature)
1 and 1/2 cup fresh blueberries

How To:

Preheat the oven to 375F, line 12 muffin molds with paper liners.
Mix the wheat flour and baking powder and salt and oats by hand.
In a separate bowl mix butter (at room temperature), sugar, milk.
Slowly add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients and mix carefully.
Fold in the blueberries.
Spoon the batter into the muffin pans, filling up to 3/4 full. Bake them for 20-25 min, until tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

We all sat down and enjoyed it warm off the oven. And the rest of the muffins were gone the next day by the time I was back from work...

Pudina Pulao and ABC tag

2009-08-30T06:09:00.000-07:00

We were having some guests over at short notice - well they called to say they would stop by and say hi but Mom wouldn't have any of it. They said they would in 1/2 hour and she had a simple menu of pulao, paneer and raita nearly ready before they got in. I thought she would make Jeera rice but instead she surprised us with this flavorful yummy rice. She probably put the whole menu together in 1/2 hr... I was amazed at the speed she can whip a whole meal together while I picked toys around the house. The rice was amazingly flavorful and simple which I am posting here. She doesn't measure anything of course and I was not really paying attention while she made this, so the measurements are approximates...

Ingredients

1 bunch of mint - cleaned
1/2 cup of yogurt
1/2 cup of small cut carrots
1/2 cup of cut beans (you can use frozen ones , if needed)
2 cups of cooked Basmati rice
2 green chillies
1 onion - sliced thinly
1 tea spoon of ginger garlic paste

2 cloves
2 cardamom
2 small cinnamon pieces
1-2 bay leaves

1 tablespoon - ghee
salt to taste

How To

Take mint leaves and salt and grind in a mixer. Add a pinch of salt and blend to fine consistency without adding any water. Mix well with the curd and keep aside.

Heat ghee on medium heat in large pan. When it is hot, add the spices (cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaves) and saute them.

Then add the green chillies and onions, saute until onions turn translucent.

Now add the ginger-garlic paste and cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently.

Now add the vegetables and cover and cook for 5 minutes.

Add the cooked rice and pureed mint paste. Fry for 1-2 minutes and turn off the stove.

The combination of the mint with the curd and the whole garam masalas is amazing.

My son loved it and calls it the green rice... He just ate the plain rice by himself and made a big mess, but I am not complaining... We had a very nice evening chatting and enjoying the simple delicious meal....

Also Lone Acorn has tagged me. Thanks dearie for thinking of me...

1. A – Available/Single? Nope

2. B – Best friend? Gang of 7

3. C – Cake or Pie? Cake

4. D – Drink of choice? Hot chocolate

5. E – Essential item you use every day? Laptop

6. F – Favorite color? Pink

7. G – Gummy Bears Or Worms? Gummy Bear

8. H – Hometown? Cuttack

9. I – Indulgence? Blogging and chocolates

10. J – January or February? None - both are too cold

11. K – Kids & their names? 2 , A and A (Princess and Prince)

12. L – Life is incomplete without? My Family

13. M – Marriage date? A Memorable Date

14. N – Number of siblings? None

15. O – Oranges or Apples? Oranges

16. P – Phobias/Fears? Cockroaches

17. Q – Quote for today? Have to think of one...

18. R – Reason to smile? Seeing my kids in the evening when I get back from work

19. S – Season? Summer - miss it a lot here

20. T – Tag 3 People? Shubha , Rekha , Chitra

21. U – Unknown fact about me? Hmmm, wont be so unknown then

22. V – Vegetable you don't like? Spinach

23. W – Worst habit? Procastination

24. X – X-rays you've had? Dental X-rays 5 year back

25. Y – Your favorite food? Goat Biryani

26. Z – Zodiac sign? Taurus

The Rules

1. Link the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share the ABCs of you.
4. Tag 3 people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
5. Let the 3 tagged people know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.
6. Do not tag the same person repeatedly but try to tag different people, so that there is a big network of bloggers doing this tag.

Baked Samosas

2009-08-25T04:22:00.000-07:00

One of the favorite snacks for my kids is Samosas. We had my husband's cousin N coming over in the evening and of course the vote was for making samosas as an evening snack. But I knew N's hubby didn't like fried food, so I tried to make my healthy version of samosas. If you want to see the fried version, follow this link. But this is a short cut version and the kids and the guests loved it.

Ingredients

For the filling
3 large potatoes cut into small pieces
Salt to taste
1 small Onion cut into small pieces
1 tea spoon coriander powder
1/4 tea spoon garam masala (skip if you don't want)
minced mint leaves
handful of peas
Oil (1 table spoon)

For the Outer layer
Mini pastry shells (I used 3 boxes)

How to

In a large pan, heat 1 table spoon of oil over medium-high heat.
Add the onion and cook for about 2 minutes, until the onion turns golden brown.
Add the salt and then the potatoes and fry for a few more minutes.
Then add the green peas and coriander powder and garam masala powder.
Add the minced mint leaves and remove from heat.
Stir to combine, then adjust the seasoning, to taste.
Let it cool until it is easy enough to handle. (You can prepare this ahead of time and put away in the refrigerator, when needed warm and use).

Take the mini shells and get them to room temperature, if frozen (as per instructions).
Spray a little olive oil on the shell.
Scoop 1 tea spoon of filling into the shell and bake the shell at 350 for 12-15 min, until the shell turns golden brown.

Enjoy it warm off the oven... We had ours with mint chutney... It was a big hit with the guests and N called me that weekend to get the recipe... So this post is dedicated to her!

Typical Oriya meal

2009-08-23T05:35:00.000-07:00

Shanthi a blogger friend is hosting an event to honor foods from different states. Since I have a site dedicated to Oriya food, I feel its apt to have a posting dedicated to it. Shanthi great idea and keep up the good work. I am posting links to my old posts here for her event.

A typical Oriya meal consists of rice, dalma, 1 vegetable or non-vegetarian curry (with gravy), 2 or 3 dried curries or bhajas and a khatta. No Oriya meal is complete without sweets though. Usually the sweet is kheer or mitha dahi or some paneer based sweets. All food is cooked fresh and women in the household spend 3-4 hours in the kitchen for each meal...

So here is a medley of dishes dedicated to Oriya meal and to the State Special event.

Rice : could be plain rice or jeera rice or fried rice (depending on the occasion)

Dalma : there are several version of dalma. I think each family has its own speciality. The dalma tastes different depending on the combination of vegetables, dal and spices. Here is a simple one with dal and eggplant and potatoes.

Some curries that I love are :
Ghanta :

Patua :

Chatu Rayee or mushroom in mustard sauce:

Khatta is nothing but a sweat and sour dish. Its very common in a meal. Even I usually have something in the refrigerator that I use as a side dish. The famous khattas are Dahi Baingan and Tomatoes Khatta and Amba Khatta

Also would like to thank Shanthi for passing on the the Scrumptious Blog Award.

This is a blog award given to sites that:
Inspire you
Encourage you
May give Fabulous information
A great read
Has Scrumptious recipes
Any other reasons you can think of that make them Scrumptious!

The rules are:Put the logo on your blog or post.Nominate at least 7 blogs
Let them know that they have received this Scrumptious award by commenting on their blog.

All blogger friends, please accept this award. You have both encouraged me and inspired me to put this blog together. Heartfelt thanks to Shanthi for passing it on.

So Happy Ganesh chaturthi and God bless friends...

Baingan Ambila

2009-08-19T05:37:00.000-07:00

This post is a few weeks late. I have a big backlog of work since I am back from vacation. On the day of Rakhi, I was running late in the evening to get sweets and Rakhi gift for my daughter. I knew she was looking forward to a special treat too. There was no time to make anything too special, so tried this Eggplant Sweet and Sour side dish.... It was such a hit with her, though she didn't really touch the eggplant, but happily slurped on the curry.

Ambila is a typical Oriya side dish. It is enjoyed with Rice, dalma and mixed vegetable curry. You can make ambila with mixed vegetables like Carrots and Radish too, but my pantry had only eggplants...

Ingredients

8 small eggplants
1/2 cup jaggery (less or more depending on the sourness of Imli)
1 tablespoon of Imli paste
handful of curry leaves
2 red chilies
1 tablespoon of panch phutana
1 table spoon fried Jeera and fried Methi powder
1 table spoon of oil
1/2 tea spoon turmeric powder
salt to taste

How to

Slit the small eggplants. Put them in a pan with a little water, salt and turmeric powder and cook until the eggplant softens (about 10 min). Keep aside when done.
Heat oil in a pan. Add panch phutana.
When they start to crack add curry leaves and red chilies.
Add 1 cup water, jaggery and imli paste and mix well.
Once the jaggery is is dissolved, add salt and jeera and methi powder.
Add the boiled Eggplant and cook for a few minutes.

Serve hot or cold. This stays fresh in the refrigerator for a week.

Janmasthami Bhog

2009-08-13T19:06:00.001-07:00

Happy Janmasthami everyone. It was a lovely Day celebrating Krishna's birthday. Even my daughter tried fasting for a few hours in the morning. I had started when I was 8 years old and it was nice to see her attempting it too....
Back home lots of items are made for Krishnastami. In my (Aei) grandma's place, at least 20 + items are made. My aunts cook all day (we have a big joint family) for the puja and feast at night. But my mother-in-law being a working woman who lived in Bengal had a different recipe for all fast days. She would make a simple chana dal, puris and fried vegetables. Here is an adaptation of her puja meal.

I am sending the chana Dal for the Festive food event conducted by Purva and Priti.

Chana Dal

1 cup of Chana dal washed and soaked for 3-4 hours
1 tea spoon Turmeric powder
1 tea spoon Chili powder
1 tea spoon whole Cumin Seeds
2 tea spoon garam masala powder
couple of Bay leaves
handful of Raisins
handful of fresh coconut (optional)
1-2 green chilies
1 table spoon ghee
Salt to taste

How To

Boil the Dal with turmeric powder, chili powder, bay leaves and salt. Once it is nearly cooked, take off the heat.
Heat the ghee in a pan. Add Cumin seeds and green chilies. Once it sputter, add the chana dal and boil again. Add garam masala and raisins.
Add a handful of fresh coconut before serving.

Fried Cauliflower

Deep fry the cauliflower, roll it in a bed of dhania powder and chili powder. Sprinkle salt and eat it hot. Yum! Do the same with thinly sliced potatoes or eggplant.

I am not sure if these 2 dishes count as fast food or feast food, but they are a treat. We enjoy these on fast days only - guiltless pleasures!

I had a nice lovely short break. I went to visit few friends and met few relatives too. My mom got to spend some precious time with her old childhood friend and she has a glow about her since she is back.

Kreativ award

2009-07-28T19:21:00.000-07:00

I am so honoured to receive my Kreativ award from Ramya and Shubha.It is the Kreative blogger award, honouring favourite, creative blogs.Thanks a lot Ramya and Shubha!! You have made my day and I also feel humbled receiving this award....

The rules for this award are :

1. You must thank the person who has given you the award.

2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.

3. Link to the person who has nominated you for the award.

4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.

5. Nominate 7 other Kreativ Bloggers.

6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.

7. Leave a comment on which of the blogs to let them know they have been nominated.

Rules 4, 5, 6 and 7 are really tough... How do I nominate only 7 ? I hate these confining rules... Hey but rules are rules and here I am...

7 things about me that you may or may not know and may or may not find interesting:

1)I love coriander and curry leaves... I feel I should have named my blog either one of them since i love the 2 so much.

2) I love chocolate - in any form... My favorite these days is the hot chocolate from Starbucks... The close 2nd is the hot chocolate from Williams Sonomo that you get only during Christmas.

3) I hate spinach. When I was pregnant, I used to buy them every week, leave in my refrigerator for the whole time and throw the wilted ones out before buying a new bunch. Somehow maybe the pregnant brain decided buying was as good as eating.

4) I work well under pressure... No I should say I procastinate and leave everything to the last minute and I pull it off at the end and feel very happy about my dealing with pressure bit.

5) I am good bathroom singer. If I dare sing outside the bathroom, my daughter and son come running to shut my mouth... If they are not around, others in the room walk out... Hmmm so much for my singing skills.

6) I am not a good cook. I love eating, but I think my kids and husband love it even more. I cook more out of compulsion, but love it when I see the satisfied smile on their faces. Also I love a well presented dish and will atleast try it if it looks pleasant.

7) I love baking and always like the way I get to enjoy time with the kids while doing it... It does add to the waistline though and no not all of those treats turn out blog worthy either...

7 friends I nominate are :

Sharmila of Kichu khon
Aruna of "The temptations"
Sweta of Bonne Nutrition
Shama of Easy2Cook Recipes
Shanti of Shanti KrishnaKumar's cookbook
Mangala Bhat of Recipe 24x7
Chitra of Ratatouille - Any one can cook

Friends, you do deserve this award more than me... Please accept and yes please feel free to bend the rules as you like.... I am off on a short trip. I will be enjoying this award and I hope you all do...

Vegetable Patua

2009-07-22T19:02:00.000-07:00

Patua is a dish usally made by steaming/baking the items inside a leaf (like a banana leaf). Macha Patua (Fish) is most popular in Orissa/Bengal. While I had all the vegetables that goes inside a patua, I had no banana leaf to cook it in.

Ok, I didn't even make this dish. My mom made it last week and it was so good that we finished it off right away... Also she made it on a cooktop, but the same can be put in an oven and tastes great too... If you have the vegetables cut, this is an easy dish to put together and can be enjoyed on weekdays too.

Don't you think our authentic dishes are so healthy and easy to put together ? And I wonder why I don't make it often enough ?

Ingredients

1 cup of Eggplant - diced into small pieces
1 cup of cleaned/peeled red potatoes - diced (don't peel it, if you want to save time and some nutrients)
1/4 cup beans cut into small pieces
1/2 cup raw banana - cut into small pieces
1/4 cup raddish cut into small pieces
2-3 cups of fresh spinach - washed, cleaned and cut into large pieces

1 tea spoon Mustard seeds
1/4 tea spoon Cummin seeds
1/4 tea spoon poppy seeds
1-2 green chillies (to taste)
2-3 cloves of garlic (skip if you want it satvic)

Salt to taste
1 table spoon of Mustard Oil for cooking
handful of Badi

How To

Grind the mustard seeds, cummin seeds and poppy seeds with the green chillies and garlic. Add 2-3 table spoon of water and leave it aside for 10-15 min.

Heat a pan. Ad the mustard oil. Once the oil is hot, add all the vegetables and then top off with spinach and pour the mustard paste. Add Salt to taste and cover and let it cook on slow fire for 30-35 min.

After 1/2 hr, check if the vegetables is cooked, if not cook on high heat for few more minutes.

Remove from the fire.

Serve with Fried crushed Badi at the time of serving....

Updated
Here is a link to Sharmila's site who makes awesome Badis and awesome Bengali food. I have never made Badis at home, but mom and mil get me a batch every summer...

As I learnt from my blogger friends, patua is called Paturi in bengal. Ofcourse the fish one is more popular in Orissa and Bengal. The parsis have a similar fish dish called patrani machhi...

Cherries anyone ?

2009-07-16T19:57:00.000-07:00

Aren't you tempted by these cherries ? I saw them in Costco in the beginning of summer and picked a box of it. I guess we ate half of the sweet yummy juicy cherries in 2 days... The rest just sat and sat. But how much of cherries can you eat ? And they do go bad soon...

So I tried 2 dishes with it. The 1st was a glaze that I had seen on Food Network. It was so simple, it was done in 5 min. The 2nd one I tried was a cherry crisp. The cherry crisp wasn't such a success - at least it didn't look good and felt kind of chewy! So I tried again, with a store bought crisp mixture. Again, not so good. The final one is what I have posted and tasted real good...

Cherry Glaze

Ingredients

1 cup of pitted cherries
1/2 cup water
2-3 tablespoon of sugar

How To

Get the water to boil. Add the cherries and sugar and let it simmer for 5 minutes or until the cherries are soft. Let it cool and pour on your vanilla ice cream and enjoy...

Cherry Crisp

I had Crisp for the 1st time last year. My husband's colleague had come for dinner and had made blueberry crisp for my mother-in-law since he knew she was vegetarian. It tasted so good that it was finished flat out. I asked him for the recipe and he of course had approximate measurements. One of the thing he had added was clove, which my mother-in-law loved, while I wasn't so fond of it. I have tried cherry crisps several times this year. The following recipe worked...

Ingredients
1 cups pitted sour cherries
1/4 cup brown sugar (add more if the cherries are not sweet)
2 tablespoons whole wheat flour

1/2 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 tea spoon baking powder
1/4 tea spoon cinnamon + elaichi powder (I usually have these 2 ground together in my pantry)
1/8 cup butter at room temperature

How To
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Spray 2 ramekins with non-stick cooking spray.
In a medium bowl, mix the cherries, 2 table spoon wheat flour and brown sugar.
Evenly distribute the cherry mixture into 2 ramekins.
Combine the oats, 1/2 cup flour, brown sugar, baking powder and butter together. Crumble evenly over the cherry mixture.
Sprinkle the elaichi and cinnamon powder.
Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Enjoy warm with ice cream or eat a spoonful just like that....

So let me know if you have any other suggestions for cherries ? Those big boxes of cherries still tempt me in the stores!

Fish Cutlet

2009-07-10T04:33:00.000-07:00

My mother-in-law is the queen of cutlets. She is an awesome cook, and she probably knows at least 50 different kinds of cutlets. Fish cutlet is an all time favorite for everyone in the family. My son who doesn't eat fish usually chomps on these happily.

Usually I take an dish and try to find a easier way to make it or a healthier way to make it. But some how I can't get myself to make fish cutlets any other way. So it is one of those very few dishes that I make that is labor intensive, but I feel well worth it... What say you ?

Ingedients
2 pounds of fish fillet (I use tilapia fillet)
1/2 tea spoon of Turmeric powder
1 tea spoon of Chili powder
1/2 cup Vinegar
4 large Potato boiled and skin peeled off and mashed
1 large Onion finely chopped
4-5 large garlic cloves minced
1 tea spoon of garam masala (optional)

handful of raisins
1 spring of mint leaves cut finely
Bread Crumbs - as needed
Salt to taste
1 cup of Besan
Oil for deep frying

How To

Marinate the fish with little turmeric powder, chili powder, vinegar and salt, overnight.

Then the next day you can fry the fish (the usual shallow fry of fish or broil it in the oven on each side for 5 min). The broiling works well for cutlets, since the fish is fried at least 2 more times after this and leaves no fishy smell....

In a nonstick pan fry Onion and garlic for 2 minutes. Then add the fish and fry for a few minutes. Add the garam masala and mashed potatoes and salt to taste. At the end add the mint leaves and raisins and mix well and take off the stove and let it cool.

In a separate bowl, take the besan, a pinch of salt and pinch of garam masala and mix well. Add water to make a thick batter and mix well to ensure there are no lumps.

After the fish mixture cools, take small portions and shape into oval cutlets. Dip them in besan batter then roll them in bread crumbs and keep aside. This makes about 20-25 cutlets.

I usually keep the cutlets in the refrigerator and deep fry as many as you need just before serving them. The cutlets stay fresh in the fridge for about 4-5 days before deep frying.

Enjoy these cutlets with mint chutney or else enjoy with Amba Panna...

Eggless Cup Cakes to celebrate July 4th

2009-07-04T10:51:00.000-07:00

I saw these cupcakes few months back on this blog 'Evolving Tastes'. She has an amazing blog and all her dishes are awesome. I have made these cup cakes several times since then, sometimes using mini muffin cups and sometimes the regular ones. These cup cakes literally take 10 min to assemble and don't really require a mixer or any additional gadget. My 8yr old daughter assembes them with the help of my 3 yr old son and I just put into the mould and put in the oven and bake. Both my kids absolutely adore these cakes and I made them for both their birthday parties this year.

So enjoy the July 4th weekend with these yummy cakes... The recipe is noted here with slight modifications from the original. I skipped the coffee and substituted vegetable oil with butter (I feel it is ok to indulge and use butter with cakes and cookies, but use vegetable oil if you want. It tastes good with vegetable oil...)

Ingredients
Makes 6

3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tea spoon baking powder
a big pinch of salt
1/4 cup milk, or a little more if needed
1/4 cup butter (I substituted butter for vegetable oil from the original recipe)
1/2 tea spoon vanilla extract (you can skip this if you don't have it)

How To

Preheat oven to 350F. Line muffin cups with paper liners.
In a large bowl, sift together flour, cocoa power, sugar, baking powder and salt.
In a medium bowl, mix together milk, vegetable oil and vanilla extract. Pour into dry ingredients and mix until everything is combined well.
Distribute batter evenly into prepared muffin cups, filling each about 3/4th full.
Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Remove from the oven to cool completely, before digging in...
And if you can't wait, eat it while it is still warm... I love mine hot from the oven. How do you like yours ?

Bean bhaja with rice flour sprinkles

2009-06-28T19:13:00.000-07:00

Beans fry with rice flour (chaula bata) is cooked and served often as a side dish in Orissa. It goes well with rice and dalma or even as a side dish with rotis... Back home, a paste of rice and garlic and chillies is made on sila pua (heavy stone used for hand grinding) and added to the beans - the taste is heavenly... Here is my easy short cut version of it...

While this dish is nothing really to write about, I like its simplicity and its flavors. Its healthy, yummy and easy to make and hence worth blogging about. What do you say ?

Ingredients

1 cup of Beans cut into long pieces
2 table spoon rice flour
1 tea spoon garlic powder (you can use mince 2-3 garlic cloves instead too)
1-2 green chillies (optional)
1/4 tea spoon red chili powder
1/2 tea spoon turmeric powder
1/2 tea spoon whole cumin
2-3 table spoon oil
Salt to taste

How to

Put oil in a pan and let it get smoking hot. Add the green chilies (if you are using it) and the whole cumin.
Once the cumin sputters, add the beans and salt and turmeric powder and chili powder.
Let it cook for 4-5 min. After the bean is 1/2 done, sprinkle the rice flour and keep stirring. Add 1/2 table spoon of oil if you feel the rice is forming into big balls...
Sprinkle the garlic powder and remove from heat...

Serve hot or warm... The smell of garlic with rice flour is amazing...

Chicken roll

2009-06-20T06:04:00.000-07:00

Chicken roll is a favorite snack of Oriyas. Oriyas love to eat non veg - or should I say love food ? When I was in school, once a year, mom would send either chicken roll or mutton roll to school for lunch. That day I would ask her to make 10 of them, so that I could share it with at least 9 other friends! In India, you have to ask the butcher to make the kheema and make sure he gives you the best pieces of the meat. Of course if it is busy day, the butcher refuses to give you kheema... It used to be an ordeal to get this done and was a yearly speciality!

Over here, I make this for Friday night dinners, since it is so easy to make and the kids love it too. Last week, my daughter asked for it be packed for school lunch too! Dejavu!

This goes to Vicky's invite to post for the potluck chicken event ! This is a perfect potluck appetizer. Make the chicken ready from before. Chop the onions, chillies and coriander and keep aside. Warm the tortillas and let everyone assemble it as per their taste!

Ingredients
1 pound of minced chicken
1/2 cup vinegar for marinate
1 table spoon ginger-garlic pase
1/2 tea spoon of coriander powder
1/2 tea spoon of chili powder
1 tea spoon of garam masala
1/2 tea spoon of turmeric powder
2 large onions chopped
Mint or coriander leaves for garnish
Salt to taste
2-3 Table spoon Oil for cooking chicken

Tortillas or maida parathas

How To
Marinate the minced chicken in vinegar, salt, turmeric, chili powder, coriander powder and garam masala overnight. (if you can't, marinate for 1 hr).
Put the pan and add the oil.
Add 3/4th of the cut onions and fry until it turns golden brown. Add the marinated chicken and keep stirring for 10-15 minutes, until the water from the chicken evaporates.
Add an additional salt and garam masala and take it off the oven.

Make maida parathas or normal wheat parathas if you want. If you are serving in a potluck, use warm tortillas.

Put the chicken on the paratha, add chopped fresh onions, mint leaves (substitute with coriander leaves if you don't have mint) and green chillies (if you like it spicy). Roll and eat fresh!

Easy to make and kid friendly!

Amba Panna with a twist

2009-06-18T04:06:00.000-07:00

Before you dismiss this as yet another amba panna, this comes with a story. I was meeting my friend B after 10 years and Mom and I started talking about our days together in Delhi. She used to be my college mate who also happened to live close by to our house and used come over for my Mom's company and good food over the weekend. One day she had a near heat stroke and was sick for a few days. My Mom took care of her and used to make her drink this and glucose water and other water based drinks to keep her hydrated and nurse her back to health. When Mom mentioned this drink and this story before she came I thought of making it again. Most of the work on this was done by my Mom. I served it chilled and enjoyed it too!

And this bubbly drink goes over to Srivalli who is celebrating mangoes in a big way with a Mango Mela.

Ingredients

1 large unripe mangoes
4 table spoon of sugar (add more if you want it sweet)
1 tea spoon black salt or kala namak.
1 tea spoon cumin seeds, dry-roasted
1 tea spoon of black pepper, dry-roasted
Soda

How To

Cook mangoes in a pressure cooker until 1 whistle.
Allow the pressure cooker to cool.
Take the cooled mangoes out of water and peel the skins off and collect the pulp and juice in a bowl
Place this pulp, with salt and sugar, in a blender and puree.
Fill in bottles and put in refrigerator for few hours so that it is nicely chilled.
Dry roast the cumin seeds and black pepper for 2 minutes on a pan and then coarsely grind.
To serve, add 1/2 cup pulp and 1/2 cup soda, add the coarse ground cumin seeds and black pepper and serve immediately before the soda fizzles out.

The Twist in this drink was the soda. Once you add the soda, the taste changes completely. The original version done at home or in Delhi didnt have any soda of course. In fact my Mom didn't like it with the soda at all, while my friend and her husband loved it.

So add soda only if you like the taste of soda... By the time I took the photos, I had run out of soda, so the pictures don't show the soda, else it looks cool too... Enjoy the amba panna and the summer....

Happy Raja with Poda Pitha

2009-06-14T16:23:00.001-07:00

Raja is a 3 day celebration in Orissa that starts on the first day of 'Asara' month. It welcomes the rains to Orissa and usually marks the start of the agriculture season. It is a special occasion for young girls. Girls get to wear new dresses and are usually not allowed to do any house work at home. It is the festival for girls to play on the swings and enjoy good food and spend time with friends and family. The usual high-light of this festival is 'Poda Pitha', which basically means baked cake. In the days before ovens in Oriya households, moms would put the pitha in earthen vessel on top of the dying wooden embers in the night and the dish would be baked nicely by the next day morning. This poda pitha is usually served with chicken curry or mansa tarkari.

I made 2 kinds of poda pitha and will share it here with you. Both are really easy to make. The sweet one is more common.

Savoury Poda Pitha

Ingredients
1 cup of Urad Dal
1 cup of Rice

1/4 cup of cabbage cut into thin slices
1 small onion sliced into thin slices
1 small tomato cut into small pieces
a bunch of coriander leaves
Salt to taste
4-5 tablespoon of oil

How to

Soak and grind the urad dal and rice for few hours. Grind the urad dal and rice coarsely and leave aside for few hours or overnight. (If you do not have enough time for it to ferment, add 1/2 tea spoon of baking powder and leave aside for an hour).
Add the chopped vegetables and salt and mix well.
Take a baking tray, line with aluminium foil. Spray oil on the foil generously, including the sides.
Bake in a preheated over for 1 hour at 350 F.
After 1 hour, peak into the oven and you should see the sides nicely browned. If not bake for another 15-20 more minutes.
Take the cake out of the oven, flip it over and cook again for 1 hour on the other side.
Once done, both sides should look nice and golden....

Serve warm with Chicken curry. The pitha is crunchy on the outside and soft in the inside.

Sweet Poda Pitha

Ingredients

1/2 cup of Urad Dal
1/2 cup of Rice
1/2 cup of fresh home made paneer
1/2 cup of fresh shredded coconut
4 table spoon of sugar (this is not as sweet as a typical sweet dish)
handful of raisins
2 tablespoon of ghee
1 freshly ground cardamom

How to

Soak and grind the urad dal and rice for few hours. Grind the urad dal and rice coarsely and leave aside for few hours or overnight. (If you do not have enough time for it to ferment, add 1/2 tea spoon of baking powder and leave aside for an hour).
Mix the paneer, coconut, sugar and ghee well.
Add the raisins and ground cardamom powder and mix again.

Take a baking tray, line with aluminium foil. Spray oil on the foil generously, including the sides.
Bake in a preheated over for 45 minutes at 350 F.
After 45 minutes, peak into the oven and you should see the sides nicely browned. If not bake for another 15-20 more minutes.
Take the cake out of the oven, flip it over and cook again for 1/2 hour on the other side.
Once done, both sides should look nice and golden....

I had my sweet poda pitha as breakfast today with some grapes. Hope you will try this sweet dish and enjoy the monsoons....

Tomato Khatta (with Khajur)

2009-06-08T20:17:00.001-07:00

Tomato Khatta is a favorite temple side dish from Orissa. On festival days and in temple prasads, it is a consistent side dish. It has a nice balance of sweetness and sourness to it. Its a quick and easy dish and goes very well with Dalma - another staple of Oriya cooking.

The 1st time I made Tomato Khatta for my Oriya potluck party, it was big disaster. But one of the experts in our group (S bhauja), gave me some tips and since then it turns out really good. I follow her steps to the T (ok - not exactly since I don't add the coconut). Once you add coconut, the dish looks very colorful too....

Ingredients

4 large tomato cut into small pieces
10 -12 seedless dates
handful of raisins (optional)
1/2 cup sugar
handful of curry leaves
1/2 inch ginger thinly sliced
2 green chilies
1 tablespoon of panch phutana
1 table spoon Jeera and fried Methi powder
handful of Fresh coconut (optional)
1 table spoon of oil
salt to taste

How to

Heat oil in a pan. Add panch phutana.
When they start to crack add ginger, curry leaves and green chilies.
Add chopped tomatoes, dates and salt. Saute for few minutes until water from the tomatoes dries up.
Add sugar and cook until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture thickens in consistency. Finally add raisins and jeera and methi powder.
Add fresh coconut and remove from fire. (I didn't add it)

This tastes better the next day.

Chuda bhaja

2009-06-04T20:12:00.000-07:00

During summer, we used to have morning school. We used to have school start at 7 AM and I used to live 45 min away. There was no way I could finish breakfast and be ready by 6:15 AM. So my Mom used to make a big packet (like the attached picture) of Chuda Bhaja and send me off on the rickshaw . I used to happily chat and chomp on it until I reached school and shared the rest with friends! Those were the days!

Since my Mom is here with me these days, I get treated to Chuda Bhaja, my favorite breakfast, on Sundays.

This goes to to "Show me your breakfast" Event by Divya of Dil se and this also goes to "EFM Theme - Breakfast Series" @ Srish Kitchen.

Ingredients
Chuda – 1 cup
handful of peanuts
1 small potato chopped into small pieces
1 small Onion chopped into small pieces
2-3 green chili chopped into small pieces
few curry leaves
1 inch ginger chopped into small pieces

2 table spoon of Oil

Salt to taste

How To

Heat a pan and fry the chuda without oil for a few minutes. Add salt to the chuda.
Take the chuda out of the pan and keep aside.
In the same pan dry roast the peanuts until they are cooked (about 5-7 min on low fire). Take out the peanuts and keep aside.
In the pan, add the oil. When the oil is hot, add green chili and curry leaves and fry for a minute
Add the potatoes and fry for few minutes.
Add the onions and fry till transparent. Add the cut ginger and roasted peanuts.
Add the fried chuda and mix everything well.
Serve hot.

Tip
This chuda bhaja has to be eaten within an hr or so , else it gets soggy. If you want to keep for a longer time like a week or so, skip the potatoes and onions. It still tastes great!

It tastes good with thin Chuda (or Poha) .

Mitha Dahi with mangoes and Thanks

2009-05-31T18:08:00.000-07:00

Mitha dahi is nothing but sweet yogurt. It is a famous dish in Orissa and available in nice earthern pots. This dish is completely inspired by Suparna's mango shreekhand. I was drooling over her dish and thought of trying this mitha Dahi which has been on my list to try for ages. I had never made mitha dahi before but my other bengali friend M had told me to try this out. I searched on the net and found this easy recipe for mitha dahi which was what my friend had described too. I have modified the recipe a little bit, hence I have put it here again. The dish turned out awesome for the time and effort I put into it...

Sending this off to Shanti's sweet time event

Also would like to thank Padma and Hema for sending on this award to me... Thanks friends - always a pleasure to be thought of when you are receiving such great awards and sharing it with me.

I would like to send this this award to my all my blogger friends. But I see all of have already got the award. So enjoy your awards - you truly deserve it. Padma and Hema - I am truly honored.

Ingredients
1/2 can (14 oz) Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 packet of non-fat Evaporated Milk
1 and 1/2 cup plain yogurt
handful of cashew nuts broken up coarsely
1/2 tea spoon of ghee to roast the nuts
sweet ripe mangoes cut into tiny pieces

How to
Mix all ingredients well and pour into a flat pan. If there some small lumps in the mixture - don't worry. They even out fine...
Bake at 200 F for about 1 hr.
Cool and then refrigerate (for about 2 hrs).
Garnish with cut mangoes and roasted cashew nuts.

Serve and Enjoy....

How did it fare
The sweet dish tasted good both with and without the mangoes. But I liked it with the mangoes, else it was a little too sweet for my taste.

Methi Bara

2009-05-29T04:15:00.000-07:00

Continuing with my theme of methi, this is a quick and easy recipe for a side dish. I have made this with fresh methi leaves, this won't work so well with frozen methi. When my Mom was frying this, my son loved the aroma and came over and asked to try one. I think getting a 3 year old to eat greens is worth any dish in gold!

Ingredients

1 bunch of Methi leaves cleaned and cut into small pieces
1/2 cup of Besan
1 large onion sliced thinly
3-4 potatoes boiled and smashed
Green chillies cut into small pieces (optional for the kids batch)
1/2 cup sooji or rawa or rice powder (optional)
Salt to taste

pinch of Turmeric powder
Oil to pan fry the baras

How To

Take the methi leaves and wash them well and let all the water drain out before you cut them.
Mix the salt, turmeric powder, methi leaves and onions and boiled potatoes and chillies.
Add some sooji or rice powder to make the baras crispy. (I didn't have any so I skipped it.)
Make flattened round balls.
Heat a pan and spray some Oil. Put the baras and fry on low heat.

Serve hot with rice and Dal. It tastes good the next day too - but the crispiness is lost. So enjoy it hot!

Methi Rice and Aloo Dum

2009-05-26T16:19:00.000-07:00

Do your kids like greens ? At least mine don't. And I can't blame them ! I used to hate greens (any saag) as a kid. But as I have grown older I have fallen in love with Methi. I hate bitter stuff too - but somehow methi leaves have an unique flavor and is a treat for me.

Since the methi leaves take a long time to clean, I don't make this dish that often. But when my Mom or Mother in law are around, we get treated to such simple pleasures regularly. My daughter loves sorting and cleaning these leaves with my Mom or mother-in-law, so it turns out to be nice grandma-grand kid bonding time too..

Here is a simple and quick dish to enjoy - absolute comfort food. Also its satvik food - can be eaten on pooja days too!

Sowmya this goes to you for your Cooking with Greens event.
Also sending this to Monthly Mingle - Ravishing Rice event at Edible Garden.

Methi Rice

Ingredients
Rice 1 cup
1 bunch of Methi leaves of cleaned well
2-3 Green chillies
1 tea spoon methi seeds
2 table spoon of Mustard Oil
a pinch of turmeric powder
Salt to taste

How To
Cook rice such that grains are separate. Use left over rice if you have any.
Heat oil and add methi seeds and the green chilies.
When they start spluttering, add methi leaves and salt and turmeric powder. Fry for 2-3 minutes. Add rice and salt. Mix well and serve hot.

Tips
1. I used to scrimp on the oil and always complained that my methi rice didn't taste like my Mom's. My mom said the methi leaves need to be fried nicely in oil to get the perfect flavor.
2. Dont add too many spices to this dish. Less is more here. The flavor of the methi leaves is delicate and too many spices overpower it.

Aloo Dum

Ingredients
7-8 small Potatoes boiled and each potato cut into 4 pieces
3 to 4 large Tomatoes - grated
1 tea spoon Chili powder
1 tea spoon cumin seeds
1/2 tea spoon of Turmeric powder
1 tea spoon of Garam Masala
Salt to taste
2 table spoon of Oil
2 cups of warm water

How to
Heat Oil in a pan and add cumin seeds.
When the seeds start sputtering, add tomatoes and salt and turmeric powder and chili powder. Fry the tomatoes until the oil leaves the sides. Do this on low fire or the tomatoes burn.
Then add the potatoes and add salt and garam masala and fry for 3-4 minutes.
Add 1 cup of warm water and cook on low fire for 5 minutes. Adjust the gravy consistency as required.
Serve fresh with methi rice.

I love my Aloo to be spicy and watery! You choose yours!

Savitri Amavasya and Muga Chakta (Moong Fruit Salad)

2009-05-24T10:31:00.001-07:00

Savitri Amavasya brata is celebrated by all married women of Orissa praying for the well being and long lives of their respective husbands. While I always complain that there are no festivals where men pray or fast for their wives, I still celebrate this with enthusiasm. Living outside the country, I feel these rituals and customs tie us to our homeland....

For this brata we pray and fast all day and only eat fruits smashed with soaked moong in the afternoon (muga chakta).

Ingredients

2 handful of Moong dal soaked overnight
1/4 cup mangoes - cut into small pieces
1/4 cup bananas - cut into small pieces
1/4 cup apple - cut into small pieces
1/4 cup guava - cut into small pieces
1/4 cup oranges - cut into small pieces
handful of fresh grated coconut ( I skipped this)
2 table spoons of sugar or 2 tablespoons of honey
handful of cashew nuts - coarsely ground ( I used walnuts instead and it tasted good too)

How to

Mix/Smash all the fruits with the hand. Take 1/2 cup of the soaked moong and add double the quantity of fruits. Drizzle with honey. Add freshly grated coconut and nuts and eat fresh...

Pani Santula

2009-05-22T03:45:00.001-07:00

Pani Santula is a very popular side dish of Orissa. It is made in most households at least once a week. Its healthy and yummy.

When my Mom was here in US last time, we went to Bertucci's Italian restaurant. She likes Domino's vegetarian pizza, so I thought she would like Bertucci's. We loved the cozy warm brick oven and the generous helpings of salad. We order pizza, pasta and a roasted vegetable side dish. This dish tasted so much like the Santula described below.

So while this is a age old recipe from an Oriya household, it is enjoyed in different versions in different countries and different states - I am sure. Again though it is simple, you need the correct proportion of vegetables and no over cooking. Also usually there are few items that are essential (not mandatory) in this kind of vegetable Santula that I mentioned below. Of course you can add/subtract anything you don't like/like here...

Ingredients

2 Potatoes cut into small pieces - essential
1 Egg plant cut into a little larger size than the potatoes - essential
Pumpkin cut into small pieces like the potatoes - essential
Radish cut into small pieces like the potatoes - essential
1 Fresh Drumstick or 1 can of tin drumstick - essential
1 carrot cut into small pieces
2-3 Cauliflower florets cut into a little larger size than the potatoes
1-2 Tomatoes - cut into small pieces
Few Okra ends cut off
1 raw banana cut into small pieces
Few Beans cut into small pieces

2 tea spoon of Panch phutana - essential
1 tea spoon of Oil - essential
4-5 garlic cloves crushed - essential
1 small onion sliced thinly
1-2 Chopped green chili
Salt to taste

How to

Boil all the vegetables other than tomatoes, onion and Okra with minimum amount of water and salt.
Add the Okra and tomatoes when the vegetables are nearly cooked. Do not stir too much after that.
In a pan heat oil and add the panch phutana.
Add crushed garlic and green chili and the sliced onions. Saute for one minute.
Add the boiled vegetables and serve fresh.

Updated on May 24th

Panch Phutana is a basic of oriya cooking and has the following :
1 part Cumin seeds
1 part Mustard seeds
1 part Fennel seeds
1/2 part Black Onion seeds
1/4 part Fenugreek seeds

Hadi Wala Chicken

2009-05-17T19:26:00.001-07:00

When I saw Vicky's invite to post for the potluck chicken event, I thought of posting this usual chicken I make at home. While I have never made it for a potluck, I think it will be a big hit in a potluck too. Its so easy to make and can be very easily made in big batches as needed for potluck events. My daughter and son both love this 'Hadi wala chicken' - as they call it... Infact my son who doesn't love chicken looks forward to this dish too...

I usually serve this chicken with rice and some greens like slightly sauted broccoli or boiled beans.

Ingredients :

2 Onions chopped
1 small tomato chopped
1/2 tea spoon Chili powder
1/2 tea spoon Turmeric powder
1 tea spoon Garam Masala
2 cloves
1 inch of Cinnamon
3-4 table spoon of oil
Salt to taste

To marinate

4-5 Chicken legs cleaned (or chicken pieces of about 1 pound)
1 table spoon Ginger-Garlic paste
2 table spoon Curd
2-3 bay leaves
1/2 tea spoon Chili powder
1 tea spoon Coriander powder
1/2 tea spoon Turmeric powder
1/2 tea spoon Garam Masala
1 tea spoon Mustard Oil
Salt to taste

How to

Marinate the chicken with all the ingredients listed in to marinate.
Keep it for minimum 2-3 hours, overnight preferred.

In a big pan, add oil (mustard oil preferred). Once it is hot, add whole cloves and Cinnamon.
Then add the onions and saute until it starts turning golden brown.
Add the chili powder, turmeric powder and then add the chicken.
Cook in low fire, until the water from the chicken completely dries up.
After that add the chopped tomato and garam masala.
Add salt if needed.

Serve hot with rice.

Bara with ghuguni

2009-05-14T05:31:00.000-07:00

If you talk of an oriya snack and don't mention this it will be a shame. Bara or Vadas are very popular in Orissa and people usually have it with Aloo dum or ghuguni. Ofcourse vendors sell both separately too. Ghuguni is nothing but a nice spicy dried peas curry. While either the bara or the ghughuni can serve as a snack by itself, the combination is what people in Orissa love.

In school we had a small shop whose owner made yummy ghuguni. His was the best ghuguni ever - he served it with a dash of onions and imli pani. Wonder what his secret was... He served for 15 min during snack time and then for 1 hr during lunch - but he sure had a monopoly! There would be at least 50 hands stretched out asking for either candy or chips or ghuguni during each break.

This combination of Vada and ghuguni was made by my Mom on one of the Sunday's evening snack! No wonder there was no time to take any decent pictures. Everyone was busy gobbling the baras down...

Ghuguni's ingredients

Dried Peas -1 cup
1/2 tea spoon of whole Jeera
2 green chillies - chopped (optional)
1 large onion - thinly chopped
1 large tomato - diced
1 tea spoon ginger-garlic paste
1/2 tea spoon of turmeric powder
1 tea spoon dhaniya powder
1/2 tea spoon of chili powder
1 tea spoon garam masala
Salt to taste
1 table Spoon oil
1 tea spoon tamarind paste (skip if you don't like it sour)

Ghuguni How to

Soak the dry yellow peas in water for 6-7 hours.
Heat oil in a large pan, add some whole Jeera, when it splutters add some chopped green chillies and the chopped onions.
Once the Onion turns golden brown, add the ginger-garlic paste.
Fry till the oil separates from the frying pan.
Add turmeric powder, salt, chili powder, chopped tomato and dhaniya powder.
Cook for few more minutes till tomatoes are done.
Then add the boiled peas and 1/2 cup of water and garam masala.
Cover and cook for 5-10 mins more.
Once it is done, remove from the fire and add the tamarind paste and mix thoroughly.

Bara Ingredients

1 cup Urad dal
1 medium sized onion chopped finely
2-3 green chilies chopped finely
1/2 tea spoon of whole jeera
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying

Bara How to

Soak the Urad Dal in double the quantity water for 4-5 hours.
Drain it and grind it in a grinder with ginger and jeera and chillies, using very little water to get a semi-smooth consistency.
Mix the chopped chopped onion, green chillies and salt and leave it to ferment for 8-10 hrs.

Heat oil in a small pan.
Make small balls of dough in hand, flatten it little bit and make a small hole in the center.
Fry it in oil till golden brown.

Eat the bara with ghuguni or with ketchup and with a hot cup of tea! Bliss!

Mother's day with Veggie burger and milk cakes

2009-05-10T18:03:00.000-07:00

Today was a beautiful Sunday and mother's day. After getting pampered for 2 weeks by Mom with good food, my daughter and I decided to pamper my Mom. First I thought of making something authentic but knowing my skill levels at typical oriya stuff, I decided to make something that she likes and will be able to eat happily. She has a sweet tooth and though usually I stay away from sweets I made this easy milk pedas for dessert.

Dinner was a different story. I know much she enjoyed her stay with me in Delhi while I was working. All my friends would land up unannounced on weekdays or weekends and stay for a proper home cooked lunch/dinner or both. Sometimes they would come over even when I would be out. She was their good friend too. So while most days she fed us, sometimes we used to take her out to eat burgers at Nirula's or Wimpy's. Initially she resisted fast food, but after few months, she loved it too. So I made veggie burger (she is pure vegetarian) to remind her of good days...

Since its my Mom favorite recipe that I can make, I am sending this off to Shama nagarajan of easy2cook recipes who is hosting an event called MOM'S MOST FAVOURITE RECIPE EVENT.

Vegetable Burger recipe

This recipe is my Moms. I usually make it with potatoes and all vegetables, but she suggested to add nearly equal quantities (as potatoes) of paneer. The vegetable burger suddenly went from the usual to just mind blowing. Add less paneer, if you want. Replace paneer with minced soy if you like.

Ingredients for the cutlet

Home made Paneer - 1 cup
Potatoes 3 - boiled and smashed well
1 carrot - grated
handful of peas
1 onion finely chopped
green chillies cut finely
salt to taste
1/2 tea spoon of garam masala
1/2 lemon
bread crumbs - 1/4 cup
Oil for frying

Burger

hamburger rolls cut and lightly toasted in butter
Lettuce leaves washed and cut
onions cut in thin round slices
Tomatoes cut in thin round slices
Spicy Tomatoes Sauce

How to

Take 1 tea spoon of oil and fry the paneer. Add grated carrot and peas and salt to taste. Keep aside.
Take the potatoes and add the cut onions and chillies and salt and mix well. Add as much paneer as you need (I added same quantity of paneer to potatoes).
Add the garam masala and the lemon juice, adjust spice level now.
Take big rolls of the mixture above in you hand and make nice patties. Roll them in bread crumbs and keep aside for 5-10 min.
Deep fry the cutlets.

Now assemble the cutlets on warm freshly toasted hamburger rolls and serve with lettuce, onions and tomatoes. Add some spicy tomatoes sauce and serve fresh.

Milk pedas or milk cakes

My friend T promised it was a simple no frills and yum sweet done in 6 minutes in the microwave. While the recipe is not mine and I am not sure hers either, its my implementation of it. The sweet was real easy to make and tasted like the milk cakes you get in Orissa.

Ingredients

2 cups non fat dry milk

14 oz (1 can) sweetened condensed milk

1 butter stick

1/2 cup ground cashew nuts

1/4 tea spoon cardamom powder

How to

Warm the stick of butter in microwave for 1/2 minute.

Mix butter, milk powder and milk well.

Set it in a microwaveable bowl. Ensure the bowl is much larger than the content, else the mixture bubbles over and makes a nice mess (mine did...)

Microwave it for 3 minutes.

Mix well and microwave it again for 2 min.

Now, add cardamom powder, and ground cashew and and mix well and microwave it for 1 min.

Spread it evenly on a cookie sheet or a plate. Cover the surface with a very thin layer of ghee/butter before spreading the mixture. Cut into diamond shapes. Serve cooled...

My diamonds didn't look pretty, so I put in the microwave for 1/2 min extra and shaped them with my hand...

Mushroom Manchurian

2009-05-01T11:19:00.000-07:00

I had gone to Trader Joe's for grocery and saw these awesome mushrooms - called steak mushrooms. They looked so royal that I picked them up without giving it another thought. Back home I kept wondering how to treat these royal guys! I couldn't make the usual Oriya rayee with it - won't show them off well. So I tried this Manchurian with it... They tasted really good too. I made this for my husband's birthday few weeks' back - it sure did make him feel special...

A quick and easy snack that can be served to guests too.

Ingredients

Steak Mushroom - 1 packet
1 Green chili (optional)
Spring onions - cut into small pieces
1/4 tea spoon Ginger-garlic paste
Salt to taste
1 tea spoon corn starch
1 table spoon besan
Oil for frying

For the Marinate
1 table spoon vinegar
1 tea spoon soy sauce
1 table spoon chili sauce
1 tea spoon corn starch

How to

In a large bowl, mix the mushrooms, salt, corn starch, besan and ginger garlic paste and leave aside for 1/2 hr.
In a separate bowl, heat oil and deep fry the above mushrooms in slow fire and then keep aside.

In a new pan, put 1 tea spoon of oil and add the green chili and then the sauces. Cook in medium heat for 1 min stirring constantly. Add salt to taste.
Pour the sauce mixture over the mushrooms.

Add the spring onions and serve hot.

How did it fare

My husband was thrilled with the special treat. We had it for evening snack with tea. I served him the fried mushrooms first, without adding the sauce and then the Manchurian. He said the fried mushrooms tasted better than the Manchurian (I think it was a little soggy). So go ahead try the one you prefer or try both...

Aloo Chop

2009-04-26T16:53:00.001-07:00

A typical oriya evening snack. Most people just order these aloo chops or Vadas from the nearby road side snack stores. Each guy makes his a little different. This preparation is made by my mom and both my husband and I love it. In fact right after my mom came over from India, she made it for us. What jet-lag ?

I send this off to WYF:Side dish event ! In Orissa this is served with evening Chai or sometimes with Masala Mudhi (Jhaal Mudhi or Murmura)...

Ingredients

Filing

4 small potatoes boiled and mashed

1 sprig of curry leaves
2 green chilies chopped (skip for kids)
1 medium onion chopped finely
1 inch grated ginger
4-5 garlic cloves minced
1/4 tea spoon turmeric powder
handful of peanuts
salt to taste

Batter

1/2 cup of Besan
1/2 tea spoon turmeric powder
1/2 tea spoon red chili powder
salt to taste
1 cup water

Oil for deep frying

How To

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a non stick pan.
Add the curry leaves, onion,ginger, garlic and chopped green chilies and fry until the raw smell goes off (3-4 minutes)
Add the mashed potato and add the salt and turmeric powder.
Mix on low flame and add the peanuts (preferably dry roasted earlier - you can use raw ones too).
Keep aside and let it cool.

Prepare the batter by mixing the besan well with the salt and turmeric powder and chili powder, until no lumps remain.
Make the batter a little thick so that it coats the stuffing nicely.

Heat the oil for deep frying.
Divide the potato mixture into small balls and flatten them with your palm.
Dip each flattened piece in the batter and deep fry till golden brown.

Serve hot with ketchup or salad as I did...

Arisha pitha

2009-04-25T19:37:00.000-07:00

This is a typical Oriya sweet and made in most households. But if you do not know the trick it either turns out hard as a rock (mostly) or crumbles on touching... Truthfully I have never made it myself and even my mom doesn't make it. I have helped by grand mom make the round balls sometimes, and it was loads of fun. But the eating part is even better.

Here is the recipe as described by my mom....

This goes to Mithai Mela event hosted by Srivalli

Ingredients

Rice- 2 cups (do not use parboiled rice)
Jaggery or Sugar-2 cups
Ghee-2 cups
Salt to taste

How to

Soak the rice in water overnight.
Remove water and pound the rice to make powder.
The Rice has to be ground but not too fine.
Take 1 cup of water and add the sugar or jaggery and heat it.
Keep stirring it until you get a slightly sticky consistency.
Add the rice powder slowly into the sticky misture and keep stirring on low fire until you get a dough like consistency.
Heat ghee in a bowl.
Make small round shape from the dough with your hand while it is still warm.
Deep fry them in low fire until they turn brown on both sides.

These stay fresh for a month!

Thank you!

2009-04-24T18:46:00.000-07:00

The days heave been busy and chaotic. While I had plans of posting more often, things turned very busy at work. Then one day I logged in to see a very nice award from the sweetest blogger friend I have - Priya Sriram. And guess what - it is my first award and I am so thrilled! She is an awesome blogger (http://vishnucooks.blogspot.com/- check out the clicks first!) and her sharing this award with me is of course an honor! Thank you Priya...

Few days later Sangeeta shared the same award too. She has a beautiful site (http://geetlovetocook.blogspot.com/ don't you love the site name itself...) and has loads of unique dishes. Love her site and was really touched to get 2 awards from her... Thank you Sangeeta - don't have enough words to say it of course...

So while I am figuring out this blogging world, thank you my friends for all the encouragement and the nice awards. Other blogging friends who visit my site, these awards are for you! Please accept them and feel free to forward them.

And while we are on this happy note, I have to share that my Mom is here now. So it should be few months of just eating, clicking and posting and no cooking! Hurray! She came with 2 suitcase full of stuff for all of us. My kids didn't leave her room for 2 whole days - peaking into each of her suitcases and unpacking sorting everything several times... My daughter loves the variety of clothes she gets and my son just loves having Aei come over (Aei is Oriya for grandmother). I of course love having Mom over. She comes with Arisha pitha (special Oriya sweets) from my grand mom's place. I just love eating these pithas - unfortunately I don't know how to make them.

Pana Sankranti

2009-04-14T14:38:00.001-07:00

Happy Oriya New Year! We celebrate Oriya New Year on Pana Sankranti which is considered the 1st day of the Solar Calendar. The day is called Pana Sankranti - since a special drink called Pana is served on this day. While I did know somethings (knowledge was limited to having the yummy Pana) about Pana Sankranti growing up, I learnt a lot more over the last few days by quizzing my Mom and reading up on the net. Here is some details I found on the importance of Pana Sankranti in Orissa from Festivals of India

While I would love to give the exact recipe of the Pana - I don't have it. Here is my version of it. It was yummy and everyone enjoyed it at home. So here goes my version of Pana.

Ingredients

1/2 cup freshly made paneer
1/2 cup apple peeled and cut into tiny pieces
1/4 cup mango peeled and cut into tiny pieces
1/4 cup banana peeled and cut into tiny pieces
1/2 cup Honey or Jaggery
1/2 cup yogurt
2 cardamom
handful of cashews ground separately
fistful of fresh grated coconut (optional)

How to

Put all the fruits, yogurt, paneer, cardamom and sugar in a mixie and mix well. Add about a cup of water to it and mix well. Serve fresh with ground cashew and fresh shredded coconut sprinkled on top...

Tomato Pickle

2009-04-13T17:25:00.000-07:00

If you have red tomatoes and want to eat something sour and spicy - try this fresh Tomato Pickle.

This is a new recipe that I learnt from my Nanny! She makes this for herself sometimes when she is bored of our typical Oriya food. Last time when I tasted it - I was hooked... She makes it really, really spicy and the recipe here is hers... So if you can't stand the spice level, reduce the green chilies. Its yum and easy to make...

Sending this off to FIC - Red + Green event which is hosted this month by Neha of easyntastyrecipes.blogspot.com and brainchild of Harini of SunshineMom of TongueTinglers.

Ingredients

4 Tomatoes - cut into small pieces
1 small onion - cut into small pieces
4 green chillies - slit in 1/2
handful of peas
bunch of coriander leaves
Salt to taste
1 table spoon Oil (mustard oil tastes good - others work fine too)
1/4 tea spoon Methi seeds

How to

Heat oil in a pan and add the methi seeds. Once it sputters, add the onions and green chillies and fry.
Once the onion starts changing color, add the tomatoes and salt and keep frying in low fire.
In about 10-15 min, the tomatoes get cooked through and you have a nice paste like consistency. Add the green peas and coriander leaves and cook for 1 more minute.

Serve cooled with chapatis or rice. It stays fresh in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.

Sunday ka Anda

2009-04-12T04:54:00.001-07:00

I remembered the jingle growing up 'Sunday ho ya Monday - roj khaye Ande'... Ha-ha! No we don't eat eggs everyday - but this is a quick and easy protein food. Its very difficult to get my daughter to eat even 1 egg a week, so this tasty recipe helps her to gobble down 1 or 2. Its a different story with my son. He likes his eggs as omelet or scrambled!

This goes to Event for Eggs hosted by Sudeshna

Ingredients

6 Boiled eggs
6-8 Boiled potatoes skinned and cut in 1/4
3-4 Table spoon of Oil
1/2 table spoon of ginger garlic paste
1 large onion sliced thinly
1/2 tea spoon of garam masala
1 large onion cut into small pieces
Salt to taste
Turmeric to taste
Chili powder to taste

How to

Take a little bit of oil in a pan and fry the boiled and peeled eggs in it for a few minutes until they turn nicely golden. Keep the eggs aside in a plate.
Pour the rest of oil and fry the onions. Once it starts changing color, add the turmeric and chili powder and the ginger garlic paste.
Keep stirring frequently until the oil starts leaving the mixture.
Add the cut tomatoes and salt and boiled potatoes and let it cook for a few minutes.
Add the garam masala and little bit of water.
Cook for a few additional minutes and add the eggs (either whole or slit in 1/2).

Yummy Spring rolls

2009-04-11T13:59:00.000-07:00

Any trip to the local chinese restaurant is not complete without this appetizer. But this spring roll is with a twist - relatively healthy!

Most weekends its a mad scramble getting kids to activities, cleaning house and cooking for the week. Last weekend was a little different. My friend was coming over with her Mom and I wanted to experiment - try something different. Of course Pakoras were on the menu but I wanted to try something else too. I love spring rolls and I started surfing for an easy recipe of spring and was delighted to find a non-fried version. I made it on Saturday night and it was polished off in seconds and so I had to make a second batch when my friend's family came over.

This recipe is a little different from my usual easy ones. Most of my recipes take less than 10-15 min to make, this one is adapted from Madhuram's Eggless cooking and did take me about 1 hr to put together.

Ingredients

1/2 of a small Red cabbage - shredded
6-7 Mushrooms - cut into 4 pieces
1 carrot - cut into small pieces
1/4 cup of tofu - cut into small pieces (replace with paneer if you don't like tofu)
2-3 spring onions - cut into small pieces
1/2 red onion - slices thinly
1 table spoon of soy sauce
1/2 table spoon vinegar
1 table spoon of Chili sauce (optional)
2-3 table spoons of Oil
Salt to taste
Thawed Pastry sheets - leave in the refrigerator overnight

How to

1st chop the vegetables as suggested above.
Preheat over to 350 F
While the oven is preheating, take 2 table spoon of oil and saute the vegetables (start with the sliced Onions). Once all vegetables are cooked, add the tofu and salt and stir fry for 1/2 min. Add the sauces and vinegar and take the mixture off the fire and let it cool for a few minutes.

Take a couple of the thawed pasty sheet, fill with the vegetable mixture above and roll. I didn't close the edges but nothing spilled out.
Brush some oil on the baking pan and put these rolls in.
Bake for 30-35 min, turning once in between and brushing with oil again.

Eat fresh off the oven - tastes great. It tastes as good or better than the the deep fried version.

Dahi Ambula

2009-04-10T05:26:00.000-07:00

My friend had come over from NJ with her Mom and her little one. Her daughter just turned 6 months and she was such a pretty princess. Wow - what a no-fuss baby! She was a darling.

Whenever we go to her place, she serves a whole buffet. Two things that is always there in the spread is the Dahi ambula khatta and her awesome chocolate cake. So when she came over, she got both my favorites. I am sure she won't mind me posting her Mom's recipe here. It just tastes awesome....

This is a typical oriya chutney or khatta. It tasted good with everything and best with pakhala (special rice dish of orissa) of course. I can eat a whole bowlful of it with nothing else. In fact that's what I did after I took this picture.

This goes to Shama for Village Special Recipes

Ingredients

3-4 Ambula (Dried mangoes - stays fresh in air tight containers for months)
1 tea spoon of fresh mustard paste
1 cup of yogurt (beaten well)
1-2 Green chillies
1/4 tea spoon Mustard seed
1 sprig of curry leaves
1/4 table spoon oil

How to

Put the ambula in water and let it soften for 1/2 hr.
Mix the salt and mustard paste and yogurt nicely. Add water to yogurt if you like to change consistency.
Heat oil in a pan. Once the oil is hot, add the mustard seed and let it sputter. Add the curry leaves and green chillies and add to the yogurt mixture.

Serve fresh or leave it the refrigerator and enjoy for 1 week!

Chicken Pakoras

2009-04-09T18:57:00.000-07:00

My blog without an entry for Chicken Pakoras would not be possible. Did I tell you everyone at my home loves fried food? And this is an all time favorite of my husband. I have heard stories that his Aunt makes the best chicken pakoras. Each time she used to make them for the whole family, he would finish it all off and the women in the house (2 other kids and Aunt) would have to eat bread for dinner! Of course mine were not as great I am sure - but he did say it reminded him of his Aunt ones... Hey that's a big star!
I had some minced Chicken from the store and I tried this on a whim. It takes 5 minutes to mix, no marinating required (though you could do it for 1/2 hr if you want) and then fry and eat fresh.

Ingredients

1/2 cup of minced chicken (store bought)
1/4 cup bread crumb
1 large onion cut into small pieces
1 tea spoon of ginger-garlic paste
1-2 green chillies cut into small pieces
1/2 tea spoon of garam masala
1/4 tea spoon coriander powder
1/4 tea spoon cumin powder
2 table spoon of vinegar
Salt to taste
Oil for frying
Cilantro for garnish

How to

Mix the chicken with all other ingredients other than Oil and Cilantro and leave for 5-10 minutes.
Get the oil hot and make balls of the mixture above and fry these in low fire.
Serve them hot.

My husband loves to eat his with bread and ketchup while I love mine with Mint chutney!

Spicy Vegetable Noodles

2009-04-04T19:15:00.000-07:00

Growing up in my sleepy town, I don't think I ate Noodles until Maggie was introduced. Maggie was a big hit item back then and used to be eaten for special occasions initially for few years. But this is an all time favorite at home now. Usually on Sunday evenings, when we are tired of cooking and running around and I want something quick and easy I put this together. It has plenty of vegetables and doesn't require much coaxing or bribing to eat the vegetables. Add some paneer and tofu and you have the protein too. Again a simple and easy dish that is a keeper for one and all...

Ingredients

1 packet of Noodles (Hakka Noodles from the Indian store - cooks in 4 minutes)

1 carrot - thinly sliced

4-5 Beans - cut into small pieces

handful of frozen peas

1 Large Onion - thinly sliced

Capsicum - thinly sliced (sorry didn't have on the day I took the picture)

4 Spring Onions - cut into small pieces (optional)

1 Table spoon of oil

Salt to taste

2 table spoon of Soy Sauce

1 tea spoon vinegar

1 table spoon of chili sauce (added after the kids are served)

Freshly ground pepper - add to taste

How to

Boil water in a big pan. Add salt and the noodles and cook for 4-5 minutes (or follow instructions on the packet).

Once the noodles is cooked through, drain the water and let some cold water run through it (this stops the cooking right away and prevents your noodles from getting soggy). Add 2 drops of oil to this cold noodles so that it doesn't stick and keep aside.

Take a wok. Let it get hot. Add the oil and add the vegetables (start with the onions first) and saute for a few minutes. Add the salt. Don't over cook the vegetables.

Add the noodles, mix well and serve to the kids piping hot.

Add the sauces for the adults and eat piping hot.

This goes to Sahaja for her Single Serving Recipes

Chili Paneer

2009-03-22T19:33:00.000-07:00

It was Saturday evening and my foodie hubby needed some special food. He went looking through the refrigerator and asked me to make Chili Paneer. I think it was the hang over from the Ming food of last week. Mings is a Indo Chinese restaurant in NJ that serves really good food. We had really awesome Chili Paneer and I knew I had to meet some pretty tall order! I usually make this Chili Paneer, but this time I added a little bit of corn starch! The dish turned out really good - in fact everything got over and I had to remake it for my daughter again today. If she likes something - she is hooked! Her version had no Chili sauce in it - I wonder if her dish should be called sweet Paneer instead. Anyway a cool (or is it hot) success with everyone and takes barely 10-15 min to make!

Ingredients

Paneer cut into long slices

1/2 Red capsicum - cut into long slices

1 Onion - cut into thin slices

1 Green chilli (optional)

1/4 tea spoon Ginger-garlic paste

Spring onions - cut into small pieces

1 tea spoon oil

Salt to taste

1 tea spoon corn starch

For the Marinate

1 table spoon vinegar

1 tea spoon soy sauce

1 table spoon chili sauce (skip for the kids)

How to

Take a large bowl and mix the sauces in the marinate bit. Add some water if required. Add salt to taste and leave the cut paneer in it for 1/2 hr.

In a separate bowl, heat oil and add onions and green chili and then the ginger-garlic paste. Cook in medium heat for 2-3 min stirring constantly.

Add the cut capsicum and add salt and cover for 2-3 min.

Once the capsicum is nearly cooked, add the marinated paneer.

In a bowl mix the corn starch in cold water.

Add it to the pan above and cook for 1 minute. Add the spring onions and serve hot.

This tastes delicious with fried rice or with vegetarian noodles.

Vegetable Fried Rice

2009-03-21T14:32:00.001-07:00

Growing up this was a staple at our place whenever we had guests over. I used to call it "red rice" and I loved the aroma of this dish and could easily eat up double my normal quota of rice. My Mom obviously enjoyed that - knowing that I was getting a healthy dose of vegetables too ( I didn't eat any vegetable other than potatoes and onions - I think). I make this often at home - but I don't make it when we have guests over - not sure why...

Sending this to FIC -Pink hosted by Priya , started by Harini. Not sure if it is pink enough to qualify!

Also this goes to Sahaja for her Single Serve Recipes.

Ingredients

Cooked Basmati Rice - 2 cups
1 carrot - cut into thin slices
1 beetroot - cut into thin slices
1 red onion - cut into this slices
few pieces of cauliflower - cut into small pieces
2 Green chillies slit
1/4 tea spoon of ginger garlic paste
1 tea spoon of oil
salt to taste
lemon juice - 1/2 tea spoon (optional)
1 tea spoon ghee (optional)

1 - 2 cloves
small piece of Cinnamon
1 small cardamom

How to

Ground the cloves, Cinnamon and cardamom and keep aside.

Put oil in a pan and heat. Once it is hot add 1/4th of the ground masala from 1 above.
Add the green chillies and the onion and ginger-garlic paste.
Fry for 2 minutes and then add the beetroot and cover after adding salt.
Once the beetroot is cooked through in about 5-7 minutes, add the other vegetables and saute until all vegetables cooked through.
Add the rice and mix thoroughly.
Add more salt and cloves / Cinnamon mixture from step 1, if needed now.
Remove from the cooking stove and add a little bit of ghee and lemon juice (both are optional - but if you add it, they make this dish taste and smell heavenly).

Spicy Lemony Coriander Soup

2009-03-07T19:32:00.000-08:00

This was is inspired from the spicy Chicken soup served at Ming's restaurant in Edison, NJ. I simply adore the food there and it is also one of my family's favorite food haunts... Even my 2 year old knows about this place - but then he is foodie too. My daughter loves this soup there, or at least she claims she does. She loves the aroma and flavor, but is so spicy that she can not eat more than 2 spoons. My husband loves it so much that sometimes he order 2 cups - one veg and one non-veg.

Here is my version of their vegetarian soup... Try it - it is super easy and it will fill your house with the wonderful smell...

This bowl of soup is made specially for Neha who is hosting SWC-Soups and let me post even a non-vegetarian soup from my earlier posts.

Ingredients

For the stock

2 to 3 whole lemon grass stalks washed and cut into 2 inches long (this is not edible - but has such a nice fragrance once boiled)
1 to 2 chillies whole ( use one if kids want to try it)
1/2 tea spoon of salt
2 bunches of coriander leaves washed (don't take the stalk off)

Other ingredients
1/2 cup carrots washed and sliced
1 cup white mushroom washed and sliced
1/2 cup white onions sliced
1/4 cup of green spring onions chopped finely
1/4 cup of coriander leaves washed and chopped finely

2 green chillies washed and cut thinly (skip if serving to kids)
1 teaspoon Oil
salt to taste
1 whole lemon

How to

Bring 8 cups of water to a boil. Add the coriander leaves, lemon grass and salt and let it simmer until it becomes 1/2 in volume.
Strain and keep the stock aside, discarding the lemon grass and chillies and the coriander leaves.

You can make the stock and keep it aside for a day or 2 too. This process takes about 20-30 min. Once you have the stock ready and the vegetables cut (use cut ones from the grocery store if you like), the rest of the soup takes less than 5 minutes.

In a large pan, put a little oil.
Add white onions, saute for a bit.
Add cut green chillies to make it spicy. (Optional for kids)
Add the mushroom and carrots and a little salt for the vegetables to cook through.
Add the stalk and let it boil for a minute before adding the spring onions and coriander leaves.
Add lemon juice and server hot.

How did it fare

I made this twice. The 1st time, both my husband and I loved it. It seemed perfect. But my poor daughter had to have 2 sips (like in the restaurant) and stop - it was way too spicy for her. Today when my daughter is feeling under the weather, she asked for it again. So I made it just as I mention above and skipped the chillies. Once the soup was done, I split and boiled 1/2 of the soup with green chillies for us. It seemed to make everyone happy....

Special spicy cauliflower

2009-02-22T07:28:00.001-08:00

Cauliflower is an easy dish and gets cooked several times every week at home. Funny thing is I realized everyone likes it their own way. My kids like is slightly boiled and then sauteed in oil or of course deep fried, my husband likes it as a curry while I like it cooked with potatoes (dry). With so many different ones being made at home each week, it was difficult to pick one to post. Finally picked this dish - its adapted from one that my Mom makes when we have friends over. She learnt it from one of my friends who is a great cook and hostess. She makes it with chicken but my Mom's version is with Cauliflower. I wonder how the same vegetable can taste so different depending on the ingredients used.

This is my entry for JFI :Cauliflower event intiated by Indira of Mahanandi and hosted by Paajaka recipes..

Ingredients

1 Cauliflower (cleaned and cut into small pieces)

2 large Onion (cut into thin slices)

Green chillies (cut into thin slices)

Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tea spoon

Curry leaves - 1 stem

1 Lemon or 2 table spoon of lemon juice

Turmeric powder - to taste

Salt - to taste

Besan - 2 or 3 table spoon

Oil - 2 or 3 table spoon

How to

Marinate the cauliflower with ginger-garlic paste, lemon juice, chili powder, turmeric powder, salt and 1/2 the cut onions. Sprinkle the besan and mix well and aside for 2-3 hours.

Add oil to a saute pan and then add green chillies and curry leaves.

Once it sputters, add the additional onions and fry.

Let the onion start changing colour, before adding the marinated cauliflower and cook on low heat until the cauliflower cooks through.

Put the heat on high and fry. Adjust spice level at this point.

Kakharu Aloo Santula

2009-02-21T17:00:00.000-08:00

Santula is basically any vegetables cooked with less or no oil . Bhaja santula is one in which the vegetables are 1st boiled and then sauteed in a drop of oil to get a nice flavor. Kakharu is nothing but Yellow pumpkin.

Whenever I make any bhaja santula I remember this story. This story is about a friend's Aunt who lives in Cuttack. She belonged to a rich family and was in 9th or 10th grade when she got married off to budding IAS officer in the 70's. She being newly married wanted to impress her husband with her culinary skills (limited then). So she asked one of her numerous servants to cut several vegetables and leave for the day. Then she made a big Bhaja Santula of all the vegetables together and then then spent an hour separating it out before dinner. She had a huge variety of vegetables laid out as dinner and her husband was left wondering for days as to why everything tasted the same. She happens to be an awesome cook now but tells this story with a hearty laugh whenever anyone praises her culinary skills.

This is a typical oriya dish. Its pretty common as a pakhala dish too. I love the combination of sweet and spice to it...

This Oriya speciality goes to FIC: Orange, hosted by Aparna.

Ingredients

1/2 tea spoon of oil (very less amount required)
2 tea spoon panch phutan
3-4 dry red chillies (whole)
turmeric powder - to taste
salt - to taste
red chilli powder - to taste
2 big potatoes - cut into long thin strips
a piece of yellow pumpkin - cut into fat pieces. (the quantity of poatoes should be a little more than the pumpkin after cut)

How to

Heat oil in a pan and add dry whole red chillies and then phutan. When it starts to splutter, add the potatoes and fry for a minute. Then add the pumpkin pieces.
Stir well and add salt and turmeric and chilli powder.
Cover and cook for 10 mins or until the vegetables are nearly cooked. Then cook without the lid for 2 minutes on high heat. The dish is ready when vegetables are completely cooked.

Chatu Rayee or Mustard Mushroom fry

2009-02-20T15:54:00.001-08:00

Growing up, we rarely used to eat mushrooms at home. I remember during rainy seasons there used to be lovely mushrooms growing on the pretty green lawn - but we used to stay away from it. I think once they started selling processed famed mushrooms in packets that we started eating mushrooms. I love this preparation of mushroom, but my kids and husband do not like this combination of mushroom with mustard paste. So when my Mom or my mother-in-law come over, this is a regular dish.

Ingredients

1 packet of fresh cut mushrooms
1/2 an onion cut into think slices (Optional)
2-3 Dried mango slices ( ambula ) soaked in water for 1/2 hr
1 tea spoon mustard seed
2-3 tea spoon mustard paste( grind 2-3 tea spoon mustard seeds + 1/2 tea spoon Jeera seeds + 3 cloves garlic )
turmeric powder to taste
salt to taste
1 tea spoon Oil
1-2 green chillies

How to
Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and once it sputters add the green chillies.

Add the Onions and fry for 2-3 minutes.

Then add the Mushrooms and add salt and turmeric powder. Cover and cook until the mushroom cooks through (in about 5-10 min).

Add the mustard paste and the ambula and let it cook in high heat. Adjust water level as needed.

Hearty Carrot Biryani

2009-02-14T12:30:00.000-08:00

Yesterday my daughter came home with many valentines from school. It seemed so sweet and innocent and so magical. Growing up I never knew or heard of Valentine's day and nor is it anything special for me now. But looking through her eyes - it seems like a wonderful celebration of love. So this carrot Biryani is inspired by her.

I usually make this biryani with all vegetables (like Carrots, Peas and Beans), but it is a slight modification here to keep the hearty spirit going...

This carrot Biryani goes to FIC: Orange, hosted by Aparna.

This is also my entry for Bindiya's My favorite things- LOVE-HEART SHAPED FOODS.

Ingredients

1/2 Carrot cut into tiny pieces
Cooked Rice - 1 cup
a pinch of saffron
1/4 tea spoon of butter
a pinch of Biryani Masala
salt to taste

How to

Take a little water and add a pinch of saffron and keep aside for 10 min.

Take the carrot and add enough water to cover it and microwave for 3-4 minutes. It cooks the carrot without changing the color.

Add the saffron water to the cooked rice. This gives a nice flavor to the rice and also a pretty pinkish color.

Take a small pan, add the ghee and once it is hot add salt and biryani masala. Don't add too much masala, since you don't want to overwhelm the saffron or carrot taste. Add the rice and carrots and mix well and serve hot.

How did it fare with the food experts ?

My daughter loved the artful display. She thanked me and said it looked lovely, looked at it and ate the rest of the food. She didn't touch this dish. My foodie son kept saying that he doesn't like carrots, but ate this saying but 'yeh accha hai'. Mission accomplished ? Probably not - but maybe 1/2 way there...

Kid friendly Chicken soup

2009-02-06T19:15:00.000-08:00

I walked in from home tried and really really cold. This winter seems worse than usual - or do I feel like this every winter? I am craving for a cup of hot tea and I see my kids gobbling down this soup. Looks like they have convinced my Nanny to make Chicken Noodle soup again! Both my kids love this soup and it is a lovely way to get them to eat the vegetables. Also its a meal in itself and tastes better the next day...

Neha of "Tasty recipes' Blog is guest hosting "SWC-Soups" event this month. SWC event is started by Lakshmi of "Taste of Mysore" blog. Neha has chosen "healthy soups with fresh vegetables" as a theme. Thanks to both of you. Here is my soup. It has all fresh ingredients - though it does have the chicken too...

Ingredients

2 chicken legs
Enough water to cover chicken
2 handful of dried pasta
1 potato peeled and cut into small pieces
1/4 celery stick cut into small pieces
1 /2 carrot cut into small pieces
1/2 tea spoon of olive oil
Salt to taste

How to

Cover chicken pieces with water and little salt and cook until chicken comes off the bones easily.

Debone the chicken and cut into small pieces.

Take a separate pan and add little oil. Fry the vegetables in it for 2 minutes, until all vegetables are coated niceley with oil but before they change color. Add the broth from above and boil the vegetables on slow fire for about 45 min.

Once the vegetables are nearly done, add the chicken pieces and dried pasta and let it cook for another 10-15 minutes or until the pasta is soft.

Nadiya pachidi

2009-02-05T08:43:00.000-08:00

I love coconut in pithas. But since I rarely make pithas and I had nearly the whole packet of fresh shredded coconut I decided to make this and take it for the Saraswati puja too. It took 2 minutes to make, but tastes really yummy.

Ingredients

3/4 packet of frozen shredded fresh coconut (of course thawed)
2-3 green chillies
2-3 red chillies
3/4 box of yogurt (about 3/4 lb)

1 inch of Ginger
4-5 Curry leaves
Salt to taste
Black salt - pinch (optional)
1 tea spoon of mustard seeds
1 tea spoon oil

How to

Beat the curd nicely. (Full disclosure - I got my 2 1/2 yr to do it - of course I had a nice mess to clean up too). Add about 1 cup of water for thinner consistency.

Add the salt, black salt and coconut to the curd and keep aside in a bowl.

Heat oil in a frying pan. Add mustard seeds and allow it to splutter. Add curry leaves, grated ginger and green chillies and red chillies and fry them little bit. Let it cool a bit before adding to the yogurt - coconut mixture.

This is a dish that is served on puja days and also in traditional Oriya marriage feasts.

Nadiya Pachidi is my entry to the Chutney/Dip Mania" Event @ Mane Adige hosted by Ramya.

Oriya Ghanta for Puja days

2009-01-31T18:11:00.001-08:00

Happy Basant Panchami !

Today we had an Oriya get together at a friend's place to celebrate the Saraswati Puja. They host it every year and do a great job of organizing it. The goddess was decorated nicely and there were lots of fruits and flowers. The kids recited the Saraswati slokas and saw the whole puja done the traditional way! The puja and the arti was a treat to watch.

There was fresh bundi and chuda ghasa made at home for the puja - both were mind blowing. Of course which Oriya party is complete without a round of yummy food afterwards. I had made one of the Oriya dishes - Ghanta. Ghanta means "mixed" and usually it means mixed vegetables. Again there are several versions of this dish, but this is the one that my Sasu makes for Puja days, since we don't put onions or garlic in it.

Ingredients

Potatoes
Yellow Pumpkin
Eggplant
Yam (or saru)
Green beans (use string beans if you have them)
Carrot
Radish
Green papaya
1 small mango (peeled and then grated)

1 handful of green peas soaked in water (2-3 hours)
1 handful of yellow peas soaked in water (2-3 hours)
2 hand full of chick peas (soak and keep for sprouting the day before)
1 handful of Desi Channa (soak and keep for sprouting the day before)
1 handful of green mung Dal (soak and keep for sprouting the day before)

1 tsp of punch puran seeds
5 small pieces of cinnamon stick
10 pieces of Cardamom (Aleicha)
Ginger (2-inch piece) grated
Ginger (1-inch piece) cut into thin pieces

2-3 tablespoon of fried Cumin powder (if freshly roasted and ground then better)
Fresh Coriander leaves
Red Chili Powder to taste
4-5 Red Chillies

4-5 bay leaves
Turmeric powder to taste
Salt to taste
Oil for cooking (you can use ghee if you want too)
Coconut pieces or shredded coconut (optional) - about handful
Ghee - 2 tea spoon (optional)

How to

First cut all the vegetables into equal size pieces (other than the mangoes and ginger). After cutting the vegetable, use 2 times yellow squash for 1measurement of each of the other vegetable. So if you use 2 cups of quash, use 1 cup each of potatoes, egg plant and so on... This is the most time consuming part of making ghanta. Cut and keep aside from day before, if you can.

Put 2-3 table spoon of oil in a frying pan and put the panch phuran seeds and let them splutter.

Add the cinnamon and cardamom and the grated ginger and the bay leaves.

Add the vegetables that take time to cook (like papaya and radish first). Also add the sprouts and green and yellow peas. And salt and turmeric and red chili powder.

Add all other vegetables after 10-15 min (other than eggplant and mangoes).

Cover and cook in slow fire for about 45-50 min (depending on the quantity of vegetables). Keep mixing and checking every 3-4 minutes.
When all the vegetables are nearly cooked, add eggplant and cook for a few minutes.

A picture before I added the cumin powder

When all vegetables are cooked, add the grated mangoes and the cut ginger pieces and the cumin powder. Adjust salt and spice level at this point. Add the additional ghee at this point (optional)

Add coriander leaves and shredded coconut and serve hot. This is an Oriya favorite and usually served on puja days with rice and plain Dal and khatta.

This post is dedicated to my gudagang friends...

Boodha chakuli with patriotic flavors

2009-01-25T17:37:00.000-08:00

Sunday morning and the same battle starts with the kids. No they don't want eggs or bread or cereal. Again they want something different. I tell them how we used to get "Chuda Chakta" everyday for breakfast for all school days. We have batter for dosa every weekend, but the kids are not interested. So I tell them I will make a surprise pancake and made this boodha chakuli (basically utatapmam is called so in Oriya). Since it is republic day tomorrow, I thought of Saffron and green colors. The colors were a big hit and they both had 1 each. I feel thats a good start... Both promise to eat again next weekend, but I am not counting on it... Lets wait and watch.

Ingredients

For the batter

1 cup url daal (soaked overnight)

2 cups rice (soaked overnight)
Salt to taste

Meethi powder

For the chakuli (each one)

1 tea spoon oil

grated carrots ( 1/4th of a carrot)

4 beans cut into small pieces

2 chillies cut into small pieces (optional)

1/4 of a small onion cut into small pieces

How to

Grind the urad daal and the rice in a blender or mixie. Add water and salt and leave in a warm place for a day for the batter to ferment.

To make the chakuli,

Take a flat pan and put 1/2 tea spoon of oil. Put 2-3 table spoon of the batter. Decorate with carrot shreds, cut beans, chillies and onions... Add any other vegetable you like here...

Cook 1 side for 3-4 minutes in very slow heat and then turn and add 1/2 tea spoon more oil. Let the other side cook for 3-4 minutes again.

Serve hot with green mint chutney.

Amba Khatta or Mango Chutney

2009-01-25T13:21:00.000-08:00

Every time I go to India, I pack a bottle or two of mango pickles. Also when my Mom comes over, she makes me the best possible mango pickle. Unfortunately, I have run out of my pickles and so I have been the next best thing to amba achar is amba khatta. Last time I was in the Indian grocery store, I got some frozen mangoes. I had tried this mango chutney or amba khatta and it was a real disaster. The mangoes in that pack were so bitter, that it left me wanting for the real thing. So I got 2 mangoes this time and used one to make this khatta. My daughter is a big fan of this too, so we have been competing on finishing off this. My husband who doesn't like sweet food, even he tasted it and said it was good. Khatta in Oriya means sour, so this dish has to have the right combination of sweetness and sourness....

This is a speciality from my mom's kitchen, she has had written it for me in my recipe book in Oriya....

Ingredients

1 Mango (washed, peeled and cut into small pieces)
Panch Phutan - 1 tea spoon
Curry leaves - hand full
Meethi powder - 1 tea spoon
Jeera powder - 1/2 tea spoon
Sugar - 1/2 cup ( add more depending on taste)
Salt to taste
2 green chilien (slit into 1/2)
Oil - 1 tea spoon

How to

Put a little oil in a pan and let it get hot. Add the panch phutan and the curry leaves and the green chillies. Then add the cut mangoes and salt. Cover and cook until the mangoes are soft.

Move the mangoes to the side and add the sugar. Let it caramalize and then add about 1/2 cup water. Let the mangoes mix well with the sugar, add the methi powder and Jeera pwder. Taste and see if you need to add any sugar. Add extra water if you like a thinner consistency.

This tastes awesome with Pakhala or even with Aloo paratha.

Amba Khatta is my entry to the Chutney/Dip Mania" Event @ Mane Adige hosted by Ramya

Sandwich in a jiffy

2009-01-24T19:55:00.000-08:00

It was Saturday and everybody's clock seemed to be running late. I woke up at 7 and made myself a cup of tea. Princess (my daughter) was still taking her time to wake up. I guess she had stayed up last night reading her 1st set of Tin Tins. By the time I finished tea and was ready to start the day, I realized my daughter was running late to her numerous Saturday activities. Managed to wake her, get her ready and onto the breakfast when the real battle started. It being a Saturday she wanted a different breakfast (by the way she says that everyday anyway - only change the day of the week)...

There was no time to experiment or make something from scratch, so I put this Sandwich together from left over food. I have to say the inspiration for this goes to my husband, who puts together such sandwiches on most Sundays...

How to

I had some bhaja or sauteed vegetables that I had used for a vegetable pulao earlier in the week. I took the sauteed vegetables, put in the sandwich and served with a glass of milk.

Wow a healthy breakfast thats tasty and done in a jiffy. Not a bad start to this lazy Saturday!

PS : It took longer to take the picture than to make it. I took the picture later in the day...