Shrimp Tamatar Curry

This is my first NV dish after I started regular blogging. Though I posted some before this, I feel awkward to publish non-veg food posts that they may embrass my vegie foodies. But then I can't leave out my NV foodies too, right. Moreover these days most of the NV blogs have blogged about shrimp or prawns and its my turn now.

So here you go all my seafood lovers, especially who just drool for Shrimp, here is my version of Tamatar Shrimp Curry.
I really miss those fresh small prawns back home. Their flavour, taste absolutely adorable. Enough if I manage to buy fresh ones here they can't come upto that taste.

Its so amazing with shrimp/prawn or as a matter of fact any seafood, how the raw shrimpy/fishy smell turns into mind blowing oroma when they are cooked the right way.

Back home we pay these vendors to clean the shrimps. But here if we are not buying the cleaned frozen ones( they don't have the right texture for the curry recipe) we have to do it oursevles. Never in my life would I have dreamt of cleaning prawns. The look of them use to scare me before they are de-shelled. And here I'm all diligently cleaning them if I want to have a shrimp treat. Cause it takes patience to de-shell and more if we want to de-vein them. Although most of the time it is my D.Hubby filling this post for me. Cause he loves seafood, and not to mention "shrimp". So if he wants a treat this is part it.

Well this is what life is... we have to do things sometimes even though we don't like to do. And we eventually learn the lesson that is was not so difficult than we thought and also to receive we have to give.

Now coming to recipe, Shrimp can taste good even with the fewest spices added to them and just sauted. But this is one of the methods I use to make the taste excellent.
Ingredients:

1 lb deshelled shrimp/prawns (de-vein them if desired)
3 big - Tomatoes cut into small cubes
2 big - Onions finely cut
3 pods - Garlic finely chooped
4 medium - Green chilies Slit
1 reem - Curry leaves
1 tsp - Red chilly powder (increase if you want it spicy)
2 Tbp - Oil
Salt - to taste
Finely chopped - coriander leaves( keep the stem part seperate)

Procedure:
Heat up a kadai(pot) add oil, when oil is heated add garlic, saute and then add green chillies, saute and add the onions & curry leaves.
Fry the onions till translucent. Throw in the stems(cut into small) of the corainder leaves at this time.
This is my personal observation...Usually we put the Coriander leaves at the end, but in this recipe, if we add the stem part while frying the onions, it gives a very exotic oroma which is carried thru the finish of the dish. So this Shrimp carry is almost coriander flavoured along with tomatoes,
Now add the tomatoes and cook them well till they loose their shape and the mixture in the kadai almost looks like a paste.
Add in the red chilly powder and salt, mix well till all the masala goes into the mixture and the raw smell goes away.
Now add the cleaned shrimp and mix well to coat them evenly with the masala.
Add a bit of water if you want this dish to be on a gravy side.
Cover and cook for 7 - 10 minutes.
Once the shrimp is cooked and the gravy starts sticking to them, garnish with the coriander leaves and remove from heat.

Though this is a simple preparation, the taste is extremely commendable.

This goes good just with plain rice, or rice wiht rasam or sambar. The gravy is good to eat with Idilies, dosa or chapati, roti.

So this being such a versatile side dish, should be cherished for sure.

Mysore Pak .....JFS Festive Collection

I don't know how the name Mysore pak came, but since the recipe uses channa dhall flour I thought I will call this sweet Channa pak.

This is the first time I tried it. Though not upto my expectations the taste was not bad. I thought of sending in the Chakra pongal entry for the Event JFS:Diwali hosted by Past Present and Me . This event JFI was originally started by Indira

But this weekend when I called my Sister back home, she gave me the recipe for a sweet made with maida(all purpose flour) which she just viewed in a TV show. Quickly her MIL joined and narratted the Mysore pak recipe. Thats it, I told my Sis, to check up my blog in a few days for my version of Mysore pak and here it is.

Ingredients :

2 cups Gram Flour (Besan)
1-1/2 to 2 cups sugar
1 cup ghee ( increase if desired)
To garnish:
2 spoons chopped cashew peices fried in ghee.


Procedure:
Boil sugar with a little water to make the sugar syrup with the string like consistency.
Add the Channa dhall flour(Bengal Gram flour) little by little to this syrup continually mixing without allowing any lumps to be formed.
Once all the flour is added, add the ghee slowly in small amounts and continue mixing thoroughly till all the ghee is added gets into every molecule of the this channa flour mixed in sugar syrup.
Once the mixture leaves the container, and big wholes appear on the surface of this sweet mixture, remove from heat.
Now pour this mixture into a greased tray and flatten it evenly.
Sprinkle some crushed cashew peices if desired.
Let the mixture set for a few minutes and cut into into desired shapes and arrange for serving.

Please don't mind the shapes of my peices. I was just trying them for trail. Never thought I'll blog them. But didn't have time to give it another try. Taste was good. I'm sure I'll improve in the coming attempts.

Pineapple, Mango and Sweet Peppers Salsa

This was the first time I ever made a Salsa, And what a perfect combo. I'm not a fan of raw tomatoes. In fact even cooked ones, I enjoy only if their shape is almost disappeared in the process of cooking. Cause the basic ingredient in Salsa is tomatoe, never ever gave it a try. But one evening after a tired day of work didn't have mood to cook anything big. I had this marinated Salmon in the fridge. So quickly came the thought that a Salsa would be a perfect match with this. Luckily I had Pineapple and not so ripe mango and the sweet peppers in all colors at hand to make this beautiful condiment. Whatelse can be a perfect dinner- The Healthy Seafood(Salmon) and fruits&vegies.


Cause this recipe does not require any Power thru the electronic gadgets this is qualified for "Power-less cooking Event" launched by An Easy Cooking Blog


Ingredients:
Small cubes of
Pineapple - 2 cups
Mango - 2 cups
Sweet Peppers - 2 cups
Tomatoe- 1 cup
Red onions - 1/2 cup(optional)
Finely chopped green chilles - 2(optional for extra spice)
A bunch of Cilantro - finely chopped
A hint of mint leaves - Finely chopped (say 4-5 leaves)
Lime juice - 1/8 cup
Red chilly powder - 1/4 tsp
Salt - to taste

Procedure:
Mix all the ingredients and allow to set for 1/2 an hour before serving.

This is my entry for "Power-less cooking Event"
I was just blog hopping and saw my fellow bloggers using stove for this event, but doesn't stove or oven take power too. In that case mine is a real real "Powerless " cooking dish, cause except knife I've not used any power items here.

A Simple South Indian Omelette

Egg Omellete which is the theme of Married to Desi, and created by Nandita of Saffron trail, ended up with the simple version of South Indian Omelette.

This weekend I had plans of making the omelette that my Grand Mother always use to do it so specially. Those days when the egg beaters where not so popular in India, my GM use to beat the egg white on a plate holding in a slanting position, with a fork for atleast 15 minutes, to make the lather come and we children use to enjoy seeing the transformation of the sticky colorless translucent liquid being transformed into a big heap of white lather. Although I use to try to imitate her I never could get so much lather. Then she added the yolk and the onions, chillies, coriander leaves and give it a nice mix adding chilly powder and salt and then spread it on the heated oil on the tawa. Once the bottom side of the Egg is cooked she just used to wrap the egg from both sides, turn it upside down to make a bed of it, then cut it into three peices and remove from heat. This way only the outside of the omelette is hard and the inside remains soft. So thats my grandma's version.

But I really didn't have time to get it done. This weekend I was so tired I didn't mind giving up food to escape from cooking. So the Emergency Cook, yes my stand by, you guessed it right my D.husband, made this omelette for us so that we can have it with some salad. So I felt may be this is the Omelette that I can send for my entry.

Yes, eggs always come to our rescue when we are in a hurry to cook, or don't want to invest much time in cooking. This is the beauty of egg especially in the form of Omelette that it is so versatile. And my, how many ways an Omelette can be made!!! With so many of my fellow bloggers coming up with such fascinating versions of bean Omelette, Noodles Omelette, Potatoe Omelette, I don't think my simple one will even stand before these entries.

And this even does'nt need any recipe writing.

Just crack an egg and beat it lightly, throw in some cut onions, green chillies and cilantro. A pinch of salt. The mixture is ready to go on a heated tawa coated with oil. Leave it for 1 or 2 mins and turn for another 1 min and you are ready to go.

I call this the station omelette. In South Indian, if you get a chance to travel in a train(not the local trains), you can find these vendors selling the bread Omelette right there on the train platforms. They are always in a mad rush with people flooding them to get there parcel of bread omelette. So this fast and simple version helps them. And this tastes good too. I say this is the only hygene food that you can pick up on the station platforms, cause it is made right in front of you and sandwiched into the toasted bread. That was a small tour of the Indian train platforms. Good old memories!!!

So this Simple South Indian Omelette is my entry for Kanchan's WBB.

Tips with making good omelettes: Eggs when cooked in an omelette form take very very less time to cook. But if we want the onions added to them also to cook we have to leave them on the tawa for more time, which will make them hard, and even sometimes charred which will take away all the nutritional value also. The best way to overcome is to pan fry the onions and chillies along with the chilly powder and salt. By adding the chilly powder to the onions also avoids the lumps that can be formed when you add it directly to the beaten egg. After the onions and chillies are almost cooked then add them to the beaten egg and make the omelette. This way once you know that the egg is cooked you can remove it from the tawa at once. Also this Omelette tastes even better.

Enjoy the Omelette round up.

Peach Mango Kesar Shake - My Trio

With all these Food blog events on the roll, I'm forced to break my schedule of publishing only one post per week.

Saffron is the Spice of this month for the Think Spice Event created by Sunitha
Though I tasted so many desserts spiced with saffron, I never used it in my cooking even once in my life. With this blog event I got a chance to do that. And boy this spice is so rich in flavour that the sweet fragance of it when used really gives a feel of soothing.

I have a sweet tooth and luv wet sweets in which this spice is always accompanied. So using this spice gave me the feeing of eating my fav sweets, which other wise I eat very rarely because they are filled with sugar and calories.

Also, coming to the Blog event AFAM hosted by Mansi, for which this month fruit is Peach,though I voted for it, I had no clue what delicacy to make with Peaches cause I never adventured with them except eating them as fresh fruits.

So this weekend while I was doing my groceries picked up both fresh and canned peaches. I searched for the small box of Saffron(Kesar) which I had purchased long long time ago. Luckily I was able to locate it. Then I remembered I had this can of Kesar Mango Pulp in my Pantry too. Suddenly this phrase struck my head, "Peach Mango Kesar Shake" . I thought not a bad idea. Lets try. And amazingly it turn out so good. And before I could realize I hit a hatrick, because I could send this drink as an entry for What's Your Favourite(WYF) - diet food created by SnackOrama,
cause this drink can be substituted for a breakfast or a healthy dessert.

Although I did google with the key words of this drink, I ended up with my own recipe. Well, this is the power of Food Blogging - It upgrades us from a Cook to a "Chef ".

Before I could round up this I have to share the tradegy of shooting these pictures. Here I was all happy with my new recipe and clicked a number of clicks before my hubby and kids could finish it up, that with a single button click on my camera I did the mistake of deleting all the pictures. I was so in depair and wouldn't accept any comforting words from my husband. Luckily I saved the last glass of it for a daylight shoot. So I managed to redo it all again.

Here is the detailed round up:

Saffron Spice:
Read what google says about this Spice: Saffron is much more than just a herb for cooking this will explain about saffron and it's natural healing ability.

Saffron originated in Arabia, but the plant was brought to Spain in the eighth century.

Today, Spain in the major exporter of the spice. Saffron is costly, it can be bought for as much as $ 50.00 per ounce.

Saffron is well worth the price, it has been contributed with promoting lower rates of heart disease.

Saffron is used to alleviate fatigue and exhaustion, because it works to strengthen the heart and nervous system.

It also aids in digestion by increasing the appetite. Saffron is also high in thiamin and riboflavin, to minerals that are known to promote a healthy heart.

Saffron can be made into milk, which offers preventive care for people with slight cardiac problems. To prepare take one-cup milk and bring to a boil, add a pinch of saffron.
Reduce heat and simmer the mixture for two minutes. It can be sweeten with honey or sugar. Then drink once per day.

Saffron is also used to improve the mood and clear the brain, where you can think well. This mixture if taking properly will help in clearing your thoughts. You will need

A pinch of saffron threads and 3 ounces 100- proof alcohol. Place both ingredients in a covered jar. Let stand for two weeks.

Then store the jar in a cool, dry place. Drink 1/4 cup to help clear mind or as a mood booster.

When buying saffron chose strands over powder, the strands contain a better flavor. When storing saffron keep in airtight container in a cool dry place.
Check more detials of this Spice Saffron.

Peaches

Peaches - sensual, soft, rich in nutrients and so lush with juice that it runs over our fingers and drips down our chins, cooling us with their sweet.
Native to China, the peach is the fruit of a tree discovered in Persia by Westerners during the conquest of Alexander the Great. Believing it to be native to that region, due to its abundance, they named it ‘perscia.’ The Chinese have cultivated the peach since earliest antiquity. This sensual fruit so fascinated them that it spawned legends…from being the key to immortality to being a powerful aphrodisiac.

A close relative of the plum, apricot, cherry and almond, peaches come from trees that can grow to 16 to 26 feet in height. With deciduous leaves, peach trees blossom with magnificent pink flowers that bloom in the spring even before the leaves mature…just a tease for the yummy fruit the tree will bear when summer warms.


The sensual flesh of the peach can be a light golden, a creamy white or a pale greenish white, the latter being rare in the United States, but having the sweetest flavor. No matter the color, the flesh of the peach is juicy, fragrant, sweet, firm and the most seductive of all fruit.

Not only yummy, peaches are a powerhouse of nutrients much needed during the heat of summer…potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, copper, iron, vitamin C, A and niacin…all nutrients that we lose with perspiration. Peaches contain a compound that is said to be a mild diuretic…so no puffy eyes and swollen fingers during hot, humid days.
Peaches are delicate little gems…so handle them carefully as they will spoil rapidly if bruised. Do not pack them too closely as they’ll cause each other to rot quickly. Unripe peaches are best left at room temperature to ripen, but once ripe, keep them in the refrigerator and use them quickly….they’ll only keep for a couple of days. A tip…let peaches come to room temperature before eating, as the flavor is more intensely sweet than when ice cold.



Eaten out of hand, in fruit salads, cobblers, pies, compotes peaches also lend themselves beautifully to canning, drying and freezing. But my favorite summer recipe combines savory flavors with the sweet sensuality of peaches, intensifying their yumminess.
(Text : Courtesy Christina Cooks)

Click here for Nutritional facts on Peaches

So here is the combo of these two ingredients:



Ingredients:
Peaches fresh or Canned - 3 to 4 (If using canned add the juice also, say 1/2-1 cup)
Mango Pulp - 1- 2 cups ( Increase or Decrease depending upon what flavour you want more, peach or mango)
Saffron or Kesar - 1/2 tsp soaked in 2 Tbsps warm evapourated milk

Yogurt Peach flavour or Natural Plain- 1/2 cup (add more for thick base)
Honey -1 Tbsp
Milk - 1/2 cup (1% for healhty diet)
Sugar - 2 Tbsp (Can be omitted if desired a healthy diet or increased for more sweetness)

To garnish
A Slice and 1 cup cubes of Fresh Peaches.

The above measures make atleast 4 servings.

My Version:
This is too complicated, follow the steps carelfully.
In a blendor add all ingredients and beat them well.

Garnish with fresh fruit.


This really turned out to be a delicious drink. I was extremely happy by the results. My husband was all ready to gulp it before I can click these pictures. I like the fact that this can be used as an breakfast booster drink and also a Healthy Dinner dessert if it made thick or just a snack.


Verdict:
Sugar deleted this is one health drink, with each serving containing
Vitamins and Fibre from 2 servings of Fruits(Add fresh fruit for more benefits)
So this goes to A Fruit A Month - Peaches
Calcuim and Protien from the Yogurt and Milk.

The goodness of Saffron Spice - So this also goes to Think Spice - Saffron,


And this can be my favorite diet drink,desert or snack, with all the benefits mentioned above. Hence it also goes to What's Your Favorite (WYF)- Diet Food.


Click here for the health nutrition chart

Tamil Nadu Sundal....for JFI Festive Dishes

As I've metioned in my RCI Tamil Festivals post, I'm a christian and so not accquainted with all these festivals. But since all you bloggers are making Sundal as one of the dish. I decided that I will send my Tamil nadu Sundal as an entry for this blog Event..JFS:Dassera hosted by Past Present and Me and the Yum Blog. This event JFI was started by Indira






Click here for recipe and more.

Paasi Paruppu Payasam for RCI Tamil Festivals

Viji of Vcuisine is hosting RCI this month and the Theme is Tamil Festivals. Well my husband being a Tamilian and I living in Chennai(Madras), Tamil Nadu, for more than 4 years, have some knowledge of Tamil dishes. Mostly the snacks and desserts, that are prepared during the Tamil festivals, because in India during festival season it is customary to distribute sweets and Savouries to nieghbours. I, being a Christian the only Festivals celebrated is Easter and Christmas. And these are not Tamil festivals, though Tamil Christians also celebrate only these. So I don't think I can do write up on any Tamil festivals but I can post one of the Desserts that is popularly made for Tamil festivals- Paasi Paruppu Payasm.

Paasi Parupu in Tamil means Moong Dhall. As I metioned earlier, I got to taste this when our neighbours gave this to me whenever they made this for the Tamil festivals. So I got the recipe from them. There could be minor variations.
This is one easy yummy dessert..
All you have to do is to pressure cook Moong Dhall and add Jaggery syrup to it. For flavour the campanion for the Indian sweets (Guess What?) your right, The beautiful flavoured Spice " Cardamom". Garnish with fried Cashew and Raisins in ghee. Serve warm.

For detailed recipe click here.

This is my entry for RCI Tamil Festivals