Stuffed snakegourd

I never knew what to do with snakegourd except making kootu with it. My mom used to make simple dry curry with grated coconut. Its my dad's favourite. However I found it very boring , unless I started making it by adding onions and groundnuts to enhance the taste. And then I saw this recipe in Jaya shenoy's book. Stuffing snakegourd seemed to be a good idea. So I made this and it tasted good.

Ingredients-
Snakegourd- 2 medium sized
Potatoes- 6
Green chillies- 10
Red chilli-1
Oil- 4tbsp
Coconut gratings- 2tbspn
Lime-1/4
Rava-
Mustard seeds- 1/2tsp
Oil for roasting
Asafoetida mixed in water

Scrape off snakegourd skin. Cut lengthwise,discarding seeds. Wash ,apply salt and keep aside. Boil potato,peel and mash them. Add salt ,chopped green chillies,coconut gratings,and asafoetida water. Mix well and prepare a stiff dough.Season with red chillies ,mustard in oil. Add a little juice of lime.Make balls of dough and stuff the snake gourd.Smear a pan with oil. Dust each piece with rava and roast till both sides are brown.

Akki roti

I have now come to normal routine after a busy week followed by a busy weekend. First the Varalakshmi vratham , then avani avittam (sacred thread) . I made a typical south indian food for the avani avittam with sambar , rasam, kootu, curry, vadai, payasam. Unfortunately, I couldn't take the photo as I was really tired with the preparations and I was in no mood to do it. However, we dressed up my son in a panchakatcham (dhoti ) and here's the snap!!! Todays post is akki roti. This is a famous karnataka cuisine, which I learned from my cousin who stays in Mysore. I have been wanting to try it since a long time, and finally managed to make it last week. I will be sending this to Anisheetu who is hosting SWC karnataka this month.
Ingredients-
Rice flour- 1cup
Rava- 1cup
green chillies- 2 finely chopped
carrots-1 grated
salt to taste

Method
Mix all the ingredients together and make a firm dough. Make balls of the dough. Flatten the ball to a thin circle (using your fingers) in a kadai as shown in the picture above. Cover with a lid and allo wo cook for sometime. You can easily remove the roti from the kadai. No need to cook on the other side.
Serve hot with chutney.

Karuna of foodie by nature has passed me three awards-Beautiful site (nice pictures) award,Best blog darts thinker and brilliante weblog awards. Thanks a lot karuna.

Vaizhaipoo vadai!

Last two days,especially today was really busy for me. We were preparing for the Varalakshmi viratham which was celebrated in a nice manner today. I felt as if I was in India today as I had so many people visiting me for the Vethalai pakku/manja kungamam and I too visited many friends. So I had a wonderful time today. I could not find time to take photos of the food.
Time for today's recipe. I made this Vazhaipoo vadai last week. It was the first time I made something different with vazhaipoo instead of regular kootu and curry. This is how I made.

Ingredients-

Banana flowers- chopped fine. Refer here.
Chana dal- 1 cup

Onions- 1 sliced.

Coriander- Finely chopped.

Green chillies- 1/2 finely chopped

Haldi/turmeric powder- 1tsp

Salt- 1tsp

oil for deep frying.

Method-
Soak chana dal for 2 hours. Grind it coarsely. Add rest of the ingredients. Mix well. Deep fry them .

Serve hot with chutney.

Hurray!!! I baked my first bread!!

I was very tempted to bake a bread after seeing many bloggers attempting to make it and
getting wonderful results. But at the same time I was apprehensive about it and thought it was a very messy process and involved lot of work. I look for less work because I can do it only when my baby is sleeping.
Finally I decided one fine day to start my adventure instead of just brooding over it. I got a simple beginner's recipe from here. I started working with the yeast and then the flour. And then I was worried,"what if my dough does not rise? But it did and I regained my confidence.
The bread came out well, smelled good too.
This blogging has really made me enthusiastic. I keep looking for new recipes and certainly make me do things which I had never thought I will be even trying!!
What I learned from my mistakes-The crust was a bit thick due to prolonged baking time. I should reduce the baking time next time when I do it. The inner portion was quite soft and spongy.

Ingredients-
Wheat flour- 3 cups
Active dry yeast- 1 packet
Warm water- 3/4 cup
Milk- 1/2 cup
Butter-1tbsp
Salt- 1tsp
Sugar-1 1/2 tbsp

Method
In a large bowl, add warm water and then the yeast cells. Keep stirring till it dissolves. Then add the salt ,sugar,butter,milk. Mix well.
Then add flour gradually and keep stirring till the dough chases the spoon around the bowl. Keep the dough on a floured surface and knead well using your fingers until you get a smooth , elastic and non sticky dough. Keep this dough in a greased bowl so that the upper surface of the dough is greased.Keep it covered and allow to rise for 1 hour. After an hour , punch the risen dough and knead on a floured surface .
Preheat oven at 180c. Set the dough on a loaf pan. Let it rise again for 30 minutes. Bake the bread for 45 minutes till golden brown. Turn the bread on kitchen towel.

Bisi bela bhaat

A popular cuisine of Karnataka, basically a sambar rice variety is a complete meal in itself. I love this delicious rice and make it very frequently. If you start browsing,you will find different versions of making this rice variety. This is how I make.

Ingredients
Rice- 2cups
Tuvar dal- 1cup
Mixed vegetables- 1cup(potatoes,carrots,peas,cauliflower)
Onion- 1 chopped
Tamarind paste- 1tbspn
Grated coconut- 1/2cup
Cinnamom- 1''
Coriander seeds- 1tbspn
tuvar dal-1tsp
chana dal-1tsp
Dried red chillies- 3
salt to taste
Turmeric powder- 1tsp
Oil- 2tsp
Mustard seeds- 1tsp
Fenugreek rice-1/2tsp

Method
Heat oil in a pan. Add tuvar dal,chana dal,coriander seeds,cinnamon. Saute for sometime. Keep it aside. Saute coconut gratings seperately. Grind everything together. Soak rice and dal for sometime. Drain the water.
Heat little oil in a pressure cooker. Add mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds. Then add the onions and saute till they are translucent. Then add the cut vegetables and tamarind water. Cook for sometime. Then add the ground paste. And then the rice and dal. Add salt. Mix everything properly and cook in the pressure cooker as per requirement.
Serve hot with raitha and papad.

I am sending this to Anisheetu who is hosting Swc karnataka this month.

My awards-
Easycrafts has passed me the brilliante weblog premio 08'award. Thanks a lot EC.
A new friend of mine, Purva has passed me the blogging friend forever award. Thanks a lot,purva.

Maddur vadai!!

I have tasted these vadais during my train journeys from Bangalore to Mysore. It used to taste really delicious,crunchy though a bit oily. I was looking for the recipe and I finally found it Jaya Shenoy's Dakshin bharat dishes cook book. I made them this weekend and was really good.
I am sending this to Anisheetu who is hosting SWC karnataka this month.


Ingredients
Chana dal- 1 cup
Cabbage - chopped -1cup
Grated coconut-1/2cup
Green chillies- 2 finely chopped
Til/sesame seeds- 1tbspn
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying.


Method
Soak chana dal for an hour and then drain the water. Add the chopped cabbage and coconut gratings in it. Grind them together to a coarse paste. Then add sesame seeds ,green chillies and salt and mix well. Make small balls of desired size with the paste. Flatten them and deep fry. Serve hot.

Time for some awards-
Lakshmi, Sireesha and Uma have passed me the "Brilliante Weblog award" . Thanks a lot . I am so glad to receive it.
I would like to pass this award to Asha, Cynthia, Rosie,Chawanmushi, Maria, Sefa firdaus and Lisa.
Uma has also passed me these two beautiful awards.

I would like to pass these two awards to Lakshmi, sireesha, Priyanka, Vanisri, Anisheetu, Srilekha, Sukanya, Priti, Easycrafts. Congrats on your awards!!!

Vaizhaipoo parappu usli

Vaizhaipoo or banana flower/blossom is eaten worldwide and very popular in south Indian homes. It is widely available in Singapore and hence I make this quite frequently though I haven't had this much in India. It is known to be quite healthy also.

I usually make it during the weekends because my hubby helps me to remove the bracts and chop the flowers. Thats bit time consuming!!

Ingredients-

Whole Banana blossom- 1

Diluted buttermilk-1 cup

Tuvar dal- 1cup

Dried red chillies- 4-5

Cumin seeds/jeera- 1tsp

Salt to taste

Oil- 2tsp

Mustard- 1tsp

Udid dal- 1tsp

Channa dal- 2tsp

Method

Remove the outer sheath of the blossom. You will find a bunch of white flowers. Rub the whole bunch on your palms to snap of the white stemy portions(the anthers and stigma)that will not cook well. Chop the remaining portion and keep it in diluted buttermilk or turmeric water so that it doesn't blacken. You will find a pictoral description of how to do this here in case you are not aware.

Soak tuvar dal for 1 hour. Then drain the water. Grind it coarsely along with dried red chillies. Then make them into balls and steam them. Then after they slightly cool, crumble them nicely as shown in the picture below.

Drain the buttermilk from the Flowers. Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard, udid dal and channa dal. Then add the flowers and saute for sometime. Then add the dal and mix well.

Serve hot as a side dish with sambar rice.
Do see my craft bog for hand made magnets.