How about giving a virtual treat to your blogger friends. dedicating the dishes personally for our blogger friends. Ten days back I saw my Dear friend Shriya of http://www.spicytasty.com/ comment for Raw Mango Pulihothara..where she stated that she wanted to taste it. The above plate is thus for shriya to have her Virtual Treat. iam waiting for you dee..come soon for a virundhu.

Well about this dish..When i was pregnant..My husband used to buy several Raw mangoes for me..But i never felt of tasting them. To my surprise in my last trimester..i suddenly over turned to mango side. The above dish was tried by me in those days..near about a year back.

My Recipe will be an outlaw from the rules for Mango Rice.. But i assure you it tastes so good.

Required:
1. Rice -2 cups(Rice should be cooked with less water than the usual level of water)
2. Grated Raw Mango- 1/4 cup
3. Grated Carrot-1/4 cup
4. Onion-1
5.Red chilli's-5
6.Mustard-1/2 spoon
7.Chana Dal-1/2 spoon
8.Turmeric powder-1/4 spoon
9. Peanut-2 spoons

Method:
Mix 4 spoons of oil with the rice and let it cool for some time. this makes the rice dont stick with the other. Now In a kadai..add 2 spoons of oil and heat it. add mustard seeds..when it pop up..add chana dal and let it turn golden colour. now add red chilli's, peanut's and curry leaves. roast them well and add sliced onion's. fry it well. add salt and turmeric powder and mix well. now add Grated Raw Mango and Carrot. let them cooked in slow flame for about 2-3 minutes. now add rice and mix well.

Serve it hot with mixture.

shriya hope you like my Virtual Treat.
Why not we Virtually Treat(VT) our Blogger Friends??


Twice or Thrice in a week..I will be cooking greens. i love greens. even if i have been asked to eat greens daily i will eat. well I could not translate the name of the greens from Tamil to english.

But here iam giving you 2 Green's Recipes.

1. Arakeerai

2. Thoothu Valai Keerai.

Since Iam Nursing..i will always buy Arakeerai..as it helps in secreting mother's milk. When this
green had with Tuvar dal..it has its full effect.

Next is Thoothu Valai Keerai..As me and My baby got up with cold..we tried up this green..as it cure's cold. Well the recipe for my baby is different from mine.

Arakeerai Pappu:

Ingredients:

1.Arakeerai- 1 bunch

2.Tuvar dal(boiled and mashed)-1/4 cup

3.Onion-1

4.Red chilli-2

5.Turmeric powder- a pinch

Method:

In a kadai..add oil..heat it..add mustard..when it crackles add red chilli and fry it. If you are willing you can add methi seeds and garlic here at this stage. now add sliced onions and fry them. add little turmeric powder and mix well. now add the washed greens/keerai. fry them well till the greens leave the water. when they are cooked add salt and mix with the Tuval dal.

Serve hot with Hot Rice with Ghee.

Thoothu Valai Keerai Thuvaiyal:

Very Rarely you get this green. This leaf is full of thorn's. so it takes patience to remove those thorn's. But it is very healthy one..If any tamil people reading this post check out this week ananda vikatan edition. varam oru keerai..title.

1.Thoothu Valai Keerai-1 cup

2. Grated Coconut-4 spoons

3. Tuvar Dal-1/2 spoon

4.Channa dal-1/2 spoon

5.Urad Dal-1/2 spoon

6. Red chilli-1

Method:

First Roast the dals in a pan and keap it aside. now fry the greens as we fry Mint. after frying..add this to the dals and coconut and salt. grind them coarsely. you can also season it with mustard and saute it again.

This post is for MEC-Greens an event from Cooking 4 all season's Srivalli.http://cooking4allseasons.blogspot.com/2008/02/microwave-easy-cooking-with-tiffins.html



If you plan for a Quick Recipe, You can select this combo. as it can made with less effort and also it pleases you. For me it took 45 mins. well planning before in hand will reduce this to 30 mins.

Peas Pulao

Ingredients for Peas Pulav:


Peas                                                                                                                  1/2 cup
line
Rice                                                                                                                   2 cups
line
Anise                                                                                                                          1
line
Cumin+Clove Powder                                                                                 1/4 spoon
line
Pattai-1,      Cloves-2,      Bay Leaf-1
line
Onion                                                                                                                          1
line
Ginger+Garlic Paste- 1 spoon
line
Ghee                                                                                                               5 spoons
line
Cumin                                                                                                          1/4 spoon
line
Milk                                                                                                                 1/2 cup
line
Green chilli                                                                                                              1
line


Easy Peas Pulav


Method:

Wash and soak the Rice for 3o mins. Now In a thick bottommed Pressure Cooker,add 2 spoons of ghee. heat the ghee and add star anice, cumin, pattai, lavang, bay leaf. now add the slice onions and fry it well. let the smell come. now add slitted Green chilli and fry it. add ginger garlic paste and saute it well. now add the drained Rice and mix well with the ingredients in the cooker. add peas now and mix well. you can add milk or coconut milk here at this point. I added milk. add sufficient water and pressure cook it for 3 whistles.

Kadai Paneer

Ingredients:

 Paneer- 8 cubes
 Red Onion-1
 Tomatoes-2
 Corriander Leaves- a fistfull
 Turmeric powder- a pinch
 Chilli Powder- 1 spoon
 Butter-4 spoons
 Oil- 4 spoons

Method:

Fry the Paneer in Tava.  need not add oil here to fry. frying it for few minutes will do. need not fry them on all sides. leave the fried paneer aside.

In a kadai, add oil and heat it. now add sliced onions fry it add sliced tomatoes fry it and add washed corriander leaves. fry them well. they should be transparent. now add little turmeric powder and salt. let them cool. grind them into a paste. (when corriander leaves are added..you can feel a nice smell..too sustain that smell..keap the kadai closed till it is done and cooled).

In a kadai. add oil, heat it and add the grinded paste. let them fried and add chilli powder. now mix well and add butter. leave the gravy in slow flame by closing it with a lid for 5 mins atleast. after 5 mins add the fried paneer cubes and mix well.

Garnish it with corriander leaves.

This gravy is best suited for chapathi's.

Peas Pulav with Star Anice is leading to Think Spice..Think Star Anice, an event by sunita.

My Husband's Favourite Sweet Carrot Halwa.
Sweet,Candle Light,Roses and its Fragrances, Cute little angel, My Love...What else I need?
Happy Valentine's Day.............
This Day is not only for Lover's. It is for the people who are all in love.
Today is also Library Day. So Make a Habit of including a book in Your Home Library on this day.
Carrot Halwa:
Ingredients:
1.Milk-4 cups
2.Sugar-1 cup
3.Grated Carrot-2 cups
4.Ghee-1/4 cup
Method:
Dissolve the sugar in Milk. Let it boil. add the grated carrot and mix well. keap stirring them untill they bind togeather. when they bind add ghee and stir well. Now garnish the carrot halwa with ghee roasted cashews.

This post is on its way to Pooja's Theme of the Week--Valentine's Day.




Return of Ivy Gourd

Well..since it is good for health i tend to buy this veggie every alternative week. this ivy gourd is rich in protein and fibre and it prevents certain enzymes which are those to produce glucose in our body. i also prefer each alternative week to buy bitter gourd. i strongly have faith in Food is Medicine. and Health is Wealth.

To prepare Masala you need:

1. Grated coconut-3 spoons
2. Red chilli's-2
3. Small onions-7
4. Salt- little bit

Grind them into a coarse paste..just by sprinkling little water.
other than masala:


1.Kovakkai/ivy gourd-1/4 kg


2.Oil- 5 to 6 spoons


3.Salt


4.Turmeric Powder- a pinch


Method:

Cut the Ivy Gourd as you wish..i preferred to cut them vertically as the masala gets absorbed.now In a kadai..heat 5 spoons of oil..add mustard..when it splutters add curry leaves and the grinded masala. fry them for a minute..it soon sticks to the kadai..now add sliced ivy gourd. mix them well with the masala, add salt and turmeric powder a pinch now. mix them and close it. leave them on flame for 10-15 minutes. In between you got to check and keep mixing.

Serve with hot rice with a little ghee.

Recipe Source: Aval Vikatan.. 30 variety varuval.







I was craving for some spicy hotel food..The above combo idea just came as a spark. but i havent tried them before. so on googling i found sailu's cumin rice with rajma. i felt very happy that i could find the recipe for both on a single shot.


whenever i make briyani or some rice that has to be pressure cooked along with masala's. i used to fear a lot about the turn out's..it always happens to me alone..like rice would not be cooked properly or blackening of the rice in the bottom part of the cooker or the masala's going wrong or no salt or too much of spicy or the rice not seperated and looks mashy. oh god you should have thought what a girl she is...


well iam still in the learning stage with just 3 years of cooking experience. inspite of the above bugs..i still manage to correct it at the last minute and present it to my husband as though nothing occurred. but he will find it out. hope he should have been ratatouille in his last generation.


why i was blabbering all the above is..this cumin rice was the first one for me which turned out without any minus marks. it does'nt mean that i got improvised..it is this cumin rice will not trouble anyone and wont let others down.


Coming to the Subject


Ingredients for Cumin Rice:


1. Rice - 2 cups(cleaned and soaked in water for 30 minutes)

2. Cumin- 1/2 spoon

3. Cumin+Lavang powder- 1 and half spoons

4. Ghee-3 spoons

5. Salt- as required

6. Water-4 cups


Method:


In a pressure cooker, heat the ghee. add cumin and fry them brown. now add the cumin and lavang powder. fry it. the color changes just in seconds. now add rice. mix well. add water and salt mix well. pressure cook it for 3 whistles. depends on your cooker.



On Rajma Masala:


This is the first time for me to try out a spicy masala.

First have a fistfull of corriander leaves, 6 garlic pieces and 2 inch of ginger and grind them into a paste. now In a kadai, heat the oil, add lavang/cloves fry them well. now add the grinded paste and fry it. add sliced pieces of one onion and fry them. when it is fried add a slitted green chilli and finely chopped pieces of two tamatoes. fry them well. add salt,turmeric powder a pinch, chilli powder a spoon, 2 spoons of corriander powder, 1 spoon of cumin powder, 1 spoon of garam masala and mix well. now add the rajma beans(soaked for 10-12 hours), into the mixture and mix well. add water..see to that in what consistency you require the rajma masala to be in.
pressure cook it for 3 whistles.
the rajma masala suits well to cumin rice.
the below link is of sailu. check out her version.



This is one of my favorite veggie.
If you have neglected this veggie before this..feel sorry for it. This Suran is a Blood Purifier. Thou it pricks your tongue while eating. It can be avoided using tamarind water when applying masala to it.

Being a vegan..I crave to try out the spiciness in the Non-vegetarian food. I prefer this suran roast for a spicy yet a tasty one. This suran absorbs the spiciness and also pretends to look like fish fry.

Hope you all will try this out.

Ingredients:

Suran-1/4 kg

Masala:

1. Chilli powder-3 spoons
2. Turmeric powder- ¼ spoon
3. Tamarind water- (of a small lemon size tamarind)
4. Salt- as required
Mix chilli powder,turmeric powder and salt well by sprinkling tamarind water.

Method:

Remove the skin of suran . cut them into slices. Let it be little thick slices.
Boil them in water till they become tender. It may take nearly 5 minutes. Now let it cool and apply the masala’s on it . Fry them in Dosa Tava with little oil on both sides till they get roasted.