Click Natural....Pears

Hey!!! I almost forgot to send these clicked natural pears to Click - Natural, the photo event created and hosted by Bee & Jai of the famous food blog Jugalbandi.

Dry Pepper Lamb with Whole Spices

My favourite of all meats is Lamb or mutton. The chef behind this dish is my husband. There are sometimes when we are bored of that routine gravy and want something spicy and dry. There is a small restaurant in Shivaji nagar, Bangalore, which use to serve this preparation of Lamb, which me and hubby absolutely adored. We always used to make it a point to stop by for lunch in this restaurant whenever we visited Bangalore.

This dish is flavoured by all those authentic spices "Cloves, Cardamom, Cinnamon, and cooked with no added water, in the steam of the ginger garlic paste and spice of coarsely ground black pepper balls, then garnish with sauteed onions and coriander.


Whole Spices:
6 - 8 Cloves
1 tsp Fennel seeds
2 - 3 Cinnamon Sticks
4-5 green Cardamon pods

For Curry:
2 Tbsp Oil
2-3 Green Chillies
1 reem of Curry Leaves
2 Tbsp Ginger & Garlic

Masala Powders: Optional
1/2 tsp Coriander powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp Garam masala powder.

To Garnish:
1 big size Onion sauteed w/ a few Curry leaves and thinly slit green chilly
1/2 cup coriander leaves.
1 tsp Lime juice

Steps:
1. In a wok or shallow pan, add oil after the pan is heated and then add all the whole spices after the oil is heats up. Fry till color of the spices changes.
2. Add green chillies curry leaves fry for a few seconds.
3. Add garlic and ginger paste fry a little.
4. Now add the lamb or mutton pieces and salt , mix well.
6. Add salt and if desired all the masala powders except the garam masala powder.
7. Mix well to coat all the lamb pieces with the seasoning and salt
8. Keep roasting the meat till it is half way cooked and then add the pepper and mix well and cook the meat stirring regularly, till any water that came from the meat is evaporated.
9. Check to see if the meat is tender. At this stage add the sauteed onions, green chilly & curry leaves
10. Remove from heat and add the juice
11. Garnish with coriander leaves

This can be served hot with any seasoned rice, or just with hot rice and rasam or sambar or as a side dish for parathas, with any vegetable gravy.

This is my entry to Thick Spice - Clove and hosted canelaycomino and
created by Sunitha's World

Bitter Gourd Tomato Curry,Pavakkai Tamata Kuttu,Tamatar Karela,Kakarakai Tamata

This dish was always dearly prepared by my grand mother and absolutely cherished by me, each and every time she made it. After marriage I too included this dish in my regular menu.

The bitterness of Karela and the sourness of Tomatoes truly compliment each other making one perfect combo veggie dish which is healthy too. This is another dish where we get health and taste together.


Check for the Importance of Bitter Gourd here.

Some famous preparations of this Bitter gourd are - Tamil : added in sambar,Cooked with legumes like kidney beans, Telugu : Hot and sweet version, North Indian : stuffed & fried,

Here is the recipe for Tamatar Karela.
Ingredients:
Bitter Gourd - Medium size - 6;
Tomatoes - 3-4 or Tomato Puree/Crushed Tomato - 1 cup or Tomato Paste 3-4 Tbsp
Oil - 1 tbsp
Mustard - 1/4 tsp
Onion - 1 small (Increase to 2 if you want more gravy)
Green Chillies - 3 slit
Curry leaves - 1 rem
Chilly powder - 1 tsp
Cumin powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Coriander leaves - a small bunch



Procedure:
Cut Bitter Gourd into circles and wash them with salt to remove excess bitterness.
Add oil in a heated Kadai/Skillet, allow mustard to splutter and then add cut onions, green chillies, curry leaves and saute till onions turn slightly brown.
Add Bitter Gourd pieces, all CCC powders, salt, and mix well to give an even coat of all ingredients.
Sprinkle some water and cover with lid to cook the Bitter Gourd in steam for about 25- 30 minutes.
Keep mixing periodically and add more water if required.
Once the Bitter Gourd is almost cooked add the tomato puree, mix well.
Cook for another 5-7 minutes or till karela absorbs the tomato flavour.
Add finely chopped coriander leaves just before removing from heat.

Serve this with hot rice, dhall curry and any other veggie fry.

This is another contribution of mine to the event Vegetable of the Week - Vow, Bitter Gourd created and hosted by Creative Pooja.

For the Hot and Sweet version add a little jaggery to the dish when it is 3/4 cooked.

Bitter Gourd Stir Fry-Vegetable of the Week, Series 1

This is another vegetable I really long to eat. The the beauty of this vegetable is that it is not only healthy but tasty too. Though it can be cooked in in many ways, even a simple stir fry would bring out the flavour and taste of this versatile veggie.

From my childhood I was always attracted to this veggie. The day my grandmothers or my mom had it in the menu it was a treat for me.

I will post another preparation of this Bitter gourd in my next post. And also plan to write more of my experience with this veggie in that post. For now here is a simple Stir fry Karela.. We can use the fresh one or the frozen package. Since fresh bitter gourd is readily available in all the Asian grocery stores I always use the fresh one.

Ingredients:
Tender Bitter Gourd - 1 Package or 1 lb (cut into cirlces)
Oil - 2 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Chilly Powder : 1 tsp
Amchur Powder : 1/4 tsp (Optional)
Anardhana Powder : 1/4 tsp (Optional)
Chat Masala : 1/4 tsp (Optional)
Soya Sauce : 1 tbsp (Optional - if you want a Chinese version)
Procedure:
1. Heat up a non-stick pan, add oil .
2. Add the washed/cut circles of Bitter gourd after the oil is heated.
3. Add salt and give it a nice mix, to coat all the veggie pieces with Oil and salt.
4.Stir fry for 10-15 minutes.
5. Add the optional ingredients if desired and stir fry for a minute or two.
6. Remove from heat when golden brown and crispy.


This is one of my contributions to the event Vegetable of the Week - Bitter Gourd created and hosted by Creative Pooja.

Enjoy the Stir fry with hot rice and any gravy....

Watch for the next series - Karela Tamatar.

Earth Hour with Pear Walnut Salad...AFAM

Toronto observed the Earth Hour on Sat, Mar 29Th between 8.00pm and 9.00pm. This was the first time my kids ever spent so long time in dark, only with the candle lights...When we started in the beginning they would insist us to put back the lights again. My Josh would started saying "I'm scared of dark mama." But then we counselled them and set them to spend that one hour with candle lights...

Well this is the little we can do to save energy and in turn say the Environment for our Future.

I planned a Candle light dinner for that hour..so kids will be around table rather than be lost with their toys...
I baked two whole talapias for this candle light dinner, One big for us and another small for kids. So that whole hour passed away as we enjoyed eating the fish separating it from the bones, (which was really a tough part to do in the candle light). No TV, No lights, No Music, No Laptop, it was a perfect family time. Wish we get to do this more often.

Now coming to the fruit of the month...which is Pears, I have never adventured to make anything with this fruit except eating it regularly in its season after my lunch. Thanks to Food blogging which makes us go creative with food. I was able to come up with this salad this weekend.

So this goes to Raaga who is hosting the this month's AFAM : Pears This Event " A Fruit A Month " was originally started by Maheswari of Beyond the Usual.

Pears
Check for the Nutritional value of Pears here here and here

Our dear friend from Trinidad runs a Child care centre. This is the Pears tree in that backyard. Every summer we enjoy the bounty from this Pear tree. Last summer I click these pictures.. to post them on my blog when I make something with pears...This is the time for that.

So after this month's AFAM round up I will have enough recipes to try out the lavish of this tree.

Ingredients:
All those seen in the picture...I missed to include Balsamic Vinegar, in the picture though.. so that too

Procedure:
Peel skin and cut pears length wise and mix all ingredients in the ratio according to your taste...and enjoy.



We Served this Salad with Baked Lemon Masala Talapia to celebrate a perfect Earth Hour, Candle light dinner.

The Metal Serving....Click it

Here is the Spicy, Tasty, Nihari Curry served in a Metal Casarole of which, I will post the recipe later. For now the metal goes to Bee and Jai's Click event.

French Toast with Hash Browns and Grape Fruit - WBB#20

Its been so hectic these days with work and Good Friday,Easter just gone, that I hardly find time for blogging. Beginning last Sept, when I started regular blogging - till now, I usually publish at least a post a week...but last week I couldn't keep up with that commitment. And didn't want to feel bad about it, cause blogging is only an extra talent/hobby/entertainment that we want to share with others which should relax us...rather than putting an extra burden on us.. At times I feel maintaining a blog is demanding and it takes off time that should go to the family.

Oh!!! there is so much work to be done on my space... To upload the new layout, onto my own domain and make it more like a website rather than a weblog so global viewers will read only the recipe that they are looking for and really cut the story short...and keep comments section open only for queries. Wish I can take off some time to achieve this.

Nevertheless, I continue and managed to post this French Toast which is so common here in North America, for Easter Sunday Sunrise Service Breakfast. Also thought this would be right to send to Mansi of Fun and Food who is hosting Weekend Breakfast Blogging which was originally created by Nandita of Saffron trail

When it comes to breakfast for most of us its just a Coffee with a Muffin or a bagel or a quick bowl of cereal in this part of the world.I really miss those days back home when my Mom and Grandmothers used to make a variety and spread a platter before us and we would still make fuss to eat or be picky eaters. Now when we don't receive those treats we know the value of them.

Coming to the recipe of this post, I am used to two kinds of it... one from back home - my mom's version and the other - the western version. In my mom's version we used to add sweetness in the mix we make to dip the bread, but the Western version does not add the sweet before cooking but after serving garnished with corn or maple syrup for the sweetness.

Here I give the recipe for my mom's version which she used to call as 'Bombay Toast'...guess this was famous in India by this name.

I still remember the good childhood days when my mom used to make this as a breakfast for us...we three use to bubble with joy. It was really a treat for me and my two younger brothers.

I always used to help her in making the mix and grinding the cardamom with a little sugar to make a powder in the traditional mortar grinder.

Now I think I almost narrated half of the recipe here.

Ingredients:
8 -10 Slices choice of bread.
2 Eggs
2 cups milk (1% - 3%)
1/2 cup Sugar
5 Cardamom pods ground into powder
A pinch of salt
2 tbsp Oil for toasting the bread.

Steps:
1. In a deep bowl, beat eggs for a minute, add sugar, salt, milk and cardamom powder and beat again till the eggs completely look dissolved in the milk.
2. Soak the bread pieces one at a time in this prepared milk and egg mixture for 10 - 15 sec
3. Meanwhile coat a heated tawa/pan with oil. Add the bread slices to the pan and fry them on both sides even. This may take 3-4 minutes.
4. Repeat from step 2 till all the bread slices are done

We served this with fresh fruit and home baked hash browns to compliment the sweet of French toast..Also to qualify for Mansi' WBB#20 the breakfast should consist of more than one time.

So this platter which makes a balanced breakfast goes to Mansi for WBB.